bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Godless Savages and Superstitious Dogs: Charles Darwin, Imperial Ethnography, and the Problem of Human Uniqueness
Authors: Day Matthew
Published: February 2008

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of Charles Darwin's evolutionary theorizing about the natural origins of religion. More specifically, it argues that Darwin's commitment to locating elementary forms of the religious life in non-human animals was informed by his desire to sever the connection between the moral status of being human and the anthropological status of having a religion. The essay concludes that when we carefully examine the Darwinian solution to the evolutionary puzzle of religion, we discover how his naturalist project was structured in quite fundamental ways by his normative commitments.
Francis Bacon, Feminist Historiography, and the Dominion of Nature
Authors: Vickers Brian
Published: February 2008

Perhaps no major figure has been subject to so many fluctuations in the history of ideas as Francis Bacon. In the 1980s three feminists (Sandra Harding, Evelyn Fox Keller, and Carolyn Merchant) set out to discredit Bacon, and the Scientific Revolution to which he contributed, by alleging that he had advocated "the rape and torture" of nature. Their indictment, which was well received in feminist circles, produced several effective rebuttals from historians of science. In September 2006 the journal Isis published a "Focus" symposium entitled "Getting Back to The Death of Nature: Rereading Carolyn Merchant." Two of the contributions, by Katharine Park and Carolyn Merchant herself, reassert the feminist case against Bacon. In this essay I want to review their indictment and to strengthen Bacon's defense.
"Philosophy" or "Religion"? The Confrontation with Foreign Categories in Late Nineteenth-Century Japan
Authors: Godart Gerard Clinton
Published: February 2008

This article investigates how late nineteenth century Japanese philosophers responded to large categories of ideas imported from the West and for which there were no Japanese equivalents; mainly "science," "religion," and "philosophy." Discussions on whether Buddhism or Confucianism would fall under "philosophy" or "religion" accompanied a re-categorization of ideas. Some philosophers made elaborate reconstructions of Buddhism and Confucianism as modern philosophies. However, over time, Japanese categorizations of Buddhism and Confucianism shifted from "philosophy" (tetsugaku) to "thought" (shisō). Investigating Meiji philosophy from the perspective of this problem of categories makes it is possible to reevaluate it on its own terms.
Leonardo Bruni, the Medici, and the Florentine Histories
Authors: Ianziti Gary
Published: February 2008

This article offers a new reading of Leonardo Bruni's History of the Florentine People. It focuses on books VII-XII of this famous work, i.e. those produced and/or published after the Medici came to power in 1434. Careful study of key passages suggests that Bruni—often portrayed by modern historians as a republican firebrand—actually made a relatively smooth transition to the post-1434 climate of authoritarian rule. Indeed the evidence presented here reveals that Bruni deliberately (if subtly) manipulated his historical data in order to extol the Medici, who had meanwhile become the virtual patrons of his enterprise.
To "Build upon the Foundation": Charles Gayarré's Vision for the Louisiana State Library
Authors: Phillips Faye
Published: February 2008

Historian Charles Gayarré (1805–95) represented those early Louisiana citizens who, like cultural leaders in other states, advocated the creation of a major state library that would reflect well on the state's cultural development. Gayarré strongly influenced the early development of the Louisiana State Library, but the Civil War and Reconstruction severely impaired its progress. The library was forced to relocate several times during the war and immediately after and then endured decades of neglect and miserly funding from a financially strapped state legislature. Despite Gayarré's efforts, his postwar vision of a restored and robust state library was never realized. The war and its aftermath thwarted Louisiana's efforts to emulate eastern states and establish a viable central repository and educational institution.
The Making of a Collection: Mesoamerican Manuscripts at Princeton University
Authors: Basler Teresa T , Wright David
Published: February 2008

The prominent Mesoamerican manuscript collection at the Princeton University Library is the result of the collecting activities of William Gates and Robert Garrett, whose vision was to make accessible a documentary collection that, long after their passing, would continue to uncover the indigenous heritage of Mexico and Central America. Gates (1863–1940), a Mayanist scholar, focused his collection on manuscripts written in Mayan languages. Garrett (1875–1961), a Princeton alumnus and banker, collected manuscripts produced on several continents, from ancient times to the twentieth century. Garrett's purchase of the Gates manuscripts in 1930, combined with his subsequent addition of similar texts during the following two decades, created one of the most prominent Mesoamerican manuscript collections in America, donated to the Princeton University Library in 1949.
Promoting Citizenship: How Librarians Helped Get Out the Vote in the 1952 Presidential Election
Authors: Preer Jean L
Published: February 2008

In 1952 the American Library Association joined an array of nonprofit organizations, corporations, and the media in the National Non-Partisan Register and Vote Campaign to increase citizen participation in the electoral process. With ALA providing technical support and encouragement, librarians all over the country promoted reading, organized discussion groups, mounted exhibits, and sponsored programs to draw informed voters to the polls. ALA's participation in the Register and Vote Campaign highlighted the role of the public library in providing quality information on candidates and issues. Librarians demonstrated that libraries could serve as local information centers, working with nonprofit organizations, the commercial sector, and the broadcast media to reach out to the whole community to create an informed citizenry.
A Peopled Landscape: Bartholomew the Englishman on the Properties of Daily Life
Authors: Keen Elizabeth
Published: February 2008

The Franciscan Bartholomew the Englishman's compilation of knowledge De proprietatibus rerum ('On the properties of things'), made before 1240, contains evocative descriptions of domestic and manorial life, indoors and out. These can appeal to the historian as ethnographic data on manorial life in Bartholomew's time and place, but marginal glosses transmitted in the earliest manuscripts show that such secular-seeming descriptions could be understood to hold lessons on the religious life – especially that of the mendicant preacher. They show that the underlying idea of fertility links Bartholomew's descriptions of the properties of a peopled and recognizable world. At the centre of this world is the lord and household, a refuge where men, women, children, servants, and animals go about their daily lives, working in the fields and vineyards by day and returning to the house at night. The glosses help the reader to connect this reality with the Gospel parable of the workers in the vineyard, and to perceive a web of connected spiritual meanings through the properties of people, animals, plants, and products found in the material world.
'It Buys Me Freedom': Genteel Lodging in Late-Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century London
Authors: McEwan Joanne , Sharpe Pamela
Published: February 2008

Lodging, or else taking in lodgers, was a common way of life for many seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Londoners, both rich and poor. While demographic historians have been attempting to gauge the extent of lodging in the metropolis for some time, the circumstance and experience of both lodgers and those who took them in has been subject to little detailed examination. Evidence drawn from sources such as diaries, newspaper advertisements, and court cases can give some specificity to our understanding of lodging arrangements. Concentrating on the middling orders and above, such sources highlight the importance of reputation and social credit for both those seeking lodgings and those offering rooms. It is apparent that for those who were not forced into lodging negotiations by financial necessity, other considerations linked with choice, such as networking and sociability, influenced decisions about when, where, and indeed whether to lodge.
In Service and at Home: Didactic Texts for Children and Young People, c. 1400–1600
Authors: Bailey Merridee L
Published: February 2008

Until recently, literary texts produced either in manuscript or printed form between c. 1400 and 1600 were assumed to neglect the interests of children and young people. A selection of didactic texts from this period, however, discusses children and attitudes to the time of 'childhood', with these motifs relevant to both elite secular or ecclesiastical households. The interests of children and young people are addressed within these didactic examples, which in turn reveal developments occurring in the creation of non-elite, nuclear family audiences primarily in the late fifteenth century.
Families and Housing in Seventeenth-Century London
Authors: Harding Vanessa
Published: February 2008

The study of family and household offers insights into how demographic, economic, and social change are experienced. A marked diversity of family forms and living conditions between London's prosperous city centre and its spreading suburbs emerged over the seventeenth century; while the former still contained large households focused on nuclear families, in the latter both houses and households were smaller and poorer, families apparently more fragmented and unstable. Lodging was common in both areas but may have had a different character in each. By 1700, London was already expressing the social impact of immigration, urbanization, and commercialization, felt much more widely in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Rosaries, Paternosters and Devotion to the Virgin in the Households of John Baret of Bury St. Edmunds
Authors: MacKinney Lisa
Published: February 2008

The will of John Baret (1463) contains numerous bequests of prayer beads, or rosaries, which can be understood as a manifestation of his fervent devotion to the Virgin Mary. This received further expression in his household devotional practices and provision for their continuation after his death, which included the remodelling of his house to accommodate priests from St. Mary's Church in Bury St Edmunds, to which he also made generous bequests. Baret regarded himself as belonging to multiple households, both spiritual and temporal, and the intricate connections between these are given expression in the many bequests of religious objects, particularly rosaries, in his will.
Moving Households: Geographical Mobility and Serial Monogamy in England, 1350–1500
Authors: Maddern Philippa C
Published: February 2008

Most historians agree that in the instance side of late medieval English ecclesiastical courts, divorce causes (whether for legal separation or for complete annulment of the marriage) were outnumbered by cases attempting to establish matrimony. But does this imbalance imply that marriage was, in fact, a relatively stable institution, and divorce or marital breakdown rare, in late medieval England? A consideration of the difficulties and costs of obtaining a canonical annulment, combined with a study of cases of bigamy brought to light in both the instance and the office sides of the courts suggests, instead, that unhappily married couples may quite often have resorted to informal separation, followed, sometimes, by unlicensed remarriage. These strategies, in turn, both encouraged and were assisted by geographical mobility among the participants, which rendered it difficult for courts to detect long series of transient partnerships that might lie behind apparently valid marriages. An appreciation of the possible scale of unlicensed serial monogamy might, in turn, modify orthodox historical perceptions of the stability and normality of the legally-instituted nuclear family in late medieval England.
Imagined Domesticities in Early Modern Dutch Dollhouses
Authors: Broomhall Susan
Published: February 2008

Early modern prescriptive literature about household spatial and social ordering primarily informs us of elite male views. Few contemporary sources exist to suggest women's notions about these issues. Early modern dollhouses could shed some light on the views of both sexes, as makers, patrons, and collectors of such objects. Such artefacts have rarely been considered a source for historic perceptions of households and family in scholarly analyses. In particular, by interpreting the meanings of extant structures, their furnishings, dolls, and surrounding documentation produced by the elite Dutch women who created and collected them in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, an important female-oriented vision of the idealised early modern household emerges.
An Enactive Approach to Understanding Acting
Authors: Zarrilli Phillip B.
Published: February 2008

Drawing on recent developments in phenomenology, cognitive science, and anthropological ecology, this essay explores an enactive approach to a meta-theoretical understanding of acting as a phenomenon. In contrast to representational and/or mimetic meta-theories of acting, which construct their views of action from a position as an outside observer to the process/phenomenon of acting, an enactive view provides an account of acting from "inside" the process itself—that is, from the perspective of the actor as enactor/doer. Acting is not to be viewed as embodying a representation of a role or a character, but rather should be understood as a dynamic, lived experience in which the actor is responsive to the demands of the particular moment within a specific (theatrical) environment.
Falsifiable Theories for Theatre and Performance Studies
Authors: McConachie Bruce A
Published: February 2008

This essay argues that theatre and performance scholars should use theories that can be scientifically validated whenever possible. Scientists cannot arrive at objective knowledge, but through the process of falsification they can narrow their range of possible interpretations to provide explanations that best suit the evidence and counter the arguments of others. The cognitive sciences are now providing falsifiable explanations for many theatre and performance phenomena, such as attention, empathy, and conceptualization. In contrast, many of the theories current in our discipline, including those reliant on psychoanalysis and poststructuralism, are not open to the protocols of good science. On the basis of falsifiablity, the essay demonstrates the superiority of two theories from cognitive science over approaches current in our discipline with regard to the problem of how spectators understand theatrical doubleness and action on the stage. It also suggests that a-scientific theories can be useful for scholarship when they are in accord with good science and allow us to extend the range of our discussions and conclusions.
Interplay: The Method and Potential of a Cognitive Scientific Approach to Theatre
Authors: Cook Amy
Published: February 2008

This essay argues that cognitive linguistics—conceptual blending theory (CBT) in particular—links language, cognition, and the body in ways that impact practical and theoretical issues in performance. An unpacking of the first sentence of Richard III demonstrates the use of CBT as a tool in dramaturgical or textual analysis. Through an analysis of a casting choice in Michael Almereyda's Hamlet, the essay argues that CBT provides a way to understand what is meant when theatre scholars or practitioners say that one thing "works" and another does not. The embodied interplay between actor/character and spectator is illuminated by research on mirror neurons. The author argues that mimesis is better understood as occurring between actor and spectator, rather than actor and character. Finally, the essay re-imagines what constitutes character—and its relationship to actor—in light of research on phantom limbs.
Cultural Evolution and Performance Genres: Memetics in Theatre History and Performance Studies
Authors: Davis C. B
Published: February 2008

The academic disciplines of theatre history and performance studies have yet to confront or make use of the growing trend toward Darwinian thinking in the social sciences, particularly psychology and anthropology. This essay focuses on exploring the application of memetics—a branch of cultural evolution theory—to theatre and performance history by using the phenomenon of wild animal shows, specifically big cat exhibitions, as a case study. A meme is the cultural equivalent of the "selfish" gene: a unit of imitation, representation, or information that forms the basis of a cultural inheritance system. A Darwinian historiography reframes causal factors as "selection pressures" and the culture of any particular time and place as a changing physical and social environment to which spectatorship, performance practices, and representational contents adapt over time. Memetics takes seriously the possibility that cultural traits such as performance traditions and genres evolve according to criteria that only make sense when viewed as if the adaptations benefited the memes' own replication, frequency, and survival over time. Where evolutionary psychology and other cognitive approaches emphasize the innate cognitive biases of our social minds, memetics would trace the inherited cultural lineage of specific attitudes, beliefs, and practices, all of which are realized in the social sphere as information that has been replicated and transmitted.
Theatre Optics: Enlightenment Theatre Architecture in France and the Architectonics of Husserl's Phenomenology
Authors: Camp Pannill
Published: February 2008

Claude-Nicolas Ledoux's 1804 engraving of a human eye that encompasses a theatre auditorium points to a neglected aspect of the history of Western theatre architecture: eighteenth-century architects in France drew spatial concepts and geometric forms from optics and applied them to reformist theatre designs. This borrowing from optics shows that the stage incorporated the representation of space that dominated Enlightenment natural philosophy, and it implies that theatre spectatorship sustained a mutually formative relationship with materialist theories of consciousness. This relationship, moreover, was not confined to Enlightenment France. An analysis of Edmund Husserl's twentieth-century phenomenological writings reveals that a set of architectural traits—an architectonics—permeates his model of the conscious mind. The spectatorial orientation of the subject that organizes Husserl's work suggests that phenomenology aligns the theatrical frame with the conditions of knowledge in general.
Calcium and Vitamin D Supplementation Decreases Incidence of Stress Fractures in Female Navy Recruits
Authors: Lappe Joan , Cullen Diane , Haynatzki Gleb , Recker Robert , Ahlf Renee , Thompson Kerry
Published: February 2008

Introduction: Stress fractures (SFx) are one of the most common and debilitating overuse injuries seen in military recruits, and they are also problematic for nonmilitary athletic populations. The goal of this randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled study was to determine whether a calcium and vitamin D intervention could reduce the incidence of SFx in female recruits during basic training.

Materials and Methods: We recruited 5201 female Navy recruit volunteers and randomized them to 2000 mg calcium and 800 IU vitamin D/d or placebo. SFx were ascertained when recruits reported to the Great Lakes clinic with symptoms. All SFx were confirmed with radiography or technetium scan according to the usual Navy protocol.

Results: A total of 309 subjects were diagnosed with a SFx resulting in an incidence of 5.9% per 8 wk. Using intention-to-treat analysis by including all enrolled subjects, we found that the calcium and vitamin D group had a 20% lower incidence of SFx than the control group (5.3% versus 6.6%, respectively, p = 0.0026 for Fisher's exact test). The per protocol analysis, including only the 3700 recruits who completed the study, found a 21% lower incidence of fractures in the supplemented versus the control group (6.8% versus 8.6%, respectively, p = 0.02 for Fisher's exact test).

Conclusions: Generalizing the findings to the population of 14,416 women who entered basic training at the Great Lakes during the 24 mo of recruitment, calcium and vitamin D supplementation for the entire cohort would have prevented ∼187 persons from fracturing. Such a decrease in SFx would be associated with a significant decrease in morbidity and financial costs.
Bim, Bak, and Bax Regulate Osteoblast Survival
Authors: Liang Min , Russell Graham , Hulley Philippa A
Published: February 2008

Introduction: Osteoblasts depend on a constant supply of prosurvival signals from their microenvironment. When trophic factors become limited by injury or disease, cells undergo apoptosis. This study establishes the regulation and function of Bim, Bak, and Bax in this response.

Materials and Methods: MBA-15.4 murine osteoblasts and primary human bone marrow stromal cells (hBMSCs) were subjected to growth factor depletion by serum starvation (1% FCS or serum withdrawal). Protein phosphorylation, activation, or expression was quantified by Western blotting and gene expression by real-time PCR. Regulation of apoptosis in response to serum depletion was determined using siRNA specific for Bim, Bak, or Bax, followed by TUNEL staining. Statistical significance was determined by one-way ANOVA after multiple experimental repeats.

Results: Serum depletion strongly induced expression of the proapoptotic protein Bim in both hBMSC and MBA-15.4 osteoblasts. Detailed analysis of the mouse line showed that both mRNA and protein levels rose from 2 h to peak between 16 and 24 h, in conjunction with activation of caspase 3 and rising levels of apoptosis. Both actinomycin D and cycloheximide prevented this increase in Bim, indicating transcriptional regulation. Serum deprivation caused immediate and sustained decreases in phosphorylation of prosurvival kinases, ERK and PKB, preceding upregulation of Bim. Pathway inhibitors, U0126 or LY294002, strongly increased both Bim mRNA and protein, confirming that both kinases regulate Bim. These inhibitors also induced osteoblast apoptosis within 24–72 h. JC-1 tracer detected mitochondrial potential disruption after serum deprivation, indicating involvement of the intrinsic pathway. Moreover, activation-associated conformational changes were detected in the channel-formers, Bax and Bak. Selective knockdown of Bim or Bak by siRNA protected osteoblasts from serum depletion-induced apoptosis by 50%, whereas knockdown of Bax alone or Bak and Bax together reduced apoptosis by 90%.

Conclusions: Our data indicate that Bim, Bak, and Bax actively mediate osteoblast apoptosis induced by trophic factor withdrawal. The complex upstream regulation of Bim may provide targets for therapeutic enhancement of osteoblast viability.
Genetic Disruption of All NO Synthase Isoforms Enhances BMD and Bone Turnover in Mice In Vivo: Involvement of the Renin-Angiotensin System
Authors: Sabanai Ken , Tsutsui Masato , Sakai Akinori , Hirasawa Hideyuki , Tanaka Shinya , Nakamura Eiichiro , Tanimoto Akihide , Sasaguri Yasuyuki , Ito Masako , Shimokawa Hiroaki , Nakamura Toshitaka , Yanagihara Nobuyuki
Published: February 2008

Introduction: NO is synthesized by three different NO synthase (NOS) isoforms, including neuronal (nNOS), inducible (iNOS) and endothelial NOS (eNOS). The roles of NO in bone metabolism have been extensively investigated in pharmacological studies and in studies with NOS isoform–deficient mice. However, because of the nonspecificity of agents and compensation among the NOS isoforms, the ultimate roles of endogenous NO are still poorly understood. To address this point, we successfully generated mice in which all three NOS genes are completely disrupted. In this study, we examined whether bone metabolism is abnormal in those mice.

Materials and Methods: Experiments were performed in 12-wk-old male wildtype, singly nNOS−/−, iNOS−/−, and eNOS−/− and triply n/i/eNOS−/− mice. BMD was assessed by DXA. The kinetics of osteoblastic bone formation and those of osteoclastic bone resorption were evaluated by measurements of morphological and biochemical markers.

Results: BMD was significantly higher only in the triply NOS−/− mice but not in any singly NOS−/− mice compared with the wildtype mice. Markers of osteoblastic bone formation, including bone formation rate, mineral apposition rate, and serum alkaline phosphatase concentration, were also significantly larger only in the triply NOS−/− mice compared with wildtype mice. Furthermore, markers of osteoclastic bone resorption, including osteoclast number, osteoclast surface, and urinary deoxypyridinoline excretion, were again significantly greater only in the triply NOS−/− mice. Importantly, the renin-angiotensin system in bone was significantly activated in the triply NOS−/− mice, and long-term oral treatment with an angiotensin II type 1 (AT1) receptor blocker normalized this pathological bone remodeling in those mice.

Conclusions: These results provide the first direct evidence that genetic disruption of the whole NOS system enhances BMD and bone turnover in mice in vivo through the AT1 receptor pathway, showing the critical role of the endogenous NO/NOS system in maintaining bone homeostasis.
Mutations in the Insulin-Like Factor 3 Receptor Are Associated With Osteoporosis
Authors: Ferlin Alberto , Pepe Anastasia , Gianesello Lisa , Garolla Andrea , Feng Shu , Giannini Sandro , Zaccolo Manuela , Facciolli Arianna , Morello Roy , Agoulnik Alexander I , Foresta Carlo
Published: February 2008

Introduction: Insulin-like factor 3 (INSL3) is produced primarily by testicular Leydig cells. It acts by binding to its specific G protein–coupled receptor RXFP2 (relaxin family peptide 2) and is involved in testicular descent during fetal development. The physiological role of INSL3 in adults is not known, although substantial INSL3 circulating levels are present. The aim of this study was to verify whether reduced INSL3 activity could cause or contribute to some signs of hypogonadism, such as reduced BMD, currently attributed to testosterone deficiency.

Materials and Methods: Extensive clinical, biochemical, and hormonal study, including bone densitometry by DXA, was performed on 25 young men (age, 27–41 yr) with the well-characterized T222P mutation in the RXFP2 gene. Expression analysis of INSL3 and RXFP2 on human bone biopsy and human and mouse osteoblast cell cultures was performed by RT-PCR, quantitative RT-PCR, and immunohistochemistry. Real-time cAMP imaging analysis and proliferation assay under the stimulus of INSL3 was performed on these cells. Lumbar spine and femoral bone of Rxfp2-deficient mice were studied by static and dynamic histomorphometry and μCT, respectively.

Results: Sixteen of 25 (64%) young men with RXFP2 mutations had significantly reduced BMD. No other apparent cause of osteoporosis was evident in these subjects, whose testosterone levels and gonadal function were normal. Expression analyses showed the presence of RXFP2 in human and mouse osteoblasts. Stimulation of these cells with INSL3 produced a dose- and time-dependent increase in cAMP and cell proliferation, confirming the functionality of the RXFP2/INSL3 receptor–ligand complex. Consistent with the human phenotype, bone histomorphometric and μCT analyses of Rxfp2−/− mice showed decreased bone mass, mineralizing surface, bone formation, and osteoclast surface compared with wildtype littermates.

Conclusions: This study suggests for the first time a role for INSL3/RXFP2 signaling in bone metabolism and links RXFP2 gene mutations with human osteoporosis.
Chromosome 9p21.3 Coronary Heart Disease Locus Genotype and Prospective Risk of CHD in Healthy Middle-Aged Men
Authors: Talmud Philippa J , Cooper Jackie A , Palmen Jutta , Lovering Ruth , Drenos Fotios , Hingorani Aroon D , Humphries Steve E
Published: February 2008

Background: We investigated whether chromosome 9p21.3 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), identified in coronary heart disease (CHD) genome-wide association scans, added significantly to the predictive utility for CHD of conventional risk factors (CRF) in the Framingham risk score (FRS) algorithm.

Methods: In the Northwick Park Heart Study II of 2742 men (270 CHD events occurring during a 15-year prospective study), rs10757274 A>G [mean frequency G = 0.48 (95% CI 0.47–0.50)] was genotyped. Using the area under the ROC curve (AROC) and the likelihood ratio (LR) statistic, we assessed the discriminatory performance of the FRS based on CRFs with and without genotype.

Results: rs10757274 A>G was associated with incident CHD, with an effect size as reported previously [hazard ratio in GG vs AA men of 1.60 (95% CI 1.12–2.28)], independent of CRFs and family history of CHD. Although the AROC for CRFs alone [0.62 (95% CI 0.58–0.66)] did not increase significantly (P = 0.14) when rs10757274 A>G genotype was added [0.64 (95% CI 0.60–0.68)], including genotype gave better fit (LR P = 0.01) and including rs10757274 moved 369 men (13.5% of the total) into more accurate risk categories. To model polygenic effects, 10 hypothetical, randomly assigned gene variants, with similar effect size and frequencies were added. Two variants made significant AROC improvements to the FRS prediction (P = 0.01), whereas further variants had smaller incremental effects (final AROC = 0.71, P <0.001 vs CRFs; LR vs CRFs P <0.0001).

Conclusions: Although overall, rs10757274 did not add substantially to the usefulness of the FRS for predicting future events, it did improve reclassification of CHD risk, and thus may have clinical utility.
Personality and Birth Order in Monozygotic Twins Adopted Apart: A Test of Sulloway's Theory; Research Reviews: Twin Births and Cancer Risk in Mothers, Male Sexual Dysfunction, Twin Study of Ultimatum Game Behavior; Human Interest: ‘The Land of Twins’, Twin-Like Reunion-I, Twin-Like Reunion-II
Authors: Segal Nancy L.
Published: February 2008

A brief overview of Sulloway's (1996) theory of birth order and personality is presented. A reared apart twin approach for testing his personality findings regarding openness to experience and conscientiousness in first borns and later borns is described. This is followed by summaries of three recent twin studies. The topics include cancer risk in mother of twins, sexual dysfunction in males and responder behavior during ultimatum games. This article concludes with a discussion of twinning rates and rituals among the Yoruba of western Nigeria, and descriptions of two unusual reunions between siblings and twins.
Effects of Chorion Type on Genetic and Environmental Influences on Height, Weight, and Body Mass Index in South Korean Young Twins
Authors: Hur Yoon-Mi , Shin Jung-Sik
Published: February 2008

The present study examined the effects of chorionicity of twins on variations of height, weight, and body mass index (BMI) during childhood in the classical twin design. Mothers of 81 pairs of monochorionic monozygotic (MCMZ), 47 pairs of dichorionic monozygotic (DCMZ), and 457 pairs of dizygotic (DZ) twins drawn from the South Korean Twin Registry reported their children's height and weight. Twins' age ranged from 1.9 to 8.7 yrs, with a mean of 4.0 yrs and SD of 1.7 yrs. We computed maximum likelihood twin correlations and performed model-fitting analyses. In correlational and model-fitting analyses, we treated age and sex as covariates to control their main effects. Maximum likelihood MCMZ, DCMZ, and DZ twin correlations were, respectively, .96, .92, and .74, for height, .88, .91, and .57 for weight, and .93, .92, and .61 for BMI. The pattern of these twin correlations suggested very modest chorion effects on body measures. Model-fitting analyses confirmed the observations from twin correlations. Whereas genetic and shared environmental influences were significant for all three body measures, chorion effects attained statistical significance only for height (4%), and those for weight and BMI were zero. These findings indicate that genetic and environmental estimates for height, weight, and BMI during childhood are biased little by the chorion type of MZ twins, supporting the validity of the equal prenatal environment assumption in the classical twin design.
Factors Associated with Recent Increase of Multiple Births in Spain
Authors: Fuster Vicente , Zuluaga Pilar , Colantonio Sonia , de Blas Clemente
Published: February 2008

The increased incidence of multiple deliveries in Spain, in addition to changes in age at maternity and parity, is attributed to assisted reproductive treatments, but the relative contribution of the latter to this rise remains uncertain, due to the scarce information provided by clinics practicing those treatments. Population based data (1984–2004), including information on mother's age, nationality, marital status, date of delivery, and the characteristics of each (parity, single or multiple), and sex of newborns were provided by the Spanish Institute of Statistics. Twinning and triplet deliveries relate to maternal age, parity, and nationality. For younger ages (≤ 19, 20–24, 25–29) rates remained constant over time, but for older women (30–34, 35–39, ≥ 40) rates increased after 1994. From 1984 to 2004 the percentage of twins of opposite sex increased from 24.31 to 36.58 per cent. Since 1997, Spanish and non-Spanish mothers differentiate with respect to multiple maternity at ages over 30. In addition to unmarried Spanish women, immigrants constitute a reliable reference group that determines the convenience of segregating information on multiple deliveries respecting origin. The proportion of twins and triplets of opposite sex, maternal age, and parity patterns observed are concordant with a differential access to reproductive treatments depending on the woman's age. The present norm regulating the maximum number of fertilizations per cycle and the demand for these treatments explain the high incidence of multiple deliveries in Spain. A modified logistic curve predicts a stabilization of multiple deliveries, which will probably continue to be high in Spain.
Effect of abnormal fibres on the mechanical properties of paper made from Norway spruce, Picea abies (L.) Karst.
Authors: Terziev Nasko , Daniel Geoffrey , Marklund Ann
Published: February 2008

The aim of the present study was to determine the effect of a variety of abnormal fibres on the mechanical properties of paper made from Norway spruce, Picea abies (L.) Karst. Fibres representing abnormality were obtained from trees treated by irrigation and fertilisation. Moreover, fibres from compression wood and its accompanying opposite wood were isolated. The effect of dislocations on paper quality was studied on four mixtures (20, 40, 60 and 80% fibres with induced dislocations) of untreated/compressed fibres. Two more groups consisting of control untreated samples and samples with 100%-induced dislocations were also included in the test. The mechanical properties of the paper were tested and the results were compared to those of control samples. Abnormal fibres reduced the desired mechanical properties of the final paper concerning tensile strength, modulus of elasticity and tear-tensile index. Irrespective of the type of treatment, all morphological changes introduced in fibre cell walls appear to directly affect changes in the mechanical properties of the paper. Control samples had a tear index of 25 compared to 10 mN m2 g-1 of samples containing 100% dislocations. It is obvious that 20% of dislocations, an amount that is expected to be induced in pulp under mechanical processing and transport, will contribute to a decrease in tear index with an average of 3 mN m2 g-1, i.e., 10% of the total value.
Cellulose aerogels: Highly porous, ultra-lightweight materials
Authors: Liebner Falk , Potthast Antje , Rosenau Thomas , Haimer Emmerich , Wendland Martin
Published: February 2008

Cellulosic aerogels are intriguing new materials produced by supercritical drying of regenerated cellulose obtained by solvent exchange of solid Lyocell moldings. From N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide (NMMO) solutions with cellulose contents between 1 and 12%, dimensionally stable cellulose bodies are produced, in which the solution structure of the cellulose is largely preserved and transferred into the solid state, the material having densities down to 0.05 g cm-3 and surface areas of up to 280 m2 g-1. In this study, several aspects of cellulosic aerogel production are communicated: the stabilization of the cellulose solutions against degradation reactions by agents suitable for later extraction and drying, a reliable extraction and drying procedure by supercritical carbon dioxide, the advantages of DMSO/NMMO in this procedure as a solvent/non-solvent pair, and some data on the physical properties of the materials.
A generalized mat consolidation model for wood composites
Authors: Zhou Cheng , Dai Chunping , Smith Gregory D.
Published: February 2008

A generalized model for the prediction of mat pressure-density relationship of wood-based composites was developed. Based on the compression models for fiber assembly, this model treats the composite mat structure as a system of bending units, thus making element bending the dominant mechanism during early stage of mat consolidation. The consolidation behavior of fiber, strand, and particle mats were experimentally investigated. Satisfactory agreement was found between the model predictions and experimental results. Combined with the compression model, the entire strand mat consolidation can be predicted based on the properties of the wood constituents.
Race and Redemption: Racial and Ethnic Evolution in Rudolf Steiner's Anthroposophy
Authors: Staudenmaier Peter
Published: February 2008

With its origins in modern Theosophy, Rudolf Steiner's Anthroposophy is built around a racial view of human nature arranged in a hierarchical framework. This article examines the details of the Anthroposophical theory of cosmic and individual redemption and draws out the characteristic assumptions about racial and ethnic difference that underlie it. Particular attention is given to textual sources unavailable in English, which reveal the specific features of Steiner's account of "race evolution" and "soul evolution." Placing Steiner's worldview in its historical and ideological context, the article highlights the contours of racial thinking within a prominent alternative spiritual movement and delineates the central role of a racially configured conception of evolution within Anthroposophy past and present.
Coloring Jesus: Racial Calculus and the Search for Identity in Twentieth-century America
Authors: Prentiss Craig R.
Published: February 2008

Though typically seen as representing two ends of an ideological spectrum, the Shrine of the Black Madonna Pan-African Orthodox Christian Church and the Christian Identity movement both filter their biblical exegesis through the prism of racial imaginations shaped by American culture. This article argues that while each movement is commonly classified as propagating extremist perspectives, they are engaged, in fact, in hermeneutical strategies that have an ancient pedigree and are grounded in practices of social exclusion and separation commonplace in the Bible. Though the social boundaries created by both groups bear no apparent relation to the social and cultural realities of the ancient Israelites, their theologies—often shocking to some—are more profitably understood as ordinary and even predictable patterns of thought within a broad array of Christian imaginings.
Familial Antecedents and the Choice of a New Religious Movement: Which Person in Which Religious Group?
Authors: Namini Sussan , Murken Sebastian
Published: February 2008

Based on the idea of a person-religion fit, this study deals with the role of early familial antecedents for choosing a new religious movement (NRM). New members of three NRMs in Germany (a Pentecostal parish, the New Apostolic Church, Jehovah's Witnesses; N = 71) were compared to each other in regard to the variables of loss of a parent, number of siblings, and birth order position. Statistical analysis revealed differences between the three groups regarding loss of a parent and trends for the number of siblings. The most striking finding was that 43 percent of the new New Apostolic members had lost their father (compared to 10 percent of the Pentecostals and 23 percent of Jehovah's Witnesses). Differences between the groups are discussed with a focus on the groups' specific structures and theologies. Overall, the idea of a person-religion fit proved to be useful for the study of biographical variables, although theoretical and empirical problems of the fit model still need to be solved. Further research on early family experiences and person-religion fit is encouraged. The need to investigate coping-related aspects is emphasized.
Conditional Switches for Extracellular Matrix Patterning inDrosophila melanogaster
Authors: Khokhar Arvinder , Chen Nan , Yuan Ji-Ping , Li Yishi , Landis Gary N , Beaulieu Gregory , Kaur Harminder , Tower John
Published: February 2008

An F1 mutagenesis strategy was developed to identify conditional mutations affecting extracellular matrix (ECM) patterning. Tubulogenesis requires coordinated movement of epithelial cells and deposition of a multilayered ECM. In the Drosophila ovary, an epithelium of follicle cells creates the eggshells, including the paired tubular dorsal appendages (DAs) that act as breathing tubes for the embryo. A P-element mutagenesis strategy allowed for conditional overexpression of hundreds of genes in follicle cells. Conditional phenotypes were scored at the level of individual mutant (F1) female flies. ECM pattern regulators were readily identified including MAPK signaling gene ets domain lacking (fused DAs), Wnt pathway genes frizzled 3 and osa (long DAs), Hh pathway gene debra (branched DAs), and transcription factor genes sima/HIF-1α, ush, lilli, Tfb1, broad, and foxo. In moving cells the [Ca2+]/calcineurin pathway can regulate adhesion to ECM while adherens junctions link cells together. Accordingly, thin eggshell and DA phenotypes were identified for the calcineurin regulator calreticulin and the adherens junction component arc. Finally a tubulogenesis defect phenotype was identified for the gene pterodactyl, homologous to the mammalian serine/threonine receptor-associated protein (STRAP) that integrates the TGF-β and PI3K/AKT signaling pathways. Because phenotypes can be scored in each mutant fly before and after gene induction, this F1 conditional mutagenesis strategy should allow for increased scale in screens for mutations affecting repeated (reiterated) events in adult animals, including gametogenesis, movement, behavior, and learning.
Genetic Evidence for Sites of Interaction Between the Gal3 and Gal80 Proteins of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae GAL Gene Switch
Authors: Diep Cuong Q , Tao Xiaorong , Pilauri Vepkhia , Losiewicz Mandy , Blank T Eric , Hopper James E
Published: February 2008

Galactose-activated transcription of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae GAL genes occurs when Gal3 binds the Gal4 inhibitor, Gal80. Noninteracting variants of Gal3 or Gal80 render the GAL genes noninducible. To identify the binding determinants for Gal3's interaction with Gal80 we carried out GAL3–GAL80 intergenic suppression analyses and selected for new GAL3 mutations that impair the Gal3–Gal80 interaction. We show that a GAL3C-D368V mutation can suppress the noninducibility due to a GAL80S-1-G323R mutation, and a GAL80-M350C mutation can suppress the noninducibility due to a gal3-D111C mutation. A reverse two-hybrid selection for GAL3 mutations that impair the Gal3–Gal80 interaction yielded 12 single-amino-acid substitutions at residues that are predicted to be surface exposed on Gal3. The majority of the affected Gal3 residues localized to a composite surface that includes D111 and a sequence motif containing D368, which has been implicated in interaction with Gal80. The striking colocalization of intergenic suppressor residues and Gal80 nonbinder residues identifies a Gal3 surface that likely interacts with Gal80.
The Glucose Transporter (GLUT4) Enhancer Factor Is Required for Normal Wing Positioning in Drosophila
Authors: Yazdani Umar , Huang Zhiyu , Terman Jonathan R
Published: February 2008

Many of the transcription factors and target genes that pattern the developing adult remain unknown. In the present study, we find that an ortholog of the poorly understood transcription factor, glucose transporter (GLUT4) enhancer factor (Glut4EF, GEF) [also known as the Huntington's disease gene regulatory region-binding protein (HDBP) 1], plays a critical role in specifying normal wing positioning in adult Drosophila. Glut4EF proteins are zinc-finger transcription factors named for their ability to regulate expression of GLUT4 but nothing is known of Glut4EF's in vivo physiological functions. Here, we identify a family of Glut4EF proteins that are well conserved from Drosophila to humans and find that mutations in Drosophila Glut4EF underlie the wing-positioning defects seen in stretch mutants. In addition, our results indicate that previously uncharacterized mutations in Glut4EF are present in at least 11 publicly available fly lines and on the widely used TM3 balancer chromosome. These results indicate that previous observations utilizing these common stocks may be complicated by the presence of Glut4EF mutations. For example, our results indicate that Glut4EF mutations are also present on the same chromosome as two gain-of-function mutations of the homeobox transcription factor Antennapedia (Antp) and underlie defects previously attributed to Antp. In fact, our results support a role for Glut4EF in the modulation of morphogenetic processes mediated by Antp, further highlighting the importance of Glut4EF transcription factors in patterning and morphogenesis.
Dominant Suppression of Repeat-Induced Point Mutation in Neurospora crassa by a Variant Catalytic Subunit of DNA Polymerase-ζ
Authors: Tamuli Ranjan , Kasbekar Durgadas P
Published: February 2008

Crosses involving the Adiopodoumé strain of Neurospora crassa are defective for repeat-induced point mutation (RIP), a genome defense mechanism of fungi. We show here that the Adiopodoumé strain possesses an incompletely penetrant and variably expressive dominant suppressor of RIP (Srp) that maps to an ∼34-kbp genome segment that is ∼26 kbp proximal to mat on linkage group IL. Gene disruption experiments revealed that Srp is the upr-1 allele of Adiopodoumé (upr-1Ad) that is contained within this segment. The upr-1 gene codes for the catalytic subunit of the translesion DNA polymerase-ζ (Pol-ζ) and it is unusually polymorphic in Neurospora. That the upr-1 gene contains upstream ORFs that overlap with the main ORF is potentially relevant to the incomplete penetrance and variable expressivity of the suppressor. Crosses between heterokaryons that contain upr-1Ad and strains that prevent mating events involving nuclei that contain upr-1Ad yielded no progeny in which RIP had occurred, consistent with the idea that the suppressor encoded by upr-1Ad is diffusible. The potential involvement of the Pol-ζ subunit in two functions, translesion DNA synthesis and RIP regulation, might account for the rapid evolution of its gene in Neurospora.