Did One Veil Give Women a Better Life?

Unfortunately, a young woman in Renaissance Florence did not have many options for her future. A woman\u27s family usually decided whether she would be able to get married or would have to enter the convent, but sometimes she was able to make this choice. In this paper, I look at the lives of wives and nuns to analyze how their lives differed in responsibilities and freedoms, but also to see how all women had similar restrictions and expectations placed upon them

Vortices within vortices: hierarchical nature of vortex tubes in turbulence

The JHU turbulence database [1] can be used with a state of the art visualisation tool [2] to generate high quality fluid dynamics videos. In this work we investigate the classical idea that smaller structures in turbulent flows, while engaged in their own internal dynamics, are advected by the larger structures. They are not advected undistorted, however. We see instead that the small scale structures are sheared and twisted by the larger scales. This illuminates the basic mechanisms of the turbulent cascade.Comment: 2 pages, 1 low quality video, 1 high quality vide

‘‘Lozenge’’ contour plots in scattering from polymer networks

We present a consistent explanation for the appearance of “lozenge” shapes in contour plots of the two dimensional scattering intensity from stretched polymer networks. By explicitly averaging over quenched variables in a tube model, we show that lozenge patterns arise as a result of chain material that is not directly deformed by the stretch. We obtain excellent agreement with experimental data

Rubber friction: role of the flash temperature

When a rubber block is sliding on a hard rough substrate, the substrate asperities will exert time-dependent deformations of the rubber surface resulting in viscoelastic energy dissipation in the rubber, which gives a contribution to the sliding friction. Most surfaces of solids have roughness on many different length scales, and when calculating the friction force it is necessary to include the viscoelastic deformations on all length scales. The energy dissipation will result in local heating of the rubber. Since the viscoelastic properties of rubber-like materials are extremely strongly temperature dependent, it is necessary to include the local temperature increase in the analysis. At very low sliding velocity the temperature increase is negligible because of heat diffusion, but already for velocities of order 0.01 m/s the local heating may be very important. Here I study the influence of the local heating on the rubber friction, and I show that in a typical case the temperature increase results in a decrease in rubber friction with increasing sliding velocity for v > 0.01 m/s. This may result in stick-slip instabilities, and is of crucial importance in many practical applications, e.g., for the tire-road friction, and in particular for ABS-breaking systems.Comment: 22 pages, 27 figure

Gene Deletion of the Kinin Receptor B1 Attenuates Cardiac Inflammation and Fibrosis During the Development of Experimental Diabetic Cardiomyopathy

Objective: Diabetic cardiomyopathy is associated with increased mortality in patients with diabetes mellitus. The underlying pathology of this disease is still under discussion. We studied the role of the kinin B1 receptor on the development of experimental diabetic cardiomyopathy. Research Design and Methods: We utilized B1 receptor knockout mice and investiged cardiac inflammation, fibrosis and oxidative stress after induction of streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes mellitus. Furthermore, the left ventricular function was measured by pressure-volume loops after 8 weeks of diabetes mellitus. Results: B1 receptor knockout mice showed an attenuation of diabetic cardiomyopathy with improved systolic and diastolic function in comparison with diabetic control mice. This was associated with a decreased activation state of the MAP kinase p38, less oxidative stress as well as normalized cardiac inflammation, shown by fewer invading cells and, no increase in matrix metalloproteinase-9 as well as the chemokine CXCL-5. Furthermore, the pro-fibrotic connective tissue growth factor was normalized, leading to a reduction in cardiac fibrosis despite severe hyperglycemia in mice lacking the B1 receptor. Conclusion: These findings suggest that the B1 receptor is detrimental in diabetic cardiomyopathy in that it mediates inflammatory and fibrotic processes. These insights might have useful implications on future studies utilizing B1 receptor antagonists for treatment of human diabetic cardiomyopathy

The effect of social exclusion on state paranoia and explicit and implicit self-esteem in a non-clinical sample

Background and objectives: The relationship between self-esteem and paranoia may be influenced by social stress. This study aimed to replicate previous research on the impact ofsocial exclusion on paranoia and self-esteem in a non-clinical sample and to extend this work by examining the effect of exclusion on self-esteem at the 'implicit' level. Methods: Non-clinical participants (N = 85) were randomly allocated to the Inclusion or Exclusion condition of a virtual ball-toss game ('Cyberball'). They completed self-reportmeasures of state paranoia and self-esteem, and two implicit measures of self-esteem - theImplicit Association Task (IAT) and Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) -prior to and after exposure to Cyberball. Results: Social exclusion increased state paranoia. This effect was moderated by distress associated with trait paranoia. Exclusion was also associated with decreased self-reported self-esteem, as well as reduced implicit self-esteem on the IAT. Changes in self-reported self-esteem were associated with state paranoia at post-Cyberball. The IRAP indicated that reductions in implicit self-esteem may be due to increases in 'Me-Negative' and 'Others-Positive' biases (rather than reductions in 'Me-Positive' bias). Limitations: The current study involved a non-clinical sample and so findings cannot be generalized to clinical paranoia. Conclusions: These findings are consistent with previous evidence that paranoia is associated with negative self-evaluations, whereas positive self-evaluations can persist in paranoia. They also provide support for the suggestion that investigations of self-esteem in paranoia should extend beyond global self-esteem and might benefit from a distinction between positive and negative components. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

DC generation from peripheral blood mononuclear cells in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia: Influence of interferons on DC yield and functional properties

In Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML), standard treatment consists of modern tyrosine-kinase inhibitors (TKI). Nevertheless, there is evidence that immune responses against leukemia-associated antigens (LAA) may play an important role in disease control. Dendritic cell (DC)- based immunotherapy is able to induce T cell responses against LAA and might therefore pose an interesting therapeutic option in CML, especially in the setting of minimal residual disease (MRD). GMP production of DC for clinical vaccination remains a time- and cost- intensive procedure and standardized DC generation is warranted. We asked whether maturation-induction with IFN-{gamma} and IFN-{alpha} has an influence on functional properties of DC derived from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) in CML patients. Monocyte-derived DC from healthy donors and from patients with CML were analyzed after maturation-induction with our TNF-{alpha}-containing standard cytokine cocktail with or without addition of IFN-{alpha} and/or IFN-{gamma}. Our results confirm that the addition of IFN-{gamma} leads to enhanced IL-12 secretion in healthy donors. In contrast, in CML patients, IFN-{gamma} was not able to increase IL-12 secretion, possibly due to a higher degree of cell adherence and lower cell yield during the cell culture. Our data suggest, that- in contrast to healthy donors-, additional interferons are not beneficial for maturation induction during large-scale DC production in patients with CML

Chlamydia pecorum Ovine Abortion: Associations between Maternal Infection and Perinatal Mortality.

Chlamydia pecorum is a common gastrointestinal inhabitant of livestock but infections can manifest in a broad array of clinical presentations and in a range of host species. While C. pecorum is a known cause of ovine abortion, clinical cases have only recently been described in detail. Here, the prevalence and sequence types (STs) of C. pecorum in ewes from a property experiencing high levels of perinatal mortality (PNM) in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, were investigated using serological and molecular methods. Ewes that were PNM+ were statistically more likely to test seropositive compared to PNM- ewes and displayed higher antibody titres; however, an increase in chlamydial shedding from either the rectum, vagina or conjunctiva of PNM+ ewes was not observed. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) indicated that C. pecorum ST23 was the major ST shed by ewes in the flock, was the only ST identified from the vaginal site, and was the same ST detected within aborted foetal tissues. Whole genome sequencing of C. pecorum isolated from one abortion case revealed that the C. pecorum plasmid (pCpec) contained a unique deletion in coding sequence 1 (CDS1) that was also present in C. pecorum ST23 shed from the ewes. A further unique deletion was noted in a polymorphic membrane protein gene (pmpG) of the C. pecorum chromosome, which warrants further investigation given the role of PmpG in host cell adherence and tissue tropism.This study describes novel infection parameters in a sheep flock experiencing C. pecorum-associated perinatal mortality, provides the first genomic data from an abortigenic C. pecorum strain, and raises questions about possible links between unique genetic features of this strain and C. pecorum abortion

The Infant Curiosity Questionnaire: the first measure of General Infant Curiosity

There are numerous theoretical frameworks attempting to define and explain curiosity, such as the knowledge gap theory (Loewenstein, 1994), the interest-deprivation theory (Litman & Jimerson, 2004), as well as the early, influential specifications of Berlyne (e.g. epistemic vs. perceptual curiosity and specific vs. diverse exploration, 1960). However, the concept remains elusive with open questions especially regarding its emergence and mechanisms in infancy. While there are several self-report measures for adult and some for child curiosity relating to the aforementioned theories, there has not been any measure developed yet for infants. Here, we present a newly developed caregiver-report questionnaire measuring infants’ general curiosity across a target age range of 5 to 24 months. Rather than constraining behavioral expressions of curiosity to a specific theoretical framework, we instead adopt a broad definition of infant curiosity as a keen desire or tendency to actively explore one’s immediate surroundings. We developed 36 items reflecting various behaviors and developing skills with which infants can actively explore and interact with their environment from birth onwards. Caregivers are asked to evaluate how well each item reflects their child’s typical behavior on a Likert-scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree) with an option of ‘not applicable (NA)’ for behaviours the child does not display (perhaps because they are too young). An item applicable for younger infants is for instance “When my child encounters an object, they are likely to put it in their mouth for further inspection (e.g., to see what it feels or tastes like).” Other items referring to skills such as interacting socially (e.g., “When reading a picture book together, my child directs me (e.g., by pointing) towards what they want to know more about.”) may only become applicable later on. The survey was piloted on N = 22 participants of a constrained age group (Mage = 11.53, 41% female). The measure showed good internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = .85). Each item created variance but had, as expected, a positively skewed response load. Furthermore, an item directly asking caregivers about how curious they perceived their child to be, significantly correlated with the child’s mean curiosity score (R = 0.44, p = 0.043) suggesting predictive construct validity. Preliminary results are promising in that the measure captures individual differences in infants’ general curiosity while keeping the number of items and response time low. Small adjustments have been made and data collection from a wider population across the full age-range with a target sample size of N = 360 is currently ongoing. Reliability analyses as well as structural equation modelling has been preregistered on aspredicted.org. This new measure will help us understand infant curiosity, its development, expression, and potential stability from a very early age. It may also inform experimental studies by explaining additional variance of active engagement