Literature and Scholarship in Times of Crisis

When I was asked to talk about research, and about my own research, I thought it was important to recognize that much of my work I owe, first, to Research and Professional Development Grants that I have been fortunate to receive at Gettysburg, and also to the people, resources, and institutions that opened their doors to me during the time that I’ve spent doing research in Puerto Rico, including at the University of Puerto Rico and at the National Archives of Theater and Film. Today I would like to speak briefly not only about doing research in Puerto Rico, but about the challenges that scholars on the island and on the mainland face as they try to keep up their much-needed work in the six months after hurricane María, and also about the creative ways in which scholars of Puerto Rico are subverting traditional publishing practices in the aftermath of a combination of natural, economic, and geopolitical crises. (excerpt

Gendered Geographies in Puerto Rican Culture: Spaces, Sexualities, Solidarities

This is a critical study of the construction of gendered spaces through feminine labor and capital in Puerto Rican literature and film (1950-2010). It analyzes gendered geographies and forms of emotional labor, and the possibility that they generate within the material and the symbolic spaces of the family house, the factory, the beauty salon and the brothel. It argues that by challenging traditional images of femininity texts by authors and film directors like Rosario Ferré, Carmen Lugo Filippi, Magali García Ramis, Mayra Santos-Febres, Sonia Fritz and Ana María García, among others, contest the official Puerto Rican cultural nationalist discourse on gender and nation, and propose alternatives to its spatial tropes through feminine labor and solidarities. The book’s theoretical framework encompasses recent feminist geographers’ conceptualizations of the relationship between space and gender, patriarchy, knowledge, labor and the everyday. It engages with the work of Gillian Rose, Rosemary Hennessy, Doreen Massey, Patricia Hill Collins, and Katherine McKittrick, to argue that spaces are instrumental in resisting intersecting oppressions, in subverting traditional national models and in constructing alternative imaginaries. By introducing Caribbean cultural production and Latin American thought to the concerns of feminist and cultural geographers, it recasts their understanding of Puerto Rico as a neo-colonial space that urges a rethinking of gender in relation to the nation. [From the Publisher]https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/books/1101/thumbnail.jp

Health Expenditure Scenarios in the New Member States: Country Report on Bulgaria. ENEPRI Research Reports No. 44, 19 December 2007

The expenditures on health care in the new member countries from Central and Eastern Europe have never been based on the model of interdependence of socio-economic factors of the health state and the changes in the structure of population. The development of long-term scenarios here is based on the analysis of a previous study carried out within WPII “Health and Morbidity in the Accession Countries” and thus the health care expenditures are interrelated with the status of health of the nation. Like in the case of the other CEE countries included in the WPIX (Estonia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) for the purpose of the scenarios calculations the model of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Financial and Actuarial Service was used. The main objective of this report is to describe the interrelations between these three groups of indicators related to the health care expenditure in Bulgaria for 2003 taken as a base year and further to produce a long-term projections up to 2050, using an intermediary control (target) year 2025. The outlined projections can be useful for the future health care and social policy in Bulgaria

Radost Rangelova, Assistant Professor of Spanish

In our newest Next Page column, featured reader Radost Rangelova, Assistant Professor of Spanish, shares with us what she reads for fun and the course it inspired (she had to warn the students NOT to read ahead!); one of the influential works that solidified her passion for the study of gender and the cultural construction of space; and her recommendation of a contemporary Colombian author to read next – perhaps something to add to your holiday wish list

Risks in the social inclusion of children with special learning educational needs in the Repulic of Bulgaria

W artykule przedstawiono szereg zagadnień, dotyczących zagrożeń inkluzji społecznej dzieci ze SPE, związanych z zamykaniem szkół specjalnych. Zagrożenia związane z włączeniem wszystkich dzieci ze specjalnymi potrzebami edukacyjnymi do szkoły masowej wynikają z: nieprzygotowania nauczyciela szkoły masowej do pracy z dziećmi ze SPE, brakiem wystarczającej liczby nauczycieli, którzy są przygotowani do takiej pracy, ogólnym problemem tolerancji i postrzegania dzieci ze SPEIn the article are outlined a number of issues which are risky about the social inclusion of children with the closure of specialized schools. These risks are: the closure of specialized schools and the inclusion of all children with special educational needs in the mass school; with the unpreparedness of the mass teacher to work with these children; with the lack of sufficient number of resourceful teachers to work with each individual child with special educational needs; with the unpreparedness of the mainstream pupil to tolerate the children with special educational needs; with the existence of negative public opinion on children with special educational need

First National Mediation Competition for Students

Students of speciality Health Management representatives of Medical University - Varna performed excellently at the First National Mediation Competition for Students. The competition took place in Varna from November 16 till November 17, 2017. The event organiser was the Center of Dispute Resolution in Sofia. The competition is a part of the mediation promotion initiatives

Borderline and locally advanced pancreatic cancer : redefining the biological and technical profile of the disease

Surgery is the only treatment modality that provides a chance for long-term survival in pancreatic cancer (PC). Thus, the current classification systems for PC are technically skewed to predicted the probability for surgical resection, and not adapted for tumor biology. As more potent oncologic therapy steps forward, questions arise whether more aggressive surgery is motivated and how to select the better surgical candidates based of predicted tumor behavior. Also, new tumor-specific treatments should be sought to overcome the aggressive PC biology. Paper I investigated the short and long-term outcome in a series of pancreatectomy with venous resection (VR). VR can be carried out safely, with low morbidity attributable to the vascular reconstruction itself. No factors were associated with severe morbidity. VRs brought similar survival benefit for resectable, borderline (BRPC) or locally advanced (LAPC) or type of periampullary tumor. Factors pointing shorter survival were attributable to tumor biology and patients’ characteristics (elevated CA19-9 and ASA score) and not technical in nature. Paper II investigated the role of surgery after neoadjuvant treatment (NAT) for BRPC and LAPC. Surgical resection could be carried out safe, despite that vascular procedures were most often required. Surgery significantly improved survival both after FOLFIRINOX and other combination chemotherapy, even for higher levels of preoperative CA19-9. Even significant dose reductions of FOLFIRINOX did not impair the prognosis. There was no difference in survival between BRPC and LAPC patients, whether resected or not, and the recurrence pattern was similar - with distant metastases in all and few local recurrences. Paper III looked at the impact on survival of biologic prognostic factors potentially available preoperatively (mGPS, CA19-9, para-aortic lymph node, PALN, status) in resected patients with resectable, BRPC, and LAPC. All factors could much better discriminate differences in survival than the resectable, BRPC, and LAPC, including inside each category. Positive PALN had strongest negative impact on survival; their presence was significantly associated with elevated preoperative CA19-9, particularly in LAPC patients after NAT. Paper IV found that tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) can be isolated from PC in sufficient amount required for adoptive transfer therapy. TILs showed phenotype that can expand upon stimulation, home, and recognize tumor-associated antigens and autologous tumor cells, and induce autologous tumor-cell killing in culture. In conclusion, new classification of PC is needed that better reflects the chance for survival. Biological factors should be integrated to successfully guide treatment, even if would still have leading role. Possibilities open to target specific tumor biology by adoptive TIL transfer

Adverse events following vaccination with mRNA COVID-19 vaccines

The deadly COVID-19 virus continues to be a major threat to humankind. COVID-19 vaccinations prevent the virus from spreading and safeguard the general population. The first vaccines to be approved for emergency/conditional use by health organizations are based on mRNA technology. Hesitancy towards mRNA vaccinations has increased among the population globally as a result of the rapid pace at which vaccines are being developed as well as the lack of knowledge regarding the possibility for long-term adverse events. A successful vaccination campaign is dependent on the population’s willingness to be vaccinated as well as the availability of the vaccine in sufficient quantities and appropriate storage conditions. The purpose of the current review is to present a comprehensive update on the present scientific understanding of adverse events that might occur after vaccination with mRNA vaccines

Necrotizing enterocolitis in the neonatal period—morbidity, risk factors, and recommendations for prevention

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a highly debilitating gastrointestinal disorder distinguished by intestinal inflammation and necrosis. This specific condition is commonly acknowledged as a common gastrointestinal emergency in neonates, particularly among premature infants who have successfully completed the initial neonatal period. Necrotizing enterocolitis is the leading cause of death related to gastrointestinal disease in premature infants. The aim of the current review is to present an overview of the incidence, risk factors and preventive strategies for necrotizing enterocolitis. Prematurity is identified as the primary prognostic risk factor for NEC. The immaturity of the gastrointestinal tract, namely in terms of its motility, digestion, perfusion, barrier function, and immunological defense, is a significant contributing factor for necrotizing enterocolitis. Potential reductions in the occurrence of NEC could be achieved through modifications in the feeding protocols for vulnerable individuals in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), such as promoting the utilization of human breast milk and closely monitoring the pace at which feedings are escalated