Concert recording 2016-11-28

[Track 1]. Reading #1 Lieder nach Gedicht von Eduard Mörike. Das verlassene Mägdelein [Track 2]. Zitronenfalter im April Nixe Binsefuss [Track 3]. Verborgenheit / Hugo Wolf -- [Track 4]. Reading #2 Lieder nach Gedichten von Joseph von Eichendorff. Die Nacht [Track 5]. Verschwiegene Liebe [Track 6]. Die Zigeunerin / Hugo Wolf -- [Track 7]. Reading #3 Lieder nach Gedichten von Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. [Track 8]. Mignon I [Track 9]. Mignon II [Track 10]. Mignon (Kennst du das Land...) / Hugo Wolf -- [Track 11]. Reading #4 Spanisches Liederbuch. [Track 12]. Klinge, linge, mein Pandero [Track 13]. In dem Schatten meiner Locken [Track 14]. Mögen alle bösen Zungen / Hugo Wolf -- [Track 15]. Reading #5 Italienisches Liederbuch. [Track 16]. Auch kleine Dinge [Track 17]. Du denkst mit einem Fädchen mich zu fangen [Track 18]. Mein Liebster singt [Track 19]. Schweig einmal still [Track 20]. Ich hab in Pennan einen Liebsten wohnen [Track 21]. Encore / Hugo Wolf

Corrected QT Interval in Children With Brain Death

Prolongation of the QT interval is a well-documented finding in adults with severe brain injury. However, QT prolongation has not been well documented in the pediatric population with brain injury. Our objective was to determine the range of QT intervals in children with the diagnosis of brain death, hypothesizing that the QT interval corrected for heart rate (QTc) is longer in this population than in a normal population. All previously healthy children (<18 years) dying in our hospital from 1995 to 2007 with a diagnosis of brain death and at least one electrocardiogram (ECG) with normal anatomy by echocardiogram were included. Admission details, past medical and family history, demographic data, and laboratory data were collected. The QT and preceding RR intervals from three sinus beats on a standard 12-lead ECG were measured. The QTc was calculated with the Bazett method, and the values were averaged. Thirty-seven patients met inclusion criteria. Five had event histories concerning for possible underlying rhythm disturbances; data analysis was performed with and without these patients. The QTc data were normally distributed. The mean (SD) QTc for the entire cohort was 452 (61) ms. Excluding the five patients, it was 449 (62) ms. On multivariate analysis, sex (QTc female < male) and hypokalemia were associated with QTc prolongation. QTc in children with brain death is normally distributed but significantly longer than QTc in normal children. Until rapid genetic testing for channelopathies is universally available, our findings suggest that potential pediatric cardiac donors with isolated prolongation of the QTc in this setting may be acceptable in the absence of other exclusionary criteria

Investigation of divalent metal ion detection using 17E DNAzyme Biosensor

DNAzymes are in vitro selected oligonucleotides that can catalyze reactions, such as RNA cleavage. Most DNAzymes require metal ions as cofactors. Unlike ribozymes, which have been found in nature, all known DNAzymes are artificially selected from a pool of random nucleotide sequences by narrowing down specific sequences that exhibit the desired activities. Since the first reported selection, the field of research has exploded to examine its fundamental properties and potential applicability as a biosensor and therapeutic agent. 17E is one of the most extensively examined RNA-cleaving DNAzymes to date. The catalytic activity is observed to be the highest in the presence of Pb2+ as a cofactor. As a result, many studies have focused their attention on Pb2+. However, it exhibits varying degrees of catalytic activities in the presence of various divalent metals. The mechanism of which different metal ions assist with the RNA-cleaving reaction is still in debate. Further understanding of the DNAzyme activities in the presence of different metal ions, in a buffered environment as well as in complex samples, can provide valuable information for designing systems that utilize DNAzymes. Throughout the studies in this thesis, various aspects of the divalent metal ions and their interaction with the 17E DNAzyme are probed. Briefly, the phosphorothioate substitution at the pro-Rp position of the non-bridging oxygen significantly decreased cleavage activity while the pro-Sp position was unaffected for less thiophilic metals, such as Mg2+, Mn2+, and Co2+. This indicates that the pro-Rp position at the cleavage site plays an important role. However, thiophilic metals, such as Cd2+, did not show significantly different activity between the Rp and Sp isomers. Water ligand exchange rates were also found to be correlated to the observed cleavage rates, which may suggest an inner-sphere coordination mechanism. Inhibition by the free phosphate was also quantified and found to correlate to the rate constants of each metal ion, which indirectly indicates that the metal-phosphate affinity correlates to the cleavage activity. Comparing to the available mechanism data for Pb2+ with 8-17 DNAzymes, it can be suggested that other divalent metal ions work via a different mechanism than Pb2+. While Pb2+ cleaves the RNA cleavage site by a general acid/base mechanism, other divalent metals are suggested to act as Lewis acids. Screening of different transition metals found that Fe2+ exhibits high activity with 17E and the metal was studied in more depth. While Fe3+ shows no activity, maintaining the oxidation state of Fe2+ in an inert atmosphere or the presence of reducing agents could cleave the substrate with the DNAzyme. Studies with ribozymes reported that Fe2+ could replace Mg2+ and this observation provides insights about the role of Fe2+ in the early earth. Comparison with different DNAzymes that are active with Mg2+ found that Fe2+ can also replace Mg2+ for DNAzymes as well. The Fe2+ increased the reaction rates compared to Mg2+ by 21-fold for 17E, 25-fold for 8-17, and 1-fold for E5. pH higher than 7.2 was found to degrade the DNA in the presence of high Fe2+ concentration. The use of reducing agents, such as ascorbate, or N2 environment could reduce oxidation to Fe3+ which does not exhibit any cleavage reaction activities. For detecting metal ions in more complex samples, metal-protein binding interaction may be affecting the overall observed DNAzyme activity by decreasing the effective metal concentrations. Examining the model protein of bovine serum albumin (BSA) and its interaction with different metal ions, the decreased DNAzyme activities were correlated to the BSA-metal binding. Fluorescence polarization assay results indicated minimal binding of the BSA with the 17E DNAzyme, but longer NaH1 DNAzyme was observed to bind with the protein. These observations identify the need to consider protein-metal interaction when designing intracellular DNAzyme biosensors for metal quantification. Throughout this thesis, aspects concerning the divalent metal ion detection using the 17E DNAzyme as a biosensor are carefully examined to further our fundamental understanding. Mainly, the mechanism of metal-phosphate interaction is probed. Fe2+ behaviour with the 17E DNAzymes was also examined for the first time. Understanding the metal-dependent activities and the interaction with proteins in complex samples can guide improved biosensor designs for future applications

Graduated scenarios: Modelling critical reflective thinking in creative disciplines

This article describes the development and implementation of Jenny Moon’s ‘Graduated scenarios’ (2004, 2001, 2009) in the disciplinary context of media production. Graduated scenarios have previously been used to model different levels of critical thinking and reflection and have been based on situations and experiences that can be related to by a wide range of people. Our development of them in a specific creative disciplinary context, for use by students within that context, represents an evolution of the process, but we also consider the possible reception of such models in the context of debates around academic literacies and the degree to which they may be seen and used as contributing to an orthodoxy of expression. We acknowledge that this experiment in writing and pedagogy may be perceived as providing ‘exemplars of standards’, but argue that it actually models differing depths of thinking, and also opens up discussion about orthodoxies of academic writing. Our four models of different levels of critical reflective writing are provided as appendices, and may be used or adapted as necessary. The production of such graduated accounts is ‘effortful work’, but the process can help us (academics) to better understand our own, as well as facilitating learners’, concepts of depth and ‘good practice’