bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Relation Between Cognitive and Motor Performance in 5‐ to 6‐Year‐Old Children: Results From a Large‐Scale Cross‐Sectional Study
Authors: Wassenberg Renske , Feron Frans J. M. , Kessels Alfons G. H. , Hendriksen Jos G. M. , Kalff Ariane C. , Kroes Marielle , Hurks Petra P. M. , Beeren Miranda , Jolles Jelle , Vles Johan S. H.
Published: September 2005

The relation between cognitive and motor performance was studied in a sample of 378 children aged 5–6. Half of these children had no behavior problems; the others were selected for externalizing (38%) or internalizing problems (12%). Quantitative and qualitative aspects of motor performance were related to several aspects of cognition, after controlling for the influence of attention. No relation between global aspects of cognitive and motor performance was found. Specific positive relations were found between both aspects of motor performance, visual motor integration and working memory, and between quantitative aspects of motor performance and fluency. These findings reveal interesting parallels between normal cognitive and motor development in 5‐ to 6‐year‐old children that cannot be ascribed to attention processes.
Experiential Influences on Multimodal Perception of Emotion
Authors: Shackman Jessica E. , Pollak Seth D.
Published: September 2005

The impact of 2 types of learning experiences on children's perception of multimodal emotion cues was examined. Children (aged 7–12 years) were presented with conflicting facial and vocal emotions. The effects of familiarity were tested by varying whether emotions were presented by familiar or unfamiliar adults. The salience of particular emotional expressions was tested by contrasting the performance of physically abused and nonabused children. Children exhibited a preference for auditory expressions produced by their mothers but not by strangers. Additionally, abused children were biased to rely on auditory cues when their own abusive mother was expressing anger. These results are discussed in terms of the impact of both typical and atypical early experiences on the development of emotion perception.
Brown and the Failure of Civic Responsibility
Authors: Fennimore Beatrice S.
Published: September 2005

In this article, I use perspective gained from 18 years of experience as an urban public school parent between 1978 and 1996 to provide insights into Brown at 50. Through description of two public conflicts over special choice programs in the school districts where my family and I lived during those years, I analyze the emergent issues of discrimination, false meritocracy, and persistent inequity. Ultimately, I argue that classism combined with racism enabled school districts and privileged parents to defend inequitable opportunities when they were combined with the appearance of parental choice. I assert that the development of selective choice programs rather than efforts to enhance systemwide equity allowed for continued resistance to equal educational opportunity. Finally, I argue that continued progress toward the goals of Brown requires a renewed commitment to civic responsibility on the part of educators and citizens. The ultimate goals of Brown will be achieved, I argue, when school reform embodies a unified public commitment to social progress through educational reform rather than a piecemeal system of school choices that cater to the demands of more privileged parents and thus reflect pre- Brown stratification, segregation, and inequality.
Too Little, Too Late: The Illusive Goal of School Desegregation in Kansas City, Missouri, and the Role of the Federal Government
Authors: Moran Peter William
Published: September 2005

This article explores the twisting and complicated history of school desegregation in Kansas City, Missouri, as an example of how illusive meaningful racial integration was and still is in urban America. The goal of desegregation was difficult to achieve from the beginning, when the school district adopted its initial desegregation plan based on neighborhood schools. This article examines the impact of that plan and its many shortcomings, particularly the provision permitting students to transfer between schools and the manner in which massive demographic change in the city undermined desegregation. The role of the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) is also examined in detail, especially the department's part in pressuring school officials in Kansas City to reform the original plan in the early 1970s. By the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Kansas City school district, like a great many other urban school districts, had experienced massive white and middle-class flight that left it with a smaller tax base and significant fiscal difficulties. Consequently, the Kansas City Public Schools grew increasingly reliant on federal funding. In compelling Kansas City to make changes to its desegregation plan, HEW officials used a “carrot and stick” approach. On one hand, HEW offered incentives to the school district in the form of large grants; on the other hand, HEW coerced the school district into making reforms by threatening to terminate the school district's federal funding. Ultimately, the desegregation that was accomplished in Kansas City was far too little and came far too late, after the school district had lost most of its white students to the predominantly white suburbs beyond. This historical analysis of school desegregation in Kansas City is important because it illustrates how race, inequality, and segregation profoundly affected an urban school district's willingness and ability to implement Brown, with or without federal funding. Similar stories echo through urban school districts across the United States.
Moving beyond Celebration: Challenging Curricular Orthodoxy in the Teaching of Brown and Its Legacies
Authors: Hess Diana E.
Published: September 2005

The case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka holds an esteemed position in the secondary school curriculum. Given prominent attention in virtually all social studies textbooks and included in more state standards documents than any other Supreme Court ruling, the Brown decision is often presented to secondary school students as a democratic achievement of such magnitude that it deserves iconic status. In contrast, scholars and civil rights activists are currently deliberating whether Brown and its legacies should be viewed as an icon, liberation referent, unfulfilled promise, well-intentioned error, or irrelevant. This article explores the incongruity between “academic” and “school” knowledge about Brown and argues for a revisioning of this landmark case and its effects in the secondary school curriculum.
Conservative Alliance Building and African American Support of Vouchers: The End of Brown's Promise or a New Beginning?
Authors: Apple Michael W. , Pedroni Thomas C.
Published: September 2005

A new kind of conservatism has evolved and has taken center stage in many nations, one that is best seen as “conservative modernization.” Although parts of these conservative positions may have originated within the New Right, they are now not limited to what has traditionally been called the Right. They have been taken up by a much larger segment of government and policy makers and have also even been appropriated by groups that one might least expect to do so, such as African American activists in cities like Milwaukee.

In this article, we examine a growing phenomenon: the growth of seemingly conservative sentiments among some of the least powerful groups in this society. Perhaps the most significant organization to emerge has been the Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO). It has mobilized around voucher advocacy for urban working-class communities of color. BAEO has attracted significant attention not just for its iconoclastic alignment with conservative educational reform, but also for accepting funding from far-Right foundations. This article analyzes the complexity of the discursive and sociopolitical space that BAEO occupies. The organization's awareness of its critics, allies, and the limited range of educational options within which low-income African American families must act belies the notion, put forward by some, that BAEO is simply a front organization for the educational Right. Nevertheless, BAEO's importance to the larger rightist project in education cannot be overstated.

At the core of our analysis is a concern about what is at stake for all of us if a rightist educational agenda succeeds in redefining what and whose knowledge is of most worth and what our social and educational policies are meant to do. Yet, no matter what one's position is on the wisdom of BAEO's strategic actions, this case provides a crucial example of the politics of how social movements and alliances are formed and reformed out of the material and ideological conditions of daily life.

A critical but sympathetic understanding of groups such as BAEO may enable us to avoid the essentialism and reductionism that enters into critical sociological work on the nature of ongoing struggles over educational reform. It can provide a more nuanced sense of social actors and the possibilities and limits of strategic alliances in a time of major conflicts over educational reform during a period of conservative modernization.
Keeping on Keeping On: OCR and Complaints of Racial Discrimination 50 Years after Brown
Authors: Pollock Mica
Published: September 2005

This article, written by a former civil rights investigator in the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR), contends that ordinary Americans advocating for equal educational opportunity for students of color might enlist OCR more actively and knowingly to help secure racial equality of opportunity 50 years after Brown. Now a scholar of racial inequality in education, the author shows that OCR's original purpose of rooting out racial discrimination in federally funded educational programs has been both hampered by hostile administrations and eclipsed by nonrace casework in the years since OCR's inception. The author argues that to successfully enlist OCR's civil rights tools today, complainants must arrive at OCR with as much concrete evidence of racial harm as possible and be ready to navigate some core disputes over defining and investigating racial discrimination in the current era.
Not Yet Dead at the Fed: Unions, Worker Bargaining, and Economy‐wide Wage Determination
Authors: MITCHELL DANIEL J. B. , ERICKSON CHRISTOPHER L.
Published: September 2005

Transcripts of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the Federal Reserve and related documents provide new insights into how macro‐policy makers characterized the labor market. Over the period of the 1980s and the 1990s, the Federal Reserve seemingly overemphasized the significance of union settlements, characterizing them in wage‐push terms out of proportion to declining union density. Fed policy makers expressed surprise that the nonaccelerating inflation rate of unemployment (NAIRU) dropped during this period and offered various ad hoc explanations to explain the drop. The underlying common element of these explanations is that they were based on a rhetorical bargaining framework, explicit or implicit, that workers bargain as active agents for wages. Along with ongoing direct discussion of union settlements, this tendency suggests a view of worker bargaining power that seems at variance with union decline and the reality of an increasingly nonunion labor market. While worker bargaining models can be reconciled in a formal sense with various theories of nonunion wage determination, the ability of such models to realistically explain the macro outcomes that puzzled and challenged policy makers can be questioned.
Trade Union Decline and Union Wage Effects in Australia
Authors: WADDOUPS C. JEFFREY
Published: September 2005

Union density in Australia fell precipitously in the 1990s. This study investigates how union wage effects may have changed as a result. The findings from 1993 data suggest that union/nonunion wage differentials were very small, especially among workers in high‐density industries. By 2001 the overall union wage effect had increased significantly; however, the union/nonunion wage differential was no longer correlated with union density at the industry level.
Opening the Black Box: The Internal Labor Markets of Company X
Authors: LIN MING‐JEN
Published: September 2005

This paper sets out to analyze an internal data set on a Taiwanese auto dealer employing three distinct types of workers. The effects of jobs and levels are positive on both the salary and bonus equations, albeit smaller under a fixed effects than under OLS; however, when factoring in individual fixed effects, the reductions in the bonus equations are greater than those in the salary equations. With changing economic conditions, any consequent variations are greater in bonuses than in salaries, with the most extreme variations being felt by higher ranking employees than lower‐level workers. Promotion premiums between levels are smaller than the average differences in pay, and although wage variations do exist within and between levels, the greater effect is on bonuses rather than salaries. The variations in both salaries and bonuses, defined by the coeffficient variations, are also greater in those years when demand is high, as opposed to years of low demand. Entry and exit behavior is observed at all levels, although it is more likely to occur among the lower levels of the hierarchy. Finally, we present strong evidence in support of the cohort effect. Overall, our findings confirm the prevalence of internal labor market (ILM) theories.
International Framework Agreements: A New Model for Securing Workers Rights?
Authors: RIISGAARD LONE
Published: September 2005

A rapidly growing number of international unions are signing international framework agreements with multinational enterprises (MNEs), securing their commitment to respect fundamental workers’ rights. This article explores the agreement between the global banana giant Chiquita and the Latin‐American Coordination of Banana Workers Unions (COLSIBA) signed in 2001. The study shows how the banana unions employed innovative tactics of regional coordination and of alliances with nongovernmental organizations in the major consumer markets. Fieldwork on the implementation of the agreement further reveals an overall poor use of the agreement potential but also how the agreement was used as leverage for local organizing activities. This article argues that such international agreements show a promising way to defend and advance workers rights within MNEs, creating space for union organizing, collective bargaining, and social dialogue.
Plant self‐incompatibility systems: a molecular evolutionary perspective
Authors: Charlesworth Deborah , Vekemans Xavier , Castric Vincent , Glémin Sylvain
Published: September 2005

Incompatibility recognition systems preventing self‐fertilization have evolved several times in independent lineages of Angiosperm plants, and three main model systems are well characterized at the molecular level [the gametophytic self‐incompatibility (SI) systems of Solanaceae, Rosaceae and Anthirrhinum, the very different system of poppy, and the system in Brassicaceae with sporophytic control of pollen SI reactions]. In two of these systems, the genes encoding both components of pollen‐pistil recognition are now known, showing clearly that these two proteins are distinct, that is, SI is a lock‐and‐key mechanism. Here, we review recent findings in the three well‐studied systems in the light of these results and analyse their implications for understanding polymorphism and coevolution of the two SI genes, in the context of a tightly linked genome region.
Epigenetics and plant evolution
Authors: Rapp Ryan A. , Wendel Jonathan F.
Published: September 2005

A fundamental precept of evolutionary biology is that natural selection acts on phenotypes determined by DNA sequence variation within natural populations. Recent advances in our understanding of gene regulation, however, have elucidated a spectrum of epigenetic molecular phenomena capable of altering the temporal, spatial, and abundance patterns of gene expression. These modifications may have morphological, physiological, and ecological consequences, and are heritable across generations, suggesting they are important in evolution. A corollary is that genetic variation per se is not always a prerequisite to evolutionary change. Here, we provide an introduction to epigenetic mechanisms in plants, and highlight some of the empirical studies illustrative of the possible connections between evolution and epigenetically mediated alterations in gene expression and morphology.
Regulation of metabolic networks: understanding metabolic complexity in the systems biology era
Authors: Sweetlove Lee J. , Fernie Alisdair R.
Published: September 2005

Metabolism is one of the best recognised networks within biological systems, but our understanding of metabolic regulation has been limited by a failure to consider regulation within the context of the whole network. With recent advances in theoretical aspects of network thinking and a postgenomic landscape in which our ability to quantify molecular changes at a systems level is unsurpassed, the time is ripe for the development of a new level of understanding of the regulation of plant metabolic networks. Theoretical advances such as the formal description of ‘scale‐free’ networks have provided explanations for network behaviour (such as robustness). In parallel, the appreciation of the importance of new levels of the metabolic regulatory hierarchy (such as protein–protein interaction) and the continuing development of global profiling technologies is generating a system‐wide molecular data set of increasing resolution. In this review we will argue that the integration of these different aspects of metabolic research will bring about a step change in our understanding of the regulation of metabolic networks in plants.

Contents

Summary
1

I.
Introduction
1

II.
The science of networks
2

III.
Analysis of plant metabolic networks
5

IV.
Conclusion
12

Acknowledgements
12

References
12
Phenotypic impacts of repetitive DNA in flowering plants
Authors: Meagher Thomas R. , Vassiliadis Christine
Published: September 2005

The discovery that nuclear DNA content varies widely among species, and even within species, was unexpected because it was thought that the number of genes required for an organism should be common across taxa. We now know that the bulk of nuclear DNA content variation is caused by repetitive DNA sequences characterized according to the nature of repeat (tandem vs dispersed) or chromosomal location/mechanism of replication (pericentromeric, telomeric or subtelomeric, microsatellites, minisatellites, satellites, transposable elements, retroelements). Variation in repetitive DNA, manifested as variation in nuclear DNA content, has been shown to have broad ecological and life‐history consequences. For example, large genome size appears to limit fitness in extreme environmental conditions. Within species, variation in DNA content has been coupled to growth and development, such as maturation time in crop species. In Silene latifolia, DNA content is negatively correlated with flower size, a character that, in turn, has well documented ecological significance. These intraspecific studies suggest a connection between repetitive DNA and quantitative genetic determination of continuous characters. Novel insights into mechanisms by which repetitive DNA influences phenotype will lead to models of evolutionary change that extend well beyond the conventional view of evolution by allelic substitution.
THE JUDICIOUS SELECTION AND PRESERVATION OF TUFF AND TRAVERTINE BUILDING STONE IN ANCIENT ROME*
Authors: JACKSON M. D. , MARRA F. , HAY R. L. , CAWOOD C. , WINKLER E. M.
Published: September 2005

The Republican and early Imperial monuments of Rome are, for the most part, built of tuffs quarried from at least seven pyroclastic deposits erupted from nearby Monti Sabatini and Alban Hills volcanoes. Remarks by Vitruvius (2.7.1–5), field observations of the monuments, and petrographic and rock testing studies of samples from Roman quarries demonstrate that Roman builders developed a good knowledge of the diverse material properties of the tuffs over centuries of use and exposure. Measurements of compressive strength, specific gravity, water absorption and adsorption of water vapour confirm that the petrographic characteristics of each tuff lithology strongly influence its strength and durability. Early construction utilized weakly durable, soft or vitric tuffs such as Tufo del Palatino or Tufo Giallo della Via Tiberina that are susceptible to decay, as at Temple C (290 bc) of the Largo Argentina Sacred Area. Late Republican structures, such as the Temple of Portunus (80–90 bc), employed somewhat durable, vitric–lithic Tufo Lionato reinforced with travertine, a durable limestone quarried near Tivoli. Roman builders selected the material properties of the tuffs to advantage for specific structural elements within large public monuments of the first century bc and the first century ad, as at the tabernae of the Forum of Caesar (46 bc), where an upper storey of lightweight Tufo Lionato is supported by robust, lithic–crystal Lapis Gabinus pillars and flat arches reinforced with travertine. The tuffs are not very durable building stones; Romans preserved them with protective stucco, and travertine and marble cladding. Their high water intake, coupled with direct exposure to rain, daily fluctuations in relative humidity and urban weathering at present makes them especially vulnerable to decay.
THE ORIGIN OF BLACK‐FIGURE GREEK CERAMICS FOUND IN NAUCRATIS (NILE DELTA)*
Authors: HARBOTTLE G. , HUGHES M. J. , SELEEM S.
Published: September 2005

At the site of the Greek trading port of Naucratis, located on the Canopic mouth of the Nile inland from Alexandria, Flinders Petrie and later archaeologists encountered sherds of Classical Greek black‐figure pottery. We have characterized the pastes of 14 of these specimens, drawn from the collections of the British Museum and the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, by neutron activation analysis and numerical taxonomy. The ceramics agree in composition with a reference group centred on Athens. We also investigated a small number of additional black‐figure sherds from other sites. One specimen, from Ruvo di Puglia (Italy), actually originated in or near Marseilles. There was no evidence for local manufacture of black‐figure pottery at Naucratis.
CUERDA SECA CERAMICS FROM AL‐ANDALUS, ISLAMIC SPAIN AND PORTUGAL (10TH−12TH CENTURIES AD): INVESTIGATION WITH SEM–EDX AND CATHODOLUMINESCENCE*
Authors: CHAPOULIE R. , DELERY C. , DANIEL F. , VENDRELL‐SAZ M.
Published: September 2005

Since little is known about the cuerda seca technique, our aim has been to complete an initial analysis of 11th‐century cuerda seca by studying fragments from the 10th century (Pechina, Almería) and the 12th century (Mértola and Almería), so as to establish the diachronic evolution of this technique. Characteristics specific to cuerda seca ceramic glazes were investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and quantitative chemical analysis with energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectrometry (EDX). The chemical compositions of the different‐coloured glazes (green, black, yellow and white) have given us valuable indications about the evolution of the technique. The opacification mode and the firing process were also investigated. With the help of cathodoluminescence (CL) and the study of modern ‘cuerda seca’ glazed ceramics, new hypotheses regarding the number of firing stages, taking into account glaze and paste transformations and their interactions, are put forward.
SIENESE ‘ARCHAIC’ MAJOLICA: A TECHNOLOGICAL STUDY OF CERAMIC BODIES AND COATINGS*
Authors: FORTINA C. , SANTAGOSTINO BARBONE A. , TURBANTI MEMMI I.
Published: September 2005

The aim of the present study is to reconstruct the production technology of Sienese ‘archaic’ majolica in the early decades of the 14th century ad. The integration of archaeological data with archived data revealed the presence of numerous workshops, suggesting that the Sienese tradition of majolica production was well developed up until the end of the 16th century. Sixty‐seven uncoated and coated waste products were analysed. The ceramic bodies were examined by OM, XRDp, SEM–EDS, XRF, ICP–OES, ICP–MS and INAA. The coatings (enamels and glazes) were analysed by SEM–EDS and Raman microspectroscopy. The results showed that ceramics were rejected due to poor control of the firing temperature (technological wastes), faulty production technology (wastes of uncertain classification) and accidents (post‐firing wastes). Finally, the analyses revealed extreme homogeneity of the ceramic bodies, indicating the continued use of the same raw material over the whole period studied.
A STUDY ON LATE MEDIEVAL TRANSPARENT‐GLAZED POTTERY AND ARCHAIC MAJOLICA FROM ORVIETO (CENTRAL ITALY)*
Authors: RICCI C. , BORGIA I. , BRUNETTI B. G. , SGAMELLOTTI A. , FABBRI B. , BURLA M. C. , POLIDORI G.
Published: September 2005

Nineteen samples of medieval transparent‐glazed pottery and archaic majolica from Orvieto (central Italy) were studied. They were classified by archaeological criterion as follows: five transparent‐glazed fragments with green and brown decorations (first half of the 13th century), eight green transparent‐glazed fragments (13th century) and six tin‐glazed fragments with green and brown decorations (second half of the 13th century). SEM–EDX, XRD (the Rietveld method) and XRF were used to characterize the chemical and mineralogical compositions both of the bodies and the coatings.

 In all of the samples, the paste is Ca‐rich with CaO contents as high as 13–20 wt%. The mineralogical composition is compatible with a firing temperature of about 950°C, which is the typical temperature reached in a wood kiln. No difference was observed between the bodies of transparent‐ and tin‐glazed pottery.

 In the case of transparent glazes, the burial conditions lead to heavy weathering of the samples. However, on the basis of the analyses carried out in non‐weathered areas, the typical composition is PbO 55–65 wt%, SiO231–35 wt%. In tin glazes, the tin is scattered on the mass of the glaze as SnO2crystals with a concentration of 7–14 wt%.

 Concerning the decorations, it is established that the green colour is due to the presence of copper, while manganese is responsible for the brown colour. These pigments, which represent the typical colours of ‘archaic majolica’, are spread through the glaze homogeneously, apart from one case in which there is clear evidence of manganese oxide crystals.
THE MELTING FURNACE OF THE DERRIÈRE SAIROCHE GLASSWORKS (COURT, SWISS JURA): HEAT‐INDUCED MINERALOGICAL TRANSFORMATIONS AND THEIR TECHNOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE*
Authors: ERAMO G.
Published: September 2005

Seventy‐one oriented specimens from the pre‐industrial reverberatory melting furnace of the Derrière Sairoche glassworks (Swiss Jura) were analysed. During its period of activity (1699–1714), this glassworks produced wood‐ash glass of liquidus temperatures up to 1400°C. Textural and mineralogical features point to temperatures around 1500°C in the melting chamber. The inner structure of the furnace shows chemical contamination due to ash, molten glass and furnace gases. These results reveal the pyrotechnological know‐how of the glassmakers and prove that the thermal performance of this kind of furnace has been under‐evaluated in the past.
EARLY PRODUCTION RECIPES FOR LEAD ANTIMONATE YELLOW IN ITALIAN ART*
Authors: DIK J. , HERMENS E. , PESCHAR R. , SCHENK H.
Published: September 2005

Lead antimonate yellow, or Naples Yellow, is one of the most common yellow pigments in Western European art. It was used mainly in the period from 1500 to 1850. During the 18th and 19th centuries, a whole range of production recipes was published. However, the early production history of the pigment is not well understood. In this paper, a study of two early production recipes is reported. Under the nomenclature of potters’ yellow, the recipes describe some production details of the pigment. Reconstructions of the historical lead antimonate yellow were made according to these sources. X‐ray powder diffraction (XRPD) was used to examine the reaction products. Our findings show that various types of lead antimonate yellow can be formed, following the descriptions given in the recipes. Some of these types, notably lead–tin antimonate, have been found in earlier studies of authentic works of art. No evidence was found for a locally limited use of this pigment, as has previously been suggested. Documentary and analytical evidence indicates that the knowledge on lead antimonate yellows originates from Middle Eastern ceramic and glass industries. It is argued that the know‐how on the production of lead antimonate yellows has been transferred via the migration of glass artists from the Eastern Mediterranean to Venice during the 15th century.
HERODOTUS’ AND PLINY'S EMBALMING MATERIALS IDENTIFIED ON ANCIENT EGYPTIAN MUMMIES*
Authors: KOLLER J. , BAUMER U. , KAUP Y. , WESER U.
Published: September 2005

Unused ancient Egyptian embalming material unearthed at Deir el‐Bahari (c. 1500bc) shed new light on the potential preparation methods for various embalming materials in Pharaonic Egypt. Analyses revealed the presence of phenols, guaiacols, naphthalenes and sesquiterpenoids. These components were attributed to a wood tar oil produced by a dry distillation or smouldering process from the true cedar tree. The preservation effects were elucidated at the molecular level. Bone alkaline phosphatase, an enzyme that is tightly bound in deeper regions of the bone mineral, served as a marker to reveal the efficacy of the investigated compounds. A very similar embalming material was extracted from a Ptolemaic torso (340±170bc), showing powerful bactericidal and fungicidal activity on the mummified tissue and bones. Here, we show that both the unused and the used embalming materials are in striking accordance with Pliny's description of liquid ‘cedrium’, with the abundantly present guaiacol proving the most effective conserving compound.
OPTICAL DATING OF GRANITIC STONE SURFACES*
Authors: GREILICH S. , GLASMACHER U. A. , WAGNER G. A.
Published: September 2005

A novel luminescence methodology for dating surfaces of granitoid rocks is presented, with encouraging results for archaeological stone structures. It is based on the zeroing of the latent signal of optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) in feldspar and quartz grains of the stone surface during exposure to daylight. When after bleaching the surface is shielded from light, the OSL signal builds up again, such that its intensity provides an age for the event of the last exposure to light. This event could be the construction or the destruction of stone structures or, for example, sedimentary deposition of granitic boulders, such as in fan deposits. The experimental approach utilizes a high spatial resolution detection technique (HR‐OSL) for OSL of minerals that are left in their original petrological context; that is, without any mineral separation. With this approach, steep gradients in microdosimetry at the surface and at grain boundaries become important and are discussed in detail. The new dating technique is successfully applied to a stone wall of the medieval castle of Lindenfels in southwestern Germany and the pre‐Columbian Nasca lines (geoglyphs) around Palpa in southern Peru.
Longitudinal Analysis of the Relationship Between Regular Eye Examinations and Changes in Visual and Functional Status
Authors: Sloan Frank A. , Picone Gabriel , Brown Derek S. , Lee Paul P.
Published: September 2005

Objectives: To determine whether regular eye examinations are associated with a greater or lesser rate of loss of ability to read newsprint, onset of blindness or low vision, or onset of limitations in instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) and activities of daily living (ADLs).

Design: A sample of 14,215 Medicare beneficiaries observed between 1994 and 1999 linked to the 1994 and 1999 National Long‐Term Care Surveys (NLTCS). Effects of annual examinations were assessed using instrumental variables.

Setting: The Medicare‐linked NLTCS is representative of U.S. elderly persons from 1994 to 1999.

Participants: Longitudinal observational study of persons aged 65 and older.

Measurements: Change in self‐reported and provider‐reported vision and change in functional limitations associated with vision related to the number of years with eye examinations and other factors.

Results: Persons with more‐regular eye examinations between 1994 and 1998 were less likely to have experienced a decline in vision or in functional status between 1994 and 1999. On average, an additional year with an eye examination was associated with a decrease in the probability of becoming unable to read newsprint of 0.12 (P=.03), a lower probability of onset of low vision or blindness of 0.009 (P=.06), and a decrease in the probability that the number of functional limitations increased of 0.13 (P=.002) for IADLs and 0.05 (P=.003) for ADLs.

Conclusion: Elderly persons who have regular eye examinations experience less decline in vision and functional status.
Magnesium Intake from Food and Supplements Is Associated with Bone Mineral Density in Healthy Older White Subjects
Authors: Ryder Kathryn M. , Shorr Ronald I. , Bush Andrew J. , Kritchevsky Stephen B. , Harris Tamara , Stone Katie , Cauley Jane , Tylavsky Frances A.
Published: September 2005

Objectives: To determine whether magnesium intake from supplemental and dietary sources is associated with bone mineral density (BMD) in older men and women.

Design: Cross‐sectional.

Setting: Memphis, Tennessee, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Participants: Two thousand thirty‐eight older black and white men and women aged 70 to 79 at baseline enrolled in the Health, Aging and Body Composition Study.

Measurements: Dietary intake of magnesium was assessed using a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire, and supplement data were collected based on a medication inventory. BMD of the whole body was obtained using a fan‐beam densitometer. Additional covariates included age, body mass index (BMI), smoking status, alcohol use, physical activity, estrogen use, and supplemental calcium (Ca) and vitamin D use.

Results: In white, but not black, men and women, magnesium intake was positively associated with BMD of the whole body after adjustment for age, self‐report of osteoporosis or fracture in adulthood, caloric intake, Ca and vitamin D intake, BMI, smoking status, alcohol intake, physical activity, thiazide diuretic use, and estrogen use in women (P=.05 for men and P=.005 for women). BMD was 0.04 g/cm2 higher in white women and 0.02 g/cm2 higher in white men in the highest than in the lowest quintile of magnesium intake.

Conclusion: Greater magnesium intake was significantly related to higher BMD in white women and men. The lack of association observed in black women and men may be related to differences in Ca regulation or in nutrient reporting.
Bereaved Family Member Perceptions of Quality of End‐of‐Life Care in U.S. Regions with High and Low Usage of Intensive Care Unit Care
Authors: Teno Joan M. , Mor Vincent , Ward Nicholas , Roy Jason , Clarridge Brian , Wennberg John E. , Fisher Elliott S.
Published: September 2005

Objectives: To compare the quality of end‐of‐life care of persons dying in regions of differing practice intensity.

Design: Mortality follow‐back survey.

Setting: Geographic regions in the highest and lowest deciles of intensive care unit (ICU) use.

Participants: Bereaved family member or other knowledgeable informants.

Measurements: Unmet needs, concerns, and rating of quality of end‐of‐life care in five domains (physical comfort and emotional support of the decedent, shared decision‐making, treatment of the dying person with respect, providing information and emotional support to family members).

Results: Decedents in high‐ (n=365) and low‐intensity (n=413) hospital service areas (HSAs) did not differ in age, sex, education, marital status, leading causes of death, or the degree to which death was expected, but those in the high‐intensity ICU HSAs were more likely to be black and to live in nonrural areas. Respondents in high‐intensity HSAs were more likely to report that care was of lower quality in each domain, and these differences were statistically significant in three of five domains. Respondents from high‐intensity HSAs were more likely to report inadequate emotional support for the decedent (relative risk (RR)=1.2, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.0–1.4), concerns with shared decision‐making (RR=1.8, 95% CI=1.0–2.9), inadequate information about what to expect (RR=1.5, 95% CI=1.3–1.8), and failure to treat the decedent with respect (RR=1.4, 95% CI=1.0–1.9). Overall ratings of the quality of end‐of‐life care were also significantly lower in high‐intensity HSAs.

Conclusion: Dying in regions with a higher use of ICU care is not associated with improved perceptions of quality of end‐of‐life care.
Optimizing the Use of Antithrombotic Therapy for Atrial Fibrillation in Older People: A Pharmacist‐Led Multidisciplinary Intervention
Authors: Bajorek Beata V. , Krass Ines , Ogle Susan J. , Duguid Margaret J. , Shenfield Gillian M.
Published: September 2005

Objectives: To develop, implement, and evaluate a pharmacist‐led multidisciplinary intervention in a hospital setting that would optimize antithrombotic use in elderly atrial fibrillation patients. The hypothesis that there would be an increase in the proportion of patients receiving antithrombotic therapy at discharge was tested.

Design: Evidence‐based algorithms were developed to define the criteria (stroke risk vs contraindications) by which an elderly patient's requirement for antithrombotic therapy was assessed.

Setting: A major Sydney teaching hospital.

Participants: Two hundred eighteen consecutively admitted elderly patients (mean age 85.2) were recruited over a 6‐month period.

Intervention: A pharmacist‐coordinated multidisciplinary review process was implemented to coordinate risk assessments and subsequently recommend appropriate antithrombotic therapy, as per the algorithms.

Measurements: The proportion of patients receiving antithrombotic therapy was assessed on admission (preintervention), at discharge (postintervention), and postdischarge (follow‐up at 3 and 6 months).

Results: As a result of the intervention, 78 patients (35.8%) required changes to their existing antithrombotic therapy. Of these changes, 60 (76.9%) were “upgrades” to more‐effective treatment options (e.g., from no therapy to any agent or from aspirin to warfarin). The remaining 18 (23.1%) changes were “downgrades” to less‐effective, albeit safer, options. Despite a significant increase in anti thrombotic use overall (59.6% vs 81.2%, P<.001), fewer patients received warfarin postintervention, after having been assessed as inappropriate candidates (20.7% vs 17.4%, P=.39).

Conclusion: A pharmacist‐led multidisciplinary process was successfully developed and implemented within the hospital setting to increase overall antithrombotic use. Having addressed some of the known barriers and limitations to warfarin use, these algorithms may allow allied health workers, patients, and clinicians to work collaboratively to achieve optimal and, importantly, appropriate (i.e., safe and effective) antithrombotic use in at‐risk elderly patients.
Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and Risk of Developing Urinary Incontinence
Authors: Lifford Karen L. , Curhan Gary C. , Hu Frank B. , Barbieri Robert L. , Grodstein Francine
Published: September 2005

Objectives: To evaluate the association between type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) and development of urinary incontinence in women.

Design: Prospective, observational study.

Setting: The Nurses' Health Study cohort.

Participants: Eighty‐one thousand eight hundred forty‐five women who reported information on urinary function in 1996.

Measurements: Self‐reported, physician‐diagnosed DM was ascertained using questionnaire from 1976 to 1996 and confirmed using standard criteria. Self‐reported urinary incontinence, defined as leakage at least weekly, was ascertained in 1996 and 2000. Logistic regression models were used to calculate multivariate‐adjusted relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the relationship between DM (as of 1996) and prevalent and incident incontinence.

Results: The risk of prevalent incontinence (multivariate RR=1.28, 95% CI=1.18–1.39) and incident incontinence (multivariate RR=1.21, 95% CI=1.02–1.43) was significantly greater in women with DM than women without. Using a validated severity index, risk of developing severe incontinence was even more substantial in women with DM than in those without (multivariate RR=1.40, 95% CI=1.15–1.71 for leakage enough to wet the underwear; RR=1.97, 95% CI=1.24–3.12 for leakage enough to wet the outer clothing). In addition, risk of incontinence increased with duration of DM (P‐trend=.03 for prevalent incontinence; P=.001 for incident incontinence).

Conclusion: DM independently increases risk of urinary incontinence in women. Because risk of incontinence appeared associated with longer duration of DM, even delaying the onset of DM could have important public health implications.
Mild Cognitive Impairment and 10‐Year Trajectories of Disability in the Iowa Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly Cohort
Authors: Purser Jama L. , Fillenbaum Gerda G. , Pieper Carl F. , Wallace Robert B.
Published: September 2005

Objectives: To apply diagnostic criteria for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to a geographically representative sample, to estimate the prevalence of MCI, and to estimate 10‐year trajectories of incident disability for cognitively intact participants and subgroups with MCI.

Design: Prospective cohort; 10 years of follow‐up.

Setting: Community‐based survey of noninstitutionalized population aged 65 and or older in two rural Iowa counties (Washington and Iowa).

Participants: Iowa Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly (aged ≥65; N=3,673; 61.3% female; 99.9% white).

Measurements: Age, sex, education, Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire (SPMSQ), 20‐item word recall, activities of daily living (ADLs), instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), chronic medical conditions.

Results: MCI was prevalent in 24.7% of participants at baseline. Most participants in the overall cohort remained stable or changed slowly (≤1 new limitations) over 10 years (63.1% for SPMSQ, 89.3% for word recall, and 61.7% for ADL disability). For MCI/no prevalent IADL disability (Stage 1 MCI), disability progression was similar to that in the cognitively intact subgroup (median=0.08 vs 0.05 disabilities per year). For MCI plus prevalent IADL disability (Stage 2 MCI), the median rate of change was equivalent to that of the severely impaired (0.23 disabilities per year; interquartile range=0.12–0.36).

Conclusion: Unlike participants with MCI who reported no IADL limitations, those with such limitations were more likely to develop ADL disability—a prerequisite for a diagnosis of dementia.
Age‐Dependent Differences in Presentation, Risk Factor Profile, and Outcome of Suspected Acute Coronary Syndrome
Authors: Soiza Roy L. , Leslie Stephen J. , Harrild Kirsten , Peden Norman R. , Hargreaves Allister D.
Published: September 2005

Objectives: To compare the presenting complaint, risk factors, and outcome of suspected acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in those aged 65 and older with those of a younger cohort.

Design: Prospective observational cohort study.

Setting: A typical Scottish district general hospital covering a population of 150,000.

Participants: Patients presenting with suspected ACS (N=869) over a 6‐month period.

Measurements: Main presenting complaint and major risk factors including electrocardiogram (ECG) changes. Primary outcome measures were percutaneous coronary intervention, recurrent myocardial infarction, and death at 3‐month follow‐up.

Results: Four hundred seventy‐seven (55%) were aged 65 and older. Older patients were less likely to present with chest pain and more likely to present with breathlessness or collapse. They had fewer major risk factors for heart disease. There was a higher proportion with ischemic ECG changes, elevated troponin, and major acute coronary events at follow‐up. Older patients were less likely to be accepted for angiography even though they were more likely than the younger cohort to have significant coronary artery disease when angiography was performed (chi‐square test, P<.01 for all above).

Conclusion: Older patients with suspected ACS were more likely to present atypically and have worse outcomes than their younger counterparts, despite having fewer major risk factors. The results highlight the importance of age as a predictor of adverse outcome and suggest that clinicians need to ensure equitable access to angiography for older patients.
Implant placement in bone formed beyond the skeletal envelope by means of guided tissue regeneration: an experimental study in the rat
Authors: Stavropoulos Andreas , Nyengaard Jens R. , Kostopoulos Lambros , Karring Thorkild
Published: September 2005

Objectives: The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether the placement of implants in bone formed by means of guided tissue regeneration (GTR) beyond the skeletal envelope may influence bone volume and/or structure.

Material and Methods: Rigid, hemispherical, Teflon capsules were placed with their open part facing the lateral surface of the ramus in both sides of the mandible in 18 rats. After 1 year, the capsules were removed by a re‐entry operation, and a custom‐made titanium implant was placed in the augmented ramus in only one side of the jaw. Six animals were sacrificed shortly after implant surgery, another six after 3 months, and the last six after 6 months. Histological specimens of the augmented sites including the implants were prepared, and the volumes of (1) the newly formed bone (mineralized bone and marrow) (2) the soft connective tissue, and (3) the implant, in the space originally created by the capsule were estimated by a point‐counting technique. Additionally the height of the augmented bone was measured.

Results: One year after capsule placement, the major portion of the space originally created by the capsules was filled with newly formed bone. In the test specimens, implant placement seemed to result in a denser arrangement of the augmented bone, but this event did not influence its long‐term stability. Although some resorption occurred after 3 and 6 months, the vast portion of the generated bone remained stable over time in both tests and controls, and there were no differences between tests and controls at any observation periods.

Conclusion: It is concluded that large amounts of bone can be formed beyond the skeletal envelope by means of GTR, and that this bone remains stable on a long‐term basis both with and without the placement of titanium implants.