bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Perceived Social Change and Childrearing Attitudes in China
Authors: Chen Xinyin , Bian Yufang , Xin Tao , Wang Li , Silbereisen Rainer K.
Published: December 2010

The purpose of this study was to examine parents’ perceived social change and its relations with adolescents’ reports of childrearing attitudes in urban and rural China. The participants were high school students and their parents in a Northern region of China. Parents completed a measure of perceived social change, and the adolescents completed a measure of childrearing attitudes including parental warmth, control, and encouragement of independence. The results indicated that urban parents had higher scores than rural parents on major dimensions of perceived social change including work-related opportunities, self-improvement in work, and high-tech experiences. Urban adolescents reported lower parental control and higher parental encouragement of independence than rural adolescents. In addition, parents’ reports of opportunities and prospects were positively associated with adolescents’ reports of parental warmth and encouragement of independence in childrearing across the urban and rural groups, suggesting that parents who perceived more challenges and opportunities to pursue self-advancement and personal career goals were more likely to support the use of warm and sensitive parenting and to encourage their children to develop independent behaviors. The results indicated the implications of social change for socialization and adolescent development in Chinese context.
Comparison of the Embryotoxic Effects of Saporin, Agrostin (Type 1 Ribosome‐Inactivating Proteins) and Ricin (a Type 2 Ribosome‐Inactivating Protein
Authors: Chan Wood‐Yee , Ng Tzi‐Bun
Published: December 2010

Abstract: The effects of two type I ribosome‐inactivating proteins, saporin and agrostin, and the type 2 ribosome‐inactivating protein ricin and its constituent A and B chains, on the development of cultured mouse embryos, were investigated. Saporin and agrostin had similar embryotoxicity which was approximately 105 times weaker than that of ricin and its A and B chains, and the embryotoxicity of saporin and agrostin increased gradually with the dosage. In contrast, there was an abrupt rise in embryotoxictiy of ricin‐A chain and B chain as the dose was raised from 10 to 20 ng ml−1. Saporin and agrostin did not affect the heart‐beat and otic placode, but at 10 ng ml−1 ricin and 40 ng ml−1 ricin‐A chain and B chain, all of the treated embryos exhibited abnormalities in heart‐beat, yolk sac circulation, body axis, optic placode, otic placode, forelimb buds, branchial apparatus and cranial neural tube.
The Effect of Tumour Necrosis Factor (TNF) Inhibitors in Clostridium difficile Toxin‐Induced Paw Oedema and Neutrophil Migration
Authors: Carneiro‐Filho Benedito A. , Souza Maximiliano L. P. , Lima Aldo A. M. , Ribeiro Ronaldo A.
Published: December 2010

Abstract: Clostridium difficile produces a potent enterotoxin and a cytotoxin, toxin A and toxin B, respectively. These toxins are associated with pseudomembranous colitis and antibiotic‐associated diarrhoea. In the present study, we investigated the oedematogenic activity of both toxins, characterizing the time‐course and dose‐response of this pro‐inflammatory event. We also explored the effects of two inhibitors of tumour necrosis factor (TNF) production, thalidomide and pentoxifylline, in neutrophil recruitment and the oedematogenic activity of these toxins. Subplantar injection of toxin A induced paw oedema with a maximal response at 1 μg, reaching a maximal value 9 hr after toxin A challenge (toxin A1 μg:1.39±0.09 ml). Toxin B also showed a dose‐dependent oedematogenic activity with a late peak at 24 hr and a maximal response at a dose of 0.1 μg (toxin B 0.1μg : 1.74±0.12 ml). Pentoxifylline, but not thalidomide, significantly reduced the oedema induced by Toxin A (pentoxifylline 135 mg/kg : 60% of inhibition) and Toxin B (pentoxifylline135 mg/kg : 33.6% of inhibition). Both thalidomide and pentoxifylline were able to significantly reduce neutrophil influx into the peritoneal cavities of rats evoked with Toxin A (thalidomide45 mg/kg : 53.1% of inhibition; pentoxifylline 45 mg/kg : 47.1% of inhibition) and Toxin B (thalidomide 45 mg/kg : 46.8% of inhibition; pentoxifylline 45 mg/kg : 63.1% of inhibition). This study demonstrates the oedematogenic activities of both toxins with distinct potencies and time‐courses. These data also show an inhibitory effect of pentoxifylline in toxin A and B‐induced paw oedema. Furthermore, both pentoxifylline and thalidomide significantly inhibited the Clostridium difficile toxins‐induced neutrophil migration.
A Simple Method for Quantitative Risk Assessment of Non‐Threshold Carcinogens Based on the Dose Descriptor T25
Authors: Sanner Tore , Dybing Erik , Willems Marianne I. , Kroese E. Dinant
Published: December 2010

Abstract: This report provides guidance for using the dose‐descriptor T25 from animal studies as a basis for quantitative risk characterisation of non‐threshold carcinogens. T25 is presently used within the European Union for setting specific concentration limits for carcinogens in relation to labelling of preparations (formulations). The T25 is defined as the chronic dose rate which will give 25% of the animals tumours at a specific tissue site, after correction for spontaneous incidence, within the standard life‐time of that species. The T25 is converted to the corresponding human dose descriptor, HT25, by dividing it with the appropriate scaling factor for interspecies dose scaling based on comparative metabolic rates. Subsequently, the human dose (expressed in mg per kg body‐weight per day) is calculated from the available exposure data. The corresponding human life‐time cancer risk is then obtained by using linear extrapolation by dividing the exposure dose with the coefficient (HT25/0.25). The results with this new method, which can easily be calculated without computer programmes, are in excellent agreement with results from computer‐based extrapolation methods such as the linearised multistage model and the benchmark method using LED10, even though the present method only takes into consideration one single dose‐response point. To overcome possible shortcomings of the present method, the estimated life‐time risks are proposed to be accompanied by a commentary statement giving an overall evaluation of data that may have bearing on the carcinogenic risk and that may indicate whether the real human risk is likely to be higher or lower than the calculated life‐time risk. By using the present guidance and a harmonized set of criteria and default values, the calculation of life‐time cancer risk should be transparent and easy to comprehend.
Polyamine and Redox Modulation of [3H]MK‐801 Binding to N‐Methyl‐d‐aspartate Receptors in the Spinal Cord and Cerebral Cortex
Authors: Sundström Erik , Mo Li‐Li
Published: December 2010

Abstract: The pharmacology of N‐methyl‐d‐aspartate (NMDA) receptors shows regional differences in affinity for various agonists and antagonists. We have investigated the modulatory mechanisms acting via the polyamine, redox and proton sites in the cerebral cortex and the spinal cord of adult, male rats using [3H]MK‐801 binding. The affinity for glycine‐independent spermine stimulation was one magnitude higher in cerebrocortical than in spinal cord membranes while the affinity for the spermine antagonist arcaine was similar. Spermine abolished the inhibiting effect of low pH in both regions. Thus, the difference in the polyamine site between the two regions seems to be restricted to agonist binding. The proportion of high affinity/total ifenprodil binding was ≈35% both in the spinal cord and the cerebral cortex, suggesting similar relative amounts of the NMDA receptor subunit 2B. The affinity of ifenprodil to the high affinity site was however significantly higher in the cerebral cortex. Redox modulatory agents had similar effects in the two regions but spermine fully counteracted the inhibiting effect of 0.2 mM 5,5′‐dithio‐bis(2‐nitrobenzoic acid) (DTNB) in the cerebral cortex while there was only a partial effect in the spinal cord. These data show that the regional pharmacological heterogeneity involves several of the mechanisms regulating the function of the NMDA receptor. The data also indicate that the NMDA receptor subunit 2B is much more common in spinal cord than previously suggested.
Pressure calculation in hybrid particle-field simulations
Authors: Milano Giuseppe , Kawakatsu Toshihiro
Published: December 2010

In the framework of a recently developed scheme for a hybrid particle-field simulation techniques where self-consistent field (SCF) theory and particle models (molecular dynamics) are combined [J. Chem. Phys. 130, 214106 (2009)], we developed a general formulation for the calculation of instantaneous pressure and stress tensor. The expressions have been derived from statistical mechanical definition of the pressure starting from the expression for the free energy functional in the SCF theory. An implementation of the derived formulation suitable for hybrid particle-field molecular dynamics-self-consistent field simulations is described. A series of test simulations on model systems are reported comparing the calculated pressure with those obtained from standard molecular dynamics simulations based on pair potentials.
Supercritical ammonia: A molecular dynamics simulation and vibrational spectroscopic investigation
Authors: Tassaing T. , Soetens J.-C. , Vyalov I. , Kiselev M. , Idrissi A.
Published: December 2010

Combining infrared spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulations, we have investigated the structural and dynamical properties of ammonia from liquid state (T = 220 and 303 K) up to the supercritical domain along the isotherm T = 423 K. Infrared spectra show that the N–H stretching and bending modes are significantly perturbed which is interpreted as a signature of the change of the local environment. In order to compare the experimental spectra with those obtained using molecular dynamics simulation, we have used a flexible four sites model which allows to take into account the anharmonicity in all the vibration modes particularly that of the inversion mode of the molecule. A good agreement between our experimental and calculated spectra has been obtained hence validating the intermolecular potential used in this study to simulate supercritical ammonia. The detailed analysis of the molecular dynamics simulation results provides a quantitative insight of the relative importance of hydrogen bonding versus nonhydrogen bonded interactions that governs the structure of fluid ammonia.
Probing the structures of gas-phase rhodium cluster cations by far-infrared spectroscopy
Authors: Harding D. J. , Gruene P. , Haertelt M. , Meijer G. , Fielicke A. , Hamilton S. M. , Hopkins W. S. , Mackenzie S. R. , Neville S. P. , Walsh T. R.
Published: December 2010

The geometric structures of small cationic rhodium clusters Rh \documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\begin{document}$_n^+$\end{document}n+ (n = 6–12) are investigated by comparison of experimental far-infrared multiple photon dissociation spectra with spectra calculated using density functional theory. The clusters are found to favor structures based on octahedral and tetrahedral motifs for most of the sizes considered, in contrast to previous theoretical predictions that rhodium clusters should favor cubic motifs. Our findings highlight the need for further development of theoretical and computational methods to treat these high-spin transition metal clusters.
A Hirshfeld-I interpretation of the charge distribution, dipole and quadrupole moments of the halogenated acetylenes FCCH, ClCCH, BrCCH, and ICCH
Authors: Harrison James F.
Published: December 2010

We report the dipole and quadrupole moments of the halogenated acetylenes calculated using large basis sets and the SCF, DFT(B3LYP), and CCSD methods, and we analyze the charge density using the Hirshfeld and Hirshfeld-I techniques. The atomic charges, dipoles, and quadrupoles resulting from the Hirshfeld-I analysis are used to interpret the unusually small molecular dipole moments in the sequence as well as the molecular quadrupole moments. The very small dipoles obtain for two reasons. First, the dipole moment associated with the σ and π electron densities is comparable in magnitude and opposite in direction. Second, the charge and induced dipole contributions for ClCCH, BrCCH, and ICCH have opposite signs further reducing the molecular dipoles. The molecular quadrupole moments are the sum of a charge, atomic dipole, and in situ quadrupole terms, and are dominated by the atomic dipoles and in situ quadrupoles with the charge contributions playing an unexpectedly minor role.
Getting Ahead of the Joneses: When Equality Increases Conspicuous Consumption among Bottom-Tier Consumers
Authors: Ordabayeva Nailya , Chandon Pierre
Published: December 2010

It is widely believed that increasing the equality of material possessions or income in a social group should lead people at the bottom of the distribution to consume less and save more. However, this prediction and its causal mechanism have never been studied experimentally. Five studies show that greater equality increases the satisfaction of those in the lowest tier of the distribution because it reduces the possession gap between what they have and what others have. However, greater equality also increases the position gains derived from status-enhancing consumption, since it allows low-tier consumers to get ahead of the higher proportion of consumers clustered in the middle tiers. As a result, greater equality reduces consumption when consumers focus on the narrower possession gap, but it increases consumption when they focus on the greater position gains (i.e., when consumption is conspicuous, social competition goals are primed, and the environment is competitive).
The Arabidopsis Cell Cycle F-Box Protein SKP2A Binds to Auxin
Authors: Jurado Silvia , Abraham Zamira , Manzano Concepción , López-Torrejón Gema , Pacios Luis F. , Del Pozo Juan C.
Published: December 2010

Arabidopsis thaliana S-Phase Kinase-Associated Protein 2A (SKP2A) is an F-box protein that regulates the proteolysis of cell cycle transcription factors. The plant hormone auxin regulates multiple aspects of plant growth and development, including cell division. We found that auxin induces the ubiquitin-dependent degradation of SKP2A both in vivo and in vitro, suggesting that this hormone acts as a signal to trigger SKP2A proteolysis. In this article, we show that auxin binds directly and specifically to SKP2A. By TIR1-based superposition and docking analyzes, we identified an auxin binding site in SKP2A. Mutations in this binding site reduce the ability of SKP2A to bind to auxin and generate nondegradable SKP2A forms. In addition, these non-auxin binding proteins are unable to promote E2FC/DPB degradation in vivo or to induce cell division in the root meristem. Auxin binds to TIR1 to promote its interaction with the auxin/indole-3-acetic acid target proteins. Here, we show that auxin also enhanced the interaction between SKP2A and DPB. Finally, a mutation in SKP2A leads to auxin-resistant root growth, an effect that is additive with the tir1-1 phenotype. Thus, our data indicate that SKP2A is an auxin binding protein that connects auxin signaling with cell division.
A C Subunit of the Plant Nuclear Factor NF-Y Required for Rhizobial Infection and Nodule Development Affects Partner Selection in the Common Bean–Rhizobium etliSymbiosis
Authors: Zanetti María Eugenia , Blanco Flavio A. , Beker María Pía , Battaglia Marina , Aguilar O. Mario
Published: December 2010

Legume plants are able to interact symbiotically with soil bacteria to form nitrogen-fixing root nodules. Although specific recognition between rhizobia and legume species has been extensively characterized, plant molecular determinants that govern the preferential colonization by different strains within a single rhizobium species have received little attention. We found that the C subunit of the heterotrimeric nuclear factor NF-Y from common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) NF-YC1 plays a key role in the improved nodulation seen by more efficient strains of rhizobia. Reduction of NF-YC1 transcript levels by RNA interference (RNAi) in Agrobacterium rhizogenes–induced hairy roots leads to the arrest of nodule development and defects in the infection process with either high or low efficiency strains. Induction of three G2/M transition cell cycle genes in response to rhizobia was impaired or attenuated in NF-YC1 RNAi roots, suggesting that this transcription factor might promote nodule development by activating cortical cell divisions. Furthermore, overexpression of this gene has a positive impact on nodulation efficiency and selection of Rhizobium etli strains that are naturally less efficient and bad competitors. Our findings suggest that this transcription factor might be part of a mechanism that links nodule organogenesis with an early molecular dialogue that selectively discriminates between high- and low-quality symbiotic partners, which holds important implications for optimizing legume performance.
Access to orphan drugs despite poor quality of clinical evidence
Authors: Dupont Alain G. , Van Wilder Philippe B.
Published: December 2010

WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN ABOUT THIS SUBJECT

• The clinical evidence level of orphan medicines in European market authorization submissions is low: few randomized controlled trials, short treatment follow‐up, rarely hard clinical endpoints.

• The success rate at centralized market authorization is lower for orphan drugs (62.9%) than for non‐orphan medicines (70.7%).

• The burden of disease of rare diseases is high, affecting the lives of at least 30 million patients in the European Union (EU).

WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS

• As opposed to market authorization, orphan drugs gain reimbursement more easily than non‐orphan innovative drugs.

• Lower quality of evidence of clinical efficacy and safety, more uncertainty on cost‐effectiveness and higher product prices are accepted for orphan drugs.

• There is a need for collaboration between the European Commission, competent for market authorization, and the EU member states, competent for reimbursement, in assessing the therapeutic risks and benefits of orphan drugs, to reduce the evidence gap post marketing.

AIM We analysed the Belgian reimbursement decisions of orphan drugs as compared with those of innovative drugs for more common but equally severe diseases, with special emphasis on the quality of clinical evidence.

METHODS Using the National Health Insurance Agency administrative database, we evaluated all submitted orphan drug files between 2002 and 2007. A quality analysis of the clinical evidence in the orphan reimbursement files was performed. The evaluation reports of the French ‘Haute Autorité de Santé’, including the five‐point scale parameter ‘Service Médical Rendu (SMR), were examined to compare disease severity. Chi‐squared tests (at P < 0.05 significance level) were used to compare the outcome of the reimbursement decisions between orphan and non‐orphan innovative medicines.

RESULTS Twenty‐five files of orphan drugs and 117 files of non‐orphan drugs were evaluated. Twenty‐two of 25 (88%) submissions of orphan drugs were granted reimbursement as opposed to 74 of the 117 (63%) non‐orphan innovative medicines (P= 0.02). Only 52% of the 25 orphan drug files included a randomized controlled trial as opposed to 84% in a random control sample of 25 non‐orphan innovative submissions (P < 0.01). The duration of drug exposure was in most cases far too short in relation to the natural history of the disease.

CONCLUSIONS Orphan drug designation predicts reimbursement despite poor quality of clinical evidence. The evidence gap at market authorization should be reduced by post‐marketing programmes, in which the centralized regulatory and the local reimbursement authorities collaborate in an efficient way across the European Union member states.
What factors determine the severity of hepatitis A‐related acute liver failure?
Authors: Ajmera V. , Xia G. , Vaughan G. , Forbi J. C. , Ganova‐Raeva L. M. , Khudyakov Y. , Opio C. K. , Taylor R. , Restrepo R. , Munoz S. , Fontana R. J. , Lee W. M. ,   the Acute Liver Failure Study Group
Published: December 2010

Summary.  The reason(s) that hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection may progress infrequently to acute liver failure are poorly understood. We examined host and viral factors in 29 consecutive adult patients with HAV‐associated acute liver failure enrolled at 10 sites participating in the US ALF Study Group. Eighteen of twenty‐four acute liver failure sera were PCR positive while six had no detectable virus. HAV genotype was determined using phylogenetic analysis and the full‐length genome sequences of the HAV from a cute liver failure sera were compared to those from self‐limited acute HAV cases selected from the CDC database. We found that rates of nucleotide substitution did not vary significantly between the liver failure and non‐liver failure cases and there was no significant variation in amino acid sequences between the two groups. Four of 18 HAV isolates were sub‐genotype IB, acquired from the same study site over a 3.5‐year period. Sub‐genotype IB was found more frequently among acute liver failure cases compared to the non‐liver failure cases (chi‐square test, P < 0.01). At another centre, a mother and her son presented with HAV and liver failure within 1 month of each other. Predictors of spontaneous survival included detectable serum HAV RNA, while age, gender, HAV genotype and nucleotide substitutions were not associated with outcome. The more frequent appearance of rapid viral clearance and its association with poor outcomes in acute liver failure as well as the finding of familial cases imply a possible host genetic predisposition that contributes to a fulminant course. Recurrent cases of the rare sub‐genotype IB over several years at a single centre imply a community reservoir of infection and possible increased pathogenicity of certain infrequent viral genotypes.
Gas exchange patterns of Pterostichus niger (Carabidae) in dry and moist air
Authors: KIVIMÄGI IRJA , KUUSIK AARE , JÕGAR KATRIN , PLOOMI ANGELA , WILLIAMS INGRID H. , METSPALU LUULE , HIIESAAR KÜLLI , SIBUL IVAR , MÄND MARIKA , LUIK ANNE
Published: December 2010

Gas exchange patterns of adult male Pterostichus niger Schaller after hydration (i.e. given access to food and water) are compared in dry air [5–7% relative humidity (RH)] and moist air (90–97% RH) by means of flow‐through CO2 respirometry combined with infrared probe actography. Of thirty beetles examined, slightly more than 50% showed continuous gas exchange and are not considered further. Of the remaining beetles, the majority (approximately 71%) display a pattern of cyclic gas exchange in both dry and moist air (i.e. CO2 gas is released in bursts, with a low level of CO2 release during the interburst periods). A minority of the beetles (four out of 30) are found to exhibit discontinuous gas exchange in both dry and moist air; this is characterized by three clearly separated states of the spiracles: closed (C), flutter (F) and open (O) phases. The pattern of cyclic gas exchange is associated with weak abdominal pulsations. After switching from moist to dry air, a small modulation of the discontinuous gas exchange cycles (maximum mean CO2 production rate) occurs, providing no clear support for the hygric theory of discontinuous gas exchange in this species (i.e. that it serves to restrict respiratory water loss).
Effects of Hydrocortisone on the Differentiation of Human T Helper 2 Cells
Authors: Sun L. , Yu G. , Yang S. , Zhang L.
Published: December 2010

We investigated the effects of the neuroendocrine modulator hydrocortisone (HC) on Th2 differentiation of human naive CD4+ T cells with and without CD28 co‐stimulation. Human naive CD4+ T cells were isolated and purified from umbilical cord blood mononuclear cells from full‐term newborn infants. CD4+ T cells were treated with different concentrations of HC under Th0 or Th2 culture conditions. Th0 conditions included stimulation by immobilized monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against CD3 and CD28; Th2 conditions were the same + rhIL‐4. Parallel cultures excluded the CD28 mAb. Th1 (IL‐2, INF‐γ)‐ and Th2 (IL‐4, IL‐5)‐type cytokines were quantified in culture supernatants by ELISA and within cells by flow cytometry. For both Th0 and Th2 culture conditions, HC significantly inhibited Th1 cytokines’ release (IL‐2 and INF‐γ). For Th0 culture conditions, HC slightly increased IL‐4 expression (Th2 cytokine). However, for Th2 culture conditions, HC inhibited the IL4‐induced production of IL‐4. Although the absolute cytokine amounts were decreased, absence of CD28 co‐stimulation did not alter these ‘trends’. Our findings indicate that HC can alter the Th1/Th2 balance by inhibiting the production of Th1‐type cytokines. HC can also diminish the extensive Th2 differentiation induced by IL‐4.
Adaptive T‐cell responses regulating oral tolerance to protein antigen
Authors: du Pré M. F. , Samsom J. N.
Published: December 2010

To cite this article: du Pré MF, Samsom JN. Adaptive T‐cell responses regulating oral tolerance to protein antigen. Allergy 2011; 66: 478–490.

The term oral (or mucosal) tolerance has been classically defined as the suppression of T‐ and B‐cell responses to an antigen by prior administration of the antigen by the oral route. In recent years, it has become clear that both innate and acquired regulatory immune responses are essential for the development of oral tolerance. As such, mucosal microenvironmental factors such as transforming growth factor‐ β, prostaglandins but also dietary vitamin A create conditioning of an adaptive regulatory T‐cell response that suppresses subsequent antigen‐specific responses. Particular resident subsets of antigen presenting dendritic cells are pivotal to convey conditioning signals next to the presentation of antigen. This review discusses the primary mechanisms of adaptive regulatory T‐cell induction to ingested soluble protein antigen. However, we also discuss the limitations of our knowledge with respect to understanding the very common food hypersensitivity Celiac disease caused by an aberrant adaptive immune response to the food protein gluten.
Metabolite and mineral analyses of cotton near‐isogenic lines introgressed with QTLs for productivity and drought‐related traits
Authors: Levi Avishag , Paterson Andrew H. , Cakmak Ismail , Saranga Yehoshua
Published: December 2010

Quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for yield and drought‐related traits were exchanged via marker‐assisted selection between elite cultivars of two cotton species, Gossypium barbadense (GB) cv. F‐177 and Gossypium hirsutum (GH) cv. Siv’on. Three of the resultant near‐isogenic lines (NILs), each introgressed with a different QTL region, expressed an advantage in osmotic adjustment (OA) and other drought‐related traits relative to their recipient parents. These NILs and the parental genotypes were field‐grown under well‐watered and water‐limited conditions, and characterized for their metabolic and mineral compositions. Comparisons were then made between (1) GB and GH genotypes, (2) the contrasting water regimes and (3) each NIL and its recipient parent. Hierarchical clustering analysis clearly distinguished between GB and GH genotypes based on either metabolite or mineral composition. Comparisons between well‐watered and water‐limited conditions in each of the genotypes showed differing trends in the various solutes. The greater concentrations of potassium, magnesium and calcium under water stress, when compared with well‐watered conditions, may have enhanced OA or osmoprotection. All NILs exhibited significantly modified solute composition relative to their recipient parents. In particular, increased levels of alanine, aspartic acid, citric acid, malic acid, glycerol, myoinositol, threonic acid, potassium, magnesium and calcium were found under drought conditions in one or more of the NILs relative to their recipient parents. The increased values of these solutes could contribute to the superior capacity of these NILs to cope with drought.
SEM and Neurohistological Observations of Nerve Endings in the Middle Region of the Tongue of the Collared Peccary (Tayassu tajacu): A Silver Impregnation Method
Authors: Watanabe I. , Guimarães J. P. , Maia M. O. , Santos T. C. , Kfoury Jr J. R. , Boleta S. A. , Almeida S. R. Y. , Righeti M. M. , Miglino M. A.
Published: December 2010

With 4 figures

The presence of lingual papillae and the nerve endings in the middle region of the tongue mucosa of collared peccary (Tayassu tajacu) were studied using scanning electron microscopy and light microscopy, based upon the silver impregnation method. The middle region of tongue mucosa revealed numerous filiform and fungiform papillae. The thick epithelial layer showed epithelial cells and a dense connective tissue layer containing nerve fibre bundles and capillaries. The sensory nerve endings, intensely stained by silver impregnation, were usually non‐encapsulated and extended into the connective tissue of the filiform and fungiform papillae very close to the epithelial cells. In some regions, the sensory nerves fibres formed a dense and complex network of fine fibrils. The presence of these nerve fibrils may characterize the mechanisms of transmission of sensitive impulses to the tongue mucosa.
Comparison of tiotropium plus formoterol to tiotropium alone in stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A meta‐analysis
Authors: WANG Jianmiao , JIN Di , ZUO Peng , WANG Tao , XU Yongjian , XIONG Weining
Published: December 2010

Background and objective:  It is not clear whether combination therapy with tiotropium plus formoterol has greater efficacy, without increasing the burden of adverse events, compared with tiotropium alone. This meta‐analysis was performed to evaluate the differences in efficacy and adverse events associated with combination therapy compared with tiotropium alone, in patients with stable COPD.

Methods:  MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL and the Cochrane trials database were searched for this analysis. Randomized controlled trials of 2 or more weeks of treatment with tiotropium plus formoterol or arformoterol, compared with tiotropium alone, were reviewed. Studies were pooled to yield odds ratio (OR) or weighted mean differences (WMD), with 95% confidence interval (CI).

Results:  Eight trials, involving 1868 randomized patients, met the inclusion criteria. Treatment with tiotropium plus formoterol significantly improved the average FEV1 (WMD 105 mL, 95% CI: 69–142), average FVC (WMD 135 mL, 95% CI: 96–174) and trough FEV1 (WMD 53 mL, 95% CI: 30–76), compared with tiotropium alone, although the difference was not statistically significant for trough FVC. The mean change in transitional dyspnoea index (TDI) was markedly greater with tiotropium plus formoterol (WMD 1.50, 95% CI: 1.01–1.99) than with tiotropium alone, and there was a similar difference in the proportion of patients with a clinically significant change in TDI (OR 2.34, 95% CI: 1.58–3.46). There tended to be fewer adverse events and COPD exacerbations with tiotropium plus formoterol, compared with tiotropium alone, but the differences were not statistically significant.

Conclusions:  Tiotropium plus formoterol significantly improved lung function and symptom scores compared with tiotropium alone. There was a trend towards a reduction in adverse events, although the difference was not statistically significant. Long‐term trials are necessary to evaluate the effects of tiotropium plus formoterol and to clarify the role of combination therapy, compared with tiotropium alone.
Morphophysiological dormancy in seeds of the ANA grade angiosperm Schisandra arisanensis (Schisandraceae)
Authors: CHIEN CHING‐TE , CHEN SHUN‐YING , BASKIN JERRY M. , BASKIN CAROL C.
Published: December 2010

We determined the kind of seed dormancy in Schisandra arisanensis, an ANA grade ([A]mborellales [N]ymphaeales [A]ustrobaileyales) angiosperm with medicinal value. Seeds have small underdeveloped embryos, and following seed maturity their length increased approximately 360% before radicle emergence. Germination was delayed 6–8 weeks, and the percentage and rate were much higher at 15/6, 20/10 and 25/15°C than at 30/20°C. For seeds incubated at 5/5°C (8 weeks) → 15/6°C (4 weeks) → 20/10°C (8 weeks) → 25/15°C (12 weeks) → 20/10°C (5 weeks), embryos grew at 15/6°C → 20/10°C, and almost all seeds that germinated (89%) did so at 20/10°C → 25/15°C. When seeds were incubated in a complementary temperature sequence, 25/15°C (12 weeks) → 20/10°C (8 weeks) → 15/6°C (4 weeks) → 5/5°C (9 weeks) → 15/6°C (4 weeks), embryos grew at 25/15°C → 20/10°C. Nearly all seeds that germinated (93%) did so at 25/15°C → 20/10°C and at 15/6°C following 9 weeks at 5/5°C. Based on the temperature requirements for embryo growth and seed germination, seeds of this species have non‐deep simple morphophysiological dormancy (C1bB).
CROSSING THE WIRES IN THE PLEASURE MACHINE: LENIN AND THE EMERGENCE OF HISTORICAL DISCONTINUITY
Authors: RUNIA EELCO
Published: December 2010

If it is true, as I have argued in an earlier essay, that discontinuity is not an unintended side‐effect of our ambition to attain goals that are in line with our identity, but the result of our giving in to a sublime “why not?,” then how can we conceive of history as a process? In this essay I will explore the thesis that my notion that the discontinuities of history spring from a dehors texte squares well with an evolutionary view of history. I will do so by giving an account of how Lenin and Trotsky brought off one of the primordial discontinuities of the twentieth century, the Russian Revolution. Starting with Trotsky's remark that Lenin owed his success to his “imagination,” I show that the October 1917 coup d'état was not guided by strategy or driven by ideology, but by a series of “inspired” improvisations in which the protagonists fled forward into the unknown. Trotsky describes Lenin's “intuition of action” as the fruit of his ability to take leave of the system of complexity reduction that is stored in conventions, received wisdom, and other things we take for granted. Trotsky in effect says that Lenin's improvisations were most successful when he was so completely “possessed” by his deeds that he didn't fully know what he was doing—when, that is, he was in (as psychiatrists would say) a state of dissociation. In Lenin's inspired deeds the “latent powers of the organism” that humans have “inherited from animal ancestors” rose up, Trotsky said, and “smashed through the doors of psychic routine and—together with the highest historico‐philosophical generalizations—stood up in the service of the revolution.” Acting out the dehors texte, Lenin brought about one of the metamorphoses in which humanity mutates to new—though not necessarily higher or happier—levels. The essay includes some remarks on what all this might mean for the relation between history and theory in the upcoming years.
MINIMALISM AND VICTIM TESTIMONY
Authors: DEAN CAROLYN J.
Published: December 2010

This essay renews a discussion of how historians do, and should, represent atrocity. It argues that the problems of representing extreme violence remain under‐conceptualized; in this context it discusses the strengths and weaknesses of minimalism, a style prevalent both in historiography and in an intellectual culture that values understatement in approaches to violence. The essay traces the general cultural preference for minimalist narratives of suffering, which, it claims, is driven by the widespread conviction that experimental and exuberant narratives convert victims' suffering into kitsch. It then focuses on two works, by Saul Friedländer and by Jan Gross, on the history of Jewish victims during and after the Second World War in order to assess how each uses sophisticated minimalist understatement to represent suffering, but with radically different effects. Finally, it asks historians to reflect upon the representation of extreme events by focusing on narrative style, on questions of ethics, and on the cultural narratives within which their own work on suffering and violence is inevitably embedded—especially given that historians are paying increasing attention to violent events that generate tremendous difficulties in relation to the representation both of victims and perpetrators.
INTERTWINED HISTORIES: CRÓNICA AND TĀRĪKH IN THE SIXTEENTH‐CENTURY INDIAN OCEAN WORLD1
Authors: SUBRAHMANYAM SANJAY
Published: December 2010

This essay reflects on the future of world history by reflecting on its past. It looks to how Iberian historiography in the early modern period “rediscovered” Islamic historiography in the course of Portuguese expansion into the Indian Ocean region in the sixteenth century. However, since the Iberians had deliberately cultivated a form of amnesia regarding this historiography as a result of the so‐called Reconquest, new modes and methods of appropriation had to be found. Further, whereas medieval contact had largely been with materials in Arabic, the sixteenth‐century world was far more centrally concerned with materials in Persian. The essay proposes that these materials and their perspective had a significant impact on humanist historians such as João de Barros as well as on their successors. Equally, access to European historical writings in Latin had some impact on Indo‐Persian chroniclers at the Mughal court and elsewhere. However, it may be argued that an even greater impact on the Mughals was that of “Hindu” writings regarding the ancient past of India. All in all, the essay suggests that the past of such historical writing was crucially mediated by philological practice. Nor can philology be neglected for future projects in the writing of world history or global history. The essay thus questions the presumptions of both neoskeptics, who neglect how historians have worked in the past, and of scientistic historians, who oppose the central place of humanistic disciplines in the future writing of history.
A STRANGE CAREER: THE HISTORICAL STUDY OF ECONOMIC LIFE
Authors: SEWELL WILLIAM H.
Published: December 2010

This article attempts to account for professional historians' relative neglect of the history of economic life over the past thirty years, looking mainly at the American case. This neglect seems paradoxical, considering the remarkable transformations that have taken place in world capitalism during this same period. I trace the neglect to the capture of the once interdisciplinary field of economic history by mathematically inclined economists and to the roughly simultaneous turn of historians from social to cultural history. I conclude by suggesting some topics in the history of economic life that seem both timely and exciting. I also suggest some intellectual resources that other disciplines, particularly economic sociology and economic history, could offer should historians decide to tackle the history of economic life once again.
Sociology: a view from the diaspora
Authors: Rosenfeld Richard
Published: December 2010

From the vantage point of criminology, one of sociology's main export subject areas, the present and future of sociology appear a good deal more promising than John Holmwood's essay on the discipline's misfortune would suggest. Sociology remains in high demand by students and faculty hiring remains strong, even in its more critical sub‐fields, such as race and ethnicity, sex and gender, and social inequality. Holmwood is correct that sociology is vulnerable to external pressures to demonstrate its relevance to social practice, but those pressures come from left‐wing social movements as well as from centres of power. He is also correct that external pressures contribute to internal disagreement, but sociology has been at war with itself since the 1960s, with little evident decline in its academic standing or intellectual vitality. Those of us on the discipline's diaspora, who depend on sociology for both support and light, must remain hopeful about sociology's continued good fortune.
Youth masculinities: compelling male heterosexuality
Authors: Richardson Diane
Published: December 2010

This article seeks to extend understandings of heterosexual masculine identities through an examination of young men's constructions of what motivates young men to engage in heterosexual practices and relationships, and what not having sex might mean for them. Using the masculinity literature and work on heterosexuality to frame the discussion and to contextualize the findings, it explores the complex dynamics that frame the relationship between masculinity and heterosexuality. Specifically, how dominant or ‘hegemonic’ discourses of heterosexuality shape young men's identities, beliefs and behaviour. It considers these questions using empirical data from a qualitative study of young people living in close‐knit working‐class communities in the North East of England, with a specific focus on cultural and social attitudes towards sexuality and sexual practices. Peer group networks are a key site for the construction and (re)production of masculinity and, therefore, an important arena within which gendered social approval and acceptance is both sought and gained. In this article, I explore the reasons why young men engage in specific types of heterosexual practice in order to gain social approval. A central question is the extent to which heterosexuality is compelling for young men. That young men do feel compelled to behave in certain ways sexually, behaviours that they may be uncomfortable with and/or dislike, and the fact that they feel they are restricted in terms of how they can talk about their experiences within their peer group networks, demonstrates the power of dominant discourses of masculinity in everyday life. This is addressed through an examination of the restrictive effects of normative discourses about male heterosexuality, including their privatizing effects, which suggest that youth masculinities are often experienced in ways that are highly contradictory requiring young men to adopt a range of strategies to deal with this.
Diaspora strategies, skilled migrants and human capital enhancement in Jamaica
Authors: MULLINGS BEVERLEY
Published: December 2010

In an attempt to boost its stock of human capital and access to global flows of investment, knowledge and innovation, the Jamaican state has begun to turn to skilled members of its diaspora as a vital and untapped economic resource. State strategies to accumulate human capital within the diaspora, however, raise questions about the culture of labour markets and their effects on human capital enhancement and the transfer of knowledge. Drawing on the labour market experiences of skilled members of the Jamaican diaspora currently living on the island, I explore the possibilities and limits that skilled diaspora network strategies offer for capturing, transforming and embedding knowledge, innovation and investment capital in Jamaica.
Mapping homelands through virtual spaces: transnational embodiment and Iranian diaspora bloggers
Authors: ALINEJAD DONYA
Published: December 2010

In this article I examine Iranian diaspora blogs in an attempt to understand how Iranian bloggers outside Iran create and occupy online transnational spaces. Although it is acknowledged that the internet does not make offline borders and bodies redundant, there is a need to understand how the awareness of bodily presence in offline locations and situations continually informs and shapes online expressions. Through content analysis of English language blogs by Iranians based in the USA and Canada, as well as interviews with diaspora Iranians who read and write these blogs, I advance a concept of ‘transnational embodiment’. The importance of physical travel to, proximity to, and sensory impressions of particular places within two bounded, politically distinct nation‐states shows that diasporas rely heavily on embodied experience in constructing transnational spaces and not only on psychic ties and recalled memories. Members of the second‐generation Iranian diaspora reveal unique types of embodied ties to a diaspora ‘home’ through their apparent search for authenticity.
Baghdadi Jews in Hong Kong: converting cultural, social and economic capital among three transregional networks
Authors: PLÜSS CAROLINE
Published: December 2010

This article is an analysis of the attempts of Baghdadi Jewish traders in Hong Kong in the second half of the nineteenth century to construct and convert cultural, social and economic capital within and between the transregional networks of the Baghdadi diaspora, the Jewish diaspora and the British colonial elite. The analysis of the multiple and multi‐directional intersections between the cultural, social and economic characteristics of the three networks shows that Baghdadi social capital accounted for significant ruptures and disjunctures between the increasing cosmopolitanization, deterritorialization and hybridization of the Baghdadi traders' cultural identities and the definition of Baghdadi cultural capital. An understanding of the role of Baghdadi social capital in accounting for the construction and convertibility of cultural, social and economic capital among these three transregional networks helps to explain the reproduction of social inequalities under increasing conditions of globalization, that is, under conditions that potentially augmented the number of sources defining cultural capital.
Callistophytalean pteridosperms from Permian aged floras of China
Authors: SEYFULLAH LEYLA J. , HILTON JASON
Published: December 2010

Abstract: Recent investigations into Permian aged floras from China have highlighted the widespread occurrence of callistophytalean pteridosperms that challenge previous understanding of their spatial and temporal distribution and diversity. In China, the group spans the Permian period and constitutes a distinctive but rare component in many peat‐forming environments. The stratigraphically earliest callistophytalean occurs in the Asselian‐Sakmarian stages with fossils from the Taiyuan Formation of northern China including ovules ofCallospermarion undulatumin coal ball assemblages, and ovulate fronds ofNorinosperma shanxiensisand synangiate fronds ofNorinotheca shanxiensisin adpression assemblages. More abundant in the fossil records are adpression remains from the Roadian‐Wordian stages with the Lower Shihhotse Formation preserving abundant vegetative and ovulate remains ofEmplectopteris triangularisthat is now considered to represent a callistophytalean. The youngest callistophytalean recognised is from the Wuchaipingian‐Changhsingian stages with the Xuanwei Formation of southern China containing a single stem ofCallistophyton boyssetiithat provides indisputable evidence of the group in the lead up to the end‐Permian mass extinction. These accounts are augmented by analysis of pollen records that demonstrate the callistophytalean pollen genusVesicasporato be widespread through palynological assemblages from the Permian period in both North and South China, including the Upper Shihhotse Formation, Shihchienfeng Group, Xuanwei Formation, and possibly also in the mid‐Pennsylvanian Benxi Formation. Although macrofossil specimens are uncommon elements in the assemblages that contain them, they demonstrate the continuity of callistophytalean pteridosperms from the Pennsylvanian sub‐period into the early Guadalupian epoch of the Permian in North China and into the Lopingian epoch of the Permian in South China. Of the species present, bothCallistophyton boyssetiiandCallospermarion undulatumare known from the Pennsylvanian–earliest Permian age floras of Euramerica, whereasNorinosperma,NorinothecaandEmplectopterisappear to represent endemic Cathaysian elements. Results imply that callistophytalean pteridosperms can no longer be excluded from theories of post‐Carboniferous plant evolution and floristics, appearing to have played an important role in both Permian and Carboniferous aged plant communities. The presence ofVesicasporain several formations from which macro‐remains have not been identified is a hopeful indicator that further callistophytalean pteridosperms are yet to be found.