bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Sildenafil promotes neuroprotection of the pelvic ganglia neurones after bilateral cavernosal nerve resection in the rat
Authors: Hlaing Su M. , Garcia Leah A. , Kovanecz Istvan , Martinez Ramon A. , Shah Sanjana , Artaza Jorge N. , Ferrini Monica G.
Published: June 2012

What's known on the subject? and What does the study add?

Treatment with phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE5) inhibitors preserves penile corporal smooth muscle and inhibits the fibrotic degeneration normally seen after bilateral cavernosal nerve resection (BCNR) in rats. However, the effect of PDE5 inhibitors on the pelvic ganglia neurones affected by BCNR is unknown.

The present study found that cavernosal nerve damage triggers a cascade of events in pelvic ganglia neurones, including changes in the expression of neurotransmitters, neurotrophic factors and cytokine production. Treatment with sildenafil ameliorates the impact of nerve damage by up‐regulating neuronal nitric oxide synthase and neurotrophic factors, promoting a neuroprotective microenvironment that may favour nerve regeneration of the pelvic ganglia neurones affected by BCNR.

Objective

To determine the gene expression profile of pelvic ganglia neurones after bilateral cavernosal nerve resection (BCNR) and subsequent treatment with sildenafil in relation to neurotrophic‐related pathways.

Materials and Methods

Fisher rats aged 5 months were subjected to BCNR or sham operation and treated with or without sildenafil (20 mg/kg body‐weight in drinking water) for 7 days.

Total RNA isolated from pelvic ganglia was subjected to reverse transcription and then to quantitative reverse transcriptase‐polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with the RAT‐neurotrophic array.

Results were corroborated by real‐time PCR and western blotting.

Another set of animals were injected with a fluorescent tracer at the base of the penis, 7 days before BCNR or sham operation, and were sacrificed 7 days after surgery.

Sections of pelvic ganglia were used for immunohistochemistry with antibodies against neurturin, neuronal nitric oxide synthase, tyrosine hydroxylase and glial cell line‐derived neurotrophic factor receptor α2.

Results

A down‐regulation of the expression of neuronal nitric oxide synthase accompanied by changes in the level of cholinergic neurotrophic factors, such as neurturin and its receptor glial cell line‐derived neurotrophic factor receptor α2, artemin, neurotrophin‐4 and cilliary neurotrophic factor, was observed 7 days after BCNR in pelvic ganglia neurones.

Treatment with sildenafil, starting immediately after surgery, reversed all these changes at a level similar to that in sham‐operated animals.

Conclusions

Sildenafil treatment promotes changes in the neurotrophic phenotype, leading to a regenerative state of pelvic ganglia neurones.

The present study provides a justification for the use of phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitors as a neuroprotective agent after BCNR.
Lack of international consensus in low‐risk drinking guidelines
Authors: Furtwængler Nina A. F. F. , de Visser Richard O.
Published: June 2012

Introduction and Aims

To encourage moderate alcohol consumption, many governments have developed guidelines for alcohol intake, guidelines for alcohol consumption during pregnancy and legislation relating to blood alcohol limits when driving. The aim of this study was to determine the degree of international consensus within such guidelines.

Design and Methods

Official definitions of standard drinks and consumption guidelines were searched for on government websites, including all 27 European Union Member States and countries from all global geographic regions.

Results

There was a remarkable lack of agreement about what constitutes harmful or excessive alcohol consumption on a daily basis, a weekly basis and when driving, with no consensus about the ratios of consumption guidelines for men and women.

Discussion and Conclusions

International consensus in low‐risk drinking guidelines is an important—and achievable—goal. Such agreement would facilitate consistent labelling of packaged products and could help to promote moderate alcohol consumption. However, there are some paradoxes related to alcohol content labelling and people's use of such information: although clearer information could increase people's capacity to monitor and regulate their alcohol consumption, not all drinkers are motivated to drink moderately or sensibly, and drinkers who intend to get drunk may use alcohol content labelling to select more alcoholic products.
Is there unity within the discipline?
Authors: Newham Roger A.
Published: June 2012

This paper will examine a claim that nursing is united by its moral stance. The claim is that there are moral constraints on nurses' actions as people practising nursing (nurses qua nurses) and that they are in some way different from both what for now can be called standard morality and also different from the person's own moral views who also happens to be a nurse, hence the defining and unifying factor for nursing. I will begin by situating the claim within the broader area about the need for a definition to state features that are essential to all and only members of its class. This will highlight the fact that there are two distinct types of definition used by authors seeking to find a unity for nursing. One type of definition has to do with goals or purposes given to nursing and the other with ends discovered as nursing. But even if there are ends waiting to be discovered a particular practical concern is how we can have knowledge of them. I will suggest that knowledge by intuition is plausible but that as things currently stand in moral epistemology it will not provide the unifying ground for nursing. Then I will argue that in the latter approach to definition a certain account of human nature has been advanced in order to provide features that are there to be discovered and so not dependent on human beings for the definition or classification. However, such an attempt to define nursing cannot do what is wanted. Rather than the account of human nature grounding morality and doing so for nursing, the account of human nature itself relies upon a prior account of morality. Because of this it loses its supposed ground of unity for the profession. Nursing is not united by its moral stance especially if this is understood in a strong sense as unique moral stance, but as things currently stand in moral epistemology this is not necessarily a bad thing for practitioners or patients.
The Creation of the Priamur Governor‐Generalship in 1884 and the Reconfiguration of Asiatic Russia
Authors: MATSUZATO KIMITAKA
Published: June 2012

The quarter‐century time lag between Russia's acquisition of the Priamur region (by the Beijing Treaty of 1860) and the introduction of the Priamur Governor‐Generalship (1884) has been attributed to bureaucratic inertia and the government's narrowly military interests in this region. This paper argues that administrative territorial reform in the Far East needed this long period because it was inseparable from a total reshaping of Asiatic Russia that encompassed territorial reforms in Siberia (including West Siberia), the Kazakh Steppe, Central Asia, and the Orenburg region. Through interministerial discussions and unimplemented reform proposals, Russian policy makers acquired a concept of the Russian Far East, composed of not only the new territorial acquisitions but also Zabaikal Oblast, part of the Old Siberia. This meant that the government expected the Russian Far East to become not only a military outpost but also a self‐sustainable economic unit. For this purpose, a vital condition was to exploit the economic activities of Chinese and Korean immigrants and Japanese fishermen. This requirement made the Priamur governor‐general more creative and operative than the Siberian governor‐generals.
From The Fairground Booth to Futurism: The Sartorial and Material Estrangement of Masquerade
Authors: McQUILLEN COLLEEN
Published: June 2012

In the same way that the Futurists aggressively reworked the purpose of literary language, severing it from its representational responsibilities and freeing it from symbolic signification, avant‐garde artists overturned assumptions about clothing and cosmetics. This article examines the unconventional, at times outlandish and subversive, strategies of representing, clothing and adorning the human body, such as those on display among members of the avant‐garde in daily life, on the theater stage, and at costume balls of the period. It focuses on the trope of paper/cardboard costumes and proxies in Blok's The Fairground Booth, the Paper Ball organized to celebrate the play's premier, Mayakovsky's Vladimir Mayakovsky: A Tragedy, and the real‐life costume balls taking place in Moscow and St. Petersburg. It argues that the avant‐garde reconceptualization of physical appearance and treatment of the body as an artistic canvas relied on the principle of applying or using materials unexpectedly, thereby disrupting traditional, culturally determined assumptions about aesthetics and form‐function relationships.
The Enigmatic G—v: A Defense of the Narrator‐Chronicler in Dostoevsky's Demons
Authors: STROMBERG DAVID
Published: June 2012

The chronicler‐narrator of Dostoevsky's Demons, Anton Lavrentievich G—v, seems like an inscrutable and oscillatory storyteller. On the one hand he is profusely talkative and repeatedly justifies his position as narrator; on the other, he reports scenes that he did not witness and could not have direct knowledge about, including what people say and even think. The spectrum of responses from Dostoevsky critics includes some saying that the novel has “technical inconsistencies,” others claiming that there are in fact two narrators (the character G—v and a separate omniscient authorial narrator), and yet others developing the notion of an “ambivalent meaning” behind the text. Even those who accept G—v as a single narrator come to the conclusion that he has invented much of the story, and is himself, like the character of Peter Stepanovich Verkhovensky, one of the novel's “devils.”“The Enigmatic G—v” examines these many interpretations, and confronts them with counterexamples that demonstrate why the novel is neither inconsistent nor ambivalent. After culling Doestoevsky's text for the few clues he gives into G—v's own character, the article compares the characters and narrative methods of G—v and Peter Verkhovensky in order to distinguish between their radically different motivations–giving us access to the diverging meaning behind each one's telling. The Enigmatic G—v attempts to recover both Dostoevsky's intention to create such a convoluted narrator, and at the same time defend that narrator against the notion of his being a “devil.” It argues that, in order to apprehend the full implication of the events, a reader must face the dilemma over whether or not to believe that G—v can tell the truth even when he wasn't present to witness it—suggesting an ethical plane to the interpretation of his narrational border crossing.
Ways of Seeing: On Kira Muratova's Brief Encounters and Larisa Shepit′ko's Wings
Authors: KAGANOVSKY LILYA
Published: June 2012

This article looks at Larisa Shepit′ko's Wings (Krylia, 1966) and Kira Muratova's Brief Encounters (Korotkie vstrechi, 1967) from the perspective of “female authorship.” The article argues that the work of Shepit'ko and Muratova represents a kind of Soviet “counter‐cinema” that puts the questions of seeing differently at the center of its interrogations. Here, I trace some of the ways we might begin to see the strategies, both formal and narrative, that construct new “ways of seeing” for Soviet cinema, and to place these two films in the larger history of not only Soviet cinema (or the cinema of the Thaw), but of cinema more generally and women's cinema more specifically. This analysis will start with Muratova's Brief Encounters and then move to Shepit′ko's Wings, to show the different ways in which these two films (and these two directors) break with cinematic conventions to give us a different kind of cinema, a different way of filming, and perhaps, also, a desire to see differently.
Harm reduction and the medicalisation of tobacco use
Authors: Rooke Catriona
Published: June 2012

In tobacco control the focus has, for some time, been on abstinence from all types of tobacco use as the only solution to the problem of smoking, and harm reduction approaches are controversial. The most recent English tobacco strategy has incorporated harm reduction approaches in the form of new ‘routes’ to quitting smoking that encourage those who cannot quit to use safer sources of nicotine. This move away from a focus on abstinence can be seen as the result of gradual shifts over the past 50 years in the way that that the problem of smoking is understood and the solutions that are offered. These shifts have involved increasingly seeing tobacco use as a medical problem. This article uses conceptual tools from science and technology studies to examine developments over the last decade in England, primarily the increasing importance of harm reduction approaches. Drawing on 20 semi‐structured qualitative interviews with key stakeholders and documentary analysis, I suggest that the shape harm reduction has taken in English tobacco control policy has been another shift towards the medicalisation of tobacco use, but that this process has occurred in ways that provide a contrast to commonly outlined ‘drivers’ of medicalisation.
Talkin' 'bout the Ghetto: Popular Culture and Urban Imaginaries of Immobility
Authors: JAFFE RIVKE
Published: June 2012

The concept of the ghetto, referring to specifically urban experiences of sociospatial marginalization, has played a prominent role in black popular culture. This article explores the role of the ghetto as a discursive space of immobility and traces its global journey as a mobile imaginary. Focusing mainly on the US and the Caribbean, it explores how this popular culture imaginary is produced and employed to frame and negotiate social and spatial marginalization in a broad range of urban settings. As ‘the ghetto’ begins to travel through the global dissemination and appropriation of black popular culture, its relation to racialized understandings of blackness shifts. This move, in which the ghetto can belong to anyone, allows the imaginary both to function as a site for the production of transgressive, cosmopolitan ‘immobile subjects’, and to be transformed by commercial forces into a global commodity.

Le concept de ghetto, visant les expériences spécifiquement urbaines de la marginalisation socio‐spatiale, a pris une grande place dans la culture populaire noire. Cette étude porte sur le rôle du ghetto vu comme un espace multiple d'immobilité, tout en retraçant son voyage planétaire en tant qu'imaginaire mobile. Consacrée surtout aux États‐Unis et aux Antilles, elle explore comment cet imaginaire de la culture populaire est créé et utilisé pour définir et surmonter la marginalisation sociale et spatiale dans divers cadres urbains. Au fur et à mesure que «le ghetto» se déplace grâce à la propagation et à l'appropriation de la culture populaire noire à travers le monde, sa relation avec les conceptions racialisées de la négritude évolue. Ce flux, grâce auquel le ghetto peut appartenir à n'importe qui, permet à l'imaginaire d'opérer comme site de production de «sujets immobiles», cosmopolites et transgressifs, tandis que les forces commerciales le transforment en produit mondialisé.
Prayer Utterances as Aligning Actions
Authors: Sharp Shane
Published: June 2012

Social actors use prayer utterances (e.g., statements such as “prayed over,”“prayed about,” or “spent time in prayer”) as aligning actions that justify problematic or questionable courses of action and prevent possible negative characterizations. The prayer utterance functions as an aligning action in American society because of Americans’ beliefs and actions concerning the efficacy of prayer in solving problems and because prayer is viewed as a sign of personal morality and trustworthiness. Three examples of individuals who use the prayer utterance as an aligning action serve as illustrations of this argument (Oprah Winfrey, Alabama State Supreme Court Justice Sue Bell Cobb, and President Barack Obama). Scholars should investigate the uses and functions of prayer utterances in social life and should also investigate the possible uses of other religious talk as aligning actions.
Identity as a Determinant of the Overreporting of Church Attendance in Canada
Authors: Brenner Philip S.
Published: June 2012

Recent work has demonstrated that Canadians overreport church attendance at rates similar to respondents in the United States. Overreporting in the United States has been attributed to the importance of religious identity; causes of Canadian overreporting have not been examined. This article draws upon Stryker's identity theory to explain why Canadian survey respondents overreport church attendance. The 2005 Canadian General Social Survey contains observed measures of attendance from both a conventional survey question and a time diary, allowing a direct and rigorous test of the identity explanation. Findings suggest that rates of Canadian overreporting, at about 50 percent, rival rates of overreporting in the United States. Moreover, like overreporting in the United States, Canadian overreporting may be affected by an identity process during the survey interview. Finally, implications for measuring religiosity in both countries are discussed.
Protection of dopaminergic cells by urate requires its accumulation in astrocytes
Authors: Cipriani Sara , Desjardins Cody A. , Burdett Thomas C. , Xu Yuehang , Xu Kui , Schwarzschild Michael A.
Published: June 2012

Urate is the end product of purine metabolism and a major antioxidant circulating in humans. Recent data link higher levels of urate with a reduced risk of developing Parkinson’s disease and with a slower rate of its progression. In this study, we investigated the role of astrocytes in urate‐induced protection of dopaminergic cells in a cellular model of Parkinson’s disease. In mixed cultures of dopaminergic cells and astrocytes oxidative stress‐induced cell death and protein damage were reduced by urate. By contrast, urate was not protective in pure dopaminergic cell cultures. Physical contact between dopaminergic cells and astrocytes was not required for astrocyte‐dependent rescue as shown by conditioned medium experiments. Urate accumulation in dopaminergic cells and astrocytes was blocked by pharmacological inhibitors of urate transporters expressed differentially in these cells. The ability of a urate transport blocker to prevent urate accumulation into astroglial (but not dopaminergic) cells predicted its ability to prevent dopaminergic cell death. Transgenic expression of uricase reduced urate accumulation in astrocytes and attenuated the protective influence of urate on dopaminergic cells. These data indicate that urate might act within astrocytes to trigger release of molecule(s) that are protective for dopaminergic cells.
Globalising Indigeneity? Writing Indigenous Histories in a Transnational World
Authors: Fox Karen
Published: June 2012

In recent decades, Indigenous histories have been increasingly significant and growing areas of historical research in white settler societies such as Australia and New Zealand. These rich veins of historical enquiry have, for the most part, been explored within the framework of national boundaries, and the state has been central to many analyses of Indigenous experiences of the past. Calls to write comparative Indigenous histories are not new, and since the 1990s, such projects have appeared in growing numbers. Yet they remain relatively scarce, particularly outside the history of the British empire, or across empires. At the same time, more and more scholars have adopted the methods and approaches of transnational history. Trends in the writing of Indigenous histories and trends in transnational historical scholarship, however, may be leading in opposite directions. In this paper I reflect on these trends, and on the longer history of comparative Indigenous history writing, taking comparisons of Australia and New Zealand as a particular example. Exploring some of the problems and possibilities that have faced those embarking on such research, I reflect on the implications for the transnational history project of the call to local and regional views emerging from Indigenous histories.
Introduction to a virtual special issue on crustal melting
Authors: BROWN MICHAEL
Published: June 2012

This virtual special issue represents a collection of papers concerning Crustal Melting selected by the Editor from those published on various aspects of this theme in the JMG since 1982. The papers are grouped into sequences that address topics that have been prominent in the JMG during the last 30 years concerning the origin, evolution and tectonic role of migmatites and migmatitic granulites in crustal evolution. These topics are: Open‐ and closed‐system processes in the formation of migmatites and migmatitic granulites; thermobarometry, P–T paths, phase equilibria modelling and retrograde processes in formerly melt‐bearing rocks; geochronology in partially melted rocks; and, microstructures, deformation and tectonics of melt bearing rocks.

About one‐third of the papers published in the JMG since its inception concern the origin, evolution and tectonic significance of migmatites and migmatitic granulites in crustal evolution, including the first special issue published by the JMG concerning ‘Studies in the genesis and deformation of migmatites’ edited by Tracy & Day (1988; Volume 6, Issue 4, Pages 385‐543). Three subsequent Special Issues of the JMG include papers relevant to the theme of this virtual special issue; they are ‘Metamorphic processes: a celebration of the career contribution of Ron Vernon’, ‘Processes in granulite metamorphism’ and ‘Granulites, partial melting and the rheology of the lower crust’, edited by Brown & Clarke (2002; Volume 20, Issue 1, Pages 1‐213), Brown & White (2008; Volume 26, Issue 2, Pages 121‐299) and Brown et al. (2011; Volume 29, Issue 1, Pages 1‐166), respectively.

The selection of papers in this virtual special issue is by no means comprehensive, but it is intended as a representative selection of what has been published in the JMG over 30 years to give the reader a broad overview of crustal melting. Furthermore, although many papers address more than one topic, each is included only once and has been placed within the most appropriate section.
Helping Natural Disaster Victims Depends on Characteristics and Perceptions of Victims. A Response to “Who Helps Natural Disaster Victims?”
Authors: McManus Jessica L. , Saucier Donald A.
Published: June 2012

Natural disasters have devastating consequences, creating the need for local and international help. This commentary is a response to “Who Helps Natural Disaster Victims” (Marjanovic, Struthers, and Greenglass, 2011) and provides further evidence to better understand how intergroup attitudes may affect decisions to help victims of natural disasters. We argue that potential helpers’ attitudes toward the victims may impact their perceptions of the helping situation and the decision to provide help. Hurricane Katrina and the earthquake in Haiti are used as examples of natural disasters where intergroup attitudes may have influenced the helping response. Examining intergroup perceptions in helping situations is imperative to alleviating the immediate and long term needs of those affected by natural disasters.
Who is Responsible and What are They Responsible For? Contextual Features Matter in Judgments of Responsibility and Helping
Authors: Morgan G. Scott
Published: June 2012

A contribution of Marjanovic and colleagues’ work (2011) is its investigation of helping in the context of natural disasters—a distinctive context in which to study judgments of responsibility and helping. Unlike many other contexts, it is atypical to regard victims of natural disasters as the ultimate cause of their own plight. Furthermore, when thinking about responsibility for a disaster's fallout, people may be likely to focus on groups rather than individuals. In other words, when making judgments of responsibility for natural disasters, people's judgments are likely shaped by what they are assigning blame for (i.e., onset or offset responsibility) and what kind of targets are to blame (individuals or collectives). This commentary discusses how these contextual features may impact attributional reasoning.
Skin Graft Vascular Maturation and Remodeling: A Multifractal Approach to Morphological Quantification
Authors: GOULD DANIEL J. , REECE GREGORY P.
Published: June 2012

Please cite this paper as: Gould DJ, Reece GP. Skin graft vascular maturation and remodeling: a multifractal approach to morphological quantification. Microcirculation 19: 652–663, 2012.

Objective:  One important contributor to tissue graft viability is angiogenic maturation of the graft tissue bed. This study uses scale‐invariant microvascular morphological quantification to track vessel maturation and remodeling in a split‐thickness skin‐grafting model over 21 days, comparing the results to classical techniques.

Methods:  Images from a previous study of split‐thickness skin grafting in rats were analyzed. Microvascular morphology (fractal and multifractal dimensions, lacunarity, and vessel density) within fibrin interfaces of samples over time was quantified using classical semi‐automated methods and automated multifractal and lacunarity analyses.

Results:  Microvessel morphology increased in density and complexity, from three to seven days after engraftment and then regressed by 21 days. Vessel density increased from 0.07 on day 3 to 0.20 on day 7 and then decreased to 0.06 on day 21. A similar trend was seen for the fractal dimension that increased from 1.56 at three days to 1.77 at seven days then decreased to 1.57 by 21 days. Vessel diameters did not change whereas complexity and density did, signaling remodeling.

Conclusions:  This new automated analysis identified design parameters for tissue engraftment and could be used in other models of graft vessel biology to track proliferation and pruning of complex vessel beds.
Consumption inequality between farm and nonfarm households in Taiwan: a decomposition analysis of differences in distribution
Authors: Chang Hung‐Hao
Published: June 2012

Consumption has been recognized as a more reliable indicator of household well‐being than income. Although a considerable body of literature has examined income inequality between farm and nonfarm households, little is known about inequality in consumption. This research aims to fill this knowledge gap by investigating consumption disparity between farm and nonfarm households. Using a nationally representative household survey from Taiwan, we apply an unconditional quantile regression‐based decomposition method to decompose the differences in the distribution of household expenditure between these farm and nonfarm households. The results indicate that differences in the observed characteristics between these two types of households explain most of the consumption inequality. Moreover, the difference in the education level of the farm operator, household income, and the degree of urbanization are particularly important.
The PfNF‐YB transcription factor is a downstream target of melatonin and cAMP signalling in the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum
Authors: Lima Wânia R. , Moraes Miriam , Alves Eduardo , Azevedo Mauro F. , Passos Dario O. , Garcia Célia R. S.
Published: June 2012

Abstract:  Plasmodium falciparum causes the most severe form of malaria and is responsible for the majority of deaths worldwide. The mechanism of cell cycle control within intra‐erythrocytic stages has been examined as a potential means of a promising way to identifying how to stop parasite development in red blood cells. Our group determined that melatonin increases parasitemia in P. falciparum and P. chabaudi through a complex signalling cascade. In vertebrates, melatonin controls the expression of transcription factors, leading us to postulate rather that the indoleamine would affect PfNF‐YB expression in human malaria parasites. We show here that PfNF‐YB transcription factor is highly expressed and colocalized in the nucleus in mature parasites during intra‐erythrocytic stages, thus suggesting an important role in cell division. Moreover, we demonstrate for the first time that melatonin and cAMP modulate the PfNF‐YB transcription factor expression in P. falciparum at erythrocytic stages. In addition, PfNF‐YB is found to be more ubiquitinated in the presence of melatonin. Finally, the proteasome inhibitor bortezomib is able to modulate PfNF‐YB expression as well. Taken together, our dada reinforce the role played by melatonin in the cell cycle control of P. falciparum and point this indolamine as a target to develop new antimalarial drugs.
Improving the diagnostic accuracy of dysplastic and melanoma lesions using the decision template combination method
Authors: Faal Maryam , Miran Baygi Mohammad Hossein , Kabir Ehsanollah
Published: June 2012

Background/purpose

Melanoma is the most dangerous type of skin cancer, and early detection of suspicious lesions can decrease the mortality rate of this cancer. In this article, we present a multi‐classifier system for improving the diagnostic accuracy of melanoma and dysplastic lesions based on the decision template combination rule.

Methods

First, the lesion is differentiated from the surrounding healthy skin in an image. Next, shape, colour and texture features are extracted from the lesion image. Different subsets of these features are fed to three different classifiers: k‐nearest neighbour (k‐NN), support vector machine (SVM) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA). The decision template method is used to combine the outputs of these classifiers.

Results

The proposed method has been evaluated on a set of 436 dermatoscopic images of benign, dysplastic and melanoma lesions. The final classifier ensemble delivers a total classification accuracy of 80.46%, with 67.73% of dysplastic lesions correctly classified and 83.53% of melanoma lesions correctly classified.

Conclusion

The results show that the proposed method significantly increases the diagnostic accuracy of dysplastic and melanoma lesions compared with a single classifier. The total classification rate is also improved.
Study of the Uterine Local Immune Response in a Murine Model of Embryonic Death Due to Tritrichomonas foetus
Authors: Woudwyk Mariana A. , Monteavaro Cristina E. , Jensen Federico , Soto Pedro , Barbeito Claudio G. , Zenclussen Ana C.
Published: June 2012

Problem

Bovine tritrichomonosis is a sexually transmitted disease caused by Tritrichomonas foetus, characterized by conceptus loss. We developed a mouse model of tritrichomonosis to study the mechanisms involved in the embryonic death. We hypothesized that embryonic death may be due to an exacerbated maternal response to the pathogen that then affects embryo development.

Method of study

We infected BALB/c mice with Tritrichomonas foetus and paired them after confirming active infection. We studied the expression of pro‐ and anti‐inflammatory cytokines, markers for T regulatory and T helper 17 cells as well as haem‐oxygenase‐1 expression in uterine tissue by real‐time RT‐PCR.

Results

As expected, TNF‐α was augmented in infected animals. IL‐10 and IL‐4 were also up‐regulated. Treg‐associated genes were higher expressed in uteri of infected group. In mice that have lost their conceptus after the infection, haem‐oxygenase‐1 (HO‐1) mRNA levels were strongly decreased, while RORγt mRNA, a reliable marker for Th17, was augmented in uterus.

Conclusion

A T effector response of type 1 and 17 may be involved in tritrichomonosis‐related embryonic death. This alters protective mechanisms as HO‐1. Increased regulatory T cells may facilitate embryonic death by promoting the persistence of infection.
Urban legends series: lichen planus
Authors: Baccaglini L , Thongprasom K , Carrozzo M , Bigby M
Published: June 2012

Oral Diseases (2012)

Lichen planus (LP) is a common disorder affecting the oral cavity (OLP) and skin. Despite intensive research, LP/OLP etiology and treatment remain controversial. We investigated four controversial topics: (i) Is hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection associated with LP and involved in its pathogenesis? (ii) Should all patients with LP be screened for HCV? (iii) Should patients with OLP have all their amalgam restorations removed? (iv) Are there any new treatments for OLP? Results from extensive literature searches suggested that: (i) Robust evidence from three meta‐analyses indicate that HCV is associated with LP and might be involved in OLP pathogenesis (ii) It would be prudent to screen patients with LP/OLP at significant risk with an ELISA for HCV antibodies using country‐specific screening strategies (iii) There is no evidence that either OLP or oral lichenoid lesions patients would routinely benefit from having all their amalgam restorations replaced. Weak evidence from potentially very biased, small, non‐randomized, unblinded studies suggests that a small fraction of patients may benefit from targeted amalgam replacement. (iv) There is weak evidence that, among new OLP treatments, topical pimecrolimus, aloe vera, and oral curcuminoids may be useful. The development of specific formulations for oral delivery of topical medications is a promising field.
Changes of fumonisin production in rice grain during ensiling
Authors: UEGAKI Ryuichi , KOBAYASHI Hisami , INOUE Hidehiko , TOHNO Masanori , TSUKIBOSHI Takao
Published: June 2012

We assessed fumonisin production during the ensiling of rice grain. Rice grain was harvested at the full‐ripe stage and prepared as rough rice, crushed rough rice, brown rice or crushed brown rice. Each material was ensiled under six conditions: (1) no fungus, anaerobic; (2) no fungus, aerobic; (3) water added, anaerobic; (4) water and fumonisin‐producing fungus added, anaerobic; (5) water and fumonisin‐producing fungus added, aerobic; or (6) fumonisin‐producing fungus added to autoclaved material, aerobic. After 40 days of ensilage, we analyzed the silage fermentative quality and fumonisin concentration. The fermentative quality of all materials was good in treatments (3) and (4) (pH < 4), reasonable in treatment (5) (pH = 5∼6) and unacceptable in treatments (1) and (2) (pH > 6.5). The fumonisin concentration was low in all materials in treatments (1) to (4), slightly increased in the three materials other than rough rice in treatment (5), and enormously increased in all materials in treatment (6). The results indicate that the fumonisin‐producing fungus does not produce fumonisin in anaerobic conditions. It is important that an anaerobic condition be maintained during ensiling in order to reduce the fumonisin content in rice grain silage.
Ruminal fermentation and microbial ecology of buffaloes and cattle fed the same diet
Authors: LWIN Khin‐Ohnmar , KONDO Makoto , BAN‐TOKUDA Tomomi , LAPITAN Rosalina M , DEL‐BARRIO Arnel N. , FUJIHARA Tsutomu , MATSUI Hiroki
Published: June 2012

Although buffaloes and cattle are ruminants, their digestive capabilities and rumen microbial compositions are considered to be different. The purpose of this study was to compare the rumen microbial ecology of crossbred water buffaloes and cattle that were fed the same diet. Cattle exhibited a higher fermentation rate than buffaloes. Methane production and methanogen density were lower in buffaloes. Phylogenetic analysis of Fibrobacter succinogenes‐specific 16S ribosomal RNA gene clone library showed that the diversity of groups within a species was significantly different (P < 0.05) between buffalo and cattle and most of the clones were affiliated with group 2 of the species. Population densities of F. succinogenes, Ruminococcus albus and R. flavefaciens were higher until 6 h post‐feeding in cattle; however, buffaloes exhibited different traits. The population of anaerobic fungi decreased at 3 h in cattle compared to buffaloes and was similar at 0 h and 6 h. The diversity profiles of bacteria and fungi were similar in the two species. The present study showed that the profiles of the fermentation process, microbial population and diversity were similar in crossbred water buffaloes and crossbred cattle.
A RENEGADE UNION: ORGANIZING IN THE SERVICE AND DISTRIBUTIVE INDUSTRIES, SOME LESSONS FROM THE PAST
Authors: Phillips Lisa
Published: June 2012

This article examines the history of labor organizing in the service, distribution, and processing industries. It examines Local/District 65's (Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union) efforts to find a “home” for its differing “orientation” as it targeted low‐wage distribution, processing, and service workers, more often Black, Puerto Rican, and Jewish, in New York who worked in small, largely “invisible,” 10–20‐person shops, using what it called a “catchall” or area‐based organizing strategy. The union's history helps us better understand the challenges the contemporary labor movement faces organizing in the Wal‐Mart era as low‐wage service, distribution, and processing (warehouse) jobs become the norm.
GERMANY AND IRELAND UNEMPLOYMENT COMPARED, OR WHY GERMANY PROFITED FROM THE WORLD ECONOMIC CRISIS
Authors: Jeremias Ralf
Published: June 2012

We are currently witnessing surprising new developments in Europe: Countries like Ireland that had a low unemployment rate before the international economic crisis now have a high rate, and countries like Germany that had a high unemployment rate before the international economic crisis now have a lower rate than before. This article explains the reasons for this contrary development, thus why developments in Germany and Ireland moved in opposite directions. This means that dimensions must be found in terms of which the labor markets in Germany and Ireland fundamentally differ. These are essentially economic factors—in particular the development of cash flow—labor market policy measures and demography.
JUDGING WORK: WHAT LAW SEES OR DOES NOT SEE
Authors: Dannin Ellen
Published: June 2012

This article examines four employment law decisions for evidence on the quality of judicial decision making and searching for insights into judicial failures and biases in adjudicating employment cases.
INTERACTION OF GUAIACOL AND METHYL SALICYLATE IN BINARY MIXTURE SIGNIFICANTLY LOWERS PERCEPTUAL THRESHOLD IN HUMAN OBSERVERS
Authors: YODER WENDY M. , CURRLIN SETH W. , LARUE ALLISON , FERNANDEZ KRISTINA M. , KING DAJIA , SMITH DAVID W.
Published: June 2012

Throughout the field of food chemistry, attempts to reconstruct the characteristic flavor of the tomato have remained a persistent challenge. Although the established method for analyzing tomato volatiles has focused on calculating odor thresholds for a single compound against a basic water background, the current study sought to demonstrate the influence of volatile interactions on perceptual threshold by comparing thresholds for a volatile alone and in the presence of another volatile. Thresholds were compared for methyl salicylate and guaiacol alone and in a 50/50 binary mixture. While the traditional method does not regard guaiacol as contributing significantly to the overall flavor of the tomato, results demonstrated an interaction effect, such that threshold concentrations for mixtures were consistently lower than thresholds reported separately for either methyl salicylate or guaiacol alone, with subjects displaying increased sensitivity (additivity) to a solution comprised of both chemicals. Further research will be needed to thoroughly investigate the underlying mechanisms responsible for such effects, but the results demonstrate that perithreshold and subthreshold volatiles can potentially have a measurable impact on odor perception.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

Given the persistent complaints surrounding the flavor of contemporary tomatoes, researchers within the field of food science have continued to make rigorous attempts to improve the overall taste and percept of the standard supermarket tomato. While emphasis has previously focused predominantly on storage, handling and esthetic appeal, priorities are beginning to shift, with consumers more readily requesting the sought after flavor of fresh, heirloom tomatoes. As a consequence, many scientists are undertaking the challenge of studying and manipulating the proportion of plant volatiles thought to be responsible for promoting the characteristic flavor of the tomato fruit, but to fully understand the impact of such volatiles, the issue of retronasal olfaction must be considered. The current research discusses how two such volatiles are capable of interacting at the level of the nose, thereby potentially altering the taste. Hopefully, future researchers will be able to incorporate such olfactory psychophysics techniques into testing panels, thereby providing a more thorough examination of consumer perception.
HEDONIC RESPONSE TO CHEESE IN PRESCHOOLERS
Authors: DONADINI G. , FUMI M.D. , VANONI L. , PORRETTA S.
Published: June 2012

The hedonic response of preschoolers to six Protected Denomination of Origin Italian cheeses has been investigated.

Cheese samples were Mozzarella di bufala, Parmigiano Reggiano, Fontina, Taleggio, Gorgonzola and Pecorino Romano. Sensory tests revealed that Mozzarella di bufala and Parmigiano Reggiano were the most liked cheeses. Gorgonzola was the least appreciated cheese.

Patterns of preference for cheese were not linear, depending on the joint effect of gender and cheese variety eaten.

Hierarchical Cluster Analysis of the preference data identified five groups of children with different cheese likes and dislikes.

Partial Least Square Regression modeling of cheese acceptability of sensory‐driven children subgroups with homogeneous cheese preference revealed different focusing on sensory characteristics of cheese among clusters. Nearly one child out of two focused either on cheese flavors and textures whereas nearly one child out of eight exclusively on flavors.

These results were substantiated by children open discussion in focus groups.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

Sensory preference segmentation highlights valuable information on distinct groups of preschoolers who show different cheese liking and on the relative importance of specific attributes for preschoolers with radically different sensory preference. Drivers of liking are sensory attributes that are responsible for acceptance, and it is instructive to identify which particular attributes are the key to moving preschoolers' acceptance of cheese. Nutritionist, dieticians, caterers and product developers understand what must be done in order to control cheese acceptance in preschoolers and to formulate more energy‐balanced and sensory‐appealing meals and snacks during school time.
A STANDARDIZED METHOD OF PREPARING COMMON BEANS (PHASEOLUS VULGARIS L.) FOR SENSORY ANALYSIS
Authors: ROMERO DEL CASTILLO R. , COSTELL E. , PLANS M. , SIMÓ J. , CASAÑAS F.
Published: June 2012

Methods of preparing bean samples for sensory analyses should be simple and reproducible. The method we propose, based on popular traditions (soaking and cooking beans in distilled water, forgoing blanching, and keeping simmering to a minimum), increased the number of beans that remained whole after cooking by 50% compared with the check method. No differences between the new method and the check were observed in the solids lost during the cooking process or in a panel's evaluation of the sensory properties of the beans. Furthermore, the new method is more efficient for handling the small samples that are common in breeding programs. Its repeatability for both sensory and nutritional analyses is very high: two replicates seem sufficient for high resolution. Thus, we propose that it be adopted for sensory and nutritional analyses of cooked beans.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

This article describes a new standardized method to prepare dry beans for sensory and nutritional analyses. This clear, simple, repeatable method has the additional advantages of being similar to traditional cooking methods, and is suitable for use with small samples of seeds. We propose it as a reference for sensory and nutritional research in dry beans.
METHODOLOGY FOR SENSORY SHELF‐LIFE ESTIMATION: A REVIEW
Authors: HOUGH GUILLERMO , GARITTA LORENA
Published: June 2012

When talking about shelf life of foods, in the vast majority of cases we are talking about sensory shelf life of foods. The review presents an overview of the published research over the past decades classified according to the following topics: (1) cut‐off point methodology (arbitrary and regression‐based cut‐off points); (2) methods based on product failure or consumers' rejection (failure with no censorship, logistic regression and survival analysis); (3) accelerated studies; and (4) other topics and further research.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

Going through the aisles of the food and beverage sections of a supermarket shows that the number of food products whose shelf life is dependent on their sensory properties is far greater than those products whose shelf life depends on microbiological and/or nutritional properties. The present review allows researchers and practitioners to count on a summary of the salient research articles published on the theme of sensory shelf life. Articles which deal with methodological and design issues are presented, together with a critical review of articles where poor methodology has been applied.
Market making via regulation: The role of the state in carbon markets
Authors: Lederer Markus
Published: June 2012

Proponents as well as critics of carbon trading underestimate the institutional and political underpinnings of evolving carbon markets. Based on institutionalist approaches, this paper argues that the strong embeddedness of carbon markets explains why certain characteristics (positive and negative) materialize. Focusing on the actors who initiate and who influence carbon markets, this article also shows that currently only states and intergovernmental agreements provide the necessary regulation for carbon markets to exist and to work. Today, neither market actors nor NGOs nor public private partnerships have the political power to set up, regulate or capture evolving market structures. Thus, whether or not market‐based instruments bring about the desired results depends on good public regulation, which is – at least up to now – represented by the state. Four instances of the commodification of carbon serve as illustrations: the European Union Emission Trading System (EU ETS); the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM); the voluntary market; and new sectoral approaches, particularly Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+).
Civil society and the regulatory state of the South: A commentary
Authors: Hochstetler Kathryn
Published: June 2012

The basic rationale of the regulatory state is to insulate certain kinds of decisionmaking from political actors. The main purpose of this commentary is to assess the ways that members of civil society, in fact, often shadow and contest the central actors of the regulatory state, even though they are ostensibly well outside it. I offer three distinctions to help broaden and sharpen analysis of the roles and impact of civil society actors: whether civil society actors have special expertise or not; whether the regulatory state is being put in place or already exists; and whether civil society actions are broadly complementary to, or substitutive of, state action. In discussing each of these, I also explore the consequences of the transfer of the regulatory state to the global South, and the way that change in location shapes both the role and impact of civil society and the regulatory state itself.