bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Trust in governance and the acceptance of genetically modified food in the Netherlands
Authors: Gutteling Jan , Hanssen Lucien , van der Veer Neil , Seydel Erwin
Published: December 2005

This paper assumes that trust is a major issue in the interaction between government, citizens and societal organizations. The central question in this paper relates to the specific determinants of public trust. A survey study is reported ( n = 1019) which focuses on the role of trust in the acceptance of genetically modified (GM) food. Our expectation was that three types of trust: “trust in governance,” “trust in government,” and “trust in NGOs” would be important predictors of the public acceptance of GM food. The data were collected in the summer of 2001 in the context of the formal Dutch public debate on GM food. The results indicate that 42 percent of the respondents do not trust developments in GM food. Only a third of the sample does trust the government with respect to GM food developments. Approximately 50 percent of the respondents express a high level of trust in nongovernmental organizations for this issue. The data further show that trust in governance seems to be an important constraint for the further development of GM food in the Netherlands. With higher levels of trust in governance people have a more positive attitude toward GM food, are more likely to accept it, and are more optimistic about technological developments.
“Words of mass destruction”: British newspaper coverage of the genetically modified food debate, expert and non-expert reactions
Authors: Cook Guy , Robbins Peter T. , Pieri Elisa
Published: December 2005

This article reports the findings of a one-year project examining British press coverage of the genetically modified (GM) food debate during the first half of 2003, and both expert and non-expert reactions to that coverage. Two pro-GM newspapers and two anti-GM newspapers were selected for analysis, and all articles mentioning GM during the period in question were stored in a machine readable database. This was then analyzed using corpus linguistic and discourse analytic techniques to reveal recurrent wording, themes and content. This text analysis was complemented by 12 interviews with experts involved in the communication of GM issues, and 12 focus-group sessions in which members of the public reacted to selected newspaper texts and other GM material. Both in the press and in public reaction, the issue of GM was found to be intimately associated with other political events of the time, notably the invasion of Iraq. Except among experts, there was little awareness of the official national debate and issues were approached in more general terms. Pro-GM characterization of the issues as primarily scientific, both by newspapers and experts, was rejected by the anti-GM press and campaigners, and by the focus-group participants. They assessed the issues in a more global frame, rejecting scientists and companies as unreliable. In addition, they linked both US and British GM policy to the invasion of Iraq, and, by analogy, rejected pro-GM arguments as untrustworthy.
Increased Capital Mobility/Liquidity and its Repercussions at Regional Level
Authors: Corpataux José , Crevoisier Olivier
Published: December 2005

The most significant structural change undergone by the British and Swiss economies during the past 25 years (1975-2000) is indisputably the development of their financial systems. From this point of view, the two countries show a number of similarities: the presence of one or more international financial place(s), large enterprises which expanded greatly on the international front during that period, the decline of their industrial regions, a monetarist-type monetary policy that involved floating their currency on the external market, a more or less enthusiastic policy of liberalizing their financial markets, etc. In these two countries, the development of international financial centres and the decline of the industrial regions took place in parallel. The question that remains is: are these developments linked? There have been many studies dealing with the relationship between finance and industry. But this article is original in that it approaches the question principally from the spatial angle (by contrasting the evolution of the financial centres with that of the other regions) and from the sectoral angle (by making a distinction between finance and the industrial activities).
Gentrification in Norway
Authors: Hjorthol Randi Johanne , Bjørnskau Torkel
Published: December 2005

Why have central areas in Norwegian cities become more popular in recent years? There is an increasing demand for inner-city dwellings changing the social composition of the inhabitants from lower to higher status groups. This phenomenon, ‘gentrification’, seems to be an international trend. Gentrification has been explained in different ways. Mainly, three different types of explanations have been suggested, related to economy/production, consumption/life-style and feminization of the labour market. In this paper, our standpoint is related to the two latter explanations emphasizing that living in central areas may also have important practical advantages. Long distances between home and the workplace, a mediocre public-transport supply and time-use in car queues are negative factors, while reduction of distances, ‘liberation’ from motorized transport and increased access to public services facilitate the organization of everyday life. Results from a survey of 5,000 inhabitants in Oslo, Trondheim and Bergen confirm that practical advantages are considered important for living in central areas.
Marriage Migration in China
Authors: Davin Delia
Published: December 2005

This article shows that marriage migration is an important form of migration for women in contemporary China, accounting for between a quarter and a third of all female migration, and for over half the female migration from the poorer provinces. Uneven development and greatly improved communications have both contributed to the development of marriage migration as a significant phenomenon in post-reform China. Sometimes women themselves use marriage to escape poverty-stricken homes and to move up through the spatial hierarchy to more prosperous areas. In other cases their families arrange marriages for them in more developed places, even if these are very far away, in order to take advantage of the higher bride price prevalent in wealthier communities. Agents make money by effecting introductions and moving women physically, sometimes over thousands of miles. While doubtless some such marriages are advantageous for all parties, they often have adverse effects both for the vulnerable women involved and for the poorer areas, which suffer a net loss of women to the richer coastal areas.
‘America Varan’ Marriages among Tamil Brahmans
Authors: Kalpagam U.
Published: December 2005

In this article I explore how diasporic matrimonial arrangements among Tamil Brahmans are settled. In recent years the preference for ‘America varan’ marriages has increased on account of a large number of short-term working professionals going to the US. Along with changes in the Immigration and Naturalisation Services rules, the nature of marriage-related migration of women has also changed, as many now migrate with some degree of uncertainty about their permanent stay there. Here we explore how the search for suitable partners is conducted and the kinds of social expectations that currently prevail. Marriage within the kin group, which is the distinguishing feature of Dravidian marriages, is almost wholly eclipsed by matchmaking through horoscope compatibility outside the kin circle. It is argued that while diasporic matrimonial opportunities have certainly opened up new avenues for Brahman women to move into the modern world, the matrimonial strategies deployed and accepted still reflect deep gender asymmetries in the process in spite of the changes in the nature of ‘arranged marriages’.
Commercially Arranged Marriage Migration
Authors: Lu Melody Chia-Wen
Published: December 2005

This article problematises the discourses on commercially arranged marriages, commonly seen as a form of trafficking in women or mail-order brides (MOB), by focusing on a less discussed aspect of commercial marriage migration—namely, the matchmaking and/or marriage brokerage operation. Drawing upon empirical studies of marriages between Taiwanese men and women from South-East Asia and the People's Republic of China, I look at the changing operations of the marriage brokerage industry, the relations between the actors involved prior to, during and after matchmaking and marriage, and the actors’ own perceptions of these operations. The main arguments are that: (a) the marriage brokers play a key role in motivating potential brides/grooms to enter into international marriages and give shape to their preferences in mate choice; and (b) cross-border marriage migration has taken on a very traditional form, involving complex, localised social networks in which women play an active role. As a result, the brokering industry goes beyond mere commercial activities to involve the other types of social relations that are sustained throughout the marriage. Finally, I argue that (c) money ‘transactions’ at the time of a wedding do not necessarily make women a traded ‘commodity’.
Bangladeshi Girls Sold as Wives in North India
Authors: Blanchet Thérèse
Published: December 2005

This article is based on the stories of 112 Bangladeshi girls and women taken mostly to Uttar Pradesh, India, and sold as wives. In a practice that peaked between 1982 and 1993, parents allowed their daughters to leave home, as they could neither pay for their dowries nor keep them unmarried. Go-betweens sold the idea of a country having a surplus of girls to another perceiving a shortage of them, while demographic data show ‘missing’ females on both sides. Many girls never paid a return visit to their natal homes and lost contact with their families. Others returned after many years to reveal that they had been sold. The readings of this practice by different actors—including NGO activists, anthropologists, wife-givers and wife-takers—are discussed. Can marriage be built upon a trafficking event? Can marriage exonerate the evil of trafficking? The situation is clearly more complicated when girls were married to men of a religion different to their own. In such cases, exacerbating the sense of alienation and wrongful appropriation, the mismatch made return highly problematic. The article also draws an analogy with the situation of the slave-wives (bandi bou) in 19th- and 20th-century Bengal.
Gender, Dowry and the Migration System of Indian Information Technology Professionals
Authors: Biao Xiang
Published: December 2005

The current literature on gender and migration focuses largely on women's experiences as migrants or, alternatively, on their experiences as those left behind. This article, on the contrary, seeks to demonstrate how gender is central in producing a migration system itself. Based on in-depth fieldwork in Sydney (Australia) and Andhra Pradesh (India) on the migration system of Indian information technology (IT) professionals from 2000 to 2001, the article suggests that the gender relations prevalent in Andhra Pradesh, particularly the institution of dowry, have been critical in producing a specially cheap and flexible labour force, and in supporting it in the volatile global economy. In turn, the emergence of a group of mobile IT professionals contributes to the increase of dowry, with disturbing consequences for those underprivileged and seemingly unconcerned with the IT industry.
Marriage and Migration through the Life Course
Authors: Mand Kanwal
Published: December 2005

In this article I approach the relationship between marriage and migration from the perspective of transnational Sikh women who are, or seek to, separate from their husbands, or who have been widowed. Given the dominant ideals surrounding Sikh marriage, how do migrant women negotiate their non-married status, and how does this relate to their stage in the life course, their geographic location and their kin networks? The article draws attention to the significance of location as mediating women's experiences in terms of social norms, policies and networks. Although marriage remains central in the lives of South Asian women, I seek to show that expectations and experiences are not immutable, but are influenced by the women's stage in the life course, their access to material resources, and their kin networks within and between places.
Domestic Violence and the Indian Diaspora in the United States
Authors: Abraham Margaret
Published: December 2005

The profile of the current Asian Indian population in the United States is largely an outcome of immigration policies and practices. For most immigrants, including Asian Indians, gender, class and ethnic relations get reshaped as women and men adapt to life in a foreign country. This article discusses domestic violence among the Indian diaspora in the United States with insights from the staff of the community-based women's organisation, Sakhi for South Asian Women, in New York City. It provides a general overview of the Indian population in the United States and explains how immigration policies and regulations factor into immigrant women's experiences of marriage, migration, and marital and domestic violence in a community that has been perceived as a model minority in the United States. Notions of cultural identity, family values and gender, as well as the forms of marriage and violence, are briefly examined. Emphasis is placed on the pivotal role played by Sakhi for South Asian Women in transforming domestic violence from an individual, private matter into a public issue.
Efficiency of a Care Coordination Model: A Randomized Study With Stroke Patients
Authors: Claiborne Nancy
Published: December 2005

Objectives: This study investigated the efficiency of a social work care coordination model for stroke patients. Care coordination addresses patient care and treatment resources across the health care system to reduce risk, improve clinical outcomes, and maximize efficiency. Method: A randomly assigned, pre-post experimental design measured medical utilization of 28 patients postrehabilitation hospitalization. The experimental group received individual assessment, problem solving around barriers to services, advocacy, crisis counseling, educational reinforcement to patients and caregivers, brief psychological counseling, and referral. Hospitalization, emergency room, and physician utilization measures were collected 3 months prior to inpatient rehabilitation and compared to utilization during the study. Results: Repeated measures ANOVA showed significant changes for the intervention group in medical utilization. Recipients'care-seeking behavior appeared to change toward more appropriate use of outpatient physicians rather than the emergency room. Conclusions: Care coordination provided by social workers significantly improved stroke patients' medical utilization with significant cost savings.
Cost-Effectiveness of Case Management in Substance Abuse Treatment
Authors: Saleh Shadi S. , Vaughn Thomas , Levey Samuel , Fuortes Laurence , Uden-Holmen Tanya , Hall James A.
Published: December 2005

Objective: The purpose of this study, which is part of a larger clinical trial, was to examine the cost-effectiveness of case management for individuals treated for substance abuse in a residential setting. Method: Clients who agreed to participate were randomly assigned to one of four study groups. Two groups received face-to-face case management and one telecommunication case management, and the fourth was the control group. Results: Using a ratio of cost to days free from substance abuse, the case management groups were less cost-effective than the control group at 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months. The telecommunication case management was least cost-effective of the three case management conditions. Conclusion: Results from the analysis revealed case management is not cost-effective as a supplement to traditional drug treatment over a 12-month follow-up period.
Treatment of Heroin Dependence: Effectiveness, Costs, and Benefits of Methadone Maintenance
Authors: Schilling Robert , Dornig Katrina , Lungren Lena
Published: December 2005

Objectives: Social workers will increasingly be required to attend to the cost-effectiveness of practices, programs, and policies. In the area of substance abuse, there is little evidence to suggest that social workers'decisions are based on evidence of either effectiveness or costs. Method: This article provides an overview of existing evidence on the effectiveness, costs, and benefits of methadone maintenance in the treatment of opiate addiction. Results: Methadone maintenance is a demonstrably cost-effective treatment for heroin dependence. Conclusions: As yet, social workers do not appear to be aware of either the effectiveness or the cost advantages of methadone. Because findings supporting the cost-effectiveness of methadone are stronger than in most areas of social work practice, the extent to which social workers appropriately refer and advocate for clients who can benefit from this treatment can be seen as a bellwether of how the profession will perform in the emerging era of cost-effectiveness.
An Evaluation Capacity-Building Process for Sustainable Community IT Initiatives
Authors: Lennie June
Published: December 2005

Participatory evaluation methodologies are considered to produce many positive and empowering impacts. However, given the complex power, knowledge and discursive issues involved and other factors, use of these methodologies can have contradictory effects. This article presents results from the implementation of a process that aimed to build the capacities of people in two Australian rural communities to evaluate their local communication and information technology (C&IT) initiatives. The ‘LEARNERS’ process used participatory action research and participatory evaluation methods, and took an inclusive ‘whole of community’ approach. The process aimed to enhance community development and to facilitate community empowerment, participation and leadership, particularly for women. Rigorous analysis of the impacts of the project found that it was effective in producing various degrees of social, technological, political and psychological empowerment. However, some corresponding disempowering impacts were also identified. The strengths and limitations of this evaluation capacity-building process and the lessons learned are considered.
Managing Conflict Constructively in Program Evaluation
Authors: Stevahn Laurie , King Jean A.
Published: December 2005

Evaluators almost inevitably experience conflict in the course of conducting evaluation studies. This article first presents two theoretical frameworks from social psychology - conflict strategies theory and constructive conflict resolution theory - useful for constructively managing conflict in evaluation settings. Second, we discuss theory-derived skills related to structuring cooperative goals and tasks in evaluation studies as well as how to use integrative negotiation procedures to address disputes that arise during the evaluation process. Finally, we explain how these theories can provide evaluators with a lens through which to analyze evaluation contexts, thereby helping them to make wise decisions for effective evaluation practice.
The Influence of Evaluation on Changing Management Systems in Educational Institutions
Authors: Rebolloso Enrique , Fernández-Ramírez Baltasar , Cantón Pilar
Published: December 2005

This article compares the influence of evaluation in two different public education contexts. One evaluation was knowledge-focused, with the evaluators acting as external judges in a context of top-down changes at post-implementation stage in infant and primary schools. The other was development-focused from a constructivist perspective in a context of bottom-up changes during the building of a shared model in a university administration department. The effects of the former were limited to the impact of disseminating scientific information. The latter evaluation had several effects, many of them indirect and diffuse. The main source of influence was participative discussion about evaluation procedures and their results. The advisability of participative evaluation to support system changes and model construction is discussed. The authors also suggest that the concept of influence be considered in the broad sense so different types of influence (multidirectional, indirect, unintended, non-instrumental) can be included as an evaluation impact.
Evaluating the Comprehensive Development Framework in Kyrgyz Republic, Central Asia
Authors: Jacobs Colin
Published: December 2005

The Comprehensive Development Framework (CDF) is an important tool for long-term development of any country. It attempts to balance state, public, private and donor interests into a single 10-year planning framework. Attempts to learn from experience of using the model have been gathered by the World Bank in almost 50 low-income pilot countries. These identify some of the benefits and constraints. This article takes the example of Kyrgyz Republic in Central Asia where the CDF approach was introduced in 2001. The research is based on interim findings from a donor-funded project to assist the strengthening of the CDF. This assessment notes the way in which the CDF has been used to promote national identity and only latterly been more closely integrated with the National Poverty Reduction Strategy, which has a three-year plan. The range of stakeholders remains wide, putting pressure on the coordinating authority within the President’s Office. Important implications for monitoring and evaluation methodologies are drawn through pilot research in two districts. The need for local participation and bottom-up approaches is critical in order to balance the over-centralized approach of the past. Issues of capacity, including skills and systems for the coordinating body and other stakeholders, are crucial when considering what will work.
Choosing Evaluation Models
Authors: Hansen Hanne Foss
Published: December 2005

A variety of different evaluation models are presented in the evaluation literature. These mostly fall into the following categories: results models, process models, system models, economic models, actor models, and programme theory models. This raises the question:‘how can evaluation sponsors and evaluators decide how to design an evaluation with so many models to choose from?’ In this article, several - mutually incompatible - recommendations are discussed. Design should be determined by the purpose of the evaluation, the object of evaluation or the problem to be solved by the evaluated programme or agency. The recommendations are based on different rationales: goals-means, context-based values and programme theory. Furthermore, in practice other logics may influence the evaluation design processes. Four hypotheses concerning such logics are proposed: negotiation, appropriateness,‘routine’ and projection of competence.
Use of applied theatre in health research dissemination and data validation: a pilot study from South Africa
Authors: Stuttaford Maria , Bryanston Claudette , Hundt Gillian Lewando , Connor Myles , Thorogood Margaret , Tollman Stephen
Published: December 2005

This article reports on a pilot study of the use of applied theatre in the dissemination of health research findings and validation of data. The study took place in South Africa, as part of the Southern Africa Stroke Prevention Initiative (SASPI) and was based at the University/Medical Research Council Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (also known as the Agincourt Unit). The aim of SASPI was to investigate the prevalence of stroke and understand the social context of stroke. It was decided to use an applied theatre approach for validating the data and disseminating findings from the anthropological component of the study. The pilot study found that applied theatre worked better in smaller community groups. It allowed data validation and it elicited ideas for future interventions resulting from the health research findings. Evaluation methods of the impact of applied theatre as a vehicle for the dissemination and communication of research findings require further development.
Competing discourses of workplace health
Authors: Allender Steven , Colquhoun Derek , Kelly Peter
Published: December 2005

This article presents an analysis of workplace health programme discourses within an international information technology company. Discourse refers to a system of statements that share a common force and coherence and which are socially constitutive. The representation of entities such as workplace health can be subject to competition between discourses. A critical discourse analysis was undertaken on semi-structured interviews, participant observation and workplace health programme documents. Two competing discourses were identified: health as safety and health as lifestyle. Each discourse is described and shown to both implicitly and explicitly define health within this particular workplace. Lifestyle discourse encouraged moves towards linking of the employees' working and private lives while safety discourse defined health in the relationship between workers and their physical environment. Competition between discourses both constricts and opens spaces for alternative understandings of health in the workplace. The implications of this competition for workplace health policy and practice are discussed.
DSD – An integrated, web-accessible database of Dehydrogenase Enzyme Stereospecificities
Authors: Toseland Christopher P , McSparron Helen M , Flower Darren R
Published: December 2005

Background

Dehydrogenase enzymes belong to the oxidoreductase class and utilise the coenzymes NAD and NADP. Stereo-selectivity is focused on the C4 hydrogen atoms of the nicotinamide ring of NAD(P). Depending upon which hydrogen is transferred at the C4 location, the enzyme is designated as A or B stereospecific.

Description

The Dehydrogenase Stereospecificity Database v1.0 (DSD) provides a compilation of enzyme stereochemical data, as sourced from the primary literature, in the form of a web-accessible database. There are two search engines, a menu driven search and a BLAST search. The entries are also linked to several external databases, including the NCBI and the Protein Data Bank, providing wide background information. The database is freely available online at: http://www.jenner.ac.uk/DSD/

Conclusion

DSD is a unique compilation available on-line for the first time which provides a key resource for the comparative analysis of reductase hydrogen transfer stereospecificity. As databases increasingly form the backbone of science, largely complete databases such as DSD, are a vital addition.
Transformation and other factors of the peptide mass spectrometry pairwise peak-list comparison process
Authors: Wolski Witold E , Lalowski Maciej , Martus Peter , Herwig Ralf , Giavalisco Patrick , Gobom Johan , Sickmann Albert , Lehrach Hans , Reinert Knut
Published: December 2005

Background:

Biological Mass Spectrometry is used to analyse peptides and proteins. A mass spectrum generates a list of measured mass to charge ratios and intensities of ionised peptides, which is called a peak-list. In order to classify the underlying amino acid sequence, the acquired spectra are usually compared with synthetic ones. Development of suitable methods of direct peak-list comparison may be advantageous for many applications.

Results:

The pairwise peak-list comparison is a multistage process composed of matching of peaks embedded in two peak-lists, normalisation, scaling of peak intensities and dissimilarity measures. In our analysis, we focused on binary and intensity based measures. We have modified the measures in order to comprise the mass spectrometry specific properties of mass measurement accuracy and non-matching peaks. We compared the labelling of peak-list pairs, obtained using different factors of the pairwise peak-list comparison, as being the same or different to those determined by sequence database searches. In order to elucidate how these factors influence the peak-list comparison we adopted an analysis of variance type method with the partial area under the ROC curve as a dependent variable.

Conclusion:

The analysis of variance provides insight into the relevance of various factors influencing the outcome of the pairwise peak-list comparison. For large MS/MS and PMF data sets the outcome of ANOVA analysis was consistent, providing a strong indication that the results presented here might be valid for many various types of peptide mass measurements.
Identification of significant periodic genes in microarray gene expression data
Authors: Chen Jie
Published: December 2005

Background

One frequent application of microarray experiments is in the study of monitoring gene activities in a cell during cell cycle or cell division. A new challenge for analyzing the microarray experiments is to identify genes that are statistically significantly periodically expressed during the cell cycle. Such a challenge occurs due to the large number of genes that are simultaneously measured, a moderate to small number of measurements per gene taken at different time points, and high levels of non-normal random noises inherited in the data.

Results

Based on two statistical hypothesis testing methods for identifying periodic time series, a novel statistical inference approach, theC&Gprocedure, is proposed to effectively screen out statistically significantly periodically expressed genes. The approach is then applied to yeast and bacterial cell cycle gene expression data sets, as well as to human fibroblasts and human cancer cell line data sets, and significantly periodically expressed genes are successfully identified.

Conclusion

TheC&Gprocedure proposed is an effective method for identifying statistically significant periodic genes in microarray time series gene expression data.
An EST-based approach for identifying genes expressed in the intestine and gills of pre-smolt Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar)
Authors: Hagen-Larsen Heidi , Laerdahl Jon K , Panitz Frank , Adzhubei Alexei , Høyheim Bjørn
Published: December 2005

Background

The Atlantic salmon is an important aquaculture species and a very interesting species biologically, since it spawns in fresh water and develops through several stages before becoming a smolt, the stage at which it migrates to the sea to feed. The dramatic change of habitat requires physiological, morphological and behavioural changes to prepare the salmon for its new environment. These changes are called the parr-smolt transformation or smoltification, and pre-adapt the salmon for survival and growth in the marine environment. The development of hypo-osmotic regulatory ability plays an important part in facilitating the transition from rivers to the sea. The physiological mechanisms behind the developmental changes are largely unknown. An understanding of the transformation process will be vital to the future of the aquaculture industry. A knowledge of which genes are expressed prior to the smoltification process is an important basis for further studies.

Results

In all, 2974 unique sequences, consisting of 779 contigs and 2195 singlets, were generated for Atlantic salmon from two cDNA libraries constructed from the gills and the intestine, accession numbers [Genbank: CK877169-CK879929, CK884015-CK886537 and CN181112-CN181464]. Nearly 50% of the sequences were assigned putative functions because they showed similarity to known genes, mostly from other species, in one or more of the databases used. The Swiss-Prot database returned significant hits for 1005 sequences. These could be assigned predicted gene products, and 967 were annotated using Gene Ontology (GO) terms for molecular function, biological process and/or cellular component, employing an annotation transfer procedure.

Conclusion

This paper describes the construction of two cDNA libraries from pre-smolt Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and the subsequent EST sequencing, clustering and assigning of putative function to 1005 genes expressed in the gills and/or intestine.
A chronic fatigue syndrome – related proteome in human cerebrospinal fluid
Authors: Baraniuk James N , Casado Begona , Maibach Hilda , Clauw Daniel J , Pannell Lewis K , Hess S Sonja
Published: December 2005

Background

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), Persian Gulf War Illness (PGI), and fibromyalgia are overlapping symptom complexes without objective markers or known pathophysiology. Neurological dysfunction is common. We assessed cerebrospinal fluid to find proteins that were differentially expressed in this CFS-spectrum of illnesses compared to control subjects.

Methods

Cerebrospinal fluid specimens from 10 CFS, 10 PGI, and 10 control subjects (50 μl/subject) were pooled into one sample per group (cohort 1). Cohort 2 of 12 control and 9 CFS subjects had their fluids (200 μl/subject) assessed individually. After trypsin digestion, peptides were analyzed by capillary chromatography, quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry, peptide sequencing, bioinformatic protein identification, and statistical analysis.

Results

Pooled CFS and PGI samples shared 20 proteins that were not detectable in the pooled control sample (cohort 1 CFS-related proteome). Multilogistic regression analysis (GLM) of cohort 2 detected 10 proteins that were shared by CFS individuals and the cohort 1 CFS-related proteome, but were not detected in control samples. Detection of ≥1 of a select set of 5 CFS-related proteins predicted CFS status with 80% concordance (logistic model). The proteins were α-1-macroglobulin, amyloid precursor-like protein 1, keratin 16, orosomucoid 2 and pigment epithelium-derived factor. Overall, 62 of 115 proteins were newly described.

Conclusion

This pilot study detected an identical set of central nervous system, innate immune and amyloidogenic proteins in cerebrospinal fluids from two independent cohorts of subjects with overlapping CFS, PGI and fibromyalgia. Although syndrome names and definitions were different, the proteome and presumed pathological mechanism(s) may be shared.
Hypnosis-associated blue-tinted vision: a case report
Authors: Anbar Ran D , Savedoff Aaron D
Published: December 2005

Background

Self-hypnosis has been taught routinely at the SUNY Upstate Medical University for treatment of pulmonary symptoms thought to be amenable to psychological therapy. While using hypnosis for relaxation, four individuals, including a patient with cystic fibrosis, reported development of blue-tinted vision. Based on a search of the literature, we believe this is the first published report of hypnosis-associated blue-tinted vision.

Case presentation

The patient reported blue-tinted vision when he used hypnosis on an almost daily basis for seven years. The visual change typically occurred when he was relaxed. Moreover, a concurrent erection in the absence of sexual thoughts usually was present. The other three individuals reported blue-tinted vision after learning how to use hypnosis for relaxation as part of a group hypnosis instruction.

Conclusion

The blue-tinted vision experienced by the individuals in this report may be the result of an hypnosis-induced primary change in cognitive processing. Additionally, as the relaxing effect of hypnosis can be associated with a reduction in blood pressure and increased blood flow, hypnosis-associated blue-tinted vision also may be related to retinal vasodilation.
Bone marrow suppression and severe anaemia associated with persistent Plasmodium falciparum infection in African children with microscopically undetectable parasitaemia
Authors: Helleberg Marie , Goka Bamenla Q , Akanmori Bartholomew D , Obeng-Adjei George , Rodriques Onike , Kurtzhals Jorgen AL
Published: December 2005

Background

Severe anaemia can develop in the aftermath of Plasmodium falciparum malaria because of protracted bone marrow suppression, possibly due to residual subpatent parasites.

Materials and methods

Blood was collected from patients with recent malaria and negative malaria microscopy. Detection of the Plasmodium antigens, lactate dehydrogenase (Optimal®), aldolase and histidine rich protein 2 (Now malaria®) were used to differentiate between patients with (1) no malaria, (2) recent cleared malaria, (3) persistent P. falciparum infection. Red cell distribution width (RDW), plasma levels of soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR) and erythropoietin (EPO) were measured as markers of erythropoiesis. Interleukin (IL) 10 and tumour necrosis factor (TNF)α were used as inflammation markers.

Results

EPO was correlated with haemoglobin, irrespective of malaria (R = -0.36, P < 0.001). Persistent P. falciparum infection, but not recent malaria without residual parasites, was associated with bone marrow suppression i.e., low RDW (P < 0.001 vs. P = 0.56) and sTfR (P = 0.02 vs. P = 0.36). TNF-α and IL-10 levels were not associated with bone marrow suppression.

Conclusion

In the treatment of malaria, complete eradication of parasites may prevent subsequent development of anaemia. Severely anaemic children may benefit from antimalarial treatment if antigen tests are positive, even when no parasites can be demonstrated by microscopy.
Protein kinase activity is associated with CD63 in melanoma cells
Authors: Iida Joji , Skubitz Amy PN , McCarthy James B , Skubitz Keith M
Published: December 2005

Background

The tetraspan protein CD63, originally described as a stage-specific melanoma antigen but also present in a number of normal cells, regulates melanoma cell growth in nude mice, motility in serum containing media, and adhesion to several extracellular matrix proteins. CD63 has been reported to associate with β1 and β2 integrins, but the mechanism of signal transduction by CD63 is not clear. This study examined whether CD63 is associated with protein kinase and can transmit signals in melanoma cells.

Methods

Immunoprecipitation and radiolabeling were used to test for association of protein kinase activity with CD63. Adhesion of cells to monoclonal antibodies immobilized to microtiter plates was used to examine the ability of CD63 to transmit signals.

Results

CD63 was capable of transmitting a signal in melanoma cells that required extracellular calcium. In the absence of extracellular calcium at the time of binding to the CD63 mAb, the cell was no longer responsive to stimulation by CD63. Immunoprecipitation studies demonstrated protein kinase activity associated with CD63, and phosphoamino acid analysis revealed that most of this protein kinase activity was due to serine kinase activity.

Conclusion

The current study suggests that serine protein kinase activity associated with CD63 may play a role in signaling by CD63 in melanoma cells.
Outcomes of interfacility critical care adult patient transport: a systematic review
Authors: Fan Eddy , MacDonald Russell D , Adhikari Neill KJ , Scales Damon C , Wax Randy S , Stewart Thomas E , Ferguson Niall D
Published: December 2005

Introduction

We aimed to determine the adverse events and important prognostic factors associated with interfacility transport of intubated and mechanically ventilated adult patients.

Methods

We performed a systematic review of MEDLINE, CENTRAL, EMBASE, CINAHL, HEALTHSTAR, and Web of Science (from inception until 10 January 2005) for all clinical studies describing the incidence and predictors of adverse events in intubated and mechanically ventilated adult patients undergoing interfacility transport. The bibliographies of selected articles were also examined.

Results

Five studies (245 patients) met the inclusion criteria. All were case-series and two were prospective in design. Due to the paucity of studies and significant heterogeneity in study population, outcome events, and results, we synthesized data in a qualitative manner. Pre-transport severity of illness was reported in only one study. The most common indication for transport was a need for investigations and/or specialist care (three studies, 220 patients). Transport modalities included air (fixed or rotor wing; 66% of patients) and ground (31%) ambulance, and commercial aircraft (3%). Transport teams included a physician in three studies (220 patients). Death during transfer was rare (n = 1). No other adverse events or significant therapeutic interventions during transport were reported. One study reported a 19% (28/145) incidence of respiratory alkalosis on arrival and another study documented a 30% overall intensive care unit mortality, while no adverse events or outcomes were reported after arrival in the three other studies.

Conclusion

Insufficient data exist to draw firm conclusions regarding the mortality, morbidity, or risk factors associated with the interfacility transport of intubated and mechanically ventilated adult patients. Further study is required to define the risks and benefits of interfacility transfer in this patient population. Such information is important for the planning and allocation of resources related to transporting critically ill adults.
Looking To Understand: The Coupling Between Speakers' and Listeners' Eye Movements and Its Relationship to Discourse Comprehension
Authors: Richardson Daniel C. , Dale Rick
Published: December 2005

We investigated the coupling between a speaker's and a listener's eye movements. Some participants talked extemporaneously about a television show whose cast members they were viewing on a screen in front of them. Later, other participants listened to these monologues while viewing the same screen. Eye movements were recorded for all speakers and listeners. According to cross‐recurrence analysis, a listener's eye movements most closely matched a speaker's eye movements at a delay of 2 sec. Indeed, the more closely a listener's eye movements were coupled with a speaker's, the better the listener did on a comprehension test. In a second experiment, low‐level visual cues were used to manipulate the listeners' eye movements, and these, in turn, influenced their latencies to comprehension questions. Just as eye movements reflect the mental state of an individual, the coupling between a speaker's and a listener's eye movements reflects the success of their communication.
The Emergence of Words: Attentional Learning in Form and Meaning
Authors: Regier Terry
Published: December 2005

Children improve at word learning during the 2nd year of life—sometimes dramatically. This fact has suggested a change in mechanism, from associative learning to a more referential form of learning. This article presents an associative exemplar‐based model that accounts for the improvement without a change in mechanism. It provides a unified account of children's growing abilities to (a) learn a new word given only 1 or a few training trials (“fast mapping”); (b) acquire words that differ only slightly in phonological form; (c) generalize word meanings preferentially along particular dimensions, such as object shape (the “shape bias”); and (d) learn 2nd labels for already‐named objects, despite a persisting resistance to doing so (“mutual exclusivity”). The model explains these improvements in terms of increased attention to relevant aspects of form and meaning, which reduces memory interference. The interaction of associations and reference in word learning is discussed.
Semantic Interpretation as Computation in Nonmonotonic Logic: The Real Meaning of the Suppression Task
Authors: Stenning Keith , van Lambalgen Michiel
Published: December 2005

Interpretation is the process whereby a hearer reasons to an interpretation of a speaker's discourse. The hearer normally adopts a credulous attitude to the discourse, at least for the purposes of interpreting it. That is to say the hearer tries to accommodate the truth of all the speaker's utterances in deriving an intended model. We present a nonmonotonic logical model of this process which defines unique minimal preferred models and efficiently simulates a kind of closed‐world reasoning of particular interest for human cognition. Byrne's “suppression” data (Byrne, 1989) are used to illustrate how variants on this logic can capture and motivate subtly different interpretative stances which different subjects adopt, thus indicating where more fine‐grained empirical data are required to understand what subjects are doing in this task. We then show that this logical competence model can be implemented in spreading activation network models. A one pass process interprets the textual input by constructing a network which then computes minimal preferred models for (3‐valued) valuations of the set of propositions of the text. The neural implementation distinguishes easy forward reasoning from more complex backward reasoning in a way that may be useful in explaining directionality in human reasoning.
How Should a Speech Recognizer Work?
Authors: Scharenborg Odette , Norris Dennis , ten Bosch Louis , McQueen James M.
Published: December 2005

Although researchers studying human speech recognition (HSR) and automatic speech recognition (ASR) share a common interest in how information processing systems (human or machine) recognize spoken language, there is little communication between the two disciplines. We suggest that this lack of communication follows largely from the fact that research in these related fields has focused on the mechanics of how speech can be recognized. In Marr's (1982) terms, emphasis has been on the algorithmic and implementational levels rather than on the computational level. In this article, we provide a computational‐level analysis of the task of speech recognition, which reveals the close parallels between research concerned with HSR and ASR. We illustrate this relation by presenting a new computational model of human spoken‐word recognition, built using techniques from the field of ASR that, in contrast to current existing models of HSR, recognizes words from real speech input.
The Seeds of Spatial Grammar in the Manual Modality
Authors: So Wing Chee , Coppola Marie , Licciardello Vincent , Goldin‐Meadow Susan
Published: December 2005

Sign languages modulate the production of signs in space and use this spatial modulation to refer back to entities—to maintain coreference. We ask here whether spatial modulation is so fundamental to language in the manual modality that it will be invented by individuals asked to create gestures on the spot. English speakers were asked to describe vignettes under 2 conditions: using gesture without speech, and using speech with spontaneous gestures. When using gesture alone, adults placed gestures for particular entities in non‐neutral locations and then used those locations to refer back to the entities. When using gesture plus speech, adults also produced gestures in non‐neutral locations but used the locations coreferentially far less often. When gesture is forced to take on the full burden of communication, it exploits space for coreference. Coreference thus appears to be a resilient property of language, likely to emerge in communication systems no matter how simple.
The Role of Embodied Intention in Early Lexical Acquisition
Authors: Yu Chen , Ballard Dana H. , Aslin Richard N.
Published: December 2005

We examine the influence of inferring interlocutors' referential intentions from their body movements at the early stage of lexical acquisition. By testing human participants and comparing their performances in different learning conditions, we find that those embodied intentions facilitate both word discovery and word‐meaning association. In light of empirical findings, the main part of this article presents a computational model that can identify the sound patterns of individual words from continuous speech, using nonlinguistic contextual information, and employ body movements as deictic references to discover word‐meaning associations. To our knowledge, this work is the first model of word learning that not only learns lexical items from raw multisensory signals to closely resemble infant language development from natural environments, but also explores the computational role of social cognitive skills in lexical acquisition.