bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Outcomes of adding second hypoglycemic drug after metformin monotherapy failure among type 2 diabetes in Hungary
Authors: Jermendy György ,   the Hungarian RECAP Group, Erdesz Diana , Nagy Laszlo , Yin Don , Phatak Hemant , Karve Sudeep , Engel Samuel , Balkrishnan Rajesh
Published: July 2012

Aim

The objective of this observational study was to assess the status of glycemic control and associated patient-reported outcomes in ambulatory Hungarian patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) who were prescribed either a sulfonylurea (SU) or a thiazolidinedione (TZD) in addition to the prior metformin (MF) monotherapy.

Methods

Type 2 diabetics aged ≥ 30 years and who had added an SU or TZD to previous MF monotherapy at least 1 year prior to the visit date were identified during January 2006 to March 2007. Information on HbA1c (A1C), medication use and co-morbid conditions was extracted from the medical record up to 6 months prior to the addition of SU or TZD to MF (baseline), and a minimum of one year after the initiation of either SU or TZD. Glycemic control (A1C < 6.5%) was assessed using the last available A1C value in the medical record. Self-reported hypoglycemia, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and treatment satisfaction were also assessed.

Results

A total of 414 patients (82% SU+MF and 18% TZD+MF) with a mean age of 60.5 years (SD = 9.4 years) participated in the study. About 27% of patients reported hypoglycemic episodes, with about one-third reporting episodes that resulted into interruption of activities or required medical/non-medical assistance. Three quarters of patients were not at glycemic goal and BMI was the only factor significantly associated with failure to have an A1C level < 6.5%. Patients' HRQoL was significantly associated with self-reported hypoglycemic episodes (p = 0.017), and duration of diabetes (p = 0.045).

Conclusion

Nearly 75% of patients were not at A1C goal of < 6.5% despite using two oral anti-hyperglycemic medications. Approximately 9% of patients reporting hypoglycemia required some kind of medical/non-medical assistance. Greater BMI at baseline was associated with an A1C level ≥ 6.5%. Finally, self- reports of hypoglycemia and duration of diabetes were associated with low HRQoL.
Veaselaircdhation of the Spanish version of the Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire (CPAQ) for the assessment of acceptance in fibromyalgia
Authors: Rodero Baltasar , García-Campayo Javier , Casanueva Benigno , del Hoyo Yolanda Lopez , Serrano-Blanco Antoni , Luciano Juan V
Published: July 2012

Background

The aim of this study was to validate a Spanish version of the Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire (CPAQ). Pain acceptance is the process of giving up the struggle with pain and learning to live a worthwhile life despite it. The Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire (CPAQ) is the questionnaire most often used to measure pain acceptance in chronic pain populations.

Methods

A total of 205 Spanish patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia syndrome who attended our pain clinic were asked to complete a battery of psychometric instruments: the Pain Visual Analogue Scale (PVAS) for pain intensity, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), the Medical Outcome Study Short Form 36 (SF-36), the Pain Catastrophising Scale (PCS) and the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ).

Results

Analysis of results showed that the Spanish CPAQ had good test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient 0.83) and internal consistency reliability (Cronbach's α: 0.83). The Spanish CPAQ score significantly correlated with pain intensity, anxiety, depression, pain catastrophising, health status and physical and psychosocial disability. The Scree plot and a Principal Components Factor analysis confirmed the same two-factor construct as the original English CPAQ.

Conclusion

The Spanish CPAQ is a reliable clinical assessment tool with valid construct validity for the acceptance measurement among a sample of Spanish fibromyalgia patients. This study will make it easier to assess pain acceptance in Spanish populations with fibromyalgia.
Primary meningeal melanocytoma of the anterior cranial fossa: a case report and review of the literature
Authors: Lin Bowen , Yang Hongfa , Qu Limei , Li Ye , Yu Jinlu
Published: July 2012

Background

Primary meningeal melanocytoma is a rare neurological disorder. Although it may occur at the base of the brain, it is extremely rare at the anterior cranial fossa.

Case presentation

A 27-year-old man presented with headache and diplopia at our department. Fundoscopy showed left optic nerve atrophy and right papilledema consistent with Foster-Kennedy syndrome. Neurological exams were otherwise normal. A left frontal irregular space-occupying lesion was seen on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and enhancement was shown on contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) scan. CT angiography (CTA) revealed vascular compression around the lesion. Prior to surgery, meningioma was diagnosed and gross tumor removal was performed. On postoperative pathohistological exam, the tumor proved to be a meningeal melanocytoma, WHO grade I. No skin melanoma was found. After surgery, the patient received radiation therapy. No tumor was seen on follow-up MR images six months after surgery. The patient was well after two and a half years, and there was no tumor recurrence on the follow-up CT.

Conclusions

This case of primary meningeal melanocytoma located at the anterior cranial fossa is very rare. Although primary meningeal melanocytoma is benign, it may behave aggressively. Complete surgical resection is curative for most cases. Radiation therapy is important to prevent relapse of the tumor, especially in cases of incomplete surgical resection.
Structural, morphological, and optical properties of TiO2 thin films synthesized by the electro phoretic deposition technique
Authors: Ghrairi Najla , Bouaicha Mongi
Published: July 2012

In this work, we report the structural, morphological, and optical properties of TiO2 thin films synthesized by the electro phoretic deposition technique. The TiO2 film was formed on a doped fluorine tin oxide (SnO2:F, i.e., FTO) layer and used as a photo electrode in a dye solar cell (DSC). Using spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements in the 200 to 800 nm wavelengths domain, we obtain a thickness of the TiO2 film in the range of 70 to 80 nm. Characterizations by X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy (AFM) show a polycrystalline film. In addition, AFM investigation shows no cracks in the formed layer. Using an ultraviolet–visible near-infrared spectrophotometer, we found that the transmittance of the TiO2 film in the visible domain reaches 75%. From the measured current–voltage or I-V characteristic under AM1.5 illumination of the formed DSC, we obtain an open circuit voltage V
oc = 628 mV and a short circuit current I
sc = 22.6 μA, where the surface of the formed cell is 3.14 cm2.
Synthesis of new type of Au-magnetic nanocomposite and application for protein separation thereof
Authors: Song Yu , Tao Ling , Shen Xiangchun
Published: July 2012

We present a different strategy for synthesizing the Au-γ-Fe2O3 bifunctional nanoparticle by using a larger (50 nm) Au nanoparticle as the core surrounded by smaller (10 nm) γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles. The synthesis of the composite nanoparticles is quite facile based on a simple redox process whereby Fe2+ is used to reduce Au3+. The morphology and composition of the product is measured by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction and UV–vis spectroscopy. We demonstrate the utility of these as-prepared Au-γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles by showing they can be used to separate proteins in solution. For example, bovine serum is efficiently removed from an aqueous solution with the simple addition of the NPs and application of a small magnet. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis is performed to evaluate the fidelity and efficiency of the protein separation procedure.
Tunable Fabry-Pérot interferometer based on nanoporous anodic alumina for optical biosensing purposes
Authors: Santos Abel , Balderrama Victor S , Alba María , Formentín Pilar , Ferré-Borrull Josep , Pallarès Josep , Marsal Lluís F
Published: July 2012

Here, we present a systematic study about the effect of the pore length and its diameter on the specular reflection in nanoporous anodic alumina. As we demonstrate, the specular reflection can be controlled at will by structural tuning (i.e., by designing the pore geometry). This makes it possible to produce a wide range of Fabry-Pérot interferometers based on nanoporous anodic alumina, which are envisaged for developing smart and accurate optical sensors in such research fields as biotechnology and medicine. Additionally, to systematize the responsiveness to external changes in optical sensors based on nanoporous anodic alumina, we put forward a barcode system based on the oscillations in the specular reflection.
Evaluating viral interference between Influenza virus and Newcastle disease virus using real-time reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction in chicken eggs
Authors: Ge Shengqiang , Zheng Dongxia , Zhao Yunling , Liu Hualei , Liu Wenbo , Sun Qing , Li Jinming , Yu Songmei , Zuo Yuanyuan , Han Xiuju , Li Lin , Lv Yan , Wang Yingli , Liu Xiufan , Wang Zhiliang
Published: July 2012

Background

Simultaneous and sequential allantoic cavity inoculations of Specific-pathogen-free (SPF) chicken eggs with Influenza virus (AIV) and Newcastle disease virus (NDV) demonstrated that the interaction of AIV and NDV during co-infection was variable. Our research revisited the replication interference potential of AIV and NDV using real-time reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (real-time RT-PCR) for AIV and NDV to specifically detect the viral genomes in mixed infections.

Results

Data from this survey showed that when different doses of NDV (Lasota or F48E8) and AIV (F98 or H5N1) were simultaneously inoculated into embryonating chicken eggs (ECE), interference with the growth of NDV occurred, while interference with the growth of AIV did not occur. When equal amount of the two viruses were sequentially employed, the degree of interference was dependent upon the time of superinfection and the virulence of virus.

Conclusion

AIV have a negative impact on NDV growth if they are inoculated simultaneously or sequentially and that the degree of interference depended upon the quantity and relative virulence of the virus strains used; however, interference with AIV was not observed. Only if NDV were inoculated at an earlier time will NDV able to interfere with the growth of AIV.
Treatment of alcohol dependence in patients with co-morbid major depressive disorder – predictors for the outcomes with memantine and escitalopram medication
Authors: Muhonen Leea H , Lahti Jari , Sinclair David , Lönnqvist Jouko , Alho Hannu
Published: July 2012

Background

Alcohol dependence comorbid with major depressive disorder poses a major challenge in the clinical setting. The results in the treatment with selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors have been conflicting. Thus, we compared in alcohol-dependent patients with co-morbid major depressive disorder the selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor escitalopram to a compound that acts on different transporter system and may reduce craving, the glutamate receptor antagonist memantine.

Methods

Eighty alcohol-dependent patients comorbid with major depressive disorder in municipal alcohol clinics were randomized 1:1 to receive memantine 20 mg or escitalopram 20 mg in a double-blind manner. During the 26-week study period patients continued their routine treatment at the clinics. Abstinence was not required but encouraged. The patients attended visits weekly during the first month, and then at 3 and at 6 months. Outcome measures were Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), Obsessive Compulsive Drinking Scale (OCDS) and Drinking Diary.

Results

The completion rate was high in both groups, especially among the patients who had been abstinent at the beginning of the study. However, among those patients who were not abstinent at baseline, 47% in both groups discontinued the study. Numbers of abstinent days were high in both groups throughout the study. Alcohol consumption measured by the AUDIT QF (quantity-frequency) score was significantly reduced in both groups, as was the craving for alcohol measured by the OCDS. Early age at first alcohol intoxication predicted poor treatment outcomes in patients treated with escitalopram, and the same was seen with the early onset of the first depressive episode. The same predictive effects were not found in patients treated with memantine.

Conclusion

Our results indicate that both memantine and escitalopram are useful adjunct medications for the treatment of alcohol dependence co-morbid with major depression. Memantine was at least as effective with regard to drinking as escitalopram. We believe that a direct comparison of memantine, with the commonly used escitalopram, can provide useful information for clinicians on the treatment of alcohol dependency co-morbid with MDD.

Trial registration

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier # NCT00368862
The confusion assessment method for the intensive care unit (CAM-ICU) and intensive care delirium screening checklist (ICDSC) for the diagnosis of delirium: a systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical studies
Authors: Gusmao-Flores Dimitri , Salluh Jorge Ibrain Figueira , Chalhub Ricardo Ávila , Quarantini Lucas C
Published: July 2012

Introduction

Delirium is a frequent form of acute brain dysfunction in critically ill patients, and several detection tools for it have been developed for use in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). The objective of this study is to evaluate the current evidence on the accuracy of the Confusion Assessment Method for Intensive Care Unit (CAM-ICU) and the Intensive Care Delirium Screening Checklist (ICDSC) for the diagnosis of delirium in critically ill patients.

Methods

A systematic review was conducted to identify articles on the evaluation of the CAM-ICU and the ICDSC in ICU patients. A MEDLINE, SciELO, CINAHL and EMBASE databases search was performed for articles published in the English language, involving adult populations and comparing these diagnostic tools with the gold standard, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) criteria. Results were summarized by meta-analysis. The QUADAS scale was used to assess the quality of the studies.

Results

Nine studies evaluating the CAM-ICU (including 969 patients) and four evaluating the ICDSC (n = 361 patients) were included in the final analysis. The pooled sensitivity of the CAM-ICU was 80.0% (95% confidence interval (CI): 77.1 to 82.6%), and the pooled specificity was 95.9% (95% CI: 94.8 to 96.8%). The diagnostic odds ratio was 103.2 (95% CI: 39.6 to 268.8). The pooled area under the summary receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was 0.97. The pooled sensitivity of the ICDSC was 74% (95% CI: 65.3 to 81.5%), and the pooled specificity was 81.9% (95% CI: 76.7 to 86.4%). The diagnostic odds ratio was 21.5 (95% CI: 8.51 to 54.4). The AUC was 0.89.

Conclusions

The CAM-ICU is an excellent diagnostic tool in critically ill ICU patients, whereas the ICDSC has moderate sensitivity and good specificity. The available data suggest that both CAM-ICU and the ICDSC can be used as a screening tool for the diagnosis of delirium in critically ill patients.
RUNX1 Mutations Are Associated With Poor Outcome in Younger and Older Patients With Cytogenetically Normal Acute Myeloid Leukemia and With Distinct Gene and MicroRNA Expression Signatures
Authors: Mendler Jason H. , Maharry Kati , Radmacher Michael D. , Mrózek Krzysztof , Becker Heiko , Metzeler Klaus H. , Schwind Sebastian , Whitman Susan P. , Khalife Jihane , Kohlschmidt Jessica , Nicolet Deedra , Powell Bayard L. , Carter Thomas H. , Wetzler Meir , Moore Joseph O. , Kolitz Jonathan E. , Baer Maria R. , Carroll Andrew J. , Larson Richard A. , Caligiuri Michael A. , Marcucci Guido , Bloomfield Clara D.
Published: July 2012

Purpose

To determine the association of RUNX1 mutations with therapeutic outcome in younger and older patients with primary cytogenetically normal acute myeloid leukemia (CN-AML) and with gene/microRNA expression signatures.

Patients and Methods

Younger (< 60 years; n = 175) and older (≥ 60 years; n = 225) patients with CN-AML treated with intensive cytarabine/anthracycline-based first-line therapy on Cancer and Leukemia Group B protocols were centrally analyzed for RUNX1 mutations by polymerase chain reaction and direct sequencing and for established prognostic gene mutations. Gene/microRNA expression profiles were derived using microarrays.

Results

RUNX1 mutations were found in 8% and 16% of younger and older patients, respectively (P = .02). They were associated with ASXL1 mutations (P < .001) and inversely associated with NPM1 (P < .001) and CEBPA (P = .06) mutations. RUNX1-mutated patients had lower complete remission rates (P = .005 in younger; P = .006 in older) and shorter disease-free survival (P = .058 in younger; P < .001 in older), overall survival (P = .003 in younger; P < .001 in older), and event-free survival (P < .001 for younger and older) than RUNX1 wild-type patients. Because RUNX1 mutations were more common in older patients and almost never coexisted with NPM1 mutations, RUNX1 mutation–associated expression signatures were derived in older, NPM1 wild-type patients and featured upregulation of genes normally expressed in primitive hematopoietic cells and B-cell progenitors, including DNTT, BAALC, BLNK, CD109, RBPMS, and FLT3, and downregulation of promoters of myelopoiesis, including CEBPA and miR-223.

Conclusion

RUNX1 mutations are twice as common in older than younger patients with CN-AML and negatively impact outcome in both age groups. RUNX1-mutated blasts have molecular features of primitive hematopoietic and lymphoid progenitors, potentially leading to novel therapeutic approaches.
Aggressive Prostate Cancer Is Prevented in ERαKO Mice and Stimulated in ERβKO TRAMP Mice
Authors: Ślusarz Anna , Jackson Glenn A. , Day J. Kevin , Shenouda Nader S. , Bogener Jennifer L. , Browning Jim D. , Fritsche Kevin L. , MacDonald Ruth S. , Besch-Williford Cynthia L. , Lubahn Dennis B.
Published: July 2012

Previous evidence suggests soy genistein may be protective against prostate cancer, but whether this protection involves an estrogen receptor (ER)-dependent mechanism is unknown. To test the hypothesis that phytoestrogens may act through ERα or ERβ to play a protective role against prostate cancer, we bred transgenic mice lacking functional ERα or ERβ with transgenic adenocarcinoma of mouse prostate (TRAMP) mice. Dietary genistein reduced the incidence of cancer in ER wild-type (WT)/transgenic adenocarcinoma of mouse prostate mice but not in ERα knockout (KO) or ERβKO mice. Cancer incidence was 70% in ERWT mice fed the control diet compared with 47% in ERWT mice fed low-dose genistein (300 mg/kg) and 32% on the high-dose genistein (750 mg/kg). Surprisingly, genistein only affected the well differentiated carcinoma (WDC) incidence but had no effect on poorly differentiated carcinoma (PDC). No dietary effects have been observed in either of the ERKO animals. We observed a very strong genotypic influence on PDC incidence, a protective effect in ERαKO (only 5% developed PDC), compared with 19% in the ERWT, and an increase in the incidence of PDC in ERβKO mice to 41%. Interestingly, immunohistochemical analysis showed ERα expression changing from nonnuclear in WDC to nuclear in PDC, with little change in ERβ location or expression. In conclusion, genistein is able to inhibit WDC in the presence of both ERs, but the effect of estrogen signaling on PDC is dominant over any dietary treatment, suggesting that improved differential targeting of ERα vs. ERβ would result in prevention of advanced prostate cancer.
Lipocalin 2 (LCN2), the TNF-like receptor TWEAKR and its ligand TWEAK act downstream of NFAT1 to regulate breast cancer cell invasion.
Authors: Gaudineau Benoît , Fougère Marjorie , Guaddachi Frédéric , Lemoine Frédéric , de la Grange Pierre , Jauliac Sébastien
Published: July 2012

NFAT1 is a transcription factor that elicits breast carcinoma cells to become invasive, contributing thus to formation of metastasis. The molecular mechanisms by which NFAT1 operates in this respect are still poorly known. Here, we report that NFAT1 increases Lipocalin 2 (LCN2) mRNA and protein expression by binding to specific sites in the LCN2 gene promoter region. We show that the LCN2 protein is required downstream of NFAT1 to increase breast cancer cell invasion. We demonstrate that the NFAT1/LCN2 axis is sufficient to regulate expression of the TNF-like receptor TWEAKR at the RNA level and of its ligand, TWEAK, at the protein level. We show, however, that TWEAKR mediates an anti-invasive effect in breast cancer cells whereas, depending on LCN2 expression, TWEAK has either anti- and pro-invasive capacities. Thus, we identify LCN2 and TWEAKR/TWEAK as critical downstream effectors of NFAT1 to regulate breast cancer cell motility and invasive capacity.
Women Offenders–Managing Risk
Authors: Treen Barbara , Stewart Caroline
Published: July 2012

This presentation sets the context by providing basic statistics and considers some of the main preoccupations over the last decade which include the growth of numbers of women in prison, concern for the vulnerability of women offenders, recognition of gender-specific needs and diversion from custody. Managing women in prison involved understanding the pathways to offending, resettlement needs and risks; and the “connecting threads of life history” on the pathway to offending were described. Understanding risk meant being concerned about risk of harm to self as well as to others, intergenerational risk, as well as risk of re-offending. Options for addressing these needs and risks were discussed.
Lanthanoids(III) and actinoids(III) in water: Diffusion coefficients and hydration enthalpies from polarizable molecular dynamics simulations
Authors: Martelli Fausto , Abadie Sacha , Simonin Jean-Pierre , Vuilleumier Rodolphe , Spezia Riccardo
Published: July 2012

By using polarizable molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of lanthanoid(III) and actinoid(III) ions in water, we obtained ionic diffusion coefficients and hydration enthalpies for both series. These values are in good agreement with experiments. Simulations thus allow us to relate them to microscopic structure. In particular, across the series the diffusion coefficients decrease, reflecting the increase of ion–water interaction. Hydration enthalpies also show that interactions increase from light to heavy ions in agreement with experiment. The apparent contradictory result of the decrease of the diffusion coefficient with decreasing ionic radius is tentatively explained in terms of dielectric friction predominance on Stokes’ diffusive regime.
Asymmetric Pd-NHC*-catalyzed coupling reactions
Authors: Kündig E. Peter , Jia Yixia , Katayev Dmitry , Nakanishi Masafumi
Published: July 2012

Very high asymmetric inductions result in the Pd-catalyzed intramolecular arylation of amides to give 3,3-disubstituted oxindoles when new in situ-generated chiral N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC*) ligands are employed. Structural studies show that conformational locking to minimize allylic strain is the key to understanding the function of these ligands. New applications of these ligands in the frontier area of asymmetric coupling reactions involving C(sp3)–H bonds are detailed. Highly enantioenriched fused indolines are accessible using either preformed- or in situ-generated Pd-NHC* catalysts. Remarkably, this occurs at high temperature (140–160 °C) via excellent asymmetric recognition of an enantiotopic C–H bond in an unactivated methylene unit.
Polyhedral borane derivatives: Unique and versatile structural motifs
Authors: Hawthorne M. Frederick , Pushechnikov Alexei
Published: July 2012

Compounds with polyhedral borane moieties have demonstrated numerous unique properties for a variety of applications, including nanoelectronics, drug delivery vehicles, and live cell imaging. Polyhedral boranes are good pharmacophore analogs of carbocycles because polyhedral boranes are inherently insensitive to many undesirable enzymatic metabolic transformations typical for a majority of aromatic compounds. The defined shape, low molecular volume, and high 3D symmetry of the surface are useful for the application of the polyhedral borane scaffolds as universal and convenient spacers for the modular assembly approach with a controllable predisposition of peripheral groups.
Japanese Mapping of Asia-Pacific Areas, 1873-1945: An Overview
Authors: Kobayashi Shigeru
Published: July 2012

Japanese mapping in the Asia-Pacific region up to 1945 calls for scrutiny, because its development was a multifaceted process with military, administrative, political, and cultural dimensions. This article traces the changes in Japanese mapping of overseas areas to the end of World War II and assesses the significance of the resulting maps, called gaihōzu , as sources for East Asian history. As implements of military operation and colonial administration, the gaihōzu were produced during a protracted period by various means under changing circumstances. Expanding military activity also promoted differentiation among the gaihōzu by increasing the use of maps originally produced in foreign countries. In conclusion, the need for detailed cataloging, in combination with chronologically arranged index mapping, is emphasized for the systematic use of the gaihōzu .
Imagining Manmō: Mapping the Russo-Japanese Boundary Agreements in Manchuria and Inner Mongolia, 1907-1915
Authors: Matsusaka Yoshihisa Tak
Published: July 2012

This study attempts to delineate the boundaries of the spheres of interest in Manchuria and Inner Mongolia established under the Russo-Japanese accords of 1907 and 1912. Although the agreements are well known, there have been few efforts to reconstruct these spheres cartographically. Two existing maps offer contradictory interpretations. These partition agreements had a major impact on diplomacy, railway policy, and strategic planning during the decade they held force between 1907 and 1916, and the precise location of the Russo-Japanese sphere boundaries in this contested region was a matter of no small consequence. The author proposes a revised boundary map based on an examination of textual and cartographic sources, including maps produced by the army command of the Kwantung government-general. At the same time, the author seeks to highlight the potential value of cartographic analysis as a mode of historical inquiry into the record of Japanese imperialism. Cartography was an indispensable tool for modern empire builders in bringing a measurable territoriality to their realms and making their lands and subjects politically legible. The mapping entailed in these boundary agreements was important not only in bilateral diplomacy but also in enhancing the legibility of Manchuria and Inner Mongolia to Japanese imperialists themselves.
State Capacity in City Planning: The Reconstruction of Nanjing, 1927-1937
Authors: Tsui Carmen
Published: July 2012

After reunifying China in 1927, the Nationalist government proposed a comprehensive planning proposal, the Capital Plan ( shoudu jihua ), to reconstruct the war-torn city of Nanjing into a modern capital, despite the fact that the infant republic was still threatened by internal strife and external aggression. This article discusses the complex politics involved in the reconstruction of Nanjing from 1927 to 1937, illustrating the way in which the Nationalist state tried to transform China's urban development. It focuses on why unified planning ideas could not be generated during the planning process, and why these ideas did not turn fully into practice during the implementation process. By studying the aborted effort in planning Nanjing, knowing in what particular dimensions the state excelled and in what other dimensions things went wrong, this article analyzes the unevenness of state capacity in Republican China.
Triangulating Chōsen: Maps, Mapmaking, and the Land Survey in Colonial Korea
Authors: Fedman David
Published: July 2012

Drawing from an assortment of government reports, contemporary publications, and cartographic materials, this article examines the triangulation survey conducted by the Japanese government-general in Korea from 1910 to 1918. In addition to elucidating the mapmaking process, it explores the ways in which the triangulation survey both reflected and promoted Japan's colonial authority in Korea and abroad. By turns, the author provides a broad sketch of the planning and implementation of the survey, considers the tools and techniques that enabled it, traces the progress of the triangulation enterprise, and dwells on the legacy and limitations of the maps brought about by the triangulation survey.
Production of Space and Space of Production: High-Tech Industrial Parks in Beijing and Shanghai
Authors: Wang Jenn-Hwan , Leng Tse-Kang
Published: July 2012

The development of high-tech industrial parks (HTIPs) has become a salient phenomenon in China's economic and urban development. Current studies regarding the development of HTIPs tend to focus either on the active role of the local government or on the consequences of technological innovation that those parks may have brought about. Very few studies have paid attention to the intrinsic relationship between the process of space production in building HTIPs and the effect on urban development. To fill this theoretical gap, this article considers developing HTIPs as a territorial project through which both central and local states seek to promote economic growth by reorganizing their territories so as to facilitate capital accumulation based on building high-tech industrial parks. The authors use Beijing's Zhongguancun and Shanghai's Yangpu areas as examples to show the active role played by district governments in promoting and using the symbol of "high tech" to develop industrial estates. In the end, due to the HTIPs' quick tax-generating potentiality, their construction has given rise to commodity housing and commercial projects that district governments are much more enthusiastic to pursue. The property-led high-tech development projects have paradoxically generated a negative impact on sustainable high-tech development.
Frontier Boomtown Urbanism in Ordos, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region
Authors: Woodworth Max D.
Published: July 2012

Ordos Municipality, in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, has emerged as one of China's wealthiest places, with an economy driven by massive expansion of the local coal industry. This essay examines how this formerly poor region has experienced breakneck urban growth, becoming a resource-driven frontier boomtown. The frontier boomtown urbanism of Ordos highlights the impulse toward urban construction of the periphery that aspires to catch up with the metropolitan center and to articulate its own centrality through such urbanity.
Amis Aborigine Migrants' Territorialization in Metropolitan Taipei
Authors: Wu Jin-Yung
Published: July 2012

This paper focuses on the relatively successful experience of territorialization by a group of aborigine migrants in metropolitan Taipei, northern Taiwan. The aborigine migrants of the Amis established a self-built community in a marginal site along the riverbank of northern Taipei that was constantly under the threat of floods and eviction and forced relocation by the government. But eventually the settlers and the government came to an agreement regarding on-site relocation, and the municipal authority granted special land use rights to the settlers. Several historical processes help explain their success. First, the rising political discourse of Taiwan Independence in the past decade has provided the aborigine migrants with political legitimacy and support. Second, Taiwan's social activism has been developing rapidly since the 1990s, as its electoral democracy takes shape and matures; the aborigine migrants' rights to the city were an integral part of this social mobilization. Third, the reinforced identity and solidarity within the community in question helped form a coherent front at the moment of confrontation and negotiation with the government. Finally, a group of professional and progressive planners have been actively involved throughout the territorialization process, acting as planners, brokers and coordinators.
Serial Verb Constructions in Dyirbal
Authors: Dixon R. M. W.
Published: July 2012

Both symmetrical and asymmetrical types of serial verb constructions can be recognized for the Australian language Dyirbal; all verbs in a serial verb construction agree in surface transitivity and inflection. Criteria for recognizing serial verb constructions are discussed (including difficulties that arise in the context of purposive constructions), as well as the types of verbs taking part in these constructions, techniques for transitivity matching, inflectional possibilities, the occurrence of derivational suffixes and reduplication, and the range of meanings conveyed.
Language Contact and the Genetic Position of Milang (Eastern Himalaya)
Authors: Post Mark W. , Modi Yankee
Published: July 2012

This article discusses the relationship between Milang, a little-known language of the Eastern Himalayan region, and the Tani branch of Tibeto-Burman languages with which it has been provisionally aligned. Reviewing this alignment, we find little positive evidence in its favor. Bringing new linguistic and cultural field data to bear on the question, we conclude that Milang contains much linguistic material that cannot possibly be directly inherited from the ancestor of all Tani languages proper (i.e., “Proto-Tani”). We therefore suggest that material shared with Tani languages proper is either reconstructible to an earlier, pre-Proto-Tani stage, or has been subsequently acquired through contact with Eastern Tani languages. Material not shared with Tani languages proper may reflect an unknown substrate. While our resulting re-classification of Tani languages is thus in a sense quite minor, it has some important implications: first, that cultural and linguistic diversity in the Eastern Himalaya was probably much greater than has been assumed, and second, that sociolinguistic and cultural information are critical factors in the evaluation of linguistic subgrouping proposals and the reconstruction of pre-history.
“We Don’t Know What We Become”: Navajo Ethnopoetics and an Expressive Feature in a Poem by Rex Lee Jim
Authors: Mitchell Blackhorse , Webster Anthony K.
Published: July 2012

We offer an ethnopoetic interpretation of an expressive feature– insertion of a velar fricative after the stem-initial consonant–that aids in indicating a “lack of control” in a poem written in Navajo by the poet Rex Lee Jim. We focus on how this expressive device is used to indicate an affective stance; the affinity in sound between the optional consonant cluster –chx– in this poem and the chx– found in the Navajo verb stem –chxǫ’ ‘ugly, disorderly’ is crucial in understanding the expressive work of the velar fricative. That such expressive features have sometimes been neglected in the linguistic representation of Navajo is also of interest.
Post-ing Lives
Authors: Whitlock Gillian
Published: July 2012

This special issue of Biography may seem exotic. It engages with a series of concepts that are unusual in studies of life narrative: beginning with zoegraphy and ending with the anthropocene. It turns to scenes of auto/biographical expression that may seem bizarre: animalographies, bioart, narratives of chronic pain, autobiogeography. It embraces creatures, critters, produsers, and avatars. Its critical canon is not traditionally associated with studies of life narrative: Bruno Latour, Deleuze and Guattari, Cary Wolfe, Donna Haraway, Rosi Braidotti, Jane Bennett, Neil Badmington, Judith Butler, Giorgio Agamben. The critical issues, concepts, and contexts we engage with in this issue, however, are anything but exotic. To the contrary: what it means to be human is a question that is fundamental to autobiographical narrative, and embedded in the history of autobiography in western modernity. Around posthumanism an assemblage of work is emerging that is important for critical work on life narrative now, and the essays in this special issue suggest why this is so.
Humanitarian Narrative and Posthumanist Critique: Dave Eggers's What Is The What
Authors: Peek Michelle
Published: July 2012

Dave Eggers's What Is the What is the fictionalized real-life story of Valentino Achak Deng, one of Sudan's "Lost Boys." Critical of a rhetoric of rescue and promise, the novel questions humanitarianism and the prescriptive, colonial, and even racist undertones of its humanism, while at the same time sustaining the value of a humanist language of rights in humanitarian life writing.
Zoegraphy : Per/forming Posthuman Lives
Authors: van den Hengel Louis
Published: July 2012

Drawing on various theories of life from the perspective of philosophical posthumanism, feminist new materialism, and the work of Gilles Deleuze, this article examines the capacity of contemporary art to extend life writing beyond the figure of the human. Through a theoretical and autobiographical engagement with aesthetic practices that turn "life itself" into a work of art, the essay develops zoegraphy as a radically post-anthropocentric approach to life narrative.
Reading the Posthuman Backwards: Mary Rowlandson's Doubled Witnessing
Authors: Smith Sidonie
Published: July 2012

Taking its cue from theorists who note the persistence of a humanist imaginary in popular iterations of posthumanism, this essay queries how the posthuman subject projected by theory might "speak" the autobiographical, and troubles the notion of the posthuman as an epochal designation by turning back to consider what a posthuman lens might reveal about the earliest of colonial American autobiographical narratives, Mary Rowlandson's 1682 captivity narrative. In The True Relation , Rowlandson affirms to her reader how the practice of Biblical exemplarity sustained the affl icted captive as she endured successive removals, and how it sustains the writer as she narrates the story of affliction and restoration. Yet, witnessing to survival, the narrator of The True Relation shifts discourse to become an accidental, unsystematic, proto-humanist ethnographer of encounter, dislocating the saint as posthuman subject through an incipiently humanist attentiveness to difference.
Visual Diary as Prosthetic Practice in Bobby Baker's Diary Drawings
Authors: Watson Julia
Published: July 2012

British performance artist Bobby Baker's Diary Drawings , created over a decade during a struggle with mental illness for which she was institutionalized forty-one times, explores and images aspects of self-experience that have been marginalized in the humanist tradition of autobiography. Refracting her self-portraits through various forms of the inhuman—animal, vegetative, machine—she develops a tropology of visual images that "unmirror" self-representation in the violence of self-misrecognition. Her refl ections on her own process chart a posthuman prosthetic practice that does not therapeutically reincorporate her to the human, but generates a culminating self-portrait as an ahuman landscape of the self.
His Master's Voice: Animalographies, Life Writing, and the Posthuman
Authors: Huff Cynthia , Haefner Joel
Published: July 2012

"Animalographies," life writing "by" and about animals, are examples of popular posthumanism where human subjectivity persists, while Donna Haraway's When Species Meet engages critical posthumanism by analyzing the "coshapings" of human and non-human, and melding autobiography, biography, image, and theory. Haraway's text interrogates agency, subjectivity, authenticity, and the ideological underpinnings of life writing.
Remediating the Infected Body: Writing the Viral Self in Melinda Rackham's carrier
Authors: Barnett Tully
Published: July 2012

Melinda Rackham's web-based multimedia installation carrier invites its audience to consider the intersections of virus and human, through an investigation of the Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) and its impact upon conceptions of the self in the posthuman digital era. Rackham uses her experience with HCV to posit the infected as more-than-human, and in doing so she prompts new ways of thinking about the personal story in a hypertextual framework.
Humanity's Footprint: Reading Rings Of Saturn and Palestinian Walks in an Anthropocene Era
Authors: Kennedy Rosanne
Published: July 2012

Through readings of two "walking memoirs"—W. G. Sebald's The Rings of Saturn and Raja Shehadeh's Palestinian Walks —this article considers the implications of the geological concept of the Anthropocene era for the field of life writing studies and its understanding of the human. It considers the ways these and other authors imagine the human, and the costs of the human pursuit of freedom for other species and things, from a planetary perspective.
There Is No "I" in Network: Social Networking Sites and Posthuman Auto/Biography
Authors: McNeill Laurie
Published: July 2012

This article analyzes Facebook profiles and accounts as instances of life writing that create simultaneously humanist and posthuman lives. Facebook members produce corporate selves in a collaborative auto/biographical act with the site's network—both its software and other members. This co-production of networked lives invites a reconsideration of how we read and create life narratives in an online context.
A Personal Post(human)Script: Further Reading/Reading Further
Authors: Couser G. Thomas
Published: July 2012

Posthumanist life writing expresses what humanist life writing has historically sup pressed or denied—the reality that, individually and collectively, humans are deeply dependent on each other (especially at the beginning and end of life); on other species (for sustenance, labor, raw material, and companionship); and of course, to an increasing extent, on technology.
Agency Without Mastery: Chronic Pain and Posthuman Life Writing
Authors: Gilmore Leigh
Published: July 2012

This article examines how recent life writing about chronic pain produces a relational autobiographical subject possessing agency-without-mastery; it analyzes how such a subject challenges the humanist legacy embedded in life writing and clinical discourse about pain, and expresses a potentially posthuman view of relationships, environments, embodiment, and temporality; and it brings a feminist analysis to bear on the ethical issues posthumanism raises in the domain of life writing about chronic pain.
Autobiography, Authenticity, Human, and Posthuman: Eva Hoffman's Lost In Translation
Authors: Mousley Andy
Published: July 2012

This article contrasts two versions of posthumanism. In one, argued to be in continuity with humanism's own self-critical tradition, metaphysical questions, existential dilemmas, and issues of authentic human existence persist. In the other, dubbed "post-metaphysical," such questions are abandoned. The article uses a literary autobiography, Eva Hoffman's Lost in Translation , to demonstrate the importance of keeping posthumanism human.
L'Hérédo—expression génét(h)ique de la culture : enjeux et dangers d'une métaphore de Léon Daudet
Authors: Larangé Daniel S.
Published: July 2012

Léon Daudet (1867-1942), homme de lettres et féru de sciences, voit dans l'hérédité la source du génie. Toute identité se compose d'un juste équilibre personnalisé entre acquis et inné, phénotype et génotype, décisions individuelles et déterminisme social. Nos mémoires, consciente et inconsciente, sont hantées par le spectre de nos ancêtres qui ont laissé leurs traces sous forme d'héritages dans notre nature même, de sorte que nos aptitudes particulières n'attendent qu'è être activées. Ce codage et décodage de l'information conservée et transmise d'une génération è l'autre par intensité s'effectue è force de rythmes, de tempos et de tensions. Le monde devient ainsi un agrégat de représentations.
Domesticating Hierarchies, Eugenic Hygiene and Exclusion Zones: The Dogs and Clones of Houellebecq's La Possibilité d'une île
Authors: Grass Delphine
Published: July 2012

This article discusses the links between animality, cloning, sexuality, and capitalism in Houellebecq's novel La Possibilité d'une île (2005). In the novel, sexuality and the laws of natural selection are portrayed as discourses that naturalise the capitalist ideology of competitiveness at a biopolitical level. This article argues that, by reflecting beyond the nature versus culture debate in relation to human cloning, La Possibilité d'une île politicises the question of biotechnological reproduction as a matter of collective ownership.
"L'Art eugénique": Biopower and the Biocultures of Neo-Lamarckian Eugenics
Authors: Brauer Fae
Published: July 2012

The inauguration of the Socié;té; française d'eugé;nique has been historically privileged as the 'official' starting point of French eugenics. In viewing eugenics through the lens of Foucauldian "biopower," this article reveals another history originating with the formation of the Third Republic and the national psychosis linking depopulation and degeneration. Locating its emergence within the prism of biocultural intersections forged between artists, scientists, physicians, politicians, publishers, physical educationalists, and modern sportspersons over the Republican imperative of corporeal regeneration, this article demonstrates that neo-Lamarckian eugenics was never an official policy. Coercive and dissuasive, it functioned insidiously and efficaciously as the equivalent of "un art eugé;nique."
L'Eugénisme pour les enfants: Heroes, Villains and Racial Purity in Le Téméraire
Authors: MacLeod Catriona
Published: July 2012

Despite the bande dessinée 's decidedly juvenile focus and audience in the era surrounding the development of eugenicist philosophy, there nonetheless exists evidence within the early child-centred medium of engagement with, and depiction of, racial ideologies. This article presents an in-depth case study of eugenicist issues portrayed in Le Téméraire – a children's weekly illustré unique in its dissemination and espousal of the official ideals of Occupied France between 1943 and 1944. It considers how, using a combination of 'didactic' articles and adventure bandes dessinées , this unique publication repeatedly transmitted messages promoting racial hygiene and Aryan superiority to a 10- to 16-year-old readership.
Jacques Monod, François Jacob, and the Lysenko Affair: Boundary Work
Authors: Marks John
Published: July 2012

This article looks at the highly influential scientific work of François Jacob and Jacques Monod in the context of the Lysenko affair. It argues that Lysenkoism provided a stimulus to understand and interpret the science they were doing in the field of molecular biology in a particular way, leading to a crucial terminological shift from adaptation to induction in 1953. At a time when new geopolitical borders and barriers were being constructed, molecular biology claimed to have identified a rigidly policed border between the genetic material in the cell nucleus and the rest of the cell. Molecular biology was, in this sense, drawn into a form of intellectual Cold War.
"Réhabiliter l'humanité de 'ceux qui voient la nuit'": Albinism in Didier Destremau's Nègre blanc
Authors: Baker Charlotte
Published: July 2012

Despite concern from support groups about the general inaccuracy of depictions of people with albinism, the representation of albinism in contemporary literature has enjoyed limited critical attention. In the preface of his novel Nègre blanc (2002), Didier Destremau outlines his aim to "réhabiliter l'humanité de 'ceux qui voient la nuit,'" acknowledging the beliefs and stereotypes attached to albinism and the need to challenge them. Through a close reading of Nègre blanc this article examines the success of Destremau's project in his novel, which portrays different understandings of the genetic condition by focusing on a protagonist living with albinism in Mozambique.