bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Metabolomic profiling in blood from umbilical cords of low birth weight newborns
Authors: Ivorra Carmen , García-Vicent Consuelo , Chaves Felipe Javier , Monleón Daniel , Morales José Manuel , Lurbe Empar
Published: July 2012

Background

Low birth weight has been linked to an increased risk to develop obesity, type 2 diabetes, and hypertension in adult life, although the mechanisms underlying the association are not well understood. The objective was to determine whether the metabolomic profile of plasma from umbilical cord differs between low and normal birth weight newborns.

Methods

Fifty healthy pregnant women and their infants were selected. The eligibility criteria were being born at term and having a normal pregnancy. Pairs were grouped according to their birth weight: low birth weight (LBW, birth weight < 10thpercentile, n = 20) and control (control, birth weight between the 75th-90thpercentiles, n = 30). Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) was used to generate metabolic fingerprints of umbilical cord plasma samples. Simultaneously, the metabolomic profiles of the mothers were analysed. The resulting data were subjected to chemometric, principal component and partial least squares discriminant analyses.

Results

Umbilical cord plasma from LBW and control newborns displayed a clearly differentiated metabolic profile. Seven metabolites were identified that discriminate the LBW from the control group. LBW newborns had lower levels of choline, proline, glutamine, alanine and glucose than did the control newborns, while plasma levels of phenylalanine and citrulline were higher in LBW newborns (p < 0.05). No significant differences were found between the two groups of mothers.

Conclusions

Low birth weight newborns display a differential metabolomic profile than those of normal birth weight, a finding not present in the mothers. The meaning and the potential utility of the findings as biomarkers of risk need to be addressed in future studies.
Time-dependent effects of hypothermia on microglial activation and migration
Authors: Seo Jung-Wan , Kim Jong-Heon , Kim Jae-Hong , Seo Minchul , Han Hyung Soo , Park Jaechan , Suk Kyoungho
Published: July 2012

Background

Therapeutic hypothermia is one of the neuroprotective strategies that improve neurological outcomes after brain damage in ischemic stroke and traumatic brain injury. Microglial cells become activated following brain injury and play an important role in neuroinflammation and subsequent brain damage. The aim of this study was to determine the time-dependent effects of hypothermia on microglial cell activation and migration, which are accompanied by neuroinflammation.

Methods

Microglial cells in culture were subjected to mild (33 °C) or moderate (29 °C) hypothermic conditions before, during, or after lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or hypoxic stimulation, and the production of nitric oxide (NO), proinflammatory cytokines, reactive oxygen species, and neurotoxicity was evaluated. Effects of hypothermia on microglial migration were also determined in in vitro as well as in vivo settings.

Results

Early-, co-, and delayed-hypothermic treatments inhibited microglial production of inflammatory mediators to varying degrees: early treatment was the most efficient, and delayed treatment showed time-dependent effects. Delayed hypothermia also suppressed the mRNA levels of proinflammatory cytokines and iNOS, and attenuated microglial neurotoxicity in microglia-neuron co-cultures. Furthermore, delayed hypothermia reduced microglial migration in the Boyden chamber assay and wound healing assay. In a stab injury model, delayed local hypothermia reduced migration of microglia toward the injury site in the rat brain.

Conclusion

Taken together, our results indicate that delayed hypothermia is sufficient to attenuate microglial activation and migration, and provide the basis of determining the optimal time window for therapeutic hypothermia. Delayed hypothermia may be neuroprotective by inhibiting microglia-mediated neuroinflammation, indicating the therapeutic potential of post-injury hypothermia for patients with brain damages exhibiting some of the inflammatory components.
Occupational lead exposure among automotive garage workers – a case study for Jimma town, Ethiopia
Authors: Adela Yalemsew , Ambelu Argaw , Tessema Dejene A
Published: July 2012

Background

In Ethiopia, although there are numerous small-scale and medium industries which use lead-based raw materials that may pose health risks to workers, there are no workplace regulations for lead exposure. Moreover, there are no studies carried out on the blood lead levels (BLLs) of workers or on the contribution of common workplace practices to lead poisoning.

Method

A cross-sectional study on the BLLs of 45 automotive garage workers and 40 non-garage workers was carried out in the town of Jimma, Ethiopia. In addition to BLL analysis, data on some risk factors such as smoking, and chewing ‘khat’ (the leaves of Catha adulis) were gathered through structured questionnaires and interviews and data analysis was performed using SPSS (version 16). The t-test was used to compare mean BLLs of study groups. The analysis of variance (ANOVA), Kruskal-Wallis, Pearson chi-square and odds ratio tests were used to investigate the associations between specific job type, smoking and/or ‘khat’ chewing, service years and occurrence of non-specific symptoms with BLLs.

Results

The mean BLL of the automotive-garage workers was found to be significantly greater than that of the controls. The BLLs of all the lead-exposed individuals were found to be over 10 μg/dL, and 53% of them had BLLs ranging 12 – 20 μg/dL, with the remaining 47% having over 20 μg/dL. The BLL of the workers increased with the duration of working in an automotive garage.

Individuals involved in manual car painting comprise a larger percentage (58%) of those with the highest BLLs (≥ 20 μg/dL). Lead accumulation in individuals who chew ‘khat’ in the work place was found to be faster than in those who are not used to chewing ‘khat’. ‘Khat’ is an evergreen shrub native to tropical East Africa, with dark green opposite leaves which are chewed when fresh for their stimulating effects.

Conclusion

The findings of the study have clearly demonstrated that the BLLs of automotive-garage workers in Jimma town are considerably high with a range of 11.73 – 36.52 μg/dL and the workers are in danger of impending lead toxicity. The BLLs of the workers are influenced by their occupational practices, chewing Catha adulis leaves at the workplace, and the time spent working in an automotive garage.
Forage preservation (grazing vs. hay) fed to ewes affects the fatty acid profile of milk and CPT1B gene expression in the sheep mammary gland
Authors: Dervishi Elda , Joy Margalida , Sanz Albina , Alvarez-Rodriguez Javier , Molino Francisco , Calvo Jorge H
Published: July 2012

Background

Alterations in lipid metabolism occur when animals are exposed to different feeding systems. In the last few decades, the characterisation of genes involved in fat metabolism and technological advances have enabled the study of the effect of diet on the milk fatty acid (FA) profile in the mammary gland and aided in the elucidation of the mechanisms of the response to diet. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of different forage diets (grazing vs. hay) near the time of ewe parturition on the relationship between the fatty acid profile and gene expression in the mammary gland of the Churra Tensina sheep breed.

Results

In this study, the forage type affected the C18:2 cis-9 trans-11 (CLA) and long-chain saturated fatty acid (LCFA) content, with higher percentages during grazing than during hay feeding. This may suggest that these FAs act as regulatory factors for the transcriptional control of the carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1B (CPT1B) gene, which was more highly expressed in the grazing group (GRE). The most highly expressed gene in the mammary gland at the fifth week of lactation is CAAT/ enhancer- binding protein beta (CEBPB), possibly due to its role in milk fat synthesis in the mammary gland. More stable housekeeping genes in the ovine mammary gland that would be appropriate for use in gene expression studies were ribosomal protein L19 (RPL19) and glyceraldehyde- 3- phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH).

Conclusions

Small changes in diet, such as the forage preservation (grazing vs. hay), can affect the milk fatty acid profile and the expression of the CPT1B gene, which is associated with the oxidation of fatty acids. When compared to hay fed indoors, grazing fresh low mountain pastures stimulates the milk content of CLA and LCFA via mammary uptake. In this sense, LCFA in milk may be acting as a regulatory factor for transcriptional control of the CPT1B gene, which was more highly expressed in the grazing group.
Transcriptome analysis of head kidney in grass carp and discovery of immune-related genes
Authors: Chen Jin , Li Cai , Huang Rong , Du Fukuan , Liao Lanjie , Zhu Zuoyan , Wang Yaping
Published: July 2012

Background

Grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) is one of the most economically important freshwater fish, but its production is often affected by diseases that cause serious economic losses. To date, no good breeding varieties have been obtained using the oriented cultivation technique. The ability to identify disease resistance genes in grass carp is important to cultivate disease-resistant varieties of grass carp.

Results

In this study, we constructed a non-normalized cDNA library of head kidney in grass carp, and, after clustering and assembly, we obtained 3,027 high-quality unigenes. Solexa sequencing was used to generate sequence tags from the transcriptomes of the head kidney in grass carp before and after grass carp reovirus (GCRV) infection. After processing, we obtained 22,144 tags that were differentially expressed by more than 2-fold between the uninfected and infected groups. 679 of the differentially expressed tags (3.1%) mapped to 483 of the unigenes (16.0%). The up-regulated and down-regulated unigenes were annotated using gene ontology terms; 16 were annotated as immune-related and 42 were of unknown function having no matches to any of the sequences in the databases that were used in the similarity searches. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR revealed four unknown unigenes that showed significant responses to the viral infection. Based on domain structure predictions, one of these sequences was found to encode a protein that contained two transmembrane domains and, therefore, may be a transmembrane protein. Here, we proposed that this novel unigene may encode a virus receptor or a protein that mediates the immune signalling pathway at the cell surface.

Conclusion

This study enriches the molecular basis data of grass carp and further confirms that, based on fish tissue-specific EST databases, transcriptome analysis is an effective route to discover novel functional genes.
Purification and characterization of trypsin from the digestive system of carp Catla catla (Hamilton)
Authors: Khangembam Bronson Kumar , YVR Kameshwar Sharma , Chakrabarti Rina
Published: July 2012

Trypsin was purified from the digestive system of carp Catla catla (Hamilton) by ammonium sulfate fractionation, diethylaminoethyl-cellulose column chromatography, and Benzamidine Sepharose 4 fast flow column affinity chromatography. Trypsin was purified 26.2-fold with an 11.1% yield. The purified enzyme was active between pH 7.0 and 9.8, and maximal activity of the enzyme was observed at pH 7.0. Highest activity was found at 40°C. The activity was reduced to 52.84% at 60°C and was completely lost at 70°C. An addition of 2 mM CaCl2 enhanced trypsin activity during the 8-h incubation. The K
m, K
cat, and catalytic efficiency values of purified enzyme were 0.062 mM and 19.23/s, and 310.16/s/mM, respectively. The enzyme activity was inhibited by soybean trypsin inhibitor, phenylmethylsulfonylflouride, and N-α-p-tosyl-l-lysine chloromethyl ketone. The molecular mass of the purified enzyme was 20.2 kDa by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Mass spectrometry study of purified enzyme gave the peptide sequences LGEHNIAVNEGTEQFIDSVK (MW = 2,027.9568) and HPSYNSRNLDNDIM (MW = 1,692.6952) showing identical sequence with trypsin from various fishes.
Evolution of candidate transcriptional regulatory motifs since the human-chimpanzee divergence
Authors: Donaldson Ian J , Göttgens Berthold
Published: July 2012

Background

Despite the recent completion of the chimpanzee genome project, few functionally significant sequence differences between humans and chimpanzees have thus far been identified. Alteration in transcriptional regulatory mechanisms represents an important platform for evolutionary change, suggesting that a significant proportion of functional human-chimpanzee sequence differences may affect regulatory elements.

Results

To explore this hypothesis, we performed genome-wide identification of conserved candidate transcription-factor binding sites that have evolved since the divergence of humans and chimpanzees. Analysis of candidate transcription-factor binding sites conserved between mouse and chimpanzee yet absent in human indicated that loss of candidate transcription-factor binding sites in the human lineage was not random but instead correlated with the biologic functions of associated genes.

Conclusion

Our data support the notion that changes in transcriptional regulation have contributed to the recent evolution of humans. Moreover, genes associated with mutated candidate transcription-factor binding sites highlight potential pathways underlying human-chimpanzee divergence.
Digital soil mapping of compositional particle-size fractions using proximal and remotely sensed ancillary data
Authors: Buchanan S. , Triantafilis J. , Odeh I. O. A. , Subansinghe R.
Published: July 2012

The soil particle-size fractions (PSFs) are one of the most important attributes to influence soil physical (e.g., soil hydraulic properties) and chemical (e.g., cation exchange) processes. There is an increasing need, therefore, for high-resolution digital prediction of PSFs to improve our ability to manage agricultural land. Consequently, use of ancillary data to make cheaper high-resolution predictions of soil properties is becoming popular. This approach is known as “digital soil mapping.” However, most commonly employed techniques (e.g., multiple linear regression or MLR) do not consider the special requirements of a regionalized composition, namely PSF; (1) should be nonnegative (2) should sum to a constant at each location, and (3) estimation should be constrained to produce an unbiased estimation, to avoid false interpretation. Previous studies have shown that the use of the additive log-ratio transformation (ALR) is an appropriate technique to meet the requirements of a composition. In this study, we investigated the use of ancillary data (i.e., electromagnetic (EM), gamma-ray spectrometry, Landsat TM, and a digital elevation model to predict soil PSF using MLR and generalized additive models (GAM) in a standard form and with an ALR transformation applied to the optimal method (GAM-ALR). The results show that the use of ancillary data improved prediction precision by around 30% for clay, 30% for sand, and 7% for silt for all techniques (MLR, GAM, and GAM-ALR) when compared to ordinary kriging. However, the ALR technique had the advantage of adhering to the special requirements of a composition, with all predicted values nonnegative and PSFs summing to unity at each prediction point and giving more accurate textural prediction.
Psychoanalysis as a Cultural Ideal: “Form Feeling” in Freud’s Essay on Gradiva
Authors: Hartman Geoffrey
Published: July 2012

The literary quality of Freud’s prose is generally acknowledged, and his case histories have the allure of novellas. The present essay explores what Freud himself, in a letter to Fliess, called “form feeling” ( Formgefühl ). Focusing mainly on his Gradiva commentary, the author argues that this form sensitivity has not only presentational importance but is deeply involved in the revisionary cultural aims of the new science of psychoanalysis. Freud radically revises the Bildung concept of lifelong educational self-development, as well as a neoclassical style ideal largely derived from Winkelmann’s famous description of Hellenic statuary’s blend of moral and aesthetic qualities (“noble simplicity and tranquil grandeur”). By coming to terms with the unbeautiful in the logic and wit of dreams he creates a dream pedagogy treatment respecting the ecstatic or Dionysian element in human experience, one that fully recognizes what art historian Aby Warburg characterized as a “classical disquiet” ( klassische Unruhe ). Basic to Freud’s essay on Jensen’s romance is that Zoe/Gradiva figures there not just as a proxy psychoanalyst but as a Hermes type of psychopomp accepting the young archeologist’s dream-delusion, while leading him firmly via this “underworld” into facing erotic feelings he had totally displaced from life to ancient art.
Integral points on symmetric varieties and Satake compatifications
Authors: Gorodnik Alexander , Oh Hee , Shah Nimish
Published: July 2012

Let $V$ be an affine symmetric variety defined over $\Bbb Q$. We
compute the asymptotic distribution of the angular components of the
integral points in $V$. This distribution is described by a family
of invariant measures concentrated on the Satake boundary of $V$.
In the course of the proof, we describe the structure of the Satake
compactifications for general affine symmetric varieties and compute
the asymptotic of the volumes of norm balls.
Resolution of singularities for 3-folds in positive characteristic
Authors: Cutkosky Steven Dale
Published: July 2012

A concise, complete proof of resolution of singularities of 3-folds in positive
characteristic $>5$ is given. Abhyankar first proved this theorem in 1966.
Properties of the solutions of the conjugate heat equations
Authors: Hamilton Richard , Sesum Natasa
Published: July 2012

In this paper we consider the class ${\cal A}$ of those solutions $u(x,t)$ to the
conjugate heat equation ${{\partial}\over{\partial t}}u = -\Delta u + Ru$ on
compact K\"ahler manifolds $M$ with $c_1 > 0$ (where $g(t)$ changes by the
unnormalized K\"ahler Ricci flow, blowing up at $T < \infty$), which satisfy
Perelman's differential Harnack inequality (6) on
$[0,T)$. We show ${\cal A}$ is nonempty. If $|\mathop{\rm Ric}\nolimits(g(t))| \le {{C}\over{T-t}}$, which is always true if we have a type I singularity, we
prove the solution $u(x,t)$ satisfies the elliptic type Harnack inequality, with
the constants that are uniform in time. If the flow $g(t)$ has a type~I
singularity at $T$, then ${\cal A}$ has exactly one element.
Strichartz estimates for operators with nonsmooth coefficients and the nonlinear wave equation
Authors: Tataru Daniel
Published: July 2012

The aim of this article is threefold. First, we use the FBI transform to set up a calculus for partial differential operators with nonsmooth coefficients. Next, this calculus allows us to prove Strichartz type estimates for the wave equation with nonsmooth coefficients. Finally, we use these Strichartz estimates to improve the local theory for second order nonlinear hyperbolic equations.
The deformation spaces of convex [inline-graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="01i" /]-structures on 2-orbifolds
Authors: Choi Suhyoung , Goldman William M.
Published: July 2012

We determine that the deformation space of convex real projective structures, that is, projectively flat torsion-free connections with the geodesic convexity property on a compact 2-orbifold of negative Euler characteristic is homeomorphic to a cell of certain dimension. The basic techniques are from Thurston's lecture notes on hyperbolic 2-orbifolds, the previous work of Goldman on convex real projective structures on surfaces, and some classical geometry.
On zeros of the derivative of the Selberg zeta function
Authors: Luo Wenzhi
Published: July 2012

In this work, we study the distribution of nontrivial zeros of the derivatives of Selberg zeta functions on cocompact hyperbolic surfaces, and obtain an asymptotic formula for the zero density with bounded height, which is an analogue of the Weyl law. We then relate the distribution of the zeros to the multiplicities of Laplacian eigenvalues.
Diophantine tori and spectral asymptotics for nonselfadjoint operators
Authors: Hitrik M , Sjöstrand J. (Johannes) , Ngoc S. V
Published: July 2012

We study spectral asymptotics for small nonselfadjoint perturbations of selfadjoint h-pseudodifferential operators in dimension 2, assuming that the classical flow of the unperturbed part possesses several invariant Lagrangian tori enjoying a Diophantine property. We get complete asymptotic expansions for all eigenvalues in certain rectangles in the complex plane in two different cases: in the first case, we assume that the strength Îµ of the perturbation is O(hÎ´) for some Î´ > 0 and is bounded from below by a fixed positive power of h. In the second case, Îµ is assumed to be sufficiently small but independent of h, and we describe the eigenvalues completely in a fixed h-independent domain in the complex spectral plane.
On isospectral arithmetical spaces
Authors: Rajan C. S
Published: July 2012

We study the relationship between the arithmetic and the spectrum of the Laplacian for manifolds arising from congruence arithmetic subgroups of SL(1,D), where D is an indefinite quaternion division algebra defined over a number field F. We give new examples of isospectral but nonisometric compact, arithmetically defined varieties, generalizing the class of examples constructed by Vigneras. These examples are based on an interplay between the simply connected and adjoint group and depend explicitly on the failure of strong approximation for the adjoint group. The examples can be considered as a geometric analogue and also as an application of the concept and results on L-indistinguishability for SL(1,D) due to Labesse and Langlands. We verify that the Hasse-Weil zeta functions are equal for the examples of isospectral pair of arithmetic varieties we construct giving further evidence for an archimedean analogue of Tate’s conjecture, which expects that the spectrum of the Laplacian determines the arithmetic of such spaces.
Eisenstein series on loop groups: Maass-Selberg relations 2
Authors: Garland Howard
Published: July 2012

We prove that truncated, pseudo-Eisenstein series have compact support on the arithmetic quotient.
Twisted Borcherds products on Hilbert modular surfaces and their CM values
Authors: Bruinier Jan H. (Jan Hendrik) , Yang Tonghai
Published: July 2012

We construct a family of rational functions on a Hilbert modular surface from the classical j-invariant and its Hecke translates. These functions are obtained by means of a multiplicative analogue of the Doi-Naganuma lifting and can be viewed as twisted Borcherds products. We then study when the value of at a CM point associated to a nonbiquadratic quartic CM field generates the “CM class field” of the reflex field. For the real quadratic field , we factorize the norm of some of these CM values to numerically.
Mapping the Entrails: The Practice of Greek Hepatoscopy
Authors: Collins Derek
Published: July 2012

This article reconstructs the practice of Greek hepatoscopy in the classical period and thereafter. Based on historical, literary, and comparative anthropological material, it argues that hepatoscopy was a binary system involving both fixed and fluid points of reference on animal livers. Attention is given to the most relevant features of the liver as they pertain to divination, in both Greek and later Roman sources, as well as to the seers who specialized in this form of divination. Finally, I contrast Greek liver divination with a contemporary African example of entrails-reading in an effort to illustrate how Greek hepatoscopy might have proceeded.
Tί γàρ τοῦτο πρὸς τὸν λόγον; Plutarch’s Gryllus and the So-Called Grylloi
Authors: Herchenroeder Lucas
Published: July 2012

Plutarch’s Gryllus is a parodic take on contemporary intellectual culture, offering a humorous portrait of elite perspectives regarding language and sophistic learning. The parodic effect stems from the figure of the talking pig, the dialogue’s protagonist, whose name, Gryllus (“Grunter”), signifies ineptness in speech and characterizes him as a mocking figure through puns with the names of an Egyptian dance form and a parodic painting style—connections not observed in definitive interpretations of the dialogue. Ultimately, in its engagement with rhetorical performance and popular philosophical themes, the dialogue parodies reliance upon paideia as a form of empowerment.
The Forest and the Trees: Pattern and Meaning in Horace, Odes 1
Authors: Fenton Andrew
Published: July 2012

The first book of Horace's Odes features a pattern, similar to that of the Parade Odes, in which tree names are introduced without repetition. This pattern is not simply a formal feature but contributes to a motif, which begins in Book I of the Odes but continues into Books 2 and 3, in which the relationship between humans and trees is depicted as a symbol of poetic mastery. By demonstrating his ability to create and arrange a poetic grove, Horace thus announces his command of the lyric genre.
The Chorus as Rhetorical Audience: A Sophoklean Agōn Pattern
Authors: Hawthorne Kevin
Published: July 2012

The dynamics of some Sophoklean agōn scenes depend on the presence of an atypically non-marginal chorus of free, Greek males. In Aias, Antigone , and Oidipous at Kolonos , characters perform their conflicts with each other toward the chorus as a socio-politically authoritative audience. Their interactions are, in part, negotiations of the chorus' authority, involving varied attempts to ap-propriate or marginalize it. In these agōn scenes, the marked influence of the choral presence expands the thematic scope of the characters' conflicts onto larger communities.
Choral Identity in Sophocles' Oedipus Coloneus
Authors: Dhuga Umit Singh
Published: July 2012

This article argues that the chorus of elders in Sophocles' Oedipus Coloneus is far from ineffectual, as some scholars assume choruses of elders generally are, but exceptionally authoritative in its role as a chorus. The exceptional authority of the Elders of Colonus derives from their old age, wherefrom their sympathy for Oedipus obtains, and from the fact that they are Athenian and thus have the capacity to enact their sympathy for Oedipus by granting him special rights of residency as an heroic protector of Athens. Detailed analysis of this particular chorus's speech, song, and action is helpful not only to our understanding of Oedipus Coloneus but also, more broadly, to our understanding of the ongoing, if not increasing, importance that the chorus will have maintained in ancient Greek tragedy.
Aeschylus' Eumenides : Some Contrapuntal Lines
Authors: Porter David H.
Published: July 2012

Although Aeschylus' Oresteia moves toward resolution on many fronts, there are significant counterpoints to these positive progressions. Human stature and initiative decline over the course of the trilogy; the "hero"of the final play is largely passive, with speech and action increasingly the province of the gods; Orestes' "initiation" in Eumenides remains incomplete; and the trilogy ends with not just "uppity" women put in their place but the capacity for human greatness itself reduced. These and other contrapuntal undercurrents complicate and enrich our response to the many resolutions that do occur in the final play of the trilogy.
The Case against Nikomachos
Authors: Carawan Edwin
Published: July 2012

Lysias 30 attacks Nikomachos for his work on the Sacrifical Calendar; the issue remains unclear. Sterling Dow supposed that Nikomachos was charged with omitting ancient obligations. But the speech shows that Nikomachos was charged with excessive additions; these caused a shortfall for ancient rites that were not part of his mandate. This reading suggests that the aim of the lawsuit was to cancel obligations that were introduced when Athens and Eleusis were divided (403-401 B.C.E. ). The massive erasure that Dow discovered in the inscribed Calendar was probably the result of that revision. In addition, this theory of the case offers a new solution for an old problem in the text of the speech.
"Bitch that I Am": Self-Blame and Self-Assertion in the Iliad
Authors: Blondell Ruby
Published: July 2012

In the Iliad , Helen is objectified by the male characters in ways that excuse her from male blame and thus serve the heroic agenda. Yet her self-blame is an implicit assertion of agency on her part. It not only disarms male reproach by characterizing her as a "good" woman, but affirms her responsibility (and thus agency) in her original elopement. Her erotic subjectivity is also shown in the Aphrodite scene, where Helen both takes responsibility for her transgression and implies that the impulse prompting it has not been quenched.
The Manipulation of Signs in Herodotos' Histories
Authors: Hollmann Alexander
Published: July 2012

Herodotos' Histories contain many tricksters who are able to think quickly, outwit others, and get what they want using techniques that are not always honest. This paper explores how the skill of these manipulators often resides in their ability to use and abuse signs and hijack the process of signification. It is suggested that Herodotos' interest in and admiration of these manipulators of signs is connected with his narrative persona as master presenter and interpreter of signs.
At Play with Writing: Letters and Readers in Plautus
Authors: Jenkins Thomas E
Published: July 2012

The essay takes its cue from Sharrock's CQ article on Plautus and "the nature of reading." In Sharrock's definition all interaction with a text constitutes a reading. My article examines Plautine reading in a narrower sense: the instances in four plays (Ps., Trin., Bac., Cur.) in which characters read or write, the only times in these plays that the underlying text is presented "as written." The article then offers some general remarks about the reading of Plautus: how do the hermeneutics of writing play out in Plautus' dramas, and how do they affect our reading of his texts as written?
The Traveling Reader: Journeys through Ancient Epigram Books
Authors: Höschele Regina
Published: July 2012

In ancient literature writing and reading are frequently equated with wayfaring. Given the origins of the genre, the image of the traveling reader gains a special meaning in the context of epigram collections: the reception situation of epigraphic poetry, which forms part of antiquity's material culture, is transferred to the literary landscape of the bookroll, and the traditional passer-by morphs into a metaphorical wanderer. Just as inscriptions are concerned with catching the traveler's attention, the epigrams contained within a libellus have to attract the interest of the reader who is moving through the book.
1. Some Thoughts on Philology
Authors: Gaisser Julia Haig
Published: July 2012

DTP Notes 1. When there is a greek extract followed by the english translation remove the space below the greek extract.
A View from the Streets: Women and Medical Work in Elizabethan London
Authors: Harkness Deborah E.
Published: July 2012

In Elizabethan London, women occupied a significant position in the city's medical marketplace, both as consumers of medical services and as practitioners. Though male medical authors of the period objected to the presence and practices of these women, a very different view of their medical work emerges if we shift our historical vantage point to the streets, houses, churches, and hospitals of the city. Using relatively underutilized sources such as parish records, probate records, lists of immigrants to London, hospital records, and individual manuscripts it is possible to draw a richer, more detailed portrait of how female healthcare workers engaged with the business of health and healing. Women emerge from these records as active, prominent, and acknowledged participants in the delivery of services that promoted and preserved the health of many Londoners from cradle to grave. Hired by public institutions such as parishes and hospitals, as well as by private individuals, women were central figures in the delivery of nursing, medical, pharmaceutical, and surgical services throughout the city as part of organized systems of health care. Exploring how Londoners saw female practitioners, and how women played a recognized role within the city's range of health-care options, demonstrates that women were crucial to community health, and were also valued as such by their neighbors and patients.
The Israel Museum Ben-Yitzhak Award for Illustration
Authors: Shilo-Cohen Nurit
Published: July 2012

The Israel Museum Award for illustration is given in memory of Rivi and Michael Ben-Yitzhak, who were killed in a terrorist attack in Jerusalem's Zion Square in the summer of 1975, leaving behind two young children. The chairperson of the jury gives a brief rundown of the award and an overview of some of the winners
Playing with Language and Literature: Louis Jensen's 1001 Stories
Authors: Rasmussen Line Beck
Published: July 2012

Imagine not-yet-1001 little square stories for children – which in many cases are not really stories at all but something more like quirky poems, and possibly not really (just) for children anyway, and in at least one case not actually square. This is the intriguing and unsettling world of Louis Jensen's hundreds of stories. For all their postmodern playfulness, these stories are, as Line Beck Rasmussen shows, also in a direct line from Hans Christian Andersen and owe at least some of their characteristics to sources as diverse and unexpected as Gogol and Rabelais
From Avant-garde to Digital Images: Collage in Nordic Picturebooks
Authors: Druker Elina
Published: July 2012

Collage has had a long history in 20th-century avant-garde movements; more recently, with the development of digital technologies, it has developed in new directions. This article considers influences from avant-garde collage and painting, the technique of digital collage and montage and references to folk art in the work of two Nordic picturebook artists – the Swedish painter Jockum Nordström and the Norwegian graphic artist and illustrator Stian Hole
Centres for Children's Literature in the Nordic Countries
Authors: Christensen Nina
Published: July 2012

The four major Nordic countries all have institutes dedicated to children's literature. Nina Christensen describes these four institutes, their differences and similarities, which can hopefully also serve as inspiration for countries that are considering establishing their own institutes of children's literature
Critically Reading the Word and the World: Building Intercultural Understanding through Literature
Authors: Short Kathy G.
Published: July 2012

This collaborative project involves teachers in a small public elementary school in Tucson, Arizona in the USA. They examine the pedagogical issues and strategies involved in integrating international literature into the curriculum beyond a “tourist” approach, encouraging close critical reading in developing children’s understandings of culture and the world.
Calderón, Velázquez y el arte de develar las formas de construcción de la realidad
Authors: Wolfenzon Carolyn
Published: July 2012

Darlo todo y no dar nada (1651) es una comedia que puede ser leída como una pintura en movimiento. Al principio de la comedia, el rey invoca a un concurso en el que tres artistas intentan reproducir su mejor retrato. El ganador, Apeles, no copia la realidad pero tampoco la falsifica. El rey ficcional, Alejandro, es una figura especular a la del rey verdadero, Felipe IV, quien observa la puesta en escena desde la sala de comedias del Palacio del Buen Retiro. El ensayo analiza la función de los retratos que aparecen en la obra y la relación que existe entre este proceso de construcción de la realidad y la técnica pictórica de Diego Velásquez, contemporáneo de Calderón (y apodado Apeles) en sus cuadros Las hilanderas y Las Meninas . El teatro de Calderón muestra que la postura de José Antonio Maravall, quien sostiene que el teatro español sirve casi exclusivamente como medio de propaganda, no toma en cuenta las pequeñas disrupciones en textos y representaciones don de se percibe, de manera indirecta, una crítica sutil a la figura del rey, o, al menos, un desvelamiento de los mecanismos de autorrepresentación de la monarquía. (CW)
Women's Kingdoms: Female Monarchs by Two Women Dramatists of Seventeenth-Century Spain and France
Authors: Finn Thomas P.
Published: July 2012

Studies of female rulers as they are depicted on the seventeenth-century stage are certainly not unknown among scholars, yet scant attention has been paid to women rulers as portrayed by women dramatists. Thus, criticism in this area may be too embryonic to speak of a female aesthetic in Western European theatre, but an analysis of two plays by two women dramatists will illuminate how Spanish female playwrights may have informed the work of their counterparts north of the Pyrenees. This article centers on Ana Caro Mallén de Soto's El Conde Partinuplés (1630-1640) and Catherine Bernard's Laodamie reine d'Épire (1689), showing how each female ruler's marital status is inextricably intertwined with her political and physical survival. Both monarchs must face the demands of their citizens, the paternal pressure of absent fathers, and the right to question the absolute authority of an unmarried female ruler. While taking charge of the courting process, the women redefine the parameters of heroism and nobility. (TPF)
Children's Literature and the Child Flâneur
Authors: Tribunella Eric L.
Published: July 2012

This essay examines Baudelaire's use of the figure of child in his theorization of the flâneur , and it argues for the possibility of a specifically child flâneur by considering New York children's literature like Enright's The Saturdays , Fitzhugh's Harriet the Spy , Konigsburg's From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler , and Hamilton's The Planet of Junior Brown .
"Masquerading Work": Class Transvestism in Victorian Texts for and about Children
Authors: Flegel Monica
Published: July 2012

Is childhood a classless construct? In an analysis of selected Victorian texts, this paper argues that the reconceptualization of “the child” in Victorian England allowed for representations of children as malleable social subjects, capable of class transvestism that both challenged and affirmed the fixity of social boundaries.
British Imperialism and US Multiculturalism: The Americanization of Burnett's A Little Princess
Authors: George Rosemary Marangoly
Published: July 2012

This essay examines Frances Hodgson Burnett’s A Little Princess (1905) and the Warner Brothers 1995 film adaptation of this story (directed by Alfonso Cuarón) to expose the cinematic ease with which a British imperial tale provides the psychic and material resources for an uplifting multicultural narrative set in the US.
Harry Potter and the Gift of Time
Authors: Zimmerman Virginia
Published: July 2012

In contrast to Voldemort, who pathologically misuses the remnants of his past, Harry Potter demonstrates throughout Rowling’s seven-book series an extraordinary ability to make use of the past, through time travel and traces, in his construction of his own identity and in his ultimate destruction of Voldemort.
Children's Literature in Ghana: A Survey
Authors: Yitah Helen , Komasi Mabel
Published: July 2012

This paper explores the development of written children’s literature in Ghana from its homogenous beginnings in traditional literature to its multifarious state in the present. It examines the nature, the range, the character, and the various forms of children’s literature in Ghana, as well as trends and issues within these forms.
The Other Mother: Neil Gaiman's Postfeminist Fairytales
Authors: Parsons Elizabeth , Sawers Naarah , McInally Kate
Published: July 2012

This article enacts as psychoanalytic analysis of Neil Gaiman's junior novel Coraline and graphic novel The Mirror Mask in order to position these two highly regarded children's texts in the postfeminist landscape of contemporary western world patriarchy. The interpretation concatenates the stories of the two female protagonists of these novels, Coraline and Helena, as exemplars of maturational stages in identity formation that demonstrate the ways in which feminine roles are currently circumscribed.
Children of Migrant Farmworkers in Picture Storybooks: Reality, Romanticism, and Representation
Authors: Beck Scott A.
Published: July 2012

Picture storybooks depicting the children of migrant farmworkers can serve multiple purposes in the classroom and library. However, the painful realities of migrancy challenge authors and illustrators to find a difficult balancing point between oppressive realities and unjustifiable romanticism while avoiding problematic stereotypes. Single books often do well vis-à-vis some aspects of migrancy but trip up regarding other issues. This article applies a critical perspective to an exhaustive collection of twenty-six books published over the past two decades and argues that only through complementary readings of multiple books can we do justice to the lives of those who feed us.
Why Won’t Melinda Just Talk about What Happened? Speak and the Confessional Voice
Authors: McGee Chris
Published: July 2012

Laurie Halse Anderson's 2000 novel Speak is most often lauded as an empowerment narrative for its portrayal of Melinda finding the strength to speak up about being raped. This article suggests that Anderson’s book resists such a tidy reading and instead is indicative of the complications inherent whenever an adult author mimics a teen’s confessional voice. Anderson’s novel is a sophisticated examination of how language often limits power, resisting the trappings of typical problem novels, yet it is undermined by Anderson's eventual insistence that Melinda’s healing can only come from confessing what happened to her to an adult figure.
Key Terms in Birds
Authors: Mahoney Anne (Anne Elizabeth)
Published: July 2012

Statistically prominent "key terms" in Birds make birds themselves into one of the themes of the play. None of Aristophanes' other plays has such a consistent set of thematic key terms. Birds are essential not only to the spectacle but also to the plot of the play. They are always both visible, as the chorus and other characters, and audible, in the bird-related language. As a result, the fantastic, political, and linguistic themes in the play are tightly integrated.
Castaneda's Ecstatic Pedagogy: The Teachings of Don Juan
Authors: Anders Abram
Published: July 2012

Carlos Castaneda's The Teachings of Don Juan fails before the question: What does it mean? What it does is to demand a different kind of reading—to be read as a recipe. Castaneda's text denies the regime of signification (by eliding the question of its own authenticity), casting its readers out along a line of flight of passional apprenticeship. Through a deployment of Deleuze and Guattari's notions of regimes of sign and the refrain, I argue that The Teachings can be profitably read as both an example of insurrectionist psychedelic science and as a self-referential ecstatic pedagogy.
Psychedelics: My Problem Discourse
Authors: Slattery Diana Reed
Published: July 2012

The discourse surrounding psychedelics is problematic on several vectors. The investigation of their effects on human beings is illegal in most circumstances, yet exploration continued after their scheduling in the late 1960s and early '70s. The article examines this problematic from the viewpoints of four leading psychedelic outlaws—Terence McKenna, Philip K. Dick, Timothy Leary, and John Lilly—who continued their explorations and wrote extensively about these experiences post-illegalization. The paradox of prolixity in the face of unspeakable or ineffable experience is one dimension of the problematic. The author weaves in her own experiences of encounters with a language from the psychedelic sphere, in light of the call for new language to communicate about and with the spheres of experience contacted through psychedelic self-exploration.
Beyond "Migration": Samoan Population Movement (Malaga) and the Geography of Social Space (Vā)
Authors: Lilomaiava-Doktor Sa'iliemanu
Published: July 2012

New flows of population movements have called into question both conventional categories of "migration" and their assumptions, encouraged by concepts such as diaspora and transnationalism. Despite the incorporation of the new concepts diaspora and transnationalism in migration studies in Oceania, conceptual problems remain because traditional categories of migration, diaspora, and transnationalism continue to dominate mobility literature with notions of severing ties, uprootedness, and rupture as Pacific Islanders move from the periphery (villages) to the core (Pacific Rim countries). In this article, I argue that indigenous conceptions of migration and development provide a better understanding of people's movements and the connection of migration to development for Island societies and economies. Through an ethnogeographic study of Salelologa, a Samoan village with members in Sāmoa and overseas, I use Samoan concepts for migration, malaga , and social connectedness, vā , to examine the processes, ideologies, and interactions that ' āiga (kin group, family members) maintain and retain in the diaspora as they seek ways to improve households and human betterment. This discussion of a Samoan philosophy and epistemology of movement expands, invigorates, and redefines ideas of migration, development, transnationality, place, and identity through Samoan ontological lenses. Harnessing an awareness of indigenous concepts is not enough, however, unless indigeneity and its concepts are fully integrated into theoretical approaches to mobility research in Oceania.
The "Sea of Little Lands": Examining Micronesia's Place in "Our Sea of Islands"
Authors: Hanlon David
Published: July 2012

Paul Rainbird has written on the assumed absence of certain cultural practices that informed Jules-Sébastien-César Dumont d'Urville's identification of Micronesia as a definable and major area of the Pacific. What followed d'Urville's misnaming was the ethnological reification of Micronesia as a coherent cultural entity. Colonialism, most recently and most particularly American colonialism, has contributed to the reification of this anthropological construct in politically significant and intellectually constraining ways. This essay reflects on a variety of linked histories—anthropological, colonial, and literary—that help explain the area's limited connections to the rest of contemporary Oceania and its related, more general circumscription from the field of Pacific studies. It also focuses on recent writings that destabilize the term Micronesia in favor of more localized histories, ethnographies, and literature—a process that is consistent with Hau'ofa's vision of "our sea of islands."
From Full Dusk to Full Tusk: Reimagining the "Dusky Maiden" through the Visual Arts
Authors: Tamaira A. Marata
Published: July 2012

For centuries the image of the Dusky Maiden has occupied a prominent place in the Western imagination. Indeed, nowhere has it been so effectively shaped and deployed than through the visual arts. Portrayed as naive belles-cum-femme fatales through early Western paintings and later photographs, Polynesian women were presented to foreign audiences as symbols of the exotic, erotic, and dangerous. In the contemporary period, female Polynesian artists have sought to reconceptualize, challenge, subvert, and invert the image of their dusky maiden "sibling" in order to open up alternative spaces in which to reread this centuries-old icon. Here, I focus on the visual art creations of three women: Rosanna Raymond, Shigeyuki Kihara, and Sue Pearson, each of whom is actively engaged in reinscribing the stereotype of the Dusky Maiden with new and empowering meaning.