3,529 research outputs found
The secret life of sculpture: notes from Giovanni Mariacher's fototeca at Padua
Conference paper presented March 25-26, 2011.Giovanni Mariacher, the esteemed museum director and professor of art
history, left his collection of photographs to the Civic Museums of
Padua at his death. My survey of this archive last summer underlined
the breadth of his expertise and the extent of his scholarship, which
spanned all aspects of the arts of the Veneto. Even when the visitor
doesn't find what he had hoped to, the photo archive can provide new
perspectives on familiar objects and issues, offering as it does a look
through the lens--or through the shoebox--of another. While I did not
find the trove of photographs of unpublished sculpture from Veneto
private collections that I might have hoped for, the photographs of
sculpture that I did find, mostly of familiar objects in the museums of
Venice and Padua, provided new insight to issues of condition,
attribution, and display. The paper will outline some fresh starts
suggested by photographs of sculpture in the Mariacher archive, and
reexamine the scholar's writings on sculpture in light of his collection
of images.Research for this paper supported by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation
summer photo archives research grants, 2010. Conference supported by the
Samuel H. Kress Foundation, the NYU Humanities Initiative, the IFA
Visual Resources Collections, and Princeton University, Department of
Art and Archaeology, Visual Resources Collection
The secret life of sculpture: notes from Giovanni Mariacher's fototeca at Padua
Conference paper presented March 25-26, 2011.Giovanni Mariacher, the esteemed museum director and professor of art
history, left his collection of photographs to the Civic Museums of
Padua at his death. My survey of this archive last summer underlined
the breadth of his expertise and the extent of his scholarship, which
spanned all aspects of the arts of the Veneto. Even when the visitor
doesn't find what he had hoped to, the photo archive can provide new
perspectives on familiar objects and issues, offering as it does a look
through the lens--or through the shoebox--of another. While I did not
find the trove of photographs of unpublished sculpture from Veneto
private collections that I might have hoped for, the photographs of
sculpture that I did find, mostly of familiar objects in the museums of
Venice and Padua, provided new insight to issues of condition,
attribution, and display. The paper will outline some fresh starts
suggested by photographs of sculpture in the Mariacher archive, and
reexamine the scholar's writings on sculpture in light of his collection
of images.Research for this paper supported by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation
summer photo archives research grants, 2010. Conference supported by the
Samuel H. Kress Foundation, the NYU Humanities Initiative, the IFA
Visual Resources Collections, and Princeton University, Department of
Art and Archaeology, Visual Resources Collection
Early CRT monitoring using time-domain optical coherence tomography does not add to visual acuity for predicting visual loss in patients with central retinal vein occlusion treated with intravitreal ranibizumab:A secondary analysis of trial data
Our primary purpose was to assess the clinical (predictive) validity of central retinal thickness (CRT) and best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) at 1 week and 1 month after starting treatment with ranibizumab for central retinal vein occlusion. The authors also assessed detectability of response to treatment
Doxycycline inhibits elastin degradation and reduces metalloproteinase activity in a model of aneurysmal disease
AbstractPurpose: Abdominal aortic aneurysms are characterized by degradation of the extracellular matrix, with a reduction in the elastin concentration of the arterial media. These changes are mediated by increased levels of endogenous metalloproteinases (MMPs) within the aorta, which provide a potential therapeutic target for pharmacologic agents aimed at reducing the growth rate of small aneurysms. In this study, the ability of doxycycline—an MMP inhibitor—to reduce matrix degradation was assessed in a previously described model of aneurysmal disease that used a brief pulse of elastase to induce MMP production and elastin degradation in arterial organ cultures. Methods: Porcine aortic segments (n = 8) were preincubated in exogenous pancreatic elastase for 24 hours before culture in standard conditions for 13 days with both 1 and 10 mg/L doxycycline. Control segments were cultured both without doxycycline and without elastase. At the termination of culture, MMPs were extracted from the tissue and quantified by a combination of substrate gel enzymography and immunoblotting. The volume fractions of elastin and collagen were determined by stereologic analysis of sections stained with Miller's elastin and van Gieson's stain. Results: Stereologic analysis demonstrated a significant preservation of elastin in aorta treated with doxycycline 10 mg/L (p < 0.001) and demonstrated that this preservation was accompanied by a significant reduction in MMP-9 activity (p < 0.02). Immunoblotting for tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMP-1 and TIMP-2) showed no decreased production in the doxycycline-treated groups. Conclusions: Therapeutic ranges of doxycycline significantly inhibited elastin degradation and MMP-9 production within aortic organ cultures. These data suggest that doxycycline may have a potential application in reducing the growth rates of small abdominal aortic aneurysms. (J Vasc Surg 1998;27:354-61.
Comparison of Different Strategies for Providing Fecal Microbiota Transplantation to Treat Patients with Recurrent Clostridium difficile Infection in Two English Hospitals: A Review
Fecal microbiota transplant (FMT) has emerged as a highly efficacious treatment for difficult cases of refractory and/or recurrent Clostridium difficile infection (CDI). There have been many well-conducted randomized controlled trials and thousands of patients reported in case series that describe success rates of approximately 90% following one or more FMT. Although the exact mechanisms of FMT have yet to be fully elucidated, replacement or restoration of a ‘normal’ microbiota (or at least a microbiota resembling those who have never had CDI) appears to have a positive effect on the gut dysbiosis that is thought to exist in these patients. Furthermore, despite being aesthetically unappealing, this ‘ultimate probiotic’ is a particularly attractive solution to a difficult problem that avoids repeated courses of antibiotics. The lack of clarity about the exact mechanism of action and the ‘active ingredient’ of FMT (e.g., individual or communities of bacteria, bacteriophage, or bioactive molecules such as bile acids) has hindered the ability to produce a standardized and well-characterized FMT product. There is no standard method to produce material for FMT, and there are a multitude of factors that can vary between institutions that offer this therapy. Only a few studies have directly compared clinical efficacy in groups of patients who have been treated with FMT prepared differently (e.g., fresh vs. frozen) or administered by different route (e.g., by nasojejunal tube, colonoscopy or by oral administration of encapsulated product). More of these studies should be undertaken to clarify the superiority or otherwise of these variables. This review describes the methods and protocols that two English NHS hospitals independently adopted over the same time period to provide FMT for patients with recurrent CDI. There are several fundamental differences in the methods used, including selection and testing of donors, procedures for preparation and storage of material, and route of administration. These methods are described in detail in this review highlighting differing practice. Despite these significant methodological variations, clinical outcomes in terms of cure rate appear to be remarkably similar for both FMT providers. Although both hospitals have treated only modest numbers of patients, these findings suggest that many of the described differences may not be critical factors in influencing the success of the procedure. As FMT is increasingly being proposed for a number of conditions other than CDI, harmonization of methods and techniques may be more critical to the success of FMT, and thus it will be important to standardize these as far as practically possible
Quantifying forest reference conditions for ecological restoration: The Woolsey Plots
Sixty-six of the approximately 140 original historical plots (or 47percent) have been relocated on eight National Forests thus far. Of these 66 relocated plots 0 (0/13) are spruce-fir, 13 (13/29) are mixed conifer, and the remainder 53 (53/98) are dominated by ponderosa pine (at least historically pine dominated). This study focused on the ponderosa pine-dominated plots, of which we have relocated over 54 percent. NOTE: This total does NOT include those historical plots located on the Long Valley Experimental Forest near Clints Well, AZ
Top 10 health care ethics challenges facing the public: views of Toronto bioethicists
BACKGROUND: There are numerous ethical challenges that can impact patients and families in the health care setting. This paper reports on the results of a study conducted with a panel of clinical bioethicists in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the purpose of which was to identify the top ethical challenges facing patients and their families in health care. A modified Delphi study was conducted with twelve clinical bioethicist members of the Clinical Ethics Group of the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics. The panel was asked the question, what do you think are the top ten ethical challenges that Canadians may face in health care? The panel was asked to rank the top ten ethical challenges throughout the Delphi process and consensus was reached after three rounds. DISCUSSION: The top challenge ranked by the group was disagreement between patients/families and health care professionals about treatment decisions. The second highest ranked challenge was waiting lists. The third ranked challenge was access to needed resources for the aged, chronically ill, and mentally ill. SUMMARY: Although many of the challenges listed by the panel have received significant public attention, there has been very little attention paid to the top ranked challenge. We propose several steps that can be taken to help address this key challenge
Variation in HIV-1 R5 macrophage-tropism correlates with sensitivity to reagents that block envelope: CD4 interactions but not with sensitivity to other entry inhibitors
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>HIV-1 R5 viruses cause most of the AIDS cases worldwide and are preferentially transmitted compared to CXCR4-using viruses. Furthermore, R5 viruses vary extensively in capacity to infect macrophages and highly macrophage-tropic variants are frequently identified in the brains of patients with dementia. Here, we investigated the sensitivity of R5 envelopes to a range of inhibitors and antibodies that block HIV entry. We studied a large panel of R5 envelopes, derived by PCR amplification without culture from brain, lymph node, blood and semen. These R5 envelopes conferred a wide range of macrophage tropism and included highly macrophage-tropic variants from brain and non-macrophage-tropic variants from lymph node.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>R5 macrophage-tropism correlated with sensitivity to inhibition by reagents that inhibited gp120:CD4 interactions. Thus, increasing macrophage-tropism was associated with increased sensitivity to soluble CD4 and to IgG-CD4 (PRO 542), but with increased resistance to the anti-CD4 monoclonal antibody (mab), Q4120. These observations were highly significant and are consistent with an increased affinity of envelope for CD4 for macrophage-tropic envelopes. No overall correlations were noted between R5 macrophage-tropism and sensitivity to CCR5 antagonists or to gp41 specific reagents. Intriguingly, there was a relationship between increasing macrophage-tropism and increased sensitivity to the CD4 binding site mab, b12, but decreased sensitivity to 2G12, a mab that binds a glycan complex on gp120.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Variation in R5 macrophage-tropism is caused by envelope variation that predominantly influences sensitivity to reagents that block gp120:CD4 interactions. Such variation has important implications for therapy using viral entry inhibitors and for the design of envelope antigens for vaccines.</p
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