bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Impacts of Urban Albedo Increase on Local Air Temperature at Daily–Annual Time Scales: Model Results and Synthesis of Previous Work
Authors: Krayenhoff E. Scott , Voogt James A.
Published: March 2010

The authors combine urban and soil–vegetation surface parameterization schemes with one-dimensional (1D) boundary layer mixing and radiation parameterizations to estimate the maximum impact of increased surface albedo on urban air temperatures. The combined model is evaluated with measurements from an urban neighborhood in Basel, Switzerland, and the importance of surface–atmosphere model coupling is demonstrated. Impacts of extensive albedo increases in two Chicago, Illinois, neighborhoods are modeled. Clear-sky summertime reductions of diurnal maximum air temperature for the residential neighborhood (λp = 0.33) are −1.1°, −1.5°, and −3.6°C for uniform roof albedo increases of 0.19, 0.26, and 0.59, respectively; reductions are about 40% larger for the downtown core (λp = 0.53). Realistic impacts will be smaller because the 1D modeling approach ignores advection; a lake-breeze scenario is modeled and temperature reductions decline by 80%. Assuming no advection, the analysis is extended to seasonal and annual time scales in the residential neighborhood. Yearly average temperature decreases for a 0.59 roof albedo increase are about −1°C, with summer (winter) reductions about 60% larger (smaller). Annual cooling degree-day decreases are approximately offset by heating degree-day increases and the frequency of very hot days is reduced. Despite the variability of modeling approaches and scenarios in the literature, a consistent range of air temperature sensitivity to albedo is emerging; a 0.10 average increase in neighborhood albedo (a 0.40 roof albedo increase for λp = 0.25) generates a diurnal maximum air temperature reduction of approximately 0.5°C for “ideal” conditions, that is, a typical clear-sky midlatitude summer day.
The Deepening of Tropical Convection by Congestus Preconditioning
Authors: Waite Michael L. , Khouider Boualem
Published: March 2010

The role of environmental moisture in the deepening of cumulus convection is investigated by means of cloud-resolving numerical experiments. Under idealized conditions of uniform SST and specified radiative cooling, the evolution of trade wind cumulus into congestus clouds, and ultimately deep convection, is simulated and analyzed. The results exhibit a tight coupling between environmental moisture and cloud depth, both of which increase over the course of the simulations. Moistening in the lower troposphere is shown to result from the detrainment of water vapor from congestus clouds, and the strength of this tendency is quantified. Moistening of the lower troposphere reduces the dilution of cloud buoyancy by dry-air entrainment, and the relationship between this effect and increasing cloud depth is examined. The authors confirm that the mixing of water vapor by subgrid-scale turbulence has a significant impact on cloud depth, while the mixing of sensible heat has a negligible effect. By contrast, the dependence of cloud depth on CAPE appears to be of secondary importance. However, the deepening trend observed in these simulations is not solely determined by the evolving mean vapor profile. While enhancing the horizontally averaged humidity does result in deeper clouds, this occurs only after an adjustment period of several hours, presumably because of the buildup of CAPE. The implications of these findings for large-scale simulations in which resolved mixing is reduced—for example, by coarser spatial resolution or 2D experiments—are also discussed.
The NCEP GODAS Ocean Analysis of the Tropical Pacific Mixed Layer Heat Budget on Seasonal to Interannual Time Scales
Authors: Huang Boyin , Xue Yan , Zhang Dongxiao , Kumar Arun , McPhaden Michael J.
Published: March 2010

The mixed layer heat budget in the tropical Pacific is diagnosed using pentad (5 day) averaged outputs from the Global Ocean Data Assimilation System (GODAS), which is operational at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP). The GODAS is currently used by the NCEP Climate Prediction Center (CPC) to monitor and to understand El Niño and La Niña in near real time. The purpose of this study is to assess the feasibility of using an operational ocean data assimilation system to understand SST variability.

The climatological mean and seasonal cycle of mixed layer heat budgets derived from GODAS agree reasonably well with previous observational and model-based estimates. However, significant differences and biases were noticed. Large biases were found in GODAS zonal and meridional currents, which contributed to biases in the annual cycle of zonal and meridional advective heat fluxes. The warming due to tropical instability waves in boreal fall is severely underestimated owing to use of a 4-week data assimilation window. On interannual time scales, the GODAS heat budget closure is good for weak-to-moderate El Niños. A composite for weak-to-moderate El Niños suggests that zonal and meridional temperature advection and vertical entrainment/diffusion all contributed to the onset of the event and that zonal advection played the dominant role during decay of the event and the transition to La Niña. The net surface heat flux acts as a damping during the development stage, but plays a critical role in the decay of El Niño and the transition to the following La Niña.

The GODAS heat budget closure is generally poor for strong La Niñas. Despite the biases, the GODAS heat budget analysis tool is useful in monitoring and understanding the physical processes controlling SST variability associated with ENSO. Therefore, it has been implemented operationally at CPC in support of NOAA’s ENSO forecasting.
Modeling Equilibrium Dynamics of the Benguela Current System
Authors: Veitch Jennifer , Penven Pierrick , Shillington Frank
Published: March 2010

The Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) is used to systematically investigate equilibrium conditions and seasonal variations of the Benguela system at a resolution of 9 km, including both the large-scale offshore flow regime and the economically and ecologically important coastal upwelling regime. A shelf-edge poleward flow exists in the northern Benguela region (i.e., north of ∼28°S) and is driven primarily by the wind stress curl via the Sverdrup relation. As such, it is strongly seasonal and is most intense during spring and summer, when the wind stress curl is most negative. The poleward flow deepens as it moves southward; between ∼25° and 27°S, much of it veers offshore because of the nature of the wind stress curl and its interaction with the northwestward path of the Benguela Current, which is influenced by alongshore topographical variations. The Benguela Current is driven by nonlinear interactions of passing Agulhas rings and eddies and does not have a striking seasonal signal. In the mean state, it is characterized by two streams. The more inshore stream is topographically controlled and follows the run of the shelf edge. The meandering nature of the offshore stream is a result of the preferential path of Agulhas rings. The model simulates all seven of the major upwelling cells within its domain. The three southernmost cells have the strongest seasonal signal and experience their greatest upwelling during spring and summer months, whereas the two northernmost cells have less seasonal variability but nevertheless have increased upwelling from autumn to spring (and least upwelling in summer), and the central Benguela upwelling cells experience year-round upwelling. The effect of topography on coastal upwelling was investigated by smoothing alongshore coastline and topography variations, which showed that, in all of the seven major upwelling cells, upwelling is enhanced on the downstream side of capes.
Ozone Profile Retrieval from an Advanced Infrared Sounder: Experiments with Tropopause-Based Climatology and Optimal Estimation Approach
Authors: Wei Jennifer C. , Pan Laura L. , Maddy Eric , Pittman Jasna V. , Divarkarla Murty , Xiong Xiaozhen , Barnet Chris
Published: March 2010

Motivated by a significant potential for retrieving atmospheric ozone profile information from advanced satellite infrared sounders, this study investigates various methods to optimize ozone retrievals. A set of retrieval experiments has been performed to assess the impact of different background states (or the a priori states) and retrieval algorithms on the retrieved ozone profiles in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) using Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) measurements. A new tropopause-based ozone climatology, using publicly available global ozonesonde data to construct the a priori state, is described. Comparisons are made with the AIRS version 5 (v5) ozone climatology. The authors also present the result of a newly implemented optimal estimation (OE) algorithm and compare it to the current AIRS science team (AST) algorithm used in version 5. The ozone climatology using tropopause-referenced coordinates better preserves the shape and the magnitude of the ozone gradient across the tropopause, especially in the extratropical region. The results of the retrieval experiments indicate that the tropopause-referenced climatology not only helps to optimize the use of instrument sensitivity in the UTLS region, but it also provides better constraints to the OE algorithm.
Empirical Correction of Stray Light within the MERIS Oxygen A-Band Channel
Authors: Lindstrot Rasmus , Preusker Rene , Fischer Jürgen
Published: March 2010

Spaceborne spectrometers like the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) on board the Environmental Satellite (Envisat) are widely used for the remote sensing of atmospheric and oceanic properties and make an important contribution to the monitoring of the earth’s atmosphere system. To enable retrievals with high accuracy, the spectral and radiometric properties of the instruments have to be characterized with high precision. One of the main sources of radiometric errors is stray light caused by multiple reflections and scattering at the optical elements within the instruments. If not corrected for properly, the stray light–induced offsets of measured intensity can lead to significant errors in the derived parameters. The effect of stray light is particularly momentous in the case of measurements inside strong absorption bands like the oxygen A band at 0.76 μm or the ρστ absorption band of water vapor around 0.9 μm. For example, the retrieval of surface and cloud-top pressure from MERIS measurements in the O2 A band can be biased because of an insufficient correction of stray light in the operational processing chain.

To correct for the residual stray light influence after the operational stray light correction in the O2 A-band channel of MERIS, an empirical stray light correction of the measured radiance at 0.76 μm has been developed based on optimizing the coefficients of a simple brightness-dependent stray light model. The optimal model coefficients were found by adjusting the retrievals of surface and cloud-top pressure to accurate reference data for several selected scenes. To account for the limited accuracy of the MERIS spectral calibration, the center wavelength of the O2 A-band channel was additionally adjusted within a ±0.1-nm tolerance range. The correction was tested on a variety of clear and cloudy scenes at different locations by applying the surface and cloud-top pressure retrieval algorithms to data recorded over the whole lifetime of MERIS. The results indicate the potential to greatly improve the accuracy of the retrieved pressure values using the proposed correction factors.
Data Evaluation for a Newly Developed Slack-Line Mooring Buoy Deployed in the Eastern Indian Ocean
Authors: Ueki Iwao , Fujii Nobuhiro , Masumoto Yukio , Mizuno Keisuke
Published: March 2010

For the purpose of climate research and forecasting the Research Moored Array for African–Asian–Australian Monsoon Analysis and Prediction (RAMA) in the Indian Ocean has been planned. Development of RAMA has been gradually accelerated in recent years as a multinational effort. To promote RAMA the authors have developed a small size buoy system, which uses the slack-line mooring method, intended for the easy handling of maintenance on a relatively small vessel. The authors have also conducted a field experiment of the simultaneous deployment of new slack-line mooring and conventional taut-line mooring in the eastern Indian Ocean. This paper describes the performance of the newly developed buoy system, especially the data consistency against the taut-line mooring system, which is usually used for a tropical moored buoy array. Although the slack-line mooring method has the advantage of downsizing the total mooring system, it also has the disadvantage of having relatively large vertical shifts of installed sensors produced by a large migration of the surface buoy. To offset this disadvantage to a certain extent, a data reconstruction method has been developed and evaluated. Through the data comparison between both mooring systems, it is confirmed that the reconstructed data of the newly developed buoy can basically capture the same features as that observed with a conventional taut-line mooring system. The maximum mean difference of −0.16°C and the maximum root-mean-square (RMS) difference of 0.58°C for temperature appeared within the thermocline layer, whereas the maximum mean difference of 0.02 and the maximum RMS difference of 0.09 for salinity appeared within the mixed layer. Considering a distance of 8 n mi between the two moorings, these values are acceptable for regarding that the two moorings can observe same feature. Results of this study support the introduction of various types of mooring systems for a multinational approach of RAMA and contribute to the further progress of RAMA, climate research, and forecasting.
The Relationship Between Parental Involvement and Mathematics Achievement for Students With Visual Impairments
Authors: McDonnall Michele Capella , Cavenaugh Brenda S. , Giesen J. Martin
Published: March 2010

The effect of parental involvement on achievement has received a significant amount of research attention in the general student population, but surprisingly very little research has been conducted in this area for students with disabilities. This study investigated the association between parental involvement (both at home and at school) and mathematics achievement for students with visual impairments. The samples used for the study ( N = 341 and N = 324) were taken from the nationally representative Special Education Elementary Longitudinal Study. Multilevel modeling for longitudinal data was used to investigate the research questions. Parental involvement at school was positively associated with mathematics achievement for students who began the study in elementary school, and parental involvement at home was negatively associated with mathematics achievement for students without a cognitive disability. However, there was a strong positive association between mathematics achievement and parental involvement at home for students who also had a cognitive disability.
Bound to interact: The divergent goals and complex interplay of attachment and sex within romantic relationships
Authors: Birnbaum Gurit E.
Published: March 2010

Attachment and sexual mating are distinct behavioral systems that serve different evolutionary functions. Although their behavioral manifestations may occur in isolation, romantic partners typically function simultaneously as sexual partners and as attachment figures. In recent years, researchers have focused their attention on the complex interplay between attachment processes and the sexual aspects of romantic love. In this manuscript, I review research that demonstrates the reciprocal relationship between these two systems. I also present new findings concerning whether and how reactions characteristic of the sexual system serve attachment-related goals, primarily in situations that call for distress regulation, and how these reactions are moderated by attachment insecurities. The research conducted to date points to the need for us to understand how the attachment and sexual systems mutually influence each other at different stages of relationship development.
Mothers’ Knowledge of Early Adolescents’ Activities Following the Middle School Transition and Pubertal Maturation
Authors: Laird Robert D. , Marrero Matthew D.
Published: March 2010

This study tested a sequential mediation model to determine whether experiences, social cognitions, or parent-adolescent interactional processes account for lower levels of mothers’ knowledge of adolescents’ whereabouts and activities following early adolescents’ transition into middle school (MS) and pubertal development. Cross-sectional data were collected from 106 mother-adolescent dyads during the summer before the adolescent entered MS ( M age = 11.39 years, 55% female) and from an additional 85 mother-adolescent dyads during the summer following the adolescents’ 1st year of MS ( M age = 12.47 years, 49% female). Path analyses indicated that adolescents who had experienced the MS transition and who were more pubertally advanced had weaker authority beliefs and engaged in more unsupervised activities. Weaker authority beliefs were associated with less adolescent disclosure but with more maternal control. More unsupervised activities were associated with less maternal control. Experiencing the MS transition, more advanced pubertal development, weaker authority beliefs, more unsupervised activities, and less adolescent disclosure were associated with less maternal knowledge. This study concludes that between-group differences in mothers’ knowledge following the MS transition are partially explained by more unsupervised activities, weaker authority beliefs, and less adolescent disclosure among adolescents who have experienced the MS transition.
Foreign Service in the Age of Absolute Monarchy: Louis XIV and His Forces Étrangères
Authors: Rowlands Guy
Published: March 2010

In the period after the Thirty Years War central state organization of armies went hand in hand with the hiring of foreigners for military service. This article sets out the importance of foreign soldiers for Louis XIV’s military power, and outlines how they were incorporated under the aegis of the French state after 1663. It proposes a fresh typology of foreign recruitment and service, moving beyond simple categories such as mercenary, auxiliary, and entrepreneur, and in the process it further reveals the complexity of Louis XIV’s international dealings. The French government had multiple motivations for setting up foreign units, and this article aims to pave the way for more profound exploration of the Soldatenhandel as it related to western Europe in the period after 1648.
Coping with the social costs of ‘transition’: Everyday life in post-Soviet Russia and Ukraine
Authors: Round John , Williams Colin
Published: March 2010

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, many Russian and Ukrainian households have experienced periods of economic marginalization. The role of this paper is to examine these social costs of transition, noting that official reporting underestimates the true scale of the problem, and the household responses to these costs. The discussions are based on both qualitative and quantitative research undertaken in numerous locations in Russia and Ukraine. One of the paper’s key arguments is that informal economic practices are crucial to many households and that a broad spectrum of coping tactics is employed. These tactics often reveal the unequal power relations that run through state—society and worker— employee relations and help detail the high levels of corruption that exist in post-Soviet societies. Furthermore, these tactics are entwined in the locations within which they take place and rely on high levels of social capital, ensuring that households would rather remain in their current location than migrate to cheaper regions. The paper concludes on a rather pessimistic note, arguing that, although Russian and Ukrainian households have ‘coped’ over the 20 years since the beginning of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the future poses new challenges. These include an ageing population, the increasing use of credit (default on which can lead to eviction) and the global recession, which leads to a decrease in opportunities in the informal sphere.
Re-thinking the Southern British Oppida : Networks, Kingdoms and Material Culture
Authors: Pitts Martin
Published: March 2010

This article examines the role of a range of large settlements in late Iron Age and early Roman southern Britain (c.100 BC–AD 70) conventionally described as oppida. After reviewing current perspectives on the function and chronology of British oppida, new insights are provided through the statistical analysis of assemblages of brooches and imported ceramics at a broad sample of sites. Analysis of material culture reveals distinct similarities and differences between several groups of sites, often transcending regional traditions and supposed tribal boundaries. This patterning is primarily explained by the emergence of new forms of political organization prior to Roman annexation, particularly the creation of the Southern and Eastern Kingdoms.
‘From stone to cloud’
Authors: Richmond Susan
Published: March 2010

This article analyses Mary Kelly’s Love Songs, 2005—07, which was exhibited in 2007 at Documenta 12. The series of artworks addresses the political and ideological legacies of early Anglo-US feminism through the perspectives of two generations of women. Drawing on oral and photographic archives, as well as historical re-enactments, Kelly indicates how her work does not simply record a feminist legacy but, rather, keenly intervenes in the process. I propose that this intervention is an ethical one. Drawing on Luce Irigaray’s writings on the maternal gift, I demonstrate how Kelly’s project may be understood to enact an ethical relationality that I find is fundamental for thinking about the vexing issue of feminist intergenerationality. I conclude that while Love Songs maps no specific course of action, nor indicates exactly why or how a current generation of feminists should proceed, it nonetheless generates a space in which to imagine the radical futurity of the maternal gift.
Health reporting as political reporting: Biocommunicability and the public sphere
Authors: Briggs Charles L. , Hallin Daniel C.
Published: March 2010

This article discusses contrasting forms of ‘biocommunicability’ as manifested in health-care reporting. The concept of ‘biocommunicability’ refers to sets of normative assumptions on the production and circulation of knowledge and information about health. This article builds on a previous paper discussing two models of ‘biocommunicability’ that dominate health reporting — the medical authority and patient— consumer models — introducing a third, public sphere model, and discussing the kinds of hybrid genres of reporting that have emerged as health issues have been drawn into the political arena. The article is based on content and discourse analysis of seven months of health reporting in a regional newspaper, The San Diego Union-Tribune, as well as examples drawn from reporting in the national press, and on interviews with reporters and health professionals.
Harnessing the potential of online news: Suggestions from a study on the relationship between online news advantages and its post-adoption consequences
Authors: Nguyen An
Published: March 2010

Using data from a national survey, this article explores the relationship between nine common socio-technical advantages of online news and how it is used and alters existing news use habits. The article finds that apart from the ability to ‘have my say to the news media’, all the other attributes — no cost, multitasking, more news choices, in-depth and background information, 24/7 updates, customization, ability to discuss news with peers, and the existence of different viewpoints — have a more or less marked effect on the way people adopt, use and integrate online news into daily life. Most remarkably, online news users seem to expect immediacy at the same time as depth and diversity of news and views. Ironically, however, each of these attributes contributes, at various levels, to the displacement effect of online news on each of the four traditional news media. The many implications of these findings for journalism are placed in the context of recent developments in the online news industry.
Marketing conquest and the vanishing Indian
Authors: Wilcox Michael
Published: March 2010

In recent years, Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (1996) and Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive (2005) have come to represent the widely read and discussed secular narratives of human social and cultural evolution in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Disguised as an attack on racial determinism, Guns suggests that colonization and conquest were largely ‘accidents’ of history and that modern collapses can be avoided by careful study of Indigenous environmental mismanagement. Much of Diamond’s data is drawn from archaeological literature largely written in isolation from Native American descendent communities. The universalizing discourses advanced by processual studies can provide powerful counter-arguments to these claims when rearticulated with more recent Native American historical narratives. This essay responds to Diamond’s works, questions their veracity and assumptions and suggests that narratives such as Diamond’s are the most potent instruments of conquest.
Am“B”valent: anti-CD20 antibodies unravel the dual role of B cells in immunopathogenesis
Authors: Thaunat Olivier , Morelon Emmanuel , Defrance Thierry
Published: March 2010

Accumulating evidence has designated B cells as central players in the pathogenesis of immune diseases. In the late 1990s, anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies were developed for the treatment of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas, offering the opportunity to efficiently deplete the B-cell compartment for therapeutic immunointerventions. Several studies have since established the beneficial effect of this drug on the course of a wide range of immune diseases. However, paradoxically, it has also been reported that rituximab sometimes worsens the symptoms of the very same conditions. The explanation that reconciles such apparently conflicting results has recently emerged from basic studies, which demonstrate that (1) B cells are also endowed with immune-regulatory properties and (2) the opposing contributions of B cells may overlap during the course of the disease. Caution should therefore be exercised when considering B-cell depletion because the therapeutic effect will depend on the relative contributions of the opposing B-cell activities at the time of the drug administration.
Hereditary spherocytosis and hereditary elliptocytosis: aberrant protein sorting during erythroblast enucleation
Authors: Salomao Marcela , Chen Ke , Villalobos Jonathan , Mohandas Narla , An Xiuli , Chasis Joel Anne
Published: March 2010

During erythroblast enucleation, membrane proteins distribute between extruded nuclei and reticulocytes. In hereditary spherocytosis (HS) and hereditary elliptocytosis (HE), deficiencies of membrane proteins, in addition to those encoded by the mutant gene, occur. Elliptocytes, resulting from protein 4.1R gene mutations, lack not only 4.1R but also glycophorin C, which links the cytoskeleton and bilayer. In HS resulting from ankyrin-1 mutations, band 3, Rh-associated antigen, and glycophorin A are deficient. The current study was undertaken to explore whether aberrant protein sorting, during enucleation, creates these membrane-spanning protein deficiencies. We found that although glycophorin C sorts to reticulocytes normally, it distributes to nuclei in 4.1R-deficient HE cells. Further, glycophorin A and Rh-associated antigen, which normally partition predominantly to reticulocytes, distribute to both nuclei and reticulocytes in an ankyrin-1–deficient murine model of HS. We conclude that aberrant protein sorting is one mechanistic basis for protein deficiencies in HE and HS.
Metabolic modeling and analysis of the metabolic switch in Streptomyces coelicolor
Authors: Alam Mohammad T , Merlo Maria E ,   The STREAM Consortium, Hodgson David A , Wellington Elizabeth MH , Takano Eriko , Breitling Rainer
Published: March 2010

Background

The transition from exponential to stationary phase in Streptomyces coelicolor is accompanied by a major metabolic switch and results in a strong activation of secondary metabolism. Here we have explored the underlying reorganization of the metabolome by combining computational predictions based on constraint-based modeling and detailed transcriptomics time course observations.

Results

We reconstructed the stoichiometric matrix of S. coelicolor, including the major antibiotic biosynthesis pathways, and performed flux balance analysis to predict flux changes that occur when the cell switches from biomass to antibiotic production. We defined the model input based on observed fermenter culture data and used a dynamically varying objective function to represent the metabolic switch. The predicted fluxes of many genes show highly significant correlation to the time series of the corresponding gene expression data. Individual mispredictions identify novel links between antibiotic production and primary metabolism.

Conclusion

Our results show the usefulness of constraint-based modeling for providing a detailed interpretation of time course gene expression data.
Effects of CYP2B6 G516T polymorphisms on plasma efavirenz and nevirapine levels when co-administered with rifampicin in HIV/TB co-infected Thai adults
Authors: Uttayamakul Sumonmal , Likanonsakul Sirirat , Manosuthi Weerawat , Wichukchinda Nuanjun , Kalambaheti Thareerat , Nakayama Emi E , Shioda Tatsuo , Khusmith Srisin
Published: March 2010

Background

Cytochrome P450 2B6(CYP2B6)metabolizes efavirenz and nevirapine, the major core antiretroviral drugs for HIV in Thailand. Rifampicin, a critical component of tuberculosis (TB) therapy is a potent inducer of CYP enzyme activity. Polymorphisms ofCYP2B6andCYP3A4are associated with altered activity of hepatic enzyme in the liver and pharmacokinetics resulting in treatment efficacy. This study aimed to investigate whetherCYP2B6orCYP3A4polymorphisms had effects on plasma efavirenz and nevirapine concentrations when co-administered with rifampicin in HIV/TB co-infected Thai adults.

Results

We studied 124 rifampicin recipients with concurrent HIV-1/TB coinfection, receiving efavirenz (600 mg/day) (n = 65) or nevirapine (400 mg/day) (n = 59) based antiretroviral therapy (ART). The frequencies of GG, GT and TT genotypes ofCYP2B6-G516T were 38.46%, 47.69% and 13.85% in efavirenz group and 44.07%, 52.54% and 3.39% in nevirapine group, respectively. The mean 12-hour post-dose plasma efavirenz concentration in patients with TT genotype at weeks 6 and 12 of ART and 1 month after rifampicin discontinuation (10.97 ± 2.32, 13.62 ± 4.21 and 8.48 ± 1.30 mg/L, respectively) were significantly higher than those with GT (3.43 ± 0.29, 3.35 ± 0.27 and 3.21 ± 0.22 mg/L, respectively) (p < 0.0001) or GG genotypes (2.88 ± 0.33, 2.45 ± 0.26 and 2.08 ± 0.16 mg/L, respectively) (p < 0.0001). Likewise, the mean 12-hour post-dose plasma nevirapine concentration in patients carrying TT genotype at weeks 6 and 12 of ART and 1 month after rifampicin discontinuation (14.09 ± 9.49, 7.94 ± 2.76 and 9.44 ± 0.17 mg/L, respectively) tended to be higher than those carrying GT (5.65 ± 0.54, 5.58 ± 0.48 and 7.03 ± 0.64 mg/L, respectively) or GG genotypes (5.42 ± 0.48, 5.34 ± 0.50 and 6.43 ± 0.64 mg/L, respectively) (p = 0.003, p = 0.409 and p = 0.448, respectively). Compared with the effects ofCYP2B6-516TT genotype, we could observe only small effects of rifampicin on plasma efavirenz and nevirapine levels. After 12 weeks of both drug regimens, there was a trend towards higher percentage of patients withCYP2B6-TT genotype who achieved HIV-1 RNA levels <50 copies/mL compared to those with GT or GG genotypes. This is the first report to demonstrate the effects ofCYP2B6G516T polymorphisms on plasma efavirenz and nevirapine concentrations when co-administered with rifampicin in HIV/TB co-infected Thai adults.

Conclusions

CYP2B6-TT genotype had impact on plasma efavirenz and nevirapine concentrations, while rifampicin co-administration had only small effects.
'Offensive' snakes: cultural beliefs and practices related to snakebites in a Brazilian rural settlement
Authors: Fita Dídac S , Neto Eraldo Costa M , Schiavetti Alexandre
Published: March 2010

This paper records the meaning of the term 'offense' and the folk knowledge related to local beliefs and practices of folk medicine that prevent and treat snake bites, as well as the implications for the conservation of snakes in the county of Pedra Branca, Bahia State, Brazil. The data was recorded from September to November 2006 by means of open-ended interviews performed with 74 individuals of both genders, whose ages ranged from 4 to 89 years old. The results show that the local terms biting, stinging and pricking are synonymous and used as equivalent to offending. All these terms mean to attack. A total of 23 types of 'snakes' were recorded, based on their local names. Four of them are Viperidae, which were considered the most dangerous to humans, besides causing more aversion and fear in the population. In general, local people have strong negative behavior towards snakes, killing them whenever possible. Until the antivenom was present and available, the locals used only charms, prayers and homemade remedies to treat or protect themselves and others from snake bites. Nowadays, people do not pay attention to these things because, basically, the antivenom is now easily obtained at regional hospitals. It is understood that the ethnozoological knowledge, customs and popular practices of the Pedra Branca inhabitants result in a valuable cultural resource which should be considered in every discussion regarding public health, sanitation and practices of traditional medicine, as well as in faunistic studies and conservation strategies for local biological diversity.
Entamoeba histolytica and E. dispar trophozoites in the liver of hamsters: in vivo binding of antibodies and complement
Authors: Costa Cássia AX , Nunes Álvaro C , Ferreira Anderson J , Gomes Maria A , Caliari Marcelo V
Published: March 2010

Background

Human amoebiasis is caused by the parasitic protozoanEntamoeba histolyticathat lives in the large intestine of hosts, where can produce asymptomatic colonization until severe invasive infections with blood diarrhea and spreading to other organs. The amoebic abscesses in liver are the most frequent form of amoebiasis outside intestine and still there are doubts about the pathogenic mechanisms involved in their formation. In this study we evaluated thein situbinding of antibodies, C3 and C9 complement components on trophozoites, in livers of hamsters infected withE. histolyticaorE. dispar. These parameters were correlated with the extension of the hepatic lesions observed in these animals and with trophozoites survivor.

Methods

Hamsters were inoculated intra-hepatically with 100,000 trophozoites ofE. histolyticaorE. disparstrain and necropsied 12, 24, 48, 72, 144 and 192 h after inoculation. Antibodies, C3 and C9 binding to trophozoites were detected by immunohistochemistry. The estimation of the necrosis area and the number of labeled trophozoites was performed using digital morphometry analysis.

Results

In the liver sections of animals inoculated with the amoebas, the binding of antibodies toE. histolyticatrophozoites was significantly lower than toE. dispartrophozoites. Trophozoites ofE. disparwere also more frequently vacuolated and high labeled cellular debris observed in the lesions. Positive diffuse reaction to C3 complement component was more intense in livers of animals inoculated withE. histolyticaafter 24 and 72 h of infection. C3(+)and C9(+)trophozoites were detected in the vascular lumen, granulomas and inside and in the border of necrotic areas of both infected group animals. C3(+)and C9(+)trophozoite debris immunostaining was higher in livers ofE. disparthan in livers ofE. histolytica. A positive correlation between necrotic areas and number of C9(+)trophozoites was observed in animals inoculated withE. dispar.

Conclusion

Morphological and immunohistochemical results suggest that antibodies and complement are able to bind and destroy some trophozoites in the liver of experimentally infected hamsters, perhaps selecting the more resistant parasites which are responsible by progression of amoebic abscesses. The findings indicate thatE. histolyticapossesses an enhanced abilityin vivoto evade the immune responses compared toE. dispar, although it also causes experimental hepatic lesions.
Growth Hormone (GH)-Releasing Hormone Increases the Expression of the Dominant-Negative GH Isoform in Cases of Isolated GH Deficiency due to GH Splice-Site Mutations
Authors: Petkovic Vibor , Godi Michela , Lochmatter Didier , Eblé Andrée , Flück Christa E. , Robinson Iain C. , Mullis Primus E.
Published: March 2010

An autosomal dominant form of isolated GH deficiency (IGHD II) can result from heterozygous splice site mutations that weaken recognition of exon 3 leading to aberrant splicing of GH-1 transcripts and production of a dominant-negative 17.5-kDa GH isoform. Previous studies suggested that the extent of missplicing varies with different mutations and the level of GH expression and/or secretion. To study this, wt-hGH and/or different hGH-splice site mutants (GH-IVS+2, GH-IVS+6, GH-ISE+28) were transfected in rat pituitary cells expressing human GHRH receptor (GC-GHRHR). Upon GHRH stimulation, GC-GHRHR cells coexpressing wt-hGH and each of the mutants displayed reduced hGH secretion and intracellular GH content when compared with cells expressing only wt-hGH, confirming the dominant-negative effect of 17.5-kDa isoform on the secretion of 22-kDa GH. Furthermore, increased amount of 17.5-kDa isoform produced after GHRH stimulation in cells expressing GH-splice site mutants reduced production of endogenous rat GH, which was not observed after GHRH-induced increase in wt-hGH. In conclusion, our results support the hypothesis that after GHRH stimulation, the severity of IGHD II depends on the position of splice site mutation leading to the production of increasing amounts of 17.5-kDa protein, which reduces the storage and secretion of wt-GH in the most severely affected cases. Due to the absence of GH and IGF-I-negative feedback in IGHD II, a chronic up-regulation of GHRH would lead to an increased stimulatory drive to somatotrophs to produce more 17.5-kDa GH from the severest mutant alleles, thereby accelerating autodestruction of somatotrophs in a vicious cycle.
Biomarker-Based Risk Stratification for Previously Untreated Medullary Thyroid Cancer
Authors: Machens Andreas , Dralle Henning
Published: March 2010

Context: Preoperative neck ultrasonography may yield false-negative findings in more than one-third of medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) patients. If not cleared promptly, cervical lymph node metastases may emerge subsequently. Reoperations entail an excess risk of surgical morbidity and may be avoidable.

Objective: This comprehensive investigation aimed to evaluate in a head-to-head comparison the clinical utility of pretherapeutic biomarker serum levels (basal calcitonin; stimulated calcitonin; carcinoembryonic antigen) for indicating extent of disease and providing biochemical stratification of pretherapeutic MTC risk.

Design: This was a retrospective analysis.

Setting: The setting was a tertiary referral center.

Patients: Included were 300 consecutive patients with previously untreated MTC.

Interventions: The intervention was compartment-oriented surgery.

Main Outcome Measure: Stratified biomarker levels were correlated with histopathologic extent of disease.

Results: Higher biomarker levels reflected larger primary tumors and more lymph node metastases. Stratified basal calcitonin serum levels correlated better (r = 0.59) with the number of lymph node metastases than carcinoembryonic antigen (r = 0.47) or pentagastrin-stimulated calcitonin (r = 0.40) levels. Lymph node metastases were present in the ipsilateral central and lateral neck, contralateral central neck, contralateral lateral neck, and upper mediastinum, respectively, beyond basal calcitonin thresholds of 20, 50, 200, and 500 pg/ml. Bilateral compartment-oriented neck surgery achieved biochemical cure in at least half the patients with pretherapeutic basal calcitonin levels of 1,000 pg/ml or less but not in patients with levels greater than 10,000 pg/ml.

Conclusions: Most newly diagnosed MTC patients, i.e. those with pretherapeutic basal calcitonin levels greater than 200 pg/ml, may need bilateral compartment-oriented neck surgery to reduce the number of reoperations.
Representation, Distribution, and Formation of Sexuality in the Photography of Araki Nobuyoshi
Authors: Hiroko Hagiwara
Published: March 2010

The aim of this essay is to suggest a way to see and discuss a body of Araki Nobuyoshi's later photographic work that centers on images of bound and naked women. Araki has prolifically exhibited and published provocative photographs for over thirty years in Japan and for some years in the West. While it seems difficult to differentiate his images from crude exploitation and general degradation of women, his photographs attract many female fans. I argue that we are invited and directed to see his photographs in ways that “engender” the viewer. I focus on the “Araki industry,” which has made orchestrated efforts to produce hundreds of publications and a self-promoting discourse. I also examine how a personal cult is promoted through the sale of these images, and the indispensable role this self-promoting discourse plays in sustaining this industry, while more challenging and serious critiques are downplayed and sometimes do not make their way into print.

Araki's recent exhibitions were enthusiastically received in the West. A series of photographs of bound naked women in kimonos dazzles Western eyes. I proceed to analyze orientalist contradictions based on the Western reviewers' double standard. To discuss sexual images such as Araki's work in a dualist perspective, Japan versus the West, only leads to exoticization of the cultural other. But their orientalist bias does not interrupt the photographer's project. Instead, any kind of Western attention is welcomed as proof of the photographer's success in the West.

Araki's work has been reviewed not only as sexually excessive but also as desolately asexual. Araki's photographs are open to both readings, while other readings are not encouraged. In fact sexual excess and sexual desolation, as defined from a male point of view and supported by big sale, are not very different from each other for women.

There is a magnetic field around Araki's work, where smooth and profitable distribution on the art market is powerfully promoted. Any interference with this process is driven back, and any supportive element, including orientalist fantasy, is appropriated. The photographs for exhibition and publication are carefully selected.

If our sexuality is formulated through exposure to sexual images, analyzing photographic work such as Araki's requires that we focus on the whole process from production to distribution and consumption.
Large Deviations for Point Processes Based on Stationary Sequences with Heavy Tails
Authors: Hult Henrik , Samorodnitsky Gennady
Published: March 2010

In this paper we propose a framework that facilitates the study of large deviations for point processes based on stationary sequences with regularly varying tails. This framework allows us to keep track both of the magnitude of the extreme values of a process and the order in which these extreme values appear. Particular emphasis is put on (infinite) linear processes with random coefficients. The proposed framework provides a fairly complete description of the joint asymptotic behavior of the large values of the stationary sequence. We apply the general result on large deviations for point processes to derive the asymptotic decay of certain probabilities related to partial sum processes as well as ruin probabilities.
Tail Asymptotics for a Random Sign Lindley Recursion
Authors: Vlasiou Maria , Palmowski Zbigniew
Published: March 2010

We investigate the tail behaviour of the steady-state distribution of a stochastic recursion that generalises Lindley's recursion. This recursion arises in queueing systems with dependent interarrival and service times, and includes alternating service systems and carousel storage systems as special cases. We obtain precise tail asymptotics in three qualitatively different cases, and compare these with existing results for Lindley's recursion and for alternating service systems.
Optimal Multicommodity Flow Through the Complete Graph with Random Edge Capacities
Authors: Khandwawala Mustafa , Sundaresan Rajesh
Published: March 2010

We consider a multicommodity flow problem on a complete graph whose edges have random, independent, and identically distributed capacities. We show that, as the number of nodes tends to infinity, the maximum utility, given by the average of a concave function of each commodity flow, has an almost-sure limit. Furthermore, the asymptotically optimal flow uses only direct and two-hop paths, and can be obtained in a distributed manner.
Generalized Measures of Divergence in Survival Analysis and Reliability
Authors: Vonta Filia , Karagrigoriou Alex
Published: March 2010

Measures of divergence or discrepancy are used either to measure mutual information concerning two variables or to construct model selection criteria. In this paper we focus on divergence measures that are based on a class of measures known as Csiszár's divergence measures. In particular, we propose a measure of divergence between residual lives of two items that have both survived up to some timetas well as a measure of divergence between past lives, both based on Csiszár's class of measures. Furthermore, we derive properties of these measures and provide examples based on the Cox model and frailty or transformation model.
Inverse Stochastic Dominance, Majorization, and Mean Order Statistics
Authors: De La Cal Jesús , Cárcamo Javier
Published: March 2010

The inverse stochastic dominance of degree r is a stochastic order of interest in several branches of economics. We discuss it in depth, the central point being the characterization in terms of the weak r-majorization of the vectors of expected order statistics. The weak r-majorization (a notion introduced in the paper) is a natural extension of the classical (reverse) weak majorization of Hardy, Littlewood and Pòlya. This work also shows the equivalence between the continuous majorization (of higher order) and the discrete r-majorization. In particular, our results make it clear that the cases r = 1, 2 differ substantially from those with r ≥ 3, a fact observed earlier by Muliere and Scarsini (1989), among other authors. Motivated by this fact, we introduce new stochastic orderings, as well as new social inequality indices to compare the distribution of the wealth in two populations, which could be considered as natural extensions of the first two dominance rules and the S-Gini indices, respectively.