bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Sequential multiple-assignment randomized trial design of neurobehavioral treatment for patients with metastatic malignant melanoma undergoing high-dose interferon-alpha therapy
Authors: Auyeung S. Freda , Long Qi , Royster Erica Bruce , Murthy Smitha , McNutt Marcia D , Lawson David , Miller Andrew , Manatunga Amita , Musselman Dominique L
Published: September 2009

Background Interferon-alpha therapy, which is used to treat metastatic malignant melanoma, can cause patients to develop two distinct neurobehavioral symptom complexes: a mood syndrome and a neurovegetative syndrome. Interferon-alpha effects on serotonin metabolism appear to contribute to the mood and anxiety syndrome, while the neurovegetative syndrome appears to be related to interferon-alpha effects on dopamine.

Purpose Our goal is to propose a design for utilizing a sequential, multiple assignment, randomized trial design for patients with malignant melanoma to test the relative efficacy of drugs that target serotonin versus dopamine metabolism during 4 weeks of intravenous, then 8 weeks of subcutaneous, interferon-alpha therapy.

Methods Patients will be offered participation in a double-blinded, randomized, controlled, 14-week trial involving two treatment phases. During the first month of intravenous interferon-alpha therapy, we will test the hypotheses that escitalopram will be more effective in reducing depressed mood, anxiety, and irritability, whereas methylphenidate will be more effective in diminishing interferon-alpha-induced neurovegetative symptoms, such as fatigue and psychomotor slowing. During the next 8 weeks of subcutaneous interferon therapy, participants whose symptoms do not improve significantly will be randomized to the alternate agent alone versus escitalopram and methylphenidate together.

Results We present a prototype for a single-center, sequential, multiple assignment, randomized trial, which seeks to determine the efficacy of sequenced and targeted treatment for the two distinct symptom complexes suffered by patients treated with interferon-alpha.

Limitations Because we cannot completely control for external factors, a relevant question is whether or not ‘short-term’ neuropsychiatric interventions can increase the number of interferon-alpha doses tolerated and improve long-term survival. Conclusions This sequential, multiple assignment, randomized trial proposes a framework for developing optimal treatment strategies; however, additional studies are needed to determine the best strategy for treating or preventing neurobehavioral symptoms induced by the immunotherapy interferon-alpha. Clinical Trials 2009; 6: 480—490. http://ctj.sagepub.com
MicroRNA expression profiling during the life cycle of the silkworm (Bombyx mori)
Authors: Liu Shiping , Zhang Liang , Li Qibin , Zhao Ping , Duan Jun , Cheng Daojun , Xiang Zhonghuai , Xia Qingyou
Published: September 2009

Background

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are expressed by a wide range of eukaryotic organisms, and function in diverse biological processes. Numerous miRNAs have been identified in Bombyx mori, but the temporal expression profiles of miRNAs corresponding to each stage transition over the entire life cycle of the silkworm remain to be established. To obtain a comprehensive overview of the correlation between miRNA expression and stage transitions, we performed a whole-life test and subsequent stage-by-stage examinations on nearly one hundred miRNAs in the silkworm.

Results

Our results show that miRNAs display a wide variety of expression profiles over the whole life of the silkworm, including continuous expression from embryo to adult (miR-184), up-regulation over the entire life cycle (let-7 and miR-100), down-regulation over the entire life cycle (miR-124), expression associated with embryogenesis (miR-29 and miR-92), up-regulation from early 3rd instar to pupa (miR-275), and complementary pulses in expression between miR-34b and miR-275. Stage-by-stage examinations revealed further expression patterns, such as emergence at specific time-points during embryogenesis and up-regulation of miRNA groups in late embryos (miR-1 and bantam), expression associated with stage transition between instar and molt larval stages (miR-34b), expression associated with silk gland growth and spinning activity (miR-274), continuous high expression from the spinning larval to pupal and adult stages (miR-252 and miR-31a), a coordinate expression trough in day 3 pupae of both sexes (miR-10b and miR-281), up-regulation in pupal metamorphosis of both sexes (miR-29b), and down-regulation in pupal metamorphosis of both sexes (miR-275).

Conclusion

We present the full-scale expression profiles of miRNAs throughout the life cycle of Bombyx mori. The whole-life expression profile was further investigated via stage-by-stage analysis. Our data provide an important resource for more detailed functional analysis of miRNAs in this animal.
Adjuvant concurrent chemoradiation therapy (CCRT) alone versus CCRT followed by adjuvant chemotherapy: Which is better in patients with radically resected extrahepatic biliary tract cancer?: a non-randomized, single center study
Authors: Lim Kyu-Hyoung , Oh Do-Youn , Chie Eui Kyu , Jang Jin-Young , Im Seock-Ah , Kim Tae-You , Kim Sun-Whe , Ha Sung Whan , Bang Yung-Jue
Published: September 2009

Background

There is currently no standard adjuvant therapy for patients with curatively resected extrahepatic biliary tract cancer (EHBTC). The aim of this study was to analyze the clinical features and outcomes between patients undergoing adjuvant concurrent chemoradiation therapy (CCRT) alone and those undergoing CCRT followed by adjuvant chemotherapy after curative resection.

Methods

We included 120 patients with EHBTC who underwent radical resection and then received adjuvant CCRT with or without further adjuvant chemotherapy between 2000 and 2006 at Seoul National University Hospital.

Results

Out of 120 patients, 30 received CCRT alone, and 90 received CCRT followed by adjuvant chemotherapy. Baseline characteristics were comparable between the two groups. Three-year disease-free survival (DFS) rates for CCRT alone and CCRT followed by adjuvant chemotherapy were 26.6% and 45.2% (p = 0.04), respectively, and 3-year overall survival (OS) rates were 30.8% and 62.6% (p < 0.01), respectively. CCRT followed by adjuvant chemotherapy showed longer survival than did CCRT alone, especially in R1 resection (microscopically positive margins) or negative lymph node.

Conclusion

Adjuvant CCRT followed by adjuvant chemotherapy prolonged DFS and OS, compared with CCRT alone in patients with curatively resected EHBTC. Adjuvant chemotherapy deserves to consider after adjuvant CCRT. In the future, a randomized prospective study will be needed, with the objective of investigating the role of adjuvant chemotherapy.
Early responses of insulin signaling to high-carbohydrate and high-fat overfeeding
Authors: Adochio Rebecca L , Leitner J Wayne , Gray Karen , Draznin Boris , Cornier Marc-Andre
Published: September 2009

Background

Early molecular changes of nutritionally-induced insulin resistance are still enigmatic. It is also unclear if acute overnutrition alone can alter insulin signaling in humans or if the macronutrient composition of the diet can modulate such effects.

Methods

To investigate the molecular correlates of metabolic adaptation to either high-carbohydrate (HC) or high-fat (HF) overfeeding, we conducted overfeeding studies in 21 healthy lean (BMI < 25) individuals (10 women, 11 men), age 20-45, with normal glucose metabolism and no family history of diabetes. Subjects were studied first following a 5-day eucaloric (EC) diet (30% fat, 50% CHO, 20% protein) and then in a counter balanced manner after 5 days of 40% overfeeding of both a HC (20% fat, 60% CHO) diet and a HF (50% fat, 30% CHO) diet. At the end of each diet phase, in vivo insulin sensitivity was assessed using the hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp technique. Ex vivo insulin action was measured from skeletal muscle tissue samples obtained 15 minutes after insulin infusion was initiated.

Results

Overall there was no change in whole-body insulin sensitivity as measured by glucose disposal rate (GDR, EC: 12.1 ± 4.7; HC: 10.9 ± 2.7; HF: 10.8 ± 3.4). Assessment of skeletal muscle insulin signaling demonstrated increased tyrosine phosphorylation of IRS-1 (p < 0.001) and increased IRS-1-associated phosphatidylinositol 3 (PI 3)-kinase activity (p < 0.001) following HC overfeeding. In contrast, HF overfeeding increased skeletal muscle serine phosophorylation of IRS-1 (p < 0.001) and increased total expression of p85α (P < 0.001).

Conclusion

We conclude that acute bouts of overnutrition lead to changes at the cellular level before whole-body insulin sensitivity is altered. On a signaling level, HC overfeeding resulted in changes compatible with increased insulin sensitivity. In contrast, molecular changes in HF overfeeding were compatible with a reduced insulin sensitivity.
Elastic wave-mode separation for VTI media
Authors: Yan Jia , Sava Paul
Published: September 2009

Elastic wave propagation in anisotropic media is well represented by elastic wave equations. Modeling based on elastic wave equations characterizes both kinematics and dynamics correctly. However, because P- and S-modes are both propagated using elastic wave equations, there is a need to separate P- and S-modes to efficiently apply single-mode processing tools. In isotropic media, wave modes are usually separated using Helmholtz decomposition. However, Helmholtz decomposition using conventional divergence and curl operators in anisotropic media does not give satisfactory results and leaves the different wave modes only partially separated. The separation of anisotropic wavefields requires more sophisticated operators that depend on local material parameters. Anisotropic wavefield-separation operators are constructed using the polarization vectors evaluated at each point of the medium by solving the Christoffel equation for local medium parameters. These polarization vectors can be represented in the space domain as localized filtering operators, which resemble conventional derivative operators. The spatially variable pseudo-derivative operators perform well in heterogeneous VTI media even at places of rapid velocity/density variation. Synthetic results indicate that the operators can be used to separate wavefields for VTI media with an arbitrary degree of anisotropy.
A stable one-way wave propagator for VTI media
Authors: Bakker Peter M.
Published: September 2009

For the purpose of one-way wave-equation imaging, a pseudoscreen propagator is developed for transversely isotropic media with vertical axes of symmetry. The phase shift for propagation through a depth slice is decomposed into three terms: a Gazdag phase shift for propagation in a laterally homogeneous reference medium, a correction for lateral variability of vertical propagation, and a remaining wide-angle term for oblique directions of propagation. Based on rational function approximation for this remaining wide-angle term, a Fourier finite-difference (FFD) approach with four-way splitting is applied. Fourth-order Padé approximation is unsatisfactory in anelliptic media for large propagation angles with respect to the vertical direction. Therefore, a method of coefficient optimization is developed in conjunction with a method of choosing an adequate homogeneous reference medium in a depth slice. By symmetrizing the finite-difference operators, and because of the choice of the optimized coefficients, the propagator is stable in the sense that the least-squares norm of the wavefield, measured for a frequency-depth slice, does not grow with increasing depth of propagation. A small amount of artificial damping is applied to suppress artifacts that appear at the critical angle defined by the velocities in the reference medium and the actual medium. Synthetic examples confirm that good kinematic accuracy is achieved for a wide range of propagation angles (typically up to 60°).
Can Chemotherapy Be Discontinued in Unresectable Metastatic Colorectal Cancer? The GERCOR OPTIMOX2 Study
Authors: Chibaudel Benoist , Maindrault-Goebel Frédérique , Lledo Gérard , Mineur Laurent , André Thierry , Bennamoun Mostepha , Mabro May , Artru Pascal , Carola Elisabeth , Flesch Michel , Dupuis Olivier , Colin Philippe , Larsen Annette K. , Afchain Pauline , Tournigand Christophe , Louvet Christophe , de Gramont Aimery
Published: September 2009

Purpose

This study compared chemotherapy discontinuation with maintenance therapy with leucovorin and fluorouracil after six cycles of folinic acid, fluorouracil, and oxaliplatin (FOLFOX) chemotherapy in the first-line treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer.

Patients and Methods

Two hundred two patients with untreated metastatic colorectal cancer were randomly assigned to receive six cycles of modified FOLFOX7 (mFOLFOX7) followed by simplified leucovorin plus bolus and infusional fluorouracil until progression (arm 1 or maintenance arm, n = 98) or six cycles of mFOLFOX7 before a complete stop of chemotherapy (arm 2 or chemotherapy-free interval [CFI] arm, n = 104). Reintroduction of mFOLFOX7 was scheduled after tumor progression in both arms. The primary study end point was duration of disease control (DDC).

Results

Median DDC was 13.1 months in patients assigned to the maintenance arm and 9.2 months in patients assigned to the CFI arm (P = .046). Median progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival were 8.6 and 23.8 months, respectively, in the maintenance arm and 6.6 and 19.5 months, respectively, in the CFI arm. Median duration of maintenance therapy (arm 1) and CFIs (arm 2) were 4.8 months and 3.9 months, respectively. Overall response rates were 59.2% and 59.6% for the initial FOLFOX chemotherapy and 20.4% and 30.3% for FOLFOX reintroduction in arms 1 and 2, respectively.

Conclusion

The planned complete discontinuation of chemotherapy had a negative impact on DDC and PFS compared with the maintenance therapy strategy. These results suggest that chemotherapy discontinuation cannot be decided before therapy is initiated in patients with advanced colorectal cancer.
Optimal Pricing with Speculators and Strategic Consumers
Authors: Su Xuanming
Published: September 2009

This paper studies a monopolist firm selling a fixed capacity. The firm sets a price before demand uncertainty is resolved. Speculators may enter the market purely with the intention of resale, which can be profitable if demand turns out to be high. Consumers may strategically choose when to purchase, and they may also choose to purchase from the firm or from the speculators. We characterize equilibrium prices and profits and analyze the long-run capacity decisions of the firm. There are three major findings. First, the presence of speculators increases the firm's expected profits even though the resale market competes with the firm. Second, by facilitating resale, the firm can mimic dynamic pricing outcomes and enjoy the associated benefits while charging a fixed price. Third, speculative behavior may generate incentives for the seller to artificially restrict supply, and thus may lead to lower capacity investments. We also explore several model extensions that highlight the robustness of our results.
Cultural stereotypes of disabled and non‐disabled men and women: Consensus for global category representations and diagnostic domains
Authors: Nario‐Redmond Michelle R.
Published: September 2009

Despite the fact that disabled people comprise a heterogeneous social group, cross‐impairment cultural stereotypes reflect a consistent set of beliefs used to characterize this population as dependent, incompetent, and asexual. Using a free‐response methodology, stereotypical beliefs about disabled men (DM) and women (DW) were contrasted against the stereotypes of their non‐disabled counterparts illustrating the dimensions considered most diagnostic of each group. Results revealed that both disabled and non‐disabled participants expressed consensus about the contents of group stereotypes that exaggerate traditional gender role expectations of the non‐disabled while minimizing perceived differences between DM and DW. Implications for the field of stereotyping and prejudice, and the individual and system justifying functions of cultural stereotypes are discussed.
Pro‐environmental actions, climate change, and defensiveness: Do self‐affirmations make a difference to people's motives and beliefs about making a difference?
Authors: Sparks Paul , Jessop Donna C. , Chapman James , Holmes Katherine
Published: September 2009

Social concerns with the imperative of environmentally sustainable life‐styles sit rather awkwardly with ideas about the widespread denial of global environmental problems. Given the very obvious threat and denial dimensions to these issues, we conducted two studies assessing the impact of self‐affirmation manipulations on people's beliefs and motives regarding pro‐environmental actions. In Study 1, participants (N =125) completed a self‐affirmation task and read information on the threat of climate change. Results showed that the self‐affirmation manipulation resulted in lower levels of denial and greater perceptions of personal involvement in relation to climate change. In Study 2, participants (N =90) completed a self‐affirmation task and read some information on recycling. Findings showed a beneficial effect of a self‐affirmation manipulation on intentions to increase recycling behaviour (among lower recyclers). The results are discussed in relation to the potential benefits of self‐affirmation manipulations for promoting pro‐environmental actions.
Don Juan domesticado o la desmitificación del tipo en No hay cosa como callar de Calderón
Authors: Costales Kathleen
Published: September 2009

Casi la mitad de los estudios sobre la comedia No hay cosa como callar comentan, pero sin profundizar, las grandes semejanzas entre el don Juan tirsiano y el don Juan de No hay cosa como callar de Calderón. Este trabajo intenta remediar en parte esa laguna, al examinar la forma en que Calderón se enfrenta con la popularidad de don Juan en su protagonista, a la vez que distorsiona esta imagen en un intento de "corregir" la obra tirsiana. Hay muchos paralelismos entre las dos obras, pero Calderón se desvía del original, y son estas variantes las que nos llevan a simpatizar con la víctima al mismo tiempo que nos distancian del atacante. Ya una vez distanciado de don Juan, es difícil que el público o el lector le admire. Los dos don Juanes terminan por dar la mano, pero don Juan de Mendoza, en vez de dársela a una estatua infernal, se la da en matrimonio a Leonor, y, muy lejos de las proporciones míticas de su predecesor, Calderón nos presenta a un hombre que sucumbe a la justicia femenina, casándose con Leonor.
La fecha de composición de El Tuzaní de la Alpujarra o Amor después de la muerte de Pedro Calderón de la Barca
Authors: Devos Brent
Published: September 2009

Este ensayo parte de la tesis que el año de 1633, sugerido en 1871 por Gregorio Cruzada Villamil y repetida hasta hoy en la crítica como fecha de composición de El Tuzaní de la Alpujarra , carece de apoyo documental. Entre la comedia más temprana de Calderón, estrenada en 1623 y la primera evidencia documentada de El Tuzaní en 1659, hay un lapso de 36 años. Para especificar más la fecha de composición de la comedia, se consideran las fuentes historiográficas empleadas por Calderón y se discuten varias conjeturas, entre ellos la sugerencia de T. E. Case de que la temática de la comedia responde a la discusión que había en la Corte a principios de los años treinta sobre las consecuencias negativas de la expulsión de los moriscos. Luego se consideran dos aspectos de la comedia que pueden sugerir una fecha más precisa: la extensión de la primera jornada (876 versos); y la jerga morisca del gracioso, Alcuzcuz. Un análisis de las quince comedias calderonianas cuyas primeras jornadas cuentan con menos de mil versos sugiere que El Tuzaní es anterior a 1637. Un estudio del desarrollo de la jerga morisca en la Comedia, desde los dramaturgos pre-lopescos hasta el final del siglo XVII, indica que aquella empleada en El Tuzaní es anterior a 1635. Se concluye que El Tuzaní de la Alpujarra fue escrita probablemente durante la primera mitad de los años treinta del siglo XVII.
Vélez de Guevara contextualizado: una vida singular y su ámbito ético
Authors: Peale C. George
Published: September 2009

En este ensayo se propone reconsiderar la biografía de Luis Vélez de Guevara, con énfasis particular en aquellos aspectos que desde el siglo XIX han determinado los negativos juicios críticos acerca de Vélez y su obra, contextualizándolos con "nuevos" documentos descubiertos en los archivos de Simancas y de Palacio, en Madrid. Más específicamente, se cuestiona la pobreza y pedigüeñería del poeta, nociones que desde Mesonero Romanos y Cotarelo han enmarcado el discurso crítico en torno a Vélez y su relativa importancia en la historia del teatro español. También se estudia la cuestión de sus matrimonios y contactos sociales, que para la época eran excepcionales. De este contexto histórico y social emerge otra imagen, no solamente de Vélez de Guevara, sino de sus coetáneos y el ámbito moral en que vivieron.
Dreaming a Post-Colonial Calderón: José Rivera's Sueño
Authors: Quintero María Cristina
Published: September 2009

In 1998, the Puerto Rican playwright José Rivera wrote an adaptation of Calderón's La vida es sueño . The play, entitled simply Sueño , represents a post-colonialist re-imagining of the celebrated Spanish comedia . While ostensibly adhering to the original plot "moment by moment," Rivera nevertheless transforms the tone and language of the source in order to offer a critique of imperialist policies, both historic and modern. In addition, Sueño dramatizes the challenges and rewards of adapting a prestigious literary model, a process that Rivera identifies as "Oedipal." The contemporary play invites a dialectical, intertextual approach, and it would be difficult to appreciate its full import without the counterpoint provided by the progenitor text. This article examines the manner in which a modern playwright with a clear ideological agenda confronts the canonicity and authority of the seventeenth-century masterpiece.
Chivo expiatorio, nación y comedia en Las paces de los reyes y judía de Toledo de Lope de Vega
Authors: Lorenzo Javier
Published: September 2009

El ensayo examina la utilidad del concepto de chivo expiatorio acuñado por el filósofo y crítico literario René Girard para analizar el proceso de construcción de la identidad nacional y su relación con la teoría dramática de la comedia en La judía de Toledo / Las paces de los Reyes (1610) de Lope de Vega. Tal concepto aparece estrechamente vinculado en la obra de Lope al sacrificio de la judía Raquel, amante del rey Alfonso VIII de Castilla, cuya ejecución a manos de la reina Leonor y los nobles castellanos en el segundo acto tiene el mismo efecto regenerativo que Girard atribuye a la inmolación del chivo expiatorio en los mitos y rituales de diversas religiones: supresión de tensiones internas en el seno de un grupo y afianzamiento de las diferencias religiosas y étnicas que definen la identidad del mismo. En efecto, la muerte de Raquel en el texto de Lope permite, por un lado, la reconciliación matrimonial de los monarcas y, por otro, el relanzamiento de la política de guerra santa y "sangre limpia" que define al reino de Castilla. Esto convierte a la judía, paradójicamente, en soporte y catalizador de la identidad nacional castellana y, al mismo tiempo, en emblema de la comedia de Lope, cuya práctica dramática se distingue precisamente por el uso de finales reconciliatorios que eluden la catástrofe prescriptiva de la dramaturgia clásica y en los que el orden social y político queda convenientemente restablecido. La figura de Raquel juega, pues, un papel crucial en el diseño dramático e ideológico de la obra de Lope, lo cual permite al dramaturgo presentar ante el público una versión alternativa de su "arte habitual" de hacer comedias y del proceso de formación de la identidad nacional al conceder en ambos un lugar protagónico a las minorías.
Los escenarios de la memoria: psicodrama en El trato de Argel de Cervantes
Authors: Domínguez Julia
Published: September 2009

Analizado desde la óptica de las ideas de la psicoanalista Joyce McDougall en Theaters of the Mind y el psicodrama de Jacob Levy Moreno, El trato de Argel sirve como posible e hipotético reflejo del mundo interno de Cervantes. Por medio del psicodrama, el individuo examina su persona y sus relaciones personales mediante la actuación improvisada sobre un escenario solo o con otros personajes. Existen diferentes técnicas utilizadas en el psicodrama (representaciones del yo, soliloquios, proyecciones, intercambio de papeles, personajes antagónicos, juegos de dobles o la técnica del espejo) por medio de las cuales el individuo sometido a estudio explora conflictos internos puestos en escena a través de diferentes personajes que dramatizan la experiencia. Este conjunto de técnicas utilizadas en el psicodrama se observan igualmente en El trato de Argel , donde Cervantes reconstruye su pasado dando rienda suelta a los fantasmas del cautiverio argelino. En la pieza teatral, Cervantes pone en escena una treintena de personajes antagónicos y complementarios entre sí que hacen eco de las experiencias vividas por el mismo escritor durante su cautiverio en Argel, reconstruyendo el pasado desde distintos ángulos y perspectivas. El espectador tiene ante sí un "yo" fragmentado a través de personajes en contradicción que buscan salida por medio de la puesta en escena y que se mueven en espacios ambivalentes y heterogéneos. El Trato de Argel se convierte en psicodrama que captura metafóricamente los conflictos internos propios de la psicología tradicional del cautivo como son los diferentes niveles del cautiverio, la tortura, la sensación de abandono por parte del gobierno y la familia, la apostasía, el rescate, la huida o el suicidio.
Supersession, the Comedia nueva , and Tirso's La mejor espigadera
Authors: Stroud Matthew D.
Published: September 2009

Supersession is a familiar concept in the history of the rise of Christianity at the expense of the Jews, who found themselves displaced as the People of the Covenant. The history of Spain is also one of supersession accomplished not entirely by means of eradication of the former regime or faith but in addition by taking on the mantle of cultural and religious dominance and essentially inhabiting the space of power and privilege previously occupied by others. As an adjunct to empire, Spaniards adopted the idea that they were God's real chosen people, not just by expelling the Jews from the peninsula but by taking upon themselves markers of special status traditionally used by Jews; even the term "gentiles" was appropriated to refer to non-Spaniards. Thus, at the same time that Jews were exiled from Spain and conversos were actively persecuted, figures from the Hebrew Bible continued to be exalted in Spanish literature. Tirso's La mejor espigadera is a useful case study, not only because it presents the story of one of the righteous women of the Bible, but how a non-Jewish figure can rise to become not just revered by the Israelites but an ancestor of King David and, eventually, Jesus Christ. If we then expand the focus of the notion of supersession to the theatrical genre of the comedia itself, we see how the playwrights, especially as documented in Lope's "Arte nuevo," consciously set out to establish the new comedia nueva as the model destined to supersede Aristotelian precepts of what constitutes a proper play.
The New Deal Was a Good Idea, We Should Try It This Time
Authors: Gordon Linda
Published: September 2009

On the blogs, in the newspapers, in restaurants, there has been so much discussion of the New Deal lately that the chatter could seem like that at a historians' convention. Conservatives express panic about socialism and argue that the New Deal experience proved government intervention into the economy does not work. Liberals talk of the New Deal as if it had been a panacea. By contrast, in the 1930s the opposition to Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal came from the Left as well as the Right. A Popular Front of politicized citizens ranging from liberals to communists complained that programs were inadequate both in reach and funding.
Getting Darfur Wrong
Authors: Reeves Eric
Published: September 2009

The Darfur genocide has the perverse distinction of being the longest and most fully chronicled genocide of the last century. Our contemporaneous knowledge of what happened and what is happening comes from dozens of comprehensive human rights reports dating from 2003 and earlier, accounts from international humanitarian organizations, and detailed research by policy and advocacy groups such at the International Crisis Group and Refugees International. And there is extraordinary congruence in the accounts. Although some, such as Human Rights Watch, have found it difficult to come to consensus on the question of "genocidal intent," there is broad agreement about the ethnically targeted nature of the crimes and the role of the Khartoum regime in orchestrating the deaths of hundreds of thousands and the displacement of some three million Darfuris, overwhelmingly from the non Arab, African tribal populations of the region.
It's Still the Economy
Authors: Levinson Mark
Published: September 2009

The recession that started in December 2007 was already in its ninth month when a tumultuous ten days in September 2008 shook the world. First the U.S. government nationalized Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; then the investment banking house Merrill Lynch was forcibly merged into Bank of America; the next day Lehman Brothers crashed, which was quickly followed by the nationalization of the American International Group, the world's largest insurance company, which, unlike Lehman, was deemed too big to fail. As credit froze, orders for new goods and investment halted, trade plummeted, and unemployment soared. The recession was on its way to becoming the longest and deepest downturn since the Great Depression.
What Is to Be Learned?: Thinking about 1989
Authors: Cohen Mitchell
Published: September 2009

When the Berlin Wall cracked on November 9, 1989, the clock struck thirteen in the Soviet bloc, and its hands halted. History went on. Rotting dictatorships in eastern and central Europe, long sustained by and for Moscow, had been crumpling for some time. Western-style democratic structures (some sturdy, some less so) would supplant them. Europe's politics and that of the world were recast in a largely unforeseen but exhilarating year of liberation from police states. In its aftermath, a newly unified Germany integrated both into Europe and the Western alliance, while a hobbling Soviet Union dissolved after a failed coup against Communist Party Secretary-General Mikhail Gorbachev in summer 1991. Then Boris Yeltsin's "shock therapy" enfeebled further its Russian successor.
Welfare and the Poorest of the Poor
Authors: Edelman Peter
Published: September 2009

Next year, welfare as we now know it is slated to come before Congress for reauthorization. By "welfare" I mean federally financed cash assistance to low-income mothers (and occasionally fathers) with children. Welfare as we used to know it was the program called Aid to Families with Dependent Children, in effect from 1935 to 1996. It was hardly generous (as well as being otherwise flawed), but it nonetheless succumbed in 1996 to three decades of conservative attack. The allegation was that it had created undue numbers of long-term recipients; it had fostered welfare dependency. The program was replaced by Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), which made it much harder to obtain assistance and imposed stringent time limits.
The Academic Devolution
Authors: Williams Jeffrey J.
Published: September 2009

In 1968, Christopher Jencks and David Riesman published a book called The Academic Revolution . It tells the success story of American higher education, from small, sectarian colleges to the major universities of the postwar era. Its revolution is not that of students but the professionalization of faculty and the new stress on research. Jencks and Riesman observe that, for the first time in American history, professors were more preoccupied with research than teaching, with their discipline than their campus, and with graduate education than undergraduate. Stressing "the rise to power of the academic professions," Jencks and Riesman might well have called their book "The Rise of the Professors."
From Microcredit to a World Without Profit?: Muhammad Yunus Wrestles with Moving Beyond a Society Based on Greed
Authors: Engler Mark
Published: September 2009

Muhammad Yunus, the Bangladeshi economist, godfather of microcredit, and founder of the now-famous Grameen Bank, enchants many different types of people with his imaginings of a better future. A popular public speaker, Yunus is a relatively short man with a silver mane, a beaming round face, and a perpetually optimistic demeanor. He seems humble even when making grandiose claims, and, with his warm-heartedness, makes whatever he has on offer seem delightfully agreeable. At his talks, he regularly draws standing ovations from socially conscious progressives, business-oriented free-marketers, and numerous personalities in between.
Women, the Recession, and the Stimulus Package
Authors: Hartmann Heidi
Published: September 2009

Last winter, as Barack Obama's transition team developed a stimulus package to jumpstart the U.S economy, feminist economists and historians organized petitions, e-mails, and meetings to call attention to women's needs. Their activism was unprecedented; I have not seen the like during all my time in the nation's capital. While it bears some resemblance to the work of academic women around welfare reform in the early 1990s, this mobilization was more spontaneous, more rapid, and probably less visible to the public. It also faded fairly quickly. The mobilization targeted the transition team, largely through e-mail petitions. Although feminists wrote op-eds and letters to the editor, there were no press conferences or ads in the New York Times , as there had been during the longer welfare reform campaign. Arguably, though, this mobilization was more successful in its outcome.
Women's Anniversaries: Snapshots of Polish Feminism since 1989
Authors: Snitow Ann
Published: September 2009

On June 4, 2009, Poland celebrated the twenty-year mark since the first (partially) free elections in the Soviet bloc, the result of the roundtables where communist and Solidarity leaders negotiated what we now recognize as the beginning of the end of communism in all of East Central Europe. (Some recall this moment as a politically brilliant breakthrough to freedom, others as an unholy coalition between bankrupt socialist managers and neo-liberals.) Though my focus here is Polish women's organizing in these twenty years, for everyone the scale of social and economic reorganization is barely imaginable. Older people, often too busy recasting their lives to reflect on what such massive change means to them, have a fleeting sense of wonder. Those now in college were born in 1989; for them, life under communism is something their parents remember and can barely communicate, drowned out, as past experience is, in the cascade of new opportunities, new things to buy, new calls to urgent self-invention.
Remembering Joe Turner: Neo-slavery in the South
Authors: Lichtenstein Alex
Published: September 2009

As the playwright and chronicler of twentieth-century African American life August Wilson recognized, the modern
experience of forced labor haunted the black imagination long after the abolition of slavery.

They tell me Joe Turner’s come and gone

Ohhh Lordy…

Got my man and gone

Come with forty links of chain

Ohhh Lordy

Got my man and gone
Who Is Really 'Deserving'?: Inequality and the Ethics of Social Inheritance
Authors: Alperovitz Gar , Daly Lew
Published: September 2009

The start of the twenty-first century finds America in a perilous state that many consider to be a turning point in our history, one that could lead to a painful decline in living standards. According to recent polls, a majority of Americans believe that today's children will not fare better than their parents did, and many will fare worse. Such pessimism is justified. Between the slow decline of average wages and benefits since the late 1970s, and the huge overhang of consumer and public debt, there seems to be nowhere to turn for prosperity. Much attention is focused on health care, education, and retirement, systems in deep crisis as the costs of these critical life-cycle needs have risen far beyond both the earning and saving capacity of average households and the spending capacity of government at current tax levels.
U.S. Workers Confront Growing Insecurity
Authors: Brand Horst
Published: September 2009

Unemployment is now the most critical issue of the current recession, whose depth and duration remain unpredictable despite the federal stimulus program. New sources of economic growth sufficiently vigorous and labor-intensive to absorb the growing pool of redundant workers, domestically and internationally, are not currently in view. Even if they were, development would be stymied by the vast corporate and household indebtedness yet to be liquidated. I will discuss some of these matters here, as well as some of the forces that resist attempts by labor and its advocates to raise and stabilize worker income and relieve unemployment.
Arms for the World: How the U.S. Military Shapes American Foreign Policy
Authors: Cohen Michael A.
Published: September 2009

This past April, the U.S. Department of Defense released an inauspicious two-page "Fact Sheet" outlining the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), a comprehensive examination of the U.S. military's strategic posture. Such a document rarely raises eyebrows outside the cloistered world of military analysts and wonks. But this unremarkable two-pager speaks volumes about the roles and responsibilities of the U.S. military in the beginning of the twenty-first century. It begins by laying out an exhaustive list of "threats and challenges the nation faces." Key security challenges include "violent extremist movements, the spread of weapons of mass destruction, rising powers with sophisticated weapons, failed or failing states, and increasing encroachment across the global commons (air, sea, space, cyber-space)." Confronting these challenges suggests a broad national mandate for the U.S. military.
Images of Terror: Enduring the Scars of 9/11
Authors: Mills Nicolaus
Published: September 2009

On April 27 of this year, Air Force One rattled windows and shocked New Yorkers when it did a low flyover above New York Harbor. The flyover was deliberate. Government officials thought that it was time to update the pictures they were using of Air Force One. They wanted to photograph the president's plane with the Statue of Liberty in the background. But the officials forgot that for millions of Americans—particularly New Yorkers—such pictures and images are inseparable from those of 9/11. What New Yorkers in Lower Manhattan saw on April 27 was not Air Force One, but a Boeing 747 flying like the planes that had struck the World Trade Center eight years earlier. The response of those on the ground who were frightened was deeply visceral, but it was also a reminder of how quickly the images of 9/11 became a political asset for a Bush administration eager to take the country into war with Iraq.
The Reckless Mind of Slavoj Žižek
Authors: Johnson Alan
Published: September 2009

In a stream of writings and talks since 1989, the Slovenian social theorist Slavoj Žižek has blended Lacanian psychoanalysis and Hegelian philosophy with film criticism, cultural studies, and authoritarian Marxism to earn a reputation as "one of the most dazzling figures on the intellectual left," in the words of social theorist Alex Callinicos. There are Žižek T-Shirts, Žižek YouTube pages, an International Journal of Žižek Studies , Žižek CDs and DVDs, even Žižek! , the movie. "He has travelled the globe like an intellectual rock star for the past twenty years, gathering as he goes an immense fan club," says literary critic Terry Eagleton.
Religion as a Form of Hope: Reflections by a Lifelong Agnostic
Authors: Goodheart Eugene
Published: September 2009

It is a difficult time for a rational defense of religion. Because for most of my life I thought of myself as an atheist (and
in certain moods still do), I never imagined that I would find myself a defender. The prevalence of fundamentalism in
various forms, particularly in its fanatical and murderous manifestations both in the developed and the developing
worlds, would seem to be a caution against the embrace of religion. What has provoked me as an agnostic to defend
the existence of religion (without embracing it)? First is its legacy in literature and the arts and, second, the tone
deafness of neo-Darwinians who see nothing in the religious life except superstition and fanaticism. They are of
course incapable of seeing the fanatical motes in their own eyes.
Iran: Downside to the "Twitter Revolution"
Authors: Morozov Evgeny
Published: September 2009

Among the unpleasant surprises that awaited Barack Obama's administration during the post-election turmoil in Iran, the unexpected role of the Internet must have been most rankling. A few government wonks might have expected Iranians to rebel, but who could predict they would do so using Silicon Valley's favorite toys? Team Obama, never shy to tout its mastery of all things digital, was caught off guard and, at least for a moment or two, appeared ill-informed about the heady developments in Iranian cyberspace. Speaking a few days after the protests began, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton confessed that she wouldn't know "a Twitter from a tweeter, but apparently, it's very important"—referring to Twitter, a popular mix between a blogging service and a social network that enables its users to exchange brief messages of up to 140 characters in length.
Europe's Left and the Unemployment Crisis
Authors: Taylor Robert
Published: September 2009

Europe is suffering from its highest level of unemployment in more than a generation, and European social democrats have been
unable to formulate an effective political response.One in ten of Europe’s workers are without paid work. The number amounts to
more than twenty-four million people, and looks set to rise across the continent even if the European economy as a whole starts to
grow again next year. The jobs outlook is particularly bleak for the young, those aged eighteen to twenty-five. Recent school leavers
and university graduates face a particularly tough time. It is estimated that one in five of them are destined in the immediate future for
a life without paid work. In Eastern Europe the jobs crisis is even more acute, with the resulting threat of widespread social and
political unrest. Only a handful of smaller West European countries—notably the Netherlands and Denmark—may be able to avoid
the worst, but even there unemployment in 2010 will probably reach levels not seen since the Great Depression.
Liberalism and Its Friends
Authors: Meyerson Harold
Published: September 2009

This should be the liberal hour. American conservatism is in crisis, both intellectually (it has no affirmative agenda) and politically (its strategy has been reduced to mobilizing white resentment at Barack Obama and the emerging multiracial America he personifies). Obama and a heavily Democratic Congress have embarked upon a range of liberal projects: crafting universal health coverage, attacking global warming, bolstering workers' rights. And yet—you may have seen reports of this in the news—they have encountered obstacles along the way. Despite the stunning success of last year's Obama campaign in mobilizing millions of volunteers, the passion and the noise in these legislative battles seem to come chiefly from the Right. If this is the liberal hour, where are the liberals? Where's their self-confidence? Where's their élan?
(Ms.)reading Erica Jong's Fear of Flying
Authors: Barkan Joanne
Published: September 2009

In 1973—the same year that the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade , legalizing abortion, the U.S. House of Representatives accepted its first female page, and AT&T settled a major lawsuit by agreeing to end pay discrimination against women—Holt, Rinehart and Winston published Erica Jong's Fear of Flying, the mock memoir of a young woman's quest for autonomy, adventure, and mind-altering sex. Love it or hate it, the book made history.
The hardback edition (November 1973) reached the lower rungs of the best-seller list with reviews that ranged from rave to scathing. The paperback (November 1974) sold three million copies within months and was number one on the charts.
Beethoven in the Shadows of Berlin: Karajan's European Anthem
Authors: Buch Esteban
Published: September 2009

The musical symbol of the European Union is the work of a former Nazi Party member. How this happened and what it says about the new Europe is troubling. The European anthem is the instrumental melody of "Ode to Joy," from Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony , first performed in Vienna in 1824. The European Council—the highest organ of the European Union, composed of leaders of EU member states—gave the melody this official status in 1985. The decision fulfilled plans for the song first laid out on July 8, 1971, in West Berlin by the Council of Europe, the first postwar European institution whose chief purpose is the defense of human rights. The official arrangement of the new anthem was conceived by the director of the Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan, who published the score under Schott Music, made a recording with the classical music label Deutsche Grammophon, and promoted it in the media with his orchestra. Karajan's arrangement is protected under copyright, and the copyright holder belonged to the Nazi Party from 1935 to 1945.
Let the People Speak: Rethinking the Initiative Process
Authors: Rubin Lillian B.
Published: September 2009

Let the people speak! Words enshrined in American political life since we were but a collection of colonies and the
issues of the day were aired and decided at the Town Hall Meetings that defined the political culture of the time. And
speak they did, whether in the late-seventeenth-century Salem witch hunts inspired by Puritan theology or in 1773,
when the Boston Tea Party signaled the popular discontent with British rule that led to the American Revolution.
The High Line
Authors: Mills Nicolaus
Published: September 2009

The High Line , the elevated train track built in the 1930s to service the warehouses on Manhattan's West Side, should by rights have been torn down in the 1980s, when trains stopped using it. But instead, a small miracle happened. The High Line has been turned into an urban park. New York now has its version of the Promenade Plantée in Paris, the elevated walkway that runs from the Bastille Opera House to the Bois de Vincennes.
Declarations of Independence
Authors: Bérubé Michael
Published: September 2009

I made my first acquaintance with George Scialabba's work under unfortunate circumstances. It was the fall of 1995, and a colleague e-mailed me to complain about Scialabba's review of Roger Kimball's and Hilton Kramer's Against the Grain: The New Criterion on Art and Intellect at the End of the Twentieth Century , which had just appeared in these pages. My friend was stunned that Scialabba appeared to come down on the Dark Side of the culture wars: "In its crusade against the politicization of contemporary culture, the New Criterion is—on the whole, in the main, and not to put too fine a point on it—right." "Looks like the old Woody Allen joke has finally come to fruition," my snarky colleague said. " Dissent and Commentary have merged to form Dysentery ."