bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
‘The gut war’
Authors: Jones Edgar
Published: December 2012

Hospital admission and mortality statistics suggested that peptic ulcer reached a peak prevalence in the mid-1950s. During the Second World War, against this background of serious and common pathology, an epidemic of dyspepsia afflicted both service personnel and civilians alike. In the absence of reliable diagnostic techniques, physicians struggled to distinguish between life-threatening illness and mild, temporary disorders. This article explores the context in which non-ulcer stomach conditions flourished. At a time when fear was considered defeatist and overt psychological disorder attracted stigma, both soldiers and civilians exposed to frightening events may have unconsciously translated their distress into gastrointestinal disorders. While the nature of army food was initially identified as the cause of duodenal ulcer in servicemen, the pre-war idea that conscientious and anxious individuals were at high risk gathered support and fed into post-war beliefs that this was a stress-related illness. Diet continued to be employed as a means of management at a time when the nation was preoccupied by food because of the constraints imposed by rationing. The peptic ulcer phenomenon set much of the medical agenda for the war years and conflicted with the commonly held view that the British people had never been healthier.
The pursuit of happiness
Authors: Jackson Mark
Published: December 2012

In 1956, Hans Selye tentatively suggested that the scientific study of stress could ‘help us to formulate a precise program of conduct’ and ‘teach us the wisdom to live a rich and meaningful life’. Nearly two decades later, Selye expanded this limited vision of social order into a full-blown philosophy of life. In Stress without Distress, first published in 1974, he proposed an ethical code of conduct designed to mitigate personal and social problems. Basing his arguments on contemporary understandings of the biological processes involved in stress reactions, Selye referred to this code as ‘altruistic egotism’. This article explores the origins and evolution of Selye’s ‘natural philosophy of life’, analysing the links between his theories and adjacent intellectual developments in biology, psychosomatic and psychosocial medicine, cybernetics and socio-biology, and situating his work in the broader cultural framework of modern western societies.
Glasgow’s ‘sick society’?
Authors: Hull Andrew
Published: December 2012

James Lorimer Halliday (1897–1983) pioneered the development of the concept of psychosocial medicine in Britain in the 1930s and 1940s. He worked in Glasgow, first as a public health doctor, and then as part of the corporatist National Health Insurance scheme. Here he learned about links between poverty, the social environment, emotional stress and psychological and physical ill-health, and about statistical tools for making such problems scientifically visible. The intellectual development of his methodologically and epistemologically integrated medicine – a hybrid of biomedical and psychological approaches – was embedded in the context of this practice with its particular medical culture and socio-economic circumstances. Halliday’s ideas are part of the wider, heterogeneous turn towards medical modernism and holism within mainstream medicine in Britain, western Europe and the United States in the inter-war period, and their evolution underlines the varied nature of contemporary anti-reductionist thinking in medicine. It also points to the diversity of the sources of holism and the many routes by which psychological and especially psychosocial discourses about health and illness entered professional and public arenas in Britain in this period.
Rats, stress and the built environment
Authors: Ramsden Edmund
Published: December 2012

From 1942 to 1952, a programme took place at Johns Hopkins to devise new methods of controlling Baltimore’s rat population. This article focuses on three individuals closely connected to this project at various stages of its development: psycho-biologist Curt Richter, animal ecologist David E. Davis, and ecologist and psychologist John B. Calhoun. For all three, the challenges of controlling rat numbers highlighted the significance of stress – a homeostatic mechanism critical to the survival of the animal. This was a process that was analyzed and manipulated by (re)introducing the wild rat into the laboratory. Here the rat not only contributed to new methods of rodent control, but offered new possibilities for the control and improvement of humankind. Yet it was not just the animal, but the physical structure of the laboratory that came to model the world outside. Through examining the experimental systems of the three scientists, this article will trace a series of transgressions between laboratory and field, urban and wild, animal and human. The result was that while animals were used to model the behaviour and pathologies of human city dwellers, the laboratory spaces in which they existed came to model the urban environment. We shall also see how differing perspectives on the value and uses of animal models and environments encouraged and reinforced alternative visions as to the role of science in the service of the city.
Routine Health Screening
Authors: Paepe Dominique , Verjans Gaëlle , Duchateau Luc , Piron Koen , Ghys Liesbeth , Daminet Sylvie
Published: December 2012

Study rationale:

Veterinary practitioners often perform geriatric health screening in cats. Unfortunately, scientific information regarding clinical and laboratory abnormalities and normal blood pressure values in elderly cats is scarce. This prospective study evaluated routine health screening tests in apparently healthy middle-aged and old cats.

Protocol:

One hundred cats of 6 years and older underwent blood pressure measurement, physical examination, blood and urine analysis, indirect fundoscopy and bilateral Schirmer tear tests.

Findings:

Mean systolic blood pressure (SBP) was 133.6 ± 21.5 mmHg. Increased SBP (>160 mmHg) was observed in eight cats, submandibular lymphadenopathy in 32, gingivitis in 72, heart murmur in 11, thyroid goitre in 20, increased creatinine in 29, hyperglycaemia in 25, increased total thyroxine in three, feline immunodeficiency virus positivity in 14, crystalluria in 41, borderline proteinuria in 25 and overt proteinuria in two. Mean tear production was very similar for both eyes and none of the cats had ocular lesions secondary to hypertension.

Clinical significance:

Old cats (>10 years) had significantly higher SBP, heart rate, murmur frequency, thrombocyte count, urine protein:creatinine ratio and serum urea and bilirubin concentrations, and significantly lower body condition score, haematocrit, albumin and total calcium concentrations than middle-aged cats (6–10 years). The common occurrence of physical examination and laboratory abnormalities in apparently healthy old cats underlines the need for regular health checks and the development of age-dependent laboratory reference intervals.
Is the ‘F’-word still dirty? A past, present and future of/for feminist and gender studies in Organization
Authors: Harding Nancy , Ford Jackie , Fotaki Marianna
Published: December 2012

This article looks back at 20 years of feminist/gender theory in Organization. In these years a very rich variety of articles has drawn on feminist and gender perspectives. This suggests that Organization is a welcome site for exploring feminist and gender theories and their contribution to critical analysis of organizations. However, the more theoretically sophisticated work that is to be found in feminist and gender studies has not yet been explored in much depth. There is unfilled potential here. The article looks forward to the next decade by discussing a small selection from the treasure house of feminist theorists and concerns that could offer rich insights for management and organization theory. There are many others; this discussion introduces theorists who will be new to some readers, and might provoke more general interest in feminist thought.
Compliance, resistance and incipient compliance when responding to directives
Authors: Kent Alexandra
Published: December 2012

How does a parent get a child to do something? And, indeed, how might the child avoid complying or seem to comply without actually having done so? This article uses conversation analysis to identify the interactionally preferred and dispreferred response to directives (compliance and resistance respectively). It then focuses on one alternative response option that has both verbal and embodied elements. The first part involves an embodied display of incipient compliance. That is, actions that are preparatory steps towards compliance and signal that it may be forthcoming, but which do not in themselves constitute compliance. Incipient compliance creates sequential space for a verbal turn that reformulates the ongoing action as autonomous, self-motivated behaviour on the recipient’s part, rather than subject to the will of the directive speaker. This enables the recipient to maintain autonomy over their own conduct without provoking the conflict or repeat directives associated with outright resistance.
Troubles with assessments in gifting occasions
Authors: Robles Jessica S
Published: December 2012

This article analyzes gift-exchange occasions as both a sequentially organized activity and as a ritual practice imbued with social and cultural meaning. Specifically, the article focuses on the role of assessments in gifting sequences, the distribution of assessments across participants, and some of the possible troubles which can arise in doing assessments of gifts based on discourse analysis of 44 gifting situations in one family’s 30 home videos spanning 13 years. I argue that participants encounter difficulties in the process of proffering assessments of gifts, and that such troubles revolve around the dilemma of constructing positive assessments as authentically given. The analysis discusses the organization of action in gifting occasions, outlines the expectations and dilemmas involved in doing assessments of gifts, and presents participants’ discursive practices for managing potential troubles in gift assessment.
TIGER: tiled iterative genome assembler
Authors: Wu Xiao-Long , Heo Yun , El Hajj Izzat , Hwu Wen-Mei , Chen Deming , Ma Jian
Published: December 2012

Background

With the cost reduction of the next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies, genomics has provided us with an unprecedented opportunity to understand fundamental questions in biology and elucidate human diseases. De novo genome assembly is one of the most important steps to reconstruct the sequenced genome. However, most de novo assemblers require enormous amount of computational resource, which is not accessible for most research groups and medical personnel.

Results

We have developed a novel de novo assembly framework, called Tiger, which adapts to available computing resources by iteratively decomposing the assembly problem into sub-problems. Our method is also flexible to embed different assemblers for various types of target genomes. Using the sequence data from a human chromosome, our results show that Tiger can achieve much better NG50s, better genome coverage, and slightly higher errors, as compared to Velvet and SOAPdenovo, using modest amount of memory that are available in commodity computers today.

Conclusions

Most state-of-the-art assemblers that can achieve relatively high assembly quality need excessive amount of computing resource (in particular, memory) that is not available to most researchers to achieve high quality results. Tiger provides the only known viable path to utilize NGS de novo assemblers that require more memory than that is present in available computers. Evaluation results demonstrate the feasibility of getting better quality results with low memory footprint and the scalability of using distributed commodity computers.
Identification of five B-type response regulators as members of a multistep phosphorelay system interacting with histidine-containing phosphotransfer partners of Populus osmosensor
Authors: Bertheau Lucie , Chefdor Françoise , Guirimand Grégory , Courdavault Vincent , Depierreux Christiane , Morabito Domenico , Brignolas Franck , Héricourt François , Carpin Sabine
Published: December 2012

Background

In plants, the multistep phosphorelay signaling pathway mediates responses to environmental factors and plant hormones. This system is composed of three successive partners: hybrid Histidine-aspartate Kinases (HKs), Histidine-containing Phosphotransfer proteins (HPts), and Response Regulators (RRs). Among the third partners, B-type RR family members are the final output elements of the pathway; they act as transcription factors and clearly play a pivotal role in the early response to cytokinin in Arabidopsis. While interactions studies between partners belonging to the multistep phosphorelay system are mainly focused on protagonists involved in cytokinin or ethylene pathways, very few reports are available concerning partners of osmotic stress signaling pathway.

Results

In Populus, we identified eight B-type RR proteins, RR12-16, 19, 21 and 22 in the Dorskamp genotype. To assess HPt/B-type RR interactions and consequently determine potential third partners in the osmosensing multistep phosphorelay system, we performed global yeast two-hybrid (Y2H) assays in combination with Bimolecular Fluorescence Complementation (BiFC) assays in plant cells. We found that all B-type RRs are able to interact with HPt predominant partners (HPt2, 7 and 9) of HK1, which is putatively involved in the osmosensing pathway. However, different profiles of interaction are observed depending on the studied HPt. HPt/RR interactions displayed a nuclear localization, while the nuclear and cytosolic localization of HPt and nuclear localization of RR proteins were validated. Although the nuclear localization of HPt/RR interaction was expected, this work constitutes the first evidence of such an interaction in plants. Furthermore, the pertinence of this partnership is reinforced by highlighting a co-expression of B-type RR transcripts and the other partners (HK1 and HPts) belonging to a potential osmosensing pathway.

Conclusion

Based on the interaction studies between identified B-type RR and HPt proteins, and the co-expression analysis of transcripts of these potential partners in poplar organs, our results favor the model that RR12, 13, 14, 16 and 19 are able to interact with the main partners of HK1, HPt2, 7 and 9, and this HPt/RR interaction occurs within the nucleus. On the whole, the five B-type RRs of interest could be third protagonists putatively involved in the osmosensing signaling pathway in Populus.
Info-gap management of public health Policy for TB with HIV-prevalence and epidemiological uncertainty
Authors: Ben-Haim Yakov , Dacso Clifford C , Zetola Nicola M
Published: December 2012

Background

Formulation and evaluation of public health policy commonly employs science-based mathematical models. For instance, epidemiological dynamics of TB is dominated, in general, by flow between actively and latently infected populations. Thus modelling is central in planning public health intervention. However, models are highly uncertain because they are based on observations that are geographically and temporally distinct from the population to which they are applied.

Aims

We aim to demonstrate the advantages of info-gap theory, a non-probabilistic approach to severe uncertainty when worst cases cannot be reliably identified and probability distributions are unreliable or unavailable. Info-gap is applied here to mathematical modelling of epidemics and analysis of public health decision-making.

Methods

Applying info-gap robustness analysis to tuberculosis/HIV (TB/HIV) epidemics, we illustrate the critical role of incorporating uncertainty in formulating recommendations for interventions. Robustness is assessed as the magnitude of uncertainty that can be tolerated by a given intervention. We illustrate the methodology by exploring interventions that alter the rates of diagnosis, cure, relapse and HIV infection.

Results

We demonstrate several policy implications. Equivalence among alternative rates of diagnosis and relapse are identified. The impact of initial TB and HIV prevalence on the robustness to uncertainty is quantified. In some configurations, increased aggressiveness of intervention improves the predicted outcome but also reduces the robustness to uncertainty. Similarly, predicted outcomes may be better at larger target times, but may also be more vulnerable to model error.

Conclusions

The info-gap framework is useful for managing model uncertainty and is attractive when uncertainties on model parameters are extreme. When a public health model underlies guidelines, info-gap decision theory provides valuable insight into the confidence of achieving agreed-upon goals.
Effects of local phenytoin on seroma formation after mastectomy and Axillary lymph node dissection: an experimental study on mice
Authors: Eser Mehmet , Tutal Fırat , Kement Metin , Goktas Selcuk , Kaptanoglu Levent , Gökceimam Mehmet , Gecer Melin Ozgun , Uzun Huseyin
Published: December 2012

Background

Seroma formation is the most common complication after breast cancer surgery. It is an important complication since it prolongs therapy duration, increases cost, and negatively affects patient psychology. Currently, there is no widely accepted method that prevents seroma formation. We tried to investigate impact of local phenytoin application on seroma formation following an experimental mastectomy model created in rats.

Methods

Two groups including eight rats in each were randomized. Saline injection was applied in the first group, whereas 1% phenytoin was locally used in the second group. Ten days after the surgery, seroma formation and wound-healing processes were evaluated using histopathological and biochemical examinations.

Results

Phenytoin significantly decreased seroma formation. Fibrosis was significantly increased and angiogenesis was significantly reduced in the phenytoin group (P < 0.05). Increased levels of macrophage and lymphocyte infiltration was detected in the control group (P < 0.05). No difference was detected between the groups in terms of necrosis, edema, congestion, and PNL (Polymorphonuclear leucocyte) and fibroblast infiltration.

Conclusions

Seroma formation-reducing effect of phenytoin might have occurred over its anti-inflammatory, anti-angiogenetic, and fibrosis augmenting effects.
Mining biomarker information in biomedical literature
Authors: Younesi Erfan , Toldo Luca , Müller Bernd , Friedrich Christoph M , Novac Natalia , Scheer Alexander , Hofmann-Apitius Martin , Fluck Juliane
Published: December 2012

Background

For selection and evaluation of potential biomarkers, inclusion of already published information is of utmost importance. In spite of significant advancements in text- and data-mining techniques, the vast knowledge space of biomarkers in biomedical text has remained unexplored. Existing named entity recognition approaches are not sufficiently selective for the retrieval of biomarker information from the literature. The purpose of this study was to identify textual features that enhance the effectiveness of biomarker information retrieval for different indication areas and diverse end user perspectives.

Methods

A biomarker terminology was created and further organized into six concept classes. Performance of this terminology was optimized towards balanced selectivity and specificity. The information retrieval performance using the biomarker terminology was evaluated based on various combinations of the terminology's six classes. Further validation of these results was performed on two independent corpora representing two different neurodegenerative diseases.

Results

The current state of the biomarker terminology contains 119 entity classes supported by 1890 different synonyms. The result of information retrieval shows improved retrieval rate of informative abstracts, which is achieved by including clinical management terms and evidence of gene/protein alterations (e.g. gene/protein expression status or certain polymorphisms) in combination with disease and gene name recognition. When additional filtering through other classes (e.g. diagnostic or prognostic methods) is applied, the typical high number of unspecific search results is significantly reduced. The evaluation results suggest that this approach enables the automated identification of biomarker information in the literature. A demo version of the search engine SCAIView, including the biomarker retrieval, is made available to the public through http://www.scaiview.com/scaiview-academia.html.

Conclusions

The approach presented in this paper demonstrates that using a dedicated biomarker terminology for automated analysis of the scientific literature maybe helpful as an aid to finding biomarker information in text. Successful extraction of candidate biomarkers information from published resources can be considered as the first step towards developing novel hypotheses. These hypotheses will be valuable for the early decision-making in the drug discovery and development process.
Computer-aided diagnosis of breast microcalcifications based on dual-tree complex wavelet transform
Authors: Jian Wushuai , Sun Xueyan , Luo Shuqian
Published: December 2012

Background

Digital mammography is the most reliable imaging modality for breast carcinoma diagnosis and breast micro-calcifications is regarded as one of the most important signs on imaging diagnosis. In this paper, a computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) system is presented for breast micro-calcifications based on dual-tree complex wavelet transform (DT-CWT) to facilitate radiologists like double reading.

Methods

Firstly, 25 abnormal ROIs were extracted according to the center and diameter of the lesions manually and 25 normal ROIs were selected randomly. Then micro-calcifications were segmented by combining space and frequency domain techniques. We extracted three texture features based on wavelet (Haar, DB4, DT-CWT) transform. Totally 14 descriptors were introduced to define the characteristics of the suspicious micro-calcifications. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to transform these descriptors to a compact and efficient vector expression. Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier was used to classify potential micro-calcifications. Finally, we used the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and free-response operating characteristic (FROC) curve to evaluate the performance of the CAD system.

Results

The results of SVM classifications based on different wavelets shows DT-CWT has a better performance. Compared with other results, DT-CWT method achieved an accuracy of 96% and 100% for the classification of normal and abnormal ROIs, and the classification of benign and malignant micro-calcifications respectively. In FROC analysis, our CAD system for clinical dataset detection achieved a sensitivity of 83.5% at a false positive per image of 1.85.

Conclusions

Compared with general wavelets, DT-CWT could describe the features more effectively, and our CAD system had a competitive performance.
Spontaneous arthritis and ankylosis in male DBA/1 mice: further evidence for a role of behavioral factors in “stress-induced arthritis”
Authors: Braem Kirsten , Carter Shea , Lories Rik J
Published: December 2012

Background

Ageing male DBA/1 mice spontaneously develop arthritis in the hind paws. We and others have demonstrated that this model shares striking features with human spondyloarthritis, in particular entheseal involvement, progressive ankylosis but also dactylitis. Here, we report on our recent experience with this model highlighting how changes in the animal facility affect the development of the disease.

Findings

Ageing male DBA/1 mice from different litters were caged together (6 mice per cage) at the age of 10 weeks. The mice were checked twice a week for clinical signs of arthritis. Disease severity was assessed in further detail post-mortem by scoring for histomorphological characteristics. DBA/1 mice spontaneously develop macroscopically detectable arthritis, presenting as joint swelling or toe stiffness. Standard settings with open cages lead to an almost 100% incidence by the age of 26 weeks. The introduction of larger cages and filter tops reducing exposure to other cages dramatically affected incidence. Other negative factors include excess bedding material reducing the impact of walking and running. Switching back to the original conditions resulted again in a high incidence, further optimized by sensory exposure to female mice. We also showed that the related DBA/2 strain is sensitive to the disease.

Conclusions

Changing environmental factors in the housing conditions of DBA/1 mice severely affects the spontaneous development of arthritis. This points out that the model is very sensitive to external stress and sensory factors that are likely affecting the behavior of the male mice and that the model needs to be optimized in different situations.
Hyaluronan production and chondrogenic properties of primary human chondrocyte on gelatin based hematostatic spongostan scaffold
Authors: Klangjorhor Jeerawan , Nimkingratana Puwapong , Settakorn Jongkolnee , Pruksakorn Dumnoensun , Leerapun Taninnit , Arpornchayanon Olarn , Rojanasthien Sattaya , Kongtawelert Prachya , Pothacharoen Peraphan
Published: December 2012

Background

Autologous chondrocyte transplantation is a promising technique for treatment of cartilage defects. Three dimensional chondrocyte cultures on a scaffold are widely used to retain the chondrogenic phenotype. Using a biodegradable gelatin scaffold is one option for the cell delivery system, but molecular and histological studies of the method have not yet been done.

Methods

We evaluated the chondrogenic property of the primary human chondrocyte on a gelatin scaffold as compared to a collagen scaffold over a period of 21 days. We examined the production of glycosaminoglycan by quantitative and histological analysis. Gene expression of cartilage-associated molecules was assessed by quantitative RT-PCR.

Results

The gelatin scaffold showed the ability to promote chondrocyte expansion, chondrogenic phenotype retention at molecular and mRNA levels.

Conclusions

This scaffold is thus suitable for use as an in vitro model for chondrocyte 3D culture.
Exploring the temporal development of childhood IgE profiles to allergen components
Authors: Önell Annica , Hjälle Lisbeth , Borres Magnus P
Published: December 2012

Background

Children often develop allergies that may or not persist into adulthood. Although the different allergic symptoms over time have been well documented, the underlying pattern of sensitization to various proteins and subsequent allergy development is unexplored.

The aim was to study the sensitization pattern to allergen components over time from infancy to adulthood in a group of infants with heredity for allergic diseases.

Methods

IgE profiles were monitored in a group of 67 children from 6 months to 18 years using a microarray chip (ImmunoCAP® ISAC) containing 103 allergen components derived from 47 allergen sources. The chip IgE profile was compared with clinical history, skin prick test results and diagnoses (atopic dermatitis, asthma and allergic rhinoconjunctivitis) at each time point for each child.

Results

IgE profiles were unique for each child and showed broad agreement with the results of skin prick tests and doctors’ diagnoses. In addition, close examination of the IgE profiles often revealed early indication of subsequent allergies. IgE profiles also facilitated the examination of cross‐reactivity contra co‐sensitization, thereby greatly enhancing the possibility for managing patients.

Conclusion

This explorative description indicates that sensitization pattern to allergen components differs over time as well as among allergic individuals when examined with microarray technology.
Translational Control of Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase by p38 MAPK in Islet β-Cells
Authors: Nishiki Yurika , Adewola Adeola , Hatanaka Masayuki , Templin Andrew T. , Maier Bernhard , Mirmira Raghavendra G.
Published: December 2012

The MAPKs are transducers of extracellular signals such as proinflammatory cytokines. In islet β-cells, cytokinesacutely activate expression of the Nos2 gene encoding inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), which ultimately impairs insulin release. Because iNOS production can also be regulated posttranscriptionally, we asked whether MAPKs participate in posttranscriptional regulatory events in β-cells and primary islets in response to cytokine signaling. We show that cytokines acutely reduce cellular oxygen consumption rate and impair aconitase activity. Inhibition of iNOS with l-NMMA or inhibition of Nos2 mRNA translation with GC7 [an inhibitor of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 5A (eIF5A) activity] reversed these defects, as did inhibition of p38 MAPK by PD169316. Although inhibition of p38 had no effect on the nuclear translocation of nuclear factor κB or the abundance of Nos2 transcripts during the immediate period after cytokine exposure, its inhibition or knockdown resulted in significant reduction in iNOS protein, a finding suggestive of a permissive role for p38 in Nos2 translation. Polyribosomal profiling experiments using INS-1 β-cells revealed that Nos2 mRNA remained associated with polyribosomes in the setting of p38 inhibition, in a manner similar to that seen with blockade of translational elongation by cycloheximide. Consistent with a role in translational elongation, p38 activity is required in part for the activation of the translational factor eIF5A by promoting its hypusination. Our results suggest a novel signaling pathway in β-cells in which p38 MAPK promotes translation elongation of Nos2 mRNA via regulation of eIF5A hypusination.
Comparative Literature in Iran
Authors: Anushiravani Alireza
Published: December 2012

Anushiravani’s essay is a historical and critical survey of comparative literature in Iran that discusses its present challenges and potentialities for development in the context of new directions in the field. It is divided into three parts; the first examines the origins of comparative literature in Iran. The second deals with the present state of comparative literature programs and journals at Iranian universities and academic centers. This section investigates the main challenges facing this discipline in Iran. The last part speculates on the future trends and directions of comparative literature in Iran in the light of younger scholars’ and graduate students’ interest in interdisciplinary studies, translation, and world literature.
African-Language Literature; Or, Postcolonial Theory’s Unconscious
Authors: Garnier Xavier
Published: December 2012

According to Garnier, neither the sociohistorical grounding of postcolonial studies nor the more explicitly linguistic and cultural one of francophone studies helps direct a satisfactory critical reading of literature in African languages. The ambition of this essay is to show the potential for theoretical renewal African-language literature is likely to bring to these two disciplines.
Rhythms Lost and Found: A Comparative Reading of the Music of the Subcontinent
Authors: Kumar S. Satish
Published: December 2012

Kumar’s essay explores Indian classical music and the language in which it is conceived, apprehended, and received. He seeks to understand the historical processes that have gone into engineering the changes not just in the form of Indian classical music but also in, perhaps, its essence. Finally, this article examines the apparent continuities and discontinuities—and even the ruptures and renovations — within the system of classical music of the subcontinent.
The Ideal of Casteless Language in Pramoedya’s Arok Dedes
Authors: Lienau Annette Damayanti
Published: December 2012

This article centers on a novelistic adaptation of the Indic Javanese epic Arok Dedes written by one of Indonesia’s most prominent novelists, Pramoedya Ananta Toer, a proponent of socialist realism in Indonesia and a translator of Maxim Gorky into Indonesian. Drawing from Katerina Clark’s observations on the Soviet socialist-realist novel, and building on the adaptation’s intertextual references to older Javanese and Sanskrit epic traditions, Lienau’s essay argues that Pramoedya’s work posits the generic superiority of the Indonesian-Malay novel to the linguistic caste-consciousness (and relative monoglossia) of its Indic-Javanese, epic precedent. These arguments on the vernacular aspect of Pramoedya’s work question Benedict Anderson’s (and others’) conclusions about the revolutionary quality of Pramoedya’s nationalized Malay prose. Lienau also qualifies Mikhail Bakhtin’s distinction between the novel and epic and extends on a meta-lingual register Clark’s characterization of the “modal schizophrenia” within the socialist-realist novel. The analysis builds through a close reading of Arok Dedes to consider the socialist-realist patterns within Pramoedya’s adaptation and—in a departure from Soviet models of socialist realim—to revisit the novel’s passage to literary self-consciousness, a passage that underscores the historical contingency of sacralized languages of prestige. In addition to suggesting the historical telos of literary progress, Pramoedya’s novel exemplifies how a socialist-realist template changes in the hands of an opposition writer who moves beyond the state-centered enshrinement of official myth.
Indigenization of Cinema in (Post)Colonial South Asia: From Transnational to Vernacular Public Spheres
Authors: Raju Zakir Hossain
Published: December 2012

This article investigates the indigenization of cinema, from production to reception, within the broader social, political, and cultural domain of early- to mid-twentieth-century East Bengal/Pakistan. As an attempt to fill certain gaps in South Asian film studies, Raju’s essay locates the early encounters of the East Bengal population with film through multiple public spheres. Raju demonstrates how cinema was a site of contest between various social groups from the 1900s through the 1960s in East Bengal. He challenges the dominant mode of nationalist, empirical-teleological historiography to interpret the absorption of cinema in the East Bengali cultural milieu. He further argues that the cultural adoption of the film medium may be seen through overlapping public spheres for different publics during the first six decades of the twentieth century in East Bengal, where and when the nationhood was always in mutation. This article thus elaborates how colonial rulers, non-Bengalis, as well as Bengali Muslims of colonial East Bengal appropriated cinema in different ways and later in postcolonial East Pakistan how both urban and rural Bengali Muslims indigenized film to construct their preferred identities. It identifies such events related to appropriation of cinema as and within various public spheres: from transnational and colonial to cultural-national and rural-vernacular. In this way Raju attempts to understand the specific processes of cultural appropriation of cinema, a Western technological medium in a largely Islamic and agrarian society of South Asia.
Protective buttressing of the human fist and the evolution of hominin hands
Authors: Morgan Michael H. , Carrier David R.
Published: December 2012

The derived proportions of the human hand may provide supportive buttressing that protects the hand from injury when striking with a fist. Flexion of digits 2–5 results in buttressing of the pads of the distal phalanges against the central palm and the palmar pads of the proximal phalanges. Additionally, adduction of the thenar eminence to abut the dorsal surface of the distal phalanges of digits 2 and 3 locks these digits into a solid configuration that may allow a transfer of energy through the thenar eminence to the wrist. To test the hypothesis of a performance advantage, we measured: (1) the forces and rate of change of acceleration (jerk) from maximum effort strikes of subjects striking with a fist and an open hand; (2) the static stiffness of the second metacarpo-phalangeal (MCP) joint in buttressed and unbuttressed fist postures; and (3) static force transfer from digits 2 and 3 to digit 1 also in buttressed and unbuttressed fist postures. We found that peak forces, force impulses and peak jerk did not differ between the closed fist and open palm strikes. However, the structure of the human fist provides buttressing that increases the stiffness of the second MCP joint by fourfold and, as a result of force transfer through the thenar eminence, more than doubles the ability of the proximal phalanges to transmit ‘punching’ force. Thus, the proportions of the human hand provide a performance advantage when striking with a fist. We propose that the derived proportions of hominin hands reflect, in part, sexual selection to improve fighting performance.
MicroRNA-182-5p targets a network of genes involved in DNA repair
Authors: Krishnan Keerthana , Steptoe Anita L. , Martin Hilary C. , Wani Shivangi , Nones Katia , Waddell Nic , Mariasegaram Mythily , Simpson Peter T. , Lakhani Sunil R. , Gabrielli Brian , Vlassov Alexander , Cloonan Nicole , Grimmond Sean M.
Published: December 2012

MicroRNAs are noncoding regulators of gene expression, which act by repressing protein translation and/or degrading mRNA. Many have been shown to drive tumorigenesis in cancer, but functional studies to understand their mode of action are typically limited to single-target genes. In this study, we use synthetic biotinylated miRNA to pull down endogenous targets of miR-182-5p. We identified more than 1000 genes as potential targets of miR-182-5p, most of which have a known function in pathways underlying tumor biology. Specifically, functional enrichment analysis identified components of both the DNA damage response pathway and cell cycle to be highly represented in this target cohort. Experimental validation confirmed that miR-182-5p-mediated disruption of the homologous recombination (HR) pathway is a consequence of its ability to target multiple components in that pathway. Although there is a strong enrichment for the cell cycle ontology, we do not see primary proliferative defects as a consequence of miR-182-5p overexpression. We highlight targets that could be responsible for miR-182-5p-mediated disruption of other biological processes attributed in the literature so far. Finally, we show that miR-182-5p is highly expressed in a panel of human breast cancer samples, highlighting its role as a potential oncomir in breast cancer.
tRNAHis 5-methylcytidine levels increase in response to several growth arrest conditions in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Authors: Preston Melanie A. , D’Silva Sonia , Kon Yoshiko , Phizicky Eric M.
Published: December 2012

tRNAs are highly modified, each with a unique set of modifications. Several reports suggest that tRNAs are hypomodified or, in some cases, hypermodified under different growth conditions and in certain cancers. We previously demonstrated that yeast strains depleted of tRNAHis guanylyltransferase accumulate uncharged tRNAHis lacking the G−1 residue and subsequently accumulate additional 5-methylcytidine (m5C) at residues C48 and C50 of tRNAHis, due to the activity of the m5C-methyltransferase Trm4. We show here that the increase in tRNAHis m5C levels does not require loss of Thg1, loss of G−1 of tRNAHis, or cell death but is associated with growth arrest following different stress conditions. We find substantially increased tRNAHis m5C levels after temperature-sensitive strains are grown at nonpermissive temperature, and after wild-type strains are grown to stationary phase, starved for required amino acids, or treated with rapamycin. We observe more modest accumulations of m5C in tRNAHis after starvation for glucose and after starvation for uracil. In virtually all cases examined, the additional m5C on tRNAHis occurs while cells are fully viable, and the increase is neither due to the GCN4 pathway, nor to increased Trm4 levels. Moreover, the increased m5C appears specific to tRNAHis, as tRNAVal(AAC) and tRNAGly(GCC) have much reduced additional m5C during these growth arrest conditions, although they also have C48 and C50 and are capable of having increased m5C levels. Thus, tRNAHis m5C levels are unusually responsive to yeast growth conditions, although the significance of this additional m5C remains unclear.
Does Demographic Change Affect the Current Account? A Reconsideration
Authors: Graff Michael , Tang Kam Ki , Zhang Jie
Published: December 2012

This paper re-examines the impact of demographic factors on the current account balance. To this end, we develop an analytical framework that is more general than the one commonly used in the literature in three aspects. First, it accounts for the facts that the world current account balance must be equal to zero. Second, a bigger economy will have greater impacts on others, but be influenced less by them. Third, a more open economy will have greater impacts on others and at the same time be more readily influenced by them. We then confront two alternative empirical specifications based on both the new and the conventional framework with a panel of data. In contrast to the findings based on the conventional framework, our results with the new framework indicate that population ageing does not appear to have discernible impacts on the current account balance.
Proposing the Bonding Requirements for Investment in Africa: A Tripartite Solution for the Environmental Protection
Authors: Liu Deming
Published: December 2012

African countries do not have an effective legal framework to address the environmental damage that would be caused by the mining activities and oil exploitation of the transnational corporations. To resolve the issue, the paper proposes the modified bonding requirements under a tripartite agreement whereby the corporations’ home governments are involved. Conducting the discussion in the context of the Chinese investment in Africa and the environmental concerns that arise, the paper shows that such a scheme offers many advantages over the conventional bonding requirements and that it benefits both the local and the Chinese governments. Further, it proposes that the scheme should be made mandatory for any investors and governments in respect of their investments in the mining and oil industries in Africa.
Combating Food Shortages in Least Developed Countries: Current Development Assistance Approaches
Authors: Tomkins Alan J.
Published: December 2012

This paper discusses the major policy initiatives that have been developed to combat chronic food shortages in the world’s least developed nations. The United States has taken the world’s leadership position in trying to address chronic hunger and under-nutrition as part of its Feed the Future initiative, an effort that is linked to the G8’s L’Aquila Food Security initiative. Both initiatives focus on activities and outcomes that are intended to reduce food insecurity in the medium and long terms. Both initiatives operate in the context of the immediate food relief policies and practices that most nations subscribe to as part of the United Nations food security initiatives.
Survival Analysis of Left Truncated Income Protection Insurance Data
Authors: LIU QING , Pitt David , Wang Yan , Wu Xueyuan
Published: December 2012

One of the main characteristics of Income Protection Insurance (IPI) claim duration data, which has not been considered in the actuarial literature on the topic, is left-truncation. Claimants that are observed are those whose sickness durations are longer than the deferred periods specified in the policies, and hence left-truncation exists in these data. This paper investigates a series of conditional mixture models when applying survival analysis to model sickness durations of IPI claimants, and examines the consequence of treating the IPI data with lengthy deferred periods as complete data and therefore ignoring the left-truncation by fitting the corresponding unconditional distributions. It also quantifies the extent of the bias in the resulting parameter estimates when ignoring the left-truncation in the data. Using the UK Continuous Mortality Investigation (CMI) sickness duration data, some well-fitting survival model results are estimated. It is demonstrated that ignoring the left-truncation in certain IPI data can lead to substantially different statistical estimates. We therefore suggest taking left-truncation into account by fitting conditional mixture distributions to IPI data. Furthermore, the best fitting model is extended by introducing a number of covariates into the conditional part to do regression analysis.
Law and Technology of Data Privacy: A Case for International Harmonization
Authors: Ko Haksoo
Published: December 2012

Data crosses national borders routinely. And any regulation on data privacy by an individual national authority could easily have ramifications beyond its jurisdictional boundary. This article lays out some of the relevant issues and provides an argument for international coordination and harmonization. As technology advances, various techniques are being employed and will continue to be employed to gather information on users. At the same time, with the information thus gathered, companies engage in highly sophisticated data analytics. In response to these developments, several national and regional authorities have put forward major reform proposals and discussions are under way. The current framework of addressing data privacy issues at a country level or at a regional level, however, has a risk of splintering the overall regulatory and enforcement regime at the global level. This article examines economic incentives of individual authorities and illustrates that, without international harmonization, there is a systematic risk that global welfare would be reduced due to individual authorities’ sub-optimal regulations. The article then discusses possible options for international coordination and harmonization.
Diagnosis of cleft lip-palate during nuchal translucency screening – case report and review of the literature
Authors: Jadhav Ashwin R. , Monteagudo Ana , Santos Rosalba , Timor Ilan
Published: December 2012

Orofacial clefts are the most common group of craniofacial anomalies. The detection rate of cleft lip during the mid-trimester, using two-dimensional (2D) ultrasound screening, has improved over the last three decades. However, the detection rates of defects involving the hard palate or isolated cleft palate have remained poor. Over the last decade, many investigators have studied the use of 3D ultrasound to improve the detection rates of these defects. With the increasing use and acceptance of first-trimester aneuploidy screening in the US, there is growing interest in performing first-trimester fetal anatomy surveys. Reports of first-trimester diagnosis of cleft lip and palate are rare, and this aspect of prenatal sonographic diagnosis remains underexplored. We report a case of unilateral cleft lip and cleft palate diagnosed during a routine first-trimester screening at 12 weeks’ gestation and review the pertinent literature on first-trimester diagnosis of cleft lip/palate.