bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Novel KLF4/MSI2 Signaling Pathway Regulates Growth and Metastasis of Pancreatic Cancer
Authors: Guo Kun , Cui Jiujie , Quan Ming , Xie Dacheng , Jia Zhiliang , Wei Daoyan , Wang Liang , Gao Yong , Ma Qingyong , Xie Keping
Published: July 2016

Purpose: Musashi 2 (MSI2) is reported to be a potential oncoprotein in cases of leukemia and several solid tumors. However, its expression, function, and regulation in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) cases have yet to be demonstrated. Therefore, in the current study, we investigated the clinical significance and biologic effects of MSI2 expression in PDAC cases and sought to delineate the clinical significance of the newly identified Krüppel-like factor 4 (KLF4)/MSI2 regulatory pathway.

Experimental Design: MSI2 expression and its association with multiple clinicopathologic characteristics in human PDAC specimens were analyzed immunohistochemically. The biological functions of MSI2 regarding PDAC cell growth, migration, invasion, and metastasis were studied using gain- and loss-of-function assays both in vitro and in vivo. Regulation of MSI2 expression by KLF4 was examined in several cancer cell lines, and the underlying mechanisms were studied using molecular biologic methods.

Results: MSI2 expression was markedly increased in both PDAC cell lines and human PDAC specimens, and high MSI2 expression was associated with poor prognosis for PDAC. Forced MSI2 expression promoted PDAC proliferation, migration, and invasion in vitro and growth and metastasis in vivo, whereas knockdown of MSI2 expression did the opposite. Transcriptional inhibition of MSI2 expression by KLF4 occurred in multiple PDAC cell lines as well as mouse models of PDAC.

Conclusions: Lost expression of KLF4, a transcriptional repressor of MSI2 results in overexpression of MSI2 in PDACs, which may be a biomarker for accurate prognosis. A dysregulated KLF4/MSI2 signaling pathway promotes PDAC progression and metastasis. Clin Cancer Res; 23(3); 687–96. ©2016 AACR.
Abstract 2890: ERCC5 variant rs2296147 T-allele creates a predicted TP53 binding site and up-regulates transcript abundance in normal bronchial epithelial cells, while rs17655 C-allele is linked to miRNA binding site variant and down regulates
Authors: Zhang Xiaolu , Crawford Erin L. , Blomquist Thomas M. , Khuder Sadik A. , Yeo Jiyoun , Levin Albert M. , Willey James C.
Published: July 2016

Background: Excision repair cross-complementation group 5 (ERCC5) gene plays an important role in nucleotide excision repair (NER) and dysregulation of ERCC5 is associated with increased lung cancer risk. This study was conducted to characterize cis-acting genetic variants responsible for inter-individual variation in ERCC5 transcript regulation in normal bronchial epithelial cells (NBEC).

Methods: We determined genotypes at putative ERCC5 cis-regulatory single nucleotide polymorphic sites (SNP) rs751402 and rs2296147, and marker SNPs rs1047768 and rs17655. Using a recently developed targeted sequencing method, ERCC5 allele-specific transcript abundance was assessed in NBEC RNA from 55 individuals heterozygous for rs1047768 and 21 subjects heterozygous for rs17655. Syntenic relationships among alleles at rs751402, rs2296147 and rs1047768 were assessed by allele-specific PCR followed by Sanger sequencing. We assessed association of NBEC ERCC5 allele-specific expression at rs1047768 with haplotype and diplotype structure at putative ERCC5 promoter cis-regulatory SNPs rs751402 and rs2296147.

Results: Genotype analysis revealed higher inter-individual variation in allelic ratios in cDNA samples relative to matched gDNA samples at both rs1047768 and rs17655 (p<0.0001 and p = 0.0005 respectively). By haplotype analysis, mean expression was higher at the rs1047768 alleles syntenic with rs2296147 T allele compared to rs2296147 C allele (p = 0.0030). Sequence analysis predicts that T allele at SNP rs2296147 creates a TP53 binding site. Mean expression was higher at rs17655 G allele (p<0.0001) which is syntenic with G allele at a linked SNP rs873601 (r2 = 0.74). C allele at SNP rs873601 is predicted to create a miRNA binding site.

Conclusions: These data support the conclusion that T allele at SNP rs2296147 creates a TP53 binding site and up-regulates ERCC5 while C allele at SNP rs873601 creates a miRNA binding site and down-regulates ERCC5. Variation in ERCC5 transcript abundance associated with allelic variation at these SNPs is likely associated with variation in NER function in NBEC and lung cancer risk.

Citation Format: Xiaolu Zhang, Erin L. Crawford, Thomas M. Blomquist, Sadik A. Khuder, Jiyoun Yeo, Albert M. Levin, James C. Willey. ERCC5 variant rs2296147 T-allele creates a predicted TP53 binding site and up-regulates transcript abundance in normal bronchial epithelial cells, while rs17655 C-allele is linked to miRNA binding site variant and down regulates. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 2890.
Abstract 3621: High efficiency detection of low frequency alleles in cell-free DNA
Authors: Shazand Kamran , Ning Jing , Popkie Anthony , Ranghini Egon , Jerome John Paul
Published: July 2016

Cancer is a genetic disease, caused by a variety of alterations to a cell's genome. One specific type of alteration associated with cancer is point mutations, and Next-generation sequencing (NGS) is a key tool to identify those mutations. Unlike inherited mutations, cancer mutations can be found at very low frequencies, mainly because of tumor heterogeneity and their dilution in the germline background. Cell-free DNA (cfDNA) derived from blood plasma, is a promising material for cancer research and diagnosis, and can be readily obtained via non-invasive procedures. However, the amount of tumor DNA and, hence, the amount of rare allele in the cfDNA are typically very low. Sensitive methods are therefore needed for the detection of somatic, cancer-associated mutations in cfDNA isolated from liquid biopsies to support both discovery and clinical decision making in oncology.

To overcome these challenges, we developed at Rubicon Genomics an NGS library preparation kit, namely ThruPLEX® Plasma-seq, optimized specifically for cfDNA at input levels from less than 1 ng to 30 ng. We designed experiments to determine the lower limit of SNV detection under these assay conditions. Six individual ThruPLEX® Plasma-seq libraries generated from 10 ng cfDNA were enriched with the Agilent SureSelect XT2 reagents and ClearSeq Comprehensive Cancer panel (151 genes). After sequencing to >500X coverage, SNP calling was performed using Agilent SureCall software to identify the SNPs specific to each sample. In a second step, the cfDNA isolated from two of these plasma samples with known SNP differences were mixed to generate various spike-in frequencies (10%, 5%, 2% and 0.5%) prior to preparing libraries and enrichment. This is to simulate low allele frequency, and to determine the sensitivity of ThruPLEX® Plasma-seq under the outlined assay conditions.

Our results showed that it was possible to detect specific alleles down to an actual 0.6% with the theoretical 0.5% spike-in ratio. The percent of on­target bases was over 45%. The sensitivity (SNPs detected/total SNPs analyzed) of our test was above 97% for 10%, 5%, and 2% frequencies and 70% for 0.5%. This is a demonstration of ThruPLEX® Plasma-seq to produce libraries with high enough complexity to detect low frequency alleles from limited amounts of cfDNA from plasma.

Citation Format: Kamran Shazand, Jing Ning, Anthony Popkie, Egon Ranghini, John Paul Jerome. High efficiency detection of low frequency alleles in cell-free DNA. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 3621.
Abstract LB-057: 1-Benzylquinazoline-2,4(1H,3H)-diones as potent PARP inhibitors. SAR of the quinazoline group and in vivo efficacy of clinical candidate IMP4297
Authors: Cai Sui Xiong , Xu Qingbing , Hu Xiuhua , Jiang Yangzhen , Wang Guoxiang , Tian Ed
Published: July 2016

Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) is a critical enzyme for DNA repair and PARP-1 inhibitors have been found to be efficacious against cancers with BRCA mutations. Olaparib (AZD2281) has been approved as the first PARP-1 inhibitor for the treatment of ovarian cancers with BRCA mutations.

In this presentation, we will report the SAR studies of 1-benzylquinazoline-2,4(1H,3H)-diones (BQD) as potent PARP inhibitors. We will present data for substituents at the quinazoline group of BQD, as well as in vivo efficacy data of IMP4297 which has been selected as clinical candidate for development. In a human triple negative breast cancer PDX model (BR-05-0028) with BRCA1 mutations, IMP4297 is highly efficacious against tumor growth with potency that is about 20-fold that of AZD2281. An IND for IMP4297 has been filed in China recently.

Citation Format: Sui Xiong Cai, Qingbing Xu, Xiuhua Hu, Yangzhen Jiang, Guoxiang Wang, Ed Tian. 1-Benzylquinazoline-2,4(1H,3H)-diones as potent PARP inhibitors. SAR of the quinazoline group and in vivo efficacy of clinical candidate IMP4297. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-057.
Longer Duration and Earlier Age of Onset of Paternal Betel Chewing and Smoking Increase Metabolic Syndrome Risk in Human Offspring, Independently, in a Community-Based Screening Program in Taiwan
Authors: Yen Amy Ming-Fang , Boucher Barbara J. , Chiu Sherry Yueh-Hsia , Fann Jean Ching-Yuan , Chen Sam Li-Sheng , Huang Kuo-Chin , Chen Hsiu-Hsi
Published: July 2016

Background:

Transgenerational effects of paternal
Areca
catechu
nut chewing on offspring metabolic syndrome (MetS) risk in humans, on obesity and diabetes mellitus experimentally, and of paternal smoking on offspring obesity, are reported, likely attributable to genetic and epigenetic effects previously reported in betel-associated disease. We aimed to determine the effects of paternal smoking, and betel chewing, on the risks of early MetS in human offspring.

Methods:

The 13 179 parent-child trios identified from 238 364 Taiwanese aged ≥20 years screened at 2 community-based integrated screening sessions were tested for the effects of paternal smoking, areca nut chewing, and their duration prefatherhood on age of detecting offspring MetS at screen by using a Cox proportional hazards regression model.

Results:

Offspring MetS risks increased with prefatherhood paternal areca nutusage (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.77; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.23–2.53) versus nonchewing fathers (adjusted hazard ratio, 3.28; 95% CI, 1.67–6.43) with >10 years paternal betel chewing, 1.62 (95% CI, 0.88–2.96) for 5 to 9 years, and 1.42 (95% CI, 0.80–2.54) for <5 years betel usage prefatherhood (
P
trend
=0.0002), with increased risk (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.95; 95% CI, 1.26–3.04) for paternal areca nut usage from 20 to 29 years of age, versus from >30 years of age (adjusted hazard ratio,1.61; 95% CI, 0.22–11.69). MetS offspring risk for paternal smoking increased dosewise (
P
trend
<0.0001) with earlier age of onset (
P
trend
=0.0009), independently.

Conclusions:

Longer duration of paternal betel quid chewing and smoking, prefatherhood, independently predicted early occurrence of incident MetS in offspring, corroborating previously reported transgenerational effects of these habits, and supporting the need for habit-cessation program provision.
The Ghosts of Exilic Belongings: Maḥmūd al-Bayyātī’s Raqṣ ʿalā al-māʾ: aḥlām waʿrah and Post-Soviet Themes in Arabic Exile Literature
Authors: Sellman Johanna
Published: July 2016

Raqṣ ʿalā al-māʾ: aḥlām waʿrah (Dancing on Water: Difficult Dreams, 2006) by Maḥmūd al-Bayyātī is among a number of Arabic post-Cold War exile novels that invite critical reflection on the loss of exilic belongings tied to the Soviet world. In the novel, an Iraqi poet, who has recently arrived in Sweden from Prague, Czechoslovakia following the collapse of the Soviet Union, finds a wallet containing a large sum of money. The poet (and narrator) re-imagines his new exile in Sweden through his search for the owner of the wallet and through the related question of how to distribute the money. As the narrative unfolds, the search begins to resemble the act of circling and pacing (ṭāf, yaṭūf ), a concept that frequently recurs in the novel. Ṭāf invokes both the haunting of the narrator’s past exile and political affiliations, and ṭawāf, the ritual circling around an empty center. Read alongside Derrida’s Specters of Marx the novel offers a compelling reflection on a critical juncture of Arabic literature. By comparing Raqṣ ʿalā al-māʾ to two other post-Soviet Arabic literary narratives of exile, Iqbāl Qazwīnī’s Mamarrāt al-sukūn (Zubaida’s Window: A Novel of Iraqi Exile, 2005) and Muḥammad Makhzangī’s Laḥaẓāt gharaq jazīrat al-ḥūt (Memories of a Meltdown: An Egyptian between Moscow and Chernobyl, 2006), this article considers the multiple ways that literary narratives have made exile and Marxist political affiliations objects of mourning. The spectral qualities of Raqṣ ʿalā al-māʾ subvert many of the post-Cold War narratives on national identity and the death of Marxism that the narrator confronts and, in the end, produce an ambiguous yet engaging reflection on migration and exile in contemporary Europe.
When the Safras Met the Dajānīs
Authors: Bashkin Orit
Published: July 2016

This paper explores how readers can hear Arabic voices within Hebrew novels written by Jews who came to Israel from Arab countries or who were born in Israel to Arabic-speaking parents.1 I look at the ways in which the Arabic language itself, as well as Arabic literature and Islamic religious texts, are mediated in these novels. The inclusion of Arabic voices within the Hebrew texts, I argue, acts powerfully against national monolingualism and generates a new understanding of Arab-Jewish relations and of Mizrahi Diasporic identities.
Return of the Beast: From Pre-Islamic Ode to Contemporary Novel
Authors: El-Ariss Tarek
Published: July 2016

Can the exile ever return? And if so, how? This question has consumed literature from the times of Gilgamesh. Focusing on works by the Jāhilī poet al-Shanfarā (d. 70/525) and the contemporary Lebanese author Hudā Barakāt, this essay reads the metamorphosis of the exile and the outcast as a critique of tribal identification. I argue that while the moment of exilic departure is confounded and erased, the return (al-ʿawdah) operates as a form of revenge (raiding, haunting, possessing) that emerges from experiences of tawaḥḥush (becoming wild, beastly) and tagharrub (estrangement, alienation). This vengeful return harnesses beastliness and alienation as both destructive and productive forces that dismantle communal rituals of inclusion and exclusion, death and burial, while opening up the human/beast relation to multiple social and political configurations. Drawing on classical and contemporary theoretical frameworks, I examine the function of cruelty in the exile’s transformation and return, reading it as a survival mechanism and aesthetic device.
Arab Literary Exiles and Their Writing in Light of the Arab Spring
Authors: Gran Peter
Published: July 2016

Before the era of globalization, the nation state produced intellectuals, some in its support, and some in opposition. Among the latter were those who could be termed literary exiles. Different kinds of states produced different kinds of intellectuals, and thus arose the possibility of a sociology of literary exile. Today, in the wake of the Arab Spring, with its unexpected resurgence of old-fashioned nationalism, the question arises whether scholars should now take a second look at the question of national history and its theory in the wake of globalization. This essay argues that Arab literary exiles can be meaningfully looked at as part of a longer-term trend extending from the old national period until today, representing a historical approach well worth developing.
Conversion in Early Modern Western Mediterranean Accounts of Captivity: Identity, Audience, and Narrative Conventions
Authors: Grieve Patricia E.
Published: July 2016

In the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries captivity narratives written by Spanish and English captives abounded. There is a smaller corpus of such texts by Muslim captives in Spain and England, and by some travelers from the Ottoman Empire who observed their fellow Muslims in captivity. A comparative analysis illuminatingly reveals similar usage of narrative conventions, especially of hagiography and pious romances, as well as the theoretical stance of “resistance literature” taken on by many writers. I consider accounts written as truthful, historical texts alongside fictional ones, such as Miguel de Cervantes’ “The Captive’s Tale,” from Don Quixote, Part I. Writers both celebrated monolithic categories such as Protestant, Catholic, Spanish, English, and Muslim, and challenged them for differing ideological reasons. Writers constructed heroic narratives of their own travails and endurance. In the case of English narratives, didacticism plays an important role. In one case, that of John Rawlins, the account reads like Christian theology: to keep in mind, no matter how grim the situation of captivity may be, one’s identity as an Englishman. Raḍwān al-Janawī used his letters about Muslims in captivity in Portuguese-occupied Africa, in which he points out the vigorous efforts of Christian rulers to secure the liberty of their own people, to criticize Muslim rulers who, in his opinion, exerted far too little energy in rescuing their brothers and sisters from captivity. Ultimately, this essay explores the fictionality of truthful narratives and the truth in fictional ones, and the ways in which people from different cultures identified their own identities, especially against those of “the enemy.”
Estrangement and Selfhood in the Classical Concept of Waṭan
Authors: Noorani Yaseen
Published: July 2016

The modern Arabic term for national homeland, waṭan, derives its sense from the related yet semantically different usage of this term in classical Arabic, particularly in classical Arabic poetry. In modern usage, waṭan refers to a politically defined, visually memorialized territory whose expanse is cognized abstractly rather than through personal experience. The modern waṭan is the geopolitical locus of national identity. The classical notion of waṭan, however, is rarely given much geographical content, although it usually designates a relatively localized area on the scale of a neighborhood, town, or village. More important than geographical content is the subjective meaning of the waṭan, in the sense of its essential place in the psyche of an individual. The waṭan (also mawṭin, awṭān), both in poetry and other types of classical writing, is strongly associated with the childhood/youth and primary love attachments of the speaker. This sense of waṭan is thus temporally defined as much as spatially, and as such can be seen as an archetypal instance of the Bakhtinian chronotope, one intrinsically associated with nostalgia and estrangement. The waṭan, as the site of the classical self’s former plenitude, is by definition lost or transfigured and unrecoverable, becoming an attachment that must be relinquished for the sake of virtue and glory. This paper argues that the bivalency of the classical waṭan chronotope, recoverable through analysis of poetic and literary texts, allows us to understand the space and time of the self in classical Arabic literature and how this self differs from that presupposed by modern ideals of patriotism.
The “kgb People,” Soviet Americanists and Soviet-American Academic Exchanges, 1958–1985
Authors: Zhuk Sergei
Published: July 2016

Using various case studies – from Oleg Kalugin to Grigorii Sevostianov and Nikolai Sivachev in Russia, and Askold Shlepakov in Ukraine, this article examines different instrumental functions of the KGB people among Soviet Americanists, specialists in the US history, politics, literature and films. It focuses on the KGB influences in the field of American studies in the Soviet Union since the beginning of Soviet-us academic exchanges programs in 1958 till the beginning of perestroika. This article is a part of the larger project about cultural and social history of Soviet Americanists during the Cold War.
The Question of Education in the 2014 Tunisian Constitution: Article 39 and its Ambiguous Values
Authors: Fliegelman Oren
Published: July 2016

Despite Tunisia’s remarkable transition from dictatorship to democracy following the Tunisian Revolution, only a few of the hotly debated articles in the country’s new constitution have been analyzed by scholars. This article examines one of those under-analyzed constitutional provisions: Article 39, on education, whose language on religious and national values was repeatedly contested throughout the two-year drafting process. Using internal National Constituent Assembly documents and delegate voting records, the article explains how the education article transformed dramatically throughout drafting, ending in a controversial last-minute compromise accepted on the final day of voting. It provides insight on the broader constitution, which has been criticized for inconsistency, by showing how opposing interests largely amended the article's language into ambiguity. It also shows that the nca can be used as a model for exploring the convoluting impact quick votes in a constitution-making body’s plenary assembly can have on work produced by the body’s specialized committees.
Investigating Possible Arctic–Midlatitude Teleconnections in a Linear Framework
Authors: Sellevold Raymond , Sobolowski Stefan , Li Camille
Published: July 2016

There is an ongoing debate over whether accelerated Arctic warming [Arctic amplification (AA)] is altering the large-scale circulation responsible for the anomalous weather experienced by midlatitude regions in recent years. Among the proposed mechanisms is the idea that local processes associated with sea ice loss heat the lower troposphere at high latitudes, thus weakening the equator-to-pole temperature gradient and driving changes in quasi-stationary waves, the midlatitude jets, and storm tracks. It is further hypothesized that these circulation changes are conducive to persistent weather patterns. Because of the short observational record and large atmospheric internal variability, it is difficult to identify robust relationships and infer causality. Here, a simplified, linear, steady-state model is used to investigate the direct response of the midlatitude atmospheric circulation to thermal forcing in the Arctic. The results suggest that there is a weak midlatitude circulation response to an idealized, but representative, Arctic heating perturbation. Further, the stationary wave responses are shown to be well within the bounds of internal variability. A midlatitude response is excited if the idealized heating penetrates up to the tropopause. Such deep, persistent heating is not observed on average during the AA period but does suggest a pathway for Arctic–midlatitude linkages under specific conditions. This study adds to the growing body of work suggesting that warming in the lower troposphere associated with Arctic amplification is not currently a direct driver of anomalous midlatitude circulation changes.
Mobile phones, social ties and collective action mobilization in China
Authors: Liu Jun
Published: July 2016

To provide a better understanding of mobile phones as a recruitment tool in collective actions, this study explores the use of mobile phones for mobilizing protest in China. Using in-depth interviews and investigating four cases in which Chinese people employed mobile devices to recruit participants for protests, this study observes that mobile communication in China embodies guanxi, the indigenous social tie in Chinese society that introduces reciprocity as an influential facilitator of collective actions. The embedment of reciprocity facilitates the proliferation of mobilizing calls, legitimizes mobilizing appeals, generates obligations and consolidates solidarity for collective actions. The study concludes with a consideration of the relevance of mobile phones for the embedment of reciprocity in social ties in the mobilization of collective action in authoritarian regimes such as China.
Social Mechanisms in Empirical Sociology
Authors: Edling Christofer , Rydgren Jens
Published: July 2016

The social mechanism program has been successful in sociology and neighboring social science disciplines, such as criminology and political science. However, in our view the literature on social mechanisms is still too preoccupied with intratheoretical and metatheoretical discussions, and we find very few empirical applications. This is surprising since one of the basic aims of the social mechanisms approach from the start has been to achieve better integration between theory and empirical analyses. Yet of all the previous edited volumes and special issues dedicated to social mechanisms (or to analytical sociology, for that matter), we find only a small number of chapters that are empirically oriented in the sense that they address and try to answer a substantive empirical research question. This is unfortunate: By leaving out the dirty work of empirical analysis, social mechanisms theorists risk surrendering the potential influence of the approach. As a result, new (statistical) methods rather than new approaches to theorizing drive the practice of social science research. Most social scientists are driven by substantial empirical interests, that is, they share a set of questions they want to find answers to, rather than being motivated by abstract methodological and/or theoretical interests. Proponents of the social mechanism approach need to show by example that this approach is a valuable framework for researching broad, mainstream social science issues. This is what we do in this special issue.
Dependence of Raman Spectral Intensity on Crystal Size in Organic Nano Energetics
Authors: Patel Rajen B. , Stepanov Victor , Qiu Hongwei
Published: July 2016

Raman spectra for various nitramine energetic compounds were investigated as a function of crystal size at the nanoscale regime. In the case of 2,4,6,8,10,12-hexanitro-2,4,6,8,10,12-hexaazaisowurtzitane (CL-20), there was a linear relationship between intensity of Raman spectra and crystal size. Notably, the Raman modes between 120 cm−1 and 220 cm−1 were especially affected, and at the smallest crystal size, were completely eliminated. The Raman spectral intensity of octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine (HMX), like that of CL-20's, depended linearly on crystal size. The Raman spectral intensity of 1,3,5-trinitroperhydro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX), however, was not observably changed by crystal size. A non-nitramine explosive compound, 2,4,6-triamino-1,3,5- trinitrobenzene (TATB), was also investigated. Its spectral intensity was also found to correlate linearly with crystal size, although substantially less so than that of HMX and CL-20. To explain the observed trends, it is hypothesized that disordered molecular arrangement, originating from the crystal surface, may be responsible. In particular, it appears that the thickness of the disordered surface layer is dependent on molecular characteristics, including size and conformational flexibility. Furthermore, as the mean crystal size decreases, the volume fraction of disordered molecules within a specimen increases, consequently, weakening the Raman intensity. These results could have practical benefit for allowing the facile monitoring of crystal size during manufacturing. Finally, these findings could lead to deep insights into the general structure of the surface of crystals.
Variable Temperature Infrared Spectroscopy Studies of Aromatic Acid Adsorbate Effects on Montmorillonite Dehydration
Authors: Ingram Audrey L. , Nickels Tara M. , Maraoulaite Dalia K. , White Robert L.
Published: July 2016

Molecular interactions between benzoic, salicylic, and acetylsalicylic acids and water contained within montmorillonite clay interlayer spaces are characterized by using variable temperature diffuse reflection infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (VT-DRIFTS). By using sample perturbation and difference spectroscopy, infrared (IR) spectral variations resulting from the removal of interlayer water are used to characterize aromatic acid local environment changes. Difference spectra features representing functional group perturbations are correlated with changes in IR absorptions associated with –O–H and –C = O stretching vibrations. Results suggest that adsorbate carboxylic acid functionalities participate in extensive hydrogen bonding and that the strengths of these interactions are diminished when clays are dehydrated. The nature of these interactions and their temperature-dependent properties are found to depend on adsorbate structure and concentration as well as the clay interlayer cation.
Ion Imprinted Polymer for Preconcentration and Determination of Ultra-Trace Cadmium, Employing Flow Injection Analysis with Thermo Spray Flame Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrometry
Authors: do Lago Ayla Campos , Marchioni Camila , Mendes Tássia Venga , Wisniewski Célio , Fadini Pedro Sergio , Luccas Pedro Orival
Published: July 2016

This work proposes a preconcentration method using an ion imprinted polymer (IIP) for determination of cadmium, in several samples, employing a mini-column filled with the polymer coupled into a flow injection analysis system with detection by thermospray flame furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (FIA-TS-FF-AAS). The polymer was synthesized via bulk using methacrylic acid and vinylimidazole as a functional monomer. For the FIA system initial assessment, the variables: pH, eluent concentration and buffer concentration were studied, employing a 23 full factorial design. To obtain the optimum values for each significant variable, a Doehlert matrix was employed. After the optimization conditions as: pH 5.8, eluent (HNO3) concentration of 0.48 mol L−1 and buffer concentration of 0.01 mol L−1, were adopted. The proposed method showed a linear response in the range of 0.081–10.0 μg L−1, limits detection and quantification of 0.024 and 0.081 μg L−1, respectively; preconcentration factor of 165, consumptive index of 0.06 mL, concentration efficiency 132 min−1, and frequency of readings equal to 26 readings h−1. The accuracy was checked by analysis of certified reference materials for trace metals and recovery tests. The obtained results were in agreement with 95% confidence level (t-test). The method was adequate to apply in samples of: jewelry (earrings) (2.38 ± 0.28 μg kg−1), black tea (1.09 ± 0.15 μg kg−1), green tea (3.85 ± 0.13 μg kg−1), cigarette tobacco (38.27 ± 0.22 μg kg−1), and hair (0.35 ± 0.02 μg kg−1).
Haemostatic factors do not account for worse outcomes from ischaemic stroke in patients with higher C-reactive protein concentrations
Authors: Słomka Artur , Świtońska Milena , Sinkiewicz Władysław , Żekanowska Ewa
Published: July 2016

Background

Although the role of microparticles was recently implicated in stroke pathophysiology, the association between microparticles and inflammation is still not fully understood. The aim of this cohort study of 66 patients was to assess a relation between haemostatic factors, C-reactive protein and clinical outcome of ischaemic stroke.

Methods

Plasma microparticles procoagulant activity, concentrations of tissue factor-bearing microparticles, tissue factor and tissue factor pathway inhibitor in ischaemic stroke patients were determined with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays at the time of initial diagnosis, along with serum C-reactive protein concentrations. Patients were divided into two groups depending on their C-reactive protein concentrations (C-reactive protein <3 mg/L; n = 28 vs. C-reactive protein ≥3 mg/L; n = 38). The analysed clinical outcome measures included the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale and the Barthel Index.

Results

The two C-reactive protein groups did not differ significantly in terms of microparticles procoagulant activities, tissue factor-bearing microparticles, tissue factor and tissue factor pathway inhibitor concentrations. A significant correlation was observed between tissue factor pathway inhibitor and National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score at admission ( R = 0.3, P = 0.03). Patients with C-reactive protein ≥3 mg/L presented with significantly higher National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale scores (median, 9.00 vs. 5.50, P = 0.002) and lower Barthel Index scores (median, 20.00 vs. 65.00, P = 0.002) than individuals with C-reactive protein <3 mg/L. The C-reactive protein concentrations correlated positively with National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale scores ( R = 0.3, P = 0.02) and inversely with Barthel Index scores ( R = − 0.4, P = 0.002).

Conclusions

Altogether, these findings imply that haemostatic parameters (microparticles, tissue factor-bearing microparticles, tissue factor, tissue factor pathway inhibitor) do not account for elevated C-reactive protein concentrations in ischaemic stroke patients.
Upholding whose right? Discretionary police powers to punish, collective ‘pre-victimisation’ and the dilution of individual rights
Authors: Farmer Clare
Published: July 2016

This article uses the example of Victoria’s alcohol-related banning notice provisions to explore the changing conception of balance within criminal justice processes. Despite the formalisation of individual rights within measures such as Victoria’s Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006, the discretionary power of the police to issue on-the-spot punishments in response to actual or potential criminal behaviour has increased steadily. A key driver, evident across the parliamentary debates of the banning legislation, is a presumed need to protect the broader community of potential victims. As a result, the individual rights of those accused (but not necessarily convicted) of undesirable behaviours are increasingly subordinated to the pre-emptive protection of the law-abiding majority. This shift embodies a largely unsubstantiated notion of collective pre-victimisation. Significantly, despite the expectations of Victoria’s Charter, measures such as banning notices have been enacted with insufficient evidence of the underlying collective risk, of their likely effectiveness and without meaningful ongoing scrutiny. The motto of Victoria Police – Uphold the Right – appears to belie a growing uncertainty over whose rights should be upheld and how.
Experimental, analytical, and finite element study of stress concentration factors for composite materials
Authors: Mohamed Makki Mhalla , Chokri Bouraoui
Published: July 2016

This article focuses on the evaluation of stress concentration factors for composite materials with varying hole diameters. An innovative method is presented for measuring the stress concentration around a hole using the digital image correlation method. This method can provide a quicker and cheaper testing technique. The digital image correlation method is utilized to evaluate the strain field and the displacement at the edge of the hole and obtain information about fracture mechanisms in the studied materials. The effect of the ratio of the hole diameter to its width (a/w ratio) on both gross and net stress concentration factors around the hole is investigated. In addition, there is a comparison between the net and the gross stress concentration factors uses of the digital image correlation method, the analytical solutions, and the finite-element analysis for both composite and steel materials.
Political Ideology, Trust, and Cooperation
Authors: Balliet Daniel , Tybur Joshua M. , Wu Junhui , Antonellis Christian , Van Lange Paul A. M.
Published: July 2016

Theories suggest that political ideology relates to cooperation, with conservatives being more likely to pursue selfish outcomes, and liberals more likely to pursue egalitarian outcomes. In study 1, we examine how political ideology and political party affiliation (Republican vs. Democrat) predict cooperation with a partner who self-identifies as Republican or Democrat in two samples before ( n = 362) and after ( n = 366) the 2012 US presidential election. Liberals show slightly more concern for their partners’ outcomes compared to conservatives (study 1), and in study 2 this relation is supported by a meta-analysis ( r = .15). However, in study 1, political ideology did not relate to cooperation in general. Both Republicans and Democrats extend more cooperation to their in-group relative to the out-group, and this is explained by expectations of cooperation from in-group versus out-group members. We discuss the relation between political ideology and cooperation within and between groups.
What English/Language Arts Teacher Candidates Learn During Coursework and Practica
Authors: Barnes Meghan E. , Smagorinsky Peter
Published: July 2016

This study investigates the learning reported by a set of volunteer participants from three university teacher education programs: from one Southwestern U.S. University, the program in secondary English/Language Arts Education and the program in Elementary Education; and from one Southeastern U.S. University, the program in secondary English/Language Arts Education. Based on interviews conducted between the end of coursework and the beginning of student teaching, this study uses a sociocultural perspective to consider not only the manner in which the teacher candidates’ learning was mediated by a host of factors, including formal teacher education courses and mentor teacher guidance, but also a wide range of factors that introduced competing conceptions of effective teaching. The interviews were analyzed collaboratively by the two authors, who relied on a sociocultural analysis attending to the pedagogical tools, attribution of learning to specific sources and the settings in which they were located, the areas of teaching in which the tools were applicable, and goals toward which the pedagogical tools were deployed. Findings suggest that even with the three programs having radically different structures and processes, the teacher candidates reported very similar learning, yet with variations conceivably following from their program structures. Furthermore, teacher education emerged as one of several sites of learning named by teacher candidates, rather than serving as their sole or even primary source of learning. The study concludes with a consideration of the many factors that contribute to teacher candidates’ conceptual understanding of effective teaching and the role of teacher education programs within this vast complex of goals, epistemologies, and practices.
Applicability of the Stop-Signal Task for Preschoolers With ADHD
Authors: Lee Hom-Yi , Wu Tzu-Feng , Tsai Jeng-Dau , Yang En-Lin
Published: July 2016

Inhibitory deficits of children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are well documented. However, the specific inhibition ability (stopping an ongoing response) of preschoolers with ADHD is little reported. This study adopted the tracking stop-signal task to examine preschoolers with ADHD. Twenty-eight children with ADHD ( M = 6.1 year, SD = 0.6) were compared to 31 comparison children ( M = 6.0 year, SD = 0.6) on a measure of inhibitory control. The results showed that preschool children with ADHD performed worse than their control groups on the stop-signal task, using the omission error index, implying an attention deficit. However, preschool children with ADHD did not exhibit significantly slower stop-signal reaction times relative to the control group. The ability of controlled response inhibition of preschool children may not be mature.
Field Dependence as a Limiting Factor in Solving a Complex Learning Problem
Authors: Robertson Richard J. , Alfano Patricia
Published: July 2016

Subjects in a prior study of complex learning often experienced difficulty in mastering the task because of an apparent reluctance to release one perceprual field and reconstrue the cask on a higher cognitive level. It was hypothesized that were this the correct explanation, the faster learners would be more field independent on a measure of field dependence, since independence has been defined in terms of ease in releasing one's anention from the immediate perceptual field. This hypothesis was tested with 22 undergraduate subjects for whom Group Embedded Figures Test scores were correlated with the number of trials to completion on the complex learning task. A moderate but significant correlation supported the hypothesis.
Exercise Dependence: The Relationship between Two Measures
Authors: Kirkby Robert J. , Adams Jeremy
Published: July 2016

A volunteer sample of 158 aerobics instructors, 46 competitors, and 102 general participants completed 2 assessments of exercise dependence, the Negative Addiction Scale and the Commitment to Running Scale. Pearson rs showed scores on the measures related significantly for the total sample (.33), the participants (.35), and the instructors (.36), but the correlation of .23 for scores of competitors was not significant. Although scores on the two scales were significantly correlated, each test accounted for less than 11% of the variance for the total sample. While there is some commonality, these instruments largely measure different qualities and care should be taken when comparing “exercise dependence” across samples if assessed by different tests.
Height, Weight, and Body Fat: Assessments of Covariation Based on Visual Information or Reported Correlations
Authors: McGahan Joseph R. , Williamson J. David , Bonnette Christina , Pettway Jamie , Payton Melanie
Published: July 2016

College students' intuitive judgments about covariations between height, weight, and body fat were assessed in three experiments using responses to a series of prepositional statements as the dependent variable. In Exp. 1, judgments were rendered without explicit exposure to a prior database. In Exps. 2 and 3, however, databases were studied prior to these judgments. Remarkable consistencies in judgments of weight and body fat height and weight as well as of height and body fat were obtained across experiments At best, there was little evidence that the databases influenced the judged covariations among these variables. Whereas judgments about weight and body fat were unambiguous and consistent with the actual positive correlation between weight and body fat, judgments about height and weight as well as height and body fat were less clearcut. What was clear, however, was that these judgments were highly similar. Implications of these findings from previous research that suggest the presence of a perceived negative correlation between height and body fat are discussed.
An Updated Bibliography of Literature Pertaining to Multiple Personality
Authors: Damgaard Jackie , Van Benschoten Susan , Fagan Joen
Published: July 2016

90 additional references update the bibliography of multiple personality literature compiled by Boor and Coons (1983). References are presented alphabetically, with notations which allow locating articles with specific foci.
Depression and Suicidal Preoccupation in High School and College Students
Authors: Lester David
Published: July 2016

130 high school students scored as more depressed and more currently suicidal and as having made more prior suicide attempts than 382 college students.
Two-mode navigation method for low-cost inertial measurement unit-based indoor pedestrian navigation
Authors: Xu Yuan , Chen Xiyuan , Wang Yimin
Published: July 2016

The traditional inertial navigation system-based indoor pedestrian navigation method is not suitable to all the conditions, since its data fusion model is designed only for a single condition. In order to achieve better performance, a two-mode navigation method for indoor pedestrian navigation is proposed in this work, which includes the stance mode and the swing mode. When the person’s foot is in a stance phase, the stance mode is used to correct the velocity error and yaw error. When the person’s foot is in a swing phase, the swing mode works and only the yaw error is able to be corrected. For verification, a real indoor test has been done to assess the performance of the proposed two-mode method. The position root-mean-square error (RMSE) value is 1.9265 m during a 176-m traverse, and the RMSE of yaw is 0.20734 rad. These results demonstrate that our method is effective to reduce the error compared with the conventional schemes.
One Size Does Not Fit All: Understanding Parent Engagement in the Contexts of Work, Family, and Public Schooling
Authors: Posey-Maddox Linn , Haley-Lock Anna
Published: July 2016

We examined how parents and educators in a low-income school conceptualize parental engagement, and how school, work, and family domains together shape these parties’ practices as well as understandings of how and why parents engage. From interviews with the principal, five teachers, and 17 mothers of children at a Title I elementary school, we observed mothers’ varied approaches to juggling employment and caregiving responsibilities with desires to be involved in their children’s education, strategies often unknown and mismatched to the focuses of school staff. The study suggests the value of engagement opportunities tailored to families’ unique circumstances and assets.
Harmonizing ‘Responsibility to Protect’: China’s vision of a post-sovereign world
Authors: Kozyrev Vitaly
Published: July 2016

This article examines the recent evolution of China’s policies toward the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) concept in the context of a changing international environment. As an example of an emerging ‘non-Western’ alternative to the existing normative consensus, the Chinese perception of the norm reflects the nature of the ongoing new East–West divide and is derived from Beijing’s new vision of a future world order and China’s role in it. In 2001–2011, China supported R2P as a new mechanism to revise Western practices of humanitarian interventionism and to contribute to a changing multilateral global international legal order exemplifying China’s new status as a responsible ‘global citizen’. When the R2P norm was politicized by the West as part of its global democratic interventionist policies of 2005–2014, China’s predominantly globalist vision of the international rule of law was replaced by its predominantly security-driven approach. This perspective, while recognizing the ongoing globalization of sovereignty, calls for a ‘right balance between justice and interest’ by the international community and denies the traditional Western leadership in the norm-making process. The Communist Party of China (CPC) leaders believe that the future evolution of the R2P concept should meet China’s strategic interests, including its global order-forming and institution-building initiatives. Efforts to operationalize the R2P norm will have to take this factor into account.
Ovarian dysgerminoma presenting as a pregnancy: case report
Authors: Ngwenya Solwayo
Published: July 2016

A 32 year-old P4 G4 was referred from a rural hospital for fibroids in pregnancy. The pregnancy test was positive. An ultrasound scan reported a huge left extrauterine mass. The uterus was of normal size. There was no pregnancy demonstrated. A laparotomy was done through a midline incision. There was a huge left ovarian tumour occupying the pelvic/abdominal region right up to the xiphisternum. A left salpingo-oophrectomy was done. The post operative period was uneventful. The histopathological report confirmed the diagnosis of ovarian dysgerminoma FIGO stage 1A. She was referred to oncologists for adjvunt chemotherapy.