Letter to Mary Oliver regarding SEAALL membership, November 4, 1953

A letter from Leonard Oppenheim to Mary Oliver expressing Oppenheim\u27s interest in joining SEAALL

Cytotoxic chemotherapy for incurable colorectal cancer: living with a PICC-line

<b>Aims.</b> (i) To determine which aspects of living with a peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) line cause Modified de Gramont (MdG) patients most difficulty. (ii) To explore MdG patients' views of the PICC-line experience. (iii) To determine if patients view PICC-lines as a benefit or a burden when receiving ambulatory MdG chemotherapy. <b>Design.</b> A two-stage, descriptive study. <b>Methods.</b> Phase 1 comprised semi-structured interviews. Phase 2 surveyed the MdG population. Phase 1 interview data informed the Phase 2 questionnaire. The setting was a West of Scotland Cancer Care Centre and the sample was: Phase 1, a convenience sample of 10 MdG patients; Phase 2, 62 consecutive patients. <b>Results.</b> A response rate of 93·9% for Phase 2. The majority of PICC-line patients held favourable views towards having a PICC-line and adapted well with minimal disruption to daily life. Concerns were evident regarding coping at home with a PICC-line, chemotherapy spillage, dealing with complex information and the responsibility of patients/carers regarding PICC-line management. Patients preferred ambulatory chemotherapy to in-patient treatment. <b>Conclusions.</b> PICC-lines should be considered for more chemotherapy patients but service development is necessary to ensure individual needs are addressed. <b>Relevance to clinical practice.</b> Contributes to the PICC-line literature by providing a national patient perspective on a range of daily living activities (DLAs). PICC-line patients prefer out-patient ambulatory chemotherapy rather than in-patient treatment. The longer a patient has a PICC-line, the more able they are to manage activities such as dressing. Concerns remain over chemotherapy spillage, partner/carer responsibility for PICC-line maintenance and the proper balance between required information and what the patient wants to know

A dual-role typology of multinational subsidiaries

This paper argues that, since a subsidiary is embedded in a dual context of both the MNE and the host environment, its strategic role should be assessed by its relative positions and contributions both within the knowledge networks of the MNE and the host country. Based on this, we develop a dual-role typology. The 369 multinational subsidiaries in our sample from China can be classified into as many as 12 out of the 16 conceptual groups of the typology. Our results indicate that dual activists (active both internally and externally) account for only 12% of the total sampled multinational subsidiaries while dual loners (inactive both internally and externally) reach 20%. The results from a larger sample by adding 113 minority foreign share firms show that external knowledge links are positively associated with local Chinese ownership. The central message from this paper is that a large proportion of foreign-invested firms in China are inactive in knowledge exchange either internally or externally or both. Managerial and policy implications are discussed

A generation apart? Youth and political participation in Britain

Conventional wisdom holds that young people in Britain are alienated from politics, with some claiming that this reflects a wider crisis of legitimacy that should be met by initiatives to increase citizenship. This article addresses these areas, presenting both panel survey and focus group data from first-time voters. It concludes that, contrary to the findings from many predominantly quantitative studies of political participation, young people are interested in political matters, and do support the democratic process. However they feel a sense of anti-climax having voted for the first time, and are critical of those who have been elected to positions of political power. If they are a generation apart, this is less to do with apathy, and more to do with their engaged scepticism about ‘formal’ politics in Britain

Input and age-dependent variation in second language learning: A connectionist account

Language learning requires linguistic input, but several studies have found that knowledge of second language (L2) rules does not seem to improve with more language exposure (e.g., Johnson & Newport, 1989). One reason for this is that previous studies did not factor out variation due to the different rules tested. To examine this issue, we reanalyzed grammaticality judgment scores in Flege, Yeni‐Komshian, and Liu's (1999) study of L2 learners using rule‐related predictors and found that, in addition to the overall drop in performance due to a sensitive period, L2 knowledge increased with years of input. Knowledge of different grammar rules was negatively associated with input frequency of those rules. To better understand these effects, we modeled the results using a connectionist model that was trained using Korean as a first language (L1) and then English as an L2. To explain the sensitive period in L2 learning, the model's learning rate was reduced in an age‐related manner. By assigning different learning rates for syntax and lexical learning, we were able to model the difference between early and late L2 learners in input sensitivity. The model's learning mechanism allowed transfer between the L1 and L2, and this helped to explain the differences between different rules in the grammaticality judgment task. This work demonstrates that an L1 model of learning and processing can be adapted to provide an explicit account of how the input and the sensitive period interact in L2 learning

The Role of Inflammatory Mediators in the Pathogenesis of Otitis Media and Sequelae

This review deals with the characteristics of various inflammatory mediators identified in the middle ear during otitis media and in cholesteatoma. The role of each inflammatory mediator in the pathogenesis of otitis media and cholesteatoma has been discussed. Further, the relation of each inflammatory mediator to the pathophysiology of the middle and inner ear along with its mechanisms of pathological change has been described. The mechanisms of hearing loss including sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) as a sequela of otitis media are also discussed. The passage of inflammatory mediators through the round window membrane into the scala tympani is indicated. In an experimental animal model, an application of cytokines and lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a bacterial toxin, on the round window membrane induced sensorineural hearing loss as identified through auditory brainstem response threshold shifts. An increase in permeability of the blood-labyrinth barrier (BLB) was observed following application of these inflammatory mediators and LPS. The leakage of the blood components into the lateral wall of the cochlea through an increase in BLB permeability appears to be related to the sensorineural hearing loss by hindering K+ recycling through the lateral wall disrupting the ion homeostasis of the endolymph. Further studies on the roles of various inflammatory mediators and bacterial toxins in inducing the sensorineumral hearing loss in otitis media should be pursued

Connective tissue activation. xxxvi. the origin, variety, distribution, and biologic fate of connective tissue activating peptide–iii isoforms: characteristics in patients with rheumatic, renal, and arterial disease

Objective. To determine the origin, distribution, and biologic fate of platelet-derived connective tissue activating peptide–III (CTAP-III), to define the relative amounts of the antigen forms (CTAP-III, betathromboglobulin [Β-TG], neutrophil activating peptide–2 [NAP-2]) in plasma of normal persons and those with rheumatic or end-stage renal disease, and to define the isoforms of CTAP-III in platelets, plasma, transudates, and tissue deposits. Methods. CTAP-III in plasma was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and growth promoting activity of CTAP-III isoforms was tested in synovial and peritoneal cell cultures by measuring increased synthesis of 14 C-glycosaminoglycan ( 14 C-GAG) and 3 H-DNA. Isolated CTAP-III was characterized by Western blotting, microsequencing, and mass spectrometry. Results. CTAP-III was the primary isoform of this antigen family in normal platelets and platelet-rich plasma; Β-TG and NAP-2 accounted for 90%), and Β-TG was the most rare (0–1%). Deposition of CTAP-III in tissues, such as synovium, spleen, and kidney, is associated with partial processing to NAP-2–like isoforms and the potential to induce neutrophil and fibroblast activation in patients with rheumatic or end-stage renal disease.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/37798/1/1780360816_ftp.pd