Death and Birth in the Urban Landscape: Strabo on Troy and Rome

Although Strabo provides lengthy accounts of Troy and Rome in the Geography, the role of these cities in his geographical thinking has received little attention from scholars. This article argues that for Strabo, Rome and Troy serve as exemplars of the progression of human civilization from Homeric prehistory to the Augustan present. They are paradigmatic “rising” and “fallen” cities, through which the lifecycles of all cities in the oikoumenē can be understood. Moreover, in his treatment of the fall of Troy and the rise of Rome, Strabo departs from his Augustan-era contemporaries by illustrating the historical interactions of each city with its respective region, rather than Rome’s purported Trojan origins. In describing Rome’s expansion into Latium (Book Five) and the post-Trojan War history of the Troad (Book Thirteen), Strabo emphasizes the mutability of urban landscapes through the destruction of existing cities and the creation of new ones – two processes in which Rome has played a significant role, and which continue to shape human settlement across the oikoumenē.</jats:p

Reading Diodorus through Photius: The Case of the Sicilian Slave Revolts

Photius’ interest in the turmoil in II B.C. Sicily, which probably reflects ninth-century anxiety over the Arab invasion of Sicily, led him to shape a coherent monograph, different from Diodorus’ conglomerate and from the Constantinian Excerpta

Romantic Women Writers and Their Commonplace Books

Women in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries changed the genre of commonplace books. During the Romantic period, women shifted emphasis away from classical texts and conduct literature toward colloquial, individualized compilations. This generic shift, fostered by the advent of print culture, suited women’s practical needs and creativity. Scholarship has often excluded the commonplace books of women— especially Scottish, Welsh, and Irish women--from discussions of genre or textual studies. Building upon the scholarship of David Allan and Earle Havens, I redress this oversight. I analyze literary, financial, and political compilations, as an emerging trivium in commonplace books, comprising significant subject areas in women’s commonplacing. Case studies of women writers in this dissertation demonstrate the significance of commonplace books as workspaces for composing and revising self-authored and other-authored literary works—especially poetry. Angela Reyner, Elizabeth Rose of Kilravock Castle, and Dorothy Wordsworth included various modes of poetic expression and emendation in their commonplace books. Wordsworth’s commonplace books, correspondence, and journals suggest how and why she edited and versioned her poetry, which circulated through social networks and coteries. Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby (the Ladies of Llangollen), Rose, and Wordsworth exemplify in their commonplacing how and why women compiled shopping memoranda, registers, and asset inventories. Ponsonby’s commonplace book especially demonstrates how property was recorded using cartographic accountancy, which conflates sketching, surveying, and mapping with accounting. Women’s commonplacing suggests that they kept valuatory records of ownership or stewardship that indicate what women valued, revealing their long-term investment perspectives. Women valued sociability and included the public sphere of shared ideas in their commonplace books. In crafting commonplace books with resources from periodicals and the domestic sphere or commonplacing the domestic domain itself, women expressed cultural, economic, and socio-political opinions and voiced controversies in relation to identity and community. Lady Morgan (Sydney Owenson), Ponsonby, and Butler resisted English hegemony by incorporating into their commonplacing Celtic inter-linkages, Gothic artifacts, or cultural-political awareness of new nationalism. Commonplace books continue to evolve. On digital Internet sites, such as Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook, commonplacing maintains the relevant need to share and retain ideas—informing social networks of communication

The Unyvero P55 ‘sample-in, answer-out’ pneumonia assay: A performance evaluation

Background: O’Neill’s recent Review on Antimicrobial Resistance expressed the view that by 2020 high-income countries should make it mandatory to support antimicrobial prescribing with rapid diagnostic evidence whenever possible. Methods: Routine microbiology diagnosis of 95 respiratory specimens from patients with severe infection were compared with those generated by the Unyvero P55 test, which detects 20 pathogens and 19 antimicrobial resistance markers. Supplementary molecular testing for antimicrobial resistance genes, comprehensive culture methodology and 16S rRNA sequencing were performed. Results: Unyvero P55 produced 85 valid results, 67% of which were concordant with those from the routine laboratory. Unyvero P55 identified more potential pathogens per specimen than routine culture (1.34 vs. 0.47 per specimen). Independent verification using 16S rRNA sequencing and culture (n = 10) corroborated 58% of additional detections compared to routine microbiology. Overall the average sensitivity for organism detection by Unyvero P55 was 88.8% and specificity was 94.9%. While Unyvero P55 detected more antimicrobial resistance markers than routine culture, some instances of phenotypic resistance were missed. Conclusions: The Unyvero P55 is a rapid pathogen detection test for lower respiratory specimens, which identifies a larger number of pathogens than routine microbiology. The clinical significance of these additional organisms is yet to be determined. Further studies are required to determine the effect of the test in practise on antimicrobial prescribing and patient outcomes

Agricultural Practices Influence Salmonella Contamination and Survival in Pre-harvest Tomato Production

Between 2000 and 2010 the Eastern Shore of Virginia was implicated in four Salmonella outbreaks associated with tomato. Therefore, a multi-year study (2012–2015) was performed to investigate presumptive factors associated with the contamination of Salmonella within tomato fields at Virginia Tech’s Eastern Shore Agricultural Research and Extension Center. Factors including irrigation water sources (pond and well), type of soil amendment: fresh poultry litter (PL), PL ash, and a conventional fertilizer (triple superphosphate – TSP), and production practices: staked with plastic mulch (SP), staked without plastic mulch (SW), and non-staked without plastic mulch (NW), were evaluated by split-plot or complete-block design. All field experiments relied on naturally occurring Salmonella contamination, except one follow up experiment (worst-case scenario) which examined the potential for contamination in tomato fruits when Salmonella was applied through drip irrigation. Samples were collected from pond and well water; PL, PL ash, and TSP; and the rhizosphere, leaves, and fruits of tomato plants. Salmonella was quantified using a most probable number method and contamination ratios were calculated for each treatment. Salmonella serovar was determined by molecular serotyping. Salmonella populations varied significantly by year; however, similar trends were evident each year. Findings showed use of untreated pond water and raw PL amendment increased the likelihood of Salmonella detection in tomato plots. Salmonella Newport and Typhimurium were the most frequently detected serovars in pond water and PL amendment samples, respectively. Interestingly, while these factors increased the likelihood of Salmonella detection in tomato plots (rhizosphere and leaves), all tomato fruits sampled (n = 4800) from these plots were Salmonella negative. Contamination of tomato fruits was extremely low (&lt; 1%) even when tomato plots were artificially inoculated with an attenuated Salmonella Newport strain (104 CFU/mL). Furthermore, Salmonella was not detected in tomato plots irrigated using well water and amended with PL ash or TSP. Production practices also influenced the likelihood of Salmonella detection in tomato plots. Salmonella detection was higher in tomato leaf samples for NW plots, compared to SP and SW plots. This study provides evidence that attention to agricultural inputs and production practices may help reduce the likelihood of Salmonella contamination in tomato fields

Riesgo cardiovascular en estudiantes de medicina del municipio Puerto Padre de Las Tunas

Introduction: cardiovascular diseases are the first cause of death in Cuba; as a result, the identification of cardiovascular risks from early ages allows the implementation of health promotion and prevention strategies to reduce their impact in the futureObjective: to identify the cardiovascular risk in medical students in Puerto Padre Municipality, Las Tunas province.Methods: an observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted. The target group included 545 medical students, 237 of whom were selected by means of a simple random sample. The body mass index and waist-hip ratio were studied. Descriptive statistics was applied.Results: the predominant age group was 18-21 years old (50,2 %). The 51,47 % of the students presented a high waist-hip ratio, 54,02 % a high abdominal circumference, 52,74 % a high body mass index, and in all groups 35,44 % presented blood pressure figures lower than 120/80 mmHg; 39 % had a cardiovascular risk.Conclusions: low percentages of cardiovascular risk were identified in medical students from Puerto Padre Municipality, Las Tunas province, determined by high values of waist-hip index, body mass index and abdominal circumference.Introducción: las enfermedades cardiovasculares constituyen la primera causa de mortalidad en Cuba; por lo cual la identificación de riesgos cardiovasculares desde edades tempranas permite implementar estrategias de promoción y prevención de salud para disminuir su impacto en el futuroObjetivo: identificar el riesgo cardiovascular en estudiantes de medicina del municipio Puerto Padre de Las Tunas.Método: se realizó un estudio observacional, descriptivo y transversal. El universo estuvo constituido por 545 estudiantes de medicina, seleccionándose 237 mediante un muestreo aleatorio simple. Se estudió el índice de masa corporal, la circunferencia abdominal y la índice cintura cadera. Se empleó estadística descriptiva.Resultados: se encontró predominio del grupo etario de 18 a 21 años (50,2 %). El 51,47 % de los estudiantes presentó un índice cintura-cadera alto, el 54,02 % una circunferencia abdominal alta, el 52,74 % un índice de masa corporal alta, así como en todos los grupos el 35,44 % presentó cifras de tensión arterial inferiores a 120/80 mmHg. El 39 % presentó riesgo cardiovascular.Conclusiones: se identificaron bajos porcientos de riesgo cardiovascular en los estudiantes de medicina del municipio Puerto Padre de Las Tunas, determinado por altos valores los índice cintura-cadera, índice de masa corporal y circunferencia abdominal