bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A contralateral repeated bout effect attenuates induction of NF-κB DNA binding following eccentric exercise
Authors: Xin Ling , Hyldahl Robert D. , Chipkin Stuart R. , Clarkson Priscilla M.
Published: August 2013

We investigated the existence of contralateral repeated bout effect and tested if the attenuation of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB; an important regulator of muscle inflammation) induction following eccentric exercise is a potential mechanism. Thirty-one healthy men performed two bouts of knee extension eccentric exercise, initially with one leg and then with the opposite leg 4 wk later. Vastus lateralis muscle biopsies of both exercised and control legs were taken 3 h postexercise. Knee extension isometric and isokinetic strength (60°/sec and 180°/sec) were measured at baseline, pre-exercise, immediately postexercise, and 1/day for 5 days postexercise. Serum creatine kinase (CK) activity and muscle soreness were assessed at baseline and 1/day for 5 days postexercise. NF-κB (p65) DNA-binding activity was measured in the muscle biopsies. Isometric strength loss was lower in bout 2 than in bout 1 at 24, 72, and 96 h postexercise ( P < 0.05). Isokinetic strength (60°/s and 180°/s) was reduced less in bout 2 than in bout 1 at 72 h postexercise ( P < 0.01). There were no significant differences between bouts for postexercise CK activity or muscle soreness. p65 DNA-binding activity was increased following eccentric exercise (compared with the control leg) in bout 1 (122.9% ± 2.6%; P < 0.001) and bout 2 (109.1% ± 3.0%; P < 0.05). Compared with bout 1, the increase in NF-κB DNA-binding activity postexercise was attenuated after bout 2 ( P = 0.0008). Repeated eccentric exercise results in a contralateral repeated bout effect, which could be due to the attenuated increase in NF-κB activity postexercise.
Science and Art of Sculpturing Fluids
Authors: Chomaz J.-M.
Published: August 2013

The role of aesthetics is analysed through examples of the author's work in both science and art & science.
Around the Cusp Singularity and the Breaking of Waves
Authors: Tejerina-Risso J. , Le Gal P.
Published: August 2013

WAVES is an “Art-Science” project on water surface waves. The authors aim to visualize the behaviour of water waves during their evolution: generation, focusing and breaking. Relying on the general property of waves to focus when properly generated or reflected, the authors use a parabolically shaped wave maker to focus water waves in a region of the water surface called the Huygens cusp in optics and then record these breakings using a fast video camera. A novel and spectacular vision of wave breakings is obtained when playing at slow speed.
The First Investigation Report of the Norwegian Finnmark Commission
Authors: Ravna Øyvind
Published: August 2013

The Alta case and the Sámi struggle for “rights to lands and waters” put political pressure on the Norwegian government to broadly explore the rights of the indigenous Sámi people to such resources. Both Norway’s ratification of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No. 169 concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries in 1990, and the 2005 Finnmark Act are results of that exploration. To meet the obligations Norway undertook by signing the ILO Convention, the Finnmark Act authorises the Finnmark Commission to investigate land rights held by Sámi and other people in the most central part of Sámi areas in Norway. In March 2012, the Commission submitted its first report, which is the first specific legal clarification of a particular area after 30 years of examinations and discussions of Sámi rights. The report is therefore met with high expectations. This article analyses the main findings of the Commission, including the interpretation of its mandate and thus also Norway’s obligations in regards to the ILO Convention. The article concludes with reflections as to whether the investigation fulfils Norway’s commitments to identify and recognise the lands of the Sámi, both under national and international law.
Monitoring the Application of the Birds and the Habitats Directives
Authors: Krämer Ludwig
Published: August 2013

The contribution examines the monitoring of the application of Directives 2009/147 on birds and 92/43 on habitats and wild fauna and flora by the EU institutions. It concludes that while without such monitoring, the situation of biodiversity in the EU would be worse, the application of directives and their effects on fauna and flora species is not a success story.
The Wild Has No Words: Environmental NGOs Empowered to Speak for Protected Species as Swedish Courts Apply EU and International Environmental Law
Authors: Epstein Yaffa , Epstein Yaffa , Darpö Jan
Published: August 2013

The Stockholm Administrative Court recently ruled that Sweden’s wolf management policies are incompatible with the Habitats Directive. These policies are also the subject of an on-going infringement proceeding by the European Commission. The administrative court’s decision has been appealed. This case is significant for two reasons. First, it interprets controversial provisions of the Habitats Directive. But perhaps more importantly, it demonstrates the growing impact of EU law in a member state. This was the first major case in which the national courts were able to review a hunting decision pertaining to a species protected under EU law because standing to bring public interest lawsuits for the protection of species has been recognized only very recently. Under traditional Swedish procedural law, only the government can represent the public interest in administrative decision making and in court. Here, Swedish courts finally applied to hunting decisions the CJEU’s holding in Slovak Brown Bear, which says that national procedural law must be interpreted so as to allow environmental NGOs to challenge administrative decisions that might contravene EU environmental law. The court did not request a preliminary ruling despite that fact that controversial questions of EU law were implicated however. While the court applied EU law, it preferred to maintain control over its interpretation.
Small Water Bodies and the Incomplete Implementation of the Water Framework Directive in Germany
Authors: Möckel Stefan
Published: August 2013

Under the Water Framework Directive (WFD), the European Union obliged all member states to protect all their surface water and restore it to a good condition by 2015. For administrative reasons, they must subdivide their surface water into water bodies and define water body types. The Directive proposes minimum sizes for water bodies. Like some other member states, Germany has interpreted this to mean that small rivers, often called headwaters, and small ponds and lakes need not be identified and delineated as a water body and therefore do not fall under the protection system of the WFD. This paper analyses whether the German interpretation and implementation can be considered correct, given that small surface water elements are not unimportant. In Germany, they account for two-thirds of the overall length of rivers. Like the little twigs of a tree, small rivers have a decisive impact on the whole river basin.
A new Psammogammarus (Amphipoda: Eriopisidae) from anchialine pools on the Exuma Cays, Bahamas
Authors: JAUME DAMIÀ , ILIFFE THOMAS M. , HAM JORIS L. VAN DER
Published: August 2013

Psammogammarus lucayensis sp. nov. is described from anchialine pools on Little Iguana Cay (Exuma Cays, Great Bahama Bank). It can be easily distinguished from the other 14 members of the genus by the combination of: 1) carpus of G2 longer than broad; 2) male G2 palm margin non-excavated, evenly convex and devoid of strong mid-palmar robust setae; 3) basis of P7 with subparallel margins; 4) armature arrangement of ventral margin of epimeral plates as 0–2–3; 5) posteroventral angle of epimeral plate III strongly produced; 6) protopod of U2 with distomedial angle armed with comb of 3–4 robust setae; 7) U3 endopod as long as exp1; and 8) telson with robust setae on tip. The generic diagnosis is amended in order to allow the precise characterization of members of Psammogammarus compared to other eriopisids.
The phylogenetic position of Lepidopygopsis typus (Teleostei: Cyprinidae), a monotypic freshwater fish endemic to the Western Ghats of India
Authors: DAHANUKAR NEELESH , PHILIP SIBY , KRISHNAKUMAR K. , ALI ANVAR , RAGHAVAN RAJEEV
Published: August 2013

Lepidopygopsis, known as the peninsular-Indian hill trout, is a monotypic genus endemic to the Periyar stream-reservoir system, in the Western Ghats. Due to the morphological similarity of its only species, L. typus, with the Himalayan schizothoracine fishes, it was considered to be a relict species and a classic example of disjunct distribution. Using mitochondrial and nuclear gene sequence datasets, we show that L. typus is not allied to the schizothoracine fishes. Phylogenetic hypothesis-testing unequivocally supports a scenario in which L. typus and a clade comprising various genera of Asian and African barbins such as Tor, Gonoproktopterus, Kosswigobarbus and Varicorhinus are sister groups. Based on our results, we suggest that the sheath of tile-like scales covering the anal-fin base of schizothoracine fishes and Lepidopygopsis typus could be a symplesiomorphy or a homoplasy.
Mantacaprella macaronensis, a new genus and species of Caprellidae (Crustacea: Amphipoda) from Canary Islands and Cape Verde
Authors: VÁZQUEZ-LUIS MAITE , GUERRA-GARCÍA JOSÉ M. , CARVALHO SUSANA , PNG-GONZALEZ LYDIA
Published: August 2013

Mantacaprella macaronensis new genus, new species, is described based on specimens collected from Canary Islands and Cape Verde. Mantacaprella is close to the genera Pariambus, Pseudolirius, Propodalirius and Paracaprella, but can be distinguished by the combination of the following characteristics: pereopods 3, 4 and 5 two-articulate; pereopods 6 and 7 six-articulate; mandibular molar present and palp absent; male abdomen with a pair of well-developed appendages. The new species has been found living in Cymodocea nodosa meadows and Caulerpa prolifera beds from 8.8 to 14.6 m depth in Gran Canaria (Canary Islands), and in natural rocky and artificial habitats (shipwrecks) at 25 m in Sal Island (Cape Verde). Even though the new species is one of the dominant amphipods inhabiting meadows of Cymodocea nodosa in Gran Canaria and in Cape Verde, it had not been described so far. This reflects the lack of knowledge on Macaronesian invertebrates, such as amphipods, and the need of further taxonomical studies to better characterise the whole biodiversity of this region and to design adequate programmes of management and conservation.
Pethia aurea (Teleostei: Cyprinidae), a new species of barb from West Bengal, India, with redescription of P. gelius and P. canius
Authors: KNIGHT J. D. MARCUS
Published: August 2013

Fishes currently assigned to Pethia gelius Hamilton from West Bengal are shown to belong to a closely-related group of three species: P. gelius, its erstwhile synonym P. canius Hamilton and a new species, P. aurea. The three species are distinguished from all other species of Pethia by having the lateral line incomplete, with 3–4 pored scales; 20–26 scales in lateral series on body; ½4–5/1/2–3½ scales in transverse line on body; 8–9 predorsal scales; barbels absent and by a unique colour pattern consisting of two or three black blotches on the body (which, however, fade on preservation), the first behind the opercle, the second beneath the origin of the dorsal fin, extending to the mid-lateral region, and the third above the origin of the anal fin. A black spot is also present at the base of the dorsal and anal fins. Additionally, P. gelius is distinguished by having the last unbranched dorsal-fin ray thick, straight, serrated, with 20–25 serrae on its posterior margin; a snout length of 6.1–8.4 % standard length (SL); a body depth of 32.6–37.7 % SL; and a dorsal-fin height of 19.4–22.8 % SL. Pethia canius is additionally distinguished by having a snout length of 8.9–11.8 % SL; a body depth of 28.1–32.2 % SL; and dorsal-fin height of 26.9–32.8 % SL. Pethia aurea, new species, is additionally distinguished from all its congeners by having ½5/1/3–3½ scales in transverse line on body; 9 pre-dorsal scales; and last unbranched dorsal-fin ray slender, serrated, with 19–22 serrae on posterior margin.
Weighted subtraction in 3D ultrashort echo time (UTE) imaging for visualization of short T2 tissues of the knee
Authors: Lee Young Han , Kim Sungjun , Song Ho-Taek , Kim InSeong , Suh Jin-Suck
Published: August 2013

Background

Ultrashort echo time (UTE) image to directly visualize short T2 tissues requires postprocessing for the suppression of the surrounding long T2 tissues in a clinical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner. Weighted subtraction of UTE images with an optimal weighting factor could provide high positive contrast with adequate suppression.

Purpose

To demonstrate in-vivo UTE MRI with weighted subtractions of dual echo UTE imaging using a 3 T clinical MRI and to determine the optimal weighting factors through the analyses of signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) and contrast-to-noise ratios (CNRs).

Material and Methods

Forty-seven consecutive knee MR including dual echo 3D UTE sequence (TE of 70 µs and 3.82 ms) were reviewed. Seven patients with normal findings in the knee MR were included in the current study. For variably weighted subtraction images, the initial UTE image was rescaled relative to that of the second echo image with weighting factors from 0.1 to 4.0. Thirty-five pairs of the ROI measurements of the UTE image and second long echo images were repeated after 2 weeks. For quantitative assessment, SNR and CNR were measured from the ROIs on the patellar tendon, cartilage, cortical bone, meniscus, and infrapatellar fat pad. Intra-observer agreement was assessed by using both Cohen’s Kappa and Bland-Altman approach.

Results

The short T2 tissue could be visualized with adequate suppression on the subtraction images. Considering the CNRs and SNRs, the optimal ranges of the weighting factors could be suggested: 0.3 for the tendon, 0.4 for the cortical bone, and 1.0 for the meniscus. The 35 paired measurements showed excellent agreement with statistical significance ( P < 0.05).

Conclusion

The 3D UTE MRI provides imaging of short T2 tissues which cannot be visualized by conventional MRI. Using weighted subtractions with optimal weighting values, each tissue can be optimally depicted by overcoming the reduced T2 contrast.
Channelling figurativity through narrative: The paranarrative in fiction and non-fiction
Authors: Martens Gunther , Biebuyck Benjamin
Published: August 2013

Contrary to widespread assumptions, metaphor in narrative is not a pre-established, extra-textual form appearing in different instances of discourse, but rather an event resulting from a strategic distribution of information in the narrative process. Hence, the appeal to conceptual cultural knowledge is to be considered as a consequence, not as a prerequisite, of metaphor interpretation. By means of the concept of the paranarrative, we highlight the rhetorical interconnectedness of metaphor with other figures of speech (such as metonymy) and we explore the narrative integration of diacritic forms of indirectness. In order to illustrate the terminology that can address these focal concerns, the article discusses the relation between tropes and narrative, via selected examples from narrative texts (both fictional and non-fictional) written by Juli Zeh, Herta Müller, Jürgen Nieraad, and Siddhartha Mukherjee. As their common denominator, these examples channel through narrative figurative domains considered to be known intuitively, to wit: personifications; iconic pars pro toto references to concentration camps; and metaphors for cancer in disease biographies.
China’s Policymaking in Transition
Authors: Han Heejin
Published: August 2013

The decision-making process underlying large dam construction in China used to be dominated either by powerful leaders or by bureaucratic departments pursuing parochial organizational interests. This article asks whether such state-centric explanations can be applied to China’s more contemporary hydropower development. Reconstructing the events surrounding the Nu River hydropower development project from 2003 to 2009, this study demonstrates that a wide array of nonstate actors, including nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and international entities, emerged as new sources of policy input and influence. They advocated the careful consideration of environmental and social impacts of large dams and public participation in policymaking. To achieve these goals, nonstate actors formed networks based on shared beliefs and preferences and engaged in rights-based activism. This study concludes nonstate actors, their preferences, and their strategies should be given more attention for a complete understanding of the evolving nature of Chinese policymaking, particularly in the domain of hydropower development.
Sex and haemodynamics in pulmonary arterial hypertension
Authors: Ventetuolo Corey E. , Praestgaard Amy , Palevsky Harold I. , Klinger James R. , Halpern Scott D. , Kawut Steven M.
Published: August 2013

Female sex is a risk factor for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), yet females have better survival than males. We sought to determine if sex was associated with baseline haemodynamics in subjects with PAH, and whether age modified these relationships.

We conducted a pooled analysis from 11 randomised trials submitted to the US Food and Drug Administration. The study sample included 1211 subjects with idiopathic PAH, 25% of whom were males, and 489 subjects with connective tissue disease-associated PAH, 13% of whom were males.

After multivariable adjustment, right atrial pressure was 1.36 mmHg higher (95% CI 0.44–2.27, p=0.004), cardiac index was -0.14 L·min−1·m−2lower (95% CI -0.23–0.04, p=0.01) and pulmonary vascular resistance was 1.23 Wood units higher (95% CI 0.18–2.27, p=0.02) in males compared with females. Younger males had 5.43 mmHg (95% CI 2.20–8.66, p=0.001) higher mean pulmonary arterial pressures than younger females, but these relationships were attenuated after age 45 years. In the subgroup of connective tissue disease-associated PAH, males may have had higher right atrial pressure.

These findings implicate age as a modifier and provide further evidence of sexual dimorphism in PAH.
Occupational exposures and uncontrolled adult-onset asthma in the European Community Respiratory Health Survey II
Authors: Le Moual Nicole , Carsin Anne-Elie , Siroux Valérie , Radon Katja , Norback Dan , Torén Kjell , Olivieri Mario , Urrutia Isabel , Cazzoletti Lucia , Jacquemin Bénédicte , Benke Geza , Kromhout Hans , Mirabelli Maria C. , Mehta Amar J. , Schlünssen Vivi , Sigsgaard Torben , Blanc Paul D. , Kogevinas Manolis , Antó Josep M. , Zock Jan-Paul
Published: August 2013

Occupational exposure is a well-recognised modifiable risk factor for asthma, but the relationship between occupational exposure and asthma control has not been studied. We aimed to study this association among working-age adults from the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS).

Data were available for 7077 participants (mean age 43 years, 45% never-smokers, 5867 without asthma and 1210 with current asthma). Associations between occupational exposure to specific asthmagens and asthma control status (33% with uncontrolled asthma, based on the Global Initiative for Asthma guidelines) were evaluated using logistic and multinomial regressions, adjusted for age, sex and smoking status, with study areas included as a random effect.

Statistically significant positive associations were observed between uncontrolled adult-onset asthma and both past 12-month and 10-year exposure to any occupational asthmagens (OR (95% CI) 1.6 (1.0–2.40) and 1.7 (1.2–2.5), respectively); high (1.7 (1.0–2.8) and 1.9 (1.3–2.9), respectively) and low (1.6 (1.0–2.7) and 1.8 (1.2–2.7), respectively) molecular weight agents; and cleaning agents (2.0 (1.1–3.6) and 2.3 (1.4–3.6), respectively), with stronger associations for long-term exposures. These associations were mainly explained by the exacerbation domain of asthma control and no associations were observed between asthmagens and partly controlled asthma.

These findings suggest that occupational exposure to asthmagens is associated with uncontrolled adult-onset asthma. Occupational risk factors should be quickly identified to prevent uncontrolled asthma.
Myofibroblast expression in airways and alveoli is affected by smoking and COPD
Authors: Karvonen Henna M , Lehtonen Siri T , Harju Terttu , Sormunen Raija T , Lappi-Blanco Elisa , Mäkinen Johanna M , Laitakari Kirsi , Johnson Shirley , Kaarteenaho Riitta L
Published: August 2013

Background

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by structural changes in alveoli and airways. Our aim was to analyse the numbers of alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) positive cells, as a marker of myofibroblasts, in different lung compartments in non-smokers and smokers with normal lung function or COPD.

Methods

α-SMA, tenascin-C (Tn-C) and EDA-fibronectin in alveolar level and airways were assayed by immunohistochemistry and quantified by image analysis. Immunohistochemical findings were correlated with clinical data. α-SMA protein was also analysed by Western blotting from fibroblastic cells cultured from peripheral lung of non-smokers, smokers without COPD and smokers with COPD.

Results

In many cases, the endings of the detached alveolar walls were widened, the structures of which were named as widened alveolar tips. Widened alveolar tips contained α-SMA positive cells, which were obviously myofibroblasts. There were less alveolar tips containing positive cells for α-SMA in alveoli and α-SMA positive cells in bronchioles in smokers and in COPD compared to non-smokers. The quantity of α-SMA positive cells was increased in bronchi in COPD. Tn-C was elevated in bronchi in COPD and smokers’ lung. The α-SMA protein level was 1.43-fold higher in stromal cells cultured from non-smokers than in those of smokers.

Conclusions

Myofibroblasts are localized variably in normal and diseased lung. This indicates that they have roles in both regeneration of lung and pathogenesis of COPD. The widened alveolar tips, these newly characterized histological structures, seemed to be the source of myofibroblasts at the alveolar level.
Analysis of mutations in the E6 oncogene of human papillomavirus 16 in cervical cancer isolates from Moroccan women
Authors: Qmichou Zineb , Khyatti Meriem , Berraho Mohamed , Ennaji My Mustapha , Benbacer Laila , Nejjari Chakib , Benjaafar Noureddine , Benider Abdellatif , Attaleb Mohammed , El Mzibri Mohammed
Published: August 2013

Background

Worldwide, cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women. High-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) play a crucial role in the etiology of cervical cancer and the most prevalent genotype is HPV16. HPV 16 intratypic variants have been reported to differ in their prevalence, biological and biochemical properties. The present study was designed to analyze and identify HPV type 16 E6 variants among patients with cervical cancer in Morocco.

Methods

A total of 103 HPV16 positive samples were isolated from 129 cervical cancer cases, and variant status was subsequently determined by DNA sequencing of the E6 gene.

Results

Isolates from patients were grouped into the European (E), African (Af) and North-American (NA1) phylogenetic clusters with a high prevalence of E lineage (58.3%). The Af and NA1 variants were detected in 31.1% and 11.6% of the HPV16 positive specimens, respectively, whereas, only 3% of cases were prototype E350T. No European-Asian (EA), Asian (As) or Asian-American (AA) variants were observed in our HPV16-positive specimens. At the amino acid level, the most prevalent non-synonymous variants were L83V (T350G), H78Y (C335T), E113D (A442C), Q14D (C143G/G145T) and R10I (G132T), and were observed respectively in 65%, 41.8%, 38.8%, 30.1% and 23.3% of total samples.

Moreover, HPV16 European variants were mostly identified in younger women at early clinical diagnosis stages. Whereas, HPV16 Af variants were most likely associated with cervical cancer development in older women with pronounced aggressiveness.

Conclusion

This study suggests a predominance of E lineage strains among Moroccan HPV 16 isolates and raises the possibility that HPV16 variants have a preferential role in progression to malignancy and could be associated with the more aggressive nature of cervical cancer.
Application of clinical pathway using electronic medical record system in pediatric patients with supracondylar fracture of the humerus: a before and after comparative study
Authors: Sung Ki Hyuk , Chung Chin Youb , Lee Kyoung Min , Lee Seung Yeol , Ahn Soyeon , Park Somin , Choi In Ho , Cho Tae-Joon , Yoo Won Joon , Lee Jung Hyun , Park Moon Seok
Published: August 2013

Background

This study was performed to investigate the usefulness of clinical pathway (CP) using an electronic medical record (EMR) in pediatric patients undergoing closed pinning for supracondylar fracture of the humerus, by analyzing the length of hospital stay, hospital cost and satisfaction of the medical teams.

Methods

This before and after comparative study included consecutive children who underwent closed pinning for supracondylar fracture of the humerus since 2009. The pre-CP group consists of 90 patients with the mean age of 5.7 years, and the post-CP group consists of 32 patients with the mean age of 6.2 years. Multidisciplinary work-team developed CP using an EMR system in March 2011. The length of hospital stay was the primary outcome variable, and hospital cost and medical team’s satisfaction score were secondary outcome variables. The non-inferiority test was used to demonstrate the efficiency of the pathway.

Results

The length of hospital stay decreased from 2.9 ± 0.7 days to 2.4 ± 0.7 days by 15.0%, after the implementation of CP, and the lower bound of the 95% CI of the difference (0.14 day) was within the non-inferiority margin of −0.3 days. The hospital cost decreased from 1162.2 ± 236.7 US$ to 1139.8 ± 291.1 US$ by 1.9% and the lower bound of the 95% CI of the difference was −81.3 US$, which did not exceed the non-inferiority margin of −116.2 US$. Therefore, the post-CP group was not inferior compared with the pre-CP group in term of the length of hospital stay and total hospital cost. There was significant increase in the satisfaction score for doctors after implementation of CP (p < 0.001), but, no change in the satisfaction score for nursing staffs (p = 0.793).

Conclusions

The development and implementation of CP, using an EMR, in pediatric patients undergoing closed pinning for supracondylar fracture of the humerus enhances the treatment efficiency by streamlining the treatment process with no increases of the length of the hospital stay and total hospital costs.
High-dose accelerated hypofractionated three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (at 3 Gy/fraction) with concurrent vinorelbine and carboplatin chemotherapy in locally advanced non-small-cell lung cancer: a feasibility study
Authors: Liu Yue-E , Lin Qiang , Meng Fan-Jie , Chen Xue-Ji , Ren Xiao-Cang , Cao Bin , Wang Na , Zong Jie , Peng Yu , Ku Ya-Jun , Chen Yan
Published: August 2013

Background

Increasing the radiotherapy dose can result in improved local control for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and can thereby improve survival. Accelerated hypofractionated radiotherapy can expose tumors to a high dose of radiation in a short period of time, but the optimal treatment regimen remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of utilizing high-dose accelerated hypofractionated three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (at 3 Gy/fraction) with concurrent vinorelbine (NVB) and carboplatin (CBP) chemotherapy for the treatment of local advanced NSCLC.

Methods

Untreated patients with unresectable stage IIIA/IIIB NSCLC or patients with a recurrence of NSCLC received accelerated hypofractionated three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy. The total dose was greater than or equal to 60 Gy. The accelerated hypofractionated radiotherapy was conducted once daily at 3 Gy/fraction with 5 fractions per week, and the radiotherapy was completed in 5 weeks. In addition to radiotherapy, the patients also received at least 1 cycle of a concurrent two-drug chemotherapy regimen of NVB and CBP.

Results

A total of 26 patients (19 previously untreated cases and 7 cases of recurrent disease) received 60Gy-75Gy radiotherapy with concurrent chemotherapy. All of the patients underwent evaluations for toxicity and preliminary therapeutic efficacy. There were no treatment-related deaths within the entire patient group. The major acute adverse reactions were radiation esophagitis (88.5%) and radiation pneumonitis (42.3%). The percentages of grade III acute radiation esophagitis and grade III radiation pneumonitis were 15.4% and 7.7%, respectively. Hematological toxicities were common and did not significantly affect the implementation of chemoradiotherapy after supportive treatment. Two patients received high dose of 75 Gy had grade III late esophageal toxicity, and none had grade IV and above. Grade III and above late lung toxicity did not occur.

Conclusion

High-dose accelerated hypofractionated three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy with a dose of 60 Gy or greater with concurrent NVB and CBP chemotherapy might be feasible. However esophagus toxicity needs special attention. A phase I trial is recommended to obtain the maximum tolerated radiation dose of accelerated hypofractionated radiotherapy with concurrent chemotherapy.
Chronic overload of SEPT4, a parkin substrate that aggregates in Parkinson’s disease, causes behavioral alterations but not neurodegeneration in mice
Authors: Ageta-Ishihara Natsumi , Yamakado Hodaka , Morita Takao , Hattori Satoko , Takao Keizo , Miyakawa Tsuyoshi , Takahashi Ryosuke , Kinoshita Makoto
Published: August 2013

Background

In autosomal recessive early-onset Parkinsonism (PARK2), the pathogenetic process from the loss of function of a ubiquitin ligase parkin to the death of dopamine neurons remains unclear. A dominant hypothesis attributes the neurotoxicity to accumulated substrates that are exempt from parkin-mediated degradation. Parkin substrates include two septins; SEPT4/CDCrel-2 which coaggregates with α-synuclein as Lewy bodies in Parkinson’s disease, and its closest homolog SEPT5/CDCrel-1/PNUTL1 whose overload with viral vector can rapidly eliminate dopamine neurons in rats. However, chronic effects of pan-neural overload of septins have never been examined in mammals. To address this, we established a line of transgenic mice that express the largest gene product SEPT454kDa via the prion promoter in the entire brain.

Results

Histological examination and biochemical quantification of SEPT4-associated proteins including α-synuclein and the dopamine transporter in the nigrostriatal dopamine neurons found no significant difference between Sept4
Tg/+ and wild-type littermates. Thus, the hypothetical pathogenicity by the chronic overload of SEPT4 alone, if any, is insufficient to trigger neurodegenerative process in the mouse brain. Intriguingly, however, a systematic battery of behavioral tests revealed unexpected abnormalities in Sept4
Tg/+ mice that include consistent attenuation of voluntary activities in distinct behavioral paradigms and altered social behaviors.

Conclusions

Together, these data indicate that septin dysregulations commonly found in postmortem human brains with Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia and bipolar disorders may be responsible for a subset of behavioral abnormalities in the patients.
Demographics and outcomes of critically ill patients transferred from other hospitals to a tertiary care academic referral center in Saudi Arabia
Authors: Rishu Asgar H , Aldawood Abdulaziz S , Haddad Samir H , Tamim Hani M , Al-Dorzi Hasan M , Al-Jabbary Ahmed , Al-Shimemeri Abdullah , Sohail Muhammad R , Arabi Yaseen M
Published: August 2013

Background

The objective of this study was to examine the outcomes of critically ill patients who were transferred from other hospitals to a tertiary care center in Saudi Arabia as a quality improvement project.

Methods

This was a retrospective study of adult patients admitted to the medical-surgical intensive care unit (ICU) of a tertiary care hospital. Patients were divided according to the source of referral into three groups: transfers from other hospitals, and direct admissions from emergency department (ED) and from hospital wards. Standardized mortality ratio (SMR) was calculated. Multivariate analysis was performed to determine the independent predictors of mortality.

Results

Of the 7,654 patients admitted to the ICU, 611 patients (8%) were transferred from other hospitals, 2,703 (35.3%) were direct admissions from ED and 4,340 (56.7%) from hospital wards. Hospital mortality for patients transferred from other hospitals was not significantly different from those who were directly admitted from ED (35% vs. 33.1%, p = 0.37) but was lower than those who were directly admitted from hospital wards (35% vs. 51.2%, p < 0.0001). SMRs did not differ significantly across the three groups.

Conclusions

Critically ill patients who were transferred from other hospitals constituted 8% of all ICU admissions. Mortality of these patients was similar to patients with direct admission from the ED and lower than that of patients with direct admission from hospital wards. However, risk-adjusted mortality was not different from the other two groups.
Loadings and Influences of the Debris Flow on Flexible Anti-mudflow Constructions
Authors: Титоренко Александр , Titorenko Aleksandr
Published: August 2013

Shock impact of the head of mudflow on flexible anti-mudflow constructions, diagrams of loadings are shown. Estimated dependences are offered for determination of geometrical para­meters flexible anti-mudflow constructions and tension and tension in a ring grid and anchors.
What We Talk about When We Talk about Helen Keller: Disabilities in Children’s Biographies
Authors: Kunze Peter C.
Published: August 2013

This essay considers the role children’s literature plays in what Lennard J. Davis has called “the hegemony of normalcy” by closely studying a sample of biographies of Helen Keller intended for children. Through the lens of disability studies, I examine how Keller’s life has been re-appropriated to portray her as a victim of her disability rather than of a society that privileges the “able-bodied.” Such analysis also revisits the debates over biographies for children, an area of children’s literary study often neglected because of accusations of bowdlerization and oversimplification of the subject’s life as well as a perceived lack of artistry.
Disability and Prosthesis in L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Authors: Eyler Joshua R.
Published: August 2013

In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz , L. Frank Baum tackles social constructions of disability through a variety of means. First and foremost, the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and Cowardly Lion are searching for the brain, heart, and courage they believe they are missing, and the Wizard offers them prostheses as an attempt to help them feel normalized. Beyond these main characters though, Baum uses several minor characters, such as the brittle inhabitants of the Dainty China Country and the Wicked Witch, to further his exploration of the tension between society’s perception of disability and the realities of individuals living with disabilities.
No Monsters in This Fairy Tale: Wonder and the New Children’s Literature
Authors: Wheeler Elizabeth A.
Published: August 2013

Twenty-first century children’s books stage a revolution in the portrayal of kids with disabilities and their communities. R.J. Palacio’s bestselling novel Wonder (2012) captures a middle school experiencing its first disability inclusion and presents an important vision of social change. The new kid in school faces down staring and monster stereotypes. Granted, Wonder oversimplifies political and physical realities. While Wonder is in many ways a fairy tale, it also works a counter-spell, turning the monster back into an ordinary boy.
The Rise of the Spurcalia: Medieval Festival and Modern Myth
Authors: Ristuccia Nathan J.
Published: August 2013

Multiple scholars over the last two centuries have argued that Germanic pagans celebrated a solar festival in February, called the Spurcalia. While there is no consensus about the purpose of this festival (with everything from divination, to the changing of the seasons, to ritual purification suggested), scholars agree that the Spurcalia was a major holiday, which died out only over the course of the early Middle Ages. A closer examination of the medieval sources, however, reveals that this festival never actually existed. Instead, the legend of this holiday arose through a series of misunderstandings on the part of medieval writers, which modern scholarship only compounded. The corrected history of spurcalia makes Germanic polytheism even more mysterious, but it also illustrates how medieval descriptions of paganism reflected clerical ideas about Christianization and the nature of religious worship.
Unmasking the Truth about Amor de Lonh : Giovanni Boccaccio’s Rebellion against Literary Conventions in Decameron I.5 and IV.4
Authors: Asaro Brittany
Published: August 2013

The topos of love by hearsay, or amor de lonh , popularized by the troubadour Jaufré Rudel, is often considered the embodiment of courtly love. It represents an idealized love that is dependent upon a perpetual state of non-fulfillment. The idea of falling in love with a person one has never seen also contradicts the widely accepted definition of love as a reaction to a visual stimulus, supported by such medieval literary authorities as Andreas Capellanus and Giacomo da Lentini. In Decameron I.5 and IV.4, Giovanni Boccaccio offers his readers a new perspective on love by hearsay, demonstrating both how love by hearsay is a possible occurrence in the natural world and how its manifestation in this world is far from the romanticized images depicted in courtly poetry. This article demonstrates how Boccaccio’s manipulation of the topos of amor de lonh contributes to his main objective in the Decameron —the renewal of literature.
Gawain and Goliath: Davidic Parallels and the Problem of Penance in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Authors: Utter Benjamin D.
Published: August 2013

Noting allusions to and subtle parallels with the David story in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, this article argues for a recovery of a reading of the poem as a morally serious work, in so doing inviting productive comparisons to the Gawain-Poet’s handling of biblical material in his other works , particularly Cleanness, which also reveal the Poet’s assumptions concerning sin’s corporate and enduring, even generational nature: a problem as much narrative as theological, it both occludes clarity of vision and obstructs resolution. Like the prophet Nathan, who called David to repentance, and the Green Knight himself, who indicts the members of Arthur’s court for their failure to live up to their self-professed ideals, the Poet appears critical of his courtly audience for their moral obtuseness.
Francesco di Giorgio’s Frescoes and the Confraternity of the Madonna delle Nevi in Campagnatico: Art Patronage and Ritual Celebration in Southern Tuscany
Authors: Cardarelli Sandra
Published: August 2013

This article investigates the patronage of the fresco cycle representing the Legend of Our Lady of the Snows by the Sienese artist Francesco di Giorgio, in Campagnatico (southern Tuscany). Contrary to current scholarship, the mariegola of the confraternity of the Madonna delle Nevi and the cycle itself, dated 1476, provide evidence that the patronage of the chapel pertained to a lay confraternity. The frescoes include the depiction of saints whose relics, later dispersed, were held in the church and formed the basis for local devotional practices. This study re-frames the commission of the chapel within the context of local lay devotion and its relationship with the religious and civic realms, and provides new insights on the role of confraternities as patrons of art in the area.
“A Reciprocity of Advantages”: Carey, Hamilton, and the American Protective Doctrine
Authors: Meardon Stephen
Published: August 2013

The roots of Mathew Carey’s protectionist ideas, and their connection with those of the most famous early proponent of protection for domestic manufactures, Alexander Hamilton, are subjects of dispute. Carey himself disclaimed much knowledge of political economy before 1819, and, until recently, the historiography on Carey echoed him. After 1819 Carey claimed the mantle of Hamilton’s protectionism, a claim that scholars have come recently to deny. The denial is due to doubts not about Carey’s trade doctrine but about Hamilton’s. This essay argues for the continuity of Carey’s protectionism over the course of his career as a publisher and polemicist, dating from his early efforts in Ireland up to 1784 and continuing afterward in the United States, and for the commonality of his doctrine with Hamilton’s. The argument turns on Hamilton’s notion, in his Report on Manufactures, of “a reciprocity of advantages.”
Trans-Atlantic Migration and the Printing Trade in Revolutionary America
Authors: Adelman Joseph M.
Published: August 2013

During the American Revolutionary era, immigrant printers and their North American–born counterparts faced many struggles to secure sufficient business to remain solvent and simultaneously navigated complex political situations. Immigrant printers also faced the challenges of integrating themselves into extant commercial and political networks. They formed a substantial minority within the trade, making up nearly one-fourth of the master printers between 1756 and 1796. This essay examines the experiences of this group of printers, including Mathew Carey, and it focuses on their individual efforts to succeed in founding and furthering the publishing industry in the United States. In so doing, it explains how immigrant printers integrated themselves into American political and commercial information networks and highlights the vital role of their social capital and skills in achieving these printers’ goals during this era.
Tough Choices: Grappling with Famine in Qing China, the British Empire, and Beyond
Authors: Edgerton-Tarpley Kathryn
Published: August 2013

This article explores how cultural constructions of famine causation and famine victims in nineteenth-century China and Britain forged radically different state and societal responses to mass starvation. It goes on to demonstrate that at the precise moment when Britain began to eschew the laissez-faire approach to famine that it had implemented in nineteenth-century India and Ireland in favor of a more humanitarian famine policy, a combination of internal and external pressures forced Chinese policy makers to call into question the high priority that relieving famine traditionally had been given by the late imperial state.
Indian Spices and Roman “Magic” in Imperial and Late Antique Indomediterranea
Authors: Pollard Elizabeth Ann
Published: August 2013

As Roman-Indian trade adjusted in Late Antiquity from its height in the first and second centuries c.e ., Indian trade goods became associated with magic as real connections between Rome and their Indian point of origin faded. This article explores trade relations among Rome, India, and Meroitic Kush; literary evidence of magical amulets and spells, which imbue with magical powers substances that were available in the Mediterranean only through long-distance trade; and the Roman-Indian slave trade. Previous scholarship has emphasized the Persian and Egyptian influences on Greco-Roman magic; this article, however, demonstrates the Indian influence on magical concepts at Rome and the disconnect between long-distance economic exchange and popular ideas about goods traded.
Religious Intercrossing in Late Antique Eurasia: Loss, Corruption, and Canon Formation
Authors: Dilley Paul C.
Published: August 2013

Mani, a prophet from third-century Iran who founded the first world religion, famously claimed that he alone wrote down his own revelations, in contrast to Jesus, Zoroaster, and Buddha, who had left this task to their disciples. Although this assertion is clearly polemical, it does echo a concern shared by a number of traditions across Late Antique Eurasia, from Rome to China. Judaism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Confucianism all sought to consolidate the authoritative teaching of their founders in response to the perceived threat of loss or corruption, sometimes under the patronage of regional or local authorities. This widespread appearance of canons, occurring over the long period of Late Antiquity (second to sixth centuries c.e .), was sometimes based on the belief that oral traditions were particularly vulnerable and had to be fixed as texts, but there was also anxiety over the destruction and falsification of written documents. In conclusion, this article suggests that this striking development reflects a neglected mode of cultural exchange in Late Antiquity driven by members of court society, including religious experts such as Mani. Their activity within a network of courts across Eurasia, all connected indirectly even if there was no direct exchange between the ends, facilitated the gradual intercrossing of religious ideals and practices, such as the goal of consolidating founders’ teachings.
Revisionist Study of Cross-Cultural Commercial Competition on the Vietnam Coastline in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries and Its Wider Implications
Authors: Hall Kenneth R.
Published: August 2013

New archaeological discoveries since the 1990s mandate the rereading of primary sources that have been foundational to the understanding of pre-1500 Asian history. While this study is specific to the revisionist history of fifteenth-century Vietnam, it has wider regional and international implications, notably as the new evidence necessitates the rethinking of Indian Ocean networking prior to the Portuguese seizure of Melaka in 1511. This study evaluates the rise and fall of the Champa coastline of southern and central Vietnam, where a series of ports were the major Indian Ocean route stopovers between the Straits of Melaka and South China’s ports from earliest times until the Vietnamese Dai Viet polity (using new gunpowder weaponry) defeated the Chams in 1471 and temporarily recentered the international maritime passageway stopover on the Vietnam coastline in Dai Viet’s Red River delta ports. This study also addresses recent scholarship that has promoted the South China Sea passageway as an “Asian Mediterranean.”
The Aural, the Visual, and Female Agency in the Mušo
Authors: Giorgis Elizabeth Wolde
Published: August 2013

Picking up on tenuous and culture specific notions such as the mušo , this essay examines the nature and parameter of its artistic complexity, and its visual, aural and linguistic sophistication that play out in forms of collective expression and performance. Furthermore, this essay also attempts to uncover female agency in cultural practices such as the mušo and counteracts the absence of women’s history, identity and historical experiences of citizenship in Ethiopian history. In so doing, this essay calls for a new kind of intellectual enterprise that is intimately engaged with the archives, that brings forth the riches of interiority, and that ultimately argues for a critical body of thought. The obsession with the “modern” has razed customary cultural and social fabrics such as the mušo . The need to excavate our archives is paramount if we are to place modern Ethiopian history in proper perspective.