Evaluation of the Retinal Vasculature in Hypertension and Chronic Kidney Disease in an elderly population of Irish nuns

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) and hypertension are global public health problems associated with considerable morbidity, premature mortality and attendant healthcare costs. Previous studies have highlighted that non-invasive examination of the retinal microcirculation can detect microvascular pathology that is associated with systemic disorders of the circulatory system such as hypertension. We examined the associations between retinal vessel caliber (RVC) and fractal dimension (DF), with both hypertension and CKD in elderly Irish nuns.

Methods: Data from 1233 participants in the cross-sectional observational Irish Nun Eye Study (INES) were assessed from digital photographs with a standardized protocol using computer-assisted software. Multivariate regression analyses were used to assess associations with hypertension and CKD, with adjustment for age, body mass index (BMI), refraction, fellow eye RVC, smoking, alcohol consumption, ischemic heart disease (IHD), cerebrovascular accident (CVA), diabetes and medication use.

Results: In total, 1122 (91%) participants (mean age: 76.3 [range: 56-100] years) had gradable retinal images of sufficient quality for blood vessel assessment. Hypertension was significantly associated with a narrower central retinal arteriolar equivalent (CRAE) in a fully adjusted analysis (P = 0.002; effect size= -2.16 μm; 95% confidence intervals [CI]: -3.51, -0.81 μm). No significant associations between other retinal vascular parameters and hypertension or between any retinal vascular parameters and CKD were found.

Conclusions: Individuals with hypertension have significantly narrower retinal arterioles which may afford an earlier opportunity for tailored prevention and treatment options to optimize the structure and function of the microvasculature, providing additional clinical utility. No significant associations between retinal vascular parameters and CKD were detected.

Essays on James Clarence Mangan: The Man in the Cloak

This volume explores the extraordinary literary achievement of James Clarence Mangan (1803-1849), increasingly recognised as one of the most important Irish writers of the nineteenth century and a crucial influence on later writers such as W.B. Yeats and James Joyce. It is the first collection of essays to focus on Mangan, and features articles by leading scholars in the field (including Jacques Chuto and David Lloyd) as well as contributions from acclaimed contemporary writers, Paul Muldoon and Ciaran Carson. The collection expands existing fields of debate--translation, the supernatural, intertextuality, nationalism, romanticism-- and introduces new ones: Mangan's afterlife in the English literary canon, cosmopolitanism and Weltliteratur, antiquity and futurity, nineteenth-century spiritualism and magical thinking. 'The man in the cloak', one of Mangan's favourite pseudonyms, is still a a resonant soubriquet for a writer who has eluded sustained critical attention, and this volumes restores him to his proper place in European and British, as well as Irish literary history.

Pleiotropic analysis of cancer risk loci on esophageal adenocarcinoma risk

Background: Several cancer-associated loci identified from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have been associated with risks of multiple cancer sites, suggesting pleiotropic effects. We investigated whether GWAS-identified risk variants for other common cancers are associated with risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma (EA) or its precursor, Barrett's esophagus. 

Methods: We examined the associations between risks of EA and Barrett's esophagus and 387 SNPs that have been associated with risks of other cancers, by using genotype imputation data on 2,163 control participants and 3,885 (1,501 EA and 2,384 Barrett's esophagus) case patients from the Barrett's and Esophageal Adenocarcinoma Genetic Susceptibility Study, and investigated effect modification by smoking history, body mass index (BMI), and reflux/heartburn. 

Results: After correcting for multiple testing, none of the tested 387 SNPs were statistically significantly associated with risk of EA or Barrett's esophagus. No evidence of effect modification by smoking, BMI, or reflux/heartburn was observed. 

Conclusions: Genetic risk variants for common cancers identified from GWAS appear not to be associated with risks of EA or Barrett's esophagus. 

Impact: To our knowledge, this is the first investigation of pleiotropic genetic associations with risks of EA and Barrett's esophagus.

Um escritor algarvio do século XVIII em Ayamonte: Damião António de Lemos Faria e Castro

Damião António de Lemos Faria e Castro foi o mais importante escritor algarvio do século XVIII. Viveu entre 1715 e 1789, em Portimão e em Faro, e foi autor de duas obras de grande dimensão: Aula da nobreza lusitana, em sete tomos (entre 1749 e 1761), e História Geral de Portugal e suas Conquistas, em vinte tomos (o primeiro dos quais aparecido em 1786 e os últimos, já póstumos, em 1806). Em ambas recorre amiúde a autores espanhóis, demonstrando a integração e a unidade fundamental da cultura ibérica. Além disso, escrevia correntemente em língua castelhana. Mas Damião esteve também vinculado muito especialmente a Ayamonte. Com efeito, durante cerca de dois anos – 1749/1750 – esteve refugiado em Ayamonte, porque perseguido pela justiça portuguesa. E nesta cidade andaluza da foz do Guadiana compôs alguns opúsculos que mandou imprimir em Sevilha. Outros escritos seus de Ayamonte ficaram manuscritos, como seja a Relación Geográfico-Historica de algunos terrenos de la Frontera de Portugal, y España, desde Ayamonte hasta Badajoz.

Speech of Mr. C. G. Memminger, on the question of rechartering the bank of the state of South Carolina: delivered in the House of Representatives, December 9, 1848

This speech by Mr. Memminger offers resolutions on the issue of rechartering the bank of the state of South Carolina. The issues presented are the Bank of the State is founded on an erroneous policy, unwise for a state to engage in banking, not practical to recharter the Bank of the State and a special committee of each house should be appointed to advise how to carry out these resolutions at the next session.

Address of Mr. C. G. Memminger, to the people of St. Phillip's and St. Michael's, in relation to the Bank of the State : containing facts and arguments in favor of the bill, which he was prevented from presenting before the House, at the last session of the Legislature

This document contains the facts and arguments in favor of the bill, which he was prevented from presenting before the House of Representatives at the last session of the legislature.

Address delivered by Chief Justice Eugene B. Gary, L.L.D. at the dedication of the Court House, McCormick County, September 27th, 1923

This document is an address by Chief Justice Eugene B. Gary that discusses the civilization of America in two contexts. The first context is the principles of civilization applicable to their democratic form of government. The second context is the dangers that threaten to destroy the very foundation of their government.

A institucionalização do ensino da náutica em Portugal (1779-1807)

Tese de doutoramento, História (História dos Descobrimentos e da Expansão), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Letras, 2014

Still Playing Together(?): A Recall to Physical Education and Sport History Intersections.

As academic disciplines, Physical Education and Sport History share interests in performance, participation, physique and the politics of corporeal praxis. Engendering unity between the two disciplines, however, has not been without concern. Scholars working within (and across) both fields have highlighted how the potential for shared knowledge production and meaning making has been, to a degree, stymied by epistemological and methodological criticism and trepidation. Issues over contextualization, rigour, narrative schemas, conceptualizations of the body, and notions of agency and power still, in particular, constrain our current educational and historical readings and renderings of physical culture(s). Scholarly schisms and methodological differences can be overcome, however, and need not prohibit disciplinary collaborations that might better address prevailing ethical questions and affect political cause; vis-à-vis the body, the physical and sport. This brief piece is, consequently, recourse to the scholarly symbiosis between Physical Education and Sport History and echoes the encouragement of our earlier colleagues to play, inquire, create and produce together.

Divulgação online da religião católica - estudo de caso: análise do website da Diocese do Porto

Dissertação de Mestrado apresentada ao Instituto Superior de Contabilidade e Administração do Porto para a obtenção do grau de Mestre em Marketing Digital, sob orientação de Mestre António da Silva Vieira

Alcipe, Nathercia e Tirse: Considerações sobre as luzes no feminino no Portugal de setecentos

O presente artigo desenvolve-se em torno de três damas esclarecidas da sociedade portuguesa de setecentos: D. Leonor de Almeida (1750-1839), ou Alcipe; D. Catarina de Lencastre (1749-1824), ou Nathercia; e D. Teresa de Mello Breyner (1739-1798?), ou Tirse. Sabendo que o século XVIII foi um período marcado por mudança e controvérsia, pela emergência de novos paradigmas, pelo reequacionamento de estruturas mentais e tradições seculares – ainda que em Portugal se experimentasse uma certa resistência às teorias filosóficas emergentes – a questão que lançamos e procuramos analisar é: qual o reflexo destas transformações no universo feminino? Assim, partindo dos três exemplos referidos e a eles tornando, pretendemos problematizar três questões centrais no discurso iluminista – educação, leituras e viagens – observando como estas matérias, assaz discutidas e teorizadas ao longo do século XVIII, se repercutiram na formação feminina em solo português e, por outro lado, analisar o modesto mas expressivo papel que as referidas damas assumiram na propagação da cultura das luzes em Portugal.