bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Cinema of Social Conscience: An Interview with Ken Loach
Authors: Cardullo Bert
Published: June 2011

This interview with Ken Loach took place in July 2009 at his home in Bath, England. Unquestionably one of Britain's most important filmmakers, Loach is best known for his gritty and compassionate portrayals of working-class life. Early in his career, a series of socially conscious films established the fact that Loach was both a skillful artist and a crusading social critic. Cathy Come Home (1966) was one of his most successful early efforts. Loach's films can be divided into two broad categories—intimate family dramas that illuminate the politics of everyday life and more militant films determined to skewer both the forces of political reactionism and the reformist wing of the labor movement. The first category is best personified by the now classic Kes (1969), while The Big Flame (1969) typifies the more didactic strand in Loach's work. Ironically enough, the Thatcher-Major era, usually considered the most dismal epoch of the twentieth century by British radicals, engendered Loach's most productive and artistically satisfying period, during which he produced a series of award-winning feature films: Riff-Raff (1990), Raining Stones (1993), and Ladybird, Ladybird (1994). With his no-frills visual style and lean, sequential narratives, Loach is not out to impress anyone with technique. Another defining trait in Loach's oeuvre is that he often casts unknowns and nonprofessionals for leading roles. In his conversation with Bert Cardullo, the director discusses this aspect of his work as well as many others, including artistic influences, politics, cinematography, script-writing, and artistic collaboration.
What's Left for Latin American Cultural Studies?
Authors: McClennen Sophia A.
Published: June 2011

This essay focuses on the role of the Left—as idea, as subject, as method, and as political praxis—in Latin American cultural studies. It briefly traces some of the key connections between Latin American cultural studies and Left politics to give readers less familiar with the field a sense of how these traditions have developed in relation to key historical shifts. It then moves to consider some of the current challenges to the Left work of Latin American cultural studies, especially as articulated in response to neoliberal forms of capital. The essay argues that Latin American cultural studies has had to confront the ways in which neoliberalism, as both ideology and economy, necessarily adjusts the ontological frameworks—such as the working class, the subaltern, the nation, the popular, the post-colonial, and “the people”—that have tended to organize Left political resistance. Given the fact that neoliberalism emerged as a force for social restructuring in Latin America at least a decade prior to its appearance in the United States and Europe, some of the insights of Latin American cultural studies scholars might well offer productive critical avenues for cultural studies scholars working outside the Latin American context.
Evolving Work Routines: Adaptive Routinization of Information Technology in Healthcare
Authors: Goh Jie Mein , Gao Guodong (Gordon) , Agarwal Ritu
Published: June 2011

Despite the significant potential for performance gains from health IT (HIT), there has been limited study of the mechanisms underlying successful HIT implementations. We conducted an extensive longitudinal field study to gain an understanding of the interplay between technology and patterns of clinical work embodied in routines. We use the analytical device of narrative networks to identify where and how HIT influences patterns of work. We further draw upon adaptive structuration theory to conceptualize HIT as an intervention that alters the flow of events in a narrative network. Our findings suggest that the key to successful implementation is to manage the co-evolution process between routines and HIT and to actively orchestrate a virtuous cycle through agentic action. We propose a dynamic process model of adaptive routinization of HIT that delineates the major channels through which HIT and routines interact, identifies the different stages in the dynamic co-evolution process, and isolates the pivotal role of two forms of agency in enabling the virtuous cycle of co-evolution. This is one of the first studies to offer a processual, microlevel analysis of HIT implementation in a clinical setting.
DNA Methylation of Tumor Suppressor and Metastasis Suppressor Genes in Circulating Tumor Cells
Authors: Chimonidou Maria , Strati Areti , Tzitzira Alexandra , Sotiropoulou Georgia , Malamos Nikos , Georgoulias Vasilis , Lianidou Evi S
Published: June 2011

BACKGROUND

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are associated with prognosis in a variety of human cancers and have been proposed as a liquid biopsy for follow-up examinations. We show that tumor suppressor and metastasis suppressor genes are epigenetically silenced in CTCs isolated from peripheral blood of breast cancer patients.

METHODS

We obtained peripheral blood from 56 patients with operable breast cancer, 27 patients with verified metastasis, and 23 healthy individuals. We tested DNA extracted from the EpCAM-positive immunomagnetically selected CTC fraction for the presence of methylated and unmethylated CST6, BRMS1, and SOX17 promoter sequences by methylation-specific PCR (MSP). All samples were checked for KRT19 (keratin 19, formerly CK-19) expression by reverse-transcription quantitative PCR.

RESULTS

In CTCs of patients with operable breast cancer, promoter methylation of CST6 was observed in 17.9%, BRMS1 in 32.1%, and SOX17 in 53.6% of patients. In CTCs of patients with verified metastasis, promoter methylation of CST6 was observed in 37.0%, BRMS1 in 44.4%, and SOX17 in 74.1%. In healthy individuals, promoter methylation of CST6 was observed in 4.3%, BRMS1 in 8.7%, and SOX17 in 4.3%. DNA methylation of these genes for both operable and metastatic breast cancer was significantly different from that of the control population.

CONCLUSIONS

DNA methylation of tumor suppressor and metastasis suppressor genes is a hallmark of CTCs and confirms their heterogeneity. Our findings add a new dimension to the molecular characterization of CTCs and may underlie the acquisition of malignant properties, including their stem-like phenotype.
“In Bacteria Land”: The Battle over Raw Milk
Authors: mendelson anne
Published: June 2011

Beginning at around 1893, America’s initial raw milk wars pitted proponents of pasteurized milk against advocates of a complex scheme for “certifying” clean, uncontaminated raw milk. The certification program, unsuited to modern commercial economies of scale, soon faded into obscurity. When a new version of the raw milk movement began gathering strength in the 1970s, scarcely anyone remembered the terms on which a certain amount of rational debate had once taken place. Part of the reason is that over the course of the twentieth century, the scale and structure of the fluid milk industry had undergone drastic changes that turned a highly variable, fragile product into a nearly featureless one poorly understood by consumers, regulators, or polemicists. Meanwhile, new dairying and processing practices had begun creating hospitable conditions for pathogens that were unknown during the first controversies but that urgently need to be considered today. Unfortunately, discussion of the raw milk question is now almost wholly dictated by intolerant ideologues on both sides, in an atmosphere of profound historical amnesia. Given the great complexity of the issues involved and the serious implications for public health, the general tone of debate is at best counterproductive.
The Last Supper
Authors: green julie
Published: June 2011

Texas, home to cattle ranches and more death-row executions than any other state, doesn’t allow steak for a final meal. If you order steak in Texas, you get hamburger. I have always been focused on food. As a kid, I won eating contests; these days I grow organic produce. The years I spent in Oklahoma, which has the highest per capita rate of executions, turned my interest in food toward final meals.

The Last Supper is a series of ceramic plates illustrating final meal requests in the United States. Starting in Norma, Oklahoma in 1999, I have painted 420 plates to date. I plan to continue adding fifty more each year until capital punishment is abolished.

When looking at the inmates’ humble choices, it is important to note that while rituals and traditions vary, most states limit final-meal allowances to twenty dollars. Maryland is the only state that does not allow any meal selection. A last cigarette is permitted in some prisons. Alcohol is prohibited in all. Texas denies bubble gum. Sometimes requests provide clues about personality, race, and region. An Oregon inmate’s final meal request closed with “I would appreciate the eggs hot.” And who wouldn’t?

The Last Supper plates have travelled to nine states and the UK. The project has been included in the book Confrontational Ceramics by Judith Schwartz, on the radio program The Splendid Table and on Southern California Public Radio.
The Landreth Seed Company: Testing Ground for a New American Cuisine
Authors: weaver william woys
Published: June 2011

This article traces the important botanical and culinary contributions of Philadelphia’s historic Landreth Seed Company, founded in 1784 by English-born David Landreth (1752–1828) and continued and enlarged by his son David Landreth II (1802–1880). The firm created a long list of American horticultural classics that are still being grown today, including Green Glaze Collards (1820), Jackson Wonder Bush Lima (1888), Bonny Best Tomato (1908). The family’s Bloomsdale Farm near Bristol in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, became the country’s leading producer and exporter of agricultural seeds, thus globalizing the Landreth contribution to world horticulture by the end of the nineteenth century. The company is still in business today, although under different ownership.
John James Audubon's Tastes of America
Authors: riely elizabeth gawthrop
Published: June 2011

John James Audubon (1785–1851), the ornithologist and artist, traveled widely through the great American wilderness searching for bird specimens to draw for what became The Birds of America (1827–38). He observed them closely in their natural environment, keeping detailed field notes and journals under difficult conditions. Out of curiosity and hunger, he often cooked and ate these birds after drawing them and wrote down how they tasted—another kind of evidence. The article concentrates on his written descriptions (lively, humorous, wry, or astonished) and tasting notes in the wild.

Audubon traveled down the Mississippi River to New Orleans, north to Labrador, south to the Florida Keys, and later, when searching for mammals to draw for The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America, northwest up the Missouri River. There he wrote about hunting American buffalo (bison), sometimes comparing customs and rituals of white hunters and various Indian tribes, and even sampled dog served by a Blackfoot princess.

During the western expansion of the early nineteenth century, Audubon witnessed and recorded profound changes in the American landscape. Settlers’ encroachment on habitat and hunters’ wanton destruction of wildlife increasingly alarmed him. He presaged the extinction of some species whose habits and tastes he described. Conservation is an implicit theme.
Roasting Green Wheat in Galilee
Authors: rosner abbie
Published: June 2011

Roasted green wheat, known as farike, is a favored ingredient in Arab cuisine, where it is served as a cooked grain side-dish or used to enrich and flavor farike soup. The author describes joining a local Palestinian farming family (fellaheen) in a Galilee wheat field, in the traditional process of harvesting green wheat to produce farike. This involved topping off the wheat by hand using a sickle, and roasting the ears with an open flame. After drying and threshing, the kernels of roasted wheat were further milled, coarsely for cooking as a side dish and finely for using in soup. Roasted wheat is a food described in the Old Testament and the traditional system for producing farike that is still being used by a few fellaheen in the Galilee is based on age-old agricultural practices. Yet because of the intensity of the labor and poor economic returns of producing farike, the prospect that this tradition will continue into future generations does not seem promising.
The First Vaulted Churches in Cyprus
Authors: Stewart Charles Anthony
Published: June 2011

The reroofing of a group of Early Christian basilicas on the Karpas peninsula is the subject of The First Vaulted Churches in Cyprus. Charles Anthony Stewart argues that the barrel vaults, which replaced the wooden roofs of these churches, can be dated to the late seventh or early eighth century. Mustering all the evidence now available and placing these monuments in their historical context, he confirms the consensus about dating that was reached, but not fully argued, by investigating archaeologists in the 1970s, Andreas Dikigoropoulos, Athanasios Papageorghiou, and A. H. S. Megaw. When these churches were rebuilt in the seventh and eighth centuries, Cyprus was a neutral state divided between the Arab Caliphate and the Byzantine Empire. In this environment, builders experimented with methods to erect and support heavy vaulting while maintaining the traditional basilical form. Their designs foreshadowed the later development of Romanesque architecture in the West.
A Window in the Venetian Mint and the Libreria di San Marco
Authors: Johnson Eugene J.
Published: June 2011

The lively, decades-long scholarly debate about the length that Jacopo Sansovino originally planned for his Libreria di San Marco in Venice (begun 1537) is the subject of A Window in the Venetian Mint and the Libreria di San Marco. Did Sansovino intend the building to have seventeen bays, or the present twenty-one? The question is important, because the Libreria plays a crucial role in the city's famous central urban space, Piazza San Marco. Eugene J. Johnson brings new evidence to the discussion, having discovered inside the Libreria a walled-up window that once opened into the east wall of the Sansovino's contemporaneous Venetian Mint, or Zecca. The window offers an opportunity to reconsider the arguments, and Johnson concludes that Sansovino had envisioned the longer, twenty-one bay building from the outset.
Breaking the Taboo: Architects and Advertising in Depression and War
Authors: Shanken Andrew M.
Published: June 2011

Breaking the Taboo: Architects and Advertising in Depression and War chronicles the fall of a professional interdiction in architecture, precipitated by the Second World War. For much of the history of their profession in the United States, architects—unlike builders and engineers, their main competition—faced censure from the American Institute of Architects if they advertised their services. Architects established models of professional behavior intended to hold them apart from the commercial realm. Andrew M. Shanken explores how the Great Depression and the Second World War strained this outdated model of practice, placing architects within consumer culture in more conspicuous ways, redefining the architect's role in society and making public relations an essential part of presenting the profession to the public. Only with the unification of the AIA after the war would architects conduct a modern public relations campaign, but the taboo had begun to erode in the 1930s and early 1940s, setting the stage for the emergence of the modern profession.
Expressing the Modern: Barry Byrne in 1920s Europe
Authors: Michael Vincent L.
Published: June 2011

The 1923 European trip undertaken by Francis Barry Byrne and his collaborator, the sculptor Alfonso Iannelli, is the subject of Expressing the Modern: Barry Byrne in 1920s Europe. As vividly recorded in the letters written by Byrne to his future wife, he and Iannelli visited the Weimar Bauhaus and met with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Erich Mendelsohn, J. J. P. Oud, T. H. Wijdeveld, and other leading modernists. Byrne, who trained in Frank Lloyd Wright's first studio, was especially drawn to the work of the expressionists, and Vincent L. Michael associates Byrne's distinctive architecture with that strain of modernism and with the liturgical reform movement that he helped to promote within the Catholic church, his most significant patron. In 1928 Byrne became the only Prairie School architect to build in Europe with the commission for Christ the King church in Cork, Ireland, and he continued to design modern churches into the 1960s.
Controlling Sexually Violent Predators: Continued Incarceration At What Cost?
Authors: Lave Tamara Rice
Published: June 2011

Sexually violent predator (SVP) laws are inherently suspicious because they continue to incarcerate people not because of what they have done, but because of what they might do. I focus on three major criticisms of the laws. First, I use recent recidivism data to challenge the core motivation for the SVP laws—that sex offenders are monsters who cannot control themselves. Second, I situate the laws theoretically as examples of what Feeley and Simon call the “new penology. ” I argue that the SVP laws show the limited promise of the new penology— that we can use science to predict risk accurately—because the actuarial instruments used in SVP determinations make many mistakes. In making this argument, I focus particularly on the most commonly used such instrument, the Static-99. Finally, I argue that the Static-99 fails to meet the constitutional criteria laid out by the U.S. Supreme Court in Kansas v. Hendricks because it does not link an individual's mental illness to his dangerousness.
Jury Trial in Austria
Authors: Taylor Greg
Published: June 2011

Austria has had a system of jury trial, with some interruptions, since 1848. Although Austrian jury trial was derived from England via France, little is known about it in the common law world. This article commences with an overview of the history of jury trial in Austria and of the constitutional protection it currently enjoys. Then the major differences between Austrian jury trial and the common law's model of jury trial are analyzed, and the system of appeals is described. It will be seen that much of trial practice and the appeals system is either an attempt to adapt a transplanted institution to the inquisitorial system and/or a result of the “Austrofascist” dictatorship's so-called reforms of 1933–1934. Austrian jury trial has not fared well in the inquisitorial environment, a state of affairs that does not result from any fundamental incompatibility between the inquisitorial system and jury trial but rather from a lack of enthusiasm for jury trial among the Austrian legal elite.
Identity Politics and the Fragmenting of the 1970s Evangelical Left
Authors: Swartz David R.
Published: June 2011

In the early 1970s, a group of progressive evangelicals challenged the mid-century cultural conservatism of their tradition. Activists associated with Reformed, Anabaptist, and neo-evangelical institutions denounced militarism, racism, sexism, economic injustice, and President Richard Nixon's “lust for and abuse of power.” When this coalition met in 1973 to issue the Chicago Declaration, delegates effused a profound sense of optimism. The evangelical left held very real potential for political impact.

Within a decade, however, the movement seemed to be in disarray. This article suggests the centrality of identity politics to evangelicalism in the 1970s and outlines the fragmentation of the progressive evangelical coalition along gender, racial, and theological lines. The formation of the Evangelical Women's Caucus, the growing stridency of the National Black Evangelical Association, and the divergence of Anabaptist-oriented Evangelicals for Social Action and the Reformed-oriented Association for Public Justice sapped the evangelical left of needed resources and contributed to its impotence into the 1980s. The forces of identity politics, which also plagued the broader political left, were powerful enough to sabotage even a group of evangelicals with remarkably similar theological convictions, religious cultures, and critiques of conservative politics. The story of the fragmenting evangelical left, however, reflects more than broader culture's preoccupation with identity. It points to often-overlooked religious elements of the broader left. And alongside the New Left and the New Right, the evangelical left's debates over racial, sexual, and theological difference added to the disruptions of the liberal consensus in the 1960s and 1970s.
Multiple Imputation of Missing Phenotype Data for QTL Mapping
Authors: Bobb Jennifer F , Scharfstein Daniel O. , Daniels Michael J. , Collins Francis S , Kelada Samir
Published: June 2011

Missing phenotype data can be a major hurdle to mapping quantitative trait loci (QTL). Though in many cases experiments may be designed to minimize the occurrence of missing data, it is often unavoidable in practice; thus, statistical methods to account for missing data are needed. In this paper we describe an approach for conjoining multiple imputation and QTL mapping. Methods are applied to map genes associated with increased breathing effort in mice after lung inflammation due to allergen challenge in developing lines of the Collaborative Cross, a new mouse genetics resource. Missing data poses a particular challenge in this study because the desired phenotype summary to be mapped is a function of incompletely observed dose-response curves. Comparison of the multiple imputation approach to two naive approaches for handling missing data suggest that these simpler methods may yield poor results: ignoring missing data through a complete case analysis may lead to incorrect conclusions, while using a last observation carried forward procedure, which does not account for uncertainty in the imputed values, may lead to anti-conservative inference. The proposed approach is widely applicable to other studies with missing phenotype data.
Thermal Inactivation of Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris in a Model Food
Authors: Jovetta Marina Pereira , Augusto Pedro Esteves Duarte , Tribst Alline Artigiani Lima , Conti Maria Josiane , Cristianini Marcelo
Published: June 2011

Thermal process is among the safer and most used food preservation technique. The utilization of model foods in thermal processes studies has several advantages, and the determination of microorganisms thermal inactivation kinetics in model foods is extremely interesting for studying thermal processes and heat transfer. This work has determined the thermal inactivation kinetics of Alicyclobacillus acidoterretris in a liquid model food, thus providing subsidies for thermal process studies and design. The A. acidoterretris thermal inactivation was determined through the three-neck flask method, and was well described according to a first order kinetics. The D85°C, D88°C, D92°C and D95°C values were 105.4 min, 2.75 min, 7.0 min and 2.3 min, respectively. The observed z-value was 6.1°C. Due to the lack of such data in literature, the obtained results contribute to future studies on food thermal processes.
Phenolics content and antioxidant capacity of commercial red fruit juices
Authors: Mitic Milan , Obradovic Mirjana , Kostic Danijela , Naskovic Danijela , Micic Ruzica
Published: June 2011

The content of phenolics: total phenols (TP), flavonoids (TF), anthocyanins
(TA) and hydroxicinnamic acid as well as the total antioxidant capacity (TAC)
in nine commercial red fruit juices (sour cherry, black currant, red grape)
produced in Serbia were evaluated. The total compounds content was measured
by spectrophotometric methods, TAC was determined using DPPH assays, and
individual anthocyanins and hydroxycinnamic acids was determined using
HPLC-DAD methods. Among the examined fruit juices, the black currant juices
contained the highest amounts of all groups of the phenolics and exhibited
strong antioxidant capacity. The amount of anthocyanins determined by HPLC
method ranged from 92.36 to 512.73 mg/L in red grape and black currant
juices, respectively. The anthocyanins present in the investigated red fruit
juices were derivatives of cyanidin, delphinidin, petunidin, peonidin and
malvidin. The predominant phenolic acid was neoclorogenic acid in sour
cherry, caffeic acid in black currant, and p-coumaric acid in black grape
juices. Generally, the red fruit juices produced in the Serbia are a rich
source of the phenolic, which show evident antioxidant capacity.
Response surface optimisation for activation of bentonite with microwave irradiation
Authors: Rozic Ljiljana , Petrovic Srdjan , Vukovic Zorica , Novakovic Tatjana , Stanisavljev Dragomir
Published: June 2011

In this study, the statistical design of the experimental method was applied
on the acid activation process of bentonite with microwave irradiation. The
influence of activation parameters (time, acid normality and microwave
heating power) on the selected process response of the activated bentonite
samples was studied. The specific surface area was chosen for the process
response, because the chemical, surface and structural properties of the
activated clay determine and limit its potential applications. The
relationship of various process parameters with the specific surface area of
bentonite was examined. A mathematical model was developed using a
second-order response surface model (RSM) with a central composite design
incorporating the above mentioned process parameters. The mathematical model
developed helped in predicting the variation in specific surface area of
activated bentonite with time (5-21 min), acid normality (2-7 N) and
microwave heating power (63-172 W). The calculated regression models were
found to be statistically significant at the required range and presented
little variability. Furthermore, high values of R2 (0.957) and R2 (adjusted)
(0.914) indicate a high dependence and correlation between the observed and
the predicted values of the response. These high values also indicate that
about 96% of the result of the total variation can be explained by this
model. In addition, the model shows that increasing the time and acid
normality improves the textural properties of bentonites, resulting in
increased specific surface area. This model also can be useful for setting an
optimum value of the activation parameters for achieving the maximum specific
surface area. An optimum specific surface area of 142 m2g-1 was achieved with
an acid normality of 5.2 N, activation time of 7.38 min and microwave power
of 117 W. Acid activation of bentonite was found to occur faster with
microwave irradiation than with conventional heating. Microwave-assisted
processes have the potential to develop into a cost efficient route for acid
activation of bentonite.
In Vitro Comparison of Microleakage of Posterior Resin Composites With and Without Liner Using Two-Step Etch-and-Rinse and Self-etch Dentin Adhesive Systems
Authors: Kasraei S , Azarsina M , Majidi S
Published: June 2011

Clinical Relevance

The use of resin-modified glass ionomers as cavity liners in the closed-sandwich technique reduced microleakage in Class II composite restorations.
ONCE MORE INTO THE FRAY: CHALLENGES FOR LEGAL POSITIVISM
Authors: Kramer Matthew H.
Published: June 2011

In a number of recent writings (including an article published in this journal), Nigel Simmonds has endeavoured to rebut the insistence of legal positivists on the separability of law and morality. The present article responds to his challenges by showing that he has overlooked many important conceptual distinctions and by pointing out that he relies on empirical assumptions that are neither substantiated nor credible. Having striven mightily to bring about the downfall of legal positivism, Simmonds has unwittingly reinforced it by revealing the sheer implausibility of the doctrines that are opposed to it.
FEDERAL JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS: A LOOK AT PATRONAGE IN FEDERAL APPOINTMENTS SINCE 1988
Authors: Riddell Troy , Hausegger Lori , Hennigar Matthew
Published: June 2011

The article investigates whether the new screening system introduced by the federal government in 1988 for appointing judges (below the Supreme Court level) has reduced the influence of patronage in the federal judicial appointment process. To analyse this question, we examined whether judicial appointees from 1989 through 2003 donated to a political party, particularly the party that appointed them, up to five years prior to their appointment. We found that almost one-third of appointees had donated to the party in power and that these numbers were relatively consistent between the Mulroney and Chrétien governments. The number of party donors and the fact that so few appointees had donated to parties other than the one in power suggest that the screening-committee system has done little to curtail patronage in the appointment process. In addition to reporting on political donations by candidates, the article summarizes their gender and legal background characteristics. The article places the discussion of patronage and judicial appointments in the larger context of the role of courts in Canada's system of governance and, in doing so, discusses the relationship between judicial appointments and judicial independence. Our findings and the more general discussion are placed in a comparative context.
Alternatives to the Least Squares Solution to Peelle’s Pertinent Puzzle
Authors: Burr Tom , Graves Todd , Hengartner Nicolas , Kawano Toshihiko , Pan Feng , Talou Patrick
Published: June 2011

Peelle’s Pertinent Puzzle (PPP) was described in 1987 in the context of estimating fundamental parameters that arise in nuclear interaction experiments. In PPP, generalized least squares (GLS) parameter estimates fell outside the range of the data, which has raised concerns that GLS is somehow flawed and has led to suggested alternatives to GLS estimators. However, there have been no corresponding performance comparisons among methods, and one suggested approach involving simulated data realizations is statistically incomplete. Here we provide performance comparisons among estimators, introduce approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) using density estimation applied to simulated data realizations to produce an alternative to the incomplete approach, complete the incompletely specified approach, and show that estimation error in the assumed covariance matrix cannot always be ignored.
Review of Histopathological and Molecular Prognostic Features in Colorectal Cancer
Authors: Marzouk Ola , Schofield John
Published: June 2011

Prediction of prognosis in colorectal cancer is vital for the choice of therapeutic options. Histopathological factors remain paramount in this respect. Factors such as tumor size, histological type and subtype, presence of signet ring morphology and the degree of differentiation as well as the presence of lymphovascular invasion and lymph node involvement are well known factors that influence outcome. Our understanding of these factors has improved in the past few years with factors such as tumor budding, lymphocytic infiltration being recognized as important. Likewise the prognostic significance of resection margins, particularly circumferential margins has been appreciated in the last two decades. A number of molecular and genetic markers such as KRAS, BRAF and microsatellite instability are also important and correlate with histological features in some patients. This review summarizes our current understanding of the main histopathological factors that affect prognosis of colorectal cancer.
Special Issue: Challenges in City Design: Realize the Value of Cities
Authors: Yu Kongjian
Published: June 2011

In 1900, only about 13% of the world’s population lived in cities; now the figure has increased to over 50%, and is expected to reach 60% by populations in cities and suburban areas, developing countries are still in the process of urbanization. Every day, hundreds and thousands of people move to the city. Why do we choose to concentrate ourselves in cities? What is the value of cities? What do cities offer us? [...]
Petri Net Model and Reliability Evaluation for Wind Turbine Hydraulic Variable Pitch Systems
Authors: Yang Xiyun , Li Jinxia , Liu Wei , Guo Peng
Published: June 2011

Based on an analysis of the working principles of the hydraulic variable pitch system of a wind turbine, a novel Petri net model and reliability evaluation method are proposed. First, Petri net theory is adopted to build a model for each discrete state of the operation of the hydraulic pitch system of the wind turbine and at the same time a fault Petri net model is established. Then through qualitative analysis and quantitative calculations based on the fault Petri net, the system reliability indexes are obtained. During the qualitative analysis process, in order to more conveniently find the minimal cut sets of the fault Petri net, a Visual C++ 6.0-based algorithm is compiled and the minimal cut sets are tested correctly with another method. During the quantitative calculation process, the fault probability has been obtained from the equations according to the fault probability of libraries and transitions between different states. Not only does the proposed Petri net describe the structure, function and operation of the hydraulic pitch system with a graphic language, but the fault Petri net model can also clearly express the logical relations among faults. The novel Petri net model offers simple calculations and the prospect of broad applicability and the new reliability evaluation method provides an important reference for the performance evaluation of these systems.
The Applications of GIS in the Analysis of the Impacts of Human Activities on South Texas Watersheds
Authors: Merem Edmund C. , Yerramilli Sudha , Twumasi Yaw A. , Wesley Joan M. , Robinson Bennetta , Richardson Chandra
Published: June 2011

With water resource planning assuming greater importance in environmental protection efforts, analyzing the health of agricultural watersheds using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) becomes essential for decision-makers in Southern Texas. Within the area, there exist numerous threats from conflicting land uses. These include the conversion of land formerly designated for agricultural purposes to other uses. Despite current efforts, anthropogenic factors are greatly contributing to the degradation of watersheds. Additionally, the activities of waste water facilities located in some of the counties, rising populations, and other socioeconomic variables are negatively impacting the quality of water in the agricultural watersheds. To map the location of these stressors spatially and the extent of their impacts across time, the paper adopts a mix scale method of temporal spatial analysis consisting of simple descriptive statistics. In terms of objectives, this research provides geo-spatial analysis of the effects of human activities on agricultural watersheds in Southern Texas and the factors fuelling the concerns under the purview of watershed management. The results point to growing ecosystem decline across time and a geographic cluster of counties experiencing environmental stress. Accordingly, the emergence of stressors such as rising population, increased use of fertilizer treatments on farm land, discharges of atmospheric pollutants and the large presence of municipal and industrial waste treatment facilities emitting pathogens and pesticides directly into the agricultural watersheds pose a growing threat to the quality of the watershed ecosystem.
Relationship between Medication Use and Cardiovascular Disease Health Outcomes in the Jackson Heart Study
Authors: Addison Clifton C. , Jenkins Brenda W. , Sarpong Daniel , Wilson Gregory , Champion Cora , Sims Jeraline , White Monique S.
Published: June 2011

Even though some medications have the potential to slow the progress of atherosclerosis and development of CVD, there are many at-risk individuals who continue to resist the benefits that are available by not following the advice of medical professionals. Non-adherence to prescribed drug regimens is a pervasive medical problem that negatively affects treatment outcomes. Information from standardized interviews of 5301 African Americans participating in the Jackson Heart Study was examined to determine the association between demographic parameters, behavior including adherence to prescribed medical regimens, and health outcomes. Data were also collected at Annual Follow-Up and Surveillance visits. During the two weeks prior to the examination visit, almost 52% of the participants reported taking blood pressure medication, 14% took cholesterol medication, 16% took medication for diabetes, and 19% took blood thinning medication. Of those who did not take the prescribed medications, the reasons given were the following: 47% were in a hurry, too busy, or forgot to take medications; 23% were trying to do without medications; 18% had no money to purchase medications; 19% indicated that the medications made them feel bad; 17% felt that they could not carry out daily functions when taking medications. The African American population can benefit from heightened awareness of the risk factors that are associated with CVD and the benefits of following a prescribed treatment regimen. Unacceptable secondary effects of prescribed medication comprised an important cause of non-compliance. Encouragement of this population to communicate with their healthcare providers to ensure that medication regimens are better tolerated could increase compliance and improve health outcomes.
Seventh International Symposium on Recent Advances in Environmental Health Research
Authors: Tchounwou Paul B.
Published: June 2011

This special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is dedicated to the publication of selected papers presented at the Seventh International Symposium on Recent Advances in Environmental Health Research. The Symposium was organized by Jackson State University (JSU) from September 12–15, 2010 at the Marriott Hotel in Jackson, Mississippi. It was built upon the overwhelming success of previous symposia hosted by JSU and co-sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) RCMI-Center for Environmental Health, the U.S. Department of Education Title III Graduate Education Program, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the JSU Office of Academic Affairs, and the JSU Office of Research and Federal Relations. [...]
TNF-α-Induced VEGF and MMP-9 Expression Promotes Hemorrhagic Transformation in Pituitary Adenomas
Authors: Xiao Zhengzheng , Liu Qin , Mao Feng , Wu Jun , Lei Ting
Published: June 2011

Pituitary apoplexy is a clinical syndrome with unknown pathogenesis. Therefore, identifying the underlying mechanisms is of high clinical relevance. Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) is a critical cytokine mediating various hemorrhagic events, but little is known about its involvement in pituitary apoplexy. Here we show that TNF-α may be an important regulator of hemorrhagic transformation in pituitary adenomas. In this study, sixty surgical specimens of hemorrhagic and non-hemorrhagic human pituitary adenomas were examined. Hemorrhagic pituitary adenomas displayed higher protein and mRNA levels of TNF-α, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) compared with those of non-hemorrhagic tumors. Exposure of MMQ pituitary adenoma cells to TNF-α induced VEGF and MMP-9 expression in vitro. Additionally, TNF-α administration caused hemorrhagic transformation and enhanced VEGF and MMP-9 expression in MMQ pituitary adenoma cell xenografts in mice. Blockers of VEGF or MMP-9, either alone or in combination, attenuated but not abrogated TNF-α mediated hemorrhagic transformation in xenografts. This study suggests that TNF-α may play a role in the development of intratumoral hemorrhage in pituitary adenomas via up-regulation of VEGF and MMP-9.
Endogenous Cannabinoid Production in the Rat Female Reproductive Tract Is Regulated by Changes in the Hormonal Milieu
Authors: Bradshaw Heather B. , Allard Cassandra
Published: June 2011

The endogenous cannabinoid (eCB) system is emerging as an important component of female reproductive tract physiology. The eCBs anandamide (AEA), 2-arachidonoyl glycerol (2-AG), and N-arachidonoyl glycine (NAGly) were measured in the rat reproductive tract at five time points in the four-day estrous cycle, in acyclic retired breeders (RB), after ovariectomy (OVX), OVX + estrogen (E2), OVX + progesterone (P4), or OVX with E2+P4. eCBs were measured in the uterus, uterine adipose, ovaries, and ovarian adipose using HPLC/MS/MS. Levels of AEA, 2-AG, and NAGly were highest in the estrus phase of the estrous cycle in the uterus, whereas, only NAGly had differences in production in the ovaries across the cycle. All eCBs were lower in RB ovaries; however, the production of eCBs in the uterus of RB and OVX groups was more varied with NAGly showing the lowest levels of production in these groups. Levels of AEA in uterine fat were significantly higher or equivalent to levels in the uterus. However, levels of 2-AG and NAGly were dramatically lower in uterine fat verses the organ. Ovarian fat had significantly lower levels of all three eCBs. These data provide evidence that the hormonal milieu plays a significant and complex role in the production of eCBs in the female rat reproductive tract.
Diffused Religion and Prayer
Authors: Cipriani Roberto
Published: June 2011

It is quite likely that the origins of prayer are to be found in ancient mourning and bereavement rites. Primeval ritual prayer was codified and handed down socially to become a deep-rooted feature of people’s cultural behavior, so much so, that it may surface again several years later, in the face of death, danger, need, even in the case of relapse from faith and religious practice. Modes of prayer depend on religious experience, on relations between personal prayer and political action, between prayer and forgiveness, and between prayer and approaches to religions. Various forms of prayer exist, from the covert-hidden to the overt-manifest kind. How can they be investigated? How can one, for instance, explore mental prayer? These issues regard the canon of diffused religion and, therefore, of diffused prayer.
Hemodynamic Effects of Anthrax Toxins in the Rabbit Model and the Cardiac Pathology Induced by Lethal Toxin
Authors: Lawrence William  S. , Marshall Jeffrey  R. , Zavala Diana  L. , Weaver Lori  E. , Baze Wallace  B. , Moen Scott  T. , Whorton Elbert  B. , Gourley Randy  L. , Peterson Johnny  W.
Published: June 2011

Anthrax lethal toxin (LeTx) and edema toxin (EdTx) have been shown to alter hemodynamics in the rodent model, while LeTx primarily is reported to induce extensive tissue pathology. However, the rodent model has limitations when used for comparison to higher organisms such as humans. The rabbit model, on the other hand, has gained recognition as a useful model for studying anthrax infection and its pathophysiological effects. In this study, we assessed the hemodynamic effects of lethal toxin (LeTx) and edema toxin (EdTx) in the rabbit model using physiologically relevant amounts of the toxins. Moreover, we further examine the pathological effects of LeTx on cardiac tissue. We intravenously injected Dutch-belted rabbits with either low-dose and high-dose recombinant LeTx or a single dose of EdTx. The animals’ heart rate and mean arterial pressure were continuously monitored via telemetry until either 48 or 72 h post-challenge. Additional animals challenged with LeTx were used for cardiac troponin I (cTnI) quantitation, cardiac histopathology, and echocardiography. LeTx depressed heart rate at the lower dose and mean arterial pressure (MAP) at the higher dose. EdTx, on the other hand, temporarily intensified heart rate while lowering MAP. Both doses of LeTx caused cardiac pathology with the higher dose having a more profound effect. Lastly, left-ventricular dilation due to LeTx was not apparent at the given time-points. Our study demonstrates the hemodynamic effects of anthrax toxins, as well as the pathological effects of LeTx on the heart in the rabbit model, and it provides further evidence for the toxins’ direct impact on the heart.
Increased genetic differentiation but no reduced genetic diversity in peripheral vs. central populations of a steppe grass
Authors: Wagner Viktoria , Durka Walter , Hensen Isabell
Published: June 2011

• Premise of the Study: Intraspecific genetic variation is essential for the performance and evolution of species. Populations at a species’ geographic range periphery receive considerable attention in biogeography and conservation because they are smaller and spatially more isolated than central populations, a pattern expected to lead to higher genetic differentiation and lower within‐population genetic diversity. We tested these predictions in central and peripheral populations of the Eurasian steppe grass Stipa capillata.

• Methods: We analyzed AFLP fingerprint patterns in 319 individuals from 20 large and abundant populations in the core, in Kazakhstan, and 23 small and isolated populations at the periphery, in Central Europe. We calculated different genetic diversity estimates and assessed genetic differentiation among populations by examining FST values, a neighbor‐net network, and an AMOVA.

• Key Results: As expected, genetic differentiation among populations was significantly larger at the range periphery (FST = 0.415) than in the range core (FST = 0.164). In contrast to predictions, however, we found similarly low genetic diversity within central (proportion of polymorphic bands = 21.9%) and peripheral (20%) populations.

• Conclusions: Higher genetic differentiation in the small and spatially isolated peripheral populations is likely driven by genetic drift and reduced gene flow due to a complex landscape structure and the abandonment of traditional management regimes. With regard to unchanged genetic diversity, it appears that life‐history traits like longevity or sufficiently large population sizes could allow S. capillata to escape deleterious effects at the range edge.
Root suckering in a Triassic conifer from Antarctica: Paleoecological and evolutionary implications
Authors: Decombeix Anne‐Laure , Taylor Edith L. , Taylor Thomas N.
Published: June 2011

• Premise of the study: Although root suckering and other types of sprouting are well studied in extant woody plants, little is known about the distribution of these traits at a macroevolutionary scale. Anatomically preserved fossil plants represent an excellent but understudied source of information of the distribution of sprouting behavior through time and across taxa.

• Methods: A block of silicified peat collected in the Middle Triassic Fremouw Formation at the Fremouw Peak locality, Central Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica, contains a group of anatomically preserved roots of the fossil conifer Notophytum krauselii that bear young shoots. The specimen was prepared using the standard acetate peel technique and studied in reflected and transmitted light.

• Key results: Young sucker shoots bearing well‐preserved leaves are produced in groups in some areas of the Notophytum roots.

• Conclusions: The production of root suckers in Notophytum indicates that some of the trees growing in polar forests during the Triassic could respond to environmental stresses by regenerating their vegetative structures and had the potential to reproduce vegetatively. The specimens also represent the first anatomical evidence of root suckering in any fossil seed plant, and its occurrence in an early putative podocarp supports the idea that this trait might be ancestral in at least some extant conifer families.