bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Risks to the public
Authors: Neumann Peter G.
Published: October 2006

Edited by Peter G. Neumann (Risks Forum Moderator and Chairman of the ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy), plus personal contributions by others, as indicated. Opinions expresses are individual rather than organizational, and all of the usual disclaimers apply. We address problems relating to software, hardware, people, and other circumstances relating to computer systems. To economize on space, we include pointers to items in the online Risks Forum: (R i j) denotes RISKS vol i number j. Cited RISKS items generally identify contributors and sources, together with URLs. Official RISKS archives are available at www.risks.org (which redirects to Newcastle and gets you nice html formatting and a search engine courtesy of Lindsay Marshall; http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/i.j.html gets you (R i j) and at ftp://www.sri.com/risks.
Software engineering for large-scale multi-agent systems - SELMAS 2006
Authors: Garcia Alessandro , Giese Holger , Romanovsky Alexander , Choren Ricardo , Leung Ho-fung , Lucena Carlos , Klein Florian , Platon Eric
Published: October 2006

This paper is intended to sum up the results of the 5th International Workshop on Software Engineering for Large-Scale Multi-Agent Systems (SELMAS 2006) held in Shanghai, China, May 22-23, 2006, as part of the 28th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE 2006). The main purpose of this workshop was to share and pool together the collective experience of people, both academics and practitioners, who are actively working on software engineering for large-scale multi-agent systems. A selected set of expanded workshop papers and invited papers will appear in the 5th edition of the book Software Engineering for Multi-Agent Systems (LNCS, Springer, 2007). The theme of this workshop edition was "Building Dependable Multi-Agent Systems". The workshop consisted of an opening presentation, several paper presentations organized into four technical sessions, two keynotes and two discussion groups. During the workshop we informally reviewed ongoing and previous work and debated a number of important issues. The SELMAS 2006 Web site can be found at . We begin by presenting an overview of our goals and the workshop structure, and then focus on the workshop technical program and results.
Improved cognitive information complexity measure
Authors: Kushwaha Dharmender Singh , Misra A. K.
Published: October 2006

Understanding the software system is known as program comprehension and is a cognitive process. This cognitive process is the driving force behind creation of software that is easier to understand i.e. has lower cognitive complexity, because essentially it is the natural intelligence of human brain that describes the comprehensibility of software. The research area carrying out this study is cognitive informatics. This work has developed an improved cognitive information complexity measure (CICM) that is based on the amount of information contained in the software and encompasses all the major parameters that have a bearing on the difficulty of comprehension or cognitive complexity of software. It is also able to establish the relationship between cognitive complexity of a program and time taken to understand the program, thus mapping closely to the comprehension strategy of a person.
Many cyclic block diagrams do not need parallel semantics
Authors: Denckla Ben
Published: October 2006

Some cyclic block diagrams need parallel semantics: they are syntactically invalid or semantically nonterminating in any block diagram language with sequential semantics. Yet, many cyclic block diagrams do not need parallel semantics: they behave the same in a block diagram language with non-strict sequential semantics. We show that a block diagram used to motivate the parallel semantics of the Ptolemy SR domain behaves the same in BdHas, a block diagram language with non-strict sequential semantics. BdHas is implemented as syntactic sugar on top of Haskell.
Instruction-coated translation
Authors: Chen Fuh-Gwo , Hou Ting-Wei
Published: October 2006

A directly threaded interpreter is used to speedup the virtual instruction dispatch. It is composed of translation and interpretation functions. It has low cohesion naturally due to the use of "label as value". This paper presents a restructuring method to envelop the translation function as a new virtual instruction to make the directly threaded interpreter have a single interpreting task and have high cohesion. The reformed translation is named as the instruction-coated translation, a term similar to sugar-coated tablet.
Editor's message
Authors: Diot Christophe
Published: October 2006

We had 14 submissions for this issue and accepted 2. We are still much below the acceptance rate that we would like to achieve, even when averaging on two or three issues. I can observe a significant increase in the quality and innovation of the papers submitted though. However, because of the very short turn-around (there is generally less than one week to revise papers), we have to reject papers because the work requested by the reviewers is not feasible in such a short time period. We have also received much fewer comments that we would expect. We would love to receive your feedback on the CCR content. Maybe the online CCR community will make is easier (see the end of this editorial).One of the fourteen papers was withdrawn two weeks before notification. We (the editorial board) suspect a beautiful specimen of double submission. So, we take this opportunity to refresh our readers' mind: double submission is not only unethical and forbidden; it is showing very little respect for those who spend time processing and reviewing papers. There are enough publications opportunities these days. No need to submit in parallel unless you have more confidence in the law of large numbers than in the quality of your work to get your papers accepted :-) This issue contains the usual columns. Matthias Grossglauser is offering us his 10 recommended readings, focusing on modeling papers. Do not miss Michalis Faloutsos article, as well as the now usual SIGCOMM community news.You know that CCR is dedicated to bring you the hottest ideas and innovation. Therefore, we are proud to publish the first fully automatically generated paper. The generation tool has been designed by Christian Kreibich and Jon Crowcroft from Cambridge University. As you will see, the result is not perfect, but close. Jon is confident that the tool can bring him a Sigcomm paper within a couple of years. Then, it will be time to automate the reviewing process ...We also re-publish the paper that received this year's test-of-time award. It has been granted to Vern Paxson for "End-to-End Routing Behavior in the Internet," published 10 years ago in SIGCOMM.The CCR online community is currently being stress-tested. It should be available from http://www.acm.org/sigs/sigcomm/ccr/ by the time you read this editorial. Please connect, add content, and send us comments. It is still a prototype and needs improvement. However, improvement will come from you. We can not really do more than what we have now. And please join me to congratulate again Ernst Biersack and Moritz Steiner, from EURECOM (Sophia-Antipolis, FRANCE), for having designed CCR-online.
Toward nature-inspired computing
Authors: Liu Jiming , Tsui K.C.
Published: October 2006

NIC-based systems utilize autonomous entities that self-organize to achieve the goals of systems modeling and problem solving.
Alignment of bilingual named entities in parallel corpora using statistical models and multiple knowledge sources
Authors: Lee Chun-Jen , Chang Jason S. , Jang Jyh-Shing R.
Published: October 2006

Named entity (NE) extraction is one of the fundamental tasks in natural language processing (NLP). Although many studies have focused on identifying NEs within monolingual documents, aligning NEs in bilingual documents has not been investigated extensively due to the complexity of the task. In this article we introduce a new approach to aligning bilingual NEs in parallel corpora by incorporating statistical models with multiple knowledge sources. In our approach, we model the process of translating an English NE phrase into a Chinese equivalent using lexical translation/transliteration probabilities for word translation and alignment probabilities for word reordering. The method involves automatically learning phrase alignment and acquiring word translations from a bilingual phrase dictionary and parallel corpora, and automatically discovering transliteration transformations from a training set of name-transliteration pairs. The method also involves language-specific knowledge functions, including handling abbreviations, recognizing Chinese personal names, and expanding acronyms. At runtime, the proposed models are applied to each source NE in a pair of bilingual sentences to generate and evaluate the target NE candidates; the source and target NEs are then aligned based on the computed probabilities. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach, which integrates statistical models with extra knowledge sources, is highly feasible and offers significant improvement in performance compared to our previous work, as well as the traditional approach of IBM Model 4.
A joint review of "Reality Conditions: Short Mathematical Fiction, by Alex Kasman", MAA 2005;"Numb3rs, TV show. CBS", Free. Currently running Fridays at 10:00PM; "Mathematical Apocryphia: Stories and Annecdotes of Mathematicians and the Mathematical by Steven Kranz", MAA, 2002; "Mathematical Apocryphia Redux: More Stories and Annecdotes of Mathematicians and the Mathematical by Steven Kranz", MAA, 1999.
Authors: Gasarch William
Published: October 2006

I once asked a lesbian friend of mine "what is your favorite TV show?" She said it is "The L word" (a lesbian-themed show on HBO). She admitted that it really wasn't that good, but it was about people like her, and it was one of the few such shows. I approach fiction (and even nonfiction) about mathematicians in the same light. I give it some credit just for relating to us.In this review I consider three such works and ask the following questions: (1) is it fun to read (or view) independent of the math? (2) does the math fit in well? (3) will it get people interested in math? (4) does it portray mathematics and mathematicians in an accurate light (and is that a good thing)?
A Joint Review of "A History of Pi, by Petr Beckmann", St. Martins's Press, 1976, Barnes and Noble Books, 1989; "The Joy of Pi, by David Blatner", Walker & Co., 1997; "The Nothing That Is, by Robert Kaplan", Oxford University Press, 1999; "e: The Story of a Number, by Eli Maor", Princeton University Press, 1998; "An Imaginary Tale, by Paul Nahin", Princeton University Press, 1998; "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea, by Charles Seife", Viking Press, 2000.
Authors: Blank Brian
Published: October 2006

We are in the midst of an onslaught of books devoted to particular numbers. In this article we will be concerned with several recent and not-so-recent books about pi, e, i, and 0; of the quantities in the famous equation e(pi)i + 1 = 0, only 1 does not yet have its book. Given the trend, we can look forward to its appearance, possibly followed by volumes on "+" and "=".
Ada Issue 00354: group execution-time budgets
Authors: Srivastava Alok
Published: October 2006

This AI proposes a child package of Ada.Execution_Time to allow more than one task to share an execution-time budget.
Ada Issue 00355: priority specific dispatching including round robin
Authors: Srivastava Alok
Published: October 2006

A means of specifying priority specific dispatching is provided so that FIFO is not the only 'within_priorities' scheme supported. A Round_Robin_Within_Priorities dispatching policy is defined.
Ada Issue 00394: redundant restriction identifiers and completing Ravenscar definition
Authors: Srivastava Alok
Published: October 2006

This AI moves existing restriction identifiers to Annex J, and modifies the definition of the Ravenscar profile. It also completes the definition of the Ravenscar profile by including new restrictions that concern new features of the language.
User interfaces for privacy agents
Authors: Cranor Lorrie Faith , Guduru Praveen , Arjula Manjula
Published: October 2006

Most people do not often read privacy policies because they tend to be long and difficult to understand. The Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P) addresses this problem by providing a standard machine-readable format for website privacy policies. P3P user agents can fetch P3P privacy policies automatically, compare them with a user's privacy preferences, and alert and advise the user. Developing user interfaces for P3P user agents is challenging for several reasons: privacy policies are complex, user privacy preferences are often complex and nuanced, users tend to have little experience articulating their privacy preferences, users are generally unfamiliar with much of the terminology used by privacy experts, users often do not understand the privacy-related consequences of their behavior, and users have differing expectations about the type and extent of privacy policy information they would like to see. We developed a P3P user agent called Privacy Bird. Our design was informed by privacy surveys and our previous experience with prototype P3P user agents. We describe our design approach, compare it with the approach used in other P3P use agents, evaluate our design, and make recommendations to designers of other privacy agents.
Breaking the Major Release Habit
Authors: Poole Damon
Published: October 2006

Keeping up with the rapid pace of change can be a daunting task. Just as you finally get your software working with a new technology to meet yesterday’s requirements, a newer technology is introduced or a new business trend comes along to upset the apple cart. Whether your new challenge is Web services, SOA (service-oriented architecture), ESB (enterprise service bus), AJAX, Linux, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, distributed development, outsourcing, or competitive pressure, there is an increasing need for development methodologies that help to shorten the development cycle time, respond to user needs faster, and increase quality all at the same time.
Query enrichment for web-query classification
Authors: Shen Dou , Pan Rong , Sun Jian-Tao , Pan Jeffrey Junfeng , Wu Kangheng , Yin Jie , Yang Qiang
Published: October 2006

Web-search queries are typically short and ambiguous. To classify these queries into certain target categories is a difficult but important problem. In this article, we present a new technique called query enrichment, which takes a short query and maps it to intermediate objects. Based on the collected intermediate objects, the query is then mapped to target categories. To build the necessary mapping functions, we use an ensemble of search engines to produce an enrichment of the queries. Our technique was applied to the ACM Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining competition (ACM KDDCUP) in 2005, where we won the championship on all three evaluation metrics (precision, F1 measure, which combines precision and recall, and creativity, which is judged by the organizers) among a total of 33 teams worldwide. In this article, we show that, despite the difficulty of an abundance of ambiguous queries and lack of training data, our query-enrichment technique can solve the problem satisfactorily through a two-phase classification framework. We present a detailed description of our algorithm and experimental evaluation. Our best result for F1 and precision is 42.4% and 44.4%, respectively, which is 9.6% and 24.3% higher than those from the runner-ups, respectively.
CLAIRE
Authors: Tsai Chih-Fong , McGarry Ken , Tait John
Published: October 2006

Many users of image retrieval systems would prefer to express initial queries using keywords. However, manual keyword indexing is very time-consuming. Therefore, a content-based image retrieval system which can automatically assign keywords to images would be very attractive. Unfortunately, it has proved very challenging to build such systems, except where either the image domain is restricted or the keywords relate only to low-level concepts such as color. This article presents a novel image indexing and classification system, called CLAIRE (CLAssifying Images for REtrieval), composed of one image processing module and three modules of support vector machines for color, texture, and high-level concept classification for keyword assignment. The experimental prototype system described here assigns up to five keywords selected from a controlled vocabulary of 60 terms to each image. The system is trained offline by 1639 examples from the Corel stock photo library. For evaluation, five judges reviewed a sample of 800 unknown images to identify which automatically assigned keywords were actually relevant to the image. The system proved to have an 80% probability to assign at least one relevant keyword to an image.
Loss of Caspase-8 Expression Does Not Correlate with MYCN Amplification, Aggressive Disease, or Prognosis in Neuroblastoma
Authors: Fulda Simone , Poremba Christopher , Berwanger Bernd , Häcker Sabine , Eilers Martin , Christiansen Holger , Hero Barbara , Debatin Klaus-Michael
Published: October 2006

Inactivation of caspase-8 because of aberrant gene methylation has been associated with amplification of the MYCN oncogene and aggressive disease in neuroblastoma, suggesting that caspase-8 may function as tumor suppressor. However, the prognostic effect of caspase-8 in neuroblastoma has remained obscure. Therefore, we investigated caspase-8 expression and its correlation with established prognostic markers and survival outcome in a large cohort of neuroblastoma patients. Here, we report that loss of caspase-8 protein expression occurs in the majority (75%) of neuroblastoma and is not restricted to advanced disease stages. Surprisingly, no correlation was observed between caspase-8 expression and MYCN amplification. Similarly, ectopic expression of MYCN or antisense-mediated down-regulation of MYCN had no effect on caspase-8 expression in neuroblastoma cell lines. In addition, caspase-8 expression did not correlate with other variables of high-risk disease (e.g., 1p36 aberrations, disease stage, age at diagnosis, or tumor histology). Most importantly, loss of caspase-8 protein had no effect on event-free or overall survival in the overall study population or in distinct subgroups of patients. By revealing no correlation between caspase-8 expression and MYCN amplification or other established variables of aggressive disease, our findings in a large cohort of neuroblastoma patients show that inactivation of caspase-8 is not a characteristic feature of aggressive neuroblastoma. Thus, our study provides novel insight into the biology of this tumor, which may have important clinical implications. (Cancer Res 2006; 66(20): 10016-23)
Induction of Senescence in Diterpene Ester–Treated Melanoma Cells via Protein Kinase C–Dependent Hyperactivation of the Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Pathway
Authors: Cozzi Sarah-Jane , Parsons Peter G. , Ogbourne Steven M. , Pedley Julie , Boyle Glen M.
Published: October 2006

The diterpene ester PEP005 is a novel anticancer agent that activates protein kinase C (PKC) and induces cell death in melanoma at high doses. We now describe the in vitro cytostatic effects of PEP005 and the diterpene ester phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate, observed in 20% of human melanoma cell lines. Primary cultures of normal human neonatal fibroblasts were resistant to growth arrest, indicating a potential for tumor selectivity. Sensitive cell lines were induced to senesce and exhibited a G1 and G2-M arrest. There was sustained expression of p21WAF1/CIP1, irreversible dephosphorylation of the retinoblastoma protein, and transcriptional silencing of E2F-responsive genes in sensitive cell lines. Activation of mitogen-activated protein (MAP)/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) kinase (MEK) 1/2 by PKC was required for diterpene ester–induced senescence. Expression profiling revealed that the MAP kinase inhibitor HREV107 was expressed at a higher transcript level in resistant compared with sensitive cell lines. We propose that activation of PKC overstimulates the RAS/RAF/MEK/ERK pathway, resulting in molecular changes leading to the senescent phenotype. (Cancer Res 2006; 66(20): 10083-91)
Overexpression of Glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) Transamidase Subunits Phosphatidylinositol Glycan Class T and/or GPI Anchor Attachment 1 Induces Tumorigenesis and Contributes to Invasion in Human Breast Cancer
Authors: Wu Guojun , Guo Zhongmin , Chatterjee Aditi , Huang Xin , Rubin Ethel , Wu Feng , Mambo Elizabeth , Chang Xiaofei , Osada Motonobu , Sook Kim Myoung , Moon Chulso , Califano Joseph A. , Ratovitski Edward A. , Gollin Susanne M. , Sukumar Saraswati , Sidransky David , Trink Barry
Published: October 2006

Based on the oncogenic role of phosphatidylinositol glycan (PIG) class U in human tumors, we explored the role of two additional subunits of the glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) transamidase complex in human breast cancer. We found that PIG class T (PIG-T) and GPI anchor attachment 1 (GPAA1) were overexpressed in breast cancer cell lines and primary tumors. Forced expression of PIG-T and GPAA1 transformed NIH3T3 cells in vitro and increased tumorigenicity and invasion of these cells in vivo. Suppression of PIG-T expression in breast cancer cell lines led to inhibition of anchorage-independent growth. Moreover, we found that PIG-T and GPAA1 expression levels positively correlated with paxillin phosphorylation in invasive breast cancer cell lines. Furthermore, suppression of PIG-T and GPAA1 expression led to a decrease in paxillin phosphorylation with a concomitant decrease in invasion ability. These results suggest that the GPI transamidase complex is composed of a group of proto-oncogenes that individually or as a group contribute to breast cancer growth. This aberrant growth is mediated, at least partially, by phosphorylation of paxillin, contributing to invasion and progression of breast cancer. (Cancer Res 2006; 66(22): 9829-36) (Cancer Res 2006; 66(20): 9829-36)
Novel SN-38–Incorporating Polymeric Micelles, NK012, Eradicate Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor–Secreting Bulky Tumors
Authors: Koizumi Fumiaki , Kitagawa Masayuki , Negishi Takahito , Onda Takeshi , Matsumoto Shin-ichi , Hamaguchi Tetsuya , Matsumura Yasuhiro
Published: October 2006

7-Ethyl-10-hydroxy-camptothecin (SN-38), a biological active metabolite of irinotecan hydrochloride (CPT-11), has potent antitumor activity but has not been used clinically because it is a water-insoluble drug. For delivery by i.v. injection, we have successfully developed NK012, a SN-38-releasing nanodevice. The purpose of this study is to investigate the pharmacologic character of NK012 as an anticancer agent, especially in a vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)–secreting tumor model. The particle size of NK012 was ∼20 nm with a narrow size distribution. NK012 exhibited a much higher cytotoxic effect against lung and colon cancer cell lines as compared with CPT-11. NK012 showed significantly potent antitumor activity against a human colorectal cancer HT-29 xenograft as compared with CPT-11. Enhanced and prolonged distribution of free SN-38 in the tumor was observed after the injection of NK012. NK012 also had significant antitumor activity against bulky SBC-3/Neo (1,533.1 ± 1,204.7 mm3) and SBC-3/VEGF tumors (1,620.7 ± 834.0 mm3) compared with CPT-11. Furthermore, NK012 eradicated bulky SBC-3/VEGF tumors in all mice but did not eradicate SBC-3/Neo tumors. In the drug distribution analysis, an increased accumulation of SN-38 in SBC-3/VEGF tumors was observed as compared with that in SBC-3/Neo tumors. NK012 markedly enhanced the antitumor activity of SN-38, especially in highly VEGF-secreting tumors, and could be a promising SN-38-based formulation. (Cancer Res 2006; 66(20): 10048-56)
Melatonin in Cancer Management: Progress and Promise
Authors: Jung Brittney , Ahmad Nihal
Published: October 2006

Physiologic and pharmacologic concentrations of the pineal hormone melatonin have shown chemopreventive, oncostatic, and tumor inhibitory effects in a variety of in vitro and in vivo experimental models of neoplasia. Multiple mechanisms have been suggested for the biological effects of melatonin. Not only does melatonin seem to control development alone but also has the potential to increase the efficacy and decrease the side effects of chemotherapy when used in adjuvant settings. This review critically evaluates progress in the ability of melatonin to prevent or reverse cancer development and progression. We also discuss future prospects of the possible development of melatonin as a chemopreventive agent. (Cancer Res 2006; 66(20): 9789-93)
Targeting Prostaglandin E EP Receptors to Inhibit Metastasis
Authors: Fulton Amy M. , Ma Xinrong , Kundu Namita
Published: October 2006

It is well established that high cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression contributes to the aggressive behavior of breast and other malignancies. Due to concerns regarding the safety of long-term use of COX-2 inhibitors as well as a desire to seek more effective alternatives to prevent and treat metastatic disease, we tested the hypothesis that inhibition of downstream signaling by the COX-2 product prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) would be as effective as inhibiting global prostaglandin synthesis. PGE2 acts through four G-protein–coupled receptors designated EP1-4. Here, we summarize data from many laboratories regarding the role of individual E-series of prostaglandin (EP) receptors on cancer behavior and we discuss our own recent findings that antagonists of the PGE receptor subtype 4, EP4, inhibit experimental metastasis in a murine model of hormone-resistant, metastatic breast cancer. These initial results indicate that selective targeting of individual EP receptors should be investigated as an approach to exploit the high COX-2 activity in many epithelial malignancies. (Cancer Res 2006; 66(20): 9794-7)
Role of the Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Signaling Pathway in the Regulation of Human Melanocytic Antigen Expression
Authors: Kono Michihiro , Dunn Ian S. , Durda Paul J. , Butera David , Rose Lenora B. , Haggerty Timothy J. , Benson Elizabeth M. , Kurnick James T.
Published: October 2006

Heterogeneous expression of melanocytic antigens occurs frequently in melanomas and represents a potent barrier to immunotherapy. We previously showed that coordinated losses of several melanocytic antigens are generally attributable to down-regulation of antigen gene expression rather than irreversible mutation. Treatment of melanoma cells with mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) kinase (MEK) inhibitors blocks ERK activation and increases steady-state levels of mRNAs and corresponding protein expression for the melanocytic antigens Melan-A/MART-1, gp100, and tyrosinase. Although the degree of MEK inhibitor enhancement of antigen expression varied among different cell lines irrespective of their antigen expression status, all showed detectable responses. Notably, the antigen-enhancing effects of the MEK inhibitors could not be attributed to the master melanocytic regulator MITF-M. Because MAPK pathway activation via constitutively active mutant forms of BRAF is common in melanomas, correlation between BRAF function and antigen expression was investigated. No simple correlation of endogenous BRAF mutational status and antigen levels was observed, but transient overexpression of V600E BRAF increased ERK activation and reduced Melan-A/MART-1 levels in antigen-positive cell lines. These data indicate that whereas multiple factors may regulate antigen expression in melanomas, enhancement of MAPK signaling can act as a negative influence. Blocking such signaling with MEK inhibitors accordingly augments antigen levels, thereby enhancing Melan-A/MART-1–specific cytotoxic T-cell responses to antigen-negative cells following MEK inhibition treatment. Consequently, MAPK inhibition may assist targeting of melanomas for immunotherapy. (Mol Cancer Res 2006;4(10):779–92)
Signaling from MARK to Tau: Regulation, Cytoskeletal Crosstalk, and Pathological Phosphorylation
Authors: Timm T. , Matenia D. , Li X.-Y. , Griesshaber B. , Mandelkow E.-M.
Published: October 2006

The hyperphosphorylation of tau is an early step in the degeneration of neurons in Alzheimer’s disease and other tauopathies. Of particular importance is the phosphorylation of tau in the repeat domain which detaches tau from microtubules. This makes microtubules dynamic for their role in differentiation and neurite outgrowth, and it controls the level of tau on the microtubule surface which keeps the tracks clear for axonal transport. However, the detachment of tau from microtubules can also initiate the reactions that lead to pathological aggregation into neurofibrillary tangles. Phosphorylation of tau in the repeat domain is achieved by the kinase MARK/Par-1, a member of the calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase group of kinases. In this report, we focus on the modes of MARK regulation. MARK contains several domains which offer multiple ways of regulation by posttranslational modification (e.g. phosphorylation), interactions with scaffolding proteins and subcellular targeting (e.g. 14-3-3), and interactions with other proteins. We consider in particular the interactions between MARK and other kinases, notably MARKK/TAO-1 and PAK5. MARKK (a member of the Ste20 family of kinases) activates MARK by phosphorylating it at a critical threonine residue within the activation loop. Activated MARK in turn phosphorylates tau, causes its detachment from microtubules and renders them labile. PAK5 inactivates MARK, not by phosphorylation, but by binding to the catalytic domain. PAK5 contributes to microtubule stability by preventing the MARK-induced phosphorylation of tau; conversely, PAK5 contributes to actin dynamics, presumably through the activation of cofilin, an F-actin severing protein. Thus, MARK and its regulators MARKK and PAK5 appear to mediate the crosstalk between the actin and microtubule cytoskeleton in an antagonistic fashion.
The Endoscopic versus the Traditional Approach in Pituitary Surgery
Authors: Frank Giorgio , Pasquini Ernesto , Farneti Giovanni , Mazzatenta Diego , Sciarretta Vittorio , Grasso Vincenzo , Faustini Fustini Marco
Published: October 2006

The transsphenoidal route is the most widely used technique for pituitary adenoma surgery due to its rapidity, good tolerance, effectiveness and low complication rate. These are the parameters we utilized in comparing endoscopic with microscopic transsphenoidal surgery. We reviewed the medical records of 418 patients affected by pituitary adenomas who underwent endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery between May 1998 and December 2004, and in this paper, we present the results of 381 patients who fulfilled the follow-up criteria after a minimum period of 15 months. Our experience confirms the previous data on the rapidity and satisfactory tolerance of the endoscopic procedure. We also confirm the low complication rate, specifying that complications characteristic of the approaching phase were certainly reduced; instead, complications characteristic of tumor removal still remained similar to those reported in the microsurgical literature. The results were comparable with those of the best microsurgical series regarding endosellar lesions, but tumor removal was notably superior when dealing with tumors having an extrasellar extension. The improvement may be explained by the excellent vision of the deep surgical fields due to the endoscope and by the extreme flexibility of the surgical trajectory, mainly due to the absence of the divaricator, giving access to the ramifications of the tumor, otherwise difficult to reach.
Associations between Interleukin-6 Genetic Polymorphisms and Levels of Autoantibodies to 60-kDa Heat-Shock Proteins
Authors: Kiszel Petra , Füst George , Pessi Tanja , Hurme Mikko , Prohászka Zoltán
Published: October 2006

Aims: Previously we reported an association between levels of anti-Hsp60 autoantibodies and interleukin-6 (IL-6) –174 SNP in Finnish population. The aim of this study was to investigate the same association in an independent population and to study four recently described SNP in IL-6. Materials and Methods: 313 healthy Hungarian subjects were recruited and genotyped for IL-6 –174(G→C), –9316(T→C), –1363(G→T), +1753(C→G), +2954(G→C). IgG antibodies to Hsp60 were measured by ELISA. LD between SNPs was computed by Haploview 3.2 software. Results: A strong association between IL-6 –174 polymorphism and anti-Hsp60 autoantibody levels was observed. Carriers of –174 CC genotype had significantly lower levels of anti-Hsp60 (p = 0.0052). Eight haplotypes were observed with five SNP-s and autoantibody levels in individuals carrying the most common haplotype (containing allele C of –174) were significantly lower than in all other genotype combinations (p = 0.026). Conclusions: Allele C of –174 promoter polymorphism of the IL-6 gene was repeatedly shown to be associated with low anti-Hsp60 autoantibody levels. Strong linkage in the IL-6 gene was observed and the most frequent haplotype containing the –174 C allele was significantly associated with autoantibody levels. Since the –174 SNP of IL-6 is a functional polymorphism, our results indicate for a direct regulatory effect of IL-6 genotypes in the determination of autoantibody levels.
Flt3L Therapy following Localized Tumor Irradiation Generates Long-Term Protective Immune Response in Metastatic Lung Cancer: Its Implication in Designing a Vaccination Strategy
Authors: Chakravarty Prabir K. , Guha Chandan , Alfieri Alan , Beri Vivek , Niazova Zoya , Deb Niloy J. , Fan Zuoheng , Thomas Elaine K. , Vikram Bhadrasain
Published: October 2006

Flt3 ligand (Flt3L) therapy that expands dendritic cells in vivo in combination with local tumor radiotherapy (RT) significantly improved survival and induced a long-term tumor-specific immune response in a murine model of Lewis lung carcinoma (3LL). The irradiated tumor cells were able to significantly restimulate the splenocytes of the RT + Flt3L cohort in vitro. The restimulated splenocytes demonstrated increased cytotoxic response, lymphocytic proliferation and elevated levels of Th type I cytokines (IL-2, IL-12, IFN-γ and TNF-α). The combination therapy of RT + Flt3L induced a long-term protective immunity in the disease-free animals. The protective effect was further enhanced when the disease-free animals were vaccinated with irradiated tumor cells. The vaccinated animals had significantly greater protection compared to the nonvaccinated group against subsequent challenge with 3LL cells. Taken together, these results indicate that the release of tumor antigens by irradiated dying tumors and concomitant administration of Flt3L was able to facilitate the generation of a tumor-specific long-term immune response against a poorly immunogenic tumor. This effect was further boosted by vaccination with irradiated tumor cells.
The Troubling Equivalence of Citizen and Consumer
Authors: Schudson Michael
Published: October 2006

As Todd Gitlin observed in his 1978 critique of Personal Influence, Elihu Katz and Paul Lazarsfeld (1955) in that work treated consumer choices and political choices at the voting booth as methodologically equivalent. Many critics since have identified this purported equivalence as a flaw in American social science that reduces politics to consumer behavior. But is it a flaw? This article contends that consumer choices can be and have often been political; that political choices can be and often have been consumer-like; and that the distinction between citizen and consumer, intended to uphold the superiority of the citizen's role, in fact may itself be damaging to public life. It calls for a reconsideration of what the differences between the worlds of politics and consumption really are.
Perpetual Revelations: C. Wright Mills and Paul Lazarsfeld
Authors: Summers John H.
Published: October 2006

This article narrates the prehistory and posthistory of Personal Influence as an episode in the biographies of Paul Lazarsfeld and C. Wright Mills. It begins in 1945, when Lazarsfeld sent Mills to Decatur, Illinois, to undertake the fieldwork, and ends with Mills's death in 1962.
The Part Played by Gentiles in the Flow of Mass Communications: On the Ethnic Utopia of Personal Influence
Authors: Peters John Durham
Published: October 2006

Personal Influence is not only a landmark study within the sociological literature on networks, influence, and decision making. It is also an allegory of Jewish-ethnic identity in mid-twentieth-century America and a side-ways commentary on modern Jewish involvement in communications. The book participates in a utopian imagination of society in which Jews and Gentiles alike would be centrally involved in the flow of communications. It turns from Gentile-style status toward Jewish-style connectivity as the basis of social power; defends socially grounded conceptions of mental life against Gentile individualism; insists in its notion of the two-step flow on the rabbinic principle that a text without a commentary is meaningless; and performs some amazing intellectual-moral-historical footwork with the most inconspicuous of all its central terms, “people.” In all these things, it can be read as a “Jewish” text in some sense.
The Influences Influencing Personal Influence: Scholarship and Entrepreneurship
Authors: Morrison David E.
Published: October 2006

The article examines how the study that resulted in Personal Influence came to be funded by True Story magazine. It does so by looking at Lazarsfeld's research career. Lazarsfeld is seen as an institutional innovator in higher education, having established in Vienna in 1925 the first social science research center of its kind in the world, and later the Bureau of Applied Social Research at Columbia University. The structural situation of the Bureau is examined in detail, showing how Lazarsfeld developed the role of entrepreneurial scholar to finance its operations. The article examines Lazarsfeld's psychological makeup, which meshed well with the world of business as well as the Bureau's need for commercial fund-raising. Having given the context of Lazarsfeld's operations, the final part of the article examines how the study was “sold” to True Storymagazine.
Is a Residential Relocation a Good Opportunity to Change People’s Travel Behavior? Results From a Theory-Driven Intervention Study
Authors: Bamberg Sebastian
Published: October 2006

This article presents an experimental, theory-driven evaluation of the effectiveness of an intervention that combines a free public transportation ticket and personal schedule information on the subsequent use of public transportation in an urban area. The time point when participants received this intervention is unusual. It was delivered to them shortly after a residential relocation. It is assumed that such a situation increases people’s responsiveness to the intervention. At their new living place, the intervention group shows a strong increase in public transportation use. The intervention effect on the individual choice process is modeled via Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior. Besides a main effect on intention, results indicate interactions between the intervention and the change intention existing prior to the move and higher objective public transport service quality after the move.
Spaciousness and Boundary Roughness
Authors: Stamps Arthur E. , Krishnan V. V.
Published: October 2006

This article reports how strongly boundary roughness predicts impressions of spaciousness. In one experiment, 16 rooms with fractal walls were created in CAD simulations and 49 respondents rated the rooms in terms of spaciousness. In a second experiment, 16 respondents rated spaciousness for an additional 12 rooms with different wall systems. Fractal rooms with rough walls were judged as being more spacious than rooms with smooth walls, and opening bookshelves also made rooms seem more spacious. Thus, results from both studies indicate that boundary roughness makes rooms seem more spacious. Quantitative guidance is provided to assist future research.
Pharmacokinetics of Nelfinavir in Subjects With Hepatic Impairment
Authors: Damle Bharat , Jr Dial Hewlett , Hsyu Poe‐Hirr , Becker Mark , Petersen Annkatrin
Published: October 2006

HIV‐seronegative subjects with hepatic impairment (6 mild, 6 moderate) and 12 matched healthy controls received nelfinavir 1250 mg every 12 hours with food for 2 weeks. Mild impairment did not significantly change nelfinavir or major metabolite (M8) steady‐state exposures compared with controls. In subjects with moderate impairment, steady‐state area under the plasma concentration time‐curve over the dosing interval and maximum observed plasma concentrations were 62% and 22% higher for nelfinavir than for controls, and for M8 were 46% and 35% of control values. With increasing degree of impairment, no trend toward increase in unbound nelfinavir was observed, but there was an increase in unbound M8 levels. Nelfinavir was safe and well tolerated. One subject with moderate impairment was discontinued because of transient leucopenia. Observed changes are unlikely to affect nelfinavir efficacy or markedly influence safety. Dose reduction of nelfinavir does not appear necessary for subjects with mild/moderate impairment. Further long‐term evaluations of nelfinavir pharmacokinetics and safety in HIV‐seropositive subjects with hepatic impairment may be useful.
Simultaneous Measurement of In Vivo P‐glycoprotein and Cytochrome P450 3A Activities
Authors: Kirby Brian , Kharasch Evan D. , Thummel Kenneth T. , Narang Vishal S. , Hoffer Christine J. , Unadkat Jashvant D.
Published: October 2006

Digoxin and midazolam are routinely used as probe drugs to measure in vivo activity of P‐glycoprotein (P‐gp) and cytochrome P450 3A4/5 (CYP3A), respectively. We investigated whether digoxin and midazolam could be coadministered to simultaneously determine P‐gp and CYP3A activity without a significant pharmacokinetic interaction. In a randomized crossover design, digoxin (0.5 mg oral) or midazolam (2.0 mg oral) was administered individually or in combination (digoxin 1 hour after midazolam) to 14 healthy volunteers. Blood and urine samples were collected for up to 48 hours. Pharmacokinetic parameters of digoxin, midazolam and 1′‐OH midazolam were evaluated to determine the presence of an interaction. The geometric mean ratios of all measured pharmacokinetic parameters of digoxin and midazolam were not significantly affected by coadministration. Coadministration of digoxin and midazolam can be used to simultaneously phenotype P‐gp and CYP3A activity without a significant pharmacokinetic interaction.
Psalms and the Baptist
Authors: Downing F. Gerald
Published: October 2006

Psalms 1 and 2, combined in some witnesses, afford a significant inter-text for the accounts in Matthew and Luke, and so, in Q, for the Baptist, the baptism of Jesus, and the temptations. As does the combined psalm, the Baptist distinguishes the wicked as chaff from the fruitful righteous, and this constitutes, so Justin, a call to repentance. The combined psalm goes on to threaten kings and earthly judges, as does the Baptist, and proclaims instead the begetting of an (implied) Davidic figure, a proclamation repeated ‘from heaven’ in some texts of Luke. This divine adoption is then challenged by the diabolos, who attempts to usurp not only God’s placing of his vice-regent on his holy hill of Zion, but also the divine gift of the uttermost parts of the earth. This reading of Ps. 1/2 is thus arguably significant for our reconstruction and reading of Q, for our reading of Luke, and, possibly, of the historical Baptist and of the historical Jesus.
‘The Offering of the Gentiles’ in Romans 15.16
Authors: Downs David J.
Published: October 2006

The phrase (see pdf for character) in Rom. 15.16 is typically read as a genitive of apposition and seen as a reference to Paul’s symbolic offering of the Gentiles themselves. This article contends, however, that the phrase (see pdf for character) should be taken as a subjective genitive and therefore as a reference to an offering given by the Gentiles, namely, the collection for the saints that Paul discusses specifically in Rom. 15.25-32. This reading helps to explain the concentration of cultic metaphors in Rom. 15.16 and Rom 15.25-32. Paul uses cultic language to map his priestly ministry as caretaker of the relief fund onto the Gentiles’ priestly participation in the collection. In doing so, Paul frames ‘the offering of the Gentiles’ as an act of cultic worship, underscoring the point that the fulfillment of mutual obligations within the Christian community results in praise to God.
‘Being Saved without Honor’: A Conceptual Link between 1 Corinthians 3 and 1Enoch 50?
Authors: Herms Ronald
Published: October 2006

Do early Jewish and Christian traditions of eschatological salvation include the possibility of an inferior or diminished state of ‘being saved’ for certain individuals? This article explores the possibility that both 1 Cor. 3.10-15 and 1 En. 50.1-5 represent either a common eschatological tradition or similar rhetorical strategy. Each passage is evaluated in its own literary setting with a view to determining its author’s rhetorical objective. The results are compared in order to ascertain whether Paul employs an eschatological description of ‘being saved without honor’, which also appears in early Jewish literature and, if so, whether he does this on grounds uniquely his own.
The Semistructured Interview for Consideration of Ethnic Culture in Therapy Scale
Authors: Donohue Brad , Strada Marilyn J. , Rosales Rocio , Taylor-Caldwell Aundrea , Hise Dortha , Ahman Sarah , Lefforge Noelle L. , Kopof Monique , Devore Greg , Soares Bruno , Radkovich Ben , Laino Rowena
Published: October 2006

There has been recent pressure for practitioners to consider cultural variables when implementing evidence-based interventions. Therefore, the Semistructured Interview for Consideration of Ethnic Culture in Therapy Scale (SSICECTS) was empirically developed to address this issue. First, psychometric properties of a 6-item scale were evaluated in 279 individuals of various ethnicities. Results indicated two factors accounting for 71% of the variance (ethnic cultural importance and ethnic cultural problems). Internal consistency and convergent validity were satisfactory. Ethnic minority participants demonstrated significantly higher scores than did Caucasians, suggesting this scale may be particularly applicable in ethnic minority populations. In a second study, a controlled trial was conducted to examine clinical utility of the semistructured interview component in a subsample of 151 participants. Participant interviewees were queried about their basic demographic information and were subsequently instructed to evaluate the interviewers’ performance. Interviewees were then randomly assigned to receive the SSICECTS or a parallel semistructured interview regarding exercise. After participants completed their respective semistructured interviews, they were again instructed to evaluate the interviewers. Results indicated both semistructured interviews enhanced evaluations. However, interviewers who administered the SSICECTS were perceived as having greater knowledge and respect of participants’ ethnic culture.