Gather at the Table: The Healing Journey of a Daughter of Slavery and a Son of the Slave Trade

ABSTRACT Two people from diverse backgrounds — a black woman and a white man — embarked upon a three-year “healing journey” to attempt to overcome the trauma of historic harms brought on by America’s legacy of slavery and the lingering effects of present-day racism. Illustrated through the stories of their lives—and those of their ancestors — Gather at the Table is informed by trauma healing, restorative justice, and peacebuilding skills the authors learned through their work at Eastern Mennonite University and its STAR (Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience) and Coming to the Table programs. EMU is an acclaimed resource for peacebuilding, having introduced their healing models in war ravaged countries around the world. Coming to the Table began as an initiative focused on linking descendants of enslaved people with the descendants of those by whom they were enslaved. Morgan and DeWolf decided to “live” the Coming to the Table model together. The legacy of slavery remains a horrendous and unhealed wound, a disease that must be diagnosed, treated, and cured. The approach shared in Gather at the Table may just make it possible to heal. This is the story of two people who decided to try. What follows is excerpted from Gather at the Table, which will be published by Beacon Press in October 2012

The Relationship of the Clinical Disc Margin and Bruch's Membrane Opening in Normal and Glaucoma Subjects.

PurposeWe tested the hypotheses that the mismatch between the clinical disc margin (CDM) and Bruch's membrane opening (BMO) is a function of BMO area (BMOA) and is affected by the presence of glaucoma.MethodsA total of 45 normal eyes (45 subjects) and 53 glaucomatous eyes (53 patients) were enrolled and underwent radial optic nerve head (ONH) imaging with spectral domain optical coherence tomography. The inner tip of the Bruch's membrane (BM) and the clinical disc margin were marked on radial scans and optic disc photographs, and were coregistered with custom software. The main outcome measure was the difference between the clinical disc area (CDA) and BMOA, or CDA-BMOA mismatch, as a function of BMOA and diagnosis. Multivariate regression analyses were used to explore the influence of glaucoma and BMOA on the mismatch.ResultsGlobal CDA was larger than BMOA in both groups but the difference was statistically significant only in the normal group (1.98 ± 0.37 vs. 1.85 ± 0.45 mm2, P = 0.02 in the normal group; 1.96 ± 0.38 vs. 1.89 ± 0.56 mm2, P = 0.08 in the glaucoma group). The sectoral CDA-BMOA mismatch was smaller in superotemporal (P = 0.04) and superonasal (P = 0.05) sectors in the glaucoma group. The normalized CDA-BMOA difference decreased with increasing BMOA in both groups (P < 0.001). Presence or severity of glaucoma did not affect the CDA-BMOA difference (P > 0.14).ConclusionsClinical disc area was larger than BMOA in normal and glaucoma eyes but reached statistical significance only in the former group. The CDA-BMOA mismatch diminished with increasing BMOA but was not affected by presence of glaucoma. These findings have important clinical implications regarding clinical evaluation of the ONH

Understanding Factors Contributing to Community Change

This paper describes the work of the Community Change Network, a collaboration of university researchers and practitioners to understand the factors that contribute to lasting community changes. It describes the resources available as well as what has been accomplished regarding this issue

Do paramedics have a role to play in organ donation?

The future role paramedics may play in organ donation is unclear, and potential ethical, legal and professional issues need to be thoroughly researched and addressed

Taper-Trunion Interface Stresses in Metal on Metal Hip Implants

Metal on metal (MoM) total hip arthroplasty describes a hip joint replacement where a metal (cobalt chromium) femoral head articulates against a metal socket. This implant scenario has generally been successful until recently when larger (\u3e 36 mm) metal heads have become more popular as a means to reduce the incidence of hip joint dislocation. Today, the number of clinical failures (described by fretting corrosion and a need for revision surgery) of MoM total hip arthroplasty is occurring at unacceptable rates. The objective of our research was to investigate the effect of horizontal lever arm (HLA), a geometric variable that increases with femoral head size, on trunnion-taper contact stresses. We hypothesized that trunnion-taper contact stresses increase with head size. Such increases may be responsible for increases in the potential for fretting wear and subsequent corrosion. We tested our hypothesis by conducting finite element analysis (FEA) of a titanium alloy hip stem and five femoral heads under four different loading conditions. The implant and head were assembled in such a way to simulate a Morse-taper fit. Four load cases were applied: the average force experienced during single legged stance, the average and maximum force experience during stair climbing and the force experienced during stumbling. The maximum von Mises stresses experienced at the trunnion-taper interface for each load were compared. Our results showed that increasing the head size of the implant increases the stresses experienced by the trunnion and taper for stairclimbing and stumbling due to the offset in loading with respect to the trunnion axis. Certain load cases, such as stair climbing and stumbling, with a larger HLA cause the trunnion to experience stresses close to or exceeding the yield strength of the implant material, which may contribute to an increase in fretting wear at the trunnion-taper junction. It was concluded that smaller to mid-sized heads (≤ 36mm) should be used for implants, in order to avoid high trunnion-taper interface stresses that occur for certain loading conditions

Potent in vivo anti-malarial activity and representative snapshot pharmacokinetic evaluation of artemisinin-quinoline hybrids

BACKGROUND:Because Plasmodium falciparum displays increase tolerance against the recommended artemisinin combination therapies (ACT), new classes of anti-malarial drugs are urgently required. Previously synthesized artemisinin-aminoquinoline hybrids were evaluated to ascertain whether the potent low nanomolar in vitro anti-plasmodial activity would carry over in vivo against Plasmodium vinckei. A snapshot pharmacokinetic analysis was carried out on one of the hybrids to obtain an indication of the pharmacokinetic properties of this class of anti-malarial drugs. METHODS: In vitro activity of hybrids 2 and 3 were determined against the 3D7 strain of P. falciparum. Plasmodium vinckei-infected mice were treated with hybrids 1 - 3 for four days at a dosage of 0.8mg/kg, 2.5mg/kg, 7.5mg/kg or 15mg/kg intraperitoneally (ip), or orally (per os) with 2.7mg/kg, 8.3mg/kg, 25mg/kg or 50mg/kg. Artesunate was used as reference drug. A snapshot oral and IV pharmacokinetic study was performed on hybrid 2. RESULTS: Hybrids 1 - 3 displayed potent in vivo anti-malarial activity with ED50 of 1.1, 1.4 and <0.8mg/kg by the ip route and 12, 16 and 13mg/kg per os, respectively. Long-term monitoring of parasitaemia showed a complete cure of mice (without recrudescence) at 15mg/kg via ip route and at 50mg/kg by oral route for hybrid 1 and 2, whereas artesunate was only able to provide a complete cure at 30mg/kg ip and 80mg/kg per os. CONCLUSIONS: These compounds provide a new class of desperately needed anti-malarial drug. Despite a short half-life and moderate oral bioavailability, this class of compounds was able to cure malaria in mice at very low dosages. The optimum linker length for anti-malarial activity was found to be a diaminoalkyl chain consisting of two carbon atoms either methylated or unmethylated