bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Alterations in RNA‐binding activities of IRES‐regulatory proteins as a mechanism for physiological variability and pathological dysregulation of IGF‐IR translational control in human breast tumor cells
Authors: Meng Zheng , Jackson Nateka L. , Choi Hyoungsoo , King Peter H. , Emanuel Peter D. , Blume Scott W.
Published: May 2008

The type I insulin‐like growth factor receptor (IGF‐IR) is integrally involved in the control of cellular proliferation and survival. An internal ribosomal entry site (IRES) within the 1,038 nucleotide 5′‐untranslated region of the human IGF‐IR mRNA helps to provide the tight control of IGF‐IR expression necessary for maintenance of normal cellular and tissue homeostasis. The IRES maps to a discrete sequence of 85 nucleotides positioned just upstream of the IGF‐IR initiation codon, allowing the ribosome to bypass the highly structured regions of the 5′‐UTR as well as the upstream open reading frame. The authenticity of the IGF‐IR IRES has been confirmed by its sensitivity to deletion of the promoter from a bicistronic reporter construct, and its resistance in a monocistronic reporter construct to co‐expression of a viral 2A protease. We previously characterized HuR as a potent repressor of IGF‐IR translation. Here we demonstrate that hnRNP C competes with HuR for binding the IGF‐IR 5′‐UTR and enhances IRES‐mediated translation initiation in a concentration‐dependent manner. We observed changes in binding of hnRNP C versus HuR to the IGF‐IR 5′‐UTR in response to physiological alterations in cellular environment or proliferative status. Furthermore, we have found distinct alterations in the pattern of protein binding to the IGF‐IR 5′‐UTR in human breast tumor cells in which IGF‐IR IRES activity and relative translational efficiency are aberrantly increased. These results suggest that dysregulation of the IGF‐IR IRES through changes in the activities of RNA‐binding translation‐regulatory proteins could be responsible for IGF‐IR overexpression in a proportion of human breast tumors. J. Cell. Physiol. 217: 172–183, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Cell membrane deformations under magnetic force modulation characterized by optical tracking and non‐interferometric widefield profilometry
Authors: Wang Chun‐Chieh , Jian Hung‐Jhang , Wu Chih‐Wei , Lee Chau‐Hwang
Published: May 2008

We measured cell membrane deformations under the modulation of piconewton magnetic force by using optical tracking and noninterferometric widefield optical profilometry. The magnetic force was applied to fibronectin‐coated paramagnetic beads that bound to transmembrane protein integrins. At an image‐acquisition rate of 20 frame/min, optical tracking provided positioning accuracy better than 70 nm for bead displacements on cell membranes, and optical profilometry obtained membrane topography with 20 nm depth resolution. We elucidated the correlation between the bead movements and membrane deformations. When the magnetic force dominated the bead movements, the membrane arose in front of the bead and the height increased with the bead velocity. On the other hand, when the bead was mainly driven by the cytoskeletons, the membrane profiles showed no relevance to the motion of the bead. In this case, the bead moved faster on smooth membranes. A model based on the dynamics of actin cytoskeletons is proposed to explain these observation results. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The linear arboricity of planar graphs of maximum degree seven is four
Authors: Wu Jian‐Liang , Wu Yu‐Wen
Published: May 2008

The linear arboricity of a graph G is the minimum number of linear forests which partition the edges of G. Akiyama et al. conjectured that $\lceil {\Delta {({G})}\over {2}}\rceil \leq {la}({G}) \leq \lceil {\Delta({G})+{1}\over {2}}\rceil$ for any simple graph G. Wu wu proved the conjecture for a planar graph G of maximum degree $\Delta\not={{7}}$. It is noted here that the conjecture is also true for $\Delta={{7}}$. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 58:210‐220, 2008
External jugular venous catheterization with a Groshong catheter for central venous access
Authors: Ishizuka Mitsuru , Nagata Hitoshi , Takagi Kazutoshi , Kubota Keiichi
Published: May 2008

Background

The Groshong catheter (GC) is commonly used as a peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC), and the external jugular vein (EJV) is not a common route for central venous access (CVA). Therefore, external jugular venous catheterization (EJVC) using a GC is rare. However, our experience has shown that this procedure is safe and simple for CVA.

Purpose

To assess the utility of EJVC using the GC for CVA.

Methods

CVA was done using a GC via the EJV with a single puncture employing the maximal barrier precaution technique.

Results

Between March 2005 and June 2007, we attempted to perform EJVC using a GC via the EJV for 331 patients. Among of these patients, 301 patients received successful catheterization (success rate: 301/331 = 90.9%). The total period of catheter insertion was 4601 days, and the mean insertion period was 15.1 days (range 2–147 days). The main complications of catheter insertion were malposition (8/301; 2.7%) and, oozing or hematoma formation (8/301; 2.7%). There were no severe complications such as nerve injury, pneumothorax or arterial bleeding.

Conclusions

Our experience demonstrates that EJVC using the GC is acceptable for CVA. J. Surg. Oncol. 2008;98:67–69. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Effects of Multi‐Arm Structure on Crystallization and Biodegradation of Star‐Shaped Poly(ε‐caprolactone)
Authors: Xie Wenyuan , Jiang Ni , Gan Zhihua
Published: May 2008

Star‐shaped PCL with one to five arms were synthesized by ROP. They have the same crystal structure as linear PCL, indicating that the central cores are located in amorphous regions. The influence of arm length and number on crystallization and melting behavior were studied by DSC, POM, and through the Avrami equation. A model is proposed to analyze the enzymatic degradation process of star‐shaped polymers. The multi‐arm structure and the limitation of the central cores on the chain mobility of each arm are considered to be the primary factors influencing the characteristic crystallization and enzymatic degradation behavior of star‐shaped PCLs.

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Elementary constructive theory of Henselian local rings
Authors: Alonso María E. , Lombardi Henri , Perdry Hervé
Published: May 2008

We give an elementary theory of Henselian local rings and construct the Henselisation of a local ring. All our theorems have an algorithmic content. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Strain‐Induced Phase Morphology in Melt Drawn Ultrathin Highly Oriented Block Copolymer Films
Authors: Keller Thomas , Semmler Christian , Jandt Klaus D.
Published: May 2008

A strain‐induced microphase morphology has been established by the melt drawing process in a high molecular weight asymmetric polystyrene‐block‐poly(vinyl‐2‐pyridine) (PS‐b‐P2VP) diblock copolymer. For the first time to the best knowledge of the authors, the melt drawing process has been applied to block copolymers to produce free‐standing, ultrathin block copolymer films with a thickness of ≈100 nm. Intriguingly, during the melt drawing of the polymer a global strain‐induced unidirectional order of the microphase separated needle‐like domains of the block copolymer was generated. This morphology consists of a PS matrix with embedded highly oriented P2VP needle‐like domains oriented parallel to the drawing direction. The needle‐like morphology is explained by a simplified extended chain model of the diblock copolymer chains. Annealing of the films leads to a transition from the strain‐induced needle‐like morphology toward the quasi‐equilibrium sphere‐like morphology.

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Degradable Multilayer Films and Hollow Capsules via a ‘Click’ Strategy
Authors: De Geest Bruno G. , Van Camp Wim , Du Prez Filip E. , De Smedt Stefaan C. , Demeester Jo , Hennink Wim E.
Published: May 2008

Degradable polymeric multilayer films and microcapsules are fabricated by ‘click’ chemistry using dextran modified with azide and alkyne moieties. Alternating layers of dextran modified with azide and alkyne groups, respectively, are covalently bonded by virtue of the 1,3‐dipolar cycloaddition reaction, known as click chemistry, which leads to the formation of stable triazole cross‐links between the successive layers. The dextran is modified in such a way that the azide and alkyne moieties are connected to the dextran backbone by a hydrolyzable carbonate ester. Therefore, the obtained multilayered structures can be degraded by simple hydrolysis. This type of multilayer avoids the use of polyelectrolytes, which are potentially cytotoxic, and could, therefore, be interesting for the fields of drug delivery and tissue engineering.

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Neural commitment of embryonic stem cells: molecules, pathways and potential for cell therapy
Authors: Suter DM , Krause K‐H
Published: May 2008

The study of neuronal differentiation of embryonic stem cells has raised major interest over recent years. It allows a better understanding of fundamental aspects of neurogenesis and, at the same time, the generation of neurons as tools for various applications ranging from drug testing to cell therapy and regenerative medicine. Since the first report of human embryonic stem (ES) cells derivation, many studies have shown the possibility of directing their differentiation towards neurons. However, there are still many challenges ahead, including gaining a better understanding of the mechanisms involved and developing techniques to allow the generation of homogeneous neuronal and glial subtypes. We review the current state of knowledge of embryonic neurogenesis which has been acquired from animal models and discuss its translation into in vitro strategies of neuronal differentiation of ES cells. We also highlight several aspects of current protocols which need to be optimized to generate high‐quality embryonic stem cell‐derived neuronal precursors suitable for clinical applications. Finally, we discuss the potential of embryonic stem cell‐derived neurons for cell replacement therapy in several central nervous system diseases. Copyright © 2008 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Zoledronic acid decreased osteolysis but not bone metastasis in a nude mouse model of canine prostate cancer with mixed bone lesions
Authors: Thudi Nanda K. , Martin Chelsea K. , Nadella Murali V.P. , Fernandez Soledad A. , Werbeck Jillian L. , Pinzone Joseph J. , Rosol Thomas J.
Published: May 2008

BACKGROUND

Bone metastasis is the most common cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with advanced prostate cancer and is manifested primarily as mixed osteoblastic and osteolytic lesions. However, the mechanisms responsible for bone metastases in prostate cancer are not clearly understood, in part due to the lack of relevant in vivo models that mimic the clinical presentation of the disease in humans. We previously established a nude mouse model with mixed bone metastases using intracardiac injection of canine prostate cancer cells (Ace‐1). In this study, we hypothesized that tumor‐induced osteolysis promoted the incidence of bone metastases and osteoblastic activity.

METHODS

We studied the effect of inhibition of osteolysis with zoledronic acid (ZA) on the prevention and progression of Ace‐1 bone metastases in nude mice using prophylactic and delayed treatment protocols. Bioluminescent imaging, radiography, and histopathological evaluation were performed to monitor the effect of ZA on the incidence, progression and nature of bone metastases.

RESULTS

Unexpectedly, there was no significant difference in tumor burden and the incidence of metastasis between control and treatment groups as detected by bioluminescent imaging and bone histomorphometry. However, radiographic and histopathological analysis showed a significant treatment‐related decrease in osteolysis, but no effect on tumor‐induced trabecular bone thickness in both treatment groups compared to controls.

CONCLUSION

Our results demonstrated that the incidence of prostate cancer bone metastases in vivo was not reduced by zoledronic acid even though zoledronic acid inhibited bone resorption and bone loss associated with the mixed osteoblastic/osteolytic bone metastases in the Ace‐1 model. Prostate 68: 1116–1125, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A molecular dynamics approach to study the importance of solvent in protein interactions
Authors: Samsonov Sergey , Teyra Joan , Pisabarro M. Teresa
Published: May 2008

Water constitutes the cellular environment for biomolecules to interact. Solvent is important for protein folding and stability, and it is also known to actively participate in many catalytic processes in the cell. However, solvent is often ignored in molecular recognition and not taken into account in protein–protein interaction studies and rational design. Previously we developed SCOWLP, a database and its web application (http://www.scowlp.org), to perform studies on the contribution of solvent to protein interface definition in all protein complexes of the PDB. We introduced the concept of wet spots, interfacial residues interacting only through one water molecule, which were shown to considerably enrich protein interface descriptions. Analysis of interfacial solvent in a nonredundant dataset of protein complexes suggested the importance of including interfacial water molecules in protein interaction studies. In this work we use a molecular dynamics approach to gain deeper insights into solvent contribution to protein interfaces. We characterize the dynamic and energetic properties of water‐mediated protein interactions by comparing different interfacial interaction types (direct, dual and wet spot) at residue and solvent level. For this purpose, we perform an analysis of 17 representative complexes from two protein families of different interface nature. Energetically wet spots are quantitatively comparable to other residues in interfaces, and their mobility is shown to be lower than protein surface residues. The residence time of water molecules in wet spots sites is higher than of those on the surface of the protein. In terms of free energy, though wet‐spots‐forming water molecules are very heterogeneous, their contribution to the free energy of complex formation is considerable. We find that water molecules can play an important role in interaction conservation in protein interfaces by allowing sequence variability in the corresponding binding partner, and we discuss the important implications of our observations related to the use of the correlated mutations concept in protein interactions studies. The results obtained in this work help to deepen our understanding of the physico–chemical nature underlying protein–protein interactions and strengthen the idea of using the wet spots concept to qualitatively improve the accuracy of folding, docking and rational design algorithms. Proteins 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Partial destabilization of native structure by a combination of heat and denaturant facilitates cold denaturation in a hyperthermophile protein
Authors: Chandrayan Sanjeev Kumar , Guptasarma Purnananda
Published: May 2008

Cold denaturation is a phenomenon seen in many different proteins. However, there have been no reports so far of its occurrence in hyperthermophile proteins. Here, using a recombinant triosephosphate isomerase (PfuTIM) from the hyperthermophile archaeon, Pyrococcus furiosus, we show that the heating of this protein through the low temperature side of its thermal unfolding transition in the presence of guanidinium hydrochloride (GdmCl) results in the formation of partially‐disordered conformational ensembles that retain considerable native‐like secondary and tertiary structure. Unlike PfuTIM itself, these thermochemically obtained partially‐disordered PfuTIM ensembles display cold denaturation as they are cooled to room temperature. The protein thus shows hysteresis, adopting different structural states in a manner dependent upon the nature of the heating and cooling treatment, rather than upon the initial and final conditions of temperature and GdmCl concentration, indicating that some sort of a kinetic effect influences structure adoption and retention. The structure lost through cooling of partially‐disordered PfuTIM is found to be regained through heating. The ability of GdmCl to thus apparently destabilize the highly thermodynamically and kinetically stable structure of PfuTIM (sufficiently, to cause it to display observable cold‐denaturation and heat‐renaturation transitions, in real‐time, with cooling and heating) offers support to current ideas concerning the how hyperthermophile proteins achieve their high kinetic stabilities, and suggests that desolvation‐solvation barriers may be responsible for high kinetic stability. Proteins 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Magnetocaloric effect and size‐dependent study of the magnetic properties of cobalt ferrite nanoparticles prepared by solvothermal synthesis
Authors: Vázquez‐Vázquez C. , Lovelle M. , Mateo C. , López‐Quintela M. A. , Buján‐Núñez M. C. , Serantes D. , Baldomir D. , Rivas J.
Published: May 2008

Cobalt ferrite (CoFe2O4) nanoparticles from 2 nm to 15 nm were synthesized using a solvothermal procedure. In this non‐aqueous method, acetophenone was used as solvent and the particle size was controlled by changing the reaction temperature from 120 °C to 180 ºC. Nanoparticles show good crystallinity and uniformity above 140 °C, as determined by X‐ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. Magnetic measurements indicate superparamagnetic behaviour. Zero‐field‐cooling (ZFC) dc‐magnetisation experiments at 100 Oe show blocking temperatures ranging from 215 K to more than 305 K. Saturation magnetisation increases with particle size and a small decrease is observed when increasing the temperature. The magnetocaloric effect shown by these cobalt ferrite nanoparticles is reasonably high for nanomaterials. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Low‐dose ion implanted active waveguides in Nd3+ doped near‐stoichiometric lithium niobate: promising candidates for near infrared integrated laser
Authors: Chen Feng , Jaque Daniel , Tan Yang , Yao Shu‐Hua , Liu Hong
Published: May 2008

By applying low‐dose oxygen ion implantation, active planar waveguides in Nd3+ doped near‐stoichiometric lithium niobate laser crystals have been, for the first time to our knowledge, successfully produced. The waveguide exhibits good transmission properties with relatively low propagation loss of ∼2 dB/cm. The confocal micro‐luminescence investigations indicate that the emission properties of Nd3+ ions in the waveguide are well preserved with respect to the bulk, thus showing promising potentials for efficient waveguide laser action operating at the Nd3+ near‐infrared bands. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Data‐driven identification of group dynamics for motion prediction and control
Authors: Schwager Mac , Detweiler Carrick , Vasilescu Iuliu , Anderson Dean M. , Rus Daniela
Published: May 2008

A distributed model structure for representing groups of coupled dynamic agents is proposed, and the least‐squares method is used for fitting model parameters based on measured position data. The difference equation model embodies a minimalist approach, incorporating only factors essential to the movement and interaction of physical bodies. The model combines effects from an agent's inertia, interactions between agents, and interactions between each agent and its environment. Global positioning system tracking data were collected in field experiments from a group of 3 cows and a group of 10 cows over the course of several days using custom‐designed, head‐mounted sensor boxes. These data are used with the least‐squares method to fit the model to the cow groups. The modeling technique is shown to capture overall characteristics of the group as well as attributes of individual group members. Applications to livestock management are described, and the potential for surveillance, prediction, and control of various kinds of groups of dynamic agents are suggested. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Does interfirm modularity complement ignorance? A field study of software outsourcing alliances
Authors: Tiwana Amrit
Published: May 2008

Knowledge‐intensive outsourcing alliances present outsourcers with a tension between simultaneously sharing enough private knowledge to accomplish alliance goals and safeguarding such knowledge against misappropriation. This study explores the perspective that increasing interfirm modularity lowers the need for interfirm knowledge sharing. Put another way, modularity complements outsourcee ignorance. Analyses of data on 209 alliances between U.S. firms and software services firms in Russia, Ireland, and India provide strong support for this idea. Our theoretical elaboration and empirical testing of the complementarities between modularity and outsourcee ignorance has significant implications for strategy theory, which are also discussed. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Electron‐Beam‐Induced Deposition in Ultrahigh Vacuum: Lithographic Fabrication of Clean Iron Nanostructures
Authors: Lukasczyk Thomas , Schirmer Michael , Steinrück Hans‐Peter , Marbach Hubertus
Published: May 2008

The generation of nanostructures with arbitrary shapes and well‐defined chemical composition is still a challenge and targets the core of the fast‐growing field of nanotechnology. One approach is the maskless nanofabrication technique of electron‐beam‐induced deposition (EBID). Up to now, the purity of these EBID structures has been rather poor. Here we demonstrate that by performing the EBID process solely under ultrahigh vacuum conditions, the lithographic generation of iron nanostructures on Si(100) with an unprecedented purity of higher than 95% is possible. One particular new aspect is the formation of EBID deposits with reduced size in a strain‐induced diffusive process, resulting in deposits significantly smaller than 10 nm.
Performance of selective space‐time coding and selection diversity under perfect and imperfect CSI
Authors: Pan Ya‐Han , Aïssa Sonia
Published: May 2008

Selective space‐time coding and selection diversity can be viewed as practical means to reduce the implementation complexity of multiple‐input multiple‐output (MIMO) systems while still taking benefit of the use of multiple antennas. In this paper, we evaluate the performance of selective space‐time block coding (selective‐STBC) and antenna selection diversity, and analyze the performance of both techniques under perfect and imperfect channel state information (CSI) available at both ends of the transmission link. Our performance analysis reveals that, under perfect or imperfect CSI and ideal feedback channel, selective‐STBC yields a loss in selection diversity gains and that selecting just a single antenna at the transmitter side is the best transmission strategy. We also show that selective‐STBC and antenna selection diversity have different behaviors when the feedback channel is imperfect. Indeed, it is shown that selection diversity outperforms selective‐STBC when the feedback channel is of high quality, while selective‐STBC yields better performance when the feedback channel is of low quality. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Rho GTPases in cancer cell biology
Authors: Vega Francisco M. , Ridley Anne J.
Published: May 2008

Rho GTPases contribute to multiple cellular processes that could affect cancer progression, including cytoskeletal dynamics, cell cycle progression, transcriptional regulation, cell survival and vesicle trafficking. In vitro several Rho GTPases have oncogenic activity and/or can promote cancer cell invasion, and this correlates with increased expression and activity in a variety of cancers. Conversely, other family members appear to act as tumour suppressors and are deleted, mutated or downregulated in some cancers. Genetic models are starting to provide new information on how Rho GTPases affect cancer development and progression. Here, we discuss how Rho GTPases could contribute to different steps of cancer progression, including proliferation, survival, invasion and metastasis.
Clinical Management of Intra‐Amniotic Infection and Chorioamnionitis: A Review of the Literature
Authors: Fahey Jenifer O.
Published: May 2008

Intra‐amniotic infection (IAI), or chorioamnionitis, complicates up to 10% of all pregnancies and up to 2% of labors at term. There is a significant risk of complications for the mother and the neonate following IAI, including sepsis and pneumonia. In addition, there is a correlation between IAI and premature rupture of membranes, preterm premature rupture of membranes, preterm labor, and preterm birth. Research in the last decade has also revealed a complex and significant association between IAI and cerebral palsy and other central nervous system damage in both the preterm and term fetus. Timely diagnosis and treatment of IAI can significantly reduce the risk of both maternal and neonatal complications.
Incorporating Immunization Services into Reproductive Health Care
Authors: Hackley Barbara
Published: May 2008

Vaccine‐preventable infections are common in adults and associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Since 2005, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has released more than 15 recommendations governing the use of new vaccines, as well as recommendations for regimen changes for use of older ones, in adults. Understanding these changes and incorporating them into practice is essential to protect adults from vaccine‐preventable infections. Because many women receive care in obstetric and gynecologic practices, integrating these services into reproductive health care provides an opportunity to offer vaccination to many women who otherwise might not be offered these recommended vaccines.
Understanding Herpes Simplex Virus: Transmission, Diagnosis, and Considerations in Pregnancy Management
Authors: Kriebs Jan M.
Published: May 2008

Genital herpes simplex virus (HSV) infections are frequently asymptomatic or undiagnosed, but more than half the US population is seropositive for HSV, and about one‐fifth are positive for HSV‐2. These two factors contribute to the risk for sexual transmission and therefore to the risk of late‐pregnancy acquisition of HSV. Most neonatal herpes infections are the result of undiagnosed, new‐onset HSV infection in the mother. This article reviews the epidemiology of HSV, risks of transmission, and testing and management of HSV during pregnancy. Options for evaluation and management are presented.
Methicillin‐Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Infection in the Obstetric Setting
Authors: Kriebs Jan M.
Published: May 2008

Methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is an increasingly prevalent pathogen, both in the community and in hospitalized patients. The virulence of MRSA, coupled with its resistance to many frequently prescribed antibiotics, requires increased vigilance in the assessment and diagnosis of skin and soft tissue infections. This article reviews the epidemiology of MRSA and focuses on treatment of MRSA when it is diagnosed during pregnancy.
Skin Infections: Rethinking Management
Authors: Buxton Margaret
Published: May 2008

A 23‐year‐old G2P1001 with an intrauterine pregnancy at 30 weeks' gestation presented with a chief concern of a “bump down there” that had become increasingly tender over the previous 2 days. She had a normal prenatal course and laboratory studies, one current sexual partner, and no history of sexually transmitted infections. Examination of the external genitalia revealed a 0.5 cm × 0.5 cm nonfluctuating ulcerated lesion on the right labia majora. The lesion was crusted without exudate, and it was exquisitely tender to palpation. Erythema and induration extended approximately 4 cm × 2 cm around the lesion. A wet prep of her vaginal discharge was negative for hyphae, clue cells, and trichomonas. Bacterial and viral cultures of the lesion were obtained. Empiric treatment with the broad‐spectrum first‐generation cephalosporin cephalexin (Keflex) 500 mg tid for 7 days was started. Incision and drainage of the lesion was not attempted because it was nonfluctuating and herpes simplex virus (HSV) was a differential diagnosis. Bacterial cultures of the lesion confirmed Staphylococcus aureus sensitive to clindamycin and vancomycin, and resistant to methicillin, erythromycin, penicillin, and cefazolin. Viral cultures for HSV were negative. The antibiotic was switched to clindamycin (Cleocin) 300 mg qid for 10 days based on the antibiotic susceptibility laboratory report, and the lesion resolved in approximately 2 weeks.
Traveler's Diarrhea: An Update on Prevention and Treatment
Authors: Spies Lori A.
Published: May 2008

Traveler's diarrhea is a condition that disrupts work and vacation, and affects many women traveling from developed countries to developing countries. Specific food and hygiene education may help to decrease the occurrence of this common food and water‐borne gastrointestinal infection. Probiotics rather than antibiotics are now among the recommendations for the prophylaxis of traveler's diarrhea. Treatment for traveler's diarrhea in mild cases may involve simply maintaining hydration. In moderate cases that disrupt the travel itinerary antibiotics and antimotility agents can be used.
Dictatorial Peace?
Authors: PECENY MARK , BEER CAROLINE C. , SANCHEZ-TERRY SHANNON
Published: May 2008

Is there a dictatorial peace that resembles the democratic peace? This paper uses a new data set compiled by Barbara Geddes to examine the conflict behavior of three types of autocratic regimes—personalist, military, and single-party dictatorships—in the post-World War II era. We find some evidence that specific types of authoritarian regimes are peaceful toward one another. No two personalist dictators or two military regimes have gone to war with each other since 1945. These dyads were not less likely to engage in militarized interstate disputes than were mixed dyads, however. Although single-party regimes were the only homogeneous dyad in this study to have experienced war, multivariate analyses of participation in militarized interstate disputes suggest that single-party states are more peaceful toward one another than are mixed dyads. Thus, while we have found no unambiguous evidence of a dictatorial peace to match the robustness of the democratic peace, there is substantial interesting variation in the conflict behavior of specific types of authoritarian regimes. The analysis presented here demonstrates that studies of the impact of regime type on conflict behavior must work from a more sophisticated conception of authoritarianism.
Cross-cutting Social Networks: Testing Democratic Theory in Practice
Authors: MUTZ DIANA C.
Published: May 2008

Exposure to conflicting political viewpoints is widely assumed to benefit the citizens of a democratic polity. Nonetheless, the benefits of exposure to heterogeneous political viewpoints have yet to be demonstrated empirically. Drawing on national survey data that tap characteristics of people's political discussion networks, I examine the impact of heterogeneous networks of political discussion on individuals' awareness of legitimate rationales for oppositional viewpoints, on their awareness of rationales for their own viewpoints, and on levels of political tolerance. Finally, utilizing a laboratory experiment manipulating exposure to dissonant and consonant political views, I further substantiate the causal role of cross-cutting exposure in fostering political tolerance.
Replication, Realism, and Robustness: Analyzing Political Regimes and International Trade
Authors: MANSFIELD EDWARD D. , MILNER HELEN V. , ROSENDORFF B. PETER
Published: May 2008

Our earlier article established that pairs of democracies trade more freely than country-pairs composed of a democracy and an autocracy (Mansfield, Milner, and Rosendorff 2000). Xinyuan Dai (2002) incorrectly asserts that our conclusion depends on the preferences of the decision makers who formulate trade policy. We show that Dai fails to accurately replicate our model, and hence erroneously claims that the new equilibria she deduces are consistent with it. In addition, we demonstrate that in altering one of our assumptions, Dai offers a model that is less realistic as well as inconsistent with the substantive literature on international bargaining. Finally, we question the robustness of her approach. Due to these problems of replication, realism, and robustness, we conclude that Dai's model is of limited utility.
Crossing Borders, Crossing Boundaries: The Role of Scientists in the U.S. Acid Rain Debate. By Leslie R. Alm. Westport, CT: Praeger. 2000. 160p. $58.00.
Authors: Mangun William R.
Published: May 2008

Leslie Alm presents what may be the best study yet produced on the acid rain policy debate, at least with regard to its scientific underpinnings. The book describes the evolution of the current U.S.-Canadian acid rain policy agreement and focuses on the role of scientists in the formulation and implementation of acid rain policy. Alm found that most natural scientists believe they have little influence on the policy process. He suggests they are not trained to understand policymakers, and policymakers are not trained to understand science. Both have a narrow focus that causes them to perceive selectively what the other is saying. As does Lynton K. Caldwell (Between Two Worlds: Science, the Environmental Movement, and Policy Choice, 1990), Alm informs us that scientists and policymakers operate in two totally different worlds using two different languages and two different time scales; this complicates the policy process.
Sexual Identities, Queer Politics. Edited by Mark Blasius. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001. 382p. $60.00 cloth, $19.95 paper. Sexual Strangers: Gays, Lesbians, and the Dilemmas of Citizenship. By Shane Phelan. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2001. 232p. $59.50 cloth, $18.95 paper.
Authors: Smith Anna Marie
Published: May 2008

Shane Phelan and Mark Blasius have played a leading role in the development of a lesbian, bisexual, gay, and transgender (LBGT) literature within political science, and their most recent texts enrich both this specialized field and the study of politics as a whole. Phelan's investigation of citizenship begins with the claim that LBGT people are “strangers” in American society. According to Zygmunt Bauman (Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and Ambivalence, 1991), the Jews in European history were strangers. Neither friend nor enemy, they were treated as an ambiguous and shifting figure of otherness that marked the boundary between us and them, but at the same time calling into question the very possibility of such a clear exclusionary division. Critical readings of anti-Semitic discourse can be quite fruitful for the study of homophobia because the demonized subject in both cases is an enemy within who is simultaneously excessively present but invisible; powerful and threatening but harmless and effeminate; physically close but spiritually remote; embodying the highest intellectual and aesthetic values but expressing modern urban decadence and decay, circulating in “mainstream” society and seductively corrupting the innocent, but shunning “mainstream” society and remaining an unassimilated difference within its own separatist cultural enclave. Phelan puts Bauman's stranger trope to good use as she explores the complex positioning of LBGT people in American official discourse and culture.
Vehicle of Influence: Building a European Car Market. By Roland Stephen. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2000. 240p. $49.50.
Authors: Dunn, Jr. James A.
Published: May 2008

The significance of European integration as a process and an intellectual focus is undeniable. The economic importance of the European auto sector and its worldwide dimensions are also self-evident. Roland Stephen's effort to deepen our analytical understanding of the former through a detailed examination of the latter thus promises to be of interest to readers from a variety of fields, ranging from economics and politics to the analysis of corporate strategy.
Brokers and Bureaucrats: Building Market Institutions in Russia By Timothy Frye. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2000. 272p. $65.00 cloth, $24.95 paper.
Authors: Hedlund Stefan
Published: May 2008

Over the past decade, Russia's attempted transition to a market economy has attracted a great deal of scholarly interest. Given the complexities at hand and the rather disappointing outcome, it is natural that debates have been acrimonious at times. Some have argued that we are witnesses to a great success; others, that we are seeing a monumental failure. A book that promises to deal with “building market institutions in Russia” might harbor yet another contribution to such debates, but that is not case. Timothy Frye is careful to note (on p. 12) that his book “does not attempt a holistic analysis of the process of economic and political reform in Russia.”
Community, Solidarity, and Belonging: Levels of Community and Their Normative Significance. By Andrew Mason. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. 246p. $59.95 cloth, $21.95 paper.
Authors: Muirhead Russell
Published: May 2008

Communitarianism has long suffered from vagueness: what is community? What about it, if anything, is necessary or good? What are the boundaries of morally relevant communities? Often those who attend to the claims of community tender these questions with too little rigor. Not so Andrew Mason. His new book has three main purposes: to map the meaning of community, to assess the claims of political community in relation to communities below the level of the state, and to evaluate the claims of political communities with respect to the global community. In addition to a number of rigorous and thoughtful clarifications and a comprehensive overview of recent debates between liberalism and its critics, the book offers arguments of its own which are often more bold than its judicious manner suggests. It deserves careful attention by all who have attempted to sort through the tensions between liberalism and community.
Rethinking State Theory. By Mark J. Smith, New York: Routledge, 2000. 281p. $100.00.
Authors: Jessop Bob
Published: May 2008

Mark Smith has written a dense, challenging, and provocative analysis of three contrasting approaches to power and how they are shaped by different philosophies of social science. This is not a book for the theoretically faint-hearted or meta-theoretically challenged. Indeed, those who pick it up expecting to find a simple guide to recent state theory will be badly disappointed. For it does not provide a survey or critique of state theory as such. Nor does it provide a new theory based on self-evident assumptions about the nature of the state and politics. Instead its author offers a sustained meta-theoretical commentary on the intellectual conditions of possibility of serious engagement with the state and state power from a broader, societal perspective. Smith attempts this because he discerns a crisis in the taken-for-grantedness of the typical objects of inquiry of such disciplines as economics, politics, and sociology. He claims that their respective objects are increasingly seen as complex, uncertain, and contested spaces and that these disciplines themselves have become disoriented. Inter alia, this requires a rethinking of the state as an analytical object. In pursuing this meta-theoretical project, Smith draws heavily on the “critical realist” position (initially known as “transcendental realism” or “critical naturalism”) of the British-based philosopher of science, Roy Bhaskar. Thus his analysis begins with some crucial distinctions among empiricism, idealism, and realism and explores their different ontological, epistemological, methodological, and substantive implications for the analysis of social relations. It then addresses the philosophical and theoretical development of three very different theorists of power, who are taken as interesting if not wholly representative exemplars of empiricism, idealism, and a mixture of idealism and realism, respectively. Smith concludes with some of his own meta-theoretical comments on state theory.
Protection without Capture: Product Approval by a Politically Responsive, Learning Regulator
Authors: CARPENTER DANIEL P.
Published: May 2008

When policy arrangements appear to favor well-organized and wealthy interests, should we infer “capture” of the political process? In particular, might larger firms receive regulatory “protection” even when the regulatory agency is not captured by producers? I model regulatory approval—product approval, licensing, permitting and grant making—as a repeated optimal stopping problem faced by a learning regulator subject to variable political pressure. The model is general but stylistically applied to pharmaceutical regulation. Under the assumption that consumers are differentially organized, but producers are not, there nonetheless exist two forms of “protection” for larger, older producers. First, firms submitting more applications may expect quicker and more likely approvals, even in cases where their reputations for safety are below industry average. Second, “early entrants” to an exclusive market niche (disease) receive shorter expected approval times than later entrants, even when later entrants offer known quality improvements. The findings extend to cases of bounded rationality and a reduced form of endogenous firm submissions. The model shows that even interest-neutral “consumer” regulation can generate protectionist outcomes, and that commonly adduced evidence for capture is often observationally equivalent to evidence for other models of regulation.
History and Dissent: Bernard Crick's The American Science of
Politics
Authors: KENNY MICHAEL
Published: May 2008

This article revisits the critique of political science outlined in
Bernard Crick's (1959) The American Science of
Politics. Although this work inspired a number of
subsequent critics of the discipline and survives in the footnotes of many
historical accounts of political science, its contents are now largely
overlooked or forgotten. Having reconstructed its main arguments, I explore
the mixed critical response this work elicited on publication, and then seek
to explain why its influence was so short-lived. An important reason for its
inability to deflect the discipline from its chosen course lies in the very
distinctive republican–liberal project that guided Crick's thinking in these
years. A critical reengagement with this text is worthwhile, I argue, both
because it illustrates the importance of the migration of ideas and thinkers
to the tradition of political science critique, and because Crick provides a
strikingly different kind of argument for methodological pluralism and
political relevance than that which is offered today by critics of political
science.
Wilson's Failure: Roots of Contention about the Meaning of a Science of
Politics
Authors: UBERTACCIO PETER N. , COOK BRIAN J.
Published: May 2008

Woodrow Wilson sought to establish a new kind of statesmanship for the
American regime and a new science of politics. He intended the latter to
support the former, so that the practicing politician and the studious
academic would not talk past one another. His efforts to redirect the
discipline away from a natural science orthodoxy and subdisciplinary
fragmentation were largely ignored during his time because he failed to
resolve the core disciplinary tension between political science and
political power. Efforts similar to Wilson's have resurfaced periodically as
a result, generating an ongoing contentiousness about the character of the
discipline. We predict that the struggle over such fundamental matters will
continue unabated, for that struggle is rooted in the very object of our
studies.
The Policy Scientist of Democracy: The Discipline of Harold D.
Lasswell
Authors: FARR JAMES , HACKER JACOB S. , KAZEE NICOLE
Published: May 2008

The “policy scientist of democracy” was a model for engaged scholarship
invented and embodied by Harold D. Lasswell. This disciplinary persona
emerged in Lasswell's writings and wartime consultancies during the 1940s,
well before he announced in his APSA presidential
address, printed in the Review precisely 50 years
ago, that political science was “the policy science par
excellence.” The policy scientist of democracy knew all
about the process of elite decision making, and he put his knowledge into
practice by advising those in power, sharing in important decisions, and
furthering the cause of dignity. Although Lasswell formulated this ambitious
vision near the zenith of his influence, the discipline accorded the
ideal—and Lasswell—a mixed reception. Some heralded the policy scientist of
democracy; others observed a contradictory figure, at once positivist and
value-laden, elitist and democratic, heroic and implausible. The conflicted
response exemplifies Lasswell's legacy. The policy scientist of democracy
was—and is—too demanding and too contradictory a hero. But the vital
questions Lasswell grappled with still must be asked a century into the
discipline's development: what is the role of the political scientist in a
democratic society? Do political scientists have any obligation to inform or
shape policy? Are there democratic values that political science should
serve, and if so, what are they? Lasswell never satisfactorily answered
these questions. But in asking and trying to answer them—in his writings and
in his own career—he was guided by a profound and inspiring conviction:
Political science has a unique ability, and even perhaps a special
obligation, to engage with issues of democratic choice that fundamentally
affect the life circumstances of citizens.
The Influence of European Émigré Scholars on Comparative Politics,
1925–1965
Authors: LOEWENBERG GERHARD
Published: May 2008

Among European émigré intellectuals who came to the United States
between 1925 and 1940, a small group of prolific, influential scholars who
received appointments at major colleges and universities helped to restore
the comparative approach to the study of political systems. That approach
had been dominant in the early years of the discipline but had been lost
during its Americanization in the first quarter of the twentieth century.
The teaching and writing of these scholars contributed to the formulation of
theoretical frameworks designed to facilitate cross-national comparison.
When the purview of comparative politics expanded in the 1950s and 1960s to
include the developing areas, the advantages of multination comparisons
became even more evident.
Researching Electoral Politics
Authors: CONVERSE PHILIP E.
Published: May 2008

Roughly two decades after the first issue of the American
Political Science Review, sampling theory emerged to
encourage learning about the many from the few. Once social scientists had
worked out the selection procedures to deal with large and far-flung human
populations, the stage was set for the scientific study of citizen behavior
in national elections, as initially demonstrated by George Gallup in
predicting the 1936 presidential race. This development unleashed a growing
torrent of literature, which by now is simply overwhelming. The many high
points in this literature could scarcely be listed, much less abstracted, in
the brief compass allowed this essay. So I must invoke some severe selection
principles in order to proceed.
The American Political Science Review Citation Classics
Authors: Sigelman Lee
Published: May 2008

In any scholarly field, some works are widely acknowledged as classics,
whereas the rest—indeed, the great majority—are little noted nor long
remembered. Indeed, according to the “Iron Law of Important Articles,” the
number of significant articles increases only to the extent of the square
root of the number of published articles (Holub, Tappeiner, and Eberharter
1991). It follows that as a research literature grows, important articles
constitute an ever-decreasing proportion of the total output.