bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Variability in the Visual Perception of Human Motion as a Function of the Observer’s Autistic Traits
Authors: Kaiser Martha D. , Shiffrar Maggie
Published: January 2013

Typical observers exhibit a remarkable sensitivity to the social information conveyed by the body motions of others. Scholars have asserted that successful social behavior depends on successful social perceptions, yet observers of these motions naturally vary in their social skills. This chapter explores how natural variability in social skills—specifically for observers with autism spectrum disorders—provides insights into the relation between social skills and social behaviors by exploring the relation between visual sensitivity and social capabilities.
Models on Concentration and Growth
Authors: Rohit
Published: January 2013

Chapter 4 presents a brief overview of the existing theories in the heterodox economics tradition, which study the linkages between income inequalities and growth trajectories. It includes a review of the Kalecki-Steindl tradition in its original avatar as well as its contemporary interpretations. Steindl had argued that with increase in income inequalities and business concentration, a tendency towards stagnation sets in under capitalism because workers have a higher propensity to consume out of their wages as compared to the capitalist class, a process which was named underconsumption. However, contemporary Steindlian models have studied this relationship in the context of possibilities of debt-financed consumption, wealth and financialisation and found that these could run counter to the stagnationist tendency. One important component that most of these explanations miss is Steindl’s argument on underinvestment which results from an increase in business concentration as the need to build capacity decreases with a decline in competitiveness.
The Wealth Effect
Authors: Rohit
Published: January 2013

Chapter 5 modifies Steindl’s model to include of wealth-induced consumption of the capitalists which counteracts the tendency of underconsumption in the short run. While the tendency towards stagnation (as a result of both underconsumption and underinvestment) could exist, there are ways to inflate capitalists’ expenditure through sources outside of current demand which will help avert this problem in the short run. This external impetus can be provided by bubbles in asset price markets which generate wealth effects on capitalists’ consumption. Short run dynamics shows that if the wealth effect is stronger than the effects of underconsumption and underinvestment, the economy faces a boom which can last as long as the asset market is booming. Just the opposite would follow when the asset market goes bust. This asset market could be of any asset, including non-financial assets like housing.
An Overview of the US Economy
Authors: Rohit
Published: January 2013

In chapter 7, an overview of the US economy since the 1950s is presented to draw a comparative analysis between the pre- and post-mid 1970s periods. Accordingly, the overall period is divided broadly into two categories -- golden age (1950-73) and age of finance (1973 onwards) -- based on the changes in the policy orientation in the US economy. Stark contrast shows up in the value of different macroeconomic variables for these two periods, thereby, endorsing the view that there was a structural break. The growth rate, average levels of capacity utilization of the economy were significantly higher in the first period.
Consumption Behaviour in the US
Authors: Rohit
Published: January 2013

Chapter 8 tests the hypotheses made in the theoretical models of Chapter 5 and Chapter 6 on the wealth effect and the debt effect on consumption using advanced econometric methods. Since macroeconomic level time series data generally have unit roots, a cointegration analysis between these variables is performed. It is found that the wealth effect indeed was one of the main contributors to increasing consumption which more than compensated for underconsumption in the 1990s. A similar result is shown for the debt effect. Both these hypotheses are tested with respect to household data too and the results are no different from the overall macroeconomic picture.
The Britons and the Irish, 350–800
Authors: Charles-Edwards T. M.
Published: January 2013

Late‐Roman Britain was subject to attack across the the Irish Sea as well as the North Sea. Many of these attacks were intended to take captives, who were then carried off into slavery in Ireland. One of them was St Patrick, who escaped but returned as a Christian missionary. He and other British missionaries in Ireland created the conditions in which the cultures of Celtic Britain and Ireland were closely linked. Other Irish settled in Britain and became much more receptive to Roman culture than were the Anglo‐Saxon settlers in the east of Britain. The political shape of what became Wales may have been changed by a political transformation in Ireland c. 500.
Kingship
Authors: Charles-Edwards T. M.
Published: January 2013

Early‐medieval Welsh kingship is best approached from two directions: by analysing the political inheritance from Roman Britain and by identifying aspects of Welsh kingship in the twelfth century that were probably inherited from an earlier period. The inheritance from Roman Britain is marked in the Post‐Roman period, 400–600, both in the work of Gildas and in the inscriptions. Aspects of twelfth‐century Welsh kingship are comparable with early Irish kingship of the pre‐Viking period and are thus likely to descend from an early period. Concepts of kingship and royal succession are both discussed.
The Britons and their Neighbours under the Mercian Hegemony, 685–825
Authors: Charles-Edwards T. M.
Published: January 2013

This chapter continues the history of the relationship between the Welsh and the Mercians taking its start from the decline of Northumbrian power after the battles of the Trent and Nechtanesmere (679 and 685). This is the period which sees the rise of Mercia to become the dominant power in England south of the Humber. Its relations with Wales are an essential part of this development, as revealed by Offa's Dyke, to which one part of the chapter is devoted; another discusses the Pillar of Eliseg which may be a key to Offa's Dyke; other sections discuss relations between the Cornishmen and the West Saxons and between the Britons of the kingdom of Alclud (Dumbarton) and their Pictish, English, and Gaelic neighbours.
Wright on Moore
Authors: Zalabardo José L.
Published: January 2013

To the sceptic’s contention that I don’t know that I have hands because I don’t know that there is an external world, the Moorean replies that I know that there is an external world because I know that I have hands. Crispin Wright has argued that the Moorean move is illegitimate, and has tried to block it by limiting the applicability of the principle of the transmission of knowledge by inference — the principle that recognizing the validity of an inference from known premises generates knowledge of the conclusion. This chapter argues that, in the presence of some plausible assumptions, blocking the Moorean move does not require limiting the applicability of the transmission principle. Then it argues against Jim Pryor’s contention that the Moorean argument transmits evidential support from its premises to its conclusion.
2 A New World of Goods: Groceries in the Long Eighteenth Century
Authors: Stobart Jon
Published: January 2013

This chapter considers the ways in which the stock of groceries available to English consumers was transformed during the course of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The overall context for reappraising the impact of new groceries on English retailing is laid out in terms of the shifting geography of supply and the growing importance of empire in provisioning English consumers. The chapter then assesses how far grocers were able to capitalise on demand for new imported goods, and the ways in which these helped to stimulate more general growth in retailing, as Shammas suggests. This chapter argues that grocers quickly came to dominate the provision of tea, coffee, etc. Lastly, the chapter examines the extent to which these goods carried associations of empire, and argues that imperial associations formed just one point of reference for the shopkeeper and consumer.
Cultural Integration in Spain
Authors: Rica Sara de la , Ortega Francesc
Published: January 2013

This chapter compares the economic and cultural gaps of the largest foreign-born ethnic minorities in Spain: Latinos, Eastern Europeans, and Moroccans. The chapter focuses on several outcomes: the gender education gap, early marriage, inter-ethnic marriage, fertility, female employment, command of Spanish, and social participation. The results suggest that Latinos are the group with patterns of behaviour closest to those of natives, followed by Eastern Europeans. In several dimensions, such as the marriage penalty for females, Moroccans are the groups with largest gaps relative to natives. Our results also show large improvements in the educational attainment of younger Moroccan cohorts, which is an important determinant of the outcomes that have been analysed. Finally, the chapter notes that even though employment rates of immigrants tend to be higher than those of natives, immigrants are much more likely to be employed in low- paying occupations.
Form, Function, and Matter: Crossing the Border of Materiality
Authors: Kallinikos Jannis
Published: January 2013

Technological objects are devices crafted and used to serve particular purposes or functions. Traditionally, function (e.g., pierce, cut, contain) has been embodied on durable materials, worked up, and appropriately shaped or structured. Craftsmanship has developed around the mastery of specific materials such as wood, stone, clay, gold and iron, and textiles. However, technological evolution has loosened the bonds between function, form, and matter and progressively allotted greater importance to function. Variously supported by modern science, current technology betrays the growing domestication of matter, as a means of serving the functions embodied on a proliferating universe of devices or technological systems. The preeminence computing technologies have acquired in contemporary societies further accentuates these trends but also brings interesting and ambiguous shifts.
Aristotle On Deformed Animal Kinds
Authors: Witt Charlotte
Published: January 2013

There is a surprising number of deformed animal kinds mentioned in Aristotle’s biological works. The number is surprising because, according to the standard understanding of deformed animals in Aristotle, it should be zero. And the number is significant because there are just too many deformed kinds at too many classificatory levels mentioned in too many works to dismiss them as a minor aberration or as an infiltration of folk belief into biology proper. This paper has two goals. The first is to develop an interpretation of deformed animal kinds in Aristotle, which focuses on the meaning of deformity applied to kinds. The second goal is to draw out the consequences of that interpretation for our understanding of Aristotle’s view of normal animal kinds. The paper ends with a brief consideration of what the meaning of deformity tells us about Aristotle’s view of normal animal kinds.
Grace and Despair
Authors: Gottlieb Roger S.
Published: January 2013

This chapter describes the interaction of grace, which is an unexpected sense of peacefulness and plenitude; and despair, which is a natural and rational response to the way the world is. A suggestion is offered that despite all the cruelties and losses we have suffered and inflicted, we can still take comfort, and even joy, in the fact “that it ever existed at all.”
Early Experience, Neurobiology, Plasticity, Vulnerability, and Resilience
Authors: Lamb Michael E.
Published: January 2013

In this commentary, the author cautions that correlations between neurobiological and behavioral markers could have multiple explanations and do not demonstrate causal relationships nor the necessity of particular experiences. Infants and children have proven resilient in the face of adverse experiences, and the interesting questions concern developmental processes and the individual differences in reactions to similar experiences. The contrasting foci of researchers who emphasize clinical evidence as opposed to normative developmental processes may distort conclusions by both groups.
Born for Art, and the Joyful Companionship of Fiction
Authors: Trevarthen Colwyn
Published: January 2013

A search for the early modern human infant and mother who enjoyed a long and intense attachment within a family group leads to the conclusion that what was new in the environment of evolutionary adaptedness (EEA) was not just the large-brained head that required an early birth or the weak body, but the artful mind that asked for specially sensitive and imaginative care and cooperation. A human infant is born seeking an intimate companion with whom to share creative actions and ideas. The brains of Homo sapiens sapiens change themselves and one another epigenetically while transforming the environment and harvesting its resources. They join their imaginations in synrhythmic displays of social cooperation, making culture. This is passionately emotional intelligence, not just calculatingly cognitive. Its early development needs a secure, loving, and playful family, the essential base for a future industrious community of adults who trust one another and work together.
Play, Plasticity, and Ontogeny in Childhood
Authors: Pellegrini Anthony D. , Pellegrini Adam F. A.
Published: January 2013

This chapter contrasts the authors’ epigenetic position with an environment of evolutionary adaptedness (EEA) position, as represented in evolutionary psychology and its intellectual forbearer, sociobiology. In contrast to the EEA/evolutionary psychology position, this chapter stresses the importance of developmental plasticity during early ontogeny and how play, specifically, might affect the course of development, behavior, and possibly evolution. The chapter shows how epigenetic theories highlight the impact of the environment and behavior in the ontogenetic process as part of the organism's dynamic adaptation to ever-changing ecological niches. Play, the chapter argues, is a paradigm example of a behavioral strategy used by juveniles to explore and subsequently acclimate to or change their current niche. The variation in ability to use play as an acclimation strategy is hypothesized to impact evolution, assuming it contains some genetic basis. To this end, the final section of the chapter outlines ways in which play affects both ontogeny and phylogeny.
{ Commentary } Play in Hunter-Gatherers
Authors: Hewlett Barry S. , Boyette Adam H.
Published: January 2013

This commentary reviews the three chapters on human play. Each chapter provides insights, new data, and theoretical exploration into human play. The commentary examines the theoretical positions, data, and interpretations in the context of hunter-gatherer research and the authors’ field experiences with Aka hunter-gatherers.
Perspective 1: Why Would Natural Selection Craft an Organism Whose Future Functioning Is Influenced by Its Earlier Experiences?
Authors: Belsky Jay
Published: January 2013

A focus on proximate determinants of human development is quite different, even if not entirely distinct, from ultimate explanations. This chapter discusses the “differential susceptibility” and “biological-sensitivity-to-context” theses. Both arguments also define individual differences in developmental plasticity to mean that some children and even adults will be more susceptible than others to both the adverse and beneficial effects of, respectively, unsupportive and supportive contextual conditions.
Perspective 5: Earliest Experiences and Attachment Processes
Authors: Steele Howard
Published: January 2013

This chapter discusses how Bowlby's theory not only has been successful in documenting individual differences in childhood but is also useful in examining how adults make sense of their attachment histories and derive meaning to inform their behavior as parents.
Perspective 7: “It's Dangerous to Be an Infant”: Ongoing Relevance of John Bowlby's Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness in Promoting Healthier Births, Safer Maternal–Infant Sleep, and Breastfeeding in a Contemporary Western Industrial Context
Authors: McKenna James J. , Gettler Lee T.
Published: January 2013

Anthropologists rightly critique aspects of Bowlby’s concept of the environment of evolutionary adaptedness (EEA), particularly as regards his limited temporal focus on the Pleistocene, on one specific, marginalized hunting and gathering society, the !Kung, and for his misconception regarding how many individuals infants can “attach to” simultaneously. He underestimated the critical role of breastfeeding in shaping contours around which his version of infantile “reflexive perceptuo-motor mechanisms” related to attachment evolved. Nevertheless, this volume illustrates how Bowlby’s polymathic scholarship continues to foster new insights, especially in evolutionary medicine, and highlights scenarios stressing the role of alloparents (substitute caregivers) throughout human (Homo) evolution. Moreover, Bowlby’s original formulations provide a critical beginning point for explaining how and why, even within the more multiplex nexus of infant social relationships, contact and proximity with at least one committed primary caregiver remains a prerequisite for facilitating human psychological resilience.
The Image of the City
Authors: Antrim Zayde
Published: January 2013

This chapter focuses on the textual strategy of describing the urban built environment. By engaging the visual imagination, this strategy stimulated the recognition of a “cityscape” distinctive from other landscapes in the discourse of place. Describing or depicting the built environment was intended to make cities legible, or comprehensible in terms of their written or graphic representation, and thus to make them compelling as categories of belonging for people whether or not they had firsthand experience of the city. Central to a city’s legibility was often the evocation of a monumental structure, one that dominated the cityscape because of its great size, lavish adornment, powerful patrons, or ritual function. This chapter considers contrasting claims to “insider” and “citational” authority in describing urban built environments and analyzes a variety of texts, including images and poems.
Assessing Early Childhood Development
Authors: Bornstein Marc H. , Lansford Jennifer E.
Published: January 2013

Policymakers and practitioners use assessments of early childhood development (ECD) to guide decisions regarding allocation of resources, interventions for children, and national policies. It is therefore important to measure ECD in rigorous and methodologically sound ways. This chapter addresses issues related to ethics, research design, psychometrics, comparison across countries or cultures, measurement equivalence, and other technical points germane to ECD assessment. It provides illustrations to demonstrate these issues in the case of specific ECD indicators. The chapter concludes by recommending that ECD assessments should be obtained with care, to ensure the protection of children’s rights; appropriately linked to the purpose of the assessment; valid and reliable; adapted from existing measures, with careful attention paid to making the measures culturally appropriate or developed anew using principles of sound test construction; and easy to obtain and use in low-resource settings. Rigorous ECD assessments are valuable to promote children’s well-being worldwide.
Monitoring Progress Toward Fulfilling Rights in Early Childhood Under the Convention on the Rights of the Child to Improve Outcomes for Children and Families
Authors: Hertzman Clyde , Vaghri Ziba , Arkadas-Thibert Adem
Published: January 2013

Can the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN-CRC), to which 193 countries are signatory, be used as a tool to support developmental health in the early years? Improving early childhood development (ECD) requires finding ways for social determinants and child rights approaches to work together, which, to date, has not occurred. However, in 2005, the UN-CRC Monitoring Committee issued General Comment 7: Implementing Rights in Early Childhood (GC7) in response to the observation that children under the age of 8 were often overlooked in countries’ reporting of progress toward implementing UN-CRC. This chapter shows how a commitment from the UN-CRC Monitoring Committee and key relevant international agencies (WHO, UNICEF) to a long-term program of monitoring compliance with GC7, in conjunction with monitoring of ECD developmental outcomes in all signatory countries, could help move global society toward equity in developmental health from the start of life.
Closing Commentary
Authors: Haregot Aster
Published: January 2013

One of the largest challenges in improving the quality of early childhood development (ECD) programs and policies is service provider capacity. Often, programs cannot be implemented because of limited ability for service provision. This commentary provides examples of training models that can use indigenous approaches to child development to create opportunities to build capacity in ECD in low- and middle-income (LAMI) countries. With an emphasis on higher learning, and using examples from Africa, this commentary provides useful recommendations for other regions and countries interested in building ECD capacity.
Introduction
Authors: Hayot Eric
Published: January 2013

This introductory chapter begins by considering efforts to expand the boundaries of modernism beyond their usual confines, first by adding women authors and then by expanding the reach of modernism beyond the Anglophone. It suggests that each of these approaches has the same weakness, in that it produces literary value by placing authors and artists into an already existing theory of modernism whose center remains European. The problem of the non-West's apparent incapacity to generate literary history in the modern period has nothing to do with sexism or racism or Anglocentrism per se, but with the way in which the categories governing the way we think about literary history have made it impossible to write a history of modernism (and indeed of modernity) that included the non-West as an equal partner in its production. The chapter then presents an overview of the three parts of the book, followed by answers to some questions about the book's choices and limitations, about its position in larger conversations.
The Planet and the World
Authors: Hayot Eric
Published: January 2013

This chapter discusses two significant events which are most literally relevant to world-making. These are, first, the series of cosmological and geographical revolutions leading from Ptolemy through Copernicus (On the Revolution of the Celestial Spheres, 1543) to Galileo and Newton; second, the circumnavigation of the planet and the European discovery of the Americas, hermetically figured by Magellan (who did not complete his voyage, which ended in 1522) and Christopher Columbus. In subsequent imaginaries, the two events are readily conjoined.
Realism, Romanticism, Modernism
Authors: Hayot Eric
Published: January 2013

This chapter lays out a theory of modern literary history as a series of linked responses to the modern world-view. Far from designating the concrete reactions that govern any specific and historical human community, the logical qualities of the responses aim to describe the empty slots and possibilities that necessarily obtain in relation to all propositions, and hence to all human communities in which propositions are made. The responses are generally described in relation to the general modern world-view outlined so far. The Realistic, Romantic, and Modernist modes are discussed.
Six Variables, Three Modes
Authors: Hayot Eric
Published: January 2013

This chapter addresses the connection between the six variables and three modes set out in the preceding chapters. Together, the variables and the modes describe the history of a set of representational norms, and connect those norms to the social forces that they helped register and conceive. None of this means that the work of art always “discovers” society or the world, that it is invariably ahead of the imaginative curve whereby the social comes to be represented to (versions of) itself. We can only say that the artwork encodes and makes legible a set of relations that are expressions of a world-view in whose origin, conceptualization, development, consolidation, and transcendence works of art themselves play a vital role—and to which, through the commitment to making, the aesthetic will have a privileged and shared relationship. What emerges neither asserts art's reflective epiphenomenality nor illustrates its subordination to or illustration of history. It demonstrates art's coevality and engagement with the historical, and confirms its imaginative power and its verdant, social force.
The Text of the Ẓafar-Nāmah: guru gobind singh, ferdausi, and saʿdi
Authors: Fenech Louis E.
Published: January 2013

Chapter 3 sets the Ẓafar-nāmah within the context of the works of the great Persian masters to which it alludes.
The Sikh Shāh-Nāmah of Guru Gobind Singh
Authors: Fenech Louis E.
Published: January 2013

Chapter 5 focuses on the epistle’s internal evidence, specifically the robustly sovereign message of the Ẓafar-nāmah in respect to its intertextual resonance to Ferdausi.
Effective Volume of Ropivacaine 0.75% through a Catheter Required for Interscalene Brachial Plexus Blockade
Authors: Vandepitte Catherine , Gautier Philippe , Xu Daquan , Salviz Emine A. , Hadzic Admir
Published: January 2013

Background:

Ultrasound guidance during peripheral nerve blocks has allowed for reduction in dose and volume of local anesthetic required to accomplish successful blockade using multiple injections through a needle. The authors undertook this study to determine the minimal effective volume required to accomplish successful interscalene brachial plexus block (ISB) through the catheter.

Methods:

After obtaining institutional ethics committee approval and written informed consent, patients aged 18–75 yr and scheduled for arthroscopic shoulder surgery under ISB were enrolled. All patients using a step-up/step-down method and the starting dose of 15 ml of 0.75% ropivacaine received an ultrasound-guided ISB catheter. The injection volume was increased or decreased by 1 ml in case of block failure or block success, respectively.

Results:

The authors found that the proportion of patients with successful blockade increased sharply from approximately 57% at 6 ml to 100% by 7 ml, indicating that a small increase in volume of ropivacaine 0.75% markedly affects the success rate. A total of 12 ISB with injection volume less than 7 ml resulted in successful anesthesia within 30 min, yielding an ED95 of 7 ml (95% CI 6.8–7.2) ropivacaine 0.75%. For the group as a whole, the median (min–max) sensory block onset time was 5 (5–20) min, the median (min–max) motor blocks for the biceps and the deltoid muscles were 7.5 (5–15) min and 10 (5–15) min, respectively. The median (min–max) block duration was 8.9 (3–15) h.

Conclusions:

An injection of a minimum of 7 ml of ropivacaine 0.75% through the catheter is required for success rate and timely onset of surgical anesthesia with ISB.
Targeted multiplex next‐generation sequencing: advances in techniques of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequencing for population genomics
Authors: Hancock‐Hanser Brittany L. , Frey Amy , Leslie Matthew S. , Dutton Peter H. , Archer Frederick I. , Morin Phillip A.
Published: January 2013

Next‐generation sequencing (NGS) is emerging as an efficient and cost‐effective tool in population genomic analyses of nonmodel organisms, allowing simultaneous resequencing of many regions of multi‐genomic DNA from multiplexed samples. Here, we detail our synthesis of protocols for targeted resequencing of mitochondrial and nuclear loci by generating indexed genomic libraries for multiplexing up to 100 individuals in a single sequencing pool, and then enriching the pooled library using custom DNA capture arrays. Our use of DNA sequence from one species to capture and enrich the sequencing libraries of another species (i.e. cross‐species DNA capture) indicates that efficient enrichment occurs when sequences are up to about 12% divergent, allowing us to take advantage of genomic information in one species to sequence orthologous regions in related species. In addition to a complete mitochondrial genome on each array, we have included between 43 and 118 nuclear loci for low‐coverage sequencing of between 18 kb and 87 kb of DNA sequence per individual for single nucleotide polymorphisms discovery from 50 to 100 individuals in a single sequencing lane. Using this method, we have generated a total of over 500 whole mitochondrial genomes from seven cetacean species and green sea turtles. The greater variation detected in mitogenomes relative to short mtDNA sequences is helping to resolve genetic structure ranging from geographic to species‐level differences. These NGS and analysis techniques have allowed for simultaneous population genomic studies of mtDNA and nDNA with greater genomic coverage and phylogeographic resolution than has previously been possible in marine mammals and turtles.
Infection‐related hospital admissions after transrectal biopsy of the prostate
Authors: Sanders Andrew , Buchan Nicholas
Published: January 2013

Background

Urosepsis is the most common complication requiring hospital admission after transrectal biopsy of the prostate. This study aims to assess the local incidence and causative organisms of hospital admissions with urosepsis after transrectal ultrasound‐guided prostate (TRUS) biopsy. As morbidity is high, treatment must be commenced empirically prior to cultures. A review of bacterial antibiotic susceptibilities was undertaken to guide optimal treatment of post‐biopsy urosepsis.

Methods

A total of 1421 patients underwent TRUS biopsy in a single city over a 2‐year period. All patients received prophylactic antibiotics prior to the procedure. A retrospective review of a prospectively collated database was performed in all patients admitted to Christchurch Hospital, the only acute admitting hospital in Christchurch, with infection within 30 days after biopsy. Hospital admission records were reviewed, including urine and blood culture results.

Results

Forty patients (2.8%) were admitted with infection after the biopsy, the majority occurring within the first week after procedure and four required intensive care unit (ICU) admission (10%). The most common organism isolated on urine and blood cultures was Escherichia coli. Significant E. coli resistance was seen to fluoroquinolones, amoxicillin and trimethoprim.

Conclusion

Rates of infection after TRUS biopsy and antibiotic resistance are increasing internationally. Treatment for urosepsis should be aggressive as 10% of those patients admitted required ICU admission. TRUS biopsy with ciprofloxacin prophylaxis led to infectious complications comparable with other international reports and appears to remain an appropriate prophylactic antibiotic of choice. Infections requiring hospital admission were all susceptible to a combination of ceftriaxone and gentamicin, and would be an effective initial antibiotic of choice.
Paediatric Crohn disease patients with stricturing behaviour exhibit ileal granulocyte–macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) autoantibody production and reduced neutrophil bacterial killing and GM-CSF bioactivity
Authors: Jurickova I , Collins M H , Chalk C , Seese A , Bezold R , Lake K , von Allmen D , Frischer J S , Falcone R A , Trapnell B C , Denson L A
Published: January 2013

Granulocyte–macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) autoantibodies are associated with stricturing behaviour in Crohn disease (CD). We hypothesized that CD ileal lamina propria mononuclear cells (LPMC) would produce GM-CSF autoantibodies and peripheral blood (PB) samples would contain GM-CSF neutralizing capacity (NC). Paediatric CD and control PBMC and ileal biopsies or LPMC were isolated and cultured and GM-CSF, immunoglobulin (Ig)G and GM-CSF autoantibodies production were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Basal and GM-CSF-primed neutrophil bacterial killing and signal transducer and activator of transcription 5 (STAT5) tyrosine phosphorylation (pSTAT5) were measured by flow cytometry. GM-CSF autoantibodies were enriched within total IgG for LPMC isolated from CD ileal strictures and proximal margins compared to control ileum. Neutrophil bacterial killing was reduced in CD patients compared to controls. Within CD, neutrophil GM-CSF-dependent STAT5 activation and bacterial killing were reduced as GM-CSF autoantibodies increased. GM-CSF stimulation of pSTAT5 did not vary between controls and CD patients in washed PB granulocytes in which serum was removed. However, GM-CSF stimulation of pSTAT5 was reduced in whole PB samples from CD patients. These data were used to calculate the GM-CSF NC. CD patients with GM-CSF NC greater than 25% exhibited a fourfold higher rate of stricturing behaviour and surgery. The likelihood ratio (95% confidence interval) for stricturing behaviour for patients with elevation in both GM-CSF autoantibodies and GM-CSF NC was equal to 5 (2, 11). GM-CSF autoantibodies are produced by LPMC isolated from CD ileal resection specimens and are associated with reduced neutrophil bacterial killing. CD peripheral blood contains GM-CSF NC, which is associated with increased rates of stricturing behaviour.
Block Allograft Technique versus Standard Guided Bone Regeneration: A Randomized Clinical Trial
Authors: Amorfini Leonardo , Migliorati Marco , Signori Alessio , Silvestrini‐Biavati Armando , Benedicenti Stefano
Published: January 2013

Purpose

The aim of this randomized clinical trial was to compare the potential of deproteinized bovine bone added to autologous bone or corticocancellous allograft block with or without the addition of recombinant human platelet‐derived growth factor‐BB (rhPDGF‐BB) to regenerate mandibular atrophic ridges.

Materials and Methods

Trial design: parallel, allocation ratio of 1:1 using a split‐mouth model. Eligibility criteria for patients: adult patients; bilateral atrophic edentulous areas in the posterior area of the mandible; a preoperatory cone beam computed tomography scan; and absence of systemic diseases affecting the bone metabolism. Bone graft intervention for control group consisted of bone chips collected with a scraper mixed with deproteinized bovine bone covered with a resorbable membrane. Bone graft intervention for test group consisted of a corticocancellous allograft block, shaped before surgery, and protected with a collagen membrane. In addition, both groups received rhPDGF‐BB or a saline solution as control. As primary outcome quantity, bone variation after a 1‐year healing period was considered. A p‐value of.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results

Sixteen patients were enrolled in this trial. A total of 50 implants and 32 bone grafts were placed. All patients concluded the study (no dropouts). Change at 1 year in bone volume was not significantly different between the two groups (p‐value = .25). Effect of treatment in terms of change in bone volume at 1 year was not significant (p‐value = .89) when saline solution was used while was at limit of significance when rhPDGF‐BB was used (p‐value = .052). After 1 year, all the implants were successfully integrated.

Conclusions

The block allograft and the standard regenerative procedure showed similar results in terms of regenerated bone volume after 1 year of functional loading. The rhPDGF‐BB positively influenced soft‐tissue healing.
The prevalence of right‐sided colonic diverticulosis and diverticular haemorrhage
Authors: Faucheron J.‐L. , Roblin X. , Bichard P. , Heluwaert F.
Published: January 2013

Aim

The study was performed to determine the prevalence of right‐sided diverticular disease in a western population and whether it is more likely to bleed than disease on the left side.

Method

From January 2004 to June 2005, 796 consecutive patients were referred for total colonoscopy to 17 physicians. Data obtained included age, gender, and presence and localization of diverticula. This population was compared with a cohort of 133 consecutive patients who were admitted for colonic diverticular bleeding.

Results

Three‐hundred and eighteen (40%) of the 796 patients presented with noncomplicated diverticulosis. Of these, 103 (32.4%) had right‐sided diverticula. In univariate analysis, the presence of right diverticula in patients admitted for diverticular bleeding was about twice as frequent as in patients who had diverticula with no bleeding (65.2% vs 32.4%; P = 0.0001). In multivariate analysis, the right localization of the diverticulosis was associated with a risk of bleeding, which was independent of the patients' age (P = 0.0001, OR = 3.6).

Conclusion

The prevalence of colonic diverticula increased from < 10% in adults under 40 years of age to about 75% in those over 75 years of age. Of these patients, nearly one‐third presented with right‐sided involvement. Right‐sided localization was associated with a significant risk of bleeding, which was independent of the patients' age.
Impact of a multidisciplinary team training programme on rectal cancer outcomes in Spain
Authors: Ortiz H. , Wibe A. , Ciga M. A. , Lujan J. , Codina A. , Biondo S. ,   the Spanish Rectal Cancer Project
Published: January 2013

Aim

The Spanish Rectal Cancer Project was established in 2006, inspired by the Norwegian Rectal Cancer Project. It consisted of an educational project aiming to introduce mesorectal excision surgery to surgeons, pathologists and radiologists. Its effect on local recurrence (LR) was compared with the Norwegian Project.

Method

An observational cohort study was carried out including all patients (4700) with rectal cancer from a population of 19 329 992 inhabitants operated on in 51 Spanish hospitals between March 2006 and June 2010. Curative resection was defined as a resection with an uninvolved circumferential margin in patients without distant metastases and without intra‐operative rectal perforation. The effectiveness of the programme was measured by a central registry with feedback to participating institutions of their own results compared with the national average. The main outcome measures were LR and adverse effects in curative resections.

Results

Of the 4700 patients, 3213 had a resection considered to be curative. LR rates were 4.7% (95% CI 0.03–0.59), metastasis rate was 16% (95% CI 0.14–0.17) and overall survival was 87.8% (95% CI 0.86–0.89). Multivariate analysis showed that advanced TNM stage and decreasing distance of the tumour from the anal verge had a negative influence on LR.

Conclusion

This study shows that the results obtained in Norway have been reproduced in a larger population in Spain applying a similar methodology.
Physarum polycephalum mutants in the photocontrol of sporulation display altered patterns in the correlated expression of developmentally regulated genes
Authors: Rätzel Viktoria , Ebeling Britta , Hoffmann Xenia‐Katharina , Tesmer Jens , Marwan Wolfgang
Published: January 2013

Physarum polycephalum is a lower eukaryote belonging to the amoebozoa group of organisms that forms macroscopic, multinucleate plasmodial cells during its developmental cycle. Plasmodia can exit proliferative growth and differentiate by forming fruiting bodies containing mononucleate, haploid spores. This process, called sporulation, is controlled by starvation and visible light. To genetically dissect the regulatory control of the commitment to sporulation, we have isolated plasmodial mutants that are altered in the photocontrol of sporulation in a phenotypic screen of N‐ethyl‐N‐nitrosourea (ENU) mutagenized cells. Several non‐sporulating mutants were analyzed by measuring the light‐induced change in the expression pattern of a set of 35 genes using GeXP multiplex reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction with RNA isolated from individual plasmodial cells. Mutants showed altered patterns of differentially regulated genes in response to light stimulation. Some genes clearly displayed pairwise correlation in terms of their expression level as measured in individual plasmodial cells. The pattern of pairwise correlation differed in various mutants, suggesting that different upstream regulators were disabled in the different mutants. We propose that patterns of pairwise correlation in gene expression might be useful to infer the underlying gene regulatory network.
Netherton’s syndrome and lepromatous leprosy: a mere coincidence?
Authors: de Oliveira Felipe Ladeira , Vasconcellos Bruna Obeica , de Morais Thais Schiavo , Nascimento Mayara Brito , Teles Renata , da Costa Nery José Augusto , Miranda Marcos José Sumrell , Azulay‐Abulafia Luna
Published: January 2013

Objectives  Netherton’s syndrome (NS) is a rare autosomal recessive condition, first described in 1958, which involves a complex immunological dysfunction, ichthyosiform dermatitis, and erythroderma, characteristic defects of the hair shaft and atopy. Recurrent bacterial infection in the skin of patients with NS is frequent.

Methods  This paper represents the first case report of leprosy and concurrent NS.

Discussion  This case merits discussion among doctors in endemic and non‐endemic areas to evaluate the chronic use of systemic corticosteroids as a risk factor for leprosy. The present patient came from an endemic area of leprosy and was treated chronically with systemic corticosteroids for erythroderma. This treatment, along with the immunodeficiency related to the syndrome and caused by a genetic mutation in SPINK5, may be a facilitating factor for the infection.
Actinobaculum schaalii, a commensal of the urogenital area
Authors: Olsen Anne B. , Andersen Pernille K. , Bank Steffen , Søby Karen Marie , Lund Lars , Prag Jørgen
Published: January 2013

What's known on the subject? and What does the study add?

Actinobaculum schaalii is considered to be a part of the normai flora in the genital and urinary tract area. It has been associated to urinary tract infection (UTI), sepsis, osteomyelitis, endocarditis and Foumier's gangrene. So far it has mainly been isolated from urine, blood and pus, and predominantly in elderly patients.

This study examined the habitat of A. schaalii by collecting samples from skin and urine in patients with kidney or ureter stones before and after treatment with Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy (ESWL). Additionally faeces and vaginal swabs from routine specimen in patients not undergoing ESWL and without known urinary calculi were also analysed.

The study does not find A. schaalii in faeces but shows it to be presents on skin and mucosa in the genital area. A. schaalii is also shown a possible pathogen in the stone‐patient group undergoing ESWL.

Objective

To study the habitat of Actinobaculum schaalii by examing groin swabs, faeces samples and vaginal swabs, and to determine whether it is a common uropathogen in patients with kidney or ureter stones.

Patients and Methods

A quantitative real‐time PCR assay was used to analyse all samples, which were collected between 2010 and 2011.

A total of 38 patients (24 men and 14 women), with kidney or ureter stones and undergoing extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL), provided urine samples and had groin swabs taken. In addition, 30 faecal samples and 19 vaginal swabs that had been sent for routine microbiological examinations from patients outside the ESWL group were analysed.

A chi‐squared test was used to analyse the differences between patient groups, studying samples from urine, faeces samples, groin swabs and vaginal swabs.

Results

Actinobaculum schaalii was found in the urine samples from 14 (37%) patients undergoing ESWL, and in both urine and groin swabs from seven (18%) patients.

Actinobaculum schaalii was not found in faeces samples but it was found in six (32%) of the vaginal swabs, predominantly in patients >50 years (P = 0.06).

Conclusion

The study indicates that A. schaalii is a commensal found on skin, urine and vaginal mucosa in the human urogenital area and supports other investigations in its finding that the elderly are at greatest risk of being colonized with A. schaalii.
The Persistent Effects of Minimum Legal Drinking Age Laws on Drinking Patterns Later in Life
Authors: Plunk Andrew D. , Cavazaos‐Rehg Patricia , Bierut Laura J. , Grucza Richard A.
Published: January 2013

Background

Exposure to permissive minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) laws not only affects young adults in the short term, but also later in life; for example, individuals who could legally purchase alcohol before the age of 21 are more likely to suffer from drinking problems as older adults, long after the laws had been changed. However, it is not known how permissive MLDA exposure affects specific drinking behavior. This present study uses changes in MLDA laws during the 1970s and 1980s as a natural experiment to investigate the potential impact of permissive MLDA exposure on average alcohol consumption, frequency of drinking, and patterns of binging and more moderate, nonheavy drinking.

Methods

Policy exposure data were paired with alcohol use data from the 1991 to 1992 National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiologic Survey and the 2001 to 2002 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. Past‐year drinkers born between 1949 and 1972 (n = 24,088) were included. Average daily intake, overall drinking frequency, and frequency of both binge episodes (5+ drinks) and days without a binge episode (nonheavy drinking) for the previous year at the time of interview were tracked for each respondent.

Results

Exposure to permissive MLDAs was associated with higher odds to report frequent binging and lower odds to report any moderate drinking; these associations were largely driven by men and those who did not attend college. Overall drinking frequency and average alcohol consumption were not affected by MLDA exposure.

Conclusions

The ability to legally purchase alcohol before the age of 21 does not seem to increase overall drinking frequency, but our findings suggest that it is associated with certain types of problematic drinking behaviors that persist into later adulthood: more frequent binge episodes and less frequent nonheavy drinking. We also propose that policymakers and critics should not focus on college drinking when evaluating the effectiveness of MLDAs.
Mouriri morleyii sp. nov. (Melastomataceae) from Brazil, with notes on its foliar stomatal crypts
Authors: Goldenberg Renato , Meirelles Julia , Amano Erika
Published: January 2013

Mouriri morleyii R. Goldenb. & Meirelles sp. nov. can be distinguished from the other species in the genus by its large stomatal crypts (the largest ones in the genus), columnar sclereids, tetramerous flowers and calyx closed in bud. This new species was collected on an inselberg in the state of Espírito Santo, Brazil.