Dowson's "Cynara" and the English Alexandrine: A Study of Form in Context

“Non Sum Qualis Eram Bonae Sub Regno Cynarae” is Ernest Dowson’s most famous poem and one of the most celebrated lyrics of the legendary English 1890s. Why did it become so particularly famous? Supposing that its fame is no more than it deserves, the question might be approached from another direction: why is it so good? How persuasively can its strange success be explained? The inquiry is therefore a matter of literary history, insofar as it asks how the poem took shape, and how it found its place in the English lyrical tradition; but it is also a matter of literary criticism, in the most fundamental sense, insofar as it wants to discover and articulate, as precisely as possible, how the poem actually works to produce its very unusual and memorable effects

The product of C9orf72, a gene strongly implicated in neurodegeneration, is structurally related to DENN Rab-GEFs

Fronto-temporal dementia (FTD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also called motor neuron disease, MND) are severe neurodegenerative diseases that show considerable overlap at the clinical and cellular level. The most common single mutation in families with FTD or ALS has recently been mapped to a non-coding repeat expansion in the uncharacterized gene C9ORF72. Although a plausible mechanism for disease is that aberrant C9ORF72 mRNA poisons splicing, it is important to determine the cellular function of C9ORF72, about which nothing is known

Cellular signaling pathways of matrix metalloproteinase gene expression by Pseudomonas aeruginosa-infected human bronchial epithelial cells

Research Dissemination Reports - supported by funds (Research Fund for the Control of Infectious Diseases)published_or_final_versio

The Association of Types of Training and Practice Settings with Doctors’ Empathy and Patient Enablement among Patients with Chronic Illness in Hong Kong

Background The increase in non-communicable disease (NCD) is becoming a global health problem and there is an increasing need for primary care doctors to look after these patients although whether family doctors are adequately trained and prepared is unknown. Objective This study aimed to determine if doctors with family medicine (FM) training are associated with enhanced empathy in consultation and enablement for patients with chronic illness as compared to doctors with internal medicine training or without any postgraduate training in different clinic settings. Methods This was a cross-sectional questionnaire survey using the validated Chinese version of the Consultation and Relational Empathy (CARE) Measure as well as Patient Enablement Instrument (PEI) for evaluation of quality and outcome of care. 14 doctors from hospital specialist clinics (7 with family medicine training, and 7 with internal medicine training) and 13 doctors from primary care clinics (7 with family medicine training, and 6 without specialist training) were recruited. In total, they consulted 823 patients with chronic illness. The CARE Measure and PEI scores were compared amongst doctors in these clinics with different training background: family medicine training, internal medicine training and those without specialist training. Generalized estimation equation (GEE) was used to account for cluster effects of patients nested with doctors. Results Within similar clinic settings, FM trained doctors had higher CARE score than doctors with no FM training. In hospital clinics, the difference of the mean CARE score for doctors who had family medicine training (39.2, SD = 7.04) and internal medicine training (35.5, SD = 8.92) was statistically significant after adjusting for consultation time and gender of the patient. In the community care clinics, the mean CARE score for doctors with family medicine training and those without specialist training were 32.1 (SD = 7.95) and 29.2 (SD = 7.43) respectively, but the difference was not found to be significant. For PEI, patients receiving care from doctors in the hospital clinics scored significantly higher than those in the community clinics, but there was no significant difference in PEI between patients receiving care from doctors with different training backgrounds within similar clinic setting. Conclusion Family medicine training was associated with higher patient perceived empathy for chronic illness patients in the hospital clinics. Patient enablement appeared to be associated with clinic settings but not doctors' training background. Training in family medicine and a clinic environment that enables more patient doctor time might help in enhancing doctors' empathy and enablement for chronic illness patients.published_or_final_versio

Bullous X linked retinoschisis: clinical features and prognosis

BACKGROUND/AIMS: A subset of patients with X linked retinoschisis (XLRS) have bullous schisis cavities in the peripheral retina. This study describes the characteristics and prognosis of the bullous form of XLRS. METHODS: A retrospective case series was performed of nine patients with molecularly proven bullous XLRS seen at a single tertiary centre. RESULTS: All cases of bullous peripheral schisis were bilateral, with one unilateral case at presentation which developed into bilateral bullous schisis over time. The mean age of onset was 1.9 years (range: 1 month-7 years, SD: 2.1 years) and at clinical diagnosis was 5.9 years (range: 1 month-27 years, SD: 9.0 years). Mean follow-up was 11 years (range: 6 months-36 years, SD: 10.8 years). Strabismus was the most common presentation (n=7). Other presenting complaints included decreased vision, floaters and an irregularly shaped pupil. The most frequently associated ocular features were strabismus (100%), vitreous haemorrhage (4/18 eyes, 22%), nystagmus (2/9, 22%) and persistent fetal vasculature (1/18, 6%). Localised tractional detachment was seen in 2/18 (11%) eyes, total detachment that underwent surgical repair in 1/18 (6%) and pigmented demarcation lines in a further 22% of the eyes. There was one eye with exudative retinal detachment. CONCLUSION: In XLRS, bullous schisis may be congenital or develop soon after birth and most commonly presents with strabismus. Cases may be complicated by some form of retinal detachment, which may be tractional or a Coats-like exudative detachment

Effectiveness of a Chinese herbal medicine preparation in the treatment of cough in uncomplicated upper respiratory tract infection: a randomised double-blinded placebo-control trial

BACKGROUND: Rigorous scientific and well-designed clinical trials to evaluate the effect of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is lacking. We, therefore, designed this study to evaluate the effectiveness of a commonly used TCM preparation in treating acute cough of uncomplicated URTI in adults and to search for a safe, effective and affordable alternative treatment for this common condition. METHODS: A randomised, double-blinded, placebo-control study comparing this TCM preparation with a placebo was conducted in 82 patients who attended the Family Medicine Training Centre, Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong between November and December, 2003. The TCM herbal preparation includes nine commonly used TCM herbs for cough such as chuanbei, fangfeng, jiegeng, gancao and baibu (see Table 1) The treatment lasted for 5 days and patients were followed-up for another 6 days. Patients were asked to fill in a cough score and validated Leicester cough questionnaire (LCQ). RESULTS: 62 patients (75.6%) had completed the trial and no adverse effects were reported. Both intervened and control groups had improved in cough score and LCQ in the follow-up period, despite no overall statistical significance was observed in the differences of scores between the two groups. Women taking TCM had significantly fewer problems with sputum production (p = 0.03) and older subjects (>35 years of age) reported a significant improvement in hoarseness (p = 0.05) when compared to those using placebo. CONCLUSION: TCM was well-tolerated and received among the Hong Kong Chinese population. This TCM preparation appeared to have some benefits in the treatment of cough. Future research on TCM should concentrate more on commonly encountered conditions such as UTRI and cough. Our experience on the sensitivity of assessment tools used in detecting subtle differences in an otherwise self-limiting illness and clinical trial methodology when applying the underlying theory of how TCM works in disease management was invaluable

A new family of StART domain proteins at membrane contact sites has a role in ER-PM sterol transport

Sterol traffic between the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and plasma membrane (PM) is a fundamental cellular process that occurs by a poorly understood non-vesicular mechanism. We identified a novel, evolutionarily diverse family of ER membrane proteins with StART-like lipid transfer domains and studied them in yeast. StART-like domains from Ysp2p and its paralog Lam4p specifically bind sterols, and Ysp2p, Lam4p and their homologs Ysp1p and Sip3p target punctate ER-PM contact sites distinct from those occupied by known ER-PM tethers. The activity of Ysp2p, reflected in amphotericin-sensitivity assays, requires its second StART-like domain to be positioned so that it can reach across ER-PM contacts. Absence of Ysp2p, Ysp1p or Sip3p reduces the rate at which exogenously supplied sterols traffic from the PM to the ER. Our data suggest that these StART-like proteins act in trans to mediate a step in sterol exchange between the PM and ER

Evidence of Airborne Transmission of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Virus

BACKGROUND: There is uncertainty about the mode of transmission of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus. We analyzed the temporal and spatial distributions of cases in a large community outbreak of SARS in Hong Kong and examined the correlation of these data with the three-dimensional spread of a virus-laden aerosol plume that was modeled using studies of airflow dynamics. METHODS: We determined the distribution of the initial 187 cases of SARS in the Amoy Gardens housing complex in 2003 according to the date of onset and location of residence. We then studied the association between the location (building, floor, and direction the apartment unit faced) and the probability of infection using logistic regression. The spread of the airborne, virus-laden aerosols generated by the index patient was modeled with the use of airflow-dynamics studies, including studies performed with the use of computational fluid-dynamics and multizone modeling. RESULTS: The curves of the epidemic suggested a common source of the outbreak. All but 5 patients lived in seven buildings (A to G), and the index patient and more than half the other patients with SARS (99 patients) lived in building E. Residents of the floors at the middle and upper levels in building E were at a significantly higher risk than residents on lower floors; this finding is consistent with a rising plume of contaminated warm air in the air shaft generated from a middle-level apartment unit. The risks for the different units matched the virus concentrations predicted with the use of multizone modeling. The distribution of risk in buildings B, C, and D corresponded well with the three-dimensional spread of virus-laden aerosols predicted with the use of computational fluid-dynamics modeling. CONCLUSIONS: Airborne spread of the virus appears to explain this large community outbreak of SARS, and future efforts at prevention and control must take into consideration the potential for airborne spread of this virus. Copyright © 2004 Massachusetts Medical Society.published_or_final_versio

Specific inhibition of cyclooxygenase-2 down-regulates NF-kappaB activation in gastric cancer cells by blocking its nuclear translocation

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