Proteomic Analysis of a Noninvasive Human Model of Acute Inflammation and Its Resolution: The Twenty-one Day Gingivitis Model

The 21-day experimental gingivitis model, an established noninvasive model of inflammation in response to increasing bacterial accumulation in humans, is designed to enable the study of both the induction and resolution of inflammation. Here, we have analyzed gingival crevicular fluid, an oral fluid comprising a serum transudate and tissue exudates, by LC−MS/MS using Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry and iTRAQ isobaric mass tags, to establish meta-proteomic profiles of inflammation-induced changes in proteins in healthy young volunteers. Across the course of experimentally induced gingivitis, we identified 16 bacterial and 186 human proteins. Although abundances of the bacterial proteins identified did not vary temporally, Fusobacterium outer membrane proteins were detected. Fusobacterium species have previously been associated with periodontal health or disease. The human proteins identified spanned a wide range of compartments (both extracellular and intracellular) and functions, including serum proteins, proteins displaying antibacterial properties, and proteins with functions associated with cellular transcription, DNA binding, the cytoskeleton, cell adhesion, and cilia. PolySNAP3 clustering software was used in a multilayered analytical approach. Clusters of proteins that associated with changes to the clinical parameters included neuronal and synapse associated proteins

Representations of zombis in Emile Ollivier's La discorde aux cent voix and Dany Laferrière's Pays sans chapeau

Two Haitian authors living and writing in Montral, Emile Ollivier and Dany Laferrière, use the figure of the zombi to represent a long-standing dialogue of interiority and exteriority between the United States and Haiti. Ollivier's 1986 novel, La discorde aux cent voix, and Laferrière's 1997 novel, Pays sans chapeau, are both narratives that reflect the penetration of exteriority into Haitian identity, employing the zombi as an integral part of this reflection. References to the zombi, a definably Haitian entity that has captured the fascination of American popular culture, serve as expressions of the voices of exteriority that pervade Haitian literary expression. In this thesis, I propose an analysis of the ways in which intertextual and transtextual readings of these references deepen an understanding of the multifaceted perceptions of an internationally reflected self that permeates Haitian literature

Sugar turns to cotton: French retellings of the Haitian revolution and the American Civil War

This dissertation argues that an outpouring of French literature based on the American Civil War (1861-1865), fought under the Second Empire of Napoleon III, belongs to the same cultural legacy as the French textual response to the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804), fought under the First Empire of Napoleon. In my study, I demonstrate that the narrative and thematic currents of these two bodies of literature reveal parallel struggles of racial, social, and national repositioning, and that France's popular interest in the American Civil War reflects a reconciliation with and confrontation of its own historical investment in the institutions of colony and slavery. From the Haitian Revolution to the American Civil War, such works prioritize different visual means of representation through the often hybrid genres of historical fiction, biography, and travel narrative. Chapter 1, Sugar Turns to Cotton, establishes the French Imperial and public relationships to the Haitian Revolution and the American Civil War, particularly concerning print culture under the Napoleonic Empires. Chapter 2, Fiction and History, explores the breadth of popular historical fiction on the topic of both wars. Chapter 3, Biographies of Louverture and Lincoln, focuses on the links between biography and portraiture in texts from both Empires describing the lives of abolitionist figures in the Americas. Chapter 4, Travel Narrative and the American Eyewitness, demonstrates the privileged position of the eyewitness in nineteenth-century travel literature, both in the publishing market and in the portrayal of complex social strata in the Americas. In these works of fiction, biography, and travel narrative, the events of the Haitian Revolution and the American Civil War provided a backdrop against which many French authors projected a collective French experience through the ever-changing social and political landscape of the nineteenth century.Doctor of Philosoph

Micro-Imagers for Spaceborne Cell-Growth Experiments

A document discusses selected aspects of a continuing effort to develop five micro-imagers for both still and video monitoring of cell cultures to be grown aboard the International Space Station. The approach taken in this effort is to modify and augment pre-existing electronic micro-cameras. Each such camera includes an image-detector integrated-circuit chip, signal-conditioning and image-compression circuitry, and connections for receiving power from, and exchanging data with, external electronic equipment. Four white and four multicolor light-emitting diodes are to be added to each camera for illuminating the specimens to be monitored. The lens used in the original version of each camera is to be replaced with a shorter-focal-length, more-compact singlet lens to make it possible to fit the camera into the limited space allocated to it. Initially, the lenses in the five cameras are to have different focal lengths: the focal lengths are to be 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, and 3 cm. Once one of the focal lengths is determined to be the most nearly optimum, the remaining four cameras are to be fitted with lenses of that focal length

A Collaborative Game

In 2015 matthews and allen engaged in a durational dialogic exchange. This exchange took the form of a collaborative game undertaken over a period of 19 days. The Collaborative Game was enacted via a set of rules. matthews and allen’s ‘rules of the game’ parodically exaggerate the social and cultural rules with which we inevitably engage. This textual game adopts the 140 character edict imposed by the social media website Twitter. matthews and allen take this arbitrary rule to its extreme by restricting each communication to precisely 140 characters. The Collaborative Game is constructed from ‘the words of others’ wherein appropriated words are relocated to interrupt the expectation of a linear, monologic narrative. matthews and allen’s game performs their non-oppositional approach to collaborative dialogue, with neither a winner, a loser, nor consensus

Protein tyrosine phosphatase TbPTP1: a molecular switch controlling life cycle differentiation in trypanosomes

Differentiation in African trypanosomes (Trypanosoma brucei) entails passage between a mammalian host, where parasites exist as a proliferative slender form or a G0-arrested stumpy form, and the tsetse fly. Stumpy forms arise at the peak of each parasitaemia and are committed to differentiation to procyclic forms that inhabit the tsetse midgut. We have identified a protein tyrosine phosphatase (TbPTP1) that inhibits trypanosome differentiation. Consistent with a tyrosine phosphatase, recombinant TbPTP1 exhibits the anticipated substrate and inhibitor profile, and its activity is impaired by reversible oxidation. TbPTP1 inactivation in monomorphic bloodstream trypanosomes by RNA interference or pharmacological inhibition triggers spontaneous differentiation to procyclic forms in a subset of committed cells. Consistent with this observation, homogeneous populations of stumpy forms synchronously differentiate to procyclic forms when tyrosine phosphatase activity is inhibited. Our data invoke a new model for trypanosome development in which differentiation to procyclic forms is prevented in the bloodstream by tyrosine dephosphorylation. It may be possible to use PTP1B inhibitors to block trypanosomatid transmission

Developing global indicators for quality of maternal and newborn care: a feasibility assessment

Objective To assess the feasibility of applying the World Health Organization’s proposed 15 indicators of quality of care for maternal and newborn health at health-facility level in low- and middle-income settings. Methods Six of the indicators are about maternal health, five are for newborn health and four are general cross-cutting indicators. We used data collected routinely in facility registers and obtained as part of facility assessments from 963 health-care facilities specializing in maternity services in 10 countries in Africa and Asia. We made a feasibility assessment of the availability of data and the clarity of indicator definitions and identified additional information and data collection processes needed to apply the proposed indicators in real-life settings. Findings Of the indicators evaluated, 10 were clearly defined, of which four could be applied directly in the field and six would require revisions to operationalize them. The other five indicators require further development, with one of them being ready for implementation by using information readily available in registers and four requiring further information before deployment. For indicators that measure coverage of care or availability of services or products, there is a need to further strengthen measurement. Information on emergency obstetric complications was not recorded in a standard manner, thus limiting the reliability of the information. Conclusion While some of the proposed indicators can already be applied, other indicators need to be refined or will need additional sources and methods of data collection to be applied in real-world settings