Lichenizing Pedagogy: Art Explorations in More-than-Human Performance and Practice

This project of performative writing and visual inquiry proposes the concept of “lichenizing” as a collaborative methodology for engaging with the lively pedagogy of the more-than-human. Looking to the multispecies mosaic of Lichen as teacher and ally, this arts-based, collectively produced foray considers transcorporeal, intermingled relationships as a pedagogical tool for fostering a radical, ecologically-centered curiosity for learning and making. To support our theorizing, we present two collaborative art projects where tenets of lichenizing were utilized to instruct process and form, and suggest further exploration and research on the practice of “lichenizing.

Clinical evaluation of the FloTrac/VigileoTM system and two established continuous cardiac output monitoring devices in patients undergoing cardiac surgery†‡

Background Assessment of cardiac output (CO) by the FloTrac/Vigileo™ system may offer a less invasive means of determining the CO than either the pulmonary artery catheter (PAC) or the PiCCOplus™ system. The aim of this study was to compare CO measurements made using the FloTrac/Vigileo™ system with upgraded software (FCO, Edwards Lifesciences, Irvine CA, USA), the PiCCOplus™ system (PCO, Pulsion Medical Systems, Munich, Germany) and continuous CO monitoring using a PAC (CCO; Vigilance™ monitoring, Edwards Lifesciences, Irvine CA, USA) with intermittent pulmonary artery thermodilution (ICO). The study was conducted in patients undergoing elective cardiac surgery. Methods Thirty-one patients with preserved left ventricular function were enrolled. CCO, FCO, and PCO were recorded in the perioperative period at six predefined time points after achieving stable haemodynamic conditions; ICO was determined from the mean of three bolus injections. Bland-Altman analysis was used to compare CCO, FCO, and PCO with ICO. Results Bland-Altman analysis revealed a comparable mean bias and limits of agreement for all tested continuous CO monitoring devices using ICO as reference method. Agreement for all devices decreased in the postoperative period. Conclusion The performance of the FloTrac/Vigileo™ system, the PiCCOplus™, and the Vigilance™ CCO monitoring for CO measurement were comparable when tested against intermittent thermodilution in patients undergoing elective cardiac surger

Neuromuscular Blockade with Rocuronium Bromide Increases the Tolerance of Acute Normovolemic Anemia in Anesthetized Pigs

Background: The patient's individual anemia tolerance is pivotal when blood transfusions become necessary, but are not feasible for some reason. To date, the effects of neuromuscular blockade (NMB) on anemia tolerance have not been investigated. Methods: 14 anesthetized and mechanically ventilated pigs were randomly assigned to the Roc group (3.78 mg/kg rocuronium bromide followed by continuous infusion of 1 mg/kg/min, n = 7) or to the Sal group (administration of the corresponding volume of normal saline, n = 7). Subsequently, acute normovolemic anemia was induced by simultaneous exchange of whole blood for a 6% hydroxyethyl starch solution (130/0.4) until a sudden decrease of total body O-2 consumption (VO2) indicated a critical limitation of O-2 transport capacity. The Hb concentration quantified at this time point (Hb(crit)) was the primary end-point of the protocol. Secondary endpoints were parameters of hemodynamics, O-2 transport and tissue oxygenation. Results: Hb(crit) was significantly lower in the Roc group (2.4 +/- 0.5 vs. 3.2 +/- 0.7 g/dl) reflecting increased anemia tolerance. NMB with rocuronium bromide reduced skeletal muscular VO2 and total body O-2 extraction rate. As the cardiac index increased simultaneously, total body VO2 only decreased marginally in the Roc group (change of VO2 relative to baseline -1.7 +/- 0.8 vs. 3.2 +/- 1.9% in the Sal group, p < 0.05). Conclusion: Deep NMB with rocuronium bromide increases the tolerance of acute normovolemic anemia. The underlying mechanism most likely involves a reduction of skeletal muscular VO2. During acellular treatment of an acute blood loss, NMB might play an adjuvant role in situations where profound stages of normovolemic anemia have to be tolerated (e.g. bridging an unexpected blood loss until blood products become available for transfusion). Copyright (C) 2011 S. Karger AG, Base

Using Both Sides of Your Brain: The Case for Rapid Interhemispheric Switching

Individual brain hemispheres are often specialized for specific aspects of a behavior. How both sides of the brain coordinate their output to produce a perfectly seamless behavior is not known. Songbirds appear to achieve this by rapidly switching back and forth between hemispheres

The Effect of Human Factor H on Immunogenicity of Meningococcal Native Outer Membrane Vesicle Vaccines with Over-Expressed Factor H Binding Protein

The binding of human complement inhibitors to vaccine antigens in vivo could diminish their immunogenicity. A meningococcal ligand for the complement down-regulator, factor H (fH), is fH-binding protein (fHbp), which is specific for human fH. Vaccines containing recombinant fHbp or native outer membrane vesicles (NOMV) from mutant strains with over-expressed fHbp are in clinical development. In a previous study in transgenic mice, the presence of human fH impaired the immunogenicity of a recombinant fHbp vaccine. In the present study, we prepared two NOMV vaccines from mutant group B strains with over-expressed wild-type fHbp or an R41S mutant fHbp with no detectable fH binding. In wild-type mice in which mouse fH did not bind to fHbp in either vaccine, the NOMV vaccine with wild-type fHbp elicited 2-fold higher serum IgG anti-fHbp titers (P = 0.001) and 4-fold higher complement-mediated bactericidal titers against a PorA-heterologous strain than the NOMV with the mutant fHbp (P = 0.003). By adsorption, the bactericidal antibodies were shown to be directed at fHbp. In transgenic mice in which human fH bound to the wild-type fHbp but not to the R41S fHbp, the NOMV vaccine with the mutant fHbp elicited 5-fold higher serum IgG anti-fHbp titers (P = 0.002), and 19-fold higher bactericidal titers than the NOMV vaccine with wild-type fHbp (P = 0.001). Thus, in mice that differed only by the presence of human fH, the respective results with the two vaccines were opposite. The enhanced bactericidal activity elicited by the mutant fHbp vaccine in the presence of human fH far outweighed the loss of immunogenicity of the mutant protein in wild-type animals. Engineering fHbp not to bind to its cognate complement inhibitor, therefore, may increase vaccine immunogenicity in humans

Search for Anisotropy of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays with the Telescope Array Experiment

We study the anisotropy of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Ray (UHECR) events collected by the Telescope Array (TA) detector in the first 40 months of operation. Following earlier studies, we examine event sets with energy thresholds of 10 EeV, 40 EeV, and 57 EeV. We find that the distributions of the events in right ascension and declination are compatible with an isotropic distribution in all three sets. We then compare with previously reported clustering of the UHECR events at small angular scales. No significant clustering is found in the TA data. We then check the events with E>57 EeV for correlations with nearby active galactic nuclei. No significant correlation is found. Finally, we examine all three sets for correlations with the large-scale structure of the Universe. We find that the two higher-energy sets are compatible with both an isotropic distribution and the hypothesis that UHECR sources follow the matter distribution of the Universe (the LSS hypothesis), while the event set with E>10 EeV is compatible with isotropy and is not compatible with the LSS hypothesis at 95% CL unless large deflection angles are also assumed. We show that accounting for UHECR deflections in a realistic model of the Galactic magnetic field can make this set compatible with the LSS hypothesis.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figure