Sunday, August 31, 2014

What is dance movement therapy?


Overview

One of the creative arts therapies, dance movement therapy is defined by the American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA) as “the psychotherapeutic use of movement as a process that furthers the emotional, cognitive, social and physical integration of the individual.” Many practitioners consider the dancer and dance instructor Marian Chace to be the pioneer of dance movement therapy.



Chace began teaching dance in Washington, D.C., after retiring from the
Denishawn Dance Company in 1930. She had noticed that some of her students were
more interested in the emotions that they felt while dancing than in learning the
techniques of modern dance. Intrigued, Chace learned that they valued the
catharsis of feelings they experienced while dancing. Some of these students were
concurrently undergoing traditional psychotherapy with psychiatrists, who
noticed that their patients felt more refreshed and unburdened after their lessons
with Chace. The psychiatrists began to send other patients to Chase’s classes, and
they noted the positive change that dance appeared to inspire.


Chace was then invited to volunteer with those considered too disturbed to participate in therapy. The nonverbal approach of dance elicited improvement, and by the 1950s, Chace’s methods were subjected to serious study.




Mechanism of Action

The principle behind dance movement therapy is that dance is the most fundamental of all the arts, requiring no external materials. It is a communication of the psyche, expressed through self-directed movement. Dance movement therapists assume that the body, mind, and spirit are interconnected, allowing for direct access to feelings, cognition, and behavior. Bodily movement simultaneously provides the means of both intervention and assessment in this mode of therapy. Participants are encouraged to choose their own music and to begin moving to it in their own ways.


The dance movement therapist generally begins by empathically mirroring the participant’s actions, and then extends and expands them into a nonverbal statement of emotion that can release the participant from any fixed muscular patterns. Next, participants are gently coaxed into a circle and led into movement extensions with verbal narration. Once the group is a more cohesive unit, the therapist notes the styles of the participants and leads into the development of a global psychological theme for the session, with questions to shed light on individual conflicts. The session ends with communal movement from all participants to provide closure.




Uses and Applications

Chace believed that dance served as a medium for communication for the most
disturbed psychiatric patients, such as schizophrenics. However, today dance
movement therapists work with groups and individuals of all ages who have widely
differing problems. They may work in private practice, wellness clinics,
rehabilitation centers, nursing homes, and schools. The focus on positive body
movement may help clients with eating disorders and body issues. The
nonverbal conflict revelations and resolutions may help dysfunctional families
develop communication skills, and those who have been through trauma such as abuse
or violence may find a new mode of constructive coping. The physical therapy uses
of dance movement therapy are self-evident, and it is often used with the frail
and elderly.


Disease prevention and health promotion, a new area of specialization in dance
movement therapy, is beginning to be used in programs for people with chronic
medical conditions such as cardiovascular disease, chronic pain, and
hypertension. Research on the effectiveness of dance
movement therapy has investigated certain settings, such as prisons and homeless
shelters, and specific populations, such as the mentally disabled, suicidal
persons, the visually and hearing impaired, and autistic persons.




Scientific Evidence

A 1993 study suggested that dance movement therapy improved balance, rhythmic
discrimination, mood, social interaction, and energy level in older persons with
neurological damage. A 2010 study evaluated the influence of dance movement
therapy on the perception of well-being in women with chronic fatigue
syndrome. Seven persons attended a four-month program and
were tested both before and after the program. Their perceptions of physical
well-being improved by an average of 25.8 percent, and their perceptions of
psychological well-being improved by 22.7 percent.


A 2008 dance movement therapy intervention group of persons with
dementia improved in a task of visual-spatial ability and
planning, whereas the control group either remained unchanged or deteriorated
slightly. Dance movement therapy appears to be effective in treating cognition and
self-care abilities in dementia.


A 2006 study assessed mildly depressed adolescents after twelve weeks of dance
movement therapy. All self-report measurements of distress decreased significantly
after the twelve weeks. In addition, both serotonin and dopamine levels increased
in that group. Thus, dance movement therapy may help to decrease depression
both by relieving perceptions of distress and by lowering neurotransmitter levels.




Choosing a Practitioner

Chace helped to organize the ADTA in 1966 and served as its first president. The ADTA has a code of ethics and standards for professional clinical practice, education, and training. Course work for dance movement therapy includes classes on theory and practice, observation and analysis, human development, psychopathology, cultural diversity, research, and group therapy. The ADTA maintains a registry of dance movement therapists who meet these stringent standards.


Persons certified (as Dance Therapist Registered, or DTR) have master’s degrees and seven hundred hours of supervised clinical internship. The certification Academy of Dance Therapists Registered (ADTR) is then awarded with the completion of 3,640 hours of supervised clinical internship. Persons interested in dance movement therapy can find qualified practitioners through the ADTA Web site (http://www.adta.org).




Safety Issues

There are no known safety issues with dance movement therapy.




Bibliography


American Dance Therapy Association. http://www.adta.org.



Devereaux, Christina. "Dance/Movement Therapy and Autism." Psychology Today. Sussex, 2 Apr. 2014. Web. 28 Jan. 2016.



Fraleigh, Sondra Horton. Moving Consciously: Somatic Transformations through Dance, Yoga, and Touch. Urbana: U of Illinois P, 2015. Print.



Levy, Fran J., ed. Dance Movement Therapy: A Healing Art. 2d rev. ed. Reston, Va.: National Dance Association, 2005. The definitive book on the history and development of dance therapy, from its beginnings with Marian Chace to its expansion.



Molzahn, Laura. "Dance Heals: Newly Popular Therapy Makes Big Strides with Movement." Chicago Tribune. Tribune, 6 June 2015. Web. 28 Jan. 2016.



Sadler, Blair L., Annette Ridenour, and Donald M. Berwick. Transforming the Healthcare Experience Through the Arts. San Diego, Calif.: Aesthetics, 2009.

What is Drosophila melanogaster?


Early Studies of Drosophila

By the early 1900s, scientists had discovered chromosomes inside cells and knew that they occurred in pairs, that one partner of each pair was provided by each parent during reproduction, and that fertilization restored the paired condition. This behavior of chromosomes paralleled the observations of Austrian botanist Gregor Mendel, first published in 1866, which showed that traits in pea plants segregated and were assorted independently during reproduction. This led geneticists Walter Sutton, Theodor Boveri, and their colleagues, in 1902, to propose the chromosome theory of inheritance, which postulated that Mendel’s traits, or “genes,” existed on the chromosomes. However, this theory was not accepted by all scientists of the time.













Thomas Hunt Morgan
was an embryologist at Columbia University in New York City, and he chose to study the chromosome theory and inheritance in the common fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. This organism was an ideal one for genetic studies because a single mating could produce hundreds of offspring, it developed from egg to adult in only ten days, it was inexpensively and easily kept in the laboratory, and it had only four pairs of chromosomes that were easily distinguished with a simple microscope. Morgan was the first scientist to keep large numbers of fly “stocks” (organisms that are genetically similar), and his laboratory became known as the Fly Room.


After one year of breeding flies and looking for inherited variations of traits, Morgan found a single male fly with white eyes instead of the usual red, the normal or wild-type color. When he bred this white-eyed male with a red-eyed female, his results were consistent with that expected for a recessive trait, and all the offspring had wild-type eyes. When he mated some of these offspring, he was startled to discover a different inheritance pattern than he expected from Mendel’s experiments. In the case of this mating, half of the males and no females had white eyes; Morgan had expected half of all of the males and females to be white-eyed. After many more generations of breeding, Morgan was able to deduce that eye color in a fly was related to its sex, and he mapped the eye-color gene to the X chromosome of the fruit fly. The X chromosome is one of the sex chromosomes. Because a female fly has two X chromosomes and a male has one X and one Y chromosome, and because the Y chromosome does not carry genes corresponding to those on the X chromosome, any gene on the male’s X chromosome is expressed as a trait, even if it is normally recessive. This interesting and unusual example of the first mutant gene in flies was called a sex-linked trait because the trait was located on the X chromosome. Genes in flies are named for their mutant characteristics; therefore, because the mutant version of this gene conferred white eyes, it was named the white gene.


This important discovery attracted many students to Morgan’s laboratory, and before long they found many other unusual inherited traits in flies and determined their inheritance patterns. One of the next major discoveries by members of the fly lab was that of genes existing on the same chromosome, information that was used to map the genes to individual chromosomes.




Linked Genes and Chromosome Maps

Many genes are located on each chromosome. Genes, and the traits they specify, that are situated on the same chromosome tend to be inherited together. Such genes are referred to as linked genes. Morgan performed a variety of genetic crosses with linked genes and developed detailed maps of the positions of the genes on the chromosomes based on his results. Morgan did his first experiments with linked genes in Drosophila that specified body color and wing type. In fruit flies, a brown body is the wild type and a black body is a mutant type. In wild-type flies, wings are long, while one mutant variant has short, crinkled wings referred to as vestigial wings. When Morgan mated wild-type females with black-bodied, vestigial-winged males, the next generation consisted of all wild-type flies. When he then mated females from this new generation with black-bodied, vestigial-winged males, most of the progeny were either brown and normal winged or wild-type black and vestigial winged, in about equal proportions. A few of the offspring were either just black bodied (with wild-type wings) or vestigial winged (with wild-type body color), trait combinations found in neither parent, thus referred to as nonparentals. Because of the equal distribution of these mutant traits between males and females, Morgan knew the genes were not sex linked. Because the traits for body color and wing length generally seemed to be inherited together, he deduced that they existed on the same chromosome.


As Morgan and his students and colleagues continued their experiments on the inheritance of body color and wing length, they observed a small but consistent percentage of offspring with nonparental trait combinations. After repeating these experiments with many different linked genes, Morgan discovered that chromosomes exchange pieces during egg and sperm formation. This exchange of chromosome pieces occurs during a process called meiosis,which occurs in sexually reproducing organisms and results in the production of gametes, generally eggs and sperm. During meiosis, the homologous chromosomes pair tightly and may exchange pieces; since the homologous chromosomes contain genes for the same trait along their length, this exchange does not present any genetic problems. The eggs or sperm produced through meiosis contain one of each pair of chromosomes.


In some of Morgan’s genetic crosses, flies carried one chromosome with alleles (alternate forms of a gene at a specific locus) for black bodies and vestigial wings. The homologous chromosome carried wild-type alleles for both traits. During meiosis, portions of the homologous chromosomes exchanged pieces, resulting in some flies receiving chromosomes carrying genes for black bodies and normal wings or brown bodies and vestigial wings. The exchange of chromosome pieces resulting in new combinations of traits in progeny is referred to as recombination. Morgan’s students and colleagues pursued many different traits that showed genetic recombination. In 1917, one of Morgan’s students, Alfred Sturtevant, reasoned that the farther apart two genes were on a chromosome, the more likely they were to recombine and the more progeny with new combinations of traits would be observed. Over many years of work, Sturtevant and his colleagues were able to collect recombination data and cluster all the then-known mutant genes into four groupings that corresponded to the four chromosomes of Drosophila. They generated the first linkage maps that located genes to chromosomes based on their recombination frequencies.


The chromosomes in the salivary glands of the larval stage of the fruit fly are particularly large. Scientists were able to isolate these chromosomes, stain them with dyes, and observe them under microscopes. Each chromosome had an identifying size and shape and highly detailed banding patterns. X-rays and chemicals were used to generate new mutations for study in Drosophila, and researchers realized that in many cases they could correlate a particular gene with a physical band along a chromosome. Also noted were chromosome abnormalities, including deletions of pieces, inversions of chromosome sections, and the translocation of a portion of one chromosome onto another chromosome. The pioneering techniques of linkage mapping through recombination of traits and physical mapping of genes to chromosome sections provided detailed genetic maps of Drosophila. Similar techniques have been used to construct gene maps of other organisms, including humans.




Control of Genes at the Molecular Level

This seminal genetic work on Drosophila was unparalleled in providing insights into the mechanisms of inheritance. Most of the inheritance patterns discovered in the fruit flies were found to be applicable to nearly all organisms. However, the usefulness of Drosophila as a research organism did not end with classical transmission genetics; it was found to provide equally valuable insight into the mechanisms of development at the level of DNA.



Drosophila were discovered to be ideal organisms to use in the study of early development. During its development in the egg, the Drosophila embryo orchestrates a cascade of events that results in the embryo having a polarity, a head and a tail, with segments between each end defined to become a particular body part in the adult. Edward Lewis, Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, and Eric Wieschaus were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1995 for their research on the genetic control of Drosophila development. Nüsslein-Volhard and Wieschaus studied the first step in this process: pattern formation in the early embryo. Lewis studied the next step in this process: genes that further specialized adult structures.


Developmental instructions from the mother fruit fly are sequestered in the egg. When the egg is fertilized, these instructions begin to “turn on” genes within the fertilized eggs that begin to establish the directionality and segment identity within the embryo. Working together at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany, Nüsslein-Volhard and Wieschaus identified fifteen such genes that are “turned on” to pattern the Drosophila embryo. To identify these genes, they performed a genetic screen in which they treated flies with chemicals, mutating their genes at random, and then searched for mutations resulting in defective embryonic segmentation (for example, embryos with reduced numbers of segments or embryos that no longer had a distinct head and tail). Segmentation genes similar or identical to those in the fruit fly also exist in higher organisms, including humans, and perform similar functions during embryonic development.


These segments originally defined during embryonic development remain established during the larval stages, and each becomes specific body segments in the adult fly. For example, the second segment of the thorax will support one pair of wings and one of the three pairs of legs. Mutations in genes controlling this process resulted in the transformation of one body segment into another and showed bizarre appearances as adults, such as having two sets of wings or legs replacing the normal antennae on the head. By studying these homeotic mutants, Lewis was able to elucidate some of the mechanisms that control the overall body plan of nearly all organisms in early development. He also found that the homeotic genes are arranged in the same order on the chromosomes as the body segments that they controlled—the first genes controlled the head region, genes in the middle controlled abdominal segments, and the last genes controlled the tail region. Like the segmentation genes, scientists found that the Drosophila homeotic genes directly corresponded to similar genes in all animals studied. Vertebrate homeotic genes are not only closely related to the insect genes but also found in the same order on the chromosomes and have the same essential function in time and space during embryonic development as in the fly.


Many other aspects of Drosophila were also useful in understanding the structure and function of the DNA of all organisms. It was found that in Drosophila, large pieces of DNA will, under certain circumstances, pop out of the chromosome and reinsert themselves at another site. One such element, called a P element, was used by scientists to introduce nonfly DNA into the fruit fly embryo, thus providing information on how DNA is expressed in animals. This work also provided early clues into the successful creation of transgenic animals commonly used in research. Many additional genetic tools developed over the years allow scientists to “turn on” or “turn off” genes in particular tissues and at particular times in fly development. Such tools also enable genes to be “turned on” at levels higher than normal, “knocked down” to levels lower than normal, or deleted from the fly’s DNA completely. This precise manipulation of gene expression makes the fly a powerful genetic system for studying the control
of genes at the molecular level in an entire organism.




Impact and Applications

Genetic studies of Drosophila melanogaster have provided the world with a fundamental understanding of the mechanisms of inheritance. In addition to the inheritance modes shown by Mendel’s studies of pea plants, fruit fly genetics revealed that some genes are sex linked in sexually reproducing animals. The research led to the understanding that while many genes are linked to a single chromosome, the linkage is not necessarily static, and that chromosomes can exchange pieces during recombination. The ease with which mutant fruit flies could be generated led to the development of detailed linkage maps for all the chromosomes and ultimately to the localization of genes to specific regions of chromosomes. With the advent of molecular techniques, it was discovered that Drosophila provided a wealth of information concerning the molecular control of genes in development.


Although all these breakthroughs were scientifically interesting in terms of the flies themselves, many of the breakthroughs helped identify fundamental principles consistent among all animals. Most of what is known about human genetics and genetic diseases has come from these pioneering studies with Drosophila. Historically, Drosophila was considered a model of embryogenesis. However, completion of its full genome sequence in March of 2000 led to an emphasis on Drosophila as a model of human disease. Analyses of the fly’s nearly 14,000 genes revealed that approximately 75 percent of known human disease genes have related sequences in the fly. This high level of conservation further supported the search for additional disease-causing genes in Drosophila.


Novel genes can be identified using genetic screens. Because of the sheer numbers of offspring from any mating of flies, their very short life cycle, and large numbers of traits that are easily observable, fruit flies have become an ideal system to screen for mutations in genes with previously unknown functions. In one type of screen, flies are exposed to a chemical mutagen and mated; then their offspring are analyzed for any abnormal appearances or behaviors, or for low numbers of offspring. Should a mutation cause any variation in the expected outcome of a cross, it is then subjected to more rigorous research, beginning by mapping the mutation to a particular gene locus on the chromosome.


The versatile, easy-to-care-for, inexpensive fruit fly is often a fixture in classrooms around the world. Indeed, many geneticists have traced their passion to their first classroom encounters with fruit flies and the excitement of discovering the inheritance patterns for themselves. Drosophila is routinely used in the study of many aspects of biology and disease conditions, including cancer, muscle and neurological disorders, cardiology, diabetes, aging and oxidative stress, innate immunity, drug addiction, learning patterns, behavior, and population genetics. Because of the ease of study and the volumes of information that have been compiled about its genetics, development, and behavior, Drosophila will continue to be an important model organism for biological study.




Key Terms




homeotic genes


:

a group of genes responsible for transforming an embryo into a particular body plan




linked genes

:

genes, and traits they specify, that are situated on the same chromosome and tend to be inherited together





model organism


:

an organism well suited for genetic research because it has a well-known genetic history, a short life cycle, and genetic variation between individuals in the population





sex chromosomes


:

The X and Y chromosomes, which determine sex in many organisms; in Drosophila, a female carries two X chromosomes and a male carries one X and one Y chromosome





Bibliography


Ashburner, Michael. Won for All: How the “Drosophila” Genome Was Sequenced. Cold Spring Harbor: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory P, 2006. Print.



Botas, Juan. “Drosophila Researchers Focus on Human Disease.” Nature Genetics 39.5 (2007): 589–91. Print.



Brookes, Martin. Fly: The Unsung Hero of Twentieth-Century Science. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 2001. Print.



Dubnau, Josh, ed. Behavioral Genetics of the Fly (Drosophilia Melanogaster).Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2014. Print.



Gillham, Nicholas. Genes, Chromosomes, and Disease. Upper Saddle River: Pearson, 2011. Print.



Spindler-Barth, M., ed. Drosophilia Melanogaster: Life Cycle, Genetics, and Development. Hauppauge: Nova Science, 2012. Print.



Weiner, Jonathan. Time, Love, Memory: A Great Biologist and His Quest for the Origins of Behavior. London: Faber, 2000. Print.

In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, why is Scout nominated as the one to explain Walter Cunningham's situation to Miss Caroline?

In Chapter 2 of Harper Lee's classic novel of the American South and a young girl's coming-of-age in a time of endemic poverty and racism, To Kill a Mockingbird, the story's main protagonist and narrator, Scout, is describing her first day in the first grade. Her young, new teacher, Miss Caroline, has not yet had the opportunity to get to know her students. When she, Miss Caroline, innocently asks to know which students brought their lunches, there is one student, Walter Cunningham, who apparently has no lunch box or alternative arrangements for his afternoon meal. The Cunningham family, Scout, through her father, Atticus, will explain, is among the town's poorest, and Walter is regularly without food for lunch. When Miss Caroline, again innocently and with the best of intentions, offers Walter a quarter to buy himself some food, the young boy declines, leading to the teacher's continued confusion regarding her student's circumstances. It is then that Scout intervenes on Walter's behalf in an attempt at diplomatically enlighten Miss Caroline. The reason that Scout, rather than any of the other students in the classroom, speaks up is explained in the following passage from this chapter:



"I turned around and saw most of the town people and the entire bus delegation looking at me. Miss Caroline and I had conferred twice already, and they were looking at me in the innocent assurance that familiarity breeds understanding."



Scout, the reader is quickly informed, is an intelligent and curious child, and generally confident of her place in life, although that confidence does not extend to the mysteries of the world around her. She is not shy, and has, the passage suggests, already engaged in multiple exchanges with her teacher. That is why it befalls to her to speak up for Walter and Miss Caroline's benefit--an exercise that only angers this inexperienced teacher.

Why do plants die when they are covered with oil?

Plants, like many other species, depend on the surface transport of a number of compounds. Key among such compounds are oxygen and carbon dioxide. Plants produce oxygen during the process of photosynthesis and use carbon dioxide as a reactant for the same. They also consume oxygen and release carbon dioxide during cellular respiration. The exchange of gases with atmosphere takes place through the leaves, more specifically through pores known as stomata. When the surface of a plant is covered with oil, stomata will be covered as well. This would mean that the plant will no longer be able to exchange gases with the atmosphere and will not be able to survive.


In a somewhat similar fashion, an oil layer over ocean water kills the marine species. This is because the oil layer prevents any exchange of gases between water and atmosphere, which causes a depletion in dissolved oxygen levels and a rise in carbon dioxide levels, thereby killing the organisms.


Hope this helps.  

Why is Timothy's death important (what does it teach Phillip) in The Cay by Theodore Taylor?

In The Cay by Theodore Taylor, Timothy's death is important for a couple of reasons. First of all, Phillip quickly realizes how much Timothy has taught him in the amount of time they have been on the cay. Phillip started out resenting Timothy and thinking he was less important than Phillip and his white family and friends, but during their time together, Phillip begins to understand that Timothy is very intelligent about the ways of the outdoors and that he is just as important as anyone else. When Timothy dies, Phillip recognizes that Timothy has been a father figure to him and he loves him like a father.


Furthermore, Phillip now has all of the qualities he needs to survive alone on the cay, thanks to Timothy. Once Timothy is gone, and Phillip has to do everything for himself, he sees what an important teacher and influence Timothy has been for him. Even after he's finally rescued, Phillip prefers spending time down on the docks with those who knew Timothy--he has matured way beyond the little boy he was when they were first stranded.

Saturday, August 30, 2014

What is the purpose of the letters that Miss Strangeworth sends in "The Possibility of Evil"?

It would appear that Miss Strangeworth does not understand her own motive or motives for writing her anonymous letters. She rationalizes that it is her civic duty to keep the citizens of her town alerted to the possibilities of evil threatening them personally. She is the last surviving member of the town's founding family and is exceptionally proud of that distinction—although it means little to anybody else. She is just a lonely old maid who has nothing to do with her time and has to make up activities to fill her days. A good example of this is the way she goes grocery-shopping practically every day and buys in very small quantities so that she will have to keep coming back and have at least one thing to do. She thinks she is so important as a person and as a customer that the store-owner Mr. Lewis should remember that she always buys a small quantity of tea on Tuesdays.



"Imagine your forgetting that I always buy my tea on Tuesday," Miss Strangeworth said gently. "A quarter pound of tea, please, Mr. Lewis."



There is no reason why she couldn't buy a full pound of tea once a month, but this gives her an excuse to keep coming back. Time weighs heavily on her hands. She has only discovered the pleasure of writing her poison-pen letters in the past year. They give her something to do, and she can tell herself that she is contributing to the welfare of the community. She cannot realize that she is a busybody and a troublemaker. Her letters are doing no good, only harm. Much of the evil she suspects in others is a projection of the evil inside herself. This is reminiscent of the biblical injunction:



1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.


2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.


3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?


4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?


5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

                                      Matthew 7:1-5 King James Version



So the alleged purpose of the letters is to guard the morals of her neighbors, while the real purpose is to give Miss Strangeworth something to do and to make her feel important. Why are the letters anonymous? Perhaps she senses somewhere deep in her unconscious that she is causing harm and that she could get in serious trouble for making what amount to false accusations. She can be more creative if her identity as the author is unknown. It is only by accident that her identity becomes known to one person, Don Crane, because she dropped his pink letter accidentally at the post office. But Don Crane probably will not tell anybody except his wife Helen who sent him that letter. He can't tell other people because then people will know who chopped up the old lady's rose bushes. Her secret is still safe for a while.

In "Because I could not stop for Death" by Emily Dickinson, how does the speaker of the poem personify death?

Throughout the poem, the speaker personifies death, meaning she treats the abstract concept of death as if it were a human, with a body, a gender, a voice, and a personality.


The speaker of the poem accomplishes this personification by


  • referring to death with a capital letter, "Death," as if that were its first name;

  • ascribing the male gender to death, referring to it with male pronouns: "him" and "he";

  • describing specific actions that Death takes, such as riding in the carriage, stopping to pick up the speaker in this carriage, and viewing the sights of the town with the speaker;

  • and assigning Death specific emotions and attributes, like "kindly," "civility," and lacking any "haste."

By personifying death so extensively, the speaker invites us to consider the dual nature of death: on one hand, it may appear civil, courteous, and patient, but on the other, death may be sinister and manipulative, removing us from our work and play ("labor" and "leisure") and warping our sense of how quickly time passes.

What is hepatitis A?


Definition

Hepatitis A is an infection of the liver that is caused by the hepatitis A virus. The infection was formerly called infectious hepatitis.













Causes

The hepatitis A virus is usually found in the stool (feces) of people who have the infection. It is spread by putting something in one’s mouth that has been infected with the hepatitis A virus; by drinking water contaminated by raw sewage; by eating hepatitis-contaminated food, especially if it has not been properly cooked; by eating raw or partially cooked shellfish contaminated by raw sewage; and by having sexual contact (particularly anal sex) with a person who is infected with the hepatitis A virus.




Risk Factors

Risk factors for hepatitis A include close contact with an infected person (although the virus is generally not spread by casual contact); using household items that were used by an infected person but were not properly cleaned; having sex with multiple partners; having sex with a partner who has hepatitis A; traveling to or spending long periods of time in a country where hepatitis A is common or where sanitation is poor; injecting drugs, especially if sharing needles; changing diapers or toilet training young children; being in day-care centers or other similar facilities; and receiving plasma products (as do people with hemophilia).




Symptoms

Hepatitis A does not always cause symptoms. Adults are more likely to have them than children. Symptoms include tiredness, loss of appetite, fever, nausea, abdominal pain or discomfort, jaundice (yellowing of the eyes and skin), darker colored urine, light or chalky colored stools, rash, itching, and muscle pain.




Screening and Diagnosis

A doctor will ask about symptoms and medical history and will perform a
physical exam. Tests may include a blood test to look for hepatitis A
antibodies (proteins that the body has made to fight the
hepatitis A virus), liver function studies, and, in severe cases, a
liver
biopsy (removing a sample of liver tissue to be
examined).




Treatment and Therapy

There are no specific treatments. The goals of hepatitis A treatments are to keep the patient as comfortable as possible, to prevent the infection from being passed to others, and to prevent more liver damage by helping the patient avoid substances such as medications and alcohol that might stress the liver while it is healing.


The disease will usually go away without treatment within two to five weeks.
About 15 percent of people who are infected by hepatitis A will have relapsing
symptoms. This can happen for up to nine months. In almost all cases, once a
person recovers, there are no lasting effects and the person will be immune to the
virus. In rare cases, the infection is severe, necessitating a liver
transplant.




Prevention and Outcomes

Prevention includes proper sanitary habits, such as washing one’s hands with soap and water (important after using the toilet or changing a diaper); washing one’s hands with soap and water before eating or preparing food; avoiding using household utensils that a person with hepatitis A may touch; ensuring that all household utensils are carefully cleaned; avoiding sexual contact with a person with hepatitis A; avoiding the use of injectable drugs and especially avoiding sharing needles. If one travels to a high-risk region, he or she should take the following precautions: drink bottled water, avoid ice chips, wash fruits well before eating, and eat well-cooked food.


Another preventive measure is to have an immunoglobulin (Ig) injection, which contains antibodies that provides temporary protection from hepatitis A. The Ig injection can last about one to three months and must be given before exposure to the virus or within two weeks after exposure.


Getting a hepatitis A vaccine is another measure. This vaccine is
made from inactive hepatitis A virus and is highly effective in preventing
infection. It provides full protection four weeks after the first injection. A
second injection provides protection lasting up to twenty years. The vaccine is
also used after exposure. If given within two weeks, it can prevent infection.


The hepatitis A vaccine is recommended for all children who are twelve months of age, children ages twelve months or older living in high-risk areas, people traveling to areas where hepatitis A is prevalent, people who have anal sex, drug users, people with chronic liver disease, people with blood-clotting disorders such as hemophilia, children who live in areas where hepatitis A is prevalent, and people who will have close contact with an adopted child from a medium- or high-risk area. One should consult a doctor before getting the vaccine.




Bibliography


Boyer, Thomas D., Teresa L. Wright, and Michael P. Manns, eds. Zakim and Boyer’s Hepatology: A Textbook of Liver Disease. 5th ed. Philadelphia: Saunders, 2011. Print.



Feldman, Mark, Lawrence S. Friedman, and Lawrence J. Brandt, eds. Sleisenger and Fordtran’s Gastrointestinal and Liver Disease: Pathophysiology, Diagnosis, Management. 9th ed. 2 vols. Philadelphia: Saunders, 2010. Print.



Frank, Steven A. Immunology and Evolution of Infectious Disease. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2002. Print.



Lehrer, Jenifer K. "Hepatitis A." MedlinePlus. Natl. Lib. of Medicine, 20 Nov. 2014. Web. 30 Dec. 2015.



Palmer, Melissa. Dr. Melissa Palmer’s Guide to Hepatitis and Liver Disease. Rev. ed. Garden City Park: Avery, 2004. Print.



Ronco, Claudio, and Rinaldo Bellomo, eds. Critical Care Nephrology. 2nd ed. Philadelphia: Saunders, 2009. Print.



Thomas, Howard C., et al. Viral Hepatitis. 4th ed. Malden: Wiley, 2013. Print.



“An Updated Recommendation from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) for Use of Hepatitis A Vaccine in Close Contact of Newly Arriving International Adoptees.” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 58 (2009): 1006. Print.



"Viral Hepatitis—Hepatitis A Information." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dept. of Health and Human Services, 27 Aug. 2015. Web. 30 Dec. 2015.

Identify the lines in Rudyard Kipling's "If" that make the reader feel as though he/she is being instructed.

One must examine the totality of Rudyard Kipling’s poem "If" in order to identify the lines that provide instruction. The "if" statements can be construed as instruction. After reading the poem, which is composed of numerous “if” statements followed by a “then” statement, the reader determines that the narrator is instructing his son on the attributes necessary to become a "man."



Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,  


And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!



Kipling provides instruction on integrity, dreams, social standing, hard-work, prosperity or the lack thereof. Each stanza focuses on an ideal, which the author elaborates on by stating a case using “if” statements. When speaking about “dreams" and forward thinking, the lines say,



If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;  


If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;  


If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster;


And treat those two impostors just the same;



But the author does not immediately reveal what will happen if the reader takes these actions. 


Each stanza continues to build on the theme of integrity and quiet strength even when faced with adversity. The author explains that it is noble to pick oneself up after failing, to rebuild, and to move forward.


Therefore, each "if" statement is instructional before the teaching ends in the final line when the outcome of the lessons is revealed.

Friday, August 29, 2014

Analyze the major similarities and differences in the spread of Christianity and Buddhism between 1000 BCE and 600 CE.

Christianity and Buddhism are each characterized by a central figure whose biography became mythologized into a spiritual quest, personal realization, and cultural movement. In the case of Christianity, Jesus experienced a unique (miraculous) birth, and subsequently as a child showed unique powers and gifts. In the case of Buddhism, Siddhartha was driven at a young age to explore the world outside the gates of his palace; and to make sense of the suffering, anguish, and pain he observed among all human beings. These two faiths share as their origin story the personal spiritual journey of the founding figure.


In addition, both of these traditions came out of a desire to reform the perceived corruption of the tradition into which the central figure was born. Jesus is depicted in the Christian scriptures as a Jewish reformer. Similarly, Siddhartha is depicted in early Buddhist sutras as a devout Brahman who sought to reform the Vedic Hindu tradition.


From 1000 BCE through the beginning of the 1st century CE, many small religious groups had splintered off from Brahmanical Hinduism. Most of the splinter groups were ascetic traveling communities, led by either a yogic guru or sramana (traditional spiritual teacher).The largest splinter community during this period was the Jain community. Ideas such as moksha (release from suffering), nirvana, and karma were common amongst these traditions and the historical Buddha, who studied with many ascetic communities, would have been familiar with these theological concepts. All of these traditions had as their focus point the Vedic Brahmanical tradition, and all were involved in critiquing and attempting to reform this tradition.


One central controversy was the use of animal sacrifice in Vedic ritual.  The historical Buddha claimed that the original Vedas had been altered by corrupt Brahmanical priests who added animal sacrifice to the Vedas later. Therefore the Buddha did not acknowledge animal sacrifice within the Vedas because he believed it to be an inauthentic corruption.  This is one example of the reformist tendency of early Buddhism, in which the Buddha and his followers did not see themselves as founding a different religion. Rather, they saw themselves as engaged in the corrective action of restoring Brahmanical ritual to pure uncorrupted Vedic standards.


Similarly, Christianity grew out of a revisionist strain within Judaism, personified by the figure of Jesus. Early Christians considered themselves to be reviving true Judaic law, and reclaiming Judaism from corrupt political and religious figures who were using the tradition to their own benefit.


Some differences between the two traditions include: the instructions that disciples were given upon the death of the central figure, and the community that formed in the early centuries of the religious movement. In general, the unification of Buddhist communal practices occurred much earlier than the dogma and practices of Christianity. For example, the First Council of the 500 Arhats (buddha’s closest and most highly realized spiritual disciples) occurred just days after the Buddha’s death in 543 BCE. On the other hand, the first Council of Nicaea (which sought to resolve many theological questions such as the Trinity, the Immaculate Conception, and the Resurrection) occurred 300 years after the death of Jesus. These organizational differences continue to have implications for both religious traditions today. At the same time, the strong similarities between the figures of Buddha and Christ continue to stand out to scholars and practitioners alike.

Provide one important similarity and one important difference between the way the British dominated India, and the way they dominated China.

The most important difference between the British domination of India and China is that the British Empire fully and directly colonized India under a Mercantile system known as the British Raj, whereas the British never took full or direct control of the Chinese government or economy. 


In India, the British instituted an enormously powerful and far reaching colonial regime, run by English governors and soldiers, who reported directly back to London. The British built up a massive and complex infrastructure, and even instituted the rigid Caste System, which is a perfect example of a "divide and conquer strategy."


In China, on the other hand, instead of fully overtaking the levers of power, the British undermined and coopted the weakened Qing Dynasty, using force and the threat of force to gain favorable trading terms with Chinese Merchants. Although the British gained full control over Hong Kong in the aftermath of the Opium Wars, they never dominated the mainland, but they didn't have to.


Instead, the British got what they wanted through a less blatant use of "divide of conquer strategy," which required a smaller colonial footprint than in India. The divide and conquer strategy used by the British in China had less to do with turning various segments of the Chinese populace against one another (as in India) and had more to do with making strategic alliances with other colonial powers interested in China, most notably Japan, Russia and the United States. By agreeing to an "Open Door Policy" of trade with these competing countries, Britain insured that their businesses could maintain access to Chinese markets. 


Although the methods of British subjugation in China and India different in their specifics, in both cases the British successfully pitted their adversaries against each other, fomenting internal strife that made the populations easier to control.

Thursday, August 28, 2014

What did Robert Burns promise in the poem "A Red, Red Rose"?

In "A Red, Red Rose," the speaker uses two types of figurative language to express his love. First he uses hyperbole, a type of figurative language that exaggerates for emphasis or humor, to declare his love to his "bonnie lass," or beautiful girl. Second, he uses a metaphor, which compares one thing to another without using the words "like" or "as." Four separate promises are made in the poem.


1. "And I will luve thee still, my dear, / Till a’ the seas gang dry." To translate this into everyday speech, it means, "I will love you until all the seas dry up." Since the seas will never dry up, this is hyperbole, an exaggerated way of saying, "I will love you forever." 


2. I will love you until "the rocks melt wi’ the sun" means "I will love you until the heat of the sun melts rocks on earth." Again, this will never happen, so it is another hyperbolic way of saying the speaker will love his girlfriend forever.


3. "While the sands o’ life shall run" is a metaphor comparing one's lifetime to an hourglass. If all the days of his life are like sands in an hourglass, he will love his girl until the very last one. He will love her until the day he dies.


4. "And I will come again, my luve, / Though it were ten thousand mile" is another hyperbole. This means that, although he must leave his love now, he will return to her, even if he has to travel ten thousand miles to do so. Nowadays someone might actually be separated by ten thousand miles from a loved one. For example, the distance from Scotland to parts of Australia is 10,000 miles. When Robert Burns was writing these poems in Scotland in the 1700s, not many people would travel that far from home, but the literal distance isn't really the point. Using such a large round number means the same as saying, "no matter how far I have to go." So the speaker is promising to return despite the distance that will be separating them. 


Using hyperbole and metaphor, the speaker promises to always love his "bonnie lass" and to return to her no matter how far away he must go from her side.

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

The copper(II) ion in a copper(II) sulfate solution reacts with potassium iodide to produce the triiodide ion, I3-. This reaction is commonly used...

The very step in solving this question is to write a well-balanced chemical equation for the given reaction. It can be written as:


`2CuSO_4 + 5KI -> 2CuI + KI_3 + 2K_2SO_4`


Here, 2 moles of copper sulfate reacts with 5 moles of potassium iodide to form 2 moles of copper iodide, 1 mole of potassium triiodide and 2 moles of potassium sulfate. 


Molar mass of each of the species is given as:


CuSO4 = 63.55 + 32.06 + 4 x 16 = 159.6 g/mole


KI = 39.1 + 126.9 = 166 g/mole


CuI = 63.55 + 126.9 = 190.45 g/mole


KI3 = 39.1 + 3 x 126.9 = 419.8 g/mole


K2SO4 = 2 x 39.1 + 32.06 + 4 x 16 = 174.26 g/mole


It is given that 2 gm of KI is added, that is, 0.012 moles (= 2/166) of KI is added. It is added to 0.525 g CuSO4 or 0.0033 moles of CuSO4.


Since, 2 moles of CuSO4 reacts with 5 moles of KI, CuSO4 is the limiting reactant and it will react with only 0.0083 moles of KI (= 5/2 x 0.0033) and this will leave out 0.0037 moles of KI.


The amount of products formed can be calculated by stoichiometry.


CuI :  2 moles CuSO4 produces 2 moles CuI, which means, 0.0033 moles of CuI will be generated, or 0.63 gm (=0.0033 x 190.45) of CuI will be produced.


KI3: 2 moles CuSO4 generates 1 moles of KI3, which means 0.00165 moles of KI3 will be produced, or 0.693 g (= 0.00165 x 419.8) of KI3 will be generated.


K2SO4: 2 moles of CuSO4 generates 2 moles K2SO4, which means 0.0033 moles of K2SO4 will be generated, or 0.575 g (= 0.0033 x 174.26) will be generated.


Hope this helps. 

In Act I, Scene III of Macbeth, Macbeth refers to a happy prologue. If the prologue is happy, what will the epilogue be?

After Macbeth learns that King Duncan has made him Thane of Cawdor, as the weird sisters foretold, Macbeth reconsiders their words. This leads him to think not only of what has already come to be, but also of what the weird sisters predicted for the future. He begins to consider becoming king as the "main event," so to speak, and he thinks of what he has already gained as being the prologue:



Two truths are told,
As happy prologues to the swelling act
Of the imperial theme.



The prologue is happy not only because of the honors bestowed upon Macbeth, but because the bestowal of those honors has made Macbeth trust the prescience of the weird sisters. He is looking forward, not with skepticism but with anticipation, to a future as king of Scotland.


However, what the weird sisters have not foretold are the consequences of Macbeth becoming king. As Macbeth begins to embrace the idea that he will be king, he starts down the path that will lead him to madness and ruin. This is the tragedy of Macbeth - that his ambition, fueled by the weird sisters’ prophecy and by his wife, leads him from happy prologue to tragic epilogue.

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

What was the cause of Persian Gulf War?

The Persian Gulf War began in August 1990. Iraq invaded Kuwait on August 2. There was a dispute over an oil well that was near the Iraq-Kuwait border. Iraq felt the oil well belonged to Iraq while Kuwait felt it belonged to Kuwait. Iraq’s leader, Saddam Hussein, made all sorts of demands and accusations as he increased troops along the Iraq-Kuwait border. After negotiations, led by Egypt, failed to resolve the dispute, Iraq invaded Kuwait.


Iraq didn’t expect there to be a big response to its action. However, the United Nations got involved and created a multi-national military force that led an invasion in January 1991. This force was successful in driving Iraq out of Kuwait. In the agreement ending the fighting, Iraq recognized Kuwait’s independence and agreed to destroy any weapons of mass destruction that it had.


The Persian Gulf War of 1990-1991 was a failure for Iraq.

How does Mrs. Merriweather feel about the Mrunas?

Mrs. Merriweather greatly pities the Mrunas.  She thinks that they live in squalor in their rural villages.  She also finds them to be extremely uncivilized and in need of help.  She is overwhelmed by "the poverty… the darkness… [and] the immorality" that they live in (To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 24).  Mrs. Merriweather hopes for a better life for the Mruna people.  She praises J. Grimes Everett, a missionary who has gone to help the Mrunas.  She sees him as a saintly man who is doing a good deed by living amongst the Mrunas and teaching them about civilization and Christianity.  She thinks that his work is very important and honorable.  She wants to bring him to Maycomb to educate the other ladies on his important work.


Scout politely talks to Mrs. Merriweather on the topic.  The older lady is eager to tell Scout how fortunate she is:



"You live in a Christian home with Christian folks in a Christian town.  Out there in J. Grimes Everett's land there’s nothing but sin and squalor."


Monday, August 25, 2014

What is body composition?




Body composition is the proportion of a human's body fat to lean body mass. Body fat is all of the fat in the body, including lipids and nonessential fats such as fat cells and fat tissues. Lean mass, or lean tissue,is everything in the body that is not fat, including bones, organs, muscles, tissues, and water. Body composition is expressed as a percentage of body fat and a percentage of lean mass. Measuring body composition using one of several methods can help individuals calculate their body fat percentage.




Impact of Body Composition on Overall Health

Body composition can impact an individual's overall health. While body fat is necessary for certain body functions, such as providing energy, regulating hormones, and assisting in protecting internal organs, excessive body fat can be detrimental to an individual's health. Too much body fat can increase a person's risk of developing certain diseases, including cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. Furthermore, excessive body fat can make moving more difficult and impact an individual's appearance. People who are overweight or obese generally have more body fat than people who are physically active or thin. Having too little body fat can also negatively affect a person's health and lead to a compromised immune system, hair loss, anemia, and more.




Body Fat Percentage

The American Council on Exercise (ACE) recommends specific body fat guidelines for both men and women of all levels of activity. ACE is a nonprofit organization that provides health and fitness information as well as educates and certifies professionals in the fitness industry. Following are the ACE body fat percentages for men:


  • Physically active individuals: 2 percent to 17 percent



  • Athletes: 6 percent to 13 percent



  • Obese individuals: more than 25 percent


Following are the ACE body fat percentages for women:


  • Physically active individuals: 10 to 24 percent



  • Athletes: 14 percent to 20 percent



  • Obese individuals: more than 32 percent




Methods for Measuring Body Composition

Measuring body composition enables individuals to determine whether they should lose or add body fat. They can use this information to develop a plan that includes a healthy diet and exercise to help them reach their goals. Body composition can be measured using several different tools, however, not all of these methods are accurate. Additionally, some of these methods are expensive and not readily offered.



Skinfold calipers measure body composition quickly and easily. The calipers are applied to folds of skin on an individual's body, and the thickness of the skin—along with the fat directly under the skin—is measured. Typically, four to six different areas of the body are measured, including the abdomen, sides of the waistline (commonly referred to as love handles), triceps, shoulder blades, and calves. The sum of the skinfolds is calculated, and this calculation is referenced against data to determine the individual's body fat percentage. Although skinfold calipers are fairly accurate, they may not be as accurate when used on people with body fat deposits.


A bioimpedance measuring device is another fast and easy tool to use for measuring body composition. The device, which is either a scale or a handheld tool, sends a small electrical current through a portion of the individual's body. The current is then used to measure the person's body fat percentage. Like skinfold calipers, bioimpedance measuring devices may not be accurate with individuals who have fat deposits. Furthermore, hydration and skin temperature usually influence readings.


One of the most accurate body composition measuring devices is the DEXA scan. With this method, low-dose radiation and X-rays are used to measure fat in the person's body. By using a DEXA scan, fat can easily be distinguished from both muscle and bone. While the DEXA scan provides accurate results, it is expensive and not readily available.



Whole body plethysmography, also called BOD POD, is another accurate method used to measure body composition. A pod that resembles an egg measures the volume of air that a person displaces. This enables the pod to measure the individual's overall density. The person's body fat percentage is then calculated. Like the DEXA scan, whole body plethysmography is not always used because of its cost and availability.


Another body composition measuring method is underwater/hydrostatic weighing. This highly accurate method uses water to measure body composition. A person sits on a scale submerged in water, and the scale measures the volume of water that the individual displaces. It also calculates the person's overall density. From there, the person's body fat percentage is calculated. Underwater/hydrostatic weighing is also expensive and not always offered.


While all of these methods are good ways to measure body composition, not all body measuring methods can calculate body composition. For example, a typical bathroom scale cannot measure body composition because it is unable to distinguish between body fat and lean body mass. A scale only measures an individual's total weight. Additionally, body mass index (BMI) cannot be used as a tool to measure body composition. BMI is used to calculate the ratio of an individual's weight to height. As with a scale, BMI cannot distinguish between body fat and lean body mass.




Bibliography


Coleman, Erin. "American Council on Exercise Body Fat Percentage." Azcentral.com. Gannett Satellite Information Network, Inc. Web. 28 Jan. 2015. http://healthyliving.azcentral.com/american-council-exercise-body-fat-percentage-18026.html



"5 Ways to Test Your Body Composition." Active. Active Network, LLC. Web. 28 Jan. 2015. http://www.active.com/fitness/articles/5-ways-to-test-your-body-composition



"Message from Our President." American Council on Exercise. American Council on Exercise. Aug. 2014. Web. 28 Jan. 2015. http://www.acefitness.org/about-ace/our-team/default.aspx



Reese, Meghan A.T.B. " Underweight: A Heavy Concern." Today's Dietitian. Great Valley Publishing Company, Inc. 2008 Jan. Web. 29 Jan. 2015. http://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/tdjan2008pg56.shtml



Scott, Jennifer R. "What Is Body Composition?" About Health. About.com. 18 Dec. 2014. Web. 28 Jan. 2015. http://weightloss.about.com/od/backtobasics/f/bodycomp.htm

Did Mr. Gilmer convince you (the reader) that Tom was guilty? Do you think he convinced the jury that Tom was guilty? Why or why not?

In my opinion, Mr. Gilmer did not convince me that Tom Robinson was guilty of raping and beating Mayella Ewell. Throughout the entire trial, Mr. Gilmer asks scripted questions to his witnesses, Bob and Mayella Ewell, and uses the jury's prejudiced feelings as a crutch to win the case. Mr. Gilmer does not seem as erudite as Atticus, and when Atticus asks Bob Ewell if he can write his name, Mr. Gilmer objects and says that Bob's literacy is irrelevant. Scout mentions,



"Mr. Gilmer seemed as curious as the rest of us as to what bearing the state of Mr. Ewell’s education had on the case" (Lee 236).



After Atticus states that Mr. Ewell is left-handed, a fact which Mr. Gilmer never thought would be significant, Mr. Gilmer imprudently asks if he's ambidextrous. Mr. Gilmer's attempts to stop Atticus from thoroughly questioning Mayella fail, revealing her convoluted and conflicting testimony, which damages his case. Scout mentions,



"Mr. Gilmer seemed to be prosecuting almost reluctantly; witnesses had been led by the nose as asses are, with few objections" (Lee 252).



When Tom is on the witness stand, Mr. Gilmer tries to paint him as a dangerous individual with a previous record. The only smart thing Mr. Gilmer does during the entire trial is when he pauses to grab the jury's attention after Tom says that he felt sorry for Mayella. Mr. Gilmer talks down to Tom during questioning and simply leans on the jury's prejudice to win the case. He presented absolutely no evidence to convict Tom and did not convince me that Tom was guilty. I do not think that Mr. Gilmer convinced the jury either. One of Walter Cunningham's racist relatives even believes that Tom was innocent. The only reason the jury convicted Tom Robinson was to protect their individual reputations.

What is isotretinoin? How does it interact with other drugs?



Vitamin A


Effect: Probable Harmful Interaction



Both vitamin
A and isotretinoin can cause toxic symptoms if taken in
excess. It is presumed that the simultaneous use of vitamin A and isotretinoin
would tend to amplify the risk. For this reason, persons using isotretinoin should
not take vitamin A at doses higher than the recommended daily allowance. Because
most people get enough vitamin A from the diet, it might be preferable to take no
vitamin A supplements at all. (Supplements that use beta-carotene to supply
vitamin A are probably safe.)




St. John’s Wort


Effect: Indirect Harmful Interaction


Because isotretinoin can cause birth defects, women who use it are often
advised to take oral contraceptives (birth control pills). The herb
St. John’s
wort is thought to interact with birth control pills and
reduce their effectiveness, raising the risk of pregnancy. For this reason, people
taking Accutane and oral contraceptives should avoid using St. John’s wort.




Vitamin E


Effect: Possible Helpful Interaction


One preliminary study hints that vitamin E might reduce the side effects
of isotretinoin.




Bibliography


Murphy, P. A., et al. “Interaction of St. John’s Wort with Oral Contraceptives: Effects on the Pharmacokinetics of Norethindrone and Ethinyl Estradiol, Ovarian Activity, and Breakthrough Bleeding.” Contraception 71 (2005): 402-408.



Pfrunder, A., et al. “Interaction of St. John’s Wort with Low-Dose Oral Contraceptive Therapy.” British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology 56 (2003): 683-690.






Sunday, August 24, 2014

What were the underlying causes of the Sacco and Vanzetti trial verdict?

There are at least two possible ways to answer this question.  First, the jury might have found Sacco and Vanzetti guilty because the two men were actually guilty.  Second, the jury might have found them guilty because of nativism and fear of radicalism.


Even after all this time, it is not completely clear whether the two men were guilty.  There was certainly evidence that suggested that they did commit the crimes in question.  Many people, conservatives in particular, believe that Sacco and Vanzetti were actually guilty.  This link shows that not only conservatives believe this.  We can therefore say that it is possible that the jury voted to convict the two men because the evidence presented in court convinced them that the men were guilty.


However, I imagine that this question is meant to get you to say that the jury found the men guilty because of nativism and fear of radicalism.  During the late 1800s and early 1900s, there was a very large wave of immigration to the United States.  Many Americans feared the immigrants.  They felt that there were too many immigrants in the United States by the 1920s and they felt that the immigrants had not become sufficiently Americanized.  Because Sacco and Vanzetti were both immigrants, and because neither of them was very assimilated, it is possible to argue that the jury convicted them in part because of nativism.


Many Americans also worried about the immigrants because of what those immigrants believed. There were many immigrants who believed in ideas like socialism and anarchism.  Most Americans thought that those ideas were completely contrary to the American way of life.  They were worried that the ideas were spreading.  They were particularly worried about the fact that anarchists, in particular, seemed to be willing to engage in violent acts against the American system.  For example, anarchists had plotted in 1919 to send bombs to many high government officials.  Sacco and Vanzetti had been friends with many anarchists, including a man who blew himself up outside the home of the attorney general of the US.  The two men themselves held anarchist views.  We can argue that the jury convicted them in part because jurors feared anarchists and were willing to assume that anarchists were guilty of anything even if there was not enough evidence to support the idea.


Thus, it is hard to say exactly what motivated the jury to convict Sacco and Vanzetti.  The men may have been guilty, or the jury might have convicted them because the jury feared immigrants and anarchists.  In fact, both of these statements may be true and the men may have been rightly convicted but for the wrong reasons.

Friday, August 22, 2014

What does Romeo say about removing his name after the Nurse arrives?

Romeo says that he will "sack the the hateful mansion" of his name, by which he means he will commit suicide. He says this when the Nurse reveals that Juliet is at home weeping and saying his and Tybalt's names repeatedly. Romeo says that Juliet must hate his name (i.e. him) because he killed her beloved cousin Tybalt. The Friar chastises him for his moaning, saying essentially that he has much to be thankful for, and that he will need to have his wits and his courage about him as he comes up with a plan to reunite the young couple for good. Romeo is reassured by this speech, and is even more cheered by a ring that the Nurse gives him, a token of love from Juliet. He realizes then that Juliet still loves him, despite the fact that he has just killed her cousin. 

What makes Atticus’s closing argument in Chapter 21 of To Kill a Mockingbird effective? (Please include a description of how the argument...

The closing argument of Atticus Finch in the Tom Robinson trial speaks to the consciences of each man as an American citizen because Atticus invokes the principles of the American Constitution, which also appeals to their sense of Christian duty.


Earlier in Chapter 11, as Atticus counsels Scout following the insults to Atticus by Mrs. Dubose, he tells his daughter that she will probably be subjected to more invectives. But, he explains that there is one thing that does not "abide by majority rule" and that is an individual's conscience. Further, he explains,



"This case, Tom Robinson's case, is something that goes to the essence of a man's conscience."



That is, if someone believes that the words of the United States Constitution that "all men are created equal" apply in the court of law, then Tom Robinson is entitled to a fair trial, and the fact that the Ewells are white and he is black should not enter into any judgments by the jury.
While Atticus does not express his argument quite this way, the implications are there.


When he first addresses the jury, Atticus quotes Thomas Jefferson's statement made in the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal, adding that he knows that, in reality, people are not really equal. For, some people are more intelligent, some are more talented, some have more opportunities, some are more clever and successful. However, Atticus adds, there is one single place where all people are treated equally: a court of law. "In this country, the courts are the great levelers," Atticus declares. This is no ideal, Atticus adds. "It is a living, working reality."
Then, Atticus talks directly to the jury, reminding them that a court is no better than each man who sits in the jury:



"A court is only as sound as its jury, and a jury is only as sound as the men who make it up."



Finally, Atticus tells the jurors that he is confident that they will review dispassionately the evidence that they have heard, and that they will reach a decision and restore the defendant to his family. Atticus also appeals to their consciences as he urges the jurors,



"In the name of God, do your duty."



Having appealed to the twelve men of the jury to remember that all men are equal under the law, and having appealed further to their consciences in respecting this Constitutional right of all men, Atticus ends by exhorting them to perform their duty as American citizens and be fair as they review the evidence without prejudice, as is their duty.

Thursday, August 21, 2014

What life lessons does The Color Purple teach readers?

This question has so many potential answers!  This novel is so rich with life lessons that every reader could potentially take something different away from his/her reading of the text.  I will give you a couple of ideas by sharing briefly some life lessons that I have taken from Walker's Pulitzer-Prize winning story:


First, The Color Purple teaches that women, with the help and support of other women, can endure unbelievable hardships, difficulties, and struggles and not only survive, but also prosper.  It teaches that women can actually survive without depending upon men.  In an interview, Alice Walker sums up this idea:



"It's a book mostly about women, and what they're doing, and how they're carrying on no matter what the men are doing . . . I think that for many men at that time it was a shock that you could actually write a novel with women at the centre."



Second, this novel teaches that with forgiveness and reconciliation comes peace.  As terrible as Albert treats Celie, she finds it within herself to reconcile herself with him by the end of the story.  This is not for his sake; it is for hers.  She has learned by this time to seek for peace within herself from a most unlikely source--Shug Avery:



“Here's the thing, say Shug. The thing I believe. God is inside you and inside everybody else. You come into the world with God. But only them that search for it inside find it."



Celie searches for God throughout the story by writing letters to her perception of who God is, but it is not until her perception is changed that she finds Him.  This comes with finding peace within herself.

Why is mercury used in measuring blood pressure?

Mercury has been used, for quite some time, in blood pressure measurement. The device used for this application is also known as sphygmomanometer. The pressure measurement is based on the rise of measuring fluid in a vertical column. The ideal fluid for such an application is something that should be stable at room temperature and rises to a manageable height (so as to have a compact device). Mercury is an ideal choice for this application. Mercury has a specific gravity of 13.6. That is, its density is 13.6 times that of water. Thus, it only rises to a certain height and keeps the equipment portable (imagine the height of the vertical column if water was used instead of mercury). Thus, mercury is commonly used in blood pressure monitors and a number of other pressure measurement devices.


Nowadays, alternate devices that do not use mercury are also available. An example is the battery powered digital blood monitor that can be easily used at home.


Hope this helps.  

What would be the three most important qualities a leader who models positive leadership behavior must possess? Why?

There are more than three qualities effective leaders possess, so differences of opinion exist as to which three should be considered the most important. In other words, it is a subjective matter, and will vary according to personal experiences and observations. Having studied business leadership and worked professionally for 40 years, my own personal list of top three qualities possessed by effective leaders are honesty, willingness to delegate, and communication abilities. 


In order to be effective, an executive, officer (e.g., in the military or law enforcement), or supervisor needs to have a reputation for honesty. Personal credibility is a hallmark of the best leaders in business as well as in other endeavors. Leaders whose integrity is questioned by subordinates will not be effective. Subordinates will question, mainly privately and among each other, the veracity of comments made by the supervisor or leader and doubts about the leader's integrity will translate into a more lackadaisical and sometimes outright dishonest approach to professional responsibilities on the part of the staff. A leader perceived as being fundamentally honest, however, will enjoy the trust of his or her subordinates, and will receive a greater level of dedication on the part of those subordinates.


Another quality important to effective leadership is a willingness to delegate, admittedly a weakness of this particular educator, whose lack of confidence in younger, less experienced staff usually translated into lower morale and, consequently, lower productivity. An effective leader understands the importance of delegating authority and responsibility to subordinate staff in order to both increase productivity through more efficient use of manpower and to display confidence in the abilities of that staff—confidence that is rewarded in greater loyalty up the chain of command as well as in the higher quality of work performed by more dedicated employees.


Finally, an effective leader knows the importance of communication both up and down the chain of command, and even the highest level corporate officials know they are answerable to boards of directors and to stockholders. The ability to communicate responsibilities and functions to subordinate staff is crucial for the execution of all missions, and, conversely, subordinate staff needs to know that superiors are receptive to their input. Open channels of communication as well as clarity in the transmission of information are essential for the effective operation of an organization. Effective leaders are receptive to suggestions and complaints by subordinate staff, and are able to communicate both up and down the corporate hierarchy information important to the corporation or other type of organization. Clarity and completeness of communications—in other words, simply issuing “bottom line” instructions or orders may degrade morale if staff does not understand the context in which those orders are issued—are keys to effective leadership.


As noted, there are many more than three traits of effective leaders. The above are the three that this educator has learned from experience are of particular importance.

Relating to Animal Farm, what corrupts people more: money, material items or power?

In Animal Farm, power corrupts far more than money or material goods: in fact, we could group money and material goods together as the same, but for the sake of this exercise we will keep them distinct. Money we will apply to humans and material goods to animals.


Orwell shows through Molly, the horse who doesn't take well to life after the animals take over the farm, that materialism isn't necessarily evil. Molly doesn't want to work hard, and she misses the red ribbons that were once braided into her mane. She likes to sleep late, and she likes material goods, such as sugar, which she can't get under the new regime. Eventually, she flees the farm and goes back to the humans. This may make the other animals unhappy, but Orwell shows it does them no real harm and does Molly no real harm. Her love of material things might not make her the most enlightened thinker or be much of a help to anyone, but while depicted as silly, she's certainly not an evil character.


Farmer Jones wants money—to make a profit on the farm—and that drives him to work the animals hard, but Orwell is at pains to show it is his alcoholism and neglect that leads to the problems for the animals that cause the revolt. If Jones had never taken to drink, the animals might have rocked along forever under his regime.


But Napoleon's lust for power and his inability to allow anyone to challenge him does corrupt him and the pigs who follow him. He treats the animals cruelly for no reason other than to terrorize them so that he can maintain total control. To be corrupted means to be changed into something worse than you once were. It means to become evil. Napoleon no doubt had the seeds of evil in him, but when he acquired power, the seeds of evil grew into evil itself. This is symbolized by the way he turns into a human, drinking alcohol, sleeping in a bed and walking on two legs: ironically, he is harsher towards the animals than their prior owners.

What were the social issues during the fall of the Byzantine Empire?

There were basically two social causes to the fall of the Byzantine Empire. First was a class struggle over land between the free peasants and the wealthy aristocracy. Byzantine rulers had depended on the peasants to serve in the military and pay taxes. Over time, as land became a more lucrative investment, wealthy nobles were motivated to grab land and enslave the local populations of peasants. This was similar to the system of feudalism that already existed in Western Europe for centuries. Byzantine emperors obviously wanted to protect the free peasant system, but ultimately failed. The loss of free peasants to serfdom caused a severe loss in tax revenue and hurt the military to the point that the emperor needed to pay others to protect his kingdom.


A second social cause in the fall of the Byzantine Empire was the split in the church between the east and west. This occurred in 1054 and is called the Great Schism. Due to the split in the church, cooperation between east and west was not as easy to achieve. This meant that the Byzantine Empire was left to defend itself from powerful Muslim empires that were emerging to their East. Additionally, the west actually assaulted the Byzantine capital during the Crusades, which weakened the empire even further.

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

How would magnetic stripes grow wider?

Magnetic stripes are the term for a phenomenon found predominately in oceanic crust, which is the term for a type of rock found in the Earth's tectonic plates. Crust is the generalized name for the uppermost portions of the rock (those farthest from the core) which have solidified, and oceanic refers to these rocks typically originating beneath the ocean, at regions called mid-ocean ridges, or sometimes rifts. 


Ridges are essentially cracks in between tectonic plates, through which molten rock from the earth's mantle can travel. This action tends to add rocky material to the plates on either side of the ridge, in turn pushing those plates away from the ridge, at more or less equal speed.


One property of this type of rock is its tendency to align itself with the earth's magnetic field as it cools. Additionally, the Earth's magnetic field has reversed itself abruptly many times throughout history. If two oceanic rocks that had formed during opposite magnetic field states were inspected, they would appear to have opposite records of the magnetic field. When seen at a larger scale, this is described through analogy as "stripes" - with each of the stripes corresponding to rock that formed when the earth had a particular field alignment, with adjacent stripes having the opposite alignment.


The width of these stripes could be increased in two ways;


  1. The longer the Earth's magnetic field stays in one alignment, without a reversal, the longer the currently-forming oceanic rock would represent this as it cools. 

  2. If oceanic rock formed more rapidly, it would lay down a larger amount of material per unit time that would record the current magnetic field alignment.

What is respiratory distress syndrome?


Causes and Symptoms


Respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) is a condition observed mainly in premature infants and children born to diabetic patients. It is also known as premature lungs, pulmonary immaturity, hyaline membrane
disease, and surfactant deficiency syndrome. In 1959, researchers discovered that surfactant deficiency is the cause of RDS in premature infants; this discovery has been the basis for treatment since that time.



The main symptom is a rapid respiratory rate involving the use of accessory muscles to increase the amount of air taken into the lungs. The forceful closure of the vocal cords while contracting the abdominal muscles and diaphragm causes a particular grunting sound. The premature rib cage is very flexible, and affected infants must use extra effort to maintain expanded lungs.


A diagnosis of RDS is made on a clinical basis, including a history of premature delivery and the symptoms listed above. A chest x-ray is also useful; in RDS, a reticulogranular pattern and air bronchograms are observed together with a whited-out appearance in the lung fields. Respiratory function is determined by measuring the amount of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the arterial blood. The samples are obtained using a catheter inserted in an arterial vessel and analyzed in a blood gas machine. In newborns, the catheter is usually placed in one of the umbilical arteries, but samples from radial, posterior tibial, or dorsal pedis arteries are acceptable for analysis. Respiratory failure is defined as the inability of the lungs to perform adequate gas exchange, resulting in insufficient oxygen absorption and carbon dioxide elimination to sustain life.




Treatment and Therapy

Initially, the treatment for RDS was nonspecific. Physicians used various methods to maintain open airways and waited until the infant’s lungs matured on their own. The treatment of RDS was one of the main areas of research that helped in the development of the subspecialty of neonatology.


At present, the pregnant patient who is in imminent danger of delivering a child prematurely, between twenty-four and thirty-six weeks of gestation, is given antenatal steroids. The use of prenatal steroids has been associated with accelerated maturity of the lungs in infants born prematurely. Once a premature infant is born, endotracheal intubation, mechanical ventilation, and natural or artificial surfactants are used in order to maintain open airways and to prevent the development of atelectasis, the defective expansion of the alveoli.


Mechanical ventilation became a standard of care across the United States in teaching institutions. It has helped decrease mortality rates for premature infants and has evolved into a fine art assisted by advanced technology. Mechanical ventilation uses a variety of techniques to maximize lung expansion and to minimize the damage to lung tissues caused by high concentration of oxygen and pressures. Pressure, volume, and high-frequency ventilators are among the current equipment available to neonatologists for use with infants suffering from RDS.


In 1980, a report was published concerning the use of bovine surfactant mixed with saline solution administered endotracheally in infants with RDS. This treatment offered significant improvement in the outcome of this disease. Natural surfactants have been extracted from the lung tissues of calves and pigs, and surfactant has even been harvested from amniotic fluid in humans. The main difference between natural and artificial surfactants is the presence of surfactant-associated proteins. Surfactant-associated proteins function as dispersing agents for the lipid components that line the internal surface of the alveoli, thus preventing the collapse of these air sacs. Artificial surfactants are pure chemicals mixed in the laboratory without surfactant-associated proteins; other chemical substances are used as dispersing agents.


At least seven different types of surfactant have been tested in humans in clinical trials; controversy still exists regarding the proper timing of surfactant replacement, either as prophylaxis or as a rescue treatment. In addition, concern remains about the possible increased incidence of two major complications, pulmonary hemorrhage and intraventricular hemorrhage, in premature infants with RDS following the use of surfactant treatment.


Overall, the use of surfactants and mechanical ventilation has decreased mortality and complications in premature infants, but the number of patients with long-term complications, such as chronic lung disease with oxygen dependency, has increased considerably.




Perspective and Prospects

In 1960, the infant son of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, then president-elect of the United States, died of respiratory distress syndrome. Since then, significant advances in the understanding and treatment of this condition have been made, but the elimination of this disease will be achieved only when premature births are prevented. Until then, RDS will continue to exist in nurseries everywhere.




Bibliography


Bradford, Nikki. Your Premature Baby: The First Five Years. Toronto, Ont.: Firefly Books, 2003.



Martin, Richard J., Avroy A. Fanaroff, and Michele C. Walsh, eds. Fanaroff and Martin’s Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine: Diseases of the Fetus and Infant. 9th ed. 2 vols. Philadelphia: Mosby/Elsevier, 2011.



Rosenbaum, Laurie. "Respiratory Distress Syndrome in Newborns." Health Library, September 10, 2012.



Turner, Joan, Gwendolyn J. McDonald, and Nanci L. Larter, eds. Handbook of Adult and Pediatric Respiratory Home Care. St. Louis, Mo.: Mosby, 1994.



West, John B. Pulmonary Pathophysiology: The Essentials. 8th ed. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2012.



"What Is Respiratory Distress Syndrome?" National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, January 24, 2012.

Given: 22 yr old man Dyspneic Pulmonary function values: Vital capacity (supine) 650mL Minute ventilation...

The tidal volume times the respiration rate must equal the minute ventilation.

So since the minute ventilation is 6 L/min and the respiration rate is 30/min, the tidal volume must be:
`TV = (6 L/min)/(30/min) = 0.2 L` ` `


The total tidal volume of this person's lungs is 0.2 liters. To find the alveolar ventilation, we need to determine how much of this volume of air is actually processed to extract oxygen.


They tell us to use the normal value for dead space, which is approximately 100 mL for someone lying supine.

Thus we can estimate that the alveolar volume is about 100 mL, and so the alveolar ventilation is simply that times the respiration rate:
`AV = (100 mL) * (30/min) = 3 L/min`
The alveolar ventilation is about 3 liters per minute.

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

What profession does Zachary want to pursue?

When Lily confides in Zach that she want to become a writer, he shares with her that he would like to be a lawyer. Lily tells him she has never heard of a Negro lawyer before, which is not surprising, since she has been raised in the South, in a rural and segregated environment, in the fifties and sixties. Zach does have a bit of a mentor, Mr. Forrest, a local attorney, who talks to Zach about his cases, lets him look through his books, and has even given Zach some old law books to take home. Sadly, Zach gets to see the other side of the law when he is jailed after an altercation with a group of racist white men in town. The charges against him are dismissed, but not before his being jailed has led to the suicide of May, who can no longer bear all the racism and sadness of people's lives. But Zach is even more determined to become a lawyer and fight for justice, saying, 



Nobody will believe how hard I'm gonna study this year. That jail cell is gonna make me earn grades higher than I ever got (231).



Lily sees his determination, that he will use this experience, to become part of the wave of change she sees coming, fights against racial injustice, even in the South, and that Zach would be someone who would help bring those changes about. 

How does the choice of details set the tone of the sermon?

Edwards is remembered for his choice of details, particularly in this classic sermon. His goal was not to tell people about his beliefs; he ...