bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Coronary artery disease risk factors in patients with schizophrenia: effects of short term antipsychotic treatment
Authors: Sarandol Asli , Kirli Selcuk , Akkaya Cengiz , Ocak Nihal , Eroz Esma , Sarandol Emre
Published: August 2007

The aim of the present study was to investigate serum paraoxonase/arylesterase activities and oxidation/oxidizability of apolipoprotein B-containing lipoproteins and several coronary artery disease risk factors, including homocysteine, high sensitive C-reactive protein, tumour necrosis factor-α, leptin and adiponectin in patients with schizophrenia. Oxidation of lipoproteins plays an important role in atherogenesis, and the enzyme paraoxonase has been shown to prevent lipoprotein oxidation. Furthermore, low paraoxonase activity has been suggested to predict coronary artery disease. Forty patients who fully met the fourth Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders criteria for schizophrenia and 35 healthy control subjects were included in the study. Serum paraoxonase/arylesterase activities were determined spectrophotometrically. Malondialdehyde levels of apolipoprotein B-containing lipoproteins were determined before and after incubation with copper-sulphate, which yielded basal- and Δ-malondialdehyde values, respectively. Homocysteine and highly sensitive C-reactive protein levels were determined using a fluorescence-polarization immunoassay and immunonephelometry, respectively. Leptin and adiponectin levels were measured with radioimmunoassay and tumour necrosis factor-α was determined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Serum paraoxonase and arylesterase activities were significantly lower and Δ-malondialdehyde levels were significantly higher in the schizophrenia group compared with the control group. However, there were not any significant differences in other parameters of the study between the study groups. There was a significant increase in body mass index and serum triglyceride and very low density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in the schizophrenic group after 6 weeks of treatment. These parameters were significantly increased in patients treated with atypical antipsychotics but not in patients treated with typic or long acting antipsychotics. The results of the present study suggest that patients with schizophrenia might have increased risk for coronary artery disease related to reduced serum paraoxonase activity and increased oxidizability of apolipoprotein B-containing lipoproteins.
Statins are effective in treating dyslipidemia among psychiatric patients using second-generation antipsychotic agents
Authors: Ojala Kari , Repo-Tiihonen Eila , Tiihonen Jari , Niskanen Leo
Published: August 2007

Statins are widely used in the treatment of patients having high levels of serum total cholesterol (TC) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). However, there is little documentation on the ability of statins to treat dyslipidemia induced by second-generation antipsychotics (sGAs) and if so, to what extent. A goal of the present study was to evaluate these aspects among psychotic inpatients who were prescribed sGAs in a typical clinical setting. The study sample consisted of 28 psychotic male forensic psychiatric inpatients (mean age 44 years). All had sGA medication for their psychotic symptoms. secondary causes of dyslipidemia were excluded and statin therapy was initiated, according to the established guidelines. The change in TC, LDL-C, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and triglycerides (TG) levels were evaluated retrospectively and analysed by the Wilcoxon signed Ranks test. The lowering effectivity of statin treatment was 36% for TC, 49% for LDL-C and 29% for TG. Most of the patients (84%) achieved a target value for LDL-C of <3.0 mmol/L, and 54% achieved target value of <2.6 mmol/L, while HDL-C remained unchanged. These results were achieved with a low or moderate dose of statin during a period of 1 month. The effect of statins in lowering of TC, LDL-C and TG among dyslipidemic psychiatric patients that were treated with sGA was similar to the effectiveness of statin therapy in other clinical trial settings, and should be used when they are indicated.
‘Only connect’: global and local networks, contexts and fieldwork
Authors: Pluciennik Mark , Drew Quentin
Published: August 2007

We examine the ways in which the variety of voices and multiple networks that constitute field work are reduced in its representation, particularly within the discipline of archaeology. The interrelatedness of structures, constraints and opportunities which constitute the conditions and outcomes of fieldwork raises issues beyond notions of intertextuality and the ethics of representation. The specificity and contingency of ‘the field’ is demonstrated through a case study set partly in southern Albania. Contrasts are drawn between ethnographic and archaeological experiences and understandings, and the ways in which the metaphor of ‘tourism’ can be understood as relating to both. These issues of the reduction and representation of richness and diversity are also pursued through amalgamation and experimentation in the relationship between form and content, including montage, both visual and textual. In part, a traditional written style of intellectual argument, albeit employing genres ranging from diary and commentary to footnotes, is used. We also integrate less formal text highlighting the different modes and contexts of production of archaeological knowledges, including this paper, along with the use of multiple narratives and interwoven and layered images.
Rescaling irrigation in Latin America: the cultural images and political ecology of water resources
Authors: Zimmerer Karl S.
Published: August 2007

A pair of scales -local canal-based (or village-based) and basin-scale (or valley-wide) -is featured in the irrigation of the mountain landscapes of Latin America. These scales arose historically through the interplay of cultural images with the political ecologies of agrarian transformation. In the Cochabamba region of Bolivia, long the irrigated breadbasket of the south-central Andes, the Inca state (c. 1495-1539) imposed canal-based irrigation using a powerful concept of rotational sharing ( suyu). Valley basins containing local irrigation were a part of the territorial web of Inca state geography known later as verticality. The Spanish empire in Andean South America (1539-1825) was predicated upon a valley-centric colonial geography. Colonial rescaling involved despoliation and usurpation of waterworks, legal actions, and struggles over environmental change. Influence of the two irrigation scales has persisted. Today canal-based irrigation is not a timeless relict of indigenous customs, pace many postcolonial projects. Rather its usefulness, and its remarkable reinvention as a cultural concept and environmental creation, are the products of major modifications. Dismantling of multi-scale linkages in irrigation has reduced indigenous or peasant cross-scale co-ordination. Local containment poses threats to the environmental and socioeconomic sustainability of canal-based irrigation.
Critics in the native soil: landscape and conflicting ideals of nationality in imperial Russia
Authors: Ely Christopher
Published: August 2007

Although the native landscape would eventually become an important locus for Russian national sentiment, Russians only came to celebrate the distinct characteristics of their natural environment at a comparatively late date. It was not until the second half of the nineteenth century that a pointedly native school of landscape painting would gain acceptance with the public and the arts establishment. But within a short span of time after its appearance Russian landscape painting came to generate widespread interest and enjoy great success. One of the best ways to help illuminate both the hesitance to embrace landscape painting and the rapidity of its emergence as a significant genre is to explore the critical response to it. In this paper I argue that Russian art critics were torn by landscape painting because it did not comfortably conform to any of the established formal or political frameworks then available for the evaluation of art in Russia. Its popularity nevertheless increased because it offered a new way to envision Russia as a national community in the era of rapid change surrounding the Great Reforms.
Sex and the City of Bachelors: Sporting Guidebooks and Urban Knowledge in Nineteenth-Century Britain and America
Authors: Howell Philip
Published: August 2007

Guidebooks to brothels and prostitutes flourished in mid-nineteenth century Britain and America, particularly in the great cities of London and New York. This paper treats such guides as a form of imaginative mapping, associated with a ‘sporting’ male culture of sexually predatory men and an ideal city of male sexual opportunity. Such guidebooks offered to their readers a particular form of urban knowledge, primarily through the construction of the persona of the ‘man about town’, holding out the promise of ordering the confusing realities of the sprawling nineteenth-century metropolis. However, the guidebook genre necessarily admits something of the anxieties, ignorance and vulnerability of the would-be men about town who made up its readers, and this paper concludes that this literature should be considered as an elaborate ideological fantasy, constraining as well as constructing masculine identities, rather than simply evidence for the confident male appropriation of public space.
St Kilda and the Sublime
Authors: MacDonald Fraser
Published: August 2007

This paper considers how the search for the sublime in nineteenth-century Scotland found its expression in the voyage to St Kilda, a remote island archipelago west of Scotland’s Outer Hebrides. It looks at the historical construction of St Kilda as an ultima Thule for Victorian travellers, a site which offered an incongruous set of discourses on antiquity and modernity; improvement and romance; evangelicalism and impiety. Grounding the early interest in St Kilda in eighteenth-century aesthetic theory - specifically that of James MacPherson and Edmund Burke - the paper shows how this corporeal adventure into the Ossianic and oceanic sublime was disrupted by the islanders’ religion and social organization. If the rhetorical strategies of the early tourists located St Kilda ‘on the edge of the world’, I draw attention to how the island was central to the ecclesiastical geography of Scotland. Given that for nineteenth-century Scotland the political life of the church eclipsed that of the state, the use of St Kilda as an emblem of Presbyterian polity was highly significant. In the context of a modern Scottish nation searching for historical perspectives on governance and community, the story of this ‘island republic’ has become important in the production of contemporary meaning. By challenging the moral-political authority of the travellers’ accounts, I ascribe a greater degree of agency to the islanders and thereby question the dominant narrative of St Kildan history.
Developing Identities: Indigenous Mobilization, Rural Livelihoods, and Resource Access in Ecuadorian Amazonia
Authors: Perreault Thomas
Published: August 2007

In the 30 years since Ecuador’s agrarian reform, indigenous organizations have had a major impact on the country’s institutional, political and natural landscapes. Originally formed largely in accordance with state-prescribed models, and with considerable guidance from external institutions, these organizations have worked to defend existing land claims; access institutional, financial and natural resources; and make civil rights claims against the state. Regional and national indigenous organizations have mobilized discourses of cultural identity in strategic ways in order to achieve these goals. This paper examines the scalar linkages between the processes of economic and social transformation in the Ecuadorian Amazon and the ways in which indigenous organizations have responded to these changes since the country’s agrarian reform. I argue that the material and discursive mobilization of identity has been central to the aims of accessing resources and claiming political rights.

Through a comparative case study of a regional indigenous federation and one of its constituent base communities, I highlight the differences between organizational histories, capacities and aims. Most studies of indigenous movements in the Amazon Basin have considered only regional or national organizations, often giving a false impression of homogeneity within such movements. I contend that detailed analysis of the relations between regional secondary-level indigenous federations and local base communities, as well as the micro-level processes of production and resource mobilization at the community and household scales, is crucial in understanding indigenous organizing processes in Ecuador today.
Complex Communities and Emergent Ecologies in the Regional Agroforest of Zambrana-Chacuey, Dominican Republic
Authors: Rocheleau Dianne , Ross Laurie , Morrobel Julio , Malaret Luis , Hernandez Ricardo , Kominiak Tara
Published: August 2007

Global economic change and the discourses, models and practice of international sustainable development are major forces of ecological construction and restructuring. The paper illustrates how the social and ecological co-construction of forests in the Zambrana-Chacuey region in the Dominican Republic has material consequences for distinct groups of people and for other species in rural landscapes. The introduction of the Acacia mangium - a fast growing tree - as a timber cash crop for smallholder farmers in the region between 1984 and 1994 had major social, economic and ecological consequences. A rural federation collaborated with ENDA-Caribe, an international non-government organization, in a ten-year social forestry experiment to develop and promote economically and environmentally viable timber cash cropping systems for smallholder farmers. The experience of the federation members provides a window on the workings of gender, class and popular organization in the making of forest ecologies, and demonstrates the influence of transnational sustainable development models and organizations in the social and biological transformation of rural life. The encounter between the complex social and ecological context with an apparently simple project yields insights into the social, political and material construction, destruction and transformation of biotic assemblages in forests, fields, pastures and gardens in this forest/farm matrix. The research findings also illuminate the distinct effects of the resulting restructured ecologies on the diverse interest groups and plant communities within the regional agroforest.
John Buchan’s ‘Hesperides’: landscape rhetoric and the aesthetics of bodily experience on the South African Highveld, 1901-1903
Authors: Foster Jeremy
Published: August 2007

The creation and use of landscapes... always emerges from biographical and place-specific historical and social contexts, at the same time that it contributes towards the uninterrupted becoming of biography and place.1

The thing is correlative to my body and, in more general terms, to my existence, of which my body is merely the stabilized structure.2
Redefining national identity in Uzbekistan: symbolic tensions in Tashkent’s official public landscape
Authors: Bell James
Published: August 2007

The official public landscape of Tashkent constitutes a strategic medium in the reconstitution of contemporary Uzbek national identity. In this regard, Tashkent resembles numerous capital cities across Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. However, unlike in more democratized societies, the reinscription of Tashkent’s public landscape has remained almost exclusively the provenance of ruling political elites. To date, the transformation of Tashkent’s official public landscape has been measured and gradual. Political elites have hesitated to unravel the intricate iconography of Uzbek state- and nationhood designed by Soviet-era architects. This article focuses on the evolving relationship between Uzbekistan’s political elite and Tashkent’s symbolic landscape. The embeddedness of Soviet-era architectural icons illuminates the inertia that has defined contemporary efforts to reinscribe the narrative of Uzbek nationhood. The link between Tashkent’s past and present public landscapes also highlights the tension between public landscapes that reify state-centred definitions of Uzbekness and those, such as the mosque, that manifest alternative visions of Uzbek identity.
Staging the past: landscape designs, cultural identity and Erinnerungspolitik at Berlin’s Neue Wache
Authors: Till Karen E.
Published: August 2007

The controversies surrounding the re-establishment of a national memorial in Berlin, the Neue Wache, are examined to discuss the process of public memory. After unification, West German media continued to define public debate. ‘Established’ interest groups (politicians, victims, historical experts and citizen groups) were included in media discussions whereas others (East Germans, marginalized groups) were not. Criticisms about the function, form and ‘forgetfulness’ of the memorial reflected West German memory politics ( Erinnerungspolitik) about the historical uses of: national institutions, religious (but not gendered) national symbols, and social categories of victim and perpetrator. In response to criticisms, a plaque was added to the memorial. Locally, activists created inclusive spaces to address critically the meaning of the National Socialist past in contemporary landscapes. The memorial is thus both a material object and a site of negotiation; it remains ‘entangled’ with the ongoing creation of historical narratives, official visions, local memories and cultural productions.
Meat matters: cultural politics along the commodity chain in India
Authors: Robbins Paul
Published: August 2007

In a period when the global market is generally supposed to be erasing local meaning and applying uniform significance to objects and consumers, cultural commodity politics are in fact proliferating. Drawing on the case of the Indian meat economy, I argue here that the further that commodities travel in economic life, the more they affect and are affected by non-economic systems of signification. Specifically, the expanding livestock commodity chain in India has increased the political and social visibility of a long-standing carnivorous tradition, and meat is increasingly leveraged for social and political power in surprising ways.
Indigenous Mercenaries in the Service of European Imperialists: The Case of the Sepoys in the Early British Indian Army, 1750-1800
Authors: Bryant G. J.
Published: August 2007

When the British got drawn into a series of wars against the French and a variety of Indian princes in south-east India (the Carnatic) in the latter half of the eighteenth century, they were short of men to fight them because few lower-class Europeans could be enticed to the East. So they had to turn to the large indigenous Indian military labour market and found many willing to serve for the regular pay which, unusually for India, the East India company offered them. The British had to overcome their own initial scepticism that the Indian troops (sepoys) who fought for them, with their very different cultural values and military traditions, could be trained and disciplined to fight as well as Europeans in the European manner. However, as the company's imperial attitude grew, it had no choice but to rely on its sepoys. A way was eventually found to raise the sepoy battalions' performance by partially replacing their Indian officers with British ones. This solution also to some extent allayed growing fears that, as the sepoys became more tactically competent and disciplined, they might one day turn on their employers. It did however blight the career prospects of the company's Indian officers and this was one of the elements of the great mutiny eight years later which challenged the integrity of the mighty Raj.
The Centenary of the British Publication of Jean de Bloch's Is War Now Impossible? (1899-1999)
Authors: Welch Michael
Published: August 2007

This article is a celebration of Jean de Bloch's contribution to military thought. Bloch is generally well known among military historians, if not the general public. For some historians he was the unheeded economist hero who correctly predicted the nature of the Great War. For others he is a somewhat overrated figure who actually failed to grasp the true complexities of `modern warfare'. Depending on their point of view, the British army is therefore seen by some as being foolish to have ignored Bloch's work prior to 1914, or to have actually grasped the essentials of a future conflict without the necessity of his aid. This article will discuss the debate between Bloch and the professional officers of the British army and the insights historians and military theorists have contributed this century, and will offer a new perspective on the issue. Broadly, it will argue that the importance of the engagement between Bloch and the British army is not simply a matter of reputations. The debate is of continuing importance because it illustrates one of the key problems of our time; how social scientific theories and findings, articulated by a professional community, are established as a body of knowledge; and how non-members, laymen, actually fare when challenging or criticizing this professional knowledge.
Lionel Wigram, Battle Drill and the British Army in the Second World War
Authors: Place Tim Harrison
Published: August 2007

Like many thousands of his contemporaries, Lionel Wigram (1907-44), a London-based solicitor and property developer, joined the British army at the outbreak of the Second World War. Already commissioned in the Territorial Army, he joined the Colours as a captain. Battle drill, invented during the First World War and revived by the then Lieutenant-General Harold Alexander in I Corps after Dunkirk, was a method of teaching infantry minor tactics. Wigram played the leading part in spreading this training technique to the whole of the Home Army. Having founded and run 47th Division's School of Battle Drill in 1941, he was appointed chief instructor at the new GHQ Home Forces Battle School at Barnard Castle early in 1942. It was from here that battle drill swept through Home Forces. Later that year, the Barnard Castle school became a wing of the new War Office School of Infantry established on the same site, and battle drill gained War Office blessing.

Battle drill was, however, a controversial training technique. Many officers, particularly those of the regular army, did not trust it. The War Office withheld its approval until battle drill's popularity with the troops threatened to make a mockery of official reservations. Although there were respectable pedagogical objections to battle drill, there were also other less honourable motives for the hostility battle drill aroused in some quarters. That Wigram was not a regular officer yet nonetheless presumed to teach the army its business was chief among them. Wigram reciprocated with a large measure of contempt for the regular army, which in his view had failed to maintain elementary infantry fighting skills.

Dissenting from previous interpretations, this article contends that battle drill was a highly promising development that both rescued infantry morale and improved military efficiency. However, it proved not to be the panacea that many had hoped, although not for the pedagogical reasons that had prompted regular army doubts. The author explores the reasons for this situation, arguing that ultimately the regular army's failure to take Wigram into its confidence robbed British troops of their best chance of thorough training for the problems they would face in battle.
The Crusaders' `Fighting March' Revisited
Authors: Bennett Matthew
Published: August 2007

The `fighting march' was first defined and explored by the great Crusades historian R.C. Smail. The history of the tactic is a long one, dating back to classical times, and the Byzantine armies possessed tactical pamphlets instructing their gnerals how to manage them. These texts envisaged a hollow-square formation with `ideal' numbers of infantry and cavalry required to man it, so they can be construed as over-theoretical. The crucial factors for the crusaders were the co-ordination of mounted knights (and other horsemen) with close-ordered foot-soldiers using spears and missile weapons to keep the enemy at bay. They formed a shield to protect the horses, and with their bows, and crossbows especially, were able inflict significant casualties on opposing horse-archers. Arab commentators compared the formation to a `moving city', strikingly paralleling Anna Komnena's description of her father's `unprecedented' march in 1116.

The Military Orders provided instruction to crusaders new to eastern tactics, saving the French in Asia Minor in 1147 and contributing to good order on Richard the Lionheart's march from Acre to Jaffa in 1191. Guy de Lusignan, Regent and then King of Jerusalem, also proved competent in managing the formation. His 1183 `fighting march' kept Saladin's much superior forces at bay. Unfortunately, he is better remembered for the crushing defeat at Hattin, in 1187, when he set out into waterless terrain and allowed his horse and foot to be separated.

Good leadership was essential to maintaining necessary discipline for the success of the manoeuvre. Alexios Komnenos and Richard the Lionheart excelled at it and many others employed it successfully. It is possible that there was dialogue between military men of different crusading nations and the Byzantines as to how the `fighting march' should best be put into operation.
Britain Gets Its Way: Power and Peace in Anglo-American Relations, 1838-1846
Authors: Matzke Rebecca Berens
Published: August 2007

From the perspective of twenty-first-century America, it seems natural to assume that no other nation has ever been able seriously to threaten the continental states with its navy or military. The assumption that US geography has always deterred such pressure, however, ignores the early Victorian era. In the 1830s and 1840s, one nation could and did pose a credible threat to the United States: Great Britain. As the world's supreme naval and financial power, Britain had the means to protect and advance its interests in the face of American belligerence. Ultimately, Britain's strength deterred the United States from turning the tensions of 1838-46 into war. True, by this time Britain could never invade and reconquer its former American colonies. But it was never in its interest to go to war with the US. Anglo-American commercial relations were quite profitable, and peace kept them so. Furthermore, the British preferred a divided America, fighting over slavery and states' rights, to one united against an external enemy.

Britain's goal was peace, but the methods it used to avoid war with the US in this period did not look particularly peaceful. Especially under Foreign Minister Lord Palmerston, preserving the peace did not equate with yielding in diplomatic battles. Rather, a `strong stance' warned the US away from confrontations of a more lethal kind. Interestingly, the prospect of a British invasion through Canada played only a relatively small part in this deterrence. More important was the ability of the Royal Navy, with new gunnery and steam vessels, to strike at the populous and prosperous cities of the eastern and southern coasts of the US. Britain knew the possibilities for mayhem, as did the US government and some, at least, of the American public. Besides Britain's technical advantages, its funding and political support for the navy were second to none. While the US struggled in vain to finance new ships and fortifications, the British cabinet could rest assured that if the Royal Navy required more funding, it would get it.

The British government counted on the navy's strength to intimidate the Americans in controversies over the Caroline and McLeod affairs, the Maine boundary and the Oregon territory. Palmerston's personal style of `gunboat diplomacy' may have encouraged this course, but he and his colleagues did worry that the political system of the United States might lead it to start a war neither side really wanted: the fevered American press and people might push the government to some act the British could not tolerate. Britain used the Royal Navy to signal the dire consequences of such an act and forced the American government to resist popular pressure. Geography in these cases was not enough to shield the US; Britain's strong stance preserved its existing interests and maintained peace.
Khe Sanh - from the Perspective of the North Vietnamese Communists
Authors: Guan Ang Cheng
Published: August 2007

This article revisits the Khe Sanh siege during the Vietnam War, focusing not on the battle itself but on the North Vietnamese communist decision-making and military preparation prior to the episode. The communist sources reveal that contrary to contemporary Western reportage of the siege, Hanoi did not view Khe Sanh as another `Dien Bien Phu'. Neither was it the most important target of the 1968 Tet offensive. Rather, it was part and parcel of an overall military strategy that was finalized only in December 1967. Indeed, the North Vietnamese sources hint that the timing of the Khe Sanh operation was brought forward, which consequently affected the operation-readiness of the communist forces.
Germany and Coalition Warfare in the World Wars: A Comparative Study
Authors: DiNardo R. L. , Hughes Daniel J.
Published: August 2007

While a great deal of attention has been paid to the conduct of coalition warfare by the Allies in both world wars, very little has been done regarding the German side of the equation. This article takes a long view of Germany and the conduct of coalition warfare in the world wars. It seeks to examine comparatively the German experience in both world wars in this regard, and to draw some general conclusions.

The article examines four broad areas of coalition warfare: prewar planning and preparations, accommodation of goals and needs to those of one's allies, execution of plans and adaptation to wartime circumstance, and maintaining trust and balance in the relationship. In all of these areas the German experience in both world wars was remarkably similar. Some of this was due to ideological factors, but cultural, educational and military factors all played a part as well. In this case, unlike other levels of war, the Germans learned almost nothing from their experience in the First World War. In both cases, the failure to conduct coalition warfare from a sound basis led to catastrophic failure.
The Bavarian Army and French Civilians in the War of 1870-1871: A Cultural Interpretation
Authors: Stoneman Mark R.
Published: August 2007

This article examines the mixture of hostile and amicable relations that Bavarian fighting men had with French civilians during the Franco-Prussian War, when civilians provided food, fodder and quarters to the invading armies and sometimes took up arms against them. Relying mainly on published personal narratives, this article looks at the everyday circumstances of Bavarian soldiers and officers, the motivations for their sometimes draconian acts of retribution, the cultural factors that militated against or permitted violence, and veterans' postwar justifications for their behaviour. In light of the cultural meanings that veterans' experiences held for them, this article also addresses the question of how `modern' the war was within the context of the `total war' debate. Because the other German armies had comparable policies, armies and experiences, the Bavarian example has broader relevance for the history of Germany. This article concludes by considering how official and private postwar interpretations of armed French civilians and German acts of retribution helped to create a cultural understanding of war in Germany that - under the banner of `military necessity' - would ease acceptance of civilian casualties in future wars.
Female Combatants and Japan’s Meiji Restoration: the case of Aizu
Authors: Wright Diana E.
Published: August 2007

Japan’s modern period began not with universal acclaim, but with the Boshin Civil War.1 From January 1868 to June of the following year, Japan was torn by bitter battles between supporters of the ousted Tokugawa regime and those of the newly established Meiji government. Such dissension has too often been portrayed as an aberrant aspect of a very popular ‘Imperial Restoration’, a change especially championed by mid-ranked members of the military class ( buke). This paradigm is belied by the activities of Aizu domain’s ‘samurai’2 women during the Boshin conflict.
General Sir Ian Hamilton and the Dardanelles Commission
Authors: Macleod Jenny
Published: August 2007

This article traces some aspects of the story behind-the-scenes at the Dardanelles commission which account for the bland nature of its reports. It focuses in particular upon the clandestine attempts by General Sir Ian Hamilton to influence the verdict of this, the first official assessment of his defeat at Gallipoli.
Army Air Force and Navy Air Force: Japanese Aviation and the Opening Phase of the War in the Far East
Authors: Harvey A. D.
Published: August 2007

The astoundingly rapid successes of Japan's army and navy when unleashed against British and American forces in the Far East in December 1941 has fostered the legend that Westerners totally underestimated Japanese technical proficiency in the design, manufacture and employment of modern weaponry - a legend that provides comfort both for those attempting to explain the achievements of Japanese manufacturing industry since 1945 and for those enamoured of the view that military hierarchies have a natural disposition towards ignorance and smugness. In particular it was the quality of Japanese aircraft that is said to have most taken the Allies by surprise and to have occasioned their most resounding defeats. This article will attempt to show that Western depreciation of Japan's air strength was not entirely unjustified, and that the contribution of Japanese aviation to the conquest of Malaya, Burma and the Philippines was on the whole more apparent than substantial.
Revisiting Reuben Hill's Theory of Familial Response to Stressors: The Mediating Role of Mental Outlook for Offspring of Divorce
Authors: Kahl Susan Frazier , Carr Steelman Lala , Mulkey Lynn M. , Koch Pamela Ray , Dougan William L. , Catsambis Sophia
Published: August 2007

With data from the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH), the authors probe the link between parental and second‐generation divorce. They investigate whether parental divorce and offspring's subsequent marital behavior are related to mental outlook. Existing literature maintains that children who experience parental divorce are more likely to divorce than their counterparts, yet explanations for this pattern remain contested. Drawing from Reuben Hill's classic ABCX model, the authors derive an analytical model that includes personal as opposed to interpersonal aspects of family crises. Only one factor produces mediating effects. Parental divorce depresses offspring self‐satisfaction as opposed to their marital commitment, which subsequently leads to greater odds of their divorce and marital unhappiness. These results suggest the utility of mental outlook in future analytical models and lend continuing support to the viability of Reuben Hill's perspective for disentangling the complexities of family behaviors.
Analyzing the emergence times of permanent teeth: an example of modeling the covariance matrix with interval-censored data
Authors: Cecere Silvia , Jara Alejandro , Lesaffre Emmanuel
Published: August 2007

Based on a data set obtained in a large dental longitudinal study, conducted in Flanders (Belgium), the joint emergence distribution of seven teeth was modeled as a function of gender and caries experience on primary teeth. Besides establishing the marginal dependence of emergence on the covariates, there was also interest in examining the impact of the covariates on the association among emergence times. This allows the establishment of the preferred rankings of emergence and their dependence on covariates. To this end, the covariance matrix was modeled as a function of covariates. Modeling the covariance matrix in this way needs to ensure the positive definiteness of the covariance matrix and it is preferable that the regression parameters of the model are interpretable. The modified Cholesky decomposition of the covariance matrix, as suggested by Pourahmadi, splits up the covariance matrix into two parts where the parameters can be interpreted, given a natural ranking of the responses. This approach was used here taking into account that the emergence times are interval-censored. Hence, we opted for a Bayesian implementation of the data augmentation algorithm.
Comparing nonparametric surfaces
Authors: Bowman Adrian W
Published: August 2007

There is a wide variety of problems where the object of primary interest is a surface. Environmental studies in particular, where data often have a spatial structure, provide many examples where estimation of a surface is a central component of analysis. In these settings, the surfaces are often not well described by simple parametric models. Nonparametric regression therefore offers a convenient means of constructing surface estimates in a straightforward manner. In this paper, the issues associated with comparing such regression surfaces across different groups of data are discussed. Formal methods for assessing the equality of a collection of surfaces, or the suitability of a set of parallel surfaces, are described. These not only extend existing methods of nonparametric analysis of covariance but also allow the commonly occurring case of correlated errors to be incorporated. Graphical methods to provide insight into the sources of departure from a candidate model are also proposed. Several applications are provided to illustrate and explore the proposals.
Use of auxiliary data in semi-parametric spatial regression with nonignorable missing responses
Authors: Geraci Marco , Bottai Matteo
Published: August 2007

We propose a method for reducing the error of the prediction of a quantity of interest when the outcome has missing values that are suspected to be nonignorable and the data are correlated in space. We develop a maximum likelihood approach for the parameter estimation of semi-parametric regressions in a mixed model framework. We apply the proposed method to phytoplankton data collected at fixed stations in the Chesapeake Bay, for which chlorophyll data coming from remote sensing are available. A simulation study is also performed. The availability of a variable correlated to the response allows us to achieve a substantial reduction of the prediction error of the expected value of the smoother, without having to specify a nonignorable model.
Novel role for EKLF in megakaryocyte lineage commitment
Authors: Frontelo Pilar , Manwani Deepa , Galdass Mariann , Karsunky Holger , Lohmann Felix , Gallagher Patrick G. , Bieker James J.
Published: August 2007

Megakaryocytes and erythroid cells are thought to derive from a common progenitor during hematopoietic differentiation. Although a number of transcriptional regulators are important for this process, they do not explain the bipotential result. We now show by gain- and loss-of-function studies that erythroid Krüppel-like factor (EKLF), a transcription factor whose role in erythroid gene regulation is well established, plays an unexpected directive role in the megakaryocyte lineage. EKLF inhibits the formation of megakaryocytes while at the same time stimulating erythroid differentiation. Quantitative examination of expression during hematopoiesis shows that, unlike genes whose presence is required for establishment of both lineages, EKLF is uniquely down-regulated in megakaryocytes after formation of the megakaryocyte-erythroid progenitor. Expression profiling and molecular analyses support these observations and suggest that megakaryocytic inhibition is achieved, at least in part, by EKLF repression of Fli-1 message levels.
Delays in maturation among adolescents with hemophilia and a history of inhibitors
Authors: Donfield Sharyne M. , Lynn Henry S. , Lail Alice E. , Hoots W. Keith , Berntorp Erik , Gomperts Edward D.
Published: August 2007

Inhibitory antibodies to factors VIII or IX have the potential to affect a broad range of outcomes among people with hemophilia; however, their possible effect on growth and maturation has not been explored. We evaluated skeletal maturation (bone age), pubertal progression, serum testosterone levels, height velocity, and stature in the multicenter Hemophilia Growth and Development Study. A total of 333 children and adolescents (mean age, 12.4 years) were enrolled from 1989 to 1990 and followed for 7 years. Of these, 18% (n = 60) had a history of inhibitors. Bone age among HIV− adolescents with a history of inhibitors lagged 9 or more months behind those without inhibitors at every age from 12 to 15 years. Those with a history of inhibitors were older at every Tanner stage transition, attained a lower maximum growth velocity, and their serum testosterone levels were significantly lower compared with those without inhibitors. Delays were greater among HIV+ patients with a history of inhibitors compared with those without inhibitors; however, the differences were generally small and not statistically significant. The results of this investigation underscore the importance of monitoring the growth and maturation of children and adolescents with hemophilia, particularly those with inhibitors.
Influenza- and respiratory syncytial virus-associated mortality and hospitalisations
Authors: Jansen A. G. S. C. , Sanders E. A. M. , Hoes A. W. , van Loon A. M. , Hak E.
Published: August 2007

The aim of the current study was to estimate influenza- and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)-associated mortality and hospitalisations, especially the influenza-associated burden among low-risk individuals ≤65 yrs old, not yet recommended for influenza vaccination in many European countries.

Retrospectively during 1997–2003, Dutch national all-cause mortality and hospital discharge figures and virus surveillance data were used to estimate annual average influenza- and RSV-associated excess mortality and hospitalisation using rate difference methods.

Influenza virus active periods were significantly associated with excess mortality among 50–64-yr-olds and the elderly, but not in younger age categories. Influenza-associated hospitalisation was highest and about equal for 0–1-yr-olds and the elderly, and also significant for low-risk adults. Hospitalisation among children was mostly due to respiratory conditions, and among adults cardiovascular complications were frequent. RSV-active periods were associated with excess mortality and hospitalisation among the elderly. The highest RSV-related excess hospitalisation was found in 0–1-yr-olds.

Influenza-associated mortality was demonstrated in 50–64-yr-olds. Among low-risk individuals ≤65 yrs of age, influenza-associated hospitalisation rates were highest for 0–4-yr-olds, but also significant for 5–64-yr-olds. These data may further support extension of recommendations for influenza vaccination to include younger low-risk persons. The respiratory syncytial virus-associated burden was highest for young children but also substantial for the elderly.
Site-directed in vitro immunization leads to a complete human monoclonal IgG4λ that binds specifically to the CDR2 region of CTLA-4 (CD152) without interfering the engagement of natural ligands
Authors: Chin Li-Te , Chu Chishih , Chen Han-Min , Hsu Shu-Ching , Weng Bor-Chun , Chu Chi-Hong
Published: August 2007

Background

The ability to acquire fully human monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) with pre-defined specificities is critical to the development of molecular tags for the analysis of receptor function in addition to promising immunotherapeutics. Yet most of the arriving affinity maturated and complete human immunoglobulin G (IgG) molecules, which are actually derived from single human B cells, have not widely been used to study the conserved self antigens (Ags) such as CD152 (cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4, CTLA-4) because proper hosts are lacking.

Results

Here we developed an optimized protocol for site-directed in vitro immunizing peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) by using a selected epitope of human CD152, an essential receptor involved in down-regulation of T cell activation. The resultant stable trioma cell lines constantly produce anti-CD152 mAb (γ4λhuCD152), which contains variable (V) regions of the heavy chain and the light chain derived from the VH3 and Vλ human germline genes, respectively, and yet displays an unusual IgG4 isotype. Interestingly, γ4λhuCD152 has a basic pI not commonly found in myeloid monoclonal IgG4λs as revealed by the isoelectric focusing (IEF) analysis. Furthermore, γ4λhuCD152 binds specifically, with nanomolar affinity, to an extracellular constituency encompassing the putative second complementarity determining region (CDR2) of CD152, whereby it can react to activated CD3+ cells.

Conclusion

In a context of specific cell depletion and conditioned medium,in vitro induction of human Abs against a conserved self Ag was successfully acquired and a relatively basic mAb, γ4λhuCD152, with high affinity to CDR2 of CD152 was thus obtained. Application of such a human IgG4λ mAb with designated CDR2 specificity may impact upon and prefer for CD152 labeling both in situ and ex situ, as it does not affect the binding of endogenous B7 ligands and can localize into the confined immunological synapse which may otherwise prevent the access of whole IgG1 molecules.
Thermo-chemical model of the Pierce-Smith copper converter
Authors: Aminizadeh N , Mansouri S. H.
Published: August 2007

A thermo-chemical model of the Pierce-Smith copper converter has been developed to predict the melt temperature. The primary assumption of the model was that all the matte, the slag, and the gaseous phases in the converter were in thermal and chemical equilibrium. In this model, the matte components considered were copper, iron, and sulphur elements. In the slag-making stage, all the reacted iron was converted to fayalite. On the basis of the model prediction and comparison with the plant data, the reaction rates of iron and oxygen in the slag-making stage and sulphur and oxygen in the blowing copper stage were assumed to be mixing controlled. The converter temperature was calculated by heat balance over time. The model was validated by detailed comparisons with measured industrial data. Good agreements between predicted and measured data were obtained. The results of parametric studies show that the melt temperature in the converter depends on the process parameters such as oxygen efficiency, melt emissivity, and oxygen enrichment. The results of this research can be used for process automation and optimizing.
Thermal performance analysis of a closed wet cooling tower
Authors: Papaefthimiou V. D. , Zannis T. C. , Rogdakis E. D.
Published: August 2007

A detailed model was developed and employed to examine the thermal performance of a closed wet cooling tower. The model is capable of predicting the variation of air thermodynamic properties, sprayed and serpentine water temperature as well as heat transfer rates exchanged between air and falling water stream inside the indirect wet cooling tower. The reliability of simulations was tested against experimental data obtained from the literature. A parametric study was conducted to evaluate the thermal behaviour of the indirect cooling tower under various air mass flowrates, serpentine water mass flowrates and inlet temperatures. The results of the theoretical investigation revealed an increase in cooling capacity and percentage loss of sprayed water due to evaporation, with increasing air mass flowrate. On the other hand, the increase of serpentine water mass flowrate resulted in slight increase in the overall temperature reduction of serpentine water. The effect of variable serpentine water inlet temperature on thermal performance of the indirect wet cooling tower was insignificant compared to other cases.