bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Effective and Versatile Strategy for the Total Solid‐Phase Synthesis of Alkanethiols for Biological Applications
Authors: Prats‐Alfonso Elisabet , Oberhansl Sabine , Lagunas Anna , Martínez Elena , Samitier Josep , Albericio Fernando
Published: January 2013

Biological applications increasingly demand tailored surfaces with a range of functional groups. Herein we describe a straightforward and inexpensive method based exclusively on solid‐phase synthesis for the preparation of a variety of customized alkanethiols (ATs). The technique overcomes all the difficulties encountered during the preparation of these molecules in solution. The procedure allows the use of ATs without further purification for the preparation of self‐assembled monolayers on gold, typically used to achieve functional group diversity on this surface.
Chemical Composition and Source Contribution of Particulate Matter Emitted During Injection of Biosolids into an Agricultural Field in Ohio, USA
Authors: Bhat Abhishek , Kumar Ashok
Published: January 2013

This article focuses on quantification of the chemical composition of particulate matter (PM) emitted during the injection of biosolids on a farm field near Toledo, Ohio. In the summer of 2009, field sampling was done during the three stages of the biosolids application. The collected filter papers were analyzed to identify the elemental composition. Chemical composition of the PM was determined using ICP‐OES. The receptor modeling using the positive matrix factorization (PMF) was used to identify and characterize the source profiles contributing to the emissions. The chemical analysis showed that the biosolids application enriched the concentration of macronutrients and micronutrients that were essential for growth of vegetation. Industrial source, dust/soil, biosolids, and ambient/background were the sources identified using the PMF modeling. The contribution of each source to the elemental concentration was also determined. The biosolids source contributed significantly to the emissions of aluminum (85%), cadmium (59%), chromium (96%), nickel (45%), lead (49%), and silicon (62%). In the future, the biosolids source profile derived in this study will be helpful when applying these findings in related work. © 2013 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 32: 1234–1239, 2013
Incidence of prostate, breast, lung and colorectal cancer following new consultation for musculoskeletal pain: A cohort study among UK primary care patients
Authors: Jordan Kelvin P. , Hayward Richard A. , Blagojevic‐Bucknall Milisa , Croft Peter
Published: January 2013

Musculoskeletal pain has been linked with subsequent cancer. The objective was to investigate associations between pain sites and specific cancers, and investigate the hypothesis that musculoskeletal pain is an early marker, rather than cause, of cancer. This was a cohort study in the General Practice Research Database. From a cohort of 46,656 people aged ≥50 years with a recorded musculoskeletal problem in 1996 but not during the previous 2 years, patients with a new consultation for back, neck, shoulder or hip pain in 1996 were selected and compared with 39,253 persons who had had no musculoskeletal consultation between 1994 and 1996. Outcome was incidence of prostate, breast, lung and colorectal cancer up to 10 years after baseline consultation. Strongest associations with prostate cancer were in the first year of follow‐up for males consulting initially with back (adjusted hazard ratio 5.42; 95% CI 3.31, 8.88), hip (6.08; 2.87, 12.85) or neck problems (3.46; 1.58, 7.58). These associations remained for back and neck problems over 10 years. Significant associations existed with breast cancer up to 5 years after consultation in females with hip problems, and with breast and lung cancer in the first year after presentation with back problems. Previously observed links between pain and cancer reflect specific associations between pain sites and certain cancers. One explanation is liability for bony metastases from primary sites, and that pain represents a potential early marker of cancer. However, older patients with uncomplicated musculoskeletal pain seen in clinical practice have a low absolute excess cancer risk.
Advanced MRI in malignant neoplasms of the uterus
Authors: Kido Aki , Fujimoto Koji , Okada Tomohisa , Togashi Kaori
Published: January 2013

Conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) such as T1‐weighted and T2‐weighted images of the female pelvis provide morphological information with excellent tissue contrast, which reflects the pathology of malignant diseases of the uterus. Owing to the recent improvement in hardware and software, in combination with extensive research in imaging techniques, not only MRI at higher magnetic field was facilitated, but also insight into tumor pathophysiology was provided. These methods include diffusion‐weighted imaging (DWI), dynamic contrast‐enhanced MRI (DCE‐MRI) with pharmacokinetic analysis, and MR spectroscopy (MRS). The application of these techniques is expanding from the brain to the body because information on the tissue microenvironment and cytoarchitecture is helpful for lesion characterization, evaluation of treatment response after chemotherapy or radiation, differentiating posttherapeutic changes from residual active tumor, and for detecting recurrent cancer. These techniques may provide clues to optimize the treatment of patients with malignant diseases of the uterus. In the first half of this article we provide an overview of the technical aspects of MRI of the female pelvis, especially focusing on the state‐of‐the‐art techniques such as 3 T MRI, DCE‐MRI, DWI, etc. For the latter half we review the clinical aspects of these newly developed techniques, focusing on how these techniques are applicable, what has been revealed with respect to clinical impact, and the remaining problems. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Corrosion behavior of binary magnesium‐zinc alloys in saline solutions
Authors: Hoyer P. , Angrisani G. L. , Klose C. , Bach F.‐W. , Hassel T.
Published: January 2013

Zur Verbesserung der Korrosionsbeständigkeit von Magnesiumlegierungen wird vielfach Aluminium als Legierungselement gewählt. Neuere Untersuchungen zeigen, dass alternativ durch Zulegieren geringer Anteile von Zink die Korrosionsrate binärer Magnesium‐Zink‐Legierungen vermindert werden kann. Basierend auf diesen Ergebnissen wurden niedriglegierte MgZn‐Legierungen in verschieden konzentrierten chloridhaltigen Medien gravimetrisch und elektrochemisch untersucht. Es konnte festgestellt werden, dass sich geringe Zink‐Gehalte positiv auf das Korrosionsverhalten auswirken, sowohl in niedrig‐ als auch in hochkonzentrierten NaCl‐Lösungen. Eine Korrelation der Ergebnisse aus gravimetrischen und elektrochemischen Messungen wurde von den Tendenzen her festgestellt und mit mikrocomputertomographischen Analysen belegt.
Study on casting composite ingot of 4045/3004/4045 aluminum alloys
Authors: Jiang H. , Cui J.
Published: January 2013

Two kinds of equipments were designed for casting composite ingots, and three‐layer ingots of 4045/3004/4045 aluminum alloys were prepared by direct‐chill (DC) semi‐continuous casting process, macro‐morphology, microstructure, temperature distribution near the interface, elements distributions and tensile strength of the interface were investigated. The equipment suitable for casting composite ingots was determined, and results show that solid supporting layer with uniform temperature distribution forms near the interface, which ensures the stable casting process. The two different aluminum alloys are well bonded. The criterion for temperature control of solid supporting layer is founded based on the relationship between the interface bonding strength and the temperature of solid supporting layer when contacted by 4045 alloy melt.
Research‐Based Decision Support in Hazard Mitigation: Louisiana Northshore Flood and Hurricane Protection
Authors: Ward Steven M. , Emrich Christopher T. , Ash Kevin , Schumann Ronald
Published: January 2013

Continued population growth and development in exposed areas across Coastal Louisiana has created a new geography of hazards and disasters within the coastal zone. Increasing storm frequencies coupled with sea level rise will undoubtedly intensify the intersection between flood hazards and coastal residents. Accordingly, the baseline (inherent) capacity of places to adequately prepare for and rebound from disaster events will be negatively impacted. This paper summarizes the value of incorporating research‐based techniques into a non‐structural assessment of flood vulnerability within the Northshore Region of Louisiana. The exploratory nature of the methodology employed in this study was focused on determining the value of non‐structural measures of vulnerability in mitigation planning and the role of research in evidence‐based decision support for public officials. The outcome of the study highlighted new perspectives for measuring vulnerability within a policy environment, offering community officials a more robust understanding of the dynamic intersection of the physical threats, social vulnerability, and economic components of flood risk. This knowledge is currently being used by decision makers in the region to cultivate enhanced mitigation tactics that have traditionally been structurally focused. By incorporating the biophysical, economic, and social vulnerability into a qualitative “place” vulnerability matrix for the study area, the authors have been able to gain a more robust understanding of the flood risks across the region. By integrating this new understanding of risk into potential mitigation strategies, planning for risk reduction expenditures can more appropriately consider the drivers of place‐specific vulnerability.
Molecular identification of Taenia spp. in the Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) from Finland
Authors: LAVIKAINEN A. , HAUKISALMI V. , DEKSNE G. , HOLMALA K. , LEJEUNE M. , ISOMURSU M. , JOKELAINEN P. , NÄREAHO A. , LAAKKONEN J. , HOBERG E. P. , SUKURA A.
Published: January 2013

Cestodes of the genus Taenia are parasites of mammals, with mainly carnivores as definitive and herbivores as intermediate hosts. Various medium-sized cats, Lynx spp., are involved in the life cycles of several species of Taenia. The aim of the present study was to identify Taenia tapeworms in the Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) from Finland. In total, 135 tapeworms from 72 lynx were subjected to molecular identification based on sequences of 2 mtDNA regions, the cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 and the NADH dehydrogenase subunit 1 genes. Available morphological characters of the rostellar hooks and strobila were compared. Two species of Taenia were found: T. laticollis (127 samples) and an unknown Taenia sp. (5 samples). The latter could not be identified to species based on mtDNA, and the rostellar hooks were short relative to those described among other Taenia spp. recorded in felids from the Holarctic region. In the phylogenetic analyses of mtDNA sequences, T. laticollis was placed as a sister species of T. macrocystis, and the unknown Taenia sp. was closely related to T. hydatigena and T. regis. Our analyses suggest that these distinct taeniid tapeworms represent a putative new species of Taenia. The only currently recognized definitive host is L. lynx and the intermediate host is unknown.
Insurance accounting: a new era? ‐ Abstract of the Edinburgh discussion
Authors: Foroughi Kamran
Published: January 2013

This abstract relates to the following paper:

ForoughiK., BarnardC.R., BennettR.W., ClayD.K., ConwayE.L., CorfieldS.R., CoughlanA.J., HarrisonJ.S., HibbettG.J., KendixI.V., Lanari-BoisclairM., O’BrienC.D. and StrakerJ.S.K.Insurance accounting: a new era?British Actuarial Journal, doi:10.1017/S1357321712000189
Civil War Scrapbooks
Authors: Garvey Ellen Gruber
Published: January 2013

The increasing popularity of scrapbook making had its seeds in the large number of Northerners and Southerners who made scrapbooks during the Civil War to grapple with and articulate their new understandings of nationhood, by saving poetry and battle news. This chapter illustrates how scrapbooks expressed national grief and rage in a private, domestic format. The contrast between the scrapbooks of a Northern abolitionist man who collected newspaper poetry to mourn his son, killed in battle, and a Southern Confederate woman, whose scrapbook is a kind of ideal newspaper where Confederate victories continued and grateful slaves abounded, tells much about the differing ideas of nationhood and the meaning of the war across the divide. Scrapbooks became their own battlefields of propaganda for saving accounts of triumphs and comparing them with emerging realities.
From Body Perception to Action Preparation
Authors: de Gelder Beatrice
Published: January 2013

Current models of emotion perception are almost exclusively based on studies of facial expressions. This chapter reviews evidence from psychophysiological, neurophysiological, computational, and patient studies that has documented numerous similarities in and interactions between the processing of emotions from the face and body. Furthermore, it is argued that threatening emotions conveyed by bodily expressions are automatically processed and trigger evolutionarily adaptive activity in the observer’s action system.
Computational Mechanisms of the Visual Processing of Action Stimuli
Authors: Fleischer Falk , Giese Martin A.
Published: January 2013

Computational models are fundamentally important for testing the feasibility of theories of the visual processing of body movements and for deriving well-defined theoretical predictions that can be tested experimentally. A computational model is proposed for the recognition of transitive and nontransitive hand actions from real videos that reproduces several key neurophysiological properties of the action perception system. Limitations of the proposed model, along with novel predictions and areas for future research, are discussed.
Investment Behaviour of US Corporations
Authors: Rohit
Published: January 2013

An important component of Steindl’s theory of stagnation was the concept of underinvestment. He argued that with an increase in the degree of monopoly (as a result of business concentration) there is a decline in firm’s investment demand as the erstwhile competitive need to build excess capacity goes down. Chapter 9 tests the investment function and the GDP growth rate to find empirical evidence of this argument. This exercise is performed on firm level data of the manufacturing industries as well as other non-financial industries available from the Compustat Database, which contains an exhaustive firm-level data. The exercise establishes that there was a downward structural break in the real investment behaviour of these firms post early 1980s.
The Britons and their Languages
Authors: Charles-Edwards T. M.
Published: January 2013

In the fifth and sixth centuries three languages were spoken among the Britons: British, Latin, and Irish. By about 700 only British was normally spoken and it thus became possible to identify the Britons as the speakers of British. Not until the end of the period was Welsh seen by contemporaries as a language distinct from Cornish, Breton, and Cumbric (the British language of Northern Britain). These languages influenced each other, but Latin had been a particularly strong influence on British from the first century AD. Changes in the languages of western Europe were often parallel, probably because of wide bilingualism and the influence of Latin.
How to Formulate Relativism
Authors: Rovane Carol
Published: January 2013

Wright accepts that relativism arises with irresoluble disagreements in which both parties are (or can be) right, but rejects the semantic relativists’ strategy for handling the resulting threat of contradiction. He has explored two other strategies — one exploits the framework of anti-realism, and the other introduces the idea of a Quandary. But all attempts to formulate relativism in terms of disagreement suffer from the same problem: either they fail to preserve a disagreement or they incur contradiction (or a related form of incoherence). A different strategy for formulating relativism appeals to the idea of alternatives — truths that cannot be embraced together because they are neither inconsistent nor consistent, but are therefore normatively insulated from one another. So formulated, relativism imposes a distinctive normative stance that is neither disagreement nor agreement, and it carries a distinctive metaphysical commitment to Multimundialism — the idea that there are many worlds rather than one.
5 Selling Spaces: Display and Storage of Groceries
Authors: Stobart Jon
Published: January 2013

This chapter focuses on the spatiality of the shop and how this related to processes of buying and selling. The chapter begins by drawing on inventory and visual evidence to examine the ways in which shop fixtures varied across space and time, arguing that grocers' shops were part of broader processes which placed increasing emphasis on the display of goods. Building on this, the chapter examines the reasons for the apparent growth in emphasis on the display of wares — even of what may seem to be visually unremarkable commodities. This was in part to promote sales, but also to send key messages about the retailer's knowledge and business acumen, and to facilitate and encourage new modes of buying and selling. The chapter argues that the grocer's shop was a respectable space and that grocers played an important part in constructing respectability through consumption.
The Materiality of Rumor
Authors: Burrell Jenna
Published: January 2013

This chapter examines a false rumor about an impending earthquake spread face to face and by mobile phone in Ghana on the night of January 18, 2010. Rumors present an intriguing challenge to materialist accounting because of the fundamental nonmateriality of the rumor itself as a circulating tale of an event or happening that often proves illusory. However, this belies the powerful material force frequently generated in the wake of rumor, for example, in the mass movement of populations, collective boycotts, or even riots or physical attacks that sometimes follow. A study of rumor as a special oral genre with such peculiar properties lends itself to a broader reconsideration of speech and representation and the tie between materiality and discursivity.
Matter Matters: Materiality in Philosophy, Physics, and Technology
Authors: Borgmann Albert
Published: January 2013

The perspectives of philosophy, physics, and technology reveal how what matters has been profoundly transformed over the last 2,500 years. The current conception of matter informs our sense of identity and our centers of orientation. But even today, what matters must be material.
Infant Feeding Practices
Authors: Sulaiman Zaharah , Amir Lisa H. , Liamputtong Pranee
Published: January 2013

In the past, feeding newborn mammals with breast milk was never a choice but rather a natural way of feeding. Without the influence of culture and beliefs, babies would naturally continue to breastfeed until the age of 2.5 to 7 years. As breast milk is recognized as the natural way to feed infants, it is no longer appropriate to talk about the “benefits of breastfeeding.” The chapter presents an overview of the health risks of not breastfeeding taken from five recent reviews regarding short- and long-term risks for preterm infants, term infants, and mothers. The chapter addresses three levels: individual-, group-, and society-level factors. Maternal prenatal intention to breastfeed is a stronger predictor than the combination of other factors in determining the initiation and duration of breastfeeding. Working by itself may not be a barrier to breastfeeding, but working conditions and long inflexible working hours are barriers to mothers maintaining breastfeeding.
Short-Term and Long-Term Effects of Oxytocin Released by Suckling and of Skin-to-Skin Contact in Mothers and Infants
Authors: Uvnäs-Moberg Kerstin
Published: January 2013

This commentary gives an extended and comprehensive description of the effect spectrum caused by oxytocin beyond that of milk ejection. Based on the role of oxytocin as an integrator of behavioral and physiological adaptations during breastfeeding, it proposes a possible connection between the frequent exposure of oxytocin and some of the long-term health-promoting effects seen following breastfeeding. Second, research demonstrates the consequences of touch and pain in infants and their mothers and how massage can induce beneficial effects in mothers and infants presumably by activation of touch fibers. Complementary information on the structure and function of the sensory nerves that innervate the skin is provided. Skin-to-skin contact between mother and infant is a natural way of stimulating sensory nerves emanating from the skin.
Adaptations and Adaptations
Authors: Thompson Ross A.
Published: January 2013

Why is it important to understand early experience in the context of the environment of evolutionary adaptedness (EEA)? The answer hinges on the meaning of the term adaptation, and different meanings of this term have different implications for the contemporary relevance of early hominid practices. In this essay, the concepts of deferred adaptation, ontogenetic adaptation, psychological adaptation, and facultative adaptation are compared and applied to the research on parent–infant attachment. In the end, the significant differences between alternative meanings of adaptation suggests that early hominid practices are important depending on why they evolved, not simply that they were characteristic of the EEA.
Perspective 4: Can Science Progress to a Revitalized Past?
Authors: Bradshaw G. A.
Published: January 2013

Scientific theory and data document a trans-species paradigm governed by a species-common, human-inclusive model of mind, brain, and behavior. From this perspective, not only is modern Western culture revealed as an outlier when compared over space, time, and species but also it is trauma-genic. In contrast, most animal cultures embrace prosocial, empathetic, cooperative, and catholic values and behavior. As part of the effort to remedy present human society, science is compelled to re-create new goals and refashion methods and concepts that put humanity back to a past in cultural union with other species..
The Wallkeepers: Monitoring the Israeli-Arab Conflict
Authors: Rubinstein Dan Caspi with Danny
Published: January 2013

The chapter describes the way in which the mass media have handled the occupation. It suggests that Israel has concentrated on building an “Information Wall” that separates between the Arab and the Israeli societies, blocking information on what is happening in Palestinian society in particular – and thus perpetuating reciprocal stereotypes. The “Information Wall” grew higher as the physical distance between the rival populations decreased, remaining stable and effective after occupation of the territories. The Wallkeepers are developing immanent interests in perpetuating the “Information Wall” which is far more difficult to topple than a physical wall.
Gendering the Discourse on Occupation: A Sociological Perspective
Authors: Herzog Hanna
Published: January 2013

The chapter suggests that the prolonged conflict and the occupation have become a social mechanism that institutionalizes a narrow understanding of the concept of human security, excluding issues of personal and economic security. In particular it replicates the gendered division of roles and has led to a gendered hierarchy, discrimination and even violence against women. It allocates men and resources to carry on the occupation and emphasizes women’s domestic roles. The traditional preference of the public sphere as men’s sphere is reproduced, thereby elevating men’s status and prestige as protectors of the family and the nation and strengthening the masculine discourse and values.
The Occupation as Represented in the Arts in Israel
Authors: Urian Dan
Published: January 2013

The chapter reveals how Israeli artists since the early 1980s have introduced into their works the problem of the divided reality and the need for a critical examination of the Zionist ideology that created the State of Israel. The first and second intifada exposed the nationalist roots of the dispute and reinforced among the artists and their audiences, as seen in many works, an awareness of the harm done by the occupation – to both the Israeli Jews and the Palestinians. The art provides a bleak exposure of the occupation that no longer allows it to be disregarded, and demands a solution.
Cities and Sacred History
Authors: Antrim Zayde
Published: January 2013

This chapter focuses on the textual strategies of naming and locating cities and assembling foundation or conquest narratives in topographical histories and “merits” (faḍāʾil) treatises. These strategies draw substantially from a reservoir of sources dealing with sacred history and are particularly effective in making proximate what otherwise might seem distant and disconnected, whether temporally or spatially. The chapter uses as prominent examples texts devoted to representing the cities of Mecca, Jerusalem, and Baghdad, sites of considerable religious and political significance in the early Islamic world. What is striking about the claims to belonging and authority associated with each city is their overwhelming inclusivity and heterogeneity. This suggests that cities were imagined in the discourse of place more as sites of connectivity, negotiation, and compromise than as symbols of Islamic purity or triumphalism.
Conclusion: Looking Forward
Authors: Antrim Zayde
Published: January 2013

This chapter glances at the future. The twelfth century marked an intensification and localization of the production of texts in the discourse of place that would continue for hundreds of years. Despite their increasing diversity of languages and orientation toward local concerns, these texts generally maintained a sense of the connectivity and universalism communicated by the early discourse of place. This chapter concludes by considering ideologies of territorial nationalism in the modern Middle East. It suggests that these ideologies transformed the categories of belonging established in the discourse of place into more exclusive, and exclusionary, identities. While nationalist movements were defined by the experience of European colonialism and changes in the way texts were produced, circulated, and consumed, they were also new chapters in a long history of the power of the geographical imagination to motivate, shape, and justify political and religious claims in the Middle East.
Social Protection and Welfare Systems
Authors: Aber Lawrence , Biersteker Linda , Dawes Andrew , Rawlings Laura
Published: January 2013

In most countries, the social protection and welfare system is directly responsible for addressing issues of destitution, poverty, and risk management. Currently, an undesirable gap exists between traditional policies in social protection and the need to make specific provision for early childhood. This chapter helps close this gap, hoping to enhance the interest and ability of social protection systems to effectively address serious constraints on early childhood development (ECD) caused by long-term poverty, income instability, and adverse shocks. Specifically, the chapter describes the recent history and multiple functions of social protection and explains their importance to ECD; identifies critical challenges to and promising practices in closing the gap between social protection and ECD; and analyzes and discusses key issues requiring new research initiatives (research agenda) and/or immediate cross-system collaboration (policy agenda) to advance the capacity of social protection systems to protect and promote ECD.
Paradigm Shifts and New Directions in Research on Early Childhood Development Programs in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
Authors: Yoshikawa Hirokazu , Nieto Ana María
Published: January 2013

This chapter identifies emerging paradigm shifts for research that can address the next generation of practice and policy questions in early childhood development (ECD) in low- and middle-income (LAMI) countries. We discuss new developments in approaches to considering equity; quality and its improvement; the multisectoral nature of ECD programs and policies; and the development of research capacity. In each section, we identify underlying tensions and challenges in the global ECD context, paying particular attention to issues of inequity, social exclusion, and cultural diversity, and we highlight innovative directions and initiatives. We conclude that the promise of expanding both knowledge bases and programs and policies in ECD across LAMI countries requires new approaches to examining patterns of inclusion, exclusion, and cultural specificity, as well as partnerships among researchers, practitioners, caregivers, community members, and policymakers.
Literary Worlds
Authors: Hayot Eric
Published: January 2013

This chapter discusses the common use of the term “world” in literary studies that speaks to the relation between literature and worlds, and has nothing to do with world-systems or world literature. We speak of “Balzac's world,” or “Hawthorne's world,” or “Rushdie's world” in ways that rely on two fairly conventional understandings of the word, neither of which is captured by the current world literature debates. In one use the word names the general social and historical space within which an author lived and worked. In its other use the phrase means something like the unity of form, diegesis, and feeling composed by the rough totality of a work: the world of the work of art.
Universalism as a World View
Authors: Hayot Eric
Published: January 2013

This chapter first argues that modernity is a theory of the world—of a particular world. It is also, therefore, a theory of worldedness, of a particular kind of worldedness that it most commonly calls the “universal.” Modern universalism is quite literally the modern world-view. It phenomenalizes, at the level of the world-concept, a historically specific experience of the world. Like all lived hegemonies, modernity is essentially a process in which the implications of that experience are put into play, contested, habituated, altered, resisted, and distributed across the field of social life. The chapter then discusses the effects of this world-view and of this universalism in the history of the application and spread of “modern” thinking.
Beyond the Modern
Authors: Hayot Eric
Published: January 2013

This chapter argues that the structuro-logical description of a series of basic responses to a given assertion—affirmation/conceptualization, creation/destruction, negation/refusal, the neutral—describes responses to any historically normative world-view. This suggests that for any given social whole or spatio-temporal extension, one could describe a pattern of relations following the basic modal structure. In such a social whole, Realism would refer, as it does in the modern world-view, to the affirmation and conceptualization of the normative, socially dominant position; Romanticism to attempts to revise or rewrite it from inside its fundamental ontological premises; and Modernism to the negation of those premises and the radical imagination of life beyond “world.” In any one of these situations, what we now call “realism”—that is, the style that corresponds most closely to the normative Realism of the modern period, to which it lends a name—could easily be relegated to a second- or third-rate position in the production of the aesthetic diegesis.
Diplomacy at the Court of Guru Gobind Singh
Authors: Fenech Louis E.
Published: January 2013

Chapter 1 elaborates the context out of which the Ẓafar-nāmah emerged: Guru Gobind Singh’s extraordinary darbar and its situation within the pahaṛ ī or “hilly’ region of what was in the late seventeenth-century, Mughal Punjab
Distant lymph nodes serve as pools of Th1 cells induced by neonatal BCG vaccination for the prevention of asthma in mice
Authors: Zhang G. , Wang P. , Qiu Z. , Qin X. , Lin X. , Li N. , Huang H. , Liu H. , Hua W. , Chen Z. , Zhao H. , Li W. , Shen H.
Published: January 2013

Background

Neonatal Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccination induces vigorous T‐helper type 1 (Th1) responses and inhibits allergy‐related airway dysfunction, but the exact mechanisms remain unclear. The objective of this study was to address where the Th1 cells induced by neonatal BCG vaccination are generated and stored, and how they are recruited into the inflamed airway for the prevention of allergen‐induced airway inflammation.

Methods

We vaccinated neonatal C57BL/6 mice with BCG in a mouse model of asthma and analyzed the expression and function of Th1 cells in vivo and in vitro.

Results

BCG vaccination–induced Th1 cells in the local inguinal lymph nodes (ILN) migrated into the lungs upon inhaled ovalbumin (OVA) challenge in OVA‐sensitized mice. These CD4+ T cells in the ILN exhibited potentials of activation, proliferation and cytokine secretion and expressed high levels of CXCR3. Adoptive transfer of CD4+ T cells from BCG‐treated ILN significantly decreased allergic airway responses. In addition, the protective effect of BCG vaccination against allergic airway inflammation was lost upon the excision of the ILN.

Conclusions

These data demonstrate that ILN serves as a ‘weapon’ pool of Th1 cells following BCG vaccination, and these cells are ready for the migration into the inflamed lungs upon the allergen challenge, thereby inhibiting allergen‐induced airway disorder.
Associations between NOS1AP Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) and QT Interval Duration in Four Racial/Ethnic Groups in the Multi‐Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA)
Authors: Shah Sidharth A. , Herrington David M. , Howard Timothy D. , Divers Jasmin , Arnett Donna K. , Burke Greg L. , Hong Kao Weng , Guo Xiuqing , Siscovick David S. , Chakravarti Aravinda , Lima Joao A. , Psaty Bruce M. , Tomaselli Gordon F. , Rich Stephen S. , Bowden Donald W. , Post Wendy
Published: January 2013

Backgrounds

QT is a risk factor for sudden cardiac death (SCD). A genome‐wide association study identified NOS1AP variants associated with QT, which have been replicated in predominantly Caucasian (CAU) populations. We used the Multi‐Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis to examine association of QT with NOS1AP variants in an ethnically diverse cohort.

Methods

Twenty‐eight tagging SNPs spanning NOS1AP were genotyped in 2847 MESA participants (approximately equal numbers of CAU, African Americans (AFA), Hispanics (HIS), and Chinese (CHN)), age 45–84 years, without cardiovascular disease. QT was measured using 12‐lead ECG. Associations between QT and NOS1AP variants were evaluated using linear regression, adjusted for heart rate, age, gender, and field center stratified by ancestry, using an additive inheritance model. Ancestry informative markers (AIMs) and principal components using AIMs were used as additional covariates.

Results

More NOS1AP SNPs were associated with QT in CAU than the other races. In CAU, each copy of rs1932933 risk allele was associated with an increase in QT (4.9 msec, P = 7.20 × 10–7). Significant associations in CAU and HIS were located at the 5′ end, while associations in CHN were located at the 3′ end.

Conclusions

NOS1AP variants were associated with QT in CAU, with weaker evidence for selected variants in HIS and CHN. Location of significant SNPs varied across ancestry. We identified possible novel associations at the 3′ end of NOS1AP, where we observed significant association with QT in CHN only. Genotyping within these regions may determine functional variants affecting QT and SCD risk. In addition, investigations are needed across ethnically diverse population cohorts.
Do predators influence the behaviour of bats?
Authors: Lima Steven L. , O'Keefe Joy M.
Published: January 2013

Many aspects of animal behaviour are affected by real‐time changes in the risk of predation. This conclusion holds for virtually all taxa and ecological systems studied, but does it hold for bats? Bats are poorly represented in the literature on anti‐predator behaviour, which may reflect a lack of nocturnal predators specialized on bats. If bats actually experience a world with minimal anti‐predator concerns, then they will provide a unique contrast within the realm of vertebrate ecology. Alternatively, such predator‐driven behaviour in bats may not yet be fully understood, given the difficulties in working with these highly mobile and nocturnal animals. We provide a wide‐ranging exploration of these issues in bat behaviour. We first cover the basic predator‐prey information available on bats, both on potential predators and the ways in which bats might perceive predators and respond to attacks. We then cover work relevant to key aspects of bat behaviour, such as choice of daytime roosts, the nature of sleep and torpor, evening roost departures, moonlight avoidance, landscape‐related movement patterns, and habitat selection. Overall, the evidence in favour of a strong influence of predators on bat behaviour is equivocal, with the picture clouded by contradictory results and a lack of information on potential predators and the perception of risk by bats. It seems clear that day‐active bats run a considerable risk of being killed by diurnal raptors, which are able to capture bats with relative ease. Thus, bats taking advantage of a pulse of insects just prior to sunset are likely taking risks to gain much‐needed energy. Further, the choice of daytime roosts by bats is probably strongly influenced by roost safety. Few studies, however, have directly addressed either of these topics. As a group, insectivorous temperate‐zone bats show no clear tendency to avoid apparently risky situations, such as activity on moonlit nights. However, some observations are consistent with the idea that predation risk affects choice of movement paths and feeding areas by temperate‐zone bats, as well as the timing of roost departures. The behaviour of tropical bats, on the other hand, seems more generally influenced by predators; this is especially true for tropical nectarivores and frugivores, but also for insectivorous bats. Presumably there are more serious predators on bats in the tropics (e.g. specialized raptors or carnivorous bats), but the identity of these predators is unclear. More information is needed to assess fully the influence of predators on bat behaviour. There is much need for work on the ways in which bats perceive predatorsviaauditory, visual, and olfactory cues, and whether bats have some knowledge of the risks posed by different predators. Also needed is information on how predators attack bats and how bats react to attacking predators. Difficult to obtain, but of critical value, will be information on the nature of the predation risk experienced by bats while away from roosts and during the full darkness of night.
Combined Osteotome‐Induced Ridge Expansion and Guided Bone Regeneration Simultaneous with Implant Placement: A Biometric Study
Authors: Kolerman Roni , Nissan Joseph , Tal Haim
Published: January 2013

Purpose

To evaluate the long‐term outcome of a single‐step ridge expansion osteotome procedure and implant placement combined with guided bone regeneration in patients presenting narrow maxillary alveolar ridges.

Materials and Methods

During the period 1999 to 2010, 41 patients aged 19 to 77 years (18 males; 23 females) suffering from partial or full edentulism associated with horizontal resorption of the maxillary ridges (2.5–5 mm) were treated using the combined ridge expansion and guided bone‐regeneration techniques to obtain an improved bony base for implant placement. Implant survival, bone width measurements, clinical and radiologic implant success, and clinical complications were recorded and analyzed.

Results

Achievement of primary stability of the implant was impossible at six sites; these were recorded as failures. In the remaining 35 patients, one hundred sixteen endosseous titanium implants were simultaneously placed. Follow‐up time varied between 6 and 144 months (mean 52.4); of these, 36% were followed up for periods of time longer than 60 months. Implant diameter and lengths varied between 3.3 to 4.8 and 12 to 16 mm, respectively. In the 35 successful procedures (one hundred sixteen implants), the overall implant survival rate was 100%. An average gain in ridge width was 3.5 ± 0.93 (p < .0001) and an average enlargement of the buccal bone was 1.91 ± 0.6 (p < .0001). The mean vertical mesial bone loss was 1.81 mm ± 1.07 (ranging from 0.3 to 4.2 mm), and the mean vertical distal bone loss was 1.74 mm ± 1.12 (ranging from 0.4 to 4.5 mm). In eight patients (32%), at least one implant presented bone loss of ≥3 mm.

Conclusions

Within the limitations of this study, we suggest that the combined osteotome‐induced ridge expansion and guided bone regeneration simultaneous with implant placement is a reliable procedure with reduced morbidity and may offer an alternative in suitable situations.
Histone deacetylase induces accelerated maturation in Xenopus laevis oocytes
Authors: Iwashita Jun , Kodama Ayumi , Konno Yuuri , Abe Tatsuya , Murata Jun
Published: January 2013

In oocyte maturation in Xenopus laevis, nuclear material induces rapid maturation and is required for entry into meiosis II. Nuclear material contains a large number of RNAs and proteins, including histone deacetylase (HDAC); however, it is not known which materials induce accelerated maturation. The HDAC activity modifies transcription rate and is required for normal meiosis; however, its function in oocyte maturation is still unclear. We investigated the function of HDAC activity, which is localized in the nuclear material, in the regulation of the speed of oocyte maturation. Inhibition of HDAC activity with trichostatin A (TSA) induced hyperacetylation of histone H3 and prolonged oocyte maturation. In contrast, increase in HDAC activity with an injection of FLAG‐tagged maternal histone deacetylase (HDACm‐FLAG) mRNA induced deacetylation of histone H3 and reduced the duration of oocyte maturation. Cdc2 kinase, Cdc25C or mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK), which are key regulators of the meiosis, were activated coincidently with maturation progression. In oocytes, the mRNA level of Cdc25C, an activator of Cdc2, was increased by HDACm‐FLAG mRNA‐injection; in contrast, the mRNA level of Cdc2 inhibitor Wee1 was increased by TSA treatment. These results suggest that HDAC activity is involved in the control of maturation speed through the regulation of mRNA levels of cell cycle regulators. Thus, HDACm is a candidate for the nuclear material component that induces rapid maturation in Xenopus oocytes.
Androgen deprivation therapy: evidence‐based management of side effects
Authors: Ahmadi Hamed , Daneshmand Siamak
Published: January 2013

What's known on the subject? and What does the study add?

The benefits of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) are well recognized and a multitude of studies have documented the benefits of ADT in conjunction with other therapies. Given the widespread use of ADT due to its important clinical implications, it is imperative that clinicians understand the side effects to limit treatment‐related morbidity. There are numerous well recognized adverse effects of ADT, including vasomotor flushing, loss of libido and impotence, fatigue, gynaecomastia, anaemia, osteoporosis and metabolic complications, as well as effects on cardiovascular health and bone density.

Present study focuses on the most recent evidence‐based treatment options for various side effects of ADT.

Objective

To familiarize clinicians with the various side effects of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). The present study focuses on the most recent evidence‐based treatment strategies for the common side effects of ADT.

Methods

A PubMed database search was conducted from 2000 to 2012.

All prospective clinical studies were selected, including randomized and non‐randomized clinical trials, as well as meta‐analysis studies concerning preventive and therapeutic interventions for various side effects of ADT.

‘The Oxford 2011 Levels of Evidence’ classification system for treatment benefits was used to categorize selected studies.

Results

Gabapentin shows moderate efficacy for the long‐term treatment of hot flashes in a dose‐dependent manner.

A combined resistance/aerobic exercise programme leads to significant improvement in fatigue, sexual function and cognitive function. A home‐based/group exercise programme also improves fatigue and unfavourable metabolic changes.

Denosumab increases lumbar spine, hip and radius bone mass density, and also reduces the risk of vertebral fractures in men receiving ADT for non‐metastatic prostate cancer.

Metformin coupled with lifestyle intervention is a safe, well‐tolerated intervention for adverse metabolic changes. Toremifene improves the lipid profile.

Intermittent ADT improves early side effects, such as hot flashes, sexual activity, fatigue, and quality of life, although its effect on long‐term side effects remains inconclusive.

Conclusion

Despite significant improvement in management strategies for the side effects of ADT, the best way of preventing side effects is to use ADT only when it is absolutely indicated.
Determining the Threshold for Alcohol‐Induced Brain Damage: New Evidence with Gliosis Markers
Authors: Hayes Dayna M. , Deeny M. Ayumi , Shaner Carey A. , Nixon Kimberly
Published: January 2013

Background

Chronic intake of ethanol (EtOH) has been linked to serious health consequences such as cardiac and liver problems, cognitive impairments, and brain damage. Alcohol's detrimental effects depend upon the dose, duration, and pattern of exposure with binge drinking as one of the most common, but most damaging, patterns of intake. Little is known about the threshold of the damaging effects of alcohol. Therefore, these experiments sought to determine a threshold for brain damage using various markers of neurodegeneration.

Methods

Adult male Sprague–Dawley rats were administered nutritionally complete liquid diet containing either EtOH (25% w/v) or isocaloric dextrose every 8 hours for either 1 (mean dose, 13.4 ± 0.3 g/kg/d; mean blood EtOH concentration (BEC), 336.2 ± 18.8 mg/dl) or 2 days (mean dose, 10.9 ± 0.3 g/kg/d; mean BEC, 369.8 ± 18.1 mg/dl). On the basis of a known time course of various neurodegeneration‐associated events, rats were perfused transcardially immediately following, 2 days after, or 7 days post EtOH exposure. To label actively dividing cells, some animals were injected with BromodeoxyUridine (BrdU) 2 hours prior to perfusion. Tissue was then analyzed for the presence of BrdU (cell proliferation), FluoroJade B (degenerative neurons), and vimentin (reactive astrogliosis) immunoreactivity.

Results

One or 2 days of EtOH exposure failed to alter cell proliferation at any of the time points analyzed. However, significant 2‐ to 9‐fold increases in neuronal degeneration in limbic cortex and clear evidence of reactive gliosis as indicated by a 2‐ to 8‐fold upregulation in vimentin immunoreactivity in the hippocampus were observed following as little as 1 day of binge EtOH exposure.

Conclusions

These results indicate that as little as 1 day (24 hours) of high BEC, binge‐like EtOH exposure is enough to elicit signs of alcohol‐induced brain damage in adult rats. Further, reactive gliosis may be a more sensitive marker of alcohol‐induced damage in the hippocampus.