Harper\u27s Ferry Revisited: The Role of Congressional Staff Archivists in Implementing the Congressional Papers Project Report

The 1978 Conference on the Research Use and Disposition of Senators\u27 Papers affirmed the value inherent in senatorial papers. In the years since the conference, archivists and senate staff have struggled with preservation and use questions relating to those papers. In a continuing effort to answer such questions, the Dirksen Congressional Center and the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) sponsored a conference on congressional papers at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia in 1985. The final Congressional Papers Project Reportsummarizes the findings of the Harpers Ferry conference and makes recommendations to the NHPRC on funding congressional papers projects. Germane to the NHPRC recommendations are minimum standards for congressional collections and repositories which accept congressional collections. If followed, such recommendations would improve substantially the preservation of Congress\u27s record

Buffalo on the Beaches: Electronic Imaging of Historical Sources

We called it La Riviere aux Boeuf, that is, the River of Bullocks, by reason of the great number of them there was about it. These bullocks are very like ours; there are thousands of them, ~ut instead of hair they have a very long curled sort of wool. Thus did Henri Joutel in 1685 describe what we believe to be the Guadalupe River in Texas in his Historical Journal of Monsieur de la Salle\u27s Last Voyage to Discover the River Mississippi. 1 The bullocks, boeuf , that Joutel described were American bison. In 1686, near Apalachioca, Florida, and Dothan, Alabama, explorer Marcos Delgado described the beasts he encountered as a kind of animal like cows. 2 The buffalo are gone from the coasts of Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas, but the documents describing the area when they existed are still available

Fruiting body, spores and in vitro produced mycelium of ganoderma lucidum from northeast Portugal : a comparative study of the antioxidant potential of phenolic and polysaccharidic extracts

Ganoderma lucidum is one of the most extensively studied mushrooms due to its medicinal properties. Herein, a systematic study was carried out in order to compare the antioxidant activity of phenolic and polysaccharidic extracts from fruiting body, spores and mycelium, obtained in three different culture media, of G. lucidum from Northeast Portugal. Phenolic extracts were characterized using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to photodiode array detection, while polysaccharidic extracts were hydrolysed and further characterized using HPLC and refraction index detection. In general, the phenolic extracts (Ph) proved to have higher antioxidant potential than their corresponding polysaccharidic extracts (Ps). Amongst phenolic extracts, FB-Ph provided the highest antioxidant activity (EC50 ≤ 0.6 mg/ml) and the highest content in total phenolics (~29 mg GAE/g extract) and phenolic acids (p-hydroxybenzoic and p-coumaric acids). S-Ps was the polysaccharidic extract with the best antioxidant activity (EC50 ≤ 2 mg/ml); nevertheless, the highest levels of total phenolics were obtained in FB-PS (~56 mg GAE/g extract), while the highest levels of total polysaccharides (~14 mg PE/g extract) and individual sugars were observed in mycelia obtained from solid culture media, M-PDA-Ps and M-sMMN-Ps. The free radical scavenging properties, reducing power and lipid peroxidation inhibition of G. lucidum seemed to be correlated with phenolic compounds mostly in a free form, but also linked to polysaccharides.The authors are grateful to Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal) and COMPETE/QREN/UE (research project PTDC/AGR-ALI/110062/2009) for financial support. S.A. Heleno (BD/70304/2010) and L. Barros (BPD/4609/2008) thank to FCT, POPH-QREN and FSE for their grants. The GIP-USAL is financially supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación through the Consolider-Ingenio 2010 Programme (FUN-C-FOOD, CSD2007-00063), and Junta de Castilla y León (Grupo de Investigación de Excelencia, GR133)

Comparing changes in haematologic parameters occurring in patients included in randomized controlled trials of artesunate-amodiaquine vs single and combination treatments of uncomplicated falciparum in sub-Saharan Africa

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Artesunate-amodiaquine (AS&AQ) is a widely used artemisinin combination therapy (ACT) for falciparum malaria. A comprehensive appreciation of its effects on haematology <it>vs </it>other anti-malarials is needed in view of potential safety liabilities.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Individual-patient data analysis conducted on a database from seven randomized controlled trials conducted in sub-Saharan African comparing AS&AQ to reference treatments in uncomplicated falciparum malaria patients of all ages. Haematologic values (white cells total and neutrophil counts, haemoglobin/haematocrit, platelets) were analysed as both continuous and categorical variables for their occurrence, (severity grade 1-4) and changes during follow-up. Risks and trends were calculated using multivariate logistic random effect models.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>4,502 patients (72% < 5 years old), from 13 sites in nine countries with 28-day follow-up were treated with AS&AQ (45%) or a comparator (other forms of ACT accounted for 27%, other combination 12%, mono-therapies 16%). Pre-treatment leucopaenia (3%) and neutropaenia (6%) were infrequent; anaemia was common (39%). The treatment-emergent adverse events incidence (TEAE = condition not present or less severe pre-treatment) was 11% for neutropaenia, 6% for thrombocytopaenia with AS&AQ and not different from treatment groups; anaemia was higher with AS&AQ (20%) or other forms of ACT (22%) than in non-artemisinin groups (4%, <it>p </it>= 0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that the risk of anaemia, thrombocytopaenia, and leucopaenia decreased with follow-up time, while neutropaenia increased; the risk of anaemia and thrombocytopaenia increased with higher baseline parasitaemia and parasitological reappearance. White cells total count was not a good surrogate for neutropaenia. No systematic significant difference between treatments was detected. Older patients were at lower risks.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The effects of AS&AQ on haematologic parameters were not different from those of other anti-malarial treatments used in sub-Saharan Africa. This analysis provides the basis for a broader evaluation of haematology following anti-malarial treatment. Continuing monitoring of haematologic safety on larger databases is required.</p

The twilight of the Liberal Social Contract? On the Reception of Rawlsian Political Liberalism

This chapter discusses the Rawlsian project of public reason, or public justification-based 'political' liberalism, and its reception. After a brief philosophical rather than philological reconstruction of the project, the chapter revolves around a distinction between idealist and realist responses to it. Focusing on political liberalism’s critical reception illuminates an overarching question: was Rawls’s revival of a contractualist approach to liberal legitimacy a fruitful move for liberalism and/or the social contract tradition? The last section contains a largely negative answer to that question. Nonetheless the chapter's conclusion shows that the research programme of political liberalism provided and continues to provide illuminating insights into the limitations of liberal contractualism, especially under conditions of persistent and radical diversity. The programme is, however, less receptive to challenges to do with the relative decline of the power of modern states

Constitutivism

A brief explanation and overview of constitutivism

Reversal of Synapse Degeneration by Restoring Wnt Signaling in the Adult Hippocampus

Synapse degeneration occurs early in neurodegenerative diseases and correlates strongly with cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease (AD). The molecular mechanisms that trigger synapse vulnerability and those that promote synapse regeneration after substantial synaptic failure remain poorly understood. Increasing evidence suggests a link between a deficiency in Wnt signaling and AD. The secreted Wnt antagonist Dickkopf-1 (Dkk1), which is elevated in AD, contributes to amyloid-β-mediated synaptic failure. However, the impact of Dkk1 at the circuit level and the mechanism by which synapses disassemble have not yet been explored. Using a transgenic mouse model that inducibly expresses Dkk1 in the hippocampus, we demonstrate that Dkk1 triggers synapse loss, impairs long-term potentiation, enhances long-term depression, and induces learning and memory deficits. We decipher the mechanism involved in synapse loss induced by Dkk1 as it can be prevented by combined inhibition of the Gsk3 and RhoA-Rock pathways. Notably, after loss of synaptic connectivity, reactivation of the Wnt pathway by cessation of Dkk1 expression completely restores synapse number, synaptic plasticity, and long-term memory. These findings demonstrate the remarkable capacity of adult neurons to regenerate functional circuits and highlight Wnt signaling as a targetable pathway for neuronal circuit recovery after synapse degeneration

Having a word with yourself:neural correlates of self-criticism and self-reassurance

Self-criticism is strongly correlated with a range of psychopathologies, such as depression, eating disorders and anxiety. In contrast, self-reassurance is inversely associated with such psychopathologies. Despite the importance of self-judgements and evaluations, little is known about the neurophysiology of these internal processes. The current study therefore used a novel fMRI task to investigate the neuronal correlates of self-criticism and self-reassurance. Participants were presented statements describing two types of scenario, with the instruction to either imagine being self-critical or self-reassuring in that situation. One scenario type focused on a personal setback, mistake or failure, which would elicit negative emotions, whilst the second was of a matched neutral event. Self-criticism was associated with activity in lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) regions and dorsal anterior cingulate (dAC), therefore linking self-critical thinking to error processing and resolution, and also behavioural inhibition. Self-reassurance was associated with left temporal pole and insula activation, suggesting that efforts to be self-reassuring engage similar regions to expressing compassion and empathy towards others. Additionally, we found a dorsal/ventral PFC divide between an individual's tendency to be self-critical or self-reassuring. Using multiple regression analyses, dorsolateral PFC activity was positively correlated with high levels of self-criticism (assessed via self-report measure), suggesting greater error processing and behavioural inhibition in such individuals. Ventrolateral PFC activity was positively correlated with high self-reassurance. Our findings may have implications for the neural basis of a range of mood disorders that are characterised by a preoccupation with personal mistakes and failures, and a self-critical response to such events