bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Eliza Haywood's Defense of London's Body Politic
Authors: Mowry Melissa M.
Published: February 2007

Critics have often commented on Eliza Haywood's tendency "toward soft-core pornography," particularly in her early fictions. This same tendency also situates her fictions within an eighty-year-old polemical tradition about the dangers of democracy. In the context of pornography's historic contributions toward curbing democratic activism within London, it is hardly surprising that the genre made an encore appearance during Walpole's efforts to limit the numbers of those eligible to vote in the City's elections. What is surprising is that pornography did not enter the fray in its usual guise. On the contrary, pamphlets, broadsides, and balladsheets everywhere appear to have been more committed to reclaiming the feminized commons so vilified in late-Stuart pornography by reversing political pornography's paradigm. Haywood's Fantomina (1725) and The City Jilt (1726) both bear the mark of this shift. The narrative structures of both fictions set up the City's democratic body politic to expose the Whig oligarchs' hypocrisy as both Fantomina and Glicera suggest that the democratic body could stand as a force for moral redemption.
Responsible Creativity and the "Modernity" of Mary Shelley's Prometheus
Authors: Hustis Harriet
Published: February 2007

This article analyzes how Mary Shelley's Frankenstein; or, The
Modern Prometheus reconfigures, recontextualizes, and thus
"modernizes" the myth of Prometheus. It argues that by focusing
on the issues of paternal negligence and the need for responsible
creativity, Shelley's novel deconstructs the story of Prometheus
as a masculinist narrative of patriarchal authority. It concludes
that an examination of the "modernity" of Shelley's Prometheus
myth has an impact not only on interpretations of Frankenstein
itself, but also on the function of the novel's 1831 preface.
How a Samovar Helped Me Theorize Latin American Jewish Writing
Authors: Aizenberg Edna
Published: February 2007

Samovars can be used for brewing more than tea. My essay proposes a
theory of Latin American Jewish literature through part serious, part
playful commentary on Eduardo Stilman's story, "El samovar de plata"
(The Silver Samovar). I suggest that Latin American Jewish Studies
forge stronger links with Jewish and Holocaust studies, focus on broad
cultural fields, and become multigenerational and multilingual. I call
for a pluralization of our discipline to achieve a kaleidosopic diversity
within an enveloping oneness.
Recent Tendencies in Latin American Jewish Studies
Authors: Lindstrom Naomi
Published: February 2007

This article presents an overview of recent tendencies in Latin
American Jewish Studies (hereafter LAJS). Two major developments will be
surveyed. One is the growth of resources for research; these include new
publications, reissues and translations of previously difficult-to-access
texts, and scholarly associations and other means of main taining
contact between researchers with similar concerns. These developments are
especially significant since faculty researching and teaching LAJS have
often been hindered by the difficulty of gaining access to information
and teaching resources.

Beyond making material available, LAJS researchers have been bringing
their own activities more clearly into focus. Scholars have made
efforts to identify the direction LAJS is taking and to suggest future
directions.
Forging the Didactics of Sefardic Language and Literature
Authors: Santa Puche Salvador , Mitchell Bruce
Published: February 2007

"Forging the Didactics of Sefardic Language and Literature" attempts to
establish criteria for the instruction of Judeo-Spanish and its literature
as a didactic unit. The problem of the future of the Sefardic language
lies, among other factors, in our capacity to develop adequate projects
for the language learning process. From February to April 2000 a course
was given at the University of Tartu, Estonia, thanks to the generosity
of the Soros Foundation. This article establishes the objectives,
the methodology, and the themes for classroom instruction. The final
objective of the course is to demonstrate that the Judeo- Spanish language
and its culture are suitable material for instruction at any university.
"New Mode of Feminist Historical Analysis"-- Or Just Another Collusion with "Patriarchal" Bias?
Authors: Kray Susan
Published: February 2007

According to the "Lost Eden Scenario,"
a Goddess-destroying, woman-oppressing culture, that of the ancient
Hebrews, generated many of the sexist ills of Western civilization. This
scenario finds adherents even among some reputable scholars, including
the renowned feminist historian Gerda Lerner in her wide-ranging feminist
history, Creation of Patriarchy. It is important to challenge the
ways in which such scholars violate the norms of scholarship; in Lerner's
case, in defiance of principles of feminist historical scholarship, which
she herself had insightfully enunciated years before the publication of
Creation of Patriarchy.
Gangster Generation: Crime, Jews and the Problem of Assimilation
Authors: Rubin Rachel
Published: February 2007

"Gangster Generation: Crime, Jews, and the Problem of Assimilation"
examines cultural representations of Jewish criminals over the course
of the twentieth century. The essay seeks to demonstrate that for
several successive generations following the mass immigration of Jews
to the United States, these figures have been invoked and described
as a kind of index to the possibility—and desirability—of
Jewish assimilation into the American mainstream. Taking into its purview
accounts of Jewish mobsters ranging from newspaper stories and nonfiction
writing to memoir, movies, and a popular TV series, the essay shows
that the Jewish gangster has proved to be a figure flexible enough to
accommodate and reflect changes in the social position and the cultural
needs of Jews in America.
Education, Socialization, and Development of National Identity: The American Common School and Israel Defense Forces in Transnational Perspective
Authors: Perko F. Michael (Francis Michael)
Published: February 2007

The experiences of the nineteenth-century American common school and the
twentieth century Israel Defense Forces as educational agencies provide
a rich ground for the sort of comparative analysis undertaken by the
burgeoning field of transnational history. While American historians
have pointed out that a major purpose of common schooling in America
was the socialization of immigrants into American life and culture, and
Israelis have commented in similar fashion about education undertaken
by the Israel Defense Forces, little attempt has been made to compare
and contrast the experiences..
Situated within the framework of contemporary understandings of modern
nation-state formation, this essay explores historical similarities
and differences in the manner in which the socialization of youth
and immigrants into each society was carried out by these educational
agencies. Additionally, it examines ways in which each contributed to the
formation of a national identity in the early years of their respective
state's development.
Woody Allen After the Fall: Literary Gold from Amoral Alchemy
Authors: Rubin-Dorsky Jeffrey
Published: February 2007

This essay argues that Woody Allen's break with Mia Farrow engendered
a search for a new artistic direction and a new persona, signaled by
the unsettling film Husbands and Wives (1992) and followed by two
extraordinary views of the moral dilemmas and personal sacrifices of a
life in art, Bullets over Broadway (1994) and Deconstructing
Harry (1997). These three films, the best of Allen's work in the
nineties, demonstrate a deeply reflective, and self-reflective, mood and
mode as the director meditates on the modernist issues of the autonomy
of the artist and the salvation of art. What may be hardest for his
audience to accept about these films is that they embrace a vision of
the artist/writer as a carnivorous creator of beauty and form, completely
indifferent to offending the moral sensitivities or violating the personal
sensibilities of those whose lives nurture and sustain his talent.
The Construal of Events: Passives in American Sign Language
Authors: Janzen Terry , O'Dea Barbara , Shaffer Barbara
Published: February 2007

The possibility of a passive construction existing in ASL has been alluded to from time to time in the literature on ASL grammar, but discussion is infrequent, and the usual conclusion is that a passive does not, in fact, exist. We contend, however, that a particular configuration of ASL grammatical features surrounding an otherwise transitive verb qualifies as a fully passive construction, and that these passives are more frequent in ASL discourse than may have been realized. This discussion continues and expands upon an earlier proposal in which we identify grammatical and functional characteristics of passive constructions in ASL discourse (Janzen, O'Dea, and Shaffer 2000).
A Cuban Convent in the Age of Enlightened Reform: The Observant Franciscan Community of Santa Clara of Havana, 1768-1808
Authors: Clune John James
Published: February 2007

In 1807 the Commissary General of the Indies for the Franciscan Order, Pablo de Moya, appealed to the Spanish crown to lift a long-standing ban on the admission of novices at the Observant Franciscan community of Our Lady of Santa Clara (Nuestra Señora de Santa Clara) of Havana. Moya reported that the great majority of theclarisashad grown aged and infirm in recent years. The sad situation on which the commissary general reported was the result of four decades of convent reform at Santa Clara that successfully reestablished the common life (vida común), something seldom achieved in the large, opulent convents of the Spanish empire.
“The purity of my blood cannot put food on my table”: Changing Attitudes Towards Interracial Marriage in Nineteenth-Century Buenos Aires
Authors: Shumway Jeffrey M.
Published: February 2007

Lorenzo Barbosa had a big problem with his daughter Josefa. In June 1821, in Buenos Aires, young Josefa Barbosa was in love with Pascual Cruz. What bothered Lorenzo was that Pascual was a mulatto, while the Barbosa family was white. When the couple asked his permission to marry, Lorenzo vehemently opposed the union and withheld his consent. He was acting within his rights, since minor children (men and women younger than 25 and 23 respectively) were required by law to obtain parental permission to marry. To bolster his case, Lorenzo invoked the power of a colonial law issued in 1778, known as the Royal Pragmatic on marriage, which gave parents the right to block their children's marriages to “unequal partners.” Even though Buenos Aires had broken away from Spain in 1810, most colonial laws regarding family life, including the pragmatic, continued in force into the national period. But just as in colonial times, children retained the right to challenge parental opposition in court. If they chose to do so, the resulting case was known as adisenso.
Keeping the Faith in Revolutionary Mexico: Clerical and Lay Resistance to Religious Persecution, East Michoacán, 1926-1929
Authors: Butler Matthew
Published: February 2007

This article analyses the character of local religious practice in the archdiocese of Michoacán during Mexico'scristerorebellion, and explores the relationship between ‘official’ and ‘popular’ religion under persecution. In particular, it shows how the Catholic clergy and laity reconstructed the religious life at parish level in an attempt to mitigate the effects of the revolutionary state's campaigns against the Church. For a variety of reasons, the significance of such passive resistance to the state, and the complexity of the interaction between the ecclesiastical elite and the Catholic laity, tend to be downplayed in many existing accounts. Perhaps unsurprisingly, many historians see cristero violence as the most important response to religious persecution, and therefore study it to the exclusion of alternative, less visible, modes of resistance. As for the Church, the hierarchy's wranglings with the regime similarly tend to overshadow the labours of priests and their parishioners under persecution. But the full range of popular experiences has also been deliberately compressed for ideological reasons. Many Catholic writers, for instance, seek to exalt the Church by describing a persecution of mythical ferocity. While Calles is likened to Herod, Nero, or Diocletian, the clergy and laity comprise a uniform Church of martyrs designate in revolt against a godless state. To achieve this instructive vision, however, a few exemplary martyrs—such as Father Pro and Anacleto González Flores—are allowed to stand for the whole mass of priests and believers, in the same way that Edmund Campion is revered as the protomartyr of the Elizabethan persecution in England. As a result, a stereotypical but politically serviceable image of a monolithic Church is perpetuated, an image which was recently institutionalised by the canonisation of 25 ‘cristero’ martyrs in May 2000.
Myth, Rumor, and History: The Yankee Whittling Boy as Hero and Villain
Authors: Cooper Carolyn C.
Published: February 2007

Myth formation and rumor formation share characteristics, due to transmission from person to person over time, of elaboration, exaggeration, simplification, fabrication, and retention of colorful detail. History formation unchecked by annotation and scrutiny also shares these characteristics, as exemplified by ascription of inventions in the nineteenth century to heroic inventors. Despite their aim of debunking myths, historians of technology are not immune from creating them, as exemplified by their demythologizing of "whittling boy" Eli Whitney as hero, only to remythologize him as villain. Myths, including recent ones, reveal more about the mythmakers' culture or subculture than about objective fact, and should be analyzed at more than one level. At some level, for instance that of the stimulus of handwork to brainwork, the "whittling boy" myth may be true, which would help account for its persistence.
The Uncompleted Theatres of Rome
Authors: Campbell Constance
Published: February 2007

As many as three permanent theatres were commissioned in the city of Rome in the second century BCE and never completed. Although many have cited ancient writers on the moral and political opposition to permanent theatres at this and later times, the fact that permanent theatres could be officially approved but not completed has never been satisfactorily explained. The evidence we have concerning the uncompleted theatres indicates that at least two of them were meant to be free-standing. The only feasible way to build a Roman-style free-standing theatre is by using concrete vaulting to support the seating area. An analysis of the remains of surviving concrete structures from the second century BCE indicates that the concrete would not have been strong enough to support the necessary seating. Therefore, it is likely that the faction who would have opposed the construction of permanent theatres in Rome seized on the impracticality of the structures for an excuse to ban them.
Scripting Sexual Tourism: Fusco and Bustamante's STUFF, Prostitution and Cuba's Special Period
Authors: Marrero Teresa
Published: February 2007

This essay negotiates the tension between the real-life economic problems of post-Soviet Cuba, sexual tourism, and its representation in a performance piece by Latina artists Fusco and Bustamante entitled STUFF. As such it deals with the blurring lines of scholarship distinction between studies of human behavior in particular historical contexts and the dramatic. The artistic/theatrical performance of a social phenomenon (tourism) which has itself been recently theorized as 'stage-able' creates the framework for a parodic intent in the performance piece STUFF. It begins by questioning the ability to translate the notion of 'script' and of 'scripted' behavior from a bilingual, linguistic perspective, later moving towards an analysis of prostitution in Cuba's Special Period as defined from a number of political perspectives. This article proposes that STUFF plays with the referential aspect of socially scripted behavior to build an effective parody that suggests a cultural critique of Neoliberal, global consumerism.
Class, Distribution and Redistribution in Post-Apartheid South Africa
Authors: Seekings Jeremy , Nattrass Nicoli
Published: February 2007

Jeremy Seekings and Nicoli Nattrass outline the class structure of post-apartheid South Africa and examine the redistributive consequences of the government’s economic growth path.
Labour Market Policy, Flexibility, and the Future of Labour Relations: The Case of KwaZulu-Natal Clothing Industry
Authors: Skinner Caroline , Valodia Imraan
Published: February 2007

Caroline Skinner and Imraan Valodia analyse how South African clothing firms are reconfiguring their production processes through subcontracting and discuss the implications for collective bargaining.
Rethinking Justice, Equality and Rights: Communitarian Challenges for an Atomistic-Liberalist View of the South African Constitution and Bill of Rights
Authors: Waghid Yusef
Published: February 2007

Yusef Waghid argues for new interpretations of justice, equality
and rights outlined within a communitarian deliberative democratic
framework.
Pressing an Ear Against a Hive or New Play Explorations in the Twenty-First Century
Authors: Bly Mark
Published: February 2007

Inspired by the thoughts of critic Elinor Fuchs, a poem by the United States poet Billy Collins, a Yale School of Drama 47 reading, and the courage of a Highland New Guinea explorer, the author challenges contemporary new play investigations and offers an alternate approach for Twenty-First Century new play explorations.
Dramaturging Non-Realism: Creating a New Vocabulary
Authors: Haring-Smith Tori
Published: February 2007

Dramaturgs in America are trained primarily to work with realist texts that have linear plots, familiar settings, and full and consistent characters with texts and subtexts that combine to create a coherent theme. However, dramaturgs work increasingly with non-realist scripts that have fragmented story lines, dream-like settings, and figures who speak in abstract poetry, so that meaning emerges from associative images and is often left unarticulated. Such scripts require the dramaturg to follow different research protocols, to ask different questions of a production, and to develop different relationships with spectators, actors, and directors.
Collective Dramaturgy: a Co-consideration of the Dramaturgical Role in Collaborative Creation
Authors: Lynn Kirk , Sides Shawn
Published: February 2007

The common model of contemporary theatrical process assigns the dramaturgical role to a single individual. However, Rude Mechanicals' collaborative process allows the dramaturgical role to be more fluidly defined and divided among multiple participants, especially the playwright and director. Rude Mechanicals (Rude Mechs) is an Austin based theatre collective, devising collaboratively created new works for the stage. In this co-written essay, two Rude Mechs company members discuss how dramaturgy is shared when they work on a new piece using three examples of collaboratively dramaturged shows: curst & Shrewd, Lipstick Traces, and Requiem for Tesla.
The Four Elements: New Models for a Subversive Dramaturgy
Authors: Rudakoff Judith D.
Published: February 2007

This article presents a model that is useful in the creation of new works as well as the analysis of existing pieces. Through exploration of the qualities of The Four Elements (Air, Fire, Water, Earth), artists as well as academics can discover characteristic behavior and interactive patterns in characters and their relationships with each other and with the world of the play. Exercises are offered to apply the models. Universal understanding of the elements gives this methodology the potential to work across cultural divides and in a range of situations.
Lesbian Scholar/Gay Subject: Turn-of-the-Century Inversions
Authors: Marra Kim
Published: February 2007

This autobiographical essay explores the peculiar pleasures and identifications that can drive one's scholarship. The author examines why she, a butch lesbian scholar, has ardently pursued a queer male subject, Clyde Fitch (1865-1909), an American playwright and sometime lover of Oscar Wilde, for the last seventeen years. Discovering how Fitch's "inverted" sexuality informed his repeated stagings of the national archetype of perfect femininity, the American Girl, has enabled the author to invert--and thereby survive--that icon's stultifying legacy. In the essay's key analytic inversion, she posits Aubrey Beardsley's Salome drawings, known to members of Wilde's circle, as a shadow text that worked in dialectical opposition to American Girl iconography to animate Fitch's historically influential career.
Chipping Away at the State: Workers' Resistance and the Demise of East Germany
Authors: Kopstein Jeffrey
Published: February 2007

This article is a study of everyday resistance and political protest among East German workers under communism. It develops and adduces evidence for two hypotheses based on evidence from Communist Party and state archives. First, in contrast to the standard explanation for the revolution of 1989, which emphasizes intellectual and popular mobilization against the regime, this essay emphasizes the long-term capacity of otherwisepowerless workers to immobilize the regime through nonpolitical acts of everyday resistance. This resistance, coupled with the rare act of political protest, rendered ineffective the conventional methods of labor discipline and undermined any hope of meaningful economic reform. The second hypothesis concerns the motivation for working-class behavior. Two models of social action have dominated studies of subalterns: rational choice and moral economy. The models are evaluated against the archival record. While the evidence is not overwhelmingly in favor of either model, the moral economy approach provides a better account of the sporadic acts of rebellion and the myriad acts of everyday resistance.
Rightful Resistance
Authors: O'Brien Kevin J.
Published: February 2007

How is one to understand contentious acts that open channels of participation while also making use of existing channels? Rightful resistance is a partly institutionalized form of popular action that employs laws, policies, and other established values to defy power holders who have failed to live up to some ideal or who have not implemented a popular measure. Analysis of opposition to cadre misconduct in rural China, supported by evidence from the United States, Norway, and South Africa, suggests that resistance can share a common dynamic despite its occurrence in strikingly dissimilar settings. Aggrieved individuals and groups turn to established principles to anchor their defiance; use legitimating myths and normative language to frame their claims; rely on existing statutes and government commitments when leveling their charges; and locate and mobilize advocates within officialdom. In differing contexts, a combination of rights talk, legal tactics, and open confrontation may induce power holders to surrender advantages in accord with principles that usually favor them. The cases examined further suggest that rightful resistance springs from rights consciousness and increases it and, finally, that it may be more consequential than most “everyday resistance” while remaining less risky than wholly uninstitutionalized defiance.
Does High Income Promote Democracy?
Authors: Londregan John B. , Poole Keith T.
Published: February 2007

The authors construct a statistical model with which to test whether the regularity that democracy is more commonly found among wealthy countries stems from a democratizing effect of high income or is due entirely to other factors, such as the historical context, various features of the institutional setting, and simultaneity with the process of leadership change. Even after correcting for these many other influences, the democratizing effect of income remains as a statistically significant factor promoting the emergence of democratic political institutions. The authors go on to find that leaders' risks of losing power rise during their time in office and that these risks are higher in more democratic countries.

The authors confirm the finding by Burkhart and Lewis-Beck that the democracy-promoting effect of income is stronger among the European countries. They suggest that high income has a more powerful democratizing effect among the Southern European countries because it interacts with pressure from major trading partners to democratize. This suggests a revaluation of policies designed to foster the replacement of authoritarian regimes by democratic ones through free trade.
Distribution and Redistribution in Postindustrial Democracies
Authors: Bradley David , Huber Evelyne , Moller Stephanie , Nielsen François , Stephens John D.
Published: February 2007

This article analyzes the processes of distribution and redistribution in postindustrial democracies. The authors combine a pooled time-series data base on welfare state effort and its determinants assembled by Huber, Ragin, and Stephens (1997) with data on income distribution assembled in the Luxembourg Income Survey (IJS) archive. In the case of the LIS data, the authors recalculate the microdata in order to remove the distorting influence of pensioners on pretax, pretransfer income distribution. They examine the determinants of two dependent variables: pretax, pretransfer income inequality and the proportional reduction in inequality from pre- to post—tax and transfer inequality. They test hypotheses derived from power resources theory against alternatives derived from the literature on the development of the welfare state and the determinants of income inequality, The results offer strong support for power resources theory, particularly in the case of reduction in inequality. Union density, unemployment, and percentage of female-headed households were the main determinants of pre—tax and transfer inequality (R2= .64), while leftist government, directly and indirectly through its influence on the size of the welfare state, was found to be by far the strongest determinant of distribution (R2= .81).
On Auto-Ethnographic Authority
Authors: Buzard James
Published: February 2007

Widespread critiques of anthropology and advocacy for "situated knowledges" have created an atmosphere highly favorable to the rise of an autoethnography, yet use of the concept has so far been uneven, undertheorized, and largely unacknowledged. Wariness of essentialism, dissatisfaction with "culture," and confusion about the metaphors structuring our thought on group identity and ethnographic authority are important reasons why. Analyzing autoethnography's simultaneous indispensability and inadmissibility in contemporary critical discourse, this essay suggests that the prestige of the participant's perspective, fed upon the critiques of objectivity, has now attained a magnitude dangerous to criticism itself.
Translating Communities: The Institutional Epilogue to the Letters of Abelard and Heloise
Authors: Feilla Cecilia A
Published: February 2007

This article explores the relationship between literary and juridical translation through examination of the institutional epilogue to the letters of Abelard and Heloise. This epilogue consists of the literary translations of their letters that proliferated after their deaths, as well as the institutional letters of translation written at each transfer of their bodily remains to a new site or tomb. I demonstrate in particular the way in which successive generations have edited, collected, and re-membered the bodily and literary corpus of the two clerics into new communities through acts of translation
Erbin Enhances Voltage-Dependent Facilitation of Cav1.3 Ca2+Channels through Relief of an Autoinhibitory Domain in the Cav1.3 α1Subunit
Authors: Calin-Jageman Irina , Yu Kuai , Hall Randy A. , Mei Lin , Lee Amy
Published: February 2007

Cav1.3 (L-type) voltage-gated Ca2+channels have emerged as key players controlling Ca2+signals at excitatory synapses. Compared with the more widely expressed Cav1.2 L-type channel, relatively little is known about the mechanisms that regulate Cav1.3 channels. Here, we describe a new role for the PSD-95 (postsynaptic density-95)/Discs large/ZO-1 (zona occludens-1) (PDZ) domain-containing protein, erbin, in directly potentiating Cav1.3. Erbin specifically forms a complex with Cav1.3, but not Cav1.2, in transfected cells. The significance of erbin/Cav1.3 interactions is supported by colocalization in somatodendritic domains of cortical neurons in culture and coimmunoprecipitation from rat brain lysates. In electrophysiological recordings, erbin augments facilitation of Cav1.3 currents by a conditioning prepulse, a process known as voltage-dependent facilitation (VDF). This effect requires a direct interaction of the erbin PDZ domain with a PDZ recognition site in the C-terminal domain (CT) of the long variant of the Cav1.3 α1subunit (α11.3). Compared with Cav1.3, the Cav1.3b splice variant, which lacks a large fraction of the α11.3 CT, shows robust VDF that is not further affected by erbin. When coexpressed as an independent entity with Cav1.3b or Cav1.3 plus erbin, the α11.3 CT strongly suppresses VDF, signifying an autoinhibitory function of this part of the channel. These modulatory effects of erbin, but not α11.3 CT, depend on the identity of the auxiliary Ca2+channel β subunit. Our findings reveal a novel mechanism by which PDZ interactions and alternative splicing of α11.3 may influence activity-dependent regulation of Cav1.3 channels at the synapse.
The natural course of non-functioning pituitary macroadenomas
Authors: Dekkers O M , Hammer S , de Keizer R J W , Roelfsema F , Schutte P J , Smit J W A , Romijn J A , Pereira A M
Published: February 2007

Objective: The natural history of non-functioning pituitary macroadenomas (NFMA) has not been completely elucidated. Therefore, we evaluated pituitary function, visual fields, and tumor size during long-term follow-up of non-operated patients with NFMA.

Design: Follow-up study.

Patients: Twenty-eight patients (age 55 ± 3 years) with NFMA, not operated after initial diagnosis, were included.

Results: Initial presentation was pituitary insufficiency in 44%, visual field defects in 14%, apoplexy in 14%, and chronic headache in 7% of the patients. The duration of follow-up was 85 ± 13 months. Radiological evidence of tumor growth was observed in 14 out of 28 patients (50%) after duration of follow-up of 118 ± 24 months. Six patients (21%) were operated, because tumor growth was accompanied by visual field defects. Visual impairments improved in all the cases after transsphenoidal surgery. Spontaneous reduction in tumor volume was observed in eight patients (29%). No independent predictors for increase or decrease in tumor volume could be found by regression analysis.

Conclusion: Observation alone is a safe alternative for transsphenoidal surgery in selected NFMA patients, without the risk of irreversibly compromising visual function.
Személyiségintegráció szomatizáló nőbetegeknél
Authors: Kökönyei Gyöngyi , Rózsa Sándor , Holics András , Oláh Attila , Kulcsár Zsuzsanna
Published: February 2007

Vizsgálatunkban a
személyiségintegrációjának mérésére a Sheldon
és Kasser (1995, 2001) által
kidolgozott módszert alkalmaztuk, amely a személyes törekvések kongruenciáját
és koherenciáját határozza meg. A személyiség kongruens, ha törekvéseivel „intrinzik
módon fontos értékeket szolgál”, és koherens, ha törekvései „egymást támogató
jellegűek”. A törekvéseket intrinzik és extrinzik értékekre osztva a módszer
külön elemzi a kétfajta értékben megmutatkozó koherenciát, míg a koherencia
összértéke motivációs mutatóként szolgál. Eredeti feltevésünk szerint
szomatizáló személyekre a személyiségintegráció vizsgált mutatóinak alacsonyabb
értékei jellemzők. A jelen vizsgálatban 17 szomatizáló, de pszichiátriai
kezelés alatt nem álló személy (akiknél legalább 1 testi panasz minimum 6
hónapja áll fenn) és 16 kontrollszemély személyiségintegrációs mutatóit
vetettük össze. Vizsgáltuk továbbá a törekvések mutatói és a Pszichológiai
Immunrendszer Kérdőív (PIK), valamint a NEO-PIR skálái közötti együtt­járásokat
is. A szomatizációs csoportot a törekvések fokozott külső determinációja
jellemezte, a belső determináció mentén a két csoport között nem volt
különbség. A koherenciamutatók arra utalnak, hogy a kísérleti csoportra
fokozott extrinzik értékkövetés jellemző, a náluk kapott magasabb össz­koherencia
értékek a személyek magasabb motiváltságára utalnak, amit a vizsgálatra való
önkéntes jelentkezés ténye is igazol. Korrelációs elemzéseink szerint a
magasabb szintű törekvések a nem szo­ma­ti­záló csoportnál számos PIK skálával
pozitív, az alacsonyabb szintű törekvések negatív kapcsolatban voltak. A
NEO-PIR Neuroticizmus skála a külsőleg determinált törekvésekkel pozitív
együttjárást mutatott. Ezek a kézenfekvő kapcsolatok a szomatizáló csoportot
nem vagy jóval kisebb mértékben jel­lemezték. A szomatizáló csoport fokozottabb
külső determinációja, illetve extrinzik értékkövetése, mely csökkent autonómiát
jelez, hipotézisünket támogatja, és feltevésünk szerint a szomatizációs zavar
pato­gene­zi­sében és fenntartásában szerepet játszhat.
A kalibráció kognitív megközelítése
Authors: Faragó Klára , Móra László Xavér
Published: February 2007

A valószínűségi
ítéletalkotás pszichológiai vizsgálatának egyik - a mindennapok gyakorlatában
is nagy jelentőséggel bíró - témája a kalibráció. A kalibráció azt vizsgálja,
hogy a valószínűségi ítéletek helyesek-e, ténylegesen tükrözik-e a valóságot. A
normatív kiindulópontú kezdeti kutatások egyik sokszor megismételt eredménye az
volt, hogy az emberek biztosabbak a véleményükben, mint ahogy azt a
rendelkezésre álló bizonyítékok megengednék. Az alátámasztás elmélet (support theory) az ítéletek jósága helyett a kalibráció alakulásának
mechanizmusát igyekszik leírni. Kísérleti csoportjainkat úgy választottuk ki,
hogy a tudás mértéke és a tudásról általában kapott visszajelentések mennyisége
szempontjából különbözzenek, és azt vizsgáltuk, hogy e két tényező hogyan
befolyásolja a kalibráció alakulását. Azt találtuk, hogy a tudás mértéke
befolyásolja a kalibráció mintázatát, de a visszajelentés mennyiségének
szerepét nem tudtuk tetten érni. Eredményeinket az alátámasztás elmélettel
összhangban úgy értelmeztük, hogy a kalibrációt az intenzitás (a saját tudásról
alkotott sztereotip kép) befolyásolja, a visszajelentések hatását tükröző
hitelesség azonban nem.
Beérkezett könyvek
Authors: Pléh Csaba
Published: February 2007

Merleau-Ponty, Maurice:
A
filozófia dicsérete.
(Fordította: Sajó András) Európa Könyvkiadó, Budapest,
2005 Geyer, Chrstian (szerk.):
Hirnforschung und
Eillsenfreiheit. Zur Deutung die neues­ten Experimente
. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt
am Main, 2004 Jeannerod, Marc:
Le cerveau intime
. Odile
Jacob, Paris, 2005 Imbert, Michel:
Traité
du cerveau.
Odile Jacob, Paris, 2006 Holley, André:
Le cerveau gourmand.
Odile
Jacob, Paris, 2006 Roubertoux, P.:
Existe-t-il de gènes du
comportement?
Odile Jacob, Paris,
2004 Andler, Daniel (szerk.):
Introduction aux sciences cognitives
.
Bővített, 2. kiadás. Gallimard, Paris,
2004 Deutscher, Guy:
The unfolding of language. An evolutionary tour of
mankind's greatest invention.
Henry Holt, New York, 2005 Pisoni,
D. B. és Remez, R. E. (szerk.):
The
handbook of speech perception.
Blackwell Publishing, Malden MA, USA, 2005 Jablonka,
Eva és Lamb, Marion J.:

Evolution in four dimensions. Genetic, epigenetic, behavioral, and symbolic
variation in the history of life.
MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2005 Buller,
David J.:
Adapting minds:
Evolutionary psychology and the persistent quest for human nature.
MIT
Press, Cambridge, MA, 2005 Callebaut, Werner és Rasskin-Hutman, Diego (szerk.):
Modularity: Understanding the development
and evolutionof natural complex systems
. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2005 Maslow, A. M., Assagioli,
R. és Wilber, K.:
Bevezetés a
transzperszonális pszichológiába. Válogatás.
Ursus Libris, Budapest, 2006
Elmeteória, együttműködés, machiavel­lizmus: a felnőttkori elmeolvasó képesség hatása a társas kapcsolatokra
Authors: Paál Tünde , Bereczkei Tamás
Published: February 2007

Az elmeteória - tehát
az a képesség, hogy más embereknek önálló mentális állapotokat és tartalmakat
tulajdonítunk - fontos szerepet tölt be társas életünkben. Egyfelől megkönnyíti
a társakkal való együtt­működést, másfelől lehetővé teszi, hogy manipuláljuk
őket saját céljaink elérése érdekében. Vizs­gá­la­tunkban azt a célt tűztük ki,
hogy az elmeteória és a társas viselkedésformák bonyolult kapcsolatának néhány
alapvető és eddig kevéssé tanulmányozott aspektusát elemezzük. Az elmeolvasó
képesség vizs­gálata során a felnőtt kísérleti személyeknek történeteket
kellett elemezniük, míg a machiavellizmus és a kooperatív készség szintjének
vizsgálata tesztekkel történt. Megállapítottuk, hogy a machiavellizmus erős
negatív korrelációt mutat a társas együttműködési készséggel: a mások
kihasználására, manipulálására hajló személyek a kooperativitás alacsony
szintjét mutatják. Másodszor, szoros összefüggést találtunk az együttműködési
hajlam mértéke és az elmeteória mértéke között, amit úgy értelmeztünk, hogy
minél jobb elmeolvasó képességgel jellemezhető valaki, annál nagyobb haj­lan­dóságot
mutat a másokkal folytatott együttműködésre. Végül, megvizsgáltuk az elmeteória
és a machiavellizmus kapcsolatát, és itt nem találtunk szignifikáns
összefüggést. Eredményeink nem támasztották alá azt a feltevésünket, hogy azok
a személyek, akik könnyebben helyezkednek bele a többiek gondolataiba és értik
meg azok szándékait, illetve ismereteit, a többieknél nagyobb hatásfokkal ma­ni­pulálják
őket saját céljaik elérésében. Az ered­mények - különösen a harmadik eredmény -
értelmezésére felhasználtuk egyrészt a „hideg” és a „me­leg” empátia mint az
elmeteória inkább kognitív, illetve inkább emocionális jellegű aspektusainak
meg­különböztetését, a morális érzelmek reprezentációjának hiányát és más
kognitív magyarázó mo­del­le­ket.
Palladium-Polyaniline and Palladium-Polyaniline Derivative Composite Materials
Authors: Mallick By Kaushik , Witcomb Michael , Scurrell Mike
Published: February 2007

Palladium nanoparticles of different sizes and shapes combined with polyaniline and derivatives of polyaniline can give rise to a host polymer with interesting physical properties and important potential applications. The resulting composite can be produced in the form of nanofibres, nanorods, thin films, etc. Potential applications of this composite material for catalysis and sensor systems are discussed.
Interaction of Plant Species Diversity on Grazing Behavior and Performance of Livestock Grazing Temperate Region Pastures
Authors: Soder K. J. , Rook A. J. , Sanderson M. A. , Goslee S. C.
Published: February 2007

The importance of plant species diversity on performance of livestock grazing temperate region pastures is summarized in this review. As livestock producers seek less capital‐intensive production systems, emphasis is redirected toward low‐input pasture systems that rely on complex species mixtures to produce forage. Increased plant species diversity has been linked to improvements in ecosystem function. While it is recognized that grazing management can have a profound impact on sward composition, which in turn can affect grazing behavior and animal performance, the effects of increased plant species diversity on animal productivity (and vice versa) have not been well explored. This review addresses mechanisms by which grazing livestock alter cool‐season plant species diversity, mechanisms of diet choice, effects of plant species diversity on animal performance, and implications to sustainable domestic livestock grazing systems. We review evidence for these effects at one trophic level, that of grazing livestock in agroecosystems. While grazing behavior research conducted during the last several decades has led to advances in the understanding of plant–animal interactions, improved knowledge of these interactions is crucial for predicting animal performance. Also important is the evaluation of the impact of grazing livestock on mixed sward dynamics. This knowledge will lead to new opportunities to develop environmentally and economically sustainable grazing systems.
Nitrogn Use and Biomass Distribution in Culms of Winter Wheat Populations Selected from Grain‐Only and Dual‐Purpose Systems
Authors: MacKown Charles T. , Carver Brett F.
Published: February 2007

Beginning in late fall and ending at jointing in early spring, winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) crops in the southern Great Plains are often grazed by stocker cattle (Bos taurus L.) and then harvested for grain. Traditionally, dual‐purpose (grazing plus grain) wheat cultivars are developed from a grain‐only production system. Because culms of dual‐purpose grown wheat may forfeit productivity gains for grain‐only developed cultivars, we evaluated N and biomass traits at anthesis and maturity for 12 sets of subpopulations (each set a unique genetic background) to test benefits of making selections from a dual‐purpose system. Sets came from F2 sources and contained a “Base” F3 bulk population and F5 bulk populations mass selected from the F2 within grain‐only and dual‐purpose production systems. The 12 sets of subpopulations were evaluated in grain‐only and dual‐purpose production systems in 2001–2002 and 2002–2003. At anthesis, main effects (year, system, genetic background, subpopulation selection environment) were significant for culm dry weight and N, and flag leaf dry weight. Among selections, differences for these traits were small (2.0–3.5%) with no difference between grain‐only and dual‐purpose selections; differences among genetic backgrounds, however, were large (21–30%). At maturity, differences (7.6–20%) for grain dry weight and kernel mass, harvest index (HI), N content, grain N, and N harvest index (NHI) of individual culms occurred among genetic backgrounds. Differences among subpopulations were smaller (1.4–4.5%) and significant for only culm and grain dry weight, kernel number and mass, and culm N content. Selections made from the dual‐purpose environment performed similar to those from the grain‐only environment when grown in either production system.
Human cold adaptation: An unfinished agenda
Authors: Steegmann A. Theodore
Published: February 2007

1975 marked the end of a 20‐year period of human biology research on physical environment. The focus then shifted from climatic adaptation to problems of nutrition, disease, and stress. However, many questions about human environmental patterns, especially in reference to their evolution, were abandoned rather than resolved. Assumptions about cold protective functions of low surface area/body mass ratio are entrenched in physical anthropology, despite lack of experimental validation. Since heat loss is controlled by vasoregulation and tissue insulation, a simple physics model of SA:mass may not apply. The issue merits investigation, as do the assumed thermal advantages of foreshortened extremities. Physiological assessment remains our primary research tool. In cold climate natives, elevated basal metabolic rates now appear to be genetically induced. During cold exposure, the body manages heat conservation through well known channels but also by specialized thermogenic functions such as metabolism in brown adipose tissue (BAT). The powerful protective capacity of BAT is largely unexplored either within or between populations of cold exposed human adults. An irony of our profession is that many biological variables seem to have minor effects when compared to behavioral cold protections. This is partly because biological anthropologists may have made incorrect assumptions about what most threatens the well being of cold climate people. Contrasts in environmental behaviors when comparing northern cultures such as Inuit, Athabaskan, and Norse are particularly instructive. Adaptations to life in the cold may ultimately reveal their secrets through biocultural research design modeling of environmental research. With both practical and theoretical gains still wide open, the field needs renewed attention from human biology. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 19:218–227, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Are the circumpolar inuit becoming obese?
Authors: Young T.K.
Published: February 2007

This paper reviews the ethnographic, historical, and recent epidemiological evidence of obesity among the Inuit/Eskimo in the circumpolar region. The Inuit are clearly at higher risk for obesity than other populations globally, if “universal” measures based on body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference and criteria such as those of WHO are used. Inuit women in particular have very high mean waist circumference levels in international comparisons. Given the limited trend data, BMI‐defined obesity is more common today than even as recently as three decades ago. Inuit are not immune from the health hazards associated with obesity. However, the “dose–response” curves for the impact of obesity on metabolic indicators such as plasma lipids and blood pressure are lower than in other populations. Long‐term, follow‐up studies are needed to determine the metabolic consequences and disease risks of different categories of obesity. At least in one respect, the higher relative sitting height among Inuit, obesity measures based on BMI may not be appropriate for the Inuit. Ultimately, it is important to go beyond simple anthropometry to more accurate determination of body composition studies, and also localization of body fat using imaging techniques such as ultrasound and computed tomography. Internationally, there is increasing recognition of the need for ethnospecific obesity criteria. Notwithstanding the need for better quality epidemiological data, there is already an urgent need for action in the design and evaluation of community‐based health interventions, if the emerging epidemic of obesity and other chronic diseases are to be averted. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 19:181–189, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Social contexts, syndemics, and infectious disease in northern Aboriginal populations
Authors: Ann Herring D. , Sattenspiel Lisa
Published: February 2007

Until the last half of the 20th century, infectious diseases dominated the health profile of northern North American Aboriginal communities. Research on the 1918 influenza pandemic exemplifies some of the ways in which the social context of European contact and ensuing economic developments affected the nature of infectious disease ecology as well as the frequency and severity of the problem. To understand these impacts it is necessary to consider the web of interactions among multiple pathogens, the biology of the human host, and the social environment in which people lived. At the very least, an understanding of the history of the impact of infectious diseases on northern North American communities requires attention not only to potential interactions among cocirculating pathogens, but their links to key social, historical, and economic factors that exacerbated their adverse effects and contributed to excess mortality. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 19:190–202, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.