bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Pachymeres on the ‘Amourioi’ of Kastamonu
Authors: Zachariadou Elizabeth A.
Published: June 2013

In a recent article Professor CI. Cahen pointed out various problems resulting from the history of the region of Kastamonu, which on account of its remoteness from the political centres attracted little attention from the chroniclers. One of the problems is the incompatibility of the narratives of the oriental sources and the writings of the Byzantine historian George Pachymeres with respect to some events of the reign of the Seljuk Sultan Masud II: Pachymeres while referring to the history of Kastamonu produces a certain Ali Amourios, his brother Nasir ed-din — a person of lesser importance—and their father, whom he also names Amourios. The same Amourios and his sons are also mentioned by Nikephoros Gregoras, who, however, passes over in silence the sons’ names.
Early Byzantine Kaiserkritik: Two Case Histories
Authors: Cameron Averil
Published: June 2013

In recent studies of Byzantine political comment and particularly of opposition to imperial policy the period after Justinian has received a certain amount of space. But the reigns of Justin II and Tiberius II are still neglected by comparison with that of their predecessor, while the spell exercised by Procopius’s Secret History tends to dominate all approaches to contemporary political attitudes. The fascination of the Secret History for modern scholars has, too, inclined them to look only at the negative aspects of political criticism, and to fix their attention on what seem to be ‘mainstream’ writers in the tradition of Procopian history. I want here to try to demonstrate the limitations of such an approach by means of an analysis of the literary sources available for these two reigns. It may be that in the end both reigns must remain imperfectly understood; yet the policies and character of the unhappy Justin II evoked violent excesses of praise and blame and provided an inevitable foil for the well-meaning and amiable Tiberius. Kaiserkritik in East Rome is a concept which needs closer study, and the history of this short period demonstrates that it must be sought in a range of sources which genuinely reflects the spectrum of Byzantine life. There were certain common literary features about the critique of emperors in more formal political works; but political criticism did not confine itself to classical histories, and I suspect that the attitudes revealed by the more popular sources are more interesting and more important. Modern study of Byzantine Kaiserkritik has been neither sufficiently wide-ranging in scope nor sensitive enough to the interaction of genuine opinion with literary form.
The Date of the Studius Basilica at Istanbul
Authors: Mango Cyril
Published: June 2013

It was at Istanbul, more man thirty years ago, that I first had the privilege of meeting Sir Steven. It seems appropriate, therefore, that in honouring him on his approaching 75th birthday I should take as my subject a monument of that city.
Some Aspects of Symbolic Use of Lights in the Eastern Church Candles, Lamps and Ostrich Eggs
Authors: Galavaris George
Published: June 2013

In Greco-Roman times there were many ways of honouring a person of high importance. For example, certain dignitaries of the empire were honoured with lights which were carried before them. Lights appear as symbols of office at least in the Notitia dignitatum {c. A.D. 405–425). In other instances portraits of persons of noble birth were placed on a table surrounded by candles burning on candelabras. The use of lights for honouring a person can be traced back to the illumination in sanctuaries, common during ceremonies of cult, achieved by various means such as torches, candles and lamps.
Manuel Komnenos and the Great Palace
Authors: Magdalino Paul
Published: June 2013

That the emperor Manuel I Komnenos (1143–80) was responsible for some building activity in the Great Palace of Constantinople is a fact well attested by published sources and not entirely unknown to modern scholarship. However, the armchair archaeology of this work remains confused and obscure, and can benefit from a fresh review of the evidence.
Some Karamanlidika Inscriptions from the Monastery of the Zoodokhos Pigi, Balıklı, Istanbul
Authors: Clogg Richard
Published: June 2013

‘Few scholars so equipped are disposed to abandon Homer and Sophocles, Thucydides and Plato, for George of Pisidia, Paul the Silentiary, Procopius of Caesarea and Michael Psellus.’ So Romilly Jenkins explained the late development of Byzantine studies. One might add that fewer still are prepared to forsake George of Pisidia, Paul the Silentiary, Procopius of Caesarea and Michael Psellus for Kaisarios Dapontes, Sergios Makraios, Nikodimos Agioreitis and Athanasios Komninos Ypsilantis. Not so Sir Steven Runciman who, in addition to his manifold contributions to the development of Byzantine studies stretching over a period of almost fifty years, has also found the time to make important forays into the as yet largely uncharted seas of what Nicolae Iorga termed Byzance après Byzance. The ethnic complexity of the Ottoman Empire in its prime is strikingly illuminated in Sir Steven’s The Great Church in Captivity: A Study of the Patriarchate of Constantinople from the Eve of the Turkish Conquest to the Greek War of Independence. One of the lesser known features of this great agglomeration of races and cultures was the confusion of alphabets employed by the minorities of the Empire.
How the News was brought from Byzantium to Angoulême;or, The Pursuit of a Hare in an Ox Cart
Authors: Wolff Robert Lee
Published: June 2013

Adémar of Chabannes (988–1034) of noble family, a monk in the monastery of St. Cybard (Eparchus) at Angoulême, compiled a Chronicon in three books. The first begins with the origins of the Franks and ends with the death of Pepin the Short in 768; the second deals with the reign of Charlemagne;the third covers the years 814 to 1030. The first two books and the first fifteen chapters of the third (down to the year 877) are wholly derivative from identifiable sources. But from chapter sixteen onward the third book provides valuable information chiefly on the period 877–1030 in Aquitaine, presumably drawn from local written sources and from the memories of Adémar’s associates. These included notably his two uncles, who were attached to the monastery of St. Martial at Limoges, as was Adémar himself in his youth. It was at St. Martial that on a stormy night in 1010 Adémar had a vision in the heavens of a fiery Cross with Christ upon it weeping a great river of tears: an experience that rendered him so thunderstruck (attonitus) that he kept it secret in his heart until many years later when he was nearing the end of his Chronicon. Then he wrote it down. From St. Martial he returned at the age of twenty-two to St. Cybard, took orders, and spent his life in writing. The ‘original’ chapters of his Chronicon only occasionally evince any interest in or knowledge of events in France north of Loire.
Cavafy’s Sensual City: A Question
Authors: Sherrard Philip
Published: June 2013

In his perceptive book, Cavafy’s Alexandria (Cambridge, Mass., 1976), Edmund Keeley describes how Cavafy’s major poetic preoccupation during the years 1911 to 1921 was the delineation of a mythical city called Alexandria and of the Greek, or Hellenic, way of life it represents. An essential element in this way of life is its erotic style, which is explicitly homosexual; and it is through his poems on erotic themes that Cavafy slowly and deliberately builds his image of Alexandria as the Sensual City. His method of doing this is particular. In depicting other features of his mythical city Cavafy locates his poems in that ancient Hellenistic world of which Alexandria was the centre. Most of his erotic poetry, on the other hand, speaks of episodes and relationships in contemporary Alexandria, the city in which Cavafy actually lived. Indeed, all the poetry which Cavafy wrote that is located in contemporary Alexandria deals with erotic themes to the exclusion of all others. And it is with the help of this poetry that Cavafy builds up his image.
Romantic Paradises : The Rôle of the Garden in the Byzantine Romance
Authors: Littlewood A. R.
Published: June 2013

Ekphraseis of gardens occur in only two of the five extant classical romances, those of Achilleus Tatios and of Longos, but in Byzantine romances they are almost de rigeur: indeed of the only three that eschew the theme two, Phlorios and Platziaphlore and Imberios and Margarona, are basically Frankish rather than Byzantine while the third, Theodore Prodromos’ Rhodanthe and Dosikles, closely follows Heliodoros’ Aithiopika, a classical romance that does not contain a description of a garden.
Habitual Aspect in Ancient and Modern Greek
Authors: Newton Brian
Published: June 2013

1. The Greek language has remained during its long history remarkably stable in respect of its morphology, syntax and lexicon, as has been commonly observed. The conventional wisdom on the matter is that Greek has been particularly subject to conscious archaizing.
On Seferis’ ‘Helen’
Authors: Krikos-Davis Katerina
Published: June 2013

‘Helen’, a poem based on an ancient legend, belongs to Seferis’ collection Log Book III; written in 1953, it was published in 1955. Although it has been repeatedly dealt with by critics there is still room for further discussion. In the present article, after a brief survey of the ancient Greek tradition of the legend that Seferis employed, the following aspects will be considered: the poem’s structure, borrowings from relevant ancient Greek sources, the blending of ancient Greek myths with elements drawn from later Greek culture, how Seferis portrays his heroes, the poem’s relationship to the Cypriot political situation of the 1950s, and, finally, the ideas expressed in the poem.
Learnedisms in Costas Taktsis’s Third Wedding
Authors: Kazazis Kostas
Published: June 2013

Every language one can think of, probably including those of preliterate societies, contains learnedisms – very roughly what the French call mots savants. In the case of Modern Greek, learnedisms are traditionally attributed to the influence of katharevousa. This may or may not be entirely true: much depends on one’s definition of the term katharevousa.
Karyotakis and Katharevousa
Authors: Hokwerda Hero
Published: June 2013

The objects of this inquiry are (a) to determine the extent to which Karyotakis employed elements of katharevousa in his poems, and (b) to define the character of those katharevousa elements in the context of Karyotakis’ use of modern Greek in general.
Social Borderers: Themes of Conflict and Ambiguity in Greek Folk-song
Authors: Herzfeld Michael
Published: June 2013

The ‘Akritic cycle’ of Greek folk-songs consists of those texts in which scholars have found thematic resemblances to the epic poem of Digenes. The name Digenes itself has not been an essential criterion for the inclusion of a song in this category, although many of the songs do boast at least one seemingly Byzantine name; in a few cases, the name is that of Digenes, and other forms have been somewhat debatably claimed as corruptions of the latter. Like all learned taxonomies, the Akritic rubric involves a measure of distortion or oversimplification. True, the thematic resemblances exist, and are rarely likely to be the outcome of pure coincidence; but they can be matched against other, hardly less compelling similarities which violate the boundaries of the Akritic category.
Neither Katharevousa nor Demotic: The Language of Greek Poetry in the Nineteenth Century
Authors: Gounelas C. D.
Published: June 2013

For some centuries in Greece poetry had tended towards the vernacular, unlike prose, which had exclusively used the learned language. Early Cretan texts were written, as Professor Robert Browning puts it, ‘in the inherited amalgam of spoken Greek and flosculi from the learned tongue characteristic of the popular poetry of the late Byzantine period, with only occasional and unsystematic use of dialect features’. The poets Chortatzis and Kornaros, being chronologically late Cretans, largely did away with the learned characteristics and attempted to remain faithful to the forms of the Cretan dialect. The early nineteenth century poets, Vilaras from Epiros, Christopoulos from Macedonia, and Solomos from Zakynthos, tried to use a language not dissimilar to that of the folk songs and in many respects close to the spoken idiom of uneducated villagers — an idiom which presented phonological, morphological and lexical variations according to geographical location.
Turning Points in the Greek Resistance
Authors: Woodhouse C. M.
Published: June 2013

Resistance to enemy occupation has stood rather apart from the general history of the Second World War. Historians have been doubtful whether to treat it as a part of military and strategic history or a part of political and diplomatic history. Some have thought the less said about it the better, in any context. In the history of particular countries which suffered enemy occupation, the treatment of resistance has varied widely according to the outcome of the war. In some countries it has occupied a major place in their war-time history: Denmark and Yugoslavia, for quite different reasons, are important examples. In other occupied countries very little has been written about the occupation by professional historians: Greece is an outstanding example. Although Britain played a leading role in promoting resistance everywhere, the subject has not attracted many professional historians, other than those who had a personal engagement in it during the war.
Kazantzakis and the Cinema
Authors: Taylor Timothy W.
Published: June 2013

Alexis Zorbas unwittingly displays a knowledge of the cinema when he says to the Boss, [‘Anything we couldn’t say with our mouths we said with our feet, our hands, our belly or with wild cries’.] Kazantzakis himself once said the same thing in a different way: ‘To succeed in transforming the abstract concepts into simple, clear images is my great aspiration’. These words – written to his future wife Eleni Samios and referring to the cinema’s influence on The Odyssey – are the starting point for the rest of Kazantzakis’ more complex theories on film, the distillation of the lessons he learned from motion pictures and later applied to his writing. But before continuing, we can create a helpful context for the author’s concern with film by supplying some historical background.
Flies, Mice, and the Byzantine Crossbow
Authors: Dennis George T.
Published: June 2013

The twelfth book of the military manual, Strategikon, attributed to Emperor Maurice, written about A.D. 600, contains a mini-treatise on the infantry. Although added to the work later, it seems to reflect earlier practices and equipment, some from the time of Justinian. Among the weapons to be carried by the light armed infantry it lists: ‘hollowed out wooden stocks with short arrows in small quivers, which can be fired a great distance with the bows and seriously injure the enemy’. What are these hollowed out pieces of wood, J. F. Haldon hesitantly, but correctly, identified them as crossbows. They were light enough to be carried by individual soldiers, and were clearly different from the revolving ballistae mounted on wagons spoken of in the next chapter (6) of this little treatise.
Ancient Greek Myth in Angelos Sikelianos
Authors: Keeley Edmund
Published: June 2013

In the introduction to Angelos Sikelianos: Selected Poems, the translators speak of Sikelianos’s ‘mythological attitude… toward life’ and of his conception of myth not so much ‘as a rhetorical or metaphorical device but as a spontaneous creation of the human soul directed toward the revelation of a hidden spiritual life’, in short, of mythology as a kind of religion closely related to Schelling’s perception of the function of myth. These remarks, written originally some years ago, may have their just proportion of truth, but in keeping with most introductory remarks, they strike me as rather too general, rather too undiscriminating when one brings them face to face with Sikelianos’s practice at different moments of his career. I want to try to be more discriminating by considering the role of myth - specifically ancient Greek myth - in the poet’s work both early and late in his career. I think it is a changing role, perhaps not in his fundamental association of gods with a contemporary landscape and his revelation of those mysteries that lie hidden in our everyday lives, but in the mode of this association and this revelation, and in the depth of their poetic significance.
Cavafy, Tennyson and the Overcoming of Influence
Authors: Jusdanis Gregory
Published: June 2013

One of the striking features of Constantine Cavafy’s poetry is his apparent and pronounced originality. It seems to have an existence independent of poetry preceding it. Thus when studying Cavafy one has difficulties in detecting influences of earlier poetry. Indeed, in his mature years Cavafy was often able to appropriate his inherited tradition in such a revisionary manner that the old texts were transformed in his poetry almost beyond recognition and thus beyond the authority of their authors. The new poems proclaimed their originality and denied any indebtedness to their possible precursors.
Realism and Folklore in Nineteenth-Century Greek Fiction
Authors: Beaton Roderick
Published: June 2013

‘“Reality”,’ wrote Angelos Terzakis in 1934, ‘is an invention of the nineteenth century’. In saying this Terzakis echoes similar pronouncements of the non- or anti-realist reaction in Europe in the first half of this century, a reaction which, after some vicissitudes, has come to constitute an orthodoxy for much of the modern critical thinking often grouped under the label ‘structuralist’.
The United States and the Question of the Greco-Turkish War, 1919–1922
Authors: Raphalides Samuel J.
Published: June 2013

In the post World War II era, the strain in the trilateral relation between the United States, Greece and Turkey is one of the most disquieting and vexatious elements to emerge from American foreign policy. The so-called southeastern flank of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is currently beset with tensions that threaten to impede its contributory role in NATO’s overall defense strategy for southeastern Europe (if they have not already done so). In this political drama, the principal antagonists, Greece and Turkey, have a number of outstanding differences which on occasion have brought them to the precipice of war.
Folklore: An Obituary?
Authors: Alexiou Margaret
Published: June 2013

“As the archaeology of our thought easily shows, man is an invention of recent date. And one perhaps nearing its end” (M. FOUCAULT).

With the minor substitution of ‘folk’ for ‘man’, Foucault’s comment on the discipline of anthropology, which concludes his Order of Things (1970: 387), provides an appropriate starting-point for a reappraisal of the present state and future prospects of Greek folklore studies. Kyriakidou-Nestoros (1978) and Herzfeld (1982) have already charted, from different perspectives, the major developments since the turn of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It is the intention of this paper to raise a series of questions relevant to folklore as an academic discipline in order to clarify some of the central issues, both theoretical and practical. First, what is folklore, and who are the folk? Why has it occupied such a prominent place in both the intellectual life and the educational system of Greece? Second, what factors have shaped its direction? Which features does Greek folklore share with European folklore, and which are peculiar? Third, what role can it play during the last decades of the twentieth century, when the very foundation of traditional life — the village community — is being rapidly eroded by the process of urbanisation and by the mechanisation of agriculture? Will it cease to exist except as an antiquarian pastime, just as in the many centuries prior to its ‘invention’? And finally, how can the relationship between ‘folk’ and ‘art’ culture be defined in the present Greek context? How can folklore be related to other disciplines, such as mythology, anthropology, literary history and criticism, history and sociology?
Ethnic identity and patriotic idealism in the writings of General Makriyannis
Authors: Holton David
Published: June 2013

Two recent publishing events have once more focussed the attention of the Greek public on the writings and personality of General Makriyannis (ca. 1797-1864). The first is the publication of a three-volume computerised concordance to his Memoirs, which paves the way for more systematic linguistic and stylistic study of this particular work, and at the same time demonstrates — apparently for the first time as far as modern Greek philological studies are concerned, at least in Greece itself — the usefulness of the computer in handling lengthy literary texts.
Holy Women and Witches: Aspects of Byzantine Conceptions of Gender
Authors: Galatariotou Catia S.
Published: June 2013

Byzantine women’s history, Byzantine attitudes towards women and men, Byzantine conceptions of gender: that these are all areas still awaiting their reseacher is a fact both obvious and well known. It is not my intention to reiterate here the problems connected with the enormous task of undertaking research in women’s history in general and Byzantine women’s history in particular. Such problems are well known to those interested in the subject and have already been partly pointed out in terms of suggested ‘avenues of approach’ and possible areas of research. It is my intention, however, to take up one of these suggestions, develop and apply it to Byzantine source material.
The Poverty of Écriture and the Craft of Writing: Towards a Reappraisal of the Prodromic Poems
Authors: Alexiou Margaret
Published: June 2013

It is the purpose of this paper to challenge some traditional assumptions about authorship and style in twelfth-century Byzantium, and to present a new, if tentative, interpretation of the fourth Prodromic Poem, which may have important implications for an understanding of literary perceptions of every-day life in twelfth-century Constantinople, as well as for the ways in which texts can be read.
Byzantine historiography and modern Greek oral poetry: the case of Rapsomatis
Authors: Beaton Roderick
Published: June 2013

In the ninth book of the Alexiad, Anna Comnene tells the story of the simultaneous revolts against her father Alexios which broke out in Crete and Cyprus in the year 1093. The rising in Crete was shortlived, as the Cretans changed their minds and murdered their leader on hearing the news that the emperor’s fleet was approaching. Of the Cypriot revolt, however, Anna has the following tale to tell: The Cypriots, under their leader Rapsomatis, at first refused to fight after the emperor’s forces landed in Cyprus, apparently expecting to talk their way out of a conflict. Rapsomatis, a complete novice in the arts of war, had embarked on the revolt more as a game than in earnest; and was easily defeated by Manuel Voutoumitis, captured and sent to the emperor’s brother-in-law John Doukas who was in charge of the campaign.
The Encheirion as adjunct to the Icon in the Middle Byzantine Period
Authors: Nunn Valerie
Published: June 2013

A collection of mostly eleventh- and twelfth-century epigrams in the late thirteenth- or early fourteenth-century manuscript ‘Marc. gr. 524’ was partially published in 1911 by Lampros in expectation of a definitive edition by Konstantin Horna. Unfortunately this edition never appeared. A high proportion of material in the collection relates to art and in the past Byzantine art historians have been reproached for their neglect of such evidence. Some of the most descriptive pieces are now well known, having been published for their art-historical interest by Cyril Mango and more recently by Paul Magdalino and Robert Nelson and, as historical documents, by Wolfram Hörandner.
Images of towns in Frankish Morea: the evidence of the ‘Chronicles’ of the Morea and of the Tocco1
Authors: Ilieva Annetta
Published: June 2013

In the summer of 1205 Raimbault of Vacqueyras, the troubadour who had shared Boniface of Monferrat’s exploits in central Greece, exclaimed enthusiastically in Salonica:

‘Never did Alexander or Charlemagne or King Louis had such a glorious expedition, nor could the valiant lord Aimeri or Roland with his warriors win by might, in such noble fashion, such a powerful empire as we have won, whereby our faith is in ascendant; for we have created emperors and dukes and kings, and have manned strongholds near the Turks and Arabs, and opened up the roads and ports from Brindisi to St. George’s Straits’.
Philsophical, historical and sensual: an examination of Cavafy’s thematic collections
Authors: Hirst Anthony
Published: June 2013

Between 1905 and his death in 1933 Cavafy circulated a total of seven thematic collections of his poems, as well as five chronological collections. In the latter the poems are arranged in the order in which they were first published, so that it is perfectly clear in what sense the chronological collections are chronological. The aim of this investigation is to determine in what sense the thematic collections are thematic: to attempt to disclose through a close scrutiny of the collections the principles on which they are constructed.
The middle Byzantine economy: growth or stagnation?
Authors: Harvey Alan
Published: June 2013

In recent years there have been significant advances in our understanding of the Byzantine rural economy. While work on such problems as the legal status of the peasantry, the fiscal procedures by which the state extracted revenues from the peasantry and the nature of the fiscal concessions which the state made to landowners remains central to our understanding of the Byzantine social structure, greater attention has been paid recently to the history of settlements, agricultural production and the influence of the climate and environment on the rural economy. Recent work has been greatly facilitated by two developments, the publication of more material from the archives of Mount Athos and the upsurge in intensive surveys and other archaeological work which is already providing us with information about regions for which our documentary material is either inadequate or non-existant. This paper will not attempt a comprehensive discussion of all recent work on the subject, but will focus on some of the most significant problems affecting our understanding of the Byzantine rural economy.
Flt-1 in colorectal cancer cells is required for the tumor invasive effect of placental growth factor through a p38-MMP9 pathway
Authors: Wei Shu-Chen , Tsao Po-Nien , Weng Meng-Tzu , Cao Zhifang , Wong Jau-Min
Published: June 2013

Background

Placenta growth factor (PlGF), a dimeric glycoprotein with 53% homology to VEGF, binds to VEGF receptor-1 (Flt-1), but not to VEGF receptor-2 (Flk-1), and may function by modulating VEGF activity. We previously have showed that PlGF displays prognostic value in colorectal cancer (CRC) but the mechanism remains elucidated.

Results

Overexpression of PlGF increased the invasive/migration ability and decreased apoptosis in CRC cells showing Flt-1 expression. Increased migration was associated with increasing MMP9 via p38 MAPK activation. Tumors grew faster, larger; with higher vascularity from PlGF over-expression cells in xenograft assay. In two independent human CRC tissue cohorts, PlGF, MMP9, and Flt-1 expressions were higher in the advanced than the localized disease group. PlGF expression correlated with MMP9, and Flt-1 expression. CRC patients with high PlGF and high Flt-1 expression in tissue had poor prognosis.

Conclusion

PlGF/Flt-1 signaling plays an important role in CRC progression, blocking PlGF/Flt-1 signaling maybe an alternative therapy for CRC.
The relationship between training status, blood pressure and uric acid in adults and elderly
Authors: Trapé Atila Alexandre , Jacomini André Mourão , Muniz Jaqueline Jóice , Sertorio Jonas Tadeu Cau , Tanus-Santos José Eduardo , do Amaral Sandra Lia , Zago Anderson Saranz
Published: June 2013

Background

Hypertension can be generated by a great number of mechanisms including elevated uric acid (UA) that contribute to the anion superoxide production. However, physical exercise is recommended to prevent and/or control high blood pressure (BP). The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between BP and UA and whether this relationship may be mediated by the functional fitness index.

Methods

All participants (n = 123) performed the following tests: indirect maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max), AAHPERD Functional Fitness Battery Test to determine the general fitness functional index (GFFI), systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP), body mass index (BMI) and blood sample collection to evaluate the total-cholesterol (CHOL), LDL-cholesterol (LDL-c), HDL-cholesterol (HDL-c), triglycerides (TG), uric acid (UA), nitrite (NO2) and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (T-BARS). After the physical, hemodynamic and metabolic evaluations, all participants were allocated into three groups according to their GFFI: G1 (regular), G2 (good) and G3 (very good).

Results

Baseline blood pressure was higher in G1 when compared to G3 (+12% and +11%, for SBP and DBP, respectively, p<0.05) and the subjects who had higher values of BP also presented higher values of UA. Although UA was not different among GFFI groups, it presented a significant correlation with GFFI and VO2max. Also, nitrite concentration was elevated in G3 compared to G1 (140±29 μM vs 111± 29 μM, for G3 and G1, respectively, p<0.0001). As far as the lipid profile, participants in G3 presented better values of CHOL and TG when compared to those in G1.

Conclusions

Taking together the findings that subjects with higher BP had elevated values of UA and lower values of nitrite, it can be suggested that the relationship between blood pressure and the oxidative stress produced by acid uric may be mediated by training status.
Question-writing as a learning tool for students – outcomes from curricular exams
Authors: Jobs Alexander , Twesten Christoph , Göbel Anna , Bonnemeier Hendrik , Lehnert Hendrik , Weitz Gunther
Published: June 2013

Background

Writing exam questions can be a valuable learning tool. We asked students to construct multiple choice questions for curricular exams in Internal Medicine. The questions for the particular exams were chosen from a pool of at least 300 student-written questions. The uncorrected pool was accessible to all students. We studied the influence of this approach on the students’ learning habits and their test results. We hypothesized that creating a pool of their own questions for the exams could encourage students to discuss the learning material.

Methods

All students had to pass 4 exams in 7 fields of Internal Medicine. Three exams were comprised of 20 questions, and we applied the new method in one of these exams. The fourth exam was comprised of 30 questions, 15 of which were chosen from a students’ pool. After all exams had been completed we asked the students to fill in a web-based questionnaire on their learning habits and their views on the new approach. The test-results were compared to the results of the lecturers’ questions that defined high and low performing students.

Results

A total of 102 students completed all four exams in a row, 68 of whom filled in the questionnaire. Low performing students achieved significantly better results in the students’ questions. There was no difference in the number of constructed questions between both groups of students. The new method did not promote group work significantly. However, high performing students stated a stronger wish to be rewarded by good performance.

Conclusions

Creating a curricular exam by choosing questions from a pool constructed by students did not influence the learning habits significantly and favored low performing students. Since the high performing students sought to be rewarded for their efforts, we do not consider the approach applied in our study to be appropriate.
Id4 deficiency attenuates prostate development and promotes PIN-like lesions by regulating androgen receptor activity and expression of NKX3.1 and PTEN
Authors: Sharma Pankaj , Knowell Ashley Evans , Chinaranagari Swathi , Komaragiri Shravan , Nagappan Peri , Patel Divya , Havrda Mathew C , Chaudhary Jaideep
Published: June 2013

Background

Inhibitor of differentiation 4 (Id4), a member of the helix-loop-helix family of transcriptional regulators has emerged as a tumor suppressor in prostate cancer. Id4 is expressed in the normal prostate where its expression is also regulated by androgens. In this study we investigated the effect of loss of Id4 (Id4-/-) on adult prostate morphology.

Methods

Histological analysis was performed on prostates from 6-8 weeks old Id4-/-, Id4+/- and Id4+/+ mice. Expression of Id1, Sox9, Myc, androgen receptor, Akt, p-Akt, Pten and Nkx3.1 was investigated by immunohistochemistry. Androgen receptor binding on NKX3.1 promoter was studied by chromatin immuno-precipitation. Id4 was either over-expressed or silenced in prostate cancer cell lines DU145 and LNCaP respectively followed by analysis of PTEN, NKX3.1 and Sox9 expression.

Results

Id4-/- mice had smaller prostates with fewer tubules, smaller tubule diameters and subtle mPIN like lesions. Levels of androgen receptor were similar between wild type and Id4-/- prostate. Decreased NKX3.1 expression was in part due to decreased androgen receptor binding on NKX3.1 promoter in Id4-/- mice. The increase in the expression of Myc, Sox9, Id1, Ki67 and decrease in the expression of PTEN, Akt and phospho-AKT was associated with subtle mPIN like lesions in Id4-/- prostates. Finally, prostate cancer cell line models in which Id4 was either silenced or over-expressed confirmed that Id4 regulates NKX3.1, Sox9 and PTEN.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that loss of Id4 attenuates normal prostate development and promotes hyperplasia/dysplasia with subtle mPIN like lesions characterized by gain of Myc and Id1 and loss of Nkx3.1 and Pten expression. One of the mechanisms by which Id4 may regulate normal prostate development is through regulating androgen receptor binding to respective response elements such as those on NKX3.1 promoter. In spite of these complex alterations, large neoplastic lesions in Id4-/- prostates were not observed suggesting the possibility of mechanisms/pathways such as loss of Akt that could restrain the formation of significant pre-cancerous lesions.
GSM: gateway selection mechanism for strengthening inter-cluster coordination in cognitive radio ad hoc networks
Authors: ul Hasan Najam , Ejaz Waleed , Manzoor Kamran , Kim Hyung Seok
Published: June 2013

In the open access spectrum paradigm, the dynamics of the available spectrum heterogeneity due to the geographical location of various cognitive radio/secondary users (SUs) and primary users (PUs) prevent the assignment of a single common control channel to every SU. Thus, depending on channel availability, SUs are forced to form clusters to solve the problem of control channel assignment. However, the sudden appearance of a PU may lead to loss of intra-cluster or inter-cluster connectivity among SUs. This problem can be resolved by improving the cluster formation process and selecting suitable gateway nodes for inter-cluster coordination. In this paper, our goal is to improve inter-cluster connectivity by selecting more appropriate gateway nodes for inter-cluster coordination. We therefore propose an inter-cluster gateway node selection mechanism that strengthens inter-cluster coordination. Our scheme shows significant improvement in terms of inter-cluster connectivity compared with related work.
Live-virus exposure of vaccine-protected macaques alters the anti-HIV-1 antibody repertoire in the absence of viremia
Authors: Bachler Barbara C , Humbert Michael , Lakhashe Samir K , Rasmussen Robert A , Ruprecht Ruth M
Published: June 2013

Background

We addressed the question whether live-virus challenges could alter vaccine-induced antibody (Ab) responses in vaccinated rhesus macaques (RMs) that completely resisted repeated exposures to R5-tropic simian-human immunodeficiency viruses encoding heterologous HIV clade C envelopes (SHIV-Cs).

Results

We examined the Ab responses in aviremic RMs that had been immunized with a multi-component protein vaccine (multimeric HIV-1 gp160, HIV-1 Tat and SIV Gag-Pol particles) and compared anti-Env plasma Ab titers before and after repeated live-virus exposures. Although no viremia was ever detected in these animals, they showed significant increases in anti-gp140 Ab titers after they had encountered live SHIVs. When we investigated the dynamics of anti-Env Ab titers during the immunization and challenge phases further, we detected the expected, vaccine-induced increases of Ab responses about two weeks after the last protein immunization. Remarkably, these titers kept rising during the repeated virus challenges, although no viremia resulted. In contrast, in vaccinated RMs that were not exposed to virus, anti-gp140 Ab titers declined after the peak seen two weeks after the last immunization. These data suggest boosting of pre-existing, vaccine-induced Ab responses as a consequence of repeated live-virus exposures. Next, we screened polyclonal plasma samples from two of the completely protected vaccinees by peptide phage display and designed a strategy that selects for recombinant phages recognized only by Abs presentafter– but not before – any SHIV challenge. With this “subtractive biopanning” approach, we isolated V3 mimotopes that were only recognized after the animals had been exposed to live virus. By detailed epitope mapping of such anti-V3 Ab responses, we showed that the challenges not only boosted pre-existing binding and neutralizing Ab titers, but also induced Abs targeting neo-antigens presented by the heterologous challenge virus.

Conclusions

Anti-Env Ab responses induced by recombinant protein vaccination were altered by the multiple, live SHIV challenges in vaccinees that had no detectable viral loads. These data may have implications for the interpretation of “vaccine only” responses in clinical vaccine trials.
RESTORE: an exploratory trial of an online intervention to enhance self-efficacy to manage problems associated with cancer-related fatigue following primary cancer treatment: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial
Authors: Grimmett Chloe , Armes Jo , Breckons Matthew , Calman Lynn , Corner Jessica , Fenlon Deborah , Hulme Claire , May Christine M , May Carl R , Ream Emma , Richardson Alison , Smith Peter W F , Yardley Lucy , Foster Claire
Published: June 2013

Background

There are over 25 million people worldwide living with or beyond cancer and this number is increasing. Cancer survivors face a range of problems following primary treatment. One of the most frequently reported and distressing symptoms experienced by cancer survivors is fatigue. There is growing support for survivors who are experiencing problems after cancer treatment to engage in supported self-management. To date there is some evidence of effective interventions to manage fatigue in this population; however, to our knowledge there are no online resources that draw on this information to support self-management of fatigue. This paper describes the protocol for an exploratory randomized controlled trial of an online intervention to support self-management of cancer-related fatigue after primary cancer treatment.

Methods/design

This is a parallel-group two-armed (1:1) exploratory randomized controlled trial including 125 cancer survivors experiencing fatigue (scoring ≥4 on a unidimensional 11-point numeric rating scale for fatigue intensity) within five years of primary treatment completion with curative intent. Participants will be recruited from 13 NHS Trusts across the UK and randomized to either the online intervention (RESTORE), or a leaflet comparator (Macmillan Cancer Backup,Coping with Fatigue). The primary outcome is a change in Perceived Self-Efficacy for Fatigue Self-Management (as measured by the Perceived Self-Efficacy for Fatigue Self-Management Instrument). Secondary outcomes include impact on perception and experience of fatigue (measured by the Brief Fatigue Inventory), and quality of life (measured by the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy - General and the Personal Wellbeing Index). Outcome measures will be collected at baseline, 6 weeks (completion of intervention), and 3 months. Process evaluation (including telephone interviews with recruiting staff and participants) will determine acceptability of the intervention and trial processes.

Discussion

Data from this trial will be used to refine the intervention and contribute to the design of an effectiveness trial. This intervention will be expanded to address other cancer-related problems important to cancer survivors following primary cancer treatment.

Trial registration

ISRCTN67521059
Mediastinal epithelioid hemangioendothelioma with abundant spindle cells and osteoclast-like giant cells mimicking malignant fibrous histiocytoma
Authors: Li Xiao-Man , Lin Xu-Yong , Xu Hong-Tao , Yu Juan-Han , Wang Liang , Fan Chui-Feng , Liu Yang , Wang En-Hua
Published: June 2013

Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma is a relatively uncommon lesion usually presenting in soft tissues. The occurrence in the mediastinum is exceptional rare. Histologically, this tumor is characterized by epithelioid cells with intracytoplasmic vacuoles in a hyalinized or mucinous stroma. Occasionally, spindle cells or osteoclast-like giant cells can be observed. Herein, we present a case of epithelioid hemangioendothelioma in a 38 year-old Chinese male. The tumor was predominantly composed of abundant spindle cells with marked atypia and scattered osteoclast-like giant cells reminiscent of malignant fibrous histiocytoma. The unusual histological appearance can pose a great diagnostic challenge. It may be easily misdiagnosed, especially if the specimen is limited or from fine-needle aspiration.

Virtual slides

http://www.diagnosticpathology.diagnomx.eu/vs/5804918529726307
SBRT in unresectable advanced pancreatic cancer: preliminary results of a mono-institutional experience
Authors: Tozzi Angelo , Comito Tiziana , Alongi Filippo , Navarria Pierina , Iftode Cristina , Mancosu Pietro , Reggiori Giacomo , Clerici Elena , Rimassa Lorenza , Zerbi Alessandro , Fogliata Antonella , Cozzi Luca , Tomatis Stefano , Scorsetti Marta
Published: June 2013

Background

To assess the efficacy and safety of stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) in patients with either unresectable locally advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma or by locally recurrent disease after surgery.

Methods

Between January 2010 and October 2011, 30 patients with unresectable or recurrent pancreatic adenocarcinoma underwent exclusive SBRT. Twenty-one patients (70%) presented with unresectable locally advanced disease and 9 patients (30%) showed local recurrence after surgery. No patients had metastatic disease. Gemcitabine-based chemotherapy was administered to all patients before SBRT. Prescription dose was 45Gy in 6 daily fractions of 7.5Gy. SBRT was delivered using the volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) by RapidArc. Primary end-point of this study was freedom from local progression (FFLP), secondary end-points were overall survival (OS), progression free survival (PFS) and toxicity.

Results

Median Clinical Target Volume (CTV) was 25.6 cm3 (3.2-78.8 cm3) and median Planning Target Volume (PTV) was 70.9 cm3 (20.4- 205.2 cm3). The prescription dose was delivered in 25 patients (83%), in 5 patients (17%) it was reduced to 36Gy in 6 fractions not to exceed the dose constraints of organs at risk (OARs). Median follow-up was 11 months (2–28 months). FFLP was 91% at 6 months, 85% at median follow-up and 77% at 1 and 2 years. For the group with prescription dose of 45Gy, FFLP was 96% at 1 and 2 years. The median PFS was 8 months. The OS was 47% at 1 year and median OS was 11 months. At the end of the follow-up, 9 patients (32%) were alive and 4 (14%) were free from progression. No patients experienced G ≥ 3 acute toxicity.

Conclusions

Our preliminary results show that SBRT can obtain a satisfactory local control rate for unresectable locally advanced and recurrent pancreatic adenocarcinoma. This fractionation schedule is feasible, and no G ≥ 3 toxicity was observed. SBRT is an effective emerging technique in the multi-modality treatment of locally advanced pancreatic tumors.
Alcohol acute intoxication before sepsis impairs the wound healing of intestinal anastomosis: rat model of the abdominal trauma patient
Authors: Morais Pedro Henrique Alves de , Ribeiro Vinícius Lacerda , Caetano de Farias Igor Eduardo , Almeida Silva Luiz Eduardo , Carneiro Fabiana Pirani , Russomano Veiga Joel Paulo , Batista de Sousa João
Published: June 2013

Introduction

Most trauma patients are drunk at the time of injury. Up to 2% of traumatized patients develop sepsis, which considerably increases their mortality. Inadequate wound healing of the colonic repair can lead to postoperative complications such as leakage and sepsis.

Objective

To assess the effects of acute alcohol intoxication on colonic anastomosis wound healing in septic rats.

Methods

Thirty six Wistar rats were allocated into two groups: S (induction of sepsis) and AS (alcohol intake before sepsis induction). A colonic anastomosis was performed in all groups. After 1, 3 or 7 days the animals were killed. Weight variations, mortality rate, histopathology and tensile breaking strength of the colonic anastomosis were evaluated.

Results

There was an overall mortality of 4 animals (11.1%), three in the group AS (16.6%) and one in the S group (5.5%). Weight loss occurred in all groups. The colon anastomosis of the AS group didn’t gain strength from the first to the seventh postoperative day. On the histopathological analysis there were no differences in the deposition of collagen or fibroblasts between the groups AS and S.

Conclusion

Alcohol intake increased the mortality rate three times in septic animals. Acute alcohol intoxication delays the acquisition of tensile strength of colonic anastomosis in septic rats. Therefore, acute alcohol intoxication before sepsis leads to worse prognosis in animal models of the abdominal trauma patients.