Some elements of structure in the poetry of Blas de Otero /

Chapter eleven examines the poet's use of sound patterns to create meaning in poems and in word plays, and his use of the enjambement to quicken or slow down the pace of a poem, to accommodate its natural rhythm or for emphasis on key words.Chapter twelve, the conclusion, is a summation of the aspects of Otero's poetry discussed in the study and a comment on his established position among the poets of postwar Spain.Chapters four through ten treat some elements of the formal structure of Otero's poems, which aim at reaching the masses: the use of epigraphs, the change in verse from the lira and the sonnet to free verse and hybrid forms, circular poems, poems structured as dialogues and conversations, poems without punctuation, those with intercalated quotations and frases hechas, and others that make use of parallelisms and correlations.Blas de Otero figures among the more eminent poets of the post Civil War period in Spain. He began as a personal, religious poet who evolved to social poetry and later reverted to personal, meditative poetry. This study examines the lexical, pronominal, formal, phonic and rhythmic features that accompany the thematic evolution in Otero's poetry.Chapter one, the introduction, gives biographical facts about the poet and situates him in his historical, literary and political era. It includes a statement about the existing literary criticism of Otero's work and names the works and articles of Formalist, Structuralist, and traditional criticism that form the basis of this eclectic study. Chapters two and three are a structural description of the lexicon and the pronouns that support the themes of his collections: the search for God expressed in Cantico espiritual, Redoble de conciencia and Ancia, the social struggle for peace, freedom and progress in Pido la paz y la palabra, En castellano and Que trata de Espana, the transitional period in Mientras, and the poet's meditation on his life, his travels, and his approaching death in the final poems of Expresion y reunion

Blood Transfusion Errors within a Health System: A Review of Root Cause Analyses

IntroductionBlood transfusions are lifesaving treatments which require critical attention to processes and details. If processes are not followed, grievous errors can lead to sentinel events. A review of investigations completed due to reported events will show the error trends associated with systems used throughout the blood transfusion process. MethodsThis study employed root cause analyses (RCAs) within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) to review the events leading to blood transfusion errors. Data was pulled from the RCA databases within the VA National Center for Patient Safety. The time frame was October 2014 to August 2019. A total of 53 RCAs and aggregated reviews were included in the study. These were reviewed for common themes and gaps present within processes. ResultsThe most common events fell within the categories of incorrect or delayed blood orders, incorrect or lack of patient identification, and wrong blood given. The RCA for each event was reviewed and studied. The RCAs had a crossover of multiple causes; lack of a formal process, communication barriers, and technology barriers were the most frequent. ConclusionThese RCAs express great variation between VHA facilities, such as process created, number of staff reports, and number of RCAs completed. Lack of standard practices nationwide, training barriers, and technology barriers may explain the variation of transfusion errors throughout the VHA. This study brings to light questions about standardization of transfusion protocols. Future study regarding such standardization is necessary to determine its plausibility

Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase polymorphism 677C>T is associated with peripheral arterial disease in type 2 diabetes

BACKGROUND: Individuals with diabetes are twice as likely to develop peripheral arterial disease (PAD), the manifestation of extensive atherosclerosis throughout the lower extremities. One putative determinant of PAD is the 677C>T polymorphism in the gene encoding methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR), which has previously been found to associate with various diabetic complications including retinopathy, nephropathy, atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease. The objective of this study was to investigate a possible role for the MTHFR 677C>T gene polymorphism with PAD in subjects with type 2 diabetes from an isolated aboriginal Canadian population. METHODS: The 677C>T MTHFR gene polymorphism was genotyped in 138 subjects of Oji-Cree descent. Participants were selected from a community-wide survey that included PAD assessment by ankle-brachial index (ABI) measurement, and also intermittent claudication assessment by the Rose questionnaire. RESULTS: MTHFR 677T allele carriers had an increased risk of PAD with an odds ratio of 3.54 (95% CI 1.01, 12.4), P = 0.049, after adjustment for age, sex, duration of diabetes, hypertension, current smoking habits, and use of insulin or oral treatment for diabetes. None of these additional co-variables was significantly associated with PAD. No association was found between MTHFR genotype and intermittent claudication. CONCLUSION: The genetic influence of the MTHFR 677C>T genotype on diabetic PAD is modest, yet for the Oji-Cree it is a major risk factor in comparison to other traditional risk factors

Human gene copy number spectra analysis in congenital heart malformations

The clinical significance of copy number variants (CNVs) in congenital heart disease (CHD) continues to be a challenge. Although CNVs including genes can confer disease risk, relationships between gene dosage and phenotype are still being defined. Our goal was to perform a quantitative analysis of CNVs involving 100 well-defined CHD risk genes identified through previously published human association studies in subjects with anatomically defined cardiac malformations. A novel analytical approach permitting CNV gene frequency “spectra” to be computed over prespecified regions to determine phenotype-gene dosage relationships was employed. CNVs in subjects with CHD (n = 945), subphenotyped into 40 groups and verified in accordance with the European Paediatric Cardiac Code, were compared with two control groups, a disease-free cohort (n = 2,026) and a population with coronary artery disease (n = 880). Gains (≥200 kb) and losses (≥100 kb) were determined over 100 CHD risk genes and compared using a Barnard exact test. Six subphenotypes showed significant enrichment (P ≤ 0.05), including aortic stenosis (valvar), atrioventricular canal (partial), atrioventricular septal defect with tetralogy of Fallot, subaortic stenosis, tetralogy of Fallot, and truncus arteriosus. Furthermore, CNV gene frequency spectra were enriched (P ≤ 0.05) for losses at: FKBP6, ELN, GTF2IRD1, GATA4, CRKL, TBX1, ATRX, GPC3, BCOR, ZIC3, FLNA and MID1; and gains at: PRKAB2, FMO5, CHD1L, BCL9, ACP6, GJA5, HRAS, GATA6 and RUNX1. Of CHD subjects, 14% had causal chromosomal abnormalities, and 4.3% had likely causal (significantly enriched), large, rare CNVs. CNV frequency spectra combined with precision phenotyping may lead to increased molecular understanding of etiologic pathways

The Leap from Teacher to Teacher-Scholar: The Quest for Research in Non-Traditional Fields

With the national trend toward decreasing state allocations, higher education institutions have been forced to be entrepreneurial to survive, and search for alternative means of funding through external agents. Many technology professors are finding themselves in a situation in which their top mission of teaching must be transformed to a teacher-scholar model. Through use-inspired basic research, which is the marriage between traditional basic university research and applied research, technology professors must strive to link their research findings directly to their coursework. They must be proactive in the search for external funding, not only to foster the culture of the academic enterprise, but also to become better teachers. This can be accomplished through federal grants, industry collaboration, and technology transfer.   The academic enterprise model of “academic capitalism” (Slaughter & Leslie, 1997) brings with it several implications: (1) social stratification on a global, national, institutional, and individual level, (2) industry collaboration, (3) the priority shift from instruction to research, and (4) a new higher education research model. The culture of academic capitalism impacts professors in non-traditional fields behaviorally through individual challenges in stratification, autonomy, and meritocracy. It also impacts the manner in which faculty must now work. Whether this is an opportunity or a threat to the academic success of the technology professors remains to be seen.   According to Donald E. Stokes (1997), former Dean at Princeton University, technology that stagnates in the lab offers almost no economic benefits. Innovations of technology require scientific methods applied to industrial practices. This paper will draw from two arenas of higher education and technology: “academic capitalism” and “Pasteur’s quadrant.” (Stokes, 1997)

Operation Of The NuMi Beam Monitoring System

The NuMI (Neutrinos at the Main Injector) facility produces an intense neutrino beam for experiments. The NuMI Beam Monitoring system consists of four arrays of ion chambers that measure the intensity and distribution of the remnant hadron and tertiary muon beams produced in association with the neutrinos. The ion chambers operate in an environment of high particle fluxes and high radiation.Physic