bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
ELKO SPINOR FIELDS AS A TOOL FOR PROBING EXOTIC TOPOLOGICAL SPACETIME FEATURES
Authors: DA ROCHA ROLDÃO , HOFF DA SILVA J. M. , BERNARDINI ALEX E.
Published: November 2011

We report about some achievements and developments provided by the ELKO program, in particular the ones recently accomplished.1 Exotic dark spinor fields has been investigated in the context of inequivalent spin structures on arbitrary curved spacetimes, which induces an additional term on the associated Dirac operator, related to a Čech cohomology class. Exotic terms operating on standard model Dirac spinor fields are usually absorbed by gauge transformations encoded as a shift of some vector potential representing an element of the cohomology group H1(M, ℤ2). That is not the case of ELKO, once they cannot carry gauge charge. As a consequence, the ELKO program requires a complete evaluation of topological analysis. Since exotic dark spinor fields also satisfy Klein-Gordon propagators, the dynamical constraints related to the exotic term in the Dirac equation can be explicitly computed. It forthwith implies that the non-trivial topology associated to the spacetime can drastically engender — from the dynamics of dark spinor fields — constraints on the spacetime metric structure. Besides being candidates to the dark matter problem, dark spinor fields are shown to be potential candidates to probe non-trivial topologies in spacetime, as well as to explain the spacetime metric structure.
THE POINCARÉ CONJECTURE AND THE COSMOLOGICAL CONSTANT
Authors: MAIA M. D.
Published: November 2011

The concept of deformation of Riemannian geometry is reviewed, with applications to gravitation and cosmology. Starting with an analysis of the cosmological constant problem, it is shown that space-times are deformable in the sense of local change of shape. These deformations leave an observable signature in the space-time, characterized by a conserved tensor, associated with a tangent acceleration, defined by the extrinsic curvature of the space-time. In the applications to cosmology, we find that the accelerated expansion of the universe is the observable effect of the deformation, dispensing with the cosmological constant and its problems.
BOUNCING MODELS WITH A COSMOLOGICAL CONSTANT
Authors: PINTO-NETO NELSON , SIFFERT BEATRIZ B. , MAIER RODRIGO , PEREIRA STELLA
Published: November 2011

Most bouncing models contain a contracting phase from a very large and rarefied state, where dark energy might have had an important role. If this is that case, the presence of dark energy can modify the initial conditions and evolution of cosmological perturbations, changing the known results already obtained in the literature concerning their amplitude and spectrum. In this work, we assume the simplest and most appealing candidate for dark energy, the cosmological constant, and study its influence on the evolution of cosmological perturbations during the contracting phase of a bouncing model, containing also a perfect fluid with constant equation of state parameter w. We show that, due to the vacuum state choice we have to make when a cosmological constant is present, the spectrum of the perturbations are substantially altered. We conclude that, in this case, the presence of a stiff matter fluid in the contracting phase is needed in order to have a scale invariant spectrum of perturbations in the expanding phase.
VISCOUS DARK FLUID UNIVERSE: A UNIFIED MODEL OF THE DARK SECTOR?
Authors: ZIMDAHL WINFRIED , VELTEN HERMANO E. S. , HIPÓLITO-RICALDI WILIAM S.
Published: November 2011

The Universe is modeled as consisting of pressureless baryonic matter and a bulk viscous fluid which is supposed to represent a unified description of the dark sector. In the homogeneous and isotropic background the total energy density of this mixture behaves as a generalized Chaplygin gas. The perturbations of this energy density are intrinsically nonadiabatic and source relative entropy perturbations. The resulting baryonic matter power spectrum is shown to be compatible with the 2dFGRS and SDSS (DR7) data. A joint statistical analysis, using also Hubble-function and supernovae Ia data, shows that, different from other studies, there exists a maximum in the probability distribution for a negative present value of the deceleration parameter. Moreover, the unified model presented here favors a matter content that is of the order of the baryonic matter abundance suggested by big-bang nucleosynthesis. A problem of simple bulk viscous models, however, is the behavior of the gravitational potential and the reproduction of the CMB power spectrum.
CANONICAL TRANSFORMATION FOR STIFF MATTER MODELS IN QUANTUM COSMOLOGY
Authors: NEVES C. , MONERAT G. A. , CORRÊA SILVA E. V. , FERREIRA FILHO L. G. , OLIVEIRA-NETO G.
Published: November 2011

In the present work we consider Friedmann-Robertson-Walker models in the presence of a stiff matter perfect fluid and a cosmological constant. We write the superhamiltonian of these models using the Schutz's variational formalism. We notice that the resulting superhamiltonians have terms that will lead to factor ordering ambiguities when they are written as quantum operators. In order to remove these ambiguities, we introduce appropriate coordinate transformations and prove that these transformations are canonical using the symplectic method.
Thin-filament length correlates with fiber type in human skeletal muscle
Authors: Gokhin David S. , Kim Nancy E. , Lewis Sarah A. , Hoenecke Heinz R. , D'Lima Darryl D. , Fowler Velia M.
Published: November 2011

Force production in skeletal muscle is proportional to the amount of overlap between the thin and thick filaments, which, in turn, depends on their lengths. Both thin- and thick-filament lengths are precisely regulated and uniform within a myofibril. While thick-filament lengths are essentially constant across muscles and species (∼1.65 μm), thin-filament lengths are highly variable both across species and across muscles of a single species. Here, we used a high-resolution immunofluorescence and image analysis technique (distributed deconvolution) to directly test the hypothesis that thin-filament lengths vary across human muscles. Using deltoid and pectoralis major muscle biopsies, we identified thin-filament lengths that ranged from 1.19 ± 0.08 to 1.37 ± 0.04 μm, based on tropomodulin localization with respect to the Z-line. Tropomodulin localized from 0.28 to 0.47 μm further from the Z-line than the NH2-terminus of nebulin in the various biopsies, indicating that human thin filaments have nebulin-free, pointed-end extensions that comprise up to 34% of total thin-filament length. Furthermore, thin-filament length was negatively correlated with the percentage of type 2X myosin heavy chain within the biopsy and shorter in type 2X myosin heavy chain-positive fibers, establishing the existence of a relationship between thin-filament lengths and fiber types in human muscle. Together, these data challenge the widely held assumption that human thin-filament lengths are constant. Our results also have broad relevance to musculoskeletal modeling, surgical reattachment of muscles, and orthopedic rehabilitation.
Lithium interactions with Na+-coupled inorganic phosphate cotransporters: insights into the mechanism of sequential cation binding
Authors: Andrini Olga , Meinild Anne-Kristine , Ghezzi Chiara , Murer Heini , Forster Ian C.
Published: November 2011

Type IIa/b Na+-coupled inorganic phosphate cotransporters (NaPi-IIa/b) are considered to be exclusively Na+ dependent. Here we show that Li+ can substitute for Na+ as a driving cation. We expressed NaPi-IIa/b in Xenopus laevis oocytes and performed two-electrode voltage-clamp electrophysiology and uptake assays to investigate the effect of external Li+ on their kinetics. Replacement of 50% external Na+ with Li+ reduced the maximum transport rate and the rate-limiting plateau of the Pi-induced current began at less hyperpolarizing potentials. Simultaneous electrophysiology and 22Na uptake on single oocytes revealed that Li+ ions can substitute for at least one of the three Na+ ions necessary for cotransport. Presteady-state assays indicated that Li+ ions alone interact with the empty carrier; however, the total charge displaced was 70% of that with Na+ alone, or when 50% of the Na+ was replaced by Li+. If Na+ and Li+ were both present, the midpoint potential of the steady-state charge distribution was shifted towards depolarizing potentials. The charge movement in the presence of Li+ alone reflected the interaction of one Li+ ion, in contrast to 2 Na+ ions when only Na was present. We propose an ordered binding scheme for cotransport in which Li+ competes with Na+ to occupy the putative first cation interaction site, followed by the cooperative binding of one Na+ ion, one divalent Pi anion, and a third Na+ ion to complete the carrier loading. With Li+ bound, the kinetics of subsequent partial reactions were significantly altered. Kinetic simulations of this scheme support our experimental data.
Clenbuterol, a β2-adrenergic agonist, reciprocally alters PGC-1 alpha and RIP140 and reduces fatty acid and pyruvate oxidation in rat skeletal muscle
Authors: Hoshino Daisuke , Yoshida Yuko , Holloway Graham P. , Lally James , Hatta Hideo , Bonen Arend
Published: November 2011

Clenbuterol, a β2-adrenergic agonist, reduces mitochondrial content and enzyme activities in skeletal muscle, but the mechanism involved has yet to be identified. We examined whether clenbuterol-induced changes in the muscles' metabolic profile and the intrinsic capacity of mitochondria to oxidize substrates are associated with reductions in the nuclear receptor coactivator PGC-1 alpha and/or an increase in the nuclear corepressor RIP140. In rats, clenbuterol was provided in the drinking water (30 mg/l). In 3 wk, this increased body (8%) and muscle weights (12–17%). In red (R) and white (W) muscles, clenbuterol induced reductions in mitochondrial content (citrate synthase: R, 27%; W, 52%; cytochrome- c oxidase: R, 24%; W, 34%), proteins involved in fatty acid transport (fatty acid translocase/CD36: R, 36%; W, 35%) and oxidation [β-hydroxyacyl CoA dehydrogenase (β-HAD): R, 33%; W, 62%], glucose transport (GLUT4: R, 8%; W, 13%), lactate transport monocarboxylate transporter (MCT1: R, 61%; W, 37%), and pyruvate oxidation (PDHE1α, R, 18%; W, 12%). Concurrently, only red muscle lactate dehydrogenase activity (25%) and MCT4 (31%) were increased. Palmitate oxidation was reduced in subsarcolemmal (SS) (R, 30%; W, 52%) and intermyofibrillar (IMF) mitochondria (R, 17%; W, 44%) along with reductions in β-HAD activity (SS: R, 17%; W, 51%; IMF: R, 20%; W, 57%). Pyruvate oxidation was only reduced in SS mitochondria (R, 20%; W, 28%), but this was not attributable solely to PDHE1α, which was reduced in both SS (R, 21%; W, 20%) and IMF mitochondria (R, 15%; W, 43%). These extensive metabolic changes induced by clenbuterol were associated with reductions in PGC-1α (R, 37%; W, 32%) and increases in RIP140 (R, 23%; W, 21%). This is the first evidence that clenbuterol appears to exert its metabolic effects via simultaneous and reciprocal changes in the nuclear receptor coactivator PGC-1α and the nuclear corepressor RIP140.
Impact of cortical plasticity on patterns of suprathreshold activity in the cerebral cortex
Authors: Pita-Almenar Juan Diego , Ranganathan Gayathri Nattar , Koester Helmut Joachim
Published: November 2011

There are many cellular and synaptic mechanisms of plasticity in the vertebrate cortex. How the patterns of suprathreshold spiking activity in a population of neurons change because of this plasticity, however, has hardly been subjected to experimental studies. Here, we measured how evoked patterns of suprathreshold spiking activity in a cortical network were modified by cortical plasticity with single-cell and single-spike resolution. To record patterns of activity in the rodent barrel cortex, we used optical methods to detect suprathreshold activity from up to 40 neurons simultaneously. Pairing of two inputs resulted in a long-lasting modification of the cortical responses evoked by one of the inputs. The results indicate that plasticity rules on the network level inherit properties from synaptic plasticity rules but are also determined by the functional synaptic architecture, as well as the computations carried out in cortical networks. The largest determinants of the modified cortical responses were those observed when inducing changes by pairing the two inputs. On the single-neuron level, the modified responses only weakly reflected those observed when pairing the two inputs for induction of plasticity. Despite the weak reflection on the cellular level, however, the modified patterns reflected the pairing patterns to the degree that a simple decoding mechanism—a linear separator—correctly discriminated the modified responses from other patterns of activity.
A New Three-Way Translocationt(4;11;7)(q21;q23;q22) in a Mixed-Phenotype Acute Leukemia
Authors: Takasaki Hirotaka , Tachibana Takayoshi , Tanaka Masatsugu , Maruta Atsuo , Ishigatsubo Yoshiaki , Kanamori Heiwa
Published: November 2011

A 68-year-old man was admitted to our hospital in September 2008 because of a left-sided chest pain. Bone marrow examination showed that 85.5% of leukemic cells were positive for myeloperoxidase (MPO) and were negative for esterase stain. Flow cytometric analysis (FCM) revealed the expression of CD19, CD79a, CD13, CD33, CD34, and HLA-DR on the blasts. Cytogenetic analysis of bone marrow cells using the G-banding technique demonstrated 47, XY, +X,t(4;11;7)(q21;q23;q22) in five of the 20 analyzed cells. The patient was diagnosed as having mixed biphenotypic acute leukemia according to the European Group for Immunologic Classification of Leukemia criteria. Mixed-phenotype acute leukemia is a rare, difficult to diagnose entity. Whether patients with mixed-phenotype acute leukemia should be treated with regimens designed for acute myeloid leukemia, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, or both remains unclear.
Performance of PVD-Coated Carbide Tools When Turning Inconel 718 in Dry Machining
Authors: Akhyar Ibrahim Gusri , Che Haron Che Hassan , Abdul Ghani Jaharah , Said Ahmad Yasir Moh. , Abu Yazid Moh. Zaid
Published: November 2011

Inconel 718 has found its niche in many industries, owing to its unique properties such as high oxidation resistance and corrosion resistance even at very high temperatures. Coated carbide tool with hard layer of PVD TiAlN is used to turn Inconel 718. Taguchi method with the orthogonal array L9 is applied in this experiment with the parameter cutting speed of 60–80 m/min, feed rate of 0.2–0.3 mm/rev, and depth of cut of 0.3–0.5 mm. The results show that depth of cut is a significant influence to the tool life. Cutting speed of 60 m/min, feed rate of 0.2 mm/rev, and depth of cut of 0.3 mm are the optimum parameters. The flank wear, crater wear, notch wear, and nose wear are the wear mechanisms on the carbide tool. Through the SEM, abrasion, attrition, and adhesion are the wear mechanisms which can be seen on the cutting tool.
Tissue Engineered Strategies for Skeletal Muscle Injury
Authors: Longo Umile Giuseppe , Loppini Mattia , Berton Alessandra , Spiezia Filippo , Maffulli Nicola , Denaro Vincenzo
Published: November 2011

Skeletal muscle injuries are common in athletes, occurring with direct and indirect mechanisms and marked residual effects, such as severe long-term pain and physical disability. Current therapy consists of conservative management including RICE protocol (rest, ice, compression, and elevation), nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and intramuscular corticosteroids. However, current management of muscle injuries often does not provide optimal restoration to preinjury status. New biological therapies, such as injection of platelet-rich plasma and stem-cell-based therapy, are appealing. Although some studies support PRP application in muscle-injury management, reasons for concern persist, and further research is required for a standardized and safe use of PRP in clinical practice. The role of stem cells needs to be confirmed, as studies are still limited and inconsistent. Further research is needed to identify mechanisms involved in muscle regeneration and in survival, proliferation, and differentiation of stem cells.
Current Standards in the Management of Cerebral Metastases
Authors: Goetz Pablo , Ebinu Julius O. , Roberge David , Zadeh Gelareh
Published: November 2011

The last 30 years have seen major changes in attitude toward patients with cerebral metastases. This paper aims to outline the major landmarks in this transition and the therapeutic strategies currently used. The controversies surrounding control of brain disease are discussed, and two emerging management trends are reviewed: tumor bed radiosurgery and salvage radiation.
Effectiveness of an Inpatient Movement Disorders Program for Patients with Atypical Parkinsonism
Authors: Hohler Anna D. , Tsao Jyeming M. , Katz Douglas I. , DiPiero T. Joy , Hehl Christina L. , Leonard Alissa , Allen Valerie , Gardner Maura , Phenix Heidi , Saint-Hilaire Marie , Ellis Terry
Published: November 2011

This paper investigated the effectiveness of an inpatient movement disorders program for patients with atypical parkinsonism, who typically respond poorly to pharmacologic intervention and are challenging to rehabilitate as outpatients. Ninety-one patients with atypical parkinsonism participated in an inpatient movement disorders program. Patients received physical, occupational, and speech therapy for 3 hours/day, 5 to 7 days/week, and pharmacologic adjustments based on daily observation and data. Differences between admission and discharge scores were analyzed for the functional independence measure (FIM), timed up and go test (TUG), two-minute walk test (TMW), Berg balance scale (BBS) and finger tapping test (FT), and all showed significant improvement on discharge (). Clinically significant improvements in total FIM score were evident in 74% of the patients. Results were similar for ten patients whose medications were not adjusted. Patients with atypical parkinsonism benefit from an inpatient interdisciplinary movement disorders program to improve functional status.
Population Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacogenetics of Tacrolimus in Healthy Chinese Volunteers
Authors: Xue Ling , Zhang Hua , Ma Sheng , Rui Jian-Zhong , Miao Li-Yan
Published: November 2011

Aim: The aim of this study was to establish population pharmacokinetic models of tacrolimus in healthy Chinese volunteers. Methods: A total of 956 tacrolimus whole blood concentrations from 73 healthy volunteers were determined using ultraperformance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry. Population pharmacokinetic analyses were performed using NONMEM. The final population pharmacokinetic models were validated with bootstrap and visual predictive check. A number of covariates were analyzed, including CYP3A5 and ABCB1 polymorphism, demographic characteristics and hematological and biological indices. Results: The structural model was a two-compartment model with first-order absorption, and a lag time was fitted to the data. The typical population values of tacrolimus for the pharmacokinetic parameters of apparent clearance (CL/F), apparent distribution volume of the central compartment (V2/F), intercompartmental clearance (Q/F), apparent distribution volume of the peripheral compartment (V3/F), absorption rate (ka) and lag time (ALAG) were 27.7 l/h, 37.5 liters, 34.4 l/h, 357 liters, 0.795 h–1 and 0.226 h, respectively. The interindividual variabilities of these parameters were 63.3, 62.0, 50.8, 52.3, 32.9 and 4.45%, respectively, and the intraindividual variability of observed concentrations was 14.9%. The covariates that were retained in the final models were CYP3A5 genotype on CL/F, and body surface area and red blood count on V3/F. Conclusion: Population pharmacokinetic models of tacrolimus were developed in healthy volunteers. These results could provide a reference for individualized tacrolimus therapy in the clinical setting.
Near-Infrared Autofluorescence and Indocyanine Green Angiography in Central Serous Chorioretinopathy
Authors: Lindner E. , Weinberger A. , Kirschkamp T. , El-Shabrawi Y. , Barounig A.
Published: November 2011

Purpose: To evaluate the diagnostic potential of near-infrared (NIR) autofluorescence (AF) in central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) and to present a method to analyze NIR-AF findings quantitatively. Procedures: NIR-AF images, indocyanine green (ICG) angiograms, blue-light autofluorescence (BL-AF) images and fluorescein angiograms were recorded with the use of a confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope in 19 eyes of 17 patients with CSC. Gray-value ratios were calculated to compare the methods. Results: Using NIR-AF, hypofluorescent spots were observed at the leakage site in 18 of 19 eyes (94.7%). The mean gray-value ratio (±SD) was 0.55 ± 0.22 for the site of the leakage point with NIR-AF and 0.65 ± 0.35 with BL-AF. ICG angiography showed a gray-value ratio of 2.37 ± 2.07. Fluorescein angiography had the best contrast, with a gray-value ratio of 13.44 ± 15.02. Conclusion: NIR-AF demonstrated CSC in 94.7% of the cases. NIR-AF may be a noninvasive alternative to detect CSC.
Characteristics of Spinal Cord Stroke in Clinical Neurology
Authors: Romi Fredrik , Naess Halvor
Published: November 2011

Spinal cord stroke accounts for about 0.3% of all strokes in our department. Thirty-two patients (15 males, 17 females; mean age 63.3 years) treated in the period 1995–2010 were included. Patients underwent thorough investigation including the use of different stroke scales (National Institute of Health Stroke Scale, Barthel Index and modified Rankin Scale). Twenty-eight patients had infarctions, 3 had hemorrhages, and 1 had arterio-venous fistula. Twenty-eight spinal cord strokes were spontaneous, 2 were secondary to aorta aneurysms, and 2 post surgery. Biphasic ictus was seen in 17% of all spontaneous infarctions. Younger age, male gender, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and higher blood glucose on admission regardless of diabetes mellitus, were risk factors associated with more severe spinal cord stroke. Treatment and prevention of these risk factors should be essential in spinal cord stroke. We recommend a clinical classification into upper (cervical) and lower (thoracic or medullary conus) spinal cord strokes. Patients with upper strokes in this study had more severe strokes initially, but they had a better prognosis. Therefore it is important to identify this patient group.Acute sensory spinal cord deficit symptoms, common initial symptoms in biphasic spinal cord strokes, should be considered as possible spinal cord stroke, especially when preceded by radiating pain between the shoulders.
Diurnal and Nocturnal Intraocular Pressure Fluctuations after Trabeculectomy
Authors: Klink Thomas , Praetorius Stefanie , Leippi Swetlana , Klink Janine , Grehn Franz J.
Published: November 2011

Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare diurnal and nocturnal intraocular pressure (IOP) fluctuations before and after trabeculectomy, and to evaluate the potential of trabeculectomy to even out IOP peaks. Materials and Methods: Retrospectively, 35 diurnal and nocturnal IOP curves of patients (35 eyes) who underwent trabeculectomy were analyzed. Diurnal and nocturnal IOP profiles were recorded from 06:00 to 23:59 and 00:00 to 06:00, respectively. Follow-up was at least 300 days. Two criteria for success were defined: (1) IOP ≤21 mm Hg and at least a 20% IOP reduction from baseline; (2) <18 mm Hg without medication. Results: The preoperative maximum diurnal and nocturnal IOP (IOPmax) were 26.5 ± 5.9 and 23.4 ± 5.2 mm Hg, respectively. The postoperative diurnal and nocturnal IOPmax were 16 ± 4.4 and 16 ± 5.4 mm Hg, respectively. Pre- to postoperative IOP reductions were statistically different (day 40% and night 32%; p < 0.001). Diurnal fluctuation was reduced significantly from 12.1 ± 4.2 mm Hg preoperatively to 5.6 ± 2.2 mm Hg postoperatively (reduction of 54%), and nocturnal fluctuation from 7.1 ± 4.5 to 3.9 ± 4.1 mm Hg (reduction of 46%, statistically insignificant due to large SD), respectively. Success criteria 1 and 2 were achieved in 71 and 54% of patients at daytime and in 63 and 57% at nighttime (no statistically significant difference detectable). Follow-up was 2.1 ± 1.7 years. Conclusions: Trabeculectomy achieves a leveling of IOPmax in the diurnal-nocturnal comparison. The preoperative fluctuations could be nearly bisected. Relating to the success criteria, the statistical analysis did not reveal a difference in the diurnal-nocturnal comparison.
Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention as a National Reperfusion Strategy in Patients With ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction
Authors: Terkelsen Christian J. , Jensen Lisette O. , Tilsted Hans H. , Thaysen Per , Ravkilde Jan , Johnsen Søren P. , Trautner Sven , Andersen Henning R. , Thuesen Leif , Lassen Jens F.
Published: November 2011

Background—

In Denmark, primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) was chosen as a national reperfusion strategy for patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction in 2003. This study describes the temporal implementation of PPCI in Western Denmark, the gradual introduction of field triage for PPCI (patients rerouted from the scene of the event directly to the invasive center), and the associated outcome.

Methods and Results—

The study population comprised 9514 patients treated with PPCI from 1999 to 2009 with symptom duration ≤12 hours and either a delay from the emergency medical service (EMS) call to PPCI (healthcare system delay) of ≤6 hours or as self-presenters. The median follow-up time was 3.7 years. The number of patients treated with PPCI increased from 190 in 1999 to 1212 in 2009. Among patients transported by the EMS from the scene of the event, the proportion who were field triaged directly to a PCI center increased from 33% (34/103) to 72% (616/851,
P
<0.001). Patients who were field triaged had lower long-term mortality, with adjusted hazard ratios (95% CI) of 1.26 (1.12–1.43) among patients transported by the EMS to a local hospital and then transferred, 1.28 (1.10–1.49) among patients self-presenting at a local hospital and then transferred, and 1.37 (1.18–1.58) among patients self-presenting at a PCI center.

Conclusions—

A reperfusion strategy with PPCI only for patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction was successfully implemented in Western Denmark, and the majority of patients transported by the EMS are now triaged directly to the PPCI centers. This strategy is associated with lower mortality.
Roles of the Brazilian Plateau in the Formation of the SACZ
Authors: Kodama Yasu-Masa , Sagawa Tomoyuki , Ishida Sachinobu , Yoshikane Takao
Published: November 2011

The role of the Brazilian Plateau (BP) in maintaining the South Atlantic convergence zone (SACZ) has been examined by statistical analysis and numerical experiments. Statistical analysis using 27 years of data showed that the SACZ is most intense when it is over the BP. In this case, low-level cyclonic circulation appears over the southwestern part of the BP and forms westerly flow, which intensifies low-level convergence along the SACZ with northeasterly flow from the Amazon and northerly flow along the western edge of the South Atlantic subtropical high. A vorticity budget analysis indicates that precipitation over the BP that accompanies stretching maintains the cyclonic circulation.

Sensitivity experiments using a regional atmospheric model for two different cases indicate that precipitation over the BP plays a dominant role as an atmospheric heat source in maintaining the cyclonic circulation and the SACZ. In model experiments in which rain was stopped around the BP but the topography was kept, the cyclonic circulation disappeared, and the SACZ shifted southward away from its original position. In comparison with a control run, precipitation over the BP was weakened and the SACZ shifted southward in experiments in which the BP was removed or its complex, multiple-valley terrain was smoothed out. The results of this study support the ideas suggested in previous studies (i.e., that the BP has an anchor effect on the SACZ): Precipitation is intensified over the complex terrain of the BP, and mechanisms of conditional instability of the second kind occur between the precipitation over the BP and the cyclonic circulation to its southwest, which intensifies moisture convergence over the plateau.
The Mean Age of Ocean Waters Inferred from Radiocarbon Observations: Sensitivity to Surface Sources and Accounting for Mixing Histories
Authors: Gebbie Geoffrey , Huybers Peter
Published: November 2011

A number of previous observational studies have found that the waters of the deep Pacific Ocean have an age, or elapsed time since contact with the surface, of 700–1000 yr. Numerical models suggest ages twice as old. Here, the authors present an inverse framework to determine the mean age and its upper and lower bounds given Global Ocean Data Analysis Project (GLODAP) radiocarbon observations, and they show that the potential range of ages increases with the number of constituents or sources that are included in the analysis. The inversion requires decomposing the World Ocean into source waters, which is obtained here using the total matrix intercomparison (TMI) method at up to 2° × 2° horizontal resolution with 11 113 surface sources. The authors find that the North Pacific at 2500-m depth can be no younger than 1100 yr old, which is older than some previous observational estimates. Accounting for the broadness of surface regions where waters originate leads to a reservoir-age correction of almost 100 yr smaller than would be estimated with a two or three water-mass decomposition and explains some of the discrepancy with previous observational studies. A best estimate of mean age is also presented using the mixing history along circulation pathways. Subject to the caveats that inference of the mixing history would benefit from further observations and that radiocarbon cannot rule out the presence of extremely old waters from exotic sources, the deep North Pacific waters are 1200–1500 yr old, which is more in line with existing numerical model results.
Hong Kong Socialist Experimentation in the Colonial Era
Authors: Chui Shan Lau
Published: November 2011

This article describes an autonomous force that existed in the school system during the Hong Kong colonial period from 1946 to 1976. In the colonial period, pro-Beijing patriotic schools served as a subordinate culture within schools and attempted to construct an alternative, socialist and People’s Republic of China-centred (PRC-centred) identity by providing affordable education for ordinary people. This sociological–historical study provides an understanding of how these schools constructed an alternative culture that opposed the colonial government. It explores and records the socio-political background in which Hong Kong pro-Beijing ‘patriots’ (socialists/leftists) set up education for children, the social history of the patriotic faction and its schools, the teaching and learning methods and the socialist strategies of patriotic education in colonial Hong Kong. The study illustrates the interplay between politics and education through a case study of pro-Beijing patriotic schools in Hong Kong.

Pro-Beijing patriotic schools were the only type of school that prepared students for the eventual rule of the PRC after the 1940s. The patriotic schools, together with other PRC-affiliated organizations, represented the influence of the PRC in Hong Kong. It was part of an organized process that was intended to shape consciousness systematically, develop knowledge and form attitudes. The interplay between socio-political development and education enables us to rethink the role that schools could and should play in present day Hong Kong.
Fabrication and material properties of fibrous PHBV scaffolds depending on the cross-ply angle for tissue engineering
Authors: Kim Yang-Hee , Min Young-Ki , Lee Byong-Taek
Published: November 2011

Fibrous PHBV cross-ply scaffolds were fabricated using the electrospinning technique. The electrospun fibers were arranged depending on angles of alignment, which were 180°, 90°, 60°, and 45°. The stress and strain values of the fibrous PHBV cross-ply scaffolds increased as the cross-ply angle increased. At 180°, the strength and strain values of the fibers depended on tensile loading directions. At an alignment of 90°, the PHBV scaffolds had a stress value of 3.5 MPa, which was more than two times higher than the random structure. The cell morphology and proliferation of L-929 cells was strongly dependant on the fiber alignment and the best results were observed when the angle alignment was high. The results of this study showed that the cross-ply structure of the PHBV scaffold affected not only the cell adhesion and spreading properties but also dictated the mechanical properties, which were dependent on the angles of alignment.
Problems Hearing in Noise in Older Adults
Authors: Glyde Helen , Hickson Louise , Cameron Sharon , Dillon Harvey
Published: November 2011

Difficulty understanding speech in background noise, even with amplification to restore audibility, is a common problem for hearing-impaired individuals and is especially frequent in older adults. Despite the debilitating nature of the problem the cause is not yet completely clear. This review considers the role of spatial processing ability in understanding speech in noise, highlights the potential impact of disordered spatial processing, and attempts to establish if aging leads to reduced spatial processing ability. Evidence supporting and opposing the hypothesis that spatial processing is disordered among the aging population is presented. With a few notable exceptions, spatial processing ability was shown to be reduced in an older population in comparison to young adults, leading to poorer speech understanding in noise. However, it is argued that to conclude aging negatively effects spatial processing ability may be oversimplified or even premature given potentially confounding factors such as cognitive ability and hearing impairment. Further research is required to determine the effect of aging and hearing impairment on spatial processing and to investigate possible remediation options for spatial processing disorder.
Physiological regulation of MMPs and tPA/PAI in the arterial wall of rats by noradrenergic tone and angiotensin II
Authors: Dab Houcine , Hachani Rafik , Dhaouadi Nedra , Hodroj Wassim , Sakly Mohsen , Randon Jacques , Bricca Giampiero , Kacem Kamel
Published: November 2011

The interactions between the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and angiotensin II (ANG II), and their direct effects in vitro on the enzymes involved in vascular extracellular matrix (ECM) degradation, were examined.

Rats were treated with guanethidine, losartan or the combined treatments. mRNA, protein and activity of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9 and mRNA of tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) and plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1) were quantified in abdominal aorta (AA) and femoral artery (FA). Norepinephrine (NE) or ANG II with adrenergic (β, α1 and α2) or losartan antagonists was tested for MMP mRNA response in cultured vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs).

Combined treatment enhances the inhibition of MMP-2 mRNA and protein level induced by simple treatment in AA. However MMP-9 in AA and MMP mRNA in FA were reduced in the same order by treatments. MMP activities were not affected by treatments. The t-PA/PAI-1 ratio, which reflects the fibrinolytic balance, remained higher after treatments. In cultured VSMCs, NE induced stimulation of MMP mRNA via α2 and β adrenergic receptors and MMP-2 activity via β adrenergic receptors, while ANG II-induced stimulation was abrogated by losartan.

Overall, there is a synergic inhibition of both systems on the level of MMP-2 in AA.
The impact of curfews and electronic monitoring on the social strains, support and capital experienced by youth gang members and offenders in the west of Scotland
Authors: Deuchar Ross
Published: November 2011

Concerns about youth gang violence and offending have occurred in developed societies across the globe, and a plethora of youth justice sanctions have arisen in response to this. This article is focused upon an empirical study of 20 young men from socially deprived areas of the west of Scotland, whose involvement in individualized offending emerged from their earlier participation in gang violence. The article explores the impact of curfews and electronic monitoring on the social strains, support and capital experienced by the young men and their families. The findings indicate that the sanctions had some limited success in reducing anti-social capital in the young offenders’ lives, particularly when they were complemented by mechanisms for rehabilitation and care. However, when used in isolation the sanctions often failed to build pro-social capital and, in some cases, functioned as an additional social strain conducive to further criminal offending. The article ends with some suggested implications for future youth justice policy decisions, and calls for wider research into the impact of criminal justice sanctions on young offenders and families.
DNMT3A mutations in acute myeloid leukemia: stability during disease evolution and clinical implications
Authors: Hou Hsin-An , Kuo Yuan-Yeh , Liu Chieh-Yu , Chou Wen-Chien , Lee Ming Cheng , Chen Chien-Yuan , Lin Liang-In , Tseng Mei-Hsuan , Huang Chi-Fei , Chiang Ying-Chieh , Lee Fen-Yu , Liu Ming-Chih , Liu Chia-Wen , Tang Jih-Luh , Yao Ming , Huang Shang-Yi , Ko Bor-Sheng , Hsu Szu-Chun , Wu Shang-Ju , Tsay Woei , Chen Yao-Chang , Tien Hwei-Fang
Published: November 2011

DNMT3A mutations are associated with poor prognosis in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), but the stability of this mutation during the clinical course remains unclear. In the present study of 500 patients with de novo AML, DNMT3A mutations were identified in 14% of total patients and in 22.9% of AML patients with normal karyotype. DNMT3A mutations were positively associated with older age, higher WBC and platelet counts, intermediate-risk and normal cytogenetics, FLT3 internal tandem duplication, and NPM1, PTPN11, and IDH2 mutations, but were negatively associated with CEBPA mutations. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that the DNMT3A mutation was an independent poor prognostic factor for overall survival and relapse-free survival in total patients and also in normokaryotype group. A scoring system incorporating the DNMT3A mutation and 8 other prognostic factors, including age, WBC count, cytogenetics, and gene mutations, into survival analysis was very useful in stratifying AML patients into different prognostic groups (P < .001). Sequential study of 138 patients during the clinical course showed that DNMT3A mutations were stable during AML evolution. In conclusion, DNMT3A mutations are associated with distinct clinical and biologic features and poor prognosis in de novo AML patients. Furthermore, the DNMT3A mutation may be a potential biomarker for monitoring of minimal residual disease.
Features of subsyndromal and persistent delirium
Authors: Meagher David , Adamis Dimitrios , Trzepacz Paula , Leonard Maeve
Published: November 2011

Background

Longitudinal studies of delirium phenomenology are lacking.

Aims

We studied features that characterise subsyndromal delirium and persistent delirium over time.

Method

Twice-weekly evaluations of 100 adults with DSM-IV delirium using the Delirium Rating Scale – Revised-98 (DRS-R98) and Cognitive Test for Delirium (CTD). The generalised estimating equation method identified symptom patterns distinguishing full syndromal from subsyndromal delirium and resolving from persistent delirium.

Results

Participants (mean age 70.2 years (s.d. = 10.5)) underwent 323 assessments (range 2–9). Full syndromal delirium was significantly more severe than subsyndromal delirium for DRS-R98 thought process abnormalities, delusions, hallucinations, agitation, retardation, orientation, attention, and short- and long-term memory items, and CTD attention, vigilance, orientation and memory. Persistent full syndromal delirium had greater disturbance of DRS-R98 thought process abnormalities, delusions, agitation, orientation, attention, and short- and long-term memory items, and CTD attention, vigilance and orientation.

Conclusions

Full syndromal delirium differs from subsyndromal delirium over time by greater severity of many cognitive and non-cognitive symptoms. Persistent delirium involves increasing prominence of recognised core diagnostic features and cognitive impairment.
Modernizing Middle Eastern Studies, Historicizing Religion, Particularizing Human Rights
Authors: Watson Janell
Published: November 2011

In this interview, Talal Asad discusses his career, his ideas, and his future plans. An Oxford-trained cultural anthropologist, Asad began with fieldwork, studying the effects of colonialism on the political life of a nomadic tribe in northern Sudan. Asad was born in Saudi Arabia but grew up mostly in India and Pakistan. His mother was a Saudi Muslim and his father an Austrian Jew who converted to Islam and became a Muslim scholar. Although he was no longer a believer, Asad became interested in religion and involved in Middle Eastern studies, at least in part in reaction to disturbing Western attitudes toward Muslims. While he recognized the contributions of Orientalist scholars, such as their knowledge of languages and translations of key texts, he and his collaborators in England found their way of thinking unsophisticated, biased, sweepingly broad, and often just plain wrong. Asad was influenced by Marxism but was troubled by its simplified equating of religion with ideology. He read Michel Foucault with great interest, a topic he discussed with his friend Edward Said. Asad published groundbreaking studies such as Genealogies of Religion, Formations of the Secular, and On Suicide Bombing (from his 2006 Wellek lectures). He is currently working on a genealogical critique of the notion of human rights and its contradictory coexistence alongside great violence such as war and regimes of punishment.
Between Belief and Knowledge
Authors: Dancer Thom
Published: November 2011

This essay reflects on the recent debates about the value (or lack of value) of symptomatic, deep, and critical reading in the context of the decline of the political doctrine of secularism. It aims to frame the literary critical questions about surface and depth, subjectivity and objectivity, presence and distance in terms of their implicit relationship to secular models of argument, deliberation, and rationality. Drawing on Bruno Latour's discussion of religious speech, the essay suggests that the relevant distinction is not between surface and deep reading but informational and transformational forms of discourse. Understanding literature as transformational requires us to consider, however, the fundamental question of whether “criticism” itself is even compatible with the kinds of surface, pious, generous, intensive, mutual reading imagined as alternatives. The essay explores several recent responses to this question in an effort to begin to map the landscape of literature and criticism after secularism. J. M. Coetzee's Diary of a Bad Year provides an example of what such a criticism of presence would look like as well as the models of public life it entails. Coetzee's example, however, is ultimately ambivalent because it depends on his position as an artist-critic; thus, rather than endorsing an alternative method, the essay, following Coetzee's imperative to “speak without authority,” simply leaves the question provocatively open.
Religious Cosmopolitanism?
Authors: Neuman Justin
Published: November 2011

Is cosmopolitanism compatible with religion? This essay explores what it might mean to cultivate a sensibility of religious cosmopolitanism through the study of narrative literature. I begin by analyzing the intersection of these terms—the religious and the cosmopolitan—across their longue durée. The resulting history helps to clarify how and why cosmopolitanism, conceived and theorized in opposition to political boundaries, has come to conceive religion—religious practices, convictions, and communities—as its theopolitical limit while becoming increasingly compatible with nationalism. To travel smoothly among the flows of global culture and public reason, one need not abandon the nation, but one must, in the dominant account, be willing to shed the parochial trappings of religion—or at least relegate such attachments to one's private life. In a time of Twitter revolutions and constant connectivity, celebrants of globalization and its critics alike are prone to thin accounts that fall back on metaphors of a flat world and the short text. Against the perils of the short and the flat, this essay celebrates the long formats and sustained acts of imaginative investment fostered by narrative literature. Focusing on Orhan Pamuk's novel Snow, I analyze the ways in which worldly faith and parochial secularity unravel the religious/cosmopolitan agon. As Pamuk's novel underscores, because the most prominent boundaries of the modern world system are not territorial or political but religious, any cosmopolitanism worthy of the name must offer a model of inclusivity and universalism that both recognizes and reckons with the substantive differences that separate varieties of religious and secular experience.
Katarzyna Pieprzak: Imagined Museums: Art and Modernity in Postcolonial Morocco
Authors: Powers Holiday
Published: November 2011

This article reviews Katarzyna Pieprzak’s book Imagined Museums: Art and Modernity in Post-colonial Morocco (University of Minnesota Press, 2010). The book covers the discursive usage of claims of modernity in Morocco from 1912, the beginning of the French Protectorate, up to the present. Pieprzak looks to the many manifestations of museums within and outside the context of the nation and to the claims that these institutions and structures lay to notions of modernity.
A Fateful Journey: Africa in the Works of El Anatsui
Authors: Vogel Susan
Published: November 2011

This thoughtful one-person exhibition by the art historian Yukiya Kawaguchi, in the ethnographic museum in Osaka, lands at the intersection of art and ethnology, Africa and internationalism. The exhibition is masterfully curated and beautifully installed, but the premise stated in the title and implied in the show’s institutional context overemphasizes the African and ethnographic sources of Anatsui’s art. Rather misrepresenting both Africa and Anatsui, it seems to place the artist in the wrong Africa: the dusty village of ethnic traditions. Anatsui grew up in a small town and was shaped by an international formal education and a Christian church. Africa has always had areas of cosmopolitan learning, and occluding this one stunts the image of Africa. Where Anatsui is concerned, we should neglect neither his African origins nor his education, love of books, and years of looking at many kinds of art.
Zwelethu Mthethwa: Inner Views
Authors: Newbury Susanna
Published: November 2011

Zwelethu Mthethwa: Inner Views, at the Studio Museum in Harlem from July 15 to October 24, 2010, was the first major US museum exhibition of the South African photographer since 2003. The show drew from three of the artist’s photographic series to focus on the domestic interiors of black subjects in Cape Town, Johannesburg, and New Orleans. With Mthethwa’s customary saturated color, subtle composition, and exacting attention to ephemeral detail, the images depicted the reach of politics in the aesthetics of everyday life. They also revealed the artist’s interest in the longer history of artistic convention and transcultural exchange, drawing on references ranging from seventeenth-century Dutch genre painting to contemporary art. In Mthethwa’s photographs an intense pictorial visuality serves as a starting point for both documentary portraiture and critical inquiry, highlighting both the artist’s stunning images and photography’s capacity to convey both personal expression and the stark facts of social crisis.