bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Affluence, Anti-Consumerism, and the Politics of Consumption
Authors: Humphery Kim
Published: December 2018

This chapter explores “anti-consumerist” critique and practice as articulated in a range of Western nations over the last two decades. It surveys the rise of a twenty-first-century consumption politics, identifying how it has coalesced around opposition to consumerism and overconsumption, while remaining elusive in the extent to which it advocates substantive social and economic change and in the degree to which it rejects or embraces consumption as an arena of agency. The chapter explores this ambiguity through discussion of two interconnected forms of recent consumption politics—“responsible” consumer choice and “alternative” enterprise—outlining the fractured and tenuous ways in which these practices speak of contestation and of the emancipatory in relation to consumption and consumer economies. The chapter concludes by recognizing the conceptual and ideological limits of contemporary consumption politics, while insisting also that it has significantly expanded the political and ethical sensibilities through which we understand the commodity and its impact.
Students with Disabilities
Authors: Rothstein Laura
Published: December 2018

This chapter provides the foundation overview on the history, evolution, and trends regarding the education of students with disabilities. Moving from an era of almost total exclusion (or at best separate education) that lasted until the 1970s to the evolution of a zero reject philosophy that all students with disabilities are entitled to public education has resulted in considerable time, effort, and resources devoted to this population. This is the only field of education law that has its own comprehensive, complex, and detailed set of statutory rights, remedies, and procedures. The current political trend related to school choice, in addition to reducing resources for public education generally, threatens the protections currently in place for this population of students. The chapter traces the history, provides an overview of the three key statutes, discusses the substantial level of judicial attention to these issues (including a large body of Supreme Court attention), frames the areas of unresolved attention, and highlights current issues and trends under the political forces that could turn back fifty years of progress.
The Shifting Landscape of Education Governance
Authors: Snyder Jeffrey W. , Reckhow Sarah
Published: December 2018

In recent decades, education governance has seen many important shifts that influence how education services are provided to students. This chapter introduces three of the most pronounced changes. First, the formal actors responsible for education have shifted from an environment most centered on local school boards to one where city, state, and federal politicians have more responsibility and influence over education. Second, due to policies enabling vouchers, charter schools, and cyber schools, public funding for education is now distributed to a wider array of school types beyond traditional brick-and-mortar public schools. Third, the role of outside private money from philanthropies has increased over time, and the organizational form favored by these donors may be changing in ways that limit the amount of transparency required of these funders. Cumulatively, these changes have eroded the traditionally insulated and localized character of education governance, making education more similar to other areas of U.S. policymaking.
Health, Disease, and Sanitation in American Economic History
Authors: Bleakley Hoyt , Cain Louis P. , Hong Sok Chul
Published: December 2018

Long-run changes in public health and well-being have been remarkable; Americans are living healthier, longer, and more productive lives. This chapter begins with a consideration of health trends over the past three hundred years. The shift from the miasmatic to the germ theory of disease ushered in a period of significant improvement. The second section considers the disease environment for both chronic and infectious diseases, how it has changed over time, and how those changes impacted the economy. Models of health based on selection, cumulative effects, and critical periods are contrasted. The final section focuses on the sanitary systems that have played a major role in improving health. The evolution of water supply and wastewater removal systems from simple wells and sewers to today’s complex treatment systems have improved health and reduced mortality. Estimates of the economic effectiveness of these systems suggest these large investments in public capital have been justifiable.
Executive Compensation in American Economic History
Authors: Frydman Carola
Published: December 2018

This chapter documents the evolution of executive compensation in large, publicly traded American corporations over the past century. Executive pay followed a J-shaped pattern. The real value of median total pay declined sharply during World War II, then fell slowly in the late 1940s. From the 1950s to the mid-1970s, executive pay increased at about 0.8 percent annually, but it accelerated quickly from the mid-1970s to the early 2000s, reaching rates of 10 percent in the 1990s. The structure of pay also underwent an important transformation. Until the mid-1980s, the compensation of executives was primarily composed of salaries and bonuses. Since then, the use of equity-based pay has become increasingly widespread. The chapter reviews theories for the long-run changes in executive pay, including rent extraction, returns to talent, and the role of government interventions. None of these alone can account for the patterns in executive compensation over time.
The Labor Force in American Economic History
Authors: Margo Robert A.
Published: December 2018

This chapter discusses the historical evolution of the labor force and wages in the United States from 1800 to the present. Standard data sources for tracing this evolution, such as the decennial census and the Current Population Survey, are discussed. Basic statistics on the size of the labor force (total number of workers and in proportion to the population), its demographic composition (gender and age), the distribution of occupations, hours worked, unemployment rates, and wages are presented and interpreted. The shift from bound labor (indentured servitude and slavery) to free labor, the rise of unions, and government regulation of labor markets are examined. The chapter concludes with suggestions for further research.
Demography in American Economic History
Authors: Haines Michael R.
Published: December 2018

This chapter deals with the population of the United States from its beginnings in colonial times since the first census in 1790 to the present. It deals with the processes of population growth and change: fertility, mortality, urbanization, and migration, both external and internal. In the 220 years since 1790, the population of the United States increased from about 4 million to almost 309 million persons in 2010. Relatively high fertility in earlier times combined with moderate mortality and significant net immigration combined to create this growth. The chapter also deals with changes in population by race, ethnicity, and location.
Retirement and Pensions in American Economic History
Authors: Clark Robert L. , Craig Lee A.
Published: December 2018

The proportion of the US population that survives to retirement age has increased over time, as has the share of the older population that retires. Higher incomes at older ages explain the increase in the incidence of retirement. Pensions provide much of that income. In general, public-sector workers, especially military personnel, were covered by pensions before their private-sector counterparts, and coverage in the public sector remains more widespread, and generous, than it is in the private sector. Public-sector pension plans are more likely to be defined benefit plans than are private-sector plans. Many public-sector employers have promised their employees more in benefits than they have set aside to pay for those benefits. Estimates suggest that the federal, state, and local retirement plans currently in operation are underfunded by as much as $5 trillion.
Anthropometric History in American Economic History
Authors: Steckel Richard H.
Published: December 2018

Anthropometric history arose in the 1970s and gained momentum as a supplement to traditional economic measures of the standard of living. he discovery of very large number of measurements of height have allowed social scientists to use heights as a summary measure of health from conception to maturity. Though dominated by genes, individual height is sensitive to diet, work effort, and disease, while income and its distribution affect average height within a population. Among the interesting results from hundreds of studies are (1) Americans were taller than Europeans during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; (2) health declined during the early decades of industrialization in the United States (and elsewhere); (3) children bore the appalling brunt of slavery; (4) Plains Indians were tall during the nineteenth century. The superabundance of height records and surprising new insights into the standard of living bode well for the future of this research.
Innovation and Patents in American Economic History
Authors: Moser Petra
Published: December 2018

This chapter summarizes historical evidence on the link between patent laws and innovation. Earlier historical analyses have emphasized the importance of patent laws in encouraging innovation. Data on exhibits at international technology fairs, such as the 1851 Crystal Palace world’s fair, however, indicate that only a small share of innovations are patented and that non-patent mechanisms may play an important role in encouraging innovation. They also show that inventors’ dependency on patents varies strongly across industries, so that radical changes in patent laws may influence the direction, if not the level, of technical change. Exhibition data also indicate that patents may play an important role in facilitating the diffusion of innovative activity by encouraging inventors to advertise their ideas. These results highlight the need for additional analyses of innovation that systematically analyze patents and alternative measures of innovation.
Property Rights in American Economic History
Authors: Libecap Gary
Published: December 2018

This chapter examines the development of private property rights to natural resources in the United States as a bottom-up or top-down process. Long-term equity and efficiency effects are highlighted. The role of property rights in avoiding the tragedy of the commons is illustrated. The property rights examined are those to farmland, timberland, as well as grazing rights and mineral rights. Each emerged or were constrained in different ways with important long-term economic and social effects in American economic development. The role of the rectangular survey in deliminating rights to surface land to reduce tenure uncertainty and to promote land and capital markets is described in detail.
The US Constitution in American Economic History
Authors: McGuire Robert
Published: December 2018

This chapter examines how the Founding Fathers designed and ratified the US Constitution, greatly strengthening the national government at the expense of existing state governments. It discusses Charles Beard’s economic interpretation of the Constitution and the views of his critics, critically focusing on statistical findings that explain the making of the Constitution and assess the Constitution’s impact on the American economy. The chapter examines statistical findings on the economic and ideological factors influencing the choice of provisions included in the Constitution and the votes for its ratification. These findings indicate that the personal economic interests, and ideologies and beliefs, of the Founding Fathers played an important role in drafting the Constitution in 1787 and at the state ratifying conventions that followed. The statistical findings suggest that constituents’ interests, while less impactful, likely affected the Constitution’s drafting and ratification as well, and that the Constitution positively impacted the American economy.
Postcolonial Biblical Criticism and Queer Studies
Authors: Punt Jeremy
Published: December 2018

This article aims to explore the possible relations or links between postcolonial and queer biblical criticisms by trying to understand wherein such links may be situated and also how queer theory/theories function in postcolonial biblical criticism. Discursive alignments at the epistemological level as well as shared thematic and methodological interests illustrate the value of investigating postcolonial queer intersections. After investigating a number of primary research foci in postcolonial, queer studies, queer(y)ing contributions are identified as related to identity negotiation and retrieval hermeneutics; issues of power and intersectionality; denaturalization; and the problematic position of the Bible and associated Christian religions. Future queer expectations are characterized by tensions; relate to categories of bodily identity; look beyond the engagement with societal structures; engage knowledge systems and their use in the identification and exercise of powers; and, investigate the ambivalence of social life in which all participate.
Prayer
Authors: Aune David E.
Published: December 2018

This chapter surveys the forms, content, functions, and settings of Greek and Roman prayer using evidence from the middle of the first millennium bce through the late Hellenistic and early Roman periods. Much of the evidence for prayer in antiquity is preserved in fictional literary contexts (like the Homeric epics and Attic drama) or in ancient historiography—in which prayers, like speeches, were composed for inclusion in particular literary settings. Given the formulaic character of most ancient prayers, however, literary prayers were typically intended to imitate the conventions of actual prayer in order to achieve verisimilitude. Prayer, like all human institutions, is culture-bound and must be understood in light of its polytheistic ancient religious context, often very different from the context of modern monotheistic types of prayer. Greek and Roman prayer was almost always used in the context of sacrifice, considered a gift to a god obligating him or her to respond positively to the supplicant’s request. Types of ancient prayer included petitionary prayer, vows (often accompanied by votive offerings), curses, oaths, thanksgiving, hymns, and oracular inquiries. Ancient prayers often exhibited a three-part structure consisting of an invocation, an argument (often omitted), and a request.
Sacrifice and Votives
Authors: Ullucci Daniel
Published: December 2018

This chapter frames sacrifice and votives as examples of the trans-human practices of ritualization and reciprocity, through which humans seek to negotiate relationships with non-obvious beings. It considers how these acts of reciprocity were deployed intuitively in the everyday lives of ancient Mediterraneans. It goes on to consider how ritualized acts of reciprocity were part of a wide-ranging discursive arena that encompassed far more than simply gifts for the gods. Sacrifices and votives, and the dense discourse surrounding them, bear all the complexities, conflicts, and competitions of the human social networks of which they are a part. The chapter argues for a scholarly distinction between the practice of sacrifice itself and the complex competitive discourse surrounding it, a discourse in which only a very small percentage of ancient Mediterraneans were engaged and interested.
Initiation
Authors: Martin Luther H.
Published: December 2018

Homo sapiens are a social species, evolved to function in small, face-to-face groups, in which membership was determined by birth. Such groups persist throughout history as special-interest groups, even within the context of large-scale societies and empires and offer social alternatives to one’s birth group. These fictive kinship association, however, require some type of membership process that formally recognizes entrance into that group (e.g. adoption, rebirth, initiation). Initiatory groups proliferated and were especially characteristic of the Graeco-Roman world following the conquests of Alexander in the fourth century bce. The paradigm for initiation rites in the Graeco-Roman world were those for the so-called mystery religions, e.g. the (indigenous) mysteries of Demeter at Eleusis, the (imported) mysteries of Isis, and the (invented) mysteries of Mithras. Whereas studies of religious ritual, from Arnold van Gennep (1909) to Catherine Bell (1992) have focused on various social functions of religious ritual, the Graeco-Roman initiation rites, including that of early Christian baptism, will be explained here especially from the perspective of recent cognitive theories of ritual (the ritual competence and ritual form theories of E. T. Lawson and R. McCauley and the modes of religiosity theory of H. Whitehouse).
Ritual and Religious Experience
Authors: Shantz Colleen
Published: December 2018

Ritual conveys rich information, a significant portion of which remains effective even when not consciously perceived. Likewise, many of the effects of ritual exceed their articulation as doctrine or explicit concepts. Noteworthy among these effects are the changes in consciousness characterized as religious ecstasy. The literary evidence for Christian origins—from the Christ assembly in Corinth in the 50s to the Montanist movement at the end of the second century—preserves many instances of ecstatic practice characterized by heightened and synchronized emotions, unusual speech practices, dissociative states of consciousness, and claims of divine contact. This chapter begins with the evolutionary basis of ritual and ecstasy, followed by an overview of salient examples of ecstasy within the rituals of the emerging movement, and suggestions why such experience may have been valued by this new movement.
Fasting as an Ascetic Ritual
Authors: Finn Richard
Published: December 2018

Many early Christians engaged in ascetic practices outside the liturgies usually studied as the major forms of Christian ritual. While not all asceticism took ritual form, insufficient attention has as yet been given to the ritual dimension of ascetic practices which served as elements in larger rituals and ways of life, and how the ritual aspect of these activities entered into their meaning and function. The ritual dimension of asceticism is explored through fasting. Acts and The Shepherd are examined for ascetic rituals in the second century; the focus then turns to the fifth-century career of St Simeon Stylites. Ritualization sacralized the choice of ministers, readied individuals for revelation, prepared ministers and catechumens for baptism, and consolidated identity in ‘stations’ and Lenten discipline. The distinctively ritualized fasting of the ascetic constructed his authority in collaboration with others, so that the wider society could benefit from his intercession and revelations.
Ritual, Identity, and Emotion
Authors: Davies Douglas J.
Published: December 2018

This chapter is grounded in its own theoretical proposition that ideas become values if and when pervaded by emotions; that such values become beliefs if they confer a sense of identity upon a person or group, and that such beliefs become religious beliefs if they frame identity with a sense of destiny. It then analyses a variety of familiar and less familiar anthropological and sociological approaches to the role of emotions in ritual practices, including Mol’s theoretical discussion of how forms of identity may be sacralized, a perspective applicable to early Christian ideas of Jesus and of the status-enhancing faith-community. The notion of identity is also explored through the concept of dividual rather than individual personhood. One hypothetical application highlights the idea of betrayal as a frame for Paul’s identity status as an apostle, and of grace interpreted technically as a ‘substance-code’ of participation in the early Christian spirit-grounded sect. While also covering basic concepts of reciprocity, habitus, and rites of passage, the chapter is alert to existential aspects of ceremonial behaviour and remains appropriately cautious of any overly reified notion of ‘ritual’.
‘A Ritual of Discourse’: Conceptualizing and Reconceptualizing the Analytic Relationship
Authors: Hughes Judith
Published: December 2018

Freud embarked on his exploration of an unconscious domain hand in hand with his clinical practice. He was thus forced to think deeply about the relationship between doctor and patient. He could not afford—quite literally—to do otherwise. In the postscript to ‘Fragment of an Analysis of a Case of Hysteria’ (1905), he pondered Dora’s abrupt decision to end treatment and spelled out what he had failed to appreciate in good time: transferences. Subsequent generations of psychoanalysts, particularly Melanie Klein, Bion, and Betty Joseph, pressed on along two separate—but certainly not parallel—tracks: first, stretching the concept of transference; second, introducing the concept of projective identification and rethinking countertransference. The first took off from the expansion of psychoanalytic practice to include children; the second from its expansion to include the seriously disturbed. Taken together these advances, in theory and in practice, led to reconceptualizing the analytic relationship.
Making the Unconscious Conscious
Authors: Finkelstein David H.
Published: December 2018

How should we understand the distinction between conscious states of mind and unconscious ones? This chapter briefly reviews an answer to this question that the author has set out and defended in earlier work; it then suggests a new answer—one that supplements, rather than replaces, the old answer. In spelling out this new answer, the chapter offers an account of a distinction that is related to, but not identical with, that between conscious and unconscious states of mind, viz. the distinction between conscious and unconscious expressions.
A New Kind of Song: Psychoanalysis as Revelation
Authors: Gipps Richard G.T.
Published: December 2018

Conceptions of psychoanalysis as science typically construe its key formulations as providing posits to be referenced in inferences to the best explanation of the clinical phenomena. Such was Freud’s own vision of the discipline he created, and it is reflected in his ambition to prove his fundamental formulations warranted. The first half of this chapter argues that this approach and this ambition significantly underestimate the significance of the psychoanalytic project. The suggestion is that it misconstrues foundational—and therefore unaccountable—forms of revelation, apprehension, poiesis, and grammar as merely factual claims, accounts, representations, and posits which, as such, now falsely appear to require scientific accounting. The second half of this chapter explores the significance of this for attempts to capture psychoanalytic theory and therapy within the ‘reflective scientist practitioner’ model of contemporary clinical psychology.
Psychoanalysis and Film
Authors: Cox Damian , Levine Michael
Published: December 2018

Those who believe that the psychoanalytic understanding of human nature is broadly correct will also likely believe that there are essential aspects of film that cannot be adequately understood without it. Among these are film’s power; the nature of film spectatorship; and the characteristics of specific films and genres. Why are we attracted to certain kinds of films—horror films and those depicting violence we abhor? The most basic claim underlying psychoanalytic approaches to film is that the creation and experience of film is driven by desire and wish-fulfilment and functions to satisfy certain psychological, protective, expressive needs of artists and audiences. Psychoanalytic explorations of film tend to draw together aspects of artistic creation and spectatorship, as well as accounts of film’s power to move audiences and the nature of film spectatorship in general—the affective and cognitive significance of the nature of film experience itself.
Hiding From Love: The Repressed Insight in Freud’s Account of Morality
Authors: Backström Joel
Published: December 2018

Freud’s account of morality is distinctive, and right, in focusing on unconscious, emotionalized conflict, and specifically on the repression of love as the centre of moral life. However, Freud misunderstands love in drive terms and confuses conscience with the superego. Conscience is actually an immediate moral understanding, an interpersonal openness that the moral normativity of collectivity (values, ideals, etc.) represses. Thus, conscience is the repressed unconscious of the superego, and ‘morality’ not one thing, but a living contradiction. This chapter details how bad conscience differs from superego guilt, how destructive emotions (e.g. jealousy) are in themselves moralized repressions of love, and how Freud’s officially amoral, drive-based accounts of the Oedipus complex and the installation of the superego break down, but can be understood if reconceptualized in the terms proposed here. The chapter elucidates the concrete sense in which openness and love can be conceived as the very heart of moral understanding.
Political Philosophy in Freud: War, Destruction, and the Critical Faculty
Authors: Butler Judith
Published: December 2018

Freud’s reflections on death and the death drive form a proper part of political philosophy. If the idea of a self-governing polis requires that citizens maintain a set of social bonds, then the threat to social bonds also threatens the possibility of self-rule. Freud identifies a destructive impulse or drive as part of the human psyche, clarifying that it has the specific capacity to destroy social bonds. This chapter considers the importance of ambivalence as a permanent feature of love relations and those social relations that form the basis of political life. It argues that a political effort to counter destruction must call upon the resources of melancholia, including the manic refusal of tyranny and a normalizing reality principle. Defending the idea of militant pacifism, the argument here suggests that aggression can be—and must be—part of the strategy against violence and the sustainable future of political life.
Taboo as a driver of language change
Authors: Burridge Kate , Benczes Réka
Published: December 2018

In this chapter the focus is on taboo and language development. Whether we are looking at the naming restrictions of Polynesia or the social taste constraints of English-speaking communities, taboo areas of the lexicon perpetuate instability. Existing vocabulary is often abandoned as speakers either borrow words or create new expressions; surviving vocabulary is often remodelled as speakers either give new meaning to old expressions or modify their pronunciation in some way. Thus word taboo is a counter-agent to the operation of regular change, and consequently plays havoc with the conventional methods of historical and comparative linguistics, which operate on principles such as the arbitrary nature of the word, the regularity of sound change and the nonexistence of true synonyms.
Problems translating tabooed words from source to target language
Authors: Chamizo Domínguez Pedro J.
Published: December 2018

If translating is always a difficult art, translating tabooed words or phrases is particularly difficult since the translator has to take into account not only the usual linguistic problems such as polysemy, false friends, ambiguity, or anachronisms. S/he also has to take into account aspects that are not, strictly speaking, linguistic, but cultural and/or political. This chapter analyses how the problems translating not only patent and explicit tabooed words, insults, invectives have been handled in different translations of a single text, but veiled allusions as well. Since the kind of words I am dealing with are susceptible to being considered offensive in the target language, while they are not—or are not with the same intensity—in the source language, it is also shown how, consciously or unconsciously, translators have often softened or censored the exact scope of the original utterances in their translations.
Speech or conduct?
Authors: Hutton Christopher
Published: December 2018

This chapter offers an analysis of the key forms of linguistic censorship found within common law jurisdictions and examines their legal rationale in terms of the distinction between speech and conduct. Case law domains examined include blasphemy, public order offences, obscenity and key literary trials, broadcasting, popular music, trademark law, and personal names. The culture wars of the 1960s and 1970s over censorship involved a two-way clash between the establishment and progressive activists. Today, issues such as hate speech, misogyny, and online trolling offer a challenge to notions of social liberation through the ending of taboo. Identity politics provides a framework for understanding the harm associated with certain forms of linguistic behaviour. While in many domains law has retreated from linguistic censorship, legal systems as well as global social media corporations continue to debate whether and how to control linguistic expression in different domains.
Taboo language as source of comedy
Authors: Blake Barry J.
Published: December 2018

There are several areas of culture where taboo is encountered including religion and death, and recently it has become taboo to be sexist, racist, homophobic, or critical of physical or mental shortcomings. But there is one taboo area that is pervasive, and one where specific words are subject to strong taboo, and that is sexual activity and excretion, and it is this area that is the prime locus of comedy. Restrictions on language stimulate attempts to circumvent the restrictions and a lot of verbal humour involves ingenious ways of skirting around taboo words or disguising them rather than using them. Less frequently they are used for shock effect as with Eliza Doolittle’s, ‘Not bloody likely’.
An anthropological approach to taboo words and language
Authors: Brandes Stanley H.
Published: December 2018

The anthropological approach to taboo words and language begins with an understanding and acceptance of cultural relativity. Anthropologists are keenly aware that everyday speech that might be perfectly decorous in one society is often laughable or, in extreme cases, scandalous in another. Anthropologists also identify taboo words and language by popular responses to their utterance. According to anthropological definitions, tabooed behavior—be it verbal or otherwise—must be negatively sanctioned. Sometimes sanctions take the form of public rebuke. At other times they are expressed through collective scorn or ostracism. This essay explores these ideas with ethnographic examples chosen from the closely related fields of cultural anthropology and folklore. Supporting material comes from a variety of societies located in sub-Saharan Africa, Europe, Latin America, and—within the United States—Native America and African America. The author analyses nicknaming, verbal dueling, and various types of joking relationships, among other speech forms, as anthropologically prominent forms of tabooed language.
Taboo language awareness in early childhood
Authors: Jay Timothy B.
Published: December 2018

This chapter investigates the emergence of English-speaking children’s taboo lexicon (taboo words, swear words, insults, and offensive words) between one and twelve years of age. It describes how the lexicon of taboo words children use shift over time to become more adult-like by age twelve. Less is reported regarding the question of what these taboo words mean to the children who say them. Judgments of ‘good’ words versus ‘bad’ words demonstrate that young children are more likely to judge mild words as bad than older children and adults. The methodological and ethical problems related to research on children’s use of taboo words are outlined as well as suggestions for conducting meaningful research with children in the future.
Voluntary wheel running reveals sex-specific nociceptive factors in murine experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis
Authors: Mifflin Katherine A. , Yousuf Muhammad S. , Thorburn Kevin C. , Huang Jennifer. , Pérez-Muñoz Maria Elisa , Tenorio Gustavo , Walter Jens , Ballanyi Klaus , Drohomyrecky Paulina C. , Dunn Shannon E. , Kerr Bradley J.
Published: December 2018

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory, neurodegenerative autoimmune disease associated with sensory and motor dysfunction. Although estimates vary, ∼50% of patients with MS experience pain during their disease. The mechanisms underlying the development of pain are not fully understood, and no effective treatment for MS-related pain is available. Previous work from our laboratory demonstrated that voluntary exercise (wheel running) can reduce nociceptive behaviours at the disease onset in female mice with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an animal model used to study the immunopathogenesis of MS. However, given the established sex differences in the underlying mechanisms of chronic pain and MS, we wanted to investigate whether wheel running would also be effective at preventing nociceptive behaviours in male mice with EAE. C57BL/6 mice of both sexes were given access to running wheels for 1 hour/day until the disease onset, when nociceptive behaviour was assessed using von Frey hairs. Daily running effectively reduced nociceptive behaviour in female mice, but not in male mice. We explored the potential biological mechanisms for these effects and found that the reduction in nociceptive behaviour in female mice was associated with reduced levels of inflammatory cytokines from myelin-reactive T cells as well as reduced dorsal root ganglia excitability as seen by decreased calcium responses. These changes were not seen in male mice. Instead, running increased the levels of inflammatory cytokines and potentiated Ca2+ responses in dorsal root ganglia cells. Our results show that voluntary wheel running has sex-dependent effects on nociceptive behaviour and inflammatory responses in male and female mice with EAE.
Radical Surgery for Head and Neck Rhabdomyosarcoma Failed Primary Chemotherapy
Authors: Yunteng Wu , Xuhui Ma , Guoxin Ren , Wei Guo
Published: December 2018

Objective:

The aim of the study was to explore an optimal surgery way for head and neck rhabdomyosarcoma (HNRMS) children who have failed primary chemotherapy.

Methods:

A total of 51 HNRMS children who have failed primary chemotherapy were retrospectively analyzed from April 2005 to May 2017. Surgery was performed in 2 ways, widely radical resection (22 patients) and conservative resection (29 patients). Multivariate analysis was performed to identify the various variables related to overall survival (OS).

Results:

The estimated 5-year OS was 53%. Embryonic RMS enjoyed a favorable outcome than those nonembryonic RMS (P = 0.03). Head and neck rhabdomyosarcoma children who received partial remission (PR) after primary chemotherapy enjoyed a better outcome than those only achieved stable disease (SD) (P = 0.006). A total of 22 children accepted widely radical resection, whereas 29 patients got conservative resection. Interestingly, the 2 groups did not have a statistical significance (P = 0.86). However, the latter group children have conserved more important organs, such as eyeball, facial nerves, and enough mandible or maxilla bones, and have enjoyed a better life quality.

Conclusion:

Primary chemotherapy is most important for HNRMS children, which influences the prognosis of HNRMS widely. Conservative resection is an optimal surgery way for HNRMS, bringing a better life quality for these children.
Repurposing antihypertensive drugs for the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease: a Mendelian Randomization study
Authors: Walker Venexia M , Kehoe Patrick G , Martin Richard M , Davies Neil M
Published: December 2018

Background

Evidence concerning the potential repurposing of antihypertensives for Alzheimer’s disease prevention is inconclusive. We used Mendelian randomization, which can be more robust to confounding by indication and patient characteristics, to investigate the effects of lowering systolic blood pressure (SBP), via different antihypertensive drug classes, on Alzheimer’s disease.

Methods

We used summary statistics from genome wide association studies of SBP (from UK Biobank) and Alzheimer’s disease (from the International Genomics of Alzheimer’s Project) in a two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis. We identified single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that mimic the action of antihypertensive targets and estimated the effect of lowering SBP, via antihypertensive drug classes, on Alzheimer’s disease. We also report the effect of lowering SBP on Alzheimer’s disease by combining all drug targets and without consideration of the associated drugs.

Results

There was limited evidence that lowering SBP, via antihypertensive drug classes, affected Alzheimer’s disease risk. For example, calcium channel blockers had an odds ratio (OR) per 10mmHg lower SBP of 1.53 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.94 to 2.49; p=0.09; SNPs=17). We also found limited evidence for an effect of lowering SBP on Alzheimer’s disease when combining all drug targets (OR per 10mmHg lower SBP: 1.14; 95%CI: 0.83 to 1.56; p=0.41; SNPs=59) and without consideration of the associated drug targets (OR per 10mmHg lower SBP: 1.04; 95%CI: 0.95 to 1.13; p=0.45; SNPs=153).

Conclusions

Lowering SBP itself is unlikely to affect risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Consequently, if specific antihypertensive drug classes do affect risk of Alzheimer’s disease, they are unlikely to do so via SBP.

KEY MESSAGES

This is the first study to use Mendelian randomization to estimate the effects of the twelve most common antihypertensive drug classes on Alzheimer’s disease.

Lowering systolic blood pressure itself is unlikely to affect risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

If specific antihypertensive drug classes do affect Alzheimer’s disease risk, they are unlikely to do so via systolic blood pressure.
TgCentrin2 is required for invasion and replication in the human parasiteToxoplasma gondii
Authors: Leung Jacqueline M. , Liu Jun , Wetzel Laura A. , Hu Ke
Published: December 2018

Centrins are EF-hand containing proteins ubiquitously found in eukaryotes and are key components of centrioles/basal bodies as well as certain contractile fibers. We previously identified three centrins in the human parasiteToxoplasma gondii, all of which localized to the centrioles. However, one of them, TgCentrin2 (CEN2), is also targeted to ring-shaped structures at the apical and basal ends of the parasite, as well as to multiple annuli at the junction between the apical cap and the rest of the membrane cortex. The role(s) that TgCentrin2 plays in these locations was unknown. Here we report the functional characterization of TgCentrin2 in the parasite lytic cycle. After multiple unsuccessful attempts to knock out or knock down theTgCentrin2gene with existing tools, we designed a new conditional knockdown method that combines transcriptional and protein stability control to achieve tight regulation of TgCentrin2 levels in the parasite. We discovered that under knockdown conditions, there was an ordered loss of TgCentrin2 from its four compartments, due to differences in incorporation kinetics and structural inheritance over successive generations. This was correlated with the development of major invasion deficiency at early stages of CEN2 knockdown, and replication defects at later stages. These results indicate that TgCentrin2 is incorporated into multiple cytoskeletal structures to serve distinct functions inT. gondiithat are required for parasite survival.
Birds invest wingbeats to keep a steady head and reap the ultimate benefits of flocking
Authors: Taylor Lucy A. , Biro Dora , Lambert Ben , Walker James A. , Taylor Graham K. , Portugal Steven J.
Published: December 2018

Flapping flight is the most energetically demanding form of sustained forwards locomotion that vertebrates perform. Flock dynamics therefore have significant implications for energy expenditure. Despite this, no studies have quantified the biomechanical consequences of flying in a cluster flock relative to flying solo. Here, we compared the flight characteristics of homing pigeons (Columba livia) flying solo and in pairs, using high-precision 5 Hz GPS and 200 Hz tri-axial accelerometer biologgers. Paired flight increased route accuracy by ~7%, but, was accompanied by an increase in wingbeat frequency of ~18%. As expected, paired individuals benefitted from improved homing route accuracy, which reduced flight distance by ~7% and time by ~9%. However, realising these navigational gains involved substantial changes in flight kinematics and energetics. Both individuals in a pair increased their wingbeat frequency byc.18%, by decreasing the duration of their upstroke. This sharp increase in wingbeat frequency caused just a 3% increase in airspeed, but reduced the oscillatory displacement of the body by ~22%, which we hypothesise relates to an increased requirement for visual stability and manoeuvrability when flocking. Overall, the shorter flight distances and increased wingbeat frequency in a pair resulted in a net increase in the aerodynamic cost of returning home, which we estimate was ~14%. Our results demonstrate that flocking costs have been underestimated by an order of magnitude and force reinterpretation of their mechanistic origin. We show that, for pigeons, two heads are better than one, but keeping a steady head necessitates energetically costly kinematics.
Stone Age "chewing gum" yields 5,700 year-old human genome and oral microbiome
Authors: Jensen Theis ZT , Niemann Jonas , Hoejholt Iversen Katrine , Fotakis Anna K , Gopalakrishnan Shyam , Sinding Mikkel HS , Ellegaard Martin R , Allentoft Morten E , Lanigan Liam T , Taurozzi Alberto J , Holtsmark Nielsen Sofie , Dee Michael W , Mortensen Martin N , Christensen Mads C , Soerensen Soeren A , Collins Matthew J , Gilbert Tom , Sikora Martin , Rasmussen Simon , Schroeder Hannes
Published: December 2018

We present a complete ancient human genome and oral microbiome sequenced from a piece of resinous "chewing gum" recovered from a Stone Age site on the island of Lolland, Denmark, and directly dated to 5,858-5,661 cal. BP (GrM-13305; 5,007+/-11). We sequenced the genome to an average depth-of-coverage of 2.3x and find that the individual who chewed the resin was female and genetically more closely related to western hunter-gatherers from mainland Europe, than hunter-gatherers from central Scandinavia. We use imputed genotypes to predict physical characteristics and find that she had dark skin and hair, and blue eyes. Lastly, we also recovered microbial DNA that is characteristic of an oral microbiome and faunal reads that likely associate with diet. The results highlight the potential for this type of sample material as a new source of ancient human and microbial DNA.
Uncovering the unexplored diversity of thioamidated ribosomal peptides in Actinobacteria using the RiPPER genome mining tool
Authors: Santos-Aberturas Javier , Chandra Govind , Frattaruolo Luca , Lacret Rodney , Pham Thu H. , Vior Natalia M. , Eyles Tom H. , Truman Andrew W.
Published: December 2018

The rational discovery of new specialized metabolites by genome mining represents a very promising strategy in the quest for new bioactive molecules. Ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides (RiPPs) are a major class of natural product that derive from genetically encoded precursor peptides. However, RiPP gene clusters are particularly refractory to reliable bioinformatic predictions due to the absence of a common biosynthetic feature across all pathways. Here, we describe RiPPER, a new tool for the family-independent identification of RiPP precursor peptides and apply this methodology to search for novel thioamidated RiPPs in Actinobacteria. Until now, thioamidation was believed to be a rare post-translational modification, which is catalyzed by a pair of proteins (YcaO and TfuA) in Archaea. In Actinobacteria, the thioviridamide-like molecules are a family of cytotoxic RiPPs that feature multiple thioamides, and it has been proposed that a YcaO-TfuA pair of proteins also catalyzes their formation. Potential biosynthetic gene clusters encoding YcaO and TfuA protein pairs are common in Actinobacteria but the chemical diversity generated by these pathways is almost completely unexplored. A RiPPER analysis reveals a highly diverse landscape of precursor peptides encoded in previously undescribed gene clusters that are predicted to make thioamidated RiPPs. To illustrate this strategy, we describe the first rational discovery of a new family of thioamidated natural products, the thiovarsolins from Streptomyces varsoviensis.
Comprehensive Identification of Fim-Mediated Inversions in Uropathogenic Escherichia coli with Structural Variation Detection Using Relative Entropy
Authors: Russell Colin W. , Sukumaran Rashmi , Liow Lu Ting , Periaswamy Balamurugan , Rafee Shazmina , Chee Yuemin C , Chen Swaine L.
Published: December 2018

Most urinary tract infections (UTIs) are caused by uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC), which depend on an extracellular organelle (Type 1 pili) for adherence to bladder cells during infection. Type 1 pilus expression is partially regulated by inversion of a piece of DNA referred to as fimS, which contains the promoter for the fim operon encoding Type 1 pili. fimS inversion is regulated by up to five recombinases collectively known as Fim recombinases. These Fim recombinases are currently known to regulate two other switches: the ipuS and hyxS switches. A long-standing question has been whether the Fim recombinases regulate the inversion of other switches, perhaps to coordinate expression for adhesion or virulence. We answered this question using whole genome sequencing with a newly developed algorithm (Structural Variation detection using Relative Entropy, SVRE) for calling structural variations using paired-end short read sequencing. SVRE identified all of the previously known switches, refining the specificity of which recombinases act at which switches. Strikingly, we found no new inversions that were mediated by the Fim recombinases. We conclude that the Fim recombinases are each highly specific for a small number of switches. We hypothesize that the unlinked Fim recombinases have been recruited to regulate fimS, and fimS only, as a secondary locus; this further implies that regulation of Type 1 pilus expression (and its role in gastrointestinal and/or genitourinary colonization) is important enough, on its own, to influence the evolution and maintenance of multiple additional genes within the accessory genome of E. coli.
Nitric oxide radicals are emitted by wasp eggs to kill mold fungi
Authors: Strohm Erhard , Herzner Gudrun , Ruther Joachim , Kaltenpoth Martin , Engl Tobias
Published: December 2018

Detrimental microbes caused the evolution of a great diversity of antimicrobial defenses in plants and animals. Here we show that the eggs of a solitary digger wasp, the European beewolf Philanthus triangulum, emit large amounts of the gaseous free radical nitric oxide (NO.) to protect themselves and their provisions, paralyzed honeybees, against mold fungi. Despite the extraordinary concentrations of nitrogen radicals (NO. and its oxidation product NO2.) in the brood cells (~1500ppm), NO. is synthesized from L-arginine by an NO-synthase (NOS) as in other animals. The beewolf NOS gene revealed no conspicuous differences to related species. However, due to alternative splicing, the NOS-mRNA in beewolf eggs lacks a 144bp exon near the regulatory domain. This preventive external application of high doses of NO. by seemingly defenseless wasp eggs represents an evolutionary key innovation that adds a remarkable novel facet to the array of functions of the important biological effector NO..