bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Functional Differences between the Two Bellies of the Cricothyroid Muscle
Authors: Hong Ki Hwan , YE MING , Kim Young Mo , Kevorkian Kevin F. , Kreiman Jody , Berke Gerald S.
Published: December 2010

The contraction of the cricothyroid (CT) muscle, which results in a decrease in the distance between the thyroid and cricoid cartilages, is considered to be the main factor in lengthening the vocal folds. This is achieved by rotation of the CT joint. The CT muscle is composed of two distinct bellies, the pars recta and the pars obliqua. The function of each subunit is not clearly understood, although it is believed that they act differently because their fibers run in different directions. To clarify the function of the two bellies in phonation, the fundamental frequency (F0), vocal intensity, subglottic pressure, vocal fold length, and CT distance were measured using an in vivo canine laryngeal model. On the basis of these measurements, we demonstrated that the two bellies are varied in their effect on raising the pitch, rotation, and forward translation of the CT joint. The stimulation of the pars recta nerve resulted in a greater increase in the F0 value compared with that of pars obliqua. The combined activity of the pars recta and pars obliqua is important in adjustment of the vocal fold length. The CT approximations directed parallel to the pars recta and pars obliqua simultaneously were more effective in elevation of the pitch than the approximation placed parallel to the pars recta only. This finding may be clinically significant with regard to CT approximation thyroplasty in human trails. (Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 1998;118:714–22.)
Physical activity in patients with venous leg ulcer – between engagement and avoidance. A patient perspective
Authors: Roaldsen Kirsti Skavberg , Biguet Gabriele , Elfving Britt
Published: December 2010

Objective: To identify and describe the qualitative variations in how physical activity is perceived and understood by individuals with current or previous venous leg ulcer.

Design: A qualitative study using semi-structured interviews.

Method: Twenty-two individuals aged 60–85 years were interviewed. The interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed by three researchers using a phenomenographic research approach. A set of categories of descriptions and their internal relationships were constructed based on the essential features of the variation in patients’ perceptions of physical activity.

Results: Four categories of descriptions were identified: (i) ‘self-management’, (ii) ‘instructions and support’, (iii) ‘fear of injury’ and (iv) ‘a wish to stay normal’. The categories could be interpreted by a two-dimensional construct: (1) perception of venous leg ulcer as a chronic or acute condition and (2) engagement or avoidance behaviour toward physical activity. Chronicity and behaviour combined together formed a 2 × 2 square housing the four qualitatively different categories. Irrespective of category, the participants reported that information given by caregivers regarding leg ulcer and physical activity was insufficient or contradictory. Written information or exercise programmes were not obtained regularly and not at all in primary care.

Conclusion: A dichotomous view emerged from participants’ experiences of physical activity based on (1) perception of venous leg ulcer as a chronic or acute condition and (2) engagement or avoidance behaviour toward physical activity.
Iconic Consciousness: The Material Feeling of Meaning
Authors: Alexander Jeffrey C.
Published: December 2010

This article suggests an iconic turn in cultural sociology. Icons can be seen, it is argued, as symbolic condensations that root social meanings in material form, allowing the abstractions of cognition and morality to be subsumed, to be made invisible, by aesthetic shape. Meaning is made iconically visible, in other words, by the beautiful, sublime, ugly, or simply by the mundane materiality of everyday life. But it is via the senses that iconic power is made. This new approach to meaning is compared with others — with materialism, semiotics, aestheticism, moralism, realism, and spiritualism.
Performing Society
Authors: Snow Peter
Published: December 2010

In this article I introduce and summarize Alexander’s theory of social events as performance and ask what it offers performance studies. I critique the theory as being grounded in a theatre dramaturgy of actors, characters and scripts and suggest that while it appears to open new theoretical ground to deal with performances, it omits crucial features, namely embodiment, creativity and imagination. I distinguish between the cultural category performance, the theoretical category performance, and actual performance events, and I differentiate these from the theoretical notion of performativity. I go on to enquire into the relations between performance, performances, performativity and society.
Death and the Transformation of Objects and Their Value
Authors: Gibson Margaret
Published: December 2010

It is often through conversations about household objects, jewellery or other items that the very subject of death is broached within families. Objects mediate and produce death discourse just as death mediates and produces value and meaning. The movement of objects within, across and between private/personal spaces and relationships, public spaces and relations, and commercial domains and relations is about value transformation. Value is a fluctuating, comparative or relative measure and in the sphere of personal life and spaces objects attain, maintain or transform in both value and meaning through the life course and through events such as death and bereavement. While objects are always on the move in consumer capitalism, bereavement and household disbandment instigate emotionally charged processes of decision-making about what things might mean, their value (and for whom) and where they should go. This paper examines shifting classifications of objects — sacred, profane and abject — in relation to shifting registers of meaning and economies of value. It argues that the same type of object can have quite different, even contradictory, value attributions.
“Then It Will Be Good”
Authors: Eggum Natalie D. , Sallquist Julie , Eisenberg Nancy
Published: December 2010

Youths ( N = 57; mean age = 13.83 years) residing near Tororo, Uganda, were interviewed to obtain quantitative and qualitative data pertaining to negative life events, adjustment problems, coping, social support, self-worth, and hope. On average, they experienced nearly half of the 22 negative life events assessed. The experience of negative life events related positively to internalizing problems and negatively to social support and self-worth. Coping strategies (problem-focused, positive reframing, avoidance, and support-seeking) were positively associated with hope. Problem-focused coping was negatively related to externalizing problems. Furthermore, social support was positively associated with coping strategies, self-worth, and hope and was negatively related to adjustment problems. The qualitative data shed light on the difficult events the youths endured and what types of coping strategies they used. Ultimately, interviews suggested that youths experienced many negative events, but they remained optimistic.
Dynamics of polyelectrolyte complex formation and stability when a polycation is progressively added to a polyanion under physico-chemical conditions modeling blood
Authors: Leclercq L. , Boustta M. , Vert M.
Published: December 2010

The formation of polyelectrolyte complexes is known to depend on many factors, especially pH, temperature, and ionic strength, as well as acid—base properties and mixing conditions. In an approach aimed at by-passing the complexity of blood, the formation and the stability of complexes between oppositely charged polymers were studied in salted media (0.15N NaCl and 0.13 M, pH 7.4 PBS) at room temperature. Different molar masses of poly(L-lysine) were reacted with polyanions with different chemical structures and charge densities, namely: poly(acrylic acid), poly(L-lysine citramide), poly(L-lysine citramide imide), and poly(malic acid). A stepwise protocol was used to investigate the fractionation phenomena reported previously. After each addition, the precipitate was separated and analyzed. The polyanion macromolecules were fractionated according to their structure; no significant fractionation was observed for the polycation. The NaCl concentration, required to destabilize the complexes in the isolated fractions, was found to depend on the polycation molar mass and to vary linearly with log(polyanion Mw). Based on these data, the possible fate of polycationic species, and of polycation-based polyelectrolytic complex, when injected into blood, are addressed.
Findings from Research on Active Transportation to School and Implications for Safe Routes to School Programs
Authors: Stewart Orion
Published: December 2010

This literature review identified common factors associated with active transportation to school (ATS). It used a conceptual framework of a child’s commute mode to school to classify 480 variables from forty-two studies that were tested for association with ATS. Four factors most frequently influenced ATS: distance, income, traffic and crime fears, and parental attitudes and schedules. Regular ATS results in more physical activity but research is lacking on other outcomes. Safe Routes to School, a program designed to increase rates and safety of ATS, can use an understanding of these influences and outcomes to more effectively allocate its limited resources.
Performance Management in Public Services ‘Before’ New Public Management: The Case of NHS Acute Hospitals 1948-1962
Authors: Cutler Tony
Published: December 2010

This article discusses two accounts of the history of performance management in public services. Performance management is defined as the use of performance indicators and management prescriptions, designed to improve such measured performance, to achieve public service performance objectives. In one account, particularly found in the prescriptive New Public Management (NPM) literature, performance management in public services is seen as effectively absent before the emergence of NPM as a reform programme. In contrast the public management literature includes a second account which both indicates the significance of a concern with performance management in public services and the deployment of a variety of relevant techniques such as performance-related pay, management accounting and performance indicators ‘before NPM’. The article seeks to develop this second account by presenting an historical case study of financial and non-financial performance measurement in National Health Service acute hospitals in the period from the beginning of the Service to the publication of the Hospital Plan. The article concludes by examining the implications of the case study for broader debates in public sector management.
From medicine to psychotherapy: the placebo effect
Authors: Justman Stewart
Published: December 2010

If placebos have been squeezed out of medicine to the point where their official place is in clinical trials designed to identify their own confounding effect, the placebo effect nevertheless thrives in psychotherapy. Not only does psychotherapy dispose of placebo effects that are less available to medicine as it becomes increasingly technological and preoccupied with body parts, but factors of the sort inhibiting the use of placebos in medicine have no equivalent in psychology. Medicine today is disturbed by the placebo effect in a way psychotherapy is not. Psychotherapy does not have to grapple with such a disconcerting paradox as successful sham surgery, and unlike those physicians who once pretended to treat the patient’s body while actually attempting to treat the mind, the psychotherapist can treat the mind in all frankness. Perhaps it is because psychotherapy is less burdened by doubts about the placebo effect that it was able to come to its aid when it was orphaned by medicine. It is vain to expect something with so long a history as the placebo effect to disappear from the practices of healing.
The Insula and Evaluative Processes
Authors: Berntson Gary G. , Norman Greg J. , Bechara Antoine , Bruss Joel , Tranel Daniel , Cacioppo John T.
Published: December 2010

The insula has been implicated as a component of central networks subserving evaluative and affective processes. This study examined evaluative valence and arousal ratings in response to picture stimuli in patients with lesions of the insula and two contrast groups: a control-lesion group (the primary contrast group) and an amygdala-lesion group. Patients rated the positivity and negativity of picture stimuli (from very unpleasant to very pleasant) and how emotionally arousing they found the pictures to be. Compared with patients in the control-lesion group, patients with insular lesions reported reduced arousal in response to both unpleasant and pleasant stimuli, as well as marked attenuation of valence ratings. In contrast, the arousal ratings of patients with amygdala lesions were selectively attenuated for unpleasant stimuli, and these patients’ positive and negative valence ratings did not differ from those of the control-lesion group. Results support the view that the insular cortex may play a broad role in integrating affective and cognitive processes, whereas the amygdala may have a more selective role in affective arousal, especially for negative stimuli.
Round Numbers as Goals
Authors: Pope Devin , Simonsohn Uri
Published: December 2010

Where do people’s reference points come from? We conjectured that round numbers in performance scales act as reference points and that individuals exert effort to perform just above rather than just below such numbers. In Study 1, we found that professional baseball players modify their behavior as the season is about to end, seeking to finish with a batting average just above rather than below .300. In Study 2, we found that high school students are more likely to retake the SAT after obtaining a score just below rather than above a round number. In Study 3, we conducted an experiment employing hypothetical scenarios and found that participants reported a greater desire to exert more effort when their performance was just short of rather than just above a round number.
Apocalypse Soon?
Authors: Feinberg Matthew , Willer Robb
Published: December 2010

Though scientific evidence for the existence of global warming continues to mount, in the United States and other countries belief in global warming has stagnated or even decreased in recent years. One possible explanation for this pattern is that information about the potentially dire consequences of global warming threatens deeply held beliefs that the world is just, orderly, and stable. Individuals overcome this threat by denying or discounting the existence of global warming, and this process ultimately results in decreased willingness to counteract climate change. Two experiments provide support for this explanation of the dynamics of belief in global warming, suggesting that less dire messaging could be more effective for promoting public understanding of climate-change research.
Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring and structural changes in carotid arteries in normotensive workers occupationally exposed to lead
Authors: Poręba Rafal , Poroba Malgorzata , Gac Pawel , Andrzejak Ryszard
Published: December 2010

Occupational exposure to lead may cause an increase in blood pressure. The aim of the study was to estimate the effect of occupational exposure to lead on selected parameters of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) and structural changes in carotid arteries. The study included 33 normotensive men occupationally exposed to lead and 39 unexposed men employed in administration of the foundry. All of the men underwent 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring and high-resolution B-mode ultrasonography to determine intima-media thickness (IMT). The group of men occupationally exposed to lead manifested significantly higher mean systolic blood pressure (MSBP), mean diastolic blood pressure (MDBP), mean blood pressure (MBP), pulse pressure (PP), variability of diastolic blood pressure (VDBP), and IMT than the unexposed group. The studied groups did not differ in mean values of variability of systolic blood pressure (VSBP). As compared to the unexposed group, in men exposed to lead, atherosclerotic plaques were significantly more common. In the group of persons exposed to lead the Pearson’s correlation coefficient analysis revealed significant linear positive correlations between MSBP and IMT, between lead level and the number of atherosclerotic plaques, and between lead level and PP. Multivariate stepwise regression analysis demonstrated that higher lead level in blood and higher triglyceride concentration in blood represent independent risk factors of an increased pulse pressure in the group of individuals occupationally exposed to lead. Occupational exposure to lead can be associated with increased blood pressure and accelerated progression of atherosclerosis.
Modulatory effects of Moringa oleifera extracts against hydrogen peroxide-induced cytotoxicity and oxidative damage
Authors: Sreelatha S , Padma PR
Published: December 2010

Studies have demonstrated that the induction of oxidative stress may be involved in oxidative DNA damage. The present study examined and assessed the hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-mediated DNA damage in human tumor KB cells and also assessed the ability of Moringa oleifera leaf extracts to inhibit the oxidative damage. H2O2 imposed a stress on the membrane lipids which was quantified by the extent of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) formed. The leaf extracts caused a very significant inhibition of the extent of LPO formation and enhanced the activity of antioxidative enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) in KB cells. The comet assay was employed to study the DNA damage and its inhibition by the leaf extracts. H2O2 caused a significant increase in the number of cells bearing comets, resulting in significant DNA damage. The leaf extracts significantly reduced the incidence of comets in the oxidant stressed cells. The extent of cytotoxicity of H2O2 in the presence and the absence of leaf extracts studied in KB tumor cells by the MTT assay showed that H2O2 caused a marked decrease in the viability of KB cells where as the leaf extracts effectively increased the viability of assaulted KB cells. The observed cytoprotective activity is probably due to the antioxidant properties of its constituents, mainly phenolics. Total phenolics showed higher correlation with antioxidant activity. The leaf extracts showed higher antioxidant activity than the reference compound. These results suggest that the inhibition by the leaf extracts on oxidative DNA damage could be attributed to their free radical scavenging activities and the effect evidenced in KB cells can be in part correlated to a modulation of redox-sensitive mechanisms.
Simulated environmental risk estimation of engineered nanomaterials: A case of cosmetics in Johannesburg City
Authors: Musee Ndeke
Published: December 2010

This paper attempts to quantify the potential risks posed by engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) to the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems from cosmetic-based nanoproducts. The predicted environmental concentrations (PEC) were modelled for the silver (nAg) and titanium dioxide (nTiO2) nanoparticles embedded in cosmetic nanoproducts. The Johannesburg Metropolitan City (JHB City), in South Africa, was used as the reference study area. A mathematical model was applied to compute the quantities of ENMs flows from the cosmetic nanoproducts into the JHB City aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. The risk quotient (RQ) of the nanoscale materials were evaluated as a ratio of PEC to the predicted no effect concentrations (PNEC). RQ values showed wide variance due to factors like; the quantities of ENMs, the fate and pathways of ENMs in the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, efficiency of the wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) as well as the economic and demographic data for South Africa and Switzerland. For the aquatic environment, the PEC values of nAg ranged from 2.80 × 10−3 to 6.19 × 10−1 μg L−1 whereas for nTiO2 the values ranged from 2.7 0 × 10−3 to 2.70 × 10−1 μg L−1 under the realistic dilution factor of 1 with the WWTP functioning at high removal efficiency regime. The RQ values in the aquatic ecosystems were mostly >1, indicating the potential risk of both nAg and nTiO2 but <<<1 in the terrestrial ecosystems. Our results provide the first quantification of ENMs potential risk into the environment Johannesburg City in a developing country’s natural and technical settings.
Persistence of EDHF pathway and impairment of the nitric oxide pathway after chronic mercury chloride exposure in rats: Mechanisms of endothelial dysfunction
Authors: Omanwar S , Ravi K , Fahim M
Published: December 2010

Chronic mercury exposure impairs vascular function, leading to the depression of endothelium-dependent vasodilatation. Loss of the nitric oxide (NO) pathway has been implicated, but little is known about effects on other endothelial mediators. This study investigated the mechanisms of endothelial dysfunction in rats subjected to chronic mercury chloride exposure. The endothelium-dependent relaxation of rat aorta evoked by acetylcholine (ACh) and isoproterenol was impaired in a dose-dependent manner by chronic mercury chloride exposure. Endothelium-independent responses to sodium nitroprusside (SNP) were not affected by chronic mercury chloride exposure. In healthy vessels, ACh-induced relaxation was inhibited by L-N-nitroarginine methyl ester (L-NAME; 10–4M) and partially by glybenclamide (10–5M), indicating the involvement of NO and endothelium-derived hyperpolarizing factor (EDHF). In vessels from mercury-exposed rats, responses to ACh were insensitive to L-NAME but were significantly reduced by glybenclamide, indicating selective loss of NO-mediated relaxation. In vessels from mercury-exposed rats, responses to ACh were partially restored after treatment with the antioxidant, superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase, this effect was not seen when aorta from exposed group was incubated with L-NAME along with SOD and catalase indicating selective loss of NO-mediated vasodilatation and with no affect the EDHF-mediated component of relaxation. The results imply that chronic mercury exposure selectively impairs the NO pathway as a consequence of oxidative stress, while EDHF is able to maintain endothelium-dependent relaxation at a reduced level.
The Caenorhabiditis elegans model as a reliable tool in neurotoxicology
Authors: Avila Daiana , Helmcke Kirsten , Aschner Michael
Published: December 2010

Caenorhabiditis elegans ( C. elegans) offers an attractive experimental platform as it has a short life cycle, is inexpensive to maintain and most importantly has high degree of evolutionary conservation with higher eukaryotes. Understanding the contribution of inherent genes that regulate neurotoxicity and antioxidant stress responses in the worm provides critical insight into mechanisms of mammalian neurotoxicity. The C. elegans model readily enables multi-gene approach, allowing for combinatorial genetic variation to be studied within the context of the influence of multigenic polymorphisms in environmental risk and vulnerability. This review provides a synopsis of recent studies on metal and pesticides toxicity in C. elegans, highlighting the utility of the model system in understanding molecular mechanisms that underlie developmental, reproductive and neuronal damage. The continuation of these investigations combining basic toxicological experimentation with novel genetic and high throughput methods will continue to make C. elegans an invaluable tool for future research, providing insight into molecular and cellular mechanisms of toxicity.
Bothering to Enter the Garden of Eden Once Again
Authors: McKinlay Judith E.
Published: December 2010

The impetus to revisit the issues involved in readings of Genesis 2-3 came from Deborah Rooke’s article in Feminist Theology published in 2007, and in particular follows a presentation at an ‘Afternoon of Theology’ at a girls’ secondary school, where the author provided a response to the challenge set by the history of interpretation and the subsequent cultural assumptions of the meaning of the Garden of Eden narrative. The discussion proceeds partly through narrative retelling, partly through a critical commentary and partly through an Eve/Snake dialogue.
“Most Girls Want to be Skinny”
Authors: Cheney Ann M.
Published: December 2010

In this article, I present the findings from an ethnographic study of 18 women college students living in the northeastern United States. I examine how ethnically diverse women dealt with the messages of the dominant White society’s obsession with thinness, and whether it affected their perceptions of an ideal body image. From the analysis of the interviews, I identified and extracted several themes related to ethnicity, aesthetic body ideals, body dissatisfaction, and disturbed eating. Grounded in the women’s narratives, I found that ethnically diverse women coming of age in American society experience anxieties and emotional stress as they related to others in their daily lives. Their stories shed light on how the body is a vehicle for social mobility and is used by women from marginalized identities to strategically negotiate social inequalities embedded in daily social relationships and interactions that more privileged women do not encounter.
Harmonic cancellation for electro-hydraulic servo shaking table based on LMS adaptive algorithm
Authors: Yao Jianjun  , Hu Shenghai  , Fu Wei  , Han Junwei
Published: December 2010

An electro-hydraulic shaking table which is based on acceleration control is studied here. A three-variable control scheme is applied to achieve robustness, disturbance suppression and sufficient frequency bandwidth. Its acceleration response contains harmonics corresponding to sinusoidal input because of nonlinearities in the system. To reduce harmonic distortion and improve control performance of the shaking table, a harmonic cancellation algorithm is developed. The weights of the proposed algorithm are on-line updated by the normalized LMS algorithm. The reference input with input frequency is filtered by the adaptive LMS filter. The output of the adaptive filter is a close harmonic replica and is added to the fundamental signal such that the output harmonic is cancelled leaving the desired signal alone, and the total harmonic distortion is greatly reduced. Experimental results demonstrate the efficiency and validity of the proposed control scheme.
Latent Class Procedures: Applications to Organizational Research
Authors: Wang Mo , Hanges Paul J.
Published: December 2010

In this overview, the authors use the seven studies included in the feature topic as a platform to delineate three areas that latent class procedures are particularly useful for in advancing the field of organizational research. The first topic area focuses on dealing with the need to identify and understand unobserved subpopulations in organizational research. The second topic area focuses on recognizing the unobserved heterogeneity in measurement functioning. The third topic area focuses on addressing the challenges surrounding the existence of multiple longitudinal change (both quantitative and qualitative) patterns in organizational research. The authors conclude this overview by highlighting further thoughts on the ways that latent class procedures should be utilized to advance organizational research.
Drug-induced Sweet’s syndrome after mitoxantrone therapy in a patient with multiple sclerosis
Authors: Kümpfel T , Gerdes LA , Flaig M , Hohlfeld R , Wollenberg A
Published: December 2010

We report a 55-year-old male patient with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis who developed an acute febrile syndrome with fever, neutrophilia and tender erythematous plaques and papules on his upper extremities after his fifth mitoxantrone infusion. Infectious, haematological and rheumatological diseases were ruled out, but skin biopsy showed neutrophilic infiltrations in the dermis consistent with Sweet’s syndrome. Treatment with oral corticosteroids led to prompt improvement of systemic and cutaneous symptoms. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a patient with Sweet’s syndrome after mitoxantrone therapy. Clinicians should be aware of Sweet’s syndrome in patients with otherwise unexplained acute febrile illness and erythematous skin rash in association with mitoxantrone therapy. Skin biopsy helped to exclude other diseases and confirmed Sweet’s syndrome.
Effects of long-term resistance training and simultaneous electro-stimulation on muscle strength and functional mobility in multiple sclerosis
Authors: Broekmans Tom , Roelants Machteld , Feys Peter , Alders Geert , Gijbels Domien , Hanssen Ine , Stinissen Piet , Eijnde Bert O
Published: December 2010

Background: Resistance training studies in multiple sclerosis (MS) often use short intervention periods. Furthermore, training efficiency could be optimized by unilateral training and/or electrical stimulation.

Objective: To examine the effect(s) of unilateral long-term (20 weeks) standardized resistance training with and without simultaneous electro-stimulation on leg muscle strength and overall functional mobility.

Methods: A randomized controlled trial involving 36 persons with MS. At baseline (PRE) and after 10 (MID) and 20 (POST) weeks of standardized (ACSM) light to moderately intense unilateral leg resistance training (RESO, n = 11) only or resistance training with simultaneous electro-stimulation (RESE, n = 11, 100 Hz, biphasic symmetrical wave, 400 µs), maximal isometric strength of the knee extensors and flexors (45°, 90° knee angle) and dynamic (60–180°/s) knee-extensor strength was measured and compared with a control group (CON, n = 14). Functional mobility was evaluated using the Timed Get Up and Go, Timed 25 Foot Walk, Two-Minute Walk Test, Functional Reach and Rivermead Mobility Index.

Results: Maximal isometric knee extensor (90°, MID: +10 ± 3%, POST: +10 ± 4%) in RESO and knee flexor (45°, POST: +7 ± 4%; 90°, POST: +9 ± 5%) in RESE strength increased ( p < 0.05) compared with CON but RESO and RESE did not differ. Also, impaired legs responded positively to resistance training (unilateral leg strength analysis) and functional reaching increased significantly in RESO (+18%) compared with CON. Dynamic muscle strength and the remaining functional mobility tests did not change.

Conclusion: Long-term light to moderately intense resistance training improves muscle strength in persons with MS but simultaneous electro-stimulation does not further improve training outcome.
Patient-reported quality of life in multiple sclerosis differs between cultures and countries: a cross-sectional Austrian–German–Polish study
Authors: Pluta-Fuerst A , Petrovic K , Berger T , Fryze W , Fuchs S , Gold R , Kozubski W , Ladurner G , Petereit H , Potemkowski A , Rieckmann P , Sailer M , Szczudlik A , Vass K , Weber T , Zakrzewska-Pniewska B , Fazekas F
Published: December 2010

Background: Patient-reported quality of life (QOL) is an outcome measure in clinical trials in multiple sclerosis (MS), but translated QOL instruments may affect the actual comparability of data.

Objectives: We aimed to investigate possible differences in QOL in MS between cultures and countries. We employed the Functional Assessment of Multiple Sclerosis (FAMS) Version 4 questionnaire, which is a state-of-the-art QOL instrument.

Methods: Some 484 MS patients from Austria (145), Germany (144), and Poland (195) aged 20–60 years, and stratified for sex and disease severity as measured by the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) score completed the respective FAMS translation and a socio-demographic questionnaire.

Results: Analysis of variance and post-hoc Scheffé-test showed that 64% of the FAMS items were answered significantly differently ( p < 0.001) between the three countries. A multivariate regression analysis including all the available disease-related and socio-demographic variables revealed the factors age, EDSS score, employment, social contacts, MS course, and country to be significant predictors of both the total FAMS score and the score for items answered differently between the three countries.

Conclusions: Differences exist in the QOL of MS patients from Austria, Germany, and Poland which seem to lie beyond the impact of disease severity. They appear to be related to culture or other country-specific factors, as country was an independent predictor of differently answered items of the FAMS and thus also of the whole FAMS. QOL instruments should consider this aspect to faithfully reflect subjective information such as patient-reported benefit of treatment in multinational clinical trials.
Observations during an elective interruption of natalizumab treatment: a post-marketing study
Authors: Borriello Giovanna , Prosperini Luca , Marinelli Fabiana , Fubelli Federica , Pozzilli Carlo
Published: December 2010

In this prospective post-marketing study, 21 patients with multiple sclerosis treated with natalizumab for 24 consecutive months elected a trial of treatment interruption (90–180 days). During a mean duration of treatment interruption of 111.5 days 4 patients (19.0%) experienced a relapse and 9 out of 19 (47.4%) had MRI activity. Number of contrast-enhancing lesions at baseline was lower than during treatment interruption, but the difference was not significant. These findings suggest that disease activity may return after the last infusion of natalizumab. Patients should have regular MRI assessment during treatment interruption to rapidly identify any return of disease activity. The aim of this study was to determine the optimal duration for temporary interruption of natalizumab therapy in patients who have received continuous therapy with natalizumab for 24 months.
Language negotiation in multilingual learning environments
Authors: Bono Mariana , Melo-Pfeifer Sílvia
Published: December 2010

The present study focuses on the negotiation of the languages of communication in language-learning activities involving multilingual learners. Its overall purpose is to throw light on the conditions that surround the creation and the maintenance of multilingual communicative spaces, as well as on the tensions and forces (both communicative and acquisitional) that influence language management in those spaces. Two different corpora, multilingual chats in Romance languages and informal conversations in Spanish L3, are analysed in order to identify the pragmatic functions accomplished by a language switch. Findings suggest that languages which are not part of the learning/communication contract can play mediation and remediation roles, and that the negotiation sequences that lead to their temporary inclusion (and the subsequent modification of the contract) or to their exclusion from the communicative situation can have a significant influence on the development of learners’ multilingual competence, understood as the ability to use two or more languages for the purposes of communication and to take part in intercultural interaction, regardless of their proficiency in the languages involved.
Near-normalization of glucose and microvascular diabetes complications: data from ACCORD and ADVANCE
Authors: O’Connor Patrick J. , Ismail-Beigi Faramarz
Published: December 2010

Objective: To compare results of clinical trials that assessed the impact of near-normalization of glucose on microvascular complications in type 2 diabetes.

Methods: ACCORD ( N = 10,234) and ADVANCE ( N = 11,140) tested the hypothesis that near-normalization of glucose reduces microvascular complications in adults with established type 2 diabetes. Differences in incidence rates (intensive versus standard glucose control) for specific microvascular complications are expressed as ‘number needed to treat’ (NNT) to prevent one microvascular complication. The impact of blood pressure (BP) control and fenofibrate use on microvascular complications was also assessed.

Results: In ADVANCE, near-normalization of glucose reduced new or worsening nephropathy (NNT = 77 for 5 years to prevent one occurrence), but not eye or foot complications. In ACCORD, near-normalization of glucose did not reduce prespecified composite measures of advanced microvascular complications, and impact on secondary microvascular outcomes was mixed. The ancillary ACCORD Eye Study found reduced progression in retinopathy with near-normalization of glucose (NNT = 32 for 4 years), and with blinded fenofibrate therapy (NNT = 27 for 4 years), but neither intervention reduced vision loss. ADVANCE showed a benefit of intensive BP control (mean BP 133/70 mmHg) on microvascular complications, independent of glucose control.

Conclusions: End-stage microvascular complications were not altered by near-normalization of glucose. Some early manifestations of microvascular complications were reduced, with inconsistencies across studies in which were affected. These early and inconsistent microvascular effects must be weighed against significantly increased severe hypoglycemia, weight gain, and (in ACCORD) increased total mortality (NNT = 94 for 3.5 years for one excess death) consistently found in all prespecified patient subgroups. Alternative clinical strategies, such as moderate BP control or fenofibrate treatment may reduce microvascular complications independent of glucose control. The data strongly support personalized glucose control goals based on clinical factors and patient preferences for outcomes.
The Irrelevance of the European Union's Takeover Directive
Authors: Lysandrou Photis , Pra Francesca Ada
Published: December 2010

The European Commission persists in implementing the Directive on Takeover Bids despite continuing opposition from many member states. This persistence is partly a reflection of the influence exercised by the agency theory of corporate governance and partly a reaction to the emergence of institutional investors as a dominant force in the European capital market. Since these investors prefer to limit shareholdings in companies and since it is a central tenet of agency theory that minority shareholders can only effectively control company managers if they have the takeover weapon at their disposal, it would seem to follow that the European Commission has to create an active takeover market in Europe if it wants to succeed in promoting the interests of institutional investors. This paper argues that the Commission's line of reasoning is wrong. As a result of changes in the scale and structure of institutional asset management and of the corresponding changes in the way that corporations are monitored and compared, the European capital market has acquired a new and direct power of attraction over European companies. Given that institutional investors can already control companies through the gravitational pull of their collective actions, it follows that they do not need to use the hostile takeover weapon as a means of leveraging up their control. Our conclusion is that the European Commission should abandon its attempt to create an active takeover market in Europe on the grounds that this policy not only does not advance the interests of institutional investors but also gets in the way of those policies that do advance their interests.
Censorship and Book Selection in British Public Librarianship 1919–1939: Professional Perspectives
Authors: Ravenwood Clare , Feather John
Published: December 2010

The main theme of the paper is the selection of fiction in British public libraries in the period between the two World Wars of the mid-twentieth century. There is a discussion of the legal background, including the role of socially conservative politicians in influencing, or attempting to influence, what was published and what was made available through public libraries. Against this background there is a more detailed analysis and discussion, based on contemporary professional literature, of the attitudes of professional librarians towards the moral dimension of the selection of fiction. It is concluded that, in general, librarians took a pragmatic line, trying to provide a wide-ranging stock while necessarily taking account of both political and social pressures. It is suggested that by 1939 the moral climate was beginning to change, and that many professionals were coming round to the view that moral censorship was undesirable except in extreme cases.
Mössbauer spectroscopy of clays, soils and their mineral constituents
Authors: Murad E.
Published: December 2010

Mössbauer spectroscopy is the technique of recoil-free resonant emission and absorption of gamma rays. It has the advantage of being oblivious to all elements except the one under survey. In the case of materials formed on the earth’s surface, such as soils and clays, the only propitious element is Fe. Iron is the fourth most abundant element in the Earth’s crust, it is essential for life, and almost all environmental materials contain at least some Fe. It is also fortuitous that57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy is among the most straightforward to operate.57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy thus allows the characterization of iron speciation, and thereby of environmental conditions, over a wide range of concentrations, making it an extremely effective environmental probe.

Straightforward as it may seem, Mössbauer spectroscopy nevertheless has many pitfalls. Besides problems arising from the basic physics, complications can arise among other causes from imperfect crystallinity (small particle size), non-stoichiometry, interparticle effects and isomorphous substitutions.

In this paper a succinct review of the basic principles of Mössbauer spectroscopy is presented, followed by examples of Mössbauer spectra of minerals that are common constituents of clays and soils, and by more complex cases of soils, clays and fired clays.
Apparent porosity of porous bioceramics prepared with small organic foam spheres as the pore-making reagent
Authors: Zeng Chuisheng , Chen Xiaoming , Yan Yuhua , Tang Xiaoying , Liang Yilong , Zhao Zhiqiang , Zeng Yanjun
Published: December 2010

This study focuses on the main factors determining the apparent porosity of porous bioceramics prepared using small organic foam spheres as the pore-making reagent, in order to determine the best technical parameters for preparing porous bioceramics. In every experiment, only one of these factors (the time of heating, the sintering temperature, the mass ratio between small organic foam spheres and beta-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) powder, and the rate of the temperature rise) was changed, while the others were kept constant. In each case the apparent porosity was tested and the relation between the specific variable and apparent porosity was observed. Finally, the optimum technical parameters were deduced. The apparent porosity shows an inverse linear relation to the time of heating and the sintering temperature, and is approximately proportional to the mass ratio between the small organic foam spheres and the β-TCP powder and the rate of temperature rise. These factors have important influences on the apparent porosity. The optimum conditions were: heating time (soak time) 120 min, sintering temperature 850ºC, mass ratio 0.25, and a rate of temperature increase of 120ºC h–1.
Effect of the organic groups of difunctional silanes on the preparation of coated clays for olefin polymer modification
Authors: Monasterio F. E. , Dias M. L. , Pita V. J. R. R. , Erdmann E. , Destéfanis H. A.
Published: December 2010

Sodium montmorillonite (MMT) was organically modified with hexadecyltrimethyl-ammonium ions and subsequently treated with dichlorosilanes and water, aimed atin situsilane condensation polymerization and modification of clay platelets by polysiloxane coatings. Dimethyldichlorosilane, methylphenyldichlorosilane, and diphenyldichlorosilane were used to produce three siloxane-modified organoclays. The structure and morphology of the clay materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermal gravimetric studies (TG) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). XRD results showed that the silanes were effectively polymerized in the clay galleries, forming a nanocomposite of intercalated particles. A fraction of the siloxane formed is bonded to the clay surface by covalent siloxane bonds. Strong structural differences in both morphology and thermal stability of the materials may occur when changing methyl or phenyl groups in the siloxane structure. The formation mechanism of these intercalated nanocomposite particles is considered. Finally, these modified clays were incorporated in an olefin polymer and morphological analyses using transmission electron microscope (TEM) images were carried out.
Preparation of plate-like α-Al2O3 particles in Na2SO4 flux using kaolin as the starting material
Authors: Hongbin Tan
Published: December 2010

Plate-like α-Al2O3 particles are used to reinforce metal or ceramics to improve their mechanical properties. Here, we have demonstrated the production of alumina platelets using kaolin as a raw material in a sodium sulphate flux. When kaolin was sintered using Na2SO4 flux, the main phase formed in samples sintered at 900ºC was mullite, but alumina was produced at 1000ºC. Sintering at 1200ºC led to alumina and sodium aluminosilicate, with little of the mullite phase present. Plate-like α-Al2O3 particles were observed in samples sintered at 1200ºC, with diameters ranging from 1.5 to 4.5 µm and thicknesses from 0.05 to 0.1 µm. This production method is economically feasible because the raw materials have a low cost and the sintering temperature is low.
Kerimasite, Ca3Zr2(Fe23+Si)O12, a new garnet from carbonatites of Kerimasi volcano and surrounding explosion craters, northern Tanzania
Authors: Zaitsev A. N. , Williams C. T. , Britvin S. N. , Kuznetsova I. V. , Spratt J. , Petrov S. V. , Keller J.
Published: December 2010

Kerimasite, ideally is a new calcium zirconium silicate-ferrite member of the garnet group from the extinct nephelinitic volcano Kerimasi and surrounding explosion craters in northern Tanzania. The mineral occurs as subhedral crystals up to 100 μm in size in calcite carbonatites, and as euhedral to subhedral crystals up to 180 μm in size in carbonatite eluvium. Kerimasite is light to dark-brown in colour and transparent with a vitreous lustre. No cleavage or parting was observed and the mineral is brittle. The calculated density is 4.105(1) g/cm3. The micro-indentation, VHN25, ranges from 1168 to 1288 kg/mm2. Kerimasite is isotropic with n = 1.945(5). The average chemical formula of the mineral derived from electron microprobe analyses (sample K 94-25) and calculated for O = 12 and all Fe as Fe2O3 is (Ca3.00Mn0.01Ce0.01Nd0.01)Σ3.03(Zr1.72Nb0.14Ti0.08Mg0.02Y0.02)Σ1.98(Ti0.09)Σ3.00O12. The largest Fe content determined in kerimasite is 21.6 wt.% Fe2O3 and this value corresponds to 1.66 a.p.f.u. in the tetrahedral site. Kerimasite is cubic, space group with a = 12.549(1) Å, V = 1976.2(4) Å3 and Z = 8. The five strongest powder-diffraction lines [d in Å, (I/Io), hkl] are: 4.441 (49) (220), 3.140 (91) (400), 2.808 (70) (420), 2.564 (93) (422) and 1.677 (100) (642). Single-crystal structure refinement revealed the typical structure of the garnet-group minerals. The name is given after the locality, Kerimasi volcano, Tanzania.