bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Pioglitazone and Heart Failure: Results From a Controlled Study in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and Systolic Dysfunction
Authors: Harris Scott , Tepper David , Ip Randy
Published: December 2008

Abstract.  Background.  Thiazolidinediones are associated with fluid retention, often interpreted as worsening cardiac function, limiting their use in patients with heart failure (HF). We compared the effects of pioglitazone and glyburide on cardiac function in patients with type 2 diabetes, systolic dysfunction, and New York Heart Association functional class II or III HF.

Methods and Results.  Participants received pioglitazone or glyburide (±insulin) for 6 months in this double‐blind, randomized, multicenter study. The primary end point was time to HF, a composite of cardiovascular mortality, and hospitalization or emergency department visit for HF. Secondary end points included echocardiographic and functional classification assessments. An earlier time to onset and higher incidence of the primary end point was noted with pioglitazone (13%) vs glyburide (8%) (P=.024). Hospitalization or emergency department visit occurred in 30 pioglitazone and 15 glyburide participants, 19 and 12 of whom, respectively, continued treatment. Cardiac mortality (5 vs 6 participants, respectively) and cardiac function, as measured by change in ventricular mass index (P=.959), ejection fraction (P=.413), or fractional shortening (P=.280), were similar between treatments.

Conclusions.  Pioglitazone was associated with a higher incidence of hospitalization for HF without an increase in cardiovascular mortality or worsening cardiac function (by echocardiography).—Giles TD, Miller AB, Elkayam U, et al. Pioglitazone and heart failure: results from a controlled study in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and systolic dysfunction. J Card Fail. 2008;14(6):445–452.
Influence of β‐Blocker Continuation or Withdrawal on Outcomes in Patients Hospitalized With Heart Failure: Findings From the OPTIMIZE‐HF Program
Authors: Harris Scott , Tepper David , Ip Randy
Published: December 2008

Abstract.  Objectives.  This study ascertains the relationship between continuation or withdrawal of β‐blocker therapy and clinical outcomes in patients hospitalized with systolic heart failure (HF).

Background.  Whether β‐blocker therapy should be continued or withdrawn during hospitalization for decompensated HF has not been well studied in a broad cohort of patients.

Methods.  The Organized Program to Initiate Lifesaving Treatment in Hospitalized Patients With Heart Failure (OPTIMIZE‐HF) enrolled 5791 patients admitted with HF in a registry with prespecified 60‐ to 90‐day follow‐up at 91 academic and community hospitals throughout the United States. Outcomes data were prospectively collected and analyzed according to whether β‐blocker therapy was continued, withdrawn, or not started.

Results.  Among 2373 patients eligible for β‐blockers at discharge, there were 1350 (56.9%) who were receiving β‐blockers before admission and continued on therapy, 632 (26.6%) were newly started, 79 (3.3%) in whom therapy was withdrawn, and 303 (12.8%) were eligible but not treated. Continuation of β‐blockers was associated with a significantly lower risk and propensity‐adjusted postdischarge death (hazard ratio [HR], 0.60; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.37–0.99; P=.044) and death/rehospitalization (odds ratio, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.52–0.92; P=.012) compared with no β‐blocker. In contrast, withdrawal of β‐blocker use in patients was associated with a substantially higher adjusted risk for mortality compared with those continued on β‐blockers (HR, 2.3; 95% CI, 1.2–4.6; P=.013) but with similar risk as HF patients eligible but not treated with β‐blockers.

Conclusions.  The continuation of β‐blocker therapy in patients hospitalized with decompensated HF is associated with lower postdischarge mortality risk and improved treatment rates. In contrast, withdrawal of β‐blocker therapy is associated with worse risk and propensity‐adjusted mortality.—Fonarow GC, Abraham WT, Albert NM, et al; for the OPTIMIZE‐HF investigators. Influence of beta‐blocker continuation or withdrawal on outcomes in patients hospitalized with heart failure: findings from the OPTIMIZE‐HF program. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2008;52(3):190–199.
A Building Block Approach to Monofluorinated Organic Compounds
Authors: Konev Alexander S. , Khlebnikov Alexander F.
Published: December 2008

Building blocks for the synthesis of monofluorinated organic compounds are reviewed. The synthetic potential of polyhalomethanes, sulfur- and phosphorus-containing building blocks, difluoroethene, polyhaloethanes, fluoroacetic acid derivatives, and other compounds are described. Pericyclic reactions involving fluorinated compounds and application of the methodology of building blocks to the synthesis of monofluorinated pharmaceuticals and analogs of natural compounds are considered. The review with 317 references covers mainly the literature from 1996 through 2007.
Radical Additions of Heptafluoropropyl Trifluorovinyl Ether
Authors: Hosoya Akihiro , Narita Tadashi , Hamana Hiroshi
Published: December 2008

The radical addition reactions of heptafluoropropyl trifluorovinyl ether (CF2=CF-O-C3F7) with cyclic ethers such as tetrahydrofuran, tetrahydropyran, 1,4-dioxane and 1,3-dioxolane were investigated to afford the corresponding one to one addition products in fairly high yields in the presence of dibenzoyl peroxide at 60 °C. The method provides a facile way to prepare cyclic ethers possessing fluoroalkyl substituents.
Stem cell stories: from bedside to bench
Authors: Woods S
Published: November 2008

The stem cell story is not a simple story but a complex narrative: one that requires careful analysis in order to identify major themes and plots. This paper offers an analysis of the ethics of the clinical application of stem cells and argues that even quite risky therapies can be ethical. These arguments cannot be used to justify all aspects of contemporary stem cell science, including human embryonic stem cell science, which remains theoretical and speculative. It is argued that the homogenisation of stem cell science obscures the distinction between clinical application and experimental laboratory science in a morally problematic way.
What happened to the stem cells?
Authors: Hviid Nielsen T
Published: November 2008

Five partly successive and partly overlapping framings have dominated the public debate about human embryonic stem cells since they first were “derived” a decade ago. Geron Corporation staged the initial framings as 1) basic research and 2) medical hope, but these two were immediately refuted and opposed by 3) bioethical concerns, voiced by influential politicians and leaders of opinion. Thereafter, the research community presented adult stem cells and therapeutic cloning as 4) techno-fix solutions supposed to bypass these ethical concerns. And in recent years, 5) institutional limitations to and hurdles within the university–industrial complex (such as patentability, misconduct and fraud) have attracted more attention. The article purifies the arguments and points out the interests and institutions behind the five framings. It also discusses their interplay and finally addresses the question of what happened to the stem cells?
Stem cell spinal cord regeneration: first do no harm
Authors: Legge M , Jones L M
Published: November 2008

The prospect of “curing” spinal cord injury using stem cell therapy is one of the significant goals of many stem cell researchers. In this communication we consider some of the physiological implications of successful in vivo spinal cord repair and the ethical issues this potential revolutionary therapy will raise.
Ethical and legal aspects of stem cell practices in Turkey: where are we?
Authors: Ozturk Turkmen H , Arda B
Published: November 2008

Advances in medical technology and information have facilitated clinical practices that favourably affect the success rates of treatment for diseases. Regenerative medicine has been the focus of the recent medical agenda, to the extent of fundamentally changing treatment paradigms. Stem cell practices, their efficacy, and associated ethical concerns have been debated intensively in many countries. Stem cell research is carried out along with the treatment of patients. Thus, various groups affected by the practices inevitably participate in the discussions. In addition to discussions based on avoiding any harm, providing benefits and respecting personal autonomy and justice, problems arise owing to the lack of legal regulations for stem cell research and practice. The dimensions of the problems vary in the developing countries, with widespread use of advanced medical technology but with lack of sources allocated for healthcare, dominance of paternalistic physician–patient relationships and failure to achieve a sufficient level of awareness of patients’ rights. This article discusses the current situation of stem cell practices within the context of regenerative medicine in Turkey and ethical concerns about some of the legal regulations, such as the Regulation for Umblical Cord Blood Banking and Guidelines for Non-embryonic Stem Cell Study for Non-clinical Purposes directing the research on this issue.
Better to exist: a reply to Benatar
Authors: Baum S D
Published: November 2008

A recent exchange on Benatar’s bookBetter never to have beenbetween Doyal and Benatar discusses Benatar’s bold claim that people should not be brought into existence. Here, I expand the discussion of original position that the exchange focused on. I also discuss the asymmetries, between benefit and harm and between existence and non-existence, upon which Benatar’s bold claim rests. In both discussions, I show how Benatar’s bold claim can be rejected.
Personal responsibility for health as a rationing criterion: why we don’t like it and why maybe we should
Authors: Buyx A M
Published: November 2008

Whether it is fair to use personal responsibility of patients for their own health as a rationing criterion in healthcare is a controversial matter. A host of difficulties are associated with the concept of personal responsibility in the field of medicine. These include, in particular, theoretical considerations of justice and such practical issues as multiple causal factors in medicine and freedom of health behaviour. In the article, personal responsibility is evaluated from the perspective of several theories of justice. It is argued that in a healthcare system based on both equality of opportunity and solidarity, responsible health behaviour can—in principle—be justifiably expected. While the practical problems associated with personal responsibility are important, they do not warrant the common knee-jerk refusal to think more deeply about responsibility for health as a means of allocating healthcare resources. In conclusion, the possibility of introducing personal responsibility as a fair rationing criterion is briefly sketched.
A report on small team clinical ethics consultation programmes in Japan: Table 1
Authors: Fukuyama M , Asai A , Itai K , Bito S
Published: November 2008

Clinical ethics support, including ethics consultation, has become established in the field of medical practice throughout the world. This practice has been regarded as useful, most notably in the UK and the USA, in solving ethical problems encountered by both medical practitioners and those who receive medical treatment. In Japan, however, few services are available to respond to everyday clinical ethical issues, although a variety of difficult ethical problems arise daily in the medical field: termination of life support, euthanasia and questions about patient autonomy.

In light of these conditions, a group of 17 volunteer educators and researchers from the area of biomedical ethics, including the authors, have formed the Clinical Ethics Support and Education Project, and began providing Japan’s first small team clinical ethics consultation service in October, 2006. Members include scholars of biomedical ethics, scholars of philosophy and ethics, legal professionals and legal scholars, nurses and doctors, consisting of five women and 12 men. Consultation teams, made up of a small number of members, were organised each time a request for consultation was received.

Over approximately 15 months (October 2006–December 2007), the programme received 22 consultation requests from medical practitioners and medical institutions, and three from the families of patients. In this paper, we will discuss the status of our consultation service and examples of consultation cases we have handled. In addition, we will examine the process of evaluating small team clinical ethics consultation services, as well as the strengths and weakness of such programmes.
“Allow natural death” is not equivalent to “do not resuscitate”: a response
Authors: Chen Y-Y , Youngner S J
Published: November 2008

Venneman and colleagues argue that “do not resuscitate” (DNR) is problematic and should be replaced by “allow natural death” (AND). Their argument is flawed. First, while end-of-life discussions should be as positive as possible, they cannot and should not sidestep painful but necessary confrontations with morality. Second, while DNR can indeed be nonspecific and confusing, AND merely replaces one problematic term with another. Finally, the study’s results are not generalisable to the populations of physicians and working nurses and certainly do not support the authors’ claim that there is a movement to replace DNR with AND.
The Holocaust and medical ethics: the voices of the victims
Authors: Jotkowitz A
Published: November 2008

Fifty-nine years ago, Dr Leo Alexander published his now famous report on medicine under the Nazis. In his report he describes the two major crimes of German physicians. The participation of physicians in euthanasia and genocide and the horrible experiments performed on concentration camp prisoners in the name of science. In response to this gross violation of human rights by physicians, the Nuremberg military tribunal, which investigated and prosecuted the perpetrators of the Nazi war crimes, established ten principles of ethical conduct in medical research in 1949. Foremost among them was the need for voluntary consent of the human subject and that the experiment be conducted to avoid all unnecessary physical and mental suffering. Notwithstanding all these important efforts and impressive achievements in understanding the ethical failings of Nazi physicians, the bioethical community has almost completely ignored the moral challenges facing the victims of the atrocities. These dilemmas and their responses have continued relevance for modern medicine.
The significance of induced pluripotent stem cells for basic research and clinical therapy
Authors: Meyer J R
Published: November 2008

It is argued that the use of induced pluripotent stem cells for regenerative therapy may soon be ethically practicable and could sidestep the various objections pertaining to other types of stem cell (human embryonic stem cells, and stem cells obtained by altered nuclear transfer or somatic cell nuclear transfer).
The use of legal guardians and financial powers of attorney among home-dwellers with Alzheimer’s disease living with their spousal caregivers
Authors: Raivio M M , Mäki-Petäjä-Leinonen A P , Laakkonen M-L , Tilvis R S , Pitkälä K H
Published: November 2008

We conducted a cross-sectional survey of a random sample of 1943 spouses of home-dwellers with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) to examine the prevalence of court-appointed guardians or financial powers of attorney for persons with AD, related factors and the need for information about these issues among caregiving families. The questionnaire consisted questions on variables of demographic characteristics, disability, symptoms and care needs of the person with dementia, the strain of caregiving, the use of court-appointed legal guardians or powers of attorney, as well as discussions about these issues—and the need for them—with a doctor. The response rate was 77% and the mean ages of those with AD and caregivers were 80.2 and 78.2 years, respectively. The use of legal guardians was rare (4.3%), while the use of financial powers of attorney was more common (37.8%). Only 9.9% of the couples had discussed these issues with their doctor, whereas 47.9% expressed a need for it. The factors associated with the use of these legal arrangements were related to the severity of dementia, including experiencing dementia symptoms for more than 3 years, poor functioning, incontinence and behavioural symptoms. There is a clear need for information on medico-legal issues related to dementia among caregivers of AD patients. If held soon after the diagnosis, such discussions could support the autonomy of these persons in spite of AD and enable them to plan for the future as they wish.
Determining the need for ethical review: a three-stage Delphi study
Authors: Reynolds J , Crichton N , Fisher W , Sacks S
Published: November 2008

Aims:

The aims of the study were to explore expert opinion on the distinction between “research” and “audit”, and to determine the need for review by a National Health Service (NHS) Research Ethics Committee (REC).

Background:

Under current guidelines only “research” projects within the NHS require REC approval. Concerns have been expressed over difficulties in distinguishing between research and other types of project, and no existing guidelines appear to have been validated. The implications of this confusion include unnecessary REC applications, and crucially, the potential for ethically unsound projects to escape review.

Methods:

A three-stage Delphi method was chosen to explore expert opinion and develop consensus. Stage 1 comprised ten semi-structured interviews gathering opinion on distinguishing between types of project and how to determine need for ethical review. Stages 2 and 3 were questionnaires, asking 24 “experts” to rate levels of ethical concern and types of project for a series of questions. Anonymised responses from stage 2 were fed back in stage 3. The final responses were analysed for consensus.

Results:

Of 46 questions, consensus was achieved for 14 (30.4%) for level of ethical concern and for 15 (32.6%) for type of project.

Conclusions:

Several ideas proved discriminatory for classifying the type of project and assessing level of ethical concern, and they can be used to develop an algorithm to determine need for ethical review. There was little relationship between assessment of the level of ethical concern and classification of the project. There was inconsistency in defining and classifying studies as something other than “research” or “audit”.
The danger of dangerousness: why we must remove the dangerousness criterion from our mental health acts
Authors: Large M M , Ryan C J , Nielssen O B , Hayes R A
Published: November 2008

Objectives:

The mental health legislation of most developed countries includes either a dangerousness criterion or an obligatory dangerousness criterion (ODC). A dangerousness criterion holds that mentally ill people may be given treatment without consent if they are deemed to be a risk to themselves or others. An ODC holds that mentally ill people may be given treatment without consentonlyif they are deemed to be a risk to themselves or others. This paper argues that the dangerousness criterion is unnecessary, unethical and, in the case of the ODC, potentially harmful to mentally ill people and to the rest of the community.

Methods:

We examine the history of the dangerousness criterion, and provide reasoned argument and empirical evidence in support of our position.

Results:

Dangerousness criteria are not required to balance the perceived loss of autonomy arising from mental health legislation. Dangerousness criteria unfairly discriminate against the mentally ill, as they represent an unreasonable barrier to treatment without consent, and they spread the burden of risk that any mentally ill person might become violent across large numbers of mentally ill people who will never become violent. Mental health legislation that includes an ODC is associated with a longer duration of untreated psychosis, and probably contributes to a poorer prognosis and an increase risk of suicide and violence in patients in their first episode of psychosis.

Conclusions:

Dangerousness criteria should be removed from mental health legislation and be replaced by criteria that focus on a patient’s capacity to refuse treatment.
Value judgements in the decision-making process for the elderly patient
Authors: Ubachs-Moust J , Houtepen R , Vos R , ter Meulen R
Published: November 2008

The question of whether old age should or should not play a role in medical decision-making for the elderly patient is regularly debated in ethics and medicine. In this paper we investigate exactly how age influences the decision-making process. To explore the normative argumentation in the decisions regarding an elderly patient we make use of the argumentation model advanced by Toulmin. By expanding the model in order to identify normative components in the argumentation process it is possible to analyse the way that age-related value judgements influence the medical decision-making process. We apply the model to practice descriptions made by medical students after they had attended consultations and meetings in medical practice during their clinical training. Our results show the pervasive character of age-related value judgements. They influence the physician’s decision in several ways and at several points in the decision-making process. Such explicit value judgements were not exclusively used for arguments against further diagnosis or treatment of older patients. We found no systematic “ageist” pattern in the clinical decisions by physicians. Since age plays such an important, yet hidden role in the medical decision-making process, we make a plea for revealing such normative argumentation in order to gain transparency and accountability in this process. An explicit deliberative approach will make the medical decision-making process more transparent and improve the physician–patient relationship, creating confidence and trust, which are at the heart of medical practice.
Embryo as epiphenomenon: some cultural, social and economic forces driving the stem cell debate
Authors: Green R M
Published: November 2008

Our human embryonic stem cell debates are not simply about good or bad ethical arguments. The fetus and the embryo have instead become symbols for a larger set of value conflicts occasioned by social and cultural changes. Beneath our stem cell debates lie conflicts between those who would privilege scientific progress and individual choice and others who favour the sanctity of family life and traditional family roles. Also at work, on both the national and international levels, is the use of the embryo by newly emergent social groups to express resentment against cultural elites. The organisational needs of religious groups have also played a role, with the issue of protection of the embryo and fetus serving as a useful means of rallying organisational allegiance in the Roman Catholic and evangelical communities. Because the epiphenomenal moral positions on the status and use of the embryo are driven by the powerful social, cultural or economic forces beneath them, they will most likely change only with shifts in the underlying forces that sustain them.
AN ELECTRO-RHEOLOGICAL (ER) ROBOTIC SYSTEM: CONTROLLER VALIDATION, TREND STUDY, COMPARISON WITH DC SERVOMOTORS, POSITION REPEATABILITY
Authors: TAN K. P. , STANWAY R. , BULLOUGH W. A.
Published: December 2008

Industrial robot arms experience position inaccuracies due to the output cogging torques of the DC servomotors. Therefore, in an attempt to resolve these position problems, an electro-rheological (ER) robotic system is considered as an actuator to drive the robot arm rapidly in both directions. This ER robotic system consists of two ER clutches, an ER brake, a gear train, an encoder and a robot arm. The ER clutches produce clockwise and anti-clockwise rotations. The ER brake decelerates and halts the robot arm. The main aim of this paper is to validate a controller model of the ER robotic arm. Next, a trend study is used to determine the optimum working conditions of the ER actuated-robotic arm. The robotic displacements of both the ER rotary devices and the commercial DC servomotors are compared in terms of position accuracy and speed of response. Finally, the repeatability of the robotic end positions is examined in order to determine the importance of the ER brake.
ANHARMONIC EFFECTIVE POTENTIAL, LOCAL FORCE CONSTANT AND EXAFS OF HCP CRYSTALS: THEORY AND COMPARISON TO EXPERIMENT
Authors: HUNG NGUYEN VAN , TIEN TONG SY , HUNG LE HAI , FRAHM RONALD R.
Published: December 2008

Anharmonic effective potential, Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) and its parameters of hcp crystals have been theoretically and experimentally studied. Analytical expressions for the anharmonic effective potential, effective local force constant, three first cumulants, a novel anharmonic factor, thermal expansion coefficient and anhamonic contributions to EXAFS amplitude and phase have been derived. This anharmonic theory is applied to analyze the EXAFS of Zn and Cd at 77 K and 300 K, measured at HASYLAB (DESY, Germany). Numerical results are found to be in good agreement with experiment, where unnegligible anharmonic effects have been shown in the considered theoretical and experimental quantities.
THE FIBONACCI MODEL AND THE TEMPERLEY-LIEB ALGEBRA
Authors: KAUFFMAN LOUIS H. , LOMONACO SAMUEL J.
Published: December 2008

We give an elementary construction of the Fibonacci model, a unitary braid group representation that is universal for quantum computation. This paper is dedicated to Professor C. N. Yang, on his 85th birthday.
HIGH-FREQUENCY ACOUSTIC PHENOMENON IN QUASI-TWO-DIMENSIONAL ORGANIC CONDUCTORS
Authors: KRSTOVSKA DANICA , GALBOVA OLGA
Published: December 2008

The propagation of a monochromatic high-frequency longitudinal acoustic wave along the normal to the layer (z-axis) in a bulk quasi-two-dimensional conductor (Q2D), in the absence of an external magnetic field under assumption of arbitrary scattering of the charge carriers from the boundary surface, is studied theoretically. The effect of the Q2D electron energy spectrum features on the attenuation of an ordinary acoustic wave (OAW) and of an anomalous acoustic wave (AAW) is discussed. It is shown that for certain values of the characteristic parameters, the OAW in Q2D is strongly attenuated, and the asymptotic form of the acoustic field in the conductor is determined by the AAW. In the case of a Q2D conductor, the anomalous acoustic field is transmitted by electrons belonging to the belt points of the Fermi surface.
Aldose reductase mediates myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury in part by opening mitochondrial permeability transition pore
Authors: Ananthakrishnan Radha , Kaneko Michiyo , Hwang Yuying C. , Quadri Nosirudeen , Gomez Teodoro , Li Qing , Caspersen Casper , Ramasamy Ravichandran
Published: December 2008

Aldose reductase (AR), a member of the aldo-keto reductase family, has been demonstrated to play a central role in mediating myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury. Recently, using transgenic mice broadly overexpressing human AR (ARTg), we demonstrated that AR is an important component of myocardial I/R injury and that inhibition of this enzyme protects heart from I/R injury ( 20 – 22 , 48 , 49 , 56 ). To rigorously delineate mechanisms by which AR pathway influences myocardial ischemic injury, we investigated the role played by reactive oxygen species (ROS), antioxidant enzymes, and mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT) pore opening in hearts from ARTg or littermates [wild type (WT)] subjected to I/R. MPT pore opening after I/R was determined using mitochondrial uptake of 2-deoxyglucose ratio, while H2O2 was measured as a key indicator of ROS. Myocardial 2-deoxyglucose uptake ratio and calcium-induced swelling were significantly greater in mitochondria from ARTg mice than in WT mice. Blockade of MPT pore with cyclosphorin A during I/R reduced ischemic injury significantly in ARTg mice hearts. H2O2 measurements indicated mitochondrial ROS generation after I/R was significantly greater in ARTg mitochondria than in WT mice hearts. Furthermore, the levels of antioxidant GSH were significantly reduced in ARTg mitochondria than in WT. Resveratrol treatment or pharmacological blockade of AR significantly reduced ROS generation and MPT pore opening in mitochondria of ARTg mice hearts exposed to I/R stress. This study demonstrates that MPT pore opening is a key event by which AR pathway mediates myocardial I/R injury, and that the MPT pore opening after I/R is triggered, in part, by increases in ROS generation in ARTg mice hearts. Therefore, inhibition of AR pathway protects mitochondria and hence may be a useful adjunct for salvaging ischemic myocardium.
Dynamic arterial blood gas analysis in conscious, unrestrained C57BL/6J mice during exposure to intermittent hypoxia
Authors: Lee Euhan J. , Woodske Matthew E. , Zou Baobo , O'Donnell Christopher P.
Published: December 2008

Rodent models of chronic intermittent hypoxia (IH) are commonly used to investigate the pathophysiological sequelae that result from hypoxic exposure in patients experiencing obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Despite the widespread use of IH models, little attention has been paid to carefully defining the degree of oxyhemoglobin desaturation that occurs during each hypoxic period. Therefore, we developed a rapid blood sampling technique to determine the arterial blood gas changes that occur in conscious unrestrained mice during a single IH event and hypothesized that the arterial Po2 (PaO2) at the nadir level of the inspired oxygen profile causes oxyhemoglobin saturation to fall to between 80% and 90%. Mice were exposed to 120–180 cycles of IH at a rate of 60 cycles/h, and arterial blood samples were withdrawn (<3 s) at baseline and at 10-s time intervals over the course of a single IH cycle. The IH regimen caused a decline in the fraction of inspired oxygen from room air levels to a transient nadir of 6.0 ± 0.2% over the 30-s hypoxic period. The PaO2 and arterial oxyhemoglobin saturation reached a nadir of 47 ± 2 mmHg and 85 ± 2% at 30 s, respectively. Arterial Pco2 decreased to a nadir of 26 ± 2 mmHg at 30 s, associated with a rise in arterial pH to 7.46 ± 0.2. We conclude that the magnitude of oxyhemoglobin desaturation that is induced in our murine model of IH is consistent with the degree of hypoxic stress that occurs in moderate to severe clinical OSA.
Exploring Continuity of Care in Patients with Alcohol Use Disorders Using Time-Variant Measures
Authors: de Vries S.C. , Wierdsma A.I.
Published: December 2008

Background/Aims: We used time-variant measures of continuity of care to study fluctuations in long-term treatment use by patients with alcohol-related disorders. Methods: Data on service use were extracted from the Psychiatric Case Register for the Rotterdam Region, The Netherlands. Continuity measures were calculated for each day over a 2-year observation period. Repeated measures analysis was used to identify factors that influence continuity of care over time. Results: Continuity of care was higher for patients with more severe disorders. Though quantity of care was high for patients with long problem history during the first year of treatment, it decreased strongly in the second year. The intervals between treatment contacts were shorter for women, especially young ones, than for men. Conclusion: Time-variant measures showed differences in continuity of care that would not have been revealed if more aggregated measures of service use had been used.
Solid Pseudopapillary Tumor of the Pancreas: An Enigmatic Tumor
Authors: Triantopoulou C. , Touloumis Z. , Apessou D. , Scotiniotis I. , Rodogianni D. , Papailiou J. , Dervenis C.
Published: December 2008

Solid pseudopapillary tumor of the pancreas is a rare pancreatic tumor that predominantly occurs in young non-Caucasian women. Although most tumors show benign behavior, malignant degeneration may occur. A case of solid pseudopapillary pancreatic tumor in a Caucasian woman is presented that was investigated by endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS), computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging and EUS-guided fine needle aspiration. The patient underwent surgery and radiological findings are correlated with histopathology. The preoperative diagnosis of solid pseudopapillary tumor of the pancreas is challenging, frequently leading to imaging by multiple different modalities.
Novel Role of the CXC Chemokine Receptor 3 in Inflammatory Response to Arterial Injury
Authors: Schwarz Johannes B.K. , Langwieser Nicolas , Langwieser Nicole N. , Bek Martin J. , Seidl Stefan , Eckstein Hans-Henning , Lu Bao , Schömig Albert , Pavenstädt Hermann , Zohlnhöfer Dietlind
Published: December 2008

Atherosclerosis, restenosis, and posttransplant graft atherosclerosis are characterized by endothelial damage, infiltration of inflammatory cells, and proliferation of smooth muscle cells. The CXCR3-activating chemokines interferon-γ inducible protein 10 (IP10) and MIG (monokine induced by interferon-γ) have been implicated in vascular repair and remodeling. The underlying molecular mechanisms, however, remain elusive. Here, we show that wire-mediated arterial injury induced local and systemic expression of IP10 and MIG, resulting in enhanced recruitment of CXCR3
+
leukocytes and hematopoietic progenitor cells. This was accompanied by profound activation of mammalian target of rapamycin complex (mTORC)1, increased reactive oxygen species production, apoptosis, and intimal hyperplasia. Genetic and pharmacological inactivation of CXCR3 signaling not only suppressed recruitment of inflammatory cells but also abolished mTORC1 activation, reduced reactive oxygen species generation, and blocked apoptosis of vascular cells, resulting in significant reduction of intimal hyperplasia in vivo. In vitro, stimulation of T cells with IP10 directly activated mTORC1 and induced generation of reactive oxygen species and apoptosis in an mTORC1-dependent manner. These results strongly indicate that CXCR3-dependent activation of mTORC1 directly links stimulation of the Th1 immune system with the proliferative response of intimal cells in vascular remodeling.
World Religions, the Earth Charter, and Sustainability
Authors: Tucker Mary Evelyn
Published: November 2008

This article argues the global environmental crisis shows the need for a broad, inclusive definition of sustainability. It shows how religious traditions can help contribute to broader definitions, and describes how work from the field of Religion and Ecology has developed resources. It argues that the next step for the study of Religion and Ecology is to address sustainability, and then proposes that the Earth Charter provides an orienting framework for that engagement of religion and sustainability.
Sustainability, Faith, and the Market
Authors: Hoffman Andrew , Sandelands Lloyd
Published: November 2008

Although sustainability is a growing concern of business today, there has been little progress toward a sustainable future. This is because the idea of sustainability in academic and policy debates is too small and too beholden to the assumptions that have created today's environmental and development crises. Consequently, calls for reform have neither the vision nor the authority to sustain the relationships of self, society, and environment that define human life. Reaching beyond our profession of business management to our Christian faith, we argue for a bigger idea of sustainability that orients these relationships to God. We identify sustainability with four principles of Christian theology—which we label anthropic, relational, ethical, and divine love—and we link economic development with eight principles of Catholic social doctrine—which the Church labels unity and meaning, common good, universal destination, subsidiarity, participation, solidarity, social values, and love. This bigger idea of sustainability transforms talk about the future from a gloomy contentiousness rooted in fear to a bright cooperation rooted in hope.
Ruling the Future? Heretical Reflections on Technology and Other Secular Religions of Sustainability
Authors: Davison Aidan
Published: November 2008

I argue that the quest for sustainability in Western societies has been shaped by the secular religion of technology. Technological endeavor and moral reflection have been held apart in this quest, with the result that reformist and transformative approaches to sustainability often overlook articles of modern faith in technology. Instrumentalist appeals to eco-efficiency and environmentalist appeals to nature implicitly invest technology with transcendent significance. In response, I rely upon accounts of practical reason in outlining a secular strategy for constituting sustainability as practical moral endeavor. Characterizing this endeavor as faithfulness in the task of sustaining a good world, I suggest that skillful handling of the moral and ontological substance of technology is the very essence of sustainability.
The Spirit of Environmental Justice: Resurrection Hope in Urban America
Authors: Wallace Mark
Published: November 2008

Using the resources of prophetic religion, and with special reference to the blighted city of Chester, Pennsylvania, I argue that lack of access to affordable, nutritious food is an environmental justice problem embedded within a host of other social and economic problems. A holistic analysis of the dysfunctional web that ties together seemingly disparate social pathologies can make sense of, and provide solutions for, the eco-crisis, including the food crisis, in urban communities today. I offer a case study of a grocery co-op in Chester as a successful experiment in sustainable food justice and participatory democracy that directly confronts the urban crisis, including the rising incidence of obesity and diabetes in under-resourced communities. By avoiding a carbon-intensive food regime, the Co-op is a living parable of how local food choices can undergird the health of consumers along with the bio-systems that support this and future generations of humans, animals, and plants. I conclude that the powers of resurrection hope and biblical justice are compelling resources for combatting the mean-spirited politics of greed and power that drive the downward cycle of American cities today.
The Capitalist Labour-Process and the Body in Pain: The Corporeal Depths of Marx's Concept of Immiseration
Authors: Fracchia Joseph
Published: November 2008

One of the most common critiques of Marx is that he mistook the birth pangs of capitalism for its death throes, on the basis of which he made the completely erroneous prediction of the increasing immiseration of the working class – a critique that rather superficially reduces immiseration to a simple matter of standard of living. The goal of this essay, however, is to expose the corporeal depths of Marx's notion of immiseration, and, in so doing, to show that immiseration is by no means a long-since disappeared attribute of early capitalism. To do so, I reread the chapters on surplus-value in

Capital

by following the corporeal leitmotifs suggested in Franz Kafka's short story, 'In the Penal Colony'. Kafka's narration of the condemned learning the meaning of his fate through the corporeal experience of wounding evokes Marx's very graphic narration in

Capital

of workers experiencing exploitation and immiseration on their own bodies. Raising themes found later in Kafka's narrative, Marx tells of the arranging of the entire workplace 'under the command of capital', of the design and employment of technology both to secure that command and to extract surplus-value; and he shows how capital, like Kafka's torture machine, writes its messages on the body of labour in a script not immediately decipherable by observers. The history that Marx tells in

Capital

is less graphic in form than Kafka's, but it is in content at least as fantastic and horrific – perhaps even more so. Their common concern with machines painfully inscribing bodies helps to highlight the corporeal dimension of Marx's concept of immiseration.
Rebellion to Reform in Bolivia. Part III: Neoliberal Continuities, the Autonomist Right, and the Political Economy of Indigenous Struggle
Authors: Webber Jeffery
Published: November 2008

This article presents a broad analysis of the political economy and dynamics of social change during the first year (January 2006–January 2007) of the Evo Morales government in Bolivia. It situates this analysis in the wider historical context of left-indigenous insurrection between 2000 and 2005, the changing character of contemporary capitalism imperialism, and the resurgence of anti-neoliberalism and anti-imperialism elsewhere in Latin America. It considers at a general level the overarching dilemmas of revolution and reform. Part III examines the complexities of the politics of indigenous liberation and the political economy of the Movimiento al Socialismo (Movement Towards Socialism, MAS) government between January 2006 and January 2007. It pays special attention to the limits of reform in the hydrocarbons (natural gas and oil) sector. Also explained in Part III is the formation of an autonomist right-wing movement in the eastern lowlands, and how the new Right has intervened in the process of the Constituent Assembly. The article shows how the actual Constituent Assembly set into motion by the Morales administration in 2006 differs in fundamental terms from the revolutionary assembly envisioned by leading left-indigenous forces during the cycle of revolt in the first five years of this century.
A Titanic Phenomenon: Marxism, History and Biblical Society
Authors: Boer Roland
Published: November 2008

Marxist contributions to biblical criticism are far more sustained and complex than many would expect. This critical survey of the state of play, with a look back at the main currents that have led to that state, deals with Marxist contributions to the reconstructions of biblical societies and the interpretation of the literature produced by those societies. It begins by outlining the major Marxist positions within current biblical criticism and then moves on to consider two possible sources of further insight from outside biblical criticism: Western-Marxist studies of the ancient world (Karl Kautsky, Perry Anderson and G.E.M. de Ste. Croix) and the long and neglected tradition of Soviet-era Russian work on the ancient Near East. I conclude by pointing to a number of lingering problems: the unreliability of the literature for historical purposes; the lack of fit between juridical distinctions in the literature and class distinctions in the ancient world; the question as to whether the state can be a class; and the viability of imposing on the ancient world Marxist categories developed in very different situations.
Production versus Capital in Motion: A Reply to Fine and Saad-Filho
Authors: Kincaid Jim
Published: November 2008

A further critique of Fine and Saad-Filho's reading of Marxist political economy: (a) it neglects the monetary dimension of Marx's analysis; (b) it focuses too much on production, and on the organic composition of capital, treated in isolation from the overall circuit of capital. An alternative theorisation is proposed, stressing what will now be called emergence patterns in Marx's value theory (his term was laws of tendency), and giving due weight to circulation, realisation, competition and capital allocation.
The Parousia of Paul at Iconium
Authors: Luke Trevor
Published: November 2008

This article explores the parousia reception, instead of the arena, as a locus for spectacle production in the Roman Empire, specifically in certain passages of early Christian literature. Not only did Christians apply the familiar image of parousia to their eschatology, but they also produced new truths about empire and the location of legitimate authority through their creative production of distinctive parousia spectacles. Through these literary spectacles, old truths about the body and authority were challenged as Christians developed a cosmology for the parousia spectacle that both transformed parousia and also served as a new hermeneutic for interpreting such ceremonies. The arrival of Paul at Iconium represented a radical reinterpretation of parousia in that it shifted the locus of spectation from the emperor to the individual Christian. In producing and consuming their own parousia spectacles, Christians participated in imperial discourse.
Before Animal Sacrifice, A Myth of Innocence
Authors: Ullucci Daniel
Published: November 2008

Animal sacrifice was one of the most pervasive and socially significant practices of Graeco-Roman religion. Yet, numerous Greek and Latin writers tell of a golden before the advent of sacrifice and meat eating. In this idealized world, humans lived at one with the gods and animal sacrifice did not exist. Such texts are often seen as part of a wider ancient critique of Greco-Roman religion in general and animal sacrifice in particular. This interpretive model, largely sprung from Christian theologizing, sees animal sacrifice as a meaningless and base act, destined to be superseded. As a result of this 'critique model', scholars have not asked what the myth of a world without sacrifice means in a world in which sacrifice predominated. This paper seeks to correct the above view by analyzing these texts as instances of created myth. It approaches each occurrence of the myth as an instance of position-taking by a player in the field of cultural production. The paper seeks to further a redescription of Greco-Roman antiquity by revealing the variety of ancient positions on sacrifice and their strategic use by competing cultural producers.
Through the Empire's Eyes: Engaging the Gaze
Authors: du Preez Amanda
Published: November 2008

The empire of visuality is said to have eyes everywhere, but what are the consequences for embodied locality in terms of this omnipresence? How do the objects that fall prey to the gaze of the empire engage with its petrifying gaze? By exploring the photography of the Brazilian Mário de Andrade, the Frenchman Marc Garanger and the South African photographer Santu Mofokeng, the challenge to the gaze of the empire is discussed. The Barthesian distinction between the categories of studium and punctum is utilised to unpack the possibilities of embodied localities that confront and engage the gaze of the empire differently.