Functional antibody and T-cell immunity following SARS-CoV-2 infection, including by variants of concern, in patients with cancer: the CAPTURE study

Patients with cancer have higher COVID-19 morbidity and mortality. Here we present the prospective CAPTURE study (NCT03226886) integrating longitudinal immune profiling with clinical annotation. Of 357 patients with cancer, 118 were SARS-CoV-2-positive, 94 were symptomatic and 2 patients died of COVID-19. In this cohort, 83% patients had S1-reactive antibodies, 82% had neutralizing antibodies against WT, whereas neutralizing antibody titers (NAbT) against the Alpha, Beta, and Delta variants were substantially reduced. Whereas S1-reactive antibody levels decreased in 13% of patients, NAbT remained stable up to 329 days. Patients also had detectable SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells and CD4+ responses correlating with S1-reactive antibody levels, although patients with hematological malignancies had impaired immune responses that were disease and treatment-specific, but presented compensatory cellular responses, further supported by clinical. Overall, these findings advance the understanding of the nature and duration of immune response to SARS-CoV-2 in patients with cancer

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

From Practice to Print: Women Crafting Authority at the Margins of Orthodox Medicine

This article analyzes how a category of women possessing medical secrets known as “femmes à secrets” entered commercial medicine in mid- to late-xviiith-century Paris. It reads sources including remedy patents and printed publicity with a view to exploring women’s agency in producing and peddling medical products and services within the burgeoning marketplace. It shows how this form of “fringe” practice provided a unique forum where women cultivated their authority outside of learned medicine while also interacting with it. In doing so, the article displaces traditional narratives which position charlatans and quacks as the primary practitioners who colonized the margins of medical practice. Instead, it provides an account of women as examples of the dynamic “fringe” practitioners who strove to prove their genuine authority across a variety of domains. By bringing their practice to print, enterprising women succeeding in staking out their claim to expertise in a growing and increasingly consumerist, legislated, and policed medical milieu, where the boundaries between “expert” and “amateur” knowledge traditions were becoming increasingly blurred.Cet article analyse le développement d’une tradition de détentrices de remèdes dites « femmes à secrets » au sein du commerce médical dans le Paris des Lumières. À l’aide de brevets officinaux et de la publicité imprimée, il retrace le rôle des femmes dans le florissant marché médical, où elles ont inventé et vendu une variété de produits et de services. Cet aspect marginal de la pratique médicale a en effet fournit aux femmes un important forum où elles ont cultivé leur autorité en marge et en dialogue avec la médecine traditionnelle. L’article remet en question l’histoire des « marges » médicales dans lesquelles les praticiens frauduleux se sont inscrits comme acteurs principaux. Il offre plutôt l’histoire d’une médicine « marginale » dynamique et animée par des femmes qui n’ont cessé de faire leurs preuves dans divers domaines. Entre la pratique et la publicité médicale, ces femmes se sont d’abord présentées en tant qu’expertes dans un milieu médical de plus en plus consumériste, réglementé et policé, où la limite entre l’expert et l’amateur médical était à peine évidente

Cultures of anatomy in enlightenment France (c.1700-c.1795)

This thesis provides a cultural history of anatomy in Enlightenment France (c. 1700-c.1795). It tells the overlapping stories of the rise of anatomy as a public, polite, and sociable science experienced by gentlemanly amateurs and of anatomy's consolidation as a dynamic experimental branch of natural history. The first narrative explores how eighteenth-century anatomy gained amateur adherents through textbooks, three-dimensional objects, spectacular courses, and tutors. The second offers an account of how anatomists transformed their field into a viable, utilitarian, and socially useful research discipline. This project makes contributions to the histories of science, Old Regime France, and gender, and the social history of medicine. It shows how Enlightenment anatomy enlisted a distinctive set of places, objects, and peoples. First, anatomy was produced, packaged, and disseminated to consumer audiences in traditional scholarly and pedagogical spaces, but also outside them, in venues of learning that included the court, commercial districts, museums, public spaces, private chambers, amphitheatres, and cabinets. Second, anatomical knowledge was created, conveyed, and ratified in these settings using familiar materials like corpses, as well innovative artificial materials like wax, wicker, glass, and textiles. The material culture of anatomy was inscribed in the worlds of amateur appreciation and experimental practice, where tourism played an important role in the exchange of goods and know-how. Finally, those who practised anatomy and the public which digested it achieved new recognition during this period and collectively contributed to shaping the form and content of anatomical knowledge. The result was that eighteenth-century anatomy accommodated a broader range of individuals – men and women, amateurs, medical practitioners, artists, and artisans – than ever before.Cette thèse examine l'histoire culturelle de la science anatomique dans la France au siècle des Lumières (c.1700-c.1795). En adoptant une approche culturelle, elle étudie à la fois l'émergence de l'anatomie comme science liée à la mondanité, pratiquée par des amateurs appartenant à l'élite, ainsi que la formalisation de la discipline anatomique en tant que domaine expérimental de l'histoire naturelle. En premier lieu, cette thèse explore comment l'anatomie, à l'aide de manuels, d'objets tridimensionnels, de leçons publiques et de tuteurs, a attiré des disciples amateurs. En second lieu, elle démontre comment les anatomistes ont transformé leur champ en une discipline scientifique viable et utile pour leur société. Cette double analyse contribue donc à l'histoire des sciences, de la France d'Ancien Régime, du genre, ainsi qu'à une histoire sociale de la médecine. Cette thèse tente de démontrer comment la discipline anatomique telle que pratiquée au cours des Lumières réunissait un ensemble distinct de pratiques, d'objets et de personnes. D'abord, le savoir anatomique était produit, accumulé et disséminé au public dans des espaces pédagogiques et académiques traditionnels mais également, au-delà de ceux-ci, dans des espaces d'apprentissage plus larges qui incluaient la cour, des musées, des espaces commerciaux, des espaces publics tout comme des chambres privées ainsi que des amphithéâtres et des cabinets. Ensuite, le savoir anatomique était créé, transmis et confirmé dans ces espaces en utilisant des matériaux familiers tels que des corps, mais aussi des matériaux artificiels novateurs tels que la cire, l'osier, le verre et les textiles. Ainsi, la culture matérielle de la science anatomique s'est inscrite en lien avec la culture amateur de l'appréciation et la pratique expérimentale, où le tourisme jouait un rôle important pour l'échange d'objets et de savoirs. Finalement, les anatomistes, et leur public, ont acquis un nouveau degré de reconnaissance au cours du siècle des Lumières et ont, ensemble, contribué au développement du savoir anatomique tant au niveau de la forme que du contenu. Ces transformations ont permis à un plus grand nombre d'individus d'origines diverses – hommes, femmes, amateurs, médecins, artistes, artisans – de se familiariser avec l'anatomie

Posttraining increases in REM sleep intensity implicate REM sleep in memory processing and provide a biological marker of learning potential

Posttraining rapid eye movement (REM) sleep has been reported to be important for efficient memory consolidation. The present results demonstrate increases in the intensity of REM sleep during the night of sleep following cognitive procedural/implicit task acquisition. These REM increases manifest as increases in total number of rapid eye movements (REMs) and REM densities, whereas the actual time spent in REM sleep did not change. Further, the participants with the higher intelligence (IQ) scores showed superior task acquisition scores as well as larger posttraining increases in number of REMs and REM density. No other sleep state changes were observed. None of the pretraining baseline measures of REM sleep were correlated with either measured IQ or task performance. Posttraining increases in REM sleep intensity implicate REM sleep mechanisms in further off-line memory processing, and provide a biological marker of learning potential

Looking back, taking stock : Public Humanities at UBC Okanagan

On 16 January, 2023 the Public Humanities Hub Okanagan hosted the first in a series of events exploring the past and future role of the Public Humanities Hub at UBC Okanagan.Arts and Social Sciences, Irving K. Barber Faculty of (Okanagan)Creative and Critical Studies, Faculty of (Okanagan)Non UBCCommunity, Culture and Global Studies, Department of (Okanagan)History and Sociology, Department of (Okanagan)UnreviewedFacultyOthe