The Renaissance paradox in Spenser.

The complex phenomenon known as the Renaissance stimulated man with an insatiable curiosity in all things that had to do with human life and activity. The powerful searchlight of curiosity was especially turned on the ancient world – its learning, art, and literature – with a resultant diffusion of light so widespread that its influence is incalculable. In Italy, which in the fourteenth century saw the dawn of the Renaissance, “a glorious sumptuousness” of life prevailed. Ostentation, manifesting itself in brilliant dress, in beautiful homes, in wealth, and in magnificence of every kind, characterized the new movement. The Renaissance insisted on the liberation of social, intellectual, and aesthetic faculties. In Italy, for the first time after the overthrow of ancient civilization, man, affected by the new intellectual light, acted as a free agent in thought and in deed. But for the emphasis on and the development of the individual, the Renaissance could not have been; for as Hulme explains, “It is only through the channel of individuality that new thought and new art can come into the world; and thought and art, immaterial though they be, are the matrix that shapes the issues of life.” The search for the individual naturally led to ancient Greece, whose people had recognized the importance of individuality; “it is to this that their supreme achievements in art were largely due.” William H. Woodward, in his Education during the Renaissance, states that enthusiasm for antiquity was born of two motives: first, patriotic sentiment; second, aesthetic attraction. Through a deep reading in ancient history, the thinkers of the Renaissance recovered the wisdom of the ancients to apply to the problems of actual life

Altimetry, gravimetry, GPS and viscoelastic modeling data for the joint inversion for glacial isostatic adjustment in Antarctica (ESA STSE Project REGINA)

The poorly known correction for the ongoing deformation of the solid Earth caused by glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) is a major uncertainty in determining the mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet from measurements of satellite gravimetry and to a lesser extent satellite altimetry. In the past decade, much progress has been made in consistently modeling ice sheet and solid Earth interactions; however, forward-modeling solutions of GIA in Antarctica remain uncertain due to the sparsity of constraints on the ice sheet evolution, as well as the Earth's rheological properties. An alternative approach towards estimating GIA is the joint inversion of multiple satellite data – namely, satellite gravimetry, satellite altimetry and GPS, which reflect, with different sensitivities, trends in recent glacial changes and GIA. Crucial to the success of this approach is the accuracy of the space-geodetic data sets. Here, we present reprocessed rates of surface-ice elevation change (Envisat/Ice, Cloud,and land Elevation Satellite, ICESat; 2003–2009), gravity field change (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, GRACE; 2003–2009) and bedrock uplift (GPS; 1995–2013). The data analysis is complemented by the forward modeling of viscoelastic response functions to disc load forcing, allowing us to relate GIA-induced surface displacements with gravity changes for different rheological parameters of the solid Earth. The data and modeling results presented here are available in the PANGAEA database (https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.875745). The data sets are the input streams for the joint inversion estimate of present-day ice-mass change and GIA, focusing on Antarctica. However, the methods, code and data provided in this paper can be used to solve other problems, such as volume balances of the Antarctic ice sheet, or can be applied to other geographical regions in the case of the viscoelastic response functions. This paper presents the first of two contributions summarizing the work carried out within a European Space Agency funded study: Regional glacial isostatic adjustment and CryoSat elevation rate corrections in Antarctica (REGINA)

Perceived family functioning and friendship quality: cross-sectional associations with physical activity and sedentary behaviours.

This study examined the association of adolescent-reported family functioning and friendship quality with objectively-measured moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA), sedentary time, and self-reported sedentary behaviours.The work of Andrew J Atkin, Kirsten Corder, and Esther M F van Sluijs was supported, wholly or in part, by the Centre for Diet and Activity Research (CEDAR), a UKCRC Public Health Research Centre of Excellence (RES-590-28-0002). Funding from the British Heart Foundation, Department of Health, Economic and Social Research Council, Medical Research Council, and the Wellcome Trust, under the auspices of the UK Clinical Research Collaboration, is gratefully acknowledged. The work of Esther M F van Sluijs, Kirsten Corder, Ulf Ekelund and Soren Brage was supported by the Medical Research Council (MC_UU_12015/7, MC_UU_12015/3). The ROOTS data collection was supported by a programme grant to Ian Goodyer (074296/Z/04/Z) from the Wellcome Trust and by the Medical Research Council Epidemiology Unit and Medical Research Council Human Nutrition Research.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared at http://www.ijbnpa.org/content/12/1/2

Therapeutic Dose Response of Acoustic Cluster Therapy in Combination With Irinotecan for the Treatment of Human Colon Cancer in Mice.

Introduction: Acoustic Cluster Therapy (ACT) comprises coadministration of a formulation containing microbubble-microdroplet clusters (PS101) together with a regular medicinal drug and local ultrasound (US) insonation of the targeted pathological tissue. PS101 is confined to the vascular compartment and when the clusters are exposed to regular diagnostic imaging US fields, the microdroplets undergo a phase shift to produce bubbles with a median diameter of 22 µm. Low frequency, low mechanical index US is then applied to drive oscillations of the deposited ACT bubbles to induce biomechanical effects that locally enhance extravasation, distribution, and uptake of the coadministered drug, significantly increasing its therapeutic efficacy. Methods: The therapeutic efficacy of ACT with irinotecan (60 mg/kg i.p.) was investigated using three treatment sessions given on day 0, 7, and 14 on subcutaneous human colorectal adenocarcinoma xenografts in mice. Treatment was performed with three back-to-back PS101+US administrations per session with PS101 doses ranging from 0.40-2.00 ml PS101/kg body weight (n = 8-15). To induce the phase shift, 45 s of US at 8 MHz at an MI of 0.30 was applied using a diagnostic US system; low frequency exposure consisted of 1 or 5 min at 500 kHz with an MI of 0.20. Results: ACT with irinotecan induced a strong, dose dependent increase in the therapeutic effect (R2 = 0.95). When compared to irinotecan alone, at the highest dose investigated, combination treatment induced a reduction in average normalized tumour volume from 14.6 (irinotecan), to 5.4 (ACT with irinotecan, p = 0.002) on day 27. Median survival increased from 34 days (irinotecan) to 54 (ACT with irinotecan, p = 0.002). Additionally, ACT with irinotecan induced an increase in the fraction of complete responders; from 7% to 26%. There was no significant difference in the therapeutic efficacy whether the low frequency US lasted 1 or 5 min. Furthermore, there was no significant difference between the enhancement observed in the efficacy of ACT with irinotecan when PS101+US was administered before or after irinotecan. An increase in early dropouts was observed at higher PS101 doses. Both mean tumour volume (on day 27) and median survival indicate that the PS101 dose response was linear in the range investigated

Properties of electrons scattered on a strong plane electromagnetic wave with a linear polarization: classical treatment

The relations among the components of the exit momenta of ultrarelativistic electrons scattered on a strong electromagnetic wave of a low (optical) frequency and linear polarization are established using the exact solutions to the equations of motion with radiation reaction included (the Landau-Lifshitz equation). It is found that the momentum components of the electrons traversed the electromagnetic wave depend weakly on the initial values of the momenta. These electrons are mostly scattered at the small angles to the direction of propagation of the electromagnetic wave. The maximum Lorentz factor of the electrons crossed the electromagnetic wave is proportional to the work done by the electromagnetic field and is independent of the initial momenta. The momentum component parallel to the electric field strength vector of the electromagnetic wave is determined only by the diameter of the laser beam measured in the units of the classical electron radius. As for the reflected electrons, they for the most part lose the energy, but remain relativistic. There is a reflection law for these electrons that relates the incident and the reflection angles and is independent of any parameters.Comment: 12 pp, 3 fig

Attenuation Imaging with Pulse-Echo Ultrasound based on an Acoustic Reflector

Ultrasound attenuation is caused by absorption and scattering in tissue and is thus a function of tissue composition, hence its imaging offers great potential for screening and differential diagnosis. In this paper we propose a novel method that allows to reconstruct spatial attenuation distribution in tissue based on computed tomography, using reflections from a passive acoustic reflector. This requires a standard ultrasound transducer operating in pulse-echo mode, thus it can be implemented on conventional ultrasound systems with minor modifications. We use calibration with water measurements in order to normalize measurements for quantitative imaging of attenuation. In contrast to earlier techniques, we herein show that attenuation reconstructions are possible without any geometric prior on the inclusion location or shape. We present a quantitative evaluation of reconstructions based on simulations, gelatin phantoms, and ex-vivo bovine skeletal muscle tissue, achieving contrast-to-noise ratio of up to 2.3 for an inclusion in ex-vivo tissue.Comment: Accepted at MICCAI 2019 (International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention