bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Human caspase 7 is positively controlled by SREBP-1 and SREBP-2
Authors: Gibot Laure , Follet Julie , Metges Jean-Philippe , Auvray Pierrick , Simon Brigitte , Corcos Laurent , Le Jossic-Corcos Catherine
Published: March 2009

Statins are lipid-lowering drugs that may help limit cancer occurrence in humans. They drive blockage of the mevalonate pathway, trigger cancer cell apoptosis in vitro and reduce tumour incidence in animals. We have shown in the present study that statins induced apoptosis in HGT-1 human gastric cancer cells, and this was prevented by intermediates of the cholesterol synthetic pathway. In addition, similarly to what we have reported previously for caspase 2 [Logette, Le Jossic-Corcos, Masson, Solier, Sequeira-Legrand, Dugail, Lemaire-Ewing, Desoche, Solary and Corcos (2005) Mol. Cell. Biol. 25, 9621–9631], caspase 7 may also be induced by statins and is under the positive control of SREBP (sterol-regulatory-element-binding protein)-1 and -2, major activators of cholesterol and fatty acid synthesis genes, in HGT-1 cells. Knocking down these proteins strongly reduced caspase 7 mRNA and protein expression, and chromatin immunoprecipitation analyses showed that the proximal promoter region of the CASP7 gene could bind either SREBP-1 or -2. Strikingly, cells selected to grow in the continuous presence of statins showed increased expression of caspase 7 mRNA and protein, which was maintained in the absence of statins for several weeks, suggesting that high expression of this caspase might participate in adaptation to blunting of the mevalonate pathway in this model. Taken together, our results show that caspase 7, as an SREBP-1/2 target, can be induced under mevalonate-restricting conditions, which might help overcome its shortage.
Qubit dispersive readout scheme with a microstrip superconducting quantum interference device amplifier
Authors: Michotte S.
Published: March 2009

A flux qubit readout scheme involving a dispersive technique coupled to a microstrip superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) amplifier has been tested experimentally. Thanks to the almost quantum limited noise of this amplifier at low temperature, this readout device is very promising for a design with actual qubits. Its proof of principle and low noise performance have been tested by simulating the qubit presence by applying a tiny flux change in the input SQUID. The resonant frequency of the amplifier is adjusted in situ with a varactor diode to approach the frequency of the tank circuit. Two operating modes (crossing or anticrossing regime) were identified.
Incidence and outcomes of dystocia in the active phase of labor in term nulliparous women with spontaneous labor onset
Authors: KJÆRGAARD HANNE , OLSEN JØRN , OTTESEN BENT , DYKES ANNA‐KARIN
Published: March 2009

Objective. To estimate the incidence of dystocia among nulliparous women without apparent co‐morbidity and to examine maternal and fetal short‐term outcomes after dystocia. Design. A multi‐center cohort study with prospectively collected data. Setting. Nine obstetric departments with annual birth rates between 850 and 5,400. Population. Low‐risk nulliparous women in term spontaneous labor with a singleton fetus in cephalic presentation. Methods. Follow‐up of 2,810 nulliparas using self‐administered questionnaires supplemented with clinical records. Criteria for dystocia. Cervical dilatation ≤2 cm over four hours during the first stage of labor or no descent during two hours (three hours with epidural analgesia) in the descending phase of second stage or no progress for one hour during the expulsive phase of the second stage. Inclusion took place between May 2004 and July 2005. Main outcome measures. Incidences of dystocia, maternal, and fetal outcomes. Results. The cumulative incidence of dystocia was 37% and of the diagnoses 61% were given in the second stage of labor. Women with dystocia treated by augmentation had more cesarean and ventouse deliveries, more often non‐clear amniotic fluid, more post‐partum hemorrhage and their children were more often given low one‐minute neonatal Apgar scores as compared to women delivered without a diagnosis of dystocia. Conclusions. A dystocia incidence of 37% was found in healthy term nulliparas with no indication for induction or elective cesarean delivery. The adverse maternal and neonatal birth outcomes may be related to the cause of dystocia or to augmentation of labor and this question calls for further studies.
Socioeconomic and maternal determinants of small‐for‐gestational age births: Patterns of increasing disparity
Authors: BEARD JOHN R. , LINCOLN DOUG , DONOGHUE DEBORAH , TAYLOR DANIELLE , SUMMERHAYES RICHARD , DUNN THERESE M , EARNEST ARUL , MORGAN GEOFF
Published: March 2009

Objective. To better characterize the relation between socioeconomic disadvantage and small‐for‐gestational age births (SGA). Design. Analysis of data from a mandatory population‐based surveillance system. Setting. Public or private hospitals and at home. Population. All 877,951 singleton births occurring in New South Wales, Australia, between 1994 and 2004. Methods. Multilevel models were developed to determine the factors associated with babies weighing less than the 3rd percentile for gestation and gender. Main outcome measures. Odds of SGA. Results. The risk of SGA increased with increasing socioeconomic disadvantage. Smoking accounted for approximately 40% of the increased risk associated with socioeconomic disadvantage, and delayed antenatal care approximately 5%. While the absolute rate of SGA remained stable over the study period, the odds of SGA in mothers living in the most disadvantaged areas compared to those in the least disadvantaged areas increased from approximately 1.7 to 2.2. This trend persisted after accounting for maternal smoking. The risk of SGA over this period also increased in mothers commencing antenatal care after the first trimester. After accounting for smoking, socioeconomic disadvantage and clinical conditions, mothers under 21 years of age were at reduced risk of SGA, but mothers over 35 were at increased risk. Conclusions. Socioeconomic disadvantage remains one of the dominant determinants of SGA, even in a developed country with universal insurance. This relation appears to be strengthening. Smoking patterns, inadequate antenatal care and clinical conditions partially account for this association and trend, however, most is mediated by other factors.
The cervical mucus plug: Structured review of the literature
Authors: BECHER NAJA , WALDORF KRISTINA ADAMS , HEIN MERETE , ULDBJERG NIELS
Published: March 2009

The cervical mucus plug is a large, complex structure within the cervical canal that is shed shortly before or during labor. We propose that the cervical mucus plug fulfills critical ‘gate‐keeper’ functions based on its physical and immunologic properties, which help prevent ascending infection and preterm labor. The viscoelastic properties of the cervical mucus plug are determined by mucins (large glycoproteins), which can inhibit viral replication and exclude larger molecules and bacteria by preventing their diffusion through the plug. Furthermore, the innate and adaptive immunological properties of the cervical mucus plug are well suited for arresting bacterial infection by stimulating a robust inflammatory response. A possible association between an impaired gate‐keeper function of the cervical mucus plug and preterm birth is discussed.
Natural photonics for industrial inspiration
Authors: Parker Andrew R
Published: March 2009

There are two considerations for optical biomimetics: the diversity of submicrometre architectures found in the natural world, and the industrial manufacture of these. A review exists on the latter subject, where current engineering methods are considered along with those of the natural cells. Here, on the other hand, I will provide a modern review of the different categories of reflectors and antireflectors found in animals, including their optical characterization. The purpose of this is to inspire designers within the $2 billion annual optics industry.
Mental time travel and the shaping of the human mind
Authors: Suddendorf Thomas , Addis Donna Rose , Corballis Michael C.
Published: March 2009

Episodic memory, enabling conscious recollection of past episodes, can be distinguished from semantic memory, which stores enduring facts about the world. Episodic memory shares a core neural network with the simulation of future episodes, enabling mental time travel into both the past and the future. The notion that there might be something distinctly human about mental time travel has provoked ingenious attempts to demonstrate episodic memory or future simulation in non-human animals, but we argue that they have not yet established a capacity comparable to the human faculty. The evolution of the capacity to simulate possible future events, based on episodic memory, enhanced fitness by enabling action in preparation of different possible scenarios that increased present or future survival and reproduction chances. Human language may have evolved in the first instance for the sharing of past and planned future events, and, indeed, fictional ones, further enhancing fitness in social settings.
Identification and Functional Characterization of Inhibitor-3, a Regulatory Subunit of Protein Phosphatase 1 in Plants
Authors: Takemiya Atsushi , Ariyoshi Chie , Shimazaki Ken-ichiro
Published: March 2009

Protein phosphatase 1 (PP1) is a eukaryotic serine/threonine protein phosphatase, and mediates diverse cellular processes in animal systems via the association of a catalytic subunit (PP1c) with multiple regulatory subunits that determine the catalytic activity, the subcellular localization, and the substrate specificity. However, no regulatory subunit of PP1 has been identified in plants so far. In this study, we identified inhibitor-3 (Inh3) as a regulatory subunit of PP1 and characterized a functional role of Inh3 in Vicia faba and Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). We found Inh3 as one of the proteins interacting with PP1c using a yeast two-hybrid system. Biochemical analyses demonstrated that Arabidopsis Inh3 (AtInh3) bound to PP1c via the RVxF motif of AtInh3, a consensus PP1c-binding sequence both in vitro and in vivo. AtInh3 inhibited the PP1c phosphatase activity in the nanomolar range in vitro. AtInh3 was localized in both the nucleus and cytoplasm, and it colocalized with Arabidopsis PP1c in these compartments. Disruption mutants of AtINH3 delayed the progression of early embryogenesis, arrested embryo development at the globular stage, and eventually caused embryo lethality. Furthermore, reduction of AtINH3 expression by RNA interference led to a decrease in fertility. Transformation of the lethal mutant of inh3 with wild-type AtINH3 restored the phenotype, whereas that with the AtINH3 gene having a mutation in the RVxF motif did not. These results define Inh3 as a regulatory subunit of PP1 in plants and suggest that Inh3 plays a crucial role in early embryogenesis in Arabidopsis.
Cytogenetic abnormalities in multiple myeloma: poor prognosis linked to concomitant detection in random and focal lesion bone marrow samples and associated with high‐risk gene expression profile
Authors: Zhou Yiming , Nair Bijay , Shaughnessy Jr John D , Cartron Marie‐Astrid , Haessler Jeff , Anaissie Elias , Van Rhee Frits , Crowley John , Barlogie Bart
Published: March 2009

The clinical significance of cytogenetic abnormalities (CA) present in randomly sampled (RS) or focal lesion (FL) bone marrow sites was examined in 419 untreated myeloma patients. Among 290 patients with gene expression profiling (GEP) data generated from RS sites, GEP‐defined high‐risk was present in 52% of the RS+/FL+ group but in only 9% of the remainder (P < 0·001). The RS+/FL+ constellation (18%) was an independent predictor of poor survival, also after adjusting for GEP‐derived risk andTP53status (Hazard ratio = 2·42,P = 0·004). The prevalence of high‐risk myeloma in the RS+/FL+ group may reflect a dissemination‐prone condition not shared by the other three groups.
Impact of GH substitution on exercise capacity and muscle strength in GH‐deficient adults: a meta‐analysis of blinded, placebo‐controlled trials
Authors: Rubeck K. Z. , Bertelsen S. , Vestergaard P. , Jørgensen J. O. L.
Published: March 2009

Background  Several but not all trials suggest that GH replacement in GH‐deficient adults improves aerobic exercise capacity, whereas its effect on muscle strength is more dubious. However, a denominator of these studies is a low sample size.

Objective  We systematically reviewed and analysed all randomized, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled trials on the effects of GH administration on aerobic exercise capacity and muscle strength in GH‐deficient adults.

Study selection  Fifteen trials were identified from four databases. We conducted an analysis of effects on aerobic exercise capacity, performed on either a treadmill or a bicycle ergometer, muscle strength assessed by a dynamometer, and muscle mass assessed by computerized tomography.

Results  The total number of patients included was 306 and the duration of treatment ranged from 3 to 12 months. GH replacement significantly increased aerobic exercise capacity [8·9 ± 0·8%, (P < 0·001)] including VO2 max [0·17 ± 0·02 l/min (P < 0·001)], as well as muscle volume [7·1 ± 1·6%, (P < 0·001)]. In contrast, muscle strength measured in 113 patients was not significantly increased [3·2 ± 2·2% (P = 0·15)].

Conclusion  GH replacement in GH‐deficient adults is associated with a significant positive effect on aerobic exercise capacity and muscle mass.
Frequent fires reduce tree growth in northern Australian savannas: implications for tree demography and carbon sequestration
Authors: MURPHY BRETT P. , RUSSELL‐SMITH JEREMY , PRIOR LYNDA D.
Published: March 2009

Tropical savannas are typically highly productive yet fire‐prone ecosystems, and it has been suggested that reducing fire frequency in savannas could substantially increase the size of the global carbon sink. However, the long‐term demographic consequences of modifying fire regimes in savannas are difficult to predict, with the effects of fire on many parameters, such as tree growth rates, poorly understood. Over 10 years, we examined the effects of fire frequency on the growth rates (annual increment of diameter at breast height) of 3075 tagged trees, at 137 locations throughout the mesic savannas of Kakadu, Nitmiluk and Litchfield National Parks, in northern Australia. Frequent fires substantially reduced tree growth rates, with the magnitude of the effect markedly increasing with fire severity. The highest observed frequencies of mild, moderate and severe fires (1.0, 0.8 and 0.4 fires yr−1, respectively) reduced tree growth by 24%, 40% and 66% respectively, relative to unburnt areas. These reductions in tree growth imply reductions in the net primary productivity of trees by between 0.19 t C ha−1 yr−1, in the case of mild fires, and 0.51 t C ha−1 yr−1, in the case of severe fires. Such reductions are relatively large, given that net biome productivity (carbon sequestration potential) of these savannas is estimated to be just 1–2 t C ha−1 yr−1. Our results suggest that current models of savanna tree demography, that do not account for a relationship between severe fire frequency and tree growth rate, are likely to underestimate the long‐term negative effects of frequent severe fires on tree populations. Additionally, the negative impact of frequent severe fires on carbon sequestration rates may have been underestimated; reducing fire frequencies in savannas may increase carbon sequestration to a greater extent than previously thought.
An empirical statistical model for predicting the yield of herbage from legume‐grass swards within organic crop rotations based on cumulative water balances
Authors: Bachinger J. , Reining E.
Published: March 2009

Multi‐species legume‐grass swards play a key role in organic farming systems as a source of forage and of symbiotically fixed nitrogen (N). Forage and N balances, based on site‐specific data on dry matter (DM) yields of herbage, are useful planning tools in describing forage and N supply at the field and farm level. In practice, measurements of DM yield are often imprecise or missing, and thus a weather‐ and site‐specific assessment of DM yield is required. An empirical model to predict DM yield from legume‐grass swards was developed based on weather and soil data commonly available at field and regional scales. The main underlying hypothesis was that water use, calculated from cumulative water balances, can be used as a predictor of DM yield. The model was calibrated with data from a multi‐year field experiment in Müncheberg, north‐east Germany and was tested with data from other countries of Europe. In the calibration data set, highly significant linear relationships were found between water use and DM yield for DM yield of single harvests and for annual DM yield. The only additional variable significantly improving the prediction of DM yield was cut number. For the validation data set the DM yield for single cuts and annual yields was predicted with a similar accuracy as found with other models requiring the use of more information. The models described offer a straightforward weather‐ and site‐specific means of predicting DM yield with a satisfactory level of precision, especially for annual DM yields, and thus can help to reduce planning failures concerning forage and N supply in organic farming systems in Europe.
Determination of the regulon and identification of novel mRNA targets of Pseudomonas aeruginosa RsmA
Authors: Brencic Anja , Lory Stephen
Published: March 2009

One of the prokaryotic post‐transcriptional regulatory mechanisms involves the CsrA/RsmA family of proteins that act by modulating translation initiation at target mRNAs. In this study, we identified the regulon of RsmA of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAK strain by using cultures in the stationary phase of growth. The RsmA regulon includes over 500 genes, of which approximately one‐third were affected by an rsmA mutation negatively, while the rest were affected positively. By isolating RsmA/mRNA complexes, analysing transcriptional and translational fusions, and performing gel‐shift analyses, we identified 40 genes in six operons that are regulated by RsmA directly at the level of translation. All of these genes were affected by RsmA negatively and include genes encoding the type VI secretion system HSI‐I, which has been implicated in the P. aeruginosa chronic infections. On the other hand, we were unable to demonstrate a direct interaction of RsmA with transcripts that are positively affected by this protein, including mRNAs encoding the type III secretion system and the type IV pili genes. Our work supports a model in which RsmA acts as a negative translational regulator, and where its positive effects are achieved indirectly by RsmA‐mediated interference with translation of specific regulatory factors.
A novel study design to investigate the early‐life origins of asthma in children (SAGE study)
Authors: Kozyrskyj A. L. , HayGlass K. T. , Sandford A. J. , Paré P. D. , Chan‐Yeung M. , Becker A. B.
Published: March 2009

This is a description of the Study of Asthma, Genes and the Environment (SAGE), a novel birth cohort created from provincial healthcare administrative records. It is a general population‐based cohort, composed of children at high and low risk for asthma, living in urban and rural environments in Manitoba, Canada. The SAGE study captures the complete longitudinal healthcare records of children born in 1995 and contains detailed information on early‐life exposures, such as antibiotic utilization and immunization, in relationship to the development of asthma. Nested within the birth cohort is a case‐control study, which was created to collect information on home environmental exposures from detailed surveys and home dust sampling, to confirm asthma status in children and use this data to validate healthcare database measures of asthma, to determine differences in immune system responsiveness to innate and adaptive immune stimuli in asthma, to genotype children for genes likely associated with the development of asthma and to study the epigenetic regulation of pre‐established protective vs allergic immune responses. The SAGE study is a multidisciplinary collaboration of researchers from pediatric allergy, population health, immunology, and genetic and environmental epidemiology. As such, it serves as a fertile, interdisciplinary training ground for graduate students, and postdoctoral and clinician fellows.
Securitising health: Australian newspaper coverage of pandemic influenza
Authors: Stephenson Niamh , Jamieson Michelle
Published: March 2009

This paper analyses contemporary Australian newspaper coverage of the threat of pandemic influenza in humans, specifically in the light of recent transformations in biomedical and public health understandings of infectious disease as continuously emerging. Our analysis suggests that the spectre of pandemic influenza is characterised, in newspaper accounts, as invoking a specific form of nation building. The Australian nation is depicted as successfully securing itself in the face of a threat from Asia (and in the absence of an effective international health body). What is described in newspaper accounts reflects a shift in the public health response to infectious disease. This response does not entail a direct focus on protecting either the population or national territory. Instead, it involves the continuous rehearsal of readiness to react to disasters through the networking of government and private agencies responsible for maintaining critical infrastructure. In this way, coverage of pandemic influenza positions health as central to national security, with little reporting of the reasons for or the potential implications of this alliance. Thus, the imperative to ‘be prepared’ is presented as self‐evident.
Synchronicity and moments of meeting
Authors: Hogenson George B.
Published: March 2009

Abstract: The paper1considers the role of synchronicity in the establishment of meaning in analysis, and links it to the notion of moments of meeting proposed by the Boston Process of Change Study Group. In so doing, the paper proposed to view synchronicity as an element in developmental processes, wherein attributions of meaningfulness are made in relation to patterns of action that do not have intrinsic meaning, but which have evolved in an environment of meaning, thereby bootstrapping the infant into the world of meaning. Jung's paradigmatic example of synchronicity—the scarab beetle event—is examined in this context and the argument is made that the event was primarily meaningful for Jung and carried with it important countertransference implications that Jung did not consider. The paper concludes with some suggestions for further investigation into the relationship between synchronicity and clinical practice.
Theory as metaphor: clinical knowledge and its communication
Authors: Colman Warren
Published: March 2009

Abstract:  This paper investigates the relationship between clinical knowledge and psychological theory and considers the implications for clinical writing. I argue that clinical knowledge is a way of understanding rather than a body of facts and compare clinical material to ‘texts’ that generate multiple and indeterminate meanings. Analytic theories, which represent the crystallization of ways of understanding clinical phenomena, have an inherently metaphorical ‘as if’ quality since they are derived from and adapted to the clinical process of making meaning by representing psychic states in symbolic form. Thus good clinical writing demonstrates an integration of theory and clinical material into a unified network of symbolic meanings. Redfearn's paper, ‘The captive, the treasure, the hero and the “anal” stage of development’ (1979), is discussed as an exemplar of such integration. It is suggested that clinical knowledge is equivalent to the skill of making effective interpretations.
Defining pre‐synaptic nicotinic receptors regulated by beta amyloid in mouse cortex and hippocampus with receptor null mutants
Authors: Mehta Tejal K. , Dougherty John J. , Wu Jianlin , Choi Catherine H. , Khan Ghous M. , Nichols Robert A.
Published: March 2009

Disruption of neuronal signaling by soluble β‐amyloid has been implicated in deficits in short‐term recall in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. One potential target for β‐amyloid is the synapse, with evidence for differential interaction with both pre‐ and post‐synaptic elements. Our previous work revealed an agonist‐like action of soluble β‐amyloid (pM to nM) on isolated pre‐synaptic terminals to increase [Ca2+]i, with apparent involvement of pre‐synaptic nicotinic receptors. To directly establish the role of nicotinic receptors in pre‐synaptic Ca2+ regulation, we investigated the pre‐synaptic action of β‐amyloid on terminals isolated from mice harboring either β2 or α7 nicotinic receptor null mutants (knockouts). Average pre‐synaptic responses to β‐amyloid in hippocampal terminals of α7 knockout mice were unchanged, whereas responses in hippocampal terminals from β2 knockout mice were strongly attenuated. In contrast, pre‐synaptic responses to soluble β‐amyloid were strongly attenuated in cortical terminals from α7 knockout mice but were moderately attenuated in cortical terminals from β2 knockout mice. The latter responses, having distinct kinetics, were completely blocked by α‐bungarotoxin. The use of receptor null mutants thus permitted direct demonstration of the involvement of specific nicotinic receptors in pre‐synaptic Ca2+ regulation by soluble β‐amyloid, and also indicated differential neuromodulation by β‐amyloid of synapses in hippocampus and cortex.
Tamoxifen attenuates inflammatory‐mediated damage and improves functional outcome after spinal cord injury in rats
Authors: Tian Dai‐Shi , Liu Jun‐Li , Xie Min‐Jie , Zhan Yan , Qu Wen‐Sheng , Yu Zhi‐Yuan , Tang Zhou‐Ping , Pan Deng‐Ji , Wang Wei
Published: March 2009

Tamoxifen has been found to be neuroprotective in both transient and permanent experimental ischemic stroke. However, it remains unknown whether this agent shows a similar beneficial effect after spinal cord injury (SCI), and what are its underlying mechanisms. In this study, we investigated the efficacy of tamoxifen treatment in attenuating SCI‐induced pathology. Blood–spinal cord barrier (BSCB) permeability, tissue edema formation, microglial activation, neuronal cell death and myelin loss were determined in rats subjected to spinal cord contusion. The results showed that tamoxifen, administered at 30 min post‐injury, significantly decreased interleukin‐1β (IL‐1β) production induced by microglial activation, alleviated the amount of Evans blue leakage and edema formation. In addition, tamoxifen treatment clearly reduced the number of apoptotic neurons post‐SCI. The myelin loss and the increase in production of myelin‐associated axonal growth inhibitors were also found to be significantly attenuated at day 3 post‐injury. Furthermore, rats treated with tamoxifen scored much higher on the locomotor rating scale after SCI than did vehicle‐treated rats, suggesting improved functional outcome after SCI. Together, these results demonstrate that tamoxifen provides neuroprotective effects for treatment of SCI‐related pathology and disability, and is therefore a potential neuroprotectant for human spinal cord injury therapy.
Assessing Women, Gender, and Empire in Britain's Nineteenth‐Century Protestant Missionary Movement
Authors: Prevost Elizabeth
Published: March 2009

Although women constituted the majority of British missionary labor by the turn of the twentieth century, they were largely discounted from the official record of mission work – a silence that until recently has been preserved by women's history, mission history, and imperial history. Over the past two decades, new historical and interpretive frameworks have brought into clearer focus the role of women missionaries and the gendered fabric of the ‘civilizing mission’ in evangelistic, colonial, and feminist projects. Yet the privileging of race as an analytic category has produced a lopsided historiography, in which Christianity has been marginalized in studies of gender and empire, and in which gender has not been used to full effect in explicating the uneven contours of religion and colonialism. This essay explores how studies of women, gender, and the Protestant missionary movement over the ‘long nineteenth century’ have responded to and manifested some of the larger tensions of women's and gender history, feminist history, postcolonial studies, the new imperial history, and area studies, and suggests some avenues for addressing lingering questions of recovery and representation, center and periphery.
Coalition‐Targeted Duvergerian Voting: How Expectations Affect Voter Choice under Proportional Representation
Authors: Bargsted Matias A. , Kedar Orit
Published: March 2009

Inspired by analyses of majoritarian systems, students of consensual polities have analyzed strategic voting due to barriers to party success, namely, district magnitude and threshold. Given the prevalence of coalition governments in proportional systems, we analyze a type of strategic voting seldom studied: how expected coalition composition affects voter choice. We identify Duvergerian behavior by voters targeted at the coalition formation stage. We contend that when voters perceive their preferred party as unlikely to participate in the coalition, they often desert it and instead support the lesser of evils among those they perceive as viable coalition partners. We demonstrate our argument using data on coalition expectations from the 2006 Israeli elections. We find an appreciable albeit differential effect of coalition expectations on voter choice. Importantly, results hold controlling for ideological and coalition preferences. Lastly, we explore a broad cross‐national comparison, showing that there is less, not more, proximity voting where coalitions are prevalent.
Interest Group Competition and Coalition Formation
Authors: Holyoke Thomas T.
Published: March 2009

This article investigates how interest group competition, a state of conflicting policy preferences stemming from how organizational memberships are defined, can resolve into conflict or cooperation. The strategic choices of competing lobbyists are modeled as the results of a trade‐off between the need to represent members and please legislators, and the additional advocacy resources they hope to gain by agreeing to form coalitions with their competitors rather than fight them in resource‐draining conflicts. Hypotheses derived from the model are tested with data from interviews with lobbyists on six issues taken up by the U.S. Congress from 1999 to 2002. The results suggest that while group members do have some limited power to constrain the policy positions taken on issues by their lobbyists, it is primarily the pressures from legislators and competitor groups that push lobbyists into collectively supporting coalition positions different from those desired by their members.
The Threat of the Yrmo: The Political Ontology of a Sustainable Hunting Program
Authors: Blaser Mario
Published: March 2009

ABSTRACT  Various misunderstandings and conflicts associated with attempts to integrate Indigenous Knowledges (IK) into development and conservation agendas have been analyzed from both political economy and political ecology frameworks. With their own particular inflections, and in addition to their focus on issues of power, both frameworks tend to see what occurs in these settings as involving different epistemologies, meaning that misunderstandings and conflicts occur between different and complexly interested perspectives on, or ways of knowing, the world. Analyzing the conflicts surrounding the creation of a hunting program that enrolled the participation of the Yshiro people of Paraguay, in this article I develop a different kind of analysis, one inspired by an emerging framework that I tentatively call “political ontology.” I argue that, from this perspective, these kinds of conflicts emerge as being about the continuous enactment, stabilization, and protection of different and asymmetrically connected ontologies. [Keywords: political ontology, multinaturalism, multiculturalism, Paraguay, Indigenous peoples]
From John McCain to Abu Ghraib: Tortured Bodies and Historical Unaccountability of U.S. Empire
Authors: Schwenkel Christina
Published: March 2009

ABSTRACT  John McCain, once considered a “friend” of Vietnam because of his support for normalized relations with the United States, has since lost his standing. Claims to inhumane treatment and torture while a prisoner in the “Hanoi Hilton” have met with angry denials and calls for more attention to the humanitarian care that McCain and others received. Recent U.S. allegations of human rights abuses in Vietnam following the Abu Ghraib prison scandal have further strained relations, as have charges leveled against Vietnamese small‐scale producers of dishonest trade practices. Drawing on these exchanges, I examine competing representations of Vietnamese wartime acts that have permeated the “normalization” process. Neoliberal rhetorics aimed at “saving” the Vietnamese economy and its allegedly blemished human rights record are countered by discourses and images that lay claim to a Vietnamese “tradition” of wartime compassion and humanitarianism that also demands U.S. historical accountability for imperial violence and its aftermaths. [Keywords: neoliberalism, violence, human rights, Vietnam, historical memory]
Host plant scents attract rolled‐leaf beetles to Neotropical gingers in a Central American tropical rain forest
Authors: García‐Robledo Carlos , Horvitz Carol C.
Published: March 2009

Leaf volatile chemicals are known to reduce herbivory rates by repelling or intoxicating insect herbivores and by attracting the predators and parasitoids of herbivores. However, leaf volatiles may also be used by insect herbivores as cues to locate their host plants. Leaf volatiles are suggested to be important host search cues for herbivores in structurally complex and diverse habitats, such as tropical rain forests. A group of insect herbivores, the rolled‐leaf beetles (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Hispinae), have maintained a highly specialized interaction with Neotropical gingers (Zingiberales) for ca. 60 million years. In this study, we explored chemical attraction to host plants under controlled laboratory conditions, using four sympatric rolled‐leaf beetle species, Cephaloleia dorsalis Baly, Cephaloleia erichsonii Baly, Cephaloleia fenestrata Weise, and Cephaloleia placida Baly. For each beetle species, we investigated (i) whether it was repelled or attracted by leaf scents produced by four host and four non‐host plant species, including Neotropical gingers in the families Marantaceae, Costaceae, and Zingiberaceae; and (ii) its ability to use scents to detect its host plant. We found that rolled‐leaf beetles can detect and are attracted by leaf volatiles from both host and non‐host gingers. Additionally, when beetles were simultaneously exposed to leaf volatiles from host and non‐host plants, three rolled‐leaf beetle species were significantly more attracted by volatiles from their host plants than from non‐hosts. Only one of the beetle species was not able to discriminate between host and non‐host scents.
Non‐sentinel lymph node involvement in a patient with an atypical Spitz tumor and a positive sentinel node. Report of a case and review of the literature
Authors: Urso Carmelo , Borgognoni Lorenzo , Doria Morena , Tinacci Galliano , Zini Enzo
Published: March 2009

We report a 20‐year‐old male patient with an atypical Spitz tumor, located in the dorsal aspect of his left hand, and a positive sentinel axillary lymph node. After lymphadenectomy, 1 of 23 non‐sentinel lymph nodes excised was found to contain small multiple deposits of large spindle atypical melanocytes. Reviewing the pertinent literature, 5 of 29 patients with atypical Spitz tumors and positive sentinel nodes who had undergone lymphadenectomy have shown non‐sentinel node involvement (17.2%), a proportion similar to that reported in melanoma patients. The exact nature of atypical Spitz tumors and the interpretation of cell deposits detected in sentinel nodes are still debated; data regarding the non‐sentinel lymph node involvement in patients with atypical Spitz tumors may contribute to better understand the real biological potential of such tumors.
Driving in the melanoma landscape
Authors: Herlyn Meenhard
Published: March 2009

Abstract:  The melanoma landscape is rapidly evolving. The melanoma oncologists have now the first successful targets for therapy that have a genetic base – albeit in rare forms of the malignancy. Once melanoma becomes part of the Cancer Genome Atlas consortium, a comprehensive map of genetic changes will be established to point the field to true drivers of the disease that will become new targets for therapy. The same abnormalities will also serve as biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis and therapy follow‐up. Melanomas as a group are heterogenous as are tumor cells within one lesion. New strategies will move towards individualized therapies and combination therapies to target all cells within a tumor.
JOHN DEWEY’S RACIALIZED VISIONS OF THE STUDENT AND CLASSROOM COMMUNITY
Authors: Margonis Frank
Published: March 2009

Abstract John Dewey’s willingness to endorse a remedial form of education for African American students offers us a rare glimpse of the racial assumptions underlying Dewey’s educational philosophy. By considering a variety of clues — Dewey’s silences on racial equality, his understanding of race and racial progress, and his respective prescriptions for European American and African American students — Frank Margonis offers in this essay a speculative case suggesting that the visionary child‐centered education for which Dewey was most well‐known was intended for European American students and not African American students. Because of the racial assumptions operative in Dewey’s educational philosophy, Margonis suggests, Dewey’s fundamental conceptions of the “student” and “classroom community” would best be abandoned by educational philosophers hoping to write philosophy that serves all students.
Toxicological Investigation and Antinociceptive Property of Potassium Thiophene‐3‐Trifluoroborate
Authors: Oliveira Roberta A. , Savegnago Lucielli , Jesse Cristiano R. , Menezes Paulo H. , Molander Gary A. , Nogueira Cristina W.
Published: March 2009

Abstract: The aim of the present study was to evaluate pharmacological and toxicological properties of potassium thiophene‐3‐trifluoroborate (RBF3K). The acute effect of RBF3K was evaluated on mice. To this end, mice received a single dose of RBF3K (25, 50, and 100 mg/kg, by oral route, p.o.) and after 72 hrs, blood, liver, and kidney samples were collected. δ‐Aminolevulinate dehydratase, catalase and glutathione‐S‐transferase activities, thiobarbituric acid‐reactive substances and vitamin C levels, as well as plasma aspartate and alanine aminotransferase activities and creatinine levels were determined. Hepatic and renal lipid peroxidation levels in treated mice did not differ from those in control mice. No significant differences between treated and control mice were detected in hepatic and renal δ‐aminolevulinate dehydratase activity. Aspartate and alanine aminotransferase activities as well as urea and creatinine levels were similar among the groups. In contrast, results obtained fromin vivoexperiments revealed that RBF3K, orally administered, reduced peritoneovisceral pain induced by acetic acid administered i.p. Doses of 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, and 100 mg/kg of RBF3K were assessed in the antinociceptive investigation and the effect was significantly different than control groups from 5 mg/kg. It was observed that α2‐adrenergic and serotonergic, but not opioidergic, receptors appear to be involved in orally administered RBF3K. Mice treated with RBF3K did not reveal any motor impairment in the open field. This is a promising compound for more detailed pharmacological studies involving organotrifluoroborate compounds.
The Clitoral Photoplethysmograph: A New Way of Assessing Genital Arousal in Women
Authors: Gerritsen Jeroen , Van Der Made Flip , Bloemers Jos , Van Ham Diana , Kleiverda Gunilla , Everaerd Walter , Olivier Berend , Levin Roy , Tuiten Adriaan
Published: March 2009

Introduction

In the present study, we introduce clitoral photoplethysmography as an instrument to assess clitoral blood volume (CBV). In research on female sexual functioning, vaginal pulse amplitude (VPA), as measured using vaginal photoplethysmography, has been used extensively as a measure of vaginal vasocongestion. Measurement of clitoral blood flow has thus far been problematic, mainly because of methodological constraints.

Aim

To demonstrate that CBV is a valuable, easy to use complementary measure for the female sexual response, offering additional information to the VPA.

Methods

Thirty women with and without female sexual dysfunction (FSD) watched neutral and erotic film clips. At the end of the erotic clip, the session was interrupted to induce inhibition of the sexual response. Another neutral clip followed the interruption. VPA and CBV were measured simultaneously, as well as skin conductance levels (SCLs), to assess the amount of sympathetic activity.

Main Outcome Measures

VPA, CBV, SCL.

Results

For both FSD and non-FSD women, VPA and CBV increased when sexually explicit material was presented. Changes in skin conductance significantly predicted changes in CBV (b = −0.61, t[27] = −3.88, P < 0.001), but not in VPA. A large increase in sympathetic activity was accompanied by a large decrease in CBV. Furthermore, a large increase in CBV at the end of the erotic film clip presentation, as compared with the neutral clip, was accompanied by a relatively small increase in VPA (b = −0.39, t[29] = −2.25, P < 0.033).

Conclusion

CBV is a valid and sensitive tool to measure the female genital response. In the present study, it was particularly useful in investigating sexual inhibition, when used in combination with SCL. Furthermore, high CBV appeared to inhibit VPA, suggesting that VPA reflects an automatic preparatory response rather than genital arousal per se.
Biofeedback, Electrical Stimulation, Pelvic Floor Muscle Exercises, and Vaginal Cones: A Combined Rehabilitative Approach for Sexual Dysfunction Associated with Urinary Incontinence
Authors: Rivalta Massimo , Sighinolfi Maria Chiara , De Stefani Stefano , Micali Salvatore , Mofferdin Alessandro , Grande Marco , Bianchi Giampaolo
Published: March 2009

Introduction

Urinary incontinence (UI) is often associated with sexual dysfunction. We present our preliminary experience with a combined rehabilitative approach consisting of biofeedback, functional electrical stimulation, pelvic floor muscle exercises, and vaginal cones.

Aim

The potential impact of such practice on UI and sexual function was analyzed in our case series and discussed.

Main Outcome Measures and Methods

We evaluated three women affected by UI and sexual dysfunction. The patients underwent combined pelvic floor rehabilitation (PFR), kept voiding diaries, and filled out the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI questionnaire) before and after the completion of PFR. We evaluated each domain score, including desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction, and pain.

Results

After the combined rehabilitation program, none of them had UI requiring pad use or referred urine leakage during sexual activity, including intercourse. Before PFR, FSFI score ranged from 16 to 21; after treatment, the FSFI score ranged from 22.1 to 29.3. There was an improvement in patients regarding desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction, and pain.

Conclusions

A complete rehabilitation can provide a beneficial effect on sexual function. A larger trial, on a more extended female population, is currently in progress, in order to confirm our findings. The effectiveness of a complete PFR scheme, together with the lack of side effects, makes it a suitable approach to sexual dysfunction that is associated with UI.
Implementation of a School‐Based State Policy to Increase Physical Activity*
Authors: Evenson Kelly R. , Ballard Kymm , Lee Ginny , Ammerman Alice
Published: March 2009

Background:  In 2005, the North Carolina State Board of Education updated the Healthy Active Children Policy to include a requirement that all kindergarten through eighth‐grade children receive at least 30 minutes of moderate‐to‐vigorous physical activity each school day through physical education, recess, and other creative approaches. This study describes how districts are meeting the physical activity‐related portion of this policy and explores the policy implementation successes and challenges.

Methods:  An online survey was conducted in summer 2007 in all school districts in the state (response rate 106/111; 95.5%). Respondents were asked to describe the implementation successes and challenges associated with including 30 minutes of physical activity in the school day. Answers were double coded, checked, and grouped into themes.

Results:  The physical activity requirement was most often met through recess, physical education, classroom Energizers, and intramural sports. School districts reported numerous positive effects of the policy in elementary and middle schools. Benefits included increased student focus on studies, physical activity participation, awareness of healthy habits, alertness and enjoyment, and higher staff involvement. Implementation challenges to the policy included lack of time in the school day, teacher participation, and concerns about academics.

Conclusions:  School districts reported that implementation of the policy produced many positive results for students and staff. Addressing several implementation challenges common across school districts would strengthen the ongoing success of the policy.
Sex difference in the liver of hepatocyte‐specific Pten‐deficient mice: A model of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis
Authors: Anezaki Yumiko , Ohshima Shigetoshi , Ishii Hajime , Kinoshita Nobukatsu , Dohmen Takahiro , Kataoka Ei , Sato Wataru , Iizuka Masahiro , Goto Takashi , Sasaki Junko , Sasaki Takehiko , Suzuki Akira , Ohnishi Hirohide , Horie Yasuo
Published: March 2009

Aim:  Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is considered to be a public health problem worldwide. NAFLD is more prevalent in men than in women. Tamoxifen, a potent estrogen receptor antagonist, causes nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), a severe form of NAFLD. Thus, there may be a sex difference that is dependent on estrogens in NAFLD and NASH. Hepatocyte‐specific Pten‐deficient mice exhibit hepatic lesions analogous to NASH and are considered to be a clinical model of NASH. We aimed to shed light on any sex differences in the hepatic lesions of Pten‐deficient mice and the underlying mechanisms.

Methods:  At 40 weeks, livers from male and female Pten‐deficient mice were processed for measuring lipid content, genes expression analysis, and histological examination. Level of serum reactive oxygen species (ROS) was also determined. Seventy‐six‐week‐old mice were used in tumor burden experiments.

Results:  Hepatic steatosis, inflammation, and even carcinogenesis in Pten‐deficient mice were attenuated in females compared to males. Attenuated fatty liver in females was ascribed to inactivation of sterol regulatory element binding protein‐1c. Hepatic inflammation in females was suppressed via decreased ROS with increased antioxidant gene expression and decreased proinflammatory cytokine production. Anti‐cancer effect in female mice was, at least in part, due to the significantly lower ratio of oleic to stearic acid in the liver.

Conclusions:  Hepatic lesions in Pten‐deficient mice were attenuated in females compared to males, as were human NAFLD and NASH. Some of the underlying mechanisms in sex difference appeared to be due to the change of gene expression, dependent on estrogens.