bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Vocabulary learning from dictionary referencing and language feedback in EFL translational writing
Authors: Bruton Anthony
Published: October 2007

A significant, but rarely posed, question in EFL writing is what new language the writers assimilate from the process. In this study, a group of intermediate EFL students in a state secondary school in Spain completed an L1(Spanish)-to-FL(English) written translation task on their own, with bilingual dictionary/glossary support. Three days later, this group received feedback on the vocabulary errors in their initial translations, consisting of giving the initial letters and dashes for the remaining letters of the correct word. They had to rewrite the initial translation with corrections, using the glossary support. A week after that, they were unexpectedly asked to translate the same text again without dictionary support or the previous translations, in a delayed post-test. The group looked up 158 items initially of which 148 or 94% were correct. Of these 148 items 106 or 72% were correctly recalled in the delayed post-test. Of the 136 items that were initially incorrect, 71 or 52% were also recalled. In total the students made mean gains of 13.6 vocabulary items. Not only is this result encouraging, but the analysis shows that a focus purely on errors is misleading as it does not reveal language gains.
Chunk learning and the development of spoken discourse in a Japanese as a foreign language classroom
Authors: Taguchi Naoko
Published: October 2007

This study examined the development of spoken discourse among L2 learners of Japanese who received extensive practice on grammatical chunks. Participants in this study were 22 college students enrolled in an elementary Japanese course. They received instruction on a set of grammatical chunks in class through communicative drills and the memorization of dialogues that contained the target chunks. The development of the students' spoken discourse was examined through spontaneous conversations and narrative tasks administered twice during the semester at five-week intervals. Results showed that the students produced twice as many grammatical chunks in the second data collection session, with a wider range of chunk types. The frequency and range of the chunks in the narrative task were about half of those recorded in the conversation task. The participants also showed increasing sensitivity to discourse features over time, suggesting that memorized chunks served as a basis for the creative construction of discourse.
Understanding relevance in the language classroom
Authors: Rose Jane
Published: October 2007

This paper reports on a study into course relevance conducted using some of the principles of Exploratory Practice (EP). I wanted to gain an understanding about how relevant the students taking my English courses perceived them to be in terms of their own lives. I also hoped to resolve some of the tensions experienced due to the differences in student and teacher perspective on what is relevant. EP emphasizes working to gain situated understandings via normal teaching practices as a collegial process, involving everyone concerned. Therefore I collected data using natural ways, compatible with life in the classroom and the school, involving both students and colleagues as co-researchers. Analysis of the data enabled me to see course relevance as part of the wider context of motivation, and also to understand that students can themselves shape a course to serve their own needs.
Muscle injuries
Authors: Middleton S.W.F. , Smith J.E.
Published: October 2007

Muscle injuries are extremely common and may have a profound effect on the individual presenting with them. They are not reserved for professional athletes or indeed athletes at all but may occur equally in those with physically demanding jobs such as builders, labourers and gardeners. The key to successful treatment is accurate diagnosis and sound professional advice, ideally involving physiotherapists and other specialists. Given time, return to pre-injury activity is likely but not guaranteed as precocious return can lead to a chronic and debilitating injury.
Geometrical and Dimensional Properties of Plain Knitted Fabrics Made from Glass Fiber Yarns for Composite Reinforcement
Authors: Wang Q.M. , Hu H.
Published: October 2007

In this study, a series of plain knitted fabrics are produced on a flat knitting machine with glass fiber yarns for composite reinforcement. Their geometrical and dimensional properties are experimentally investigated. The influences of the loop length, fabric tightness factor, and yarn linear density on the number of the courses per cm and number of the wales per cm, loop shape factor and thickness are analyzed. The fiber volume fraction is calculated from filament and fabric dimensional parameters and its relation with fabric tightness factor is discussed. It is expected that the results obtained from this work could be useful and helpful in knitted fabric composite design.
Development of Highly Breathable and Effective Blood/Viral Barrier Laminates of Microporous Films, Staple Fibers and Nonwovens
Authors: Wadsworth Larry C. , Allen H. Charles
Published: October 2007

In recent years it has been widely known that 3-ply laminates consisting of an inner core of microporous (MP) film and outer layers of spunbond (SB) or meltblown (MB) nonwovens will pass the test for resistance to penetration of synthetic blood (ASTM F 1670); whereas, SB/MB/SB (SMS) laminates will generally not pass this test. Only recently have manufactures begun to make the claim that laminates of MP film with SB and MB nonwovens pass the more rigorous test for resistance to blood-borne virus (ASTM F1671). Nevertheless, laminates developed at the Textiles and Nonwovens Development Center (TANDEC) through sponsorship from Cotton Incorporated, which consistently pass both ASTM F1670 and ASTM F 1671, were first disclosed at INDA-TEC '95.

These laminates combine one or more layers of MP film with MB and/or SB webs, as well, but a major difference is that a staple fiber "dry-layer" web is incorporated downstream of the MP film to either absorb (hydrophilic staple fiber webs) or adsorb (hydrophobic staple webs) any minute amount of virus-containing blood that may penetrate the MP film. Since our first disclosure, the mechanisms of this phenomena have been further studied by utilizing dry-layers consisting of thermally bonded 100% polypropylene (PP) staple fiber web that has been scoured (hydrophobic), scoured and plasma treated (hydrophilic), and by using dry-layer blends of 60% cotton/40% hydrophilic (wettable fiber finish) PP.
Conducting Fabrics as a Shield Against Electromagnetic Interference (EMI)
Authors: Dhawan S.K. , Koul S. , Chandra S. , Venkatachalam S.
Published: October 2007

The paper reports a method to design and develop a highly flexible EMI shielding material based on newly emerging technology of in situ grafting of conducting polymers onto insulating surfaces such as fabrics.
The Monument as Manifesto: The Pierre Charles L'Enfant Memorial, 1909-1911
Authors: Butler Sara A.
Published: October 2007

The celebrated plans of Washington, D.C., are canonical works in American planning history. The design of the tomb for Pierre Charles L'Enfant, the author of the city's original plan, however, has not received similar attention. Disguising twentieth-century advocacy as nineteenth-century homage, L'Enfant's belated commemorators shaped the memorial as propaganda supporting their quest to imprint the McMillan Plan on L'Enfant's city. The intimate connection between monument making and planning history has remained previously unrecognized by historians because the tomb's principal designers so carefully concealed their involvement. This article not only probes the authorship of the memorial and the deployment of public art to support professional ambitions but also sheds new light on the birth of the planning profession.
Normativity and Practical Judgement
Authors: O'Neill Onora
Published: October 2007

Norms are apt for reasoning because they have propositional structure and content; they are practical because they aim to guide action, rather than to describe aspects of the world. These two features hold equally of norms construed sociologically as the norms of specific social groups, and of norms conceived abstractly as principles of action. On either view, norms are indeterminate while acts are particular and determinate. Consequently norms cannot fully specify which particular act is to be done. Are they then not genuinely action-guiding unless supplemented by practical judgment? Yet accounts of practical judgement are often thin, sometimes seeing it as blind, unreasoned 'picking' of one rather than another enactment of a norm. However, on another view practical judgement carries the substantive task of seeking ways of acting that satisfy a plurality of norms, which can be both reasoned and practical.
Free Flesh: The Matrix, the War on Iraq and the Torture of Democracy
Authors: Rogers Juliet
Published: October 2007

Something is always lost to the sovereign, democratic, liberal or otherwise. This is the very function of law, but in contemporary times of (anti) terror, when obedience demands obeisance and protection from terror includes torture, it is becoming increasingly difficult in the United States, Australia and Britain to imagine a `fair and free contract' with the sovereign. What is to be done? Purchasing freedom as cars, perfume and fries performs one evasion of the violence of the sovereign decision. The collapse of signification into the product is an effective gesture to enable a liberal democratic subject to imagine it is obtaining or ingesting freedom in the cloth or, as a food group. Similarly, offering freedom as a gift to the Middle East enacts a denial or even foreclosure that speaks of freedom as if it can be administered militarily. This article discusses the mirroring of the imagery in the Wachowski brothers' Matrix Trilogy with contemporary political rhetoric in the West on the War on Iraq and on the use of torture. The momentous copulating of Trinity and Neo in Matrix Reloaded, I argue, offers both the characters and cinemagoers the promise of the birth of freedom from the white loins of the characters. This birth mirrors the promise of a birth of freedom qua capitalist democracy from the loins of the White House and further renders freedom a product or gift which can be quantified and possessed, obscuring the loss that the subject endures before the contemporary democratic sovereign. Law, Culture and the Humanities 2007; 3: 416—434
Opting for Ontological Terrorism: Freedom and Control in Grant Morrison's The Invisibles
Authors: James Nick
Published: October 2007

Anarchism is typically understood as an ideology advocating the abolition of all forms of institutional authority in favor of natural order and, as such, is easily dismissed as overly simplistic and unrealistically optimistic. A more relevant and less utopian conception of anarchism, “ontological terrorism,” is described in Grant Morrison's science-fiction comic book series The Invisibles. This paper locates The Invisibles in relation to other works of anarchist fiction, traces the evolution of Morrison's depiction of anarchism within the series from orthodox anarchism to ontological terrorism, and demonstrates how ontological terrorism subverts the dualistic relationship between freedom and control. Law, Culture and the Humanities 2007; 3: 435—454
Voicing the Shadow—Rule-playing and Roleplaying in Wraith: The Oblivion
Authors: Beattie Scott
Published: October 2007

Rules may seem restrictive, merely negative exercises of coercive power. Nevertheless rules also have a strong constitutive role—in shaping fields of practice, defining roles and enabling agency. This paper explores the theory of different rule-playing `stances' emerging from the theory of role playing games and asks if this might also have juridic or regulatory application. As context, this paper looks to the role playing game `Wraith: The Oblivion', particularly for its unique use of roles to shape identity through the `shadow' persona. Law Culture and the Humanities 2007; 3: 477—492
Improving the discharge planning process: a systems study
Authors: Mukotekwa Charity , Carson Ewart
Published: October 2007

The complexity of the discharge planning process is such that it is often difficult to achieve in a totally efficient and effective manner. In this paper a systems approach is adopted in analysing the discharge planning process in a general surgical ward in order to understand better the nature of this complexity. Adopting a soft systems methodology it is shown that the major issues to be addressed relate to the need for a more seamless service provision and more effective utilisation of resources. Conceptual models are formulated which enable comparison to be made between current provision and the issues that need to be addressed. This in turn results in the creation of an agenda of items for change, from cultural, organisational and technological perspectives, which can be considered in terms of their feasibility and desirability. Key proposals highlighted, so as to improve discharge planning, include: the need for greater co-operation between the many healthcare professions involved; the adoption, particularly on the part of nursing staff, of a more holistic approach with regard to the needs of their patients; enhancing the utilisation of nursing staff; and moving towards a greater adoption of information and communication technologies as a means of achieving more effective communication. More generally, the paper provides an example of the role that soft systems analysis can play as an aid in dealing with the complexities of healthcare processes and their management.
Vulnerable story telling: narrative research in nursing
Authors: Holloway Immy , Freshwater Dawn
Published: October 2007

The aim of this paper is to explore the notion of the vulnerable in telling their stories. There are many reasons for vulnerable people to tell their stories, some of which are described here. Through stories, participants in research come to understand their experience, legitimise their behaviour and share their emotional experience with others in holistic form which is not `fractured' or disrupted by researchers. Stories of people in physical or mental pain, or of those who experience illness and disability, are not often heard; narrative inquiry centres on their perspectives and perceptions. The authors attempt to show that in the telling of stories, research participants have the potential to regain the power to shape their own world and identity. It also demonstrates that there is more than one reality, beyond the beliefs and perspectives of health professionals. The focus of the paper is on the role of narrative research in nursing and the way in which it enhances the understanding of professionals in order to engage with vulnerability and assist vulnerable people.
Have There Been Culture Shifts in Britain?
Authors: Majima Shinobu , Savage Mike
Published: October 2007

This paper critically examines Inglehart's argument that there is a predictable shift from materialist to post-materialist values, using the British case as our focus. Using the 1981, 1990 and 1999 data for the British part of World Values Surveys, we criticize the distinction between materialist and post-materialist values. Using multiple correspondence analysis, we visualize how different attitudes are related to each other by portraying them in a multiple-dimensional space. We show that the organization of cultural values is complex, and is not easily summarized by the materialist/post-materialist dichotomy.We prefer to recognize the more politically loaded nature of attitudes by distinguishing between libertarian and authoritarian values, and between conformist and rebellious citizens. We show that there is little evidence of major change between 1981 and 1999, and indeed Britons, and especially young people, are moving slightly away from post-materialism, becoming increasingly rebellious and conscientious.
Ethno-National Pop-Rock Music
Authors: Regev Motti
Published: October 2007

Pop-rock music is portrayed as a major embodiment of the transformation of national cultural uniqueness from purist essentialism into aesthetic cosmopolitanism. Examining the local production of ethno-national pop-rock, and its public reception and legitimation through half a century, the article demonstrates how forces within the national context greatly contribute to cultural globalization. The article looks at three aspects of the rise of ethno-national pop-rock music to national legitimacy: the agency of musicians, analyzed as structurally stemming from the intersection of the field of pop-rock and the field of national culture; a four-phase, half-century long process, called here the `historical musical event' of pop-rock; and the consequence of pop-rock legitimacy for performance of national uniqueness. The general arguments and theoretical points are illustrated by detailed reference to the cases of pop-rock music in Argentina and Israel.
The Social Bonds of Cooking
Authors: Hess Andreas
Published: October 2007

In the Basque Country cooking and eating together in gastronomic societies (in Basque: txokos, in Spanish: sociedades gastronómicas) are highly popular activities. They represent a form of social bonding that has, maybe surprisingly, not been given much sociological attention. This article tries to remedy this situation. It recalls and describes the history, development and geographical distribution of the txoko; it looks into its formal organization, its unique social and culinary environment and its social functions. It concludes by suggesting that the txoko is a phenomenon that may best be studied and discussed in the context of plebeian cultures and related moral economies.
Gittinsite-type M1+-M3+-diarsenates (M1+ = Li,Na; M3+ = Al, Sc,Ga): insights into an unexpected isotypy and crystal chemistry of diarsenates
Authors: Schwendtner K. , Kolitsch U.
Published: October 2007

Hemimorphic crystals of four M1+-M3+-diarsenates (M1+ = Li, Na; M3+ = Al, Sc, Ga) were prepared by mild hydrothermal methods (T = 493 K) at very low pH values of ~1–1.5. The crystalst ructures of all compounds were determined using single-crystal X-ray diffraction data (Mo-Kα, CCD detector, 293 K) and were found to be isotypic with gittinsite (CaZrSi2O7), and the later described synthetic compound LiFeAs2O7. Crystaldat a for LiAlAs2O7, LiScAs2O7, LiGaAs2O7 and NaScAs2O7, respectively, are: space group C2 (no. 5), a = 6.583(1), 6.790(1), 6.638(1), 6.959(1), b = 8.007(2), 8.532(2), 8.181(2), 8.712(2), c = 4.635(1), 4.845(1), 4.696(1), 4.817(1) Å, β = 104.13(3), 103.75(3), 104.01(3), 102.05(3)°, V = 236.92(9), 272.64(9), 247.43(9), 285.6(1) Å3; Z = 2. The structure models were refined anisotropically to R1(F) = 0.0152, 0.0157, 0.0144, 0.0199, respectively.

The non-centrosymmetric framework structure contains isolated As2O7 groups (in staggered configuration; As–O–As angles show a narrow range between 130.32(16) and 139.8(2)°) which share their O ligands with MO6 (M = Al, Sc, Ga) octahedra and distorted Li/NaO4 tetrahedra. The strongly distorted LiO4 tetrahedra exhibit an average Li–O bond length of 2.071 Å, but four longer Li–O bonds (between 2.781–3.042 Å) also contribute to give a reasonable bond-valence sum for the Li atoms, and reflect an effective [4+4]-coordination. The Na compound is also characterized by four short and four long Na–O bonds; the Na atom appears slightly overbonded. The average Sc–O bond length in the two Sc representatives is 2.083 and 2.097 Å.

Details of the topology and crystal chemistry are discussed in comparison with those of gittinsite and other diarsenates, and correlations are noted. A reevaluation of the geometry of As2O7 groups in 58 presently known and structurally characterized inorganic diarsenates shows a mean As–O–As angle of 124.2° (excluding 180° angles). The As–O bond lengths to the central bridging O atom are elongated to a mean value of 1.755 Å, whereas all other bond lengths are shortened (mean value 1.666 Å); the overall mean As–O bond length is 1.688 Å.
Infrared reflectance of single-crystal jarandolite, CaB3O4(OH)3
Authors: Nikolić P. M. , Đurić S. , Paraskevopoulos K. M. , Zorba T. T. , Luković D. , Savić S. , Blagojević V. , Nikolić M. V.
Published: October 2007

Polarized far- and mid-infrared reflectance spectra were measured at room temperature for the new mineral species jarandolite, CaB3O4(OH)3, for the two principal directions. Thirty three vibration modes for and 32 for were observed and analysed numerically. Symmetry analysis predicts 41 and 40 vibration modes that include lattice and O–H modes. Mode assignment was made based on the structure of jarandolite. The values of the mode frequencies (ωTO), the damping factors (γ) and the oscillator strength (S) of each oscillator were obtained by fitting to a Lorentz model.
True and brittle micas: composition and solid-solution series
Authors: Tischendorf G. , Förster H.-J. , Gottesmann B. , Rieder M.
Published: October 2007

Micas incorporate a wide variety of elements in their crystal structures. Elements occurring in significant concentrations in micas include: Si,IVAl,IVFe3+, B and Be in the tetrahedral sheet; Ti,VIAl,VIFe3+, Mn3+, Cr, V, Fe2+, Mn2+, Mg and Li in the octahedral sheet; K, Na, Rb, Cs, NH4, Ca and Ba in the interlayer; and O, OH, F, Cl and S as anions. Extensive substitutions within these groups of elements form compositionally varied micas as members of different solid-solution series. The most common true K micas (94% of almost 6750 mica analyses) belong to three dominant solid-solution series (phlogopite–annite, siderophyllite–polylithionite and muscovite–celadonite). Theirclassification parameters include: Mg/(Mg+Fetot) [=Mg#] formicas withVIR >2.5 a.p.f.u. andVIAl <0.5 a.p.f.u.; Fetot/(Fetot+Li) [=Fe#] formicas withVIR >2.5 a.p.f.u. andVIAl >0.5 a.p.f.u.; andVIAl/(VIAl+Fetot+Mg) [=Al#] formicas withVIR <2.5 a.p.f.u. The common true K micas plot predominantly within and between these series and have Mg6Li <0.3 a.p.f.u. Tainiolite is a mica with Mg6Li >0.7 a.p.f.u., or, fortr ansitional stages, 0.3–0.7 a.p.f.u. Some true K mica end-members, especially phlogopite, annite and muscovite, form binary solid solutions with non-K true micas and with brittle micas (6% of the micas studied). Graphical presentation of true K micas using the coordinates Mg minus Li (=mgli) and VIFetot+Mn+Ti minusVIAl (= feal) depends on theirclassification according toVIR andVIAl, complemented with the 50/50 rule.
α2-Macroglobulin binds CpG oligodeoxynucleotides and enhances their immunostimulatory properties by a receptor-dependent mechanism
Authors: Anderson Ryan B , Cianciolo George J , Kennedy Margaret N , Pizzo Salvatore V
Published: October 2007

CpG oligodeoxynucleotides (ODN) stimulate the immune system and are under evaluation as treatments and vaccine adjuvants for infectious diseases, cancer, and immune system disorders. Although they have shown promising results in numerous clinical trials, the ultimate use of CpG ODN-based therapeutics may hinge on improved pharmacokinetics and reduced systemic side-effects. CpG ODN efficacy and potency might be enhanced greatly by packaging them into particles that protect them from degradation and specifically target them for uptake by immune-competent cells. The plasma proteinase inhibitor α2-macroglobulin (α2M) binds numerous biologically active macromolecules, including cytokines, chemokines, and growth factors, and can modulate their activity. Molecules bound to α2M are protected from interactions with neighboring macromolecules and are targeted for receptor-mediated uptake by immune-competent cells. Here, we report that activated α2M (α2M∗) binds CpG ODN and enhances their immunostimulatory properties significantly. Murine macrophages treated with α2M∗-ODN complexes respond more rapidly and produce a greater cytokine response than induced by free CpG ODN. Using human PBMC, α2M∗-ODN complexes exhibit fourfold enhanced potency and 15-fold greater efficacy for stimulating production of inflammatory cytokines. α2M∗ targets delivery of CpG ODN specifically to immune-competent cells, which endocytose the complexes sixfold more rapidly than free CpG ODN. CpG ODN bound to α2M∗ are also protected from degradation by nucleases. This novel targeting technology may improve CpG ODN-based therapeutics by increasing efficacy at reduced doses, thus reducing side-effects and cost.
American Society of Clinical Oncology Guideline: Recommendations for Venous Thromboembolism Prophylaxis and Treatment in Patients With Cancer
Authors: Lyman Gary H. , Khorana Alok A. , Falanga Anna , Clarke-Pearson Daniel , Flowers Christopher , Jahanzeb Mohammad , Kakkar Ajay , Kuderer Nicole M. , Levine Mark N. , Liebman Howard , Mendelson David , Raskob Gary , Somerfield Mark R. , Thodiyil Paul , Trent David , Francis Charles W.
Published: October 2007

Purpose

To develop guideline recommendations for the use of anticoagulation in the prevention and treatment of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in patients with cancer.

Methods

A comprehensive systematic review of the medical literature on the prevention and treatment of VTE in cancer patients was conducted and reviewed by a panel of content and methodology experts. Following discussion of the results, the panel drafted recommendations for the use of anticoagulation in patients with malignant disease.

Results

The results of randomized controlled trials of primary and secondary VTE medical prophylaxis, surgical prophylaxis, VTE treatment, and the impact of anticoagulation on survival of patients with cancer were reviewed. Recommendations were developed on the prevention of VTE in hospitalized, ambulatory, and surgical cancer patients as well as patients with established VTE, and for use of anticoagulants in cancer patients without VTE to improve survival.

Conclusion

Recommendations of the American Society of Clinical Oncology VTE Guideline Panel include (1) all hospitalized cancer patients should be considered for VTE prophylaxis with anticoagulants in the absence of bleeding or other contraindications; (2) routine prophylaxis of ambulatory cancer patients with anticoagulation is not recommended, with the exception of patients receiving thalidomide or lenalidomide; (3) patients undergoing major surgery for malignant disease should be considered for pharmacologic thromboprophylaxis; (4) low molecular weight heparin represents the preferred agent for both the initial and continuing treatment of cancer patients with established VTE; and (5) the impact of anticoagulants on cancer patient survival requires additional study and cannot be recommended at present.
“A Very Knowing American”: The Inca Garcilaso de La Vega and Swift's Modest Proposal
Authors: Ross Ian Campbell
Published: October 2007

Ian Campbell Ross is a fellow of Trinity College, Dublin. His books include a coedited collection, Locating Swift: Essays from Dublin on the 250th Anniversary of the Death of Jonathan Swift, 1667-1745 (1998), and Laurence Sterne: A Life (2001). He is author of numerous essays on eighteenth-century literature, including “Prose in English, 1690-1800” in The Cambridge History of Irish Literature (2006). He has introduced, and translated from the Italian, Gian Gaspare Napolitano's To War with the Black Watch (2007).
Henry Mackenzie's Report on Ossian: Cultural Authority in Transition
Authors: Manning Susan
Published: October 2007

Susan Manning is Grierson Professor of English Literature and director of the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Edinburgh. Her most recent works are Fragments of Union: Making Connections in Scottish and American Writing (2002); a three-volume Edinburgh History of Scottish Literature (2006), edited with Ian Brown, Thomas Owen Clancy, and Murray Pittock; and the Transatlantic Literary Studies Reader (2007), edited with Andrew Taylor. Her next book is tentatively titled Lateral Literary History.
Valencia's Verlaine: The Social History of a Colombian Verse
Authors: García José María Rodríguez
Published: October 2007

José María Rodríguez García is assistant professor of Spanish at Cornell University. He is author of some fifty scholarly articles and editor of “Literary into Cultural Translation,” a special double issue of Diacritics (2004).
Rapid Synthesis of Biodiesel Fuels at Room Temperature in the Presence of Dimethyl Ether
Authors: Guan Guoqing , Kusakabe Katsuki , Sakurai Nozomi , Moriyama Kimiko
Published: October 2007

Vegetable oil such as corn, sunflower, rapeseed, soybean, and palm oil was completely transesterified into biodiesel fuel at short time because of high mass-transfer rate in the homogeneous solution formed by adding environmental-friendly solvent of dimethyl ether (DME).
Gene Expression Profiling in Paget's Disease of Bone: Upregulation of Interferon Signaling Pathways in Pagetic Monocytes and Lymphocytes
Authors: Nagy Zsolt B , Gergely Péter , Donáth Judit , Borgulya Gábor , Csanád Mónika , Poór Gyula
Published: October 2007

We examined the gene expression profile of genes involved in bone metabolism in 23 patients with PD compared with 23 healthy controls. We found a significant overexpression of the genes of the IFN pathway along with a downregulation of tnf-α. Our result suggest that IFN-mediated signaling may play important roles in aberrant osteoclastogenesis of PD.

Introduction: Paget's disease of bone (PD) is characterized by focal regions of highly exaggerated bone remodeling and aberrant osteoclastogenesis. Under physiological conditions, circulating monocytes may serve as early progenitors of osteoclasts and along with peripheral blood lymphocytes produce a wide variety of factors important in bone metabolism. Nevertheless, little is known about the roles of circulating monocytes and lymphocytes in relation to the pathological bone turnover in PD.

Materials and Methods: In this study, we aimed at investigating the gene expression pattern of PD using quantitative real-time PCR in monocytes and lymphocytes isolated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Fifteen genes known to be involved in osteoclastogenesis were studied in cells from 23 patients with PD and in cells from 23 healthy controls. Eight human genes including ifn-α (3.48-fold, p < 0.001), ifn-β (2.68-fold, p < 0.001), ifn-γ (1.98-fold, p = 0.002), p38 β2 mapk (2.47-fold, p = 0.002), ifn-γr1 (2.03-fold, p = 0.01), ifn-γr2 (1.81-fold, p = 0.02), stat1 (1.57-fold, p = 0.037), and tnf-α (−2.34, p < 0.001) were found to be significantly altered in pagetic monocytes compared with monocytes of healthy controls.

Results: In pagetic lymphocytes, significant changes in the expression of ifn-α (2.17-fold, p < 0.001), ifn-β (2.13-fold, p = 0.005), ifn-γ (1.89-fold, p < 0.001), ifn-γr1 (1.02-fold, p = 0.04), ifn-γr2 (1.01-fold, p = 0.031), stat2 (1.79-fold, p < 0.001), and tnf-α (−1.49, p < 0.001) were found compared with lymphocytes of healthy controls. Furthermore, IFN-γ protein was significantly elevated in the sera of PD patients (18.7 ± 6.69 pg/ml) compared with healthy controls (3.87 ± 6.48 pg/ml, p = 0.042).

Conclusions: In conclusion, our data suggest that novel pathways mainly related to the IFN-mediated signaling may play important roles in the aberrant osteoclastogenesis of PD.
Risedronate Reduces Osteoclast Precursors and Cytokine Production in Postmenopausal Osteoporotic Women
Authors: D'Amelio Patrizia , Grimaldi Anastasia , Di Bella Stefania , Tamone Cristina , Brianza Stefano ZM , Ravazzoli Marco GA , Bernabei Paola , Cristofaro Maria Angela , Pescarmona Gian Piero , Isaia Giancarlo
Published: October 2007

This paper studies the effect of oral risedronate on osteoclast precursors, osteoclast formation, and cytokine production in 25 osteoporotic women. Risedronate is effective in reducing the number of osteoclast precursors, their formation, vitality, and activity and the level of RANKL and TNF-α in cultures.

Introduction: Bisphosphonates inhibit bone resorption by acting against osteoclasts. Some in vitro studies suggest that they induce osteoclast apoptosis; others suggest that they exert an effect on the production of pro-osteoclastogenic cytokines. The effect of risedronate on osteoclastogenesis by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in postmenopausal osteoporosis has not been previously studied. This paper examined the influence of risedronate on the formation of osteoclast precursors and cytokine production within the compass of osteoclastogenesis in osteoporosis.

Materials and Methods: This study was conducted on 38 osteoporotic women; 25 patients were treated with risedronate 5 mg/d, whereas 13 were treated with calcium 1 g/d and vitamin D 800 UI/d. The following parameters were assessed: changes in bone turnover, circulating osteoclast precursors, formation of osteoclasts in PBMC cultures, their activity and vitality, and variations in the production of pro-osteoclastogenic cytokines before and after therapy.

Results: After 3 mo of risedronate, there was a significant reduction in the number and degree of differentiation of osteoclast precursors, osteoclast formation, vitality and activity, and in the level of RANKL and TNF in cultures and of TNF and osteoprotegerin (OPG) in serum, whereas in the group treated with calcium and vitamin D, there were no significant changes.

Conclusions: Our data show that risedronate is effective in lowering the number of circulating osteoclast precursors, their formation, vitality, and activity in cultures, and in reducing the level of pro-osteoclastogenic cytokines in culture supernatants and in serum.
Bivariate Whole Genome Linkage Analyses for Total Body Lean Mass and BMD
Authors: Wang Xiang-Li , Deng Fei-Yan , Tan Li-Jun , Deng Hong-Yi , Liu Yao-Zhong , Papasian Christopher J , Recker Robert R , Deng Hong-Wen
Published: October 2007

A genome-wide bivariate analysis was conducted for TBLM and BMD at the spine and hip in a large white sample. We found some QTLs shared by TBLM and BMD in the entire sample and the sex-specific subgroups, and QTLs with potential pleiotropy were disclosed.

Introduction: Previous studies suggested that total body lean mass (TBLM) and BMD are highly genetically correlated. However, the specific shared genetic factors between TBLM and BMD are unknown.

Materials and Methods: To identify the specific quantitative trait loci (QTLs) shared by TBLM and BMD at the spine (L1–L4) and total hip, we performed bivariate whole genome linkage analysis (WGLA) in a large sample involving 4498 white subjects of European origin.

Results: Multipoint bivariate linkage analyses for 22 autosomes showed evidence of significant linkage with an LOD score of 4.86 at chromosome region 15q13 for TBLM and spine BMD in women, and suggestive linkage findings (LOD > 2.2) at 7p22 for TBLM and spine BMD for the entire sample, at 7q32 for TBLM and BMD at both spine and hip in women, and at 7q21 and 13p11 for TBLM and BMD at both spine and hip in men. Two-point linkage analyses for chromosome X also showed significant linkage signals at several regions such as Xq25. Complete pleiotropy (a single locus influencing both traits) was suggested at 7q32 and 13q11 for TBLM and BMD. Additionally, complete co-incident linkage (separate tightly clustered loci each influencing a single trait) was detected at 7p22 for TBLM and spine BMD.

Conclusions: We identified several genomic regions shared by TBLM and BMD in whites. Further studies may focus on fine mapping and identification of the specific QTLs in these candidate genomic regions.
Use of KLST-Type Miniature Charpy Specimens for Measuring Dynamic Fracture Toughness under Impact Loading Rates
Authors: Lucon Enrico , Scibetta Marc
Published: October 2007

The knowledge of dynamic mechanical properties is useful in all cases where the strain rate sensitivity of metallic materials is an issue, and whenever the actual loading conditions for a structure (either in normal operation or under accidental circumstances) are different from static. Furthermore, in some investigations, increasing the loading rate in a mechanical test is used to simulate other embrittling mechanisms such as thermal aging or neutron exposure. Precracked Charpy-type (PCVN) specimens, tested under impact loading rates using an instrumented pendulum, have been used for more than 30 years to measure dynamic fracture toughness; the experimental procedure and the analysis methodology are fairly well established, despite the lack of an ASTM or ISO official test standard. This paper addresses the applicability of fatigue precracked miniature Charpy specimens of KLST type (PKLST-B = 3 mm, W = 4 mm and L = 27 mm) for impact toughness measurements in the ductile-to-brittle transition regime and in fully ductile (upper shelf) conditions. In the transition region, tests have been analyzed using the Master Curve approach; the multiple-specimen (low-blow) method has been applied in the upper shelf regime. A well-known and fully characterized reactor pressure vessel steel of the A533B Cl.1 type (JRQ) has been used; the results obtained have been compared with data previously obtained from standard-size precracked Charpy specimens. It has been found that under impact loading conditions PKLST specimens suffer significant loss of constraint when compared to conventional precracked Charpy V-notch samples, in both transition and upper shelf conditions.
Suicide Prevention in the Psychiatric Hospital
Authors: Matakas Frank , Rohrbach Elisabeth
Published: October 2007

It is currently impossible to distinguish between patients with depression who will make a suicide attempt and those who will not. Prevention, therefore, must be based on the assumption that any patient with more than mild symptoms of depression is at risk of suicide, and can only be effective if it is applicable to all patients with moderate to severe depression. A treatment strategy that differentiated between regressive and progressive therapeutic measures was developed for patients admitted to a psychiatric hospital. Regressive, as opposed to progressive, treatment meant that the patient was temporarily relieved of virtually all responsibilities for self and others. Progressive measures were strictly avoided for all patients with symptoms of depression, regardless of the primary diagnosis. This strategy was tested on 5,149 inpatients and day patients over a period of 6.25 years and compared with 6,891 patients over the 15.75 years prior to this period. The suicide rate was 97 (per 100,000 admissions) compared with 319 in the previous period. The treatment method appears to be able to reduce the suicide rate. Although this result was achieved with hospital patients, it suggests that a regressive treatment method could be promising if developed for outpatient treatment as well.
Gun Safety Management with Patients at Risk for Suicide
Authors: Simon Robert I.
Published: October 2007

Guns in the home are associated with a five‐fold increase in suicide. All patients at risk for suicide must be asked if guns are available at home or easily accessible elsewhere, or if they have intent to buy or purchase a gun. Gun safety management requires a collaborative team approach including the clinician, patient, and designated person responsible for removing guns from the home. A call‐back to the clinician from the designated person is required confirming that guns have been removed and secured according to plan. The principle of gun safety management applies to outpatients, inpatients, and emergency patients, although its implementation varies according to the clinical setting.
Emotional Antecedents and Consequences of Deliberate Self‐Harm and Suicide Attempts
Authors: Chapman Alexander L. , Dixon‐Gordon Katherine L.
Published: October 2007

Emotional experiences immediately prior to (emotional antecedents) and following (emotional consequences) deliberate self‐harm and suicide attempts in female inmates (N= 63) were examined. Anger was the antecedent emotion reported by the largest proportion of individuals who had engaged in deliberate self‐harm (45.16%), suicide attempts (40.9%), and ambivalent suicide attempts (30%). Relief and other positive emotional shifts were more common in deliberate self‐harm (41.94%) (involving no intent to die) than in suicide attempts or ambivalent suicide attempts, particularly for persons with borderline personality disorder. These findings underscore the utility of discriminating between deliberate self‐harm and suicidal behavior and highlight the potential role of anger in triggering such behaviors.
Unfinished Considerations: Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony in the Context of His Beethoven Project
Authors: Gingerich John
Published: October 2007

Schubert finished only the first two movements of his B-Minor Symphony (D. 759), and they remained unseen and unheard for the last six years of his life, indeed until 1865. The best available evidence indicates that he sent his only score to the Music Society in Graz sometime after September 1823, and that from that point on, at the latest, he had given up any plans to complete the two remaining movements. But why?

At least part of the answer is to be found in several consistent patterns Schubert followed in the conduct of his career. He did not return to unfinished works after he had laid them aside for a period of several months; the only exception to this pattern is the Mass in Ab. And not until early 1824 did Schubert begin to seek publication or public performance for newly composed works in the large multi-movement instrumental genres--in Beethoven's genres. Finally, in October 1822, the date on the score of the B-Minor Symphony, Schubert could have had no reasonable expectation of a full performance of a four-movement symphony, in Vienna or anywhere else, by an orchestra of adequate quality. His subsequent hopes and exertions for a performance of a symphony, for his "Great" C-Major Symphony, proved illusory and unavailing, even after he had become much better established.
Elektra's Oceanic Time: Voice and Identity in Richard Strauss
Authors: Wikshåland Ståle
Published: October 2007

Perhaps more than any other opera by Strauss, Elektra is a drama about the sense of hearing. It belongs to the phantasmagoric realm of listening, and it affirms, like few other operas, the power of music alone to fire up the listener's imagination. In this sense, it renders the transitions between its own different layers of reality, between the here and now of Elektra's agony and her reliving of her father's murder at the hands of her mother and her mother's lover, in a way that obscures the borderline between that terrible past and the soon to be horrible present. The article investigates these transitions in the opera.

The crime against her father, Agamemnon, has burned itself into her soul, and it directs all her experience afterward. Elektra's retribution of the past injustice is no more than an imagined restoration. Her revenge remains a private matter; it does not resurrect any moral order and does not re-create the basis for a new community. The radicalism of this lack of morality is overwhelming, especially if we consider that Hofmannsthal's libretto departs from Sophocles only on this main point.

A different notion of time, articulated through Strauss's music, strikes through the ongoing present, takes hold of it, and becomes predominant. This is the time in which Elektra lives. We witness a strange battle between remembrance and forgetting as Elektra's present actions are driven wholly by the effort to forget the present in order to restore the past. All is in vain, of course, because it is impossible to reverse time. Everything is too late. This belatedness becomes Elektra's destiny.

Directors often lean heavily on Elektra's resolution of her predicament in the fulfillment of full-blown revenge, which ends with a going out of time at the very moment when the border between lived real time and fantasy time collapses. Yet what if emphasis were placed elsewhere? The article raises this question as a pressing one, in connection with Peter Konwitschny's staging of Elektra in the new theater of the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen, February 2005. In Konwitschny's staging, the decisive event, the precipitating trauma, is no longer, as in Strauss and Hofmannsthal, something that has long since happened when the curtain rises and that rules every succeeding event from an inaccessible point in past time. Instead, the precipitating trauma is drawn into the opera itself. The article tries to show how this interpretation has consequences that change the work. Elektra's destiny does not become less shocking, but rather shocks us in a different manner.
Management of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders
Authors: Myers Scott M. , Johnson Chris Plauché ,   the Council on Children With Disabilities
Published: October 2007

Pediatricians have an important role not only in early recognition and evaluation of autism spectrum disorders but also in chronic management of these disorders. The primary goals of treatment are to maximize the child's ultimate functional independence and quality of life by minimizing the core autism spectrum disorder features, facilitating development and learning, promoting socialization, reducing maladaptive behaviors, and educating and supporting families. To assist pediatricians in educating families and guiding them toward empirically supported interventions for their children, this report reviews the educational strategies and associated therapies that are the primary treatments for children with autism spectrum disorders. Optimization of health care is likely to have a positive effect on habilitative progress, functional outcome, and quality of life; therefore, important issues, such as management of associated medical problems, pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic intervention for challenging behaviors or coexisting mental health conditions, and use of complementary and alternative medical treatments, are also addressed.
Global Climate Change and Children's Health
Authors:   Committee on Environmental Health
Published: October 2007

This Policy Statement was revised. See https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2023-065504.

There is broad scientific consensus that Earth's climate is warming rapidly and at an accelerating rate. Human activities, primarily the burning of fossil fuels, are very likely (>90% probability) to be the main cause of this warming. Climate-sensitive changes in ecosystems are already being observed, and fundamental, potentially irreversible, ecological changes may occur in the coming decades. Conservative environmental estimates of the impact of climate changes that are already in process indicate that they will result in numerous health effects to children. The nature and extent of these changes will be greatly affected by actions taken or not taken now at the global level.

Physicians have written on the projected effects of climate change on public health, but little has been written specifically on anticipated effects of climate change on children's health. Children represent a particularly vulnerable group that is likely to suffer disproportionately from both direct and indirect adverse health effects of climate change. Pediatric health care professionals should understand these threats, anticipate their effects on children's health, and participate as children's advocates for strong mitigation and adaptation strategies now. Any solutions that address climate change must be developed within the context of overall sustainability (the use of resources by the current generation to meet current needs while ensuring that future generations will be able to meet their needs). Pediatric health care professionals can be leaders in a move away from a traditional focus on disease prevention to a broad, integrated focus on sustainability as synonymous with health.

This policy statement is supported by a technical report that examines in some depth the nature of the problem of climate change, likely effects on children's health as a result of climate change, and the critical importance of responding promptly and aggressively to reduce activities that are contributing to this change.