bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Records management education and training at Liverpool: a year of change at LUCAS
Authors: Westwood Sarah
Published: May 2004

This article represents a reflection on issues which have arisen in the course of a year of change in archives and records management (ARM) training and education at the University of Liverpool, and reports on initiatives for new records management courses and methods of delivery planned for the near future.1 Any evaluation of vocational education and training must begin with an examination of the nature of the profession itself, which dictates the larger part of the content of such a programme. It therefore begins with a reflection on current developments in records management theory and practice in the UK, before describing how the University has sought to accommodate them. Outside the UK, in Australia and North America in particular, debate about the nature of records management training has been vigorous,2 but in the UK public debate has been rare. In an attempt to stimulate debate this paper therefore also aims to contribute to the establishment of a records management education agenda which educators and the ARM profession at large may fruitfully address together.
The rise of the ‘new age’ records management professional: records management education and training in Australia
Authors: Pember Margaret
Published: May 2004

The face of records management has changed forever. For many organisations this has meant the loss of the traditional records manager, even the whole records section, as we knew it. Few would deny that the profession has moved from one based largely on a passive centralised reception of paper‐based documents to one rife with exciting, albeit challenging, possibilities in a constantly evolving distributed electronic world. The virtual office is nigh upon us (as we have been saying for a number of years!). Emphasis has moved from the purely reactive management of hard‐copy records to include the pro‐active management of the electronic record, and for many, a far more active role in the provision of information services to one‘s client group. Theoretical and industry driven developments mean that education and training for recordkeeping professionals need to encompass a wider range of knowledge and skills than ever before and educational institutions in Australia are rising to the challenge of producing highly motivated, well‐rounded recordkeeping professionals.
Records management training in sub‐Saharan Africa
Authors: Mazikana Peter
Published: May 2004

This article gives an overview of records management education and training facilities in sub‐Saharan Africa and then focuses on a training methodology that is being used by a consulting firm based in Zimbabwe to transform organisational records management systems through the medium of training.
A decade of change for legal admissibility – a personal view
Authors: Tombs Kenneth
Published: May 2004

In this article the author offers a personal view of some of the major developments during the final decade of the second millennium which have been significant to the management of records in electronic form, particularly in respect of their legal admissibility.
Corporate governance, decision making and evidence: an information management perspective
Authors: McCaskie Russell
Published: May 2004

In an increasingly litigious environment, contemporary public sector organisations are encountering myriad challenges, not the least of which is the manner in which they manage one of their most valuable resources – information. This is occurring at a time when more sophisticated information technology is made available at the desktop of knowledge workers who can develop increasingly autonomous work practices. Consequently, if public agencies are to have confidence that they can provide accurate and reliable evidence of their decision making activities to government, they face an important challenge – the development of rigorous strategies and policies supported by an appropriate information management culture. A coherent corporate governance framework is an important mechanism to facilitate and ensure compliance with regulations and the development of appropriate internal accountability arrangements.
Electronic recordkeeping – more than electronic document management
Authors: Raas Urs
Published: May 2004

Information and communication technology rapidly developed over the past decade and provided the means to easily capture, store and distribute documents in vast quantities and at an ever‐increasing speed. To be able to make good use of this information instead of becoming swamped by it, scientific controls need to be applied. Records management provides these controls. This article explains how one software developer combines traditional records management practices with electronic document management features to create an electronic recordkeeping system.
Concepts and principles for the management of electronic records, or records management theory is archival diplomatics
Authors: Duranti Luciana
Published: May 2004

The greatest challenges with which digital systems present us are the creation and maintenance of reliable records and the preservation of their authenticity over time. It is vital for every organisation that its records be able to stand for the facts they are about i.e. that their content is trustworthy. To meet these challenges the international community of records professionals must develop appropriate strategies, procedures and standards. In this article the author explores the concepts and principles derived from archival diplomatics that should guide the management of electronic records and therefore these developments, as well as drawing conclusions about the nature of the research work required
Records management research in Finland
Authors: Valtonen Marjo Rita
Published: May 2004

Records management is just beginning to emerge as a professional discipline in Finland where it only became possible in 1997 for the first time to study records management in an academic institution. Since it is at such an early stage in its development it is not surprising that records management research has not yet been established. In this article the author explains the first steps towards developing records management research in Finland by looking, in particular, at the plans in the University of Tampere.
Developing a research profile: a case study from the United Kingdom
Authors: Hare Catherine , McLeod Julie
Published: May 2004

Records management was identified as an emerging research theme in the last Research Assessment Exercise return from the School of Information Studies, University of Northumbria at Newcastle. This article examines how, since then, the School has approached developing its research profile in records management and highlights issues applicable to other researchers in the subject area within the UK. The School’s medium to long term strategy for records management research is presented
Records management and accountability versus corruption, fraud and maladministration
Authors: Palmer Marlize
Published: May 2004

Organisations and governments rarely see the connection between records management and the prevention of corruption, fraud and maladministration. This article gives an overview of what corruption and fraud entail and points out the importance of records management in ensuring accountability and providing a safeguard against corruption, fraud and maladministration. Good records management systems are essential to support financial management and financial accountability. Records management also ensures the public sector‘s ability to function effectively and provides documentary evidence to assist in ensuring accountable and transparent government.
The costing of digital records management
Authors: Ashley Kevin
Published: May 2004

The availability of models for any aspect of a task to be undertaken is always valuable. Unfortunately, although present literature provides us with models for many other aspects of digital records management, and with models for costing many related activities such as the creation of digital surrogates of paper records, it does not provide us with costing models for digital records management. Instead, we find a small number of data points from isolated endeavours with insufficient contextual information to enable us to assess what they truly represent. Whilst this article does not provide this absent model, it does provide factors that it is believed must form part of any model eventually developed through research or experience. In doing so, it becomes apparent that many of the factors are common to the management of traditional records (as one would hope and expect), where the literature provides us with much more solid information. Hence, perhaps the problem is not so severe as it might appear.
A new model for electronic recordkeeping in the Finnish Defence Forces
Authors: Kikki Jaana
Published: May 2004

The Defence Forces have been in the vanguard of introducing electronic record‐keeping systems in Finland’s public administration when it comes to implementing new technology. Recordkeeping practices, on the other hand, have been left untouched. A three‐year records management development project, headed by the Military Archives, was started in the autumn of 1999. The aim of the project is to guide the Defence Forces’ recordkeeping towards the latest innovations defined as best practices by the international and national records professionals community. The development of recordkeeping practices is based on a functional, not on an organizational approach to the operations of the Defence Forces. The organization, that now consists of over 100 independent records creators, is viewed in corpore, as a single records creator. Provenance of records will be tied to functions and transactions that create them, not to organizational boundaries in carrying out those functions. A recordkeeping schedule or strategy, a new version of the electronic registry system and a metadata standard will be utilized as tools for incorporating recordkeeping practices and business processes and ensuring the evidential requirements of both paper and electronic records.
Efficacy and Tolerability of the New Antiepileptic Drugs, I: Treatment of New‐Onset Epilepsy: Report of the TTA and QSS Subcommittees of the American Academy of Neurology and the American Epilepsy Society
Authors: French Jacqueline A. , Kanner Andres M. , Bautista Jocelyn , Abou‐Khalil Bassel , Browne Thomas , Harden Cynthia L. , Theodore William H. , Bazil Carl , Stern John , Schachter Steven C. , Bergen Donna , Hirtz Deborah , Montouris Georgia D. , Nespeca Mark , Gidal Barry , Marks William J. , Turk William R. , Fischer James H. , Bourgeois Blaise , Wilner Andrew , Faught R. Edward , Sachdeo Rajesh C. , Beydoun Ahmad , Glauser Tracy A.
Published: May 2004

Summary:  Purpose: To assess the evidence demonstrating efficacy, tolerability, and safety of seven new antiepileptic drugs [AEDs; gabapentin (GBP), lamotrigine (LTG), topiramate (TPM), tiagabine (TGB), oxcarbazepine (OXC), levetiracetam (LEV), and zonisamide (ZNS), reviewed in the order in which these agents received approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration] in the treatment of children and adults with newly diagnosed partial and generalized epilepsies.

Methods: A 23‐member committee, including general neurologists, pediatric neurologists, epileptologists, and doctors in pharmacy, evaluated the available evidence based on a structured literature review including MEDLINE, Current Contents, and Cochrane Library for relevant articles from 1987 until September 2002, with selected manual searches up to 2003.

Results: Evidence exists, either from comparative or dose‐controlled trials, that GBP, LTG, TPM, and OXC have efficacy as monotherapy in newly diagnosed adolescents and adults with either partial or mixed seizure disorders. Evidence also shows that LTG is effective for newly diagnosed absence seizures in children. Evidence for effectiveness of the new AEDs in newly diagnosed patients with other generalized epilepsy syndromes is lacking.

Conclusions: The results of this evidence‐based assessment provide guidelines for the prescription of AEDs for patients with newly diagnosed epilepsy and identify those seizure types and syndromes for which more evidence is necessary.
Development of Syndrome Severity Scores for Pediatric Epilepsy
Authors: Dunn David W. , Buelow Janice M. , Austin Joan K. , Shinnar Shlomo , Perkins Susan M.
Published: May 2004

Summary:  Purpose: A severity rating for each of the pediatric epilepsy syndromes can contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of seizure condition severity. We describe the development of the Epilepsy Syndrome Severity Scores–Child (ESSS–C).

Methods: The Delphi Technique was used to establish severity scores for pediatric epileptic syndromes as defined by the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE). Pediatric neurologists with expertise in epilepsy were asked to rate the severity of each syndrome on a scale of 1 to 10, considering: (a) response to medical treatment, (b) seizure severity, and (c) long‐term prognosis. Syndrome severity ratings took place in four different rounds. Experts provided initial scores in rounds 1 and 2.

Results: Of the 18 experts who agreed to participate in the development of the scale, 12 completed all four rounds. The median served as the syndrome severity score if the mean and median agreed within 0.5. Otherwise, whichever of these two numbers was closest to the mode was selected. Syndromes that were rated with high severity scores (9 or 10) or low severity scores (1 or 2) had unanimous or near unanimous ratings. The syndromes with scores in the middle range (4 to 8) had a wider range of ratings.

Conclusions: If further studies provide empirical support for the validity of these epileptic syndrome severity scores, then the ESSS‐C has potential for use both clinically and in future research in the prediction of outcomes of treatments.
Photosystem II inhibition by moderate light under low temperature in intact leaves of chilling‐sensitive and ‐tolerant plants
Authors: Govindachary Sridharan , Bukhov Nikolai G. , Joly David , Carpentier Robert
Published: May 2004

Photosystem II (PSII) activity was examsined in leaves of chilling‐sensitive cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.), tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum L.), and maize (Zea mays L.), and in chilling‐tolerant barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) illuminated with moderate white light (300 µmol m−2 s−1) at 4°C using chlorophyll a fluorescence measurements. PSII activity was inhibited in leaves of all the four plants as suggested by the decline in Fv/Fm, 1/Fo − 1/Fm, and Fv/Fo values. The changes in initial fluorescence level (Fo), Fv/Fm, 1/Fo − /1/Fm, and Fv/Fo ratios indicate a stronger PSII inhibition in cucumber, maize and tomato plants. The kinetics of chlorophyll a fluorescence rise showed complex changes in the magnitudes and rise of O‐J, J‐I, and I‐P phases caused by photoinhibition. The selective suppression of the J‐I phase of fluorescence rise kinetics provides evidence for weakened electron donation from the oxidizing side, whereas the accumulation of reduced QA suggests damage to the acceptor side of PSII. These findings imply that the process of chilling‐induced photoinhibition involves damage to more than one site in the PSII complexes. Furthermore, comparative analyses of the decline in Fv/Fo and photooxidation of P700 explicitly show that the extent of photoinhibitory damage to PSII and photosystem I is similar in leaves of cucumber plants grown at a low irradiance level.
Lipid‐binding form is a key conformation to induce a programmed cell death initiated in tobacco BY‐2 cells by a proteinaceous elicitor of cryptogein
Authors: Hirasawa Ken‐ichi , Amano Toyoki , Shioi Yuzo
Published: May 2004

Cryptogein, a proteinaceous elicitor secreted by Phytophthora cryptogea, induces a remarkable hypersensitive cell death in tobacco cells. Two cryptogein mutants were analysed to characterize the induction mechanism of cell death; one was a newly synthesized mutant N93A whose 93rd Asn residue was changed to Ala, the other was K13V whose Lys at position 13 was replaced with Val. The effect of these mutations was evaluated in terms of extracellular alkalization, production of active oxygen species (AOS) and progression to death. The mutation N93A resulted in a reduction in activity to 71.0, 74.6 and 24.5% for original rates of extracellular alkalization, AOS production and cell death progression, respectively. In the case of the K13V mutation, these rates changed to 114, 3.38 and 7.40%, respectively. The lipid‐binding activities of the mutants were analysed using fluorogenic lipid of dehydroergosterol. The results for N93A and K13V were 38.3 and 3.40% compared with the wild type, respectively. These findings indicate that the lipid‐binding form was the only conformation to induce the production of AOS and programmed cell death in plants.
The relationship between government accounts and national accounts, with special reference to the netherlands
Authors: Keuning Steven , Tongeren Dick van
Published: May 2004

National accounts are a macro‐economic accounting system that is compiled on the basis of a globally harmonized accounting standard, that is SNA93/ESA95. To a large extent, the SNA93/ESA95 accounting principles are also suitable for government (micro‐)accounting purposes, if only because the accounts drawn up according to this standard are comparable across (types of) units and over time. That facilitates performance monitoring and benchmarking. In addition, the ESA95 guidelines and procedures deal with innovative transactions and accounting, which increases the credibility of the accounts. Finally, accounts for government units are then directly comparable with the macroeconomic accounts, which facilitates the link between forecasts for the national economy and drawing up government budgets. This paper also describes the present conversion of government accounts to national accounts for the government sector in the Netherlands and the plans of the Dutch government to change from a cash‐based to an accrual government accounting system.
Bookkeeping conventions and the micro‐macro link
Authors: Gorter Cornelis N. , Shrestha Manik L.
Published: May 2004

The formal accounting logic of the national accounts and other macroeconomic statistics is not always well understood. In addition, the relation between macro statistics and micro accounting data often is not clear. This paper starts out by summarizing the main bookkeeping conventions at the macro level. A distinction is made between vertical and horizontal double‐entry bookkeeping, which, if applied simultaneously, result in quadruple‐entry bookkeeping. Vertical bookkeeping refers to the double‐entry bookkeeping used in business practice. Horizontal bookkeeping requires that the transactions and other economic relationships between agents answer strict consistency rules regarding valuation, timing, and classification. At the micro level, this consistency is not guaranteed. The article reviews three options to reinforce the micro‐macro link (proposals by Nancy and Richard Ruggles, proposals by Harry Postner, and the intermediate accounts in France), and concludes with a few suggestions that could be used in the upcoming revisions of the international statistical manuals.
The role of industrial classification in the micro‐macro integration: The case of the banking business in the 1997 North American industrial classification system
Authors: Harchaoui Tarek M.
Published: May 2004

Although economic classification is not part of the Ruggles's prodigious contributions to the System of National Accounts, it is certainly meant to help achieve the integration and linking of macrodata with microdata. Unfortunately, economic classification is a component of the statistical infrastructure that often remains unquestioned by the existing industrial organization literature. This paper fills this gap using the banking business under the 1997 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) as an example. More specifically, the paper ascertains the extent to which NAICS succeeds at combining the various activities performed by Canadian banks into homogeneous industries. Assuming that producing units within the same industry should display more similar cost structure than those in less similar industries, we find that NAICS—at least for the banking sector—is successful at identifying and grouping producing units into homogeneous economic activities. This result is particularly helpful for empirical research that relies on microdata to draw inferences on the structures, conduct and economic performance of the banking sector as whole.
The Asian crisis and flow‐of‐funds analysis
Authors: Dawson John C.
Published: May 2004

This paper is an application of Flow‐of‐Funds analysis to the case of Thailand during the 1996–97 Asian crisis. It begins with a background historical sketch of the financial crisis in East Asia, emphasizing the central role of weak financial systems and foreign debt. The paper then presents a method of estimating quarterly Flow‐of‐Funds accounts using Thailand as an example. This simple method is available from data published by the I.M.F. for most of the countries of the world. The Thai data are then used in a Flow‐of‐Funds analysis of the crisis in Thailand. This analysis contrasts with the opening historical sketch in quantitatively tracing the significant financial flows and, particularly, the finances of the private sector. The paper closes by emphasizing the need for current reporting of data to facilitate such analyses.
Designing analytical data frameworks
Authors: Tongeren Jan W. van
Published: May 2004

The article is about design of analytical data frameworks that make optimal use of micro data available to serve the needs of the policy analyses and create a maximum number of data checks at the macro or meso level. As the SNA is one of the most extensive analytical data frameworks, the notions developed in this paper will be applied mainly to data segments of the SNA and in particular to a much used data segment of the SNA, i.e. the Supply and Use Table (SUT). The larger part of the paper focuses on defining a simplified SUT and using a so‐called “system of classifications and correspondences,” that is based on international SNA and classification standards but taking into account specific features of the economy of a country, data availability and the type of analysis served by the framework. The simplified SNA should be comprehensive, but should avoid unnecessary cross‐classifications of data and details.
Some reflections on the 1968–93 SNA revision
Authors: Ward Michael P.
Published: May 2004

The 1968 System of National Accounts (SNA 68) represented an important milestone in national accounting. In providing a more detailed structuring of the economy and integrating a correspondingly more relevant system of basic, producer and purchasers’ prices by commodities and industry sectors, it helped lay to rest the early schism that developed between Keynes and Tinbergen over the question of the legitimacy of empirical economic modeling. The system was readily embraced by the advanced countries of Western Europe because it responded directly to the contemporary political imperatives of development planning and the need for economic forecasting models. But a large part of the non‐Western “free world” encountered almost insurmountable difficulties in the full implementation of the system and became quickly bogged down in the quagmire of inter‐industry statistics and valuation problems. Nancy and Richard Ruggles pressed for a revision providing workable solutions that would make the system more adaptable to the policy needs and statistical capacities of the majority of UN member countries. What actually happened took very much longer to reach fruition than was ever intended. The SNA 93 now represents the “gold standard” for national accounts, covering every aspect of economic activity. It is a masterpiece of conceptual coherence. Its encyclopedic character allows analysts and practitioners alike to dip into its voluminous pages for reasoned answers to why certain valuation questions and estimation procedures should be dealt with in a particular way. But SNA 93 remains a formidable document and it is not the operational data friendly framework that the Ruggles initially had envisaged.
Implementation of the INTERCEPT Blood System for Platelets into routine blood bank manufacturing procedures: evaluation of apheresis platelets
Authors: Janetzko K. , Lin L. , Eichler H. , Mayaudon V. , Flament J. , Klüter H.
Published: May 2004

Background and Objectives The INTERCEPT Blood System for Platelets utilizes amotosalen–HCl (S‐59) in combination with ultraviolet A (UVA) light to inactivate viruses, bacteria, protozoa and leucocytes that may contaminate platelet concentrates (PCs). To facilitate implementation of this technique into routine blood bank manufacturing procedures, this study evaluated the impact of different time settings of photochemical treatment onin vitroplatelet function.

Materials and Methods Platelets derived from apheresis (6·5–7·0 × 1011platelets) were resuspended in 240 ml of autologous plasma and 360 ml of platelet additive solution (PAS III) and split into two equal‐sized PC units. Whereas one unit was not treated, the other was treated with 150 µmamotosalen and 3 J/cm2UVA light followed by a compound adsorption device (CAD) step for reduction of residual amotosalen and photoproducts. In a first series of experiments (arm A,n = 7), PC units were photochemically treated after an overnight storage period of 16–23 h followed by a CAD step of 4 h. In a second series (arm B,n = 8), photochemical treatment occurred after a short storage time of 4 h with a subsequent CAD step of 16 h. Platelet function was evaluated by assaying blood gas analysis, glucose and lactate concentration, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), hypotonic shock response (HSR) and the expression of CD62p, over a period of 7 days.

Results Neither of the photochemical treatment procedures showed differences for pH, pCO2, pO2, HCO3, glucose consumption or platelet activation until the end of day 7. Increased lactate values detected for the treated units of arm A at the end of the storage period were independent from the PCT time setting.

Conclusions Photochemical pathogen inactivation with different initial resting periods between 4 and 23 h, and different CAD steps of 4 and 16 h, had no influence on the plateletin vitrofunction during 7 days of storage.
Virus inactivation and protein recovery in a novel ultraviolet‐C reactor
Authors: Wang J. , Mauser A. , Chao S.‐F. , Remington K. , Treckmann R. , Kaiser K. , Pifat D. , Hotta J.
Published: May 2004

Background and Objectives  Ultraviolet‐C (UVC) irradiation is a viral‐inactivation method that was dismissed by many plasma fractionators as a result of the potential for protein damage and the difficulty in delivering uniform doses. A reactor with novel spiral flow hydraulic mixing was recently designed for uniform and controlled UVC treatment. The objective of this study was to investigate virus inactivation and protein recovery after treatment through the new reactor.

Materials and Methods  Virus‐ and mock‐spiked Alpha1‐proteinase inhibitor (Alpha1‐PI) solutions were treated with UVC. The virus samples were assayed for residual infectivity and amplified by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The mock‐spiked samples were assayed for protein integrity.

Results  Greater than 4 log10 of all test viruses were inactivated, regardless of the type of nucleic acid or presence of an envelope. Unlike previous studies, viruses with the smallest genomes were found to be those most sensitive to UVC irradiation, and detection of PCR amplicons ≥ 2·0 kb was correlated to viral infectivity. Doses that achieved significant virus inactivation yielded recovery of > 90% protein activity, even in the absence of quenchers.

Conclusions  The results demonstrate the effectiveness of UVC treatment, in the novel reactor, to inactivate viruses without causing significant protein damage, and confirm the utility of large PCR amplicons as markers for infectious virus.
Methylene blue‐photoinactivated plasma vs. fresh‐frozen plasma as replacement fluid for plasma exchange in thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura
Authors: Alvarez‐Larrán A. , Del Río J. , Ramírez C. , Albo C. , Peña F. , Campos A. , Cid J. , Muncunill J. , Sastre J.‐L. , Sanz C. , Pereira A.
Published: May 2004

Background and Objectives  Plasma exchange with fresh‐frozen plasma (FFP) is the treatment of choice in thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP). Methylene blue‐photoinactivated plasma (MBPIP) has been proposed as a safer alternative to FFP, but its effectiveness in the treatment of TTP is not well established. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether MBPIP is as effective as FFP in the treatment of TTP by plasma exchange.

Materials and Methods  A retrospective analysis was carried out of 56 TTP episodes, occurring between 1990 and 2003, which had been treated by plasma exchange. MBPIP was used for fluid replacement in 27 episodes and FFP in 29. The effect of plasma (MBPIP or FFP) on treatment outcomes was analysed by multivariate logistic regression.

Results  Compared to patients treated with FFP, those receiving MBPIP had an increased risk of dying from progressive TTP [adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 31; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1·2 to > 100], a greater number of recurrences while on plasma exchange therapy (OR = 4·6; 95% CI: 1·2–17), and a lower probability of attaining a sustained remission within 9 days of starting plasma exchange (OR = 5·2; 95% CI: 1·3–20).

Conclusions  MBPIP seems to be less effective than FFP in the treatment of TTP. It is therefore prudent to avoid MBPIP until therapeutic equivalency to FFP has been established by randomized, controlled trials.
Impact of tobacco smoking on platelet function in apheresis products in vitro
Authors: Scheinichen D. , Heuft H.‐G. , Renken C. , Jüttner B. , Jaeger K. , Schürholz T. , Blasczyk R. , Piepenbrock S. , Elsner H.‐A.
Published: May 2004

Background and Objectives  The aim of this study was to analyse the platelet function, over a 5‐day time‐period, of apheresis‐derived platelet concentrates obtained from smokers and non‐smokers.

Materials and Methods  Smoker and non‐smoker plateletpheresis products were investigated on days 1, 3 and 5 of storage. Receptor expression (as evaluated by flow cytometry) and the platelet aggregation response were measured.

Results  There was only a slight loss of platelet function in apheresis products from smokers compared to non‐smokers.

Conclusions  Smoking does not significantly change the quality of platelet preparations. The current practice, of not to exclude smokers from platelet donation, can be continued.
Removal of small non‐enveloped viruses by nanofiltration
Authors: Yokoyama T. , Murai K. , Murozuka T. , Wakisaka A. , Tanifuji M. , Fujii N. , Tomono T.
Published: May 2004

Background and Objectives  Nanofiltration is one of the most effective virus reduction methods in the manufacturing process of plasma products. However, it is difficult to remove small viruses from high molecular weight protein preparations like immunoglobulin G or factor VIII complex by nanofiltration, because the size of the protein is similar to that of viruses. In order to separate the viruses from these proteins by nanofiltration, it is necessary to change the size of either one. In this study, we report that such non‐enveloped viruses as human parvovirus B19 (B19), human encephalomyocarditis virus (EMC) or porcine parvovirus (PPV) aggregate in the presence of certain kinds of amino acids and could be easily removed by nanofiltration.

Materials and Methods  0·3 M Glycine (or other amino acid) solution spiked with viruses was subjected to dead‐end single filtration with a 35‐nm pore‐size filter. Virus removal by nanofiltration was either evaluated by PCR or by infectivity assay.

Results  B19 in a 0·3 M glycine solution was reduced to 1:107·5 (7·5‐log) by nanofiltration with a 35‐nm pore‐sized filter, whereas in PBS it was not reduced. Similarly, B19 was also reduced when suspended in other amino acids solutions. This effect was also confirmed with the other small non‐enveloped viruses EMC or PPV. When 5% globulin or 5% albumin was added to a 0·3 M glycine solution, the removal rate was decreased.

Conclusions  These data suggest that viruses in the presence of certain kinds of amino acids could be aggregated and effectively removed by a filter that has a pore size larger than the size of the viruses.
Fibrin sealant produced by the CryoSeal® FS System: product chemistry, material properties and possible preparation in the autologous preoperative setting
Authors: Buchta C. , Dettke M. , Funovics P. T. , Höcker P. , Knöbl P. , Macher M. , Quehenberger P. , Treitl C. , Worel N.
Published: May 2004

Background and Objectives  The CryoSeal® FS has been introduced as an automated device for the production of fibrin sealant from small volumes of plasma. We tested this device and compared the product with commercially available fibrin sealants and with the requirements of the European Pharmacopoeia.

Materials and Methods  The CP3 program and disposables required were used to manufacture fibrin sealant. The chemistry and mechanical properties of the product were investigated.

Results  The cryoprecipitate generated with CryoSeal® contains concentrated fibrinogen and critical clotting factors. The efficiency of the production process is poor, but the production procedure itself is simple and not time‐consuming. The volume of plasma required allows application in the preoperative autologous setting.

Conclusions  The CryoSeal® FS is an automated device for cryoprecipitation and production of thrombin. It can be implemented easily in the clinical routine, although, owing to product specifications, the efficacy of the CryoSeal® fibrin sealant requires further clinical trials.
Growth and tissue nitrogen of epiphytic Atlantic bryophytes: effects of increased and decreased atmospheric N deposition
Authors: MITCHELL R. J. , SUTTON M. A. , TRUSCOTT A.‐M. , LEITH I. D. , CAPE J. N. , PITCAIRN C. E. R. , VAN DIJK N.
Published: May 2004

Atlantic bryophytes are of European conservation importance, yet the effect on them of excess atmospheric nitrogen is relatively unknown. This study assesses the effects of increased atmospheric N deposition on the growth and tissue N of epiphytic Atlantic bryophytes, and their potential to recover following a decline in N deposition.

The N received in stemflow by bryophytes at two sites was measured and compared to model predictions.

Four species of epiphytic bryophytes (Isothecium myosuroides, Dicranum scoparium, Frullania tamarisci and Ulota crispa), typical of Atlantic Oak woods, were studied in a 12‐month reciprocal transplant experiment between a pristine Oak woodland receiving a modelled atmospheric deposition of 12 kg N ha−1 year−1 and a polluted one receiving 54 kg N ha−1 year−1.

Tissue N concentration increased and growth declined following an increase in atmospheric N deposition in all species except Ulota crispa. Conversely, tissue N concentration decreased and growth increased in Frullania tamarisci following a decrease in atmospheric N deposition, with similar non‐significant patterns in the other species.

The reciprocal transplants indicate a detrimental effect of increased N deposition on the bryophyte species studied. The study indicated recovery following a decrease in atmospheric N deposition, but the responses caused by decreased N deposition were smaller than those due to increased N deposition. This suggests that the time‐scale for recovery of bryophytes from excess N deposition is longer than the timescale of nitrogen impacts.
American Society of Diagnostic and Interventional Nephrology: Interventionalist's Role in Identifying Candidates for Secondary Fistulas
Authors: Ash Stephen , Beathard Gerald A.
Published: May 2004

One hundred consecutive patients with upper extremity prosthetic grafts referred for either an angioplasty or treatment of a thrombosed graft were included in the study. After the patient's treatment was concluded, the angiographic images that had been created during the case were evaluated to determine if an upper arm vein was evident that would be suitable for the construction of an arteriovenous fistula (AVF). Criteria used to determine suitability included vein size measured at the level of the elbow, feeding artery size at the level of the elbow, absence of stenosis within the vein, and continuity with downstream unobstructed veins. Thirty‐eight percent of patients had an upper arm graft and 62% had a lower arm graft. Since it was not possible to adequately evaluate patients with an upper arm graft, these patients were not included in any further evaluations. A total of 46 patients (74%) with a forearm loop graft had one or both of the upper arm veins that appeared to be optimum for the creation of an AVF. If the percentage of graft patients with venous anatomy conducive to the creation of a fistula revealed in this study is representative, then the percentage of fistulas in use could be very quickly increased to more than 50% by simply seizing the opportunity. This effort directed toward prevalent patients could yield results much more rapidly than limiting one's focus to incident patients.
Hauling Down the Double Standard: Feminism, Social Purity and Sexual Science in Late Nineteenth‐Century Britain
Authors: Hall Lesley
Published: May 2004

Nineteenth‐century feminism and the related social purity movement, and the emergent scientific discourse of ‘sexology’, are usually seen as antagonistic. Both trends, in fact, were in profound opposition to the widespread assumption that the double moral standard was an embodiment of ‘natural’ transhistorical law. This article suggests that feminist agitation against the Contagious Diseases Acts of the 1860s (and other manifestations of the deleterious legal status of women) overtly attacked unthinking social assumptions about sex and gender, destabilising concepts about the naturalness of the existing sexual system and creating the context for the pioneers of sexology to interrogate even further accepted notions of gender and sexuality.
Monuments, Reputation and Clerical Marriage in Reformation England: Bishop Barlow's Daughters
Authors: Sherlock Peter
Published: May 2004

The impact of the English Reformation upon women and women's agency in effecting religious change has been much debated. This paper examines the key innovation of clerical marriage by studying the family of Bishop William Barlow (d. 1568), whose five daughters married five bishops. It establishes that Barlow himself married well before it was lawful to do so, and reviews the circumstances that led to his daughters’ remarkable marital achievements. Subsequently, the commemorative acts of this family between 1595 and 1630 were crucial to the creation of an honourable role for the clergyman's wife in English society. By manipulating the representation of the dead, Barlow's daughter Frances Matthew improved her and her sisters’ place in the world. Monuments and their influence upon historical memory are therefore shown to be a hitherto unrecognised means available to women for transforming social order.
The Scientisation of Culture: Colonial Medicine's Construction of Egyptian Womanhood, 1893–1929
Authors: Abugideiri Hibba
Published: May 2004

From Great Britain's colonial takeover of Egypt's School of Medicine and adjoining hospital in 1893 until its return to Egyptian control in 1929, this study argues that colonial medical discourse constructed a trope of the ‘modern Egyptian woman’ as a byproduct of the discursive exchange between Victorian and Egyptian medicine. As evidence, this study identifies the colonial reforms of Egyptian medical institutions. Through analysis of governmental documents, medical treatises, curriculum, periodicals, travel literature and memoirs, this foray argues that Egyptian medical institutions were Anglicised, creating for the ‘modern Egyptian doctor’ an unprecedented level of socio‐political authority. Paradoxically, this same process of medical professionalisation disempowered the Egyptian midwife. Furthermore, through the modern authority of the doctor, Egyptian discourse constructed medico‐nationalist rationalisations of female domesticity, or ‘republican motherhood’.
Modernity and the Other Woman: Gender and National Identity in the Egyptian Women's Press: 1952–1967
Authors: Bier Laura
Published: May 2004

This article looks at depictions of non‐Egyptian women in the Egyptian women's press during the Nasser period, from 1952–1967. A regular and recurring feature of the Egyptian women's press during the 1950s and 1960s, representations of foreign women were products of both global and local struggles. Enabled by a world order increasingly transformed by the political voices of colonial and post‐colonial subjects, such representations were also bound up in Egyptian debates about gender subjectivities, the consequences of state and nation building, and the boundaries of national identity. While they can be read as contributing to the creation of what Chandra Mohanty has called ‘an imagined community of third world oppositional struggles’, they also suggest much about how the liberating, emancipatory possibilities of post‐colonial/anti‐imperialist projects limit their own possibility for realisation.
‘If I Only Wore a Coat and Pants’: Gender and Power in the Making of an American Public High School, 1847–1851
Authors: Teed Melissa Ladd
Published: May 2004

Using Hartford Public High School as a case study, this article analyses how women teachers in the nineteenth century used their ties to the community and their success in the classroom to influence the decision‐making structure of a co‐educational institution. While women teachers are not usually considered a powerful constituency, Hartford Public High School affords a unique opportunity to re‐evaluate the meaning of educational politics from a gendered perspective. Based on manuscript sources for teachers who worked at the school, this examination reveals not only the gendered allocation of power in nineteenth‐century high schools, but also the active role of committed women teachers in contesting that power.
The Function of Age and the History of Women's Work: The Career of an Australian Teacher, 1907–1947
Authors: Whitehead Kay , Thorpe Stephen
Published: May 2004

In this paper, we consider what it might mean to hold age as an analytic lens in historical research on women workers, in particular women teachers. Our study serves as a springboard for further discussion about what these new narratives might look like, and what they might reveal, or, moreover, what work they might do. In constructing an account of a woman physical educationist whose work traversed the first half of the twentieth century, we show how age could be seen to be functioning in the institutional spaces of South Australian education. While we do not suggest that specific details of this account are representative of women's work in education, let alone women's work more broadly, we do argue that it draws together and brings to the surface a range of general discourses that serve as a context for how we understand the ways women inhabited and shaped their work. Our account serves as an illustration of what happens to narratives when age is on the agenda, suggesting a more sustained interrogation of how a historical sense of women's positioning in work is deepened by a serious sensitivity to the ‘age function’. This is a necessary and, we feel, timely gesture, because of the way that the category of age in women's historical studies–where the interaction among discourses such as professionalism, education, feminism, citizenship and sexuality is considered–is little more than an absent presence, at best lying in the background, obscured from view and yet always demanding its own appearance.
Gender, Colonialism and Citizenship in the Modern Middle East
Authors: Camiscioli Elisa
Published: May 2004

Books reviewed in this article:

Selma Botman, Engendering Citizenship in Egypt

Margaret L. Meriwether and Judith E. Tucker (eds), A Social History of Women and Gender in the Modern Middle East

Elizabeth Thompson, Colonial Citizens: Republican Rights, Paternal Privilege, and Gender in French Syria and Lebanon
Personality as Performance
Authors: Robinson Michael D.
Published: May 2004

As people seek to understand events within the world, they develop habitual tendencies related to categorization. Such tendencies can be measured by tasks that determine the relative ease or difficulty a person has in making a given distinction (e.g., between threatening and nonthreatening events). Researchers have sought to determine how categorization tendencies relate to personality traits on the one hand and emotional outcomes on the other. The results indicate that traits and categorization tendencies are distinct manifestations of personality. However, they often interact with each other. Three distinct interactive patterns are described. Categorization clearly does play a role in personality functioning, but its role goes beyond assimilation effects on behavior and experience.
Sugarbeet leaf spot disease (Cercospora beticola Sacc.)†
Authors: Weiland John , Koch Georg
Published: May 2004

Leaf spot disease caused by Cercospora beticola Sacc. is the most destructive foliar pathogen of sugarbeet worldwide. In addition to reducing yield and quality of sugarbeet, the control of leaf spot disease by extensive fungicide application incurs added costs to producers and repeatedly has selected for fungicide‐tolerant C. beticola strains. The genetics and biochemistry of virulence have been examined less for C. beticola as compared with the related fungi C. nicotianae, C. kikuchii and C. zeae‐maydis, fungi to which the physiology of C. beticola is often compared. C. beticola populations generally are not characterized as having race structure, although a case of race‐specific resistance in sugarbeet to C. beticola has been reported. Resistance currently implemented in the field is quantitatively inherited and exhibits low to medium heritability.

Taxonomy:
Cercospora beticola Sacc.; Kingdom Fungi, Subdivision Deuteromycetes, Class Hyphomycetes, Order Hyphales, Genus Cercospora.

Identification: Circular, brown to red delimited spots with ashen‐grey centre, 0.5–6 mm diameter; dark brown to black stromata against grey background; pale brown unbranched sparingly septate conidiophores, hyaline acicular conidia, multiseptate, from 2.5 to 4 µm wide and 50–200 µm long.

Host range: Propagative on Beta vulgaris and most species of Beta. Reported on members of the Chenopodiaceae and on Amaranthus.

Disease symptoms: Infected leaves and petioles of B. vulgaris exhibit numerous circular leaf spots that coalesce in severe cases causing complete leaf collapse. Dark specks within a grey spot centre are characteristic for the disease. Older leaves exhibit a greater number of lesions with larger spot diameter. During the latter stage of severe epiphytotics, new leaf growth can be seen emerging from the plant surrounded by prostrate, collapsed leaves.

Control: Fungicides in the benzimidazole and triazole class as well as organotin derivatives and strobilurins have successfully been used to control Cercospora leaf spot. Elevated levels of tolerance in populations of C. beticola to some of the chemicals registered for control has been documented. Partial genetic resistance also is used to reduce leaf spot disease.