bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Key Roles of Glutamine Pathways in Reprogramming the Cancer Metabolism
Authors: Michalak Krzysztof Piotr , Maćkowska-Kędziora Agnieszka , Sobolewski Bogusław , Woźniak Piotr
Published: October 2015

Glutamine (GLN) is commonly known as an important metabolite used for the growth of cancer cells but the effects of its intake in cancer patients are still not clear. However, GLN is the main substrate for DNA and fatty acid synthesis. On the other hand, it reduces the oxidative stress by glutathione synthesis stimulation, stops the process of cancer cachexia, and nourishes the immunological system and the intestine epithelium, as well. The current paper deals with possible positive effects of GLN supplementation and conditions that should be fulfilled to obtain these effects. The analysis of GLN metabolism suggests that the separation of GLN and carbohydrates in the diet can minimize simultaneous supply of ATP (from glucose) and NADPH2(from glutamine) to cancer cells. It should support to a larger extent the organism to fight against the cancer rather than the cancer cells. GLN cannot be considered the effective source of ATP for cancers with the impaired oxidative phosphorylation and pyruvate dehydrogenase inhibition. GLN intake restores decreased levels of glutathione in the case of chemotherapy and radiotherapy; thus, it facilitates regeneration processes of the intestine epithelium and immunological system.
Temporal Bone Pneumatization and Pulsatile Tinnitus Caused by Sigmoid Sinus Diverticulum and/or Dehiscence
Authors: Wenjuan Liu , Zhaohui Liu , Ning Zheng , Pengfei Zhao , Cheng Dong , Zhenchang Wang
Published: October 2015

Background. Although air cells within temporal bone may play an important role in the transmission of pulsatile tinnitus (PT) noise, it has not been studied systematically.Purpose. To evaluate the difference in temporal bone pneumatization between PT patients with sigmoid sinus diverticulum and/or dehiscence (SSDD) and healthy people.Material and Methods. A total of 199 unilateral persistent PT patients with SSDD and 302 control subjects underwent dual-phase contrast-enhanced CT (DP-CECT), to assess the grade of temporal bone pneumatization in each ear.Results. In the bilateral temporal bone of 302 controls, 16 ears were grade I, 53 were grade II, 141 were grade III, and 394 were grade IV. Among the affected ears of 199 PT cases, 1 ear was grade I, 18 were grade II, 53 were grade III, and 127 were grade IV. There was no significant difference in the pneumatization grade between the affected PT ear and either ear in the healthy subjects(p>0.05).  Conclusion. Although air cells within the temporal bone are an important factor in the occurrence of PT, its severity does not differ significantly from the pneumatization of healthy people.
Efficacy and Safety of Repeated Courses of rTMS Treatment in Patients with Chronic Subjective Tinnitus
Authors: Lehner Astrid , Schecklmann Martin , Poeppl Timm B. , Kreuzer Peter M. , Peytard Juliette , Frank Elmar , Langguth Berthold
Published: October 2015

Background. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has shown promising effects in the treatment of chronic subjective tinnitus. However, little is known about maintenance treatment in order to achieve long-lasting improvements.Objective. This study addresses the questions whether the repeated application of rTMS treatment can contribute to the maintenance or enhancement of treatment effects and if so in which cases repetitive treatment courses are beneficial.Methods. 55 patients with chronic tinnitus were treated with two rTMS treatment courses with ten treatment sessions each. The mean intertreatment interval was 20.65 ± 18.56 months. Tinnitus severity was assessed before and after each treatment course.Results. Both treatments were well tolerated and caused significant improvement of tinnitus severity. The main predictor for the outcome of the second treatment was the development of tinnitus distress in the phase between both treatment courses: the more patients worsened in this interval, the more they improved during the second treatment course.Conclusion. Repeated application of rTMS seems to be useful in tinnitus management and should preferentially be offered to patients who experience a worsening of their tinnitus during the intertreatment interval, irrespective of their response to the first treatment course.
Biomolecular Modulation of Neurodegenerative Events during Ageing
Authors: Nebbioso Marcella , Scarsella Gianfranco , Librando Aloisa , Pescosolido Nicola
Published: October 2015

The objective is to assess the modulation of retinal and optic nerve degenerative events induced by the combination ofα-lipoic acid (ALA) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) in an animal model of ageing. For this study, 24 male Wistar-Harlan strain rats were left to age for up to 24 months. One group of rats was subjected to a diet supplemented with ALA and SOD for 8 weeks, while another group was used as a positive control and not subjected to any dietary treatment. To assess the cytoprotective effects of the antioxidants, a morphological analysis was carried out on sections of retina and optic nerve head, stained with haematoxylin-eosin, followed by an analysis of the modifications to nuclear DNA detected by the TUNEL technique. The lipid peroxidation assay was used to assess the damage induced by oxidative stress at cell membrane level. The molecules involved in apoptosis mediated by oxidative stress, such as caspase-3 and inducible nitric oxide synthase, were also assayed by immunolocalization and western blot. ALA and SOD are able to counteract senile neurodegenerative deterioration to the retina and optic nerve. Indeed, the combination of these antioxidant molecules can reduce oxidative stress levels and thus prevent both nuclear degradation and subsequent cell death.
Application of Mathematical Modeling for Simulation and Analysis of Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS) in Pre- and Postsurgery Conditions
Authors: Jalali Ali , Jones Gerard F. , Licht Daniel J. , Nataraj C.
Published: October 2015

This paper is concerned with the mathematical modeling of a severe and common congenital defect called hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS). Surgical approaches are utilized for palliating this heart condition; however, a brain white matter injury called periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) occurs with high prevalence at or around the time of surgery, the exact cause of which is not known presently. Our main goal in this paper is to study the hemodynamic conditions under which HLHS physiology may lead to the occurrence of PVL. A lumped parameter model of the HLHS circulation has been developed integrating diffusion modeling of oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations in order to study hemodynamic variables such as pressure, flow, and blood gas concentration. Results presented include calculations of blood pressures and flow rates in different parts of the circulation. Simulations also show changes in the ratio of pulmonary to systemic blood flow rates when the sizes of the patent ductus arteriosus and atrial septal defect are varied. These changes lead to unbalanced blood circulations and, when combined with low oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations in arteries, result in poor oxygen delivery to the brain. We stipulate that PVL occurs as a consequence.
Modelling and simulation of complex cellular models using Cell-DEVS
Authors: Wainer Gabriel , Fernández Joaquín
Published: October 2015

Cellular automata are discrete dynamical systems that provide a mathematical framework for modelling, studying and predicting the behaviour and response of systems across many different disciplines and domains, ranging from physical and biological to computational and social models. Cell-DEVS is a formalism that provides a discrete event approach to define cellular models with timing delay constructions and using simple definition of complex timing. It has been shown that the application of the Cell-DEVS paradigm produces a significant reduction in the development times of cell-shaped models and a wide variety of complex models has been developed using this approach. In this work we present the definition of complex cellular automata models using the Cell-DEVS paradigm, we use the CD++ tool to obtain executable models and study their behaviour through computer simulation.
Use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in an awake patient after a major trauma with an incidental finding of tuberculosis
Authors: Haneke F , Schildhauer TA , Strauch J , Swol J
Published: October 2015

We report the use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in a trauma patient with an incidental finding of open tuberculosis (TB). Sedation was reduced during extracorporeal support and awake veno-venous ECMO was successfully performed. Subsequently, accidental cannula removal caused major blood loss which required the administration of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Our case report demonstrates that the incidental finding of open TB is an important hint for differential diagnosis and that it should still be considered in high-income countries. In addition, awake ECMO appears to be a feasible therapeutic option in non-transplant patients, although the described case demonstrates that patient compliance and nursing care are important for therapeutic success to avoid complications, for example, inadvertent decannulation.
A study of ultra-precision ball rotating displacement measurement using laser focus deviation probes
Authors: Lu Huizong , Wang Zhiwei , Ji Chengdong , Yuan Julong
Published: October 2015

An ultra-precision ball rotating displacement measurement setup based on laser focus deviation was presented. The setup is capable of measuring ultra-precision ball rotating displacement at nanometer sensitivity. The experiment results indicated that the method has high repeatability and potentially with high throughput. A dual-probe setup is also studied to evaluate diameter variation in a ball with errors introduced by misalignment, while spindle radial vibration being automatically eliminated. Optical probe-based ultra-precision ball displacement and diameter variation measurement are suitable for in situ application with high throughput and repeatability.
A geometrical–mechanical–thermal predictive model for thermal contact conductance in vacuum environment
Authors: Ma Chi , Zhao Liang , Shi Hu , Mei Xuesong , Yang Jun
Published: October 2015

In this article, a comprehensive geometrical–mechanical–thermal predictive model is developed for thermal contact conductance between two flat metallic rough surfaces. The rough surface was characterized by Weierstrass–Mandelbrot fractal function. The micro-morphology was measured by laser microscope to identify the fractal parameters that were then applied to mechanical and thermal modeling. A new contact mechanics model was then proposed to calculate the contact parameters, and different contact scales between asperities and three modes of deformation, elastic, elastic–plastic and fully plastic, were taken into account. The normal contact pressure, which should be equal to the exterior load, was formulated as a function of the fractal parameters, the maximum contact area and the material physical properties of the given surface. Based on the contact mechanics model, first a single pair of contacting asperities was proposed and then multi-contacting asperities were combined to get total thermal contact conductance. The influences of contact load, surface roughness, asperity top radius and contact area as well as the temperature on the thermal contact conductance were investigated by using the proposed model. The investigation results showed that thermal contact conductance increases with the contact load and contact area. The larger the surface roughness, the smaller is the thermal contact conductance. Finally, the experiments were conducted to validate the effectiveness of the thermal contact conductance modeling. This geometrical–mechanical–thermal predictive model was compared with the two existing predictive models and a series of experimental data. The results showed good agreement, demonstrating the validity of the model and providing certainty for further study on the heat transfer between contact surfaces.
Ultrasonic vibration-assisted micro-hole forming on skull
Authors: Li Zhe , Yang Daoguo , Hao Weidong , Wu Song , Ye Yan , Chen Zhidan , Li Xiaoping
Published: October 2015

In minimally invasive neurosurgery, there is a gap between the need for a micro-burr hole to be opened on the skull to expose the enclosed brain for further operation and the proper technology available. Conventionally, a burr hole is generated by a drilling perforator, which usually causes damage to the vital soft tissue beneath skull. Besides, because of the extremely low mechanical strength of a micro-drilling bit, a micro-hole cannot be generated on the hard skull by the conventional drilling method. To bridge this gap, an ultrasonic vibration-assisted micro-burr hole forming technique has been developed in this study and its effectiveness has been proved through in vitro experiment on cat skull. With the assistance of ultrasonic vibration (29.7 kHz), a micro-hole has been successfully formed on skull with a 300 µm diameter conically tipped tool. Ultrasonic vibration of a large amplitude is found beneficial because the thrust force can be greatly reduced by increasing the vibration amplitude. Moreover, the micro-hole forming is free of cutting and chips. The ultrasonic vibration is found to have a hammering effect similar to shot peening, and a layer of dense tissue is formed around the hole and no chip is generated in the hole forming process. Besides, since the ultrasonic vibration tool can only fragment hard bone tissue without causing damage to the soft tissue beneath skull, a safe micro-hole forming technique can be enjoyed. Based on the findings from this study, a micro-burr hole perforator can be developed for the next-generation minimally invasive neurosurgery.
Creating self-configuring logic with built-in resilience to multiple-upset events
Authors: McWilliam Richard , Schiefer Philipp , Purvis Alan
Published: October 2015

Electronic systems are prone to failures, whether during manufacture or throughout their in-service lifetime. A number of design and fabrication techniques are presently employed that maintain an economical production yield. However, the cost of through-life maintenance and fault mitigation operations for complex, high-value systems remains a major challenge and requires new design methods in order to increase their resilience. In this article, the focus is on applications that are sensitive to transient random errors caused by single-event upsets and multiple-bit upsets occurring within their electronic systems and sub-systems, as well as applications that benefit from fault detection and localisation. A novel self-restoration strategy is proposed based on a two-layer design approach comprising a fault-tolerant coordination layer with convergent cellular automata and a configurable functional logic layer. This design strategy is able to self-reconstruct the correct functional logic configuration in the event of transient faults without external intervention. The necessary convergent cellular automata rule set and state table sizes for 3 × 3 and 4 × 4 binary coded patterns are analysed in order to estimate the generic resource requirements for larger designs. Additionally, the possibility of exploiting the design for built-in fault detection and diagnostic reporting is investigated.
Influence of aging on mechanical properties of equal channel angular pressed aluminum alloy 7075
Authors: Ghalehbandi Seyed Mahmoud , Fallahi Arezoodar Alireza , Hosseini-Toudeshky Hossein
Published: October 2015

Effect of aging treatment on mechanical properties of an age-hardenable aluminum alloy after equal channel angular pressing at room temperature has been investigated using hardness, stress–strain behavior and surface fractography. Aluminum alloy 7075 was pressed after solution treatment. Yield stress, ultimate stress and hardness of pressed samples have increased significantly compared with those of coarse grain, but the elongation to failure has decreased. Also the pressed specimens were subjected to aging treatment at room temperature and temperatures of 80 °C, 100 °C, 120 °C and 140 °C to obtain the optimized strength and ductility. The results indicated that post–equal channel angular pressing aging at 80 °C has resulted in the maximum strength, and natural aging has resulted in good ductility and acceptable strength. It confirmed the fact that there is a potential in obtaining high strength and good ductility in age-hardenable alloys employing severe plastic deformation and subsequent aging.
Presence of an intracompartmental septum detected by ultrasound is associated with the failure of ultrasound-guided steroid injection in de Quervain’s syndrome
Authors: De Keating-Hart E. , Touchais S. , Kerjean Y. , Ardouin L. , Le Goff B.
Published: October 2015

The purpose of this study was to find clinical or ultrasound characteristics that might predict the failure of conservative treatment in de Quervain’s syndrome. A total of 42 ultrasound-guided injections have been performed in 41 patients after clinical and ultrasound examination. Patients were immobilized for 3 weeks with a spica splint cast, and clinically evaluated at 3 and 6 weeks and by phone call at the end of the study. Ultrasound showed a septum between the tendons of the first comportment in 34% of the wrists. At last follow-up (mean 15.6 months after the injection) ten patients (24%) had undergone surgery. When comparing ultrasound and clinical characteristics of the operated and non-operated wrists, we found that patients with a high baseline visual analogue scale, with all positive clinical tests and with a persistent intracompartmental septum, had a significantly higher risk of failure following conservative treatment.

Level of evidence: III.
Transverse soft tissue distraction preceding separation of complex syndactylies
Authors: Lohmeyer J. A. , Hülsemann W. , Mann M. , Habenicht R.
Published: October 2015

Various surgical techniques are described for separation of syndactylies leading to good results. However, the use of standard techniques is limited in complex syndactylies with extensive bony fusion and tight soft tissues. The aim of this study was to assess the outcomes of a two-stage procedure involving progressive soft tissue distraction prior to syndactyly release. Between 1996 and 2012 we treated 168 complex syndactylies with this technique. The main indications were syndactylies in Apert syndrome. The digits were distracted through an external fixator at 0.5 mm/day. Distraction of 15–25 mm was achieved. Soft tissue distraction provided additional skin, a wider nail matrix and more bone in the form of callus. Thus subsequent modelling of the fingertips was improved, especially if they were closely fused. This technique facilitates treatment of complex cases and improves aesthetic outcome.

Level of evidence: Therapeutic IV
MicroRNA Circulating in the Early Aftermath of Motor Vehicle Collision Predict Persistent Pain Development and Suggest a Role for microRNA in Sex-Specific Pain Differences
Authors: Linnstaedt Sarah D. , Walker Margaret G. , Parker Joel S. , Yeh Eunice , Sons Robert L. , Zimny Erin , Lewandowski Christopher , Hendry Phyllis L. , Damiron Kathia , Pearson Claire , Velilla Marc-Anthony , O'Neil Brian J. , Jones Jeffrey , Swor Robert , Domeier Robert , Hammond Scott , McLean Samuel A.
Published: October 2015

Background

Molecular mediators influencing the transition from acute to persistent musculoskeletal pain following common stress exposures such as motor vehicle collision (MVC) remain poorly understood. In this exploratory, proof of concept study, we compared circulating microRNA (miRNA) expression profiles in the early aftermath of MVC among individuals who did and did not subsequently develop persistent pain. Blood RNA samples were obtained from African American individuals (n = 53) who presented to the emergency department after MVC and were discharged to home after evaluation. The presence or absence of severe pain in the axial region, the most common and morbid region in which post-MVC pain occurs, was assessed 6 weeks following MVC via standardized questionnaire. miRNA expression was determined using miRNA-sequencing; non-parametric analyses were used to compare miRNA expression levels among individuals with and without persistent pain.

Results

Thirty-two mature miRNA were differentially expressed (p < 0.05) in those with and without severe axial pain at 6 weeks. miR-135a-5p, a regulator of the serotonin receptor that is known to be stress-responsive, differed most significantly between groups (p = 3 × 10−4). This miRNA, and miR-3613-3p (p = 0.001) survived correction for multiple testing (FDR = 0.15) in this small sample. Interestingly, differentially expressed miRNA were enriched for X chromosome location. In secondary analyses, the eight X chromosome miRNA were (a) more significantly associated with axial pain in women than men, (b) expressed more highly in the peripheral blood of women than men, and (c) predicted in pathway analyses (DIANA miRPath v 2.0) to regulate neuronal and neuroendocrine pathways previously implicated in various pain pathologies.

Conclusions

These results show that circulating miRNA predict persistent severe axial pain after MVC and suggest that they may be involved in the pathogenesis of post-traumatic musculoskeletal pain. However, further studies are needed to determine if these miRNA play a direct causal role.
Transition Services for DHH Adolescents and Young Adults With Disabilities: Challenges and Theoretical Frameworks
Authors: Luft Pamela
Published: October 2015

deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) adolescents and young adults with disabilities (DWD) are a highly diverse group who may also demonstrate a range of functional limitations. These present unique challenges to professional efforts to provide high-quality transition services. Despite these issues, a majority of this population has cognitive abilities within the typical range, and therefore, their transition expectations should be commensurately high in comparison to those of their DHH peers. Research-based transition practices offer a range of interventions, and although none have been validated with DHH or DWD students, several provide important foundational learning opportunities. Yet their implementation will require modifications with programming and expertise beyond what is available in most school districts. Use of a multilevel, ecological framework and person-centered planning offers systematic strategies for increasing access to transition resources and supports to address these unique needs and lead to successful adulthood.
Evaluating Teachers’ Preparedness to Work With Students Who Are Deaf and Hard of Hearing With Disabilities
Authors: Guardino Caroline
Published: October 2015

a national survey was conducted to determine the needs of teachers and service providers working with students who are deaf and hard of hearing with disabilities (DWD). Quantitative and qualitative questions were asked regarding knowledge of, training with, and strategies used with students who are DWD. Responses from 264 professionals working with this population are reported. Results are reviewed and tied to previous research before and after the 2008 revalidation of the Council on Education of the Deaf standards for teachers of the deaf. Final recommendations are made for (a) virtual learning opportunities, (b) hands-on field experiences and course work in teacher preparation programs, and (c) empirically based research. By understanding the needs of professionals who are currently working with students who are DWD, researchers can help improve teacher preparation programs as well as improve the educational systems currently in place for these learners.
Theory, Research, and Practice for Students Who Are Deaf and Hard of Hearing With Disabilities: Addressing the Challenges from Birth to Postsecondary Education
Authors: Guardino Caroline , Cannon Joanna E.
Published: October 2015

students who are deaf with a disability or disabilities (DWD) constitute nearly half of the population of K–12 learners who are deaf or hard of hearing. However, there is a dearth of information on theory, research, and practice related to these learners. The authors present an overview of (a) how the field of education of students who are D/deaf and hard of hearing might refer to this unique population in a way that represents the learner, not the disability; (b) the demographic data that further define these learners; (c) a theoretical framework within which to guide research and practice; (d) prevalence and frequency of the existing research; and (e) the practices and resources available to guide practitioners and the parents of students who are DWD. Questions are posed to the field on how to continue to improve the theory, research, and pedagogy used with these students.
Zwischen Romantik und Orientalismus. Ostasiatische Kunstgeschichte in der Weimarer Republik am Beispiel von Karl With und Alfred Salmony
Authors: Li Weijia
Published: October 2015

This paper examines the Orientalist revival of the Romantic tradition reflected in the German scholarship on East Asian art history in the Weimar Republic. I argue that the emphasis on the autonomy of East Asian art resonated with the anticlassical tendency of Romanticism. Furthermore, a search for Chinese cultural superiority inevitably led to the Orientalist idealization of Ancient China and the mystification of seemingly “irrational” elements in Buddhism. Subsequently, based on a nihilist reading of the Buddhist elements in East Asian art, German art historians offered an alternative way to search for metaphysical meanings of art.
Castle Studies and the Idea of Europe: Medievalism in German-Speaking Europe between Politics and Scientific Research, 1918–1945
Authors: Link Fabian
Published: October 2015

This paper explores the history of castle studies in German-speaking Europe, and the related transformations of castle researchers’ idea of Europe from 1918 to 1945. The study of castles was particularly popular in German-speaking regions at that time, and many castle researchers advocated nationalist and pan-Germanic ideas of Europe. After World War I, these ideas were radicalized, and scholars collaborated with Nazi organizations on the ethnic reordering of Europe. After the end of World War II castle researchers transformed their Germanocentric ideas into a more liberal concept of Europe, reflecting the establishment of a European scientific community of medieval archaeologists.
Austrian Trümmerfilm ?: What a Genre’s Absence Reveals about National Postwar Cinema and Film Studies
Authors: Randall Amanda Z.
Published: October 2015

The article begins from a comparison of German Trümmerfilme (“rubble films”) that came to define the genre and contemporaneous Austrian films also representing post–World War II physical and cultural devastation, but that are largely excluded from scholarly discussions of Trümmerfilm . By considering the exemplar films’ aesthetic, narrative, and symbolic strategies, as well as the conditions of production and ideologies undergirding postwar filmmaking, the analysis reveals scholarly biases surrounding historiographic divisions between these national cinemas. The author concludes by proposing a reconceptualization of Trümmerfilm as a comparative cultural category that could serve to productively expand the scope of postwar film studies.
Following in the Tracks of a Dog: “The Beggarwoman of Locarno” Revisited
Authors: Novero Cecilia
Published: October 2015

This essay identifies key themes in Kleist’s “The Beggarwoman of Locarno,” such as the contrast between meaning and noise, perception and reason, and human and animal. All of these themes are traced back to the dog in the tale, which is shown to play a pivotal role in exposing and expressing the limits of language, anthropomorphism, and reason. In this way, the essay hopes to show the specific ways in which Kleist’s story undermines the human speciesist claims to identity and individuality. To this aim, particular attention is devoted to the roles that sound and temporality play in the text.
Performing German Women’s Professional Identity: The Correspondence of Rahel Levin Varnhagen and Auguste Brede
Authors: Deiulio Laura
Published: October 2015

The correspondence of the actress Auguste Brede (1784–1859) with the well-known intellectual Rahel Levin Varnhagen (1771–1833) allows a unique glimpse into a professional woman’s life during the Romantic period. Because the private letters were not originally written for publication, they permit a fresh perspective on the experience of actresses of the day. This study explores how Brede understood her professional and personal roles in the context of evolving discourses of professionalization, the theater, and the bourgeoisie.
Didactic Sudden Death: Children, Police, and Teaching Citizenship in the Age of Automobility
Authors: Myers Tamara
Published: October 2015

This article explores the use of sudden death narratives to teach children lessons of safety and citizenship in mid-twentieth century North America. Police departments deployed images of public child death to warn viewers that accidents, while shocking, were the predictable outcome of the mixing of inexperienced, unskilled children and modern automobile-centric culture. As a linchpin between children and modern street life, officers made their way into North American schools, narrowed the gap between themselves and children, and played a principal role in the mid-twentieth century safety movement. Delivering a powerful message to elementary and high school students in the decades after World War II—that accidents may happen but children could prevent them—local police forces turned to necropedagogy and resituated law enforcement as friend and teacher rather than antagonist to youth.
“Sad death of a child”: Researching the Death of Children in State Care as an Act of Remembrance
Authors: George Karen
Published: October 2015

This paper examines the role that surviving archival records can play in revealing the stories of children who died while in institutional and foster care. It shares the stories of a number of children who died in care in South Australia from the 1860s to the middle of the twentieth century. It argues that the act of researching these children’s histories is a form of remembrance and memorialisation. It outlines how research significantly led to the establishment of a permanent memorial to these children in West Terrace Cemetery in the city of Adelaide.
Narrating Death, Surviving Life: Memory and Palestinian Mothers Who Lost Their Children in the Second Intifada
Authors: Morrison Heidi
Published: October 2015

The cause of Palestinian children’s deaths in the second intifada (2000-2006) is a matter of dispute in the memory of some Palestinians and Israelis today. Mainstream Israeli media and political narratives often say that the Palestinian parents sacrificed their children in the name of religion. Some of this misunderstanding comes in response to the Palestinian mothers who memorialize their sons’ death as beautiful and an act of strength. However, a reading of the mothers’ narratives that is grounded in memory studies and contemporary Palestinian history disrupts the notion the Palestinians embrace ‘an industry of death.’ The mothers recall the death as an honorable sacrifice for Palestine to not only find individual solace from a traumatic past, but also to share in a collective narrative with national meanings. This paper uses oral histories to explore the politics of individual and collective memory in Palestine today.
“Closer to God”: Child Death in Historical Perspective
Authors: Pomfret David M.
Published: October 2015

Those working within the sub-field of the modern history of childhood have rarely taken the dead child as their starting point. However, in a secularising, post-Enlightenment world, elites pursuing “progress” contemporaneously, and very publicly, reinterpreted death in relation to redefinitions of childhood as evidence of the divine. Dead children featured prominently within public modern mourning practices until, late in the nineteenth century scientific explorations of child death drove societies to occlude the presence of dead children. As infant mortality rates fell, perceptions of children as a dangerous, unstable presence, and a threat to the nation grew. New spaces emerged to receive and conceal dead children. New literary and visual cultures recast living children’s relationship with death. And in the early twentieth century accidental deaths in commercial space, in reformatories, and within the home inspired powerful debates over the future of childhood and society. This article surveys recent literature, raises key themes, and introduces the articles featured in this special issue on the relatively underresearched theme of child death.
“The Dead and The Living”: Child Death, the Public Mortuary Movement, and the Spaces of Grief and Selfhood in Victorian London
Authors: Murdoch Lydia
Published: October 2015

In nineteenth-century London, a broad coalition of urban reformers—including journalists, architects, medical officers of health, coroners, police court magistrates, and inquest juries—called for the construction of public mortuaries in order to remove the dead from working-class homes in the days, sometimes weeks, before burial. Their goal was to protect urban populations—especially the most vulnerable, young children—from the spread of contagious diseases. However, the campaigners for public mortuaries made their case by claiming that working-class burial and grieving practices, particularly Irish Catholic wakes, threatened the moral as well as physical state of childhood—accusations that no doubt fuelled working-class resistance to burial reforms. Furthermore, conflicts over the burial of deceased infants and stillborns suggested that child humanity and selfhood were best realized not in working-class domestic spaces, but through public venues such as mortuaries. The campaign to build public mortuaries and separate the dead from the living thus highlighted the fundamental role of the modernized urban public sphere in shaping Victorian ideals of childhood associated with dependence, sentiment, and human interiority.
After the Arab Spring: The Islamists’ Compromise in Tunisia
Authors: Netterstrøm Kasper Ly
Published: October 2015

Abstract: By voting for Tunisia’s new constitution in January 2014, the Islamist party Ennahda accepted many principles that were in contradiction with Islamist ideology. Most importantly, the party accepted the principle of freedom of consciousness and the absence of a reference to Sharia. This paper argues that, contrary to many theories in the field, the Islamists conceded solely out of necessity. However, after the concessions the leadership of the party uncovered new interpretations of Islam and Islamism in order to persuade the party members to support the constitution. This way, the Islamists unwillingly brought about a secularization of the political sphere in Tunisia.
After the Arab Spring: Are Secular Parties the Answer?
Authors: Boduszyñski Mieczysāaw P. , Fabbe Kristin , Lamont Christopher
Published: October 2015

Abstract: After the “Arab Spring” and the initial democratic reforms in Turkey under the Justice and Development Party (AKP), why has democratic progress remained so elusive in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)? In recent years, that question has preoccupied numerous scholars, commentators, and policy makers. Behind most of their analyses, we believe, lurks an assumption that secular parties are intrinsically better stewards of constitutional liberalism than their Islamist counterparts. Yet have non-Islamist parties really been superior agents of democratic change? We test this by surveying secular parties in three countries: Egypt, Tunisia, and Turkey. In order to assess each party’s liberal credentials, we analyze each along four key dimensions:1) history of exclusivist and statist positions; 2) ties to the military; 3) past political behavior; and 4) internal party democracy.
Decentralizing for a Deeper, More Supple Democracy
Authors: Faguet Jean-Paul , Fox Ashley M. , Pöschl Caroline
Published: October 2015

We review recent evidence regarding decentralization and state strength and argue that decentralization can deepen democracy without compromising state strength if adequately designed. We examine how decentralization affects five key aspects of state strength: 1) Authority over territory and people, 2) Conflict prevention 3) Policy autonomy and the ability to uphold the law, 4) Responsive, accountable service provision, and 5) Social learning. We provide specific reform paths that should lead to strengthening in each.
The Rise of the World’s Poorest Countries
Authors: Radelet Steven
Published: October 2015

For more than two decades now, the majority of the world’s poorest countries have been making some of the fastest and biggest development gains in history. The momentous progress achieved since the early 1990s is unprecedented. One-billion people have been lifted out of extreme poverty, the child death rate has been cut in half, life expectancy has increased significantly, millions more girls are enrolled in school, deaths in civil wars have dropped by three-quarters, average incomes have almost doubled, food production has increased by half, and democracy has spread like never before in the world’s poorest countries, notwithstanding with many setbacks, obstacles, and imperfections along the way. Some of these gains—especially the declines in poverty and child mortality—rank among the greatest achievements in human history. Yet few people are aware that this progress is even happening.
After the Arab Spring: People Still Want Democracy
Authors: Robbins Michael
Published: October 2015

Abstract: The Arab uprisings dramatically changed the political landscape, but what was their effect on support for democracy? The results of public opinion surveys conducted as part of the Arab Barometer suggest relatively little changed. Democracy remains the most preferred political system in the region, but few citizens say they live under a democracy. Yet, what changes the Arab uprisings did bring about in public opinion are not uniform, especially in the countries most affected by these events. Tunisians have become much more concerned about negative effects of democracy while Egyptians attribute poor political outcomes to the Muslim Brotherhood instead of democracy.
Authoritarianism Goes Global (II): Civil Society Under Assault
Authors: Rutzen Douglas
Published: October 2015

Abstract: In Ethiopia, civil society organizations are prohibited from receiving more than 10% of their funding from international sources if they seek to promote democracy, conflict resolution, disability rights, or other advocacy objectives. In Russia, internationally funded human rights groups are required to register as “foreign agents.” In Egypt, scores of civil society representatives have received prison sentences for receiving international funding without the permission of the government. Earlier this year, countries as diverse as Angola, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, China, and India introduced or enacted measures restricting international funding. Around the world, countries are erecting barriers to the ability of civil society organizations to receive international funding. This article presents the macro-political context underlying these restrictions. It then categorizes constraints, summarizes governmental justifications, and analyzes restrictions under international law.
After the Arab Spring: Do Muslims Vote Islamic Now?
Authors: Kurzman Charles , Türkoğlu Didem
Published: October 2015

Abstract: “Do Muslims Vote Islamic?” asked an article by Charles Kurzman and Ijlal Naqvi in the April 2010 issue of the Journal of Democracy . The answer, at that time, appeared to be rarely. This essay presents updated data on Islamic political parties’ performance in parliamentary elections through the end of 2014, along with an expanded set of electoral platforms. Since 2011, the trend toward liberal themes has stalled, but Islamic parties have not fared much better in elections since the Arab Spring than before. As in earlier years, a handful of Islamic parties have won pluralities of the vote, especially in “breakthrough” elections after long periods of autocratic rule, while most Islamic parties received less than 2 percent of seats in parliament. The Islamic political sector as a whole—that is, the proportion of seats won by all Islamic parties in each election—has remained virtually unchanged, with a median figure of 14 percent both before and since the Arab Spring.
Battle-Pieces and Vernacular Poetics
Authors: Sweet Timothy
Published: October 2015

Positing that the poetic commemoration of the Civil War offered Melville an opportunity to reconstitute the readership he had lost with Pierre and The Confidence-Man , this essay argues that with Battle-Pieces , Melville envisioned himself in the role of national bard. For Melville, the project of reconstituting a fragmented nation meant engaging not with the interior subjectivity of emergent modernist lyric but rather with the possibilities for public address offered by vernacular forms such as ballad, hymn, and epitaph. Melville’s engagement was often critical, disclosing and disrupting the ways in which vernacular forms have been vehicles for discourses that legitimate violence. While Battle-Pieces includes some nostalgic poems in undeviating hymn or ballad stanza, as well as pentameter poems deriving from an elite tradition, the volume’s baseline form is that of the hymn, ballad, or epitaph in the process of becoming something else. Where vernacular poetics traditionally voices patriotism as the nation’s cooptation of interiority, Melville thus explored a patriotism of supplementation, in which interiority remains unspecified and citizens are constituted by means of critical engagements with established forms.
Melville’s Low-Relief Officer Corps
Authors: McGowan Tony
Published: October 2015

This essay looks into Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War (1866) to explore Melville’s poetics of counter-hagiography within single and clustered poems on Civil War officers: Hancock and Grant, Sheridan and Sherman, Lyon, Lee and McClellan, and Bartlett. Keeping close to scholarship on the status of heroes and heroism in Melville’s war poetry, I aim through close reading to elucidate Melville’s strategies for subtly undoing heroism even within his ostensibly hero-making poems. At the advent of peace, I argue, Melville’s officer poems refigure the ancient rites of praise charged to the war poet and introduce knowledge corrosive to the nation’s too-ardent wartime reliance on the theory of great men.
Melville’s Reconstructions: “The Swamp Angel,” “‘Formerly a Slave,’” and the Moorish Maid in “Lee in the Capitol”
Authors: Yothers Brian
Published: October 2015

This essay considers Melville’s attitude towards race and the post-Civil War Reconstruction of the American South through three of his poems from Battle-Pieces : “The Swamp Angel,” “‘Formerly a Slave,’” and “Lee in the Capitol.” The references to race and slavery in these poems, particularly the figure of the “Moorish maid” in “Lee in the Capitol,” considered alongside the reflections in Melville’s prose “Supplement, provide important evidence that his attitude toward Reconstruction and the Civil War was not merely shaped by a desire for reconciliation after a bloody war, as is sometimes asserted, but also by an understanding of the need for justice for those who had been enslaved.
Reconciliation as Sequel and Supplement: Drum-Taps and Battle-Pieces
Authors: Bellis Peter J.
Published: October 2015

Whitman and Melville could have ended their books of Civil War poems with the close of hostilities, but for both writers an additional movement toward reunification and reconciliation is required to give the war shape and meaning: Drum-Taps requires a sequel and Battle-Pieces a supplement. In both cases, however, thematic or conceptual completion brings formal disruption: reconciliation is deferred or displaced into a separate section of the text and marked by an all too visible scar or seam. The break in Whitman’s text marks the point between wartime conflict and postwar reconciliation, a necessary pivot in what he comes to see as a single temporal and psychological process. For Melville, on the other hand, reconciliation is blocked by the politicized struggle of Reconstruction, a discursive shift that leaves the volume not so much temporally incomplete as structurally flawed. Whitman sees reconciliation as a task that poetry can still accomplish, given time; Melville fears that it may lie beyond the reach of discourse altogether.
Catatonia in the History of Psychiatry: Construction and Deconstruction of a Disease Concept
Authors: Tang Victor Mark , Duffin Jacalyn
Published: October 2015

Catatonia is a psychomotor disorder that has gone through numerous descriptions since 1874, reflecting the many changes in psychiatric disease conceptualization that have occurred within that time frame. Catatonia has been variously described as a distinct disease entity, as a part of schizophrenia, and as a nonspecific manifestation of many disorders. Because of its association with schizophrenia, the description of catatonia was particularly affected by the psychopharmacological era, beginning in the 1950s, and by the development of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) . Changing trends in psychiatric research—especially the brain-based disease model, research methods favoured by the evidence-based medicine movement, and the codes and categories of the DSM —also profoundly influenced the evolving concept of catatonia. This paper discusses these important factors that affected recognition, treatment, and study of catatonia in order to reveal the biases and assumptions made when constructing a disease concept.
Promethean Evolution: A Comparison of the Immune and Neural Systems
Authors: Silverstein Arthur M.
Published: October 2015

In contrast to normal Darwinian evolution involving adaptation to past challenges, it has been suggested that evolution has devised two unique biological mechanisms to permit the host to anticipate future challenges: the adaptive immune response and neural memory functions. Certain phenomenological similarities, some sharing of names, and the participation in both systems of a group of physiologically active molecules suggested to many that the two might be intimately related. This article compares the two systems in terms of the familiar parlance of immunology—specificity, repertoire, degeneracy, memory, mediators, pathways, and genetics—to show that they differ in most respects, except insofar as they may utilize some of the same agents, many of which participate in the normal functions of other tissues and systems of the body. Indeed, this very difference provides a further demonstration of the wonders of the evolutionary process.
Hope Less: How a Healthy Dose of Realism Can Help in the ICU
Authors: Reis Elizabeth
Published: October 2015

The author’s father died recently after a sudden heart attack. This essay discusses how the family’s experiences in the cardiac intensive care unit surprised her, even though she is a member of the Ethics Committee and the Ethics Consult Team at her local hospital, and how this led her to reconsider the ways in which families and hospital physicians communicate about the process of dying. How should doctors balance their messages of hope and realism when the situation is grim? Important judgment calls needed to be made, yet the family did not fully understand what they needed to know to make good decisions, especially the importance of the timing of their decisions. A conversation early on about what would happen if the patient became physically stable—no matter how impaired—while all options remained on the table might usefully (and mercifully) transform hope at the end.