bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Dissipative instability under weak beam–plasma coupling
Authors: ROSTOMYAN EDUARD V.
Published: March 2012

Beam–plasma interaction is investigated in a model of plasma microwave oscillator: waveguide with spatially separated plasma and beam layers of finite thicknesses. Investigation is carried out in general form without specifying shape of the waveguide in cross section. Approach is based on perturbation theory over wave coupling. Spatial separation implies weak beam–plasma interaction that exhibits many specific features. Developing instability is caused by the growth of the negative energy beam wave. It is shown that upon weak coupling presence, dissipation leads to a new type of dissipative beam instability. Its maximal growth rate is inversely proportional to collision frequency in plasma. The growth rate of this instability is obtained for an arbitrary level of dissipation. Basic parameters of instability show that its properties cannot be neglected upon design of high-power, high-frequency plasma-filled generators/amplifiers based on relativistic e-beams.
Practices of Confession, Intercession, and Forgiveness in 1 John 1.9; 5.16
Authors: Roitto Rikard
Published: March 2012

1 John 1.9 and 5.16 reflect practices of public confession of sins, intercession, and mediation of God's forgiveness. Divine forgiveness and belonging to the community were integrated in the Johannine community to the extent that one equalled the other. Therefore, these practices had important group-dynamic functions for the Johannine community. First, public confession functioned as a costly signal that deterred less committed group members but was meaningful to committed group members. Second, the practice of intercession induced role taking, allowing the offended party both to empathize with the offender and to restore his or her dignity and honour.
First-episode psychosis at the West Bologna Community Mental Health Centre: results of an 8-year prospective study
Authors: Tarricone I. , Mimmi S. , Paparelli A. , Rossi E. , Mori E. , Panigada S. , Carchia G. , Bandieri V. , Michetti R. , Minenna G. , Boydell J. , Morgan C. , Berardi D.
Published: March 2012

Background

Research mostly conducted in the UK and northern Europe has established that there are high rates of first-episode psychosis (FEP) in large cities and immigrant populations; moreover, psychosis has been found to be associated with cannabis use and early trauma. The present study aimed to evaluate the incidence rate of FEP and the distribution of several risk factors (e.g. age, ethnicity, substance abuse) in Bologna, Italy.

Method

The Bologna FEP (BoFEP) study is an 8-year prospective study. All FEP patients, 18–64 years old, consecutively referred to the West Bologna Community Mental Health Centre (CMHC) from 2002 to 2009 were evaluated. Sociodemographic information, migration history and clinical data were collected through an ad-hoc schedule. Psychiatric diagnoses were recorded using the Schedule for Clinical Assessment of Neuropsychiatry (SCAN).

Results

The overall incidence rate (IR) in the BoFEP study was 16.4 per 100 000 person-years [95% confidence interval (CI) 13.9–18.9]. The incidence was higher in young people, men and migrants (MI).

Conclusions

The IR of FEP found by the Bologna study is lower than that found by other European studies. However, as in other studies, the incidence was higher in certain groups. This heterogeneity has implications for policy and mental health service development, and for understanding the aetiology of psychosis.
Language abilities of internationally adopted children from China during the early school years: Evidence for early age effects?
Authors: DELCENSERIE AUDREY , GENESEE FRED , GAUTHIER KARINE
Published: March 2012

We assessed the language, cognitive, and socioemotional abilities of 27 internationally adopted children from China, adopted by French-speaking parents, 12 of whom had been assessed previously by Gauthier and Genesee. The children were on average 7 years, 10 months old and were matched to nonadopted monolingual French-speaking children on age, gender, and socioeconomic status. Although there were no significant differences between the groups with respect to socioemotional and cognitive development, the adoptees scored significantly lower than the controls on measures of receptive grammar, expressive vocabulary, word definitions, and sentence recall, findings that were similar to those reported by Gauthier and Genesee. Analyses of correlations between the adopted children's language test results and their age at adoption, length of exposure to the adoption language, health, and other developmental problems revealed relatively few significant associations. In contrast, analyses of the relationship between their language test scores and their performance on the recalling sentences subtest suggest a link between performance on these two tests. We speculate on the role that performance on sentence recall might play in mediating differences in language outcomes between the two groups of children.
Revisiting the phonological deficit in dyslexia: Are implicit nonorthographic representations impaired?
Authors: DICKIE CATHERINE , OTA MITSUHIKO , CLARK ANN
Published: March 2012

This study investigates whether developmental dyslexia involves an impairment in implicit phonological representations, as distinct from orthographic representations and metaphonological skills. A group of adults with dyslexia was matched with a group with no history of speech/language/literacy impairment. Tasks varied in the demands made on (implicit) phonological representations versus metalinguistic analysis/manipulation, and controlled the contribution of phonological versus orthographic representations by including both a segmental and an equivalent suprasegmental (nonorthographic) version of each task. The findings show a dissociation between metaphonological skills and implicit phonological representations, with the dyslexic group impaired in metaphonological manipulation skills in both segmental and suprasegmental tasks, but not in implicit knowledge of phonological contrasts.
Results of balloon dilatation of stenotic homografts in pulmonary position in children and young adults
Authors: Bertels Robin A. , Dalinghaus Michiel , Witsenburg Maarten , Nijveld Aagje , Bogers Ad J. J. C. , Meijboom Folkert , van Oort Anton , Tanke Ronald
Published: March 2012

Objectives

To evaluate the results of balloon dilatation of stenotic homografts in children, adolescents, and young adults and to identify factors that might influence or predict the effect of the dilatation.

Background

Homografts are widely used in congenital cardiac surgery; however, the longevity remains a problem mostly because of stenosis in the homograft. The effect of treatment by balloon dilatation is unclear.

Methods

In a retrospective study, the effect of balloon dilatation was determined by the percentage of reduction of the peak systolic pressure gradient over the homograft during catheterisation and the postponement of re-intervention or replacement of the homograft in months. Successful dilatations – defined in this study as a reduction of more than 33% and postponement of more than 18 months – were compared with unsuccessful dilatations in search of factors influencing or predicting the results.

Results

The mean reduction of the peak systolic pressure gradient was 30% in 40 procedures. Re-intervention or replacement of the homograft was postponed by a mean of 19 months. In all, 14 balloon dilatations (35%) were successful; the mean reduction was 49% and the mean postponement was 34 months. The time since homograft implantation, the presence of calcification, the homograft/balloon ratio, and the pressure applied during dilatation all tended to correlate with outcome, but were not statistically significant.

Conclusions

Balloon dilatation is able to reduce the peak systolic pressure gradient over homografts in a subgroup of patients and can be of clinical significance to postpone re-intervention or pulmonary valve replacement.
“SKINS TO JUMP INTO”: THE SLIPPERINESS OF IDENTITY AND THE BODY IN WILKIE COLLINS'SNO NAME
Authors: Hingston Kylee-Anne
Published: March 2012

Victorian sensation literature wasinextricably related to identity and the body: its primary purposes were to elicit a physical response from the senses of readers and to question “the social formation of the self” (Taylor,The Secret2). Sensation fiction regularly relied on different, deformed, or diseased bodies to provoke fear or unease in its readers, and it created anxiety by juxtaposing the domestic with scandal, crime, and Gothicism to disturb the perceived stability of the home and social identity. Lyn Pykett argues that the genre reproduces the “real mid-nineteenth-century anxiety” that domestic selfhood “could be disrupted by danger, death or disease on the one hand, and the vagaries of the law, the banking system or the stockmarket on the other” (“Collins” 59). Nineteenth-century critics’ reactions to sensation novels connected anxieties about the body to fears about the instability of social identity: contemporary reviews described sensation literature and its works as “feverish” (Smith 141), “a collective cultural nervous disorder” (Taylor,The Secret4), and as “symptoms of . . . social disease” (Pykett, “Collins” 51). In his 1880–81 series of essays, “Fiction Fair and Foul,” John Ruskin argues that the “[p]hysically diseased, ‘deformed,’ and ignobly dead bodies [in Collins's and Dickens's novels] are symptomatic of diseased and deformed genres, produced by morally and physically ill writers to cater to the tastes of morally and physically diseased urban readers” (Holmes,Fictions92). These extreme critical responses, as well as the extreme popularity of sensation fiction, call attention to Victorian preoccupation with the body and social identity and with the instability of both. This paper, through analyzing the instability of bodies and identities in Wilkie Collins's sensation novelNo Name(1862) and its serial context, challenges readings by both Victorian and more recent critics that distinctly interpret diseased and disabled bodies in the novel as either symbolic of or a result of social deviance.
DISABILITY AND GENDER IN THE VISUAL FIELD: SEEING THE SUBTERRANEAN LIVES OF MICHAEL FIELD'SWILLIAM RUFUS
Authors: Bickle Sharon
Published: March 2012

When the UK'sGuardiannewspaperfeatured “La Gioconda” as poem of the week in January 2010, the paper's popular readership discovered what many late-Victorian scholars had known about for some time: the poetic partnership of Katharine Bradley (1846–1914) and Edith Cooper (1862–1913), known as “Michael Field.” The successful recovery of the Fields as significant late-Victorian writers – a project now in its second decade – seems poised to emerge into popular awareness driven as much by interest in their unconventional love affair as by the poetry itself. Scholars too have been seduced by the romance of a transgressive love story, and the critical nexus between sexuality and textuality has produced remarkable scholarship on the Fields’ lyric poetry: those texts in which the personas have a rough equivalence with Bradley and Cooper themselves. Yopie Prins first noted the complex engagement of multiple voices with lyric structure inLong Ago(74–111), and Ana Parejo Vadillo (Women Poets175–95), Jill Ehnenn (73–96), and Hilary Fraser (553–56) expanded on this to uncover the transformation of the lyric's male gaze into a triangulated lesbian vision inSight and Song(1892). In contrast to the recognition accorded their lyric verse, most critics have overlooked Michael Field's verse dramas. While there have been attempts to shift attention onto the plays, the significance of the Fields’ lesbian vision to the dramas has never been explored. This article seeks to redress this pervasive neglect and begin dismantling the boundaries that have grown up between critical approaches to the lyrics and the plays.
SISTER OF THE TYPE: THE FEMINIST COLLECTIVE IN GRANT ALLEN'STHE TYPE-WRITER GIRL
Authors: Cameron S. Brooke
Published: March 2012

Grant Allen's short novelThe Type-Writer Girl(1897) opens with a problem. In the first lines we are introduced to our narrator who, we are promptly told, is unemployed: “I was twenty-two and without employment. I would not say by this that I was without occupation. In the world in which we live, set with daisies and kingfishers and undeciphered faces of men and women, I doubt I could be at a loss for something to occupy me” (23; ch. 1). As the second half of this quotation suggests, our narrator is confident that this problem of employment is quite easy to solve, for all around is a world teeming with life, and as we learn by the start of the next paragraph, our narrator does indeed have an occupation, something to fill his/her time. Our narrator is a storyteller: “I cannot choose but wonder who each is, and why he is here. For one after another I invent a story. It may not be the true story, but at least it amuses me” (23; ch. 1). So the real problem, beyond the question of employment, emerges as a question of narrative subject. Who is this narrator, the subject of this first-person story? We do not even know if our narrator is male or female. It is as if he/she is lost amidst that sea of “undeciphered faces of men and women.” Connected to this problem of subject is also the question of form. The first-person point of view would suggest an autobiographical narrative. Yet any expectations of an autobiographical account are immediately undermined in chapter two when we learn that our narrator is named “Juliet Appleton.” This narrative subject does not match the novel's signed author, “Olive Pratt Rayner.” So we are again left with questions: what kind of narrative is this, who is the real subject of this story, what is the form of this narrative, and does our narrator find employment?
“HOW DOES YOUR COLLAR SUIT ME?”: THE HUMAN ANIMAL IN THE RSPCA'SANIMAL WORLDANDBAND OF MERCY
Authors: Flegel Monica
Published: March 2012

There is a central contradictionin human relationships with animals: as Erica Fudge notes, “We live with animals, we recognize them, we even name some of them, but at the same time we use them as if they were inanimate, as if they were objects” (8). Such a contradiction is also, of course, present in human interactions, in which power relations allow for the objectification of one human being by another. In an analysis of images and texts produced by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) in the nineteenth-century, I want to examine the overlap in representations of animals and humans as subject to objectification and control. One common way of critiquing human treatment of animals within the RSPCA's journals,Animal WorldandBand of Mercy, was to have humans trade places with animals: having boys fantastically shrunk to the size of the animals they tortured, for example, or imagining the horrors of vivisection when experienced by humans. Such imaginative exercises were meant to defamiliarize animal usage by implying a shared experience of suffering: what was wrong for a human was clearly just as wrong for an animal. However, I argue that some of the images employed by the society suggest the opposite; instead of constructing animal cruelty in a new light, these images instead work to underline the shared proximity of particular humans with animals. In texts that focus specifically upon humans wearing animal bonds – reins, collars, and muzzles – the RSPCA's anti-cruelty discourse both critiqued the tools of bondage and, I suggest, invited the audience to see deep connections between animals and the humans taking their place. Such connections ultimately weaken the force of the animal/human reversal as an animal rights strategy, suggesting as they do that humans themselves often have use value in economies of labor, affect, and are subject to the same power relations that produce an animal as “animal.”
THINKING OBJECTIVELY: AN OVERVIEW OF “THING THEORY” IN VICTORIAN STUDIES
Authors: Sattaur Jennifer
Published: March 2012

For those of us whose life's work consists of the study of the Victorian Era, nothing is plainer than the fact that one cannot escape from “things.” Indeed, for many of us the wealth of detail and artefact available is one of the attractions of the era: who could resist the hats, coaches, buttons, newspapers, lengths of ribbon, packets of tea, bits of old lace, sugared plums, ink pots, keys, and pocket watches that clutter the pages of Dickens, overflow from Gaskell, and crowd in amongst the characters of Collins, Thackeray, Trollope, Eliot, and Brontë? The Victorians had a preoccupation with and predilection for the careful and considered acquisition and utilisation of objects, and this preoccupation has become a focus for critical trends in this area. In 2003, Lynn Pykett wrote that “The Victorians were fascinated with objects and things – but recent scholarship has proved equally fascinated with this Victorian obsession” (1). This obsession can be traced back to a turn in Victorianist criticism in the 1980s, beginning with Brigg's Victorian Things and based on theories of commodity culture in writers such as Jean Baudrillard, Roland Barthes, and Walter Benjamin, towards an interdisciplinary interest in material culture and particularly in consumer culture and theories of consumption and commodification. More recently critics have moved away from Marxist explorations of objects as commodities, to explore the possibilities of the object in contexts other than those generated by discourses of exchange value, production, and consumption, adopting cultural materialist and new historicist approaches to the objects of Victorian culture and literature. This movement has become known as “Thing Theory.” Starting with Bill Brown's seminal work, A Sense of Things, in 2003, critics have sought for ways of explaining the relationship between the subject and the object in terms other than those of the capitalist market system, in order to take account of the complexities of the object as a signifier. This review seeks to give an overview of these two critical perspectives on the objects of Victorian studies, from the roots of “thing theory” in consumer culture and commodity studies, to the key texts and indicative readings which have shaped “thing theory” as a discipline. Starting with a look at some key texts on consumer culture in the nineteenth century, I then move on to look at those “thing theory” works which have moved away from a focus on the object as commodity, towards cultural materialism and an understanding of the Victorian “object” beyond its role in consumer culture. Finally, I look at some readings indicative of the work currently being published in the field.
THE STATUS OF HEARERS’ RIGHTS IN FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
Authors: Ramsay Marc
Published: March 2012

Freedom of expression is often treated as a right held by speakers, with hearers holding only a derivative right to receive expression. Roger Shiner in particular argues that we should recognize hearers’ rights only where our intuitions regarding infringements of free expression are not already accounted for by speakers’ rights. However, Larry Alexander argues that, if there is a moral right of freedom of expression, it is most plausibly a hearer's right to receive expression, not a speaker's right. I argue that hearers have a basic (or original) right to receive a speaker's expression, one that stands alongside a speaker's right to express herself. The hearer's right to receive is no less fundamental than the speaker's right to express and, contra Alexander, the hearer's right is not more fundamental than that of the speaker. As a consequence, both Shiner's case against freedom of commercial expression and Alexander's case against so-called Track Two freedom of expression jurisprudence are weakened.
Artake and Hylaea in Propertius 1.8.25–6
Authors: Cairns Francis
Published: March 2012

Elegy 1.8 is Propertius'propemptikonfor Cynthia, which starts with the poet begging Cynthia not to go off to Illyria with his rival. Once Propertius has abandoned hope of her staying, he modulates into the good wishes for Cynthia's voyage (17–18) which are standard in this genre of content. He himself will continue his elegiac outpourings at her door (21–2), and will accost and interrogate sailors about which sea-port Cynthia has reached on her journey (23–4). Then in lines 25–6 Propertius fantasises about Cynthia settling abroad; he mentions two potential foreign locations – in the MSS they are denoted byAtraciis(25) andHylaeis(26) – but he remains confident that she will nevertheless be his in the future. In the Teubner edition of Propertius, Paolo Fedeli retained the MSS readingAtraciis(NFL) and the readingHylaeisimplied by the MSS (Hi(y)le(y)isNFL), and he printed the couplet as:

et dicam ‘Licet Atraciis considat in oris,et licet Hylaeis, illa futura mea est.’
Lessons for the law of armed conflict from commitments of armed groups: identification of legitimate targets and prisoners of war
Authors: Sivakumaran Sandesh
Published: March 2012

Armed groups frequently issue ad hoc commitments that contain a law of armed conflict component. These commitments detail the obligation of the relevant armed group to abide by international humanitarian law, the Geneva Conventions, or particular rules set out in the commitment. They commit the group to abide by international standards, sometimes exceed international standards, or in certain respects violate international standards. Although these commitments are often overlooked, they offer certain lessons for the law of armed conflict. This article considers the commitments of armed groups with respect to two specific areas of the law that are either of contested interpretation or seemingly inapplicable to non-international armed conflicts, namely the identification of legitimate targets and the prisoners of war regime.
Ionospheric current system during sudden stratospheric warming events
Authors: Yamazaki Y. , Yumoto K. , McNamara D. , Hirooka T. , Uozumi T. , Kitamura K. , Abe S. , Ikeda A.
Published: March 2012

This paper describes ionospheric current systems associated with the counter‐electrojet during sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) events in the northern winter months of 2001–2002 and 2002–2003. Magnetic data from 20 stations in the East Asian region, covering both the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere, are analyzed. Additional current systems that are superposed on the normal Sq current system and related to the counter‐electrojet during the SSW events show a global semidiurnal current pattern, which shifts to later local times approximately by 0.8 hour/day. The results indicate that abnormally large lunar tidal winds played a main role to produce the additional current system and counter‐electrojet during the SSW events.
The Arctic Ocean warms from below
Authors: Carmack Eddy C. , Williams William J. , Zimmermann Sarah L. , McLaughlin Fiona A.
Published: March 2012

The old (∼450‐year isolation age) and near‐homogenous deep waters of the Canada Basin (CBDW), that are found below ∼2700 m, warmed at a rate of ∼0.0004°C yr−1 between 1993 and 2010. This rate is slightly less than expected from the reported geothermal heat flux (Fg ∼ 50 mW m−2). A deep temperature minimum Tmin layer overlies CBDW within the basin and is also warming at approximately the same rate, suggesting that some geothermal heat escapes vertically through a multi‐stepped, ∼300‐m‐thick deep transitional layer. Double diffusive convection and thermobaric instabilities are identified as possible mechanisms governing this vertical heat transfer. The CBDW found above the lower continental slope of the deep basin maintains higher temperatures than those in the basin interior, consistent with geothermal heat being distributed through a shallower water column, and suggests that heat from the basin interior does not diffuse laterally and escape at the edges.
Association of LIPA Gene Polymorphisms With Obesity‐Related Metabolic Complications Among Severely Obese Patients
Authors: Guénard Frédéric , Houde Alain , Bouchard Luigi , Tchernof André , Deshaies Yves , Biron Simon , Lescelleur Odette , Biertho Laurent , Marceau Simon , Pérusse Louis , Vohl Marie‐Claude
Published: March 2012

The lipase A, lysosomal acid, cholesterol esterase enzyme (LIPA) is involved in the hydrolysis of triglycerides (TGs) and cholesteryl esters (CEs) delivered to lysosomes. LIPA deficiency in human causes two distinct phenotypes characterized by intracellular storage of CE and derangements in the control of cholesterol production, namely the Wolman disease (WD) and the CE storage disease (CESD). To test the potential association of LIPA gene polymorphisms with obesity‐related metabolic complications, promoter, exons, and intronic flanking regions of the LIPA gene were first sequenced in 25 individuals. From the 14 common polymorphisms identified, 12 tagging single‐nucleotide polymorphisms (tSNPs) were genotyped in a cohort of 1,751 obese individuals. After adjustments for the effect of age, sex, diabetes, and medication, the C allele of SNP rs1051338 was associated with lower blood pressure (BP; systolic (SBP) P = 0.004; diastolic (DBP) P = 0.006). Three of the tested SNPs were associated with modifications of the plasma lipid profile. The G/G genotype of rs2071509 was associated with higher high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL‐C) levels (P = 0.009) and minor allele of rs1131706 was also associated with higher HDL‐C (P = 0.004) and an association between rs3802656 and total cholesterol (total‐C)/HDL‐C ratio was identified (P = 0.04). These results thus suggest that LIPA polymorphisms contribute to the interindividual variability observed in obesity‐related metabolic complications.
Feedback regulation by Atf3 in the endothelin-1-responsive transcriptome of cardiomyocytes: Egr1 is a principal Atf3 target
Authors: Giraldo Alejandro , Barrett Oliver P. T. , Tindall Marcus J. , Fuller Stephen J. , Amirak Emre , Bhattacharya Bonhi S. , Sugden Peter H. , Clerk Angela
Published: March 2012

Endothelin-1 promotes cardiomyocyte hypertrophy by inducing changes in gene expression. Immediate early genes including Atf3 (activating transcription factor 3), Egr1 (early growth response 1) and Ptgs2 (prostaglandin-endoperoxide synthase 2) are rapi-dly and transiently up-regulated by endothelin-1 in cardiomyocytes. Atf3 regulates the expression of downstream genes and is implicated in negative feedback regulation of other immediate early genes. To identify Atf3-regulated genes, we knocked down Atf3 expression in cardiomyocytes exposed to endothelin-1 and used microarrays to interrogate the transcriptomic effects. The expression of 23 mRNAs (including Egr1 and Ptgs2) was enhanced and the expression of 25 mRNAs was inhibited by Atf3 knockdown. Using quantitative PCR, we determined that knockdown of Atf3 had little effect on up-regulation of Egr1 mRNA over 30 min, but abolished the subsequent decline, causing sustained Egr1 mRNA expression and enhanced protein expression. This resulted from direct binding of Atf3 to the Egr1 promoter. Mathematical modelling established that Atf3 can suffice to suppress Egr1 expression. Given the widespread co-regulation of Atf3 with Egr1, we suggest that the Atf3–Egr1 negative feedback loop is of general significance. Loss of Atf3 caused abnormal cardiomyocyte growth, presumably resulting from the dysregulation of target genes. The results of the present study therefore identify Atf3 as a nexus in cardiomyocyte hypertrophy required to facilitate the full and proper growth response.
Silencing of the DEK gene induces apoptosis and senescence in CaSki cervical carcinoma cells via the up-regulation of NF-κB p65
Authors: Liu Kuiran , Feng Tianda , Liu Jie , Zhong Ming , Zhang Shulan
Published: March 2012

The human DEK proto-oncogene has been found to play an important role in autoimmune disease, viral infection and human carcinogenesis. Although it is transcriptionally up-regulated in cervical cancer, its intracellular function and regulation is still unexplored. In the present study, DEK and IκBα [inhibitor of NF-κB (nuclear factor κB) α] shRNAs (short hairpin RNAs) were constructed and transfected into CaSki cells using Lipofectamine™. The stable cell line CaSki–DEK was obtained after G418 selection. CaSki–IκB cells were observed at 48 h after psiRNA-IκB transfection. The inhibitory efficiency of shRNAs were detected by RT (reverse transcription)–PCR and Western blot analysis. The proliferation activity of cells were measured using an MTT [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide] assay, cell apoptosis was measured using an Annexin V/PI (propidium iodide) kit, the cell cycle was analysed by flow cytometry and cell senescence was detected using senescence β-galactosidase staining. The intracellular expression of NF-κB p65 protein was studied by cytochemistry. The expression levels of NF-κB p65, p50, c-Rel, IκBα and phospho-IκBα protein were analysed by immunoblotting in whole-cell lysates, cytosolic fractions and nuclear extracts. The protein expression and activity of p38 and JNK (c-Jun N-terminal kinase) were also assayed. In addition, the NF-κB p65 DNA-binding activity was measured by ELISA. Following the silencing of DEK and IκBα, cell proliferation was inhibited, apoptosis was increased, the cell cycle was blocked in the G0/G1-phase with a corresponding decrease in the G2/M-phase, and cell senescence was induced. All of these effects may be related to the up-regulation of NF-κB p65 expression and its nuclear translocation.
The magnetocaloric effect in thermally cycled polycrystalline Ni-Mn-Ga
Authors: Booth Ryan A. , Majetich Sara A.
Published: March 2012

The effect of repeated thermal cycling on the magnetocaloric effect in Ni54.3Mn20.1Ga25.6 was investigated. During the virgin cycle, the magnetic entropy change, ΔS, was −7.3 J/kg K and −6.9 J/kg K and the refrigeration capacities were 17 J/kg and 19 J/kg under an applied field of 20 kOe for heating and cooling, respectively. The heating and cooling transition temperatures were 340 K and 331 K, respectively. Over the course of 37 thermal cycles through the martensitic transition the moment of the sample decreased monotonically. We attribute this feature to small volumes of the sample remaining in the non-magnetic austenite phase after repeated cycling. The heating Curie temperature changed stochastically by 1 K throughout the cycling process due to the presence of strain or its release by cracking, while the cooling Curie temperature remained constant. On the final cycle the magnetic entropy change was −10.9 J/kg K and −9.4 J/kg K and the refrigeration capacities were both 17 J/kg under an applied field of 20 kOe during heating and cooling, respectively. Although the magnitude increased, the widths of the ΔS peaks were slightly decreased resulting in the same refrigeration capacity (RC) as before cycling (within the resolution of the measurement). A composite polarization contrast micrograph taken after cycling shows cracking at all major grain boundaries and strong twinning throughout the sample.
Neutron Stars From Young Nearby Associations: The Origin of RX J1605.3+3249
Authors: Tetzlaff N. , Schmidt J. G. , Hohle M. M. , Neuhäuser R.
Published: March 2012

Many neutron stars (NSs) and runaway stars apparently come from the same regions on the sky. This suggests that they share the same birth places, namely associations and clusters of young massive stars. To identify NS birth places, we attempt to find NS-runaway pairs that could be former companions that were disrupted in a supernova (SN). The remains of recent (<few Myr) nearby (<150 pc) SNe should still be identifiable by observing the emission of rare radioisotopes such as 26Al and 60Fe that can also be used as additional indicators to confirm a possible SN event. We investigated the origin of the isolated NS RX J1605.3+3249 and found that it was probably born ≈ 100 pc far from Earth 0.45 Myr ago in the extended Corona Australis or Octans associations, or in Sco OB4 ≈ 1 kpc 3.5 Myr ago. A SN in Octans is supported by the identification of one to two possible former companions—the runaway stars HIP 68228 and HIP 89394—as well as the appearance of a feature in the γ-ray emission from 26Al decay at the predicted SN place. Both, the progenitor masses estimated by comparison with theoretical 26Al yields as well as derived from the lifetime of the progenitor star, are found to be ≈ 11M⊙.
Striated organelle, a cytoskeletal structure positioned to modulate hair-cell transduction
Authors: Vranceanu Florin , Perkins Guy A. , Terada Masako , Chidavaenzi Robstein L. , Ellisman Mark H. , Lysakowski Anna
Published: March 2012

The striated organelle (SO), a cytoskeletal structure located in the apical region of cochlear and vestibular hair cells, consists of alternating, cross-linked, thick and thin filamentous bundles. In the vestibular periphery, the SO is well developed in both type I and type II hair cells. We studied the 3D structure of the SO with intermediate-voltage electron microscopy and electron microscope tomography. We also used antibodies to α-2 spectrin, one protein component, to trace development of the SO in vestibular hair cells over the first postnatal week. In type I cells, the SO forms an inverted open-ended cone attached to the cell membrane along both its upper and lower circumferences and separated from the cuticular plate by a dense cluster of exceptionally large mitochondria. In addition to contacts with the membrane and adjacent mitochondria, the SO is connected both directly and indirectly, via microtubules, to some stereociliary rootlets. The overall architecture of the apical region in type I hair cells—a striated structure restricting a cluster of large mitochondria between its filaments, the cuticular plate, and plasma membrane—suggests that the SO might serve two functions: to maintain hair-cell shape and to alter transduction by changing the geometry and mechanical properties of hair bundles.
Movement of Resident Rainbow Trout Transplanted below a Barrier to Anadromy
Authors: Wilzbach Margaret A. , Ashenfelter Mark J. , Ricker Seth J.
Published: March 2012

We tracked the movement of resident coastal rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss irideus that were experimentally transplanted below a migration barrier in a northern California stream. In 2005 and 2006, age‐1 and older rainbow trout were captured above a 5‐m‐high waterfall in Freshwater Creek and individually marked with passive integrated transponder tags. Otolith microchemistry confirmed that the above‐barrier trout were the progeny of resident rather than anadromous parents, and genetic analysis indicated that the rainbow trout were introgressed with cutthroat trout O. clarkii. At each of three sampling events, half of the tagged individuals (n = 22 and 43 trout in 2005 and 2006, respectively) were released 5 km downstream from the waterfall (approximately 10 km upstream from tidewater), and an equal number of tagged individuals were released above the barrier. Tagged individuals were subsequently relocated with stationary and mobile antennae or recaptured in downstream migrant traps, or both, until tracking ceased in October 2007. Most transplanted individuals remained within a few hundred meters of their release location. Three individuals, including one rainbow trout released above the waterfall, were last detected in the tidally influenced lower creek. Two additional tagged individuals released above the barrier were found alive in below‐barrier reaches and had presumably washed over the falls. Two of seven tagged rainbow trout captured in downstream migrant traps had smolted and one was a presmolt. The smoltification of at least some individuals, coupled with above‐barrier “leakage” of fish downstream, suggests that above‐barrier resident trout have the potential to exhibit migratory behavior and to enter breeding populations of steelhead (anadromous rainbow trout) within the basin.
Cardiac resynchronization therapy in patients with permanent atrial fibrillation. Is it mandatory to ablate the atrioventricular junction to obtain a good response?
Authors: Tolosana José María , Arnau Ana Martín , Madrid Antonio Hernández , Macias Alfonso , Lozano Ignacio Fernández , Osca Joaquín , Quesada Aurelio , Toquero Jorge , Francés Roberto Matia , Bolao Ignacio García , Berruezo Antonio , Sitges Marta , Alcalá Mónica Gimenez , Brugada Josep , Mont Lluís ,   for the SPARE II investigators (Spanish Atrial Resynchronization Study II)
Published: March 2012

Aim

Current guidelines recommend atrioventricular junction (AVJ) ablation in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) treated with cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). Our study compared the CRT response of patients in sinus rhythm (SR) vs. AF.

Methods and results

In this observational, prospective, multicentre study, patients were grouped by intrinsic rhythm. For the first 2 months, the negative chronotropic drug was optimized in the AF group. If ventricular pacing was ≤85%, AVJ ablation was recommended. Responders were defined as patients who survived without requiring heart transplant and had a ≥ 10% reduction in left ventricular end‐systolic volume (LVESV) at 12 months after implantation. Of 202 patients included, 156 (77%) were in SR and 46 (23%) had AF. After drug optimization, only 13/46 (28%) of the AF patients required AVJ ablation (AF + AVJ). The percentage of responders was 83/156 (53%) for SR vs. 22/46 (48%) AF (P = 0.4). Among AF patients the response was 16/33 (48%) for AF with non‐AVJ ablation vs. 6/13 (46%) AF + AVJ, P = 0.56. The LVESV decreased in all three groups: −30 ± 39 mL, −24 ± 43 mL, and −22 ± 36 mL, respectively (P = 0.75). Mortality was higher in patients with AF compared with SR: 10/46 (21%) vs. 9/156 (5.7%), log rank 10.6, P <0.05.

Conclusion

Although only 28% of the patients in AF had the AVJ ablated, there were no differences in the percentage of response and echo improvement between patients in SR and AF. However, mortality was higher in patients with AF compared with patients in SR.
Isolation of Methyl Gallate from Toxicodendron sylvestre and Its Effect on Tomato Bacterial Wilt
Authors: Yuan Gao-Qing , Li Qi-Qin , Qin Jian , Ye Yun-Feng , Lin Wei
Published: March 2012

We determined that the methanol extract of Toxicodendron sylvestre could significantly inhibit Ralstonia solanacearum in vitro and in planta. One compound responsible for the antibacterial activity was isolated from the ethyl ether extract and identified as methyl gallate (MG) based on its 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance data as well as mass spectroscopy. MG displayed broad-spectrum activity against plant-pathogenic bacteria, and strong inhibitory effects on the growth of plant-pathogenic oomycetes. The half inhibition concentration of MG on R. solanacearum was 8.3 mg/liter, which was tested by the agar dilution method. Disease control trials in planta showed that both natural and synthetic MG could effectively reduce the incidence of tomato bacterial wilt, and there was no significant difference between them in control efficacy. This is the first report on the use of MG for the control of a plant bacterial disease. Because of its broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity and significant control efficacy on tomato bacterial wilt in planta, MG shows potential to be used as a bactericide to control plant bacterial wilt.
Effect of Glyphosate Application on Foliar Diseases in Glyphosate-Tolerant Alfalfa
Authors: Samac Deborah A. , Foster-Hartnett Dawn
Published: March 2012

Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup herbicide, inhibits 5-enol-pyruvyl shikimate 3-phophate synthase (EPSPS), an enzyme found in plants, fungi, and bacteria. Plants engineered for glyphosate tolerance with a glyphosate-insensitive EPSPS take up and translocate the herbicide throughout the plant. In greenhouse experiments, we found that application of glyphosate at the recommended field application rate completely controlled alfalfa rust (Uromyces striatus) on 4-week-old plants inoculated with the fungus 3 days after glyphosate treatment. Control was effective in all seven cultivars tested. The level of protection declined with time after application, indicating that control transitory and protection declined with time after inoculation, suggesting that protective treatments have fungistatic activity. Complete control of rust was obtained when glyphosate was applied up to 10 days after inoculation with rust spores, indicating that the herbicide also has curative activity. Treatment increased protection from anthracnose, caused by Colletotrichum trifolii, a hemibiotrophic pathogen, and reduced symptom severity for spring black stem and leaf spot, caused by Phoma medicaginis, a necrotrophic pathogen. These results indicate that glyphosate could be used to help manage foliar diseases in glyphosate-tolerant alfalfa.
Susceptibility of Some Common Container Weeds toPhytophthora ramorum
Authors: Shishkoff Nina
Published: March 2012

Phytophthora ramorum is known to infect a number of ornamental plants grown in containerized culture. However, pots may also contain weeds. In this research, the foliage of 14 common weeds of containerized plant culture was inoculated with P. ramorum to determine susceptibility of aboveground parts. Three species were found to develop leaf lesions: northern willowherb (Epilobium ciliatum), fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium), and a fern (Pteris cretica). Weed roots from 11 species were inoculated to see if P. ramorum could persist on roots, and P. ramorum was isolated from most plant roots 1 month after inoculation when the washed roots were plated on selective medium; they were recovered only to a minor extent from surface-sterilized roots of weeds. Additional experiments were done to collect and sample runoff from pots containing inoculated plants to see if inoculum was produced on weed roots. In these experiments, little inoculum was found in runoff from root-inoculated weeds compared to Viburnum tinus. Percent root colonization recorded from washed roots was significantly greater in Viburnum compared to the weeds, and weeds that were foliar hosts had greater root colonization than weeds that were not.
A Cumulative Degree-Day-Based Model to Calculate the Duration of the Incubation Period of Guignardia bidwellii
Authors: Molitor Daniel , Fruehauf Cathleen , Baus Ottmar , Berkelmann-Loehnertz Beate
Published: March 2012

The duration of the incubation period of Guignardia bidwellii on leaves and clusters of Vitis vinifera strongly correlates to temperature. To describe this relationship mathematically, a new, cumulative degreeday- based model was developed. According to this model, first symptoms on leaves appear after reaching a threshold of 175 cumulative degree-days (calculated as the sum of average daily temperatures between 6 and 24°C starting on the day after the infection). On clusters, the duration of the incubation period is additionally affected by their respective developmental stages. For ‘Riesling’, the duration of the incubation period on clusters corresponds to the duration on leaves until reaching the phenological stage “berries beginning to touch“ but extends continuously with ongoing phenological development. Therefore, a correction factor recognizing cluster phenology was derived to calculate the cumulative degree-day thresholds for the occurrence of first symptoms on clusters after reaching “majority of berries touching”. Hence, this present model allows the estimation of fungal development and forecasts the appearance of new symptoms on leaves as well as on clusters, enabling growers to more precisely schedule curative as well as protective fungicide applications against grape black rot.
Estimation of electrical heating load-shares for sintering of powder mixtures
Authors: Zohdi T. I.
Published: March 2012

Rapid, energy-efficient sintering of materials comprised heterogeneous powders is of critical importance in emerging technologies where traditional manufacturing processes may be difficult to apply. In particular, electrically aided sintering, which uses the material's inherent resistance to flowing current—resulting in Joule heating to bond the powder components—has great promise because it produces desired materials without much post-processing. Furthermore, it has advantages over other methods, such as high purity of processed materials, in particular, because there are few steps during the approach. In order to electrically process the material properly, one must ascertain the externally applied field to properly Joule heat the various material components in the powder mixture. The Joule-heating field is mathematically expressed by the inner product (

J

⋅

E

) of the current (

J

) and electric (

E

) fields throughout the system. This study develops estimates for the Joule-heating fields carried by each phase in a powder mixture, using knowledge of only the externally applied current, and the material properties of the components comprising the mixture. These estimates are useful in guiding and reducing time-consuming material synthesis involving laboratory experiments and/or large-scale numerical simulation.
Progress in heteroatom-containing aluminophosphate molecular sieves
Authors: Li Jiyang , Yu Jihong , Xu Ruren
Published: March 2012

Over the past 30 years, heteroatom-containing aluminophosphate molecular sieves as a prime class of heterogeneous single-site solid catalysts have been quickly developed since the first discovery of aluminophosphate molecular sieves in 1982, and a large variety of such materials with 48 unique zeotype structures have been prepared. This work mainly presents the progress in the development of heteroatom-containing aluminophosphate molecular sieves with new zeolite structures and variable framework compositions in recent years.
Single-site photocatalysts with a porous structure
Authors: Wei Xiao , Wang Kai-Xue , Guo Xing-Xing , Chen Jie-Sheng
Published: March 2012

A photocatalytic reaction involves charge separation and transfer under photo-irradiation, and the photogenerated charge carriers (holes and electrons) are responsible for the photocatalytic activity of the catalyst. The active centres in a single-site photocatalyst are the isolated and spatially separated sites that may interact with reactants after photo-irradiation. Generally, single-site photocatalysts perform better than other types of photocatalysts owing to the presence of the efficient active centres. A porous structure can provide more single sites and special passages for charge transport. Thus, the introduction of a porous structure into a photocatalyst may result in markedly enhanced photocatalytic reactivity, providing a promising strategy for the design and fabrication of novel photocatalysts with high performances. In this review, we summarize the developments in single-site photocatalysts, particularly those with a porous structure, such as metal-incorporated zeolites, metal–organic frameworks and porous semiconductor photocatalysts. The synthesis, structures and catalytic performances of these single-site photocatalysts have been described, and characterization and reaction mechanisms for single-site photocatalysts have also been detailed. Finally, we point out the significance of study on single-site photocatalysts with a porous structure.