bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
رد آثاري لشواهد القبور الأثرية بمقابر مدينة غزة (1230-1336هـ/1814-1917م)
Authors: Abgadiyat Editors
Published: October 2016

Gravestones have a major significance in history and archaeology for being authentic historical documents that reveal many aspects of ancient societies pertaining to their population, races, religious culture, language, professions, trades, and many other aspects. Given that the heritage of Gaza has been subjected to destruction due to political conflict and negligence, the researcher embarked on several tours to take an inventory of gravestones in Gaza’s cemeteries in reality, which are of great importance with respect to Gaza’s eminent figures and their families during the end of the Ottoman era.

The total number of gravestones tallied in Gaza reached 139, dating back to the period between AH 1230/1814 CE and the British occupation of Palestine in AH 1336/1917 CE, which is the date of the most recent gravestones. On one of the highest hills of Bab al-Bahr (Gate of the Sea) and Al-Sheikh Shaban cemetery, 45 tombstones were found belonging to the families: El-Husseini, Abu Khadra, Abu Shaban, Saq Allah, El-Bar'asi, Abu Assi, Murshid, El-Ja'farawi, El-Ghusain, Si-Salem, Al-Radwan, and others. In the Bin Marwan cemetery, 37 tombstones were discovered belonging to the families: El-Nakhal, El-Shawwa, Wafa El-Alami, El-Bitar, El-Wahidi, El-Khaznadar, and others. In El-Tiflisi (Abu al-Kass) cemetery in the Shuja'iyya neighborhood, 18 tombstones were discovered belonging to the families: Bseiso, Hathat, and sheikhs of El-Hasanat tribe, El-Sunna', El-Qadirat, and others. In Addiriyah and El-Tamrtashi cemetery, 9 tombstones were found belonging to the families: El-Tamrtashi, Murad, El-Batsh, El-Jabali, and others; 3 tombstones belonging to Al-Ghusain family were found in the cemetery of Al-Ghusain school; and 2 tombstones belonging to Al-Husseini’s and El-Jaouni’s families were found in El-Mufti cemetery. In the cemetery of the Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius, 25 gravestones were found belonging to the families: Zarifa, El-Tarzi, Farah, Qifa, El-Madbak‎‏, El-Sayegh, Musaad, Shuhaiber, El-Tawil, and El-Jildah.
Adolescence: Social Construct or Eternal Verity?
Authors: White David F.
Published: October 2016

Since its emergence as a discrete ministry in the early 1970s, youth ministry has functioned in a void, oblivious of the long history of young people. Unaware of historic social forces and roles that sometimes empowered and at other times limited young people, youth ministry functioned in following decades as if adolescents were by nature characteristic of the American status quo – with its prolonged education, minimal involvement in the common good, tension with parents and authorities, and a ravenous hunger for commodities. By the late 1990s, due to a flurry of historical research, youth ministry professionals became aware that adolescence was a relatively recent and not entirely benign cultural invention. But recently, author Crystal Kirgiss, has sought to debunk the notion of adolescence as a modern social construction by offering historical accounts illuminating the vast commonalities between youth of all historic ages. This review affirms the rich historical work done by Kirgiss as constituting a contribution to youth ministry, but also challenges her essentialism as dangerous and unwarranted.
Living Amongst the Fragments of a Coherent Theology
Authors: Bailey David
Published: October 2016

The paper examines the theological shorthand within five contemporary worship songs.1 The central argument is that key words within this espoused and operant theology (Cameron et al., 2010) function as theological shorthand,2 identified as fragments of a coherent theology. To illuminate the text within the songs as theological shorthand these theological fragments are brought into discussion with the work of Bretherton (2007), Christie (2012), Hauerwas (1983), MacIntyre (1996), Ward (2005) and Vanhoozer (2010). These authors act as the voice of formal theology (Cameron et al., 2010) to help articulate a critical, philosophical, and theologically informed enquiry that facilitates faithful theological reflection from within the Christian tradition on how the theological shorthand within worship songs functions as icons of epistemology. In turn, those of us who inhabit the world of formal theology may act as dialogical guides and storytellers of the Christian tradition.
Molecular and Morphological Diversity of Lithothamnion spp. (Hapalidiales, Rhodophyta) from Deepwater Rhodolith Beds in the Northwestern Gulf of Mexico
Authors: RICHARDS JOSEPH L. , VIEIRA-PINTO TALITA , SCHMIDT WILLIAM E. , SAUVAGE THOMAS , GABRIELSON PAUL W. , OLIVEIRA MARIANA C. , FREDERICQ SUZANNE
Published: October 2016

In the Northwestern Gulf of Mexico (NWGMx), subtidal rhodolith beds offshore Louisiana at 45–80 m depth harbor a diverse community of uncharacterized non-geniculate coralline algae including both biogenic and autogenic rhodoliths and other encrusting taxa. Identifying specimens to their correct genus and species is an ongoing process because many available names remain to be validated by comparison to type specimens. Here, comparative DNA sequencing (psbA, UPA, and COI) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) are used to assess the molecular and morphological diversity of the rhodolith-forming specimens belonging to the generic concept of Lithothamnion. Phylogenetic and species delimitation analyses of the newly generated sequences from recently dredged specimens at Ewing and Sackett Banks offshore Louisiana reveal the presence of at least six species of Lithothamnion, whose generic placement is confirmed by SEM images of features considered characteristic for the genus. More broadly, our analyses indicate at least eight Lithothamnion species are found in the Gulf of Mexico. Phylogenetic analyses of single (psbA and COI) and concatenated markers (psbA, COI and UPA) show that Lithothamnion is polyphyletic.
Effects of a Groundwater Scheme on the Simulation of Soil Moisture and Evapotranspiration over Southern South America
Authors: Martinez J. Alejandro , Dominguez Francina , Miguez-Macho Gonzalo
Published: October 2016

The effects of groundwater dynamics on the representation of water storage and evapotranspiration (ET) over southern South America are studied from simulations with the Noah-MP land surface model. The model is run with three different configurations: one including the Miguez-Macho and Fan groundwater scheme, another with the Simple Groundwater Model (SIMGM), and the other with free drainage at the bottom of the soil column. The first objective is to assess the effects of the groundwater schemes using a grid size typical of regional climate model simulations at the continental scale (20 km). The phase and amplitude of the fluctuations in the terrestrial water storage over the southern Amazon are improved with one of the groundwater schemes. An increase in the moisture in the top 2 m of the soil is found in those regions where the water table is closer to the land surface, including the western and southern Amazon and the La Plata basin. This induces an increase in ET over the southern La Plata basin, where ET is water limited. There is also a seasonal increase in ET during the dry season over parts of the southern Amazon. The second objective is to assess the role of the horizontal resolution on the effects induced by the Miguez-Macho and Fan groundwater scheme using simulations with grid sizes of 5 and 20 km. Over the La Plata basin, the effect of groundwater on ET is amplified at the 5-km resolution. Notably, over parts of the Amazon, the groundwater scheme increases ET only at the higher 5-km resolution.
On Some Assumptions of the Null Hypothesis Statistical Testing
Authors: Patriota Alexandre Galvão
Published: October 2016

Bayesian and classical statistical approaches are based on different types of logical principles. In order to avoid mistaken inferences and misguided interpretations, the practitioner must respect the inference rules embedded into each statistical method. Ignoring these principles leads to the paradoxical conclusions that the hypothesis [Formula: see text] could be less supported by the data than a more restrictive hypothesis such as [Formula: see text], where [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] are two population means. This article intends to discuss and explicit some important assumptions inherent to classical statistical models and null statistical hypotheses. Furthermore, the definition of the p-value and its limitations are analyzed. An alternative measure of evidence, the s-value, is discussed. This article presents the steps to compute s-values and, in order to illustrate the methods, some standard examples are analyzed and compared with p-values. The examples denunciate that p-values, as opposed to s-values, fail to hold some logical relations.
Three Insights from a Bayesian Interpretation of the One-Sided P Value
Authors: Marsman Maarten , Wagenmakers Eric-Jan
Published: October 2016

P values have been critiqued on several grounds but remain entrenched as the dominant inferential method in the empirical sciences. In this article, we elaborate on the fact that in many statistical models, the one-sided P value has a direct Bayesian interpretation as the approximate posterior mass for values lower than zero. The connection between the one-sided P value and posterior probability mass reveals three insights: (1) P values can be interpreted as Bayesian tests of direction, to be used only when the null hypothesis is known from the outset to be false; (2) as a measure of evidence, P values are biased against a point null hypothesis; and (3) with N fixed and effect size variable, there is an approximately linear relation between P values and Bayesian point null hypothesis tests.
Retrospective analysis of eliminating modified ultrafiltration after pediatric cardiopulmonary bypass
Authors: McRobb Craig M. , Ing Richard J. , Lawson D. Scott , Jaggers James , Twite Mark
Published: October 2016

Modified ultrafiltration (MUF) is a technique which is commonly used immediately post-cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) for open heart surgery in children. There are many advantages of MUF, but there are also a number of less reported disadvantages. At our institution, after considering all of the available data, a decision was made to no longer perform MUF. The primary motivation being the simplified and miniaturized CPB circuit would reduce hemodilution, decrease our likelihood of reaching our transfusion trigger during CPB and, potentially, improve safety. This study reports the before and after data from this practice change. A total of 160 patients less than 8kg were studied over 38 months and divided into neonatal and pediatric cohorts. Parameters reported in this study include: demographics, hematocrit, blood product transfusion, hemostasis, hemodynamics and outcomes. Although retrospective, our analysis supports an advantage of preventing hemodilution (via circuit miniaturization) versus reversing hemodilution (via MUF) at our institution with the patient population we examined.
Beyond the Walls: The Social Reintegration of Prisoners Through the Dialogic Reading of Classic Universal Literature in Prison
Authors: Alvarez Pilar , García-Carrión Rocío , Puigvert Lidia , Pulido Cristina , Schubert Tinka
Published: October 2016

This study analyzed whether it was possible to successfully transfer an experience of dialogic literary gatherings (DLGs) developed in a prison in the Basque Country (Spain), which was found to enhance the participants’ readiness to return to their communities. A case study was conducted in a different prison in Catalonia that comprised interviews and focus groups with a group of female prisoners and volunteers involved in the DLG. The communicative analysis conducted showed that the replication of the DLG allowed the participants to discuss and reflect on their biographies and their expected pathways upon release, thus opening possibilities for personal and social change. The results show that participants perceived the DLG as a helpful resource for social reintegration and suggest that DLGs can be transferred to different correctional institutions.
The influence of residents’ behaviour on waste electrical and electronic equipment collection effectiveness
Authors: Nowakowski Piotr
Published: October 2016

Government agencies have implemented regulations to reduce the volume of waste electrical and electronic equipment to protect the environment and encourage recycling. The effectiveness of systems through which waste electrical and electronic equipment is collected and recycled depends on (a) the development and operation of new programmes to process this material and (b) on information dissemination programmes aimed at manufacturers, retail sellers, and the consuming public. This study analyses these two elements. The main focus is to better understand household residents’ behaviour in regards to the proper methods of handling waste electrical and electronic equipment and possible storage of the obsolete equipment that brings disturbances with collection of the waste equipment. The study explores these issues depending on size of municipality and the household residents’ knowledge about legal methods of post-consumer management of waste electrical and electronic equipment in Poland, where the collection rate of that type of waste is about 40% of the total mass of waste electrical and electronic equipment appearing in the market.

The research was informed by various sources of information, including non-government organisations, Inspectorate of Environmental Protection and Central Statistics Office in Poland, questionnaires, and interviews with the household residents. The questionnaires were distributed to daytime and vocational students from different universities and the customers of an electronic equipment superstore. The results show that a resident’s behaviour in regards to the handling of obsolete waste electrical and electronic equipment can significantly reduce the collection rate, especially when the waste is discarded improperly – mixed with municipal waste or sold in scrapyards. It is possible to identify points that are necessary to be improved to achieve a higher collection rate.
Risk Factors Associated With Inpatient Violence During Medium Security Treatment
Authors: Jeandarme Inge , Wittouck Ciska , Vander Laenen Freya , Pouls Claudia , Oei T. I. , Bogaerts Stefan
Published: October 2016

Violence is a common phenomenon both in regular and forensic psychiatric settings, and has a profound impact on staff and other patients. Insight into the individual risk factors associated with violence in forensic psychiatric settings is rare and is therefore the subject of this research. A retrospective file study in three medium security units in Flanders was conducted to compare non-violent inpatients with inpatients who engaged in (verbal and physical) violent behavior. Binary logistic regression analyses were used to examine which variables contributed independently to the risk of violence. The results showed that absconding during treatment was independently associated with physical violence. A personality disorder diagnosis and general non-compliance with treatment were associated with verbal violence. Both types of violence predicted early termination of treatment. Contrary to previous research, the results from the risk assessment tools were not associated with inpatient violence. Clinical implications are discussed and include, among others, that clinicians should remain vigilant for early warning signs of non-compliance during treatment.
Nanostructure of reactive polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane-based block copolymer as modifier in an epoxy network
Authors: Xu Yiting , Chen Jiangfeng , Huang Jiamei , Cao Jie , Gérard Jean-François , Dai Lizong
Published: October 2016

To obtain a novel polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS)-based nanomodifier, copolymerization of methacrylate-POSS (MA-POSS) and glycidyl MA (GMA) was carried out via reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer process. The as-synthesized poly(glycidyl methacrylate) (PGMA)-b-P(MA-POSS) block copolymers (BCPs) were characterized by proton nuclear magnetic resonance, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and gel permeation chromatography. The introduction of a POSS component improved the thermostability of the BCP. Then, PGMA-b-P(MA-POSS) copolymer was reactively incorporated into 4,4′-methylenebis(2,6-diethylaniline) and the epoxy network. Compared with commercial inert MA-POSS-methyl MA (POSS-MMA) copolymers (15 wt% and 45 wt% POSS, respectively), PGMA-b-P(MA-POSS) can self-assemble in epoxy to micelles with diameters of 20–40 nm. Due to the formation of uniform nanostructures, reactive POSS-modified epoxy composites exhibited higher glass transition temperature and double the rubbery state moduli (87 MPa) than neat epoxy (41 MPa). This work provided an efficient way to fabricate a POSS-based nanocomposite via the introduction of nanomodifier PGMA-b-P(MA-POSS) which can pre-react with reactive monomer.
Late HIV presentation – missed opportunities and factors associated with a changing pattern over time
Authors: O’Connell Sarah , Enkelmann Julia , Sadlier Corinna , Bergin Colm
Published: October 2016

Delayed diagnosis of HIV infection has negative clinical, economic and public health implications. The study primary aim was to identify factors associated with late HIV presentation (Late Presenters [LPS], CD4 cell count < 350 cells/mm3). A secondary aim was to identify changing trends of late HIV presentation from 2002 to 2014 at our centre. A retrospective cohort study was performed. Demographic data and CD4 cell count of new HIV diagnoses presenting to our ambulatory HIV service over four time-periods from 2002 to 2014 were recorded. Proportion of LPS and factors associated with late presentation were compared using Graphpad Instat. In 2014, of 231 new patients attending for HIV care, 75 (32.6%) were late presenters versus 146 (66.4%) in 2002. This indicates a decreasing proportion of LPS from 2002 to 2014. However, the proportion of those with CD4 cell counts <200 on presentation at these two time intervals remain unchanged. The overall proportion of male LPS has increased over time and the proportion of LPS in the men who have sex with men (MSM) cohort has decreased over time, reflecting increased frequency of both HIV testing and diagnoses in MSM in recent years. The proportion of heterosexual LPS has not changed significantly in the same time period and LPS were older in 2014 versus 2002. The proportion of LPS defined by CD4 cell count remains higher than is justifiable in an era of increased HIV testing and awareness. Further targets for HIV testing to decrease rates of LPS include non-traditional risk groups including heterosexual and older patient cohorts. LPS rates are lower than rates found internationally, and it is possible that consensus definition of LPS needs to be revised.
Effective plots to assess bias and precision in method comparison studies
Authors: Taffé Patrick
Published: October 2016

Bland and Altman’s limits of agreement have traditionally been used in clinical research to assess the agreement between different methods of measurement for quantitative variables. However, when the variances of the measurement errors of the two methods are different, Bland and Altman’s plot may be misleading; there are settings where the regression line shows an upward or a downward trend but there is no bias or a zero slope and there is a bias. Therefore, the goal of this paper is to clearly illustrate why and when does a bias arise, particularly when heteroscedastic measurement errors are expected, and propose two new plots, the “bias plot” and the “precision plot,” to help the investigator visually and clinically appraise the performance of the new method. These plots do not have the above-mentioned defect and still are easy to interpret, in the spirit of Bland and Altman’s limits of agreement. To achieve this goal, we rely on the modeling framework recently developed by Nawarathna and Choudhary, which allows the measurement errors to be heteroscedastic and depend on the underlying latent trait. Their estimation procedure, however, is complex and rather daunting to implement. We have, therefore, developed a new estimation procedure, which is much simpler to implement and, yet, performs very well, as illustrated by our simulations. The methodology requires several measurements with the reference standard and possibly only one with the new method for each individual.
A Review of Cognitive Abilities in Dogs, 1911 Through 2016
Authors: Arden Rosalind , Bensky Miles K. , Adams Mark J.
Published: October 2016

In this review, we pose and respond to three questions concerning canine cognition: How has the history of this field influenced what we currently know about dog cognition? How confident should we be about what we know? Finally, what should we find out next? We begin by presenting two perspectives on canine cognition. We then survey the existing literature by conducting a quantitative summary of over 100 years of empirical work, focusing on power and replicability. Last, we lament the dearth of individual-differences studies in dog cognition (only three since 1911). We claim that a test of dog IQ with good psychometric properties will benefit basic science on dog and human health (including aging and dementia research). As a complement to an existing rich program of ethological investigation, we argue that individual-differences work on dogs should be a research priority.
Glycogen: Multiple Roles in the CNS
Authors: Rich Laura , Brown Angus M.
Published: October 2016

The historically neurocentric view of astrocytes as Styrofoam cushioning that rigidly clad neurons within the brain parenchyma has been superseded in the past 30 years by an increasing appreciation of the myriad roles astrocytes contribute to supporting physiological brain function. It is widely recognized that the continuous support provided by astrocytes, from prenatal development to maturity, is vital for neuronal function. Indeed, the numerous and diverse roles furnished by astrocytes contrasts with the vital but restricted transmission of action potentials that is the neuron’s primary role. An emerging role for astrocytes is that of providing energy substrate in the form of glycogen-derived lactate to neurons. This role was established during periods of limited glucose availability but has been extended to encompass one of the most important physiological brain functions, learning and memory. In this context glycogen metabolism is integral to the consolidation of learning into long-term retention of memories, a process vital to the higher functioning of the human brain.
Other Customer Service Failures: Emotions, Impacts, and Attributions
Authors: Baker Melissa A. , Kim Kawon
Published: October 2016

While customer-to-customer interactions are frequent in hospitality and tourism settings, very little research investigates the effects of other customers and other customer-generated service failures. Using the critical incident technique, this research builds on theory and provides important managerial implications in the areas of other customers, attributions, and service failure. Results find that customers experience emotions, including anger, frustration, and sympathy. In addition, even though customers attribute that the other customers are responsible for the failure, they still formed negative perceptions and behaviors toward the firm. Third, results find that management often did nothing to recover from the failure, which further exacerbated negative perceptions and behaviors.
Caught in the conundrum: Neoliberalism and education in post-conflict Northern Ireland – Exploring shared education
Authors: Hughes Joanne , Donnelly Caitlin , Leitch Ruth , Burns Stephanie
Published: October 2016

Northern Ireland (NI) is emerging from a violent period in its troubled history and remains a society characterized by segregation between its two main communities. Nowhere is this more apparent than in education, where for the most part Catholic and Protestant pupils are educated separately. During the last 30 years there has been twofold pressure placed on the education system in NI – at one level to respond to intergroup tensions by promoting reconciliation, and at another, to deal with national policy demands derived from a global neoliberalist economic agenda. With reference to current efforts to promote shared education between separate schools, we explore the uneasy dynamic between a school-based reconciliation programme in a transitioning society and system-wide values that are driven by neoliberalism and its organizational manifestation – new managerialism. We argue that whilst the former seeks to promote social democratic ideals in education that can have a potentially transformative effect at the societal level, neoliberal priorities have the potential to both subvert shared education and also to embed it.
Effects of Clinician-Guided Emergent Literacy Intervention Using Interactive Tablet Technology for Preschool Children With Cochlear Implants
Authors: Brouwer Kyle , Downing Hannah , Westhoff Sara , Wait Ryann , Entwisle Lavin K. , Messersmith Jessica J. , Hanson Elizabeth K.
Published: October 2016

The purpose of this study was to investigate if intervention based on a mobile application would improve the print knowledge and vocabulary of preschool children with and without hearing loss. This was a multiple baseline study that included four preschool children. Two of the children had hearing loss and utilized cochlear implants, while the other two had normal hearing. Clinicians utilized a mobile application to facilitate print knowledge (i.e., sound-symbol relationships) and to acquire new vocabulary. By the end of the study, all four children demonstrated improved familiarity with the targeted letter sounds and improved knowledge of the vocabulary words that were utilized during the study. The results of this study indicate that the mobile application, in combination with clinician scaffolding, was an effective tool for facilitating early literacy skills in preschool children. Prior print knowledge and vocabulary development appeared to be stronger indicators of response to treatment than hearing status.
Higher Education and the Modern/Colonial Global Imaginary
Authors: Stein Sharon , de Oliveira Andreotti Vanessa
Published: October 2016

In this article, we complicate common critical narratives about the neoliberalization of higher education by situating more recent trends within the genealogy of a modern/colonial global imaginary. By linking current patterns of “accumulation by dispossession” with histories and enduring architectures of racialized expropriation and exploitation, we consider both the strategic possibilities and inherent limitations of enacting resistance from within this imaginary. In particular, we engage the imperative to contest new configurations of dispossession while grappling with the ways that violent social relations have always subsidized public higher education. We suggest that facing such paradoxes may be instructive and open up new possibilities, and at the same time, this requires examination of existing investments and attachments.
The Most Peaceful Place on Earth
Authors: Kavoori Anandam
Published: October 2016

This reflexive non-fiction/autoethnographic account tells the story of the authors visit to Cheung Eeok Killing fields focusing on themes of peace, place, and the politics of cultural renewal in a country devastated by the Khmer Rouge. It offers a pedagogical vision of how such renewal is taking place through tourism (even of a dark kind) and the unsettling (but also inspirational) experience of walking through this liminal space of Cambodian history.
‘Two and the Same’: Jack the Ripper and The Melodramatic Stage Adaptation of Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Authors: Winter Sarah A.
Published: October 2016

Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), with its close concentration on possible violent tendencies concealed beneath respectability, saw a development in the Gothic novel tradition. Stevenson’s emphasis upon Hyde as an atavistic ancestor reflects nineteenth-century debates over degeneration, as the narrative taps into the reversal of progress through the exploration of latent animalistic impulses. The articulation of what may lurk beneath was carried to London’s Lyceum theatre in 1888, shortly before Jack the Ripper emerged. Scholarship identifies crossovers between the novella and play with the Ripper press, with a general agreement that the murders caused the play to abruptly close. However, this article asserts that before the curtain fell, a much more complex network was at play. In previous work on Stevenson’s narrative and the Ripper, the melodrama has tended to be considered as subsidiary to the novella. My close examination of the specific changes made to Jekyll and Hyde, and Richard Mansfield’s portrayal, demonstrates that more of an emphasis was placed on the superficiality of respectability in the play. The adaptation's depiction thus had a crucial role in shaping the public's shifting perceptions of the Ripper, as fuelled through newspapers in dynamic interactive engagements between the stage, press, and public consciousness.
Microbubble–liposome conjugate
Authors: Malik Ritu , Pancholi Ketan , Melzer Andreas
Published: October 2016

Liposome–microbubble conjugates are considered as better targeted drug delivery vehicles compared to microbubbles alone. The microbubble in the integrated drug delivery system delivers the drug intracellularly on the target, whereas the liposome component allows loading of high drug dose and extravasation through leaky vasculature. In this work, a new high yielding microbubble production method was used to prepare microbubbles for formulation of the liposome-conjugated drug delivery system. In formulation process, the prepared liposome of 200 nm diameter was attached to the microbubble surface using the avidin–biotin interaction. The analysis of the confocal scanning laser microscope images showed that approximately 8 × 108 microbubbles per millilitre (range: 2–7 μm, mean size 5 ± 0.5 μm) can be efficiently conjugated to the liposomes. The method of conjugation was found to be effective in attaching liposome to microbubbles.
Need for Outcome Scenario Analysis of Clinical Trials in Diabetes
Authors: Garcia-Verdugo Rosa , Erbach Michael , Schnell Oliver
Published: October 2016

Since the FDA requirement for cardiovascular safety of all new antihyperglycemic drugs to enter the market, the number and extent of phase 3 clinical trials has markedly increased. Unexpected trial results imply an enormous economic, personal and time cost and has deleterious effects over R&D. To prevent unforeseen developments in clinical trials, we recommend performing a comprehensive prospective outcome scenario analysis before launching the trial. In this commentary, we discuss the most important factors to take in consideration for prediction of clinical trial outcome scenarios and propose a theoretical model for decision making.
Identification of gene-drug interactions that impact patient survival in TCGA
Authors: Spainhour John Christian Givhan , Qiu Peng
Published: October 2016

Background

With the advent of large scale biological data collection for various diseases, data analysis pipelines and workflows need to be established to build frameworks for integrative analysis. Here the authors present a pipeline for identifying disease specific gene-drug interactions using CNV (Copy Number Variation) and clinical data from the TCGA (The Cancer Genome Atlas) project. Two cancer types were selected for analysis, LGG (Brain lower grade glioma) and GBM (Glioblastoma multiforme), due to the possible progression from LGG to GBM in some cases. The copy number and clinical data were then used to preform survival analysis on a gene by gene basis on sub-populations of patients exposed to a given drug.

Results

Several gene-drug interactions are identified, where the copy number of a gene is associated to survival of a patient exposed to a certain drug. Both Irinotecan/HAS2 (Hyaluronan synthase 2) and Bevacizumab/PGAM1 (Phosphoglycerate mutase 1) are interactions found in this study with independent confirmation. Independent work in colon, breast cancer and leukemia (Györffy, Breast Cancer Res Treat 123:725-731, 2010; Mueller, Mol Cancer Ther 11:3024–3032, 2010; Hitosugi, Cancer Cell 13:585-600, 2012) showed these two interactions can lead to increased survival.

Conclusion

While the pipeline produced several possible interactions where increased survival is linked to normal or increased copy number of a given gene for patients treated with a given drug, no instance of low copy number or full deletion was linked to increased survival. The development of this pipeline shows a promising utility to identify possible beneficial gene-drug interactions that could improve patient survival and may illustrate some of the problems inherent in this kind of analysis on these data.
IFN-γ targets macrophage-mediated immune responses toward Staphylococcus aureus
Authors: Greenlee-Wacker Mallary C , Nauseef William M
Published: October 2016

Infections, especially with Staphylococcus aureus (SA), commonly cause morbidity and mortality in patients with chronic granulomatous disease (CGD), a condition characterized by a defective phagocyte oxidase. IFN-γ reduces the frequency and consequences of infection in CGD by mechanisms that remain unknown. As IFN-γ promotes bacterial killing, efferocytosis of effete polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN), and cytokine production in macrophages—the same macrophage effector functions that are impaired in response to SA—we hypothesized that IFN-γ may reverse these defects and thereby, augment macrophage control of SA during infection. IFN-γ primed activation of the NADPH oxidase in a time-dependent manner, enhanced killing of ingested SA independent of any effects on phagocytosis, and increased binding of SA-laden neutrophils (PMN-SA) to macrophages. However, IFN-γ did not increase the percentage of apoptotic PMN or PMN-SA internalized by macrophages. Under conditions in which viable SA were eliminated, PMN-SA primed the inflammasome for subsequent activation by silica but did not induce IL-1β production by macrophages. IFN-γ enhanced IL-6 production in response to SA or PMN-SA but did not increase inflammasome activation in response to either agonist. In summary, IFN-γ augmented direct killing of SA by macrophages, promoted engagement of PMN-SA, and enhanced macrophage-mediated cytokine responses that could collectively augment control of SA infection. Together, these findings support the hypothesis that IFN-γ improves responsiveness of macrophages to SA and provides insights into the mechanism of the clinical benefits of IFN-γ.
Hero turned villain: NLRP3 inflammasome-induced inflammation during influenza A virus infection
Authors: Ong James D H , Mansell Ashley , Tate Michelle D
Published: October 2016

The severity of influenza A virus (IAV) infection can range from asymptotic to mild to severe. Infections, such as those seen following outbreaks of avian IAV, are associated with hyperinflammatory responses and the development of fatal disease. There is a continual threat that a novel or pandemic IAV will circulate in humans with high rates of mortality. The neuronal apoptosis inhibitor protein, class 2 transcription activator of the MHC, heterokaryon incompatibility, telomerase-associated protein 1, leucine-rich repeat, and pyrin domain-containing protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome is an innate immune sensor that has been shown to be critical for the secretion of the potent proinflammatory cytokines, IL-1β and IL-18, as well as chemokine production and cellular inflammation in vivo following IAV infection. Initial studies illustrated a protective role of NLRP3 during severe IAV infection in mice. However, the NLRP3 inflammasome may be a hero that turns villain in the later stages of severe IAV infection via the promotion of a hyperinflammatory state. Current treatments for patients who present to hospitals with a severe IAV infection are limited. The understanding of the mechanisms involved in the induction of NLRP3-dependent inflammation during severe IAV infections may provide new therapeutic targets that reduce human mortality.
The Mikado's Queer Realism: Law, Genre, Knowledge
Authors: Lavery Joseph
Published: October 2016

“The Mikado's Queer Realism: Law, Genre, Knowledge” offers a hermeneutic history of the Gilbert and Sullivan light opera, arguing that the now ubiquitous assertion that it is not “about Japan” became critical only in the aftermath of the Russo-Japanese War and reflected a pervasive and anxious concern that Japanese ambassadors of culture not be offended. The crucial intervention was made by G. K. Chesterton, who argued that the opera did not contain “a single joke against Japan” in a moment of just such panic: the Lord Chamberlain's censorship of the opera for the duration of Prince Fushimi Sadanaru's visit to London in 1907. Yet the problem with Chesterton's assertion is not merely its historical partiality—the fact that, repeatedly since The Mikado's opening in 1885, enthusiastic critics, in Japan as well as Britain, had judged it to be a learned, albeit lighthearted, account of Japanese domestic politics. More suggestively, Chesterton problematically demarcates too fast a distinction between an Orientalist writing that makes serious, and therefore falsifiable, claims about its subject, and one whose engagement with the Orient is so fanciful as to disclaim any such accountability. The essay thus revisits the positivist critiques of Edward Said's Orientalism and contends that both Said and his conservative critics misconstrue the corrigibility of Orientalist knowledge by inadequately accounting for the levity and “queer realism” of Victorian writing about Japan.
Improbable Figures: Realist Fictions of Insecurity in Contemporary African Fiction
Authors: Coundouriotis Eleni
Published: October 2016

This article discusses the chronotope of humanitarian emergencies in realist fiction. Novels that depict the effects of prolonged and extreme insecurity often include improbable figures, characters in which they invest a hope for the future and who are presented as inventive improvisers of the new. Characters such as Toloki in Zakes Mda's Ways of Dying (1995), Ahl in Nuruddin Farah's Crossbones (2011), and Kotchikpa, the boy narrator in Uwem Akpan's “Fattening for Gabon” (2008), each navigate a terrain of insecurity to improbable ends. They challenge us to rethink our assumptions about historical contingency and how they operate in realist texts. The narrative model of emergency devised by such novels has antecedents in articulations of the improbable in canonical theorists of realism such as Georg Lukács, Fredric Jameson, and Njabulo S. Ndebele. The novelists' embrace of a realist aesthetics stages a critique of key assumptions of the narratives of emergency, which place the victims in an overly determined condition where meaningful action is impossible. The works of Mda, Farah, and Akpan restore historical agency to characters who experience extreme insecurity and provoke us to think anew about our readerly expectations for typicality and the quotidian.
Realism Wars
Authors: Esty Jed
Published: October 2016

In English and comparative literature, the question of realism has reemerged in the last fifteen years as vital to readers and writers of the global novel. A realist turn, so-called, implies a shift in tastes, canons, and markets; it also entails a heightened form of disciplinary attention to realism freshly unlocked from its subordinate role in a promodernist critical climate. Both shifts—in the practice and in the theory of world realism—can be understood as post–Cold War effects. Surveying the recent rise of realism as a favored object and methodological reference point in novel studies, this essay attempts to trace the lineage of disfavored realism back through the “realism wars” of the late nineteenth century in the United Kingdom and the mid-twentieth century in the United States. In both phases, literary authorities cast realism as a European aesthetic mortmain, somehow alien to the liberal Anglophone West and its expanding frontiers. Realism wars seem to erupt at the sites of struggle between norms of finite social description and dreams of expansive political projection. That tension runs as a fault line between the integrated secular authority and broad universalist myths of both British and American power in their turns. If the eclipse of British hegemony conditioned the realism wars of the 1880s–90s and the rise of US hegemony conditioned the realism wars of the 1950s–60s, is it possible to comprehend our own emergent realist turn—and the debates it has begun to generate—as indexical of larger geopolitical change at the far end of the American Century?
Two-Level Program Planning System Based on Genetic Algorithms and Program Options
Authors: �������  , Makeeva Olga
Published: October 2016

There are a lot of different methods and approaches to program planning.

Unfortunately they do not cover all the program managers� requirements:

existing approaches and methods or their combinations do not allow monitoring

program stages as well as all the details simultaneously. At the same

time they don�t help to develop and implement the changes caused by uncertainty

and the influence of external and internal environment factors.

In this article the program planning system based on genetic algorithms and

program options was designed. The whole process of system operation and

it�s elements were considered. The advantages of planning system using in

relation to the oil and gas field modernization program were analyzed. The

proposed system meets the requirements of program managers to planning

tools and methods and allows managers to create flexible plans that involve

pre-designed steps when changes occur.
Archaeology of Standing Buildings: teaching and scientific activities
Authors: Andrea Fiorini
Published: October 2016

This paper will describe the research and teaching project Archaeology of architecture in Romagna where advanced archaeological survey methodologies have been used to investigate the history of monuments and their architectural evolution over time. We selected 46 sites, including 6 ecclesiastical buildings and 40 castles. In the urban landscape the research focused on the church of Santa Croce in Ravenna. The study of the castles of Romagna, and the analysis of building techniques utilised within them, allows us to make observations regarding skills used in the construction of these buildings. Teaching activities have been conducted since 2008 as part of the workshop program of the Department of History, Cultures, and Civilizations. The most recent was carried out in Longana, near Ravenna, in the church of S. Apollinare.
Case of congenital hypothyroidism related to NKX2-1
Authors: Makretskaya Nina A. , Kalinchenko Natalya Y. , Vasiliev Evgeny V. , Petrov Vasiliy M. , Tiulpakov Anatoly N.
Published: October 2016

NKX2-1 is a transcription factor. Gene NKX2-1 is expressed in tissues of the thyroid gland, brain and lungs. Mutations of NKX2-1 can lead to neurological disorders, hypothyroidism, and respiratory distress syndrome. The combinations of these symptoms are known as brain-lung-thyroid syndrome. Benign hereditary chorea is the characteristic feature of this disease and the most common manifestation of it. Chorea progresses into the second decade after which it remains stable or may even spontaneously remit. Pulmonary dysfunction is the second most common manifestation of NKX2-1-related disorders. They include respiratory distress syndrome of the newborns, interstitial lung disease between ages four months and seven years and pulmonary fibrosis in older individuals. Thyroid dysfunction can present as congenital hypothyroidism or subclinical hypothyroidism in adolescents. The combination of triad of the syndrome is present in only 50% of patients. This study includes a description of patient with brain-lung-thyroid syndrome. We described the novel mutation c.628_772del in the gene NKX2-1.
Сushing’s syndrome in early infancy due to МcCune—Albright syndrome
Authors: Makazan Nadezhda V. , Orlova Elizaveta M. , Kareva Maria A. , Poddybnyi Igor V. , Tolstov Kirill N. , Polyakova Galina A. , Bogdanova Polina S. , Peterkova Valentina A. , Dedov Ivan I.
Published: October 2016

McCune—Albright syndrome (MAS) is a rare multisystem disorder, classically defined by the clinical triad of fibrous dysplasia of bones (FD), café-au-lait skin spots, precocious puberty (PP) and other hyperfunctioning endocrinopathies. Diagnosis can be made if there are at least 2 of the 3 classical features. It is caused by somatic mutations of the GNAS gene encodes stimulate α-subunit of G protein (Gas). Gas is crucial for mediating effects of the lot of peptide hormones. Increased activity of Gas leads to multisystem hyperfunction. Some features are common (such as gonadotropin-independent precocious puberty) and another signs occur seldom. The clinical presentation of MAS is variable, the features occur at the different age. One of the rare feature of the MAS is Cushing’s syndrome due to bilateral adrenal hyperplasia, which usually occurs in the neonatal period. We describe clinical case of ACTH-independent hypercortisolism in the boy with MAS.
Polyphenolic plant extracts: effects on disorders of carbohydrate and lipid metabolism in laboratory animals
Authors: Mazo Vladimir K. , Sidorova Yuliia S. , Shipelin Vladimir A. , Petrov Nikita A. , Kochetkova Alla A.
Published: October 2016

Modern nutrition has clear evidence of the involvement into the metabolism of many minor food components, which were not previously discussed as factors necessary for life support of health and ill human. One of the innovative approaches to the creation of a new generation of specialized food products for the dietary treatment of type 2 diabetes is a targeted use in their composition plant minor biologically active food substances with proven significant hypoglycemic, cholesterol-lowering and antioxidant action as a «micro-ingredients». Promising sources of natural functional food ingredients for the dietary treatment and prevention of type 2 diabetes and its attendant complications are plant extracts with a high content of natural polyphenolic compounds. The natural polyphenolic compounds include flavonoids, obligate food antioxidants what is the reason of their hypoglycemic and/or lipid-lowering effects. However, we consume no individual flavonoids, but their mixtures, with plant food. Data about antidiabetic properties of plant extracts containing various combinations of flavonoids are very important in the framework of the problem of dietary correction and prevention of type 2 diabetes from the position of clinical nutrition. The review briefly discusses the effect of green tea, bilberry leaves and bean coats plant extracts on disorders of carbohydrate and lipid metabolism in laboratory animals with experimentally or genetically determined diabetes. The presented analysis of publications shows that the results of experimental studies in vitro and in vivo confirm the antioxidant, hypoglycemic and/or hypolipidemic effect of polyphenolic plant extracts. It was concluded that the inclusion of plant extracts of flavonoids in the specialized food products for targeted nutritional correction and/or prevention of metabolic disorders of type 2 diabetes is a promising direction.