bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Science Education, Religious Toleration, and Liberal Neutrality toward the Good
Authors: Audi Robert
Published: January 2010

This article address questions concerning science education, focusing on the ways in which religious toleration and liberal neutrality might constrain science education. It provides a conception of religious neutrality that does not undermine the kind of moral education that every society needs and aims to propose a framework for scientific education that may reduce the tensions now causing difficulties both for education in science and for civic harmony. It calls for a sensitivity by science teachers to what constitutes science, to the existence of nonscientific disciplines that are genuine fields of inquiry, and to the need to confine discussion to scientific issues in an atmosphere in which it is understood that doing so is neutral with respect to religion rather than hostile to it.
Educating for Individual Freedom and Democratic Citizenship: In Unity and Diversity There Is Strength
Authors: Gutmann Amy
Published: January 2010

This article addresses contentious questions concerning individual freedom and democratic citizenship education in the contemporary circumstances of multiculturalism. It suggests that educating children for civic equality is an ambitious aim for any democracy and not one that can ever be realized once and for all. It provides evidence that multicultural conditions can challenge the very aim of educating children for civic equality. It explains that democracies are variously multicultural and the varieties of groups make a difference in the kind of education and the progress toward civic equality that can realistically be expected at any time.
Religion and American Voting Behavior, 1830s to 1930s
Authors: Swierenga Robert P.
Published: January 2010

This article provides a summary of the collected evidence that supports the thesis that religion was a salient factor in 19th-century voting behavior. It shows that the United States is essentially an immigrant nation, which is populated by peoples with different languages, social values, cultures, religions, and work experiences. This eventually led to a nation that has a relatively high degree of conflicting norms and values, cultural pluralism, and ethnic diversity. Since religion has been a salient factor in American politics since the 1820s, a religious interpretation of voting behavior can help enhance one's understanding of American political culture from the period of Andrew Jackson to Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Religion and American Political Thought
Authors: Lienesch Michael
Published: January 2010

This article discusses the three general approaches to the study of political thought, namely: political philosophy, history of political theory, and contemporary social and political thought. The article describes the changing conceptions of religion's role and discusses how the secular understandings have been challenged by religious ones. It shows how the political meaning and purpose of religion has continued to be contested. An evaluation of the current status of scholarship in the field is also provided.
Religion, Parties, and Voting Behavior
Authors: McTague John Michael , Layman Geoffrey C.
Published: January 2010

This article tries to provide a political explanation of religious influence. The article begins by determining how the relationship of religion to politics and voting behavior has changed during the past 4 decades. It looks at why that change has occurred, even if the new religious divisions between the electoral coalitions of the parties are most likely to take shape. This is done by focusing on the dynamic relationship between the three parts of the American party system. The last portion of the article centers on challenges, caveats, and alternatives to the authors' framework.
Religion and American Political Participation
Authors: Wielhouwer Peter W.
Published: January 2010

This article discusses several approaches to explaining political participation and determines how religion relates to each. It provides a brief review of the ways that political participation has been classified. A discussion of the major research orientations on political engagement, the findings that have emerged through these different approaches, and how religion relates to each is also included.
Anti‐Foundationalism
Authors: Bevir Mark
Published: January 2010

This article provides an historical narrative of the contingent ways in which anti-foundationalism has been brought to the study of British politics from within critical, socialist traditions. It starts by briefly mentioning some of the less contentious implications for social philosophy. It also explains why anti-foundational philosophy is compatible with diverse approaches to political science, and considers the implications of the analysis of anti-foundationalism for its place in the study of British politics. The anti-foundationalists' emphasis on meanings, contingency, historical narratives, and critique opens up the study of British politics. Anti-foundationalists have initiated dialogues between British politics and historiography, cultural studies, and post-colonial studies.
Political Parties
Authors: Heffernan Richard
Published: January 2010

The three dominant British political parties, Labour, the Conservatives, and the Liberal Democrats, can trace their inheritance back to the latter part of the nineteenth century and beyond. British parties reflect the constitutional norms of parliamentary politics. The party leadership pre-eminence as modern organizational form is described in this article. It then discusses the members, money, and modes of campaigning. Politics more generally increasingly focuses on issues which transcend the age-old left-right spectrum within which politics was traditionally framed. British parties remain important to the working of representative democracy. The two major parties are granted extraordinary powers to direct public affairs.
Ireland
Authors: English Richard
Published: January 2010

This article first defines some crucial terms. It then describes rival Irish national identities within the modern UK, organized rival nationalisms in Northern Ireland, and some related complexities of British national identity. It would be wrong to see Irish national identity and British unionist identity in Northern Ireland as mirror images of one another. They are not. The most forceful expression of rival Northern Irish national identities has been found in the respective organized nationalisms of nationalists and unionists. Organized Irish nationalism took a different form from that of unionism, the central dichotomy between its own rival wings being between two well-supported groups, one of which eschewed and the other of which long pursued political violence. The UK's contested legitimacy in Northern Ireland shows a version of the wider problems currently faced in the United Kingdom regarding self-determination, legitimacy, and separatism.
Scotland and Wales
Authors: Harvie Christopher
Published: January 2010

This article starts by presenting the academic interpretation, and also argues that much of it rests on shaky foundations. The Marxist scholar, David Craig, wrote The Real Foundations. This book dwelt on base-superstructure relations in industrial society. The fate of various cultures is discussed. The study of how institutional change ‘beds itself in’ ought to occupy political scientists more than it has done. The relationship between the devolved governments and the Union state raise the peculiar nature of responsibilities within the Cabinet that carried devolution. If national identity becomes concentrated on political institutions, conflicts are likely to be much more explicit.
The European Union
Authors: Buller Jim
Published: January 2010

This article uses a temporal perspective to fully understand the nature of change in the British government's relations with the European Union (EU). It first examines the reason for Britain's awkwardness, concentrating on the period 1987–97. Moreover, it attempts to document and account for a number of gradual changes that has taken place in Britain's relations with the EU over the last decade or so. It specifically deals with the alterations to the international and European context that has benefited British diplomacy since 1997. The depoliticization of Europe at the domestic level reflects in part a conscious strategy by political agents at the top of the Blair government. It has been argued that a subtle change has taken place in the British government's relations with the EU, and that this trend is the result of a complex interplay of institutional and agential factors.
Participation and Social Capital
Authors: Whiteley Paul
Published: January 2010

This article investigates the link between social capital and political participation in Britain. It also outlines evidence on political participation in contemporary Britain, as well as changes in participation over time. This is followed by an examination of the thesis that social capital drives political participation. In addition, evidence on the relationship between social capital and political participation from the 2005 British Election Study is explored. The article then describes the findings and their implications for civic engagement in contemporary Britain. A long-term decline in electoral participation in Britain has been taking place, something which has been happening in other advanced industrial democracies as well. Increasingly citizens are instrumental in their approach to participation, and they will get involved if this furthers their interests, and they avoid involvement when it does not.
European Economy
Authors: Clift Ben
Published: January 2010

This article reports on analysis and assumptions underpinning the prevailing analysis and prescription (diagnosis and cure) for European economic reform within British politics. These two discursive framings inform and shape the relationship between British politics and the European political economy. The article also deals with the clash of capitalisms and social models within the implementation, successes, and failings of the ‘Lisbon agenda’. The relationship between the welfare state regime and economic performance is then explored, before considering attempts to tackle unemployment through ‘flexicurity’ reforms to labour market institutions, and the framing and content of macroeconomic policy. The UK model was successful in terms of employment between 1997 and 2007, but this success has been bought at what many consider too high a price in terms of social inequality. The Lisbon process is insufficient in the mechanisms to induce the convergence it exhorts.
The Medievals
Authors: Marenbon John
Published: January 2010

Medieval philosophers used the language of cause and effect as frequently as philosophers do now. Viewed very, very broadly, they had in mind a similar notion, at least when they were speaking of efficient causality (and even the three other types of Aristotelian cause — material, formal, and final — can be brought loosely under this concept): causes are in some sense prior to their effects, which they produce and the existence of which they explain. Viewed more closely, medieval notions of causality are sharply different from contemporary ones, and these differences are especially evident in explicit discussions of causation. This article discusses the idea of essential causation. It looks at the aspect of medieval thought about causation that seems to come closest to the modern debates instigated by Hume, the supposed medieval occasionalists such as the Islamic thinker al-Ghazali (1058–1111) and the Parisian Arts Master and student of theology, Nicholas of Autrecourt (d. 1369), and the critiques of occasionalism offered by Averroes (c.1126–98), who wrote in Muslim Spain, and Aquinas.
Probabilistic Theories
Authors: Williamson Jon
Published: January 2010

Causal relationships are typically accompanied by probabilistic dependencies — normally when A causes B the former raises or lowers the probability of the latter. Probabilistic theories of causality usually try to characterize or analyse causality in terms of these probabilistic dependencies: they try to provide probabilistic criteria for deciding whether A causes B, and often maintain that causality just is the corresponding pattern of probabilistic relationships. This article provides an introduction to and criticism of such accounts. While it is argued that probabilistic theories are ultimately unsuccessful, work on probabilistic causality has shed a great deal of light on the relationship between causality and probability and hence these theories repay a thorough understanding.
Causal Modelling
Authors: Hitchcock Christopher
Published: January 2010

‘Causal modelling’ is a general term that applies to a wide variety of formal methods for representing, and facilitating inferences about, causal relationships. The end of the twentieth century saw an explosion of work on causal modelling, with contributions from such fields as statistics, computer science, and philosophy; as well as from more subject-specific disciplines such as econometrics and epidemiology. This article focuses on two programmes that have attracted considerable philosophical attention, one due to the computer scientist Judea Pearl and his collaborators, and the other to the philosophers Peter Spirtes, Clark Glymour, and Richard Scheines. It offers a much simplified presentation of causal models that emphasizes various points of philosophical interest.
Platitudes and Counterexamples
Authors: Menzies Peter
Published: January 2010

This article explains the conception of causation as a natural relation in more detail. It outlines some of the features of our use of the causal concept that do not fit with the idea of causation as a natural relation between events. It then outlines the correct explanation of these features, replacing the metaphysical conception of causation with a conception of causation in terms of a contrastive difference-making relation, where the contrasts are determined contextually on the basis of what are often normative considerations.
The Time‐Asymmetry of Causation
Authors: Price Huw , Weslake Brad
Published: January 2010

One of the most striking features of causation is that causes typically precede their effects — the causal arrow seems strongly aligned with the temporal arrow, as it were. Why should this be so? This is the puzzle of the time-asymmetry of causation. This article offers an opinionated guide to this problem, and to the solutions currently on offer.
Effects of Soil Type and Tillage on Protein and Starch Quality in Three Related Wheat Genotypes
Authors: Wilkes Meredith A. , Seung David , Levavasseur Gilles , Trethowan Richard M. , Copeland Les
Published: January 2010

An experiment was conducted using three related wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) genotypes grown on two different soil types (a grey vertosol and a red kandosol) using two different tillage practices (complete and zero) to test the effects of environmental influence on grain quality. Wheat grains from plants grown in each environment were milled into flour; protein and starch were analyzed. The soil type had the biggest impact on both protein and starch content, with the grains from the grey vertosol soil having higher total, insoluble, and soluble protein contents, and lower starch content and flour swelling values. When protein was analyzed using SDS‐PAGE, the major difference observed between grains from the two soil types was an increased intensity of polypeptide bands corresponding to β‐amylase in grains from plants grown on grey vertosol soils.
Frequent hypermethylation and loss of heterozygosity of the testis derived transcript gene in ovarian cancer
Authors: Qiu Haifeng , Zhu Jiezhi , Yuan Cunzhong , Yan Shi , Yang Qifeng , Kong Beihua
Published: January 2010

Testis derived transcript (TES) is a candidate tumor suppressor gene located at the human chromosome 7q31, and its function in ovarian cancer is still unknown. Using ovarian cancer cell lines and tissue samples, we demonstrated that both loss of heterozygosity and hypermethylation of the TES gene occurred in ovarian cancer at high frequencies, and there were significant correlations between TES expression and hypermethylation or loss of heterozygosity. We also detected methylation in ovarian cancer cell line A2780 after treatment with 5‐aza‐2‐deoxycytidine. The expression level of TES was enormously up‐regulated, then caused changes to the biological behaviors of A2780 cells: cell growth properties were greatly impaired, colony formatting abilities were suppressed to very low levels, and the apoptosis rate was highly raised compared to the control group. Our findings suggest that the TES gene functions as a tumor suppressor gene and is frequently silenced by hypermethylation and loss of heterozygosity in ovarian cancers.

(Cancer Sci 2010; 101: 1255–1260)
An in vitro method for the analysis of infection‐related morphogenesis in Fusarium graminearum
Authors: RITTENOUR WILLIAM R. , HARRIS STEVEN D.
Published: January 2010

Fusarium graminearum is a significant pathogen of many cereal crops. With its genetic tractability, ease of culture, genome sequence availability and economic significance, F. graminearum has become the subject of intensive molecular research. Although molecular tools have been developed to enhance research into virulence determinants of F. graminearum, simple assays for infection‐related development are lacking. As such, the objective of this study was to develop an in vitro protocol for the analysis of infection‐related morphogenesis in F. graminearum. We demonstrate that two morphologically distinct hyphal structures are produced by F. graminearum during the invasion of detached wheat glumes: subcuticular hyphae and bulbous infection hyphae. Specialized wheat epidermal cells (papillae) appear to act as sites of invasion by F. graminearum on the adaxial side of detached wheat glumes. In addition, the development of bulbous infection hyphae is dependent on the pathogenicity mitogen‐activated protein kinase Gpmk1, further supporting the infection‐related nature of these structures. This relatively simple assay will contribute to the tractability of the F. graminearum system and help to uncover molecular requirements for infection‐related development.
Acute leukaemias of ambiguous lineage in children: characterization, prognosis and therapy recommendations
Authors: Gerr Heidrun , Zimmermann Martin , Schrappe Martin , Dworzak Michael , Ludwig Wolf‐Dieter , Bradtke Jutta , Moericke Anja , Schabath Richard , Creutzig Ursula , Reinhardt Dirk
Published: January 2010

Acute leukaemias of ambiguous lineage (ALAL) represent a rare type of leukaemia, expressing both myeloid and lymphoid markers. This study retrospectively analyzed data from 92 children (biphenotypic n = 78, bilineal n = 6, lineage switch n = 8) with ALAL registered in the Berlin‐Frankfürt‐Münster (BFM) acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) studies between 1998 and 2006 (2·4% of all cases with acute leukaemia). Our cohort of ALAL patients was characterized by comparatively high median age (8·9 years), high median white blood cell count (14·9 × 109/l), as well as frequent hyperleucocytosis (18·5%) and central nervous system involvement (24·1%). The most frequent cytogenetic abnormalities were ETV6/RUNX1 fusion (16%) and trisomy 8 (14·6%). Complete remission rate was significantly lower than in ALL‐BFM patients (91·8% vs. 99·1%, P < 0·001), but comparable to AML‐BFM patients (87·9%). Event‐free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) of ALAL patients were low, at 62 ± 5%. 5‐year probability of EFS was significantly worse than in ALL patients (80 ± 1%, P < 0·001), but better than for AML patients (49 ± 2%, P = 0·027). Our data suggest that an intensive therapy regimen including stem cell transplantation may be favourable for bilineal or lineage switch cases, whereas patients with ETV6/RUNX1 fusion, lymphoid morphology and patients with expression of cyCD22 and cyCD79a should be treated with an ALL‐directed therapy.
Validation of a qPCR assay for the detection of Ictalurid herpesvirus‐2 (IcHV‐2) in fish tissues and cell culture supernatants
Authors: Goodwin A E , Marecaux E
Published: January 2010

Ictalurid herpesvirus‐2 (IcHV‐2) is a pathogen of cultured black bullhead, Ameiurus melas (Rafinesque), and has been shown to produce high mortality in experimental exposures of channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus (Rafinesque). During acute infections, the virus grows readily in cell cultures but produces a cytopathic effect (CPE) similar to that of Ictalurid herpesvirus‐1 (IcHV‐1) and the channel catfish reovirus. We have developed a quantitative PCR assay that can be used to detect IcHV‐2 in fish tissues and cell culture supernatants. The assay does not amplify other fish herpesviruses tested or host DNA. It is quantitative over a range of eight logs, and the limit of detection is <10 copies per reaction. In replicate assays carried out on different days, the coefficient of variability was 10%. The best organs for the detection of acute IcHV‐2 infections by our assay are the spleen and kidney. This assay should be useful for the diagnosis of IcHV‐2 disease, the identification of syncytial CPEs in cell cultures, and for the detection of latent infections in carrier fish.
Division and cell envelope regulation by Ser/Thr phosphorylation: Mycobacterium shows the way
Authors: Molle Virginie , Kremer Laurent
Published: January 2010

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb) has a complex lifestyle in different environments and involving several developmental stages. The success of M. tb results from its remarkable capacity to survive within the infected host, where it can persist in a non‐replicating state for several decades. The survival strategies developed by M. tb are linked to the presence of an unusual cell envelope. However, little is known regarding its capacity to modulate and adapt production of cell wall components in response to environmental conditions or to changes in cell shape and cell division. Signal sensing leading to cellular responses must be tightly regulated to allow survival under variable conditions. Although prokaryotes generally control their signal transduction processes through two‐component systems, signalling through Ser/Thr phosphorylation has recently emerged as a critical regulatory mechanism in bacteria. The genome of M. tb possesses a large family of eukaryotic‐like Ser/Thr protein kinases (STPKs). The physiological roles of several mycobacterial STPK substrates are connected to cell shape/division and cell envelope biosynthesis. Although these regulatory mechanisms have mostly been studied in Mycobacterium, Ser/Thr phosphorylation appears also to regulate cell division and peptidoglycan synthesis in Corynebacterium and Streptomyces. This review focuses on the proteins which have been identified as STPK substrates and involved in the synthesis of major cell envelope components and cell shape/division in actinomycetes. It is also intended to describe how phosphorylation affects the activity of peptidoglycan biosynthetic enzymes or cell division proteins.
Macrofaunal community structure in the western Indian continental margin including the oxygen minimum zone
Authors: Ingole Baban S. , Sautya Sabyasachi , Sivadas Sanitha , Singh Ravail , Nanajkar Mandar
Published: January 2010

Patterns of macrofaunal distribution were studied along the western Indian continental margin to distinguish the role of habitat heterogeneity in generating and maintaining community structure. A transect perpendicular to the coast at 14°N latitude was selected for seabed sampling. Eight stations were sampled in the depth range 34–2546 m and characterized with respect to macrofaunal composition, abundance, biomass, diversity and feeding type. The sediments in the shelf region (34, 48, 100 m) and upper slope (525 m) were characterized by silty and sandy facies, whereas the mid slope (1001 m), lower slope (1524 m) and basin (2001, 2546 m) consisted of clayey silts. The highest value of sediment chlorophyll‐a (Chl‐a) and total organic carbon (Corg) were recorded from the mid slope areas. Faunal abundance and biomass increased from the shallow to deeper depths in the shelf region, and decreased in the slope region (525–1001 m) due to the reduced bottom‐water oxygen. The community parameters showed an overall increase in both the lower slope and basin areas. A total of 81 macro‐invertebrate species belonging to five major groups represented the macrofauna of the area. Polychaeta was the major group at all depths. Among polychaete families, species of the Spionidae, particularly Prionospio pinnata, predominated at the oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) core and Cossuridae dominated in the lower part of the OMZ in sediments of the mid slope region (1001 m depth). Species diversity was higher in the basin than in the slope region. Fluctuations in diversity appear to be partly due to the bottom‐water dissolved oxygen (DO) gradient which includes values that are below the oxygen tolerance of many benthic species. Further, Margalef’s index (d) and Shannon–Wiener index (H′) showed a significant negative (P < 0.01) relationship between sediment Chl‐a and Corg, suggesting food availability as a critical factor in species dominance. Results of multivariate analyses suggest that for continental margin fauna, different physiographic provinces and an oxygen gradient have a higher influence on the species composition and diversity than other oceanographic conditions.
Mental health impact for adolescents living with prolonged drought
Authors: Dean John G. , Stain Helen J.
Published: January 2010

Background:  A 2004 study showed adolescents living in rural Australia were aware of the impact of drought on self, family and community, but did not report levels of emotional distress higher than adolescents of similar age and gender in the Australian community. It was proposed that the rural lifestyle had helped adolescents build resilience for managing this environmental adversity.

Objective:  To re sample adolescents from the same rural area and determine if this resilience remained after ongoing drought three years later.

Design:  A mixed methods approach using focus groups and a self‐report questionnaire.

Setting:  Government Central Schools within the Riverina region of New South Wales.

Participants:  Male and female adolescents (n = 111) aged 11–17 years completed the self‐report questionnaires, while some adolescents (n = 61) within this group also participated in focus groups.

Main outcome measure:  The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and a Drought and Community Survey for Children comprised the self‐report survey.

Results:  Adolescents reported significantly higher levels of emotional distress than those in the previous study (t (191) = 2.80, P < 0.01) and 12% of adolescents scored in the clinical caseness range. Thematic analysis showed consistency with the previous study as well as new themes of grief, loss and the impacts of global climate change.

Conclusions:  Results indicate a reporting of lesser well‐being than was reported by a comparable group of young people four years earlier. A preventative intervention with a focus on family and community is recommended to address the mental health of adolescents enduring a chronic environmental adversity such as drought.
Systematic review of statins for the prevention of vascular dementia or dementia
Authors: Muangpaisan Weerasak , Brayne Carol ,   the Alzheimer's Society Vascular Dementia Systematic Review Group
Published: January 2010

Aim:  Non‐hypolipidemic effects of statins, known as pleiotropic effects, are likely to explain the effect of statins on dementia. Results of the relationship between statins and dementia in previous studies are conflicting. There is no systematic review investigating the effect of statins on vascular dementia (VaD). This systematic review evaluates the role of statins in the prevention of VaD or dementia. The possible causes of conflicting results in the existing published work will be explored.

Methods:  Relevant studies were systematically identified and reviewed. The Cochrane Controlled Trials and three electronic databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE and PsycInfo) were searched. The selection criteria were defined a priori. Included studies were rated by quality assessment checklists and two independent reviewers.

Results:  Six studies in dementia, two studies in VaD (one study reported both dementia and VaD) and two meta‐analyses met the selection criteria. The studies covered 1372 cases of dementia from 14 430 participants and 116 cases of VaD from 4924 participants from the USA and UK. There was no association between statin use and risk of VaD. The protective effect of statins on dementia was demonstrated only in a nested case–control study of lower quality and one recently published cohort study. In most other cohort and high quality studies, statin use did not show a beneficial effect.

Conclusion:  Study design differences among the studies and methodological shortcomings may have resulted in different outcomes. On the basis of these conflicting results, statins could not be recommended as a preventative treatment for dementia.
A generalized frequency separation–strain energy damage function model for low cycle fatigue–creep life prediction
Authors: ZHU S.‐P. , HUANG H.‐Z.
Published: January 2010

Fatigue–creep interaction is a key factor for the failures of many engineering components and structures under high temperature and cyclic loading. These fatigue–creep life prediction issues are significant in selection, design and safety assessments of those components. Based on the frequency‐modified Manson–Coffin equation and Ostergren's model, a new model for high temperature low cycle fatigue (HTLCF), a generalized frequency separation–strain energy damage function model is developed. The approach used in this model to reflect the effects of time‐dependent damaging mechanisms on HTLCF life is different from those used in all the earlier models. A new strain energy damage function is used to reduce the difference between the approximate strain energy and real strain energy absorbed during the damage process. This proposed model can describe the effects of different time‐dependent damaging mechanisms on HTLCF life more accurately than others. Comparing traditional frequency separation technique (FS) and strain energy frequency‐modified approach (SEFS), the proposed model is widely applicable and more precise in predicting the life of fatigue–creep interaction. Experimental data from existing literature are used to demonstrate the feasibility and applicability of the proposed model. A good agreement is found between the predicted results and experimental data.
Long‐term anatomical and functional results of laparoscopic promontofixation for pelvic organ prolapse
Authors: Sabbagh Robert , Mandron Éric , Piussan Jean , Brychaert Pierre E. , Tu Le Mai
Published: January 2010

Study Type – Therapy (case series) Level of Evidence 4

OBJECTIVE

To assess the long‐term anatomical and functional outcomes of laparoscopic promontofixation (LP) for pelvic organ prolapse (POP), and the long‐term safety of LP, as POP is a common problem in women of all ages, with treatment including vaginal, abdominal, laparoscopic or robot‐assisted surgical approaches.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

This was a retrospective study of the first consecutive 186 women who underwent LP for POP, with or without stress urinary incontinence (SUI), from January 1998 to December 2002 in one centre. Those patients with concurrent SUI had LP with a Burch colposuspension or tension‐free vaginal tape (TVT). The recurrence rate of POP was evaluated by physical examination at follow‐up visits and by the patients, using a postal, unvalidated self‐applied questionnaire (SAQ). Patients’ urinary, sexual and digestive functions, overall satisfaction about surgery and quality of life, were evaluated with SAQ.

RESULTS

All 186 patients had LP, with concomitant Burch (25) or TVT (100) procedures. The median (interquartile range) follow‐up was 60 (48–71) months. In all, 71% of the patients attended their follow‐up visits and the success rate was 92.4%. Eight patients were re‐operated because of recurrent POP. The SAQ response rate was 95%; 91.1% and 79.8% of responders were satisfied or very satisfied after their surgery, and with their quality of life, respectively; women were unsatisfied or very unsatisfied because of recurrence of POP (seven), urinary symptoms (five) or constipation (two). Patients complained of recurrent POP (10.8%), persistent or recurrent UI (27.3% of the women treated with Burch and 21.1% with TVT), and transient constipation (20%). Over half of the women (50.6%) were not sexually active and 5.4% developed dyspareunia. The long‐term complication rate was 6%; there were five vaginal mesh erosions.

CONCLUSION

POP treated with LP offers excellent long‐term results with low recurrence and morbidity rates, and a good quality of life.
HOW DOES GLOBALIZATION AFFECT INDUSTRIAL COMPETITIVENESS?
Authors: ZHANG KEVIN HONGLIN
Published: January 2010

Industrial competitiveness (IC), reflecting a country's ability to produce and export manufactures competitively, is closely associated with economic growth. How does globalization affect IC? While the topic is of great importance, empirical studies on the issue in the literature have been limited. This article attempts to close the gap by estimating the role of foreign direct investment (FDI) and international trade with cross‐country data in 1985 and 1998. Taking advantage of a recently constructed IC index, we estimate several regression models of effects of FDI and trade on industrial performance. Results suggest that FDI and trade have a positive impact on IC, and increasing integration with the world economy through FDI and trade contributes to better industrial performance. (JEL F02, F10, F21, L60)
Embodying Nationhood? Conceptions of British National Identity, Citizenship, and Gender in the ‘Veil Affair’
Authors: Meer Nasar , Dwyer Claire , Modood Tariq
Published: January 2010

This article reports on a study of mediatised public discourses on nationhood, citizenship, and gender in Britain, and analyses the ways in which these accounts may be utilised in the cultivation of particular kinds of social identities. We distinguish our approach at the outset from other lines of inquiry to report on a macro level exploration of an event in which these value discourses were operative, namely the national the press reaction to the former Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw's 2006 comments on the Muslim face-veil or niqab. The article traces and analyses the interactions and intersections of completing but overlapping accounts of nationhood, citizenship, and characterisations of the role of Muslim women. It identifies interdependent clusters of responses that illustrate the ways in which the niqab is a ‘contested signifier’ in contemporary social and political life, and the ways in which nationhood, citizenship, and gender feature prominently in its signification.
Home and Away: Chinese Migrant Workers between Two Worlds
Authors: Myerson Rebecca , Hou Yubo , Tang Huizhen , Cheng Ying , Wang Yan , Ye Zhuxuan
Published: January 2010

The Chinese communist party dissolved powerful local clans into modular individuals loyal to the central state and easily mobilized for government projects. Now migrants must redefine home and family for an era where government safety nets are no longer reliable and mobility yields economic returns. We discuss female migrant factory worker's attitudes towards home and traditional and modern values and implications for themselves and family who remain behind. Methods: We surveyed 1,017 rural female migrants in Guangdong factories. Measures included the General Health Questionnaire 20 and the Chinese Individual Traditional and Modern Values Scale, as well as other relevant attitudes. Results: Participants supported filial piety but rejected other aspects of traditional society, instead emphasizing values such as personal ability that contribute to success in modern society. These value judgments did not vary with duration of residence in the city. Participants did not sever ties with home or assimilate into urban culture. A case study illustrates contradictions involved in combining mobility, individualism and devotion to distant family. Conclusion: Rural migrants unable to change their legal place of residence maintain psychological and economic ties with their former homes even if they plan not to return.
Social Stratification and Cultures Hierarchy among the Omnivores: Evidence from the Arts Council England Surveys
Authors: Tampubolon Gindo
Published: January 2010

By analysing the Arts Council England survey of 13,300 respondents in 2001–2004 I take snapshots of the space of cultural consumption and map its social stratification. Mirroring a redrawn image of Americans' cultural consumption in the early 1990s, the emergent image in the UK exhibits evidence of division within the omnivores. The image and division raise questions about the omnivore-univore thesis and existing literature on cultural consumption. The findings also show that contrary to some recent studies, cultural consumption continues to be structured by social class. Most intriguing, however, is the result that culture is seen by avid cultural omnivores to be hierarchical. The received understanding of omnivores as tolerant and possessing inclusive tastes across culture hierarchy (consuming high, middle and low brow cultures), therefore, diverges from evidence of both division within and culture hierarchy perceived by the omnivores. The apparent divergence can be resolved by acknowledging that the concept of omnivores as those whose tastes are inclusive pre-supposes and guarantees the existence of culture hierarchy.
Genetic and environmental influences on victims, bullies and bully‐victims in childhood
Authors: Ball Harriet A. , Arseneault Louise , Taylor Alan , Maughan Barbara , Caspi Avshalom , Moffitt Terrie E.
Published: January 2010

Background:  Three groups of children are involved in bullying: victims, bullies and bully‐victims who are both bullies and victims of bullying. Understanding the origins of these groups is important since they have elevated emotional and behavioural problems, especially the bully‐victims. No research has examined the genetic and environmental influences on these social roles.

Method:  Mother and teacher reports of victimisation and bullying were collected in a nationally representative cohort of 1,116 families with 10‐year‐old twins. Model‐fitting was used to examine the relative influence of genetics and environments on the liability to be a victim, a bully or a bully‐victim.

Results:  Twelve percent of children were severely bullied as victims, 13% were frequent bullies, and 2.5% were heavily involved as bully‐victims. Genetic factors accounted for 73% of the variation in victimisation and 61% of the variation in bullying, with the remainder explained by environmental factors not shared between the twins. The covariation between victim and bully roles (r = .25), which characterises bully‐victims, was accounted for by genetic factors only. Some genetic factors influenced both victimisation and bullying, although there were also genetic factors specific to each social role.

Conclusions:  Children's genetic endowments, as well as their surrounding environments, influence which children become victims, bullies and bully‐victims. Future research identifying mediating characteristics that link the genetic and environmental influences to these social roles could provide targets for intervention.
Intact inner speech use in autism spectrum disorder: evidence from a short‐term memory task
Authors: Williams David , Happé Francesca , Jarrold Christopher
Published: January 2010

Background:  Inner speech has been linked to higher‐order cognitive processes including ‘theory of mind’, self‐awareness and executive functioning, all of which are impaired in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Individuals with ASD, themselves, report a propensity for visual rather than verbal modes of thinking. This study explored the extent to which children with ASD used inner speech or visual imagery to support recall from short‐term memory.

Method:  Twenty‐five children with ASD and 20 comparison children with moderate learning disabilities completed an immediate serial recall task, in which stimuli consisted of items with either phonologically similar features, visuo‐spatially similar features or control items which were neither visuo‐spatially nor phonologically similar.

Results:  ASD and comparison participants, with verbal mental ages above 7 years, recalled phonologically similar stimuli less well than control stimuli, indicating that both groups were using inner speech to recode visually presented information into a phonological code. In contrast, those participants with verbal mental ages below 7 years, whether with ASD or not, recalled visuo‐spatially similar stimuli less well than control stimuli, indicating visual rather than phonological coding. This developmental pattern mirrors that found in typically developing children.

Conclusions:  Under experimental conditions, individuals with ASD use inner speech to the same extent as individuals without ASD of a comparable mental age.
The NR1 subunit of NMDA receptor regulates monocyte transmigration through the brain endothelial cell barrier
Authors: Reijerkerk Arie , Kooij Gijs , Van Der Pol Susanne M. A. , Leyen Thomas , Lakeman Kim , Van Het Hof Bert , Vivien Denis , De Vries Helga E.
Published: January 2010

J. Neurochem.(2010)113, 447–453.

Normal neuronal functioning is dependent on the blood‐brain barrier. This barrier is confined to specialized brain endothelial cells lining the inner vessel wall, and tightly controlling transport of nutrients, efflux of potentially harmful molecules and entry of immune cells into the brain. Loss of blood‐brain barrier function is an early and significant event which contributes to inflammation in the brain and subsequent progression of neuronal deficits in a number of brain disorders and has been well‐documented for the auto‐immune disease multiple sclerosis. Extravasation of cells happens by paracellular transport across the endothelial junctions, transcellularly across the endothelial cells, or both, and requires the active participation of endothelial cells. We and others have shown that this process requires the activity of proteases, including tissue‐type plasminogen activator. We here describe a novel role for NMDA receptor, a potential cellular target of tissue‐type plasminogen activator, in human brain endothelial cells. Our results show that the NMDA receptor subunit 1 (NR1) is expressed in brain endothelial cells, regulates tissue‐type plasminogen activator‐induced signal transduction and controls the passage of monocytes through the brain endothelial cell barrier. Together, our results hold significant promise for the treatment of chronic inflammation in the brain.
Using scale–area curves to quantify the distribution, abundance and range expansion potential of an invasive species
Authors: Veldtman Ruan , Chown Steven L. , McGeoch Melodie A.
Published: January 2010

Aim Invasive species distribution and abundance data are essential for management decisions on mitigating impacts but is seldom available. Here, we use scale–area curves to assess the distribution, abundance and consequent management implications of an invasive plant (Acacia longifolia) within selected occupancy grid cells, spread across regional ranges and representing the full national extent. We determine whether occupancy patterns are explained by climatic suitability or range structure and identify areas whereA. longifoliacan still be regarded as an important invasive based on contiguous occupancy.

Location South Africa including the Fynbos, Thicket, Savanna and Grassland biomes.

Methods The quarter degree occupancy ofA. longifoliawas used to select core, edge, and climatically unsuitable grid cells within different regions of the national range. Cells were surveyed across a linear resolution from 25 km to 2.5 m allowing the first multi‐scales description of an invasive species’ space‐filling properties. Patterns from grid cells in turn were viewed regionally to describe regional variation in spatial structure.

Results In regions with contiguous areas of favourable habitat, scale–area curves indicated greater occupancy in core than edge areas, whereas patterns were reversed when suitable areas were more fragmented. Also, at times climatically suitable areas were unoccupied, while unsuitable areas were occupied. Within cells, occupancy was well explained by the presence of fynbos vegetation types, while nationally, contiguous occupancy was almost exclusive to the Fynbos Biome.

Main conclusions Scale–area curves can advance the understanding of biological invasions and invasive plant distributions. Here, we detected potential areas of invasive concern, plus differences in abundance and distribution patterns, and associated correlates, at landscape and national scales. As there was no general relationship between range position or climatic suitability andA. longifolia’s spatial structure, we propose habitat suitability as an alternative explanation which, in turn, suggests limited range expansion potential.
Reducing QT liability and proarrhythmic risk in drug discovery and development
Authors: Valentin Jean‐Pierre
Published: January 2010

Drug‐induced torsades de pointes (TdP), a rare, life‐threatening, polymorphic, ventricular tachycardia associated with prolongation of the QT interval, has been the main safety reason for the withdrawal of medicines from clinical use over the last decade. Most often, drugs that prolong the action potential and delay ventricular repolarization do so through blockade of outward (repolarizing) currents, predominantly the rapid delayed rectifying potassium current, IKr. While QT interval prolongation is not a safety concern per se, in a small percentage of people, it has been associated with TdP, which either spontaneously terminates or degenerates into ventricular fibrillation. Furthermore, recent data suggest that shortening of the QT interval may also be a new safety issue waiting to surface. This review article summarizes the presentations given at a symposium entitled ‘Reducing QT liability and proarrhythmic risk in drug discovery and development’, which was part of the Federation of the European Pharmacological Societies congress, Manchester, UK, 13–17 July 2008. The objective of this symposium was to assess the effects of implementing the latest regulatory guidance documents (International Conference on Harmonization S7A/B and E14), as well as new scientific and technical trends on the ability of the pharmaceutical industry to reduce and manage the QT liability and associated potential proarrhythmic risk, and contribute to the discovery and development of safer medicines. This review outlines the key messages from communications presented at this symposium and attempts to highlight some of the key challenges that remain to be addressed.

This article is part of a themed section on QT safety. To view this issue visit http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/121548564/issueyear?year=2010