bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Depressive symptoms increase the risk of progression to dementia in subjects with mild cognitive impairment: systematic review and meta‐analysis
Authors: Mourao Raimundo J. , Mansur Guilherme , Malloy‐Diniz Leandro F. , Castro Costa Erico , Diniz Breno S.
Published: December 2015

Objective

There is a long‐standing debate in the literature whether depressive symptoms increase the risk of dementia in older with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). We aim to conduct a meta‐analysis of studies that evaluated the risk of dementia in subjects with MCI and depressive symptoms compared with subjects with MCI and no depressive symptoms.

Methods

We calculated the relative risk of progression to dementia in subjects with MCI and depressive symptoms compared with subjects with MCI and no depressive symptoms using a generic inverse variance method with random effect models.

Results

Eighteen studies were included in the meta‐analysis, with a sample size of 10,861 MCI subjects. The pooled relative risk of progressing to dementia was 1.28 CI95% [1.09–1.52] (p = 0.003) in the group of MCI subjects with depressive symptoms compared with the MCI subjects with no depressive symptoms.

Discussion

Our results provide additional evidence that depressive symptoms determine an additive risk effect to the progression to dementia in subjects with MCI. The comorbidity between depression and cognitive impairment can be an intervention target for prevention of dementia in MCI subjects. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Expanding role of cytomegalovirus as a human pathogen
Authors: Navarro David
Published: December 2015

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) continues to be a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in transplant recipients, despite major advancements in preventative strategies. Antiviral prophylaxis and pre‐emptive antiviral therapeutic regimens are associated with a high incidence of late‐onset end‐organ disease and cause drug‐related toxicity when overused. Therefore, the identification of risk factors for CMV replication is required. Genetic and immunological factors that predispose individuals to CMV‐related clinical complications have been identified and may be instrumental for optimizing CMV treatment in the future. Evidence suggests a causal pathogenetic link between CMV‐related complications and inflammatory diseases in non‐canonically immunosuppressed individuals such as patients with lung injury and critically ill and cancer patients. However, a randomized clinical trial is required to determine if a causal relationship exists. J. Med. Virol. 88:1103–1112, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Influence of soil cover and N and K fertilization on the quality of biofortified QPM in the humid tropics
Authors: de Moura‐Silva Aline Gomes , Aguiar Alana das Chagas Ferreira , de Moura Emanoel Gomes , Jorge Neuza
Published: December 2015

BACKGROUND

In the humid tropics, unfavorable conditions present challenges to smallholder farmers attempting to meet food demands. The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of alley cropping and addition of potassium and nitrogen on the productivity and nutritional value of quality protein maize (QPM). The experimental design consisted of randomized blocks with four replicates in a 5 × 2 factorial scheme, with five treatments, Gliricidia + Acacia (GA), Gliricidia + Clitoria (GC), Leucaena + Acacia (LA), Leucaena + Clitoria (LC) and bare soil (BS), in two cropping systems, one with addition of nitrogen and potassium (NK) and one without.

RESULTS

The grain yield of LC + NK was significantly higher than that of all other treatments except GC + NK and LA + NK, and six times higher than that of BS + NK. The protein content of LC + NK was higher than that of the treatments without residue.

CONCLUSION

Although the mulching of tree legumes increased the yield and quality of food for smallholder agriculture, achieving this outcome requires eliminating potentially negative interactions when combining trees and crops in addition to enhancing the availability and uptake of nutrients. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry
Interpenetrating Polymer Networks of Poly(Acrylic Acid) and Polyacrylamide for Sustained Verapamil Hydrochloride Release
Authors: Simeonov Marin , Kostova Bistra , Vassileva Elena
Published: December 2015

Interpenetrating polymer networks (IPNs) of poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) and polyacrylamide (PAAm) were synthesized and applied as drug delivery systems for verapamil hydrochloride (VPM). The IPN network density was controlled by changing IPN composition. Thus, when increasing the PAAm to PAA weight ratio, the network density increases as revealed by the equilibrium swelling ratio and microhardness measurements. The SEM study of the IPNs’ morphology showed phase separation at nano level where PAAm domains with size below 100 nm are finely dispersed into the PAA matrix. The thermal study on the IPNs confirmed that both components are finely mixed as one Tg was detected for all IPNs’ compositions. Tg vs. composition dependence obeyed the Gordon–Taylor equation and deviated negatively from the Fox equation thus confirming weak interactions between PAA and PAAm. The VPM loading into PAA/PAAm IPNs resulted into amorphization of the drug as well as in a IPNs’ Tg increase as revealed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The in vitro release of VPM shows that the IPNs of PAA/PAAm are suitable systems for sustained drug delivery. It was established that by changing IPNs’ composition it is possible to obtain different drug release kinetic profiles.
A Novel Method to Control the Elution Behavior of PVA Cast Gels
Authors: Sasaki Saori , Suzuki Atsushi
Published: December 2015

Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) gels, prepared by a cast‐drying method, show excellent swelling and mechanical properties. However, the elution of polymers from such gels is one of the major hindrances for practical applications. In this study, PVA cast gels were prepared from a PVA powder, with a high degree of polymerization and hydrolysis, under different temperatures and humidities. The swelling ratio, elution ratio, crystallinity, and microcrystallite size were evaluated, and these were compared with each other. The lowest elution rate (<1%) was obtained under conditions of high drying temperature and high humidity. This indicates that polymer elution can be suppressed by controlling the size, number, and distribution of the microcrystallites.
Shape Memory Polymers from Blends of Elastomers and Small Molecule Additives
Authors: Cavicchi Kevin A.
Published: December 2015

Shape memory polymers are useful stimuli‐responsive functional materials. This article reviews the fabrication of shape memory polymers through the blending of elastomers and small molecule additives. A comprehensive overview of this area is provided with an emphasis on the unique properties and advantages of specific material systems.
Mechanically Strong Microstructured Hydrogels Based on Reactive Star‐Shaped Prepolymers
Authors: Groll Jürgen
Published: December 2015

In this mini‐review we summarize our attempts for the development of mechanically strong hydrogels on the basis of reactive star‐shaped prepolymers based on the concept of tailored microstructure. Hydrogels formed by chemical cross‐linking of six arm star‐shaped poly(ethylene oxide‐stat‐propylene oxide) prepolymers comprising reactive isocyanate end groups (NCO‐sP(EO‐stat‐PO)) were used as single network (SN) component, based on the hypothesis that their microstructure mixed chemical and physical cross‐linking would enable lower hysteresis. Microstructure was introduced following three strategies: addition of tailored triblock‐copolymers, reinforcement with nanoparticles, and double‐network (DN) hydrogels by swelling the SN with acrylamide and in situ polymerization of the second network. With the DN approach, hydrogels were obtained that showed negligible hysteresis after repeated compression with 1 MPa.
Adolescent and Young Adult Patient Engagement and Participation in Survey‐Based Research: A Report From the “Resilience in Adolescents and Young Adults With Cancer” Study
Authors: Rosenberg Abby R. , Bona Kira , Wharton Claire M. , Bradford Miranda , Shaffer Michele L. , Wolfe Joanne , Baker Kevin Scott
Published: December 2015

Conducting patient‐reported outcomes research with adolescents and young adults (AYAs) is difficult due to low participation rates and high attrition. Forty‐seven AYAs with newly diagnosed cancer at two large hospitals were prospectively surveyed at the time of diagnosis and 3–6 and 12–18 months later. A subset participated in 1:1 semistructured interviews. Attrition prompted early study closure at one site. The majority of patients preferred paper–pencil to online surveys. Interview participants were more likely to complete surveys (e.g., 93% vs. 58% completion of 3–6 month surveys, P = 0.02). Engaging patients through qualitative methodologies and using patient‐preferred instruments may optimize future research success.
Propensity score and doubly robust methods for estimating the effect of treatment on censored cost
Authors: Li Jiaqi , Handorf Elizabeth , Bekelman Justin , Mitra Nandita
Published: December 2015

The estimation of treatment effects on medical costs is complicated by the need to account for informative censoring, skewness, and the effects of confounders. Because medical costs are often collected from observational claims data, we investigate propensity score (PS) methods such as covariate adjustment, stratification, and inverse probability weighting taking into account informative censoring of the cost outcome. We compare these more commonly used methods with doubly robust (DR) estimation. We then use a machine learning approach called super learner (SL) to choose among conventional cost models to estimate regression parameters in the DR approach and to choose among various model specifications for PS estimation. Our simulation studies show that when the PS model is correctly specified, weighting and DR perform well. When the PS model is misspecified, the combined approach of DR with SL can still provide unbiased estimates. SL is especially useful when the underlying cost distribution comes from a mixture of different distributions or when the true PS model is unknown. We apply these approaches to a cost analysis of two bladder cancer treatments, cystectomy versus bladder preservation therapy, using SEER‐Medicare data. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Resource ambidexterity through alliance portfolios and firm performance
Authors: Wassmer Ulrich , Li Sali , Madhok Anoop
Published: December 2015

Research summary: Partner resources can be an important alternative to internal firm resources for attaining dual and seemingly incompatible strategic objectives. We extend arguments about managing conflicting objectives typically made at the firm level to the level of a firm's alliance portfolio. Specifically, will a balance between revenue enhancement and cost reduction attained collectively through partner resources accessed via a firm's various alliances be similarly beneficial for firm performance? Additionally, how do strategic attributes of alliance portfolio configuration, specifically alliance portfolio size and partner resource scope, condition the balance‐performance relationship? Based on data from the global airline industry, we find support for the balance‐performance relationship, though such balance is less beneficial for firms in the case of access to a broader resource scope per partner.

Managerial summary: Increasing revenue and reducing costs simultaneously can potentially enhance firm competitiveness. We highlight that an alliance strategy can be an important alternative to internal resources for attaining such dual strategic objectives, particularly when partner resources accessed through alliances are treated collectively as portfolios. We examine the importance of balancing product‐market extending and efficiency‐improving partner resources in the global airline industry as well as the impact of two alternate strategies for accessing resources through alliances: fewer partners with more resources per partner or more partners with fewer resources per partner. We find that resource balance at the portfolio level helps airlines improve performance. Our results also suggest that managers should be cautious of accessing too many resources through just a few partners. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Longitudinal dating violence victimization among Latino teens: Rates, risk factors, and cultural influences☆
Authors: Sabina Chiara , Cuevas Carlos A. , Cotignola‐Pickens Heather M.
Published: December 2015

This study uses data from two waves of the Dating Violence Among Latino Adolescents (DAVILA) study and focuses on the 1) rates of dating violence victimization by gender, 2) risk of experiencing dating violence victimization over time, 3) association of dating violence victimization with other forms of victimization, and 4) association of immigrant status, acculturation, and familial support with dating violence victimization over time. A total of 547 Latino adolescents, from across the USA, aged 12–18 at Wave 1 participated in both waves of the study. Rates of dating violence were around 19% across waves. Dating violence at Wave 1 and non‐dating violence victimization were associated with an elevated risk of dating violence during Wave 2. Cultural factors did not distinguish between dating violence trajectories, except for immigrant status and familial support being associated with no dating violence victimization. Overall, dating violence affects a large number of Latino teens and tends to continue over time.
The expression of orexigenic and anorexigenic factors in middle‐aged female rats that had been subjected to prenatal undernutrition
Authors: Tungalagsuvd Altankhuu , Matsuzaki Toshiya , Iwasa Takeshi , Munkhzaya Munkhsaikhan , Yiliyasi Mayila , Kawami Takako , Kato Takeshi , Kuwahara Akira , Irahara Minoru
Published: December 2015

Fetal growth retardation, which affects short‐ and long‐term fetal brain development, is associated with metabolic, hematological, and thermal disturbances, which can increase the risk of metabolic syndrome later in life. Orexigenic and anorexigenic factors regulate food intake and energy expenditure. We studied how the expression of these factors was affected by food deprivation (FD) in middle‐aged female rats that had been subjected to prenatal undernutrition. Eight pregnant rats were divided into two groups, the normal nutrition (NN) (n = 4) group and the undernutrition (UN) (n = 4) group, which received 50% (approximately 11 g) of the daily food intake of the normal nutrition rats from day 13 of pregnancy to delivery. The pups from these dams were defined as the maternal NN (mNN) and maternal UN (mUN) groups, respectively. After weaning, all of the pups were housed and allowed ad libitum access to food and water. At the age of 6 months, both groups of pups were sub‐divided into three groups. One group was allowed to consume normal amounts of food (Fed), and the other two groups were subjected to 24 h or 48 h FD (n = 7–8 per group). The rats' serum leptin levels and hypothalamic mRNA expression levels of various orexigenic or anorexigenic factors were measured. In both the mNN and mUN rats, the serum leptin levels of the 24 h and 48 h FD groups tended to be lower than those of the Fed group, and the serum leptin levels of the 24 h FD mUN rats and the Fed mUN rats differed significantly. The hypothalamic neuropeptide Y (NPY) mRNA expression levels of the 24 h and 48 h FD groups were significantly higher in the mUN rats than in the mNN rats. In addition, among the mUN rats the hypothalamic NPY mRNA expression levels of the 48 h FD group were significantly higher than those of the Fed group. In both the mNN and mUN rats, prepro‐orexin mRNA expression was lower in the 48 h FD group than in the corresponding Fed group. Among the mUN rats, the 48 h FD group exhibited significantly lower hypothalamic proopiomelanocortin (POMC) mRNA expression than the Fed group, and a similar tendency was seen among the mNN rats. Among the mNN rats, the 24 h FD group displayed significantly higher hypothalamic leptin receptor (OBRb) mRNA levels than the Fed group. However, no such differences were seen among the mUN rats. As a result, the hypothalamic OBRb mRNA expression levels of the mUN rats in the 24 h and 48 h FD groups were lower than those of the corresponding mNN rat groups. These findings indicate that rats that are subjected to prenatal undernutrition exhibit upregulated expression of orexigenic factors and are more sensitive to FD in middle age, which might increase their risk of developing metabolic disorders in later life.
Systematic review and meta‐analysis of phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors for the treatment of female sexual dysfunction
Authors: Gao Liang , Yang Lu , Qian Shengqiang , Li Tao , Han Ping , Yuan Jiuhong
Published: December 2015

Background

Clinical studies evaluating the effectiveness and safety of phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors (PDE5is) for female sexual dysfunction have reported conflicting results.

Objectives

To systematically review evidence from studies comparing PDE5is with placebo in the treatment of female sexual dysfunction.

Search strategy

Searches of PubMed, the Cochrane Library, and Embase databases were performed using the MeSH terms “females/female/women”, “sexual”, and “sildenafil/tadalafil/vardenafil/PDE5/PDE5i”.

Selection criteria

All randomized controlled trials, available in English, published no later than January 28, 2015 comparing the effectiveness of PDE5is, or PDE5is in combination with other agents, with placebo in improving female sexual function were included.

Data collection and analysis

The inclusion criteria were met by 14 studies, which were analyzed by two reviewers.

Main results

The randomized controlled trials included in the present study adopted different questionnaires for measuring sexual function; consequently, most of the data had to be considered separately rather than pooled. Generally, the use of PDE5is resulted in significant improvements in sexual function compared with placebo, with some studies demonstrating negative results. Pooled data regarding adverse events demonstrated significantly higher rates of headache, flushing, and changes in vision in PDE5i‐treated patients.

Conclusions

PDE5is could be an effective treatment modality for female sexual dysfunction. Although there were significant increases in adverse events in comparison with placebo, PDE5is were still relatively safe.
Evolving Treatment Modality of Hand Enchondroma in a Local Hospital: From Autograft to Artificial Bone Substitutes
Authors: Tsz-Yeung Kwok , Hin-Keung Wong
Published: December 2015

Background/Purpose

Curettage followed by the application of iliac crest autograft was the traditional treatment of hand enchondroma in Princess Margaret Hospital, Hong Kong.

Methods

We reviewed the results of 13 patients with hand enchondroma who were operated on in the past 15 years (1999–2013). Eight patients (1999–2009) received iliac crest autograft after curettage, whereas the other five patients (2009–2013) received artificial bone substitutes.

Results

Both groups of patients had good functional outcome and bone graft incorporation. There was no recurrence. One patient in the autograft group had mild residual finger stiffness. One patient receiving artificial bone substitutes had a gouty attack, early wound infection, and finger stiffness. The use of artificial bone substitutes eliminated donor site morbidities, decreased operation time and, hospital stay. They took a longer time for radiological incorporation than autograft, but it did not translate into adverse clinical effects.

Conclusion

Artificial bone substitute is a good alternative to iliac crest autograft in the treatment of hand enchondroma.
Three‐Dimensional (3‐D) Printing: A Cost‐Effective Solution for Improving Global Accessibility to Prostheses
Authors: Silva Kyle , Rand Stephanie , Cancel David , Chen Yuxi , Kathirithamby Rani , Stern Michelle
Published: December 2015

The lack of access to prostheses is a global problem, partially caused by the high cost associated with the current manufacturing process. Three‐dimensional printing is gaining use in the medical field, and one such area is prosthetics. In addition to using cost‐effective materials, this technology allows for rapid prototyping, making it an efficient solution for the development of affordable prostheses. If the rehabilitation medicine community embraces this novel technology, we can help alleviate the global disparity of access to prostheses.
Inclusion without Representation in Latin America
Authors: Htun Mala
Published: December 2015

This book analyzes why and how fifteen Latin American countries modified their political institutions to promote the inclusion of women, Afrodescendants, and indigenous peoples. Through analysis and comparison of experiences in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico, the book accounts for the origins of quotas and reserved seats in international norms and civic mobilization. It shows how the configuration of political institutions and the structure of excluded groups set the terms and processes of inclusion. Arguing that the new mechanisms have delivered inclusion but not representation, the book demonstrates that quotas and reserved seats increased the presence in power of excluded groups but did not create constituencies or generate civic movements able to authorize or hold accountable their representatives.
French Visual Culture and the Making of Medieval Theater
Authors: Weigert Laura
Published: December 2015

This book revives what was unique, strange and exciting about the variety of performances that took place in the realms of the French kings and Burgundian dukes. Laura Weigert brings together a wealth of visual artifacts and practices to explore this tradition of late medieval performance located not in 'theaters' but in churches, courts, and city streets and squares. By stressing the theatricality rather than the realism of fifteenth-century visual culture and the spectacular rather than the devotional nature of its effects, she offers a new way of thinking about late medieval representation and spectatorship. She shows how images that ostensibly document medieval performance instead revise its characteristic features to conform to a playgoing experience that was associated with classical antiquity. This retrospective vision of the late medieval performance tradition contributed to its demise in sixteenth-century France and promoted assumptions about medieval theater that continue to inform the contemporary disciplines of art and theater history.
A Student's Manual for A First Course in General Relativity
Authors: Scott Robert B.
Published: December 2015

This comprehensive student manual has been designed to accompany the leading textbook by Bernard Schutz, A First Course in General Relativity, and uses detailed solutions, cross-referenced to several introductory and more advanced textbooks, to enable self-learners, undergraduates and postgraduates to master general relativity through problem solving. The perfect accompaniment to Schutz's textbook, this manual guides the reader step-by-step through over 200 exercises, with clear easy-to-follow derivations. It provides detailed solutions to almost half of Schutz's exercises, and includes 125 brand new supplementary problems that address the subtle points of each chapter. It includes a comprehensive index and collects useful mathematical results, such as transformation matrices and Christoffel symbols for commonly studied spacetimes, in an appendix. Supported by an online table categorising exercises, a Maple worksheet and an instructors' manual, this text provides an invaluable resource for all students and instructors using Schutz's textbook.
Lorenzo Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise
Authors: Bloch Amy R.
Published: December 2015

This book examines the heretofore unsuspected complexity of Lorenzo Ghiberti's sculpted representations of Old Testament narratives in his Gates of Paradise (1425–52), the second set of doors he made for the Florence Baptistery and a masterpiece of Italian Renaissance sculpture. One of the most intellectually engaged and well-read artists of his age, Ghiberti found inspiration in ancient and medieval texts, many of which he and his contacts in Florence's humanist community shared, read, and discussed. He was fascinated by the science of vision, by the functioning of nature, and, above all, by the origins and history of art. These unusually well-defined intellectual interests, reflected in his famous Commentaries, shaped his approach in the Gates. Through the selection, imaginative interpretation, and arrangement of biblical episodes, Ghiberti fashioned multi-textured narratives that explore the human condition and express his ideas on a range of social, political, artistic, and philosophical issues.
Pericles and the Conquest of History
Authors: Samons, II Loren J.
Published: December 2015

As the most famous and important political leader in Athenian history, Pericles has featured prominently in descriptions and analysis of Athenian democracy from antiquity to the present day. Although contemporary historians have tended to treat him as representative of values like liberty and equality, Loren J. Samons, II demonstrates that the quest to make Athens the preeminent power in Greece served as the central theme of Pericles' career. More nationalist than humanist and less rationalist than populist, Pericles' vision for Athens rested on the establishment of an Athenian reputation for military success and the citizens' willingness to sacrifice in the service of this goal. Despite his own aristocratic (if checkered) ancestry, Pericles offered the common and collective Athenian people the kind of fame previously available only to heroes and nobleman, a goal made all the more attractive because of the Athenians' defensiveness about Athens' lackluster early history.
Food Law in the United States
Authors: Roberts Michael T.
Published: December 2015

As the modern food system continues to transform food - its composition, taste, availability, value, and appearance - consumers are increasingly confronted by legal and regulatory issues that affect us all on a daily basis. In Food Law in the United States, Michael T. Roberts addresses these issues in a comprehensive, systematic manner that lays out the national legal framework for the regulation of food and the legal tools that fill gaps in this framework, including litigation, state law, and private standards. Covering a broad expanse of topics including commerce, food safety, marketing, nutrition, and emerging food-systems issues such as local food, sustainability, security, urban agriculture, and equity, this book is an essential reference for lawyers, students, non-law professionals, and consumer advocates who must understand food law to advance their respective interests.
Jesus and the Temple
Authors: Joseph Simon J.
Published: December 2015

Most Jesus specialists agree that the Temple incident led directly to Jesus' arrest, but the precise relationship between Jesus and the Temple's administration remains unclear. Jesus and the Temple examines this relationship, exploring the reinterpretation of Torah observance and traditional Temple practices that are widely considered central components of the early Jesus movement. Challenging a growing tendency in contemporary scholarship to assume that the earliest Christians had an almost uniformly positive view of the Temple's sacrificial system, Simon J. Joseph addresses the ambiguous, inconsistent, and contradictory views on sacrifice and the Temple in the New Testament. This volume fills a significant gap in the literature on sacrifice in Jewish Christianity. It introduces a new hypothesis positing Jesus' enactment of a program of radically nonviolent eschatological restoration, an orientation that produced Jesus' conflicts with his contemporaries and inspired the first attributions of sacrificial language to his death.
Anthropology and Economy
Authors: Gudeman Stephen
Published: December 2015

Comparative and critical, Anthropology and Economy offers a uniquely cross-cultural view of economy. Using examples from market and non-market situations, the book shows how economies are built on five increasingly abstract spheres, from the house to community, commerce, finance, and meta-finance. Across these spheres, economy incorporates a tension between self-interested rationality and the mutuality of social relationships. Even when rational processes predominate, as in markets, economies rely on sociability and ritual to operate, whether as cronyism, pleas to divinities or the magical persuasions of advertising. Drawing on data and concepts from anthropology and economics, the book addresses wealth inequality, resource depletion, and environmental devastation especially in capitalism, providing an understanding of their persistence and ideas for controlling them. Given the recent financial crash, Gudeman offers a different understanding of the crisis and suggestions for achieving greater economic stability.
Generating Optimal Initial Conditions for Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics Simulations
Authors: Diehl S. , Rockefeller G. , Fryer C. L. , Riethmiller D. , Statler T. S.
Published: December 2015

We review existing smoothed particle hydrodynamics setup methods and outline their advantages, limitations, and drawbacks. We present a new method for constructing initial conditions for smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations, which may also be of interest for N-body simulations, and demonstrate this method on a number of applications. This new method is inspired by adaptive binning techniques using weighted Voronoi tessellations. Particles are placed and iteratively moved based on their proximity to neighbouring particles and the desired spatial resolution. This new method can satisfy arbitrarily complex spatial resolution requirements.
Kings, Colonies, and Councilors: Brazil and the Making of Portugal's Overseas Council, 1642-1833
Authors: Myrup Erik Lars
Published: December 2015

In February 1724 two municipal councils (câmaras) in Brazil wrote to the Portuguese crown. Although presiding over the faraway cities of Belém do Pará and São Luís do Maranhão, they claimed the right to advise the king in matters of state. “[T]he first obligation of aldermen (vereadores),” they explained, “is to act as defenders of the cities and peoples that they represent, or in other words, to be councilors to the sovereign prince, … instructing him in what is necessary for the increase and conservation of the people.” In their capacity as councilors, the aldermen proposed a forty-point plan that would turn colonial administration in Amazonia on end. Among other changes, they recommended that missionaries should no longer have temporal jurisdiction over indigenous villages, that the power of overseas governors and justice ministers should be diminished, and that their own children and grandchildren should be given preferential treatment to serve in local positions. Concluding with a flourish, they promised that their recommendations would generate a “superabundance of wealth” and be inexpensive to boot, not costing a penny more than the price of paper (to print a royal decree).
II. The Bolivarian Nations
Authors: Helguera J. Léon
Published: December 2015

Defining, for the purposes of this paper, modern Latin American history as the period following 1830, and the Bolivarian nations as Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Peru, the spectrum of research opportunities is very broad. As is well known, the modern period is the step-child, in respect to historical interest and production, of the colonial, in most of Latin America. In the Bolivarian nations, this tendency is made worse by the exaggerated devotion of historians there to the independence struggle, notably in Colombia and Venezuela.
B. One Aspect of Wedin’s Work
Authors: Andersson Hans
Published: December 2015

The Swedish historian Åke Wedin has published three studies of problems in Inca history.1 In the last of these, El concepto de lo incáico y las fuentes, there is a chapter which the author entitled “La relación entre cuatro crónicas tempranas.”2 In it he compares chronicles by Damián de la Bandera,3 Cristóbal de Castro and Diego de Ortega Morejón,4 Hernando de Santillán5 and the so-called Señores.6 His examination has produced a number of conclusions about the chronology of the various sources and the extent to which they are dependent on each other. Some of these conclusions are quite convincing, others are doubtful. The object here is to examine them more closely.
Invoking “Tato Vasco”: Vasco de Quiroga, Eighteenth-Twentieth Centuries
Authors: Krippner-Martinez James
Published: December 2015

Beyond a century, however, tradition is of no value. The pre-Hispanic Tarascans and those of a few generations ago are merged into “antepasados” and unless an historically known event is referred to, it is difficult to know to what period a tradition refers.

—Ralph L. Beals, Pedro Carrasco, and Thomas McCorkle, 1944

This article examines the emergence and transformation of the legendary Vasco de Quiroga from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. It argues that from the mid-eighteenth century onward Vasco de Quiroga has been transformed into a humanist icon due to the shifting needs of various “historical presents.” Today Vasco de Quiroga is remembered for the utopian communities he dreamed of establishing among the “Indians” of Michoacán, where he served as the first bishop from 1536-1565. However, the traditional image of Vasco de Quiroga as a saintly father figure who understood and was beloved by his Indian charges is best understood as an after-the-fact reconstruction rooted more in colonial discourse, creole perceptions and the formation of modern Mexican nationalism than the sixteenth-century past.
Misery, Pain and Death: Tuberculosis in Nineteenth Century Buenos Aires
Authors: Reber Vera Blinn
Published: December 2015

Dijo anoche, su canto de muertela Canción de la tos en tu perchoy, al mojarse en las notas rojizasmostró flores de sangre el pañuelo.

Pulmonary tuberculosis substantially influenced societal attitudes and Argentine life style in the nineteenth century. Because tuberculosis was socially defined, how Porteños viewed the tubercular depended on conceptions of the disease, as well as popular and medical views of contagion and cure. Illness did not isolate individuals from society or even from familiar faces and responsibilities. Class, gender, age, attitudes on contagion, and approaches to treatment influenced the choices available to men, women, and children.
Specter of a Nazi Threat: United States-Colombian Relations, 1939-1945
Authors: Friedman Max Paul
Published: December 2015

On 11 September 1941, U..S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt took to the airwaves to warn his country that “Hitler's advance guards” were readying “footholds, bridgeheads in the New World, to be used as soon as he has gained control of the oceans.” The most recent sign that the Nazis were coming, the president told his rapt national audience, was the discovery of “secret airlanding fields in Colombia, within easy range of the Panama Canal.”

In Bogotá, the response was pandemonium. U.S. ambassador Spruille Braden, astonished that “the President has gone out on a limb with this statement,” sent his staff scrambling across German-owned farms and rice fields to try to produce evidence for the assertion ex post facto. Colombian President Eduardo Santos scoffed at Roosevelt's claim, telling Braden, “in the final analysis all of Colombia is a great potential airport.” A resentful Colombian Senate voted unanimously that no such airfields existed (that Colombia had fulfilled its responsibility to defend against the Axis menace). In Washington, Secretary of State Cordell Hull was forced to call in Colombia's Ambassador Gabriel Turbay to express “the very deep regret of the President, of myself and of our Government” for the “unintentional reference.”
Ambivalent Authorities: The African and Afro-Brazilian Contribution to Local Governance in Colonial Brazil
Authors: Russell-Wood A. J. R.
Published: December 2015

A theme common to all regions of the Portuguese seaborne empire was dependency on non-Europeans for the creation, consolidation and survival of empire: for defense, labor, construction of towns and forts, transportation, production of raw materials, sexual gratification and, in the case of the Estado da India (Portuguese forts, towns, cities and factories from the Swahili coast to Japan and Timor), on merchants, brokers and interpreters to provide access to suppliers, distributors, commercial networks, and even vessels and capital. Through conversion, peoples from Japan to Africa and America, contributed to the flock of the church militant and, in some more limited cases, as missionaries, catechists, and secular priests. One exception was Brazil where Amerindians were not admitted into the regular or secular clergy. The one area in which the Portuguese crown was not willing to countenance indigenous participation was appointment to public office, be this in the imperial bureaucracy, or election to city or town councils other than in Cape Verde and São Tomé. In Asia and Angola persons other than of exclusively European parentage on both sides and even New Christians may have served on town councils, and some non-Europeans held clerical positions, but the policy forbidding persons of African descent to hold office in church or state was adhered to in practice. Brazil was unique in at least two regards. First, perhaps in no other European colony was dispossession (from an indigenous perspective) so complete. The Portuguese assumed sovereignty over indigenous peoples and their territories and saw Brazil as a tabula rasa where the Portuguese were free to establish cities, institutions, governance, commercial practices, and to implant their religious beliefs, writing and numeracy systems, values, and mores. Secondly, among European overseas colonies in the early modern period, Brazil was unique in that by the end of the colonial period (1822), a transplanted population of African-born and their American-born descendants comprised a demographic majority which exceeded the indigenous population and persons of European origin or descent.
From the Pockets of Women: The Gendering of the Mita, Migration and Tribute in Colonial Chucuito, Peru
Authors: Premo Bianca
Published: December 2015

So many Indian men had moved, fled or died because of the labor draft to the silver mines of Potosí that only women were left to govern in some Andean communities. Or so the rumor went. In 1682, the cabildo of the imperial mining capital informed the king that such reports were greatly exaggerated. “This could not be true, even in the case where not one male Indian was left in the entire Kingdom,” its statement reads. “Although the pueblos have been depopulated, there are still more than enough [men] to fill offices in conformity with cabildo ordinances.”
New Appointments at the Academy of American Franciscan
History
Authors: Wyse Alexander
Published: December 2015

THE MOST REV. AUGUSTINE SEPINSKI, O.F.M., Minister General of the Order of
Friars Minor, has named as Director of the Academy of American Franciscan
History for a term of three years the Rev. Antonine Tibesar, O.F.M., Ph.D.
Since the Academy ranks as a Studium Generale of the
Franciscan Order, the appointment of its head is made by the Minister
General with his General Definitorium. The decree of appointment, dated at
Rome on June 23, 1954, went into effect upon its promulgation. The Director
of the Academy likewise holds the office of Religious Superior of the Friary
of Our Lady of Guadalupe, where the Members of the Academy are in
residence.
Introduction
Authors: Tibesar Antonine S.
Published: December 2015

The “Conference on the History of Religion in the New World during Colonial Times,” which had been announced in The Americas (XIV, No. 2 (October, 1957), 191 f. & No. 3 (January, 1958), 313 f.), was held in the Woodrow Wilson room of the Library of Congress on December 17 and 18, 1957. Twenty-nine historians took part in the discussion of the formal studies which had been prepared in accordance with the published program. They had gathered from Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Spain, and the United States. A number of students also attended from universities in this country and Canada.
THREE BOOKS ON MODERN GREEK ENLIGHTENMENT
Authors: SINIOSSOGLOU NIKETAS
Published: December 2015

A widespread trend in Enlightenment studies is to emphasize the particular ‘national contexts’ within which key ideas were disseminated and appropriated during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This may be one way to read the three books under review: on one level they appear to look at how three emblematic figures of Modern Greek Enlightenment (Adamantios Korais, Iosipos Moisiodax, and Veniamin Lesvios) transmitted ideological and philosophical tenets of Western modernity to the non-Western context of a country under construction: nineteenth-century Greece. Yet there is much more at work here. On closer study, these books collectively take an important step by suggesting a reversal of perspectives. The desideratum is an approach that no longer considers the Modern Greek Enlightenment (roughly extending from 1760 to 1821) as an a priori peripheral and dependent movement, but rather as a vehicle for elaborating on aspects of the Enlightenment as a transcultural phenomenon. Seen in this light, the space of the Modern Greek Enlightenment is not primarily geographical or geopolitical, but cultural and intellectual. Owing to the fluidity of borders and the mobility of intellectual agents inherited from the Ottoman imperial structures, the impact of the Modern Greek Enlightenment stretches across a vast area from south-eastern Europe to Asia Minor and from Transylvania to Kydonies. Interestingly, the same is true of the ideological and religious opponent of Enlightenment intellectual constellations in the Balkan peninsula: Orthodox Neo-Palamism. This spread from Mount Athos to Romania, offering a competing version of transnationalism and illumination with roots in Hesychast theology, rather than in the West. The emerging tension tested the application of Enlightenment ideas in ways alien to the West and shaped the outlook of intellectuals who are perhaps little known, but who merit a unique place in the broadly construed canon of Enlightenment thought.
Past and future perspectives on mathematical models of tick-borne pathogens
Authors: NORMAN R. A. , WORTON A. J. , GILBERT L.
Published: December 2015

Ticks are vectors of pathogens which are important both with respect to human health and economically. They have a complex life cycle requiring several blood meals throughout their life. These blood meals take place on different individual hosts and potentially on different host species. Their life cycle is also dependent on environmental conditions such as the temperature and habitat type. Mathematical models have been used for the more than 30 years to help us understand how tick dynamics are dependent on these environmental factors and host availability. In this paper, we review models of tick dynamics and summarize the main results. This summary is split into two parts, one which looks at tick dynamics and one which looks at tick-borne pathogens. In general, the models of tick dynamics are used to determine when the peak in tick densities is likely to occur in the year and how that changes with environmental conditions. The models of tick-borne pathogens focus more on the conditions under which the pathogen can persist and how host population densities might be manipulated to control these pathogens. In the final section of the paper, we identify gaps in the current knowledge and future modelling approaches. These include spatial models linked to environmental information and Geographic Information System maps, and development of new modelling techniques which model tick densities per host more explicitly.
How to Dance After Auschwitz? Ethics and Aesthetics of Representation in John Cranko's Song of My People—Forest People—Sea
Authors: Bing-Heidecker Liora
Published: December 2015

John Cranko's only ballet for the Batsheva Dance Company in Israel, Ami-Yam, Ami-Ya'ar (Song of My People—Forest People—Sea, 1971) is described in a program note as “A Nation and Man Move in Parallel Cycles from Death to Regeneration.” It has remained unique in Cranko's choreographic corpus and in the Batsheva repertoire. Based on recently discovered film evidence, I reread Cranko's largely forgotten project and discuss its problematic and controversial reception in Israel and abroad, in light of Adorno's statement that “writing poetry after Auschwitz is barbarism.” I situate it as a landmark in tackling the Holocaust in dance in Israel as of 1971. I problematize the ethics and aesthetics of representation in Cranko's ballet on the grounds of Giorgio Agamben's discussion of testimony and in reference to Jacques Derrida's reading of Paul Celan.
Keep off the grass? No way!
Authors: Hu Xiaoqiong Betsy
Published: December 2015

China's rapid economic development has helped to raise the international status of Mandarin. One prediction is that ‘in ten years, Mandarin will be as important worldwide as English’ (Trudgill, 2014: 387). Another even greater change resulting from China's economic growth is the increasing popularity that English enjoys in China (Hu, 2004, 2005; Hu, 2009; Zhang, 2012; Werner, 2014). English is now used in a wide range of fields and contexts throughout the country. This is not surprising given the dominance of the English language on a global scale. English, now increasingly employed together with Chinese to combine global with local appeal, functions ‘as an index of modernity, progress, internationalism and globalization, a symbol of success, sophistication and projection into the future’ (Vettorel, 2013: 262). One indicator illustrating this phenomenon is the widespread use of public signs in both Chinese and English. Some authors argue that this use of bilingual signs has resulted in the creation of ‘an attractive linguistic landscape’ in China (Yang & Liu, 2008:79). Accordingly, research on bilingual public signs has, in recent years, become ‘a hot area in the translation field’ (Zou et al, 2011:27), attracting the attention of a growing number of scholars (e.g. Dai & Lü, 2005; Song, 2013; Chen, 2014).
Selective cytoprotective effect of histamine on doxorubicin-induced hepatic and cardiac toxicity in animal models
Authors: Lamas DJMartinel , Nicoud MB , Sterle HA , Carabajal E , Tesan F , Perazzo JC , Cremaschi GA , Rivera ES , Medina VA
Published: December 2015

The aim of the present work was to evaluate the potential protective effect of histamine on Doxorubicin (Dox)-induced hepatic and cardiac toxicity in different rodent species and in a triple-negative breast tumor-bearing mice model. Male Sprague Dawley rats and Balb/c mice were divided into four groups: control (received saline), histamine (5 mg/kg for rats and 1 mg/kg for mice, daily subcutaneous injection starting 24 h before treatment with Dox), Dox (2 mg/kg, intraperitoneally injected three times a week for 2 weeks) and Dox+histamine (received both treatments). Tissue toxicity was evaluated by histopathological studies and oxidative stress and biochemical parameters. The combined effect of histamine and Dox was also investigated in vitro and in vivo in human MDA-MB-231 triple-negative breast cancer model. Heart and liver of Dox-treated animals displayed severe histological damage, loss of tissue weight, increased TBARS levels and DNA damage along with an augment in serum creatine kinase-myocardial band. Pretreatment with histamine prevented Dox-induced tissue events producing a significant preservation of the integrity of both rat and mouse myocardium and liver, through the reduction of Dox-induced oxidative stress and apoptosis. Histamine treatment preserved anti-tumor activity of Dox, exhibiting differential cytotoxicity and increasing the Dox-induced inhibition of breast tumor growth. Findings provide preclinical evidence indicating that histamine could be a promising candidate as a selective cytoprotective agent for the treatment of Dox-induced cardiac and hepatic toxicity, and encourage the translation to clinical practice.