bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Interactions of natural and sexual selection: damselfish prioritize brood defense with male–male competition or courtship
Authors: Leese Joseph , Snekser Jennifer , Itzkowitz Murray
Published: January 2010

Natural and sexual selection often act in opposing directions, forcing individuals to prioritize activities necessary for survival with those required for reproduction. We examined the interaction of natural and sexual selection pressures on the behaviour of beaugregory damselfish, Stegastes leucostictus, by presenting territorial males with an egg predator and either a male or female conspecific, requiring males to prioritize brood defense with either courtship or intra-sexual competition. By measuring the time spent near stimuli, we examined the influence of several factors, including stimuli type, variation in predator number, and the presence of eggs in a nest site. Generally, males spent more time with conspecific stimuli than egg predators, suggesting that the sexual selection pressures of deterring rivals and attracting mates outweigh the natural selection pressure to engage in brood defense. This decision was affected by the sex of the conspecific presented, the presence of eggs in a male's territory, and a number of interactions of these factors, indicating that male damselfish consider multiple factors before investing in certain types and intensities of behaviours. Furthermore, observations of behaviours associated with courtship and intrasexual aggression show that a natural selection pressure impacts intra- and inter-sexually selected behaviours differently in this system.
Seeking Justice among the 'Outsiders': Christian Recourse to Non-Ecclesiastical Judicial Systems under Early Islam
Authors: Simonsohn Uriel
Published: January 2010

The phenomenon of Christian recourse to non-ecclesiastical judicial systems during the first few centuries following the Muslim conquest is at the core of this paper. This phenomenon not only alludes to a reality of legal diversity but also to the social heterogeneity that has characterized Near Eastern societies long before the Arab takeover. Through the adoption of the legal-anthropological paradigm of legal pluralism and the examination of West Syrian legal sources, the paper seeks to identify the social agenda of West Syrian ecclesiastical leaders. Much of the discussion revolves around the term 'outsiders', barrāyē, and attempts to delineate the term's various meanings within the legal discourse.
Tradition and the Formation of the 'Nestorian' Identity in Sixth- to Seventh-Century Iraq
Authors: Reinink Gerrit
Published: January 2010

Religious identities in ancient Near Eastern Christianity were mainly and primarily defined along the lines of Christological positions held by the different Christian communities. This article discusses the origin, development, and propagation of the East Syrian 'Nestorian' Christology of the two natures and two hypostaseis in Christ. It is argued that the process of the formation of the East Syrian Christological identity took a relative long time due to the complex and pluriform cultural tradition in East Syrian Christianity by the end of the sixth century and the radically changing historical, political, and social conditions in late sixth- and early seventh-century Iraq.
Dominance and Diversity: Kingship, Ethnicity, and Christianity in Orthodox Ethiopia
Authors: Kaplan Steven
Published: January 2010

The purpose of this article is to survey the history of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church with an emphasis on several features which are of significance for comparison to Syriac Orthodox Christianity. Although it focuses primarily on the period from 1270 during which 'Ethiopian' was a national rather than ethnic identity, it shares several themes with other papers in this volume. After considering the manner in which Christianity reached Ethiopia and in particular the central role played by the royal court in the acceptance and consolidation of the Church, attention is given to the claims of successive Ethiopian rulers and ethnic groups to be 'Israelites', that is, descendants of biblical figures most notably King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. The paper next considers the manner in which monastic movements, which emerged in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, were associated with ethnically based resistance to the expansion of the Christian kingdom. Other themes include the development of a tradition of biblical interpretation and Christological controversies. The paper concludes with a discussion of ongoing research concerning the Ethiopian diaspora which has developed in the period since the Marxist revolution of 1974.
Family Matters: Community, Ethnicity, and Multiculturalism
Authors: Hofstee Willem
Published: January 2010

Concepts which play an important role in the theoretical framework of community studies, such as community, identity, nation and nation state, ethnicity, and multiculturalism, are being discussed and questioned. It is argued that the idea of family resemblances should form the basis of any comparison, and that the circumstances in which these concepts are being expressed should be studied first, instead of using a checklist in order to establish them.
Syriac Historiography and Identity Formation
Authors: Debié Muriel
Published: January 2010

Historiographical texts are here read as literary compositions of their time, providing us with various elements of the process of identity construction or reconstruction. The first West Syrian historical texts were produced in the sixth century, when the history of what would become the Syrian Orthodox Church began. An examination of contemporary sources and myths of origins shows that the ethnic origins of the Abgarid dynasty played no part in Syrian 'ethnogenesis', but that there existed a notion of Syro-Mesopotamian origins, closely related to a supposed homeland, that of Aram. An acknowledged common ancestry going back to the Chaldean and Assyrian Empires relies on a common language more than a common homeland or sovereign. Whereas the Assyrians came to personify the ever-hostile Persian neighbour, a sort of stereotypical enemy, the Hellenistic kings were perceived as having effected a synthesis of the double Syro-Mesopotamian and Greek culture. The Seleucid era, as adopted by the Edessans, thus remained in use regardless of the prevailing political powers and is an assertion of independence and a strong local identity marker, being a rejection of the local Antiochene as well as the imperial Byzantine eras. The Syrian Orthodox also developed an innovative method of writing the history of their separated Church, producing a new genre consisting of lengthy chronicles written in several parts or columns, in which political and ecclesiastical history were kept separate. This Syrian Orthodox method of writing history is the only truly distinctive Syrian Orthodox literary genre.
Iconography and Identity: Syrian Elements in the Art of Crusader Cyprus
Authors: Carr Annemarie Weyl
Published: January 2010

The murals of triumphal arch in the Church of the Panagia Phorbiotissa, Cyprus, painted in the late thirteenth century when Cyprus was a Crusader state, adopt an iconography paralleled not in Byzantium but in the Miaphysite churches of the Syrian and Egyptian mainland, and best analyzed in relation to Miaphysite liturgical exegesis. As such, they suggest three revisions to current ways of thinking about the roles of Cyprus and the mainland in shaping the art of the Crusader era: 1) rather than for a 'maniera cypria' or a 'maniera tripolitana', we must look for an intricate, two-way reciprocity; 2) it is a reciprocity not simply between Cyprus and the mainland Crusader states, but between Cyprus and the far larger terrain of Syrian and Egyptian eastern Christendom; and 3) it engages not only style but also iconography and content.
Art and Identity in an Amulet Roll from Fourteenth-Century Trebizond
Authors: Peers Glenn
Published: January 2010

This article examines a unique survival from the Middle Ages: an amulet roll, now divided between libraries in New York City and Chicago, which now measures approximately 5 m in width and 8–9 cm in width, which has Greek texts on the obverse and Arabic on the reverse, and a series of very fine illustrations on the Greek side. Analysis of the roll reveals that it originated in Trebizond in the second half of the fourteenth century, and the roll is therefore considered within the cultural and political context of that small but active Greek kingdom. The article pays particular attention to the text and representation of a rare figure, Evgenios of Trebizond, who is included among a series of saints and prophets in order to enact that saint's protection of the (evidently elite) patron of the roll. And through the series of texts and images about the letter and self-portrait of Christ, the Mandylion, the roll also stated the sacred destiny of Trebizond. The roll generated identity through its Greek Christian texts and images, and made clear the special role God had chosen for Trebizond.
The Development of a Chalcedonian Identity in Byzantium (451–553)
Authors: Price Richard
Published: January 2010

The Byzantine Church adopted a Chalcedonian identity only slowly. At first the majority even of Chalcedonians played down the significance of the council, claiming that it did little more than repeat the teaching of the Nicene Creed. Down to 518 committed Chalcedonians, strongly upholding the teaching of the council, were vocal, but few. It is with Justin I (518–527) and his nephew Justinian I (527–565) that State and Church came to insist on the council. Justinian's commitment to it has sometimes been doubted because of his repeated attempts to win back the non-Chalcedonians (Miaphysites) to the imperial Church by inviting them back without requiring subscription to the Chalcedonian Definition. He was motivated by a desire that even the Miaphysites would look to him as their patron, as required for the maintenance of the unity of the empire. But his theological writings make it clear that he was convinced of the truth of the teaching of Chalcedon. The age of Justinian thus saw the attainment of a truly Chalcedonian identity in the imperial Church. This was a matter of official doctrine. In the sphere of popular piety Chalcedon had less impact. The affirmation of Chalcedon shaped Byzantine communal identity less than the rejection of Chalcedon shaped that of Miaphysite Syria and Egypt.
Jejunal Feeding Tubes Can Be Efficiently and Independently Placed by Intensive Care Unit Teams
Authors: Welpe Pascal , Frutiger Adrian , Vanek Patrik , Kleger Gian‐Reto
Published: January 2010

Background:

Nutrition support is an important therapeutic measure in critically ill patients. Several studies have shown that the enteral route is preferable to the parenteral route. Insertion of a feeding tube beyond the ligament of Treitz combined with continuous gastric drainage will reduce regurgitation and probably also the rate of nosocomial pneumonia. This study was conducted to assess the safety, success rate, and time required to establish jejunal nutrition by the fluoroscopy‐guided technique in intensive care unit (ICU) patients.

Methods:

This was a prospective observational study in the ICUs of a 300‐bed and a 600‐bed community hospital. Indications were large gastric residuals during attempted gastric feeding, severe acute pancreatitis, or recurrent aspiration. Feeding tubes were introduced by the ICU staff at bedside under fluoroscopic guidance (a senior ICU physician and a resident or a registered ICU nurse). The correct jejunal position was documented by the application of a radiopaque contrast medium through the tube. After confirmation of the correct position, jejunal tube feeding was immediately started.

Results:

The insertion procedure in 38 patients lasted a median of 17 minutes. The median time from decision to place the tube until start of enteral feeding was 141 minutes. The success rate was 84.2%. No adverse events were observed.

Conclusions:

Fluoroscopic placement of a jejunal feeding tube at the bedside is fast, is safe, and has a high success rate when performed by well‐trained ICU staff. Using this method makes the ICU team more self‐sufficient when critically ill patients require enteral nutrition and no gastroenterologist is available.
Artist Garret as Growth Machine? Local Policy and Artist Housing in U.S. Cities
Authors: Strom Elizabeth
Published: January 2010

While artists have always lived in cities, never before have city governments so actively sought to court artists, most notably by supporting the development of subsidized artist housing. This article relies on a survey of municipal officials, interviews, and secondary sources to document the spread of publicly supported artist housing. The article argues that artist housing programs can be found even in cities not known as cultural cities. It further demonstrates that in most cities, artist housing programs are considered part of an economic development agenda. It concludes that the unique class position of artists render them well suited in the eyes of public officials to play a transformative role in urban neighborhoods.
Osteogenic Differentiation by Rat Bone Marrow Stromal Cells on Customized Biodegradable Polymer Scaffolds
Authors: Dånmark Staffan , Finne-Wistrand Anna , Wendel Mikael , Arvidson Kristina , Albertsson Ann-Christine , Mustafa Kamal
Published: January 2010

In this report, poly(L-lactide-co-ε-caprolactone), poly(LLA-co-CL) and poly(L-lactide-co-1,5-dioxepan-2-one), poly(LLA-co-DXO) were evaluated and compared for potential use in bone tissue engineering constructs together with bone marrow stromal cells (BMSC). The copolymers were tailored to reduce the level of harmful tin residuals in the scaffolding. BMSC isolated from Sprague—Dawley rats were seeded onto the scaffolds and cultured in vitro for up to 21 days. Cell spreading and proliferation was analyzed after 72 h by scanning electron microscopy and thiazolyl blue tetrazolium bromide (MTT) conversion assay. Osteogenic differentiation of BMSC was evaluated by real-time PCR after 14 and 21 days of culture. Hydrophilicity was significantly different between poly(LLA-co-CL) and poly(LLA-co-DXO) with the latter being more hydrophilic. After 72 h, both scaffolds supported increased cell proliferation and the mRNA expression of osteocalcin and osteopontin was significantly increased after 21 days. Further investigation of these constructs, with lower levels of tin residuals, are being pursued.
The Cost of Stress: A Dilemma With Healthy Mutation Carriers
Authors: Gigi Ariela
Published: January 2010

Literature poses the question of whether people bear a prior physiological tendency to react to stress that makes them more susceptible to onset of diseases or whether traumatic events are powerful enough to trigger a physiological reaction that ultimately induces a disease. Creutzfeldt—Jakob disease (CJD) is a neurodegenerative disorder with a sudden and rapid onset and progression. Thus far, no therapeutic or prophylactic treatment has been available. Recently, it was found that apparently healthy mutation carriers of CJD demonstrate higher anxiety levels than noncarriers from the same families. Furthermore, there seems to be a connection between stressful life events and the onset of CJD. Over the past few years, people whose relatives died due to CJD are becoming increasingly interested in genetic consultation based on a fear that they too are carrying the mutation. The dilemma of “cost—benefit” of making available such information in this unique stressed population is discussed.
Virological Rather Than Host Factors Are Associated With Transaminase Levels Among HIV/HCV-Coinfected Patients
Authors: Shores Nathan J. , Maida Ivana , Perez-Saleme Leticia , Núñez Marina
Published: January 2010

Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) is a routine parameter in the assessment and monitoring of chronic hepatitis C viral (HCV) infection. Hepatitis C virus-infected African Americans (AAs) have been reported to have lower ALT levels. In this retrospective, cross-sectional, multicenter study, host and virological factors possibly associated with ALT levels were analyzed by multivariate regression analyses among HIV/HCV-coinfected patients. Of the 289 patients included, 142 were African Americans and 144 Caucasians. In multivariate analysis, only HCV genotype 3 (B 0.2 [95% CI 13.39-52.33]; P = .001) and HCV RNA >500 000 IU/mL (B 3.1 [95% CI 7.67-34.75]; P = .002) were independent predictors of higher ALT levels. Per the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease (AASLD) definition, 18.2% had ALT levels within normal limits. Male sex and HCV RNA <500 000 IU/mL predicted ALT within normal limits. Hepatitis C viral factors rather than race were associated with ALT levels in this HIV/HCV-coinfected population. ALT were within normal limits in 18% of patients, who more often were male and had lower Hepatitis C viral load.
Denying Animals Childhood and its Implications for Animal-protective Law Reform
Authors: Bryant Taimie L.
Published: January 2010

The current state of statutory and common law denies even minimal protection to the vast majority of animals. Much animal law scholarship focuses on moral justifications for increased legal protection on the basis of animals’ capacity to suffer physical pain or their cognitive ability. This commentary describes the state of the law and argues that the law will not change as long as animals’ capacities beyond physical suffering or cognitive ability are not recognized. That animals as individuals have experiences, such as “childhood,” and relationships with each other, such as “parent-child” relationships, must be recognized before the law can shift significantly enough to provide protection even from physical suffering. Disclosure laws, in and of themselves, do little without transformative understanding of the information disclosed.
CD137 agonist antibody prevents cancer recurrence: contribution of CD137 on both hematopoietic and nonhematopoietic cells
Authors: Narazaki Hidehiko , Zhu Yuwen , Luo Liqun , Zhu Gefeng , Chen Lieping
Published: January 2010

Antigen-specific memory T cells (Tms) are essential in the immune surveillance of residual and metastatic tumors. Activation of Tms requires designing vaccines based on tumor rejection antigens, which are often not available to cancer patients. Therefore, it is desirable to have a general applicable approach to activate Tms without extensive knowledge of tumor antigens. Here, we report that activation of antigen-specific Tms could be achieved by the administration of agonistic anti-CD137 monoclonal antibody without additional tumor vaccination, leading to the prevention of recurrence and metastases after surgical resection of primary tumors in mouse models. By reconstitution with CD137-deficient Tms, we demonstrate that expression of CD137 on antigen-specific Tms is only partially required for the effect of anti-CD137 antibody. Other host cells, including those from hematopoietic and nonhematopoietic origins, are also important because ablation of CD137 from these cells partially but significantly eliminates antitumor effect of anti-CD137 antibody. Our findings implicate a potential new approach to prevent recurrence and metastases in cancer patients.
H4R3 methylation facilitates β-globin transcription by regulating histone acetyltransferase binding and H3 acetylation
Authors: Li Xingguo , Hu Xin , Patel Bhavita , Zhou Zhuo , Liang Shermi , Ybarra River , Qiu Yi , Felsenfeld Gary , Bungert Jörg , Huang Suming
Published: January 2010

Histone modifications play an important role in the process of transcription. However, in contrast to lysine methylation, the role of arginine methylation in chromatin structure and transcription has been underexplored. The globin genes are regulated by a highly organized chromatin structure that juxtaposes the locus control region (LCR) with downstream globin genes. We report here that the targeted recruitment of asymmetric dimethyl H4R3 catalyzed by PRMT1 (protein arginine methyltransferase 1) facilitates histone H3 acetylation on Lys9/Lys14. Dimethyl H4R3 provides a binding surface for P300/CBP-associated factor (PCAF) and directly enhances histone H3 acetylation in vitro. We show that these active modifications are essential for efficient interactions between the LCR and the βmaj-promoter as well as transcription of the β-globin gene. Furthermore, knockdown (KD) of PRMT1 by RNA interference in erythroid progenitor cells prevents histone acetylation, enhancer and promoter interaction, and recruitment of transcription complexes to the active β-globin promoter. Reintroducing rat PRMT1 into the PRMT1 KD MEL cells rescues PRMT1 binding, β-globin transcription, and erythroid differentiation. Taken together, our data suggest that PRMT1-mediated dimethyl H4R3 facilitates histone acetylation and enhancer/promoter communications, which lead to the efficient recruitment of transcription preinitiation complexes to active promoters.
Donor and recipient chemokine receptor CCR5 genotype is associated with survival after bone marrow transplantation
Authors: McDermott David H. , Conway Susan E. , Wang Tao , Ricklefs Stacy M. , Agovi Manza A. , Porcella Stephen F. , Tran Huong Thi Bich , Milford Edgar , Spellman Stephen , Abdi Reza
Published: January 2010

Despite continual improvement, morbidity and mortality after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) remain high. The importance of chemokines in HSCT lies in their regulation of immune responses that determine transplantation outcomes. We investigated the role of recipient and donor chemokine system gene polymorphisms by using a candidate gene approach on the incidence of graft-versus-host disease and posttransplantation outcomes in 1370 extensively human leukocyte antigen–matched, unrelated donor-recipient pairs by using multivariate Cox regression models. Our analysis identified that recipients homozygous for a common CCR5 haplotype (H1/H1) had better disease-free survival (DFS; P = .005) and overall survival (P = .021). When the same genotype of both the donor and recipient were considered in the models, a highly significant association with DFS and overall survival was noted (P < .001 and P = .007, respectively) with absolute differences in survival of up to 20% seen between the groups at 3 years after transplantation (50% DFS for pairs with recipient CCR5 H1/H1 vs 30% for pairs with donor CCR5 H1/H1). This finding suggests that donor and/or recipient CCR5 genotypes may be associated with HSCT outcome and suggests new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for optimizing therapy.
Skin-draining lymph nodes contain dermis-derived CD103− dendritic cells that constitutively produce retinoic acid and induce Foxp3+ regulatory T cells
Authors: Guilliams Martin , Crozat Karine , Henri Sandrine , Tamoutounour Samira , Grenot Pierre , Devilard Elisabeth , de Bovis Béatrice , Alexopoulou Lena , Dalod Marc , Malissen Bernard
Published: January 2010

Small intestinal CD103+ dendritic cells (DCs) have the selective ability to promote de novo generation of regulatory T cells via the production of retinoic acid (RA). Considering that aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) activity controls the production of RA, we used a flow cytometry–based assay to measure ALDH activity at the single-cell level and to perform a comprehensive analysis of the RA-producing DC populations present in lymphoid and nonlymphoid mouse tissues. RA-producing DCs were primarily of the tissue-derived, migratory DC subtype and can be readily found in the skin and in the lungs as well as in their corresponding draining lymph nodes. The RA-producing skin-derived DCs were capable of triggering the generation of regulatory T cells, a finding demonstrating that the presence of RA-producing, tolerogenic DCs is not restricted to the intestinal tract as previously thought. Unexpectedly, the production of RA by skin DCs was restricted to CD103− DCs, indicating that CD103 expression does not constitute a “universal” marker for RA-producing mouse DCs. Finally, Toll-like receptor (TLR) triggering or the presence of a commensal microflora was not essential for the induction of ALDH activity in the discrete ALDH+ DC subsets that characterize tissues constituting environmental interfaces.
Detecting disease associated modules and prioritizing active genes based on high throughput data
Authors: Qiu Yu-Qing , Zhang Shihua , Zhang Xiang-Sun , Chen Luonan
Published: January 2010

Background

The accumulation of high-throughput data greatly promotes computational investigation of gene function in the context of complex biological systems. However, a biological function is not simply controlled by an individual gene since genes function in a cooperative manner to achieve biological processes. In the study of human diseases, rather than to discover disease related genes, identifying disease associated pathways and modules becomes an essential problem in the field of systems biology.

Results

In this paper, we propose a novel method to detect disease related gene modules or dysfunctional pathways based on global characteristics of interactome coupled with gene expression data. Specifically, we exploit interacting relationships between genes to define a gene's active score function based on the kernel trick, which can represent nonlinear effects of gene cooperativity. Then, modules or pathways are inferred based on the active scores evaluated by the support vector regression in a global and integrative manner. The efficiency and robustness of the proposed method are comprehensively validated by using both simulated and real data with the comparison to existing methods.

Conclusions

By applying the proposed method to two cancer related problems, i.e. breast cancer and prostate cancer, we successfully identified active modules or dysfunctional pathways related to these two types of cancers with literature confirmed evidences. We show that this network-based method is highly efficient and can be applied to a large-scale problem especially for human disease related modules or pathway extraction. Moreover, this method can also be used for prioritizing genes associated with a specific phenotype or disease.
Chemosensitization of cancer cells by siRNA using targeted nanogel delivery
Authors: Dickerson Erin B , Blackburn William H , Smith Michael H , Kapa Laura B , Lyon L Andrew , McDonald John F
Published: January 2010

Background

Chemoresistance is a major obstacle in cancer treatment. Targeted therapies that enhance cancer cell sensitivity to chemotherapeutic agents have the potential to increase drug efficacy while reducing toxic effects on untargeted cells. Targeted cancer therapy by RNA interference (RNAi) is a relatively new approach that can be used to reversibly silence genes in vivo by selectively targeting genes such as the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), which has been shown to increase the sensitivity of cancer cells to taxane chemotherapy. However, delivery represents the main hurdle for the broad development of RNAi therapeutics.

Methods

We report here the use of core/shell hydrogel nanoparticles (nanogels) functionalized with peptides that specially target the EphA2 receptor to deliver small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) targeting EGFR. Expression of EGFR was determined by immunoblotting, and the effect of decreased EGFR expression on chemosensitization of ovarian cancer cells after siRNA delivery was investigated.

Results

Treatment of EphA2 positive Hey cells with siRNA-loaded, peptide-targeted nanogels decreased EGFR expression levels and significantly increased the sensitivity of this cell line to docetaxel (P < 0.05). Nanogel treatment of SK-OV-3 cells, which are negative for EphA2 expression, failed to reduce EGFR levels and did not increase docetaxel sensitivity (P > 0.05).

Conclusion

This study suggests that targeted delivery of siRNAs by nanogels may be a promising strategy to increase the efficacy of chemotherapy drugs for the treatment of ovarian cancer. In addition, EphA2 is a viable target for therapeutic delivery, and the siRNAs are effectively protected by the nanogel carrier, overcoming the poor stability and uptake that has hindered clinical advancement of therapeutic siRNAs.
Selective unresponsiveness to the inhibition of p38 MAPK activation by cAMP helps L929 fibroblastoma cells escape TNF-α-induced cell death
Authors: Wang Jing , Tang Ruihong , Lv Ming , Zhang Jiyan , Shen Beifen
Published: January 2010

Background

The cyclic AMP (cAMP) signaling pathway has been reported to either promote or suppress cell death, in a cell context-dependent manner. Our previous study has shown that the induction of dynein light chain (DLC) by cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB) is required for cAMP-mediated inhibition of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) p38 activation in fibroblasts, which leads to suppression of NF-κB activity and promotion of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)-induced cell death. However, it remains unknown whether this regulation is also applicable to fibroblastoma cells.

Methods

Intracellular cAMP was determined in L929 fibroblastoma cells after treatment of the cells with various cAMP elevation agents. Effects of cAMP in the presence or absence of the RNA synthesis inhibitor actinomycin D or small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) against CREB on TNF-α-induced cell death in L929 cells were measured by propidium iodide (PI) staining and subsequent flow cytomety. The activation of p38 and c-Jun N-terminal protein kinase (JNK), another member of MAPK superfamily, was analyzed by immunoblotting. JNK selective inhibitor D-JNKi1 and p38 selective inhibitor SB203580 were included to examine the roles of JNK and p38 in this process. The expression of DLC or other mediators of cAMP was analyzed by immunoblotting. After ectopic expression of DLC with a transfection marker GFP, effects of cAMP on TNF-α-induced cell death in GFP+ cells were measured by PI staining and subsequent flow cytomety.

Results

Elevation of cAMP suppressed TNF-α-induced necrotic cell death in L929 fibroblastoma cells via CREB-mediated transcription. The pro-survival role of cAMP was associated with selective unresponsiveness of L929 cells to the inhibition of p38 activation by cAMP, even though cAMP significantly inhibited the activation of JNK under the same conditions. Further exploration revealed that the induction of DLC, the major mediator of p38 inhibition by cAMP, was impaired in L929 cells. Enforced inhibition of p38 activation by using p38 specific inhibitor or ectopic expression of DLC reversed the protection of L929 cells by cAMP from TNF-α-induced cell death.

Conclusion

These data suggest that the lack of a pro-apoptotic pathway in tumor cells leads to a net survival effect of cAMP.
The sigmoid volvulus: surgical timing and mortality for different clinical types
Authors: Cirocchi Roberto , Farinella Eriberto , La Mura Francesco , Morelli Umberto , Trastulli Stefano , Milani Diego , Di Patrizi Micol S , Rossetti Barbara , Spizzirri Alessandro , Galanou Ioanna , Kopanakis Konstandinos , Mecarelli Valerio , Sciannameo Francesco
Published: January 2010

Background

In western countries intestinal obstruction caused by sigmoid volvulus is rare and its mortality remains significant in patients with late diagnosis. The aim of this work is to assess what is the correct surgical timing and how the prognosis changes for the different clinical types.

Methods

We realized a retrospective clinical study including all the patients treated for sigmoid volvulus in the Department of General Surgery, St Maria Hospital, Terni, from January 1996 till January 2009. We selected 23 patients and divided them in 2 groups on the basis of the clinical onset: patients with clear clinical signs of obstruction and patients with subocclusive symptoms. We focused on 30-day postoperative mortality in relation to the surgical timing and procedure performed for each group.

Results

In the obstruction group mortality rate was 44% and it concerned only the patients who had clinical signs and symptoms of peritonitis and that were treated with a sigmoid resection (57%). Conversely none of the patients treated with intestinal derotation and colopexy died. In the subocclusive group mortality was 35% and it increased up to 50% in those patients with a late diagnosis who underwent a sigmoid resection.

Conclusions

The mortality of patients affected by sigmoid volvulus is related to the disease stage, prompt surgical timing, functional status of the patient and his collaboration with the clinicians in the pre-operative decision making process. Mortality is higher in both obstructed patients with generalized peritonitis and patients affected by subocclusion with late diagnosis and surgical treatment; in both scenarios a Hartmann's procedure is the proper operation to be considered.
Levels of anti-citrullinated protein antibodies and IgM rheumatoid factor are not associated with outcome in early arthritis patients: a cohort study
Authors: Ursum Jennie , Bos Wouter H , van Dillen Nancy , Dijkmans Ben AC , van Schaardenburg Dirkjan
Published: January 2010

Introduction

To investigate whether baseline levels of anti-citrullinated protein antibody (ACPA) or IgM rheumatoid factor (IgM-RF) and changes in the year thereafter are associated with disease activity, functional and radiographic outcome in early arthritis patients, and provide additional information over baseline autoantibody status.

Methods

In 545 early arthritis patients ACPA and IgM-RF levels, disease activity (DAS28), the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) and Sharp/Van der Heijde Score (SHS) were assessed annually. Baseline status, levels and first-year changes of the autoantibodies were associated with these measures at the two-year follow-up and sub-analysed according to autoantibody status.

Results

The mean age was 52.7 years, 69% was female, at baseline 56% was ACPA positive, 47% IgM-RF positive. At the two-year follow-up the mean DAS28 was 2.88, and the median HAQ and SHS were 0.38 and 1, respectively. At one year, ACPA and IgM-RF levels had decreased by 31% and 56%, respectively. A switch from negative to positive occurred in 2% for ACPA and 3% for IgM-RF. Positive ACPA and RF status were both associated with SHS at two years (P < 0.001), but baseline levels only showed a minor correlation of ACPA with DAS28 and HAQ at two years. Level changes were not associated with the outcome parameters.

Conclusions

Baseline levels and first-year changes of ACPA and IgM-RF are hardly associated with outcome after two years. Seroconversion seldom occurs. Therefore, it does not appear useful to repeat ACPA or IgM-RF measurements.
Women and the Courts in the Control of Violence between Men: Evidence from a Parisian Neighborhood Under Louis XIV
Authors: Melish Jacob
Published: January 2010

Exceptionally detailed court cases from a neighborhood in early modern Paris show that workingwomen routinely criticized and broke up men's fistfights and other violent altercations. The royal government was thus partly dependent on women to help regulate male behavior and maintain order. Forces empowering women here included the royal criminal courts, whose penalties for much intermale violence gave men an incentive to acquiesce to women's intervention; women's use of language and physical force; and the protection provided by their close male kin. These forces also empowered women in many other nondomestic relations with men. The article deepens our understanding of early modern gender relations, royal criminal courts, and community self-regulation, as well as of workingwomen's roles, sources of empowerment, goals, and contribution to a key aspect of the “civilizing process.”

Les procès judiciaires exceptionnellement détaillés d'un quartier populaire parisien durant l'Ancien régime documentent le rôle des ouvrières dans la critique et l'arrêt des altercations violentes entre hommes. Le gouvernement royal s'appuyait en partie sur les femmes pour régulariser les conduites masculines et maintenir l'ordre. En pénalisant la majorité des violences intermasculines, la cour de justice criminelle royale incitait indirectement les hommes à accepter l'intervention des femmes, dont le pouvoir était également soutenu par leur usage de la parole et de la force physique, et par la protection des hommes de leur famille. Ces méthodes renforçaient aussi la position des femmes face aux hommes dans d'autres situations en dehors du cadre domestique. Cet article approfondit notre connaissance des relations entre hommes et femmes et du rapport entre la justice criminelle royale et l'autorégulation d'une communauté sous l'Ancien Régime. Il permet aussi de mieux comprendre le statut et les raisons d'agir des femmes, et leur contribution à un aspect clé du « processus de civilisation ».
Suzanne, David, Judith, Isaac...: Given Names and Protestant Religious Identity in Eighteenth-Century Paris
Authors: Garrioch David
Published: January 2010

The history of given names, and what they can tell us about individual and group identities, has attracted much attention in recent years. The existence of specifically Protestant given names is well documented in the early modern period, when they served as important markers of religious identity. This article looks at the evolution of given names in eighteenth-century Paris and the extent to which they continued to operate in this way. It suggests that given names provide some evidence of resistance to religious persecution, yet they also reveal an important change in the way religious identity was marked, a change that underpinned the growth of religious toleration in the city.

Les prénoms et leur signification, notamment en ce qui concerne les identités individuelles et collectives, ont attiré l'attention des historiens de l'époque moderne. La préférence chez les protestants pour les prénoms provenant de l'Ancien Testament est bien connue. Cet article examine les usages protestants et catholiques à Paris au XVIIIe siècle et conclut que la persistance des différences dans le choix des prénoms suggère une certaine résistance protestante à la culture dominante. Cependant, l'évolution des pratiques de prénomination indique également d'importants changements dans les identités confessionnelles qui préparent la tolérance religieuse.
How the Not-So-Powerless Prevail: Industrial Labor Market Demand and the Contours of Militancy in Mid-Twentieth-Century São Paulo, Brazil
Authors: French John D.
Published: January 2010

Extensive interviews and confidential police and judicial records are used to explore the life of Marcos Andreotti (1910–1984), a lifelong Communist labor leader active in the industrial ABC region of greater São Paulo. The intensified persecution faced by Andreotti in the early Cold War years is placed within the trajectory of Andreotti’s working life as a skilled electrician. The labor market demand for skilled workers, it is shown, provided the foundation for Andreotti’s sustained militancy and decisively shaped his philosophy of shop floor organizing based on a dialectic between the skilled and the unskilled. This essay sheds new light on the poorly understood foundations of working-class political and labor militancy, while highlighting unexpected continuities between the era of Andreotti, before 1964, and the world of the “New Unionism” in the late 1970s, which began in ABC under the leadership of Brazil’s current president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
“And he hath enough”: The Penitential Economies of The Merchant of Venice
Authors: Hirschfeld Heather
Published: January 2010

This essay explores the penitential structure of Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice in the context of the Reformation reorientation of human agency in matters of atonement. It suggests that the Protestant attack on the Roman sacrament of penance resulted, for both sides of the confessional divide, in a deep suspicion of, as well as a longing for, the possibilities of satisfacere, making or feeling “enough” in matters of spiritual restitution. In The Merchant of Venice, this fraught understanding of penitential experience takes special shape around the Jew Shylock. Shylock's treatment of Antonio depends on his commitment to the idea of “enough” in penitential encounters, while his humiliation at the hands of the Venetian Christians involves eliminating his sense of compensatory satisfaction.
Shakespeare's Everyman: Measure for Measure and English Fundamentalism
Authors: Fulton Thomas
Published: January 2010

The accession of James I triggered an outpouring of religious literature, including Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, which was performed before a royal audience on December 26, 1604. With over thirty biblical allusions and a conspicuously scriptural title, Shakespeare's most biblical play is also arguably his most medieval play, as its allegorical structure and homiletic themes mimic those of the medieval morality play. While Shakespeare's play participates in the religious celebration of the new monarchy, it does so with rich irony, revealing stark contradictions in English political culture. The play's medievalism and its biblical allusions critically expose the efforts of some English Protestants to authorize power on the basis of a fundamentalist reading of the Bible. The biblical interests of Measure for Measure also respond to the king's censure of the Geneva Bible, an act that reinforced the tight relationship between biblical interpretation and the foundations of authority.
Shakespeare's Katherine of Aragon: Last Medieval Queen, First Recusant Martyr
Authors: Appleford Amy
Published: January 2010

Shakespeare's compassionate presentation of Katherine of Aragon in All Is True is part of a conscious Catholicization of the history of the English Reformation. Neither deliberately inconsistent nor merely a representative of one historical tradition presented by a Holinshedian playwright, All Is True points to the possibility of a revitalized and continuous Catholic tradition. The play responds to a militantly Protestant cluster of history plays first acted in the early 1600s and revived in the second decade of the seventeenth century, particularly to their presentation of Elizabeth. Against this Protestantized history, Shakespeare presents Katherine as a figure of the reformist possibility within Catholicism, a figure that resonates with contemporary English Catholic subculture. But Shakespeare's Katherine also alludes sympathetically to a particular royalist agenda of historical and confessional recuperation of the past, recuperation marked by the new entombment of another Catholic queen, Mary Stuart.
Living in the Past: Thebes, Periodization, and The Two Noble Kinsmen
Authors: Davis Alex
Published: January 2010

Our sense of the distinction between the “medieval” and the “early modern” is structured by two notions: that the early modern period is characterized by the death of a chivalric culture that is dominant in the medieval period; and that the early modern is distinguished from the medieval by its superior historical self-awareness. This essay reassesses these themes through a reading of Shakespeare and Fletcher's The Two Noble Kinsmen (1634). This is a play of knighthood and chivalric spectacle, adapted from Chaucer's Knight's Tale, which brings Chaucer on stage in the play's prologue. Reading the play through a tradition of “Theban” narratives that proliferated from antiquity through the Middle Ages shows that the representation of chivalric culture in The Two Noble Kinsmen constructs a vision of the past very different from how modern accounts distinguish between medieval and early modern cultures.
Exhibit Review: The UAW and the Release of Mandela
Authors: Brunsman Denver A.
Published: January 2010

In February 2009, the Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University, presented an exhibit titled Freedom: The UAW and the Release of Nelson Mandela. The exhibit documented the UAW's longtime financial and moral support for global movements against racial apartheid in South Africa. The union's efforts culminated in a flurry of activity that included leadership of the Shell Oil boycott, under its president, Owen Bieber, in the 1980s. In June 1990, Mandela recognized the work of the UAW by visiting Detroit during his U.S. Freedom Tour. The Reuther exhibit has opened an important and underappreciated perspective on the UAW's long history of international activism.
Developing Communitites: The UAW and Community Unions in Los Angeles, 1965 1974
Authors: Murphy Michael J.
Published: January 2010

This article examines the history of the United Automobile Workers (UAW) during the 1960s and early 1970s from a transnational perspective, exploring the ideological overlap between the union's domestic organizing efforts and its international affairs program. The UAW believed workers and their institutions were the catalysts for economic and political development in poor communities in the United States and developing nations abroad. In the United States, the UAW attempted to address the problems facing poor urban areas with solutions that went beyond the shop floor and state anti-poverty programs. Without an industrial base to unite workers on the job, the UAW funded and staffed community unions to mobilize the largely African American neighborhood of Watts and the Mexican American community of East Los Angeles forging an alliance between poor people, workers, and the labor movement. The Watts Labor Community Action Committee (WLCAC) and the East Los Angeles Community Union (TELACU) were designed to create jobs and housing, revitalize the local economy, and ultimately raise the purchasing power and standard of living of residents in these economically and politically marginalized areas of Los Angeles. This article demonstrates the way the UAW's community union movement was influenced by ideas about race, culture, and development that transcended national boundaries, linking urban communities in the United States with developing nations abroad.
Indigenous Labor as Family Labor: Tributes, Migration, and Hispanicization in Colonial Guatemala
Authors: Komisaruk Catherine
Published: January 2010

It is well known in the history of Spanish America that early colonial-era tributes in labor and commodities were gradually converted to tributes in cash, and tribute labor was gradually replaced by privately contracted labor. For Mexico and Central America, scholarship on these processes has remained largely separate from new, gendered histories. This article revisits tribute and native labor procurement, placing gender and family structure at the center of analysis. Focusing on Guatemala, the article argues that the transition from draft tribute labor to privately contracted labor increasingly drew entire families into migratory labor at Spanish agricultural enterprises. As out-migration from native communities lengthened from eight-day draft turns to longer “voluntary” stints, women and children began accompanying their men to colonial estates. Some women stayed behind, typically with small children, while their men left to earn wages. These women could face dire straits if their husbands died or did not return from abroad. Native women with absent husbands were likely to seek wages by migrating to the Spanish city. Further, the restructuring of labor within the cash economy may have encouraged parents to put their children out to work. Wages earned by native children sent to the city were usually remitted to the parents in the sending community, where tributes were collected. Contrary to popular stereotypes, the article concludes, women and children were at the vanguard of urbanization and hispanicization.