Stefano Maderno’s Santa Cecilia and the Frame of the Jubilee of 1600

viii, 59 p. : col. ill.In 1599, in commemoration of the remarkable discovery of the incorrupt remains of the early Christian martyr St. Cecilia, Cardinal Paolo Emilio Sfondrato commissioned Stefano Maderno to create a memorial sculpture which dramatically departed from earlier and contemporary monuments. While previous scholars have considered the influence of the historical setting on the conception of Maderno's Santa Cecilia , none have studied how this historical moment affected the beholder of the work. In 1600, the Church's Holy Year of Jubilee drew hundreds of thousands of pilgrims to Rome to take part in Church rites and rituals. This thesis employs anthropological theories of performance as a means of analyzing how this context influenced the interaction of Jubilee pilgrims with Maderno's Santa Cecilia. The work's innovative form and the context of the Jubilee composed a dynamic relationship between sculpture and viewer and resulted in a profound intercessory experience.Committee in charge: Dr. James Harper， Chairperson； Dr. Nicola Camerlenghi， Member； Dr. Jessica Maier， Membe

Peer support for patients with type 2 diabetes: cluster randomised controlled trial

Objective To test the effectiveness of peer support for patients with type 2 diabetes

Protein folding on the ribosome studied using NMR spectroscopy

NMR spectroscopy is a powerful tool for the investigation of protein folding and misfolding, providing a characterization of molecular structure, dynamics and exchange processes, across a very wide range of timescales and with near atomic resolution. In recent years NMR methods have also been developed to study protein folding as it might occur within the cell, in a de novo manner, by observing the folding of nascent polypeptides in the process of emerging from the ribosome during synthesis. Despite the 2.3 MDa molecular weight of the bacterial 70S ribosome, many nascent polypeptides, and some ribosomal proteins, have sufficient local flexibility that sharp resonances may be observed in solution-state NMR spectra. In providing information on dynamic regions of the structure, NMR spectroscopy is therefore highly complementary to alternative methods such as X-ray crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy, which have successfully characterized the rigid core of the ribosome particle. However, the low working concentrations and limited sample stability associated with ribosome-nascent chain complexes means that such studies still present significant technical challenges to the NMR spectroscopist. This review will discuss the progress that has been made in this area, surveying all NMR studies that have been published to date, and with a particular focus on strategies for improving experimental sensitivity

Psychosocial factors and ageing in older lesbian, gay and bisexual people: a systematic review of the literature

Aims and objectives: To synthesise and evaluate the extant literature investigating the psychosocial influences on ageing as a lesbian, gay or bisexual person, in order to develop understanding about these influences and guide future research in the area. Background: Research suggests there may be specific psychological and social factors relevant to ageing for individuals with a non-heterosexual identity. Design: A systematic review was conducted on empirical research involving lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals aged 60 or above. Methods: The Cochrane Database, PsychINFO, MEDLINE, Web of Science and Google Scholar were searched and 41 studies met inclusion criteria. The majority had not been reviewed in earlier review articles. Results: Findings were within two domains: psychological, consisting of sub-themes relating to identity, mental health and body image; and social, consisting of relationships, social support, discrimination, caregiving and receiving, community, accessing services and housing. The results suggest lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals mostly adjust well to ageing identities, with mediating influences including self-acceptance and connection with peers. Challenges experienced included ageism and heteronormative health and social care services; intimate friendships, social support and respectful professionals mitigated such threats and facilitated successful ageing. Methodological issues related to sampling procedures, such as purposive sampling through the gay community and limited generalisability due to the homogeneity of participants. Additionally, there was a widespread lack of heterosexual control groups. However, most studies used appropriate measures and acknowledged inherent limitations. Conclusion: Psychosocial influences included the challenge of societal stigma, but also resilience individuals demonstrate through a positive attitude. These factors must continue to be investigated for services to best meet the needs of this population. Relevance to clinical practice: Clinicians are well placed to assist individuals draw on resilience when facing ageing challenges. Also, clinicians should be aware older people may have prior negative experiences of accessing services and try to involve ‘families of choice’ in care planning

Integrating knowledge exchange and the assessment of dryland management alternatives – A learning-centered participatory approach

The adoption of sustainable land management strategies and practices that respond to current climate and human pressures requires both assessment tools that can lead to better informed decision-making and effective knowledge-exchange mechanisms that facilitate new learning and behavior change. We propose a learning-centered participatory approach that links land management assessment and knowledge exchange and integrates science-based data and stakeholder perspectives on both biophysical and socio-economic attributes. We outline a structured procedure for a transparent assessment of land management alternatives, tailored to dryland management, that is based on (1) principles of constructivism and social learning, (2) the participation of stakeholders throughout the whole assessment process, from design to implementation, and (3) the combination of site-specific indicators, identified by local stakeholders as relevant to their particular objectives and context conditions, and science-based indicators that represent ecosystem services of drylands worldwide. The proposed procedure follows a pattern of eliciting, challenging, and self-reviewing stakeholder perspectives that aims to facilitate learning. The difference between the initial baseline perspectives and the final self-reviewed stakeholder perspectives is used as a proxy of learning. We illustrate the potential of this methodology by its application to the assessment of land uses in a Mediterranean fire-prone area in East Spain. The approach may be applied to a variety of socio-ecological systems and decision-making and governance scales.The PRACTICE protocol was developed in the framework of the project PRACTICE: Prevention and Restoration Actions to Combat Desertification. An integrated Assessment, funded by the European Commission (GA226818). This research was also funded by the European project CASCADE (GA283068), and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Fellowship of the European Union (GA 629677) “S4S, Science for Society Solutions”, awarded to B.J.O

Combined effects of precipitation and nitrogen deposition on native and invasive winter annual production in California deserts

Primary production in deserts is limited by soil moisture and N availability, and thus is likely to be influenced by both anthropogenic N deposition and precipitation regimes altered as a consequence of climate change. Invasive annual grasses are particularly responsive to increases in N and water availabilities, which may result in competition with native forb communities. Additionally, conditions favoring increased invasive grass production in arid and semi-arid regions can increase fire risk, negatively impacting woody vegetation that is not adapted to fire. We conducted a seeded garden experiment and a 5-year field fertilization experiment to investigate how winter annual production is altered by increasing N supply under a range of water availabilities. The greatest production of invasive grasses and native forbs in the garden experiment occurred under the highest soil N (inorganic N after fertilization = 2.99 g m−2) and highest watering regime, indicating these species are limited by both water and N. A classification and regression tree (CART) analysis on the multi-year field fertilization study showed that winter annual biomass was primarily limited by November–December precipitation. Biomass exceeded the threshold capable of carrying fire when inorganic soil N availability was at least 3.2 g m−2 in piñon-juniper woodland. Due to water limitation in creosote bush scrub, biomass exceeded the fire threshold only under very wet conditions regardless of soil N status. The CART analyses also revealed that percent cover of invasive grasses and native forbs is primarily dependent on the timing and amount of precipitation and secondarily dependent on soil N and site-specific characteristics. In total, our results indicate that areas of high N deposition will be susceptible to grass invasion, particularly in wet years, potentially reducing native species cover and increasing the risk of fire

Widespread white matter microstructural differences in schizophrenia across 4322 individuals:Results from the ENIGMA Schizophrenia DTI Working Group

The regional distribution of white matter (WM) abnormalities in schizophrenia remains poorly understood, and reported disease effects on the brain vary widely between studies. In an effort to identify commonalities across studies, we perform what we believe is the first ever large-scale coordinated study of WM microstructural differences in schizophrenia. Our analysis consisted of 2359 healthy controls and 1963 schizophrenia patients from 29 independent international studies; we harmonized the processing and statistical analyses of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data across sites and meta-analyzed effects across studies. Significant reductions in fractional anisotropy (FA) in schizophrenia patients were widespread, and detected in 20 of 25 regions of interest within a WM skeleton representing all major WM fasciculi. Effect sizes varied by region, peaking at (d=0.42) for the entire WM skeleton, driven more by peripheral areas as opposed to the core WM where regions of interest were defined. The anterior corona radiata (d=0.40) and corpus callosum (d=0.39), specifically its body (d=0.39) and genu (d=0.37), showed greatest effects. Significant decreases, to lesser degrees, were observed in almost all regions analyzed. Larger effect sizes were observed for FA than diffusivity measures; significantly higher mean and radial diffusivity was observed for schizophrenia patients compared with controls. No significant effects of age at onset of schizophrenia or medication dosage were detected. As the largest coordinated analysis of WM differences in a psychiatric disorder to date, the present study provides a robust profile of widespread WM abnormalities in schizophrenia patients worldwide. Interactive three-dimensional visualization of the results is available at www.enigma-viewer.org.Molecular Psychiatry advance online publication, 17 October 2017; doi:10.1038/mp.2017.170

Peer support for patients with type 2 diabetes: cluster randomised controlled trial

Objective To test the effectiveness of peer support for patients with type 2 diabetes. Design Cluster randomised controlled. Setting 20 general practices in the east of the Republic of Ireland. Participants 395 patients (192 in intervention group, 203 in control group) and 29 peer supporters with type 2 diabetes. Intervention All practices introduced a standardised diabetes care system. The peer support intervention ran over a two year period and contained four elements: the recruitment and training of peer supporters, nine group meetings led by peer supporters in participant\u27s own general practice, and a retention plan for the peer supporters. Main outcome measures HbA(1c); cholesterol concentration; systolic blood pressure; and wellbeing score. Results There was no difference between intervention and control patients at baseline. All practices and 85% (337) of patients were followed up. At two year follow-up, there were no significant differences in HbA1c (mean difference -0.08%, 95% confidence interval -0.35% to 0.18%), systolic blood pressure (-3.9 mm Hg, -8.9 to 1.1 mm Hg), total cholesterol concentration (-0.03 mmol/L, -0.28 to 0.22 mmol/L), or wellbeing scores (-0.7, -2.3 to 0.8). While there was a trend towards decreases in the proportion of patients with poorly controlled risk factors at follow-up, particularly for systolic blood pressure (52% (87/166) > 130 mm Hg in intervention v 61% (103/169) > 130 mm Hg in control), these changes were not significant. The process evaluation indicated that the intervention was generally delivered as intended, though 18% (35) of patients in the intervention group never attended any group meetings. Conclusions A group based peer support intervention is feasible in general practice settings, but the intervention was not effective when targeted at all patients with type 2 diabetes. While there was a trend towards improvements of clinical outcomes, the results do not support the widespread adoption of peer support