bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Treatment of Neurodegenerative Disorders with Radical Nanomedicine
Authors: SINGH NEERAJ , COHEN COURTNEY A. , RZIGALINSKI BEVERLY A.
Published: December 2007

In engineering and materials science, nanotechnology has provided many advances that effectively reduce oxidative damage generated by free radical production. Despite such advances, there has been little application to biomedical problems. Increased oxidative stress and free radical production are associated with neurodegenerative conditions, including aging, trauma, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, and many others. The antioxidant properties of cerium oxide nanoparticles show promise in the treatment of such diseases. Here, we summarize the work on the biological antioxidant actions of cerium oxide nanoparticles in extension of cell and organism longevity, protection against free radical insult, and protection against trauma‐induced neuronal damage. We discuss establishment of effective dosing parameters, along with the physicochemical properties that regulate the pharmacological action of these new nanomaterials. Taken together, these studies suggest that nanotechnology can take pharmacological treatment to a new level, with a novel generation of nanopharmaceuticals.
Effect of Methyl Derivatives of Dopamine on Tumor Necrosis Factor α and Lipid Peroxidation
Authors: PERIANAYAGAM MARY C. , REQUINTINA PURA J. , JABER BERTRAND L. , OXENKRUG GREGORY F.
Published: December 2007

We recently demonstrated that melatonin, N‐acetylserotonin (NAS), and N‐acetyldopamine (NAD) attenuate the synthesis of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)‐stimulated tumor necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α) and the generation of oxidant radicals. In this study, we examined whether acetyl and methyl derivatives of dopamine modulate LPS‐stimulated TNF‐α synthesis and LPS‐ and iron‐induced lipid peroxidation. Differentiated THP‐1–derived human monocytes were coincubated with Escherichia coli and rising concentrations of NAS, NAD, N‐methyldopamine (NMD), or 4‐O‐methyldopamine (4‐O‐MD). After 24 h, TNF‐α was measured in cell supernatants. In addition, lipid peroxidation was induced by adding FeCl2 solution to mouse brain tissue homogenates in the presence of rising concentrations of NAS, NAD, NMD, or 4‐O‐MD. Incubating THP‐1–derived monocytes with rising concentrations of NAS, NAD, NMD, or 4‐O‐MD markedly decreased LPS‐stimulated TNF‐α production, which was dose dependent and on the order of 96%–98%. Rising concentrations of NMD markedly inhibited lipid peroxidation by 59%–98%. Our results indicated that the inhibitory effect of NAS, NAD, NMD, or 4‐O‐MD on LPS‐induced TNF‐α production and FeCl2‐stimulated lipid peroxidation is robust and dose dependent.
The Role of the Receptor Activator of Nuclear Factor-κB Ligand/Osteoprotegerin Cytokine System in Primary Hyperparathyroidism
Authors: Nakchbandi Inaam A. , Lang Robert , Kinder Barbara , Insogna Karl L.
Published: December 2007

Context: The mechanisms of action of PTH on bone in vivo remain incompletely understood. The objective of this investigation was to examine changes in serum levels of receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB ligand and osteoprotegerin (OPG) in primary hyperparathyroidism and their relationship to bone loss.

Patients and Methods: Twenty-nine patients with primary hyperparathyroidism had baseline circulating soluble receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB ligand (sRANKL) and OPG measured. The relationship to biochemical markers of bone turnover and changes in bone mineral density over 2 yr was examined.

Results: Baseline sRANKL levels were elevated (1.7 ± 0.1 pmol/liter), whereas OPG remained in the normal range (5.6 ± 0.4 pmol/liter). Circulating sRANKL did not correlate with PTH but did correlate with markers of bone resorption (urine deoxypyridinoline cross-links: r = 0.51, P < 0.01; serum N-telopeptide of type I collagen: r = 0.37, P < 0.05). Furthermore, sRANKL correlated with both IL-6 and IL-6 soluble receptor (IL-6sR) (r = 0.47, P < 0.05 and r = 0.55, P < 0.005, respectively). Serum sRANKL levels also correlated with bone loss at the total femur (r = −0.53, P < 0.01). Lastly, a high value of sRANKL in combination with values of IL-6 and IL-6sR in the upper quartile (sRANKL ≥ 1.81 pg/ml, IL −6 ≥ 11.8 pg/ml, and IL-6sR ≥ 45.6 ng/ml) defined a group of four women with significantly greater rates of bone loss at the total femur than the remaining patients (−2.7 ± 1.7% vs. +0.5 ± 0.3%; n = 4 vs. n = 19, P < 0.05).

Conclusion: Determination of circulating levels of sRANKL may be useful in identifying patients with mild primary hyperparathyroidism at greater risk for bone loss. The fact that circulating sRANKL did not correlate with PTH but did correlate with markers of bone resorption suggests that skeletal responsiveness to PTH may differ in this disease.
Growth Hormone (GH) Insensitivity and Insulin-Like Growth Factor-I Deficiency in Inuit Subjects and an Ecuadorian Cohort: Functional Studies of Two Codon 180 GH Receptor Gene Mutations
Authors: Fang Peng , Girgis Rose , Little Brian M. , Pratt Katherine L. , Guevara-Aguirre Jaime , Hwa Vivian , Rosenfeld Ron G.
Published: December 2007

Context: Among more than 250 cases of GH insensitivity syndrome (GHIS) reported to date, the largest cohort was identified in southern Ecuador. In the Ecuadorian GHIS cohort, a sense mutation (GAA > GAG) at codon E180 of GH receptor [GHR (E180sp)] results in deletion of codons 181–188. No functional studies of this mutation have been performed, nor have different mutations at codon 180 been reported.

Objective: We now report identification of a novel GHR mutation, also within codon E180, in two distantly related GHIS subjects of Inuit origin and provide mechanistic insights into the defects caused by the Inuit and Ecuadorian GHR mutations.

Patients: The two Inuit subjects, with heights of −5 sd score and −7 sd score, respectively, had elevated circulating levels of GH but low levels of GH-binding protein, IGF-I, and IGF-binding protein-3.

Results: Both Inuit subjects carry the same novel nonsense homozygous GHR mutation at codon E180 (GAA->TAA, E180X). In vitro reconstitution experiments demonstrated that GHR (E180sp), but not GHR (E180X), could be stably expressed. GHR (E180sp), however, could not bind GH and could neither activate signal transducer and activator of transcription-5b nor induce -5b-dependent gene expression on GH treatment. Furthermore, the GHR (E180sp), which has a deletion of eight amino acid residues within the GHR dimerization domain, although retaining the ability to homodimerize, was defective in trafficking to the cell surface.

Conclusions: The E180X mutation identified in two Inuit patients resulted in a truncated, unstably expressed GHR variant, whereas the E180 splicing mutation previously identified in the Ecuadorian cohort, affected both GH binding and GHR trafficking and rendered the abnormal GHR nonfunctional.
Inhibition of Luteinizing Hormone Secretion by Testosterone in Men Requires Aromatization for Its Pituitary But Not Its Hypothalamic Effects: Evidence from the Tandem Study of Normal and Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone-Deficient Men
Authors: Pitteloud Nelly , Dwyer Andrew A. , DeCruz Suzzunne , Lee Hang , Boepple Paul A. , Crowley William F. , Hayes Frances J.
Published: December 2007

Context: Studies on the regulation of LH secretion by sex steroids in men are conflicting.

Objective: Our aims were to determine the relative contributions of testosterone (T) and estradiol (E2) to LH regulation and localize their sites of negative feedback.

Design: This was a prospective study with three arms.

Setting: The study was conducted at a General Clinical Research Center.

Patients or Other Participants: Twenty-two normal (NL) men and 11 men with GnRH deficiency due to idiopathic hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (IHH) participated.

Intervention: Medical castration and inhibition of aromatase were achieved using high-dose ketoconazole (KC) for 7 d with 1) no sex steroid add-back; 2) T enanthate 125 mg im starting on d 4; or 3) E2 patch 37.5 μg/d starting on d 4. Blood sampling was performed every 10 min for 12 h at baseline, overnight on d 3–4 and d 6–7.

Main Outcome Measures: Mean LH levels, LH pulse amplitude, and GnRH pulse frequency were assessed at baseline, d 3–4, and d 6–7.

Results: In NL men, KC caused a 3-fold increase in mean LH on d 3–4, which was stable on d 6–7 with no add-back. Addition of T reduced LH levels (34.6 ± 3.9 to 17.4 ± 3.6 IU/liter, P < 0.05) by slowing GnRH pulse frequency (13.3 ± 0.4 to 6.7 ± 1.0 pulses/12 h, P < 0.005). LH amplitude increased (6.9 ± 1.0 to 12.1 ± 1.4 IU/liter, P < 0.005). E2 add-back suppressed LH levels (36.4 ± 5.6 to 19.0 ± 2.4 IU/liter, P < 0.005), by slowing GnRH pulse frequency (11.4 ± 0.2 to 8.6 ± 0.4 pulses/12 h, P < 0.05) and had no impact on LH pulse amplitude. In IHH men, restoring normal T levels caused no suppression of mean LH levels or LH amplitude. E2 add-back normalized mean LH levels and decreased LH amplitude from 14.7 ± 1.7 to 12 ± 1.5 IU/liter (P < 0.05).

Conclusions: 1) T and E2 have independent effects on LH. 2) Inhibition of LH by T requires aromatization for its pituitary, but not hypothalamic effects. 3) E2 negative feedback on LH occurs at the hypothalamus.
A model for the self-organization of exit sites in the endoplasmic reticulum
Authors: Heinzer Stephan , Wörz Stefan , Kalla Claudia , Rohr Karl , Weiss Matthias
Published: December 2007

Exit sites (ES) are specialized domains of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) at which cargo proteins of the secretory pathway are packaged into COPII-coated vesicles. Although the essential COPII proteins (Sar1p, Sec23p-Sec24p, Sec13p-Sec31p) have been characterized in detail and their sequential binding kinetics at ER membranes have been quantified, the basic processes that govern the self-assembly and spatial organization of ERES have remained elusive. Here, we have formulated a generic computational model that describes the process of formation of ERES on a mesoscopic scale. The model predicts that ERES are arranged in a quasi-crystalline pattern, while their size strongly depends on the cargo-modulated kinetics of COPII turnover – that is, a lack of cargo leads to smaller and more mobile ERES. These predictions are in favorable agreement with experimental data obtained by fluorescence microscopy. The model further suggests that cooperative binding of COPII components, for example mediated by regulatory proteins, is a key factor for the experimentally observed organism-specific ERES pattern. Moreover, the anterograde secretory flux is predicted to grow when the average size of ERES is increased, whereas an increase in the number of (small) ERES only slightly alters the flux.
The mitochondrial membrane potential and Ca2+ oscillations in smooth muscle
Authors: Chalmers Susan , McCarron John G.
Published: December 2007

Ca2+ uptake by mitochondria might both modulate the cytosolic Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]c) and depolarize the mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) to limit ATP production. To investigate how physiological Ca2+ signaling might affect energy production, ΔΨm was examined during Ca2+ oscillations in smooth muscle cells. In single, voltage-clamped smooth muscle cells, inhibition of mitochondrial Ca2+ accumulation inhibited inositol (1,4,5)-trisphosphate [Ins(1,4,5)P3]-evoked Ca2+ release and prolonged the time required for restoration of [Ca2+]c following activation of plasmalemmal Ca2+ currents (ICa). Ca2+ could be released from mitochondria immediately (within 15 seconds) after a [Ca2+]c rise evoked by Ins(1,4,5)P3 or ICa. Despite this evidence of mitochondrial Ca2+ accumulation, no change in ΔΨm was observed during single or repetitive [Ca2+]c oscillations evoked by these conditions. Occasionally, spontaneous, repetitive, persistent Ca2+ oscillations were observed. In these cases, mitochondria displayed stochastic ΔΨm depolarizations, which were independent both of events in neighboring mitochondria and of the timing of the [Ca2+]c oscillations themselves. Such ΔΨm depolarizations could be mimicked by increased exposure to either fluorescence excitation light or the ΔΨm-sensitive dye tetramethylrhodamine ethyl ester (TMRE) and were inhibited by antioxidants (ascorbic acid, catalase, Trolox and TEMPO) or the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP)-inhibitor cyclosporin A (CsA). Individual mitochondria within smooth muscle cells might depolarize during repetitive Ca2+ oscillations or during oxidative stress but not during the course of single [Ca2+]c transients evoked by Ca2+ influx or store release.
Diverse roles of hnRNP L in mammalian mRNA processing: A combined microarray and RNAi analysis
Authors: Hung Lee-Hsueh , Heiner Monika , Hui Jingyi , Schreiner Silke , Benes Vladimir , Bindereif Albrecht
Published: December 2007

Alternative mRNA splicing patterns are determined by the combinatorial control of regulator proteins and their target RNA sequences. We have recently characterized human hnRNP L as a global regulator of alternative splicing, binding to diverse C/A-rich elements. To systematically identify hnRNP L target genes on a genome-wide level, we have combined splice-sensitive microarray analysis and an RNAi-knockdown approach. As a result, we describe 11 target genes of hnRNP L that were validated by RT-PCR and that represent several new modes of hnRNP L-dependent splicing regulation, involving both activator and repressor functions: first, intron retention; second, inclusion or skipping of cassette-type exons; third, suppression of multiple exons; and fourth, alternative poly(A) site selection. In sum, this approach revealed a surprising diversity of splicing-regulatory processes as well as poly(A) site selection in which hnRNP L is involved.
Time-Indexed Formulations and the Total Weighted Tardiness Problem
Authors: Bigras Louis-Philippe , Gamache Michel , Savard Gilles
Published: December 2007

Asolution approach based on the column-generation technique is presented for solving a time-indexed formulation of the total weighted tardiness problem. An acceleration strategy based on a decomposition of the time horizon into subperiods, where each subperiod is associated with a subproblem of the column-generation approach, is used to solve the linear relaxation. Branching strategies and dominance rules are also applied to find the optimal integer solution. Using this new approach, it is possible to solve to optimality 117 out of 125 open problems of the OR-Library.
Corporate Venturing, Allocation of Talent, and Competition for Star Managers
Authors: de Bettignies Jean-Etienne , Chemla Gilles
Published: December 2007

We provide new rationales for corporate venturing, based on competition for talented managers. As returns to venturing increase, firms engage in corporate venturing for reasons other than capturing these returns. First, higher venturing returns increase managerial compensation, to which firms respond by increasing incentives. Managers increase effort, prompting firms to reallocate them to new ventures, where the marginal product of effort is highest. Second, as returns to venturing become large, corporate venturing emerges as a way to recruit/retain managers who would otherwise choose alternative employment. We derive several testable empirical predictions about the determinants and structure of corporate venturing.
Design Architecture and Introduction Timing for Rapidly Improving Industrial Products
Authors: Ramachandran Karthik , Krishnan V.
Published: December 2007

Technological advances present firms in many industries with opportunities to substantially improve their product's capabilities in short periods of time. Customers who invest in these products may, however, react adversely to rapid improvements that make their previous versions obsolete by deferring their purchase. In industrial markets, there is an emerging trend of sequentially improving products designed to be upgraded in a modular fashion. We study the impact of product architecture and introduction timing on the launch of rapidly improving products. We find that by localizing performance improvements in a sequence of upgradable modules of the product, a firm can better manage the introduction of rapidly improving products. Specifically, we show that modular upgradability can reduce the need for slowing the pace of innovation or forgoing upgrade pricing. The additional flexibility in pricing and timing makes the modular, upgradable approach preferable to an integrated architecture, even in some situations where there may be distinct performance or cost-related disadvantages to pursuing the modular architecture. We differentiate between proprietary and nonproprietary approaches to modular upgradability and consider the implications for profits. Our central contribution in this paper is the innovative integration of product architecture with pricing and timing decisions for managing the introduction of rapidly improving products.
An Approach to Securely Identifying Beneficial Collaboration in Decentralized Logistics Systems
Authors: Clifton Chris , Iyer Ananth , Cho Richard , Jiang Wei , Kantarcıoğlu Murat , Vaidya Jaideep
Published: December 2007

The problem of sharing manufacturing, inventory, or capacity to improve performance is applicable in many decentralized operational contexts. However, the solution of such problems commonly requires an intermediary or a broker to manage information security concerns of individual participants. Our goal is to examine use of cryptographic techniques to attain the same result without the use of a broker. To illustrate this approach, we focus on a problem faced by independent trucking companies that have separate pick-up and delivery tasks and wish to identify potential efficiency-enhancing task swaps while limiting the information they must reveal to identify these swaps. We present an algorithm that finds opportunities to swap loads without revealing any information except the loads swapped, along with proofs of the security of the protocol. We also show that it is incentive compatible for each company to correctly follow the protocol as well as provide their true data. We apply this algorithm to an empirical data set from a large transportation company and present results that suggest significant opportunities to improve efficiency through Pareto improving swaps. This paper thus uses cryptographic arguments in an operations management problem context to show how an algorithm can be proven incentive compatible as well as demonstrate the potential value of its use on an empirical data set.
Evaluating Contextual Variables Affecting Productivity Using Data Envelopment Analysis
Authors: Banker Rajiv D. , Natarajan Ram
Published: December 2007

A DEA-based stochastic frontier estimation framework is presented to evaluate contextual variables affecting productivity that allows for both one-sided inefficiency deviations as well as two-sided random noise. Conditions are identified under which a two-stage procedure consisting of DEA followed by ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis yields consistent estimators of the impact of contextual variables. Conditions are also identified under which DEA in the first stage followed by maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) in the second stage yields consistent estimators of the impact of contextual variables. This requires the contextual variables to be independent of the input variables, but the contextual variables may be correlated with each other. Monte Carlo simulations are carried out to compare the performance of our two-stage approach with one-stage and two-stage parametric approaches. Simulation results indicate that DEA-based procedures with OLS, maximum likelihood, or even Tobit estimation in the second stage perform as well as the best of the parametric methods in the estimation of the impact of contextual variables on productivity. Simulation results also indicate that DEA-based procedures perform better than parametric methods in the estimation of individual decision-making unit (DMU) productivity. Overall, the results establish DEA as a nonparametric stochastic frontier estimation (SFE) methodology.
Evaluation and Optimization of Installation Base-Stock Policies in Supply Chains with Compound Poisson Demand
Authors: Zhao Yao
Published: December 2007

In this paper, we establish an exact framework for a class of supply chains with at most one directed path between every two stages. External demands follow compound Poisson processes, the transit times are stochastic, sequential, and exogenous, and each stage controls its inventory by an installation base-stock policy under continuous review. Unsatisfied demand at each stage is fully backordered. This class of supply chains includes assembly, distribution, tree, and two-level general networks as special cases. We characterize the stockout delay for each unit of demand at each stage of the supply chain by developing an exact and unified approach that applies to various network topologies. We also present tractable approximations and decompositions that facilitate efficient evaluation and optimization (up to the approximations) of the base-stock policies in industry-size problems with a tree structure. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the solution by numerical studies.
The dilemma of the second surgeon
Authors: Nahum Alan M. , Saltzstein Sidney L. , Robinson Jerald V.
Published: December 2007

The dilemma of the second surgeon is created when a patient is seen who has received advice and/or treatment by a colleague in the same specialty. The problem is compounded when conflicting opinions as to diagnosis, treatment, and results occur. This is discussed in the context of providing optimal care, maintaining effective communication, and avoiding the obvious pitfalls.
Management of parasymphyseal fractures of the mandible
Authors: McClurg F. L. Don
Published: December 2007

Fractures of the parasymphyseal mandible occur in 15% of all cases of mandibular fracture. The experience obtained from 32 consecutive parasymphyseal fractures is outlined. Open reduction and internal fixation was required in patients having severe comminution, a mobile central fragment, or bilateral subcondylar fractures. These circumstances constituted 15% of all parasymphyseal fractures. The techniques utilized have been outlined.
The management of facial paralysis due to extracranial injuries
Authors: Tucker Harvey M.
Published: December 2007

Improvements in surgical capabilities in the management of malignancies about the ear and parotid gland, increasing vehicular and interpersonal trauma, and greater concern with cosmetic factors by the public at large, have led to increasing need for the surgeon's ability to manage injuries to the facial nerve. Several important anatomic, physiologic and technical factors bear upon a logical approach to repair of such facial nerve injuries. Careful attention to these concepts had led to satisfactory return of facial function in most cases managed by the author.
Equality, Public Policy and Public Services: The Underclass Hypothesis and the Limits to Equality
Authors: Lineberry Robert L.
Published: December 2007

If the 1960s represented the era of a dramatic attention to massive urban crises, the 1970s sets its sights lower, focusing increasingly on the production and consumption, distribution and delivery, and equity and efficiency issues in urban public services. As Yates remarks, ‘it is difficult to see how a government can solve its dramatic problems if it cannot solve its routine ones,’ and the distribution of public services represents a critical issue in policy analysis and judicial policy. The case of Hawkins v. Town of Shaw inaugurated litigation to redress discrimination in the distribution of public services. The resuscitation of equalitarian issues, prompted in part by the educational output literature, points up the normative, as well as the constitutional issues in service delivery questions.

The most commonplace hypothesis in the discussion of urban public services is the underclass hypothesis, the suspicion that service provision is a function of the racial, class or political traits of particular neighbourhoods. Evidence, though still limited in time and place, is beginning to appear on the underclass hypothesis, and it is less than definitive. In this paper, the hypothesis is tested in a city, San Antonio, Texas, whose attributes make it propitious for a useful test. Heavily minority, and quite poor, it also exhibits a pattern of highly centralized political power. The paper examines data on the intra-municipal distribution of two services, fire protection and parks. Though the results of the analysis show that distributions may be described as ‘unpatterned inequality’, they are not clearly associated with variations in neighbourhood underclass concentrations. Such analysis raises, though, some fundamental questions about the larger concept of equality as a normative standard for distributing urban services. These questions, including the problem of operationalizing equality and some constitutional issues in service equalization, are also addressed.
Rates and Votes – The 1980 District Council Elections
Authors: Bristow Stephen L.
Published: December 2007

1980 witnessed a crop of high rate increases in many local authorities. In the forefront of these was Wolverhampton Metropolitan Borough Council. This article examines the impact of the rate increase as an issue in the municipal elections of May 1980, presenting survey evidence to show that the local electorate had a higher level of awareness of municipal affairs during this election campaign than has generally been thought to be the case. The implications of this for local authorities’ expenditure policy are discussed.
Some Ethical and Practical Problems in the Construction of Policy Recommendations from Implementation Research
Authors: Means Robin
Published: December 2007

This article will consider some of the ethical and practical problems associated with the construction of policy recommendations from what are increasingly referred to as implementation studies. Such studies are a form of policy research although there is considerable disagreement over whether it is possible to distinguish an activity called policy making (i.e. the setting up of goals) from an activity called implementation (i.e. the processes required to realise those goals). Whether those who stress that policy making continues well after the formal decisions have been made are right or not, it is clear that many government officials wish to encourage the study of what they perceive as implementation. However, the focus of this article will not be on the expectations of the main research sponsor (whether government or research council) but rather on those of implementing agencies, which allow access without funding the research.
Communication, Co-ordination and Implementation
Authors: Nixon Jaqi
Published: December 2007

The process of communicating policies, whether between central and local government or between chief officers and their local field staff, is crucial to the way in which policy is implemented. This article is concerned with the quality of communication networks which converge upon the Social Services Departments of local authorities. It examines these networks in terms of their effect upon the implementation of equal opportunity policy for ethnic minorities. It considers in particular the types of communication which largely determine relations between the Department of Health and Social Security and local Social Services Departments, the amount of contact between ethnic minority communities and social services personnel and, finally, the problems of communication between different groups of staff within the Social Services Department. The article concludes that, under adverse economic circumstances, the quality of communication channels tends to deteriorate and that, as a consequence, the implementation of equal opportunity policy may be further undermined.
Simultaneous Erythema Nodosum and Erythema Multiforme After Local Lidocaine Injection
Authors: Rodríguez-Carreón Alma Angélica , Vega-Memije Elisa , Moreno-Coutiño Gabriela , López-García Lirio , Domínguez-Cherit Judith , Arenas Roberto
Published: December 2007

Objective:

To report a case of simultaneous erythema nodosum and erythema multiforme after local lidocaine injection.

Case Summary:

A 33-year-old female experienced coexisting erythema nodosum and erythema multiforme after lidocaine spray was used for upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. The reaction was exacerbated after localized injection of 2% lidocaine for a skin biopsy. An objective causality assessment revealed that an adverse drug reaction was highly probable.

Discussion:

Lidocaine is the most frequently used local anesthetic agent. The coexistence of erythema nodosum and erythema multiforme has been reported in lepromatous leprosy, Yersinia enterocolítica and Yersinia pseudotuberculosis gastrointestinal infection (both with diarrhea), histoplasmosis, hepatitis C, and milker's nodule, but not with lidocaine.

Conclusions:

If clinicians observe similar lesions after lidocaine exposure, they should suspect an adverse drug reaction and exercise caution in the administration of amide anesthetics to patients with a documented history of adverse reaction to lidocaine.
Concrete universality: Tower blocks, architectural modernism, and realism in contemporary British cinema
Authors: Burke Andrew
Published: December 2007

This article examines the representation of tower blocks in Last Resort (Pawlikowski 2000) and Red Road (Arnold 2006). Commonly associated in the popular imagination as the site of major social problems (crime, poverty, antisocial behaviour), the concrete high-rise has
become the symbol of the decline of contemporary Britain. Both films recognise the structural decay that characterises many post-war housing developments and acknowledge the social problems that plague them, yet they seek to understand this deterioration as a consequence of larger social and
political decisions and developments. Last Resort records the transformation of tower blocks into holding cells for asylum seekers. Red Road turns the proliferation of CCTV cameras on a Glaswegian housing estate into a metaphor for a society fearful of those people and places incongruent with
a modern, affluent Britain. In each case, dramatisation enhances documentation rather than compromises it, and the tower block becomes the setting for what iek terms concrete universality, the process whereby fiction explodes documentary from within (iek 2006: 31). In this way, these films
constitute a revitalised realism in which the truth of the antagonisms that divide society can best be shown in the guise of fiction.
Inge Münz-Koenen / Wolfgang Schäffner (Hgg.), Masse und Medium. Verschiebungen der Ordnung des Wissens und der Ort der Literatur 1800/2000. 2002 – Wolfgang Klein / Ernst Müller (Hgg.), Genuß und Egoismus. Zur Kritik ihrer geschichtlichen Verknüpfung. 2002
Authors: Achermann Eric
Published: December 2007

Ganz zu Recht hält Eberhard Lämmert im „Geleitwort“ zu Masse und Medium fest, daß der Titel des Bandes „zwei Begriffe mit einem jeweils weiten Spektrum von Bedeutung“ (S. IX) verbinde, um anschließend gleich selbst die Weite dieses Spektrums mit einigen Definitionsversuchen und Aperçus zu durchmessen. Dabei formuliert er einen kritischen Gedanken, der aufhorchen läßt, daß nämlich „selbst angesichts solcher Überlegungen Literaturwissenschaftler immer noch allen Grund zur Reserve [hätten], ein ganzes Colloquium einem Zweiergespann von Begriffen zu überantworten, in dem Literatur überhaupt nicht mehr ausdrücklich vorkommt“ (S. X). Das „allen Grund zur Reserve“ scheint mehr als nur eine bloße Konzession an die Bedenken skrupulöser Literaturwissenschafter anzuzeigen, nämlich geradezu die vollkommene Berechtigung dieser Bedenken.
Steffen Bogen, Träumen und Erzählen. Selbstreflexion der Bildkunst vor 1300. 2001
Authors: Speckenbach Klaus
Published: December 2007

Die aus der „Marburger Arbeitsgruppe Bilderzählung“ hervorgegangene und von Wolfgang Kemp betreute kunsthistorische Dissertation beschäftigt sich mit christlichen Traumdarstellungen vorwiegend aus der Zeit zwischen dem 9. und 13. Jahrhundert. Diese Traumdarstellungen haben selbst eine erzählende Funktion und sind überdies oft Teil einer umfassenden Bilderzählung etwa in der Form einer biblischen Geschichte oder Heiligenlegende. Über die Frage nach eigenständigen Prinzipien der mittelalterlichen Bilderzählung möchte Steffen Bogen eine Selbstreflexion der mittelalterlichen Bildkunst gegen die bisherige Forschungsmeinung plausibel machen. Methodische Orientierung gewinnt er durch die Zeichentheorie von Charles S. Peirce und die Erzähltheorie von Algirdas Julien Greimas, ohne allerdings „diesen Bezug explizit zu machen“ (S. 17).
Margreth Egidi, Höfische Liebe: Entwürfe der Sangspruchdichtung. Literarische Verfahrensweisen von Reinmar von Zweter bis Frauenlob. 2002
Authors: Stock Markus
Published: December 2007

Ziel der überarbeiteten Dissertation ist es, an ausgewählten Sangsprüchen den Begriff der höfischen Liebe zu bestimmen, eine Gattungspoetik der Minnespruchstrophe zu entwickeln und dabei eine gattungsgeschichtliche Perspektive zu entfalten. Das Erkenntnisinteresse richtet sich genauer auf die textuellen Verfahrensweisen und Strukturen, die in der Spruchdichtung von Walther von der Vogelweide bis Frauenlob für den Entwurf höfischer Liebe wie für den Frauenpreis entwickelt werden. Ausdrücklich verabschiedet werden Sichtweisen, die sich ganz auf den ‚Gehalt‘ der Strophen stützen und die Liebesentwürfe der Sangspruchdichtung zunächst nur als Operationen der Didaktisierung und Moralisierung auffassen. Mit diesen Begriffen werde, so Egidi, die Literarizität der Sangspruchdichtung zugedeckt (S. 14). Zu überwinden sei zudem die „als unbrauchbar erkannte Opposition der Demonstration artistischer Brillanz als Selbstzweck und der Vermittlung verbindlicher Inhalte“ (S. 70).
Ulrich Ernst, Der ‚Gregorius‘ Hartmanns von Aue. Theologische Grundlagen – legendarische Strukturen – Überlieferung im geistlichen Schrifttum. 2002
Authors: Freytag Hartmut
Published: December 2007

Ulrich Ernst legt mit dem Band eine in sich geschlossene Gesamtinterpretation des Gregorius Hartmanns von Aue vor (S. XIII), deren unübersehbarer Vorzug darin liegt, daß er kontinuierlich die altfranzösische Vie du Pape S. Grégoire und die lateinischen Gesta Gregorii Peccatoris Arnolds von Lübeck berücksichtigt und in seine weiteren Erläuterungen über die Bibel hinaus auch die patristischen „Grundquellen“ sowie die alt- und frühmittelhochdeutschen religiösen Dichtungen des 11. und 12. Jahrhunderts einbezieht, „deren Tradition Hartmann in höfisch-klassischer Form“ fortsetze (S. 2). Ein weiterer Vorzug seiner Studien liegt darin, daß er „die Dichtung nicht im Licht des Prologs, sondern den Prolog im Lichte der Dichtung zu betrachten“ weiß (S. 3).
Corpus Paracelsisticum. Dokumente frühneuzeitlicher Naturphilosophie in Deutschland. Hg. und erläutert von Wilhelm Kühlmann und Joachim Telle. Bd. 1: Der Frühparacelsismus. Erster Teil. Hg. und erläutert von Wilhelm Kühlmann und Joachim Telle. 2001
Authors: Bogner Ralf Georg
Published: December 2007

Die intensive germanistische Frühneuzeitforschung der letzten Jahrzehnte hat manche ihrer wichtigsten Ergebnisse nicht auf dem Wege der editorischen Erschließung und monographischen Untersuchung der kanonisierten Autoren und ihrer zentralen Texte gewonnen. Neue und wegweisende Aufschlüsse über die Literatur und Kultur des 16. bis 18. Jahrhunderts sind vielmehr immer wieder aus Projekten gezogen worden, die sich der Epoche scheinbar von ihren Rändern her genähert haben. Denn sofern man diese in der gegenwärtigen Germanistensprache so beliebte Metapher nicht in ihrem postmodern-modischen Sinne, sondern als Annäherung an den wissenschaftlichen Gegenstand aus einer Perspektive abseits der traditionell eingespielten fachlichen Usancen versteht, haben beispielsweise Wolfgang Harms' Flugblattedition oder Werner Welzigs Bände zur frühneuzeitlichen Predigt der Forschung viel bedeutendere Anregungen gegeben als diese und jene gelehrsamen Studien über die bekanntesten Dichter des Barock. Eine vergleichbare Wirkung steht von dem hier anzuzeigenden Band zu erwarten. In einer Situation programmatisch betriebener Re-Kanonisierung erscheint die Auseinandersetzung mit einer fast unüberschaubaren Menge an literarhistorisch bislang wenig bis nicht beachteten Texten mutig; in Zeiten der Konjunktur poststrukturalistischer Theorie und mehr oder minder frei flottierender Interpretation mag eine editorische Pionierleistung, die sich auf bloß marginale bisherige Forschungsergebnisse zu stützen vermag, kühn oder gar anachronistisch wirken – und dennoch ist gerade eine so verwegene Anstrengung unzweifelhaft erforderlich.
Ursula Naeve-Bucher, Schönes Fräulein darf ich's wagen, Ihnen Arm und Geleite anzutragen? Zu Annäherung, Werbung, Versuchung und Verführung in der schwedischen und deutschen Literatur des 18. Jahrhunderts. 2001
Authors: Brown Hilary
Published: December 2007

Naeve-Bucher's doctoral thesis from the University of Stockholm examines the theme of courtship in approximately seventeen German and Swedish texts. Although only implicitly hinted at in the title, the works chosen are predominantly dramas. The German ones are largely taken from the canon (Faust, Emilia Galotti, Kabale und Liebe); the Swedish plays are apparently unavailable in German editions, and the author provides her own translations of quotations. The study is grounded on the premiss that literary texts are a product of the society in which they are written and exist in dialogue with the conditions of that society. With reference to Foucault, Naeve-Bucher sets out to question how the literary protagonists react to social norms and power structures. The first two parts of the thesis introduce the topic and the socio-historical background. The third is divided into five thematic sub-headings, covering “Formen der Annäherung”, “Formen der Werbung”, “Formen des weiblichen Kokettierens”, “Formen von Versuchung und Verführung” and “Die Rolle der Mütter / Väter”. Naeve-Bucher concludes ultimately that the writers tend to promote rather than subvert the dominant values of their age.
Michael Ott, Das ungeschriebene Gesetz. Ehre und Geschlechterdifferenz in der deutschen Literatur um 1800. 2001
Authors: Becker-Cantarino Barbara
Published: December 2007

Zum Thema ‚Ehre‘ sind in der historischen Forschung im letzten Jahrzehnt wichtige Arbeiten erschienen. Ute Frevert hat in ihrer Habilitationsschrift Ehrenmänner (München 1991) die Geschichte des Duells im 19. Jahrhundert gründlich und wegweisend aufgearbeitet und den theoretischen Rahmen für eine Erfassung geschlechtsspezifischer Ehrkonzepte als Identitätsbegriff geschaffen. Martin Dinges und andere haben zum Thema Ehre für das 18. Jahrhundert und die Frühe Neuzeit eine Reihe von Arbeiten aus der Perspektive der historischen Anthropologie vorgelegt, aus denen einmal mehr deutlich wird, daß fast ausschließlich Männer als Handelnde und Agierende in den historischen Ehrkonflikten und Ehrenhändeln auftreten, dokumentiert und erforscht worden sind.
Schillers Sohn Ernst. Ein Psychogramm in Briefen. Hg. und mit einem Vorwort versehen von Hilde Lermann. 2002
Authors: Borchmeyer Dieter
Published: December 2007

Acht Jahre war Ernst alt, als sein Vater nach einem beispiellosen Schaffensrausch im Jahre 1805 starb. Sein Beruf wurde der undankbarste aller Berufe: Sohn eines berühmten Vaters zu sein, nie an sich selbst gemessen zu werden. Dieses Schicksal teilt er mit August von Goethe, Franz Xaver Mozart oder Siegfried Wagner. Von ihnen ist er freilich der mit Abstand unbedeutendste, und daß er dem Vater wie aus dem Gesicht geschnitten war, verlieh ihm das Aussehen einer bloßen Maske. Sein ganzes Leben lang war er extrem muttergebunden. Charlotte von Schiller und nach ihrem Tod deren Schwester Caroline von Wolzogen, Mutter und Tante also, waren seine eigentlichen Ansprech- und Briefpartner, und schließlich heiratete er eine vierzehn Jahre ältere reiche Witwe: „Ernst wollte seine Jokaste. Er kann nicht genug Mütter haben“ (Vorwort, S. 32). Er wird ein karrierebewußter, wenngleich recht mittelmäßiger Beamter, für den das Erbe des Vaters nichts als Zinsen eines ansehnlichen Kapitals sind.
Rainer Kipper, Der Germanenmythos im Deutschen Kaiserreich. Formen und Funktionen historischer Selbstthematisierung. 2002
Authors: Hunger Ulrich
Published: December 2007

Rainer Kippers Gießener Dissertationsschrift ist im Fachbereich Geschichts- und Kulturwissenschaften beheimatet. Sie beschäftigt sich mit einem Thema, das spätestens seit den ausgehenden sechziger Jahren des letzten Jahrhunderts in den Blickpunkt einer kritischen Analyse geraten ist: Die mythische Verfremdung der germanischen Vorzeit und ihre Indienstnahme für aktuelle gesellschaftliche und politische Interessen in Deutschland. Als Kerngedanken des Germanenmythos wurden seither die substantielle Identität von germanischem und deutschem Wesen sowie deren transhistorische Kontinuität über Jahrtausende hinweg herausgestellt. Die Absetzung der germanischen Charaktereigenschaften und Tugenden von der kulturell ausdifferenzierten, aber moralisch dekadenten lateinisch-romanischen Zivilisation unterfütterte nach innen die gesellschaftliche Integration der Nation und nach außen deren expansive Großmachtpolitik. Seine letzte Pervertierung erhielt der Germanenmythos, als sich seiner eine sozialdarwinistische, völkische und rassistische, zuweilen aber auch esoterische Gedankenwelt bemächtigte, die vom Nationalsozialismus aufgegriffen und für seine eroberungs- und rassenpolitischen Ziele instrumentalisiert wurde.
Hans Richard Brittnacher, Erschöpfung und Gewalt. Opferphantasien in der Literatur des Fin de siècle. 2002
Authors: Simonis Annette
Published: December 2007

Mit der Krisensemantik der Jahrhundertwende verbindet sich ein bemerkenswertes Spektrum von Gewaltphantasien und literarisch sowie ästhetisch gestalteten Opferritualen, die ihren eindrucksvollen Niederschlag in den Werken namhafter Autoren wie Hofmannsthal, Rilke, Borchardt, George, Wilde, D'Annunzio und anderer gefunden haben. Obwohl jenes Phänomen des europäischen Fin de siècle der literatur- und kulturwissenschaftlichen Forschung als solches seit langem vertraut ist, steht seine systematische Sondierung und Bewertung in kultur- beziehungsweise mentalitätsgeschichtlicher Hinsicht noch weitgehend aus. Die vorliegende Untersuchung, eine Berliner Habilitationsschrift, beschäftigt sich mit den genannten Opferphantasien in der Literatur der Jahrhundertwende in einer Reihe von aufschlußreichen Einzelinterpretationen zu Alkestis (Hofmannsthal, Rilke, Borchardt), Elektra (Hofmannsthal), Herodias/Salome (Flaubert, Wilde), Algabal (George) und Il Piacere (D'Annunzio), von denen die meisten als Essays in Zeitschriften und Sammelbänden vorab publiziert wurden (vgl. die Drucknachweise, S. 372).
Klaus Große Kracht, Zwischen Berlin und Paris: Bernhard Groethuysen (1880–1946). Eine intellektuelle Biographie. 2002
Authors: Hoeschen Andreas
Published: December 2007

Bernhard Groethuysen ist als Herausgeber von Diltheys Gesammelten Schriften sowie als Autor seiner Studie Die Entstehung der bürgerlichen Welt- und Lebensanschauung in Frankreich und des umfangreichen Handbuchs Philosophische Anthropologie bekannt. Der fachhistorische beziehungsweise philosophische Ertrag von Groethuysens Arbeiten ist – so kann man vermuten – in der einschlägigen Forschung bereits weitgehend verwertet. Dies tut Große Krachts Studie jedoch keinen Abbruch. Denn dort steht die intellektuellengeschichtliche Bedeutung von Groethuysens Werk als eine Art habituelle Selbstversicherung im Zentrum.
Ariane Huml, Silben im Oleander, Wort im Akaziengrün. Zum literarischen Italienbild Ingeborg Bachmanns. 1999 – Primus-Heinz Kucher / Luigi Reitani (Hgg.), „In die Mulde meiner Stummheit leg ein Wort …“. Interpretationen zur Lyrik Ingeborg Bachmanns. 2000 – Monika Albrecht / Dirk Göttsche (Hgg.), „Über die Zeit schreiben“. Bd. 2: Literatur- und kulturwissenschaftliche Essays zum Werk von Ingeborg Bachmann. 2000
Authors: von Jagow Bettina
Published: December 2007

Der Strom der Studien zum Werk der österreichischen Dichterin Ingeborg Bachmann läßt nicht ab, und das aus gutem Grund: In den 1990er Jahren haben sich Forscherinnen und Forscher an eine neue Lektüre des Bachmannschen Werks gemacht und den in den Literaturwissenschaften vorherrschenden Blick auf eine kulturwissenschaftliche Erweiterung als Chance genutzt, um – nach feministischen und poststrukturalistischen Analysen – andere Verfahren und Themen der bis dato teils stark strapazierten Texte Bachmanns zu entdecken. 1999 hat Sigrid Weigel mit ihrer systematisch am Werk orientierten Monographie überzeugend dargelegt, daß „vor allem eine Dimension der Autorin Ingeborg Bachmann mißachtet und vergessen worden [ist]: ihr Ort als Intellektuelle, die sich engagiert und mit Leidenschaft nicht nur um eine sprach- und geschichtstheoretisch reflektierte Ästhetik bemüht, sondern – mit zunehmendem Alter bewußt und aktiv – auch den Dialog mit den Erfahrungen von Überlebenden und Exilierten und die Auseinandersetzung mit einem ‚Denken nach Auschwitz‘ gesucht hat.“ Sigrid Weigel leistet eine dichte Beschreibung des intellektuellen Netzes und eine Rekonstruktion der zeithistorischen und literarischen Konstellationen, in welche das Schreiben und Denken Bachmanns verortet ist. Das gelingt ihr, indem sie den Benjaminschen Begriff der Korrespondenzen stark macht.
Rüdiger Görner, Grenzen, Schwellen, Übergänge. Zur Poetik des Transitorischen. 2001
Authors: Daiber Jürgen
Published: December 2007

In den kulturwissenschaftlich relevanten Theorien des 20. und 21. Jahrhunderts spielen Schwellen- und Übergangsphänomene eine zunehmend wichtigere Rolle. Während die traditionelle abendländische Epistemologie sich primär über dualistisch organisierte Semantiken bestimmte (wahr/falsch, Geist/ Materie, Kultur/Natur, innen/außen, eigen/fremd), schenken alle neueren Theorien, die sich auf der Ebene der kulturellen Semiosis bewegen, in verstärktem Maße den Schnittstellen der beiden Vergleichsgrößen innerhalb eines Systems ihre Aufmerksamkeit. Derartige „Figuren des Dritten“ entstehen immer dann, wenn intellektuelle Operationen nicht ausschließlich zwischen den beiden Seiten einer Entscheidung oszillieren, sondern die Unterscheidung als solche zum Gegenstand der Untersuchung erhoben wird. Unter solcher Perspektive treten beim Aufprall zweier divergierender Ordnungen Probleme der Grenzziehung in den methodischen Fokus.
Reinhart Meyer-Kalkus, Stimme und Sprechkünste im 20. Jahrhundert. 2001 – Friedrich Kittler / Thomas Macho / Sigrid Weigel (Hgg.), Zwischen Rauschen und Offenbarung. Zur Kultur- und Mediengeschichte der Stimme. 2002
Authors: Schöttker Detlev
Published: December 2007

In seiner Grammatologie (1967, deutsch 1974) hat Jacques Derrida eine These formuliert, die nicht nur die Philosophie und die Literaturwissenschaft, sondern auch die neuere Medienwissenschaft geprägt hat. Die Gleichsetzung des Geistes mit der mündlichen Rede, so meinte er, habe seit der Antike zur Bevorzugung der Stimme und zur Abwertung der Schrift geführt, die damit zum Ersatz des gesprochenen Wortes wurde. Derrida stützte seine Auffassung auf den Schlußteil des Phaidros, in dem Platon die negativen Folgen des Schriftgebrauchs für das Gedächtnis darlegt, und auf Rousseaus Essay über den Ursprung der Sprache (1762), in dem der Stimme der Vorzug gegenüber der Schrift gegeben wird. Derridas Kritik an diesen Auffassungen und ihrer Wirkung, prägnant verpackt in die Formel des Logo- beziehungsweise Phonozentrismus der abendländischen Philosophie, hat dazu geführt, daß sich Kultur- und Medienwissenschaften seit den achtziger Jahren in erster Linie mit der Geschichte und den Eigenheiten der Schrift beschäftigt haben. Die Tatsache, daß die Stimme auch in den technisch-elektronischen Medien (wie Phonograph, Telefon, Grammophon, Hörfunk, Tonfilm und Fernsehen) eine herausragende Rolle spielt, wurde dabei meist übergangen.