bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Heme Oxygenase-2 Modulates Early Pathogenesis after Traumatic Injury to the Immature Brain
Authors: Yoneyama-Sarnecky Tomoko , Olivas Andrea D. , Azari Soraya , Ferriero Donna M. , Manvelyan Hovhannes M. , Noble-Haeusslein Linda J.
Published: March 2010

We determined if heme oxygenase-2 (HO-2), an enzyme that degrades the pro-oxidant heme, confers neuroprotection in the developing brain after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Male HO-2 wild-type (WT) and homozygous knockout (KO) mice at postnatal day 21 were subjected to TBI and euthanized 1, 7, and 14 days later. Relative cerebral blood flow, measured by laser Doppler, cortical and hippocampal pathogenesis, and motor recovery were evaluated at all time points. Cerebral blood flow was found to be similar between experimental groups. Blood flow significantly decreased immediately after injury, returned to baseline by 1 day, and was significantly elevated by 7 days, post-injury. Nonheme iron preferentially accumulated in the ipsilateral cortex, hippocampus, and external capsule in both WT and KO brain-injured genotypes. There were, however, a significantly greater number of TUNEL-positive cells in the hippocampal dentate gyrus and a significantly greater cortical lesion volume in KOs relative to WTs within the first week post-injury. By 14 days post-injury, however, cortical lesion volume and cell density in the hippocampal CA3 region and dorsal thalamus were similar between the two groups. Assays of fine motor function (grip strength) over the first 2 weeks post-injury revealed a general pattern of decreased strength in the contralateral forelimbs of KOs as compared to WTs. Together, these findings demonstrate that deficiency in HO-2 alters both the kinetics of secondary damage and fine motor recovery after TBI.
La dénutrition dans les pays en voie de développement – des aspects évolutifs
Authors: Solomons Noel W.
Published: March 2010

La malnutrition est la conséquence des troubles liés à une suralimentation ou à une dénutrition. Les pays en développement sont caractérisés par une pauvreté généralisée due à de faibles ressources économiques ou à une distribution inéquitable des richesses dans la société. Les états de dénutrition de la population (retard pondérale et retard de croissance) et la gestion des cas sévères nécessitant une nutrition clinique à l’hôpital, ont longtemps été les préoccupations prioritaires des pays en voie de développement. A présent, le processus de transition nutritionnelle a modifié cette situation, avec un double fardeau de dénutrition et de suralimentation à prendre en considération au sein de la population et dans les hôpitaux. Alors que la dénutrition est en déclin, la croissance démographique entraîne une augmentation mécanique du nombre d’enfants sous-alimentés dans le monde. Ainsi, sans qu’il y ait de nouveaux événements, les carences en vitamine A, en iode, en fer, en zinc, en vitamine D et en vitamine B12 sont à nouveau au centre de l’attention de la santé publique. En outre, les taux de surcharge pondérale et d’obésité sont également en hausse dans certaines sous-populations des pays en développement, et le syndrome métabolique est en train de s’installer dans les populations à faibles revenus. Il est donc important que les concepts et les priorités des pays en voie de développement soient continuellement mis à jour; c’est ce qu’essaie de proposer cet article, afin de ne pas se baser sur les constats des dernières décennies et créer des mythes qui minimisent l’évolution contemporaine de la malnutrition dans le monde.
Do ‘Sleepy’ and ‘Tired’ Go Together? Rasch Analysis of the Relationships between Sleepiness, Fatigue and Nonrestorative Sleep Complaints in a Nonclinical Population Sample
Authors: Neu Daniel , Mairesse Olivier , Hoffmann Guy , Valsamis Jean-Baptiste , Verbanck Paul , Linkowski Paul , Le Bon Olivier
Published: March 2010

Objective: The lack of distinction in the clinical use of terms like fatigue and sleepiness is an important issue. While both fatigue and sleepiness can potentially be associated with nonrestorative sleep (NRS) complaints, their relationships are still poorly described. We propose to use Rasch analysis-based methods to study the interrelations of fatigue, sleepiness and NRS. Methods: 150 subjects (mean age = 39.3 years, range = 18–65) from a community sample underwent a structured computer-assisted web interview. We assessed demographic data, sleep habits, and subjective fatigue with the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), global and situational sleepiness with the Epworth Sleepiness (ESS) and the Stanford Sleepiness Scales, respectively, and affective symptoms with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Dimensionality, measurement invariance and common person equating were investigated to study the FSS, ESS and their relations to NRS. Results: NRS was linked to shorter habitual sleep duration and to higher scores on psychometric scales. Both sleepiness and daytime fatigue were positively correlated to each other and to the intensity of affective symptoms. Rasch analyses showed both the ESS and FSS to measure unidimensional concepts of sleepiness and fatigue, respectively. In contrast to the FSS, the ESS only showed partial invariance to an NRS complaint. Common person equating suggests that, despite similar Rasch-derived agreeability scores, fatigue and sleepiness (as measured by the FSS and ESS) nevertheless designate distinct constructs. Conclusion: NRS complaints can simultaneously present with higher daytime fatigue and sleepiness levels but the associative relationships between fatigue and sleepiness remain relatively unaffected by NRS. Although participants might not present adequate differentiation, fatigue and sleepiness seem to relate to different underlying concepts.
Voltage-Gated Sodium Channels Are Required for Heart Development in Zebrafish
Authors: Chopra Sameer S. , Stroud Dina Myers , Watanabe Hiroshi , Bennett Jeffrey S. , Burns C. Geoffrey , Wells K. Sam , Yang Tao , Zhong Tao P. , Roden Dan M.
Published: March 2010

Rationale
:

Voltage-gated sodium channels initiate action potentials in excitable tissues. Mice in which
Scn5A
(the predominant sodium channel gene in heart) has been knocked out die early in development with cardiac malformations by mechanisms which have yet to be determined.

Objective
:

Here we addressed this question by investigating the role of cardiac sodium channels in zebrafish heart development.

Methods and Results
:

Transcripts of the functionally-conserved
Scn5a
homologs
scn5Laa
and
scn5Lab
were detected in the gastrulating zebrafish embryo and subsequently in the embryonic myocardium. Antisense knockdown of either channel resulted in marked cardiac chamber dysmorphogenesis and perturbed looping. These abnormalities were associated with decreased expression of the myocardial precursor genes
nkx2.5
,
gata4
, and
hand2
in anterior lateral mesoderm and significant deficits in the production of cardiomyocyte progenitors. These early defects did not appear to result from altered membrane electrophysiology, as prolonged pharmacological blockade of sodium current failed to phenocopy channel knockdown. Moreover, embryos grown in calcium channel blocker-containing medium had hearts that did not beat but developed normally.

Conclusions
:

These findings identify a novel and possibly nonelectrogenic role for cardiac sodium channels in heart development.
MAPK-Activated Protein Kinase-2 in Cardiac Hypertrophy and Cyclooxygenase-2 Regulation in Heart
Authors: Streicher John M. , Ren Shuxun , Herschman Harvey , Wang Yibin
Published: March 2010

Rationale
:

Activation of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) has a significant impact on cardiac gene expression, contractility, extracellular matrix remodeling, and inflammatory response in heart. The p38 kinase pathway also has a controversial role in cardiac hypertrophy. MAPK-activated protein kinase-2 (MK2) is a well-established p38 downstream kinase, yet its contribution to p38-mediated pathological response in heart has not been investigated.

Objective
:

We examined the specific contribution of MK2 to the pathological remodeling induced by p38.

Methods and Results
:

We used a cardiomyocyte specific and inducible transgenic approach to determine the functional and molecular impact of acute activation of the p38 pathway in heart in either a MK2 wild-type or a MK2-null background. p38 activation in wild-type mice led to a rapid onset of lethal cardiomyopathy associated with cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, interstitial fibrosis, and contractile dysfunction. Inactivation of MK2 partially but significantly reduced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, improved contractile performance, and prevented early lethality. MK2 inactivation had no effect on the mRNA levels of hypertrophic marker genes or the proinflammatory gene cyclooxygenase (COX)-2. However, MK2 had a major role in COX-2 protein synthesis without affecting the mRNA level or protein stability.

Conclusions
:

p38 activity in adult myocytes can contribute to pathological hypertrophy and remodeling in adult heart and that MK2 is an important downstream molecule responsible for specific features of p38-induced cardiac pathology.
Re-structuring, Re-labeling, and Re-aligning for Syntax-Based Machine Translation
Authors: Wang Wei , May Jonathan , Knight Kevin , Marcu Daniel
Published: March 2010

This article shows that the structure of bilingual material from standard parsing and alignment tools is not optimal for training syntax-based statistical machine translation (SMT) systems. We present three modifications to the MT training data to improve the accuracy of a state-of-the-art syntax MT system: re-structuring changes the syntactic structure of training parse trees to enable reuse of substructures; re-labeling alters bracket labels to enrich rule application context; and re-aligning unifies word alignment across sentences to remove bad word alignments and refine good ones. Better structures, labels, and word alignments are learned by the EM algorithm. We show that each individual technique leads to improvement as measured by BLEU, and we also show that the greatest improvement is achieved by combining them. We report an overall 1.48 BLEU improvement on the NIST08 evaluation set over a strong baseline in Chinese/English translation.
A Note on nedārî in Ex 15:6
Authors: Butts Aaron Michael
Published: March 2010

It is argued that a longstanding crux interpretum can be solved by analyzing the final ī in nedārî (Ex 15:6) as a relic of the feminine morpheme *ī, which is found elsewhere in the Semitic languages. This analysis provides a further piece of evidence in favor of the early dating of Ex 15:1‐18.
The Birth of Political Subjects: Individuals, Foucault, and Boundary Experiences
Authors: Scott Charles E.
Published: March 2010

In a context of experiences in which events become apparent that encroach upon mainstream and reasonable good sense, this paper gives an account of the emergence of political subjects into public domains that make possible new knowledge and personal and institutional transformations. A statement by Simone de Beauvoir and engagement with Michel Foucault’s interpretation of “limit experiences” help to orient the paper. The essay ends with a discussion of certain types of power and the birth of political subjects.
The Covenant with Mut: A New Interpretation of Isaiah 28:1-22
Authors: Hays Christopher B.
Published: March 2010

Many difficulties and perplexities in Isa 28:1-22 can be resolved by reading the text as a condemnation of the Judeans’ seeking protection from Assyria by means of a covenant with one of Egypt’s major deities, the mother goddess Mut. Her close association with the Egyptian throne would have given her the “right” to make a covenant; her protective aspect explains why those in distress would seek her; her motherhood explains why the Judeans who seek her are characterized as children; the prominence of drunkenness and flowers in her cult explains the appearance of those elements in Isaiah 28. She also was associated with the underworld as a protectress of the dead, and it is likely that her name sounded very much like the Hebrew word , “death”, making Isaiah’s double entendre a natural play on words. Other features of the text such as the overwhelming flood refer to the Neo-Assyrians; Isaiah warns that Egypt and Mut cannot protect Judah from their assault.
Erklärung der wichtigsten “demographischen” Zahlen des Numeribuches aus ihrem kompositionellen Zusammenhang
Authors: Ziemer Benjamin
Published: March 2010

The “demographic” figures in Numbers are explained as an integral part of a numerical system, which keeps together the Pentateuchal composition. The figure of 79 explicitly named fathers of tribes and clans in Israel in Num 26 is crucial for this approach. Furthermore, one has to consider the history of reception in Qumran and in Rabbinic Judaism in which the officers according to Ex 18 and Dtn 1 are combined with the large number of Israelites or with the census itself. It is shown that Israel had to number exactly 603550 men in order to get an executive staff of exactly 79079 persons when departing from Mt. Sinai. Similarly, the figure 79 underlies the data concerning the death toll by reason of the mgph during the wanderings, the officers according to the second census, and, last not least, the global chronological system of the Pentateuch.
An ecological momentary assessment of the physical activity and sedentary behaviour patterns of university students
Authors: Rouse Peter C , Biddle Stuart J H
Published: March 2010

Objective We used ecological momentary assessment to understand the physical activity and sedentary behaviour patterns of university students.

Study design Cross sectional, opportunistic sample from a university in the English midlands.

Methods Ecological momentary assessment diaries were completed every 15 minutes across two days. The sample comprised 46 males (mean age 20.2 years) and 38 females (mean age 19.5 years). The majority of participants were undergraduates (96.5 per cent) and white European (85 per cent).

Results Although ‘studying’ was the predominant behaviour (280 minutes), students spent time conducting a range of behaviours including ‘watching television’ (79.9 minutes), ‘sitting and talking’ (72.1 minutes) and ‘hanging out’ (64.0 minutes). Repeated measure ANOVAs revealed a significant gender effect for some behaviours with ‘studying’ [ F(1,82) = 10.50, p < .006] and ‘computer game playing’ [ F(1,82) = 7.97, p < .006] being higher in males, and ‘sitting and talking’ [ F(1,82) = 24.49, p < .006] higher in females. Pearson correlations suggested that sedentary behaviours compete with each other for students’ time. A significant small negative relationship existed between sedentary technology behaviours and physical activity for males ( r = -.217) but not for females ( r = -.182).

Conclusions Students participate in a range of sedentary behaviours that differ by gender. Results question public perception that selected sedentary behaviours, such as ‘watching television’, are responsible for declining levels of sport and exercise participation in this age group. Implications for interventions are considered.
IL-1 Gene Cluster is Not Linked to Aggressive Periodontitis
Authors: Scapoli C. , Borzani I. , Guarnelli M.E. , Mamolini E. , Annunziata M. , Guida L. , Trombelli L.
Published: March 2010

The interleukin-1 (IL-1) gene family has been associated with susceptibility to periodontal diseases, including aggressive periodontitis (AgP); however, the results are still conflicting. The present study investigated the association between IL-1 genes and AgP using 70 markers spanning the 1.1-Mb region, where the IL-1 gene family maps, and exploring both the linkage disequilibrium (LD) and the haplotype structure in a case-control study including 95 patients and 121 control individuals. No association between AgP and IL1A, IL1B, and IL1RN genes was found in either single-point or haplotype analyses. Also, the LD map of the region 2q13–14 under the Malécot model for multiple markers showed no causal association between AgP and polymorphisms within the region (p = 0.207). In conclusion, our findings failed to support the existence of a causative variant for generalized AgP within the 2q13–14 region in an Italian Caucasian population.
New directions in attachment theory and research
Authors: Shaver Phillip R. , Mikulincer Mario
Published: March 2010

The goal of this special issue is to take stock of attachment theory and research as it applies to adolescent and adult relationships. We briefly summarize and comment on the 12 articles included in the issue, placing them into four thematic categories: (i) attachment theory and research viewed from a life history perspective; (ii) biological bases of attachment processes; (iii) relations between the attachment system and other behavioral systems; and (iv) extensions of attachment research in applied directions. Taken together, the 12 articles provide an exciting foundation for future research on attachment and further development of attachment theory.
Attachment and the leader—follower relationship
Authors: Mayseless Ofra
Published: March 2010

Leader—follower relationships have been thought to involve attachment dynamics, in particular when these relationships have an affective component. In this paper, I consider why and under what circumstances followers form attachment relationships with a leader and how both a follower’s and a leader’s attachment representations can affect the quality and characteristics of their relationship. Results from several studies, focused on different contexts and cultures, indicate that secure individuals tend to be nominated as leaders, and that leaders’ attachment security is associated with pro-social and follower-empowering leadership styles, leadership effectiveness, and positive outcomes for followers. I suggest promising directions for future research (e.g., the study of attachment to political or destructive leaders) and emphasize the importance of contextual moderators (military vs. commercial organizations) and leaders’ “caregiving” behavior.
Effects of Learning About Historical Gender Discrimination on Early Adolescents’ Occupational Judgments and Aspirations
Authors: Pahlke Erin , Bigler Rebecca S. , Green Vanessa A.
Published: March 2010

To examine the consequences of learning about gender discrimination, early adolescents ( n = 121, aged 10-14) were randomly assigned to receive either (a) standard biographical lessons about historical figures (standard condition) or (b) nearly identical lessons that included information about gender discrimination (discrimination condition). Additional students ( n = 46) did not receive lessons (control condition). At immediate posttest, students in the discrimination condition showed increased awareness of gender discrimination, and girls (but not boys) reported an increased desire to combat gender discrimination. At 6-month posttest, students in the discrimination condition were more likely than those in the control condition to perceive gender discrimination. Adolescents’ occupational goals and beliefs about their own vulnerability to discrimination did not differ across conditions.
Interpersonal interaction within the violin teaching studio: The influence of interpersonal dynamics on outcomes for teachers
Authors: Creech Andrea , Hallam Susan
Published: March 2010

The overall aims of this study were to identify qualities of interpersonal interaction within teacher— parent—pupil learning partnerships and to explore whether these characteristics were predictors of learning and teaching outcomes for teachers, parents and pupils participating in pursuit of expertise on musical instruments. This article presents the findings relating to how teachers’ beliefs relating to interpersonal interaction with pupils and parents impacted on their professional satisfaction, self-efficacy, and involvement with pupils and parents. Two hundred and sixty-three violin teachers were surveyed, each completing a questionnaire that included measures of the interpersonal constructs of control and responsiveness as well as measures for outcomes that included professional satisfaction, teacher self-efficacy, and involvement with pupils and parents. The scales for control and responsiveness were subjected to a principal component analysis, revealing several underlying dimensions of these constructs. Multiple regressions revealed that facets of control bore significant correlations with all of the specified teacher outcomes, while the interpersonal factor that had the greatest influence overall was teacher sensitivity (a responsiveness component). At the heart of this finding is a model of a ‘responsive leader’, providing authoritative direction but also compelled to respond to the individual pupil needs and parental wishes or circumstances.
The effect of positive music and dispositional hope on state hope and affect
Authors: Ziv Naomi , Chaim Anat Ben , Itamar Oren
Published: March 2010

Within the field of positive psychology, hope has been shown to be related to individuals’ ways of coping with success and failure. The present study examined the effect of music and dispositional hope on state hope, after experiencing failure. Sixty participants filled out a dispositional hope questionnaire, and completed a computer task for which they received false failure feedback. Thirty participants listened to positive music following the task, while 30 participants did not receive the music stimulus. Participants then filled out a state hope questionnaire and a positive and negative affect scale. Results showed a significant effect of music on state hope: participants listening to positive music scored higher on state hope than participants in the control group. No significant effect for dispositional hope was found. However, an interaction between dispositional hope and music was found, such that music was shown to affect only high dispositional hope participants, and had no effect on low dispositional hope participants. No significant effects on affect were found. Results are discussed in relation to individual differences in music’s effect. Future directions for research and implications for music therapy are suggested.
Evaluation of Cartilage Repair Tissue after Matrix-Associated Autologous Chondrocyte Transplantation Using a Hyaluronic-Based or a Collagen-Based Scaffold with Morphological MOCART Scoring and Biochemical T2 Mapping
Authors: Hannes Welsch Goetz , Mamisch Tallal Charles , Zak Lukas , Blanke Matthias , Olk Alexander , Marlovits Stefan , Trattnig Siegfried
Published: March 2010

Background

In cartilage repair, bioregenerative approaches using tissue engineering techniques have tried to achieve a close resemblance to hyaline cartilage, which might be visualized using advanced magnetic resonance imaging.

Purpose

To compare cartilage repair tissue at the femoral condyle noninvasively after matrix-associated autologous chondrocyte transplantation using Hyalograft C, a hyaluronic-based scaffold, to cartilage repair tissue after transplantation using CaReS, a collagen-based scaffold, with magnetic resonance imaging using morphologic scoring and T2 mapping.

Study Design

Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3.

Methods

Twenty patients after matrix-associated autologous chondrocyte transplantation (Hyalograft C, n = 10; CaReS, n = 10) underwent 3-T magnetic resonance imaging 24 months after surgery. Groups were matched by age and defect size/localization. For clinical outcome, the Brittberg score was assessed. Morphologic analysis was applied using the magnetic resonance observation of cartilage repair tissue score, and global and zonal biochemical T2 mapping was performed to reflect biomechanical properties with regard to collagen matrix/content and hydration.

Results

The clinical outcome was comparable in each group. The magnetic resonance observation of cartilage repair tissue score showed slightly but not significantly (P = .210) better results in the CaReS group (76.5) compared to the Hyalograft C group (70.0), with significantly better (P = .004) constitution of the surface of the repair tissue in the CaReS group. Global T2 relaxation times (milliseconds) for healthy surrounding cartilage were comparable in both groups (Hyalograft C, 49.9; CaReS, 51.9; P = .398), whereas cartilage repair tissue showed significantly higher results in the CaReS group (Hyalograft C, 48.2; CaReS, 55.5; P = .011). Zonal evaluation showed no significant differences (P ≥ .05).

Conclusion

Most morphologic parameters provided comparable results for both repair tissues. However, differences in the surface and higher T2 values for the cartilage repair tissue that was based on a collagen scaffold (CaReS), compared to the hyaluronic-based scaffold, indicated differences in the composition of the repair tissue even 2 years postimplantation.

Clinical Relevance

In the follow-up of cartilage repair procedures using matrix-associated autologous chondrocyte transplantation, differences due to scaffolds have to be taken into account.
In Vivo Quantification of the Retinal Reflectance Spectral Composition in Elderly Subjects before and after Cataract Surgery: Implications for the Non-Visual Effects of Light
Authors: Giménez Marina C. , Kanis Martijn J. , Beersma Domien G. M. , van der Pol Bert A. E. , van Norren Dirk , Gordijn Marijke C. M.
Published: March 2010

Light is the signal that entrains the biological clock in humans to the 24-hour external time. Recently, it has been shown that short wavelengths play a key role in this process. In the present study, we describe a procedure to measure, objectively and in a quick way, the spectral composition of the light reaching the retina in vivo. The instruments involved are the foveal reflection analyzer (FRA) and the macular pigment reflectometer (MPR). By making use of these reflectometers, we show quantitatively that in subjects with cataracts, the light input is especially reduced in the short wavelength range. After cataract surgery during which the crystalline lens is replaced by a transparent artificial lens, the transmittance of the short wavelengths (between 420-500 nm) improved on average by a factor of 4. We conclude that this technique holds great promises for the chronobiological field because it allows for quantification of the spectral composition and light levels reaching the retina in vivo.
Time-Dependent Effects of Dim Light at Night on Re-Entrainment and Masking of Hamster Activity Rhythms
Authors: Frank David W. , Evans Jennifer A. , Gorman Michael R.
Published: March 2010

Bright light has been established as the most ubiquitous environmental cue that entrains circadian timing systems under natural conditions. Light equivalent in intensity to moonlight (<1 lux), however, also strongly modulates circadian function in a number of entrainment paradigms. For example, compared to completely dark nights, dim nighttime illumination accelerated re-entrainment of hamster activity rhythms to 4-hour phase advances and delays of an otherwise standard laboratory photocycle. The purpose of this study was to determine if a sensitive period existed in the night during which dim illumination had a robust influence on speed of re-entrainment. Male Siberian hamsters were either exposed to dim light throughout the night, for half of the night, or not at all. Compared to dark nights, dim illumination throughout the entire night decreased by 29% the time for the midpoint of the active phase to re-entrain to a 4-hour phase advance and by 26% for a 4-hour delay. Acceleration of advances and delays were also achieved with 5 hours of dim light per night, but effects depended on whether dim light was present in the first half, second half, or first and last quarters of the night. Both during phase shifting and steady-state entrainment, partially lit nights also produced strong positive and negative masking effects, as well as entrainment aftereffects in constant darkness. Thus, even in the presence of a strong zeitgeber, light that might be encountered under a natural nighttime sky potently modulates the circadian timing system of hamsters.
Light Exposure Patterns in Healthy Older and Young Adults
Authors: Scheuermaier Karine , Laffan Alison M. , Duffy Jeanne F.
Published: March 2010

Aging is associated with an earlier timing of circadian rhythms and a shorter phase angle between wake time and the timing of melatonin secretion or the core body temperature nadir. Light has a phase-dependent effect on the circadian pacemaker, and modifications of habitual light exposure in older people could contribute to a change in the timing of circadian rhythms or in the phase angle of entrainment. In this study, we compare natural light exposure of community-dwelling older and young subjects studied at the same time of year, focusing on the pattern of light exposure across the waking day. We recorded light exposure data for 3 to 8 days from 22 older (aged 66.01 ± 5.83) and 22 young subjects (aged 23.41 ± 4.57), living at home on self-selected sleepwake schedules, and matched for time of year. All subjects were from New England (latitude 42.3° N to 43° N). We compared the percentage of the waking day spent by older and young subjects at 4 different light levels (from very dim to very bright). We compared hourly averaged light exposure data in each group according to clock time and with respect to each subject’s daily sleepwake times. Although both age groups spent more than half of their waking hours in dim or moderate room light intensity (<100 lux), we found that the older subjects spent a significantly greater percentage of their waking day in the brighter light levels (≥1000 lux); their hourly averaged light exposure levels were also significantly greater whether we examined the data with respect to absolute clock time, to wake time, or to bed time, and this was true across all seasons. We found that healthy older people were exposed to significantly higher levels of light throughout their waking day than young people. Differences in natural light exposure may contribute to the age-related phase advance of the circadian pacemaker and its later timing relative to the sleepwake cycle. This hypothesis should be explored further in carefully designed prospective studies.
Affective and Cognitive Online Shopping Experience
Authors: Lee Hyun-Hwa , Kim Jihyun , Fiore Ann Marie
Published: March 2010

The objective of this study was to examine the effects of image interactivity technology (IIT) features and an individual difference, experimenting with appearance (EA), on consumers’ shopping enjoyment, risk perception, and attitude toward an online retailer. We conducted a between-participant experimental study using a convenience sample of college students. A total of 206 participants provided usable responses for structural equation modeling analysis. The results showed that the level of IIT and EA positively affected shopping enjoyment as well as decreased perceived risk toward the online retailer. In turn, shopping enjoyment and perceived risk significantly influenced the consumers’ attitude toward the online retailer, as hypothesized. The findings of the study suggest that e-commerce business for online apparel retailers may continuously need to develop richer IIT features (innovative yet playful) to meet consumers’ demand and secure consumers’ loyalty.
Patients’ Satisfaction with Quality Attributes of Primary Health Care Services in Nigeria
Authors: Abiodun Abolaji Joachim
Published: March 2010

Patients’ satisfaction with health care is an important health outcome which has implications for capacity utilisation. And, in health systems that emphasise the cooperation and involvement of the community, both in terms of resources contribution and management, satisfaction with health care assumes an important dimension in terms of its implication for success of public health programmes. This study, based on administered questionnaires, examines patients/users’ satisfaction with quality attributes of health care services at the primary level facilities in order to provide feedback to health personnel and management for change and learning. The study employs correlation and multivariate regression analysis to determine the quality attributes that determine overall satisfaction with care. Our findings suggest the need to emphasis ‘empathy’ for care providers; and while a reasonable level of physical facilities should be provided, care providers have the task to communicate their technical competence to care seekers to ensure capacity utilisation at the primary level.
Response to Intervention and the Courts: Litigation-Based Guidance
Authors: Walker David W. , Daves David
Published: March 2010

The purpose of this study is to examine decisions rendered by the courts with regard to compliance or noncompliance to the statutes and regulations related to Response to Intervention (RtI). The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and the Individuals with Disabilities Improvement Act (IDEIA) of 2004 encourage state and local educational agencies to develop and provide a high-quality, scientifically research-based intervention system to determine the eligibility of a child for special education services. Most states have adopted a multi-tiered intervention system in an effort to collect data and address the RtI requirements of IDEIA. Whereas it is the duty of Congress to write legislation, the courts’ interpretation provides the guidance needed to ensure that appropriate measures are taken in identifying students with potential learning disabilities.
Age, Relative Autonomy and Change in Health Locus of Control Beliefs
Authors: Bailis Daniel S. , Segall Alexander , Chipperfield Judith G.
Published: March 2010

Health locus of control (HLC) describes an individual’s characteristic attribution of health outcomes to internal or external causes. This four-year longitudinal study examined changes in HLC beliefs among 124 members of a health-promotion facility, related to their age (22—81) and relative autonomy toward health-related goals. HLC beliefs changed with age as developmental theories of control striving would predict. Holding age aside, the pursuit of health goals with more relative autonomy significantly offset the growth of external-chance HLC beliefs. Lack of autonomy thus appears to permit development of fatalistic attributions that may affect later coping with adverse health events.
Charred churches or iron harvests?
Authors: Moshenska Gabriel
Published: March 2010

The bombing of London by the German Luftwaffe between August 1940 and May 1941 is a pervasive theme in popular memories and cultural representations of the Second World War, but it has been memorialized in a peculiarly restrained and disjointed manner. This article examines this phenomenon of memory fragmentation with reference to a specific site, St James’s Church Piccadilly. In contrast to these and other inscribed scraps of official memory I propose a re-examination of London’s ‘Iron Harvest’: the continual recovery of unexploded German bombs. By reconsidering James Young’s concept of the ‘counter-monument’ and the performativity of commemorative processes, I argue that these discoveries can be regarded as acts of commemoration. As the Second World War slips out of living memory we need more diverse and imaginative forms of remembrance to represent both the fragmented traces of modern wars and the absences they create.
Driving decision-making in older adults with dementia
Authors: Adler Geri
Published: March 2010

Drivers with dementia, like most other drivers, are reluctant to relinquish their driving privileges, making discussions about driving cessation difficult and of great concern to family. To better understand how driving decisions are made 13 focus groups were held with 65 participants including current drivers with dementia, their spouses, and spouses of former drivers with dementia. Results documented the use of compensation strategies by drivers with dementia and their families to maintain safe driving behaviors given declining skills, identified a lack of planning for driving cessation even in light of expectations of cessation, confirmed a desire that driving decisions be a responsibility shared between families and professionals, and showed that diagnostic delays hamper families in making long-term plans. Given the desires and needs of drivers and their spouses, a shared, consistent, and unified approach to driving decisions between professionals and families is needed.
Mother-to-Child HIV Transmission in a Cohort of Pregnant Women Diagnosed by Rapid HIV Testing at Tijuana General Hospital, Baja California, Mexico
Authors: Viani Rolando M. , Ruiz-Calderon Jorge , Lopez Graciano , Chacón-Cruz Enrique , Spector Stephen A.
Published: March 2010

This study evaluated an obstetrical program using rapid HIV testing for the prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (MTCT) in Baja California, Mexico. Between 2003 and 2005, 45 women in labor and 17 prenatal care women were HIV infected. Among labor patients, 14 (31%) delivered by cesarean section compared with 17 (100%) prenatal care patients (P < .001). Intravenous maternal zidovudine (ZDV) and infant oral ZDV were more frequently administered in prenatal care compared to labor patients: 94% versus 33% (P < .001) and 100% versus 79% (P < .001), respectively. All prenatal care women received combination therapy. All 10 HIV-infected infants were in the labor group, resulting in a MTCT rate of 23% (95% confidence interval [CI] 9.5-34.8) compared to 0% (95% CI 0-1.8; P < .001) among the prenatal care group. Five (50%) of the HIV-infected infants had an AIDS diagnosis and 2 (20%) died within 18 months of birth. Women diagnosed during labor had a high HIV MTCT and poor postnatal outcome.
The Rise of A 'Me Culture' in Postsocialist China
Authors: Sima Yangzi , Pugsley Peter C.
Published: March 2010

China’s ‘Generation Y’ are the first to grow up with computer technology and the Internet. More affluent and better educated than their parents, and often the only child in the family, they consider individuality a highly sought-after quality, which has given rise to a ‘me culture’ primarily concerned with self-expression and identity exhibition. Drawing from a combined content and discourse analysis in conjunction with personal interviews with Chinese Gen Y bloggers, this study seeks to provide a qualitative examination of Chinese youth and their use of personal blogs. It fills a lacuna in current studies that focus largely on blogging in western contexts. The study elucidates how China’s youth use blogs in their own symbolic identity construction and self-presentation based around notions of individualism and consumerism — key features of China’s entry into its postsocialist age — and probes the motivations behind their blogging practices.
Gold standard or fool’s gold? The pursuit of certainty in experimental criminology
Authors: Hough Mike
Published: March 2010

This article assesses some of the claims made for experimental research in the field of rehabilitation of offenders. It suggests that both policy officials and evaluators have tended to over-invest financially and intellectually in a technocratic model of reducing reoffending that emphasizes programmes for offenders, and to under-invest in models that see the process as a complex ‘people changing’ skill. It argues that the complexity of this process renders it hard to evaluate using experimental methods of evaluation such as randomized controlled trials (RCTs). RCTs provide strong internal validity, but in complex settings offer weak external validity, making it hard to generalize from the experimental setting to other settings. The article suggests that the proper role for evaluative research in this field should be seen as building and testing middle-level theories about how best to change offenders’ behaviour.
The governance of crime and the negotiation of justice
Authors: Vaughan Barry , Kilcommins Shane
Published: March 2010

With increasing frequency, criminologists have documented the growth of a culture of control that has ushered in repressive penal policies and diminished people’s freedoms. Contra the portrayal offered by these ‘criminologies of catastrophe’, this article argues that there are several factors within contemporary European societies that militate against authoritarian rule and impel justice towards a negotiated model. European political integration is responsible for advancing a more complex form of justice as powerful supra-national actors are able to articulate their own understanding of the harms that national criminal laws should repel in countries such as Ireland. Societies are also becoming more internally complex as victims are increasingly critical of their exclusion from the criminal justice system and have demanded greater inclusiveness. Penal changes do not necessarily arise from crime being the last common social denominator by which politics can appeal to the people. They may reflect a more complex form of democracy in which various ‘counter-democratic’ forces challenge the powers of elected governments and justice emerges from a continuous cycle of negotiations.
The mutation N528S in the von Willebrand factor (VWF) propeptide causes defective multimerization and storage of VWF
Authors: Haberichter Sandra L. , Budde Ulrich , Obser Tobias , Schneppenheim Sonja , Wermes Cornelia , Schneppenheim Reinhard
Published: March 2010

We characterized a consanguineous Turkish family suffering from von Willebrand disease (VWD) with significant mucocutaneous and joint bleeding. The relative reduction of large plasma von Willebrand factor (VWF) multimers and the absent VWF triplet structure was consistent with type 2A (phenotype IIC) VWD. Surprisingly, platelet VWF was completely deficient of multimers beyond the VWF protomer, suggesting defective α-granular storage of larger multimers. Patients were nearly unresponsive to desmopressin acetate, consistent with a lack of regulated VWF release from endothelial cell Weibel-Palade bodies, suggesting defective storage also in endothelial cells. We identified an N528S homozygous mutation in the VWF propeptide D2 domain, predicting the introduction of an additional N-glycosylation site at amino acid 526 in close vicinity to a “CGLC” disulphide isomerase consensus sequence. Expression studies in mammalian cells demonstrated that N528S-VWF was neither normally multimerized nor trafficked to storage granules. However, propeptide containing the N528S mutation trafficked normally to storage granules. Our data indicate that the patients' phenotype is the result of defective multimerization, storage, and secretion. In addition, we have identified a potentially novel pathogenic mechanism of VWD, namely a transportation and storage defect of mature VWF due to defective interaction with its transporter, the mutant propeptide.
mTOR and GSK-3 shape the CD4+ T-cell stimulatory and differentiation capacity of myeloid DCs after exposure to LPS
Authors: Turnquist Hēth R. , Cardinal Jon , Macedo Camila , Rosborough Brian R. , Sumpter Tina L. , Geller David A. , Metes Diana , Thomson Angus W.
Published: March 2010

Prolonged inhibition of the kinase, mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), during myeloid dendritic cell (DC) generation confers resistance to maturation. Recently, however, mTOR inhibition immediately before Toll-like receptor ligation has been found to exert proinflammatory effects on myeloid cells, notably enhanced IL-12p40/p70 production. We show, for the first time, that mouse or human DCs generated under mTOR inhibition exhibit markedly enhanced IL-12p70 production after lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation, despite impaired costimulatory molecule expression and poor T-cell stimulatory ability. Consistent with this finding, we reveal that increased IL-12p40 production occurs predominantly in CD86lo immature DCs. High IL-12p40/p70 production by CD86lo DC resulted from failed down-regulation of glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) activity and could not be ascribed to enhanced Akt function. Despite high IL-12p70 secretion, rapamycin-conditioned, LPS-stimulated DCs remained poor T-cell stimulators, failing to enhance allogeneic Th1 cell responses. We also report that inhibition of GSK-3 impedes the ability of LPS-stimulated DCs to induce forkhead box p3 in CD4+CD25− T cells, as does the absence of IL-12p40/p70. Thus, GSK-3 activity in DC is regulated via signaling linked to mTOR and modulates their capacity both to produce IL-12p40/p70 and induce forkhead box p3 in CD4+ T cells under inflammatory conditions.
Iron chelation therapy: you gotta have heart
Authors: Cohen Alan R.
Published: March 2010

The study by Pennell et al in this issue of Blood reports the effect of the orally active iron chelator deferasirox on cardiac iron and function in patients with thalassemia major.
High incidence of arterial thrombosis in young patients treated for multiple myeloma: results of a prospective cohort study
Authors: Libourel Eduard J. , Sonneveld Pieter , van der Holt Bronno , de Maat Moniek P. M. , Leebeek Frank W. G.
Published: March 2010

This prospective study evaluated the risk of arterial thrombosis in 195 consecutive patients aged 18 to 65 years with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (MM). All patients were treated with 3 cycles of VAD (vincristine, doxorubicin, and dexamethasone) or TAD (thalidomide-AD) or PAD (bortezomib-AD) in national trials, followed by high-dose melphalan and autologous stem cell transplantation. For a period of 522 patient-years, 11 of the 195 patients (5.6%) developed arterial thrombosis. The highest incidence was seen during induction chemotherapy courses. Median age at onset of arterial thrombosis was 59 years (range, 43-65 years). Hypertension and smoking were significantly associated with arterial thrombosis with a relative risk of 11.7 (2.23-61.2) and 15.2 (1.78-130), respectively. Factor VIII levels (FVIII:C) correlated significantly with age (P = .02) and higher International Scoring System (ISS) stage (P = .001). A higher FVIII:C was associated with arterial thrombosis (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.85; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.99-3.47) after adjustment for age, ISS score, and assigned treatment arm. MM patients have an increased risk for arterial thrombotic events during and after induction chemotherapy. Hypertension, smoking, and high factor VIII levels, possibly reflecting disease activity, contribute to the risk of arterial thrombosis.
Early response predicts myeloma outcome
Authors: Palumbo Antonio
Published: March 2010

In this issue of Blood, Gertz and colleagues present a retrospective study that analyzes progression-free survival and overall survival in 286 patients comparing those who did not reach a partial response or progressed during induction therapy with a regimen including thalidomide or lenalidomide to those who did achieve at least a partial response.