bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The spoils of nature: Armed civil conflict and rebel access to natural resources
Authors: Lujala Päivi
Published: January 2010

Why is armed civil conflict more common in resource-dependent countries than in others? Several studies have attempted to unravel mechanisms on why natural resources are linked to armed conflict, but no coherent picture has yet emerged. This article seeks to address this puzzle by concentrating on the issue of how rebel access to natural resources affects conflict. It uses data on gemstone and hydrocarbon localities throughout the world and controls for the spatial and temporal overlap of resources and conflict. The results show that the location of resources is crucial to their impact on conflict duration. If resources are located inside the actual conflict zone, the duration of conflict is doubled. Interestingly, oil and gas reserves have this effect on duration regardless of whether there has been production or not. In addition, a country-level analysis suggests that oil production increases the risk of conflict onset when located onshore; offshore production has no effect on onset. These results support the assertion that natural resources play a central role in armed civil conflicts because of the incentives and opportunities they present for rebel groups.
Religion, securitization and anti-immigration attitudes: The case of Greece
Authors: Karyotis Georgios , Patrikios Stratos
Published: January 2010

This article revisits securitization theory of the Copenhagen School by addressing an empirical overemphasis on political actors and offering a quantitative extension to typically qualitative assessments of the theory. Using Greece as a case study, it explores the dynamics of competition and the relative discursive power of two actors, political and religious elites, regarding migration. After first documenting a divergence in the two actors’ rhetoric through discourse analysis, it proceeds to measure the relative impact of their discourses on public immigration attitudes, employing structural equation modelling of European Social Survey data. Findings demonstrate that exposure to the securitizing religious discourse through church attendance immunizes citizens from the softening effect of the political message. This, in turn, explains the survival of the security frame on migration in Greece, even as political elites begin to move towards the desecuritized pole of the continuum. Crucially, the analysis of this case suggests that a methodological synthesis of qualitative and quantitative research methods to study securitization is possible despite limitations. The authors call for greater efforts to combine the two methods which would allow for a better understanding of securitization and desecuritization processes.
Disaggregating actors in intranational conflict
Authors: Shellman Stephen M. , Hatfield Clare , Mills Maggie J.
Published: January 2010

While some of the intrastate war literature calls for the disaggregation of civil conflict, most of those studies focus on the geography of civil conflict failing to take into account the various actors involved in such conflicts. This study addresses the multi-actor nature of civil conflict by examining whether ‘actor aggregation’ affects the inferences drawn from quantitative studies of civil conflict. Using two cases, Cambodia (1980—2004) and Indonesia (1980—2004), the authors examine how multiple dissident groups’ behavior aggregated together can affect the inferences drawn from quantitative studies of government—dissident interactions. The results demonstrate that researchers may draw different inferences and commit both Type I and Type II errors using different actor aggregations. The results have myriad implications for the study of civil conflict and conflict processes.
Notes Regarding the 2006 Survey of Active Duty Spouses
Authors: Losinger Willard C.
Published: January 2010

The Defense Manpower Data Center of the U.S. Department of Defense launched the 2006 Survey of Active Duty Spouses to assess attitudes of the spouses of U.S. active-duty military members. Severe problems existed with the sampling, weight adjustments, and estimation (including variance-estimation) procedures. Stratification of the sample without proper consideration of the survey objectives made it impossible to achieve reportable information for many desired population subgroups. Excessive stratification caused many of the sampling strata to have very small numbers of respondents, both expected and actual. Consequently, nonresponse bias was probably enormous across many of the strata. Absurd weight adjustments likely contributed toward rendering many survey estimates unreliable. To make the survey estimates seem more precise, sampling strata were collapsed together to form new “variance strata” for variance estimation. Caution is advised in using results from this and other Defense Manpower Data Center surveys.
Climate change and future energy consumption in UK housing stock
Authors: Collins Lisa , Natarajan Sukumar , Levermore Geoff
Published: January 2010

This paper examines the likely effects on gas and electricity consumption and carbon emissions from heating and cooling systems in existing dwellings up to 2080, assuming a widespread uptake of cooling systems. This area of research is highly sensitive to the myriad of possible inputs and thus holds a wide range of predicted outcomes. However, general trends have been found, showing significant sensitivity to ventilation rate, U-values, occupant behaviour and location. Heating demand will still be dominant over cooling demand in UK dwellings by the 2080s, based on an UKCIP02 A1F1 weather scenario. A national worst case scenario for the 2050s, shows a 10 megatonne CO2 emissions saving on present levels largely due to a 20% reduction in gas consumption.

Practical applications: The balance of heating and cooling demand causes more modest changes in CO 2 than first anticipated. Despite first perceptions of future energy use in housing and climate change, heating appears to remain the major load rather than cooling, even into the 2080s. These predictions of future CO 2 emissions will be useful to those in the building industry planning appropriate proportionate climate adaptation and climate mitigation measures. Also, the prediction of changes to future energy demands from the housing sector will be of interest to energy providers considering future demands for heating and cooling and may feed into larger bottom-up energy models.
Instructor Feedback: How Much Do Students Really Want?
Authors: Ackerman David S. , Gross Barbara L.
Published: January 2010

Marketing students expect feedback on papers and assignments; and many professors expend much time and effort providing individualized and substantive comments in response to student work. Doing so is challenging and time consuming when faced with large class sizes, high student—faculty ratios, and communications-intensive courses. Furthermore, instructors observe that though students often express desire for feedback, some do not appear to use it. The results of this study suggest that when an instructor provides a lot of feedback, as opposed to a small amount of feedback on an assignment, students receive it negatively. The results also suggest that students respond no more positively than when offered no feedback comments at all. Results suggest that if an instructor wants students to be receptive to the feedback provided because they believe it is fair, because they like the instructor, or because they feel the instructor has a positive impression of them, the instructor should provide only a modest amount of feedback or a moderate number of clear and specific feedback comments. Alternatively, an instructor who wants to offer students a greater amount of feedback needs to allow them to revise and resubmit their assignments.
A Note on the Effectiveness of National Anti-Terrorist Policies: Evidence from ETA
Authors: Gil-Alana Luís A. , Barros Carlos P.
Published: January 2010

This article analyses the effectiveness of anti-terrorism policies implemented by the Spanish government to counteract ETA terrorist attacks. The aim is to investigate what the best policy is for counteracting terrorist groups: proactive political/ retaliatory deterrence policies or reactive political/retaliatory deterrence policies. Counting models are used and the results show that proactive political policies are the most effective.
The Operationalization of Democracy and the Strength of the Democratic Peace: A Test of the Relative Utility of Scalar and Dichotomous Measures
Authors: Bayer Reşat , Bernhard Michael
Published: January 2010

The idea that democracies are less apt to engage in conflict with each other is a central finding in international relations. Yet the operationalization of democracy in this literature has been relatively unreflective. Since the mid-1990s the majority of studies have used Polity. In this article we raise substantial concerns about its use, notably that there is a mismatch between conceptualization of democracy as a regime type and using an interval scale to measure it. If our contention is correct, we would expect to find that models that use a dichotomous coding should either provide different results from Polity or at minimum fit the data better. We then test this contention by comparing the results of tests of the democratic peace using Polity in its interval scalar form and several common dichotomous codings of democracy. The tests are supportive of the contention that dichotomous coding better captures the notion of “democracy.” At minimum we believe that findings using Polity should be verified for robustness using a dichotomous coding.
Economic Development in the Shadow of Angkor Wat: Meaning, Legitimation, and Myth
Authors: Heikkila Eric J. , Peycam Philippe
Published: January 2010

Economic development does not occur in a vacuum, and this holds especially for human settlements in World Heritage locations, where the “meaning” of place is highly contested. This article examines this issue in the context of Siem Reap, Cambodia, in the shadow of Angkor Wat.The authors introduce a conceptual framework motivated by Roland Barthes and Jean Baudrillard to unravel and delineate four distinct sources of value, derived respectively from use, exchange, symbol, and myth. This framework is then deployed to show how these valuations of place have evolved over three distinct eras: the ancient Khmer period, the French colonial era, and the more recent postcolonial period. In this context the authors show how contemporary economic development in Siem Reap has been shaped by a lingering mentality by which the “meaning” of Angkor continues to be adjudicated by external perspectives. The authors argue for an economic development strategy that seeks to resituate Angkor within the context of a newly articulated meaning of the place from a more locally informed perspective.
Happiness Cools the Warm Glow of Familiarity
Authors: de Vries Marieke , Holland Rob W. , Chenier Troy , Starr Mark J. , Winkielman Piotr
Published: January 2010

People often prefer familiar stimuli, presumably because familiarity signals safety. This preference can occur with merely repeated old stimuli, but it is most robust with new but highly familiar prototypes of a known category (beauty-in-averageness effect). However, is familiarity always warm? Tuning accounts of mood hold that positive mood signals a safe environment, whereas negative mood signals an unsafe environment. Thus, the value of familiarity should depend on mood. We show that compared with a sad mood, a happy mood eliminates the preference for familiar stimuli, as shown in measures of self-reported liking and physiological measures of affect (electromyographic indicator of spontaneous smiling). The basic effect of exposure on preference and its modulation by mood were most robust for prototypes (category averages). All this occurs even though prototypes might be more familiar in a happy mood. We conclude that mood changes the hedonic implications of familiarity cues.
Hyper-Binding
Authors: Campbell Karen L. , Hasher Lynn , Thomas Ruthann C.
Published: January 2010

Previous work has shown that older adults encode lexical and semantic information about verbal distractors and use that information to facilitate performance on subsequent tasks. In this study, we investigated whether older adults also form associations between distractors and co-occurring targets. In two experiments, participants performed a 1-back task on pictures superimposed with irrelevant words; 10 min later, participants were given a paired-associates memory task without reference to the 1-back task. The study list included preserved and re-paired (disrupted) pairs from the 1-back task. Older adults showed a memory advantage for preserved pairs and a disadvantage for disrupted pairs, whereas younger adults performed similarly across pair types. These results suggest the existence of a hyper-binding phenomenon in which older adults encode seemingly extraneous co-occurrences in the environment and transfer this knowledge to subsequent tasks. This increased knowledge of how events covary may be the reason why real-world decision-making ability is retained, or even enhanced, with age.
Unconscious Numerical Priming Despite Interocular Suppression
Authors: Bahrami Bahador , Vetter Petra , Spolaore Eva , Pagano Silvia , Butterworth Brian , Rees Geraint
Published: January 2010

Whether high-level properties of stimuli rendered invisible by interocular competition can influence perception and behavior remains controversial. We studied whether suppressed and invisible symbolic and nonsymbolic numerical stimuli can elicit priming. First, we established that participants were objectively unable to discriminate numerical prime stimuli when interocular suppression rendered them invisible. Next, we asked participants to enumerate a visible target set of items after being exposed to a suppressed, invisible (nonsymbolic or symbolic) prime set. Both symbolic and nonsymbolic unconsciously perceived numerical primes induced robust priming effects that were specific to the numerical distance between the target and prime. Comparison with a no-prime condition revealed that primes larger than targets interfered with target enumeration and primes the same as or smaller than targets facilitated target enumeration. Taken together, our findings provide clear evidence for high-level processing of stimuli rendered invisible through interocular suppression.
Validation of a Korean version of the Moral Sensitivity Questionnaire
Authors: Han Sung-Suk , Kim Juhu , Kim Yong-Soon , Ahn Sunghee
Published: January 2010

The main purpose of this study was to validate a scale to examine the moral sensitivity of Korean nurses. A pre-existing scale, the Moral Sensitivity Questionnaire (MSQ), developed by Lützén, was used after deletion of three items. The reliability and validity of the scale were examined by using Cronbach’s alpha and factor analysis, respectively. According to the results, reliability of the scale was adequate but its construct validity was not fully supported. Through discussion on evidence of validity, five subconstructs emerged. In particular, unlike the factor structure of the MSQ, two subconstructs, patient-oriented care and professional responsibility, were newly extracted. It was assumed that the other three MSQ subconstructs, conflict, meaning and benevolence (expressed as nurses being ethically good), would not be sensitive to cultural background. Given these findings, interpretations about the meaning of moral sensitivity of Korean nurses are discussed.
The role of community health advisors in community-based participatory research
Authors: Story Lachel , Hinton Agnes , Wyatt Sharon B
Published: January 2010

Mistrust and fear of research often exist in minority communities because of assumptions, preconceived ideas, and historical abuse and racism that continue to influence research participation. The research establishment is full of well-meaning ‘outsider’ investigators who recognize discrimination, health disparities, and insufficient health care providers in minority communities, but struggle in breaking through this history of mistrust. This article provides ethical insights from one such ‘insider-outsider’, community-based participatory research project implemented via community health advisors in the Mississippi Delta. Both community-based participatory research and community health advisors provide opportunities to address the ethical issues of trust, non-maleficence, and justice in minority communities. Implications for ethics-driven nursing research are discussed.
Ethical issues in invasive mechanical ventilation for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Authors: Hirano Yuko , Yamazaki Yoshihiko
Published: January 2010

Currently in Japan, discontinuing an invasive mechanical ventilator (IMV) is illegal; therefore IMV-related decision making is a crucial issue. This study examined IMV decision-making factors and psychological conflict in 50 patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The Herth Hope Index was used for the assessment of pre- and post-IMV conflict. Interviews identified some decision-making factors: patient’s decision, patient’s and family’s mutual decision, family’s decision, and emergency-induced without patient’s or family’s consent. Participants who experienced no IMV-related regret received sufficient prior IMV education from physicians and nurses, and time for reflection and family consultation. Their hope was similar to their pre-onset levels. Patients who received no prior IMV education accepted treatment as a natural progression. Their hope levels were lower than pre-onset. Those who received only a brief prior IMV explanation rejected the ventilator, experiencing regret if they were given an emergency IMV. Their hope levels were among the lowest. However, some of these patients managed to overcome their regret through being helped by nurses. Sufficient physician explanation and nursing advocacy for autonomous patient decision making are critical for improving hope in this patient group.
Burnout and perceptions of conscience among health care personnel: A pilot study
Authors: Gustafsson Gabriella , Eriksson Sture , Strandberg Gunilla , Norberg Astrid
Published: January 2010

Although organizational and situational factors have been found to predict burnout, not everyone employed at the same workplace develops it, suggesting that becoming burnt out is a complex, multifaceted phenomenon. The aim of this study was to elucidate perceptions of conscience, stress of conscience, moral sensitivity, social support and resilience among two groups of health care personnel from the same workplaces, one group on sick leave owing to medically assessed burnout (n = 20) and one group who showed no indications of burnout (n = 20). The results showed that higher levels of stress of conscience, a perception of conscience as a burden, having to deaden one’s conscience in order to keep working in health care and perceiving a lack of support characterized the burnout group. Lower levels of stress of conscience, looking on life with forbearance, a perception of conscience as an asset and perceiving support from organizations and those around them (social support) characterized the non-burnout group.
Towards a Culturally Sensitive and Deeper Understanding of “Rote Learning” and Memorisation of Adult Learners
Authors: Tan Po Li
Published: January 2010

This article aims to provide evidence that “rote learning” or “memorisation” is a complex construct and is deeply embedded in the East Asian culture. An in-depth understanding of this learning approach is increasingly crucial considering the complex demography of contemporary higher education nowadays. Not only is there a rise in the number of matured adult learners but also there is an increase in the number of international students (in particular students from the East). Despite the widening participation, there is an appalling lack of awareness of cultural differences in learning and teaching in Western higher education. International students from the Eastern cultures are often frowned at as ineffective rote learners. The current study, which adopted a culturally sensitive framework, provides verification that when adopting a memorisation approach, learners from the Eastern cultures could learn beyond “rote.” About 1,000 Malaysian Malay and Chinese adult learners who were engaging with professional development were involved in the current study. The data in the current study provides insightful evidence that when memorisation is a culturally ingrained approach, it can lead to deep understanding, even for nontraditional students like the adult learners.
Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting: antiemetic trials that impacted clinical practice
Authors: Trigg Michael E , Higa Gerald M
Published: January 2010

Objective. To review the scientific evidence related to serotonin and substance P and the clinical impact targeting these two neurotransmitters have had managing chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV).

Data Source. A PubMed search (January 1968 to December 2008), restricted to English-language publications, was conducted using the key words antiemetics, cancer chemotherapy, cisplatin, serotonin, substance P, NK1, and 5-HT3. Abstracts emanating from the meetings of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer during the period May 2000 to June 2008 were also reviewed.

Data Synthesis. Two important outcomes emanated from well-conducted antiemetic clinical trials (Table 1): first, evidence that serotonin and substance P are major mediators of acute and delayed symptoms and second, improved, though not complete, control of CINV.

Conclusion. Serotonin-type 3 and neurokinin-1 receptor antagonists are the most effective agents currently available. In most cases, these agents are used in conjunction with glucocorticoids. The use of these three types of agents is incorporated into current clinical practice guidelines. Further understanding of the biological and biochemical basis of nausea and vomiting may enhance management of this potentially debilitating adverse effect.
A review of pharmacologic options for previously untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia
Authors: Wilhelm Kaci , Yang Daisy
Published: January 2010

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most common adult leukemia and has a heterogeneous clinical course. Some patients experience an indolent disease course, which does not require treatment or affect their overall quality of life. Other patients present with symptomatic advanced disease that rapidly progresses and requires therapy. For these patients, chemotherapy is the mainstay of treatment and has undergone significant evolution in the past few decades. From alkylating agents to purine analogs, response rates have greatly improved with new chemotherapy regimens. The development of chemoimmunotherapy regimens has also transformed the treatment of CLL. This article will review front-line treatment options for CLL and discuss the updated National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines. J Oncol Pharm Practice (2011) 17: 91—103.
Religiosity as Identity: Toward an Understanding of Religion From a Social Identity Perspective
Authors: Ysseldyk Renate , Matheson Kimberly , Anisman Hymie
Published: January 2010

As a social identity anchored in a system of guiding beliefs and symbols, religion ought to serve a uniquely powerful function in shaping psychological and social processes. Religious identification offers a distinctive “sacred” worldview and “eternal” group membership, unmatched by identification with other social groups. Thus, religiosity might be explained, at least partially, by the marked cognitive and emotional value that religious group membership provides. The uniqueness of a positive social group, grounded in a belief system that offers epistemological and ontological certainty, lends religious identity a twofold advantage for the promotion of well-being. However, that uniqueness may have equally negative impacts when religious identity itself is threatened through intergroup conflict. Such consequences are illustrated by an examination of identities ranging from religious fundamentalism to atheism. Consideration of religion’s dual function as a social identity and a belief system may facilitate greater understanding of the variability in its importance across individuals and groups.
Beyond Beliefs: Religions Bind Individuals Into Moral Communities
Authors: Graham Jesse , Haidt Jonathan
Published: January 2010

Social psychologists have often followed other scientists in treating religiosity primarily as a set of beliefs held by individuals. But, beliefs are only one facet of this complex and multidimensional construct. The authors argue that social psychology can best contribute to scholarship on religion by being relentlessly social. They begin with a social-functionalist approach in which beliefs, rituals, and other aspects of religious practice are best understood as means of creating a moral community. They discuss the ways that religion is intertwined with five moral foundations, in particular the group-focused “binding” foundations of Ingroup/loyalty, Authority/respect, Purity/sanctity. The authors use this theoretical perspective to address three mysteries about religiosity, including why religious people are happier, why they are more charitable, and why most people in the world are religious.
The Effects of the 1993 Earned Income Tax Credit Expansion on the Labor Supply of Unmarried Women
Authors: Adireksombat Kampon
Published: January 2010

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) expansion in 1993 has substantially increased the benefit available to a family with two or more children compared to a family with one child and to a family with no children. Using national survey data and this differential increase in EITC benefits, this study examines the effect of the 1993 EITC expansion on the labor supply of unmarried women. I find that the 1993 expansion has substantially increased the labor force participation of those women with two or more children. Moreover, the increase in the participation rate was mainly from less-educated women, the target population of the EITC program. Regarding the hours of work, I find evidence that the expansion increased total hours worked by all unmarried women. However, I find no evidence of statistically significant changes in annual hours worked by currently unmarried female workers.
Stigma, Optimal Income Taxation, and the Optimal Welfare Program: A Numerical Simulation Approach
Authors: Zhiyong An
Published: January 2010

This article integrates the theory of welfare stigma and the theory of optimal income taxation. We study optimal income taxation and an optimal welfare program within a unified framework while taking welfare stigma into account. In our framework, the government is assumed to have two policy instruments, namely general income taxation and a welfare program. Individuals are assumed to be heterogeneous along two dimensions, namely wages (skill) and welfare stigma. The government cannot observe the two characteristics of individuals. Each individual is assumed to take the income tax schedule and the parameters of the welfare program as given and make labor supply decisions to maximize his utility. The government is assumed to choose both an optimal income tax schedule and an optimal welfare program so as to maximize a social welfare function subject to its own revenue budget constraint and individuals’ behavioral response to the income tax schedule and the parameters of the welfare program. As the model cannot be solved analytically, we take a numerical simulation approach. Our simulations show that (1) it is optimal for the government to offer both a negative income tax schedule and a welfare program, which is consistent with the theoretical result obtained by An in a much-simplified version of our model, and (2) the actual welfare program in the United States might be less generous than the optimal welfare program.
The Effect of Changes in the Tax Structure on the Reported Income of High-Income Individuals
Authors: Acuna Hernan , Holcombe Randall G.
Published: January 2010

Tax incidence theory shows how taxes initially placed on one group can be shifted and ultimately borne by others. This paper shows that income of high-income taxpayers is affected both by the rates they face and by the rates faced by non-high-income taxpayers. The income of high-income taxpayers rises when they face lower tax rates, but also rises in response to lower tax rates imposed on non-high-income taxpayers. While high-income responses to own statutory tax changes may be explained—at least partially—by their making a ‘‘smart use of the tax code,’’ high-income responses to tax changes on non-high income individuals indicate the presence of structural effects of tax changes.
Fiscal Decentralization and Trust
Authors: Dincer Oguzhan
Published: January 2010

Using data from U.S. states and various measures of decentralization, I investigate the relationship between fiscal decentralization and trust. I find that a one standard deviation increase in either revenue decentralization or expenditure decentralization causes the share of trusting people in a state to increase by almost 4 percentage points. A one standard deviation increase in the number of governments, however, causes trust to increase by almost 2.5 percentage points. The results are robust to endogeneity.
Nasal Olfactory Epithelial Lesions in F344 and SD Rats Following 1- and 5-Day Inhalation Exposure to Naphthalene Vapor
Authors: Dodd Darol E. , Gross Elizabeth A. , Miller Rodney A. , Wong Brian A.
Published: January 2010

The exposure–response relationship and threshold for nasal epithelial effects of naphthalene (NP) vapor in F344 and SD rats were investigated in 1-day (6 hours) and 5-day (6 h/d) studies at concentration ranges of 0 to 30 ppm. Lesions related to 1-day exposure were predominately necrosis of the olfactory epithelium (OE). The severity of OE lesions was concentration dependent and ranged from minimal (≤1 ppm) to marked (10-30 ppm). In the 5-day study, degeneration of OE was observed in both strains, both sexes, with increasing incidence and severity that correlated with concentration. The epithelial degeneration lesion was minimal to moderate in severity. At 0.1 ppm, minimal OE lesions were observed in female SD rats only (20% incidence). Animals exposed to 10 ppm NP followed by 14 days without exposure also had OE lesions, but of lower severity, showing evidence of good recovery. In both studies, differences between sex or strain were not remarkable.
Migrant Care Workers’ Relationships with Care Recipients, Colleagues and Employers
Authors: Timonen Virpi , Doyle Martha
Published: January 2010

The literature on migrant care workers has tended to place little emphasis on the multiple relationships that migrant carers form with care recipients, employers/managers and work colleagues. This article makes a contribution to this emerging field, drawing on data from qualitative interviews carried out with 40 migrant care workers employed in the institutional and domiciliary care sectors in Dublin, Ireland. While the analysis revealed generally positive carer—care recipient relationships, significant racial and cultural tensions were evident within the vertical and especially the horizontal relationships in the care workplace. The article argues that these findings highlight the need for additional research on the relationships formed in the long-term care sector and further theorizing on the meaning and importance of the affective components of care work within increasingly commodified care markets.
Defending Biomedical Authority and Regulating the Womb as Social Space
Authors: Kramer Anne-Marie
Published: January 2010

The issue of abortion has been the topic of heated and frequent debate in post-Communist Poland. Parliamentary debate in 1998—9 centred around a legislative attempt to restrict prenatal testing, specifically amniocentesis, in order to further reduce the numbers of abortions carried out, as it was argued to inevitably result in the termination of pregnancy. Medical professionals are rarely visible as subjects of and authorities on the abortion debate in the Polish context. However, in this debate around prenatal testing, the medical community appear as key commentators and meaning-makers. This article asks the following questions: What role do the medical profession and biomedical knowledge play in the debate around prenatal testing, when abortion is highly politicized? Second, what social meanings and consequences are attributed to prenatal testing? How do these construct the relationship between foetus, pregnant woman and doctor, and what agency and 'rights' are attributed to women in the process of prenatal testing?
Alterations in neuronal gene expression profiles in response to experimental demyelination and axonal transection
Authors: Lovas G. , Nielsen JA , Johnson KR , Hudson LD
Published: January 2010

The main pathological features of multiple sclerosis, demyelination and axonal transection, are considered to cause reversible and irreversible neurological deficits, respectively. This study aimed to separately analyze the effects of these pathological hallmarks on neuronal gene expression in experimental paradigms. The pontocerebellar pathway was targeted with either lysolecithin-induced chemical demyelination or a complete pathway transection (axonal transection) in rats. Transcriptional changes in the pontocerebellar neurons were investigated with microarrays at days 4, 10 and 37 post-intervention, which was confirmed by immunohistochemistry on protein level. A common as well as unique set of injury-response genes was identified. The increased expression of activating transcription factor 3 (Atf3) and thyrotropin-releasing hormone (Trh) in both injury paradigms was validated by immunohistochemistry. The expression of Atf3 in a patient with Marburg’s variant of multiple sclerosis was also detected, also confirming the activation of the Atf3 pathway in a human disease sample. It was concluded that this experimental approach may be useful for the identification of pathways that could be targeted for remyelinative or neuroprotective drug development.
Symptomatic, steroid-induced, multifocal diaphyseal osteonecrosis in a patient with multiple sclerosis
Authors: Sinclair V. , Shepard G.
Published: January 2010

There is a well-established link between the development of osteonecrosis and steroid administration. Diaphyseal osteonecrosis is rare and, when present, frequently asymptomatic and detected radiologically. We present a case of symptomatic, multifocal, diaphyseal osteonecrosis in a woman receiving pulsed corticosteroids for symptom control of multiple sclerosis (MS). She was investigated for knee pain, which could have been attributed to her primary disease, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed bone infarcts within the femur, tibia and talus. She underwent successful intra-medullary reaming to the diaphyseal infarcts. This case highlights the importance of investigating musculoskeletal pain in patients with MS, receiving corticosteroids.
Increasing female preponderance of multiple sclerosis in Isfahan, Iran: a population-based study
Authors: Maghzi AH , Ghazavi H. , Ahsan M. , Etemadifar M. , Mousavi SA , Khorvash F. , Minagar A.
Published: January 2010

There is an overall increase in the worldwide prevalence and incidence of multiple sclerosis (MS). Studies from several countries also demonstrated an increase of female/male ratio over time denoting an increase in the incidence of MS particularly in women. In this study we sought to assess the trends in MS incidence and prevalence in males and females over recent decades in Isfahan, Iran, which differs from other regions in terms of environmental and lifestyle changes. We determined female/male ratio by year of birth (YOB) in 1584 patients with MS registered with Isfahan Multiple Sclerosis Society (IMSS) from April 2003 to August 2007. A comparison of sex ratio of MS patients by YOB showed a significant, progressive, gradual increase, with an apparent interruption in the late 1960s. In this study year of birth is a significant predictor for sex ratio ( p < 0.001, χ2 = 17.130, Spearman’s rank correlation r = 0.893). Our findings show that there is a significant increase in the incidence of MS among females for the the last decades in the Isfahan province of Iran. This rapid increase may be related to changes in environmental interactions rather than genetic factors, and among them vitamin D insufficiency, enhanced diagnosis, and lifestyle changes appear to be more plausible causative factors.
No significant effect of orally administered chemokine receptor 1 antagonist on intercellular adhesion molecule-3 expression in relapsing—remitting multiple sclerosis patients
Authors: Reuβ R. , Schreiber V. , Klein A. , Infante-Duarte C. , Filippi M. , Pabst W. , Pohl C. , Oschmann P.
Published: January 2010

We investigated the expression of intercellular adhesion molecules ICAM-1 and ICAM-3 on peripheral blood mononuclear cells in a subgroup of 34 patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis who were treated orally with the chemokine receptor 1 antagonist BX 471 in a 16-week, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase II study. ICAM-1 and ICAM-3 expression was measured by flow cytometry at different time points during and after therapy and compared using multivariate analysis of variance and non-parametric Mann Whitney test. ICAM-3 expression on CD14 + peripheral blood mononuclear cells was increased in the verum group under therapy, but did not differ significantly between the verum and placebo groups. Most likely, this trend represents a small epiphenomenon only mediated by receptor cross-talk and feedback mechanisms.
Suppressive effect of glucocorticoids on TNF-α production is associated with their clinical effect in multiple sclerosis
Authors: van Winsen Lisa ML , Polman Chris H , Dijkstra Christine D , Tilders Fred JH , Uitdehaag Bernard MJ
Published: January 2010

A reduced sensitivity to glucocorticoids can affect the clinical effect of treatment with high-dose intravenous methylprednisolone in multiple sclerosis. We prospectively studied 27 multiple sclerosis patients who were treated with intravenous methylprednisolone. Before and after treatment in vitro stimulated TNF-α production in blood cells and the effect of in vitro administered glucocorticoids were determined as a measure of glucocorticoid sensitivity. The suppression of TNF-α production after intravenous methylprednisolone, and the in vitro suppressive effect of glucocorticoids prior to treatment was related to subsequent clinical improvement after intravenous methylprednisolone. The results suggest the existence of a partial glucocorticoid resistance, in a subgroup of multiple sclerosis patients, which may have implications for treatment efficacy.
Increased osteopontin plasma levels in multiple sclerosis patients correlate with bone-specific markers
Authors: Vogt Mario HJ , ten Kate Joop , Drent Roosmarie JM , Polman Chris H , Hupperts Raymond
Published: January 2010

The pro-inflammatory cytokine osteopontin has been found to be highly expressed in multiple sclerosis lesions and plasma levels are increased during relapses in relapse-onset multiple sclerosis patients.

The objective was to determine the relationship between osteopontin plasma and cerebrospinal fluid levels in relation to the immunoglobulin G index. In addition, osteopontin plasma levels were compared with osteopontin mRNA levels in peripheral blood mononuclear cells and bone-specific markers to analyse whether osteopontin may be peripherally produced.

Osteopontin and bone-specific markers were determined in paired plasma—cerebrospinal fluid samples and serum samples of relapse-onset multiple sclerosis patients ( n = 36), respectively. Osteopontin mRNA levels were determined by quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis.

Compared to healthy controls ( n = 20), plasma osteopontin levels were significantly increased in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis patients and correlated ( r = 0.43, p = 0.013) with the immunoglobulin G index. In contrast, cerebrospinal fluid osteopontin levels correlated neither with plasma osteopontin in paired samples nor with the immunoglobulin G index. Since osteopontin mRNA levels in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis patients did not correlate with osteopontin plasma levels, peripheral blood mononuclear cells might not be the major source for the increased osteopontin plasma levels. Osteopontin plasma levels correlated ( r = 0.42, p = 0.035) with the bone-specific degradation product C-telopeptide of type-1 collagen. In addition, another immunomodulatory molecule involved in bone metabolism, 25-OH vitamin D, correlated negatively ( r = —0.359, p = 0.048) with the immunoglobulin G index.

This study suggests that bone-related molecules like osteopontin and vitamin D with important immunomodulatory functions are related to the immunoglobulin G index in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis patients.
The therapeutic potential of mesenchymal stem cell transplantation as a treatment for multiple sclerosis: consensus report of the International MSCT Study Group
Authors: Freedman Mark S , Bar-Or Amit , Atkins Harold L , Karussis Dimitrios , Frassoni Francesco , Lazarus Hillard , Scolding Neil , Slavin Shimon , Le Blanc Katarina , Uccelli Antonio ,   MSCT Study Group
Published: January 2010

Current therapies for multiple sclerosis effectively reduce inflammation, but do little in terms of repair to the damaged central nervous system. Cell-based therapies may provide a new strategy for bolstering regeneration and repair through neuro-axonal protection or remyelination. Mesenchymal stem cells modulate pathological responses in experimental autoimmune encephalitis, alleviating disease, but also stimulate repair of the central nervous system through the release of soluble factors. Autologous and allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells have been safely administered to individuals with hemato-oncological diseases and in a limited number of patients with multiple sclerosis. It is therefore reasonable to move mesenchymal stem cells transplantation into properly controlled human studies to explore their potential as a treatment for multiple sclerosis. Since it is likely that the first such studies will probably involve only small numbers of patients in a few centers, we formed an international panel comprising multiple sclerosis neurology and stem cell experts, as well as immunologists. The aims were to derive a consensus on the utilization of mesenchymal stem cells for the treatment of multiple sclerosis, along with protocols for the culture of the cells and the treatment of patients. This article reviews the consensus derived from our group on the rationale for mesenchymal stem cell transplantation, the methodology for generating mesenchymal stem cells and the first treatment protocol for multiple sclerosis patients.
TI-relaxation time changes over five years in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis
Authors: Papadopoulos Konstantinos , Tozer Daniel J , Fisniku Leonora , Altmann Daniel R , Davies Gerard , Rashid Waqar , Thompson Alan J , Miller David H , Chard Declan T
Published: January 2010

The pathological effects of multiple sclerosis are not confined to lesions; tissues that appear normal on conventional magnetic resonance imaging scans are also affected, albeit subtly. One imaging technique that has proven sensitive to such effects is T1-relaxation time measurement, with previous work demonstrating abnormalities in normal-appearing white matter and grey matter. In this work we investigated the evolution of T1-relaxation time changes in normal-appearing white matter and grey matter in relapsing—remitting multiple sclerosis. Three- and five-year follow-up data from 35 people with clinically early (a mean of 1.6 years from first clinical event) relapsing—remitting multiple sclerosis and 15 healthy controls were analysed. T1-relaxation time histograms were extracted from normal-appearing white matter and grey matter, and mean, peak height and peak location values were estimated. T1-relaxation time peak height declined in the multiple sclerosis normal-appearing white matter and grey matter, but not the control group (rate difference p = 0.024 in normal-appearing white matter, in normal-appearing grey matter p = 0.038); other T1-relaxation time changes were not significantly different between groups. Changes in T1-relaxation time measures did not correlate with increases in brain T2-weighted lesion loads or Expanded Disability Status Scale scores. These results suggest that the processes underlying changes in normal-appearing white matter and grey matter T1-relaxation times are not immediately linked to white matter lesion formation, and may represent more diffuse but progressive sub-clinical pathology in relapsing—remitting multiple sclerosis.
Group differences in attitudes towards technology among Americans
Authors: Graham Roderick
Published: January 2010

What are the key indicators determining groups’ attitudes towards the use of ICT in the United States? Nationally representative data from the Pew Internet and American Life Project ( N = 4100) were used to address this question. This research found that (1) the most salient divider in the American population with respect to attitudes towards ICT is education; (2) the two social groups reporting the highest levels of social improvement were respondents under the age of 30, and older African-Americans with low educational levels; (3) higher income but lower educated respondents who are over 30 and are not African-Americans report relatively low levels of social improvement. In effect, the population surveyed was stratified based upon their attitudes about ICT use in their everyday life. This stratification system is clearly of a different nature than our past understanding of haves and have-nots based upon ICT access.
‘Piling on layers of understanding’: the use of connective ethnography for the study of (online) work practices
Authors: Dirksen Vanessa , Huizing Ard , Smit Bas
Published: January 2010

This article explores the notion of connective ethnography as a modern form of ethnography. In the concept of connective ethnography presented in this article, the sensitivity to ‘the making of context’ includes both the sense of a local physical context as well as the increasing connections between information resources in the form of people, systems and texts. Based on the empirical material of a study conducted on the appropriation of virtual community in a corporate setting, a specific combination of online and offline methods and the data they together generate are evaluated for capturing the dynamics of online social practices. In doing so, special attention is paid to the application of social network analysis to online (log file) data.
Commodifying digital television in China: a socio-linguistic analysis of media discourse, technology deployment and control
Authors: Weber Ian
Published: January 2010

This study examines public discourse surrounding the development and deployment of digital television in China from 1999 to 2004. It analyzes print media constructions of this new media technology against the backdrop of controlled commodification and formation of trans-media groups that define media reform, development and management.The study reveals how these structural changes play a key role in restraining the development of a flexible business environment in which print media can support critical technological development. Inhibiting the media’s ability to promote this technological development is a lack of market-oriented experience and knowledge and organizational integration under the current trans-media structure. Accordingly, considerable doubt is cast over the government’s broad strategy of media reform, development and management to successfully support the deployment of digital television as the pre-eminent technology in China’s drive towards modernization.