3B3: WWI Propaganda Poster Fluidity

This paper will reUect a summer\u27s work with Dr. Jessy Ohl at the University of Alabama, digitizing, analyzing, and dissecting a newly discovered collection of 130 World War I propaganda posters in the University of Alabama special collections This summer, we will be developing an immersive, multi-media platform in order to illustrate the full historical context and consciousness surrounding these images. For this paper, we will focus on the narrative of androgyny created through the representations within these posters, looking specifically at the fluidity of gender created by the shifting of professions, and the depictions of men and women within war zones. In our presentation, we hope to share our tentative research findings related to the evolution of gender rules as women begin to embody male dominated spaces and expressions

Identification of a role beyond iron acquisition for yersiniabactin during Yersinia pestis infection.

Yersinia pestis is a Gram-negative re-emerging bacterial pathogen that is responsible for bubonic, septicemic, and pneumonic plague. Y. pestis and other bacteria require transition metals, such as iron, zinc, and manganese, to maintain intermediary metabolism, transcriptional regulation, and virulence. To inhibit infection, eukaryotic organisms have developed distinct mechanisms, called nutritional immunity, to sequester these important nutrients from invading bacteria. For pathogens to colonize the vertebrate host, they have evolved dedicated acquisition systems for transition metals. During infection, Y. pestis overcomes iron limitation by secreting the siderophore yersiniabactin. Additionally, Y. pestis requires zinc for infection and utilizes high affinity transporters to overcome zinc restriction. The first zinc importer identified in Y. pestis was the ZnuABC transport system, which is essential for in vitro growth. Notably, ZnuABC is not required for Y. pestis virulence. Thus, while zinc acquisition is recognized as important for bacterial pathogenesis, there is a gap in our understanding of zinc uptake by Y. pestis. Recently, an unexpected role for the yersiniabactin system was identified for growth in zinc limited medium. Moreover, a znuBC mutant that lacks genes involved in yersiniabactin synthesis (e.g., irp2) was completely attenuated for virulence. These data suggested yersiniabactin might be involved in zinc acquisition during infection. The findings I present here are the first to demonstrate a novel role for yersiniabactin in zinc acquisition in Y. pestis. I also show that this conceptually novel mechanism allows Y. pestis to overcome zinc nutritional immunity in both the mammalian and insect host. Furthermore, using a technically innovative approach called droplet Tn-seq, I was able to identify the primary secretion mechanism for yersiniabactin. These studies not only provide a significantly better understanding of the role for yersiniabactin-dependent zinc acquisition in Y. pestis virulence, but since yersiniabactin is a conserved virulence factor in other Gram-negative pathogens, also provide new insight into how a variety of other pathogens acquire zinc during infection. Furthermore, since yersiniabactin is essential for virulence, my identification of the yersiniabactin secretion system represents a novel target for the development of an anti-virulence therapeutic that could be used to combat infections by multiple bacteria

Progress in understanding crystallisation: a personal perspective

After this Discussion meeting, most participants felt that we do not understand crystallisation. However, in the 1980s, I believe that most scientists would have considered that crystallisation was adequately understood. These concluding remarks give a personal impression of the progress that has been made towards appreciating the complexity of crystallisation over the past forty years

A practical guide for caregivers of people with dementia

Dementia is an irreversible, progressive brain disease which causes a gradual decline in a person's memory, thinking and ability to learn. Personality changes may also occur which impede upon the person's social and working life. The changes in brain functioning experienced by people with dementia affect their physical, social and emotional life as well as the lives of those around them. Currently it is estimated that 162,000 people in Australia who are over the age of 65 have dementia. Caregivers "provide tangible, financial, emotional or informational and coordinated support to an impaired family member". Informal caregivers are very important people and are invaluable to the health care system and the people they care for. The care they provide is critical and without it the person with dementia would not be able to sustain themselves. For this reason, caregivers need to look after every aspect - mental, physical and emotional - of their own health. Unfortunately, people who care for a family member with dementia have high stress levels and suffer from a range of health problems. It has been reported that 66% of caregivers suffer from emotional, mental and physical illnesses as a result of the stress of caring for a person with dementia and that 75% of caregivers of people with dementia are depressed at one time or another

Debt and financial expectations: an individual and household level analysis

In this paper we show that optimistic financial expectations impact positively on both the uantity of debt and the growth in debt, at the individual and household levels. Our heoretical model shows that this association is predicted under a variety of plausible cenarios. In the empirical analysis we explore the determinants of debt and of growth in ebt using British data. We find convincing support for our theoretical priors and show that t is optimistic financial expectations per se that are important in influencing debt, rather han the accuracy of individuals’ predictions regarding their future financial situation.Debt; Financial Expectations; Inter-temporal Consumption; Random Effects; Tobit Estimator

Racial Disparities in the Association Between Stress and Preterm Birth

Background: High levels of maternal stress have been linked to preterm births. However, findings from previous studies are inconsistent due to the varied use of stress measures. This study examined the effect of maternal stress on preterm birth, using both psychosocial and physiological measures. Methods: This study was conducted among 231 pregnant women enrolled during their first prenatal care visit. Presence of stress was assessed at enrollment using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and Stressful Life Events Inventory (SLEI). Samples of maternal salivary cortisol were obtained during the first trimester and birth outcomes were ascertained at delivery. Multiple logistic regression was conducted to assess the association between stress and preterm birth. Results: The majority of the study participants were Black, not married, less educated and low income. There was an association between cortisol level and preterm birth. Per 1µg/dL increase in cortisol level, the odds of preterm birth increased by 26%. The increase was accentuated in Blacks where a unit increase in cortisol level was associated with higher odds of preterm birth (29%). Conclusions: Stress measures using PSS and SLEI did not reveal a statistically significant association with preterm birth. Health care and public health professionals should be aware of the association between increased cortisol level and preterm birth. Salivary cortisol may be a better predictor of preterm birth than PSS and SLEI