The relationship between the drama and the form in the sonata-allegro movement of Lulu

Lulu, the second opera by Alban Berg, is not a unique creation, It is a synthesis of several theories of composition and a number of traditional compositional practices found in the history of Western music. This paper will attempt to trace the relationship between the drama Lulu and Verg’s musical interpretation of the drama in the selection of the opera designated as the sonata-allegro movement (in Act I, Sc. ii and iii)

Investigation of Problems Associated with the Use of Alloyed Molybdenum Sheet in Structures at Elevated Temperatures

The results of an experimental study to explore the capabilities and limitations of thin Mo-0.5Ti molybdenum-alloy sheet for structural applications at high temperatures are presented. Evaluation tests at temperatures ranging from room temperature,to 3000 F were made on resistance-welded corrugated-core sandwiches that were coated with a commercially available oxidation resistant coating known as W-2 and on coated oxidation and tensile specimens. The performance of the corrugated-core sandwiches in compressive strength and static oxidation tests, tensile properties of the coated molybdenum sheet, and the life of the coated specimens in static oxidation tests are given. A description of the equipment and procedures utilized in performing the evaluation tests is included

A Second Pre-Wisconsinan Locality for the Extinct Jamaican Rodent, Clidomys (Rodentia: Heptaxodontidae)

Clidomys is the most distinctive but least well known member of the late Quaternary terrestrial mammal fauna of Jamaica. Here we report the second dated locality for this genus. The Illinoisan age we report further strengthens arguments we have made elsewhere, that Clidomys represents an early - probably pre-Wisconsinan - extinction that contrasts with the growing record of Holocene extinctions in the Antilles

New Specimens of Late Quaternary Extinct Mammals from Caves in Sanchez Ramirez Province, Dominican Republic

During the late Quaternary, the island of Hispaniola supported one of the most diverse mammalian faunas in the West Indies. Much of this diversity was lost to extinction in the past 100,000 years, but the timing of these events is poorly known. Here we report the paleontological findings of a multidisciplinary investigation of caves in the central Dominican Republic. These findings include new \u27last occurrence\u27 dates for the rodents Isolobodon portoricensis and Brotomys cf. voratus that take these genera to the dawn of the historic era; a first record of a last-interglacial sloth, and the first report of the upper dentition of the giant heptaxodontid rodent Quemisia gravis

Effects of the Novel NMDA Receptor Antagonist Gacyclidine on Recovery From Medial Frontal Cortex Contusion Injury in Rats

Gacyclidine, a novel, noncompetitive NMDA receptor antagonist, was injected (i.v.) into rats at three different doses to determine if the drug could promote behavioral recovery and reduce the behavioral and anatomical impairments that occur after bilateral contusions of the medial frontal cortex (MFC). In the Morris water maze,contused rats treated with gacyciidine at a dosage of 0.1 mg/kg performed better than their vehicle-treated conspecifics. Rats given gacyclidine at either 0,3 or 0.03 mg/kg performed better than brain-injured controls, but not as well as those treated with 0.1 mg/kg. Counts of surviving neurons in the nucleus basalis magnoceilularis (NBM) and the medial dorsal nucleus (MDN) of the thalamus were used to determine whether gacyclidine treatment attenuated secondary cell death. In both the NBM and the MDN, the counts revealed fewer surviving neurons in untreated contused rats than in gacyclidine-treated rats. Increases in the size and number of microglia and astrocytes were observed in the striatum of gacyclidinetreated contused brains. Although most consequences of MFC contusions were attenuated, we still observed increases in ventricle dilation and thinning of the cortex. In fact, the ventricles of rats treated with 0.1 mg/kg of gacyclidine were larger than those of their vehicle treated counterparts, although we observed no behavioral impairment

Assessing cognition in children with prenatal methamphetamine exposure in South Africa

CITATION: Roos, A., Stein, D. J. & Donald, K. A. 2019. Assessing cognition in children with prenatal methamphetamine exposure in South Africa. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 95:152111, doi:10.1016/j.comppsych.2019.07.005.The original publication is available at https://www.sciencedirect.comNo abstract available.https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0010440X19300355Publisher's versio

The developmental effects of HIV and alcohol: a comparison of gestational outcomes among babies from South African communities with high prevalence of HIV and alcohol use

BACKGROUND: There is growing evidence of the negative impact of alcohol on morbidity and mortality of individuals living with HIV but limited evidence of in utero effects of HIV and alcohol on exposure on infants. METHODS: We conducted a population-based birth cohort study (N = 667 mother-infant dyads) in South Africa to investigate whether maternal alcohol use and HIV affected gestational outcomes. Descriptive data analysis was conducted for all variables using frequency distributions, measures of central tendency, and estimates of variance. Hierarchical multiple regression was conducted to determine whether maternal alcohol use, maternal HIV status and other risk factors (socioeconomic status, smoking, depression) predicted infant outcomes. RESULTS: Our results showed severity of recent alcohol use and lifetime alcohol use predicted low birth weight. Similarly lifetime alcohol use predicted shorter infant length, smaller head length, smaller head circumference, and early gestational age. However, HIV status was not a significant predictor of gestational outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: The unexpected finding that maternal HIV status did not predict any of the gestational outcomes may be due to high rates of ART usage among HIV-infected mothers. The potentially negative effects of HIV on gestational outcomes may have been attenuated by improved maternal health due to high coverage of antiretroviral treatment in South Africa. Interventions are needed to reduce alcohol consumption among pregnant mothers and to support healthy growth and psychosocial development of infants

The Early Developmental Outcomes of Prenatal Alcohol Exposure: A Review

Aim: This paper systematically reviews the literature on the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on early child development from birth to 5 years with the aim to synthesize the developmental outcomes associated with prenatal alcohol exposure, and inform further research to improve our knowledge of the manifestations of prenatal alcohol exposure.Methods: Electronic databases (MEDLINE, Psych INFO, and Psych ARTICLES) were searched to find papers on the developmental outcomes of prenatal alcohol exposure in neonates, infants and toddlers and pre-school aged children. Studies were selected based on participants self-reporting alcohol consumption during pregnancy (either prospectively or retrospectively) and/or children being diagnosed with FASD based on a standardized assessment that includes a dysmorphology examination. The search was limited to peer-reviewed, English language studies involving human subjects, up to 5.5 years old.Results: Out of the 1,684 titles screened, a total of 71 papers were identified as relevant and included in this review. The majority of studies were prospective longitudinal studies. A range of assessment modalities (or tools) was used to determine neurodevelopmental outcomes of prenatal exposure to alcohol in the age group under review, the most frequently described being the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (BSID) (n = 19). Studies varied in terms of the dose, frequency, and timing of alcohol consumption during pregnancy and methodology used to assess alcohol consumption. Findings demonstrate extensive evidence for poor global developmental outcomes in children prenatally exposed to alcohol, particularly with moderate to severe levels of prenatal alcohol exposure.Conclusion: The outcomes related to lower levels of prenatal alcohol exposure as well as outcomes in specific developmental domains, are poorly understood. Further research should aim to clarify the more subtle or less easily measurable manifestations of prenatal alcohol exposure on early development when the potential for greatest impact of interventions is highest

Early structural brain development in infants exposed to HIV and antiretroviral therapy in utero in a South African birth cohort

INTRODUCTION: There is a growing population of children who are HIV-exposed and uninfected (HEU) with the successful expansion of antiretroviral therapy (ART) use in pregnancy. Children who are HEU are at risk of delayed neurodevelopment; however, there is limited research on early brain growth and maturation. We aimed to investigate the effects of in utero exposure to HIV/ART on brain structure of infants who are HEU compared to HIV-unexposed (HU). METHODS: Magnetic resonance imaging using a T2-weighted sequence was undertaken in a subgroup of infants aged 2–6 weeks enrolled in the Drakenstein Child Health Study birth cohort, South Africa, between 2012 and 2015. Mother–child pairs received antenatal and postnatal HIV testing and ART per local guidelines. We compared subcortical and total grey matter volumes between HEU and HU groups using multivariable linear regression adjusting for infant age, sex, intracranial volume and socio-economic variables. We further assessed associations between brain volumes with maternal CD4 cell count and ART exposure. RESULTS: One hundred forty-six infants (40 HEU; 106 HU) with high-resolution images were included in this analysis (mean age 3 weeks; 50.7% male). All infants who were HEU were exposed to ART (88% maternal triple ART). Infants who were HEU had smaller caudate volumes bilaterally (5.4% reduction, p 0.2). Total grey matter volume was also reduced in infants who were HEU (2.1% reduction, p < 0.05). Exploratory analyses showed that low maternal CD4 cell count (<350 cells/mm3) was associated with decreased infant grey matter volumes. There was no relationship between timing of ART exposure and grey matter volumes. CONCLUSIONS: Lower caudate and total grey matter volumes were found in infants who were HEU compared to HU in the first weeks of life, and maternal immunosuppression was associated with reduced volumes. These findings suggest that antenatal HIV exposure may impact early structural brain development and improved antenatal HIV management may have the potential to optimize neurodevelopmental outcomes of children who are HEU