bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Changes in Skeletal Muscle Vascular Resistance with Weight Gain: Associations with Insulin and Sympathetic Activity
Authors: Borne Agatha T. , Truett Alycia A. , Monteiro Michelle P. , Volaufova Julia , West David B.
Published: September 2012

BORNE, AGATHA T., ALYCIA A. TRUETT, MICHELLE P. MONTEIRO, JULIA VOLAUFOVA, AND DAVID B. WEST. Changes in skeletal muscle vascular resistance with weight gain: associations with insulin and sympathetic activity. Obes Res. 1999;7:68–75.

Objective: This study was designed to characterize changes in peripheral vascular resistance with weight gain, and whether these changes are correlated with insulin and/or sympathetic activity.

Research Methods and Procedures: Femoral vascular resistance (FVR), mean arterial pressure, heart rate, and plasma insulin were measured before and during overfeeding in seven dogs with unilateral lumbar ganglionectomy (L3 to L6). Measurements were taken standing and while walking on a treadmill.

Results: There was a significant main effect of weight gain to increase mean arterial pressure (16.5±8.4 mmHg and 12.5±6.8 mmHg increase for standing and walking baseline, respectively) and heart rate (increase from week 1 of 31.6±10.6 beats/minute standing and 38.3±9.1 walking beat/minute). FVR increased immediately with overfeeding/ weight gain [standing: denervated (DNX):1.32±0.3 to 2.34±0.5; intact: 0.88±0.17 to 1.9±0.33 mmHg/mL‐min−1], but returned to baseline with continued weight gain. Return of FVR to baseline occurred between weeks 2 and 3 of overfeeding in the DNX limb, but did not return to baseline until week 6 in the innervated limb. These changes were not correlated with plasma insulin levels.

Discussion: These data suggest that vascular resistance may be normal in the obese, but increases in vascular resistance occur early with weight gain (before changes in arterial pressure). This initial increase in vascular resistance could initiate the series of events leading to obesity‐associated hypertension. Additionally, changing vascular resistance during weight gain may be influenced by sympathetic activity, because DNX limb FVR returned to baseline −3 weeks earlier than the innervated limb.
Quantitative Genetics of Energy Balance—Lessons from Animal Models
Authors: Pomp Daniel , Nielsen Merlyn K.
Published: September 2012

POMP, DANIEL AND MERLYN K. NIELSEN. Quantitative genetics of energy balance—lessons from animal models. Obes Res. 1999;7:106–110.

Evidence for quantitative genetic variation in components of energy balance in animals is overwhelming. Much of this evidence is drawn from livestock species and relevant rodent models, especially long‐term selection lines. This minireview summarizes findings from several animal studies that have characterized quantitative genetic variation in energy intake and energy expenditure. Applications of this information toward understanding and treatment of human obesity are explored.
A Comparison of Body Size Evaluations of Obesity Surgery Patients and General Population Adults
Authors: Rand Colleen S. W. , Resnick Jaquelyn Liss , Macgregor Alex M. C.
Published: September 2012

RAND, COLLEEN S. W., JAQUELYN LISS RESNIK, AND ALEX M. C. MACGREGOR. A comparison of body size evaluations of obesity surgery patients and general population adults. Obes Res.

Objective: To compare post‐operative obesity surgery patients and general population adults in their assessments of a wide range of body sizes.

Research Methods and Procedures: Obesity surgery patients (n = 274) and general population adults (n = 326) rated ideal and socially acceptable body sizes in separate arrays of babies, children, young adults, and middle‐aged and older adults. Nine line figure drawings ranging from very thin to very obese were rated for each array.

Results: Both groups selected the same ideal body size for all arrays except for babies. Both groups rejected obese and very thin body sizes as socially acceptable. However, the obesity surgery patients were more restrictive than general population adults in their ratings of socially acceptable body sizes. Current obesity status did not impact ratings for the patient or general population subjects. In the patient sample, time since surgery did not influence body size evaluations.

Discussion: The study of body size ratings limited only to the “ideal” size may be misleading because it may mask subtle but meaningful differences between groups. The consistent difference in more restrictive ratings of obesity surgery patients compared to general population adults may be due to patients' greater psychological investment in endorsing the societal ideal body size. It may also be due to patients' status as peripheral group members of the normal weight community. The inability of some patients to maintain their post‐operative weight loss may be particularly problematic for those who have defined “socially acceptable” body size most narrowly.
Dermatoses in 156 Obese Adults
Authors: García‐Hidalgo Linda , Orozco‐Topete Rocío , Gonzalez‐Barranco Jorge , Villa Antonio R. , Dalman José J. , Ortiz‐Pedroza Guadalupe
Published: September 2012

GARCÍA‐HIDALGO, LINDA, ROCÍO OROZCO‐TOPETE, JORGE GONZALEZ‐BARRANCO, ANTONIO R. VILLA, JOSÉ J. DALMAN, AND GUADALUPE ORTIZ‐PEDROZA. Dermatoses in 156 obese adults. Obes Res.

Background: Skin diseases are mentioned as a frequent finding in the obese patient. However, to our knowledge no study has been done on this subject.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of skin diseases associated with different obesity grades and if any dermatosis can be considered an obesity marker.

Materials and Methods: A cross‐sectional study of 156 obese patients who were 110% to 293% overweight were included. Complete medical history and dermatological examination were done.

Results: In the 126 female and 30 male obese patients, grades I to V, with a body mass index (BMI) of 27–51, cutaneous findings with statistical significance for linear trend were: plantar hyperkeratosis 54 patients p = 0. 00001; acanthosis nigricans 46 patients p = 0. 00005; striae 67 patients p = 0. 03; skin tags 69 patients p = 0. 01; keratosis pi‐laris 33 patients p = 0. 007. Patients with plantar hyperkeratosis were distributed in the obesity groups as follows: grade 1 = 3 patients; grade II = 7 patients; grade III = 8 patients; grade IV = 17 patients; and grade V = 19 patients. Of the 76 diabetic patients, 26 had acanthosis nigricans, 38 had skin tags, and 27 had plantar hyperkeratosis.

Discussion: Plantar hyperkeratosis should be considered as a cutaneous stigma of severe obesity. This is probably a result of pressure directly related to the excess weight.
Physical Activity and Low‐Fat Diet: Is it Enough to Maintain Weight Stability in the Reduced‐Obese Individual Following Weight Loss by Drug Therapy and Energy Restriction?
Authors: Doucet Eric , Imbeault Pascal , Alméras Natalie , Tremblay Angelo
Published: September 2012

DOUCET, ERIC, PASCAL IMBEAULT, NATALIE ALMÉRAS, AND ANGELO TREMBLAY. Physical activity and low‐fat diet: Is it enough to maintain weight stability in the reduced‐obese individual following weight loss by drug therapy and energy restriction? Obes Res.

Objective: The anthropometric and physiological effects of a physical activity (PA) and a mildly energy‐restricted low‐fat diet (LFD) follow‐up program after a long‐term dietary restriction were studied in 12 men and 8 women.

Research Methods and Procedures: The dietary restriction (−700 kcal/day) was accompanied by a fenfluramine (60 mg/day) or placebo treatment for 15 weeks, whereas the mean duration of the PA‐LFD follow‐up was 18 weeks.

Results: The long‐term dietary restriction reduced body weight (−11. 9 and −7. 6 kg, p<. 001), fat mass (FM) (−10. 6 and −5. 8 kg, p<0. 01), resting metabolic rate (RMR) (−304 kcal/day, p<0. 01 and −148 kcal/day, NS) in men and women, respectively. A decrease in fat‐free mass (FFM) was also observed in women (−1. 8 kg, p<0. 05). The PA‐LFD follow‐up preserved weight stability at a reduced body weight and caused an additional significant decrease in FM for men (−3. 4 kg, p<0. 05). This part of the intervention also caused an increase in daily RMR for men (134 kcal/day, NS) to the point where this value no longer differed from the pre‐energy restriction value. In contrast, RMR was further reduced in women (−200 kcal/day) to the point where it Significantly differed from initial values (p<0. 01). Resting seated heart rate was reduced by the PA‐LFD follow‐up in men leading it to differ significantly from both pre‐ and post‐energy restriction values (−8. 5 and −5. 5 bpm, p<0. 01).

Discussion: In conclusion, these results suggest that a PA‐LFD follow‐up has the potential to permit body weight stability and may even accentuate fat loss in the reduced‐obese state. Moreover, resting energy expenditure is increased under such conditions in men. These stimulating effects seem to be specific to energy metabolism since seated heart rate was either further reduced or remained stable in response to the PA‐LFD follow‐up.
Behavioral Strategies of Individuals Who Have Maintained Long‐Term Weight Losses
Authors: McGuire Maureen T. , Wing Rena R. , Klem Mary L. , Hillf James O.
Published: September 2012

MCGUIRE, MAUREEN T., RENA R. WING, MARY L. KLEM, AND JAMES O. HILL. Behavioral strategies of individuals who have maintained long‐term weight losses. Obes Res.

Objective: The purpose of the present study was to compare the behaviors of individuals who have achieved long‐term weight loss maintenance with those of regainers and weight‐stable controls.

Research Methods and Procedures: Subjects for the present study were participants in a random‐digit dial telephone survey that used a representative sample of the U. S. adult population. Eating, exercise, self‐weighing, and dietary restraint characteristics were compared among weight‐loss maintainers: individuals who had intentionally lost ≥10% of their weight and maintained it for ≥1 year (n = 69), weight‐loss regainers: individuals who intentionally lost ≥10% of their weight but had not maintained it (n = 56), and weight‐stable controls: individuals who had never lost ≥10% of their maximum weight and had maintained their current weight (±10 pounds) within the past 5 years (n= 113).

Results: Weight‐loss maintainers had lost an average of 37 pounds and maintained it for over 7 years. These individuals reported that they currently used more behavioral strategies to control dietary fat intake, have higher levels of physical activity (especially strenuous activity), and greater frequency of self‐weighing than either the weight‐loss regainers or weight‐stable controls. Maintainers and regainers did not differ in reported levels of dietary restraint, but both had higher levels of restraint than the weight‐stable controls.

Discussion: These results suggest that weight‐loss maintainers use more behavioral strategies to control their weight than either regainers or weight‐stable controls. It would thus appear that long‐term weight maintenance requires ongoing adherence to a low‐fat diet and an exercise regimen in addition to continued attention to body weight.
Meta‐Analysis of the Effect of Excluding Early Deaths on the Estimated Relationship between Body Mass Index and Mortality
Authors: Allison David B. , Faith Myles S. , Heo Moonseong , Townsend‐Butterworth Diana , Williamson David F.
Published: September 2012

ALLISON, DAVID B., MYLES S. FAITH, MOONSEONG HEO, DIANA TOWNSEND‐BUTTERWORTH, AND DAVID F. WILLIAMSON. Meta‐analysis of the effect of excluding early deaths on the estimated relationship between body mass index and mortality. Obes Res.

Objectives: Prospective cohort studies typically observe U‐or J‐shaped relationships between body mass index (BMI) (kg/m2) and mortality. However, some studies suggest that the elevated mortality at lower BMIs is due to confounding by pre‐existing occult disease and recommend eliminating subjects who die during the first several (k) years of follow‐up. This meta‐analysis tests the effects of such early death exclusion on the BMI‐mortality association.

Research Methods and Procedures: Studies identified from MEDLINE, review articles, ancestry analyses, and the “invisible college.” Included studies: 1) measured relative body weight at baseline; 2) inchded at least 1000 subjects; 3) reported results with and without early‐death exclusion, or relevant data; and 4) did not study exclusively diseased populations. Blank tables were mailed to 131 investigators covering 59 databases. Completed tables (n = 16 databases), electronic raw data (n = 7 databases), and original articles (n = 6 databases) provided final data. Meta‐analytic regressions compared the BMI‐mortality association with and without early death exclusion. The sample included 29 studies and 1,954,345 subjects.

Results: The effect of eliminating early deaths was statistically significant but minuscule in magnitude. Implementation of early death exclusion was estimated to shift the BMI associated with minimum mortality only 0. 4 units for men and 0. 6 units for women at age 50. Even at a BMI 16, the estimated relative risk (compared to BMI 25) decreased only 0. 008 units for men and 0. 076 units for women at age 50.

Discussion: Results indicate that either pre‐existing disease does not confound the BMI—mortality association or eliminating early deaths is inefficient for reducing that confounding.
Abdominal Adiposity in Six Populations of West African Descent: Prevalence and Population Attributable Fraction of Hypertension
Authors: Okosun Ike S. , Forrester Terrence E. , Rotimi Charles N. , Osotimehin Babatunde O. , Munu Walinjom F. , Cooper Richard S.
Published: September 2012

OKOSUN, IKE S., TERRENCE E. FORRESTER, CHARLES N. ROTIMI, BABATUNDE O. OSOTIMEHIN, WALINJOM F. MUNA, AND RICHARD S. COOPER. Abdominal adiposity in six populations of West African descent: prevalence and population attributable fraction of hypertension. Obes Res.

Objectives: The objective of this investigation was to examine the prevalence of abdominal adiposity and its association with the prevalence of hypertension among African descent populations in Nigeria, Cameroon, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Barbados, and the United States (US).

Research Method: The data for this investigation were obtained from the International Collaborative Study on Hypertension in Blacks. Hypertension was defined as mean diastolic blood pressure ≥90 mmHg, systolic blood pressure ≥140 mmHg or current treatment with prescribed anti‐hypertension medication. Abdominal overweight was defined as waist circumference (WC) ≥94 and ≥80 cm for men and women, respectively. Abdominal obesity was defined as WC ≥102 and ≥88 cm for men and women, respectively. We estimated the site‐specific prevalence of abdominal overweight and obesity across age and body mass index cut‐points. We also calculated the population attributable fraction (AF) of hypertension due to abdominal adiposity.

Results: The prevalence of hypertension in these populations was tightly linked to abdominal adiposity. Increases in abdominal overweight accompanied an increasing degree of Westernization, rising from 6. 4% and 26. 3% in Nigeria, 16. 5% and 62. 8% in Cameroon, 15. 8% and 58. 6% in Jamaica, 14. 3% and 62. 1% in St. Lucia, 21. 4% and 70. 3% in Barbados to 38. 9%, and 76. 4% in the US for men and women, respectively. The corresponding values for abdominal obesity were 1. 6% and 12. 3% in Nigeria, 5. 1% and 38. 9% in Cameroon, 5. 5% and 34. 0% in Jamaica, 2. 7% and 40. 7% in St. Lucia, 7. 8% and 44. 7% in Barbados to 21. 7% and 54. 1% in the US for men and women, respectively. Body mass index‐adjusted estimates of AF suggest that in most of these populations, especially in females, avoidance of abdominal overweight or obesity would help to curb the development of hypertension.

Discussion: An important public health challenge is to clarify how lifestyle factors influence risks of abdominal adiposity and ultimately the increased risk of cardiovascular diseases.
Birth Weight, Adulthood BMI, and Subsequent Weight Gain in Relation to Leptin Levels in Swedish Women
Authors: Lissner Lauren , Karlsson Cecilia , Lindroos Anna Karin , Sjöström Lars , Carlsson Björn , Carlsson Lena , Bengtsson Calle
Published: September 2012

LISSNER, LAUREN, CECILIA KARLSSON, ANNA KARIN LINDROOS, LARS SJOSTROM, BJORN CARLSSON, LENA CARLSSON, AND CALLE BENGTSSON. Birth weight, adulthood BMI, and subsequent weight gain in relation to leptin levels in Swedish women.Obes Res.

ObjectiveLeptin seems to be involved in the regulation of energy balance, although little is known about the epidemiology of leptin with respect to prediction of weight gain and incidence of obesity‐related diseases. The dual aim of this study is to document characteristics of leptin after long‐term storage, and to describe its relation to body weight, from birth to old age, in an ongoing prospective study.

Research Methods and ProceduresA population‐based sample of Swedish women was first examined at the ages of 38 to 60 and re‐examined 24 years later. This study used 1358 frozen serum samples that had been stored 29 years for analysis of leptin concentrations and their relation to body weight history.

ResultsLeptin values obtained from stored samples showed the same correlation with relative weight as that seen in a contemporary sample with similar demographic characteristics. Lower self‐reported birth weight was associated with higher leptin levels in adulthood (p= 0.01), controlling for age and adult BMI. Prospective analyses revealed that high leptin in 38 to 46‐year‐olds predicted subsequent long‐term weight gain(p =0.003), although no significant associations were seen in women initially aged 50 or older.

Discussion: It is feasible to use frozen serum for studying leptin in relation to obesity and related developments many years later. High leptin level was a risk factor for subsequent weight gain in 38‐ and 46‐year‐old women. Retrospective analyses involving birth weight suggest that leptin resistance in adulthood might have fetal origins.
Spousal Resemblance and Risk of 7‐Year Increases in Obesity and Central Adiposity in the Canadian Population
Authors: Katzmarzyk Peter T. , Pérusse Louis , Rao D. C. , Bouchard Claude
Published: September 2012

KATZMARZYK, PETER T., LOUIS PÉRUSSE, D. C. RAO, AND CLAUDE BOUCHARD. Spousal resemblance and risk of 7‐year increases in obesity and central adiposity in the Canadian population. Obes Res.

Objective: Spousal similarities in 7‐year changes in obesity and obesity‐related phenotypes were examined in a sub‐sample of 376 pairs of spouses from a sample of 1487 participants in the 1988 Campbell's Survey follow‐up of the 1981 Canada Fitness Survey.

Measures: Indicators of body fatness included the body mass index (BMI), the sum of five skinfolds (SF5), and waist circumference (WAIST), whereas those for relative adipose tissue (AT) distribution included the ratio of two trunk to three extremity skinfolds, adjusted for SF5 (TERadj), and WAIST adjusted for BMI (WAISTadj).

Results: Spouse correlations were 0. 17, 0. 17, and 0. 17 for the BMI (p<0. 05) and 0. 20, 0. 20, and 0. 21 for SF5 (p<0. 05) for the initial measurement, follow‐up, and 7‐year change, respectively. Spouse correlations for WAIST were somewhat lower: 0. 16 (p<0. 05), 0. 11 (p<0. 05), and 0. 11 (p<0. 05) for the initial measurement, follow‐up, and 7‐year change, respectively, whereas those for TERadj and WAISTadj were low and not significant. Spouses of probands who had increases in adiposity and central AT distribution had elevated risks of also increasing in these parameters. Spousal risks (risk ratios) were 1. 48 (95% CI = 1. 08‐2. 03), 1. 49 (95% CI= 1. 10‐2. 02), and 1. 68 (95% CI= 1. 28‐2. 21) for increases in BMI, SF5, and WAIST, respectively, whereas the risks for increases in central adiposity were 1. 22 (95% CI = 0. 86‐1‐73), and 1. 05 (95% CI = 0. 72–153) for TERadj, and WAISTadj, respectively.

Discussion: The results indicate significant spousal resemblance and risk for increases in fatness in the general Canadian population, whereas both the spousal resemblance and risks for increases in AT distribution, adjusted for level of fatness, are non‐significant. The results suggest that shared environmental factors may be important determinants of spousal similarities in changes in total body fatness over time; however, cohabitation in the short term may not lead to increases in spousal resemblance.
Metabolic Fitness in Active Reduced‐Obese Individuals
Authors: Tremblay Angelo , Doucet Eric , Imbeault Pascal , Mauriège Pascale , Després Jean‐Pierre , Richard Denis
Published: September 2012

TREMBLAY, ANGELO, ERIC DOUCET, PASCAL IMBEAULT, PASCALE MAURIÈGE, JEAN‐PIERRE DESPRÉS, AND DENIS RICHARD. Metabolic fitness in active reduced‐obese individuals. Obes Res.

Objective: To verify whether a physical activity‐low‐fat diet follow‐up could normalize the metabolic risk profile of reduced‐obese men and women having undergone considerable weight loss through energy restriction and drug therapy.

Research Methods and Procedures: Twenty obese individuals (12 men, 8 women) participated in a weight‐reducing program that included two phases. In the first phase, a non‐macronutrient‐specific dietary restriction of about 700 kcal/day was prescribed to induce weight loss over 15 weeks, with either fenfluramine or placebo. The second phase consisted of a physical activity‐low‐fat diet follow‐up that was maintained as long as subjects did not experience resistance to further body weight and fat loss. Resistance to lose fat occurred after a mean cumulative fat loss of 14 and 8 kg in men and women, respectively.

Results: Despite this substantial decrease in body fat, subjects' adiposity remained much higher at the end of this protocol than values observed in lean control subjects. However, fasting plasma levels of insulin, cholesterol, high‐density lipoprotein‐cholesterol, low‐density lipoprotein‐cholesterol, and triglyceride as well as the response of insulin and glucose to oral glucose were normalized at the end of the physical activity‐low‐fat diet follow‐up.

Discussion: These results indicate that further weight and fat losses may not be justified when a moderate body weight loss resulting in a highly favorable improvement of metabolic risk profile is achieved in patients who would have still been diagnosed as overweight or obese on the basis of criteria currently promoted by public health agencies.
Methods to Maximize Retention in Weight Loss Studies
Authors: Greenway Frank L. , Bray George A. , Marlin Robert L.
Published: September 2012

GREENWAY, FRANK L., GEORGE A. BRAY, AND ROBERT L. MARLIN. Methods to maximize retention in weight loss studies. Obes Res.

Objective: Dropouts from clinical trials decrease quality and increase costs. Free participation, paid participation, and contingency contracting are three study retention methods. Contingency contracting, or depositing a fee to be refunded contingent upon attendance in a clinical trial, has been reported to decrease dropouts without affecting weight loss. These three methods of retention were compared with a commercial weight loss clinic's practice of charging non‐refundable fees.

Methods and Procedures: Dropouts were compared in two studies testing mazindol, with one study using free care and the other using contingency contracting; two studies testing phenylpropanolamine, one using free care and the other using contingency contracting; and in studies with phenylpropanolamine on file with Thompson Medical Company using free care, paid participation, and contingency contracting.

Results: The dropout rate was 50% at 8 weeks in a trial of mazindol with free care vs. 7% for contingency contracting (p <0. 001). The two phenylpropanolamine studies gave the same weight losses, but the dropouts were 37% at 8 weeks for free care vs. 11 % for contingency contracting (p<0. 001). The studies of phenylpropanolamine on file at the Thompson Medical Company had 28% dropouts at 8 weeks using free care vs. 19% for paid participation (p<0. 001), and 11% for contingency contracting (p<0.005). Dropouts with contingency contracting (11%) were not different from the commercial weight loss program (13%).

Discussion: Contingency contracting can decrease dropouts, improve quality, and decrease costs without affecting weight loss in clinical trials for obesity.
Clinical and histologic predictors of voice and disease outcome in patients with early glottic cancer
Authors: Chang Joseph , Fang Tuan‐Jen , Yung Katherine , van Zante Annemieke , Miller Theodore , Al‐Jurf Soha , Schneider Sarah , Courey Mark
Published: September 2012

Objectives/Hypothesis:

To determine preliminarily if clinical or histological features of patients with laryngeal dysplasia/early carcinoma correlate with voice and disease outcomes.

Study Design:

Retrospective case series.

Methods:

All UCSF Voice Center patients treated with endoscopic surgery for severe dysplasia or early laryngeal cancer between 2004 and 2010 were identified. Preoperative stroboscopy, intraoperative appearance, and histologic characteristics (pattern of invasion, degree of inflammation, and degree of keratinization) of the neoplastic lesions were compared with cordectomy type and the outcomes of voice quality and disease‐free interval.

Results:

Eighteen patients were evaluated. Increased stromal chronic inflammation correlated with longer disease‐free interval (r(2) = 0.38). Cordectomy type correlated with both preoperative and postoperative voice parameters (r(2) = 0.42–0.68 and 0.33–0.39).

Conclusion:

Increased stromal chronic inflammation correlates with improved disease outcome. Voice outcome correlates with the amount of tissue removed. The clinical appearance of the lesion did not correlate with disease or voice outcome.
Autophagy in clear cell ovarian cancer, a potential marker for hypoxia and poor prognosis?#
Authors: Gibson Spencer B
Published: September 2012

Autophagy contributes to cell survival and is up‐regulated under hypoxia in many different cancers. Ovarian cancer has a poor prognosis and is generally resistant to chemotherapy. Through genetic profiling, it has becoming evident that ovarian cancer has distinct subtypes but the significance of these subtypes in ovarian cancer remains unclear. In this issue, Dr Lum and colleagues have presented evidence that autophagy as measured by LC3A staining occurs in a clear cell ovarian cancer that is correlated with hypoxic regions and poor overall survival. In addition, autophagy under hypoxia appears to be higher in clear cell ovarian cancer cells compared to other subtypes. This indicates that autophagy could be a factor in drug resistance and poor survival in clear cell ovarian cancer patients. This insight could lead to a better understanding of the role of autophagy under hypoxia in human ovarian cancer and could be a valuable biomarker for the development of better therapies for clear cell ovarian cancers. Copyright © 2012 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Localized thermal analysis of carbon fiber‐reinforced polypropylene composites
Authors: Yılmaz Hüseyin , Imai Yusuke , Nagata Kenji , Sato Kimiyasu , Hotta Yuji
Published: September 2012

The effect of carbon fiber (CF) and annealing temperature on polypropylene (PP) microstructure was studied. The crystalline state of polymer matrix was found to be a strong function of thermal history. The effect of annealing temperature on the microstructure evolution of PP in the presence of CFs was characterized by using X‐ray diffraction, DSC and localized thermal analysis. The melting behavior of CF‐reinforced PP composite was strongly dominated by the thermal history and was weakly influenced by the presence of CFs. The interface between a CF and PP matrix was found to be weak. POLYM. COMPOS., 2012. © 2012 Society of Plastics Engineers
On the Cover‐Hart inequality: What's a sample of size one worth?
Authors: Gneiting Tilmann
Published: September 2012

Bob predicts a future observation based on a sample of size one. Alice can draw a sample of any size before issuing her prediction. How much better can she do than Bob? Perhaps surprisingly, under a large class of loss functions, which we refer to as the Cover‐Hart family, the best Alice can do is to halve Bob's risk. In this sense, half the information in an infinite sample is contained in a sample of size one. The Cover‐Hart family is a convex cone that includes metrics and negative definite functions, subject to slight regularity conditions. These results may help explain the small relative differences in empirical performance measures in applied classification and forecasting problems, as well as the success of reasoning and learning by analogy in general, and nearest neighbor techniques in particular. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Guidelines for Perioperative Care for Pancreaticoduodenectomy: Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS®) Society Recommendations
Authors: Lassen Kristoffer , Coolsen Marielle M. E. , Slim Karem , Carli Francesco , de Aguilar‐Nascimento José E. , Schäfer Markus , Parks Rowan W. , Fearon Kenneth C. H. , Lobo Dileep N. , Demartines Nicolas , Braga Marco , Ljungqvist Olle , Dejong Cornelis H. C.
Published: September 2012

Background

Protocols for enhanced recovery provide comprehensive and evidence‐based guidelines for best perioperative care. Protocol implementation may reduce complication rates and enhance functional recovery and, as a result of this, also reduce length‐of‐stay in hospital. There is no comprehensive framework available for pancreaticoduodenectomy.

Methods

An international working group constructed within the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS®) Society constructed a comprehensive and evidence‐based framework for best perioperative care for pancreaticoduodenectomy patients. Data were retrieved from standard databases and personal archives. Evidence and recommendations were classified according to the GRADE system and reached through consensus in the group. The quality of evidence was rated “high”, “moderate”, “low” or “very low”. Recommendations were graded as “strong” or “weak”.

Results

Comprehensive guidelines are presented. Available evidence is summarised and recommendations given for 27 care items. The quality of evidence varies substantially and further research is needed for many issues to improve the strength of evidence and grade of recommendations.

Conclusions

The present evidence‐based guidelines provide the necessary platform upon which to base a unified protocol for perioperative care for pancreaticoduodenectomy. A unified protocol allows for comparison between centres and across national borders. It facilitates multi‐institutional prospective cohort registries and adequately powered randomised trials.
Die Politisierung der Stadtplanung: die performative Rolle von Planungsinstrumenten in Konfliktzonen am Beispiel Jerusalem
Authors: Ruppe Peter Van Gielle , Helbrecht Ilse , Dirksmeier Peter
Published: September 2012

The utilization of urban planning practices for political purposes has become an issue of planning theory in the last decades. Until the 1970s town planning was considered to be a neutral and rational instrument for the purpose of spatial regulation and administration as well as the general improvement of living conditions. Only recently with the rise of communicative planning theory this perspective has been complemented by critical perceptions of the political and ideological role of planning practices within society, their context-dependence, legitimization, normative purposes and also its interlinkages to individual aims as well as political and economic power. Jerusalem, the (partly occupied) capital of Israel, is a prototypic example of the utilization of urban planning for (even geo) political ends. This article is based on qualitative fieldwork and aims to scrutinize the scalar political consequences of various urban planning practices in Jerusalem. We undertake an analysis of the reciprocal relations of local, national, and geostrategic interests as well as the resulting actions by the relevant stakeholders. Theoretically informed by postcolonial geographies and performative approaches the paper concludes, that urban planning in Jerusalem is a highly political instrument that is strongly involved in the performative implementations of particular geographic imaginations of Jerusalem as a united capital of the state of Israel and historic as well as religious symbol of the Jewish nation. Hence urban planning in Jerusalem is an active element in the enforcement of hegemonic political interests which reach beyond the local context of Eastern Jerusalem.
Protein Adsorption on Nano-scaled, Rippled TiO2 and Si Surfaces
Authors: Sommerfeld Jana , Richter Jessica , Niepelt Raphael , Kosan Stefanie , Keller Thomas F. , Jandt Klaus D. , Ronning Carsten
Published: September 2012

We synthesized nano-scaled periodic ripple patterns on silicon and titanium dioxide (TiO2) surfaces by xenon ion irradiation, and performed adsorption experiments with human plasma fibrinogen (HPF) on such surfaces as a function of the ripple wavelength. Atomic force microscopy showed the adsorption of HPF in mostly globular conformation on crystalline and amorphous flat Si surfaces as well as on nano-structured Si with long ripple wavelengths. For short ripple wavelengths the proteins seem to adsorb in a stretched formation and align across or along the ripples. In contrast to that, the proteins adsorb in a globular assembly on flat and long-wavelength rippled TiO2, but no adsorbed proteins could be observed on TiO2 with short ripple wavelengths due to a decrease of the adsorption energy caused by surface curvature. Consequently, the adsorption behavior of HPF can be tuned on biomedically interesting materials by introducing a nano-sized morphology while not modifying the stoichiometry/chemistry.
The Rhetoric of the Roman Fake
Authors: Peirano Irene
Published: September 2012

Previous scholarship on classical pseudepigrapha has generally aimed at proving issues of attribution and dating of individual works, with little or no attention paid to the texts as literary artefacts. Instead, this book looks at Latin fakes as sophisticated products of a literary culture in which collaborative practices of supplementation, recasting and role-play were the absolute cornerstones of rhetorical education and literary practice. Texts such as the Catalepton, the Consolatio ad Liviam and the Panegyricus Messallae thus illuminate the strategies whereby Imperial audiences received and interrogated canonical texts and are here explored as key moments in the Imperial reception of Augustan authors such as Virgil, Ovid and Tibullus. The study of the rhetoric of these creative supplements irreverently mingling truth and fiction reveals much not only about the neighbouring concepts of fiction, authenticity and reality, but also about the tacit assumptions by which the latter are employed in literary criticism.
Intimate Strangers
Authors: Smith Vanessa
Published: September 2012

When Louis Antoine de Bougainville reached Tahiti in 1768, he was struck by the way in which 'All these people came crying out tayo, which means friend, and gave a thousand signs of friendship; they all asked nails and ear-rings of us.' Reading the archive of early contact in Oceania against European traditions of thinking about intimacy and exchange, Vanessa Smith illuminates the traditions and desires that led Bougainville and other European voyagers to believe that the first word they heard in the Pacific was the word for friend. Her book encompasses forty years of encounters from the arrival of the Dolphin in Tahiti in June 1767, through Cook's and Bligh's voyages, to early missionary and beachcomber settlement in the Marquesas. It unpacks both the political and emotional significances of ideas of friendship for late eighteenth-century European, and particularly British, explorations of Oceania.
Messianic Religious Zionism Confronts Israeli Territorial Compromises
Authors: Inbari Motti
Published: September 2012

The Six Day War in 1967 profoundly influenced how an increasing number of religious Zionists saw Israeli victory as the manifestation of God's desire to redeem God's people. Thousands of religious Israelis joined the Gush Emunim movement in 1974 to create settlements in territories occupied in the war. However, over time, the Israeli government decided to return territory to Palestinian or Arab control. This was perceived among religious Zionist circles as a violation of God's order. The peak of this process came with the Disengagement Plan in 2005, in which Israel demolished all the settlements in the Gaza Strip and four settlements in the West Bank. This process raised difficult theological questions among religious Zionists. This book explores the internal mechanism applied by a group of religious Zionist rabbis in response to their profound disillusionment with the state, reflected in an increase in religious radicalization due to the need to cope with the feelings of religious and messianic failure.
Divining the Etruscan World
Authors: Turfa Jean MacIntosh
Published: September 2012

The Etruscan Brontoscopic Calendar is a rare document of omens foretold by thunder. It long lay hidden, embedded in a Greek translation within a Byzantine treatise from the age of Justinian. The first complete English translation of the Brontoscopic Calendar, this book provides an understanding of Etruscan Iron Age society as revealed through the ancient text, especially the Etruscans' concerns regarding the environment, food, health and disease. Jean MacIntosh Turfa also analyzes the ancient Near Eastern sources of the Calendar and the subjects of its predictions, thereby creating a picture of the complexity of Etruscan society reaching back before the advent of writing and the recording of the calendar.
Self-Organised Criticality
Authors: Pruessner Gunnar
Published: September 2012

Giving a detailed overview of the subject, this book takes in the results and methods that have arisen since the term 'self-organised criticality' was coined twenty years ago. Providing an overview of numerical and analytical methods, from their theoretical foundation to the actual application and implementation, the book is an easy access point to important results and sophisticated methods. Starting with the famous Bak-Tang-Wiesenfeld sandpile, ten key models are carefully defined, together with their results and applications. Comprehensive tables of numerical results are collected in one volume for the first time, making the information readily accessible to readers. Written for graduate students and practising researchers in a range of disciplines, from physics and mathematics to biology, sociology, finance, medicine and engineering, the book gives a practical, hands-on approach throughout. Methods and results are applied in ways that will relate to the reader's own research.
American Freedom in a Slave Society
Authors: Shields Johanna Nicol
Published: September 2012

Before the Civil War, most Southern white people were as strongly committed to freedom for their kind as to slavery for African Americans. This study views that tragic reality through the lens of eight authors - representatives of a South that seemed, to them, destined for greatness but was, we know, on the brink of destruction. Exceptionally able and ambitious, these men and women won repute among the educated middle classes in the Southwest, South and the nation, even amid sectional tensions. Although they sometimes described liberty in the abstract, more often these authors discussed its practical significance: what it meant for people to make life's important choices freely and to be responsible for the results. They publicly insisted that freedom caused progress, but hidden doubts clouded this optimistic vision. Ultimately, their association with the oppression of slavery dimmed their hopes for human improvement, and fear distorted their responses to the sectional crisis.
Quantum Chromodynamics at High Energy
Authors: Kovchegov Yuri V. , Levin Eugene
Published: September 2012

Filling a gap in the current literature, this book is the first entirely dedicated to high energy quantum chromodynamics (QCD) including parton saturation and the color glass condensate (CGC). It presents groundbreaking progress on the subject and describes many problems at the forefront of research, bringing postgraduate students, theorists and interested experimentalists up to date with the current state of research in this field. The material is presented in a pedagogical way, with numerous examples and exercises. Discussion ranges from the quasi-classical McLerran–Venugopalan model to the linear BFKL and nonlinear BK/JIMWLK small-x evolution equations. The authors adopt both a theoretical and an experimental outlook, and present the physics of strong interactions in a universal way, making it useful for physicists from various subcommunities of high energy and nuclear physics, and applicable to processes studied at all high energy accelerators around the world. A selection of color figures is available online at www.cambridge.org/9780521112574.
Liquid Surfaces and Interfaces
Authors: Pershan Peter S. , Schlossman Mark
Published: September 2012

The availability of synchrotron x-ray sources and the subsequent developments described in this book have led to substantial progress in our understanding of molecular ordering at liquid interfaces. This practical guide enables graduate students and researchers working in physics, chemistry, biology and materials science to understand and carry out experimental investigations into the basic physical and chemical properties of liquid surfaces and interfaces. The book examines the surfaces of bulk liquids, thin wetting films and buried liquid-liquid interfaces. It discusses experiments on simple and complex fluids, including pure water and organic liquids, liquid crystals, liquid metals, electrified liquid-liquid interfaces and interfacial monolayers of amphiphiles, nanoparticles, polymers and biomolecules. A detailed description of the apparatus and techniques required for these experiments is provided, and theoretical approaches to data analysis are described, including approximate methods such as the Master formula, the Born approximation, Parratt's algorithm and the Distorted Wave Approximation.
Saints and Symposiasts
Authors: König Jason
Published: September 2012

Greek traditions of writing about food and the symposium had a long and rich afterlife in the first to fifth centuries CE, in both Greco-Roman and early Christian culture. This book provides an account of the history of the table-talk tradition, derived from Plato's Symposium and other classical texts, focusing among other writers on Plutarch, Athenaeus, Methodius and Macrobius. It also deals with the representation of transgressive, degraded, eccentric types of eating and drinking in Greco-Roman and early Christian prose narrative texts, focusing especially on the Letters of Alciphron, the Greek and Roman novels, especially Apuleius, the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles and the early saints' lives. It argues that writing about consumption and conversation continued to matter: these works communicated distinctive ideas about how to talk and how to think, distinctive models of the relationship between past and present, distinctive and often destabilising visions of identity and holiness.
Studies in Hegelian Cosmology
Authors: McTaggart John McTaggart Ellis
Published: September 2012

John McTaggart (1866–1925) was a Cambridge philosopher, famous for his metaphysical theory that time is not real and that temporal order is an illusion. Although best known for his contributions to the philosophy of time, McTaggart also spent a large part of his career expounding Hegel's work. In this book, first published in 1901, he discusses which views on a range of topics in metaphysics and ethics are compatible with Hegel's logic and idea of 'the Absolute'. Some early work on theories for which McTaggart later became well known can be found in this work, such as his beliefs that humans are immortal, that the Absolute is not in any sense a person, and that love is the relation that binds people together. In this book he also discusses punishment, sin, morality and whether Hegel could be considered a Christian.
The Emergence of International Society in the 1920s
Authors: Gorman Daniel
Published: September 2012

Chronicling the emergence of an international society in the 1920s, Daniel Gorman describes how the shock of the First World War gave rise to a broad array of overlapping initiatives in international cooperation. Though national rivalries continued to plague world politics, ordinary citizens and state officials found common causes in politics, religion, culture and sport with peers beyond their borders. The League of Nations, the turn to a less centralized British Empire, the beginning of an international ecumenical movement, international sporting events and audacious plans for the abolition of war all signaled internationalism's growth. State actors played an important role in these developments and were aided by international voluntary organizations, church groups and international networks of academics, athletes, women, pacifists and humanitarian activists. These international networks became the forerunners of international NGOs and global governance.
Presidential Saber Rattling
Authors: Wood B. Dan
Published: September 2012

The founders of the American republic believed presidents should be wise and virtuous statesmen consistently advocating community interests when conducting American foreign policy. Yet the most common theoretical model used today for explaining the behavior of politicians is grounded in self-interest, rather than community interest. This book investigates whether past presidents acted as noble statesmen or were driven by such self-interested motivations as re-election, passion, partisanship, media frenzy and increasing domestic support. The book also examines the consequences for the nation of presidential behavior driven by self-interest. Between 1945 and 2008, presidents issued 4,269 threats to nineteen different countries. Professor B. Dan Wood evaluates the causes and consequences of these threats, revealing the nature of presidential foreign policy representation and its consistency with the founding fathers' intentions.
The Cossack Myth
Authors: Plokhy Serhii
Published: September 2012

In the years following the Napoleonic Wars, a mysterious manuscript began to circulate among the dissatisfied noble elite of the Russian Empire. Entitled The History of the Rus', it became one of the most influential historical texts of the modern era. Attributed to an eighteenth-century Orthodox archbishop, it described the heroic struggles of the Ukrainian Cossacks. Alexander Pushkin read the book as a manifestation of Russian national spirit, but Taras Shevchenko interpreted it as a quest for Ukrainian national liberation, and it would inspire thousands of Ukrainians to fight for the freedom of their homeland. Serhii Plokhy tells the fascinating story of the text's discovery and dissemination, unravelling the mystery of its authorship and tracing its subsequent impact on Russian and Ukrainian historical and literary imagination. In so doing he brilliantly illuminates the relationship between history, myth, empire and nationhood from Napoleonic times to the fall of the Soviet Union.
Modernist Futures
Authors: James David
Published: September 2012

In Modernist Futures, David James examines the implications of modernism's continuity in late twentieth- and twenty-first-century writing by tracing its political and ethical valences in emerging novelistic practices. Focusing on the work of J. M. Coetzee, Milan Kundera, Ian McEwan, Toni Morrison, Michael Ondaatje and Phillip Roth, James reconsiders the purpose of literary innovation as it relates to the artistic and cultural interventions such writers perform. By rethinking critical and disciplinary parameters, James brings scholarship on contemporary fiction into dialogue with modernist studies, offering a nuanced account of narrative strategies that sheds new light on the form of the novel today. An ambitious and incisive contribution to the field, this book will appeal especially to scholars of modernism and contemporary literary culture as well as those in American and postcolonial studies.