bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
From Mare Liberum to the Global Commons: Building on the Grotian Heritage
Authors: Prislan Vid , Schrijver Nico
Published: July 2010

This article addresses the heritage of Grotius's concept of common goods (res communes) as developed in his seminal work Mare liberum. This contribution identifies the basic tenets of Grotius's thinking on the nature of common property and identifies the relevance of these ideas for the present day management of global commons, i.e., the areas and natural resources beyond the limits of national jurisdiction. Successively, the article examines the regimes for: the deep seabed, the high seas, and marine mammals; outer space, particularly the moon; the two polar regions; and the atmosphere, in particular the ozone layer and the climate system. The article demonstrates how some of the original tenets of Grotius's concept of res communis – in particular the idea of inexhaustibility – can no longer be upheld and how the freedom of access to the global commons has become increasingly qualified and supplemented, if not replaced by a new law of international co-operation aimed at conservation and sustainable use of natural wealth and resources beyond the limits of national jurisdiction. The global commons function as laboratories for the testing of new principles of international law and new forms of international co-operation, which can be said to clearly build upon the Grotian heritage.
Performance measurement and the search for best practices
Authors: de Vries Michiel S.
Published: July 2010

Current performance measurement methods are a-contextual and unable to measure the effectiveness of policies. They usually result in rankings that measure the extent of the policy problem, but they fail to reveal anything substantive about the quality of policies, and they are equally unhelpful in the search for best practices. The goal of this article is to further develop and validate a mixed method of performance measurement — a combination of statistical analysis, residue analysis and case study approach — which considers the policy context, relates the outcomes to the policies, and provides guidance in the systematic search for best practices. In this article, this approach will be tested against one of the problems mentioned in the Millennium Development Goals, e.g. literacy rates.

Points for practitioners

Many practitioners struggle with the question how to determine whether their performance is above or below expectations. Classic performance measures can give a distorted view on this question. Using the method introduced in this article might give a better picture of the robustness and effectiveness of performance than the traditional performance measures. It adapts to the adversity of the context and circumstances in which policies come about.
Cerebrospinal fluid markers of idiopathic intracranial hypertension: Is the renin-angiotensinogen system involved?
Authors: Brettschneider Johannes , Hartmann Nele , Lehmensiek Vera , Mogel Helga , Ludolph Albert C , Tumani Hayrettin
Published: July 2010

Background: The causes underlying idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) are poorly understood.

Methods: To identify disease-related biomarkers that could offer a new insight into IIH pathology, we analyzed the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of 18 patients with IIH and 18 controls using two-dimensional fluorescence differential in-gel electrophoresis (2-D DIGE).

Results: We found six proteins that were upregulated in IIH (sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1, zinc-alpha-2-glycoprotein, immunoglobulin heavy constant alpha 1 [IGHA1], alpha-1-antitrypsin [SERPINA1], serotransferrin, haptoglobin) and four proteins that were downregulated (hemopexin, angiotensinogen, vitamin-D-binding protein, transthyretin). The validity of our approach was confirmed for one candidate protein (angiotensinogen). To account for a dependency from blood-CSF barrier function, the ratio of angiotensinogen and albumin CSF-to-serum quotients (Qang/Qalb) was determined, which confirmed the downregulation of angiotensinogen in IIH ( p = .04).

Conclusion: Previous studies showed the intrinsic renin-angiotensin system (RAS) to regulate choroid plexus blood flow and CSF production. Altered levels of angiotensinogen could indicate an imbalance of the RAS in IIH that may provide new targets for therapeutic intervention.
Toxicopathological effects of lambda-cyhalothrin in female rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus)
Authors: Basir Abdul , Khan Ahrar , Mustafa Riaz , Zargham Khan Muhammad , Rizvi Farzana , Mahmood Fazal , Yousaf Arfan
Published: July 2010

The aim of this study was to investigate effects of lambda-cyhalothrin (LCT) on clinical, hematological, biochemical and pathological alterations in rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus). New Zealand white female rabbits (n = 24) of 4-5 months age having 997.92 ± 32.83 g weight were divided into four equal groups. Group A (control) received normal saline intraperitoneally (ip). Animals in groups B, C and D were treated with LCT 1.0, 4.0 and 8.0 mg/kg bw ip. Each group received seven consecutive doses at an interval of 48 hours. Blood and serum samples were collected at an interval of 96 hours. Blood analysis revealed a significant (p < 0.05) decrease in red blood cell and white blood cell counts, hemoglobin concentration and lymphocytes, while mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration, mean corpuscular volume, neutrophils, monocytes and eosinophils were increased. Serum biochemical analysis revealed significant (p < 0.05) decrease in serum total proteins and serum albumin, while an increase was seen in serum alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase activities compared with the control group. Serum globulin values varied non-significantly in all treatment groups as compared to control group. A dose-dependent increase in the incidence of micronucleated polychromatic erythrocyte was observed. All gross and histopathological lesions observed in LCT-treated rabbits were dose-dependent. Liver of the treated rabbits exhibited extensive perihepatitis, hyperplasia of bile duct, necrosis, hemorrhages and congestion. In lungs, there were hemorrhages, thickened alveolar walls, congestion, emphysema, collapsed alveoli and accumulation of extensive inflammatory cells. Kidneys were congested and hemorrhagic whereas renal parenchyma and stroma were normal. Microscopically, heart showed congestion of blood vessels and nuclear pyknosis, myodegeneration. It was concluded from the study that LCT produced toxicopathological alterations in rabbits in a dose-dependent manner. On the basis of the results, it can be suggested that overdosing of LCT be avoided while treating animals for ectoparasites.
Finite Element Analysis of a Three-phase Piezoelectric Nanocomposite
Authors: Maxwell Kevin S. , Whitcomb John D. , Ounaies Zoubeida , Barhoumi Amira
Published: July 2010

Finite element analyses were conducted on a three-phase piezoelectric nanocomposite to investigate the effects of several design parameters on performance. The nanocomposite consisted of a polyimide matrix enhanced with single-wall carbon nanotubes and PZT-5A particles. The effective piezoelectric properties were computed for a wide range of nanotube and PZT particle concentrations. A discrepancy was found between the experimental and computational results. Several modified finite element models were developed to explore possible reasons for this discrepancy, and a hypothesis involving nanotube dispersion was proposed to explain the difference. The response of the nanocomposite under harmonic loading was also investigated using the finite element model. It was found that increasing the dielectric loss of the matrix enhanced piezoelectric performance up to a certain point, which could be an effective tool in designing piezoelectric composite materials.
High Cycle Fatigue Damage Model for Delamination Crack Growth in CF/Epoxy Composite Laminates
Authors: Gornet Laurent , Ijaz Hassan
Published: July 2010

This article presents the development of a fatigue damage model which helps to carry out simulation of the evolution of delamination in the laminated composite structures under cyclic loadings. A classical interface damage evolution law, which is commonly used to predict the static debonding process, is modified further to incorporate fatigue delamination effects due to high cycle loadings. An improved formulation is also presented to incorporate the ‘R’ ratio effects. The proposed fatigue damage model is identified using fracture mechanics tests like double cantilever beam, end-notched-flexure and mixed-mode bending. Then a non-monotonic behavior is used to predict the fatigue damage parameters able to carry out delamination simulations for different mode mixtures. Linear Paris plot behaviors of the above-mentioned fracture mechanics tests are successfully compared with available experimental data on HTA/6376C and AS4/PEEK unidirectional materials.
Quality control of phenotypic forms data in the Type 1 Diabetes Genetics Consortium
Authors: Perdue Letitia H , Albret Lotte , Aldrich Alan , Loth Amanda , Sides Elizabeth G , Dove Angela , Wägner Ana M , Waterman Rebecca , Pierce June J , Akolkar Beena , Steffes Michael W , Hilner Joan E ,   T1DGC
Published: July 2010

Background When collecting phenotypic data in clinics across the globe, the Type 1 Diabetes Genetics Consortium (T1DGC) used several techniques that ensured consistency, completeness, and accuracy of the data.

Purpose The aim of this article is to describe the procedures used for collection, entry, processing, and management of the phenotypic data in this international study.

Methods The T1DGC ensured the collection of high quality data using the following procedures throughout the entire study period. The T1DGC used centralized and localized training, required a pilot study, certified all data entry personnel, created standardized data collection forms, reviewed a sample of form sets quarterly throughout the duration of the study, and used a data entry system that provided immediate feedback to those entering the data.

Results Due to the intensive procedures in developing the forms, the study was able to uphold consistency among all clinics and minimal changes were required after implementation of the forms. The train-the-trainer model was efficient and only a small number of clinics had to repeat a pilot study. The study was able to maintain a low percentage of missing data (<0.001%) and low duplicate data entry error rate (0.10%).

Conclusions It is critical to provide immediate follow-up in order to reinforce training and ensure the quality of the data collected and entered. Clinical Trials 2010; 7: S46—S55. http://ctj.sagepub.com
Up-regulation and subcellular localization of hnRNP A2/B1 in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma
Authors: Cui Huaqing , Wu Feng , Sun Yanling , Fan Guocai , Wang Qingming
Published: July 2010

Background

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the world's leading causes of death among cancer patients. It is important to find a new biomarker that diagnoses HCC and monitors its treatment. In our previous work, we screened a single-chain antibody (scFv) N14, which could specifically recognize human HepG2 HCC cells but not human non-cancerous liver LO2 cells. However, the antigen it recognized in the cells remained unknown.

Methods

Recombinant scFv N14 antibody was expressed as an active antibody. Using this antibody with a combination of immunological and proteomic approaches, we identified the antigen of scFv N14 antibody as the heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein A2/B1 (hnRNP A2/B1). The expression of hnRNP A2/B1 in HCC cells was then investigated by semi-quantitative RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry.

Results

We found that the up-regulation of hnRNP A2/B1 was measured at both transcriptional and translational levels in rat HCC cells but not in rat hepatic cells. We also found that in various human hepatic tissues, hnRNP A2/B1 was highly expressed in both human hepatitis virus positive liver tissues and human HCC tissues but not in normal liver tissues. Interestingly, we observed that the localization of hnRNP A2/B1 in HCC cells was altered during the development of HCC. In human hepatitis virus infected tissues hnRNP A2/B1 resides exclusively in the nuclei of hepatocytes. However, when the HCC progressed from a well differentiated to a poorly differentiated stage, hnRNP A2/B1 was increasingly localized in the cytoplasm. In contrast, the HCC tissues with hnRNP A2/B1 highly expressed in the nucleus decreased.

Conclusions

This work is the first to show that hnRNP A2/B1 is the antigen specifically recognized by the scFv N14 antibody in HCC cells. The over-expression of hnRNP A2/B1 was confirmed in cultured human and rat HCC cell lines, human virus related hepatitis liver tissues and human HCC tissues. The increased localization of hnRNP A2/B1 in the cytoplasm of HCC cells was revealed during the dedifferentiation of hepatocellular carcinoma. Therefore, we suggest that the increased expression and cytoplasmic localization of hnRNP A2/B1 can be used as a diagnostic biomarker to assess the risk of human liver cancer.
Pregabalin in fibromyalgia - responder analysis from individual patient data
Authors: Straube Sebastian , Derry Sheena , Moore R Andrew , Paine Jocelyn , McQuay Henry J
Published: July 2010

Background

Population mean changes are difficult to use in clinical practice. Responder analysis may be better, but needs validating for level of response and treatment duration. A consensus group has defined what constitutes minimal, moderate, and substantial benefit based on pain intensity and Patient Global Impression of Change scores.

Methods

We obtained individual patient data from four randomised double blind trials of pregabalin in fibromyalgia lasting eight to 14 weeks. We calculated response for all efficacy outcomes using any improvement (≥ 0%), minimal improvement (≥ 15%), moderate improvement (≥ 30%), substantial improvement (≥ 50%), and extensive improvement (≥ 70%), with numbers needed to treat (NNT) for pregabalin 300 mg, 450 mg, and 600 mg daily compared with placebo.

Results

Information from 2,757 patients was available. Pain intensity and sleep interference showed reductions with increasing level of response, a significant difference between pregabalin and placebo, and a trend towards lower (better) NNTs at higher doses. Maximum response rates occurred at 4-6 weeks for higher levels of response, and were constant thereafter. NNTs (with 95% confidence intervals) for ≥ 50% improvement in pain intensity compared with placebo after 12 weeks were 22 (11 to 870) for pregabalin 300 mg, 16 (9.3 to 59) for pregabalin 450 mg, and 13 (8.1 to 31) for pregabalin 600 mg daily. NNTs for ≥ 50% improvement in sleep interference compared with placebo after 12 weeks were 13 (8.2 to 30) for pregabalin 300 mg, 8.4 (6.0 to 14) for pregabalin 450 mg, and 8.4 (6.1 to 14) for pregabalin 600 mg. Other outcomes had fewer respondents at higher response levels, but generally did not discriminate between pregabalin and placebo, or show any dose response. Shorter duration and use of 'any improvement' over-estimated treatment effect compared with longer duration and higher levels of response.

Conclusions

Responder analysis is useful in fibromyalgia, particularly for pain and sleep outcomes. Some fibromyalgia patients treated with pregabalin experience a moderate or substantial pain response that is consistent over time. Short trials using 'any improvement' as an outcome overestimate treatment effects.
The phylogeography of Indoplanorbis exustus (Gastropoda: Planorbidae) in Asia
Authors: Liu Liang , Mondal Mohammed MH , Idris Mohamed A , Lokman Hakim S , Rajapakse PRV Jayanthe , Satrija Fadjar , Diaz Jose L , Upatham E Suchart , Attwood Stephen W
Published: July 2010

Background

The freshwater snailIndoplanorbis exustusis found across India, Southeast Asia, central Asia (Afghanistan), Arabia and Africa.Indoplanorbisis of economic importance in that it is responsible for the transmission of several species of the genusSchistosomawhich infect cattle and cause reduced livestock productivity. The snail is also of medical importance as a source of cercarial dermatitis among rural workers, particularly in India. In spite of its long history and wide geographical range, it is thought thatIndoplanorbisincludes only a single species. The aims of the present study were to date the radiation ofIndoplanorbisacross Asia so that the factors involved in its dispersal in the region could be tested, to reveal potential historical biogeographical events shaping the phylogeny of the snail, and to look for signs thatI. exustusmight be polyphyletic.

Results

The results indicated a radiation beginning in the late Miocene with a divergence of an ancestral bulinine lineage into Assam and peninsular India clades. A Southeast Asian clade diverged from the peninsular India clade late-Pliocene; this clade then radiated at a much more rapid pace to colonize all of the sampled range ofIndoplanorbisin the mid-Pleistocene.

Conclusions

The phylogenetic depth of divergences between the Indian clades and Southeast Asian clades, together with habitat and parasitological differences suggest thatI. exustusmay comprise more than one species. The timescale estimated for the radiation suggests that the dispersal to Arabia and to Southeast Asia was facilitated by palaeogeographical events and climate change, and did not require human involvement. Further samples from Afghanistan, Africa and western India are required to refine the phylogeographical hypothesis and to include the African Recent dispersal.
Effects of inflammatory cytokine IL-27 on the activation of fibroblast-like synoviocytes in rheumatoid arthritis
Authors: Wong Chun K , Chen Da P , Tam Lai S , Li Edmund K , Yin Yi B , Lam Christopher WK
Published: July 2010

Introduction

Interleukin (IL)-27 is a novel member of the IL-6/IL-12 family cytokines that are produced early by antigen-presenting cells in T helper (Th)1-mediated inflammation. Elevated expression of IL-27 has been detected in the synovial membranes and fluid of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods

We investigated the in vitro effects of IL-27, alone or in combination with inflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α or IL-1 β on the pro-inflammatory activation of human primary fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS) from RA patients and normal control subjects, and the underlying intracellular signaling molecules were determined by intracellular staining using flow cytometry.

Results

Significantly higher plasma concentration of IL-27 was found in RA patients (n = 112) than control subjects (n = 46). Both control and RA-FLS constitutively express functional IL-27 receptor heterodimer, gp130 and WSX-1, with more potent IL-27-mediated activation of signal transducers and activators of transcription (STAT)1 in RA-FLS. IL-27 was found to induce significantly higher cell surface expression of intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1 and vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM)-1 and release of inflammatory chemokine IL-6, CCL2, CXCL9, CXCL10 and matrix metalloproteinase-1 of RA-FLS than that of control FLS (all P < 0.05). Moreover, an additive or synergistic effect was observed in the combined treatment of IL-27 and TNF-α or IL-1 β on the surface expression of ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 and the release of CXCL9 and CXCL10 of RA-FLS. Further investigations showed that the expression of ICAM-1, VCAM-1 and chemokines stimulated by IL-27 was differentially regulated by intracellular activation of phosphatidylinositol 3-OH kinase-AKT, c-Jun amino-terminal kinase and Janus kinase pathways.

Conclusions

Our results therefore provide a new insight into the IL-27-activated immunopathological mechanisms mediated by distinct intracellular signal transductions in joint inflammation of RA.
In-hospital percentage BNP reduction is highly predictive for adverse events in patients admitted for acute heart failure: the Italian RED Study
Authors: Di Somma Salvatore , Magrini Laura , Pittoni Valerio , Marino Rossella , Mastrantuono Antonella , Ferri Enrico , Ballarino Paola , Semplicini Andrea , Bertazzoni Giuliano , Carpinteri Giuseppe , Mulè Paolo , Pazzaglia Maria , Shah Kevin , Maisel Alan , Clopton Paul
Published: July 2010

Introduction

Our aim was to evaluate the role of B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) percentage variations at 24 hours and at discharge compared to its value at admission in order to demonstrate its predictive value for outcomes in patients with acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF).

Methods

This was a multicenter Italian (8 centers) observational study (Italian Research Emergency Department: RED). 287 patients with ADHF were studied through physical exams, lab tests, chest X Ray, electrocardiograms (ECGs) and BNP measurements, performed at admission, at 24 hours, and at discharge. Follow up was performed 180 days after hospital discharge. Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate odds ratios (OR) for the various subgroups created. For all comparisons, a P value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results

BNP median (interquartile range (IQR)) value at admission was 822 (412 - 1390) pg\mL; at 24 hours was 593 (270 - 1953) and at discharge was 325 (160 - 725). A BNP reduction of >46% at discharge had an area under curve (AUC) of 0.70 (P < 0.001) for predicting future adverse events. There were 78 events through follow up and in 58 of these patients the BNP level at discharge was >300 pg/mL. A BNP reduction of 25.9% after 24 hours had an AUC at ROC curve of 0.64 for predicting adverse events (P < 0.001). The odds ratio of the patients whose BNP level at discharge was <300 pg/mL and whose percentage decrease at discharge was <46% compared to the group whose BNP level at discharge was <300 pg/mL and whose percentage decrease at discharge was >46% was 4.775 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.76 - 12.83, P < 0.002). The odds ratio of the patients whose BNP level at discharge was >300 pg/mL and whose percentage decrease at discharge was <46% compared to the group whose BNP level at discharge was <300 pg/mL and whose percentage decrease at discharge was >46% was 9.614 (CI 4.51 - 20.47, P < 0.001).

Conclusions

A reduction of BNP >46% at hospital discharge compared to the admission levels coupled with a BNP absolute value < 300 pg/mL seems to be a very powerful negative prognostic value for future cardiovascular outcomes in patients hospitalized with ADHF.
From Lord to Landowner: The Predicament of the Late Colonial Mixtec Cacique
Authors: Chance John K.
Published: July 2010

In her survey of the indigenous cacicazgo (lordly estate) in New Spain, Margarita Menegus Bornemann (2005) asks why previous studies of this hybrid Indian/Spanish institution have emphasized property and neglected the owners' seigniorial relations with their subject commoner populations. This paper attempts an answer to this question for the Mixteca Baja region in southern Mexico, positing a shift in cacicazgo management away from direct involvement in local government and patronage networks and toward a more impersonal style of (often absentee) landownership. I assess the significance of these trends for the changing status of cacique in the eighteenth century.
Pregnant Men: Modernism, Disability, and Biofuturity in Djuna Barnes
Authors: Davidson Michael
Published: July 2010

This essay investigates the idea of biofuturity within modernism, focusing specifically on the figure of male maternity in Djuna Barnes's Nightwood. Although the figure of the pregnant male occurs in ancient and classical literature, it surfaces significantly in modernist works—Joyce's Ulysses, Pound's Cantos, Freud's Schreber case—at a moment when biological life was being reimagined through the optic of eugenic science and comparative anatomy. The essay extends Lee Edelman's critique of reproductive futurity in No Future to suggest that dystopic biological futures were being imagined around figures such as Dr. O'Connor whose desire, as he says, to “boil some good man's potatoes and toss up a child … every nine months” reinforces his queer identity and annexes the importance of disability in many of the novel's characters. Modernist cultural representations of the pregnant male foreground the spectacle of reproduction loosed from its putative organic site in the female body and displace it elsewhere—the test tube, the surrogate womb, the male body, and, not insignificantly, the novel. This displacement is both a queering and cripping of normative attitudes toward reproductive health and the futures that such embodiment implies. It also warps traditional narrative attitudes toward biological futurity when the family romance no longer reproduces the heterosexual body. Barnes's novel is not a baroque anomaly among stream of consciousness narratives but perhaps the representative modernist novel because it offers an inside narrative of individuals interpellated within biological and racial science.
Dickens's “Supernumeraries” And the Biopolitical Imagination of Victorian Fiction
Authors: Steinlight Emily
Published: July 2010

This article demonstrates both the formal logic and the political stakes of Dickens's refusal to solve the problem his narratives create: the condition of a vast multitude that the impersonal narrator of Bleak House only half-ironically terms “supernumeraries.” Applied to “the people” as a whole in what appears to be a throwaway line, this epithet expresses the theoretical crux of the novel's provocative engagement with a Victorian politics of population. Where recent critics approach the novel genre primarily as a vehicle for domestic ideology and a technology of individualism, the current essay argues that Dickens's fiction instead performs an ongoing and intentionally failed experiment in population management. The Dickensian novel generates an apparent surplus of biological life that allows its narratives to reconstitute the social body in new terms; rather than describing a conventionally realist totality of social relations among individuals, such texts as Bleak House, Little Dorrit, and Our Mutual Friend imagine the human aggregate more paradoxically as a mass that exceeds any conceivable total. In emplotting the systematic failure of society to accommodate the quantity of life it produces—a problem that the disciplinary logic and contractual formations of earlier domestic fiction were never designed to solve—Dickens's novels of life and death in the city find a new impetus for literary production. We might call this the biopolitical imagination.
Heterosexual Horror: Dracula, the Closet, and the Marriage-Plot
Authors: McCrea Barry
Published: July 2010

This article proposes a new account of sexuality and narrative in Bram Stoker's Dracula. It suggests that the two plot strands of the novel—the petit bourgeois narrative of Jonathan and Mina's courtship and the gothic story of Jonathan's imprisonment by Count Dracula—are two different ways of telling the same story, namely that of the marriage-plot. The article suggests that the novel's vampire plot is an expression of the dark underside of its romantic plot. Seeing Jonathan's erotically charged incarceration by Dracula, a wealthy and gallant social superior, as a way of imagining the predicament of the well-married wife has implications for the much-debated question of the novel's relationship to homosexuality and to the “closet.” The argument reverses the more common view of postcolonial and queer theorists concerning orientalism and perversion in Stoker's novel by suggesting that what Dracula views as exotic is the domestic, the home, sexuality, and marriage. Dracula, this is to say, is not about heterosexual marriage threatened or perverted but about its successful fulfillment. If Dracula is written from the perspective of a closeted gay man, as much scholarship contends, this article therefore suggests that the gay closet, far from being a site of pure terror and deception, can provide a privileged outsider's vantage point on heterosexual life. In the closet, erotic desire is always at odds with social institutions; Dracula can be read in part as a horrified imagining of what full participation in institutionalized sexuality would be like.
Review Essay: The Whole Hogg
Authors: Plotz John
Published: July 2010

This article recognizes the accomplishment of the editors of the Stirling/South Carolina Edition of James Hogg and reflects on the long literary eclipse that followed Hogg's death in 1835. Hogg was both the inventor and prime nineteenth-century practitioner of what could be called (on the model of polyglossia) polydoxy, which stages the intersection of profoundly disjunctive belief systems within a single piece of fiction. He produced texts with central mysteries that seem to court a variety of explanations but finally resist the triumph of any one explanatory schema over its alternatives. In Hogg's fiction, divergence in belief does not solely or inevitably occur at the level of speech itself, but may also be found at the level of incident, plot, character, or motive—in the question of what makes a given occurrence into a “story” at all.

Hogg strives for a sort of epistemological degree zero, where various possible explanations hang in equipoise with one another. Stories accordingly often end with some seemingly unrelated detail that serves to embed the entire tale within in a universe where stories, poems, and inscriptions, each equally unlikely, are forced to compete for the same scarce conversational space. The stark battle lines that, during the heyday of the Edinburgh literary scene, characterized journal divisions, political ones, even questions of linguistic fidelity to the Scots dialect may well have been what taught Hogg to conceptualize fiction as a site where profoundly divergent worldviews are suspended next to one another.
After the Beep: Answering Machines and Creaturely Life
Authors: Pettman Dominic
Published: July 2010

This article explores the different ways in which the capacity to respond has been figured, and reconfigured, through different technologies over the past century and a half. Beginning with a rather harrowing telephone message, sampled by Glaswegian band Aerogramme, in which an anonymous woman pleas into the receiver for help, the discussion seeks to both locate and complicate the so-called human element captured in recordings of the voice. Using Eric Santner's notion of creaturely life as a conceptual lens, this piece argues that the melancholy poetics that often accompanies the subfield of media hauntology are still too anthropocentric, given the continued investment in human exceptionalism (albeit of an abject kind). Rather, the cybernetic interdependence of humans, animals, and machines should be fully acknowledged and appreciated in order to avoid the conflation of pathos with the human—thereby perpetuating Descartes' (other) error, the assumption that animals and/or machines can react but not respond. Finally, the article considers the Voyager Golden Record—a collection of images and audio, curated by NASA in 1977 for the edification of would-be curious extraterrestrials—as the intergalactic equivalent of the phone message that began the piece. That is, as an SOS from a troubled species which has yet to come to terms with the identity crisis provoked by exponential technological mediation.
Giant condyloma acuminatum of Buschke and Löwenstein: successful surgical treatment
Authors: Talwar A , Puri N , Singh M
Published: July 2010

The Buschke-Löwenstein tumour is an extremely rare, slow-growing, locally destructive, cauliflower-like mass, also known as giant condyloma acuminatum. We report a case of a 42-year-old man who presented to the department of surgery with a two-year history of a perineal tumour. The mass was painless initially but had become painful more recently. After histopathological confirmation, the tumour was removed surgically, as it was resistant to medical treatment. There has been considerable debate regarding the exact nature, aetiology and treatment of these lesions.
Use of various contraceptives and human papillomavirus 16 and 18 infections in women with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia
Authors: Gavrić-Lovrec V , Takač I
Published: July 2010

The aim of the study was to evaluate the frequency of human papillomavirus (HPV) 16 and 18 infections in patients with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) according to the use of various contraceptive methods. In a study group of 1435 patients with histologically proven CIN, among whom 391 (27.2%) used no contraception, 44 (3.1%) used barrier methods, 705 (49.1%) used oral contraceptives and 295 (20.7%) used an intrauterine device (IUD), the presence of HPV infection was evaluated by DNA in situ hybridization. HPV 16 or 18 infection was present in 666 (46.4%) of all patients in 348 (49.4%) patients who used oral contraceptives, in 169 (43.2%) patients with no contraception, in 128 (43.4%) patients with an IUD and in 21 (47.7%) patients who used barrier methods. There were no significant differences in HPV 16 and 18 infection frequencies among all four groups of patients regarding the contraception method used.
Recurrent respiratory papillomatosis: an uncommon but potentially devastating effect of human papillomavirus in children
Authors: Donne A J , Clarke R
Published: July 2010

Human papillomavirus (HPV) causes disease not only in the genital tract, but also in the larynx. Within the larynx HPV 6/11 causes recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP). RRP is relatively uncommon, yet it is devastating for the patient who requires many surgical procedures over years to control it. The cost of HPV-related genital tract disease is thought to be around £31 million per annum, whereas RRP costs in the region of £4 million annually despite RRP being comparatively rare. The HPV vaccination programme has brought great hope, although it is unfortunate that the current UK programme only targets high-risk HPV. Targeting both low- and high-risk HPV would have had additional benefits for the UK.
Principle and Prototype Testing of a New Matric Suction Sensor
Authors: Dunmola Adedeji , Simms Paul , Padilla Manuel
Published: July 2010

A new principle for matric suction measurement is proposed, based upon strain measurement of a contiguous porous material of high air-entry value (AEV). In theory, this allows for the measurement of matric suction without the associated errors due to cavitation or hysteresis for suctions below the AEV. Results from testing a prototype sensor made from a deformable porous material with a high AEV (S=0.85 at 5 MPa) are presented. Deformation of the prototype was determined by means of attached electrical resistivity strain gauges. Matric suction is then inferred from the strain measurements using poroelasticity theory. Tests performed in a drying artificial silt show that matric suction values inferred using the prototype sensor showed reasonable agreement with corresponding values obtained using a tensiometer, a psychrometer, and with suctions established using axis-translation. Mean absolute errors of matric suction measurement were 8, 16, and 100 kPa for ranges of 0–150, 50–300, and 300–1200 kPa, respectively.
An Evaluation of Fouled Ballast in a Laboratory Model Track Using Ground Penetrating Radar
Authors: Su Li-Jun , Rujikiatkamjorn Cholachat , Indraratna Buddhima
Published: July 2010

Ground penetrating radar (GPR) was used to evaluate fouled ballast in a prototype model railway track designed and constructed at the University of Wollongong. To simulate actual conditions, the track consisted of a layer of sub-grade, a capping layer, and a layer of ballast. The track was then divided into seven fouled ballast sections and two clean ballast sections, nine in all. Radar detectable geotextile was embedded under the ballast to highlight the interface between the ballast and capping layer, and then different frequency antennae were used to capture the reflected GPR signals so that the fouled ballast could be evaluated. The design and construction of the model track and the analysis and interpretation of collected GPR data are presented in this paper. Clear patterns of texture observed from the GPR images illustrate the different fouling conditions. The relative dielectric permittivity of each sub-section was also calculated and compared, which proved that it can be used to classify clean and fouled ballast.
Neck Circumference as a Screening Measure for Identifying Children With High Body Mass Index
Authors: Nafiu Olubukola O. , Burke Constance , Lee Joyce , Voepel-Lewis Terri , Malviya Shobha , Tremper Kevin K.
Published: July 2010

OBJECTIVES:

Overweight in children is most commonly described by using BMI. Because BMI does not adequately describe regional (central) adiposity, other indices of body fatness are being explored. Neck circumference (NC) is positively associated with obstructive sleep apnea, diabetes, and hypertension in adults. NC also has positive correlation with BMI in adults. The possible role of NC in screening for high BMI in children is not well characterized. The aims of this investigation were to examine the correlation between BMI and NC in children and to determine the best NC cutoff that identifies children with high BMI.

METHODS:

Children who were aged 6 to 18 years and undergoing elective noncardiac surgeries were the subjects of this study. Trained research assistants collected clinical and anthropometric data from all patients. We calculated Pearson correlation coefficients between NC and other indices of obesity. We then determined by receiver operating characteristic analyses the optimal NC cutoff for identifying children with high BMI.

RESULTS:

Among 1102 children, 52% were male. NC was significantly correlated with age, BMI, and waist circumference in both boys and girls, although the correlation was stronger in older children. Optimal NC cutoff indicative of high BMI in boys ranged from 28.5 to 39.0 cm. Corresponding values in girls ranged from 27.0 to 34.6 cm.

CONCLUSIONS:

NC is significantly correlated with indices of adiposity and can reliably identify children with high BMI. NC is a simple technique that has good interrater reliability and could be used to screen for overweight and obesity in children.
A new species ofCythere(Ostracoda) from the Middle Eocene McIntosh Formation, Doty Hills, Washington State, USA, and its significance for the evolutionary history of the genus
Authors: Yamaguchi Tatsuhiko , Goedert James L.
Published: July 2010

Cythere ikeyanoriyukiin. sp., an extant phytal ostracode genus, was obtained from the Middle Eocene McIntosh Formation in the Doty Hills, western Washington State, USA. It was associated with eleven taxa, which are extant phytal and shelfal genera such asLoxocorniculum,Xestoleberis,Ambostracon,Coquimba, andAcanthocythereis.The presence ofCytherein this assemblage is surprising and indicates that the first appearance of this genus was middle Eocene time at the latest, or at least 20 Ma earlier than previously thought.Cytheredid not originate in the Pacific Ocean around Japan as previously thought, but instead must have migrated from the northeastern Pacific to the northwestern Pacific between middle Eocene and early Miocene time.
The use of gross dental wear in dietary studies of extinct lagomorphs
Authors: Fraser Danielle , Theodor Jessica M.
Published: July 2010

Studies of paleoenvironments have commonly focused on large mammalian herbivores such as ungulates. Many localities, however, have yielded large numbers of small mammalian herbivores, including lagomorphs and rodents. These fossils represent an untapped paleoecological resource. However, the fossils are often in the form of isolated teeth, and microwear analysis cannot be used due to taphonomic alteration. As a result, we use ungulate gross dental wear as a model. The dental wear features of extant western Canadian lagomorphs are identified and used to create dietary categories that can be applied to make predictions about the diets of extinct forms. The Horse Local Fauna of the Cypress Hills Formation of Saskatchewan has yielded approximately 2,500 fossil specimens, of which nearly 300 are lagomorphs. Two leporid species (rabbits and hares) are present in the Horse Local Fauna, Palaeolagus temnodon and Megalagus brachyodon. Qualitative analysis of the gross dental wear of the lagomorphs of the Horse Local Fauna indicates that M. brachyodon was mainly folivorous and P. temnodon was primarily frugivorous, suggesting that the contemporaneous ecosystem was tree dominated. Gross dental wear analysis allows the use of small herbivores and isolated teeth in paleoecological studies. Studying the diets of small herbivorous mammals will allow more nearly complete reconstructions of past environments and will become increasingly important as more detailed reconstructions are required by paleontologists.
Mid-late Devonian calcified marine algae and cyanobacteria, South China
Authors: Feng Qi , Gong Yi-Ming , Riding Robert
Published: July 2010

Givetian, Frasnian and Famennian limestones from southern China contain microfossils generally regarded as calcified algae and cyanobacteria. These are present in 61 out of 253 sampled horizons in four sections from three widely spaced localities in Guangxi and southern Guizhou. Three of the sections sampled are Givetian-Frasnian-Famennian; one section is Frasnian-Famennian. They include reef and non-reef carbonates of shallow marine platform facies. The following taxa are identified with differing degrees of confidence, and placed in algae, cyanobacteria or microproblematica. Algae: Halysis, ‘solenoporaceans’, Vermiporella. Cyanobacteria: Bevocastria, Girvanella, Hedstroemia, Subtifloria. Microproblematica: ?Chabakovia, Garwoodia, ?Issinella, Izhella, Paraepiphyton, Rothpletzella, Shuguria, ?Stenophycus, Tharama, Wetheredella. As a whole, the abundance of algae, cyanobacteria and microproblematica increases by 34% from Givetian to Frasnian, and declines by 63% in the Famennian. This secular pattern of marked Famennian decrease does not support recognition of them as “disaster forms” in the immediate aftermath of late Frasnian extinction. Nonetheless, their survival into the Famennian could indicate tolerance of environmental stress, independence of changes in food supply, morphologic plasticity, and ability to occupy a range of habitats and depths. Uncertainties concerning the affinities of the problematic taxa hinder assessment of their significance.
Taphonomy and paleoecology of the bivalve trace fossilProtovirgulariain deltaic heterolithic facies of the Miocene Chenque Formation, Patagonia, Argentina
Authors: Carmona Noelia B. , Mángano María Gabriela , Buatois Luis A. , Ponce Juan José
Published: July 2010

Lower Miocene tide-influenced deltaic deposits from the Chenque Formation, Patagonia, Argentina, contain abundant and well-preserved biogenic structures attributed to locomotion of deposit-feeder protobranch bivalves. These trace fossils, assigned to the ichnogenusProtovirgularia, consist of delicate, inclined-to-horizontal, chevronate structures, mostly symmetrical with respect to a median axis. Identification ofProtovirgulariaat sandstone sole beds (hypichnion) is quite straightforward. Endichnial, exichnial and epichnial preservation in heterolithic facies, however, provides a wide variety of forms that depart from the archetypalProtovirgulariaand challenges ichnotaxonomic classification. Specimens in prodelta and delta-front facies display morphologic features controlled by substrate fluidity, toponomy, and sedimentation rate. Most specimens show sharp, closely spaced chevrons and occur along sandstone/mudstone interfaces of the proximal prodelta and distal delta-front deposits. These forms reflect how tracemakers experienced significant friction while advancing through the sediment, which resulted in relatively smaller increments of movements. In contrast, variants ofProtovirgulariaformed in muddier beds, such as in prodeltaic facies, show irregular, poorly defined and unevenly spaced chevrons, and are locally asymmetric in relation to the axis, reflecting softer, water-rich, and plastic substrates. This sediment offered relatively low friction but poor anchorage for the foot. These occurrences ofProtovirgulariain tide-influenced, marginal-marine deposits suggests that protobranchs were tolerant of fluctuations in salinity, sedimentation rates, turbidity, and oxygen depletion, displaying opportunistic strategies in stressed nearshore environments. Our evaluation of taphonomic controls and appropriate identification ofProtovirgulariacan provide valuable information for expanding our knowledge of the ethology and paleoecology of protobranch bivalves.
Devonian (Givetian) Hyolitha from the Kersadiou Formation, Massif Amoricain, France
Authors: Malinky John M. , Racheboeuf Patrick R.
Published: July 2010

Among hyoliths from the Givetian Kersadiou Formation in northwestern France one form is assigned toHyolithes triliratusHall, 1879, which is used as the basis forBrittanellanew genus. The occurrence of this species in France supports affinity for fauna in that region to the Eastern Americas Realm. Other hyoliths from this unit include one species ofHyolithesEichwald, which is left in open nomenclature, and one conch and one platyclaviculate operculum that cannot be identified to genus. The occurrence of these fossils in concretions in an oxygen-stressed dark gray shale supports the notion that this environment served as a refuge for taxa that were less efficient competitors with other normal marine benthos in the Devonian.
Spatial niches and coexistence: testing theory with tarweeds
Authors: Harrison Susan , Cornell Howard , Moore Kara A.
Published: July 2010

Competitive coexistence in a spatially heterogeneous environment is traditionally attributed to niche differences, but several recent theories have proposed important additional roles for propagule limitation and chance (e.g., neutral theory, stochastic niche theory, spatial storage effect). We tested whether propagule supply and timing of disturbance affected the coexistence of three ecologically similar plants that replace one another with partial overlap along a local soil gradient. We asked what prevents the species that dominates the most common habitat (Holocarpha virgata, open hillsides) from invading the habitats where the other two species are dominant (Calycadenia pauciflora, rocky hilltops; Hemizonia congesta, clay‐rich bottomlands). We added abundant Holocarpha seeds into Calycadenia and Hemizonia habitats that were experimentally disturbed at different times of year. Initial Holocarpha seedling densities in Calycadenia and Hemizonia habitats equaled or exceeded those in unmanipulated Holocarpha habitat, but Holocarpha survival, adult size, and fecundity were much lower outside its own habitat. Holocarpha persisted in Calycadenia and Hemizonia habitats for three years, and springtime disturbance promoted this expansion. However, outside its own habitat Holocarpha showed below‐replacement fitness and little competitive effect on the other two species. Our results were most consistent with a deterministic view of spatial niches. Nonetheless, chance events may often cause natural communities to include some transient populations at any given time, leading them to appear “unsaturated” with species.