A Strategy to Introduce and Encourage Transformational Bible Reading at Horizon Community Church

The purpose of this ministry focus paper is to present a strategy to introduce and encourage the congregation at Horizon Community Church to approach Bible reading with a goal and expectation of personal transformation by providing training and tools that will facilitate this approach to Scripture. This paper examines the particular context of Horizon Community Church and the broader context of the American evangelical church. It provides an overview of the church’s history, demographics and the current local church culture. It will be asserted that changes within the broader evangelical cultural since the 1960s are conductive to the introduction of transformational Bible reading. The role of the Bible in spiritual transformation will be examined. This will include exploring the nature, authority, power and purpose of Scripture. It is asserted that the essential nature of spiritual transformation is that it is necessary, progressive, holistic, and originated by God. The Bible works in conjunction with other change agents and transformational Bible reading works in relationship with other spiritual disciplines. The design of the project considers ancient methods and current evangelical thought in determining that lectio divina is the best model for transformational Bible reading. It is argued that oral nature of ancient reading was an important component and that modern technology can facilitate a return to that practice. An introductory study based on the elements of spiritual transformation and lectio divina was designed and presented to the church. An evaluation of the study indicated that the concept of transformational Bible reading was well received. Based on the experience, this paper concludes that the concept and practice can be successfully introduced to an evangelical congregation and it is expected that over time the value will be evident. There must be both ongoing emphasis and teaching to maintain the initial success. Content Reader: Richard Peace, Ph

Proposed HSC Governance

The various components of the Health Sciences Center have been rapidly changing and growing and will continue to grow due to the increasing population and our expanding duties to the people of the state. Our current administrative structures will not be sufficient to carry us into the future

DNA binding proteins of the phage λ ninR region

Bacteriophages are known to disable host functions in order to impose their own enzymes to hijack the bacterium for maximal replication of the virus. One well-characterised example of this is the Red genetic recombination system of phage λ which blocks host RecBCD and replaces it with an exonuclease and synaptase to promote genomic rearrangements. Other substitute enzymes from λ include Orf, which can replace the RecA-loading activity of RecFOR, and Rap, which can substitute for the RuvC Holliday junction resolvase. This study has investigated the DNA binding activities of three gene products from the ninR region of phage λ that are linked to genetic recombination. These are Orf (NinB), Rap (NinG) and NinH, the latter an uncharacterised protein of 68 residues. DNA binding analysis with selected substitution mutants of the Orf protein established that the central channel and adjacent regions are critical for binding to single-stranded DNA. The predicted HNH catalytic site of the Rap DNA structure-specific endonuclease was also investigated by site-directed mutagenesis confirming that the HNH domain is essential for Holliday junction cleavage and may also participate in branched DNA binding. Finally, the NinH protein which resembles the bacterial nucleoid associated protein (NAP) Fis, was also analysed for its ability to bind double-stranded DNA. The in vitro data showed that NinH binds DNA and preferentially favours bent duplex substrates, consistent with its similarity to Fis. NinH could not compensate for the loss of various NAPs from E. coli in deletion strains, including a fis mutant, and generally conferred a negative effect on the growth of these strains. Thus NinH may play a role in perturbing normal bacterial replication to promote phage production. The results offer several new insights into the properties of these three DNA binding proteins and their possible roles in phage DNA replication and recombination

An investigation into the measurement and management of frailty in surgical patients

AimsThis thesis intends to investigate a method of identification of frailty in the surgical population, CT defined sarcopenia, and a possible method to attenuate its effects in the preoperative period, prehabilitation.Methods845 patients that underwent emergency laparotomy in 4 acute hospitals were screened for sarcopenia by review of CT scans assessing sarcopenia by psoas density (PD) and area (PA). Primary outcomes were 30 day and 1 year mortality.A pilot RCT was undertaken to assess the acceptability and achievability of walking- based prehabilitation monitored by wearable technology. Participants were randomised to either normal activity or a walking based exercise programme.ResultsSarcopenia measured by PD was associated with increased mortality compared to non-sarcopenic patients at 30-days (23.2% vs. 9.6% p<0.0001 OR=2.84 (95% CI 1.88-4.30) and 1-year 37% vs. 19.2% p<0.0001 OR=2.46 (95% CI 1.75-3.47). Increased mortality was seen in sarcopenic patients measured by PA at 30-days (16.3% vs. 7.8% p=0.001 OR=2.31 (95% CI 1.38-3.88) and 1-year 32% vs. 18.7% p=<0.0001 OR=2.25 (95% CI 1.52-3.34)For the RCT 45 patients were approached to recruit 40 participants. The median time in study was 12.5days (IQR 6-18). Mean compliance to the exercise programme was 58%. Mean distance change between initial and pre-operative assessment for the exercise and normal-activity groups was +16.4m and -13.6m respectively, p=0.013. Mean distance change between initial and 3-month postoperative assessment was - 11.4m and -40m p=0.11.ConclusionSarcopenia assessed by PD and PA on CT is associated with increased mortality following emergency laparotomy. The use of sarcopenia as a predictive tool may be useful to direct geriatric input and guide expectations in emergency surgery.This pilot study confirms that acceptable compliance can be achieved using a user- friendly pedometer and that this is associated with measurable improvements in fitness. Further work is required to establish whether this translates into improved patient outcomes after surgery

The survival of witchcraft prosecutions and witch belief in South West Scotland

During the era of the Scottish witch-hunts, Dumfries and Galloway was one of the last regions to initiate witch prosecutions, but it was also one of the most reluctant to completely surrender all belief in witches until a comparatively late date. In the late seventeeth and early eighteenth centuries south-west Scotland, better known for the persecution of covenanters, took the practice of witchcraft and charming very seriously indeed, and for perhaps longer than other parts of Scotland, though the area has received surprisingly little scholarly investigation. The trial evidence is not incompatible with that found elsewhere though there is less demonic content. Accusations of witchcraft in this region were mostly concerned with the troubles of everyday life, agricultural problems, family tensions and disagreements between neighbours. From 1670 to about 1740, the very decades that were giving birth to the Scottish Enlightenment, learned interest in the supernatural was actually on the increase and the topic received an unprecedented level of questioning, investigation, and scrutiny. Ironically, the ‘superstitions’ that both church and state had been attempting to eradicate for some two hundred years were now being used to defend religion against the growing threat of atheism. The zeal of the ministers does seem to have contributed to the endurance of witch beliefs in the South West, as elsewhere. Against this backdrop, the survival of witch belief and the continued prosecution of witches in southwest Scotland is examined, thus contributing to our understanding of the individualistic nature of witch persecution and the various dynamics at play within the Scottish witch-hunting experience

A thin ring model for the OH megamaser in IIIZw35

We present a model for the OH megamaser emission in the starburst galaxy IIIZw35. The observed diffuse and compact OH maser components in this source are explained by a single phase of unsaturated clumpy gas distributed in a thin ring structure and amplifying background continuum. We emphasize the importance of clumpiness in the OH masing medium, an effect that has not been fully appreciated previously. The model explains why multiple bright spots are seen only at the ring tangents while smoother emission is found elsewhere. Both the observed velocity gradients and the line to continuum ratios around the ring enquire a geometry where most of the seed photons come from a continuum emission which lies outside the OH ring. To explain both the OH and continuum brightness, free-free absorbing gas is required along the ring axis to partially absorb the far side of the ring. It is proposed that the required geometry arises from an inwardly propagating ring of starburst activity

Darkening Programmable Donations

Around 2019, a group of researchers working with a large international charity, developed an innovative system for ‘programmable donations’. Riding a wave of hype related to blockchain technologies, they envisaged a way to support conditional and data-driven giving. The researchers realised that they could use ‘smart contracts’ to create digital escrows that could securely hold an individual donation, and only release when they received data about specified real-world conditions. While a number of commercial players were looking at means to use similar technologies to hold charities to account, and make funding conditional on detailed impact reporting from the 'last mile', this project had sought to flip attention to the 'first-mile' of giving, and donors own motivations and triggers for giving to charity. Although the system was developed carefully, with good intentions, this paper provides a speculative account of series of unfortunate events taking place years later, as the technology evolved and became misguided in various ways

Quick and simple: psoas density measurement is an independent predictor of anastomotic leak and other complications after colorectal resection

Purpose: Radiologically-defined sarcopenia has been shown to predict negative outcomes after cancer surgery, however radiological assessment of sarcopenia often requires additional software and standardisation against anthropomorphic data. Measuring psoas density using hospital Picture Archiving and Communication Systems, universally available in the UK, may have advantages over methods requiring the use of additional specialist and often costly software. This study aimed to assess the association between radiologically-defined sarcopenia measured by psoas density and postoperative outcome in patients having a colorectal cancer resectionMethods: All patients having a resection for colorectal cancer, discussed at the colorectal multi-disciplinary team in one institution between 1/1/15 and 31/12/15, were retrospectively identified. Mean psoas density at the level of the L3 vertebra were analysed from preoperative CT scans to define sarcopenia. Postoperative complications and mortality were recorded.Results: One hundred and sixty-nine patients had a colorectal resection for cancer and 140 of these had a primary anastomosis. Ninety-day mortality and 1-year mortality was 1.1% and 7.1% respectively. Eighteen(10.7%) patients suffered a Clavien-Dindo(CD) grade 3 or 4 complication of which 6(33%) were anastomotic leaks. In the whole cohort, sarcopenia was associated with an increased risk of CD3/4 complication(adjusted OR 6.33(1.65-24.23) p= 0.007). In those who had an anastomosis, sarcopenia was associated with an increased risk of anastomotic leak (adjusted OR 14.37(1.37-150.04) p=0.026).Conclusions: A quick and easy radiological assessment of sarcopenia using psoas density on standard hospital PACS is associated with a 6-fold increased risk of major post-operative complication and a 14-fold increase in anastomotic leak