bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
On Being An Ink Blot: Disability Meets Euthanasia
Authors: Porter Andrew P.
Published: November 2004

Abstract:  People encountering the disabled often reveal in their reactions a distaste for disability that comes from pity rather than solidarity; when that pity is traced to its roots, such people are capable of urging the disabled toward a “merciful death,” rather than offering any solidarity. The result is acceptance of euthanasia for the disabled. At stake is the difference between grace and works: for a disabled person by his or her mere presence reveals one's dependence on grace. But if one can “help” the disabled one, then one gains a sense of control that comes with works.
The World Social Forums. A paradoxical application of participatory doctrine
Authors: Biagiotti Isabelle
Published: November 2004

World governance is currently characterised by the doctrine of participation, which calls on non‐governmental actors to associate themselves with the adoption and implementation of international regulation. Generally speaking, the civil society organisations involved in these issues have responded favourably to the call in the past 20 years. However, openness is hardly a feature of international governance and many non‐governmental organisations are now wary of public coordination forums. This no doubt explains the current impact of a process such as the World Social Forum. The project ongoing in the Forum is ambitious and differs from everything previously attempted at international level to coordinate civil society. By betting on broad participation by organisations with very different sizes, histories, modes of operation and origins, the Forum is working towards the emergence of a new transnational citizen culture. Participation is here the goal and not the means of governance.
A leap of faith: thoughts on secularistic practices and progressive politics*
Authors: Daulatzai Anila
Published: November 2004

The political sentiment represented by the WSF celebrates diversity, and cultivates a substrate where movements can be incubated, and prosper. This paper questions a particular secular(ist) vocabulary, grammar, and culture of politics exhibited at the WSF in Mumbai. It asks whether the political space of the Forum, which is defined as open, democratic, and tolerant, must necessarily be a secular one, or whether a secularistic political affect closes potentialities by narrowing the possibilities for anti‐imperial critiques, thus excluding valid forms of dissent? The paper will argue that a secularistic culture of politics can be an impediment for an emerging and growing revolutionary phenomenon because of its exclusionary and limiting tendencies. Building on a critique of affective politics, it will be shown that the imperative of a politics of resistance free from religious sentiments will both fail to address the needs of vast majorities of the planet's inhabitants and continue to provide opportunities for more fundamental and violent alternatives to flourish. Drawing from the work of Connolly, Deleuze and Guattari, as well as Ramadan, this paper critiques the privileged space allotted to secularism, and invites discussion about how to provide scope for the possibility of a political ethic which does not alienate believers, instead creating the potential for new models of political pluralism.
Conflict management and hegemonic practices in the World Social Forum 2004
Authors: Caruso Giuseppe
Published: November 2004

This paper discusses a case of conflict management in the WSF 2004. The reasons for the explosion of the conflict are briefly discussed and linked to the lack of clear and consistent proactive practices of inclusion in the organisational process of the WSF. The discussion focuses on the attempts to negotiate the conflict generated by the claims voiced by Ahmed (a member of the Indian Muslim community), who deprecates the exclusion from the organisational process of the WSF of which he feels he and his community are victim. The paper shows how such conflicts could be prevented by designing carefully at the outset consistent strategies of outreach and by performing regular practices of inclusion. The core of the argument focuses on the strategies of conflict management in the case of the incident described. The shortcomings of those practices are exposed and discussed. The research shows how the main deficiencies of the conflict management strategies discussed are due to contingent improvisation and to the lack of consistent and thoroughly discussed guidelines in conflict management and communicative strategies in moments of crisis.
Expressions of international contestation and mechanisms of democratic control
Authors: Rojo Raúl Enrique , Milani Carlos R. S. , Arturi Carlos Schmidt
Published: November 2004

In this article, the authors examine various questions regarding the new expressions of international contestation, analysing answers and reactions from states to the emergence of non‐governmental actors opposed to the present world order who claim to propose alternatives to neo‐liberal governance. To do so, the authors identify some of the more visible movements of contestation against economic globalisation, like the Seattle, Prague, and Genoa demonstrations, and, first of all, the four editions of the World Social Forum that have taken place, first in Porto Alegre and latterly in Mumbai. At the same time, the article shows the interstate relations that aim to control and if necessary repress these movements, particularly after the attacks on 11 September 2001, and surveys the main legal measures adopted by governments and international institutions, in particular within the European Union. Finally, an account is given of certain strategies to “jurisdictionalise” international conflicts, which some new kinds of litigants purport to use to give legitimacy and visibility to contested claims by directing them to a third‐party adjudicator (a tribunal, a mediator, a humanitarian body, etc.).
Self creation and the limitless void of dissociation: the ‘as if’ personality
Authors: McFarland Solomon Hester
Published: November 2004

Abstract:  The concept of the ‘as if’ personality has been used variously in analytic literature without having formed part of a clinically based theoretical development over time.

The author discusses the bases of her notion of the ‘as if’ personality, as observed across a number of patients and supervised patients in intensive, long term analytic treatment. In this composite clinical picture, a grouping of elements that form a particular kind of defence of the self is identified in certain patients with an exceptional capacity for creative engagement in the world, surpassing expectations given their background. The picture includes the presence of physical breakdown and illness, as psychic suffering arising from early narcissistic wounding and from a physical, emotional and/or sexual abusive familial environment, was held for too long in bodily memory but not in mind. A distinction is made between the ‘as if’ personality, the persona and the false self. The ‘as if’ personality concerns the action of defensive dissociation deriving from very early experiences of internalizing the presence of an absent object, creating the sense of an internal void at the core of the self. At the same time, the self is capable of acts of self creation through a succession of identifications and internalizations with other sources of environmental nourishment, which substitute for, and are constructed around, the original sense of internal emptiness. Thus are restored, but only up to a point, the resources of the originally diminished self. Until these resources have been used up, the self is often able to excel in activities to an exceptional degree. The countertransference is shown to be the means of both useful but often perilously obtained clinical experience and information, supporting the work along the hazardous analytic journey.
Beyond synchronicity: the worldview of Carl Gustav Jung and Wolfgang Pauli
Authors: Donati Marialuisa
Published: November 2004

Abstract:  While exploring the phenomena of synchronicity, Carl Gustav Jung became acquainted with the quantum physicist Wolfgang Pauli and eventually began a collaboration with him. During that collaboration Jung's study of synchronistic phenomena underwent a considerable change; prior to the collaboration, Jung had stressed mainly the phenomenological and empirical features of synchronistic phenomena, while in association with Pauli, he focused his attention upon their ontological, archetypal character. Pauli, on the other hand, became increasingly sensitive to the philosophical aspects concerning the unconscious. Jung and Pauli's common reflections went far beyond psychology and physics, entering into the realm where the two areas meet in the philosophy of nature. In fact, as a consequence of their collaboration, synchronicity was transformed from an empirical concept into a fundamental explanatory‐interpretative principle, which together with causality could possibly lead to a more complete worldview. Exploring the problematic character of the synchronicity concept has a heuristic value because it leads to the reconsideration of the philosophical issues that drove Jung and Pauli to clear up the conceptual background of their thoughts. Within the philosophical worldview arising from Jung and Pauli's discussions about synchronicity, there are many symbolic aspects that go against mainstream science and that represent a sort of criticism to some of the commonly held views of present day science.
Child‐free and unmarried: Changes in the life planning of young east German women
Authors: Adler Marina A.
Published: November 2004

Using evidence from demographic and survey data, this research examines how one decade of postsocialism has changed the life planning of young East German women. Aggregate data reflect marriage and fertility postponement and increased nonmarital birth rates and cohabitation. The analysis shows East German women's “stubbornness” (Dölling, 2003) in adhering to life perspectives in line with the German Democratic Republic (GDR) standard biography (high nonmarital childbearing, high work orientation, rejection of the homemaker status, desire to combine work and family). The most important findings are that (a) motherhood is postponed to increase child‐free time, (b) cohabitation is increasingly becoming an alternative to marriage, (c) marriage (but not partnership) is increasingly optional for childbearing, and (d) employment is prioritized over family formation.
Searching for wages and mothering from Afar: The case of Honduran transnational families
Authors: Schmalzbauer Leah
Published: November 2004

This article draws on data from a 2‐year two‐country study that included 157 people to explore the survival strategies of poor Honduran transnational families. I argue that transnational families, defined as those divided between two nation‐states who have maintained close ties, depend on a cross‐border division of labor in which productive labor occurs in the host country and reproductive labor in the home country. This article bridges the literatures on transnationalism and families. The transnationalism literature tends to focus on macro processes, whereas the literature on families assumes proximity. This research helps fill the gap in both literatures, exposing the ways in which processes of economic globalization have radically altered family form and function.
“One able daughter is worth 10 illiterate sons”: Reframing the patriarchal family
Authors: Sultan Ahmed Sania , Bould Sally
Published: November 2004

This research note reports on interviews with 120 mothers employed in garment factories in Bangladesh. These mothers express views on the necessity of being married, having sons, and educating daughters that challenge traditional patriarchal practices. They report that men of their families can no longer guarantee women and children lifetime support in the context of extreme poverty and landlessness. Many of them thus choose to assist their husbands, brothers, and parents through wage employment. Their employment creates a space in which these women can begin to make choices and decisions independent of the wishes of the men in their families. Their responses indicate a crack in the traditional patriarchal family system, which requires that a woman be dependent, first on her father, then on her husband, and then on her adult son.
Motherhood as a Status Characteristic
Authors: Ridgeway Cecilia L. , Correll Shelley J.
Published: November 2004

We present evidence that many of the disadvantaging effects that motherhood has on women's workplace outcomes derive from the devalued social status attached to the task of being a primary caregiver. Using expectation states theory, we argue that when motherhood becomes a salient descriptor of a worker it, like other devalued social distinctions including gender, downwardly biases the evaluations of the worker's job competence and suitability for positions of authority. We predict that the biases evoked by the motherhood role will be more strongly discriminatory than those produced by gender alone because the perceived conflicts between the cultural definitions of the good mother and the ideal worker make motherhood seem more directly relevant to workplace performance.
Institutionalizing Legal Consciousness: Regulation and the Embedding of Market Participants in the Securities Industry in Ghana and Fiji
Authors: Larson Erik W.
Published: November 2004

How do differences in the implementation of regulation impact market behavior? I propose a theoretical framework to understand this impact as part of the process of embedding market participants through the institutionalization of legal consciousness within a field of action. I use this framework to understand the impact of the difference in the implementation of securities regulation in Ghana and Fiji. In Fiji, where the regulatory agency is more present and process-oriented, brokers operate with a greater orientation toward formal rules. In Ghana, where the regulatory agency is distant and auditing, brokers rely on explicit enforcement of floor-based norms. Conceiving of legal consciousness as an emergent feature of a field of social action advances the understanding of how legality is institutionalized, since the emergent structure shapes the orientations, behavior, and relations of actors within the field.
Friends of the Court: Examining the Influence of Amicus Curiae Participation in U.S. Supreme Court Litigation
Authors: Collins Paul M.
Published: November 2004

Amicus curiae participation is a staple of interest group activity in the U.S. Supreme Court. While a reasonably large body of scholarship has accumulated regarding the effectiveness of this method of participation, little attention has been paid to examining the reasons why amicus participation might increase litigation success. In this article, I test two separate, but not mutually exclusive, theories as to why amicus briefs may be effective. The first, the affected groups hypothesis, suggests amicus briefs are influential because they signal to the Court how many groups and individuals will be potentially affected by the decision. The second, the information hypothesis, proposes that amicus briefs are effective because they provide the Court with added information that buttresses the arguments of the direct parties. When subjected to empirical verification, the results indicate that not only does amicus participation increase litigation success, but also that this influence may be best explained by the information hypothesis.
Second Language Acquisition as Situated Practice: Task Accomplishment in the French Second Language Classroom
Authors: Mondada Lorenza , Doehler Simona Pekarek
Published: November 2004

This article provides an empirically based perspective on the contribution of conversation analysis (CA) and sociocultural theory to our understanding of learners' second language (L2) practices within what we call a strong socio‐interactionist perspective. It explores the interactive (re)configuration of tasks in French second language classrooms. Stressing that learning is situated in learners' social, and therefore profoundly interactional, practices, we investigate how tasks are not only accomplished but also collaboratively (re)organized by learners and teachers, leading to various configurations of classroom talk and structuring specific opportunities for learning. The analysis of L2 classroom interactions at basic and advanced levels shows how the teacher's instructions are reflexively redefined within courses of action and how thereby the learner's emerging language competence is related to other (interactional, institutional, sociocultural) competencies. Discussing the results in the light of recent analyses of the indexical and grounded dimensions of everyday and experimental tasks allows us to broaden our understanding of competence and situated cognition in language learning.
Learning as Changing Participation: Discourse Roles in ESL Writing Conferences
Authors: Young Richard F. , Miller Elizabeth R.
Published: November 2004

This study investigates the acquisition of an unfamiliar discursive practice by an adult Vietnamese learner of English. The practice is revision talk in weekly English as a Second Language (ESL) writing conferences between the student and his ESL writing instructor. This research adopts the interactional competence framework for understanding the interactional architecture and participation framework of the practice. It also draws on the theory of situated learning or legitimate peripheral participation in arguing that changes in the student's and instructor's patterns of co‐participation demonstrate processes by which the student moved from peripheral to fuller participation. It appears that although the student was the one whose participation was most dramatically transformed, the instructor was a co‐learner, and her participation changed in ways that complemented the student's learning. Through close analysis of the revision talk in four successive writing conferences, this study contributes to our understanding of language learning as co‐constructed development in situated discursive practices.
Cytokines in cancer immunity and immunotherapy
Authors: Smyth Mark J. , Cretney Erika , Kershaw Michael H. , Hayakawa Yoshihiro
Published: November 2004

Summary:  The concept that the immune system recognizes and controls cancer was first postulated over a century ago, and cancer immunity has continued to be vigorously debated and experimentally tested. Mounting evidence in humans and mice supports the involvement of cytokines in tumor initiation, growth, and metastasis. The idea that the immune system detects stressed, transformed, and frankly malignant cells underpins much of the excitement currently surrounding new cytokine therapies in cancer treatment. In this review, we define the contrasting roles that cytokines play in promoting tumor immunity, inflammation, and carcinogenesis. We also discuss the more promising aspects of clinical cytokine use in cancer patients.
Is targeting Toll‐like receptors and their signaling pathway a useful therapeutic approach to modulating cytokine‐driven inflammation?
Authors: Andreakos Evangelos , Foxwell Brian , Feldmann Marc
Published: November 2004

Summary: Cytokine‐driven inflammation and tissue destruction is a common theme of chronic inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, psoriasis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and atherosclerosis. Research over the last two decades demonstrated the importance of cytokines that are not only expressed chronically but also are capable of signaling at sites of chronic inflammation. Cytokines thus regulate major pathological processes that include inflammation, angiogenesis, tissue remodeling, and fibrosis. This research led to the identification of key cytokines involved in these processes, two of which, tumor necrosis factor‐α and interleukin‐1, have also been successfully targeted in the clinic. However, what triggers and maintains cytokine gene expression in chronic inflammation remains a mystery. In this article, we review current progress in the understanding of cytokine‐driven inflammation and discuss current evidence implicating Toll‐like receptors (TLRs), recently identified as the receptors recognizing self versus non‐self molecular patterns, in the regulation of cytokine‐driven inflammation. Whether targeting TLRs and their downstream signaling pathway will prove to be a successful approach for the treatment of these devastating diseases remains to be determined.
Cytokines and immunodeficiency diseases: critical roles of the γc‐dependent cytokines interleukins 2, 4, 7, 9, 15, and 21, and their signaling pathways
Authors: Kovanen Panu E. , Leonard Warren J.
Published: November 2004

Summary:  In this review, we discuss the role of cytokines and their signaling pathways in immunodeficiency. We focus primarily on severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) diseases as the most severe forms of primary immunodeficiencies, reviewing the different genetic causes of these diseases. We focus in particular on the range of forms of SCID that result from defects in cytokine‐signaling pathways. The most common form of SCID, X‐linked SCID, results from mutations in the common cytokine receptor γ‐chain, which is shared by the receptors for interleukin (IL)‐2, IL‐4, IL‐7, IL‐9, IL‐15, and IL‐21, underscoring that X‐linked SCID is indeed a disease of defective cytokine signaling. We also review the signaling pathways used by these cytokines and the phenotypes in humans and mice with defects in the cytokines or signaling pathways. We also briefly discuss other cytokines, such as interferon‐γ and IL‐12, where mutations in the ligand or receptor or signaling components also cause clinical disease in humans.
La vision économique dans les ballades et les rondeaux de Charles d'Orléans
Authors: Urquhart Steven
Published: November 2004

L’œuvre poétique de Charles d'Orléans est célèbre en grande partie à cause de la captivité prolongée du prince en Angleterre et de toute une topographie allégorique qui s’établit de poème en poème. En examinant ses ballades et ses rondeaux, on ne peut s’empêcher de noter l'existence d'un certain rapport d’échange non seulement entre le locuteur des poèmes et la célèbre dame à qui le poète adresse de nombreux vers, mais aussi entre les diverses personnifications de sentiments et des hasards de l'existence. Le vocabulaire employé pour décrire les interactions entre le poète et ses interlocuteurs dans les poèmes relève souvent du milieu commercial et semble représentatif d'une certaine vision plutôt économique du monde. Il s'agira dans cette étude de mettre en relief les différentes manifestations de cet aspect en grande partie négligé de la poésie de Charles d'Orléans et de tenter de rendre compte de la présence de ce motif qui recoupe presque tous les aspects de sa poésie en discutant à la fois du lien entre la vie du poète, la conjoncture de l’époque et la fonction de la poésie pendant et après l'emprisonnement du prince.
Immunization against sheep scab: preliminary identification of fractions of Psoroptes ovis which confer protective effects
Authors: Smith W. D. , Pettit D. M.
Published: November 2004

In an attempt to enrich for potentially protective Psoroptes ovis antigens, three separate vaccine trials were conducted in which groups of sheep were immunized three times with various fractions of a soluble extract of P. ovis mites using QuilA as adjuvant. These groups, as well as controls that received adjuvant only, were challenged with P. ovis, and protective immunity was assessed by measuring lesion areas and conducting mite counts 4 and 6 weeks later. All fractions stimulated high titre serum antibodies. Most conferred some protection on sheep with active disease, although there was considerable variation between sheep in all groups, including the controls. Some fractions were more protective than the extract itself, suggesting that the protective components had been concentrated. Indeed the best fraction, obtained by ion exchange chromatography, followed by a gel filtration step, slowed lesion growth to less than a third by 6 weeks after challenge and reduced mite numbers by more than 13 times compared to control sheep vaccinated with QuilA only. However, as judged by polyacrylamide gels, the polypeptide profile of this fraction was still complex, indicating that further work is required to identify the protective components.
Hormonal and immunological mechanisms mediating sex differences in parasite infection
Authors: Klein S. L.
Published: November 2004

The prevalence and intensity of infections caused by protozoa, nematodes, trematodes, cestodes, and arthropods is higher in males than females. The primary thesis of this review is that immunological differences exist between the sexes that may underlie increased parasitism in males compared to females. Several field and laboratory studies link sex differences in immune function with circulating steroid hormones; thus, the roles of sex steroids, including testosterone, oestradiol, and progesterone, as well as glucocorticoids will be discussed. Not only can host hormones affect responses to infection, but parasites can both produce and alter hormone concentrations in their hosts. The extent to which changes in endocrine–immune interactions following infection are mediated by the host or the parasite will be considered. Although males are more susceptible than females to many parasites, there are parasites for which males are more resistant than females and endocrine–immune interactions may underlie this sex reversal. Finally, although immunological differences exist between the sexes, genetic and behavioural differences may explain some variability in response to infection and will be explored as alternative hypotheses for how differences between the sexes contribute to dimorphic responses to parasites.
The Management and Impact of a Student Led Iraq War Protest in a Fresh Start School
Authors: Mead Nick
Published: November 2004

A student led Iraq war protest in a Fresh Start school provides a case study for examining the relationship between political literacy and institutional change. Pragmatic and creative management of the protest encourages a democratic problem‐solving process, which contributes to mutual respect and sustained trust between pupils, and staff and pupils. There is evidence to suggest that this democratic experience within the school has the potential to bring a democratic problem solving ethos into the classroom, where learning may increasingly become characterized by individuals achieving autonomy with and for each other.
‘It was Better than Sitting in a Group and Talking’. An Evaluation of a Film‐Making Project with Young People in Trouble or ‘At Risk’ in School
Authors: McCluskey Gillean , Lloyd Gwynedd , Stead Joan
Published: November 2004

This paper will explore some issues raised by an evaluation of a Scottish video making project which works with young people in trouble or ‘at risk’ in school. In the paper we reflect on the problems of evaluating work with troubled and troublesome pupils and on the difficulties of both collecting and presenting appropriate evidence. It offers a contribution to continuing debates over educational exclusion and inclusion and to the research literature on strategies for supporting young people in school. The paper also raises key questions about the planning and evaluating of support services for young people by schools.
Asian Secondary School Students' Help‐Seeking Behaviour and Preferences for Counsellor Characteristics
Authors: Ang Rebecca P. , See Yeo Lay
Published: November 2004

This study examines general help‐seeking behaviours and preferences for the counsellor, characteristics of gender and ethnicity specifically, in a sample of 448 secondary school students in Singapore. The relationship between the age of the student and his/her preference for the gender and ethnicity of a counsellor was also examined. Findings indicated significant differences in preferences for the gender of the counsellor, with most females preferring a same sex counsellor and most males preferring an opposite sex counsellor. Male and female students did not differ in responses regarding preference for ethnicity of counsellor. The findings also indicated a developmental shift in perspective regarding preference for gender and for ethnicity of counsellor. Neither gender nor ethnicity of counsellor mattered to the oldest group of students. In comparison, the younger students either reported a distinct preference for gender and ethnicity of counsellor or stated they were unsure of their response. Findings from the present study that are helpful to counsellors working with an Asian secondary school population will be discussed in the light of previous research.
Travel Risks in a Time of Terror: Judgments and Choices
Authors: Fischhoff Baruch , De Bruin Wändi Bruine , Perrin Wendy , Downs Julie
Published: November 2004

Shortly after the 2002 terrorist attacks in Bali, readers of Condé Nast Traveler magazine were surveyed regarding their views on the risks of travel to various destinations. Their risk estimates were highest for Israel, and lowest for Canada. Estimates for the different destinations correlated positively with (1) one another, (2) concern over aspects of travel that can make one feel at risk (e.g., sticking out as an American), (3) worries about other travel problems (e.g., contracting an infectious disease), and (4) attitudes toward risk. Respondents' willingness to travel to a destination was predicted well by whether their estimate of its risk was above or below their general threshold for the acceptability of travel risks. Overall, the responses suggest orderly choices, based on highly uncertain judgments of risks. Worry played a significant role in these choices, even after controlling for cognitive considerations, thereby supporting the recently proposed “risk as feelings” hypothesis.(1) Thus, even among people who have generally consistent and defensible beliefs, emotions may affect choices. These results emerged with people selected for their interest in and experience with the decision domain (travel), but challenged to incorporate a new concern (terror).
Interferon‐γ Mediates Neuronal Killing of Intracellular Bacteria
Authors: Jin Y. , Lundkvist G. , Dons L. , Kristensson K. , Rottenberg M. E.
Published: November 2004

Neurons can be targets for microbes, which could kill the neurons. Just in reverse, we, in this study, report that bacteria can be killed when entering a neuron. Primary cultures of foetal mouse hippocampal neurons and a neuronal cell line derived from mouse hypothalamus were infected by Listeria monocytogenes. Treatment with interferon‐γ (IFN‐γ) did not affect bacterial uptake, but resulted in increased killing of intracellular bacteria, whereas the neuronal cell remained intact. The IFN‐γ‐mediated bacterial killing was mapped to the neuronal cytosol, before listerial actin tail formation. Treatment with IFN‐γ induced phosphorylation of the transcription factor STAT‐1 in neurons and IFN‐γ‐mediated listerial killing was not observed in STAT‐1–/– neurons or neurons treated with IFN regulatory factor‐1 antisense oligonucleotides. IFN‐γ‐treated neuronal cells showed increased levels of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) mRNA, and antisense iNOS oligonucleotides hampered the bacterial killing by neurons upon IFN‐γ treatment. This novel neuronal function – i.e., that of a microbe killer – could play a crucial role in the control of infections in the immuno‐privileged nervous system.
Platelet‐Derived Growth Factor‐AA Increases IL‐1β and IL‐8 Expression and Activates NF‐κB in Rheumatoid Fibroblast‐Like Synoviocytes
Authors: Cheon H. , Sun Y. K. , Yu S. J. , Lee Y. H. , Ji J. D. , Song G. G. , Lee J. H. , Kim M. K. , Sohn J.
Published: November 2004

The effect of platelet‐derived growth factor (PDGF)‐AA on the inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthritis (OA) was investigated using cultured fibroblast‐like synoviocytes (FLS) obtained from RA and OA patients as well as control nonarthritic (NA) individuals. PDGF‐AA increased the mRNA and protein expressions of proinflammatory cytokines, interleukin (IL)‐1β and IL‐8 in RA FLS. Biological activity of IL‐1 in the culture supernatant of RA FLS was also increased by PDGF‐AA stimulation. Interestingly, PDGF‐AA synergized with tumour necrosis factor (TNF)‐α to upregulate the protein expressions of IL‐1β and IL‐8. PDGF‐induced enhancement of the IL‐1β and IL‐8 mRNA expressions was also observed in OA FLS. However, the expression of these proinflammatory cytokines in NA FLS did not change by PDGF treatment, suggesting that the inflammatory condition might have modified the biological effects of PDGF. In accordance with the enhanced expression of inflammatory cytokines, the activity of nuclear factor κB was also induced in response to PDGF‐AA in RA FLS. These results suggest that PDGF‐AA plays an important role in the progression of RA inflammation, and inhibiting PDGF activity may be useful for the effective RA treatment.
Unique TCRDV1‐Positive Lymphocytes that Infiltrate Colonic Neoplasia Originate From a Selected Cell Population Present in the Intestinal Mucosa and the Peripheral Blood
Authors: Coscas D. , Chowers M. , Levite M. , Amariglio N. , Lang A. , Barshack I. , Bar‐Meir S. , Chowers Y.
Published: November 2004

TCRDV1‐positive lymphocytes, which infiltrate colon carcinomas, were recently shown to be cytolytic for tumour cells. However, the immune compartment from which these cells originate is unknown. The aim of the present studies was to determine the origin of TCRDV1‐positive cells in colonic neoplasia. Biopsies were obtained from normal colon, polyps or carcinomas, concurrently with a sample from the peripheral blood. RNA was extracted and a TCRDV1‐specific reverse transcriptase‐polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) was performed. Amplification products were analysed by a CDR3 display and sequence analysis. In five out of six patients, the TCRDV1 CDR3 display of the whole cell population within the neoplastic tissue was distinct from that in the normal mucosa and the peripheral blood. The nucleotide sequences of CDR3 domains from the three compartments were distinct as well. In one patient, a pattern similar to the CDR3 display was detected in neoplastic and normal intestinal tissues. However, using junction‐specific RT‐PCR of CDR3 sequences derived from the neoplastic cells, such sequences could be detected in all three compartments. These findings suggest that in contrast to the current paradigm, a unique TCRDV1 cell population circulates in the peripheral blood and normal intestinal tissue and infiltrates colon neoplasia rather than being restricted to a single compartment as previously thought.
Market Valuation of Successful versus Non‐successful R&D Efforts in the Pharmaceutical Industry
Authors: Shortridge Rebecca Toppe
Published: November 2004

Abstract:  This paper examines the relationship between a non‐financial measure of successful research and development (R&D) efforts in the pharmaceutical industry and R&D expenditures. I hypothesize that the R&D of successful producers will be valued more by the market than the R&D of non‐successful producers. The regression results support the hypothesis. In the primary model, R&D is not associated with price; however, the coefficient on the interaction between R&D and successful developers is positively related to stock price. This implies that the market values the R&D expenditures of successful developers but not the expenditures of less‐successful developers.
The Effect of Solicitation and Independence on Corporate Bond Ratings
Authors: Feinberg Martin , Shelor Roger , Jiang James
Published: November 2004

Abstract: This comparison of solicited and independent bond rating agencies performance reveals that the ratings assigned by Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s are consistently lower than those assigned by Duff and Phelps and Fitch IBCA and are consistently higher than those assigned by MCM. While Moody’s and S&P generally downgrade bond ratings sooner than Duff and Phelps and Fitch IBCA, the four major agencies upgrade at the same time. Moody’s tends to have a higher upgrade magnitude than Duff and Phelps, but the downgrade magnitudes do not differ. MCM upgrades its ratings more quickly than either Moody’s or S&P. The results give support to the timeliness and accuracy of ratings provided by the independent agencies.
Bank Relationship and Firm Performance: Evidence From Thailand Before the Asian Financial Crisis
Authors: Limpaphayom Piman , Polwitoon Sirapat
Published: November 2004

Abstract:  This study examines the relation between bank relations and market performance in Thailand, an economy in which commercial banks play a crucial role through lending relationship and, for a number of companies, equity ownership. Overall, bank relationships, both equity‐based and debt‐based, positively affect capital investment. However, there is a negative relation between lending relationships, both short‐term and long‐term, and market performance indicating that bank lending may not always be consistent with value maximization. There is also evidence of a positive marginal effect of bank monitoring through equity ownership on market performance. Further, the relation between bank equity ownership and market performance appears to be non‐linear with a concave function. Ownership by corporate insiders is also negatively related to bank equity ownership. Overall, the findings highlight the detrimental effects of excessive short‐term debt usage, one of the factors believed to contribute to the financial crisis in Thailand, and the marginal benefit of the equity‐based relationship on firm value.
Physical and Psychosocial Health in Family Caregiving: A Comparison of AIDS and Cancer Caregivers
Authors: Stetz Kathleen M. , Brown Marie‐Annette
Published: November 2004

Abstract The objectives of this study were to compare cancer and AIDS family caregivers in regard to their physical and emotional health. The sample consisted of 26 caregivers of persons with cancer or AIDS. Study participants completed a questionnaire that included measures of depression, grief, symptoms of stress, caregiving demands, interpersonal relationships, health status, and quality of life. The data revealed that both AIDS and cancer caregivers reported high levels of stress and depression as compared to community norms. No significant differences were found between AIDS and cancer caregivers for any of the scale scores; however, the two groups differed on several individual subscales. Cancer caregivers demonstrated higher social functioning and were more likely to report that the work of caregiving itself disrupted their ability to socially engage with others. In contrast, AIDS caregivers were more likely to report that their own health limited their ability to socialize. Even though AIDS caregivers experienced less family support than cancer caregivers, they reported more rewards from caregiving. Results suggest that support delivered to caregivers emphasize a more inclusive approach to program delivery, versus a disease‐specific perspective, in order to increase the depth and breath of services provided to families undertaking these challenges.
Shaping of adaptive immune responses to soluble proteins by TLR agonists: A role for IFN‐α/β
Authors: Durand Vanessa , Wong Simon YC , Tough David F , Le Bon Agnes
Published: November 2004

Toll‐like receptors (TLR) are believed to play a major role in the recognition of invading organisms, although their ability to shape immune responses is not completely understood. Our aim was to investigate in vivo the effect of different TLR stimuli on the generation of antibody responses and the induction of CD8+ T‐cell cross‐priming after immunization with soluble protein antigens. While all TLR agonists tested elicited the production of immunomodulatory cytokines, marked differences were observed in their ability to stimulate antigen‐specific immune responses. Zymosan, poly(I:C) and CpG DNA, which signal through TLR2/6, 3 and 9, respectively, were found to strongly induce the production of IgG2a antibodies, whereas R‐848 (TLR7) and LPS (TLR4) did so much more weakly. In contrast, LPS, poly(I:C) and CpG DNA, but not zymosan, induced functional CD8+ T‐cell responses against OVA; peptidoglycan (TLR2/?) and R‐848 were also ineffective in stimulating cross‐priming. Experiments using IFN‐α/βR‐deficient mice showed that the induction of cross‐priming by LPS and poly(I:C) was abrogated in the absence of IFN‐α/β signalling, and induction by CpG DNA was greatly reduced. Overall, our results identify LPS as another TLR agonist that is able to generate functional cross‐priming against a soluble protein antigen. In addition, our results demonstrate that the ability of TLR stimuli to initiate CD8+ T‐cell responses against soluble protein antigens is largely dependent on the IFN‐α/β signalling pathway.
Overproduction in the Lesser Black‐backed Gull – can marginal chicks overcome the initial handicap of hatching asynchrony?
Authors: Royle Nick
Published: November 2004

In response to unpredictability of both food availability and core offspring failure, parents of many avian species initially produce more offspring than they commonly rear (overproduction). When parental investment is insufficient to raise the whole brood the handicap of hatching last means ‘marginal’ chicks are less likely to survive if brood reduction occurs. Conversely, if marginal offspring are required as replacements for failed ‘core’ chicks, or parental investment is sufficient to rear the whole brood, the handicap imposed on marginal chicks must be reversible if overproduction is to be a viable strategy. I investigated the ability of marginal offspring to overcome the handicap imposed by hatching asynchrony using a combination of a field experiment, designed to manipulate both the amount of total competition and the relative competitive ability of chicks within a brood, and data on the growth and survival of unmanipulated, three‐chick broods from three consecutive years. The results indicate that, even when resources are abundant, marginal offspring do not begin to overcome the competitive handicap imposed by hatching asynchrony until the period of growth when energetic requirements reach their peak, and subsequent survival to fledging is almost assured. This is apparently a consequence of parents controlling allocation of early parental investment, so that any brood reduction ‘decisions’ can be left as late as possible. Marginal chicks initially channel resources into maintaining mass, relative to skeletal size, as a buffer against starvation. However this also means competitiveness is reduced, so if conditions are poor marginal chicks are rapidly out‐competed, lose condition and die. Conversely, when food availability is good marginal offspring devote more resources to skeletal growth and quickly close the gap on their core siblings, meaning the handicap is reversible. The benefits of overproduction and hatching asynchrony as reproductive strategies to maximise success in Lesser Black‐backed Gulls are discussed in relation to the reproductive alternatives.
Protective effects of a free radical scavenger, MCI‐186, on high‐glucose–induced dysfunction of human dermal microvascular endothelial cells
Authors: Jiaojun Dong , Takami Yoshihiro , Tanaka Hideharu , Yamaguchi Ryo , Jingping Guo , Chun Qing , ShuLiang Lu , Shimazaki Shuji , Ogo Ken
Published: November 2004

Functional damage to microvascular endothelial cells by hyperglycemia is thought to be one of the critical risk factors in the impaired wound healing seen with diabetes mellitus. It is also thought that free radical stress plays a significant role in this endothelial cell dysfunction. In the present study, the effect of a free radical scavenger, MCI 186, on the endothelial cell dysfunction of cultured cells induced by high‐glucose conditions was studied. Human dermal microvascular endothelial cells were cultured with high‐glucose medium (50 mM) with or without MCI‐18 6 (10 μM) for 7 days. Fifty mM mannitol was used as an osmotic control in this study. After this treatment, cell proliferation, activation of mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK), the level of apoptosis, and caspase‐3 activation induced by removal of growth factors or tumor necrosis factor‐α treatment were studied. High‐glucose conditions significantly decreased cell proliferation and increased apoptosis levels with the activation of caspase‐3 induced by growth factor removal. The high‐glucose condition significantly activated MAPK. MCI‐186 treatment improved cellular proliferation and reduced apoptosis and caspase‐3 activation induced by high‐glucose conditions. MCI‐186 also inhibited the activation of MAPK. On the other hand, MCI‐186 did not alter the level of apoptosis and caspase‐3 activation induced by TNF‐α treatment. In conclusion, we suggest that MCI‐186 may be beneficial for improving the endothelial cell dysfunction induced by hyperglycemia.
Salivary flow and its relationship to oral signs and symptoms in patients with dry eyes
Authors: Koseki M , Maki Y , Matsukubo T , Ohashi Y , Tsubota K
Published: November 2004

Objectives:  The aim of this study was to investigate oral symptoms and clinical parameters in dry eye patients. Subjective reports of the sensation of a dry mouth, salivary flow rates, and clinical parameters of oral disease related to three different types of dry eye patients were examined.

Subjects and methods:  There were 224 individuals, including dry eye patients and control subjects. The dry eye patients were classified into three types: patients with Sjögren's syndrome (SS‐DE), patients without SS‐DE (non‐SS‐DE), and patients with Stevens–Johnson syndrome (SJS‐DE). Salivary flow rates were measured using two kinds of sialometry. Subjective and objective oral symptoms and signs were also examined.

Results and conclusion:  Over half of the dry eye patients complained of a dry mouth. The flow rates of their stimulated whole saliva and parotid saliva were significantly lower than those of the control groups (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). The sensation of a dry mouth and changes in oral soft tissues, dental caries, and oral Candida frequently occurred in dry eye patients.
Coffee (Coffea arabica L.) genes early expressed during infection by the rust fungus (Hemileia vastatrix)
Authors: FERNANDEZ DIANA , SANTOS PATRICIA , AGOSTINI CAROLINE , BON MARIE‐CLAUDE , PETITOT ANNE‐SOPHIE , C. SILVA MARIA , GUERRA‐GUIMARÃES LEONOR , RIBEIRO ANA , ARGOUT XAVIER , NICOLE MICHEL
Published: November 2004

The beverage cash crop coffee (Coffea arabica L.) is subject to severe losses caused by the rust fungus Hemileia vastatrix. In naturally resistant coffee plants, a specific hypersensitive reaction (HR) may be elicited early to stop fungal infection. To isolate host genes involved in HR, we undertook an expressed sequence tags (ESTs) analysis. Two cDNA libraries were constructed using suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) and 527 non‐redundant ESTs were generated from 784 randomly picked clones. Classification of the ESTs into several functional categories showed that more than one‐quarter of the predicted proteins might encode disease resistance (R) proteins, stress‐ and defence‐proteins, and components of signal transduction pathways. Twenty‐eight differentially screened sequences (DSSs) were selected after differential hybridization of 1000 cDNA clones from each library. Investigation of the expression patterns of a subset of 13 DSSs showed higher levels of gene expression in inoculated plants compared with control plants. HR‐up‐regulation of transcript accumulation occurred for 9 out of the 13 genes 24 and 48 h after H. vastatrix challenge. Two genes encoded homologues of the Arabidopsis DND1 and NDR1 proteins, suggesting conservation of resistance signalling pathways in perennial plants. Other HR‐regulated sequences matched receptor kinases, AP2 domain‐ and WRKY transcription factors, cytochromes P450, heat shock 70 proteins, glucosyltransferases and proteins of unknown function. The ESTs reported here provide a useful resource for studying coffee resistance responses and for improving C. arabica for durable disease resistance.