bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Imitation and Learning under Uncertainty
Authors: Barrera Davide , Buskens Vincent
Published: May 2007

Trust is important in organizations, e.g. in teams or small working groups in which the performance of team members depends on the performance of other members in the group and in which team members have only an incentive to perform well if they trust that others perform as well. Existing theories regarding effects of communication on trust problems stress the influence of information about behaviour of potential partners. Effects of imitation are less extensively elaborated in the literature. In this article, the authors develop a theory about imitation in combination with other network effects on trust. They propose a distinction between imitation and other types of learning, contrasting trustors who only know that other trustors have been trustful in transactions with a trustee with trustors who also know that this trustee was in fact trustworthy. The theory predicts that both imitation and learning have an effect in trust situations and that these effects depend on uncertainties for the trustor. The authors designed a vignette experiment that enables the distinction between imitation and learning for different levels of uncertainty. The experiment provides strong support for learning effects on trust and some support for imitation effects. There is only limited evidence that the imitation effects depend on uncertainty.
L'explication politique africaniste et l'histoire: à propos de “l'historicité” des sociétés africaines
Authors: Onana Janvier
Published: May 2007

English

The article explores in tandem the epistemological suppositions that inform the problematics as they are usually formulated in terms of the historicity characteristic of African societies and the inherent methodological corollaries. The aim of this discussion, intended to be constructive, is to highlight some of the conceptual ambiguities and theoretical aporias that continue to insinuate themselves into the most common, including the best-established, theories, with the result that the distance often urged with respect to what are rightly held to be opposing schools of thought (especially developmentalism) seems in certain respects to be more a matter of lip-service than of actual practice.

French

L'article explore conjointement les présupposés épistémologiques qui informent les problématisations habituelles en termes d'historicité propre des sociétés africaines et les corrélats méthodologiques qui leur sont inhérents. L'enjeu de cette discussion qui se veut constructive est de relever quelques unes des équivoques conceptuelles et apories théoriques qui continuent de s'insinuer dans les élaborations théoriques les plus courantes, y compris, les mieux établies, au point que la distance souvent revendiquée d'avec les modes de pensée justement tenus en opposition (tout particulièrement le développementalisme) semble à certains égards davantage énoncée que réellement pratiquée.
Trade Justice and Individual Consumption Choices: Adam Smith's Spectator Theory and the Moral Constitution of the Fair Trade Consumer
Authors: Watson Matthew
Published: May 2007

A consistent theme of the existing literature is that fair trade consumption practices represent acts of justice. In this article I investigate such an equation from the perspective of the moral theory of Adam Smith. Smith explains the development of moral sensibilities via an imaginative act he calls `sympathy'. For Smith, justice prevails in interpersonal relationships in which the potential for one person to do harm to another is ruled out because their respective imaginations are in perfect accord, thus creating a situation of mutual sympathy. I advance two main conclusions. First, I argue that fair trade consumption is undoubtedly a moral act in the manner described by Smith, as it involves consumers responding to fair trade campaigns in order to trigger their moral sensibilities through exercising their imaginative faculties. Second, though, I argue that fair trade consumption is not specifically a moral act of justice in the manner described by Smith. The structure of fair trade invites the First World consumer to display sympathy for the Third World producer, but it provides no means for that sympathy to be reciprocated. As such, instances of genuine mutual sympathy do not arise. From a Smithian perspective, fair trade consumption practices are an act of beneficence rather than an act of justice. They thereby reside in the realm of private virtue rather than the realm of public duty, with significant implications for the way in which trade justice is conceptualized and studied in IPE.
Evidence-based and Values-based Policy, Management and Practice in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services
Authors: Williams Richard , Fulford K.W.M. (Bill)
Published: May 2007

Values-based practice is a new approach to working with complex and conflicting values. It is based, primarily, on learnable skills and is being applied across a range of policy, training and service development initiatives in mental health and social care. This article outlines some of the key features of values-based practice including its complementary relationships to both regulatory ethics and evidence-based practice. We describe the systemic links between values-based approaches at the three key levels of policy, service development, prioritization and commissioning, and clinical practice and managing delivery of services, particularly as they are being developed in child and adolescent mental health services. Our article concludes by indicating some of the areas for further development of values-based practice.
Same-sex marriage and the regulation of language
Authors: Stivers Andrew , Valls Andrew
Published: May 2007

In this article, we draw an analogy between the regulation of market language (including official definitions of `organic', `ice cream', and `diamond') and the regulation of the social and legal label `marriage'. Many of the issues raised in the debate over same-sex marriage are less about access to material benefits than about the social and cultural meaning of `marriage'. After reviewing the issues in this debate, we present an analysis of the regulation of language in the marketplace. We discuss the considerations that shape how the state regulates language in the marketplace, if it regulates it at all. Using this framework to analyze the issue of same-sex marriage allows us to identify the costs and benefits of different proposals with regard to marriage, and allows us to distinguish issues that are often conflated. Contrary to its opponents, we argue that making marriage available to same-sex couples does not violate the meaning of `marriage' or destroy marriage, because such a change is similar to many other changes in which words and labels are extended to include new `goods'. This alters the meaning, but does not destroy it, and it does not preclude the possibility of further linguistic innovation to maintain a distinction. Contrary to proponents of same-sex marriage, however, we argue that extending marriage to same-sex couples is not cost-free. There are costs and benefits of any policy on this issue — costs and benefits related to information and status, as well as material resources. Hence, while we agree with advocates of same-sex marriage, we argue that their position involves trade-offs and costs that they sometimes fail to recognize.
The spectral geographies of W.G. Sebald
Authors: Wylie John
Published: May 2007

For Jacques Derrida, place and self are conjured, and unsettled, through haunting rather than dwelling. He argues that spectrality, the revenance of the ghostly, is an irreducible, incessant condition, and also one that demands new, themselves haunted, ways of writing. This article uses Derrida's spectrality to introduce, engage with and activate the work of the German author and academic W.G. Sebald. Sebald, who died in 2001, was a remarkably original writer, producing an innovative literary form incorporating elements of existential memoir, autobiography, travel writing and phantasmagoria. In turn, this article examines Sebaldian themes of wandering and exile, experiences of `parlous loftiness' and episodes, constitutive of place, of paralysing horror. The worlds Sebald describes are in one sense peopled by ghosts and by the haunted: the displaced, traumatized and exiled. However, with Sebald, it is not a matter simply of reflecting upon those made spectral, made almost invisible, through expulsion and exclusion. Nor is it only a question of places and people haunted by the insistent ghosts of the past. Rather, Sebald's geographies are more essentially spectral in that their concern is with the unsettling of places and selves as a primary process. In this way, via Derrida and Sebald, the article offers some directions and suggestions for producing spectral geographies of place and self.
Cold colonies: Antarctic spatialities at Mawson and McMurdo stations
Authors: Collis Christy , Stevens Quentin
Published: May 2007

In 1954, a small team of Australian men landed at Horseshoe Harbor and began constructing Mawson Station: the permanent colonization of Antarctica was initiated. Two years later, Americans began the construction of their major Antarctic base, McMurdo. Although Antarctica is routinely represented as an empty wilderness, over the last 50 years tens of thousands of humans have occupied the continent, most of them living in Antarctica's 40 national bases. What kinds of spaces are these Antarctican colonial settlements? How do they function materially, ideologically, legally and spatially? This article explores the anatomy of two of the oldest and most populous of these spaces, Mawson and McMurdo stations. It attends to their physical environments and to the geopolitical epistemologies that shape them. It is thus a study of two distinct Antarctican spatialities. This article is part of a larger endeavour to account for the heterogeneous cultural geographies of the polar south. It works towards a definition of contemporary colonialism in its Antarctican context. In a previously-uninhabited continent governed by scientific internationalism, yet subject to disputed territorial claims and conflicting geopolitical spaces, colonialism takes on specific localized forms. This article attends to the unique colonial spatialities of two key Antarctican settlements.
Interpreting `nature': the politics of engaging with Kakadu as an Aboriginal place
Authors: Palmer Lisa
Published: May 2007

Beginning with a general contextual analysis of the cultural politics of `nature' in Australia's Kakadu National Park and culminating in an analysis of the ways in which two interpretative centres contribute to the discursive production of the Park, this article is concerned with how differently constructed notions of `nature' converge and conflict in the production of place. It examines the tensions and interplay between settler Australian understandings of Kakadu National Park based on what are perceived to be its natural and cultural heritage values, and the efforts made by Bininj/Mungguy to encourage the understanding of the Park as an Aboriginal place. By drawing out the tensions between a discourse of universal nature and the production of an overtly socialized local nature by Bininj/Mungguy, the article explores how different kinds of nature are constructed and contested in a particular place based context. By politicising the public representations made of `nature' in the joint management of Kakadu National Park, this article reveals a site of discursive struggle where the established norms of the national park institution work to naturalize place, paralyse politics and entrench the dominant order of things.
Lawyers Not in Love
Authors: Classen Steven
Published: May 2007

This essay offers a social history and examination of The Defenders as a popular, critically acclaimed television text that negotiated anxieties regarding crime, law, justice, liberalism, and masculinity in the 1960s and 1990s. Both The Defenders television series (1961—1965) and the Showtime motion picture series (1997—1998) by the same name rearticulated enduring tensions between law's formalism and just desires for compassion and mercy, depicting defense attorneys as men who work both inside and outside of “law” to ensure justice and confront the lack of humanism in “the rule of law.” Such discourses are understood and appreciated in different ways in different times, particularly as the cultural politics of nostalgia are engaged. The Defenders offers clear illustrations of the ways in which popular narratives not only depict juridical roles but also perform them, specifying when and where “law” begins and ends.
Diversifying selection and host adaptation in two endosymbiont genomes
Authors: Brownlie Jeremy C , Adamski Marcin , Slatko Barton , McGraw Elizabeth A
Published: May 2007

Background

The endosymbiontWolbachia pipientisinfects a broad range of arthropod and filarial nematode hosts. These diverse associations form an attractive model for understanding host:symbiont coevolution.Wolbachia's ubiquity and ability to dramatically alter host reproductive biology also form the foundation of research strategies aimed at controlling insect pests and vector-borne disease. TheWolbachiastrains that infect nematodes are phylogenetically distinct, strictly vertically transmitted, and required by their hosts for growth and reproduction. Insects in contrast form more fluid associations withWolbachia. In these taxa, host populations are most often polymorphic for infection, horizontal transmission occurs between distantly related hosts, and direct fitness effects on hosts are mild. Despite extensive interest in theWolbachiasystem for many years, relatively little is known about the molecular mechanisms that mediate its varied interactions with different hosts. We have compared the genomes of theWolbachiathat infectDrosophila melanogaster,wMel and the nematodeBrugia malayi,wBm to that of an outgroupAnaplasma marginaleto identify genes that have experienced diversifying selection in theWolbachialineages. The goal of the study was to identify likely molecular mechanisms of the symbiosis and to understand the nature of the diverse association across different hosts.

Results

The prevalence of selection was far greater inwMel thanwBm. Genes contributing to DNA metabolism, cofactor biosynthesis, and secretion were positively selected in both lineages. InwMel there was a greater emphasis on DNA repair, cell division, protein stability, and cell envelope synthesis.

Conclusion

Secretion pathways and outer surface protein encoding genes are highly affected by selection in keeping with host:parasite theory. If evidence of selection on various cofactor molecules reflects possible provisioning, then both insect as well as nematodeWolbachiamay be providing substances to hosts. Selection on cell envelope synthesis, DNA replication and repair machinery, heat shock, and two component switching suggest strategies insectWolbachiamay employ to cope with diverse host and intra-host environments.
X-ray sequence and crystal structure of luffaculin 1, a novel type 1 ribosome-inactivating protein
Authors: Hou Xiaomin , Chen Minghuang , Chen Liqing , Meehan Edward J , Xie Jieming , Huang Mingdong
Published: May 2007

Background

Protein sequence can be obtained through Edman degradation, mass spectrometry, or cDNA sequencing. High resolution X-ray crystallography can also be used to derive protein sequence information, but faces the difficulty in distinguishing the Asp/Asn, Glu/Gln, and Val/Thr pairs. Luffaculin 1 is a new type 1 ribosome-inactivating protein (RIP) isolated from the seeds of Luffa acutangula. Besides rRNA N-glycosidase activity, luffaculin 1 also demonstrates activities including inhibiting tumor cells' proliferation and inducing tumor cells' differentiation.

Results

The crystal structure of luffaculin 1 was determined at 1.4 Å resolution. Its amino-acid sequence was derived from this high resolution structure using the following criteria: 1) high resolution electron density; 2) comparison of electron density between two molecules that exist in the same crystal; 3) evaluation of the chemical environment of residues to break down the sequence assignment ambiguity in residue pairs Glu/Gln, Asp/Asn, and Val/Thr; 4) comparison with sequences of the homologous proteins. Using the criteria 1 and 2, 66% of the residues can be assigned. By incorporating with criterion 3, 86% of the residues were assigned, suggesting the effectiveness of chemical environment evaluation in breaking down residue ambiguity. In total, 94% of the luffaculin 1 sequence was assigned with high confidence using this improved X-ray sequencing strategy. Two N-acetylglucosamine moieties, linked respectively to the residues Asn77 and Asn84, can be identified in the structure. Residues Tyr70, Tyr110, Glu159 and Arg162 define the active site of luffaculin 1 as an RNA N-glycosidase.

Conclusion

X-ray sequencing method can be effective to derive sequence information of proteins. The evaluation of the chemical environment of residues is a useful method to break down the assignment ambiguity in Glu/Gln, Asp/Asn, and Val/Thr pairs. The sequence and the crystal structure confirm that luffaculin 1 is a new type 1 RIP.
Protective role of fish oil (Maxepa) on early events of rat mammary carcinogenesis by modulation of DNA-protein crosslinks, cell proliferation and p53 expression
Authors: Manna Sangita , Chakraborty Tridib , Damodaran Suresh , Samanta Kartick , Rana Basabi , Chatterjee Malay
Published: May 2007

Background

Fish oil is known to protect from many types of cancers of the colon, liver, breast, prostate and lung [1–3]. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the role of fish oil [Maxepa, supplemented at a dose of 0.5 ml is equivalent to 90 mg eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and 60 mg docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)] on cell proliferation, expression of p53 tumor suppressor protein and DNA protein crosslinks (DPCs) in a defined model of chemical rat mammary carcinogenesis. Mammary carcinogenesis was initiated by a single, intravenous (i.v.) tail vein injection of 7,12 dimethylbenz(α)anthracene (DMBA) at a dose of 5 mg DMBA/2 ml corn oil/kg body weight in female Sprague-Dawley rats at 7 weeks of age. Fish oil supplementation was started daily, 2 weeks prior to DMBA injection and continued for 24 (31 weeks of animal age) weeks and 35 (42 weeks of animal age) weeks of post DMBA injection, for histopathological and immunohistochemical and for morphological studies, respectively.

Results

Our results indicate the chemopreventive effect of fish oil (Maxepa) on DMBA-induced rat mammary carcinogenesis. Administration of fish oil further showed a prominent reduction of cell proliferation (24.34%, P = 0.001); DPCs (25%, P < 0.001) and an increased expression of p53 protein (4.636 ± 0.19, P < 0.001) in preneoplastic mammary tissue when compared to carcinogen control counterpart. Histopathological and morphological analyses were carried out as end-point biomarkers.

Conclusion

Our study thus provides evidence for the anticarcinogenic effect of fish oil (Maxepa) in limiting mammary preneoplasia in Sprague-Dawley rats.
Outcome of life-threatening malaria in African children requiring endotracheal intubation
Authors: Gérardin Patrick , Rogier Christophe , Ka Amadou S , Jouvencel Philippe , Diatta Bakary , Imbert Patrick
Published: May 2007

Background

Little is known about children undergoing critical care for malaria. The purpose of this survey was to evaluate the outcome in African children requiring endotracheal intubation for life-threatening malaria.

Methods

All children with a primary diagnosis of severe malaria (2000 WHO definition) requiring endotracheal intubation, hospitalised over a five-year period, within a tertiary-care hospital in Dakar, Senegal, were enrolled in a retrospective cohort study.

Results

83 consecutive patients were included (median PRISM h24 score: 14; IQR: 10–19, multiple organ dysfunctions: 91.5%). The median duration of ventilation was 36 hrs (IQR: 4–72). Indications for intubation were deep coma (Glasgow score ≤7, n = 16), overt cortical or diencephalic injury, i.e, status epilepticus/decorticate posturing (n = 20), severe brainstem involvement, i.e., decerebrate posturing/opisthotonus (n = 15), shock (n = 15), cardiac arrest (n = 13) or acute lung injury (ALI) (PaO2/FiO2 <300 Torr, n = 4). Death occurred in 50 cases (case fatality rate (CFR), 60%) and was associated with multiple organ dysfunctions (median PELODh24 scores: 12.5 among non-survivors versus 11 among survivors, p = 0.02). Median PRISMh24 score was significantly lower when testing deep coma against other indications (10 vs 15, p < 0.001), ditto for PELODh24 score (2.5 vs 13, p = 0.02). Multivariate analysis identified deep coma as having a better outcome than other indications (CFR, 12.5% vs 40.0 to 93.3%, p < 0.0001). Decerebrate posturing/opisthotonus (CFR 73.3%, adjusted relative risk (aRR) 10.7, 95% CI 2.3–49.5) were associated with a far worse prognosis than status epilepticus/decorticate posturing (CFR 40.0%, aRR 5.7, 95% CI 1.2–27.1). Thrombocytopaenia (platelet counts <100,000/mm3) was associated with death (aRR 2.6, 95% CI 1.2–5.8) and second-line anticonvulsant use (clonazepam or thiopental) with survival (aRR 0.4, 95% CI 0.2–0.9). Complications, mostly nosocomial infections (n = 20), ALI/ARDS (n = 9) or sub-glottic stenosis (n = 3), had no significant prognostic value.

Conclusion

In this study, the outcome of children requiring intubation for malaria depends more on clinical presentation and progression towards organ failures than on critical care complications per se. In sub-Saharan Africa, mechanical ventilation for life-threatening childhood malaria is feasible, but seems unlikely to dramatically improve the prognosis.
Lymphocytic thyroiditis – is cytological grading significant? A correlation of grades with clinical, biochemical, ultrasonographic and radionuclide parameters
Authors: Bhatia Alka , Rajwanshi Arvind , Dash Radharaman J , Mittal Bhagwant R , Saxena Akshay K
Published: May 2007

Background

Clinical, biochemical, ultrasonographic, radionuclide and cytomorphological observations in Lymphocytic thyroiditis (LT), to define the cytological grading criteria on smears and correlation of grades with above parameters.

Methods

This prospective study was conducted on 76 patients attending the Fine needle aspiration cytology clinic of a tertiary care institute in North India. The various parameters like patients’ clinical presentation, thyroid antimicrosomal antibodies, hormonal profiles, radionuclide thyroid scan and thyroid ultrasound were studied. Fine needle aspiration of thyroid gland and grading of thyroiditis was done on smears. The grades were correlated with above parameters and the correlation indices were evaluated statistically.

Results

Most of the patients were females (70, 92.11%) who presented with a diffuse goiter (68, 89.47%). Hypothyroid features (56, 73.68%) and elevated TSH (75, 98.68%) were common, but radioiodide uptake was low or normal in majority of patients. Thyroid antimicrosomal antibody was elevated in 46/70 (65.71%) patients. Cytomorphology in fine needle aspirates was diagnostic of lymphocytic thyroiditis in 75 (98.68%) patients. Most of them had grade I/II disease by cytology. No correlation was observed between grades of cytomorphology and clinical, biochemical, ultrasonographic and radionuclide parameters.

Conclusion

Despite the availability of several tests for diagnosis of LT, FNAC remains the gold standard. The grades of thyroiditis at cytology however do not correlate with clinical, biochemical, radionuclide and ultrasonographic parameters.
Fractal time series analysis of postural stability in elderly and control subjects
Authors: Amoud Hassan , Abadi Mohamed , Hewson David J , Michel-Pellegrino Valérie , Doussot Michel , Duchêne Jacques
Published: May 2007

Background

The study of balance using stabilogram analysis is of particular interest in the study of falls. Although simple statistical parameters derived from the stabilogram have been shown to predict risk of falls, such measures offer little insight into the underlying control mechanisms responsible for degradation in balance. In contrast, fractal and non-linear time-series analysis of stabilograms, such as estimations of the Hurst exponent (H), may provide information related to the underlying motor control strategies governing postural stability. In order to be adapted for a home-based follow-up of balance, such methods need to be robust, regardless of the experimental protocol, while producing time-series that are as short as possible. The present study compares two methods of calculating H: Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (DFA) and Stabilogram Diffusion Analysis (SDA) for elderly and control subjects, as well as evaluating the effect of recording duration.

Methods

Centre of pressure signals were obtained from 90 young adult subjects and 10 elderly subjects. Data were sampled at 100 Hz for 30 s, including stepping onto and off the force plate. Estimations of H were made using sliding windows of 10, 5, and 2.5 s durations, with windows slid forward in 1-s increments. Multivariate analysis of variance was used to test for the effect of time, age and estimation method on the Hurst exponent, while the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) was used as a measure of reliability.

Results

Both SDA and DFA methods were able to identify differences in postural stability between control and elderly subjects for time series as short as 5 s, with ICC values as high as 0.75 for DFA.

Conclusion

Both methods would be well-suited to non-invasive longitudinal assessment of balance. In addition, reliable estimations of H were obtained from time series as short as 5 s.
Towards the uniform distribution of null P values on Affymetrix microarrays
Authors: Fodor Anthony A , Tickle Timothy L , Richardson Christine
Published: May 2007

Methods to control false-positive rates require that P values of genes that are not differentially expressed follow a uniform distribution. Commonly used microarray statistics can generate P values that do not meet this assumption. We show that poorly characterized variance, imperfect normalization, and cross-hybridization are among the many causes of this non-uniform distribution. We demonstrate a simple technique that produces P values that are close to uniform for nondifferentially expressed genes in control datasets.
Regulation of TLR4 signaling and the host interface with pathogens and danger: the role of RP105
Authors: Divanovic Senad , Trompette Aurelien , Petiniot Lisa K , Allen Jessica L , Flick Leah M , Belkaid Yasmine , Madan Rajat , Haky Jennifer J , Karp Christopher L
Published: May 2007

As all immune responses have potential for damaging the host, tight regulation of such responses—in amplitude, space, time and character—is essential for maintaining health and homeostasis. It was thus inevitable that the initial wave of papers on the role of Toll-like receptors (TLRs), NOD-like receptors (NLRs) and RIG-I-like receptors (RLRs) in activating innate and adaptive immune responses would be followed by a second wave of reports focusing on the mechanisms responsible for restraining and modulating signaling by these receptors. This overview outlines current knowledge and controversies about the immunobiology of the RP105/MD-1 complex, a modulator of the most robustly signaling TLR, TLR4.
Lymphocyte function during hepatic ischemia/reperfusion injury
Authors: Caldwell Charles C , Tschoep Johannes , Lentsch Alex B
Published: May 2007

The liver is the primary organ affected by ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury after shock, surgical resection, or transplantation. The actions of myeloid leukocytes have been well studied and are thought to be the primary cells responsible for propagating the injury response. However, there is an emerging view that T lymphocytes can also regulate liver I/R-induced inflammation. Resident lymphocytes found within the liver include conventional αβ TCR cells as well as unconventional NK and γδ T cells. These lymphocytes can alter inflammation through the secretion of soluble mediators such as cytokines and chemokines or through cognate interactions in an antigen-dependent manner. Expression of these mediators will then result in the recruitment of more lymphocytes and neutrophils. There is evidence to suggest that T cell activation in the liver during I/R can be driven by antigenic or nonantigenic mechanisms. Finally, immune cells are exposed to different oxygen tensions, including hypoxia, as they migrate and function within tisues. The hypoxic environment during liver ischemia likely modulates T cell function, at least in part through the actions of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α. Further, this hypoxic environment leads to the increased concentration of extracellular adenosine, which is generally known to suppress T cell proinflammatory function. Altogether, the elucidation of T lymphocyte actions during liver I/R will likely allow for novel targets for therapeutic intervention.
Emergency Department Utilization in the United States and Ontario, Canada
Authors: Li Guohua , Lau Jonathan T. , McCarthy Melissa L. , Schull Michael J. , Vermeulen Marian , Kelen Gabor D.
Published: May 2007

Objectives:The current crisis in the emergency care system is characterized by worsening emergency department (ED) overcrowding. Lack of health insurance is widely perceived to be a major contributing factor to ED overcrowding in the United States. This study aimed to compare ED visit rates in the United States and Ontario, Canada, according to demographic and clinical characteristics.

Methods:This was a cross sectional study consisting of a nationally representative sample of 40,253 ED visits included in the 2003 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey in the United States, and all ED visits recorded during 2003 by the National Ambulatory Care Reporting System in Ontario, Canada. The main outcome was the number of ED visits per 100 population per year.

Results:The annual ED visit rate in the United States was 39.9 visits (95% confidence interval = 37.2 to 42.6) per 100 population, virtually identical to the rate in Ontario, Canada (39.7 visits per 100 population). In both the United States and Ontario, Canada, those aged 75 years and older had the highest ED visit rate and women had a slightly higher ED visit rate than men. The most common discharge diagnosis was injury/poisoning, accounting for 25.6% of all ED visits in the United States and 24.7% in Ontario, Canada. Overall, 13.9% of ED patients in the United States were admitted to hospitals, compared with 10.5% in Ontario, Canada.

Conclusions:ED visit rates and patterns are similar in the United States and Ontario, Canada. Differences in health insurance coverage may not have a substantial impact on the overall utilization of emergency care.
Oxaliplatin Combined With Weekly Bolus Fluorouracil and Leucovorin As Surgical Adjuvant Chemotherapy for Stage II and III Colon Cancer: Results From NSABP C-07
Authors: Kuebler J. Philip , Wieand H. Samuel , O'Connell Michael J. , Smith Roy E. , Colangelo Linda H. , Yothers Greg , Petrelli Nicholas J. , Findlay Michael P. , Seay Thomas E. , Atkins James N. , Zapas John L. , Goodwin J. Wendall , Fehrenbacher Louis , Ramanathan Ramesh K. , Conley Barbara A. , Flynn Patrick J. , Soori Gamini , Colman Lauren K. , Levine Edward A. , Lanier Keith S. , Wolmark Norman
Published: May 2007

Purpose

This phase III clinical trial evaluated the impact on disease-free survival (DFS) of adding oxaliplatin to bolus weekly fluorouracil (FU) combined with leucovorin as surgical adjuvant therapy for stage II and III colon cancer.

Patients and Methods

Patients who had undergone a potentially curative resection were randomly assigned to either FU 500 mg/m2 intravenous (IV) bolus weekly for 6 weeks plus leucovorin 500 mg/m2 IV weekly for 6 weeks during each 8-week cycle for three cycles (FULV), or the same FULV regimen with oxaliplatin 85 mg/m2 IV administered on weeks 1, 3, and 5 of each 8-week cycle for three cycles (FLOX).

Results

A total of 2,407 patients (96.6%) of the 2,492 patients randomly assigned were eligible. Median follow-up for patients still alive is 42.5 months. The hazard ratio (FLOX v FULV) is 0.80 (95% CI, 0.69 to 0.93), a 20% risk reduction in favor of FLOX (P < .004). The 3- and 4-year disease-free survival (DFS) rates were 71.8% and 67.0% for FULV and 76.1% and 73.2% for FLOX, respectively. Grade 3 neurosensory toxicity was noted in 8.2% of patients receiving FLOX and in 0.7% of those receiving FULV (P < .001). Hospitalization for diarrhea associated with bowel wall thickening occurred in 5.5% of the patients receiving FLOX and in 3.0% of the patients receiving FULV (P < .01). A total of 1.2% of patients died as a result of any cause within 60 days of receiving chemotherapy, with no significant difference between regimens.

Conclusion

The addition of oxaliplatin to weekly FULV significantly improved DFS in patients with stage II and III colon cancer. FLOX can be recommended as an effective option in clinical practice.
The New Chinoiserie
Authors: Sen Ong Keng
Published: April 2007

Interviewed by James Leverett
A Novel Way to Fabrication of Core–Shell-structured Silica–NiO Spheres
Authors: Feng Jingdong , Wang Qingwei
Published: May 2007

Core–shell-structured silica–NiO spheres were prepared by a novel method of adsorbing nickel formate on silica spheres and the subsequent heating process. These obtained core–shell-structured silica–NiO particles are expected to be promising additive materials for Ni–metal hydride battery.
Blue Luminescent Naphthalene-based Liquid Crystals
Authors: Mori Takeshi , Kijima Masashi
Published: May 2007

Novel luminescent liquid crystals were synthesized by introducing a mesogenic cyanobiphenylyl side chain to a luminescent naphthalene core. The 1,5-naphthalene derivatives were thermotropic liquid crystals showing monotropic phase transition, while 2,6-naphthalene derivatives showed an enantiotropic behavior. All compounds had an intense bluish emission in the solid, liquid crystal, and isotropic liquid states, which was investigated by UV–vis and PL spectroscopies.
Detection of Covalent-bonded Dimer in Photochemically Induced Crystallization of Protein
Authors: Furuta Kenji , Okutsu Tetsuo , Sazaki Gen , Yoshizaki Izumi , Horiuchi Hiroaki , Shimizu Tetsuya , Yamamoto Masaki , Tanaka Yoshihito , Hiratsuka Hiroshi
Published: May 2007

We investigate light-induced crystallization mechanism of hen egg-white lysozyme. Photochemical intermediate radical has been expected to form cluster which grows to nucleus. To confirm the nucleation process that the radical grows to the crystal, SDS-PAGE, crystallization experiments were carried out. Covalent-bonded dimer was produced by photochemical reaction, and it grows to the crystal. We conclude that the dimer plays the role of the smallest stable cluster in early stage of the crystallization process.
Solid-state Solar Cells Sensitized with Indoline Dye
Authors: Konno Akinori , Kumara Gamaralalage Rajanya Asoka , Kaneko Shoji , Onwona-Agyeman Boateng , Tennakone Kirthi
Published: May 2007

A solid-state solar cell sensitized with an indoline dye is found to have an efficiency of 4.2%. This value is higher than that of similar cells sensitized with the N3 dye, indicating that organic dyes adsorbing strongly onto TiO2 and forming nonquenching aggregates are more suited for application in solid-state cells.
Oxidative Coupling of Carbonyl Compounds by Using Pentavalent Biphenyl-2,2′-ylenebismuth Reagents
Authors: Imachi Shohei , Mukaiyama Teruaki
Published: May 2007

p-Tolylbiphenyl-2,2′-ylenebismuth bis(trifluoromethanesulfonate) reacted with lithium enolates derived from ketones, carboxylic esters, and thioesters to afford the corresponding oxidative coupling products in good to high yields.
Electroactive Nanowires Based on Simple 4,5-Bis(dodecylthio)- and 4,5-Bis(octadecylthio)-4′,5′-bis(methoxycarbonyl)tetrathiafulvalenes
Authors: Kobayashi Yusuke , Hasegawa Masashi , Enozawa Hideo , Iyoda Masahiko
Published: May 2007

4,5-Bis(dodecylthio)- and 4,5-bis(octadecylthio)-4′,5′-bis(methoxycarbonyl)tetrathiafulvalenes (1a and 1b) exhibit gelling ability for hexane, cyclohexane, decalin, and diethyl ether to form electroactive fibrous material with 5–10 μm diameters. The doping of bunches of fibers with iodine shows moderate electrical conductivities (σrt = 2.9 × 10−3–2.0 × 10−5 S cm−1).
A Facile Chemical Reduction Route to the Preparation of Single-crystalline Iron Nanocubes
Authors: Qi Banghua , Li Dongguo , Ni Xiaomin , Zheng Huagui
Published: May 2007

Iron nanocubes with a diameter of about 200–400 nm were fabricated by reduction of ferrous sulfate with hydrazine in the solvent of ethylenediamine. During the reaction process, ethylenediamine acted as the solvent, complexant, and structure-directing agent, which was crucial for the formation of the cubes. Thus-prepared iron nanocubes exhibited a high saturation magnetism (Ms) of 690 emu/g, much superior to that of bulk or nanoparticulate counterpart.
Salivary cortisol: a non-invasive measure of hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical activity in the squirrel monkey, Saimiri sciureus
Authors: Fuchs E. , Kirschbaum C. , Benisch D. , Bieser A.
Published: April 2007

Salivary cortisol is a non-invasive and easy-to-assess measure of the activity of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) system. Here we report that salivary cortisol determination can be used in squirrel monkeys ( Saimiri sciureus) to monitor variations in HPA system activity induced by both housing and experimental conditions. Saliva cortisol assessment has several advantages over blood cortisol analysis such as stress-free frequent sampling, laboratory independence and lower costs. Therefore, this non-invasive measure can be the method of choice in primatological research projects and routine programmes related to the well-being of these laboratory animals.
Individual housing influences certain biochemical parameters in the rat
Authors: Pérez C. , Canal J. R. , Domínguez E. , Campillo J. E. , Guillén M. , Torres M. D.
Published: April 2007

Individual housing has been reported to modify animal behaviour. The present study compares the plasma levels of glucose, triglycerides and total cholesterol, weight, and food and water intake in two groups of female rats. Group A: 10 rats who remained grouped in two cages for 21 days; and Group B: 10 rats housed in two cages for 7 days, then isolated in individual cages from day 8 to day 15, and finally grouped together again for the last 7 days of the study.

The results showed that the plasma values of glucose declined ( P<0.05) in the Group B rats when they had been returned to group condition (4.79±0.72 mM) than when they had been isolated (5.45±0.94 mM). Plasma triglyceride levels were lower ( P<0.05) in isolated rats (0.70±0.26 mM) than in any determination of the grouped rats. Group B: 1st week 1.21±0.21 mM, 3rd week 0.88±0.20 mM; and Group A: 1.22±0.20, 0.96±0.16, and 0.96±0.36 mM, in the first, second, and third week, respectively. There were no statistically significant differences in total cholesterol values as a function of the individual housing of animals. While there was no weight difference between the two groups of rats that could be ascribed to individual housing, there was a statistically significant increase ( P<0.05) in the food intake of isolated rats (17.5±3.2 g) with respect to values in the same Group B animals when they were housed together (1st week, 16.6±2.8 g; 3rd week, 16.8±3.1 g).

These results therefore confirm that individual housing of female rats provoke variations in certain biochemical parameters, and that if this is not taken into account in performing different scientific studies, it could give rise to unreliable or even dubious results.
Orbital bleeding in rats while under diethylether anaesthesia does not influence telemetrically determined heart rate, body temperature, locomotor and eating activity when compared with anaesthesia alone
Authors: Van Herck H. , De Boer S. F. , Hesp A. P. M. , Van Lith H. A. , Baumans A. C. , Beynen V.
Published: April 2007

The question addressed was whether orbital bleeding in rats, while under diethylether anaesthesia, affects their locomotor activity, body core temperature, heart rate rhythm and eating pattern. Roman High Avoidance (RHA) and Roman Low Avoidance (RLA) rats were used to enhance generalization of the results. Orbital bleeding when the rats were under diethylether anaesthesia was compared with diethylether anaesthesia alone. To take into account any effects of handling, the rats were also subjected to sham anaesthesia. The RHA rats urinated more during anaesthesia, needed more time to recover from the anaesthesia and showed a greater endocrine stress response to diethylether anaesthesia when compared with the RLA rats. During anaesthesia, the RHA rats showed a greater fall of body temperature and bradycardia than did the RLA rats. Diethylether anaesthesia reduced locomotor activity in the RHA rats, but had no effect in the RLA rats. In neither RHA nor RLA rats did anaesthesia plus orbital puncture, versus anaesthesia alone, influence body temperature, heart rate rhythm, locomotor and eating activity. The lack of effect of orbital puncture occurred both in the short term (within 2 h) and long term (within 48 hours) and thus this study indicates that orbital puncture had, at least with respect to variables measured in the present study, no effect superimposed on that of diethylether anaesthesia.
A new hereditary cataract mouse with lens rupture
Authors: Song Chang-Woo , Okumoto Masaaki , Mori Nobuko , Yamate Jyoji , Sakuma Sadashige , Kim Jin-Suk , Han Sang-Seop , Hilgers Jo , Esaki Kozaburo
Published: April 2007

A new cataract model originated in a recombinant inbred (RI) strain, CXS4 or CXSD (D), between BALB/cHeA(BALB/c or C) and STS/A(STS or S) mice. Opacity appeared as a white pinpoint focus in unpigmented eyes of albino mice from 5 weeks old. All the mice were bilaterally affected by 14 weeks old. They were fully viable and fertile. There was no sex difference in incidence of cataract. Histologically, the 3-4 months old mice showed vacuoles in the lens cortex. The vacuoles were spread all over the lens cortex in advanced cases. Ruptures of the lens nucleus to the vitreous chamber was a typical occurrence. For elucidation of the mode of inheritance, F1 hybrids (CXD and SXD) and backcross progenies [(CXD)F1XD and (SXD)F1XD] were analysed. No affected mice were observed in F1 hybrids. In backcross progenies, the segregation ratio of affected and normal mice was close to 1:1 in both matings. We conclude that the cataract is inherited by an autosomal single recessive gene. This mutant gene is provisionally named 'lens rupture 2' (gene symbol lr2, Mouse Genome Database Accession No. MGD-JNUM-37399). The new cataract model mouse will be a good tool for the genetic analysis and molecular biological study of cataractogenesis.
The Han:SPRD rat is not a genetic model of human autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease type 1
Authors: Nauta J. , Goedbloed M. A. , Luider T. M. , Hoogeveen A. Th. , van den Ouweland A. M. W. , Halley D. J. J.
Published: April 2007

Human autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is a high incidence disorder, leading to renal failure in many patients. The majority of cases results from a mutation in the PKD1 gene. The only well documented animal model of ADPKD is the Han:SPRD- Pkd strain. Its genetic basis is unknown as yet. In the current study we determined whether the disease in these rats is genetically linked to the rat homologue of the PKD1 gene. We used the protamine gene as a polymorphic marker ( Prm1) of the PKD1 region. Matings of Han:SPRD- Pkd with BB rats and backcross of the offspring with BB yielded animals informative for linkage analysis. This analysis revealed random segregation of the defect and the Prm1 marker, indicating that the model is not caused by a mutation in the PKD1 gene. We conclude that the Han:SPRD- Pkd rat strain is not a genetic model of PKD1.
SCID-bg mice as xenograft recipients
Authors: Shibata Shinwa , Asano Toshihiko , Ogura Atsuo , Hashimoto Noriyoshi , Hayakawa Jun-ichiro , Uetsuka Koji , Nakayama Hiroyuki , Doi Kunio
Published: April 2007

SCID- bg ( scid/scid, beige/beige) is a strain of double-mutant mice with impaired lymphoid development and reduced natural killer (NK) cell activity. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the usefulness of SCID- bg mice as xenograft recipients. Fetal guineapig tissues (liver, thymus, spleen) were transplanted under the kidney capsule of the mice and their serum guineapig IgG levels were measured weekly thereafter. C.B.-17- scid and anti-asialo GM1 antiserum-treated (NK-depleted) C.B.-17- scid (C.B.-17- scid-AGM1) mice that received the identical transplants were used as controls. Throughout the experimental period (1, 2, and 3 weeks after transplantation), the average serum guineapig IgG concentrations was highest in C.B.-17- scid-AGM1 mice followed by SCID- bg mice and lowest in C.B.-17- scid mice without antiserum treatment, though we could not find any statistical significance among these groups. However, SCID- bg mice always showed the smallest within-group variance (individual differencel in the serum guineapig IgG concentrations ( P <0.05, versus C.B.-17- scid-AGM1 mice at 1,2, and 3 weeks and versus C.B.-17- scid mice at 2 weeks). The graft size was not significantly different among these three groups, but the spleen grafts in C.B.-17- scid mice contained fewer nucleate cells than the other two groups. These results indicate that the reduced NK cell activity by beige mutation is not crucial for the success of xenogenic transplantation, though SCID- bg mice may be useful as xenograft recipients with a consistent potential to retain the viability and function of engrafted tissues.
Observations on the prevalence of nest-building in non-breeding TO strain mice and their use of two nesting materials
Authors: Sherwin C. M.
Published: April 2007

The spontaneous performance of nest-building behaviour by non-breeding laboratory mice suggests that routinely providing nesting material might be a suitable environmental enrichment. If nesting material is to be provided routinely, this should have characteristics which are preferred, or at least accepted by a considerable proportion of the animal population; it should also be inexpensive. The present study therefore examined the prevalence of nest-building behaviour in 39 individually-housed, non-breeding, female mice, and their preferences for a commercial nesting product and a less expensive source of material (paper towels). Within minutes of the materials being placed in the cages, the mice began manipulating the paper towels. Thirty-six of the mice subsequently constructed nests during the first dark phase after the materials had been placed in the cage-the remaining three mice constructed nests during the following 48 h. The nests were usually constructed from a mixture of the two materials, though observations indicated the mice might have preferred characteristics of the inexpensive paper towels. There was a strong tendency to build nests in the same location used for sleeping prior to the nesting material being provided, and similarly, the mice were conservative in the site chosen to build a second nest after the first was removed. The most frequently chosen site for nest-building was under the feeder. Other studies have reported a high motivation for nest-building behaviour, widespread performance amongst many strains, and nest-building as a thermoregulatory behaviour by animals housed in standard laboratory air temperature. In conjunction with these findings, the present results suggest that routinely providing paper towels is an inexpensive and practical means of environmental enrichment for non-breeding, laboratory mice.
An illustrated guide to endotracheal intubation in small non-human primates
Authors: Morris T. H. , Jackson R. K. , Acker W. R. , Spencer C. K. , Drag M. D.
Published: April 2007

Endotracheal intubation allows precise delivery of inhaled anaesthetic agents. Intubation in small non-human primates (less than 1 kg), is straightforward, using commercially available equipment, and careful positioning of the animal. Equipment and methods are fully described and illustrated.