The Marduk Archives: A Take on Thresholds

A fictional screenplay exploring the relationship between absurdity and convention as it pertains to the shifting cultural paradigms of our society. (Under the direction of Beth Spencer

Stay and fight it out : Henry W. Slocum and America\u27s Civil War

This dissertation examines the life of Henry W. Slocum, focusing particularly on his time as a commander in the Civil War. Born in Onondaga County, New York on September 24, 1827, Slocum initially followed a military tack, but later left the army to engage in law and business. When war broke out in 1861, he tendered his services to the government as colonel of the 27th New York regiment. He commanded these men at Bull Run, where he was wounded in the leg. Receiving a promotion to brigadier general, he took command of a brigade, and later a division during McClellan\u27s Peninsula Campaign in 1862. At the end of the campaign, he was promoted to Major General, but continued to command a division until Joseph Mansfield\u27s death at Antietam where he took over the helm of the Twelfth Corps. Slocum led the Twelfth through the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. In the Fall of 1863, the War Department transferred him west with his corps. Forced to serve under Joseph I-looker, a commander he hated, Slocum threatened to resign several times. As such, Ulysses S. Grant sent Slocum to command the District of Vicksburg. When Hooker resigned outside Atlanta, William T. Sherman called Slocum back to take command of the Twentieth Corps, which he led through the remainder of the Atlanta Campaign. Slocum watched over the city while Sherman chased Hood into Alabama and Tennessee, and then commanded the left wing of Sherman\u27s infamous marches to the sea and through the Carolinas. For a brief time after the war, the commanded again at Vicksburg, but soon resigned to return to business and politics. After the war, Slocum excelled in his business ventures, but failed in politics. Immediately after his resignation from the army, he became a Democrat, without fully understanding the consequences. The Republican press attacked him with a vengeance, but he was able to achieve some success after moving to heavily democratic Brooklyn, New York. Slocum died on 14 April 1894 of pneumonia in his home in Brooklyn. In 1902, the nation officially remembered him in bronze by placing a statue on Culp\u27s Hill on the Gettysburg battlefield

Mapping Past, Present, and Future Climatic Suitability for Invasive Aedes Aegypti and Aedes Albopictus in the United States: A Process-Based Modeling Approach Using CMIP5 Downscaled Climate Scenarios

The ongoing spread of the mosquitoes, Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, in the continental United States leaves new areas at risk for local transmission of dengue, chikungunya, and Zika viruses. All three viruses have caused major disease outbreaks in the Americas with infected travelers returning regularly to the U.S. The expanding range of these mosquitoes raises questions about whether recent spread has been enabled by climate change or other anthropogenic influences. In this analysis, we used downscaled climate scenarios from the NASA Earth Exchange Global Daily Downscaled Projections (NEX GDDP) dataset to model Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus population growth rates across the United States. We used a stage-structured matrix population model to understand past and present climatic suitability for these vectors, and to project future suitability under CMIP5 climate change scenarios. Our results indicate that much of the southern U.S. is suitable for both Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus year-round. In addition, a large proportion of the U.S. is seasonally suitable for mosquito population growth, creating the potential for periodic incursions into new areas. Changes in climatic suitability in recent decades for Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus have occurred already in many regions of the U.S., and model projections of future climate suggest that climate change will continue to reshape the range of Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus in the U.S., and potentially the risk of the viruses they transmit

Acupressure to Reduce Treatment-Related Symptoms for Children With Cancer and Recipients of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.

BackgroundWe describe the study design and protocol of a pragmatic randomized controlled trial (RCT) Acupressure for Children in Treatment for a Childhood Cancer (ACT-CC).ObjectiveTo describe the feasibility and effectiveness of an acupressure intervention to decrease treatment-related symptoms in children in treatment for cancer or recipients of a chemotherapy-based hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT).DesignTwo-armed RCTs with enrollment of 5 to 30 study days.SettingTwo pediatric teaching hospitals.PatientsEighty-five children receiving cancer treatment or a chemotherapy-based HSCT each with 1 parent or caregiver.InterventionPatients are randomized 1:1 to receive either usual care plus daily professional acupressure and caregiver delivered acupressure versus usual care alone for symptom management. Participants receive up to 20 professional treatments.Main outcomeA composite nausea/vomiting measure for the child.Secondary outcomesChild's nausea, vomiting, pain, fatigue, depression, anxiety, and positive affect.Parent outcomesDepression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress symptoms, caregiver self-efficacy, and positive affect. Feasibility of delivering the semistandardized intervention will be described. Linear mixed models will be used to compare outcomes between arms in children and parents, allowing for variability in diagnosis, treatment, and age.DiscussionTrial results could help childhood cancer and HSCT treatment centers decide about the regular inclusion of trained acupressure providers to support symptom management

In vivo reprogramming of pancreatic acinar cells to three islet endocrine subtypes

Direct lineage conversion of adult cells is a promising approach for regenerative medicine. A major challenge of lineage conversion is to generate specific cell subtypes. The pancreatic islets contain three major hormone-secreting endocrine subtypes: insulin+ β-cells, glucagon+ α-cells, and somatostatin+ δ-cells. We previously reported that a combination of three transcription factors, Ngn3, Mafa, and Pdx1, directly reprograms pancreatic acinar cells to β-cells. We now show that acinar cells can be converted to δ-like and α-like cells by Ngn3 and Ngn3+Mafa respectively. Thus, three major islet endocrine subtypes can be derived by acinar reprogramming. Ngn3 promotes establishment of a generic endocrine state in acinar cells, and also promotes δ-specification in the absence of other factors. δ-specification is in turn suppressed by Mafa and Pdx1 during α- and β-cell induction. These studies identify a set of defined factors whose combinatorial actions reprogram acinar cells to distinct islet endocrine subtypes in vivo. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.01846.00

Hebb repetition effects for non-verbal visual sequences: determinants of sequence acquisition.

We report four experiments premised upon the work of Horton et al. (2008) and Page et al. (2013), and explore conditions under which the visual Hebb repetition effect is observed. Experiment 1 showed that repetition learning is evident when the items comprising the non- repeated (filler) sequences and the repeated (Hebb) sequences are different (no-overlap). However, learning is abolished when the filler and Hebb sequences comprise the same items (full-overlap). Learning of the repeated sequence persisted when repetition spacing was increased to 6 trials (Experiment 2), consistent with that shown for verbal stimuli (Page et al., 2013). In Experiment 3 it was shown that learning for the repeated sequence is accentuated when the output motor response at test is also repeated for the Hebb sequence, but only under conditions of no-overlap. In Experiment 4, repetition spacing was re-examined with a repeated motor output response (a closer methodological analogue to Page et al., 2013). Under these conditions, the gradient of Hebb repetition learning for 6 trial repetition intervals was markedly similar to that for 3 trial intervals. These findings further support the universality of the Hebb repetition effect across memory and are discussed in terms of evidence for amodality within sequence memory

Indications and Relative Utility of Lower Endoscopy in the Management of Clostridium difficile Infection

Background. Diagnosis and management of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) rely upon clinical assessments and diagnostic studies. Among diagnostic tests, lower gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy in the setting of CDI remains controversial. Objective. To describe the role of lower endoscopy in CDI management. Methods. Retrospective study of lower endoscopies in CDI at four metropolitan hospitals, July 2005 through December 2007. Results. Of 1760 CDI inpatients, 45 lower endoscopies were performed on 43 patients. Most common indications were ruling out other etiologies (42%), inconclusive stool studies (36%), and worsening course (11%). Most endoscopies (73%) had positive findings, including pseudomembranous colitis (49%) and nonspecific colitis (24%). Biopsies were performed in 31 cases, more with nonspecific colitis (10/11, 92%) compared to pseudomembranous colitis (14/22, 64%). Conclusion. While not recommended as a primary screening tool, lower GI endoscopy can add valuable information in CDI when other colonic pathologies may exist, studies are inconclusive, or clinical status worsens