bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Integrative Genomics: In Silico Coupling of Rat Physiology and Complex Traits With Mouse and Human Data
Authors: Twigger Simon N. , Nie Jeff , Ruotti Victor , Yu Jiaming , Chen Dan , Li Dawei , Mathis Jed , Narayanasamy Vijay , Gopinath Gopal R. , Pasko Dean , Shimoyama Mary , de la Cruz Norberto , Bromberg Susan , Kwitek Anne E. , Jacob Howard J. , Tonellato Peter J.
Published: April 2004

Integration of the large variety of genome maps from several organisms provides the mechanism by which physiological knowledge obtained in model systems such as the rat can be projected onto the human genome to further the research on human disease. The release of the rat genome sequence provides new information for studies using the rat model and is a key reference against which existing and new rat physiological results can be aligned. Previously, we described comparative maps of the rat, mouse, and human based on EST sequence comparisons combined with radiation hybrid maps. Here, we use new data and introduce the Integrated Genomics Environment, an extensive database of curated and integrated maps, markers, and physiological results. These results are integrated by using VCMapview, a java-based map integration and visualization tool. This unique environment allows researchers to relate results from cytogenetic, genetic, and radiation hybrid studies to the genome sequence and compare regions of interest between human, mouse, and rat. Integrating rat physiology with mouse genetics and clinical results from human by using the respective genomes provides a novel route to capitalize on comparative genomics and the strengths of model organism biology.
Patterns of Insertions and Their Covariation With Substitutions in the Rat, Mouse, and Human Genomes
Authors: Yang Shan , Smit Arian F. , Schwartz Scott , Chiaromonte Francesca , Roskin Krishna M. , Haussler David , Miller Webb , Hardison Ross C.
Published: April 2004

The rates at which human genomic DNA changes by neutral substitution and insertion of certain families of transposable elements covary in large, megabase-sized segments. We used the rat, mouse, and human genomic DNA sequences to examine these processes in more detail in comparisons over both shorter (rat–mouse) and longer (rodent–primate) times, and demonstrated the generality of the covariation. Different families of transposable elements show distinctive insertion preferences and patterns of variation with substitution rates. SINEs are more abundant in GC-rich DNA, but the regional GC preference for insertion (monitored in young SINEs) differs between rodents and humans. In contrast, insertions in the rodent genomes are predominantly LINEs, which prefer to insert into AT-rich DNA in all three mammals. The insertion frequency of repeats other than SINEs correlates strongly positively with the frequency of substitutions in all species. However, correlations with SINEs show the opposite effects. The correlations are explained only in part by the GC content, indicating that other factors also contribute to the inherent tendency of DNA segments to change over evolutionary time.
The Genomic Sequence and Comparative Analysis of the Rat Major Histocompatibility Complex
Authors: Hurt Peter , Walter Lutz , Sudbrak Ralf , Klages Sven , Müller Ines , Shiina Takashi , Inoko Hidetoshi , Lehrach Hans , Günther Eberhard , Reinhardt Richard , Himmelbauer Heinz
Published: April 2004

We have determined the sequence of a 4-Mb interval on rat chromosome 20p12 that encompasses the rat major histocompatibility complex (MHC). This is the first report of a finished sequence for a segment of the rat genome and constitutes one of the largest contiguous sequences thus far for rodent genomes in general. The rat MHC is, next to the human MHC, the second mammalian MHC sequenced to completion. Our analysis has resulted in the identification of at least 220 genes located within the sequenced interval. Although gene content and order are well conserved in the class II and class III gene intervals as well as the framework gene regions, profound rat-specific features were encountered within the class I gene regions, in comparison to human and mouse. Class I region-associated differences were found both at the structural level, the number, and organization of class I genes and gene families, and, in a more global context, in the way that evolution worked to shape the present-day rat MHC.
Integration of the Rat Recombination and EST Maps in the Rat Genomic Sequence and Comparative Mapping Analysis With the Mouse Genome
Authors: Wilder Steven P. , Bihoreau Marie-Thérèse , Argoud Karène , Watanabe Takeshi K. , Lathrop Mark , Gauguier Dominique
Published: April 2004

Inbred strains of the laboratory rat are widely used for identifying genetic regions involved in the control of complex quantitative phenotypes of biomedical importance. The draft genomic sequence of the rat now provides essential information for annotating rat quantitative trait locus (QTL) maps. Following the survey of unique rat microsatellite (11,585 including 1648 new markers) and EST (10,067) markers currently available, we have incorporated a selection of 7952 rat EST sequences in an improved version of the integrated linkage-radiation hybrid map of the rat containing 2058 microsatellite markers which provided over 10,000 potential anchor points between rat QTL and the genomic sequence of the rat. A total of 996 genetic positions were resolved (avg. spacing 1.77 cM) in a single large intercross and anchored in the rat genomic sequence (avg. spacing 1.62 Mb). Comparative genome maps between rat and mouse were constructed by successful computational alignment of 6108 mapped rat ESTs in the mouse genome. The integration of rat linkage maps in the draft genomic sequence of the rat and that of other species represents an essential step for translating rat QTL intervals into human chromosomal targets.
Automated Whole-Genome Multiple Alignment of Rat, Mouse, and Human
Authors: Brudno Michael , Poliakov Alexander , Salamov Asaf , Cooper Gregory M. , Sidow Arend , Rubin Edward M. , Solovyev Victor , Batzoglou Serafim , Dubchak Inna
Published: April 2004

We have built a whole-genome multiple alignment of the three currently available mammalian genomes using a fully automated pipeline that combines the local/global approach of the Berkeley Genome Pipeline and the LAGAN program. The strategy is based on progressive alignment and consists of two main steps: (1) alignment of the mouse and rat genomes, and (2) alignment of human to either the mouse-rat alignments from step 1, or the remaining unaligned mouse and rat sequences. The resulting alignments demonstrate high sensitivity, with 87% of all human gene-coding areas aligned in both mouse and rat. The specificity is also high: <7% of the rat contigs are aligned to multiple places in human, and 97% of all alignments with human sequence >100 kb agree with a three-way synteny map built independently, using predicted exons in the three genomes. At the nucleotide level <1% of the rat nucleotides are mapped to multiple places in the human sequence in the alignment, and 96.5% of human nucleotides within all alignments agree with the synteny map. The alignments are publicly available online, with visualization through the novel Multi-VISTA browser that we also present.
Genomic Analysis of the Nuclear Receptor Family: New Insights Into Structure, Regulation, and Evolution From the Rat Genome
Authors: Zhang Zhengdong , Burch Paula E. , Cooney Austin J. , Lanz Rainer B. , Pereira Fred A. , Wu Jiaqian , Gibbs Richard A. , Weinstock George , Wheeler David A.
Published: April 2004

Completion of the Rattus norvegicus genome sequence enabled a global inventory and analysis of the nuclear receptors (NRs) in three mammalian species. Forty-nine NR members were found in mouse, 48 in human. Forty-seven were found in the rat, with gaps at the locations expected for the other two. Pairwise comparisons of their distribution in rat, mouse, and human identified 11 syntenic NR gene blocks, including three small clusters of two or three closely related genes, each spanning 40 kb to 1700 kb. The exon structure of the ligand-binding domain suggests that exon shuffling has played a role in the evolution of this family. An invariant splice junction in all members of the NR family except LXRβ suggests a functional role for the intron. The ligand-binding domains of PXR and CAR are among the most divergent in the family. Their higher nucleotide substitution rates may be related to the central role played by these two NRs in the metabolism of the foreign compounds and may have resulted from limited positive selection.
The Atlas Genome Assembly System
Authors: Havlak Paul , Chen Rui , Durbin K. James , Egan Amy , Ren Yanru , Song Xing-Zhi , Weinstock George M. , Gibbs Richard A.
Published: April 2004

Atlas is a suite of programs developed for assembly of genomes by a “combined approach” that uses DNA sequence reads from both BACs and whole-genome shotgun (WGS) libraries. The BAC clones afford advantages of localized assembly with reduced computational load, and provide a robust method for dealing with repeated sequences. Inclusion of WGS sequences facilitates use of different clone insert sizes and reduces data production costs. A core function of Atlas software is recruitment of WGS sequences into appropriate BACs based on sequence overlaps. Because construction of consensus sequences is from local assembly of these reads, only small (<0.1%) units of the genome are assembled at a time. Once assembled, each BAC is used to derive a genomic layout. This “sequence-based” growth of the genome map has greater precision than with non-sequence-based methods. Use of BACs allows correction of artifacts due to repeats at each stage of the process. This is aided by ancillary data such as BAC fingerprint, other genomic maps, and syntenic relations with other genomes. Atlas was used to assemble a draft DNA sequence of the rat genome; its major components including overlapper and split-scaffold are also being used in pure WGS projects.
Interaction between risk factors for fetal growth retardation associated with abnormal umbilical artery Doppler studies
Authors: Spinillo Arsenio , Bergante Carola , Gardella Barbara , Mainini Roberta , Montanari Laura
Published: April 2004

Background.  The role of antenatal risk factors associated with the occurrence of fetal growth restriction complicated by abnormal umbilical artery Doppler studies has not yet been studied extensively. We evaluated the role and the interactions of antenatal antecedents of fetal growth restriction complicated by abnormal umbilical artery end‐diastolic velocities.

Methods.  We compared antenatal variables in 183 pregnancies complicated by fetal growth retardation and abnormal umbilical artery Doppler studies and 549 appropriately grown fetuses with normal end‐diastolic velocity waveform in the umbilical artery. Logistic regression was used to evaluate the association between antenatal variables and fetal growth retardation and to test for interaction.

Results.  In logistic models, increasing maternal age [odds ratio (OR) 1.06, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.01–1.11], nulliparity (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.37–3.5), smoking during pregnancy (OR 2.56, 95% CI 1.56–4.22), preeclampsia (OR 27.5, 95% CI 15.1–49.9), first‐trimester hemorrhage (OR 2.25, 95% CI 1.32–3.82) and low (< 0.2 kg/week) weight gain in pregnancy (OR 3.48, 95% CI 1.71–3.05) were significantly associated with an increased risk of fetal growth restriction complicated by abnormal Doppler studies. These risk factors were also significantly correlated with the occurrence of absent/reversed end‐diastolic blood flow in the umbilical artery. Maternal smoking during pregnancy interacted negatively with preeclampsia but positively with a low weight gain in pregnancy.

Conclusions.  The results of this study have shown that antenatal risk factors for intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) complicated by abnormal Doppler studies are similar to those associated with the birth of a small‐for‐gestational‐age infant. Preeclampsia, maternal smoking and low weight gain in pregnancy play a significant causal role in the origin of fetal growth restriction associated with abnormal uteroplacental blood flow.
Cord blood acid–base status at delivery after successful external cephalic version
Authors: Chan Louis Yik‐Si , Leung Tak Yeung , Fok Wing Yee , Chan Lin Wai , Lau Tze Kin
Published: April 2004

Background.  This study was designed to evaluate whether cord blood acidosis is more likely in infants born after successful external cephalic version.

Methods.  This retrospective cohort study included 89 singleton deliveries with successful version performed over a 2‐year period. Their cord blood acid–base parameters were compared to 89 pregnancies with spontaneous cephalic presentation (control group).

Results.  There was no significant difference between the version and control groups in birthweight and Apgar scores. There was no difference between the version and control groups in cord arterial pH (7.26 vs. 7.26), arterial pCO2 (7.04 vs. 7.09 kPa), arterial pO2 (2.34 vs. 2.59 kPa), arterial base excess (−5.59 vs. −5.64 mmol/L), venous pH (7.32 vs. 7.33), venous pCO2 (5.73 vs. 5.63 kPa), venous pO2 (3.86 vs. 3.84 kPa), or venous base excess (−5.03 vs. −5.12 mmol/L). There was also no significant difference in the number of fetuses with cord arterial pH <7.20 between the two groups.

Conclusion.  Neonates delivered after successful external cephalic version are not more likely to be born with acidosis. Our study provides further support for the safety of external cephalic version for term breech pregnancies.
Plasma lipids and physicochemical properties of the erythrocyte plasma membrane throughout pregnancy
Authors: Tranquilli Andrea Luigi , Cester Nelvio , Giannubilo Stefano Raffaele , Corradetti Alessandra , Nanetti Laura , Mazzanti Laura
Published: April 2004

Background.  The physiopathological relevance of plasma lipid concentrations is supported by the observation that they might affect the physicochemical properties of the plasma membrane of circulating cells and might be crucial in the pathological conditions complicating pregnancy.

Methods.  Plasma and erythrocyte membrane lipid composition, membrane fluidity and function [membrane‐bound enzyme sodium/potassium adenosine triphosphatase (Na+/K+‐ATPase) activity] were studied in 24 healthy women in the nonpregnant condition and at 12, 24 and 38 weeks' gestation.

Results.  The plasma showed an increase in total and high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, triglyceride (TG) and phospholipid (PL) levels. In the erythrocyte membrane we found the cholesterol/phospholipid (C/PL) ratio increased and the saturated to unsaturated fatty acid (FA) ratio (Sat/Unsat) significantly reduced; fluorescence polarization showed an initial increase during pregnancy and a progressive decrease afterwards; Na+/K+‐ATPase activity was progressively reduced.

Conclusions.  A generalized alteration in the composition and function of the maternal erythrocyte membrane is present during a physiological pregnancy, and these modifications may involve a more complex physiopathogenetic mechanism.
Risk factors for persistent trophoblastic activity after surgery for ectopic pregnancy
Authors: Nathorst‐Böös Jörgen , Rafik Hamad Rangeen
Published: April 2004

Background.  The purpose of this study was to explore the value of preoperative ultrasound and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) monitoring to predict the occurrence of residual trophoblastic tissue after laparoscopic conservative surgery for tubal pregnancy.

Methods.  During the period from January 1998 to December 1999 all 206 women undergoing treatment for ectopic pregnancy at the Karolinska hospital were included in the study. A vaginal ultrasound examination was performed and the ectopic size was measured. Serum‐hCG levels were recorded preoperatively, and at days 1–2 and 14–21 after surgery.

Results.  A diameter of 8 mm or less was observed in 13 of the 14 patients needing secondary treatment. The risk of second surgery if the finding at the preoperative ultrasound was larger than 8 mm was 1/73 resulting in a negative predictive value of 0.01. A considerable overlap in the hCG levels was found on days 1–2 after surgery between women with and without second surgery.

Conclusions.  Using a single cutoff point for hCG seems to be of little value as residual trophoblastic tissue can manifest itself at different times − early or late − during the postoperative period. Women with a small ectopic pregnancy as detected by preoperative vaginal ultrasound are at high risk of developing residual trophoblastic tissue. These patients should be considered by the surgeon and monitored with hCG levels until values decline and become undetectable. Management of patients with slowly but declining values can be conservative. If hCG levels are rising or do not decline, methotrexate (MTX) can be an alternative.
The association of androgenic sex steroids with serum lipid levels in postmenopausal women
Authors: Noyan Volkan , Yucel Aykan , Sagsoz Nevin
Published: April 2004

Background.  The aim of the present study was to examine the correlations between androgenic sex steroids and serum lipid levels in postmenopausal women.

Methods.  The study group included 72 postmenopausal women. Correlation analysis between serum hormone [dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA‐S), androstenedione, free testosterone and sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG)] and lipid {total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), high density lipoprotein‐cholesterol (HDL‐C), low density lipoprotein‐cholesterol (LDL‐C), lipoprotein (a) [Lp (a)], apolipoprotein A‐1 (apo A‐1) and apolipoprotein B (apo B)} levels was performed.

Results.  DHEA‐S was found to be positively correlated with HDL‐C (r = 0.231, p = 0.049) and negatively correlated with Lp (a) (r = − 0.355, p = 0.002). These correlations were statistically significant even after adjustment for age and body mass index (BMI) (r = 0.332, p = 0.005 and r = −0.362, p = 0.002, respectively). SHBG was positively correlated with HDL‐C (r = 0.352, p = 0.002). There was a significant but weaker correlation between SHBG and HDL‐C levels after controlling for age and BMI (r = 0.243, p = 0.041). No other correlations were found between sex hormone and lipid levels.

Conclusion.  DHEA‐S was found to be associated with a less atherogenic lipid profile in postmenopausal women.
Adding HPV16 testing to abnormal cervical smear detection is useful for predicting CIN3: a prospective study
Authors: Tanaka Hidenori , Sato Hirokazu , Sato Naoki , Takahashi Osamu , Ota Hirotaka , Hirano Hideto , Tanaka Toshinobu
Published: April 2004

Background.  The aim of this prospective study was to estimate whether adding human papillomavirus 16 (HPV16) testing to abnormal cervical smears is useful in the prediction of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 3 (CIN3).

Methods.  Between October 1994 and May 1996, a total of 207 patients at the Akita University Hospital had abnormal smears. Of these patients, 153 patients with CIN1,2 or atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS) were enrolled in this study and followed until June 2001. At the initial visit, a cervical swab was collected for cytology and for HPV16 testing using nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR). When the HPV16 test was positive, HPV16 testing was performed every 3 to 6 months. We compared the prevalence of progression to CIN3 between the HPV16‐positive group (n = 16) and the HPV16‐negative group (n = 137). We also investigated the risk of progression to CIN3 associated with persistent HPV16 infection.

Results.  At the end of the study period, four patients (25%) in the HPV16‐positive group developed CIN3, and all of these patients were found to have persistent HPV16 infection during this period. Only three patients (2.2%) in the HPV16‐negative group developed CIN3.

Conclusions.  The prevalence of progression to CIN3 in the HPV16‐positive group was significantly higher than that in the negative group (p = 0.0023). The odds ratio of progression to CIN3 was 14.9 [95% confidence interval (CI) 2.98–74.4]. In particular, the risk of progression to CIN3 increased with persistent HPV16 infection. Adding HPV16 testing when abnormal cervical smears are detected promises to be useful for predicting CIN3.
Effects of domestic violence on preterm birth and low birth weight
Authors: Neggers Yasmin , Goldenberg Robert , Cliver Suzanne , Hauth John
Published: April 2004

Background.  Domestic violence is increasingly recognized as a potentially modifiable risk factor for adverse pregnancy outcomes. This study was conducted to evaluate the relationship between abuse during pregnancy or within the last year and low birth weight and preterm birth.

Methods.  From 1997 to 2001, 3149 low income, relatively low‐risk pregnant women (82% African‐American) participated in this prospective study. The Abuse Assessment Screen, a validated screening tool, which assesses emotional, physical or sexual abuse, injuries due to physical abuse and physical abuse in the index pregnancy, was filled out by 3103 women.

Results.  Of the women screened, 26.6% reported emotional abuse, 18.7% reported physical abuse in the past year and 10.3% women reported being beaten, bruised, threatened with a weapon or being permanently injured. Abuse during pregnancy was reported by 5.9% of the women. Low birth weight and preterm birth occurred in 10.9% and 10.2% of the pregnant women, respectively. Logistic regression analyzes indicated that injury due to physical abuse within the past year was significantly associated with both preterm birth [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 1.6, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.1–2.3] and low birth weight (AOR = 1.8, 95% CI = 1.3–2.5) after adjusting for other covariates. The mean birth weight of infants born to women who were injured due to physical abuse was significantly lower (−75.2 g, p = 0.04) than the mean birth weight of infants of women who were not injured.

Conclusion.  These results indicate that in our population, injuries resulting from physical abuse are associated with both low birth weight and preterm birth.
Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase gene polymorphisms in black South Africans and the association with preeclampsia
Authors: Pegoraro Rosemary J. , Chikosi Aggrey , Rom Lee , Roberts Candice , Moodley Jack
Published: April 2004

Background.  A methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) polymorphism (1317T → C) that occurs commonly in black African individuals prompted this study to establish whether this polymorphism, alone or in association with other MTHFR variants, is associated with preeclampsia in black South African women.

Methods.  A group of 204 black women with preeclampsia was examined for the 677C → T, 1298A → C and 1317T → C MTHFR polymorphic alleles using standard techniques. Also examined were women with early‐onset preeclampsia (n = 67) and gestational hypertension (n = 78). Results were compared with 338 ethnically matched normotensive pregnant women who had normal full‐term gestations.

Results.  No differences in the 677T → C or 1298A → C MTHFR alleles were found between the study groups and controls; very few women were homozygous for either variant allele. Significant differences were observed for the 1317T → C polymorphism: only 39% of preeclamptics were homozygous for the T allele compared with 52% of the control group [p = 0.002; 0.59 (0.42–0.83)]. Heterozygotes occurred significantly more frequently in preeclamptics (51%), compared with controls (41%) [p = 0.019; 1.49 (1.07–2.08)]. Allele frequencies also differed significantly between preeclamptics and controls [p = 0.003; 0.69 (0.53–0.88)]. Allele frequencies in women with gestational hypertension were statistically indistinguishable from those in controls.

Conclusion.  The low frequencies of the 677C → T and 1298A → C MTHFR variant alleles in black South Africans imply little or no role for these mutations in preeclampsia in this population group. However, significant differences in the 1317T → C allele in preeclamptics suggest that the MTHFR gene, or a closely associated gene, may still have some role, as yet undefined, in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia.
Vacuum extraction: is there any need to improve the current training in the UK?
Authors: Sau Ashis , Sau Mita , Ahmed Hasib , Brown Richard
Published: April 2004

Objective.  The objective of this study was to assess the use and efficacy of delivery by vacuum extraction or ventouse in routine clinical practice and to assess some aspects of the procedure that may reflect the quality of training in this technique.

Materials and methods.  Women's demographic profiles and delivery details were collected in both the prospective (B) and retrospective (A) arm of the study. In addition, in the prospective arm of the study two custom‐designed forms were used: the obstetrician recorded their perception of where the vacuum cup had been placed on one form while on a second form the pediatrician indicated the actual site of the cup placement as observed from the position of the chignon. All the diagrams of cup placement were reviewed by one of the authors, who was blinded to the outcome of the procedure.

Results.  The vacuum extractor was the first instrument to be used in 79% and 87% of the instrumental deliveries in groups A and B, respectively, with corresponding failure rates of 20% and 21%. Although an occipito‐posterior position was diagnosed in 11% of cases of group A and 14% of cases of group B, the specifically designed occipito‐posterior cup was not used at all. The vacuum cup was considered to have been applied suboptimally in 40% of the cases where attempted vacuum delivery failed.

Conclusion.  The high rate of inappropriate positioning of the cup may reflect difficulty in accurately applying the cup, perhaps due to caput or malposition, but may also represent poor assessment of the orientation and position of the fetal skull and therefore be indicative of a need for improvement in training methods.
Rationalization and Conservation: Ecology and the Management of Nature in the United Kingdom
Authors: Adams W M
Published: April 2004

Nature conservation in the UK comprises not only a response to the perceived impacts of rationalization on nature but is itself a dimension of that process of rationalization. The paper describes the development of conservation institutions and ideologies in the UK and considers the ways in which ecology (and particularly ideas of nature as equilibrium) have provided the intellectual framework for conservation. Ecology underpinned the establishment of government conservation institutions, provided intellectual strategies for classifying and objectifying nature, and provided the knowledge base for the control and management of nature. The paper discusses the implications of non‐equilibrial ideas in ecology for ideas and practice in conservation and the implications of responses to them in the form of re‐rationalization.
Stretching the Limits: Environmental Compensation, Habitat Creation and Sustainable Development
Authors: Cowell Richard
Published: April 2004

The rationales for ecological and landscape engineering are becoming absorbed within economistic interpretations of sustainable development grounded in maintaining ‘environmental capital’. These interpretations incorporate the possibility of compensating for the adverse impacts of development with environmental benefits of equivalent worth, thus maintaining the ‘stock’. Habitat creation is an important form of this ‘environmental compensation’. This paper explores the conflicts surrounding environmental compensation as sustainable development is translated into policy and practice in the British planning system. The extent to which environment damage can be meaningfully compensated raises difficult questions of environmental values and technical expertise. Analysis at two levels – national planning policy and the negotiation of compensatory habitat creation for a specific development scheme – indicates that the pursuit of environmental compensation through present planning processes can serve to accommodate development interests. Furthermore, claims about the manageability of environmental impacts help legitimize particular patterns of economic growth.
Envisioning Future Landscapes in the Environmentally Sensitive Areas of Scotland
Authors: Simpson Ian A , Parsisson David , Hanley Nick , Bullock Craig H
Published: April 2004

Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESAs) designated under EC Structure Regulation 797/85 now cover 1.4 million ha of the Scottish countryside and are likely to make a substantial contribution to the regulation of landscape change. Visual changes to landscapes with (policy on) and without (policy off) the ESA programme in two Scottish ESA areas, Breadalbane and the Machair, are predicted through impact‐assessment procedures and computer manipulation of photographic images. The methodological requirements for such predictions are outlined and substantial differences in landscape characteristics under policy on/off scenarios are revealed. Such approaches to landscape change are an essential foundation for the development of environmental cost‐benefit analyses and will contribute to public consultation processes.
Reshaping Environments: Agriculture and Water Interactions and the Creation of Vulnerability
Authors: Marsden T K
Published: April 2004

With reference to empirical evidence from the Caribbean and Brazil, the paper assesses how environmental vulnerability is being created through different types of agricultural intensification and abandonment. Critical to understanding this reshaping of environments is the social management of agriculture and water. The results suggest the need for new models of agro‐water relations which incorporate internal and external market influences on food production and resource management. External demands for the quality of food products, over and above the environmental or labour conditions in which they are produced, tend to devalue environments and exacerbate vulnerability. These processes lead to new patterns of environmental uneven development whereby regions rapidly intensify or deintensify their agricultures and their use and availability of water.
The Imagineering of Resistance: Pollok Free State and the Practice of Postmodern Politics
Authors: Routledge Paul
Published: April 2004

The conflict over the construction of the M77 motorway in Glasgow, Scotland, is an example of a subculture of resistance which has emerged within Britain over the past fifteen years. The paper focuses upon the actions of Glasgow Earth First!, with whom the author has participated, and on the role of Pollok Free State – an ecological encampment located in the projected path of the motorway. Such resistance is characteristic of a postmodern political practice. It is heterogeneous, symbolic and extensively media‐ted. It eschews the capture of state power but is a lived, immediate resistance, the experience of which may be transmitted over space and time.
The Ordinary City
Authors: Amin Ash , Graham Stephen
Published: April 2004

As debates on globalization have progressed from an earlier phase in which commentators saw the intensification of world‐scale flows and processes as the negation of local identities and autonomies, the city has been ‘rediscovered’ as the powerhouse of the globalized economy. Against the view that questions, for example, the continued specificity of the urban in an era increasingly mediated by locationally liberating, advanced telecommunications and rapid transport networks, some strands of urban research assert that cities are becoming more important as the key creative, control and cultural centres within globalizing economic, cultural and social dynamics. Building on these strands, this paper evaluates the assets that cities and metropolitan regions provide in an era of globalization. It attempts to develop an alternative perspective on the city based on the idea that contemporary urban life is founded on the heterogeneity of economic, social, cultural and institutional assets, and concludes by using this perspective to develop implications for urban policy and the quest for social and territorial justice.
Space, Time and Sustainability in the Hadejia‐Jama'are Wetlands and the Komodugu Yobe Basin, Nigeria
Authors: Thomas David H L , Adams William M
Published: April 2004

Debates about sustainability still take insufficient account of the significance of space and time. In this paper, their significance is demonstrated empirically through an account of the complex environmental and socio‐economic impacts of dam construction on flood‐plain wetlands in the Hadejia‐Jama'are river basin in Nigeria. Socio‐economic data from a rapid rural appraisal exercise and household questionnaire survey (data on patterns of production in the flood plain and patterns of mobility) are appraised in the context of patterns of environmental change and of inundation (analysis of riparian vegetation and time‐series aerial photographs). The paper concludes that sustainable river basin development requires more attention to be paid to the perspectives derived from different scales of analysis. This calls for appropriate institutions allowing communication at the interface between village‐level producer and river basin manager.
The Imperial Subject: Geography and Travel in the Work of Mary Kingsley and Halford Mackinder
Authors: Kearns Gerry
Published: April 2004

How do places shape and interact with subjectivity? By exploring how a change of location had implications for the way the effects of imperialism were registered, this paper shows how imperialism shaped subjectivity both at home and abroad. It takes the travels and mountain climbing of Mary Kingsley and Halford Mackinder as case studies for a consideration of gender as an effect and as a part of these processes.
The Production of British Geography
Authors: Sidaway James D
Published: April 2004

This paper is a sociological study of British geography in the mid‐1990s. Drawing upon interviews with 40 academic geographers, it considers themes of competition and regulation, and disciplinary and patriarchal power. The interview transcripts inform an account of a complex set of (partial and uneven) transitions in the political, cultural and moral economy within which geography is reproduced.
Reproduction, Representation and Authenticity: A Rereading
Authors: Livingstone David N
Published: April 2004

This essay argues for the moral necessity of retaining connections between the practices of representation and the ideal of authenticity. Using the example of racial representation, the author finds in the political philosophy of Charles Taylor and the cultural criticism of George Steiner resources for engaging in a creative dialogue with the history of our own tradition.
Tales of the Unexpected: Exploring Car Boot Sales as Marginal Spaces of Contemporary Consumption
Authors: Crewe Louise , Gregson Nicky
Published: April 2004

Marginal and/or resistant consumption practices have been neglected in current geographical debates on consumption and retailing. This has resulted in partial and skewed theorizations of exchange within contemporary consumption. Consumption spaces such as car boot sales represent sites in which the conventions of the marketplace are suspended or abandoned, and replaced by forms of sourcing, commodity circulation, transaction codes, pricing mechanisms and value quite different from those which typify more conventional retail malls and department stores. Drawing on the anthropological literature on traditional and peasant markets, we argue that exchange within the car boot sale is socially, culturally and geographically embedded and we emphasize the intrinsic importance of fun and sociality to such activities. Marginal spaces such as the car boot sale offer both some important clues into the potential for rethinking marketplace dynamics, notably with respect to our understandings of value, and some intriguing possibilities for consumer politics.
‘From Noodles to Satellites’: The Changing Geography of the Japanese Sogo Shosha
Authors: Dicken Peter , Miyamachi Yoshihiro
Published: April 2004

The need for a less occidental approach to understanding organizational‐geographical change is increasingly accepted. However, there is a danger of replacing one stereotype with others drawn simplistically from alternative capitalisms. In this paper we use the Japanese general trading company ‐ the sogo shosha ‐ as an example. We show how their city‐based, international networks evolved over a long period of time and, through a detailed case study of the sogo shosha in Europe, how their organization and behaviour need carefully to be interpreted.
A Stake in Place? The Geography of Employee Ownership and its Implications for a Stakeholding Society
Authors: Wills Jane
Published: April 2004

In recent years employee ownership has become a means by which some workers facing privatization, closure or takeover have attempted to defend their jobs and communities. Proponents of a ‘stakeholding’ society have advocated the widening of share ownership as a means of democratizing the economy, building partnerships and achieving consensus at work. But is employee ownership able to sustain local investment and industrial partnership? Through a detailed case study of a management and employee buyout in the railway industry, I suggest that the ability of employee ownership to fix investment in place may be enhanced by relations of ‘stakeholding’, increasing employee commitment to the firm and its future. In the case studied here, however, lack of employee power and finance effectively excluded most workers from the processes and philosophy of the buyout. The new ownership structure did little to reshape local relations between workers and those in control. While ownership cannot eradicate economic threats to community, it might, if used as a mechanism to promote new styles of management and employee commitment, foster long‐term success. It is argued that government and trade unions can do more to promote wider employee ownership and participation at work in the future.
The Poverty Discourse and the Poor in Sri Lanka
Authors: Yapa Lakshman
Published: April 2004

Sri Lanka is cited as an exemplary case of direct poverty alleviation because of a long history of social welfare and high values in quality of life indices. Notwithstanding, anti‐poverty measures in Sri Lanka founded on the international discourse of poverty and development do not serve the interests of poor people. This discourse begins by locating poor people in a distinct poverty sector and proceeds to examine its characteristics. Several attributes of that discourse make it intellectually incapable of seeing how poverty is socially constructed in a diffused nexus of production relations that extends far beyond the so‐called ‘poverty sector’. An alternative ‘substantive approach to poverty’ is presented. The arguments are illustrated using the theme of food production in Sri Lanka.
Reshaping Boundaries: International Ethics and Environmental Consciousness in the Early Twentieth Century
Authors: Bell Morag
Published: April 2004

As questions of global ethics, struggles over space, place, time and nature occupy much late twentieth‐century intellectual debate, this paper analyses some comparable currents of thought at the previousfin de sièGcle. Particular interpretations of nature–society relations emerged within a political and social context marked by widespread concern over the need to rehabilitate British society, in order to confront adequately the challenges of the new century. In transcending the narrow confines of national and imperial citizenship, these visions of nature and the international offered a different model of cultural regeneration and transformation. The work of a group of scientists and public figures associated with the Scottish polymath and prominent anti‐imperialist, Patrick Geddes, notably Andrew John Herbertson and Marion Isabel Newbigin, reveals that their support for values of harmony and cooperation central to civic responsibility found common ground across geographical and cultural boundaries and were important components of an international imagination. In promoting these values, their advocacy of both a critical and a practical geography is demonstrated.
Military Service and Migration in Nineteenth‐Century France: Some Evidence from Loir‐Et‐Cher
Authors: Baker Alan R H
Published: April 2004

Military service in France during the nineteenth century removed many young men from their own localities for long periods. The widely accepted claim that few conscripts returned home after completing their period of service is based on little evidence. The paper examines the conscription classes of 1856 and 1891 in two cantons in the déApartement of Loir‐et‐Cher. In those cases, there was not a significant relationship between conscription and migration, nor between literacy and migration. Instead, migration of youths in their twenties was linked partly to prior experiences of migration but principally to their occupations.
Map or Terrier? The Example of Christ Church, Oxford, Estate Management, 1600–1840
Authors: Fletcher David
Published: April 2004

Many factors might have prompted English landowners to map their properties after the genre of estate maps emerged in the late sixteenth century. However, the continuing predominance of the traditional written survey, or terrier, remains to be accounted for. An example from the muniments of Christ Church, Oxford, a large institutional landowner, is used to explain this pattern. Circumstantial evidence from maps and written surveys is augmented by the deeper insights gained from evidence of individual perceptions and institutional policies to explain the durability of the written, as opposed to the cartographic, record of land.
Place, Culture and Identity: Summer Music in Upper Galilee
Authors: Waterman Stanley
Published: April 2004

The Kfar Blum festival is an annual chamber music festival at a kibbutz in northern Israel involving three public bodies. Soon after its inauguration, it was dominated by audiences of élite groups who gave it a specific character and made it a highly desirable social event. The demand created for participation caused the festival to change in character, and what had been an artistic celebration became a cultural commodity. This challenged the overall purpose of the festival and brought changes in artistic direction, as new audiences were sought through programmes with wider appeal. The Kfar Blum festival is an example of a contested arena reflecting social trends in Israel. Place becomes a metaphor for social trends.
A Cross‐Cultural Study of Young Children's Mapping Abilities
Authors: Blades Mark , Blaut J M , Darvizeh Zhra , Elguea Silvia , Sowden Steve , Soni Dhiru , Spencer Christopher , Stea David , Surajpaul Roy , Uttal David
Published: April 2004

The mapping abilities of four‐year‐old children in York, England, Durban, South Africa, Tehran, Iran, Mexico City, Mexico and Evanston, Illinois, USA were investigated, using a methodology involving air‐photo identification and simulated navigation on an air photo. The results show that essential mapping abilities (perspective and scale transformations) are well developed by the age of four in these cultures, and provide some evidence in support of the hypothesis that mapping abilities emerge without training in very young children of all cultures.
Capital, State and Space: Contesting the Borderless World
Authors: Yeung Henry Wai‐chung
Published: April 2004

The globalization of economic activities and transnational corporations (TNCs) has led us to think that we are entering a ‘borderless’ world. Some prophets of globalization argue that it has led to the end of geography. To them, the state has ceased to be an institution capable of exerting influences on the activities of transnational capital, which has also become increasingly ‘placeless’. This paper aims to contest the issue of the alleged end‐state discourse of a ‘borderless’ world. It argues that, despite the accelerated processes of globalization, national boundaries still matter in the decision‐making and global reach of capital. The notion of a ‘borderless’ world is more folklore than reality. Based on theoretical and empirical literature in international political economy and business studies, the paper offers a dialectical perspective that examines the changing relationship between capital and the state, and the embedded relationship between capital and space in the organization of the global space‐economy. Together, both arguments point to the importance of understanding dynamic transformations of the global economy, before considering its globalization tendencies.
Decoherence, Quantum Theory and their Implications for the Philosophy of Geomorphology
Authors: Harrison Stephan , Dunham Philip
Published: April 2004

Recent philosophical discussions on the nature of geomorphology (Bassett 1994;Richards 1994;Rhoads 1994) have concluded that the way forward in geomorphological explanation is through either an empiricist or a realist approach. This paper draws lessons from quantum mechanics and the related concepts of decoherence and entanglement to explore the theoretical limitations of both of these existing approaches to geomorphology. It is suggested that empiricist and realist approaches are misguided in their attempts to view the researcher as being in some way ‘detached’ from the reality of the environmental system under investigation. Instead, this reality is viewed here as being consciousness‐dependent. The paper also challenges the claims to represent ‘truth’, and the deterministic view of causation, which are inherent within empiricist and realist approaches. It concludes by suggesting that an idealist approach to geomorphology – one that recognizes the primacy of consciousness – can better appreciate the unpredictable and probabilistic nature of the world.
Working in a Risk Society
Authors: Reimer Suzanne
Published: April 2004

Through much of the 1980s, discussions of transformations within work and employment debated the emergence of a new, more ‘flexible’ era ‐ or, at a different level of analysis, the growth of more ‘flexible’ working practices. Recent accounts of contemporary socio‐economic change have been framed within new sets of theoretical contexts, such as Ulrich Beck's notion of ‘social risk’. The central aim of this paper is to evaluate the utility of such an approach, drawing upon empirical work which has investigated changes to terms and conditions of manual employment in British local authorities as a result of the introduction of compulsory competitive tendering.
Enterprise Discourse and Executive Talk: Stories that Destabilize the Company
Authors: O'Neill Phillip , Gibson‐Graham J K
Published: April 2004

In this paper, we are interested in dissolving the dominant representation of the enterprise as a singularity and a site of rational, reproductive and progressive imperatives. It is this discursive figuring that, in our view, stands in the way of the development of more innovative forms of politics involving claims on corporate wealth. We offer a discussion of enterprise discourse that highlights contradictory narratives of the corporation and the multiplicity of logics seen to determine its dynamics. Taking the Australian‐based multinational BHP, in particular its steel division, as our object of analysis, we use excerpts from interviews conducted with two ex‐general managers of the Newcastle steel plant to deconstruct the dominant monopoly capitalist representation of the company. Drawing upon existing enterprise discourses and fragments of executive talk, we produce a decentred, ‘disorganized’ representation of the enterprise, and point to the ways in which it might invigorate a new form of politics in and around the corporation.