bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Effects of Hydrophilic Hydrocolloids on Dough and Bread Performance of Samples Made from Frozen Doughs
Authors: Dodić J. , Pejin D. , Dodić S. , Popov S. , Mastilović J. , Popov‐Raljić J. , Zivanovic S.
Published: May 2007

ABSTRACT:  The objective of this study was to determine the effects of hydrocolloids in dough (xanthan 0.02%, 0.06%, and 0.1%; κ‐carrageenan and carboxymethylcellulose 0.2%, 0.6%, and 1.0%) and duration of frozen storage on the quality of finished bakery product. Doughs were prepared with different concentrations of gums, stored at −18 °C and analyzed after 0, 7, 14, and 30 d for fermentation activity of yeast and rising time of dough. At the end of each frozen storage interval, bread was prepared and characterized for specific volume, crumb firmness, and crumb structure. The addition of the gums had significant effects on dough performance and quality of the final product. Gums at all tested concentrations reduced fermentation activity of yeast and prolonged the rising time of dough, which was similar to the effects of frozen storage. However, specific volume of bread for the control sample significantly decreased on the 30th d of frozen storage. Addition of hydrocolloids resulted in higher specific volume of loaves compared to the specific volume of control sample loaves. With the increase of the duration of frozen storage the specific volume of bread decreases in all analyzed samples. This decrease is less in the samples with hydrocolloids compared to the decrease in the control sample. The addition of 0.1% xanthan accomplished the same or higher values for specific fermentation activity, specific volume, and penetrometric's number compared to the values accomplished by the addition of 1% carboxymethylcellulose and κ‐carrageenan, respectively.
Effects of Yeast and Bran on Phytate Degradation and Minerals in Rice Bread
Authors: Kadan R.S. , Phillippy B.Q.
Published: May 2007

ABSTRACT:  Rice bread is a potential alternative to wheat bread for gluten‐sensitive individuals. Incorporation of rice bran into bread made from white rice flour adds flavor but also phytic acid, which can reduce the bioavailability of minerals. Breads with varied amounts of defatted bran and yeast were prepared to determine their effects on the phytate and mineral contents of the bread. A completely randomized factorial design was used with bran levels of 3.7%, 7.3%, and 10.5% of the dry ingredients and yeast levels of 1.6%, 3.2%, and 4.7%. Increasing the amount of bran decreased the phytate degradation from 42% at the lowest level of bran to 10% at the highest, and the amount of yeast had no significant effect. The bran contributed substantial amounts of magnesium, iron, and zinc. Breads with the lowest level of bran had phytate‐to‐zinc molar ratios between 5 and 10, which suggest medium zinc bioavailability. Rice bread is a tasty and nutritious food that is a good dietary source of minerals for people who cannot tolerate wheat bread.
Rectus sheath hematoma complicating low‐molecular weight heparin therapy
Authors: DENARD P. J. , FETTER J. C. , ZACHARSKI L. R.
Published: May 2007

Rectus sheath hematoma (RSH) is an uncommon but serious bleeding complication of anticoagulant therapy that has received little attention in the literature. Two cases of RSH among recent admissions to an inpatient medicine service and four archival cases were reviewed. All six patients were on low‐molecular weight heparin (LMWH) therapy. Five of the six patients had a creatinine clearance of 40 ml/min or less, and five also had cough. Two patients with the most serious outcome were aged 90 and 92 years. RSH complicating LMWH therapy appears to constitute a clinical syndrome consisting of sudden onset of abdominal pain in the setting of renal insufficiency, advanced age and abdominal straining (e.g. cough). Risk of RSH may be reduced in patients receiving LMWH by assessing renal function, monitoring heparin levels (e.g. when the creatinine clearance is 40 ml/min or less) and adjusting the dose accordingly; by avoidance of abdominal strain (e.g. by treating cough); and by attention to technique when the abdominal wall is used as the injection site. Patients of advanced age may be at particular risk for RSH.
Novel chromosomal translocations in multiple myeloma: t(13;16)(q14;q24) and t(1;15)(q10;q26)
Authors: AKALIN I. , KUTLAY N. Y. , ILHAN O. , TUKUN A.
Published: May 2007

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a malignant plasma cell disorder that involves multiple genetic abnormalities. Chimeric transcription factors, created by gene fusion as a result of chromosomal translocations, have been implicated in the pathogenesis of the disease. Here, we report the conventional cytogenetic analysis of a MM patient that showed a complex set of novel chromosomal rearrangements, including t(13;16)(q14;q24) and t(1;15)(q10;q26). This is probably the result of fusion of previously known genes, and would contribute to prognostic significance of the disease.
Assay of AVP, CRP, and LPS in leukemia
Authors: HAN D. M. , ZHANG Y. Q. , BAI Q. X. , CHEN X. Q.
Published: May 2007

The genesis and development of tumor are closely connected with immune system and neuroendocrine system. To investigate the changes of neuroendocrine and immune system in leukemia patients and their probable connection with leukemia, we studied five groups of patients including leukemia patients with normal temperature, leukemia patients with high temperature and infection (high‐leukocyte count group and low leukocyte count group), general patients with fever and healthy Chinese adult blood donors as control group. We determined their blood cell counts by blood count meter, determined their arginine vasopressin (AVP) levels in blood plasma by radioimmunoassay and their cross‐reacting protein (CRP), and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) levels by immunoturbidimetry. Then we studied the difference and association among these indexes. Our results revealed a significant increase of AVP, LPS, and CRP levels in the blood of leukemia patients with normal temperature vs. normal people; Individual leukemia patients had high AVP levels although they had normal LPS and CRP levels; In the group of leukemia patients with high temperature and low leukocyte counts, the CRP level is significantly higher than some of other groups, while there was no significant increase in its AVP level. We conclude that no matter the temperature is normal or not, there were always neuroendocrine disturbance, inflammation, and inapparent infection in leukemia patient; To the leukemia patients with low leukocyte counts, the relationship between inflammation and neuroendocrine is more complicated.
Population‐based platelet reference values for an Iranian population
Authors: ADIBI P. , FAGHIH IMANI E. , TALAEI M. , GHANEI M.
Published: May 2007

There are a few reports regarding the reference range for platelet indices in the populations of Iran and its neighbouring countries, but these studies were of small sample size. This study aimed at defining platelet reference values for medical research and practice. A cross‐sectional survey was performed on 19 993 young adult Iranians who participated in a compulsory pre‐marriage screening programme over a 6‐month period. Platelet indices were measured using an automated Technicon H2 cell counter. The platelet count [given as 95% reference interval (2.5 percentile–97.5 percentile) and mean ± standard deviation] were 145–356 × 109/l (237 ± 55.2); the platelet distribution width was 40.2–57.4% (46.9 ± 5.7) the Plateletocrit was, 0.13–0.32% (0.22 ± 0.05) and the mean platelet volume was 7.4–10.7 fl (9.2 ± 2.9). The first three indices showed significant differences between males and females. The reference values of platelet indices in Iranians were found to be different from international data; they were a little lower than those in Caucasians but higher than the indices found for Africans.
Occurrence of Antibiotic-Resistant Uropathogenic
Escherichia coli
Clonal Group A in Wastewater Effluents
Authors: Boczek Laura A. , Rice Eugene W. , Johnston Brian , Johnson James R.
Published: May 2007

Isolates of
Escherichia coli
belonging to clonal group A (CGA), a recently described disseminated cause of drug-resistant urinary tract infections in humans, were present in four of seven sewage effluents collected from geographically dispersed areas of the United States. All 15 CGA isolates (1% of the 1,484 isolates analyzed) exhibited resistance to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMZ), accounting for 19.5% of the 77 TMP-SMZ-resistant isolates. Antimicrobial resistance patterns, virulence traits, O:H serotypes, and phylogenetic groupings were compared for CGA and selected non-CGA isolates. The CGA isolates exhibited a wider diversity of resistance profiles and somatic antigens than that found in most previous characterizations of this clonal group. This is the first report of recovery from outside a human host of
E. coli
CGA isolates with virulence factor and antibiotic resistance profiles typical of CGA isolates from a human source. The occurrence of “human-type” CGA in wastewater effluents demonstrates a potential mode for the dissemination of this clonal group in the environment, with possible secondary transmission to new human or animal hosts.
Po2profiles near arterioles and tissue oxygen consumption in rat mesentery
Authors: Golub Aleksander S. , Barker Matthew C. , Pittman Roland N.
Published: May 2007

A scanning phosphorescence quenching microscopy technique, designed to prevent accumulated O2consumption by the method, was applied to Po2measurements in mesenteric tissue. In an attempt to further increase the accuracy of the measurements, albumin-bound probe was topically applied to the tissue and an objective-mounted pressurized bag was used to reduce the oxygen transport bypass through the thin layer of fluid over the mesentery. Po2was measured at multiple sites perpendicular to the blood/wall interface in the vicinity of 84 mesenteric arterioles (7–39 μm in diameter) at distances of 5, 15, 30, 60, 120, and 180 μm in seven anesthetized Sprague-Dawley rats, thereby creating Po2profiles. Interstitial Po2above and immediately beside arterioles was found to agree with known intravascular values. No significant difference in Po2profiles was found between small and large arterioles, indicating a small longitudinal Po2gradient in the precapillary mesenteric microvasculature. In addition, the Po2profiles were used to calculate oxygen consumption in the mesenteric tissue (56–65 nl O2·cm−3·s−1). Correction of these values for contamination with ambient oxygen yielded an oxygen consumption rate of 60–68 nl O2·cm−3·s−1, the maximal limit for consumption in the mesentery. The results were compared with measurements made by other workers in regard to the employed techniques.
Studies in target-based treatment
Authors: Kurzrock Razelle
Published: May 2007

In this issue, Molecular Cancer Therapeutics inaugurates a new feature—The Cutting Edge: Spotlight on Clinical Response—whose objective is the rapid publication of breaking discoveries regarding target- or mechanism-based clinical responses in cancer.

Targeted molecules are poised to alter the landscape of clinical cancer treatment. For example, because they can distinguish cancer cells from their normal counterparts, agents such as imatinib mesylate, a Bcr-Abl and Kit kinase inhibitor, can result in remarkable responses with minimal host toxicity in patients suffering from diseases characterized by abnormalities in the targeted kinases. Indeed, studies of imatinib mesylate in early-stage chronic myelogenous leukemia, whose hallmark is the aberrant Bcr-Abl, show response rates of more than 90%. Furthermore, gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), a notoriously chemotherapy-refractory sarcoma, characterized by activating Kit kinase mutations, can show dramatic metabolic responses within days after initiation of treatment.

With the wealth of new knowledge in this field, and numerous novel targeted molecules entering clinical trials, the above examples are likely to represent the tip of the iceberg. Indeed, in this issue, a paper by Senzer et al. documents, for the first time, successful use of adenoviral p53 therapy to treat a tumor in a patient with Li Fraumeni Syndrome, a hereditary cancer syndrome caused by the mutation of the p53 tumor suppressor gene. Some of the features of this response, such as the early disappearance of metabolic activity on fluorodeoxyglucose–positron emission tomography scans, are reminiscent of those of GIST responses to imatinib. These findings have important implications for patients with this syndrome, who are prone to develop numerous tumors and often succumb at a young age. In addition, because mutations in p53 are one of the more common aberrations in cancer in general, identification of these mutations and exploration of this approach is warranted in patients with sporadic cancers.

In summary, the era of “molecular cancer therapeutics” has begun. Even so, results in the laboratory and in animals often do not translate into salutary effects in patients. However, when they do, it is important that the information be made quickly available to the investigative community. Molecular Cancer Therapeutics believes that providing a forum for the rapid dissemination of cutting-edge findings of successful, albeit early, clinical research should stimulate further study and will ultimately benefit patients with cancer.
News, Social Capital and Health in the Context of Katrina
Authors: Beaudoin Christopher E
Published: May 2007

This study assesses the public health functions played by news information and social capital in the context of Hurricane Katrina. In-depth interviews were conducted with 57 hurricane shelter residents between 4 and 6 weeks after the hurricane. Depression was more common for participants who relied more on news information than for other participants after the hurricane (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 5.49; 95% CI, 1.29 to 23.35; p=.021). Depression was more common for participants with relatively low levels of pre-hurricane positive social interactions (AOR, .16; 95% CI, .02 to 1.83; p=.046) and post-hurricane positive social interactions (AOR, .02; 95% CI, .00 to .74; p=.033) and high levels of post-hurricane negative social interactions (AOR, 17.05; 95% CI, .92 to 315.64; p=.047). Illness and injury were more common for participants who had relied more on news information than for other participants after the hurricane (AOR, 1.13; 95% CI, 1.02 to 2.77; p=.046).
Emergency Preparedness: Knowledge and Perceptions of Latin American Immigrants
Authors: Carter-Pokras Olivia , Zambrana Ruth E , Mora Sonia E , Aaby Katherine A
Published: May 2007

This paper describes the level of public emergency knowledge and perceptions of risks among Latin American immigrants, and their preferred and actual sources of emergency preparedness information (including warning signals). Five Latino community member focus groups, and one focus group of community health workers, were conducted in a suburban county of Washington D.C. (N=51). Participants came from 13 Latin American countries, and 64.7% immigrated during the previous five years. Participants had difficulty defining emergency and reported a wide range of perceived personal emergency risks: immigration problems; crime, personal insecurity, gangs; home/traffic accidents; home fires; environmental problems; and snipers. As in previous studies, few participants had received information on emergency preparedness, and most did not have an emergency plan. Findings regarding key messages and motivating factors can be used to develop clear, prioritized messages for communication regarding emergencies and emergency preparedness for Latin American immigrant communities in the U.S.
Katrina and Vulnerability: The Geography of Stress
Authors: Curtis Andrew , Mills Jacqueline Warren , Leitner Michael
Published: May 2007

The immediate aftermath of Katrina focused the world's attention on the vulnerability of the urban poor and racial/ethnic minority groups in New Orleans. This vulnerability can be viewed in terms of site, the proximity of a neighborhood to a hazard, and situation, the social context of that neighborhood. Vulnerabilities, associated with demographic characteristics such as being poor, being a member of a racial/ethnic minority group, and being female, will strengthen the force of a disaster. This paper uses a site and situation approach to show how maps of the five main sources of disaster-related stress in New Orleans can be used to predict where counseling resources should be targeted.
Rapid Needs Assessment among Hurricane Katrina Evacuees in Metro-Denver
Authors: Ghosh Tista S , Patnaik Jennifer L , Vogt Richard L
Published: May 2007

During September 2005, 3,600 Gulf Coast evacuees arrived in metropolitan Denver, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. To better meet the medical and non-medical needs of this displaced population, a rapid needs assessment was conducted among 106 evacuee households. The assessment identified a large need for prescription medications, with 60.2% of households requiring prescription medications and 38.8% of these households lacking these medications at the time of the survey. The assessment also identified self-reported symptoms consistent with altitude sickness and the region-specific need for education on the effects of Denver's mile-high altitude. Finally, the assessment identified differential needs based on race; non-Hispanic Black households were more likely than non-Hispanic White households to require employment, housing, and dental services. These findings illustrate the importance of conducting rapid needs assessments in displaced populations, to identify unique regional, cultural, and other unanticipated needs, as well as to recognize the needs of specific sub-populations.
Hospitals in Hurricane Katrina: Challenges Facing Custodial Institutions in a Disaster
Authors: Gray Bradford H. , Hebert Kathy
Published: May 2007

In the days after Hurricane Katrina struck and New Orleans's infrastructure failed, hospitals and other organizations that have custodial responsibility for human beings (such as nursing homes and jails) faced special difficulties. In some two dozen hospitals, patients had to be evacuated because of the loss of power, water, and sewage service, and many of these hospitals required external assistance, which was slow to arrive. Meanwhile, patients' needs for care continued unabated. Some hospitals evacuated all patients successfully, but by the end of that long week, some had become places of death. This paper explores what happened in New Orleans-area hospitals during and after Hurricane Katrina and why hospitals had such varied experiences. We conclude with lessons based on the Katrina experience.
Hurricane Katrina's Impact on Pediatric and Adult Patients with Sickle Cell Disease
Authors: Karras Nicole A , Hemenway Charles S
Published: May 2007

Objective. Hurricane Katrina, making landfall in the U.S. in late August 2005, disrupted the medical infrastructure of New Orleans. We hypothesized that Hurricane Katrina measurably affected the ability of patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) to receive necessary and adequate health care. Differences in health care delivery among children and adults in New Orleans prior to the hurricane prompted our interest in these two groups. Methods. In May 2006, an anonymous survey was administered via either telephone or written questionnaire to patients in the greater New Orleans, Louisiana area with SCD and/or their guardians. The survey was intended to gauge patients' access to and satisfaction with specialized health care in the months following Hurricane Katrina. Conclusions. Adult patients with SCD who relied almost exclusively on New Orleans' main public hospital (Charity Hospital) for specialized sickle cell services reported significant frustration/dissatisfaction with their medical care eight months after the storm. In contrast, pediatric patients with SCD and their guardians, who rarely received care within the public hospital system, reported more satisfaction with their care. There was a statistically significant difference between the two groups in their responses to the perception of quality of their health care.
Hurricane Emergency Planning by Home Health Providers Serving the Poor
Authors: Kirkpatrick Dahlia V , Bryan Marguerite
Published: May 2007

Five agencies providing home health care to indigent populations in New Orleans, Louisiana were evaluated in terms of emergency planning and implementation. This was to help improve response to community disasters for indigent populations. Preparation for Hurricane Katrina was examined looking at interaction with local and state departments of health. It was found that the state dept of health provided leadership in making the emergency plans, but not in implementation. Local departments of health appeared to have very little responsibility in emergency planning. Although every agency had a plan, when it came to implementation there was lack of coordination and breakdown in communication at all government levels. Recommendations for future policy include: 1) early evacuation of special needs patients; 2) improved training of staff to include practice drills; 3) improve communication systems; and, 4) increased funding of state and local departments of health to provide training.
Wading in the Waters: Spirituality and Older Black Katrina Survivors
Authors: Lawson Erma Jean , Thomas Cecelia
Published: May 2007

Hurricane Katrina has drawn increased interest in coping strategies, spirituality, and mental health among low-income Blacks. Given the paucity of information available regarding the role of spirituality in surviving Hurricane Katrina, this qualitative study explores active coping strategies of older Blacks. Older respondents who were evacuated to a Texas retirement apartment complex participated in a series of three in-depth interviews (starting approximately three weeks after their arrival in the host state and continuing weekly). Without exception, the findings indicate that this population coped with Katrina and its aftermath through reliance on a Higher Power. The relationship to a Higher Power did not necessarily translate into church membership. The conclusions of the respondents' spiritual coping mechanisms revealed the following themes: 1) regular communication with a supernatural power; 2) miracles of faith through this source of guidance and protection; 3) daily reading of the Bible and various spiritual and devotional materials; and 4) helping others as a consequence of faith and devotion to a supreme being. This study indicates that spirituality promotes emotional resilience in the aftermath of traumatic events such as Hurricane Katrina. These findings also point to the need for researchers to reconsider expressions of spirituality based solely on church membership/attendance and prayer, and to consider redefining spiritual coping as a form of cultural capital.
Katrina-Related Health Concerns of Latino Survivors and Evacuees
Authors: Messias DeAnne K. Hilfinger , Lacy Elaine Cantrell
Published: May 2007

This article examines health concerns identified by Latinos who resided in the path of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and Mississippi. Data were collected for this qualitative descriptive study through individual, open-ended interviews with 93 Latino survivors and evacuees in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Georgia. Findings describe health concerns and experiences, including hunger, environmental health risks, sleep disturbances, and access to health care for acute and chronic conditions. Health and illness factored into personal and family decisions on whether or not to stay, evacuate, or return home following the storm. Problems accessing health care were compounded for the undocumented and uninsured. The findings have implications for further disaster research and may inform emergency preparedness policy development and the planning and implementation of disaster-related health care services for Latinos and other minority and underserved groups.
Dental Care as a Vital Service Response for Disaster Victims
Authors: Mosca Nicholas G , Finn Emanuel , Joskow Renée
Published: May 2007

Hurricane Katrina's impact on the infrastructure of public health and the health care system in the affected areas was unprecedented in the United States. Many dental offices were flood-bound in New Orleans and over 60% of dental practices were partially or completely damaged in affected counties in Mississippi. Most needs assessments conducted during the initial recovery operations did not include questions about access to oral health care. However, the extent of the destruction of the health care infrastructure demonstrated the need for significant state and federal support to make dental treatment accessible to survivors and evacuees. The Katrina response is one of the few times that state and federal government agencies responded to provide dental services to victims as part of disaster response and recovery. The purpose of this paper is to share our experiences in Mississippi and the District of Columbia providing urgent dental care to disaster victims as part of a crisis response.
Adverse Health Outcomes after Hurricane Katrina among Children and Adolescents with Chronic Conditions
Authors: Rath Barbara , Donato Jessica , Duggan Alyson , Perrin Keith , Bronfin Daniel R , Ratard Raoult , VanDyke Russell , Magnus Manya
Published: May 2007

Children with chronic conditions may be at risk of increased disruptions in health care following natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to evaluate differences between children and adolescents with and without chronic conditions immediately following Katrina. Of 531 participants, there were 79.8% younger than 13 years old, 50.5% male, 42.8% African American. Participants with pre-existing conditions (39.4% of the total sample) were more likely than those without to be at the clinic for a non-chronic health condition rather than another problem (43.5 vs. 16.2%), to take asthma medication (37.4 vs. 3.9%), to have asthma worsen (16.3 vs. 1.9%), to miss a visit (49.2 vs. 39.8%), to run out of medications (33.9 vs. 7.9%), to live with flood damage (19.7 vs. 11.3%) or mold (23.6 vs. 15.8%), and to experience disruption in care (58.4 vs. 38.3%) or negative psychological consequences (ranging from 2.5% to 12.9%). While the medical differences are unsurprising, given the groups being compared, the other differences between the groups merit attention from policymakers and health care providers. Children and adolescents with chronic conditions are at increased risk of adverse outcomes following a natural disaster. Providers may be able to reduce negative effects on this population by developing condition-specific preparedness care mechanisms.
Displacement of the Underserved: Medical Needs of Hurricane Katrina Evacuees in West Virginia
Authors: Ridenour Marilyn L , Cummings Kristin J , Sinclair Julie , Bixler Danae
Published: May 2007

On August 29, 2005 Hurricane Katrina struck Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. During the aftermath of the storm, hurricane victims were evacuated to over 1,000 evacuation centers in 27 states. Three-hundred and twenty-three evacuees from 220 households were provided housing, food, and medical care at an evacuation center in West Virginia. A needs assessment followed to identify current needs of the evacuees. One-hundred and sixty-four evacuees were interviewed. Twenty-five percent reported an acute illness, while 46% reported having at least one chronic medical condition. The greatest need reported was for dental care (57%), followed by eyeglasses (34%), dentures (28%), and medical services (25%). Two weeks after the hurricane, the basic needs of food, shelter, and hygiene were met. The assessment identified and led to a successful response regarding the ongoing need for durable medical equipment (dentures and eyeglasses), as well as dental care.
Media Use and Information Needs of the Disabled During a Natural Disaster
Authors: Spence Patric R , Lachlan Ken , Burke Jennifer M , Seeger Matthew W
Published: May 2007

This study examined differences in evacuation, crisis preparation, information-seeking patterns, and media use among the communities of disabled and non-disabled evacuees in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Surveys were collected from 554 Katrina evacuees temporarily relocated in different areas of the United States. Results indicate differences in crisis preparation and evacuation plans, with disabled subpopulations being more likely to prepare emergency supplies but less likely to have an evacuation plan. Differences between the disabled and non-disabled subpopulations also existed in information-seeking habits. Media use was similar between disabled and non-disabled respondents.
Katrina Perspectives
Authors: Walker Bailus , Warren Rueben C
Published: May 2007

This commentary draws attention to a number of factors that may have converged, and in the process, exacerbated the effects of hurricane Katrina on the health and wellbeing of the people of New Orleans.
A Wake-Up Call in Afghanistan
Authors: Constable Pamela
Published: May 2007

As Afghanistan enters its sixth year since the overthrow of Taliban rule, the violent comeback campaign by Islamic insurgents is dominating headlines. Restoring security will require bringing more aid and better government to neglected rural areas, but it will be impossible to deliver those improvements so long as officials, workers, and projects remain vulnerable to attack. It is now dramatically apparent that even though Afghanistan has successfully held elections and met the formal requirements for a transition to democracy, it remains beset by a staggering array of problems, from public corruption to private warlordism, that have been allowed to fester virtually unchecked.
Venezuela: Crowding Out the Opposition
Authors: Corrales Javier , Penfold-Becerra Michael
Published: May 2007

The acceleration of authoritarianism in Venezuela since 2004, together with Hugo Chávez's reelection in 2006, cannot be explained easily with functional theories. Instead, we focus on political opportunities: specifically, economic resources at the state's disposal together with weakened institutions of representation helped crowd out the opposition. We show how clientelism and electoral authoritarianism feed each other. Together with deliberate strategies of polarization, impunity, and job discrimination, lavish spending has allowed the state to mobilize majorities and emerge undefeatable at the polls. This invincibility is, paradoxically, the reason that the Venezuelan state has become an unreliable force for promoting democracy.
Montenegro: A Miracle in the Balkans?
Authors: Darmanovic Srdjan
Published: May 2007

When 55.5 percent of the citizens of Montenegro voted on 21 May 2006 to sever the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro and make their republic a fully sovereign country in its own right, they set the capstone on a political shift that has been noteworthy for its peaceful and orderly conduct in a region which has seen a great deal of chaos and bloodshed since the breakup of the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s.
India’s Unlikely Democracy: Six Decades of Independence
Authors: Ganguly Sumit
Published: May 2007

Abstract: Contrary to popular belief, British colonial legacies do not explain India’ successful transition to democracy in its postindependence era. Rather the democratic underpinnings of the Indian nationalist movement ensured the adoption of a democratic form of government. In subsequent years, India’ democracy has weathered threats and been consolidated. Though Indian democracy is hardly bereft of shortcomings, social forces are likely to contribute to the further deepening of democracy. The country must also make a concerted attempt to bolster the robustness and efficacy of a range of institutions and procedures if it hopes to extend the promise of democracy to its entire population.
Toward Muslim Democracies
Authors: Ibrahim Saad Eddin
Published: May 2007

About two-thirds of the world's Muslims live under governments chosen through competitive elections. The remaining third lives mostly in the Arab world, a region that poses the hardest challenges for democratization. The road ahead is long and arduous, but this will not daunt the Arab and Muslim democrats who are fighting to make democracy a reality in the lands and among the people they love. We may not be as brutal as our autocrats or as numerous as our theocrats, but we are determined to fight the battle for the future, to fight for democracy, and we would welcome help.
India’s Unlikely Democracy: Civil Society Versus Corruption
Authors: Jenkins Rob
Published: May 2007

Abstract: Thanks to India’s “Silent Revolution,” parties representing lower castes now regularly win elections and assume state power. This achievement sometimes obscures India’s meager progress on an equally important measure of democratic deepening—the establishment of less corrupt forms of governance. The first wave of anticorruption activism developed innovative techniques for involving poor people as citizen-auditors of government programs, blurring the citizen-driven and state-oversight dimensions of accountability. A second wave of activism has built upon the first, bridging four additional divides that have hampered India’s anticorruption movement, the continued health of which may provide a telling indicator of India’s ability to continue democratizing.
Another Russia? Battling KGB Inc.
Authors: Kasparov Garry
Published: May 2007

Abstract: Putin’s regime is, and always has been, a kleptocracy. It is time to end the fiction that Putin’s Russia is an equal member of the club of democratic nations. Stop providing Putin with democratic credentials that he uses against his critics in Russia. Stop pretending that a dialogue with Russia is taking place when in reality there is no common language with this Kremlin regime. You cannot treat Putin’s police state according to the same rules as Germany or Canada because the Russian people do not enjoy the same rights and the same voice as Germans or Canadians.
India’s Unlikely Democracy: The Rise of Judicial Sovereignty
Authors: Mehta Pratap Bhanu
Published: May 2007

Abstract: India’s courts have been playing a growing role in the country’s political life. Defenders of the judiciary often focus on the few success stories that result from judicial decisions. Yet there is a glaring lack of concrete, empirical data on the effects of court intervention. Courts can proclaim new rights as much as they want, but the proclamation of rights by itself does not produce results. Judges have an important role to play in strengthening our democracy. But they will have to exercise great discretion and resist the intoxication which comes from the view that judges are the last, best hope of the republic.
Another Russia? Putin’s Invented Opposition
Authors: Sestanovich Stephen
Published: May 2007

Abstract: Despite all their difficulties, today’s Kremlin political operators probably calculate that they will be able to protect themselves against the forces that undermined Gorbachev’s reform project in the 1980s—elite division, grassroots mobilization, intractable national problems, and new electoral rules that gave the regime’s opponents a huge opening. Yet they cannot be completely secure as long as they are constrained by these same electoral rules. Running a one-party state is easy enough if you can set the rules yourself and break them at will. But keeping up democratic appearances means taking risks that can empower your opponents.
Voting for Change in the DRC
Authors: Weiss Herbert F
Published: May 2007

On 30 July and 20 October 2006, less than a year after a December 2005 constitutional referendum, the vast and strife-wracked Democratic Republic of the Congo held its first multiparty elections since 1965.The holding of competitive elections must count as a significant achievement even though voters signaled their disaffection with the entire array of political elites that had been ruling them.
The Challenge of Closely Fought Elections
Authors: Whitehead Laurence
Published: May 2007

A surprisingly large number of recent democratic elections have been closely fought. Many of these tight races attracted intense voter involvement and involved deeply consequential choices for their respective societies. The defense of democracy and the promotion of democratic values require constant vigilance; the persistent renewal of political participation on the part of the citizenry is a continuing, open-ended process. To keep the show on the road requires multiple and overlapping sources of reinforcement—legal and societal, domestic and external, local and national. But no sources of enforcement can substitute for a collective sense of tolerance, openness, and fair play.
Into the Source and History of Chinese Culture: Knowledge Classification in Ancient China
Authors: Jiang Shuyong
Published: May 2007

Chinese ancient classification was part of the book culture, which was rooted deeply in Chinese cultural, political, and social traditions. The values of the learned society, the culture of Confucianism, and the structure of bureaucracy influenced the development of the classification system and helped shape the contents and structure of the system.
The Bibliothèque nationale from 1792 to 1794: Becoming a National Institution during the French Revolution
Authors: Oliver Bette Wyn
Published: May 2007

Significant changes occurred within cultural institutions in France as a result of the Revolution of 1789. Museums and libraries, which had operated previously under the crown's jurisdiction, were transformed into national institutions intended to serve as visible symbols of republican pride accessible to the public. Under Jean Roland as interior minister, laws were passed and actions taken to preserve the rich heritage of the past and to add to its collections through confiscations of valuable materials from the church, émigrés, and those condemned or executed. The combined efforts of experienced scholars, zealous patriots, and government officials between 1792 and 1794 made possible the preservation, enrichment, and continuity of the Bibliothèque nationale during a period of social and political upheaval.
The Library of the Reich Security Main Office and Its Looted Jewish Book Collections
Authors: Schidorsky Dov
Published: May 2007

The Reich Security Main Office of Germany's Third Reich, created in 1939, became one of the more significant agents of the looting of Jewish public and private library collections under the Nazi regime. The staff of the agency's library, which included SS men, were directly involved in creating the looting policy, in carrying out the looting itself, and in making decisions concerning the fate of the looted material. Research regarding the Reich's Jewish policy was conducted on the basis of these confiscated collections and ultimately contributed to the legitimization of the expulsion and extermination of the Jews.
"Burned by the History of the Twentieth Century": Trauma and Narrative Containment in Daniel Stern's Holocaust Novels
Authors: Codde Philippe
Published: May 2007

This article provides a brief historical overview of the changing perspectives in trauma studies, the field that has spawned an academic interest in the nature and impact of traumatic experiences. The latest insights of psychotherapists, historians, and cultural and literary critics such as Dori Laub, Bessel van der Kolk, Dominick LaCapra, Saul Friendlander, and Cathy Caruth about witnessing, testimony, representation, and working-through traumatic experiences are used as a frame of reference for the analysis of two novels by the Jewish American novelist Daniel Stern, whose work has somehow failed to achieve canonical status. Stern's two early Holocaust novels, Who Shall Live, Who Shall Die (1963) and After the War (1967), it is argued, are remarkable, not only for their understanding of the psychological effects of trauma, but also for their use of narrative strategies to mitigate and contain the traumas that dwell at the core of these novels.
Epigones in the House of Language: Benjamin on Kraus
Authors: Gelley Alexander
Published: May 2007

What links Walter Benjamin and Karl Kraus is a fascination with the dregs of public discourse, its "by-products" or "waste products," but these to be understood as the negative pole of an exalted ideal of language, though conceived differently by each one. Benjamin was an avid reader of Die Fackel, a polemical gazette focused on Viennese journalism that Kraus published from 1899 to 1936. Benjamin's 1931 essay on Kraus is one of his most densely woven, recondite productions, filled with formulations that reach back to Benjamin's 1916 text "On Language as Such and on the Language of Man." There, the act of naming designates the dimension of divine creative power in pre-Babelic language. In Kraus's practice of citation Benjamin found traces of such a primordial capacity of language, a thetic power akin to divine naming. Citing in this sense involves not only the retrieval of a text or a concept, but intervention into the temporal process, the activation of a past in the present: citing as inciting. For Kraus, Benjamin wrote, "justice and language remain founded in each other," making it clear that while justice in a legal sense (Recht) was often invoked in Kraus's critique of journalism, what was fundamentally at stake was a reverence for "the image of divine justice [Gerechtigkeit] in language."
On the Road with D. H. Lawrence /-/- or, Lawrence as Thought-Adventurer
Authors: Gilbert Sandra M
Published: May 2007

Defining Lawrence's "expository writings not as laboratory reports on experiments successfully concluded but as signposts to a road" traveled in his art, H. M. Daleski notes that these "theories were consistently modified by the artistic experience, which in turn led to further formulations." Indeed, these continually revised and modified formulations of theories about almost everything constituted what Lawrence called "thought adventures"; in themselves they were signs of a yearning toward wholeness-in-duality that that can account for this writer's special charisma. For Lawrence was not just a novelist, a poet, and a critic; he was also, in our current rather inadequate terminology, a public intellectual. To be "on the road" with D. H. Lawrence is to be engaged in an extraordinary thought adventure, accompanied by an unfailingly engaged and engaging commentator whose intellectual wholeness-in-duality was of a sort we rarely encounter on the contemporary literary scene. In developing this point, the article also argues that Lawrence's great intellectual and creative adventure, though acutely modern, was also astutely anti-modernist. Although his early work was championed by such modernist luminaries as Ezra Pound and Ford Maddox Ford, by the end of his career he had become virtually the polar opposite of the quintessential modernist T. S. Eliot. Not coincidentally, perhaps, by the end of his career this thought adventurer addressed his ideas not just to an exclusively high cultural audience of the "fit though few" but to the masses among whom he could be, as he put it, "in the thick of the scrimmage."
In the Crypt of the Sun: Towards the Narrative Politics of Seamus Deane's Reading in the Dark
Authors: Mahon Peter
Published: May 2007

The article considers some of the ways in which Seamus Deane's novel maps political, sectarian, and folkloric borders onto the Catholic tradition of textual exegesis. In particular, the essay argues that Reading in the Dark treats Ignatius of Loyola's Spiritual Exercises as a productive site where both political and community identity are reconfigured through direct contact with literary-theoretical concerns.
Servility and Destructiveness in Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day
Authors: Terestchenko Michel
Published: May 2007

The figure of the butler, the protagonist of Kazuo Ishiguro's novel is a subtle illustration of the ability of human consciousness to deceive itself in what Sartre called "bad faith." The self-deception is enhanced by being legitimized in the framework of a professional ethics. This ethics of the "dignity" of a job perfectly well accomplished, which is presented as nothing but blind obedience, not only leads to the character's failure in his life but, more dangerously, to his serving as an instrument of evil action. Indirect commentary on latter aspect of the novel can be sought in Sartre's analysis of "bad faith" and Marx's of the alienated consciousness but also in the experiments in social psychology conducted by Stanley Milgram which point to the mechanisms by which ordinary people can become agents of mass destruction.
On the Standardisation of the Twinning Rate
Authors: Fellman Johan , Eriksson Aldur W.
Published: May 2007

In many studies the twinning rate, being strongly dependent on maternal age (and parity), has been standardised according to the maternal age distribution. The direct method requires very informative twinning data for the target population. The indirect method is used when the data for the target population is not sufficiently informative or when the target population is small. We have earlier introduced an alternative indirect technique for standardising the twinning rate. Our technique requires even less of the twinning data. Besides maternal age, parity is an influential factor, and should, if possible, be taken into account. In this study we present the traditional standardisation methods based on both maternal age and parity, we propose a new direct standardisation method and we develop our standardisation methods so that they take into account both maternal age and parity. We apply these standardisation methods to data from Finland, 1953–1964, from St. Petersburg, Russia, 1882–92, from Canada 1952–1967, and from Denmark, 1896–1967. These methods all give results very similar to those for the Finnish data, but the effect of parity is strongest with the direct methods. This may be due to the fact that, among extramarital maternities, parity has a strongly increasing effect on the twinning rate. This may be attributed to a higher reproduction capacity among unmarried mothers. Standardisations of the Canadian and the Danish data also give reliable results. With the St. Petersburg data, however, the different standardisations show notable discrepancies. These discrepancies are compared with Allen’s findings.
Gene–Environment Interaction Effects on Behavioral Variation and Risk of Complex Disorders: The Example of Alcoholism and Other Psychiatric Disorders
Authors: Heath Andrew C. , Todorov Alexandre A. , Nelson Elliot C. , Madden Pamela A.F. , Bucholz Kathleen K. , Martin Nicholas G.
Published: May 2007

There have been few replicated examples of genotype x environment interaction effects on behavioral variation or risk of psychiatric disorder. We review some of the factors that have made detection of genotype x environment interaction effects difficult, and show how genotype x shared environment interaction (GxSE) effects are commonly confounded with genetic parameters in data from twin pairs reared together. Historic data on twin pairs reared apart can in principle be used to estimate such GxSE effects, but have rarely been used for this purpose. We illustrate this using previously published data from the Swedish Adoption Twin Study of Aging (SATSA), which suggest that GxSE effects could account for as much as 25% of the total variance in risk of becoming a regular smoker. Since few separated twin pairs will be available for study in the future, we also consider methods for modifying variance components linkage analysis to allow for environmental interactions with linked loci.