bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Effects of canopy-mediated abrasion and water flow on the early colonisation of turf-forming algae
Authors: Russell Bayden D.
Published: August 2007

Algal canopies form predictable associations with the benthic understorey, and canopy-mediated processes may maintain these associations. Three canopy-mediated processes that are inherently linked are water flow through a canopy, abrasion of the substrate by the canopy, and light penetration. These processes were experimentally reduced to test the hypotheses that turf-forming algae would be: (1) positively affected by reduced abrasion by kelp canopies; (2) positively affected by reduced water flow; and (3) negatively affected by shading (reduced light). Biomass of turf-forming algae was greater when abrasion was reduced, but less when light was reduced. In contrast to predictions, reduced water flow had a negative effect on the percentage cover and biomass of turf-forming algae, rejecting the second hypothesis. It seems, however, that this negative effect was caused by an increase in shading associated with reduced canopy movement, not a reduction of water flow per se. None of the factors accounted for all of the change seen in understorey algae, indicating that it is important to study the interactive effects of physical processes.
A strategy for predicting the chemosensitivity of human cancers and its application to drug discovery
Authors: Lee Jae K. , Havaleshko Dmytro M. , Cho HyungJun , Weinstein John N. , Kaldjian Eric P. , Karpovich John , Grimshaw Andrew , Theodorescu Dan
Published: August 2007

The U.S. National Cancer Institute has used a panel of 60 diverse human cancer cell lines (the NCI-60) to screen >100,000 chemical compounds for anticancer activity. However, not all important cancer types are included in the panel, nor are drug responses of the panel predictive of clinical efficacy in patients. We asked, therefore, whether it would be possible to extrapolate from that rich database (or analogous ones from other drug screens) to predict activity in cell types not included or, for that matter, clinical responses in patients with tumors. We address that challenge by developing and applying an algorithm we term “coexpression extrapolation” (COXEN). COXEN uses expression microarray data as a Rosetta Stone for translating from drug activities in the NCI-60 to drug activities in any other cell panel or set of clinical tumors. Here, we show that COXEN can accurately predict drug sensitivity of bladder cancer cell lines and clinical responses of breast cancer patients treated with commonly used chemotherapeutic drugs. Furthermore, we used COXEN for
in silico
screening of 45,545 compounds and identify an agent with activity against human bladder cancer.
Polycystin-1 Induces Cell Migration by Regulating Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-dependent Cytoskeletal Rearrangements and GSK3β-dependent Cell–Cell Mechanical Adhesion
Authors: Boca Manila , D'Amato Lisa , Distefano Gianfranco , Polishchuk Roman S. , Germino Gregory G. , Boletta Alessandra
Published: August 2007

Polycystin-1 (PC-1) is a large plasma-membrane receptor encoded by the PKD1 gene mutated in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). Although the disease is thought to be recessive on a molecular level, the precise mechanism of cystogenesis is unclear, although cytoarchitecture defects seem to be the most likely initiating events. Here we show that PC-1 regulates the actin cytoskeleton in renal epithelial cells (MDCK) and induces cell scattering and cell migration. All of these effects require phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-K) activity. Consistent with these observations Pkd1−/− mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) have reduced capabilities to migrate compared with controls. PC-1 overexpressing MDCK cells are able to polarize normally with proper adherens and tight junctions formation, but show quick reabsorption of ZO-1, E-cadherin, and β-catenin upon wounding of a monolayer and a transient epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) that favors a rapid closure of the wound and repolarization. Finally, we show that PC-1 is able to control the turnover of cytoskeletal-associated β-catenin through activation of GSK3β. Expression of a nondegradable form of β-catenin in PC-1 MDCK cells restores strong cell–cell mechanical adhesion. We propose that PC-1 might be a central regulator of epithelial plasticity and its loss results in impaired normal epithelial homeostasis.
p21 transcription is regulated by differential localization of histone H2A.Z
Authors: Gévry Nicolas , Chan Ho Man , Laflamme Liette , Livingston David M. , Gaudreau Luc
Published: August 2007

In yeast cells, H2A.Z regulates transcription and is globally associated within a few nucleosomes of the initiator regions of numerous promoters. H2A.Z is deposited at these loci by an ATP-dependent complex, Swr1.com. Here we show that H2A.Z suppresses the p53 → p21 transcription and senescence responses. Upon DNA damage, H2A.Z is first evicted from the p21 promoter, followed by the recruitment of the Tip60 histone acetyltransferase to activate p21 transcription. p400, a human Swr1 homolog, is required for the localization of H2A.Z, and largely colocalizes with H2A.Z at multiple promoters investigated. Notably, the presence of sequence-specific transcription factors, such as p53 and Myc, provides positioning cues that direct the location of H2A.Z-containing nucleosomes within these promoters. Collectively, this study strongly suggests that certain sequence-specific transcription factors regulate transcription, in part, by preferentially positioning histone variant H2A.Z within chromatin. This H2A.Z-centered process is part of an epigenetic process for modulating gene expression.
GST Pull-down
Authors: Einarson Margret B. , Pugacheva Elena N. , Orlinick Jason R.
Published: August 2007

INTRODUCTION

Glutathione-S-transferase (GST) fusion proteins have had a wide range of applications since their introduction as tools for synthesis of recombinant proteins in bacteria. One of these applications is their use as probes for the identification of protein-protein interactions. The pull-down method described in this protocol is fundamentally similar to immunoprecipitation. Immunoprecipitation is based on the ability of an antibody to bind to its antigen in solution, and the subsequent purification of the immunocomplex by collection on protein A- or G-coupled beads. Similarly, the GST pull-down is an affinity capture of one or more proteins (either defined or unknown) in solution by its interaction with the GST fusion probe protein and subsequent isolation of the complex by collection of the interacting proteins through the binding of GST to glutathione-coupled beads.
Far Western: Probing Membranes
Authors: Einarson Margret B. , Pugacheva Elena N. , Orlinick Jason R.
Published: August 2007

INTRODUCTION

The far-Western technique described in this protocol is fundamentally similar to Western blotting. In Western blots, an antibody is used to detect a query protein on a membrane. In contrast, in a far-Western blot (also known as an overlay assay) the antibody is replaced by a recombinant GST fusion protein (produced and purified from bacteria), and the assay detects the interaction of this protein with target proteins on a membrane. The membranes are washed and blocked, incubated with probe protein, washed again, and subjected to autoradiography. The GST fusion (probe) proteins are often labeled with 32P; alternatively, the membrane can be probed with unlabeled GST fusion protein, followed by detection using commercially available GST antibodies. The nonradioactive approach is substantially more expensive (due to the purchase of antibody and detection reagents) than using radioactively labeled proteins. In addition, care must be taken to control for nonspecific interactions with GST alone and a signal resulting from antibody cross-reactivity. In some instances, proteins on the membrane are not able to interact after transfer. This may be due to improper folding, particularly in the case of proteins expressed from a phage expression library. This protocol describes a way to overcome this by washing the membrane in denaturation buffer, which is then serially diluted to permit slow renaturation of the proteins.
In Situ Hybridization to Drosophila Testes: Figure 1.
Authors: Schulz Cordula
Published: August 2007

INTRODUCTION

The tips of Drosophila testes harbor the germ line stem cells, their amplifying daughters, and the cells of the stem cell lineage environments. These cells, located within the apical 100 μm, are specifically hard to label, as the testes appear to be less penetrable at the tips. Here we report an in situ hybridization protocol that works reliably to detect RNA in the cells at the apical tips of Drosophila testes.
Synthesis and Purification of Digoxigenin-Labeled RNA Probes for In Situ Hybridization
Authors: Sive Hazel L. , Grainger Robert M. , Harland Richard M.
Published: August 2007

INTRODUCTION

In situ hybridization is the most versatile method for determining when and where embryonic transcripts are expressed. Although a detailed analysis of gene expression often requires analysis of sectioned material, the whole-mount approach is invariably the first method used to localize gene expression. Whole-mount in situ hybridization has also become an invaluable tool for analyzing experimentally manipulated embryos and explants. The information gained using this technique is similar to that obtained from immunohistochemistry and includes not only the location of expression but a semiquantitative estimate of the relative levels of gene expression in different parts of the embryo. Because most genes are first analyzed as genomic or cDNA clones, it is straightforward to derive specific probes from these sequences. In this protocol, standard RNA synthesis using a bacteriophage polymerase is carried out incorporating a digoxigenin-substituted ribonucleotide, dig-UTP. In vitro transcription in the direction opposite to in vivo transcription of the mRNA makes an antisense RNA that is complementary to the mRNA. The ratio of dig-UTP to UTP has been optimized to give efficient synthesis and efficient detection of the probe. The three commercially available bacteriophage polymerases (SP6, T7, and T3) all incorporate the substituted nucleotide with equivalent efficiencies, and thus there is a wide choice of plasmid vectors to prepare the template.
Production of Endoribonuclease-Prepared Short Interfering RNAs (esiRNAs) for Specific and Effective Gene Silencing in Mammalian Cells
Authors: Heninger Anne-Kristin , Buchholz Frank
Published: August 2007

INTRODUCTION

The mechanism of RNA interference has emerged as a practical tool to study loss of function in many organisms. To make the method of gene knockdown suitable for mammalian cells, short interfering double-stranded RNAs (siRNAs) need to be applied. This protocol describes a straightforward, low-cost method, which uses recombinant Escherichia coli RNase III to digest long dsRNA into endoribonuclease-prepared short interfering RNAs (esiRNAs). Advantages of this technology are the high efficiency and specificity of the resulting esiRNA and its usefulness for not only small-scale applications, but also high-throughput loss-of-function analyses. Another great asset of esiRNA is its flexibility in design, using Web-based tools such as DEQOR, or predesigned esiRNA sequences from the database RiDDLE. PCR products flanked with T7 promoter sequences are generated, transcribed, and annealed. The resulting long dsRNA is enzymatically digested into a pool of overlapping esiRNAs, which are subsequently spin-column-purified.
Identification of Protein-Protein Interactions with Glutathione-S-Transferase (GST) Fusion Proteins
Authors: Einarson Margret B. , Pugacheva Elena N. , Orlinick Jason R.
Published: August 2007

INTRODUCTION

Glutathione-S-transferase (GST) fusion proteins have had a wide range of applications since their introduction as tools for synthesis of recombinant proteins in bacteria. GST was originally selected as a fusion moiety because of several desirable properties. First and foremost, when expressed in bacteria alone, or as a fusion, GST is not sequestered in inclusion bodies (in contrast to previous fusion protein systems). Second, GST can be affinity-purified without denaturation because it binds to immobilized glutathione, which provides the basis for simple purification. Consequently, GST fusion proteins are routinely used for antibody generation and purification, protein-protein interaction studies, and biochemical analysis. This article describes the use of GST fusion proteins as probes for the identification of protein-protein interactions.
DrosophilaCell Culture and Transformation: Figure 1.
Authors: Cherbas Lucy , Cherbas Peter
Published: August 2007

INTRODUCTION

PermanentDrosophilacell lines derived from mixed embryonic tissues including the most commonly used lines, S2 and Kc, have been available for ~30 yr. More recently, lines derived from specific tissues, imaginal discs, and the larval central nervous system have come into use. Although cultured cells were originally used by Drosophilists mainly as convenient sources of DNA or carrier RNA, that situation has changed, as an armamentarium of techniques for using the cells has slowly but steadily evolved. Most investigators useDrosophilacell lines as hosts for transformation experiments. The goal may be to characterize a promoter, to investigate the role of a transcription factor, to overexpress a polypeptide, or to do something more novel. This article provides an organized collection of pointers to published protocols.
Identification and discrimination of Electrogena species by numerical methods (Ephemeroptera: Heptageniidae)
Authors: BELFIORE C.
Published: August 2007

Abstract. Nine species of Electrogena from thirty‐one populations were investigated on the basis of five meristic and five ratio characters of the larvae. The attribution of populations to species was checked by a cluster analysis based on the generalized distances between pairs. Groups representing species were then subjected to a multiple discriminant analysis; discriminant functions and loadings were calculated. The correct attribution of individuals to species by the discriminant functions ranged from 97% to 100%. The analysis of discriminant loadings shows which characters contribute more to the discrimination of species. Although many species could be identified with some confidence by a sequential monothetic key based on meristic and qualitative characters, the discriminant analysis improves the effectiveness of identification of all species.
Systematic revision and phylogeny of the Palaearctic species of the genus Achalcus Loew (Diptera: Dolichopodidae) with the description of four new species
Authors: POLLET MARC
Published: August 2007

Abstract. The Palaearctic species of the genus Achalcus (Diptera: Dolichopodidae) are revised. Besides redescriptions of A.cinereus, A.fiavicollis, A.melanotrichus, A.thalhammeri and A.vaillanti, four species are described as new: A.bimaculatus, A.britannicus, A.nigropunctatus Pollet & Brunhes and A.phragmitidis. Keys to males and females of all Palaearctic species of the genus are given. Both morphologically and ecologically, A.melanotrichus is clearly distinct from all other species and seems to demonstrate the most primitive characters, especially in the thoracic and leg chaetotaxy. Epandrial setae and the epandrial lobe are clearly separated in the hypopygium of this species, whereas the former seem to be incorporated in the epandrial lobe in all other Palaearctic species. Seven out of 9 species show pale abdominal stemites and the presence or absence of the sutural bristle proves to be of special diagnostic value within this group. Furthermore, the reduced size of the anterodorsal bristles on the hind femur is considered a significant synapomorphy in four species. Finally, the investigation of Nearctic, Neotropic and Australasian Achalcus is considered relevant to confirm the polarity of a number of characters in this genus.
The reliability, stability, and predictive utility of the self‐report version of the Antisocial Process Screening Device
Authors: MUÑOZ LUNA C. , FRICK PAUL J.
Published: August 2007

The psychometric properties of the self‐report version of the Antisocial Processes Screening Device (APSD; Frick & Hare, 2001), a rating scale developed to assess traits associated with the construct of psychopathy in youth, was tested in a sample of 91 non‐referred young adolescents with an average age of 13.38 (SD = 1.75) at the initial assessment. The sample was recruited from a large community‐wide screening, where youth with conduct problems and youth high on psychopathic traits were over‐sampled. The sample was reassessed three times at yearly intervals. The self‐report scores on the APSD showed moderate correlations with parent ratings of psychopathic traits, were moderately stable across 1–2 years, and showed significant correlations with measures of antisocial behavior both concurrently and predictively. One major weakness of the self‐report ratings was the low internal consistency of the subscales, which were much lower than the internal consistency found on the parent report version of the scale.
Speech anxiety and rapid emotional reactions to angry and happy facial expressions
Authors: DIMBERG ULF , THUNBERG MONIKA
Published: August 2007

The aim was to explore whether people high as opposed to low in speech anxiety react with a more pronounced differential facial response when exposed to angry and happy facial stimuli. High and low fear participants were selected based on their scores on a fear of public speaking questionnaire. All participants were exposed to pictures of angry and happy faces while facial electromyographic (EMG) activity from the Corrugator supercilii and the Zygomaticus major muscle regions was recorded. Skin conductance responses (SCR), heart rate (HR) and ratings were also collected. Participants high as opposed to low in speech anxiety displayed a larger differential corrugator responding, indicating a larger negative emotional reaction, between angry and happy faces. They also reacted with a larger differential zygomatic responding, indicating a larger positive emotional reaction, between happy and angry faces. Consistent with the facial reaction patterns, the high fear group rated angry faces as more unpleasant and as expressing more disgust, and further rated happy faces as more pleasant. There were no differences in SCR or HR responding between high and low speech anxiety groups. The present results support the hypothesis that people high in speech anxiety are disposed to show an exaggerated sensitivity and facial responsiveness to social stimuli.
Parents’ estimations of their own intelligence and that of their children: A comparison between English and Icelandic parents
Authors: FURNHAM ADRIAN , VALGEIRSSON HALLDOR
Published: August 2007

In this study, 158 parents (79 fathers and 79 mothers) with a mean age of 38.3 yrs (SD = 8.2), estimated their own, and their children's, overall intelligence as well as their children's score on the 12 intelligence scales from the Wechsler's Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC‐III). The sample included English (n = 122) and Icelandic parents (n = 36), and a comparison between them showed few differences except that Icelandic parents’ estimates were lower than English parents’ estimates. The results showed fathers estimated their own overall intelligence higher than mothers estimated theirs and sons were estimated higher than daughters on overall intelligence. Two factors (verbal, performance) of intelligence were identified through factor analysis of the ratings of the 12 WISC subscale score estimates. A hierarchical regression showed that these two factors explained most of the variance in the estimation of the child's overall intelligence; however, gender of child and parents’ self‐estimated own overall intelligence added incremental variance.
Making gender matter: The role of gender‐based expectancies and gender identification on women's and men's math performance in Sweden
Authors: ERIKSSON KIMMO , LINDHOLM TORUN
Published: August 2007

It is well established that an emphasis on gender differences may have a negative effect on women's math performance in USA, Germany and the Netherlands. It has further been found that an individual's identification with the stereotyped group may moderate effects of negative stereotypes. The present study investigated how gender‐based expectancies affected the math performance of women and men in Sweden, a nation with a smaller gender gap than in other countries, and a strong cultural emphasis on gender equality. Participants, 112 female and 74 male undergraduate math students from Swedish universities, completed a difficult math test in which their gender was either linked to their test performance or not. Men performed better than women when gender was made relevant among participants who did not see their gender as an important aspect of their identity, while participants high in gender identification were unaffected by gender identity relevance. Moreover, the gender relevance manipulation affected men's performance more than women's. The results deviate from findings on US samples, indicating that the role of group identification as a moderator of stereotype‐based expectancy effects is complex, and that factors in the cultural context may interact with individual differences in identification to determine the impact of negative stereotypes.
Factors Determining Net Interest Margins in Australia: Domestic and Foreign Banks
Authors: Williams Barry
Published: August 2007

This study tests the application of the Ho and Saunders (1981) model of bank net interest margins (NIMs), and its subsequent developments, using Australian data. The core elements of this model apply in Australia. Bank market power is found to increase NIMs, consistent with McShane and Sharpe (1985), with evidence of bank buying market share and mispricing for risk. Operating costs also have an important role in determining NIMs, together with implied payments and management quality. Bank NIMs are found to have fallen over the study period.
Multiprotein genetic vaccine in the SIV‐Macaca animal model: a promising approach to generate sterilizing immunity to HIV infection
Authors: Maggiorella Maria Teresa , Sernicola Leonardo , Crostarosa Federica , Belli Roberto , Pavone‐Cossut Maria Rosaria , Macchia Iole , Farcomeni Stefania , Tenner‐Racz Klara , Racz Paul , Ensoli Barbara , Titti Fausto
Published: August 2007

Background  Vaccine combining structural and regulatory proteins is an emerging approach to develop an HIV/AIDS vaccine and therefore, the immunogenicity and efficacy of two regimens of immunization combining structural (Gag/Pol, Env) and regulatory (Rev, Tat, Nef) Simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) proteins were compared in cynomolgus monkeys.

Methods  Monkeys were immunized with Modified Vaccine Ankara vector (MVA‐J5) (protocol 1) or with DNA, Semliki forest virus and MVA vectors (DNA/SFV/MVA) (protocol 2). At week 32, all monkeys were challenge intravenously (protocol 1) or intrarectally (protocol 2) with 50 MID50 of SIVmac251. Humoral, proliferative responses and in particular in protocol 2, the frequency of IFN‐γ producing cells, were measured in all monkeys before and after the challenge.

Results  Both vaccine regimens elicited humoral and proliferative responses but failed to induce neutralizing antibodies. Upon intravenous challenge, two out of three MVA‐J5 vaccinated monkeys exhibited a long‐term control of the viral replication whereas DNA/SFV/MVA vaccine abrogated the virus replication up to undetectable level in three out of four vaccinated monkeys. A major contribution to this vaccine effect appeared to be the IFN‐γ/ELISPOT responses to vaccine antigens (Gag, Rev Tat and Nef).

Conclusions  These results, indicate that multiprotein heterologous prime‐boost vaccination can induce a robust vaccine‐induced immunity able to abrogate virus replication.
Immunogenicity of a DNA prime and recombinant adenovirus boost regime significantly varies between rhesus macaques of Chinese and Indian origins
Authors: Stahl‐Hennig Christiane , Suh You Suk , Park Ki Seok , Sauermann Ulrike , Kim Kwang Soon , Ahn Soshin , Franz Monika , Schulte Reiner , Stolte‐Leeb Nicole , Hunsmann Gerhard , Sung Young Chul
Published: August 2007

Background  Due to an ever increasing shortage of rhesus macaques of Indian origin (InR) that have been generally used for preclinical AIDS vaccine trials in non‐human primates, demand is rising for Chinese rhesus macaques (ChR). However, the immunogenicity of an AIDS vaccine candidate has not been compared in parallel in both rhesus macaque subspecies.

Methods  ChR and InR were immunized with SIV/HIV DNA and adenovirus vaccine and their immune responses to SIV and HIV evaluated.

Results  SIV Gag‐ and Env‐specific T‐cell responses and SIV‐specific lymphoproliferative responses measured in ChR were significantly weaker than those in InR (P < 0.05). By contrast, antibody responses to SIV Env, Tat, and Nef in ChR were stronger than those in InR (P < 0.05).

Conclusions  Immunogenicity of an AIDS vaccine can vary significantly depending on the geographic origin implying genetic differences of macaques. This must be considered when describing and interpreting results of such vaccine studies.
Anti‐CD3/28 mediated expansion of macaque CD4+ T cells is polyclonal and provides extended survival after adoptive transfer
Authors: Onlamoon Nattawat , Plagman Nicholas , Rogers Kenneth A , Mayne Ann E. , Bostik Pavel , Pattanapanyasat Kovit , Ansari Aftab A. , Villinger François
Published: August 2007

Abstract Background  Our lab has previously shown that adoptive transfer of in vitro expanded autologous purified polyclonal CD4+ T cells using anti‐CD3/CD28 coated beads induced antiviral responses capable of controlling simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) replication in vivo.

Results  Expansion on anti‐CD3/28 coated beads was found to induce a true polyclonal expansion as CFSE labeled cells uniformly showed dilution of the dye over several days of culture, in contrast to aliquots of the same cells subjected to mitogen stimulation. Of interest was the finding that CD4+ T cells collected before and during early chronic SIV infection or AIDS stage did not show any or only modest differences in proliferative response or expansion kinetics. The reason for such excellent expansion properties was analyzed by the quantitation of telomerase activity in aliquots of expanding CD4+ T cells from sample collected at various times post‐infection. First, anti‐CD3/28 expanded CD4+ T cells exhibited telomerase levels 2‐ to 20‐fold higher than the starting population of CD4+ T cells. Moreover, while telomerase activity in ex vivo tested CD4+ T cells was found to decrease following SIV infection and disease progression, anti‐CD3/28 expansion appeared to restore significant levels of telomerase activity as no difference was noted in telomerase expression between CD4+ T cells expanded from samples collected before or during the chronic SIV infection. When such expanded and CFSE labeled T cells were autologously transferred to monkeys, evidence for extended survival in vivo was provided as CFSE labeled cells were detected to relatively high levels in blood and spleen at 1 week post‐infection.

Conclusion  In summary, the data suggest that anti‐CD3/28 mediated expansion of CD4+ T cells retains its immunotherapeutic potential not only during the early stages of lentiviral infection but also at more advanced stages of disease.
Simian immunodeficiency virus infection induces severe loss of intestinal central memory T cells which impairs CD4+ T‐cell restoration during antiretroviral therapy
Authors: Verhoeven D. , Sankaran S. , Dandekar S.
Published: August 2007

Background  Simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infection leads to severe loss of intestinal CD4+ T cells and, as compared to peripheral blood, restoration of these cells is slow during antiretroviral therapy (ART). Mechanisms for this delay have not been examined in context of which specific CD4+ memory subsets or lost and fail to regenerate during ART.

Methods  Fifteen rhesus macaques were infected with SIV, five of which received ART (FTC/PMPA) for 30 weeks. Viral loads were measured by real‐time PCR. Flow cytometric analysis determined changes in T‐cell subsets and their proliferative state.

Results  Changes in proliferative CD4+ memory subsets during infection accelerated their depletion. This reduced the central memory CD4+ T‐cell pool and contributed to slow CD4+ T‐cell restoration during ART.

Conclusion  There was a lack of restoration of the CD4+ central memory and effector memory T‐cell subsets in gut‐associated lymphoid tissue during ART, which may contribute to the altered intestinal T‐cell homeostasis in SIV infection.
Depo‐Provera abrogates attenuated lentivirus‐induced protection in male rhesus macaques challenged intravenously with pathogenic SIVmac239
Authors: Genescà Meritxell , Li Jun , Fritts Linda , Chohan Paul , Bost Kristen , Rourke Tracy , Blozis Shelley A. , McChesney Michael B. , Miller Christopher J.
Published: August 2007

Background  Progesterone administration prior to intravaginal challenge with pathogenic SIVmac239 decreases the protective efficacy of live attenuated vaccines in rhesus macaques.

Methods  To determine if progesterone alters the efficacy of live attenuated vaccines through local or systemic effects, seven male rhesus macaques were immunized with SHIV89.6 and then challenged intravenously with SIVmac239. Three of these animals were treated with Depo‐Provera 30 days prior to the SIV challenge.

Results  The SHIV animals had significantly lower plasma viral RNA levels than the unimmunized control monkeys, but the Depo‐Provera treated, SHIV‐immunized animals did not. Despite the lack of protection, the Depo‐Provera SHIV animals had strong SIV specific T‐cell responses. However, altered patterns of NK frequency and CD38 T‐cell expression prior to SIV challenge were observed in Depo‐Provera SHIV animals.

Conclusions  Depo‐Provera eliminates live‐attenuated lentivirus vaccine efficacy in male rhesus monkeys through systemic effects on antiviral immunity and/or viral replication.
Did Jesus Christ Claim to be God?
Authors: McNabb Vincent
Published: August 2007

We may imitate the method of our master St. Thomas by setting down the opinion from which we differ. Dean Rashdall of Carlisle has given us a full and perhaps final expression of that opinion in his paper read at the Cambridge Conference of Modern Churchmen under the title “Christ as Logos and Son of God.” He writes :

“Jesus did not claim divinity for Himself. He may have called Himself, or more probably allowed Himself to be called, the Messiah or Son of God. But never in any critically well-attested sayings is there anything which suggests that His conscious relation to God was other than that of a man towards God. . . . The speeches of the Fourth Gospel where they go beyond the Synoptic conception cannot be regarded as history, valuable as they may be for theology. The doctrine of our Lord’s divinity must be taken to express the Church’s conception of what Jesus is or should be to His followers and to the world, not His own theory about Himself.

“Note 2. . . .If we accept the Synoptic discourses as substantially correct (though not, of course, in every detail, for there are considerable discrepancies between them), it is impossible to regard the Johannine discourses as equally accurate reports ; and even in this Gospel few sentences (when taken apart from the Preface, which does not pretend to represent the words of Jesus, and other comments of the Evangelist) imply actual Godhead in the sense of post-Nicene theology. . . . The claim to be the Son of God does not necessarily imply Godhead” (The Modern Churchman, Sept., pp. 278, 279)
Modern Marriage
Authors: O'Donoghue Timothy
Published: August 2007

What is wrong with modern marriage? A somewhat interesting correspondence upon this question appeared during the summer in a London morning paper, and hundreds of people took part in it, eager to give an answer in the light of their own experiences. It was obviously a popular, and certainly a timely, subject for discussion : popular, since almost every conceivable and inconceivable school of thought (or what passes for thought) was represented in that curious series of letters. It was, too, a timely subject, since something must be very wrong with modern marriage when so many thousands of men and women are hastening to the divorce courts to get their marriages dissolved. Still, it was not, nor was it intended to be, a serious or a useful discussion ; its headlines were meant to provide something catchy and piquant for the holiday-making public, and if they prevented the newspaper sales from going all to pieces during the dead season, the correspondence amply fulfilled its purpose.

Yet the whole matter of modern marriage is far more serious than those light-hearted inquisitors killing time by the summer sea suppose. Marriage is no longer the grave, deliberate, and stable settlement it used to be, and, outside the Catholic Church, there are few marriages to-day in which, from the first, divorce is not contemplated as a possible eventuality. Divorce has, in fact, now assumed the proportions of a scandal and of a portent unique in the annals of Christianity. True, it has been a commonplace in America for many years, but nothing American ever seems to surprise us over much : we look upon her as a young and irresponsible country, and it is the acknowledged privilege of youth and irresponsibility to shock its elders with impunity.
Henry Vaughan
Authors: Makepeace John Foster
Published: August 2007

Among the “metaphysical poets” of the seventeenth century Richard Crashaw, George Herbert, and Henry Vaughan form a group apart. They were writers of purely devotional poetry in an age when licentious love-poems and “epithalamiums”— what Dr. Johnson styled “amorous ditties”—were the prevailing fashion. They were united by the . immense spiritual debt which, as they both acknowledge, Crashaw and Vaughan owed to “holy Herbert.” And their chief poems were written within the space of twenty years, for Herbert wrote “The Temple” in 1632 ; Crashaw, “Steps to the Temple” in 1648 ; and Vaughan, “Silex Scintillans” in 1654.

Johnson’s use of the word “metaphysical” in his Essay on Cowley is a curious instance of how a quite inappropriate epithet may fairly describe a certain peculiarity of poetic style. For, although it has no relation whatever to any philosophical matter in the poetry, it is by no means difficult to see what was in the great critic’s mind. An appearance of profundity of thought produced by cryptic language was what he noted, and he used the word “metaphysical” in much the same way as some modern writers use the word “mystical,” without regard to its exact connotation, as a general term for that which is not easily understood because its meaning does not lie upon the surface. Herbert, Crashaw, and Vaughan were thus, to a certain extent, “metaphysical” poets, like Cowley and Donne. Herbert, indeed, explains, and partly justifies, his use of this form in the poem strangely entitled “Jordan”
The Soldan and the Pastrycook of Paris
Authors: Eden Helen Parry
Published: August 2007

Long ago, in the days of St. Louis, there lived in the city of Paris a rich pastrycook. He had not always been rich ; in fact, he began in a very small way indeed as one of those itinerant rissole-sellers who go about at night with a large basket covered with a white napkin, selling rissoles and wafer-cakes to the poor scholars of the University. The scholars used to lead most of the pastrycooks no end of a dance, stealing their baskets and eating the rissoles and hanging the empty baskets up as trophies under their windows. But this pastrycook, whose name was Master Otelinus, did not lose his basket twice, but kept his eyes open and stuck to business and rose very high indeed in what was only too appropriately termed in those days (as, indeed, it should be in our own) the mystery of a pastrycook.

In due time he built a handsome shop in The Great Street not far from the Sorbonne, and here he stood at his open window—whose bottom shutters let down into the street made a fine counter, while the top ones were hooked back for an awning—and sold pies of all sorts and sizes from morning till night. Pies stuffed with pork and eels and wild-fowl and eggs—sometimes good eggs and sometimes bad, sanis et quandoque itn-mundis—and very peppery cheese custard. And his servants paraded the city—for he no longer went out himself—cheating his old enemies, the students, over black and white prunes and cherries and unripe apples and such-like small gear.
The Silesian Angel
Authors: Watkin Edward Ingram
Published: August 2007

The Silesian Angel, or the Cherubic Wanderer. Under these quaint titles is hidden and forgotten the personal name of one of the most significant, and in manner most original of the seventeenth-century mystics. About the time that a Welsh doctor—the Silurist, Henry Vaughan— published a volume of devotional poetry, of which the thought and feeling are steeped in mysticism, the expression of quaintest beauty, a German doctor newly converted from Lutheranism to the Church, John Scheffler, also published a volume of poetry, more directly mystical in substance and whose style, though of another manner, possesses equal charm and quaintness. In the old-world herb garden of seventeenth-century mystical literature with the rosemary of “Silex Scintillans” we may gather the thyme of the Cherubinischer Wandersman. This latter work consists not of poems but of rhymed couplets, in all 1675, divided into six books. Each couplet (occasionally there are quatrains and two or three longer pieces) sums up with a concision, which rivals the Latin collect, a maxim of mystical theology, of Catholic dogma viewed from the mystical standpoint, or some ascetical rule preparatory to mystical experience. Certainly the doctrine is not original. But we can hardly look for substantial originality in the description of man’s experience of eternal truth. Nor even is the standpoint original. Every utterance can be paralleled from previous mystical writers, either of the German-Flemish or the later Spanish school. Indeed the writer is eager to insist on this in his preface. But the teachings gathered from books explain and confirm the content of a living personal experience. The poet relates what his own eyes have seen of the Word of Life.
Bishop Gore's Belief in God
Authors: McNabb Vincent
Published: August 2007

John Henry Newman’s Apologia pro vita sua has been epigrammatically described as “the work of a French sceptic controlled by an English don—or a joint product of Voltaire and Bishop Butler.” Bishop Gore’s Belief in God, which might well be called his Apologia pro fide sua, is of the same dual and complementary parenthood as the earlier Apologia. Cardinal and Bishop alike belong to that resolute band of thinkers for whom the highest truths are to be discovered in a balance of probabilities and even of contradictories.

The younger apologist is hardly a less challenging personality than the elder. Few of the Tertullians or Origens of our day have had a life so crowded with happenings and doings. An Oxford Doctor of Divinity who identified his economic thought with Socialism, who interwove his theological thought with Rationalism, and who accepted the ecclesiastical mode of Anglo-Catholicism, had colour enough in his life to attract not only the undergraduate imagination of Oxford, but even the adult commercialism of Birming ham. There was no limit to the influence wielded by a man who seemed prepared to give up everything, even a belief or a Bishopric, in his thirst for the truth. Thus sceptics were dogmatic about the power wielded over men by a man who

. . . had been very far After where the shadows are.
St. Lawrence of Dublin
Authors: Watkin Edward Ingram
Published: August 2007

After wellnigh eight centuries of cruelty and hate, peace seems now at last to be dawning upon Ireland. In a poem of servile flattery addressed in 1545 to Henry VIII by the antiquary Leland, are three Latin verses to celebrate an imagined final settlement of the Irish question. “Repentance has subdued the savage Irish everywhere routed, and has taught them to bear the sweet yoke of British law.” After the experience of some four further centuries of persistent attempt to force on the Irish the “yoke” —to their taste not sweet but bitter—of an alien people, we have at long last learnt that the only true and final peace between England and Ireland must be based on liberty and justice. Whether the present treaty be wholly in accordance with these is a political question I do not wish to raise. Only this is surely evident that it does offer such measure of both as will enable Ireland to enter with full self-respect a new and a better union with England, a union not of force and terror, but of free co-operation. That the dawn is overcast with the storm clouds of bitter opposition from irreconcilables should not make us despondent. For the storm clouds will pass over, and the dawn will brighten into daylight.

While we are thus watching the dawn with a hope not to be killed by passing anxieties, it seems opportune to remember one who at the very hour of sunset, when the shadows of the coming night were beginning to darken over his country, worked for that dawn whose rise we now witness.
Dan Bartholomew and the Fair Châtelaine
Authors: Eden Helen Parry
Published: August 2007

Seven hundred years ago, in a castle not twenty miles from Canterbury, there lived a very vain and beautiful lady. She was the wife of the lord of the manor and was known from Oxford to Jerusalem— wherever there were knights to joust for her and minstrels to sing of her—as the Fair Châtelaine. And there was also, tucked away in a little cell under the castle leads, a very holy old priest called Dan Bartholomew, who said Mass for the inmates of the castle and did his best to look after their souls.

This was no light task. For though the lord of the castle was a pious enough man when he was at home (which was not often), and the poor peasants round about found time between dawn and dusk to say a few prayers and light a few candles in the forlorn little chapel by the gate-house, the lady kept as far as she could from prayer and altogether from penance. Yet certainly few people needed penance more than that worldly dame. Never a year went by but she spent a knight’s ransom in clothes ; and the older she got and the more her beauty waned, the more new-fangled and costly became her attire.

Of course in her husband’s absence it was Dan Bartholomew’s business to check her ; but she was like the crab which when asked why it walked sideways said, “So I learnt from my parents,” and gave him nothing but saucy answers in return for his serious admonitions. When her husband came back from the Crusade it was even worse.
Four Great Russians
Authors: Ayscough John
Published: August 2007

When Peter the Great built St. Petersburg he said he was opening a window into Europe. Gogol, Turgenief, Tolstoy, and Dostoievsky opened the greatest windows that we have even yet into Russia. The Russia that they described is buried, though perhaps it is not really dead. It may yet stretch its enormous bulk and cast away its foul and bloody grave-clothes.

At all events, the Russia of those four masters has disappeared behind the Red Dark. Their work is not the less interesting, and would not be, even if the disappearance should be final. It would remain a portentous monument four-square ; Gogol’s side the most uncouth, but not the least striking; Turgenief’s the most ornamental and most adorned, but not the most definite—indeed, the least national and the least powerful; Tolstoy’s the most eulogized, perhaps the most renowned, but not the greatest or the strongest; Dostoievsky’s the most passionately truthful, sincere, and pathetic, if also the most terrible. Of these four architects of the great monument, Turgenief was the least Russian : he had lived in the light of common day outside, and he wrote from memory ; into his memories shone gleams of a western sun. His pen was half-civilized, and that gain was a loss to him. One meets in his books characters that one might meet in a French novel—though it would be one of the finest and best of the French novels. He had ideas of beauty less Russian than western, and his absence tempered his pictures ; he desired that they should please, and a certain haze of gentleness softens their definition. They are incomparably less massive, less prepotent, than Gogol’s or Dostoievsky’s, and are weakened by their graciousness. There was nothing gracious about Gogol’s pictures ; he painted brutally and did not shrink from their brutality, or dream of making it please. The truth he saw was vastly ugly, and he was only concerned to show it vast and true. He did not write of civilized persons and did not himself pose as a civilized writer. He stripped himself and his characters to the shirt, and gave the latter no pose and no quarter.
Music for Midnight Mass
Authors: Dayrell Vivienne
Published: August 2007

Swing thy slow circles, Thurible, before His Face,

Nor let there one grain fall Of incense . . . for the thurible is Space,

Unstarréd Space : and this revolving ball One grain of incense in the dust of all,

That in the solemn silence no winds stir.

. . . Planets and constellations , . . these are votive myrrh And frankincense, to give sweet-scented praise And prayer, before the Stall Where lies the Lord of All.

. . . Swing thy slow circles, Thurible, before His Face.

Swing thy slow circles, Thurible, before His Feet ...

O Planets, nought save earth,

Dust shall you burn before His judgment throne

As now you burn to celebrate His birth

When all the Sons of God exult and sing for mirth.

. . . Pale streams of stars, you smoke in sacrifice Perpetually slow-rising up to Paradise Still as unwavering flame and faintly sweet,

To praise the Eternal One,

Incarnate Word, the Son. -

. . . Swing thy slow circles, Thurible, before His Feet.

Swing thy slow circles, Thurible, for Him, thy Lord,

Within Whose Hand, heaped light

The Cosmos lies : and through Whose Fingers poured

Run like fine sand the planets . . . they that write

High in black Space the message of His might

Who sleeps, half-hearing through His dreams, the Song

Rise as a tide, triumphantly and strong—

“ Stars as tall altar-tapers light With steady flame the deeps of Night,

But low in the heavens a greater shines.

Kings have found the key

Of this Mystery

In the last of all the Signs.”