bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Mycophenolate mofetil administration reduces renal inflammation, oxidative stress, and arterial pressure in rats with lead-induced hypertension
Authors: Bravo Yanauri , Quiroz Yasmir , Ferrebuz Atilio , Vaziri Nosratola D. , Rodríguez-Iturbe Bernardo
Published: June 2007

Hypertension is a likely consequence of chronic lead exposure in humans, especially in association with reduced renal function and in high risk populations. Numerous studies have demonstrated that oxidative stress plays an important role in the pathogenesis of experimental lead-induced hypertension and we have shown recently that tubulointerstitial immune cell infiltration is a feature of chronic low-dose lead exposure. Since oxidative stress, renal inflammation, and angiotensin activity are closely linked characteristics in experimental models of hypertension, we decided to investigate whether lead-induced hypertension would be ameliorated by suppressing renal inflammation with the immunosuppressive drug mycophenolate mofetil (MMF). We studied rats exposed for 14 wk to lead acetate (100 ppm in the drinking water) that, in addition, received either MMF, 20 mg·kg−1·day−1 by gastric gavage (Pb.MMF group, n = 12) or vehicle (Pb group, n = 12). Control rats received MMF alone ( n = 5) or neither lead nor MMF ( n = 6). All rats were killed at the end of the experiment. Low-dose lead exposure resulted in mild to moderate tubular cell damage and a progressive increment in blood pressure, oxidative stress, interstitial accumulation of lymphocytes and macrophages, NF-κB activation, and increased renal angiotensin II level. The administration of MMF suppressed the tubulointerstitial accumulation of lymphocytes and macrophages and prevented the hypertension, oxidative stress, and NF-κB activation and reduced the heightened renal angiotensin content associated with chronic lead exposure. We conclude that interstitial inflammation plays an important role in lead-induced hypertension.
Short-term ANG II produces renal vasoconstriction independent of TP receptor activation and TxA2/isoprostane production
Authors: Vågnes Øyvind B. , Iversen Bjarne M. , Arendshorst William J.
Published: June 2007

The relative contributions of vasoconstrictor and of dilator systems are balanced in health. The balance is reset in disease, often favoring a predominant role of vasoconstrictors, perhaps due to positive interactions between constrictor systems. For example, in hypertension, chronic high levels of angiotensin II (ANG II) stimulate the production of thromboxane (TxA2/PGH2) and/or isoprostane that activate constrictor thromboxane prostanoid (TP) receptors in the vasculature. The present study evaluated a modest concentration of ANG II administered acutely into the renal artery on urinary excretion of TxB2 and isoprostane and possible renal TP receptor activation that might amplify ANG II-induced renal vasoconstriction. TP receptors were blocked with SQ29548 coinfused with ANG II. Results were compared with a time control group of continuous ANG II infusion (40 ng·min−1·kg body wt−1) over 90 min. TP receptor antagonism during 30–60 min had no effect on the reduction in renal blood flow (RBF) produced by ANG II (15.8 ± 2.8 vs. 13.2 ± 4.9%) ( P > 0.6). Likewise, there was no difference between groups during ANG II-induced renal vasoconstriction between 60–90 min in presence or absence of TP receptor antagonist (RBF −8.6 ± 4.0 vs. −9.6 ± 4.5%) ( P > 0.8). Systemic arterial pressure was stable throughout, so RBF changes reflected localized changes in renal vascular resistance. Urinary excretion of TxB2 and isoprostane were nearly doubled by ANG II. The present data indicate that short-term intrarenal infusion of ANG II rapidly increases renal production of TxA2 but that the ANG II-induced renal vasoconstriction is independent of TP receptor activation during the initial 90 min of local challenge with ANG II.
Atrophic rhinitis: a CFD study of air conditioning in the nasal cavity
Authors: Garcia Guilherme J. M. , Bailie Neil , Martins Dário A. , Kimbell Julia S.
Published: June 2007

Atrophic rhinitis is a chronic disease of the nasal mucosa. The disease is characterized by abnormally wide nasal cavities, and its main symptoms are dryness, crusting, atrophy, fetor, and a paradoxical sensation of nasal congestion. The etiology of the disease remains unknown. Here, we propose that excessive evaporation of the mucous layer is the basis for the relentless nature of this disease. Airflow and water and heat transport were simulated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques. The nasal geometry of an atrophic rhinitis patient was acquired from computed tomography scans before and after a procedure to narrow the nasal cavity. Simulations of air conditioning in the atrophic nose were compared with similar computations performed within the nasal geometries of four healthy humans. The excessively wide cavity of the patient generated abnormal flow patterns, which led to abnormal patterns of water fluxes across the wall. Geometrically, the atrophic nose had a much lower surface area than the healthy nasal passages, which increased water fluxes per unit area. Nevertheless, the simulations indicated that the atrophic nose did not condition inspired air as effectively as the healthy geometries. These simulations of water transport in the nasal cavity are consistent with the hypothesis that excessive evaporation of mucus plays a key role in the pathophysiology of atrophic rhinitis. We conclude that the main goals of a surgery to treat atrophic rhinitis should be 1) to restore the original surface area of the nose, 2) to restore the physiological airflow distribution, and 3) to create symmetric cavities.
Representation of Moving Wavefronts of Whisker Deflection in Rat Somatosensory Cortex
Authors: Drew Patrick J. , Feldman Daniel E.
Published: June 2007

Rats rhythmically sweep their whiskers over object features, generating sequential deflections of whisker arcs. Such moving wavefronts of whisker deflection are likely to be fundamental elements of natural somatosensory input. To determine how moving wavefronts are represented in somatosensory cortex (S1), we measured single- and multiunit neural responses in S1 of anesthetized rats to moving wavefronts applied through a piezoelectric whisker deflector array. Wavefronts consisted of sequential deflections of individual whisker arcs, which moved progressively across the whisker array. Starting position (starting arc), direction, and velocity of wavefronts were varied. Neurons responded strongly only when wavefront starting position included their principal whisker (PW). When wavefronts started at neighboring positions and swept through the PW, responses to the PW arc were suppressed by ≤95%, and responses over the entire wavefront duration were suppressed by ≤60% compared with wavefronts that initiated with the PW. Suppression occurred with interarc deflection delays of ≥5 ms, was maximal at 20 ms, and recovered within 100–200 ms. Suppression of PW arc responses during wavefronts was largely independent of wavefront direction. However, layer 2/3 neurons showed direction selectivity for responses to the entire wavefront (the entire sequence of SW and PW arc deflection). Wavefront direction selectivity was correlated with receptive field somatotopy and reflected differential responses to the specific SWs that were deflected first in a wavefront. These results indicate that suppressive interwhisker interactions shape responses to wavefronts, resulting in increased salience of wavefront starting position, and, in some neurons, preference for wavefront direction.
Endogenous GABA and Glutamate Finely Tune the Bursting of Olfactory Bulb External Tufted Cells
Authors: Hayar Abdallah , Ennis Matthew
Published: June 2007

In rat olfactory bulb slices, external tufted (ET) cells spontaneously generate spike bursts. Although ET cell bursting is intrinsically generated, its strength and precise timing may be regulated by synaptic input. We tested this hypothesis by analyzing whether the burst properties are modulated by activation of ionotropic γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glutamate receptors. Blocking GABAA receptors increased—whereas blocking ionotropic glutamate receptors decreased—the number of spikes/burst without changing the interburst frequency. The GABAA agonist (isoguvacine, 10 μM) completely inhibited bursting or reduced the number of spikes/burst, suggesting a shunting effect. These findings indicate that the properties of ET cell spontaneous bursting are differentially controlled by GABAergic and glutamatergic fast synaptic transmission. We suggest that ET cell excitatory and inhibitory inputs may be encoded as a change in the pattern of spike bursting in ET cells, which together with mitral/tufted cells constitute the output circuit of the olfactory bulb.
Stress-induced gene expression profiling in the black tiger shrimp Penaeus monodon
Authors: de la Vega Enrique , Hall Michael R. , Wilson Kate J. , Reverter Antonio , Woods Rick G. , Degnan Bernard M.
Published: June 2007

Cultured shrimp are continuously exposed to variable environmental conditions that have been associated with stress and subsequent outbreaks of disease. To investigate the effect of environmental stress on Penaeus monodon gene expression, a 3,853 random cDNA microarray chip was generated with clones originating from six stress-enriched hemocyte libraries generated by suppression subtractive hybridization and a normal hemocyte cDNA library. Changes in temporal gene expression were analyzed from shrimp exposed to hypoxic, hyperthermic, and hypoosmotic conditions; 3.1% of the cDNAs were differentially expressed in response to at least one of the environmental stressors, and 72% of the differentially expressed clones had no significant sequence similarity to previously known genes. Among those genes with high identity to known sequences, the most common functional groups were immune-related genes and non-long terminal repeat retrotransposons. Hierarchical clustering revealed a set of cDNAs with temporal and stress-specific gene expression profiles as well as a set of cDNAs indicating a common stress response between stressors. Hypoxic and hyperthermic stressors induced the most severe short-term response in terms of gene regulation, and the osmotic stress had the least variation in expression profiles relative to the control. These expression data agree with observed differences in shrimp physical appearance and behavior following exposure to stress conditions.
Divergent and convergent effects on gene expression and function in acute versus chronic endothelial activation
Authors: Rajashekhar Gangaraju , Grow Matthew , Willuweit Antje , Patterson Carolyn E. , Clauss Matthias
Published: June 2007

Activation of the vascular endothelium with cytokines such as TNF is widely used to study the role of the vasculature in proinflammatory disease. To gain insight into mechanisms of prolonged vascular endothelial activation we compared changes in gene expression induced by continuous activation in stable tmTNF-expressing cells with changes due to acute TNF challenge in vitro. Affymetrix Genechip analysis was performed on RNA from control, acute and continuous TNF-activated endothelial cells. Only 36% of the significant changes in gene expression were convergent between the acute and continuously activated endothelial cells compared with the control. From the divergently regulated genes, for example the cytokine ENA-78 was specifically induced in chronically activated cells, while E-selectin, a cell adhesion molecule, was upregulated only in acutely activated endothelial cells. Antioxidant SOD gene induction was noted in acute activation, while a regulatory NADPH oxidase subunit was selectively upregulated in continuously activated endothelium in accordance with significant reactive oxygen species induction occurred only in these cells. Accordingly, p38 and ERK1/2, two MAP kinases downstream of reactive oxygen species, were activated in stable transmembrane-spanning precursor (tm) TNF-expressing cells and were refractory to activation with soluble TNF or VEGF. In consequence, the increased p38 MAP kinase activity contributed to increased endothelial cell migration in tmTNF-expressing cells. These data suggest that continuous activation of endothelial cells leads to specific expression and functional changes, consistent with alterations observed in dysfunctional endothelium exposed to or involved in chronic inflammation.
Multiple blood pressure loci on rat chromosome 13 attenuate development of hypertension in the Dahl S hypertensive rat
Authors: Moreno Carol , Kaldunski Mary L. , Wang Tao , Roman Richard J. , Greene Andrew S. , Lazar Jozef , Jacob Howard J. , Cowley Allen W.
Published: June 2007

Previous studies have indicated that substitution of chromosome 13 of the salt-resistant Brown Norway BN/SsNHsdMcwi (BN) rat into the genomic background of the Dahl salt-sensitive SS/JrHsdMcwi (SS) rat attenuates the development of salt-sensitive hypertension and renal damage. To identify the regions within chromosome 13 that attenuate the development of hypertension during a high-salt diet in the SS rat, we phenotyped a series of overlapping congenic lines covering chromosome 13, generated from an intercross between the consomic SS-13BN rat and the SS rat. Blood pressure was determined in chronically catheterized rats after 2 wk of high-salt diet (8% NaCl) together with microalbuminuria as an index of renal damage. Four discrete regions were identified, ranging in size from 4.5 to 16 Mbp, each of which independently provided significant protection from hypertension during high-salt diet, reducing blood pressure by 20–29 mmHg. Protection was more robust in female than male rats in some of the congenic strains, suggesting a sex interaction with some of the genes determining blood pressure during high-salt diet. Among the 23 congenic strains, several regions overlapped. When three of the “protective” regions were combined onto one broad congenic strain, no summation effect was seen, obtaining the same decrease in blood pressure as with each one independently. We conclude from these studies that there are four regions within chromosome 13 containing genes that interact epistatically and influence arterial pressure.
Inhibition of Cytokine Production and Cytotoxic Activity of Human Antimelanoma Specific CD8+ and CD4+ T Lymphocytes by Adenosine-Protein Kinase A Type I Signaling
Authors: Raskovalova Tatiana , Lokshin Anna , Huang Xiaojun , Su Yunyun , Mandic Maja , Zarour Hassane M. , Jackson Edwin K. , Gorelik Elieser
Published: June 2007

The goal of this study was to investigate the effects of adenosine and its stable analogue 2-chloroadenosine (CADO) on the cytotoxic activity and cytokine production by human antimelanoma specific CD8+ and CD4+ T-helper type 1 (Th1) clones. The cytotoxic activity of CD8+ T cells was inhibited by adenosine and CADO. Using Lab MAP multiplex technology, we found that adenosine inhibits production of various cytokines and chemokines by CD8+ and CD4+ T cells. Studies with CGS21680, a specific agonist of adenosine A2A receptor (AdoRA2A), and ZM241385, an AdoRA2-selective antagonist, indicate that the inhibitory effects of adenosine are mediated via cyclic AMP (cAMP)–elevating AdoRA2A, leading to protein kinase A (PKA) activation. Using cAMP analogues with different affinities for the A and B sites of the regulatory subunits of PKAI and PKAII, we found that activation of PKAI, but not of PKAII, mimicked the inhibitory effects of adenosine on T-cell cytotoxic activity and cytokine production. Inhibitors of the PKA catalytic subunits (H89 and PKA inhibitor peptide 14–22) failed to abrogate the inhibitory effects of CADO. In contrast, Rp-8-Br-cAMPS that antagonizes binding of cAMP to the regulatory I subunit and PKA activation was efficient in blocking the inhibitory effect of adenosine on the functional activity of T cells. Our findings on the ability of adenosine to inhibit the effector function of antimelanoma specific T cells suggest that intratumor-produced adenosine could impair the function of tumor-infiltrating T lymphocytes. Thus, blocking the inhibitory activity of tumor-produced adenosine might represent a new strategy for improvement of cancer immunotherapy. [Cancer Res 2007;67(12):5949–56]
Antiestrogen Therapy Is Active in Selected Ovarian Cancer Cases: The Use of Letrozole in Estrogen Receptor–Positive Patients
Authors: Smyth John F. , Gourley Charlie , Walker Graeme , MacKean Melanie J. , Stevenson Alan , Williams Alistair R.W. , Nafussi Awatif Al , Rye Tzyvia , Rye Ron , Stewart Moira , McCurdy Janet , Mano Max , Reed Nick , McMahon Tracey , Vasey Paul , Gabra Hani , Langdon Simon P.
Published: June 2007

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy of the aromatase inhibitor letrozole in preselected estrogen receptor (ER)–positive relapsed epithelial ovarian cancer patients and to identify markers that predict endocrine-sensitive disease.

Experimental Design: This was a phase II study of letrozole 2.5 mg daily until clinical or marker evidence of disease progression in previously treated ER-positive ovarian cancer patients with a rising CA125 that had progressed according to Rustin's criteria. The primary end point was response according to CA125 and response evaluation criteria in solid tumors (RECIST) criteria. Marker expression was measured by semiquantitative immunohistochemistry in sections from the primary tumor.

Results: Of 42 patients evaluable for CA125 response, 7 (17%) had a response (decrease of >50%), and 11 (26%) patients had not progressed (doubling of CA125) following 6 months on treatment. The median time taken to achieve the CA125 nadir was 13 weeks (range 10-36). Of 33 patients evaluable for radiological response, 3 (9%) had a partial remission, and 14 (42%) had stable disease at 12 weeks. Eleven patients (26%) had a PFS of >6 months. Subgroup analysis according to ER revealed CA125 response rates of 0% (immunoscore, 150-199), 12% (200-249), and 33% (250-300); P = 0.028, χ2 for trend. Expression levels of HER2, insulin-like growth factor binding protein 5, trefoil factor 1, and vimentin were associated with CA125 changes on treatment.

Conclusions: This is the first study of a hormonal agent in a preselected group of ER-positive ovarian cancer patients. A signature of predictive markers, including low HER2 expression, predicts response.
Gene Expression Signatures Predict Outcome in Non–Muscle-Invasive Bladder Carcinoma: A Multicenter Validation Study
Authors: Dyrskjøt Lars , Zieger Karsten , Real Francisco X. , Malats Núria , Carrato Alfredo , Hurst Carolyn , Kotwal Sanjeev , Knowles Margaret , Malmström Per-Uno , de la Torre Manuel , Wester Kenneth , Allory Yves , Vordos Dimitri , Caillault Aurélie , Radvanyi François , Hein Anne-Mette K. , Jensen Jens L. , Jensen Klaus M.E. , Marcussen Niels , Ørntoft Torben F.
Published: June 2007

Purpose: Clinically useful molecular markers predicting the clinical course of patients diagnosed with non–muscle-invasive bladder cancer are needed to improve treatment outcome. Here, we validated four previously reported gene expression signatures for molecular diagnosis of disease stage and carcinoma in situ (CIS) and for predicting disease recurrence and progression.

Experimental Design: We analyzed tumors from 404 patients diagnosed with bladder cancer in hospitals in Denmark, Sweden, England, Spain, and France using custom microarrays. Molecular classifications were compared with pathologic diagnosis and clinical outcome.

Results: Classification of disease stage using a 52-gene classifier was found to be highly significantly correlated with pathologic stage (P < 0.001). Furthermore, the classifier added information regarding disease progression of Ta or T1 tumors (P < 0.001). The molecular 88-gene progression classifier was highly significantly correlated with progression-free survival (P < 0.001) and cancer-specific survival (P = 0.001). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed the progression classifier to be an independently significant variable associated with disease progression after adjustment for age, sex, stage, grade, and treatment (hazard ratio, 2.3; P = 0.007). The diagnosis of CIS using a 68-gene classifier showed a highly significant correlation with histopathologic CIS diagnosis (odds ratio, 5.8; P < 0.001) in multivariate logistic regression analysis.

Conclusion: This multicenter validation study confirms in an independent series the clinical utility of molecular classifiers to predict the outcome of patients initially diagnosed with non–muscle-invasive bladder cancer. This information may be useful to better guide patient treatment.
Therapeutic Implications of Leukemia Stem Cell Development
Authors: Stubbs Matthew C. , Armstrong Scott A.
Published: June 2007

Acute myelogenous leukemias, and perhaps many other cancers, are maintained by a population of cancer stem cells that can regenerate themselves as well as give rise to more differentiated and less proliferative cells that constitute the bulk of the disease. Recent discoveries have shed light on both the nature of leukemia stem cells (LSC) and their cells of origin. Here, we review which hematopoietic cells could give rise to LSC, and the phenotype of fully developed LSC. The perturbed developmental pathways and cellular context of LSC development have implications for the development of new therapeutic approaches.
Characterization of the CCL21-mediated melanoma-specific immune responses and in situ melanoma eradication
Authors: Novak Laura , Igoucheva Olga , Cho Stephanie , Alexeev Vitali
Published: June 2007

Previous studies have shown that secondary lymphoid chemokine, CCL21, can be used for modulation of tumor-specific immune responses. Here, using B16F0 melanoma cells stably expressing CCL21 under the control of cytomegalovirus and ubiquitin promoters, we showed that CCL21-activated immune responses depend on the amount of melanoma-derived chemokine, which, in turn, depends on the strength of the promoter. We showed that ubiquitin promoter–driven expression of CCL21 enabled massive infiltration of tumors with CD4+CD25−, CD8+ T lymphocytes, and CD11c+ dendritic cells, and consequent activation of cellular and humoral immune responses sufficient for complete rejection of CCL21-positive melanomas within 3 weeks in all tumor-inoculated mice. Mice that rejected CCL21-positive tumors acquired protective immunity against melanoma, which was transferable to naive mice via splenocytes and central memory T cells. Moreover, melanoma-derived CCL21 facilitated immune-mediated remission of preestablished, distant wild-type melanomas. Overall, these results suggest that elevated levels of tumor-derived CCL21 are required for the activation of strong melanoma-specific immune responses and generation of protective immunologic memory. They also open new perspectives for the development of novel vaccination strategies against melanoma, which use intratumoral delivery of the optimized CCL21-encoding vectors in conjunction with DNA-based vaccines. [Mol Cancer Ther 2007;6(6):1–10]
Modeling Molecular Computing Systems by an Artificial Chemistry—Its Expressive Power and Application
Authors: Tominaga Kazuto , Watanabe Tooru , Kobayashi Keiji , Nakamura Masaki , Kishi Koji , Kazuno Mitsuyoshi
Published: June 2007

Artificial chemistries are mainly used to construct virtual systems that are expected to show behavior similar to living systems. In this study, we explore possibilities of applying an artificial chemistry to modeling natural biochemical systems—or, to be specific, molecular computing systems—and show that it may be a useful modeling tool for molecular computation. We previously proposed an artificial chemistry based on string pattern matching and recombination. This article first demonstrates that this artificial chemistry is computationally universal if it has only rules that have one reactant or two reactants. We think this is a good property of an artificial chemistry that models molecular computing, because natural elementary chemical reactions, on which molecular computing is based, are mostly unimolecular or bimolecular. Then we give two illustrative example models for DNA computing in our artificial chemistry: one is for the type of computation called the Adleman-Lipton paradigm, and the other is for a DNA implementation of a finite automaton. Through the construction of these models we observe preferred properties of the artificial chemistry for modeling molecular computing, such as having no spatial structure and being flexible in choosing levels of abstraction.
The Role of Translocation and Selection in the Emergence of Genetic Clusters and Modules
Authors: Newth David , Green David G.
Published: June 2007

Biomolecular studies point increasingly to the importance of modularity in the organization of the genome. Processes such as the maintenance of metabolism are controlled by suites of genes that act as distinct, self-contained units, or modules. One effect is to promote stability of inherited characters. Despite the obvious importance of genetic modules, the mechanisms by which they form and persist are not understood. One clue is that functionally related genes tend to cluster together. Here we show that genetic translocation, recombination, and natural selection play a central role in this process. We distill the question of emerging genetic modularity into three simulation experiments that show: (1) a tendency, under natural selection, for essential genes to co-locate on the same chromosome and to settle in fixed loci; (2) that genes associated with a particular function tend to form functional clusters; and (3) that genes within a functional cluster tend to become arranged in transcription order. The results also imply that high proportions of junk DNA are essential to the process.
The Localization Hypothesis and Machines
Authors: Chu Dominique , Ho Weng Kin
Published: June 2007

In a recent article in Artificial Life, Chu and Ho suggested that Rosen's central result about the simulability of living systems might be flawed. This argument was later declared “null and void” by Louie. In this article the validity of Louie's objections are examined.
Maximal Consistent Subsets
Authors: Malouf Robert
Published: June 2007

Default unification operations combine strict information with information from one or more defeasible feature structures. Many such operations require finding the maximal subsets of a set of atomic constraints that are consistent with each other and with the strict feature structure, where a subset is maximally consistent with respect to the subsumption ordering if no constraint can be added to it without creating an inconsistency. Although this problem is NP-complete, there are a number of heuristic optimizations that can be used to substantially reduce the size of the search space. In this article, we propose a novel optimization, leaf pruning, which in some cases yields an improvement in running time of several orders of magnitude over previously described algorithms. This makes default unification efficient enough to be practical for a wide range of problems and applications.
Reinforcement Learning, Spike-Time-Dependent Plasticity, and the BCM Rule
Authors: Baras Dorit , Meir Ron
Published: June 2007

Learning agents, whether natural or artificial, must update their internal parameters in order to improve their behavior over time. In reinforcement learning, this plasticity is influenced by an environmental signal, termed a reward, that directs the changes in appropriate directions. We apply a recently introduced policy learning algorithm from machine learning to networks of spiking neurons and derive a spike-time-dependent plasticity rule that ensures convergence to a local optimum of the expected average reward. The approach is applicable to a broad class of neuronal models, including the Hodgkin-Huxley model. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the derived rule in several toy problems. Finally, through statistical analysis, we show that the synaptic plasticity rule established is closely related to the widely used BCM rule, for which good biological evidence exists.
Gaia, God, and the Internet: The History of Evolution and the Utopia of Community in Media Society
Authors: Krüger Oliver
Published: June 2007

The question of religious content in the media has occupied many scholars studying the relationship between media and religion. However, the study of recent religious thought offers a promising perspective for the analysis of the cultural perceptions of various media technologies. After the Internet first appeared in American households in the middle of the 1990s, a variety of religious or spiritual interpretations of the new medium emerged. The far-reaching ideas see the Internet as the first step of the realisation of a divine entity consisting of the collective human mind. In this vision, the emergence of the Internet is considered to be part of a teleological evolutionary model. Essential for the religious and evolutionary construction of the Internet is an incorporation of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's model of evolution — especially the idea of the noosphere, and its adoption in media theory by Marshall McLuhan. The connections of these ideas to James Lovelock's Gaia theory illustrate the notion of the Internet as an organic entity. The article outlines the processes of the reception of religious and evolutionary ideas which led to the recent interpretations of the Internet as a divine sphere.
The Ontological Argument of Diogenes of Babylon
Authors: Papazian Michael
Published: June 2007

An argument for the existence of gods given by the Stoic Diogenes of Babylon and reported by Sextus Empiricus appears to be an ancient version of the ontological argument. In this paper I present a new reconstruction of Diogenes' argument that differs in certain important respects from the reconstruction presented by Jacques Brunschwig. I argue that my reconstruction makes better sense of how Diogenes' argument emerged as a response to an attack on an earlier Stoic argument presented by Zeno of Citium. Diogenes' argument as reconstructed here is an example of a modal ontological argument that makes use of the concept of being of such a nature as to exist. I argue that this concept is a modal concept that is based on the Philonian definition of possibility, and thus that Diogenes' argument is a source of important evidence about the use of non-Stoic modalities in the post-Chrysippean Stoa. I conclude by arguing that the objections made against considering Diogenes' argument as ontological are unfounded and that Diogenes' argument clearly resembles modern versions of modal ontological arguments.
Averroes, Thomas Aquinas and Giles of Rome on How is Man Understands
Authors: Conolly Brian Francis
Published: June 2007

Giles of Rome, in his early treatise, De plurificatione possibilis intellectus, criticizes the arguments of Thomas Aquinas against the Averroist doctrine of the uniqueness of the possible intellect on the grounds that Aquinas does not fully appreciate the distinction between material and intentional forms and the differences in how these forms are generated. Nevertheless, like Aquinas, he argues that Averroes' doctrine still results in the apparently absurd consequence that homo non intelligit, i.e., the individual, particular man, this man, does not understand. Giles, however, attempts to respond to certain "radical" Averroists, who, in a bold and clever maneuver, affirm that homo non intelligit. While Giles does effectively argue that homo non intelligit is not the opinion of Averroes, he is unable to demonstrate the absurdity of homo non intelligit in a manner that would be convincing to the Averroists. This is because Giles, like Aquinas, maintains that the intellect is a power of the soul, and thus has a different conception of the relation between body and intellect than do the Averroists, who emphasize the separateness of the intellect.
Albert the Great and the Revival of Aristotle's Zoological Research Program
Authors: Tkacz Michael
Published: June 2007

Although Aristotle's zoological works were known in antiquity and during the early medieval period, the scientific research program discussed and exemplified therein disappeared after Theophrastus. After some fifteen hundred years, it reappears in the work of Albert the Great who extensively explains Aristotle's conception of a scientific research program and extends Aristotle's zoological researches. Evidence of Albert's Aristotelian commentaries shows that he clearly understood animals to represent a self-contained subject-genus, that the study of this subject-genus constitutes theoretical knowledge in an Aristotelian sense, that natural finality and suppositional necessity provide principles of zoological science, and that research into animals must be conducted according to a two-staged methodology of division and demonstration.
Revisiting the “Big Three” Foundations
Authors: Arnove Robert , Pinede Nadine
Published: June 2007

A review of the funding strategies and priorities of the Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Ford Foundations over the past twenty-five years indicates that although these major philanthropies have adjusted to changing international and national contexts, they continued to engage in the same activities identified by Arnove (1980) in Philanthropy and Cultural Imperialism. These foundations claim to attack the roots causes of the ills of humanity; however they essentially engage in ameliorative practices to maintain social and economics systems that generate the very inequality and injustices they wish to correct.
Report from the Field: Left Media and Left Think Tanks — Foundation-Managed Protest?
Authors: Feldman Bob
Published: June 2007

Left media and left think tank staff people generally deny that the acceptance by their organizations of grants from liberal foundations has transformed their organizational priorities, subjected them to elite control, or channeled their energies into safe, legalistic, bureaucratic activities and mild reformism. In this report, we will be discussing organizations, e.g., Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA), Middle East Research & Information Project (MERIP), Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR); and media, e.g., Nation, Progressive, Mother Jones, In These Times, widely regarded as left-wing. Some originated in the 1960s and 1970s with bold challenges to the United States political and economic system; we can read (some are online) their early publications and mission statements to be reminded of the initial militancy. In the popular mind, these media and think tanks are clearly distinguished from, on the one hand, the liberal media, e.g., New York Times, Harper's, and think tanks, e.g., Brookings Institution, Urban Institute, and on the other, the “far” left, e.g., Workers' World, Maoist Internationalist Movement. A few of the left-wing organizations are primarily concerned about threats to media independence, yet all their attention is focused on for-profit corporate (or government) control; they ignore the possible influence of large subventions from non-profit institutions such as foundations.
Foundations and Collaboration
Authors: Roelofs Joan
Published: June 2007

Foundations are prime constructors of hegemony, by promoting consent and discouraging dissent against capitalist democracy. There is considerable collaboration among foundations and their networks of nonprofits; between philanthropic foundations and profitmaking corporations; and between the foundation world and government entities, local, state, national and international. We do not have to posit any secret conspiracies (although they may well exist). The proponents of “civil society” celebrate the erosion of boundaries, especially those between the public and private sectors, while “networks” consisting of funders and grassroots organizations enable the powerful to appear as just another participant. These developments, as Zbigniew Brzezinski has observed, “obscure asymmetries in power and influence.” Democratic institutions are quietly being supplanted by a “new feudalism.”
Disentangling Class from Philanthropy: The Double-edged Sword of Alternative Giving
Authors: Silver Ira
Published: June 2007

A recurring theme echoed by critics of United States philanthropy is that foundations are instrumental in reproducing the class privilege of elites. Since the early 1970s, a cluster of “alternative” foundations has responded to this critique in two ways: 1) By distributing grants to recipients largely overlooked by mainstream philanthropy: marginalized groups organizing for progressive social change, and 2) By making grant decisions in ways that explicitly aim to challenge the class power foundations traditionally exercise. Regarding the latter, these alternative foundations either segregate donors from the process of deciding where their money goes and give this power instead to community activists, or they integrate donors with community activists to make grant decisions collaboratively. My analysis illustrates how both of these grantmaking models reinforce class distinctions, despite their intention of doing otherwise. Indeed, looking at alternative foundations in comparison to their more traditional counterparts reveals just how deeply class lies at the very core of philanthropy.
NGOs and Resources in the Construction of Intellectual Realms: Cases from India
Authors: Subramaniam Mangala
Published: June 2007

Resources received by NGOs, particularly in the developing world, are instrumental in shaping program activities and in establishing, through donors, the hegemony of Western knowledge. Building on earlier work involving the spatial and locational politics of knowledge, I argue that donors providing resources for designing and implementing programs, including that for capacity building, impact the structuring of knowledge to create intellectual realms. Intellectual realms structure knowledge and create bounded spaces in ways that maintain the centrality and power of knowledge producers in the West. The donors pre-determine activities to be pursued and utilize, the capacity building initiatives as mechanisms for promoting theoretical ideas and frameworks that conform to knowledge production in the West. Using two cases from rural India, I discuss the ways in which donor priorities can adversely impact local communities and how power relations at the local level and across the local and global levels facilitate the construction of knowledge.
Introduction. Out Of Africa?
Authors: Palmié Stephan
Published: June 2007

This introductory essay focuses on the epistemological questions involved in qualifying religious phenomena as 'African', whether on the African continent itself or elsewhere. Taking its departure from the fact that the very term 'Africa' is heteronymic in origin, it argues for a perspective that treats 'Africa' and 'Africanness' not as ontological givens, but as problems to be empirically investigated in regard to both the historical forces and discursive formations that lastingly 'Africanized' the continent and its inhabitants, and in regard to the various strategies by which actors both on the continent and outside of it have turned contextually specific notions of 'Africanity' into socially salient predicates of their strategies of identification.
Governing Man-Gods: Spiritism and the Struggle for Progress in Republican Cuba
Authors: Román Reinaldo
Published: June 2007

This article explores the contrasting careers of two Spiritist healers, one Spanish-born and the other Afro-Cuban. It suggests that the prosecution of the black man-god (Hilario Mustelier) and the public celebration of the ministry of the Spaniard (Juan Manso) attest to the consolidation of a political rationality burgeoning in Cuba at the turn of the twentieth century. Under this regime, government officials and journalists sought to alter the conditions that gave rise to 'fanaticism' to promote the modernization of the nascent republic. Following a discussion of the notions of race and culture underpinning Cuban discourses of progress, the article offers a critique of the scholarly literature dealing with Afro-Cuban religions and syncretism.
On Leaving and Joining Africanness Through Religion: The 'Black Caribs' Across Multiple Diasporic Horizons
Authors: Johnson Paul Christopher
Published: June 2007

Garifuna religion is derived from a confluence of Amerindian, African and European antecedents. For the Garifuna in Central America, the spatial focus of authentic religious practice has for over two centuries been that of their former homeland and site of ethnogenesis, the island of St Vincent. It is from St Vincent that the ancestors return, through spirit possession, to join with their living descendants in ritual events. During the last generation, about a third of the population migrated to the US, especially to New York City. This departure created a new diasporic horizon, as the Central American villages left behind now acquired their own aura of ancestral fidelity and religious power. Yet New-York-based Garifuna are now giving attention to the African components of their story of origin, to a degree that has not occurred in homeland villages of Honduras. This essay considers the notion of 'leaving' and 'joining' the African diaspora by examining religious components of Garifuna social formation on St Vincent, the deportation to Central America, and contemporary processes of Africanization being initiated in New York.
Circulation Regimes due to Attractor Merging in Atmospheric Models
Authors: Sempf Mario , Dethloff Klaus , Handorf Dörthe , Kurgansky Michael V.
Published: June 2007

From a dynamical systems theory perspective, the mechanisms of atmospheric regime behavior in a barotropic model, a pseudobarotropic model, and a baroclinic three-level model, where all of them show quite realistic regimes, are unveiled. Along with this, the role played by multiple equilibria for the emergence of regimes in barotropic models is critically reexamined.

In the barotropic model, a sequence of bifurcations is observed, which leads to the merging of coexisting attractors and results in two pronounced regimes corresponding to high- and low-index flow. The pseudobarotropic model is constructed from the three-level model by introducing a strong internal friction between the levels and switching off the interfacial diabatic forcing, and it has essentially the same bifurcation properties and regimes as the truly barotropic model. A continuous metamorphosis between the pseudobarotropic and the original baroclinic three-level model is accomplished by a linear interpolation of parameters and forcing fields between these two models. Both local and global bifurcations occurring during this transition to baroclinicity are analyzed in detail, yielding two main results. First, almost all of the multiple steady states of the pseudobarotropic model owe their existence merely to the fact that the surface friction has generally to be chosen unphysically weak in barotropic models in order to obtain chaotic behavior. Second, the circulation regimes in both the pseudobarotropic model and the baroclinic three-level model are proven to emerge from the unification of multiple attractors, which coexist at intermediate strength of baroclinicity and correspond to low- or high-index flow configurations, respectively.
Generalizing Cloud Overlap Treatment to Include Solar Zenith Angle Effects on Cloud Geometry
Authors: Tompkins Adrian M. , Di Giuseppe Francesca
Published: June 2007

Shortwave radiative transfer depends on the cloud field geometry as viewed from the direction of the sun. To date, the radiation schemes of large-scale models only consider a zenith view of the cloud field, and the apparent change in the cloud geometry with decreasing solar zenith angle is neglected. A simple extension to an existing cloud overlap scheme is suggested to account for this for the first time. It is based on the assumption that at low sun angles, the overlap between cloud elements is random for an unscattered photon. Using cloud scenes derived from radar retrievals at two European sites, it is shown that the increase of the apparent cloud cover with a descending sun is reproduced very well with the new scheme. Associated with this, there is a marked reduction in the mean radiative biases averaged across all solar zenith angles with respect to benchmark calculations. The scheme is implemented into the ECMWF global forecast model using imposed sea surface temperatures, and while the impact on the radiative statistics is significant, the feedback on the large-scale dynamics is minimal.
The Interaction of Katabatic Flow and Mountain Waves. Part II: Case Study Analysis and Conceptual Model
Authors: Poulos Gregory S. , Bossert James E. , McKee Thomas B. , Pielke Roger A.
Published: June 2007

Via numerical analysis of detailed simulations of an early September 1993 case night, the authors develop a conceptual model of the interaction of katabatic flow in the nocturnal boundary layer with mountain waves (MKI). A companion paper (Part I) describes the synoptic and mesoscale observations of the case night from the Atmospheric Studies in Complex Terrain (ASCOT) experiment and idealized numerical simulations that manifest components of the conceptual model of MKI presented herein. The reader is also referred to Part I for detailed scientific background and motivation.

The interaction of these phenomena is complicated and nonlinear since the amplitude, wavelength, and vertical structure of the mountain-wave system developed by flow over the barrier owes some portion of its morphology to the evolving atmospheric stability in which the drainage flows develop. Simultaneously, katabatic flows are impacted by the topographically induced gravity wave evolution, which may include significantly changing wavelength, amplitude, flow magnitude, and wave breaking behavior. In addition to effects caused by turbulence (including scouring), perturbations to the leeside gravity wave structure at altitudes physically distant from the surface-based katabatic flow layer can be reflected in the katabatic flow by transmission through the atmospheric column. The simulations show that the evolution of atmospheric structure aloft can create local variability in the surface pressure gradient force governing katabatic flow. Variability is found to occur on two scales, on the meso-β due to evolution of the mountain-wave system on the order of one hour, and on the microscale due to rapid wave evolution (short wavelength) and wave breaking–induced fluctuations. It is proposed that the MKI mechanism explains a portion of the variability in observational records of katabatic flow.
Observational Study of the Entrainment-Mixing Process in Warm Convective Clouds
Authors: Burnet Frédéric , Brenguier Jean-Louis
Published: June 2007

Thermodynamical and microphysical measurements collected in convective clouds are examined within the frame of the homogeneous/inhomogeneous mixing concept, to determine how entrainment-mixing processes affect cloud droplets, their number concentration, and their mean size. The three selected case studies—one stratocumulus layer and two cumulus clouds—exhibit very different values of the cloud updraft intensity, of the adiabatic droplet mean volume diameter, and of the saturation deficit in the environment, all three parameters that are expected to govern the microphysical response to entrainmentmixing. The results confirm that the observed microphysical features are sensitive to the droplet response time to evaporation and to the turbulent homogenization time scale, as suggested by the inhomogeneous mixing concept. They also reveal that an instrumental artifact due to the heterogeneous spatial droplet distribution may be partly responsible for the observed heterogeneous mixing features. The challenge remains, however, to understand why spatially homogeneous cloud volumes larger than the instrument resolution scale (10 m) are so rarely observed. The analysis of the buoyancy of the cloud and clear air mixtures suggests that dynamical sorting could also be efficient for the selection, among all possible mixing scenarios, of those that minimize the local buoyancy production.