bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Regional Variations in Aesthetics and Ideology in Contemporary Chinese Poetry
Authors: Qinghua ZHANG
Published: May 2011

There are some drawbacks in evaluating literature purely in terms of its development and its historical setting, and the remedies may lie in cultural geography. The author argues in this paper that with the development of contemporary Chinese poetry, regional culture and aesthetics in poetry have also gradually developed. Contemporary poetry in recent years exhibits different regional ideologies. The cultural attitudes and poetry sensibility in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong and the southwest areas are completely different from each other. These differences in regional aesthetics enable a diversified development of contemporary Chinese poetry.
The Formation, Development, and Transformation of Contemporary Chinese Literary Criticism
Authors: Yao WANG , Jianfa LIN
Published: May 2011

In the formation of the contemporary Chinese literary system, literary criticism manifested the demands of “Socialist Literature” and established its basic paradigms in the development of Marxist critical activities. Aimed squarely at interpreting the central values of the contemporary literary system, literary criticism plays a role in the entire process of literary production. Therefore, the relationship between criticism and ideology is one of the most basic issues in the history of literary criticism. In the last three decades, the paradigm of literary criticism has been transformed, but it has not become an independent discipline. The success of this transformation is dependent upon the emergence of sinisized critical theories and the methodical nurturing of reality.
How to Write History: Problems in the Study of the “Seventeen-Year Literature” (1949–1966) in the Last Decade
Authors: Guangwei CHENG
Published: May 2011

In order to discuss the issue of classifying and categorizing history, this article takes the “Seventeen-Year Literature” as its subject of study. The author states that previous studies conducted on the “Seventeen-Year Literature” (1949–1966) should have been displayed on the following levels: the literary history of the Seventeen Years, the history of the Seventeen Years which was interpreted culturally in the 1980s, the literary history of the Seventeen Years produced in modern literature and the literary history of the Seventeen Years processed in Zai jiedu (A second interpretation). Therefore, the study of the “Seventeen-year Literature” has come forward in leaps and bounds and must not stagnate. Instead, it should take previous research findings and apply them retrospectively to the current structure of knowledge in the hopes of further development. Fixing the “Seventeen-Year Literature” not to a particular historical level, but to the dialogic context is an issue that scholars cannot avoid.
Separation of Sunflower Oil from Hexane by Use of Composite Polymeric Membranes
Authors: Pagliero C. , Ochoa N. A. , Martino P. , Marchese J.
Published: May 2011

Vegetable oil extraction, as performed today by the oilseed‐crushing industry, usually involves solvent extraction with commercial hexane. After this step, the vegetable oil–hexane mixture (miscella) must be treated to separate its components by distillation. If solvent‐resistant membranes with good permeation properties can be obtained, membrane separation may replace, or be used in combination with, conventional evaporation. Two tailor‐made flat composite membranes, poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF–Si and PVDF–CA) and a commercially available composite membrane (MPF‐50), were used to separate a crude sunflower oil–hexane mixture. The effects of temperature, cross‐flow velocity (v), transmembrane pressure (Δp), and feed oil concentration (Cf) on membrane selectivity and permeation flux were determined. The PVDF–Si membrane achieved the best results, being stable in commercial hexane and having promising permselectivity properties for separation of vegetable oil–hexane miscella. Improved separation performance was obtained at Cf = 25%, Δp = 7.8 bar, T = 30 °C, and v = 0.8 m s−1; a limiting permeate flux of 12 Lm−2 h−1 and 46.2% oil retention were achieved. Low membrane fouling was observed under all the experimental conditions studied.
High‐Resolution NMR Spectroscopy: An Alternative Fast Tool for Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of Diacylglycerol (DAG) Oil
Authors: Hatzakis Emmanuel , Agiomyrgianaki Alexia , Kostidis Sarantos , Dais Photis
Published: May 2011

Multinuclear (1H, 13C, 31P) and multidimensional NMR spectroscopy was employed for the analysis of diacylglycerol (DAG) oil and the quantification of its acylglycerols and acyl chains composition. A number of gradient selected two dimensional NMR techniques (TOCSY, HSQC‐DEPT, HSQC‐TOCSY, and HMBC) facilitated the assignment of the complex one dimensional 1H‐ and 13C‐NMR spectra. In several cases, the aforementioned 2D‐NMR techniques offered solid proof of earlier assignments based on chemical shift changes induced by the presence and relative positions of double bonds within the acyl chains. Integration of the appropriate signals in the NMR spectra of the three nuclei allowed the determination of DAG oil composition, which was found to be within the limits accepted for this oil, namely 1‐monoacylglycerols 0.40–0.60%; 2‐monoacylglycerols 0.40–0.50%; 1,3‐diacylglycerols 57–62%; 1,2‐diacylglycerols 28–32%; triacylglycerols 9–11%; saturated fatty acids 3–5%; oleic acid 37–45%; linoleic acid 49–53%; and linolenic acid 5–6.5%; tocopherols 0.24–0.27%. The compositional results obtained from the NMR spectra of the three nuclei were compared and discussed in terms of repeatability and ease of performance.
Biological reconstruction of bone defects: The role of the free fibula flap
Authors: Zaretski Arik , Gur Eyal , Kollander Yehuda , Meller Isaac , Dadia Shlomo
Published: May 2011

This review describes the kinds of skeletal bone defects in bones which develop through enchondral ossification. It focuses on the biological reconstruction of those defects according to the two main subtypes, intercalary and osteoarticular. We list the causes of bone defects and outline the different types and configurations that result from them. We then review the currently available reconstructive options according to the patient's age and describe the theoretical options as well. Finally, the history, surgical anatomy and clinical use of the free fibula flap will be reviewed. From our own clinical experience and review of the literature, we conclude that biological reconstruction is, in many ways, superior to alloplastic materials, especially in children, adolescents and young adults.
Moderate Alcohol Consumption and the Risk of Mortality
Authors: Fuller Theodore D.
Published: May 2011

There has been a growing consensus that moderate consumption of alcohol is associated with a lower risk of mortality and that this association is probably causal. However, a recent review article has raised a serious challenge to this consensus. In short, it determined that most prior research in this area committed serious misclassification errors; furthermore, among those studies that were free of these misclassification errors, no support for a protective role of alcohol consumption was found. This article reexamines the issue using prospective data for more than 124,000 persons interviewed in the U.S. National Health Interview Surveys of 1997 through 2000 with mortality follow-up through 2002 using the Linked Mortality File. The study involves about 488,000 person-years. Controlling for a variety of covariates, this study finds that compared with nondrinkers, those who consume a moderate amount of alcohol have lower all-cause and CHD mortality. The fact that the current study has taken care to avoid the pitfalls of some earlier studies and still finds that those who consume a moderate amount of alcohol have lower all-cause mortality and CHD mortality lends credence to the argument that the relationship is causal.
Biomarkers in Alzheimer's disease drug development
Authors: Cummings Jeffrey L.
Published: May 2011

Developing new therapies for Alzheimer's disease (AD) is critically important to avoid the impending public health disaster imposed by this common disorder. Means must be found to prevent, delay the onset, or slow the progression of AD. These goals will be achieved by identifying disease‐modifying therapies and testing them in clinical trials. Biomarkers play an increasingly important role in AD drug development. In preclinical testing, they assist in decisions to develop an agent. Biomarkers in phase I provide insights into toxic responses and drug metabolism and in Phase II proof‐of‐concept trials they facilitate go/no‐go decisions and dose finding. Biomarkers can play a role in identifying presymptomatic patients or specific patient subgroups. They can provide evidence of target engagement before clinical changes can be expected. Brain imaging can serve as a primary outcome in Phase II trials and as a key secondary outcome in Phase III trials. Magnetic resonance imaging is currently best positioned for use in large multicenter clinical trials. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) measures of amyloid beta protein (Aβ), tau protein, and hyperphosphorylated tau (p‐tau) protein are sensitive and specific to the diagnosis of AD and may serve as inclusion criteria and possibly as outcomes in clinical trials targeting relevant pathways. Plasma measures of Aβ are of limited diagnostic value but may provide important information as a measure of treatment response. A wide variety of measures of detectable products of cellular processes are being developed as possible biomarkers accessible in the cerebrospinal fluid and plasma or serum. Surrogate markers that can function as outcomes in pivotal trials and reliably predict clinical outcomes are needed to facilitate primary prevention trials of asymptomatic persons where clinical measures may be of limited value. Fit‐for‐purpose biomarkers are increasingly available to guide AD drug development decisions.
The effect of viscous dissipation on the onset of convection in an inclined porous layer
Authors: NIELD D. A. , BARLETTA A. , CELLI M.
Published: May 2011

The linear stability of a basic forced and free convection flow in an inclined porous channel is analysed by using the Darcy law and the Oberbeck–Boussinesq approximation. The basic velocity and temperature distributions are influenced by the effect of viscous dissipation, as well as by the boundary conditions. The boundary planes are assumed to be impermeable and isothermal, with a temperature of the lower boundary higher than that of the upper boundary. The instability against longitudinal rolls is studied by employing a second-order weighted residual solution and an accurate sixth-order Runge–Kutta solution of the disturbance equations. The instability against transverse rolls is also investigated. It is shown that these disturbances are in every case less unstable than the longitudinal rolls.
Deep-water sediment wave formation: linear stability analysis of coupled flow/bed interaction
Authors: LESSHAFFT L. , HALL B. , MEIBURG E. , KNELLER B.
Published: May 2011

A linear stability analysis is carried out for the interaction of an erodible sediment bed with a sediment-laden, stratified flow above the bed, such as a turbidity or bottom current. The fluid motion is described by the full, two-dimensional Navier–Stokes equations in the Boussinesq approximation, while erosion is modelled as a diffusive flux of particles from the bed into the fluid. The stability analysis shows the existence of both Tollmien–Schlichting and internal wave modes in the stratified boundary layer. For the internal wave mode, the stratified boundary layer acts as a wave duct, whose height can be determined analytically from the Brunt–Väisälä frequency criterion. Consistent with this criterion, distinct unstable perturbation wavenumber regimes exist for the internal wave mode, which are associated with different numbers of pressure extrema in the wall-normal direction. For representative turbidity current parameters, the analysis predicts unstable wavelengths that are consistent with field observations. As a key condition for instability to occur, the base flow velocity boundary layer needs to be thinner than the corresponding concentration boundary layer. For most of the unstable wavenumber ranges, the phase relations between the sediment bed deformation and the associated wall shear stress and concentration perturbations are such that the sediment waves migrate in the upstream direction, which again is consistent with field observations.
Effect of the shear parameter on velocity-gradient statistics in homogeneous turbulent shear flow
Authors: ISAZA JUAN C. , COLLINS LANCE R.
Published: May 2011

The effect of the shear parameter on the small-scale velocity statistics in an homogeneous turbulent shear flow is investigated using direct numerical simulations (DNSs) of the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations on a 5123 grid. We use a novel pseudo-spectral algorithm that allows us to set the initial value of the shear parameter in the range 3–30 without the shortcomings of previous numerical approaches. We find that the tails of the probability distribution function of components of the vorticity vector and rate-of-strain tensor are progressively distorted with increasing shear parameter. Furthermore, we show that the shear parameter has a direct effect on the structure of the vorticity field, which manifests through changes in its alignment with the eigenvectors of the rate-of-strain tensor. We also find that increasing the shear parameter causes the main contribution to enstrophy production to shift from the nonlinear terms to the rapid terms (terms that are proportional to the mean shear) due to the aforementioned changes in the alignment. We attempt to explain these trends using viscous rapid distortion theory; however, while the theory does capture some effects of the shear parameter, it fails to predict the correct dependence on Reynolds number. Comparisons with recent experiments are also shown. The trends predicted by the DNS and the experiments are in good agreement. Moreover, the prefactors in the Reynolds number scaling laws for the skewness and flatness of the longitudinal velocity derivative are shown to have a statistically significant dependence on the shear parameter.
Evidence for a role of the ileum in the control of nitrogen homeostasis via the regulation of arginine metabolism
Authors: Ventura G. , Moinard C. , Sinico F. , Carrière V. , Lasserre V. , Cynober L. , De Bandt J. P.
Published: May 2011

As arginine plays a key role in the regulation of liver ureagenesis, we hypothesised that a modulation of enzymes involved in arginine metabolism within the intestine contributes to the regulation of N homeostasis according to protein supply. Our aim was to study the influence of variations in protein or amino acid (AA) supply on intestinal arginase, glutaminase, ornithine aminotransferase (OAT), argininosuccinate lyase and argininosuccinate synthetase. We evaluatedin vivoin rats the responses of these enzymes to short-term (ST, 16 h) and long-term (LT, 15 d) variations in dietary protein (10, 17 or 25 % protein diet). In addition, in order to test whether these responses could involve a direct action of AA on the gene expression and activity of these enzymes, Caco-2/TC7 cells were cultured for 3 d with increasing AA concentrations.In vivo, in the ST, both high- and low-protein diets increased arginase activity in the intestinal mucosa (ST25 %: 46 (sem2) μmol/g per min and ST10 %: 46 (sem2) μmol/g per minv. ST17 %: 36 (sem3) μmol/g per min,P < 0·05). In the LT, OAT expression was increased in the LT10 % group (+277 %,P < 0·05) compared with the LT17 % group. Caco-2/TC7 cells showed inverse relationships between AA supply and arginase (P = 0·058) and OAT (P = 0·035) expressions. The present study demonstrates the regulation of intestinal arginase and OAT expressions in response to protein supply. Ourin vitroexperiments further indicate a direct AA-induced regulation of the mRNA abundance of these enzymes. In situations of limited protein supply, this regulation would increase intestinal arginine catabolism and, possibly via a decrease in arginine portal release, decrease hepatic AA oxidation, thus promoting N sparing.
Glutamine supplementation improves intestinal barrier function in a weaned piglet model of Escherichia coli infection
Authors: Ewaschuk Julia B. , Murdoch Gordon K. , Johnson Ian R. , Madsen Karen L. , Field Catherine J.
Published: May 2011

The weaning period is associated with an increased prevalence of gastrointestinal infection in many species. Glutamine (Gln) has been shown to improve intestinal barrier function and immune function in both in vivo and in vitro models. The objective of the present study was to determine the effect of dietary Gln supplementation on intestinal barrier function and intestinal cytokines in a model of Escherichia coli infection. We randomised 21-d-old piglets (n 20) to nutritionally complete isonitrogenous diets with or without Gln (4·4 %, w/w) for 2 weeks. Intestinal loops were isolated from anaesthetised pigs and inoculated with either saline or one of the two E. coli (K88AC or K88 wild-type)-containing solutions. Intestinal tissue was studied for permeability, cytokine expression, fluid secretion and tight-junction protein expression. Animals receiving Gln supplementation had decreased potential difference (PD) and short-circuit current (Isc) in E. coli-inoculated intestinal loops (PD 0·628 (sem 0·151) mV; Isc 13·0 (sem 3·07) μA/cm2) compared with control-fed animals (PD 1·36 (sem 0·227) mV; Isc 22·4 (sem 2·24) μA/cm2). Intestinal tissue from control, but not from Gln-supplemented, animals responded to E. coli with a significant increase in mucosal cytokine mRNA (IL-1β, IL-6, transforming growth factor-β and IL-10). Tight-junction protein expression (claudin-1 and occludin) was reduced with exposure to E. coli in control-fed animals and was not influenced in Gln-supplemented piglets. Gln supplementation may be useful in reducing the severity of weaning-related gastrointestinal infections, by reducing the mucosal cytokine response and altering intestinal barrier function.
The addition of raspberries and blueberries to a starch-based food does not alter the glycaemic response
Authors: Clegg Miriam E. , Pratt Megan , Meade Ciara M. , Henry C. Jeya K.
Published: May 2011

It is now known that health benefits associated with diets rich in fruit and vegetables may be partly derived from intake of polyphenols. Berry polyphenols may influence carbohydrate metabolism and absorption and hence postprandial glycaemia. To date, studies related to polyphenol effects on the glycaemic response have been completed only in liquids using either monosaccharides or disaccharides. It remains to be determined whether berries known to be rich in polyphenols can reduce the glycaemic response (GR) to a solid polysaccharide meal. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether berries alter postprandial hyperglycaemia and consequently the GR to a starchy food. Blood glucose was tested on seven occasions, on three occasions using a reference food and on four occasions using pancakes supplemented with either raspberries or blueberries or control pancakes containing similar amounts of fructose and glucose. Results showed that there were no differences in GR (blueberry 51·3 (sem5·7); raspberry 54·7 (sem5·6); blueberry control 43·9 (sem4·2); raspberry control 41·8 (sem6·4)), GR area under the curve or satiety index between any of the tests. The present study indicates that the ability of berries to reduce blood glucose from starch-based foods is unsubstantiated.
A potential role of IL-6 in the chito-oligosaccharide-mediated inhibition of adipogenesis
Authors: Bahar Bojlul , O'Doherty John V. , Sweeney Torres
Published: May 2011

Recent studies have suggested that chito-oligosaccharides can have anti-adipogenic properties. The objectives of the present study were to evaluate the anti-adipogenic potential of four different chito-oligosaccharides (molecular weight (MW) < 1000, 1000–3000, 3000–5000 and 5000–10 000 Da) and to identify molecular mechanisms underlying the chito-oligosaccharide-mediated inhibition of adipogenesis. Mouse 3T3-L1 cells were allowed to differentiate in the presence of chito-oligosaccharide. At day 8 post-induction of differentiation, lipid accumulation, free glycerol release and the quantitative expression of adipogenic marker genes were evaluated. Chito-oligosaccharides had concentration- and MW-dependent inhibitory effects on lipid accumulation (P < 0·001 and < 0·05, respectively), as well as a concentration-dependent effect (P < 0·001) on free glycerol release and the expression of adipogenic marker genes. The 5000–10 000 Da chito-oligosaccharide was selected for subsequent molecular studies. A panel of forty-four lipid metabolic pathway-specific genes was analysed by quantitative real-time PCR. Chito-oligosaccharide-mediated inhibition of adipogenesis was associated with the up-regulation of theIL-6gene at all concentrations of chito-oligosaccharide examined and the PG-endoperoxide synthase 2 (PTGS2) gene at higher concentrations of chito-oligosaccharide. The effect of chito-oligosaccharide on gene expression was validated by measuring IL-6 protein concentrations in the media. Finally, anIL-6promoter assay was developed to characterise the effect of chito-oligosaccharide on the transcriptional activity of theIL-6promoter, which was increased in a concentration-dependent manner (P < 0·001). We conclude that IL-6 is a candidate signalling molecule in the chito-oligosaccharide-mediated inhibition of adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 cells.
Consumption of salmonv.salmon oil capsules: effects onn-3 PUFA and selenium status
Authors: Stonehouse Welma , Pauga Melanie R. , Kruger Rozanne , Thomson Christine D. , Wong Marie , Kruger Marlena C.
Published: May 2011

Salmon provides long-chain (LC)n-3 PUFA and Se, which are well recognised for their health benefits. Then-3 and Se status of the New Zealand population is marginal. The objective of the present study was to compare the effects of consuming salmonv.supplementation with salmon oil on LCn-3 and Se status. Healthy volunteers (n44) were randomly assigned to one of four groups consuming 2 × 120 g servings of salmon/week or 2, 4 or 6 salmon oil capsules/d for 8 weeks. Linear regression analysis predictive models were fitted to the capsule data to predict changes in erythrocyte LCn-3 levels with intakes of LCn-3 from capsules in amounts equivalent to that consumed from salmon. Changes in Se status (plasma Se and whole-blood glutathione peroxidase) were compared between the groups consuming salmon and capsules (three groups combined). Salmon, 2, 4 and 6 capsules provided 0·82, 0·24, 0·47 and 0·69 g/d of LCn-3 fatty acids. Salmon provided 7 μg/d and capsules < 0·02 μg/d of Se. The predictive model (r20·31,P = 0·001) showed that increases in erythrocyte LCn-3 levels were similar when intakes of 0·82 g/d LCn-3 from salmon or capsules (1·92 (95 % CI 1·35, 2·49)v.2·32 (95 % 1·76, 2·88) %) were consumed. Plasma Se increased significantly more with salmon than with capsules (12·2 (95 % CI 6·18, 18·12)v.1·57 (95 % CI − 2·32, 5·45) μg/l,P = 0·01). LCn-3 status was similarly improved with consumption of salmon and capsules, while consuming salmon had the added benefit of increasing Se status. This is of particular relevance to the New Zealand population that has marginal LCn-3 and Se status.
Solitary extra-skeletal sinonasal metastasis from a primary skeletal Ewing's sarcoma
Authors: Hayes S M , Jani T N , Rahman S M , Jogai S , Harries P G , Salib R J
Published: May 2011

Introduction:

Ewing's sarcoma is a rare, malignant tumour predominantly affecting young adolescent males. We describe a unique case of an isolated extra-skeletal metastasis from a skeletal Ewing's sarcoma primary, arising in the right sinonasal cavity of a young man who presented with severe epistaxis and periorbital cellulitis.

Results:

Histologically, the lesion comprised closely packed, slightly diffuse, atypical cells with round, hyperchromatic nuclei, scant cytoplasm and occasional mitotic figures, arranged in a sheet-like pattern. Immunohistochemical analysis showed positive staining only for cluster of differentiation 99 glycoprotein. Fluorescent in situ hybridisation identified the Ewing's sarcoma gene, confirming the diagnosis.

Management:

Complete surgical resection was achieved via a minimally invasive endoscopic transnasal approach; post-operative radiotherapy. Ten months post-operatively, there were no endoscopic or radiological signs of disease.

Conclusion:

Metastatic Ewing's sarcoma within the head and neck is incredibly rare and can pose significant diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. An awareness of different clinical presentations and distinct histopathological features is important to enable early diagnosis. This case illustrates one potential management strategy, and reinforces the evolving role of endoscopic transnasal approaches in managing sinonasal cavity and anterior skull base tumours.
Host-parasite interactions and global climate oscillations
Authors: DOI HIDEYUKI , YURLOVA NATALIA I.
Published: May 2011

It is suspected that host-parasite interactions are influenced by climatic oscillations such as the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). However, the effects of climatic oscillations on host-parasite interactions have never been investigated. A long-term (1982–1999) dataset of the host snail Lymnaea stagnalis and trematode metacercariae infection has been collected for Lake Chany in Western Siberia. Using this dataset, we estimated the impact of the NAO on the population dynamics of hosts and parasites as well as their interactions. The results of general linear models showed that the abundance of dominant parasite species and the total parasite abundance significantly increased with NAO, with the exception of Moliniella anceps. Other climatic and biological factors were relatively weak to explain the abundance. There was no significant relationship between NAO and the population density of host snails. The prevalence of infection was related to the total abundance of parasites, but not to the NAO. Thus, the responses to the NAO differed between the host and parasites, indicating mismatching in host-parasite interactions. Therefore, climatic oscillations, such as the NAO, influence common parasitism.
A new way to see RNA
Authors: Keating Kevin S. , Humphris Elisabeth L. , Pyle Anna Marie
Published: May 2011

Unlike proteins, the RNA backbone has numerous degrees of freedom (eight, if one counts the sugar pucker), making RNA modeling, structure building and prediction a multidimensional problem of exceptionally high complexity. And yet RNA tertiary structures are not infinite in their structural morphology; rather, they are built from a limited set of discrete units. In order to reduce the dimensionality of the RNA backbone in a physically reasonable way, a shorthand notation was created that reduced the RNA backbone torsion angles to two (η and θ, analogous to φ and ψ in proteins). When these torsion angles are calculated for nucleotides in a crystallographic database and plotted against one another, one obtains a plot analogous to a Ramachandran plot (the η/θ plot), with highly populated and unpopulated regions. Nucleotides that occupy proximal positions on the plot have identical structures and are found in the same units of tertiary structure. In this review, we describe the statistical validation of the η/θ formalism and the exploration of features within the η/θ plot. We also describe the application of the η/θ formalism in RNA motif discovery, structural comparison, RNA structure building and tertiary structure prediction. More than a tool, however, the η/θ formalism has provided new insights into RNA structure itself, revealing its fundamental components and the factors underlying RNA architectural form.
Infection and immunity for human parvovirus B19 in patients with febrile exanthema
Authors: PEDRANTI M. S. , BARBERO P. , WOLFF C. , GHIETTO L. M. , ZAPATA M. , ADAMO M. P.
Published: May 2011

The contribution of parvovirus B19 (B19V) as a causative agent of febrile exanthema (FE) in Cordoba, Argentina, was analysed by detection of viral DNA, and specific IgM and IgG. Serum from 141 patients with FE who were negative for measles and rubella, collected during 2005–2009, plus serum from 31 healthy individuals, were assayed. B19V was the aetiological agent in 14·9% of all FE cases, and in 39·1% in an epidemic year (2007). B19V DNA was detected in 47·6% of IgM-positive FE patients, 30·2% of IgM-negative/IgG-positive FE patients, and 9·7% of healthy controls, indicating B19V long-term infection in ~10% of immunocompetent individuals. Persistent B19V DNA was significantly more frequent in children than adults and in males than females. All patients with acute B19V infection had rash and fever, 85·7% had adenopathy, and only 14·3% had arthropathy. This is the first follow-up study of markers of infection and immunity for B19V infection in Argentina.
Molecular-based detection of non-culturable and emerging campylobacteria in patients presenting with gastroenteritis
Authors: BULLMAN S. , O'LEARY J. , CORCORAN D. , SLEATOR R. D. , LUCEY B.
Published: May 2011

From January 2009 to May 2010, 436 faecal samples from patients with diarrhoeal illness in Southern Ireland were identified asCampylobactergenus-positive by an automated multiplex PCR; however, 204 (46·8%) of these samples were culture-negative for campylobacters. A combination ofCampylobacter-specific uniplex PCR and 16S rRNA sequencing confirmed the presence ofCampylobacterDNA in 191 (93·6%) of the culture-negative samples. Species-specific PCR identifiedC. jejuni(50·7%)C. ureolyticus(41%) andC. coli(5·7%) as the most prevalent species whileC. fetus,C. upsaliensis,C. hyointestinalisandC. lariaccounted for 10% of culture-negative samples; mixedCampylobacterspp. were detected in 11% of samples. We conclude that non-culturableCampylobacterspp. are responsible for a considerable proportion of human enteritis and the true incidence of infection is likely to be significantly underestimated where conventionalCampylobacterculture methods are used in isolation.
Changes in Tundra SwanCygnus columbianus bewickiidistribution and abundance in the Yangtze River floodplain
Authors: CONG PEIHAO , CAO LEI , FOX ANTHONY D. , BARTER MARK , REES EILEEN C. , JIANG YONG , JI WEITOU , ZHU WENZHONG , SONG GUOXIAN
Published: May 2011

Approximately 75% of the East Asian Flyway Tundra SwanCygnus columbianus bewickiipopulation winters in the Yangtze River floodplain, China. Historically the species was more widely distributed throughout the floodplain but now most of the population is confined to five wetlands in Anhui Province and to Poyang Lake in Jiangxi Province, where the majority (up to 113,000 birds) occur. Within-winter counts suggest that swans congregate at Poyang Lake before dispersing to other sites later in the winter. Counts show large between-year fluctuations, but suggest declines at Shengjin and Fengsha Lakes (both in Anhui) during the last five years. Declines at Shengjin Lake are likely due to decreases in submerged vegetation (particularly tuber-producingVallisneria,a major food item) perhaps linked to eutrophication. Range contractions throughout the floodplain may also be linked to reductions in submerged vegetation coverage elsewhere. Changes in water quality and lake hydrology post-Three Gorges Dam may have adversely affected submerged vegetation productivity. Key information needs for the effective implementation of conservation measures for Tundra Swans include: (1) annual surveys of all major wintering sites throughout each winter to establish the importance of different sites during the non-breeding period; (2) more information on swan diets at important sites; and (3) an assessment of adverse effects of water quality and lake water levels post-Three Gorges Dam on submerged vegetation productivity at Poyang Lake and other important sites.
Prediction of maturational competence of feline oocytes using supravital staining of cumulus cells by propidium iodide
Authors: Uchikura Kenzo , Nagano Masashi , Hishinuma Mitsugu
Published: May 2011

We examined the relationship between integrity of cumulus cells and nuclear maturation rate afterin vitroculture to determine a non-invasive prediction of the maturational competence of feline oocytes. Feline cumulus–oocyte complexes (COCs) were collected from either small (400–800 μm) or large (≥800 μm) follicles. Immediately after collection, cumulus cells were evaluated morphologically (thickness of cumulus cell layers) and stained with propidium iodide (PI), which penetrates only non-viable cells. Cumulus cells without PI staining were judged as having good membrane integrity. After evaluation, COCs were cultured for 30 h and their nuclear maturation rate was determined. The nuclear maturation rate of oocytes derived from large follicles (89.8%) was higher (p< 0.05) than that from small follicles (60.8%). There was no difference in the maturation rate of oocytes from follicles with the same size regardless of cumulus morphology. In contrast, oocytes that had cumulus cells with good membrane integrity showed a higher maturation rate (93.8%) than oocytes with poor cumulus integrity (76.9%) in large follicles (p< 0.05). We conclude that evaluation of membrane integrity of cumulus cells by propidium iodide staining can be used to predict the maturational competence of oocytes.
Analysis of DNA looped domains organization duringTriturus cristatusspermatogenesis
Authors: Burlibaşa L.
Published: May 2011

Chromatin from eukaryotes is organized in DNA loops with sequential attachments to a nucleoskeleton named nuclear matrix. This organization plays major roles in replication, transcription, recombination, DNA repair, chromosome condensation and segregation. During spermatogenesis, chromatin undergoes several dynamic transitions, which are often associated with important changes not only in its physical conformation but even in its compositions and structure. To understand the periodical change in the functional organization of chromatin during spermatogenesis, the higher order organization of chromatin in different testicular cell types (pachytene spermatocytes, round spermatids) and the epididymal sperm ofTriturus cristatushave been investigated. The expansion and the contraction of nucleoid DNA were measured with a fluorescence microscope following exposure of nucleoids to increasing concentrations of ethidium bromide (EtBr) (2.5–200 μg/ml) as an intercalating dye to induce DNA-positive supercoils. Nucleoids from all studied cell types exhibited a biphasic change (condensed–relaxed–condensed) in size as a consequence of exposure to increasing concentrations of EtBr, indicating that they contained negatively supercoiled DNA. At higher EtBr concentrations, maximum positive supercoiling occurred in pachytene DNA loops. Our data suggest that pachytene DNA is the most open chromatin conformation in terms of EtBr intercalation.
“THE CIRCLES OF VITALITY”: RUSKIN, SCIENCE, AND DYNAMIC MATERIALITY
Authors: Frost Mark
Published: May 2011

The days have passed inwhich John Ruskin's scientific writings were deemed secondary and separate to his art, architecture, or politics, but his science still tends to be viewed predominately via the prism of his later natural history, with its characteristically virulent opposition to Darwin and materialism, and in relation to his application of typological exegesis to landscape study. I would argue that an approach is required that situates Ruskin's response to Darwin against the background of his entire career in scientific writing and that seeks to clarify the relationship between the various influences which informed his engagement with environment. While this article cannot pursue such an analysis in full, it outlines some key reasons for its necessity. Through examination of significant 1843 correspondence and related works, I will call in particular for a re-evaluation of the degree to which Ruskin engaged in modern scientific methods and approaches. In doing so, I will suggest that Ruskin's later anti-materialism did not represent a seamless continuation of a long-established attitude to science and nature, but something of a discontinuity, in which, faced with the implications of evolutionary theory, he attempted to reject not just Darwinism, but many of the elements that had made his own work in science distinctive, convincing, and attuned to modernity, materiality, and process.
SCRUTINIZINGTHE BATTLE OF DORKING: THE ROYAL UNITED SERVICE INSTITUTION AND THE MID-VICTORIAN INVASION CONTROVERSY
Authors: Matin A. Michael
Published: May 2011

The first major examplein what would become a long line of popular pre-1914 British invasion-scare narratives was the inflammatory 1871 taleThe Battle of Dorking: Reminiscences of a Volunteer. Through its vivid depiction of a German invasion and conquest of Britain, this story was designed to serve as a warning to Britons about the necessity of securing the nation's defenses. The dramatic impact of this work on the Victorian reading public and the political culture of the era has been treated by a number of scholars, most notably I. F. Clarke. Yet little attention has been accorded to the reaction it elicited from the professional peers of its author, Lieutenant-Colonel George Chesney. This interdisciplinary essay – which joins the study of literature with military history and politics – seeks to shed new light on the circumstances surrounding this extraordinarily influential tale, as well as on the genre it popularized, in large part by examining its reception by British officers. It begins by describing the tale's prehistory and emergence into widespread popularity and then evaluates the work's reception within armed forces circles. Some of the most trenchant assessments of this literary text, it turns out, were delivered within the austere confines of the Royal United Service Institution, a body whose meetings functioned as the crucible in which British military and naval judgments were forged.
LIVING BY DESIGN: C. R. ASHBEE'S GUILD OF HANDICRAFT AND TWO ENGLISH TOLSTOYAN COMMUNITIES, 1897–1907
Authors: Maltz Diana
Published: May 2011

Shortly before C. R. Ashbee transplanted a hundred and fifty Cockneys to Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, in 1902 to form a utopian arts-and-crafts community, two other back-to-the-land settlements were also established, one located outside the market town of Stroud, a mere bicycle ride away from Ashbee and his guild. These Tolstoyan colonies – Purleigh, founded in 1896 in Essex, and Whiteway, founded in 1898 in the Cotswolds – fostered goals of fellowship and the simplification of life, as had been modeled by Henry Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Walt Whitman in the United States and Edward Carpenter in Britain. Yet, whereas Ashbee was inspired by the model of William Morris and nostalgia for a pre-industrial England, English Tolstoyans looked not to craft, but to a less Aesthetic “bread labor” as a respite from modernity's corruption. Visiting Whiteway in 1904, Ashbee observed the Tolstoyans’ struggles to live off the land and commented, “they hold the other end of the stick we are ourselves shaping at Campden” (qtd. in MacCarthy 100). As his metaphor implied, both groups shared utopian aspirations, but Whiteway's settlers had sought the perfection of life from another vantage point and through other means. Ashbee regarded the austerity of their lives with distance and, as we will see, even with some distaste. Nevertheless, some features of the guildsmen's lifestyle at Chipping Campden mirrored those at Whiteway. This essay uses memoirs and fictions by C. R. Ashbee, his spouse, Janet Ashbee, and the Tolstoyans to disentangle the threads of “Aestheticism” and “simplification,” and to mark places of their conflation.
THOMAS HOOD, EARLY VICTORIAN CHRISTIAN SOCIAL CRITICISM, AND THE HOODIAN HERO
Authors: Butterworth Robert D.
Published: May 2011

The criticisms of society made by Thomas Hood in the poems he wrote in the years immediately prior to his death in 1845 are from a very particular stance. The poems specifically measure society against Christian values. Thus, Hood bewails how “Christian charity” should “hang your head” (“The Workhouse Clock” 63), or on its “rarity” (“The Bridge of Sighs” 43).The seamstress in “The Song of the Shirt” expresses disbelief that “this is Christian work” (16). The pauper in “A Pauper's Christmas Carol” muses over his treatment on “our Saviour's natal day” (2). The gin to which the beleaguered are driven is the “dram of Satan” and is drunk, “While Angels sorrow, and Demons grin” (“A Drop of Gin” 11, 72). In “The Lady's Dream” the neglectful attitude shown by society to its suffering members is damningly put alongside the Biblical reassurance that, “even the sparrow falls / Not unmarked of God” (“The Lady's Dream” 77–78). “The Lay of the Labourer,” as we shall see, also makes play with Scriptural references. In this Christian analysis of society's ills, the suffering and going wrong of society are the product of setting aside God's wisdom in the decrees He gives about how to organise human dealings.
“STAMPED ON HOT WAX”: GEORGE MEREDITH'S NARRATIVES OF INHERITANCE
Authors: Jenkins Melissa Shields
Published: May 2011

In “The Decay of Lying”(1889), Oscar Wilde's speaker calls Victorian novelist George Meredith “a child of realism who is not on speaking terms with his father” (Wilde 976). The comment underscores the idealism running through Meredith's strange and understudied novels. Wilde's speaker announces that Meredith “has made himself a romanticist” (976), a self-conscious reactionary against Victorian High Realism who is nonetheless situated deeply within it. Meredith's uneasy relationship with his own time has likely affected recent critical assessments of his work. Though his canonical status surpassed George Eliot's in the 1940s, and although there was a mini-explosion of Meredith scholarship in the 1970s, more recent work has focused on his sonnet sequence,Modern Love, and his psychological novel,The Egoist.However, with the rise of interest in the history of the book, gender and sexuality studies, and Victorian publishing, Meredith's novels are becoming the subject of renewed attention.
THE SYMPATHETIC INDIVIDUALIST: OUIDA'S LATE WORK AND POLITICS
Authors: King Andrew
Published: May 2011

For many years, the novelsof Ouida (Maria Louise Ramé, 1839–1908), were rejected as offering nothing but commercially valuable “voluptuous daydreams” (Leavis 164) that catered to “the degenerate taste of the new reading public of the commercial middle class” (Elwin 282). Since the late 1980s, however, they have been read with renewed interest. Ouida has come to be recognised as a “forgotten mother” of the 1890s aesthetic movement (Schaffer,Female Aesthetesand “Origins”); as a significant player on the anti–feminist side in the New Woman debates of the 1890s (Gilbert); and, with seeming paradox, as a writer keen to explore sexual transgression (Jordan “Writings” and “Enigma”; Schroeder “Feminine”). While there has been a recent monograph on Ouida's fiction (Schroeder and Holt), her journalism remains largely ignored. In 1882, Ouida began to write literary criticism together with analyses and commentaries on the politics of the state and the organisation of society for several journals, including theGentleman's Magazine, theFortnightly Review, theWestminster Review, theNorth American Reviewand the ItalianNuova Antologia. This article examines Ouida's late journalism, with some adversion to her late fiction, in an attempt to establish her core set of political values at this time.
CURRENT THINKING: ON TRANSATLANTIC VICTORIANISM
Authors: Picker John M.
Published: May 2011

A few years ago, outof scholarly as well as pedagogical interest, I happened to be looking through two recent anthologies on the nebulous-sounding subject of “transatlantic literature.” I was teaching a new course on transatlanticism and was particularly curious to discover how these texts represented the period that is the focus of this journal and the one to which at least a few of its readers are attached. In both cases, I was struck by the degree to which “the Victorian” – the era, people, frame of mind, even the word itself – was either subsumed within Romanticism or absent. InTransatlantic Romanticism: An Anthology of British, American, and Canadian Literature, 1767–1867, edited by Lance Newman, Joel Pace, and Chris Koenig-Woodyard, the subtitle alone incorporated half of the Victorian era, even while the contents omitted virtually all of the Victorians we would expect to represent that half. That anthology as well as the other, Susan Manning and Andrew Taylor'sTransatlantic Literary Studies: A Reader, included glossaries of salient terms for transatlantic inquiry, and while “Enlightenment,” “Peterloo,” “Romantics,” and “sublime” appeared there, “Victorian,” not to mention “Great Exhibition,” “natural selection,” and “utilitarianism,” did not.
The Transformation of Religious Learning in Oman: Tradition and Modernity
Authors: AL-SALIMI ABDULRAHMAN
Published: May 2011

The last fifty years mark a period of great change in the role of religious leadership and education in the Sultanate of Oman. The country moved from bifurcated leadership between an Imam and a Sultan to a single political authority. These decades also witnessed the modernisation of the state. These factors combined to reshape the place of religion and religious education in society. Whereas previously religious leaders had relative autonomy and more direct political influence, now they were brought under the auspices of the government with their focus circumscribed to religious matters. The structures and foci of religious education were then reshaped so that tradition provided a platform for progress and the more zealous ideologies emerging in the region could be held at bay. This has permitted Oman to modernise and engage with a global society in an amicable, non-sectarian, manner.
Reformism and Orthodox Practice in Early Nineteenth-Century Muslim North India: Sayyid Ahmed Shaheed Reconsidered
Authors: HAROON SANA
Published: May 2011

This paper is a reconsideration of the career of the north-Indian Sayyid Ahmed Shaheed (1786–1831). I argue that Sayyid Ahmed used a Sufi devotional premise to understand and explain principles of orthodoxy. He also applied a concept of innate spiritual knowledge to reformed practice, suggesting that ordinary people, without scholarly training, could determine and apply the principles of orthodox practice of Islam for themselves and for others. His movement modified traditional seminary-centred teaching and leadership through the creation of a popular and easily transferrable system of practice rooted in the community and imprinted with the obligation to spread reformist teachings.
The Woman Who Invented Notepaper: Towards a Comparative Historiography of Paper and Print
Authors: BARRETT T. H.
Published: May 2011

Comparative writing about the history of science and technology in different cultures tends to assume that differences in the ways in which these cultures write their histories are not important. But this is unlikely to be the case. The comparative lack of historical writing about printing in China by European standards should not in itself lead us to conclude that print only played a minor role there, any more than the tendency to downplay the importance of paper among historians of the European book means that its use in Europe was less significant than in other cultures. That in China the relative balance of the historical record is the opposite of the one that we tend to assume on the basis of the European experience is demonstrated here by contrasting the dearth of information about early printing with the commemoration even of relatively marginal cultural figures through the traditional Chinese historiography of paper making. But only tentative suggestions can be made as to why these differences in historical writing may have occurred.