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During his year of service as the American ambassador to the United Nations, William Scranton, who had a distinguished career in domestic and foreign service before his appointment to the position in February 1976, faced a number of challenges during this time period. His first task was to improve the standing of the American delegation with other representatives following the tumultuous tenure of his predecessor, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, especially when it came to delegates from the Third World. Scranton attempted to find a balance in the Middle Eastern disputes between Israel and much of the Arab world. Following this, Scranton dealt with the end of European imperialism in Africa through welcoming new member-states into the organization. The Cold War, even during the era of détente, was never far from the agenda, and Scranton helped pioneer the efforts to attack on the Soviet record on human rights, a tactic later used by representatives from the Carter and Reagan Administrations.

Hyperglycaemia at the time of myocardial infarction has an adverse effect on prognosis irrespective of a prior diagnosis of diabetes, suggesting glucose is the damaging factor. In ex vivo models of ischaemia, we demonstrated that deleterious effects of acutely elevated glucose are PKCα/β-dependent, and providing PKCα/β are inhibited, elevated glucose confers cardioprotection. Short pre-treatments with high glucose were used to investigate time-dependent glucose cardiotoxicity, with PKCα/β inhibition investigated as a potential mechanism to reverse the toxicity. Freshly isolated non-diabetic rat cardiomyocytes were exposed to elevated glucose to investigate the time-dependence toxic effects. High glucose challenge for >7.5 min was cardiotoxic, proarrhythmic and lead to contractile failure, whilst cardiomyocytes exposed to metabolic inhibition following 5-min high glucose, displayed a time-dependent protection lasting ∼15 min. This protection was further enhanced with PKCα/β inhibition. Cardioprotection was measured as a delay in contractile failure and KATP channel activation, improved contractile and Ca2+ transient recovery and increased cell survival. Finally, the effects of pre-ischaemic treatment with high glucose in a whole-heart coronary ligation protocol, where protection was evident with PKCα/β inhibition. Selective PKCα/β inhibition enhances protection suggesting glycaemic control with PKC inhibition as a potential cardioprotective therapeutics in myocardial infarction and elective cardiac surgery.

Playing musical instruments may have positive effects on motor, emotional, and cognitive deficits in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). This pilot study examined the feasibility of a six-week nontraditional guitar instruction program for individuals with PD. Twenty-six participants with idiopathic PD (Age: 67.22 ± 8.07; 17 males) were randomly assigned to two groups (intervention first or 6 weeks of usual care control exposure) with stepwise exposure to the guitar intervention condition with cross-over at six weeks. Outcomes were assessed at baseline, 6, 12, and 18 weeks. Twenty-four participants completed the study. Combined analysis of the groups showed significant BDI-II improvement immediately after intervention completion (3.04 points, 95% CI [−5.2, −0.9], p=0.04). PDQ-39 total quality of life scores improved from baseline to immediately postintervention 5.19 points (95% CI [−9.4, −1.0]) at trend significance (corrected p=0.07). For Group 1 (exposed to the intervention first), MDS-UPDRS total scores improved by a mean of 8.04 points (95% CI [−12.4, −3.7], p=0.004) and remained improved at 12 weeks by 10.37 points (95% CI [−14.7, −6.0], p

Purpose: Telehealth (TH) in Radiation Oncology at Townsville Cancer Centre (TCC) was implemented in July 2011 to provide cancer care closer to home to the regional and rural population. The aim of this study was to describe the service use and patient satisfaction. Materials and methods: A retrospective audit of records was conducted for patients treated at TCC between July 2011 and December 2015. Data included patient demographics, diagnosis and treatment. Results of a patient satisfaction survey were summarised through descriptive statistics. Results: A total of 1530 TH consultations were provided to 833 patients. 311 patient charts were audited (615 TH, 650 in-person, 151 phone consultations). Median distance from TCC to satellites was 327.3 km (21.6 to 1130.1). 71% were male and median age was 65 (23–94 years). Cancer diagnoses included prostate (32%), breast (12%) and head and neck (10%). 60% of patients underwent radiation therapy for curative intent, 22% palliative and 18% did not undergo treatment. 106 patients participated in the satisfaction survey (231 patients invited, response rate of 46%), with the overall positive response mainly attributed to advantages in travel and time savings. 54.7% of patients selected TH as their preference for future consultations, 34.9% indicated a mix of TH and in-person consultations, and only 1 patient (0.9%) indicating in-person only. Conclusion: TH enables the delivery of radiation oncology consultations to rural and regional patients, with an overall high level of patient satisfaction. Patients welcomed the model for benefits of travel and time savings. Future directions include engaging with specialist, rural medical staff and patients to maximize access. Keywords: Radiation oncology, Telemedicine, Patient care, Patient satisfaction

When Dwight David Eisenhower ran for President in 1952, he, along with his Democratic competitor Adlai Stevenson, was the first presidential candidate to make campaign commercials for television. One of the most notable ones depicted Eisenhower standing next to Soviet Marshal Georgi Zhukov in Berlin in 1945, when the narrator assured viewers: “Ike knows how to handle the Russians,” and that he would effectively lead the American government in the Cold War. Interestingly, nearly all of Eisenhower’s initial experiences with Russian military and government leaders came during a time when the United States and Soviet Russia were allies, during the Second World War. This essay will examine Ike’s complicated views towards the Soviet Union before, during, and after the Second World War, and how they translated into American military and occupation policy. Ike moved from the traditional suspicion of the Soviet government by most American army officers to seeing the Soviet army an essential ally in the attempt to destroy Nazism. After the end of the war, Ike frequently expressed hope the Soviets would be a valuable partner in securing global peace, before finally moving towards Cold War hostility towards the regime in Moscow, although later than many other American military, diplomatic, and political leaders. Key words: Eizenhauer, Soviet Union, World War II, Cold War, “Berlin question”, Nazis.

The development by law students of an ability to engage in critical thinking is highly valued within both the legal academy and the legal profession because it enhances the ability of law students to think clearly, objectively and independently, whether they are seeking to understand legal doctrine, solve legal problems or improve access to justice. This article draws upon the authors’ experiences as law teachers and upon the critical thinking literature to present detailed criteria for the measurement of an ability to engage in critical thinking about law, and then applies those criteria in the design of a marking rubric that facilitates a whole-of-curriculum approach to the development of critical thinking skills by law students.

The development by law students of an ability to engage in critical thinking is highly valued within both the legal academy and the legal profession because it enhances the ability of law students to think clearly, objectively and independently, whether they are seeking to understand legal doctrine, solve legal problems or improve access to justice. This article draws upon the authors’ experiences as law teachers and upon the critical thinking literature to present detailed criteria for the measurement of an ability to engage in critical thinking about law, and then applies those criteria in the design of a marking rubric that facilitates a whole-of-curriculum approach to the development of critical thinking skills by law students.