bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Alemtuzumab in Combination With Methylprednisolone Is a Highly Effective Induction Regimen for Patients With Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia and Deletion of TP53: Final Results of the National Cancer Research Institute CLL206 Trial
Authors: Pettitt Andrew R. , Jackson Richard , Carruthers Stacey , Dodd James , Dodd Susanna , Oates Melanie , Johnson Gillian G. , Schuh Anna , Matutes Estella , Dearden Claire E. , Catovsky Daniel , Radford John A. , Bloor Adrian , Follows George A. , Devereux Stephen , Kruger Anton , Blundell Julie , Agrawal Samir , Allsup David , Proctor Stephen , Heartin Earnest , Oscier David , Hamblin Terry J. , Rawstron Andrew , Hillmen Peter
Published: April 2012

Purpose

In chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), TP53 deletion/mutation is strongly associated with an adverse outcome and resistance to chemotherapy-based treatment. In contrast, TP53 defects are not associated with resistance to the anti-CD52 monoclonal antibody alemtuzumab or methylprednisolone. In an attempt to improve the treatment of TP53-defective CLL, a multicenter phase II study was developed to evaluate alemtuzumab and methylprednisolone in combination.

Patients and Methods

Thirty-nine patients with TP53-deleted CLL (17 untreated and 22 previously treated) received up to 16 weeks of treatment with alemtuzumab 30 mg three times a week and methylprednisolone 1.0 g/m2 for five consecutive days every 4 weeks. Antimicrobial prophylaxis consisted of cotrimoxazole, itraconazole, and aciclovir (or valganciclovir for asymptomatic cytomegalovirus viremia). The primary end point was response as assigned by an end-point review committee. Secondary end points were safety, progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS).

Results

The overall response rate, complete response rate (including with incomplete marrow recovery), median PFS, and median OS were 85%, 36%, 11.8 months, and 23.5 months, respectively, in the entire cohort and 88%, 65%, 18.3 months, and 38.9 months, respectively, in previously untreated patients. Grade 3 to 4 hematologic and glucocorticoid-associated toxicity occurred in 67% and 23% of patients, respectively. Grade 3 to 4 infection occurred in 51% of the overall cohort and in 29% of patients less than 60 years of age. Treatment-related mortality was 5%.

Conclusion

Alemtuzumab plus methypredisolone is the most effective induction regimen hitherto reported in TP53-deleted CLL. The risk of infection is age related and, in younger patients, seems only marginally higher than that associated with rituximab, fludarabine, and cyclophosphamide.
War and the Culture of Politeness: The Case of The Tatler and The Spectator
Authors: Lincoln Andrew
Published: April 2012

During the last decades of the seventeenth century and the first decades of the eighteenth, transformations in the financing and organization of the military allowed England, and then Britain, to wage war abroad on an unprecedented scale. At the same time, some writers were trying to imagine and promote an idea of civil society governed by norms of a benevolent “politeness.” One function of the new culture of politeness was to reconcile readers to the massive increase in military activity. This essay will explore the process of reconciliation in the two most influential periodicals of the early eighteenth century, The Tatler and The Spectator, which are sometimes credited with a key role in the development of polite standards of taste in eighteenth-century Britain.
State as Socionatural Effect: Variable and Emergent Geographies of the State in Southeastern Turkey
Authors: Harris Leila M.
Published: April 2012

This article draws on recent interventions related to everyday states, state-natures, and political ecologies of the state, as well as Timothy Mitchell’s concept of “state as effect,” to detail and analyze ongoing changes in southeastern Turkey associated with the large-scale Southeastern Anatolia Project (Guneydoğu Anadolu Projesi, or GAP). Using interviews and survey data, the essay details changing narrations and understandings of the Turkish state among villagers of Turkey’s southeast, revealing the importance of social and historical processes, as well as differentiated biophysical conditions and changing access to water resources for these imaginaries. The case study explains both ways that state-society relations evolve as well as ways that the state is expressed as distinct from society, in part in relation to the varied and important changes associated with the ongoing damming and diversion of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Apart from contributions to understandings of the state and state-society dynamics in the long-contested southeastern Anatolia border region, the work also advances state theory. Specifically, the article builds on arguments related to the importance of political ecology and socionatural approaches, detailing key analytics related to these approaches that provide important insights for state theory—spatiotemporalities, inequality and differentiated access to resources, scalar dynamics, and materialities of nature. Harris argues that these analytics have considerable potential to advance state theory and state-nature approaches, particularly to draw out ways that the state emerges as seemingly distinct from society—the “state effect.” Scale, Harris argues, may be particularly useful toward this end and to expose other key processes of importance for states and stateness as they relate to development and nature.
The Specter and Reality of Corruption in State and Civil Society: Privatizing and Auditing Poor Relief in Turkey
Authors: Isik Damla
Published: April 2012

Based on ethnographic and archival research conducted at the headquarters of the non-governmental association Deniz Feneri [Lighthouse] Aid and Solidarity Association (DF) in Istanbul and its local branch in Izmir, Turkey, this article aims to add to the literature on accountability and corruption by critically examining technologies of accountability and transparency foregrounded by DF to counter possible corruption allegations against the association. Through an ethnographic study of various governance processes, the study aims to reach a comprehension of both corruption and accountability experienced and discussed as social practice. The research points to the fact that the overarching concern over corruption and accountability should be seen not as a reaction to the neoliberal agenda of deregulation and privatization favored by the government but as the neoliberal agenda reasserting itself through “good governance” and “audit culture” in an effort to ensure the public’s and donors’ trust in the effectiveness of neoliberal accountability as the poor are continuously categorized and made visible.
Performing Veiled Women as Marketable Commodities: Representations of Muslim Minority Women in Germany
Authors: Celik Ipek A.
Published: April 2012

Why do narratives of Muslim women find a large audience in the European cultural market? In particular, stories that portray Muslim women as victims of patriarchal traditions buttress the notion of liberal freedom that excludes these women pitied for their lack of agency. This essay explores a recent German theater performance (Black Virgins, 2006) that poses itself against such victimization stories. The analysis of the performance shows, however, that the subjectivity of Muslim minority women is framed by their ability to unveil in speech and talk freely about sexuality.
Literary Paradigms in the Conception of South Asian Muslim Identity: Muhammad Iqbal and Muhammad Hasan Askari
Authors: Farooqi Mehr Afshan
Published: April 2012

Literature has always played a synthesizing role in the history of Islam. The same can be said for the Urdu language and literature. Urdu was produced as a result of the mingling of Arabo-Persian-Turkish language with the indigenous languages and cultures primarily of north India. However, the Urdu language became politicized in British India first by the colonizers and then by the nationalists who insisted on giving it a specific Muslim identity distinct from Hindi. More complicated was the position of Urdu within the unity of Indian literature. After the creation of Pakistan, the dilemma for Urdu writers was how to construct a Pakistani literature that would be different from Indian Urdu. Farooqi’s essay asks the following questions: How would cultural identities be reflected in the new literature? Would Urdu in Pakistan shed the Indic part of its identity and become simply a language of Islam? Muhammad Hasan Askari, Urdu’s premier literary critic, maintained that there was a difference between Islamic and Muslim culture: Muslim culture was Islam plus local culture.
Seyyed Hasan Taqizadeh: Three Lives in a Lifetime
Authors: Katouzian Homa
Published: April 2012

Taqizdeh’s extraordinary career involves three distinct but interrelated phases. In the first he is an influential young intellectual of the constitutional revolution and becomes a leading spokesperson of the Democrat party. This is the “first Taqizadeh” who in 1910 goes into voluntary exile in Europe and does not return until 1923, having in the meantime led the Berlin National Committee of Iranian intellectuals against the Anglo-Russian intervention in their country. The second phase of Taqizadeh’s life — beginning with his membership of the fifth Majlis in 1923 and ending with his dismissal as the Iranian minister counselor in Paris in 1934 — shows him as a mature politician, no longer idealistic but still hoping to contribute to Iran’s sociopolitical development under Reza Shah Pahlavi’s new regime. It is in this phase that he signs the Anglo-Iranian oil agreement of 1933 against his own will and eventually ends up as an exile, this time as a professor at the University of London. In the third phase, Taqizadeh returns to Iran in 1947, having been Iranian ambassador to London for five years, and becomes a Majlis deputy and then chairman of the Senate. He is now far too advanced for Iranian politics and, although still a public figure until the early 1980s, keeps to the margins of political life. He then confides to Iraj Afshar his deep regret that he had vehemently opposed any compromise with Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar when the latter had willy-nilly tried to reach a settlement with the constitutionalists.
Discursive Constructions of Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon: From the Israel-Hezbollah War to the Struggle Over Nahr Al-Bared
Authors: Czajka Agnes
Published: April 2012

Focusing on th e particularly volatile period between the Israel-Hezbollah war (July–August 2006) and the prolonged struggle over Nahr al-Bared refugee camp (March–October 2007), this article outlines and historicizes the complex and altering landscape of discursive constructions of the Palestinian refugee presence in Lebanon. Examining some of the more prominent discursive strands that emerge in relation to Palestinian refugee presence in Lebanon, the article argues that although the recent problematization of Hezbollah initially dwarfed the Palestinian “problem,” Palestinian presence in Lebanon was quickly reproblematized in the context of the protracted struggle over Nahr al-Bared and the increasing instability in and around Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp. Yet while past discursive strands have reemerged, a discursive shift is also apparent, tending in the direction of the establishment of a more conciliatory relationship between Palestinian refugees and the Lebanese state and the latter’s interest in a partial regularization of Palestinian refugee presence.
Seductive Piety: Faith and Fashion Through Lipovetsky and Heidegger
Authors: Velji Muhammad
Published: April 2012

Martin Heidegger broadened the meaning of art to a truth-disclosing event akin to seemingly disparate events such as the founding of a political state, Jesus’s sacrifice for all humankind, and the questioning of a philosopher. Art makes us pay attention to it by presenting the familiar in a new and unfamiliar context and unsettles our presuppositions and reconceptualizes our way of thinking. I begin by explicating the Heideggerian interpretation of the nature of art by looking at the key concepts that make a work of art work. Then I argue that by themselves, the concept of veiling and the concept of fashion are very familiar concepts to Indonesians, but that the practice of combining these two ideas brings something unfamiliar to that society. This new practice reveals a way of Being that combines religious piety with our current, late-modern, consumer society. The combination of fashion and veiling for piety discloses, in the Heideggerian sense, a new “world” that undermines secular and fundamentalist narratives about the religious agent while still remaining an authentic Indonesian art piece.
Identified antennular near-field receptors trigger reflex flicking in the crayfish
Authors: Mellon DeForest , Hamid Omer A. Abdul
Published: April 2012

Near-field disturbances in the water column are known to trigger reflex antennular flicking in the crayfish Procambarus clarkii. We have identified the hydrodynamic sensors on the lateral antennular flagellum that constitute an afferent limb of this reflex and have measured the relative directionally dependent thresholds of the sensory neurons associated with these structures to hydrodynamic stimulation. Twenty-five individual standing feathered sensilla, comprising a sparse, linearly arrayed population of near-field sensors along the lateral and medial antennular flagella, were exposed to standardized pulsatile stimuli at 20 deg intervals along a 320 deg circular track. The results indicate that the sensilla are most sensitive to such stimulation in the plane of the flagellar axis. Identification and mechanical stimulation of single feathered sensilla in some preparations consistently evoked a flick reflex at maximal response latency, indicating that these sensors constitute at least one afferent limb for the reflex behavior. Experiments in which response latencies were measured following mechanical stimulation of truncated flagella, and were compared with the latencies in respective intact flagella, suggest that summation of inputs from the feathered sensillar pathways generates reflex flicking at minimal latencies. We discuss the possible central mechanisms that may underlie detection of critically important signals from this population of highly sensitive, inherently noisy sensors.
Independently evolved upper jaw protrusion mechanisms show convergent hydrodynamic function in teleost fishes
Authors: Staab Katie Lynn , Holzman Roi , Hernandez L. Patricia , Wainwright Peter C.
Published: April 2012

A protrusible upper jaw has independently evolved multiple times within teleosts and has been implicated in the success of two groups in particular: Acanthomorpha and Cypriniformes. We use digital particle image velocimetry (DPIV) to compare suction feeding flow dynamics in a representative of each of these clades: goldfish and bluegill. Using DPIV, we contrast the spatial pattern of flow, the temporal relationship between flow and head kinematics, and the contribution of jaw protrusion to the forces exerted on prey. As expected, the spatial patterns of flow were similar in the two species. However, goldfish were slower to reach maximal kinematic excursions, and were more flexible in the relative timing of jaw protrusion, other jaw movements and suction flows. Goldfish were also able to sustain flow speeds for a prolonged period of time as compared with bluegill, in part because goldfish generate lower peak flow speeds. In both species, jaw protrusion increased the force exerted on the prey. However, slower jaw protrusion in goldfish resulted in less augmentation of suction forces. This difference in force exerted on prey corresponds with differences in trophic niches and feeding behavior of the two species. The bluegill uses powerful suction to capture insect larvae whereas the goldfish uses winnowing to sort through detritus and sediment. The kinethmoid of goldfish may permit jaw protrusion that is independent of lower jaw movement, which could explain the ability of goldfish to decouple suction flows (due to buccal expansion) from upper jaw protrusion. Nevertheless, our results show that jaw protrusion allows both species to augment the force exerted on prey, suggesting that this is a fundamental benefit of jaw protrusion to suction feeders.
In ovotemperature manipulation differentially influences limb musculoskeletal development in two lines of chick embryos selected for divergent growth rates
Authors: Al-Musawi Sara L. , Stickland Neil C. , Bayol Stéphanie A. M.
Published: April 2012

Selective breeding has led to diverging phenotypic evolution in layer and broiler chickens through genomic and epigenetic modifications. Here we show that in ovo environmental manipulation differentially influences embryonic limb muscle phenotype in these two breeds. We demonstrate that raising incubation temperature from 37.5 to 38.5°C between embryonic days (ED) 4 and 7 increased motility and body mass in both layer and broiler embryos. In layers, this was accompanied by gastrocnemius muscle hypertrophy, increased fibre and nuclei numbers and a higher nuclei to fibre ratio (ED18), preceded by increased hindlimb Myf5 (ED5–8), Pax7 (ED5–10), BMP4 (ED6–9) and IGF-I (ED9–10, ED18) mRNAs. In broilers, the same temperature treatment led to reduced gastrocnemius cross-sectional area with fewer fibres and nuclei and an unchanged fibre to nuclei ratio (ED18). This was preceded by a delay in the peak of hindlimb Myf5 expression, increased Pax7 (ED5, ED7–10) and BMP4 (ED6–8) but reduced IGF-I (ED8–10) mRNAs. Rather than promoting myogenesis as in layer embryos, the temperature treatment promoted gastrocnemius intramuscular fat deposition in broilers (ED18) preceded by increased hindlimb PPARγ mRNA (ED7–10). The treatment increased tibia/tarsus bone length as well as femur cross-sectional area in both breeds, but femur length and bone to cartilage ratio in the femur and tibia/tarsus were only increased in treated layers (ED18). We conclude that in ovo temperature manipulation differentially affected the molecular regulation of hindlimb myogenic, adipogenic and growth factor expression in broiler and layer embryos, leading to differential changes in muscle phenotype. The underlying interactive mechanisms between genes and the environment need further investigation.
Productivity Spillovers Across Firms through Worker Mobility
Authors: Stoyanov Andrey , Zubanov Nikolay
Published: April 2012

Using matched firm-worker data from Danish manufacturing, we observe firm-to-firm worker movements and find that firms that hired workers from more productive firms experience productivity gains one year after the hiring. The productivity gains associated with hiring from more productive firms are equivalent to 0.35 percent per year for an average firm. Surviving a variety of statistical controls, these gains increase with education, tenure, and skill level of new hires, persist for several years after the hiring was done, and remain broadly similar for different industries and measures of productivity. Competing explanations for these gains, knowledge spillovers in particular, are discussed. (JEL D24, J24, J62, L60, O33)
Role of Raltegravir in HIV-1 Management
Authors: Rokas Kristina EE , Bookstaver P Brandon , Shamroe Caitlin L , Sutton S Scott , Millisor Vanessa E , Bryant Jacquelyn E , Weissman Sharon B
Published: April 2012

Objective:

To review the literature concerning the role of raltegravir in the treatment of HIV-1 in antiretroviral (ARV)-experienced and ARV-naïve patients.

Data Sources:

A PubMed search was conducted for published data through March 2012 using the search terms raltegravir, MK-0518, and integrase strand transfer inhibitor. An additional search of International Pharmaceutical Abstracts for unpublished data, including data from the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, the International AIDS Society, and the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, was conducted using similar search terms.

Study Selection and Data Extraction:

In vitro and in vivo Phase 2, Phase 3, and postmarketing studies available in English, evaluating antiretroviral regimens that contain raltegravir for the treatment of HIV-1 infection in both ARV-naïve and ARV-experienced patients, were evaluated. Studies assessing raltegravir pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics were included for review.

Data Synthesis:

The nucteoside-based regimen of raltegravir with tenofovir/emtricitabine provides an effective first-line treatment option. However, nucleoside-sparing regimens appear unfavorable in ARV-naïve subjects and should be reserved for patients with limited treatment options. Raltegravir used with optimized background therapy provides an alternative regimen for ARV-experienced patients. This review describes the available in vitro and in vivo data on raltegravir potency, defined as the ability to achieve undetectable viral load, and safety profile, as well as comparison to standard HIV-1 therapies.

Conclusions:

Raltegravir has demonstrated potent antiretroviral activity against HIV-1 in both ARV-naïve and ARV-experienced subjects, with the benefits of a favorable adverse effect profile and minimal drug interactions. Raltegravir must be dosed twice daily, as once daily raltegravir displays decreased virologic efficacy compared to twice daily dosing. However, the ongoing development of new integrase strand transfer inhibitors may provide potent once daily regimens.
Dabigatran-Induced Gastrointestinal Bleeding in an Elderly Patient with Moderate Renal Impairment
Authors: Wychowski Maura K , Kouides Peter A
Published: April 2012

Objective:

To report a case of dabigatran-induced overanticoagulation in a patient who developed acute renal failure and to inform health care providers of the need for appropriate patient selection and periodic monitoring of renal function in the elderly.

Case Summary:

A 66-year-old woman treated with dabigatran for atrial fibrillation developed acute renal failure and upper gastrointestinal bleeding. She had been taking dabigatran 150 mg twice daily for 2 months, with intermittent renal insufficiency during the previous 6 months. On admission, laboratory values included serum creatinine 3.6 mg/dL, hematocrit 21%, and international normalized ratio greater than 10. She was treated with packed red blood cells, prothrombin complex concentrate, and multiple sessions of dialysis. There were no further bleeding events or additional transfusions for the remainder of the hospitalization. Her renal function never recovered and she remained hemodialysis-dependent. After a 47-day length of stay, she was transferred to a nursing home where she died 2 months later.

Discussion:

Renally eliminated drugs such as dabigatran place elderly patients at increased risk of drug accumulation and adverse drug events due to age-related decline in renal function. In a recent case series, dabigatran toxicity in the elderly with renal impairment was described with 1 fatal outcome. Recent literature, including the package insert, advises intermittent monitoring of renal function in the elderly and those with moderate renal impairment. Consideration should also include the appropriateness of dabigatran therapy in patients with fluctuating renal function. In our patient, the Naranjo probability scale indicated a probable cause between the bleeding event and dabigatran use.

Conclusions:

Our case report, along with 2 other recent reports on dabigatran toxicity, illustrates the importance for appropriate patient selection and the need to periodically monitor renal function in elderly patients receiving dabigatran.
Executive Summary: The Virginia Commonwealth University Pharmacy Practice Transformation Conference
Authors: Matzke Gary R. , Moczygemba Leticia R. , Goode Jean-Venable R. , Silvester Janet A.
Published: April 2012

Pharmacy practice transformation was the focus of an invitational conference held in June 2011 to address the current status of the practice of pharmacy in Virginia and elucidate the consensus on future directions from pharmacists across the commonwealth. The series of presentations provided visionary perspectives on the role that pharmacists can have in the collaborative management of patients with chronic disease states, the optimal pharmacy practice model for direct patient care delivery in acute care settings, and payment for pharmacists' cognitive services, such as medication therapy management (MTM). The discussion groups were structured to have conference participants first identify future goals for pharmacy practice and then consider strategies to achieve these goals. The conference concluded with a consensus development dialogue that revealed the priorities as well as the strategies that needed to be employed to move the profession toward its goats.
Pharmacy Practice in Virginia in 2011
Authors: Moczygemba Leticia R. , Goode Jean-Venable R. , Silvester Janet A. , Matzke Gary R.
Published: April 2012

Background:

Opportunities for pharmacy practice reform exist at state and national levels. The Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) School of Pharmacy created a working group to assess these opportunities with a mission to advance pharmacy practice in Virginia.

Objectives:

To assess the perceptions of chronic and acute care pharmacy practice and confidence in providing patient care and medication therapy management (MTM) activities and characterize current work activities of pharmacists in Virginia.

Methods:

A cross-sectional, online survey was used. VCU School of Pharmacy pharmacist preceptors, students, and faculty members were eligible. The questionnaire contained items that assessed perceptions of chronic and acute care pharmacy practice and confidence in patient care and MTM activities. Demographic and practice site characteristics were also collected.

Results:

A total of 974 preceptors, 515 students, and 78 faculty members were invited to participate, and 335 preceptors, 155 students, and 41 faculty members had usable responses, yielding response rates of 34%, 30%, and 53%, respectively, Preceptors, students, and faculty members favorably viewed direct patient care roles in the chronic and acute care settings. Pharmacists were very confident or confident in performing many patient care and MTM activities. They were least confident in considering genetic characteristics when adjusting medications and creating business plans for new services. Many pharmacists in chronic and acute care settings provided some type of patient care service, but few were regularly providing services. Inadequate time, staffing, and reimbursement, and lack of perceived value from patients and providers were most frequently cited as barriers to service provision.

Conclusions:

VCU preceptors, students, and faculty members overwhelmingly believe that pharmacists should provide direct patient care and MTM activities. To transform pharmacy practice, it will be important to define the pharmacist's role, responsibilities, and expected outcomes and to consider time, staffing, and compensation as well as to engage patients and providers.
Intercepting Communications ‘In Accordance with the Law’
Authors: Esen Rita
Published: April 2012

The interception of communications affects individuals' privacy rights and is covered by the notions ‘private life’ and ‘correspondence’ within the meaning of Article 8 of the Human Rights Act 1998. There are certain circumstances when it may be necessary to interfere with these rights but such interference must be in accordance with the law and for clearly defined purposes. Where communications are to be intercepted, the law has to make available a means of redress to affected individuals.
The Interplay between Global and Local Brands: A Closer Look at Perceived Brand Globalness and Local Iconness
Authors: Özsomer Ayşegül
Published: April 2012

By studying consumer samples in an emerging market, Turkey, and two mature markets, Singapore and Denmark, the author tests the chain of relationships that drive consumers’ likelihood of purchasing the global brand in the presence of a local brand in a linear structural relations framework. The results indicate that perceived brand globalness is positively related to local iconness in an emerging market, but the relationship is negative in advanced markets. Developing local iconness helps build the perception of prestige in all three markets. Furthermore, local iconness is positively related to local brand quality perceptions in the culturally grounded categories of food in an emerging market, whereas in nonfood categories, local iconness has no connection to quality. In terms of cross-effects, as expected, the perceived quality of the local brand is negatively associated with global brand purchase likelihood in all markets and categories studied. In contrast, local brand prestige dampens global brand purchase likelihood for older consumers in an emerging market. The article concludes with implications for global and local brand managers.
Axonal Thinning and Extensive Remyelination without Chronic Demyelination in Spinal Injured Rats
Authors: Powers Berit E. , Lasiene Jurate , Plemel Jason R. , Shupe Larry , Perlmutter Steve I. , Tetzlaff Wolfram , Horner Philip J.
Published: April 2012

Remyelination following spinal cord injury (SCI) is thought to be incomplete; demyelination is reported to persist chronically and is proposed as a compelling therapeutic target. Yet most reports do not distinguish between the myelin status of intact axons and injury-severed axons whose proximal stumps persist but provide no meaningful function. We previously found full remyelination of spared, intact rubrospinal axons caudal to the lesion in chronic mouse SCI. However, the clinical concept of chronically demyelinated spared axons remains controversial. Since mouse models may have limitations in clinical translation, we asked whether the capacity for full remyelination is conserved in clinically relevant chronic rat SCI. We determined myelin status by examining paranodal protein distribution on anterogradely labeled, intact corticospinal and rubrospinal axons throughout the extent of the lesion. Demyelination was evident on proximal stumps of severed axons, but not on intact axons. For the first time, we demonstrate that a majority of intact axons exhibit remyelination (at least one abnormally short internode, <100 μm). Remarkably, shortened internodes were significantly concentrated at the lesion epicenter and individual axons were thinned by 23% compared with their rostral and caudal zones. Mathematical modeling predicted a 25% decrease in conduction velocity at the lesion epicenter due to short internodes and axonal thinning. In conclusion, we do not find a large chronically demyelinated population to target with remyelination therapies. Interventions may be better focused on correcting structural or molecular abnormalities of regenerated myelin.
Weight-Specific Anticipatory Coding of Grip Force in Human Dorsal Premotor Cortex
Authors: van Nuenen Bart F.L. , Kuhtz-Buschbeck Johann , Schulz Christian , Bloem Bastiaan R. , Siebner Hartwig R.
Published: April 2012

The dorsal premotor cortex (PMd) uses prior sensory information for motor preparation. Here, we used a conditioning-and-map approach in 11 healthy male humans (mean age 27 years) to further clarify the role of PMd in anticipatory motor control. We transiently disrupted neuronal processing in PMd, using either continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) at 80% (inhibitory cTBS) or 30% (sham cTBS) of active motor threshold. The conditioning effects of cTBS on preparatory brain activity were assessed with functional MRI, while participants lifted a light or heavy weight in response to a go-cue (S2). An additional pre-cue (S1) correctly predicted the weight in 75% of the trials. Participants were asked to use this prior information to prepare for the lift. In the sham condition, grip force showed a consistent undershoot, if the S1 incorrectly prompted the preparation of a light lift. Likewise, an S1 that falsely announced a heavy weight produced a consistent overshoot in grip force. In trials with incorrect S1, preparatory activity in left PMd during the S1–S2 delay period predicted grip force undershoot but not overshoot. Real cTBS selectively abolished this undershoot in grip force. Furthermore, preparatory S1–S2 activity in left PMd no longer predicted the individual undershoot after real cTBS. Our results provide converging evidence for a causal involvement of PMd in anticipatory downscaling but not upscaling of grip force, suggesting an inhibitory role of PMd in anticipatory grip force control during object lifting.
Development of radiochemistry in Pakistan – 1960 to 2010
Authors: Zaidi J. H. , Wasim M. , Arif M. , Mushtaq A.
Published: April 2012

With the inception of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) in 1956, peaceful uses of atomic energy commenced for the benefit of scientific community as well as masses of Pakistan. Radiochemistry played a vital role right from the beginning. The research and development in this field accelerated soon after the criticality of the first research reactor named as Pakistan Research Reactor (PARR- 1) at the Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology (PINSTECH), Islamabad. The first radioisotope produced at PARR-1 for application in nuclear medicine was 131I. Later on, many other radioisotopes were prepared and radiopharmaceuticals were synthesised for their use in industry and hospitals. Besides providing pure radioactive tracers for nuclear medicine, radiochemistry also enhanced the detection limit of impurities at all stages of nuclear fuel cycle for power generation. In 1983, research in the field of nuclear data measurement began. The main aim was to identify suitable conditions for the production of radionuclides for cancer diagnostics, treatment and therapy. With the establishment of a second research reactor (PARR-2) at PINSTECH, research in neutron activation analysis, radioisotope production and separation studies gained more momentum and many research articles were published. Solvent extraction, adsorption and ion-exchange were the main routes of separation in those studies. Separation of heavy metals and treatment of waste generated in a nuclear power plant are other important aspects related to environmental restoration and nuclear waste management, where radiochemistry is required. In future, work in radiochemistry will be continued on similar lines to develop novel radiopharmaceuticals, identify indigenous schemes for nuclear waste management and work out intelligent procedures for material characterization for benefit to mankind, especially the people of Pakistan.
Inpatient Hospital Care of Children With Trisomy 13 and Trisomy 18 in the United States
Authors: Nelson Katherine E. , Hexem Kari R. , Feudtner Chris
Published: April 2012

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE:

Trisomy 13 and trisomy 18 are generally considered fatal anomalies, with a majority of infants dying in the first year after birth. The inpatient hospital care that these patients receive has not been adequately described. This study characterized inpatient hospitalizations of children with trisomy 13 and trisomy 18 in the United States, including number and types of procedures performed.

METHODS:

Retrospective repeated cross-sectional assessment of hospitalization data from the nationally representative US Kids’ Inpatient Database, for the years 1997, 2000, 2003, 2006, and 2009. Included hospitalizations were of patients aged 0 to 20 years with a diagnosis of trisomy 13 or trisomy 18.

RESULTS:

The number of hospitalizations for each trisomy type ranged from 846 to 907 per year for trisomy 13 (P = .77 for temporal trend) and 1036 to 1616 per year for trisomy 18 (P < .001 for temporal trend). Over one-third (36%) of the hospitalizations were of patients older than 1 year of age. Patients underwent a total of 2765 major therapeutic procedures, including creation of esophageal sphincter (6% of hospitalizations; mean age 23 months), repair of atrial and ventricular septal defects (4%; mean age 9 months), and procedures on tendons (4%; mean age 8 years).

CONCLUSIONS:

Children with trisomy 13 and trisomy 18 receive significant inpatient hospital care. Despite the conventional understanding of these syndromes as lethal, a substantial number of children are living longer than 1 year and undergoing medical and surgical procedures as part of their treatment.
Effectiveness of Antimicrobial Guidelines for Community-Acquired Pneumonia in Children
Authors: Smith Michael J. , Kong Maiying , Cambon Alex , Woods Charles R.
Published: April 2012

OBJECTIVE:

To assess the effectiveness of guidelines and education on empirical therapy for community-acquired pneumonia.

METHODS:

Administrative records for children with a primary diagnosis of pneumonia from January 2007 to September 2009 were reviewed. Antimicrobial use was measured monthly over 3 periods: (1) before creation of an antimicrobial stewardship task force (ASTF), (2) after ASTF formation but before release of guidelines for antimicrobial use, and (3) after guideline release. Antimicrobial use over time was assessed by using quasi-binomial logistic regression models that incorporated interrupted events, seasonality, and autocorrelation. Allowing calculation of immediate changes due to specific interventions and trends in use over each time period. The primary outcome was use of ampicillin as recommended in the guidelines versus ceftriaxone, the historical standard. Secondary outcomes included other antimicrobial use, length of stay, mortality, and readmission.

RESULTS:

One thousand two hundred forty-six children met study criteria. Ampicillin use increased from 2% at baseline to 6% after ASTF formation and 44% after guideline release. Ceftriaxone use increased slightly (from 56% to 59%) after ASTF formation but decreased to 28% after guideline release. An immediate change in prescription occurred in the month after guideline publication and remained stable over the following year.

CONCLUSIONS:

Guidelines and education can have an impact on antimicrobial use in the pediatric setting. Although the optimal strategies for pediatric antimicrobial stewardship programs still are being determined, we believe that our approach offers an inexpensive and low-risk step in the right direction.
Feeding Green Fire
Authors: Caputi Jane
Published: April 2012

Aldo Leopold’s experience with a dying wolf and vision of ‘green ?re’ has led to green ?re becoming a ubiquitous signi?er of environmental concerns, while also understood as carrying a spiritual signi?cance. To explore this conjunction, I put Leopold in dialogue with aspects of Native American philosophy and science, and ecologically minded theologians and philosophers Mary Daly and Val Plumwood, ?nding a common theme of integrity. To understand the symbolic signi?cance of green ?re, I employ a method drawn from Jungian studies, ampli?cation, ?nding parallel refer¬ences to green ?re in the theology of Hildegard of Bingen, alchemical symbolism, contemporary art, poetry, and popular culture, the nature writing of Robin Wall Kimmerer, and discourses and practices around biotechnology. These parallels similarly reveal green ?re to be a symbol of that integral life/death force, linked in turn to ‘Mother Earth’ or ‘Mother Nature’.
(Re)turning to Place
Authors: Miller Linn
Published: April 2012

Mick Smith, Joyce Davidson, Laura Cameron, and Liz Bondi (eds.), Emotion, Place and Culture (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2009), 318 pp., $119.95 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-7546-7246-3. Sigurd Bergmann, Peter Manley Scott, Maria Jansdotter Samuelsson, and Heinrich Bedford-Strohm (eds.), Nature, Space and the Sacred: Transdisciplinary Perspectives (Farnham: Ashgate, 2009), 340 pp., $124.95 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-7546-6686 8. Ursula K. Heise, Sense of Place and Sense of Planet: The Environmental Imagination of the Global (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), 250 pp., $29.95 (pbk), ISBN 978-0-1953-3564-4.
Nature, Natural History, and the Dilemma of Religious Liberalism in Thoreau’s The Maine Woods
Authors: Dillard Daniel C.
Published: April 2012

Focusing on Henry David Thoreau’s ‘Indian’ studies, in particular his widely popular The Maine Woods (1864), and writing from within the discipline of religious studies and speci?cally American religious history, I locate Thoreau squarely in nineteenth-century religious liberalism. This allows for a more historicized reading of his thinking on nature. Interplay between religion and natural history in Thoreau’s writing unfolded with respect to competing views of nature in nineteenth-century America. In his studies of Maine’s Penobscot Indians Thoreau attempted to wed the natural and supernatural realms. Many nineteenth-century religious liberals engaged in a similar project as they wrestled with their dilemma of whether to salvage or jettison religion as a whole. Instead of signaling a decline in creativity, imagination, or power, Thoreau’s substantial research and writing on Native Americans near the end of his life are an indication of important personal and cultural con?icts over the meaning of nature.
Morphological changes in the digestive system of 93 human immunodeficiency virus positive patients: an autopsy study
Authors: Guimarães Lucinda Calheiros , Silva Ana Cristina Araujo Lemos , Micheletti Adilha Misson Rua , Moura Everton Nunes Melo , Silva-Vergara Mario Leon , Adad Sheila Jorge
Published: April 2012

Involvement of the digestive system in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is frequent and many changes in these patients are diagnosed only at autopsy. There are few studies of autopsy with detailed analysis of this system and only one was conducted in Brazil. We evaluated each segment of the digestive system in 93 consecutive autopsies of patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the importance of these lesions to death. Of these, 90 (96.8%) patients had AIDS. We reviewed medical records, autopsy reports and histological sections from tongue to rectum stained with hematoxylin-eosin. When necessary, we analyzed special stains and immunohistochemistry to investigate infections. There was damage to the digestive system in 73 (78.5%) cases. The most common infections were candidiasis (42%), cytomegalovirus (29%), histoplasmosis (11.8%), toxoplasmosis (9.7%) and mycobacterial infection (9.7%). Malignancies were rare, present in four (4.3%) cases (two Kaposi's sarcoma, one adenocarcinoma and one metastatic embryonal carcinoma). All segments showed lesions: tongue (48.6%), esophagus (44.8%), stomach (44.7%), colon (43.2%) and small intestine (28.9%). The lesions found were immediate cause of death in five (5.4%) cases. In another 36 (38.7%) cases the basic disease was systemic and also compromised the digestive system.
Ensaios em parcelas subdivididas delineados em blocos incompletos balanceados. I - Equações normais
Authors: Iemma A.F. , Campos H.
Published: April 2012

Com o objetivo de ampliar o uso dos ensaios com parcelas subdivididas na pesquisa agropecuária, realizou-se um estudo de tais ensaios delineados em blocos incompletos balanceados. Adotou-se, para tanto, o modelo tradicionalmente usado no delineamento completo. Optou-se pela existência de correlação constante entre subparcelas distintas. A obtenção das estimativas para efeitos de blocos ocorreu como nos ensaios em blocos incompletos balanceados, enquanto que as estimativas para efeitos de tratamentos secundários e para a interação tratamentos principais x tratamentos secundários portaram-se como nos ensaios com parcelas subdivididas em blocos (completos), casualizados.
Nutrição mineral de Andropogon gayanus Kunth var. bisquamulatus (Hochst) Hack: I. recrutamento de macronutrientes
Authors: Orellana A.P. , Haag H.P.
Published: April 2012

Sendo o capim gambá (Andropogon gayanus Kunth, var. bisquamalatus (Hochst) Hack) uma espécie promissora para a pecuária brasileira, este trabalho foi conduzido a fim de se determinar o peso de matéria seca, concentração e acúmulo de macronutrientes a partir dos 20 dias após a germinação até o florescimento. Foi plantada uma area de meio hecta-situada em uma terra roxa estruturada, convenientemente adubada. Em intervalos de 20 dias após a germinação até aos 140 dias, plantas foram coletadas e sub-divididas em folhas e caules. O material seco a 80°C foi analizado para N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S. A produção maxima de matéria seca foi verificada aos 80 dias representada, por 13,82 g/planta, correspondendo a 50.000 kg por hectare. Aos 80 dias de idade, a gramínea extraiu as seguintes quantidades dos nutrientes: 156,85 mg de N; 16,23 mg de P; .....278,70 mg de K; 38,45 mg de Ca; 22,92 mg de Mg; 7,76 mg de S. Verificou-se que a concentração em P, K diminui nas folhas com a idade da planta; sendo que a concentração em N, Ca, Mg, S nas folhas não foi afetada. No caule houve uma diminuição em N, P, K, Ca e Mg com o aumento da idade, sendo que a concentração de S não foi afetada.
Nutrição mineral de Andropogon gayanus Kunth var. bisquamulatus (Hochst) Hack: II. recrutamento de micronutrientes
Authors: Orellana A.P. , Haag H.P.
Published: April 2012

Sendo o capim gambá (Andropogon gayanus var. bisquamulatus) uma espécie promissora para a América Tropical, o trabalho foi conduzido no sentido de se determinar a concentração e acúmulo de micronutrientes a partir dos 20 dias após a germinação até o florescimento aos 140 dias. Foi plantada uma área de meio hectare situada em uma terra roxa estruturada e convenientemente adubada. Em intervalos de 20 dias após a germinação até aos 140 dias, plantas foram coletadas e sub-divididas em folhas e caule. 0 material seco a 80°C foi analisado para B, Cu, Fe, Mn e Zn. Aos 80 dias de idade, a gramínea extrai por planta (colmo): 0,15 mg B; 0,05 mg Cu; 3,74 mg Fe; 1,15 mg Mn e 0,23 mg Zn. A concentração de Mn diminui nas folhas com a idade da planta, sendo que a concentração de B nas folhas não é afetada. No caule há diminuição na concentração de B, Cu e Fe com o aumento da idade, sendo que a concentração de Mn e Zn não é afetada.
Nutrição mineral de Andropogon gayanus Kunth var. bisquamulatus (Hochst) Hack. III. nível critico de fósforo
Authors: Orellana A.P. , Haag H.P.
Published: April 2012

0 capim gambá (Andropogon gayanus Kunthe var. bisquamulatus) é uma espécie promissora para a pecuária brasileira. 0 presente trabalho foi conduzido no sentido de se determinar o nível crítico de fósforo. Em casa de vegetação, procedeu-se à semeadura em vasos contendo quartzo finalmente moído como substrato. As plântulas recebiam por percolação soluções nutritivas carentes em fósforo, acrescidas dos seguintes níveis de fósforo em mg/l: 0,0001; 0,001; 0,007; 0,030; 0,120; 0,480; 1,940; 7,750 e 31,80. Com a idade de 75 dias, as plantas foram coletadas, secas e analisadas para fósforo total. O nível crítico de fósforo correspondente à produção máxima de matéria seca aos 75 dias foi de 0,022%,e o nível externo foi de 0,480 mg de fósforo por litro de solução nutritiva.