A remembrance of things (best) forgotten: The 'allegorical past' and the feminist imagination

This is the author's PDF version of an article published in Feminist theology© 2012. The definitive version is available at http://fth.sagepub.com/This article discusses the US TV series Mad Men, which is set in an advertising agency in 1960s New York, in relation to two key elements which seem significant for a consideration of the current state of feminism in church and academy, both of which centre around what it means to remember or (not) to forget

JLab Measurements of the 3He Form Factors at Large Momentum Transfers

The charge and magnetic form factors, FC and FM, of 3He have been extracted in the kinematic range 25 fm-2 < Q2 < 61 fm-2 from elastic electron scattering by detecting 3He recoil nuclei and electrons in coincidence with the High Resolution Spectrometers of the Hall A Facility at Jefferson Lab. The measurements are indicative of a second diffraction minimum for the magnetic form factor, which was predicted in the Q2 range of this experiment, and of a continuing diffractive structure for the charge form factor. The data are in qualitative agreement with theoretical calculations based on realistic interactions and accurate methods to solve the three-body nuclear problem

Fine-mapping of genetic loci driving spontaneous clearance of hepatitis C virus infection

Approximately three quarters of acute hepatitis C (HCV) infections evolve to a chronic state, while one quarter are spontaneously cleared. Genetic predispositions strongly contribute to the development of chronicity. We have conducted a genome-wide association study to identify genomic variants underlying HCV spontaneous clearance using ImmunoChip in European and African ancestries. We confrmed two previously reported signifcant associations, in the IL28B/IFNL4 and the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) regions, with spontaneous clearance in the European population. We further fne-mapped the association in the MHC to a region of about 50 kilo base pairs, down from 1 mega base pairs in the previous study. Additional analyses suggested that the association in MHC is stronger in samples from North America than those from Europe

Massive stars as thermonuclear reactors and their explosions following core collapse

Nuclear reactions transform atomic nuclei inside stars. This is the process of stellar nucleosynthesis. The basic concepts of determining nuclear reaction rates inside stars are reviewed. How stars manage to burn their fuel so slowly most of the time are also considered. Stellar thermonuclear reactions involving protons in hydrostatic burning are discussed first. Then I discuss triple alpha reactions in the helium burning stage. Carbon and oxygen survive in red giant stars because of the nuclear structure of oxygen and neon. Further nuclear burning of carbon, neon, oxygen and silicon in quiescent conditions are discussed next. In the subsequent core-collapse phase, neutronization due to electron capture from the top of the Fermi sea in a degenerate core takes place. The expected signal of neutrinos from a nearby supernova is calculated. The supernova often explodes inside a dense circumstellar medium, which is established due to the progenitor star losing its outermost envelope in a stellar wind or mass transfer in a binary system. The nature of the circumstellar medium and the ejecta of the supernova and their dynamics are revealed by observations in the optical, IR, radio, and X-ray bands, and I discuss some of these observations and their interpretations.Comment: To be published in " Principles and Perspectives in Cosmochemistry" Lecture Notes on Kodai School on Synthesis of Elements in Stars; ed. by Aruna Goswami & Eswar Reddy, Springer Verlag, 2009. Contains 21 figure

Home-based care of low-risk febrile neutropenia in children-an implementation study in a tertiary paediatric hospital

BACKGROUND: Home-based management of low-risk febrile neutropenia (FN) is safe, improves quality of life and reduces healthcare expenditure. A formal low-risk paediatric program has not been implemented in Australia. We aimed to describe the implementation process and evaluate the clinical impact. METHOD: This prospective study incorporated three phases: implementation, intervention and evaluation. A low-risk FN implementation toolkit was developed, including a care-pathway, patient information, home-based assessment and educational resources. The program had executive-level endorsement, a multidisciplinary committee and a nurse specialist. Children with cancer and low-risk FN were eligible to be transferred home with a nurse visiting daily after an overnight period of observation for intravenous antibiotics. Low-risk patients were identified using a validated decision rule, and suitability for home-based care was determined using disease, chemotherapy and patient-level criteria. Plan-Do-Study-Act methodology was used to evaluate clinical impact and safety. RESULTS: Over 18 months, 292 children with FN were screened: 132 (45%) were low-risk and 63 (22%) were transferred to home-based care. Compared with pre-implementation there was a significant reduction in in-hospital median LOS (4.0 to 1.5 days, p < 0.001) and 291 in-hospital bed days were saved. Eight (13%) patients needed readmission and there were no adverse outcomes. A key barrier was timely screening of all patients and program improvements, including utilising the electronic medical record for patient identification, are planned. CONCLUSION: This program significantly reduces in-hospital LOS for children with low-risk FN. Ongoing evaluation will inform sustainability, identify areas for improvement and support national scale-up of the program

Thermal Properties of Graphene, Carbon Nanotubes and Nanostructured Carbon Materials

Recent years witnessed a rapid growth of interest of scientific and engineering communities to thermal properties of materials. Carbon allotropes and derivatives occupy a unique place in terms of their ability to conduct heat. The room-temperature thermal conductivity of carbon materials span an extraordinary large range - of over five orders of magnitude - from the lowest in amorphous carbons to the highest in graphene and carbon nanotubes. I review thermal and thermoelectric properties of carbon materials focusing on recent results for graphene, carbon nanotubes and nanostructured carbon materials with different degrees of disorder. A special attention is given to the unusual size dependence of heat conduction in two-dimensional crystals and, specifically, in graphene. I also describe prospects of applications of graphene and carbon materials for thermal management of electronics.Comment: Review Paper; 37 manuscript pages; 4 figures and 2 boxe

DR6 as a Diagnostic and Predictive Biomarker in Adult Sarcoma

The Death Receptor 6 (DR6) protein is elevated in the serum of ovarian cancer patients. We tested DR6 serum protein levels as a diagnostic/predictive biomarker in several epithelial tumors and sarcomas.DR6 gene expression profiles were screened in publically available arrays of solid tumors. A quantitative immunofluorescent western blot analysis was developed to test the serum of healthy controls and patients with sarcoma, uterine carcinosarcoma, bladder, liver, and pancreatic carcinomas. Change in DR6 serum levels was used to assay the ability of DR6 to predict the response to therapy of sarcoma patients.DR6 mRNA is highly expressed in all tumor types assayed. Western blot analysis of serum DR6 protein demonstrated high reproducibility (r = 0.97). Compared to healthy donor controls, DR6 serum levels were not elevated in patients with uterine carcinosarcoma, bladder, liver, or pancreatic cancers. Serum DR6 protein levels from adult sarcoma patients were significantly elevated (p<0.001). This was most evident for patients with synovial sarcoma. Change in serum DR6 levels during therapy correlated with clinical benefit from therapy (sensitivity 75%, and positive predictive value 87%).DR6 may be a clinically useful diagnostic and predictive serum biomarker for some adult sarcoma subtypes.Diagnosis of sarcoma can be difficult and can lead to improper management of these cancers. DR6 serum protein may be a tool to aid in the diagnosis of some sarcomatous tumors to improve treatment planning. For patients with advanced disease, rising DR6 levels predict non-response to therapy and may expedite therapeutic decision making and reduce reliance on radiologic imaging