bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Men Without Masters: Marginal Society During the Pre-Industrial Era
Authors: Geremek Bronislaw
Published: March 2007

The interest shown in marginal groups is explained by a diversity of factors. On the threshold of the modern era appeared an abundant literature devoted to a description of the world of delinquency. More particularly, these were treatises on the mysteries of the forbidden quarters of the cities of the time and on the behavior and way of life of social groups living by swindling or fraud. This being drawn to the exotic and the unusual in society, which was not unrelated to an awakening of ethnological curiosity, was also seen in the flowering of a type of literature which could be called “picaresque.” It had already appeared in the last centuries of the Middle Ages, but it came into full bloom only in the 16th and 17th centuries. The Spanish picaresque novel, because of its literary brilliance and its wide acceptance by the reading public, left in the shade a multitude of similar works coming from other European countries, from the English “rogue pamphlets” to the “rogue” literature of Germany and Holland to the tales of Polish and Czech vagabonds. These literary works are closely related to treatises which claimed to be based on eye-witness accounts or which claimed to report authentic events. In reality, they were all taken from fiction and demand comparison with documentary evidence. But the abundance of this type of literature and the success it enjoyed also indicate an early awareness by modern society of the growing importance of social groups living in contradiction to the norms, manners and customs in force at the time.
Binary Opposition in Literature: The Example of Brazil
Authors: Picchio Luciana Stegagno
Published: March 2007

The remarks which follow arise from the daily and simultaneous consulting of two literatures and, in a larger sense, of two cultures, Portuguese and Brazilian, both expressed in the same language, Portuguese. They also arise from an attempt to describe and define by categories which are “internal” to literature the differences which exist between the two bodies of writing under discussion. But they are equally inspired by a desire to isolate in the corpus of the texts which conventionally constitute a national literature those thematic and stylistic recurrences which may serve as starting points for an attempt at formalization.
Games, Timepieces, and Businesspeople
Authors: Schwartz Hillel
Published: March 2007

“Business,” wrote a professor of marketing in 1929, “is the work of the world, humanity's chiefest task.” On the doorstep of the Depression, Prof. George R. Collins was selling business, by which he meant the business economy, an economic order based on the systematic management of money. I do not intend to enter the volatile controversy between Collins and those like Aldous Huxley who accused business people of being venal and crass. Rather, I intend to trace one likely path by which many in 1929 had come to regard business as a redemptive activity and the business person as a redeemer.
Aesthetic Perception in Everyday Life
Authors: Keller Jean-Pierre
Published: March 2007

The everyday is that element of our material and social environment that comes closest to us, and is thus the least visible; for it stands to reason that it will neither attract attention to itself, nor catch the eye.
Chance and Necessity in Cooperative Phenomena
Authors: de Gennes Pierre Gilles
Published: March 2007

A lone fish swims haphazardly in any direction, but. if we get enough fish of the same species together so that neighboring individual fish may exchange signals, they adopt a common direction. Here we have a phenomenon of cooperation: many individuals find themselves in strong interaction with each other, and overall behavior is noticeably affected.
The Coin as Blazon or Talisman: Paramonetary Functions of Money
Authors: Gorini Giovanni
Published: March 2007

Magic and religion are at the origin of the concept of money as a unit for measuring value. Actually, they determined the first forms money took: precious objects, engraved stones, amulets and talismans which conferred a special power, within a social group, on the one who possessed them. In time, this power came to include the power of acquisition in commercial terms, but its original ties with magic were never lost. Aristotle clearly saw the relationship between a certain concept of money (in Politica) and a new ethical concept as a corrective for the imbalances within a social community (in Ethica Nicomachea). If we look closely, we see that this ethical concept is not in opposition to the former but emphasizes the double aspect of the idea of money in antiquity, an idea which has survived, with some modifications, in Christianity and the modern era.
Towards a Modern Anthropocentrism
Authors: Auger Pierre
Published: March 2007

Anthropocentrism was born with Man, and certain primitive tribes or ethnic groups considered themselves the center of the world. Their members assumed the generic name “the Men,” and all the rest, including other, tribes or ethnic groups, were part of a more or less hostile environment (to use the modern term).
A Genealogy: Play, Folklore, and Art
Authors: Radar Edmond
Published: March 2007

Games, festivals, folklore, a derivation of them, and artistic expression are manifestations of symbolic invention. To compare them is to bring out the differences in the order of the symbolic production and have, as a consequence, a differentiated perception of the way they function. It is also to put them into a perspective of filial relationship. In fact, a genealogy appears with the processes that regulate the passage from one to the other of these means of expression. Through the successive dissipation of structural stabilizations that are in turn play, festival and folklore, a generative order of complexity is established of which art, with its dynamics open to all expressive invention, is the end result. Finally, it is to discover at the end of the process the literary text, conceived as a work of art, surrounded by expression and preceded by it, appearing from then on according to one of the precepts of the theory of the text, as a production “of society and history” and as issuing from the social phenomenon in its entirety. “I am not only undertaking a study of a sociology of games,” wrote Roger Caillois. “My idea is to lay the foundations for a sociology beginning with games.” We would say of a sociology in which we would be permitted to glimpse the achievement of the task of explaining the entire social phenomenon itself.
Ruins: Privileged Corpses
Authors: Cioranescu Alexandre
Published: March 2007

Fundamentally, a ruin is a utilitarian structure which through the ravages of time or through some other circumstance has lost its utility and its function. When a useful object becomes useless, it continues to be present without a true existence, exactly as if it were dead. A torn glove, a bicycle without wheels, do not deserve to be called by their original names. It is difficult, of course, for us to resign ourselves to the fact that objects we have always thought of as useful are no longer useful; we hold on to the illusion of profiting from them as long as possible. We still make use of an abandoned automobile by stripping it of its accessories; we make use of a dilapidated house by salvaging some of its building material. However, the time comes when we must accept the evidence and admit that the object has become a burden.
The Crisis of High and Low
Authors: Lanuza Eduardo Gonzales
Published: March 2007

It seems to me that not enough consideration has been given to the fundamental importance of the conditioning to which our physical as well as our mental being have been submitted due to the fact that they develop within a certain gravitational field. All the long evolution of the species seems to proceed from our desire for the impossible abolition of our own gravity, or at least for its partial alleviation. Many centuries before the appearance of man compensatory means were tried and adopted, ranging from the acquatic bladder to the wing and including the simple hopping of the marsupials.
The Tragedy of Knowledge at the Time of the Renaissance
Authors: Kuznetsov Boris
Published: March 2007

In our times, when the pace of economic, scientific and technological, social and cultural change calls to mind the relativist velocities of contemporary physics, Einstein's criterion begins to be applicable to the historical process itself; movement can be recorded (and consequently the notion of velocity acquire meaning) provided an adequate reference system is available. Where science is concerned, such systems have always existed: historians have brought out the increase in adequate knowledge in the past by comparing it with present knowledge, which then offered a system of absolute reference. But now, the theory of relativity, quantum mechanics, molecular biology and the radical transformation of standards of value in all cultural areas have made like absolutization of contemporary ideas impossible. Today ideas furnish no more than a point of departure for non-classical retrospection which, as Jaurès said, seeks the fire, not. the ashes, in the history of science. But: the fire of science, its dynamics, its movement, is inseparable from its value, its effect, its psychological ‘accompaniment.’ Contemporary science, with unprecedented dynamism, is distinguishable from classical science by its far more emotional coloring. It lays bare not only the logical collisions of knowledge but also the emotional collisions. Einstein called the history of science the ‘drama of ideas.’ A drama which sometimes turns into a tragedy. The tragic sense Lorentz was aware of in the crumbling of old conceptions is easily perceptible in the remark he made when he confessed he would have prefered to be dead before the structure of classical physics collapsed. For Erenfest the tormenting experience of a personal inability to understand the positive bases of non-classical physics was also tragic and, according to Einstein, was what drove him to suicide. Einstein's own dissatisfaction tor thirty years while he strove in the field theory alone to find a stable universal conception possessing more complete ‘internal perfection’ than the then existing solution, was again tragic. The real characteristic of the collisions of non-classical science, however, is their ambivalence: the tragic notes blend with the optimistic perception of irreversible general progress in knowledge. The collisions of knowledge and this optimistic perception together sound a very complex chord, major on the whole, but with minor harmonics.
Looking in the Destination for What Should e bEen Sought in the Source
Authors: Sebeok Thomas A.
Published: March 2007

The notorious but: unimpeachably corroborated case of Pavlov's mice raises, in capsule form, a variety of fascinating issues with far-reaching ramifications in several directions, but with particularly serious implications, several of which are well worth restating and pondering further (cf. Sebeóle 1977b: 192-201), both for the foundations and research methodology of contemporary semiotics.
The Death of Roger Caillois
Authors: d'Ormesson Jean
Published: March 2007

The death of Roger Caillois was vividly felt by writers and intellectuals all over the world. Not only in France, where his work in sociology, surrealism, criticism and literature brought him into the Académie française, but also in Japan, Brazil (whose Academy elected him to the seat previously occupied by André Malraux), in Argentina (where he counted numerous friends whose works and thought he had made known in Europe) his passing profoundly saddened literary and intellectual circles. Struck to the heart by his death also is the review Diogenes, which he founded and which has been formed by his perpetually needle-sharp curiosity, his creative imagination and his uncompromising precision.
The Transnational Enterprise
Authors: Taquey Charles H.
Published: March 2007

A transnational enterprise is an information and decision system that directs the common strategy of business establishments operating under several jurisdictions; its objective is precise and concrete: it is to realize a profit by producing and selling goods or services, computers perhaps or hamburgers, or leisure, under such names as I.B.M. or VW, McDonald or Club Mediterranée.
History - Folklore - Literature: the Example of Romania
Authors: Râpeanu Valeriu
Published: March 2007

The beginnings of modern Romanian culture coincide with the discovery of folk literature. The first to benefit from this true “revelation,” around the middle of the last century, were two of the most authentic representatives of Romanian romanticism: Vasile Alecsandri and Alecu Russo. However, the earliest manifesto of Romanian romanticism was not very explicit in its treatment of the subject, because others who participated in the current—especially Mihail Kogălniceanu and Nicolae Bălcescu— were primarily historians. In 1840 the contensts of Dacia literară, a magazine edited by them, gave literary status to heroic events that had entered into Romanian history; second place was reserved for the beauty of the Romanian countryside; the picturesque and the poetic content of the traditions held by the people who had lived this history and animated this countryside were only third in importance. Now, the term “traditions” could be applied in the same way to different artistic expressions: dance, music or literature.
Population Problems in the Contemporary World
Authors: Ourlanis Boris
Published: March 2007

Earthly civilization has now entered a phase of development which requires urgent need of imagination to discern its eventual evolution.

Demographic problems occupy a considerable place in global development. Numerous authors interested in the future of the planet have referred to the important factor of population increase. Nevertheless their attitudes toward demographic problems, the manner in which they conceive their own roles, their forecasts are all diverse and reflect a wide range of ideas from serene optimism to nihilistic pessimism.
Time of Evolution and the Spirit of the Times
Authors: Gras Alain
Published: March 2007

The sociology of knowledge is faced with a problem of historical temporality that it has carefully avoided up until now. The subject has been avoided or ignored because a discussion of it in depth would run the risk of questioning all modern scientific thought. The problem is that of the concept of absolute time as it is used in evolutionist theory. In this category of theory I include not only social evolutionism, abused for a long time and recently reanimated by the “socio-biologists,” but also biological, paleontological, geological and other types of evolutionism, that is, those qualified as “scientific.”
The Samba Schools of Rio De Janeiro or the Domestication of an Urban Mass
Authors: Péreira de Queiroz Maria Isaura
Published: March 2007

Rio de Janeiro, the opening of the carnival. On the Friday evening preceding Mardi Gras, the mayor of Rio hands over the keys to the city to King Momo, sovereign of the carnival. Immediately the samba breaks out in the brightly lit streets of the city. Newspapers, magazines and television feature big headlines describing the event and glorifying the holiday kingdom. They all report that the city is being shaken by winds of madness, that licence and inversions of every variety are rampant, that the leveling of individuals and the abolition of social distances illustrate the resolutions of conflicts in a collective dream of joy and happiness…
Science and Art: the New Golem
Authors: Berger René
Published: March 2007

It is to an over-all situation based upon the complex play of political, social, economic and scientific factors, along with technological and mass media factors unique to our own era, that we owe the general trend toward multi-pluri-inter-trans-disciplinary questions so generally prevalent in our world today.
Hypothesis on the Origins of the Communal Family System
Authors: Sagart Laurent , Todd Emmanuel
Published: March 2007

This article is the result of collaboration between a linguist and an anthropologist. In La Troisième planète. Structures familiales et systèmes idéologiques (The Third Planet: Family Structures and Ideologies) (Todd, 1983), anthropologist Emmanuel Todd provided a world map of family types, which he used to explain the distribution of major political philosophies around the world. However, this did not explain the distribution of the family types themselves. Indeed, a concluding chapter entitled “Le Hazard” (The Effects of Chance) stated that the distribution of family types did not seem to be the result of any particular economic or ecological factor and was therefore a prime example of the uncertainty principle at work. However, Laurent Sagart, a linguist specializing in Chinese dialects, noticed that this map of family types exhibited a structure well known to experts in historical linguistics and dialectology, contrasting a large, continuous zone in the center with a number of small, independent zones located around the periphery of the central zone or in isolated enclaves within it. When such maps appear in linguistic atlases, dialectologists usually conclude that the central zone was the innovative area while the peripheral and isolated zones conserved the original features. The same analysis, if applied to the map of family types, would lead to the conclusion that the communal family system in the center of the map represented a more recent innovation than the systems around the periphery.
We Will (Always) Need a Universal
Authors: Laidi Zaki
Published: March 2007

Let us begin with Richard Rorty's question: how can we speak of “us,” how to invoke a universal and abstract “we”, when the people of the earth are separated from each other by so many inequalities and injustices? This is a crucial question, and one that it is a direct descendant of pragmatic inquiry. The essential aim of this kind of analysis, Dewey said, was less to “reach ultimate reality” than to “clarify human ideas in relation to the epoch's social conflicts.”
An Ecological Theme
Authors: Formoso Bernard
Published: March 2007

Which traveler, passing through the rural communities of Asia, has not been intrigued by the existence, on the periphery of the village, of shrines, piles of stones, trees, or caverns ornamented with offerings which, at certain key moments during the year, become the focal points of an intense religious activity? These sites are in fact consecrated to chthonian forces that, next to the ancestors, occupy a high rank in the relationship that the peasants of Asia or other regions around the world establish with the divine. To be sure, the earth gods and the ancestors do not put themselves at the top of the pantheon that each society neatly builds for itself; but they nevertheless dominate the immediate sphere of individuals and social groups. They are at the center of their most routine cultic activities, and they are bestowed with a crucial role in the perpetuation of the groups with which they are identified and whose unity they symbolize.
Nepalese Chiefs and Gods
Authors: Krauskopff Gisèle
Published: March 2007

What Nepalese village or plot of land does not have a sacred tree or grove? The altar devoted to the earth gods is often the only collective shrine in a locality. Usually it is a natural site on the outskirts of the village, combining rocks and trees, and sometimes wooden shapes instead of rocks. It can also be associated with a cavity or hole in the earth. Thus among the Tamang of West Nepal: “The site of worship, which is known by the Nepalese term bhumithan, is located on a sharp incline overhanging the village; it is set up in a small sheltered area in the rock and divided into two areas by a raised flat stone.” Furthermore, we might add B. Pignède's description of the sanctuary as one finds it among the Gurung on the southern side of the Annapurna: “Three walls of rock hold up a little roof of flagstones, the facade being open to the outside. The wall at the back is cut by a large tree that covers the whole area with its shade, with the tree and rock forming a single mass … Three raised rocks, the top of which is crudely rounded, are placed on a kind of tier. In the left corner is a little stone statue of a four-footed animal … Finally, on the outside, in front of the sanctuary's open facade, a wooden post is set up … The ensemble of the sanctuary includes a mixture of Indo-Nepalese and local elements.”
Portrait of the Humanist as Proteus
Authors: Jeanneret Michel
Published: March 2007

Is the perfection of a being a result of its perfectibility, that is to say its imperfection? Is the greatness of a human being a function of how much he is a man in the making? Can the human being elude all determination in order to construct itself freely or, at the very least, expose itself to an infinite number of potential destinies? This dream of absolute freedom was at times the humanists’ dream. The following paper will try to show that behind the Renaissance philosophy of existence lay the principles of incompletion and transformation; that these principles were the source both of the power of Renaissance philosophy and also of its irresolution, which is what places it on the threshold of modernity.
The Weight of Tradition in the Formation of the Name Signs of the Deaf in China
Authors: Shun-chiu Yau
Published: March 2007

The Chinese are probably the most particular people in the world when it comes to their names. As the Chinese proverb says, “worse than being born under a bad star is to receive a bad name.” For this reason it is difficult, if not impossible, to evaluate the role of name signs in China without a certain knowledge of the Chinese tradition regarding the attribution of names. A legal Chinese name is made up of a family name, monosyllabic with some exceptions, followed by a monosyllabic or disyllabic first name. Theoretically, the 50,000 characters that make up the Chinese lexicon are potential choices for the composition of a first name. Due to the great number of homophones included in the Chinese language, it is difficult to identify the graphic form of a Chinese name by its pronunciation alone. Hence the custom of specifying the characters by writing them in the air or by indicating their signification, or even by simply presenting a calling card.
Tolerance: Between Liberty and Truth
Authors: Hersch Jeanne
Published: March 2007

Tolerance is not, as is often thought, an attribute of urbanity that can be equated with other similar values, such as politeness. Nor is it - or at least it should not be - considered the oil that facilitates the smooth functioning of the engine of human desires, in spite of their differences of opinion. Rather, true tolerance takes root in the same soil as human rights. And this root is at the same time shared by liberty and truth. It is an untamed, barely diplomatic, root, burrowing deep in the soil of an absolute demand.
The European Conscience and the Black Slave Trade
Authors: Bénot Yves
Published: March 2007

At the turn of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, change was fast and furious: the exploration of coastal Africa by the Portuguese, the exploration of the West Indies by the Spanish, the extermination of the island Indians, the importation of black slaves to the Iberian peninsula, then the expansion of the slave trade to the American colonies - in short, the much-heralded inauguration of European colonization overseas, with all of its attendant horrors. All of this is adequately known, it seems; the purpose of the present article is not to rehearse this history, even in summary. But if chronology has any value here, it is in making clear that, while the massacre of the Arawaks and the Caribbean Indians quickly attracted attention, eliciting protests that were to be renewed in the following centuries, the black slave trade and black slavery began somewhat discreetly, as if it took quite some time for the esprits libres in Europe to take notice of it. Over the three centuries leading up to the French revolution, blacks were transferred from their native countries to the American colonies. In Europe, these three centuries saw the development of Enlightenment thought, the revolt against domination by the Church, the call for human rights, and the will to democracy. The parallel is superficial, but troubling nevertheless: four facts appear to be linked together, and not merely chronologically: the massacre or de facto subjugation of the Indians, the trade and enslavement of blacks, and colonization. Is the last of these not the cause of and the key to understanding the other three - as well as a number of other phenomena?
Resistance and Struggles
Authors: Lara Oruno D.
Published: March 2007

For three decades, studies of the African slave trade and the system of slavery have proliferated. Conferences have been held one after another: in Copenhagen (1974), New York (1978), Port-au-Prince (1978), Washington, Harvard University (1979), Manchester (1982), Nantes (1985), Madrid (1988), Paris, Port-au-Prince, Saint-Louis, Dakar (all in 1989), Nantes (1993), and Nouakchott (1995). Numerous specialists from universities in Africa, Europe, the Caribbean and the Americas (Brazil, the United States, and Canada) have convened to compare the results of their research. Year after year, archival records have been brought to bear and the bibliography has grown ever longer. A number of studies of oral tradition have been undertaken in Africa.
From Genes for Intelligence to Our Understanding of Genes
Authors: Darlu Pierre
Published: March 2007

From its very beginnings, this century has been under the sign of genetics. Indeed, it was in 1900 that the laws established by Mendel in the mid-nirieteenth century were rediscovered. In that same year, Landsteiner identified the first human blood typing, the ABO system. At that time, agronomists, eugenicists, and physicians were the principal agents of the development of genetics. The chromosome theory of heredity was asserted beginning in 1911; it was followed in the 1940s by the understanding of the role of the gene in cellular metabolism, and in 1954 by the explanation of the structure of the DNA double helix. The pre-eminence of genetics was to increase through the second half of the century, particularly in the 1970s with the advent of genetic engineering.
Hominization and Apes
Authors: Joulian Frédéric
Published: March 2007

The study of human origins is a kaleidoscopic field, a multitude of objects, reflections, and disciplines a swirl in an ever-changing tumult. The extreme diversity of the elements of information that are indispensable to this field of study (teeth, bones, apes, genes, ancient objects, present-day objects, biomechanical factors, cultural constructions …) appears all by itself to be enough to consign any attempt at synthesis to the realm of the Utopian. It hardly seems reasonable to expect the disparate sciences that fuel the field (paleoanthropology, archaeology, molecular biology, physics, psychology, and others) and the contradictory conceptions of scientific activity that they defend (human sciences, natural sciences, experimental sciences, exact sciences) to be joined with any regularity. As for formulating an overall problematics of the interdependent phenomena encountered in the field, one would have to be more than optimistic to entertain such dreams. And yet this is exactly the program that prehistory and paleoanthropology are laboring to construct tinder the label “the study of the origins of man,” an expression that includes both diachronic processes (human evolution) and activities or behaviors from particular moments, elements that are exceedingly difficult to compare given the separation of their geographic and temporal contexts.
Does Man Have a Place in Nature?
Authors: Guille-Escuret Georges
Published: March 2007

Throughout the twentieth century, social anthropology has given the impression of being a science that is eternally in the throes of birth, all the while wondering whether it has the right to exist. As it has taken root, developed, and subdivided, it has become increasingly doubt-ridden. Today this self-doubt seems to have reached critical proportions: it is difficult to see how this discipline can continue to emphasize its schizophrenia without completely falling apart. Researchers who wish to sustain a belief in the potential scientific vocation of anthropology feel obliged to seek assistance from the outside; for this help they look to the thermodynamics of heat, the selfish gene, or the newly-formed coalition of “cognitive sciences” (which combines the traditionally attractive capabilities of formal logic, psychophysiology, neurology, and so forth). Such researchers prefer second-hand knowledge to ephemeral knowledge. As for anthropologists who seek to preserve the professional autonomy of their practice at any cost, most of them believe that the only way to do that is to abdicate: to hell with the mirage of objectivity, down with laws, and long live the “text”!
Health-related quality of life in secondary progressive multiple sclerosis
Authors: Beiske A.G. , Naess H. , Aarseth J.H. , Andersen O. , Elovaara I. , Farkkila M. , Hansen H.J. , Mellgren S.I. , Sandberg-Wollheim M. , Sorensen P.S. , Myhr K.M.
Published: March 2007

Common disability scales in multiple sclerosis (MS) are often weighted towards physical disability. Non-motor symptoms such as depression, fatigue and pain substantially influence wellbeing in MS. Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) measures the broader impact of MS and might indicate less obvious disease burdens. We analysed HRQoL, using the Nottingham Health Profile Part I (NHP-I), among 345 secondary progressive MS (SPMS) patients participating in a randomized trial of interferon-β1a (IFN-β1a), 22 μg subcutaneously weekly, or matching placebo. The results did not reveal any beneficial effect of IFN-β1a in any outcome measure. NHP-I sub- and sum scores were compared for 217 population controls and correlated with demographic and clinical disease variables. SPMS patients had lower NHP-I sum and all subscores than the controls. Patients experiencing disease progression reported worse NHP-I sum scores. Increased fatigue, Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) and Arm Index scores were independently associated with reduction in several NHP-I subscores. SPMS patients had significantly lower HRQoL than controls and physical disability (EDSS and Arm Index), disease progression and fatigue strongly influenced this. MS
Angiotensin II promotes the inflammatory response to CD40 ligation via TRAF-2
Authors: Ruef Johannes , Browatzki Michael , Pfeiffer Caroline AH , Schmidt Joachim , Kranzhöfer Roger
Published: March 2007

A plethora of evidence supports a link between inflammation and atherogenesis. Both the vasoactive peptide angiotensin II (ANG II) as well as the CD40/CD154 signaling pathway exhibit proinflammatory properties with a direct influence on atherogenesis. We therefore tested the hypothesis that ANG II interacts with CD40/CD154 in human vascular smooth muscle cells (SMC). ANG II did not increase expression of CD40 in human SMC. However, when SMC were prestimulated with ANG II and thereafter stimulated with CD154, the ligand for CD40, the release of IL-6 as a marker of inflammatory activation was augmented compared to cells not primed with ANG II. TNF receptor-associated factor 2 (TRAF-2), an important adaptor protein involved in CD40 signaling, but not TRAF-5 or -6, was increased by ANG II via activation of the angiotensin II type 1 (AT1) receptor subtype. These results suggest that a signaling pathway downstream of CD40 may be altered by ANG II prestimulation. Thus, ANG II can also indirectly cause inflammatory activation of vascular SMC. The data show a novel link between the proatherogenic vasoactive peptide ANG II and cell—cell contact-mediated inflammatory pathways and implicate options for the prevention and therapy of atherosclerotic disease.
Ogun Oru
Authors: Aina O.F. , Famuyiwa O.O.
Published: March 2007

This article describes three cases of ` ogun oru' (nocturnal warefare), a condition reported in southwest Nigeria involving an acute night-time disturbance that is culturally attributed to demonic infiltration of the body and psyche during dreaming. Ogun oru is characterized by its occurrence, a female preponderance, the perception of an underlying feud between the sufferer's earthly spouse and a `spiritual' spouse, and the event of bewitchment through eating while dreaming. The condition is believed to be treatable through Christian prayers or elaborate traditional rituals designed to exorcise the imbibed demonic elements. Ogun oru may be a label applied to medical problems. The differential diagnosis includes mainly parasomnias, for example, sleep terror, sleepwalking and sleep paralysis and, to a lesser extent, nocturnal or sleep epilepsy.
A Comparison of Quality-of-Life in Schizophrenia and Affective Disorder Patients in a Nigerian Tertiary Hospital
Authors: Bamiso Makanjuola A. , Ademola Adeponle B. , Ayodele Obembe O.
Published: March 2007

This study determined the degree of satisfaction with various aspects of life in patients with affective disorders and schizophrenia in a Nigerian tertiary hospital. We compared quality-of-life (QOL) at onset-of-illness (first episode) with QOL at time of study and identified sociodemographic and clinical variables that may predict QOL. All consenting patients with ICD-10 compatible diagnosis of schizophrenia ( n = 100) and affective disorders ( n = 35) receiving treatment in the study center during the study period were interviewed. The WHOQOL-Bref was used to assess respondents' subjective QOL, and a data-collection sheet assessed objective domains of QOL. Respondents with schizophrenia and affective disorders had a good outcome in terms of objective QOL scores. In both groups, however, the subjective ratings were poor as the illness progresses. We conclude that in Nigerian hospital cases, patients with schizophrenia andaffective disorders have a good outcome in terms of objective QOL scores, which are not in consonance with their subjective ratings. Marital status and employment status are predictive of QOL
The Elder's Child of Maré Island, New Caledonia
Authors: Mouchenik Yoram
Published: March 2007

On Maré Island in New Caledonia `the elder's child' is an etiologic category with its own specific features. This article describes the work of a clinical psychologist with the family of a polyhandicapped child described as `the elder's child.' Psychological and ethnographic perspectives provide complementary approaches to investigating cultural meanings, social organization and cosmogony, which all influence clinical interaction with the family and provides tools for developing a therapeutic alliance.
Becoming a journalist
Authors: Frith Simon , Meech Peter
Published: March 2007

In the last 30 years there has been a transformation in the way in which young people in the UK have become journalists. Not only has journalism become a graduate occupation but there has also been a steady increase in the number of university journalism courses and degrees. This development has been greeted with both scepticism and anxiety by already established journalists, who argue that universities are unsuited to prepare new entrants for the `realities' of journalism as an occupation. This article reports on a survey of graduates from journalism programmes in Scotland. The evidence of this survey is, first, that a journalism degree is, in fact, an effective preparation for a successful journalism career and, second, that graduate journalists absorb news-room culture without difficulty, to the extent of discounting the value of their own `academic' journalism training. There is some evidence, though, that graduate journalists do bring a new perspective to the assessment of journalism as a career.
Public culture, independent online news and the Tasmanian Times
Authors: Hutchins Brett
Published: March 2007

This article presents a case study of an independent online news site, the Tasmanian Times (http://www.tasmaniantimes.com), to highlight and analyse a number of critical issues in contemporary media culture and journalism practice. These issues include the social and political functions of online news sources, the interplay between contending discourses of `quality' and `tabloid' journalism, the role of celebrity culture and reporting in news media, and the implications of using the world wide web to deliver news and information to readers, as well as to interact with them. The site was selected for study because of the impact that it has made in Tasmania, which is an Australian state and island home to almost half a million people who live in regional cities and rural settlements. This essay is part of a larger research project that seeks to demonstrate that news media in culturally and geographically marginal regional areas is of significance in the creation and functioning of the'network society'.

The sociology of Richard Sennett and Jürgen Habermas are applied selectively in order to demonstrate the deeply rooted social, cultural and historical processes informing the content and journalistic practices that sustain the Tasmanian Times. Evidence is drawn from in-depth interviews with the award-winning journalist running the site, continuing email correspondence with him, and observation of the Tasmanian Times website.
Long flights do not influence immune responses of a long-distance migrant bird: a wind-tunnel experiment
Authors: Hasselquist Dennis , Lindström Åke , Jenni-Eiermann Susi , Koolhaas Anita , Piersma Theunis
Published: March 2007

Heavy physical work can result in physiological stress and suppressed immune function. Accordingly, long-distance migrant birds that fly for thousands of km within days can be expected to show immunosuppression, and hence be more vulnerable to infections en route. The red knot Calidris canutus Linnaeus is a long-distance migrant shorebird. We flew red knots the equivalent of 1500 km over 6 days in a wind tunnel. The humoral and cell-mediated immune responses of the flyers were compared to those of non-flying controls. Humoral immunity was measured as antibody production against injected diphtheria and tetanus antigens, and cell-mediated response as phytohemagglutinin-induced wing-web swelling. Blood corticosterone levels, which may modulate immune function, were measured in parallel. The long flights had no detectable effects on humoral or cell-mediated immune responses, or on corticosterone levels. Thus, flight performance per se may not be particularly stressful or immunosuppressive in red knots. Some birds assigned as flyers refused to fly for extended periods. Before flights started, these non-flyers had significantly lower antibody responses against tetanus than the birds that carried out the full flight program. This suggests that only birds in good physical condition may be willing to take on heavy exercise. We conclude that these long-distance migrants appear well adapted to the work load induced by long flights, enabling them to cope with long flight distances without increased stress levels and suppression of immunity. Whether this also applies in the wild, where the migrating birds may face adverse weather and food conditions, remains to be investigated.
Polar bearUrsus maritimushearing measured with auditory evoked potentials
Authors: Nachtigall Paul E. , Supin Alexander Y. , Amundin Mats , Röken Bengt , Møller Thorsten , Mooney T. Aran , Taylor Kristen A. , Yuen Michelle
Published: March 2007

While there has been recent concern about the effects of sound on marine mammals, including polar bears, there are no data available measuring the hearing of any bear. The in-air hearing of three polar bears was measured using evoked auditory potentials obtained while tone pips were played to three individually anaesthetized bears at the Kolmården Djurpark. Hearing was tested in half-octave steps from 1 to 22.5 kHz. Measurements were not obtainable at 1 kHz and best sensitivity was found in the range from 11.2–22.5 kHz. Considering the tone pips were short and background noise measurements were available, absolute measurements were estimated based on an assumed mammalian integration time of 300 ms. These data show sensitive hearing in the polar bear over a wide frequency range and should cause those concerned with the introduction of anthropogenic noise into the polar bear's environment to operate with caution.
One-trial conditioned taste aversion inLymnaea: good and poor performers in long-term memory acquisition
Authors: Sugai Rio , Azami Sachiyo , Shiga Hatsuki , Watanabe Takayuki , Sadamoto Hisayo , Kobayashi Suguru , Hatakeyama Dai , Fujito Yutaka , Lukowiak Ken , Ito Etsuro
Published: March 2007

In the majority of studies designed to elucidate the causal mechanisms of memory formation, certain members of the experimental cohort, even though subjected to exactly the same conditioning procedures, remember significantly better than others, whereas others show little or no long-term memory (LTM)formation. To begin to address the question of why this phenomenon occurs and thereby help clarify the causal mechanism of LTM formation, we used a conditioned taste aversion (CTA) procedure on individuals of the pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis and analyzed their subsequent behavior. Using sucrose as an appetitive stimulus and KCl as an aversive stimulus, we obtained a constant ratio of `poor' to `good' performers for CTA–LTM. We found that approximately 40% of trained snails possessed LTM following a one-trial conditioning procedure. When we examined the time-window necessary for the memory consolidation, we found that if we cooled snails to 4°C for 30 min within 10 min after the one-trial conditioning, LTM was blocked. However, with delayed cooling (i.e. longer than 10 min), LTM was present. We could further interfere with LTM formation by inducing inhibitory learning (i.e. backward conditioning) after the one-trial conditioning. Finally, we examined whether we could motivate snails to acquire LTM by depriving them of food for 5 days before the one-trial conditioning. Food-deprived snails, however, failed to exhibit LTM following the one-trial conditioning. These results will help us begin to clarify why some individuals are better at learning and forming memory for specific tasks at the neuronal level.
Disruptive coloration in cuttlefish: a visual perception mechanism that regulates ontogenetic adjustment of skin patterning
Authors: Barbosa Alexandra , Mäthger Lydia M. , Chubb Charles , Florio Christopher , Chiao Chuan-Chin , Hanlon Roger T.
Published: March 2007

Among the changeable camouflage patterns of cuttlefish, disruptive patterning is shown in response to certain features of light objects in the visual background. However, whether animals show disruptive patterns is dependent not only on object size but also on their body size. Here, we tested whether cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) are able to match their disruptive body patterning with increasing size of background objects as they grow from hatchling to adult size (0.7 to 19.6 cm mantle length; factor of 28). Specifically, do cuttlefish have a single `visual sampling rule' that scales accurately during ontogeny?

For each of seven size classes of cuttlefish, we created black and white checkerboards whose check sizes corresponded to 4, 12, 40, 120, 400 and 1200%of the area of the cuttlefish's White square, which is a neurophysiologically controlled component of the skin. Disruptive body patterns were evoked when,regardless of animal size, the check size measured either 40 or 120% of the area of the cuttlefish's White square, thus demonstrating a remarkable ontogenetic conformity to a single visual sampling rule.

Cuttlefish have no known visual feedback loop with which to adjust their skin patterns. Since the area of a cuttlefish's White square skin component is a function of body size, our results indicate that cuttlefish are solving a visual scaling problem of camouflage presumably without visual confirmation of the size of their own skin component.
Development of Fabrication of Giant Nanomembranes
Authors: Watanabe Hirohmi , Vendamme Richard , Kunitake Toyoki
Published: March 2007

Large nanomembranes, which are characterized by aspect ratios (size/thickness) of greater than one million, are described. The combination of nanometer thickness and macroscopic size facilitates important applications in materials separation, selective transport and electrochemical devices. In the past, only small pieces of nanomembranes have been fabricated, in spite of intensive research. We describe here the first examples of a general fabrication procedure. Spin coating of the precursor solutions on appropriate underlayer was effectively used to prepare 10–30 nm thick nanomembranes of metal oxides, interpenetrating network of cross-linked acrylate with metal oxide, and highly cross-linked organic polymers (epoxy resin, etc.). The underlayer is composed of an affinity (e.g., poly(vinyl alcohol)) layer and/or sacrificial layer, and the role of these layers is discussed. Some of the mechanical properties of nanomembranes were measured by using a bulge test and a compression method. The nanomembranes of the organic and inorganic hybrids and the purely organic resins were surprisingly robust and defect-free.
Guest-Induced Supramolecular Isomerism and Chirality of Brucine Inclusion Crystals with Aliphatic Alcohols: A Hierarchical Interpretation
Authors: Watabe Tsuyoshi , Kobayashi Kenji , Hisaki Ichiro , Tohnai Norimitsu , Miyata Mikiji
Published: March 2007

Cocrystallization of brucine with a series of aliphatic alcohols was systematically investigated to understand molecular recognition through supramolecular isomerism and chirality. Guest-induced supramolecular isomers of brucine were obtained by cocrystallization and were categorized into three structural types based on the common 21 helical tape-like assemblies. These supramolecular isomers were elucidated from the molecular structures on the basis of qualitative hierarchical structural analysis through supramolecular chirality. Moreover, it was found that the supramolecular isomerization occurred depending on the size of the guest molecules. This dependence was clearly evaluated on the relationship between the volume of the guest molecules and the packing coefficient of the void spaces in the host cavities.
NICE, Alzheimer's and the QALY
Authors: Taylor J G
Published: March 2007

The introduction of National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance on Alzheimer's medication in November 2006 will have a significant effect on the treatment of patients, and is opposed by the Royal College of Psychiatrists and many charities dealing with the elderly. The use of the Quality-Adjusted Life Year (QALY) in the guidance formulation is much debated due to questions of ageism. This article seeks to examine the basis of these accusations and whether NICE can be justified using a utilitarian calculation in a principally egalitarian system such as the NHS.
A new 'new' Mental Health Act? Reflections on the proposed amendments to the Mental Health Act 1983
Authors: Glover-Thomas N
Published: March 2007

Since 1998, several attempts have been made to reform the existing mental health legislation - the Mental Health Act 1983. However, all efforts thus far have been resoundingly rejected by mental health charities, psychiatrists and related professions. Following the Government's decision to abandon the draft Mental Health Bill in March 2006, plans to introduce new legislation designed to amend the existing 1983 Act have been published. This shorter bill was introduced before Parliament in November 2006. The amendments focused on six key policy areas including supervised community treatment, the nearest relative, the definition of mental disorder and detention criteria. It is also intended that the Mental Capacity Act 2005 will be amended to bridge the present 'Bournewood' gap.