bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Productivity Premia for German Manufacturing Firms Exporting to the Euro‐Area and Beyond: First Evidence from Robust Fixed Effects Estimations
Authors: Verardi Vincenzo , Wagner Joachim
Published: February 2012

This paper reports estimates of the productivity premium of German firms exporting to the Euro‐zone and beyond, controlling for unobserved time‐invariant firm‐specific effects. Furthermore, it tests for self‐selection of more productive firms into exporting beyond the Euro‐zone. The main contribution of the paper is to correct a serious flaw in hitherto published studies that ignore the potentially disastrous consequences of extreme observations, or outliers. The paper shows that estimates of the exporter productivity premium by destination are driven by a small share of outliers that comprises some five per cent of all firms. These outliers are identified by a recently developed highly robust estimator for models with fixed effects. Using a ‘clean’ sample without these outliers, the estimated productivity premium of firms that export to the Euro‐zone only is no longer statistically different from zero at a conventional error level, and the estimated premium of firms exporting beyond the Euro‐zone, too, over firms that serve the German market only is tiny. Furthermore, an ex‐ante differential that is statistically significant and large only shows up for enterprises that exported to the Euro‐zone already and start to export to countries outside the Euro‐zone. These conclusions differ considerably from those based on non‐robust standard regression analyses.
China and Its Dollar Exchange Rate: A Worldwide Stabilising Influence?1
Authors: McKinnon Ronald , Schnabl Gunther
Published: February 2012

China is criticised for keeping its dollar exchange rate fairly stable when it has a large trade (saving) surplus. This criticism is misplaced in two ways. First, no predictable link exists between the exchange rate and the trade balance of an international creditor economy. Second, since 1995, the stable yuan/dollar rate has anchored China’s price level and facilitated counter cyclical fiscal policies that have smoothed its high real GDP growth at a remarkable 9 to 11 per cent per year. With its now greater GDP, China displaces Japan as the largest economy in East Asia – but with a much stronger stabilising influence on East Asian neighbours from its higher economic growth and more stable dollar exchange rate. Now, an ever larger China is an essential stabiliser for the world economy – as exemplified by its prompt and effective fiscal response to the global credit crunch of 2008–09. However, cumulating financial distortions – in China and the United States – threaten to undermine China’s growth and its stabilising influence on the rest of the world.
Speed in the Internationalization Process of the Firm
Authors: Casillas José C. , Acedo Francisco J.
Published: February 2012

While firm internationalization processes have been understood as being dynamic, the dimension of speed has rarely been the main focus of research efforts, which, until a decade ago, focused principally on explaining sequences of entry modes and choices of markets. The emergence of the study of international entrepreneurship has enhanced the role of speed, although this has usually been measured in terms of the time lag between a firm's foundation and its initial international action, with little attempt at defining and explaining the speed of the process once it is under way. This study reviews the concept of speed from an internationalization perspective, describes the multidimensional nature of the concept and sets out the different aspects that link timescales with the types of changes – continuous and discontinuous – that take place during internationalizing processes. The paper concludes with a research agenda as a guide for future work on considering the role of speed in the internationalization process.
Varieties of federalism, institutional legacies, and social policy: Comparing old‐age and unemployment insurance reform in Canada
Authors: Béland Daniel , Myles John
Published: February 2012

Béland D, Myles J. Varieties of federalism, institutional legacies, and social policy: Comparing old‐age and unemployment insurance reform in Canada

With reference to Canada, this article explores the politics of reform affecting two social insurance programs: Employment Insurance (EI) and the Canada Pension Plan (CPP). Comparing these two large, yet institutionally distinct, social insurance schemes underscores how institutional differences in policy legacies and governance among social programs create distinct obstacles and opportunities for reform in federal countries. Drawing on historical institutionalism and emphasizing the types of federalism and decision making specific to EI and CPP, the article explains key political differences between these two programs. Focusing on reforms enacted in the 1990s, the article explores the institutional obstacles and opportunities for policy change in EI and CPP, which offers insight into how these programs could change in the future. We show that different forms of federal governance pointing to the “varieties of federalism” and, more generally, the institutional and territorial logics embedded in these two programs create different obstacles and opportunities for reform.
Asset poverty in Korea: Levels and composition based on Wolff's definition
Authors: Kim Kyo‐seong , Kim Yun Min
Published: February 2012

Kim K‐S, Kim YM. Asset poverty in Korea: levels and composition based on Wolff's definition

The main purpose of the study was to lay the groundwork for establishing a more effective asset‐building policy through accurate measurement and analysis of the level and composition of the asset‐poor Korean population. We defined four asset poverty lines according to the concepts of basic needs, limited period of time and wealth‐type resources from Wolff's operational definition. The size of the Korean asset‐poor population, when considered from the perspectives of net assets and liquid assets, was found to remain around 12.7–13.2 and 32.8–36.5 per cent respectively. This study suggests that it is necessary to establish a differentiated asset‐building policy by age group and to prepare more realistic alternatives to solve housing problems, while empirically verifying the need for an accurate asset poverty line which reflects the definition of asset poverty.
Experimental study of the effect of variation inin‐situstress on capillary residual trapping during CO2geo‐sequestration in sandstone reservoirs
Authors: SAEEDI A. , REZAEE R. , EVANS B.
Published: February 2012

During a geo‐sequestration process, CO2injection causes an increase in reservoir pore pressure, which in turn decreases the reservoir net effective stress. Changes in effective stress can change all the reservoir and cap‐rock properties including residual saturations. This article presents the results of an experimental work carried out to understand the potential change in the volumes of residually trapped CO2, while the porous medium tested underwent change in the net effective stress underin‐situreservoir conditions of pore pressure and temperature. The experimental results obtained show that an initial 1725 psi (11.9 MPa) decrease in the net effective pressure caused 1.4% reduction in the volumes of residually trapped CO2, while another 1500 psi (10.3 MPa) reduction caused a further 3.2% drop in the residual saturation of CO2.
Bird functional diversity and wildfires in the Amazon: the role of forest structure
Authors: Hidasi‐Neto J. , Barlow J. , Cianciaruso M. V.
Published: February 2012

Fire is becoming a common phenomenon in Amazonian forest, modifying the structure and composition of natural assemblages. In particular, fire is known to affect patterns of bird diversity in tropical forests, but we have little understanding of the consequences of this for the functional diversity of bird assemblages. For example, frequent fires could act as an environmental filter selecting species with similar traits and, thus, producing a functional clustering pattern. Here, we used body mass, and dietary and foraging traits to calculate the functional structure of understorey bird assemblages in Amazonian forests analysed 3 years after they had passed under three disturbance levels within the 1997–1998 El‐Niño period: unburned, burned once and burned twice. First, we tested whether observed levels of functional diversity were different among these forests and also from what one would expect by chance. Then, we investigated if habitat structure was able to predict changes in the functional structure of the studied bird assemblages. In general, there was no evidence of fire reducing functional diversity nor selecting species functionally more similar than expected by chance. Therefore, bird functional diversity was not different from random in unburned and burned forests. This provides some evidence in favour of high functional redundancy of bird species in the tropics, but also indicates that neutral theories of biodiversity, where processes such as dispersal and survival are more important than biological traits to community assembly, may apply to the assemblages studied. Also, we showed that bird assemblages from forests disturbed by wildfires have the tendency to be functionally overdispersed whereas assemblages from pristine forests tend to be functionally clustered. Thus, environmental structure, in part driven by forest responses to fire, is more important than simple categorical definitions of burn frequency for explaining trait‐based assembly rules of understorey birds in the Amazon forest.
A potential explanation of some established major risk factors for autism
Authors: JAMES WILLIAM H
Published: February 2012

Baron–Cohen hypothesized that a cause of autism in infants is exposure to high concentrations of intrauterine testosterone concentrations. Some of the subsequent research on this hypothesis has focused on the possibility that the source of this testosterone is the fetus; however, this review shows that if the source is taken to be the mother, then many of the established risk factors for autism could be explained. If that were correct, it would follow that high maternally derived intrauterine androgen concentrations may be a major environmental cause of autism.
Neuronal c‐Jun is required for successful axonal regeneration, but the effects of phosphorylation of its N‐terminus are moderate
Authors: Ruff Crystal A. , Staak Nils , Patodia Smriti , Kaswich Mark , Rocha‐Ferreira Eridan , Da Costa Clive , Brecht Stephan , Makwana Milan , Fontana Xavier , Hristova Mariya , Rumajogee Prakasham , Galiano Matthias , Bohatschek Marion , Herdegen Thomas , Behrens Axel , Raivich Gennadij
Published: February 2012

J. Neurochem. (2012) 121, 607–618.

Although neural c‐Jun is essential for successful peripheral nerve regeneration, the cellular basis of this effect and the impact of c‐Jun activation are incompletely understood. In the current study, we explored the effects of neuron‐selective c‐Jun deletion, substitution of serine 63 and 73 phosphoacceptor sites with non‐phosphorylatable alanine, and deletion of Jun N‐terminal kinases 1, 2 and 3 in mouse facial nerve regeneration. Removal of the floxed c‐jun gene in facial motoneurons using cre recombinase under control of a neuron‐specific synapsin promoter (junΔS) abolished basal and injury‐induced neuronal c‐Jun immunoreactivity, as well as most of the molecular responses following facial axotomy. Absence of neuronal Jun reduced the speed of axonal regeneration following crush, and prevented most cut axons from reconnecting to their target, significantly reducing functional recovery. Despite blocking cell death, this was associated with a large number of shrunken neurons. Finally, junΔS mutants also had diminished astrocyte and microglial activation and T‐cell influx, suggesting that these non‐neuronal responses depend on the release of Jun‐dependent signals from neighboring injured motoneurons. The effects of substituting serine 63 and 73 phosphoacceptor sites (junAA), or of global deletion of individual kinases responsible for N‐terminal c‐Jun phosphorylation were mild. junAA mutants showed decrease in neuronal cell size, a moderate reduction in post‐axotomy CD44 levels and slightly increased astrogliosis. Deletion of Jun N‐terminal kinase (JNK)1 or JNK3 showed delayed functional recovery; deletion of JNK3 also interfered with T‐cell influx, and reduced CD44 levels. Deletion of JNK2 had no effect. Thus, neuronal c‐Jun is needed in regeneration, but JNK phosphorylation of the N‐terminus mostly appears to not be required for its function.
Microbiosensor for Alzheimer’s disease diagnostics: detection of amyloid beta biomarkers
Authors: Prabhulkar Shradha , Piatyszek Rudolph , Cirrito John R. , Wu Ze‐Zhi , Li Chen‐Zhong
Published: February 2012

J. Neurochem. (2012) 122, 374–381.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) affects about 35.6 million people worldwide, and if current trends continue with no medical advancement, one in 85 people will be affected by 2050. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop a cost‐effective, easy to use, sensor platform to diagnose and study AD. The measurement of peptide amyloid beta (Aβ) found in CSF has been assessed as an avenue to diagnose and study the disease. The quantification of the ratio of Aβ1–40/42 (or Aβ ratio) has been established as a reliable test to diagnose AD through human clinical trials. Therefore, we have developed a multiplexed, implantable immunosensor to detect amyloid beta (Aβ) isoforms using triple barrel carbon fiber microelectrodes as the sensor platform. Antibodies act as the biorecognition element of the sensor and selectively capture and bind Aβ1–40 and Aβ1–42 to the electrode surface. Electrochemistry was used to measure the intrinsic oxidation signal of Aβ at 0.65 V (vs. Ag/AgCl), originating from a single tyrosine residue found at position 10 in its amino acid sequence. Using the proposed immunosensor Aβ1–40 and Aβ1–42 could be specifically detected in CSF from mice within a detection range of 20–50 nM and 20–140 nM respectively. The immunosensor enables real‐time, highly sensitive detection of Aβ and opens up the possibilities for diagnostic ex vivo applications and research‐based in vivo studies.
Activation of Elk‐1 participates as a neuroprotective compensatory mechanism in models of Huntington’s disease
Authors: Anglada‐Huguet Marta , Giralt Albert , Perez‐Navarro Esther , Alberch Jordi , Xifró Xavier
Published: February 2012

J. Neurochem. (2012) 121, 639–648.

The transcription factor Elk‐1 has been revealed as neuroprotective against toxic stimuli. In this study, we explored the neuroprotective capacity of Elk‐1 in Huntington’s disease. To this aim, we used two exon‐1 mutant huntingtin (mhtt) mouse models (R6/1 and R6/2), and a full‐length mhtt striatal cell model (STHdhQ111/Q111). Analysis of Elk‐1 and pElk‐1Ser383 in the striatum of R6 mice revealed increased levels during the disease progression. Similarly, Elk‐1 and pElk‐1Ser383 levels were increased in STHdhQ111/Q111 cells when compared with wild‐type cells. In addition, we observed a predominant nuclear localization of Elk‐1 in STHdhQ111/Q111 cells, and in the striatum of 30‐week‐old R6/1 mice. Nuclear Elk‐1 did not colocalize with mhtt aggregates, suggesting a higher transcriptional activity. In agreement, the knock‐down of Elk‐1 decreased immediate early genes expression in STHdhQ111/Q111 cells, but not in wild‐type cells. Interestingly, reduction of Elk‐1 levels by siRNAs transfection promoted cell death and caspase 3 cleavage in STHdhQ111/Q111 cells, but not in wild‐type cells. In summary, we propose that increased protein levels, phosphorylation and nuclear localization of Elk‐1 observed in exon‐1 and full‐length Huntington’s disease models could be a compensatory mechanism activated by striatal cells in response to the presence of mhtt that contributes to neuroprotection.
COMPUTER VISION‐BASED ORTHOPHOTO MAPPING OF COMPLEX ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES: THE ANCIENT QUARRY OF PITARANHA (PORTUGAL–SPAIN)
Authors: VERHOEVEN G. , TAELMAN D. , VERMEULEN F.
Published: February 2012

Ancient quarries are intriguing archaeological sites, but their detailed recording is complex. This paper presents a cost‐effective approach to mapping of the Roman quarry site of Pitaranha (Portugal–Spain). First, aerial photographs were acquired using a radio‐controlled digital reflex camera attached to a Helikite, which allowed the acquisition of the necessary low‐altitude aerial footage in the very unstable wind conditions above the quarry. Using computer vision algorithms, the resulting set of photographs was semi‐automatically transformed into a Digital Surface Model (DSM) and a corresponding orthophotograph. Besides focusing on the acquisition and processing method, this paper evaluates the accuracy of the generated products. The orthophotograph proved to be satisfactorily accurate for 1:200 hard‐copy mapping.
‘At the next junction, turn left’: attitudes towards Sat Nav use
Authors: Axon Stephen , Speake Janet , Crawford Kevin
Published: February 2012

While there is established academic literature on cartography and Geographical Information Systems (GIS), to date there has been scant investigation of attitudes towards the use of Satellite Navigation (Sat Nav) as a technology of navigation and the issues that may arise from its use. However, the impacts of Sat Nav tools on cartographic literacy, spatial awareness and graphicacy should be matters of interest and concern to geographers. This paper is an initial investigation of people's attitudes towards, and experiences of, Sat Nav. Based on a survey of undergraduate geography students (n = 46), navigational capacities and technological aspects of Sat Nav are regarded positively, whereas negative attitudes are associated with technological, safety and financial attributes of Sat Nav use. Distinctions were made between traditional navigational technologies such as paper‐based maps and Sat Nav. Crucially, the digital spatial representations of Sat Nav were not perceived as maps but as a distinctive navigational tool. Students also expressed concerns about the potential implications of reduced use of other navigational tools on their cartographic literacy and spatial awareness. We demonstrate that Sat Nav use is intrinsically changing people's wayfinding behaviour, processes and practices of navigation, and their understanding of what ‘maps’ are and do. Fundamentally, Sat Nav is not viewed or used in the same way as more traditional technologies of navigation. We assert that geographers should engage more actively with current interdisciplinary dialogues on wayfinding navigational technologies and spatial and cartographic literacy.
Serum vascular endothelial growth factor in dogs with soft tissue sarcomas
Authors: Fernandes de Queiroz G. , Lúcia Zaidan Dagli M. , Aparecida Meira S. , Maria Matera J. 
Published: February 2012

This work aimed to evaluate serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in 25 dogs with soft tissue sarcoma, and in 30 healthy dogs. Blood was collected once time from the control animals and three times, in the same way, from animals with sarcoma. Blood count was performed in the blood collected, and serum VEGF was measured by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay quantitative method. Serum VEGF in control animals was similar to patients with soft tissue sarcoma. There was a reduction in serum VEGF after the sarcoma resection. There was positive correlation between serum VEGF and neutrophil counts, and negative between VEGF and hemoglobin content in animals with sarcoma. Animals with hemangiopericytoma showed higher serum VEGF levels compared to the patients with malignant peripheral nerve sheath. Circulating blood cells can contribute to elevate VEGF serum concentrations in dogs with soft tissue sarcomas and a possible role of VEGF in the angiogenesis of these tumors.
Histopathological and immunohistochemical studies of apocrine sweat gland adenocarcinomas in cats
Authors: Haziroglu R. , Haligur M. , Keles H.
Published: February 2012

Seven adenocarcinomas of apocrine sweat glands among the 67cutaneous tumours of cats were evaluated between 1980 and 2005. Histopathologically, three tumours were solid, tubular, tubular‐ductal, tubular‐cystic and papillar‐cystic types were also diagnosed each one. Cuboidal and squamous epithelial cells surrounding the cystic lumina and their papillar extensions into the cyst lumens were evident in almost all tumour types. Besides, fibrovascular stroma which surrounding neoplastic foci showed proliferation and stromal invasion. Immunohistochemical features of these tumours were examined with pan‐cytokeratin, vimentin and carcinoembryonic antigen.
Teaching the Y generation obstetrics and gynaecology skills: A survey of medical students' thoughts on a new program
Authors: Paterson Helen , Kenrick Kristin , Wilson Don
Published: February 2012

Background

Delivering undergraduate obstetrics and gynaecology teaching to classes of increasing size in ways which will foster student interest in the discipline is becoming increasingly challenging. With major curriculum change implemented at Otago Medical School in 2008, we had the opportunity to rise to this challenge.

Aim

To assess an innovative obstetrics and gynaecology history‐taking and examination skills unit, introduced to third‐year medical students.

Method

A survey of medical students and pregnant women who participated in the unit.

Results

There was a 92% response rate from students and a 73% response from the pregnant women who took part. Overall feedback was positive from both groups, with the unit being highly rated across a number of parameters.

Conclusion

Despite increasing limitations on staffing, obstetric clinical skills can be taught to large class sizes with close contact between students and specialists, safely incorporating the use of ‘real patients’. Students are very positive about this exposure to O&G, and we hope that this may result in increased student confidence and interest in O&G, with a subsequent improvement in recruitment.
The Nurse as a Social Worker
Authors: La Motte Ellen
Published: February 2012

In the early twentieth century the role of the Public Health Nurse (PHN) was expanding to meet the needs of individuals, families, and communities. Among the ideas discussed in the early nursing literature was that of the social nurse. This role was conceptualized as a combined nurse and social worker. Much of the PHNs work was with people of the poorer classes who needed assistance with both the medical aspects of their disease, as well as help with social needs such as food, rent money, and bedding. In this reprint from The Visiting Nurse Quarterly (), Ellen La Motte, Nurse‐in‐Chief with the Tuberculosis Division of the Baltimore Health Department, argued for this combined role based on economic efficiency. As she pointed out, it was “economic waste” to have two sets of workers going into homes when the nurse was capable, with additional education, of carrying out both roles. Additionally, from La Motte's perspective the only way the nurse could move beyond her role as the “physician's handmaiden” was through “social training” that prepared her for a broader scope of practice than that received in the hospital‐based nursing schools. In the end, however, she left it open to nurses as “reasonable beings” to determine the direction the profession would take on this issue. La Motte's words provide historical context for issues contemporary public health nursing leaders are addressing, such as inter‐professional boundaries between nurses and public health workers, reductions in the public health workforce, and economic constraints faced by the healthcare system. The Institute of Medicine mandate for inter‐professional practice within the healthcare system, however, presents opportunities for exploring new roles and practice models for nurses in conjunction with our partners in public health.
Cliniconeuropathologic correlations show astroglial albumin storage as a common factor in epileptogenic vascular lesions
Authors: Raabe Anna , Schmitz Ann Kristin , Pernhorst Katharina , Grote Alexander , von der Brelie Christian , Urbach Horst , Friedman Alon , Becker Albert J. , Elger Christian E. , Niehusmann Pitt
Published: February 2012

Purpose:  Intracerebral vascular malformations including cavernous angiomas (CAs) and arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) are an important cause of chronic pharmacoresistant epilepsies. Little is known about the pathogenetic basis of epilepsy in patients with vascular malformations. Intracerebral deposits of iron‐containing blood products have been generally regarded as responsible for the strong epileptogenic potential of CAs. Here, we have analyzed whether blood–brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction and subsequent astrocytic albumin uptake, recently described as critical trigger of focal epilepsy, represent pathogenetic factors in vascular lesion–associated epileptogenesis.

Methods:  We examined the correlation between hemosiderin deposits, albumin accumulation, and several clinical characteristics in a series of 80 drug‐refractory epilepsy patients with CAs or AVMs who underwent surgical resection. Analysis of clinical parameters included gender, age of seizure onset, epilepsy frequency, duration of epilepsy before surgery, and postoperative seizure outcome classification according to Engel class scale. Hemosiderin deposits in the adjacent brain tissue of the vascular lesion were semiquantitatively analyzed. Fluorescent double‐immunohistochemistry using GFAP/albumin costaining was performed to study albumin extravasation.

Key Findings:  Our results suggest that a shorter duration of preoperative epilepsy is correlated with significantly better postsurgical outcome (p < 0.05), whereas no additional clinical or neuropathologic parameter correlated significantly with the postsurgical seizure situation. Intriguingly, we observed strong albumin immunoreactivity within the vascular lesion and in perilesional astrocytes (57.65 ± 4.05%), but not in different control groups.

Significance:  Our present data on albumin uptake in brain tissue adjacent to AVMs and CAs suggests BBB dysfunction and accumulation of albumin within astrocytes as a new pathologic feature potentially associated with the epileptogenic mechanism for vascular lesions and provides novel therapy perspectives for antiepileptogenesis in affected patients.
On the ictogenic properties of the piriform cortex in vitro
Authors: Panuccio Gabriella , Sanchez Gonzalo , Lévesque Maxime , Salami Pariya , de Curtis Marco , Avoli Massimo
Published: February 2012

Purpose:  The piriform cortex (PC) is known to be epileptic‐prone and it may be involved in the manifestation of limbic seizures. Herein, we have characterized some electrophysiologic and pharmacologic properties of the spontaneous epileptiform activity generated by PC networks maintained in vitro.

Methods:  We performed field potential recordings from the PC in coronal or sagittal rat brain slices along with pharmacologic manipulations of γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic and glutamatergic signaling during application of the convulsant drug 4‐aminopyridine (4AP, 50 μm).

Key Findings:  Coronal and sagittal preparations generated interictal‐like and ictal‐like epileptiform discharges with similar duration and frequency. Ictal‐like discharges in sagittal slices were initiated mostly in the PC anterior subregion, whereas interictal activity did not have any preferential site of origin. In sagittal slices, high frequency oscillations (HFOs) at 80–200 Hz were detected mainly at the beginning of the ictal discharge in both posterior and anterior subregions. N‐Methyl‐d‐aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonism abolished ictal discharges, but failed to influence interictal activity. In the absence of ionotropic glutamatergic transmission, PC networks generated slow, GABA receptor–dependent events. Finally, GABAA receptor antagonism during application of 4AP only, abolished ictal discharges and disclosed recurrent interictal activity.

Significance:  Our findings demonstrate that PC networks can sustain in vitro epileptiform activity induced by 4AP. HFOs, which emerge at the onset of ictal activity, may be involved in PC ictogenesis. As reported in several cortical structures, ionotropic glutamatergic neurotransmission is necessary but not sufficient for ictal discharge generation, a process that also requires operative GABAA receptor–mediated signaling.
BIOADHESION IN CAULERPA MEXICANA (CHLOROPHYTA): RHIZOID‐SUBSTRATE ADHESION1
Authors: Fagerberg Wayne R. , Towle Jennifer , Dawes Clinton J. , Böttger Anne
Published: February 2012

The attachment of the psammophytic alga Caulerpa mexicana Sond. ex Kütz., a coenocytic green alga, to crushed CaCO3 particles was examined utilizing the scanning electron microscope and fluorescently tagged antivitronectin antibodies. Plants attached to the substrate through morphologically variable tubular rhizoidal extensions that grew from the stolon. In this study, we describe two means of attachment: (i) the rhizoid attachment to limestone gravel by thigmoconstriction, where tubular extensions of the rhizoid wrapped tightly around the substrate and changed morphology to fit tightly into crevices in the limestone, and (ii) through adhesion pads that formed in contact with the limestone granules. Flattened rhizoidal pads were observed to secrete a fibrillar material that contained vitronectin‐like proteins identified through immunolocialization and that facilitated binding of the rhizoid to the substrate.
Fabrication of a Hollow Obturator as a Single Unit for Management of Bilateral Subtotal Maxillectomy
Authors: Patil Pravinkumar G. , Patil Smita P.
Published: February 2012

Prosthetic rehabilitation with an obturator for a total or subtotal maxillectomy patient is a challenging task, as there are little or no residual maxillary structures to depend on for support, retention, and stability of the prosthesis. This clinical report describes the prosthodontic management of a patient operated on for a bilateral subtotal maxillectomy secondary to ameloblastoma of the palate with a closed hollow obturator. The processing technique described in this article to fabricate the hollow obturator is a variation of other well‐known techniques. The variation comprises the use of a wax bolus to maintain a predictable internal dimension for a hollow obturator. This technique allows fabrication of a complete hollow obturator prosthesis as a single unit in heat‐polymerized acrylic resin using a single‐step flasking procedure.
A Technique for Impressing the Severely Resorbed Mandibular Edentulous Ridge
Authors: Chandrasekharan Nair K. , Kunnekel Ashish T. , Verma Mahesh , Gupta Rajiv K.
Published: February 2012

Patients presenting with severe resorption of the residual alveolar ridges are relatively common today in both private practices and teaching institutions. The severely resorbed mandibular ridge is more challenging to impress than is the maxillary ridge. Accurately capturing the denture‐bearing surface in its entirety is crucial to providing the patient with a functionally successful prosthesis. This article presents a technique to overcome the difficulties encountered in impressing the severely resorbed mandibular ridge using elastomeric impression materials and a modified special custom tray.
Comparison of the Marginal Adaptation of Zirconium Dioxide Crowns in Preparations with Two Different Finish Lines
Authors: Euán Raúl , Figueras‐Álvarez Oscar , Cabratosa‐Termes Josep , Brufau‐de Barberà Magí , Gomes‐Azevedo Susana
Published: February 2012

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the marginal adaptation of zirconium dioxide crowns in preparations with two different finish line configurations before and after porcelain firing cycles, after a glaze cycle, and after cementation.

Materials and Methods: Twenty human molar teeth were prepared to receive full crowns; ten were prepared with a 90° round shoulder and another ten with a 45° chamfer finish line. Zirconium dioxide copings were fabricated using CAD/CAM technology (Lava™ system). They were then veneered with a low‐fusing glass‐ceramic (IPS e.max® Ceram). Finally, they were glazed and cemented with a resin‐composite cement (RelyX™ Unicem, Aplicap™). Measurements for marginal adaptation using stereomicroscopy (40×) were performed at four stages: copings (S1), after porcelain firing cycles (S2), after glazing (S3), and after cementation (S4). One‐way ANOVA was used to assess the influence of the finish line design on the marginal adaptation in each stage. Two‐way ANOVA with repeated measurements was performed to assess the influence on the marginal adaptation of the porcelain firing cycles, glaze firing cycle, and cementation.

Results: The measured marginal gap mean values for the shoulder group (μm) were: 50.13 (S1), 54.32 (S2), 55.12 (S3), and 59.83 (S4). The values for the chamfer group were: 63.56 (S1), 71.85 (S2), 74.12 (S3), and 76.97 (S4). When comparing marginal gaps between specimens with two different finish lines, differences were noticed at the four studied stages (p= 0.0165, p= 0.0027, p= 0.0009, and p= 0.0009, respectively). No differences were manifested in the marginal gap measurements of the shoulder group at the different stages of fabrication (p= 0.4335); however, in the chamfer group, differences were noticed between S1 and S3 (p= 0.0042).

Conclusions: Marginal adaptation was influenced by the finish line design. The firing cycles significantly affected the chamfer group; nevertheless, the marginal gap was within the range of clinical acceptability.
Three‐Year Clinical Follow‐Up of Posterior Teeth Restored with Leucite‐Reinforced IPS Empress Onlays and Partial Veneer Crowns
Authors: Murgueitio Rafael , Bernal Guillermo
Published: February 2012

Purpose: The aim of this study was to analyze the survival rate and failure mode of IPS leucite‐reinforced ceramic onlays and partial veneer crowns regarding thickness under the following clinical conditions: vital versus nonvital teeth, tooth location, and type of opposing dentition.

Materials and Methods: Teeth were prepared according to established guidelines for ceramic onlays and partial veneer crowns. Before cementation, the restorations were measured for occlusal thickness at the central fossa, mesial, and distal marginal ridges, and functional and nonfunctional cusps. A total of 210 ceramic restorations were cemented in 99 patients within a mean observation period of 2.9 ± 1.89 years. The mode of failure was classified and evaluated as (1) adhesive, (2) cohesive, (3) combined failure, (4) decementation, (5) tooth sensitivity, and (6) pulpal necrosis. Kaplan, log‐rank, and Cox regression tests were used for statistical analysis.

Results: The failure rate was 3.33% (7/210). Increased material thickness produced less probability of failures. Vital teeth were less likely to fail than nonvital teeth. Second molars were five times more susceptible to failure than first molars. Tooth sensitivity postcementation and the type of opposing dentition were not statistically significant in this study.

Conclusions: In this study, thickness of the restorations, tooth vitality, and location of teeth in the dental arch influenced restoration failures.
Optimal Restoration of Dental Esthetics and Function with Advanced Implant‐Supported Prostheses: A Clinical Report
Authors: Meulen Peter van der , Linden Wynand van der , Eeden Ronnie van
Published: February 2012

For more than 25 years, computer‐aided design and computer‐aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) technology has been used in implant restorative dentistry. Today this technology offers a means of milling titanium frameworks that fit dental implants accurately. This report presents a restoratively driven protocol employing advanced implant restorative and surgical techniques. Treatment of a patient with advanced periodontitis with extensive loss of hard and soft tissues is presented. After extraction of the patient's remaining hopeless teeth, dental implants were placed, along with interim, fixed‐margin abutments and abutment protection caps. Two days later, acrylic resin fixed‐interim prostheses restored the patient's esthetics and partial masticatory function. After implant osseointegration, maxillary, and mandibular frameworks for definitive prostheses were milled from Ti alloy, using one specific CAD/CAM technology. The benefits of this technology are also discussed.
Relationship between Stent Malapposition and Incomplete Neointimal Coverage after Drug‐Eluting Stent Implantation
Authors: KIM BYEONG‐KEUK , HONG MYEONG‐KI , SHIN DONG‐HO , KIM JUNG‐SUN , KO YOUNG‐GUK , CHOI DONGHOON , JANG YANGSOO
Published: February 2012

Background: Using optical coherence tomography (OCT), we evaluated the relationship between malapposed and uncovered struts following implantation of drug‐eluting stents (DESs).

Methods: A total of 271 patients with 306 lesions who underwent DES implantation and follow‐up OCT were included in the study. The lesions were grouped based on the presence of malapposition and then by the median value of the percentage of malapposed struts (1.3%) to produce 3 groups: lesions without malapposition (group I, n = 232) and those with percentage of malapposed struts <1.3% (group II, n = 37) or ≥1.3% (group III, n = 37). Percentages of malapposed and uncovered struts were calculated as percent ratio of malapposed or uncovered to total struts in the defined cross‐sections, respectively. We compared percentage of uncovered struts in all analyzable struts and in the residual struts without malapposed segments among the 3 groups.

Results: Group III showed a significantly larger percentage of uncovered struts among all the struts (group I, 3.7 ± 6.4 vs. II, 5.5 ± 5.6 vs. III, 17.6 ± 15.9%, P < 0.001) and among residual struts without malapposed segments (3.7 ± 6.4 vs. 5.2 ± 5.7 vs. 15.0 ± 14.4%, respectively, P < 0.001). There was a significant correlation between malapposed and uncovered struts in group III (r = 0.393, P = 0.016), but not in group II (r =−0.007, P = 0.965) among residual struts without malapposed segments.

Conclusion: The percentage of uncovered DES struts was quite different depending on the presence and extent of malapposed struts. (J Interven Cardiol 2012;25:270–277)
Clinical Predictors for Failure of Percutaneous Coronary Intervention in ST‐elevation Myocardial Infarction
Authors: BARBASH ISRAEL M. , BEN‐DOR ITSIK , TORGUSON REBECCA , MALUENDA GABRIEL , XUE ZHENYI , GAGLIA MICHAEL A. , SARDI GABRIEL , SATLER LOWELL F. , PICHARD AUGUSTO D. , WAKSMAN RON
Published: February 2012

Background: Failed percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for ST‐elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) is associated with adverse outcome. With recent improvements in PCI techniques, the incidence and predictors for failed primary PCI are unclear.

Methods: A clinical database of consecutive patients who underwent primary or rescue PCI from 1993 to 2011 was used to compare patients with successful versus failed PCI. Clinical follow‐up was obtained in‐hospital, at 30 days and at 1 year.

Results: Of 2900 patients fulfilling our inclusion criteria, 111 (3.98%) had failed PCI. Patients who had failed PCI were older (65 vs. 61 years), were more likely to be women (46% vs. 32%), were more likely to have previous peripheral vascular disease (19% vs. 11%), previous PCI (29% vs. 20%), and were more likely to present with cardiogenic shock (25% vs. 11%) (all P < 0.05). Multivariable logistic regression analysis identified female gender (OR 1.54; 95% CI 1.01–2.38), cardiogenic shock (2.07; 1.22–3.49), previous PCI (1.71; 1.08–2.70), and type C lesion (2.47; 1.60–3.82) as independent predictors of PCI failure. The in‐hospital (18% vs. 4%) and long‐term mortality (48% vs. 14%) were worse in the failed PCI group compared to the successful group (P < 0.05).

Conclusion: In patients with STEMI, primary PCI failure is uncommon. It is associated with worse short‐ and long‐term clinical outcome compared with a successful procedure. Special care should be taken when PCI is performed in women at higher risk for failure when presenting with STEMI. (J Interven Cardiol 2012;25:111–117)
Theorizing Wisconsin's 2011 protests: Community‐based unionism confronts accumulation by dispossession
Authors: COLLINS JANE
Published: February 2012

Recent waves of social‐movement protest in Wisconsin challenge conventional understandings of labor activism, as they have responded not only to rollbacks of labor rights but also to privatization of state programs and resources and budget cuts that target poor and working families. Drawing from participant‐observation, I explore the question of whether the movements that arose in Wisconsin in early 2011 represented an expansion of union‐based activism struggling within the “expanded reproduction” of capital or a broader struggle against what New Enclosures Movement scholars have conceptualized as capital's ongoing primitive accumulation strategies. I examine the implications of the answer to this question for community‐based labor movements in Wisconsin and beyond. [community‐based unionism, labor, accumulation by dispossession, social movements, social protest]
Beyond secular and religious: An intellectual genealogy of Tahrir Square
Authors: HIRSCHKIND CHARLES
Published: February 2012

Competing visions of Egypt's future have long been divided along secular versus religious lines, a split that both the Sadat and Mubarak regimes exploited to weaken political opposition. In this context, one striking feature of the Egyptian uprising that took place last spring is the extent to which it defied characterization in terms of the religious–secular binary. In this commentary, I explore how this movement drew sustenance from a unique political sensibility, one disencumbered of the secular versus religious oppositional logic and its concomitant forms of political rationality. This sensibility has a distinct intellectual genealogy within Egyptian political experience. I focus here on the careers of three Egyptian public intellectuals whose pioneering engagement with the question of the place of Islam within Egyptian political life provided an important part of the scaffolding, in my view, for the practices of solidarity and association that brought down the Mubarak regime. [Egypt, politics, intellectuals, secular, Islam]
Sectarian conflict and family law in contemporary Egypt
Authors: MAHMOOD SABA
Published: February 2012

Egypt continues to experience interreligious sectarian conflict between Muslims and Copts since the overthrow of the Mubarak regime. The same factors that had contributed to escalating violence between the two communities continue to be at play in postrevolutionary Egypt. One of the key sites of sectarian conflict is interreligious marriage and conversion, an issue that ignites the passion and ire of both communities. While issues of sexuality and gender are at the center of these conflicts, religion‐based family law plays a particularly pernicious role. In this essay, I rethink the nexus between family law, gender, and sectarian conflict through an examination of both the history of the emergence of Egyptian family law and the simultaneous relegation of religion and sexuality to the private sphere in the modern period. [sectarianism, Copts, Islam, state, family law, sexuality]
The privilege of revolution: Gender, class, space, and affect in Egypt
Authors: WINEGAR JESSICA
Published: February 2012

In this commentary, I challenge assumptions about political transformation by contrasting women's experiences at home during the Egyptian revolution with the image of the iconic male revolutionary in Tahrir Square. I call attention to the way that revolution is experienced and undertaken in domestic spaces, through different forms of affect, in ways deeply inflected by gender and class. [Egypt, revolution, gender, class, space, affect, generation]
Transgenic‐free territories in Costa Rica: Networks, place, and the politics of life
Authors: PEARSON THOMAS W.
Published: February 2012

Several municipalities across Costa Rica have adopted “transgenic‐free territory” ordinances, joining similar communities worldwide in declaring themselves free from genetically engineered organisms such as transgenic seeds. Through ethnography of antitransgenic activism, I describe the rise of transgenic‐free territories to examine the relationship between transnational activist networks and place‐based struggles. I suggest that activist networks and the transgenic‐free territory designation respond to processes of globalization that have reorganized the material and discursive relations between capital and nature, and I show why such territories have gained significance as a defense of sovereignty, place, and even life itself. [transnational activist networks, nature, life, place, environmentalism, Costa Rica]
The politics of wire service photography: Infrastructures of representation in a digital newsroom
Authors: GÜRSEL ZEYNEP DEVRIM
Published: February 2012

This article examines the politics of image brokering in the daily rituals of a major wire service's photography division. Specifically, it investigates crises of visualization: moments when routine visualization itself is challenged due to changes in infrastructures of representation. The transition to digital transmission has changed work of image brokers—people involved in the creation, validation, packaging, and circulation of images. New image brokers and changed infrastructures of representation challenge established hierarchies and who provides and polices news images. At a moment when the war on terror is also a war of images, battles over the infrastructures of representation are battles over visual worldmaking. [digital, infrastructure of representation, photography, Agence France Presse, journalism, crisis of representation, wire service, visualization, Iraq]
The judge as tragic hero: Judicial ethics in Lebanon's shari'a courts
Authors: CLARKE MORGAN
Published: February 2012

In this article, I present ethnography of judicial practice in Lebanon's shari'a courts and find a tension between the identity of the judges presiding as Islamic religious specialists and their identity as legal professionals. Just applying the rules of the law is incompatible with true religious vocation, which demands personal engagement with the morally needy. But to ignore legal strictures is to be dismissed as a mere sermonizer. I find this case illustrative of a deeper tension between the use of rules and the disciplining of virtuous selves and argue for a new anthropology of rules to set alongside the new anthropology of ethics. [bureaucracy, ethics, Islam, law, Lebanon, rules, shari'a court]
Woven worlds: Material things, bureaucratization, and dilemmas of caregiving in Lutheran humanitarianism
Authors: HALVORSON BRITT
Published: February 2012

In this article, I examine the transition from charitable assistance to a professional model of humanitarianism in one American Lutheran agency that emerged from colonial missions to Madagascar. The agency, “International Health Mission” (IHM), primarily supplies medical technologies to Lutheran clinics in Madagascar, Tanzania, and Cameroon. I argue that popular material devices of relief provision, such as handmade bandages, tie the Christian humanitarian project to older notions of Lutheran faith as caregiving and pose special challenges to the bureaucratic model of aid delivery espoused by IHM. Casting renewed scholarly attention on materiality sheds light on the unique dilemmas facing faith‐based aid agencies that strategically merge political discourses of humanitarianism with religious motivations for their work. [humanitarianism, caregiving, materiality, Christianity]