bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
ASH1 Gene Is a Specific Therapeutic Target for Lung Cancers with Neuroendocrine Features
Authors: Osada Hirotaka , Tatematsu Yoshio , Yatabe Yasushi , Horio Yoshitsugu , Takahashi Takashi
Published: December 2005

Lung cancers with neuroendocrine features are usually aggressive, although the underlying molecular mechanisms largely remain to be determined. The basic helix-loop-helix protein, achaete-scute complex-like 1/achaete-scute homologue 1 (ASH1), is expressed in normal fetal pulmonary neuroendocrine cells and lung cancers with neuroendocrine elements and is suggested to be involved in lung carcinogenesis. In the present study, we show inhibition of ASH1 expression by plasmid-based RNA interference (RNAi) to significantly suppress growth of lung cancer cells with ASH1 expression through G2-M cell cycle arrest and accumulation of sub-G1 populations, possibly linked to cleavage of caspase-9 and caspase-7. However, lung cancer cell lines without ASH1 expression and immortalized normal BEAS2B bronchial epithelial cells were not affected. The RNAi-resistant mutant ASH1 clearly induced rescue from G2-M arrest, suggesting a target-specific effect of RNAi. An ASH1-RNAi adenovirus was also established and significantly inhibited not only in vitro cell proliferation but also in vivo xenograft growth of ASH1-positive NCI-H460 cells. Elevated levels of apoptosis were also observed in NCI-H460 xenografts with the ASH1-RNAi adenovirus. The present study therefore suggests that ASH1 plays a crucial role in lung cancer development and may be an effective therapeutic target in lung cancers with neuroendocrine features.
RETRACTED: Physical and Functional Interaction of DNA Methyltransferase 3A with Mbd3 and Brg1 in Mouse Lymphosarcoma Cells
Authors: Datta Jhrana , Majumder Sarmila , Bai Shoumei , Ghoshal Kalpana , Kutay Huban , Smith David Spencer , Crabb John W. , Jacob Samson T.
Published: December 2005

Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b are de novo DNA methyltransferases that also act as transcriptional repressors independent of methyltransferase activity. To elucidate the underlying mechanism of transcriptional repression, Dnmt3a was purified from mouse lymphosarcoma cells (P1798) by extensive fractionation on five different chromatographic matrices followed by glycerol density gradient centrifugation. Liquid chromatography electrospray tandem mass spectrometry analysis of Dnmt3a-associated polypeptides identified the methyl CpG binding protein Mbd3, histone deacetylase 1(Hdac1), and components of Brg1 complex (Brg1, Baf155, and Baf57) in the purified preparation. Association of Dnmt3a with Mbd3 and Brg1 was confirmed by coimmunoprecipitation and coimmunolocalization studies. Glutathione S-transferase pulldown assay showed that the NH2-terminal ATRX homology domain of Dnmt3a interacts with the methyl CpG binding domain of Mbd3 and with both bromo and ATPase domains of Brg1. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assay revealed that all three proteins are associated with transcriptionally silent methylated metallothionein (MT-I) promoter in the mouse lymphosarcoma cells. To understand the functional significance of their association with the promoter, their role on the MT-I promoter activity was analyzed by transient transfection assay. The results showed that Mbd3 and Dnmt3a specifically inhibited the methylated promoter, and the catalytic activity of Dnmt3a was dispensable for the suppression. In contrast, the wild-type but not the ATPase-inactive mutant of Brg1 suppressed MT-I promoter irrespective of its methylation status, implicating involvement of ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling in the process. Coexpression of two of the three interacting proteins at a time augmented their repressor function. This study shows physical and functional interaction of Dnmt3a with components of nucleosome remodeling machinery.
mda-9/Syntenin: A Positive Regulator of Melanoma Metastasis
Authors: Boukerche Habib , Su Zao-zhong , Emdad Luni , Baril Patrick , Balme Brigitte , Thomas Luc , Randolph Aaron , Valerie Kristoffer , Sarkar Devanand , Fisher Paul B.
Published: December 2005

Metastasis is a significant event in cancer progression and continues to pose the greatest challenge for a cancer cure. Defining genes that control metastasis in vivo may provide new targets for intervening in this process with profound therapeutic implications. Melanoma differentiation associated gene-9 (mda-9) was initially identified by subtraction hybridization as a novel gene displaying biphasic expression during terminal differentiation in human melanoma cells. Mda-9, also known as syntenin, is a PDZ-domain protein overexpressed in many types of human cancers, where it is believed to function in tumor progression. However, a functional role of mda-9/syntenin in tumor growth and metastasis and the signaling pathways involved in mediating these biological activities remain to be defined. Evidence is now provided, using weakly and highly metastatic isogenic melanoma variants, that mda-9/syntenin regulates metastasis. Expression of mda-9/syntenin correlates with advanced stages of melanoma progression. Regulating mda-9/syntenin expression using a replication-incompetent adenovirus expressing either sense or antisense mda-9/syntenin modifies the transformed phenotype and alters metastatic ability in immortal human melanocytes and metastatic melanoma cells in vitro and in vivo in newborn rats. A direct relationship is observed between mda-9/syntenin expression and increased phosphorylation of focal adhesion kinase, c-Jun-NH2-kinase, and p38. This study provides the first direct link between mda-9/syntenin expression and tumor cell dissemination in vivo and indicates that mda-9/syntenin expression activates specific signal transduction pathways, which may regulate melanoma tumor progression. Based on its ability to directly alter metastasis, mda-9/syntenin provides a promising new focus for melanoma cancer research with potential therapeutic applications for metastatic diseases.
Overcoming Fas-Mediated Apoptosis Accelerates Helicobacter-Induced Gastric Cancer in Mice
Authors: Cai Xun , Stoicov Calin , Li Hanchen , Carlson Jane , Whary Mark , Fox James G. , Houghton JeanMarie
Published: December 2005

The initiating molecular events in Helicobacter-induced gastric carcinogenesis are not known. Early in infection, Fas antigen–mediated apoptosis depletes parietal and chief cell populations, leading to architectural distortion. As infection progresses, metaplastic and dysplastic glands appear, which are resistant to Fas-mediated apoptosis. These abnormal lineages precede, and are thought to be the precursor lesions of, gastric cancer. Acquisition of an antiapoptotic phenotype before transformation of cells suggests that loss of Fas sensitivity may be an early required trait for gastric cancer. We reasoned that forced Fas-apoptosis resistance would result in earlier and more aggressive gastric cancer in our mouse model. Fas antigen–deficient (lpr) mice or C57BL/6 wild-type mice were irradiated and reconstituted with C57BL/6 marrow forming partial lpr/wt chimera or wt/wt control mice, extending the life span of the lpr and ensuring a competent immune response to Helicobacter felis infection. Infected lpr/wt mice developed gastric cancer as early as 7 months after infection (compared with 15 months in wt/wt mice). At 10 months (90%) and 15 months (100%), mice developed aggressive invasive lesions. This earlier onset and more aggressive histology strongly argues that Fas-apoptosis resistance is an early and important feature of gastric cancer formation.
RNA Interference–Mediated Choline Kinase Suppression in Breast Cancer Cells Induces Differentiation and Reduces Proliferation
Authors: Glunde Kristine , Raman Venu , Mori Noriko , Bhujwalla Zaver M.
Published: December 2005

Choline kinase is overexpressed in breast cancer cells and activated by oncogenes and mitogenic signals, making it a potential target for cancer therapy. Here, we have examined, for the first time, the effects of RNA interference (RNAi)–mediated down-regulation of choline kinase in nonmalignant and malignant human breast epithelial cell lines using magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) as well as molecular analyses of proliferation and differentiation markers. RNAi knockdown of choline kinase reduced proliferation, as detected by proliferating cell nuclear antigen and Ki-67 expression, and promoted differentiation, as detected by cytosolic lipid droplet formation and expression of galectin-3. The functional importance of RNAi-mediated choline kinase down-regulation on choline phospholipid metabolism was confirmed by the significant reduction of phosphocholine detected by MRS. These results strongly support the targeting of choline kinase in breast cancer cells with RNAi and show the potential ability of noninvasive MRS to detect and evaluate future treatments incorporating such strategies.
Increased Hsp27 after Androgen Ablation Facilitates Androgen-Independent Progression in Prostate Cancer via Signal Transducers and Activators of Transcription 3–Mediated Suppression of Apoptosis
Authors: Rocchi Palma , Beraldi Eliana , Ettinger Susan , Fazli Ladan , Vessella Robert L. , Nelson Colleen , Gleave Martin
Published: December 2005

One strategy to improve therapies in prostate cancer involves targeting cytoprotective genes activated by androgen withdrawal to delay the emergence of the androgen-independent (AI) phenotype. The objectives of this study were to define changes in Hsp27 levels after androgen ablation and to evaluate the functional relevance of these changes in AI progression. Using a tissue microarray of 232 specimens of hormone-naïve and post-hormone ablation–treated prostate cancer, we found that Hsp27 levels increase after androgen ablation to become highly expressed (>4-fold, P ≤ 0.01) in AI tumors. Hsp27 overexpression rendered LNCaP cells highly resistant to androgen withdrawal both in vitro and in vivo. Tumor volume and serum prostate–specific antigen levels increased 4.3- and 10-fold faster after castration when Hsp27 was overexpressed. Treatment of LNCaP tumor cells in vitro with Hsp27 antisense oligonucleotides (ASO) or short-interfering RNA suppressed Hsp27 levels in a dose-dependent and sequence-specific manner increased the apoptotic sub–G0-G1 fraction and caspase-3 cleavage >2-fold, as well as decreased signal transducers and activators of transcription 3 (Stat3) levels and its downstream genes, c-fos and sPLA-2. The cytoprotection afforded by Hsp27 overexpression was attenuated by Stat3 knockdown using specific Stat3 ASO. Coimmunoprecipitation and immunofluorescence confirmed that Hsp27 interacts with Stat3 and that Stat3 levels correlated directly with Hsp27 levels. Hsp27 ASO treatment in athymic mice bearing LNCaP tumors significantly delayed LNCaP tumor growth after castration, decreasing mean tumor volume and serum prostate–specific antigen levels by 57% and 69%, respectively. These findings identify Hsp27 as a modulator of Stat3-regulated apoptosis after androgen ablation and as a potential therapeutic target in advanced prostate cancer.
The α6β4 Integrin Maintains the Survival of Human Breast Carcinoma Cells In vivo
Authors: Lipscomb Elizabeth A. , Simpson Kaylene J. , Lyle Stephen R. , Ring Jennifer E. , Dugan Aisling S. , Mercurio Arthur M.
Published: December 2005

The α6β4 integrin has been widely implicated in carcinoma function in vitro; however, in vivo data are scarce. To determine the importance of α6β4 in tumor progression, a SUM-159 breast carcinoma cell line that is essentially devoid of α6β4 expression was generated using an RNA interference strategy. Loss of α6β4 expression inhibits colony formation in soft agar assays, suggesting a vital role for α6β4 in survival signaling and anchorage-independent growth. Orthotopic injection of the β4-deficient cell line into the mammary fat pad of immunocompromised mice yielded significantly fewer and smaller tumors than the control cell line, revealing a role for the α6β4 integrin in tumor formation. Under conditions that mimicked the in vivo environment, decreased expression of the α6β4 integrin led to enhanced apoptosis as determined by the percentage of Annexin V-FITC+, PI− cells and the presence of caspase-3 cleavage products. Recombinant vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) significantly inhibited the cell death observed in the β4-deficient cell line, demonstrating the importance of VEGF expression in this survival pathway. Furthermore, loss of α6β4 expression leads to enhanced apoptosis and reduced expression of VEGF in breast carcinoma cells in vivo. Importantly, the specificity of α6β4 in both the in vitro and in vivo assays showed that reexpression of the β4 subunit into the β4-deficient cell line could rescue the functional phenotype. Taken together, these data implicate the α6β4 integrin in tumor formation by regulating tumor cell survival in a VEGF-dependent manner.
Interruption of Homologous Desensitization in Cyclic Guanosine 3′,5′-Monophosphate Signaling Restores Colon Cancer Cytostasis by Bacterial Enterotoxins
Authors: Pitari Giovanni M. , Baksh Ronnie I. , Harris David M. , Li Peng , Kazerounian Shiva , Waldman Scott A.
Published: December 2005

Bacterial diarrheagenic heat-stable enterotoxins induce colon cancer cell cytostasis by targeting guanylyl cyclase C (GCC) signaling. Anticancer actions of these toxins are mediated by cyclic guanosine 3′,5′-monophosphate (cGMP)–dependent influx of Ca2+ through cyclic nucleotide-gated channels. However, prolonged stimulation of GCC produces resistance in tumor cells to heat-stable enterotoxin–induced cytostasis. Resistance reflects rapid (tachyphylaxis) and slow (bradyphylaxis) mechanisms of desensitization induced by cGMP. Tachyphylaxis is mediated by cGMP-dependent protein kinase, which limits the conductance of cyclic nucleotide-gated channels, reducing the influx of Ca2+ propagating the antiproliferative signal from the membrane to the nucleus. In contrast, bradyphylaxis is mediated by cGMP-dependent allosteric activation of phosphodiesterase 5, which shapes the amplitude and duration of heat-stable enterotoxin–dependent cyclic nucleotide accumulation required for cytostasis. Importantly, interruption of tachyphylaxis and bradyphylaxis restores cancer cell cytostasis induced by heat-stable enterotoxins. Thus, regimens that incorporate cytostatic bacterial enterotoxins and inhibitors of cGMP-mediated desensitization offer a previously unrecognized therapeutic paradigm for treatment and prevention of colorectal cancer.
Suppression of Metastatic Colonization by the Context-Dependent Activation of the c-Jun NH2-Terminal Kinase Kinases JNKK1/MKK4 and MKK7
Authors: Vander Griend Donald J. , Kocherginsky Masha , Hickson Jonathan A. , Stadler Walter M. , Lin Anning , Rinker-Schaeffer Carrie W.
Published: December 2005

Advances in clinical, translational, and basic studies of metastasis have identified molecular changes associated with specific facets of the metastatic process. Studies of metastasis suppressor gene function are providing a critical mechanistic link between signaling cascades and biological outcomes. We have previously identified c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase (JNK) kinase 1/mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) kinase 4 (JNKK1/MKK4) as a prostate cancer metastasis suppressor gene. The JNKK1/MKK4 protein is a dual-specificity kinase that has been shown to phosphorylate and activate the JNK and p38 MAPKs in response to a variety of extracellular stimuli. In this current study, we show that the kinase activity of JNKK1/MKK4 is required for suppression of overt metastases and is sufficient to prolong animal survival in the AT6.1 model of spontaneous metastasis. Ectopic expression of the JNK-specific kinase MKK7 suppresses the formation of overt metastases, whereas the p38-specific kinase MKK6 has no effect. In vivo studies show that both JNKK1/MKK4 and MKK7 suppress the formation of overt metastases by inhibiting the ability of disseminated cells to colonize the lung (secondary site). Finally, we show that JNKK1/MKK4 and MKK7 from disseminated tumor cells are active in the lung but not in the primary tumor, providing a biochemical explanation for why their expression specifically suppressed metastasis while exerting no effect on the primary tumor. Taken together, these studies contribute to a mechanistic understanding of the context-dependent function of metastasis regulatory proteins.
The Octamer Binding Transcription Factor Oct-1 Is a Stress Sensor
Authors: Tantin Dean , Schild-Poulter Caroline , Wang Victoria , Haché Robert J.G. , Sharp Phillip A.
Published: December 2005

The POU-domain transcription factor Oct-1 is widely expressed in adult tissues and has been proposed to regulate a large group of target genes. Microarray expression profiling was used to evaluate gene expression changes in Oct-1-deficient mouse fibroblasts. A number of genes associated with cellular stress exhibited altered expression. Consistent with this finding, Oct-1-deficient fibroblasts were hypersensitive to γ radiation, doxorubicin, and hydrogen peroxide and harbored elevated reactive oxygen species. Expression profiling identified a second group of genes dysregulated in Oct-1-deficient fibroblasts following irradiation, including many associated with oxidative and metabolic stress. A number of these genes contain octamer sequences in their immediate 5′ regulatory regions, some of which are conserved in human. These results indicate that Oct-1 modulates the activity of genes important for the cellular response to stress.
Breast Cancer–Associated PIK3CA Mutations Are Oncogenic in Mammary Epithelial Cells
Authors: Isakoff Steven J. , Engelman Jeffrey A. , Irie Hanna Y. , Luo Ji , Brachmann Saskia M. , Pearline Rachel V. , Cantley Lewis C. , Brugge Joan S.
Published: December 2005

Activation of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway has been implicated in the pathogenesis of a variety of cancers. Recently, mutations in the gene encoding the p110α catalytic subunit of PI3K (PIK3CA) have been identified in several human cancers. The mutations primarily result in single amino acid substitutions, with >85% of the mutations in either exon 9 or 20. Multiple studies have shown that these mutations are observed in 18% to 40% of breast cancers. However, the phenotypic effects of these PIK3CA mutations have not been examined in breast epithelial cells. Herein, we examine the activity of the two most common variants, E545K and H1047R, in the MCF-10A immortalized breast epithelial cell line. Both variants display higher PI3K activity than wild-type p110α yet remain sensitive to pharmacologic PI3K inhibition. In addition, expression of p110α mutants in mammary epithelial cells induces multiple phenotypic alterations characteristic of breast tumor cells, including anchorage-independent proliferation in soft agar, growth factor–independent proliferation, and protection from anoikis. Expression of these mutant p110α isoforms also confers increased resistance to paclitaxel and induces abnormal mammary acinar morphogenesis in three-dimensional basement membrane cultures. Together, these data support the notion that the cancer-associated mutations in PIK3CA may significantly contribute to breast cancer pathogenesis and represent attractive targets for therapeutic inhibition.
Dialectics of leadership
Authors: Collinson David
Published: December 2005

Mainstream leadership studies tend to privilege and separate leaders from followers. This article highlights the value of rethinking leadership as a set of dialectical relationships. Drawing on post-structuralist perspectives, this approach reconsiders the relations and practices of leaders and followers as mutually constituting and co-produced. It also highlights the tensions, contradictions and ambiguities that typically characterize these shifting asymmetrical and interdependent leadership dynamics. Exploring three interrelated ‘dialectics’ (control/resistance, dissent/consent and men/women), the article raises a number of issues frequently neglected in the mainstream literature. It emphasizes that leaders exercise considerable power, that their control is often shifting, paradoxical and contradictory, that followers’ practices are frequently proactive, knowledgeable and oppositional, that gender crucially shapes control/resistance/consent dialectics and that leaders themselves may engage in workplace dissent. The article concludes that dialectical perspectives can provide new and innovative ways of understanding leadership.
Making friends: A nonexperimental analysis of social pair formation
Authors: Foster Gigi
Published: December 2005

Economists and psychologists often assume that people sort into groups based on similarities. In this article, the validity of this assumption is examined using pairwise data and a new application of a proven analytical technique. I use a unique administrative data set that follows undergraduate students as they move from quasi-randomly assigned housing into self-selected residence groups; social pair formation is measured using behavior, not survey responses. Sorting is observed from the baseline ‘clean slate’ of random groupings, creating a quasi-experimental environment and circumventing problems inherent in examining selection processes when starting groups are not randomly formed. A wide array of covariates, including original campus location, race, and academic ability is exploited to determine the most important factors driving students’ choices about with whom to live. Results support a role for ability in friendship formation, both conditionally and unconditionally, but also a significant and more potent influence of social factors and luck. The article demonstrates a novel approach to the analysis of normally unobserved human sorting processes in a real-world context.
Contemporary Developments in World Culture
Authors: Boli John
Published: December 2005

World culture in the post-war era of rapid globalization is increasingly organized, rationalized, and ubiquitous. The core of world culture - rationalized science, technology, organization, professionalization, etc. - has been thoroughly institutionalized. For all kinds of actors, global principles and procedures for the production of identity, action, and progress have expanded. Ontologically, individualism has been rising rapidly while collective identities have also strengthened in some respects. Normatively, the global moral order has become increasingly organized and broadly activated, particularly in terms of the ideology of human rights. In a dualistic process, world culture generates both extensive homogenization and the legitimation of certain forms of difference. Though some countervailing forces are evident, world culture is likely to continue to become further codified, institutionalized, and consequential in coming decades.
Divergence and Synchronization of the Institutional Clocks of the Welfare State
Authors: Mueller Georg P.
Published: December 2005

This article explores the divergence and synchronization of the development of the European welfare states by means of a new concept, that is, social/institutional time The concept enables the author to describe the development of welfare states by means of several time axes, which are complementary to conventional calendar time. On the basis of these multiple time axes, the article first analyses the historical trajectories of 13 European welfare states between 1885 and 1975. By means of factor analyses of the mentioned time data, the article subsequently also tackles the question of the dimensionality of social/institutional time, which is important for identifying the divergence or convergence of welfare state development. Finally, the article presents an integrated model of the interference and synchronization of the different institutional clocks of the welfare state. The model focuses on international and inter-institutional asynchronies for explaining the development of the welfare state between 1885 and 1975 and is corroborated by an empirical test based on the aforementioned time data.
Variations in Smoking during Hospitalization in Psychiatric In-Patient Units and Smoking Prevalence in Patients and Health-Care Staff
Authors: Keizer Ineke , Eytan Ariel
Published: December 2005

Background: Smoking and exposure to smoke are important concerns, especially in psychiatric in-patient services.

Aims: Our aims were to study variations in smoking after hospitalization for psychiatric in-patients, and to evaluate smoking-related concerns and prevalence for both patients and health-care staff.

Methods: A similar survey was mailed to staff members and proposed individually to all recently admitted patients; participation rates were 39% and 79% respectively.

Results: Three days after admission, 4/10 patients had increased and 3/10 had decreased their daily tobacco use. Univariate analysis of variance showed nicotine dependence scores to be associated with variations in consumption (p 1/4 .005): whereas 74% of heavy smokers decreased cigarette consumption, 80% of light and 57% of moderate smokers increased their consumption. The prevalence of current smoking was twice as high in patients (72%) as compared to health-care professionals (31%). Patients were also more nicotine dependent (Heaviness of Smoking Index (HSI) 1/4 3.97/vs. 1.81), and half of the patients were heavy smokers (> 20 cigarettes/day), as opposed to only 6.3% of the staff.

Conclusions: Smoking prevalence and daily tobacco consumption are very high in psychiatric patients. After hospitalization, light and moderate smokers increased whereas heavy smokers decreased smoking.
Views and Experiences of Employment among People with Psychosis: A Qualitative Descriptive Study
Authors: Marwaha Steven , Johnson Sonia
Published: December 2005

Background: Work is important for mental health but we are only just beginning to understand why so few people with psychosis in the UK work.

Aims: To identify the opinions of a purposive sample of patients with psychosis on themes related to employment.

Method: A thematic analysis of 15 semi-structured interviews with people with schizophrenia or bipolar affective disorder.

Results: Participants identified a range of advantages to working but also expressed substantial doubts. Symptoms, medication and potential damage to health are the problems that people believe affect their ability to work. Most people would not tell their employers about their illness because they feared discrimination during the selection process, but believed it could help their chances of retaining a job if employers knew. A number reported a lack of encouragement to work from mental health professionals and not enough helpful employment services.

Conclusions: Although most people want to work, given the pressures they face some may choose not to. Barriers that people face are both internal and external and these interact.
Family Burden and Relatives' Participation in Psychiatric Care: Are the Patient's Diagnosis and the Relation to the Patient of Importance?
Authors: Östman Margareta , Wallsten Tuula , Kjellin Lars
Published: December 2005

Background: Studies that differentiate among diagnoses have detected divergent results in the experience of family burden.

Aim: This study aimed to investigate differences in family burden and participation in care between relatives from subgroups of psychoses, affective disorders and ‘other diagnoses’, and between different subgroups of relatives.

Method: In a Swedish longitudinal study performed in 1986, 1991 and 1997, 455 close relatives of both committed and voluntarily admitted patients were interviewed concerning different aspects of their burden, need for support and participation in the actual care situation.

Results: Relatives showed burdens in several of the aspects measured. In only one aspect of the investigated burden items was a difference found between different diagnostic subgroups. The relatives of patients with affective disorder more often had to give up leisure time. However, spouses showed more burdens and more often experienced sufficient participation in the patient's treatment than other subgroups while siblings more seldom experienced burdens and more seldom felt that their own needs for support had been met by the psychiatric services. Within each diagnostic subgroup there were differences between subgroups of relatives.

Conclusion: Being a close relative, and living together with a severely mentally ill person in an acute situation, is one factor of importance for experiencing burden and participation in care, contradicting the conventional wisdom which differentiates between diagnoses.
Farming and Mental Health Problems and Mental Illness
Authors: Fraser C. E. , Smith K. B. , Judd F. , Humphreys J. S. , Fragar L. J. , Henderson A.
Published: December 2005

Background: Farmers experience one of the highest rates of suicide of any industry and there is growing evidence that those involved in farming are at higher risk of developing mental health problems. This article provides an overview of the literature examining mental health issues experienced by farming populations in the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, Canada and the United States and identifies areas for further research.

Method: A literature review (Medline, Science Direct, Ingenta, Proquest and Psych INFO) was carried out using the words ‘Farmers', ‘agriculture’, ‘depression’, ‘mental health’, ‘mental illness’, ‘stress’, and ‘suicide’, as well as a review of relevant papers and publications known to the authors. (Papers not written in English and those published prior to 1985 were excluded.)

Results: Fifty-two papers were identified with the majority focusing on stress and coping styles in farmers (24). A number of studies also focused on neuropsychological functioning and agricultural chemical use (7), depression (7), suicide (9), general mental health (4) and injury and mental health (1). This body of research studied male farmers, female farmers, farm workers, farming families, and young people living on farms. Research to date indicates that farmers, farm workers and their respective families face an array of stressors related to the physical environment, structure of farming families and the economic difficulties and uncertainties associated with farming which may be detrimental to their mental health.

Conclusion: Whilst suicide rates in some groups of farmers are higher than the general population, conclusive data do not exist to indicate whether farmers and farming families experience higher rates of mental health problems compared with the non-farming community. It is clear, however, that farming is associated with a unique set of characteristics that is potentially hazardous to mental health and requires further research.
British Gujarati Indian Immigrants' and British Caucasians' Beliefs about Health and Illness
Authors: Jobanputra Rena , Furnham Adrian F.
Published: December 2005

Background and aims: This study examined cultural differences in beliefs about health and illness to explore differences in younger and older British Caucasians' and British Gujarati Indian immigrants' beliefs about health and illness.

Methods: This study required a matched group consisting of first- and second-generation Gujarati Indian immigrants and native British Caucasians to complete a questionnaire assessing their beliefs concerning health and illness.

Results: Factor analysis of the health beliefs questionnaire identified six clear factors accounting for 36.04% of the variance. Subsequent ANCOVAs conducted on the factor scores, partialling out the demographic differences between the participants, revealed that Gujarati Indian immigrants agreed with items reflecting supernatural explanations of ill health more than indigenous British Caucasian participants. Older Indian immigrants also rated chance-related factors as more important than older Caucasian immigrants. There were no significant differences between the Gujarati Indian immigrants and British Caucasians in terms of attributions made to psychological factors and self-responsibility, social factors and life circumstances, medical treatment and physical vulnerability and the external environment.

Conclusions: Findings are discussed in relation to the model proposed by Helman (2001) and the impact of migration on health beliefs systems; practical implications of the findings are also highlighted.
Aggression in Asian Patients with First-Episode Psychosis
Authors: Verma Swapna , Poon Lye Yin , Subramaniam Mythily , Chong Siow-Ann
Published: December 2005

Aims: The aims of this study were to examine the prevalence and severity of aggression in patients with first-episode psychosis and to identify the association between aggression and sociodemographic and clinical factors. Methods: Consecutive patients with first-episode psychosis admitted to the Early Psychosis Intervention Programme, Singapore, were assessed for a history of aggressive acts. Diagnosis was confirmed using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV and psychopathology was assessed using PANSS.

Results: Of the 146 patients, 63.0% had no history of aggressive acts, 13.7% demonstrated severe aggression (defined as weapon use, sexual assault or victim injury) and 23.3% had lesser aggression (all other acts of aggression). Patients with aggression had a significantly longer duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) than those with no history of aggression (p 1/4 .01). The mean total PANSS scores did not differ significantly among the three groups. However, the General Psychopathology scores and the scores for ‘hostility’, ‘poor impulse control’, ‘lack of insight and judgement’ and ‘somatic concern’ were all significantly elevated in patients with aggression (p < .05).

Conclusion: The significant association between aggression and longer DUP once again reiterates the need for early detection and effective management of first-episode psychosis.
Help-Seeking Behaviour Regarding Mental Health Problems of Mediterranean Migrants in the Netherlands: Familiarity with Care, Consultation Attitude and Use of Services
Authors: Knipscheer Jeroen W. , Kleber Rolf J.
Published: December 2005

Background: Ethnic minority groups differ in the pattern of their seeking help, and in their use of and attitude towards mental health systems. To meet the mental health needs of ethnic minority populations, insights into determinants of their help-seeking orientations are of great concern. Aim: To investigate help-seeking behaviour regarding mental health problems in terms of familiarity, attitude and service use among Mediterranean migrants in the Netherlands.

Methods: Samples of Mediterranean citizens in the general population (N 1/4 292) and of Mediterranean (N 1/4 114) and indigenous Dutch outpatients (N 1/4 59) currently treated in mental health care were included. Data were acquired by administering a semi-structured interview. Quantified data were analysed using multivariate techniques.

Results: More recently arrived participants were less familiar with mental health services. Moroccan, lower educated and recently arrived respondents reported a more negative attitude towards consulting these agencies. The help-seeking behaviour of the Mediterranean participants was relatively similar to that of the indigenous Dutch subjects.

Conclusions: With regard to care-seeking routes and use of mental health services, more inter-ethnic similarities than differences emerged. Sociodemo-raphic variables like age, education and length of residence shape the process of help-seeking and service use.
Political Issue or Policy Matter?
Authors: Blevins Jeffrey Layne , Brown Duncan H.
Published: December 2005

Throughout the third biennial review of broadcast ownership rules, it became clear that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) handled the issue as a policy matter, limiting the debate within the agency to selected groups of experts, rather than as a political matter, which would have involved a much wider range of participants. Accordingly, the authors'analysis shows howmost of the 12 studies the FCC used in its reviewfocused predominantly on economic aspects. Contextualizing media ownership primarily as an economic issue tends to disengage the broader public from such policy debates and facilitates the deregulatory agenda sought by the FCC's most active stakeholders and monitors—the regulated industries. Although this issue has begun to resonate with the broader public, such efforts to narrow the FCC's analytic perspective on media ownership rules marginalizes certain categories of stakeholders, as well as their issues and concerns, from the policy-making process.
Military Metaphors, Masculine Modes, and Critical Commentary
Authors: Parameswaran Radhika
Published: December 2005

This article analyzes the rhetoric that surrounded September 11 in trade publications that cater to journalism professionals. Approaching journalists as an interpretive community, the author examines the ways in which reporters and editors narrate their experiences of producing news about the events of September 11, 2001. The analysis shows that journalists' public memories of their work relied on masculine metaphors of military and sport, privileged empiricist tasks of news production over complex processes of internal reflection, and elevated the work of male anchors. Stories aimed at improving journalists'skills in covering crises bolster their sense of competence, fragment the community along the axis of technology, teach lessons about the profession's responsibilities, and reproduce orientalist tropes of Muslim men. In conclusion, the article considers the implications of the author's analysis of September 11 in trade media for journalists'collective identities.
“Nothing Is Left Alone for Too Long”
Authors: Bratich Jack Z.
Published: December 2005

This article examines reality television as a cultural form of what Gilles Deleuze calls “control societies.” For Deleuze, the shift from disciplinary societies (enclosures, bounded spaces, institutions) to control societies (circuits, modulated spaces, networked relations) is marked by a change in the processes of subjectification. The “postindividual” or the “dividual” is characterized by interchangeability, flexibility, and mobility (in accordance with post-Fordist forms of labor). On reality TV (RTV), subjects nowbecome variables to be replaced, reversed, and transformed. More specifically, individuals' subjective limits are often tested corporeally (challenges on Fear Factor) and affectively (prank shows). We can think of RTV less as a genre than as a loose assemblage of techniques and experiments. I examine a wide range of programs, concentrating on prank shows.
Forgiving communication as a response to relational transgressions
Authors: Waldron Vincent R. , Kelley Douglas L.
Published: December 2005

Researchers and therapists have argued that forgiveness is essential to the process of relationship reconciliation. This project describes five types of forgiving communication reported by 187 adult members of romantic relationships. We labeled these forms of forgiving communication conditional, minimizing, discussion, nonverbal display, and explicit. As expected, forgivers recalled using more conditional and less minimizing types of communication when relational transgressions were severe. In addition, variations in reported forgiving communication were associated with relational outcomes. Partners who reported using conditional forms of communication also indicated that they experienced relationship deterioration after the forgiveness episode. In contrast, reported explicit and nonverbal forgiveness strategies were positively associated with relationship strengthening. The results are interpreted as further evidence that the role of communication behavior should be expanded in conceptual models of forgiveness and relationship reconciliation.
Explaining personal and constraint commitment in close relationships: The role of satisfaction, conflict responses, and relational bond
Authors: Givertz Michelle , Segrin Chris
Published: December 2005

Relational satisfaction, conflict responses, and perceived relational bond were examined as predictors of both personal and constraint commitment in close relationships. Participants were drawn from married, engaged, and dating relationships. A total of 96 couples (36 dating, 28 engaged, and 32 married) completed an interview and a series of self-report measures. The hypothesized association between satisfaction and personal commitment was supported; results indicated that relational satisfaction was the strongest predictor of both personal and constraint commitment in both men and women. The hypothesized association between perceived relational bond and personal and constraint commitment received partial support; it was only predictive of personal commitment in women. Finally, there was strong evidence that personal commitment mediates the otherwise unanticipated positive relationship between satisfaction and constraint commitment.
Marital transitions among Vietnam-era repatriated prisoners of war
Authors: Cohan Catherine L. , Cole Steven , Davila Joanne
Published: December 2005

We examined (i) whether marital outcomes in the 20 years following repatriation for 98 former Vietnam War prisoners of war (POW) differed from a matched comparison group of 98 Vietnam-era Navy aviators who did not experience captivity, and (ii) individual differences that contributed to vulnerability for divorce among the POWs and 56 of their wives. POWs had a higher divorce rate than the comparison sample, particularly in the 2 years following repatriation. POWs were more likely to divorce when they were younger, had shorter marriages, and had wives with lower marital satisfaction and more financial stressors. Marriage can be a casualty of war, even among those who are high functioning and have many personal advantages.
‘Similarity breeds liking’ revisited: The moderating role of commitment
Authors: Amodio David M. , Showers Carolin J.
Published: December 2005

The association between perceived similarity and liking for a romantic partner was examined in college students' relationships over the course of one year. Despite substantial evidence that similarity breeds attraction, perceived attribute similarity was positively correlated with liking only in highcommitment relationships. In low-commitment relationships, perceived dissimilarity was associated with greater liking and with maintenance of liking over time, consistent with Aron and Aron's (1997) self-expansion model. Relationship status (ongoing or ended) after one year was primarily explained by commitment at time 1. However, high perceived similarity appeared to buffer couples against destructive accommodation responses; relatively destructive responses were associated with ended status only when perceived similarity was low.
Anger regulation among friends: Assessment and development from childhood to adolescence
Authors: von Salisch Maria , Vogelgesang Jens
Published: December 2005

Because anger in close relationships is not only a source of strain, but can also serve to further emotional competence, a questionnaire was constructed on nine strategies of anger regulation within a same-sex friendship (SAR). A factor analysis of the children's version resulted in four factors. A confirmatory factor analysis corroborated the comparability of the factor structures of the children's and the adolescents' version of the SAR. Results of a 5-year longitudinal study suggest that participants tended to use negotiation more frequently as adolescents than as children. Aggressive and distancing strategies declined in adolescence. Results are discussed under the perspective that learning to manage conflicts of interest and anger without resorting to hostility (or avoidance) is a social task in friendship.
Students’ perception of fine increases for overdue library books in an academic library
Authors: Ajayi N. A. , Okunlola A. A.
Published: December 2005

The imposition of fines in academic libraries for overdue books is a global phenomenon and penalties for overdue books have been levied by libraries for centuries. The study reported here surveyed students’ perception of increases in fines imposed by the management of Hezekiah Oluwasanmi Library in the academic year 2002/2003. 1,500 respondents were given a structured questionnaire to complete and return between September and November, 2004. The respondents perceived the increase as a welcome measure, long overdue, which would make library books more readily available and accessible. There was no gender bias in their reaction. It is therefore concluded that fines should be imposed to meet the information needs of the users. It is recommended that a periodic review of the measure should be carried out and that early completion of library automation, especially circulation operations, is essential.
Clientele recognition of library terms and concepts used by librarians
Authors: Caña Mercy B. , Cueto Quiza Lynn Grace G. , De Guzman Allan B. , Fuchigami Kaori B. , Manalo Leona Rica T. , Yu Jake Cathleen U.
Published: December 2005

Using a 30-item multiple-choice type test, this investigation focused on the ability of college students to recognise terms and concepts used by librarians. A total of 447 respondents representing the fields of Education, Nutrition, Food Technology, Tourism and Hotel and Restaurant Management took part in this investigation. Data were gathered through robotfotos and an inventory of commonly used library jargon, duly identified and validated by academic librarians in one of the biggest multi-disciplinary universities in the Philippines. Data were treated in depth through percentage, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) t -test and Spearman’s rank correlation. The results showed that respondents’ ability to recognise library terms and concepts posted the highest and lowest ratings of 84 percent and 33 percent, respectively. Further, gender and type of catalogue used (OPAC vs. card catalogue) were found to have a significant relationship with their ability to recognise library terms and concepts. Finally, a moderate positive correlation (rho = 0.58) existed between the respondents’ recognition ability and the librarians’ ranking of frequently asked questions and terms used by the former.
Foundations and profiles: splicing metaphors in genetic databases and biobanks
Authors: Ratto Matt
Published: December 2005

In this paper we explore new developments in genomics, in particular the move from data sequencing efforts like the Human Genome Project (HGP), to newer forms of data-driven genomic work that focus explicitly on the complicated relationship between genes and environment. We compare the use of a key term within the HGP, the metaphor of “foundation,” to the use of a different term, the metaphor of “profile,” within the GenomEUtwin consortium, an exemplar of “post-genomic” projects. By doing so, we attempt to re-think the role of language and metaphor in scientific projects and explore new developments in post-genomic research. These developments include: first, the movement towards an explicit and programmatic acknowledgement of the complexity of gene and trait relationships, second, the use of bio-informatics techniques as exploratory tools of discovery rather than as part of a more straightforward “decoding” effort, third, the development of network infrastructures that link up and provide access to a vast array of different databases, and fourth, the alignment between various disciplines and interests within biology, clinical work, and public health initiatives. We use the metaphor of “splicing” to emphasize the heterogeneous work of scientists engaged in “weaving together” the diverse set of ideas, interests, and players necessary for the success of large-scale scientific projects.