bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Local ecological impacts of regional biodiversity on reef fish assemblages
Authors: González‐Cabello Alonso , Bellwood David R.
Published: February 2009

Aim  We examined comparative data for cryptobenthic reef fishes to determine how variation in regional species richness relates to local species richness, abundance, and taxonomic and trophic composition, and to test whether systems with higher species richness exhibit finer habitat partitioning.

Locations  Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef (GBR), Australia; Bahía de Loreto, Gulf of California (GoC), Mexico.

Methods  Cryptobenthic reef fish assemblages from four habitats (coral heads, rubble, and horizontal and vertical surfaces of boulders) were collected using clove oil. Differences in density, species richness and biomass were examined between regions and among habitats. Habitat associations were identified for each habitat/location based on multivariate ordination, and the statistical significance of patterns was tested using analysis of similarity (ANOSIM). In addition, the trophic group composition of the assemblages for both regions was examined.

Results  A total of 91 species in 20 families were recorded (GBR, 66 species; GoC, 25 species). Total and habitat species richness were higher on the GBR, whereas biomass was higher in the GoC. No difference in fish density between regions was found. Habitat division among assemblages was greater in the depauperate GoC. Only coral head associations proved to be distinctive on the GBR, whereas three sample groups were found in the GoC (coral heads, horizontal boulders and vertical boulders/rubble). Trophic composition in the two regions was markedly different, with omnivores dominating the GBR fauna and planktivores the GoC.

Main conclusions  A positive regional–local relationship in fish diversity was found between regions, but fish abundance in both regions remained similar. Contrary to expectations, habitat partitioning, at a community level, was greater in the depauperate GoC. Differences in trophic composition and patterns of habitat use appear to reflect the disparate history of the regions, whereas patterns of abundance may reflect the influence of fundamental relationships between size and abundance in communities. This study highlights the potential of reef faunas to conform to universal numerical trends while maintaining an ability to respond ecologically to local/evolutionary influences. The GoC fauna appears to be exceptionally vulnerable to natural and anthropogenic disturbance owing to the high numerical dominance of habitat‐specific species and to the limited potential for functional redundancy within the system.
Nutritional status and body composition among persons with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Authors: Odencrants Sigrid , Ehnfors Margareta , Ehrenberg Anna
Published: February 2009

Aim. The aim of the study was to determine whether a relationship exists between nutritional status, assessed by three recommended instruments, and body composition for older persons with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

Background. Commonly reported symptoms of COPD include impaired nutritional status. This is difficult to assess accurately, because currently recommended instruments for risk identification do not evaluate body composition reliably.

Design. A descriptive and correlational study; data were collected in 2007.

Method. Study participants were 47 women and 34 men with a mean age of 65 years and 48% with very severe COPD. Data collection included body mass index (BMI), waist–hip ratio (WHR), fat‐free mass index (FFMI), lung functions and assessment of nutritional status by the mini nutritional assessment (MNA), the malnutrition universal screening tool (MUST) and a national disease‐specific instrument (ENS).

Results. Participants’ BMIs ranged from 15·9 to 43·8. Out of 15 with very low FFMIs five were classified as overweight. One of those participants was identified as malnourished by the MNA, two were identified by the MUST as at high risk for malnutrition and none was identified by the ENS as in need of qualified help with nutrition. Six participants were assessed using each instrument as being in need of special attention for their nutritional status. Correlations between each of the instrument and FFMIs were significant at the 0·01 level for each instrument.

Conclusion. A combination of methods gives richer information as single measurements may give misleading results. Assessment of nutritional status cannot rely only on instrument values; there is a need for an astute ‘clinical eye’ as well.

Relevance to clinical practice. The methods are suitable for skilled professional use in clinical practice with people with COPD, but the short form of the MNA and the ENS should be used with caution.
Identification and location of Stb9, a gene for resistance to septoria tritici blotch in wheat cultivars Courtot and Tonic
Authors: Chartrain L. , Sourdille P. , Bernard M. , Brown J. K. M.
Published: February 2009

This study reports the discovery of a gene for resistance to septoria tritici blotch (STB) in two spring wheat cultivars, Courtot and Tonic. The gene, named Stb9, confers resistance to Mycosphaerella graminicola isolate IPO89011. It was mapped by quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis using an existing map of Courtot × Chinese Spring and was located between markers Xfbb226 (3·6 cM) and XksuF1b (9 cM) on the long arm of chromosome 2B. Markers linked to Stb9 in Courtot were then shown to be linked to resistance to IPO89011 in F3 families of Tonic × Longbow. Allelism tests in which Tonic was crossed with Courtot confirmed that Tonic has a gene for resistance to IPO89011 at or very close to the Stb9 locus. SSR markers flanking Stb9 may be used in marker‐assisted selection to introgress this gene into winter cultivars or in spring wheat breeding programmes outside Europe.
Prediction of chronic allograft damage index of renal allografts using serum level of plasminogen activator inhibitor‐1
Authors: Chang Horng‐Rong , Yang Shun‐Fa , Lian Jong‐Da , Lin Chiu‐Chu , Wen Mei‐Chin , Chen Yen Ta , Jan Yee‐Jee , Hsieh Yih‐Shou
Published: February 2009

Abstract: Background:  Plasminogen activator inhibitor‐1 (PAI‐1) plays an important role in renal fibrosis. We conducted this study to examine whether serum PAI‐1 has a role in predicting chronic allograft nephropathy (CAN).

Methods:  Fifty kidney transplant recipients receiving graft biopsies were enrolled. The pathologic diagnoses were acute tubular necrosis (ATN; n = 12), borderline rejection (BR; n = 7), acute rejection (ACR; n = 12), CAN (n = 11), polyomavirus nephropathy (PVN; n = 3) and others (n = 5; glomerulopathy, n = 4; calcineurin inhibitor nephropathy, n = 1). The serum level of PAI‐1 and chronic allograft damage index (CADI) score of each patient were determined.

Results:  The CADI score of all patients was 4 (0–10) (median and range) and in each group was ATN 0.5 (0–4), BR 2.0 (1–4), ACR 4.0 (2–8), CAN 5.0 (4–10), PVN 7 (4–8) and others 2 (0–8). The serum PAI‐1 level of each group was ATN 9.38 (2.35–14.52) ng/mL, BR 10.09 (0.61–18.06) ng/mL, ACR 11.08 (2.32–20.68) ng/mL, CAN 14.51 (3.66–21.12), PVN 14.79 (13.94–21.94) and others 16.35 (4.05–21.01) ng/mL. CADI score is associated with serum PAI‐1 activity (r = 0.405, p = 0.003) and is inversely associated with serum creatinine (r = −0.348, p = 0.011), but not with estimated glomerular filtration rate (p = 0.124).

Conclusion:  Serum PAI‐1 level has the potential to be a marker to predict CADI score, the quantitative score of CAN.
Impact of body mass index on clinical and cost outcomes after radical cystectomy
Authors: Bagrodia Aditya , Grover Sonal , Srivastava Abhishek , Gupta Amit , Bolenz Christian , Sagalowsky Arthur I. , Lotan Yair
Published: February 2009

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the effect of body mass index (BMI, kg/m2) on the cost and clinical variables after radical cystectomy (RC), as studies show that obesity might adversely affect the outcomes after RC.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

The charts of patients who had RC from January 2004 to March 2007 were reviewed retrospectively. Complete cost and clinical information was available for 99 patients; the patient and tumour characteristics and peri‐operative outcomes were recorded. Detailed cost information (room and board, laboratory, pharmacy, radiology, operating room, surgical supply, anaesthesia, and recovery room) was obtained from hospital billing. Patients were stratified and compared in three groups of BMI, i.e. normal weight (<25), overweight (25–<30) and obese (≥30).

RESULTS

The mean age of the patients was 66 years; 27% were normal weight, 38% were overweight and 34% were obese. Of obese patients, 24% had an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance score of 0, vs none and 2.6% in the normal and overweight groups, respectively (P = 0.001). Those of normal weight had the highest overall and major complication rates (P = 0.57 and 0.28, respectively). Obese patients had insignificantly higher transfusion rates (P = 0.28). The direct cost was higher in normal weight ($14 314) than overweight ($13 808) and obese ($13 666) patients (P = 0.47). Higher room and board cost in normal‐weight patients was the only significant cost difference (P = 0.008).

CONCLUSION

BMI was not associated with increased costs of cystectomy. The absence of differences in cost‐related and clinical outcomes might be attributable to variable comorbidity among groups and the experience of a high‐volume surgeon and staff at a tertiary‐care referral centre that routinely cares for obese patients.
Laparoscopic debulking of bulky lymph nodes in women with cervical cancer: indication and surgical outcomes
Authors: Tozzi R , Lavra F , Cassese T , Campanile R Garruto , Pedicini V , Bignardi M , Scorsetti M , Bertuzzi A
Published: February 2009

Objective  To describe the technique and the surgical outcome of laparoscopic resection of bulky lymph nodes before adjuvant treatment.

Design  Prospective pilot study.

Setting  Gynaecological oncology cancer centre.

Population  From January 2006 to February 2008, 22 consecutive women presented with cervical cancer and bulky metastatic lymph nodes (>2 cm).

Methods  All women underwent resection of bulky lymph nodes by laparoscopy. A prospective record of the main surgical outcomes was performed.

Main outcome measures  Safety and efficacy of laparoscopic resection of bulky lymph nodes, conversion to laparotomy, intra‐ and perioperative morbidity.

Results  All the operations were completed by laparoscopy. Median operative time was 197 minutes (range 180–320). Median blood loss was 60 cc (range 10–100), two women experienced complications: one thermal injury of the sciatic root provoking postoperative leg palsy and one chylous ascites. The woman with the thermal injury has recovered most leg function with physiotherapy and the woman with chylous ascites recovered within 2 weeks, slightly delaying the adjuvant treatment. All women were discharged within 4 days from the operation (range 2–4). Pathology reports confirmed the presence of tumour metastases and the lymph nodes size. The adjuvant treatment started at a median time of 12 days (range 3–22).

Conclusion  Debulking of large pelvic and para‐aortic lymph nodes was effectively accomplished by laparoscopy in all 22 women with 9% complication rate. The surgical outcome is similar to historical series on women operated on by laparotomy, with the advantage of a faster recovery and an early start of adjuvant treatment.
The value of medical history taking as risk indicator for tuboperitoneal pathology: a systematic review
Authors: Luttjeboer FY , Verhoeve HR , van Dessel HJ , van der Veen F , Mol BWJ , Coppus SFPJ
Published: February 2009

Background  Guidelines recommend diagnostic laparoscopy in subfertile women with known co‐morbidities in their medical history. Aggregated evidence underpinning these recommendations is, however, currently lacking.

Objective  The objective of this study was to perform a systematic review and meta‐analysis of the available evidence on the association between items reported during medical history taking and tuboperitoneal pathology.

Search strategy  MEDLINE (from 1966 to May 2007), EMBASE (from 1960 to January 2007) and bibliographies of retrieved primary articles.

Selection criteria  All relevant studies that compared medical history with the presence or absence of tubal pathology.

Data collection and analysis  Studies comparing medical history with the presence or absence of tubal pathology were included. A diagnosis of tubal pathology had to be made by hysterosalpingography, laparoscopy or a combination of both. In the absence of invasive tubal testing, tuboperitoneal pathology was considered to be absent in case of intrauterine pregnancy. Homogeneity between studies was assessed, and the association between medical history and tubal pathology was expressed as a common odds ratio with a 95% CI. No language restriction was applied.

Main results  We included 32 studies. In cohort studies, strong associations were found for a history of complicated appendicitis (OR 7.2, 95% CI 2.2–22.8), pelvic surgery (OR 3.6, 95% CI 1.4–9.0) and pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) (OR 3.2, 95% CI 1.6–6.6), and in case–control studies, for a history of complicated appendicitis (OR 3.3, 95% CI 1.8–6.3), PID (OR 5.5, 95% CI 2.7–11.0), ectopic pregnancy (OR 16.0, 95% CI 12.5–20.4), endometriosis (OR 5.9, 95% CI 3.2–10.8) and sexually transmitted disease (OR 11.9, 95% CI 4.3–33.3).

Author’s conclusions  Subfertile women reporting a history of PID, complicated appendicitis, pelvic surgery, ectopic pregnancy and endometriosis are at increased risk of having tuboperitoneal pathology. In these women, diagnostic laparoscopy should be offered early in the fertility work‐up.
The N‐terminal tripeptide of insulin‐like growth factor‐I protects against β‐amyloid‐induced somatostatin depletion by calcium and glycogen synthase kinase 3β modulation
Authors: Burgos‐Ramos Emma , Martos‐Moreno Gabriel Á , López Manuela G. , Herranz Rosario , Aguado‐Llera David , Egea Javier , Frechilla Diana , Cenarruzabeitia Edurne , León Rafael , Arilla‐Ferreiro Eduardo , Argente Jesús , Barrios Vicente
Published: February 2009

The protective effects of insulin‐like growth factor I on the somatostatin (SRIF) system in the temporal cortex after β‐amyloid (Aβ) injury may be mediated through its N‐terminal tripeptide glycine‐proline‐glutamate (GPE). GPE is cleaved to cyclo[Pro‐Gly] (cPG), a metabolite suggested to mediate in neuroprotective actions. We evaluated the effects of GPE and cPG in the temporal cortex of Aβ25–35‐treated rats on SRIF and SRIF receptor protein and mRNA levels, adenylyl cyclase activity, cell death, Aβ25–35 accumulation, cytosolic calcium levels ([Ca2+]c) and the intracellular signaling mechanisms involved. GPE and cPG did not change Aβ25–35 levels, but GPE partially restored SRIF and SRIF receptor 2 protein content and mRNA levels and protected against cell death after Aβ25–35 insult, which was coincident with Akt activation and glycogen synthase kinase 3β inhibition. In addition, GPE displaced glutamate from NMDA receptors and blocked the glutamate induced rise in cytosolic calcium in isolated rat neurons and moderately increased Ca2+ influx per se. Our findings suggest that GPE, but not its metabolite, mimics insulin‐like growth factor I effects on the SRIF system through a mechanism independent of Aβ clearance that involves modulation of calcium and glycogen synthase kinase 3β signaling.
Allodynia‐Associated Symptoms, Pain Intensity and Time to Treatment: Predicting Treatment Response in Acute Migraine Intervention
Authors: Cady Roger K. , Freitag Frederick G. , Mathew Ninan T. , Elkind Arthur H. , Mao Lian , Fisher Alan C. , Biondi David M. , Finlayson Gary , Greenberg Steven J. , Hulihan Joseph F.
Published: February 2009

Objective.— To evaluate the relationship between treatment outcomes and allodynia‐associated symptoms (AAS) at the time of treatment with almotriptan.

Methods.— Analyses were performed with data collected prospectively from patients in 2 recently completed early intervention trials, AXERT® Early miGraine Intervention Study (AEGIS) and AXERT® 12.5 mg time vs Intensity Migraine Study (AIMS): 2‐hour pain free, 2‐hour pain relief (AEGIS only), sustained pain free (SPF), use of rescue medication, and median headache duration (AIMS only), in the presence and absence of pretreatment AAS, which was determined by responses to a questionnaire. Analyses were conducted to evaluate possible prognostic variables.

Results.— The presence of pretreatment AAS did not have a significant effect on 2‐hour pain‐free, 2‐hour pain‐relief or SPF rates, use of rescue medication, or headache duration. Significant factors for most favorable outcomes (greater 2‐hour pain‐free, 2‐hour pain‐relief and SPF rates, less use of rescue medication, and shorter headache duration) included treatment with almotriptan 12.5 mg, treatment of mild or moderate headache pain, and treatment within 1 hour of headache onset.

Conclusion.— Almotriptan 12.5 mg was efficacious in providing 2‐hour pain free, 2‐hour pain relief, SPF, and reducing rescue medication use irrespective of the presence of AAS at the time of treatment. The most optimal efficacy outcomes occurred when patients treated migraine attacks early and before the onset of severe pain. The presence of AAS, which may indicate an early phase of allodynia, did not influence the efficacy of almotriptan therapy.
Cluster Attacks Responsive to Recreational Cannabis and Dronabinol
Authors: Robbins Matthew S. , Tarshish Sara , Solomon Seymour , Grosberg Brian M.
Published: February 2009

Pharmacological preparations of cannabinoid compounds have a variety of therapeutic uses in medicine, including different pain syndromes, but have not been previously reported as beneficial for cluster headache. We present a patient with cluster headache who was refractory to multiple acute and preventive medications but successfully aborted his attacks with recreational marijuana use; subsequent use of dronabinol provided equally effective pain relief. The beneficial effect may be related to the high concentration of cannabinoid receptors in the hypothalamus, which has been implicated as a site of dysfunction in neuroimaging studies of patients with cluster headache.
Self‐administered Vaginal Swabs Are a Feasible Alternative to Physician‐assisted Cervical Swabs for Sexually Transmitted Infection Screening in the Emergency Department
Authors: Berwald Nicole , Cheng Susan , Augenbraun Michael , Abu‐Lawi Khaled , Lucchesi Michael , Zehtabchi Shahriar
Published: February 2009

Background:  Screening for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the emergency department (ED) is limited by the need for pelvic examination. It has been suggested that using self‐administered vaginal swabs (SAVS) for this purpose may save time and resources and may be more comfortable for patients.

Objectives:  The objective was to test the feasibility of using SAVS for STI screening in the ED.

Methods:  This was a prospective study of female ED patients 18 to 55 years old who consented to physician‐assisted cervical swab (PACS) and SAVS in two urban teaching hospitals. The ED personnel offered the test to all patients, whether or not a pelvic examination was indicated, based on their chief complaint. All specimens were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay. Data are presented as mean ± standard deviation (SD). Categorical data are presented as percentages with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Patients with a positive test result for Chlamydia trachomatis and/or Neisseria gonorrhoeae were considered positive for STI. PACS were used as the criterion standard.

Results:  One‐hundred sixty‐two subjects were enrolled from July 2006 to July 2007 (mean [±SD] age = 32 [±10] years). Eighty‐one percent of patients had a genitourinary symptom (most common: vaginal bleeding/spotting). SAVS had a sensitivity of 91% (95% CI = 60% to 99%), specificity of 99% (95% CI = 95% to 99%), positive likelihood ratio of 91, and negative likelihood ratio of 0.09 in diagnosing STIs. None of the patients reported difficulty or discomfort using this technique.

Conclusions:  Self‐administered vaginal swabs can be utilized as a feasible alternative to PACS for STI screening in the ED.
Renin–angiotensin gene polymorphisms in relation to severe chronic periodontitis
Authors: Gürkan Ali , Emingil Gülnur , Saygan Buket Han , Atilla Gül , Köse Timur , Baylas Haluk , Berdeli Afig
Published: February 2009

Aim: Evidence suggests that the ultimate product of the renin–angiotensin system (RAS), angiotensin II, exerts inflammatory actions. The present study aimed to evaluate the inter‐relation between gene polymorphisms of the RAS components; angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE), angiotensinogen (AGT) and angiotensin II type‐I receptor (AT1R), and severe chronic periodontitis (CP).

Material and Methods: DNA was obtained from peripheral blood of 90 CP patients and 126 periodontally healthy subjects, and the clinical parameters were recorded. ACE I/D, AGT M235T and AT1R A1166C polymorphisms were genotyped by the PCR–RFLP method. Chi‐square, anova and logistic regression methods were used in statistical analyses.

Results: The frequency of the ACE D allele was significantly lower in the CP group than the healthy group (pcorr=0.015). CP subjects exhibited increased C allele carriage and C allele frequency of the AT1R gene (pcorr=0.03 and pcorr=0.03, respectively). All clinical parameters of CP patients were found to be similar in variant allele‐carrying and non‐carrying subjects (p>0.05).

Conclusions: The present findings suggest that ACE I/D and AT1R polymorphisms might be associated with susceptibility to CP but not with disease severity. The D allele of ACE I/D might be associated with decreased, whereas the C variant of AT1R A1166C might be associated with an elevated risk for CP in Turkish population.
STARTING ON THE ROAD TO REGIONAL POWER: COMMUNITY LABOR UNITED AND THE GREATER BOSTON LABOR COUNCIL
Authors: Boris Monica Bielski
Published: February 2009

This article examines Community Labor United (CLU), a nonprofit in Boston, Massachusetts that builds a bridge between labor unions and community organizations. Using interviews with key participants, CLU's formation, structure and strategies are revealed. In 2004 the Greater Boston Labor Council, with the help of the national AFL‐CIO, launched CLU. The essay demonstrates how the new non‐profit organization provides an anchor for ongoing work to build the kinds of alliances between labor and community groups that establish real power for working people in the greater Boston region. To build this power CLU engages in strategic research, leadership development and community organizing. This paper examines how labor and community leaders in Boston have set out on the road for building regional power.
COMMUNITY BENEFITS AGREEMENTS: LESSONS FROM NEW HAVEN
Authors: Simmons Louise , Luce Stephanie
Published: February 2009

Community Benefits Agreements (CBA) are a new tool for labor‐community coalitions, designed to ensure that economic development projects benefits workers and residents. In 2006, a labor‐community coalition in New Haven, Connecticut won a CBA with Yale‐New Haven Hospital after a two‐year campaign, and much longer campaign to unionize hospital workers. The CBA included provisions for affordable housing, job training, local hiring, access to healthcare, environmental and planning protections, and a commitment to union‐organizing rights. This article analyzes the campaign for the CBA and examines some outcomes, including its implementation. The CBA campaign was successful in building labor‐community alliances and political power, and had resulted in some concrete gains for residents. However, the Hospital has blatantly violated the union‐organizing rights part of the agreement, highlighting some of the limits of the CBA strategy in the face of a hostile employer.
THE LIMITS OF SOCIAL UNIONISM IN CANADA
Authors: Shantz Jeff
Published: February 2009

Significant attention has been given to social unionism in Canada as an alternative form of unionism which can combine successful bargaining with community‐based action for broader, even radical, social change. Supposedly representing an engaged, socially rooted activist union movement which might revitalize the labor movement as a whole, social unionism is said to provide the basis to return unions to the center of social change and progressive political action in Canada. There is even expectation that social unions will play a leading role in the foundation of a militant left resistance. Unfortunately, the reality is that social unionism has not been anything, even approximating a militant force or change or community defense during the decades‐long neoliberal period of capitalist development. In certain unfortunate instances, social union leaders have chosen to condemn the community groups that have put up a militant resistance, even going so far as to discipline their own rank‐and‐file members who have organized flying squads to support working‐class community struggles more broadly. The fundamental limits of social unionism in Canada are related to three main problems: a hierarchical and conciliatory bargaining model for action; electoralism and commitment to social democratic pressure politics through boycotts, symbolic protests, and political lobbying, especially through the New Democratic Party, and more recently even the procapitalist Liberal Party; and a charitable approach to community groups coupled with a paternalistic relation with social movements.
After the credit crunch: the future of sustainable investing
Authors: Robins Nick , Krosinsky Cary
Published: February 2009

As the fallout from the crisis in financial markets spreads throughout the wider economy, Nick Robins and Cary Krosinsky argue that preventing future market meltdowns and avoiding catastrophic climate change requires a new era of long‐termism in investment
Obama: The first 100 days
Authors: Andrews Marcellus , Marmor Ted , Mills Nicolaus , Walzer Michael , Stansell Christine , Wilentz Sean , DuBois Ellen
Published: February 2009

Seven US academics and commentators set out their hopes and suggestions for President Obama's first 100 days in office
Activation of Lactoperoxidase System in Milk by Glucose Oxidase Immobilized in Electrospun Polylactide Microfibers
Authors: Zhou Y. , Lim L.‐T.
Published: February 2009

ABSTRACT:  In this study, glucose oxidase (GOX) was immobilized in polylactide (PLA) fibers that were used to activate the lactoperoxidase (LP) system in milk. The GOX‐containing microfibers were electrospun from emulsions prepared by dispersing aqueous GOX in PLA dissolved in a chloroform and N,N‐dimethylformamide blend, using sorbitan monopalmitate as an emulsifier. The enzymatic activity of GOX‐in‐PLA fibers (1100 ± 400 nm diameter) was more than 19 times higher than that of the GOX‐in‐PLA membrane formed by direct casting, due to the larger surface area of the electrospun fibers. The activation of LP in model solutions using GOX‐in‐PLA fibers provided a more sustained generation of antimicrobial OSCN− than direct activation using H2O2. Preliminary evaluation on milk samples showed that the electrospun GOX‐in‐PLA microfibers are capable of activating the naturally present LP system, indicating that they may be promising for active food packaging applications to extend the shelf life of milk.
Changes in Phenolic Content and Antioxidant Activity of Italian Extra‐Virgin Olive Oils during Storage
Authors: Baiano A. , Gambacorta G. , Terracone C. , Previtali M.A. , Lamacchia C. , La Notte E.
Published: February 2009

ABSTRACT:  Phenolic composition and antioxidant activity of extra‐virgin olive oils extracted from several Italian varieties were studied at production and during storage. The antioxidant activity was measured according to the following tests: in the aqueous phase, by radical scavenging of the 2,2′‐azino‐bis(3‐ethylbenzthiazoline‐6‐sulfonic acid) (ABTS) radical cation; and in the lipid phase, using the β‐carotene bleaching method. The phenolic content was not correlated to the oxidation indices (peroxide value and spectrophotometric constants). The phenolic contents and profiles of the various cultivars showed remarkable differences. The phenolic content was strongly correlated with the antioxidant activity measured according to the β‐carotene test and weakly correlated with the radical scavenging ability.
Juvenile Court Variations: Procedural and Processing Differences in a Midwestern State
Authors: Maier Elizabeth Ann
Published: February 2009

This study examined whether location and type of juvenile court impacted processing for juveniles in a Midwestern state.1 For the analysis, the author used qualitative data. This article was built on the opinions and observations of those who work in the juvenile justice system on a daily basis. The author observed juvenile courts and interviewed judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys. The information contained herein verifies the differences between rural and urban juvenile justice practice and procedure. The results of this study also revealed that processing varies across jurisdictions and type of court in the juvenile justice system.
Historicising the Cosmogony: Naming the Asala Perahara in Buddhist Sri Lanka
Authors: Warrell Lindy
Published: February 2009

This article offers a novel interpretation of Sri Lanka's great ceremonial procession for the Buddha, the Asala Perahara. By conceptualizing the name, ‘Asala’ as a chronotope (Bakhtin 1981), and giving emphasis to its authorisation by Buddhist monks, the interpretation reveals that this ritual commemorates the origins of Buddhism in relation to the island of Sri Lanka, thus constituting it as a unique ‘quality space’ (Fernandez 1986) for its Buddhist inhabitants. The interpretation demonstrates that the distinction between mythic time and everyday time, as espoused by Lévi‐Strauss (1972) is not only arbitrary, but spurious in this context. Furthermore, contra Seneviratne (1978), it shows that far from being an anachronism in contemporary society, the Asala Perahara in fact enacts its cosmic premise and is politically powerful precisely because it defines reality in religious terms.
The Invisible Economy: Javanese Commerce in the Late Colonial State
Authors: Alexander Jennifer , Alexander Paul
Published: February 2009

Javanese economic history is conventionally represented as an involutionary process in which rural Javanese, protected from the deleterious effects of capitalism by the colonial State, intensified subsistence agriculture to provide each household with a meagre living. This study challenges the conventional interpretation in two respects. Firstly it demonstrates that before the Dutch established economic control and again around 1900, trade and petty commodity production were significant sectors of the indigenous economy producing perhaps thirty percent of rural income. Secondly, it argues that the inability of Javanese traders to compete with Chinese wholesalers was not due to a lack of commercial acumen but to State policies which inhibited capital accumulation and made credit prohibitively expensive.
Reform or Revolution in Heaven? Funerals among Upland Tai
Authors: Evans Grant
Published: February 2009

An examination of funeral ritual among upland Tai and Black Tai in particular, in northern Southeast Asia looks at the way it has articulated social and ethnic relations historically and in the present. It looks at how ritual and cosmology has shifted in response to social change and considers how this either weakens or strengthens ethnic boundaries between upland Tai and the surrounding dominant civilizations of Laos, Vietnam and China.
Social Organization and Knowledge
Authors: Billings Dorothy K.
Published: February 2009

This paper explores the relationship between different types of social organization, on the one hand, and different modes of knowing and types of knowledge, on the other. Some characteristic distinctions are suggested and supported with evidence, both from diverse areas of theory, and from the study of two contrasting Melanesian cultures: that of the Lavongai of New Hanover and the Tikana of New Ireland.
Women, Productive Roles, and Monetisation of the ‘Service Mode’ in Aboriginal Australia: Perspectives from Katherine, Northern Territory
Authors: Merlan Francesca
Published: February 2009

Anthropological discussions of the creation of social value have tended to be exchange‐ and object‐centered. Recently, however, some Australianists have been trying to develop ethnographically more appropriate formulations of ‘value’ among Australian Aboriginal people. This paper suggests that part of what is required is a critical and comparative perspective on the status of valued ‘things’ compared to other forms of value. It suggests a ‘service’ framework for understanding value in certain Australian Aboriginal contexts (see Sansom 1988), one in which being for, doing and giving are valued as ‘help’. There follows examination of aspects of this ‘service’ mode among Aboriginal people of the town camps of Katherine in the Northern Territory; of its transformation over the long term, following these people's recent, definitive entry into a welfare‐based cash economy, and implications of this transformation especially for women.
Nationalism, Aesthetic Redemption and Aboriginality
Authors: Lattas Andrew
Published: February 2009

In this paper I analyse some contemporary cultural constructions of the Australian national psyche and how these involve constructions of the otherness of Aboriginality and of modernity. In particular, I am interested in analysing how the spiritualised otherness of Aboriginality is produced and employed within nationalist discourses which are concerned with establishing the cultural integrity and authenticity of Australian culture. Aborigines have became a cultural category to be used within discourses which assign themselves a redemptive function in relationship to curing the ravages inflicted by modernity.
A Politics of Ontology: Continuities and Discontinuities
Authors: Kondos Vivienne
Published: February 2009

Preamble

They wait, then they swoop. At whoever is to get the shoe‐garland. One will try to sling it around that person's neck. The others will help if it falls. But they will have to move quickly if they are to manage to get the string of dirty sandals and shoes around the man's shoulders before he can stop them. One will try to put soot on the victim's face… Then they will rush from the place.
Living in a Clinic: The Power of Public Health Promotions
Authors: Metcalfe Andrew
Published: February 2009

Drawing on an anthropological study of the Cessnock area of New South Wales, this paper considers the politics of recent health promotion campaigns in Australia, placing the new ‘healthist’ discourse in its historical context. Whereas Cessnock people were once said to be bestial, or childish, or sick, they are now said to be fat. Whereas Methodism was once prescribed as the solution, doctors now order a rational and maximising attitude to life. It is argued that the undoubted seriousness of Cessnock's health ‘problem’ and the undoubted good will of the health promoters do not remove the danger of cultural imperialism.
The Anthropologist's Body or What It Means to Break Your Neck in the Field
Authors: Biddle Jennifer L.
Published: February 2009

Today the rider wore no smiles. She was tired, or head‐achy, or involved in relationships with human beings. (Patrick White, The Tree of Man)
The Maleny ‘Fire Event’: Rehearsals Toward Neo‐liminality
Authors: Lewis J. Lowell , Dowsey‐Magog Paul
Published: February 2009

Although the anthropological literature on ritual is extensive, little theoretical attention has been paid to recent attempts to (re)create rituals among mainstream groups in post‐industrial, secularised societies. The authors address this issue by examiuning the annual Fire Event, which is constructed as a ritual climax to the Maleny Folk Festival in southern Queensland, Australia. Using the work of Victor Turner and John MacAloon as a point of departure, we argue that at best such celebrations constitute a neo‐liminal framework within which participants can achieve a consensus of belief and action. By showing that some Fire Events have been more successful ‘rituals’ than others, we also highlight the factors which tend to impede participation and ‘con‐subjectivity’ in such settings. In the process we identify some of the cultural divisions at Maleny, such as those between artists and ‘folk’, feral hippies and ‘hoons’, Aboriginals and Anglos, and begin to reflect on how these may relate to more general patterns of interaction in Australian society at large.
Kuranda at War: Contested Space and the Politics of the Market Place1
Authors: Henry Rosita
Published: February 2009

An important recent development in anthropology has been a concern with how identity is actively constructed, communicated and contested in what de Certeau (1984) calls ‘spatial practices’. The particular practices that I discuss in this paper relate to the small town of Kuranda, a popular tourist destination in the rainforest near Cairns in North Queensland. By focusing on the Kuranda Markets as a ‘hot spot’ I seek to demonstrate some of the contexts in which social identities are communicated and contested. What Kuranda people call ‘The Market War’ occurred over a period of about 18 months during 1986–87. I recount here the story as told to me by stall‐holders, market‐owners and others involved in ‘the war’. I suggest that the Kuranda Market War can be understood as a form of social practice in which alternative constructions of Kuranda as a place are contested.
‘Black Italians’ in the Sugar Fields of North Queensland: a Reflection on Labour Inclusion and Cultural Exclusion in Tropical Australia
Authors: Moraes‐Gorecki Vanda
Published: February 2009

‘Black Italians’ is a metaphorical expression constructed under particular social‐historical conditions of power struggles in colonial Australia. It originated in processes associated with the legitimation of capital expansion, the appropriation of labour, and the formation of ethnic and racial representations of identity. This paper attempts to discuss the structures and practices which gave rise to this metaphor.
Motherlands? Some Notes on Women and Nationalism in India and Africa
Authors: Jolly Margaret
Published: February 2009

The relation of women to nationalism is problematic, both in political adjudications of nationalism and in women's status both as subjects and as objects of signification, in narrating the nation. This is nowhere more poignantly patent than in the relation of motherhood and nationalism. This paper compares some recent approaches to representations of ‘mothers of the nation’ in India and South Africa. Three aspects of the problem are highlighted. Firstly, how far images of the mothers of the nation are masculinist creations, rather than ones which women themselves author? Secondly, how does the glorification of the mother in nationalist representations relate to the corporeal experiences of real mothers? Thirdly, how far does such imagery unite or divide women in its rhetorical stress on their identity as mothers?
Veiled Objects of (Post)‐Colonial Desire: Forbidden Women Disrupt the Republican Fraternal Space
Authors: Bloul Rachel A.D.
Published: February 2009

Three girls refusing to remove their headscarves in classrooms sparked a national debate in France lasting three months. This paper analyses the debate, dominated by both French and Maghrebi men in the light of the disruptions of gender and power relations caused by postcolonial immigration.
`Two Laws‘, Ontologies, Histories: Ways of Being Aranda Today
Authors: Austin‐Broos Diane J.
Published: February 2009

At Hermannsburg, in central Australia, Western Aranda people frequently propose that they live by ‘two laws’, Aranda law and God's law. This is a common phenomenon remarked throughout northern Australia and analysed by a number of anthropologists in the past. This discussion throws new light on the issue by interpreting `two‐laws' talk in terms of a culture of encompassment that marks the emergence of historical or ‘ethnic’ identities as Aboriginal people make the transition from an autonomous world to one in which they must engage in the practices of European orders that can come to dominate their lives. The discussion deploys ‘ontology’ and ‘ethnicity’ in order to mark different magnitudes of difference that can shape Aboriginal experience today.
Books from Heaven: Literary Pleasure, Chinese Cultural Text and the `Struggle Against Forgetting‘1
Authors: Souchou Yao
Published: February 2009

Chinese radical discourses from the time of the May Fourth movement to the Tiananmen incident have always indexed the complicit role of classical texts like Confucianism in the production of repressive ideology. However the radical erasure of such texts is by no means easy when Chinese pedagogic experience and cultural memory give significant cultural capital to the skills required in the reading of such texts. This paper is a meditation on the work of the Chinese artist Xu Bing whose Tian Shu or ‘A Book From the Sky’ encapsulates the contradictory performances of traditional aesthetic form. It is argued that a strategic rediscovery of classical texts can form a crucial personal project in the constitution of diasporic memory.
Fragments of a Composite Identity: Aspects of Australian Nationalism in a Sports Setting1
Authors: Mewett Peter G.
Published: February 2009

I argue that it is erroneous to view nations as culturally homogeneous entities. Rather, all nations are riven by multiple divisions. What characterises a nation is that the people constituting it believe that they share a sameness with their co‐nationals. So, the idea of cultural homogeneity is a myth that breathes life into nationalism: it is a cohering leitmotiv, a predicate of the ‘imagined community’ that can be subscribed to in different ways by people of diverse social locations and of disparate interests. Whereas most writers on nationalism write from a top‐down perspective, I side with Hobsbawm in posing the question of how ‘ordinary’ people embrace a belonging to their nation. I maintain that there is no single, simple axis of national cohesion: rather, in any nation, there are multiple ways of identifying with and intuiting the collectivity. The emergence of the axioms of Australian nationhood, particularly with regard to how ideas of Australian distinctiveness emerged in counterpoint to British based discourses, is explored. I suggest that people ‘lock‐in’ to these axioms through the symbology of specific events and situations. Attention is directed to the Stawell Easter Gift professional running carnival as an event that, amongst other things, provides occasions that enable participants to ‘lock‐in’ to the meta‐discourse of national identity.
Playing the Stockmarket in Tana Toraja
Authors: Thompson Robyn
Published: February 2009

This paper describes the players and the play in a weekly stockmarket in Tana Toraja. South Sulawesi, where up to 600 buffalo bulls are bought and sold for exorbitant prices by any standards. These prices are partly determined by external, global economic forces. The buffaloes are all intended for sacrifice in elaborate funerals. Although contributed by individuals or families they are conceived as part of mana. the common wealth of tongkonan. the origin houses of the Toraja. Live bulls cannot be given away but are able to be lent in ceremonial exchanges at funerals. After sacrifice, their raw meat is distributed to participants in the funeral in a version of potlatch. Bulls mediate all exchange. apart from mundane commodity exchange, and are liquid assets. A mature black bull is an object of general equivalence able to be exchanged as payment for certain symbolic objects. In the past the production, distribution and circulation of buffaloes, both on the hoof and as meat, were controlled by the nobility. Buffaloes were said to be in finite supply. They derived from the Upperworld and accompanied the ancestors of the Toraja nobility to this world and were replenished through the ritual of the ways of the ancestors. Now the advent of the market has democratised buffaloes. There has been a dispersion of wealth and the power that the bulls embody. Any man—noble, commoner or former slave‐who has sufficient cash is able to buy and sell buffaloes: to have a share in the stockmarket. The marketplace has become a new field of power play, one where innovative methods are being found for increasing the supply of buffaloes by importing hundreds of inferior quality buffaloes and by a program of artificial insemination which has been instigated by the local government. In the parlance of Wall Street this is a bull market.
The Anthropologist as Geologist: Howitt in Colonial Gippsland
Authors: Keen Ian
Published: February 2009

The paper discusses A.W. Howitt's position as an amateur of science in colonial Gippsland, and explores connections between his geological and anthropological endeavours. Two contexts contributed to the kind of anthropology he did. and the kinds of works he wrote. One is the point on the trajectory of the colonial history of Victoria when Howitt joined it and began his researches. The other is the moment in the development of anthropology when he and his sister Anna Mary Howitt began to read and correspond about the discipline, and he began to correspond with other practitioners. Geology was linked to Howitt's anthropology in two ways: through his working life in Gippsland, and in models that informed the evolutionary paradigm within which his anthropological research and writing were situated.
Anthony's Feast: The Gift in Abelam Aesthetics
Authors: Losche Diane
Published: February 2009

In this essay I take up a major theme in the work of Anthony Forge: the relationship between word and image. Focusing on the problem of what the Abelam say (or do not say) about the design elements in masculine initiation rites, I explore the relationship between language and the exchange relations that are involved in the ceremony. While the Abelam have no explicit way of explaining the design elements, initiation involves a constructed and aestheticised use of language. This lecture will investigate the word/image nexus from this viewpoint.
Anthropology in Disneyworld: Rapport, Gardner, and the ‘Discipline‘ of Social Anthropology
Authors: Quigley Declan
Published: February 2009

This article examines the response by Rapport to the critique made by Gardner of his book Transcendent Individual. Rapport eschews the idea of discipline in relation to anthropology. This is connected to his distaste for any hint of social determinism, and his eulogising of the essay format as the most suitable means of conveying human contrariety. His approach necessarily leads him to embellish his accounts of what the world is like with visions of what it should be like if only everyone adopted his literary and liberal stance. A contrary ‘manifesto’ is here presented: the job of social anthropology is to explain actual historical societies, and one cannot simply appropriate the subject so that it now becomes about a kind of never‐never land. Rapport's approach, far from leading to a glorification of individuality, leads only to a monochrome vision which paints all human beings as reductively ‘aesthetic’, ignoring, and rendering impossible the explanation of all institutionalised forms of belief and practice, not least those brutal forms which, says Rapport, inspire his work.
The Field of Art Production and Western Desert Acrylics1
Authors: Hoban Caroline Holmstrom
Published: February 2009

Following the logic of Bourdieu's notion of ‘field’, acrylic art production in the Western Desert of Australia is positioned as a sub‐field in the field of Western art production. The significance of the cultural identity of the producer subordinates Western Desert acrylic art within the field and the shift in the criteria of legitimation constitutes it as a sub‐field. The capital at stake in the sub‐field of Western Desert acrylic art is differentiated and contingent upon legitimation of authenticity as defined by the Western field of art production. This capital is constituted through the positioning of Western Desert acrylics within the field of art production and is a manifestation of the struggle to maintain domination within the field.