bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
On the Internal Border: Colonial Difference, the Cold War, and the Locations of “Underdevelopment”
Authors: Goldstein Alyosha
Published: January 2008

In 1962, the recently established Peace Corps announced plans for an intensive field training initiative that would acclimate the agency's burgeoning multitude of volunteers to the conditions of poverty in “underdeveloped” countries and immerse them in “foreign” cultures ostensibly similar to where they would be later stationed. This training was designed to be “as realistic as possible, to give volunteers a ‘feel’ of the situation they will face.” With this purpose in mind, theSecond Annual Reportof the Peace Corps recounted, “Trainees bound for social work in Colombian city slums were given on-the-job training in New York City's Spanish Harlem…. New Mexican Indian reservations and Spanish-speaking villages make realistic workshops for community development trainees. Puerto Rico provides experience in living in a Latin American environment. The Island of Hawaii, with its multiracial population, remote valleys and varied rural economy, performs a similar function for volunteers headed for Southeast Asia.”1Local communities throughout the United States were chosen for their apparent similarities to locations abroad such that they might serve as a staging ground for President John F. Kennedy's vaunted Cold War diplomatic venture.
Lineages of the Developmentalist State: Transnationality and Village India, 1900–1965
Authors: Sinha Subir
Published: January 2008

On 2 October 1952, marking Gandhi's fourth birth anniversary after his assassination in 1948, Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of postcolonial India, launched the Community Development (CD) Programs. Dedicating the programs to Gandhi's memory allowed Nehru to claim symbolic legitimacy for them. At the same time, this centerpiece of Nehruvian policy in the Indian countryside was heavily interventionist, billed as “the method ... through which the [state] seeks to bring about social and economic transformation in India's villages” (Government of India 1952). In its heyday, CD preoccupied the Planning Commission, was linked to the office of the Prime Minister, had a ministry dedicated to it, and formed part of the domain of action of the rapidly proliferating state and other development agencies. Fifteen pilot projects, each covering 300 villages, were launched in all the major states. Planning documents of the day register high enthusiasm and optimism for these programs. However, by the mid-1960s, barely a decade after the fanfare of its launch, the tone of planners toward CD turned first despairing and then oppositional. They called for abandonment of its ambitious aim of the total development of Indian villages in favor of more focused interventions to achieve a rapid increase in food-grain production.
Stalin and the Politics of Kinship: Practices of Collective Punishment, 1920s–1940s
Authors: Alexopoulos Golfo
Published: January 2008

At a Kremlin reception on 7 November 1937, Stalin declared that enemies should be eliminated as kinship groups: “And we will eliminate every such enemy [of the state and peoples of the USSR]… . we will eliminate his entire lineage (rod), his family! … Here's to the final extermination of all enemies, both themselves and their clan (rod).”1In the Soviet Union, political enemies were rounded up in groups of kin, family ties marked people as disloyal, and “counterrevolutionary” charges against one person threatened also his or her relatives. The Soviet security police or OGPU-NKVD issued detailed instructions regarding the punishment that should be assigned to the spouses, children, siblings, parents, and even ex-wives of state enemies. Campaigns against anti-Soviet elements rounded up kinship groups, whether these counterrevolutionaries were identified as so-called kulaks, enemies of the people, or traitors to the motherland. To be sure, the collective punishment of kin did not accompany every act of Stalinist repression. The regime's draconian criminal legislation also constituted a form of terror, yet persons sentenced under such laws as those punishing theft of socialist property were dealt with individually; their relatives were not targeted. Only the “politicals,” that is, people accused of disloyalty, treason, or other counterrevolutionary activities experienced terror as family units. It was the collective punishment of kin that made political repression under Stalin truly a mass phenomenon.
BlatandGuanxi: Informal Practices in Russia and China
Authors: Ledeneva Alena
Published: January 2008

This paper compares informal practices used to obtain goods and services in short supply and to circumvent formal procedures in Russia and China, and assesses their changes and continuities during the market reforms. I divide my presentation into four parts. The first tackles similarities betweenblatandguanxiunder socialism: language games and idioms that referred to these practices; similar pressures of the shortage economy that forced individuals to satisfy their needs through informal exchanges; and the contradictory role of informal practices—they supported but also subverted the socialist systems. In the second part I shift my focus to the differences betweenblatandguanxithat stem from different cultural traditions in the two societies. These traditions determine the moral force of reciprocity, the degree of codification of informal practices, and their legitimacy. The third part illustrates differences in market reforms in China and in Russia. Finally, I compareblatandguanxipractices as responses to these reforms and discuss both intriguing similarities and significant differences in the new forms ofguanxiandblat. Thus, the post-Soviet reforms have changed informal practices so much thatblathas almost lost its relevance as a term that describes the corrupt use of personal networks in contemporary Russia. In contemporary Chinese society, by contrast,guanxihas deeper roots in kinship structures and traditions, and both the term andguanxipractices continue to be important.1The partial nature of reforms in China and the persistence of communist rule may account for some of this difference, but we must also consider a range of historical and cultural factors that shape and help reproduce informal practices.
Colonies of the Little Motherland: Membership, Space, and Time in Mexican Migrant Hometown Associations
Authors: Fitzgerald David
Published: January 2008

The hometown associations (HTAs) formed by international migrants sharing a place of origin are considered the quintessential “transnational” institution linking migrants to family and townspeople who stayed behind. Scholars of transnationalism present HTAs as the expression of a new kind of “transnational community” or “transnational social field” that is redefining what it means to belong to a community by including people who are physically absent but who make their presence felt through regular visits and remittances and by sponsoring charity and development projects in their hometown. New transportation and communication technologies stretching the limits of space and time are said to be the driving forces that allow migrants to belong to a single community anchored in multiple, distant geographic localities. Such migrants transcend the old boundaries of territorial belonging that depended on a sedentary population, and call into question basic social scientific concepts like “citizenship,” “community,” “nation-state,” and “migration.” Even the most recent transnationalism literature, which has retreated from some earlier claims of novelty to rediscover transborder practices of older migrations, continues to claim that new conceptions of membership are necessary to understand both new and older practices (Basch, Schiller, and Blanc 1994; Levitt 2001; Portes and Landolt 2002; Smith 2006).
Importing Modernity: European Military Missions to Qajar Iran
Authors: Cronin Stephanie
Published: January 2008

In the first decades of the nineteenth century, when the Middle East and North Africa first began to attract the sustained attention of European imperialism and colonialism, Arab, Ottoman Turkish, and Iranian polities began a protracted experiment with army modernization. These decades saw a mania in the Middle East for the import of European methods of military organization and techniques of warfare. Everywhere, in the Ottoman Empire, North Africa, Egypt, and Iran,nizam-i jadid(new order) regiments sprang up, sometimes on the ruins of older military formations, sometimes alongside them, unleashing a process of military-led modernization that was to characterize state-building projects throughout the region until well into the twentieth century. The ruling dynasties in these regions embarked on army reform in a desperate effort to strengthen their defensive capacity, and to resist growing European hegemony and direct or indirect control by imitating European methods of military organization and warfare. Almost every indigenous ruler who succeeded in evading or warding off direct European control, from the sultans of pre-Protectorate Morocco in the west to the shahs of the Qajar dynasty in Iran in the east, invited European officers, sometimes as individuals, sometimes as formal missions, to assist with building a modern army. With the help of these officers, Middle Eastern rulers thus sought to appropriate the secrets of European power.
Music as the Sound of the Secular
Authors: Bakhle Janaki
Published: January 2008

Few debates have maintained as persistent and passionate a level of interest and international scope—whether in the United States, France, or Turkey—as that around secularism. A cursory glance at the titles alone of books and articles on the subject tells us that this is a debate in which serious personal and political stakes are invested. At the very least the debate has been generated by the recognition that a new language of politics is needed to understand the role of religious self-expression in the public sphere. The received wisdom about distinctions between the putatively mutually exclusive domains of public and private, or sacred and secular, simply does not hold water any more. The secularism debate also raises issues of fundamental significance to the very “personality of the state,” as Talal Asad has characterized it. In France, the laicite debate has highlighted how the claim of a minority population to don items of clothing (a right denied by the secular government in Turkey with a majority Muslim population), which it sees as fundamental to its religious self-expression, has challenged the state's own image as a secular republic. In the United States, controversy has been ignited by challenges to the boundary line between private religious practice and the public domain of the state, whether it relates to school prayer or the ongoing battles between evolutionists and anti-evolutionists.
Skulls and Scientific Collecting in the Victorian Military: Keeping the Enemy Dead in British Frontier Warfare
Authors: Harrison Simon J.
Published: January 2008

As a result of colonial wars with indigenous peoples, especially in Africa and North America, a distinction seems to have arisen in Western military culture between ‘civilized’ and ‘savage’ enemies. The behavior of civilized enemies in battle appeared rational and constrained by rules. Savage enemies, on the other hand, evinced emotional and unregulated violence. Above all, they were distinguished by an excessive brutality they seemed to display towards their enemies in customs such as cannibalism and the taking of body parts as trophies (see, for example, Marks 1970: 246). In short, the differences between civilized people and savages in warfare were especially evident in their behavior toward enemy dead.
Authors: Cohn Samuel K.
Published: January 2008

With the rise of HIV and other “emerging diseases” having global reach over the past twenty years, interest in historic plague has flourished. The Justinianic plague in and around the Roman empire from a.d. 541 to 750, however, has received far less attention that the Black Death of 1348 and its recurrent strikes in Europe to the eighteenth century. This difference results in part from the comparative paucity of sources for the former and its greater linguistic demands, which require a knowledge of ancient Middle Eastern as well as Western languages. Because of these demands, Lester Little argues persuasively that a multiple-authored work by authorities in different parts of Europe is now needed before a single-authored synthesis can be adequately written.
Authors: Rearick Charles
Published: January 2008

This history by two scholars of literature and film is a series of essays on the patterns and “tones” of French culture in the late 1920s and the 1930s. The Popular Front (1935–1938) comes in only as background, and its cultural programs (the subject of Pascal Ory's 991-page La Belle Illusion) are not discussed here. Breaking with what the authors call “standard history” or “the straight story,” this study zigzags back and forth across the years between the wars (and even later), pausing to examine selected movies, cinematic themes, canonic novels, literary careers, and the diverse political stances taken by cultural leaders. The authors' model for this anti-narrative history is Alain Resnais's film of 1974, Stavisky…, which they analyze at length, praising its multi-perspectival, ambiguous evocation of a period. Accordingly, they focus on episodes and fragments from different cultural strata, uncovering unexpected coincidences and similarities that constitute the “harmonics” of the past (as Sergei Eisenstein and Resnais put it). Their method also owes much to some Surrealists' ideas, counterbalanced by a Structuralist interest in cultural regularities. Still another model invoked throughout is the non-linear format of a newspaper, with parallel columns juxtaposing unrelated stories on a given day.
The Beauty of the Redemption of the World: The Theological Aesthetics of Maximus the Confessor and Jonathan Edwards
Authors: Gibson Michael D.
Published: January 2008

Catholic theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar, in hisHerrlichkeit, laments the eclipse of the aesthetic in modern theology, noting that thebeingof a Christian is itself a thing of beauty inscribed by the grace of God; that is, it is a form of existence “opened up to us by the God-Man's act of redemption. . . . God's incarnation perfects the whole ontology and aesthetics of created being.” Von Balthasar traces the loss of the aesthetic dimension from Protestant theology to the Reformation principle ofsola scriptura, which seeks to abstract “data” of scriptural revelation into objective formulae. This approach leads to the historicism of Hegel, Schelling, Schleiermacher, and Barth, effectively removing the meditative gaze from theological contemplation. Von Balthasar's ultimate argument is that it is necessary for Protestant theology to revive the Alexandrian tradition in order to recover the “transcendent principle of beauty as derived from and most proper to God,” which is to be “for us the very apex and archetype of beauty in the world.”
Introducing an Arabic Commentary on the Apocalypse: Ibn Kātib Qaysar on Revelation
Authors: Davis Stephen J.
Published: January 2008

Ibn Kātib Qayṣar's long-neglectedCommentary on the Apocalypse of Johnis a veritable treasure trove for those interested not only in the early transmission of the biblical text and its history of interpretation, but also in the way ancient definitions of prophecy and vision were reconceived in Arabic Christian theology. Written in Cairo by a thirteenth-century Egyptian author, it is one of only two large-scale medieval commentaries on Revelation produced in the Arabic language. The other such commentary was composed by a fellow Copt, Būlus al-Būshī, who was a near contemporary of Ibn Kātib Qayṣar. Together, these two works provide a compelling witness to the currency of this apocalyptic biblical text among Christians living in Islamic Egypt.
The New Atlantis: Francis Bacon's Theological-Political Utopia?
Authors: Smith Suzanne
Published: January 2008

In his seminal 1968 study of Francis Bacon's political thought, Howard B. White argued that the New Atlantis is “a rewriting of a Platonic myth, and a rewriting clearly intended as a refutation.” Bacon's attack on Plato, however, is partially mediated through his critique of Christianity. Indeed, Bacon pays more explicit attention to the tropes and themes of revealed religion than he does to those of the story of the “old” Atlantis told in Plato's Timaeus and Critias. Scholars are divided as to the exact nature of Bacon's intentions in his treatment of religion in the New Atlantis. Richard Tuck suggests that “the desire for a reconstructed religion” is “explicit in the blend of Protestantism and Judaism” created by Bacon. Most scholars, however, unlike Tuck, argue that Bacon was more interested in undermining religion—or more specifically, its political authority—than in reconstructing it. Laurence Lampert's argument that Bacon stands at the head of “the actual holy war fought in Europe . . ., the warfare of science against religion that tamed sovereign religion” typifies much of the scholarly commentary on the New Atlantis since White's reading of it almost forty years ago. The consensus view is that Bacon promotes the politic manipulation of the tropes and themes of revealed religion so that they might be made to support the modern scientific project and the cause of peace from religious strife: “Bacon's lifelong concern for religion uniformly expressed itself in arguments for moderation in religion.” White argues that Bacon demonstrates how “religious turmoil” can be countered “not only by religious toleration, but also by religious eclecticism, amounting to religious universality.”
The relationship between normocytic, hypochromic anaemia and iron concentration together with hepatic enzyme activities in cattle infected withFasciola hepatica
Authors: Lotfollahzadeh S. , Mohri M. , Bahadori Sh. Ranjbar , Dezfouly M.R. Mokhber , Tajik P.
Published: January 2008

Erythrograms determined from whole blood analyses and serum analyses for aspartate aminotransferase (AST), γ-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activities, and iron concentration, were used in infected and uninfected cattle to determine the type of anaemia and degree of hepatic damage caused byFasciola hepatica. Blood samples from 86 infected and 30 uninfected cattle were taken at slaughter. Haematological analyses revealed decreased levels of packed cell volume (PCV), haemoglobin concentration, mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH) and mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) in infected compared with uninfected cattle (P < 0.05). A decrease in the concentration of serum iron was also observed in infected cattle compared with uninfected cattle (P < 0.05). Significant increases in AST, GGT and ALP activities were observed in cattle infected withF. hepaticawhen compared with uninfected cattle (P < 0.05). It was concluded that the anaemia observed in cattle infected withF. hepaticais a normocytic, hypochromic anaemia and the most important aetiology of the anaemia is the chronic blood loss due to the blood-sucking activity of the adult flukes and leakage of blood from the bile duct to the intestine, which results in iron deficiency. The increased activities of serum enzymes indicated chronic hepatic and bile duct injuries associated with chronic infection withF. hepatica.
Plasmid encoded antibiotic resistance: acquisition and transfer of antibiotic resistance genes in bacteria
Authors: Bennett P M
Published: January 2008

Bacteria have existed on Earth for three billion years or so and have become adept at protecting themselves against toxic chemicals. Antibiotics have been in clinical use for a little more than 6 decades. That antibiotic resistance is now a major clinical problem all over the world attests to the success and speed of bacterial adaptation.

Mechanisms of antibiotic resistance in bacteria are varied and include target protection, target substitution, antibiotic detoxification and block of intracellular antibiotic accumulation. Acquisition of genes needed to elaborate the various mechanisms is greatly aided by a variety of promiscuous gene transfer systems, such as bacterial conjugative plasmids, transposable elements and integron systems, that move genes from one DNA system to another and from one bacterial cell to another, not necessarily one related to the gene donor. Bacterial plasmids serve as the scaffold on which are assembled arrays of antibiotic resistance genes, by transposition (transposable elements and ISCR mediated transposition) and site‐specific recombination mechanisms (integron gene cassettes).

The evidence suggests that antibiotic resistance genes in human bacterial pathogens originate from a multitude of bacterial sources, indicating that the genomes of all bacteria can be considered as a single global gene pool into which most, if not all, bacteria can dip for genes necessary for survival. In terms of antibiotic resistance, plasmids serve a central role, as the vehicles for resistance gene capture and their subsequent dissemination. These various aspects of bacterial resistance to antibiotics will be explored in this presentation.

British Journal of Pharmacology (2008) 153, S347–S357; doi:10.1038/sj.bjp.0707607; published online 14 January 2008
Knockout of β1‐ and β2‐adrenoceptors attenuates pressure overload‐induced cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis
Authors: Kiriazis H , Wang K , Xu Q , Gao X‐M , Ming Z , Su Y , Moore X‐L , Lambert G , Gibbs M E , Dart A M , Du X‐J
Published: January 2008

Background and purpose:

The role of β‐adrenoceptors in heart disease remains controversial. Although β‐blockers ameliorate the progression of heart disease, the mechanism remains undefined. We investigated the effect of β‐adrenoceptors on cardiac hypertrophic growth using β1‐ and β2‐adrenoreceptor knockout and wild‐type (WT) mice.

Experimental approach:

Mice were subjected to aortic banding or sham surgery, and their cardiac function was determined by echocardiography and micromanometry.

Key results:

At 4 and 12 weeks after aortic banding, the left ventricle:body mass ratio was increased by 80–87% in wild‐type mice, but only by 15% in knockouts, relative to sham‐operated groups. Despite the blunted hypertrophic growth, ventricular function in knockouts was maintained. WT mice responded to pressure overload with up‐regulation of gene expression of inflammatory cytokines and fibrogenic growth factors, and with severe cardiac fibrosis. All these effects were absent in the knockout animals.

Conclusion and implications:

Our findings of a markedly attenuated cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis following pressure overload in this knockout model emphasize that β‐adrenoceptor signalling plays a central role in cardiac hypertrophy and maladaptation following pressure overload.

British Journal of Pharmacology (2008) 153, 684–692; doi:10.1038/sj.bjp.0707622; published online 14 January 2008
Cytotoxic activity of polyacetylenes and polyenes isolated from roots of Echinacea pallida
Authors: Chicca A , Pellati F , Adinolfi B , Matthias A , Massarelli I , Benvenuti S , Martinotti E , Bianucci A M , Bone K , Lehmann R , Nieri P
Published: January 2008

Background and purpose:

The n‐hexane extracts of the roots of three medicinally used Echinacea species exhibited cytotoxic activity on human cancer cell lines, with Echinacea pallida found to be the most cytotoxic. Acetylenes are present in E. pallida lipophilic extracts but essentially absent in extracts from the other two species. In the present study, the cytotoxic effects of five compounds, two polyacetylenes (namely, 8‐hydroxy‐pentadeca‐(9E)‐ene‐11,13‐diyn‐2‐one (1) and pentadeca‐(9E)‐ene‐11,13‐diyne‐2,8‐dione (3)) and three polyenes (namely, 8‐hydroxy‐pentadeca‐(9E,13Z)‐dien‐11‐yn‐2‐one (2), pentadeca‐(9E,13Z)‐dien‐11‐yne‐2,8‐dione (4) and pentadeca‐(8Z,13Z)‐dien‐11‐yn‐2‐one (5)), isolated from the n‐hexane extract of E. pallida roots by bioassay‐guided fractionation, were investigated and the potential bioavailability of these compounds in the extract was studied.

Experimental approach:

Cytotoxic effects were assessed on human pancreatic MIA PaCa‐2 and colonic COLO320 cancer cell lines. Cell viability was evaluated by the WST‐1 assay and apoptotic cell death by the cytosolic internucleosomal DNA enrichment and the caspase 3/7 activity tests. Caco‐2 cell monolayers were used to assess the potential bioavailability of the acetylenes.

Key results:

The five compounds exhibited concentration‐dependent cytotoxicity in both cell types, with a greater potency in the colonic cancer cells. Apoptotic cell death was found to be involved in the cytotoxic effect of the most active, compound 5. Compounds 2and 5were found to cross the Caco‐2 monolayer with apparent permeabilities above 10 × 10−6 cm s−1.

Conclusions and implications:

Compounds isolated from n‐hexane extracts of E. pallida roots have a direct cytotoxicity on cancer cells and good potential for absorption in humans when taken orally.

British Journal of Pharmacology (2008) 153, 879–885; doi:10.1038/sj.bjp.0707639; published online 14 January 2008
Cardiovascular reactivity after blockade of angiotensin AT1receptors in the experimental model of tilting test in conscious rats
Authors: Bedette D , Santos R A S , Fontes M A P
Published: January 2008

Background and purpose:

Studies have shown that the angiotensin II AT1receptor antagonist, losartan, accentuates the hypotensive response in the orthostatic stress test (tilt) performed in anaesthetized rats. The same effect was not reported with other AT1antagonists. The aim of this study was to re‐evaluate the effects of AT1receptor blockade on the cardiovascular response to tilt in a model developed for conscious rats.

Experimental approach:

Rats (n=5–7 per group) were instrumented for infusion of drugs and recording of cardiovascular parameters and, after recovery, placed in a plastic tube positioned over the tilt board. The tilt test was conducted by raising the head side of the tilt board from horizontal position to 75° head up position for 15 min.

Key results:

Compared with control group (NaCl 0.9%, 1 ml kg−1), oral treatment with 1 mg kg−1per day of losartan or telmisartan did not alter the blood pressure response during tilt. With the 10 mg kg−1dose, both antagonists altered the blood pressure response during tilt (mean maximum changes −11±3 mm Hg;P<0.01). A post‐tilt hypotension was observed with both doses in losartan and telmisartan groups (−13±1 and −9±2 mm Hg, respectively;P<0.01).

Conclusions and implications:

The present results indicate that the effect of losartan on the cardiovascular reactivity to tilt shares a similar profile to that of other AT1antagonists. Evidence discussed addresses the importance of using a conscious model for testing the influence of antihypertensive drugs on the cardiovascular reactivity to orthostatic challenges.

British Journal of Pharmacology(2008)153, 966–971; doi:10.1038/sj.bjp.0707652; published online 14 January 2008
Neuroimaging and molecular genetics of schizophrenia: pathophysiological advances and therapeutic potential
Authors: Lawrie S M , Hall J , McIntosh A M , Cunningham‐Owens D G , Johnstone E C
Published: January 2008

There is impressive evidence for the involvement of several genetic risk factors in the aetiopathogenesis of schizophrenia. Most of these genes impact on neuropharmacological systems. Examining their relationship with brain imaging indices is arguably the best currently available method of examining these effectsin vivo. In a sample of young, initially healthy people at high genetic risk of schizophrenia brain structure was measured with structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI) and brain function was indexed with neuropsychological tests and functional MRI. Regular detailed clinical assessments established whether subjects had developed psychotic symptoms and/or schizophrenia itself. The Catechol‐O‐Methyl Transferase (COMT) Val allele increased the risk of schizophrenia in this cohort in a dose‐dependent manner. Subjects with this allele had reduced grey matter density in anterior cingulate cortex and increased fMRI activation in lateral prefrontal cortex and anterior and posterior cingulate. The risk allele in the Neuregulin 1 (NRG1) promoter region, on the other hand, was associated with the development of psychotic symptoms, decreased premorbid IQ and decreased activation of pre‐frontal and temporal lobe regions. The NRG1 gene appears to be a risk factor for an extended or intermediate phenotype, while the COMT Val allele, which decreases the rate at which cortical dopamine is degraded compared to the Met allele, is associated with an increased risk of schizophrenia in subjects at increased familial risk. We provide examples of how these advances in our knowledge could lead to the development of new treatments for psychosis.

British Journal of Pharmacology(2008)153, S120–S124; doi:10.1038/sj.bjp.0707655; published online 14 January 2008
Kinetics of G‐protein‐coupled receptor signals in intact cells
Authors: Lohse M J , Hein P , Hoffmann C , Nikolaev V O , Vilardaga J‐P , Bünemann M
Published: January 2008

G‐protein‐coupled receptors (GPCRs) are the largest group of cell surface receptors. They are stimulated by a variety of stimuli and signal to different classes of effectors, including several types of ion channels and second messenger‐generating enzymes. Recent technical advances, most importantly in the optical recording with energy transfer techniques––fluorescence and bioluminescence resonance energy transfer, FRET and BRET––, have permitted a detailed kinetic analysis of the individual steps of the signalling chain, ranging from ligand binding to the production of second messengers in intact cells. The transfer of information, which is initiated by ligand binding, triggers a signalling cascade that displays various rate‐controlling steps at different levels. This review summarizes recent findings illustrating the speed and the complexity of this signalling system.

British Journal of Pharmacology (2008) 153, S125–S132; doi:10.1038/sj.bjp.0707656; published online 14 January 2008
G‐protein‐coupled receptor phosphorylation: where, when and by whom
Authors: Tobin A B
Published: January 2008

Almost all G‐protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) are regulated by phosphorylation and this process is a key event in determining the signalling properties of this receptor super‐family. Receptors are multiply phosphorylated at sites that can occur throughout the intracellular regions of the receptor. This diversity of phospho‐acceptor sites together with a lack of consensus phosphorylation sequences has led to the suggestion that the precise site of phosphorylation is not important in the phosphorylation‐dependent regulation of GPCR function but rather it is the increase in bulk negative charge of the intracellular face of the receptor which is the significant factor. This review investigates the possibility that the multi‐site nature of GPCR phosphorylation reflects the importance of specific phosphorylation events which mediate distinct signalling outcomes. In this way receptor phosphorylation may provide for a flexible regulatory mechanism that can be tailored in a tissue specific manner to regulate physiological processes. By understanding the flexible nature of GPCR phosphorylation if may be possible to develop agonists or allosteric modulators that promote a subset of phosphorylation events on the target GPCR and thereby restrict the action of the drug to a particular receptor mediated signalling response.

British Journal of Pharmacology(2008)153, S167–S176; doi:10.1038/sj.bjp.0707662; published online 14 January 2008
Piezoelectric ultrasonic bidirectional linear actuator for micropositioning fulfilling Feynman’s criteria
Authors: Friend James , Yeo Leslie , Hogg Matt
Published: January 2008

A bidirectional linear microactuator with a stator less than 400μm3, fulfilling Feynman’s original criteria for a motor less than 1∕64th of an inch on a side [R. Feynman, Engineering and Science Magazine (Caltech) 4, 23 (1960)], is shown to generate forces over 30mN in either direction at speeds of up to 40mm∕s using a large 28g polished alumina slider. Using the thickness mode of a stepped piezoelectric block in conjunction with a pair of fundamental flexural modes of a pair of slanted beams—each slightly differs in configuration—gives the ability to generate silent bidirectional motion at an excitation frequency of about 1.7MHz. In addition to offering forces at least one order of magnitude larger than those of the other methods, the system also serves as a platform for studying nonlinear frictional phenomena on the nanoscale and its manipulation through acoustic irradiation of the contact interface for propulsion.
Amplification of magnetoresistance of magnetite in an Fe3O4–SiO2–Si structure
Authors: Wang Xianjie , Sui Yu , Tang Jinke , Wang Cong , Zhang Xingquan , Lu Zhe , Liu Zhiguo , Su Wenhui , Wei Xiankui , Yu Richeng
Published: January 2008

Film of Fe3O4 was prepared with laser molecular beam epitaxy deposition on a Si substrate with a native SiO2 layer. When the temperature is increased above 250K, the resistance drops rapidly because the conduction path starts to switch from the Fe3O4 film to the inversion layer underneath the SiO2 via thermally assisted tunneling. A greatly magnified low field negative magnetoresistance of Fe3O4 is observed at 280K. The effect is similar to a metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor. The magnetoresistance becomes positive with further increase in the magnetic field due to the Lorentz force and other effects on the carriers in the inversion layer.
Laser activation of ferromagnetism in hydrogenated Ga1−xMnxAs
Authors: Farshchi R. , Dubon O. D. , Hwang D. J. , Misra N. , Grigoropoulos C. P. , Ashby P. D.
Published: January 2008

We demonstrate the local depassivation of hydrogenated Ga1−xMnxAs by pulsed-laser annealing. The controlled removal of Mn–H defect complexes, which form upon hydrogenation and render Mn acceptors inactive, is achieved by focused laser irradiation. As a result, regions of electrically and ferromagnetically active Ga1−xMnxAs are formed within a nonactive, otherwise structurally identical film. The hydrogenated films subjected to blanket laser depassivation display a Curie temperature TC up to 60K, or 60% of the TC of the as-grown films. These results demonstrate the direct laser writing of mesoscopic ferromagnetically active regions as a viable route for the realization of planar, nanoscale spintronic systems.
Change in band alignment of HfO2 films with annealing treatments
Authors: Yim C. J. , Ko D.-H. , Jang M. H. , Chung K. B. , Cho M.-H. , Jeon H. T.
Published: January 2008

Energy band alignment of a nitrided HfO2 film and dependence of the band gap (Eg) on annealing treatments with nitrogen plasma and ambient gases (N2 and O2) were studied by reflection electron energy loss spectra and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. We also investigated the nitrogen content in the film and its influence on the band alignment using medium energy ion scattering. The nitrogen incorporated into the HfO2 film by directed nitrogen plasma treatment significantly decreased the band gap and band offsets, i.e., the incorporated N in the film decreased both conduction and valance band offsets. The nitrogen content in depth direction was dependent on the postannealing conditions using O2 or N2.
Optical anisotropy in ultraviolet InGaN∕GaN quantum-well light-emitting diodes with a general crystal orientation
Authors: Park Seoung-Hwan , Ahn Doyeol , Oh Jae-Eung
Published: January 2008

The crystal orientation effect on optical anisotropy in ultraviolet InGaN∕GaN quantum-well (QW) light-emitting diodes are investigated using the non-Markovian gain model with many-body effects. The spontaneous emission for the y′ polarization largely increases with a crystal angle because of the reduction in the spontaneous and piezoelectric polarizations. On the other hand, that for the x′ polarization is shown to reach a maximum near θ=24° and begin to decrease when the crystal angle further increases. The absolute value of the anisotropy rapidly increases with a crystal angle and begins to saturate to be about one when a crystal angle exceeds about 50°. This is because, in the case of QW structures with large crystal angles, the states constituting the topmost valence subband near the band edge become predominantly ∣Y′>-like.
Enhanced mechanical performance of Mg metallic glass with porous Mo particles
Authors: Jang J. S. C. , Ciou J. Y. , Hung T. H. , Huang J. C. , Du X. H.
Published: January 2008

We present a porous ductile Mo particles reinforced Mg-based metallic glass composite, exhibiting superior mechanical performance with up to 10% compressive strain and 1100MPa stress at room temperature. For a given amount of particles, the porous particles will generate more interfaces between the reinforcements and matrix and, thus, can confine lots of microsized compartments of the Mg based glassy phase within the porous particles. This promotes the deformation to distribute more uniformly across the specimens, improving the ductility. We suggest that porous ductile particles might preferably be used to toughen amorphous materials with stubborn brittleness.
Enhanced transmission and directivity from metallic subwavelength apertures with nonuniform and nonperiodic grooves
Authors: Li Zhaofeng , Caglayan Humeyra , Colak Evrim , Ozbay Ekmel
Published: January 2008

Nonuniform and nonperiodic grooves are used to enhance the transmission and directivity of emissions from a single metallic subwavelength aperture. By using nonuniform and nonperiodic grooves, the amplitude and phase of the diffracted power flow from each groove can be adjusted properly. As a result, the transmission and emission directivity can be further improved when compared to apertures with uniform and periodic grooves. Our experimental results are in good agreement with the finite difference time domain simulation results.
Characterization of carriers in GaSb∕InAs superlattice grown on conductive GaSb substrate
Authors: Chandrasekhar Rao T. V. , Antoszewski J. , Faraone L. , Rodriguez J. B. , Plis E. , Krishna S.
Published: January 2008

We report on mobility spectrum analysis of electrical transport in a GaSb∕InAs superlattice (SL) grown on GaSb substrate. Despite domineering contribution to conduction from the substrate, it was possible to discern and characterize carriers from SL. A single electron specie with an ambient temperature mobility of ∼104cm2∕Vs was found to emanate from SL. We show that this carrier has an activation energy of 0.27eV and is associated with the SL band gap.
Memory effect in argon in the presence of vacuum and gas electrical breakdown mechanisms
Authors: Pejovic Momcilo M. , Pejovic Milic M.
Published: January 2008

Vacuum and gas electrical breakdown mechanisms in argon at 4mbar pressure for different interelectrode gaps were analyzed. The analysis was performed on the basis of measured Paschen’s curve, the estimated values of electrical field E in interelectrode gap d, and the estimated mean free path of electrons λ, as well as monitored of memory curves. It was shown that for d=0.1mm both breakdown mechanisms appear, while for d>0.1mm gas electrical breakdown mechanism is dominant.
Genetic dissection of the relationship of apparent biological yield and apparent harvest index with seed yield and yield related traits in soybean
Authors: Cui Shiyou , He Xiaohong , Fu Sanxiong , Meng Qingchang , Gai Junyi , Yu Deyue
Published: January 2008

Improving seed yield is an important goal of soybean breeding programs. In this investigation, two sets of recombinant inbred line (RIL) populations with 184 and 151 RI lines derived from Kefeng No. 1 × Nannong 1138-2 (F7:11, NJRIKY) and Bogao × Nannong 94-156 (F7:10, NJ(SP)BN) were used to map QTLs for five agronomic and physiological traits including plant height (PH), days to maturity (MD), seed yield (SY), apparent biological yield (ABY) and apparent harvest index (AHI), and correlation analysis among the five traits were also conducted. 221 SSR markers and 248 markers were used to construct genetic maps in NJRIKY and NJ(SP)BN population, respectively. The QTL mapping was done with the program WinQTLCart. The results indicated there were 14 putative QTL significantly associated with five agronomic and physiological traits in two sets of RIL populations and several coincident QTLs associated to SY and it related traits were observed. For SY, two QTLs, qsyC2.1 mapped on LG-C2 in NJRIKY and qsyL.1 on LG-L in NJ(SP)BN coincided or neared with QTLs detected in previous reports, and one major SY QTLs were detected on LG-O in which none of QTLs for yield were identified before. QTLs for SY co-located with QTLs for ABY and/or AHI and these co-located QTLs in each of genomic regions all showed their additive effects in the same direction except for SY/AHI QTLs on LG-C2 in NJ(SP)BN. These revealed that SY increase could be genetically explained by either biological yield enhancement and/or harvest index improvement. It was also found that some QTLs for PH in both sets of RIL population co-located with some QTLs for yield and/or ABY, and all of the coincident showed the additive effects in the same direction, but none of the QTLs was found to co-locate to any of the AHI QTLs.
Ripening time and fruit characteristics of advanced olive selections for oil production
Authors: de la Rosa Raúl , León Lorenzo , Moreno Inmaculada , Barranco Diego , Rallo Luis
Published: January 2008

In the olive breeding program of Córdoba, Spain, the first 15 obtained selections have recently been tested in a comparative field trial, including their genitors, ‘Arbequina’, ‘Frantoio’ and ‘Picual’, as a control. In this work, we report the evaluation of the fruit characteristics and ripening time of those selections. Average data recorded in the comparative field trial orchard in two consecutive harvest seasons were used for statistical analysis. A high degree of variability and significant differences between genotypes were obtained for all the fruit characteristics analysed, and for ripening time and extractability index. For most of those parameters, selections showing better values than the genitors have been found. In particular, many of the selections had higher oil content than the genitors. Data for seedling plants evaluation was significantly correlated with data of the reported field trial for fruit weight, fruit removal force/fruit weight ratio and oil content. This indicates that selection in the seedling stage for these characters can be efficiently performed, even when only the first year of agronomic evaluation of the seedling is considered. On the contrary, seedling selection for fruit moisture, fruit removal force and ripening date seems to be difficult to perform. In summary, the results of the agronomic evaluation suggest that some of the selections could be released as new olive cultivars in the near future, for first time in Spain.
Response to terminal water deficit stress of cowpea, pigeonpea, and soybean in pure stand and in competition
Authors: Likoswe A. A. , Lawn R. J.
Published: January 2008

The response to terminal water deficit stress of three grain legumes, soybean, cowpea and pigeonpea, was evaluated in plants grown in large tubes, in competition with either the same species or one of the other two species. The aim was to explore how species differences in drought response affected water use, growth and survival of plants in pure stand and in competition. Two plants, comprising the test species and its competitor, were grown in each tube. Water was withheld 26 days after sowing by which time each plant had at least three fully expanded trifoliolate leaves. Leaf water status and plant growth were measured through destructive samples when 80% and 90% of the estimated plant available water (PAW) was depleted and at plant death, while PAW depletion, node growth and leaf survival were monitored at 2–3 day intervals until the last plants died (61 days after water was withheld). In pure stand, the rate of PAW depletion was initially slowest in cowpea despite its much larger leaf area, and fastest in soybean. Node growth was most sensitive in cowpea, ceasing at 65% PAW depletion compared with 85% PAW depletion in pigeonpea and soybean, so that the latter two species produced relatively more nodes after water was withheld. However, senescence of the lower leaves was most rapid in soybean and slowest in cowpea. Cowpea and pigeonpea extracted almost all PAW and died an average 18 days and 14 days, respectively, after maximum PAW depletion. In contrast, soybean died before 90% of PAW was depleted and so in pure stand used less water. There were otherwise only minor differences between the species combinations in the timing and maximum level of PAW depletion. The ability of cowpea and pigeonpea to maintain leaf water status above lethal levels for longer was achieved through different means. Cowpea relied primarily on dehydration avoidance and maintained tissue water status higher for longer, whereas pigeonpea demonstrated greater dehydration tolerance. While significant levels of osmotic adjustment (OA) were identified in soybean and pigeonpea, OA appeared to be of limited benefit to leaf survival in soybean. Pigeonpea invested significantly more total dry matter (TDM) in roots than either cowpea or soybean. Cowpea survived longest in pure stand whereas pigeonpea and soybean survived shortest in pure stand, suggesting that the dehydration avoidance response of cowpea was more effective in competition with like plants whereas the dehydration tolerance strategies of pigeonpea and soybean were least effective when competing against like plants. On average, TDM per plant ranked in the order cowpea > soybean > pigeonpea, largely reflecting initial differences in plant size when water was withheld. However, there was an inverse relation between TDM of a species and that of its competitor, so that in effect, water not used by a given plant to produce TDM was used by its competitor and there were no differences in TDM production per tube.
Gia Voeltz: Shaping ideas about ER shape
Authors: Sedwick Caitlin
Published: January 2008

Gia Voeltz is using in vitro assays, cell biology, and electron microscopy to investigate how the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) acquires its tubular shape and how this shape supports ER function.
Regulated motion of glycoproteins revealed by direct visualization of a single cargo in the endoplasmic reticulum
Authors: Nagaya Hisao , Tamura Taku , Higa-Nishiyama Arisa , Ohashi Koji , Takeuchi Mayumi , Hashimoto Hitoshi , Hatsuzawa Kiyotaka , Kinjo Masataka , Okada Tatsuya , Wada Ikuo
Published: January 2008

The quality of cargo proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is affected by their motion during folding. To understand how the diffusion of secretory cargo proteins is regulated in the ER, we directly analyze the motion of a single cargo molecule using fluorescence imaging/fluctuation analyses. We find that the addition of two N-glycans onto the cargo dramatically alters their diffusion by transient binding to membrane components that are confined by hyperosmolarity. Via simultaneous observation of a single cargo and ER exit sites (ERESs), we could exclude ERESs as the binding sites. Remarkably, actin cytoskeleton was required for the transient binding. These results provide a molecular basis for hypertonicity-induced immobilization of cargo, which is dependent on glycosylation at multiple sites but not the completion of proper folding. We propose that diffusion of secretory glycoproteins in the ER lumen is controlled from the cytoplasm to reduce the chances of aggregation.