This dissertation is focused upon narrative variations and interventions expressive of feminist critique. Using a feminist narratological interpretive methodology, I examine literary and film narratives containing unconventional treatments of sequentiality, temporality, resolution/irresolution, focalization, diegetic levels, and genre. These treatments are inherently rhetorical and, as shown in the texts discussed, often engaged in a questioning, unsettling or complicating of narrative form. My project is intended to locate and theorize what could be called narrative feminism, legible as narrative disruptions, indeterminacies, and ambiguities that convey feminist commentary or critique.

Rejecting a common article of faith within narratology, where narrative form is presumed apolitical and dispassionate rather than a vessel for critique, I argue that feminist inheres within narrative form, contained in the very composition and sequencing of content within a narrative. In this way, I aspire to give narrative form a more distinct primacy, focusing on narrative disruptions or variations that function as socially symbolic acts, in the sense Frederic Jameson theorizes in The Political Unconscious (1981). In my readings of Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, Margaret Atwood’s The Robber Bride, and a group of cinematic romantic comedies, I explain how each uses narrative form to question or subvert sexist ideas about women and femininity. The title of my project is taken from Volume One (The War of the Words) of Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar’s No Man’s Land: The Place of the Woman Writer in the Twentieth Century (1989), which provides an account of women’s literary engagements with gendered social tensions and violence over the last century. The authors posit that the “territory of literature [and also] the institutions of marriage and the family, of education and the professions [have become] a no man’s land – a vexed terrain – in which scattered armies of men and women all too often clash by day and by night” (xiii). I see my project as both vexing the terrain, insofar as it participates in a counter-discourse of feminism’s uneasy alliance with narratology, and also forging new interpretive possibilities among the texts that are part of this study.

Introduction: An attempt at medical management is often the initial step in addressing esophageal obstruction from an impacted food bolus. Medical management, however, has limited success and often requires urgent endoscopy. We present a case in which standard medical treatment failed, but a swallowing augmentation maneuver resolved the obstruction. 

Case Report: A 67-year-old female presented with esophageal obstruction after eating steak. Transfer to higher level of care for endoscopy was initiated; however, the receiving gastroenterologist suggested an “upright posture, chin tuck, double swallow” maneuver. This immediately resolved the patient’s symptoms, and she was discharged home. 

Conclusion: This case suggests a novel, non-endoscopic technique for esophageal obstruction from food bolus impaction. 

ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION

Characterization of LATERAL ORGAN BOUNDARIES (LOB) and leaflet inclination in Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp (Cowpea)

By

Michael Frederick Schwartz

Plants undergo organogenesis throughout their lifetime by maintaining populations of pluripotent cells at their apices. The shoot apical meristem (SAM) produces lateral organs, such as leaves, which form at the periphery of the SAM. The SAM and the lateral organs are separated by the boundary region. The boundary region contains a population of cells which are smaller and divide infrequently and is a region of reduced growth. The boundary region plays an important role in regulating shoot architecture as it is the region of the plant that influences leaf inclination. The Arabidopsis transcription factor LATERAL ORGAN BOUNDARIES (LOB) is expressed in plant organ boundaries and functions to limit growth and separate the organs. This dissertation focuses on characterizing an ortholog of LOB, VuLOB, in cowpea, an economically important legume, and its role in regulating leaf inclination.

In chapter 1, I identify the LOB ortholog in cowpea, termed VuLOB, through the identification of the LOB-domain genes in cowpea and phylogenetic analysis. Characterization of the expression pattern of VuLOB shows transcript accumulation in the pulvini, structures at the base of the leaves and leaflets which incline the leaves under water-deficit. VuLOB is positively regulated by the phytohormone brassinosteroid (BR) which mimics LOB’s regulation, but functional analysis using Arabidopsis suggests that VuLOB may not form the boundary by restricting growth. VuLOB transcripts are not significantly changed in inclined pulvini. BRs have been shown to regulate leaf inclination in the grasses. When BRs are removed from cowpea using propiconazole they fail to incline. Propiconazole treatment changes the cellular morphology of the epidermis of the pulvinus which correlates with the failure to incline. This suggests that BRs are required to promote leaf inclination in cowpea

In chapter 2, I use genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to identify regions of the cowpea genome which correlate with the variation in the size of the pulvinus and leaflet inclination after water-deficit. Several significant peaks were identified which correlate to the variation in pulvinus size, but no peaks were identified with regards to leaflet angle. From the significant peaks a candidate gene, VuLBD41, was identified. VuLBD41 is a LOB-domain transcription factor that is orthologous to the Arabidopsis transcription factors LBD40 and LBD41. Transcripts of VuLBD41 accumulate in the pulvini of cowpea. However, functional analysis using Arabidopsis did not reveal any function in regard to development. Transgenic plants overexpressing VuLBD41 appear morphologically normal. This suggests that VuLBD41 has an unknown role in boundary formation.

In chapter 3, I characterize the genetic relationship between LOB and 2 putative targets, TREHALOSE-6-PHOSPHATE PHOSPHATASE I/J (TPPI and TPPJ). LOB directly regulates TPPJ, but not TPPI in yeast. However, higher order mutants don’t have an enhancement of the organ fusions found in lob mutant plants, but they do have a significant increase in the number of branches, which suggests that they have some role in the boundary. Further, I show that ectopic TPPJ accumulation in the boundary is sufficient to rescue the lob mutant phenotype. This suggests that LOB requires TPPJ to restrict growth at the boundary.

Objective: To assess the frequency of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) suicides and describe the characteristics of victims in the United States (U.S.) since the technique became common in Japan in 2007.

Methods: To ascertain the frequency of intentional H2S related deaths in the U.S. prior to the start of the Japanese trend in 2007, we searched the multiple-cause-of-death data from the National Vital Statistics System. To collect as much information about the victims as possible, we sent an email to the National Association of Medical Examiners (NAME) listserv asking for their cooperation in identifying cases of H2S suicide. To identify cases that were not voluntarily reported by medical examiners but were reported by the media, we conducted Google searches using the search terms: “hydrogen sulfide suicide,” “H2S suicide,” “detergent suicide,” “chemical suicide,” and “suicide fad.” We obtained all available autopsy reports and abstracted information, including the site of the incident, the presence of a note warning others about the toxic gas and the demographic characteristics of the victims. We contacted medical examiners who potentially had custody of the cases that were identified through media reports and requested autopsies of these victims. When unable to obtain the autopsies, we gathered information from the media reports.

Results: Forty-five deaths from H2S exposure occurred in the U.S. from 1999 to 2007, all unintentional. Responses from the NAME listserv yielded autopsy reports for 11 victims, and Google searches revealed an additional 19 H2S suicides in the U.S. since 2008. Overall (n=30), two cases were identified during 2008, 10 in 2009, and 18 in 2010. The majority of victims were white males, less than 30-years-old, left a warning note, and were found in cars. There were five reports of injuries to first responders, but no secondary fatalities.

Conclusion: H2S suicides are increasing in the U.S., and their incidence is probably underestimated by public health officials and physicians. First responders are at risk when assessing these victims due to the severe toxicity of the gas. Emergency providers must be aware of H2S suicides to educate others and care for the rare survivor. [West J Emerg Med. 2011;12(3):300-304.]