bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Current Prophylactic and Therapeutic Uses of a Recombinant Lactococcus lactis Strain Secreting Biologically Active Interleukin-12
Authors: Bermúdez-Humarán Luis G. , Cortes-Perez Naima G. , Ah-Leung Sandrine , Lefèvre François , Yang Guang , Pang Qingfeng , Wu Changyi , Zeng Yinming , Adel-Patient Karine , Langella Philippe
Published: October 2007

The noninvasive and food-grade Gram-positive bacterium Lactococcus lactis is well adapted to deliver medical proteins to the mucosal immune system. In the last decade, the potential of live recombinant lactococci to deliver such proteins to the mucosal immune system has been investigated. This approach offers several advantages over the traditional systemic injection, such as easy administration and the ability to elicit both systemic and mucosal immune responses. This paper reviews the current research and advances made with recombinant L. lactis as live vector for the in situ delivery of biologically active interleukin-12, a potent pleiotropic cytokine with adjuvant properties when co-delivered with vaccinal antigens, at mucosal surfaces. Three well-illustrated examples demonstrate the high potential of interleukin-12-secreting lactococci strains for future prophylactic and therapeutic uses.
A Probiotic Lactobacillus Strain Can Acquire Vancomycin Resistance during Digestive Transit in Mice
Authors: Mater Denis D.G. , Langella Philippe , Corthier Gérard , Flores María-José
Published: October 2007

The present study demonstrates for the first time the transfer of vancomycin resistance (vanA cluster) from enterococci to a Lactobacillusacidophilus commercial strain. Transfers were observed in vitro, but also in vivo in the gut of mice (in the absence of antibiotic pressure) where transconjugants arose at relatively high frequencies and could persist in the digestive environment. Since transfer of vancomycin resistance genes might also take place in the human digestive tract, lactobacilli probiotics should be carefully considered especially in either immunocompromised patients or during antibiotherapy. Acquisition and retransfer of resistance genes should be addressed in the safety evaluation of probiotics.
A Multicentre Phase II Study of Docetaxel plus Cisplatin for the Treatment of Advanced Gastric Cancer
Authors: Fahlke J. , Ridwelski K. , Schmidt C. , Hribaschek K. , Stuebs P. , Kettner E. , Quietzsch D. , Assmann M. , Deist T. , Keilholz U. , Lippert H.
Published: October 2007

Background: The optimum regimen for advanced gastric cancer requires definition. This multicentre phase II study evaluated docetaxel-cisplatin combination in advanced gastric cancer. Methods: Chemotherapy-naïve patients with locally advanced or metastatic disease received docetaxel plus cisplatin (75/75 mg/m2) every 21 days for up to 9 cycles. Endpoints included tumour response, time to progression, overall survival and toxicity. Results: Of 113 patients recruited, 88 were completely evaluable. The median age was 58 years, and most patients had metastatic disease. The overall response rate was 29.6%. Five patients (5.7%) achieved a complete response and 21 patients (23.9%) had a partial response. Tumour control, including stable disease, was achieved in 57 patients (64.8%). The median time to progression and median overall survival time was 4.8 and 8.7 months, respectively. The major toxicity was haematological: 37.5% of patients experienced grade 3–4 neutropenia, whereas febrile neutropenia was observed in only 2% of patients. Conclusion: Docetaxel-cisplatin was active with a predictable and manageable toxicity profile.
Peritoneal Small Solute Transport Rate Is Related to the Malnutrition Inflammation Score in Peritoneal Dialysis Patients
Authors: Sezer Siren , Elsurer Rengin , Afsar Baris , Arat Zubeyde , Ozdemir Nurhan F. , Haberal Mehmet
Published: October 2007

Background/Aims: A high peritoneal membrane transport status and peritoneal albumin leakage are determinants of morbidity and mortality in patients receiving continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis. In this study, we analyzed the relationship between the malnutrition inflammation score, peritoneal transport status, and 24-hour peritoneal albumin leakage in patients receiving peritoneal dialysis. Methods: Sixty-six patients receiving peritoneal dialysis (male-female ratio 30/36; age 46.2 ± 14.1 years; mean duration of peritoneal dialysis 32.4 ± 23.9 months) who had experienced no attacks of peritonitis within the prior 6 months were included. Results: The malnutrition inflammation score was positively correlated with the serum C-reactive protein concentration, dialysate/plasma creatinine ratio, and 24-hour peritoneal albumin leakage. Triceps and biceps skinfold thicknesses and serum concentrations of prealbumin, total cholesterol, and triglyceride were negatively correlated with the malnutrition inflammation score. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that the malnutrition inflammation score was independently associated with the dialysate/plasma creatinine ratio (p = 0.039) and 24-hour peritoneal albumin amount (p = 0.005). Conclusion: High peritoneal transport status and peritoneal albumin leakage are significantly associated with the malnutrition inflammation score.
Location Not Quantity of Blood Pressure Measurements Predicts Mortality in Hemodialysis Patients
Authors: Agarwal Rajiv , Andersen Martin J. , Light Robert P.
Published: October 2007

Background: Blood pressure (BP) measurements obtained outside the dialysis unit are prognostically superior. Whether it is the greater number of measurements made outside the dialysis unit that correlates with prognosis or whether BPs outside dialysis units are ecologically more valid is unknown. Methods and Results: A prospective cohort study was conducted in 133 patients on chronic hemodialysis. BP was measured by the patients at home for 1 week, over an interdialytic interval by ambulatory recording, and by ‘routine’ and standardized methods in the dialysis unit for 2 weeks. Up to 6 BPs were randomly selected from a 44-hour recording of ambulatory or 1-week recording of home BPs, such that the dialysis unit BPs were exactly matched to the number of ambulatory or home BPs. The relationship with left ventricular hypertrophy and all-cause mortality was analyzed using receiver-operating characteristic curves and Cox proportional hazards analysis, respectively. Over a median follow-up of 24 months, 46 patients (31%) died. A BP change of 10/5 mm Hg increased the risk of all-cause mortality by 1.22 (95% CI 1.07–1.38)/1.18 (95% CI 1.05–1.31) with the average of the 44-hour recording and 1.20 (95% CI 1.07–1.34)/1.15 (95% CI 1.03–1.27) when up to 6 random BPs from the same ambulatory recording were drawn and averaged. With home BPs the hazard ratios were 1.17/1.15 per 10/5 mm Hg increase in BP with the average of 1-week recording and 1.18/1.13 when up to 6 random BPs were drawn and averaged. Limited duration ambulatory BP monitoring of any 6-hour interval during the first 24 h or 4-day home BP recorded after the midweek dialysis was similarly predictive of all-cause mortality. Conclusions: In patients on hemodialysis, the location, not the quantity, of the BP recordings obtained outside the dialysis unit is associated with target organ damage and mortality.
Asymmetrical Dimethylarginine in Renal Disease: Limits of Variation or Variation Limits?
Authors: Jacobi Johannes , Tsao Philip S.
Published: October 2007

Asymmetrical dimethylarginine (ADMA), an endogenous inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase, is increasingly recognized as a putative biomarker in cardiovascular and renal disease. Elevated plasma levels of ADMA are the consequence of increased synthesis, reduced renal clearance or reduced enzymatic degradation. Based upon the metabolic fate the highest plasma concentrations of ADMA have been reported in patients with renal failure in whom this molecule accumulates. However, the range of published ADMA levels in patients with chronic renal failure as well as in patients with end-stage renal failure undergoing maintenance hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis or kidney transplant recipients is widely scattered and overlaps with the levels reported in healthy individuals. This wide distribution can in part be explained by different bioanalytical techniques and the lack of standardization of such assays. This review summarizes available literature on ADMA in patients with kidney disease and stresses the urgent need for a consensus regarding reference values for different analytical methods in order to appreciate the prognostic significance of elevated ADMA levels. At present, one cannot advocate this molecule for risk assessment or individual patient prognosis in the clinical work-up of patients with renal impairment.
Theoretical, Statistical, and Practical Perspectives on Pattern-based Classification Approaches to the Analysis of Functional Neuroimaging Data
Authors: O'Toole Alice J. , Jiang Fang , Abdi Hervé , Pénard Nils , Dunlop Joseph P. , Parent Marc A.
Published: October 2007

The goal of pattern-based classification of functional neuroimaging data is to link individual brain activation patterns to the experimental conditions experienced during the scans. These “brain-reading” analyses advance functional neuroimaging on three fronts. From a technical standpoint, pattern-based classifiers overcome fatal f laws in the status quo inferential and exploratory multivariate approaches by combining pattern-based analyses with a direct link to experimental variables. In theoretical terms, the results that emerge from pattern-based classifiers can offer insight into the nature of neural representations. This shifts the emphasis in functional neuroimaging studies away from localizing brain activity toward understanding how patterns of brain activity encode information. From a practical point of view, pattern-based classifiers are already well established and understood in many areas of cognitive science. These tools are familiar to many researchers and provide a quantitatively sound and qualitatively satisfying answer to most questions addressed in functional neuroimaging studies. Here, we examine the theoretical, statistical, and practical underpinnings of pattern-based classification approaches to functional neuroimaging analyses. Pattern-based classification analyses are well positioned to become the standard approach to analyzing functional neuroimaging data.
Distinct Patterns of Neural Activity during Memory Formation of Nonwords versus Words
Authors: Otten Leun J. , Sveen Josefin , Quayle Angela H.
Published: October 2007

Research into the neural underpinnings of memory formation has focused on the encoding of familiar verbal information. Here, we address how the brain supports the encoding of novel information that does not have meaning. Electrical brain activity was recorded from the scalps of healthy young adults while they performed an incidental encoding task (syllable judgments) on separate series of words and “nonwords” (nonsense letter strings that are orthographically legal and pronounceable). Memory for the items was then probed with a recognition memory test. For words as well as nonwords, event-related potentials differed depending on whether an item would subsequently be remembered or forgotten. However, the polarity and timing of the effect varied across item type. For words, subsequently remembered items showed the usually observed positive-going, frontally distributed modulation from around 600 msec after word onset. For nonwords, by contrast, a negative-going, spatially widespread modulation predicted encoding success from 1000 msec onward. Nonwords also showed a modulation shortly after item onset. These findings imply that the brain supports the encoding of familiar and unfamiliar letter strings in qualitatively different ways, including the engagement of distinct neural activity at different points in time. The processing of semantic attributes plays an important role in the encoding of words and the associated positive frontal modulation.
Functional Plasticity in Ventral Temporal Cortex following Cognitive Rehabilitation of a Congenital Prosopagnosic
Authors: DeGutis Joseph M. , Bentin Shlomo , Robertson Lynn C. , D'Esposito Mark
Published: October 2007

We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) to measure neural changes associated with training configural processing in congenital prosopagnosia, a condition in which face identification abilities are not properly developed in the absence of brain injury or visual problems. We designed a task that required discriminating faces by their spatial configuration and, after extensive training, prosopagnosic MZ significantly improved at face identification. Event-related potential results revealed that although the N170 was not selective for faces before training, its selectivity after training was normal. fMRI demonstrated increased functional connectivity between ventral occipital temporal face-selective regions (right occipital face area and right fusiform face area) that accompanied improvement in face recognition. Several other regions showed fMRI activity changes with training; the majority of these regions increased connectivity with face-selective regions. Together, the neural mechanisms associated with face recognition improvements involved strengthening early face-selective mechanisms and increased coordination between face-selective and nonselective regions, particularly in the right hemisphere.
Two Takes on the Social Brain: A Comparison of Theory of Mind Tasks
Authors: Gobbini Maria Ida , Koralek Aaron C. , Bryan Ronald E. , Montgomery Kimberly J. , Haxby James V.
Published: October 2007

We compared two tasks that are widely used in research on mentalizing—false belief stories and animations of rigid geometric shapes that depict social interactions—to investigate whether the neural systems that mediate the representation of others' mental states are consistent across these tasks. Whereas false belief stories activated primarily the anterior paracingulate cortex (APC), the posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus (PCC/PC), and the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ)—components of the distributed neural system for theory of mind (ToM)—the social animations activated an extensive region along nearly the full extent of the superior temporal sulcus, including a locus in the posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS), as well as the frontal operculum and inferior parietal lobule (IPL)—components of the distributed neural system for action understanding—and the fusiform gyrus. These results suggest that the representation of covert mental states that may predict behavior and the representation of intentions that are implied by perceived actions involve distinct neural systems. These results show that the TPJ and the pSTS play dissociable roles in mentalizing and are parts of different distributed neural systems. Because the social animations do not depict articulated body movements, these results also highlight that the perception of the kinematics of actions is not necessary to activate the mirror neuron system, suggesting that this system plays a general role in the representation of intentions and goals of actions. Furthermore, these results suggest that the fusiform gyrus plays a general role in the representation of visual stimuli that signify agency, independent of visual form.
Linking Visual Attention and Number Processing in the Brain: The Role of the Temporo-parietal Junction in Small and Large Symbolic and Nonsymbolic Number Comparison
Authors: Ansari Daniel , Lyons Ian M. , van Eimeren Lucia , Xu Fei
Published: October 2007

There exists a long-standing debate regarding whether small and large numerosities engage different networks of processing. The ability to rapidly enumerate small (1–4) numerosities is referred to as “subitizing” and is thought to be qualitatively different from large numerosity processing. Functional neuro-imaging studies have attempted to dissociate neural correlates of small and large number processing by contrasting subitizing with counting of numerosities just outside the subitizing range. In the present study, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to contrast the processing of numerosities in the “subitizing range” with numerosities requiring estimation. Participants compared sequentially presented slides of either dots or Arabic numerals for their relative magnitude. We show that comparison of nonsymbolic numerosities in the subitizing range led to activation of the right temporo-parietal junction, while at the same time this region was found to be suppressed during large numerosity processing. Furthermore, relative suppression of this region was strongly associated with faster response times. In previous studies, this region has been implicated in stimulus-driven attention.We therefore contend that activation of the temporo-parietal junction during small number processing and the suppression thereof during large numerosity comparisons reflects differential reliance on stimulus-driven versus goal-directed attentional networks in the brain.
An MEG Study of Silent Meaning
Authors: Pylkkänen Liina , McElree Brian
Published: October 2007

Although research on the neural bases of language has made significant progress on how the brain accesses the meanings of words, our understanding of sentence-level semantic composition remains limited. We studied the magnetoencephalography (MEG) responses elicited by expressions whose meanings involved an element not expressed in the syntax, which enabled us to investigate the brain correlates of semantic composition without confounds from syntactic composition. Sentences such as the author began the book, which asserts that an activity was begun although no activity is mentioned in the syntax, were contrasted with control sentences such as the author wrote the book, which involved no implicit meaning. These conditions were further compared with a semantically anomalous condition (the author disgusted the book). MEG responses to the object noun showed that silent meaning and anomaly are associated with distinct effects, silent meaning, but not anomaly, eliciting increased amplitudes in the anterior midline field (AMF) at 350–450 msec. The AMF was generated in ventromedial prefrontal areas, usually implicated for social cognition and theory of mind. Our results raise the possibility that silent meaning interpretation may share mechanisms with these neighboring domains of cognition.
Simulation of the Recent Multidecadal Increase of Atlantic Hurricane Activity Using an 18-km-Grid Regional Model
Authors: Knutson Thomas R. , Sirutis Joseph J. , Garner Stephen T. , Held Isaac M. , Tuleya Robert E.
Published: October 2007

In this study, a new modeling framework for simulating Atlantic hurricane activity is introduced. The model is an 18-km-grid nonhydrostatic regional model, run over observed specified SSTs and nudged toward observed time-varying large-scale atmospheric conditions (Atlantic domain wavenumbers 0–2) derived from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalyses. Using this “perfect large-scale model” approach for 27 recent August–October seasons (1980–2006), it is found that the model successfully reproduces the observed multidecadal increase in numbers of Atlantic hurricanes and several other tropical cyclone (TC) indices over this period. The correlation of simulated versus observed hurricane activity by year varies from 0.87 for basinwide hurricane counts to 0.41 for U.S. landfalling hurricanes. For tropical storm count, accumulated cyclone energy, and TC power dissipation indices the correlation is ~0.75, for major hurricanes the correlation is 0.69, and for U.S. landfalling tropical storms, the correlation is 0.57. The model occasionally simulates hurricanes intensities of up to category 4 (~942 mb) in terms of central pressure, although the surface winds (< 47 m s−1) do not exceed category-2 intensity. On interannual time scales, the model reproduces the observed ENSO-Atlantic hurricane covariation reasonably well. Some notable aspects of the highly contrasting 2005 and 2006 seasons are well reproduced, although the simulated activity during the 2006 core season was excessive. The authors conclude that the model appears to be a useful tool for exploring mechanisms of hurricane variability in the Atlantic (e.g., shear versus potential intensity contributions). The model may be capable of making useful simulations/projections of pre-1980 or twentieth-century Atlantic hurricane activity. However, the reliability of these projections will depend on obtaining reliable large-scale atmospheric and SST conditions from sources external to the model.
Aviation Applications for Satellite-Based Observations of Cloud Properties, Convection Initiation, In-Flight Icing, Turbulence, and Volcanic Ash
Authors: Mecikalski John R. , Feltz Wayne F. , Murray John J. , Johnson David B. , Bedka Kristopher M. , Bedka Sarah T. , Wimmers Anthony J. , Pavolonis Michael , Berendes Todd A. , Haggerty Julie , Minnis Pat , Bernstein Ben , Williams Earle
Published: October 2007

Advanced Satellite Aviation Weather Products (ASAP) was jointly initiated by the NASA Applied Sciences Program and the NASA Aviation Safety and Security Program in 2002. The initiative provides a valuable bridge for transitioning new and existing satellite information and products into Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Aviation Weather Research Program (AWRP) efforts to increase the safety and efficiency of project addresses hazards such as convective weather, turbulence (clear air and cloud induced), icing, and volcanic ash, and is particularly applicable in extending the monitoring of weather over data-sparse areas, such as the oceans and other observationally remote locations.

ASAP research is conducted by scientists from NASA, the FAA AWRP's Product Development Teams (PDT), NOAA, and the academic research community. In this paper we provide a summary of activities since the inception of ASAP that emphasize the use of current-generation satellite technologies toward observing and mitigating specified aviation hazards. A brief overview of future ASAP goals is also provided in light of the next generation of satellite sensors (e.g., hyperspectral; high spatial resolution) to become operational in the 2007–18 time frame.
False Alarms and Close Calls: A Conceptual Model of Warning Accuracy
Authors: Barnes Lindsey R. , Gruntfest Eve C. , Hayden Mary H. , Schultz David M. , Benight Charles
Published: October 2007

The false alarm rate (FAR) measures the fraction of forecasted events that did not occur, and it remains one of the key metrics for verifying National Weather Service (NWS) weather warnings. The national FAR for tornado warnings in 2003 was 0.76, indicating that only one in four tornado warnings was verified. The NWS’s goal for 2010 is to reduce this value to 0.70. Conventional wisdom is that false alarms reduce the public’s willingness to respond to future events. This paper questions this conventional wisdom. In addition, this paper argues that the metrics used to evaluate false alarms do not accurately represent the numbers of actual false alarms or the forecasters’ abilities because current metrics categorize events as either a hit or a miss and do not give forecasters credit for close calls. Aspects discussed in this paper include how the NWS FAR is measured, how humans respond to warnings, and what are alternative approaches to measure FAR. A conceptual model is presented as a framework for a new perspective on false alarms that includes close calls, providing a more balanced view of forecast verification.
Comparing Probabilistic Forecasting Systems with the Brier Score
Authors: Ferro Christopher A. T.
Published: October 2007

This article considers the Brier score for verifying ensemble-based probabilistic forecasts of binary events. New estimators for the effect of ensemble size on the expected Brier score, and associated confidence intervals, are proposed. An example with precipitation forecasts illustrates how these estimates support comparisons of the performances of competing forecasting systems with possibly different ensemble sizes.
Data Mining Numerical Model Output for Single-Station Cloud-Ceiling Forecast Algorithms
Authors: Bankert Richard L. , Hadjimichael Michael
Published: October 2007

Accurate cloud-ceiling-height forecasts derived from numerical weather prediction (NWP) model data are useful for aviation and other interests where low cloud ceilings have an impact on operations. A demonstration of the usefulness of data-mining methods in developing cloud-ceiling forecast algorithms from NWP model output is provided here. Rapid Update Cycle (RUC) 1-h forecast data were made available for nearly every hour in 2004. Various model variables were extracted from these data and stored in a database of hourly records for routine aviation weather report (METAR) station KJFK at John F. Kennedy International Airport along with other single-station locations. Using KJFK cloud-ceiling observations as ground truth, algorithms were derived for 1-, 3-, 6-, and 12-h forecasts through a data-mining process. Performance of these cloud-ceiling forecast algorithms, as evaluated through cross-validation testing, is compared with persistence and Global Forecast System (GFS) model output statistics (MOS) performance (6 and 12 h only) over the entire year. The 1-h algorithms were also compared with the RUC model cloud-ceiling (or cloud base) height translation algorithms. The cloud-ceiling algorithms developed through data mining outperformed these RUC model translation algorithms, showed slightly better skill and accuracy than persistence at 3 h, and outperformed persistence at 6 and 12 h. Comparisons to GFS MOS (which uses observations in addition to model data for algorithm derivation) at 6 h demonstrated similar performance between the two methods with the cloud-ceiling algorithm derived through data mining demonstrating more skill at 12 h.
Long-Range Prediction of the Shipping Season in Hudson Bay: A Statistical Approach
Authors: Tivy Adrienne , Alt Bea , Howell Stephen , Wilson Katherine , Yackel John
Published: October 2007

Despite recent reductions in Arctic sea ice extent and the associated increase in both the recreational and commercial use of ice-infested waters, long-range prediction of operationally relevant sea ice parameters is an area of seasonal forecasting that has received little attention. Statistical methods that isolate and exploit empirical relationships between antecedent low-frequency climate variability and specific variables of interest are often used to solve seasonal forecasting problems. In this study, simple multiple linear regression (MLR) techniques are used to improve the skill of the seasonal (3-month lead) forecast of the breakup and clearing of sea ice along the shipping route through Hudson Bay that is issued each March by the Canadian Ice Service of Environment Canada. Using sea ice and climate data from 1972 to 2002, predictive MLR models are developed for the spring opening date of the shipping route and the latest expected opening date. A success rate of 77% over the 1972–2002 period for the opening date, from an MLR model that explains 76% of the variability in the original time series with a mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.38, is a marked improvement over the 48% success rate of the current analog methodology. The success rate of the model for the latest expected date is 87%; the modeled time series adequately represented interannual variability in the observed time series (r = 0.71) with a low MAE (MAE = 0.51). Results from a series of model diagnostics that include Monte Carlo simulations, cross validation, and analysis of residuals, suggest the final models are statistically valid and are not influenced by artificial skill. The main source of predictive skill in the model is winter low-frequency variability in North Atlantic sea surface temperatures and 500-mb geopotential heights; physical processes that may explain this link are presented. It is concluded that simple multiple linear regression techniques can be applied to generate use-specific seasonal forecasts of sea ice conditions and that the empirical knowledge gained in the model development may help elucidate or identify physical processes in the climate system.
A Note On the Maximum Peirce Skill Score
Authors: Manzato Agostino
Published: October 2007

Binary classifiers are obtained from a continuous predictor using a threshold to dichotomize the predictor value into event occurrence and nonoccurrence classes. A contingency table is associated with each threshold, and from this table many statistical indices (like skill scores) can be computed. This work shows that the threshold that maximizes one of these indices [the Peirce skill score (PSS)] has some important properties. In particular, at that threshold the ratio of the two likelihood distributions is always 1 and the event posterior probability is equal to the event prior probability. These properties, together with the consideration that the maximum PSS is the point with the “most skill” on the relative operating characteristic curve and the point that maximizes the forecast value, suggest the use of the maximum PSS as a good scalar measure of the classifier skill. To show that this most skilled point is not always the best one for all the users, a simple economic cost model is presented.
Management in Politics
Authors: Lenhart Robert F. , Schriftgiesser Karl
Published: October 2007

That business is in politics as a necessity for eco nomic survival goes without saying. But the businessman in politics is another matter. For many years business has op erated mainly behind the façade of pressure groups and through the agency of the lobbyist. Businessmen have also sought political advantage through the use of publicity and the new "profession" of public relations. A survey shows that their ac tive participation in politics has not been as great as might be supposed. But enlightened businessmen seem to feel that members of management should take a more active part, not just in politics but, it would seem, in party politics. Today, for the most part, they prefer to work on the sidelines, and then not very actively, or through trade associations. Some of the reasons for this include social ostracism and the fear of tread ing on other people's toes. But the businessman has too much at stake in this complex world, where "we are in the midst of a revival of a truly political economy, whose major economic problems are political in nature." The authors suggest that less lobbying and more outright participation in politics by management and research is needed in the business community in order to meet fairly the many political and economic pres sures of the day.
How Pressure Groups Operate
Authors: Turner Henry A.
Published: October 2007

During the past few decades the number of pres sure groups has rapidly multiplied, the scope of their activities has vastly expanded, and their methods and tactics have become more professionalized and subtle. Today the more highly organized groups have lobbyists in Washington and in many state capitals, well-staffed bureaus of press agents and research personnel, and active membership groups across the nation. In general, pressure groups function in a pragmatic fashion, employing any procedures or methods which will ef fectively promote their aims. Pressure groups attempt to ex ert influence on every phase of the political process. They en deavor to influence their own members and other groups; urge political parties to endorse favored policies; work for the selec tion of "friendly" officials; and attempt to secure favorable decisions from executive, legislative, and judicial officials. Pos sibly the most significant contemporary development in pres sure-group activity is the continual increase in their efforts to mold public sentiment by utilizing the media of mass communi cation. Noteworthy recent developments in this area include the widespread use of institutional advertising and the estab lishment of the foundation, committees, councils, and institutes which have as their basic purpose the influencing of public attitudes.
Group Representation in Britain and the United States
Authors: Beer Samuel H.
Published: October 2007

Certain changes in the modern economy stand in marked contrast with the individualist, laissez-faire model. This new "collectivism" can be summarized under four head ings. The tendency to concentrate economic power among a few big buyers or sellers in a particular industry or complex of industries; the changes in internal structure resulting from this increase in the size of units which we term bureaucracy and managerialism; the method of dealing with one another of these units by bargaining or "collective bargaining"; and the ability of the units when dealing with consumers to shape and even create the very wants which the units supposedly came into existence to satisfy. Parallel changes in the polity provide us with a "collectivist" model that we can use to compare the dis tribution of power on the plane of pressure groups and parties in Britain and United States. It appears that the British polity comes closer to this model than the American.
Pressure Groups, Foreign Policies, and International Politics
Authors: Blaisdell Donald C.
Published: October 2007

In international as in domestic politics group ac tivity has become influential. Organizational and propaganda techniques have enabled these groups to claim an enlarged role in the decisions both of foreign offices and of intergovernmen tal organizations. Whether the form of activity which in the United States is synonomous with pressure groups is a universal phenomenon is a question awaiting systematic analysis. In the United States governmental structure, undisciplined political parties, the industrial and communications revolutions have combined to widen the opportunities open to citizens' groups to participate in the making of policy. Due to the necessity of compromise between the conflicting aims of such groups, the results of their activities in terms of foreign policies are rarely consistent. The external environment raises the armed serv ices, already practiced in lobbying, to a new height of influence in grand strategy. Participation by international nongovern mental organizations in making policy with wider scope and effect has been recognized in the United Nations and other postwar charters. In a nation-state system in which national ism builds up new states while the technology of security tends to undermine old ones, the modern system of pressure groups introduces an element of democratic control over policy, but with mixed effects on the welfare of peoples.
Health, Society, and Social Science
Authors: Straus Robert , Clausen John A.
Published: October 2007

Throughout the United States and elsewhere in the Western world since World War II, there has been a grow ing interest in medicine. As early as the 1930's, popular accounts of scientific developments began to interest lay readers in medical care and innovation. The significant involvement of social and behavioral scientists in medical education and research began a decade ago and has increased rapidly. It has become apparent that the understanding of health and disease requires a holistic frame of reference in which the psychological, social, and cultural aspects of human behavior are appropriately related to the biological nature of man and the physical environ ment in which he lives. Emphasis upon the holistic approach to medical science and upon comprehensive health care has moved medicine to seek the services of social scientists, notably in connection with public health, preventive medicine, and psychiatry. And, as conceptualization and methodology in the social sciences have matured, social scientists have increasingly tended to interest themselves in applied fields and have come to grasp the significance of health and medicine as a major focus of organized human behavior. Thus, medical science, social science, and popular interest merge to formulate con temporary approaches and norms in health care.—Ed.
Medicine, History, and the Idea of Man
Authors: Pellegrino Edmund D.
Published: October 2007

Medicine and the ideas by which an era lives have an intimate relationship. The dominant idea of man in each culture determines and is determined by medicine, whose prime concern must be with the person. The idea of man has undergone successive interpretations in the primitive Greek, Medieval, and modern worlds. These interpretations have profoundly affected the medical behavior of each era, and an understanding of this behavior is incomplete without reference to the dominating cultural ideas. Some of the intellectual disquietude of modern man has its roots in the insufficiency of modern culture and medicine to cultivate the common ground between them. Each struggles with but cannot fully incorpo rate man's personal and societal dimensions. The gradual transformation of the classical and medieval philosophies of man under the influences of experimental science and modern philosophy has tended to produce a loss of identity. Are we on the verge of a fuller definition of the nature of man—con sonant with the traditional view but expanded and fulfilled by the dominant note in our culture, that of science?
Anthropological Perspectives on Medicine and Public Health
Authors: Paul Benjamin D.
Published: October 2007

Some cultural anthropologists, when they do health-related research, investigate the role of sociocultural factors in the origin and prevalence of specific disease entities, particularly among ethnic minorities and people of divergent cultures. Others study the effect of cultural and social dif ferences on the outcome of public-health programs carried out in intercultural settings. Directors of health programs, as agents of social change and community development, should understand the nature of certain gaps that recurrently impede realization of program objectives. One is the cultural gap, which complicates communication and leads to the selective acceptance of offered innovations, owing to differences in cultural values and in culturally conditioned assumptions about the cause of illness. Another is the status gap between the health team and the public and between the ruling elites and their people. Still another is the urban-adjustment gap created by the influx of rural population into the cities. Com pared to the sums of money spent on basic medical research and program operations in the field, the amount available for studying the human aspects of health-improvement programs and other phases of community development is disappointingly small. This imbalance constitutes the research gap.
Medical Care and the Public: Case Study of a Medical Group
Authors: Freidson Eliot
Published: October 2007

Maintaining a high quality of medical care among physicians who characteristically depend upon patient choice for their success seems to be particularly difficult. One way of achieving high quality is said to be group practice. Study of patients of a medical group which gives care of high quality indicated that they are, by and large, satisfied. However, analysis of cases in which care was sought elsewhere indicated that the very attributes responsible for high professional quality were those making for a certain rigidity in response to the patient's demands. Inasmuch as the growth of group practice is likely to absorb what are now the safety-valve practices presently used by dissatisfied patients, attention must be paid to ways of restraining the development of a new pro fessional syndicalism which merely excludes and rejects patients with nowhere else to go.
The Process of Becoming a Physician
Authors: Bloom Samuel W.
Published: October 2007

Research into the processes by which medical students selectively acquire the attitudes and values of the medical profession falls into two general categories: (1) in vestigations which conceive of the medical school as a whole environment or social system, (2) studies which focus on the social psychology of particular attitudes. Both types have been concerned to a large extent with the problem of students' attitudes toward human relations. Factual evidence appears to indicate that such attitudes change in the direction of what has been labeled "cynicism." Interpreted within the full context of the student's experience, however, apparent cynicism can be regarded as a form of training in detachment which is an important attribute of the doctor's role. An important theoretical problem which has emerged from studies of attitudinal learning is whether student development is in contest with or in collaboration with the medical faculty. From the standpoint of sociology, the school environment is a vitally important influence on the development of the student into a professional. Investigations lend support to the proposi tion that adult socialization is important in the career of the professional.
Becoming a Nurse: A Selective View
Authors: Mauksch Hans O.
Published: October 2007

The young woman who enters a school of nursing is not only exposed to planned educational experiences but also to informal reality factors which profoundly shape her development. A shift from ego to role emphasis can be ex pected in the context of round-the-clock concern with profes sional conduct. The development of defensive mechanisms is stimulated by the stress of concurrent exposure to classroom and practice. Rapidly imposed adulthood, the reality of the human body, the modification of privacy and modesty seem to hit harder than the more dramatic but expected experiences with death. Caution, also, is learned when childhood dreams give way to patients' actual responses to nursing care and when the novice experiences the conflicts and stresses within the social organization of patient care. The development of a single-sex, quasi-isolated, close-knit student community adds to the role self-consciousness. The young woman entering nurs ing is a person desirous of being with people and of helping people but is also anxious to avoid blame and failure-producing situations. She seeks safe and controlled conditions within which to be with people. The effect of the total experience may be at variance with the objectives of the school and the profession. Consideration should be given to the character istics of the novice, the social context of the learning process, and the trends and aims of the profession.
Meeting Patients' Psychosocial Needs in the General Hospital
Authors: Brown Esther Lucile
Published: October 2007

As psychological factors become increasingly recognized as determinants of therapeutic progress, the need becomes clearer for hospitals, physicians, and nurses to consider the psychosocial and cultural needs of patients, to treat the whole person and not merely a disease entity. Many patients enter the hospital with anxiety not only about physical condition but also about family, occupational, or financial mat ters. They hope to find skilled technical care, sympathetic understanding, and an agreeable physical and social environ ment. Regardless of the congruence between what patients want and the concept of total patient care, many persons perceive their hospitalization as characterized by unallayed anxiety, loneliness, boredom, or frustration. This perception is the product of various interrelated factors. Especially im portant are the requirement of the hospital that patients ac commodate themselves to an alien environment with its many deprivations and the lack of opportunity for patients to com municate their doubts and uncertainties freely to "their doctor" or "their nurse."
A Discovery of Commitment
Authors: Colmen Joseph G.
Published: October 2007

The single most intriguing question asked of Peace Corps Volunteers by Americans and non-Americans alike is: "Why did you join?" While there are many intuitive analyses, this paper reports several more objective studies of motivation for joining the Peace Corps. After describing the Volunteers on the basis of a number of variables, three reports are summarized: (1) a 1962 study of 2,612 applicants' replies to a motivational question on the application form; (2) a 1963 interview study of why people who apply later decline a specific invitation to enter training; (3) a 1964 interview study of col lege seniors' interest in the Peace Corps. The paper concludes that Volunteers can be successful in the Peace Corps with a variety of motivations for joining.
The Beginnings of Peace Corps Programming
Authors: Carter George E.
Published: October 2007

Sargent Shriver took early action to ensure that a continuing review of ideas and approaches would be an integral part of the Peace Corps—the Evaluation Division, the five-year staff-tenure limitation, and utilization of professionals on leave-of-absence for staff positions. Peace Corps programs and programming are the products of this environment of insti tutionalized uncertainty. The major problem of Peace Corps programming is that it deals with volunteers, who can serve only in programs requested by a host country. By 1963, it was clear that the average Volunteer was a recent liberal-arts col lege graduate. The programmer's task became primarily the definition of this generalist's role. Most Volunteers can be grouped under five program models: four generalist and one technical. The reasons for the generally better success of the generalist programs are that the generalist is (1) well educated, (2) more responsive to training, (3) more analytical, and (4) more flexible. To solve the major weakness of the generalist— inability to deal with complex technical problems—the Peace Corps has instituted pyramid programming: a few technically skilled Volunteers and a large number of generalists working together. Other problems which still confront the generalist are described for the four models: coteaching, Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL), community development, and secondary-education teaching.—Ed.
Volunteers in the Field: Great Expectations
Authors: Boyer Neil A.
Published: October 2007

The life of a Peace Corps Volunteer is not some thing that can be adequately described to him before the fact. It is a life filled with excitement, boredom, achievement and frustration. It is a life in which the Volunteer's expectations of his host country, his living conditions, his social life, his own government, and even the American press are not only un realized but often completely contradicted. Most important, it is a life in which the Volunteer's expectations of himself are clearly challenged, and as a result the Volunteer returns home greatly tempered and molded by an experience that is virtually unobtainable in his own country.
The Peace Corps Volunteer in the Field: Community Development
Authors: Jones Kirby
Published: October 2007

If, in the development process, the people of a community can learn how to organize themselves into an effec tive problem-solving body, an infinite number of possibilities are opened. The more a community uses the resources—labor, money, materials—that exist within itself, the more successful the project is from a pure community-development view. What is actually happening in such a case is the utilization and im plementation of democratic principles and techniques to procure what is a basic right. A community may be asking for some thing that has historically been denied. The provincial at titudes of "just keep them quiet" or "they don't count" are going to be shaken. The Volunteer, in this instance, does not play the role of standard-bearer in a storming of City Hall, but rather that of adviser and subtle teacher of the tools of com munity action. Community development as practiced by Peace Corps Volunteers is a process aimed not at material ends, but rather at the poverty in men's minds.