bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Language Vitality among the Bidayuh of Sarawak (East Malaysia)
Authors: Coluzzi Paolo , Riget Patricia Nora , Xiaomei Wang
Published: December 2013

The study begins with a general introduction to Malaysia and its linguistic repertoire, and then focuses on the ethnic group known as Bidayuh living in the Western part of Sarawak (Borneo). The article goes on to outline the methodology employed in our research, based on a survey on language use and attitudes carried out in four different villages in the Bidayuh belt. The results are then analyzed in general terms, showing a high degree of vitality for the Bidayuh language. In contrast, when the answers given by the younger speakers of the language and those provided by the older ones are compared, a pattern of slow but steady ongoing language shift clearly emerges. The article closes with some general considerations, including further comparisons between the results of our research and those of other studies conducted in more urban environments and/or among highly educated Bidayuh. There is some evidence to show a higher degree of endangerment for the Bidayuh language outside the Bidayuh belt.
Symmetrical Voice and Applicative Alternations: Evidence from Totoli
Authors: Himmelmann Nikolaus P. , Riesberg Sonja
Published: December 2013

This paper proposes an analysis of the system of voice and applicative alternations in Totoli, a language spoken on Sulawesi in Indonesia. This system appears to be unique among Western Malayo-Polynesian languages (at least the ones reasonably well known to date). Its uniqueness is due to a particularly intricate interplay of (symmetrical) voice and applicative functions marked by a set of affixes that are clearly cognate with voice marking affixes in Philippine-type languages. In trying to tease apart the functions of the different constructions making up the system, the paper contributes to a better understanding of the commonalities and differences between symmetrical voice and applicative alternations. It also discusses variation in the use of voice-related morphology, thus providing a rather rare glimpse into the ongoing change of a western Austronesian voice system.
Innovative Numerals in Malayo-Polynesian Languages outside of Oceania
Authors: Schapper Antoinette , Hammarström Harald
Published: December 2013

In this paper, we seek to draw attention to Malayo-Polynesian languages outside of the Oceanic subgroup with innovative bases and complex numerals involving various additive, subtractive, and multiplicative procedures. We highlight the fact that the number of languages showing such innovations is more than previously recognized in the literature. Finally, we observe that the concentration of complex numeral innovations in the region of eastern Indonesia suggests Papuan influence, either through contact or substrate. However, we also note that sociocultural factors, in the form of numeral taboos and conventionalized counting practices, may have played a role in driving innovations in numerals.
Malagasy Dialect Divisions: Genetic versus Emblematic Criteria
Authors: Adelaar Alexander
Published: December 2013

This paper gives an overview of the literature on Malagasy dialect variety and the various Malagasy dialect classifications that have been proposed. It rejects the often held view that the way Malagasy dialects reflect the Proto- Austronesian phoneme sequences *li and *ti is a basic criterion for their genetic division. While the linguistic innovations shown in, respectively, central dialects (Merina, Betsileo, Sihanaka, Tanala) and southwestern dialects (Vezo, Mahafaly, Tandroy) clearly show that these groups form separate historical divisions, the linguistic developments in other (northern, eastern, and western) dialects are more difficult to interpret. The differences between Malagasy dialects are generally rather contained and do not seem to be the result of separate migration waves or the arrival of linguistically different migrant groups. The paper ends with a list of subgrouping criteria that will be useful for future research into the history of Malagasy dialects.
On the Analysis of Tone in Mee (Ekari, Ekagi, Kapauku)
Authors: Hyman Larry M. , Kobepa Niko
Published: December 2013

In this paper we present the tonal properties of Mee, a Wissel Lakes Papuan language known also as Ekari, Ekagi, and Kapauku. Since the previous accounts in the literature have been highly inadequate, allowing contradictory claims of tone, pitch-accent, and/or stress, we document the word-prosodic system and show that it is quite simple: Mee words can have a pitch drop from H to L either after the first mora or the second mora of the word. Corresponding to this simplicity, however, is a wide range of compatible interpretations. We consider how several analyses fare with respect to noun tone patterns, as well as verb tones, which are partly determined by the verb root, partly by inflectional features. From a typological perspective, the Mee system falls into the same category as Tokyo Japanese, Somali, Western Basque, and Mayo, which have also been subject to differing interpretations.
Is Puyuma a Primary Branch of Austronesian?: A Rejoinder
Authors: Sagart Laurent
Published: December 2013

This paper responds to recent criticism by Teng and Ross of a critique by Sagart of Ross’s claim, based on Teng’s grammar of Puyuma, that Puyuma has escaped the mechanism reinterpreting nominalization into verbs and should, therefore, be considered a primary branch of Austronesian. While acknowledging that Teng and Ross have presented an interpretation of the ‘do N times’ verbs that removes a part of the ground for the UVP *-en suffix being reflected in Puyuma, this paper details points in Sagart’s original paper that Teng and Ross have avoided in their response regarding Tsouic lexical innovations and fossilized *-en in two Puyuma verbs. It documents the existence of interspeaker differences in Puyuma sentences containing < in >, and argues that < in > in those and other sentences is a perfective marker of finite verbs under competition from la , a marker of new situations with perfective interpretations. Finally, it confirms the conclusion in Sagart’s paper that Puyuma has not escaped the reinterpretation of nominalizations into voicemarked verbs.
Savosavo Kinship Terminology: Social Context and Linguistic Features
Authors: Wegener Claudia
Published: December 2013

Savosavo kinship terminology is remarkable in that it covers fifteen generations, a feature unique in its immediate geographical context, the Solomon Islands, and rare cross-linguistically. The aim of this paper is to present the kinship terminology system of the easternmost Papuan language from both an anthropological and a linguistic perspective, thus providing a comprehensive account of the terms, the system they form, their morphosyntactic and pragmatic features, and how they are used in everyday life. Both consanguineal and affinal kin are considered.
’Tis Pity She’s a Realist: A Conversational Case Study in Realism and Early Modern Theater Today
Authors: Barker Roberta , Solga Kim , Mazer Cary
Published: December 2013

For some decades now the terms “realism,” “naturalism,” and their cognates have frequently appeared as pejoratives when used in connection with the performance of early modern plays. Realist and naturalist theatrical approaches to the early modern canon, many scholars believe, have twisted both our understanding of these works’ historical dramaturgy and our sense of their possible meanings within contemporary contexts. In the introduction to this special issue of Shakespeare Bulletin , Barker, Solga, and Mazer seek to complicate this critical narrative by reconsidering both realism’s past relationships with early modern drama and its potential impact on future performances of early modern plays via a dialogic exploration of our own, multivalent responses to just one production, Cheek by Jowl’s 2012 ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore . The critique of realism from within theater and performance studies in general and Shakespeare studies in particular has had many salutary effects, foremost among them the manner in which it has encouraged scholars and theater artists to experiment with new ways of thinking about early modern character, acting, and performance practice. At the same time, it is often based on generalizations that demand interrogation if we are more fully to comprehend the complexities of contemporary productions of the plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. In this introductory essay, the authors strive to show that not one monolithic realism, but many realism s , have shaped and continue to shape the ways in which early modern plays are performed and experienced on the modern stage.
“We really can’t be doing 1603 now. We really can’t”: Katie Mitchell, Theatrical Adaptation, and Heywood’s A Woman Killed with Kindness
Authors: Kidnie Margaret Jane
Published: December 2013

The 2011 National Theatre production of A Woman Killed with Kindness marked Katie Mitchell’s second directorial encounter with Heywood’s tragedy. Mitchell’s strategy when she first came to the play in 1991 at the Royal Shakespeare Company was to intervene relatively little in the telling of the story, allowing “historical context” to provide the relevant interpretive framework for Frankford’s punishment of his adulterous wife. Twenty years later, Mitchell abandoned 1603 in order to set the action in 1919, in part because she now heard in Woman Killed an authorial critique of—or at least a critical ambivalence towards—the avenging husband. This inability to know what Heywood (in Mitchell’s words) “really [thought] about the death of Anne”—an uncertainty of interpretation that is replicated in the play’s more recent criticism—became determining of Mitchell’s understanding of the play. This essay analyzes Mitchell’s sometimes highly interventionist performance choices, and argues that the 2011 staging—whether or not one wants to call it adaptation—sought to serve both text and author by allowing spectators to hear an underlying ambivalence towards the death (suicide, murder) of Anne Frankford. Mitchell’s turn away from an early historical setting is thus one feature of a staging that offers to re-present and re-evaluate explicitly as a site of interpretive feminist debate a drama commonly regarded as the early modern period’s finest example of domestic tragedy.
Putting it on the Floor: Naturalism and the Verfremdungseffekt in The Tempest and The Witch of Edmonton
Authors: Escolme Bridget
Published: December 2013

This essay considers the floor of the stage or set in productions of The Tempest and The Witch of Edmonton , in order to explore the juxtaposition of post-Stanislavskian acting techniques and Brechtian Verfremdungseffekte in the production of early modern drama today. Whilst students often come to our undergraduate programs having learned a theater history that opposes Brecht and Staniskavsky aesthetically and ideologically, current performance practice draws upon both cultural heritages. Escolme explores the ways in which scenography has recently endeavored to include the audience in the playworld, on the one hand, producing emotional engagement and empathy, while on the other foregrounding the dramatic fiction as theatrical. Her final case study is a workshop exploration of The Witch of Edmonton by Chris Goode and Wendy Hubbard that took place at the National Theatre Studio, London, in 2013. Goode’s practice used little by way of “table work”: the process initiated by Stanislavsky where a theater company discusses a text in detail before “putting it on the floor” and thereby often reaches consensus about the universal meanings inherent in a historic text. Goode’s approach exposed and theatricalized the processes by which we come to “understand” historical drama by staging discussion, rehearsal materials and the processes of putting on costumes, and making up Morris dances, alongside moments from the The Witch of Edmonton . Exploring and evaluating a range of theater practices, Escolme interrogates the value judgments inherent in metaphors of depth and surface as they pertain to character psychology and subtext, scenography and theatricality.
“Is’t real that I see?”: Staged Realism and the Paradox of Shakespeare’s Audience
Authors: Gamboa Brett
Published: December 2013

Among the elements required for theater—actors, action and audience—the responsibility for the “real” is often assigned to actors, who can, by allowing their own experience of imagined events to become co-extensive with their characters’, bring to the stage real emotions based on real experiences. But actors that bring character-based approaches to roles such as Shylock, Hal, Lord Capulet, or Casca can lend coherence to figures animated by their indeterminacy, winning admiration for their characters while debilitating the drama. This essay argues that the experiences of deep engagement that audiences tend to understand as encounters with the “real” depend less on actors or styles of acting than on continuous, often advertised gaps between the presenters and what they represent in performance. Flirtations with failure in performance, including those brought about by inconsistencies in the characters as written, can cast audiences as protagonists in dramas of disclosure: dramas wherein their continued access to the fictional coherence, and even to the fiction itself, is at stake. The essay thus considers a ‘“paradox of the audience” wherein the audience grows more susceptible to fiction as it and its characters break down or admit artifice, ultimately suggesting some ways in which actors might heighten our sense of the real by moderating their own.
Theatrical Realism as Feminist Intervention: Katie Mitchell’s 2011 Staging of A Woman Killed with Kindness
Authors: Malague Rosemary
Published: December 2013

Feminist theater theory of decades past would have it that both early modern drama and realism are forms that are unsuited to politically effective representations of women’s lives. Director Katie Mitchell confounded such expectations with her ingenious 2011 production of A Woman Killed with Kindness ; her application of techniques drawn from theatrical realism to this domestic tragedy was a feminist revelation. Rather than offering a conventional reading of the play, with its “main plot” concerning the Frankford marriage and its “subplot” concerning the Mountford siblings, Mitchell visually, aurally, and thematically twinned the two to create a new and nuanced whole. Instead of relying on Heywood’s words alone to tell the tale of the play, Mitchell layered them with elaborate physical, realistic “language,” thereby revealing dimensions of play’s female characters and their circumstances that the text alone would leave unseen or unspoken. Fully deploying the resources of the National Theatre, the production featured matched box sets that were the Mountford and Frankford homes; there, Mitchell foregrounded Anne and Susan, placing each “center stage” in her own house. Their parallel lives were presented in ongoing, simultaneous action; the realistic rooms and objects became resources for the actors’ embodied expression of their inner lives, of what lay under their lines—and between the scenes. This essay examines stage moments and strategies that demonstrate how realistic practices—and specifically the Stanislavskian, “extra-textual” interventions Mitchell made in a language-based, non-realistic play—rendered A Woman Killed with Kindness a powerful feminist theatrical event.
Beyond Realism: Into the Studio
Authors: Cornford Tom
Published: December 2013

In his epilogue to this special issue’s collection of essays on early modern drama and realism, Tom Cornford returns to Stanislavsky’s studio and to the practices which gave rise to his “System.” This approach is often cited as the means by which realism came to dominate the aesthetics of theater-making in the last hundred years, and yet, as Cornford shows, it was also an attempt to go beyond realism and was inspired as much by the challenges of staging Shakespeare as it was by any other form of drama. Stanislavsky’s studio practice was widely influential and this article focuses, in particular, on Harley Granville Barker’s ideal of an “exemplary theatre” (described in his 1922 book of that title). This was intended as a theatre “founded upon corporate study by the actors,” a model which is employed by Barker to redescribe Shakespeare’s work as well as to inspire innovations in future practice. Turning to the present day, Cornford uses Barker’s ideal to evaluate some current developments in studio-based theater-making before setting out his vision of a Shakespearean studio for the future.
Codebreaker: Alan Turing’s Life and Legacy: 21 June 2012–21 October 2013, Science Museum, London
Authors: Swade Doron
Published: December 2013

This exhibition at the Science Museum, London, commemorates the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Alan Turing, mathematician, computer pioneer, philosopher and wartime code breaker at Bletchley Park. The review covers the six sections of the exhibition: “Computers before Computing”; “Alan Turing’s War”; “ACE—the Automatic Computing Engine”; “Can Machines Think?”; “A Matter of Life and Death”; and
“Programming Computers Today.” The review provides the historical context of Turing’s seminal work in mathematical logic, computer science, computer design, artificial intelligence, and morphogenesis, and assesses the curatorial treatment. It also views the exhibition in the context of the museological trajectory of the Science Museum which suffered a series of devastating reorganizations that all but destroyed the curatorial
knowledge base and marginalized curators into near-invisibility.
Enlightened Secrets: Silk, Intelligent Travel, and Industrial Espionage in Eighteenth-Century France
Authors: Bertucci Paola
Published: December 2013

The paper offers a critical assessment of the notion of industrial espionage by examining the cultures of openness and secrecy in the context of silk manufacture in Enlightenment France. By analyzing the practices of dissimulation and secrecy employed by the abbé Nollet during his journey aimed at gathering technical information on the manufacture of silk in Italy, the author introduces the category of intelligent travel to provide a nuanced discussion of the relationship between technology transfer, state secrecy and academic openness.
Icons, Frames, and Language Games: Bruno Latour, On the Modern Cult of the Factish Gods
Authors: Fischer Michael M. J.
Published: December 2013

The three essays in this volume are each built around a different icon, genre, framing, or language game: a drasha (about iconoclashes), a language game (religious speech, religious paintings), and ethnopsychiatry. While Latour distances himself from social constructivism (as a “poor man’s creationism”), he fails to recognize the challenges of religious pluralism, asserting that religious speech is not communicable or translatable, a hermetic language game of feeling and gesture. For today’s world, this is insufficient.
Wind Turbines and Invisible Technology: Unarticulated Reasons for Local Opposition to Wind Energy
Authors: Hirsh Richard F. , Sovacool Benjamin K.
Published: December 2013

Local opposition to wind turbines stems from concerns about environmental and economic damage, as well as conflicts between rural and urban residents. This essay goes beyond these considerations to explore the often-unarticulated explanations for animosity toward
this energy technology. Originally, it posits that opposition to visually obvious turbines arises from the successful history of an electric utility system that made its product largely invisible in its manufacture and physical manifestation. The existence of conspicuous turbines, however, reminds observers that power generation requires difficult choices in a technology-based society. The system’s previous achievement in hiding infrastructural elements, in other words, sometimes works ironically to spur objections to wind turbines. Receiving little historical study, the concealed features of a system’s infrastructure often influence assessments of technologies. By revealing the previously invisible, this essay, which draws on research in history, landscape architecture, geography, and psychology, therefore provides insights for social scientists and policymakers.
The Pill at Fifty: Scientific Commemoration and the Politics of American Memory
Authors: Prescott Heather
Published: December 2013

This article uses coverage of the fiftieth anniversary of the Pill as an example of what Richard Hirsh describes as the “real world” role of historians of technology. It explores how the presentation of historical topics on the world wide web has complicated how the history of technology is conveyed to the public. The article shows that that the Pill is especially suited to demonstrating the public role of historians of technology because, as the most popular form of reversible birth control, it has touched the lives of millions of Americans. Thus, an exploration of how the Pill’s fiftieth anniversary was covered illustrates how historians can use their expertise to provide a nuanced interpretation of a controversial topic in the history of technology.
Agency and Industry: Charles C. Gillispie's "The Natural History of Industry," Then and Now
Authors: Roberts Lissa
Published: December 2013

Charles Coulston Gillispie’s “The Discovery of the Leblanc Process” and “The Natural History of Industry” ( Isis 48 (1957): 152–70, 398–407) were unique, yet characteristic of their era. Together, they engaged with discussions of the historical relationship between science and industry. While influential contemporaries favored a narrative structured by Anglo-centrism and the linear model, Gillispie turned to France and offered a different view. Similar to sociologist Robert Merton, Gillispie argued that French Enlightenment scientists (and scientists generally) served society and the state as educators and managers in exchange for support for their essentially disinterested pursuit of scientific knowledge. Organizing useful knowledge to inspire material and intellectual progress through teaching and encyclopedic publications was therefore part of their brief. Gillispie developed this view further in the 1980s, arguing against those who would grant agency to non-humans as well as human actors. His work is thus of continuing interest for current debates.
Industrial Evolution: Mechanical and Biological Innovation at the General Electric Research Laboratory
Authors: Curry Helen Anne
Published: December 2013

This paper explores the history of attempts to apply x-ray radiation as a tool of plant breeding through a case study of a short-lived research program at the General Electric Research Laboratory in the 1930s. As I show, the goal of this program was to turn the appearance of genetic variation into an efficient, predictable process—in other words, it was an effort to create a precision tool for altering genes. I further argue that in the context of the industrial research laboratory, as opposed to other sites where the use of radiation in plant breeding was explored, researchers sought in particular to align the processes of biological innovation with those of mechanical and industrial innovation. The account provides a new perspective on the history of agro-biotechnologies in an industrial context as well as on the intersecting histories of biological and other technological development.
Invention without Science: “Korean Edisons” and the Changing Understanding of Technology in Colonial Korea
Authors: Lee Jung
Published: December 2013

This paper examines the self-rooted invention practice of Korean inventors and its impact on colonial Korea during the 1920s and the 1930s to demonstrate how it transformed the colonial understanding of the newly introduced concept of invention. These self-made inventors, by imprinting colonial society with their modest invention through the cheerleading of “nationalistic” media, created a concept of invention that was rather native, socially-bound, and without science. Furthermore, a few colonial elites bound by colonial restraints came to envision technological development of Korea through these “small technology” without science, not through the imported innovative technologies like railroad and telegraph. By illuminating the roles of these various social processes in the unique reformulation of invention in colonial Korea, this paper emphasizes the historicity and cultural specificity of such a basic concept, as well as the importance of this kind of social analysis itself in understanding technology’s place in society.
Liberty, Equality, Technology: Virtuous Inventors and Base Profiteers in the French Industrial Revolution and Beyond
Authors: Levitt Theresa
Published: December 2013

French industrialization, although often treated as trailing behind that of Britain, offers, through its particular characteristics of strong state involvement and political turmoil, an exemplary field for studying the interactions of science, industry, and the state. This essay examines the theme of “disinterestedness” as it runs through the four papers of the special section devoted to French industry. The papers reveal distinct communities of industry and academic science with competing valorizations of secrecy, publicity, and profit. While historical actors moved between these communities (often with great reward), doing so was neither always easy nor without risk.
Reviews
Authors: Rogers Jon , Richards Russell
Published: December 2013

It’s an imp thing

Strata-caster – a virtual environment by Joseph Farbrook, Keith Chester, Robert Martin, and William Price
An Integrative Study of the Genetic, Social and Environmental Determinants of Chronic Kidney Disease Characterized by Tubulointerstitial Damages in the North Central Region of Sri Lanka
Authors: Nanayakkara Shanika , Senevirathna STMLD , Abeysekera Tilak , Chandrajith Rohana , Ratnatunga Neelakanthi , Gunarathne EDL , Yan Junxia , Hitomi Toshiaki , Muso Eri , Komiya Toshiyuki , Harada Kouji H. , Liu Wanyang , Kobayashi Hatasu , Okuda Hiroko , Sawatari Hideyuki , Matsuda Fumihiko , Yamada Ryo , Watanabe Takao , Miyataka Hideki , Himeno Seiichiro , Koizumi Akio
Published: December 2013

An Integrative Study of the Genetic, Social and Environmental Determinants of Chronic Kidney Disease Characterized by Tubulointerstitial Damages in the North Central Region of Sri Lanka: Shanika NANAYAKKARA, et al. Department of Health and Environmental Sciences, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University—

Objectives

Previous investigations on chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology characterized by tubulointerstitial damages (CKDu) in the North Central Region (NCR) of Sri Lanka have supported the involvement of social, environmental and genetic factors in its pathogenesis. Methods: We conducted a social‐environmental‐ and‐genetic epidemiology study on a male population in NCR to investigate the genetic and environmental contributors. We recruited 311 case‐series patients and 504 control candidates. Of the 504 control candidates, 218 (43%) were eliminated because of the presence of hypertension, proteinuria, high HbA1c, high serum creatinine or high alpha‐1 microglobulin in urine.

Results and Discussion

None of 18 metals measured (μg/l) in urine, including Cd, As and Pb, showed significantly higher concentrations in cases compared with controls. As speciation results showed that 75.80% of total urinary As was in the form of arsenobetaine, which is non‐toxic to humans. None of the metal concentrations in drinking water samples exceeded guideline values. A genome‐wide association study (GWAS) was conducted to determine the genetic contributors. The GWAS yielded a genome‐wide significant association with CKDu for a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP; rs6066043; p=5.23 ~ 10.9 in quantitative trait locus analysis; p=3.73 ~ 10.8 in dichotomous analysis) in SLC13A3 (sodium‐dependent dicarboxylate transporter member 3). The population attributable fraction and odds ratio for this SNP were 50% and 2.13. Genetic susceptibility was identified as the major risk factor for CKDu. However, 43% of the apparently healthy male population suffers from non‐communicable diseases, suggesting their possible influence on CKDu progression.
Association Between Pediatric Clinical Trials and Global Burden of Disease
Authors: Bourgeois Florence T. , Olson Karen L. , Ioannidis John P.A. , Mandl Kenneth D.
Published: December 2013

BACKGROUND:

The allocation of research resources should favor conditions responsible for the greatest disease burden. This is particularly important in pediatric populations, which have been underrepresented in clinical research. Our aim was to measure the association between the focus of pediatric clinical trials and burden of disease and to identify neglected clinical domains.

METHODS:

We performed a cross-sectional study of clinical trials by using trial records in ClinicalTrials.gov. All trials started in 2006 or after and studying patient-level interventions in pediatric populations were included. Age-specific measures of disease burden were obtained for 21 separate conditions for high-, middle-, and low-income countries. We measured the correlation between number of pediatric clinical trials and disease burden for each condition.

RESULTS:

Neuropsychiatric conditions and infectious diseases were the most studied conditions globally in terms of number of trials (874 and 847 trials, respectively), while intentional injuries (5 trials) and maternal conditions (4 trials) were the least studied. Clinical trials were only moderately correlated with global disease burden (r = 0.58, P = .006). Correlations were also moderate within each of the country income levels, but lowest in low-income countries (r = .47, P = .03). Globally, the conditions most understudied relative to disease burden were injuries (–260 trials for unintentional injuries and –160 trials for intentional injuries), nutritional deficiencies (–175 trials), and respiratory infections (–171 trials).

CONCLUSIONS:

Pediatric clinical trial activity is only moderately associated with pediatric burden of disease, and least associated in low-income countries. The mismatch between clinical trials and disease burden identifies key clinical areas for focus and investment.
Impact of pulmonary rehabilitation on quality of life and functional capacity in patients on waiting lists for lung transplantation
Authors: Florian Juliessa , Rubin Adalberto , Mattiello Rita , Fontoura Fabricio Farias da , Camargo Jose de Jesus Peixoto , Teixeira Paulo Jose Zimermann
Published: December 2013

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the impact of a pulmonary rehabilitation program on the functional capacity and on the quality of life of patients on waiting lists for lung transplantation. METHODS: Patients on lung transplant waiting lists were referred to a pulmonary rehabilitation program consisting of 36 sessions. Before and after the program, participating patients were evaluated with the six-minute walk test and the Medical Outcomes Study 36-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36). The pulmonary rehabilitation program involved muscle strengthening exercises, aerobic training, clinical evaluation, psychiatric evaluation, nutritional counseling, social assistance, and educational lectures. RESULTS: Of the 112 patients initially referred to the program, 58 completed it. The mean age of the participants was 46 ± 14 years, and females accounted for 52%. Of those 58 patients, 37 (47%) had pulmonary fibrosis, 13 (22%) had pulmonary emphysema, and 18 (31%) had other types of advanced lung disease. The six-minute walk distance was significantly greater after the program than before (439 ± 114 m vs. 367 ± 136 m, p = 0.001), the mean increase being 72 m. There were significant point increases in the scores on the following SF-36 domains: physical functioning, up 22 (p = 0.001), role-physical, up 10 (p = 0.045); vitality, up 10 (p < 0.001); social functioning, up 15 (p = 0.001); and mental health, up 8 (p = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Pulmonary rehabilitation had a positive impact on exercise capacity and quality of life in patients on lung transplant waiting lists.
Characteristics of tuberculosis in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil: 2002-2009
Authors: Augusto Claudio Jose , Carvalho Wania da Silva , Goncalves Alan Douglas , Ceccato Maria das Gracas Braga , Miranda Silvana Spindola de
Published: December 2013

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the profile of tuberculosis cases reported between 2002 and 2009 in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, according to sociodemographic, clinical, and laboratory characteristics, as well as to comorbidities and mortality. METHODS: This was a descriptive, epidemiological study based on data obtained from the Brazilian Case Registry Database and the Brazilian Mortality Database for the 2002-2009 period. RESULTS: There were 47,285 reported cases of tuberculosis, corresponding to a mean incidence of 22.3/100,000 population. The individuals diagnosed with tuberculosis were predominantly in the 20- to 49-year age bracket and male (62.4% and 67.0%, respectively). Individuals with a low level of education accounted for 18.5% of the cases. New cases, cases of recurrence, and cases of retreatment accounted for 83.7%, 5.7%, 5.7%, respectively. The rates of cure and treatment noncompliance were 66.2% and 11.2%, respectively; multidrug-resistant tuberculosis was identified in 0.2% of the cases; and the mortality rate was 12.9%. The directly observed treatment, short-course (DOTS) strategy was applied in 21.8% of the cases. Sputum smear microscopy and culture were performed in only 73.9% and 12.9% of the cases, respectively. Chest X-rays were performed in 90.5% of the cases. Pulmonary tuberculosis was the predominant form (in 83.9%). Comorbidity with alcoholism, HIV infection, and diabetes mellitus were identified in 17.2%, 8.3%, and 3.8%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: During the study period, the numbers of new cases, cases of treatment noncompliance, and deaths were high, comorbidities were common, and there was a failure to perform adequately basic tests for the diagnosis of tuberculosis. Multidisciplinary approaches, expanded use of the DOTS strategy, better knowledge of the distribution of tuberculosis, and improvements in the databases are needed in order to achieve better control of the disease in the state of Minas Gerais.
Contribution of flow-volume curves to the detection of central airway obstruction
Authors: Raposo Liliana Barbara Perestrelo de Andrade e , Bugalho Antonio , Gomes Maria Joao Marques
Published: December 2013

OBJECTIVE: To assess the sensitivity and specificity of flow-volume curves in detecting central airway obstruction (CAO), and to determine whether their quantitative and qualitative criteria are associated with the location, type and degree of obstruction. METHODS: Over a four-month period, we consecutively evaluated patients with bronchoscopy indicated. Over a one-week period, all patients underwent clinical evaluation, flow-volume curve, bronchoscopy, and completed a dyspnea scale. Four reviewers, blinded to quantitative and clinical data, and bronchoscopy results, classified the morphology of the curves. A fifth reviewer determined the morphological criteria, as well as the quantitative criteria. RESULTS: We studied 82 patients, 36 (44%) of whom had CAO. The sensitivity and specificity of the flow-volume curves in detecting CAO were, respectively, 88.9% and 91.3% (quantitative criteria) and 30.6% and 93.5% (qualitative criteria). The most prevalent quantitative criteria in our sample were FEF50%/FIF50% ≥ 1, in 83% of patients, and FEV1/PEF ≥ 8 mL . L–1 . min–1, in 36%, both being associated with the type, location, and degree of obstruction (p < 0.05). There was concordance among the reviewers as to the presence of CAO. There is a relationship between the degree of obstruction and dyspnea. CONCLUSIONS: The quantitative criteria should always be calculated for flow-volume curves in order to detect CAO, because of the low sensitivity of the qualitative criteria. Both FEF50%/FIF50% ≥ 1 and FEV1/PEF ≥ 8 mL . L–1 . min–1 were associated with the location, type and degree of obstruction.
Psychological morbidity as a moderator of intention to quit smoking: a study of smokers and former smokers
Authors: Afonso Maria Fernanda Besteiro , Alves Maria Graca Pereira
Published: December 2013

OBJECTIVE: To analyze psychological morbidity as a moderator of the relationship between smoking representations and quality of life in smokers and former smokers, as well as to determine which psychological variables discriminate between smokers with and without the intention to quit smoking. METHODS: This was a quantitative, correlational cross-sectional study involving a convenience sample of 224 smokers and 169 former smokers. RESULTS: In smokers and former smokers, psychological morbidity had a moderating effect on the relationship between mental/physical quality of life and smoking representations (cognitive representations, emotional representations, and comprehensibility). Smokers with the intention to quit smoking more often presented with low comprehensibility, threatening emotional representations, behavioral beliefs, and perceived behavioral control, as well as with normative/control beliefs, than did those without the intention to quit. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study underscore the importance of the moderating effect exerted by psychological morbidity, as well as that of sociocognitive variables, among smokers who have the intention to quit smoking.
A multi-criteria methodology for optimising road investments
Authors: Odoki Jennaro B. , Di Graziano Alessandro , Akena Robert
Published: December 2013

There is growing awareness that road investment appraisal, at both project and network levels, requires joint consideration of multiple criteria that relate to engineering, economic, social and environmental impacts. Several multi-criteria analytical methodologies exist for use at the project level. At the network level, strategies and works programmes need to be optimised under budget constraints by considering the set of relevant criteria. This paper presents a multi-criteria analysis methodology that can be used to optimise road network investments using the utility/cost ratio method. The multi-criteria analysis methodology is based upon the analytical hierarchy process technique, which systematically transforms the analysis of competing objectives into a series of simple comparisons between the constituent elements. The multi-criteria analysis methodology developed was applied to generate a work programme using a set of selected criteria to which relative weights of preference were assigned. The results obtained were compared with those of a similar work programme generated using conventional economic analysis in order to highlight the issue of effectiveness in road management and the use of multi-criteria analysis to solve a classical multi-objective optimisation problem under budget constraints.
Performance of reclaimed asphalt pavement mixtures under static and oscillatory loading
Authors: Moon Ki Hoon , Cannone Falchetto Augusto , Marasteanu Mihai O.
Published: December 2013

The use of recycled materials in asphalt pavement is common practice as it yields economic benefits and reduced exploitation of natural resources. Over recent decades, many agencies in the USA have investigated the effect of adding reclaimed asphalt pavement on the field performance of asphalt mixtures used for pavement applications. In this work, the effect of reclaimed asphalt pavement on the low-temperature properties of hot mix asphalt was investigated using two tests: bending beam rheometer mixture creep, which is based on static loading, and dynamic shear rheometer mixture complex modulus, which uses oscillatory loading. Based on the experimental data, creep stiffness, m-value, thermal stress, critical cracking temperature and complex modulus were calculated, and then statistically and graphically evaluated. The results revealed that, at low temperature, most of the mixtures prepared with reclaimed asphalt pavement had poorer performance than a mixture prepared from virgin materials. However, no significant differences in creep and complex modulus properties were observed beyond a specific reclaimed asphalt pavement content, which is in the range of 25–40% depending on the stiffness of the binder used.
Temporal fluctuation scaling in populations and communities
Authors: Kalyuzhny Michael , Schreiber Yishai , Chocron Rachel , Flather Curtis H. , Kadmon Ronen , Kessler David A. , Shnerb Nadav M.
Published: December 2013

Taylor's law, one of the most widely accepted generalizations in ecology, states that the variance of a population abundance time series scales as a power law of its mean. Here we reexamine this law and the empirical evidence presented in support of it. Specifically, we show that the exponent generally depends on the length of the time series, and its value reflects the combined effect of many underlying mechanisms. Moreover, sampling errors alone, when presented on a double logarithmic scale, are sufficient to produce an apparent power law. This raises questions regarding the usefulness of Taylor's law for understanding ecological processes. As an alternative approach, we focus on short‐term fluctuations and derive a generic null model for the variance‐to‐mean ratio in population time series from a demographic model that incorporates the combined effects of demographic and environmental stochasticity. After comparing the predictions of the proposed null model with the fluctuations observed in empirical data sets, we suggest an alternative expression for fluctuation scaling in population time series. Analyzing population fluctuations as we have proposed here may provide new applied (e.g., estimation of species persistence times) and theoretical (e.g., the neutral theory of biodiversity) insights that can be derived from more generally available short‐term monitoring data.
Interview: A 20-year ‘search for evidence‘ leads to the Center for Medical Technology Policy
Authors: Tunis Sean R
Published: December 2013

Sean R Tunis
is the founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Center for Medical Technology Policy in Baltimore (MD, USA). The Center for Medical Technology Policy‘s main objective is to improve the quality, relevance and efficiency of clinical research by providing a neutral forum for collaboration among experts, stakeholders and decision-makers. Tunis was a member of the Institute of Medicine Committee on Initial National Priorities for Comparative Effectiveness Research. He advises a wide range of domestic and international public and private healthcare organizations on issues of comparative effectiveness, evidence-based medicine, clinical research, reimbursement and health technology policy. In September of 2005, Tunis was the Chief Medical Officer at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, where he had lead responsibility for clinical policy for the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Previously, he served as the Director of the Health Program at the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment and as a health policy advisor to the US Senate, where he worked on pharmaceutical and device policy issues. Tunis trained at the University of California in Los Angeles (CA, USA) and the University of Maryland in Internal Medicine and Emergency Medicine (MD, USA) and holds adjunct faculty positions at the Tufts University School of Medicine (MA, USA), the Department of Internal Medicine at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (MD, USA), and the Department of Surgery at the University of California at San Francisco (CA, USA).
Concentrated tea tree oil toxicosis in dogs and cats: 443 cases (2002–2012)
Authors: Khan Safdar A. , McLean Mary Kay , Slater Margaret R.
Published: December 2013

Objective—To determine the frequency, types, and severity of clinical signs; geographic distribution; and treatment information associated with toxicosis caused by 100% tea tree oil (TTO) in dogs and cats in the United States and Canada.

Design—Retrospective case series.

Animals—337 dogs and 106 cats with evidence of exposure to 100% TTO.

Procedures—10-year incident data were retrieved from the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center database from January 2002 to December 2012. Only evidenced or witnessed incidents assessed as toxicosis or suspected toxicosis were included. Signalment, amount of TTO used, intention of use, and outcome information were evaluated. Severity of illness and correlations with breed, sex, age, and weight were determined.

Results—TTO was intentionally used in 395 of 443 (89%) animals. The amount used ranged from 0.1 to 85 mL. Incidents were reported from 41 states, the District of Columbia, and 4 Canadian provinces. Exposure route was cutaneous in 221 (50%) animals, cutaneous and oral in 133 (30%), and oral in 67 (15%). Clinical signs developed within 2 to 12 hours and lasted up to 72 hours. The most common signs were increased salivation or drooling, signs of CNS depression or lethargy, paresis, ataxia, and tremors. A significant association with severity of illness was found for age and weight, with higher prevalence of major illness in younger and smaller cats.

Conclusions and Clinical Relevance—Intentional or accidental use of 100% TTO in dogs or cats caused serious signs of CNS depression, paresis, ataxia, or tremors within hours after exposure and lasting up to 3 days. Younger cats and those with lighter body weight were at greater risk of developing major illness.
Congenital Heart Disease - Bangladesh Perspective
Authors: Begum Shahanaz
Published: December 2013

Abstract not available DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bja.v10i2.17280 Bangladesh Journal of Anatomy, July 2012, Vol. 10 No. 2 pp 43-44
Variations in the Structure of the Jugular Foramen of Human Skull
Authors: Hossain SM Akram , Hossain SM Moshadeq , Banna Fakhrul Amin Mohammad Hasanul
Published: December 2013

Context: The jugular foramen is one of the most fascinating foramen present at the base of the skull attracting the imagination of many Anatomists worldwide as many important structures pass through it, and amongst them the intriguing structure is the internal jugular vein. The shape and size of the jugular foramen is related to the size of the internal jugular vein and the presence or absence of a prominent superior bulb. As most of the textbooks of Anatomy describe that the right jugular foramen is usually larger than the left jugular foramen. Henceforth the present study was undertaken in 55 skulls from the dept. of Anatomy. Measurements were taken with the help of sliding vernier caliper. Study type: Cross-sectional descriptive type. Place and period of study: Department of Anatomy, Rajshahi Medical College, Rajshahi and Pabna Medical College, Pabna from April 2010 to June 2011. Materials and Methods: Total fifty five (55) human adult skulls were collected from the Anatomy department of Rajshahi Medical College, Rajshahi and Pabna Medical College, Pabna at different times of the study period. The study was conducted to observe variations in the structure of the jugular foramen of the humans skull. Result: Out of 55 skulls (110 foramina) studied, the presence of dome indicating the presence of jugular bulb was found bilaterally in 100% of cases. 58.18% of cases showed that the size of right foramina were larger than the left foramina whereas 20% of cases showed that right foramina were equal to the left and in 21.82% of cases the left foramina were larger than the right side foramina. An important observation in the present study was the presence of either complete or partial septation in the jugular foramen. Conclusion: The findings of the study reveals that there are some differences among some parameters. The variations are might be due to the geographical variations of the skeletons. It needs further study with larger sample size from different geographical areas of Bangladesh. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bja.v10i2.17281 Bangladesh Journal of Anatomy, July 2012, Vol. 10 No. 2 pp 45-49