Legislation and its effects on race relations in southeastern Indiana, 1785-1860.

Residents of Indiana debated the status of Blacks from the time the area was part of the Northwest Territory until the Civil War. An anti-slavery faction gained control of the Indiana territorial legislature and assured Black’s rights through early statehood; however, from the mid-1820s until 1851 anti-black leaders passed repressive legislation. Officials in the southeastern Indiana counties and cities ignored the repressive laws unless events forced them to act. In 1820 one in four Blacks in Indiana lived in the southeastern counties of Jefferson, Clark, and Floyd. By 1850, those county’s seats - Madison, Jeffersonville, and New Albany, respectively - were the largest urban areas in Indiana. Businesses of those counties and cities relied on trade with the slave state of Kentucky, but also relied on the industry of their Black residents. For these two reasons, those counties and cities developed distinctively from the rest of the state

Married Catholic Priests: Their Unique Priestly Identity and Potential Catalyst for Change in the U.S. Catholic Church

This qualitative research study examined the lived experiences of fifteen married, Latin Rite, U.S. Catholic priests who were ordained through either the Pastoral Provision or the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter. The purpose of this study was to understand the unique experiences these men share, differentiated from that of their celibate brethren. Data were collected through semi-structured phone interviews. Questions focused on leadership, celibacy, a priest shortage, the abuse crisis, homosexuality and same-sex attraction in the priesthood, priestly identity, the priest/parishioner relationship, alienation, the Pastoral Provision, the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, and the roles and effects that married priests might have on the U.S. Catholic Church. Analysis was crafted through the lens of postmodern American culture and role theory, including frames of Collective Consciousness, Complex Religious Systems, Symbolic Interactionism, and Presentation of Self. Themes that emerged were identity, role and career limitation. The more salient findings of this study are that these men are institutionally disadvantaged due to barriers of identity construction and their prescribed roles within the Church, both of which hinder career development within the Latin Rite, U.S. Catholic Church. Married priests tend to fully respect and admire those men called to the priesthood and who have accepted the vow of celibacy. They often struggle with financial hardships, particular to answering the call to the Catholic priesthood while supporting a spouse and family. This study highlights frustration with their limited roles in the Church and the effects those roles have on their identities and careers. Additionally, this study identifies necessary areas of support for this unique cohort of Catholic priest

Determination of disease severity in COVID-19 patients using deep learning in chest X-ray images

PURPOSEChest X-ray plays a key role in diagnosis and management of COVID-19 patients and imaging features associated with clinical elements may assist with the development or validation of automated image analysis tools. We aimed to identify associations between clinical and radiographic features as well as to assess the feasibility of deep learning applied to chest X-rays in the setting of an acute COVID-19 outbreak.METHODSA retrospective study of X-rays, clinical, and laboratory data was performed from 48 SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR positive patients (age 60±17 years, 15 women) between February 22 and March 6, 2020 from a tertiary care hospital in Milan, Italy. Sixty-five chest X-rays were reviewed by two radiologists for alveolar and interstitial opacities and classified by severity on a scale from 0 to 3. Clinical factors (age, symptoms, comorbidities) were investigated for association with opacity severity and also with placement of central line or endotracheal tube. Deep learning models were then trained for two tasks: lung segmentation and opacity detection. Imaging characteristics were compared to clinical datapoints using the unpaired student’s t-test or Mann-Whitney U test. Cohen’s kappa analysis was used to evaluate the concordance of deep learning to conventional radiologist interpretation.RESULTSFifty-six percent of patients presented with alveolar opacities, 73% had interstitial opacities, and 23% had normal X-rays. The presence of alveolar or interstitial opacities was statistically correlated with age (P = 0.008) and comorbidities (P = 0.005). The extent of alveolar or interstitial opacities on baseline X-ray was significantly associated with the presence of endotracheal tube (P = 0.0008 and P = 0.049) or central line (P = 0.003 and P = 0.007). In comparison to human interpretation, the deep learning model achieved a kappa concordance of 0.51 for alveolar opacities and 0.71 for interstitial opacities.CONCLUSIONChest X-ray analysis in an acute COVID-19 outbreak showed that the severity of opacities was associated with advanced age, comorbidities, as well as acuity of care. Artificial intelligence tools based upon deep learning of COVID-19 chest X-rays are feasible in the acute outbreak setting

Replication in Cells of Hematopoietic Origin Is Necessary for Dengue Virus Dissemination

Dengue virus (DENV) is a mosquito-borne pathogen for which no vaccine or specific therapeutic is available. Although it is well established that dendritic cells and macrophages are primary sites of DENV replication, it remains unclear whether non-hematopoietic cellular compartments serve as virus reservoirs. Here, we exploited hematopoietic-specific microRNA-142 (miR-142) to control virus tropism by inserting tandem target sites into the virus to restrict replication exclusively in this cell population. In vivo use of this virus restricted infection of CD11b+, CD11c+, and CD45+ cells, resulting in a loss of virus spread, regardless of the route of administration. Furthermore, sequencing of the targeted virus population that persisted at low levels, demonstrated total excision of the inserted miR-142 target sites. The complete conversion of the virus population under these selective conditions suggests that these immune cells are the predominant sources of virus amplification. Taken together, this work highlights the importance of hematopoietic cells for DENV replication and showcases an invaluable tool for the study of virus pathogenesis

Regulation of microRNA biogenesis and turnover by animals and their viruses

Item does not contain fulltextMicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a ubiquitous component of gene regulatory networks that modulate the precise amounts of proteins expressed in a cell. Despite their small size, miRNA genes contain various recognition elements that enable specificity in when, where and to what extent they are expressed. The importance of precise control of miRNA expression is underscored by functional studies in model organisms and by the association between miRNA mis-expression and disease. In the last decade, identification of the pathways by which miRNAs are produced, matured and turned-over has revealed many aspects of their biogenesis that are subject to regulation. Studies in viral systems have revealed a range of mechanisms by which viruses target these pathways through viral proteins or non-coding RNAs in order to regulate cellular gene expression. In parallel, a field of study has evolved around the activation and suppression of antiviral RNA interference (RNAi) by viruses. Virus encoded suppressors of RNAi can impact miRNA biogenesis in cases where miRNA and small interfering RNA pathways converge. Here we review the literature on the mechanisms by which miRNA biogenesis and turnover are regulated in animals and the diverse strategies that viruses use to subvert or inhibit these processes

The Atlantic partnership and Middle Eastern strategy in the early Cold War

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:D208246 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

MAINTAINING HIGH RESOLUTION MASS SPECTROMETRY CAPABILITIES FOR NATIONAL NUCLEAR SECURITY ADMINISTRATION APPLICATIONS

The Department of Energy (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has a specialized need for analyzing low mass gas species at very high resolutions. The currently preferred analytical method is electromagnetic sector mass spectrometry. This method allows the NNSA Nuclear Security Enterprise (NSE) to resolve species of similar masses down to acceptable minimum detection limits (MDLs). Some examples of these similar masses are helium-4/deuterium and carbon monoxide/nitrogen. Through the 1980s and 1990s, there were two vendors who supplied and supported these instruments. However, with declining procurements and down turns in the economy, the supply of instruments, service and spare parts from these vendors has become less available, and in some cases, nonexistent. The largest NSE user of this capability is the Savannah River Site (SRS), located near Aiken, South Carolina. The Research and Development Engineering (R&DE) Group in the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) investigated the areas of instrument support that were needed to extend the life cycle of these aging instruments. Their conclusions, as to the focus areas of electromagnetic sector mass spectrometers to address, in order of priority, were electronics, software and hardware. Over the past 3-5 years, the R&DE Group has designed state of the art electronics and software that will allow high resolution legacy mass spectrometers, critical to the NNSA mission, to be operated for the foreseeable future. The funding support for this effort has been from several sources, including the SRS Defense Programs, NNSA Readiness Campaign, Pantex Plant and Sandia National Laboratory. To date, electronics systems have been upgraded on one development system at SRNL, two production systems at Pantex and one production system at Sandia National Laboratory. An NSE working group meets periodically to review strategies going forward. The R&DE Group has also applied their work to the electronics for a Thermal Ionization Mass Spectrometer (TIMS) instrument, which applies a similar mass spectrometric technology for resolving high mass isotopes, such as plutonium and uranium. Due to non-compete clauses for DOE, all work has been performed and applied to instruments which are obsolete and are no longer supported by the original vendor