bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Metabolic and cardiovascular changes in women with polycystic ovary syndrome
Authors: Meden‐Vrtovec H. , Vrtovec B. , Osredkar J.
Published: September 2007

Objective

To analyze the relationship between QTc interval and cardiovascular risk factors in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

Methods

Study group included 119 PCOS women (age: 32.2 ±5.2 years) and the control group 64 age‐matched healthy women; they all underwent QT interval measurement, and plasma levels of high‐sensitivity CRP (hsCRP), endothelin‐1 (ET1), insulin, and testosterone determinations.

Results

In PCOS women hsCRP (2.35 ± 2.14 mg/L vs. 1.01 ± 1.28 mg/L; P = 0.04), ET1 (23.6 ± 10.3 ng/L vs. 7.7 ± 15.9 ng/L; P = 0.01), and insulin (16.5 ± 7.8 mIU/L vs. 11.8 ±10.7 mIU/L; P = 0.03) levels were significantly higher, and QTc interval significantly shorter than in controls (401 ± 61 ms vs. 467 ± 61 ms; P = 0.007). In 67 (56%) PCOS patients with a short QTc interval (< 400 ms), plasma testosterone levels were significantly higher than in PCOS women with normal QTc interval (2.3 ± 2.1 nmol/L vs. 1.4 ± 1.7 nmol/L; P = 0.02).

Conclusions

In patients with polycystic ovary syndrome increased testosterone levels may attenuate the effects of coronary risk factors.
The challenges of improving emergency obstetric care in two rural districts in Mali
Authors: Otchere S.A. , Kayo A.
Published: September 2007

Objective

We describe a collaboration between Save the Children USA, the Averting Maternal Death and Disability (AMDD) program and the Ministry of Health of Mali, to improve the availability, quality and utilization of emergency obstetric care (EmOC) in Yanfolila and Bougouni rural districts in Sikasso Region of Mali.

Methods

Project planning, interventions and strategies between 2001 and 2004 were aimed at improving the capacity of 2 district hospitals to provide quality EmOC, sensitizing the community as partners to use services and to influence changes in policy at a national level through advocacy efforts.

Results

By the end of 2004, despite many health systems’ challenges, the 2 hospitals were providing comprehensive EmOC. Providing 24‐hour service proved difficult and, though not effectively institutionalized in the 2 hospitals, the UN Process Indicators showed modest improvements in quality and utilization of EmOC. Met need for EmOC increased from 9% in 2001 to 15% in 2004 in Bougouni and from 6% in 2001 to 15% in 2004 in Yanfolila. Case fatality rates declined by 69% (from 7% in 2001 to 2% in 2004) and by 38% (from 8% in 2001 to 5% in 2004) in Bougouni and Yanfolila, respectively.

Discussion

Although useful policy changes were achieved at the national level, more are needed if UN Guidelines are to be met. Availability of more obstetric functions at the community level, and fewer staff transfers are among policy changes needed.

Conclusion

Save the Children's project experience showed that it is possible to improve the quality and use of EmOC in hospitals despite challenges; we drew national attention to EmOC as a key strategy in maternal mortality reduction, and raised awareness of the need for improved EmOC services at clinics that are more accessible to the community.
Evaluation of health workers' training in use of the partogram
Authors: Fatusi A.O. , Makinde O.N. , Adeyemi A.B. , Orji E.O. , Onwudiegwu U.
Published: September 2007

Abstract

Objective

To assess the impact of training on use of the partogram for labor monitoring among various categories of primary health care workers.

Methods

Fifty‐six health workers offering delivery services in primary health care facilities were trained to use the partogram and were evaluated after 7 months.

Results

A total of 242 partograms of women in labor were plotted over a 1‐year period; 76.9% of them were correctly plotted. Community health extension workers (CHEWs) plotted 193 (79.8%) partograms and nurse/midwives plotted 49 (20.2%). Inappropriate action based on the partogram occurred in 6.6%. No statistically significant difference was recorded in the rate of correct plotting and consequent decision‐making between nurse/midwives and the CHEWs.

Conclusion

Lower cadres of primary health care workers can be effectively trained to use the partogram with satisfactory results, and thus contribute towards improved maternal outcomes in developing countries with scarcity of skilled attendants.
Breed differences in mucosal and systemic antibody response to nematode infection in sheep: an important role for IgE?
Authors: SAYERS G. , GOOD B. , HANRAHAN J. P. , O'DONOVAN J. , MULCAHY G. , SWEENEY T.
Published: September 2007

This study compared the immunological and biochemical responses of co-grazed Suffolk and Texel lambs to a natural gastrointestinal nematode infection. Variables analysed included serum pepsinogen, total protein, albumin, haematological variables and nematode-specific serum immunoglobulin activity, at 11, 14 and 17 weeks of age. At 17 weeks, randomly selected lambs were necropsied to determine worm burdens, nematode-specific mucosal abomasal and intestinal immunoglobulin activity. Nematode burden, faecal egg count and pepsinogen concentrations were significantly higher in Suffolks relative to Texels, at all 3 time-points investigated. Suffolks displayed significantly higher erythrocyte, total leukocyte, lymphocyte and neutrophil counts, mean cell volume and packed cell volume, than Texels (P<0·01). However, breed differences in eosinophil counts were not significant. While serum nematode-specific antibody activity levels were significantly higher (P<0·001) in Texels for all isotypes measured, antibody activity levels at a mucosal level were equivalent in both breeds. Correlation analysis of mucosal antibody levels and nematode variables highlighted a more consistent pattern of events in Texels, with more mucosal antibodies negatively correlated with FEC and worm burden, in comparison to Suffolks. In particular, an important role for mucosal IgE is proposed. In Texels, a significant and negative correlation was identified between IgE and faecal egg counts and worm burden (FEC: −0·48, P<0·005). This was not observed in Suffolks. The evidence suggests that susceptibility in Suffolks may be mediated through poor IgE affinity/avidity and/or through deficiencies in related mechanisms such as mast cell production, recruitment or activation.
Nonword repetition and serial recall: Equivalent measures of verbal short-term memory?
Authors: ARCHIBALD LISA M. D. , GATHERCOLE SUSAN E.
Published: September 2007

Evidence that the abilities to repeat nonwords and to learn language are very closely related to one another has led to widespread interest in the cognitive processes underlying nonword repetition. One suggestion is that nonword repetition is a relatively pure measure of phonological short-term memory closely associated with other measures of short-term memory such as serial recall. The present study compared serial recall of lists of monosyllabic nonwords and repetition of matched phonological forms presented as a multisyllabic nonword in typically developing school-age children. Results revealed that whereas both serial recall and nonword repetition responses showed classic short-term memory characteristics such as a serial position curve and decreasing accuracy with increasing sequence length, nonword repetition was associated with more accurate repetition overall and errors that were more closely matched to the target. Consonants benefited from nonword repetition to a greater extent than vowels. These findings indicate that factors in addition to short-term memory support retention in nonword repetition. It is suggested that coarticulatory and prosodic cues may play important roles in the recall of multisyllabic phonological forms.
O(n) mass matrix inversion for serial manipulators and polypeptide chains using Lie derivatives
Authors: Lee Kiju , Wang Yunfeng , Chirikjian Gregory S.
Published: September 2007

Over the past several decades, a number of O(n) methods for forward and inverse dynamics computations have been developed in the multibody dynamics and robotics literature. A method was developed by Fixman in 1974 for O(n) computation of the mass-matrix determinant for a serial polymer chain consisting of point masses. In other of our recent papers, we extended this method in order to compute the inverse of the mass matrix for serial chains consisting of point masses. In the present paper, we extend these ideas further and address the case of serial chains composed of rigid-bodies. This requires the use of relatively deep mathematics associated with the rotation group, SO(3), and the special Euclidean group, SE(3), and specifically, it requires that one differentiates real-valued functions of Lie-group-valued argument.
Legislating for a Market Economy in China
Authors: Clarke Donald C.
Published: September 2007

Since the early 1990s, China has come a long way in legislating the foundational rules for its reformed economy. Virtually all of the important areas – contracts, business organizations, securities, bankruptcy and secured transactions, to name a few – are now covered by national legislation as well as lower-level regulations. Yet an important feature of a legal structure suited to a market economy is missing: the ability of the system to generate from below solutions to problems not adequately dealt with by existing legislation. The top-down model that has dominated Chinese law reform efforts to date can only do so much. What is needed now is a more welcoming attitude to market-generated solutions to the gaps and other problems that will invariably exist in legislation. The state's distrust of civil-society institutions and other bottom-up initiatives suggests, however, that this different approach will not come easily.
Commentary on “New Hope for Corporate Governance in China?”
Authors: Xin Tang
Published: September 2007

The concept of corporate governance was not discussed in Chinese academic literature until the year when the first Company Law of the People's Republic was enacted. From scholarship to practice, corporate governance saw great progress throughout the following decade.
Commentary on “China's Courts: Restricted Reform”
Authors: Kui Shen
Published: September 2007

Benjamin Liebman has written a good article on a difficult subject. I have only a few comments, divided into three parts. In the first two parts, I consider Liebman's approach to such a historically complicated matter. I think it is appropriate to deal with it by focusing on the central question of whether the role of the courts in China's political system has changed as a result of reform; after an initial discussion, I show that Liebman has actually engaged in a political system analysis to reply to that central question. The third part presents my initial ideas about three different possible tests for evaluating judicial reform. Using these tests, I will look at the question of the sense in which reform could be regarded as “restricted,” as Liebman has suggested.
Principals and Secret Agents: Central versus Local Control Over Policing and Obstacles to “Rule of Law” in China
Authors: Tanner Murray Scot , Green Eric
Published: September 2007

This article extends the enduring debate over the balance of central versus local government control to China's cornerstone of state coercive control: the public security (civilian police) system. A recent series of studies argues that during the 1990s central authorities made terrific progress in regaining influence over local officials across a wide variety of issue-areas. This study, by contrast, argues that each policy sector in China has developed its own historical and institutional set of “lessons” that help structure power in that sector. Likewise, the particular issues in each policy sector create unique challenges for “principals” trying to monitor their “agents.” Regarding internal security, the historical lessons the Party has derived from past security crises combine with the uniquely difficult challenges of monitoring police activities to create a system in which local Party and government officials have tremendous power over policing. The many institutions intended to help central authorities control, oversee and monitor local policing actually provide weak control and oversight. These obstacles to central leadership create tremendous additional challenges to building rule by law in China.
Trade, Investment and Beyond: The Impact of WTO Accession on China's Legal System
Authors: Qin Julia Ya
Published: September 2007

This article assesses the impact of China's accession to the World Trade Organization on its foreign trade and investment regime. While the government had begun liberalizing the Chinese economy long before joining the WTO, the accession induced regulatory, institutional and normative changes that have transformed the landscape of trade and investment in China. The profound impact of the WTO stems directly from the extensive commercial and rule commitments China undertook in its accession. Focusing on the most significant of these commitments, the article examines their implications for Chinese constitutional law and their effect on the regulation of foreign trade, foreign investment, intellectual property rights and domestic governance. Additionally, it looks at the impact of WTO disputes on Chinese law and practice. It concludes that China's accession has made its foreign trade and investment regime far more liberalized and less opaque than a decade ago. More importantly, the accession has institutionalized the process of China's domestic reform externally through the force of WTO obligations. Although much uncertainty remains concerning the future direction of government policies, WTO membership ensures that the course of China's economic development will be charted within the disciplines of the WTO system.
The Transition from Shepherding to Fencing in Colonial Australia
Authors: PICKARD JOHN
Published: September 2007

The transition from shepherding to fencing in colonial Australia was a technological revolution replacing labour with capital. Fencing could not be widespread in Australia until an historical conjunction of technological, social and economic changes: open camping of sheep (from about 1810), effective poisoning of dingoes with strychnine (from the mid-1840s), introduction of iron wire (1840s), better land tenure (from 1847), progressive reduction of Aboriginal populations, huge demand for meat (from 1851) and high wages (from 1851). Labour shortages in the gold-rushes of the early 1850s were the final trigger, but all the other changes were essential precursors. Available data are used to test the alleged benefits of fencing: a higher wool cut per head; an increased carrying capacity; savings in wages and the running costs of stations; less disease in flocks; larger sheep; higher lambing percentages, and use of land unsuitable for shepherding. Many of the benefits were real, but some cannot be verified. By the mid-1880s, over ninety-five per cent of sheep in New South Wales were in paddocks, wire fences were spreading rapidly, and the cost of fences was falling. However, shepherding persisted in remote northern areas of Australia until well into the twentieth century.
Why Did Most Cooperatives Fail? Spanish Agricultural Cooperation in the Early Twentieth Century
Authors: GARRIDO SAMUEL
Published: September 2007

Cooperatives began contributing to the modernisation of European agriculture in the late nineteenth century but the rate at which they developed varied according to countries, regions, and crops. In Spain a large number were set up before the 1936−9 Civil War but few actually became consolidated entities. This paper analyses the Spanish case in an attempt to find the keys to the success or failure of cooperation. It focuses especially on the role played by the state and on the attitude shown by the different segments of farmers towards cooperatives.
The role of dietary fat in adipose tissue metabolism
Authors: Fernández-Quintela Alfredo , Churruca Itziar , Portillo Maria Puy
Published: September 2007

Energy intake and expenditure tend on average to remain adjusted to each other in order to maintain a stable body weight, which is only likely to be sustained if the fuel mix oxidised is equivalent to the nutrient content of the diet. Whereas protein and carbohydrate degradation and oxidation are closely adjusted to their intakes, fat balance regulation is less precise and that fat is more likely to be stored than oxidised.

It has been demonstrated that dietary fatty acids have an influence not only on the fatty acid composition of membrane phospholipids, thus modulating several metabolic processes that take place in the adipocyte, but also on the composition and the quantity of different fatty acids in adipose tissue. Moreover, dietary fatty acids also modulate eicosanoid presence, which have hormone-like activities in lipid metabolism regulation in adipose tissue.

Until recently, the adipocyte has been considered to be no more than a passive tissue for storage of excess energy. However, there is now compelling evidence that adipocytes have a role as endocrine secretory cells. Some of the adipokines produced by adipose tissue, such as leptin and adiponectin, act on adipose tissue in an autocrine/paracrine manner to regulate adipocyte metabolism. Furthermore, dietary fatty acids may influence the expression of adipokines.

The nutrients are among the most influential of the environmental factors that determine the way adipose tissue genes are expressed by functioning as regulators of gene transcription. Therefore, not only dietary fat amount but also dietary fat composition influence adipose tissue metabolism.
Genetics of obesity
Authors: Martínez-Hernández Alfredo , Enríquez Luís , Moreno-Moreno María Jesús , Martí Amelia
Published: September 2007

Objective

The aim was to review and update advances in genetics of obesity.

Design

Analysis and interpretation of recent investigations about regulating the energy balance as well as about gene-nutrient interactions and current nutrigenomic research methods.

Background and main statements

Obesity results from a long-term positive energy balance. However, its rising prevalence in developed and developing societies must reflect lifestyle changes, since genetic susceptibility remains stable over many generations. Like most complex diseases, obesity derives from a failure of adequate homoeostasis within the physiological system controlling body weight. The identification of genes that are involved in syndromic, monogenic and polygenic obesity has seriously improved our knowledge of body weight regulation. This disorder may arise from a deregulation at the genetic level (e.g. gene transcription or altered protein function) or environmental exposure (e.g. diet, physical activity, etc.).

Conclusions

In practice, obesity involves the interaction between genetic and environmental factors.
Laser-Assisted Atom Probe Tomography of Oxide Materials
Authors: Oberdorfer Christian , Stender Patrick , Reinke Christoph , Schmitz Guido
Published: September 2007

Atom probe tomography provides a chemical analysis of nanostructured materials with outstanding resolution. However, due to the process of field evaporation triggered by nanosecond high voltage pulses, the method is usually limited to conductive materials. As part of recent efforts to overcome this limitation, it is demonstrated that the analysis of thick NiO and WO3 oxide layers is possible by laser pulses of 500 ps duration. A careful analysis of the mass spectra demonstrates that the expected stoichiometries are well reproduced by the measurement. The reconstruction of lattice planes proves that surface diffusion is negligible also in the case of thermal pulses.
Error Quantification in Strain Mapping Methods
Authors: Guerrero Elisa , Galindo Pedro , Yáñez Andrés , Ben Teresa , Molina Sergio I.
Published: September 2007

In this article a method for determining errors of the strain values when applying strain mapping techniques has been devised. This methodology starts with the generation of a thickness/defocus series of simulated high-resolution transmission electron microscopy images of InAsxP1−x/InP heterostructures and the application of geometric phase. To obtain optimal defocusing conditions, a comparison of different defocus values is carried out by the calculation of the strain profile standard deviations among different specimen thicknesses. Finally, based on the analogy of real state strain to a step response, a characterization of strain mapping error near an interface is proposed.
Comparative Observation of the Recombinant Adeno-Associated Virus 2 Using Transmission Electron Microscopy and Atomic Force Microscopy
Authors: Chen Heng
Published: September 2007

Adeno-associated virus (AAV) is a defective, nonpathogenic human parvovirus, which coinfects with a helper adenovirus or herpes virus. AAV's unique characteristics have made it an appealing vector system for gene delivery. AAV or recombinant AAV (rAAV) has been widely detected using negative stain transmission electron microscopy (TEM) but little has been detected using atomic force microscopy (AFM). In this article, we used AFM and TEM to observe the recombinant AAV-2 (rAAV-2) virus particles and applied statistical analysis to the AFM and TEM images. The results indicated that the rAAV-2 particle was a slightly elliptic particle close to round when it was detected by TEM (the mean length of major and minor axes of rAAV-2 particles was 24.77 ± 1.78 nm and 21.84 ± 1.57 nm, respectively), whereas when detected by AFM, the rAAV-2 particle was almost round. Even though the dimensions of the rAAV-2 particle exhibited a polymorphous distribution via off-line particle analysis of AFM, most of the rAAV-2 particles had a mean diameter of approximate 22.04 nm, which was similar to the results obtained by TEM. The results above suggested that AFM was important for accurately determining the average dimensions and distributions of virus particles.
Determinants and Consequences of Survey Respondents' Social Desirability Beliefs about Racial Attitudes
Authors: Stocké Volker
Published: September 2007

Abstract. In this article, we first analyze the respondents' beliefs about the social desirability of ten racial attitude items from the German General Social Survey (ALLBUS). We found these beliefs, which serve as the basis for the incentives for social desirability (SD) bias, to differ according to the respondents' sex, age, and education, as well as for the analyzed attitude items. Second, we found that these incentive differences, observed in our urban West-German sample, predicted the attitude answers of respondents from the nationwide ALLBUS survey in 1996. This effect was, furthermore, stronger for respondents with congruent characteristics. Our results suggest (1) that the ALLBUS data about the analyzed topic are susceptible to SD bias, (2) that particular items are more strongly affected in this respect, and (3) that differences in the racial attitude reports between certain groups of respondents may only be the result of differently strong SD bias.
Groundwater contaminant source identification by a hybrid heuristic approach
Authors: Yeh Hund‐Der , Chang Tung‐Hua , Lin Yu‐Chung
Published: September 2007

This study proposes an approach, SATS‐GWT, that combines simulated annealing (SA), tabu search (TS), and the three‐dimensional groundwater flow and solute transport model (MODFLOW‐GWT). Our approach is used to estimate the source information: source location, release concentration, and release period. The sampling concentrations at monitoring points are simulated by the MODFLOW‐GWT with an assumed release concentration and release period at a known source location. In the source estimation process, the source location is selected by TS within the suspected source area, and the trials for release concentrations and release periods are generated by SA. The MODFLOW‐GWT is employed to compute the simulated concentrations at the monitoring points with the trial solution. The above mentioned procedures are repeated until the stopping criterion regarding the differences of objective function value (OFV) is met. The last trial source information which yields the best OFV is the final solution. Six studies on the homogeneous site, two studies on the heterogeneous site, and one study on the transient flow problem are conducted in this study. A suggestion regarding the optimal number of monitoring points and the condition for estimating the source information is given on the basis of the studies for homogeneous and heterogeneous aquifers. All results indicate that the proposed SATS‐GWT can give good estimations, even when the sampling concentrations contain measurement errors.
Physical and ecological processes of internal waves on an isolated reef ecosystem in the South China Sea
Authors: Wang Yu‐Huai , Dai Chang‐Feng , Chen Yang‐Yih
Published: September 2007

Field measurements at Dongsha Atoll in the northern South China Sea showed frequent drops in daily water temperature up to 8°C during intrusions of large nonlinear internal waves. The internal waves had a period of about 4 hours and velocity amplitude of 0.3 m s−1. Large variations of dissolved oxygen were observed a week after cold‐water intrusion, which was followed in another 2 days by a significant increase of chlorophyll content. The 7–8‐day delay suggests that phytoplankton blooms occurred after the nutrients were released through microbial decomposition of organics brought up by the internal waves. This study highlights the effects of internal waves and the possible role of the microbial food web on nutrient regeneration in a tropical reef ecosystem.
Spring diurnal cycle of clouds over Tibetan Plateau: Global cloud‐resolving simulations and satellite observations
Authors: Sato Tomonori , Miura Hiroaki , Satoh Masaki
Published: September 2007

Thermal forcing of the Tibetan Plateau (TP) has large impacts on the Asian summer monsoon. In this study, we statistically analyzed the outputs from the global cloud‐resolving model, NICAM (Nonhydrostatic ICosahedral Atmospheric Model). In order to investigate the convective activities, two brightness temperature datasets were compared, one derived from the satellite observation and another derived from the model. The model well simulated the spatio‐temporal variations of convective clouds in April 2004. The diurnal cycle of clouds was better represented in NICAM, which shows only few‐hour phase difference, than that in the reanalysis data. Three experiments changing horizontal resolution revealed that the higher resolution run conducts better representation of the diurnal cycle, especially on the nighttime disappearance of the high clouds. These results indicate that the global cloud‐resolving model will improve the seasonal prediction of the Asian summer monsoon through better description on the thermal forcing of the Tibetan Plateau.
The Roles of Membrane Rafts in CD32A-Mediated Phagocytosis
Authors: Tolentino Timothy , Selvaraj Periasamy , Zhu Cheng
Published: September 2007

Membrane rafts are highly dynamic heterogeneous sterol- and sphingolipid-rich micro-domains on cell surfaces. They are generally believed to provide residency for cell surface molecules (e.g., adhesion and signaling molecules) and scaffolding to facilitate the functions of these molecules such as membrane trafficking, receptor transport, cell signaling, and endocytosis.The governing, or overall hypothesis, for this project is that membrane rafts provide residency for Fc[gamma]RIIA (CD32A) on K562 cells, and that by doing so they provide a platform from which Fc[gamma]RIIA initiate or carry out their functions, which include migration, signaling, phagocytic synapse formation, and internalization of IgG opsonized targets.Using immuno-fluorescent laser scanning confocal microscopy and reflection interference microscopy (RIM), we studied the spatial and temporal distributions of membrane rafts and surface receptors, signaling molecules, and cell organelles during the formation of phagocytic contact areas. K562 cells, which naturally express CD32A, a cell surface receptor for the Fc portion of Immuno-globulin G(IgG), was chosen as a model for neutrophils. An opsonized target was modeled using a glass supported lipid bilayer reconstituted with IgG. CD32A was found to cluster and co-localize with membrane rafts. Placing the K562 cells on the lipid bilayer triggered a process of contact area formation that includes binding between receptors and ligands, their recruitment to the contact area, a concurrent membrane raft movement to and concentration in the contact area, and transport of CD32A, IgG, and membrane rafts to the Golgi complex. Characterization of these processes was performed using agents known to disrupt detergent resistant membranes (DRMs), dissolve actin microfilaments, and inhibit myosin motor activity, which abolished the CD32A clusters and prevented the contact area formation. The relevance to phagocytosis of contact area formation between K562 cells and lipid bilayers was demonstrated using micro-beads coated with a lipid bilayer reconstituted with IgG as the opsonized target instead of the glass supported planar lipid bilayer. Disruption of membrane rafts, salvation of the actin cytoskeleton, and inhibition of myosin II activity were found to inhibit phagocytosis.These data suggest membrane rafts play several important roles in CD32A mediated phagocytosis including pre-clustering CD32A, transport of CD32A to the phagocytic cup, and transport of the opsonized target towards the Golgi complex. Here we have provided evidence that membrane rafts serve as platforms which are used to cluster CD32A and transport CD32A along the actin cytoskeleton to the site of phagocytic synapse formation thus allowing for the quick assembly of a phagocytic synapse.
Oxygen sensing and hypoxia-induced responses
Authors: Coleman Mathew L. , Ratcliffe Peter J.
Published: September 2007

Low cellular oxygenation (hypoxia) represents a significant threat to the viability of affected tissues. Multicellular organisms have evolved a highly conserved signalling pathway that directs many of the changes in gene expression that underpin physiological oxygen homoeostasis. Oxygen-sensing enzymes in this pathway control the activity of the HIF (hypoxia-inducible factor) transcription factor by the direct incorporation of molecular oxygen into the post-translational hydroxylation of specific residues. This represents the canonical hypoxia signalling pathway which regulates a plethora of genes involved in adaptation to hypoxia. The HIF hydroxylases have been identified in other biological contexts, consistent with the possibility that they have other substrates. Furthermore, several intracellular proteins have been demonstrated, directly or indirectly, to be hydroxylated, although the protein hydroxylases responsible have yet to be identified. This chapter will summarize what is currently known about the canonical HIF hydroxylase signalling pathway and will speculate on the existence of other oxygen-sensing enzymes and the role they may play in signalling hypoxia through other pathways.
Hypoxia in cancer cell metabolism and pH regulation
Authors: Brahimi-Horn M. Christiane , Pouysségur Jacques
Published: September 2007

At a molecular level, hypoxia induces the stabilization and activation of the α-subunit of an α/β heterodimeric transcription factor, appropriately termed HIF (hypoxia-inducible factor). Hypoxia is encountered, in particular, in tumour tissues, as a result of an insufficient and defective vasculature present in a highly proliferative tumour mass. In this context the active HIF heterodimer binds to and induces a panel of genes that lead to modification in a vast range of cellular functions that allow cancer cells to not only survive but to continue to proliferate and metastasize. Therefore HIF plays a key role in tumorigenesis, tumour development and metastasis, and its expression in solid tumours is associated with a poor patient outcome. Among the many genes induced by HIF are genes responsible for glucose transport and glucose metabolism. The products of these genes allow cells to adapt to cycles of hypoxic stress by maintaining a level of ATP sufficient for survival and proliferation. Whereas normal cells metabolize glucose through a cytoplasmic- and mitochondrial-dependent pathway, cancer cells preferentially use a cytoplasmic, glycolytic pathway that leads to an increased acid load due, in part, to the high level of production of lactic acid. This metabolic predilection of cancer cells is primarily dependent directly on the HIF activity but also indirectly through changes in the activity of tumour suppressors and oncogenes. A better understanding of HIF-dependent metabolism and pH regulation in cancer cells should lead to further development of diagnostic tools and novel therapeutics that will bring benefit to cancer patients.
Enhanced Visual Speech Perception in Individuals With Early-Onset Hearing Impairment
Authors: Auer Edward T. , Bernstein Lynne E.
Published: September 2007

Purpose

L. E. Bernstein, M. E. Demorest, and P. E. Tucker (2000) demonstrated enhanced speechreading accuracy in participants with early-onset hearing loss compared with hearing participants. Here, the authors test the generalization of Bernstein et al.'s (2000) result by testing 2 new large samples of participants. The authors also investigated correlates of speechreading ability within the early-onset hearing loss group and gender differences in speechreading ability within both participant groups.

Method

One hundred twelve individuals with early-onset hearing loss and 220 individuals with normal hearing identified 30 prerecorded sentences presented 1 at a time from visible speech information alone.

Results

The speechreading accuracy of the participants with early-onset hearing loss (
M
= 43.55% words correct;
SD
= 17.48) significantly exceeded that of the participants with normal hearing (
M
= 18.57% words correct;
SD
= 13.18),
t
(330) = 14.576,
p
< .01. Within the early-onset hearing loss participants, speechreading ability was correlated with several subjective measures of spoken communication. Effects of gender were not reliably observed.

Conclusion

The present results are consistent with the results of Bernstein et al. (2000). The need to rely on visual speech throughout life, and particularly for the acquisition of spoken language by individuals with early-onset hearing loss, can lead to enhanced speechreading ability.
“Listen My Children and You Shall Hear”: Auditory Preferences in Toddlers With Autism Spectrum Disorders
Authors: Paul Rhea , Chawarska Katarzyna , Fowler Carol , Cicchetti Domenic , Volkmar Fred
Published: September 2007

Purpose

This study tests the hypothesis that toddlers with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) will show differences from contrast groups in preferences for attending to speech.

Method

This study examined auditory preferences in toddlers with ASD and matched groups of (a) typical age-mates, (b) age-mates with nonautistic developmental disabilities, and (c) younger children matched for language age. The experimental procedure measured time spent oriented to auditory stimuli that were created to exemplify language patterns that had been studied in typically developing infants.

Results

Findings suggest that toddlers with ASD show a reduced preference for child-directed speech, compared with typical age-mates, but few differences from children with nonautistic developmental disorders. Correlational analysis revealed that time spent listening to child-directed speech by children with ASD was related to their concurrent receptive language ability as well as to receptive language abilities 1 year later. This relationship did not hold for the other groups.

Conclusion

The present study supports the hypothesis that children with ASD perform differently from typical peers in auditory preference paradigms and that performance in these tasks is related to concurrent and later language development.
Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani (Yet the Heart Remains Indian): Bollywood, the ‘Homeland’ Nation-State, and the Diaspora
Authors: Mohammad Robina
Published: September 2007

Hindi cinema offers a means of examining the evolving geographies of the multisited, multinational Indian diaspora and its relationship to the ‘homeland’. The paper seeks to elaborate an understanding of Bollywood's visibility in the new diaspora as a response to political, economic, and technological transformations that have taken place in India. It maps these shifts and the reconfigured relationship between the Indian diaspora in the UK and its imagined ‘homeland’: the relationship between territory, location, and identity. The paper considers how women's bodies are deeply implicated in—indeed, essential to—the negotiation of these shifts.
On the origin of smallpox: Correlating variola phylogenics with historical smallpox records
Authors: Li Yu , Carroll Darin S. , Gardner Shea N. , Walsh Matthew C. , Vitalis Elizabeth A. , Damon Inger K.
Published: September 2007

Human disease likely attributable to variola virus (VARV), the etiologic agent of smallpox, has been reported in human populations for >2,000 years. VARV is unique among orthopoxviruses in that it is an exclusively human pathogen. Because VARV has a large, slowly evolving DNA genome, we were able to construct a robust phylogeny of VARV by analyzing concatenated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from genome sequences of 47 VARV isolates with broad geographic distributions. Our results show two primary VARV clades, which likely diverged from an ancestral African rodent-borne variola-like virus either ≈16,000 or ≈68,000 years before present (YBP), depending on which historical records (East Asian or African) are used to calibrate the molecular clock. One primary clade was represented by the Asian VARV major strains, the more clinically severe form of smallpox, which spread from Asia either 400 or 1,600 YBP. Another primary clade included both alastrim minor, a phenotypically mild smallpox described from the American continents, and isolates from West Africa. This clade diverged from an ancestral VARV either 1,400 or 6,300 YBP, and then further diverged into two subclades at least 800 YBP. All of these analyses indicate that the divergence of alastrim and variola major occurred earlier than previously believed.
Disease-associated mutant α-actinin-4 reveals a mechanism for regulating its F-actin-binding affinity
Authors: Weins Astrid , Schlondorff Johannes S. , Nakamura Fumihiko , Denker Bradley M. , Hartwig John H. , Stossel Thomas P. , Pollak Martin R.
Published: September 2007

α-Actinin-4 is a widely expressed protein that employs an actin-binding site with two calponin homology domains to crosslink actin filaments (F-actin) in a Ca
2+
-sensitive manner
in vitro
. An inherited, late-onset form of kidney failure is caused by point mutations in the α-actinin-4 actin-binding domain. Here we show that α-actinin-4/F-actin aggregates, observed
in vivo
in podocytes of humans and mice with disease, likely form as a direct result of the increased actin-binding affinity of the protein. We document that exposure of a buried actin-binding site 1 in mutant α-actinin-4 causes an increase in its actin-binding affinity, abolishes its Ca
2+
regulation
in vitro
, and diverts its normal localization from actin stress fibers and focal adhesions
in vivo
. Inactivation of this buried actin-binding site returns the affinity of the mutant to that of the WT protein and abolishes aggregate formation in cells.
In vitro
, actin filaments crosslinked by the mutant α-actinin-4 exhibit profound changes of structural and biomechanical properties compared with WT α-actinin-4. On a molecular level, our findings elucidate the physiological importance of a dynamic interaction of α-actinin with F-actin in podocytes
in vivo
. We propose that a conformational change with full exposure of actin-binding site 1 could function as a switch mechanism to regulate the actin-binding affinity of α-actinin and possibly other calponin homology domain proteins under physiological conditions.
The narrow escape problem for diffusion in cellular microdomains
Authors: Schuss Z. , Singer A. , Holcman D.
Published: September 2007

The study of the diffusive motion of ions or molecules in confined biological microdomains requires the derivation of the explicit dependence of quantities, such as the decay rate of the population or the forward chemical reaction rate constant on the geometry of the domain. Here, we obtain this explicit dependence for a model of a Brownian particle (ion, molecule, or protein) confined to a bounded domain (a compartment or a cell) by a reflecting boundary, except for a small window through which it can escape. We call the calculation of the mean escape time the narrow escape problem. This time diverges as the window shrinks, thus rendering the calculation a singular perturbation problem. Here, we present asymptotic formulas for the mean escape time in several cases, including regular domains in two and three dimensions and in some singular domains in two dimensions. The mean escape time comes up in many applications, because it represents the mean time it takes for a molecule to hit a target binding site. We present several applications in cellular biology: calcium decay in dendritic spines, a Markov model of multicomponent chemical reactions in microdomains, dynamics of receptor diffusion on the surface of neurons, and vesicle trafficking inside a cell.
Réflexions sur l’histoire de l’AILA
Authors: Valdman Albert
Published: September 2007

Albert Valdman traces the history of AILA through his memories of its origins in the early 1960s in France to its place today as the umbrella organization of over 30 national associations from all over the world. He begins with a discussion of AILA’s early days — centered in Western Europe and focused on language learning — and follows its expansion in North America and the rest of the world and to other domains of applied linguistics. Along the way, he cites significant meetings, resulting publications, research groups, the question of language use within the organization and many linguists who have contributed to the evolution of AILA.
Australia and New Zealand applied linguistics (ANZAL)
Authors: Kleinsasser Robert C.
Published: September 2007

This paper reviews some emerging trends in applied linguistics in both Australia and New Zealand. It sketches the current scene of (selected) postgraduate applied linguistics programs in higher education and considers how various university programs define applied linguistics through the classes (titles) they have postgraduate students complete to be awarded a degree. Evidence of program requirements and topics reveal not only what applied linguistics generally entails, but offers insights into how applied linguistics is defined and practiced. Additionally, some of the salient research topics (titles) being published in the journals from the two countries’ applied linguistics associations are sketched.
Applied linguistics in Europe
Authors: de Bot Kees
Published: September 2007

In this contribution developments in Applied Linguistics in Europe are linked to major social changes that have taken place over the last decades. These include: The decline of the USSR and the end of the cold war; The development of the EEC and the EU and fading of borders; The economic growth of Western Europe; Labor migration from the south to the north of Europe; The emergence of regionalism. All of these developments have shaped the role of languages in society and they have sparked research on linguistic aspects related to the languages in contact due to these developments.
Applied Linguistics in Asia
Authors: Pakir Anne
Published: September 2007

This paper examines language trends in 21st century Asia and reports on the development of Applied Linguistics (AL) in the region. It has a dual focus: the first analyses the unique preoccupations of Asian and Asia-based applied linguists that have given rise to present research directions and preferences. These, however, seem to be not much recognized in the currently BANA dominated field. A second focal point considers the larger concerns and issues that might lead to future and different directions in AL scholarship once ‘proper applied linguistics’ — currently originating in the West and dominating research directions — reorients and realigns itself to include these Asian research and findings. It can be predicted that with this realignment, AL will grow as a field of inquiry in leaps and bounds along with the imminent rise of Asia by the middle of the twenty first century.
Input, Interaction and Output
Authors: Gass Susan M. , Mackey Alison
Published: September 2007

This paper presents an overview of what has come to be known as the Interaction Hypothesis, the basic tenet of which is that through input and interaction with interlocutors, language learners have opportunities to notice differences between their own formulations of the target language and the language of their conversational partners. They also receive feedback which both modifies the linguistic input they receive and pushes them to modify their output during conversation. This paper focuses on the major constructs of this approach to SLA, namely, input, interaction, feedback and output, and discusses recent literature that addresses these issues.
Beyond Repair
Authors: Kasper Gabriele
Published: September 2007

As one of several approaches to SLA as social practice, Conversation Analysis (CA) has the capacity to examine in detail how opportunities for L2 learning arise in different interactional activities. Its particular strength, and one that distinguishes it from other social practice approaches, is its consistent focus on the orientations and relevancies that participants display to each other through their interactional conduct. CA thus affords a distinct perspective on L2 learning as object and process. It enables researchers to reconsider such established SLA topics as fluency, correction, or the benefits of tasks for L2 learning, but also offers an acquisitional perspective on interactional conduct whose potential for L2 learning has been largely unexplored.