Traditional Korean islanders encounters with the British navy in the 1880s: The Port Hamilton Affair of 1885-1887

This article deals with the encounters between a traditional Korean rural and island population and western military forces when the British navy occupied Geomundo, an archipelago known to them as Port Hamilton, for 22 months between 1885 and 1887. The paper first outlines the sometimes painful process of East Asian countries being opened up to trade and outside influences in the 19th century, a process sometimes urged upon them by naval weapons in this era of gunboat diplomacy. This provides the setting for the Port Hamilton Affair itself when in preparation for possible war with Russia, a British naval squadron steamed into Port Hamilton and took it without reference to the local people or their national government. After brief reference to the political consequences of this action, the focus is then on what the records from the occupation and earlier investigations by the British, who had long coveted the islands’ strategic harbour, reveal about the life of the islanders. The article considers both their traditional life, from a time rather before western travel accounts were written about the Korean mainland, and how the islanders fared under the British.

FcγRIIa and FcγRIIIa polymorphisms and cetuximab benefit in the microscopic disease

Purpose: FcγR polymorphisms have been reported to enhance the immune-mediated effects of cetuximab in metastatic colorectal cancer. There are no data on the relationship between these polymorphisms and cetuximab in the early-stage setting. We performed a pharmacogenomic analysis of EXPERT-C, a randomized phase II trial of neoadjuvant CAPOX followed by chemoradiotherapy, surgery, and adjuvant CAPOX ± cetuximab in high-risk, locally advanced rectal cancer.

Experimental Design: FcγRIIa-H131R and FcγRIIIa-V158F polymorphisms were analyzed on DNA from peripheral blood samples. Kaplan–Meier method and Cox regression analysis were used to calculate survival estimates and compare treatment arms.

Results: Genotyping was successfully performed in 105 of 164 (64%) patients (CAPOX = 54, CAPOX-C = 51). No deviation from the Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium or association of these polymorphisms with tumor RAS status was observed. FcγRIIa-131R (HR, 0.38; P = 0.058) and FcγRIIIa-158F alleles (HR, 0.21; P = 0.007) predicted improved progression-free survival (PFS) in patients treated with cetuximab. In the CAPOX-C arm, carriers of both 131R and 158F alleles had a statistically significant improvement in PFS (5 years: 78.4%; HR, 0.22; P = 0.002) and overall survival (OS; 5 years: 86.4%; HR, 0.24; P = 0.018) when compared with patients homozygous for 131H and/or 158V (5-year PFS: 35.7%; 5-year OS: 57.1%). An interaction between cetuximab benefit and 131R and 158F alleles was found for PFS (P = 0.017) and remained significant after adjusting for prognostic variables (P = 0.003).

Conclusion: This is the first study investigating FcγRIIa and FcγRIIIa polymorphisms in patients with early-stage colorectal cancer treated with cetuximab. We showed an increased clinical benefit from cetuximab in the presence of 131R and 158F alleles.

An Assessment of Psychological Need in Emergency Medical Staff in the Northern Health and Social Care Trust Area

Setting: Psychological stress is increasingly recognised within emergency medicine, given the environmental and clinical stressors associated with the specialism. The current study assessed whether psychological distress is experienced by emergency medical staff and if so, what is the expressed need within this population? Participants: Participants included ambulance personnel, nursing staff, doctors and ancillary support staff within two Accident and Emergency (A&E) departments and twelve ambulance bases within one Trust locality in NI (N = 107). Primary and secondary outcome measures: The General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12, Goldberg, 1972, 1978), Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale (STSS, Bride, 2004) and an assessment of need questionnaire were completed and explored using mixed method analysis. Results: Results showed elevated levels of psychological distress within each profession except ambulance service clinical support officers (CSOs). Elevated levels of secondary trauma symptomatology were also found; the highest were within some nursing grades and junior doctors. Decreased enjoyment in job over time was significantly associated with higher scores. Analysis of qualitative data identified sources of stress to include low morale. A total of 65% of participants thought that work related stressors had negatively affected their mental health. Participants explored what they felt could decrease psychological distress including improved resources and psychoeducation. Conclusion: There were elevated levels of distress and secondary traumatic stress within this population as well as an expressed level of need, on both systemic and support levels.

Respiratory virus-associated severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) and viral clustering in Malawian children in a setting with a high prevalence of HIV, malaria and malnutrition

BACKGROUND:  We used four years of paediatric severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) sentinel surveillance in Blantyre, Malawi to identify factors associated with clinical severity and co-viral clustering.

METHODS:  From January 2011 to December 2014, 2363 children aged 3 months to 14 years presenting to hospital with SARI were enrolled. Nasopharyngeal aspirates were tested for influenza and other respiratory viruses. We assessed risk factors for clinical severity and conducted clustering analysis to identify viral clusters in children with co-viral detection.

RESULTS:  Hospital-attended influenza-positive SARI incidence was 2.0 cases per 10,000 children annually; it was highest children aged under 1 year (6.3 cases per 10,000), and HIV-infected children aged 5 to 9 years (6.0 cases per 10,000). 605 (26.8%) SARI cases had warning signs, which were positively associated with HIV infection (adjusted risk ratio [aRR]: 2.4, 95% CI: 1.4, 3.9), RSV infection (aRR: 1.9, 95% CI: 1.3, 3.0) and rainy season (aRR: 2.4, 95% CI: 1.6, 3.8). We identified six co-viral clusters; one cluster was associated with SARI with warning signs.

CONCLUSIONS:  Influenza vaccination may benefit young children and HIV infected children in this setting. Viral clustering may be associated with SARI severity; its assessment should be included in routine SARI surveillance.

Silence and the Image: Raymond Depardon's New York, N.Y.

What was given up in giving up the silence of film, in particular the silence of the city? Echoing Stanley Cavell, this essay contemplates Raymond Depardon’s experimental documentary New York, N.Y. (1985), a film that travels between sound and silence, quietly addressing questions concerning the nature of the photographic medium itself.

The Uncanny Thing : Paranoia and Claustrophobia in The Thing and “Who Goes There?”

This essay examines the themes of paranoia and claustrophobia as elements of horror in John Campbell’s novella “Who Goes There?” (1938) and John Carpenter’s film-adaptation of said novella, called The Thing (1982). The novella and the film utilize the lack of trust and reliability in between the characters as elements of fear as well as supernatural elements in the form of a monster. This essay focuses on the different parts of the story running through both versions, mainly the setting, the characters and the monster, to show how the themes of paranoia and claustrophobia are used throughout these as elements of fear and horror. With the help of Sigmund Freud’s concept of the uncanny, as well as other sources, this essay argues that while the monster plays an important role throughout the story, the threats created by the paranoia and claustrophobia are equal to the monster itself.

Investigating the role of glutathione and glutathione biosynthetic genes in the adaptation of Anopheles gambiae to insecticides

Malaria remains a serious public health challenge in the tropical world, with 584,000 deaths globally in 2013, of which 90% occurred in Africa, and mostly in pregnant women and children under the age of five. Anopheles gambiae (An. gambiae) is the principal malaria vector in Africa, where vector control measures involve the use of insecticides in the forms of long-lasting insecticide-treated nets (LLINs) and indoor residual spraying (IRS). The development of insecticides resistance mitigates these approaches. Glutathione (GSH) is widely distributed among all living organisms, and is associated with detoxification pathways, especially the Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs). Its direct involvement and relevance in insecticide resistance in An. gambiae has not been determined. Thus, this work examines the contribution of GSH, its biosynthetic genes (GCLM, GCLC) and their possible transcriptional regulator Nrf2 in insecticide resistance in An. gambiae sampled from agricultural setting (areas of intensive agriculture) and residential setting (domestic area). Bioinformatics analysis, W.H.O. adult susceptibility bioassays and molecular techniques were employed to investigate. Total RNA was first isolated from the adults An. gambiae mosquitoes raised from agricultural and residential field-caught larvae which had been either challenged or unchallenged with insecticides. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR using gel image densitometry was used to determine the expression levels of GCLM, GCLC genes and Nrf2. Bioinformatics’ results established the presence of putative AGAP010259 (AhR) and AGAP005300 (Nf2e1) transcription factor binding sites in An. gambiae GCLC and GCLM promoters in silico. An. gambiae s.l. studied here were highly resistant to DDT and permethrin but less resistant to bendiocarb. Both knockdown resistance (kdr) mutation variants L1014S and L1014F that confers resistance to pyrethroid insecticides were identified in both An. coluzzii and An. arabiensis sampled from northern Nigeria. The L1014F was much associated with An. coluzzii. A significant positive correlation (P=0.04) between the frequency of the L1014F point mutation and resistance to DDT and permethrin was observed. However, a weak or non-significant correlation (P=0.772) between the frequency of the L1014S point mutation and resistance was also found. L1014S and L1014F mutations co-occurred in both agricultural and residential settings with high frequencies. However, the frequencies of the two mutations were greater in the agricultural settings than in the residential settings. The levels of total, reduced and oxidized GSH were significantly higher in mosquitoes from agricultural sites than those from residential sites. Increased oxidized GSH levels appears to correlate with higher DDT resistance. The expression levels of GCLM, GCLC and Nrf2 were also significantly up-regulated in adults An. gambiae raised from agricultural and residential field-caught larvae when challenged with insecticide. However, there was higher constitutive expression of GCLM, GCLC and Nrf2 in mosquitoes from agricultural setting. The increased expression levels of these genes and also GSH levels in this population suggest their roles in the response and adaptation of An. gambiae to insecticide challenges. There exists the feasibility of using GSH status in An. gambiae to monitor adaptation and resistance to insecticides.

Stratigraphic Architecture of Deep Sea Depositional Systems in the Southern Tyrrhenian Sea: Some Examples in the Ischia and Stromboli Volcanic Islands (Southern Italy)

The stratigraphic architecture of deep sea depositional systems has been discussed in detail. Some examples in Ischia and Stromboli volcanic islands (Southern Tyrrhenian sea, Italy) are here shown and discussed. The submarine slope and base of slope depositional systems represent a major component of marine and lacustrine basin fills, constituting primary targets for hydrocarbon exploration and development. The slope systems are characterized by seven seismic facies building blocks, including the turbiditic channel fills, the turbidite lobes, the sheet turbidites, the slide, slump and debris flow sheets, lobes and tongues, the fine-grained turbidite fills and sheets, the contourite drifts and finally, the hemipelagic drapes and fills. Sparker profiles offshore Ischia are presented. New seismo-stratigraphic evidence on buried volcanic structures and overlying Quaternary deposits of the eastern offshore of the Ischia Island are here discussed to highlight the implications on marine geophysics and volcanology. Regional seismic sections in the Ischia offshore across buried volcanic structures and debris avalanche and debris flow deposits are here presented and discussed. Deep sea depositional systems in the Ischia Island are well developed in correspondence to the Southern Ischia canyon system. The canyon system engraves a narrow continental shelf from Punta Imperatore to Punta San Pancrazio, being limited southwestwards from the relict volcanic edifice of the Ischia bank. While the eastern boundary of the canyon system is controlled by extensional tectonics, being limited from a NE-SW trending (counter-Apenninic) normal fault, its western boundary is controlled by volcanism, due to the growth of the Ischia volcanic bank. Submarine gravitational instabilities also acted in relationships to the canyon system, allowing for the individuation of large scale creeping at the sea bottom and hummocky deposits already interpreted as debris avalanche deposits. High resolution seismic data (Subbottom Chirp) coupled to high resolution Multibeam bathymetry collected in the frame of the Stromboli geophysical experiment aimed at recording seismic active data and tomography of the Stromboli Island are here presented. A new detailed swath bathymetry of Stromboli Island is here shown and discussed to reconstruct an up-to-date morpho-bathymetry and marine geology of the area, compared to volcanologic setting of the Aeolian volcanic complex. The Stromboli DEM gives information about the submerged structure of the volcano, particularly about the volcano-tectonic and gravitational processes involving the submarine flanks of the edifice. Several seismic units have been identified around the volcanic edifice and interpreted as volcanic acoustic basement pertaining to the volcano and overlying slide chaotic bodies emplaced during its complex volcano-tectonic evolution. They are related to the eruptive activity of Stromboli, mainly poliphasic and to regional geological processes involving the geology of the Aeolian Arc.

'Yes, the century is an ashen sun': poem and subject in the philosophy of Alain Badiou

This thesis examines the relation between philosophy, the poem and the subject in the mature philosophy of Alain Badiou. It investigates Badiou’s decisive contribution to these questions primarily by means of comparison, especially to Martin Heidegger, Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe and Theodor Adorno, as well as by analysing Badiou’s readings of poems and prose by Paul Celan and Samuel Beckett respectively as sites of potential dialogue with his immediate predecessors. The thesis stresses the importance of French philosophy’s German heritage, emphasising not only Badiou’s radical departure from Heidegger and his legacy, but also the former’s wholesale rejection of philosophies that would, in the wake of twentieth-century violence and beyond, proclaim their own end or completion. The thesis argues Badiou’s innovative readings of Celan and Beckett to be crucial to understanding this endeavour: for Badiou, both writers use the poem to affirm novel conceptions of subjectivity capable of transcending the historical conditions of their presentation. The title quotation from Badiou’s The Century, ‘Yes, the century is an ashen sun’, anticipates both the affirmative nature of these subjective figures, and their presience, beyond the bounds of a twentieth-century ‘ashen sun’ pervaded by melancholy, for the ‘new suns’ of the twenty-first. The thesis is in four chapters. The first chapter unfolds the central concepts of Badiou’s departure from Heidegger using Paul Celan’s poems to focus the enquiry. It is guided by two of Badiou’s most condensed declarations about the poem, that, firstly, ‘the modern poem harbours a central silence’, and secondly, that ‘Celan completes Heidegger’. The second chapter exposes the political implications of Heidegger’s writings on Friedrich Hölderlin and the role of the subject therein, offering at its close some thoughts about what Badiou calls, following Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe, the poem’s ‘becoming-prose’. It concludes by drawing the poem and politics into relation by way of the philosophical category of the subject. The third chapter reads Badiou’s concept of ‘anabasis’ against Heidegger’s ‘homecoming’ in order to think the possibility of a collective political subject’s formation in the wake of Auschwitz. The final chapter examines the imbrication of the Two of love and the ‘latent poem’ in Badiou’s reading of Samuel Beckett’s late prose, contrasting this ‘affirmative’ reading of Beckett to Theodor Adorno’s earlier emphases on negation. Following its investigations of subjectivity, poem and prose throughout, the thesis concludes by returning to the title quotation in order to unfold the particular relations between subject, affirmation and negation Badiou’s philosophy enacts, and to offer further routes forward for research regarding Badiou’s philosophy and aesthetic figuration.

The interplay between neuronal activity and actin dynamics mimic the setting of an LTD synaptic tag

Persistent forms of plasticity, such as long-term depression (LTD), are dependent on the interplay between activity-dependent synaptic tags and the capture of plasticity-related proteins. We propose that the synaptic tag represents a structural alteration that turns synapses permissive to change. We found that modulation of actin dynamics has different roles in the induction and maintenance of LTD. Inhibition of either actin depolymerisation or polymerization blocks LTD induction whereas only the inhibition of actin depolymerisation blocks LTD maintenance. Interestingly, we found that actin depolymerisation and CaMKII activation are involved in LTD synaptic-tagging and capture. Moreover, inhibition of actin polymerisation mimics the setting of a synaptic tag, in an activity-dependent manner, allowing the expression of LTD in non-stimulated synapses. Suspending synaptic activation also restricts the time window of synaptic capture, which can be restored by inhibiting actin polymerization. Our results support our hypothesis that modulation of the actin cytoskeleton provides an input-specific signal for synaptic protein capture.

How important is the coast? A survey of coastal objectives in an Australian regional city

Defining goals and objectives is a critical component of adaptive management of natural resources because they provide the basis on which management strategies can be designed and evaluated. The aims of this study are: (i) to apply and test a collaborative method to elicit goals and objectives for inshore fisheries and biodiversity in the coastal zone of a regional city in Australia; (ii) to understand the relative importance of management objectives for different community members and stakeholders; and (iii) to understand how diverse perceptions about the importance of management objectives can be used to support multiple-use management in Australia’s iconic Great Barrier Reef. Management goals and objectives were elicited and weighted using the following steps: (i) literature review of management objectives, (ii) development of a hierarchy tree of objectives, and (iii) ranking of management objectives using survey methods. The overarching goals identified by the community group were to: (1) protect and restore inshore environmental assets; (2) improve governance systems; and (3) improve regional (socio-economic) well-being. Interestingly, these goals differ slightly from the usual triple-bottom line objectives (environmental, social and economic) often found in the literature. The objectives were ranked using the Analytical Hierarchical Process, where a total of 141 respondents from industry, government agencies, and community from across Queensland State undertook the survey. The environment goal received the highest scores, followed by governance and lastly well-being. The approach to elicit and rank goals and objectives developed in this study can be used to effectively support coastal resource management by providing opportunities for local communities to participate in the setting of regional objectives.

How important is the coast? A survey of coastal objectives in an Australian regional city

Defining goals and objectives is a critical component of adaptive management of natural resources because they provide the basis on which management strategies can be designed and evaluated. The aims of this study are: (i) to apply and test a collaborative method to elicit goals and objectives for inshore fisheries and biodiversity in the coastal zone of a regional city in Australia; (ii) to understand the relative importance of management objectives for different community members and stakeholders; and (iii) to understand how diverse perceptions about the importance of management objectives can be used to support multiple-use management in Australia’s iconic Great Barrier Reef. Management goals and objectives were elicited and weighted using the following steps: (i) literature review of management objectives, (ii) development of a hierarchy tree of objectives, and (iii) ranking of management objectives using survey methods. The overarching goals identified by the community group were to: (1) protect and restore inshore environmental assets; (2) improve governance systems; and (3) improve regional (socio-economic) well-being. Interestingly, these goals differ slightly from the usual triple-bottom line objectives (environmental, social and economic) often found in the literature. The objectives were ranked using the Analytical Hierarchical Process, where a total of 141 respondents from industry, government agencies, and community from across Queensland State undertook the survey. The environment goal received the highest scores, followed by governance and lastly well-being. The approach to elicit and rank goals and objectives developed in this study can be used to effectively support coastal resource management by providing opportunities for local communities to participate in the setting of regional objectives.

Magnetic Theory and Applications in the Naples Bay (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy): Magnetic Anomaly Fields and Relationships with Morpho-Structural Lineaments

Magnetic theory and application to a complex volcanic area located in Southern Italy are here discussed showing the example of the Gulf of Naples, located at Southern Italy Tyrrhenian margin. A magnetic anomaly map of the Gulf of Naples has been constructed aimed at highlighting new knowledge on geophysics and volcanology of this area of the Eastern Tyrrhenian margin, characterized by a complex geophysical setting, strongly depending on sea bottom topography. The theoretical aspects of marine magnetometry and multibeam bathymetry have been discussed. Magnetic data processing included the correction of the data for the diurnal variation, the correction of the data for the offset and the leveling of the data as a function of the correction at the cross-points of the navigation lines. Multibeam and single-beam bathymetric data processing has been considered. Magnetic anomaly fields in the Naples Bay have been discussed through a detailed geological interpretation and correlated with main morpho-structural features recognized through morphobathymetric interpretation. Details of magnetic anomalies have been selected, represented and correlated with significant seismic profiles, recorded on the same navigation lines of magnetometry. They include the continental shelf offshore the Somma-Vesuvius volcanic complex, the outer shelf of the Gulf of Pozzuoli offshore the Phlegrean Fields volcanic complex, the relict volcanic banks of Pentapalummo, Nisida and Miseno, the Gaia volcanic bank on the Naples slope, the western slope of the Dohrn canyon, the Magnaghi canyon’s head and the magnetic anomalies among the Ischia and Procida islands.

Geomorphological constraining of tsunami (?) run-up in the Alcantarilha coastal lowland (Central Algarve, Portugal)

The Alcantarilha lowland, partly barred by a well developed barrier, including foredunes covering Pleistocene-Holocene beachrock and aeolianite, develops across the Alcantarilha infilled estuary, the beach-dune extending further SE until the Salgados lagoon. A topographic and coring survey revealed a peculiar feature at the leeward toe of the dune ridge close to the inlet area: a sandy fan with location, shape and morphology suggesting emplacement by single or multiple overwash of the barrier tip rather than tidal forcing. Its storm or tsunami origin and age are under investigation, and the only time-constrain available at present is that it should post-date ca. 6600 cal BP, the most recent in situ aeolianite (Moura et al., 2007) dated so far. METHODS, DATA SET AND RESULTS The fan boundaries are distinctive in aerial photos and satellite images: it is roughly ellipsoidal, ~200 m wide and ~300 m elongated paralleling the shoreline, rising ~ 0.9-1.2 m above the surrounding floodplain surface. Detailed topography shows that its short axis aligns with SW-NE elongated (though irregular) depressions in the dune crest, which link the beach with the fan. This could have favoured funnelling of, or erosion by, water overtopping the barrier but, in either case, the fan should correspond to extreme and abrupt event(s) of coastal flooding. 18 trenches and cores were performed in the exposed area of the fan and nearby flood plain to obtain samples and data on its sedimentology, lithostratigraphy and geometry. The fan consists of well sorted and rounded sand (Fig. 2). It thins away and wedges out landwards of the apex (located near Alc29T) where it is partly covered by dune sand. Its lower boundary is undulating and marked by textural contrast between sand (fan) and underlying mud (alluvial/lagoonal); an accumulation of marine-sourced perforated pebbles showing limited lateral continuity may pinpoint this boundary near the foredune (core Alc 25, ca. 80 m westward of profile in Fig.1); mud-balls were also observed immediately above this surface in cores and trenches. As the washover was probably emplaced in a barred lagoonal/estuarine floodplain setting, the fan’s northern outer belt is enclosed by low-energy sediments (not shown in Fig. 2).

Gender and age differences in the sleep habits : a cross-sectional study in adolescents

Objectives: Analyze gender and age differences in sleep habits in a sample of adolescents. Design: A cross-sectional study. Setting: Public schools of Viseu, Portugal. Participants: Sample consisted of 7534 students, aged 11-20 years (mean age: 14.96 ± 1.81 years; 53.6% girls). Measurements: Data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire, answered in class and consists of questions to assess insomnia (DSM-IV criteria), sleep patterns, socio-demographic and daily habit variables. Results: Mean sleep duration in this sample was 8.02 ± 1.13 h. Age interfered with sleep duration that decreased with the increasing of age, from 8.45 ± 1.14 h among 11/12 years old to 7.37 ± 1.04 h for ages ≥ 17 years old. Insomnia and symptoms of insomnia were associated with gender and with increasing of age. Nearly 80% of students reported daytime tiredness, 66.7% sleepiness during the day; 56.1% during classes and 47.6% reported waking up with headaches, all variables more prevalent among girls and older adolescents. Conclusions: The sleep problems and variables related to sleep have become more frequent among girls and with increasing age. We recommend that the promotion of sleep hygiene and prevention of the consequences should be encouraged in adolescents and their families, especially among the female gender and older adolescents.