Successful Treatment Using Simeprevir, Sofosbuvir and Rituximab of a Severe Form of Hepatitis C Virus-related Mixed Cryoglobulinemia with Cardiac Involvement

Numerous extrahepatic manifestations have been reported in hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, particularly mixed cryoglobulinemia (MC). MC generally responds to clearance of HCV under pegylated-interferon plus ribavirin treatment. New direct-acting antiviral agents have been licensed for HCV under different combinations but have not been studied in severe forms of MC. Here, we present a case report describing a life-threatening form of MC with multivisceral involvement, which was successfully treated with concomitant rituximab, sofosbuvir and simeprevir. In light of the rapid clinical remission associated with sustained virological response and the excellent side-effect profile, this treatment should be considered as a first-line therapy in severe forms of MC.

Exporting the racial republic: African colonization, national citizenship, and the transformation of U.S. expansion, 1776-1864

The effort to create a colony of African Americans on the west coast of Africa was one of the most celebrated and influential movements in the United States during the first half of the 19th century. While historians have often viewed African colonization through the lens of domestic anti-slavery politics, colonization grew from an imperial impulse which promised to transform the identities of black colonists and indigenous Africans by helping them to build a democratic nation from the foundation of a settler colony. By proposing that persons of African descent could eventually become self-governing subjects, the liberal framework behind colonization offered the possibility of black citizenship rights, but only within racially homogenous nation-states, which some proponents of colonization imagined might lead to a “United States of Africa.” This dissertation examines how the notion of expanding democratic ideals through the export of racial nationhood was crucial to the appeal of colonization. It reveals how colonization surfaced in several crucial debates about race, citizenship, and empire in the antebellum United States by examining discussions about African Americans’ revolutionary claims to political rights, the bounds of US territorial expansion, the removal of native populations in North America, and the racialization of national citizenship, both at home and abroad. By examining African colonization from these perspectives, this dissertation argues that the United States’ efforts to construct a liberal democracy defined by white racial identity were directly connected to the nation’s emerging identity as a defender and exporter of political liberty throughout the world.

Obsolescence and Renewal: Transformation of Post War Concrete Buildings

In this thesis I investigate issues of post-war concrete buildings and how we can both add value and make adaptable what we have traditionally defined as not valuable and not adaptable. 55% of United States’ commercial building stock was built between the years of 1960 and 1980, leaving 36 billion square feet of building material to be adaptively reused or at the bottom of a landfill. Currently, our culture does not value many character defining features of these buildings making the preservation of these buildings difficult, especially at this 50 year critical moment of both the attribution of a “historic” status and time when major renovation of these buildings needs to occur. How can architects add value to a building type, sometimes called “brutalist”, that building culture currently under values and thinks is “obsolete”? I tested this hypothesis using the James Forrestal Building in Washington D.C. After close study of the obsolescence, value,history and existing conditions, I propose a design that adds value to Southwest Washington D.C. and may serve as an example for post-war renewal around the country.

Investigation of un-American propaganda activities in the United States : Hearings before a Special Committee on Un-American Activities, House of Representatives, Seventy-fifth Congress, third session-Seventy-eighth Congress, second session, on H. Res. 282, to investigate (1) the extent, character, and objects of un-American propaganda activities in the United States, (2) the diffusion within the United States of subversive and un-American propaganda that is instigated from foreign countries or of a domestic origin and attacks the principle of the form of government as guaranteed by our Constitution, and (3) all other questions in relation thereto that would aid Congress in any necessary remedial legislation.

Martin Dies, chairman.

Structural transformation of polyacrylonitrile fibers during stabilization and low temperature carbonization

The effect of oxidative stabilization and carbonization processes on the structure, mass and mechanical properties of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) precursor fibers was analyzed. A gradual densification of the fibers occurring from mass loss, decrease in fiber diameter and increase in density were observed after stabilization at a maximum temperature of 255 °C and carbonization at a maximum temperature of 800 °C. The tensile strength and modulus of the fibers were found to decrease after stabilization but then increased after low temperature carbonization. The thermal processing of the precursor fibers affected their mode of failure after tensile loading, changing from a ductile type of failure to a brittle type. The type of failure correlated well with the crystal structure changes in the fibers. Whilst the PAN precursor fiber started to exotherm above 225 °C in air, no prominent exothermic reaction was measured in the carbonized fibers in air up to 430 °C. The aromatization index of stabilized fiber was calculated to be ∼66%, and that of carbonized fiber was ∼99%. FTIR studies indicated that the variation in the chemical structure of the fibers with the stabilization of the fibers. Radial heterogeneity in the stabilized fibers was observed however it was not promoted to the carbonized fibers. Finally, a method to calculate mass retention of PAN precursor fiber after heat treatment was developed, and the calculated percentage mass retained of the precursor fiber after oxidation and carbonization were found to be 81% and 51%, respectively. . This study proposes an effective method to calculate the percentage of mass retained by precursor fibers after stabilization and low temperature carbonization to provide a model for evaluating carbon fiber yield from a given amount of fibers.

Children with Special Health Care Needs: Comparison of the Effects of Home Care Setting, Prescribed Pediatric Extended Care Setting, and Long-Term Care Setting on Child and Family Health Outcomes and Health Care Service Use

Technological advances during the past 30 years have dramatically improved survival rates for children with life-threatening conditions (preterm births, congenital anomalies, disease, or injury) resulting in children with special health care needs (CSHCN), children who have or are at increased risk for a chronic physical, developmental, behavioral, or emotional condition and who require health and related services beyond that required by children generally. There are approximately 10.2 million of these children in the United States or one in five households with a child with special health care needs. Care for these children is limited to home care, medical day care (Prescribed Pediatric Extended Care; P-PEC) or a long term care (LTC) facility. There is very limited research examining health outcomes of CSHCN and their families. The purpose of this research was to compare the effects of home care settings, P-PEC settings, and LTC settings on child health and functioning, family health and function, and health care service use of families with CSHCN. Eighty four CSHCN ages 2 to 21 years having a medically fragile or complex medical condition that required continual monitoring were enrolled with their parents/guardians. Interviews were conducted monthly for five months using the PedsQL TM Generic Core Module for child health and functioning, PedsQL TM Family Impact Module for family health and functioning, and Access to Care from the NS-CSHCN survey for health care services. Descriptive statistics, chi square, and ANCOVA were conducted to determine differences across care settings. Children in the P-PEC settings had a highest health care quality of life (HRQL) overall including physical and psychosocial functioning. Parents/guardians with CSHCN in LTC had the highest HRQL including having time and energy for a social life and employment. Parents/guardians with CSHCN in home care settings had the poorest HRQL including physical and psychosocial functioning with cognitive difficulties, difficulties with worry, communication, and daily activities. They had the fewest hours of employment and the most hours providing direct care for their children. Overall health care service use was the same across the care settings.

The Effect of Iron Oxide Nanoparticles on the Fate and Transformation of Arsenic in Aquatic Environments

Iron oxides and arsenic are prevalent in the environment. With the increase interest in the use of iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) for contaminant remediation and the high toxicity of arsenic, it is crucial that we evaluate the interactions between IONPs and arsenic. The goal was to understand the environmental behavior of IONPs in regards to their particle size, aggregation and stability, and to determine how this behavior influences IONPs-arsenic interactions. A variety of dispersion techniques were investigated to disperse bare commercial IONPs. Vortex was able to disperse commercial hematite nanoparticles into unstable dispersions with particles in the micrometer size range while probe ultrasonication dispersed the particles into stable dispersions of nanometer size ranges for a prolonged period of time. Using probe ultrasonication and vortex to prepare IONPs suspensions of different particle sizes, the adsorption of arsenite and arsenate to bare hematite nanoparticles and hematite aggregates were investigated. To understand the difference in the adsorptive behavior, adsorption kinetics and isotherm parameters were determined. Both arsenite and arsenate were capable of adsorbing to hematite nanoparticles and hematite aggregates but the rate and capacity of adsorption is dependent upon the hematite particle size, the stability of the dispersion and the type of sorbed arsenic species. Once arsenic was adsorbed onto the hematite surface, both iron and arsenic can undergo redox transformation both microbially and photochemically and these processes can be intertwined. Arsenic speciation studies in the presence of hematite particles were performed and the effect of light on the redox process was preliminary quantified. The redox behavior of arsenite and arsenate were different depending on the hematite particle size, the stability of the suspension and the presence of environmental factors such as microbes and light. The results from this study are important and have significant environmental implications as arsenic mobility and bioavailability can be affected by its adsorption to hematite particles and by its surface mediated redox transformation. Moreover, this study furthers our understanding on how the particle size influences the interactions between IONPs and arsenic thereby clarifying the role of IONPs in the biogeochemical cycling of arsenic.

Changes in Work from the Global Value Change Perspective The Case of Transformation Economies: Bulgaria and Hungary

The core aim of this paper is to evaluate to what extent were companies able to join to the global value chains (GVCs) through some selected company case studies.

What next for unions in Central and Eastern Europe? Invisibility, departure and the transformation of industrial relations

This article examines union revitalization in Central and Eastern Europe, focusing on two countries: Hungary and Latvia. Trade unions have not only had to cope with a declining membership base, but have also had to respond to austerity programmes and government cuts in public sector employment. We argue that the inability of unions to provide a strong voice for alternative policies to the current neoliberal orthodoxy has been driven by a declining membership base, but also by weakened social dialogue mechanisms, limited industrial representation and an ageing membership profile, exacerbated by net outward migration in recent years. However, we find that unions in Latvia and Hungary have responded differently to these issues.

Limitations of spoligotyping and variable-number tandem-repeat typing for molecular tracing of Mycobacterium bovis in a high-diversity setting

This study describes the attempt to trace the first Mycobacterium bovis outbreak in alpacas (Lama pacos) in Spain by spoligotyping and variable-number tandem-repeat (VNTR) analysis. Due to high genotype diversity, no matching source was identified, but local expansion of a clonal group was found and its significance for molecular tracing is discussed.

Book review: Hannah Murphy, The Making of International Trade Policy: NGOs, Agenda-setting and the WTO (Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2010), 240 pp., £65.00, ISBN 978 18498 00181 (hbk).

The nexus between states,non-state actors and intergovernmental organisations is an increasingly important area in both the study and practice of global governance. Hannah Murphy makes a meaningful contribution to this area in examining the informal role of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in relation to agenda-setting within the World Trade Organization (WTO). © Dean Coldicott, Deakin University 2012.

Teacher stories of collusion and transformation: a feminist pedagogical framework and meta-language for cultural gender justice

This article examines data from two different studies concerning issues of social justice, gender and schooling and specifically the practices of secondary teachers, ‘Mr B’, a teacher from a school in Tasmania, Australia, and ‘Mr C’, a teacher from a school in Bedfordshire in the United Kingdom. Both teachers’ practices and relationships with students are analysed within a feminist interpretation of the Productive Pedagogies model of quality teaching and learning. The two different stories are presented as juxtapositions that serve to illuminate the capacities of pedagogy to, on the one hand, work in ways likely to re-inscribe the discourses of entitlement and privilege that perpetuate cultural gender injustice, and on the other, transform these discourses towards more equitable and just networks of multiple and intersecting differences.

The Proces of Curriculum and Module Design

The outcome of the inductive decision -making process of the leading project management group (PMG) was the proposal to develop three modules, Human Resource Management and Knowledge Management, Quality Management and Intercultural management, each for 10 ECTS credits. As a result of the theoretical and organisational framework and analytical phase of the project, four strategies informed the development and implemen- tation of the modules: 1. Collaboration as a principle stemming from EU collaborative policy and receiving it’s expression on all implementation levels (designing the modules, modes of learning, delivering the modules, evaluation process). 2. Building on the Bologna process masters level framework to assure ap- propriate academic level of outputs. 3. Development of value -based leadership of students through transforma- tional learning in a cross -cultural setting and continual reflection of theory in practice. 4. Continual evaluation and feedback among teachers and students as a strategy to achieve a high quality programme. In the first phase of designing the modules the collaborative strategy in particular was applied, as each module was led by one university, but members from all other universities participated in the discussions and development of the mod- ules. The Bologna process masters level framework and related standards and guidelines informed the form and method of designing the modules.

Extreme Sports: A positive transformation in courage and humility

Extreme sports and extreme sports participants have been most commonly explored from a negative perspective, for example the “need to take unnecessary risks.” This study explored what can be learned from extreme sports about courage and humility - two positive psychology constructs. A phenomenological method was used via unstructured interviews with 15 extreme sports participants and other first hand accounts. The extreme sports included B.A.S.E. jumping, big wave surfing, extreme skiing, waterfall kayaking, extreme mountaineering and solo rope-free climbing. Results indicate that humility and courage can be deliberately sought out by participating in activities that involve a real chance of death, fear and the realisation that nature in its extreme is far greater and more powerful than humanity.