bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Different Cohorts and Evaluation of Income Differences in Estonia
Authors: Saar Ellu
Published: April 2008

The article addresses three main research questions. (1) What attitudes do people entertain in post-socialist Estonia with regard to income inequality? (2) Do the unique formative experiences of different birth cohorts become imprinted in values, making them distinctively different in their evaluations of income inequalities, or do people from different cohorts adapt to changes and are they becoming more similar? (3) Are there any differences in the impact of various individual-level characteristics on the attitudes to inequality of different cohorts? In order to answer these questions, this article compares five birth cohorts with different socialization experiences. The analysis is based on data from the International Social Justice Project of 1991 and 1996 and from the Estonian Social Justice Survey carried out in 2004. The analysis indicates a time-dependent and increasing effect of cohort on attitudes towards income inequality. The cohort effect on the perception and appraisal of income inequality in Estonian society is opposite to previous findings for western welfare regimes, where young people look more critically at income inequality. There are clear indications that the older cohorts in Estonia are more critical concerning income inequality and that these cohort-specific differences cannot be attributed only to the heterogeneous self-interests of individuals belonging to different cohorts. Controlling for effects of self-interest does not considerably reduce the influence of cohort on evaluation of income inequality. Our analysis indicates that the most important mediator of the effect of cohort were justice beliefs.
Moral Sentiments and Professionalism in Post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan
Authors: Sanghera Balihar , Iliasov Aibek
Published: April 2008

The article focuses on sociological and ethical aspects of professional practices in post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan and offers three competing conceptual approaches to Soviet and post-Soviet professionalism: the moral consensus, the social control and the moral sentiments approaches. This article aims to contribute to the debate on how professional relationships are socially constructed, paying particular attention to their ethical content. We argue that the sociology of professions needs to engage with moral philosophy since moral reflexivity helps professionals to shape their responsibility to others. Were this not so, we would not care to judge others' actions, question their intentions or reason on how to live. Furthermore, as vulnerable and dependent human beings, we care for and have responsibilities to others. We suggest that the moral sentiments approach captures the tensions and conflicts of post-Soviet Kyrgyzstani professions, highlighting the importance of positive emotions and organizational capabilities to undertake good practices. This perspective argues that human beings are reflexive beings who are motivated by ultimate concerns and goals, pursue life projects, make commitments and act purposefully. The article shows how post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan professions operate in difficult political and economic conditions, and how far professionals possess positive sentiments for effective and good actions.
A Comparison of Constant Time Delay and Simultaneous Prompting Within Embedded Instruction on Teaching Leisure Skills to Children With Autism
Authors: Kurt Onur , Tekin-Iftar Elif
Published: April 2008

An adapted alternating-treatments design was used to compare the effectiveness and efficiency of constant time delay and simultaneous prompting procedures within an embedded instruction format on the acquisition of various leisure skills by four preschool students with autism. The results showed that both procedures were effective in promoting the acquisition of the skills and maintaining them over time by three students. Although the impacts of the procedures were evident for these three students, the results were not replicated with the fourth student. Furthermore, mixed results were obtained regarding the efficiency measures. However, the social validity findings of the study were positive overall. On the basis of an evaluation of the findings, implications and future research needs are discussed.
The Attitudes Toward Prostitution Scale
Authors: Sawyer Steven P. , Metz Michael E.
Published: April 2008

The Attitudes Toward Prostitution Scale (ATPS) assesses the beliefs of men who purchase sex from prostitutes. Items for the ATPS were administered to a U.S. multisite sample of 1,001 men who had been arrested for soliciting an undercover police officer and subsequently referred to a psychoeducational program. Principal axis factor analysis was conducted, and it yielded three valid factors: Social/Legal Support of Prostitution, Beliefs About Prostitutes, and Family Values Related to Prostitution. Scale-item reliability was assessed with Cronbach's alpha on a second independent sample of 74 men, which offered data to support ATPS internal consistency and reliability. Based on these results, scale scores were standardized for practical use in research and clinical applications, and interpretation norms were established for a population of men who buy sex. A brief case example illustrates the practical use of the ATPS for assessment and intervention planning for customers of sex workers.
Considerations for Studying Father Involvement in Early Childhood Among Latino Families
Authors: Campos Rodrigo
Published: April 2008

Over the last three decades there has been a notable increase in interest about fathers and their role in the socioemotional, academic, and cognitive development of young children. Concurrently, there has been a shift in this nation's ethnic minority demography, where Latinos are now the nation's largest minority group. The father-involvement literature in early childhood is scarce, particularly the scholarship focused on Latino fathers. Furthermore, several conceptual and methodological shortcomings in the exploration of Latino fathers exist. This review explores the following questions: To what extent has the literature explored father involvement in early childhood among Latino fathers? What is the quality of the conceptual and methodological rigor of these studies? What are the salient themes of the literature? Finally, the review will present considerations for studying fathers of young children within Latino communities.
Is the concept of human impacts past its use-by date?
Authors: Head Lesley
Published: April 2008

Scientific research now shows that humans are pervasive in earth ecosystems, and have been so for many thousands of years. So it may seem strange to argue against a concept that has been so hard won and is now empirically incontrovertible. What is starting to seem stranger is that, to paraphrase anthropologist Tim Ingold, the best way we have to describe our role in the world is to take ourselves out of it. As human influence on the Earth and its processes increases, we face the profound paradox that most of our intellectual weapons in the environmental area — from prehistoric fire debates to projections of climate change — have maintained a separation of humans and nature. This is an argument based not on semantics but on false separations that are adversely affecting the quality of our research and practice, including the ways we attempt to integrate archaeology and palaeoecology. While `human impacts' may be applicable to a subset of human activities, it is neither conceptually nor empirically strong enough for the detailed networks of human and non-human others now evident. We need to articulate a broader concept of agency, both human and otherwise, and to develop explanations that focus on associations and relationships rather than separations and essentialisms.
Environmental and cultural change on the Mt Eccles lava-flow landscapes of southwest Victoria, Australia
Authors: Builth Heather , Kershaw A. Peter , White Chris , Roach Anna , Hartney Lee , McKenzie Merna , Lewis Tara , Jacobsen Geraldine
Published: April 2008

The Gunditjmara people developed a socio-economic system based on the modification of wetland ecosystems associated with the Mt Eccles lava flow primarily for sustainable production and management of the highly nutritious shortfin eel ( Anguilla australis). This paper examines the environmental history of these landscapes since their inception about 30 000 years ago, through palaeoecological analysis of sediment cores from associated lakes and swamps, in order to contribute to an understanding of the causes and timing of cultural transformation. Two records cover the whole of the 30 000 year history of the landscape while two others provide evidence of change within the Holocene. A great deal of variation within the landscape is revealed, both temporally and spatially, with opportunities for human exploitation through the whole recorded period. Although most features of the records can be explained by natural landscape development and climate change, some human modification can be suggested from around the Pleistocene—Holocene transition while more obvious indications of management relating to eel aquaculture are evident from about 4000 cal. yr BP that appear to include adaptations to the onset of a drier and more variable climate. The study has implications for the explanation of intensification of settlement in Australia more generally within the mid to late Holocene.
Implications of a 14 200 year contiguous fire record for understanding human—climate relationships at Goochs Swamp, New South Wales, Australia
Authors: Black M.P. , Mooney S.D. , Attenbrow V.
Published: April 2008

This paper interprets macroscopic charcoal (>250 μm), humification and loss-on-ignition over the last ~14200 cal. BP from Goochs Swamp, located to the west of Sydney in the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area. This study aimed to investigate relationships between humans, climate and fire through time, primarily by comparison of these palaeoenvironmental indices with archaeological evidence from the region. Climatic forcing can explain all periods of change in the history of fire at Goochs Swamp: fire activity was variable during the Lateglacial—Holocene transition, low during the relatively stable climate of the early Holocene, and high but variable after the onset of modern El Niño from the mid Holocene. Although the dominant control on fire in this environment during the Holocene appears to be climate, fluctuations in the late Holocene may reflect anthropogenic fire or human responses to climate change. The archaeological record of the Blue Mountains and other parts of the Sydney Basin illustrates that Aboriginal people altered subsistence, resource and land-use patterns in the late Holocene. We propose that these cultural measures were adopted to overcome new risks as the frequency of ENSO events increased, and the natural fire regime and resource reliability changed. These strategies perhaps included a more systematic use of fire. The most parsimonious interpretation of the evidence for changes in fire activity at Goochs Swamp in the light of nearby archaeological evidence is that Aboriginal people used fire within a changing climatic framework.
Agricultural emergence and transformation in the Upper Wahgi valley, Papua New Guinea, during the Holocene: theory, method and practice
Authors: Denham Tim , Haberle Simon
Published: April 2008

A practice-based method is advanced to understand the emergence and transformation of agricultural practices in the Upper Wahgi valley during the Holocene. Conceptually, practices represent the nexus of human—environment interactions, as well as of structure—agency relationships, while methodologically, they are the visible remains — whether encountered directly through archaeology, or inferred through palaeoenvironmental proxy — of people living in the past. Multidisciplinary information from the Upper Wahgi valley is used to reconstruct multilayered practices of plant exploitation across the landscape through time; the intention is to spatialize, temporalize and humanize information often represented chronologically and technically. Practice-oriented interpretations clarify, interrogate and amplify existing multidisciplinary records of the past and shed new light on how the earliest agriculture was originated and transformed in the New Guinea highlands during the Holocene.
Strategies to Support Recruitment and Retention of First Nations Youth in Baccalaureate Nursing Programs in Saskatchewan, Canada
Authors: Anonson June M. , Desjarlais Joyce , Nixon Jackie , Whiteman Lori , Bird Alteta
Published: April 2008

Aboriginal youth is one of the fastest growing of all populations in Saskatchewan today. This is a prime group to target for training in the health care professions. The need for strategies to support recruitment and retention in these programs is critical for maintaining our present standard and increasing demands of quality health care. Program initiatives and supports need to be implemented to encourage this population to enroll in and complete health care programs. Although only 5 years old, the University of Saskatchewan, First Nations University of Canada, and Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology (SIAST) have created a viable northern nursing program with a retention rate of Aboriginal postsecondary students 13% greater than the provincial norm. They graduated their first class of nursing students from and for the North, May 2006.
Item Selection Methods for the Adolescent Domain Screening Inventory
Authors: Corrigan Matthew J.
Published: April 2008

Objective: The purpose of this article is to describe the method of item selection tested in the development of the Adolescent Domain Screening Inventory. Method: The convenience sampling frame used for these analyses consisted of 26,781 Communities That Care Youth Surveys. The three item selection methods were used to assess known instrument, convergent construct, and concurrent criterion validities. Results: Method 3, multiple regression on 30-day use, performed the best on the correlations with outcome scales and was indistinguishable from the others on the correlations with the original. Conclusions: This study suggests that the dominant method of short-form item selection, factor analysis loading, might not be only method a researcher can employ and may not be best for all purposes.
Risk Assessment Stability: A Revalidation Study of the Arizona Risk/Needs Assessment Instrument
Authors: Schwalbe Craig S.
Published: April 2008

The actuarial method is the gold standard for risk assessment in child welfare, juvenile justice, and criminal justice. It produces risk classifications that are highly predictive and that may be robust to sampling error. This article reports a revalidation study of the Arizona Risk/Needs Assessment instrument, an actuarial instrument for juvenile offenders. Results of this study (N = 29,711) show that the actuarial model provided stable predictive validity estimates for recidivism up to 7 years after its initial validation and that predictive validity did not vary appreciably for males, females, White offenders, Latino youth, African American youth, and Native American youth. These findings lend further support to the actuarial approach to risk assessment and clarify the literature about risk assessment across gender and race/ethnicity.
Management Education and the Base of the Pyramid
Authors: Gordon Michael D.
Published: April 2008

Doing business at the base of the pyramid is a topic of increasing interest to business practitioners and academics. Base of the pyramid business offers the promise of great economic gains for companies and the possibility of a powerful new approach to alleviate poverty. At the same time, it may threaten local culture and independence while providing nowhere near the economic or societal advantages that some suggest. Business schools need to expose students to these issues, given their implications for business and society. Field-based education offers great potential for students to explore such issues. This article describes a program offering field-based education at base of the pyramid locations throughout the world and a means for extending the experience to other students through video-based electronic case simulations.
The Influence of Nonprofit Networks on Local Affordable Housing Funding
Authors: Silverman Robert Mark
Published: April 2008

This article examines public administrators' perceptions of the effects of nonprofit networks on local affordable housing decisions. It builds on a larger body of research concerning the affordable housing activities of community-based organizations (CBOs). This analysis is based on a national survey of public administrators responsible for affordable housing programs in U.S. cities with populations over 100,000. The survey included questions about: CBO performance, factors influencing CBO funding decisions, and local government structure. This article provides insights into decision-making surrounding CBO funding at the local level. These insights improve our understanding of the connection between public administrators' perceptions, funding patterns, and interorganizational relations.
On the Cauchy—Born Rule
Authors: Ericksen J.L.
Published: April 2008

To relate continuum theories of elastic phenomena to typical atomic or molecular theories, one needs some way of correlating changes in positions of the entities in the latter with descriptions of deformation used in the former. For crystals, the most commonly used bridge used for this is the Cauchy—Born rule. In recent years, there has been a flurry of activity aimed at better understanding it and in trying to generalize it. I will describe and comment on important ideas that have been generated, point out some successes and failures of the rule and indicate kinds of applications that have motivated such work.
Atomistically Informed Electrostatic Model of an Edge Dislocation in a Complex Crystalline Material
Authors: Jeong Ho You  , Lu Jun-Qiang , Johnson H.T.
Published: April 2008

Dislocations are not only mechanical features of crystalline materials, but also complex electrostatic features; this has important implications for understanding electrical and optical properties of real semiconductor materials. An edge dislocation in a semiconductor material becomes electrically charged when free electrons migrate to the dangling bonds along the core; the line charge along the core is then partially screened by the background free carrier concentration. In this work we consider the atomistic structure of an edge dislocation in a technologically important compound semiconductor material, GaN, and develop a complete continuum model of the electrostatic structure of the dislocation. The atomistic analysis is used to determine the maximum charged state of the dislocation core according to first principles electronic structure analysis; the maximum charged state is then expressed as a continuum electrostatic potential. By formulating an energy balance model as a function of the incremental filling of electron acceptor sites, the equilibrium electrostatic state of the dislocation is then determined. This electrostatic state can then be used as the basis for predictive models of electrical scattering or optical absorption.
Analytical Solution for the Stress Field around a Hard Spherical Particle in a Metal Matrix Composite Incorporating Size and Finite Volume Effects
Authors: Gao X.-L.
Published: April 2008

An analytical solution is presented for the stress field around an elastic spherical particle embedded in a finite elastic—plastic metal matrix subjected to hydrostatic tension. The formulation is based on a strain gradient plasticity theory and a unit cell of finite dimensions, and the resulting solution incorporates the size and finite volume effects. The counterpart solutions based on classical elasticity and plasticity are reduced from the current solution, and the solution for that of an elastic spherical particle embedded in an infinitely large elastic—plastic matrix is obtained as a special case. The newly derived solution can capture the particle size effect and account for composites with both dilute and non-dilute particle distributions, unlike existing analytical models. The stress concentration factor on the particle/matrix interface, which depends on the particle size and volume fraction, is determined by directly applying the current solution. Numerical results quantitatively show that the stress concentration factor increases as the particle volume fraction increases and the strain-hardening level of the matrix material decreases. Also, these results reveal that the stress concentration factor decreases with decreasing particle size at the micron scale, thereby predicting the particle size effect.
The Costs of Benefits: Help-Refusals Highlight Key Trade-Offs of Social Life
Authors: Ackerman Joshua M. , Kenrick Douglas T.
Published: April 2008

Social living provides opportunities for cooperative interdependence and concomitant opportunities to obtain help from others in times of need. Nevertheless, people frequently refuse help from others, even when it would be beneficial. Decisions to accept or reject aid offers may provide a window into the adaptive trade-offs recipients make between costs and benefits in different key domains of social life. Following from evolutionary and ecological perspectives, we consider how help-recipient decision making might reflect qualitatively different threats to goal attainment within six fundamental domains of social life (coalition formation, status, self-protection, mate acquisition, mate retention, and familial care). Accepting help from another person is likely to involve very different threats and opportunities depending on which domains are currently active. This approach can generate a variety of novel empirical predictions and suggest new implications for the delivery of aid.
On the concept of moral panic
Authors: Garland David
Published: April 2008

The article develops a critical analysis of the concept of moral panic and its sociological uses. Arguing that some of the concept's subtlety and power has been lost as the term has become popular, the article foregrounds its Freudian and Durkheimian aspects and explicates the epistemological and ethical issues involved in its use. Contrasting the dynamics of moral panics to the dynamics of culture wars, the author shows that both phenomena involve group relations and status competition, though each displays a characteristically different structure. The piece concludes by situating `moral panics' within a larger typology of concepts utilized in the sociology of social reaction.
Scrapbooking the criminal defence file
Authors: Kozin Alexander
Published: April 2008

This article moves away from a common understanding of a criminal defence file as a container for relevant documentation and addresses it as a cultural object which organizes and performs various written documents towards making a case. In my examination I employ rhetorical ethnography of communication. Suggested by Thomas Farrell and Tamar Katriel, the method was originally applied to the analysis of the scrapbooks presented as the cultural text of identity. Drawing on the analogy between the legal file and the scrapbook I show how specific activities (saving; organizing; sharing) expose the criminal defence file to be a culturally choreographed way of law-making, whose performative identity is defined by forensic, deliberative, and testimonial discourses.
Living with the Other: Street sex work, contingent communities and degrees of tolerance
Authors: O'Neill Maggie , Campbell Rosie , Hubbard Phil , Pitcher Jane , Scoular Jane
Published: April 2008

There is substantial literature on how fears of Other populations are prompting the increased surveillance and regulation of public spaces at the heart of Western cities. Yet, in contrast to the consumer-oriented spaces of the city centre, there has been relatively little attention devoted to the quality of the street spaces in residential neighbourhoods beyond the central city. In this article, we explore how media representations of sex workers as an abject and criminalized Other inform the reactions of residents to street sex work in such communities. Drawing on our work in a number of British cities we highlight the different degrees of tolerance which residents express towards street sex work. In light of the Home Office strategy document, A Coordinated Prostitution Strategy, this article concludes by advocating participatory action research and community conferencing as a means of resolving conflicts and assuaging fears of difference.
Crime as an issue during the 2005 UK general election
Authors: Millie Andrew
Published: April 2008

Politicians are fond of telling interviewers that their focus should be on the `real issues' or `what matters most to the people'. This research note considers the place of crime as a `real issue', specifically during the national general election held in the UK in May 2005. According to research by Ipsos MORI (May 2005), at the time of the election the issues that mattered most to people were crime (40 per cent), the health service (36 per cent), race relations/immigration (27 per cent) and education (26 per cent). Crime was clearly important to the public, but how was this reflected in the policies of the main parties and the media coverage of the campaign?
Still Policing the Crisis?
Authors: Clarke John
Published: April 2008

Writing this has been a troubling experience. Returning to a text 30 years on in this way combines intellectual, political and personal reflections in an unsettling way. These range from a powerful attachment to processes of collective or collaborative intellectual work that Policing the Crisis ( PTC; Hall et al., 1978) embodied and enhanced to a rather depressed sense of how many things the book got right about the trajectory of the British social formation in the mid 1970s (other futures might have been preferable). And above all, there is a sense of what the book stands for in the emergence of cultural studies as an institutionalized academic field. As a way of trying to digest these different responses, I have tried to address three sorts of questions: why PTC mattered, where it belongs and why it continues to have echoes in the present.
`Aftermath: Living with the crisis': From PTC to Governing Through Crime
Authors: Brown Michelle
Published: April 2008

In these disparate voices we can hear the closure occurring — the interlocking mechanisms closing, the doors clanging shut. The society is battening itself down for `the long haul' through a crisis. There is light at the end of the tunnel — but not much; and it is far off. Meanwhile, the state has won the right, and indeed inherited the duty, to move swiftly, to stamp fast and hard, to listen in, discreetly survey, saturate and swamp, charge or hold without charge, act on suspicion, hustle and shoulder, to keep society on the straight and narrow. Liberalism, that last back-stop against arbitrary power, is in retreat. It is suspended. The times are exceptional. The crisis is real. We are inside the `law-and-order' state. (Hall et al., 1978: 323)

Welcome to the desert of the real.1
Hitting the panic button: policing/'mugging'/media/crisis
Authors: McLaughlin Eugene
Published: April 2008

Policing the Crisis ( PTC) is an intriguing text that flickers hazily in the contested histories of both critical criminology and cultural studies in the UK. For 'the last of the true believers' within critical criminology, it remains the most thorough and sophisticated example of how to use Marxism to theorize the problem of crime. The strength of PTC lies in its hard-edged stance on analysis and prescription and its intellectually eclectic explanatory framework. Not surprisingly, re-reading Hall et al.'s analysis of 'mugging' and the news media in 2007 one realizes how much has altered since 1978.
Restorative justice—the perplexing concept: Conceptual fault-lines and power battles within the restorative justice movement
Authors: Gavrielides Theo
Published: April 2008

Although the fast-growing literature on restorative justice is extensive, and in some regards repetitive, there is still no consensus as to the nature and extent of applicability of the restorative notion. This article claims that the restorative movement is experiencing a tension between normative abolitionist and pragmatic visions of restorative justice. It proceeds to identify six conceptual fault-lines that characterize this tension. These do not only refer to various definitional positions, but also disagreements that negatively affect both the theoretical and practical development of restorative justice. These tensions also encourage a power-interest battle between different stakeholders within the restorative movement including practitioners, theoreticians, researchers and policy makers. To approach these controversies, there needs to be an acknowledgment of the multidimensional nature of the conceptual problem of restorative justice and the impact it has on its application. The article attempts to get to grips with this problem, and provide a common ground for the future development of restorative justice.
Monochorionic-Monoamniotic Twins in Rural America
Authors: Heflin David , Boles C. Brent
Published: April 2008

Twin pregnancies are considered high risk, with monochorionic-monoamniotic twins being a rare occurrence. Monoamniotic twins carry an increased risk for fetal mortality, commonly due to umbilical cord entanglement and/or knotting of the cord. Presented are three cases of monochorionic-monoamniotic twins occurring in a clinic in rural western Kentucky within a one-year period. All three sets of twins had a positive postnatal outcome.
Virulence studies of Enterobacter sakazakiiisolates associated with a neonatal intensive care unit outbreak
Authors: Townsend Stacy , Hurrell Edward , Forsythe Stephen
Published: April 2008

Background

In 1994, an outbreak of Enterobacter sakazakii infections in France occurred in a neonatal intensive care unit during which 17 neonates were infected. More than half of the infected neonates had severe clinical symptoms; 7 cases of necrotising enterocolitis (one with abdominal perforation), one case of septicemia, and one case of meningitis. The other 8 neonates were shown to be colonized but remained asymptomatic. There were three deaths. Four distinguishable pulsotypes of E. sakazakii were isolated during the outbreak, and the deaths were attributable to one pulsotype. This paper compares strains, from the four pulsotypes, for attachment and invasion of mammalian intestinal cells, macrophage survival and blood-brain barrier invasion. A fourth death from septic shock also occurred during the E. sakazakii outbreak. This was due to E. cloacae which at the time of the outbreak had been misidentified as E. sakazakii. This isolate has been included in this study.

Results

All E. sakazakii strains attached and invaded Caco-2 human epithelial cells, and invaded rat brain capillary endothelial cells. The majority of strains persisted in macrophage cells for 48 h. Two strains from fatal NEC and meningitis cases showed the highest invasion rate of Caco-2 intestinal cells. Their invasion of brain capillary endothelial cells was equivalent or greater than that of the neonatal E. coli meningitis strain K1. These strains also had extended spectrum β-lactamase activities. E. cloacae differed from E. sakazakii due to the greater attachment and less invasion of epithelial cells, no survival in macrophages, and less invasion of capillary endothelial brain cells.

Conclusion

While variables such as host factors and treatment strategies determine the outcome of infection, our in vitro studies evaluated the virulence of the isolates associated with this outbreak. It was not possible to directly correlate clinical symptoms and outcomes with in vitro studies. Nevertheless, we have shown the variation in invasive potential of E. sakazakii with intestinal and blood-brain barrier cells between and within pulsotypes from a neonatal intensive care unit outbreak. E. sakazakii strains were able to persist and even replicate for a period within macrophage cells. These traits appear to facilitate host immune evasion and dissemination.
Effects of resuscitation with crystalloid fluids on cardiac function in patients with severe sepsis
Authors: Fang Zhi Xun , Li Yu Feng , Zhou Xiao Qing , Zhang Zhen , Zhang Jin Song , Xia Hai Ming , Xing Guo Ping , Shu Wei Ping , Shen Ling , Yin Guo Qing
Published: April 2008

Background

The use of hypertonic crystalloid solutions, including sodium chloride and bicarbonate, for treating severe sepsis has been much debated in previous investigations. We have investigated the effects of three crystalloid solutions on fluid resuscitation in severe sepsis patients with hypotension.

Methods

Ninety-four severe sepsis patients with hypotension were randomly assigned to three groups. The patients received the following injections within 15 min at initial treatment: Ns group (n = 32), 5 ml/kg normal saline; Hs group (n = 30), with 5 ml/kg 3.5% sodium chloride; and Sb group (n = 32), 5 ml/kg 5% sodium bicarbonate. Cardiac output (CO), systolic blood pressure, mean arterial pressure (MAP), body temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate and blood gases were measured.

Results

There were no differences among the three groups in CO, MAP, heart rate or respiratory rate during the 120 min trial or the 8 hour follow-up, and no significant differences in observed mortality rate after 28 days. However, improvement of MAP and CO started earlier in the Sb group than in the Ns and Hs groups. Sodium bicarbonate increased the base excess but did not alter blood pH, lactic acid or [HCO3]-values; and neither 3.5% hypertonic saline nor 5% sodium bicarbonate altered the Na+, K+, Ca2+or Cl-levels.

Conclusion

All three crystalloid solutions may be used for initial volume loading in severe sepsis, and sodium bicarbonate confers a limited benefit on humans with severe sepsis.

Trial registration

ISRCTN36748319.
Aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator (ARNT) gene as a positional and functional candidate for type 2 diabetes and prediabetic intermediate traits: Mutation detection, case-control studies, and gene expression analysis
Authors: Das Swapan K , Sharma Neeraj K , Chu Winston S , Wang Hua , Elbein Steven C
Published: April 2008

Background

ARNT, a member of the basic helix-loop-helix family of transcription factors, is located on human chromosome 1q21–q24, a region which showed well replicated linkage to type 2 diabetes. We hypothesized that common polymorphisms in the ARNT gene might increase the susceptibility to type 2 diabetes through impaired glucose-stimulated insulin secretion.

Methods

We selected 9 single nucleotide polymorphisms to tag common variation across the ARNT gene. Additionally we searched for novel variants in functional coding domains in European American and African American samples. Case-control studies were performed in 191 European American individuals with type 2 diabetes and 187 nondiabetic European American control individuals, and in 372 African American individuals with type 2 diabetes and 194 African American control individuals. Metabolic effects of ARNT variants were examined in 122 members of 26 European American families from Utah and in 225 unrelated individuals from Arkansas. Gene expression was tested in 8 sibling pairs discordant for type 2 diabetes.

Results

No nonsynonymous variants or novel polymorphisms were identified. No SNP was associated with type 2 diabetes in either African Americans or European Americans, but among nondiabetic European American individuals, ARNT SNPs rs188970 and rs11204735 were associated with acute insulin response (AIRg; p =< 0.005). SNP rs2134688 interacted with body mass index to alter β-cell compensation to insulin resistance (disposition index; p = 0.004). No significant difference in ARNT mRNA levels was observed in transformed lymphocytes from sibling pairs discordant for type 2 diabetes.

Conclusion

Common ARNT variants are unlikely to explain the linkage signal on chromosome 1q, but may alter insulin secretion in nondiabetic subjects. Our studies cannot exclude a role for rare variants or variants of small (< 1.6) effect size.
Dysregulated angiogenesis in B-chronic lymphocytic leukemia: Morphologic, immunohistochemical, and flow cytometric evidence
Authors: Frater John L , Kay Neil E , Goolsby Charles L , Crawford Susan E , Dewald Gordon W , Peterson LoAnn C
Published: April 2008

Background

The extent of enhanced bone marrow angiogenesis in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and relationship to proangiogenic factors and prognostic indicators is largely unexplored.

Methods

To further investigate the role of angiogenesis in CLL by evaluating the topography and extent of angiogenesis in a group of CLL bone marrow biopsies, to study the expression of pro and antiangiogenic vascular factors in CLL cells to more precisely document the cell types producing these factors, and to evaluate the role, if any, of localized hypoxia in upregulation of angiogenesis in CLL We used immunohistochemistry (IHC) (n = 21 pts) with antibodies to CD3 and CD20, proangiogenic (VEGF, HIF-1a) and antiangiogenic (TSP-1) factors, and VEGF receptors -1 and -2 to examine pattern/extent of CLL marrow involvement, microvessel density (MVD), and angiogenic characteristics; flow cytometry (FC) was performed on 21 additional cases for VEGF and TSP-1.

Results

CLL patients had higher MVD (23.8 vs 14.6, p~0.0002) compared to controls (n = 10). MVD was highest at the periphery of focal infiltrates, was not enhanced in proliferation centers, and was increased irrespective of the presence or absence of cytogenetic/immunophenotypic markers of aggressivity. By IHC, CLL cells were VEGF(+), HIF-1a (+), TSP-1(-), VEGFR-1(+), and VEGFR-2(+). By FC, CLL cells were 1.4–2.0-fold brighter for VEGF than T cells and were TSP-1(-).

Conclusion

CLL demonstrates enhanced angiogenesis, with increased MVD, upregulated VEGF and downregulated TSP-1. Upregulation of HIF-1a in all CLL cases suggests localized tissue hypoxia as an important stimulant of microvessel proliferation. The presence of VEGF receptors on CLL cells implies an autocrine effect for VEGF. Differences in MVD did not correlate with traditional genetic/immunophenotypic markers of aggressiveness.
Expanded risk groups help determine which prostate radiotherapy sub-group may benefit from adjuvant androgen deprivation therapy
Authors: Beasley Matthew , Williams Scott G , Pickles Tom ,   The BCCA Prostate Outcomes Unit
Published: April 2008

Purpose

To assess whether an expanded (five level) risk stratification system can be used to identify the sub-group of intermediate risk patients with prostate cancer who benefit from combining androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) with external beam radiotherapy (EBRT).

Materials and methods

Using a previously validated 5-risk group schema, a prospective non-randomized data set of 1423 men treated at the British Columbia Cancer Agency was assessed for the primary end point of biochemical control (bNED) with the RTOG-ASTRO "Phoenix" definition (lowest PSA to date + 2 ng/mL), both with and without adjuvant ADT. The median follow-up was 5 years.

Results

There was no bNED benefit for ADT in the low or low intermediate groups but there was a statistically significant bNED benefit in the high intermediate, high and extreme risk groups. The 5-year bNED rates with and without ADT were 70% and 73% respectively for the low intermediate group (p = non-significant) and 72% and 58% respectively for the high intermediate group (p = 0.002).

Conclusion

There appears to be no advantage to ADT where the Gleason score is 6 or less and PSA is 15 or less. ADT is beneficial in patients treated to standard dose radiation with Gleason 6 disease and a PSA greater than 15 or where the Gleason score is 7 or higher.
Mucosal administration of α-fodrin inhibits experimental Sjögren's syndrome autoimmunity
Authors: He Jing , Zhao Jinxia , Li Zhanguo
Published: April 2008

Introduction

α-Fodrin is an autoantigen in Sjögren's syndrome. We hypothesized that mucosal administration of α-fodrin might prevent the disease.

Methods

Four-week-old NOD mice were immunized (intranasal) with a 1 μg or 10 μg dose of α-fodrin every other day. PBS 10 μl/dose and Glutathione transferase (GST 10 μg/dose (control mice) were intranasally administrated by the same procedure. The salivary flow was maintained in immunized animals. The animals were analyzed for the presence of anti-Sjögren's syndrome A, anti-Sjögren's syndrome B, rheumatoid factor and antinuclear, anti-α-fodrin, and anti-type 3 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor polypeptide (anti-M3RP) by immunofluorescence or ELISA. The cytokines IFNγ and IL-10 were measured by ELISA. Salivary glands were examined by H&E staining and immunohistochemical analysis. The water-volume intake was calculated for each group. The induction of regulatory T cells was assessed by fluorescence-activated cell sorting analysis for the frequency of Foxp3+ cells among peripheral CD4+CD25+ T cells.

Results

The appearance of anti-α-fodrin and anti-M3RP antibodies was delayed in mice immunized with α-fodrin. The titers of anti-α-fodrin and anti-M3RP antibodies were lower in immunized mice (P < 0.05), but there was no significant difference between the low-dose or high-dose immunization groups. Five out of eight mice in the GST group, five of eight mice in the PBS group, two of eight mice in the α-fodrin 1 μg/dose group, and three out of eight mice in the α-fodrin 10 μg/dose were positive for antinuclear antibodies. The levels of serum IFNγ in mice immunized with 1 μg/dose or 10 μg/dose α-fodrin, with PBS, and with GST were 41.9 ± 16.2 pg/ml, 37.1 ± 15.4 pg/ml, 86.8 ± 17.8 pg/ml and 71.6 ± 11.1 pg/ml, respectively, while we found no difference in the levels of serum IL-10 among the groups. The number of Foxp3+ CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells was higher in the α-fodrin groups compared with the PBS and GST control groups (P < 0.05). Lymphocytic infiltration and expression of α-fodrin in the salivary glands was decreased in α-fodrin-treated groups. The fluid intake of mice in the 1 μg/dose α-fodrin, 10 μg/dose α-fodrin, PBS, and GST groups was 39.2 ± 2.1 ml, 40.4 ± 2.5 ml, 49.3 ± 3.1 ml and 51.6 ± 2.8 ml, respectively.

Conclusion

Mucosal administration of α-fodrin effectively inhibited the progression of experimental Sjögren's syndrome autoimmunity.
Adrenal Hypersensitivity Precedes Chronic Hypercorticism in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetes Mice
Authors: Revsin Yanina , van Wijk Diane , Saravia Flavia E. , Oitzl Melly S. , De Nicola Alejandro F. , de Kloet E. Ronald
Published: April 2008

Previous studies have demonstrated that type 1 diabetes is characterized by hypercorticism and lack of periodicity in adrenal hormone secretion. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that hypercorticism is initiated by an enhanced release of ACTH leading subsequently to adrenocortical growth and increased output of adrenocortical hormones. To test this hypothesis, we used the streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes mouse model and measured hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity at different time points. The results showed that the expected rise in blood glucose levels induced by STZ treatment preceded the surge in corticosterone secretion, which took place 1 d after diabetes onset. Surprisingly, circulating ACTH levels were not increased and even below control levels until 1 d after diabetes onset and remained low until d 11 during hypercorticism. In response to ACTH (but not vasopressin), cultures of adrenal gland cells from 11-d diabetic mice secreted higher amounts of corticosterone than control cells. Real-time quantitative PCR revealed increased expression of melanocortin 2 and melanocortin 5 receptors in the adrenal glands at 2 and 11 d of STZ-induced diabetes. AVP mRNA expression in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus was increased, whereas hippocampal MR mRNA was decreased in 11-d diabetic animals. GR and CRH mRNAs remained unchanged in hippocampus and paraventricular nucleus of diabetic mice at all time points studied. These results suggest that sensitization of the adrenal glands to ACTH rather than an increase in circulating ACTH level is the primary event leading to hypercorticism in the STZ-induced diabetes mouse model.
Oxidative Stress Regulates Type 3 Deiodinase and Type 2 Deiodinase in Cultured Rat Astrocytes
Authors: Lamirand Audrey , Pallud-Mothré Sophie , Ramaugé Martine , Pierre Michel , Courtin Françoise
Published: April 2008

Type 2 deiodinase (D2) and type 3 deiodinase (D3) locally achieve the determination of the concentration of T3, which binds to the thyroid hormone receptor with high affinity. D2 converts T4 into T3, and D3 degrades T4 and T3. Neurons take up T3 released by astrocytes, the main cerebral site for the D2 expression. Because oxidative stress is believed to be involved in several neurological disorders, we explored the effects of oxidative stress on D3 and D2 in primary culture of rat astrocytes. H2O2 (250 μm) increased D3 activity with maximal effects around 8 h. Stimulation of D3 activity by H2O2 was synergistic with T4, phorbol ester, and also cAMP. H2O2 (250 μm) did not affect basal D2 activity but inhibited the stimulation of D2 activity by cAMP and factors implicating cAMP-independent pathways in astrocytes, TSH, and phorbol ester. N-Acetyl cysteine and selenium repletion, which respectively increase intracellular glutathione and glutathione peroxidase, inhibited D2 and D3 regulation by H2O2, whereas l-buthionine sulfoximine, which decreases intracellular glutathione, mimicked H2O2 effects. Oxidative stress up-regulated D3 and inhibited cAMP-stimulated D2 by transcriptional mechanisms. A decrease in cAMP by oxidative stress could contribute to the inhibition of cAMP-stimulated D2. Using specific inhibitors of signaling pathways, we show that the ERK pathway was required in D2 and D3 regulation by oxidative stress and that the p38 MAPK pathway was implicated in H2O2-induced D3. We suggest that the expected decrease in T3 might modulate the cellular injury of oxidative stress in some pathological brain conditions.
Estrogen Signaling Characteristics of Atlantic Croaker G Protein-Coupled Receptor 30 (GPR30) and Evidence It Is Involved in Maintenance of Oocyte Meiotic Arrest
Authors: Pang Yefei , Dong Jing , Thomas Peter
Published: April 2008

Human G protein-coupled receptor 30 (GPR30) mediates estradiol-17β (E2) activation of adenylyl cyclase in breast cancer cells and displays E2 binding typical of membrane estrogen receptors (mERs). We identified a mER in Atlantic croaker ovaries with characteristics similar to those of human GPR30. To confirm the proposed role of GPR30 as a mER in this distantly related vertebrate group, we cloned GPR30 from croaker ovaries and examined its distribution, steroid binding, and signaling characteristics. Western blot analysis showed the GPR30 protein (∼40 kDa) is expressed on the plasma membranes of croaker oocytes and HEK293 cells stably transfected with GPR30 cDNA. Plasma membranes prepared from croaker GPR30-transfected cells displayed high-affinity, limited-capacity, and displaceable binding specific for estrogens, characteristic of mERs. Consistent with previous findings with human GPR30, estrogen treatment of plasma membranes from both croaker ovaries and GPR30-transfected cells caused activation of a stimulatory G protein (Gs) resulting in increased cAMP production. Treatment with E2 as well as G-1, a specific GPR30 ligand, significantly reduced both spontaneous and progestin-induced maturation of both croaker and zebrafish oocytes in vitro, suggesting a possible involvement of GPR30 in maintaining oocyte meiotic arrest in these species. Injection of antisense oligonucleotides to GPR30 into zebrafish oocytes blocked the inhibitory effects of estrogen on oocyte maturation, confirming a role for GPR30 in the control of meiotic arrest. These findings further support our previous suggestion that GPR30 is a vertebrate mER. In addition, the results suggest GRP30 may play a critical role in regulating reentry into the meiotic cell cycle in fish oocytes.