Mormon Midwife

Patty Session\u27s 1847 Mormon Trail diary has been widely quoted and excerpted, but her complete diaries chronicling the first decades of Mormon settlement at Salt Lake City have never before been published. They provide a detailed record of early Mormon community life from Illinois to Utah through the eyes of Mormondom\u27s most famous midwife. They also recount her important role in women\u27s social networks and her contributions to community health and Utah\u27s economy, to pioneer education and horticulture. Patty Sessions assisted at the births of humdreds of early Mormons and first-generation Utahns, meticulously recording the events. Shed had an active role in the founding of the Relief Society and health organizations. She spoke in tongues and administered spiritually as well as medically to the ill. Her diaries are a rich resource for early Mormon and Utah history.https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs/1092/thumbnail.jp

Over the Rim

Over the Rim is the first book about an important but little-known expedition sent by Brigham Young to explore southern Utah. Led by Mormon apostle Parley P. Pratt, the party traveled from Salt Lake City south across the rim of the Great Basin to the Virgin River near future St. George. They brought back to Mormon leaders their first detailed portrait of the country to the south that the church planned to settle. By 1849, the new Mormon settlement at Great Salt Lake City was taking on an air of permanence as companies of Latter-day Saints continued to arrive. Brigham Young and other leaders needed to find homesites for the growing body of settlers and to learn more about the expansive region, extending as far south as the coast, they had selected for colonization. Pratt\u27s party of fifty set out in the winter of 1849-50. They followed the Spanish Trail and other existing paths but also found new routes. As they went, they noted possible town sites, agricultural and mineral potential, water supplies, and other resources, creating an often-followed blueprint for the Mormon push south. Their descriptions of the Utes and Paiutes, including leaders Walkara and Arapeen, are among the most valuable parts of the journals. The Indians welcomed the travelers but were suffering from disease, increasing white settlement and travel in their territories, and trade in Indian slaves. Such encounters helped shape future relations with the tribes. Made in the depth of winter, the arduous journey included many hardships and adventures but had a permanent impact on Utah history.https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs/1101/thumbnail.jp

Mechanical strain causes adaptive change in bronchial fibroblasts enhancing profibrotic and inflammatory responses

Asthma is characterized by periodic episodes of bronchoconstriction and reversible airway obstruction; these symptoms are attributable to a number of factors including increased mass and reactivity of bronchial smooth muscle and extracellular matrix (ECM) in asthmatic airways. Literature has suggested changes in cell responses and signaling can be elicited via modulation of mechanical stress acting upon them, potentially affecting the microenvironment of the cell. In this study, we hypothesized that mechanical strain directly affects the (myo)fibroblast phenotype in asthma. Therefore, we characterized responses of bronchial fibroblasts, from 6 normal and 11 asthmatic non-smoking volunteers, exposed to cyclical mechanical strain using flexible silastic membranes. Samples were analyzed for proteoglycans, ?-smooth muscle actin (?SMA), collagens I and III, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) 2 &amp; 9 and interleukin-8 (IL-8) by qRT-PCR, Western blot, zymography and ELISA. Mechanical strain caused a decrease in ?SMA mRNA but no change in either ?SMA protein or proteoglycan expression. In contrast the inflammatory mediator IL-8, MMPs and interstitial collagens were increased at both the transcriptional and protein level. The results demonstrate an adaptive response of bronchial fibroblasts to mechanical strain, irrespective of donor. The adaptation involves cytoskeletal rearrangement, matrix remodelling and inflammatory cytokine release. These results suggest that mechanical strain could contribute to disease progression in asthma by promoting inflammation and remodelling responses.<br/

A Space for Co-constructing Counter Stories Under Surveillance

Using our experiences as members of a participatory action research committee (from the City University of New York Graduate Center and the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility) documenting the impact of college in a maximum security prison, this essay illustrates the power of Participatory Action Research in the construction of counter stories. We raise for discussion a set of theoretical, methodological and ethical challenges that emerged from the co-production of counter stories under surveillance: the creation of a critical space for producing \u27counter knowledge\u27; the co-mingling of counter and dominant discourses, the negotiation of power over and within research in prison, and the opening of a dialogue between counter stories and public policy makers

The histone deacetylase inhibitor, romidepsin, as a potential treatment for pulmonary fibrosis

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive disease that usually affects elderly people. It has a poor prognosis and there are limited therapies. Since epigenetic alterations are associated with IPF, histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors offer a novel therapeutic strategy to address the unmet medical need. This study investigated the potential of romidepsin, an FDA-approved HDAC inhibitor, as an anti-fibrotic treatment and evaluated biomarkers of target engagement that may have utility in future clinical trials. The anti-fibrotic effects of romidepsin were evaluated both in vitro and in vivo together with any harmful effect on alveolar type II cells (ATII). Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) from IPF or control donors was analyzed for the presence of lysyl oxidase (LOX). In parallel with an increase in histone acetylation, romidepsin potently inhibited fibroblast proliferation, myofibroblast differentiation and LOX expression. ATII cell numbers and their lamellar bodies were unaffected. In vivo, romidepsin inhibited bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis in association with suppression of LOX expression. LOX was significantly elevated in BALF of IPF patients compared to controls. These data show the anti-fibrotic effects of romidepsin, supporting its potential use as novel treatment for IPF with LOX as a companion biomarker for evaluation of early on-target effects

Effects of antiplatelet therapy on stroke risk by brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases: subgroup analyses of the RESTART randomised, open-label trial

Background Findings from the RESTART trial suggest that starting antiplatelet therapy might reduce the risk of recurrent symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage compared with avoiding antiplatelet therapy. Brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases (such as cerebral microbleeds) are associated with greater risks of recurrent intracerebral haemorrhage. We did subgroup analyses of the RESTART trial to explore whether these brain imaging features modify the effects of antiplatelet therapy

Duffy antigen receptor for chemokines mediates chemokine endocytosis through a macropinocytosis-like process in endothelial cells

Background: The Duffy antigen receptor for chemokines (DARC) shows high affinity binding to multiple inflammatory CC and CXC chemokines and is expressed by erythrocytes and endothelial cells. Recent evidence suggests that endothelial DARC facilitates chemokine transcytosis to promote neutrophil recruitment. However, the mechanism of chemokine endocytosis by DARC remains unclear. Methodology/Principal Findings: We investigated the role of several endocytic pathways in DARC-mediated ligand internalization. Here we report that, although DARC co-localizes with caveolin-1 in endothelial cells, caveolin-1 is dispensable for DARC-mediated 125I-CXCL1 endocytosis as knockdown of caveolin-1 failed to inhibit ligand internalization. 125I-CXCL1 endocytosis by DARC was also independent of clathrin and flotillin-1 but required cholesterol and was, in part, inhibited by silencing Dynamin II expression. 125I-CXCL1 endocytosis was inhibited by amiloride, cytochalasin D, and the PKC inhibitor Gö6976 whereas Platelet Derived Growth Factor (PDGF) enhanced ligand internalization through DARC. The majority of DARC-ligand interactions occurred on the endothelial surface, with DARC identified along plasma membrane extensions with the appearance of ruffles, supporting the concept that DARC provides a high affinity scaffolding function for surface retention of chemokines on endothelial cells. Conclusions/Significance: These results show DARC-mediated chemokine endocytosis occurs through a macropinocytosis-like process in endothelial cells and caveolin-1 is dispensable for CXCL1 internalization. © 2011 Zhao et al