bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Early adverse drug event signal detection within population‐based health networks using sequential methods: key methodologic considerations
Authors: Brown Jeffrey S. , Kulldorff Martin , Petronis Kenneth R. , Reynolds Robert , Chan K. Arnold , Davis Robert L. , Graham David , Andrade Susan E , Raebel Marsha A. , Herrinton Lisa , Roblin Douglas , Boudreau Denise , Smith David , Gurwitz Jerry H. , Gunter Margaret J. , Platt Richard
Published: January 2009

Purpose

Active surveillance of population‐based health networks may improve the timeliness of detection of adverse events (AEs). Our objective was to expand our previous signal detection work by investigating the effect on signal detection of alternative study specifications.

Methods

We compared the signal detection performance under various study specifications using historical data from nine health plans involved in the HMO Research Network's Center for Education and Research on Therapeutics (CERT). Five drug‐event pairs representing generally accepted associations with an AE and two pairs representing “negative controls” were analyzed. Alternative study specifications related to the definition of incident users and incident AEs were assessed and compared to our previous findings.

Results

Relaxing the incident AE exclusion criteria by (1) including members with prior outpatient diagnoses of interest and (2) halving (to 90 days) the time window specified to define incident exposure and diagnoses increased the number of members under surveillance and as a consequence increased the number of exposed days and diagnoses by about 10–20%. The alternative specifications tend to result in earlier signal detection by 10–16 months, a likely consequence of more exposures and events entering the analysis.

Conclusions

This paper provides additional preliminary information related to conducting prospective safety monitoring using health plan data and sequential analytic methods. Our findings support continued investigation of using health plan data and sequential analytic methods as a potentially important contribution to active drug safety surveillance. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Study of the correlations of the MLCT Vis absorption maxima of 4‐pentacyanoferrate‐ 4′‐arylsubstituted bispyridinium complexes with the Hammett substituent parameters and the solvent polarity parameters E and AN
Authors: Papadakis Raffaello , Tsolomitis Athanase
Published: January 2009

In this work six new 4‐aryl substituted bispyridinium salts have been synthesized using 2,4‐dinitrophenyl‐ bispyridinium chloride as the starting material, which was arenamine exchanged via the Zincke reaction. These aromatic heterocyclic salts were used as ligands, acting as Lewis bases to form a series of 4‐pentacyanoferrate‐4′‐aryl substituted bispyridinium complex salts in high yields. The complex salts were characterized using several spectroscopic techniques including 1H as well as 13C NMR spectroscopy, UV–Vis and FTIR spectrophotometry. These materials present a number of interesting electronic and optical properties. Herein we mainly focused on the electronic absorption of these materials. The visible metal‐to‐ligand‐charge‐transfer (MLCT) band of these materials assigned as dπ(FeII) → π*(L) was proved to be affected by substituent changes (of the benzene ring of the complexes) but mainly by solvent polarity changes. Band shifts of even 4000 cm−1 were induced by small solvent polarity changes (e.g., water to methanol). The Vis absorption spectra were investigated in four protic solvents (water, 2,2,2‐trifluoroethanol, ethylene glycol, and methanol). The substituent effects were then quantified using the Hammett equation which correlates the MLCT absorption wavenumbers with the Hammett constant (σx). Furthermore, two of the most successful solvent polarity parameters (the acceptor number AN and the normalized solvent polarity scale E) were used to quantify the solvent polarity effects on the MLCT absorption wavenumbers. The correlations obtained in all cases proved to be satisfactory. The dominant interaction responsible for the solvent polarity effects proved to be the hydrogen‐bond formation between the cyano groups of the complex salts and the protic solvents. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The protective effect of hydroxyl‐substituted Schiff bases on the radical‐induced oxidation of DNA
Authors: Zhao Feng , Liu Zai‐Qun
Published: January 2009

The protective effects of 18 hydroxyl‐substituted Schiff bases (SchOHs) on the oxidative damage of naked DNA induced by 2,2′‐azobis(2‐amidinopropane hydrochloride) (AAPH) were reported, in which SchOHs were prepared by condensing hydroxyl‐substituted aromatic aldehydes and anilines. The extent of the oxidative damage of DNA was followed by measuring the formation of thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS). Some SchOHs bearing only one hydroxyl group (prepared by salicylic aldehyde) protected DNA by decreasing the formation rate of TBARS. Other SchOHs inhibited the oxidation of DNA for a period, resulting in an inhibition period (tinh) that was proportional to the concentration of SchOH,viz.,tinh = (n/Ri)[SchOH]. Thus, thestoichiometric factor(n) can be calculated if the initiation rate (Ri) was known. Thenvalue of an SchOH was closed to the summation of thenfrom every structural feature in this SchOH, indicating that the antioxidant activity of SchOH was contributed from every structural feature in the molecule. Furthermore, the large conjugative system andpara‐hydroxyl at benzilidene were good for the antioxidant activity of SchOHs. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Nano‐floating gate capacitor with SnO2 quantum dots distributed in polyimide dielectrics
Authors: Lee Dong Uk , Seo Ki Bong , Han Seung Jong , Kim Eun Kyu , Kim Young‐Ho
Published: January 2009

Self‐assembled SnO2 quantum dots were fabricated by a chemical process between a BPDA‐PDA polyamic acid and a Sn film. A nano‐floating gate capacitor having metal–insulator–semiconductor structure has been formed on p‐type Si substrate with SnO2 quantum dots and dielectric polymer layer. The size and density of fabricated SnO2 quantum dot were about 15 nm and 2.4 × 1011 cm–2, respectively. The electrical properties of the nano‐floating gate capacitor have been investigated by measuring capacitance–voltage characteristics. Then, the flat‐band voltage shift due to charging of the electron in SnO2 quantum dot was ranged from 1.2 V to 4 V. And the transmission electron microscopy and the optical absorption spectra have been measured to investigate the morphology and absorbance of the SnO2 quantum dots embedded in polyimide. (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Strain effects, potential profiles, and electronic properties of InAs/GaAs coupled double quantum dots with a disk shape
Authors: Kwon Hye Young , Woo Jun Taek , Lee Dea Uk , Kim Tae Whan , Park Young Ju
Published: January 2009

Strain potentials, potential profiles, and electronic subband energies of InAs/GaAs coupled double quantum dots (QDs) were calculated by using a finite‐difference method (FDM) taking into account shape‐based strain effects. The shape of the InAs/GaAs coupled double QDs on the basis of the transmission electron microscopy image was modeled to be a truncated hemi‐ellipsoid. The interband transition energies from the ground electronic subband to the ground heavy‐hole band (E1‐HH1) in the InAs/GaAs coupled double QDs, as determined from the FDM calculations taking into account strain effects, were in qualitatively reasonable agreement with the excitonic peaks corresponding to the (E1‐HH1) interband transition energies at several temperatures, as determined from the temperature‐dependent photoluminescence spectra. (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Tunneling current through g ‐factor engineered series quantum dots
Authors: Tokura Yasuhiro , Ono Keiji , Tarucha Seigo
Published: January 2009

We evaluate resonant tunneling current via series quantum dots with different g ‐factors by Bloch equation method. We found that the resonant current is always singly peaked as a function of bias and its peak position depends on the gate voltage. When the rate of spontaneous phonon emission is very small, the shift of the peak positions between single spin transport and both spin transport corresponds to the half of the difference of the Zeeman energy. In contrast, when the phonon assisted tunneling predominates, the peak always appears at one of the resonant tunneling conditions for larger bias. These features are explained by spin blockade effect. (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Effect of pine pollen extract on experimental chronic arthritis
Authors: Lee Kyung‐Hee , Choi Eun‐Mi
Published: January 2009

The effects of pine pollen extract (PE) on Freund's complete adjuvant (FCA)‐induced arthritis and collagen‐induced arthritis (CIA) were investigated. The oral administration of PE (100 and 200 mg/kg per day) for 21 days after subcutaneous immunization with FCA, significantly reduced hindpaw swelling and the production of inflammatory cytokines (TNF‐α, IL‐1β and IL‐6) compared with the FCA‐induced arthritis group. Treatment with the PE (100 mg/kg) also decreased the serum levels of LDL‐cholesterol and increased HDL‐cholesterol contents compared with those of the arthritis group. Since CIA is a model of some types of human autoimmune rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the study examined whether PE is efficacious against CIA in mice and investigated the possible antioxidant potential of PE on CIA. Arthritis in DBA/1J mice was induced by subcutaneous immunization with bovine type II collagen. PE (100 and 200 mg/kg) was orally administered once daily for 49 days after initial immunization with type II collagen. The arthritis score and paw edema were markedly suppressed in the groups treated with PE. Moreover, administration of PE (100 mg/kg) for 49 days reduced the serum levels of rheumatoid factor, anti‐type II collagen antibody, TNF‐α, IL‐1β, IL‐6, protein carbonyl, advanced glycation endproducts, malondialdehyde and LDL‐cholesterol compared with that of CIA mice. These results suggest that the pine pollen might be beneficial in the treatment of chronic inflammatory disorders. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Choledochoduodenostomy is a Safe Alternative to Roux‐en‐Y Choledochojejunostomy for Biliary Reconstruction in Liver Transplantation
Authors: Bennet William , Zimmerman Michael A. , Campsen Jeffrey , Mandell Mercedes Susan , Bak Tom , Wachs Michael , Kam Igal
Published: January 2009

Introduction

Bile duct reconstruction during liver transplantation is usually performed by a duct‐to‐duct anastomosis or a Roux‐en‐Y choledochojejunostomy (CDJ). Direct anastomosis of the bile duct to the duodenum (choledochoduodenostomy—CDD) is another option for biliary reconstruction. This technique has been used with good outcome for the treatment of choledochal cysts, ampullary stenosis, and major bile duct injuries; however, there is little published experience with CDD in liver transplantation. We provide preliminary evidence that CDD is a safe technique for biliary anastomosis in liver transplant recipients.

Methods

From September 2000 to August 2007 a total of 619 adult first‐time cadaveric or living donor liver transplants were performed at the University of Colorado Health and Science Center. Bile duct repair was performed by direct end‐to‐end anastomosis in 466 patients and by choledocoenterostomy in the remaining 153 patients, 82 of whom were cadaveric recipients. The cadaveric choledocoenterostomy patients were divided into two groups: CDD in 25 and CDJ in 57 recipients.

Results

There were no significant differences in the 1‐year patient or graft survival between the cadaveric groups. The 1‐year patient survival was 100% in the CDD group and 97.1% in the CDJ group. The CDD group did not experience more surgical complications compared to the CDJ group.

Conclusions

Choledochoduodenostomy is a safe alternative to CDJ biliary anastomosis when a duct‐to‐duct anastomosis cannot be performed. There is no significant difference in mortality, graft survival, or biliary complications. In addition, CDD offers the advantage of postoperative access to the billiary system by endoscopy and avoids complications associated with the CDJ bowel anastomosis.
A Novel Nomenclature to Classify Parathyroid Adenomas
Authors: Perrier Nancy D. , Edeiken Beth , Nunez Rodolfo , Gayed Isis , Jimenez Camilo , Busaidy Naifa , Potylchansky Elena , Kee Spencer , Vu Thinh
Published: January 2009

Background

A uniform and reliable description of the exact locations of adenomatous parathyroid glands is necessary for accurate communications between surgeons and other specialists. We developed a nomenclature that provides a precise means of communicating the most frequently encountered parathyroid adenoma locations.

Methods

This classification scheme is based on the anatomic detail provided by imaging and can be used in radiology reports, operative records, and pathology reports. It is based on quadrants and anterior‐posterior depth relative to the course of the recurrent laryngeal nerve and the thyroid parenchyma. The system uses the letters A‐G to describe exact gland locations.

Results

A type A parathyroid gland is a gland that originates from a superior pedicle, lateral to the recurrent laryngeal nerve compressed within the capsule of the thyroid parenchyma. A type B gland is a superior gland that has fallen posteriorly into the tracheoesophageal groove and is in the same cross‐sectional plane as the superior portion of the thyroid parenchyma. A type C gland is a gland that has fallen posteriorly into the tracheoesophageal groove and on a cross‐sectional view lies at the level of or below the inferior pole of the thyroid gland. A type D gland lies in the midregion of the posterior surface of the thyroid parenchyma, near the junction of the recurrent laryngeal nerve and the inferior thyroid artery or middle thyroidal vein; because of this location, dissection is difficult. A type E gland is an inferior gland close to the inferior pole of the thyroid parenchyma, lying in the lateral plane with the thyroid parenchyma and anterior half of the trachea. A type F gland is an inferior gland that has descended (fallen) into the thyrothymic ligament or superior thymus; it may appear to be “ectopic” or within the superior mediastinum. An anterior‐posterior view shows the type F gland to be anterior to the trachea. A type G gland is a rare, truly intrathyroidal parathyroid gland.

Conclusions

A reproducible nomenclature can provide a means of consistent communication about parathyroid adenoma location. If uniformly adopted, it has the potential to reliably communicate exact gland location without lengthy descriptions. This system may be beneficial for surgical planning as well as operative and pathology reporting.
Early Serum Procalcitonin, Interleukin‐6, and 24‐Hour Lactate Clearance: Useful Indicators of Septic Infections in Severely Traumatized Patients
Authors: Billeter Adrian , Turina Matthias , Seifert Burkhardt , Mica Ladislav , Stocker Reto , Keel Marius
Published: January 2009

Background

Elevated lactate and interleukin‐6 (IL‐6) levels were shown to correlate with mortality and multiple organ dysfunction in severely traumatized patients. The purpose of this study was to test whether an association exists between 24‐hour lactate clearance, IL‐6 and procalcitonin (PCT) levels, and the development of infectious complications in trauma patients.

Methods

A total of 1757 consecutive trauma patients with an Injury Severity Score (ISS) > 16 admitted over a 10‐year period were retrospectively analyzed over a 21‐day period. Exclusion criteria included death within 72 h of admission (24.5%), late admission > 12 h after injury (16%), and age < 16 years (0.5%). Data are stated as the median (range).

Results

Altogether, 1032 trauma patients (76.2% male) with an average age of 38 years, a median ISS of 29 (16–75), and an Acute Physiology, Age, and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II score of 14 (0–40) were evaluated. The in‐hospital mortality (>3 days) was 10%. Patients with insufficient 24‐hour lactate clearance had a high rate of overall mortality and infections. Elevated early serum procalcitonin on days 1 to 5 after trauma was strongly associated with the subsequent development of sepsis (p < 0.01) but not with nonseptic infections. The kinetics of IL‐6 were similar to those of PCT but did differentiate between infected and noninfected patients after day 5.

Conclusions

This study demonstrates that elevated early procalcitonin and IL‐6 levels and inadequate 24‐hour lactate clearance help identify trauma patients who develop septic and nonseptic infectious complications. Definition of specific cutoff values and early monitoring of these parameters may help direct early surgical and antibiotic therapy and reduce infectious mortality.
Recurrent Left Colonic Diverticulitis Episodes: More Severe Than the Initial Diverticulitis?
Authors: Pittet Olivier , Kotzampassakis Nikos , Schmidt Sabine , Denys Alban , Demartines Nicolas , Calmes Jean‐Marie
Published: January 2009

Background

Until recently, it was accepted that the rate of complications and failure of medical therapy were higher during recurrent episodes of diverticulitis. New data and new interpretation of older studies have challenged this opinion. The aim of the present study was to determine whether recurrent diverticulitis in comparison with the initial episode has a different short‐term outcome after medical or surgical treatment.

Methods

This was a retrospective cohort study of 271 consecutive patients admitted for diverticulitis confirmed by computed tomography (CT) between 2001 and 2004. Altogether 202 patients had an initial episode (group I), and 69 had recurrent diverticulitis (group R). A total of 20 clinical and 15 radiologic parameters were analyzed and compared between the two groups, including need for surgery, clinical presentation at admission, response to treatment, complications, laboratory parameters, and pathologic CT features (colonic wall thickening, abscess, pneumoperitoneum, free intraperitoneal fluid). An unpaired Student’s t‐test and Fisher’s and Wilcoxon’s tests were applied for statistical analysis.

Results

None of the clinical or radiologic parameters was statistically different between the two groups. Regarding surgery, 15.8% of the group I patients needed surgery at admission compared to 5.8% in group R (p = 0.04). Conservative treatment failure was similar in the two groups (10.7% vs. 10.0%; p = 0.84). There was 3% mortality at 30 days in group I compared to 0% in group R.

Conclusions

Recurrent episodes of diverticulitis do not lead to more complications and more conservative treatment failure. Moreover, surgery at admission was less frequent among patients who presented with a recurrence.
Pre‐operative pain and sensory function in groin hernia
Authors: Aasvang Eske K. , Hansen Jeanette B. , Kehlet Henrik
Published: January 2009

Background: Although persistent postherniotomy occurs in 5–10% of patients, pathogenic mechanisms remain debatable. Since pre‐operative pain has been demonstrated to be a risk factor for persistent postherniotomy pain, pre‐operative alterations in nociceptive function may be a potential pathogenic mechanism.

Aims: To investigate the correlation between pre‐operative pain intensity and sensory functions in the groin hernia area.

Methods: Patients with unilateral groin hernia were examined preoperatively by quantitative sensory testing (thermal, mechanical, and pressure [detection and pain thresholds]) and assessments were correlated to patients’ reports of intensity and frequency of spontaneous pain in the groin area.

Results: Forty‐two patients were examined, whereof one was excluded since no hernia was found intraoperatively. Mechanical pain threshold was inversely correlated with spontaneous pain intensity (rho = −0.413, p = 0.049), indicating a paradoxical association between level of mechanical pain threshold and magnitude of spontaneous pain. No other sensory modality was significantly correlated to pain intensity. New/increased pain during repetitive pinprick stimulation (wind‐up) was seen in 3 patients (7%), all whom experienced no pain or pain less than weekly. Only cool detection thresholds were significantly lower between the hernia vs. contralateral side (p < 0.04), but with numerically very small differences (Δ = 0.4 °C, range 0.1–0.7 °C).

Conclusion: Pre‐operative groin hernia pain is not related to findings of hyperalgesia or other changes in sensory function that may support pain‐induced pre‐operative neuroplasticity as a pathogenic mechanism for the development of persistent postherniotomy pain.
Sales and sincerity: The role of relational framing in word‐of‐mouth marketing
Authors: Tuk Mirjam A. , Verlegh Peeter W.J. , Smidts Ale , Wigboldus Daniel H.J.
Published: January 2009

In word‐of‐mouth marketing, marketers often provide financial rewards for referrals. These rewards introduce a financial motive into an interaction among friends or acquaintances, which may harm the perceived sincerity of the referring customer. We show that this negative effect can be mitigated by disclosing the presence of financial motives, but also by the activation of a market pricing (‘sales’) relationship norm. However, such a norm has a negative effect on compliance with the referral. The effects of relationship norms are strongest when cognitive capacity is impaired, which suggests that the influence of relationship norms occurs outside the awareness of consumers. Conversely, the impact of disclosures is stronger when consumers have full cognitive capacity available.
The effects of dietary fibre type on satiety-related hormones and voluntary food intake in dogs
Authors: Bosch Guido , Verbrugghe Adronie , Hesta Myriam , Holst Jens J. , van der Poel Antonius F.B. , Janssens Geert P.J. , Hendriks Wouter H.
Published: January 2009

Depending on type and inclusion level, dietary fibre may increase and maintain satiety and postpone the onset of hunger. This 7-week study evaluated the effect of fibre fermentability on physiological satiety-related metabolites and voluntary food intake (VFI) in dogs. Sixteen healthy adult dogs were fed a low-fermentable fibre (LFF) diet containing 8·5 % cellulose or a high-fermentable fibre (HFF) diet containing 8·5 % sugarbeet pulp and 2 % inulin. Large intestinal fibre degradation was evaluated by apparent faecal digestibility of nutrients and faecal SCFA and NH3concentrations. Postprandial blood samples were obtained to determine postprandial plasma glucose, insulin, total peptide tyrosine–tyrosine (PYY), total glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and total ghrelin concentrations. At the end of the study, the dogs were given a single meal of a dry dog food to determine VFI. Dogs fed the HFF diet had a significantly higher large intestinal fibre degradation and production of SCFA compared with the dogs fed the LFF diet. The HFF-fed dogs tended (P = 0·058) to show a lower VFI at the end of the study. No treatment effects were found for postprandial plasma glucose, PYY, GLP-1 and ghrelin responses. The concentrations of these metabolites could not be related to the observed difference in VFI. The inclusion of fermentable fibre in canine diets may contribute to the prevention or mitigation of obesity through its effects on satiety. The underlying mechanisms require further investigation.
Ileal digestibility and endogenous flow of minerals and amino acids: responses to dietary phytic acid in piglets
Authors: Woyengo Tofuko A. , Cowieson Aaron J. , Adeola Olayiwola , Nyachoti Charles M.
Published: January 2009

Effects of phytic acid (PA) on ileal mineral and amino acid (AA) digestibilities and ileal endogenous AA flow in piglets were investigated. Seven ileal-cannulated weanling pigs were fed a casein–maize starch-based diet with PA (as sodium phytate) at 0, 5, 10 or 20 g/kg in 4 × 4 Latin square design with three added columns to give seven observations per treatment. The basal diet was formulated to meet National Research Council energy and AA requirements for piglets. The respective digestibility and endogenous lysine loss were determined by indicator and homoarginine methods. The apparent ileal digestibility (AID) of Na, K and P was linearly and quadratically reduced (P < 0·05) by increased dietary PA concentration, whereas that of Ca and Mg was only linearly reduced (P < 0·05) by the dietary PA. The AID values for Mg and Na were negative ( − 0·03 and − 0·18, respectively) when PA was supplemented at 20 g/kg. The AID of isoleucine, leucine and valine responded quadratically to dietary PA concentration, though the differences between the AID values of the AA due to change in dietary PA concentration were marginal (at most by 1·8 percentage units). Furthermore, dietary PA did not affect (P>0·05) endogenous AA losses. The results suggest that PA has limited effect on the digestibility and endogenous losses of AA in piglets, but can reduce AID of Mg and Na partly by increasing endogenous losses of these minerals as evidenced by their negative AID values.
Critical Citizens and Submissive Subjects: Election Losers and Winners in Africa
Authors: Moehler Devra C.
Published: January 2009

Elections are thought to bolster legitimacy by providing fair mechanisms for selecting leaders. Survey data from more than 20,000 respondents in twelve African countries demonstrate that in Africa losers of elections are less inclined to trust their political institutions, consent to government authority or feel that voting matters. Contrary to initial expectations, however, losers are more willing than winners to defend their institutions against manipulation by elected officials. Losers in Africa seem critical of their institutions, but nonetheless willing to protect them, while winners seem submissive subjects, granting unconditional support to their current leaders. Finally, losers are much more likely than winners to denounce flawed elections, but losers have additional reasons to doubt the legitimacy of their current institutions.
Predatory activity of nematophagous fungi on infective larvae of Ancylostoma sp.: evaluation in vitro and after passing through the gastrointestinal tract of dogs
Authors: Carvalho R.O. , Araújo J.V. , Braga F.R. , Araujo J.M. , Silva A.R. , Tavela A.O.
Published: January 2009

The predatory capacity of nematophagous fungi Duddingtonia flagrans (AC001), Monacrosporium thaumasium (NF34a), M. appendiculatum (CGI), M. sinense (SF53), Arthrobotrys conoides (I-40), A. cladodes (CG719) and A. robusta (I-31) on infective Ancylostoma sp. larvae (L3) was evaluated. Compared with the control without fungi there was a significant reduction (P < 0.05) of 87.02%, 82.74%, 47.93%, 60.49%, 76.89%, 71.33% and 86.02% in the mean number of Ancylostoma sp. (L3) recovered from treatments with the isolates AC001, NF34a, CGI, SF53, I-40, CG719 and I-31, respectively. Isolates AC001, I-31 and NF34a were more effective in capturing L3 during the in vitro assay. Isolates were then in vivo evaluated for the capacity to remain viable after passing through the gastrointestinal tract of dogs, while still maintaining their predatory activity against L3. Fungal isolates survived the passage and showed efficient predation 48 h after fungal administration to the dogs (P < 0.05). After this time, only the isolate NF34a remained effective up to 96 h after administration (P < 0.05). Monacrosporium thaumasium, D. flagrans and A. robusta are potential biological control agents of Ancylostoma sp. in dogs.
Light microscopy study of cisplatin-induced ototoxicity in rats
Authors: de Freitas M R , de Castro Brito G A , de Carvalho J V , Gomes R M , Barreto Martins M J , de Albuquerque Ribeiro R
Published: January 2009

Background:

Although most studies on animal ototoxicity employ scanning electron microscopy, all cochlear structures may be identified with light microscopy. This paper describes a simple method of histological assessment of cisplatin-induced ototoxicity in rats, and relates morphological changes to functional changes in hearing detected by distortion product evoked otoacoustic emissions.

Materials and methods:

Male Wistar rats were injected with 8 mg/kg/day cisplatin, or with an equivalent volume of saline solution, for three consecutive days. They underwent distortion product evoked otoacoustic emission testing at baseline and at 24 or 48 hours after the last administration. At the end of the experiment, the animals were sacrificed and their cochleae were retrieved and prepared for haematoxylin and eosin staining.

Results:

A four-point scoring system was used to grade injury to the external ciliated cells, as indicated by the number of cells absent from the basal turn of the cochlear duct. A four-point scoring system was also used to grade stria vascularis injury, as indicated by the degree of shrinkage of the intermediate cells. Scores were significantly higher in groups treated with cisplatin compared with controls. Morphological changes were confirmed by decreased distortion product evoked otoacoustic emission amplitudes in animals treated with cisplatin.

Conclusion:

This method is simple to perform with routine histology equipment and is appropriate for the study of acute, cisplatin-induced ototoxicity in rats.
Adaptive control of redundant robot manipulators with sub-task objectives
Authors: Tatlicioglu Enver , Braganza David , Burg Timothy C. , Dawson Darren M.
Published: January 2009

In this paper, adaptive control of kinematically redundant robot manipulators is considered. An end-effector tracking controller is designed and the manipulator's kinematic redundancy is utilized to integrate a general sub-task controller for self-motion control. The control objectives are achieved by designing a feedback linearizing controller that includes a least-squares estimation algorithm to compensate for the parametric uncertainties. Numerical simulation results are presented to show the validity of the proposed controller.
Two-a-Day Redemptions and Truncated Camilles: the Vaudeville Repertoire of Sarah Bernhardt
Authors: Woods Leigh
Published: January 2009

American vaudeville welcomed a host of important stage actors into its midst during the generation between the mid-1890s and the end of the First World War, and in 1912, following appearances in British music halls, Sarah Bernhardt became vaudeville's centrepiece in its own war with the legitimate theatre for audience and status. By way of exchange, she received the highest salary ever paid to a ‘headlined’ vaudeville act, while performing a repertoire from which she was able to exclude the sort of light entertainment which had previously typified the medium. Both vaudeville and Bernhardt profited, in very different ways, from this wedding of high culture to low – and in the process a cultural standing seems to have attached itself to exhibitions of pain which legitimised the lot of the morally deviant women she both portrayed and exemplified. Leigh Woods, Head of Theatre Studies at the University of Michigan, explores the ways in which the great actress thus maintained a demand for her services well after the eclipse of her legendary beauty and matchless movement.
The Genesis of Theatre Anthropology
Authors: Barba Eugenio , Cairns Christopher , Barba Judy
Published: January 2009

This article – a chapter from The Paper Canoe: a Treatise on Theatre Anthropology, forthcoming from Routledge – was dedicated to NTQ's co-editor, Clive Barker, on his recent sixtieth birthday. In some senses, therefore, a reflection on the rite of passage into old age, it is more importantly a recognition of the quality and nature of experience understood – as applied to life and, in this case, to the profession of theatre. Eugenio Barba is the founder both of Odin Teatret and of ISTA, the International School of Theatre Anthropology, and here he links the impulses behind the two in highly personal experiences with universal implications – childhood epiphanies of feeling with the perception of theatrical genius, even the fending-off of boredom triggering an understanding of an actor's body movement shared across cultures and continents. Theatre, he concludes, ‘allows me to belong to no place, not to be anchored only to one perspective, to remain in transition’.
Re-Inspecting the Crack in the Chimney: Chaos Theory from Ibsen to Stoppard
Authors: Demastes William W.
Published: January 2009

In 1978, Robert Brustein observed that Ibsen'sThe Master Buildersubtly undermined the tenets of naturalism for which both the play and its author are usually remembered. Here, William W. Demastes suggests that, though lacking precise paradigms when they wrote the play and the critique, Ibsen and Brustein both approach the understanding of human interaction in ways that are currently explained through the ‘new’ scientific paradigm of chaos theory. This essay presents a general summary of chaos theory, applies it toThe Master Builder, suggests ways in which Ibsen anticipates the postmodernists, and how, in turn, chaos theory can help in comprehending several paths that the theatre has followed since the inception of postmodernism. William W. Demastes is associate professor of English at Louisiana State University, and is author ofBeyond Naturalism: a New Realism in American Theatre(1988). This essay is an extension of his book, and is designed in part as in introduction to his next book-length study, on the confluence of scientific and dramatic thought in the twentieth century.
The Dance of Images: Vladimir Mirzoev and Toronto's Horizontal Eight
Authors: Adam Julie
Published: January 2009

In addition to being a theatre director, Vladimir Mirzoev is a novelist, poet, critic, and artist. Born in Moscow in 1957, he studied with Mark Mestechkin, a disciple of his teachers Sergei Eisenstein and Vsevolod Meyerhold. Before he emigrated to Toronto, Canada, in May 1989, Mirzoev was known in Russian theatre as an iconoclast and a leading figure of the avant garde. His productions of Voltaire, Pushkin, Gogol, Büchner, Strindberg, Claudel, Weiss, and Howard Barker became renowned for the plasticity of the actors' movement and the use of metaphor to convey meaning, and Russian critics hailed his extraordinary ability to sculpt his own distinctive theatrical language, blending the ironic and the grotesque. In NTQ32 (August 1992) we published an interview with Mirzoev conducted by Rita Much: here, Julie Adam takes up the story, with an assessment of the director's work with ‘Horizontal Eight’ in Toronto – notably the productions, of Gogol's The Inspector General, Wilde's Salome, Camus's Caligula, and Barker's The Possibilities.
The Return of the Ancient Gods
Authors: Barba Eugenio
Published: January 2009

I KNOW THE TITLE: Something Rich and Strange. But I do not know if I will ever make the performance about the return of the ancient gods.
The Art of Stillness: Brook's ‘Impressions de Pelléas’
Authors: Shevtsova Maria
Published: January 2009

How well Jan Kott understands that theatre is always our contemporary and must be shown to be our contemporary if it is not to become like old bones locked up in a glass case in a museum. He also explains with rare finesse that it is contemporary differently. Theatre lives in the here-and-now according to the culture making, interpreting, and appropriating it – and even reappropriating it, when it seems to have gone to belong somewhere else. Jan Kott knows, too, that reclaiming a culture means reclaiming a part of oneself. This tribute – part of research supported by the Australian Research Council Large Grants Scheme – explores a kind of reappropriation in the work of an early, professed admirer of Kott, Peter Brook.
An Actor's Impressions of Golaud
Authors: Texier Vincent Le
Published: January 2009

HOW DID YOU WORK with Peter Brook on Impressions de Pelléas? Did he group the three different casts together so that you could sing and act your part together – three Mélisandes, three Golauds, and so on? Was the aim to find one single interpretation or three different ones?
What Training – for What Theatre?
Authors: Barker Clive
Published: January 2009

Drama training in Britain at the present time is replete with horror stories. In the academic sector, intake numbers have been pushed far beyond the strength of the resources – whether of personnel or performing spaces – designed to accommodate them. In the actor training sector, those students who have somehow managed to cope with the heavy fees struggle for subsistence – often by working at full-time jobs during the night and at weekends, while some have even joined the homeless on the streets. In the following article, Clive Barker attempts to disentangle the complex web of factors which have led to this situation, and to suggest how some of the artistic, if not the economic problems might begin to be tackled. Clive Barker, who recently retired from the Joint School of Theatre Studies at the University of Warwick, is co-editor of New Theatre Quarterly. Formerly an actor with Theatre Workshop, he is also author of the seminal text, Theatre Games.
A Theatre of Ice and Warmth: on the Thirtieth Anniversary of Odin
Authors: Taviani Ferdinando
Published: January 2009

From Eugenio Barba's article in the inaugural edition of New Theatre Quarterly to Julia Varley's in the current issue, we have traced the progress of Odin Teatret both through the thinking of its members and – as in the following article – through the commentary of its friends and observers. Odin remains one of the most influential of contemporary experimental companies, as does Eugenio Barba one of the most widely-respected directors – having more recently extended his activities into the foundation and continuing work of ISTA, the International School of Theatre Anthropology. But Odin is also one of the longest-surviving of post-war companies, recently completing thirty years of work, largely at its home base of Hoistebro in Denmark. In the following article Ferdinando Taviani celebrates the occasion with a view of Odin which attempts to capture the essence of its style and approach, and to define the paradox of the image of the ‘empty ritual’ which Barba has himself recently used to describe it. Ferdinando Taviani, a specialist in commedia dell'arte and the craft of the actor, is a professor at Aquila University in Italy. He published The Book of Odin in 1972.
On Hauptmann's ‘The Weavers’ (1893)
Authors: Mehring Franz
Published: January 2009

Born in 1846, Franz Mehring as a young man was a follower of Ferdinand Lassalle, who in 1863 had organized Germany's first socialist party. As well as establishing a reputation as a journalist with his contributions to many liberal and democratic newspapers, Mehring was awarded his doctorate at Leipzig University in 1881 for his dissertation on the history and teachings of German social democracy. In his mid-forties he embraced Marxism and in 1891 joined the German Social Democratic Party, soon emerging as the intellectual leader of its left wing. He became editor of the Leipziger Volkszeitung and wrote prolifically for Die Neue Zeit and other radical journals on history, politics, philosophy, and literature. His book The Lessing Legend, published in 1893, is regarded as the first sustained attempt at Marxist literary criticism. His major biography of Karl Marx appeared in 1918, the year before his death. Completed in 1891, The Weavers was accepted for performance by the Deutsches Theater but was rejected by the Berlin censor as ‘a portrayal which specifically instils class hatred’. The first production of the play, discussed by Mehring below, was possible only because the Freie Bühne was a subscription society. In October 1893 a further private performance was given at the Neue Freie Volksbühne, followed by seven more in December at the Freie Volksbühne, where Franz Mehring was chairman. By now, the Prussian State censor had overruled his Berlin subordinate and The Weavers received its public premiere at the Deutsches Theater on 25 September 1894. On each occasion Hauptmann's play was greeted with great enthusiasm by the public, but found no favour with the Imperial family who indignantly cancelled their regular box at the Deutsches Theater. Subsequently The Weavers was banned from public performance in France, Austria, Italy, and Russia. Mehring's article appeared originally in Die Neue Zeit, XI, No. I (1893). Its translation in NTQ forms part of an occasional series on early Marxist dramatic criticism, which already includes Trotsky on Wedekind (NTQ28) and Lunacharsky on Ibsen (NTQ39). EDWARD BRAUN
‘A Place Marked by Life’: Brook at the Bouffes du Nord
Authors: Williams David
Published: January 2009

After his experimental work with the Royal Shakespeare Company, which bore fruit in the production of Marat/Sade in 1964 and culminated in the controversial Vietnam play US in 1966, Peter Brook returned to the classical repertoire in which he had made his name as ‘enfant terrible’ of British theatre, with Seneca's Oedipus for the National Theatre in 1968, and, two years later, A Midsummer Night's Dream for the RSC. But the very success of ‘Brook's Dream’ – the way in which its transformation into an ‘event’ required actors ‘to do their duty rather than what came from life’ – heightened Brook's sense that he could no longer work creatively under such conditions, and in 1970 he formed his Centre International de Recherche Théâtrale, which developed its early work for the Persepolis festivals and in the treks across Africa chronicled by John Heilpern in Conference of the Birds. Eventually the company settled in Paris at the Théâtre aux Bouffes du Nord in 1974: but while their work there has been widely acclaimed, it has been subjected to little detailed analysis in English. In the original series of TQ, Kenneth Tynan offered a highly critical view in TQ25. Here, David Williams – a graduate of the Drama Department of the University of Kent, currently working in community theatre at Hoxton Hall in London's East End – corrects the balance with a full descriptive analysis of Brook's major productions at the Bouffes – Timon of Athens. The Ik, a conflation of Jarry's Ubu plays, and a re-creation of the Conference of the Birds
Time in Chekhov: the Inexorable and the Ironic
Authors: Hristić Jovan
Published: January 2009

Time in Chekhov's plays passes between the acts – not as a functional necessity, but as part of an irresistible rhythm which fascinated the dramatist, and obsessed his characters. Time for Chekhov was neither a metaphysical concept nor a thematic convenience, but the shared perspective through which humankind reconciled its hopes and fears – or failed to do so. Jovan Hristic looks in detail at the treatment of time in Chekhov's major plays, and illuminates on the one hand its role in creating an almost classical sense of inevitability – and on the other at its ability to reduce the apparently momentous to the ironically trivial. This article is taken from his full-length study, Chekhov the Dramatist, already translated into French, and originally published in Belgrade. where he works as a leading theatre critic.
The Mind as a Theatre: Radio Drama since 1971
Authors: Gray Frances , Bray Janet
Published: January 2009

The critical attention paid to radio drama has dwindled in almost inverse proportion to a steady increase not only in quantity but, less expectedly, in quality – though Britain has become one of the very few countries where this entirely distinctive dramatic medium is still seriously practised. As Head of BBC Radio Drama from 1963 to 1976. Martin Esslin was instrumental in developing the form, and his article in TQ 3 in 1971. ‘The Mind as a Stage’, in which he summed up his own ‘aesthetic of radio’, provides the starting point for the present article: but its authors believe that the very strength of Esslin's own artistic beliefs and authority limited his understanding of the less ‘artistic’ output of radio drama, and that it is in this area that some of the most notable of recent advances have been made. Their article thus examines not only the development of radio drama since 1971, but the way in which its changing ‘codes’ have altered the relationship between play and listener: and it analyzes two distinctive uses of the medium – to create what they call ‘alternative histories’, and a sense of ‘fragmented space’. Frances Gray, herself a radio playwright, has recently published a study of John Arden in the Macmillan Modern Dramatists series, and presently teaches at the University of Sheffield, from which Janet Bray has just received her M.Phil. degree for a study of radio drama in the 'seventies.
The Dilated Body: on the Energies of Acting
Authors: Barba Eugenio
Published: January 2009

All too many teachers and theorists treat acting as if it were a sort of puzzle to be solved, a role as a sort of summit to be conquered. Eugenio Barba sees it rather as a process, involving the use of trained energies which often work intuitively, even contradictorily, in search of new relationships between actions and ideas. Using examples as diverse as the legend of the Flying Dutchman and his own company's work on a story by Jorge Luis Borges. Barba explores the way in which the mutation of a narrative line can interweave with the presence of the actor to create that ‘sudden dilation of the senses’ which he sees as the essence of the theatrical experience. Eugenio Barba has just celebrated the twentieth anniversary of his formation of Odin Teatret, now based in Holstebro, and is an Advisory Editor of New Theatre Quarterly.
Passion Play, Philippines, 1984
Authors: Gaspar Karl
Published: January 2009

For the western observer, ‘liberation theology’ can appear an unexpected mixture of orthodox religious belief and revolutionary political thinking. When Karl Gaspar, a lay Catholic who had been working with the poor on the island of Mindanao, was detained in 1983 under a Philippine law permitting arbitrary political detention, the mixture took theatrical form, in the creation of a passion play with a Christ conceived as labour-organizer. Karl Gaspar, who was released in February 1985, describes how liturgical drama took shape in a prison camp, in an account which appears by courtesy of Other Side magazine.
Horizontal and Vertical Montage in the Theatre
Authors: Ruffini Franco
Published: January 2009

The critical concept of ‘montage’ has been familiar in film studies ever since Eisenstein. But the fixed focus and apparently continuous flow of live theatrical performance seemingly makes it an inappropriate tool for dramatic analysis. Franco Ruffini argues, however, that actors and audiences find their own ways of ‘selecting’ from and emphasizing aspects of the full theatrical vocabulary and its many means of expression, which make live performance no less subject to creative self-assembly and juxtaposition than film. Ruffini develops the distinction between ‘horizontal’ montage in time, and ‘vertical’ montage as a sort of cross-section of performance; and examines ways in which the ‘audience's performance’ can, both fruitfully and otherwise, differ from the ‘director's performance’. Franco Ruffini is Professor of Theatre Semiotics in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Bologna.