bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Darwin’s biogeography
Authors: Briggs John C.
Published: February 2009

The year 2009 marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species. This book was so influential that it is often considered to be the most important scientific work ever written. Many volumes have been published about the Origin and its lasting effects on religion and society, but few have examined its influence on biogeography. However, it was Darwin’s initial interest in comparing the natural history of different regions during the voyage of the Beagle that led him to propose natural selection as an evolutionary force. He had visited the Cape Verde Islands and saw the similarity of their biota to that of Africa, and then noted the South American relationships of the Galapagos fauna and flora. But the island plants and animals were different from their mainland relatives, and, in the Galapagos, each island appeared to have its own endemic forms. It was these biogeographical observations that were critical to Darwin’s formulation of a theory to account for them. His subsequent conclusions on the evolutionary importance of centres of origin and dispersal were generally well accepted for the next 100 years, until the advent of vicarianism, which began in the early 1970s. That vicarianist movement received an impetus from two sources: (1) the works of Leon Croizat, who did not believe that living organisms could disperse overseas by themselves; and (2) the development of plate tectonics and its causation of continental drift. Vicarianists believed that primitive species were originally widespread over the Earth’s surface but were rafted to different parts of the world by continental fractionation and movement. However, continental drift in the Mesozoic could not have involved contemporary species or genera as many vicarianists claimed. The development of phylogeography, beginning in the 1980s, and improved knowledge of the fossil record soon demonstrated that multitudes of living species, and even many genera and families, underwent long‐distance dispersal during the Cenozoic. This resulted in a decline of vicarianism and a vindication of Darwin’s conclusions on centres of origin and dispersal.
Further development of bithionol therapy as a treatment for amoebic gill disease in Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L.
Authors: Florent R L , Becker J , Powell M D
Published: February 2009

This study examined the efficacy of bithionol as a prophylactic or therapeutic oral treatment for Atlantic salmon (AS), Salmo salar, affected by amoebic gill disease (AGD). Furthermore, it explored the interaction of bithionol oral therapy with the current standard treatment (a freshwater bath for at least 3 h). The efficacy of three medicated feeds was determined in the trial by feeding AGD‐affected AS at 1% body weight (BW) day−1 either oil coated commercial feed (control) or prophylactic and therapeutic bithionol at 25 mg kg−1 feed. Feeding commenced 2 weeks prior to exposure to Neoparamoeba spp. at 300 cells L−1 and continued for 49 days post‐exposure (PE). Bithionol when fed as a 2‐week prophylactic or therapeutic treatment at 25 mg kg−1 feed delayed the onset of AGD pathology and reduced the percentage of gill filaments with lesions. Administration of a 3‐h freshwater bath at 28 days PE significantly reduced amoeba numbers to a similar level across all treatments; in contrast, gross gill score and percent lesioned filaments were reduced to different extents, the control having a significantly higher score than both bithionol treatments. Following the freshwater bath, clinical signs of AGD increased at a similar level across all treatments, albeit controls were significantly higher than the bithionol treatments immediately following freshwater treatment. This study demonstrated that bithionol at 25 mg kg−1 feed, when fed as a 2‐week prophylactic or a therapeutic treatment, delayed and reduced the intensity of AGD pathology and warrants further investigation as a treatment for AGD‐affected AS.
Interrater reliability for sleep scoring according to the Rechtschaffen & Kales and the new AASM standard
Authors: DANKER‐HOPFE HEIDI , ANDERER PETER , ZEITLHOFER JOSEF , BOECK MARION , DORN HANS , GRUBER GEORG , HELLER ESTHER , LORETZ ERNA , MOSER DORIS , PARAPATICS SILVIA , SALETU BERND , SCHMIDT ANDREA , DORFFNER GEORG
Published: February 2009

Interrater variability of sleep stage scorings has an essential impact not only on the reading of polysomnographic sleep studies (PSGs) for clinical trials but also on the evaluation of patients’ sleep. With the introduction of a new standard for sleep stage scorings (AASM standard) there is a need for studies on interrater reliability (IRR). The SIESTA database resulting from an EU‐funded project provides a large number of studies (n = 72; 56 healthy controls and 16 subjects with different sleep disorders, mean age ± SD: 57.7 ± 18.7, 34 females) for which scorings according to both standards (AASM and R&K) were done. Differences in IRR were analysed at two levels: (1) based on quantitative sleep parameter by means of intraclass correlations; and (2) based on an epoch‐by‐epoch comparison by means of Cohen’s kappa and Fleiss’ kappa. The overall agreement was for the AASM standard 82.0% (Cohen’s kappa = 0.76) and for the R&K standard 80.6% (Cohen’s kappa = 0.68). Agreements increased from R&K to AASM for all sleep stages, except N2. The results of this study underline that the modification of the scoring rules improve IRR as a result of the integration of occipital, central and frontal leads on the one hand, but decline IRR on the other hand specifically for N2, due to the new rule that cortical arousals with or without concurrent increase in submental electromyogram are critical events for the end of N2.
Scheduled napping as a countermeasure to sleepiness in air traffic controllers
Authors: SIGNAL TRACEY LEIGH , GANDER PHILIPPA H. , ANDERSON HOWARD , BRASH SUE
Published: February 2009

The aims of this study were to measure sleep during a planned nap on the night shift; and to use objective measures of performance and alertness to compare the effects of the nap opportunity versus staying awake. Twenty‐eight air traffic controllers (mean age 36 years, nine women) completed four night shifts (two with early starts and two with late starts). Each type of night shift (early/late start) included a 40‐min planned nap opportunity on one occasion and no nap on the other. Polysomnographic data were used to measure sleep and waking alertness [spectral power in the electroencephalogram (EEG) during the last hour of the night shift and the occurrence of slow rolling eye movements (SEMs) subsequent to the nap]. Psychomotor performance task [Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT)] was completed at the beginning and end of the shift, and after the nap (or an equivalent time if no nap was taken). Nap sleep latencies were relatively long (mean = 19 min) and total sleep time short (mean = 18 min), with minimal slow wave sleep (SWS, mean = 0%), and no rapid eye movement sleep. Nap sleep resulted in improved PVT performance (mean and slowest 10% of reaction time events), decreased spectral power in the EEG and reduced the likelihood of SEMs. The occurrence of SWS in the nap decreased spectral power in the EEG. This study indicates that although sleep taken at work is likely to be short and of poor quality it still results in an improvement in objective measures of alertness and performance.
Fragmentation of the rest‐activity rhythm correlates with age‐related cognitive deficits
Authors: OOSTERMAN JOUKJE M. , VAN SOMEREN EUS J. W. , VOGELS RAYMOND L. C. , VAN HARTEN BARBERA , SCHERDER ERIK J. A.
Published: February 2009

Aging affects both cognitive performance and the sleep‐wake rhythm. The recent surge of studies that support a role of sleep for cognitive performance in healthy young adults suggests that disturbed sleep‐wake rhythms may contribute to ‘age‐related’ cognitive decline. This relationship has however not previously been extensively investigated. The present correlational study integrated a battery of standardized cognitive tests to investigate the association of mental speed, memory, and executive function with actigraphically recorded sleep‐wake rhythms in 144 home‐dwelling elderly participants aged 69.5 ± 8.5 (mean ± SD). Multiple regression analyses showed that the partial correlations of the fragmentation of the sleep‐wake rhythm with each of the three cognitive domains (r = −0.16, −0.19, and −0.16 respectively) were significant. These associations were independent from main effects of age, implying that a unique relationship between the rest‐activity rhythm and cognitive performance is present in elderly people.
A combined neuropsychological and brain imaging study of obstructive sleep apnea
Authors: YAOUHI KHALID , BERTRAN FRANÇOISE , CLOCHON PATRICE , MÉZENGE FLORENCE , DENISE PIERRE , FORET JEAN , EUSTACHE FRANCIS , DESGRANGES BÉATRICE
Published: February 2009

Patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) show neuropsychological impairments ranging from vigilance decrements, attentional lapses and memory gaps to decreased motor coordination, but their cognitive profile, and the origin of the impairments, remain unclear. We sought to establish the neuropsychological profile of 16 newly diagnosed apneics and to highlight both their morphological and functional brain abnormalities. We used an extensive neuropsychological test battery to investigate attention and vigilance, executive functions, episodic memory and motor domains. For brain imaging, we used the optimized voxel‐based morphometry procedure for the MRI data, resting‐state 18F‐fluoro‐2‐deoxy‐D‐Glucose positron emission tomography (18FDG‐PET) with correction for partial volume effects (PVEs) and voxel‐based analyses. In terms of neurobehavioral performance, our patients displayed objective daytime somnolence but little impairment in memory and motor domains. Cerebral data revealed gray matter loss in the frontal and temporo–parieto–occipital cortices, the thalamus, hippocampal region, some basal ganglia and cerebellar regions, mainly in the right hemisphere. The decrease in brain metabolism was also right‐lateralized, but more restricted than the gray matter density changes, and involved the precuneus, the middle and posterior cingulate gyrus, and the parieto–occipital cortex, as well as the prefrontal cortex. To conclude, despite the presence of only minor memory and motor impairments, our patients displayed significant cerebral changes in terms of both gray matter density and metabolic levels, and may have benefited from cognitive reserve and compensatory mechanisms. Thus, cerebral changes in OSA patients may precede the onset of notable neuropsychological consequences.
Application of histamine or serotonin to the hypoglossal nucleus increases genioglossus muscle activity across the wake–sleep cycle
Authors: NEUZERET PIERRE‐CHARLES , SAKAI KAZUYA , GORMAND FRÉDÉRIC , PETITJEAN THIERRY , BUDA COLETTE , SASTRE JEAN‐PIERRE , PARROT SANDRINE , GUIDON GÉRARD , LIN JIAN‐SHENG
Published: February 2009

The decrease in genioglossus (GG) muscle activity during sleep, especially rapid eye movement (REM) or paradoxical sleep, can lead to airway occlusion and obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). The hypoglossal nucleus innervating the GG muscle is under the control of serotonergic, noradrenergic and histaminergic neurons that cease firing during paradoxical sleep. The objectives of this study were to determine the effect on GG muscle activity during different wake–sleep states of the microdialysis application of serotonin, histamine (HA) or noradrenaline (NE) to the hypoglossal nucleus in freely moving cats. Six adult cats were implanted with electroencephalogram, electro‐oculogram and neck electromyogram electrodes to record wake–sleep states and with GG muscle and diaphragm electrodes to record respiratory muscle activity. Microdialysis probes were inserted into the hypoglossal nucleus for monoamine application. Changes in GG muscle activity were assessed by power spectrum analysis. In the baseline conditions, tonic GG muscle activity decreased progressively and significantly from wakefulness to slow‐wave sleep and even further during slow‐wave sleep with ponto‐geniculo‐occipital waves and paradoxical sleep. Application of serotonin or HA significantly increased GG muscle activity during the wake–sleep states when compared with controls. By contrast, NE had no excitatory effect. Our results indicate that both serotonin and HA have a potent excitatory action on GG muscle activity, suggesting multiple aminergic control of upper airway muscle activity during the wake–sleep cycle. These data might help in the development of pharmacological approaches for the treatment of OSA.
Suppression of hepatitis C virus replication by protein kinase C‐related kinase 2 inhibitors that block phosphorylation of viral RNA polymerase
Authors: Kim S.‐J. , Kim J.‐H. , Sun J.‐M. , Kim M.‐G. , Oh J.‐W.
Published: February 2009

Summary.  Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a serious threat to human health worldwide. In spite of the continued search for specific and effective anti‐HCV therapies, the rapid emergence of drug‐resistance variants has been hampering the development of anti‐HCV drugs designed to target viral enzymes. Targeting host factors has therefore emerged as an alternative strategy offering the potential to circumvent the ever‐present complication of drug resistance. We previously identified protein kinase C‐related kinase 2 (PRK2) as a cellular kinase that phosphorylates the HCV RNA‐dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp). Here, we report the anti‐HCV activity of HA1077, also known as fasudil, and Y27632, which blocks HCV RdRp phosphorylation by suppressing PRK2 activation. Treatment of a Huh7 cell line, stably expressing a genotype 1b HCV subgenomic replicon RNA, with 20 μm each of HA1077 and Y27632 reduced the HCV RNA level by 55% and 30%, respectively. A combination of the inhibitors with 100 IU/mL interferon α (IFN‐α) significantly potentiated the anti‐HCV drug activities resulting in approximately a 2‐log10 viral RNA reduction. We also found that IFN‐α does not activate PRK2 as well as its upstream kinase PDK1 in HCV‐replicating cells. Furthermore, treatment of HCV‐infected cells with 20 μm each of HA1077 and Y27632 reduced the levels of intracellular viral RNA by 70% and 92%, respectively. Taken together, the results identify PRK2 inhibitors as potential antiviral drugs that act by suppressing HCV replication via inhibition of viral RNA polymerase phosphorylation.
Evidence for action of ribavirin through the hepatitis C virus RNA polymerase
Authors: Cannon N. A. , Donlin M. J. , Mayes L. M. , Lyra A. C. , Di Bisceglie A. M. , Tavis J. E.
Published: February 2009

Summary.  Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections are treated with interferon α plus ribavirin, but it is unknown how ribavirin works against HCV. Ribavirin is a guanosine analogue that can be a substrate for the viral RNA polymerase. HCV is genetically variable, and this genetic variation could affect the polymerase’s use of ribavirin triphosphate. Thirteen patients infected with HCV who failed interferon α monotherapy and were retreated with interferon α plus ribavirin were identified; seven were responders and six were nonresponders to combination therapy. The consensus sequences encoding the 13 polymerases plus seven sequences from treatment‐naive controls were determined. The responder sequences were more genetically variable than the nonresponders and controls, the amino acid variations unique to responders had lower BLOSUM90 scores than variations in nonresponders and controls, and the amino acid variations correlated with response to therapy clustered around the RNA‐binding channel of the polymerase. These data imply that that the responder enzymes were probably more functionally variable than the nonresponder enzymes. Enzymatic activity was measured for 10 recombinant polymerases; RNA synthesis activity varied by over sevenfold and polymerases from two of the responders used GTP much better than UTP, but technical limitations prevented direct measurement of ribavirin triphosphate use. Because response to combination therapy in these patients was primarily due to addition of ribavirin to the treatment regimen, these data imply that genetic variation in the polymerase may have affected the efficiency of ribavirin incorporation into the viral genome and hence may have modulated ribavirin’s efficacy against HCV.
Feasibility of completing an accelerated vaccine series for homeless adults
Authors: Nyamathi A. M. , Sinha K. , Saab S. , Marfisee M. , Greengold B. , Leake B. , Tyler D.
Published: February 2009

Summary.  Homeless adults are at high risk for hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. In addition to culturally sensitive programmes designed to enhance vaccination compliance, accelerated HBV vaccination (three doses over 21 days) have also been suggested to improve compliance among high‐risk groups. In this paper, we examined predictors of completers of two of three doses of a HAV/HBV vaccine series, normally delivered over a 6‐month period, to simulate compliance with an accelerated series, dosed over 4 weeks. A convenience sample of 865 homeless adults was randomized into a nurse case‐managed approach (NCMIT) vs standard programmes with (SIT) and without tracking (SI). Each group was assessed for completion of two of the three dose HAV/HBV vaccine series as well as the full three dose vaccine series. Sixty‐eight percent of the NCMIT participants completed the three dose vaccination series at 6 months compared to 61% of SIT participants and 54% of SI participants. Eighty‐one percent of the NCMIT participants completed two of the vaccinations compared to 78% of SIT participants and 73% of SI participants. The NCMIT approach resulted in greater numbers of completers of two of three doses and of the full three dose vaccine series. Predictors of completers of two doses and the full three dose vaccine series are provided. A greater number of homeless persons completed two doses across the three groups compared to the three dose vaccine series. The use of nurse case‐management and tracking, coupled with an accelerated HAV/HBV vaccination schedule, may optimize vaccination compliance in homeless adults.
Ice recrystallization inhibition proteins (IRIPs) and freeze tolerance in the cryophilic Antarctic hair grass Deschampsia antarctica E. Desv.
Authors: JOHN ULRIK P. , POLOTNIANKA RENATA M. , SIVAKUMARAN KAILAYAPILLAI A. , CHEW ORINDA , MACKIN LEANNE , KUIPER MICHAEL J. , TALBOT JONATHAN P. , NUGENT GREGORY D. , MAUTORD JULIE , SCHRAUF GUSTAVO E. , SPANGENBERG GERMAN C.
Published: February 2009

Antarctic hair grass (Deschampsia antarctica E. Desv.), the only grass indigenous to Antarctica, has well‐developed freezing tolerance, strongly induced by cold acclimation. Here, we show that in response to low temperatures, D. antarctica expresses potent recrystallization inhibition (RI) activity that, inhibits the growth of small ice crystals into potentially damaging large ones, is proteinaceous and localized to the apoplasm. A gene family from D. antarctica encoding putative homologs of an ice recrystallization inhibition protein (IRIP) has been isolated and characterized. IRIPs are apoplastically targeted proteins with two potential ice‐binding motifs: 1–9 leucine‐rich repeats (LRRs) and c. 16 ‘IRIP’ repeats. IRIP genes appear to be confined to the grass subfamily Pooideae and their products, exhibit sequence similarity to phytosulphokine receptors and are predicted to adopt conformations with two ice‐binding surfaces. D. antarctica IRIP (DaIRIP) transcript levels are greatly enhanced in leaf tissue following cold acclimation. Transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana expressing a DaIRIP has novel RI activity, and purified DaIRIP, when added back to extracts of leaves from non‐acclimated D. antarctica, can reconstitute the activity found in acclimated plants. We propose that IRIP‐mediated RI activity may contribute to the cryotolerance of D. antarctica, and thus to its unique ability to have colonized Antarctica.
Efficiency of a novel gametocide amidosulfuron on rapeseed (Brassica napus)
Authors: Yu C.‐Y. , Dong J.‐G. , Hu S.‐W. , He P.‐R.
Published: February 2009

The efficiency of a novel gametocide amidosulfuron, 1‐(4, 6‐dimethoxypyrimidin‐ 2‐yl) ‐3‐mesyl (methyl) sulfamoylurea, was evaluated on rapeseed (Brassica napus L.). Double application of 0.09–0.12 g/ha amidosulfuron at the uni‐nucleate stage of longest buds and 12 days later, made 97.4–100% plants male‐sterile in seventeen out of 20 cultivars tested. The shrunken anthers could not release pollen or produced only dysfunctional pollen grains that could not be stained by aceto carmine. The treatment also caused 10–30% reduction on seed setting in comparison to the controls. The purity of hybrid seed from crosses of ‘C161 × Huaye’ and ‘Zhongshuang No.2 × Huaye’ based on amidosulfuron was 99.8% and 100.0%, respectively. The results suggested that amidosulfuron is an efficient gametocide for B. napus.
How to use laparoscopic surgical instruments safely
Authors: Higashihara Eiji , Hattori Ryohei , Nakagawa Ken , Iwamura Masatsugu , Ushiyama Tomomi , Kawabata Gaku , Habuchi Tomonori
Published: February 2009

The development of laparoscopic surgery has been accompanied by a rapid increase in the number of laparoscopic surgical procedures carried out in the field of urology. In 2002 laparoscopic nephrectomy was approved for coverage under Japanese national health insurance, and in 2003 there were over 1000 registered cases in which this procedure was carried out. This suggests that laparoscopic nephrectomy, a procedure formerly conducted at only a few institutions, is now spreading to hospitals across Japan. Laparoscopic surgery involves the use of specialized instruments within a restricted field of vision, and risky surgical techniques can potentially result in visceral or vascular damage.

In order to promote the use of safe laparoscopic surgery procedures, the Japanese Urological Association and the Japanese Society of Endourology and Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy (ESWL) have inaugurated a certification program for urologic laparoscopy. This program not only encourages development in this field of surgery and provides technical certification to ensure appropriate levels of expertise, but also reviews methods for the correct use of instruments such as trocars and hemostats.

The purpose of this video is to present correct methods for the use of a variety of laparoscopic instruments, in order to increase the safety of this procedure. The video has been designed to be useful not only for practitioners who are just beginning laparoscopy, but also for those who already have extensive laparoscopic experience. The video discusses five laparoscopic instruments (trocar, electric surgical devices, ultrasonic surgery devices, clips and clip appliers and endo‐staplers), and demonstrates their correct use. In addition, animal models are used to illustrate the potential complications that can be associated with some methods of use.
Hand‐assisted versus pure laparoscopic radical cystectomy: A clinical outcome comparison
Authors: Wang Sheng‐zheng , Chen Ling‐wu , Chen Wei , Chen Jun‐xing , Lin Huan‐yi
Published: February 2009

Objectives:  To compare hand‐assisted laparoscopic radical cystectomy (HALRC) with the standard laparoscopic radical cystectomy (LRC) in an attempt to delineate their role in bladder cancer treatment.

Methods:  We retrospectively analyzed 51 patients who underwent HALRC (HALRC group, 31 cases) or LRC (LRC group, 20 cases). Urinary diversion was performed extracorporeally through the hand port or the incision for specimen retrieval, respectively, in the two groups. Baseline patient characteristics, intraoperative parameters, and postoperative outcomes were evaluated.

Results:  There was no statistically significant difference in age, sex, body mass index, previous abdominal surgeries, or tumor stage between the two groups. Although the LRC group yielded a significantly smaller incision for urinary diversion than the HALRC group (7.3 cm vs 6.2 cm, P < 0.05), mean operative time, mean estimated blood loss, blood transfusion rate, time to oral intake and complications were similar in the two groups. Hernia formation was observed with increased frequency in the HALRC group. No patients in the HALRC group and only one patient (5%) in the LRC group presented a positive margin.

Conclusions:  The HALRC group yielded the same outcomes as the LRC group, except with a larger incision. The hand‐assisted approach might be preferred for obese patients or those having multiple previous abdominal surgeries.
Lesions to the medial preoptic nucleus affect immediate early gene immunolabeling in brain regions involved in song control and social behavior in male European starlings
Authors: Alger Sarah J. , Maasch Sarah N. , Riters Lauren V.
Published: February 2009

The medial preoptic nucleus (POM) is a brain region outside of the song control system of songbirds. It has been implicated in song production, sexual motivation, and the integration of both sensory and hormonal information with appropriate behavioral responses. The POM is well positioned neuroanatomically to interact with multiple regions involved in song, social behavior, and motivation. However, little is known about the brain regions with which the POM directly or indirectly communicates to influence song. To gain insight into the neuronal circuits normally activated in association with POM activity during male song, we compared activity within multiple brain regions using immunolabeling for protein products of immediate early genes (IEGs) zenk (aka egr‐1) and c‐fos (indirect markers of neuronal activity) in sham and POM‐lesioned male European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris). As compared to sham lesions, POM lesions disrupted song and interest in a nest box, and females responded less to POM‐lesioned males. POM lesions reduced numbers of IEG‐labeled cells and disrupted correlations between numbers of IEG‐labeled cells and song within several song control, limbic, hypothalamic and midbrain regions. These results are consistent with the possibility that the POM integrates activity among nuclei involved in song control, social behavior and motivational state that work in concert to promote sexually motivated communication.
The influence of learning on sleep slow oscillations and associated spindles and ripples in humans and rats
Authors: Mölle Matthias , Eschenko Oxana , Gais Steffen , Sara Susan J. , Born Jan
Published: February 2009

The mechanisms underlying off‐line consolidation of memory during sleep are elusive. Learning of hippocampus‐dependent tasks increases neocortical slow oscillation synchrony, and thalamocortical spindle and hippocampal ripple activity during subsequent non‐rapid eye movement sleep. Slow oscillations representing an oscillation between global neocortical states of increased (up‐state) and decreased (down‐state) neuronal firing temporally group thalamic spindle and hippocampal ripple activity, which both occur preferentially during slow oscillation up‐states. Here we examined whether slow oscillations also group learning‐induced increases in spindle and ripple activity, thereby providing time‐frames of facilitated hippocampus‐to‐neocortical information transfer underlying the conversion of temporary into long‐term memories. Learning (word‐pairs in humans, odor–reward associations in rats) increased slow oscillation up‐states and, in humans, shaped the timing of down‐states. Slow oscillations grouped spindle and rat ripple activity into up‐states under basal conditions. Prior learning produced in humans an increase in spindle activity focused on slow oscillation up‐states. In rats, learning induced a distinct increase in spindle and ripple activity that was not synchronized to up‐states. Event‐correlation histograms indicated an increase in spindle activity with the occurrence of ripples. This increase was prolonged after learning, suggesting a direct temporal tuning between ripples and spindles. The lack of a grouping effect of slow oscillations on learning‐induced spindles and ripples in rats, together with the less pronounced effects of learning on slow oscillations, presumably reflects a weaker dependence of odor learning on thalamo‐neocortical circuitry. Slow oscillations might provide an effective temporal frame for hippocampus‐to‐neocortical information transfer only when thalamo‐neocortical systems are already critically involved during learning.
Genetic and biochemical properties of an alkaline phosphatase PhoX family protein found in many bacteria
Authors: Zaheer Rahat , Morton Richard , Proudfoot Mike , Yakunin Alexander , Finan Turlough M.
Published: February 2009

We report on the biochemical, phylogenetic and genetic regulation of PhoX, the major alkaline phosphatase protein from the soil bacterium Sinorhizobium meliloti. The protein is shown to be a member of a recently identified family of PhoX alkaline phosphatase proteins that is distinct from the well‐characterized PhoA family. The mature S. meliloti PhoX protein is located in the periplasm and lacks a 76‐amino‐acid N‐terminal Tat signal peptide. Its phosphatase activity was stimulated by Ca+2 and was optimal at pH 9–11. Except for phytic acid and phosphatidic acid, the enzyme was active against a wide range of phosphorylated substrates (77 nucleotides, phosphorylated carbohydrates and amino acids) and thus exhibited low substrate specificity for C–O–P bonds. No C–P bond substrate was dephosphorylated while the protein was active with two of six phosphoramidate substrates (N–P bond) tested. Sinorhizobium meliloti phoX was induced when cells were starved for phosphorous and the induction was dependent on the PhoB‐regulatory protein. We demonstrate by in vitro analysis that PhoB protein binds to two tandem 22 nt PhoB binding sites located 64–21 nt upstream from the phoX transcription start site. Analysis of 95 PhoX orthologues from diverse bacteria revealed two distinct phylogenetic groups of PhoX proteins. The two groups differed in having a conserved glycine (PhoX‐I) or asparagine (PhoX‐II) next to their putative catalytic Ca+2 binding site. Analysis of the phoX promoter regions from many of these bacteria also revealed the presence of PhoB binding sites. Alkaline phosphatase proteins of either the PhoX or PhoA family (but rarely both) are found in many bacteria, thus it appears that these are functionally equivalent.
Salvage permanent perineal radioactive‐seed implantation for treating recurrence of localized prostate adenocarcinoma after external beam radiotherapy
Authors: Aaronson David S. , Yamasaki Ichiro , Gottschalk Alexander , Speight Joycelyn , Hsu I‐Chow , Pickett Barby , Roach Mack , Shinohara Katsuto
Published: February 2009

OBJECTIVE

To assess our experience with salvage permanent perineal radioactive‐seed implantation (SPPI) as a possible therapeutic option for recurrent prostate adenocarcinoma, as salvage therapies for recurrences after definitive external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) for localized adenocarcinoma of the prostate are associated with significant morbidity and biochemical failure.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

We retrospectively analysed on patients who had SPPI for localized recurrent prostate adenocarcinoma from 1996 to 2007 after primary treatment with EBRT. Excluded were patients who had other primary treatment or had no follow‐up. Primary outcomes were time to biochemical relapse‐free survival, using the Phoenix definition of a prostate‐specific antigen (PSA) nadir +2 ng/mL, and cancer‐specific survival. Secondary outcomes were the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), the International Index of Erectile Function‐5 score (IIEF‐5), and complications based on Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (version 3).

RESULTS

In all, 37 patients had SPPI during this period; after applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, 24 remained for analysis. At the time of salvage therapy, the median time to the diagnosis of local recurrence was 49 months, the median PSA level was 3.36 ng/mL, the median PSA doubling time was 20 months, and all patients were clinically re‐staged at ≤T2 with negative transrectal ultrasonography and/or magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The original Gleason score was ≤6 in nine patients, 7 in eight and ≥8 in three (not recorded in two). The median follow‐up after SPPI was 30 months; the cancer‐free survival was 96% (one death) and biochemical relapse‐free survival was 88% (three patients). The PSA level was higher than the levels before SPPI at 3 months in all three failures, but lower in all 21 patients considered relapse‐free. Complications included one urethral stricture, one grade 3 rectal haemorrhage and five grade 2 gross haematuria that resolved with conservative management. Insufficient data were available to assess the IPSS or IIEF‐5 scores.

CONCLUSION

With a short‐term follow‐up SPPI appears to provide excellent prostate cancer control with an acceptable rate of complications for patients with local recurrence of prostate cancer after EBRT. An extended follow‐up is necessary to determine the long‐term durability and safety of SPPI.
Free Trade: What is it Good For? Globalization, Deregulation, and ‘Public Opinion’
Authors: Reid Emily , Steele Jenny
Published: February 2009

Deliberation is an essential element in legitimate and sound decision making. The deliberative ideal has much resonance with ideas of ‘localization’, employing the value of local and applied knowledge. Participation is also of particular value under globalization. We argue that the capacity of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to absorb and reflect participatory aspects of decision making is crucial to its future legitimacy and status. Should the WTO be seen as one of the darker forces of globalization? Or as an emerging institution of global accountability? The latter depends upon recognition that the potential deregulatory effect of the WTO is contingent, and that the liberalization of international trade should enhance welfare, rather than be a goal in its own right. Deliberative solutions require a strong public sphere, and we therefore consider whether solutions based on ‘empowered consumer choice’, rather than public deliberation, are unsatisfactory responses to the deregulatory impact of international trade disputes and their outcomes.
(Re)Connecting the Global and Local: Europe's Regional Seas
Authors: Bell Stuart , Etherington Laurence
Published: February 2009

One of the challenges to sustainable development is the disconnection between environmental impacts and their underlying causes. Whilst impacts are often localized and perceptions limited accordingly, sources can often be traced to broader factors, and there is a need for methodologies to establish these linkages between localized effects and global causes. Europe's Regional Seas provide a useful illustration, characterized by a variety of ecological problems influenced by a range of local and wider factors within complex ecosystems. The Driver‐Pressure‐State‐Impact‐Response (DPSIR) model is one methodology used to establish connections between ecological conditions and human activity. Whilst there are some significant challenges in developing and using such models, they deepen understanding of ecological systems and the influences of socio‐economic forces on them. In particular, they can help in contextualizing the apparent effectiveness of regulatory interventions and understanding the role that the forces of globalization play in creating localized ecosystem degradation.
Framing the Local and the Global in the Anti‐nuclear Movement: Law and the Politics of Place
Authors: Hilson Chris
Published: February 2009

This article examines the politics of place in relation to legal mobilization by the anti‐nuclear movement. It examines two case examples – citizens' weapons inspections and civil disobedience strategies – which have involved the movement drawing upon the law in particular spatial contexts. The article begins by examining a number of factors which have been employed in recent social movement literature to explain strategy choice, including ideology, resources, political and legal opportunity, and framing. It then proceeds to argue that the issues of scale, space, and place play an important role in relation to framing by the movement in the two case examples. Both can be seen to involve scalar reframing, with the movement attempting to resist localizing tendencies and to replace them with a global frame. Both also involve an attempt to reframe the issue of nuclear weapons away from the contested frame of the past (unilateral disarmament) towards the more universal and widely accepted frame of international law.
The Globalization and Re‐localization of Material Flows: Four Phases of Food Regulation
Authors: Lee Robert , Marsden Terry
Published: February 2009

Over three phases of regulation, the paper traces a narrow range of regulatory interest in food, focusing largely on food safety and the handling of periodic food crises. We suggest that these crises were early indications of the problems in sustaining increasingly unsustainable modes of food production through global supply chains and that United Kingdom/EU regulation acted in part as a palliative, cloaking the wider systemic disorders. We go on to suggest that, as resource pressures become increasingly apparent in world food systems, a further fourth phase of food regulation will need to pay much greater attention to the resilience, sustainability, and security of food supply.
Negative Emotional Reactions to Project Failure and the Self‐Compassion to Learn from the Experience
Authors: Shepherd Dean A. , Cardon Melissa S.
Published: February 2009

abstract

Project failure is likely to generate a negative emotional response for those involved in the project. But do all people feel the same way? And are some better able to regulate their emotions to learn from the failure experience? In this paper we develop an emotion framework of project failure that relies on self‐determination to explain variance in the intensity of the negative emotions triggered by project failure and self‐compassion to explain variance in learning from project failure. We discuss the implications of our model for research on entrepreneurial and innovative organizations, employees' psychological ownership, and personal engagement at work.
Creating opportunities for students in large cohorts to reflect in and on practice: Lessons learnt from a formative evaluation of students' experiences of a technology‐enhanced blended learning design
Authors: Cooner Tarsem Singh
Published: February 2009

This paper examines BA Social Work students' experiences of developing their reflective skills to work with diverse communities using a technology‐enhanced blended learning design. In response to growing student numbers, new teaching and learning resources were developed to provide opportunities for students to engage in reflection‐in‐action at critical learning stages with the support of tutors and peers. It is suggested that access to online lectures, communications tools, a workbook (to record learning development) and online video case studies can encourage students to reflect‐on‐action, allowing them opportunities to reframe and reinterpret existing knowledge, values and beliefs to assess the impact these may have on their professional practice when working with diverse communities. To cater for an increase in student numbers, a rationale for the learning design is outlined, and the paper then explores the lessons learnt from the students' technology‐enhanced learning experiences.
Smooth Residual Bootstrap for Empirical Processes of Non‐parametric Regression Residuals
Authors: NEUMEYER NATALIE
Published: February 2009

Abstract.  The aim of this paper is to prove the validity of smooth residual bootstrap versions of procedures that are based on the empirical process of residuals estimated from a non‐parametric regression model. From this result, consistency of various model tests in non‐parametric regression is deduced, such as goodness‐of‐fit tests for the regression and variance function, tests for equality of regression functions and tests concerning the error distribution.
An Adaptive Two‐stage Estimation Method for Additive Models
Authors: LIN LU , CUI XIA , ZHU LIXING
Published: February 2009

Abstract.  In this paper, a two‐stage estimation method for non‐parametric additive models is investigated. Differing from Horowitz and Mammen's two‐stage estimation, our first‐stage estimators are designed not only for dimension reduction but also as initial approximations to all of the additive components. The second‐stage estimators are obtained by using one‐dimensional non‐parametric techniques to refine the first‐stage ones. From this procedure, we can reveal a relationship between the regression function spaces and convergence rate, and then provide estimators that are optimal in the sense that, better than the usual one‐dimensional mean‐squared error (MSE) of the order n−4/5, the MSE of the order n−1 can be achieved when the underlying models are actually parametric. This shows that our estimation procedure is adaptive in a certain sense. Also it is proved that the bandwidth that is selected by cross‐validation depends only on one‐dimensional kernel estimation and maintains the asymptotic optimality. Simulation studies show that the new estimators of the regression function and all components outperform the existing estimators, and their behaviours are often similar to that of the oracle estimator.
Reading the Body: Mystical Theology and Spiritual Actualisation in Early Seventeenth‐Century Lima*
Authors: VAN DEUSEN NANCY E.
Published: February 2009

In early seventeenth‐century Lima, Peru, female visionaries composed texts of their bodies, and texts composed their bodies. This fact can be explained, in part, by the belief that an individual could gain access to and appropriate the language of God (His spiritus) in distinct ways. Mystical narratives, stigmata, as well as the spoken words of enraptured visionaries communicating with absent souls were considered readable texts because the object to be read could be a book, a painting, or the body itself. Thus the reading of, and listening to, texts was parallel to Lima's visionaries entering a state of spiritual ecstasy (arrobamiento), and “reading” their bodies as living books, which perforce became a readable space.
“The Evil State of Tepidity”: Mass‐Going and Absenteeism in Nineteenth‐Century Australian Ecclesiastical Discourse*
Authors: BROWN GAVIN
Published: February 2009

This paper sets out to explore how the Australian Catholic Church's perceptions of Mass‐going and absenteeism evolved in the mid‐to‐late nineteenth century. By examining the Lenten pastorals of Archbishop John Polding of Sydney, along with various mission sermons, the paper argues that a decisive shift is discernible after the 1860s. Where previous emphasis had fallen on absenteeism as a breakdown in the individual's relationship with God, later understandings introduced a dominant ecclesial imperative: Catholics who failed to attend Mass were also weakening the Church and effectively aiding hostile secular and Protestant forces arrayed against her. This shift was itself the product of a critical transformation in the field of ecclesiastical discourse as it gravitated inexorably towards more agonistic expressions.
The Evangelical Alliance, Religious Liberty, and the Evangelical Conscience in Nineteenth‐Century Britain
Authors: THOMPSON TODD
Published: February 2009

This article explores the difficulties nineteenth‐century British evangelical ecumenists faced as they attempted to develop distinctive practical initiatives that could commend widespread support across the denominational spectrum. In particular, it focuses on the nascent Evangelical Alliance's growing concern to promote religious liberty overseas. By following the debates within the Alliance about the need to pursue religious liberty and attending to the obstacles preventing such a course of action this article suggests the need to distinguish between a qualified agenda committed to securing religious rights (religious liberty) and a broader agenda committed to securing political rights (religious equality). By favouring the former, the Evangelical Alliance succeeded in developing a distinctively pan‐evangelical initiative that commended relatively widespread support. Thus evangelical concern for religious liberty must be distinguished from the distinctively Nonconformist promotion of religious equality.
Austen Henry Layard's Nineveh: The Bible and Archaeology in Victorian Britain
Authors: LARSEN TIMOTHY
Published: February 2009

In the middle of the nineteenth century, Austen Henry Layard uncovered parts of several ancient, buried Assyrian cities, including the capital, Nineveh, and dragged sizeable bits of them back to the British Museum. His book, Nineveh and Its Remains (1849), was a Victorian sensation. This article explores some aspects of Layard's book and discoveries that captured the Victorian imagination. Many were fascinated with Assyrian remains as they related to the history of art. Layard's work was also received as having helped to illuminate or even confirm the Bible. Although some statements by Layard had helped to fuel this interest, he was not personally an orthodox Christian. Despite having been standardly portrayed this way by scholars, these early archaeologists were not Christian apologists who exaggerated the scriptural connections of their discoveries. To the contrary, subsequent developments, particular the deciphering of the cuneiform writing, revealed that Layard and his follow pioneering Assyriologist, Henry Rawlinson, had underestimated the extent to which these findings related to stories in the Bible.
After the Death of God: Postsecularity?
Authors: BARKER VICTORIA
Published: February 2009

These recent volumes clearly show that the work of the recent generation of French philosophers, and the philosophy they continue to inspire, offer a splendid resource for theologians and theorists of religion. They stage a challenge to received divisions between philosophy and theology, deconstructing the secular/non‐secular bifurcation on which they rest. In this vein, the contribution of the ‘postsecularists’ is to emphasise the centrality of issues of social justice at the heart of the religious sensibility.
Impact of Sibship Size, Birth Order and Sex Composition on School Enrolment in Urban Turkey*
Authors: Dayioğlu Meltem , Kirdar Murat G. , Tansel Aysit
Published: February 2009

This paper investigates, in a unified framework, the effects of sibship size, birth order and sibling sex composition on children's school enrolment in urban Turkey. We utilize an instrumental variable estimation method to address parents’ joint fertility and schooling decisions using twin births as instruments. We find no causal impact of sibship size on school enrolment. However, there is evidence for a parabolic impact of birth order where middle‐born children fare worse. Sex composition of siblings matters only for female children. Our finding that birth order and sibling sex composition matter more for poorer households suggests that scarce financial resources play an important role in bringing about the sibling composition effects.