bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Effect of Heating Rate on the Sintering Behavior and the Piezoelectric Properties of Lead Zirconate Titanate Ceramics
Authors: Ryu Jungho , Choi Jong‐Jin , Kim Hyoun‐Ee
Published: April 2007

The effect of heating rate on the sintering behavior and the piezoelectric properties of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ceramics was investigated. Two different types of PZT (pure and doped with Nb2O5) were sintered at 1150°C for 2 h with a wide range of heating rate (0.5°–100°C/min). The densification of pure PZT was improved significantly by increasing the heating rate. The improvement was attributed to the suppression of PbO volatilization and grain coarsening during heating. In contrast, the densification behavior of a PZT specimen doped with Nb2O5 was not much influenced by the heating rate. These densification behaviors affected the piezoelectric properties of the specimens. The piezoelectric properties of pure PZT were enhanced significantly by increasing the heating rate, while those of doped specimens were improved only moderately.
Cross‐species difference in telomeric function of tankyrase 1
Authors: Muramatsu Yukiko , Ohishi Tomokazu , Sakamoto Michiko , Tsuruo Takashi , Seimiya Hiroyuki
Published: April 2007

Telomeres protect chromosome ends from being recognized as DNA double‐strand breaks. Telomere shortening, which occurs due to incomplete replication of DNA termini, limits the proliferative capacity of human somatic cells and contributes as a barrier to carcinogenesis. In most human cancer cells, telomerase maintains telomere length whereas TRF1, a telomeric protein, represses telomere access to telomerase. Tankyrase 1 is a PARP that dissociates TRF1 from telomeres by poly(ADP‐ribosyl)ating TRF1. Thus, by reducing TRF1 loading on chromosome ends, tankyrase 1 enhances telomere access to telomerase and causes telomere elongation. Recent studies of knockout mice suggest that tankyrases may not regulate telomere length in mice (Mus musculus). Consistent with this idea is that mouse TRF1 has no canonical tankyrase‐binding motif. However, the presence of such a motif is not a prerequisite to bind tankyrase 1 in certain species. Here, we found that, in mice, tankyrase 1 does not bind or poly(ADP‐ribosyl)ate TRF1. Accordingly, mouse TRF1 was resistant to tankyrase 1‐mediated release from telomeres. These observations indicate that telomeric function of tankyrase 1 is not conserved in mice. We also found that the canonical tankyrase 1‐binding motif in TRF1 is conserved in several mammals but not in rats. Since mice and rats have much higher telomerase activity in their somatic tissues and much longer telomeres than those in other mammals, these rodent species might have evolved to resign the tankyrase 1‐mediated telomere maintenance system. Meanwhile, PARP inhibitors induced non‐telomeric tankyrase 1 foci in the nuclei, suggesting another function of tankyrase 1 at non‐telomeric loci. (Cancer Sci 2007; 98: 850–857)
Dealing with time constraints on development: the effect of food availability
Authors: PFENNING B , POETHKE H. J , HOVESTADT T
Published: April 2007

Abstract 1. Life‐history theory predicts that organisms should speed up development in response to time constraints. However, acceleration of development carries energetic costs that have to be compensated, e.g. by an increase in foraging rate. For the wing dimorphic water strider Gerris lacustris (L.), the hypothesis was tested that the adjustment of development to time constraints is limited by the availability of food resources.

2. Six cohorts of larvae hatched increasingly late in the season were reared under two feeding regimes. For each cohort and experimental group the physiological time (in degree‐days) of larval development was estimated.

3. In both high‐ and low‐food groups there was a significant reduction of physiological time for development towards the end of the season. Furthermore, within cohorts, physiological development time was always lower in the high‐food group than in the low‐food group. However, there was no significant interaction effect between food treatment and cohort.

4. The results demonstrate that G. lacustris has the flexibility to adjust development to time constraints. In addition, 20% of the ‘low‐food individuals’ developed into the short‐winged morph while all of the ‘high‐food individuals’ became long‐winged. The limitation of food may thus lead to a reduced allocation of energy into the development of the flight apparatus. This may explain the strong increase in short‐wingedness at the end of the season in natural populations, which are highly food limited.
Isolation and extreme sex‐specific expression of cytochrome P450 genes in the bark beetle, Ips paraconfusus, following feeding on the phloem of host ponderosa pine, Pinus ponderosa
Authors: Huber D. P. W. , Erickson M. L. , Leutenegger C. M. , Bohlmann J. , Seybold S. J.
Published: April 2007

We have identified cDNAs and characterized the expression of 13 novel cytochrome P450 genes of potential importance in host colonization and reproduction by the California fivespined ips, Ips paraconfusus. Twelve are of the Cyp4 family and one is of the Cyp9 family. Following feeding on host Pinus ponderosa phloem, bark beetle transcript levels of several of the Cyp4 genes increased or decreased in males only or in both sexes. In one instance (IparaCyp4A5) transcript accumulated significantly in females, but declined significantly in males. The Cyp9 gene (Cyp9T1) transcript levels in males were > 85 000 × higher at 8 h and > 25 000 × higher at 24 h after feeding compared with nonfed controls. Transcript levels in females were approximately 150 × higher at 24 h compared with nonfed controls. Cyp4G27 transcript was present constitutively regardless of sex or feeding and served as a better housekeeping gene than β‐actin or 18S rRNA for the real‐time TaqMan polymerase chain reaction analysis. The expression patterns of Cyp4AY1, Cyp4BG1, and, especially, Cyp9T1 in males suggest roles for these genes in male‐specific aggregation pheromone production. The differential transcript accumulation patterns of these bark beetle P450s provide insight into ecological interactions of I. paraconfusus with its host pines.
A comparative study of voltage‐gated sodium channels in the Insecta: implications for pyrethroid resistance in Anopheline and other Neopteran species
Authors: Davies T. G. E. , Field L. M. , Usherwood P. N. R. , Williamson M. S.
Published: April 2007

We report the complete cDNA sequence of the Anopheles gambiae voltage‐gated sodium channel (VGSC) α‐subunit isolated from mature adult mosquitoes. The genomic DNA contains 35 deduced exons with a predicted translation of ≤ 2139 amino acid cDNAs. The transcription of the gene is, however, complex, alternate splicing being evident for at least five optional exons (or exon segments) and two sets of mutually exclusive exons. Overall gene organization was also compared with that of other VGSCs within the Insecta. Several insecticides used in mosquito control (including DDT and synthetic pyrethroids) target the VGSC. Isolation of the sodium channel cDNA for An. gambiae: (1) allows prediction of likely single nucleotide polymorphisms that may arise at residue L1014 to cause resistance to insecticides; (2) defines An. gambiae exon usage in key areas of the VGSC protein that are known (from previous studies in a range of different pest species) to have roles in altering insecticide susceptibility and in generating resistance; and (3) is a critical first step towards development of refined malarial control strategies and of new diagnostics for resistance monitoring.
Nature and the economy*
Authors: DASGUPTA PARTHA
Published: April 2007

In this lecture I first offer what one could call the World Bank view of the recent macroeconomic history of a number of countries in the poor and rich worlds. Secondly, I demonstrate how our view of macroeconomic history changes if Nature is included as a capital asset in production activities.

I conclude that high population growth in the world's poorest regions (South Asia and sub‐Saharan Africa) has been an obstacle to the achievement of sustainable economic development in those areas. It is believed that people in those regions are, on average, less wealthy now than they were 35 years ago.

When population growth is taken into account, the accumulation of manufactured capital, knowledge and human capital (health and education) has not compensated for the degradation of natural capital in South Asia and sub‐Saharan Africa and, in all probability, even in the United Kingdom and the United States.

It is possible that China is an exception to the economic forces experienced in other areas of the world.

Synthesis and applications. The conclusions drawn here are very tentative and there is much further work to be conducted in understanding how ecological concerns can be incorporated into economic theory. It is important, therefore, that growth economists, demographers, governments and international agencies take this approach.
Inherited cancer susceptibility syndromes in paediatric practice
Authors: Field Michael , Shanley Susan , Kirk Judy
Published: April 2007

Abstract:  Over the last decade there have been rapid advances in our knowledge about the molecular basis of many inherited disorders. Molecular testing is now available for many conditions and may assist in the management of the individual and their extended family. One area where the use of genetic testing has expanded rapidly is in the area of hereditary cancer, particularly in relation to hereditary breast/ovarian and hereditary bowel cancer syndromes. Although individually uncommon, there are also a number of rare cancer susceptibility syndromes affecting the paediatric population, where genetic testing may assist in patient management. The following review is a practical guide for clinicians about the role of genetic testing for some rare tumour susceptibilities pertaining to children, including retinoblastoma, familial adenomatous polyposis, juvenile polyposis syndromes, Von Hippel–Lindau disease, multiple endocrine neoplasia, Li–Fraumeni syndrome and neurofibromatosis. We concentrate on disorders where germline mutation testing is routinely available and influences patient management. We have placed specific emphasis on the paediatric presentation of these disorders and provide some guidance to clinicians about surveillance protocols in affected individuals and ‘at‐risk’ family members.
Group A streptococcal infections in children
Authors: Steer Andrew C , Danchin Margaret H , Carapetis Jonathan R
Published: April 2007

Abstract:  The group A streptococcus causes the widest range of disease in humans of all bacterial pathogens. Group A streptococcal diseases are more common in children than adults with diseases ranging from pharyngitis and impetigo to invasive infections and the post‐streptococcal sequelae – acute rheumatic fever and acute post‐streptococcal glomerulonephritis. The global burden of severe group A streptococcal disease is concentrated largely in developing countries and Indigenous populations such as Aboriginal Australians. Control of group A streptococcal disease is poor in these settings and the need for a vaccine has been argued. With an ever‐increasing understanding of the group A streptococcus at a molecular level, new and sophisticated vaccines are currently in human trials and the next decade holds exciting prospects for curbing group A streptococcal diseases.
Infant sleep position, head shape concerns, and sleep positioning devices
Authors: Hutchison Lynne , Stewart Alistair , Mitchell Edwin
Published: April 2007

Aim:  The Back To Sleep campaign has successfully promoted the use of the supine sleep position for infants, with a corresponding decrease in sudden infant death syndrome death rates around the world. The aim of this study was to survey current infant sleep position practices, concerns about plagiocephaly, and the use of sleep positioning devices.

Methods:  A postal survey of 400 mothers of infants aged 6 weeks to 4 months was carried out in Auckland, New Zealand.

Results:  Of the 278 (69.5%) respondents, the supine position was usually used in 64.8%, the prone position in 2.9%, with 32.3% using the side position or a combination of side and back positions. Approximately one‐third had a concern about their infant’s head shape, and 80% described practices to help prevent head deformation. Thirty per cent reported they had changed their infant’s sleep position because of head shape concerns. A third of the mothers used some sort of positioning system to maintain the infant’s sleep position.

Conclusions:  Anxieties about plagiocephaly, aspiration of vomit, and poor quality sleep are the main concerns that parents have about sleeping their infants on their backs. Further education is needed to inform mothers about these issues and to alleviate their fears.
Relationship between fluid management, changes in serum sodium and outcome in hypernatraemia associated with gastroenteritis
Authors: Robertson Gillian , Carrihill Michelle , Hatherill Mark , Waggie Zainab , Reynolds Louis , Argent Andrew
Published: April 2007

Objective:  To describe the relationship between fluid management, serum sodium and outcome in critically ill children with hypernatraemic gastroenteritis.

Methods:  A retrospective study of 57 children with hypernatraemic gastroenteritis admitted to a paediatric intensive care unit in Cape Town, South Africa. Data were collected on fluid management, serum electrolytes and adverse outcome (seizures, new neurological deficit and mortality) and analysed using univariate and multivariate statistics.

Results:  Median admission sodium was 165 mmol/L (145–199). Median volume of intravenous rehydration fluid was 6 mL/kg/h (144 mL/kg/day), with sodium concentration of 61 mmol/L (0–154 mmol/L), resulting in a median fall in sodium of 0.6 mmol/L/h (14.4 mmol/L/day). Fourteen children (25%) had seizures during rehydration, four children (7%) died and five children (9%) developed neurological deficit. Median admission sodium in children with adverse outcome was 172 mmol/L, with rate of fall of 0.63 mmol/L/h, compared with median admission sodium of 163 mmol/L and rate of fall of 0.48 mmol/L/h, in children with good outcome (P = 0.068 and P = 0.08, respectively). Median sodium content of intravenous solution was 61 mmol/L in both groups (P = 0.68). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that neither sodium content of intravenous solution (P = 0.59), nor rate of fall of sodium (P = 0.31), was independently associated with adverse outcome.

Conclusions:  Rehydration in hypernatraemic gastroenteritis using intravenous solutions containing 61 mmol/L sodium would be expected to correct serum sodium at a rate of approximately 0.6 mmol/L/h. Neither sodium content of the intravenous solution, nor rate of correction of sodium, was independently associated with adverse outcome.
Massive hepatic congenital haemangioma: Clinical dilemmas
Authors: De Paoli Antonio G , Williams Michelle , Parsons Simon J , Long Eileen , Brothers Lynne , Dargaville Peter A
Published: April 2007

Abstract:  A case of massive hepatomegaly secondary to a hepatic congenital haemangioma in a preterm neonate is described. This infant died after withdrawal of neonatal intensive care support, following massive intracerebral haemorrhage. There remains considerable uncertainty regarding the classification of, and therapy for, hepatic vascular anomalies.
Spinal atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor in a 7‐year‐old boy
Authors: Yang Chii‐Shuenn , Jan Yee‐Jee , Wang John , Shen Chiung‐Chyi , Chen Clayton C.‐C. , Chen Ming
Published: April 2007

Reported herein is an unusual case of atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor (AT/RT) of the lumbar spine with an intradural extramedullary location in a 7‐year‐old boy. Histologically, this tumor contained rhabdoid cells, pale cells, and sickle‐shaped embracing cells without primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET), mesenchymal or epithelial components. Immunohistochemical staining showed that these tumor cells react positively for epithelial membrane antigen (EMA), vimentin, cytokeratin (AE1/AE3), CD99 and neurofilament protein, but negatively for INI1 antibody. Chromosome 22q deletion was demonstrated on fluorescence in situ hybridization.
Morphometric and topographical studies of small neurons in sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis spinal gray matter
Authors: Hayashi Shintaro , Amari Masakuni , Takatama Masamitsu , Okamoto Koichi
Published: April 2007

Little attention has been paid to the degeneration of small neurons in ALS spinal gray matter. The purpose of the present paper was to undertake morphometric and quantitative analysis of the spinal gray matter of 15 ALS patients and compare findings to those of five controls. A significant reduction of small neurons in the anteromedial and intermediate parts of the gray matter were detected in ALS spinal cords with diffuse myelin pallor in the ventral aspects of the anterolateral columns outside the corticospinal tracts, and the number of small neurons in these areas was decreased significantly depending on the intensity of the myelin pallor. There were no significant alterations in the number of small neurons in the corresponding areas of ALS spinal cords without diffuse myelin pallor or in those of controls. In the posterior parts of the gray matter, there were no significant differences in the number of small neurons among ALS patients and controls. These findings strongly suggest that diffuse myelin pallor in the ventral aspects of anterolateral columns in ALS spinal cords is derived from the degeneration of small neurons in the anteromedial and intermediate parts of the gray matter.
Increasing rate of childhood tuberculosis in a region of east Croatia
Authors: ABERLE NEDA , BUBLIĆ JOŠKO , FERIĆ MONIKA , BUKVIĆ BLAŽENKA , ŠIMIĆ ANDREA , TRTICA BOJANA , BLAŽEVIĆ VIOLETA , BORANIĆ MILIVOJ
Published: April 2007

Background: The incidence of childhood tuberculosis as well as the number of children being in contact with persons having tuberculosis has increased in the region of Slavonski Brod during the past decade (1993–2003). The region is located in east Croatia along the border with Bosnia and close to the besieged and destroyed town of Vukovar. The region was heavily involved in recent military activities and migrations in Croatia and Bosnia (1991–1995). Before the war, the population was reasonably well situated, educated and provided with health services.

Methods: Routine clinical and epidemiological methods for the diagnosis of tuberculosis were used.

Results: A total of 225 cases of tuberculosis were discovered among 271 suspected cases in a total number of 19 623 children below 18 years of age admitted during the last decade to the county hospital (1.38%). The number increased from three patients with tuberculosis in 1993 to 59 in 2003. Discharge diagnoses were: latent infection 40.1%, specific hilar lymphadenopathy 22.1%, primary lung tuberculosis 18.0%, postprimary tuberculosis 3.0%, and contact with infected person but otherwise normal findings 16.9%. The infection was usualy (53.1%) acquired within the family, more often so in younger patients. Bacteriological cultures were positive in 19 of 117 patients with tuberculosis (16.4%). Antituberculosis drug treatment was carried out to completion in all children. Resistance was not encountered.

Conclusion: The authors attribute high incidence of childhood tuberculosis in the region of Slavonski Brod, the second highest incidence in Croatia, to the sequellae of migrations during military activities in Croatia and Bosnia (1991–1995) and to the post‐war recession.
Usefulness of an age‐adjusted body shape index in Korean children and adolescents
Authors: KWON JINWON , KIM HO , SOHN YEOJIN , CHO SUNG‐IL
Published: April 2007

Background: The aim of the present paper was to determine the usefulness of an age‐adjusted anthropometric index of body shape for the assessment of obesity in Korean children and adolescents aged 10–15 years

Methods: The population sample was composed of 556 boys and 489 girls who completed an interview survey, anthropometry, and medical examination for the Korean National Health and Nutritional Survey conducted in 1998. An age‐adjusted anthropometric index, body shape index standard deviation score (BSI‐SDS), was derived from waist‐to‐hip ratio divided by height (WHR/Ht) and its common standard deviation according to Asayama et al. (1997). Serum levels of lipids, glucose, and liver function markers were defined as abnormal if they were above the 90th percentile of the study population. Using logistic regression analysis, the odds ratios of having a lipidemic, diabetic, or liver complication on increasing BSI‐SDS were estimated.

Results: For both boys and girls, lipidemic and liver complications had statistically significant odds ratios associated with increasing BSI‐SDS. With 1 unit increase in BSI‐SDS, the odds ratios of lipidemic complications were 1.5 and 1.3, respectively, for boys and girls, and the odds ratios of liver complications were 1.3 and 1.4, respectively, for boys and girls.

Conclusions: A new measure developed by Asayama et al., BSI‐SDS, is a useful marker of obesity in addition to body mass index among Korean children and adolescents aged 10–15 years.
Adult asthma after non‐respiratory syncytial virus bronchiolitis in infancy: Subgroup analysis of the 20‐year prospective follow‐up study
Authors: PIIPPO‐SAVOLAINEN EIJA , KORPPI MATTI , KORHONEN KAJ , REMES SAMI
Published: April 2007

Background: Recent studies have stressed the influence of other viruses than respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in the development of asthma in later childhood after bronchiolitis in infancy. However, the virus‐specific prognosis until adulthood has remained obscure, due to lack of sufficiently long follow‐up studies. The aim of the present study was to evaluate adult respiratory morbidity after bronchiolitis in infancy, focused on cases not caused by RSV.

Methods: A total of 54 children hospitalized for bronchiolitis at age <2 years were re‐studied at median age 19 years; 22 with RSV bronchiolitis and 22 with non‐RSV bronchiolitis outside RSV epidemic were included. RSV etiology was studied by antigen and antibody assays on admission. Adult asthma was defined by two ways, based on written questionnaire, clinical examination and home peak expiratory flow monitoring. Lung function was evaluated by flow‐volume spirometry (FVS), bronchial reactivity by methacholine inhalation challenge (MIC), and atopy by skin prick tests (SPT).

Results: In the non‐RSV group, asthma by two definitions was present in 41–50% (vs 18–27% in RSV group). In logistic regression, adjusted for gender, age on admission, current atopy and smoking, non‐RSV etiology of bronchiolitis, compared with RSV etiology, increased asthma risk by both strict (odds ratio [OR], 8.34; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.18–58.69) and less strict (OR, 7.93; 95% CI, 1.14–55.41) criteria. An abnormal result in FVS was present in 32–41% and in MIC in 48–52% of cases in non‐RSV and RSV groups, respectively.

Conclusions: Infants with non‐RSV bronchiolitis requiring treatment in hospital are at an increased risk for subsequent asthma in adulthood.
Lipid profile in children with acute viral hepatitis A
Authors: SELIMOGLU MUKADDER AYSE , CANER IBRAHIM , YILDIZ LEYLA
Published: April 2007

Background: Most of the knowledge about lipid parameters in acute hepatitis is originated from adult studies. In this study, the authors investigated lipid profile of children with acute hepatitis A (AVH) at diagnosis and recovery in order to observe the behavior of lipid parameters in such children.

Methods: A total of 28 children (mean age, 8.2 ± 2.7 years) with AVH and 20 gender and age‐matched healthy children were included. In addition to the routine tests, triglyceride, cholesterol, low‐density lipoprotein (LDL), high‐density lipoprotein (HDL), plasma apo A‐I and apo B were studied at diagnosis and recovery.

Results: Serum triglyceride and apo B level was higher, and apo A‐I level was lower in patients compared to healthy children (P < 0.01, <0.05 and <0.01, respectively). On admission, three children had fulminant hepatic failure (FHF). Serum lipid parameters were evaluated in respect with the presence of icterus and FHF, and found that apo A‐I level was lower in icteric children and LDL and apo A‐I were lower in FHF compared to others (P < 0.05, P < 0.01 and P < 0.05, respectively). At recovery, while triglyceride, cholesterol, LDL, and apo B decreased (P < 0.01), HDL and apo A‐I increased (P < 0.01). Serum apo A‐I level was inversely correlated with serum ammonia level but was positively correlated with serum albumin (P < 0.05).

Conclusions: It was shown that serum triglyceride and apo B level increased, but apo A‐I level decreased in patients with AVH. While cholestasis lowers apo A‐I level, severe hepatic damage lowers both apo A‐I and LDL. These parameters return to normal levels within 30 days. An interesting relationship between ammonia and apo A‐I deserves further investigations, speculatively focused on hepatocyte nuclear factor 4 alpha.
Postoperative anorectal manometric evaluation of patients with anorectal malformation
Authors: SENEL EMRAH , DEMIRBAG SUZI , TIRYAKI TUGRUL , ERDOGAN DERYA , CETINKURSUN SALIH , CAKMAK OZDEN
Published: April 2007

Background: Fecal incontinence is a common problem after reconstructive surgery for anorectal malformations. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of clinical scores and anorectal manometry in patients, who have been operated on for anorectal malformations.

Methods: In total, 18 patients who underwent surgery for anorectal malformation between 1999 and 2004 were investigated for anal continence. For the assessment of the patients’ continence, Kelly’s clinical scoring, Kiesewetter–Chang scoring, and anorectal manometry were used.

Results: In the intermediate level anorectal malformations, average anal resting pressure was found as 58.16 ± 8.14 cmH2O and in high level anorectal malformations was found as 40.16 ± 17.4 cmH2O. In the continence score, good according to Kelly and Kiesewetter–Chang scoring systems was an average anal resting pressure value of 57.92 ± 8.57 cmH2O and in fair or bad was found as 32 ± 12.83 cmH2O. There were significant differences between the scoring systems anorectal malformation level, and average anal resting pressure values (P < 0.05).

Conclusions: Anorectal manometric evaluation of the patients in postoperative period with anorectal malformation can give more realistic information about the patient continence status in anorectal malformations.
Normal values for KL‐6 in cord venous plasma of neonates
Authors: UCHIDA YUMIKO , MINOWA HIDEKI , EBISU REIKO , NISHIKUBO TOSHIYA , TAKAHASHI YUKIHIRO , YOSHIOKA AKIRA
Published: April 2007

Background: KL‐6 in umbilical cord blood, including from premature infants, and perinatal factors that may affect these values have not yet been adequately discussed. The authors investigated factors affecting cord venous plasma levels of KL‐6 in neonates, and to establish a normal range of values for KL‐6 in neonatal cord blood.

Methods: Cord plasma levels of KL‐6 were measured in 75 neonates, and statistical analysis of factors affecting these levels was performed. A normal range for cord plasma KL‐6 levels was calculated by statistical analysis methods based on guidelines by the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards.

Results: Data from a total of 75 neonates was analyzed. Gestational age ranged from 25 to 40 weeks (median, 33.4 weeks), and birthweight ranged from 776 to 3760 g (median, 1944 g). There was no statistically significant correlation between cord plasma KL‐6 levels with gender, gestational age, birthweight, method of delivery, Apgar score 1 min, and postnatal respiratory distress. The normal range of values for cord plasma KL‐6 was 44.3–148.2 U/mL (median, 73.0 U/mL).

Conclusion: The cord plasma levels of KL‐6 were about half the normal values reported in children and healthy adults and were not affected by various perinatal factors. The authors’ findings suggest that plasma KL‐6 levels rise when respiratory function is established after birth and tend to further increase with age.
Moderate–vigorous physical activity and body fatness in Chinese urban school children
Authors: LI LIUBAI , LI KEJI , USHIJIMA HIROSHI
Published: April 2007

Background: The exact relation between moderate–vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and body fatness in children has yet to be fully defined. This study examined the relationship between MVPA and body fatness in Chinese urban school children aged 9–11 years, in an 8 month longitudinal study.

Methods: Two hundred and ten children (aged 9–11 years; 97 boys and 113 girls) were recruited from two public primary schools in the Beijing urban area. The baseline and the 8 month follow‐up percent body fat (fat%), fat mass (FM), body mass index (BMI), waist size, hip size and the waist : hip ratio were investigated as measures of body fatness. Habitual MVPA level (activity‐related energy expenditure, AEE) was measured using a validated self‐report questionnaire recall.

Results: Nine‐year‐old girls who were in the top quartile for MVPA had significantly lower fat% than other girls at the same age (P < 0.05); 10–11‐years girls who were in the top quartile for MVPA had significantly less increase in all of the indices of body fatness (P < 0.05). There was no difference in fat% between the highly physically active (top quartile for MVPA) and less active 9–11 year boys in both cross‐sectional and longitudinal statistical analyses.

Conclusions: Highly physically active girls had lower fat% and less increase in body fatness. In light of world trends showing increasing childhood obesity, this study supports the hypothesis that MVPA might be effective in fighting excess body fat gain in Chinese school‐age girls.
Cord blood cortisol level is lower in growth‐restricted newborns
Authors: Strinic Tomislav , Roje Damir , Marusic Jelena , Capkun Vesna
Published: April 2007

Aim:  To establish the difference in plasma cortisol concentrations between newborns with intrauterine growth‐restricted (IUGR) and appropriate for gestational age (AGA) birthweights.

Subjects and Methods:  We measured plasma cortisol concentrations in the umbilical venous cord blood of 68 IUGR newborns and 71 AGA birthweight newborns. All newborns were delivered in term, vaginally, in the morning, within 8 hours and had APGAR scores greater or equal to eight.

Results:  There was no significant difference between compared groups according to maternal age, parity, gestational age and neonatal gender. Neonatal plasma cortisol levels were significantly lower in the IUGR (median: 312.3 mmol/L, min‐max: 158.9–588.1 mmol/L) compared to the AGA group (median: 458.7 mmol/L, min‐max: 314.5–718.5 mmol/L) (Mann–Whitney U‐test; P < 0000). The probability of having a cortisol plasma level greater than or equal to 458.7 mmol/L for IUGR newborns was only 1:12, and to have cortisol plasma level less than or equal to 312.3 mmol/L for AGA newborns was much lower (0:34). In the range of plasma cortisol level between 312.3 mmol/L and 458.7 mmol/L, no statistically significant difference in the plasma cortisol level between IUGR and AGA newborns was found.

Conclusions:  Neonatal plasma cortisol level is lower in the IUGR compared to the AGA group. Our results suggest that endocrine relationships seem to be lost in a specific group of the IUGR newborns. Although we usually tend to simplify the problem and declare only one cause, this time it is impossible. It is probable that the cause is hidden in small and insufficient placenta with deranged auto‐regulation of placental 11β‐HSD‐2 mechanism.
Appendiceal adenocarcinoma presenting with bilateral Krukenberg tumors
Authors: Uharcek Peter , Mlyncek Miloš , Durcanský Dušan
Published: April 2007

Primary appendiceal malignancy metastatic to the ovaries is a condition that may mimic advanced stage ovarian cancer. This condition is rarely diagnosed preoperatively. A 52‐year‐old woman referred to our institution for presumed advanced stage of ovarian cancer was found to have primary appendiceal adenocarcinoma metastatic to ovaries at laparotomy. We describe the clinical course of the patient. It is important for the gynecologist‐oncologist to include tumors of the appendix into the differential diagnosis of any case of ovarian tumor.
Effect of vitrification method on survivability, follicular growth and ovulation of preantral follicles in mice
Authors: Choi Won‐Jun , Yeo Hyun‐Jin , Shin Jeong‐Kyu , Lee Soon‐Ae , Lee Jong‐Hak , Paik Won‐Young
Published: April 2007

Aim:  This study was designed to compare the survival rates, follicular growth rates, and ovulation rates of vitrified preantral follicles (PF) from ovaries with those isolated from a vitrified ovarian cortical strip.

Methods:  Mouse ovaries were divided into three groups: those not treated by vitrification of the PF (control), those treated by vitrification of the PF isolated from the ovaries (group I), and those treated by vitrification of ovarian tissue followed by PF isolation (group II). The group I samples were exposed to equilibration solution (EG‐20) for 5.0 min plus vitrification solution (EFS‐40) for 0.5 min, while the group II samples were exposed to EG‐20 for 10.0 min plus EFS‐40 for 2.0 min, before vitrification. They were subsequently placed on an electron microscope grid, and submerged immediately in liquid nitrogen. After thawing, the survival rate and the growth rate of the follicles were evaluated every 2 days.

Results:  In the in vitro condition, the follicles grew and developed into antral follicles in groups I and II. The survival rate of the group I samples was higher than that of the group II samples during the in vitro culture (P < 0.05). The growth rates of the follicles in group I were higher than those in group II after day 6 (P < 0.05). The ovulation rate of the samples in group I was higher than that of group II (P < 0.05).

Conclusion:  These results demonstrated that direct PF vitrification appeared to be better than vitrification of the PF isolated from ovarian tissue.
FINANCIAL LIBERALISATION, CONSUMPTION AND WEALTH EFFECTS IN SEVEN OECD COUNTRIES
Authors: Barrell Ray , Philip Davis E.
Published: April 2007

We estimate the impact of financial liberalisation on consumption in seven major industrial countries, and find a marked shift in behaviour, notably a decline in short‐run income elasticities and a rise in short‐run wealth and interest rate elasticities. A corollary is that consumption equations estimated over both pre‐ and post‐liberalisation regimes may be misleading, and either a form of testing as presented here or a shortening of the sample period may be appropriate for accurate forecasting and simulation.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BLACK MARKET AND OFFICIAL EXCHANGE RATES: AN EXAMINATION OF LONG‐RUN DYNAMICS IN INDIA
Authors: Love Jim , Chandra Ramesh
Published: April 2007

This study is the first to use Johansen's cointegration approach for India in the analysis of the long‐term dynamics between the black and official exchange rates for the period 1953–1993. The study also estimates the long‐run elasticity of the official rate with respect to the black market rate. As monthly data over 40 years are used, and a more robust methodology is employed, the results are likely to be more reliable as compared with the earlier work on India. The results of our study suggest that while there is a long‐term relationship between the two rates, the direction of causality is from the black rate to the official exchange rate. This is plausible in the Indian context where policy has generally lagged behind events in the black market. The hypothesis of a constant black market premium is rejected, implying that there is a mismatch between the percentage change in the official exchange rate and the percentage change in the black market rate.
Information Integration for Constructing Social Statistics: History, Theory and Ideas Towards a Research Programme
Authors: Judson D. H.
Published: April 2007

More precise policy making at all levels of government has fuelled tremendous demand for small area data—smaller than ever before. At the same time, there has been an unprecedented accumulation of data in geographic information systems, administrative records databases and more sophisticated survey sampling schemes. Researchers and practitioners have been trying to combine these diverse sources of data. But how should these diverse sources of data be combined in a way that is policy relevant and statistically principled? The paper illustrates these questions with several example applications at the state, county and local level: emerging geographic information systems databases, the need for estimates of small area income, poverty, demographic and uninsurance data by health authorities, and how administrative records databases (such as licensed day care facilities, traffic counts and unemployment insurance records) are being harvested for their information content. Finally, the paper proposes approaches for integrating these diverse sources of data with different error, uncertainty and quality profiles, and surveys persistent challenges in this area.
Measuring the Time Inconsistency of US Monetary Policy
Authors: SURICO PAOLO
Published: April 2007

This paper offers an alternative explanation for the great inflation of the 1970s by measuring a novel source of monetary policy time inconsistency. In the presence of asymmetric preferences, the monetary authorities generate a systematic inflation bias through the private‐sector expectations of a larger policy response in recessions than in booms. The estimated Fed's implicit target for inflation has declined from the pre‐ to the post‐Volcker regime. The average inflation bias was about 1% before 1979, but this has disappeared over the last two decades, because the preferences on output stabilization were large and asymmetric only in the former period.
On the Political ‐ By Chantal Mouffe
Authors: Pugh Jonathan
Published: April 2007

Statement The editors do not necessarily agree with the statements contained in the book reviews, and neither they nor the RGS‐IBG assume responsibility for the reviewers’ assessments of the books that they evaluate.
The Development And Application Of A Simple Methodology For Recording Rock Art Using Consumer‐Grade Digital Cameras
Authors: Chandler Jim H. , Bryan Paul , Fryer John G.
Published: April 2007

A simple methodology for recording rock art has been recently developed in Australia and tested on Aboriginal rock art, including both petroglyphs and pictographs (engraved and painted images, respectively). The approach was based on commercial photogrammetric software and consumer‐grade digital cameras, because it was believed that archaeologists, conservators and site managers need simple and cost‐effective methods to record and document rock art. This methodology has been adopted subsequently by the Northumberland and Durham Rock Art Project working in conjunction with English Heritage, to assist in recording 1500 prehistoric engraved panels located across the north‐east of England. Significantly, the fieldwork was carried out by enthusiastic volunteers, willing to sacrifice their weekends to capture imagery suitable for digital photogrammetry.

This paper explains briefly how the recording technique was developed in Australia before indicating how expertise and equipment were integrated to allow UK‐based volunteers to carry out data acquisition and, perhaps surprisingly, also the photogrammetry. This will demonstrate the value of mobilising the voluntary sector for heritage recording, which is feasible only if recording methodologies are based on cheap and simple instrumentation.
Homosexuality between Men in Britain since the Eighteenth Century
Authors: Cocks H. G.
Published: April 2007

Historians have tended to agree that homosexuality is defined more by culture than nature. However, they disagree over the question of how exactly culture and history shape sexual practices and identity. A few years ago, historians sought to find the origins of modern homosexuality, and tended to treat homosexuality as one thing. It was assumed that modern homosexuality meant an association with effeminacy, and that the effeminate homosexual was a creation of the eighteenth century. Now, however, historians see homosexuality as a diverse phenomenon, encompassing a wide range of behaviour and identity, and have tried to dismantle the idea that it must have a unitary history. Historians have also become much more interested in the continuities between present and past behaviour. They have also given a new prominence to social factors, rather than sexual ones, in the formation of sexuality.
Magic and Impotence: Recent Developments in Medieval Historiography
Authors: Rider Catherine
Published: April 2007

There has been a great deal of scholarship on medieval magic published in the last twenty years. This article discusses the author's recent book, Magic and Impotence in the Middle Ages, and surveys how it fits into other recent research on medieval magic. This recent research has taken three directions in particular: research on the medieval origins of the early modern witch‐hunts; on the contents and circulation of magical texts in medieval Europe; and on the various ways in which historians have related magic to other areas of medieval religion and culture.
Historical Anthropology of Modern India
Authors: Dube Saurabh
Published: April 2007

The last three decades have seen acute interchanges between history and anthropology in theoretical and empirical studies. Scholarship on South Asia has reflected these patterns, but it has also reworked such tendencies. Here, significant writings of the 1960s and 1970s brought together processes of history and patterns of culture as part of mutual fields of analysis and description. These emphases have been critically developed more recently. Anthropologists and historians have rethought theory and method, in order not only to crucially conjoin but to explore anew the ‘archive’ and the ‘field’. The blending has produced ‘historical anthropology’: writings that approach and explain in new ways elaborations of caste and community, colonialism and empire, nation and nationalism, domination and resistance, law and politics, myth and kingship, environment and ethnicity, and state and modernity – in the past and the present. Work in historical anthropology focuses on practice, process, and power, and often combines perspectives from gender, postcolonial, and subaltern studies.
When does the EU Make a Difference? Conditionality and the Accession Process in Central and Eastern Europe
Authors: Haughton Tim
Published: April 2007

A number of recent studies examining the accession of states from Central and Eastern Europe into the European Union have provided a much more sophisticated understanding of when, why and how the EU shaped, directed and occasionally determined change in the region since 1989. Although acknowledging the EU was at times a motor of change, its power was limited to particular points in the accession process and varied significantly across policy areas. Even in cases such as Slovakia, often used to demonstrate the power of EU conditionality, the influence of the EU on domestic actors and policy change has been exaggerated. The EU's ‘transformative power’ is at its greatest when deciding to open accession negotiations, a finding which has implications for the EU's ability to enact change in Croatia and Turkey.
Recent Thomistic Epistemology and Philosophy of Religion
Authors: Macdonald Paul
Published: April 2007

The purpose of this article is to show the contribution of recent Thomistic epistemology – that is, an epistemology rooted in the philosophical theology of Thomas Aquinas – makes to contemporary philosophy of religion. In particular, I show how recent philosophers and theologians (most of them of a distinctly analytic persuasion) are appropriating insights in Aquinas's philosophical theology in order to address perennial epistemological issues: most broadly, how it is that human persons know the world as well as the divine. One of the main conclusions of the article is that recent Thomistic epistemology (including the various species of recent Thomistic epistemology) offers powerful resources for properly understanding both the mind‐world and mind‐God relationship.
The Psychology of Scientific Explanation
Authors: Trout J. D.
Published: April 2007

Philosophers agree that scientific explanations aim to produce understanding, and that good ones succeed in this aim. But few seriously consider what understanding is, or what the cues are when we have it. If it is a psychological state or process, describing its specific nature is the job of psychological theorizing. This article examines the role of understanding in scientific explanation. It warns that the seductive, phenomenological sense of understanding is often, but mistakenly, viewed as a cue of genuine understanding. The article closes with a discussion of several new paths of research that tie the psychology of scientific explanation to cognate notions of learning, testimony, and understanding.
Implicature During Real Time Conversation: A View from Language Processing Research
Authors: Sedivy Julie C.
Published: April 2007

Grice's notion of conversational implicature requires that speaker meaning be calculable on the basis of sentence meaning, and presumptions about the speaker's adherence to cooperative principles of conversation and the ability of the hearer to work out the speaker's meaning. However, the actual real‐time consideration of cooperative principles by both the hearer and speaker runs up against severe temporal constraints during language processing. This article considers the role of language processing research in the shaping of a theory of implicature, and provides an empirical overview of pertinent current work in real‐time language production and comprehension.
Motor and sensory re‐innervation of the lung and heart after re‐anastomosis of the cervical vagus nerve in rats
Authors: Bregeon Fabienne , Alliez Jean Roch , Héry Géraldine , Marqueste Tanguy , Ravailhe Sylvie , Jammes Yves
Published: April 2007

There is no study in the literature dealing with re‐innervation of the cardiopulmonary vagus nerve after its transection followed by re‐anastomosis. In the present study, we explored the bronchomotor, heart rate and respiratory responses in rats at 2, 3 and 6 months after re‐anastomosis of one cervical vagus trunk. The conduction velocity of A, B and C waves was calculated in the compound vagal action potential. We searched for afferent vagal activities in phase with pulmonary inflation to assess the persistence of pulmonary stretch receptor (PSR) discharge in re‐innervated lungs. In each animal, data from the stimulation or recording of one re‐anastomosed vagus nerve were compared with those obtained in the contra‐lateral intact one. Two and three months after surgery, the conduction velocities of A and B waves decreased, but recovery of conduction velocity was complete at 6 months. By contrast, the conduction velocity of the C wave did not change until 6 months, when it was doubled. The PSR activity was present in 50% of re‐anastomosed vagus nerves at 2 and 3 months and in 75% at 6 months. Respiratory inhibition evoked by vagal stimulation was significantly weaker from the re‐anastomosed than intact nerve at 2 but not 3 months. Vagal stimulation did not elicit cardiac slowing or bronchoconstriction 6 months after re‐anastomosis. Our study demonstrates the capacity of pulmonary vagal sensory neurones to regenerate after axotomy followed by re‐anastomosis, and the failure of the vagal efferents to re‐innervate both the lungs and heart.