Fresh Examination Research Articles

Soviet Perspectives and Policies toward Reactionary Regimes in the Developing World

In their assessments during the 1960s and 1970s of the state of affairs of Third World “revolutionary democracies” and nations that had taken the “non-capitalist road to development,” the Soviets employed a mode of analysis based on the “correlation of forces.” Given the seeming successes of these “revolutionary democracies” and the appearance of new ones, Moscow was clearly heartened by the apparent tilt in favor of the Soviets and of “progressive” humanity more generally. These apparently positive trends were reflected in Soviet perspectives and policies on the Third World, which focused confidently on such “progressive” regimes. Nonetheless, so-called “reactionary” regimes continued to be a thorn in the side of Soviet policy makers. This study offers a fresh examination of the Soviet analyses of, and policies towards three “reactionary” Third-World regimes: the military dictatorship in Brazil, the Pinochet dictatorship of Chile, and Iran during the reign of the Shah. The article reveals that Soviet decision makers and analysts identified the state sector as the central factor in the “progressive” development of the Third World. Hence the state sector became the focal point for their analyses and the touchstone for Soviet policies; the promotion of the state sector was regarded as a key to the Soviet objective of promoting the “genuine independence” of Third World countries from imperialist domination.

John Dewey’s Social Philosophy

This paper provides a fresh examination of John Dewey’s social philosophy in the light of new evidence made available by the recent discovery of the original manuscript Dewey wrote in preparation of the Lectures on Social and Political Philosophy delivered in China and published here for the first time. The paper reconstructs Dewey’s ambivalent relationship with social philosophy throughout his long career and focuses upon his attempt between 1919 and 1923 to develop his own’s social philosophy. It proceeds to examine the contribution of the Chinese Lectures in Social and Political Philosophy to Dewey’s project in social philosophy and shows that our understanding of Dewey’s social philosophy was severely hampered by the unavailability of the original text. It concludes by assessing the critical potential of Dewey’s social philosophy.

Carr, D.Worried Sick: How Stress Hurts Us and How to Bounce Back. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. 2014116pp £12.99 (pbk) ISBN 978‐0813565378

Worried Sick is an odd little book. I was intrigued by it, and having read it, I confess to being unsure how to begin my review, apart from to assert that it is an odd book. This slim volume comes from the Rutgers University Press ‘PinPoints’ series on ‘Complex Topics, Concise Explanations’. This may explain its unconventional approach and form. The four other texts in the series include a book on Black icons and others on the economy of New Jersey, environmental crisis and water shortage, and dark matter. Set against these titles Worried Sick looks unusual, but not incongruous. The PinPoints brief is to deliver material for ‘a wide circle of scholars, students and non-specialist general readers’ in 100 pages and Carr sticks to these page limits. And as to content, well, it was interesting to read a book on stress not written by a health psychologist or from a psychotherapeutic stance. Deborah Carr is a Professor of Sociology at Rutgers where she teaches and conducts research on family life and the effects of stressors such as bereavement, so I wondered if a sociologist's fresh examination of the topic would contradict biomedical explanations of stress and our responses to it. In as much as this is possible in such a short book, Carr does this. In essence, the book presents a biopsychosocial (BPS) model that highlights the interconnectedness of biology, psychological, economic and social factors that create and may protect against stress. As a side note, David Pilgrim (2015) has written about the popularity of BPS amongst health researchers that provides a fuller account and critique of this model. Carr's book straddles the popular science, self-help and introductory sociology genres such that it is not always clear who the actual audience will be. Worried Sick might find its way to the mind/body section of the book store, where the sub-title promise of ‘bounce back’ solutions might not be misplaced, but I was not sure quite how comfortably it would fit in the sociology or health sections. Questions of product placement aside, the book is a good summary of the topic and an interesting, quick read. The book ‘feels’ very American, in part because of Carr's attempts to personalise the message with vignettes and stories about ‘Dawn’, ‘Naomi’, ‘Marisol’ and ‘Rob’ in the manner of populist therapy books. This is reinforced by evidence drawn from US sources, learning that ‘16% of Americans have ever suffered from a major depressive disorder’ (p. 25) and 18% of them have experienced anxiety in the past year (p. 27). It was not until half way through that a study of ‘ninety thousand adults in the United Kingdom’ – linking mental state and mortality – was mentioned (p. 50), but this was not referenced, making the book a slightly frustrating academic resource. Carr provides an outline of the historical definitions of stress, going back to Hans Selye's endocrinological research in the 1950s, and reviewing contemporary measures and scales, but also noting ideas about stress contagion in social networks. She reviews, albeit briefly, various theories about the links between stress and health - covering role strain, cumulative disadvantage, stress process and discrepancy theories - and contrasts these with bio-genetic explanations for the complex relationship between mind and body. Carr mentions survey and laboratory experimental research methods before examining ‘social science explanations’ for the connection between stress and health. There are a couple of pages each on (damaging) heath behaviours, nudges to alter these, and the impact of sleep on mental wellbeing. This precedes a section on ‘Social Class: The Fundamental Cause Behind the Stress-Health Link’ which briefly takes in fundamental cause theory and the impact of social inequality, before the book returns to Seyle's physiological work. The fourth and penultimate chapter examines ideas about risk and resilience, and the conclusion explores ‘Paths to Healing’. This notes the benefits of social support for behaviour change, alongside cognitive behavioural therapy and mindfulness. There is a relatively short section on medications, which – given their ubiquity and cost, and interest to social scientists – might have warranted a longer and more critical appraisal. That said, Carr concludes that ‘most of the stressors discussed in this book have their roots in major social inequalities based on one's social class, race, gender, age or even body size’ (p. 108) and argues that public and social policy can support these stressors, or address them to improve population wellbeing. That seems to be a message worth repeating.

First Century Galilee: A Fresh Examination of the Sources by Bradley W. Root (review)

FIRST CENTURY GALILEE: A FRESH EXAMINATION OF THE SOURCES By Bradley W. Root. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2. Reihe 378. Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2014. xvii + 228 pp.Bradley W. Root makes a significant contribution to ongoing conversations about the cultural, religious, and economic environment of first-century Galilee. His study, based on the 2009 University of California, San Diego history dissertation he wrote under David Goodblatt, focuses on seven issues: ethnicity, urbanization, economic conditions, political climate, religious ethos, Jewish-Gentile relations, and Galilean-Judean relations. In exploring these themes, Root argues that scholars often prematurely jump to historical reconstruction without sufficiently wrestling with the methodological problems posed by their sources. He thus devotes the bulk of his twelve-chapter book to critical analysis of individual sources, leaving historical synthesis for the end. He sifts through the writings of Josephus, the classic four sources of the Synoptic Gospels (Mark, the hypothetical sayings source Q, special Matthean material, and special Lukan material), the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of John, and published archaeological reports. He does not engage rabbinic texts in depth because of the methodological difficulty of identifying traditions that accurately preserve glimpses of the first century.In combing through Josephus's Jewish War, Jewish Antiquities, and Life, Root takes his methodological cues from scholars such as Steve Mason and Shaye J. D. Cohen. Noting the oft-discussed inconsistencies in Josephus's works, Root rightly concludes that some are so dramatic that they probably reflect a conscious decision by Josephus to alter his presentation of events. Furthermore, he observes, is about the events that took place in that region [Galilee] that Josephus had the greatest incentive to lie (11). Nonetheless, Root argues that the consistency of Josephus's comments about region suggests their general accuracy. Though Josephus drastically exaggerated the size of Galilee's population to boost his own prestige as its military commander, he probably not far off the mark when praising the region's agricultural productivity and general prosperity. Josephus was unable to come up with any major problems that Galilee experienced while Antipas Tetrarch (21) and he did not report the same level of mid-century banditry there that he does for Judea. Though Josephus depicted rural Galileans as hostile toward Sepphoris during the revolt, he did not attribute such antipathy to class, ethnic, or economic tensions. In short, Josephus's portrayal suggests a region that fared well in many respects for most of the first century, with relatively few communities suffering even in the revolt.Root's exploration of gospel materials pays careful attention to issues of provenance and Tendenz, finding varying amounts of information applicable to his chosen focal points. He finds little explicit support for views of the region as extensively hellenized or romanized, thoroughly urbanized, and in the midst of widespread upheaval because of economic crisis, and considerable evidence for a predominantly Jewish population with strong cultural ties to Judea. Though the Gospel of Thomas has figured prominently in much recent historical Jesus research, Root's evaluation of it finds few sayings that shed much light on Galilee's cultural ethos. …

In the Margins of the Rabbinic Curriculum: Mastering ʿUqṣin in the Light of Zoroastrian Intellectual Culture

The study situates the Babylonian rabbinic discussion concerning the spread of ritual pollution in produce in a broader cultural and intellectual context, by synoptically examining the rabbinic discussion against the backdrop of contemporaneous Zoroastrian legal discourse. It is suggested that the intimate affinity exhibited between the Babylonian rabbinic and Pahlavi discussions of produce contamination supports a fresh examination of the cultural significance of tractate ʿUqtzin in the Babylonian Talmud and the implications of its mastery on the intellectual and cultural identity of the Babylonian rabbis. The study posits that the self-reflective Talmudic reference to the knowledge and interest later generations of Babylonian rabbis possessed in tractate ʿUqtzin and the spread of ritual pollution in produce reflects the relative significance of these topics in the broader intellectual agenda of the Sasanian period. The later Babylonian rabbis boasted about their knowledge of tractate ʿUqtzin, which extended far beyond the capacity of earlier generations, precisely because this topic best reflected the intellectual currents of their time.

The Marian Exile and Religious Self-Identity: Rethinking the Origins of Elizabethan Puritanism

Abstract This paper challenges historians’ portrayal of Elizabethan puritanism as rooted in the Marian exile of 1553-1558, through a fresh examination of three exiles who have been described as early puritans: James Pilkington, John Jewel, and Laurence Humphrey. By studying the value they placed on church unity, this paper brings out the fundamental differences between the early reformers and the later puritans. It also demonstrates that the religious selfidentity of these men pre-dated the accession of Mary. Thus, their exile was a means of strengthening their faith, not finding it, and their return meant that there was more continuity between the Edwardian and Elizabethan churches than is often allowed in current scholarship.

Metodologia da análise seminal para pacientes azoospérmicos no Laboratório Fleury

The azoospermia is defined as the absence of sperm in the ejaculate by the seminal fluid man after centrifugation technique conducted in at least two samples. Given the importance of a correct diagnosis of the seminal analysis for couples, all sample no sperm present in fresh examination should follow in laboratory tests. Thus the present study aims to analyze the results of a spin rate of ejaculate or all of the ejaculate volume of patients with azoospermia to determine the best method to be used in semen analysis for this group of patients.

HUMANITARIAN LAW, HUMAN RIGHTS LAW AND THE BIFURCATION OF ARMED CONFLICT

AbstractThis article offers a fresh examination of the distinction drawn in international humanitarian law (IHL) between international and non-international armed conflicts. In particular, it considers this issue from the under-explored perspective of the influence of international human rights law (IHRL). It is demonstrated how, over time, the effect of IHRL on this distinction in IHL has changed dramatically. Whereas traditionally IHRL encouraged the partial elimination of the distinction between types of armed conflict, more recently it has been invoked in debates in a manner that would preserve what remains of the distinction. By exploring this important issue, it is hoped that the present article will contribute to the ongoing debates regarding the future development of the law of non-international armed conflict.

Burma's economy in the twentieth century

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Burma was among the most prosperous territories in the East. Yet since gaining independence in 1948, its economy has struggled. Burma's developmental failure has often been attributed to gross mismanagement of the economy by the military who took power in 1962 but in this illuminating book, Ian Brown, one of the leading economic historians of Southeast Asia, provides a fresh examination of the country's economic past, thereby setting that failure in the context of the colonial period. For the first time, a review of Burma's economic experience in the final decades of British rule is integrated with an analysis of its economy since independence, providing a detailed understanding of the complex origins of Burma's economic failure in the second half of the twentieth century. This is a compelling introduction to Burma's political and economic history for students in Southeast Asian history, development studies and political science.

Securing significant patterns: The enigma of forma

The historical case described in this paper, which is based upon a re-interpretation and re-presentation of a vast amount of extant scholarship, centers around the use of the Enigma machine by German armed forces during the Second World War to secure significant patterns and the related work of the Government Code and Cypher School to decode such communicative patterns. Through a fresh examination of this case and the ‘information technologies’ used within intelligence work of the day we achieve a number of things. First, we explore the enigmatic nature of what we term forma – the physical aspect of a seme or sign. We use the case to help illustrate the inherent relationship between the use of forma for mundane purposes of communication and the use of forma to remain mysterious; to mask communicative and performative action. Second, in unpacking the nature of formative action the case material helps re-establish the system in information system. It helps re-conceptualize and broaden the nature of information technology and illustrate more clearly the differences but also the connections between information systems and systems of such technology. Finally, the case enables us to position both IT systems (data systems) and information systems within the wider patterning of significance. This allows us to resurrect the importance of communication and control for the proper conceptualization of situated information systems and their supporting technologies.

Experimental benznidazole treatment of Trypanosoma cruzi II strains isolated from children of the Jequitinhonha Valley, Minas Gerais, Brazil, with Chagas disease.

Trypanosoma cruzi strains from distinct geographic areas show differences in drug resistance and association between parasites genetic and treatment response has been observed. Considering that benznidazole (BZ) can reduce the parasite burden and tissues damage, even in not cured animals and individuals, the goal is to assess the drug response to BZ of T. cruzi II strains isolated from children of the Jequitinhonha Valley, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, before treatment. Mice infected and treated with BZ in both phases of infection were compared with the untreated and evaluated by fresh blood examination, haemoculture, polymerase chain reaction, conventional (ELISA) and non-conventional (FC-ALTA) serologies. In mice treated in the acute phase, a significant decrease in parasitaemia was observed for all strains. Positive parasitological and/or serological tests in animals treated during the acute and chronic (95.1-100%) phases showed that most of the strains were BZ resistant. However, beneficial effect was demonstrated because significant reduction (p < 0.05%) and/or suppression of parasitaemia was observed in mice infected with all strains (acute phase), associated to reduction/elimination of inflammation and fibrosis for two/eight strains. BZ offered some benefit, even in not cured animals, what suggest that BZ use may be recommended at least for recent chronic infection of the studied region.

On Danckwerts’ Boundary Conditions for the Plug-Flow with Dispersion/Reaction Model

Accurate predictions of oxygen utilization with position in plug-flow like (aka serpentine) reactors employed for aerobic activated-sludge treatment of municipal and industrial wastewaters are desired. Three non-ideal reactor models—completely-mixed flow reactors (CMFRs) in series, segregated flow, and plug-flow with dispersion (PFD)—and the ideal plug-flow model were investigated considering typical reaction kinetics and a typical reactor configuration to perform such predictions. Significant differences arose between predictions from the PFD model relative to those from the CMFR in series and segregated flow models. These differences led to re-examination of the PFD model and the inlet/outlet boundary conditions postulated more than six decades ago by P. V. Danckwerts. Major criticisms are found in the literature addressing the PFD model arising from the concentration “jump” at the inlet boundary necessitated by specification of conservation of reactant flux at the expense of continuity of target reactant concentration. A fresh theoretical examination of the dispersive/reactive processes within a closed reactor with particular attention paid to the inlet and outlet boundary planes led to alternative statements for the inlet and outlet boundary conditions. Revisions proposed herein to Danckwerts’ boundary conditions for the PFD/reaction model preserve both continuity of reactant concentration and conservation of reactant flux at both inlet and outlet boundaries. Hypothetical computations based on pseudo-first-order kinetics for a reaction carried out within a serpentine reactor of typical configuration illustrate the differences between concentration profiles through the reactor predicted using the proposed and Danckwerts’ boundary conditions.

Harriet Martineau’s Epistemology of Gossip

Kristen A. Pond, “Harriet Martineau’s Epistemology of Gossip” (pp. 175–207) This essay is a fresh examination of Harriet Martineau’s only domestic novel, Deerbrook (1838). Though the novel seems like an interruption to those writings considered more typical of the author, and more successful, this essay traces the way in which Deerbrook’s preoccupation with epistemology connects it in important ways to the rest of Martineau’s oeuvre. While in most of her writing Martineau gives preference to what the Victorians considered to be empirical and rational ways of knowing, in Deerbrook she focuses on more typically feminized knowledge forms that rely on speculation and intuition, in particular the discourse of gossip. This essay argues that gossip’s main function in Deerbrook is not as plot device or didactic warning; rather, it functions as an epistemological category that challenges Enlightenment presumptions to certain knowledge. Read as a source of knowledge rather than a female vice, gossip becomes the tool through which Martineau raises the possibility of alternative forms of knowledge that might counter, or at least complicate, assumptions about what constitutes certain truth and right knowledge.

John Peyton’s A Relation of the State of Polonia and the Accession of King James I, 1598–1603

The anonymous A Relation of the State of Polonia and the Provinces United with that Crowne, Anno 1598 is the most important early account of Poland written in English. Over the last one hundred years, the work has received considerable attention from British, German, and Polish historians. Two different authors have been proposed, George Carew (c.1556–1612) and William Bruce (c.1560–after 1613), but neither attribution has gone unchallenged. This article is based on a fresh examination of what was long thought to be the only manuscript of this work, British Library Royal MS 18 B I, which makes it possible to determine the date and the circumstances of its production. Following a thorough analysis of the handwriting in the manuscript and the discovery of the watermark, it is now possible to point to the provenance of the manuscript and its components. This new information, in turn, leads to a reassessment of the historical context commonly assigned to A Relation of the State of Polonia. With the help of significant new evidence and formerly overlooked auction catalogues, the author can now be identified as John Peyton (1579–1635). The manuscript itself, I argue, was produced for King James VI and I at the time of his arrival in London in May 1603.

A reshaped approach for protein nanocrystal structure analysis from XFELs

The size and quality of protein crystals are critical limiting factors in conventional X-ray crystallography structural studies. Serial femtosecond X-ray crystallography (SFX) presents new opportunities through the use of submicron and nano-scale crystal samples. SFX experiments with X-ray free-electron lasers have demonstrated success (Chapman, 2011). While new instances are arising for the study of poorly crystallizing proteins, fresh examination must also be made of their analysis. Significantly, the smallness of the crystal samples creates broad integrated intensity distributions that require careful consideration for the accurate reconstruction of high-resolution protein crystal structures. Structural imperfections are also expected to play significant roles in the formation of SFX diffraction patterns (Dilanian, 2013). We present preliminary results from a new approach for SFX data analysis. As motivation, it is observed that significant similarities lie between merged SFX data-sets and powder diffraction patterns. The merged Bragg peak-shape distributions in SFX diffraction patterns are characterised by the shape, size and disorder distributions of the large crystal sample set. Powder diffraction peak-shape distributions are formed similarly by a collection of independent scatterers of such varying characteristics. The presented method utilizes an established powder diffraction analysis tool, the Le Bail method (Le Bail, 1988), for extension and application to SFX data. It is shown here that the continuous whole-pattern fitting technique, combined with variable peak-shape functions, can be used to closely model simulated SFX patterns and to extract integrated intensities. The presented approach is posed as a new analysis method for SFX experiments in which both crystal size and structural disorder variations can be incorporated.

Renal Dysfunction, MELD Scores, and Overall Survival of Patients With Liver (LT) Alone and Simultaneous Liver Kidney (SLK) Transplantation: A Fresh Examination of the UNOS Data.

Renal Dysfunction, MELD Scores, and Overall Survival of Patients With Liver (LT) Alone and Simultaneous Liver Kidney (SLK) Transplantation: A Fresh Examination of the UNOS Data.

Women, Revolution, and the Making of a New Nation

Women, Revolution, and the Making of a New Nation Kim Cary Warren (bio) Virginia Scharff. The Women Jefferson Loved. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 2010. xi + 464 pp. ISBN 978-0-06-122707-3 (cl). Marla R. Miller. Betsy Ross and the Making of America. New York: Henry Holt and Company, LLC, 2010. 467pp. ISBN 978-0-8050-8297-5 (cl). Woody Holton. Abigail Adams. New York: Free Press, 2009. ix + 483 pp. ISBN 978-1-4165-4680-1 (cl); 978-1-4165-4681-8 (pb). Catherine Allgor. A Perfect Union: Dolley Madison and the Creation of the American Nation. New York: Henry Holt and Company, LLC, 2006. xi + 512 pp. ISBN 978-0-8050-7327-0 (cl). The stories of Betsy Ross, Abigail Adams, Dolley Madison, and Thomas Jefferson are topics familiar to many Americans because the same legends about them have been passed down for generations. The persistent tales are that Ross created the first American flag, Adams reminded her husband to “remember the ladies” when writing laws for the new nation, Madison saved a portrait of George Washington when the British stormed the White House, and Jefferson found domestic tranquility at Monticello in contrast to his political life. Left alone, the legends would represent the most important biographical details for those Revolutionary-era subjects. The four books under review in this essay, however, take the reader far beyond the legends to provide a richer understanding of the Revolutionary period and to demonstrate the critical role of women in shaping a new American identity. By narrowing their focus to the biographical details of a few individuals, the authors provide rich examples of the challenges of early American life and the ways in which women had to be particularly shrewd as they maintained households, faced epidemics, suffered losses, built businesses, and engaged in political debates. Virginia Scharff’s The Women Jefferson Loved succeeds as a fresh examination of Thomas Jefferson and as a new, multi-pronged analysis of four generations of Jefferson’s relatives: his mother, Jane Randolph Jefferson; his wife, Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson; his enslaved mistress, Sally Hemings; and his daughters and granddaughters. The subjects of Marla Miller’s Betsy Ross and the Making of America, Woody Holton’s Abigail Adams, [End Page 160] and Catherine Allgor’s A Perfect Union: Dolley Madison and the Creation of the American Nation were at the center of Revolutionary activity, including organizing boycotts against British imports and thinking about diplomatic strategies. Each historian argues that women, and not just men, in Revolutionary America deeply invested in ideas about freedom and independence. Virginia Scharff’s eloquent account addresses a paradigm familiar to historians of gender: the intersection of public and private worlds. Scharff shows that, for Jefferson, this manifested in the depth of his love for those around him and for all that “inspired his immortal embrace of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (xv). According to Scharff, Jefferson demanded an “impregnable wall between the turbulent public world of politics and strife, a realm assigned to men, and the peaceful sphere of domestic tranquility, a realm associated with women” (153). The Revolution that Jefferson himself helped to provoke, however, broke down that wall, allowing violence and turmoil to disrupt his family life. Scharff portrays Jefferson as someone who viewed love as indestructible and sacred; Jefferson’s love was also complicated, and “it was not equal” (xxiii). An obvious example occurred early in Jefferson’s life. When attempting to pay off debts, in 1791, Jefferson claimed that, in order to preserve his own family, he would be willing to break up slave families by selling their individual members. Scharff’s focus on the contradictions of Jefferson’s life and legacy succeeds because of her unique approach in arguing that Jefferson’s fierce desire for domestic tranquility became the model for his ideal nation: a series of little Monticellos headed by benevolent patriarchs and calmed by the women who lived in each home. Although Jefferson’s ideal failed to manifest for himself or the nation, Scharff explores his commitment to this political ideology through the lenses of the women whom he loved and who loved him. The stories of women in each...

Effects of sub-zero storage temperatures on endoparasites in canine and equine feces

Fecal samples from wild and domestic carnivores are routinely frozen for three days at −80°C to kill eggs of Echinococcus spp., following recommendations from the World Health Organization (WHO) and World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). This is done to decrease the risk of zoonotic infection with these pathogenic cestodes. In addition, it is often necessary to freeze fecal samples collected for research prior to batch processing by a limited number of personnel, especially large numbers of samples or those collected in remote locations. The effect of freezing on the recovery of endoparasite eggs, cysts and oocysts from fecal samples is not well documented, even in hosts for which veterinary diagnostic submissions are relatively common. In this study, fecal samples from naturally infected dogs and horses were split into four treatment groups: fresh; −80°C for 3 days; −20°C for 30 days; and −80°C for 3 days followed by −20°C for an additional 30 days. Temperatures and times were chosen to simulate diagnostic and research protocols currently in place. Helminth eggs and sporocysts of Sarcocystis spp. were counted using a quantitative double centrifugation sucrose fecal flotation (modified Stoll egg count). Repeated measures ANOVA was used to detect differences in egg/sporocyst counts between the treatment groups for Sarcocystis spp. sporocysts, taeniid eggs (Taenia and/or Echinococcus spp.), ascarid eggs (Parascaris equorum, Toxocara canis, Toxascaris leonina), and strongylid type eggs (Uncinaria stenocephala, and equine strongylids, most likely cyathostomins). Counts for P. equorum and strongylid type eggs (both equine and canine) decreased significantly following freezing. Post-freezing, some samples that had been positive on fresh examination became negative for Parascaris and strongylid eggs. This study suggests that protocols requiring freezing artificially lowers recovery of eggs of Parascaris and strongylid nematodes in fecal surveys; however, recovery rates for eggs of other helminth species as well as sporocysts of Sarcocystis spp. were relatively robust compared to the freshly tested fecal samples. This is reassuring for large scale fecal surveys needed for fecal egg count reduction analyses following treatment, and for surveillance in wildlife and remote human and animal populations.

Archbishop Fisher, 1945-1961: Church, State and World

Perhaps inevitably, Archbishop Geoffrey Francis Fisher's primacy has been overshadowed by a development that took place largely after his retirement: the religious crisis of the 1960s. In 1961 the mainstream press reported Fisher's resignation with enthusiastic praise for his achievements, but during the 1960s it became conventional to argue that Fisher incarnated a traditional form of ecclesiasticism that was intrinsically unsuited to the new “modernity” of postwar England. Neither of these conflicting views were simple historical assessments, but rather were bound up with partisan arguments about whether and how to modernize the Church of England. Yet subsequent ecclesiastical history on Fisher has often structured itself around tropes from this discussion; these include whether Fisher's style was too headmasterly, whether he lacked imagination, and whether Bishop George Bell of Chichester would have been a better choice. Andrew Chandler and David Hein are surely correct to argue that Fisher's “pivotal archiepiscopate” is “one that cries out for fresh examination” (p. 5).

Establecimiento de una reacción en cadena de la polimerasa para la detección de bacterias y hongos

Laboratory methods used for the diagnosis of blepharitis, conjunctivitis and keratitis ranging from fresh examinations to search for parasites, gram stain and microbiological cultures, can last up to two weeks to get the result. ObjectiveTo implement a PCR for the detection of fungi and gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria using a previously reported method adapted to the molecular biology lab at Biomedical Research Center, Fundación Hospital Nuestra Señora de la Luz I.A.P. (CIB-HOL), using the thermocycler Axygen/Maxygene. MethodsDNA from microbial cultures of Gram positive, Gram negative and fungi were obtained for the PCR. Serial dilutions were performed to determine the sensitivity of the method. PCR was performed for fungi and bacteria. We searched for common conditions for PCR in one step ResultsWhen we used dilutions of DNA, the PCR was sensitive to 0.12ng to DNA bacterial and 0.15ng to DNA fungal. ConclusionsThe PCR technique is a very important molecular biology tool to detect DNA from bacteria and fungi responsible of the ocular infections. This method allows amplifying the genetic material of the etiologic agent and the results are obtained in less time than using conventional techniques.