Emotions

Emotions have been extensively studied across disciplines, but are best defined within specific cultural contexts. In ancient Egypt, they are presented both as visceral experiences that may be “contained” within or transmitted from the heart or stomach, and as socially constructed strands of personhood. Emotions manifest in gestures, postures, and, to a lesser extent, facial expressions in Egyptian art; the presence or absence of their markers in humans may be connected to decorum and status. Animals are used both in art and script to represent emotional states. Various expressive terms exist to describe emotions linguistically, many of them compounds involving the heart, and emotional states are described in diverse genres of texts throughout time, particularly in New Kingdom love poetry. This discussion presents an overview of how emotions have been identified and studied in ancient Egypt and suggests possible future avenues and domains for research

The curiosity of the cat in hieroglyphs

A scholarly article discussing a rather neglected aspect of ancient Egyptian linguistics - the determinative system - and using a particular subset of hieroglyphic determinatives to explore the wider interplay of categorisation and metaphor in Egyptian. It provides a counterbalance to the theories currently being advanced by the Berlin-Jerusalem school of determinative (= classifier) research

The Egyptological afterlife of Colin Campbell

No abstract available

Gathering the Voices: disseminating the message of the Holocaust for the digital generation by applying an interdisciplinary approach

The aim of the Gathering the Voices project is to gather testimonies from Holocaust survivors who have made their home in Scotland and to make these testimonies available on the World Wide Web. The project commenced in 2012, and a key outcome of the project is to educate current and future generations about the resilience of these survivors. Volunteers from the Jewish community are collaborating with staff and undergraduate students in Glasgow Caledonian University in developing innovative approaches to engage with school children. These multimedia approaches are essential, as future generations will be unable to interact in person with Holocaust survivors. By students being active participants in the project, they will learn more about the Holocaust and recognize the relevance of these testimonies in today’s society. Although some of the survivors have been interviewed about their journeys in fleeing from the Nazi atrocities, for all of the interviewees, this is the first time that they have been asked about their lives once they arrived in the United Kingdom. The interviews have also focused on citizenship and integration into society. The project is not yet completed, and an evaluation will be taking place to measure the effectiveness of the project in communicating its message to the public

Determinants of Mammography Usage across Rural and Urban Regions of Canada

Breast cancer is a leading source of mortality among Canadian women; however early detection via mammography considerably improves survival rates. Accordingly, national guidelines advocate biennial screening for asymptomatic women aged 50 to 69 years. Unfortunately many women do not abide by such recommendations, and there is some evidence that compliance rates are lower in rural areas. This report explores the extent of regional variation within and between Canadian provinces using a new and more detailed set of rural indicators based on economic zones of influence. We find the incidence of ever having a mammogram and screening within the last two years are significantly lower for women most removed from large urban centers. This result is obtained after controlling for demographic and socio-economic characteristics, concentration of physicians and specialists in the local area and whether the woman has a regular family doctor. An important reason for the observed differences across rural and urban areas is found to be awareness of the need for regular screening. We also observe that differences in mammography usage between rural and urban areas vary significantly across Canadian provinces.mammography, cancer screening, rural health, women's health

Syntaxin - Munc18 interaction

Regulated exocytosis is spatially and temporally regulated by a cascade of protein-protein interactions. The minimal machinery required for membrane fusion is the SNARE complex, formed between three membrane proteins: syntaxin, synaptobrevin (VAMP) and SNAP-25. The conformation of syntaxin la, which exists in 'open' and 'closed' states, is believed to play a role in SNARE complex assembly in neuronal and neuroendocrine cells, through regulation of the interconversion between its different conformational states by the cytoplasmic protein muncl8-l. Recent work has also demonstrated that phosphorylation of muncl8-l by protein kinase C on serines 306 and 313 weakens its affinity for syntaxin la in vitro. To further understand the role of the syntaxin la - muncl8-l complex, the interaction of these two proteins was studied in vitro and in vivo. These studies utilized muncl8-l and syntaxin la chimeras containing the fluorescent proteins EGFP and EYFP. Use of radiolabelled muncl8-l, EGFP-muncl8-l, muncl8-lR39c (mutated in a residue that is important for interaction with syntaxin la and for maintaining muncl8-ls conformation), EGFP-muncl8-lR39c, EYFP-muncl8-lS306E:S3i3E(a phosphomimetic mutant) and EYFPmuncl8- lR39C:S306E:S3i3Ein in vitro binding studies revealed that the addition of the fluorescent proteins to syntaxin la and muncl8-l had little effect on their interaction in comparison with wild-type proteins. The muncl8-lR39c and the phosphomimetic muncl8-l mutants had a reduced affinity for syntaxin la. In order to study protein interaction within cells, using a cell line with no endogenous protein background, muncl8-l and syntaxin la variants were expressed in HEK293 cells and imaged using confocal laser scanning microscopy. These studies showed that phosphorylation of muncl8-l reorganised the cellular localisation of the syntaxin la - muncl8-l complex from the cytoplasm to the plasma membrane. Finally FRET and FLIM analysis of the interaction between ECFP-syntaxin la and EYFP-muncl8- 1, and its mutants, revealed that the conformation of the syntaxin la- munc 18-1 complex depended on its cellular location, and that PKC phosphorylation of muncl8-l occurred in a spatially restricted manner in HEK293 cells, altering the intracellular conformation. Also the syntaxin la - muncl8-l complex can assume at least one other spatially defined conformation on the plasma membrane

Planetary Ball Mill and Solution Combustion Approaches for the Production and Size Control of Nanophosphors

The field of nanomaterials has continued to grow exponentially in recent years, covering a large range of markets and industries. The key feature of nano-scaled materials is that their unique properties are a direct result of their small size. Recent application of these nanomaterials in the further production of highly transparent ceramic materials has led to increased interest in the medical imagining field.Cerium-doped gadolinium aluminum gallium garnet (GAGG:Ce) is considered a promising nanophosphor material for application in this field due to advantageous properties such as its high light yield, high effective atomic number, and relatively fast decay time. Further, the gadolinium aluminum gallium garnet and other related garnet materials offer additional advantages for the production of ceramics, largely due to the ability of the garnet structure to address light scattering phenomena that can reduce transparency in ceramic materials.The overarching goal of this dissertation involves the optimization of the production and size control of nanophosphor materials. Two particular means for synthesis are explored: high-energy ball milling (HEBM) and solution combustion synthesis (SCS). Investigations into the HEBM synthesis illustrated the effects of alterations to various parameters for multiple nanophosphor materials utilizing the silicon nitride, zirconia, and tungsten carbide milling systems. SCS experiments illustrated the role of fuel type and temperature manipulation on the synthesis and morphology of GAGG:Ce and other similar materials. This graduate research material then progressed to the reduction of agglomeration phenomena during synthesis of nanomaterials through the addition of diluents. Diluent chemistry refers to the use of solids, liquids, or other separating material to reduce agglomeration in nanoparticles. This work aids in laying the foundation for future nanophosphor and material research

Is African agriculture converging? Evidence from a panel of crop yields

Crop Production/Industries,

Impact of violence against women on severe acute maternal morbidity in the intensive care unit, including neonatal outcomes: a case–control study protocol in a tertiary healthcare facility in Lima, Peru

Introduction Preventing and reducing violence against women (VAW) and maternal mortality are Sustainable Development Goals. Worldwide, the maternal mortality ratio has fallen about 44% in the last 25 years, and for one maternal death there are many women affected by severe acute maternal morbidity (SAMM) requiring management in the intensive care unit (ICU). These women represent the most critically ill obstetric patients of the maternal morbidity spectrum and should be studied to complement the review of maternal mortality. VAW has been associated with all-cause maternal deaths, and since many women (30%) endure violence usually exerted by their intimate partners and this abuse can be severe during pregnancy, it is important to determine whether it impacts SAMM. Thus, this study aims to investigate the impact of VAW on SAMM in the ICU. Methods and analysis This will be a prospective case-control study undertaken in a tertiary healthcare facility in Lima-Peru, with a sample size of 109 cases (obstetric patients admitted to the ICU) and 109 controls (obstetric patients not admitted to the ICU selected by systematic random sampling). Data on social determinants, medical and obstetric characteristics, VAW, pregnancy and neonatal outcome will be collected through interviews and by extracting information from the medical records using a pretested form. Main outcome will be VAW rate and neonatal mortality rate between cases and controls. VAW will be assessed by using the WHO instrument. Binary logistic followed by stepwise multivariate regression and goodness of fit test will assess any association between VAW and SAMM. Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval has been granted by the La Trobe University, Melbourne-Australia and the tertiary healthcare facility in Lima-Peru. This research follows the WHO ethical and safety recommendations for research on VAW. Findings will be presented at conferences and published in peer-reviewed journals

Social determinants and maternal exposure to intimate partner violence of obstetric patients with severe maternal morbidity in the intensive care unit: a systematic review protocol

Introduction: Maternal mortality is a potentially preventable public health issue. Maternal morbidity is increasingly of interest to aid the reduction of maternal mortality. Obstetric patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) are an important part of the global burden of maternal morbidity. Social determinants influence health outcomes of pregnant women. Additionally, intimate partner violence has a great negative impact on women's health and pregnancy outcome. However, little is known about the contextual and social aspects of obstetric patients treated in the ICU. This study aimed to conduct a systematic review of the social determinants and exposure to intimate partner violence of obstetric patients admitted to an ICU. Methods and analysis: A systematic search will be conducted in MEDLINE, CINAHL, ProQuest, LILACS and SciELO from 2000 to 2016. Studies published in English and Spanish will be identified in relation to data reporting on social determinants of health and/or exposure to intimate partner violence of obstetric women, treated in the ICU during pregnancy, childbirth or within 42 days of the end of pregnancy. Two reviewers will independently screen for study eligibility and data extraction. Risk of bias and assessment of the quality of the included studies will be performed by using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) checklist. Data will be analysed and summarised using a narrative description of the available evidence across studies. This systematic review protocol will be reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Protocols (PRISMA-P) guidelines. Ethics and dissemination: Since this systematic review will be based on published studies, ethical approval is not required. Findings will be presented at La Trobe University, in Conferences and Congresses, and published in a peer-reviewed journal