“That’s My Boy”: Challenging the Myth of Literary Mentorship as In Loco Patris

Literary mentors have long been mythologized as serving in loco patris: i.e., in the place of their mentees’ fathers. Focusing on depictions of such mentorship in Tom Grimes’s Mentor (2010), the anthology A Manner of Being (2015), and Debra Weinstein\u27s Apprentice to the Flower Poet Z. (2004), we observe that these depictions repeatedly cast mentorship as dyadic, hierarchical, and homosocial. We argue that such depictions rehearse patriarchal norms with respect to literature, gender, and parenthood while fostering fraught psychological dynamics. Consequently, we identify a need for greater self-reflexivity about mentoring relations and a greater focus on alternative forms that mentorship can take

The Established and Evolving Role of Nailfold Capillaroscopy in Connective-Tissue Disease

Nailfold capillaroscopy (NFC) is a low-cost, non-invasive, rapid, highly specific and reproducible investigation well established in the diagnosis of systemic sclerosis and related conditions. This chapter will detail the relevant underlying scientific principles that underpin the investigation, the methods for performing NFC, the range of abnormalities that can be present and the currently available classification criteria before moving on to discuss the various established and emerging applications as relevant to the connective tissue diseases. In addition to its role in the diagnosis of SSc, highlighted by its inclusion in the most recent ACR/EULAR consensus classification criteria, NFC has been shown to predict disease activity, many organ-specific complications such as digital ulcers, pulmonary hypertension and interstitial lung disease, and even mortality. It is emerging as a useful investigation in other CTDs characterised by microvasculopathy, such as in the idiopathic inflammatory myopathies and mixed connective tissue disease, as well as being studied as a serial investigation in patients to act as a potential biomarker and measure of treatment efficacy. NFC can contribute to the earlier identification of patients with CTDs with clinically important complications and if applied accurately, therefore, can help improve outcomes in these often challenging diseases

Transport problems in the theory of metals

Of all common substances, metals conduct heat and electricity to the greatest extent. They also exhibit very readily a range of more complicated phenomena – the galvanomagnetic, thermomagnetic and thermoelectric effects – which results when an electric field, a thermal gradient and a magnetic field are combined in various ways. Any theory of the metallic state, therefore, must explain why metals should demonstrate these properties as well as they do, and account for the variation of the physical quantities in question with temperature, electric field, atomic structure and so on. It is now well established that the simplest metals are characterised by an energy band structure in which the topmost occupied band is half full, so making it easy to impart extra energy to those electrons lying at or just below the Fermi level. The electrons in this band are loosely bound to the atomic cores, and can readily move through the material. When an external electric field is applied, the average motion of such electrons in the direction of the field constitutes an electric current, while a thermal current results (in the presence of a thermal gradient) from the diffusion of electrons from hot to cold areas. Similar qualitative explanations may be furnished for the more complicated thermal, electric and magnetic effects. Quantitatively, the key to the calculation of the transport coefficients – and the electrical and thermal conductivities, the Hall coefficient, and so on – lies in the evaluation of the distribution function (I, k, t) which describes how to the electrons are distributed in (I, k) space at any time t. This function is found by solving the Boltzmann transport equation, the mathematical expression of the statement that any change in with time is the sum of three contributions, one for each possible cause: diffusion, collisions, and the action of external fields. Even after simplifying assumptions have been made about the lattice through which the electrons move, the Boltzmann equation is, in its most general form, a complicated integral equation, the complezity stemming partly from the different types of electron collision which must all be represented: collisions with thermal vibrations of the lattive, with impurities, with other displaced atoms, with boundary surfaces, and so on. In practice relief is usually gained by considering only one or perhaps two of these types of collision at a time, assuming conditions which make these dominant. In the first problem to be considered here, attention is restricted mainly to the case where electrons are scattered by thermal vibrations of the lattice; in the second, the emphasis is on collisions which electrons make with the metal surface

Post occupancy analysis of nZEB implementation via the PH standard

Building regulations are currently under development across Europe in advance of the implementation of the nearly Zero Energy Buildings (nZEB) standard at national member state level. However, when revising the national building regulations to improve energy efficiency, few examples exist of the monitored performance of such dwellings, making informed decision-making difficult. This paper reports on the monitored performance of nZEB compliant dwellings which were built to the Passive House (PH) Standard. It finds that the PH bedroom CO2 concentrations are significantly better than in houses built to the current building regulations which use natural ventilation. KEYWORDS: IAQ, CO2, Passive House, nZEB, Cardon Dioxid

The predictive role of symptoms in COVID-19 diagnostic models : A longitudinal insight

Acknowledgements 2019nCoV-302 Study Group Members: The NVX-CoV2373-2019nCoV-302 clinical trial was a collective group effort across multiple institutions and locations. Below is a list of sites and staff that significantly contributed to the implementation and conduct of the NVX-CoV2373-2019nCoV-302 clinical trial.Peer reviewe

Effects of antiplatelet therapy on stroke risk by brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases: subgroup analyses of the RESTART randomised, open-label trial

Background Findings from the RESTART trial suggest that starting antiplatelet therapy might reduce the risk of recurrent symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage compared with avoiding antiplatelet therapy. Brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases (such as cerebral microbleeds) are associated with greater risks of recurrent intracerebral haemorrhage. We did subgroup analyses of the RESTART trial to explore whether these brain imaging features modify the effects of antiplatelet therapy

Safety and efficacy of the NVX-CoV2373 coronavirus disease 2019 vaccine at completion of the placebo-controlled phase of a randomized controlled trial

Background: The recombinant protein-based vaccine, NVX-CoV2373, demonstrated 89.7% efficacy against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in a phase 3, randomized, observer-blinded, placebo-controlled trial in the United Kingdom. The protocol was amended to include a blinded crossover. Data to the end of the placebo-controlled phase are reported. Methods: Adults aged 18–84 years received 2 doses of NVX-CoV2373 or placebo (1:1) and were monitored for virologically confirmed mild, moderate, or severe COVID-19 (onset from 7 days after second vaccination). Participants who developed immunoglobulin G (IgG) against nucleocapsid protein but did not show symptomatic COVID-19 were considered asymptomatic. Secondary outcomes included anti-spike (S) IgG responses, wild-type virus neutralization, and T-cell responses. Results: Of 15 185 participants, 13 989 remained in the per-protocol efficacy population (6989 NVX-CoV2373, 7000 placebo). At a maximum of 7.5 months (median, 4.5) postvaccination, there were 24 cases of COVID-19 among NVX-CoV2373 recipients and 134 cases among placebo recipients, a vaccine efficacy of 82.7% (95% confidence interval [CI], 73.3%–88.8%). Vaccine efficacy was 100% (95% CI, 17.9%–100.0%) against severe disease and 76.3% (95% CI, 57.4%–86.8%) against asymptomatic disease. High anti-S and neutralization responses to vaccination were evident, together with S-protein–specific induction of interferon-γ secretion in peripheral blood T cells. Incidence of serious adverse events and adverse events of special interest were similar between groups. Conclusions: A 2-dose regimen of NVX-CoV2373 conferred a high level of ongoing protection against asymptomatic, symptomatic, and severe COVID-19 through >6 months postvaccination. A gradual decrease of protection suggests that a booster may be indicated. Clinical Trials Registration: EudraCT, 2020-004123-16