Carefully guarded borders

Carefully Guarded Borders is a collection of poetry that focuses on the experiences of individuals often seen as other--deviant women, gender transgressors, and immigrants. The poems, along with the critical introduction, present a challenge to linear trajectories of poetic descent by offering openness of interpretation, as well as openness of form. The collection is arranged associatively, and its thematic threads recur rhizomatically. Although at its inception Carefully Guarded Borders was a biographical account of the migration from Tajikistan to the United States, at the time of the manuscript\u27s completion, this theme was subverted by cross-currents; the finished work questions borders at the same time as it reinforces their necessity in defining openness

Early mobilization of patients receiving extracorporeal membrane oxygenation: a retrospective cohort study

Introduction: Critical illness is a well-recognized cause of neuromuscular weakness and impaired physical functioning. Physical therapy (PT) has been demonstrated to be safe and effective for critically ill patients. The impact of such an intervention on patients receiving extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) has not been well characterized. We describe the feasibility and impact of active PT on ECMO patients. Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study of 100 consecutive patients receiving ECMO in the medical intensive care unit of a university hospital. Results: Of the 100 patients receiving ECMO, 35 (35%) participated in active PT; 19 as bridge to transplant and 16 as bridge to recovery. Duration of ECMO was 14.3 ± 10.9 days. Patients received 7.2 ± 6.5 PT sessions while on ECMO. During PT sessions, 18 patients (51%) ambulated (median distance 175 feet, range 4 to 2,800) and 9 patients were on vasopressors. Whilst receiving ECMO, 23 patients were liberated from invasive mechanical ventilation. Of the 16 bridge to recovery patients, 14 (88%) survived to discharge; 10 bridge to transplant patients (53%) survived to transplantation, with 9 (90%) surviving to discharge. Of the 23 survivors, 13 (57%) went directly home, 8 (35%) went to acute rehabilitation, and 2 (9%) went to subacute rehabilitation. There were no PT-related complications. Conclusions: Active PT, including ambulation, can be achieved safely and reliably in ECMO patients when an experienced, multidisciplinary team is utilized. More research is needed to define the barriers to PT and the impact on survival and long-term functional, neurocognitive outcomes in this population

Isotope geochemistry of Mississippi Valley Type strataboundF-Ba-(Pb-Zn) ores of Hammam Zriba (Province of Zaghouan, NETunisia).

Peer reviewed journal article. Geology, 2017.Abstract available in PDF file

Formation of Trans-Activation Competent HIV-1 Rev:RRE Complexes Requires the Recruitment of Multiple Protein Activation Domains

The HIV-1 Rev trans-activator is a nucleocytoplasmic shuttle protein that is essential for virus replication. Rev directly binds to unspliced and incompletely spliced viral RNA via the cis-acting Rev Response Element (RRE) sequence. Subsequently, Rev oligomerizes cooperatively and interacts with the cellular nuclear export receptor CRM1. In addition to mediating nuclear RNA export, Rev also affects the stability, translation and packaging of Rev-bound viral transcripts. Although it is established that Rev function requires the multimeric assembly of Rev molecules on the RRE, relatively little is known about how many Rev monomers are sufficient to form a trans-activation competent Rev:RRE complex, or which specific activity of Rev is affected by its oligomerization. We here analyzed by functional studies how homooligomer formation of Rev affects the trans-activation capacity of this essential HIV-1 regulatory protein. In a gain-of-function approach, we fused various heterologous dimerization domains to an otherwise oligomerization-defective Rev mutant and were able to demonstrate that oligomerization of Rev is not required per se for the nuclear export of this viral trans-activator. In contrast, however, the formation of Rev oligomers on the RRE is a precondition to trans-activation by directly affecting the nuclear export of Rev-regulated mRNA. Moreover, experimental evidence is provided showing that at least two protein activation domains are required for the formation of trans-activation competent Rev:RRE complexes. The presented data further refine the model of Rev trans-activation by directly demonstrating that Rev oligomerization on the RRE, thereby recruiting at least two protein activation domains, is required for nuclear export of unspliced and incompletely spliced viral RNA

Rev-RRE interactions in human immunodeficiency virus gene expression

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:D198873 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Why it’s time to stop considering Evidence-Based Policy and Evidence-Based Medicine as analogous when it comes to Randomized Controlled Trials: An argument from Clinical Equipoise

Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) play a large role in both Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) and Evidence-Based Policy (EBP). However, in this paper, I question whether the role of RCTs is directly analogous in the two movements. I centre my argument around the concept of ‘Clinical Equipoise’, a principle which states that an RCT in clinical research can only continue if there is ‘genuine uncertainty within the expert medical community about the preferred treatment’. By illustrating how there cannot be an equivalent ‘Policy Equipoise’ principle, I suggest that policymakers should proceed with caution when appropriating methods from EBM. I show how clinical practice and social policy rely on such different community structures that drawing analogies between EBM and EBP is misguided and can disadvantage Evidence-Based Policy-making

Intermarriage, variations on a theme Examining the reality of mixed and conversionary marriage in contemporary Anglo-Jewry

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DXN043694 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo