Teaching the Confederacy: Textbooks in the Civil War South

During the Civil War, at least 136 textbooks appeared in the states that made up the Confederacy, more than half of them in 1863 and 1864. The production of so many textbooks under difficult wartime circumstances suggests their significance in the promotion of Confederate values and ideologies. This thesis examines the Confederate textbook campaign, including the motives of authors and publishers, and analyzes the content of the textbooks themselves, including such themes as patriotism, gender roles, war, and death. While similar to antebellum textbooks in many respects, Confederate textbooks portrayed slavery as central to Southern society and offered explicit defenses of the institution. They also sought to promote Confederate nationalism among the new nation's youngest citizens and instructed children to honor and memorialize the Confederacy. The pages of Confederate textbooks constituted vital terrain for the shaping of the hearts and minds of Southern children

Anti-glycoprotein VI mediated immune thrombocytopenia: An under-recognized and significant entity?

Idiopathic immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is an autoimmune disorder characterized by relapsing/remitting thrombocytopenia. Bleeding complications are infrequent with platelet counts above 30x10(9)/L, and this level is commonly used as a threshold for treatment. The question of another/co-existent diagnosis or an alternate mechanism of platelet destruction arises when bleeding is experienced with platelet counts above this threshold. We report a case of anti-GPVI mediated ITP that was diagnosed following investigations performed to address this key clinical question. A patient with ITP experienced exaggerated bruising symptoms despite a platelet count of 91x10(9)/L. Platelet functional testing showed an isolated platelet defect of collagen-induced aggregation. Next generation sequencing excluded a pathogenic variant of GP6, and anti-GPVI antibodies that curtailed GPVI function were confirmed by extended platelet phenotyping. We propose that anti-GPVI mediated ITP may be under-recognized, and that inclusion of GPVI in antibody detection assays may improve their diagnostic utility and in turn, facilitate a better understanding of ITP pathophysiology and aid individualized treatment approaches

The Northern Tornadoes Project - Uncovering Canada’s True Tornado Climatology

Canada is a vast country with most of its population located along its southern border. Large areas are sparsely populated and/or heavily forested, and severe weather reports are rare when thunderstorms occur there. Thus, it has been difficult to accurately assess the true tornado climatology and risk. It is also important to establish a reliable baseline for tornado-related climate change studies. The Northern Tornadoes Project (NTP), led by Western University, is an ambitious multidisciplinary initiative aimed at detecting and documenting every tornado that occurs across Canada. A team of meteorologists and wind engineers collects research-quality data during each damage investigation, via thorough ground surveys and high-resolution satellite, aircraft and drone imaging. Crowdsourcing through social media is also key to tracking down events. In addition, NTP conducts research to improve our ability to detect and accurately assess tornadoes that affect forests, cropland and grassland. An open data website allows sharing of resulting data sets and analyses. Pilot investigations were carried out during the warm seasons of 2017 and 2018, with the scope expanding from the detection of any tornadoes in heavily forested regions of central Canada in 2017 to the detection of all EF1+ tornadoes in Ontario plus all significant events outside of Ontario in 2018. The 2019 season was the first full campaign, systemically collecting research-quality tornado data across the entire country. To date, the Project has found 89 tornadoes that otherwise would not have been identified, and increased the national tornado count in 2019 by 78%. © 2020 American Meteorological Societ

What are the barriers to primary prevention of type 2 diabetes in black and minority ethnic groups in the UK? A qualitative evidence synthesis.

Background: This review aimed to synthesise available qualitative evidence on barriers and facilitators to the implementation of community based lifestyle behaviour interventions to reduce the risk of diabetes in black and minority ethnic (BME) groups in the UK. Methods: A search of medical and social science databases was carried out and augmented by hand-searching of reference lists and contents of key journals. Qualitative evidence was synthesised thematically. Results: A total of 13 papers varying in design and of mainly good quality were included in the review. A limited number of intervention evaluations highlighted a lack of resources and communication between sites. A lack of understanding by providers of cultural and religious requirements, and issues relating to access to interventions for users was reported. Behaviour change was impeded by cultural and social norms, and resistance to change. There were variations in the way dietary change and physical activity was approached by different groups and contrasting practices between generations. Conclusions: Qualitative data provided insight into the ways that providers might improve or better design future interventions. Acknowledgement of the way that different groups approach lifestyle behaviours may assist acceptability of interventions

Efficacy Study of Reminicense Theatre with the Elderly

Undergraduate Theoretical Proposa

The Diboson Excess: Experimental Situation and Classification of Explanations; A Les Houches Pre-Proceeding

We examine the `diboson' excess at $\sim 2$ TeV seen by the LHC experiments in various channels. We provide a comparison of the excess significances as a function of the mass of the tentative resonance and give the signal cross sections needed to explain the excesses. We also present a survey of available theoretical explanations of the resonance, classified in three main approaches. Beyond that, we discuss methods to verify the anomaly, determining the major properties of the various surpluses and exploring how different models can be discriminated. Finally, we give a tabular summary of the numerous explanations, presenting their main phenomenological features.Comment: 37 pages, 9 Figures, 1 Tabl

A study protocol to investigate the relationship between dietary fibre intake and fermentation, colon cell turnover, global protein acetylation and early carcinogenesis: the FACT study

Background: A number of studies, notably EPIC, have shown a descrease in colorectal cancer risk associated with increased fibre consumption. Whilst the underlying mechanisms are likely to be multifactorial, production of the short-chain fatty-acid butyrate fro butyratye is frequently cited as a major potential contributor to the effect. Butyrate inhibits histone deacetylases, which work on a wide range of proteins over and above histones. We therefore hypothesized that alterations in the acetylated proteome may be associated with a cancer risk phenotype in the colorectal mucosa, and that such alterations are candidate biomarkers for effectiveness of fibre interventions in cancer prevention. Methods an design: There are two principal arms to this study: (i) a cross-sectional study (FACT OBS) of 90 subjects recruited from gastroenterology clinics and; (ii) an intervention trial in 40 subjects with an 8 week high fibre intervention. In both studies the principal goal is to investigate a link between fibre intake, SCFA production and global protein acetylation. The primary measure is level of faecal butyrate, which it is hoped will be elevated by moving subjects to a high fibre diet. Fibre intakes will be estimated in the cross-sectional group using the EPIC Food Frequency Questionnaire. Subsidiary measures of the effect of butyrate on colon mucosal function and precancerous phenotype will include measures of apoptosis, apoptotic regulators cell cycle and cell division. Discussion: This study will provide a new level of mechanistic data on alterations in the functional proteome in response to the colon microenvironment which may underwrite the observed cancer preventive effect of fibre. The study may yield novel candidate biomarkers of fibre fermentation and colon mucosal function

Looking behind the mask: social coping strategies of girls on the autistic spectrum

The socio-communication deficits of individuals on the autistic spectrum are well documented. However, this has largely been based on the male population and less is known about how females with autism manage social relationships across the developmental period. Ten adolescent female participants with a diagnosis of autism were interviewed and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis used to explore their experiences of managing their social relationships. The results showed that participants were motivated to develop and maintain friendships, but during adolescence this became increasingly difficult. Consequently, they developed explicit strategies to manage these relationships, including masking and imitation. The use of such strategies was both advantageous and disadvantageous, and such findings should be considered in developing gender sensitive assessment and developmentally appropriate support