bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Can participatory mapping activate spatial and political practices? Mapping popular resistance and dwelling practices in Bogotá eastern hills
Authors: Allen Adriana , Lambert Rita , Apsan Frediani Alexandre , Ome Tatiana
Published: May 2015

Within the wider ongoing debate of Participatory Action Research, this paper interrogates the capacity of participatory mapping not just as a means to tap into plural knowledges over and emanating from specific geographies but rather to disrupt exclusionary constructions of space and place and the reproduction of the governing relationships that cause inequality. Focusing on a participatory mapping experience undertaken by the authors in collaboration with local residents in the steep slopes of Bogotá's eastern hills – an area threatened by forced evictions in the name of ecological preservation and risk protection arguments – we explore why and under what conditions participatory mapping might have the potential to disrupt conflicting interpretations of place and space held both by local residents and state agencies, which in turn can open the room to rework what types of interventions are actually needed and why. We hypothesise that this depends on the extent to which mapping can abridge the different scales at which the state and marginalised communities make sense of a site historically underpinned by different forms of spatial myopia and territorial stigma. This is in our view not just a consequence of the application of participatory mapping techniques per se, but depends on the way in which mapping is used to expand the political space in which different conceptions of a territory can effectively talk to each other.
Up to 400‐year‐old Rhododendron shrubs on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau: prospects for shrub‐based dendrochronology
Authors: Lu Xiaoming , Camarero J. Julio , Wang Yafeng , Liang Eryuan , Eckstein Dieter
Published: May 2015

In harsh and treeless environments, shrubs constitute the dominant growth form of woody plants, thus offering the opportunity to extend dendrochronological networks beyond the uppermost and northernmost distribution limits of trees. However, shrub‐based dendrochronology has so far resulted in only a few long and climate‐responsive ring‐width chronologies at such stressful sites, particularly above the alpine tree line. A previous study on an alpine Rhododendron shrub species resulted in <80‐year‐long ring‐width chronologies. Here, we collected Rhododendron aganniphum var. schizopeplum stems from elevations between 4000 and 4500 m a.s.l. on the SE Tibetan Plateau and built six tree‐ring width chronologies. One of them is 401 years long and well replicated from AD 1670 to 2011 (EPS>0.85), thus representing the longest shrub chronology available to date. A principal component analysis (PCA) converted the total variability of all six site chronologies into PCs. Then, the six site chronologies and the PC1, accounting for 65.9% of the total variance of the tree‐ring width, were correlated with time series of monthly climate data. Based on this, the year‐to‐year variability of the ring‐width indices was positively correlated with July temperature, which thus turned out to be the dominant factor controlling growth. Accordingly, such long shrub‐ring chronologies may act as climatic and ecological proxies in treeless environments of the Tibetan Plateau.
The Pleistocene palaeoenvironment and stratigraphy of Flatey island (northern Iceland): a preliminary assessment based on palynomorphs
Authors: Verhoeven Koen , Louwye Stephen
Published: May 2015

For the first time, palynological data (pollen, spores and dinoflagellate cysts) from Pleistocene outcrop and core deposits from Flatey, off northern Iceland, are presented. The study provides a reconnaissance stratigraphical assessment of the deposits, the correlation between the Pleistocene of Flatey and the well‐known Tjörnes section on the mainland, and the reconstruction of the Pleistocene palaeoenvironment. The preservation of the assemblages is poor to moderate, whereas the diversity and richness are moderate to high. The pollen and spores indicate vegetation composed mainly of sedges and heath, comparable to the vegetation in the Tjörnes area during deposition of the Pleistocene Breidavík Group. Analysis of dinoflagellate cyst assemblages from an outcrop sample allowed their assignment to the Lower Pleistocene dinoflagellate cyst zone DAZ5, previously defined in the Tjörnes section. A core sample yielded a dinoflagellate cyst assemblage unknown from the Tjörnes area. The dinoflagellate cyst data combined with the palaeomagnetic record, the radiometric dating of lavas, and the position of the diamictites and tuff layers allowed refinement of the previously proposed stratigraphical correlations between the Tjörnes area and the Flatey core. The deposition of the sequence from the Flatey core took place during the Matuyama, i.e. between 2.59 and 0.78 Ma, and several hiatuses are postulated. The Lower Pleistocene dinoflagellate cyst assemblages from the outcrop sample bear similarities to those recovered from fully marine subsurface samples on the northern shelf of Iceland within the Polar Front realm. Similar oceanographical conditions influenced by the Irminger Current and the East Icelandic Current can be inferred for Early Pleistocene times.
Chemical and material communication between the optic nerves in rats
Authors: Yang Shuo , He Heng , Zhu Ying , Wan Xing , Zhou Long‐Fang , Wang Juan , Wang Wen‐Feng , Liu Lei , Li Bin
Published: May 2015

Background

To examine interactions between optic nerves.

Methods

A total of 24 Sprague–Dawley rats received unilateral intravitreal injections. The rats were equally divided into four groups: group A was administered an adeno‐associated virus (AAV) carrying an exogenous gene (ND4; rAAV‐ND4); group B, AAV carrying a green fluorescent protein (GFP; rAAV‐GFP); group C, fluorogold (FG) nerve tracer dye; and group D, phosphate‐buffered saline (PBS) as a control. Two weeks later, GFP expression was evaluated in both retinas and optic nerves of group B rats after frozen sectioning. The presence of FG was also evaluated in group C optic nerves by fluorescent microscopy after frozen sectioning. Four weeks after injection, ND4 expression was evaluated in both eyes of groups A and D using western blotting and immunofluorescence.

Results

FG was observed in the optic chiasm posterior segment along the optic nerve of injected eyes. Some FG reached the anterior optic nerve of the non‐injected eye. GFP fluorescence was observed only in the retina of the injected eye but not in the contralateral retina or either optic nerve. ND4 expression was significantly different between injected and non‐injected eyes but not between the non‐injected eyes in groups A and D.

Conclusion

Unilaterally injected material can reach the contralateral optic nerve through axoplasmic transport. It is possible that this the only mechanism by which the optic nerves directly communicate.
Implant Prosthetic Rehabilitation in Controlled HIV‐Positive Patients: A Prospective Longitudinal Study with 1‐Year Follow‐Up
Authors: Gherlone Enrico F. , Capparé Paolo , Tecco Simona , Polizzi Elisabetta , Pantaleo Giuseppe , Gastaldi Giorgio , Grusovin Maria Gabriella
Published: May 2015

Purpose

The clinical trial aimed to evaluate the survival of implant‐prosthetic rehabilitation in controlled HIV‐positive patients.

Materials and Methods

This mono‐centric study included HIV patients with a stable disease, requiring implant rehabilitation, with good oral hygiene. Each patient received at least one dental implant. After 90 days in the upper jaw and 60 days in the lower jaw, the appropriate prosthesis was delivered.Primary outcome measures were prosthetic failures, implant failures, peri‐implant marginal bone level changes (MBLCs), and biological complications (peri‐implantitis, pus, pain, paresthesia). Data were recorded before the intervention (T0), and 6 (T1) and 12 months (T2) after.

Results

Implants were positioned in 68 patients (22 females and 46 males; 194 implants). Two dropouts occurred for exacerbation of the disease before the sixth month of follow‐up, and 66 patients (with 190 implants) completed the study. Forty‐eight patients (70.6%) received total removable dentures; 11 patients (16.2%) received partial prosthesis, and nine patients (13.2%) received single elements.Implant failure occurred in nine patients (15 fixtures out of 190). These were early implant failures due to primary infection (five fixtures out of 190: 2.6%) and to peri‐implantitis (10 fixtures out of 190: 5.2%). Prosthetic failure was registered in two patients (3% of patients) due to the loss of all the fixtures. Pus and pain were observed in 4/7 and 3/7 patients with peri‐implantitis, respectively. No fractures of fixtures or paresthesia were registered. At T2, the mean peri‐implant MBLC was −1.19 ± 0.87 mm.

Conclusions

Within its limitations, the study showed that in a well‐controlled population of HIV patients implant rehabilitation can be a suitable options with results slightly worse to those obtained in normal population. A higher incidence of peri implant infections in the first six months was present pointing to the need of a proper protocol for infection control.
Community‐Engaged Strategies to Promote Relevance of Research Capacity‐Building Efforts Targeting Community Organizations
Authors: Cunningham Jennifer , Miller Stephania T. , Joosten Yvonne , Elzey Jared D. , Israel Tiffany , King Christine , Luther Patrick , Vaughn Yolanda , Wilkins Consuelo H.
Published: May 2015

Objective

The study goal is to highlight strategies for promoting relevance of research capacity‐building efforts targeting community organizations (CO)s.

Methods

Two community partners, representing two COs, were invited to participate in CO research development trainings, Community Research Forums (Forum)s. Their contributions were documented via Forum document review. Forum participants, representatives from other COs, completed post‐Forum surveys to identify additional training needs and rate Forum impact relative to their training expectations. A content‐based analysis and descriptive statistics were used to summarize needs assessment‐ and impact‐related survey responses, respectively.

Results

Community partners were involved in eight Forum‐related activities including marketing (planning), facilitation (implementation), and manuscript coauthorship (dissemination). Eighty‐one individuals, representing 55 COs, attended the Forums. Needs assessment responses revealed a desire for additional assistance with existing Forum topics (e.g., defining research priorities) and a need for new ones (e.g., promoting organizational buy in for research). Ninety‐one percent of participants agreed that the Forum demonstrated the value of research to COs and how to create a research agenda.

Conclusions

Including community partners in all Forum phases ensured that CO perspectives were integrated throughout. Post‐Forum needs and impact assessment results will help in tailoring, where needed, future training topics and strategies, respectively.
Ossifying fibromyxoid tumor: a clinicopathologic analysis of 26 subcutaneous tumors with emphasis on differential diagnosis and prognostic factors
Authors: Atanaskova Mesinkovska Natasha , Buehler Darya , McClain Colt M. , Rubin Brian P. , Goldblum John R. , Billings Steven D.
Published: May 2015

Introduction

Ossifying fibromyxoid tumor (OFMT) is rare and may present diagnostic difficulty. We describe 26 subcutaneous examples of OFMT emphasizing differential diagnosis and prognostic features.

Methods

Histopathology and follow‐up data from archival/consultation cases were reviewed. Prognostic features were assessed according to proposed criteria.

Results

Patients (16 female, 10 male) ranged from 26 to 88 years (median 54). The tumors (median 2.3 cm, range 0.8‐8.5) involved lower limb (11), trunk (7), head/neck (4), or arm (4). All showed combinations of corded, nested and trabecular patterns in a fibromyxoid stroma. Out of 26 cases 13 had peripheral ossification. Sixteen of 22 cases showed S100 protein expression. Nuclear grade was low (14); intermediate (8) and high (4) while cellularity was low (14); moderate (7) and high (5), with overall good interobserver agreement. Median mitotic rate was 3/50HPF (0–61). Five met criteria for malignant OFMT showing high nuclear grade or high cellularity and mitotic rate >2/50HPF or both. Thirteen OFMTs were atypical. Follow‐up (16/26, median 45.5 months, range 8–108) showed that patients with typical OFMT (3) and atypical OFMT (9) remained disease‐free. Three malignant examples of OFMT recurred and one metastasized to the lung. No deaths were recorded.

Conclusions

Our results validate proposed prognostic classification of OFMT. Dermatopathologists should be aware of this unusual superficial tumor given its potentially aggressive behavior.
Dermal eosinophilic infiltrate in junctional epidermolysis bullosa
Authors: Saraiya Ami , Yang Catherine S. , Kim Jinah , Bercovitch Lionel , Robinson‐Bostom Leslie , Telang Gladys
Published: May 2015

Junctional epidermolysis bullosa (JEB) is a rare genodermatosis characterized by a split in the lamina lucida usually because of mutations in LAMA3, LAMB3 and LAMC2 resulting in absence or reduction of laminin‐332. Rare subtypes of JEB have mutations in COL17A1, ITGB4, ITGA6 and ITGA3 leading to reduction or dysfunction of collagen XVII, integrin α6β4 and integrin α3. The classic finding under light microscopy is a paucicellular, subepidermal split. We describe the unusual presence of an eosinophilic infiltrate in the bullae and subjacent dermis in a neonate with JEB, generalized intermediate (formerly known as non‐Herlitz‐type JEB), discuss the histologic differential diagnosis for a subepidermal blister in a neonate, review the literature regarding cases of epidermolysis bullosa (EB) presenting with inflammatory infiltrates, and discuss mechanisms to explain these findings. This case highlights that eosinophils can rarely be seen in EB and should not mislead the dermatopathologist into diagnosing an autoimmune blistering disorder.
Evaluating demersal fish richness as a surrogate for epibenthic richness in management and conservation
Authors: Hewitt Judi E. , Wang Dong , Francis Malcolm , Lundquist Carolyn , Duffy Clinton
Published: May 2015

Aim

Underpinning conservation and management strategies at large spatial scales is the concept that spatial patterns of biodiversity are known, although this information is frequently lacking. Many countries routinely collect data on fish occurrence as part of stock assessments, and it has been suggested that this data could be a surrogate for other components. Here we test the usefulness of three indices of demersal fish species diversity as a surrogate for epibenthic richness at scales from 0.002 to 3,800,000 km−2.

Location

Four areas covering a spatial extent of 11° of latitude and 18° of longitude within theNewZealandTerritorialSea andExclusiveEconomicZone.

Methods

Predictive modelling of epibenthic taxon richness, from video and sled‐based dredge, by boosted regression trees using environmental variables and demersal fish taxon richness.

Results

Overall, the ability of environmental factors to predict epibenthic richness was not significantly improved by incorporating any of the demersal fish richness estimates, either within or across locations. However, incorporating data on fish richness collected at the same time and spatial scale (c. 2 km) as the video data demonstrated a small increase (c. 10%) in predictability. The ability of environmental variables to predict epibenthic richness varied within and across locations, from 32% to 72% variability explained, despite the presence of strong environmental gradients.

Main conclusion

Demersal fish taxon richness, especially derived from stock assessments, was not a useful surrogate for epibenthic invertebrate taxon richness. Environmental data were more useful in predicting epibenthic richness, especially for habitat‐structuring taxa observed on video. Our findings suggest that the need to manage large areas of the seafloor seems most likely to be met in future by species distribution and habitat suitability mapping. However, understanding small‐scale spatial heterogeneity may be important for conservation and management strategies operating at a range of scales.
Ecological specialization matters: long‐term trends in butterfly species richness and assemblage composition depend on multiple functional traits
Authors: Eskildsen Anne , Carvalheiro Luísa G. , Kissling W. Daniel , Biesmeijer Jacobus C. , Schweiger Oliver , Høye Toke T.
Published: May 2015

Aim

To quantify spatio‐temporal changes in species richness and assemblage composition of Danish butterflies over more than 100 years and to assess whether different functional groups of butterflies show different temporal trajectories.

Location

Denmark, Europe.

Methods

We applied species accumulation curves to estimate relative species richness changes from unequally sampled occurrence records, collected over more than a century (1900–2012), at local (i.e. 10 km× 10 km) and regional (country‐wide) spatial scales. Furthermore, we calculated similarity in species composition between 10 km× 10 km grid cells to evaluate changes in assemblage composition (i.e. biotic homogenization) of butterflies through space and time. Trends were evaluated for all butterflies as well as for three functional groups, using hierarchical clustering and species‐specific values of eight ecological traits.

Results

We document severe declines in butterfly diversity over the last century, with substantial regional‐scale extinctions leading to a net loss of 10% of all Danish butterfly species. Segregating species into functional groups showed that the highest rate of regional extinction occurred among sedentary habitat specialists overwintering in the egg stage, while the most severe local‐scale declines occurred among sedentary host plant specialists overwintering in the larval stage. In contrast, mobile generalist species with mature overwintering stages showed stable richness trends throughout the century. However, a pervasive spatio‐temporal biotic homogenization of butterfly assemblages was revealed for all functional groups.

Main conclusions

Our results suggest that observed changes in species richness were driven by a gradual replacement of ecological specialists by broadly adapted ecological generalists. In addition to drawing attention to a severe long‐term impoverishment of the Danish butterfly fauna, our results suggest that trajectories of butterfly species richness and assemblage composition over the last century are related to multiple functional traits, highlighting the need to consider different aspects of ecological specialization when assessing extinction risk.
Graded hypoxia acts through a network of distributed peripheral oxygen chemoreceptors to produce changes in respiratory behaviour and plasticity
Authors: Janes Tara A. , Xu Fenglian , Syed Naweed I.
Published: May 2015

Respiratory behaviour relies critically upon sensory feedback from peripheral oxygen chemoreceptors. During environmental or systemic hypoxia, chemoreceptor input modulates respiratory central pattern generator activity to produce reflex‐based increases in respiration and also shapes respiratory plasticity over longer timescales. The best‐studied oxygen chemoreceptors are undoubtedly the mammalian carotid bodies; however, questions remain regarding this complex organ's role in shaping respiration in response to varying oxygen levels. Furthermore, many taxa possess distinct oxygen chemoreceptors located within the lungs, airways and cardiovasculature, but the functional advantage of multiple chemoreceptor sites is unclear. In this study, it is demonstrated that a distributed network of peripheral oxygen chemoreceptors exists in Lymnaea stagnalis and significantly modulates aerial respiration. Specifically, Lymnaea breath frequency and duration represent parameters that are shaped by interactions between hypoxic severity and its time‐course. Using a combination of behaviour and electrophysiology approaches, the chemosensory pathways underlying hypoxia‐induced changes in breath frequency/duration were explored. The current findings demonstrate that breath frequency is uniquely modulated by the known osphradial ganglion oxygen chemoreceptors during moderate hypoxia, while a newly discovered area of pneumostome oxygen chemoreception serves a similar function specifically during more severe hypoxia. Together, these findings suggest that multiple oxygen chemosensory sites, each with their own sensory and modulatory properties, act synergistically to form a functionally distributed network that dynamically shapes respiration in response to changing systemic or environmental oxygen levels. These distributed networks may represent an evolutionarily conserved strategy vis‐à‐vis respiratory adaptability and have significant implications for the understanding of fundamental respiratory control systems.
Of Austerity, Human Rights and International Institutions
Authors: Salomon Margot E.
Published: May 2015

Austerity measures have led to the denial of social rights and widespread socio‐economic malaise across Europe. In the case of countries subjected to conditionality imposed by international institutions, the resultant harms have highlighted a range of responsibility gaps. Two legal developments come together to expose these gaps: Greece's argument in a series of cases under the European Social Charter that it was not responsible for the impact on rights brought about by austerity measures as it was only giving effect to its other international obligations as agreed with the Troika; and the concern to emerge from the Pringle case before the European Court of Justice that European Union (EU) institutions could do outside of the EU what they could not do within the EU ‐‐disregard the Charter of Fundamental Rights. That the Commission and the European Central Bank were in time answerable to international organisations set up to provide financial support adds an additional layer of responsibility to consider. Taking Greece as a case study, this article addresses the imperative of having international institutions respect human rights.
Increases in benthic community production and metabolism in response to marine‐derived nutrients from spawning Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar)
Authors: Samways Kurt M. , Cunjak Richard A.
Published: May 2015

Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and other anadromous fishes represent a major vector for transporting marine‐derived nutrients (MDNs) to Atlantic rivers. Marine‐derived nutrient subsidies may be key for maintaining ecological processes and ecosystem function in river basins.

Stream channels and mesocosms designed to approximate natural river systems were used to measure the response of stream productivity in two treatments, one with marine‐derived nutrients from spawning Atlantic salmon and one without marine‐nutrient subsidies (control). Biofilm biomass (measured as chlorophyll a) and benthic metabolism (measured as the net change in dissolved oxygen) were evaluated from artificial substrata encompassing pre‐spawning, spawning and post‐spawning periods. We calculated marine‐nutrient contributions from spawning salmon using a simple empirical process model.

We found that biofilm accrual was significantly greater with MDN inputs, with mesocosms having higher biomass (34.8 ± 1.2 mg chl a m−2) and growth rates (0.071 ± 0.002 mg m−2 day−1) than the stream channels (24.4 ± 4.8 mg chl a m−2 and 0.052 ± 0.003 mg m−2 day−1, respectively). Both control mesocosms and stream channels had significantly lower biomass (10.4 ± 0.7 mg chl a m−2 and 6.3 ± 2.5 mg chl a m−2, respectively) and growth rates (0.042 ± 0.008 mg m−2 day−1 and 0.029 ± 0.009 mg m−2 day−1, respectively) than treatment channels. Despite having a lower biofilm biomass, stream channels yielded a significantly greater final gross primary production of 2343.5 mg C m−2 day−1. The presence of MDNs in the stream channels shifted biofilm metabolism from heterotrophy (P/R = 0.283) to autotrophy (P/R = 2.422) within 112 days.

Spawning Atlantic salmon contributed a total of 20.98 g m−2 of nitrogen and 1.04 g m−2 of phosphorous to each stream channel, through excretion and gametes alone. There was a strong predictable positive relationship between the increase in productivity and the amount of marine‐derived nitrogen and phosphorous delivered.

This study highlights the importance of marine‐derived nutrients from Atlantic salmon for driving and maintaining freshwater productivity. Marine‐nutrient subsidies relieve the ‘bottom‐up’ constraints on stream productivity by facilitating the production of enough energy to support the food web, lessoning the reliance on outside energy sources.
Trophic opportunism of central Amazon floodplain fish
Authors: Mortillaro J. M. , Pouilly M. , Wach M. , Freitas C. E. C. , Abril G. , Meziane T.
Published: May 2015

The food web of the central Amazon basin displays one of the largest discrepancies in food source utilisation versus availability for consumers. While C4macrophytes dominate the primary producing biomass in floodplains, the food web is dominated by the use of C3carbon sources. Amazon fish species have wide‐ranging diets and show feeding flexibility in response to spatial and temporal patterns in food source availability. Fish are therefore expected to use a range of available resources. Fatty acids and stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic compositions were studied to investigate their trophic behaviour and provide a better assessment of food source utilisation by nine fish species from two Amazon floodplains.

Although nitrogen stable isotopes positioned detritivores at the base of the food chain, their large proportions of polyunsaturated fatty acids (FAs) suggest selection of a high‐quality food source, such as microalgae. Omnivores and insectivores displayed a wide range of food source utilisation, indicating opportunist feeding behaviour. Piscivores displayed the most15N‐enriched signature (up to 10.6‰), concomitant with their predator position in the studied food web.

C3carbon was the dominant source for most species, which is a finding consistent with current classical knowledge. However, consumption of C4macrophytes was detected for the herbivoreSchizodon fasciatus, in line with the spatial availability of this food source in the floodplain system. Large amounts of polyunsaturated and essential FAs in these C4macrophytes indicate their high nutritive value. Our results suggest that this food source is rather neglected by fish due to low digestibility, with the exception of the herbivore that may possess modification of its digestive system that allows the use of C4plants.
Alien plants invade more phylogenetically clustered community types and cause even stronger clustering
Authors: Lososová Zdeňka , de Bello Francesco , Chytrý Milan , Kühn Ingolf , Pyšek Petr , Sádlo Jiří , Winter Marten , Zelený David
Published: May 2015

Aim

Several hypotheses postulate that species invasion is affected by an interplay between the phylogenetic position of the invading species and the phylogenetic structure of the invaded community type. Some of them suggest that phylogenetic relatedness of invaders to native species promotes naturalization, because phylogenetically related alien species tend to have similar environmental adaptations as native species. Others predict that phylogenetic relatedness hampers naturalization because of stronger competition of aliens with native species and shared enemies. Here we ask how phylogenetic diversity of native species affects invasion across community types.

Location

Czech Republic.

Methods

All major plant community types at a national scale (n = 88) were characterized by their species pools, i.e. lists of species that can potentially occur there. Of the total number of 2306 species, 1785 were native, 246 were archaeophytes and 275 were neophytes. For each species pool, we related the number of alien species to the phylogenetic diversity of the native species pool, calculated as mean phylogenetic distance (MPD) and mean nearest taxon distance (MNTD), including null models.

Results

The number of alien species was related both to the phylogenetic structure of community types and to the phylogenetic position of alien species. Frequently disturbed herbaceous community types with strong phylogenetic clustering were more invaded than others, possibly due to disturbance acting as an environmental filter. Here, alien species increased the degree of phylogenetic clustering as they tended to be from the same lineages as native species. Such trends were not detected for phylogenetically more diverse community types such as forests.

Main conclusions

Our findings support the hypothesis that relatedness of invaders to native species promotes invasion because of their shared adaptations to the same environments. Alien species more strongly invade community types that are phylogenetically clustered, and because they tend to be related to native species, invaded community types become even more clustered.
A test of the integrated evolutionary speed hypothesis in a Neotropical amphibian radiation
Authors: Dugo‐Cota Álvaro , Castroviejo‐Fisher Santiago , Vilà Carles , Gonzalez‐Voyer Alejandro
Published: May 2015

Aim

The evolutionary speed hypothesis is a mechanistic explanation for the latitudinal biodiversity gradient. The recently extended integrated evolutionary speed hypothesis (IESH) proposes that temperature, water availability, population size and spatial heterogeneity influence the rate of molecular evolution which, in turn, affects diversification. However, the evidence for some of the associations predicted by the IESH is not conclusive, and in some cases is contradictory.

Location

The Neotropics.

Methods

Using a comparative Bayesian method we tested the following predictions of the IESH: the association between the rate of molecular evolution and temperature (and elevation and latitude, as proxies), water availability (using precipitation and relative humidity as proxies), productivity and rate of diversification. We also accounted for the potential confounding effects of body size and UVB radiation. We tested these predictions separately in mitochondrial and nuclear genes.

Results

Substitution rates of mitochondrial and nuclear genes were positively associated with temperature and negatively with elevation, while only the mitochondrial coding gene rate was associated with UVB radiation. However, when controlling for temperature, the association between substitution rate and elevation and UVB radiation disappeared, while a negative association with precipitation emerged. Moreover, diversification events were positively correlated with the rate of molecular evolution but only in mitochondrial genes.

Main conclusions

Our results support two key predictions of the IESH. They highlight the important association between rate of molecular evolution and temperature within a recently diverged group and also confirm the positive association between molecular evolution and diversification rate, although only in mitochondrial genes. However, the lack of association between diversification and temperature and the low effect size of the relationship between substitution rates and diversification in mitochondrial genes emphasize the important role other factors, such as time, spatial heterogeneity and population size might have in the origin and maintenance of the latitudinal biodiversity gradient.
4. THE GADAMERIAN APPROACH TO THE RELATION BETWEEN EXPERIENCE AND LANGUAGE
Authors: NOSÁL MARTIN
Published: May 2015

Narrativism as a theory of historical depiction intuitively opens the question: what is left of reality when it is poured through the filter of language structures? And, extended a little bit further, questions arise: What is responsible for the final shape of a historical depiction? Is it experience or language? What is affecting what? Narrativism typically accuses language units of transforming experience in a specific way. However, even in asking these questions, the problem of the separation of experience from language and language from experience remains.

In this article, I address this issue using Gadamer's hermeneutical frame. Wherever philosophical tradition insists on the separation of certain positions, Gadamer tries to show their ontological connections. For Gadamer, understanding is a basic ontological structure, within which both sides of a dialogue affect and constitute each other. In Gadamerian hermeneutical ontology, there is no “starting point” or first responsible position. In the understanding, dialogue has the permanently moving character of a play, where separate positions are erased.

This Gadamerian view can also be applied to the question of language and experience and their mutual connection in depicting any experience via language. In Gadamer's example of the work of art, the original subject matter (Urbild) is articulated through its depiction. The subject matter dictates possible ways of depicting, which in turn dictate the final shape of depiction. In this article, I discuss Gadamer's term “articulation of the world,” by which he means a function of language. Articulation is simply a transformation of shapeless matter into a shape, and in our case it is a transformation of an experience into a language depiction. I show that the Gadamerian approach to language and experience can offer an interesting perspective on the issues discussed in reaction to narrativist philosophy of history.
MAKING HISTORY BY CONTEXTUALIZING ONESELF: AUTOBIOGRAPHY AS HISTORIOGRAPHICAL INTERVENTION
Authors: AURELL JAUME
Published: May 2015

This essay argues that, in their reflection of theoretical positions, autobiographies by historians may become valid historical writings (that is, both true narratives and legitimate historical interpretations) and, as a consequence and simultaneously, privileged sources for historiographical inquiry and evidence of its evolution. At the beginning of the twentyfirst century, following the model established by Carolyn Steedman, historians such as Geoff Eley, Natalie Z. Davis, Gabrielle M. Spiegel, Dominick LaCapra, Gerda Lerner, William H. Sewell, Jr., Sheila Fitzpatrick, and John Elliott created a new form of academic life‐writing that has challenged established literary and historiographical conventions and resisted generic classification. This article aims to examine this new historical‐autobiographical genre—including the subgenre of the “autobiographical paper”—and highlights its ability to function as both history (as a retrospective account of the author's own past) and theory (as a speculative approach to historiographical questions). I propose to call these writings interventional in the sense that these historians use their autobiographies, with a more or less deliberate authorial intention, to participate, mediate, and intervene in theoretical debates by using the story of their own intellectual and academic trajectory as the source of historiography. Traditional historians’ autobiographies, including ego‐historical essays, have provided us with substantial information about the history of historiography; these new performative autobiographies help us to better understand historiography and the development of the historical discipline. Interventional historians seek not only to understand their lives but also to engage in a more complex theoretical project.
FROM NIETZSCHE'S PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY TO KANT'S—AND BACK
Authors: Fenves Peter
Published: May 2015

Reflecting on Anthony Jensen's Nietzsche's Philosophy of History, this essay describes Jensen's account of the three‐stage development of Nietzsche's historiographical practices and metahistorical positions: from his early philological writings, through The Birth of Tragedy, and into the mature philosophy of history that Jensen uncovers in Toward the Genealogy of Morality and Ecce Homo, which, so Jensen argues, consists in ontological realism combined with representational anti‐realism. While Jensen notes the importance of a like‐minded readership for the success of Nietzsche's historiographical projects, the essay asks whether Nietzsche did in fact have such a readership and further emphasizes that the Genealogy and Ecce Homo are structured in such a way that they seek to create one. A similar structure is identified in Kant's “Idea for a Universal History from a Cosmopolitan Perspective.” The essay concludes by reflecting on the significance of this similarity in light of the doctrines of eternal recurrence that are expressed in both Nietzsche's late writings and Kant's youthful cosmology.
Weighing up the benefits and harms of a new anti‐cancer drug: a survey of Australian oncologists
Authors: Chim L. , Salkeld G. , Stockler M. R. , Mileshkin L.
Published: May 2015

Background

Little is known about the relative importance that oncologists attribute to the benefits and harms of anti‐cancer drugs when considering treatment options with their patients.

Aim

To quantify the trade‐offs made between overall survival, progression‐free survival and adverse effects.

Methods

A web‐based survey elicited importance weights for the benefits and harms of bevacizumab or everolimus. Combining the importance weights with trial‐based probabilities produced a score and ranking for each treatment option.

Results

A total of 40 responses was received for the bevacizumab scenario and 32 for the everolimus scenario. All respondents regarded overall survival and progression‐free survival as the most important attributes – more important than avoiding the potential harms regardless of drugs. Among the potential harms, respondents allocated the highest mean importance weight to gastrointestinal (GI) perforation and rated absolute improvement in overall survival as 1.6 times and 2.3 times as important as avoiding GI perforation in the two versions of the bevacizumab scenario respectively. For the everolimus scenario, stomatitis and pneumonitis were allocated the highest mean importance weights with absolute improvement in overall survival rated as 2.2 times as important as avoiding stomatitis/pneumonitis. All 40 respondents (100%) favoured treatment option with bevacizumab to no bevacizumab based on respondents' determined weights for treatment attributes. The converse was found for everolimus with 22 (69%) of respondents preferring the ‘no everolimus’ option.

Conclusion

Oncologists' preferences over the benefits and harms of treatment do, when combined with evidence of effect, influence treatment decisions for anti‐cancer drugs.
Revolution Blues: The Reconstruction of Health and Safety Law as ‘Common‐sense’ Regulation
Authors: Almond Paul
Published: May 2015

This article reviews the last five years of coalition government policy making in relation to occupational health and safety law. It shows that the most significant and influential element of this activity has been the reframing of the wider regulatory system according to a dominant ideological paradigm of ‘common‐sense’ regulation, to the detriment of other considerations and interests. A social constructionist framework assists in setting out the means through which this new ‘symbolic universe’ of regulatory possibility has been constructed and promulgated within the policymaking arena. In particular, it identifies the key role played by processes of deliberative regulatory engagement in the construction and development of this approach, and identifies the inherent vulnerability of ‘thin’ forms of deliberation to this sort of application.
Fishing for Precarious Status Migrants: Surveillant Assemblages of Migrant Illegalization in Toronto, Canada
Authors: Villegas Paloma E.
Published: May 2015

Migrants with precarious immigration status in Canada encounter surveillant assemblages of illegalization that threaten their safety and ability to access social goods. Drawing on qualitative interviews, media stories, and government documents, this article analyses how surveillance is produced through various ways of knowing, by various actors, and in different institutions in Canada. My case study demonstrates that the sites of operation for surveillant assemblages of illegalization extend beyond immigration authorities and into more diffuse sources including the police, the health‐care sector, banks, employment agencies, and acquaintances. I also suggest that there is a level of overlap and integration among such sites, including the use of shared databases and the possibility that any interaction with precarious status migrants can be reported to immigration authorities.
Title by Registration: Instituting Modern Property Law and Creating Racial Value in the Settler Colony
Authors: Bhandar Brenna
Published: May 2015

The transformation in prevailing conceptualizations of property and the drive to render land as fungible as possible, the desire to commoditize land that had been pursued in earnest since the seventeenth century in England, was realized in the space of the settler colony decades before it would be implemented in the United Kingdom. The author explores how the commodity logic of abstraction that subtended new property logics during this time, reflected in the Torrens system of title by registration, was accompanied by a racial logic of abstraction that rendered the land of the Native, or Savage vacant and ripe for appropriation. By way of conclusion, the author speculates on the ways in which the imposition of English property law in the settler colony influenced the development of modern property law in England.
Effect of application of a PVP‐iodine solution before and during subgingival ultrasonic instrumentation on post‐treatment bacteraemia: a randomized single‐centre placebo‐controlled clinical trial
Authors: Sahrmann Philipp , Manz Andrea , Attin Thomas , Zbinden Reinhard , Schmidlin Patrick R.
Published: May 2015

Background

To assess the effect of concomitant subgingival rinsing with 10% PVP‐iodine during subgingival instrumentation on the prevalence and magnitude of bacteraemia of oral origin.

Materials and Methods

Subgingival instrumentation was performed with water or PVP‐iodine rinse in patients with periodontitis. Prior to instrumentation, subjects gargled for 1 min with the allocated liquid. Pockets were then rinsed for 1 min and subgingivally instrumented with liquid‐cooled (water/PVP‐iodine) ultrasonic scalers (1 min). Two minutes later, a blood sample from the arm vein was drawn using a lysis centrifugation blood culture system for quantitative microbiological analysis. Non‐parametric statistical tests were performed to assess differences in the prevalence and extent of bacteraemia between groups.

Results

Of the 19 samples in each group, oral‐borne bacteraemia was detected in 10 of the control and 2 of the test samples. With an average of 3.0 [1; 5] colony forming units, significantly less bacteria and bacteraemia were found in the test group compared to the controls (12.2 [1; 46]) (p = 0.003). Anaerobic bacteria were not found in the test group.

Conclusions

Bacteraemia after subgingival instrumentation with concomitant PVP‐iodine rinsing is reduced but not eliminated. Therefore, it might be recommended for patients at a high risk of endocarditis or infection of endoprostheses. However, preventive antibiotic treatment should not be omitted.
Establishing a Volunteer Doula Program Within a Nurse‐Midwifery Education Program: A Winning Situation for Both Clients and Students
Authors: Munoz Elizabeth G. , Collins Michelle
Published: May 2015

The use of labor doulas is beneficial for mothers and newborns, but availability and cost can be barriers. The Nashville Volunteer Doula Program was formed to provide labor support to clients of a faculty nurse‐midwifery practice. The volunteer doula pool is comprised of both nurse‐midwifery students who have trained as doulas and community doulas. Training and coordination of volunteers are managed by nurse‐midwifery students with faculty support. Students gain valuable exposure to providing supportive care during labor and birth, which augments their nurse‐midwifery education. This novel program operates at a low cost and offers benefits to students as well as women who use the doula service. This
article is part of a special series of articles that address midwifery innovations in clinical practice, education, interprofessional collaboration, health policy, and global health
Quantitative targeted absolute proteomics of rat blood–cerebrospinal fluid barrier transporters: comparison with a human specimen
Authors: Uchida Yasuo , Zhang Zhengyu , Tachikawa Masanori , Terasaki Tetsuya
Published: May 2015

The purpose of this study was to determine absolute protein expression levels of transporters in rat choroid plexus, that is, the blood–cerebrospinal fluid barrier, and to compare them with the levels in the human choroid plexus. Plasma membrane fractions were prepared from pooled, freshly isolated choroid plexuses of 30 male Wistar rats and from frozen choroid plexus of one male human donor. Protein expression levels of 54 rat and 121 human molecules were measured, using a quantitative targeted absolute proteomics technique. In rat, oatp1a5 showed the most abundant protein expression (30.3 fmol/μg protein), and its expression level was 3.1‐, 4.5‐, 5.5‐, 8.4‐, 9.0‐, 9.9‐, 22‐, 91‐, and 95‐fold greater than those of glut1, oatp1c1, mrp1, mct1, oat3, pept2, mrp4, bcrp, and mdr1a, respectively. OATP1A2 (a possible homolog of rat oatp1a5), OATP1C1 and PEPT2 were not detected in human choroid plexus. MRP1, OAT3, and MRP4 showed 4.0‐, 1.8‐, and 1.7‐fold smaller expression levels in human than rat, respectively. MATE1 was detected in human, but not rat, and its expression level (8.61 fmol/μg protein) was the highest among the xenobiotic transporters examined in human choroid plexus. These findings should be useful for understanding rat blood–cerebrospinal fluid barrier function and its differences from that in human.

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This is the first study clarifying the absolute protein expression levels of many transporters in the plasma membrane fractions of rat and human choroid plexuses, that is, blood cerebrospinal fluid barrier, by means of quantitative targeted absolute proteomics (QTAP) technique. This study also identified the protein expressions of some transporters including MATE1 and ABCA8 in the choroid plexus for the first time.