Interfictional Identities: Transformation and Dissimulation in the Early Modern Period

Interfictional Identities develops the concept of interfictional transformations. In these transformations, characters in early modern texts adopt new identities rooted in previous literature. Specifically, Interfictional Identities explores how four early modern moments of interfictional transformation—of Nick Bottom in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, of Pyrocles in Sidney’s New Arcadia, of Uriel da Costa in A Specimen of Human Life, and of Don Quixote in Cervantes’ novel—produce both literary and literal hybridity. One wonders why, in these works, writers and playwrights such as Shakespeare, Sidney, Da Costa, and Cervantes favor interfictional transformations over mere allusions to classical literature, or, for that matter, disguises that do not allude to previous literature. A time of religious and ideological crisis, the early modern period called for dissimulation and self-fashioning in order to conceal one’s true beliefs and identity. Interfictional Identities explores how interfictional transformations encourage a confrontation with “the other within.” Though scholars have studied early modern transformations and hybridity as representations of national and cultural encounters with “the other,” little has been written on intertextual transformations as images of dissimulation and as representations of the necessity to negotiate identity during the Reformation and Counter-Reformation. The nonhuman-human hybrid, the cross-dresser, the converso, and the madman become distinctive literary images of the period, representing the fear of confronting the unfamiliar-familiar other. Taken together, these transformation narratives reflect the social anxiety of dissimulation, through which early modern readers and audiences encounter their own radically hybrid identities

Variability in the analysis of a single neuroimaging dataset by many teams

Data analysis workflows in many scientific domains have become increasingly complex and flexible. Here we assess the effect of this flexibility on the results of functional magnetic resonance imaging by asking 70 independent teams to analyse the same dataset, testing the same 9 ex-ante hypotheses. The flexibility of analytical approaches is exemplified by the fact that no two teams chose identical workflows to analyse the data. This flexibility resulted in sizeable variation in the results of hypothesis tests, even for teams whose statistical maps were highly correlated at intermediate stages of the analysis pipeline. Variation in reported results was related to several aspects of analysis methodology. Notably, a meta-analytical approach that aggregated information across teams yielded a significant consensus in activated regions. Furthermore, prediction markets of researchers in the field revealed an overestimation of the likelihood of significant findings, even by researchers with direct knowledge of the dataset. Our findings show that analytical flexibility can have substantial effects on scientific conclusions, and identify factors that may be related to variability in the analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging. The results emphasize the importance of validating and sharing complex analysis workflows, and demonstrate the need for performing and reporting multiple analyses of the same data. Potential approaches that could be used to mitigate issues related to analytical variability are discussed

Results of a whole genome scan targeting QTL for growth and carcass traits in a Piétrain × Large White intercross

We herein report the results of a whole genome scan performed in a Piétrain × Large White intercross counting 525 offspring to map QTL influencing economically important growth and carcass traits. We report experiment-wide significant lod scores (> 4.6 for meatiness and fat deposition on chromosome SSC2, and for average daily gain and carcass length on chromosome SSC7. Additional suggestive lod scores (> 3.3) for fat deposition are reported on chromosomes SSC1, SSC7 and SSC13. A significant dominance deviation was found for the QTL on SSC1, while the hypothesis of an additive QTL could not be rejected for the QTL on SSC7 and SSC13. No evidence for imprinted QTL could be found for QTL other than the one previously reported on SSC2

Early Initiation of Oral Antihypertensives Reduces Intensive Care Unit Stay and Hospital Cost for Patients with Hypertensive Intracerebral Hemorrhage.

Background/objectiveIntravenous nicardipine infusion is effective for rapid blood pressure control. However, its use requires hemodynamic monitoring in the intensive care unit (ICU) and is associated with high hospital cost. This study aimed to examine the effect of early versus late initiation of oral antihypertensives on ICU length of stay (LOS) and cost of hospitalization in patients with hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH).MethodsThis is a single-center retrospective study of patients with hypertensive ICH treated with nicardipine infusion from January 1, 2013, to December 31, 2017. Patients were dichotomized into study and control groups, based on receiving oral antihypertensives within 24 h versus after 24 h of emergency department arrival. Baseline characteristics, duration of nicardipine infusion, LOS in the ICU and hospital, functional outcome at discharge, and hospital cost were compared between the two groups using univariate and multivariate analysis.ResultsA total of 90 patients in the study group and 76 in the control group were identified. There was no significant difference in demographics, past medical history, and initial SBP between the two groups. After adjusting for confounding factors with multivariate regression models, early initiation of oral antihypertensives was associated with significant reductions in duration of nicardipine infusion (55.5 ± 60.1 vs 121.6 ± 141.3 h, p <0.005), nicardipine cost ($14,207 vs$29,299, p < 0.01), ICU LOS (2 vs 5 days, p < 0.005), and cost of hospitalization ($24,564 vs$47,366, p < 0.01). There was no significant difference in adversary renal events, favorable outcomes, and mortality between the two groups.ConclusionsEarly initiation of oral antihypertensives is safe and may have a significant financial impact on patients with hypertensive ICH

Resettlement at risk: meeting emerging challenges to refugee resettlement in local communities

Overview of refugee resettlement and anti-refugees in the United States, with specific information on New Hampshire and Manchester as one of three states that recently attempted to stop refugee resettlement

Influence of temperature on conservability of chilled vacuum packed beef from different origins

peer reviewedaudience: researcher, professionalThe objective of this experiment was to study the conservability of chilled vacuum-packed meat depending on storage temperature (–1 °C vs. +4 °C) during the last third of their shelf life. Physicochemical parameters (pH and colour) and microbiological growth (total aerobic bacteria, lactic acid bacteria, Enterobacteriaceae, Pseudomonas spp. and Brochothrix thermosphacta) of Longissimus dorsi samples from different origins (United Kingdom and Ireland, Australia and Brazil) were measured at: i) 2/3 of their shelf life and ii) the end of their shelf life. Sample bacteria population growing on MRS was identified by API 50 CHL strips. Unlike Irish and British samples, pH of some Australian and Brazilian samples decreased during conservation. The colour of the samples remained stable and it did not seem to be influenced by temperature. All samples conserved at –1 °C presented a satisfactory microbiological quality at the end of their shelf life (British and Irish meat = 35~45 days; Australian meat = 140 days and Brazilian meat = 120 days). On Australian and Brazilian samples, temperature did not influence total aerobic bacteria growth, but conservation at +4 °C favoured lactic acid bacteria and Enterobacteriaceae growth. API 50 CHL strip identifications revealed the presence of bacteria like Lactobacillus brevis, Carnobacterium maltaromaticum and Lactobacillus fermentum, which occur naturally in fresh meat and are known for their bioprotective effect against other microorganisms. Further analyses are being carried out using molecular methods in order to study the initial bacteria population diversity and it evolution during storage.CONSBBB - Conservation longue durée de la viande fraîche de bovins Blanc-Bleu Belge : contraintes, évaluation et recommandation

Assessment of bacterial superficial contamination in classical or ritually slaughtered cattle using metagenetics and microbiological analysis

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of the slaughter technique (Halal vs. Classical slaughter) on the superficial contamination of cattle carcasses, by using traditional microbiological procedures and 16S rDNA metagenetics. The purpose was also to investigate the neck area to identify bacteria originating from the digestive or the respiratory tract. Twenty bovine carcasses (10 from each group) were swabbed at the slaughterhouse, where both slaughtering methods are practiced. Two swabbing areas were chosen: one “legal” zone of 1,600 cm2 (composed of zones from rump, flank, brisket and forelimb) and locally on the neck area (200 cm2). Samples were submitted to classical microbiology for aerobic Total Viable Counts (TVC) at 30°C and Enterobacteriaceae counts, while metagenetic analysis was performed on the same samples. The classical microbiological results revealed no significant differences between both slaughtering practices; with values between 3.95 and 4.87 log CFU/100 cm2 and 0.49 and 1.94 log CFU/100 cm2, for TVC and Enterobacteriaceae respectively. Analysis of pyrosequencing data showed that differences in the bacterial population abundance between slaughtering methods were mainly observed in the “legal” swabbing zone compared to the neck area. Bacterial genera belonging to the Actinobacteria phylum were more abundant in the “legal” swabbing zone in “Halal” samples, while Brevibacterium and Corynebacterium were encountered more in “Halal” samples, in all swabbing areas. This was also the case for Firmicutes bacterial populations (families of Aerococcaceae, Planococcaceae). Except for Planococcoceae, the analysis of Operational Taxonomic Unit (OTU) abundances of bacteria from the digestive or respiratory tract revealed no differences between groups. In conclusion, the slaughtering method does not influence the superficial microbiological pattern in terms of specific microbiological markers of the digestive or respiratory tract. However, precise analysis of taxonomy at the genus level taxonomy highlights differences between swabbing areas. Although not clearly proven in this study, differences in hygiene practices used during both slaughtering protocols could explain the differences in contamination between carcasses from both slaughtering groups