"Any One of the Prisoners Would Have Been Willing to Die for His Country": an Analysis of Prisoners of War Survival Narratives

Thesis advisor: Bonnie Jefferson“Any one of the prisoners would have been willing to die for his country” (Chesley 68). This quote summarizes the unbreakable will of heroic American Prisoners of War (POWs). This paper explores the personal narratives of four POWs who were held captive during World War II and four who were held during the Vietnam War and seeks to determine how their discourse affects American ideologies of war. By examining these narratives through narrative criticism and Kenneth Burke’s Rhetoric of Rebirth, this analysis shows how POWs reveal the sociopolitical environments of the countries in which they are held by structuring their experiences under a common framework. While the four narratives concerning World War II shed light on the differences in captivity between different countries in the Axis Powers, the narratives from the Vietnam War rationalize American involvement in the conflict. Even though the Vietnam War was one of the most misunderstood and unpopular events in American history, this paper shows how personal POW accounts can justify and garner support for American intervention into foreign affairs. These survival narratives reveal a depth of human strength in the face of horrible circumstances that becomes an inspiration for audiences of this discourse.Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2010.Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: College Honors Program.Discipline: Communication

Terahertz reflectometry of burn wounds in a rat model

We present sub-millimeter wave reflectometry of an experimental rat skin burn model obtained by the Terahertz Time-Domain Spectroscopy (THz-TDS) technique. Full thickness burns, as confirmed by histology, were created on rats (n = 4) euthanized immediately prior to the experiments. Statistical analysis shows that the burned tissue exhibits higher reflectivity compared to normal skin over a frequency range between 0.5 and 0.7 THz (p < 0.05), likely due to post-burn formation of interstitial edema. Furthermore, we demonstrate that a double Debye dielectric relaxation model can be used to explain the terahertz response of both normal and less severely burned rat skin. Finally, our data suggest that the degree of conformation between the experimental burn measurements and the model for normal skin can potentially be used to infer the extent of burn severity

Molecular classification of Crohn's disease reveals two clinically relevant subtypes

The clinical presentation and course of Crohn’s disease (CD) is highly variable. We sought to better understand the cellular and molecular mechanisms that guide this heterogeneity, and characterize the cellular processes associated with disease phenotypes

Alterations to chromatin in intestinal macrophages link IL-10 deficiency to inappropriate inflammatory responses

Intestinal macrophages are uniquely programmed to tolerate exposure to bacteria without mounting potent inflammatory responses. The cytokine IL-10 maintains the macrophage anti-inflammatory response such that loss of IL-10 results in chronic intestinal inflammation. To investigate how IL-10-deficiency alters intestinal macrophage programming and bacterial tolerance, we studied changes in chromatin accessibility in response to bacteria in macrophages from two distinct niches, the intestine and bone-marrow, from both wild-type and IL-10-deficient mice. In both bone-marrow-derived and intestinal macrophages, we identified chromatin accessibility changes associated with bacterial exposure and IL-10-deficiency. Surprisingly, IL-10-deficient intestinal macrophages adopted chromatin and gene expression patterns characteristic of an inflammatory response, even in the absence of bacteria. Further, if IL-10 protein was added to cells that had previously been IL-10-deficient, it could not revert the chromatin landscape to a normal state. Our results demonstrate that IL-10 deficiency results in stable chromatin alterations in macrophages, even in the absence of bacteria. This supports a model where IL-10-deficiency leads to chromatin alterations that contribute to a loss of intestinal macrophage tolerance to bacteria, which is a primary initiating event in chronic intestinal inflammation

Health-related quality of life after ileoanal pull-through evaluation and assessment of new health status measures

AbstractBACKGROUND & AIMS: Health-related quality of life (HRQL) after proctocolectomy is a critical parameter for management decisions in patients with chronic pancolitis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the HRQL of patients with ileoanal pull-through and to validate new, easy-to-administer HRQL measures. METHODS:The Sickness Impact Profile (SIP), Short Form 36 (SF-36), Rating Form of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Patient Concerns (RFIPC), and the time trade-off (TTO) were used to measure HRQL of pull-through patients. The SF-36 and the RFIPC were validated. RESULTS: HRQL of patients with ileoanal pull-through was better than that of a national sample of patients with IBD (SIP and RFIPC) and similar to that of a normal population (SF-36). Physical and psychosocial subscales of the SF-36 correlated with the SIP, affirming the construct validity of the SF-36. The RFIPC results correlated with the SIP and SF-36 results, suggesting that it is also a valid health status measure for these patients. TTO results correlated with the physical subscales of the SIP and SF-36, reflecting the impact of physical health on this group. CONCLUSIONS: HRQL of patients with ileoanal pull-through is excellent. The SF-36 and RFIPC are valid health status measures that can be used by clinicians and researchers in these patients. (Gastroenterology 1997 Jul;113(1):7-14

Impact of digestive and oropharyngeal decontamination on the intestinal microbiota in ICU patients

Selective digestive microbial decontamination (SDD) is hypothesized to benefit patients in intensive care (ICU) by suppressing Gram-negative potential pathogens from the colon without affecting the anaerobic intestinal microbiota. The purpose of this study was to provide more insight to the effects of digestive tract and oropharyngeal decontamination on the intestinal microbiota by means of a prospective clinical trial in which faecal samples were collected from ICU patients for intestinal microbiota analysis. The faecal samples were collected from ICU patients enrolled in a multicentre trial to study the outcome of SDD and selective oral decontamination (SOD) in comparison with standard care (SC). Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) was used to analyze the faecal microbiota. The numbers of bacteria from different bacterial groups were compared between the three regimens. The total counts of bacteria per gram faeces did not differ between regimens. The F. prausnitzii group of bacteria, representing an important group among intestinal microbiota, was significantly reduced in the SDD regimen compared to the SC and SOD. The Enterobacteriaceae were significantly suppressed during SDD compared to both SOD and SC; enterococci increased in SDD compared to both other regimens. The composition of the intestinal microbiota is importantly affected by SDD. The F. prausnitzii group was significantly suppressed during SDD. This group of microbiota is a predominant producer of butyrate, the main energy source for colonocytes. Reduction of this microbiota is an important trade-off while reducing gram-negative bacteria by SDD