bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Kein Ort. Nirgends Der heimatlose Sozialismus des Peter Weiss
Authors: Rey William H.
Published: June 2007

Der Artikel analysiert die 1981 und 1982 erschienenen Tagebücher von Peter Weiss, die ungefähr die Zeitspanne von 1960 bis 1980 umfassen. Während sein letzter Roman, »Die Ästhetik des Widerstands«, auf eine Sinngebung der sozialistischen Revolutionsbewegungen in Europa angelegt ist und daher dazu tendiert, ein geschlossenes Weltbild zu vermitteln, enthüllen die Tagebücher die von Spannungen und Widersprüchen zerrissene Seele des Autors. Sie zeigen, dass sich Peter Weiss, trotz seines Beitritts zur kommunistischen Partei Schwedens, nie das Recht zur Kritik nehmen liess. Als leidenschaftlicher Verteidiger der Freiheit des Individuums weigert er sich, den ideologischen Herrschaftsanspruch der autoritären Staaten hinter dem Eisernen Vorhang anzuerkennen. Seine Position zwischen den Fronten erlaubt es ihm, die Verbrechen des Stalinismus ebenso scharf zu verurteilen wie die Ausschreitungen des amerikanischen Militarismus ‐ besonders in Vietnam. Letzten Endes sind es nach seiner Meinung die von der Macht besessenen Spitzenfunktionäre in Moskau ebenso wie in Washington, die eine Verwirklichung des uralten Traums von einer wahrhaft humanen Sozialordnung verhindern. Dieser Traum Hesse sich nur durch einen Aufstand der ohnmächtig Leidenden gegen die Machthaber in Ost und West verwirklichen. Da aber eine solche Rebellion keine Aussicht auf Erfolg hat, gerät Peter Weiss in die widersprüchliche Lage des enttäuschten sozialistischen Intellektuellen, der einerseits am Sieg der Revolution zweifelt, aber andererseits nicht dazu bereit ist, seine messianische Hoffnung aufzugeben.
August Strindberg's A Dream Play: Day‐marks for a Journey in the Clouds
Authors: Voilley Pascale
Published: June 2007

This paper explores the scientific background and artistic parallels to Strindberg's reworking of the life‐as‐dream motif in A Dream Play. It examines the connection between sky and dream in this play in the light of the new representations of the sky in Van Gogh, Edvard Munch and Strindberg's own celestographs. It shows that the intuitive, romantic association between dream and sky, tested at the time Strindberg took his stunning experimental celestographs (without a camera or a lens) in 1893–94, is both used and challenged as a convention in this play. Special attention is devoted to clouds, as staple stage contraption reinterpreted by the play‐wright through his acquaintance with the writings of Camille Flammarion. This paper eventually suggests a new interpretation of the addition of the prologue witnessing Indra's Daughter's descent from Heaven to Earth.
Der Leib und das Selbst. Literarische Modellierung einer «anthropologischen Mutation» in Paolo Volponis Roman Corporate
Authors: Behrens Rudolf
Published: June 2007

Il presente saggio si propone di definire quale sia la funzione svolta dalla tematica del corpo umano nel romanzo Corporate (1974) di Paolo Volponi. Questo implica una lettura del romanzo sotto l'aspetto della mancata formazione d'identità da parte del protagonista. Il contesto storico è costituito per Volponi da una parte dalla definitiva trasformazione, nell'arco degli anni sessanta, della società italiana in una società industriale in cui vengono distrutti i modelli tradizionali di interazione sociale e si compie, secondo la nota tesi di Pasolini, una mutazione antropologica. D'altra parte Volponi si ispira aile più recenti teorie psicanalitiche dell'identità e del narcisismo (Laing, Erikson, Lacan) per riprodurre nella finzione letteraria le ripercussioni di un ambiente radicalmente mutato sulla formazione d'identità. E'déterminante che il protagonista (e narratore in prima persona) si assicuri della propria identità grazie a una scrittura per cosi dire ‘narcisistica’, e lo faccia necessariamente, potendo giungere alia costituzione del proprio io solo tramite un‘disconoscimento’che percepisce nel visibile e nella corporeità dell'altro la propria‘Gestalt'. In questo modo fa del concreto che lo circonda e del corpo proprio e altrui una sorta di piano di scrittura, sul quale la formazione d'identità autobiografica non viene in fondo più perseguita da un io sovrano, bensi è sottoposta al diktat dei fantasmi del corpo.*
Verfahrensweisen der amerikanischen Postmoderne: einige Fragen an Ronald Sukenick, Donald Barthelme und Raymond Federman
Authors: Wilke Sabine
Published: June 2007

In der vorliegenden Studie dreier zeitgenössischer amerikanischer Autoren soll der Begriff der postmodernen Literatur an Hand ganz spezifischer ästhetischer Verfahrensweisen untersucht werden. Dabei werden zunächst Theorien des postmodernen Schreibens herangezogen, die einen begrifflichen Rahmen für die Untersuchung abstecken. Ronald Sukenicks Arbeiten aus den siebziger Jahren inszenieren einen Dekompositionsprozeß, dem ein neuinterpretiertes Verhältnis von Fiktion und Wirklichkeit zugrunde liegt: Fiktion generiert Wirklichkeit, die nun allerdings parataktisch organisiert ist und ohne einheitliche ästhetische Struktur auskommt. Donald Barthelmes Prosa spitzt diese Tendenz noch weiter zu und integriert die kritische Reflexion darüber in den Schreibprozeß selbst. Barthelmes radikale Ironisierung seines Gegenstandes schließt dabei nostalgisch an die romantische Ironie an, indem er die fehlende Sinnfülle einer entleerten Welt beklagt. Raymond Federmans Theorie und Praxis des Plagiarismus schließt dagegen an den französischen Poststrukturalismus an. Er schreibt gegen den Mythos des Autors als sinngebende Quelle eines Werkes an, indem er seine eigenen Texte dezentriert und radikal fiktionalisiert.
Desire: Representation and Repetition in Literature
Authors: Johansen Jorgen Dines
Published: June 2007

This article attempts to connect the psychoanalytical theory of literature with the structural and semiotic approaches to the literary text. The link between these approaches is the role of repetition in literature. It is argued that repetition is related to the psychoanalytical concept on the one hand, and on the other that repetition and parallelism are founding structural principles of literature. The relevance of the semiotic concept of the icon as a bridge between these approaches to literature is explored, and the role of repetition on the phonological, narratological, and thematic levels of the literary text is exemplified.
Le Dire de la Folie dans ≪Le Christ aux Oliviers≫ de Nerval
Authors: Bartfeld Fernande
Published: June 2007

Les versions successives du ≪Christ aux Oliviers≫— le plus long des poèmes des Chimères— permettent de percevoir, sous une écriture marquée par des appels et des ruptures, le dire de la folie. Dire perceptible en particulier dans la ponctuation: étrange et subtile, à la fois, la ponctuation subit de grandes modifications, d'une version à l'autre du poème. Dans la dernière, se lisent les marques les plus frappantes de l'aberration. L'étude des textes aura contribuéàéclairer à la fois l'écriture de Gérard de Nerval et son rapport à la folie.
Fremderfahrung und Ichkonstitution in Amerika‐Bildern der deutschsprachigen Gegenwartsliteratur*
Authors: Erhart Walter
Published: June 2007

Die deutschen Amerika‐Bilder der letzten Jahrhunderte präsentie‐ren ein janusköpfiges Bild zwischen Apokalypse und Utopie. Wel‐che Funktionen besitzen diese Bilder für die mil ihnen reisenden — realen oder fingierten — Subjekte? Im 19. und frühen 20. Jahrhundert hat der kulturell vorgeprägte, positive oder negative Amerika‐Diskurs meist die Funktion, die durch die Fremderfahrung bedrohte Identität des Amerika‐Reisenden zu schützen und zu stabilisieren. In Amerika‐Reisen der deutschsprachigen Gegenwartsliteratur kehrt sich die Konstellation um: In den Amerika‐Romanen von Peter Handke (1972) bis Herbert Genzmer (1991) dient der neue Kontinent der experimentellen Fremderfahrung des eigenen Ich, in deren Verlauf die vertrauten Identitätsdiskurse außer Kraft und die “Dezentrierung” des Subjekts erprobt werden.
Edmond Jabès and the Wound of Writing: the Traces of Auschwitz
Authors: Mole Gary D.
Published: June 2007

Jabès's ceaseless interrogation of the book is marked out against the background of the Shoah. As a problematical post‐Shoah writer, Jabès, in his more recent texts, begins to employ the word Auschwitz as a metaphor for the unthought, unthinkable, unknowable, unsayable. While stressing the fact that he does not and cannot speak of Auschwitz as such, he nevertheless sees Auschwitz as having wounded the word which it is the poet's task to attempt to express. Jabès's writing bears the mark of this wound, and the traces of Auschwitz are inscribed in a poetics that would link them with an ethical discourse on the face and responsibility. Although God, the void and Auschwitz become metaphors for one another, it is Auschwitz that specifically, as a non‐representational absolute, interrupts the Jabès text and disrupts the appropriative movement of dialectical thought. Auschwitz as a non‐thematizable event dislocates its own position in Jabès's texts. Though Jabès can only circumscribe the wounded word, the traces of Auschwitz in his work point to the simultaneously centred and marginalized nature of the questions he poses.
La composition balzacienne dans Ferragus et La Fille aux yeux d'or: de la négligence à l'ambivalence
Authors: Bordas Eric
Published: June 2007

Le lecteur de Balzac est fréquemment confrontéà des incohérences dans le texte. Si elles ne perturbent pas vraiment la lecture, du fait d'un cotexte suffisamment cohérent pour équilibrer l'ensemble, leur existence n'en est pas moins réelle et leur importance variable. De la simple erreur de détail (une héroïne blonde, puis brune) à la contradiction pure et simple (un héros orphelin qui ne connaît pas son père, puis qui le connaît), l'incohérence balzacienne est toujours porteuse de sens. Elle développe en fait une esthétique de l'ambivalence qui tend à démontrer que le Réel n'est pas sûr. L'hésitation est partout dans le récit balzacien: instabilité des intrigues, tâtonnement des phrases, désinvolture ambiguë des conclusions: l'incertitude du dit est d'abord celle du dire.
Der Neuplatonismus Jens Peter Jacobsens
Authors: Ousager Asger
Published: June 2007

Bengt Algot Sørensen hat die Auffassung vertreten, daß einzelne Teile der Dichtung J. P. Jacobsens — im Unterschied zu seinen naturwissenschaftlichen Schriften — mit der Naturphilosophie Fechners und insbesondere Haeckels übereinstimmen. Diese Auffassung trifft indessen nicht zu — weder für einzelne Werkteile noch für das Gesamtwerk. Eine eingehende Untersuchung von Jacobsens Position im Hinblick auf das Verhältnis zwischen Leib und Seele kann dies verdeutlichen. Durch sie erkennt man, daß Jacobsen eine monistische Naturphilosophie vertritt, zu der er von Haeckel inspiriert sein mag, was aber keineswegs bedeutet, daß er mit Haeckel übereinstimmt. Denn während Haeckel Anhänger eines materialistisch gefärbten, monadologischen psychophysischen Parallelismus ist, vertritt Jacobsen eine Art von objektivem Idealismus, nämlich einen Vitalismus wie später etwa Bergson, der sich am ehesten mit Plotins Neuplatonismus vergleichen läßt. Diese Zusammenhänge werde ich im ersten Abschnitt dieser Untersuchung darlegen. Ich werde dann dazu übergehen, der Verschwommenheit der von Jørn Vosmar in seiner Dissertation über Jacobsen verwendeten Bezeichnungen ≫Einheitssehnsucht≫, ≫Mystik≪ und ≫negative Romantik≪ abzuhelfen:

Sowohl das wissenschaftliche wie das dichterische Werk Jacobsens schließen an eine neuplatonische Tradition an. Davon legt seine gänzlich neuplatonische Verwendung des Mythos von Eros und Psyche ein gewichtiges Zeugnis ab. Die Unterschiede, die zwischen Jacobsen und Plotin bestehen, bestätigen eher die Auffassung, daß Jacobsens Grundlage der Neuplatonismus ist, als daß sie diese widerlegen würden, denn die bestehenden Unterschiede rühren daher, daß sich bei Jacobsen die Beurteilung der gegenseitigen Hypostasen im Verhältnis zu Plotin verschoben hat. Die Ähnlichkeit zwischen Jacobsens und Bergsons Vitalismus beruht z.B. auf ihrer gemeinsamen Umwertung des Verhältnisses zwischen Zeit und Ewigkeit, das bei Plotin besteht — und das in der philosophischen Tradition vorherrschend ist. Es scheint eine Folge dieser Umwertung zu sein, daß Jacobsen eine zweite wesentliche Umwertung vornimmt, und zwar eine, die das Verhältnis zwischen den Hauptideen im Idealismus betrifft (dem Guten, dem Wahren und dem Schönen), indem er dem Schönen einen unbestreitbaren Vorrang einräumt. Bei Plotin sieht man nämlich, daß die Schönheitsgöttin Aphrodite der Seelenhypostase entspricht, zu der allein die Zeit und das sinnliche Leben gehören. Von hier und vom Platz der Aphrodite im plotinisch verstandenen Mythos von Eros und Psyche aus bekommt man denn auch die Erklärung dafür, daß Jacobsens wesentlichste Zweiheit ‐ verstanden als das Bezogensein zweier Kräfte aufeinander ‐ zwischen Eros und Tod und seine zweitwesentlichste zwischen Einzelseele und Allseele besteht. Sowohl Einzelseele als auch Allseele bekommen Fülle, ziehen sich zusammen und erweitern sich wechselseitig. Ein unglückliches menschliches Schicksal erklärt Jacobsen mit fehlender Übereinstimmung zwischen den Bewegungsmustern der Einzelseele und der Allseele.
Reading (and Conversion in) Augustine's Confessions
Authors: Keevak Michael
Published: June 2007

The present essay examines Augustine's ‘moment’of conversion in Books 7 and 8 of the Confessions, as well as the subsequent conversion of his friend Alypius, in order to ask whether the reader too is meant to convert in a similar fashion in some kind of chain reaction. In other words, is it true that to read the Confessions‘correctly’one must convert in response to it? In fact, it is clear that the conversion(s) that the Confessions describes is inextricably bound up with the problem of reading itself, and moreover that this hermeneutic has escaped detailed consideration specifically in terms of the models that the text represents and discusses. The essay argues that reading in the Confessions is not only the ‘result’of conversion but also the mechanism upon which conversion as such depends. Reading, in other words, is both the cause and the effect of conversion, but exactly how it is meant to operate is not always clear. Augustine repeatedly argues that one must learn to read ‘with the eye of the soul,’and this is exactly the mechanism that we must better understand.
Saints and Aesthetes in J.‐K. Huysmans's Artificial Paradises
Authors: Pireddu Nicoletta
Published: June 2007

In this paper we emphasize the persistence of the love of beauty in J.‐K. Huysmans's religious works, and we interpret his overall literary production as a systematic search for a new ethics by means of the aesthetic paradigm. Beyond a conversion from profane hedonism to Catholic faith, in the shift from A Rebours to La Cathédrale we see an oscillation between the religion of art and the art of religion, a tension between the attempt to make Beauty moral by legitimizing it through the rhetoric of religion, and the aestheticization of religion through the language of seduction. Even the saint's sacrifice in Sainte Lydwine de Schiedam is a powerful source of aesthetic pleasure.

Nevertheless, not even in her mission of pain can Huysman's last aesthete find a new ethos and a new aesthetics. Actually, Sainte Lydwine de Schiedam reinstates, instead of exorcising, the specter of the “always already” which doomed Huysmans's previous works: even as an expiatory victim, the aesthete has arrived too late; Lydwine is just the epigone of a model — Jesus Christ — whose suffering had a greater moral impact upon mankind, and a higher degree of beauty.
Deconstruction, Philosophy, and Literature: Readings of Jacques Derrida
Authors: Florentsen Peter C.
Published: June 2007

Deconstruction is a radical critique of traditional ideas of the goals and nature of philosophical and critical enquiry. The article starts by giving an outline of the philosophical foundations of deconstruction focusing on Derrida's deconstructive outlook and strategy and then goes on to present and discuss the diverse views of some of the most prominent critics of deconstruction (Jonathan Culler, Rudolphe Gasché, Jürgen Habermas, Christopher Norris, Richard Rorty and John Searle.) The article argues against an understanding of deconstrution in transcendental or scientistic terms. This, however, does not deny the value of deconstruction as a strategy of reading and as a relevant method of questioning and intervening in any discourse, no matter whether private or public.
Authors, Narrators, and the Poetics of Radical Fiction
Authors: Visser Nicholas
Published: June 2007

Although modern poetics insists on a rigorous distinction between authors and narrators, there is no more logically compelling reason for accepting that the statements made by, and especially the values enjoined by, narrators are not to be ascribed to the author than for assuming that they should be.

A poetics which, through such distinctions, valorizes modernist conceptions of autonomy and impersonality calls into doubt the artistic adequacy and even the very possibility of politically radical fiction. To write a novel that is simultaneously recognizably and acceptably a novel, and consistent in its politically radical objectives requires moving beyond modernist impersonal narration and the accompaning banishment of authors from their works.

In the 1930s Ignazio Silone and Victor Serge managed to construct novels that were both artistically and politically successful, in part by systematically and extensively transgressing the supposedly inviolable boundary between author and narrator. A careful examination of narration in Silone's Fontamara and Serge's Birth of Our Power reveals the magnitude of their accomplishment and also demonstrates the extent to which the apparently neutral, descriptive mode of formalist analysis can have the (largely deliberate) effect of constraining the possibilities of literary practice by covertly endorsing certain practices and proscribing others.
Inszenierungen der Sprache und des Körpers in Schnitzlers Reigen
Authors: Prutti Brigitte
Published: June 2007

Der Aufsatz untersucht die Figurenkommunikation in Schnitzlers Kom oUdie unter dem Gesichtspunkt der erotischen Strategien, deren sich die Akteure dieses St uUckes zur Durchf uUhrung ihrer‘Liebesspiele’bedienen. An die Stelle einer im Zuge des gegenseitigen Einverständnisses in bezug auf den angestrebten Geschlechtsakt unnötig gewordenen Verführung treten im Reigen — so die Grund‐these dieses Essays — je nach Figurenkonstellation unterschiedlich komplexe Verführungsspiele, von denen hier gezeigt wird, in welcher Form sie auf Diskursvorgaben zur Liebeskommunikation zurückgreifen, wie sie in der bürgerlichen Literatur des 18. Jahrhunderts ausgebildet wurden. Die Untersuchung der entsprechenden Strategien erfolgt mittels einer Dialoganalyse der Vorspiele in den‐jenigen Szenen, in denen die junge Frau und die Schauspielerin die Interaktion dominieren. Anhand einer Analyse der Kommuni‐kationsstrategien des ehelichen Paares in der fünften Szene wird auch die Rolle erotischer Phantasien im Kontext der ehelichen Sexualität erörtert. Daraus ergibt sich abschlieβend die Frage, worin sich Schnitzlers Reigen von traditionallen Formen der satirischen Komödie unterscheidet.
“… its me, not the sentence they'll suspend”— Billy in the Darbies1
Authors: Troy Mark
Published: June 2007

Herman Melville's last prose work,Billy Budd, has generated controversy since the time of its first publication. Of course, such interpretive difficulty is perversely consonant with later Melville productions. His narratives involve asymmetrical versions of the same incident, striking lacunae, narrators of questionable reliability, so that critics hold polarized views of Melville's final message. In the following pages I am going to suggest another perspective: viewing the text as a whole reveals a construed discordance, allowing the reader to go beyond the alternative rationales woven by the narrator and the Captain, who appropriate and rewrite Billy Budd into their own, rather different, master narratives. This is to say that when the accounts are placed beside each other, offering alternative versions — another is allowed. By destabilizing the ideal validity of either transcendent discourse, Melville opens up the matter of choice: The abrogation of individual ethics — for the Captain, for the narrator, for the reader — is a matter of individual ethics.
Ludvig Holberg: L'épigramme V,41: Analyse structurale du texte et quelques remarques sur son histoire
Authors: Andersen Jens K.
Published: June 2007

Il s'agit, dans l'article consacréà 1′épigramme V, 41 par Ludvig Holberg (1684–1754), notamment d'une analyse de la sémantique et de la composition du texte même, aussi bien que d'une discussion critique des sources littéraires (Martial, Owen) proposées par M. F. J. Billeskov Jansen, le seul véritable spécialists jusqu'à présent à propos des épigrammes holbergiennes. En ce qui concerne le texte même, on arrive à une description formalisée de la structure sémantique, syntaxique, et métrique, une structure symétrique qui étaye, d'une façon fine et efficace, le soubassement du poème: la satirisation plaisante du mari trompé. En ce qui concerne les sources, il faut prendre garde – c'est la conclusion–de ne pas établir une dépendance littéraire sur une base purement matérielle, en considérant le sujet de l'épigramme au détriment de son ≪architecture≫.
Melatonin protects from ischemia/reperfusion‐induced renal injury in rats: this effect is not mediated by proinflammatory cytokines
Authors: Kurcer Zehra , Oguz Elif , Ozbilge Hatice , Baba Fusun , Aksoy Nurten , Çelik Hakim , Çakır Hale , Gezen Mehmet Rıza
Published: June 2007

Abstract:  The pathophysiologic mechanisms leading to acute ischemic renal failure are not completely understood. Melatonin, a compound with well‐known antioxidant properties, reduces IR‐induced renal injury. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the changes in levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)‐α, IL‐β, and IL‐6 in postischemic reperfused renal tissue, and to determine whether the protective effect of melatonin is related the modulation of the production of these inflammatory molecules. Male Wistar albino rats were unilaterally nephrectomized and subjected to 1 hr of renal pedicle occlusion followed by 2 hr or 24 hr of reperfusion. Melatonin (10 mg/kg, i.p.) or vehicle was administrated at 10 min prior to ischemia. After 24 hr of the reperfusion, following decapitation, kidney samples were taken both for histologic examination and for the determination of malondialdehyde (MDA), myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity, total antioxidant capacity (TAC), total oxidative stress (TOS), creatinine, and blood urea nitrogen (BUN). These were measured in serum samples. TNF‐α, IL‐β, and IL‐6 were measured in kidney samples after 2 hr of reperfusion. IR caused a significant increase in renal MDA, MPO, TOS, creatinine, and BUN while decrease TAC without any change in TNF‐α, IL‐β, and IL‐6 levels. Melatonin treatment reduced the biochemical indices without any change in the cytokine levels and ameliorated histopathologic alterations induced by IR. The protective effect of melatonin on IR‐induced renal injury is related to its antioxidant properties but not to proinflammatory cytokines.
Paraoxonase Phenotype Distribution in a Healthy Iranian Population
Authors: Sepahvand Farideh , Shafiei Massoumeh , Ghaffari Seyed Mahmood , Rahimi‐Moghaddam Parvaneh , Mahmoudian Massoud
Published: June 2007

Abstract:   Human serum paraoxonase (PON1) is a high‐density lipoprotein‐associated esterase that protects against organophosphate neurotoxicity, and is proposed to play a role in lipid metabolism and the onset of cardiovascular disease. In the present study, paraoxonase activities and phenotype distribution in serum of 132 healthy Iranian individuals aged 17–68 years were assessed using dual substrate method. In the study population, a wide interindividual variability (up to 15‐fold) of paraoxonase activity was found. The mean of basal, salt‐stimulated paraoxonase and arylesterase activities were 81.8 ± 57 U/ml, 153.1 ± 117.5 U/ml and 80.7 ± 12.8 kU/l, respectively. The ratio of salt‐stimulated paraoxonase activity to arylesterase activity was used for definition of phenotypes. Based on the observed ratios, three distinct phenotypes AA (low activity), AB (intermediate activity) and BB (high activity) were determined. The PON1 ratio varied from 0.5 to 6.8. The paraoxonase phenotype frequencies were approximately 48% (AA), 41% (AB) and 11% (BB). In this work, serum triglycerides had significant positive correlation (r = 0.334, P < 0.05) with paraoxonase activity, whereas high‐density lipoprotein did not. No significant decrease in paraoxonase activity by smoking was observed. Age and sex had no influences on PON1 activities. In conclusion, the distribution of paraoxonase phenotypes in this Iranian population was trimodal and comparable to that of Caucasians from North America; however, overall enzyme activity was lower than that reported for Caucasians.
Sulphated Polysaccharides: New Insight in the Prevention of Cyclosporine A‐Induced Glomerular Injury
Authors: Josephine Anthony , Veena Coothan Kandaswamy , Amudha Ganapathy , Preetha Sreenivasan P. , Sundarapandian Rajaguru , Varalakshmi Palaninathan
Published: June 2007

Abstract:   The scope of the current study was to examine the possible effects of sulphated polysaccharides against cyclosporine A‐induced glomerular injury. Nephrotoxicity induced by cyclosporine A continues to be a major problem despite its potent immunosuppressive action. Adult male albino rats of Wistar strain were categorized into four groups. Two groups (II and IV) were administered cyclosporine A (25 mg/kg body weight, orally) for 21 days, in which Group IV rats were also treated simultaneously with sulphated polysaccharides (5 mg/kg body weight, subcutaneously) for the same period. A significant loss in body weight was noted in the cyclosporine A‐induced rats. Renal damage was assessed in terms of decreased creatinine clearance and increased activity of lysosomal enzymes. The levels of glycoproteins were found to be decreased in the renal tissue, and a noticeable rise in glycosaminoglycanuria coupled with marked proteinuria was more prominent in the cyclosporine A‐induced animals. Furthermore, the extent of kidney damage was assessed by histopathological findings. Toxic manifestations were also confirmed by transmission electron microscopic studies. These morphological abnormalities and other alterations in the renal tissue were significantly offset by sulphated polysaccharides supplementation. These findings underline that restoration of normal cells accredits sulphated polysaccharides, from Sargassum wightii, with nephroprotective role, against cyclosporine A‐induced renal injury.
Host Specificity of Pathogenic Pythium Species: Implications for Tree Species Diversity
Authors: Augspurger Carol K. , Wilkinson Henry T.
Published: June 2007

In the Janzen–Connell hypothesis, host‐specific natural enemies enhance species diversity and influence the structure of plant communities. This study tests the explicit assumption of host specificity for soil pathogens of the genus Pythium that cause damping‐off disease of germinating seeds and seedlings. We isolated Pythium spp. from soil of a tropical forest in Panama. Then, in an inoculation experiment, we determined the pathogenicity of 75 tropical isolates of unknown pathogenicity and seven pathogenic temperate isolates of Pythium on seeds and/or seedlings of eight tropical tree species. Only three tropical isolates, one identified as P. ultimum and two as P. aphanidermatum, were pathogenic. Tropical pathogenic isolates were pathogenic on 4–6 of eight tree species. Temperate isolates were pathogenic on 0–4 of eight species, indicating that some tropical tree species are susceptible to novel isolates of Pythium. No tree species was susceptible to all isolates and two species were not susceptible to any isolate. Collectively, these results indicate that these Pythium isolates vary widely in their pathogenicity, causing differential mortality of potential host species; likewise, the tree species vary in their susceptibility to a given Pythium isolate. These differences in pathogenicity and susceptibility indicate some support for the Janzen–Connell assumption of host specificity. While they are not restricted to a single species, their intermediate level of specificity suggests that Pythium spp. have the potential to have some effect on forest community structure and diversity.
Soil Charcoal in Old‐Growth Rain Forests from Sea Level to the Continental Divide
Authors: Titiz Beyhan , Sanford Robert L.
Published: June 2007

Soil charcoal is an indicator of Holocene fires as well as a palaeoecological signature of pre‐Colombian land use in Neotropical rain forests. To document rain forest fire history, we examined soil charcoal patterns in continuous old‐growth forests along an elevational transect from sea level to the continental divide on the Atlantic slope of Costa Rica. At 10 elevations we sampled 1‐ha plots, using 16 cores/ha to collect 1.5‐m deep soil samples. We found charcoal in soils at every elevation, with total dry mass ranging from 3.18 g/m2 at 2000‐m elevation to as much as 102.7 g/m2 at 300 m. Soil charcoal is most abundant at the wettest lowland sites (60–500 m) and less at montane elevations (> 1000 m) where there is less rainfall. Between 30‐ and 90‐cm soil depth, soil charcoal is present consistently and every 1‐ha plot has charcoal evidence for multiple fire events. Radiocarbon dates range from 23,240 YBP at 1750‐m elevation to 140 YBP at 2600 m. Interestingly, none of the charcoal samples from 2600 m are older than 170 yr, which suggests that forests near the continental divide are relatively young replacement stands that have re‐established since the most recent localized volcanic eruption on Volcán Barva. We propose that these old‐growth forests have been disturbed infrequently but multiple times as a consequence of anthropogenic and natural fires.
Diversity of Tropical Tree Seedling Responses to Drought
Authors: Slot Martijn , Poorter Lourens
Published: June 2007

Drought is an important seedling mortality agent in dry and moist tropical forests, and more severe and frequent droughts are predicted in the future. The effect of drought on leaf gas exchange and seedling survival was tested in a dry‐down experiment with four tree species from dry and moist forests in Bolivia. Seedlings were droughted and wilting stage and gas exchange were monitored. Drought led to a gradual reduction of photosynthesis and stomatal conductance over time, whereas respiration and photosynthetic water‐use efficiency initially increased with drought and then declined. Seedlings gradually went through the different wilting stages, until they eventually died, but the trajectory differed for the four species. The strong relationship between wilting stage and photosynthesis means that simple field observations can provide valuable information on plant physiological performance. Three different drought strategies were identified. Dry forest species Ceiba samauma shed its leaves and survived. The moist forest species Cariniana ianeirensis postponed drought stress by having low rates of transpiration and high water‐use efficiency. Dry forest Astronium urundeuva and moist forest Triplaris americana followed an opportunistic strategy; they are early successional species that can quickly grow to maturity but periodic drought can be lethal. Strikingly, dry and moist forest species did not differ clearly in their drought tolerance strategies.
Does Height Off the Ground Affect Bird Visitation and Fruit Set in the Pollen‐Limited Mistletoe Peraxilla tetrapetala (Loranthaceae)?
Authors: Robertson Alastair W. , Ladley Jenny J. , Kelly Dave
Published: June 2007

For pollination studies of forest species it is sometimes only possible to work on those flowers nearest to the ground. We test whether using low flowers introduces bias, by measuring height effects on bird visitation and fruit set in one mistletoe species pollinated by bellbirds in New Zealand. At this site, previous studies have shown fruit set near the ground to be pollen limited. We measured fruit set on 32 mistletoes at different heights in 11 host trees. Mistletoe fruit set varied significantly among host trees but did not vary with height. Although bellbirds generally forage preferentially in the upper part of the forest, mistletoe flowers appear to be attractive enough to ensure adequate visitation and fruit set at all heights.
What Is Optimality Theory?1
Authors: McCarthy John J.
Published: June 2007

Optimality Theory is a general model of how grammars are structured. This article surveys the motivations for Optimality Theory, its core principles, and the basics of analysis. It also addresses some frequently asked questions about this theory and offers suggestions for further reading.
The role of final year extramural placements in the undergraduate veterinary curriculum
Authors: BAGULEY J.
Published: June 2007

ObjectiveTo examine the role of a final year program of extramural placements in the undergraduate veterinary curriculum.

DesignAn online questionnaire was made available to all students who completed the first lecture free final year of clinical placements offered by the Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney in 2004. The questionnaire collected information regarding the effectiveness of preparation for veterinary practice through: rating the usefulness of tasks and processes in achieving final year learning outcomes; collecting students' opinions on attributes vital to success as a veterinary practitioner and the value of extramural placements in developing these attributes; and rating the value of extramural placements in preparing students for veterinary practice.

ResultsThe most useful tasks or processes as evidenced by the percentage of students rating these tasks or processes as either very useful or useful were receiving feedback (80%) and completing case logs (78%). The main attribute considered vital to success as a veterinarian was communication skills and extramural placements were generally rated as very valuable in developing this competency. This program was considered to be particularly successful in facilitating the link between theory and practice, enabling the recognition and treatment of a range of diseases and developing interpersonal skills.

ConclusionThe model for extramural placements implemented was generally regarded by students to be valuable in preparing them for veterinary practice.
Where will pathogen inactivation have the greatest impact?
Authors: Hervig T.
Published: June 2007

Blood safety has always been a major task in transfusion medicine. A strategy to obtain this aim should include donor education, donor selection, and testing of blood donations. Pathogen inactivation adds another level of safety. In the fractionation industry, pathogen inactivation methods are mandatory. Several countries also use pathogen‐inactivated plasma – from pools or single donors. Concerning the cellular blood components, there is still no method available for red cell concentrates, whereas methods for platelet concentrates are available in some countries and others are in the pipeline for commercialization. The efficiency of the ‘old’ methods to increase blood safety and the costs of the methods seem to be major obstacles for the introduction of the systems. There are also concerns on product quality and loss of volume during the inactivation process. As the importance of pathogen inactivation is largest in countries with blood donors who carry infections it is impossible to protect against, either due to high incidence of the infection or due to shortage of tests, cost will be a major question when pathogen inactivation is considered. Pathogen inactivation of red cell concentrates will also be a necessity. When pathogen inactivation methods are available for all blood components, they will have great impact to protect the patients in countries where a high percentage of the population is infected by agents transmissible through blood transfusion, and in all situations to protect against new pathogens and ‘old’ pathogens that become more virulent. The total risk of contracting infectious diseases through blood transfusion will probably be important when implementation of new methods for pathogen inactivation is considered.
Influence of epidemiological factors on blood transfusion
Authors: Laperche S. , Pillonel J.
Published: June 2007

The prevalence, incidence and risk factors of infectious diseases observed in the general population have been described to directly influence transfusion medicine, especially the blood selection. The objective is to ensure the blood safety. The characterization of modes of transmission influences the donor selection: the risk factors of the main blood‐borne infections have permitted to adapt the pre‐donation questionnaire in order to exclude at‐risk donors. The prevalence of infections also has an impact on the blood screening strategy. For example, anti‐HBc antibody (Ab) screening is currently performed only in countries where the HBV prevalence is compatible with a reasonable number of donor exclusions. HTLV Ab screening is implemented in countries in which the rate of donors originating from endemic areas could represent a risk for blood components. Measurement of incidence which contributes to the residual risk has led to the introduction of nucleic acid testing (NAT) for HIV, HCV and in some cases for HBV in viral screening strategy in many countries worldwide. The observed NAT yield differs according to the incidence of the infection and according to the country. Finally, the putative blood transmission of new and emerging pathogens has led to implement specific and non‐specific measures in order to enhance blood safety. Conversely, although the blood donor population is selected, the data observed in this population have also contributed to better understand epidemiology and pathogenesis of infection. Moreover, owing to the recent progress in developing modelling approaches for estimating risk, we are able to anticipate a transfusion transmission threat by introducing, when necessary, specific measures intended for reduce this risk.
Cord blood banking and accreditation
Authors: Rebulla P. , Lecchi L.
Published: June 2007

Cord blood banking is a sequential process including a number of steps starting from donor informed consent and donor selection, followed by collection of maternal and paternal medical history, cord blood collection, unit transportation from the delivery room to the bank, cord blood unit processing, characterization and cryopreservation, unit release for transplantation, and ending with the evaluation of clinical outcome.

Cord blood banking requires a carefully designed quality system. Of the different models available, we based the initial development of our quality system on the ISO 9000 standard. After ISO 9000 certification, we started the process of accreditation by the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT), which was obtained in 2004. The accreditation process includes submission of documentation in English to demonstrate compliance with the NetCord/FACT International Standards for Cord Blood Collection, Processing, Testing, Selection and Release, now available in its third edition, which is followed by an on‐site inspection. Other organizations such as the AABB and the National Marrow Donor Program have developed other cord blood banking accreditation and cooperative programmes.

Based on the expectation of a more widespread clinical use of cord blood, efforts should be developed to harmonize national and international cord blood banking accreditation schemes.
The role of the low‐frequency antigens in neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia
Authors: Kaplan C.
Published: June 2007

Neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia (NAIT) results from specific maternal immunization against fetal platelet antigens inherited from the father which the mother lacks. The incidence of NAIT has been shown by prospective studies to be one out 800–1000 live births, but nevertheless still underdiagnosed. In Caucasians, human platelet antigen (HPA)‐1a is the most frequent antigen implicated in NAIT, followed by HPA‐5b. During recent years NAIT has been reported involving rare or private antigens, most of them located on the GPIIb‐IIIa complex. The description of such antibodies has been possible with the introduction of a routine maternal–paternal cross‐matching with an antigen‐capture assay and a panel of mouse monoclonal antigens in investigations of suspected cases of NAIT. At present 24 specific platelet alloantigens have been defined and the molecular basis for 22 out of 24 has been determined. Recent studies have shown that low‐frequency platelet alloantigens are not restricted to single families. Anti HPA‐9bw (Maxa) was found in two published series accounting for 2% of the confirmed NAIT cases and the neonates were severely affected. Three cases of HPA‐13bw families are reported to date and two cases for HPA‐8abw. The role of HPA‐15a or 15b in NAIT needs to be considered. The retrospective studies have shown a frequency highly variable from 2/1000 to 1·6%. The results of the different studies point out that laboratory testing for the main frequent alloantigenic system is no longer sufficient fully to evaluate NAIT in suspected cases. These investigations should be carried out in an experienced laboratory to ensure optimal testing. The frequencies of HPA are variable among populations, therefore the ethnic diversity must be taken into account in the context of the population migrations we may observe in our hospitals.
How to deal with information in transfusion medicine?
Authors: Munk C.
Published: June 2007

Still today the role of information in most organizations is underestimated or considered not adequate in regards to the use we make. Its impact in transfusion medicine needs to be controlled and understood in order to estimate the real value brought to the organization. This paper proposes a way to organize activities in managing information end the required information technology. It is based on activities related to information classification, to IT (Information Technology). Infrastructure classification and, moat important, to best practices needed for Information management and related IT infrastructures. Considerations presented in this paper are mostly based on results provided by the ISBT Working Party on Information Technology.
Coagulopathy of massive transfusion: pathophysiology and monitoring
Authors: Hardy J.‐F.
Published: June 2007

Coagulopathy associated with massive transfusion (MT) remains an important clinical problem. The author attempted to identify the causes of coagulopathy in massively transfused, adult and previously haemostatically competent patients and to differentiate between the elective surgical and the emergency settings.

 A MEDLINE search was conducted for articles published on ‘massive transfusion’, ‘transfusion’, ‘trauma’, ‘surgery’, ‘coagulopathy’ and ‘haemostatic defects’. A narrative format was adopted.

 Coagulopathy associated with MT is an intricate, multifactorial and multicellular event. In patients undergoing elective surgery, a decrease in fibrinogen concentration is observed initially while thrombocytopenia is a late occurrence. Critically low levels of coagulation factors were seldom reported when whole blood was in common use. With the use of packed red blood cells (PRBC), dilution or consumption of coagulation factors has become a significant issue requiring specific treatment with, primarily, fresh frozen plasma (FFP).

 In the emergency setting (e.g., trauma, ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm), tissue trauma, shock, tissue anoxia and hypothermia contribute to the development of disseminated intravascular coagulation and microvascular bleeding. It has been shown that the proactive administration of platelets and FFP improves coagulation, decreases haemorrhage and improves survival in these massively bleeding patients. We can only speculate that in this specific context, the benefits of early and aggressive platelet and coagulation factor replacement are related to the ongoing consumption coagulopathy at the time of surgery.
The economics of blood transfusion in the 21st century
Authors: Pereira A.
Published: June 2007

In the coming years, blood banking will face a number of big challenges in which economic analysis may help find the optimal solution. Pressures to curb cost increases without reducing perceived quality will shift the emphasis from excellence to efficiency. The financial incentive structure that allows costly but low effective technologies to be widely adopted will need to be revised and reshaped. This will require introducing regulated competition between blood suppliers and a closer alignment between the decisions on enforcing new safety measures and the economic consequences of the decisions. On the other hand, if blood shortages become more frequent and severe, as predicted by some experts, property rights on human blood will need to be assigned and fairly compensated, what will require resolving first the ethical issue that accompanies remunerated blood donation. Finally, availability at the bedside of an effective and safe blood substitute will help alleviate blood shortages, but may also profoundly disturb the very way blood banks finance their operations.
Differentiating transfusion‐transmitted infection from reactivation of viruses
Authors: Allain J.‐P. , Compston L.
Published: June 2007

Clinicians tend to attribute acute viral infections in transfused patients to transfusion despite unprecedented viral safety. An increasing proportion of blood product recipients are immunodeficient or immunosuppressed and susceptible to viral reactivation of previous infections. This presentation will examine how to discriminate between transfusion‐transmitted and reactivated viral infections.
Platelet components today
Authors: Lozano M. , Cid J.
Published: June 2007

Platelet concentrates (PC) continues to be the only resource available to treat patients with qualitative and/or quantitative platelet defects. Currently we have three methods to prepare PC: platelet rich plasma (PRP), buffy coat (BC), and apheresis. In recent years, the characteristics of the products have improved significantly: greater yield of better platelets with less RBC and leucocyte content. At the present, BC and apheresis derived PC offer some advantages in comparison to PRP, as it can been prepared in additive solutions, culture them using sensitive methods or apply pathogen reduction technologies.
Isolation and Characterization of an Indian Orf Virus from Goats
Authors: Hosamani M. , Yadav S. , Kallesh D. J. , Mondal B. , Bhanuprakash V. , Singh R. K.
Published: June 2007

Isolation and characterization of an orf virus has been described here. The virus was isolated from an outbreak of ‘scabby mouth’ in goats in Northern India. Viral morphology from the scab biopsy revealed typical ovoid‐shaped particles characteristic of Parapoxvirus. Virus was isolated from sonicated scab suspension and characterized by restriction enzyme (RE) analysis and sequencing of full‐length GM‐CSF‐ and interleukin‐2 inhibitory factor (GIF) gene. RE pattern of the virus did not show close resemblance to most of the orf viruses published earlier. However, it showed high sequence identity and closer phylogenetic relationship with previously published ORFV‐SA00 strain, as evident from the nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequence of GIF gene.