The Christology of Mark

In this thesis I intend to investigate the three layers of tradition in the Christology of Mark: that of the historical Jesus, the Plaestinian community, and the Hellenistic Church. The result of this work will be a clearer picture of Mark’s contribution to the Christology of the Church. I propose that Mark constructed his gospel to bring out the role of Jesus as the Suffering Servant who was exalted through his crucifixion and resurrection

Heat shock factor 1 regulates lifespan as distinct from disease onset in prion disease

Prion diseases are fatal, transmissible, neurodegenerative diseases caused by the misfolding of the prion protein (PrP). At present, the molecular pathways underlying prion-mediated neurotoxicity are largely unknown. We hypothesized that the transcriptional regulator of the stress response, heat shock factor 1 (HSF1), would play an important role in prion disease. Uninoculated HSF1 knockout (KO) mice used in our study do not show signs of neurodegeneration as assessed by survival, motor performance, or histopathology. When inoculated with Rocky Mountain Laboratory (RML) prions HSF1 KO mice had a dramatically shortened lifespan, succumbing to disease ≈20% faster than controls. Surprisingly, both the onset of home-cage behavioral symptoms and pathological alterations occurred at a similar time in HSF1 KO and control mice. The accumulation of proteinase K (PK)-resistant PrP also occurred with similar kinetics and prion infectivity accrued at an equal or slower rate. Thus, HSF1 provides an important protective function that is specifically manifest after the onset of behavioral symptoms of prion disease

Can uptake length in strams be determined by nutrient addition experiments? Results from an interbiome comparison study

Nutrient uptake length is an important parnmeter tor quantifying nutrient cycling in streams. Although nutrient tracer additions are the preierred method for measuring uptake length under ambient nutrient concentrations, short-term nutrient addition experiments have more irequently been used to estimate uptake length in streams. Theoretical analysis of the relationship between uptake length determined by nutrient addition experiments (Sw\u27) and uptake length determined by tracer additions (Sw)predicted that Sw\u27 should be consistently longer than 5, , and that the overestimate of uptake length by Sw( should be related to the level of nutrient addition above ambient concentrations and the degree of nutrient limitation. To test these predictions, we used data irom an interbiorne study of NH,- uptake length in which 15NH,- tracer and short-term NH,-a ddition experiments were performed in 10 streams using a uniform experimental approach. The experimental results largely contirmed the theoretical predictions: sw\u27 was consistently longer than Sw and Sw\u27:Sw ratios were directly related to the level of NH,- addition and to indicatvrs of N limitation. The experimentally derived Sw\u27:Sw, ratios were used with the theoretical results to infer the N limitation status of each stream. Together, the theoretical and experimental results showed the tracer experiments should be used whenever possible to determine nutrient uptake length in streams. Nutrient addition experiments may be useful for comparing uptake lengths between different streams or cliiferent times in the same stream. however, provided that nutrient additions are kept as low as possible and of similar miagnitude

Acyclovir Suppression to Prevent Clinical Recurrences at Delivery After First Episode Genital Herpes in Pregnancy: An Open-Label Trial

Objective: To continue evaluation of the use of acyclovir suppression in late pregnancy after first episode genital herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection, using an open-label study design. Methods: Ninety-six women diagnosed with genital herpes for the first time in the index pregnancy were prescribed suppressive acyclovir 400 mg orally three times daily from 36 weeks until delivery in an open-label fashion. Herpes cultures were obtained when patients presented for delivery. Vaginal delivery was permitted if no clinical recurrence was present; otherwise a Cesarean delivery was performed. NeonatalHSV cultures were obtained and infants were followed clinically. Rates of clinical and asymptomatic genital herpes recurrences and Cesarean delivery for genital herpes were measured, and 95% confidence intervals were calculated. Results: In 82 patients (85%) compliant with therapy, only 1% had clinical HSV recurrences at delivery. In an intent to treat analysis of the entire cohort, 4% had clinical recurrences (compared with 18–37% in historical controls). Asymptomatic shedding occurred in 1% of women without lesions at delivery. Two of the four clinical recurrences were HSV-culture positive. No significant maternal or fetal side-effects were observed. Conclusions: In clinical practice the majority of patients are compliant with acyclovir suppression at term. The therapy appears to be effective at reducing clinical recurrences after a first episode of genital herpes complicating a pregnancy

Pharmacists' Perspectives on the Use of My Health Record

Background: My Health Record (MHR) is a relatively new nationwide Australian digitalhealth record system accessible by patients and a range of healthcare professionals. Pharmacists willbe key contributors and users of the MHR system, yet little is known about the perceived barriers andbenefits of use. (2) Objective: To explore pharmacists’ perspectives related to potential benefits andbarriers associated with use of MHR. (3) Methods: An online survey was developed and face-validated.The survey was advertised to Australian pharmacists on pharmacy professional bodies’ websites. Thiswas a cross-sectional study using an anonymous questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were used todescribe the distribution of the data. Chi-square, Kendall’s tau coefficient (tau-c) and Kruskal–Wallistests were used to examine the relationships where appropriate. (4) Results: A total of 63 pharmacistscompleted the survey. The majority of respondents worked in a metropolitan area (74%), and themost common workplace setting was community pharmacy (65%). Perceived benefits identifiedby responders include that the use of MHR would help with continuity of care (90%), and that itwould improve the safety (71%) and quality (75%) of care they provided. Importantly, more thanhalf of pharmacists surveyed agreed that MHR could reduce medication errors during dispensing(57%) and could improve professional relationships with patients (57%) and general practitioners(59%). Potential barriers identified by pharmacists included patients’ concerns about privacy (81%),pharmacists’ own concern about privacy (46%), lack of training, access to and confidence in using thesystem. Sixty six percent of respondents had concerns about the accuracy of information containedwithin MHR, particularly among hospital and general practice pharmacists (p = 0.016) and almosthalf (44%) had concerns about the security of information in the system, mainly pharmacists workingat general practice and providing medication review services (p= 0.007). Overall satisfaction withMHR varied, with 48% satisfied, 33% neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, and 19% dissatisfied, witha higher satisfaction rate among younger pharmacists (p = 0.032). (5) Conclusions: Pharmacistsconsidered that the MHR offered key potential benefits, notably improving the safety and quality ofcare provided. To optimize the use of MHR, there is a need to improve privacy and data securitymeasures, and to ensure adequate provision of user support and education surrounding the ability tointegrate use of MHR with existing workflows and software

Mechanisms Controlling the Degradation of Poly (methyl methacrylate) Prior to Piloted Ignition

Research paper presented at the International Combustion Symposium 2002 and published by in the Proceedings of the Combustion Institute.Degradation of Type-G PMMA (Rohm and Haas) plates was studied prior to piloted ignition. The onset of pyrolysis was estimated by means of an infrared camera with an MMA filter, a small load cell, thermocouples, and flow visualization. Onset of gasification due to material pyrolysis occurs significantly earlier than piloted ignition. Therefore, models of standard test methods such as ASTM-E-1321 must incorporate pre-ignition gasification to properly model the ignition process. To better establish the mechanisms controlling the degradation process, controlled mass loss tests were conducted with shavings from the PMMA plates. Tests in nitrogen and oxygenated atmospheres were conducted with thermogravimetric analysis and evolved gas measurements using a quadrupole mass spectrometer. Results indicated a one step degradation process in pure N while a two-step reaction could be observed in the presence of O2 . As O2 fraction increased, the onset of degradation shifted to lower temperatures but the second step correlated well with that of N2 degradation. The evolved gas measurements suggest that both reactions were limited by mass transport, with the first reaction limited by O2 diffusion into the sample. Mass transport limitations were identified by abrupt changes in the slope of production rate of evolved gases, and this indicates the importance of coupling TGA measurements with evolved gas analysis for detecting mass transport limitations. Implications of these results on interpreting material flammability tests are discussed in this paper