bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Effect of the β-glucuronidase inhibitor saccharolactone on glucuronidation by human tissue microsomes and recombinant UDP-glucuronosyltransferases
Authors: Oleson Lauren , Court Michael H
Published: August 2008

Glucuronidation studies using microsomes and recombinant uridine diphosphoglucuronosyltransferases (UGTs) can be complicated by the presence of endogenous β-glucuronidases, leading to underestimation of glucuronide formation rates. Saccharolactone is the most frequently used β-glucuronidase inhibitor, although it is not clear whether this reagent should be added routinely to glucuronidation incubations. Here we have determined the effect of saccharolactone on eight different UGT probe activities using pooled human liver microsomes (pHLMs) and recombinant UGTs (rUGTs). Despite the use of buffered incubation solutions, it was necessary to adjust the pH of saccharolactone solutions to avoid effects (enhancement or inhibition) of lowered pH on UGT activity. Saccharolactone at concentrations ranging from 1 to 20 mM did not enhance any of the glucuronidation activities evaluated that could be considered consistent with inhibition of β-glucuronidase. However, for most activities, higher saccharolactone concentrations resulted in a modest degree of inhibition. The greatest inhibitory effect was observed for glucuronidation of 5-hydroxytryptamine and estradiol by pHLMs, with a 35% decrease at 20 mM saccharolactone concentration. Endogenous β-glucuronidase activities were also measured using various human tissue microsomes and rUGTs with estradiol-3-glucuronide and estradiol-17-glucuronide as substrates. Glucuronide hydrolysis was observed for pHLMs, lung microsomes and insect-cell expressed rUGTs, but not for kidney, intestinal or human embryonic kidney HEK293 microsomes. However, the extent of hydrolysis was relatively small, representing only 9–19% of the glucuronide formation rate measured in the same preparations. Consequently, these data do not support the routine inclusion of saccharolactone in glucuronidation incubations. If saccharolactone is used, concentrations should be titrated to achieve activity enhancement without inhibition.
Involvement of kappa opioid receptors in the inhibition of receptor desensitization and PKC activation induced by repeated morphine treatment
Authors: Hamabe Wakako , Yamane Hiroyuki , Harada Shinichi , Tokuyama Shogo
Published: August 2008

Analgesic tolerance to morphine can develop from long-term use of this drug for the treatment of pain. Many reports have shown that stimulation of the kappa opioid receptor (KOR) suppresses development of analgesic tolerance to morphine. Here, we studied the KOR-mediated inhibition of morphine tolerance during repeated morphine treatment, with a focus on desensitization of the receptor. The development of analgesic tolerance to morphine during repeated morphine administration (10 mgkg−1 s.c.) was completely suppressed by U-50488H (2 mgkg−1 i.p.), a KOR agonist. The decrease in [35S] GTPγS binding activity stimulated by the mu opioid receptor (MOR) agonist [D-Ala2, N-Me-Phe4, Gly5-ol]-enkephalin (DAMGO) was also significantly inhibited by U-50488H. These results indicate that stimulation of KOR caused by repeated morphine treatment either inhibits MOR desensitization or accelerates recycling of MOR on the cell surface, thereby suppressing morphine tolerance. Furthermore, we found that activity of protein kinase C (PKC) was significantly decreased in mice treated with both U-50488H and morphine. These results suggest that the mechanisms underlying KOR-mediated inhibition of analgesic tolerance to morphine may be partly due to suppression of PKC activation and prevention of receptor desensitization.
Presence or absence of a gallate moiety on catechins affects their cellular transport
Authors: Kadowaki Masaaki , Sugihara Narumi , Tagashira Tomohiko , Terao Kazumi , Furuno Koji
Published: August 2008

The accumulation of (—)-epicatechin (EC), a non-gallate catechin, was significantly lower than that of (—)-epicatechin gallate (ECG), a gallate catechin, in Caco-2 cells. Using Caco-2 cell monolayers cultured in transwells, the transport of catechins in the basolateral-to-apical direction was much higher than that in the apical-to-basolateral direction, suggesting the involvement of an efflux transporter. Moreover, the results suggest that involvement of a transporter in EC efflux is greater than that for ECG. Treatment with transporter inhibitors MK571, quinidine or mitoxantrone, which inhibit MRP2, P-glycoprotein (P-gp) and BCRP, respectively, led to an increase in the accumulation of EC into Caco-2 cells and a decrease in the Papp ratio (Papp B→A/Papp A→B) for EC. These transporters seemed to be involved in EC efflux. BCRP was not an efflux transporter for ECG, and the influences of MRP2 and P-gp on ECG efflux were lower than for EC. Thus, efflux transporters appear to be responsible for the difference in cellular accumulation of EC versus ECG, suggesting that the presence or absence of a gallate moiety in the catechin structure influences the transporters.
Hypolipidaemic mechanisms of action of CM108 (a flavone derivative) in hyperlipidaemic rats
Authors: Ji Wei , Guo Lei , Lian Jihong , Gong Bangqiang
Published: August 2008

In the present study, the molecular mechanisms by which CM108, a flavone derivative, improves lipid profiles were investigated further. Hyperlipidaemia was induced by oral administration of high cholesterol and fat. After 4 weeks of treatment, the lipid levels in the serum, liver and faeces were measured and the liver genes involved in lipid metabolism were analysed to explore the molecular mechanisms of lowering lipids. CM108 modulated lipid profiles, including elevating the level of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C; 40%) and reducing serum levels of triglyceride (10%), total cholesterol (10%) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (26%). Levels of triglyceride and total cholesterol in the liver were reduced by 18% and 24%, respectively. Increased HDL-C level was attributed to the synergic effects of CM108 in increasing levels of ATP-binding cassette transporter (ABC)A1, apolipoprotein AI and apolipoprotein AII in the liver. Intriguingly, CM108 induced genes, including fatty acid transport protein, acyl-CoA synthetase and lipoprotein lipase that are important for more efficient fatty acid β-oxidation, thereby reducing serum and liver triglyceride levels. In addition, induction of ABCG5, ABCG8 and cholesterol 7α-hydroxylase contributed to cholesterol metabolism, leading to decreases in serum and liver cholesterol levels. Thus, the genes involved in lipid metabolism were systemically modulated by CM108, which contributed to the improvement of lipid profiles in hyperlipidaemic rats.
Inhibitory activities of prenylated flavonoids from Sophora flavescens against aldose reductase and generation of advanced glycation endproducts
Authors: Jung Hyun Ah , Yoon Na Young , Kang Sam Sik , Kim Yeong Shik , Choi Jae Sue
Published: August 2008

Important targets for the prevention and treatment of diabetic complications include aldose reductase (AR) inhibitors (ARIs) and inhibitors of advanced glycation endproduct (AGE) formation. Here we evaluate the inhibitory activities of prenylated flavonoids isolated from Sophora flavescens, a traditional herbal medicine, on rat lens AR (RLAR), human recombinant AR (HRAR) and AGE formation. Among the tested compounds, two prenylated chalcones — desmethylanhydroicaritin (1) and 8-lavandulylkaempferol (2) — along with five prenylated flavanones — kurarinol (8), kurarinone (9), (2S)-2′-methoxykurarinone (10), (2S)-3β,7,4′-trihydroxy-5-methoxy-8-(γ,γ-dimethylally)-flavanone (11), and kushenol E (13) were potent inhibitors of RLAR, with IC50 values of 0.95, 3.80, 2.13, 2.99, 3.77, 3.63 and 7.74 μM, respectively, compared with quercetin (IC50 7.73 μM). In the HRAR assay, most of the prenylated flavonoids tested showed marked inhibitory activity compared with quercetin (IC50 2.54 μM). In particular, all tested prenylated flavonols, such as desmethylanhydroicaritin (1, IC50 0.45 μM), 8-lavandulylkaempferol (2, IC50 0.79 μM) and kushenol C (3, IC50 0.85 μM), as well as a prenylated chalcone, kuraridin (5, IC50 0.27 μM), and a prenylated flavanone, (2S)-7,4′-dihydroxy-5-methoxy-8-(γ,γ-dimethylally)-flavanone (12, IC50 0.37 μM), showed significant inhibitory activities compared with the potent AR inhibitor epalrestat (IC50 0.28 μM). Interestingly, prenylated flavonoids 1 (IC50 104.3 μgmL−1), 2 (IC50 132.1 μgmL−1), 3 (IC50 84.6 μgmL−1) and 11 (IC50 261.0 μgmL−1), which harbour a 3-hydroxyl group, also possessed good inhibitory activity toward AGE formation compared with the positive control aminoguanidine (IC50 115.7 μgmL−1). Thus, S. flavescens and its prenylated flavonoids inhibit the processes that underlie diabetic complications and related diseases and may therefore have therapeutic benefit.
Zinc-mediated Allylation of Aryl 2-Propynyl Acetates: A Facile Synthesis of 1,5-Enynes
Authors: Yadav J S , Reddy B V Subba , Chandrakanth D , Prashant B
Published: August 2008

Aryl 2-propynyl acetates undergo smooth allylation with allylzinc bromide (generated in situ from allyl bromide and zinc metal) in THF at room temperature under mild conditions to furnish the corresponding 1,5-enynes in good to excellent yields and with high selectivity. Indium metal is also found to accomplish the nucleophilic substitution of aryl 2-propynylic acetates with allyl bromide.
Facile Preparation of Nickel Ferrite Nanocrystals via a Novel Reduction–Oxidation Route
Authors: Gu Zhijun , Fan Guoli , Yang Lan , Xiang Xu , Liu Shubin , Li Feng
Published: August 2008

Nickel ferrite nanocrystals with narrow distribution of crystallite sizes have been obtained through a novel and facile reduction–oxidation approach. The as-prepared samples with the stoichiometric and nanocrystalline nature exhibit a promising superparamagnetic behavior.
Peer Effects and Alcohol Use among College Students
Authors: Kremer Michael , Levy Dan
Published: August 2008

This paper examines the extent to which college students who drink alcohol influence their peers. We exploit a natural experiment in which students at a large state university were randomly assigned roommates through a lottery system. We find that on average, males assigned to roommates who reported drinking in the year prior to entering college had a Grade Point Average (GPA) one quarter-point lower than those assigned to nondrinking roommates. The effect of initial assignment to a drinking roommate persists into the second year of college and possibly grows. The effect is especially large for students who drank alcohol themselves in the year prior to college. In contrast to the males, females' GPAs do not appear affected by roommates' drinking prior to college. Furthermore, students' college GPA is not significantly affected by roommates' high school grades, admission test scores, or family background. These findings are more consistent with models in which peers change people's preferences than with models in which peers change people's choice sets. Surprisingly, the policy of segregating drinkers by having substance-free housing could potentially lower average GPA in the university.
Postanalytical External Quality Assessment of Urine Albumin in Primary Health Care: An International Survey
Authors: Aakre Kristin M , Thue Geir , Subramaniam-Haavik Sumathi , Bukve Tone , Morris Howard , Müller Mathias , Lovrencic Marijana V , Plum Inger , Kallion Kaja , Aab Alar , Kutt Marge , Gillery Philippe , Schneider Nathalie , Horvath Andrea R , Onody Rita , Oosterhuis Wytze , Ricos Carmen , Perich Carmen , Nordin Gunnar , Sandberg Sverre
Published: August 2008

background: Microalbuminuria (MA) is recognized as an important risk factor for cardiovascular and renal complications in diabetes. We sought to evaluate how screening for MA is conducted and how urine albumin (UA) results are interpreted in primary care internationally.

methods: General practitioners (GPs) received a case history–based questionnaire depicting a male type 2 diabetes patient in whom UA testing had not been performed. Questions were related to type of urine sample used for UA testing, need for a repeat test, whether UA testing was performed in the office laboratory, and what changes in UA results were considered clinically important [critical difference (CD)]. Participants received national benchmarking feedback reports.

results: We included 2078 GPs from 9 European countries. Spot urine samples were used most commonly for first time office-based testing, whereas timed collections were used to a larger extent for hospital-based repeat tests. Repeat tests were requested by 45%–77% of GPs if the first test was positive. Four different measurement units were used by 70% of participants in estimating clinically important changes in albumin values. Stated CDs varied considerably among GPs, with similar variations in each country. A median CD of 33% was considered clinically important for both improvement and deterioration in MA, corresponding to an achievable analytical imprecision of 14%, when UA is reported as an albumin/creatinine ratio.

conclusions: Guidelines on diagnosing MA are followed only partially, and should be made more practicable, addressing issues such as type of samples, measurement units, and repeat tests.
Plasma Insulinlike Growth Factor 1 and Binding-Protein 3 and Risk of Myocardial Infarction in Women: A Prospective Study
Authors: Page John H , Ma Jing , Pollak Michael , Manson JoAnn E , Hankinson Susan E
Published: August 2008

Background: The aim of this study was to prospectively evaluate relationships between plasma concentrations of insulinlike growth factor 1 (IGF1) and insulinlike growth factor binding protein 3 (IGFBP3) and subsequent myocardial infarction (MI) in women.

Methods: We used case-control sampling to select study participants from women who had already been selected for inclusion in the prospective Nurses’ Health Study cohort. Blood samples were collected from 32 826 women in 1989–1990. During the follow-up period from sample collection through June 1998, MI (fatal and nonfatal) was diagnosed in 245 women. Cases were matched to controls 1:2 by age, cigarette-smoking status, and month and fasting status at the time of blood collection. Conditional logistic regression was used to adjust for potential confounders (menopausal status, parental history of MI, postmenopausal hormone use, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, aspirin use, alcohol use, body mass index, and physical activity).

Results: Multivariable adjusted analyses did not reveal a statistically significant linear relationship between IGF1 or IGFBP3 concentrations or their molar ratio and risk of MI. Women in the highest IGF1 quartile had a multivariable-adjusted rate ratio of 1.46 (95% CI 0.79, 2.72; P for trend = 0.46) for MI, compared with those in the lowest. The corresponding rate ratios (95% CI) for IGFBP3 and the IGF1:IGFBP3 mol/L ratio were 1.24 (0.71, 2.17) and 1.29 (0.70, 2.37), respectively.

Conclusions: We did not observe a monotonic relationship between IGF1 or IGFBP3 and MI among predominantly postmenopausal women. Future studies are warranted to evaluate these relationships in other demographic groups including younger women.
Anchor-Based Fluorescent Amplicon Generation Assays (FLAG) for Real-Time Measurement of Human Cytomegalovirus, Epstein–Barr Virus, and Varicella-Zoster Virus Viral Loads
Authors: Di Nicola Alessandro , Ghezzi Elisa , Gillio Federico , Zerilli Francesco , Shehi Erlet , Maritano Diego , Panizzo Massimo , Bonelli Fabrizio , Adlerstein Daniel
Published: August 2008

Background: Monitoring the human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), Epstein–Barr virus (EBV), or varicella-zoster virus (VZV) viral load is an important factor in the management of immunosuppressed patients, such as recipients of solid-organ or bone marrow transplants. The advent of real-time PCR technologies has prompted the widespread development of quantitative PCR assays for the detection of viral loads and other diagnostic purposes.

Methods: The fluorescent amplicon generation (FLAG) technology uses the PspGI restriction enzyme to monitor PCR product generation. We modified the FLAG technology by introducing an accessory oligonucleotide “anchor” that stabilizes the binding of the forward primer to the target sequence (a-FLAG). We developed assays for HCMV, EBV, and VZV that incorporated an internal amplification-control reaction to validate negative results and extensively analyzed the performance of the HCMV a-FLAG assay.

Results: The 3 assays performed similarly with respect to reaction efficiency and linear range. Compared with a commercially available kit, the HCMV a-FLAG assay results showed good correlation with calculated concentrations (r = 0.9617), excellent diagnostic sensitivity and specificity (99% and 95%, respectively), and similar values for the linear range (1–107 copies/μL), analytical sensitivity (0.420 copies/μL), and intra- and interassay imprecision.

Conclusions: The a-FLAG assay is an alternative real-time PCR technology suitable for detecting and quantifying target-DNA sequences. For clinical applications such as the measurement of viral load, a-FLAG assays provide multiplex capability, internal amplification control, and high diagnostic sensitivity and specificity.
Newborn Screening for Pompe Disease by Measuring Acid α-Glucosidase Activity Using Tandem Mass Spectrometry
Authors: Dajnoki Angéla , Mühl Adolf , Fekete György , Keutzer Joan , Orsini Joe , DeJesus Victor , Zhang X Kate , Bodamer Olaf A
Published: August 2008

background: Pompe disease, caused by the deficiency of acid α-glucosidase (GAA), is a lysosomal storage disorder that manifests itself in its most severe form within the first months of life. Early detection by newborn screening is warranted, since prompt initiation of enzyme replacement therapy may improve morbidity and mortality. We evaluated a tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) method to measure GAA activity for newborn screening for Pompe disease.

methods: We incubated 3.2-mm punches from dried blood spots (DBS) for 22 h with the substrate [7-benzoylamino-heptyl)-{2-[4-(3,4,5-trihydroxy-6-hydroxymethyl-tetrahydro-pyran-2-yloxy)-phenylcarbamoyl]- ethyl}-carbamic acid tert-butyl ester] and internal standard [7-d5-benzoylamino-heptyl)-[2-(4-hydroxy-phenylcarbamoyl)-ethyl]-carbamic acid tertbutyl ester]. We quantified the resulting product and internal standard using MS/MS. We assessed inter- and intrarun imprecision, carryover, stability, and correlation between enzyme activities and hematocrit and punch location and generated a Pompe disease–specific cutoff value using routine newborn screening samples.

results: GAA activities in DBS from 29 known Pompe patients were <2 μmol/h/L. GAA activities in routine newborn screening samples were [mean (SD)] 14.7 (7.2) μmol/h/L (n = 10 279, median 13.3, 95% CI 14.46–14.74 μmol/h/L) and in normal adult samples 9.3 (3.3) μmol/h/L (n = 229, median 9, 95% CI 8.88–9.72 μmol/h/L). GAA activity was stable for 28 days between 37 °C and −80 °C. Carryover could not be observed, whereas intrarun and interrun imprecision were <10%. The limit of detection was 0.26 μmol/h/L and limit of quantification 0.35 μmol/h/L.

conclusions: The measurement of GAA activities in dry blood spots using MS/MS is suitable for high-throughput analysis and newborn screening for Pompe disease.
Successful treatment of vitamin D unresponsive hypoparathyroidism with multipulse subcutaneous infusion of teriparatide
Authors: Puig-Domingo Manel , Díaz Gonzalo , Nicolau Joanna , Fernández Cristián , Rueda Sergio , Halperin Irene
Published: August 2008

Objective

Hypoparathyroidism is usually controlled with calcium and vitamin-D supplements; in very few cases this treatment fails and teriparatide may be an alternative. We report the first case of hypoparathyroidism refractory to vitamin-D therapy requiring multipulse teriparatide treatment.

Case report

A 53 year-old woman presented severe hypocalcemia and hypomagnesemia after thyroidectomy. Preoperatively, mild hypercalciuria was detected with parathyroid hormone (PTH) 69 pg/ml (normal 10–45) and 25-OH-vitamin D 9 ng/ml (normal 20–40) and normal levels of magnesium. No response was seen with oral and i.v. calcium and magnesium, or even with 5 μg calcitriol/day, suggesting a vitamin-D resistance status. Calcium sensor and vitamin-D receptor gene mutation studies were negative.

Interventions and results

The following treatments were tried: i) s.c. recombinant human PTH (rhPTH) 1–34 plus oral calcitriol, calcium, and magnesium, was partially effective, but symptoms resumed 4 h after the injection of 20 μg rhPTH; stable calcemia was not achieved even with 4–6 injections/day of teriparatide; ii) two trials of heterologous parathyroid transplant were performed but rejection was detected 3 months after; iii) i.v. magnesium decreased rhPTH requirements but i.m. administration was not tolerated and iv) multipulse s.c. infusion of teriparatide achieved complete normalization of serum calcium, phosphate, magnesium, calciuria and magnesuria with relatively low rhPTH doses (25–35 μg/day) for more than a year.

Conclusions

Vitamin-D unresponsiveness leads to uncontrolled hypocalcemia when postsurgical hypoparathyroidism occurs; in situations of no response to usual or higher doses of vitamin-D and s.c. injections of rhPTH, treatment with teriparatide multipulse s.c. infusor is an effective and safe alternative.
Elevated ghrelin levels in preterm born children during prepubertal ages and relationship with catch-up growth
Authors: Darendeliler Feyza , Bas Firdevs , Bundak Ruveyde , Coban Asuman , Disci Rian , Sancakli Ozlem , Gokcay Gulbin , Ince Zeynep , Can Gulay
Published: August 2008

Background

Ghrelin, the natural ligand of the GH secretagogue receptor, has potent orexigenic effect. Ghrelin levels are negatively associated with insulin secretion, increased in anorexia, and reduced in obesity. Increased ghrelin levels may be associated with early postnatal growth in preterm born children.

Objective

Aim of this study was to evaluate ghrelin and insulin levels at prepubertal ages in preterm born children born appropriate for gestational age (AGA) or small for gestational age (SGA) and relationships with catch-up growth (CUG) in a prospective cross-sectional study.

Methods

Eighty-four preterm born children grouped as preterm SGA (n=28) and preterm AGA (n=56) were evaluated at age 4.7±0.2 and 4.7±0.1 years with respect to their ghrelin and insulin levels. Their data were compared with that of body mass index matched term SGA (n=35) and term AGA (n=44) children of age 4.6±0.2 and 3.8±0.1 years. All children had height appropriate for their target height. CUG was defined as the difference between birth size and recent size and expressed as Δ height and Δ weight SDS.

Results

Preterm SGA and preterm AGA children had similar ghrelin levels (1717.0±166.9 and 1656.5±103.8 pg/ml), although Δ height and Δ weight SDS in preterm SGA were significantly higher than in preterm AGA children (P<0.001). Ghrelin levels in both preterm groups were higher than term SGA (469.2±132.5 pg/ml) and term AGA children (659.6±143.3 pg/ml; P<0.001 for all). Δ Height and Δ weight SDS of the term SGA children were similar to that of preterm SGA children. Ghrelin did not have correlation with CUG but had inverse correlation with recent anthropometric indices. Insulin was significantly higher in term SGA children than other groups (P<0.001).

Conclusions

Preterm children have higher ghrelin levels at prepubertal ages regardless of the magnitude of their CUG. Term SGA children, on the other hand, behave differently and have lower ghrelin levels than preterm children at prepubertal ages, which may be related to elevated insulin levels in this group.
Secretagogues govern GH secretory-burst waveform and mass in healthy eugonadal and short-term hypogonadal men
Authors: Veldhuis Johannes D , Keenan Daniel M
Published: August 2008

Background

GH pulses are putatively initiated by hypothalamic GH-releasing hormone (GHRH), amplified by GH-releasing peptide (GHRP), and inhibited by somatostatin (SS).

Objective

To ascertain how secretagogues control the waveform (time evolution of release rates) as well as the mass of secretory bursts.

Design

We quantified the shape of GH secretory bursts evoked by continuous combined i.v. infusion of maximally effective doses of GHRH and GHRP-2, and by bolus injection of each peptide after delivering l-arginine to restrain hypothalamic SS release in 12 healthy young men.

Methods

A mathematically verified and experimentally validated variable-waveform deconvolution model was applied to intensively sampled GH time series.

Results

The secretory-burst mode (time from burst onset to maximal secretion) was 19±0.69 min during saline infusion, and fell to a) 10.4±3.0 min during constant dual stimulation with GHRH/GHRP-2 (P<0.01), b) 14.6±1.8 min after l-arginine/GHRH (P<0.025), and c) 15.0±1.0 min after l-arginine/GHRH (P<0.01). Secretagogues augmented the mass of GH secreted in pulses by 44-, 42-, and 16-fold respectively, over saline (2.2±0.81 μg/l per h; P<0.001 for each). Pulse number and variability were unaffected. Applying the same methodology to ten other young men with acute leuprolide-induced hypogonadism yielded comparable waveform and mass estimates.

Conclusion

The present analyses in men demonstrate that peptidyl secretagogues modulate not only the magnitude but also the time course of the GH-release process in vivo independently of the short-term sex-steroid milieu.
Presidential Address 2007: The Scandal of Literacy
Authors: Holquist Michael
Published: August 2008

As I was preparing to leave for Chicago, I read the latestPMLAspecial-topic issue,Remapping Genre, coordinated by Wai Chee Dimock and Bruce Robbins. So, impressed once again by the power of the concept of genre, I begin by remarking the form of what I am doing here tonight. That genre is, of course, something called an MLA presidential address. There have been 116 such addresses since 1883, when forty professors met at Columbia to found the MLA. As the 117th president in this long line, I prepared for this evening by doing a small study of what my predecessors have written for the occasion over more than a century. Such a study, I might add, is very much part of the genre. Certain features of the canon are persistent enough to catch the eye of even the most casual student of the form. The dominant structure of an MLA presidential address is an arrangement that goes back at least to the Sophists: it is an argument arranged as a contest between two antitheses. Over the years, the dichotomies have changed, but the template of binary opposition has remained improbably constant.
The Antipanopticon of Etheridge Knight
Authors: Collins Michael
Published: August 2008

Panopticism seeks to make the pysche visible to a top-down system of examination and classification. In the process, it drives out privacy, the right to privacy, and, with them, the right to free self-making. Against this driving out, Etheridge Knight poses a remarkable body of poetry and prose that becomes a kind of antipanopticon in its cultivation of unconstrained communication and communion. During the years he spent as a “guest” of the Indiana State Prison, for instance, Knight wrote for prison and, later, other publications. He sought, even in the prison columns that were his main early outlet, to cultivate a communicative feedback loop capable of providing a channel through which hospitality could reach those who could not recognize themselves in mainstream American discourse. Knight's feedback loop confirms Jacques Derrida's view that “language is hospitality.”
The Daily Living of Robert Frost
Authors: Phillips Siobhan
Published: August 2008

While Robert Frost's emphasis on ordinary themes has often been noted, his use of ordinary time bears further attention: his poems show how the repetitive pattern of daily living can be a creative possibility rather than an enervating necessity. His everyday verse suggests revised definitions of lyric temporality as well as new reconciliations of the dualistic oppositions structuring accounts of modernist and Americanist literature. In Frost, human repetition allows a willful independence endorsed by the natural world. The generally neglected poem “In the Home Stretch” demonstrates his most beneficent version of ordinary living, showing how retrospection and conversation are crucial elements of its practice and how marriage can promote these habits. Frost provides a contrasting, failed version of everyday practice in “Home Burial” and a comparable sense of repetitive possibility in “Never Again Would Birds' Song Be the Same.”
The Lineup for Meat: The Stalin Statue in Prague
Authors: Pichova Hana
Published: August 2008

In Prague a debate is taking place over whether an aquarium ought to be built on the site that once housed the largest monument to Stalin. The site is difficult to contend with, not only because it is a physical reminder of the atrocities committed during the Communist rule but also because of the monument's bizarre history, one plagued by absurd events. The monument's history is preserved in obscure historical and fictional narratives. I explore these narratives in terms of monumentality, foreign imposition, socialist-realist aesthetics, power, and humor. I concentrate on the dual function the absurd served in the history of the statue. Reliance on humor, while enabling the Czechs to undercut the monumentality of this emblem of the imposition of foreign power, also fostered a forgetting of the statue's history and political significance. Thus, the Czechs' propensity for the absurd, even if temporarily freeing, ultimately undermines the nation's understanding of its past.
Books as Bombs: Incendiary Reading Practices in Women's Prisons
Authors: Sweeney Megan
Published: August 2008

Reading receives considerable cultural and institutional support in the contemporary united states, from face-to-face, televised, and online book clubs to community-wide reading initiatives such as Michigan Reads!; One Book, One Philadelphia; and On the Same Page Cincinnati. In United States prisons, however, opportunities for reading and education have steadily declined since the prisoners' rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s gave way to the retributive-justice framework of the 1980s and beyond.
Beyond Prison Education
Authors: Trounstine Jean
Published: August 2008

During my ten years teaching college classes and directing eight plays at framingham women's prison in massachusetts, I was always at odds with institutionally funded education programs behind bars. While I chose plays and ran discussions to expand thinking (The Merchant of Venice, Lysistrata, The Taming of the Shrew, Simply Maria, and Waiting for Lefty, to name a few) the unspoken aim of the education department was to reform the women—that is, to enlighten them on what society says is the “best” way to be, to teach socially accepted behavior as an antidote to crime.
Profane Illuminations: The Gendered Problematics of Critical Carceral Visualities
Authors: Tapia Ruby C.
Published: August 2008

Since 1978, the population of women prisoners in the united states has increased by four hundred percent. The number of women now living and dying in cells exceeds 200,000 (United States Dept. of Justice). They are without access to proper health care, without the children that many of them will lose permanently: they are without. These are stark details, obscene in their materiality. They are facts, but they are not the picture. The picture is impossible. Indeed, the picture is the problem.
Academics Belong in Prison: On Creating a University at San Quentin
Authors: Lewen Jody
Published: August 2008

When i first started teaching as a volunteer instructor in the college program at san quentin state prison in 1999, I used to imagine writing an article about what I was experiencing to submit to PMLA. The thought of that article took on an almost therapeutic function; it became a mental structure for processing what was often, from the beginning, an intellectually and emotionally overwhelming experience. At the time, it seemed natural that sharing what I was learning with a few thousand stranger-colleagues was the most reassuring thing I could imagine. Only in retrospect do I find this a strangely moving illustration of what it means to me to be a part of an intellectual community. I would never have imagined back then that the editors of PMLA themselves would one day initiate an entire special issue on this topic.
Attica Educations: Dante in Exile
Authors: Herzman Ronald B.
Published: August 2008

One doesn't get too many teaching moments like this: I am standing by the water fountain outside our classroom. One of the students taking a break from the final exam in the course in Dante's Divine Comedy looks up at me from the fountain and says, “When I read this stuff, it's like I'm out of here.”
Humanities 2.0: Promise, Perils, Predictions
Authors: Davidson Cathy N.
Published: August 2008

There has never been a great age of science and technology without a corresponding flourishing of the arts and humanities. In any time or place of rapid technological advance, those creatures we would now call humanists—literary commentators, historians, philosophers, logicians, theologians, linguists, scholars of the arts, and all manner of writers, musicians, and artists—have also had a field day. Perhaps that generalization is actually a tautology. Great ages of science are great ages of the humanities because an age isn't a historical period but a construct, and constructs are the work of humanists. Throughout history, there have been many momentous scientific discoveries that simply drift into the culture, are adapted without any particular new social or philosophical arrangements. It is the humanistic articulation of the significance of scientific change that announces a new episteme, a world-altering, even metaphysical, transformation. While scientists and engineers are responsible for the discoveries and inventions, humanists consolidate those experimental findings, explain them, and aggregate their impact in such a way that we suddenly have not just the new but an epoch-defining paradigm shift. (E = mc is an equation; the concept of relativity is a defining intellectual model.) The humanistic turn of mind provides the historical perspective, interpretive skill, critical analysis, and narrative form required to articulate the significance of the scientific discoveries of an era, show how they change our sense of what it means to be human, and demarcate their continuity with or difference from existing ideologies.
Obsolescence
Authors: Fitzpatrick Kathleen
Published: August 2008

I was invited by the MLA committee on the status of graduate students in the profession to speak at a convention workshop entitled “Keywords for a Digital Profession.” My keyword was obsolescence, a catchall term for a multiplicity of conditions; there are material obsolescences, institutional obsolescences, and purely theoretical obsolescences, each type demanding a different response. I spent years pondering theoretical obsolescence while writing The Anxiety of Obsolescence: The American Novel in the Age of Television. The book argues, in part, that claims about the obsolescence of cultural forms often say more about those doing the claiming than they do about the objects of the claims. Neither the novel in particular nor the book more broadly nor print in general is dead, and agonized announcements of the death of such technologies and genres often serve to re-create an elite cadre of cultural producers and consumers, ostensibly operating on the margins of contemporary culture and profiting from their claims of marginality by creating a sense that their own values, once mainstream and now decaying, must be protected. Two oft-cited reports of the National Endowment for the Arts, Reading at Risk (2004) and To Read or Not to Read (2007), come to mind; like numerous other expressions of anxiety about the supposed decline of reading, each rhetorically creates a cultural wildlife preserve in which the apparently obsolete can flourish (United States). These texts suggest that obsolescence is, in this case at least, less a material state than a political project.
The Sound of Poetry / The Poetry of Sound: The 2006 MLA Presidential Forum
Authors: Perloff Marjorie , Dworkin Craig
Published: August 2008

An onomatopoeic expression automatically entails the specification of what is being described. A pattering sound cannot come from a piece of wood. But when I was listening to [Peter Ablinger's Berlin sound] recordings, I sometimes couldn't tell whether a sound was coming from thunder or a sheet of metal. I wanted to represent the sound, not the person who was producing it, nor its metaphorical significance. It took me quite some time to come up with a solution: My solution was not to find a solution, but rather to enter into the crevice between sound and language and make countless little notes.

—Yoko Tawada, “The Art of Being Synchronous”
Althusser: Blowup (Lineaments of a Different Thought)
Authors: Rodríguez Juan Carlos
Published: August 2008

Nothing is more remarkable in the tradition of Althusserian Marxism than the silence that has dogged the work of Juan Carlos Rodríguez. One thinks of the relative importance attached to the work of Terry Eagleton and Fredric Jameson. Some might believe the discrepancy is a matter of merit rather than of willful or unconscious neglect. But even the most casual comparison of Rodríguez'sTheory and History of Ideological Productionwith Eagleton'sCriticism and Ideology(1975) and with Jameson'sThe Political Unconscious(1981) suggests that this can hardly be the case. The parallel with Jameson is particularly intriguing. Like Rodríguez, the North American scholar accepts Louis Althusser's view of the social totality as a “decentered structure” in which various levels develop in “relative autonomy” and in which different feudal and capitalist matrices coexist. Also like Rodríguez, he considers literary works to be a form of ideological discourse that represses historical truth. Why, then, the silence that surrounds Rodríguez? The answer lies in the extent to which Jameson's work recontains diverse critical positions in the larger horizon of Marxism. Such a practice, as Eagleton has argued, is congenial to a dominant American pragmatism and eclecticism, as are the presiding Marxist Hegelian categories of reification and commodification (60–62). The consequences, politically, are found in Jameson's amorphous brand of “alliance” politics. The material situation of Rodríguez was very different. Given the militancy of the working class in Spain, his presiding categories were those of exploitation and class conflict, which combine to form the basis of a revolutionary proletarian politics that is anything but acceptable to the North American academy.
Emergence of Patterned Stem Cell Differentiation Within Multicellular Structures
Authors: Ruiz Sami Alom , Chen Christopher S.
Published: August 2008

The ability of stem cells to differentiate into specified lineages in the appropriate locations is vital to morphogenesis and adult tissue regeneration. Although soluble signals are important regulators of patterned differentiation, here we show that gradients of mechanical forces can also drive patterning of lineages. In the presence of soluble factors permitting osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation, human mesenchymal stem cells at the edge of multicellular islands differentiate into the osteogenic lineage, whereas those in the center became adipocytes. Interestingly, changing the shape of the multicellular sheet modulated the locations of osteogenic versus adipogenic differentiation. Measuring traction forces revealed gradients of stress that preceded and mirrored the patterns of differentiation, where regions of high stress resulted in osteogenesis, whereas stem cells in regions of low stress differentiated to adipocytes. Inhibiting cytoskeletal tension suppressed the relative degree of osteogenesis versus adipogenesis, and this spatial patterning of differentiation was also present in three-dimensional multicellular clusters. These findings demonstrate a role for mechanical forces in linking multicellular organization to spatial differentials of cell differentiation, and they represent an important guiding principle in tissue patterning that could be exploited in stem cell-based therapies.

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest is found at the end of this article.
Effect of Work Environment on Care Managers’ Role Ambiguity: An Exploratory study in Japan
Authors: Yoshie Satoru , Saito Tami , Takahashi Miyako , Kai Ichiro
Published: August 2008

Previous literature pointed out that the role of care managers is ambiguous. In 2000, Japan instituted a new policy for long-term care of the elderly (the National Long-Term Care Insurance Policy), within which the work of care managers was recognized as a new profession providing care management services for the elderly needing care. We conducted a random-sampled mail survey on 530 care managers in 268 organizations to clarify the association between role ambiguity and care managers’ work environments, including role clarification, organizational profit-seeking climate, and the utilization of professional and personal support. The results showed that fewer opportunities for role clarification and increased organizational profit-seeking climate were associated with greater role ambiguity for care managers. Furthermore, emotional and instrumental support from colleagues and external resources were positively associated with role ambiguity, while informational support from superiors was negatively associated with role ambiguity. Role clarification and the utilization of support within and outside of work organizations would be beneficial to reduce the role ambiguity of care managers.
Regulating Payment for Home Care Companionship Services: Legal Authority and Public Policy
Authors: Kapp Marshall B.
Published: August 2008

On June 11, 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling in the case of Long Island Care at Home Ltd. v. Coke that upheld a federal regulation exempting employees of third-party agencies who provide home-based “companionship services” to disabled persons from the protections of the minimum wage and overtime pay provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. This article discusses the legal issues argued in the case and the legal rationales for the court’s decision. The article then identifies the important public policy questions involving the maintenance of a sufficient, competent home care workforce that were left unanswered by the legal ruling and outlines some of the pragmatic implications of potential responses to these public policy questions.
Use of a Three‐Dimensional Detailed Modeling Approach for Predicting Root Water Uptake
Authors: Javaux Mathieu , Schröder Tom , Vanderborght Jan , Vereecken Harry
Published: August 2008

We studied water uptake variability at the plant scale using a three‐dimensional detailed model. Specifically, we investigated the sensitivity of the R‐SWMS model under different plant collar conditions by comparing computed water fluxes, flow variability, and soil water distributions for different case scenarios and different parameterizations. The relative radial root conductivity and soil hydraulic conductivity were shown to control the plant water extraction distribution. Highly conductive soils promote water uptake but at the same time decrease the variability of the soil water content. A large radial root conductivity increases the amount of water extracted by the root and generates very heterogeneous water extraction profiles. Increasing the xylem conductivity has less impact because the xylem is generally the most conductive part of the system. It was also determined that, due to the different magnitudes of soil and root conductivities, similar one‐dimensional sink‐term profiles can result in very different water content and flux distributions at the plant scale. Furthermore, an analysis based on soil texture showed that the ability of a soil to sustain high plant transpiration demand cannot be predicted a priori from the soil hydraulic properties only, as it depends on the evaporative demand and on the three‐dimensional distributions of the soil/root conductivity ratio and soil capacity, which continuously evolve with time. Combining soil and root hydraulic properties led to very complex one‐dimensional sink functions that are quite different from the simple reduction functions usually found in the literature. The R‐SWMS model could be used to develop more realistic one‐dimensional reduction functions.
Dynamics of Fine Root, Fungal Rhizomorphs, and Soil Respiration in a Mixed Temperate Forest: Integrating Sensors and Observations
Authors: Vargas Rodrigo , Allen Michael F.
Published: August 2008

Fine roots and rhizomorphs have important implications for the global carbon balance, but the processes underlying these carbon sinks are not well understood. In this study, we coupled continuous minirhizotron observations with an array of solid‐state CO2 sensors. We calculated soil respiration using a gradient flux method. Using a Kaplan‐Maier survival analysis, we determined a median longevity of 347 d for fine roots and of 400 d for rhizomorphs. Radiocarbon (14C) analysis suggested an age of 7 yr for fine roots <1 mm and 17 yr for roots of 1 mm in diameter. We found rapid changes in root length (maximum of 38.1 cm m−2 d−1) and rhizomorph length (maximum of 105.4 cm m−2 d−1) during sampling of four consecutive days. Changes in rhizomorph length were more variable than root length, and rhizomorphs were negatively correlated with daily changes in soil moisture. The variation in root length may be associated to prior environmental conditions. Fine root length was correlated with daily CO2 production, and variation in daily fine root length could contribute up to 4680 g C ha−1 d−1 We observed a clockwise diurnal hysteresis effect in soil respiration with soil temperature that changed in amplitude and shape along the year. Our results show the importance of shorter intervals of minirhizotron measurements to understand rapid fine roots and rhizomorphs variation. Furthermore, continuous minirhizotron measurements should be couple with continuous measurements of multiple sensor arrays to explain biophysical factors that regulate belowground carbon dynamics.