bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Comparison of additional metformin or NPH insulin to mealtime insulin lispro therapy with mealtime human insulin therapy in secondary OAD failure
Authors: Altuntas Y. , Ozen B. , Ozturk B. , Sengul A. , Ucak S. , Ersoy O. , Karul S.
Published: November 2003

Aim:  It has been found that non‐fasting plasma glucose is a better marker of diabetic control than fasting plasma glucose in type 2 diabetes. The main aim of treatment of type 2 diabetic patients is to control plasma glucose and HbA1c levels. In this study, we aimed to assess the effects of three different insulin regimens (group I: lispro insulin + NPH insulin, group II: lispro insulin + metformin and group III: regular insulin + NPH insulin) on overall glycaemic control and metabolic parameters in type 2 diabetic patients with secondary oral anti‐diabetic drug failure.

Methods:  Sixty type 2 diabetic patients with secondary OAD failure were randomly allocated into three different treatment groups equally. There were no significant differences between groups concerning age, body mass index, diabetes duration, HbA1c and serum lipid levels at the beginning of the study. During the 6‐month treatment period, blood glucose levels were determined 10 times during 24 h at pre‐meal, post‐prandial 1 and 2 h and at bedtime.

Results:  Group I was found to be the most effective treatment regimen in controlling HbA1c levels (group I vs. group II, p = 0.013; group I vs. group III, p = 0.001; group II vs. group III, p > 0.05). When the comparison was made in each group, change in HbA1c was statistically significant for all groups (−3.18%, p = 0.001; −2.02%, p = 0.043 and −2.66%, p = 0.008 respectively). Group I was found to be more effective in controlling fasting and post‐prandial plasma glucose levels measured at all times during the day when compared with group II and group III. In group II triglyceride levels were found to be significantly reduced, whereas other groups had no effect on lipids. No serious hypoglycaemic episodes were observed in any of the cases, whereas in group I hypoglycaemic episode rates were increased (χ2 = 8.843, p = 0.012).

Conclusions:  Lispro insulin plus NPH insulin regimen is more effective in controlling both pre‐ and post‐prandial glucose levels and HbA1c when compared to regular insulin plus NPH insulin combination. Mealtime lispro insulin plus metformin combination therapy should also be seriously considered as an effective and alternative treatment regimen. It is worthy of attention that insulin lispro plus metformin lowered triglyceride levels.
The neointimal response to endovascular injury is increased in obese Zucker rats
Authors: Shelton J. , Wang D. , Gupta H. , Wyss J. M. , Oparil S. , White C. R.
Published: November 2003

Background:  Restenosis after revascularization procedures is accelerated in persons with type 2 diabetes.

Aim:  The current study tested the hypothesis that the neointimal response to endovascular injury is enhanced in female obese Zucker (OZ) rats, a model of type 2 diabetes.

Methods:  Animals were randomized to receive either a standard diet (SD) or a diabetogenic diet (DD) for 6 weeks. Four weeks later, balloon injury of the right common carotid artery was induced. All rats were euthanized 2 weeks after injury. Lean Zucker (LZ) rats served as controls.

Results:  At the time of death, plasma glucose was elevated in OZ rats fed a SD (208 ± 13 mg/dl) and a DD (288 ± 21 mg/dl) compared to corresponding LZ rats (SD: 153 ± 8; DD: 132 ± 7 mg/dl). The ratio of high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLc) to total cholesterol (Totc), an index of atherogenicity, was reduced in OZ rats on both diets (SD: 0.77 ± 0.06; DD: 0.80 ± 0.09) compared to LZ controls (SD: 1.11 ± 0.02; DD: 1.20 ± 0.05). Histomorphometric analysis of injured arteries showed that the intima to media (I : M) ratio was significantly increased in OZ (1.37 ± 0.07) compared to LZ (0.79 ± 0.08) rats. Elevations in plasma glucose and triglycerides (Tg) correlated positively and decreases in HDLc negatively with an increased I : M ratio. Administration of the DD did not further enhance the I : M ratio in LZ (0.87 ± 0.06) or OZ (1.29 ± 0.09) rats.

Conclusions:  These results suggest that neointima formation following endoluminal injury of the carotid artery is enhanced at an early stage in the development of diabetes mellitus.
Greater reductions in A1C in type 2 diabetic patients new to therapy with glyburide/metformin tablets as compared to glyburide co‐administered with metformin
Authors: Blonde L. , Wogen J. , Kreilick C. , Seymour A. A.
Published: November 2003

Background:  A cohort of patients with type 2 diabetes, prescribed glyburide/metformin tablets, experienced significantly greater improvements in glycaemic control compared to patients receiving glyburide co‐administered with metformin.

Aim:  To compare the change in A1C for type 2 diabetic patients new to combination therapy with fixed‐dose glyburide/metformin tablets vs. glyburide co‐administered with metformin in a usual‐care setting.

Methods:  This retrospective cohort study analysed medication usage via an administrative pharmacy claims database and the patients' corresponding laboratory results. Patients were new to antidiabetic combination therapy with glyburide/metformin tablets or glyburide co‐administered with metformin between August 2000 and July 2001 and had A1C measurements at baseline and within 76–194 days of initiating combination therapy. The change from baseline in A1C was analysed using statistical regression to adjust for significant covariates (baseline A1C and dosage). Adherence with therapy was also compared.

Results:  The cohort consisted of 950 patients who received glyburide/metformin tablets and 471 taking glyburide co‐administered with metformin. Glyburide/metformin patients were younger (mean age = 56 vs. 60 years, p < 0.0001) and received lower doses of each drug than patients taking glyburide co‐administered with metformin (glyburide mean final dose = 6 vs. 10 mg/day, p < 0.0001; metformin = 893 vs. 1297 mg/day, p < 0.0001). The mean decrease from baseline A1C, adjusted for baseline A1C and dosage, of 2.02% for glyburide/metformin tablets was significantly (p < 0.0001) greater than the decrease of 1.49% for glyburide co‐administered with metformin. Glyburide/metformin patients with baseline A1C ≥ 8 experienced a significantly (p < 0.0001) greater decrease in A1C of 2.93% compared to 1.92% for glyburide co‐administered with metformin. For patients with baseline A1C < 8%, the difference between the A1C responses remained significant, even though the reductions in A1C were smaller for both glyburide/metformin tablets and glyburide co‐administered with metformin (0.54% and 0.23%, p = 0.0017). Patients were more adherent with glyburide/metformin tablets (84% vs. 76%, p < 0.0001), though regression analysis indicated that adherence was not a significant predictor of change in A1C.

Conclusions:  The lower medication doses delivered by glyburide/metformin tablets provided a significantly greater reduction in A1C than did glyburide co‐administered with metformin in patients with type 2 diabetes, especially when baseline A1C ≥ 8%.
Duration of obesity is not a risk factor for type 2 diabetes mellitus, arterial hypertension and hyperlipidemia
Authors: Hekimsoy Z. , Oktem I. K.
Published: November 2003

Background:  Obesity is known to be a risk factor for type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM), arterial hypertension (HT) and hyperlipidaemia (HL), but the relationship between the duration of obesity and these outcomes is variable in the literature.

Aims:  The aims of this study were 1) to evaluate whether the duration of obesity is a risk factor for type 2 DM, HT and HL, 2) to determine the incidence of impaired fasting glucose (IFG), impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), type 2 DM, HT and HL in the patients attending our clinic because of obesity and 3) to determine the correlation between DM, HT and HL and age, body mass index (BMI), duration of obesity and waist‐hip ratio (WHR).

Methods:  Informed consent was obtained from 200 consecutive women presenting to our Endocrinology and Metabolism Unit for the first time because of obesity. The patient's history of the age at onset of obesity, HT and family history of DM were obtained. Anthropometric measurements and a 75‐g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) were performed.

Results:  On OGTT, 15 (7.5%) had IFG, 36 (18%) had IGT and 18 (9%) had type 2 DM; in addition, 96 (48%) had HT and 76 (38%) had HL. Upon multivariate logistic regression analysis, age was a common risk factor for IGT, type 2 DM, HT and HL, and a family history of diabetes was an additional risk factor for type 2 DM.

Conclusion:  The duration of obesity, as reported by women presenting for treatment of obesity, is not a risk factor for type 2 DM, HT and HL.
Comparison of thrice daily ‘high’ vs. ‘medium’ premixed insulin aspart with respect to evening and overnight glycaemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes
Authors: Ejskjaer N. , Rasmussen M. , Kamp N. , Lindholm A. , Christiansen J. S.
Published: November 2003

Background: The glycaemic control of thrice daily treatment with premixed biphasic insulin aspart (BIAsp) without other antidiabetic therapy was tested in type 2 diabetic patients, in order to compare the glucose control of a ‘high’ mixture (BIAsp 70) or a ‘medium’ mixture (BIAsp 50) (70 or 50% soluble IAsp and 30 or 50% protamine‐crystallized IAsp, respectively) administered just before dinner.

Aim: To compare these regimens to conventional 30 : 70 premixture on a twice a day basis.

Methods: This randomized, double‐blind, two‐period crossover study included 16 patients with type 2 diabetes. Twenty four‐hour serum glucose and insulin profiles were obtained thrice: (1) after a one‐week run‐in period with biphasic human insulin (BHI) 30/70 twice daily (run‐in), (2) after 4 weeks of treatment with thrice daily BIAsp 70 before breakfast, lunch and dinner (Dinner70 regimen) and (3) after 4 weeks of BIAsp 70 before breakfast and lunch and BIAsp 50 before dinner (Dinner50).

Results: Daytime average serum glucose was lower with Dinner70 compared to run‐in (9.6 ± 0.39 mmol/l vs. 11.2 ± 0.61 mmol/l, p < 0.05). Postprandial glucose excursions after breakfast and lunch were lower, but fasting morning glucose was higher during the treatment periods than in the run‐in period. Twenty four‐hour C‐peptide AUC was considerably lower during both treatment periods than in the run‐in period (run‐in/Dinner50 ratio 1.29 [1.08; 1.54] p < 0.01; run‐in/Dinner70 ratio 1.31 [1.08;1.58], p < 0.01).

Conclusions: Switching the dinner dose to BIAsp 50 did not alter overall glucose control significantly from that provided with BIAsp 70. Exploratory analyses between the two active treatment regimens and run‐in/BHI indicate that thrice daily BIAsp 70 administration: (1) for optimization of the night‐time control, the dinner dose needs adjustment or replacement by a premixed insulin with a larger proportion of basal insulin than BIAsp 50 and (2) none of the premixtures adequately provide for both the evening meal and overnight requirements.
Insulin mimetic effects of macrocyclic binuclear oxovanadium complexes on streptozotocin‐induced experimental diabetes in rats
Authors: Ramachandran B. , Kandaswamy M. , Narayanan V. , Subramanian S.
Published: November 2003

Aim:  The vanadium complexes so far tested for their insulin mimetic effects are either mono‐ or binuclear and contain only acyclic ligands. The leaching or hydrolysis of vanadyl ions from these complexes is much easier, and hence they elicit side effects. In the present study, a new binuclear macrocyclic oxovanadium complex was synthesized, and its efficacy was studied on streptozotocin (STZ)‐induced diabetic rats over a period of 30 days.

Methods:  The insulin mimetic effect of the complex was tested on the blood sugar level in the STZ‐diabetic rats and on the activities of the carbohydrate‐metabolizing enzymes present in the liver.

Results:  Administration of vanadium complex to STZ‐induced diabetic rats decreased blood glucose levels from hyperglycaemic to normoglycaemic when compared to diabetic rats. The activity of carbohydrate‐metabolizing enzymes such as hexokinase, glucose‐6‐phosphate dehydrogenase, glycogen synthase and glycogen content were increased to near normal in vanadium complex‐administered diabetic rats. The biochemical studies such as assay of blood urea and glutamate oxaloacetate transaminases revealed that the complex is not toxic to the system.

Conclusion:  The nontoxic nature of this complex may be due to the presence of the vanadyl ions in an intact macrocyclic form. Further, the vanadyl ions present in the macrocyclic binuclear oxovanadium complex are very close to each other, and this may enhance the insulin mimetic activity by synergic effect.
HIV infection of women in African countries
Authors: Tabi M. M. , Frimpong S.
Published: November 2003

Background: The increase in human immunodeficiency virus infection among women of childbearing age increases the potential risk for vertical transmission of infection to their newborns. Aim: This paper discusses literature reviewed on human immunodeficiency virus infection of women in Africa with reference to Ghana, West Africa. The paper provides an epidemiological overview of human immunodeficiency virus infection of women in Ghana and Africa and the potential risk for vertical transmission and associated contributing factors. Literature reviewed was retrieved from the Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature and United States National Library of Medicine databases. Conclusion and implications for practice: Findings from the review of literature suggest that human immunodeficiency virus infection of African women is a major public health problem which must be addressed and considered a priority in the next decade. Leadership in African countries including nurses and policy‐makers will have to do more to make a difference to the epidemic. Measures to reduce transmission of human immunodeficiency virus are discussed.
Two‐stage kinetic analysis of fragrance evaporation and absorption from skin
Authors: Saiyasombati P. , Kasting G. B.
Published: November 2003

Synopsis

Human in vivo fragrance evaporation data from a previously published study are reanalysed in terms of compartmental pharmacokinetic models in which the microscopic rate constants are functions of the physicochemical properties of the fragrance components. According to the proposed analysis, which is restricted to low doses, absorption and evaporation of each component are first‐order processes occurring from either the skin (one‐compartment model) or the skin and a more rapidly depleted vehicle layer (two‐compartment models). Evaporation rates of ingredients from a 12‐component mixture containing a musk fixative followed single exponential decays that were well described by the one‐compartment model. An otherwise identical mixture without fixative yielded evaporation rates that could be characterized as biexponential decays associated with loss from two compartments. This result shows that ingredient interactions qualitatively and quantitatively change evaporation rate profiles of fragrance components; however, an attempt to account for these interactions explicitly by means of activity coefficients inserted as multipliers for the microscopic rate constants was unsuccessful. Re‐examination of this approach in the context of a diffusion/evaporation model is suggested. The developed models have potential utility for dermal risk assessment and for prediction of aroma evolution following topical application of complex fragrances.
Involvement of transglutaminase in ex vivo maturation of cornified envelopes in the stratum corneum
Authors: Hirao T.
Published: November 2003

Synopsis

The cornified envelope (CE) is a thin insoluble structure enveloping corneocytes, and is essential for the barrier function of the stratum corneum (SC). Our previous studies revealed that immature CEs are detected in the outermost layer of SC of barrier‐impaired epidermis including the face and in various inflammatory disorders, using a non‐invasive method to evaluate CE maturity. However, factors attributable for immaturity of CEs are still unclear. The aim of the present study is to clarify whether immature CEs in the SC have the potential to mature. SC samples, in which immature CEs abundantly exist, were collected from the cheek of healthy volunteers by tape‐stripping, and were incubated ex vivo under the humidified air at 37 °C. Then, CE maturity was evaluated by staining with a combination of anti‐involucrin and Nile red to detect involucrin antigenicity in the immature CEs and hydrophobicity in the mature CEs, respectively. Ex vivo incubation of the SC resulted in the conversion of immature CEs into mature CEs in terms of loss of involucrin antigenicity and acquisition of hydrophobicity. Application of buffer solutions of various pH onto the SC prior to incubation revealed that maturation of CEs was proceeded at range of pH 5–7, corresponding to intrinsic pH range within the SC. Chelating agents, ethylenediamine‐N, N, N′, N′,‐tetraacetic acid (EDTA) and ethyleneglycol bis(β‐aminoethylether)‐N,N,N′,N′‐tetraacetic acid (EGTA), and thiol alkylating agents, N‐ethylmaleimide and iodoacetamide, inhibited the maturation. Labelled cadaverine as an exogenous substrate for transglutaminase (TGase) could be incorporated into CEs during maturation. Extractable involucrin‐like protein detected in the SC samples before incubation concomitantly disappeared with CE maturation, suggesting incorporation of endogenous substrates into the CEs. These results obviously demonstrate that maturation of CEs was mediated by TGase activity in the SC, and that immature CEs found in the outermost face SC have potential to mature by cross‐linking of endogenous CE precursors present in the SC. Reduction of environmental humidity during ex vivo incubation of the SC resulted in marked suppression of maturation of CEs, and application of a moisturizer, glycerine, onto the SC replenished the suppression of maturation, suggesting that water content in the SC may affect the TGase reaction in the SC. Therefore, various factors, including a decrease in the water content in the SC, may account for impaired maturation of CEs in the face SC.
Taste preferences in fishes
Authors: Kasumyan Alexander O , Døving Kjell B
Published: November 2003

The fish gustatory system provides the final sensory evaluation in the feeding process. Unlike other vertebrates, the gustatory system in fish may be divided into two distinct subsystems, oral and extraoral, both of them mediating behavioural responses to food items brought in contact with the fish. The abundance of taste buds is another peculiarity of the fish gustatory system. For many years, morphological and electrophysiological techniques dominated the studies of the fish gustatory system, and systematic investigations of fish taste preferences have only been performed during the last 10 years. In the present review, basic principles in the taste preferences of fish are formulated. Categories or types of taste substances are defined in accordance with their effects on fish feeding behaviour and further mediation by the oral or extraoral taste systems (incitants, suppressants, stimulants, deterrents, enhancers and indifferent substances). Information on taste preferences to different types of substances including classical taste substances, free amino acids, betaine, nucleotides, nucleosides, amines, sugars and other hydrocarbons, organic acids, alcohols and aldehydes, and their mixtures, is summarised. The threshold concentrations for taste substances are discussed, and the relationship between fish taste preferences with fish systematic position and fish ecology is evaluated. Fish taste preferences are highly species‐specific, and the differences among fish species are apparent when comparing the width and composition of spectra for both the stimulants and the deterrents. What is evident is that there is a strong similarity in the taste preferences between geographically isolated fish populations of the same species, and that taste preferences are similar in males and females, although at the individual level, it may vary dramatically among conspecifics. What is noteworthy is that taste responses are more stable and invariable for highly palatable substances than for substances with a low level of palatability. Taste preferences as a function of pH is analysed. There is a good correspondence between development of the gustatory system in fish ontogeny and its ability to discriminate taste properties of food items. There is also a correspondence between oral and extraoral taste preferences for a given species; however, there is no correlation between smell and taste preferences. Taste preferences in fish show low plasticity (in relation to the diet), appear to be determined genetically and seem to be patroclinous. Fish feeding motivation and various environmental factors like water temperature and pollutants such as heavy metals and low pH water may shift fish taste preferences. Comparisons between bioassay and electrophysiological data show that palatability is not synonymous with excitability in the gustatory system. The chemical nature of stimulants and deterrents in various hydrobionts is outlined. The significance of basic knowledge in fish taste preferences for aquaculture and fisheries is emphasised.
The barefoot ecologist goes fishing
Authors: Prince Jeremy D
Published: November 2003

Haliotid (abalone) fisheries are comprised of small‐scale (<5 km2) stocks and serve as a model for many such fisheries. Extremely valuable to local fishing communities in aggregate, these micro‐stocks are myriad and complex to study, monitor, assess and manage. Micro‐stocks need assessment and management at local scales to prevent small components from suffering the tragedy of commons. This paper asks how can we ever hope to address the research and management needs of so many small resources? Community‐based and territorial rights‐based systems may help in sustaining these resources, but servicing the technical needs of many small communities of stakeholders raises problems. A new generation of ‘barefoot ecologists’ is envisaged to perform this task.
The Denial of Slavery in Management Studies
Authors: Cooke Bill
Published: November 2003

abstractAmerican slavery has been wrongfully excluded from histories of management. By 1860, when the historical orthodoxy has modern management emerging on the railroads, 38,000 managers were managing the 4 million slaves working in the US economy. Given slaves’ worth, slaveholders could literally claim ‘our people are our greatest asset.’ Yet a review of histories of management shows ante‐bellum slavery excluded from managerial modernity as pre‐capitalist, unsophisticated in practice, and without non‐owner managers identified as such. These grounds for exclusion are challenged. First, it is shown slavery is included within capitalism by many historians, who also see plantations as a site of the emergence of industrial discipline. Second, ante‐bellum slavery is demonstrated to have been managed according to classical management and Taylorian principles. Third, those doing the managing are shown to have been employed at the time as ‘managers’. In the idea of the manager, and of scientific and classical management slavery has therefore left an ongoing imprint in management practice and thought. A strong argument is made for not just for postcolonialist accounts of management, but for management histories in which anti‐African‐American racism is a continuing strand. The fundamental significance of the article however is its identification of slavery as of intrinsic, but hitherto denied, relevance to management studies.
The Contestation of Archetypes: Negotiating Scripts in a UK Hospital Trust Board*
Authors: Mueller Frank , Harvey Charles , Howorth Chris
Published: November 2003

abstract This paper deals with the aftermath of the creation of a new governance structure in the UK National Health Service. We conceptualize this new governance structure as a ‘Trust Hospital Archetype’ in order to establish the promises and limitations of an archetype transition framework. We find that the ‘reality’ of the ‘Trust Hospital Archetype’ is one involving a high degree of contestation. This is confirmed by evidence drawn from interviews, documents, observation and participant observation. In order to analyse contestation, we distinguish between three interpretive schemes – Ideological–New Public Management, Executive Pragmatism and Medical Professionalism; and we outline five scripts – challenging, critiquing, mediating, cautioning and defending. This diversity casts doubt on the usefulness of simplistic managerialism–professionalism dichotomies prevalent in much of the literature. It also suggests modifications to archetype transition theory, which lends too much weight to the role of dominant interpretive schemes.
Knowledge Levels and their Transformation: Towards the Integration of Knowledge Creation and Individual Learning*
Authors: Akbar Hammad
Published: November 2003

abstractThis paper shows the link between knowledge creation and individual learning, and the coherence that exists between the knowledge creation view and single and double‐loop learning models. It does so by examining differences in levels of knowledge and their relationship with creativity and knowledge creating behaviours. The analysis shifts the focus from the abstract notion of tacit knowledge to a more specific discussion on creative human cognition. The paper is unique in adopting an endogenous perspective to the analysis of individual learning. The analysis is distinct from previous discussions on knowledge creation in three ways: (a) explicit and tacit knowledge are analysed in terms of the nature and degree of inter‐dependence that exists between the two; (b) knowledge levels are defined in terms of their applications rather than as abstract concepts; and (c) a distinction is made between shifts and movements in knowledge to separate, and subsequently integrate, the information processing and creative dimensions of learning. Further, the paper highlights specific challenges and limitations/costs that are associated with the transfer/acquisition of knowledge levels, and argues that in the absence of a conscious effort, knowledge levels are acquired through mistakes and failures. Following that, various theoretical and managerial implications to facilitate knowledge creation are discussed.
Co‐evolutionary Dynamics Within and Between Firms: From Evolution to Co‐evolution
Authors: Volberda Henk W. , Lewin Arie Y.
Published: November 2003

abstractThe extensive selection–adaptation literature spans diverse theoretical perspectives, but is inconclusive on the role of managerial intentionality in organizational adaptation. Indeed this voluminous literature has more to say about selection and sources and causes of structural inertia than about self‐renewing organizations that might counteract such inertia. In this introductory essay, we identify four co‐evolutionary generative mechanisms (engines) – naïve selection, managed selection, hierarchical renewal and holistic renewal – which illustrate the extensive range of evolutionary paths that can take place in a population of organizations. In particular, the managed selection engine provides the foundations of the underlying principles of co‐evolving self‐renewing organizations: managing internal rates of change, optimizing self‐organization, and balancing concurrent exploration and exploitation. However, it is altogether clear that empirical co‐evolution research represents the next frontier for empirically resolving the adaptation selection debate. The essay concludes with a discussion of requirements for co‐evolutionary empirical research and introduces the empirical papers in this Special Research Symposium.
The Constitutional Limits of Judicial Activism: Judicial Conduct of International Relations and Child Abduction
Authors: Young James
Published: November 2003

Judges are increasingly visible in their participation in activities off the bench. This may create difficulties in drawing the line between their duties in court and their other activities. However, if judges are not acutely aware of the importance of this line their extra‐curial activities may interfere with their judicial duties. This article considers the failure to observe the importance of this differentiation in the context of international child abduction. It is argued that some judges, on and off the bench, have wrongly taken over the role of the executive in international relations and that such activity jeopardises the independence of the judiciary. This raises broader issues, in particular it suggests that some judges are being seduced into exceeding their proper judicial role, by working with government in policy‐making and by their increasing contacts with judges from other countries.
Common Wealth
Authors: Booth Cherie , Du Plessis Max
Published: November 2003

After reviewing developments in human rights law and international law – in particular the domestication of international human rights law and the rise of the democratic norm in international law – the importance of these developments for the Commonwealth and for its member states is highlighted and linked to many of the programmes and policies that the Commonwealth Secretariat has recently launched. This paper discusses these developments and others in order to stress the wealth of potential advantages for Commonwealth member states and their citizens that flow from a common commitment under the rule of law to human rights and democracy. The authors endeavour to show that such wealth is more than mere economic benefit – as important as that undoubtedly is – and that citizens stand to reap a moral system of government, one which expands the opportunities for popular participation in political processes and puts an end to social practices that marginalise some citizens and empower others.
Observations on the Nature and Culture of Environmental History
Authors: McNeill J. R.
Published: November 2003

This article aims to consider the robust field of environmental history as a whole, as it stands and as it has developed over the past twenty‐five years around the world. It necessarily adopts a selective approach but still offers more breadth than depth. It treats the links between environmental history and other fields within history, and with other related disciplines such as geography. It considers the precursors of environmental history, its emergence since the 1970s, its condition in several settings and historiographies. Finally it touches on environmental history's relationship to social theory and to the natural sciences as they have evolved in recent decades. It concludes that while there remains plenty of interesting work yet to do, environmental history has successfully established itself as a legitimate field within the historical profession, and has a bright future, if perhaps for discouraging reasons.
Nature and Technology in History
Authors: Schatzki Theodore R.
Published: November 2003

This essay sketches an expanded theoretical conception of the roles of nature and technology in history, one that is based on a social ontology that does not separate nature and society.

History has long been viewed as the realm of past human action. On this conception, nature is treated largely as an Other of history, and technology is construed chiefly as a means for human fulfillment. There is no history of nature, and the history of technology becomes the history of useful products.

The essay discusses the changes wrought in these understandings by a social ontology that depicts social existence as inherently transpiring in nexuses of practices and material arrangements. The first implication is that the domain of history should be expanded from the realm and course of past human activity to the realm and course of past practice‐arrangement nexuses. In turn, this wider conception transforms the significance of nature and technology in history.

Until recently, most accounts of the relationship between society/history and nature have presumed that society and history are separate from nature. On my account, by contrast, nature is part of society: a component of the practice—arrangement nexuses through which social life progresses. Human history, consequently, is a social—natural history that encompasses the varying presence and roles of nature in human coexistence. Technology, meanwhile, is not just useful products, and not just a mediator of society/history and nature. It also is (1) something through which humans manage social life and the nature that is part of it, largely by drawing nature into this site and thereby conjointly transforming society, technology, and nature in history; and (2) something that, over time, plays an increasingly central role in the nexuses where social life transpires. Through technology, in short, social—natural history takes form and advances.
Spaces of Consumption in Environmental History
Authors: Klingle Matthew W.
Published: November 2003

Consumption has emerged as an important historical subject, with most scholars explaining it as a vehicle for therapeutic regeneration, community formation, or economic policy. This work all but ignores how consumption begins with changes to the material world, to physical nature. While environmental historians have something important, even unique, to say about consumption, the split between materialist and cultural analyses within the field has dulled its ability to study consumption as a process and phenomenon that unfolds over space and time. By borrowing techniques from geography and ecology, environmental historians can analyze how space is socially produced through time, an insight that can help to connect material and cultural change in a sustained manner. Spatial histories can also unmask the relationships between production and consumption, and nature and culture, and thereby transcend and subvert seemingly fixed boundaries, from the local to the global. They can also further propel environmental historians into new realms of inquiry, such as international trade and the human body. Historicizing the spaces of consumption may also help to foster a more radical and democratic environmentalism, especially in developed nations, by compelling environmentalists to reassess the distancing effects of consumption upon their politics and attitudes toward those who produce commodities and consumer goods.
The Dynamics of Institutional and Individual Trading
Authors: Griffin John M. , Harris Jeffrey H. , Topaloglu Selim
Published: November 2003

We study the daily and intradaily cross‐sectional relation between stock returns and the trading of institutional and individual investors in Nasdaq 100 securities. Based on the previous day's stock return, the top performing decile of securities is 23.9% more likely to be bought in net by institutions (and sold by individuals) than those in the bottom performance decile. Strong contemporaneous daily patterns can largely be explained by net institutional (individual) trading positively (negatively) following past intradaily excess stock returns (or the news associated therein). In comparison, evidence of return predictability and price pressure are economically small.
Regulation Fair Disclosure and Earnings Information: Market, Analyst, and Corporate Responses
Authors: Bailey Warren , Li Haitao , Mao Connie X. , Zhong Rui
Published: November 2003

With the adoption of Regulation Fair Disclosure (Reg FD), market behavior around earnings releases displays no significant change in return volatility (after controlling for decimalization of stock trading) but significant increases in trading volume due to difference in opinion. Analyst forecast dispersion increases, and increases in other measures of disagreement and difference of opinion suggest greater difficulty in forming forecasts beyond the current quarter. Corporations increase the quantity of voluntary disclosures, but only for current quarter earnings. Thus, Reg FD seems to increase the quantity of information available to the public while imposing greater demands on investment professionals.
What Type of Process Underlies Options? A Simple Robust Test
Authors: Carr Peter , Wu Liuren
Published: November 2003

We develop a simple robust method to distinguish the presence of continuous and discontinuous components in the price of an asset underlying options. Our method examines the prices of at‐the‐money and out‐of‐the‐money options as the option's time‐to‐maturity approaches zero. We show that these prices converge to zero at speeds that depend upon whether the underlying asset price process is purely continuous, purely discontinuous, or a combination of both. We apply the method to S&P 500 index options and find the existence of both a continuous component and a jump component in the index.
Do Price Discreteness and Transactions Costs Affect Stock Returns? Comparing Ex‐Dividend Pricing before and after Decimalization
Authors: Graham John R. , Michaely Roni , Roberts Michael R.
Published: November 2003

By the end of January 2001, all NYSE stocks had converted their price quotations from 1/8s and 1/16s to decimals. This study examines the effect of this change in price quotations on ex‐dividend day activity. We find that abnormal ex‐dividend day returns increase in the 1/16 and decimal pricing eras, relative to the 1/8 era, which is inconsistent with microstructure explanations of ex‐day price movements. We also find that abnormal returns increase in conjunction with a May 1997 reduction in the capital gains tax rate, as they should if relative taxation of dividends and capital gains affects ex‐day pricing.
Competition among Trading Venues: Information and Trading on Electronic Communications Networks
Authors: Barclay Michael J. , Hendershott Terrence , McCormick D. Timothy
Published: November 2003

This paper explores the competition between two trading venues, Electronic Communication Networks (ECNs) and Nasdaq market makers. ECNs offer the advantages of anonymity and speed of execution, which attract informed traders. Thus, trades are more likely to occur on ECNs when information asymmetry is greater and when trading volume and stock‐return volatility are high. ECN trades have greater permanent price impacts and more private information is revealed through ECN trades than though market‐maker trades. However, ECN trades have higher ex ante trading costs because market makers can preference or internalize the less informed trades and offer them better executions.
Divestitures and Divisional Investment Policies
Authors: Dittmar Amy , Shivdasani Anil
Published: November 2003

We study a sample of diversified firms that alter their organizational structure by divesting a business segment. These firms experience a reduction in the diversification discount after the divestiture. We show that the efficiency of segment investment increases substantially following the divestiture and that this improvement is associated with a decrease in the diversification discount. Our results support the corporate focus and financing hypotheses for corporate divestitures. We demonstrate that inefficient investment is partly responsible for the diversification discount and show that asset sales lead to an improvement in the efficiency of investment for remaining divisions.
Steel Factor Controls the Proliferation and Differentiation of Neonatal Mouse Epidermal Melanocytes in Culture
Authors: Hirobe Tomohisa , Osawa Masatake , Nishikawa Shin‐Ichi
Published: November 2003

Mouse epidermal melanoblasts and melanocytes preferentially proliferated from disaggregated epidermal cell suspensions derived from newborn mouse skin in a serum‐free melanocyte‐proliferation medium (MDMD) and melanoblast‐proliferation medium (MDMDF) supplemented with dibutyryl adenosine 3′:5′‐cyclic monophosphate (DBcAMP) and/or basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF). Pure cultured primary melanoblasts and melanocytes were then further cultured with MDMD/MDMDF supplemented with steel factor (SLF) (keratinocyte depletion). SLF increased the number of melanoblasts and melanocytes as well as the proportion of differentiated melanocytes in the absence of keratinocytes. Flow cytometric analysis showed that melanoblasts and melanocytes in the S and G2/M phases of the cell cycle were increased by treatment with SLF. Moreover, an anti‐SLF antibody added to MDMD/MDMDF from the initiation of the primary culture (in the presence of keratinocytes) inhibited the proliferation of melanoblasts and melanocytes as well as the differentiation of melanocytes. These results suggest that SLF is one of the keratinocyte‐derived factors involved in regulating the proliferation and differentiation of neonatal mouse epidermal melanocytes in culture in cooperation with cAMP elevator and bFGF.
Novel Application of a Fibrin Cell Block Method to Evaluate Melanocytic Cell Populations
Authors: Florell Scott R. , Schmidt Soo J. , Porter‐Gill Patricia , Albertine Kurt H. , Murphy Kelley J. , McKinney Courtney B. , Boucher Kenneth M. , Grossman Douglas , Biddle Diana L. , Clayton Frederic , Layfield Lester J. , Leachman Sancy A.
Published: November 2003

Confirming melanocytic lineage and purity is important for experiments using cultured human melanocytes. The objective of this study was to develop a simple, reliable method to evaluate and archive cultured melanocytic cells. Melanocytes were isolated from adult skin biopsies or from neonatal foreskins using standard culturing methods. Fibrin cell blocks (FCBs) were prepared from cultured cells at passages two and six. Fibrin blocks were paraffin‐embedded and sectioned for immunohistochemical (CD68, Melan‐A, and HMB‐45) and H & E staining. Flow cytometry was performed (Melan‐A) at passage six. A mixing experiment with cultured melanocytes and fibroblasts was performed and cell population purity was determined by manual counts of positively staining cells in the FCBs and by flow cytometry. The FCB method of evaluating population purity was validated experimentally and by correlation with flow cytometry results. Preparation of a FCB followed by immunohistochemical staining is an easy and inexpensive way to confirm melanocytic lineage, estimate population purity, and provide a permanent archive of cultured cells.
Sphingosylphosphorylcholine is a Melanogenic Stimulator for Human Melanocytes
Authors: Higuchi Kazuhiko , Kawashima Makoto , Ichikawa Yoshiaki , Imokawa Genji
Published: November 2003

As lysosphingolipids have multiple bio‐modulator functions in various types of cells, we measured the biological effects of sphingosylphosphorylcholine (SPC) on cultured human melanocytes to determine whether these lysosphingolipids have the potential to activate these cells. The addition of SPC to cultured human melanocytes significantly stimulated DNA synthesis assessed by [3H]thymidine and melanogenesis assessed by the release of [3H]H2O (tyrosinase activity), the incorporation of [14C]thiouracil (melanin synthesis) and dopa‐oxidase activity. Reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction of RNA isolated from human melanocytes exposed to SPC revealed an upregulation of mRNA transcripts for tyrosinase, microphthalmia‐associated transcription factor‐M, endothelin B receptor and the stem cell factor receptor, c‐kit. An increase in expression of tyrosinase and c‐kit proteins was also demonstrated by Western blot analysis. This stimulation of melanogenesis by SPC was associated with a marked increase in the phosphorylation of extracellular signal‐regulated kinase 1/2. These results suggest that SPC may be a melanogenic stimulator of human melanocytes inducing the coordinated upregulated expression of various melanogenic molecules, including c‐kit.
Isolation and Biophysical Studies of Natural Eumelanins: Applications of Imaging Technologies and Ultrafast Spectroscopy
Authors: Liu Yan , Simon John D.
Published: November 2003

The major pigments found in the skin, hair, and eyes of humans and other animals are melanins. Despite significant research efforts, the current understanding of the molecular structure of melanins, the assembly of the pigment within its organelle, and the structural consequences of the association of melanins with protein and metal cations is limited. Likewise, a detailed understanding of the photochemical and photophysical properties of melanins has remained elusive. Many types of melanins have been studied to date, including natural and synthetic model pigments. Such studies are often contradictory and to some extent the diversity of systems studied may have detracted from the development of a basic understanding of the structure and function of the natural pigment. Advances in the understanding of the structure and function of melanins require careful characterization of the pigments examined so as to assure the data obtained may be relevant to the properties of the pigment in vivo. To address this issue, herein the influence of isolation procedures on the resulting structure of the pigment is examined. Sections describing the applications of new technologies to the study of melanins follow this. Advanced imaging technologies such as scanning probe microscopies are providing new insights into the morphology of the pigment assembly. Recent photochemical studies on photoreduction of cytochrome c by different mass fraction of sonicated natural melanins reveal that the photogeneration of reactive oxygen species (ROS) depends upon aggregation of melanin. Specifically, aggregation mitigates ROS photoproduction by UV‐excitation, suggesting the integrity of melanosomes in tissue may play an important role in the balance between the photoprotective and photodamaging behaviors attributed to melanins. Ultrafast laser spectroscopy studies of melanins are providing insights into the time scales and mechanisms by which melanin dissipates absorbed light energy.
Identification and Characterization of a DNase Hypersensitive Region of the Human Tyrosinase Gene
Authors: Fryer James P. , Oetting William S. , King Richard A.
Published: November 2003

Mutations of the tyrosinase gene produce oculocutaneous albinism type 1 (OCA1). Most affected individuals are compound heterozygotes with different maternal and paternal mutations, but a substantial number of presumed tyrosinase alleles in these individuals have no identifiable mutation in the coding or proximal promoter region of the gene. This suggests that mutations in other regions of the gene, such as regulatory regions that are removed from the direct proximity of the coding sequence, may account for these currently unidentifiable mutations. The mouse tyrosinase gene has a distal enhancer or locus control region (LCR) that provides position‐independent stimulation of gene expression, and a homologous regulatory region (HR) of the human gene could be the site of some of these mutations. We report a region 9 kb upstream of the human tyrosinase transcriptional start site that may be involved in regulation of this gene. Analysis of this region shows DNase I hypersensitivity in a cell lineage‐specific pattern, a pattern indicative of regulatory regions of a gene. This region also has significant enhancer function when reporter vectors containing it are transfected into either human or mouse melanocyte cell lines, and elimination of specific sequences with homology to the mouse core enhancer in this region extinguishes the enhancer function. We believe that this region of homology contains sequences critical in the regulation of the human tyrosinase gene and is a candidate for the location of OCA1 mutations.