The Catholic nobility in Utrecht and Guelders, c. 1580-1702
This thesis examines the Catholic nobility in the provinces of Utrecht and Guelders in the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, focusing on topics including the religious diversity within noble families, interconfessional interaction, religious tolerance and intolerance, the religiosity of the Catholic nobility and their support of the Holland Mission. The Catholic nobility as a socio-religious group is studied against the backdrops of Dutch society and of the Holland Mission, and their behaviour is understood in the context of the changing political, social and religious circumstances in the seventeenth-century Dutch Republic.
From Monopoly to Minority: Catholicism in Early Modern England
Robert Parsons, the Jesuit, compiled his account of the transition of English Catholicism from monopoly to minority status in 1599–1600, and called it ‘A story of domestical difficulties which the Catholic cause and promoters thereof hath had in defending the same, not only against the violence and persecution of the heretics but also by sundry other impediments among themselves, of faction, emulation, sedition and division, since the change of religion in England’. This version of Tudor ecclesiastical history supplements Nicholas Sander's attention to evil Protestants and politicians by an examination of the Catholic response to the Reformation. The Parsons story has two groups of villains, the bishops and the parish clergy, who betrayed their faith to hold on to their livings; it has two groups of heroes, who rescued the faith by their self-sacrifice, the Jesuits and the seminary priests they inspired, and the Elizabethan Catholic gentry; and it goes something like this. The early Tudor monopolistic Church was weakened by spiritual decadence and mere conformism, and its leadership divided by ambition and faction, so it could not resist the challenge of heresy.
Electrophysiological Studies of Penticainide (CM 7857), a New Antiarrhythmic Agent, in Mammalian Myocardium
The intracellular electrophysiologic properties of a new antiarrhythmic substance, penticainide, were studied in isolated rabbit, dog, and guinea pig myocardial preparations superfused or perfused with oxygenated Tyrode's solution. “Therapeutic” concentrations of penticainide (1.5 to 3 x 10-5 M) had little effect on sinus node automaticity; sinoatrial conduction was slightly delayed. In atrial, Purkinje and ventricular fibers, amplitude, and maximal rate of rise of phase 0 (dV/dtmax) were decreased by penticainide; Purkinje-ventricle conduction velocity was depressed. Penticainide did not significantly modify action potential duration (APD) of rabbit atria and dog ventricle and reduced APD and effective refractory period (ERP) of dog Purkinje and guinea pig ventricular fibers. Penticainide reduced APD heterogeneity of Purkinje-ventricle junction with a preferential effect at the gate and decreased tension amplitude of perfused papillary muscle in dog heart. The effect of penticainide on dV/dtmax was voltage and rate dependent; the resting block was weak. Thus, penticainide is a class 1 antiarrhythmic agent with properties of class 1B agents such as APD reduction and properties of class 1C agents such as slow recovery kinetic of rate-dependent block.