bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
microRNA expression in the prefrontal cortex of individuals with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder
Authors: Perkins Diana O , Jeffries Clark D , Jarskog L Fredrik , Thomson J Michael , Woods Keith , Newman Martin A , Parker Joel S , Jin Jianping , Hammond Scott M
Published: February 2007

Background

microRNAs (miRNAs) are small, noncoding RNA molecules that are now thought to regulate the expression of many mRNAs. They have been implicated in the etiology of a variety of complex diseases, including Tourette's syndrome, Fragile × syndrome, and several types of cancer.

Results

We hypothesized that schizophrenia might be associated with altered miRNA profiles. To investigate this possibility we compared the expression of 264 human miRNAs from postmortem prefrontal cortex tissue of individuals with schizophrenia (n = 13) or schizoaffective disorder (n = 2) to tissue of 21 psychiatrically unaffected individuals using a custom miRNA microarray. Allowing a 5% false discovery rate, we found that 16 miRNAs were differentially expressed in prefrontal cortex of patient subjects, with 15 expressed at lower levels (fold change 0.63 to 0.89) and 1 at a higher level (fold change 1.77) than in the psychiatrically unaffected comparison subjects. The expression levels of 12 selected miRNAs were also determined by quantitative RT-PCR in our lab. For the eight miRNAs distinguished by being expressed at lower microarray levels in schizophrenia samples versus comparison samples, seven were also expressed at lower levels with quantitative RT-PCR.

Conclusion

This study is the first to find altered miRNA profiles in postmortem prefrontal cortex from schizophrenia patients.
A genome-wide transcriptional activity survey of rice transposable element-related genes
Authors: Jiao Yuling , Deng Xing Wang
Published: February 2007

Background

Transposable element (TE)-related genes comprise a significant portion of the gene catalog of grasses, although their functions are insufficiently characterized. The recent availability of TE-related gene annotation from the complete genome sequence of rice (Oryza sativa) has created an opportunity to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the transcriptional activities of these potentially mobile elements and their related genes.

Results

We conducted a genome-wide survey of the transcriptional activity of TE-related genes associated with 15 developmental stages and stress conditions. This dataset was obtained using a microarray encompassing 2,191 unique TE-related rice genes, which were represented by oligonucleotide probes that were free from cross-hybridization. We found that TE-related genes exhibit much lower transcriptional activities than do non-TE-related genes, although representative transcripts were detected from all superfamilies of both type I and II TE-related genes. The strongest transcriptional activities were detected in TE-related genes from among the MULE and CACTA superfamilies. Phylogenetic analyses suggest that domesticated TE-related genes tend to form clades with active transcription. In addition, chromatin-level regulations through histone and DNA modifications, as well as enrichment of certain cis elements in the promoters, appear to contribute to the transcriptional activation of representative TE-related genes.

Conclusion

Our findings reveal clear, albeit low, general transcription of TE-related genes. In combination with phylogenetic analysis, transcriptional analysis has the potential to lead to the identification of domesticated TEs with adapted host functions.
Low Levels of Circulating Invariant Natural Killer T Cells Predict Poor Clinical Outcome in Patients With Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Authors: Molling Johan W. , Langius Jacqueline A.E. , Langendijk Johannes A. , Leemans C. René , Bontkes Hetty J. , van der Vliet Hans J.J. , von Blomberg B. Mary E. , Scheper Rik J. , van den Eertwegh Alfons J.M.
Published: February 2007

Purpose

Evading antitumor immune responses is an important aspect of the pathogenesis of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Invariant CD1d-restricted natural killer T (iNKT) cells play an allegedly pivotal role in such responses via transactivation of immune effector cells. It has been reported that iNKT cells are reduced in peripheral blood of cancer patients compared with healthy controls. Here, we investigated whether the extent of this deficiency affected disease outcome in HNSCC patients.

Patients and Methods

In a prospective study, circulating iNKT cell numbers were evaluated in 47 patients before radiotherapy. Patients were stratified in three groups based on iNKT cell levels, and clinical data were obtained during a median follow-up period of 31 months.

Results

A small, compared with an intermediate or large, circulating iNKT cell fraction was significantly associated with decreased 3-year overall survival rate (39% v 75% and 92%, respectively), disease-specific survival rate (43% v 87% and 92%, respectively), and locoregional control rate (31% v 74% and 92%, respectively) in HNSCC patients. Cox regression revealed that the iNKT cell level, as well as clinical T stage, was an independent prognostic parameter even after correction for the confounding effect of age.

Conclusion

A severe circulating iNKT cell deficiency was related to poor clinical outcome in HNSCC patients, suggesting their critical contribution to antitumor immune responses. Furthermore, screening for iNKT cell levels may be useful for determining which patients can benefit from immunotherapeutic adjuvant therapies aimed at reconstitution of the circulating iNKT cell pool.
Favorable Outcome for Adolescents With Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Treated on Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Consortium Protocols
Authors: Barry Elly , DeAngelo Daniel J. , Neuberg Donna , Stevenson Kristen , Loh Mignon L. , Asselin Barbara L. , Barr Ronald D. , Clavell Luis A. , Hurwitz Craig A. , Moghrabi Albert , Samson Yvan , Schorin Marshall , Cohen Harvey J. , Sallan Stephen E. , Silverman Lewis B.
Published: February 2007

Purpose

Historically, adolescents with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) have had inferior outcomes when compared with younger children. We report the outcome of adolescents treated on Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI; Boston, MA) ALL Consortium Protocols conducted between 1991 and 2000.

Patients and Methods

A total of 844 patients aged 1 to 18 years, with newly diagnosed ALL were enrolled onto two consecutive DFCI-ALL Consortium Protocols. We compared outcomes in three age groups: children aged 1 to 10 years (n = 685), young adolescents aged 10 to 15 years (n = 108), and older adolescents aged 15 to 18 years (n = 51).

Results

With a median follow-up of 6.5 years, the 5-year event-free survival (EFS) for those aged 1 to 10 years was 85% (SE, 1%), compared with 77% (SE, 4%) for those aged 10 to 15 years, and 78% (SE, 6%) for those aged 15 to 18 years (P = .09). Adolescents were more likely to present with T-cell phenotype (P < .001) and less likely to have the TEL-AML1 fusion (P = .05). The incidence of pancreatitis and thromboembolic complications, but not asparaginase allergy, was higher in patients ≥ 10 years of age compared with those younger than 10 years. However, there was no difference in the rate of treatment-related complications between the 10- to 15-year and 15- to 18-year age groups.

Conclusion

Adolescents were more likely to present at diagnosis with biologically higher risk disease (T-cell phenotype and absence of the TEL-AML1 fusion) and more likely to experience treatment-related complications than younger children. However, the 5-year EFS for older adolescents was 78% ± 6%, which is superior to published outcomes for similarly aged patients treated with other pediatric and adult ALL regimens. Based on this experience, we currently are piloting our regimen in patients aged 18 to 50 years.
Immunohistochemical Prognostic Markers in Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma: Validation of Tissue Microarray As a Prerequisite for Broad Clinical Applications—A Study From the Lunenburg Lymphoma Biomarker Consortium
Authors: de Jong Daphne , Rosenwald Andreas , Chhanabhai Mukesh , Gaulard Philippe , Klapper Wolfram , Lee Abigail , Sander Birgitta , Thorns Christoph , Campo Elias , Molina Thierry , Norton Andrew , Hagenbeek Anton , Horning Sandra , Lister Andrew , Raemaekers John , Gascoyne Randy D. , Salles Gilles , Weller Edie
Published: February 2007

Purpose

The results of immunohistochemical class prediction and prognostic stratification of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) have been remarkably various thus far. Apart from biologic variations, this may be caused by differences in laboratory techniques, scoring definitions, and inter- and intraobserver variations. In this study, an international collaboration of clinical lymphoma research groups from Europe, United States, and Canada concentrated on validation and standardization of immunohistochemistry of the currently potentially interesting prognostic markers in DLBCL.

Patients and Methods

Sections of a tissue microarray from 36 patients with DLBCL were stained in eight laboratories with antibodies to CD20, CD5, bcl-2, bcl-6, CD10, HLA-DR, MUM1, and MIB-1 according to local methods. The study was performed in two rounds firstly focused on the evaluation of laboratory staining variation and secondly on the scoring variation.

Results

Different laboratory staining techniques resulted in unexpectedly highly variable results and very poor reproducibility in scoring for almost all markers. No single laboratory stood out as uniformly poor or excellent. With elimination of variation due to staining, high agreement was found for CD20, HLA-DR, and CD10. Poor agreement was found for bcl-6 and Ki-67. Optimization of techniques and uniformly agreed on scoring criteria improved reproducibility.

Conclusion

This study shows that semiquantitative immunohistochemistry for subclassification of DLBCL is feasible and reproducible, but exhibits varying rates of concordance for different markers. These findings may explain the wide variation of biomarker prognostic impact reported in the literature. Harmonization of techniques and centralized consensus review appears mandatory when using immunohistochemical biomarkers for treatment stratification.
General surgical training in the Netherlands
Authors: Veldkamp J
Published: February 2007

Miss Veldkamp has the advantage of having trained in both British and Dutch hospitals. Entry into Dutch surgical training is as hard as the Modernising Medical Careers (MMC) hurdles: in the former case it is gained by research degree and publication or as a 'noticeable' SHO. Overall, the level of competence achieved by the Dutch scheme would appear to be a little behind that of our own training, although that may well change following MMC. On completion of training a number of Dutch trainees take up a fellowship post before assuming independent practice…shades of the future in the UK? In such a sophisticated country as the Netherlands it is an anomaly for general surgeons to continue to manage orthopaedic trauma. Yet again, another EU country appears to have cocked a snook at European Working Time Directive.
The effect of the EWTD on training in general surgery: an analysis of electronic logbook records
Authors: Bates T , Cecil E , Greene I
Published: February 2007

The introduction of time-limited surgical training in the UK in 1994 following the Calman report raised concerns over the hands-on experience of trainees, heightened by the hours reduction demanded by the New Deal. From 1994, junior doctors' on-duty hours of work for hard-pressed posts were targeted to a limit of 56 hours but SpRs were allowed a voluntary extension from 73 on-duty hours to a maximum of 83 hours per week. By 1995 concern was being expressed at the reduction in training time and continuity of patient care and although calls for more targeted training were made, evidence of a negative impact on training has continued to surface.
BAOMS: bridging dentistry and medicine
Authors: Towell Elaine
Published: February 2007

The outgoing president of the British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (BAOMS) reflected in a recent newsletter on the impact of Modernising Medical Careers (MMC) and hoped that the upheaval in training has at least created an atmosphere that would allow the association's concerns to be listened to.
Bringing the dental team together
Authors: O'Malley Dave
Published: February 2007

The FGDP(UK) has long recognised that it is not sufficient only to provide continuing education for dentists, but that modern dentistry requires continued learning for the whole dental team to provide the best standard of patient care. To this end, in 2004 the Faculty launched Team in Practice (TiP), a quarterly educational journal for dental care professionals (DCPs). Its aim is to provide team training and continuing professional development (CPD) for DCPs, and this April marks its third anniversary.
Relationship between Gestational Diabetes Mellitus and Type 2 Diabetes: Evidence of Mitochondrial Dysfunction
Authors: Weijers Rob NM , Bekedam Dick J
Published: February 2007

Background: We examined the pathogenesis of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in a large Dutch multiethnic cohort.

Methods: We used a 2-step testing procedure to stratify 2031 consecutive pregnant women into 4 groups according to American Diabetes Association criteria: (a) normal glucose tolerance (NGT), (b) mild gestational hyperglycemia (MGH), (c) GDM without early postpartum diabetes within 6 months of delivery (GDM1), and (d) GDM with early postpartum diabetes (GDM2). Antepartum and postpartum clinical characteristics and measures of glucose tolerance were documented.

Results: Overall, 1627 women had NGT, 237 had MGH, 156 had GDM1, and 11 had GDM2. Prepregnancy body mass index values progressively increased from NGT to MGH to GDM1. The fasting plasma glucose concentration, the 100-g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) area under the curve, and the mean glucose concentration during the OGTT all increased progressively among the 4 groups. The fasting C-peptide concentration displayed an inverted-U pattern, with a maximum at a mean plasma glucose concentration during the OGTT of 9.6 mmol/L in the transition from GDM1 to GDM2. The fasting C-peptide/glucose concentration ratio decreased by 42% in GDM patients compared with NGT patients, whereas the ratios in MGH and NGT women were similar.

Conclusions: Progressive metabolic derangement of glucose tolerance 1st detected during pregnancy mimics the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes. In addition, our results imply an impaired basal glucose effectiveness in the early prediabetic state. To explain the parallel in both metabolic derangements, we postulate that GDM, like type 2 diabetes, is attributable to the same inherited mitochondrial dysfunction.
A Longitudinal Genetic Study of Plasma Lipids in Adolescent Twins
Authors: Middelberg Rita P. S. , Martin Nicholas G. , Whitfield John B.
Published: February 2007

Plasma lipids such as high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), total cholesterol and triglyceride levels contribute to variation in the risk of cardiovascular disease. The early stages of atherosclerosis in childhood have also been associated with changes in triglycerides, LDL and HDL. Heritability estimates for lipids and lipoproteins for adolescents are in the range .71 to .82, but little is known about changes of genetic and environmental influences over time in adolescence. We have investigated the contribution of genetic and environmental influences to variation in lipids in adolescent twins and their nontwin siblings using longitudinal twin and family data. Plasma HDL and LDL cholesterol, total cholesterol and triglycerides data from 965 twin pairs at 12, 14 and 16 years of age and their siblings have been analyzed. Longitudinal genetic models that included effects of age, sex and their interaction were fitted to assess whether the same or different genes influence each trait at different ages. Results suggested that more than one genetic factor influences HDL, LDL, total cholesterol and triglycerides over time at ages 12, 14 and 16 years. There was no evidence of shared environmental effects except for HDL and little evidence of long-term nonshared environmental effects was found. Our study suggested that there are developmental changes in the genes affecting plasma lipid concentrations across adolescence.
The Role of Gene–Environment Interaction in Determining Bone Mineral Density in a Twin Population
Authors: Naganathan Vasi , MacGregor Alexander J. , Sambrook Philip N.
Published: February 2007

The possibility that specific environmental factors such as smoking and estrogen use modify the genetic influences (gene–environment interaction) on bone mineral density (BMD) has not been explored in genetic epidemiological studies such as twin studies. The aim of this study was to look for evidence of gene–environment interaction in BMD determination by analyzing data collected on a large number of healthy female twins. BMD of the hip, distal forearm and lumbar spine were measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry on 287 identical and 265 nonidentical volunteer female twin pairs. The environmental factors examined were hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and smoking. In genetic modeling analysis using path analysis, there was evidence of ‘HRT-specific’ genetic component of BMD variance at the forearm (50% of total variance) but not at the hip. At the lumbar spine the magnitude of the genetic component of variance in HRT users (> 60-month HRT use) was less than the genetic component of variance for little or no exposure to HRT (48% vs. 84%). There was no evidence of gene–environment interaction for smoking. The main evidence for gene–environment interaction was the finding that forearm BMD variance was influenced by a significant HRT-specific genetic component. There was also evidence that in HRT users, the genetic component of total variance for lumbar BMD was lower.
Prenatal Sonographic Prediction of Twin Growth Discordance
Authors: Machado Rita C. A. , Brizot Maria L. , Liao Adolfo W. , Cabar Fábio R. , Zugaib Marcelo
Published: February 2007

Our aim was to evaluate the ability of prenatal ultrasound scans to predict fetal growth discordance, and to examine the correlation between fetal weight estimated by ultrasound with actual birthweight in twin pregnancies. The study consisted of 221 twin pregnancies with ultrasound fetal weight estimates based on Hadlock's 4 parameter formula. Prediction of intertwin birthweight discordance was examined at 4 different intervals between ultrasound examination and delivery (0–7 days, n = 96; 8–14 days, n = 66; 15–21 days, n = 58; 22–28 days, n = 59 pregnancies), with a total of 279 ultrasound examinations. Birthweight discordance was considered as a difference of 20% or greater. The correlation between fetal weight estimated between 0 and 7 days and actual birthweight was calculated by intraclass correlation coefficient. The predictive values for intertwin discordance of 20% or more in the 0 to 7 days group were: sensitivity = 93.6%, specificity = 79.4%, positive predictive value = 89.2%, negative predictive value = 87.1% and accuracy = 88.6%. In the groups with scans carried out between 8 and 14 days, 15 and 21 days, and 22 and 28 days, the sensitivity and accuracy values were 95.8% and 84.9%, 95.6% and 84.5%, 90.9% and 84.8%, respectively. Fetal growth discordance in twins can be accurately predicted by ultrasound examination performed up to 28 days before birth. There is a good correlation between fetal weight estimated between 0 and 7 days and actual birthweight.
Early Onset Problem Behavior, Young Adult Psychopathology, and Contextual Risk
Authors: Keyes Margaret A. , Iacono William G. , McGue Matt
Published: February 2007

A prospective study of 692 male twins was undertaken to investigate the relationships among early adolescent problem behavior, contextual risk, and disinhibitory psychopathology. Early adolescent problem behavior was assessed by the number of the following behaviors engaged in by the time of the age-14 assessment: (1) tobacco use, (2) alcohol use, (3) marijuana use, (4) other illicit drug use, (5) sexual intercourse, and (6) police contact. Contextual risk was assessed as a composite of measures of peer models, parent-offspring conflict, and academic engagement from the age-14 assessment. Disinhibitory psychopathology was assessed by symptoms of nicotine dependence, alcohol dependence, drug dependence, and adult antisocial behavior at the age-18 assessment. Early adolescent problem behavior and contextual risk were strongly correlated (r = .53) and both were strongly and independently associated with symptoms of disinhibitory psychopathology (r from .35 to .60). The association of early adolescent problem behavior with both contextual risk and disinhibitory psychopathology was mediated entirely by genetic factors while the association between contextual risk and disinhibitory psychopathology was mediated by both genetic and nonshared environmental factors. The results are discussed in the context of emerging research on the prognostic significance of early adolescent problem behavior for risk of adult psychopathology.
Book Review
Authors: Dwyer Leslie
Published: February 2007

Civil Islam: Muslims and Democratization in Indonesia. Robert W. Hefner. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000. xxiv +286pp., notes, index.
Book Review
Authors: Tamanoi Mariko
Published: February 2007

Working out in Japan: Shaping the Female Body in Tokyo Fitness Clubs. Laura Spielvogel. Durham NC: Duke University Press, 2003. xii + 250pp., photographs, notes, bibliography, index.
Book Reviews
Authors: Costa Kelli Ann
Published: February 2007

Being Elsewhere: Tourism, Consumer Culture, and Identity in Modern Europe and North America. Shelley Baranowski and Ellen Furlough, eds. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 200l. vii + 382pp., photographs, endnotes, contributors, index
Book Reviews
Authors: Dannhaeuser Norbert
Published: February 2007

Barons, Brokers, and Buyers: The Institutions and Cultures of Phillipine Sugar. Michael S. Billig. University of Hawai'i Press, 2003. xiv + 320pp., map, glossary, notes, references, index.
Book Reviews
Authors: Erlmann Veit
Published: February 2007

Sound of Africa!: Making Music Zulu in. South African Studio. Louise Meintjes. Durham: Duke University Press, 2003. xv + 335pp., photographs, transcriptions, notes, glossary, bibliography, discography, index
Book Reviews
Authors: Guillet David
Published: February 2007

Lines in the Water: Nature and Culture at Lake Titicaca. Ben Orlove. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002. xxvii + 287pp., maps, illustrations, notes, index
Book Reviews
Authors: Chibnik Michael
Published: February 2007

New Jersey Dreaming: Capital, Culture, and the Class of '58. Sherry B. Ortner. Duke University Press, 2003. xvi + 349pp., map, tables, notes, references, index
Book Reviews
Authors: Rovine Victoria L.
Published: February 2007

The Global Circulation of African Fashion. Leslie W. Rabine. New York: Berg, 2002. xii + 2l2pp., photographs glossary, references, index.
Book Reviews
Authors: Levine Nancy E.
Published: February 2007

Edmund Leach: An Anthropological Life. Stanley J. Tambiah. Cambridge University Press, 2002. xvii + 517pp., photographs, illustrations, bibliography, index
Book Reviews
Authors: Kaplan Sam
Published: February 2007

From the Margins: Historical Anthropology and its Futures. Brian Keith Axel, ed. Durham: Duke University Press, 2002. x + 313pp., contributors, index
Book Reviews
Authors: Vereni Piero
Published: February 2007

The Past in Question: Modern Macedonia and the Uncertainties of Nation. Keith Brown. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003. xviii + 301pp., figures, tables, references, index
Book Reviews
Authors: Webb Malcolm C.
Published: February 2007

Evolutionism in Cultural Anthropology:. Critical History. Robert L. Carneiro. Westview Press, 2003. xiii + 288pp., photographs, figures, references, index
Book Reviews
Authors: Bentley‐Condit Vicki
Published: February 2007

Kinship with Monkeys: The Guajá Foragers of Eastern Amazonia. Loretta A. Cormier. Columbia University Press, 2003. xxvi + 234pp., illustrations, map, appendix, notes, references, index
Book Reviews
Authors: Handler Richard
Published: February 2007

Scenes from the High Desert: Julian Steward's Life and Theory. Virginia Kerns. University of Illinois Press, 2003. xiv + 414pp., map, photographs, notes, references, index
Book Reviews
Authors: Colvin Christopher J.
Published: February 2007

Bearing Witness: Women and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. Fiona C. Ross. London: Pluto Press, 2003. viii + 206pp., tables, appendices, glossary, notes, references, index
Book Reviews
Authors: Solimeo Samantha L.
Published: February 2007

Gray Areas: Ethnographic Encounters with Nursing Home Culture. Philip B. Stafford, ed. School of American Research Press, 2003, xi + 317pp., figures, tables, references, index
Book Reviews
Authors: Jacquemet Marco
Published: February 2007

Reversible Destiny: Mafia, Antimafia, and the Struggle for Palermo. Jane C. Schneider and Peter T. Schneider Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003. xiii + 339pp., maps, photographs, tables, references, index
Book Reviews
Authors: Dannhaeuser Norbert
Published: February 2007

Worldly Provincialism: German Anthropology in the Age of Empire. H. Glenn.Penny and Matti Bunzl, eds. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2003. 350pp., photographs, references, contributors, index
Book Review
Authors: Taylor Janelle S.
Published: February 2007

Remaking Life & Death: Toward an Anthropology of the Biosciences. Sarah Franklin, and Margaret Lock, eds. Santa Fe: School of American Research Press and Oxford: James Currey Ltd., 2003 xii + 372pp., figures, table, notes, references, index
Book Review
Authors: Striffler Steve
Published: February 2007

Crude Chronicles: Indigenous Politics, Multinational Oil, and Neoliberalism in Ecuador. Suzana Sawyer. Durham NC: Duke University Press, 2004. xii + 294pp., maps, photographs, acronyms, glossary, bibliography, index
Book Review
Authors: Metzo Katherine
Published: February 2007

Not by Bread Alone: Social Support in the New Russia. Melissa L. Caldwell. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004. xv + 242pp., photographs, notes, works cited, index.
Book Review
Authors: Hirsch Silvia Maria
Published: February 2007

The Politics of Ethnicity: Indigenous Peoples in Latin American States. David Maybury‐Lewis, ed. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002. xi + 386pp., maps, references, index
Book Review
Authors: Palinkas Lawrence A.
Published: February 2007

Rampage: The Social Roots of School Shootings. Katherine S. Newman. New York: Basic Books, 2004. xvi + 399pp., photographs, tables, references, index.
Book Review
Authors: Collins John F.
Published: February 2007

Racial Revolutions: Antiracism and Indian Resurgence in Brazil. Jonathan W. Warren Durham: Duke University Press, 2001. xx + 363pp., illustrated, appendices, notes, glossary, bibliography, index.
Book Reviews
Authors: Gewertz Deborah
Published: February 2007

Venice the Tourist Maze:. Cultural Critique of the World's Most Touristed City. Robert C. Davis and Garry R. Marvin. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004. xi + 360pp., maps, figures, glossary, references, index.
Book Reviews
Authors: Layne Linda L.
Published: February 2007

Infertility Around the Globe: New Thinking on Childlessness, Gendero and Reproductive Technologies. Marcia C. Inhorn and Frank Van Balen, eds. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002. viii + 347pp., tables, bibs, contributors, index
Book Reviews
Authors: Adams Vincanne
Published: February 2007

Buddha is Hiding: Refugees, Citizenship, The New America. Aihwa Ong. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003. xix + 333pp., photographs, bibliography, index.
Book Reviews
Authors: Wedel Janine R.
Published: February 2007

The Vanishing Hectare: Property and Value in Postsocialist Transylvania. Katherine Verdery. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2003. xvii + 426pp., map, photographs, tables, glossary, references, index.
Oppositio in Geoffrey of Vinsauf and Its Background
Authors: Fraker Charles
Published: February 2007

Abstract: The negation-figure oppositio was re-invented in the Middle Ages by Geoffrey of Vinsauf, who was able to reconstruct it by observing the practice of Virgil, Ovid, Statius, and Lucan. This was the procedure of the grammarians, for Geoffrey's treatment developed independently of the rhetorical tradition. The figure digressiowas developed similarly by Geoffrey, whose approach was also used by two contemporary poets, Joseph of Exeter and Gautier of Châtillon.
Petrarch's Defense of Secular Letters, the Latin Fathers, and Ancient Roman Rhetoric
Authors: Schildgen Brenda Deen
Published: February 2007

Abstract: Like the Church Fathers before him, Petrarch was forced to defend secular learning against its detractors, and his defenses draw on many of the same arguments that Augustine and Jerome had used. In these defenses he blends classical rhetoric and Christian values, and his procedures also follow the traditions of classical rhetoric, relying on the epistolary form and utilizing the Ciceronian manner of debating all topics from opposite standpoints. Perhaps, however, because his indecisiveness complemented the classical rhetorical premise that many issues present many possible resolutions, Petrarch also rejects secular learning in some of his writings. His arguments are therefore conclusive only within their unique rhetorical situations.
Condillac and the History of Rhetoric
Authors: Peaden Catherine Hobbs
Published: February 2007

Abstract: Four decades after the publication of Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding (5th ed.), a French text appeared which attempted to revise and perfect Lockean theory. This text, the 1746Essay on the Origin of Human Understanding by Etienne Bonnot, Abbéde Condillac (1714r–80), and several later works by the same author add to Lockean theory what Locke himself suggests but never fully carries out, a developmental account of understanding. But Condillac's developmentalism results in dual rhetorics—an aesthetic, expressive rhetoric and an empirical, referential rhetoric. This article discusses aesthetic expressivism in Condillac in relation to his speculations about the origins of language, with that discussion linked to the familiar opposition of referential scientific and expressive literary language.
Re-Inventing Invention: Alexander Gerard and An Essay on Genius
Authors: Larsen Elizabeth
Published: February 2007

Abstract: Historians of rhetoric and composition have agreed that the eighteenth century saw the demise of a pedagogy of invention. Bacon's scientific method and faculty psychology together led to the end of the topoi as generational devices and of rhetorical inventio. Invention, dependent on individual genius, could not be taught. However, An Essay on Genius, by eighteenth-century associationist Alexander Gerard, suggests that inventio was less abandoned than transformed. Accordingly, we need to refine our understanding of eighteenth-century thinking about composing to include the notion that rhetoricians were aware that invention was a necessary part of composing and that associationism itself included invention.
Greek Table-Talk before Plato
Authors: Bowie Ewen L.
Published: February 2007

Abstract: This essay analyses conversation at archaic and classical Greek banquets and symposia, using first epic, then elegiac and lyric poetry, and finally Old Comedy. Epic offers few topics, mostiy arising from the situation of a guest. Those of sympotic poetry, from which prose exchanges may cautiously be inferred, are more numerous:reflection, praise of the living and the dead, consolation of the bereaved, proclamations of likes and dislikes, declarations of love,narrative of one's own erotic experiences or (scandalously) of others',personal criticism and abuse, and the telling of fables. Many of these verbal interventions are competitive. Comedy reinforces the prevalence of an ethos of entertainment, corroborating the telling of fables and adding creditable anecdotes about one's career, singing skolia,and playing games of "comparisons" and riddles.
Luther's Am Neujahrstage: Style as Argument
Authors: Leroux Neil R.
Published: February 2007

Abstract: While accounts of Renaissance rhetoric have recently begun to consider the work of Martin Luther, understanding of Luther's preaching strategies depends on detailed scrutiny of his sermons. A careful investigation of the language of a Luther sermon, in consideration of the rhetorical intent and context in which the work was developed, reveals a speaker striving to engage an audience. As a critical concept more pervasive than traditional notions of elocutio,the paradigmatic concept of "style" offered here draws from Burke and Perelman/Olbrechts-Tyteca to show how rhetorical devices ("figures") advance the argument and how the audience is intended to apprehend the meaning and action ("form") of the discourse. Coherent analysis of contextual, thematic, and structural features of Luther's sermon text shows style a primary rather than derivative feature of rhetorical criticism.
The Unpublished Rhetoric Lectures of Robert Watson, Professor of Logic, Rhetoric, and Metaphysics at the University of St. Andrews, 1756–1778
Authors: Bator Paul G.
Published: February 2007

Abstract: Robert Watson, historian, minister, and professor, delivered a series of lectures on rhetoric and belles lettres in Edinburgh from 1752 to 1756, between the time Adam Smith and Hugh Blair delivered similar public lectures. Watson's unpublished manuscript lectures are described and discussed here for the first time and are compared to the lectures on rhetoric and belles lettres of Blair and Smith. Watson's lectures demonstrate a practical, moral rhetoric which, in its emphasis upon critical understanding and analysis of literary texts, provides additional evidence for an emerging "belletristic rhetoric" in eighteenth-century Scotland.
Is Rhetoric an Art?
Authors: Roochnik David
Published: February 2007

Abstract: This essay discusses four pivotal moments in the consideration of whether rhetoric is an art. Section I sets the stage by briefly discussing the charge against rhetoric found in the Gorgias. Section II sketches the arguments of Sextus Empiricus and shows how they can be traced back to a single objection implicit in the Socratic charge, namely that the putative subject matter of rhetoric is indeterminate. Section III reviews several arguments presented by Quintilian, most of which can be usefully formulated as responses to Sextus. Section IV shows how Quintilian in fact reflects a line of thought first presented by Isocrates in Against the Sophists. The essay articulates what is common in the “common stock” of arguments about whether rhetoric is an art, and why the argument is one of intrinsic importance.
Misdirected Sentiment: Conflicting Rhetorical Strategies in Uncle Tom's Cabin
Authors: Yarbrough Stephen R.
Published: February 2007

Abstract: Harriet Beecher Stowe, in Uncle Tom's Cabin, used two different and conflicting rhetorical stiategies in her novel's appeals to end slavery. To elicit sympathy for the slaves, she used persuasion, a process relying upon the perception of a sameness of substance among persons. To induce fear of damnation in Northerners who condoned or passively accepted Southern slavery, she used conversion rhetoric, a process relying upon the conviction that personal identity and value are derived entirely from the moral and social “system” that produces the individual. Because the novel projects Northern and Southern whites as belonging to the same system, and since its persuasive processes, by eliciting sympathy for slaves, bring them into the system, their suffering proves the system's corruption, whlie the Southerners' lack of sympathy proves their difference of substance—their lack of humanity. Since the logic of conversion requires condemning the corrupt self, the novel ultimately prepared Northern readers to condemn Southern whites, even though such condemnation went against Stowe's intentions.
Linguistics: A Rhetor's Guide
Authors: Leith Dick
Published: February 2007

Abstract: To non-specialists, academic disciplines invariably seem homogeneous, even monolithic. But even a relatively young discipline such as modem linguistics is more diverse in its procedures and concerns than might appear to those working in other fields. In this paper I attempt to show how certain kinds of linguistic inquiry might be relevant to those whose primary concern is rhetoric. I argue that these practices are often opposed to what I call the dominant paradigm in modern linguistics, with its commitment to abstraction and idealization. I discuss first those strands of linguistics, such as discourse analysis, text-linguistics, and stylistics, which tend to take the social formation for granted; I end by considering recent trends in so-called critical language study. Finally, I offer some thoughts on how linguistics may proceed in order to achieve a more programmatic rapprochement with rhetoric.
Galileo's Apparent Orthodoxy in His Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina
Authors: Sullivan Dale L.
Published: February 2007

Abstract: Modern rhetorical theory suggests that the rhetorical concept of doxa entails social dimensions of rank and regard. A trustworthy ethos is one in which the rhetor identifies with orthodoxy by signalling allegiance to doxastic elements of narrarive knowledge, presuppositions and methodology, and hierarchy. In his Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina, Galileo fails to project an orthodox ethos in his attempt to rewrite narrative knowledge because, although he adheres to orthodox methodology and presuppositions, he disregards orthodox hierarchy and even tries to restructure it.
Some Renaissance Polish Commentaries on Aristotle's Rhetoric and Hermogenes' On Ideas
Authors: Conley Thomas
Published: February 2007

Absract: In the present manuscript collections of the Biblioteka Narodowa in Warsaw and the Biblioteka Jagiellońska in Kraków are two commentaries on Aristotle's Rhetoric and two on Hermogenes' On Ideas, all evidently composed in the early seventeenth century. This study briefly surveys their contents and organization and attempts to locate them in the cultural milieu of Renaissance Polish scholarship, an area of study almost totally ignored by American and Western European historians of rhetoric.
“In Every Drop of Dew”: Imagination and the Rhetoric of Assent in English Natural Religion
Authors: Foster David
Published: February 2007

Abstract: Seventeenth-century “natural religion” in England included the work of many theologians and scientists who comprised a close-knit discourse community shaped by a common theology and many similarities in intellectual outlook. They developed a complex rhetoric compounded of probabilistic reasoning and a wide range of figurative conventions for the argument from design. These writings offer a rich intertext of discursive practices which are more classically rooted, more intuitive and imaginative in appeal, and simultaneously more probabilistic and less demonstrative in reasoning, than has generally been assumed. This essay focuses on the imaginative, figurative dimensions of this work, identifying its primary classical sources and its sanctions in the rhetorical theory of the time.
Rhetoric, Dialectic, and Literature in the Work of Francisco Sánchez, El Brocense
Authors: Jiménez Alfonso Martín
Published: February 2007

Abstract: Francisco Sánchez wrote two rhetorical tieatises to facilitate the interpretation of the work of poets and orators: De arte dicendi (1556) and Organum dialedicum et rhetoricum (1579). In 1556 El Brocense adhered to the classical categories of rhetoric, but in 1579 he adopted the division proposed by Peter Ramus: that is, he assigned inventio and dispositio to dialectic and elocutio and pronuntiatio to rhetoric. In De arte dicendi as well as in Organum dialedicum et rhetoricum, El Brocense demonstiated the validity of the rules ef inventio and dispositio in the composition and interpretation of literary works. His tieatises thus show the influence of rhetoric and dialectic on the interpretation of classical literature in his day.
The Phoenix of Hermes, or the Rebirth of Plato in the Eighteenth Century
Authors: Marback Richard
Published: February 2007

Abstract: In this paper 1 provide a reading of the conflict between allegorical and philosophie interpretations of Plato that resulted in the shift of authority from the former to the latter, signalling the decline of rhetoric. The specifie text 1 focus on is Jacob Brucker's eighteenthcentury revision of the history of philosophy. I show that Brucker conceives of Plato as rational and philosophie in direct response to Renaissance and early modem Neoplatonists like Marsilio Ficino, who read Plato's writings as allegory and who revered Plato as a divine sage of Egyptian wisdom. Identifying Brucker's argument for a philosophie Plato as a response to Neoplatonism, 1 argue that Brucker fashions his Plato from eighteenth-eentury attitudes isolating Egypt from Athens, so as to ally ancient Athens more closely to modem Europe. 1 conclude by considering the implications of my reading of Brucker for current histories of rhetoric, drawing parallels between Brucker's discussion of Plato and that of Brian Vickers.
Quintilian and the Rhetorical Revolution of the Middle Ages
Authors: Ward John O.
Published: February 2007

Abstract: It is often asserted nowadays that the medieval period “fragmented” the classical rhetorical inheritance, while the Renaissance restored it to its former coherence. The story of the assimilation in the Middle Ages and Renaissance of Quintilian's Institutes of Oratory is examined here in order to demonstrate the problems inherent in such a position. It is argued that the full utilization of the text of Quintilian's Institutes of Oratory in the Renaissance, along with the discrediting of the Ad Herennium (as a work of Cicero) that is associated with the name of Raffaello Regio in the last decade of the fifteenth century, are not the instances of the “recovery” of antiquity and supersession of “medieval philology” that they are often thought to be. Instead the opposite seems to be the case. The philological “recovery” of Quintilian led away from the incorporation of the Institutes into contemporary rhetorical practice and towards philology for its own sake. This, together with the bitter professional jealousies among the Italian schoolmen of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, led, almost “accidentally” as it were, to a “sundering” of the “whole” that the Middle Ages had put together out of rhetorical fragments from antiquity. The medieval period, less concerned with philological niceties than with the practical utility of good advice from the past, constructed a new kind of rhetorical text from an amalgam of old texts: the Ad Herennium commentary, made up of the text of the Ad Herennium, explanations, summaries, and discussions from the medieval schoolroom, and portions of Boethius' De differentiis topicis, Quintilian's Institutes, and other classical sources. This serviceable “unity” the Renaissance “sundered” by (a) discrediting the Ad Herennium as an authoritative Ciceronian text, and (b) placing the Institutes far beyond the practical capabilities of contemporary rhetorical training courses by restoring it to its original length (vis-à-vis the abridgements and assimilations of the medieval period). In this process of turning the classical texts into icons, the Renaissance scholars were predictably unable to re-create the kaleidoscopic, one-thousand-year reality of rhetorical attitudes and texts in antiquity, from the fragments that the Middle Ages had used to build up their new form of integrated text. Much had been lost, but what had been gained?
Toward a Poststructural Rhetorical Critical Praxis: Foucault, Limit Work, and Jenninger's Kristallnacht Address
Authors: Bruner M. Lane
Published: February 2007

Abstract:This essay indicates how the implicit normative framework in the texts of Michel Foucault can lead to a poststructural rhetorical praxis that is neither relativistic nor unrealistically utopian. In relation to the Enlightenment project broadly conceived, Foucault's work in this area shows both similarities to and differences from Kant and Habermas. Some normative standards are precluded within Foucault's system, but others are implied and can be articulated. There is a concept of limit work in Foucault, and the essay concludes by explaining this concept and applying it to Philipp Jenninger's Kristallnacht address.
Admirable Wit: Deinofēs and the Rise and Fall of Lyric Wonder
Authors: Biester James
Published: February 2007

Abstract: When lyric poets in late Renaissance England responded to the demand for wonder in poetry and all courtly activity by astonishing audiences through style, they drew upon the Greek rhetorical tradition, which presents roughness and obscurity as coordinate methods of making style deinos, or admirable. In the Life of Cowley, Samuel Johnson also sees roughness and obscurity as coordinate qualities in the verse of the “metaphysical poets” he says erred in pursuit of wonder. Before admirable style went out of fashion, poet-critics praised its ability to provoke the audience's inferences and to transcend persuasión by “ravishing” the audience's will, precisely the effects that Demetrius attributes to the charaktēr deinos in On Style. Yet deinolēs is the term used to describe both the most powerful style and the clever style of sophistic epideixis, and this breadth of meaning helps explain both the rise and fall of wit.
Henry Fielding, the Novel, and Classical Legal Rhetoric
Authors: McClish Glen
Published: February 2007

Abstract: This essay explores how classical legal or forensic rhetoric informs Henry Fielding's work as a novelist. Focusing on the dichotomous or contradictory application and characterization of forensic rhetoric in Fielding's three major novels—joseph Andrews, Tom jones, and Amelia—I will suggest that the exuberance and confidence that tjrpify the novelist's portrayal of legal rhetoric within the diegetic realm of his narrators is undermined or rendered problematic by the wariness and pessimism with which the same kind of discourse is presented within the mimetie worlds of the stories themselves. After speculating about the biographical, historical, and aesthetic ramifications of this dichotomy, the essay concludes with brief discussion of the ideological significance of Fielding's portrayal of the lawyerly art of persuasion.
From Natural Religion to Natural Law in Vico: Rhetoric, Poetic, and Vico's Imaginative Universals
Authors: Schaeffer John
Published: February 2007

Abstract: Contemporary scholars have focused on two concepts in Vico's tkinking: the imaginative universal and the sensus communis. For Vico these concepts emerge from the human race's first experience of religion. For over a century Vico scholarship has been divided over how to view this experience. This division falls along Aristotelian lines: that is, the primitive religious experience can be seen either as poetic—God and religion are made by the human imagination—or it can be viewed as rhetorical—God and religion are discovered. Vico derives his idea of natural law from the concepts of the imaginative imiversal and the sensus communis, and their relation to religion will affect decisively the status of Vico's theory of natural law. As a matter of fact, Vico's thinking on this issue is better understood, first, within the context of Rudolph Otto's The Idea of the Body, and second, in the context of the Baroque rather than in the context of Aristotelian categories of religion and poetic. Viewed within these contexts, the origin of religion is a theophany that is neither made nor discovered but witnessed, and the development of natural law is an historical process only understood in retrospect. Vico thus differs radically from other Enlightenment thinkers, especially Hume, in his account of primitive religion and provides a basis for natural law that is neither superstitious nor rationalistic, but religious.