bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Food-web responses to restoration of channel heterogeneity in boreal streams
Authors: Lepori Fabio , Gaul Dirk , Palm Daniel , Malmqvist Björn
Published: November 2006

We assessed the biomass and stable-isotope composition (δ13C and δ15N) of consumers (aquatic insects and fish (Cottus gobio)) and potential food sources (detritus, biofilm, seston, algae, and mosses) in channelized and restored streams in Sweden, assessing the hypotheses that restoration enhances detritus storage and detritus-based secondary production. Restored sites stored more detritus than channelized sites, with differences (+5.4% on average) prominent in margins, i.e., the channel area within 1.4 m from the banks. The biomass of other resources was similar between restored and channelized sites. Most common aquatic insects, including several putative detritivores, showed δ13C values indicating reliance on aquatic (probably algal) carbon sources. The insectivorous fish Cottus gobio, on the contrary, appeared to be more dependent on terrestrial (detrital) carbon sources. The biomass and mean δ13C values of the consumers were similar between restored and channelized sites, suggesting that restoration did not increase net secondary production or the fraction of secondary production based on detritus. We concluded that the increase in detritus storage at restored sites was either insufficient to enhance detritus-based production or the consumers were not limited by the availability of detritus.
Innate Immunity, Environmental Drivers, and Disease Ecology of Marine and Freshwater Invertebrates
Authors: Mydlarz Laura D. , Jones Laura E. , Harvell C. Drew
Published: November 2006

Despite progress in the past decade, researchers struggle to evaluate the hypothesis that environmental conditions compromise immunity and facilitate new disease outbreaks. In this chapter, we review known immunological mechanisms for selected phyla and find that there are critical response pathways common to all invertebrates. These include the prophenoloxidase pathway, wandering phagocytic cells, cytotoxic effector responses, and antimicrobial compounds. To demonstrate the links between immunity and the environment, we summarize mechanisms by which immunity is compromised by environmental conditions. New environmental challenges may promote emergent disease both through compromised host immunity and introduction of new pathogens. Such challenges include changing climate, polluted environment, anthropogenically facilitated pathogen invasion, and an increase in aquaculture. The consequences of these environmental issues already manifest themselves as increased mortality on coral reefs, pathogen range expansion, and transmission of disease from aquaculture to natural populations, as we summarize in a final section on recent marine epizootics.
Molecular Motion at Soft and Hard Interfaces: From Phospholipid Bilayers to Polymers and Lubricants
Authors: Bae Sung Chul , Granick Steve
Published: November 2006

Spatially resolved and time-resolved understanding of complex fluid situations compose a new frontier in physical chemistry. Here we draw attention to the significance of spatially resolving systems whose ensemble average differs fundamentally from the spatially resolved individual elements. We take examples from the field of fluid phospholipid bilayers, to which macromolecules adsorb; the field of polymer physics, when flexible chains adsorb to the solid-liquid interface; and from the field of lubrication, when two solids are squeezed close together with confined fluid retained between them.
Lipopolysaccharide activates an innate immune system response in human adipose tissue in obesity and type 2 diabetes
Authors: Creely S. J. , McTernan P. G. , Kusminski C. M. , Fisher ff. M. , Da Silva N. F. , Khanolkar M. , Evans M. , Harte A. L. , Kumar S.
Published: November 2006

Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) is associated with chronic low-grade inflammation. Adipose tissue (AT) may represent an important site of inflammation. 3T3-L1 studies have demonstrated that lipopolysaccharide (LPS) activates toll-like receptors (TLRs) to cause inflammation. For this study, we 1) examined activation of TLRs and adipocytokines by LPS in human abdominal subcutaneous (AbdSc) adipocytes, 2) examined blockade of NF-κB in human AbdSc adipocytes, 3) examined the innate immune pathway in AbdSc AT from lean, obese, and T2DM subjects, and 4) examined the association of circulating LPS in T2DM subjects. The findings showed that LPS increased TLR-2 protein expression twofold ( P < 0.05). Treatment of AbdSc adipocytes with LPS caused a significant increase in TNF-α and IL-6 secretion (IL-6, Control: 2.7 ± 0.5 vs. LPS: 4.8 ± 0.3 ng/ml; P < 0.001; TNF-α, Control: 1.0 ± 0.83 vs. LPS: 32.8 ± 6.23 pg/ml; P < 0.001). NF-κB inhibitor reduced IL-6 in AbdSc adipocytes (Control: 2.7 ± 0.5 vs. NF-κB inhibitor: 2.1 ± 0.4 ng/ml; P < 0.001). AbdSc AT protein expression for TLR-2, MyD88, TRAF6, and NF-κB was increased in T2DM patients ( P < 0.05), and TLR-2, TRAF-6, and NF-κB were increased in LPS-treated adipocytes ( P < 0.05). Circulating LPS was 76% higher in T2DM subjects compared with matched controls. LPS correlated with insulin in controls ( r = 0.678, P < 0.0001). Rosiglitazone (RSG) significantly reduced both fasting serum insulin levels (reduced by 51%, P = 0.0395) and serum LPS (reduced by 35%, P = 0.0139) in a subgroup of previously untreated T2DM patients. In summary, our results suggest that T2DM is associated with increased endotoxemia, with AT able to initiate an innate immune response. Thus, increased adiposity may increase proinflammatory cytokines and therefore contribute to the pathogenic risk of T2DM.
Relating cardiac performance with oxygen consumption: historical observations continue to spawn scientific discovery
Authors: Gutterman David D. , Cowley Allen W.
Published: November 2006

This essay examines the historical significance of two APS classic papers that are freely available online:

Neely JR, Liebermeister H, Battersby EJ, and Morgan HE.

Effect of pressure development on oxygen consumption by isolated rat heart. Am J Physiol 212: 804–814, 1967 ( http://ajplegacy.physiology.org/cgi/reprint/212/4/804 ).

Sarnoff SJ, Braunwald E, Welch GH Jr, Case RB, Stainsby WN, and Macruz R.

Hemodynamic determinants of oxygen consumption of the heart with special reference to the tension-time index. Am J Physiol 192: 148–156, 1957 ( http://ajplegacy.physiology.org/cgi/reprint/192/1/148 ).
Remapping in Human Visual Cortex
Authors: Merriam Elisha P. , Genovese Christopher R. , Colby Carol L.
Published: November 2006

With each eye movement, stationary objects in the world change position on the retina, yet we perceive the world as stable. Spatial updating, or remapping, is one neural mechanism by which the brain compensates for shifts in the retinal image caused by voluntary eye movements. Remapping of a visual representation is believed to arise from a widespread neural circuit including parietal and frontal cortex. The current experiment tests the hypothesis that extrastriate visual areas in human cortex have access to remapped spatial information. We tested this hypothesis using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We first identified the borders of several occipital lobe visual areas using standard retinotopic techniques. We then tested subjects while they performed a single-step saccade task analogous to the task used in neurophysiological studies in monkeys, and two conditions that control for visual and motor effects. We analyzed the fMRI time series data with a nonlinear, fully Bayesian hierarchical statistical model. We identified remapping as activity in the single-step task that could not be attributed to purely visual or oculomotor effects. The strength of remapping was roughly monotonic with position in the visual hierarchy: remapped responses were largest in areas V3A and hV4 and smallest in V1 and V2. These results demonstrate that updated visual representations are present in cortical areas that are directly linked to visual perception.
High-resolution dynamics of the transcriptional response to nutrition in Drosophila: a key role for dFOXO
Authors: Gershman Boris , Puig Oscar , Hang Lilian , Peitzsch Robert M. , Tatar Marc , Garofalo Robert S.
Published: November 2006

A high-resolution time series of transcript abundance was generated to describe global expression dynamics in response to nutrition in Drosophila. Nonparametric change-point statistics revealed that within 7 h of feeding upon yeast, transcript levels changed significantly for ∼3,500 genes or 20% of the Drosophila genome. Differences as small as 15% were highly significant, and 80% of the changes were <1.5-fold. Notably, transcript changes reflected rapid downregulation of the nutrient-sensing insulin and target of rapamycin pathways, shifting of fuel metabolism from lipid to glucose oxidation, and increased purine synthesis, TCA-biosynthetic functions and mitochondria biogenesis. To investigate how nutrition coordinates these transcriptional changes, feeding-induced expression changes were compared with those induced by the insulin-regulated transcription factor dFOXO in Drosophila S2 cells. Remarkably, 28% (995) of the nutrient-responsive genes were regulated by activated dFOXO, including genes of mitochondrial biogenesis and a novel homolog of mammalian peroxisome proliferator-γ coactivator-1 (PGC-1), a transcriptional coactivator implicated in controlling mitochondrial gene expression in mammals. These data implicate dFOXO as a major coordinator of the transcriptional response to nutrients downstream of insulin and suggest that mitochondria biogenesis is linked to insulin signaling via dFOXO-mediated repression of a PGC-1 homolog.
Maternal and Neonatal Influences on, and Reproducibility of, Neonatal Aortic Pulse Wave Velocity
Authors: Koudsi Abir , Oldroyd John , McElduff Patrick , Banerjee Moulinath , Vyas Avni , Cruickshank J. Kennedy
Published: November 2006

Aortic pulse wave velocity (aPWV), a noninvasive measure of vascular stiffness, is an independent predictor of cardiovascular disease both before and in overt vascular disease. Its characteristics in early life and its relationship to maternal factors have hardly been studied. To test the hypothesis that infant aPWV was positively related to maternal anthropometry and blood pressure (BP) at 28 weeks gestation, after adjusting for neonatal anthropometry and BP, 148 babies born in Manchester were measured 1 to 3 days after birth. A high reproducibility of aPWV, assessed in 30 babies within 3 days of birth, was found with a mean difference between occasions of −0.04 m/s (95% CI: −0.08 to 0.16 m/s). Contrary to our hypothesis, a significant inverse relation was found between neonatal aPWV (mean: 4.6 m/s) and maternal systolic BP (mean: 108.9 mm Hg;
r
=−0.57; 95% CI: −0.67 to −0.45) but not maternal height nor weight. Neonatal aPWV was positively correlated with birth length, birth weight, and systolic BP. In multiple regression, neonatal aPWV remained significantly inversely associated with maternal systolic BP (adjusted β coefficient: −0.032; 95% CI: −0.040 to −0.024;
P
<0.001), after adjustment for maternal age, birth weight, length, and neonatal BP (all independently and positively related to aPWV) and for gestational age, maternal weight, and height (unrelated). These results suggest that infant aPWV may be a useful index of infant vascular status, is less disturbing to measure than infant BP, and is sensitive to the gestational environment marked by maternal BP.
Survival After Heart Transplantation Is Not Diminished Among Recipients With Uncomplicated Diabetes Mellitus
Authors: Russo Mark J. , Chen Jonathan M. , Hong Kimberly N. , Stewart Allan S. , Ascheim Deborah D. , Argenziano Michael , Mancini Donna M. , Oz Mehmet C. , Naka Yoshifumi ,   the Columbia University Heart Transplant Outcomes Research Group
Published: November 2006

Background—

This study compares posttransplantation outcomes of survival and morbidity among recipients with and without diabetes mellitus (DM).

Methods and Results—

The United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS) provided deidentified patient-level data. Primary analysis focused on 20 412 first-time heart transplant recipients aged ≥18 years who underwent transplantation between January 1, 1995, and December 31, 2005. To determine severity of DM, DM recipients were stratified by their aggregate number of diabetes-related complications (DRCs), including pretransplantation history of renal failure (serum creatinine=2.5 mg/dL), peripheral vascular disease, cerebrovascular accident, and severe obesity (body mass index ≥35 kg/m
2
). Kaplan-Meier analysis was performed to compare time to event. Although posttransplantation survival was significantly better (
P
<0.001) among patients without DM (median survival 10.1 years) than among those with DM (9.0 years), survival did not differ (
P
=0.08) between those without DM (10.1 years) and those with uncomplicated DM (0 DRCs; 9.3 years). Among those with DM, survival was worse with each additional DRC: 0 DRC, 9.3 years; 1 DRC, 6.7 years; and ≥2 DRCs, 3.6 years. Although acute rejection and transplant coronary artery disease–free survival did not differ between groups, renal failure and severe infection-free survival were worse in those with DM and were inversely related to the number of DRCs.

Conclusions—

Posttransplantation survival among patients with uncomplicated DM was not significantly different than that among nondiabetics. However, when stratified by disease severity, recipients with more severe diabetes had significantly worse survival than nondiabetics. Therefore, although DM alone should not be a contraindication to heart transplantation, given the critical shortage of transplantable organs, maximal benefit may be achieved by exploring alternative treatment options in patients with severe DM. These include use of high-risk transplant lists and destination therapy.
Endoglin Has a Crucial Role in Blood Cell–Mediated Vascular Repair
Authors: van Laake Linda W. , van den Driesche Sander , Post Simone , Feijen Alie , Jansen Maurits A. , Driessens Mariette H. , Mager Johannes J. , Snijder Repke J. , Westermann Cornelius J. J. , Doevendans Pieter A. , van Echteld Cees J. A. , ten Dijke Peter , Arthur Helen M. , Goumans Marie-José , Lebrin Franck , Mummery Christine L.
Published: November 2006

Background—

Endoglin, an accessory receptor for transforming growth factor-β in vascular endothelial cells, is essential for angiogenesis during mouse development. Mutations in the human gene cause hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia type 1 (HHT1), a disease characterized by vascular malformations that increase with age. Although haploinsufficiency is the underlying cause of the disease, HHT1 individuals show great heterogeneity in age of onset, clinical manifestations, and severity.

Methods and Results—

In situ hybridization and immunohistochemical analysis of mouse and human hearts revealed that endoglin is upregulated in neoangiogenic vessels formed after myocardial infarction. Microvascularity within the infarct zone was strikingly lower in mice with reduced levels of endoglin (
Eng
+/−
) compared with wild-type mice, which resulted in a greater deterioration in cardiac function as measured by magnetic resonance imaging. This did not appear to be because of defects in host inflammatory cell numbers in the infarct zone, which accumulated to a similar extent in wild-type and heterozygous mice. However, defects in vessel formation and heart function in
Eng
+/−
mice were rescued by injection of mononuclear cells from healthy human donors but not by mononuclear cells from HHT1 patients.

Conclusions—

These results establish defective vascular repair as a significant component of the origin of HHT1. Because vascular damage or inflammation occurs randomly, it may also explain disease heterogeneity. More generally, the efficiency of vascular repair may vary between individuals because of intrinsic differences in their mononuclear cells.
Towards a Model for a Virtual Reality Experience: The Virtual Subjectiveness
Authors: Parés Narcis , Parés Roc
Published: November 2006

After analyzing how VR experiences are modeled within human computer interaction (CHI) we have found there is a deep theoretical gap. Similarly to how the scientific community has defined CHI models for multimedia applications, it would be very important to have such models for VR—obviously the standpoint cannot be the same because multimedia and VR applications differ in essence. Indeed, there is no formal model to unify the way in which scientists and designers of VR applications define their experiences. More specifically, apart from the isolated initial scheme defined by S.R. Ellis (Ellis, 1991, Computing Systems in Engineering, 2(4) 321–347; Ellis, 1993, Pictorial Communication in Virtual and Real Environment, 3–11), and a low level model defined by Latta and Oberg (Latta & Oberg, 1994, IEEE Computer Graphics & Applications, 14, 23–29), there is no model to fully describe the relationship with which the user will be experiencing the VR application.

In this paper we shall explain where exactly we think this gap is found, which elements and concepts are involved in the definition of a model of experience, and finally propose a definition of a model that we think, eventually, will fill this gap.
Mughal historians and the memory of the Islamic conquest of India
Authors: Anooshahr Ali
Published: November 2006

The Mughal historian ‘Abd al-Qadir Badauni wrote his work of history Muntakhab al-Tavarikh in the last decades of the sixteenth century. This work has been closely read only in its latter parts, and the resulting image of the author, as derived from the text, is one of a venomous and fundamentalist theologian who had opposed the conciliatory policies of the emperor Akbar towards his Hindu subjects. However, by analysing the first volume of this work, which deals with the pre-Mughal history of India, and comparing it with the work of the contemporary historian, Nizam al-Din Ahmad, one can detect a systematic pattern of editing by Badauni with far-reaching implications. Badauni was staunchly anti-absolutist and had displayed a kind of identification with India and its population from diverse status and persuasions that superceded dynastic and even strictly religious affiliation. To properly evaluate Badauni's contribution to Mughal intellectual and cultural history, we need to heed the older intellectual traditions to which he was heir, and place him in the context of the rise of absolutism and the religio-social upheavals (such as that of the millenarian mahdavi movement) in sixteenth-century western Eurasia.
Trends of real income in Tiruchirapalli and the upper Kaveri Delta, 1819–1980
Authors: Mayer Peter
Published: November 2006

The trend of real incomes of agricultural labourers in South India over a span of 160 years, using evidence of payments in kind, indicates that there have been four broad phases. In the first half of the ‘long nineteenth century’, incomes increased but grew very slowly. From the middle of the nineteenth century up until 1916, there was a trend of rapidly increasing real incomes reflecting, among other things, the growth in demand for labour outside agriculture and the possibilities of migration. The third phase, the ‘50 year's depression’, has been less well studied. Agricultural labour incomes in the western Kaveri delta began to decline during the Great Depression, and continued to decline after India secured independence, into the 1960s. The fourth phase, which corresponds broadly to the introduction of the Green Revolution, is a period in which real incomes recovered rapidly, returning almost to the peak levels achieved in the middle of World War I.
Rescuing the Gorgias from Latour
Authors: Kochan Jeff
Published: November 2006

Bruno Latour has been attempting to transform his sociological account of science into an ambitious theory of democracy. In a key early moment in this project, Latour alleges that Plato’s Gorgias introduces an impossibly ratio-nalistic and deeply anti-democratic philosophy which continues to this day to distort our understandings of science and democracy. Latour reckons that if he can successfully refute the Gorgias, then he will have opened up a space in which to authorize his own theory of democracy. I argue that Latour’s refutation of the Gorgias is a failure. Hence, his political theory is, by his own standards, horribly underdetermined. I present another reading of the Gorgias, and consider the dialogue’s possible relevance for current theories of deliberative democracy.
Rational Injustice
Authors: Tännsjö Torbjörn
Published: November 2006

Different attempts have been made to answer Reich’s question of why the majority of those who are hungry don’t steal and why the majority of those who are exploited don’t strike. The two most influential approaches have been the ideological one and the gunman theory. The gunman theory seems to have the upper hand. However, there are cases where oppression takes place in the absence of any gunman. The usual example is the democratic welfare state. We can conceive of such instances of (continued) oppression by a minority of a majority as cases of rational injustice. Unless the privileged minority accepts the introduction of just institutions, there is no way of introducing them. And, for simple egoistic reasons, the minority doesn’t cooperate with the majority. So it is rational for the oppressed majority to endure.
The development of false-belief understanding in Japanese children: Delay and difference?
Authors: Naito Mika , Koyama Kayo
Published: November 2006

Three experiments investigated the development of Japanese children’s false-belief understanding. In Experiment 1, children’s mastery of two standard false-belief tasks was considerably later and slower than typically reported, with the full development between 6 and 7 years. Experiments 2 and 3 tested Japanese 6-to 8-year-olds on interpersonal transfer tasks where a relocated item was a person who changed locations with and without their own intention. Children’s judgments on the main character’s belief about this person’s whereabouts were not influenced by the protagonists’ different mental states included in the tasks; children’s justifications referred not to the people’s belief or desire but primarily to their behaviors and social rules. Results suggest that Japanese children show not only a delay in false-belief understanding but a cultural difference in reasoning about human action as attributing it to behavioral and situational cues, rather than to individuals’ mental states.
Gender differences in two decision-making tasks in a community sample of adolescents
Authors: d’Acremont Mathieu , Van der Linden Martial
Published: November 2006

In adolescence, externalized problems such as risk taking and antisocial behavior are more frequent in boys. This suggests that there are differences in the way boys and girls evaluate risk and make decisions during this period. To explore decision making and highlight possible gender differences, 124 adolescents at a junior secondary school completed two decision-making tasks: The Iowa Gambling Task (Bechara, Damasio, Damasio, & Anderson, 1994) and the Rogers Betting Task (Rogers et al., 1999). The results indicate that girls make more advantageous decisions on the Gambling Task and boys take more risks during the Betting Task. These results are discussed in light of the differing development of emotion, cognition, and brain structures in boys and girls.
Girls’ stable peer status and their adulthood adjustment: A longitudinal study from age 10 to age 43
Authors: Zettergren Peter , Bergman Lars R. , Wångby Margit
Published: November 2006

Stable peer status clusters of rejected, popular, and average girls from ages 10 to 13 were identified and associated to young and middle adulthood adjustment. The study included a representative sample of 445 females from the longitudinal research program Individual Development and Adaptation. Results showed that, by young adulthood, rejected girls were at increased risks for criminal offending and especially alcohol abuse (two and eight times increased risk, respectively). In midlife, popular girls had achieved a more successful vocational career than average girls. However, for most midlife adjustment areas, like social relations and subjective well-being, there were no significant differences between the stable childhood clusters. To test an incidental explanatory model, childhood confounding variables (aggression, withdrawal, academic achievement, and SES) were introduced and explained some of the significant relations.
Finding a New Voice
Authors: Ryan Ellen Bouchard
Published: November 2006

This memorial tribute to James J. Bradac draws on lessons friends and colleagues learned through his witness of living well with serious disability. Analysis of published disability narratives provides the basis for identifying how writing for self and others empowers persons with acquired disability. Acquiring a disability can threaten a person's sense of self and ability to communicate effectively with others. Journal writing allows individuals to rediscover their sense of self, to release complex emotions by naming them, and work their way through the many changes in their daily lives. In particular, a person acquiring a disability must learn how to balance efforts to maintain “normality” with the need to accept changes. Writing for others helps the author clarify personal experience, find meaning, and make a valuable social contribution. Specific benefits of the written social voice are outlined in terms of both process and outcomes. Published illness narratives put a face on disability, engender empathy, advocate for a%“disability-friendly” society, and show how the human spirit can transcend disability.
Context and closure in children’s friendships: Prevalence and demographic variation
Authors: Fletcher Anne C. , Troutman David R. , Gruber Kenneth J. , Long Emily , Hunter Andrea G.
Published: November 2006

Third-grade children (N = 404) and their mothers completed questionnaires and participated in interviews designed to identify children’s friendships across the multiple contexts of their lives and to determine the strength of parent-to-parent relationships for these friendships (social network closure). Hierarchical linear modeling procedures were used to evaluate links between friendship context and strength of closure relationships. Closure relationships were stronger when friendships were maintained within the contexts of neighborhood, church, extracurricular activities, relatives-as-friends, and family friends, and when friendships were maintained across multiple social contexts. Lower socioeconomic status mothers were particularly likely to report higher levels of closure within the contexts of neighborhood and relatives-as-friends.
Community Foundations, Organizational Strategy, and Public Policy
Authors: Graddy Elizabeth A. , Morgan Donald L.
Published: November 2006

This empirical study of the strategic direction of California community foundations explores how this choice is affected by organizational and community characteristics and by external forces. The authors develop a model of the determinants of organizational strategy in community foundations and analyze it based on interviews and on data collected on community foundations and their communities. They then consider the implications for public policy. Strategic choice was found to be affected by organization age, community stability, the professionalization of the field, and the growth in national competitors. They also consider the implications of these results for recent changes in local governance. Community foundations that have been established for some time and those located in communities that are stable are the ones that appear best positioned to enhance the problem-solving capacity of communities.
Chironomids, temperature and numerical models: a reply to Seppälä
Authors: Korhola A. , Birks H. J. B. , Olander H. , Blom T.
Published: November 2006

We reply to comments by Seppälä (2001) concerning the suitability of the surface-water temperature measurements and mean July air temperature estimates used by Olander et al. (1999) to derive quantitative chironomid-temperature transfer functions. We use new data for water temperatures based on two-hourly recordings from thermistors installed in 32 lakes and air-temperature data from an automatic weather station at one lake to refute Seppälä’s accusations that our field data are unsatisfactory. We also respond to Seppälä’s suggestions about factors influencing chironomid distribution and abundance and suggest that there is a serious confusion of temporal and spatial scales between Seppälä’s ideas and the Olander et al. study. We attempt to explain the underlying logic behind empirical transfer functions that form a major part of Holocene quantitative environmental reconstructions and the major assumptions behind such transfer functions as Seppälä appears not to understand the basis or the assumptions of such widely used numerical models in palaeolimnology. We respond to Seppälä’s comments that lakewater pH and distance beyond tree-line have been inadequately measured and answer his erroneous understanding that a helicopter was used to facilitate lake sampling. We briefly consider Seppälä’s suggestion that a helicopter can totally mix the surface water of a lake for many hours.
Salinity changes in the central Baltic Sea (NW Europe) over the last 10 000 years: a reply to Wastegard and Andren
Authors: Emeis Kay-Christian
Published: November 2006

While it is acknowledged that an incorrect age datum was used to construct the depth-age relationship for the lower part of the core in question, the conclusions of the paper, which related to salinity changes of the last 10 000 years, are unaffected.
Recovering Ethics After ‘Technics’: developing critical text on technology
Authors: Marck Patricia B
Published: November 2006

Much modern science and ethics debate is on high-profile problems such as animal organ transplantation, genetic engineering and fetal tissue research, in discourse that assumes technical tones. Other work, such as narrative ethics, expresses the failed promise of technology in the vivid detail of human experience. However, the essential nature of contemporary technology remains largely opaque to our present ethical lens on health care and on society. The limited controversies of modern science and ethics perpetuate ‘technics’, a technical, problem-solving mindset that fails to grapple successfully with the complexity of technology. A critical dialectic between practice and scholarship widens the ethical conversation in nursing to consider technology as an ongoing set of daily and fundamental moral choices on how we live. Critical text on technology recovers ethics from the limits of technics, and assists nurses to develop an inherent knowedge of technology that is needed to provide ethical care in a technological world.
‘Healthy Viewing?’: experiencing life and death through a voyeuristic gaze
Authors: Kendrick Kevin David , Costello John
Published: November 2006

Recent times have witnessed a groundswell in the number of British television programmes that deal with the ‘real life’ experiences of people in various health care settings. Such programmes tend to focus upon the two interrelated strands of the experience of those who deliver professional care and those who are at the receiving end of it. The usual rationale given for such programmes is that they offer insights about the delivery of health care that are not readily accessible to members of the public.

This article will look beneath the rationale and reasons offered by programme makers for the existence of such documentaries. It will explore insidious and questionable elements that go beyond revealing the ‘lived experience’ of professional carers and those for whom they care. Emerging from this is the challenging notion that such programmes deliver the opportunity to experience the vulnerability, suffering and even death of others through a voyeuristic gaze.
The Morality of Treating Patients with Depot Neuroleptics: the experience of community psychiatric nurses
Authors: Svedberg Bodil , Hällström Tore , Lützén Kim
Published: November 2006

The aim of this qualitative study was to gain an understanding of the meaning that community psychiatric nurses impart to their everyday interactions with patients in depot neuroleptic treatment situations. Nine experienced community psychiatric nurses were interviewed using semistructured, open-ended questions. Data analysis was by the phenomenological descriptive method according to Giorgi. Four themes were identified, highlighting aspects of the moral meaning of treating patients with depot neuroleptics: (1) ‘benevolent justification’ occurs when nurses perceive that the patient’s welfare is at stake; (2) ‘inability to advocate the patients’ best interest’ occurs when nurses feel they are at a disadvantage; (3) ‘accommodative interactions’ occur when nurses are able to respond to a patient’s expressed needs; and (4) ‘acceptable advocacy’ occurs when physicians are sensitive to nurses’ suggestions on patients’ treatment. The findings indicate that treatment care planning involving both patients and nurses is essential to enhance patients’ autonomy, which is a precondition for satisfactory interactions.

This phenomenological study describes the meaning that nurses give to administering depot neuroleptic injections to patients in the context of community psychiatric clinics. The phenomenon of concern was identified as the moral aspect in the interactions with individual patients in the treatment situation.
Collective Fear, Individualized Risk: the social and cultural context of genetic testing forbreast cancer
Authors: Press Nancy , Fishman Jennifer R , Koenig Barbara A
Published: November 2006

The purpose of this article is to provide a critical examination of two aspects of culture and biomedicine that have helped to shape the meaning and practice of genetic testing for breast cancer. These are: (1) the cultural construction of fear of breast cancer, which has been fuelled in part by (2) the predominance of a ‘risk’ paradigm in contemporary biomedicine. The increasing elaboration and delineation of risk factors and risk numbers are in part intended to help women to contend with their fear of breast cancer. However, because there is no known cure or foolproof prevention for breast cancer, risk designations bring with them recommendations for vigilant surveillance strategies and screening guidelines. We argue that these in effect exacerbate women’s fears of breast cancer itself. The volatile combination of discourses of fear, risk and surveillance have significant ethical and social consequences for women’s lives and well-being. Genetic testing decisions are made within this context; if nurses understand this context they can play an important role in helping women to cope with the anxiety and fear of breast cancer risk.
Patient Participation in Decision Making at the End of Life as Seen by a Close Relative
Authors: Sahlberg-Blom Eva , Ternestedt Britt-Marie , Johansson Jan-Erik
Published: November 2006

The aim of the present study was to describe variations in patient participation in decisions about care planning during the final phase of life for a group of gravely ill patients, and how the different actors’ manner of acting promotes or impedes patient participation. Thirty-seven qualitative research interviews were conducted with relatives of the patients. The patients’ participation in the decisions could be categorized into four variations: self-determination, co-determination, delegation and nonparticipation. The manner in which patients, relatives and caregivers acted differed in the respective variations; this seemed either to promote or to impede the patients’ opportunities of participating in the decision making. The possibility for participation seems to be context dependent and affected by many factors such as the dying patient’s personality, the social network, the availability of different forms of care, cultural values, and the extent to which nurses and other caregivers of the different forms of care can and want to support the wishes of the patients and relatives in the decision-making process.
Nurses’ Ethical Conflicts: what is really known about them?
Authors: Redman Barbara K , Fry Sara T
Published: November 2006

The purpose of this article is to report what can be learned about nurses’ ethical conflicts by the systematic analysis of methodologically similar studies. Five studies were identified and analysed for: (1) the character of ethical conflicts experienced; (2) similarities and differences in how the conflicts were experienced and how they were resolved; and (3) ethical conflict themes underlying four specialty areas of nursing practice (diabetes education, paediatric nurse practitioner, rehabilitation and nephrology). The predominant character of the ethical conflicts was disagreement with the quality of medical care given to patients. A significant number of ethical conflicts were experienced as ‘moral distress’, the resolution of which was variable, depending on the specialty area of practice. Ethical conflict themes underlying the specialty areas included: differences in the definition of adequacy of care among professionals, the institution and society; differences in the philosophical orientations of nurses, physicians and other health professionals involved in patient care; a lack of respect for the knowledge and expertise of nurses in specialty practice; and difficulty in carrying out the nurse’s advocacy role for patients.
Should Screening of Student and Qualified Nurses for Bloodborne Infections be Compulsory and Infected Individuals Excluded from Work?
Authors: Leung Wai-Ching
Published: November 2006

Policies on whether student and qualified nurses should be screened for bloodborne infections and whether infected individuals should be excluded from work must be based on sound ethical principles. Patients have rights, and nurses and employers have duties to respect these rights. However, nurses also have rights that must be respected by their employers and the State. Balancing these competing rights and duties is a complex procedure. In this article, these rights and duties are discussed and applied to a selection of issues.
European Experiences of Ethics Committees
Authors: Tschudin Verena
Published: November 2006

The term ‘ethics committees’ is used for very different things in different parts of the world. In Europe, ethics committees are generally concerned only with research and (apart from Belgium where the same committees deal with both aspects) do not have anything to do with decision making in clinical situations.

This article traces the history of ethics committees in the UK and some of the problems encountered by them. It goes on to detail the situation in a number of other European countries. Some topics of research touched on and published in articles in Nursing Ethics are then highlighted, thus making it clear that it is written from my perspective as the Editor of Nursing Ethics and with the help of some of the members of the Editorial Board. Finally, a number of questions are asked and answers attempted concerning the interests served by ethics committees.
Is In-Vitro Fertilization for Older Women Ethical? a personal perspective
Authors: Perla Lisa
Published: November 2006

Fertility treatments raise a range of social and ethical issues regarding self-identity for family, sexual intimacy, and the interests and welfare of potential children. Eggs and sperm are combined to produce fertilized eggs. These eggs are then implanted as embryos and grow into viable fetuses, which are carried by the original mother or a surrogate mother. This artificial form of conception can challenge religious values and family structures.

In-vitro fertilization (IVF) can be considered either as a medical miracle or playing with divinity. What obligation do medical professionals have to infertile women and to what extent? The bioethical dilemma of IVF use encompasses different moral issues for all involved in the process. Ethical issues address respect for personal autonomy, access and care, and the duty of the health care provider to be compassionate to persons whose actions and moral values may be different from their own. Health care providers need to impart empathy, understanding and sensitivity towards this unique type of patient population. The conflict for those treating patients who are trying to conceive by IVF includes respect for personal autonomy, nonmaleficence, justice, utility and the ethics of care. As a registered nurse in a postpartum hospital unit, I have seen antepartum and postpartum women involved with this new technology. I have worked with mothers and their partners as they experience different levels of anxiety and hope for the future. There is an underlying psychosocial connection with patients who undergo IVF treatments. The purpose of this article is to explore the ethical use of IVF on older women. Is this type of biotechnolgy being applied for the right reasons and for the best patient population?
The Conundrum of Children in the Us Health Care System
Authors: Mohr Wanda K , Kennedy Sheila Suess
Published: November 2006

One area in which children’s rights are rarely considered in the USA is that of autonomy over their bodies. This right is routinely ignored in the arena of health care decision making. Children are routinely excluded from expressing their opinions involving medical decisions that affect them. This article discusses the complex reasons why children’s voices are typically not heard in the USA, the consequences of their disempowerment, and the ethical obligations of health care providers to advocate for the rights of children, even in the absence of a legal mandate to do so.
Human Rights Education for Nursing Students
Authors: Chamberlain Mark
Published: November 2006

This article is based largely on a research study undertaken by the author into the teaching of human rights in nursing courses in the UK on behalf of the national section of the human rights organization Amnesty International. It attempts to provide a baseline estimate of human rights education in nursing curricula in the UK while making suggestions on how the teaching of human rights issues could be more clearly incorporated into nursing curricula, ending with some recommendations for further research.
Key Points for Developing an International Declaration on Nursing, Human Rights, Human Genetics and Public Health Policy
Authors: Anderson Gwen , Rorty Mary Varney
Published: November 2006

Human rights legislation pertaining to applications of human genetic science is still lacking at an international level. Three international human rights documents now serve as guidelines for countries wishing to develop such legislation. These were drafted and adopted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the Human Genome Organization, and the Council of Europe. It is critically important that the international nursing community makes known its philosophy and practice-based knowledge relating to ethics and human rights, and contributes to the globalization of genetics. Nurses have particular expertise because they serve in a unique role at grass roots level to mediate between genetic science and its application to public health policies and medical interventions. As a result, nurses worldwide need to focus a constant eye on human rights ideals and interpret these within social, cultural, economic and political contexts at national and local levels.

The purpose of this article is to clarify and legitimate the need for an international declaration on nursing, human rights, human genetics and public health policy. Because nurses around the world are the professional workforce by which genetic health care services and genetic research protocols will be delivered in the twenty-first century, members of the discipline of nursing need to think globally while acting locally. Above all other disciplines involved in genetics, nursing is in a good position to articulate an expanded theory of ethics beyond the principled approach of biomedical ethics. Nursing is sensitive to cultural diversity and community values; it is sympathetic to and can introduce an ethic of caring and relational ethics that listen to and accommodate the needs of local people and their requirements for public health.
Relief of Suffering and Regard for Personhood: nurses’ ethical concerns in Japan and the USA
Authors: Doutrich Dawn , Wros Peggy , Izumi Shigeko
Published: November 2006

The ethical concerns of Japanese nurses are compared with those of previously described nurses from the USA. Patient comfort was a primary concern of nurses from both countries. Participants described an ethical imperative to provide adequate pain medication for patients and prevent unnecessary and uncomfortable invasive tests and procedures, especially at the end of life as the focus changed from ‘cure’ to ‘care’. The notion of regard for personhood varied, based on the communication styles and definition of the self inherent in the different cultures of the nurses. A common meaning centred around knowing patients as persons, listening to their needs and preferences, supporting their everyday choices through advocacy, and maintaining their dignity. Despite background cultural differences, there are common ethical concerns between nurses in Japan and the USA. This article invites readers to reflect on everyday nursing practices that exemplify ethical expertise, and the significance of this expertise in uncovering and articulating nursing ethics across cultures.
End-of-Life Treatment Preferences Among Older Adults
Authors: Nahm Eun-Shim , Resnick Barbara
Published: November 2006

With the advancement of medical technology, various life-sustaining treatments are available at the end of life. Older adults should be encouraged to establish their end-of-life treatment preferences (ELTP) while they are physically and mentally able to do so. The purpose of this study was to explore ELTP among older adults and to compare those preferences in a subset of individuals who had reported their ELTP in a survey completed the previous year. This was a descriptive study of 191 older adults living in a continuing care retirement community. Approximately half of the participants did not want cardiopulmonary resuscitation, to be put on a respirator, or to receive dialysis. The findings in this study suggest that many older adults do not want aggressive interventions at the end of life, but choose rather those measures that will keep them comfortable. Moreover, treatment choices may change over time. Health care providers should initiate discussions about ELTP at regular intervals (yearly) to assist older adults in dictating their end-of-life care.
Teaching Ethics in Nursing
Authors: Dinç Leyla , Görgülü Refia Selma
Published: November 2006

Being a professional nurse requires ethical decision making and this in turn necessitates an effective learning process. The active participation of students in the teaching of ethics will contribute to this process.

This study was conducted at Hacettepe University School of Nursing, Ankara, Turkey, to determine the views of students about the nursing ethics content in the curriculum, the examination system, and some educational characteristics of the teachers responsible for the course. The sample comprised 113 students who participated voluntarily.

In general, the students expressed a positive view relating to the course content and the teachers. The majority stated that the discussions on case study analysis by using ethical principles, rights, legal aspects and the use of the International Council of Nurses Code of Ethics were very useful in developing ethical decision-making skills. We believe that the results of this study will enhance our efforts in amending this course and improving the ethical decision-making skills of our students.