bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
PROGNOSTIC FACTORS IN HODGKIN LYMPHOMA
Authors: Cuccaro Annarosa , Bartolomei Francesca , Cupelli Elisa , Hohaus Stefan
Published: September 2014

Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is among the neoplastic diseases that has the best long-term outcome after cytotoxic treatment. Cure rates approach 80-90%, however, 15-20% of patients will be resistant to therapy (primary refractory) or relapse after treatment. Prognostic factors should help to stratify therapy according to the risk profile and identify patients at risk for failure. Significance of prognostic factors partly depends on the efficacy of the treatments administered, since new effective therapies can variably counterbalance the adverse effects of some unfavorable clinical determinants. As a consequence, some prognostic factors thought to be important in the past may become meaningless when modern successful therapies are used. Therefore, the value of prognostic factors has to be updated periodically, and compared to new emerging biomarkers. Besides the prognostic role of PET imaging, tissue and circulating biomarkers, as the number of tumor-infiltrating macrophages, cytokine and chemokine levels and profiling of circulating nucleic acids (DNA and microRNAs) have shown promise.
THE ROLE OF CORTICOSTEROIDS IN ADULT RESPIRATORY DISTRESS SYNDROME CAUSED BY VIRIDANS GROUP STREPTOCOCCI BACTEREMIA IN NEUTROPENIC PATIENTS
Authors: Yacoub Abraham Tareq , Mojica Lysenia , Jones Lily , Knab Andrea , Alrabaa Sally , Greene John Norman
Published: September 2014

IntroductionDuring the last decades, gram-positive bacteremia has increased dramatically. Gram-positive cocci are the most frequent cause of nosocomial bloodstream infections. Among Gram-positive cocci, Viridans streptococci are a common cause of bacteremia in cancer patients with neutropenia, causing serious complications such as pneumonia, septic shock, and ARDS [1-6]. We present a series of cases of VGS bacteremia complicated with ARDS; early initiation of corticosteroids resulted in complete recovery.Materials and MethodsA retrospective chart review of patients with hematologic malignancy diagnosed with VGS bacteremia admitted to the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida between 1/1/2001 and 4/1/2012 was completed. Data was collected about respiratory symptoms, diagnosis of adult respiratory syndrome, results of blood cultures, medications received and outcome.ResultsIn this study, 70 cases of VGS bacteremia in neutropenic patients were reviewed.  The most common adverse event of VGS bacteremia in this group of patients is the development of serious pulmonary complications such as ARDS. In our study, 7 patients developed ARDS. The most common identifies streptococcal species was Streptococcus mitis, isolated in 4 of 7 patients. All 7 patients received corticosteroids early with the onset of respiratory failure. The most commonly prescribed regimen was methylprednisolone 60 mg intravenously every 12 hour for an average of 3 days.  All patients received comparable supportive care, appropriate antibiotics, ventilation and hemodynamic support. All patients (100 %) recovered from respiratory failure after receiving corticosteroids. There were no significant adverse events attributable to steroids use.ConclusionStreptococcus mitis is the species most frequently isolated from the patients who have developed ARDS from Streptococcus viridans bacteremia. Our data suggest that the early administration of corticosteroids to neutropenic patients who develop early signs of respiratory failure with VGS bacteremia can prevent the progression of ARDS and improve mortality.  Moderate doses of steroids with short duration of administration were not associated with significant adverse events in our case series. While the use of corticosteroids in this setting has been described in the literature since the early 1990s, there remains a scarcity of data and our study help shed some light on this area. Moreover there is little recognition among clinicians of the association between ARDS and VGS bacteremia (particularly mitis species in neutropenic cancer patients) and thus this treatment modality is used late in the course of illness which may reduce benefit.  Further studies are warranted to validate these findings and to further examine the utility of preemptive use of corticosteroids in cancer patients who develop VGS bacteremia, in regards to ARDS incidence reduction.
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PEDIATRIC PULMONARY AND EXTRA-PULMONARY TUBERCULOSIS: A WARNING SIGN FOR THE FUTURE
Authors: Devrim Ilker , Aktürk Hüseyin , Bayram Nuri , Apa Hurşit , Tulumoğlu Şener , Devrim Fatma , Erdem Ttulin , Gulfidan Gamze , Ayhan Yüce , Can Demet , Alper Hüdaver
Published: September 2014

Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major global health problem affecting millions of people annually. Tuberculosis in children has unique features different from adults which makes the diagnosis to be more difficult. The spectrum of the symptoms of TB in children could vary from non-specific symptoms to severe clinical presentations.  In this study, we reviewed our experience at pediatric patients with active TB admitted in a tertiary hospital  and aimed to compare the epide­miological, clinical and microbiological features of  children with  the extra-pulmonary tuberculosis(EPTB) and pulmonary tuberculosis(PTB).Material and methods: Patients under 14 years of age diagnosed with active TB in our unit between December 2008 and September 2013 were included in the study. Data including demographic characteristics, clinical history, microbiology, imaging studies, medications and outcomes of the patients were collected from medical records.Results: A total of 129 cases of active TB were identified.  Ninety-two (78.6%) of the cases had Pulmonary Tuberculosis and 25 (21.4%) of the cases had Extra-pulmonary tuberculosis. The most common signs and symptoms on admission were fever in 40 cases (34.2%) and cough in 81 cases (69.2%). The number of patients without symptoms including fever, cough, malaise and weight loss were significantly higher in EXPTB (72.0%) group when compared with patients in PTB group (13.0%) (p<0.05). There was no significant difference between children with pulmonary and extra-pulmonary  tuberculosis by means of ratios of white blood cell count, c-reactive protein and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (p> 0.05). The detection rate of source in PTB group (42.4%) was significantly higher than the rate in  EPTB group (20.0%)( p=0.04). In the drug-resistant group, no source of infection could be established in 5 of 9 patients (55.5%).Conclusions: Extra-pulmonary tuberculosis diagnosis is more difficult than Pulmonary tuberculosis in children due to the various problems such as absence of associated pulmonary involvement,  lack of constitutional symptoms and negative tuberculosis exposure history compared to Pulmonary Tuberculosis. New strategies are required for improving the diagnosis of  Extra-pulmonary tuberculosis in children
Renewal according to the mind of Christ as trigger for prophetic action in dealing with human waste
Authors: De Wet Friedrich W.
Published: September 2014

One of the distinct effects of how we as humans deal with our waste seems to manifest in the growing chasm between those ‘privileged’ by the dominant, waste-generating system and those marginalised by the same system. Those privileged by the system are isolated in a safe world where waste is seemingly managed in an effective way: being sanitised, black-bagged and removed from sight as soon as it is produced. In contrast, those marginalised by the system have to deal with the very real and lasting relationship between waste, disease and death – not only with reference to their own waste but by also having to deal with the excessive waste of others dumped in their immediate environment. The purpose of this contribution is to reflect theologically on the possible role that Pauline perspectives on renewal according to the mind of Christ can play in the tension field created by how humanity deals with its waste: What prophetic action can possibly be triggered when those privileged by the system as well as those marginalised by it can be brought to a point where they look at each other through the eyes of Christ and with his mind-set informing their perspective? This problem-field is investigated from a practical-theological vantage point by (1) describing and interpreting the contrast between how privileged and marginalised seem to deal with human waste and its effects (especially as it manifests in the South African society), (2) reflecting on the normative value that an investigation of the Pauline concept mind of Christ can have for a humane way of dealing with our waste and (3) visualising a prophetic praxis in which the privileged and marginalised can, through the mind-set of Christ, be empowered to enact a kind of communal life in which we are not estranged from our humanity in the process of dealing with our waste.
Schoeman laat die tydperk van die Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie uit sy winterslaap ontwaak
Authors: Visagie Jan C.
Published: September 2014

Not available.
Novel free-hand T1 pedicle screw method: Review of 44 consecutive cases
Authors: Rivkin Mark A. , Okun Jessica F. , Yocom Steven S.
Published: September 2014

Summary of Background Data: Multilevel posterior cervical instrumented fusions are becoming more prevalent in current practice. Biomechanical characteristics of the cervicothoracic junction may necessitate extending the construct to upper thoracic segments. However, fixation in upper thoracic spine can be technically demanding owing to transitional anatomy while suboptimal placement facilitates vascular and neurologic complications. Thoracic instrumentation methods include free-hand, fluoroscopic guidance, and CT-based image guidance. However, fluoroscopy of upper thoracic spine is challenging secondary to vertebral geometry and patient positioning, while image-guided systems present substantial financial commitment and are not readily available at most centers. Additionally, imaging modalities increase radiation exposure to the patient and surgeon while potentially lengthening surgical time. Materials and Methods: Retrospective review of 44 consecutive patients undergoing a cervicothoracic fusion by a single surgeon using the novel free-hand T1 pedicle screw technique between June 2009 and November 2012. A starting point medial and cephalad to classic entry as well as new trajectory were utilized. No imaging modalities were employed during screw insertion. Postoperative CT scans were obtained on day 1. Screw accuracy was independently evaluated according to the Heary classification. Results: In total, 87 pedicle screws placed were at T1. Grade 1 placement occurred in 72 (82.8%) screws, Grade 2 in 4 (4.6%) screws and Grade 3 in 9 (10.3%) screws. All Grade 2 and 3 breaches were <2 mm except one Grade 3 screw breaching 2-4 mm laterally. Only two screws (2.3%) were noted to be Grade 4, both breaching medially by less than 2 mm. No new neurological deficits or returns to operating room took place postoperatively. Conclusions: This modification of the traditional starting point and trajectory at T1 is safe and effective. It attenuates additional bone removal or imaging modalities while maintaining a high rate of successful screw placement compared to historical controls.
Quality of life and health of opioid-dependent subjects in India
Authors: Giri Om Prakash , Srivastava Mona , Shankar Ravi
Published: September 2014

Background and Objectives: The quality of life (QoL) of substance abusers is known to be severely impaired. This study was carried out to assess the impact of opioid dependence on the QoL of subjects and compared it with the normal subjects. Materials and Methods: Based on specified inclusion criteria a total of 47 subjects were recruited from a tertiary care center from India. The WHOQoL-BREF scale domain scores obtained at baseline were compared to that of normal subjects. An assessment of dysfunction and reasons for continuing and other parameters were assessed. Results: WHOQoL-BREF domains (Physical, Psychological, Social relationships and Environment) showed significantly lower scores and the difference was statistically significant. Interpretation and Conclusions: The results showed that QoL is an important parameter in assessment of substance abusers and can be used for long-term prognosis of these individuals.
Over-the-counter self-medication leading to intracranial hypertension in a young lady
Authors: Ramana Reddy A. M. , Prashanth L. K. , Sharat Kumar G. G. , Chandana G. , Jadav Rakesh
Published: September 2014

Intracranial hypertension (idiopathic-IIH and secondary) is a potentially treatable condition. Although various factors such as female gender and obesity, certain drugs have been implicated as risk factors for IIH, there remains a lack of clarity in the exact causal-effect relationship. In India, self-medication by obtaining drugs over the counter due to lack of adequate drug regulation and ignorance of the public is a very common practice with a potential for severe adverse effects. We present a case of a young lady who has developed intracranial hypertension possibly due to self-medication with steroids and cyproheptadine, obtained over the counter.
Lightning strike-induced brachial plexopathy
Authors: Bhargava Amita N. , Kasundra Gaurav M. , Khichar Subhakaran , Bhushan Bharat S. K.
Published: September 2014

We describe a patient who presented with a history of lightning strike injury. Following the injury, he sustained acute right upper limb weakness with pain. Clinically, the lesion was located to the upper and middle trunk of the right brachial plexus, and the same confirmed with electrophysiological studies. Nerve damage due to lightning injuries is considered very rare, and a plexus damage has been described infrequently, if ever. Thus, the proposed hypothesis that lightning rarely causes neuropathy, as against high-voltage electric current, due to its shorter duration of exposure not causing severe burns which lead to nerve damage, needs to be reconsidered.
Giant cell arteritis or tension-type headache?: A differential diagnostic dilemma
Authors: Rana Abdul Qayyum , Saeed Usman , Khan Osama A. , Qureshi Abdul Rehman M. , Paul Dion
Published: September 2014

Giant cell arteritis (GCA) or Temporal arteritis (TA) is an autoimmune disease and the most common type of vasculitis in the elderly. It causes inflammation of the medium and large arteries in the upper part of the body. GCA is an under-recognized cause of head aches in the elderly, especially when it presents itself with atypical features, resulting in delayed or incorrect diagnosis. Since GCA is a treatable condition, an accurate diagnosis is crucial to prevent the most serious complication of CGA, permanent vision loss. The diagnosis can be further complicated as GCA may present with features of other painful neurological conditions. The present case is an 81-year-old woman diagnosed with GCA, who initially presented with features similar to tension-type headache. Due to overlapping features of these conditions, the diagnosis of GCA was delayed, resulting in irreversible vision loss. Although previous research highlights diagnostic dilemmas featuring GCA and other disease states, this case is exclusive in describing a unique dilemma where tension-type headache mimics GCA.
Extensive long-segment cervicothoracic traumatic spinal epidural hematoma with avulsion of C7, C8, and T1 nerve roots
Authors: Garg Kanwaljeet , Satyarthee Guru Dutta , Singla Raghav , Sharma Bhawani Shankar
Published: September 2014

Traumatic spinal epidural hematoma (TSEH) is of rare clinical occurrence. We report a case of a young man with posttraumatic long-segment spinal epidural hematoma. Evacuation of the hematoma led to complete neurologic recovery in our patient. Our case highlights the importance of early diagnosis and prompt surgical intervention for the evacuation of hematoma in preservation or maximum recovery of neurologic function. Imaging findings, management options, and the relevant literature are reviewed.
Mycosis Fungoides: Case Report and Literature Review
Authors: Akinbami Akinsegun A. , Osikomaiya Bodunrin I. , John-Olabode Sarah O. , Adediran Adewumi A. , Osinaike Olajumoke , Uche Ebele I. , Ismail Ayobami K. , Dosunmu Adedoyin O. , Odesanya Mojeed , Dada Akinola , Okunoye Olaitan
Published: September 2014

Mycosis fungoides (MF), also known as Alibert-Bazin syndrome or granuloma fungoides, is the most common form of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. Cutaneous lymphomas are an uncommon, heterogeneous group of non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHLs) of T- and B-cell origin where the skin is the primary organ of involvement. This is a case of a 60-year-old Nigerian woman, who was diagnosed and managed as a case of chronic dermatitis but further investigations confirmed a diagnosis of MF; she was thereafter managed with topical glucocorticoids/chemotherapy and improved on these treatments. We make a plea for better awareness of the disease among physicians and pathologists in Africa.
Three Cases of Immature Teratoma Diagnosed after Laparoscopic Operation
Authors: Nishida Masakazu , Kawano Yasushi , Yuge Akitoshi , Nasu Kaei , Matsumoto Harunobu , Narahara Hisashi
Published: September 2014

While mature cystic teratoma of the ovary is the most common ovarian tumor in young women, immature teratoma is a very rare tumor, representing only 1% of all ovarian cancers. In the three cases presented here, young women who were suspected to have mature cystic teratoma, based on CT scan and MRI, were ultimately diagnosed with immature teratoma Ic (b) G1 after laparoscopic operation. They underwent salpingo-oophorectomy of the affected side only and have shown no sign of recurrence during follow-up. We sometimes encounter patients with immature teratoma who have no findings pointing to malignancy on CT or MRI. Generally, if the components of immature nerve cells that represent immature teratoma are very few, it is difficult to diagnose the entity as immature teratoma with imaging evaluations such as CT or MRI. In many hospitals, laparoscopic surgery is selected for patients with ovarian mature teratoma. Therefore, it is essential to attempt as much as possible not to disseminate the fluid content of the tumor into the intra-abdominal space during laparoscopic operation, because in rare cases the tumor turns out not to be benign mature teratoma.
Concealed Sinus Node Dysfunction and Paradoxical Effect of Atropine during Arrhythmia Diagnostic Pharmacological Testing
Authors: Karam Myriam , Kossaify Antoine
Published: September 2014

A 78-year-old male patient presented with repetitive fainting episodes. His electrocardiogram showed sinus rhythm with persistent ventricular bigeminy. Concealed sinus node dysfunction (SND) with consecutive bradycardia-induced ventricular hyperexcitability was suspected. Pharmacological testing with atropine resulted in accelerated junctional rhythm along with nearly total disappearance of the ventricular ectopy. The diagnosis of SND was retained, a dual chamber pacemaker was implanted, and consequently, ventricular hyperexcitability disappeared. The junctional rhythm was a paradoxical effect of atropine, and many explanations were provided. Discussion was made accordingly taking into account relevant data from the literature.
Osteonecrosis of the Femoral Head with Collapsed Medial Lesion
Authors: Karasuyama Kazuyuki , Yamamoto Takuaki , Motomura Goro , Nakashima Yasuharu , Sakamoto Akio , Yamaguchi Ryosuke , Iwamoto Yukihide
Published: September 2014

A 60-year-old female experienced the gradual onset of left hip pain without any triggering event. Radiographs showed vertical sclerosis in the center of the femoral head and the lesion inside the boundary demonstrated diffuse bony sclerosis. No collapse was observed at the weight-bearing portion on radiograph. However, computed tomography showed a subchondral collapse at the medial lesion. On T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging, the necrotic lesion showed diffuse high-intensity signals that indicated a prominent repair process. Bone biopsy diagnosed osteonecrosis with associated prominent appositional bone and vascular granulation tissue.
Reassessment of the Genome Size in Elaeis guineensis and Elaeis oleifera, and Its Interspecific Hybrid
Authors: Camillo Julceia , Leão André P. , Alves Alexandre A. , Formighieri Eduardo F. , Azevedo Ana L.s. , Nunes Juliana D. , de Capdeville Guy , de Mattos Jean K. A. , Souza Manoel T.
Published: September 2014

Aiming at generating a comprehensive genomic database on Elaeis spp., our group is leading several R&D initiatives with Elaeis guineensis (African oil palm) and Elaeis oleifera (American oil palm), including the whole-genome sequencing of the last. Genome size estimates currently available for this genus are controversial, as they indicate that American oil palm genome is about half the size of the African oil palm genome and that the genome of the interspecific hybrid is bigger than both the parental species genomes. We estimated the genome size of three E. guineensis genotypes, five E. oleifera genotypes, and two interspecific hybrids genotypes. On average, the genome size of E. guineensis is 4.32 ± 0.173 pg, while that of E. oleifera is 4.43 ± 0.018 pg. This indicates that both genomes are similar in size, even though E. oleifera is in fact bigger. As expected, the hybrid genome size is around the average of the two genomes, 4.40 ± 0.016 pg. Additionally, we demonstrate that both species present around 38% of GC content. As our results contradict the currently available data on Elaeis spp. genome sizes, we propose that the actual genome size of the Elaeis species is around 4 pg and that American oil palm possesses a larger genome than African oil palm.
Cluster thinning as a tool to hasten ripening of wine grapes in the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Authors: Hannam K. D. , Neilsen G. H. , Neilsen D. , Bowen P.
Published: September 2014

Hannam, K. D., Neilsen, G. H., Neilsen, D. and Bowen, P. 2015. Cluster thinning as a tool to hasten ripening of wine grapes in the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia. Can. J. Plant Sci. 95: 103–113. Achieving fruit maturity can be a challenge on some Okanagan vineyards in some years. Cluster thinning is widely used to hasten ripening, but may not be effective on sites with balanced crop loads. In a Merlot vineyard in Summerland, BC, the effects of cluster thinning on juice soluble solids (an indicator of fruit maturity), yield and vine growth were examined between 2008 and 2011 across a range of treatments that manipulated the frequency and quantity of applied irrigation water. Cluster thinning increased juice soluble solids in 2 out of 3 study years and consistently increased cluster weights, but had few effects on juice pH, titratable acidity or yield. In 2 of 3 yr, correlation analyses showed that cluster thinning was most effective at improving the maturity of fruit with low soluble solids. Irrigation treatments did not have a consistent effect on juice composition but year-to-year variability was significant. Response ratios calculated from values reported in the literature show that cluster thinning in this region causes small but inconsistent improvements in juice soluble solids across a range of crop loads.
Drug interaction alert override rates in the Meaningful Use era
Authors: Bryant A.D. , Fletcher G.S. , Payne T.H.
Published: September 2014

Background: Interruptive drug interaction alerts may reduce adverse drug events and are required for Stage I Meaningful Use attestation. For the last decade override rates have been very high. Despite their widespread use in commercial EHR systems, previously described interventions to improve alert frequency and acceptance have not been well studied.

Objectives: (1) To measure override rates of inpatient medication alerts within a commercial clinical decision support system, and assess the impact of local customization efforts. (2) To compare override rates between drug-drug interaction and drug-allergy interaction alerts, between attending and resident physicians, and between public and academic hospitals. (3) To measure the correlation between physicians’ individual alert quantities and override rates as an indicator of potential alert fatigue.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed physician responses to drug-drug and drug-allergy interaction alerts, as generated by a common decision support product in a large teaching hospital system.

Results: (1) Over four days, 461 different physicians entered 18,354 medication orders, resulting in 2,455 visible alerts; 2,280 alerts (93%) were overridden. (2) The drug-drug alert override rate was 95.1%, statistically higher than the rate for drug-allergy alerts (90.9%) (p < 0.001). There was no significant difference in override rates between attendings and residents, or between hospitals. (3) Physicians saw a mean of 1.3 alerts per day, and the number of alerts per physician was not significantly correlated with override rate (R2 = 0.03, p = 0.41).

Conclusions: Despite intensive efforts to improve a commercial drug interaction alert system and to reduce alerting, override rates remain as high as reported over a decade ago. Alert fatigue does not seem to contribute. The results suggest the need to fundamentally question the premises of drug interaction alert systems.

Citation: Bryant AD, Fletcher GS, Payne TH. Drug interaction alert override rates in the Meaningful Use era: No evidence of progress. Appl Clin Inf 2014; 5: 802–813

http://dx.doi.org/10.4338/ACI-2013-12-RA-0103
Mary Poppins and the Soviet Pilgrimage: P.L.Travers's Moscow Excursion (1934)
Authors: McNair John
Published: September 2014

Like the journey it chronicles, Moscow Excursion, P.L.Travers’s account of her 1932 visit to Russia, was in part inspired by the genre it effectively parodies: the ‘Soviet pilgrimage’ ‘truth about Russia’ narrative characteristic of the Stalin decades and exemplified (in the Australian context) by Katharine Susannah Prichard’s The Real Russia, also published in 1934. The paper examines the ways in which Travers’s book is written against this genre to produce an avowedly ‘un-political’ record whose narrator rejects the restrictions of organized travel, and whose idiosyncratic and critical observations on Soviet reality contrast with the admiration of her more orthodox fellow-travellers for the usual showcase institutions on the official itinerary. At the same time, it is argued that in its blend of self-deprecating irony, whimsy and disillusioned idealism Moscow Excursion suggests parallels with Travers’s personal quest for ‘the truth’ and even with Mary Poppins, published only two months later.
Travel, Politics and the Limits of Liminality During Australia’s Sixties
Authors: Piccini Jon
Published: September 2014

Victor Turner describes the individual experience of travel as ‘liminal’. Opening new vistas of possibility, it upturns ordinary social conventions and codes, constructing in their place new communities of hope and change. Such utopian moments of encounter are, however, just that—moments that are fleeting and generally inconsequential. This paper seeks to understand and critique Turner’s ideas of liminality, pilgrimage and communitas within the context of Australian social movements in the ‘long’ and ‘global’ 1960s. Though often ignored or marginalised in local and international scholarship, Australia had a much more complex and interesting experience of this period than the paucity of scholarly work would indicate. In fact, a variety of activists in areas ranging from Indigenous rights to the peace and workers movements pushed the boundaries of political discourse during a period marked by stultifying social and cultural climates. Through a focus on three travel narratives—those of Brisbane radical Brian Laver and young Communist Party of Australia (CPA) members to Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria during 1968, Sydney Trotskyite Denis Freney to Algeria in the early 1960s and five Indigenous activists to a Black Power conference in Atlanta, Georgia in 1970—this paper will highlight the importance of global connections to Australian social movements. The notion of liminality will initially be critiqued through a focus on pre-histories to travel: the ideas, rumours and local problems that can be glossed over in work heralding the power of the moment. Such moments of encounter were, however, still transformative for these activists, with their variety of experiences facilitating what Turner called communitas, spontaneous affinities and solidarities across borders of race, culture and understanding. The pilgrims’ return concludes this discussion, with their ‘translation’ of global ideas into new, local contexts giving them the role not just of a missionary, but also a mediator—disrupting travel’s supposed fleetingness and locating its importance to the transnational flow of ideas during the Sixties.
‘The Sweet Uses of London’: The Careers ‘Abroad’ of Louise Mack (1870-1935) and Arthur Maquarie (1874–1955)
Authors: Tasker Meg Mary
Published: September 2014

This paper examines the careers of two Australian writers who left Sydney for London at the end of the nineteenth century to explore questions of cultural, as well as literary, identity and affiliation.

Louise Mack, as a poet, novelist, writer of romances, journalist and war correspondent, combined a fluid sense of national identity with a flexibility in writing across genres and readerships that makes her hard to categorise. Arthur Maquarie’s career as an Australian poet aspiring to fit into an essentially ‘English’ cultural niche provides a model of Anglo-Australianness that appears to fit a conservative model, called somewhat imprecisely from an Australian perspective, expatration - but which nonetheless retains layers of identity and experience which made complete assimilation virtually impossible.

At a time when there was no clear or inevitable choice between being British or Australian, it is apparent that these writers never fully renounced (indeed, could not completely lose) either their British heritage or their colonial identity, whether working in commercial or literary milieux. Living and working in London, they were not simply expatriates or exiles, but carriers of complex and often shifting roles and identities that insisted on hybridity. Despite this theoretical hybridity being inevitable to some extent, it is still possible to distinguish between them. The colonial transnational writer’s position is differently inflected from the expatriate’s, as it entails the carrying of several layers of identity without an ideologically driven impulse to assert, renounce or choose between them.

By comparison with Maquarie, Louise Mack appears to be far less troubled by notions of cultural identity, whether political or more broadly literary. Her greater mobility between genres, and her lack of any fixed status or position in social or institutional settings of the kind that Maquarie adhered to, correspond to a greater flexibility in her cultural affiliations, and produced a more fluid form of ‘colonial transnational’ identity.
Time Travel: Australian Tourists and Britain's Past
Authors: White Richard
Published: September 2014

Across the twentieth century, Britain drew more Australian tourists for longer and more intense experiences than anywhere else, though as early as the 1970s Asia was attracting more Australians than Europe. They found much to admire and to deprecate in Britain but above all they were seduced by Britain’s past, or what they imagined it to be. This paper examines the Australian experience of history in Britain, their admiration for notions of tradition, for an unchanging village life, for fading imperial glory, for sheer antiquity. Some looked for their own ancestors and family but most were satisfied to have their school lessons and imaginative reading validated by being there. The response they had to British history was an intensely emotional one: this article argues that it was a result not of imperial sentiment but of a desire for a deep and meaningful past.
Destabilising Notions of the Unfamiliar in Australian Documentary Theatre: version 1.0’s CMI (A Certain Maritime Incident)
Authors: Garde Ulrike
Published: September 2014

This article offers a fresh analysis of Sydney-based version 1.0’s theatre production CMI (A Certain Maritime Incident, 2004), which engaged with asylum seekers arriving by boat in the context of the so-called ‘children overboard affair’ and the maritime disaster, in which over 300 people from the SIEV X, a brittle Indonesian fishing boat, perished. The performance invited audiences to see the unfamiliar in themselves rather than in those frequently rejected as ‘the other’. In doing so, it questioned common notions of the unfamiliar that is perceived by audiences as different, foreign or insufficiently known, and interrupted a long tradition of opposing the familiar culture(s) of Australians and the unfamiliar culture(s) of the ‘boat people’. The article explores how version 1.0 used effectively a destabilisation of meaning, a playful inversion of socio-political responsibilities and challenged common notions of the roles of fact and fiction in order to offer an alternative perspective on public events, thus making an important contribution to Australia’s communicative memory of issues that continue to be pertinent beyond Australian borders.
The Empire Bites Back? Translating Oceanian Fictional Food
Authors: Anderson Jean
Published: September 2014

Pioneering Maori writer Patricia Grace set out to combat literary stereotypes of her people, with the aim of showing ‘who we are’: in her first novel, Mutuwhenua (1978), food is used as a marker of that indigenous difference. Taking Grace’s references as a point of departure, I extend my analysis of the treatment of food to works by other Oceanian writers, principally Chantal Spitz, Moetai Brotherson, Rai Chaze and Jimmy Ly (French Polynesia) and Déwé Gorodé and Claudine Jacques (New Caledonia). I explore ways in which the affective and cultural associations of foods are exploited in the texts in order to signal difference. How far, and to what end, do the similarities between Oceanian cultures reveal themselves through contextual readings of these references, and to what extent is it possible also to assert cultural commonalities, as they are expressed through food? I argue that the chief purpose of these strategies is political, although this is made explicit to varying degrees by the authors studied.
Grassroots Women
Authors: Kay Rebecca
Published: September 2014

The economic, social and political changes that have occurred in Russia over the last 10 years have had a profound effect on Russian women’s lives. Economic reform has brought poverty, insecurity and high levels of anxiety and stress to much of the population, both male and female. The impact of these changes on women was amplified in the early 1990s by their structural positioning both within the workforce and within the population, brought about by the legacies of the Soviet planned economy, Soviet attitudes to gender and long established demographic trends. Alongside these historical influences, ‘new’ essentialist attitudes towards gender and the appropriate roles and responsibilities of women in post-Soviet Russian society have been strongly promoted through the media, political and social discourses, imposing new pressures and dilemmas on many post-Soviet Russian women.

Numerous women’s organisations have been established in Russia since the early 1990s, many of them with a specific remit of helping Russian women to overcome the upheavals and hardships which they face. Struggling to survive themselves with very few resources and minimal external support, Russia’s grassroots women’s organisations have nonetheless offered practical help and advice and emotional support and solidarity to their members.

This paper is based on the findings of a period of intensive fieldwork carried out in 1995-6 with grassroots women’s organisations in Moscow and three Russian provincial centres. It will present the aims, activities and impact of the groups studied. It will also investigate the ways in which these groups and their membership positioned themselves in relation to the development of essentialist attitudes and opinions on gender within Russia on the one hand, and a dialogue with ‘western’ feminist theory and practice on the other.
Entanglement and the Modern Australian Rhythm Method: Lantana’s Lessons in Policing Sexuality and Gender
Authors: Duncanson Kirsty , Elder Catriona , Pratt Murray
Published: September 2014

Film in Australia, as with many other nations, is often seen as an important cultural medium where national stories about belonging and identity can be (re)produced in pleasurable and, at times, complicated ways. One such film is Ray Lawrence’s Lantana. Although striking a chord in Australia as a good film about ‘ basically good people’, people that rang ‘brilliantly’ true (Lantana DVD 2002), this paper argues that, at the same time as it produces a fantasy of a ‘good’ Australia, the film also conducts a regulation of what constitutes Australianness. In many ways the imaginary of Australia offered in this film, to its contemporary, urban, professional and intellectual elite audience, still draws on and (re)produces a vision of an Australian community that uses the same narrative frameworks of protection and control as the cruder discourses of ‘white Australia’ offered to an earlier generation of cinema-goers. This film’s central motif of the lantana bush, the out of control weed, that is known as both foreign and local is here emblematic of tensions about belonging, place and otherness. Yet while, within the film’s knowingly reflexive purview any remaining potential for racism is understood and itself under control – we know how to be good mutliculturalists –it is the trope of sexuality in Lantana that provides the real sense of edginess and anxiety about belonging. It is in this arena that the film sets up an idea of danger and –less self-consciously, and in the end more aggressively – marks out who is and who is not part of the community. In this context the motif of lantana signals an ambivalence about difference and the exotic. Lantana is both desirable because of the difference in its attractive Latin looks and repulsive or feared because of other qualities inherent within its difference: a refusal to behave and a propensity to get out-of control, spread and potentially take over. The film here explores desire for a taste of the other (a gay man, a newly separated woman, a Latin dance teacher). However, these fantasies are in the end emphatically shut down as the film ends by producing a vision of subtly normalised hetero, mono, familial (though not necessarily happy) forms of desiring, loving and reproducing in contemporary Australia.
The Emergence of a Transnational Advocacy Network: International Election Monitoring in the Philippines, Chile, Nicaragua, and Mexico
Authors: Santa Cruz Arturo
Published: September 2014

In this paper I question the existence of a global civil

society, suggesting that what we have witnessed in recent

years is the emergence of myriad transnational advocacy

networks (TANs). I illustrate this claim by looking at a

recently novel area in world politics: the international

monitoring of elections (IEM), a practice which I claim has

partially redefined state sovereignty. This paper takes form

as follows. In the first section I present a conceptual

discussion on world civil society and TANS , and suggest an

unexplored way in which emergent norms might be adopted

internationally. In the next four sections I follow the

evolution of the IEM TAN. Thus, the second section deals

with the foundational 1986 Philippine case; the third

section with the 1988 Chilean plebiscite; the fourth with

the 1990 Nicaraguan elections, and the fifth with the 1994

Mexican electoral process. I conclude in the sixth section

by evaluating the usefulness of the path of norm-diffusion,

and by discussing how the practice of non-state actors has

contributed to the redefinition of both state sovereignty

and the international system.
Social Movements Facing the Processes of Globalization: Beyond the Paradigms of Class and Identity
Authors: Alfaro Verónica
Published: September 2014

This essay focuses on a particular expression of globalization and regionalization that entails social, political, cultural and economic dimensions: social movements. I argue that current social movements are not necessarily articulated only in terms of class struggle-as the major labor movements were for the last two centuries. Neither do they articulate their protests only in terms of identity and recognition-such as women's movements did in the 1960s. Social movements are now most commonly organized around a discourse that combines those two dimensions. Contemporary social movements are expanding from the structural economic and industrial system (and thus abandoning the form of traditional class struggles) to cultural and identity grounds. New social movements are now seen more and more as symbolic challengers, because power-that affects everyday life and tries to manipulate and give social meaning to things-is being contested by individuals in both the public and private spheres. Thus movements have a more symbolic function: they are a new kind of media, fighting for symbolic and cultural stakes, and for a different meaning and orientation of social action. However, constructing a collective identity within a social movement is not definitive. A movement's identity is constructed on an everyday basis, and within the process of globalization, the contact and social interaction with others -with the other, which allows the definition of one's own identity-is not only possible but also necessary. This paper considers the Zapatista rebellion in Chiapas as an empirical approach to social movements expanding from regional, local mobilizations and discourse, to more global oriented contentious activities. I argue that the Zapatista movement's identity in 1994 was quite different from the one it has now: the Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (EZLN, or Zapatista National Liberation Army) discourse has been transformed, from having an ethnic, communitarian point of view to a more global or transnational oriented vision. The Zapatistas' globally constructed image is now not only that of a particular, local revolution, but also reflects a pretended universalism in their political proposal: a reordering of the necessary and irreversible global structural transformation. The movements' demands are thus an aspect of the actual process of configuring an 'alternative revolution of global scale', as a rejection of the new political, social and economic order, both at the local and global levels. In the case of Zapatismo, the form of the movement has become a message, a symbolic challenge to the dominant global patterns that redefine the meaning of social action for the local society-namely, neoliberal policies. In other words, what is new--although not exclusive to Zapatismo as a social movement--is that what is at stake in its discourse is the production of humanity, related to the transnational nature and effects of globalization and the interdependence of the world system.
En/countering the New Language of Exile in Uche Nduka's The Bremen Poems
Authors: Oha Obododimma
Published: September 2014

Many African writers have been very critical of Europe in their works, especially in relation to racism and the experience of colonization. Yet, with the conditions in African countries becoming unfriendly to the careers of these writers, many of them have had to seek refuge in Europe. The New European context of African writing (which means an entry into the space of the Other) raises a number of issues about literary style in the exilic/migrant text, especially with regard to the use of literature as a means of recreating the self and articulating the way the self experiences a new cultural space. To what extent does this entry into the space of the Other imply dialogism and transformation? The present paper discusses the stylistic and discourse patterns utilized by the Nigerian poet, Uche Nduka, who has been in self-exile in Germany, in his The Bremen Poems. It analyses the images that are enlisted in the textual politics of re/identification in the poems, especially in the articulation of Europe/Germany as a productive space. It analyses the images that are enlisted in the textual politics of re/identification in the poems, especially in the articulation of Europe/Germany as a productive space.
Exile and the Creative Imagination
Authors: Oguibe Olu
Published: September 2014

'Exile and the Creative Imagination' is a personal meditation on the pain and productive potential of exile from one of Nigeria's most internationally renowned artists, poets, and cultural critics. The text explores the genesis and development of the exile theme in Oguibe's poetry and visual art production.
Editor's welcome, PORTAL, Vol. 2, No. 1, January 2005
Authors: Allatson Paul , McCormack Jo
Published: September 2014

This special issue of PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, jointly edited by Jo McCormack and Paul Allatson, is dedicated to exile and social transformation. Some of the papers presented here derive from a highly successful workshop and symposium on exile held at the Institute for International Studies, University of Technology Sydney, in July and December 2004. Others arrived in response to a call for papers sent out in early 2004, which attracted a great deal of attention. We would like to thank all those involved at the first two events for their productive discussions and feedback, and extend our thanks to the many people who responded to the call for papers on the topic. The next issue of PORTAL will also be a special issue, “Strange Localities: Utopias, Intellectuals and National Identities in the 21st Century,” with three guest editors: Alistair Fox (University of Otago), Murray Pratt (University of Technology, Sydney), and Hilary Radner (University of Otago). And, as always, we would like to encourage practitioners of international studies and cultural producers working anywhere in the world, and in any of the PORTAL languages, to submit material for future issues. Finally, and returning to this issue’s special theme, it was with great sadness that we learned from one of the contributors to this issue, Sue Hajdú, of her father’s recent death. Sue’s critical and creative meditation on her father’s status as a Hungarian exile is one of this issue’s highlights. On behalf of the members of the Portal Editorial Committee, this special issue is dedicated to him. Paul Allatson, Chair, PORTAL Editorial Committee
Exile: Rupture and Continuity in Jean Vanmai's Chan Dang and Fils de Chan Dang
Authors: Do Tess
Published: September 2014

This essay focuses on the work of the New Caledonian-born writer Jean Vanmai. His first two novels, Chan Dang and Fils de Chan Dang, describe the working conditions and exilic existence of the little known Chan Dang, the voluntary workers from Tonkin (North Vietnam) who moved to New Caledonia many decades ago. Descended himself from a Chan Dang family, Vanmai wishes to preserve the memory of the Chan DangDang’s past. In writing the story of the Chan Dang, Vanmai sees himself as the guardian of the Chan Dang’s collective memory, a keeper and defender of their common past. The paper argues that Vanmai's depictions of the Chan Dang have two important effects. First, by sharing with other Vietnamese migrants/refugees the life and experiences of the Tonkinese voluntary workers in New Caledonia, Vanmai breaks the silence surrounding colonial exile and exploitation and provides a full account of the Chan Dang’s exile that can be integrated into the contemporary history of Vietnamese migration. Second, by using different narrative resolutions for each of his protagonists, Vanmai stresses the need to fulfil one’s filial duty among the young Vietnamese generations. With this symbolic filial act, Vanmai pays homage to his Vietnamese ancestors and earns himself a honourable title, that of a true dutiful "son of Chan Dang".