554 research outputs found
Topographies and Textual Negotiations: Arab Women’s Short Fiction
No full textThis new collection places the short story at the heart of contemporary postcolonial studies. In so doing, it also questions what postcolonial literary criticism may be. Focusing upon short fiction from 1975 to the present day – the period during which critical theory came to determine postcolonial studies – it argues for a more sophisticated critique exemplified by the ambiguity of the short story form. Short fiction is discussed from India, New Zealand, Singapore, North America, the UK, Egypt, the Caribbean and Africa. Themes include trauma, diaspora, language, national identity, democracy, the city, women's writing, the body, sexuality, and new media. Canonical figures such as Alice Munro are featured alongside emerging talents such as Jhumpa Lahiri and Wena Poon, genre writers such as Nalo Hopkinson, and writers new to an Anglophone or Western audience. The contributors, too, include established figures in postcolonial and short story criticism alongside new or emerging scholars
Motoneurone and monosynoptic reflex excitability studied in man
No full textNatural stimulation of the skin and muscle was found to modulate the monosynaptic reflex and motoneurone excitability as judged by the H - reflex. Skin cold and mechanoreceptors inhibit the reflex as does muscle vibration while cooling of the muscle resulted in facilitation. The effective skin areas were of the same spinal segments as the muscle investigated..The motoneurone pool was inhibited for 50 cosec. after a conditioning electrical stimulus. The postulated mechanism for this is transmitter depletion and the evidence obtained supports this. Moreover the evidence excluded the involvement of Golgi tendon organs.The motoneurone excitability measured by the recovery curves was tested in young and old subjects and significant differences were found. Degeneration in the large diameter afferent fibres and motoneurones could account for the findings.Electro stimulation of the spinal cord in MS improves the abnormal recovery curves towards normal.. Other electrophysiological studies using the implanted electrodes were made and demonstrated changes in monosynaptic reflex excitability. Monosynaptic and motoneurone excitability were 'studied at the unitary level using single fibre EMG techniques and early physiological conclusions were confirmed. Motoneurones recovered from inhibition in a definite pattern. Different properties were noticed for units of the soleus which suggested a division into two groups according to their order of recruitment during incremental stimuli; blockage and inhibition. One group was recruited and blocked early followed by the other group with increasing stimuli. An opposite order was demonstrated during mechanoreceptor stimulation. A new hypothesis was explored, controversial to Henneman's size principle and implies that the external requirements of the movements determine the order of recruitment of the different motoneurones. Clinically in myotonic dystrophy significant changes were_ found in monosynaptic and motoneurone excitability. Neurological defects were shown which confirm the involvement of the nervous system in this disease.</p
Resource management for multimedia traffic over ATM broadband satellite networks
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Reduced Plasmodium vivax erythrocyte infection in PNG Duffy-negative heterozygotes.
No full textErythrocyte Duffy blood group negativity reaches fixation in African populations where Plasmodium vivax (Pv) is uncommon. While it is known that Duffy-negative individuals are highly resistant to Pv erythrocyte infection, little is known regarding Pv susceptibility among heterozygous carriers of a Duffy-negative allele (+/-). Our limited knowledge of the selective advantages or disadvantages associated with this genotype constrains our understanding of the effect that interventions against Pv may have on the health of people living in malaria-endemic regions.We conducted cross-sectional malaria prevalence surveys in Papua New Guinea (PNG), where we have previously identified a new Duffy-negative allele among individuals living in a region endemic for all four human malaria parasite species. We evaluated infection status by conventional blood smear light microscopy and semi-quantitative PCR-based strategies. Analysis of a longitudinal cohort constructed from our surveys showed that Duffy heterozygous (+/-) individuals were protected from Pv erythrocyte infection compared to those homozygous for wild-type alleles (+/+) (log-rank tests: LM, p = 0.049; PCR, p = 0.065). Evaluation of Pv parasitemia, determined by semi-quantitative PCR-based methods, was significantly lower in Duffy +/- vs. +/+ individuals (Mann-Whitney U: p = 0.023). Overall, we observed no association between susceptibility to P. falciparum erythrocyte infection and Duffy genotype.Our findings provide the first evidence that Duffy-negative heterozygosity reduces erythrocyte susceptibility to Pv infection. As this reduction was not associated with greater susceptibility to Pf malaria, our in vivo observations provide evidence that Pv-targeted control measures can be developed safely
National discourse and Egyptian women's writing: generational difference in the works of Latifa Zayyat and Ahdaf Soueif
No full textSerum trace elements in insulin-dependent and non-insulin-dependent diabetes: a comparative study
No full textAhmed M Ahmed,1 Omar F Khabour,1,2 Akram H Awadalla,3 Hisham A Waggiallah4 1Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, Taibah University, Medina, Saudi Arabia; 2Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan; 3Department of Clinical Chemistry, College of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Kordofan University, Alobayid, Sudan; 4Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Alkharj, Saudi Arabia Background: Diabetes mellitus is associated with imbalance in body trace elements. The aim of the current investigation was to compare the levels of trace elements (Zn, Mg, Mn, Cu, Na, K, Fe, Ca, Cr, and Se) in insulin dependent (IDDM) and non-insulin dependent (NIDDM) diabetes. Methods: A total of 100 patients with diabetes (40 IDDM and 60 NIDDM) and 50 healthy subjects were recruited in the study from both genders. Biochemical measures include glucose, lipids, and HbA1C. Results: The results showed that Zn, Mg, Cu and Cr were significant lower in patients with diabetes compared to the control group (P<0.01). In addition, Zn and Cr were significantly lower in IDDM than NIDDM (P<0.05). Moreover, Zn and Mg levels were inversely correlated with HbA1c in IDDM and NIDDM (P<0.05). Zn was inversely correlated with fasting blood glucose in IDDM (P<0.05). Finally, no correlation between trace element levels with BMI was found (P>0.05). Conclusion: Disturbance in trace element profile among IDDM and NIDDM is similar. Keywords: trace elements, diabetes mellitus, IDDM, NIDD
Pimpinella anisum essential oil nanoemulsions against Tribolium castaneum - Insecticidal activity and mode of action
No full textThe red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum Herbst (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), is an economically important pest of stored products. As possible alternative to conventional insecticides for its management, plant essential oils have gained interest owing to their effectiveness and eco-friendly features. However, they also show some drawbacks such as low stability, poor water solubility and diffusion, and limited persistence in the environment. A good strategy to overcome these disadvantages is represented by green nanotechnologies. Herein, we developed a nanoemulsion based on the essential oil from Pimpinella anisum L. (Apiaceae) containing 81.2% of (E)-anethole and evaluated its toxicity on T. castaneum adults and F1 progeny, as well as its morphological and histological impact. The anise oil nanoemulsion was characterized by the formation of a semi-solid interphase between oil and water, mean drop size was 198.9 nm, PDI was 0.303, zeta potential was -25.4±4.47 mV and conductivity was 0.029 mS/cm. The nanoemulsion showed toxicity on T. castaneum (LC50=9.3% v/v), with a significant impact on its progeny. Histological damages triggered by feeding and exposure to the anise nanoemulsion were also analyzed by scan electron microscopy (SEM). Overall, our findings showed that the development of nanoemulsions allows to improve the stability of P. anisum essential oil enhancing its efficacy against stored grain pests and contributing to reduce the use of harmful synthetic insecticides
Influenza vaccination and myocarditis among patients receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors
No full textBackground: influenza vaccination (FV) is recommended for patients with cancer. Recent data suggested that the administration of the FV was associated with an increase in immune-related adverse events (irAEs) among patients on immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). Myocarditis is an uncommon but serious complication of ICIs and may also result from infection with influenza. There are no data testing the relationship between FV and the development of myocarditis on ICIs.Methods: patients on ICIs who developed myocarditis (n = 101) (cases) were compared to ICI-treated patients(n = 201) without myocarditis (controls). A patient was defined as having the FV if they were administered the FV from 6 months prior to start of ICI to anytime during ICI therapy. Alternate thresholds for FV status were also tested. The primary comparison of interest was the rate of FV between cases and controls. Patients with myocarditis were followed for major adverse cardiac events (MACE), defined as the composite of cardiogenic shock, cardiac arrest, hemodynamically significant complete heart block and cardiovascular death.Results: the FV was administered to 25% of the myocarditis cases compared to 40% of the non-myocarditis ICI- treated controls (p = 0.01). Similar findings of lower rates of FV administration were noted among myocarditis cases when alternate thresholds were tested. Among the myocarditis cases, those who were vaccinated had 3-fold lower troponin levels when compared to unvaccinated cases (FV vs. No FV: 0.12 [0.02, 0.47] vs. 0.40 [0.11, 1.26] ng/ml,p = 0.02). Within myocarditis cases, those administered the FV also had a lower rate of other irAEs when compared to unvaccinated cases (36 vs. 55% p = 0.10) including lower rates of pneumonitis (12 vs. 36%, p = 0.03). During follow-up (175 [IQR 89, 363] days), 47% of myocarditis cases experienced a MACE. Myocarditis cases who received the FV were at a lower risk of cumulative MACE when compared to unvaccinated cases (24 vs. 59%, p = 0.002).Conclusion: the rate of FV among ICI-related myocarditis cases was lower than controls on ICIs who did not develop myocarditis. In those who developed myocarditis related to an ICI, there was less myocardial injury and a lower risk of MACE among those who were administered the FV
Modeling of gas flow in confined formations at different scales
No full textGas flow in fractured nano-porous shale formations is complicated by a hierarchy of structural features, ranging from nanopores to hydraulic fractures, and by several transport mechanisms that differ from standard viscous flow used in reservoir modeling. The use of accurate simulation techniques that honor the physical complexity of these reservoirs and capture the associated dynamics of nanopores is required. However, these simulations often necessitate a large amount of computational resources for field scale models and therefore require upscaling. Usually, the upscaling techniques are based on idealizations that do not reflect the discrete features of the reservoir. In this work, we first incorporate the physics model that describe dynamics of shale gas into a numerical Discrete Fracture and Matrix (DFM) model. The formulation of our DFM model applies an unstructured control volume finite difference approach with a two-point flux approximation. We then propose to upscale these detailed descriptions using two different techniques, with the major difference in their coarse-grid geometry. The first approach, referred to as Embedded DFM upscaling, relies on a structured Cartesian coarse grid. The second method, which we call the Multiple Sub-Regions (MSR) upscaling, introduces a flow based coarse grid to replicate the diffusive character of the pressure in the matrix. The required parameters for the coarse-scale model in both methods and the geometry of the subregions in the second method are determined using numerical homogenization of the underlying discrete fracture model. An accurate comparison with the fine-scale representation indicates an existence of an additional transient phenomenon at coarse scale. To account for this effect, the transmissibility of both types of coarse models is related to the pressure in our approach. Both upscaling methods are applied to simulate a shale-gas flow in 2D fractured reservoir models and are shown to provide results in close agreement with the underlying fine-scale model and with a considerable reduction in the computational time.Reservoir Engineerin
Quantifying the Likelihood of Regional Climate Change: A Hybridized Approach
No full textThe growing need for risk-based assessments of impacts and adaptation to climate change calls for increased capability in climate projections: specifically, the quantification of the likelihood of regional outcomes and the representation of their uncertainty. Herein, the authors present a technique that extends the latitudinal projections of the 2D atmospheric model of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Integrated Global System Model (IGSM) by applying longitudinally resolved patterns from observations, and from climate model projections archived from exercises carried out for the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The method maps the IGSM zonal means across longitude using a set of transformation coefficients, and this approach is demonstrated in application to near-surface air temperature and precipitation, for which high-quality observational datasets and model simulations of climate change are available. The current climatology of the transformation coefficients is observationally based. To estimate how these coefficients may alter with climate, the authors characterize the climate models’ spatial responses, relative to their zonal mean, from transient increases in trace-gas concentrations and then normalize these responses against their corresponding transient global temperature responses. This procedure allows for the construction of metaensembles of regional climate outcomes, combining the ensembles of the MIT IGSM—which produce global and latitudinal climate projections, with uncertainty, under different global climate policy scenarios—with regionally resolved patterns from the archived IPCC climate model projections. This hybridization of the climate model longitudinal projections with the global and latitudinal patterns projected by the IGSM can, in principle, be applied to any given state or flux variable that has the sufficient observational and model-based information.United States. Dept. of Energy (Abrupt Climate Change Program Grant DE-FG02-08ER61937)Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Joint Program on the Science & Policy of Global ChangeUnited States. Dept. of Energy. Office of Science (DE-FG02-94ER61937)United States. Environmental Protection AgencyElectric Power Research Institut
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