bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Who should study instructional technology? Vocational personality approach
Authors: Perkmen Serkan , Sahin Sami
Published: March 2012

The main purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between vocational personality and departmental satisfaction of instructional technology students. Holland's theory of personalities in work environments served as the theoretical framework. The participants were 103 undergraduate students enrolled in the department of Computer Education and Instructional Technology in Turkey. Findings revealed a significant relationship between vocational personality and departmental satisfaction. Based on the results of the current study, it seems that Holland's theory offers a useful framework for addressing the question of who should study instructional technology or work as an instructional technologist.

Practitioner Notes

What is already known about this topic

It seems that theories of career choice have received no attention in the field of instructional technology.

Studies which focused on personality in the field of instructional technology generally examined the relationship between personality and the level of technology use or motivation.

Holland's theory has been tested and validated extensively in other fields.

What this paper adds

The current study seems to be the first study which examined the utility of a career theory in the field of instructional technology.

The current study offers a useful perspective for addressing the question of who should study instructional technology.

The current study helps us understand why some students have low satisfaction in studying in the department of instructional technology.

Implications for practice and/or policy

Holland's theory can be used as a vocational guide to those who wish to study in the area of instructional technology or choose an instructional technology‐related career.

The Vocational Interest Scale helps academic advisors measure vocational personality of their students.

The academic advisors should consider personality when guiding their students.
Cervical Cancer Screening in the United States and the Netherlands: A Tale of Two Countries
Authors: HABBEMA DIK , De KOK INGE M.C.M. , BROWN MARTIN L.
Published: March 2012

Context: This article compares cervical cancer screening intensity and cervical cancer mortality trends in the United States and the Netherlands to illustrate the potential of cross‐national comparative studies. We discuss the lessons that can be learned from the comparison as well as the challenges in each country to effective and efficient screening.

Methods: We used nationally representative data sources in the United States and the Netherlands to estimate the number of Pap smears and the cervical cancer mortality rate since 1950. The following questions are addressed: How do differences in intensity of Pap smear use between the countries translate into differences in mortality trends? Can population coverage rates (the proportion of eligible women who had a Pap smear within a specified period) explain the mortality trends better than the total intensity of Pap smear use?

Findings: Even though three to four times more Pap smears per woman were conducted in the United States than in the Netherlands over a period of three decades, the two countries’ mortality trends were quite similar. The five‐year coverage rates for women aged thirty to sixty‐four were quite comparable at 80 to 90 percent. Because screening in the Netherlands was limited to ages thirty to sixty, screening rates for women under thirty and over sixty were much higher in the United States. These differences had consequences for age‐specific mortality trends. The relatively good coverage rate in the Netherlands can be traced back to a nationwide invitation system based on municipal population registries. While both countries followed a “policy cycle” involving evidence review, surveillance of screening practices and outcomes, clinical guidelines, and reimbursement policies, the components of this cycle were more systematically linked and implemented nationwide in the Netherlands than in the United States. To a large extent, this was facilitated by a public health model of screening in the Netherlands, rather than a medical services model.

Conclusions: Cross‐country studies like ours are natural experiments that can produce insights not easily obtained from other types of study. The cervical cancer screening system in the Netherlands seems to have been as effective as the U.S. system but used much less screening. Adequate coverage of the female population at risk seems to be of central importance.
Health Insurance Coverage and Take‐Up: Lessons from Behavioral Economics
Authors: BAICKER KATHERINE , CONGDON WILLIAM J. , MULLAINATHAN SENDHIL
Published: March 2012

Context: Millions of uninsured Americans ostensibly have insurance available to them—many at very low cost—but do not take it up. Traditional economic analysis is based on the premise that these are rational decisions, but it is hard to reconcile observed enrollment patterns with this view. The policy prescriptions that the traditional model generates may thus fail to achieve their goals. Behavioral economics, which integrates insights from psychology into economic analysis, identifies important deviations from the traditional assumptions of rationality and can thus improve our understanding of what drives health insurance take‐up and improved policy design.

Methods: Rather than a systematic review of the coverage literature, this article is a primer for considering issues in health insurance coverage from a behavioral economics perspective, supplementing the standard model. We present relevant evidence on decision making and insurance take‐up and use it to develop a behavioral approach to both the policy problem posed by the lack of health insurance coverage and possible policy solutions to that problem.

Findings: We found that evidence from behavioral economics can shed light on both the sources of low take‐up and the efficacy of different policy levers intended to expand coverage. We then applied these insights to policy design questions for public and private insurance coverage and to the implementation of the recently enacted health reform, focusing on the use of behavioral insights to maximize the value of spending on coverage.

Conclusions: We concluded that the success of health insurance coverage reform depends crucially on understanding the behavioral barriers to take‐up. The take‐up process is likely governed by psychology as much as economics, and public resources can likely be used much more effectively with behaviorally informed policy design.
What We Talk about When We Talk about Risk: Refining Surgery's Hazards in Medical Thought
Authors: NEUMAN MARK D. , BOSK CHARLES L.
Published: March 2012

Context:  Current efforts to improve the cost‐effectiveness of health care focus on assessing accurately the value of technologically complex, costly medical treatments for individual patients and society. These efforts universally acknowledge that the determination of such value should incorporate information regarding the risks posed by a given treatment for an individual, but they typically overlook the implications for medical decision making that inhere in how notions of risk are understood and used in contemporary medical discourse. To gain perspective on how the hazards of surgery have been defined and redefined in medical thought, we examine changes over time in notions of risk related to operative care.

Methods: We reviewed historical writings on risk assessment and patient selection for surgical procedures published between 1957 and 1997 and conducted informal interviews with experts. To examine changes attributable to advances in research on risk assessment, we focused on the period surrounding the 1977 publication of an influential surgical risk‐stratification index.

Findings: Writings before 1977 demonstrate a summative, global approach to patients as “good” or “poor” risks, without quantifying the likelihood of specific postoperative events. Beginning in the early 1980s, assessments of operative risk increasingly emphasized quantitative estimates of the probability of dysfunction of a specific organ system after surgery. This new approach to establishing surgical risk was consistent with concurrent trends in other domains of medicine. In particular, it emphasized a more “scientific,” standardized approach to medical decision making over an earlier focus on individual physicians’ judgment and professional authority.

Conclusions: Recent writings on operative risk reflect a viewpoint that is more specific and, at the same time, more generic and fragmented than earlier approaches. By permitting the separation of multiple component hazards implicit in surgical interventions, such a viewpoint may encourage a distinct, permissive standard for surgical interventions that conflicts with larger policy efforts to promote cost‐effective decision making by physicians and patients.
Impact of Nurse Staffing Mandates on Safety‐Net Hospitals: Lessons from California
Authors: MCHUGH MATTHEW D. , BROOKS CARTHON MARGO , SLOANE DOUGLAS M. , WU EVAN , KELLY LESLY , AIKEN LINDA H.
Published: March 2012

Context: California is the first and only state to implement a patient‐to‐nurse ratio mandate for hospitals. Increasing nurse staffing is an important organizational intervention for improving patient outcomes. Evidence suggests that staffing improved in California hospitals after the mandate was enacted, but the outcome for hospitals bearing a disproportionate share of uncompensated care—safety‐net hospitals—remains unclear. One concern was that California's mandate would burden safety‐net hospitals without improving staffing or that hospitals would reduce their skill mix, that is, the proportion of registered nurses of all nursing staff. We examined the differential effect of California's staffing mandate on safety‐net and non‐safety‐net hospitals.

Methods: We used a time‐series design with Annual Hospital Disclosure data files from the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) for the years 1998 to 2007 to assess differences in the effect of California's mandate on staffing outcomes in safety‐net and non‐safety‐net hospitals.

Findings: The mandate resulted in significant staffing improvements, on average nearly a full patient per nurse fewer (−0.98) for all California hospitals. The greatest effect was in those hospitals with the lowest staffing levels at the outset, both safety‐net and non‐safety‐net hospitals, as the legislation intended. The mandate led to significantly improved staffing levels for safety‐net hospitals, although there was a small but significant difference in the effect on staffing levels of safety‐net and non‐safety‐net hospitals. Regarding skill mix, a marginally higher proportion of registered nurses was seen in non‐safety‐net hospitals following the mandate, while the skill mix remained essentially unchanged for safety‐net hospitals. The difference between the two groups of hospitals was not significant.

Conclusions: California's mandate improved staffing for all hospitals, including safety‐net hospitals. Furthermore, improvement did not come at the cost of a reduced skill mix, as was feared. Alternative and more targeted designs, however, might yield further improvement for safety‐net hospitals and reduce potential disparities in the staffing and skill mix of safety‐net and non‐safety‐net hospitals.
Export diversification in a transitioning economy
Authors: Lim Jamus Jerome , Saborowski Christian
Published: March 2012

How does the process of export diversification take place in an economy in transition, especially in light of government policy aimed at trade liberalization? This article examines this question by considering a directed policy effort by Syria – an economy in transition from both economic centralization and resource dependence – to liberalize its trade between 2001 and 2008. In addition to documenting the patterns of diversification at the aggregate level since the implementation of the policy, we also examine factors that are related to diversification at the sectoral level. Our findings suggest that, while Syria has achieved reasonably rapid export diversification, this may to a large extent be the result of structural transformations in the economy, and that further diversification may require continued policy reform designed to strengthen Syria's weak institutional and business environment.
A contribution to the public–private wage inequality debate
Authors: Voinea Liviu , Mihaescu Flaviu
Published: March 2012

This paper studies the public–private wage inequality in Romania. Although public sector employment is perceived as safer and offering more benefits, we find that in Romania it also offers higher wages, after controlling for experience, education and gender. This result is at odds with the negative premium uncovered in other transition economies. The public–private wage premium is increasing across the wage distribution, leading to more inequality in the public sector. Decomposing the wage premium into the effect of personal characteristics, coefficients and residuals, we show that only about half of this premium can be attributed to personal characteristics, especially in the top half of the wage distribution. We also find that the number of other public sector employees in the family is a significant driver of public sector employment, facilitating access to jobs. However, the effects of self‐selection are negligible, the premium being still positive and significant after controlling for this.
The business environment and Moroccan firm productivity
Authors: Augier Patricia , Dovis Marion , Gasiorek Michael
Published: March 2012

The paper focuses on the role of the business environment in understanding differences in the total factor productivity of Moroccan firms. The business environment is captured by measures which include the investment climate in which firms operate, i.e. access to credit, regulatory and institutional environment and infrastructure. The evidence on the relationship between credit and productivity is strongly indicative of credit resources misallocation in Morocco. We also find that, heavier bureaucracy and differences in regulations appear to have a negative effect on firm productivity. This last result is particularly relevant for small firms, and/or those that do not export and/or those with no access to foreign capital.
Is the effect really so large? Firm‐level evidence on the role of FDI in a transition economy1
Authors: Hagemejer Jan , Tyrowicz Joanna
Published: March 2012

Foreign subsidiaries usually perform better than domestic enterprises, but selection effects have been acknowledged in the literature. This article contributes by quantitatively evaluating the size of the selection effects and direct effects of FDI entry. We use a large panel of firm‐level data from Poland and match foreign‐owned firms to a control group of non‐foreign‐owned companies and analyse various performance indicators. In terms of efficiency measures, between 50 and 70 percent of the foreign affiliates advantage may be attributed to direct ownership effects. However, in the case of export intensity, the majority of the differential between the domestic companies and foreign subsidiaries is attributable to selection effects: MNEs choose export‐oriented companies and sectors.
Europe's Second Markets for Small Companies
Authors: Vismara Silvio , Paleari Stefano , Ritter Jay R.
Published: March 2012

European stock exchanges have repeatedly opened second markets to list small companies. We explain the motivation for the creation of these second markets, and the reasons why many of them have failed. We find that the average long‐run performance of initial public offerings (IPOs) on second markets is dramatically worse than for main market IPOs. However, the second markets have provided firms with the opportunity to raise funds at the IPO and in follow‐on offerings. The relative success of London's AIM, which is an exchange‐regulated market with minimal regulations, has led other European stock exchanges to establish similar non‐EU regulated second markets. Most of the IPOs on these exchange‐regulated markets are offered exclusively to institutional investors, and are equivalent to private placements. These IPOs, which frequently raise only a few million euros, rarely develop liquid trading.
Strategic Asset Allocation and the Role of Alternative Investments
Authors: Cumming Douglas , Helge Haß Lars , Schweizer Denis
Published: March 2012

We introduce a framework for strategic asset allocation with alternative investments. Our framework uses a quantifiable risk preference parameter, λ, instead of a utility function. We account for higher moments of the return distributions and approximate best‐fit distributions. Thus, we replace the empirical return distributions with two normal distributions. We then use these in the strategic asset allocation. Our framework yields better results than Markowitz's framework. Furthermore, our framework better manages regime switches that occur during crises. To test the robustness of our results, we use a battery of robustness checks and find stable results.
INTERCULTURAL TRANSFER AND ARTISTIC INNOVATION: GERMAN MUSICIANS IN VICTORIAN BRITAIN
Authors: Manz Stefan
Published: March 2012

Throughout the nineteenth century, German classical music production was an aesthetic point of reference for British concert audiences. As a consequence, a sizeable number of German musicians were to be found in Britain as performers, conductors, teachers, musicologists and managers. They acted as agents of intercultural transfer, disseminating performance and organisational practices which had a transformative effect on British musical life. This article moves away from a focus on high‐profile visiting artists such as Mendelssohn Bartholdy or Wagner and argues that the extent to which transfer took place can be better assessed by concentrating on the cohort of those artists who remained permanently. Some of these are all but forgotten today, but were household names in Victorian Britain. The case studies have been selected for the range of genres they represent and include Joseph Mainzer (choral singing), Carl Rosa (opera), August Manns, Carl Hallé and Julius Seligmann (orchestral music), and Friedrich Niecks (musicology). On a theoretical level, the concept of ‘intercultural transfer’ is applied in order to determine aspects such as diffusion, adaptation or sustainability of artistic elements within the new cultural context. The approach confirms that ‘national’ cultures do not develop indigenously but always through cross‐national interaction.

Während des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts war die klassische Musikszene Deutschlands ästhetischer Bezugpunkt für das britische Konzertpublikum. Dies hatte zur Folge, dass vermehrt Deutsche als Musiker, Dirigenten, Lehrer, Musikwissenschaftler und Manager in Großbritannien tätig wurden. Sie fungierten als Vermittler interkulturellen Transfers, indem sie aufführungs‐ und organisationstechnische Praktiken verbreiteten und damit zu einer Transformation des britischen Musiklebens beitrugen. Vorliegender Artikel konzentriert sich weniger auf bekannte Künstler mit kurzfristigen Engagements (z. B. Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Wagner), und argumentiert vielmehr, dass sich das Ausmaß des Transfers besser über solche Musiker feststellen lässt, die sich längerfristig ansiedelten. Einige davon waren allgemein bekannte Persönlichkeiten im Königreich, sind heute aber vergessen. Die Auswahl der Fallstudien gibt einen Überblick über verschiedene Gattungen und beinhaltet Joseph Mainzer (Chorgesang), Carl Rosa (Oper), August Manns, Carl Hallé und Julius Seligmann (Orchestermusik), sowie Friedrich Niecks (Musikwissenschaft). Auf der Theorieebene wird das Konzept des ‘interkulturellen Transfers’ herangezogen, um Aspekte wie Diffusion, Anpassung oder Nachhaltigkeit künstlerischer Elemente im neuen kulturellen Kontext zu beleuchten. Der Ansatz bestätigt, dass sich ‘nationale’ Kulturen nicht indigen entwickeln sondern immer im Austausch mit anderen Kulturen.
VISIONS OF SADISTIC WOMEN: SADE, SACHER‐MASOCH, KAFKA
Authors: Katharina Schaffner Anna
Published: March 2012

Invested with both fear and longing, the figure of the sadistic woman is always double. At once castrating executor of the death‐wish and object of desire, perverter of the ‘natural’ order and a necessary agent in the male sexual imagination, she embodies the ambiguous attitudes towards female sexuality that precipitated the crisis in modern conceptions of gender. This essay explores three paradigmatic literary representations of sadistic women in order to shed light not only on specifically modern sexual fantasies and anxieties, but also on more general cultural assumptions about what was deemed appropriate and what was understood as pathological feminine behaviour in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The sadistic woman violates both latent and overt gender stereotypes in the most radical manner, and thus presents an ideal case study for exploring the nature and function of these stereotypes. After briefly addressing theories of female sadism in nineteenth‐century sexological and twentieth‐century psychoanalytical discourse, I discuss Juliette (1797) by the Marquis de Sade, Venus im Pelz (1869) by Leopold von Sacher‐Masoch, and a selection of Franz Kafka's cruel women figures, in particular in Der Verschollene (written in 1912–13, first published in 1927), which not only reveals the influence of his literary predecessors but also presents a characteristically tragicomic modernist vision of the female sadist.

Simultan mit Angst und mit Verlangen behaftet, ist das Konstrukt der sadistischen Frau immer mehrdeutig: sie ist sowohl kastrierende Todeswunsch‐Ausführerin wie auch Objekt des Verlangens, Architektin einer Perversion der ‘natürlichen Ordnung’ und unabdingliche Handlungsträgerin in männlichen Sexualfantasien. Ihr Doppelstatus verkörpert die ambivalente Sicht der weiblichen Sexualität, die die Krise moderner Geschlechterkonzeptionen vorangetrieben hat. Dieser Beitrag untersucht drei paradigmatische literarische Repräsentationen sadistischer Frauen, da eine Analyse dieser Darstellungen nicht nur Licht auf spezifisch modernistische Fantasien und Ängste werfen kann, sondern auch auf allgemeinere kulturelle Wertevorstellungen, die weibliches Verhalten als akzeptabel und pathologisch definieren. Die sadistische Frau verletzt sowohl latente wie auch explizite Genderstereotypen auf die radikalst mögliche Art und Weise, und ermöglicht dadurch eine Analyse derselben. Nach einer kurzen Darstellung von dominanten sexualwissenschaftlichen und psychoanalytischen Theorien über den weiblichen Sadismus, die Ende des neunzehnten und Anfang des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts im Umlauf waren, analysiere ich Marquis de Sades Juliette (1797), Leopold von Sacher‐Masochs Venus im Pelz (1869) und eine Auswahl von grausamen Frauenfiguren in Franz Kafkas Werken, mit besonderer Betonung auf Der Verschollene (geschrieben 1912–13, veröffentlicht 1927). Der Verschollene weist den Einfluss von Kafkas literarischen Vorgängern auf und präsentiert eine charakteristisch tragikomische modernistische Vision der weiblichen Sadistin.
ARCHIVALISCHE NOTEN ZU GUNDOLFS BRIEFEN UND GEDICHTEN IN LONDON1
Authors: Redl Philipp
Published: March 2012

This article offers a survey of letters and poems by Friedrich Gundolf held in the Gundolf Archive at the Institute of Germanic and Romance Studies, University of London. Parts of the holdings, so far scarcely known, are presented here sorted by genre and chronology and by genre and recipient respectively. This provides a list of Gundolf's poetry, including dramatic, epic and humorous didactic works, as well as his correspondences stored in the London Gundolf Archive. A proposal for a reconstructed ‘History of German Literature’, based on Gundolf's lecture manuscripts, concludes the article.

Die Miszelle bietet eine Übersicht zu den Briefen und Gedichten Friedrich Gundolfs im sogenannten Gundolf‐Archiv des Institute of Germanic and Romance Studies, University of London. Teile der bisher nur oberflächlich bekannten Bestände werden nach Autopsie generisch‐chronologisch beziehungsweise generisch‐adressatenalphabetisch geordnet, sodass sich ein Verzeichnis der Lyrik, der Dramolette (‘Zwiegespräche’), der Epyllien, der scherzhaften Lehrdichtung und der Briefe Gundolfs ergibt, die das Gundolf‐Archiv in London verwahrt. Abgeschlossen wird der Beitrag von einem Vorschlag zur Rekonstruktion einer ‘Geschichte der deutschen Literatur’ von Gundolf aus dessen Vorlesungsmanuskripten.
FACTS, FICTION, AND FRICTION IN A DIFFICULT RELATIONSHIP:VIENNA AND PROVINCIAL AUSTRIA
Authors: Bushell Anthony
Published: March 2012

The dominance of Vienna in almost all spheres of political and cultural life of the Second Republic has meant that the Austrian provinces have received correspondingly less attention in literary and scholarly works. Where such depictions of the provinces in post‐1945 literature do exist they have been far from flattering, suggesting in particular a deliberate refusal by those who live beyond Vienna to engage with Austria's painful recent history. The tensions between Vienna and the provinces are discussed in this article, which seeks to show how historical, structural, administrative, and demographic factors have long been at play in creating the antagonism between the former Residenzstadt and non‐metropolitan Austria. Current political concerns, especially relating to immigration issues, duplicate the experience of rapid migration trends in Vienna in the nineteenth century and raise the question of how in the twenty‐first century the relationship between the Austrian provinces and Vienna, especially in literary and political responses, will draw on those earlier experiences.

Die Vorrangstellung Wiens in fast allen Bereichen des politischen und kulturellen Lebens der Zweiten Republik hat zwangsläufig zu einer allgemeinen Vernachlässigung der auf die anderen österreichischen Bundesländer gerichteten Aufmerksamkeit geführt. Im Spiegel der Nachkriegsliteratur scheint das ländliche Österreich oft hoffnungslos in seine Vorurteile verstrickt und durch einen auffallenden Widerwillen gekennzeichnet, sich mit der jüngsten Geschichte Österreichs auseinanderzusetzen. Das Spannungsverhältnis zwischen Wien und den Regionen lässt sich aber zum größten Teil historisch, demographisch, institutionell und strukturell erklären. Es erhebt sich die Frage, ob die anderen Bundesländer in ihrem heutigen Verhältnis zum Bundesland Wien aus früheren Erlebnissen politisch und literarisch lernen werden, vor allem aus der Erfahrung der Massenmigration im neunzehnten Jahrhundert.
Of love and national borders: the Croatian anthem ‘Our Beautiful Homeland’
Authors: Kelen Christopher , Pavković Aleksandar
Published: March 2012

Croatia became a UN member only in 1992, after the violent break‐up of Yugoslavia. Its anthem is marked by historically founded ambivalences as to the nature and territorial extent of the nation in question. This article offers an interpretation of the current version of the anthem and an analysis of the narrative and imagery of the nineteenth‐century poem from which the anthem originates. Three of the anthem's four stanzas speak about the Croats’ love for their homeland and their people and of the steadfastness and immortality of their love; the remaining stanza extolls the beauty of the homeland. By addressing the homeland's rivers and the sea directly, its singers appropriate this geography and so demarcate the borders of their much‐loved homeland. The anthem thus asserts Croatia's unity (against potential pretenders) and its unbreakable ties with its people. In contrast, the original fourteen‐stanza poem ‘The Croatian Homeland’, written in 1835, is a paean to the Croats’ ties to nature, their simple life and bravery – the romantic virtues of pure national souls. On their path to anthemhood, the four stanzas drawn from this poem have undergone significant modifications and additions, the result being a song that is doubly reassuring: it reassures the singers first of the people's love for themselves as a people, and second that this love is the means by which the ‘natural’ territory of the homeland is maintained.
Pigment from red fermented rice as colouring agent for stirred skimmed milk yoghurts
Authors: CHEN SHA , LV BIN , DU XUEZHU , CHEN FUSHENG
Published: March 2012

Yoghurt is one of the most popular fermented milk products worldwide and is becoming more and more popular in China. In this study, the pigment of red fermented rice (RFR) by Monascus spp., which have been used as natural edible pigments in Asian countries for more than a thousand years, were applied to colour yoghurts. The colour stabilities, physicochemical characters and organoleptic qualities of the yoghurts containing 0 (control), 1.25, 2.5 and 5.0 pigment units/mL of milk, were measured after 1, 4, 7 and 14 days of storage at 4 °C. The results revealed that the colours of the yoghurts were stable during the storage period, and there was no significant effect (P > 0.05) of RFR pigment concentration tested on physicochemical properties and organoleptic characteristics of the yoghurts. This investigation demonstrates that RFR pigment could be used as a colourant in yoghurts.
Parkinson’s disease‐associated DJ‐1 mutations impair mitochondrial dynamics and cause mitochondrial dysfunction
Authors: Wang Xinglong , Petrie Timothy G. , Liu Yingchao , Liu Jun , Fujioka Hisashi , Zhu Xiongwei
Published: March 2012

J. Neurochem. (2012) 121, 830–839.

Mitochondrial dysfunction represents a critical event during the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and expanding evidences demonstrate that an altered balance in mitochondrial fission/fusion is likely an important mechanism leading to mitochondrial and neuronal dysfunction/degeneration. In this study, we investigated whether DJ‐1 is involved in the regulation of mitochondrial dynamics and function in neuronal cells. Confocal and electron microscopic analysis demonstrated that M17 human neuroblastoma cells over‐expressing wild‐type DJ‐1 (WT DJ‐1 cells) displayed elongated mitochondria while M17 cells over‐expressing PD‐associated DJ‐1 mutants (R98Q, D149A and L166P) (mutant DJ‐1 cells) showed significant increase of fragmented mitochondria. Similar mitochondrial fragmentation was also noted in primary hippocampal neurons over‐expressing PD‐associated mutant forms of DJ‐1. Functional analysis revealed that over‐expression of PD‐associated DJ‐1 mutants resulted in mitochondria dysfunction and increased neuronal vulnerability to oxidative stress (H2O2) or neurotoxin. Further immunoblot studies demonstrated that levels of dynamin‐like protein (DLP1), also known as Drp1, a regulator of mitochondrial fission, was significantly decreased in WT DJ‐1 cells but increased in mutant DJ‐1 cells. Importantly, DLP1 knockdown in these mutant DJ‐1 cells rescued the abnormal mitochondria morphology and all associated mitochondria/neuronal dysfunction. Taken together, these studies suggest that DJ‐1 is involved in the regulation of mitochondrial dynamics through modulation of DLP1 expression and PD‐associated DJ‐1 mutations may cause PD by impairing mitochondrial dynamics and function.
Anticonvulsive effect of atorvastatin on pentylenetetrazole‐induced seizures in mice: the role of nitric oxide pathway
Authors: Moazzami Kasra , Emamzadeh‐Fard Sahra , Shabani Mohammad
Published: March 2012

Atorvastatin has shown to possess neuroprotective, antiexcitotoxic, and antiepileptic effects besides its cholesterol‐lowering properties. Nitric oxide (NO) may be responsible for a group of these effects. In the present study, a model of clonic seizure induced by pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) in male NMRI mice was used to investigate the anticonvulsive effects of atorvastatin through NO‐dependent pathways. Atorvastatin (5 mg/kg) significantly increased the seizure threshold (P < 0.001). Moreover, L‐arginine (a precursor of NO) significantly (P < 0.01) potentiated the anticonvulsive effects of subeffective doses of atorvastatin (1 mg/kg). Finally, L‐NAME [L‐arginine methyl ester dihydrochloride], a nonspecific NO synthase inhibitor, completely abolished the anticonvulsive properties of atorvastatin. Our findings demonstrated the role of atorvastatin as an anticonvulsive agent and showed the effects to be mediated through NO‐related pathways.
The endogenous opioid system in cocaine addiction: what lessons have opioid peptide and receptor knockout mice taught us?
Authors: Yoo Ji Hoon , Kitchen Ian , Bailey Alexis
Published: March 2012

Cocaine addiction has become a major concern in the UK as Britain tops the European ‘league table’ for cocaine abuse. Despite its devastating health and socio‐economic consequences, no effective pharmacotherapy for treating cocaine addiction is available. Identifying neurochemical changes induced by repeated drug exposure is critical not only for understanding the transition from recreational drug use towards compulsive drug abuse but also for the development of novel targets for the treatment of the disease and especially for relapse prevention. This article focuses on the effects of chronic cocaine exposure and withdrawal on each of the endogenous opioid peptides and receptors in rodent models. In addition, we review the studies that utilized opioid peptide or receptor knockout mice in order to identify and/or clarify the role of different components of the opioid system in cocaine‐addictive behaviours and in cocaine‐induced alterations of brain neurochemistry. The review of these studies indicates a region‐specific activation of the µ‐opioid receptor system following chronic cocaine exposure, which may contribute towards the rewarding effect of the drug and possibly towards cocaine craving during withdrawal followed by relapse. Cocaine also causes a region‐specific activation of the κ‐opioid receptor/dynorphin system, which may antagonize the rewarding effect of the drug, and at the same time, contribute to the stress‐inducing properties of the drug and the triggering of relapse. These conclusions have important implications for the development of effective pharmacotherapy for the treatment of cocaine addiction and the prevention of relapse.
Can shoulder dystocia be reliably predicted?
Authors: Dodd Jodie M. , Catcheside Britt , Scheil Wendy
Published: March 2012

Aims

To evaluate factors reported to increase the risk of shoulder dystocia, and to evaluate their predictive value at a population level.

Methods

The South Australian Pregnancy Outcome Unit's population database from 2005 to 2010 was accessed to determine the occurrence of shoulder dystocia in addition to reported risk factors, including age, parity, self‐reported ethnicity, presence of diabetes and infant birth weight. Odds ratios (and 95% confidence interval) of shoulder dystocia was calculated for each risk factor, which were then incorporated into a logistic regression model. Test characteristics for each variable in predicting shoulder dystocia were calculated.

Results

As a proportion of all births, the reported rate of shoulder dystocia increased significantly from 0.95% in 2005 to 1.38% in 2010 (P = 0.0002). Using a logistic regression model, induction of labour and infant birth weight greater than both 4000 and 4500 g were identified as significant independent predictors of shoulder dystocia. The value of risk factors alone and when incorporated into the logistic regression model was poorly predictive of the occurrence of shoulder dystocia.

Conclusions

While there are a number of factors associated with an increased risk of shoulder dystocia, none are of sufficient sensitivity or positive predictive value to allow their use clinically to reliably and accurately identify the occurrence of shoulder dystocia.
Nurse Home Visitors' Perspectives of Mandatory Reporting of Children's Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence to Child Protection Agencies
Authors: Davidov Danielle M. , Nadorff Michael R. , Jack Susan M. , Coben Jeffrey H. ,   NFP IPV Research Team
Published: March 2012

Objectives

To examine nurse home visitors' perspectives of and intentions to report children's exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) in the context of the home visitation setting.

Design and Sample

Cross‐sectional study of 532 nurse home visitors in the Nurse‐Family Partnership home visitation program.

Measures

A web‐based questionnaire assessing nurse home visitors' support for and attitudes toward mandatory reporting of children's exposure to IPV. Nurses' considerations of what levels of exposure constitute maltreatment and their intended reporting behaviors were also examined.

Results

Variability and uncertainty were observed in participants' attitudes as well as in their determinations as to which situations constitute child maltreatment. Most of the sample believed reporting exposure to IPV can help the battered woman (67%) and can protect children (92%), while 56% indicated that reporting can negatively affect the nurse‐client relationship. Nurses were more likely to endorse reporting children's exposure to IPV when the child was at greatest risk for being physically injured as a result of IPV.

Conclusions

Training about maltreatment reporting procedures in home visitation programs should focus on the interpretation of child maltreatment laws as well as collaborations with local child protection service agencies to determine if children's exposure to IPV is reportable.
MOLECULAR PHYLOGENY OF THE GENUS KUMANOA (BATRACHOSPERMALES, RHODOPHYTA)1
Authors: Vis Morgan L. , Necchi Orlando , Chiasson Wayne B. , Entwisle Timothy J.
Published: March 2012

Species belonging to the newly established genus Kumanoa were sampled from locations worldwide. DNA sequence data from the rbcL gene, cox1 barcode region, and universal plastid amplicon (UPA) were collected. The new sequence data for the rbcL were combined with the extensive batrachospermalean rbcL data available in GenBank. Single gene rbcL results showed the genus Kumanoa to be a well‐supported clade, and there was high statistical support for many of the terminal nodes. However, with this gene alone, there was very little support for any of the internal nodes. Analysis of the concatenated data set (rbcL, cox1, and UPA) provided higher statistical support across the tree. The taxa K. vittata and K. amazonensis formed a basal grade, and both were on relatively long branches. Three new species are proposed, K. holtonii, K. gudjewga, and K. novaecaledonensis; K. procarpa var. americana is raised to species level. In addition, the synonymy of K. capensis and K. breviarticulata is proposed, with K. capensis having precedence. Five new combinations are made, bringing the total number of accepted species in Kumanoa to 31. The phylogenetic analyses did not reveal any interpretable biogeographic patterns within the genus (e.g., K. spermatiophora from the tropical oceanic island Maui, Hawaii, was sister to K. faroensis from temperate midcontinental Ohio in North America). Previously hypothesized relationships among groups of species were not substantiated in the phylogenetic analyses, and no intrageneric classification is recommended based on current knowledge.
DISTRIBUTION AND GENETIC DIVERSITY OF THE LUCIFERASE GENE WITHIN MARINE DINOFLAGELLATES1
Authors: Valiadi Martha , Debora Iglesias‐Rodriguez M. , Amorim Ana
Published: March 2012

Dinoflagellates are the most abundant protists that produce bioluminescence. Currently, there is an incomplete knowledge of the identity of bioluminescent species arising from inter‐ and intraspecific variability in bioluminescence properties. In this study, PCR primers were designed to amplify the dinoflagellate luciferase gene (lcf) from genetically distant bioluminescent species. One of the primer pairs was “universal,” whereas others amplified longer gene sequences from subsets of taxa. The primers were used to study the distribution oflcfand assess bioluminescence potential in dinoflagellate strains representing a wide variety of taxa as well as multiple strains of selected species. Strains of normally bioluminescent species always containedlcfeven when they were found not to produce light, thus demonstrating the utility of this methodology as a powerful tool for identifying bioluminescent species. Bioluminescence andlcfwere confined to the Gonyaulacales, Noctilucales, and Peridiniales. Considerable variation was observed among genera, or even species within some genera, that contained this gene. Partial sequences oflcfwere obtained for the generaCeratocorys,Ceratium,Fragilidium,andProtoperidiniumas well as from previously untested species or gene regions ofAlexandriumandGonyaulax. The sequences revealed high variation among gene copies that obscured the boundaries between species or even genera, some of which could be explained by the presence of two genetic variants within the same species ofAlexandrium. Highly divergent sequences withinAlexandriumandCeratiumshow a more diverse composition oflcfthan previously known.
Group Dominance and the Half‐Blindness of Privilege
Authors: Pratto Felicia , Stewart Andrew L.
Published: March 2012

Two psychological reasons that powerful groups are socially privileged are (1) powerful groups are culturally and mentally normalized, which disguises their privilege as “normal” while highlighting inferiority and stereotypes about other groups, and (2) affiliating with own‐groups and promoting their power are more psychologically compatible for dominant groups than for subordinated groups. Prior research concerning social categories defined by gender, sexual orientation, nationality, and race is summarized to illustrate how social category norms focus people's attention away from powerful groups and their privileges. The present research shows that, for race, gender, class, and sexual orientation in the U.S., own group membership is more salient, and works less well in promoting own group power and group dominance for members of subordinated than of dominant groups. Implications for why group privilege is not mutually recognized by dominant and subordinated groups, and for how this may translate into support for different social policies are discussed.
Reflections and Future Directions for Privilege Studies
Authors: McIntosh Peggy
Published: March 2012

Previous literature on social identities focused largely on the oppression of people with marginalized identities without much attention paid to privileged, or dominant, group members. In conclusion to this special issue on privilege, I synthesize the authors’ contributions and current research on various forms of group privilege. The authors vary in their approach to dissecting privilege, either intersectionally or examining a single group's privilege. This body of work is imperative to the growing academic field of Privilege Studies, as well as encouraging more mainstream discourse about privilege and oppression.
White Privilege Awareness and Efficacy to Reduce Racial Inequality Improve White Americans’ Attitudes Toward African Americans
Authors: Stewart Tracie L. , Latu Ioana M. , Branscombe Nyla R. , Phillips Nia L. , Ted Denney H.
Published: March 2012

Two experiments examined effects of heightened awareness of white privilege (illegitimate advantages held by White Americans) and efficacy to reduce racial inequality on White American college students’ attitudes toward African Americans and White Americans. Efficacy to reduce inequality was either measured (Experiment 1) or manipulated (Experiment 2), and heightened white privilege awareness (WPA) was either manipulated (Experiment 1) or held constant (Experiment 2). All participants, except control participants in Experiment 1, read a passage describing their university's under‐representation of African American faculty. Afterward, they wrote letters in support of hiring more African American faculty and were told there was either a 95% or 5% chance their actions would be effective (Experiment 2) or were simply thanked and their perceived efficacy concerning change measured (Experiment 1). Heightened WPA and higher efficacy (measured and manipulated) independently improved participants’ attitudes toward African Americans, but had no effect on their attitudes toward White Americans.
Psychopathology and Symptoms of Atrial Fibrillation: Implications for Therapy
Authors: GEHI ANIL K. , SEARS SAMUEL , GOLI NEETA , WALKER T. JENNIFER , CHUNG EUGENE , SCHWARTZ JENNIFER , WOOD KATHRYN A. , GUISE KIMBERLY , MOUNSEY J. PAUL
Published: March 2012

Psychopathology and Symptoms of Atrial Fibrillation. Introduction: Current guidelines recommend that the choice of AF management strategy be guided by the symptomatic status of the patient when in AF. However, little is known regarding what drives AF symptoms. Several limited studies suggest that psychological distress may be linked with AF symptom severity.

Methods:
A total of 300 patients with documented AF completed a questionnaire assessing general health and well‐being, including a comprehensive psychological assessment as well as disease‐specific measures of AF symptom severity. AF burden was determined by 1‐week continuous looping monitor in a subset of patients. Analysis of covariance was used to determine the association between individual measures of depression, anxiety, and somatization disorder symptom severity with measures of general health status and AF‐specific symptom severity, adjusting for important confounders.

Results:
Patients with worsened severity of depression, anxiety, or somatization disorder symptoms had an associated increase in the severity of symptoms attributed to AF regardless of AF severity scale used (P < 0.0001 for each measure of psychological distress). This association persisted after adjusting for important confounders. Increasing severity of depression and anxiety symptoms were also associated with increased visits to medical care for AF management.

Conclusions:
Our study demonstrates the consequence of psychological distress on AF‐specific symptom severity and healthcare resource utilization. Psychological well‐being may strongly influence symptom severity and healthcare utilization. An assessment of psychological distress may be an important adjunct to standard AF management that warrants further study, particularly if symptom relief is the primary goal.

(J Cardiovasc Electrophysiol, Vol. 23, pp. 473‐478, May 2012)