bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Bacterial populations and environmental factors controlling cellulose degradation in an acidicSphagnumpeat
Authors: Pankratov Timofey A. , Ivanova Anastasia O. , Dedysh Svetlana N. , Liesack Werner
Published: May 2011

Northern peatlands represent a major global carbon store harbouring approximately one‐third of the global reserves of soil organic carbon. A large proportion of these peatlands consists of acidicSphagnum‐dominated ombrotrophic bogs, which are characterized by extremely low rates of plant debris decomposition. The degradation of cellulose, the major component ofSphagnum‐derived litter, was monitored in long‐term incubation experiments with acidic (pH 4.0) peat extracts. This process was almost undetectable at 10°C and occurred at low rates at 20°C, while it was significantly accelerated at both temperature regimes by the addition of available nitrogen. Cellulose breakdown was only partially inhibited in the presence of cycloheximide, suggesting that bacteria participated in this process. We aimed to identify these bacteria by a combination of molecular and cultivation approaches and to determine the factors that limit their activityin situ. The indigenous bacterial community in peat was dominated byAlphaproteobacteriaandAcidobacteria. The addition of cellulose induced a clear shift in the community structure towards an increase in the relative abundance of theBacteroidetes. Increasing temperature and nitrogen availability resulted in a selective development of bacteria phylogenetically related toCytophaga hutchinsonii(94–95% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity), which densely colonized microfibrils of cellulose. Among isolates obtained from this community only some subdivision 1Acidobacteriawere capable of degrading cellulose, albeit at a very slow rate. TheseAcidobacteriarepresent indigenous cellulolytic members of the microbial community in acidic peat and are easily out‐competed byCytophaga‐like bacteria under conditions of increased nitrogen availability. Members of the phylumFirmicutes, known to be key players in cellulose degradation in neutral habitats, were not detected in the cellulolytic community enriched at low pH.
Global quantification of contrasting leaf life span strategies for deciduous and evergreen species in response to environmental conditions
Authors: van Ommen Kloeke A. E. E. , Douma J. C. , Ordoñez J. C. , Reich P. B. , van Bodegom P. M.
Published: May 2011

Aim  Species with deciduous and evergreen leaf habits typically differ in leaf life span (LLS). Yet quantification of the response of LLS, within each habit, to key environmental conditions is surprisingly lacking. The aim of this study is to quantify LLS strategies of the two leaf habits under varying temperature, moisture and nutrient conditions, using a global database. We hypothesize that deciduous LLS reflects the length of the growing season, avoiding unfavourable conditions regardless of the cause. Evergreen species adjust to unfavourable periods and amortize lower net carbon gains over several growing seasons, with increasing LLS associated with increasingly short favourable versus unfavourable season lengths.

Location  Global.

Methods  Data on LLS and environmental variables were compiled from global datasets for 189 deciduous and 506 evergreen species across 83 study locations. Individual and combined effects of measures of seasonality of temperature, water and nutrient availability on length of the growing season and on LLS were quantified using linear mixed models. The best models for predicting LLS were obtained using Akaike's information criterion (AIC) and ΔAIC.

Results  The LLS of deciduous and evergreen species showed opposite responses to changes in environmental conditions. Under unfavourable conditions, deciduous LLS decreases while evergreen LLS increases. A measure of temperature alone was the best predictor of the growing season. The LLS of deciduous species was independent of environmental conditions after expressing LLS in relation to the number of growing seasons. Evergreen species, on the other hand, adjusted to unfavourable conditions by increasing LLS up to four growing seasons. Contrary to expectations, variation in LLS was best explained solely by temperature, instead of by combined measures of temperature, moisture and nutrient availability. Shifts in the photosynthesis to respiration balance might provide a physiological explanation.

Main conclusions  Temperature, and not drought or nutrient availability, is the primary driver of contrasting responses of LLS for different leaf habit types.
Not a museum but a cultural journey: Skwxwú7mesh political affect
Authors: TOWNSEND‐GAULT CHARLOTTE
Published: May 2011

The Skwxwú7mesh or Squamish, a Coast Salish people, are one of the Four Host First Nations who constituted themselves into a supra‐national corporate entity for the purpose of promoting, and protecting, their cultures during the 2010 Winter Olympics. The Sea to Sky Highway, carrying Olympic traffic between the sports venues of Vancouver and Whistler, runs through their un‐ceded territory. The Skwxwú7mesh have merged the natural spectacle of the coastal highway with the high‐speed affect of their own cultural spectacle. The intricate spatialized and affective dimensions of the modes and materials of cultural disclosure, and retention, along what the Skwxwú7mesh are calling a ‘cultural highway’ establish links between topography, flora, and fauna that reinforce incontrovertible rights. The strategy flouts anxieties about the exploitative spectacularization of the Native while raising new ones about national display, the embedded Olympics, neoliberal ‘economic uncertainty’, and the ethnic essentialism inseparable from British Columbia's high‐stakes contemporary Treaty Process.

Les Skwxwú7mesh ou Squamish, un peuple salish de la côte, font partie des Four Host First Nations, quatre tribus des Premières nations qui se sont constituées en personnalité juridique supranationale afin de promouvoir et de protéger leur culture pendant les Jeux Olympiques d’Hiver 2010. L’autoroute « Sea to Sky Highway », reliant les sites olympiques de Vancouver et de Whistler, traverse leur territoire non aliéné. Les Skwxwú7mesh ont combiné le spectacle naturel de cette autoroute côtière avec l’affect pour la grande vitesse de leur propre spectacle culturel. Les dimensions spatialisées et affectives complexes des modes et des matériaux de la révélation et de la rétention culturelle, associées à ce que les Skwxwú7mesh appellent une « autoroute culturelle », créent des liens entre topographie, flore et faune et renforcent ainsi leurs droits incontestables. Cette stratégie atténue l’anxiété liée à l’exploitation spectaculaire des Peuples natifs, tout en suscitant de nouvelles inquiétudes sur la visibilité nationale, l’empiètement des Jeux Olympiques, « l’incertitude économique » du néolibéralisme et l’essentialisme ethnique indissociable du processus, chargé d’enjeux, de négociation de traités en cours en Colombie‐Britannique.
Witnessing history/embodying testimony: gender and memory in post‐apartheid South Africa
Authors: COOMBES ANNIE E.
Published: May 2011

This paper explores two very different contexts in South Africa where witnessing and secondary witnessing have a special impact on the nature of national memorialization: women's narrative accounts of their prison experiences; and therapeutic initiatives around HIV/AIDS. It asks whether experiences related through testimony of one kind or another can be embodied in forms which might enable access for non‐participants, especially since the power of witnessing relies so heavily on qualities of voice and performance. What would be an adequate and relevant form which might translate personal trauma into a publicly accessible and affective monument or memorial? And if, unlike most of the public commemorative initiatives in South Africa since 1994, we take gender into consideration, is there anything particular about aspects of women's experience that might influence such a decision? Is it possible for us as non‐participants to adopt an ethical viewing position in relation to this material which takes on board both Susan Sontag's caution about voyeurism and Gayatri Spivak's insistence on the importance of listening without engaging in a necessarily narcissistic empathy that might obliterate the speaker's right to an incommensurable experience?

L’article étudie deux contextes très différents en Afrique du Sud, dans lesquels le témoignage et le témoignage secondaire ont un effet spécifique sur la nature de la mise en mémoire nationale : les récits de prison faits par des femmes et les initiatives thérapeutiques contre le VIH et le SIDA. L’auteure se demande s’il est possible de donner aux expériences reliées par l’un ou l’autre type de témoignage une forme qui les rendrait accessibles à ceux qui n’y ont pas été impliqués, d’autant plus que la puissance du témoignage doit beaucoup aux qualités de la voix et de la performance. Quelle forme pourrait être adéquate et pertinente pour traduire le traumatisme personnel en mémorial affectif accessible à tous ? Si, contrairement à la plupart des commémorations publiques en Afrique du Sud depuis 1994, on prend le sexe en compte, y a‐t‐il quelque chose de particulier dans l’expérience des femmes qui pourrait influer sur cette décision ? Est‐il possible que ceux qui n’ont pas été impliqués adoptent une position de spectateurs éthiques par rapport à ce qui est présenté, en intégrant à la fois la mise en garde contre le voyeurisme de Susan Sontag et l’insistance de Gayatri Spivak sur l’importance d’écouter sans s’engager dans une empathie nécessairement narcissique, qui pourrait occulter le droit du narrateur à une expérience sans commune mesure avec celle des autres ?
Social relationships and digital relationships: rethinking the database at the Vanuatu Cultural Centre
Authors: GEISMAR HAIDY , MOHNS WILLIAM
Published: May 2011

In this paper, we seek to unravel and interrogate the aesthetics of the museum database, and the links between digital and social relationships within the museum and beyond, using as a case study the development of an integrated database system for the Vanuatu Cultural Centre, or Vanuatu Kaljoral Senta (VKS). The VKS database both draws relationships of knowledge, practice, and collection into view and generates connections in a newly national trilingual space. We ask: What are the implications of mapping the social onto the digital and vice versa? What is the efficacy of digital connectivity on museum practices, and other social networks? Does the digital domain create a new national aesthetic of connection and relationality, and how might we rethink the nation in this new aesthetic frame? How do digital relationships affect the production of new collections and new relations to the object world? How does this electronic infrastructure generate or perpetuate hierarchies of knowledge and the political economy of information?

A partir d’une étude de cas sur le développement d’un système de base de données intégré pour le Centre culturel du Vanuatu (Vanuatu Kaljoral Senta – VKS), les auteurs s’efforcent d’éclaircir et de questionner l’esthétique de cette base de données ainsi que les liens entre relations numériques et sociales à l’intérieur de ce musée et au‐delà. La base de données du VKS met en évidence des relations entre savoir, pratique et collection et crée des liens dans un nouvel espace national trilingue. Quelles sont les implications d’une cartographie du social dans le numérique, et vice versa ? Quelle est l’efficacité d’une connexion numérique aux pratiques du musée et aux autres réseaux sociaux ? Le domaine numérique crée‐t‐il une nouvelle esthétique nationale des connexions et des relations, et comment peut‐on repenser la nation dans ce nouveau cadre esthétique ? Comment les relations numériques affectent‐elles la production de nouvelles collections et de nouvelles relations au monde des objets ? Comment cette infrastructure électronique génère ou perpétue‐t‐elle les hiérarchies du savoir et l’économie politique de l’information ?
Which Factors Safeguard Employment?: An Analysis with Misclassified German Register Data
Authors: Wichert Laura , Wilke Ralf A.
Published: May 2011

We analyse the main determinants of the transition from a job into unemployment by using individual administrative data from Germany. Although the sample size is large and the information that is used for operations is often highly accurate, variables which are not required by the administration but used for the statistical analysis are subject to considerable measurement error. We show that the high degree of misclassification can even persist after comprehensive logical editing and imputation rules have been applied. We find that the measurement error has a sizable effect on our estimation results. Long tenure rather than a higher educational qualification appears to be the key ingredient for a safe job in Germany.
KEEPING TRACK OF THE GETTIER PROBLEM
Authors: BERNECKER SVEN
Published: May 2011

This paper argues that for someone to know propositionpinferentially it is not enough that his belief inpand his justification for believingpcovary with the truth ofpthrough a sphere of possibilities. A further condition on inferential knowledge is thatp's truth‐maker is identical with, or causally related to, the state of affairs the justification is grounded in. This position is dubbed ‘identificationism.’
FREGE'S CONTEXT PRINCIPLE: AN INTERPRETATION
Authors: KIM JOONGOL
Published: May 2011

This paper presents a new interpretation of Frege's context principle on which it applies primarily to singular terms for abstract objects but not necessarily to singular terms for ordinary objects.
A complete chronicle discovery approach: application to activity analysis
Authors: Cram Damien , Mathern Benoît , Mille Alain
Published: May 2011

Absrtact

Discovering temporal patterns hidden in a sequence of events has applications in numerous areas like network failure analysis, customer behaviour analysis, web navigation pattern discovery, etc. In this article, we present an approach to the discovery of chronicles hidden in the interaction traces of a human activity with the intention of characterizing some interesting tasks. Chronicles are a special type of temporal patterns, where temporal orders of events are quantified with numerical bounds. The algorithm we present is the first existing chronicle discovery algorithm that is complete. It is a chronicle discovery framework that can be configured to behave exactly as non‐complete algorithms existing in litterature with no reduction of performance, but it can also be extended to other useful chronicle discovery problems like hybrid episode discovery. We show that the complete chronicle discovery problem has a very high complexity but we argue and illustrate that this high complexity is acceptable when the knowledge discovery process in which our algorithm takes part is real time and interactive. The platform Scheme Emerger, also presented in this paper, has been developed in order to implement the algorithm and to support graphically the real time and interactive chronicle discovery process.
Memory andMelancholy in theÉpilogue ofRavel'sValses nobles et sentimentales
Authors: PURI MICHAEL J.
Published: May 2011

When conceived as the presence of the past, memory can be said to pervade the music of Maurice Ravel. The number and range of these acts of musical memory – including pieces modelled on the medievalballade, the Renaissancechanson, the Baroquetombeau, the Classicalsonatineand the Romanticpoème, among others – seem at first glance to testify to a uncomplicated relation between past and present which, upon closer review, is revealed to be problematic. One of the most complex and captivating artistic testaments to what Andreas Huyssen has called ‘twilight memory’– not only in Ravel's music, but in Western modernism as a whole – is the eighth and final waltz of his piano suiteValses nobles et sentimentales(1911). In this waltz, which Ravel entitled ‘Épilogue’, the hope of making the past present is reborn with each of its numerous thematic recollections, only to be dashed repeatedly by the melancholy knowledge of its impossibility. In the present study, affinities between the Épilogue's musical behaviours and philosophical accounts of memory by Bergson, Jankélévitch and Nora are explored, along with the compositional precedents established by Beethoven, Schumann, Debussy and others.
Linguistic multifeature MMN paradigm for extensive recording of auditory discrimination profiles
Authors: Partanen Eino , Vainio Martti , Kujala Teija , Huotilainen Minna
Published: May 2011

We studied whether a multifeature mismatch negativity (MMN) paradigm using naturally produced speech stimuli is feasible for studies of auditory discrimination accuracy of adult participants. A naturally produced trisyllabic pseudoword was used in the paradigm, and MMNs were recorded to changes that were acoustic (changes in fundamental frequency or intensity) or potentially phonological (changes in vowel identity or vowel duration). All the different changes were presented in three different word segments (initial, middle, or final syllable). All changes elicited an MMN response, but the vowel duration change elicited a different response pattern than the other deviant types. Changes in vowel duration and identity also had an effect on MMN lateralization. Our results show that assessing speech sound discrimination of several features in word context is possible in a short recording time (30 min) with the multifeature paradigm.
Which psychoactive prescription drugs are illegally obtained and through which ways of acquisition? About OPPIDUM survey
Authors: Frauger Elisabeth , Nordmann Sandra , Orleans Veronica , Pradel Vincent , Pauly Vanessa , Thirion Xavier , Micallef Joëlle ,   réseau des CEIPs
Published: May 2011

The objective of the study was to determine which psychoactive prescription drugs are illegally obtained and through which ways of acquisition. OPPIDUM is an annual national study. It is based on specialized care centers that included subjects presenting a drug dependency or under opiate maintenance treatment. All their psychoactive substances consumed are reported. This work focuses on the different ways of acquisition specially the illegal ways of acquisition (bought on the street, forged prescription, stolen, given, internet). For each medication illegally obtained, a ratio has been calculated (number of illegal acquisitions divided by the number of described acquisitions). In 2008, 5542 subjects have been included and have described the consumption of 11 027 substances including 63.8% of prescription drugs. Among them, 11% were illegally obtained. The different illegal acquisition ways were ‘street market’ (77.6%), ‘gift’ (16.6%), ‘theft’ (2.3%), ‘forged prescription’ (2.3%), and ‘internet’ (0.7%). The third first drugs illegally obtained were high dosage buprenorphine, methadone, and clonazepam. Some prescription drugs, less consumed, have an important ratio of illegal acquisition like ketamine, flunitrazepam, morphine, trihexyphenidyl, or methylphenidate. This study confirms that theft, forged prescription and internet are few used and permits to highlight diversion of prescription drugs. It is important to inform healthcare professionals on the different prescription drugs that are illegally obtained.
Modelling Strategies for Property Identification Based on Full‐Field Surface Displacement Data
Authors: Phillips P. L. , Brockman R. A. , John R.
Published: May 2011

Abstract:  The use of full‐field displacement measurements in mechanical testing provides detailed response information that can be used, in conjunction with modelling and optimisation, for precise material property identification. One limitation of this technique is that the collection of response data and the sectioning of a specimen to reveal the material microstructure are both destructive tests and mutually exclusive, as the displacement measurement occurs only on the exposed surface. Therefore, modelling of an experiment to interpret a full‐field experiment requires assumptions about the structure of the material below the visible surface. This study evaluates the effects of several possible modelling assumptions on the errors in model‐predicted response and on the resulting material property estimates. A 3‐D microstructural model, for which the subsurface grain geometry and orientations are known, provides the basis for comparison of several common modelling assumptions based on the grain geometry and orientations on the visible surface of a specimen.
Engaging Latin American Feminisms Today: Methods, Theory, Practice
Authors: Schutte Ofelia
Published: May 2011

This paper articulates a methodological strategy for creating a “conceptual home” whose aim is the enabling and promotion of Latin American feminist philosophy in the context of Latin American feminist theory's concern for the relationship between theory and practice. The author argues that philosophy as a discipline is still too compromised by masculine‐dominant, Anglocentric, and Eurocentric ways of representing knowledge such that discursive and ideological impediments make it difficult to conceive and develop ways of feminist theorizing that arise from an interpellation of the philosopher by the Latin American conditions affecting her social and cultural life. The author offers a fourfold approach to grounding knowledge, based on the principles of pursuing a critical approach to knowledge, a concern for the relationship of theory and practice, an orientation toward progressive political projects of freedom and liberation in the context of Latin American history and politics, and a transformative politics of culture. It is argued that through such specific methodological concerns, Latin American feminist philosophy can attain a distinct identity and stop depending for its articulation on paradigms of knowledge whose premises are not necessarily best attuned to understand the issues it must confront in its sociocultural practice.
Corporeal Vulnerability and the New Humanism
Authors: Murphy Ann V.
Published: May 2011

“Humanism” is a term that has designated a remarkably disparate set of ideologies. Nonetheless, strains of religious, secular, existential, and Marxist humanism have tended to circumscribe the category of the human with reference to the themes of reason, autonomy, judgment, and freedom. This essay examines the emergence of a new humanistic discourse in feminist theory, one that instead finds its provocation in the unwilled passivity and vulnerability of the human body, and in the vulnerability of the human body to suffering and violence. Grounded in a descriptive ontology that privileges figures such as exposure, dispossession, vulnerability, and “precariousness,” this new humanism is a corporeal humanism. This essay probes both the promise and the limitations of this emergent humanism with particular reference to recent work by feminist philosophers Judith Butler and Adriana Cavarero.
Characterizing the variation in pH measurements with apheresis platelets
Authors: Moroff Gary , Seetharaman Shalini , Kurtz James , Wagner Stephen J.
Published: May 2011

BACKGROUND: pH measurements of platelet (PLT) components remain a key parameter when assessing how storage and shipping conditions influence the retention of PLT properties. Studies were conducted to characterize variations in pH measured with two pH meters and a blood gas analyzer.

STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Samples were obtained from apheresis PLT units that were stored with or without continuous agitation to measure a range of pH values. pH values were determined with pH meters at room temperature (20‐24°C) upon placing of samples in 5‐mL sterile polypropylene tubes and with the blood gas analyzer at 37°C upon injection of identical samples, with conversion to 22°C.

RESULTS: The calculated coefficient of variation (%CV) of pH measurements using pH meters (n = 10) was 0.43% or less. The %CV values were comparable with different samples having pH values ranging from 6.0 to 7.4. The %CV levels with the blood gas analyzer were comparable to those observed with the pH meters. The difference in the mean pH values for the two pH meters was no greater than 0.10 units, with 9 of 10 samples having differences in values of 0.05 or less; however, greater differences of values (0.1 to 0.2) were observed between pH measured using the blood gas analyzer and pH meters.

CONCLUSION: Our data show good precision and comparability of pH measurements with two pH meters. Differences in pH values were greater on comparison of the blood gas analyzer with the pH meters.
Growth Behavior and Electrical Properties of a (Na0.5K0.5)NbO3Thin Film Deposited on a Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si Substrate Using RFMagnetron Sputtering
Authors: Kang Lee‐Seung , Kim Bo‐Yun , Seo In‐Tae , Seong Tae‐Geun , Kim Jin‐Seong , Sun Jong‐Woo , Paik Dong‐Soo , Hwang Inrok , Park Bae Ho , Nahm Sahn
Published: May 2011

A crystalline (Na0.5K0.5)NbO3 (NKN) phase was formed for a film grown at 600°C, but a K5.75Nb10.85O30 (KN) second phase was also observed in this film. Formation of the KN phase was due to the evaporation of Na2O. A homogeneous NKN phase was developed in the film grown at 300°C and annealed at 800°C under a Na2O atmosphere. This film exhibited the following good electric and dielectric properties: a high dielectric constant of 237.4 with a dissipation factor of 0.93% at 100 kHz, a low leakage current density of 1.0 × 10−8 A/cm2 at 0.1 MV/cm2, and the high Pr and d33 values of 21.1 μC/cm2 and 64.5 pm/V, respectively.
Crystallization Behavior of Lithium Iron Phosphate Glass Powders in Different Atmospheres
Authors: Nagamine Kenta , Reinsch Stefan , Mueller Ralf , Honma Tsuyoshi , Komatsu Takayuki
Published: May 2011

Crystallization behavior in different atmospheres (air, Ar, and 7% H2/Ar) of lithium iron phosphate glass (33Li2O–33Fe2O3–1Nb2O5–33P2O5 (LFNP)) powders with different sizes of 2–1000 μm was examined. The crystallization peak temperature (Tp) in Ar and 7% H2/Ar decreased with decreasing the particle size of glass powders, but the value of Tp in air was independent of particle size. The crystallized glass obtained by heating to Tp showed the formation of the α‐Li3Fe2(PO4)3 and LiFePO4 crystalline phases. Fe2O3 crystals were formed only in the inside of crystallized glass plates in the heating in air. The crystallization of LiFePO4 was largely enhanced in the particle size of <2 μm during the heating in Ar and 7% H2/Ar atmospheres. The main crystallization mechanism in LFNP glass was found to be surface crystallization. Significant shrinkages were observed for glass compacts (pellets) in the heating in 7% H2/Ar. These results suggest that controlling particle sizes and atmospheres enables the design the morphology of LiFePO4 crystals in LFNP glass.
Critical Review Essay: Studying Cultural Pluralism in Courts versus Legislatures
Authors: Gershon Ilana
Published: May 2011

What insights can the literature on legal pluralism and cultural pluralism written by ethnographers of courts provide to ethnographers of legislatures? Focusing on Anglo‐American legal systems, I explore how analyses of cultural pluralism can change when one moves from courts to legislatures. Three analytical shifts can occur when switching institutional perspectives. First, in Anglo‐American courts, contexts are often made cultural as one technique among many to create a suitable interpretation that will lead to resolution. In the corresponding legislatures, contexts are often made cultural through a form of quantification. Second, in these courts, outsiders (not court officials) tend to embody culture, contributing to an ahistorical account of what culture is. In the legislatures, anyone, even representatives themselves, can be cultural, transforming being cultural into a political tactic that renders historical and social connections visible. Therefore, people are made cultural in different ways in the two settings. Third, in Anglo‐American legislatures, law is always a compromise. As laws travel out of legislatures and into courts, the agonism at laws’ origin is forgotten, and laws are seen as acontextual. Thus, I suggest, cultural difference has the potential to lead to systemic transformation more easily at legislative levels than it can in courts.
Antihyperglycaemic activity of 2,4:3,5‐dibenzylidene‐D‐xylose‐diethyl dithioacetal in diabetic mice
Authors: Gruzman Arie , Elgart Anna , Viskind Olga , Billauer Hana , Dotan Sharon , Cohen Guy , Mishani Eyal , Hoffman Amnon , Cerasi Erol , Sasson Shlomo
Published: May 2011

We have recently generated lipophilic D‐xylose derivatives that increase the rate of glucose uptake in cultured skeletal muscle cells in an AMP‐activated protein kinase (AMPK)‐dependent manner. The derivative 2,4:3,5‐dibenzylidene‐D‐xylose‐diethyl dithioacetal (EH‐36) stimulated the rate of glucose transport by increasing the abundance of glucose transporter‐4 in the plasma membrane of cultured myotubes. The present study aimed at investigating potential antihyperglycaemic effects of EH‐36 in animal models of diabetes. Two animal models were treated subcutaneously with EH‐36: streptozotocin‐induced diabetes in C57BL/6 mice (a model of insulin‐deficient type 1 diabetes), and spontaneously diabetic KKAy mice (Kuo Kondo rats carrying the Ay yellow obese gene; insulin‐resistant type 2 diabetes). The in vivo biodistribution of glucose in control and treated mice was followed with the glucose analogue 2‐deoxy‐2‐[18F]‐D‐glucose; the rate of glucose uptake in excised soleus muscles was measured with [3H]‐2‐deoxy‐D‐glucose. Pharmacokinetic parameters were determined by non‐compartmental analysis of the in vivo data. The effective blood EH‐36 concentration in treated animals was 2 μM. It reduced significantly the blood glucose levels in both types of diabetic mice and also corrected the typical compensatory hyperinsulinaemia of KKAy mice. EH‐36 markedly increased glucose transport in vivo into skeletal muscle and heart, but not to adipose tissue. This stimulatory effect was mediated by Thr172‐phosphorylation in AMPK. Biochemical tests in treated animals and acute toxicological examinations showed that EH‐36 was well tolerated and not toxic to the mice. These findings indicate that EH‐36 is a promising prototype molecule for the development of novel antidiabetic drugs.
Efficacy of surgical techniques to control obstetric hemorrhage: analysis of 539 cases
Authors: PALACIOS‐JARAQUEMADA JOSÉ MIGUEL
Published: May 2011

Objective. To analyze the efficacy of surgical techniques to stop excessive obstetric bleeding. Design. Retrospective follow up. Setting. Center for Medical Education and Clinical Research and a total of twelve hospitals in Buenos Aires. Population. Five hundred and thirty‐nine consecutive patients were included: 361 had placenta accreta–percreta, 114 uterine atony, 19 cervical scar pregnancy, 21 placenta previa and 24 uterine–cervical–vaginal tears. Three hundred and forty‐seven women had surgery, of whom 192 were emergencies. Methods. The surgical techniques included selective arterial ligation and compression procedures. The effectiveness of the techniques was assessed by cessation of bleeding according to source. Follow up included hysteroscopy of 100 patients and magnetic resonance imaging of 341 patients. Main outcome measures. Strong association between topographical uterine irrigation areas and surgical hemostatic technique was established. Results. Hemorrhage stopped following arterial ligation or compression sutures in 499 women, but hysterectomy was needed in 40. In cervical, lower segment and upper vaginal bleeding, Cho's compression sutures proved to be an efficient and simple procedure. Most surgical hemostatic failures that led to hysterectomy occurred in women with severe hemodynamic deterioration and coagulopathy. Two women died due to multiorgan failure. After surgery, 116 successful pregnancies were reported. Conclusions. Bilateral occlusions of the uterine artery or its branches were useful procedures to stop upper uterine bleeding. Square sutures were a simple and effective procedure to control lower genital tract bleeding.
Progestin treatment for the prevention of preterm birth
Authors: LUCOVNIK MIHA , KUON RUBEN J. , CHAMBLISS LINDA R. , MANER WILLIAM L. , SHI SHAO‐QING , SHI LEILI , BALDUCCI JAMES , GARFIELD ROBERT E.
Published: May 2011

Progestin supplementation appears to be a promising approach to both preventing initiation of preterm labor and treating it once it is already established, given the role of progesterone in maintaining pregnancy, as well as support from basic and clinical research. Progesterone and 17α‐hydroxyprogesterone acetate slow the process of cervical ripening, and this is the rationale for prophylactic long‐term progestin supplementation mostly studied so far. However, progesterone (but not 17α‐hydroxyprogesterone acetate) also inhibits myometrial activity even after the cervix has already ripened. Moreover, these effects depend greatly on the vehicle used and the route of administration. Understanding different mechanisms of action, as well as the importance of progestin formulation, vehicle and route of administration, is the key to finding the optimal progestin treatment for prevention of preterm birth.
Viscoelasticity of the muscle–tendon unit is returned more rapidly than range of motion after stretching
Authors: Mizuno T. , Matsumoto M. , Umemura Y.
Published: May 2011

The purpose of this study was to clarify the time course of the viscoelasticity of gastrocnemius medialis muscle and tendon after stretching. In 11 male participants, displacement of the myotendinous junction on the gastrocnemius medialis muscle was measured ultrasonographically during the passive dorsiflexion test, in which the ankle was passively dorsiflexed at a speed of 1°/s to the end of the range of motion (ROM). Passive torque, representing resistance to stretch, was also measured using an isokinetic dynamometer. On five different days, passive dorsiflexion tests were performed before and 0, 15, 30, 60 or 90 min after stretching, which consisted of dorsiflexion to end ROM and holding that position for 1 min, five times. As a result, end ROM was significantly increased at 0, 15 and 30 min (P<0.05 each) after stretching as compared with each previous value. Passive torque at end ROM was also significantly increased after stretching. Although the stiffness of the muscle–tendon unit was significantly decreased immediately after stretching (P<0.05), this shift recovered within 15 min. These results showed that the retention time of the effect of stretching on viscoelasticity of the muscle–tendon unit was shorter than the retention time of the effect of stretching on end ROM.
Unstimulated whole saliva creatine phosphokinase in acute myocardial infarction
Authors: Mirzaii‐Dizgah I , Jafari‐Sabet M
Published: May 2011

Oral Diseases (2011) 17, 597–600

Objective:  Accurate and rapid diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (MI) is of major medical and economic importance. The objective of this study was to identify unstimulated whole saliva creatine phosphokinase (CPK) in patients with acute MI.

Subjects and Methods:  A case–control study was carried out in 30 normal healthy individuals and 30 patients with acute MI were hospitalized in CCU of Kamkar hospital, Qom, Iran. CPK levels were assayed in serum and unstimulated whole saliva at the first and the second days of acute MI by IFCC method. Statistical analysis of the Student’s t‐test and Pearson correlation coefficient was performed.

Results:  The mean saliva and serum levels at both the first and the second days of acute MI were significantly higher in patients with acute MI compared with healthy individuals. They were significantly greater in the first day than in the second day. Saliva CPK concentration correlated significantly with serum CPK level in the first day (r = 0.442, P < 0.01) and in the second day of acute MI (r = 0.268, P < 0.01).

Conclusion:  Results suggest that salivary CPK can be used as an alternative to serum CPK for diagnosis and monitoring of myocardial infarction.
Effective treatment and improvement of quality of life in patients with scalp psoriasis by topical use of calcipotriol/betamethasone (Xamiol®‐gel): results
Authors: Mrowietz Ulrich , Macheleidt Oliver , Eicke Christoph
Published: May 2011

Background: Quality of life of patients with scalp psoriasis is greatly impaired due to itch and scaling. To control the disease long‐term therapy is necessary and treatment success is greatly dependent on compliance.

Patients and Methods: In a prospective, non‐interventional trial in German dermatological practices 721 patients with scalp psoriasis received Xamiol® gel (calcipotriol 50 μg/g, betamethasone 0,5 mg/g) topically for 4 weeks. Severity was assessed by physician's global assessment (PGA) and quality of life by using a scalp‐specific questionnaire at the beginning of the study and after 4 weeks of treatment.

Results: The mean disease severity of scalp psoriasis (PGA) improved from 4.26 to 2.49 (–41.8 %, p < 0.0001) during 4 weeks of treatment and quality of life improved from 10.57 to 3.22 (–69.5 %, p < 0.0001). Among patients with pre‐treatment 89.5 % of patients and 87.9 % of dermatologists judged treatment response to Xamiol® gel as better/much better compared to previous therapy. Tolerability of Xamiol® gel was rated good/very good by 98 % of dermatologists and patients, respectively. The use of Xamiol® gel was found easy/very easy by 90.4 % of the patients.

Conclusions: Due to the major improvement of quality of life and quick onset of improvement together with the high acceptance by the patients Xamiol® gel may be regarded as the topical treatment of choice for scalp psoriasis.
Effect of a Nano‐Hydroxyapatite Paste on Bleaching‐Related Tooth Sensitivity
Authors: BROWNING WILLIAM D. , CHO SOPANIS D. , DESCHEPPER EDWARD J.
Published: May 2011

Statement of the Problem:  Bleaching‐related tooth sensitivity has been shown to be facilitated by the presence of enamel defects. A nano‐hydroxyapatite (n‐HAP) paste has been shown to repair these defects.

Purpose of the Study:  Using a randomized clinical trial, an n‐HAP paste was investigated to determine its efficacy in reducing bleaching‐related tooth sensitivity.

Methods and Materials:  An n‐HAP paste (Renamel AfterBleach®, Sangi Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan) and a placebo (zero‐HAP) were randomly assigned for use in 42 participants. A 7% hydrogen peroxide gel was used twice daily for 14 days, with use of assigned desensitizer for 5 minutes immediately following. A diary was completed daily for 4 weeks to note: use of the agents and sensitivity on a visual analog scale (VAS). Three aspects of tooth sensitivity were investigated: percentage of participants; number of days; and intensity level. Color change was assessed.

Results:  For Groups zero‐HAP and n‐HAP, respectively, 51 and 29% of participants reported tooth sensitivity (p = 0.06). Days of sensitivity were 76 and 36, respectively (p = 0.001). Change in VAS score from baseline trended higher for Group zero‐HAP (p = 0.16). Color change was equivalent.

Discussion:  The data trend indicated Group n‐HAP experienced less sensitivity over all three measures. Only the number of days of sensitivity was statistically significant.

Conclusion:  Within the limits of the study it can be concluded that the use of the n‐HAP paste was associated with a statistically significant reduction in the number of days of tooth sensitivity experienced during active bleaching.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE

For those using a tooth whitener without a desensitizing agent, this study indicates that a paste containing nano‐hydroxyapatite crystal can effectively reduce the duration of tooth sensitivity.

(J Esthet Restor Dent 24:268–276, 2012)
Competitiveness in State Supreme Court Elections, 1946–2009
Authors: Kritzer Herbert M.
Published: May 2011

There has been much debate over changes in state supreme court elections. However, most of the research that debate refers to considers a relatively short timespan. This article reports an analysis of contestation and competitiveness in state supreme court elections for the entire post World War II period. The article considers both primary and general elections (other than retention elections). The central finding of the article is that outside the South there has been surprisingly little change, either in whether incumbents are challenged for reelection or in the competitiveness of the elections that are contested (looking separately at open‐seat elections and elections involving incumbents). The analysis suggests that the apparent increase in competitiveness (taken to include the question of whether an incumbent is challenged), at least through 2009, reflects factors other than changes in the nature of campaigns and expenditures on state supreme court elections; specifically, those changes largely result from the end of the one‐party South.
An Empirical Study of Court‐Adjudicated Takings Compensation in New York City: 1990–2003
Authors: Chang Yun‐chien
Published: May 2011

No empirical study on court‐adjudicated condemnation compensation has been done in the past 30 years. To fill in the empirical gap, I first collect condemnation compensation cases in New York City between 1990 and 2003, finding that the court usually rules in favor of condemnors. Additionally, I use hedonic regression models and about 7,500 sales to estimate the fair market value (FMV) of 27 condemned properties and compare the FMV with condemnors' offered value, condemnees' claimed value, and court awards, finding that all condemnees' claims are above FMV, while many condemnors' offers and court awards are above FMV; moreover, condemnors' claims come closer to FMV than condemnees' claims and court awards. The court usually favors condemnors because condemnors have better incentives to produce unbiased assessed value and condemnors' offered value actually is closer to FMV. Offers, claims, and awards are inaccurate because bias‐prone appraisal techniques have been used to assess property value.
Microbial Mineralization of Dichloroethene and Vinyl Chloride under Hypoxic Conditions
Authors: Bradley Paul M. , Chapelle Francis H.
Published: May 2011

Mineralization of 14C‐radiolabled vinyl chloride ([1,2‐14C] VC) and cis‐dichloroethene ([1,2‐14C] cis‐DCE) under hypoxic (initial dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations about 0.1 mg/L) and nominally anoxic (DO minimum detection limit = 0.01 mg/L) was examined in chloroethene‐exposed sediments from two groundwater and two surface water sites. The results show significant VC and dichloroethene (DCE) mineralization under hypoxic conditions. All the sample treatments exhibited pseudo‐first‐order kinetics for DCE and VC mineralization over an extended range of substrate concentrations. First‐order rates for VC mineralization were approximately 1 to 2 orders of magnitude higher in hypoxic groundwater sediment treatments and at least three times higher in hypoxic surface water sediment treatments than in the respective anoxic treatments. For VC, oxygen‐linked processes accounted for 65 to 85% of mineralization at DO concentrations below 0.1 mg/L, and 14CO2 was the only degradation product observed in VC treatments under hypoxic conditions. Because the lower detection limit for DO concentrations measured in the field is typically 0.1 to 0.5 mg/L, these results indicate that oxygen‐linked VC and DCE biodegradation can be significant under field conditions that appear anoxic. Furthermore, because rates of VC mineralization exceeded rates of DCE mineralization under hypoxic conditions, DCE accumulation without concomitant accumulation of VC may not be evidence of a DCE degradative “stall” in chloroethene plumes. Significantly, mineralization of VC above the level that could reasonably be attributed to residual DO contamination was also observed in several nominally anoxic (DO minimum detection limit = 0.01 mg/L) microcosm treatments.
Reinterpreting the Importance of Oxygen‐Based Biodegradation in Chloroethene‐Contaminated Groundwater
Authors: Bradley Paul M.
Published: May 2011

Chlororespiration is common in shallow aquifer systems under conditions nominally identified as anoxic. Consequently, chlororespiration is a key component of remediation at many chloroethene‐contaminated sites. In some instances, limited accumulation of reductive dechlorination daughter products is interpreted as evidence that natural attenuation is not adequate for site remediation. This conclusion is justified when evidence for parent compound (tetrachloroethene, PCE, or trichloroethene, TCE) degradation is lacking. For many chloroethene‐contaminated shallow aquifer systems, however, nonconservative losses of the parent compounds are clear but the mass balance between parent compound attenuation and accumulation of reductive dechlorination daughter products is incomplete. Incomplete mass balance indicates a failure to account for important contaminant attenuation mechanisms and is consistent with contaminant degradation to nondiagnostic mineralization products like CO2. While anoxic mineralization of chloroethene compounds has been proposed previously, recent results suggest that oxygen‐based mineralization of chloroethenes also can be significant at dissolved oxygen concentrations below the currently accepted field standard for nominally anoxic conditions. Thus, reassessment of the role and potential importance of low concentrations of oxygen in chloroethene biodegradation are needed, because mischaracterization of operant biodegradation processes can lead to expensive and ineffective remedial actions. A modified interpretive framework is provided for assessing the potential for chloroethene biodegradation under different redox conditions and the probable role of oxygen in chloroethene biodegradation.
The Ethical Implications of Health Spending: Death and other Expensive Conditions
Authors: Crippen Dan , Barnato Amber E.
Published: May 2011

In this essay I ask the reader to consider the “end of life” as a life stage, rather than as a health state. At one end of the life course is childhood and at the other end is elderhood. The basic inter-generational social compact in most societies is that working adults take care of their children and their parents, and count on their children to do the same for them. In developed countries, these obligations are met in part through government programs, with taxpayers funding significant portions of education, health care, and income support.
Testing Public Health Ethics: Why the CDC's HIV Screening Recommendations May Violate the Least Infringement Principle
Authors: Pierce Matthew W. , Maman Suzanne , Groves Allison K. , King Elizabeth J. , Wyckoff Sarah C.
Published: May 2011

The least infringement principle has been widely endorsed by public health scholars. According to this principle, public health policies may infringe upon “general moral considerations” in order to achieve a public health goal, but if two policies provide the same public health benefit, then policymakers should choose the one that infringes least upon “general moral considerations.” General moral considerations can encompass a wide variety of goals, including fair distribution of burdens and benefits, protection of privacy and confidentiality, and respect for autonomy.

In this article, we argue that the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) 2006 HIV screening recommendations (“Recommendations”) may violate the least infringement principle. This is a concern because, although not legally binding, the Recommendations appear to have already influenced state laws and will likely continue to do so as legislative proposals continue to be passed. At a minimum, therefore, the Recommendations have important implications for HIV screening within the United States.