bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Clinical implications of icaA and icaD genes in coagulase negative staphylococci and Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia in febrile neutropenic pediatric cancer patients
Authors: El‐Mahallawy Hadir A. , Loutfy Samah A. , El‐Wakil Mohamed , El‐Al Abeer K. Abd , Morcos Hanaa
Published: February 2009

Background

Staphylococci are the most frequently isolated organisms from blood cultures of febrile neutropenic (FN) cancer patients. We aimed to define the nature of these isolates by studying the prevalence of icaA and icaD genes in coagulase‐negative staphylococci (CoNS) and Staphylococcus aureus isolates in relation to clinical and microbiological features.

Procedure

Fifty‐five CoNS and S. aureus isolates from blood cultures of FN pediatric patients receiving chemotherapy were tested for slime production using Congo red agar plate test (CRA test), and for the presence of icaA and icaD genes by PCR.

Results

Of the CoNS isolates, eight were positive for ica genes, and three were slime positive/ica negative. A total of 11 (24.4%) cases of CoNS bacteremia were either ica genes or CRA test positive. There was a concordance between ica genes and CRA test positivity (P < 0.001). S. aureus isolates exhibited icaA and icaD genes more than CoNS isolates (P = 0.03). Vancomycin was significantly more prescribed in episodes of ica‐positive cases (P = 0.029).

Conclusions

The results of the present study support the hypothesis that the ica genes are important virulence markers for clinically significant CoNS isolates, indicating their ability to produce slime. This could be used to assign a group with higher risk FN. On the other hand, absence of these genes may permit, along with other clinical criteria, the consideration of a low‐risk FN episode and allow for safe early discharge. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2009;52:824–828. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
MscL of Bacillus subtilis prevents selective release of cytoplasmic proteins in a hypotonic environment
Authors: Kouwen Thijs R. H. M. , Antelmann Haike , van der Ploeg René , Denham Emma L. , Hecker Michael , van Dijl Jan Maarten
Published: February 2009

Bacillus subtilis serves as an excellent model to study protein secretion at a proteomic scale. Most of the extracellular proteins are exported from the cytoplasm via the secretory (Sec) pathway. Despite extensive studies, the secretion mechanisms of about 25% of the extracellular proteins are unknown. This suggests that B. subtilis makes use of alternative mechanisms to release proteins into its environment. In search for novel pathways, which contribute to biogenesis of the B. subtilis exoproteome, we investigated a possible role of the large conductance mechanosensitive channel protein MscL. We compared protein secretion by MscL deficient and proficient B. subtilis cells. MscL did not contribute to secretion under standard growth conditions. Unexpectedly, we discovered that under hypo‐osmotic shock conditions specific, normally cytoplasmic proteins were released by mscL mutant cells. This protein release was selective since not all cytoplasmic proteins were equally well released. We established that this protein release by mscL mutant cells cannot be attributed to cell death or lysis. The presence of MscL, therefore, seems to prevent the specific release of cytoplasmic proteins by B. subtilis during hypo‐osmotic shock. Our unprecedented findings imply that an unidentified system for selective release of cytoplasmic proteins is active in B. subtilis.
IgG glycosylation analysis
Authors: Huhn Carolin , Selman Maurice H. J. , Ruhaak L. Renee , Deelder André M. , Wuhrer Manfred
Published: February 2009

A multitude of monoclonal IgG antibodies directed against a variety of therapeutic targets is currently being developed and produced by biotechnological companies. The biological activity of IgGs is modulated by the N‐glycans attached to the fragment crystallizable (Fc) part. For example, lack of core‐fucoses on these N‐glycans may lead to a drastic enhancement of antibody‐mediated cellular cytotoxicity. Moreover, sialylation of Fc N‐glycans determines the immunosuppressive properties of polyclonal IgG from human blood, which stimulates research into Fc glycosylation of human plasma IgG in various disease settings. This review presents and evaluates the different approaches which are used for IgG glycosylation analysis: N‐glycans may be enzymatically or chemically released from purified IgG, prior to chromatographic or mass spectrometric analysis. Moreover, IgGs may be treated with endoproteinases such as trypsin, followed by glycosylation analysis at the glycopeptide level, which is generally accomplished by HPLC with ESI‐MS. Alternatively, intact IgGs or fragments thereof obtained by enzymatic cleavages in the hinge region and by reduction may be analyzed by a large number of analytical techniques, including MS and chromatography or CE.
The trajectory of religious coping across time in response to the diagnosis of breast cancer
Authors: Gall Terry Lynn , Guirguis‐Younger Manal , Charbonneau Claire , Florack Peggy
Published: February 2009

Objectives: This study investigates the mobilization of religious coping in women's response to breast cancer.

Methods: Ninety‐three breast cancer patients and 160 women with a benign diagnosis participated. Breast cancer patients were assessed on their use of religious coping strategies and their level of emotional distress and well‐being at pre‐diagnosis, 1 week pre‐surgery, and 1 month, 6 months, 1 year, and 2 years post‐surgery.

Results: In general, breast cancer patients used religious strategies more frequently than women with a benign diagnosis; however, the patterns of use were similar across time for the majority of strategies. Results showed that religious coping strategies are mobilized early on in the process of adjustment to breast cancer. Breast cancer patients' use of support or comfort‐related strategies peaked around surgery and then declined, while the use of strategies that reflected more a process of meaning‐making remained elevated or increased into the long‐term. Positive and negative forms of religious coping were predictive of concurrent distress and emotional well‐being. As well, there was evidence that the mobilization of religious coping was predictive of changes in distress and well‐being across time. For example, women's increased use of active surrender coping from 1 to 6 months post‐surgery was related to a concomitant decrease in emotional distress and increase in emotional well‐being.

Conclusions: Notably the nature of the relationship between religious coping and emotional adjustment depended on the type of religious coping strategy as well as the specific time of assessment. Specificity of information in the use of religious coping can allow health‐care professionals to better identify resources and address potential points of difficulty during the process of women's adjustment to breast cancer. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Redesign of a protein–peptide interaction: Characterization and applications
Authors: Jackrel Meredith E. , Valverde Roberto , Regan Lynne
Published: February 2009

The design of protein–peptide interactions has a wide array of practical applications and also reveals insight into the basis for molecular recognition. Here, we present the redesign of a tetratricopeptide repeat (TPR) protein scaffold, along with its corresponding peptide ligand. We show that the binding properties of these protein–peptide pairs can be understood, quantitatively, using straightforward chemical considerations. The recognition pairs we have developed are also practically useful for the specific identification of tagged proteins. We demonstrate the facile replacement of these proteins, which we have termed T‐Mods (TPR‐based recognition module), for antibodies in both detection and purification applications. The new protein–peptide pair has a dissociation constant that is weaker than typical antibody–antigen interactions, yet the recognition pair is highly specific and we have shown that this affinity is sufficient for both Western blotting and affinity purification. Moreover, we demonstrate that this more moderate affinity is actually advantageous for purification applications, because extremely harsh conditions are not required to dissociate the T‐Mod‐peptide interaction. The results we present are important, not only because they represent a successful application of protein design but also because they help define the properties that should be sought in other scaffolds that are being developed as antibody replacements.
Exact space symmetry of electron states in lattices under a magnetic field
Authors: Tronc P.
Published: February 2009

We previously established the transformations (including the gauge transformations) induced within the electron Hamiltonian by the point‐ and space‐symmetry operations of three‐ and low‐periodic lattices under a uniform magnetic field [P. Tronc and V. P. Smirnov, Phys. Status Solidi B 244, 2010 (2007)]. We also determined the full symmetry group of electron eigenfunctions by taking into account the electron confinement in tubes whose axes are parallel to the magnetic field direction. The confinement is known from experiments with semiconductors. From the symmetry point of view, the confinement implies a lack of translational symmetry in the directions that are not parallel to the field. A theoretical proof is given here for the lack of translational symmetry in any lattice and the relation between the electron‐Hamiltonian symmetry group and the eigenfunction symmetry group is provided. (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Electronic structure of BeTe and ZnTe
Authors: Joshi K. B. , Pandya R. K. , Kothari R. K. , Sharma B. K.
Published: February 2009

The empirical pseudopotential method has been applied to study electronic band structures of BeTe and ZnTe. The band‐structure calculations are performed to study the electron momentum density distribution also in the two semiconductors. The electron momentum distribution is studied in terms of Compton profiles computed along [100], [110], [111], [210], [211] and the [221] directions. The autocorrelation functions have also been computed along the principal crystallographic directions. The band‐by‐band decomposition of autocorrelation functions and the directional Compton profiles are presented. The results are interpreted in terms of band structure. The spherically averaged Compton profile of ZnTe is compared with the available experimental data. On the basis of theoretical anisotropies in the Compton profiles and autocorrelations, bands, bonds and momentum density build up in BeTe and ZnTe semiconductors are discussed. (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Specific Lineage-Priming of Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells Provides the Molecular Framework for Their Plasticity
Authors: Delorme Bruno , Ringe Jochen , Pontikoglou Charalampos , Gaillard Julien , Langonné Alain , Sensebé Luc , Noël Danièle , Jorgensen Christian , Häupl Thomas , Charbord Pierre
Published: February 2009

Lineage-priming is a molecular model of stem cell (SC) differentiation in which proliferating SCs express a subset of genes associated to the differentiation pathways to which they can commit. This concept has been developed for hematopoietic SCs, but has been poorly studied for other SC populations. Because the differentiation potential of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM MSCs) remains controversial, we have explored the theory of lineage-priming applied to these cells. We show that proliferating primary layers and clones of BM MSCs have precise priming to the osteoblastic (O), chondrocytic (C), adipocytic (A), and the vascular smooth muscle (V) lineages, but not to skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, hematopoietic, hepatocytic, or neural lineages. Priming was shown both at the mRNA (300 transcripts were evaluated) and the protein level. In particular, the master transactivator proteins PPARG, RUNX2, and SOX9 were coexpressed before differentiation induction in all cells from incipient clones. We further show that MSCs cultured in the presence of inducers differentiate into the lineages for which they are primed. Our data point out to a number of signaling pathways that might be activated in proliferating MSCs and would be responsible for the differentiation and proliferation potential of these cells. Our results extend the notion of lineage-priming and provide the molecular framework for inter-A, -O, -C, -V plasticity of BM MSCs. Our data highlight the use of BM MSCs for the cell therapy of skeletal or vascular disorders, but provide a word of caution about their use in other clinical indications.

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest is found at the end of this article.
Deconstructing Stem Cell Tumorigenicity: A Roadmap to Safe Regenerative Medicine
Authors: Knoepfler Paul S.
Published: February 2009

Many of the earliest stem cell studies were conducted on cells isolated from tumors rather than from embryos. Of particular interest was research on embryonic carcinoma cells (EC), a type of stem cell derived from teratocarcinoma. The EC research laid the foundation for the later discovery of and subsequent work on embryonic stem cells (ESC). Both ESC isolated from the mouse (mESC) and then later from humans (hESC) shared not only pluripotency with their EC cousins, but also robust tumorigenicity as each readily form teratoma. Surprisingly, decades after the discovery of mESC, the question of what drives ESC to form tumors remains largely an open one. This gap in the field is particularly serious as stem cell tumorigenicity represents the key obstacle to the safe use of stem cell-based regenerative medicine therapies. Although some adult stem cell therapies appear to be safe, they have only a very narrow range of uses in human disease. Our understanding of the tumorigenicity of human induced pluripotent stem cells (IPSC), perhaps the most promising modality for future patient-specific regenerative medicine therapies, is rudimentary. However, IPSC are predicted to possess tumorigenic potential equal to or greater than that of ESC. Here, the links between pluripotency and tumorigenicity are explored. New methods for more accurately testing the tumorigenic potential of IPSC and of other stem cells applicable to regenerative medicine are proposed. Finally, the most promising emerging approaches for overcoming the challenges of stem cell tumorigenicity are highlighted.

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest is found at the end of this article.
Field Emission and Radial Distribution Function Studies of Fractal-like Amorphous Carbon Nanotips
Authors: Solá F , Biaggi-Labiosa A , Fonseca LF , Resto O , Lebrón-Colón M , Meador MA
Published: February 2009

The short-range order of individual fractal-like amorphous carbon nanotips was investigated by means of energy-filtered electron diffraction in a transmission electron microscope (TEM). The nanostructures were grown in porous silicon substrates in situ within the TEM by the electron beam-induced deposition method. The structure factorS(k) and the reduced radial distribution functionG(r) were calculated. From these calculations a bond angle of 124° was obtained which suggests a distorted graphitic structure. Field emission was obtained from individual nanostructures using two micromanipulators with sub-nanometer positioning resolution. A theoretical three-stage model that accounts for the geometry of the nanostructures provides a value for the field enhancement factor close to the one obtained experimentally from the Fowler-Nordheim law.
Axially homogeneous, zero mean flow buoyancy-driven turbulence in a vertical pipe
Authors: CHOLEMARI MURALI R. , ARAKERI JAYWANT H.
Published: February 2009

We report an experimental study of a new type of turbulent flow that is driven purely by buoyancy. The flow is due to an unstable density difference, created using brine and water, across the ends of a long (length/diameter=9) vertical pipe. The Schmidt numberScis 670, and the Rayleigh number (Ra) based on the density gradient and diameter is about 108. Under these conditions the convection is turbulent, and the time-averaged velocity at any point is ‘zero’. The Reynolds number based on the Taylor microscale,Reλ, is about 65. The pipe is long enough for there to be an axially homogeneous region, with a linear density gradient, about 6–7 diameters long in the midlength of the pipe. In the absence of a mean flow and, therefore, mean shear, turbulence is sustained just by buoyancy. The flow can be thus considered to be an axially homogeneous turbulent natural convection driven by a constant (unstable) density gradient. We characterize the flow using flow visualization and particle image velocimetry (PIV). Measurements show that the mean velocities and the Reynolds shear stresses are zero across the cross-section; the root mean squared (r.m.s.) of the vertical velocity is larger than those of the lateral velocities (by about one and half times at the pipe axis). We identify some features of the turbulent flow using velocity correlation maps and the probability density functions of velocities and velocity differences. The flow away from the wall, affected mainly by buoyancy, consists of vertically moving fluid masses continually colliding and interacting, while the flow near the wall appears similar to that in wall-bound shear-free turbulence. The turbulence is anisotropic, with the anisotropy increasing to large values as the wall is approached. A mixing length model with the diameter of the pipe as the length scale predicts well the scalings for velocity fluctuations and the flux. This model implies that the Nusselt number would scale asRa1/2Sc1/2, and the Reynolds number would scale asRa1/2Sc−1/2. The velocity and the flux measurements appear to be consistent with theRa1/2scaling, although it must be pointed out that the Rayleigh number range was less than 10. The Schmidt number was not varied to check theScscaling. The fluxes and the Reynolds numbers obtained in the present configuration are much higher compared to what would be obtained in Rayleigh–Bénard (R–B) convection for similar density differences.
Theory for differential transport of scalars in sheared stratified turbulence
Authors: JACKSON P. RYAN , REHMANN CHRIS R.
Published: February 2009

Scalars with different molecular diffusivities can be transported at different rates in a strongly stratified, weakly turbulent flow. Rapid distortion theory (RDT) is used to examine the mechanisms responsible for differential diffusion of scalars in a sheared stratified flow. The theory, which applies when the flow is strongly stratified, predicts upgradient flux and its wavenumber dependence, which previous direct numerical simulations have shown to be important in differential diffusion. The net effect of shear on differential diffusion depends on the Grashof number, or the relative importance of buoyancy and viscous effects. RDT also allows the effects of the density ratio, Schmidt number, Lewis number, scalar activity and mean shear to be examined without the high computational cost of direct numerical simulation. RDT predicts that differential diffusion will increase with increasing density ratio, but only at low Grashof number. When the Lewis number is fixed, the Grashof number below which differential diffusion occurs decreases with increasing Schmidt number, and when one of the Schmidt numbers is fixed, differential diffusion decreases with increasing Lewis number. Also, differential transport of passive scalars increases when the Schmidt number of the scalar stratifying the flow increases.
Impact of a rising stream on a horizontal plate of finite extent
Authors: CHRISTODOULIDES P. , DIAS F.
Published: February 2009

The steady flow of a stream emerging from a nozzle, hitting a horizontal plate and falling under gravity is considered. Depending on the length of the plate L and the Froude number F, the plate can either divert the stream or lead to its detachment. First, the problem is reformulated using conformal mappings. The resulting problem is then solved by a collocation Galerkin method; a particular form is assumed for the solution, and certain coefficients in that representation are then found numerically by satisfying Bernoulli's equation on the free surfaces at certain discrete points. The resulting equations are solved by Newton's method, yielding various configurations of the solution based on the values of F and L. The lift exerted on the plate is computed and discussed. If the plate is long enough, physically meaningful solutions are found to exist only for values of F greater than or equal to a certain critical value F0, which is to be determined. Results are presented, both for F > F0 where the detachment is horizontal and for F = F0 where the detachment point is a stagnation point at a 120° corner. Related asymmetric flows where the rising stream is inclined are also studied.
High-Reynolds-number turbulent boundary layer friction drag reduction from wall-injected polymer solutions
Authors: WINKEL E. S. , OWEIS G. F. , VANAPALLI S. A. , DOWLING D. R. , PERLIN M. , SOLOMON M. J. , CECCIO S. L.
Published: February 2009

A set of controlled high-Reynolds-number experiments has been conducted at the William B. Morgan Large Cavitation Channel (LCC) in Memphis, Tennessee to investigate the friction drag reduction achieved by injecting aqueous poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) solutions at three different mean molecular weights into the near-zero-pressure-gradient turbulent boundary layer that forms on a smooth flat test surface having a length of nearly 11m. The test model spanned the 3.05m width of the LCC test section and had an overall length of 12.9m. Skin-friction drag was measured with six floating-plate force balances at downstream-distance-based Reynolds numbers as high as 220 million and free stream speeds up to 20ms−1. For a given polymer type, the level of drag reduction was measured for a range of free stream speeds, polymer injection rates and concentrations of the injected solution. Polymer concentration fields in the near-wall region (0 <y+< ~103) were examined at three locations downstream of the injector using near-wall planar laser-induced-fluorescence imaging. The development and extent of drag reduction and polymer mixing are compared to previously reported results using the traditionalK-factor scaling. Unlike smaller scale and lower speed experiments, speed dependence is observed in theK-scaled results for the higher molecular weight polymers and it is postulated that this dependence is caused by molecular aggregation and/or flow-induced polymer degradation (chain scission). The evolution of near-wall polymer concentration is divided into three regimes: (i) the development region near the injector where drag reduction increases with downstream distance and the polymer is highly inhomogeneous forming filaments near the wall, (ii) the transitional mixing region where drag reduction starts to decrease as the polymer mixes across the boundary layer and where filaments are less pronounced and (iii) the final region where the polymer mixing and dilution is set by the rate of boundary layer growth. Unlike pipe-flow friction-drag reduction, the asymptotic maximum drag reduction (MDR) either was not reached or did not persist in these experiments. Instead, the nearest approach to MDR was transitory and occurred between the development and transitional regions. The length of the development region was observed to increase monotonically with increasing polymer molecular weight, injection rate, concentration and decreasing free stream speed. And finally, the near-wall polymer concentration is correlated to the measured drag reduction for the three polymer molecular weights in the form of a proposed empirical drag-reduction curve.
Human sperm accumulation near surfaces: a simulation study
Authors: SMITH D. J. , GAFFNEY E. A. , BLAKE J. R. , KIRKMAN-BROWN J. C.
Published: February 2009

A hybrid boundary integral/slender body algorithm for modelling flagellar cell motility is presented. The algorithm uses the boundary element method to represent the ‘wedge-shaped’ head of the human sperm cell and a slender body theory representation of the flagellum. The head morphology is specified carefully due to its significant effect on the force and torque balance and hence movement of the free-swimming cell. The technique is used to investigate the mechanisms for the accumulation of human spermatozoa near surfaces. Sperm swimming in an infinite fluid, and near a plane boundary, with prescribed planar and three-dimensional flagellar waveforms are simulated. Both planar and ‘elliptical helicoid’ beating cells are predicted to accumulate at distances of approximately 8.5–22 μm from surfaces, for flagellar beating with angular wavenumber of 3π to 4π. Planar beating cells with wavenumber of approximately 2.4π or greater are predicted to accumulate at a finite distance, while cells with wavenumber of approximately 2π or less are predicted to escape from the surface, likely due to the breakdown of the stable swimming configuration. In the stable swimming trajectory the cell has a small angle of inclination away from the surface, no greater than approximately 0.5°. The trapping effect need not depend on specialized non-planar components of the flagellar beat but rather is a consequence of force and torque balance and the physical effect of the image systems in a no-slip plane boundary. The effect is relatively weak, so that a cell initially one body length from the surface and inclined at an angle of 4°–6° towards the surface will not be trapped but will rather be deflected from the surface. Cells performing rolling motility, where the flagellum sweeps out a ‘conical envelope’, are predicted to align with the surface provided that they approach with sufficiently steep angle. However simulation of cells swimming against a surface in such a configuration is not possible in the present framework. Simulated human sperm cells performing a planar beat with inclination between the beat plane and the plane-of-flattening of the head were not predicted to glide along surfaces, as has been observed in mouse sperm. Instead, cells initially with the head approximately 1.5–3 μm from the surface were predicted to turn away and escape. The simulation model was also used to examine rolling motility due to elliptical helicoid flagellar beating. The head was found to rotate by approximately 240° over one beat cycle and due to the time-varying torques associated with the flagellar beat was found to exhibit ‘looping’ as has been observed in cells swimming against coverslips.
Lateral force on a rigid sphere in large-inertia laminar pipe flow
Authors: MATAS JEAN-PHILIPPE , MORRIS JEFFREY F. , GUAZZELLI ÉLISABETH
Published: February 2009

We present a prediction of the lateral force exerted on a rigid neutrally buoyant sphere in circular cross-section Poiseuille flow. The force is calculated with the method of matched asymptotic expansions. We investigate the influence of the pipe Reynolds number in the range 1–2000 on the equilibrium position and the magnitude of the lateral force. We show that the predicted lift force in a circular geometry is qualitatively similar to, but quantitatively different from, that in a plane channel. The predicted force in the pipe is significantly smaller than the channel result, and the zero of the force which determines the equilibrium radial position of a suspended particle lies closer to the centreline in the pipe.
Heteroclinic connections in plane Couette flow
Authors: HALCROW J. , GIBSON J. F. , CVITANOVIĆ P. , VISWANATH D.
Published: February 2009

Plane Couette flow transitions to turbulence at Re ≈ 325 even though the laminar solution with a linear profile is linearly stable for all Re (Reynolds number). One starting point for understanding this subcritical transition is the existence of invariant sets in the state space of the Navier–Stokes equation, such as upper and lower branch equilibria and periodic and relative periodic solutions, that are distinct from the laminar solution. This article reports several heteroclinic connections between such objects and briefly describes a numerical method for locating heteroclinic connections. We show that the nature of streaks and streamwise rolls can change significantly along a heteroclinic connection.
Violence in stalking situations
Authors: McEwan T. E. , Mullen P. E. , MacKenzie R. D. , Ogloff J. R. P.
Published: February 2009

Background

Stalking is often viewed as a precursor to violence, but determining which stalkers might attack is a difficult task. This study overcomes shortfalls in previous investigations by adopting a pseudo-prospective design and examining potential risk factors for different types of stalker.

Method

Demographic, behavioural and diagnostic information was collected from stalkers referred to a community forensic mental health service (n=211). Potential risk factors for stalking violence were identified using odds ratios and χ2tests, and entered into logistic regression models. Model utility was assessed using receiver operating characteristic curves.

Results

Amongst Rejected ex-intimate stalkers, violence was best predicted by previous violence, making threats and being employed (area under the curve=0.75), while for stalkers with other motives and relationships to the victim, being aged less than 30 years, substance use at the time of stalking and prior violence best predicted stalking violence (area under the curve=0.80).

Conclusions

Stalkers at increased risk of violence can be accurately identified by examining motivational and relationship type in conjunction with specific relevant risk factors. Previous violence is a particularly important risk factor, as are threats amongst ex-intimate stalkers. Approach behaviours and psychosis were shown to be less useful in predicting violence.
The development of anxiety disorders in childhood: an integrative review
Authors: Murray L. , Creswell C. , Cooper P. J.
Published: February 2009

We present an integrative review of the development of child anxiety, drawing on a number of strands of research. Family aggregation and genetic studies indicate raised vulnerability to anxiety in offspring of adults with the disorder (e.g. the temperamental style of behavioural inhibition, or information processing biases). Environmental factors are also important; these include adverse life events and exposure to negative information or modelling. Parents are likely to be key, although not unique, sources of such influences, particularly if they are anxious themselves. Some parenting behaviours associated with child anxiety, such as overprotection, may be elicited by child characteristics, especially in the context of parental anxiety, and these may serve to maintain child disorder. Emerging evidence emphasizes the importance of taking the nature of child and parental anxiety into account, of constructing assessments and interventions that are both disorder specific, and of considering bidirectional influences.
Talking ‘Privilege’: barriers to musical attainment in adolescents’ talk of musical role models
Authors: Ivaldi Antonia , O'Neill Susan
Published: February 2009

Using a discursive approach, this study explores the ways that adolescents construct the notion of social status and ‘being privileged’ through their talk about musician role models. Drawing on social identity theory (see Tajfel, 1978), we examined how adolescents moved between the relational ‘in’ and ‘out’ groups of being privileged versus being disadvantaged as a framework for discussing classical and popular musician role models. Seven focus groups were conducted, each composed of male and female adolescent musicians and non-musicians aged 14–15 years. Participants were asked to discuss 19 pictures of famous classical and popular musicians, commenting on whether they were familiar or unfamiliar figures, and whether they were liked or disliked and the reasons why. Through their talk, the adolescents constructed and negotiated a complex understanding of musical subcultures, whereby high levels of expertise and success were perceived within the notion of privilege. Findings suggest that adolescents' perceptions of privilege may act as a barrier or constraint to their exploration of alternative conceptualisations of musical expertise and success, thereby limiting their own musical aspirations.
Instrumental and vocal teaching: how do music students learn to teach?
Authors: Haddon Elizabeth
Published: February 2009

A survey of final-year music students at the University of York for the Investigating Musical Performance research project found that 45% (23 of the 51 students in the year group) regularly gave instrumental or vocal lessons. Semi-structured interviews with 16 students revealed a range of teaching activities including workshop leading, one-to-one lessons and group teaching. This paper examines the attitudes of the nine students engaged in giving instrumental lessons and explores their development as teachers and their understanding of some of the key concepts of teaching and learning. Findings suggest that students learned to teach through increased experience rather than formal training, and although they were enthusiastic, reporting benefits to their own learning and performing, they could have been more pro-active regarding their development as teachers and more resourceful in their approaches towards lesson content and materials, strategies relating to modelling and motivation and the teaching of practice techniques. Increased provision of support and training opportunities could be made by Higher Education institutions, by giving students feedback regarding their effectiveness as teachers, opportunities to discuss their teaching, and enabling learning through mentoring partnerships with more experienced teachers.
A tutor in your back pocket: reflections on the use of iPods and podcasting in an undergraduate popular music programme
Authors: Cooper Steve , Dale Crispin , Spencer Steve
Published: February 2009

This article reports upon a research project undertaken at the University of Wolverhampton where iPods and podcasting were used as a delivery and assessment mechanism within an undergraduate Popular Music degree programme. A sample drawn from students studying the programme was interviewed to explore their engagement with the technology and the curriculum materials produced. Results found that although not a replacement for traditional lectures, iPods and podcasting are an effective means for supporting student learning. Benefits included motivating learners, enabling student interaction, offering time-shifted learning engagement and personalisation of learning. This article evaluates the pedagogical adoption of iPods and podcasting within a music education context and makes suggestions for future areas of research.
Teacher research: Making a difference in music education. A one-day symposium to celebrate 25 years of the British Journal of Music Education
Authors: BURNARD PAMELA , SPRUCE GARY
Published: February 2009

On 1st November 2008, more than 50 people gathered in the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the BJME. The attendees represented the whole spectrum of the music education community including teachers, researchers, students and teacher-educators as well as BJME past editors. We were delighted to welcome colleagues not only from the UK but also from Ireland, Norway, Italy and the USA.
TheHukouSystem and Rural-Urban Migration in China: Processes and Changes
Authors: Chan Kam Wing , Zhang Li
Published: February 2009

Until recently, few people in mainland China would dispute the significance of thehukou(household registration) system in affecting their lives – indeed, in determining their fates. At the macro level, the centrality of this system has led some to argue that the industrialization strategy and thehukousystem were the crucial organic parts of the Maoist model: the strategy could not have been implemented without the system. A number of China scholars in the West, notably Christiansen, Chan, Cheng and Seiden, Solinger, and Mallee, have begun in recent years to study this important subject in relation to population mobility and its social and economic ramifications. Unlike population registration systems in many other countries, the Chinese system was designed not merely to provide population statistics and identify personal status, but also directly to regulate population distribution and serve many other important objectives desired by the state. In fact, thehukousystem is one of the major tools of social control employed by the state. Its functions go far beyond simply controlling population mobility.
A Sub-Provincial Recipe of Coastal Development in China: The Case of Qingdao
Authors: Chung Jae Ho
Published: February 2009

No monocausal explanation will suffice to account for the complex process of economic development. At different times and under different politico-economic circumstances, different combinations of actors and institutions are involved as agents of development, which include factories, investment banks, entrepreneurial bourgeoisie, foreign capital and the state. When “telescoping” the arduous process of development is the key imperative, the role of the state becomes particularly crucial in designing overall development strategies, governing the market by getting the prices wrong, and controlling the major sources of financing development. It should be noted, however, that the state is a multi-layered structure of authority with its own intra- and inter-governmental dynamics. As the extensive literature on the East Asian Newly Industrializing Economies (NIEs) almost uniformly adopts the highly encompassing term of state, it largely fails to differentiate the roles performed by the central and local governments in executing “developmental intervention.”
Rural Welfare in Fujian, 1976–1978: The Maoist Legacy
Authors: Lyons Thomas P.
Published: February 2009

The literature on interregional disparities in China has become quite extensive, as has that on absolute poverty and its regional incidence. But most of this work deals with huge “regions” – entire provinces or even groups of provinces (“coastal” versus “western” China) – each of which is comparable, in area and population, to a good-sized country. Needless to say, there may well be large variations within such regions at any point in time, and large spatial shifts within them over time. Many studies suggest, for example, that, contrary to the “Maoist model,” relative disparities among provinces did not narrow significantly during the Maoist era. Can the same be said of disparities among counties, within individual provinces? And are the broad spatial patterns of poverty, as observed across provinces, somehow replicated in microcosm within particular provinces?
Public Space for Memory in Contemporary Civil Society: Freedom to Learn from the Mirror of the Past?
Authors: Mazur Mary G.
Published: February 2009

On 17 May 1996 at the 30th anniversary of the beginning of the Great Cultural Revolution, a group of about 40 people met in the number two crypt at Babaoshan national cemetery on the western outskirts of Beijing where the ashes of China's highest elite are interred. They met at that particular time in memory of four men who had been declared traitors and enemies of the state in 1966 at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution. In this crypt are kept the ashes of three of the men, Deng Tuo, Wu Han and Liu Ren. The ashes of the fourth, Liao Mosha, were scattered, according to his wishes, at the foot of a tree beneath the Great Wall.
Behind the Scenes of the Xi'an Incident: The Case of the Lixingshe
Authors: Youwei Xu , Billingsley Philip
Published: February 2009

The year 1936 was a fateful one in the annals of modern China. Japan's steady encroachment, dating back to the 1931 Mukden Incident, had begun to spill over beyond the Great Wall. A sense of national crisis pervaded the country and calls for unity against Japanese aggression were heard even within the ruling Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) of Chiang Kai-shek, whose policy insisted on first eliminating its arch-rival the Communist Party. As for the Communist Party, the successful arrival of its Central Red Army in northern Shaanxi province in late 1935 following the epochal Long March had enabled it to claim readiness to take on the Japanese threat directly, and its persistent demands for a National United Front in which the Communist Party would be included were meeting with approval from a wide segment of the population.
China's Militarized Interstate Dispute Behaviour 1949–1992: A First Cut at the Data
Authors: Johnston Alastair Iain
Published: February 2009

China's military exercises in the Taiwan Strait in 1995–96 accentuated concerns among states in the Asia-Pacific region about what kind of great power China will become if its economic growth continues at present rates and if its domestic political system does not change appreciably. In most respects many Chinese internal post-mortems on the crisis were quite similar to those in other states: coercive diplomacy led to an increase in voter support for Beijing's nemesis, Lee Teng-hui, and it increased worries among surrounding states about how China might handle bilateral disputes with them; but it also showed just how seriously the Chinese regime takes threats to the related interests of territorial integrity and domestic legitimacy.
Criminal Defence in China: The Possible Impact of the 1996 Criminal Procedural Law Reform
Authors: Fu H. L.
Published: February 2009

Criminal procedure in China had been governed by the 1979 Criminal Procedure Law (CPL 1979). This was amended in 1996 (the Amendment). In many aspects, the Amendment introduces important changes to the previous procedures and significantly redistributes the existing division of powers within the criminal justice system. It restricts police power and the prosecution's discretion. It enhances the position of the court and differentiates the role of judges. It also offers more protection for the rights of the accused and enhances the position of defence lawyers in the criminal process in substantive and procedural aspects. Consequently criminal lawyers are expected to play a more active and meaningful role in criminal defence.
The Literary Association (Wenxue yanjiu hui, 1920–1947) and the Literary Field of Early Republican China
Authors: Hockx Michel
Published: February 2009

The Literary Association (Wenxue yanjiu hui) was established on 4 December 1920 by 12 founder members and officially inaugurated during a meeting in Beijing's Central Park (now Zhongshan Park) on 4 January 1921. In the following years more than 100 members joined and at least two branch societies were established. Under its aegis a number of literary supplements, magazines and series of books were published. It was the largest literary society of the 1920s. The exact date of its demise is unknown.
An Overview of 50 Years of the People's Republic of China: Some Progress, but Big Problems Remain
Authors: Pye Lucian W.
Published: February 2009

In the very first sentence of the first article in the first issue ofThe China Quarterly, Howard L. Boorman, seeking to summarize the first decade of the PRC, wrote: “The man who faces his typewriter to set down a thousand words of coherent comment on the Communist revolution in China confronts not only a massive experiment in social engineering but also the fact that his interpretation of that experiment will expose as much of the author as it does of the revolution.” Except that now it is a computer and not a typewriter, little is different for anyone who would try to summarize what is now 50 years of the PRC. True, enough time has gone by for us now to have not just the initial standard interpretations as to what transpired in China but revisions and then further re-revisions of the story, so that even though we cannot be so bold as to say that we now have the full truth, we probably are a bit closer.
Two Decades of Rural Reform in China: An Overview and Assessment
Authors: Oi Jean C.
Published: February 2009

China's countryside has been the target of dramatic change since 1949. The CCP directed redistribution in land reform, the transformation away from private farming to collectivization, and, most recently, the move back to household production. Throughout the PRC's 50 years, agriculture and peasants have paid for the regime's ambitious programme of industrialization, as the price scissors consistently favoured the urban over the rural producers. The state struggled with its food producers over the grain harvest, using ideology and organization to maximize both the production and extraction of the surplus from the countryside.
The People's Liberation Army and the People's Republic at 50: Reform at Last
Authors: Shambaugh David
Published: February 2009

The People's Republic of China (PRC) may not have had the opportunity to celebrate 50 years of statehood had it not been for the People's Liberation Army (PLA) – nor, for that matter, is it likely that the PRC would have come into existence in the first place were it not for the PLA (as is evident in Mao's often-cited observation that, “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun!”). As the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) rode the military to power in 1949, the army also subsequently acted on several occasions to rescue the regime, maintain the Party in power and ergo sustain the People's Republic. The PLA has also been the designated protector of “state sovereignty” and “unifier” of China – acting to incorporate Tibet, Inner Mongolia, Manchuria and border regions in the south-west and north-west during the early 1950s, and fighting several border wars against China's neighbours thereafter – and it is the PLA that is ultimately charged with ensuring both that Taiwan does not seek “independence” and that China's territorial claims in the East and South China Seas are protected.
The Chinese Legal System: Continuing Commitment to the Primacy of State Power
Authors: Potter Pitman B.
Published: February 2009

On the 50th anniversary of the founding of the PRC, the legal system plays an increasingly significant role in social, economic and even political relationships. Legal norms drawn largely from foreign experiences have been selected and applied through a plethora of newly established institutions. The role of law as a basis for government authority has become a legitimate and significant issue in the broader political discourse. Despite these achievements, law in China remains dependent on the regime's policy goals. Particularly where political prerogatives are at stake, legal requirements appear to pose little restraint on state power. In this sense, the ten years that have passed since Tiananmen appear to have had little impact on the willingness of the party-state to dispense with legal requirements in pursuit of political expediency. If we are to rely upon Dicey's dictum on the rule of law being in effect when the state becomes just another actor, the rule of law in China still seems a distant prospect indeed.