Anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction with suture tape augmentation

The advent of suture tape augmentation has led to increased use in knee, elbow, and ankle ligament repairs and reconstructions. Recent biomechanical analysis of the use of suture tape augmentation have shown superior strength characteristics compared with repair or reconstruction alone. Despite its increased use in extra-articular ligament procedures, its use as an augment to anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction has not been widely described. This article details a simple technique to incorporate the use of suture tape augmentation during concurrent anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction using hamstring autograft

Pathogenic mutations in the hydrophobic core of the human prion protein can promote structural instability and misfolding

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, or prion diseases, are caused by misfolding and aggregation of the prion protein PrP. These diseases can be hereditary in humans and four of the many disease-associated missense mutants of PrP are in the hydrophobic core: V180I, F198S, V203I and V210I. The T183A mutation is related to the hydrophobic core mutants as it is close to the hydrophobic core and known to cause instability. We have performed extensive molecular dynamics simulations of these five PrP mutants and compared their dynamics and conformations to wild-type PrP. The simulations highlight the changes that occur upon introduction of mutations and help to rationalize experimental findings. Changes can occur around the mutation site, but they can also be propagated over long distances. In particular, the F198S and T183A mutations lead to increased flexibility in parts of the structure that are normally stable, and the short β-sheet moves away from the rest of the protein. Mutations V180I, V210I and, to a lesser extent, V203I cause changes similar to those observed upon lowering the pH, which has been linked to misfolding. Early misfolding is observed in one V180I simulation. Overall, mutations in the hydrophobic core have a significant effect on the dynamics and stability of PrP, including the propensity to misfold, which helps to explain their role in the development of familial prion diseases

A cold ejector for closed-cycle helium refrigerators

The test results are presented of an initial cold helium ejector design that can be installed on a closed cycle refrigerator to provide refrigeration at temperatures below 4.2 K. The ejector, test apparatus, instrumentation, and test results are described. Tests were conducted both at room temperature and at cryogenic temperatures to provide operational experience with the ejector as well as for future use in the subsequent design of an ejector that will provide refrigeration at temperatures below 3 K

The Importance of Psychoanalytic Feminism to Post-feminism: Sucker Punch

In the move to post-feminism many questions raised by earlier feminist texts were left unanswered, despite their continuing relevance to the current media landscape. Films featuring female characters, especially females behaving outside of typical gender roles, are still criticized for a variety of reasons that are directly addressed by earlier theories of feminism and their continuing influence on mainstream culture. The 2011 action film, Sucker Punch, was about women reacting to their oppression through a series of empowering fantasies that ultimately change their lives for the better. However, the film has been widely rejected by critics as a piece of misogynistic mass culture. The root of the film’s critical rejection is also what makes Sucker Punch a constructive film open to compelling feminist readings. This paradox is rooted in feminist debates from several texts that form the canon of psychoanalytic feminist research. The narrative construction of Sucker Punch has been a common reason for its rejection. The complex layers of Sucker Punch, one set in a psychological institution, one set in a bordello, and another set in a series of escapist fantasy worlds controlled by the women, reflect the use of embedded fantasy in order to construct a spectator position outside of the assumed masculine spectator. This concept is outdated in feminist discourse because it focuses on the construction of the spectator. Teresa de Lauretis’ article “Film and the Visible” explains the useful qualities of the technique of a film within a film and by layering the women’s experiences within the patriarchal institutions of psychoanalysis and sexual trafficking, Sucker Punch ultimately comments on the construction of these institutions. Many of the reviews that criticize the film assume viewers experience a spectator position compliant with these institutions and enjoy the women’s suffering. This assumption proves that the relationship between film construction and the construction of the spectator still plays a role in critics’ evaluations of contemporary ideology in film. Yet spectators are often unaware of how a film’s structure defines their viewing. De Lauretis’ article also recalls the earlier work of Mary Ann Doane on “Film and the Masquerade.” Another common criticism of the film, Sucker Punch, is that the women appear in sexually provocative clothing, even during their fantasies. This representation is believed to reinforce the spectator’s desire to reduce women to objects. However, sexuality is repeatedly equated with performance in the film, first in the bordello, and in the fantasy sequences as well. The film’s emphasis on performance recalls the feminist concept of female masquerade. This concept originates with Mary Ann Doane, who believed that masquerade of excessive femininity in film can allow female spectators to experience critical distance. By applying this concept to Sucker Punch, it seems likely that the constructed spectator of the film is not meant to be masculine. Several interviews with the director about the testing phases of the film support the idea that men do not enjoy the film. Furthermore, drawing on De Lauretis’ expansion of Doane’s work, the film’s use of popular culture to evoke well-known action and fantasy images refers to an audience that is largely masculine. However, by placing women in typically masculine roles, the female masquerade becomes a criticism of the popular culture these images are a part of. Using psychoanalytic feminism to critique both the text of Sucker Punch and its reception, it is evident that popular culture reduces the complexities of earlier feminist work. In post-feminism it is important to look back to previous psychoanalytic feminist texts for answers to contemporary problems in feminist representation. Sucker Punch has many connections to earlier feminist film theory and also reveals the way that this theory has been misinterpreted by popular culture. Post-feminism identifies current cultural factors of reception and for feminist texts this identification requires analysis of the influence of the feminist canon on popular criticism in order to evaluate texts

The Impact of Technology Selection on Student Literacy Achievement

The purpose of this action research project was to determine if prekindergarten students could increase literacy achievement and motivation when the educator selects the technology based on learning goals and the Iowa Early Learning Standards. High quality technology applications were provided during whole group, small group, and learning centers. Data was collected through quantitative means using Teaching Strategies GOLD and the Individual Growth and Development Indicators (IGDI) test scores. Analysis of the data collected suggests that the prekindergarten student’s GOLD and IGDI scores increased as specific technology integration was implemented in the classroom

Henry Louis Rey, Spiritualism, and Creoles of Color in Nineteenth-Century New Orleans

This thesis is a biography of Henry Louis Rey (1831-1894), a member of one of New Orleans\u27 most prominent Creole of Color families. During the Civil War, Rey was a captain in both the Confederate and Union Native Guards. In postbellum years, he served as a member of the Louisiana House of Representative and in appointed city offices. Rey became heavily involved with spiritualism in the 1850s and established séance circles in New Orleans during the early 1870s. The voluminous transcripts of these séance circles have survived into the twenty-first century; however, scholarly use of these sources has been limited because most of the transcripts and all marginal annotations later written by René Grandjean are in French. The author\u27s translations of the spirit communications through their entire run reveal insight into the spiritual and material realms negotiated by New Orleans Black Creoles as they weathered declining political and economic fortunes