It's all for naught : avant-garde cinema, regional history, and the South

textAt the margins of cinema history are films that defy traditional strategies of production, narrative, and aesthetics. These "experimental" works are the subjects of their own histories concomitant to those in "mainstream" film studies. Media scholarship by the likes of David James and P. Adams Sitney has attempted to implement the avant-garde into wider filmmaking narratives. But histories and critical studies alike widely marginalize experimental works made outside of expected cosmopolitan centers, particularly when fringe films and their makers hail from the American South. This project argues that the near-elimination of the region's avant-gardists from media history prevents works of cultural import from disseminating into the national narrative. Through an interdisciplinary study of local experimental communities, with direct focus on New Orleans, it also contends that recovering these works is essential to more inclusive and thus emancipatory regional media narratives. The thesis concludes with an original taxonomy of archives and interviews for future critical Southern media scholarship.Radio-Television-Fil

Horn Fly Control on Range Beef Cattle

Over eleven hundred range cattle were treated with insecticide-impregnated ear tags and observed for horn fly control. Tagging rates compared were herds with one or two tags on each cow, two tags on part of the cows, one tag on half the cows, one tag on each calf (none on the cows) and fenvalerate versus permethrin as the insecticide in the tags. Results from all herds studied showed reductions of 90 to 100% for horn flues after 60 days of treatment for as long as 125 days

Reorganization of columnar architecture in the growing visual cortex

Many cortical areas increase in size considerably during postnatal development, progressively displacing neuronal cell bodies from each other. At present, little is known about how cortical growth affects the development of neuronal circuits. Here, in acute and chronic experiments, we study the layout of ocular dominance (OD) columns in cat primary visual cortex (V1) during a period of substantial postnatal growth. We find that despite a considerable size increase of V1, the spacing between columns is largely preserved. In contrast, their spatial arrangement changes systematically over this period. While in young animals columns are more band-like, layouts become more isotropic in mature animals. We propose a novel mechanism of growth-induced reorganization that is based on the `zigzag instability', a dynamical instability observed in several inanimate pattern forming systems. We argue that this mechanism is inherent to a wide class of models for the activity-dependent formation of OD columns. Analyzing one member of this class, the Elastic Network model, we show that this mechanism can account for the preservation of column spacing and the specific mode of reorganization of OD columns that we observe. We conclude that neurons systematically shift their selectivities during normal development and that this reorganization is induced by the cortical expansion during growth. Our work suggests that cortical circuits remain plastic for an extended period in development in order to facilitate the modification of neuronal circuits to adjust for cortical growth.Comment: 8+13 pages, 4+8 figures, paper + supplementary materia

Inter-areal coordination of columnar architectures during visual cortical development

The occurrence of a critical period of plasticity in the visual cortex has long been established, yet its function in normal development is not fully understood. Here we show that as the late phase of the critical period unfolds, different areas of cat visual cortex develop in a coordinated manner. Orientation columns in areas V1 and V2 become matched in size in regions that are mutually connected. The same age trend is found for such regions in the left and right brain hemisphere. Our results indicate that a function of critical period plasticity is to progressively coordinate the functional architectures of different cortical areas - even across hemispheres.Comment: 30 pages, 1 table, 6 figure

IL-4-Induced Arginase 1 Suppresses Alloreactive T Cells in Tumor-Bearing Mice

AbstractWe previously demonstrated that a specialized subset of immature myeloid cells migrate to lymphoid organs as a result of tumor growth or immune stress, where they suppress B and T cell responses to Ags. Although NO was required for suppression of mitogen activation of T cells by myeloid suppressor cells (MSC), it was not required for suppression of allogenic responses. In this study, we describe a novel mechanism used by MSC to block T cell proliferation and CTL generation in response to alloantigen, which is mediated by the enzyme arginase 1 (Arg1). We show that Arg1 increases superoxide production in myeloid cells through a pathway that likely utilizes the reductase domain of inducible NO synthase (iNOS), and that superoxide is required for Arg1-dependent suppression of T cell function. Arg1 is induced by IL-4 in freshly isolated MSC or cloned MSC lines, and is therefore up-regulated by activated Th2, but not Th1, cells. In contrast, iNOS is induced by IFN-γ and Th1 cells. Because Arg1 and iNOS share l-arginine as a common substrate, our results indicate that l-arginine metabolism in myeloid cells is a potential target for selective intervention in reversing myeloid-induced dysfunction in tumor-bearing hosts

The Direct Measurement of Circulation in Free Surface Vortices

Ultrasonic techniques have been used to directly and non-intrusively measure the circulation of free surface vortices. All experiments were performed in a vertical cylindrical tank with a central drain and a tangential inlet The circulation was measured on a closed triangular path by measuring the difference in upstream and downstream transit-times. Circulation was measured as a function of the Reynolds and Froude numbers and was found to increase as the Reynolds and Froude numbers increased. The circulation was also found to be proportional to the square of the ratio of the drain diameter to cylinder diameter while the ratio of fluid depth to cylinder diameter was held constant. Minimum surface elevations were measured at various conditions and attempts were made to correlate them with measured circulation

A Novel Excitatory Paraventricular Nucleus to AgRP Neuron Circuit that Drives Hunger

Summary Hunger is a hard-wired motivational state essential for survival. Agouti-related peptide (AgRP)-expressing neurons in the arcuate nucleus (ARC) at the base of the hypothalamus are crucial to its control. They are activated by caloric deficiency and, when naturally or artificially stimulated, they potently induce intense hunger and subsequent food intake1-5. Consistent with their obligatory role in regulating appetite, genetic ablation or pharmacogenetic inhibition of AgRP neurons decreases feeding3,6,7. Excitatory input to AgRP neurons is key in caloric-deficiency-induced activation, and is notable for its remarkable degree of caloric state-dependent synaptic plasticity8-10. Despite the important role of excitatory input, its source(s) has been unknown. Here, through the use of Cre-recombinase-enabled, cell-specific neuron mapping techniques, we have discovered strong excitatory drive that, unexpectedly, emanates from the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus, specifically from subsets of neurons expressing Thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) and Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP). Pharmaco-genetic stimulation of these afferent neurons in sated mice markedly activates AgRP neurons and induces intense feeding. Conversely, acute inhibition in mice with caloric deficiency-induced hunger decreases feeding. Discovery of these afferent neurons capable of triggering hunger advances understanding of how this intense motivational state is regulated

Inefficacy of different strategies to improve guideline awareness – 5-year follow-up of the hypertension evaluation project (HEP)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In spite of numerous guidelines for evidence based diagnostic and therapy adequate knowledge of current recommendations is disappointingly low. In the Hypertension Evaluation Project (HEP I) we showed that awareness of national hypertension guidelines under German practitioners was less than 25% in the year 2000. This indicates the need for efficient strategies to relevantly improve guideline awareness.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>To asses different tools for amending guideline knowledge we used three strategies (guideline in print, interactive guideline, expert seminars) to train 8325 randomised physicians, who had participated in the HEP I trial. Guideline knowledge of the trained physicians was again tested with the HEP questionnaire and compared to a control group of HEP I physicians.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The return rate of questionnaires was 57.9% without a significant distinction between the groups. Overall guideline awareness was still low but remarkably improved compared to the results of HEP I (37.1% vs. 23.7%, p < 0.0001). There was no difference between the trained physicians and the control group (35.8% and 35.9% vs. 39.7%, p = n.s.).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We investigated the influence of different strategies to improve guideline awareness among German physicians. None of our interventions (guideline in print, interactive guideline, expert seminars) brought a notable benefit compared to control group. However, overall knowledge of guideline contents increased from 23.7% to 37.1% over five years. Therefore, other probably multimodal interventions are necessary to significantly improve guideline awareness beyond spontaneous advancement.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p>ISRCTN53383289</p

Comparison of Factors Associated with Atypical Symptoms in Younger and Older Patients with Acute Coronary Syndromes

Patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS) who are accompanied by atypical symptoms are frequently misdiagnosed and under-treated. This study was conducted to examine and compare the factors associated with atypical symptoms other than chest pain in younger (<70 yr) and older (≥70 yr) patients with first-time ACS. Data were obtained from the electronic medical records of the patients (n=931) who were newly diagnosed as ACS and hospitalized from 2005 to 2006. The 7.8% (n=49) of the younger patients and 13.4% (n=41) of the older patients were found to have atypical symptoms. Older patients were more likely to complain of indigestion or abdominal discomfort (P=0.019), nausea and/or vomiting (P=0.040), and dyspnea (P<0.001), and less likely to have chest pain (P=0.007) and pains in the arm and shoulder (P=0.018). A logistic regression analysis showed that after adjustment made for the gender and ACS type, diabetes and hyperlipidemia significantly predicted atypical symptoms in the younger patients. In the older patients, the co-morbid conditions such as stroke or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were positive predictors. Health care providers need to have an increased awareness of possible presence of ACS in younger persons with diabetes and older persons with chronic concomitant diseases when evaluating patients with no chest pain

Indirect estimation of a discrete-state discrete-time model using secondary data analysis of regression data

Multi-state models of chronic disease are becoming increasingly important in medical research to describe the progression of complicated diseases. However, studies seldom observe health outcomes over long time periods. Therefore, current clinical research focuses on the secondary data analysis of the published literature to estimate a single transition probability within the entire model. Unfortunately, there are many difficulties when using secondary data, especially since the states and transitions of published studies may not be consistent with the proposed multi-state model. Early approaches to reconciling published studies with the theoretical framework of a multi-state model have been limited to data available as cumulative counts of progression. This paper presents an approach that allows the use of published regression data in a multi-state model when the published study may have ignored intermediary states in the multi-state model. Colloquially, we call this approach the Lemonade Method since when study data give you lemons, make lemonade. The approach uses maximum likelihood estimation. An example is provided for the progression of heart disease in people with diabetes. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/63056/1/3599_ftp.pd