For the Progress of “Faustus and Helen”: Crane, Whitman, and the Metropolitan Progress Poem

This essay is meant to invigorate a critical discussion of the progress poem—a genre that, while prevalent in American literature, has been virtually ignored by critics and scholars. In lieu of tackling the genre in its entirety, a project too large for just one article, the author focuses the argument through the well-known alignment between Walt Whitman and Hart Crane on the subject of the modern city. It is through the progress poem genre that Crane and Whitman’s peculiar place in metropolitan poetics can best be understood, and it is through their poetry that scholars can begin to approach the broader issue of the progress poem’s place in American literature. Cet article vise à soulever un débat critique au sujet de la poésie du progrès, un genre courant dans la littérature étatsunienne, mais pratiquement ignoré par les critiques et les commentateurs. Plutôt que d’aborder le genre dans son entièreté – un projet qui déborde du cadre d’un article –, l’auteur resserre l’argumentation autour du parallèle bien connu entre Walt Whitman et Hart Crane concernant le traitement de la ville moderne. C’est la poésie du progrès en tant que genre qui permet le mieux de comprendre la place particulière qu’occupent ces deux auteurs dans la poésie métropolitaine, et c’est par leurs poèmes que les chercheurs peuvent aborder la question plus vaste de la place du poème sur le progrès dans la littérature étatsunienne

Comparison of the CRASH Score–predicted and real outcome of traumatic brain injury in a retrospective analysis of 417 patients

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this retrospective study was to externally validate the CRASH (Corticosteroid Randomisation After Significant Head Injury) clinical calculator as a prognostic tool. Mortality at 14 days and an unfavorable outcome (i.e., Glasgow Outcome Scale score <4) after 6 months were the primary endpoints. METHODS: The study included adult patients admitted to the emergency department of Ghent University Hospital during 2010-2014 with traumatic brain injury. The CRASH score was calculated for every patient and compared with real-life outcome at 14 days and 6 months. Researchers were blinded for each other's results, and each observer either calculated the CRASH score or obtained clinical outcome. Receiver operating characteristic analysis was used to validate the CRASH calculator. The prognostic value of other variables was tested using logistic regression (P < 0.05 was significant). RESULTS: Of 417 included patients with traumatic brain injury, 94.7% were still alive at 14 days, and 65% had a Glasgow Outcome Scale score >= 4 at 6 months. Receiver operating characteristic analysis showed an area under the curve of 92.1% at 14 days and 90.7% at 6 months (P< 0.05). Calculated cutoff value for the CRASH score at 14 days was 31.50% (sensitivity 0.823, specificity 0.895). At 6 months, calculated cutoff value was 55.75% (sensitivity 0.793, specificity 0.830). CONCLUSIONS: The CRASH calculator is a good predictor of outcome in traumatic brain injury at 14 days and 6 months with high sensitivity and specificity. It does not replace clinical judgment of the physician treating the patient in the emergency department, but it constitutes a useful additional tool

Chronic subthreshold cortical stimulation: A promising therapy for motor cortex seizures

Chronic subthreshold cortical stimulation (CSCS) is a form of neurostimulation consisting of continuous or cyclic, open-loop, subthreshold electrical stimulation of a well-defined epileptogenic zone (EZ). CSCS has seen limited clinical use but could be a safe and effective long-term treatment of focal drug resistant epilepsy, in particular when the EZ is located in the motor cortex. We present a case of a 49-year-old woman suffering from debilitating focal motor seizures. Treatment with CSCS resulted in significant clinical improvement, enabling her to walk unaided for the first time in years