ONE DOOR OPENING IS ANOTHER PERSON’S INSULT: EXAMINING BENEVOLENTLY SEXIST BEHAVIORS AND ATTITUDES IN AMERICAN MALES

This study explores Ambivalent Sexism Theory and takes a closer look at the correlation between the behaviors and attitudes that surround it. In this study 133 male participants completed surveys questioning their acceptance and engagement in certain benevolent behaviors, as well as measuring their level of being considered sexist and kind. Results indicate that men who endorsed benevolently sexist ideology more frequently engaged in benevolent behaviors with women as well as believed this behavior was appropriate. However, regression analysis show kindness had a higher predictability in determining whether the men would in engage in these behaviors and consider it appropriate

One Door Opening is Another Person\u27s Insult: Examining Benevolently Sexist Behaviors and Attitudes in American Males

This study explores Ambivalent Sexism Theory and takes a closer look at the correlation between the behaviors and attitudes that surround it. In this study 133 male participants completed surveys questioning their acceptance and engagement in certain benevolent behaviors, as well as measuring their level of being considered sexist and kind. Results indicate that men who endorsed benevolently sexist ideology more frequently engaged in benevolent behaviors with women as well as believed this behavior was appropriate. However, regression analysis show kindness had a higher predictability in determining whether the men would in engage in these behaviors and consider it appropriate

Myth, biography and the female role in the plays of Pam Gems

In this study, I give some attention to the themes and strategies occurring throughout Pam Gems’s career as a female playwright. However, my main interest lies in five of Gems’s plays that feature historical and mythical female figures: Queen Christina (1977), Piaf (1978), Camille (1984), Marlene (1997) and The Snow Palace (1998). My objective is not to ascertain whether or not the plays I consider capture on accurate image of female myth in history, nor even to determine whether or not there exists an accurate image of the female role in literary history. I am far more interested in the ideological uses of myth and more particularly biography, as a form of myth in relation to gender. Such an interest rests upon the understanding that the reconstruction of a life can never be detached from the source of that reconstruction; in other words, the lenses which filter the telling of a life story become at least as important as the narrative itself. Moreover, as further biographies (lenses) are written on the same subject over time, it is possible to detect a gradual reconstitution of that subject to ultimately generate a pluralist evaluation - where truth and myth are flawlessly fused. It is my aim to analyse the variety of lenses and interpretations which have filtered the lives of Gems’s female protagonists with a view to discovering the contribution Gems makes in her personal and feminist reassessment of their biographical narratives. In the beginning the thesis attempts to unite biographical theory with feminist theory and use this as a framework for investigating Gems’s work. After close examination of the aforementioned plays, the thesis concludes with the assertion that Gems strongly embraces the concept of female plurality as opposed to a restrictive ‘feminist’ label in here revisionary recreation of the female role

Factors associated with caregiver stress and self-reported cognition during the Covid-19 pandemic

Caregivers are critical in helping persons with dementia (PWD) live at home longer, but the caregiving experience is associated with increased risk of physical (Vitaliano et al., 2003; Son et al., 2007; Fonareva & Oken, 2014) and cognitive decline among caregivers (Pertle et al., 2015; Lathan et al., 2016; Vitaliano et al., 2017). The present study examined the caregiver experience during the time of the Covid-19 pandemic to identify factors associated with caregiver stress, burden, and self-reported cognition (i.e., prospective and retrospective memory errors). In a sample of 56 caregivers of PWD, caregiver stress was positively associated with reports of greater life change resulting from Covid-19 and a greater frequency of care recipient depressive and disruptive behaviors; however, caregiver stress was not associated with care recipient memory problems. Additionally, caregiver burden was negatively associated with ratings of preparedness for the pandemic but not with availability of support services or the amount of time spent caregiving. Further, frequencies of prospective and retrospective memory mistakes were positively associated with perceived stress but not with caregiver burden. This work is a first step in identifying areas in which caregivers need assistance during a global health crisis and expanding the literature on caregiver cognition

Grafting Technologies for Use in Liver Cell Therapies of Human Hepatic Stem Cells

While the healthy liver is capable of rapidly regenerating after acute injury, patients with severe liver disease can undergo acute liver failure. The only widely used treatment for severe damage and failure is liver transplantation, but the paucity of available donor organs and the overwhelming number of patients waiting for transplants prompts a need for the development of alternative therapeutic strategies. Current therapies primarily introduce mature donor cells into hosts via cell suspension delivered through a vascular route; this results in inefficient engraftment, the engraftment of cells at ectopic sites, and can lead to complications with emboli formation and the need for immunosuppression. Sourcing of the cells to be transplanted is difficult, due mostly to the scarcity of available normal human tissue, in addition to poor cryopreservation methods, forcing one to obtain and utilize freshly isolated cells whenever available. Key problems associated with liver regeneration can be solved using tissue engineering themes which take advantage of the proliferative capacity of the stem cell population, along with its associated matrix. These strategies have been applied to three key facets needed for clinical programs in liver cell therapies: cryopreservation, 3-dimensional (3-D) cultures, and grafting technologies for transplantation of the cells. The optimization of cryopreservation methods for stem cell banking was first achieved through the use of hyaluronan (HA) hydrogels. Isotonic medium supplemented with small amounts of HA (0.05 or 0.10%) improved cell attachment and colony formation due at least in part to increased expression of key cell adhesion factors in the stem and progenitor cell populations. The culturing and expansion of hHpSCs in an ex vivo three-dimensional (3-D) environment was achieved using hyaluronan hydrogels mixed with other matrix components found in the liver's stem cell niche, in combination with a tailored serum-free medium. Cell aggregates formed within the HA hydrogels, remained viable, and demonstrated a stable stem cell phenotype after weeks of culture. Finally, culturing conditions were utilized in vivo to improve methods of cell transplantation through the incorporation of grafting strategies after hepatic injury. These strategies were compared with current methods for transplantation of liver cells, which resulted in scattered aggregates within the liver and loss of significant numbers of cells to other locations. By contrast, grafting strategies provided a suitable scaffold which allowed all transplanted cells to remain within the liver and dramatically improved engraftment and expansion without evidence of emboli formation. The techniques developed here have improved current alternative methods available for the treatment of liver failure and are preclinical, but are expected to rapidly translate to therapeutic uses

Giardia lamblia Reactive Arthritis Mimicking Acute Periprosthetic Knee Infection: A Case Report

Background: The difficulty in diagnosing Periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) is exacerbated by the more varied presentation of PJI and the lower synovial fluid WBC count thresholds applied when a prosthesis is present. Multiple reports have described pseudosepsis after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) due to gout or pseudogout. Further confusing the picture, periprosthetic infection also frequently coexists with crystalline arthropathy. Our review of the literature revealed no reports describing reactive arthritis (ReA) mimicking acute infection in the setting of previous TKA. In this case report, we describe a pseudo-periprosthetic infection of a well-functioning TKA secondary to ReA in the setting of Giardia lamblia gastroenteritis. Case: A healthy 49-year-old man with a well-functioning total knee replacement developed a painful swollen knee. The erythrocyte sedimentation rate was 12 mm/hour, and C-reactive protein was 20.3 mg/L. Aspiration revealed 24,440 white blood cells and 5% neutrophils. His 2018 International Consensus Meeting (ICM) definition score of 5 met criteria for “possibly infected.” He was diagnosed with ReA secondary to Giardia lamblia, mimicking acute periprosthetic infection. He was successfully treated with a 10-week course of multiple oral antiparasitic medications. Conclusion: Systemic parasitic infectious ReA can mimic acute infection in the presence of total knee arthroplasty. Careful application of the 2018 ICM criteria can be critical for workup and the treatment of suspected periprosthetic infection

UK hydrological outlook - July 2024

The Hydrological Outlook provides an insight into future hydrological conditions across the UK. Specifically, it describes likely trajectories for river flows and groundwater levels on a monthly basis, with a particular focus on the next three months. Well established monitoring programmes provide the current status of both river flows and groundwater levels at many sites across the UK, and data from these programmes provide the starting point for the Outlook. A number of techniques are used to project forwards from the current state and results from these are used to produce a summary that includes a highlights map

UK hydrological outlook - January 2024

The Hydrological Outlook provides an insight into future hydrological conditions across the UK. Specifically, it describes likely trajectories for river flows and groundwater levels on a monthly basis, with a particular focus on the next three months. Well established monitoring programmes provide the current status of both river flows and groundwater levels at many sites across the UK, and data from these programmes provide the starting point for the Outlook. A number of techniques are used to project forwards from the current state and results from these are used to produce a summary that includes a highlights map

UK hydrological outlook - October 2023

The Hydrological Outlook provides an insight into future hydrological conditions across the UK. Specifically, it describes likely trajectories for river flows and groundwater levels on a monthly basis, with a particular focus on the next three months. Well established monitoring programmes provide the current status of both river flows and groundwater levels at many sites across the UK, and data from these programmes provide the starting point for the Outlook. A number of techniques are used to project forwards from the current state and results from these are used to produce a summary that includes a highlights map

Primary care blood tests show lipid profile changes in pre-symptomatic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Multiple sources of evidence suggest that changes in metabolism may precede the onset of motor symptoms in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. This study aimed to seek evidence for alterations in the levels of blood indices collected routinely in the primary care setting prior to the onset of motor symptoms in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Premorbid data, measured as part of routine health screening, for total cholesterol, high-density and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglyceride, glycated haemoglobin A1c and creatinine were collected retrospectively from (i) a cohort of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients attending a specialist clinic (n = 143) and (ii) from primary care-linked data within UK Biobank. Data were fitted using linear mixed effects models with linear b-splines to identify inflection points, controlling for age and sex. In specialist amyotrophic lateral sclerosis clinic cases, models indicated decreasing levels of total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol prior to an inflection point in the years before symptom onset (total cholesterol 3.25 years, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol 1.25 years), after which they stabilized or rose. A similar pattern was observed in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis cases within UK Biobank, occurring several years prior to diagnosis (total cholesterol 7 years, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol 7.25 years), differing significantly from matched controls. High-density lipoprotein cholesterol followed a similar pattern but was less robust to sensitivity analyses. Levels of triglyceride remained stable throughout. Glycated haemoglobin temporal profiles were not consistent between the clinic and biobank cohorts. Creatinine level trajectories prior to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis did not differ significantly from controls but decreased significantly in the symptomatic period after an inflection point of 0.25 years after symptom onset (clinic cohort) or 0.5 years before diagnosis (UK Biobank). These data provide further evidence for a pre-symptomatic period of dynamic metabolic change in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, consistently associated with alterations in blood cholesterols. Such changes may ultimately contribute to biomarkers applicable to population screening and for pathways guiding the targeting of preventative therapy