Lifeglows Through the Anthropocene: Development of the Radical Imagination and Response-Ability Within Superhero Comics

Scholars such as Amitav Ghosh, Timothy Clark, and Timothy Morton emphasize the importance of and challenge within the task of representing the power, scope, and scale of climate change in art and literature. These interrogations often emphasize the failures of extant works to animate their viewers towards action in a time of environmental crisis, but struggle to find any work that meets their expectations. This ‘game-over’ attitude, I argue, is the direct result of the cruel optimism present in the current scholarship’s attachment to ‘traditional’ forms of art and literature. By interrogating the conclusions Ghosh reaches about the novel’s function as a regulatory imaginative framework, I argue that the novel cannot represent the Anthropocene nor animate its readers to action because it produces an unradical imagination, thus limiting readers’ ability to imagine futures outside the current hegemonic order. Instead, I propose to develop a form of critique that refuses the ‘game-over’ attitude. Invoking Halberstam’s The Queer Art of Failure and abolitionist theories, I argue that we must resist the urge to become stuck in the cruel optimism of the search for the ‘perfect’ Anthropocene novel. I argue this by moving the critical eye to sites of enchantment within the superhero comic. To further argue that the superhero comic is a site worth ecocritical focus, I develop a method of reading the superhero comic as a successor to the epic. By emphasizing its hypo- and hypertextuality, I trace how the superhero comic not only radically imagines new worldings and kinship formations between the human and non-human, but arrives there through a collaborative process. This process knots together artists, writers, editors, fans, critics, and history in the creation of comics. In doing so, this transforms practicing the radical imagination from an individual act into a discursive collective experience. If the task is, as Haraway proposes, to become entangled together, imperfectly, then I argue that superhero comics allow us to do so in the making and reading of them. I conclude with a study of the X-Men as a site of collective radical imagination on formal and textual levels

A dedicated electric oven for characterization of thermoresistive polymer nanocomposites

AbstractThe construction, characterization and control of an electric oven dedicated to the study of thermoresistive polymer nanocomposites is presented. The oven is designed with a heating plate capable of reaching 300°C with a resolution of 0.3°C and an area of uniform temperature of 3.8cm×2.5cm. The temperature is regulated by means of a discrete proportional–integral–derivative controller. A heat transfer model comprising three coupled non-linear differential equations is proposed to predict the thermal profiles of the oven during heating and cooling, which are experimentally verified. The oven is used for thermoresistive characterization of polymer nanocomposites manufactured from a polysulfone polymer and multiwall carbon nanotubes

Polarization Maintaining, Very-Large-Mode Area, Er Fiber Amplifier for High Energy Pulses at 1572.3 nm

We demonstrate the first polarization maintaining, very-large-mode-area Er-doped fiber amplifier with ~1000 square micron effective area. The amplifier is core pumped by a Raman fiber laser and is used to generate single frequency one microsecond pulses with pulse energy of 368 microJoules, M2 of 1.1, and polarization extinction greater than 20 dB. The amplifier operates at 1572.3 nm, a wavelength useful for trace atmospheric CO2 detection

Esters of quinoxaline-7-carboxylate-1,4-di-N-oxide as Trichomonas vaginalis triosephosphate isomerase inhibitors

Trichomoniasis is a public health problem worldwide. Trichomoniasis treatment consists of the use of nitroimidazole derivatives; however, therapeutic ineffectiveness occurs in 5 to 20 % of the cases. Therefore, it is essential to propose new pharmacological agents against this disease. In this work, esters of quinoxaline-7-carboxylate-1,4-di-N-oxide (EQX-NO) were evaluated in in vitro assays as novel trichomonicidal agents. Additionally, an in vitro enzyme assay and molecular docking analysis against triosephosphate isomerase of Trichomonas vaginalis to confirm their mechanism of action were performed. Ethyl (compound 12) and n-propyl (compound 37) esters of quinoxaline-7-carboxylate-1,4-di-N-oxide derivatives showed trichomonicidal activity comparable to nitazoxanide, whereas five methyl (compounds 5, 15, 19, 20 and 22), four isopropyl (compounds 28, 29, 30 and 34), three ethyl (compound (4, 13 and 23) and one n-propyl (compound 35) ester derivatives displayed activity comparable to albendazole. Compounds 6 and 20 decreased 100 % of the enzyme activity of recombinant protein triosephosphate isomerase

OA06.06 Impact of Systemic Anti-cancer Treatments on Outcomes of COVID-19 in Patients with Thoracic Cancers: CCC19 Registry Analysis

Introduction: Patients with thoracic cancers (TC) have one of the highest rates of mortality among patients with cancer and COVID-19. Data evaluating the impact of recent anti-cancer therapies on COVID-19 outcomes in patients with TC are confined to small heterogenous retrospective studies, with limited follow-up data. We analyzed data from the COVID-19 and Cancer Consortium (CCC19) (NCT04354701) to examine the impact of recent systemic therapies on the clinical outcomes of COVID-19 in patients with TC. Methods: The CCC19 registry was queried for adult patients with TC and lab-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. Only patients with data quality scores of 0-4 were included in the analysis. The primary outcome was 30-day all-cause mortality. Secondary outcomes were need for oxygen supplementation, hospitalization, ICU admission, and mechanical ventilation. The outcomes were further stratified by demographics, smoking history, ECOG PS (0, 1, \u3e2), cancer status (remission, responding/stable, progressing) and type of systemic treatment \u3c3 months prior to COVID-19 (chemotherapy with or without immunotherapy, chemotherapy plus radiation, immunotherapy alone or targeted therapy). Results: From January 2020 to December 2021, 900 patients with thoracic cancer met the inclusion criteria. The median age was 70 years (IQR 62-77), 53% were female, 79% were former or current tobacco users, 56% of patients had ECOG PS of 0 or 1, and 34% of patients had active but stable or responding cancer. Fifty-three percent (N=477) of patients received at least one anti-cancer systemic therapy \u3c3 months prior to COVID-19 diagnosis. Chemotherapy with or without immunotherapy was the most prevalent treatment exposure (51%; N=242). After a median follow-up of 70 days (IQR 28-180), 30-day all-cause mortality was similar in patients who received any systemic cancer treatment versus no cancer treatment (23% and 22% respectively). Patients treated with immunotherapy and targeted therapy had the lowest mortality (15% and 18% respectively), the majority of whom were treated with palliative intent. Similar trends were also noted with secondary outcomes (Table 1). Conclusions: We report one of the largest studies evaluating the clinical outcomes of COVID-19 in the context of recent systemic anti-cancer treatments for TC. While continued caution is required when utilizing systemic treatments, delays in treatment may not be justified. The study provides reassuring data that patients receiving immunotherapy or targeted therapy even in the context of palliative treatment appear to have a lower risk for all-cause COVID-19 mortality. Further analysis exploring the prognostic factors associated with poor outcomes in patients with chemoradiation is planned

Effects of pulsed electric field on the viscoelastic properties of potato tissue

We have investigated whether transient permeabilization caused by the application of pulsed electric field would give rise to transient changes in the potato tissue viscoelastic properties. Potato tissue was subjected to nominal field strengths (E) ranging from 30 to 500 V/cm, with a single rectangular pulse of 10−5, 10−4, or 10−3 s. The changes on the viscoelastic properties of potato tissue during pulsed electric fields (PEF) were monitored through small amplitude oscillatory dynamic rheological measurements. The elastic (G′) and viscous moduli (G″) were measured every 30 s after the delivery of the pulse and the loss tangent change (tan-δ) was calculated. The results were correlated with measurements of changes on electrical resistance during the delivery of the pulse. Results show a drastic increase of tan-δ in the first 30 s after the application of the pulse, followed by a decrease 1 min after pulsation. This response is strongly influenced by pulsing conditions and is independent of the total permeabilization achieved by the pulse. Our results, supported by similar measurements on osmotically dehydrated control samples, clearly show that PEF causes a rapid change of the viscoelastic properties of the tissue that could be attributed to a partial loss in turgor pressure. This would be an expected consequence of electroporation. The recovery of tan-δ to values similar to those before pulsation strongly suggests recovery of cell membrane properties and turgor, pointing at reversible permeabilization of the cells. A slight increase of stiffness traduced by a negative change of tan-δ after application of certain PEF conditions may also give an indication of events occurring on cell wall structure due to stress responses. This study set the basis for further investigations on the complex cell stress physiology involving both cell membrane functional properties and cell wall structure that would influence tissue physical properties upon PEF application.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Utilization of COVID-19 Treatments and Clinical Outcomes among Patients with Cancer: A COVID-19 and Cancer Consortium (CCC19) Cohort Study.

Among 2,186 U.S. adults with invasive cancer and laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, we examined the association of COVID-19 treatments with 30-day all-cause mortality and factors associated with treatment. Logistic regression with multiple adjustments (e.g., comorbidities, cancer status, baseline COVID-19 severity) was performed. Hydroxychloroquine with any other drug was associated with increased mortality versus treatment with any COVID-19 treatment other than hydroxychloroquine or untreated controls; this association was not present with hydroxychloroquine alone. Remdesivir had numerically reduced mortality versus untreated controls that did not reach statistical significance. Baseline COVID-19 severity was strongly associated with receipt of any treatment. Black patients were approximately half as likely to receive remdesivir as white patients. Although observational studies can be limited by potential unmeasured confounding, our findings add to the emerging understanding of patterns of care for patients with cancer and COVID-19 and support evaluation of emerging treatments through inclusive prospective controlled trials. SIGNIFICANCE: Evaluating the potential role of COVID-19 treatments in patients with cancer in a large observational study, there was no statistically significant 30-day all-cause mortality benefit with hydroxychloroquine or high-dose corticosteroids alone or in combination; remdesivir showed potential benefit. Treatment receipt reflects clinical decision-making and suggests disparities in medication access.This article is highlighted in the In This Issue feature, p. 1426