bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
‘Relevance’ Revisited: School Science Educational External Efficiency and the Production of Appropriate Human Capital in Agrarian Developing Countries
Authors: Vlaardingerbroek Barend
Published: March 2013

THIS paper applies the human capital and educational external efficiency paradigms to science education in agrarian developing nations. It is argued that historical dysfunctions of schooling present external inefficiencies that may be traced to the lack of rural development as a primary cause. Science education is discussed within this framework. It is proposed that the nexus with rural development delineates the relevance of formal educational structures, and of curricula, in agrarian developing societies. Technology-based science education as part of an intersectoral rural transformation strategy is proposed as an overdue nexus between science educational ‘relevance’ and external efficiency for these societies.
Quality of School Life and Students' Achievement in the HSC: A Multilevel Analysis
Authors: Mok Magdalena , Flynn Marcellin
Published: March 2013

THIS study examines the relationship between Year 12 students' perceptions of life in Catholic schools and their achievement in the Higher School Certificate (HSC) examination. It investigates whether the quality of school life which students experience differs across Catholic schools and whether it still affects students' achievement in the HSC when school and student background variables are controlled. The study was conducted by surveying 4949 students from 44 Catholic high schools in New South Wales, in May 1990 regarding their perceptions of the quality of school life. Student achievement was measured by their Tertiary Entrance Score at the HSC examination in November 1990. The clear picture which emerges suggests that Catholic schools differ considerably in terms of students' HSC achievement and that the quality of school life which students experience in these schools has a significant impact on their academic achievement over and above student characteristics and background characteristics of the schools.
Education: Deprofessionalised? or Reregulated, Reorganised and Reauthorised?
Authors: Seddon Terri
Published: March 2013

THIS paper considers recent claims that education is being deprofessionalised. It argues that judgements about the deprofessionalisation, or reprofessionalisation, of education are made relative to different theories of professionalism and discusses the way different theories of professionalism encourage particular focuses on, and readings of, empirical data. The paper suggests that recent theoretical developments which see professionalism as discourse offer a way of rethinking professionalism and educational change as part of an ongoing politics of knowledge, power and social groups which plays out in relationships between state and civil society. The challenge is to see deprofessionalisation and reprofessionalisation as part of an ongoing politics of knowledge, power and social organisation, and to consider the character and parameters of preferred reprofessionalisation that might be pursued through contemporary processes of educational change.
Deprofessionalisation of State School Teaching: A Victorian Industrial Relations Saga
Authors: Spaull Andrew
Published: March 2013

DEPROFESSIONALISATION of school teaching has occurred through a number of managerial interventions. This study focuses on the erosion of teachers' rights and conditions of employment through the attempted deregulation of the state education industry in Victoria. This process, closely identified with radical labour market reforms, has been fiercely contested by Victorian state school teachers and their unions, especially over procedural rule making in industrial relations. This type of rule making relates to the processes of regulation and the jurisdictions made available to employers and unions by governments, the courts and the industrial tribunals. The recent struggles over procedural rule making, it is argued, have governed the pace and trajectory of the deprofessionalisation of state school teaching. It remains a continuing contest.
‘Rekindling the Spark’: Teachers' Experiences of ‘Accelerative Learning’
Authors: Poynting Scott , Noble Greg
Published: March 2013

SEVERAL teacher training packages called ‘Accelerative Learning’ (AL) have recently attracted widespread support among teachers in Australian schools. AL purports to expound a ‘brain theory’, covering various ‘learning styles’. This project investigated the experience of teachers who were attracted by AL. The authors surveyed AL texts, conducted participant observation in AL training, and interviewed AL proponents including 24 teachers at three Western Sydney secondary schools. We found a sense of revitalisation for teachers undertaking AL. While the brain theory of AL resonates with teachers' ‘scientific’ training, its formulaic solutions deal with the craft aspect of teaching. Teachers are seeking immediately practical solutions to the crisis they are experiencing with intensification of their work. Appearing to ‘cater to’ learners overlooked in ‘conventional’ teaching, AL's formulas fix differences in cultures of learning into individual, biological ones — reinforcing social inequalities. Nevertheless an important grain of good sense can be identified in teachers' common sense of AL, in its returning of schools' attention to pedagogy.
Performance Appraisal, Performance Management and Quality in Higher Education: Contradictions, Issues and Guiding Principles for the Future
Authors: Lonsdale Alan
Published: March 2013

The quality of institutional outcomes depends fundamentally on the work of staff, individually and collectively. Systematic staff appraisal or performance management procedures are generally assumed to comprise an important part of quality management and development in higher education institutions. Past approaches to such appraisal and performance management in higher education have had limited and confused purposes and their contribution to enhanced institutional performance and quality has been minimal. In some cases, the impact has been negative. For performance management to be relevant to the management and development of quality in the 21st century, the spotlight will need to fall on the manner in which organisational units are managed and led, and on the nurturing of teams, rather than the management of individual performance. A shift in emphasis from management to leadership will be required such that performance management becomes a central element in the leadership of change and the provision of transformational leadership.
Transitions and the Year 7 Experience: A Report from the 12 to 18 Project
Authors: Yates Lyn
Published: March 2013

This article discusses students' comments about the experience of shifting from primary to secondary schooling, and of their first year of secondary school. The material was gathered from research carried out in three Victorian primary schools and four Victorian secondary schools in 1993 and 1994. This article discusses the meanings students give to their experience of transition against earlier research and policy documents which use different methodologies and which talk of different cultures of primary and secondary schools. It argues that student reactions are more complex than are indicated by methodologies which take comments at face value and that their concerns challenge some common assumptions about the problem of disruption in the break between primary and secondary. The article also notes widespread changes in students' lunchtime activities compared with primary school and discusses ways students assess the new curriculum and teaching styles of the secondary school.
Introduction by Guest Editor: Education and the Trend to Markets
Authors: Marginson Simon
Published: March 2013

The trend towards market forms and behaviours in education (‘marketisation’), associated also with the growing role of corporate forms of organisation, is transforming the state-built mass education systems characteristic of the period since World War II. Although this transformation foregrounds the role of consumer choice and is linked to a measure of deregulation and commercial involvement in education, it has above all been orchestrated by neo-liberal government. So far the great change in education has been undertheorised and under-investigated. Governments have been reluctant to place their own policy experiment under scrutiny. Yet the evidence of a recent UNESCO study of student achievement suggests that marketisation may not be the optimum path to school improvement, and the potential for negative effects on education's role in ‘liberal’ personal formation is of concern.
Packaging Literacy, New Technologies and ‘Enhanced’ Learning
Authors: Snyder Ilana
Published: March 2013

Literacy educators need to pay attention to shifts in the perceived relationship between literacy education, the use of new technologies and learning, as exemplified in national and state P-12 policy documents. At the national level, policy statements have reverted to emphasis on basic literacy, with minimal acknowledgement of the cultural significance of emerging digital literacies. By contrast, at the state level, the emphasis is on ‘technologising’ the curriculum and literacy education, with the promise that technology will ‘enhance’ learning. At both levels, literacy has become ‘commodified’: an autonomous product to be packaged and consumed. However, if schools are to prepare students for a rapidly changing world, in which technology-mediated literacy practices are integral, then more is needed than reductive notions of literacy and market-driven ‘technologisation’ of the curriculum, accompanied by evidence-free promises of better learning. The conclusion considers the possibilities for critical digital literacy education.
Commercial Real Estate and Equity Market Bubbles: Are They Contagious to REITs?
Authors: Nneji Ogonna , Brooks Chris , Ward Charles
Published: March 2013

This paper uses a regime-switching approach to determine whether prices in the US stock, direct real estate and indirect real estate markets are driven by the presence of speculative bubbles. The results show significant evidence of the existence of periodically partially collapsing speculative bubbles in all three markets. A multivariate bubble model is then developed and implemented to evaluate whether the stock and real estate bubbles spill over into REITs. The underlying stock market bubble is found to be a stronger influence on the securitised real estate market bubble than that of the property market. Furthermore, the findings suggest a transmission of speculative bubbles from the direct real estate to the stock market, although this link is not present for the returns themselves.
Expanding Horizons in the Archaeology of the Modern City
Authors: Murray Tim
Published: March 2013

This article discusses some of the more important implications of a long-term research project into the archaeology of the modern city in Australia. It discusses how we can explore domesticity, community, family life, and issues of residence and mobility through urban archaeology, as well as providing evidence of larger issues about how and what people produce and consume in cities. In the five projects that followed the original research at Melboune’s “Little Lon” district, we developed new strategies to increase both temporal and spatial scales as we sought to focus on ways of reconciling differences in the resolving powers of different types of data. During the course of the nineteenth-century patterns of production, consumption, work, and residence changed across the Western world, and it became clear that comparisons between sites in Melbourne and Sydney (and later in London) were required to get a better understanding of the genesis and development of urban communities (and, at a more pragmatic level, to see whether it was possible to generalize about the composition of “working class” or indeed “middle class” assemblages). This article presents what is, in effect, a progress report on that broad comparative agenda.
Two ways to support reflexivity: Teaching managers to fulfil an undefined role
Authors: Adriansen Hanne Kirstine , Knudsen Hanne
Published: March 2013

A current challenge to public managers is the lack of a well-defined role. How can masters programmes prepare managers to live up to an undefined function? In this paper we argue that the lack of role description enhances the need for reflexivity and we show how it is done at Master in Educational Management (MEM). MEM provides the participating managers with a new language that can give them a critical distance to the overload of expectations they meet at work; and MEM teaches participants to translate this new language into practice. The pedagogy used for this is labelled ‘experimental management’. This requires participants to conduct experiments in their own organization, to reflect on and analyse their experiences with concepts from the curriculum. While the new language and the experimental teaching format are difficult, participants learn a reflexive practice that can enable them to live up to an undefined role.
A Comparison of the Surface Contaminants of Handwritten Recycled and Printed Electronic Parenteral Nutrition Prescriptions and Their Transfer to Bag Surfaces During Delivery to Hospital Wards
Authors: Austin Peter David , Hand Kieran Sean , Elia Marinos
Published: March 2013

Background: Handwritten recycled paper prescription for parenteral nutrition (PN) may become a concentrated source of viable contaminants, including pathogens. This study examined the effect of using fresh printouts of electronic prescriptions on these contaminants. Materials and Methods: Cellulose sponge stick swabs with neutralizing buffer were used to sample the surfaces of PN prescriptions (n = 32 handwritten recycled; n = 32 printed electronic) on arrival to the pharmacy or following printing and PN prescriptions and bags packaged together during delivery (n = 38 handwritten recycled; n = 34 printed electronic) on arrival to hospital wards. Different media plates and standard microbiological procedures identified the type and number of contaminants. Results: Staphylococcus aureus, fungi, and mold were infrequent contaminants. Nonspecific aerobes more frequently contaminated handwritten recycled than printed electronic prescriptions (into pharmacy, 94% vs 44%, Fisher exact test P < .001; onto wards, 76% vs 50%, P = .028), with greater numbers of colony‐forming units (CFU) (into pharmacy, median 130 [interquartile range (IQR), 65–260] vs 0 [0–75], Mann‐Whitney U test, P < .001; onto wards, median 120 [15–320] vs 10 [0–40], P = .001). Packaging with handwritten recycled prescriptions led to more frequent nonspecific aerobic bag surface contamination (63% vs 41%, Fisher exact test P = .097), with greater numbers of CFU (median 40 [IQR, 0–80] vs 0 [0–40], Mann‐Whitney U test, P = .036). Conclusion: The use of printed electronic PN prescriptions can reduce microbial loads for contamination of surfaces that compromises aseptic techniques.
Feeling caught as a mediator of co-parental communication and young adult children’s mental health and relational satisfaction with parents
Authors: Schrodt Paul , Shimkowski Jenna R.
Published: March 2013

This study tested young adults’ feelings of being caught between their parents as mediators of co-parental communication (i.e., supportive and antagonistic communication) and young adults’ mental health and relational satisfaction with parents. Participants included 493 young adult children from intact and divorced families. For participants from intact families, feeling caught mediated indirect effects for both supportive and antagonistic co-parental communication on satisfaction with mothers and mental health symptoms, though direct effects for supportive co-parental communication on all three outcomes remained. For participants from divorced families, however, feeling caught emerged as a mediator only of antagonistic co-parental communication and mental health symptoms. Collectively, the results suggest that feeling caught may function as a mechanism linking co-parental communication to children’s adjustment.
An Examination of Peer, Family, and Community Context Risk Factors for Alcohol Use and Alcohol Use Intentions in Early Adolescents
Authors: Nargiso Jessica E. , Friend Karen , Florin Paul
Published: March 2013

This study examines the relationship between peer, family, and community context risk factors and alcohol use; gender is examined as a potential moderator of these relationships. Hierarchical logistic regressions conducted in a sample of 781 seventh grade students found that normative beliefs about peers’ alcohol use emerged as the most consistent predictor of current use, lifetime alcohol initiation, and intentions to initiate drinking. Poorer parent–child relationship quality also increased adolescents’ odds of lifetime initiation and current alcohol use. After accounting for peer and family factors, greater perceived availability of alcohol was significantly associated with increased odds of current and lifetime use. Both community context risk predictors were significantly associated with increased risk of intending to initiate alcohol use among nonusers. Results demonstrated some support for gender moderating these relationships; poor family relationship quality increased girls’ odds of initiating alcohol use while more permissive community norms increased boys’ odds of initiating alcohol use.
Surgical Treatment of Subacute and Chronic Valgus Instability in Multiligament-Injured Knees With Superficial Medial Collateral Ligament Reconstruction Using Achilles Allografts
Authors: Liu Xin , Feng Hua , Zhang Hui , Hong Lei , Wang Xue Song , Zhang Jin , Shen Jie Wei
Published: March 2013

Background:

Symptomatic medial collateral ligament (MCL) instability is rare, and it is frequently associated with multiligament injuries. Most clinical investigations have failed to clearly define the specific objective outcome measures assessing the stability of the MCL quantitatively before and after the reconstruction procedure.

Purpose:

To quantitatively evaluate the early clinical outcomes of patients with valgus instability of knee joints who had undergone superficial MCL reconstruction using Achilles tendon allografts.

Study Design:

Case series; Level of evidence, 4.

Methods:

From August 2005 to December 2010, 19 consecutive patients with MCL injuries were included in this study. The inclusion criteria were (1) a subacute or chronic MCL injury, with a time from initial injury to surgery of longer than 3 weeks, and (2) valgus laxity graded C or D according to the International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC). All patients underwent superficial MCL reconstruction using Achilles tendon allografts. To evaluate the laxity of the MCL preoperatively and postoperatively, valgus stress radiographs using a Telos device were used. Other assessments included the IKDC subjective functional evaluation and Lysholm score estimation.

Results:

Sixteen of the 19 patients (12 men and 4 women) were available for final follow-up. The median age of the patients was 37 years (range, 19-53 years); mean body mass index (BMI) was 26.4 (range, 21.7-29.4). The mean time from injury to surgery was 15.9 months (range, 24 days to 84 months), and median follow-up period was 34 months (range, 24-67 months). The mean medial knee laxity (side-to-side difference) was 8.9 ± 3.2 mm (range, 6-15.9 mm) preoperatively and 1.1 ± 0.9 mm (range, –1.1 to 3.2 mm) postoperatively ( P < .001). The preoperative mean IKDC subjective knee functional score was 49.8 ± 6.9 (range, 31-57.5), while the postoperative functional score was 84.3 ± 6.0 (range, 71.3-93.1) ( P < .001). The mean Lysholm score was 69.3 ± 5.9 (range, 55-78) preoperatively and 88.6 ± 5.0 (range, 75-95) postoperatively ( P < .001). There was no significant correlation between patients’ BMI and the final clinical outcome scores ( P = .311).

Conclusion:

In a small set of patients with multiligament-injured knees, valgus laxity can be effectively restored through surgical management with superficial MCL reconstruction, when the other associated ligament injuries are reconstructed as well. The subjective functional results were significantly improved postoperatively at short-term follow-up.
Nutrition Management of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Authors: Greenwood Daniel I.
Published: March 2013

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurological disease with high risk of malnutrition. Symptoms of dysphagia, depression, cognitive impairment, difficulty with self‐feeding and meal preparation, hypermetabolism, anxiety, respiratory insufficiency, and fatigue with meals increase the risk of malnutrition. Malnutrition negatively affects prognosis and quality of life, making early and frequent nutrition assessment and intervention essential. Implementation of an adequate calorie diet, dietary texture modification, use of adaptive eating utensils, and placement of a feeding tube aid in preventing malnutrition. When nutrition status is compromised by dysphagia and weight loss (5%–10% of usual body weight) or body mass index <20 kg/m2 without weight loss and when forced vital capacity is >50%, a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy placement is indicated. When forced vital capacity is <50%, a radiologically inserted gastrostomy is the preferred means of enteral placement due to lessened aspiration and respiratory risk. Parenteral nutrition (PN) is indicated only when enteral nutrition (EN) is contraindicated or impossible. This article reviews the background of ALS, nutrition implications and risk of malnutrition, treatment strategies to prevent malnutrition, the role of EN and PN, and feeding tube placement methods according to disease stage.
Breastfeeding by Chinese Mothers in Australia and China
Authors: Chen Shu , Binns Colin W. , Zhao Yun , Maycock Bruce , Liu Yi
Published: March 2013

Background:

Breastfeeding practices might be influenced by migration to another country. Although the “healthy migrant effect” is commonly reported in epidemiology, evidence for it in breastfeeding practices is weak.

Objectives:

This study aimed to compare the initiation and duration of breastfeeding between Chinese Australian migrants and Chinese mothers in mainland China and test the healthy migrant effect in Chinese Australian migrants in Perth, Western Australia.

Methods:

A survey was undertaken of 239 Chinese mothers living in Perth and 1844 mothers living in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, PR China, with a response rate of 96.7% and 87.8%, respectively.

Results:

The breastfeeding initiation rate in Chinese Australian mothers (94.1%) was higher than in mothers in China (86.2%, P < .001). Chinese Australian mothers also had a longer breastfeeding duration, greater “full breastfeeding” rate at 6 months, and greater “any breastfeeding” rates at 6 and 12 months. After controlling for potential confounding variables, the results of the binary logistic regression analysis showed that the location of the mother (Australia or China) was associated with breastfeeding practices. Chinese mothers living in Chengdu were less likely to initiate breastfeeding (odds ratio = 0.47, 95% confidence interval, 0.25-0.89) and breastfeed their babies at 12 months (odds ratio = 0.48, 95% confidence interval, 0.33-0.69) than Chinese mothers in Perth.

Conclusion:

The higher breastfeeding initiation and longer breastfeeding duration by Chinese migrant mothers in Perth than mothers in Chengdu suggest a “healthy migrant effect.”
Female employment in Dhaka, Bangladesh: participation, perceptions and pressures
Authors: Banks Nicola
Published: March 2013

As urbanization changes the face of poverty in Bangladesh, endemic insecurities within the urban environment force low-income households to deploy new strategies of labour mobilization that challenge traditional patriarchal ideologies, and in the process, gender dynamics. The research reveals the complex balance male household heads face in meeting economic and social priorities. While the majority of households depend on female labour mobilization as a short-term means of survival, this comes at the cost of displacing longer-term goals of household advancement, given that status, prestige and social networks are dependent on the ability to uphold patriarchal norms that forbid women from working. While most men hold on to patriarchal beliefs – viewing the mobilization of female labour as a “necessary evil” that dampens household honour and prestige and threatens masculinity – women are aware of the importance of their work and the centrality of their contributions to income. These opposing perspectives generate tensions within the household, leaving women to face a complex balance between managing the household, their jobs and the marital relationship. A wife’s labour is often viewed as a threat to male dominance and authority and can lead to various negative behaviours by the household head, including reducing working hours and income contributions or taking a second wife. A paradox is visible, in which men are aware of these negative tendencies but do not associate them with their own marital problems, instead blaming wives for their “disobedience”. This may be one reason for the persistence of patriarchal social norms that frown upon sending married women to work while, at the same time, it has become widely acceptable to send young, unmarried daughters, who do not offer the same challenge to authority, to work in Bangladesh’s thriving export-oriented garments sector.
Women’s decision-making in rural and urban households in Nicaragua: the influence of income and ideology
Authors: Bradshaw Sarah
Published: March 2013

This paper contributes to the continuing debate on factors that influence women’s decision-making within households. Specifically, it considers the influence of income generation and gender ideology on women’s decision-making in urban and rural households in Nicaragua. It adds to the debate by extending the household decisions that are considered to include not only monetary decisions but also “life option” decisions, including those around women’s sexuality. It highlights that understandings of work and contribution are more important than income in some cases, and that ideology matters in terms of how obligations to the household are understood and fulfilled. It suggests that in itself being “urban” seems to contribute to understandings of both income and ideology, for both urban women and men.
Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Dengue in Guangdong Province of China
Authors: Wang Chenggang , Yang Weizhong , Fan Jingchun , Wang Furong , Jiang Baofa , Liu Qiyong
Published: March 2013

The aim of the study was to describe the spatial and temporal patterns of dengue in Guangdong for 1978 to 2010. Time series analysis was performed using data on annual dengue incidence in Guangdong province for 1978-2010. Annual average dengue incidences for each city were mapped for 4 periods by using the geographical information system (GIS). Hot spot analysis was used to identify spatial patterns of dengue cases for 2005-2010 by using the CrimeStat III software. The incidence of dengue in Guangdong province had fallen steadily from 1978 to 2010. The time series was a random sequence without regularity and with no fixed cycle. The geographic range of dengue fever had expanded from 1978 to 2010. Cases were mostly concentrated in Zhanjiang and the developed regions of Pearl River Delta and Shantou.
Ankle Arthrodesis vs TTC Arthrodesis
Authors: Ajis Adam , Tan Ken-Jin , Myerson Mark S.
Published: March 2013

Background:

It is believed that patients with an ankle arthrodesis (AA) have better outcomes than after a tibiotalocalcaneal (TTC) arthrodesis due to preservation of subtalar motion. However, there are no studies comparing actual functional outcomes and patient satisfaction between AA and TTC arthrodesis.

Methods:

We retrospectively analyzed patient satisfaction and functional outcomes of patients after an AA and TTC arthrodesis using a postal survey. A total of 173 patients who underwent TTC and 100 AA patients from 2002 to 2010 were identified with a minimum of 24 months follow-up. In all, 53 AA and 64 TTC arthrodesis patients were included in the study, with the remainder lost to follow-up. A return to activity questionnaire and SF-12 scores were used to compare functional outcomes. The mean follow-up time was 63 months.

Results:

Both groups showed good outcomes with a low visual analogue pain score (2.7 for AA and 2.8 for TTC), high satisfaction score (90.6% for AA and 87.5% for TTC), and return to work (77.4% for AA and 73.0% for TTC). In all, 84.6% of AA and 81.0% of TTC patients would have the surgery again. There were no significant differences between the 2 groups for these parameters. However, when asked if their desired activity level was met, fewer AA patients met their desired level (58.5% for AA and 66.5% for TTC, P = .02). AA patients were also more likely to feel their level was unmet due to the foot and ankle (85.6% for AA vs 25.7% for TTC, P < .001).

Conclusions:

Both AA and TTC arthrodesis were associated with good functional outcomes and satisfaction. AA patients had higher postoperative activity expectations and were less likely to meet them. When they failed to meet these expectations, they were much more likely to attribute it to their operated ankle. We believe it is because of the different ways the 2 groups of patients are counseled preoperatively, which highlights the importance of managing patient expectations.

Level of Evidence:

Level III, retrospective comparative study.
Innovation in hybrid spaces: 2011 UN Climate Summit and the expanding journalism landscape
Authors: Russell Adrienne
Published: March 2013

Media coverage of the 2011 UN Climate Summit in Durban makes evident the blurring of the lines that once separated participants, reporters, activists, and networked publics. While journalists look to media activists for sources, breaking news, and reporting tactics that tap into the new potential of the mobile and networked environment, contemporary media activists devised new ways to do some of the work traditionally ascribed to journalism. This article, based on semi-structured interviews and discourse analysis of coverage from three NGOs, the New York Times and USA Today, documents various notions of public good manifest in activist media and newspaper coverage. In the broadest sense, the study addresses the questions: Where do legacy and activist news media differ and where do they overlap, both in terms of content and professional norms? And what are the implications of the emergence of new activist media for the field of journalism?
Impact of taurine supplementation on blood pressure in gestational protein-restricted offspring: Effect on the medial solitary tract nucleus cell numbers, angiotensin receptors, and renal sodium handling
Authors: Scabora José Eduardo , de Lima Marcelo Cardoso , Lopes Agnes , de Lima Ize Penhas , Mesquita Flávia Fernandes , Torres Daniele Bráz , Boer Patrícia Aline , Gontijo José Antonio Rocha
Published: March 2013

Objective:

The current study considers changes of the postnatal brainstem cell number and angiotensin receptors by maternal protein restriction (LP) and LP taurine supplementation (LPT), and its impact on arterial hypertension development in adult life.

Methods and results:

The brain tissue studies were performed by immunoblotting, immunohistochemistry, and isotropic fractionator analysis. The current study shows that elevated blood pressure associated with decreased fractional urinary sodium excretion (FENa) in adult LP offspring was reverted by diet taurine supplementation. Also, that 12-day-old LP pups present a reduction of 21% of brainstem neuron counts, and, immunohistochemistry demonstrates a decreased expression of type 1 angiotensin II receptors (AT1R) in the entire medial solitary tract nuclei (nTS) of 16-week-old LP rats compared to age-matched NP and LPT offspring. Conversely, the immunostained type 2 AngII (AT2R) receptors in 16-week-old LP nTS were unchanged.

Conclusion:

The present investigation shows a decreased FENa that occurs despite unchanged creatinine clearance. It is plausible to hypothesize an association of decreased postnatal nTS cell number, AT1R/AT2R ratio and FENa with the higher blood pressure levels found in taurine-deficient progeny (LP) compared with age-matched NP and LPT offspring.
Comparing Employees and Managers’ Perceptions of Organizational Learning, Health, and Work Performance
Authors: Hasson Henna , Tafvelin Susanne , von Thiele Schwarz Ulrica
Published: March 2013

The Problem

Disagreement between subordinates and their managers’ perceptions of organizational climate and support has been related to less efficient work performance and worse organizational outcomes. Possible consequences of disagreement between managers’ and subordinates’ ratings of organizational learning are currently not known. Little is also known about how the level of agreement between the two ratings relates to employees’ performance and well-being at work.

The Solution

The study was conducted in an industrial company in Sweden. First-line managers’ and their subordinates’ responses to the Dimensions of the Learning Organization Questionnaire (DLOQ) were evaluated along with employees’ ratings of their work performance and health.

The Stakeholders

Key stakeholders include leaders responsible for group- and organization-level learning activitities and employees’ well-being and work performance. In addition, representatives from human development departments will find this study to be of interest.
Learning From Lorreltag
Authors: Patrizio Kami M.
Published: March 2013

This case explores the first two years of the Lorreltag Partnership Initiative (LPI)*, an urban, community-5 school–university partnership. It provides a history of the community and elucidates key factors influencing partnership development. The case relies on the perspectives of a community leader, a university faculty member, a new principal, and a new teacher to explore matters related to relationships, team structures, and new leadership development in collaborations. Their experiences with the LPI surface issues related to the construct of collaboration, sustainable systemic renewal, and the role of evaluation in strategic partnerships.
Social Media in Schools
Authors: Wang Yinying
Published: March 2013

In the sphere of education, social media has posed enormous challenges and unleashed its potential as a venue to communicate with stakeholders. This case is a fictionalized version of several real cases related to the school leaders’ struggle with utilizing social media to accomplish changes in schools. This case describes two high school administrators’ exploration in school’s use of social media. All people and schools’ names are pseudonyms. The narratives in this case are presented to deepen the understanding of the role of schools’ social media in creating social capital, and to raise the acute awareness of legal issues of schools’ social media.
Jurispathic Baltimore? Law and Nomoi in The Wire
Authors: Hays Bradley D.
Published: March 2013

Robert Cover argues that nomoi (normative universes) exist and operate in law-like fashion, serving as a competitor with the state’s law. The state’s response is jurispathic – it attempts to kill off competing nomoi. The HBO series The Wire portrays both the existence of nomoi and the state’s effort to kill it off. It also reveals that the jurispathic effort fails to destroy the community’s commitment to their nomos. Rather than destroy competing nomoi, The Wire portrays how a dialogue can emerge out of law-nomos conflict with the power to alter both law and nomos while promoting certain democratic goods.
Liberal Jurisprudence and the Literal Grammar of Marriage Equalit(y)(ies)
Authors: Deeb Hadi Nicholas
Published: March 2013

This article employs linguistic anthropological methods to examine the debate over whether equal protection doctrine requires legal recognition of same-sex couples’ marriages. It focuses on oral arguments at the Supreme Court of California in the seminal In re Marriage Cases (2008). I argue that the contested use of equal protection terminology simultaneously displays the cultural neutrality of liberal jurisprudence and harbors cultural ideologies about sexual orientation. During oral argument, this duality compressed into grammatical competition over a single shorthand term, equalit(y)(ies). Selecting the singular versus plural form reproduced counterbalanced arguments in favor of uniform equality through marriage or comparable equalities through domestic partnership status. But the ideologies hidden within the grammatical nuance also provided flexibility to overcome that inertia at particular moments.
Osteophyte excision without cyst excision for a mucous cyst of the finger
Authors: Lee H.-J. , Kim P.-T. , Jeon I.-H. , Kyung H.-S. , Ra I.-H. , Kim T.-K.
Published: March 2013

Osteophyte excision is a mainstay of treatment for mucous cyst combined with Heberden’s node in a distal interphalangeal joint or in an interphalangeal joint of the thumb. The aim of this study was to evaluate the results of osteophyte excision without cyst excision for the treatment of a mucous cyst combined with Heberden’s node. The medical records of 37 patients (42 cases) with a mucous cyst with Heberden’s node were retrospectively reviewed. Thirty-eight of 40 cases with available pre-operative simple radiographs showed evidence of joint arthrosis. A T-shaped skin incision of the joint capsule between the extensor tendon and lateral collateral ligament was used. Osteophyte excision without cyst excision was performed. All cysts, except one, regressed without recurrence or a skin complication after osteophyte excision, but eight cases showed post-operative pain and loss of range of motion. Osteophyte excision without cyst excision may be a good treatment choice for mucous cyst of the finger.
The complete N-terminal extension of heparin cofactor II is required for maximal effectiveness as a thrombin exosite 1 ligand
Authors: Boyle Amanda J , Roddick Leigh Ann , Bhakta Varsha , Lambourne Melissa D , Junop Murray S , Liaw Patricia C , Weitz Jeffrey I , Sheffield William P
Published: March 2013

Background

Heparin cofactor II (HCII) is a circulating protease inhibitor, one which contains an N-terminal acidic extension (HCII 1-75) unique within the serpin superfamily. Deletion of HCII 1-75 greatly reduces the ability of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) to accelerate the inhibition of thrombin, and abrogates HCII binding to thrombin exosite 1. While a minor portion of HCII 1-75 can be visualized in a crystallized HCII-thrombin S195A complex, the role of the rest of the extension is not well understood and the affinity of the HCII 1-75 interaction has not been quantitatively characterized. To address these issues, we expressed HCII 1-75 as a small, N-terminally hexahistidine-tagged polypeptide in E. coli.

Results

Immobilized purified HCII 1-75 bound active α-thrombin and active-site inhibited FPR-ck- or S195A-thrombin, but not exosite-1-disrupted γT-thrombin, in microtiter plate assays. Biotinylated HCII 1-75 immobilized on streptavidin chips bound α-thrombin and FPR-ck-thrombin with similar KD values of 330-340 nM. HCII 1-75 competed thrombin binding to chip-immobilized HCII 1-75 more effectively than HCII 54-75 but less effectively than the C-terminal dodecapeptide of hirudin (mean Ki values of 2.6, 8.5, and 0.29 μM, respectively). This superiority over HCII 54-75 was also demonstrated in plasma clotting assays and in competing the heparin-catalysed inhibition of thrombin by plasma-derived HCII; HCII 1-53 had no effect in either assay. Molecular modelling of HCII 1-75 correctly predicted those portions of the acidic extension that had been previously visualized in crystal structures, and suggested that an α-helix found between residues 26 and 36 stabilizes one found between residues 61-67. The latter region has been previously shown by deletion mutagenesis and crystallography to play a crucial role in the binding of HCII to thrombin exosite 1.

Conclusions

Assuming that the KD value for HCII 1-75 of 330-340 nM faithfully predicts that of this region in intact HCII, and that 1-75 binding to exosite 1 is GAG-dependent, our results support a model in which thrombin first binds to GAGs, followed by HCII addition to the ternary complex and release of HCII 1-75 for exosite 1 binding and serpin mechanism inhibition. They further suggest that, in isolated or transferred form, the entire HCII 1-75 region is required to ensure maximal binding of thrombin exosite 1.
Transcriptional analysis of genes involved in nodulation in soybean roots inoculated with Bradyrhizobium japonicumstrain CPAC 15
Authors: Barros de Carvalho Gesiele Almeida , Batista Jesiane Stefânia Silva , Marcelino-Guimarães Francismar Corrêa , Costa do Nascimento Leandro , Hungria Mariangela
Published: March 2013

Background

Biological nitrogen fixation in root nodules is a process of great importance to crops of soybean [Glycine max(L.) Merr.], as it may provide the bulk of the plant’s needs for nitrogen. Legume nodulation involves several complex steps and, although studied for many decades, much remains to be understood.

Results

This research aimed at analyzing the global expression of genes in soybean roots of a Brazilian cultivar (Conquista) inoculated withBradyrhizobium japonicumCPAC 15, a strain broadly used in commercial inoculants in Brazil. To achieve this, we used the suppressive subtractive hybridization (SSH) technique combined with Illumina sequencing. The subtractive library (non-inoculated x inoculated) of soybean roots resulted in 3,210 differentially expressed transcripts at 10 days after inoculation were studied. The data were grouped according to the ontologies of the molecular functions and biological processes. Several classes of genes were confirmed as related to N2fixation and others were reported for the first time.

Conclusions

During nodule formation, a higher percentage of genes were related to primary metabolism, cell-wall modifications and the antioxidant defense system. Putative symbiotic functions were attributed to some of these genes for the first time.
Global mapping of transcription start sites and promoter motifs in the symbiotic α-proteobacterium Sinorhizobium meliloti1021
Authors: Schlüter Jan-Philip , Reinkensmeier Jan , Barnett Melanie J , Lang Claus , Krol Elizaveta , Giegerich Robert , Long Sharon R , Becker Anke
Published: March 2013

Background

Sinorhizobium meliloti is a soil-dwelling α-proteobacterium that possesses a large, tripartite genome and engages in a nitrogen fixing symbiosis with its plant hosts. Although much is known about this important model organism, global characterization of genetic regulatory circuits has been hampered by a lack of information about transcription and promoters.

Results

Using an RNAseq approach and RNA populations representing 16 different growth and stress conditions, we comprehensively mapped S. meliloti transcription start sites (TSS). Our work identified 17,001 TSS that we grouped into six categories based on the genomic context of their transcripts: mRNA (4,430 TSS assigned to 2,657 protein-coding genes), leaderless mRNAs (171), putative mRNAs (425), internal sense transcripts (7,650), antisense RNA (3,720), and trans-encoded sRNAs (605). We used this TSS information to identify transcription factor binding sites and putative promoter sequences recognized by seven of the 15 known S. meliloti σ factors σ70, σ54, σH1, σH2, σE1, σE2, and σE9). Altogether, we predicted 2,770 new promoter sequences, including 1,302 located upstream of protein coding genes and 722 located upstream of antisense RNA or trans-encoded sRNA genes. To validate promoter predictions for targets of the general stress response σ factor, RpoE2 (σE2), we identified rpoE2-dependent genes using microarrays and confirmed TSS for a subset of these by 5′ RACE mapping.

Conclusions

By identifying TSS and promoters on a global scale, our work provides a firm foundation for the continued study of S. meliloti gene expression with relation to gene organization, σ factors and other transcription factors, and regulatory RNAs.
Advanced application of bovine intestinal epithelial cell line for evaluating regulatory effect of lactobacilli against heat-killed enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli-mediated inflammation
Authors: Takanashi Naoya , Tomosada Yohsuke , Villena Julio , Murata Kozue , Takahashi Takuya , Chiba Eriko , Tohno Masanori , Shimazu Tomoyuki , Aso Hisashi , Suda Yoshihito , Ikegami Shuji , Itoh Hiroyuki , Kawai Yasushi , Saito Tadao , Alvarez Susana , Kitazawa Haruki
Published: March 2013

Background

Previously, a bovine intestinal epithelial cell line (BIE cells) was successfully established. This work hypothesized that BIE cells are useful in vitro model system for the study of interactions of microbial- or pathogen-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs or PAMPs) with bovine intestinal epithelial cells and for the selection of immunoregulatory lactic acid bacteria (LAB).

Results

All toll-like receptor (TLR) genes were expressed in BIE cells, being TLR4 one of the most strongly expressed. We demonstrated that heat-stable PAMPs of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) significantly enhanced the production of IL-6, IL-8, IL-1α and MCP-1 in BIE cells by activating both NF-κB and MAPK pathways. We evaluated the capacity of several lactobacilli strains to modulate heat-stable ETEC PAMPs-mediated inflammatory response in BIE cells. Among these strains evaluated, Lactobacillus casei OLL2768 attenuated heat-stable ETEC PAMPs-induced pro-inflammatory response by inhibiting NF-κB and p38 signaling pathways in BIE cells. Moreover, L. casei OLL2768 negatively regulated TLR4 signaling in BIE cells by up-regulating Toll interacting protein (Tollip) and B-cell lymphoma 3-encoded protein (Bcl-3).

Conclusions

BIE cells are suitable for the selection of immunoregulatory LAB and for studying the mechanisms involved in the protective activity of immunobiotics against pathogen-induced inflammatory damage. In addition, we showed that L. casei OLL2768 functionally modulate the bovine intestinal epithelium by attenuating heat-stable ETEC PAMPs-induced inflammation. Therefore L. casei OLL2768 is a good candidate for in vivo studying the protective effect of LAB against intestinal inflammatory damage induced by ETEC infection or heat-stable ETEC PAMPs challenge in the bovine host.