bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Beak marks on the wings of butterflies and predation pressure in the field
Authors: Ota Masato , Yuma Masahide , Mitsuo Yoshito , Togo Yuki
Published: February 2014

Beak marks on butterfly wings have been used as an indicator of predation pressure. The relationship between butterflies and their predators in the field was examined to evaluate the beak mark rate as an indicator of predation pressure. Transect censuses were conducted to measure the beak mark rate on butterflies fromMay toNovember, 2010, inShigaPrefecture,Japan. A total of 1216 butterflies of 42 species from five families were observed during the study period. The beak mark rate in thePapilionidae was significantly higher than those of all other families. Analysis of the monthly fluctuations in the beak mark rate and relative abundance of predators revealed that the higher beak mark rates observed for two butterfly families (Papilionidae andNymphalidae) were significantly and positively related to predation pressure, while no significant relationship was found for other families (Lycaenidae,Pieridae andHesperiidae). Beak marks in larger butterflies (Papilionidae andNymphalidae) can be used as an indicator to evaluate the relative intensity of predation pressure in the field.
The adult body size variation of Dryas iulia (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae, Heliconiinae) in different populations is more influenced by temperature variation than by host‐plant availability during the seasons
Authors: Mega Nicolás Oliveira
Published: February 2014

The body size of insects is affected by environmental conditions during development and can present considerable intraspecific variations, which can be seen as an ultimate consequence/adaptation to environmental conditions. This paper evaluated whether the body size of the butterfly Dryas iulia from subtropical populations was influenced by changing climate conditions and food source availability during the seasons. The likely reasons behind body size variation were also investigated. First, field data on body size variation, host‐plant availability and climate fluctuation throughout the seasons were recorded. Then, the effects of host‐plant species and temperature on body size were analyzed by controlled experiments. Field data revealed that body size and host‐plant availability varied significantly through the seasons. Populations had the smallest body size during the spring and the biggest size during summer, whereas host‐plant availability was lower during winter and higher during spring. The controlled experiments revealed that both temperature and host‐plant had significant effect on the plasticity of body size. Larvae subjected to winter temperature treatment led to smaller butterflies when compared to immatures reared under summer temperature treatment, and larvae fed with Passiflora misera produced bigger adults when compared to larvae reared on Passiflora suberosa. The combination of data gathered in the field and in the laboratory suggests that seasonal body size variation in D. iulia is related mainly to differences in the temperatures to which larvae are subjected during development, while host‐plant shifts caused by differential availability of food through the seasons had slightly effects on the variation observed.
Melatonin pathway transmits information to terminate pupal diapause in the Chinese oak silkmoth Antheraea pernyi and through reciprocated inhibition of dopamine pathway functions as a photoperiodic counter
Authors: Wang Qiushi , Egi Yuichi , Takeda Makio , Oishi Katsutaka , Sakamoto Katsuhiko
Published: February 2014

The present study investigated the functional involvement of melatonin and dopamine in photoperiodism to terminate pupal diapause in the Chinese oak silkmoth, Antheraea pernyi (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae). Diapause in this long‐day (short‐night) species is maintained during long nights and can be terminated by exposure to a short‐night photoperiod. We observed the effects of melatonin and dopamine and their receptor antagonists on diapause pupae. Melatonin and flupentixol, a dopamine receptor antagonist, terminated pupal diapause even under long‐night photoperiods. Dopamine and luzindole, a melatonin receptor antagonist, retarded adult emergence during short nights, whereas melatonin advanced the timing of adult emergence under the short‐night photoperiod in a manner dependent on the number of injections. The results of the day‐length extension experiment indicated that a change in the photoperiod was immediately detected as mRNA expression of the rate‐limiting enzyme of melatonin production. These findings suggest that the melatonin pathway transmits information on the photoperiod to terminate the pupal diapause of A. pernyi. The melatonin pathway also inhibited the dopamine production system, and the dopamine pathway inhibited the melatonin production system. We propose an insect model of the photoperiodic counter driven by mutual inhibition between the melatonin and dopamine pathways.
Acceptability of shamanic healing for treating psychostimulant dependence: a pilot survey
Authors: Oliveto Alison H , Mancino Michael J , Thostenson Jeff , Ingerman Sandra , Day Suzanne , Kramer Teresa L
Published: February 2014

Background

No therapy has shown robust efficacy for treating psychostimulant dependence. Meanwhile, the feasibility and effectiveness of direct spiritual healing modalities for this disorder are unknown.

Objectives

To determine the acceptability of participating in research using a spiritual healing approach, namely shamanic healing, among psychostimulant users.

Methods

Psychostimulant users in central Arkansas, USA, interested in participating in ongoing treatment research, were surveyed to determine willingness to participate in research involving shamanic healing.

Results

Of the 103 respondents, 74.8% reported being willing to participate in research involving shamanic healing, with women being more likely than men to participate (χ2=4.21, P=0.04). Religious affiliation, age, race, primary drug problem and prior experience with an alternative therapy were not associated with willingness to participate (P>0.1). Respondents stating that participation would be against their religious beliefs always had an evangelical religious affiliation (χ2=6.32, P=0.04). Respondents stating that they needed more information were most likely to have a traditional religious affiliation (χ2=7.54, P=0.02). Those reporting time commitment as the reason for refusal were more likely to have experienced an alternative therapy (χ2=7.88, P=0.005).

Conclusions

Research involving shamanic healing for treating psychostimulant dependence may be feasible, even in a region with a high prevalence of evangelical affiliations.
Thermodynamic and structural analysis of HIV protease resistance to darunavir – analysis of heavily mutated patient‐derived HIV‐1 proteases
Authors: Kožíšek Milan , Lepšík Martin , Grantz Šašková Klára , Brynda Jiří , Konvalinka Jan , Řezáčová Pavlína
Published: February 2014

We report enzymologic, thermodynamic and structural analyses of a series of six clinically derived mutant HIV proteases (PR) resistant to darunavir. As many as 20 mutations in the resistant PRs decreased the binding affinity of darunavir by up to 13 000‐fold, mostly because of a less favorable enthalpy of binding that was only partially compensated by the entropic contribution. X‐ray structure analysis suggested that the drop in enthalpy of darunavir binding to resistant PR species was mostly the result of a decrease in the number of hydrogen bonds and a loosening of the fit between the inhibitor and the mutated enzymes. The favorable entropic contribution to darunavir binding to mutated PR variants correlated with a larger burial of the nonpolar solvent‐accessible surface area upon inhibitor binding. We show that even very dramatic changes in the PR sequence leading to the loss of hydrogen bonds with the inhibitor could be partially compensated by the entropy contribution as a result of the burial of the larger nonpolar surface area of the mutated HIV PRs.

Database

Atomic coordinates and structure factors for the crystal structures PRwt–DRV and PRDRV2–DRV complex have been deposited in the Protein Data Bank under accession codes 4LL3 and 3TTP, respectively.

Structured digital abstract

• PR and PR bind by x-ray crystallography (View interaction)
Molecular characterization of ubiquitin‐specific protease 18 reveals substrate specificity for interferon‐stimulated gene 15
Authors: Basters Anja , Geurink Paul P. , El Oualid Farid , Ketscher Lars , Casutt Marco S. , Krause Eberhard , Ovaa Huib , Knobeloch Klaus‐Peter , Fritz Günter
Published: February 2014

Protein modification by interferon‐stimulated gene 15 (ISG15), an ubiquitin‐like modifier, affects multiple cellular functions and represents one of the major antiviral effector systems. Covalent linkage of ISG15 to proteins was previously reported to be counteracted by ubiquitin‐specific protease 18 (USP18). To date, analysis of the molecular properties of USP18 was hampered by low expression yields and impaired solubility. We established high‐yield expression of USP18 in insect cells and purified the protease to homogeneity. USP18 binds with high affinity to ISG15, as shown by microscale thermophoresis with a Kd of 1.3 ± 0.2 μm. The catalytic properties of USP18 were characterized by a novel assay using ISG15 fused to a fluorophore via an isopeptide bond, giving a Km of 4.6 ± 0.2 μm and a kcat of 0.23 ± 0.004 s−1, respectively, at pH 7.5. Furthermore, the recombinant enzyme cleaves efficiently ISG15 but not ubiquitin from endogenous cellular substrates. In line with these data, USP18 exhibited neither cross‐reactivity with an ubiquitin isopeptide fluorophore substrate, nor with a ubiquitin vinyl sulfone, showing that the enzyme is specific for ISG15.

Structured digital abstract

●ISG15 and USP18 bind by microscale thermophoresis (View interaction)

●USP18 cleaves ISG15 by enzymatic study (View interaction)
The Option and Decision to Repurchase Stock
Authors: Sonika Rohit , Carline Nicholas F. , Shackleton Mark B.
Published: February 2014

Open‐market repurchase programs provide firms with the flexibility to manage the cash and risk aspects of their operations. We examine at which stage cash and risk matter in the typical stages of a repurchase program: announcement, implementation, and withdrawal. Cash and risk considerations appear to matter only at the implementation stage, and partially negate the traditional signaling effect around program announcement.
Hepatocellular carcinoma risk assessment using gadoxetic acid‐enhanced hepatocyte phase magnetic resonance imaging
Authors: Komatsu Nobutoshi , Motosugi Utaroh , Maekawa Shinya , Shindo Kuniaki , Sakamoto Minoru , Sato Mitsuaki , Tatsumi Akihisa , Miura Mika , Amemiya Fumitake , Nakayama Yasuhiro , Inoue Taisuke , Fukasawa Mitsuharu , Uetake Tomoyoshi , Ohtaka Masahiko , Sato Tadashi , Asahina Yasuhiro , Kurosaki Masayuki , Izumi Namiki , Ichikawa Tomoaki , Araki Tsutomu , Enomoto Nobuyuki
Published: February 2014

Aim

To investigate whether the patients with hypovascular liver nodules determined on the arterial phase and hypointensity on the hepatocyte phase gadoxetic acid‐enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (hypovascular hypointense nodules) are at increased risk of hepatocarcinogenesis, we assessed subsequent typical hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development at any sites of the liver with and without such nodules.

Methods

One hundred and twenty‐seven patients with chronic hepatitis B or C and without a history of HCC, including 68 with liver cirrhosis, were divided into those with (non‐clean liver group, n = 18) and without (clean liver group, n = 109) hypovascular hypointense nodules. All the patients were followed up for 3 years, and HCC development rates and risk factors were analyzed with the Kaplan–Meier method and the Cox proportional hazard model, respectively.

Results

A total of 17 patients (10 in the non‐clean liver group and seven in the clean liver group) developed typical HCC. Cumulative 3‐year rates of HCC development were 55.5% in the non‐clean liver group and 6.4% in the clean liver group (P < 0.001), and those at the different sites from the initial nodules was also higher in the non‐clean liver group (22.2%) than the clean liver group (6.4%) (P = 0.003). Multivariate analysis identified older age (P = 0.024), low platelet counts (P = 0.017) and a non‐clean liver (P < 0.001) as independent risk factors for subsequent HCC development.

Conclusion

Patients with hypovascular hypointense liver nodules are at a higher risk for HCC development at any sites of the liver than those without such nodules.
Chrome spinel in normal MORB‐type greenstones from the Paleozoic–Mesozoic Mino terrane, East Takayama area, central Japan: Crystallization course with a U‐turn
Authors: Agata Takashi , Adachi Mamoru
Published: February 2014

Phenocrystic chrome spinel crystallized in normal MORB‐type greenstones in the East Takayama area. Associated phenocryst minerals show a crystallization sequence that was olivine first, followed by plagioclase, and finally clinopyroxene. Chrome spinel ranges from 0.54 to 0.77 in Mg/(Mg+Fe2+) and 0.21 to 0.53 in Cr/(Cr+Al); the Fe3+ content varies from 0.07 to 0.22 p.f.u. (O = 4). Significant compositional differences of spinel were observed among the phenocryst mineral assemblages. Chrome spinel in the olivine–spinel assemblage shows a wide range in Cr/(Cr+Al), and is depleted in Fe2+ and Fe3+. Chrome spinel in the olivine–plagioclase–clinopyroxene–spinel assemblage is Fe2+‐ and Fe3+‐rich at relatively high Cr/(Cr+Al) ratios. Basalt with the olivine–plagioclase–spinel assemblage contains both aluminous spinel and Fe2+‐ and Fe3+‐rich spinel. The assumed olivine–spinel equilibrium suggests that chrome spinel in the olivine–spinel assemblage changed in composition from Cr‐ and Fe2+‐rich to Al‐ and Mg‐rich with the progress of fractional crystallization. Chrome spinel in the olivine–plagioclase–clinopyroxene–spinel assemblage, on the other hand, exhibits the reversed variations in Mg/(Mg+Fe2+) and in Cr/(Cr+Al) ratios that decrease and increase with the fractional crystallization, respectively. The entire crystallization course of chrome spinel, projected onto the Mg/(Mg+Fe2+)–Cr/(Cr+Al) diagram, exhibits a U‐turn, and appears to be set on a double‐lane route. The U‐turn point lies in the compositional field of chrome spinel in the olivine–plagioclase–spinel assemblage, and may be explained by plagioclase fractionation that began during the formation of the olivine–plagioclase–spinel assemblage.
Fatigue and nanomechanical properties of K3XF nickel‐titanium instruments
Authors: Shen Y. , Zhou H. , Campbell L. , Wang Z. , Wang R. , Du T. , Haapasalo M.
Published: February 2014

Aim

To examine the fatigue behaviour of heat‐treated NiTi instruments when immersed in aqueous media and to determine the effect of cyclic fatigue on the hardness and elastic modulus of NiTi instruments using a nanoindentation technique.

Methodology

K3XF and K3 NiTi instruments, both in sizes 25, 0.04 taper and 40, 0.04 taper, were subjected to rotational bending at a curvature of 42° either in air or under deionized water, and the number of revolutions to fracture (Nf) was recorded. The fracture surface of all fragments was examined with a scanning electron microscope. The hardness and elastic modulus of the fracture surface of instruments sized 25, 0.04 taper were then measured using a nanoindentation test.

Results

The K3XF instruments had a fatigue resistance superior to K3 instruments under dry and aqueous environments (P < 0.05). The fatigue life of K3 instruments was similar under both conditions, whereas the Nf of K3XF was greater under water than in air, especially at the size 40, 0.04 taper (P < 0.05). The values for the fraction of the area occupied by the dimple region were significantly smaller in K3XF instruments than in K3 instruments, especially under water (P < 0.05). There was no difference in hardness on K3XF instruments between new files and instruments subjected to the fatigue process. The hardness of instruments subjected to the fatigue process was significantly lower in K3XF than in K3 instruments (P < 0.05).

Conclusion

The fatigue life of K3XF instruments under water is longer than it is for K3XF instruments in air. There was no work‐hardening effect on K3XF instruments subjected to the fatigue process.
Scleromyxedema without paraproteinemia
Authors: Abarzúa Alvaro A. , Giesen Laura F. , Sandoval Mauricio O. , González Sergio B.
Published: February 2014

Background

Scleromyxedema is a rare generalized form of lichen myxedematosus, a chronic cutaneous mucinosis of unknown etiology usually associated with a monoclonal gammopathy and underlying systemic disorders. It is characterized by the presence of lichenoid papules and diffuse indurations of the skin. Histologically, mucin deposits are observed in the dermis as variable degrees of fibrosis. Numerous treatment modalities have been reported as producing partial or inconsistent responses associated with significant adverse effects.

Methods

We report an unusual case of scleromyxedema not associated with monoclonal gammopathy in a young patient who was treated with thalidomide.

Results

Patient remained stable with maintenance of injuries despite treatment with thalidomide.

Conclusions

Scleromyxedema is a rare presentation for which a defined therapeutic regimen remains to be established. Treatment with thalidomide has proved to be effective in the management of these patients. We suggest that these patients should be followed up with periodic protein electrophoresis with immunofixation for a monoclonal component in blood and urine. As the therapeutic approach to scleromyxedema remains challenging and treatment is based on symptomatic presentation, further clinical studies to substantiate an effective therapeutic regimen with a positive long‐term safety and risk profile are required.
Roseola infantum and its causal human herpesviruses
Authors: Stone Rivka C. , Micali Giuseppe A. , Schwartz Robert A.
Published: February 2014

Roseola infantum, also known as exanthem subitum or sixth disease, is a generally benign febrile exanthem of infancy. It has a characteristic clinical course of high fever followed by the appearance of an exanthem upon defervescence. Febrile seizures are a frequent complication. Roseola is caused by infection with human herpesviruses 6 or 7 (HHV‐6/7), which are acquired at a young age. Diagnosis is made by serology or by virus detection in body fluids and tissues. Treatment of roseola is supportive; recovery is usually complete with no significant sequelae. However, HHV‐6/7 can reactivate in immunocompetent as well as immunocompromised individuals with severe systemic consequence.
Scolopendra bites: a report of two cases and review of the literature
Authors: Veraldi Stefano , Çuka Ermira , Gaiani Francesca
Published: February 2014

Background

Centipedes are arthropods belonging to the class Chilopoda. Approximately 3000 species have been described. Centipedes are found more commonly in tropical and subtropical countries. Centipedes possess venomous fangs. The Scolopendra represent the best‐known genus of centipede.

Methods

We describe two cases of severe skin reactions caused by Scolopendra subspinipes bites.

Results

Both patients were bitten on the hand. The clinical picture was characterized by severe erythematous edema. In addition, one patient presented with a blister. Both patients complained of severe pain. Laboratory examinations showed leukocytosis and an increase in erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). Complete remission was achieved within two weeks by means of paracetamol and oral prednisone.

Conclusions

Western dermatologists should be aware of the possibility of severe skin reactions caused by centipede bites.
Local comparative advantage: Trade costs and the pattern of trade
Authors: Deardorff Alan V.
Published: February 2014

When there are costs of trade, such as transport or other costs, the pattern of trade may not be well described by the usual measures of comparative advantage, which simply compare a country's costs or autarky prices to those of the world. Instead, a better comparison takes into account the costs of trade. This paper shows first, in an example, how trade patterns can vary with costs of trade. It then provides restatements of the law of comparative advantage, first in a Ricardian model with trade costs, then extending a 1980 result due to Deardorff and to Dixit and Norman to include trade costs explicitly in a general framework. It uses this latter result to derive two correlations relating trade patterns to measures of comparative advantage that take account of both autarky prices and the costs of trade. Finally, the paper examines the solution to a trade model with product differentiation in order to make the potential role of trade costs more explicit, both algebraically and graphically. With product differentiation either by country or by firm, net trade in an industry, both bilaterally and globally, depends on a country's costs of both production and trade relative to an index of those costs for other countries.
Outsourcing versus vertical integration: Ethier–Markusen meets the property‐rights approach
Authors: Markusen James R. , Xie Yiqing
Published: February 2014

Early analyses of direct investment versus outsourcing focused on the existence of knowledge‐based assets, knowledge being non‐rivaled and non‐excludable. Ethier was the first to formally model the consequences of non‐excludability for the vertical integration versus outsourcing decision. Later authors took a different approach, modeling physical capital as fully excludable but relationship‐specific. This paper further develops a model with both non‐excludable knowledge capital and fully excludable physical capital. Results show that vertical integration tends to be chosen when (a) the technology is relatively knowledge intensive and/or when (b) knowledge and physical capital are strong complements.
Multilateral environmental agreements in the WTO: Silence speaks volumes
Authors: Horn Henrik , Mavroidis Petros C.
Published: February 2014

This study contributes to the debate concerning the appropriate role of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) in WTO dispute settlement. It seeks to address this relationship in light of the reason why the parties have chosen to separate their obligations into two bodies of law without providing an explicit nexus between them. The basic conclusion is that legislators’ silence concerning this relationship should speak volumes to WTO adjudicating bodies: MEAs should not be automatically understood as imposing legally binding obligations on WTO members, but could be used as sources of factual information.
Practical aspects of telehealth: establishing telehealth in an institution
Authors: Sabesan S. , Allen D. T. , Caldwell P. , Loh P. K. , Mozer R. , Komesaroff P. A. , Talman P. , Williams M. , Shaheen N. , Grabinski O. ,   the Royal Australasian College of Physicians Telehealth Working Group
Published: February 2014

The fifth in a series of papers on practical aspects of telehealth, this paper discusses telehealth models that can facilitate the provision of specialist services to rural and remote patients closer to home. Some of the barriers to successful implementation of these models relates to workforce, funding and infrastructure at rural sites, as well as the traditional mindset of healthcare professionals. Therefore, the rural sector needs to be adequately resourced for telehealth models to be substantive and successful. This paper describes the development of a large teleoncology network over a vast geographical area in North Queensland. Adequate resourcing for the rural sites and undertaking quality improvement activities has continually enhanced the model over a 5‐ to 6‐year period. The benefits of this model of care are twofold: (i) patients received their care closer to home and (ii) the workforce, service capabilities and infrastructure for the hospital in Mt Isa (a rural town 900 km away from its tertiary centre) has improved.
Evidence‐based prescribing of drugs for secondary prevention of acute coronary syndrome in Aboriginal and non‐Aboriginal patients admitted to Western Australian hospitals
Authors: Gausia K. , Katzenellenbogen J. M. , Sanfilippo F. M. , Knuiman M. W. , Thompson P. L. , Hobbs M. S. T. , Thompson S. C.
Published: February 2014

Aims

To assess the level of evidence‐based drug prescribing for acute coronary syndrome (ACS) at discharge from Western Australian (WA) hospitals and determine predictors of such prescribing in Aboriginal and non‐Aboriginal patients.

Methods

All Aboriginal (2002–2004) and a random sample of non‐Aboriginal (2003) hospital admissions with a principal diagnosis of ACS were extracted from the WA Hospital Morbidity Data Collection of WA Data Linkage System. Clinical information, history of co‐morbidities and drugs were collected from medical notes by trained data collectors. Evidence‐based prescribing (EBP) was defined as prescribing of aspirin, statin and beta‐blocker or angiotensin‐converting enzyme inhibitor/angiotensin II antagonist.

Results

Records for 1717 ACS patients discharged alive from hospitals were reviewed. The majority of patients (71%) had EBP, and there was no significant difference between Aboriginal and non‐Aboriginal patients (70% vs 71%, P = 0.36). Conversely, a significantly higher proportion of Aboriginal patients had none of the drugs prescribed compared with non‐Aboriginal patients (11% vs 7%, P < 0.01). EBP for ACS was independently associated with male sex (odds ratio (OR) 1.63, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.26−2.11), previous admission for ACS (OR 1.83, 95% CI 1.39–2.42) and diabetes (OR 1.36, 95% CI 1.04–1.79). However, ACS patients living in regional and remote areas, attending district or private hospitals, or with a history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were significantly less likely to have ACS drugs prescribed at discharge.

Conclusions

Opportunity exists to improve prescribing of recommended drugs for ACS patients at discharge from WA hospitals in both Aboriginal and non‐Aboriginal patients. Attention regarding pharmaceutical management post‐ACS is particularly required for patients from rural and remote areas, and those attending district and private hospitals.
Lower number of plasmacytoid dendritic cells in peripheral blood of children with bronchiolitis following respiratory syncytial virus infection
Authors: Weng Kaizhi , Zhang Jiaxiang , Mei Xuqiao , Wu Ayang , Zhang Baozhong , Cai Mengyun , Zheng Yuanhai , Ke Zhuanye
Published: February 2014

Objectives

Dendritic cells (DCs) are key mediators of allergic airway inflammation. Thus, it is important to understand the relationship between respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection and DCs, especially in children with RSV bronchiolitis.

Methods

We collected peripheral blood from 71 children with RSV bronchiolitis at the time of admission and 28 children who were followed up 3 months following admission. Flow cytometry was performed to detect dendritic cell immunophenotypes.

Results

Patients with RSV bronchiolitis exhibited significantly higher number of myeloid DCs and lower number of plasmacytoid DCs at the time of admission and 3 months following discharge, compared with healthy controls. These children had a significantly higher myeloid/plasmacytoid ratio 3 months after discharge compared with healthy controls.

Conclusions

Among children with RSV bronchiolitis, there is an imbalance in peripheral blood myeloid/plasmacytoid ratio. The low number of plasmacytoid DCs in peripheral blood indicates the development of bronchiolitis due to RSV infection.
Teaching Foreign Languages in an Era of Globalization: Introduction
Authors: Kramsch Claire
Published: February 2014

Through its mobility of people and capital, its global technologies, and its global information networks, globalization has changed the conditions under which foreign languages (FLs) are taught, learned, and used. It has destabilized the codes, norms, and conventions that FL educators relied upon to help learners be successful users of the language once they had left their classrooms. These changes call for a more reflective, interpretive, historically grounded, and politically engaged pedagogy than was called for by the communicative language teaching of the eighties. This special issue will explore how we are to conceive of such a pedagogy.
Study Abroad and Changes in Degree of Foreign Accent in Children and Adults
Authors: Muñoz Carmen , Llanes Àngels
Published: February 2014

The present study examines the impact of learning context and age on learners' degree of foreign accent. Participants of two different age groups (children vs. adults) learning English in two different contexts (at home vs. study abroad) were interviewed and asked to narrate a story and to fill out a questionnaire about their language use while abroad. A group of listeners rated the degree of perceived foreign accent of the oral productions of each of the groups. It was found that learning context played a significant role, with participants in the study abroad setting having a significantly milder foreign accent in the posttest. Although age did not influence the results statistically, child participants abroad experienced the greatest improvement and also spent more time speaking with native speakers than adult participants abroad. These results shed light on the characteristics of the study abroad experience that are beneficial for learners and on learner characteristics that optimize such an experience.
Domesticating the Foreign: Globalization's Effects on the Place/s of Languages
Authors: Lo Bianco Joseph
Published: February 2014

Foreign language education is deeply affected by globalization, destabilizing some of the central ideas that have helped form national languages, and, by contrast, foreign languages. This article traces the economic origins of contemporary globalization and the deep communication effects that arise. Migration of peoples, instantaneous communication technologies, and new modes of imagining relationships in the context of vast flows of population, ideas, goods, and communication mean that teachers of different languages need to make multilingual and multicultural realities, rather than national and foreign ones, central notions in curriculum, teaching, and language choice. Professional dialogue between teachers of English, traditional foreign languages, heritage/community languages, and other categories of language interest are required to foster a new overall understanding of the enterprise of language education, suited to the altered world context of contemporary globalization.
Geopolitics and the Changing Hierarchies of the Chinese Language: Implications for Policy and Practice of Chinese Language Teaching in Britain
Authors: Hua Zhu , Wei Li
Published: February 2014

Chinese has been the fastest growing modern foreign language in British schools and universities in the last decade, due largely to the perceived growing importance of mainland China as a global economic and political power and the substantial investment in Confucius Institutes (CIs) and Classrooms (CCs) by the Chinese government. This article focuses on how China's geopolitical strategy of promoting Chinese as a global language has been received and implemented in the UK and how different groups of learners of Chinese have been differentially affected by the implementation of the policies of the Chinese National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language, commonly referred to as Hanban. Based on conversations with key stakeholders of the Confucius Institutes and Classrooms, including managers, teachers, and students, as well as observations in these settings, we investigate the different motivations and ideologies of the different interest groups. We also examine the cultural elements that are being taught in the CIs and CCs. A particular focus is on how ethnic Chinese learners in the CIs and CCs react to the teaching of Chinese culture. The effect of promoting Putonghua on ethnic Chinese students who speak other varieties of Chinese and how ‘foreignness’ is constructed in the CIs and CCs are specific concerns of the present study. The study contributes to the wider discussions of language ideology, language attitudes, motivations for language learning, and learner identity vis‐à‐vis modern foreign language education.
Technology asPharmakon: The Promise and Perils of the Internet for Foreign Language Education
Authors: Kern Richard
Published: February 2014

Globalization and networking technologies have transformed the contexts, means, and uses of foreign language learning. The Internet offers a vast array of texts, films, music, news, information, pedagogical resources, sounds, and images from around the world as well as unprecedented opportunities for direct communication with native speakers in real time. However, the very technology that delivers these materials and interactions can produce subtle mediational effects that can influence how learners evaluate and interpret them. Focusing first on technological mediation broadly, and then on the specific context of desktop videoconferencing in a telecollaboration project, this article outlines the benefits and the potential pitfalls that computer mediation presents for the learning of languages and cultures. Specific attention is given to the question of what it means to mediate the foreign culture through interfaces that are familiar from one's home culture. The principal argument is that the dynamics of online language learning call for a relational pedagogy that focuses on how medium and context interact with language use. The goal of such an approach is to expose students to a broader scope of symbolic inquiry, to connect present text‐making practices with those of the past, and to foster a critical perspective that will prepare young people to understand and shape future language and literacy practices.
Fragmented Memory in a Global Age: The Place of Storytelling in Modern Language Curricula
Authors: Freadman Anne
Published: February 2014

The article presents a hypothesis that seeks to explain the present difficulties of modern languages as playing out the consequences of the demise of philology and the rise of linguistics in its place. While the founding gesture of the latter as a distinct discipline was to exclude cultural and social considerations, the former is an account of the cultural memory of the language. With the demise of philology, modern languages have lost their disciplinary unity, and hence the principle upon which to construct coherent curricula. As a result, they have lost their intellectual authority. The article proposes a revisionist analysis of the philological tradition, divesting it of its essentialist assumptions, and focusing on its methodological principles. It argues that memory (and with it, the emerging field of memory studies) be adopted as a central term in an account of culture fitted to the teaching of modern languages to foreign learners in a world in which memories, just as much as languages, are what we do not predictably share. It makes some suggestions as to how to shape curricula on these principles, insisting that in order to make good on our belief that culture informs language, those curricula should focus selectively and systematically on the discursive arts. Storytelling, from personal to collective, from explicit to implied in political debate, should take a central place in our students' learning; as a result, ‘story listening’ should be central in their intercultural encounters.
Learning as Reciprocal, Interpretive Meaning‐Making: A View From Collaborative Research Into the Professional Learning of Teachers of Languages
Authors: Scarino Angela
Published: February 2014

With globalization and advances in communication technologies, the movement of people and their ideas and knowledge has increased in ways and at a pace that are unprecedented. This movement changes the very nature of multilingualism and of language, culture, and language learning. Languages education, in this context, needs to build on the diversity of languages and other semiotic modes that learners bring to the classroom, as well as their diverse biographies and trajectories of experience, knowledge, language, and culture. Equally, the context demands a reconceptualization of the role of teachers of languages. Teachers enact the teaching of particular languages in their local context as members of distinctive multilingual and multicultural communities. They bring their own particular repertoires of languages, cultures, and histories of experiences that shape their frameworks of knowledge, understandings, values, and practices. It is these frameworks of interpretive resources that they use in mediating language learning with students who, in turn, use their own interpretive resources. In this article I draw on collaborative research with teachers of languages to investigate teacher understanding of the preconceptions, often tacit, that they bring to their teaching practice in the diverse interlinguistic and intercultural contexts of primary and secondary school education in Australia. I describe an expanded view of language, culture, and learning, the three fundamental concepts in languages education. Discussion follows on debates about the appropriate knowledge base and whether discourses about “learning to apply formal knowledge” and “best practice” in teacher professional learning are sufficient to assist in the development of teachers' capability to interpret their own teaching and learning practices and their students' learning as acts of reciprocal meaning‐making in the context of local and global diversity.
Glaciation as an historical filter of below‐ground biodiversity
Authors: Mathieu Jerome , Jonathan Davies T.
Published: February 2014

Aim

The latitudinal gradient in species richness is one of the most studied biodiversity patterns. Here we explore a north–south gradient in earthworm diversity, and evaluate the importance of current and historical filters in shaping the distribution of present‐day below‐ground species richness.

Location

France.

Methods

Using high resolution data on earthworm distributions across France, we document the latitudinal gradients in alpha (α), beta (β) and gamma (γ) diversity. We relate these gradients to species' traits, taxonomic aggregation and co‐occurrence patterns, and correlate them with the present climate and the history of glaciation in Europe.

Results

We found that γ‐diversity decreases from south to north whereas α‐diversity increases along the same latitudinal gradient. Communities in formerly glaciated regions are composed of smaller, more mobile species and show trait and taxonomical aggregation. In more southerly populations, which did not experience glaciation, earthworm species are larger, have smaller geographical ranges, and communities demonstrate a decrease in species co‐occurrence resulting in lower local species richness.

Main conclusions

We show that species richness gradients can present different – sometimes opposite – latitudinal trends depending upon the scale of the analysis. This scale dependence sheds new light on the underlying causes of global biodiversity gradients. The opposing latitudinal trends of the different components of diversity suggest that recolonization following glaciations during the Pleistocene acted as an environmental filter, and that competitive exclusion may be a more dominant ecological force in these former refugial areas. Overall our results show that past climate changes have left a deep footprint on present‐day earthworm diversity patterns, from community to macroecological scales, and that different mechanisms of earthworm community assembly may predominate at different latitudes.
Risk of Stroke or Transient Ischemic Attack After Atrial Fibrillation Ablation with Oral Anticoagulant Use Guided by ECG Monitoring and Pulse Assessment
Authors: RILEY MICHAEL P. , ZADO ERICA , HUTCHINSON MATHEW D. , LIN DAVID , BALA RUPA , GARCIA FERMIN C. , CALLANS DAVID J. , COOPER JOSHUA M. , VERDINO RALPH J. , DIXIT SANJAY , MARCHLINSKI FRANCIS E.
Published: February 2014

Oral Anticoagulant Use After AF Ablation

Introduction

We sought to gain insight into stroke risk after atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation.

Methods and Results

We followed 1,990 patients for >1 year (49 ± 29 months) who underwent AF ablation. Prior to stopping oral anticoagulants (OAC), we performed 3‐week transtelephonic ECG monitoring (TTM) and taught patients heart rate and pulse assessment. Documented AF or inability to do monitoring or assess pulse precluded stopping OAC in CHADS2 ≥1 patients. OAC was stopped in 546/840 (65%) with CHADS2 = 0; 384/796 (48%) with CHADS2 = 1 and 101/354 (40%) with CHADS2 ≥ 2. Sixteen strokes or TIAs occurred (0.2%/patient‐year); 5 in CHADS2 = 0 patients (all off OAC); 5 in CHADS2 = 1 (1 off and 4 on OAC); and 6 in CHADS2 ≥2 (2 off and 4 on OAC). Twelve of 16 patients (75%) with stroke or TIA had documented AF. In patients “off ” OAC, stroke rate/year stratified by the CHADS2 score was similar (CHADS2 = 0: 0.28%; CHADS2 = 1: 0.07%; CHADS2 ≥2: 0.50%; P = NS). There was no difference in stroke risk “on” versus “off ” OAC in CHADS2 = 1 (0.48% vs. 0.07%) or CHADS2 ≥2 (0.39% vs. 0.50%). Risk of major bleeding per patient year “on” OAC was > “off ” OAC (13/1,138 (1.14%) versus 1/832 (0.1%); P<0.016).

Conclusions

Post‐AF ablation with OAC guided by TTM and pulse assessment: (1) Overall stroke or TIA rate risk is low and risk is due to recurrent AF and (2) OAC can be stopped in 40% of CHADS2 ≥2 patients with low stroke and hemorrhagic risk.
The effect of periodontal status and occlusal support on masticatory performance: the Suita study
Authors: Kosaka Takayuki , Ono Takahiro , Yoshimuta Yoko , Kida Momoyo , Kikui Miki , Nokubi Takashi , Maeda Yoshinobu , Kokubo Yoshihiro , Watanabe Makoto , Miyamoto Yoshihiro
Published: February 2014

Aim

In this study, we investigated the effect of differences in periodontal status in the masticatory performance of dentate subjects with the same occlusal supporting area.

Materials and Methods

The subjects of the analysis were classified into those of Eichner A1‐3 (n = 1094) and Eichner B1‐4 (n = 529). Subjects' periodontal status was evaluated on the basis of the Community Periodontal Index (CPI). The number of functional teeth and occlusal support were investigated, the latter on the basis of the Eichner Index. Furthermore, masticatory performance was investigated by means of test gummy jelly. For each group, periodontal status was classified in two different ways, either with/without moderate periodontitis (CPI Code ≤2/≥3) or with/without severe periodontitis (CPI Code ≤3/4), and masticatory performance was compared between the various groups.

Results

In subjects who were Eichner A1 and B3, masticatory performance was significantly lower in subjects with moderate periodontitis compared with those without, and in subjects with severe periodontitis compared with those without.

Conclusion

Periodontal disease affects masticatory performance not only if occlusion is established by natural dentition with no tooth loss but also if occlusal support has decreased.
Mycoplasma pneumoniae‐associated mucositis – case report and systematic review of literature
Authors: Vujic I. , Shroff A. , Grzelka M. , Posch C. , Monshi B. , Sanlorenzo M. , Ortiz‐Urda S. , Rappersberger K.
Published: February 2014

Background

Mycoplasma pneumoniae, a bacterium known to be a common cause of pneumonia, has been documented to cause complications such as debilitating mucositis previously described as an atypical Stevens–Johnson syndrome without skin lesions. However, in the spectrum of epidermal dermatopathies, the condition is increasingly recognized as a separate entity, now termed M. pneumoniae‐associated mucositis (MPAM).

Objectives

We present a case of MPAM and systemically review the literature to discuss diagnostic and therapeutic options.

Methods

A systematic literature search was performed to find studies reporting MPAM in adults. We extracted and analysed patient demographics, disease symptomatology, diagnostic testing and treatment.

Results

Eleven articles, describing 12 patients and our own patient met the predefined criteria and were analysed. Respiratory, ocular and oral symptoms were present in all patients. Therapies predominantly included antibiotics (10 of 13) and immunosuppressive treatment (9 of 13) leading to complete resolution of symptoms in all patients.

Conclusion

Our findings highlight that MPAM should be recognized as a distinct disease entity within the spectrum of epidermal dermatopathies. We discuss and show in our patient why M. pneumoniae IgA serum levels could prove to be more reliable diagnostic tools in the MPAM diagnosis than the widely used IgG and IgM titre levels.
A novel large deletion of the DOCK8 gene in a Chinese family with autosomal‐recessive hyper‐IgE syndrome
Authors: Xue L. , Yang Y. , Wang S.
Published: February 2014

Background

Autosomal‐recessive hyper‐IgE syndrome (AR‐HIES; OMIM 243700) is a rare primary immunodeficiency disorder mainly caused by mutations in the dedicator of cytokinesis‐8 (DOCK8) gene. DOCK8 is highly expressed in the immune system and plays important roles in regulation of lymphocyte functions.

Objective

We analysed the molecular basis of AR‐HIES in a Chinese family.

Methods

A Chinese pedigree of typical AR‐HIES was subjected to mutation detection in the DOCK8 gene. All exons of the DOCK8 gene and adjacent exon–intron border sequences were amplified using polymerase chain reaction and directly sequenced.

Results

We identified a novel large deletion of 1481 bp in the DOCK8 gene, encompassing the totality of exon 11 (c.1126_1285del).

Conclusion

Our data expand the spectrum of mutations in the DOCK8 gene underlying AR‐HIES.
Environmental heterogeneity, multivariate sexual selection and genetic constraints on cuticular hydrocarbons in Drosophila simulans
Authors: Ingleby F. C. , Hosken D. J. , Flowers K. , Hawkes M. F. , Lane S. M. , Rapkin J. , House C. M. , Sharma M. D. , Hunt J.
Published: February 2014

Sexual selection is responsible for the evolution of many elaborate traits, but sexual trait evolution could be influenced by opposing natural selection as well as genetic constraints. As such, the evolution of sexual traits could depend heavily on the environment if trait expression and attractiveness vary between environments. Here, male Drosophila simulans were reared across a range of diets and temperatures, and we examined differences between these environments in terms of (i) the expression of male cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) and (ii) which male CHC profiles were most attractive to females. Temperature had a strong effect on male CHC expression, whereas the effect of diet was weaker. Male CHCs were subject to complex patterns of directional, quadratic and correlational sexual selection, and we found differences between environments in the combination of male CHCs that were most attractive to females, with clearer differences between diets than between temperatures. We also show that genetic covariance between environments is likely to cause a constraint on independent CHC evolution between environments. Our results demonstrate that even across the narrow range of environmental variation studied here, predicting the outcome of sexual selection can be extremely complicated, suggesting that studies ignoring multiple traits or environments may provide an over‐simplified view of the evolution of sexual traits.