Fashioning the gothic : interpreting the proto-gothic mode in Thomas Lodge's a margarite of America

This thesis contributes to the rising field of Renaissance-Gothic studies, in which scholars have been examining a selection of the early modern period’s literature and theatre from the perspective of Gothic studies. These scholars make links between conventions recognized as characteristic within the Gothic genre, and certain narrative devices, tropes, settings, and character types present in many Renaissance texts. While most of the existing studies focus on drama, a small amount of research exists on other literary genres. My research is significant within this field of study because it will further explore the connections between early modern revenge tragedy and Gothic literature by branching out from drama to prose fiction. This thesis focusses on the proto-Gothic characteristics of Thomas Lodge’s 1596 romance, A Margarite of America; I argue that Lodge’s text ought to be included as part of a Gothic trajectory in literature because it exhibits many characteristics that have been identified in early modern texts that align with the development of the Gothic mode. For example, the duplicitous and tyrannical antagonist, the naive and vulnerable maiden-protagonist, the narrative’s thinly veiled critique of its author’s contemporary culture, an emphasis on theatrical or self-conscious personae, and other thematic and generic elements share affinities with eighteenth-century Gothic literature and with those early modern texts that have already been established as proto-Gothic. Lodge’s perversion of the romance genre, his villain’s relentless wickedness and his heroine’s tragic, unquestioning trust (to name three key points of my analysis), position A Margarite as Lodge’s ambivalent response to his cultural moment and align the text with Gothic motifs, themes, and subtexts. I compare Lodge’s text to Matthew Lewis’s Gothic novel, The Monk (1796) through in-depth analyses of characters, themes, and motifs, which contribute to identifying the proto-Gothic mode in Lodge’s narrative. Finally, Stephen Greenblatt’s concept of “self-fashioning” is integral to this thesis because it is relevant to scholars’ interpretations of early modern revenge tragedy, essential to the courtly persona that Lodge criticizes, and pertinent to the eighteenth-century Gothic villain’s carefully constructed persona.Creative and Critical Studies, Faculty of (Okanagan)Graduat

Patient compliance: comparison of patient and staff perceptions

The aim of this preliminary study was to compare patient and staff perceptions of patient compliance and the factors that influence judgments on compliance in a neurorehabilitation unit. A number of recommendations are made for future research in this complex field. </jats:p

Tapis-CHORDS Integration: Time-Series DataSupport in Science Gateway Infrastructure

The explosion of IoT devices and sensors in recent years has led to a demand for efficiently storing, processing and analyzing time-series data. Geoscience researchers use time-series data stores such as Hydroserver, VOEIS and CHORDS. Many of these tools require a great deal of infrastructure to deploy and expertise to manage and scale. Tapis's (formerly known as Agave) platform as a service provides a way to support researchers in a way that they are not responsible for the infrastructure and can focus on the science. The University of Hawai‘i (UH) and Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) have collaborated to develop a new API integration that combines Tapis with the CHORDS time series data service to support projects at both institutions for storing, annotating and querying time-series data. This new Streams API leverages the strengths of both the Tapis platform and CHORDS service to enable capabilities for supporting time-series data streams not available in either tool alone. These new capabilities may be leveraged by Tapis powered science gateways with needs for handling spatially indexed time-series data-sets for their researchers as they have been at UH and TACC.Office of the VP for Researc

Mutations on the External Surfaces of Adeno-Associated Virus Type 2 Capsids That Affect Transduction and Neutralization

Mutations were made at 64 positions on the external surface of the adeno-associated virus type 2 (AAV-2) capsid in regions expected to bind antibodies. The 127 mutations included 57 single alanine substitutions, 41 single nonalanine substitutions, 27 multiple mutations, and 2 insertions. Mutants were assayed for capsid synthesis, heparin binding, in vitro transduction, and binding and neutralization by murine monoclonal and human polyclonal antibodies. All mutants made capsid proteins within a level about 20-fold of that made by the wild type. All but seven mutants bound heparin as well as the wild type. Forty-two mutants transduced human cells at least as well as the wild type, and 10 mutants increased transducing activity up to ninefold more than the wild type. Eighteen adjacent alanine substitutions diminished transduction from 10- to 100,000-fold but had no effect on heparin binding and define an area (dead zone) required for transduction that is distinct from the previously characterized heparin receptor binding site. Mutations that reduced binding and neutralization by a murine monoclonal antibody (A20) were localized, while mutations that reduced neutralization by individual human sera or by pooled human, intravenous immunoglobulin G (IVIG) were dispersed over a larger area. Mutations that reduced binding by A20 also reduced neutralization. However, a mutation that reduced the binding of IVIG by 90% did not reduce neutralization, and mutations that reduced neutralization by IVIG did not reduce its binding. Combinations of mutations did not significantly increase transduction or resistance to neutralization by IVIG. These mutations define areas on the surface of the AAV-2 capsid that are important determinants of transduction and antibody neutralization

An Activated Protein Kinase C α Gives a Differentiation Signal for Hematopoietic Progenitor Cells and Mimicks Macrophage Colony-stimulating Factor–stimulated Signaling Events

Highly enriched, bipotent, hematopoietic granulocyte macrophage colony-forming cells (GM-CFC) require cytokines for their survival, proliferation, and development. GM-CFC will form neutrophils in the presence of the cytokines stem cell factor and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, whereas macrophage colony-stimulating factor leads to macrophage formation. Previously, we have shown that the commitment to the macrophage lineage is associated with lipid hydrolysis and translocation of protein kinase C α (PKCα) to the nucleus. Here we have transfected freshly prepared GM-CFC with a constitutively activated form of PKCα, namely PKAC, in which the regulatory domain has been truncated. Greater than 95% of the transfected cells showed over a twofold increase in PKCα expression with the protein being located primarily within the nucleus. The expression of PKAC caused macrophage development even in the presence of stimuli that normally promote only neutrophilic development. Thus, M-CSF–stimulated translocation of PKCα to the nucleus is a signal associated with macrophage development in primary mammalian hematopoietic progenitor cells, and this signal can be mimicked by ectopic PKAC, which is also expressed in the nucleus

Platform for the interdisciplinary study of cardiovascular, metabolic and neurovascular diseases (PICMAN) protocol

Abstract Through extensive multisystem phenotyping, the central aim of Project PICMAN is to correlate metabolic flexibility to measures of cardiometabolic health, including myocardial diastolic dysfunction, coronary and cerebral atherosclerosis, body fat distribution and severity of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. This cohort will form the basis of larger interventional trials targeting metabolic inflexibility in the prevention of cardiovascular disease. Participants aged 21–72 years with no prior manifest atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) are being recruited from a preventive cardiology clinic and an existing cohort of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in an academic medical centre. A total of 120 patients will be recruited in the pilot phase of this study and followed up for 5 years. Those with 10-year ASCVD risk ≥ 5% as per the QRISK3 calculator are eligible. Those with established diabetes mellitus are excluded. Participants recruited undergo a detailed assessment of health behaviours and physical measurements. Participants also undergo a series of multimodality clinical phenotyping comprising cardiac tests, vascular assessments, metabolic tests, liver and neurovascular testing. Blood samples are also being collected and banked for plasma biomarkers, ‘multi-omics analyses’ and for generation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC). Extensive evidence points to metabolic dysregulation as an early precursor of cardiovascular disease, particularly in Asia. We hypothesise that quantifiable metabolic inflexibility may be representative of an individual in his/her silent, but high-risk progression towards insulin resistance, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The platform for interdisciplinary cardiovascular-metabolic-neurovascular diseases (PICMAN) is a pilot, prospective, multi-ethnic cohort study

A Randomized Clinical Trial Assessing Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) Use With Standardized Education With or Without a Family Behavioral Intervention Compared With Fingerstick Blood Glucose Monitoring in Very Young Children With Type 1 Diabetes.

ObjectiveThis study evaluated the effects of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) combined with family behavioral intervention (CGM+FBI) and CGM alone (Standard-CGM) on glycemic outcomes and parental quality of life compared with blood glucose monitoring (BGM) in children ages 2 to &lt;8 years with type 1 diabetes.Research design and methodsThis was a multicenter (N = 14), 6-month, randomized controlled trial including 143 youth 2 to &lt;8 years of age with type 1 diabetes. Primary analysis included treatment group comparisons of percent time in range (TIR) (70-180 mg/dL) across follow-up visits.ResultsApproximately 90% of participants in the CGM groups used CGM ≥6 days/week at 6 months. Between-group TIR comparisons showed no significant changes: CGM+FBI vs. BGM 3.2% (95% CI -0.5, 7.0), Standard-CGM vs. BGM 0.5% (-2.6 to 3.6), CGM+FBI vs. Standard-CGM 2.7% (-0.6, 6.1). Mean time with glucose level &lt;70 mg/dL was reduced from baseline to follow-up in the CGM+FBI (from 5.2% to 2.6%) and Standard-CGM (5.8% to 2.5%) groups, compared with 5.4% to 5.8% with BGM (CGM+FBI vs. BGM, P &lt; 0.001, and Standard-CGM vs. BGM, P &lt; 0.001). No severe hypoglycemic events occurred in the CGM+FBI group, one occurred in the Standard-CGM group, and five occurred in the BGM group. CGM+FBI parents reported greater reductions in diabetes burden and fear of hypoglycemia compared with Standard-CGM (P = 0.008 and 0.04) and BGM (P = 0.02 and 0.002).ConclusionsCGM used consistently over a 6-month period in young children with type 1 diabetes did not improve TIR but did significantly reduce time in hypoglycemia. The FBI benefited parental well-being