More Than Death: Fear of Illness in American Literature 1775-1876

This dissertation argues that eighteenth- and nineteenth-century narratives about personal and collective experiences with disease train American readers to fear illness while warning them against the dangers of being afraid. Such narratives depict the way illness ravages the physical body, disrupts interpersonal relationships, and threatens to dismantle social or municipal organization. In other words, the story of sickness is a story of terror-inducing dis-order. I study disease with a lens informed by cultural and disability studies to show that what makes disease historically and culturally significant is its power—through the body—to dis-order relationships, society, and knowledge. Anxieties about this dis-order did not go dormant when an epidemic faded; they continued to circulate in writing, their vigor magnifying with each new outbreak. Through extensive archival research into representations of disease in ephemera, popular publications, and medical writing, my dissertation proffers a new reading of canonical works depicting sickness. Literary works gothicize disease by dramatizing its possible effects that make life unrecognizable, thus feeding fears as they portray them. My analysis shows that works like John and Abigail Adams’s letters, Abigail Abbot Bailey’s memoir, editorials from Nathaniel Parker Willis, novels like Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Harriet Wilson’s Our Nig are as invested in the fear of illness as disease narratives by Charles Brockden Brown and Edgar Allan Poe that are traditionally read as gothic. While scholars may recognize the significance of disease-induced fear in any of these individual texts, they treat each example as unique whereas I show literary authors contribute to a broader cultural anxiety spawned on the pages of popular media and spread through belles-lettres. To emphasize the relationship between the circulation of information and the circulation of disease, each chapter focuses on one disease and the written or print form that participated in sharing and shaping opinions about the disease as a terrifying event: smallpox and letters, yellow fever and pamphlets, cholera and periodicals, and tuberculosis and sentimental novels

Taming Manhattan: Environmental Battles in the Antebellum City

Taming the Unruly Results of Antebellum Urban Growth in America’s Largest City An opening scene in a chapter of Catherine McNeur’s Taming Manhattan depicts a Manhattan resident venturing out for a walk. His efforts were spoiled by “cavorting hogs, unbearable smells, filthy streets...

Environmental quality and animal welfare implications of commercial livestock transportation to slaughter facilities in North America: a review

Master of ScienceDepartment of Biological & Agricultural EngineeringRonaldo G. MaghirangThere are several stressful events throughout an animal’s lifetime, but transportation is considered one of the most detrimental events to animal welfare by many professionals, regardless of species. Transportation consists of several different interacting and compounding factors that can affect animal welfare and meat product quality. The purpose of this report is to review current industry practices of land transport of different livestock types to slaughter facilities, primarily within the United States and Canada. This review evaluated species-specific transport practices and subsequent effects on animal welfare and carcass quality for both animal welfare and economic outlooks. Regulations are placed on the driver and time limits that the animals are allowed to be in transit. Trailer style use partially depends on the age and species of animal that is being hauled. Cattle are more likely to be hauled in pot belly trailers, while pigs are often transported in either pot belly or straight deck trailers. Poultry trailer type directly depends on the age of the birds being transported. Enclosed trailers are more often used in the European Union but are slowly making an impression on United States and Canadian markets. Cattle are transported several times in their lives with each trip varying in duration, loading density, and other environment altering factors. Each time the animals are transported there is the risk of low air flow, heat, or cold stress that can reduce animal welfare. Loading density has been broken down to equations, duration is limited by hours in trailer and location, and changes in physiology and behavior further exacerbate cattle transport stress. Pigs are transported fewer times than cattle, but thousands of pigs die during this process each year. Market weight pig mortality predictability increases with increasing temperature-humidity index and also increasing loading densities, with a specific equation to quantify this correlation. Shrink is another factor that can be linearly derived as transport time increases in swine. Fatigued Pig Syndrome is welfare issues that can impact the meat product resulting in pale, soft, and exudative pork. Poultry are usually only shipped once or twice and require special trailers and equipment. Shipping crates or modular drawers are used for grown birds where the birds are loaded into these containers, and then placed on a poultry trailer. Poultry have a very narrow comfort window of 21°C to 24°C, making transport difficult and detrimental to their welfare. Loading density is based on type and size of shipping container; however, regardless of loading density, the likelihood of bird death increases drastically as duration increases

An online database of infant functional near infraRed spectroscopy studies: a community-augmented systematic review

Until recently, imaging the infant brain was very challenging. Functional Near InfraRed Spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a promising, relatively novel technique, whose use is rapidly expanding. As an emergent field, it is particularly important to share methodological knowledge to ensure replicable and robust results. In this paper, we present a community-augmented database which will facilitate precisely this exchange. We tabulated articles and theses reporting empirical fNIRS research carried out on infants below three years of age along several methodological variables. The resulting spreadsheet has been uploaded in a format allowing individuals to continue adding new results, and download the most recent version of the table. Thus, this database is ideal to carry out systematic reviews. We illustrate its academic utility by focusing on the factors affecting three key variables: infant attrition, the reliability of oxygenated and deoxygenated responses, and signal-to-noise ratios. We then discuss strengths and weaknesses of the DBIfNIRS, and conclude by suggesting a set of simple guidelines aimed to facilitate methodological convergence through the standardization of reports

Rapid Selection and Proliferation of CD133(+) Cells from Cancer Cell Lines: Chemotherapeutic Implications

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are considered a subset of the bulk tumor responsible for initiating and maintaining the disease. Several surface cellular markers have been recently used to identify CSCs. Among those is CD133, which is expressed by hematopoietic progenitor cells as well as embryonic stem cells and various cancers. We have recently isolated and cultured CD133 positive [CD133(+)] cells from various cancer cell lines using a NASA developed Hydrodynamic Focusing Bioreactor (HFB) (Celdyne, Houston, TX). For comparison, another bioreactor, the rotary cell culture system (RCCS) manufactured by Synthecon (Houston, TX) was used. Both the HFB and the RCCS bioreactors simulate aspects of hypogravity. In our study, the HFB increased CD133(+) cell growth from various cell lines compared to the RCCS vessel and to normal gravity control. We observed a (+)15-fold proliferation of the CD133(+) cellular fraction with cancer cells that were cultured for 7-days at optimized conditions. The RCCS vessel instead yielded a (−)4.8-fold decrease in the CD133(+)cellular fraction respect to the HFB after 7-days of culture. Interestingly, we also found that the hypogravity environment of the HFB greatly sensitized the CD133(+) cancer cells, which are normally resistant to chemo treatment, to become susceptible to various chemotherapeutic agents, paving the way to less toxic and more effective chemotherapeutic treatment in patients. To be able to test the efficacy of cytotoxic agents in vitro prior to their use in clinical setting on cancer cells as well as on cancer stem cells may pave the way to more effective chemotherapeutic strategies in patients. This could be an important advancement in the therapeutic options of oncologic patients, allowing for more targeted and personalized chemotherapy regimens as well as for higher response rates

ARTICLEAssociation of the CHEK2 c.1100delC variant, radiotherapy, and systemic treatment with contralateral breast cancer risk and breast cancer-specific survival

Aim To assessed the associations of CHEK2 c.1100delC, radiotherapy, and systemic treatment with CBC risk and BCSS. Methods Analyses were based on 82,701 women diagnosed with a first primary invasive BC including 963 CHEK2 c.1100delC carriers; median follow-up was 9.1 years. Differential associations with treatment by CHEK2 c.1100delC status were tested by including interaction terms in a multivariable Cox regression model. A multi-state model was used for further insight into the relation between CHEK2 c.1100delC status, treatment, CBC risk and death. Results There was no evidence for differential associations of therapy with CBC risk by CHEK2 c.1100delC status. The strongest association with reduced CBC risk was observed for the combination of chemotherapy and endocrine therapy [HR (95% CI): 0.66 (0.55–0.78)]. No association was observed with radiotherapy. Results from the multi-state model showed shorter BCSS for CHEK2 c.1100delC carriers versus non-carriers also after accounting for CBC occurrence [HR (95% CI): 1.30 (1.09–1.56)]. Conclusion Systemic therapy was associated with reduced CBC risk irrespective of CHEK2 c.1100delC status. Moreover, CHEK2 c.1100delC carriers had shorter BCSS, which appears not to be fully explained by their CBC risk

Association of the CHEK2 c.1100delC variant, radiotherapy, and systemic treatment with contralateral breast cancer risk and breast cancer-specific survival

Background: Breast cancer (BC) patients with a germline CHEK2 c.1100delC variant have an increased risk of contralateral BC (CBC) and worse BC-specific survival (BCSS) compared to non-carriers.Aim: To assessed the associations of CHEK2 c.1100delC, radiotherapy, and systemic treatment with CBC risk and BCSS.Methods: Analyses were based on 82,701 women diagnosed with a first primary invasive BC including 963 CHEK2 c.1100delC carriers; median follow-up was 9.1 years. Differential associations with treatment by CHEK2 c.1100delC status were tested by including interaction terms in a multivariable Cox regression model. A multi-state model was used for further insight into the relation between CHEK2 c.1100delC status, treatment, CBC risk and death. Results: There was no evidence for differential associations of therapy with CBC risk by CHEK2 c.1100delC status. The strongest association with reduced CBC risk was observed for the combination of chemotherapy and endocrine therapy [HR (95% CI): 0.66 (0.55-0.78)]. No association was observed with radiotherapy.Results from the multi-state model showed shorter BCSS for CHEK2 c.1100delC carriers versus non-carriers also after accounting for CBC occurrence [HR (95% CI): 1.30 (1.09-1.56)].Conclusion: Systemic therapy was associated with reduced CBC risk irrespective of CHEK2 c.1100delC status. Moreover, CHEK2 c.1100delC carriers had shorter BCSS, which appears not to be fully explained by their CBC risk.Peer reviewe

The CMS Phase-1 pixel detector upgrade

The CMS detector at the CERN LHC features a silicon pixel detector as its innermost subdetector. The original CMS pixel detector has been replaced with an upgraded pixel system (CMS Phase-1 pixel detector) in the extended year-end technical stop of the LHC in 2016/2017. The upgraded CMS pixel detector is designed to cope with the higher instantaneous luminosities that have been achieved by the LHC after the upgrades to the accelerator during the first long shutdown in 2013–2014. Compared to the original pixel detector, the upgraded detector has a better tracking performance and lower mass with four barrel layers and three endcap disks on each side to provide hit coverage up to an absolute value of pseudorapidity of 2.5. This paper describes the design and construction of the CMS Phase-1 pixel detector as well as its performance from commissioning to early operation in collision data-taking.Peer reviewe

Beamline for Schools: experiment examples 2021

This document lists a series of experiments that can be performed at the DESY II test beam facility in the context of the Beamline for Schools competition 2021. The high-school students who take part in the competition can use this document as a reference to develop their proposals