bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Digital transcriptome profiling of normal and glioblastoma-derived neural stem cells identifies genes associated with patient survival
Authors: Engström Pär G , Tommei Diva , Stricker Stefan H , Ender Christine , Pollard Steven M , Bertone Paul
Published: October 2012

Background

Glioblastoma multiforme, the most common type of primary brain tumor in adults, is driven by cells with neural stem (NS) cell characteristics. Using derivation methods developed for NS cells, it is possible to expand tumorigenic stem cells continuously in vitro. Although these glioblastoma-derived neural stem (GNS) cells are highly similar to normal NS cells, they harbor mutations typical of gliomas and initiate authentic tumors following orthotopic xenotransplantation. Here, we analyzed GNS and NS cell transcriptomes to identify gene expression alterations underlying the disease phenotype.

Methods

Sensitive measurements of gene expression were obtained by high-throughput sequencing of transcript tags (Tag-seq) on adherent GNS cell lines from three glioblastoma cases and two normal NS cell lines. Validation by quantitative real-time PCR was performed on 82 differentially expressed genes across a panel of 16 GNS and 6 NS cell lines. The molecular basis and prognostic relevance of expression differences were investigated by genetic characterization of GNS cells and comparison with public data for 867 glioma biopsies.

Results

Transcriptome analysis revealed major differences correlated with glioma histological grade, and identified misregulated genes of known significance in glioblastoma as well as novel candidates, including genes associated with other malignancies or glioma-related pathways. This analysis further detected several long non-coding RNAs with expression profiles similar to neighboring genes implicated in cancer. Quantitative PCR validation showed excellent agreement with Tag-seq data (median Pearson r = 0.91) and discerned a gene set robustly distinguishing GNS from NS cells across the 22 lines. These expression alterations include oncogene and tumor suppressor changes not detected by microarray profiling of tumor tissue samples, and facilitated the identification of a GNS expression signature strongly associated with patient survival (P = 1e-6, Cox model).

Conclusions

These results support the utility of GNS cell cultures as a model system for studying the molecular processes driving glioblastoma and the use of NS cells as reference controls. The association between a GNS expression signature and survival is consistent with the hypothesis that a cancer stem cell component drives tumor growth. We anticipate that analysis of normal and malignant stem cells will be an important complement to large-scale profiling of primary tumors.
Prospective International Multicenter Phase II Trial of Intravenous Pegylated Liposomal Doxorubicin Monochemotherapy in Patients With Stage IIB, IVA, or IVB Advanced Mycosis Fungoides: Final Results From EORTC 21012
Authors: Dummer Reinhard , Quaglino Pietro , Becker Jürgen C. , Hasan Baktiar , Karrasch Matthias , Whittaker Sean , Morris Stephen , Weichenthal Michael , Stadler Rudolf , Bagot Martine , Cozzio Antonio , Bernengo Maria G. , Knobler Robert
Published: October 2012

Purpose

Mycosis fungoides (MF) is the most common primary cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. There is a need for multicenter trials involving defined patient populations using rigorous assessment criteria. We have investigated pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (PLD) in a clearly defined patient population with advanced MF.

Patients and Methods

Eligible patients had stage IIB, IVA, or IVB MF, refractory or recurrent after at least two previous systemic therapies. Patients were registered to receive a maximum of six cycles of PLD 20 mg/m2 on days 1 and 15, every 28 days (one cycle). The primary end point was response rate (RR).

Results

Nine centers recruited 49 eligible patients. The median number of chemotherapy cycles received was five. There were no grade 3 to 4 hematologic toxicities. Grade 3 or 4 nonhematologic/nonbiochemical toxicities included cardiac symptom (2%), allergy/hypersensitivity (2%), constitutional symptom (4%), hand and foot reaction (2%), other dermatologic toxicity (6%), other GI toxicity (4%), infection (4%), pulmonary embolism (2%), and cardiac ischemia (2%). Of 49 patients, 20 (40.8%) were responders (complete clinical response [CCR] or partial response [PR] as overall response): three (6.1%) experienced CCRs, and 17 (34.7%) experienced PRs. A 50% or greater reduction of cutaneous manifestations was observed in 26 (60.5%) of 43 assessable patients. Two early deaths were reported, resulting from related cardiovascular toxicity and disease progression. The lower limit of the one-sided 90% CI for RR was 31.2%. Median time to progression and median duration of response were 7.4 and 6 months, respectively.

Conclusion

PLD has an acceptable safety profile in patients with advanced MF. The efficacy of PLD seems promising.
Expression of FOXP3, CD68, and CD20 at Diagnosis in the Microenvironment of Classical Hodgkin Lymphoma Is Predictive of Outcome
Authors: Greaves Paul , Clear Andrew , Coutinho Rita , Wilson Andrew , Matthews Janet , Owen Andrew , Shanyinde Milensu , Lister T. Andrew , Calaminici Maria , Gribben John G.
Published: October 2012

Purpose

The immune microenvironment is key to the pathophysiology of classical Hodgkin lymphoma (CHL). Twenty percent of patients experience failure of their initial treatment, and others receive excessively toxic treatment. Prognostic scores and biomarkers have yet to influence outcomes significantly. Previous biomarker studies have been limited by the extent of tissue analyzed, statistical inconsistencies, and failure to validate findings. We aimed to overcome these limitations by validating recently identified microenvironment biomarkers (CD68, FOXP3, and CD20) in a new patient cohort with a greater extent of tissue and by using rigorous statistical methodology.

Patients and Methods

Diagnostic tissue from 122 patients with CHL was microarrayed and stained, and positive cells were counted across 10 to 20 high-powered fields per patient by using an automated system. Two statistical analyses were performed: a categorical analysis with test/validation set-defined cut points and Kaplan-Meier estimated outcome measures of 5-year overall survival (OS), disease-specific survival (DSS), and freedom from first-line treatment failure (FFTF) and an independent multivariate analysis of absolute uncategorized counts.

Results

Increased CD20 expression confers superior OS. Increased FOXP3 expression confers superior OS, and increased CD68 confers inferior FFTF and OS. FOXP3 varies independently of CD68 expression and retains significance when analyzed as a continuous variable in multivariate analysis. A simple score combining FOXP3 and CD68 discriminates three groups: FFTF 93%, 62%, and 47% (P < .001), DSS 93%, 82%, and 63% (P = .03), and OS 93%, 82%, and 59% (P = .002).

Conclusion

We have independently validated CD68, FOXP3, and CD20 as prognostic biomarkers in CHL, and we demonstrate, to the best of our knowledge for the first time, that combining FOXP3 and CD68 may further improve prognostic stratification.
Efficacy of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Physical Exercise in Alleviating Treatment-Induced Menopausal Symptoms in Patients With Breast Cancer: Results of a Randomized, Controlled, Multicenter Trial
Authors: Duijts Saskia F.A. , van Beurden Marc , Oldenburg Hester S.A. , Hunter Myra S. , Kieffer Jacobien M. , Stuiver Martijn M. , Gerritsma Miranda A. , Menke-Pluymers Marian B.E. , Plaisier Peter W. , Rijna Herman , Lopes Cardozo Alexander M.F. , Timmers Gertjan , van der Meij Suzan , van der Veen Henk , Bijker Nina , de Widt-Levert Louise M. , Geenen Maud M. , Heuff Gijsbert , van Dulken Eric J. , Boven Epie , Aaronson Neil K.
Published: October 2012

Purpose

The purpose of our study was to evaluate the effect of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), physical exercise (PE), and of these two interventions combined (CBT/PE) on menopausal symptoms (primary outcome), body image, sexual functioning, psychological well-being, and health-related quality of life (secondary outcomes) in patients with breast cancer experiencing treatment-induced menopause.

Patients and Methods

Patients with breast cancer reporting treatment-induced menopausal symptoms (N = 422) were randomly assigned to CBT (n = 109), PE (n = 104), CBT/PE (n = 106), or to a waiting list control group (n = 103). Self-report questionnaires were completed at baseline, 12 weeks, and 6 months. Multilevel procedures were used to compare the intervention groups with the control group over time.

Results

Compared with the control group, the intervention groups had a significant decrease in levels of endocrine symptoms (Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy–Endocrine Symptoms; P < .001; effect size, 0.31-0.52) and urinary symptoms (Bristol Female Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms Questionnaire; P = .002; effect size, 0.29-0.33), and they showed an improvement in physical functioning (36-Item Short Form Health Survey physical functioning subscale; P = .002; effect size, 0.37-0.46). The groups that included CBT also showed a significant decrease in the perceived burden of hot flashes and night sweats (problem rating scale of the Hot Flush Rating Scale; P < .001; effect size, 0.39-0.56) and an increase in sexual activity (Sexual Activity Questionnaire habit subscale; P = .027; effect size, 0.65). Most of these effects were observed at both the 12-week and 6-month follow-ups.

Conclusion

CBT and PE can have salutary effects on endocrine symptoms and, to a lesser degree, on sexuality and physical functioning of patients with breast cancer experiencing treatment-induced menopause. Future work is needed to improve the design and the planning of these interventions to improve program adherence.
Incorporating Bevacizumab and Erlotinib in the Combined-Modality Treatment of Stage III Non–Small-Cell Lung Cancer: Results of a Phase I/II Trial
Authors: Socinski Mark A. , Stinchcombe Thomas E. , Moore Dominic T. , Gettinger Scott N. , Decker Roy H. , Petty W. Jeffrey , Blackstock A. William , Schwartz Garry , Lankford Scott , Khandani Amir , Morris David E.
Published: October 2012

Purpose

Bevacizumab and erlotinib have been shown to improve survival in stage IV non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This phase I/II trial was designed to incorporate these agents with induction and concurrent chemoradiotherapy in stage III NSCLC.

Patients and Methods

Patients received induction chemotherapy (carboplatin area under the curve [AUC] 6, paclitaxel 225 mg/m2, and bevacizumab 15 mg/kg on days 1 and 22) followed by concurrent chemotherapy (carboplatin AUC 2 and paclitaxel 45 mg/m2 weekly with bevacizumab 10 mg/kg every other week for four doses) and thoracic conformal radiation therapy (TCRT) to 74 Gy. In the phase I portion, cohort 1 received no erlotinib, whereas cohorts 2 and 3 received erlotinib at 100 and 150 mg, respectively, Tuesday through Friday, during TCRT. Consolidation therapy with erlotinib (150 mg daily) and bevacizumab (15 mg/kg every 3 weeks) was planned 3 to 6 weeks later for six cycles.

Results

Forty-five eligible patients were enrolled. The objective response rates to induction and overall treatment were 39% (95% CI, 24% to 55%) and 60% (95% CI, 44% to 75%), respectively. The median progression-free and overall survival times were 10.2 months (95% CI, 8.4 to 18.3 months) and 18.4 months (95% CI, 13.4 to 31.7 months), respectively. The principal toxicity was esophagitis (29% grade 3 or 4 esophagitis, with one patient with grade 3 tracheoesophageal fistula), which was often prolonged. Consolidation therapy with bevacizumab and erlotinib was not feasible.

Conclusion

The use of bevacizumab and erlotinib as administered in this trial is not recommended given the lack of an efficacy signal and the substantial risk of esophageal toxicity.
HLA-Mismatched Stem-Cell Microtransplantation As Postremission Therapy for Acute Myeloid Leukemia: Long-Term Follow-Up
Authors: Guo Mei , Hu Kai-Xun , Liu Guang-Xian , Yu Chang-Lin , Qiao Jian-Hui , Sun Qi-Yun , Qiao Jun-Xiao , Dong Zheng , Sun Wan-Jun , Sun Xue-Dong , Zuo Hong-Li , Man Qiu-Hong , Liu Zhi-Qing , Liu Tie-Qiang , Zhao Hong-Xia , Huang Ya-Jing , Wei Li , Liu Bing , Wang Juan , Shen Xu-Liang , Ai Hui-Sheng
Published: October 2012

Purpose

Despite best current therapies, approximately half of patients with acute myeloid leukemia in first complete remission (AML-CR1) with no HLA-identical donors experience relapse. Whether HLA-mismatched stem-cell microtransplantation as a novel postremission therapy in these patients will improve survival and avoid graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is still unknown.

Patients and Methods

One hundred one patients with AML-CR1 (9 to 65 years old) from four treatment centers received programmed infusions of G-CSF–mobilized HLA-mismatched donor peripheral-blood stem cells after each of three cycles of high-dose cytarabine conditioning without GVHD prophylaxis. Donor chimerism and microchimerism and WT1+CD8+ T cells were analyzed.

Results

The 6-year leukemia-free survival (LFS) and overall survival (OS) rates were 84.4% and 89.5%, respectively, in the low-risk group, which were similar to the rates in the intermediate-risk group (59.2% and 65.2%, respectively; P = .272 and P = .308). The 6-year LFS and OS were 76.4% and 82.1%, respectively, in patients who received a high dose of donor CD3+ T cells (≥ 1.1 × 108/kg) in each infusion, which were significantly higher than the LFS and OS in patients who received a lower dose (< 1.1 × 108/kg) of donor CD3+ T cells (49.5% and 55.3%, respectively; P = .091 and P = .041). No GVHD was observed in any of the patients. Donor microchimerism (2 to 1,020 days) was detected in 20 of the 23 female patients who were available for Y chromosome analysis. A significant increase in WT1+CD8+ T cells (from 0.2% to 4.56%) was observed in 33 of 39 patients with positive HLA-A*02:01 antigen by a pentamer analysis.

Conclusion

Microtransplantation as a postremission therapy may improve outcomes and avoid GVHD in patients with AML-CR1.
Long-Term Outcome of Adults With Systemic Anaplastic Large-Cell Lymphoma Treated Within the Groupe d'Étude des Lymphomes de l'Adulte Trials
Authors: Sibon David , Fournier Marion , Brière Josette , Lamant Laurence , Haioun Corinne , Coiffier Bertrand , Bologna Serge , Morel Pierre , Gabarre Jean , Hermine Olivier , Sonet Anne , Gisselbrecht Christian , Delsol Georges , Gaulard Philippe , Tilly Hervé
Published: October 2012

Purpose

Systemic anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (ALCL) is a T-cell lymphoma, whose anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) expression varies according to age. Long-term outcomes of chemotherapy-treated adults are not definitively established and should be evaluated.

Patients and Methods

Patients treated in three Groupe d'Étude des Lymphomes de l'Adulte prospective clinical trials with confirmed systemic ALCL after immunohistopathologic review and defined ALK expression status were analyzed.

Results

Among the 138 adult patients with ALCL, 64 (46%) were ALK positive, and 74 (54%) were ALK negative. Median follow-up was 8 years. At diagnosis, significantly more patients younger than 40 years old were ALK positive than ALK negative (66% v 23%, respectively; P < .001). Comparing patients with ALK-positive and ALK-negative ALCL, β2-microglobulin was ≥ 3 mg/L in 12% and 33% (P = .017); International Prognostic Index was high (score, 3 to 5) in 23% and 48% (P = .03); complete response rates to first-line treatment were 86% and 68% (P = .01); and 8-year overall survival (OS) rates were 82% (95% CI, 69% to 89%) and 49% (95% CI, 37% to 61%), respectively (P < .001). The survival difference mostly affected patients age ≥ 40 years. Multivariate analysis identified β2-microglobulin ≥ 3 mg/L (P < .001) and age ≥ 40 years (P = .029), but not ALK status, as prognostic for OS. These two variables distinguished four survival risk groups, with 8-year OS ranging from 84% to 22%.

Conclusion

Results of this long-term study enabled refinement of the prognosis of adult systemic ALCL, with ALK prognostic value dependent on age, and could provide guidance for eventual treatment adjustment.
Mammostrat As an Immunohistochemical Multigene Assay for Prediction of Early Relapse Risk in the Tamoxifen Versus Exemestane Adjuvant Multicenter Trial Pathology Study
Authors: Bartlett John M.S. , Bloom Kenneth J. , Piper Tammy , Lawton Thomas J. , van de Velde Cornelis J.H. , Ross Douglas T. , Ring Brian Z. , Seitz Robert S. , Beck Rodney A. , Hasenburg Annette , Kieback Dirk , Putter Hein , Markopoulos Christos , Dirix Luc , Seynaeve Caroline , Rea Daniel
Published: October 2012

Purpose

Some postmenopausal patients with hormone-sensitive early breast cancer remain at high risk of relapse despite endocrine therapy and, in addition, might benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy. The challenge is to prospectively identify such patients. The Mammostrat test uses five immunohistochemical markers to stratify patients regarding recurrence risk and may inform treatment decisions. We tested the efficacy of this panel in the Tamoxifen versus Exemestane Adjuvant Multicenter (TEAM) trial.

Patients and Methods

Pathology blocks from 4,598 TEAM patients were collected, and tissue microarrays (TMAs) were constructed. The cohort was 47% node-positive, and 36% of patients in the cohort were treated with adjuvant chemotherapy. Triplicate 0.6-mm2 TMA cores were stained, and positivity for p53, HTF9C, CEACAM5, NDRG1, and SLC7A5 was assessed. Cases were assigned a Mammostrat risk score, and distant relapse-free survival (DRFS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were analyzed.

Results

In multivariate regression analyses, which were corrected for conventional clinicopathologic markers, Mammostrat provided significant additional information on DRFS after endocrine therapy in estrogen receptor (ER) –positive node-negative patients (n = 1,226) who did not receive chemotherapy (P = .004). Additional analyses in all patients not exposed to chemotherapy, irrespective of nodal status (n = 2,559) and in the entire cohort (n = 3,837) showed Mammostrat scores provided additional information on DRFS in these groups (P = .001 and P < .001, respectively; multivariate analyses). No differences were seen between the two endocrine treatment regimens.

Conclusion

The Mammostrat score predicts DRFS for patients treated with exemestane and patients treated with tamoxifen followed by exemestane irrespective of nodal status and chemotherapy. The ability of this test to provide additional outcome data after treatment provides additional evidence of its use in risk stratification of ER-positive postmenopausal patients with breast cancer.
Emerging Treatment Options for Advanced-Stage Mycosis Fungoides
Authors: Drews Reed E.
Published: October 2012

A 72-year-old man with a 3-year history of hypersensitivity skin reaction managed with topical steroids and ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation develops skin tumors chiefly involving his face. After a diagnosis of stage IIB mycosis fungoides (MF), he begins oral low-dose weekly methotrexate with partial response lasting 5 months. Subsequently, he receives six cycles of weekly gemcitabine and achieves a partial response with resolution of skin tumors but persistence of scattered patches and plaques ( Fig 1 ). He begins daily bexarotene and interferon alfa (IFN-α) three times per week while continuing topical steroids. When scattered patches and plaques progress 7 months later, UVB radiation is added to his regimen. His disease remains well controlled until 17 months later, when he develops pneumonia complicated by pericarditis, requiring discontinuation of IFN-α. Over the next year, he continues bexarotene maintenance therapy and topical steroids but requires localized radiation therapy to isolated patch and tumor lesions. When patch lesions become more extensive, he receives total-skin electron beam therapy (TSEBT). Nearly 4 years after diagnosis of stage IIB MF and 5 months after completion of TSEBT, two tumor lesions redevelop on his face and scalp. The scalp tumor has overlying epidermal change with ulceration; the face tumor is subdermal with minimal overlying epidermal change and obstructs the right external auditory meatus ( Fig 1 D). You consider management options.
Workfare, Familyfare, Godfare: Transforming Contingency into Necessity
Authors: Cooper Melinda
Published: October 2012

The essay identifies workfare as the exemplary form of contingent labor practice inasmuch as it blurs the boundaries between the free and unfree labor contract, welfare and work, flexibility and compulsion. However, analyses of workfare have too often ignored the centrality of sexual politics to the tendencies of welfare and labor reform. Arguing that neoliberal labor practice is inseparable from the theological project of neopaternalist social policy, the essay casts a critical eye on the moral orthodoxies of recent capitalist critique (Luc Boltanski and Eve Chiapello, Alain Badiou, Slavoj Žižek). The theological turn of recent anticapitalist theory is merely the refracted expression of faith-based workfare and is entirely complicit with the restorative moment of capital’s double movement.
Child Street Labor in Brazil: Licit and Illicit Economies in the Eyes of Marginalized Youth
Authors: Veloso Leticia
Published: October 2012

This essay is based on extensive fieldwork with marginalized children and other working children in Rio de Janeiro, conducted in two favelas and on the streets of four different neighborhoods. Specifically, my research focused on how particular children try to earn a living on the streets by working, begging, or stealing, and why they label the whole range of such activities as “work.” In examining the various kinds of labor the children engage in as they try to make a living in Rio’s destructured, largely informal economy, I use “child street labor” to refer to these varied forms of informal, often illicit or illegal work performed by such children. My analysis uncovers multiple levels in which this child street labor is intertwined with other forms of labor and also with informality, illegality, and even crime. Through examining the kinds of labor engaged in by poor children in Brazil, I argue that they can be seen as a reflection of and a commentary on the meanings of formal and informal labor in Brazil, as well as on some of the changes currently observed in the nature of labor worldwide. Further, this kind of child work blurs some of the most basic distinctions in sociological and political-economic thought on labor: the distinction between what counts as labor and what doesn’t, between productive and nonproductive labor, and between legal and illegal labor.
Limits of “Labor”: Accounting for Affect and the Biological in Transnational Surrogacy and Service Work
Authors: Vora Kalindi
Published: October 2012

Affective and biological labor such as that found in call center and surrogacy work are indices of new forms of exploitation and accumulation within neoliberal globalization, but they also rearticulate a longer historical colonial division of labor. In this essay, feminist materialist scholarship provides the grounds to continue to scrutinize which kinds of exchange and subjectivity can even be represented by categories of labor. Leading to the question of what stakes are involved in asserting that gestational surrogates and others whose productivity occurs primarily through biological and affective processes are subjects of capitalist labor power. This essay argues that tracking vital energy, rather than value, as the content of what is produced and transmitted between biological and affective producers and their consumers holds on to the human vitality that Karl Marx describes as the content of value carried by the commodity and absolute use value of labor power to capitalist production, while also describing the content of these value-producing activities as greater than what can be described in terms of physical commodities and their value as represented through exchange.
Labor Transplant: “Point-to-Point” Transnational Labor Migration in East Asia
Authors: Xiang Biao
Published: October 2012

The increasing labor migration from China to other Asian countries since the late 1980s is often attributed to the ascendance of the free market that has driven China’s internal transformation as well as the Asian regionalization. The actual process of the labor migration is however tightly constrained. Migrants are extracted from their hometowns and inserted in a foreign workplace with great precision, and they are obliged to return home once the job contract expires. The movement thus assumes the form of “labor transplant.” Unlike project-based labor deployment that is collectively organized, labor transplant is individualized and it seeks to follow, monitor, and control particular individuals’ specific journeys. This mode of migration emerged in response to the structural contradiction between upward concentration of capital and downward outsource of labor management in the international economy, and the related tension between the fragmentation of labor management and the continuing centralized regulation of migration. The central players in labor transplant are multiple intermediaries in China and the receiving countries, including public institutions, commercial recruitment companies and individual go-betweens, who collaborate with each other transnationally.
Politicizing Contingent Work: Countering Neoliberal Labor Market Regulation... from the Bottom Up?
Authors: Peck Jamie , Theodore Nik
Published: October 2012

The dismantling of the Fordist social contract and the neoliberalization of labor regulation have been associated with a historic shift toward decentralized, commodified, and atomized employment relationships, vividly reflected in the rise of temping and the (re)appearance of labor corners. This essay explores how these regressive tendencies—which have constituted a deregulatory “gravitational pull” on labor standards—have been met by resurgent forms of worker advocacy, organizing, and campaigning in contingent labor markets. Worker centers are at the heart of this effort to advance the rights of low-waged and immigrant workers from the bottom up, the countervailing maneuvers of which can be seen as an embryonic form of repoliticization, a new politics of contingent labor.
Labor, Finance, and Counterrevolution: Finally Got the News at the End of the Short American Century
Authors: Adamson Morgan
Published: October 2012

This article revisits the crisis of the American automotive industry and Fordist industrial labor in the late 1960s and early 1970s through the lens of the radical African American labor organization at the heart of that industry. By way of an analysis of the film Finally Got the News (1970), it considers the activities of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers in order to reexamine the dynamics of transition between industrial and financial capitalism as they are captured in this crisis of Detroit at the end of the “American century.” It argues that struggles around labor management in the crises of the Keynesian era implicitly foretold strategies of financial control in our present.
Occupation without End: Opposition to the US Military in Okinawa
Authors: Nelson Christopher T.
Published: October 2012

In the aftermath of the Pacific War, the US military began an occupation of the Japanese prefecture of Okinawa that continues to this day. Although formal sovereignty of the islands was returned to Japan in 1972, the physical and social space of Okinawa remains dominated by a massive network of US military installations. For decades, soldiers and Marines trained in the northern jungles for wars in places like Indochina, Iraq, and Afghanistan; the military airfields and harbors have supported American interests and operations across the Pacific and Indian Oceans. While the Japanese state has been, at best, disinterested and, at worst, complicit in this occupation, there is a long history of Okinawan resistance. Most recently, a dynamic and complex network of groups and individuals has come together to contest plans by the Japanese and US authorities to relocate a Marine airfield to the northeast coast of Okinawa and create new training facilities in the nearby forests.
What If You Can’t Protest the Base? The Chagossian Exile, the Struggle for Democracy, and the Military Base on Diego Garcia
Authors: Vine David
Published: October 2012

The people of the Chagos Archipelago were forcibly removed from their homeland in the Indian Ocean’s Chagos Archipelago in the late 1960s and early 1970s when the US and British governments created a military base on the people’s largest island, Diego Garcia. Since their expulsion, the people, known as Chagossians, have struggled to return to their homeland and win proper compensation. Because US and UK law bar most suits challenging military and foreign policy and because the Chagossians are a people of around five thousand taking on two world powers, they have generally avoided protesting the base responsible for their exile. On the one hand, this peculiar situation has constrained the people’s movement by impeding coalition building and causing tensions with some antibase activists. On the other hand, while theirs is explicitly not an antibase struggle, it shares much in common with other antibase struggles in challenging the loss of sovereignty over occupied land, in demanding fundamental democratic rights, and in opposing unchecked government power and the archaic vestiges of colonialism on which all extraterritorial bases rely.
Protesting the Expansion of US Military Bases in Pyeongtaek: A Local Movement in South Korea
Authors: Moon Seungsook
Published: October 2012

Since World War II, US military bases have become a global phenomenon and generated complex responses from their “host” societies. For these past six decades, South Korea has functioned as one of the major hubs of the global network of US military bases, yet organized local movements against US military bases did not develop until the late 1980s when the country began its transition to procedural democracy. This essay examines one of the major antibase movements in South Korea that took place in Pyeongtaek from 2003 through 2007. This local movement is chosen for two reasons. First, the city has become the primary hub of the United States Forces Korea after the restructuring of the global US military presence. Second, the democratic South Korean government’s use of coercive and violent measures in dealing with the local movement sets an alarming precedent for global base politics, pitting the vested interests of transnational political elites against the interests of local men and women in living a safe, everyday life. This essay first provides a brief history of two major military bases in the provincial city of Pyeongtaek. Then it examines how the antibase movement by local residents and political activists from outside reemerged and declined in Pyeongtaek. Finally, it analyzes lessons that can be drawn from the case study of Pyeongtaek for antibase movements and a critical understanding of the global US military presence.
Bidirectional Notch activation represses fusion competence in swarming adultDrosophilamyoblasts
Authors: Gildor Boaz , Schejter Eyal D. , Shilo Ben-Zion
Published: October 2012

A major aspect of indirect flight muscle formation during adult Drosophila myogenesis involves transition of a semi-differentiated and proliferating pool of myoblasts to a mature myoblast population, capable of fusing with nascent myotubes and generating mature muscle fibers. Here we examine the molecular genetic programs underlying these two phases of myoblast differentiation. We show that the cell adhesion proteins Dumbfounded (Duf) and Sticks and stones (Sns), together with their paralogs Roughest (Rst) and Hibris (Hbs), respectively, are required for adhesion of migrating myoblasts to myotubes and initiation of myoblast-myotube fusion. As myoblasts approach their myotube targets, they are maintained in a semi-differentiated state by continuous Notch activation, where each myoblast provides the ligand Delta to its neighbors. This unique form of bidirectional Notch activation is achieved by finely tuning the levels of the ligand and receptor. Activation of Notch signaling in myoblasts represses expression of key fusion elements such as Sns. Only upon reaching the vicinity of the myotubes does Notch signaling decay, leading to terminal differentiation of the myoblasts. The ensuing induction of proteins required for fusion enables myoblasts to fuse with the myotubes and give rise to subsequent muscle fiber growth.
Positive and negative regulation of cortical cell division during root nodule development in Lotus japonicus is accompanied by auxin response
Authors: Suzaki Takuya , Yano Koji , Ito Momoyo , Umehara Yosuke , Suganuma Norio , Kawaguchi Masayoshi
Published: October 2012

Nodulation is a form of de novo organogenesis that occurs mainly in legumes. During early nodule development, the host plant root is infected by rhizobia that induce dedifferentiation of some cortical cells, which then proliferate to form the symbiotic root nodule primordium. Two classic phytohormones, cytokinin and auxin, play essential roles in diverse aspects of cell proliferation and differentiation. Although recent genetic studies have established how activation of cytokinin signaling is crucial to the control of cortical cell differentiation, the physiological pathways through which auxin might act in nodule development are poorly characterized. Here, we report the detailed patterns of auxin accumulation during nodule development in Lotus japonicus. Our analyses showed that auxin predominantly accumulates in dividing cortical cells and that NODULE INCEPTION, a key transcription factor in nodule development, positively regulates this accumulation. Additionally, we found that auxin accumulation is inhibited by a systemic negative regulatory mechanism termed autoregulation of nodulation (AON). Analysis of the constitutive activation of LjCLE-RS genes, which encode putative root-derived signals that function in AON, in combination with the determination of auxin accumulation patterns in proliferating cortical cells, indicated that activation of LjCLE-RS genes blocks the progress of further cortical cell division, probably through controlling auxin accumulation. Our data provide evidence for the existence of a novel fine-tuning mechanism that controls nodule development in a cortical cell stage-dependent manner.
Synthesis, Crystal Structures, and Properties of a Series of Coordination Polymers Employing R4-Terephthalate (R = H, F, Cl, Br) and 4,4′-Bipyridine as Bridging Ligands
Authors: Kumagai Hitoshi , Sakamoto Yoshiyuki , Kawata Satoshi , Matsunaga Shinichi , Inagaki Shinji
Published: October 2012

We report on the synthesis, single-crystal structures, and properties (IR, UV–vis, ESR, and TG) of a series of coordination polymers employing R4-terephthalate dianion (R4-benzenedicarboxylate dianion, R4-bdc2−: R = H, F, Cl, Br) in which halogen atoms are systematically changed and 4,4′-bipyridine (4,4′-bpy) as cobridging ligands. These compounds are synthesized under the same conditions and all display octahedral metal coordination environments. A one-dimensional coordination polymer, [Mn(µ-4,4′-bpy)(H2O)4](H4-bdc) (1) consists of Mn(II) and 4,4′-bpy was obtained by reaction of Mn(II), terephthalate and 4,4′-bpy. Uncoordinated terephthalate acts as not only counter ion but also linker to form a three-dimensional network by hydrogen-bonding and π–π interactions. When halogen atoms are introduced to a benzene ring, layers of square-grid of octahedral Mn(II) ions are obtained for [Mn(µ-F4-bdc)(µ-4,4′-bpy)(H2O)2] (2), [Mn(µ-Cl4-bdc)(µ-4,4′-bpy)(H2O)2] (3), and [Mn(µ-Br4-bdc)(µ-4,4′-bpy)(H2O)2] (4). One of the major differences of the structures is hydrogen-bonding interactions between layers. This major difference is due to the different ionic radii of halogen atoms attached to benzene rings of the ligand to give different crystal packing. Compounds 2–4 exhibit different thermal behavior. While the XRD pattern of 2 indicates structural change upon hydration/dehydration, XRD patterns of 4 are not globally changed in these processes.
Buying Beauty: On Prices and Returns in the Art Market
Authors: Renneboog Luc , Spaenjers Christophe
Published: October 2012

This paper investigates the price determinants and investment performance of art. We apply a hedonic regression analysis to a new data set of more than one million auction transactions of paintings and works on paper. Based on the resulting price index, we conclude that art has appreciated in value by a moderate 3.97% per year, in real U.S. dollar terms, between 1957 and 2007. This is a performance similar to that of corporate bonds—at much higher risk. A repeat-sales regression on a subset of the data demonstrates the robustness of our index. Next, quantile regressions document larger average price appreciations (and higher volatilities) in more expensive price brackets. We also find variation in historical returns across mediums and movements. Finally, we show that measures of high-income consumer confidence and art market sentiment predict art price trends.

This paper was accepted by Wei Xiong, finance.
Competitive Price-Matching Guarantees: Equilibrium Analysis of the Availability Verification Clause Under Demand Uncertainty
Authors: Nalca Arcan , Boyaci Tamer , Ray Saibal
Published: October 2012

Price-matching guarantees involve a retailer matching the lower price of a competitor for an identical product. In reality, retailers often make such guarantees contingent on the verification of product availability at the competitor's location, and decline a price-match request if the product is not available there. This creates certain consternation on the part of customers. In this paper, we investigate the availability contingency strategy from the perspectives of both the retailers and the customers. Our analysis shows that availability contingency clauses intensify inventory competition between retailers and reinstitutes price competition, which is otherwise eliminated by unconditional price-matching guarantees. Consequently, despite what customers may think about the availability verification, it actually increases their surplus. On the other hand, such a clause reduces profits and, hence, is not the equilibrium strategy for retailers. Subsequently, we discuss how a likely customer behaviour pattern may be a plausible explanation regarding the use of the clause by the retailers in practice.

This paper was accepted by Yossi Aviv, operations management.
Performance Appraisals and the Impact of Forced Distribution—An Experimental Investigation
Authors: Berger Johannes , Harbring Christine , Sliwka Dirk
Published: October 2012

A real-effort experiment is investigated in which supervisors have to rate the performance of individual workers who in turn receive a bonus payment based on these ratings. We compare a baseline treatment in which supervisors are not restricted in their rating behavior to a forced distribution system in which they have to assign differentiated grades. We find that productivity is significantly higher under a forced distribution by about 6% to 12%. However, the productivity effects are less clear cut when participants have prior experience with the baseline condition. Moreover, a forced distribution becomes detrimental when workers have access to a simple option to sabotage each other.

This paper was accepted by Peter Wakker, decision analysis.
Possible routes for pyrochemical separation: Focus on the reductive extraction in fluoride media
Authors: Delpech Sylvie
Published: October 2012

Molten salts (MSs) such as fluoride or chloride salts at high temperature (400–800 °C) are solvents known for their high solvation power and electroactivity range. Rare earths, lanthanides, actinides, and refractory metals can be dissolved, treated, and purified in MSs. The properties of these solvents are particularly interesting for nuclear spent-fuel reprocessing. The pyrochemical separation and extraction of solutes can be performed using several methods taking into account the effects of redox and/or acidity. This paper is focused on the reductive extraction method performed by contacting a liquid metal (LM) containing reductive species and an MS. The analytical model developed to calculate the efficiency of such a method is detailed in this paper. To apply this model, one essential point is the establishment of a database related to the redox and solvation properties of solutes in MSs. The approach retained to propose a database based on the analysis of both thermochemical data of pure compounds and experimental measurements reported in the literature is described in this paper in the case of lanthanides in fluoride MSs. The use of the database to calculate efficiency as a function of process parameters is given in this paper as well as the comparison between two reducing agents considered.
Heparan Sulfate Biosynthesis Enzymes in Embryonic Stem Cell Biology
Authors: Tamm Christoffer , Kjellén Lena , Li Jin-Ping
Published: October 2012

Embryonic stem (ES) cells are derived from the inner cell mass of the blastocyst and can give rise to all cell types in the body. The fate of ES cells depends on the signals they receive from their surrounding environment, which either promote self-renewal or initiate differentiation. Heparan sulfate proteoglycans are macromolecules found on the cell surface and in the extracellular matrix. Acting as low-affinity receptors on the cell surface, heparan sulfate (HS) side chains modulate the functions of numerous growth factors and morphogens, having wide impact on the extracellular information received by cells. ES cells lacking HS fail to differentiate but can be induced to do so by adding heparin. ES cells defective in various components of the HS biosynthesis machinery, thus expressing differently flawed HS, exhibit lineage-specific effects. Here we discuss recent studies on the biological functions of HS in ES cell developmental processes. Since ES cells have significant potential applications in tissue/cell engineering for cell replacement therapies, understanding the functional mechanisms of HS in manipulating ES cell growth in vitro is of utmost importance, if the stem cell regenerative medicine from scientific fiction ever will be made real.
“Life is a tragicomedy!”: Maria Edgeworth's Belinda and the Staging of the Realist Novel
Authors: Robinson Terry F.
Published: October 2012

This essay reveals how Maria Edgeworth integrated dramatic practices into her novel Belinda (1801) as a means to generate realistic effect. In doing so, it not only challenges the notion that the theater was at odds with the novel in this period but also shows that, in a novel such as Belinda, the theater fundamentally undergirds rather than detracts from its verisimilitude. As I demonstrate through careful readings of key “dramatic” scenes in the novel, Lady Delacour's adoption of the mask of the Comic Muse acts as a metonym for the mask of the novel—namely, those narrative techniques that provide the illusion of character depth and authenticity. The essay thus documents a foundational moment in the development of the nineteenth-century novel insofar as it discloses Edgeworth's contention that any novelistic move to establish subjective interiority is as much of a performance as a theatrical one; in other words, realism is theater.
George Eliot's “Fine Excess”: Middlemarch, Energy, and the Afterlife of Feeling
Authors: Tondre Michael
Published: October 2012

This article advances a fresh understanding of the ethics and aesthetics that defined George Eliot's fictional maturity, particularly in light of Eliot's fascination with energy science. Victorian scientists discovered that the energy of the world was ineluctably lost or “diffused,” never again to perform productive work. But many mid-Victorians saw diffusion in optimistic terms, in contrast to more disconsolate perspectives at the century's close. In Middlemarch (1873-74), I argue, Eliot utilized the theory of energy diffusion as a model of eternal fulfillment. She did so in two ways. First, energy science provided a heuristic for Eliot's sympathetic vision. While her protagonists reflect the breakdown of interpersonal bonds—the impossibility of any perfect recognition of another's pain—the novel deploys the terms and tropes of diffusion to suggest sympathy's post-subjective effects in the lives of others. Second, I submit that energy science shaped Eliot's distinctive understanding of the novel itself as a mode of cultural production. Through figurations of unproductive energy, Eliot came to imagine how wasteful, prodigal acts of reading could bring about an ethically revitalized world. Energy science thus enabled Eliot to reconcile conventional claims about the social purpose of the novel with incipiently Arnoldian canons of art's autonomy from politics. By reading Eliot's work alongside the work of contemporary scientists, I disclose a radical ideal of literature's unproductive powers, one that linked new ideologies of formal appreciation with the novel's longstanding social promise.
Hormone response in ovarian cancer: time to reconsider as a clinical target?
Authors: Modugno Francesmary , Laskey Robin , Smith Ashlee L , Andersen Courtney L , Haluska Paul , Oesterreich Steffi
Published: October 2012

Ovarian cancer is the sixth most common cancer worldwide among women in developed countries and the most lethal of all gynecologic malignancies. There is a critical need for the introduction of targeted therapies to improve outcome. Epidemiological evidence suggests a critical role for steroid hormones in ovarian tumorigenesis. There is also increasing evidence fromin vitrostudies that estrogen, progestin, and androgen regulate proliferation and invasion of epithelial ovarian cancer cells. Limited clinical trials have shown modest response rates; however, they have consistently identified a small subset of patients that respond very well to endocrine therapy with few side effects. We propose that it is timely to perform additional well-designed trials that should include biomarkers of response.
Fsh and Lh have common and distinct effects on gene expression in rainbow trout testis
Authors: Sambroni Elisabeth , Rolland Antoine D , Lareyre Jean-Jacques , Le Gac Florence
Published: October 2012

The general rules established from mammalian species for the regulation of spermatogenesis by gonadotropins may not be fully relevant in fish. Particularly, Fsh is as potent as Lh to stimulate steroidogenesis and the Fsh receptor is expressed in Leydig cells. In seasonal breeders, Fsh is likely the major gonadotropin involved in spermatogenesis onset and Lh is required to support spermatogenesis progression and gamete release. However, the genes that relay the action of Fsh and Lh have been poorly investigated in fish. The present study was aimed at identifying gonadotropin-dependent genes expressed in the testis during fish puberty. We cultured pubertal trout testicular explants for 96 h, with or without gonadotropin, and analyzed transcriptome variations using microarrays. Fsh and Lh had similar effects on a large group of genes while other genes were preferentially regulated by one or the other gonadotropin. We showed that most of the responsive genes were expressed in somatic cells and exhibited relevant patterns during the seasonal reproductive cycle. Some genes preferentially modulated by Lh could be involved in testicular cell fate (pvrl1andbty) or sperm maturation (ehmt2andracgap1) and will deserve further examination. Besides Fsh's effects on the steroidogenic pathway, our study demonstrates that Fsh coordinates relevant stimulatory and inhibitory paracrine factors known to regulate early germ cell proliferation and differentiation. Some of these genes belong to major regulatory pathways including the Igf pathway (igf1b/igf3andigfbp6), the Tgfb pathway (amh,inha,inhba, andfstl3), the Wnt pathway (wisp1), and pleiotrophin (mdka).