bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Gender and Crime: Toward a Gendered Theory of Female Offending
Authors: Steffensmeier Darrell , Allan Emilie
Published: July 2002

Criminologists agree that the gender gap in crime is universal: Women are always and everywhere less likely than men to commit criminal acts. The experts disagree, however, on a number of key issues: Is the gender gap stable or variant over time and across space? If there is variance, how may it best be explained? Are the causes of female crime distinct from or similar to those of male crime? Can traditional sociological theories of crime explain female crime and the gender gap in crime? Do gender-neutral or gender-specific theories hold the most explanatory promise? In this chapter we first examine patterns of female offending and the gender gap. Second, we review the “gender equality hypothesis” as well as several recent developments in theorizing about gender differences in crime. Third, we expand on a gendered paradigm for explaining female crime first sketched elsewhere. We conclude with recommendations for future work.
On the Virtues of the Old Institutionalism
Authors: Stinchcombe Arthur L.
Published: July 2002

Institutions are staffed and are created to do the job of regulating organizations. This staffing, and all the creative work that is involved in financing, governing, training, and motivating institutional actions by that staff in organizations, has been lost in recent institutional theorizing. This staffing was central to the old institutionalism, which is why it looked so different. The argument is exemplified by applying the insights of classical institutionalists to the legitimacy of court decisions as determined by the law of evidence, to the legitimacy of competition and the destruction of other organizations by competition, to the noncontractual basis of contract in commitments to maintain competence to do the performances required in contracts, and to the failure of institutions of capitalist competition and the substitution of mafia-like enforcement of contracts in postcommunist Russia. The institutions of the new institutionalism do not have enough causal substance and enough variance of characteristics to explain such various phenomena.
Sociological Rational Choice Theory
Authors: Hechter Michael , Kanazawa Satoshi
Published: July 2002

Although rational choice theory has made considerable advances in other social sciences, its progress in sociology has been limited. Some sociologists' reservations about rational choice arise from a misunderstanding of the theory. The first part of this essay therefore introduces rational choice as a general theoretical perspective, or family of theories, which explains social outcomes by constructing models of individual action and social context. “Thin” models of individual action are mute about actors' motivations, while “thick” models specify them ex ante. Other sociologists' reservations, however, stem from doubts about the empirical adequacy of rational choice explanations. To this end, the bulk of the essay reviews a sample of recent studies that provide empirical support for particular rational choice explanations in a broad spectrum of substantive areas in sociology. Particular attention is paid to studies on the family, gender, and religion, for these subareas often are considered least amenable to understanding in terms of rational choice logic.
THE DETERMINANTS AND CONSEQUENCES OF WORKPLACE SEX AND RACE COMPOSITION
Authors: Reskin Barbara F. , McBrier Debra B. , Kmec Julie A.
Published: July 2002

▪ Abstract  This chapter reviews research on the determinants and consequences of race and sex composition of organizations. Determinants include the composition of the qualified labor supply; employers' preferences, including the qualifications they require; the response of majority groups; and an establishment's attractiveness, size, and recruiting methods. The race and sex composition of an establishment affects workers' cross-group contact; stress, satisfaction, and turnover; cohesion; stereotyping; and evaluation. Composition also affects organizations themselves, including their performance, hiring and promotion practices, levels of job segregation, and wages and benefits. Theory-driven research is needed (a) on the causal mechanisms that underlie the relationships between organizational composition and its determinants and consequences and (b) on the form of the relationships between organizational composition and workers outcomes (e.g., cross-group contact, cohesion, turnover, etc). Research is needed on race and ethnic composition, with a special focus on the joint effects of race and sex.
SEXUALITY IN THE WORKPLACE: Organizational Control, Sexual Harassment, and the Pursuit of Pleasure
Authors: Williams Christine L. , Giuffre Patti A. , Dellinger Kirsten
Published: July 2002

▪ Abstract  Flirting, bantering, and other sexual interactions are commonplace in work organizations. Not all of these interactions constitute harassment or assault; consensual sexual relationships, defined as those reflecting positive and autonomous expressions of workers' sexual desire, are also prevalent in the workplace and are the focus of this paper. We begin by reviewing research on the distinction between sexual harassment and sexual consent. Next we examine popular and business literatures on office romance. Finally we discuss sociological research on consensual sexual relationships, including research on mate selection, organizational policy, and workplace culture. We argue that sexual behaviors must be understood in context, as an interplay between organizational control and individual agency.
How Welfare Reform is Affecting Women's Work
Authors: Corcoran Mary , Danziger Sandra K. , Kalil Ariel , Seefeldt Kristin S.
Published: July 2002

The new welfare system mandates participation in work activity. We review the evolution of the 1996 legislation and how states implement welfare reform. We examine evidence on recipients' employment, well-being, and future earnings potential to assess the role of welfare in women's work. Policies rewarding work and penalizing nonwork, such as sanctions, time limits, diversion, and earnings “disregards,” vary across states. While caseloads fell and employment rose, most women who left welfare work in low-wage jobs without benefits. Large minorities report material hardships and face barriers to work including depression, low skills, or no transportation. And disposable income decreased among the poorest female-headed families. Among the important challenges for future research is to differentiate between the effects of welfare reform, the economy, and other policies on women's work, and to assess how variations in state welfare programs affect caseloads and employment outcomes of recipients.
Pathways to Adulthood in Changing Societies: Variability and Mechanisms in Life Course Perspective
Authors: Shanahan Michael J.
Published: July 2002

The transition to adulthood has become a thriving area of research in life course studies. This review is organized around two of the field's emerging themes. The first theme is the increasing variability in pathways to adult roles through historical time. The second theme is a heightened sensitivity to transition behaviors as developmental processes. Accounts of such processes typically examine the active efforts of young people to shape their biographies or the socially structured opportunities and limitations that define pathways into adulthood. By joining these concepts, I suggest new lines of inquiry that focus on the interplay between agency and social structures in the shaping of lives.
Violence and the Life Course: The Consequences of Victimization for Personal and Social Development
Authors: Macmillan Ross
Published: July 2002

▪ Abstract  Considerable research documents the consequences of criminal violence for victims. At the same time, a strong relationship exists between age and risk of violent victimization; risk is greatest in childhood and adolescence. This article joins these two issues by examining the implications of violent victimization for personal and social development. The discussion is divided into three sections. The first section situates violent victimization in the life course by examining age-differentiation in victimization risk. With high risk during adolescence, victimization is most likely to occur during a period of the life course in which a variety of life course trajectories are formed. The second section reviews research on the implications of victimization for life course development with respect to psychological distress and well-being, involvement in crime and deviance, and educational and socioeconomic attainment. Finally, the third section proposes a theoretical framework for understanding the myriad life course consequences of victimization and suggests directions for future research. In examining the role of violence in shaping individual life courses, this article links criminological and sociological inquiry to further understandings of the social factors that influence individual development.
Is Globalization Civilizing, Destructive or Feeble? A Critique of Five Key Debates in the Social Science Literature
Authors: Guillén Mauro F.
Published: July 2002

The sociological, economic, political, and anthropological literatures are devoting increasing attention to globalization. This chapter discusses the various connotations of the term and puts it in historical perspective. Existing theoretical and empirical research on globalization is organized around five key issues or questions: Is it really happening? Does it produce convergence? Does it undermine the authority of nation-states? Is globality different from modernity? Is a global culture in the making? A plea is made for a comparative sociology of globalization that is sensitive to local variations and to how agency, interest, and resistance mediate in the relationship between globalization causes and outcomes.

The bulk of the earth must not only be spherical, but not large in comparison with the size of other stars.

     —Aristotle (384–322 BC), as quoted by Dreyer ( 1953 , p. 118)
Effect of Medical Treatment in Stroke Patients With Patent Foramen Ovale
Authors: Homma Shunichi , Sacco Ralph L. , Di Tullio Marco R. , Sciacca Robert R. , Mohr J.P.
Published: July 2002

Background
—

Patent foramen ovale (PFO) is associated with stroke, but there are no randomized studies to evaluate the efficacy of antithrombotic therapies.

Methods and Results
—

The PFO in Cryptogenic Stroke Study was a 42-center study that evaluated transesophageal echocardiographic findings in patients randomly assigned to warfarin or aspirin in the Warfarin-Aspirin Recurrent Stroke Study. In this study, 630 stroke patients were enrolled, of whom 312 (49.5%) were randomized to warfarin and 318 (50.5%) to aspirin. Of these, 265 patients experienced cryptogenic stroke and 365 experienced known stroke subtypes. End points were recurrent ischemic stroke or death. PFO was present in 203 patients (33.8%). There was no significant difference in the time to primary end points between those with and those without PFO in the overall population (
P
=0.84; hazard ratio 0.96; 95% CI 0.62 to 1.48; 2-year event rates 14.8% versus 15.4%) or in the cryptogenic subset (
P
=0.65; hazard ratio 1.17; 95% CI 0.60 to 2.37; 2-year event rates 14.3% versus 12.7%). There was no significant difference among those with no, small, or large PFO (
P
=0.41 for small PFO and
P
=0.16 for large PFO; 2-year event rates for no, small, and large PFO, 15.4%, 18.5%, and 9.5%, respectively). There was no significant difference between patients with isolated PFO and those with PFO in association with atrial septal aneurysm (
P
=0.84; 2-year event rates 14.5% versus 15.9%). In patients with PFO, there was no significant difference in the time to primary end points between those treated with warfarin and those treated with aspirin (
P
=0.49; hazard ratio 1.29; 95% CI 0.63 to 2.64; 2-year event rates 16.5% versus 13.2%).

Conclusions
—

On medical therapy, the presence of PFO in stroke patients did not increase the chance of adverse events regardless of PFO size or the presence of atrial septal aneurysm.
Roxithromycin Treatment Prevents Progression of Peripheral Arterial Occlusive Disease in

Chlamydia pneumoniae

Seropositive Men
Authors: Wiesli Peter , Czerwenka Wolfgang , Meniconi Alfredo , Maly Friedrich E. , Hoffmann Ulrich , Vetter Wilhelm , Schulthess Georg
Published: July 2002

Background
—

Evidence has been provided that the atherosclerotic process may be associated with chronic infection with
Chlamydia pneumoniae
. The effect of antibiotic treatment on peripheral arterial occlusive disease has not been investigated yet.

Methods and Results
—

Forty
C pneumoniae
seropositive men suffering from peripheral arterial occlusive disease were randomly assigned to receive either roxithromycin (300 mg daily) or placebo for 28 days. During the 2.7-year follow-up, the number of invasive revascularizations per patient, the walking distance before intervention (in patients without intervention at study end), and the change of carotid plaque size were assessed. Five interventions were performed on 4 patients (20%) in the roxithromycin group, and 29 interventions were performed on 9 patients (45%) in the placebo group. Limitation of walking distance to 200 m or less was observed in 4 patients (20%) in the roxithromycin group and in 13 patients (65%) in the placebo group. The effect of macrolide treatment on the number of interventions per patient and on preinterventional walking distance was significant. Possible confounding variables such as classical vascular risk factors were excluded by multiple regression analyses. Carotid plaque areas monitored over 6 months decreased in the roxithromycin group (mean relative value, 94.4%) but remained constant in the placebo group (100.2%). Regression of carotid plaque size observed in roxithromycin-treated patients was significant for soft plaques.

Conclusions
—

This study indicates that macrolide treatment for 1 month is effective in preventing
C pneumoniae
seropositive men from progression of lower limb atherosclerosis for several years.
Explaining Rare Events in International Relations
Authors: King Gary , Zeng Langche
Published: July 2002

Some of the most important phenomena in international conflict are coded as “rare events”: binary dependent variables with dozens to thousands of times fewer events, such as wars and coups, than “nonevents.” Unfortunately, rare events data are difficult to explain and predict, a problem stemming from at least two sources. First, and most important, the data-collection strategies used in international conflict studies are grossly inefficient. The fear of collecting data with too few events has led to data collections with huge numbers of observations but relatively few, and poorly measured, explanatory variables. As it turns out, more efficient sampling designs exist for making valid inferences, such as sampling all available events (wars, for example) and a tiny fraction of nonevents (peace). This enables scholars to save as much as 99 percent of their (nonfixed) data-collection costs or to collect much more meaningful explanatory variables. Second, logistic regression, and other commonly used statistical procedures, can underestimate the probability of rare events. We introduce some corrections that outperform existing methods and change the estimates of absolute and relative risks by as much as some estimated effects reported in the literature. We also provide easy-to-use methods and software that link these two results, enabling both types of corrections to work simultaneously.
Tax Havens and the Commercialization of State Sovereignty
Authors: Palan Ronen
Published: July 2002

I seek to explain the causes for the apparent commercialization of state sovereignty, and in particular the reasons for its association with tax havens. I argue that the conditions that gave rise to the commercial use of sovereignty as perfected by tax havens have little to do with surges in taxation and regulation in the postwar era. Instead, these conditions can be traced to jurists' and policymakers' attempts to resolve an inherent contradiction between insulated state law and the rapidly integrating world market.
Redistributive Cooperation: Market Failure, Wealth Transfers, and the Basle Accord
Authors: Oatley Thomas , Nabors Robert
Published: July 2002

Theories of international cooperation rely on claims about joint gains to argue that governments create international institutions to mitigate information and enforcement problems and realize efficient solutions. We present a model in which politicians propose international institutions to resolve domestic political dilemmas and suggest that the international institutions they propose are sometimes intentionally redistributive. We apply both approaches to the Basle Accord and conclude that domestic politics rather than international market failure motivated American policymakers to propose international regulation, that through international regulation the United States sought to redistribute income from Japanese to American commercial banks, and that, therefore, the Basle Accord did not offer joint gains. Agreement was reached only after the United States used financial market power to eliminate the regulatory status quo. The Basle Accord is an instance of redistributive cooperation. The case suggests that domestic politics should supplant aggregate benefits in explanations of why governments propose and create international institutions.
Glide and Glottal Stop Insertion in Slavic Languages: A DOT Analysis
Authors: Rubach Jerzy
Published: July 2002

This article investigates glide and glottal stop insertion in Bulgarian, Slovak (two dialects), Polish (two dialects), and Czech. It is argued that Optimality Theory should be modified by introducing derivational levels and that OT auxiliary theories, in particular, output-output theory, MAX (Feature) theory, and sympathy theory, should be rejected.
Arrernte: A Language with No Syllable Onsets
Authors: Breen Gavan , Pensalfini Rob
Published: July 2002

That syllable onsets are present in all languages is widely regarded as axiomatic, and the preference for syllabifying consonants as onsets over codas is considered a linguistic universal. The Central Australian language Arrernte provides the strongest possible counterevidence to this universal, with phenomena generally used to determine syllabification suggesting that all consonants in Arrernte are syllabified as codas at the word level. Attempts to explain the Arrernte facts in terms of syllables with onsets either make the wrong predictions or require proposals that render the putative onset universal unfalsifiable.
Sex Steroids Modify Working Memory
Authors: Janowsky Jeri S. , Chavez Bambi , Orwoll Eric
Published: July 2002

In the last ten years, numerous mechanisms by which sex steroids modify cortical function have been described. For example, estrogen replacement improves verbal memory in women, and animal studies have shown effects of estrogen on hippocampal synaptogenesis and function. Little is known about sex steroid effects on other aspects of memory, such as frontal lobe-mediated working memory. We examined the relationships between working memory and sex steroid concentrations and whether sex steroid supplementation would modify age-related loss of working memory in older men and women. Before hormone supplementation, working memory, tested with the Subject Ordered Pointing Test (SOP), was worse in older subjects than younger subjects, and there was no evidence of gender differences at either age. Testosterone supplementation improved working memory in older men, but a similar enhancement of working memory was not found in older women supplemented with estrogen. In men, testosterone and estrogen effects were reciprocal—with better working memory related to a higher testosterone to estrogen ratio. These results suggest that sex steroids can modulate working memory in men and can act as modulators of cognition throughout life.
The Role of Spatial Selective Attention in Working Memory for Locations: Evidence from Event-Related Potentials
Authors: Awh Edward , Anllo-Vento Lourdes , Hillyard Steven A.
Published: July 2002

We investigated the hypothesis that the covert focusing of spatial attention mediates the on-line maintenance of location information in spatial working memory. During the delay period of a spatial working-memory task, behaviorally irrelevant probe stimuli were flashed at both memorized and nonmemorized locations. Multichannel recordings of event-related potentials (ERPs) were used to assess visual processing of the probes at the different locations. Consistent with the hypothesis of attention-based rehearsal, early ERP components were enlarged in response to probes that appeared at memorized locations. These visual modulations were similar in latency and topography to those observed after explicit manipulations of spatial selective attention in a parallel experimental condition that employed an identical stimulus display.
Shifting from the Perceptual Brain to the Logical Brain: The Neural Impact of Cognitive Inhibition Training
Authors: Houdé Olivier , Zago Laure , Mellet Emmanuel , Moutier Sylvain , Pineau Arlette , Mazoyer Bernard , Tzourio-Mazoyer Nathalie
Published: July 2002

What happens in the human brain when the mind has to inhibit a perceptual process in order to activate a logical reasoning process? Here, we use functional imaging to show the networks of brain areas involved in a deductive logic task performed twice by the same subjects, first with a perceptual bias and then with a logical response following bias-inhibition training. The main finding is a striking shift in the cortical anatomy of reasoning from the posterior part of the brain (the ventral and dorsal pathways) to a left-prefrontal network including the middle-frontal gyrus, Broca's area, the anterior insula, and the pre-SMA. This result indicates that such brain shifting is an essential element for human access to logical thinking.
Semantic Cortical Activation in Dyslexic Readers
Authors: Helenius Päivi , Salmelin Riitta , Service Elisabet , Connolly John F.
Published: July 2002

The combined temporal and spatial resolution of MEG (magnetoencephalography) was used to study whether the same brain areas are similarly engaged in reading comprehension in normal and developmentally dyslexic adults. To extract a semantically sensitive stage of brain activation we manipulated the appropriateness of sentence-ending words to the preceding sentence context. Sentences, presented visually one word at a time, either ended with a word that was (1) expected, (2) semantically appropriate but unexpected, (3) semantically anomalous but sharing the initial letters with the expected word, or (4) both semantically and orthographically inappropriate to the sentence context. In both subject groups all but the highly expected sentence endings evoked strong cortical responses, localized most consistently in the left superior temporal cortex, although additional sources were occasionally found in more posterior parietal and temporal areas and in the right hemisphere. Thus, no significant differences were found in the spatial distribution of brain areas involved in semantic processing between fluent and dyslexic readers. However, both timing and strength of activation clearly differed between the two groups. First, activation sensitivity to word meaning within a sentence context began about 100 msec later in dyslexic than in control subjects. This is likely to result from affected presemantic processing stages in dyslexic readers. Second, the neural responses were significantly weaker in dyslexic than in control subjects, indicating involvement of a smaller or less-synchronous neural population in reading comprehension. Third, in contrast to control subjects, the dyslexic readers showed significantly weaker activation to semantically inappropriate words that began with the same letters as the most expected word than to both orthographically and semantically inappropriate sentence-ending words. Thus, word recognition by the dyslexic group seemed to be qualitatively different: Whereas control subjects perceived words as wholes, dyslexic subjects may have relied on sublexical word recognition and occasionally mistook a correctly beginning word for the one they had expected.
Chaotic Balanced State in a Model of Cortical Circuits
Authors: Vreeswijk C. van , Sompolinsky H.
Published: July 2002

The nature and origin of the temporal irregularity in the electrical activity of cortical neurons in vivo are not well understood. We consider the hypothesis that this irregularity is due to a balance of excitatory and inhibitory currents into the cortical cells. We study a network model with excitatory and inhibitory populations of simple binary units. The internal feedback is mediated by relatively large synaptic strengths, so that the magnitude of the total excitatory and inhibitory feedback is much larger than the neuronal threshold. The connectivity is random and sparse. The mean number of connections per unit is large, though small compared to the total number of cells in the network. The network also receives a large, temporally regular input from external sources. We present an analytical solution of the mean-field theory of this model, which is exact in the limit of large network size. This theory reveals a new cooperative stationary state of large networks, which we term a balanced state. In this state, a balance between the excitatory and inhibitory inputs emerges dynamically for a wide range of parameters, resulting in a net input whose temporal fluctuations are of the same order as its mean. The internal synaptic inputs act as a strong negative feedback, which linearizes the population responses to the external drive despite the strong nonlinearity of the individual cells. This feedback also greatly stabilizes the system's state and enables it to track a time-dependent input on time scales much shorter than the time constant of a single cell. The spatiotemporal statistics of the balanced state are calculated. It is shown that the autocorrelations decay on a short time scale, yielding an approximate Poissonian temporal statistics. The activity levels of single cells are broadly distributed, and their distribution exhibits a skewed shape with a long power-law tail. The chaotic nature of the balanced state is revealed by showing that the evolution of the microscopic state of the network is extremely sensitive to small deviations in its initial conditions. The balanced state generated by the sparse, strong connections is an asynchronous chaotic state. It is accompanied by weak spatial cross-correlations, the strength of which vanishes in the limit of large network size. This is in contrast to the synchronized chaotic states exhibited by more conventional network models with high connectivity of weak synapses.
Virtual Reality: A Tool for Assembly?
Authors: Boud A. C. , Baber C. , Steiner S. J.
Published: July 2002

This paper reports on an investigation into the proposed usability of virtual reality for a manufacturing application such as the assembly of a number of component parts into a final product.

Before the assembly task itself is considered, the investigation explores the use of VR for the training of human assembly operators and compares the findings to conventionally adopted techniques for parts assembly. The investigation highlighted several limitations of using VR technology. Most significant was the lack of haptic feedback provided by current input devices for virtual environments.

To address this, an instrumented object (IO) was employed that enabled the user to pick up and manipulate the IO as the representation of a component from a product to be assembled. The reported findings indicate that object manipulation times are superior when IOs are employed as the interaction device, and that IO devices could therefore be adopted in VEs to provide haptic feedback for diverse applications and, in particular, for assembly task planning.
Approximating the Nondominated Front Using the Pareto Archived Evolution Strategy
Authors: Knowles Joshua D. , Corne David W.
Published: July 2002

We introduce a simple evolution scheme for multiobjective optimization problems, called the Pareto Archived Evolution Strategy (PAES). We argue that PAES may represent the simplest possible nontrivial algorithm capable of generating diverse solutions in the Pareto optimal set. The algorithm, in its simplest form, is a (1+1) evolution strategy employing local search but using a reference archive of previously found solutions in order to identify the approximate dominance ranking of the current and candidate solution vectors. (1+1)-PAES is intended to be a baseline approach against which more involved methods may be compared. It may also serve well in some real-world applications when local search seems superior to or competitive with population-based methods. We introduce (1+λ) and (μ+λ) variants of PAES as extensions to the basic algorithm. Six variants of PAES are compared to variants of the Niched Pareto Genetic Algorithm and the Nondominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm over a diverse suite of six test functions. Results are analyzed and presented using techniques that reduce the attainment surfaces generated from several optimization runs into a set of univariate distributions. This allows standard statistical analysis to be carried out for comparative purposes. Our results provide strong evidence that PAES performs consistently well on a range of multiobjective optimization tasks.
Self-Adaptive Genetic Algorithms with Simulated Binary Crossover
Authors: Deb Kalyanmoy , Beyer Hans-Georg
Published: July 2002

Self-adaptation is an essential feature of natural evolution. However, in the context of function optimization, self-adaptation features of evolutionary search algorithms have been explored mainly with evolution strategy (ES) and evolutionary programming (EP). In this paper, we demonstrate the self-adaptive feature of real-parameter genetic algorithms (GAs) using a simulated binary crossover (SBX) operator and without any mutation operator. The connection between the working of self-adaptive ESs and real-parameter GAs with the SBX operator is also discussed. Thereafter, the self-adaptive behavior of real-parameter GAs is demonstrated on a number of test problems commonly used in the ES literature. The remarkable similarity in the working principle of real-parameter GAs and self-adaptive ESs shown in this study suggests the need for emphasizing further studies on self-adaptive GAs.
Climate Policy as Accumulation Strategy: The Failure of COP6 and Emerging Trends in Climate Politics
Authors: Paterson Matthew
Published: July 2002

This article challenges conventional accounts of the collapse of the climate change negotiations in The Hague in November 2000. Such accounts are usually based on assumptions about the dynamics of international environmental politics, in particular the assumption that individual state interests and collective global interests always collide. It argues that the recent emergence of an ecological modernization discourse concerning global warming raises serious questions about the validity of this assumption. The article then describes the contours of the emerging ecological modernization discourse, and discusses its implications for global climate politics.
Genetic evidence for species status of some Caucasian rock lizards in the Darevskia saxicola group
Authors: Murphy Robert , MacCulloch Ross , Fu Jinzhong , Darevsky Ilya
Published: July 2002

Diversity at 35 allozyme loci was examined in nine populations of the taxa currently included in Darevskia saxicola. The data support the recognition of the subspecies Darevskia s. saxicola and D. s. lindholmi as species. The remaining subspecies D. s. brauneri, D. s. darevskii and D. s. szczerbaki are conspecific although they can no longer be referred to Darevskia saxicola, but must be referred to Darevskia brauneri, whose name has priority. Considerable population substructuring was observed among the subspecies of Darevskia brauneri.
HABITAT SELECTION AND PREY ODOR IN THE FORAGING BEHAVIOR OF WESTERN RATTLESNAKES (CROTALUS VIRIDIS)
Authors: Theodoratus Demetri Hilario , Chiszar David
Published: July 2002

We tested the roles of prey odor and other habitat cues in the pre-strike movement patterns of two, ecologically distinct sub-species of the western rattlesnake in naturalistic arenas. In the first experiment, rattlesnakes preferred habitat containing prey odor and cover comprised of rocks, sticks and plants. While searching, rattlesnakes methodically investigated the edges and crevices within rock, areas rodents might frequent in nature. In the second experiment, rattlesnakes investigated sticks more than rocks arranged topographically similar to sticks. In the third experiment, rattlesnakes preferred habitat that included brush foliage and used chemical prey trails in pre-strike behavior via (i) trail-following, (ii) casting search patterns and (iii) scanning search patterns. Several snakes coiled in stereotyped ambush postures that allowed them to face chemical trails while resting against rocks and foliage. These results suggest that rattlesnake foraging exhibits qualities advantageous for hunting rodent prey in addition to providing protection from predators and perhaps promoting thermoregulation. Sub-species did not exhibit geographic variation in foraging behavior despite differences in natural history and morphology. Hence, the microevolutionary pattern suggests that generalized foraging repertoires are successful in numerous environments when coupled with locally specialized body patterns.
EFFECTS OF MATERNAL GENOTYPE AND BEHAVIOUR ON THE BEHAVIOURAL DEVELOPMENT OF THEIR OFFSPRING IN SHEEP
Authors: Dwyer C.M. , Lawrence A.B.
Published: July 2002

Significant breed differences in grazing, activity, social and other affiliative behaviours are known to exist in sheep. The roles of maternal and offspring genotype in determining the development of breed-specific behavioural differences in lambs were investigated using embryo-transfer. Two breeds of sheep (Suffolk and Scottish Blackface) were chosen as they differ markedly in social and affiliative behaviours. Sixty ewe-lamb pairs (15 each of the four combinations of ewe and lamb) were observed over the first 3 days after lambing, then when the lambs were aged between 2-5 months old and during the first 6 weeks after weaning. Lamb breed was the main factor affecting lamb activity at birth and play behaviour over the first postnatal days, with Blackface lambs being significantly more active than Suffolk lambs. Lamb sucking behaviour during this period, however, was significantly affected by ewe breed with a higher frequency of sucking interactions observed with Suffolk ewes. When out at grass the two breeds of ewe differed in their use of the field, with Blackface ewes using upland areas whilst Suffolk ewes were found almost exclusively in the lowland parts. Ewes also differed in their spatial relationship to their lamb, with Blackface ewes maintaining a closer relationship to their lamb than Suffolk ewes, regardless of lamb breed. Blackface ewes were also more active than Suffolk ewes and were more frequently observed grazing. The breed of their mother significantly influenced the behaviour of the lambs, and their spatial relationships to other sheep, both before and after weaning. Lambs with Blackface mothers were more active than lambs with Suffolk mothers and this difference persisted after weaning. Blackface-reared lambs also had a shorter nearest neighbour distance after weaning, aggregated into smaller subgroups and were significantly more likely to be in upland areas of the field, regardless of lamb breed, than lambs reared by Suffolk ewes. Maternal influence, therefore, plays an important role in shaping the behaviour of their offspring in sheep, although neonatal lamb activity is not affected by maternal behaviour.
ARE BIRDS ABLE TO TASTE AND REJECT BUTTERFLIES BASED ON 'BEAK MARK TASTING'? A DIFFERENT POINT OF VIEW
Authors: Kassarov Luka
Published: July 2002

It is widely accepted that birds are able to taste toxic chemical substances in the wings of a butterfly by grabbing or pecking a small piece of the wing without disrupting the integrity of the integument ('beak mark tasting'). If found toxic, the bird will release the insect unharmed. This supposition has been used to explain some aspects of the interrelationship between birds as predators and butterflies as prey, especially the role of birds in the evolution of butterfly color patterns. It also is used to support the theory of aposematisc coloration, especially in butterflies. On the basis of the anatomy of the avian gustatory apparatus, the distribution of the taste buds in the beak cavity, and the physiology of taste, this author considers this supposition a misconception. The frequent beak marks seen on the wings of aposematic butterflies are not considered to be a proof of taste rejection by birds after contact with the chemical compound(s) supposed to provide the insect with a chemical defense, but a sign of active escape of the butterfly from its captor. Some aspects of the interrelationship between birds and butterflies, considered to be well explained on the basis of taste rejection of butterflies via 'beak mark tasting' by the birds, are critically discussed in this paper.
Soil suppressiveness to Heterodera schachtii under different cropping sequences
Authors: Westphal Andreas , Becker J. Ole
Published: July 2002

Heterodera schachtii population densities were monitored in a H. schachtii -suppressive soil cropped in screenhouse experiments for two consecutive seasons with wheat, susceptible or resistant cultivars of either sugar beet or oilseed radish, or left fallow. Heterodera schachtii population densities under wheat and the resistant cultivars of sugar beet and oilseed radish did not differ significantly from the fallow treatment. Populations declined under all crops, with a reproductive factor between 0.08 and 0.57. In glasshouse experiments, introduced H. schachtii populations increased greatly on susceptible Swiss chard grown in previously wheat-monocultured soils, suggesting that significant loss of H. schachtii suppressiveness occurred during the monoculture. Following fallow, two H. schachtii-resistant or two H. schachtii-susceptible cultivars, introduced sugar beet cyst nematode populations remained small, suggesting that suppressiveness had been maintained. In a field trial with H. schachtii suppressive soil, cyst nematode population densities remained lower under wheat, resistant sugar beet, resistant radish and susceptible radish than under susceptible sugar beet.
Angiogenesis in acute promyelocytic leukemia: induction by vascular endothelial growth factor and inhibition by all-trans retinoic acid
Authors: Kini Ameet R. , Peterson LoAnn C. , Tallman Martin S. , Lingen Mark W.
Published: July 2002

Recent studies indicate that angiogenesis is important in the pathogenesis of leukemias, apart from its well-established role in solid tumors. In this study, the possible role of angiogenesis in acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) was explored. Bone marrow trephine biopsies from patients with APL showed significantly increased microvessel density and hot spot density compared with normal control bone marrow biopsies. To identify the mediators of angiogenesis in APL, quantitative and functional assays were performed using the NB4 APL cell line as a model system. Conditioned media (CM) from the NB4 cells strongly stimulated endothelial cell migration. CM from the NB4 cells contained high levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) but not basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF). Most important, the addition of neutralizing VEGF antibodies completely inhibited the ability of NB4 CM to stimulate endothelial cell migration, suggesting that APL angiogenesis is mediated by VEGF. The effect of all-transretinoic acid (ATRA) on APL angiogenesis was then studied. ATRA therapy resulted in a decrease in bone marrow microvessel density and hot spot density. CM from ATRA-treated APL cells did not stimulate endothelial cell migration. Finally, quantitative assays showed that ATRA treatment resulted in the abrogation of VEGF production by the NB4 cells. These results show that there is increased angiogenesis and VEGF production in APL and that ATRA therapy inhibits VEGF production and suppresses angiogenesis. The addition of specific antiangiogenic agents to differentiation therapy or chemotherapy should be explored.
Protein phosphatase 2A activates the proapoptotic function of BAD in interleukin- 3–dependent lymphoid cells by a mechanism requiring 14-3-3 dissociation
Authors: Chiang Chi-Wu , Harris Gregory , Ellig Cindy , Masters Shane C. , Subramanian Romesh , Shenolikar Shirish , Wadzinski Brian E. , Yang Elizabeth
Published: July 2002

BAD is a proapoptotic member of the BCL-2 family of proteins, which play a major role in regulating apoptosis in cytokine-dependent hematopoietic cells. The function of BAD is regulated by reversible phosphorylation. Deprivation of survival factors induces BAD dephosphorylation, resulting in apoptosis. Serine–threonine phosphatase activity dephosphorylated BAD in interleukin-3–dependent FL5.12 lymphoid cells. Inhibition of PP2A activity by treatment of cells with PP2A-selective inhibitors, okadaic acid and fostriecin, prevented BAD dephosphorylation in these cells. Conversely, BAD dephosphorylation was not inhibited by the PP1-selective inhibitor tautomycin. In cell-free extracts, BAD phosphatase activity was also inhibited by the PP2A-selective inhibitors okadaic acid and fostriecin, but not by the PP1-specific protein inhibitor I-2. Dissociation of 14-3-3 from BAD was a prerequisite for BAD dephosphorylation in vitro, suggesting a mechanism by which 14-3-3 can regulate the activation of the proapoptotic function of BAD in vivo. Significantly, the inhibition of BAD phosphatase activity rescued cell death induced by survival factor withdrawal in FL5.12 cells expressing wild-type BAD but not phosphorylation-defective mutant BAD. These data indicate that PP2A, or a PP2A-like enzyme, dephosphorylates BAD and, in conjunction with 14-3-3, modulates cytokine-mediated survival.
Autoantibodies to αIIbβ3 in patients with chronic immune thrombocytopenic purpura bind primarily to epitopes on αIIb
Authors: McMillan Robert , Lopez-Dee Jennifer , Loftus Joseph C.
Published: July 2002

Chronic immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is an autoimmune disease caused by platelet destruction resulting from autoantibodies against platelet surface proteins, particularly platelet glycoprotein IIb/IIIa (αIIbβ3). To localize the auto-epitopes on platelet αIIbβ3, the binding of autoantibodies to Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells expressing either αIIbβ3 or αvβ3was studied. Thirteen of 14 ITP autoantibodies bound only to CHO cells expressing αIIbβ3. Because these 2 integrins have the same beta chain (β3), these results show that most epitopes in chronic ITP are dependent on the presence of glycoprotein αIIb.
Dysfunctional Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)–specific CD8+T lymphocytes and increased EBV load in HIV-1 infected individuals progressing to AIDS-related non-Hodgkin lymphoma
Authors: van Baarle Debbie , Hovenkamp Egbert , Callan Margareth F. C. , Wolthers Katja C. , Kostense Stefan , Tan Linda C. , Niesters Hubert G. M. , Osterhaus Albert D. M. E. , McMichael Andrew J. , van Oers Marinus H. J. , Miedema Frank
Published: July 2002

Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome–related non-Hodgkin lymphomas (AIDS-NHL) are thought to arise because of loss of Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV)-specific cellular immunity. Here, an investigation was done to determine whether cellular immunity to EBV is lost because of physical loss or dysfunction of EBV-specific cytotoxic T cells. Data on EBV-specific cellular immunity were correlated with EBV load. For comparison, individuals who progressed to AIDS with opportunistic infections (AIDS-OI) and long-term asymptomatics (LTAs) were studied. The number of virus-specific T cells was detected using tetrameric HLA–EBV-peptide complexes; function of these EBV-specific T cells was determined using the interferon-γ (IFN-γ) Elispot assay. It was observed that EBV-specific CD8+ T cells were present in normal numbers in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected individuals. However, their functional capacity was decreased compared with HIV− individuals. In AIDS-NHL patients, EBV-specific T cells were not physically lost in the course of HIV-1 infection but showed progressive loss of their capability to produce IFN-γ in response to EBV peptides. This loss of function correlated with lower CD4+ T-cell numbers and was accompanied by increasing EBV load. In HIV-1–infected LTA individuals, in whom CD4+T-cell numbers were maintained, and progressors to AIDS-OI, IFN-γ–producing EBV-specific T cells were stable and EBV load remained stable or decreased in the course of HIV infection, suggestive of immune control. Our data indicate that functional loss of EBV-specific CD8+ T cells with a concomitant increase in EBV load may play a role in the pathogenesis of AIDS-NHL.
The significance of bcr-abl molecular detection in chronic myeloid leukemia patients “late,” 18 months or more after transplantation
Authors: Radich Jerald P. , Gooley Ted , Bryant Eileen , Chauncey Tom , Clift Reginald , Beppu Lan , Edmands Scott , Flowers Mary E. D. , Kerkof Keith , Nelson Ross , Appelbaum Frederick R.
Published: July 2002

The bcr-abl chimeric messenger RNA is frequently detected in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients after bone marrow transplantation. It was previously reported that the relapse risk of bcr-abl detection 6 to 12 months after transplantation was greater than 40%. This risk decreased as the time between transplantation and detection increased. To further define the relapse risk associated with bcr-abl molecular detection in “late” CML survivors, 379 consecutive CML patients alive at 18 months after transplantation or later were studied. Ninety of 379 patients (24%) had at least one positive bcr-abltest 18 months after transplantation or later; 13 of 90bcr-abl–positive patients (14%) and 3 of 289bcr-abl–negative patients (1.0%) relapsed. The median time from bcr-abl detection to relapse was 916 days (range, 251-2654 days). The hazard ratio of relapse associated withbcr-abl detection was 19.2 (P < .0001). The stage of disease, chronic graft-versus-host disease, and the donor type did not alter the association between bcr-abland relapse. Quantification of bcr-abl was performed on 344 samples from 85 bcr-abl–positive patients by means of a real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction assay. The median bcr-abl change of patients who relapsed was significantly greater than those that remained in remission (P = .002). The median bcr-abl level at relapse was 40 443 bcr-abl copies per μg RNA (range, 960-299 552). Of 73 bcr-abl–positive patients who failed to relapse, 69% had only one positive test at a median of 24 copiesbcr-abl per μg RNA. The detection of bcr-ablis common following transplantation. The prognostic significance of a qualitative bcr-abl can be refined by quantitative assays and thus may target patients who would benefit from early intervention.