bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Human cytomegalovirus, Epstein‐Barr virus and bone resorption‐inducing cytokines in periapical lesions of deciduous teeth
Authors: Yildirim S. , Yapar M. , Kubar A. , Slots J.
Published: February 2006

Background:  A connection of herpesvirus periapical infection with symptomatic and large‐size periapical lesions has been recognized in adult patients, but no data exist about a possible involvement of herpesviruses in severe periapical pathosis in children. Herpesviruses have the potential to elicit potent bone resorption‐inducing cytokines in mammalian cells.

Aim:  This study aimed to determine the occurrence of human cytomegalovirus and Epstein‐Barr virus DNA, and mRNA transcripts of receptor activator of nuclear kappa B ligand (RANKL), osteoprotegerin, core binding factor alpha‐1, colony stimulating factor‐1, transforming growth factor‐β, and monocyte chemoattractant protein‐1 in periapical symptomatic pathosis of deciduous teeth.

Material and methods:  Twelve deciduous molar teeth from patients aged 2–8 years were extracted due to severe periapical infection, and granulomatous tissue adherent to the root tip of the extracted teeth was collected using a surgical knife. Non‐diseased pulpal tissue, obtained from 12 teeth extracted for orthodontic reasons, served as negative control. Polymerase chain reaction assays were employed to identify herpesvirus DNA and cytokine gene expression, using established polymerase chain reaction primers and procedures.

Results:  Seven (58%) of the periapical lesions yielded human cytomegalovirus and eight (67%) Epstein‐Barr virus. Only one (8%) periapical lesion showed neither human cytomegalovirus nor Epstein‐Barr virus. In healthy pulpal tissue, one (8%) specimen demonstrated human cytomegalovirus and another (8%) specimen revealed Epstein‐Barr virus. Of the cytokines examined, RANKL expression showed significantly higher occurrence in periapical pathosis than in healthy pulpal tissue (P < 0.040). No relationship was identified between the type of herpesvirus and cytokine expression in the periapical lesions studied.

Conclusions:  The present findings provide evidence of a putative role of human cytomegalovirus and Epstein‐Barr virus in the pathogenesis of symptomatic periapical pathosis in deciduous teeth. Increased RANKL expression in periapical lesions may be of pathogenetic significance.
Molecular analysis of bacteria in asymptomatic and symptomatic endodontic infections
Authors: Sakamoto M. , Rôças I. N. , Siqueira J. F. , Benno Y.
Published: February 2006

The purpose of the present study was to use terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis and the 16S rRNA gene clone library to investigate the diversity of the microbiota associated with asymptomatic and symptomatic endodontic infections and to compare the bacterial community structure in these two clinical conditions. Samples were taken from asymptomatic endodontic infections associated with chronic periradicular lesions and from symptomatic infections clinically diagnosed as acute abscesses. 16S rRNA genes from DNA isolated from clinical samples were used to construct clone libraries or were subjected to terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. Sequence analysis of 186 clones revealed 42 taxa; 23 (55%) were uncultivated phylotypes, of which seven were unique to endodontic infections. Clone sequencing and terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis revealed that the most commonly detected taxa were Fusobacterium nucleatum (including terminal restriction fragment types 1 and 2), Peptostreptococcus micros/Peptostreptococcus sp. oral clone AJ062/BS044/FG014, Prevotella species, Dialister species, Mogibacterium species, Lachnospiraceae oral clone 55A‐34, Filifactor alocis, Megasphaera sp. oral clone CS025/BS073, and Veillonella sp. oral clone BP1‐85/Veillonella dispar/V. parvula. Bacteroides‐like sp. oral clone X083/Bacteroidales oral clone MCE7_20 and Dialister sp. oral clone BS016/MCE7_134 were detected only in asymptomatic teeth. On the other hand, F. nucleatum terminal restriction fragment type 2, Prevotella intermedia, Dialister pneumosintes, and some phylotypes were exclusively detected in symptomatic samples. Bacterial profiles of symptomatic endodontic infections generated by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis were clearly different from those of asymptomatic infections. Overall, the average number of terminal restriction fragments in symptomatic samples was significantly larger than in asymptomatic samples. Molecular analysis of the microbiota associated with symptomatic or asymptomatic endodontic infections indicates that the endodontic bacterial diversity is greater than previously described by culture methods and that the structure of the microbiota differ significantly between asymptomatic and symptomatic infections.
The diabetes educator: trying hard, but must concentrate more on behaviour
Authors: Knight K. M. , Dornan T. , Bundy C.
Published: February 2006

Current guidelines state that education is fundamental to help people with diabetes modify their lifestyle and prevent ill health and early death. However, many people with diabetes are not receiving adequate education. There is a widespread assumption that transferring knowledge will improve health outcomes but there is little empirical support for this assertion. Indeed, knowledge and behaviour are poorly correlated. Knowledge may be a necessary condition but is rarely a sufficient condition for behaviour change. Single interventions, cognitive or behavioural, have had disappointing results, unsurprisingly given the complexity of human behaviour. The most effective interventions are multifaceted and include education, behavioural and psychosocial elements, and target lifestyle change and factors such as self‐efficacy and empowerment. We advocate that educational interventions should have multiple components. They should aim to improve patients’ sense of self‐efficacy and empowerment, and build attitudes towards diabetes that will support the lifestyle changes needed for successful self‐management. These conclusions have implications for future research and clinical practice.
A low‐fat diet improves peripheral insulin sensitivity in patients with Type 1 diabetes
Authors: Rosenfalck A. M. , Almdal T. , Viggers L. , Madsbad S. , Hilsted J.
Published: February 2006

Aims  To compare the effects on insulin sensitivity, body composition and glycaemic control of the recommended standard weight‐maintaining diabetes diet and an isocaloric low‐fat diabetes diet during two, 3‐month periods in patients with Type 1 diabetes.

Methods  Thirteen Type 1 patients were included, of whom 10 completed the cross‐over study. Ten non‐diabetic, matched control subjects were also examined. Body composition was estimated by dual‐energy X‐ray absorptiometry (DXA) whole‐body scanning, diet intake was monitored by 7‐day dietary record and insulin sensitivity was measured by the insulin clamp technique at baseline and after each of the diet intervention periods.

Results  On an isocaloric low‐fat diet, Type 1 diabetic patients significantly reduced the proportion of fat in the total daily energy intake by 12.1% (or −3.6% of total energy) as compared with a conventional diabetes diet (P = 0.039). The daily protein and carbohydrate intake increased (+4.4% of total energy intake, P = 0.0049 and +2.5%, P = 0.34, respectively), while alcohol intake decreased (−3.2% of total energy intake, P = 0.02). There was a significant improvement in insulin sensitivity on the isocaloric, low‐fat diet compared with the standard diabetes diet [7.06 ± 2.16 mg/kg/min (mean ± sd) vs. 5.52 ± 2.35 mg/kg/min (P = 0.03)]. However, insulin sensitivity remained 33% lower than in the control subjects (P = 0.021). No significant changes occurred in body weight or body composition. Glycated haemoglobin rose during both diet intervention periods (P = 0.18), with no difference between the two diets.

Conclusions  Change to an isocaloric, low‐fat diet in Type 1 diabetic patients during a 3‐month period resulted in significant improvement in insulin sensitivity without improvement in glycaemic control. However, insulin sensitivity remained 33% lower than in control subjects.

Diabet. Med. (2006)
The molecular biology of chronic wounds and delayed healing in diabetes
Authors: Blakytny R. , Jude E.
Published: February 2006

Wound healing is a complicated and integrated process. Although there is some tolerance in terms of redundancy and interrelated control mechanisms, pushing beyond such limits may contribute to delayed wound healing, and in extreme cases lead to chronic wounds/ulcers and thus potentially to lower extremity amputation. Diabetes is associated with such disruption in wound healing. Research in humans and in animal models has identified a large number of changes associated with diabetes at the molecular level in delayed wound healing and to a lesser extent in chronic diabetic ulcers. Better overall understanding of these changes and how they are interrelated would allow for specifically targeted treatment, thus ensuring improved quality of life for patients and providing savings to the high costs that are associated with all aspects of chronic diabetic ulcers. This review examines the work done at the molecular level on chronic diabetic ulcers, as well as considering changes seen in diabetes in general, both in humans and animal models, that may in turn contribute to ulcer formation.
Effect of hyperbaric oxygen on cardiac neural regulation in diabetic individuals with foot complications
Authors: Sun T. B. , Yang C. C. H. , Kuo T. B. J.
Published: February 2006

Aims  There are relatively few effective methods to treat autonomic neuropathy in patients with diabetes mellitus. Our aim was to test the hypothesis that hyperbaric oxygen therapy may restore cardiac neural regulation dysfunction in diabetic individuals with foot complications.

Methods  We conducted a prospective randomized controlled study in patients with diabetic foot problems. Daily heart‐rate variability analysis from 5‐min electrocardiography was used to evaluate the temporal change of cardiac neural regulation. The experimental group consisted of 23 subjects exposed to hyperbaric oxygen therapy of 202.65 kPa for 90 min every Monday to Friday for 4 weeks (20 treatments). The control group consisted of 15 age‐, sex‐ and disease‐matched subjects who were not exposed to hyperbaric therapy. Patients with medical complications and failure of wound healing were excluded to eliminate possible confounding effects.

Results  There was no significant difference in baseline R–R interval (RR), variance, high‐frequency power (HF), low‐frequency power (LF), and LF/HF ratio between the two groups. In the hyperbaric oxygen group there were significant increases in changes of RR (82.7 ± 16.02 ms); variance 0.88 ± 0.12 ln(ms2); HF 1.06 ± 0.18 ln(ms2); and LF 0.87 ± 0.15 ln(ms2) after the treatment. Measurements of tissue oxygen demonstrated significant increases in local tissue oxygenation in the hyperbaric oxygen group (53.0 ± 2.6 mmHg) compared with the control group (27.5 ± 3.1 mmHg), P < 0.05.

Conclusion  Hyperbaric oxygen therapy has a significant vagotonic effect, which is beneficial in improving cardiac neural regulation in patients with diabetic autonomic dysfunction.

Diabet. Med. (2006)
Diabetes and risk of acute infectious conjunctivitis— a population‐based case‐control study1
Authors: Kruse A. , Thomsen R. W. , Hundborg H. H. , Knudsen L. L. , Sørensen H. T. , Schønheyder H. C.
Published: February 2006

Aims  To examine whether diabetes mellitus is associated with an increased risk of acute infectious conjunctivitis (AIC) in adults, as measured by treatment with topical ocular antibiotics.

Methods  A population‐based, case‐control study in North Jutland County, Denmark. Incident cases of AIC were defined as persons aged more than 15 years redeeming a first‐time prescription for a topical ocular antibiotic during 1999 in the County Prescription Database. Five gender‐ and age‐matched population control subjects per case were selected using a unique personal identifier, the Civil Registry Number. Diabetes prior to the ocular antibiotic prescription was determined by record‐linkage with the Prescription Database and Hospital Discharge Registry in the county. Odds ratios (ORs) for acute infectious conjunctivitis among diabetic individuals and control subjects were estimated, adjusting for a range of potential risk factors.

Results  Among 16 193 adults treated with topical ocular antibiotics, 3.1% had diabetes as compared with 2.5% of the control subjects. The overall adjusted OR for acute infectious conjunctivitis in patients with diabetes was 1.24 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.13–1.38]. Risk estimates of acute infectious conjunctivitis in individuals with diabetes were consistently increased for both women and men, for all age groups, and for different types of ocular antibiotics prescribed.

Conclusions  This study suggests that diabetes is a risk factor for acute infectious conjunctivitis.

Diabet. Med. (2006)
Blunted response to systemic nitric oxide synthase inhibition in the cerebral circulation of patients with Type 2 diabetes
Authors: Nazir F. S. , Alem M. , Small M. , Con Nell J. M. C. , Lees K. R. , Walters M. R. , Cleland S. J.
Published: February 2006

Aims  Diabetes is a major risk factor for stroke, but the mechanisms that impart the excess risk are unclear. Endothelial dysfunction, which has been demonstrated in the coronary and peripheral vasculature of diabetic patients, is an important early marker of vascular disease. However, the effect of diabetes on cerebrovascular endothelium has not been examined. We sought to investigate the effect of diabetes on basal cerebrovascular endothelial function as assessed by response to the nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitor NG‐monomethyl‐l‐arginine (l‐NMMA).

Methods  Fourteen men with Type 2 diabetes and 15 age‐matched male control subjects were recruited. The participants had no clinically evident vascular disease and were taking no vasoactive or lipid‐lowering medication. Each received a single 15‐min intravenous infusion of l‐NMMA (0.8 mol/kg/min). Cerebral blood flow was assessed by colour Doppler imaging of the internal carotid artery (ICA) at 10‐min intervals for 20 min prior to and following the infusion. Middle cerebral artery velocity (MCAv) was assessed by transtemporal Doppler ultrasound at the same time points.

Results  l‐NMMA produced a mean reduction in ICA flow area under curve (AUC) in the control group of 12.8 ± 17.8% compared with a 2.1 ± 21.7% reduction in the group with diabetes (P < 0.05), indicating blunted basal cerebrovascular response to NOS inhibition in the diabetic group. There was no significant change in MCAv following l‐NMMA in either group. Mean ± sd MAP rose 6.4 ± 4.2 mmHg in the control group vs. 8.8 ± 3.5 mmHg in the diabetic group [P = not significant (NS)]. No adverse event or symptom was reported.

Conclusions  Response to NOS inhibition is impaired in the cerebral circulation of patients with diabetes. This observation is consistent with the elevated cerebrovascular risk reported in this population, and may represent a future therapeutic target in stroke prevention.

Diabet. Med. (2006)
Association of the promoter polymorphism −232C/G of the phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase gene (PCK1) with Type 2 diabetes mellitus
Authors: Gouni‐Berthold I. , Giannakidou E. , Faust M. , Berthold H. K. , Krone W.
Published: February 2006

Aims  The phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase gene (PCK1) is a potential candidate gene in the pathogenesis of Type 2 diabetes mellitus. A −232C/G promoter polymorphism of PCK1 has been associated with an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes in a Canadian population. The purpose of the present study was to examine this association in a German Caucasian population.

Methods  We investigated 397 subjects with Type 2 diabetes [227 men, 170 women, age 63 ± 11 years, body mass index (BMI) 28.7 ± 5.1 kg/m2] and 431 control subjects without diabetes (247 men, 184 women, age 64 ± 7 years, BMI 26.5 ± 3.7 kg/m2) matched for sex and age.

Results  In the diabetic and control groups, the CC genotype frequencies were 18.1 and 18.3%, the CG 48.6 and 48.7% and the GG 33.2 and 32.9%, respectively (P = 0.995). The allelic frequencies were 0.51 and 0.57 for the G allele and 0.49 and 0.43 for the C allele, respectively. In a logistic regression model only BMI and family history, but not the polymorphism, were predictors of Type 2 diabetes. In both the control and diabetic subjects, there were no significant differences in BMI or blood pressure between the groups with or without the polymorphism. The variant also had no significant influence on the presence of atherosclerotic disease, while the influence of other known cardiovascular risk factors was confirmed.

Conclusions  The present data suggest that, in a German Caucasian population, the −232C/G polymorphism of the PEPCK gene is not associated with Type 2 diabetes.

Diabet. Med. (2006)
Reduced prevalence of early preterm delivery in women with Type 1 diabetes and microalbuminuria—possible effect of early antihypertensive treatment during pregnancy
Authors: Nielsen L. R. , Müller C. , Damm P. , Mathiesen E. R.
Published: February 2006

Aims  In normotensive women with Type 1 diabetes and microalbuminuria we previously found preterm delivery (< 34 weeks) in 23% of the pregnancies. Antihypertensive treatment was initiated in late pregnancy when preeclampsia was diagnosed and diastolic blood pressure > 90 mmHg. From April 2000 our routine was changed and early antihypertensive treatment with methyldopa was initiated if antihypertensive treatment was given prior to pregnancy, if urinary albumin excretion (UAE) was > 2 g/24 h, or blood pressure > 140/90 mmHg. The present study describes the impact of this more aggressive antiypertensive treatment in the prevalence of preterm delivery.

Methods  The old cohort (1995–1999) consisted of 26 and the new cohort (2000–2003) of 20 pregnant women with Type 1 diabetes and microalbuminuria. All were referred before gestational week 17.

Results  The cohorts were comparable with regard to age, diabetes duration, prepregnancy body mass index, HbA1c, blood pressure 121 (13)/71 (8) vs. 121 (14)/73 (8) mmHg [mean (sd)] and early UAE 69 (16–278) vs. 74 (30–287) mg/24 h (geometric mean and range). Antihypertensive treatment was initiated in the old cohort at 29 (20–33) weeks, n = 9, and in the new at 13 (0–34) weeks, n = 10. The prevalence of preterm delivery before 34 weeks was reduced from 23% to zero (P = 0.02), preterm delivery before 37 weeks from 62% to 40% (P = 0.15) and preeclampsia from 42% to 20% (P = 0.11). Perinatal mortality occurred in 4% vs. 0%. Birth weight was 3124 (767) g vs. 3279 (663) g.

Conclusion  Introduction of early antihypertensive treatment with methyldopa in normotensive pregnant women with Type 1 diabetes and microalbuminuria resulted in a significant reduction in preterm delivery before gestational week 34.

Diabet. Med. (2006)
Introduction
Authors: Ellen Roy
Published: February 2006

This introduction to the volume argues for the central and integrating role of the subject matter of ethnobiological research in anthropology understood in its widest sense: in its biological, archaeo‐historical, and socio‐cultural dimensions. The background and current status of ethnobiology are assessed, and its contribution to anthropological issues considered under the following headings: the foundational paradigm of taxonomic orthodoxy; language and the translation of knowledge systems; cognition and culture; the social organization and transmission of knowledge; medical ethnobiology; the applied practice of ethnobiology; and – the meta‐theory which binds all this together – the co‐evolutionary paradigm as part of a wider ‘biocultural synthesis’. The way in which the collected papers exemplify these themes is discussed.
Ethnobiology and the evolution of the human mind
Authors: Mithen Steven
Published: February 2006

An evolutionary perspective on human thought and behaviour indicates that we should expect to find universal systems of perception, classification, and decision‐making regarding the natural world. It is the interaction between these evolved aspects of the human mind, the biodiversity of the natural world, and unique historical, social, and economic contexts within which individuals develop and act that gives rise to cultural diversity. The palaeoanthropological record also indicates that language is a recently evolved phenomenon. This suggests that linguistic approaches in ethnobiology are likely to provide only a partial understanding of how humans perceive, classify, and engage with the natural world.
The interplay of ethnographic and archaeological knowledge in the study of past human subsistence in the tropics
Authors: Harris David R.
Published: February 2006

Much of what is currently known or believed about how humans procured and produced food in the past stems from ethnographic and historical evidence of the subsistence practices of foragers and farmers. It is often difficult or impossible to relate archaeological evidence directly to the ethnohistorical record, although these two very different sources of data potentially complement each other. The potential of such complementarity is now being enhanced by the use of novel techniques, such as parenchyma, phytolith, and starch‐grain analysis, for identifying fragmentary and amorphous organic remains retrieved from archaeological deposits, and by the use of the AMS (accelerator mass spectrometric) radiocarbon method to date very small samples, such as single seeds. More conventional ethnoarchaeological methods, by which field evidence of subsistence‐related structures is compared with information derived from ethnographic and historical accounts, also continue to yield valuable insights into past food procurement and production. In this essay, the reciprocal relationship between archaeobotanical and ethnohistorical data is exemplified by examining (a) recent applications of novel analytical techniques in investigations of the antiquity of root and tuber cultivation in the American, African, and Southeast Asian tropics, and (b) the use of more conventional methods in the study of past forager subsistence in tropical northeastern Australia.
Amazonian historical ecologies
Authors: Rival Laura
Published: February 2006

Historical ecology may be defined as the undertaking of a diachronic analysis of living ecological systems, with the view to accounting more fully for their structural and functional properties. Historical ecology, more an approach or a research strategy than a paradigm, addresses a central question: ‘How does environmental change relate to the historical development of human societies?’ An integral part of the new ecological anthropology, historical ecology seeks to dereify the concepts of nature and culture, and to rethink critically the complexity of the biological world, particularly the problematic distinction between the wild and the domesticated, which has hitherto inspired natural science research on the diversity of biological life. This paper examines the ways in which historical ecology has been used to research nomadic bands subsisting with few or no domesticates in lowland South America. I argue that current knowledge of the Amazon biome, which is far more sophisticated than it was in the late 1940s and the early 1950s, when Steward edited theHandbook of South American Indians, allows us to rethink human occupation of, and adaptation to, the Amazon; to redefine the forces that have shaped the material dimensions of social life, and to recognize that Amazonian hunter‐gatherers have played an active part in the making of the natural environment that they have occupied for millennia. I also argue that ‘trekking’, far from representing a necessary intermediary stage in the regression from horticulture to foraging, constitutes, in some cases, asui generissolution to deep contradictory forces of a political, religious, and social character. Such internal processes may have long predated the Conquest and the disruptions it caused. I conclude that reliance on resources created in the past may be a characteristic shared by various trekking and foraging groups of the Upper Amazon.
The interface between medical anthropology and medical ethnobiology
Authors: Waldstein Anna , Adams Cameron
Published: February 2006

Medical anthropology is concerned with both the causes and consequences of human sickness, and its various theoretical orientations can be grouped into four major approaches: medical ecology, critical medical anthropology, interpretative medical anthropology, and ethnomedicine. While medical anthropologists of all theoretical persuasions have examined why people get sick, the analysis and understanding of patterns of treatment has been largely confined to ethnomedicine. Historically, more emphasis has been placed on thepersonalisticor supernatural aspects of ethnomedical systems than onnaturalisticor empirical components. While this focus has produced valuable insights into the role of ritual and belief in healing, it has led to the impression that traditional medicine is primarily symbolic. Moreover, it ignores the theoretical bases of traditional healing strategies and the practical means by which most of the world heals itself, namely plants. Recently there has been more interest in the empirical character of ethnomedical systems, and in this paper we consider the role that medical ethnobiology has played in this shift of focus. We begin with a brief history of medical anthropology to illuminate why naturalistic medicine was neglected for so long. We then review exemplary research in two areas of medical ethnobiology – ethnophysiology and medical ethnobotany – that address the study of naturalistic aspects of medical systems. We conclude with suggestions for future research at the interface between medical ethnobiology and medical anthropology that will contribute to both fields.
Ethnobiology and applied anthropology: rapprochement of the academic with the practical
Authors: Sillitoe Paul
Published: February 2006

Ethnobiology has long featured both academic and practical aspects, with its component disciplines tending to favour one or the other, such that anthropology focuses on classificatory and cognitive issues whereas botany concentrates on issues of resource use. Current trends within development, notably interest in indigenous knowledge that has emerged with participatory approaches, to which ethnobiology has contributed significantly, promise a new synthesis of the academic and practical. This paper describes five ways in which we can think of applied ethnobiology in this context, and illustrates each with examples drawn from natural resources management. The first application is assistance in the introduction of exogenous technology, facilitating technical interventions that are central to many development programmes, enabling a better match to cultural tradition, and promoting meaningful participation. The second application is the facilitating of local solutions to development, advocating the use of local knowledge to further development, asking what insider knowledge may have to recommend in advancing development in the face of outside influences. The third application is the furthering of cultural diffusion, seeking to establish if knowledge and practices in one place have relevance elsewhere, offering an innovative approach to development by drawing upon anthropology's cross‐cultural comparative tradition in new ways. The fourth application is the advancing of the commercial use of knowledge, conducting research to find intelligence that may be marketable, even new to science, such bio‐prospecting relating to the contentious issue of protecting intellectual property rights. Finally, ethnobiology may be used to support alternative development, promote the formulation of alternative views, and critique development as a capitalist imposition; indigenous activism with respect to international conventions indicates the shape of alternative agendas.
Meeting of minds: how do we share our appreciation of traditional environmental knowledge?
Authors: Hunn Eugene
Published: February 2006

Ethnography is ‘writing culture’. This requires translating terms of understanding from the exotic to the familiar. If culture is, at least in substantial part, ‘what one needs to know … to act … in a given society’, then ethnography must convey a significant body of exotic knowledge, elaborated in a foreign language, enlightening readers while holding their attention to the intricate detail of the lives described. Ethnobiology's signal contribution is to show how traditional environmental knowledge or local natural history is central to cultural knowledge, at least for the mostly rural societies that have been our prime descriptive focus. Ethnobiologists tend to share with their subjects a fascination with natural history and thus an appreciation of their environmental knowledge. However, the audience for ethnography is predominantly urban and modern, profoundly ignorant of natural history. Our challenge is double, or triple: not only must we educate our audience about exotic ways of life, but also educate this audience about the wonders of natural history, translating into our vernacular a technical conversation between our subjects and modern biologists. I will offer a few suggestions based on my own ethnographic reading and writing on how we might best meet these challenges.
The efficacy of computer‐based supplementary phonics programs for advancing reading skills in at‐risk elementary students
Authors: Macaruso Paul , Hook Pamela E. , McCabe Robert
Published: February 2006

In this study we examined the benefits of computer programs designed to supplement regular reading instruction in an urban public school system. The programs provide systematic exercises for mastering word‐attack strategies. Our findings indicate that first graders who participated in the programs made significant reading gains over the school year. Their post‐test scores were slightly (but not significantly) greater than the post‐test scores of control children who received regular reading instruction without the programs. When analyses were restricted to low‐performing children eligible for Title I services, significantly higher post‐test scores were obtained by the treatment group compared to the control group. At post‐test Title I children in the treatment group performed at levels similar to non‐Title I students.
Does weak reading comprehension reflect an integration deficit?
Authors: Spooner Alice L. R. , Gathercole Susan E. , Baddeley Alan D.
Published: February 2006

Seven‐ and eight‐year‐old skilled and less‐skilled comprehenders were compared on a sentence recognition task in two conditions varying in memory load and retention interval. Integration of story information during comprehension was indexed by inflated recognition errors of foils that had been constructed by integrating information across original story sentences. Skilled comprehenders exhibited more accurate memory for sentences than less‐skilled comprehenders. However, the groups did not differ in the degree to which they integrated information with minimal memory demand, or in their tendency to integrate information and retain the integrated representations with increased memory demand. These results were interpreted as evidence that integration deficits do not lie at the root of reading comprehension difficulties in mainstream children.
Developmental changes in the allocation of semantic feedback during visual word recognition
Authors: Reimer Jason F.
Published: February 2006

The present study used a mediated priming paradigm to examine whether developmental differences exist in the integration of semantic information with orthographic and phonological information during visual word recognition. In Experiment 1, we found that the integration of semantics with phonology and orthography differed among third‐grade, sixth‐grade and college students: orthographically based mediated inhibition effects were found in third‐grade children, whereas phonologically based mediated inhibition effects were found in sixth‐grade children and college students. A second experiment was performed with adults to test the hypothesis that the orthographically based mediated inhibition effect observed with young children was due to deficits in orthographic processing. When stimulus quality was manipulated within the mediated priming paradigm, orthographically based mediated inhibition effects were found when targets were dim, whereas phonologically based mediated inhibition effects were found when targets were bright. Taken together, these results suggest that the allocation of activation during reading may depend on the processing demands of the word recognition system.
Auditory frequency discrimination in children with dyslexia
Authors: Halliday Lorna F. , Bishop Dorothy V.M.
Published: February 2006

A popular hypothesis holds that developmental dyslexia is caused by phonological processing problems and is therefore linked to difficulties in the analysis of spoken as well as written language. It has been suggested that these phonological deficits might be attributable to low‐level problems in processing the temporal fine structure of auditory cues. Evidence for this has come from studies showing poor performance of dyslexic individuals on measures of auditory frequency discrimination (FD). We compared the FD thresholds of 28 children with dyslexia to 28 age‐matched controls aged 6–13, on a task that minimised demands on short‐term memory. To investigate the mechanisms involved in potential FD deficits, FD thresholds were measured at 1 kHz, where temporal cues were available, and at 6 kHz, where they were not. The dyslexic group had significantly higher FD thresholds than controls in both the 1‐ and 6‐kHz conditions. These findings confirm that children with dyslexia often have poor FD, even when, as in this sample, they have normal language comprehension and expressive vocabulary, and when they are tested using a paradigm that minimises memory demands. However, their perceptual deficit was evident for both the 1‐ and 6‐kHz tones, and so cannot readily be explained in terms of problems in processing temporal fine structure.
Staying with People Who Slap Us Around: Gender, Juggling Responsibilities and Violence in Paid (and Unpaid) Care Work
Authors: Baines Donna
Published: February 2006

Little is actually known about women's occupational health, let alone how men and women may experience similar jobs and health risks differently. Drawing on data from a larger study of social service workers, this article examines four areas where gender is pivotal to the new ways of organizing caring labour, including the expansion of unpaid work and the use of personal resources to subsidize agency resources; gender‐neutral violence; gender‐specific violence and the juggling of home and work responsibilities. Collective assumptions and expectations about how men and women should perform care work result in men's partial insulation from the more intense forms of exploitation, stress and violence. This article looks at health risks, not merely as compensable occupational health concerns, but as avoidable products of forms of work organization that draw on notions of the endlessly stretchable capacity of women to provide care work in any context, including a context of violence. Indeed, the logic of women's elastic caring appear crucial to the survival of some agencies and the gender order in these workplaces.
Constructing the Deviant Other: Mothering and Fathering at the Workplace
Authors: Kugelberg Clarissa
Published: February 2006

Gender stereotyping is a widely described and documented process that permeates working life in western societies. It is characterized by ascribing greatly simplified attributes to women and men and forging a dualistic view of gender in which women and men are conceptualized as antipodes to each other. Through this ongoing reproduction of simplistic views; contradictions, variations and complexities are concealed, together with the richness of individuals’ competence and experiences. Intimately related to this gender stereotyping are assumptions that distinct kinds of jobs and positions fit either men or women. In this article I investigate the constructions of motherhood and fatherhood as important elements in the processes of gender stereotyping. I argue that the production of stereotypes is part of an inter‐discursive contest which has a significant impact on gender relations and women's opportunities. My discussion derives from an anthropological study of one workplace.
Understanding Professional Projects in Welfare Service Work: Revival of Old Professionalism?
Authors: Henriksson Lea , Wrede Sirpa , Burau Viola
Published: February 2006

The professional terms for occupations that provide welfare services are changing, and here the introduction of new public management in the Nordic countries since the 1990s is indicative of wider developments. The article explores professional projects in welfare service work from both conceptual and empirical perspectives. The aim is to produce a gender‐sensitive analysis of the professional projects at the lower levels of the occupational hierarchies in health care. The first part reviews the literature conceptualizing the societal and institutional embeddedness of professional projects. The institutional matrix of welfare states emerges as a key context in shaping the welfare service work performed by women‐dominated professional groups. The second part examines the case of Finland and suggests that recent reforms have created new inequalities in the system of professions, in which occupational groups in welfare service work are becoming marginalized. This signals a move away from ‘democratic professionalism’ towards a revival of ‘old professionalism’.
Watching the Watch: The UK Fire Service and its Impact on Sexual Minorities in the Workplace
Authors: Ward James , Winstanley Diana
Published: February 2006

This empirical study in one UK Fire Service explores the experiences of sexual minorities in the workplace, an under‐researched area of diversity, but one that has a growing focus of interest. The article aims to show that the organizational culture has an impact on sexual minorities in a number of different ways. The UK Fire Service is an organization which is fragmented into regional brigades, fire stations and watches (shifts) and it is at the level of the Watch that firefighters interact very closely. This article shows the complexities and dynamics of sexual minorities living and working in the Watch culture in the Fire Service. In particular, it highlights the different dimensions of the Fire Service culture which have an impact on sexual minorities. These are: the work environment, discourse, ways of working, rules, association, signs and symbols.
The Transformative Potential of Belizean Migrant Voluntary Associations in Chicago
Authors: Babcock Elizabeth Cooling
Published: February 2006

Migrant voluntary associations are a pervasive feature of migrant communities in the United States. Migrant organizations help meet the basic needs of newly arrived migrants and provide introductions to social and economic networks in receiving communities. Over time, many of these mutual aid migrant associations morph into development‐related organizations that foster transnational ties. These more transnationally oriented associations focus their attention on sending communities, making monetary and in‐kind contributions to home villages, helping to launch political careers, and contributing to the building of political movements in the country of origin.

Evaluating the potential of migrant associations to improve the lives of migrants and those in the country of origin requires a transnational focus, since the socio‐political context of home and sending communities simultaneously affects and is affected by migrant associations. Given the diversity and specificity of transnational contexts, migration patterns, and political contexts, evaluating the impact of migrant associations can be a daunting task. As a result, accounts of the scope and activities of migrant associations tend to be descriptive in nature, providing detailed accounts of the transnational contexts in which these organizations operate but steering clear of an explicit evaluation of effectiveness.

In this paper, I describe the range of types of Belizean associations in Chicago and identify the primary factors that have impacted the effectiveness of these migrant voluntary associations. I make recommendations for overcoming these challenges to ensure that the transformative potential of Belizean migrant voluntary associations is realized for the benefit of Belize and Belizeans. I conclude with suggestions for comparative research on migrant voluntary associations that will further allow these organizations to be leveraged for positive social change.
Living Transnationally: Somali Diasporic Women in Cairo
Authors: Al‐Sharmani Mulki
Published: February 2006

Since the Somali Civil War in 1991, there have been a large number of Somalis living in the Middle East, Europe, North America, and Australia. An increasing number of these Somalis are living in transnational households where family members live and sometimes move back and forth in different nation‐states, yet these families maintain strong ties, share resources, and make decisions collectively about the well‐being of different members. In this paper, I argue that women play central roles in establishing and managing these transnational households. I examine these roles and their significance through an analysis of the activities and experiences of two groups of Somali women in Cairo within the domains of their transnational families and communities. These groups of women are: (1) refugees who have been granted or are seeking asylum from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Egypt, and (2) naturalized citizens of Western countries who have relocated to Egypt, and whom I will refer to as émigrés. I argue that many of these women become active members of transnational households and communities to (1) resist legal, economic, and/or cultural “othering” of host societies, and (2) renegotiate past and present identity discourses that marginalize these individuals on multiple levels that are determined by clan affiliations, socio‐economic conditions, and gender inequalities. By using complex transnational strategies, these women are engaging in new forms of activism to establish lives with more security, better future opportunities, and more dignity for their families and themselves. Yet their transnational family and community lives have benefits and challenges, which the women experience differently because of their varied diasporic histories and their uneven access to legal and social capital.
Statelessness and the State: Tibetans, Citizenship, and Nationalist Activism in a Transnational World1
Authors: Hess Julia Meredith
Published: February 2006

The Tibetan population in the United States has increased significantly over the last decade. The passage of the 1990 Immigration Act instituted the first large‐scale immigration of Tibetans from South Asia to the United States. Tibetans in the United States are adopting US citizenship, and are encouraged to do so by the exile government on the grounds that gaining a political voice in the United States enables Tibetans to be “ambassadors” for their lost homeland. In contrast, Tibetans in India have primarily remained stateless, foregoing the practical benefits of citizenship, remaining de facto refugees.

This paper considers the way the transformation from being stateless refugees to citizens of the United States impacts Tibetan identities. Throughout the immigration and citizenship process, state bureaucracies, including the US State Department and the former Immigration and Naturalization Service, have challenged the way Tibetans categorize their birthplace. Tibetans have challenged these categorizations, even at the risk of their visa or citizenship status. At the same time, Tibetans' motivations for seeking US citizenship are complex and often framed in a way that suggests stronger ties to the homeland, the diaspora, and the transnational activist stage. The paper thus explores the interrelationship of state‐defined status of refugees/exiles/immigrants, identity formation, state policy, and activism. Although the policies of states and state‐like institutions (the Tibetan government‐in‐exile) certainly shape and constrain migrant agency, I show how individual Tibetans choose to respond in diverse, complex, and new ways that, in turn, are incorporated in the Tibetans' understandings of self, both individual and collective. Finally, I explore the relationship between feeling empowered as a transnational agent and being a citizen of a powerful nation‐state.
An Australian Diaspora?
Authors: Hugo Graeme
Published: February 2006

Although Australia is best known as a country of immigration, around 1 million Australians currently live outside of their homeland on a permanent or long‐term basis. The present paper uses a number of quantitative and qualitative data sources to assess the extent to which Australia's expatriate community fulfils the four defining criteria of contemporary diasporas advanced by Butler (2001). These criteria include involving a scattering of two or more destinations, a relationship with an actual or imagined homeland, common group identity shared among diaspora communities, and existence over at least two generations. It finds that the Australian expatriate community qualifies on the basis of at least three of those criteria. The article then examines some dimensions of the relationship between the Australian diaspora with their homeland. It is argued that Australia's diaspora constitutes a meaningful and distinctive group and represents an important subject of serious study. Indeed, it is a significant but neglected part of Australia's demography and population geographies. This was reflected in the Australian Senate setting up an Inquiry into the Australian expatriate community in 2003.
Learning the Language of a New Country: A Ten‐year Study of English Acquisition by South‐East Asian Refugees in Canada
Authors: Hou Feng , Beiser Morton
Published: February 2006

The University of Toronto Refugee Resettlement Project (RRP) investigated language acquisition over a ten‐year period among a sample of 608 South‐East Asian Refugees in Canada. Two years after arrival, 17 per cent spoke English well, 67 per cent had moderate command of the language, and 16 per cent spoke no English. Ten years later, 32 per cent had good language skills, 60 per cent moderate skills, and 8 per cent still spoke no English. The most rapid improvement occurred during the early years of resettlement. Although demographic characteristics and pre‐immigration achievement were the major factors determining English‐language proficiency during the early years of resettlement, post‐migration opportunities and incentives became increasingly important over time. The results highlight the responsibility receiving countries have to provide opportunities and incentives to facilitate language acquisition by newcomers.
Short‐term Migration and the Acquisition of a World Language
Authors: Stevens Gillian , Jin Kinam , Song Hyun Jong
Published: February 2006

English is spreading as a world language. Yet, the means — and the immediate consequences — through which English is spreading as a second language into largely monolingual populations are not fully understood. In this paper, we focus on a specific case: the learning of English as a second language among Koreans. We briefly discuss the background of the English language in Korea and the strong incentives for Koreans to learn English. We then provide some empirical analyses that suggest that Koreans are using a transnational strategy in the acquisition of a world language: short‐term migration to English‐language dominated countries. Our paper ends with a discussion of some of the potential implications of these movements and of some of the numerous avenues open for research.