bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Sexual harassment in a residential occupation: The experiences of women seafarers
Authors: Thomas Michelle A
Published: September 2006

Objective This paper reports women seafarers’ experiences of sexual harassment.

Design Data reported in this paper were collected as part of a larger study exploring company policies and practices relating to women seafarers and the experiences of women seafarers themselves.

Setting Data reported here was collected with women from seven countries worldwide.

Method Thirty-three in-depth interviews and two focus groups were conducted with women seafarers working in the cargo sector of the shipping industry.

Results Sexual harassment is commonly experienced by women working on board cargo vessels. The residential and isolated nature of the ship can both increase opportunities for sexual harassment to occur and amplify the negative consequences of sexual harassment.

Conclusion Shipping companies should develop and implement high profile policies on sexual harassment. Further research should be undertaken on sexual harassment in other residential occupational groups.
Doing the business
Authors: Laird Douglas
Published: September 2006

Describes how Birmingham Public Libraries reversed the decline in its business information services by developing new products, services and partnerships under the Birmingham Business Insight brand. Describes the adoption of new business models, including working with partners and developing an internal market within the council. Explains how it repackaged its services, whether free to local communities or charged out elsewhere. Describes its strategy of migrating rebranded services to the web, and profiles some successful initiatives. Explains how its services can be outsourced to other public business information providers. Cites increases in usage and revenue to demonstrate the success of its permanent evolution strategy, and emphasizes the need to continue pursuing change geared to customer needs.
I’m an information professional - but what next?
Authors: Day Helen
Published: September 2006

Personal statement, based on the author’s career path, demonstrating how to acquire new skills, roles and responsibilities, initially within a corporate environment, while still remaining fundamentally a business information professional. Emphasizes the need to seize opportunities, be ready to diverge and accept challenges outside the comfort zone. Stresses the importance of networking, and demonstrates how this can result in development away from pure information services. Briefly considers the advantages and pressures of self-employment. Concludes that the comfort associated with information professionals’ attention to detail can militate against the development of self confidence, and urges the need to identify and capitalize on transferable skills.
Green politics or environmental blues? Analyzing ecological democracy
Authors: Mitchell Ross E.
Published: September 2006

Unlike several previous efforts that have discussed ecological forms of democracy in vague or esoteric terms, this article elucidates key factors that may affect the realization of ecological democracy. In the first section, ecological democracy is defined as an alternative democratic model that 1) strives to incorporate interested citizens into environmental decision-making, and 2) lacks structural features that systematically concentrate environmental amenities into the hands of particular social groups, while imposing environmental and ecological degradation on others. This leads to a discussion of several hindering and facilitating factors that either thwart or encourage ecological democracy. Two examples in support of this discussion on ecological democracy are provided: border contamination due to heavy industrial use along the US-Mexican border, and community forestry in the southeastern state of Oaxaca. By analyzing relevant factors that either have prevented or encouraged democratic environmental decision-making, this research will serve to improve environmental policy formulation and governance.
Pentecostal and Postmodernist Hermeneutics: Acritique of Three Conceits
Authors: Lewis B. , Poirier John
Published: September 2006

A great number of Pentecostal academics have embraced a postmodernist paradigm for reading the Bible. This article reveals fatal flaws in three prominent arguments favoring a postmodernist hermeneutic: (1) that the postmodernist worldview is supported by quantum physics, (2) that the author's intention (for various reasons) is irrelevant, and (3) that the concept of truth and the unattainability of a purely objective viewpoint are obstacles for the historical-critical project. These arguments are examined as they appear within Pentecostal writings.
Journeying into the Heart of God: Rediscovering Spirit-Christology and its Soteriological Ramifications in Korean Culture
Authors: Han Sang-Ehil
Published: September 2006

An enduring problem in Christian theology has been the so-called `double-edged' crisis1 (i.e. the crisis of identity and relevance) that has to do with the particularity of Jesus Christ and his final significance to our ultimate concern, salvation. As a modest attempt to engage issues emerging from this broad line of questioning, this study takes a close look at the theological merits of Spirit Christology and notes how they yield helpful insights to deal with some critical aspects about human salvation. When juxtaposed in a complementary relationship with Logos Christology, Spirit Christology helps present a holistic paradigm of human salvation embodied in the messianic way of life in Jesus Christ. Reading pneumatologically the entire macro-narrative of Jesus Christ—his birth, life, passion, resurrection, ascension and promised return—reveals a holistic vision of God's salvation for humanity inasmuch as it represents God's own purposeful journey into the concrete reality of the human condition to recapitulate all that was lost in humanity. Theological reflections provided here should also have in view their adequacy to engage complex realities of life particularized in a given culture. For this reason, this study analyses han as a dominant cultural ethos in Korea that addresses the profundity of human brokenness distinctively engraved in its historical narratives. A careful study of han then unveils a theological need for a larger soteriology that the theological construct of Spirit Christology seems to answer in the direction of the Wesleyan-Pentecostal tradition. Salvation entails living in the Spirit wherein love functions as the ruling affection that constantly nurtures and governs one's head (orthodoxy), heart (orthopathy), and hands (orthopraxy). It takes on a distinctive formation process through which one journeys into the very heart of God.
Justice Deprived, Justice Demanded: Afropentecostalisms and the Task of World Pentecostal Theology Today
Authors: Yong Amos
Published: September 2006

By and large, Pentecostal theology has proceeded with little attention to black Pentecostalism except as `objects' of historical or sociological analysis. But what does Afropentecostalism—black Pentecostalism in its global contexts—have to contribute to the formulation of a world Pentecostal theology for the twenty-first century? The works of Frank Chikane in South Africa, Robert Beckford in Britain, and Cheryl Sanders in North America are discussed and analyzed as points of entry into the theology of Afropentecostal churches. This essay assumes that the future of world Pentecostal theology cannot ignore the important contributions of Afropentecostal theological traditions.
Reconfiguring Security: Buddhism and Moral Legitimacy in Cambodia
Authors: Kent Alexandra
Published: September 2006

The issue of security has recently gained acute relevance for theoreticians and policymakers, but the way in which culture relates to security has yet to be given the attention it deserves. This article argues that all discourses and practices of security – ours as well as those of others – are cultural in nature, are historically positioned, and therefore inescapably plural. The article uses a case study of today's revival of Buddhism in Cambodia to illustrate how an anthropological approach may be applied in order to begin challenging the inherent ethnocentricity of much security theory. It explores a particular indigenous scheme of security, and how that scheme relates to power and moral legitimacy. The way Cambodians understand and deal with danger should, it is contended, alert us to the need for social scientists and policymakers to seek culturally sensitive understandings of security. This may help us make sense of local behaviour that may seem unreasonable according to our values; it can provoke us to check and refine our theory rather than indiscriminately apply it; and it may help limit the hegemony of privileged systems of ideas and the violence these can sometimes do to disempowered systems.
From Existential Politics Towards Normal Politics? The Baltic States in the Enlarged Europe
Authors: Mälksoo Maria
Published: September 2006

This article presents a critical discourse analysis of the Baltic states’ self-positioning within European foreign policy. It argues that, despite certain relief in their immediate security concerns after the dual enlargement of the EU and NATO, the shift from existential politics to normal politics by the Baltic states is far from being accomplished. The way in which the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) have responded to the construction of their identity as ‘Europe but not Europe’ throughout the enlargement processes of the EU and NATO has been largely neglected in empirical studies on their post-Cold War self-conceptualizations in the European arena. Yet, the experience of being framed as simultaneously in Europe and not quite European has left a constitutive imprint on the current security imaginary of the Baltic states. William Connolly's concept of the politics of becoming is thus applied to analyse the Baltic version of becoming a subject in the field of common European foreign policy.
Health as a meaningful social practice
Authors: Crawford Robert
Published: September 2006

The pursuit of health has become a highly valued activity in modern and contemporary life, commanding enormous resources and generating an expansive professionalization and commercialization along with attendant goods, services and knowledge. Health has also become a focal, signifying practice. As a ‘key word’, health is constructed in relation to social structures and experience and systematically articulated with other meanings and practices. Although the cogency of health as a practical concept is largely a product of the enormous influence of modern medicine, medical conceptions have never been able to contain the irrepressible proliferation of meanings associated with health. The meaningful - and ideological - practices of health can be illustrated by comparing three periods in American culture: (1) the late 19th and early 20th century; (2) the 1970s and 1980s; and (3) the first years of the 21st century.
Health identities: from expert patient to resisting consumer
Authors: Fox Nick , Ward Katie
Published: September 2006

This article explores the formation of ‘health identities’: embodied subjectivities that emerge out of complex psychosocial contexts of reflexive modernity, in relation to data on health and illness practices among groups of people and patients using medical technologies including weight-loss drugs and the erectile dysfunction drug sildenafil ( Viagra). We examine a range of health identities, from the ‘expert patient’ - a person who broadly adopts a biomedical model of health and illness, to a ‘resisting consumer’, who fabricates a health identity around lay experiential models of health and the body. The understanding of health identities is developed within a theoretical framework drawing on previous work on body/self and the work of Deleuze and Guattari. It is concluded that the constellation of health identities reflects the diversity of relations in an industrialized, technology-driven, consumer-oriented and media-saturated society.
Projecting empire
Authors: Hingley Richard
Published: September 2006

This article reviews the mapping of Roman Britain, from Roman antiquity to the contemporary age. By reviewing the classical mapping of the British Isles and three particular examples of cartographic representation produced during early modern and modern times, it is argued that the Roman past of Britain has been made to perform particular roles with regard to the creation of early modern and modern imperial discourse. By generating a Roman ancestry for English civilization, the evidence derived from the classical past was used to provide intellectual justification for the colonization of territories abroad, in Ireland, Scotland and the New World. Recent examples of mapping do not challenge the terms through which these ideas of imperial inheritance were defined. Alternative approaches to mapping in the future may seek to communicate different ideas about the relevance and character of Britannia.
Textile production as craft in Mesoamerica
Authors: Hendon Julia A.
Published: September 2006

Textile production in Mesoamerica, as a process and set of relationships, has been seen as the full-time work of women but not as an occupational specialization. I take an alternative approach by considering textile production as a craft, a sociotechnical system that is a form of knowledge, a set of techniques, mastery of a particular technology, and an educational process that is transmitted across generations, within households, and embodied in the textile itself. Drawing on multiple lines of evidence, I argue that textile production is consistently gendered female in Mesoamerica but not treated as an exclusively held body of knowledge or exclusionary activity, creating socially useful flexibility in how techniques, technology, labor, and the culturally constructed desire for certain goods are brought together. This flexibility is evident in archaeological studies of household contexts that show variation in spinning and weaving activities.
Imagining the dictatorship, Argentina 1981 to 1982
Authors: Magnussen Anne
Published: September 2006

Using a semiotic framework, this article discusses how the Argentine comic Buscavidas (by Alberto Breccia and Carlos Trillo) can be used as material for historical analysis in reference to the military dictatorship in Argentina from 1976 to 1983. The author examines the comic's representation of the dictatorship and its participation in the creation of a collective conception of the dictatorship at the time of its publication in 1981 and 1982, and of a collective memory of the dictatorship after the democratic transition in 1983. The discussion focuses primarily on the comic in the context of the Argentine comics field, and of the human rights organization, the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo.
Archive video footage in news: creating a likeness and index of the phenomenal world
Authors: Machin David , Jaworski Adam
Published: September 2006

This article examines the use of archive footage in television news bulletins. Due to economic pressures and technological changes in the newsroom, there has been a general increase in the use of such secondary sources in news: press releases, public relations material, photographs from image banks and archive news footage. Looking at the contents of one film archive and several news items that use such material, we consider the implications of such footage for the nature of news as bearing witness. We also ask how viewers may interpret this footage. Do they see it as actuality or as indicative? Existing models of visual communication suggest two possibilities: that viewers will understand the footage in terms of the way it is anchored by language (Barthes) or that visual communication, like language, is made up of signs that form a grammar (Kress and Van Leeuwen), allowing viewers to `read' the nature of what is communicated, such as whether it claims to be a true representation. We reject both views. Images can communicate without language, but there are important differences between images which form simple signs systems, and language which forms complex sign systems. Signs in simple semiotic systems are closer to the phenomenal world (Halliday, 1985) and closer therefore to the real world of our experiences. They powerfully index discourses within which the linguistic accompaniment can be contained. Thus, viewers are able to see archive footage as a sufficient likeness of the world through its ability to index the phenomenal world, and through the compelling nature of established news frames.
The Kantian Insight on the Future of the Humanities
Authors: Leone Carlos
Published: September 2006

This article makes the case for the relevance of Kant’s perception in The Contest of the Faculties of the Humanities (as Philosophy) both to the university and to society in general. It illustrates this point by commenting on 20th-century essays by such diverse thinkers as Freud, Weber and Hayek. It suggests that the future of the Humanities is forcefully intertwined with that of science and culture in general and should not be considered minor or strange to larger changes in those fields, social or academic.
characteristics of mother-infant communicative interaction
Authors: Paavola Leila , Kemppinen Kaarina , Kunnari Sari , Kumpulainen Kirsti , Moilanen Irma , Ebeling Hanna
Published: September 2006

The present article reports a study of communicative behaviour among mothers and infants who were grouped according to the ratings of sensitivity and co-operation, respectively. The participants were 27 Finnish-speaking mothers and their 10-month-old first-born infants (13 boys and 14 girls). The study is descriptive by nature, and the data were therefore treated in terms of descriptive parameters. According to the results, maternal sensitivity was associated with general activity in communication as well as the frequency of responses, while infant co-operation was associated with the frequency of intentional communicative acts. As for more detailed aspects of communicative style, for example, the use of different kinds of communicative means, only some slight associations were found between them and the ratings of sensitivity and co-operation. The dyadic nature of maternal sensitivity is emphasized in interpreting the findings.
ready for success in kindergarten
Authors: Grace Donna J. , Brandt Mary E.
Published: September 2006

In Hawaii, state agencies and foundations are poised to support readiness efforts to improve educational outcomes for children. Developing a shared understanding of the construct of readiness is key to these efforts. The purposes of this research were to (a) discover the perceptions and beliefs held by Hawaii parents, teachers and administrators affiliated with four- and five-year-olds about children ready for school and schools ready for children, and (b) to compare these views with other research reported in the literature. Data were gathered from 24 focus group interviews and 2604 returned surveys. Both similarities and differences emerged among the role groups regarding the most valued aspects of readiness. These data are reported and discussed. This research provided a foundation for the development of a statewide definition of readiness, and for systems-level assessment tools that reflect the beliefs and values of Hawaii’s early childhood community.
investigating an account of children ‘passing notes’ in the classroom
Authors: Powell Kathy , Danby Susan , Farrell Ann
Published: September 2006

This article draws on the sociology of childhood framework in order to examine one primary school girl’s account of how the children in her classroom pass notes to each other when they are ‘not allowed to talk at all’. Close examination of the account shows how the girls and boys in this particular classroom co-construct gendered membership activities in order to negotiate the teacher’s regulation of their classroom interactions. The girls competently participate in the covert activity of passing notes outside of teacher regulation, whereas the boys competently participate in the overt activity of passing notes, thereby gaining the membership of their male teacher into their activity. The boys draw upon their gendered membership activity as a strategy for collaborating with their teacher in the construction of a new classroom order. This work is an important part of our ongoing study of how children understand and deal with governance in their everyday lives.
using systematic reviews to investigate research in early childhood
Authors: Penn Helen , Lloyd Eva
Published: September 2006

This article explores how the evidence base for aspects of early childhood has been explored using systematic research synthesis methods developed at the Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Co-ordinating Centre (EPPI-Centre). Three early childhood systematic reviews have been carried out using EPPI-Centre procedures and tools. The article discusses the principles underlying systematic research synthesis, the way in which the three reviews were set up, the processes involved in reviewing studies for the reviews, and the nature and generalizability of the reviews’ findings.
NT-proBNP reflects right ventricular structure and function in pulmonary hypertension
Authors: Gan C. T. , McCann G. P. , Marcus J. T. , van Wolferen S. A. , Twisk J. W. , Boonstra A. , Postmus P. E. , Vonk-Noordegraaf A.
Published: September 2006

The aim of the current study was to investigate whether alterations in N-terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) reflect changes in right ventricular structure and function in pulmonary hypertension patients during treatment.

The study consisted of 30 pulmonary hypertension patients; 15 newly diagnosed and 15 on long-term treatment. NT-proBNP, right heart catheterisation and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging measurements were performed, at baseline and follow-up.

There were no significant differences between newly diagnosed patients and those on treatment at baseline or follow-up with respect to NT-proBNP, haemodynamics and right ventricular parameters. Relative changes in NT-proBNP during treatment were correlated to the relative changes in right ventricular end-diastolic volume index (r = 0.59), right ventricular mass index (r = 0.62) and right ventricular ejection fraction (r =  −0.81).

N-terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide measurements reflect changes in magnetic resonance imaging-measured right ventricular structure and function in pulmonary hypertension patients. An increase in N-terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide over time reflects right ventricular dilatation concomitant to hypertrophy and deterioration of systolic function.
Use of silicone stents for the management of post-tuberculosis tracheobronchial stenosis
Authors: Ryu Y. J. , Kim H. , Yu C. M. , Choi J. C. , Kwon Y. S. , Kwon O. J.
Published: September 2006

The role of bronchoscopic management in post-tuberculosis tracheobronchial stenosis is not well defined. To investigate the role of bronchoscopic intervention, including silicone stenting, in the management of post-tuberculosis tracheobronchial stenosis, the current retrospective study was conducted at a tertiary referral hospital.

Under rigid bronchoscopy, 80 patients underwent ballooning, neodymium-yttrium aluminium garnet laser resection and/or bougienation as first-line methods of airway dilatation between January 2000 and December 2003 inclusive, and were followed for a median of 41 months.

Silicone stents were required in 75 out of 80 (94%) patients to maintain airway patency. Bronchoscopic intervention provided immediate symptomatic relief and improved lung function in 88% of the patients. After airway stabilisation, stents were removed successfully in 49 out of 75 (65%) patients at a median of 14 months post-insertion. Three patients out of 75 (4%) eventually underwent surgical management. Acute complications included: excessive bleeding (n = 1); pneumothorax (n = 5); and pneumomediastinum without mortality (n = 2). Stent-related late complications, such as migration (51%), granuloma formation (49%), mucostasis (19%) and re-stenosis (40%), were controllable during a median follow-up of 41 months.

In conclusion, bronchoscopic intervention, including silicone stenting, could be a useful and safe method for treating post-tuberculosis tracheobronchial stenosis.
IL18andIL18R1polymorphisms, lung CT and fibrosis: a longitudinal study in coal miners
Authors: Nadif R. , Mintz M. , Marzec J. , Jedlicka A. , Kauffmann F. , Kleeberger S. R.
Published: September 2006

It has been suggested that interleukin (IL)-18 plays a role in the development of inflammatory and fibrosing lung diseases.

Associations of polymorphisms in the genes coding for IL-18 (IL18/G-656T, C-607A, G-137C, T113G, C127T) and its receptor (IL18R1/C-69T) with coal workers' pneumoconiosis (CWP) were studied in 200 miners who were examined in 1990, 1994 and 1999. Coal-dust exposure was assessed according to job history and ambient measures. The main health outcome was lung computed tomography (CT) score in 1990. Internal coherence was assessed by studying CT score in 1994, 4-yr change in CT score and CWP incidence and prevalence.

CT score in 1990 was a good predictor of radiographic grade in 1999 and, therefore, an appropriate subclinical quantitative trait. TheIL18-137C allele was associated with lower CT score in 1990 and 1994 (1.24versus1.69 and 1.57versus2.46, respectively), slower progression of CT score between 1990 and 1994 and lower pneumoconiosis prevalence in 1999 relative to the G allele (0.33versus0.77 and 8.2versus19.6%, respectively). Smoking- or dust-adjustment, and stratification onIL18R1genotype and adjustment for haplotype effects did not change the conclusions.

In conclusion, the results of the present study suggest a role forIL18in reducing the development of this fibrosing lung disease.
Tumour necrosis factor and lymphotoxin A polymorphisms and lung function in smokers
Authors: Tanaka G. , Sandford A. J. , Burkett K. , Connett J. E. , Anthonisen N. R. , Paré P. D. , He J-Q.
Published: September 2006

Genetic variants in the tumour necrosis factor (TNF) gene have been investigated in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, there are many instances of nonreplication of these associations due to insufficient power or other factors. In this study, a large number of subjects were examined to elucidate whether genetic variations ofTNFand/or lymphotoxin A (LTA), which is clustered withTNF, are associated with variations in lung function among smokers.

The present authors designed two nested case–control studies in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Lung Health Study (LHS), which enrolled 5,887 smokers. The first design included continuous smokers who had the fastest (n = 279) and the slowest (n = 304) decline of lung function during the 5-yr follow-up period, and the second included the subjects who had the lowest (n = 533) and the highest (n = 532) post-bronchodilator % predicted forced expiratory volume in one second at the start of the LHS. Within theTNFandLTAregion, 10 tagging single-nucleotide polymorphisms were selected and genotyped.

Unlike the previous associations betweenTNF-308 and COPD in Asians, the current study found no association between either of the two phenotypes and theLTAandTNFpolymorphisms.

In conclusion, these results support the findings of previous studies in late-onset chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Caucasian populations.
Sex differences in thoracic adaptation to pulmonary hyperinflation in cystic fibrosis
Authors: Bellemare F. , Jeanneret A.
Published: September 2006

Sex differences in thoracic adaptation have been reported in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). The interplay between the pattern of thoracic adaptation and the function of the respiratory muscles in male and female CF patients with pulmonary hyperinflation was investigated.

Thoracic dimensions and diaphragm length were measured at residual volume, functional residual capacity and total lung capacity using chest radiography in 23 CF (12 males) and 18 normal (11 males) subjects. Respiratory muscle recruitment during resting breathing was assessed by recording intrathoracic and intra-abdominal pressures.

In female CF patients, ribcage expansion was predominant, tending to preserve diaphragm length. In male CF patients, thoracic configuration was normal and diaphragm shortening consequently greater. Ribcage cross-sectional area for a given rib inclination was greater in CF patients, indicating a structural expansion of the ribcage 2.5 times greater in females than males. The contribution of inspiratory ribcage muscles to inspiratory pressure was also greater relative to the diaphragm in the CF group.

In conclusion, a structural expansion of the ribcage occurs in cystic fibrosis patients with lung hyperinflation that is greater in females than males. This is associated with an apparent greater contribution of inspiratory ribcage muscles to inspiratory pressure.
Legionella pneumophila-induced NF-κB- and MAPK-dependent cytokine release by lung epithelial cells
Authors: Schmeck B. , N’Guessan P. D. , Ollomang M. , Lorenz J. , Zahlten J. , Opitz B. , Flieger A. , Suttorp N. , Hippenstiel S.
Published: September 2006

Legionella pneumophilacauses community-acquired pneumonia with high mortality, but little is known about its interaction with the alveolar epithelium. The aim of this study was to investigate whetherL. pneumophilainfection of lung epithelial cells (A549) resulted in pro-inflammatory activation.

L. pneumophilainfection induced liberation of interleukin (IL)-2, -4, -6, -8 and -17, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, tumour necrosis factor-α, IL-1β, interferon-γ and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, but not of IL-5, -7, -10, -12 (p70) or -13 or granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor. The present study focused on IL-8 and found induction byL. pneumophilastrains 130b, Philadelphia 1, Corby and, to a lesser extent, JR32. Knockout ofdotA, a central gene involved in type IVB secretion, did not alter IL-8 induction, whereas lack of flagellin significantly reduced IL-8 release by Legionella. Moreover, p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) was activated and kinase inhibition reduced secretion of induced cytokines, with the exception of IL-2 and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor. In contrast, inhibition of the MAPK kinase 1/extracellular signal-regulated kinase pathway only reduced the expression of a few cytokines.L. pneumophilaalso induced binding of nuclear factor-κB subunit RelA/p65 and RNA polymerase II to theil8promoter, and a specific inhibitor of the inhibitor of nuclear factor-κB complex dose-dependently lowered IL-8 expression.

Taken together,Legionella pneumophilaactivated p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase- and nuclear factor-κB/RelA pathway-dependent expression of a complex pattern of cytokines by human alveolar epithelial cells, presumably contributing to the immune response in legionellosis.
Acute symptoms related to air pollution in urban areas: a study protocol
Authors: Yunesian Masud , Asghari Fariba , Vash Javad Homayoun , Forouzanfar Mohammad Hossein , Farhud Dariush
Published: September 2006

Background

The harmful effects of urban air pollution on general population in terms of annoying symptoms are not adequately evaluated. This is in contrast to the hospital admissions and short term mortality. The present study protocol is designed to assess the association between the level of exposure to certain ambient air pollutants and a wide range of relevant symptoms. Awareness of the impact of pollution on the population at large will make our estimates of the pertinent covert burden imposed on the society more accurate.

Methods/design

A cross sectional study with spatial analysis for the addresses of the participants was conducted. Data were collected via telephone interviews administered to a representative sample of civilians over age four in the city. Households were selected using random digit dialling procedures and randomization within each household was also performed to select the person to be interviewed. Levels of exposure are quantified by extrapolating the addresses of the study population over the air pollution matrix of the city at the time of the interview and also for different lag times. This information system uses the data from multiple air pollution monitoring stations in conjunction with meteorological data. General linear models are applied for statistical analysis.

Discussion

The important limitations of cross-sectional studies on acute effects of air pollution are personal confounders and measurement error for exposure. A wide range of confounders in this study are controlled for in the statistical analysis. Exposure error may be minimised by employing a validated geographical information system that provides accurate estimates and getting detailed information on locations of individual participants during the day. The widespread operation of open air conditioning systems in the target urban area which brings about excellent mixing of the outdoor and indoor air increases the validity of outdoor pollutants levels that are taken as exposure levels.
Transcriptional analysis of the recA gene of Streptococcus thermophilus
Authors: Giliberti Gabriele , Baccigalupi Loredana , Cordone Angelina , Ricca Ezio , De Felice Maurilio
Published: September 2006

Background

RecA is a highly conserved prokaryotic protein that not only plays several important roles connected to DNA metabolism but also affects the cell response to various stress conditions. While RecA is highly conserved, the mechanism of transcriptional regulation of its structural gene is less conserved. In Escherichia coli the LexA protein acts as a recA repressor and is able, in response to DNA damage, of RecA-promoted self-cleavage, thus allowing recA transcription. The LexA paradigm, although confirmed in a wide number of cases, is not universally valid. In some cases LexA does not control recA transcription while in other RecA-containing bacteria a LexA homologue is not present.

Results

We have studied the recA transcriptional regulation in S. thermophilus, a bacterium that does not contain a LexA homologue. We have characterized the promoter region of the gene and observed that its expression is strongly induced by DNA damage. The analysis of deletion mutants and of translational gene fusions showed that a DNA region of 83 base pairs, containg the recA promoter and the transcriptional start site, is sufficient to ensure normal expression of the gene. Unlike LexA of E. coli, the factor controlling recA expression in S. thermophilus acts in a RecA-independent way since recA induction was observed in a strain carrying a recA null mutation.

Conclusion

In S. thermophilus, as in many other bacteria,recA expression is strongly induced by DNA damage, however, in this organism expression of the gene is controlled by a factor different from those well characterized in other bacteria. A small DNA region extending from 62 base pairs upstream of the recA transcriptional start site to 21 base pairs downstream of it carries all the information needed for normal regulation of the S. thermophilus recA gene.
Use of pre-packaged chloroquine for the home management of presumed malaria in Malagasy children
Authors: Ratsimbasoa Arsène , Randrianarivelojosia Milijaona , Millet Pascal , Soarès Jean Louis , Rabarijaona Leon , Rakotoson Benjamin , Malvy Denis , Ménard Didier
Published: September 2006

Objective

The main objective of this study was to assess the quality of home malaria management with pre-packaged chloroquine in two areas in the Moramanga district of Madagascar. The knowledge, attitude and practices of care providers in terms of home treatment options were evaluated and compared. The availability of treatment options by studying retailers and community-based service providers was also investigated.

Methods

A cross-sectional investigation in two communities, in the hamlets and villages located close to carers, retailers, community-based service providers and primary health centres was carried out.

Results

Carers in the two districts were equally well aware of the use of pre-packaged chloroquine. Their first response to the onset of fever was to treat children with this antimalarial drug at home. The dose administered and treatment compliance were entirely satisfactory (100%) with pre-packaged chloroquine and rarely satisfactory (1.6% to 4.5%) with non pre-packaged chloroquine. In cases of treatment failure, the carers took patients to health centres. Chloroquine was supplied principally by private pharmacies and travelling salesmen selling unpackaged chloroquine tablets. Non pre-packaged chloroquine was the most common drug used at health centres. The frequency of positive rapid malaria tests (P = 0.01) was significantly higher in children treated with non pre-packaged chloroquine (38%) than in children treated with pre-packaged chloroquine (1.3%).

Conclusion

Home malaria management should be improved in Madagascar. Efforts should focus on communication, the training of community-based service providers, access to pre-packaged drugs and the gradual withdrawal of pre-packaged chloroquine and its replacement by pre-packaged artemisinin-based combination therapies.
IFN-γ-activated monocytes weakly produce HIV-1 but induce the recruitment of HIV-sensitive T cells and enhance the viral production by these recruited T cells
Authors: Saïdi Héla , Magri Giuliana , Carbonneil Cedric , Nasreddine Nadine , Réquena Mary , Bélec Laurent
Published: September 2006

The ability of macrophages to adapt to changing cytokine environments results in the dominance of a particular functional phenotype of macrophages, which would play a significant role in HIV pathogenesis. In comparison with untreated macrophages (M0), we examined the role of macrophages derived from IFN-γ-activated monocytes (M1) in the HIV spread. We show that M0 and M1 bind with the same efficiency HIV-1 with a predominant role of C-type lectins in the R5-HIV attachment and of the heparan sulfate proteoglycans in the X4-HIV attachment. Despite similar levels of R5- and X4-HIV DNA, M1 replicates and weakly transmits the virus to activated T cells by releasing CXCR4- and CCR5-interacting chemokines. The blockade of dendritic cell-specific ICAM-3-grabbing nonintegrin expressed on M1 by mAb does not interfere with the viral transfer. Uninfected M1 recruits HIV-sensitive T cells efficiently and releases soluble factors, enhancing the viral production by these recruited cells. This study highlights the role of IFN-γ to induce a population of macrophages that archive HIV-1 within a latent stage and cause the persistence of the virus by favoring the recruitment of T cells or enhancing the viral replication in infected CD4+ T cells.
Interaction between Polo and BicD proteins links oocyte determination and meiosis control inDrosophila
Authors: Mirouse Vincent , Formstecher Etienne , Couderc Jean-Louis
Published: September 2006

Meiosis is a specialized cell cycle limited to the gametes in Metazoa. In Drosophila, oocyte determination and meiosis control are interdependent processes, and BicD appears to play a key role in both. However, the exact mechanism of how BicD-dependent polarized transport could influence meiosis and vice versa remains an open question. In this article, we report that the cell cycle regulatory kinase Polo binds to BicD protein during oogenesis. Polo is expressed in all cells during cyst formation before specifically localizing to the oocyte. This is the earliest known example of asymmetric localization of a cell-cycle regulator in this process. This localization is dependent on BicD and the Dynein complex. Loss- and gain-of-function experiments showed that Polo has two independent functions. On the one hand, it acts as a trigger for meiosis. On the other hand, it is independently required, in a cell-autonomous manner, for the activation of BicD-dependent transport. Moreover, we show that Polo overexpression can rescue a hypomorphic mutation of BicD by restoring its localization and its function, suggesting that the requirement for Polo in polarized transport acts through regulation of BicD. Taken together, our data indicate the existence of a positive feedback loop between BicD and Polo, and we propose that this loop represents a functional link between oocyte specification and the control of meiosis.
AcaudalmRNA gradient controls posterior development in the waspNasonia
Authors: Olesnicky Eugenia C. , Brent Ava E. , Tonnes Lori , Walker Megan , Pultz Mary Anne , Leaf David , Desplan Claude
Published: September 2006

One of the earliest steps of embryonic development is the establishment of polarity along the anteroposterior axis. Extensive studies of Drosophila embryonic development have elucidated mechanisms for establishing polarity, while studies with other model systems have found that many of these molecular components are conserved through evolution. One exception is Bicoid, the master organizer of anterior development in Drosophila and higher dipterans, which is not conserved. Thus, the study of anteroposterior patterning in insects that lack Bicoid can provide insight into the evolution of the diversity of body plan patterning networks. To this end, we have established the long germ parasitic wasp Nasonia vitripennis as a model for comparative studies with Drosophila.Here we report that, in Nasonia, a gradient of localized caudal mRNA directs posterior patterning, whereas, in Drosophila, the gradient of maternal Caudal protein is established through translational repression by Bicoid of homogeneous caudalmRNA. Loss of caudal function in Nasonia results in severe segmentation defects. We show that Nasonia caudal is an activator of gap gene expression that acts far towards the anterior of the embryo, placing it atop a cascade of early patterning. By contrast, activation of gap genes in flies relies on redundant functions of Bicoid and Caudal, leading to a lack of dramatic action on gap gene expression: caudal instead plays a limited role as an activator of pair-rule gene expression. These studies,together with studies in short germ insects, suggest that caudal is an ancestral master organizer of patterning, and that its role has been reduced in higher dipterans such as Drosophila.
At the next stop sign turn right: the metalloprotease Tolloid-related 1 controls defasciculation of motor axons inDrosophila
Authors: Meyer Frauke , Aberle Hermann
Published: September 2006

Navigation of motoneuronal growth cones toward the somatic musculature in Drosophila serves as a model system to unravel the molecular mechanisms of axon guidance and target selection. In a large-scale mutagenesis screen, we identified piranha, a motor axon guidance mutant that shows strong defects in the neuromuscular connectivity pattern. In piranha mutant embryos, permanent defasciculation errors occur at specific choice points in all motor pathways. Positional cloning of piranha revealed point mutations in tolloid-related 1(tlr1), an evolutionarily conserved gene encoding a secreted metalloprotease. Ectopic expression of Tlr1 in several tissues of piranha mutants, including hemocytes, completely restores the wild-type innervation pattern, indicating that Tlr1 functions cell non-autonomously. We further show that loss-of-function mutants of related metalloproteases do not have motor axon guidance defects and that the respective proteins cannot functionally replace Tlr1. tlr1, however,interacts with sidestep, a muscle-derived attractant. Double mutant larvae of tlr1 and sidestep show an additive phenotype and lack almost all neuromuscular junctions on ventral muscles, suggesting that Tlr1 functions together with Sidestep in the defasciculation process.
Zinc-finger genesFezandFez-likefunction in the establishment of diencephalon subdivisions
Authors: Hirata Tsutomu , Nakazawa Masato , Muraoka Osamu , Nakayama Rika , Suda Yoko , Hibi Masahiko
Published: September 2006

Fez and Fez-like (Fezl) are zinc-finger genes that encode transcriptional repressors expressed in overlapping domains of the forebrain. By generating Fez;Fezl-deficient mice we found that a redundant function of Fez and Fezl is required for the formation of diencephalon subdivisions. The caudal forebrain can be divided into three transverse subdivisions: prethalamus (also called ventral thalamus), thalamus (dorsal thalamus) and pretectum. Fez;Fezl-deficient mice showed a complete loss of prethalamus and a strong reduction of the thalamus at late gestation periods. Genetic marker analyses revealed that during early diencephalon patterning in Fez;Fezl-deficient mice, the rostral diencephalon (prospective prethalamus) did not form and the caudal diencephalon (prospective thalamus and pretectum) expanded rostrally. Fez;Fezl-deficient mice also displayed defects in the formation of the zona limitans intrathalamica (ZLI),which is located on the boundary between the prethalamus and thalamus. Fez and Fezl are expressed in the region rostral to the rostral limit of Irx1 expression, which marks the prospective position of the ZLI. Transgene-mediated misexpression of Fezl or Fez caudal to the ZLI repressed the caudal diencephalon fate and affected the formation of the Shh-expressing ZLI. These data indicate that Fez and Fezl repress the caudal diencephalon fate in the rostral diencephalon, and ZLI formation probably depends on Fez/Fezl-mediated formation of diencephalon subdivisions.
Children's autobiographies of learning to write
Authors: Scheuer Nora , de la Cruz Montserrat , Pozo Juan Ignacio , Neira Silvina
Published: September 2006

Background. Learning conceptions may be studied as specific implicit theories based on theory of mind. Previous studies suggest that a developmental shift from a direct implicit theory of learning to an interpretative one occurs during childhood. Here we explore the development of children's autobiographies of learning to write by adopting this framework.

Aims. We aim to study children's autobiographical accounts of learning to write and whether these accounts change according to the mentioned developmental shift and sociocultural environment.

Sample. Sixty children attending public schools in Argentina that were equally distributed according to school level (kindergarten, first grade, fourth grade) and sociocultural environment (middle and marginal).

Methods. Children were interviewed individually at school and requested to write ‘as you used to when you were just beginning to write ’. This question was repeated for one‐year‐intervals until child's current age was reached; anticipation of writing next year was also requested. Children's responses were coded into descriptive categories. A multiple correspondence factorial analysis studied the relations among response categories, school grade and sociocultural environment. On the basis of these results, categories were ordered into a Guttman scale.

Results. A developmental shift from a focus on isolated products to the integration of procedural and representational changes was evident. School grade and sociocultural environment were statistically significant.

Conclusions. Children's writing autobiographies show developmental differences that suit the shift from a direct to an interpretative theory of learning on the basis of hierarchical integration rather than conceptual replacement.