bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The burden of mental comorbidity in multiple sclerosis: frequent, underdiagnosed, and undertreated
Authors: Marrie RA , Horwitz R , Cutter G , Tyry T , Campagnolo D , Vollmer T
Published: January 2009

Background

Mental comorbidity is common in multiple sclerosis (MS), but some studies suggest that mental comorbidity may be underrecognized and undertreated.

Objective

Using the North American Research Committee on MS Registry, we assessed the frequency of mental comorbidities in MS and sociodemographic characteristics associated with diagnosis and treatment of depression.

Methods

We queried participants regarding depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CESD); a score ≥21 indicated probable major depression.

Results

Mental comorbidity affected 4264 (48%) responders; depression most frequently (4012, 46%). Among participants not reporting mental comorbidity, 751 (16.2%) had CESD scores ≥21 suggesting undiagnosed depression. Lower socioeconomic status was associated with increased odds of depression (Income $15,000–30,000 vs >$100,000 OR 1.34; 1.11–1.62), undiagnosed depression (Income $15,000–30,000 vs >$100,000 OR 1.52; 1.08–2.13), and untreated depression (<high school vs postgraduate degree OR 3.13; 1.65–5.99).

Conclusions

Mental comorbidity remains underdiagnosed and undertreated in MS. Patients of lower socioeconomic status bear a disproportionate share of the burden of depression.
'Instinctively, I'm Not Just a Sexual Beast': The Complexity of Intimacy Among Australian Gay Men
Authors: Slavin Sean
Published: January 2009

This article reports on findings from a participatory research study that aimed to ask gay men about the things they valued in relation to sex, in order to better frame HIV prevention efforts around pleasure rather than risk. Participants responded by insisting that they could not discuss their sexual behaviours without also discussing relationships, intimacy, love and romance. However, in the context of heteronormative ideals for relationships, they frequently became conflicted about the nature of their own desires and how best to satisfy them. The article attempts to use contemporary sociological theories of love and sex to interpret some of these discursive conflicts. It concludes by arguing for a radical acceptance of the diversity of gay relationships, rather than conformity to heteronormative models.
Cultural journalism in Brazil
Authors: Golin Cida , Cardoso Everton
Published: January 2009

This text aims to give an overview of the contemporary academic research on cultural journalism in Brazil in the field of communication. It discusses the insertion of this specialized sector into the artistic and cultural system, whose dynamics include the journalistic work of bringing issues and their analysis to the attention of the public. Finally, based on the constructionist perspective — according to which, news is defined as a context-influenced social construction — it attempts to ascertain what the predominant news values are in contemporary cultural journalism, in order to ponder the possibilities and limitations of journalism in the representation of the artistic and cultural field.
hidden spaces and places in the preschool
Authors: Skånfors Lovisa , Löfdahl Annica , Hägglund Solveig
Published: January 2009

The article discusses how children make use of their preschool context in order to withdraw. Ethnographic observations were made of two-to five-year-old children's interactions during free play and teacher-led activities in the preschool, and documentation was carried out through field notes and video recordings. The empirical material was analysed using Corsaro's theory on children's peer cultures. Results show that children, in their peer cultures, construct withdrawal strategies — `making oneself inaccessible' and `creating and protecting shared hidden spaces' — by making use of the preschool's organization of time and space.
A high-throughput strategy for screening of bacterial artificial chromosome libraries and anchoring of clones on a genetic map constructed with single nucleotide polymorphisms
Authors: Luo Ming-Cheng , Xu Kenong , Ma Yaqin , Deal Karin R , Nicolet Charles M , Dvorak Jan
Published: January 2009

Background

Current techniques of screening bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) libraries for molecular markers during the construction of physical maps are slow, laborious and often assign multiple BAC contigs to a single locus on a genetic map. These limitations are the principal impediment in the construction of physical maps of large eukaryotic genomes. It is hypothesized that this impediment can be overcome by screening multidimensional pools of BAC clones using the highly parallel Illumina GoldenGate™ assay.

Results

To test the efficacy of the Golden Gate assay in BAC library screening, multidimensional pools involving 302976 Aegilops tauschii BAC clones were genotyped for the presence/absence of specific gene sequences with multiplexed Illumina GoldenGate oligonucleotide assays previously used to place single nucleotide polymorphisms on an Ae. tauschii genetic map. Of 1384 allele-informative oligonucleotide assays, 87.6% successfully clustered BAC pools into those positive for a BAC clone harboring a specific gene locus and those negative for it. The location of the positive BAC clones within contigs assembled from 199190 fingerprinted Ae. tauschii BAC clones was used to evaluate the precision of anchoring of BAC clones and contigs on the Ae. tauschii genetic map. For 41 (95%) assays, positive BAC clones were neighbors in single contigs. Those contigs could be unequivocally assigned to loci on the genetic map. For two (5%) assays, positive clones were in two different contigs and the relationships of these contigs to loci on the Ae. tauschii genetic map were equivocal. Screening of BAC libraries with a simple five-dimensional BAC pooling strategy was evaluated and shown to allow direct detection of positive BAC clones without the need for manual deconvolution of BAC clone pools.

Conclusion

The highly parallel Illumina oligonucleotide assay is shown here to be an efficient tool for screening BAC libraries and a strategy for high-throughput anchoring of BAC contigs on genetic maps during the construction of physical maps of eukaryotic genomes. In most cases, screening of BAC libraries with Illumina oligonucleotide assays results in the unequivocal relationship of BAC clones with loci on the genetic map.
Transcriptomic and proteomic profiling of two porcine tissues using high-throughput technologies
Authors: Hornshøj Henrik , Bendixen Emøke , Conley Lene N , Andersen Pernille K , Hedegaard Jakob , Panitz Frank , Bendixen Christian
Published: January 2009

Background

The recent development within high-throughput technologies for expression profiling has allowed for parallel analysis of transcriptomes and proteomes in biological systems such as comparative analysis of transcript and protein levels of tissue regulated genes. Until now, such studies of have only included microarray or short length sequence tags for transcript profiling. Furthermore, most comparisons of transcript and protein levels have been based on absolute expression values from within the same tissue and not relative expression values based on tissue ratios.

Results

Presented here is a novel study of two porcine tissues based on integrative analysis of data from expression profiling of identical samples using cDNA microarray, 454-sequencing and iTRAQ-based proteomics. Sequence homology identified 2.541 unique transcripts that are detectable by both microarray hybridizations and 454-sequencing of 1.2 million cDNA tags. Both transcript-based technologies showed high reproducibility between sample replicates of the same tissue, but the correlation across these two technologies was modest. Thousands of genes being differentially expressed were identified with microarray. Out of the 306 differentially expressed genes, identified by 454-sequencing, 198 (65%) were also found by microarray. The relationship between the regulation of transcript and protein levels was analyzed by integrating iTRAQ-based proteomics data. Protein expression ratios were determined for 354 genes, of which 148 could be mapped to both microarray and 454-sequencing data. A comparison of the expression ratios from the three technologies revealed that differences in transcript and protein levels across heart and muscle tissues are positively correlated.

Conclusion

We show that the reproducibility within cDNA microarray and 454-sequencing is high, but that the agreement across these two technologies is modest. We demonstrate that the regulation of transcript and protein levels across identical tissue samples is positively correlated when the tissue expression ratios are used for comparison. The results presented are of interest in systems biology research in terms of integration and analysis of high-throughput expression data from mammalian tissues.
Horizontal gene transfer between Wolbachia and the mosquito Aedes aegypti
Authors: Klasson Lisa , Kambris Zakaria , Cook Peter E , Walker Thomas , Sinkins Steven P
Published: January 2009

Background

The evolutionary importance of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) from Wolbachia endosymbiotic bacteria to their eukaryotic hosts is a topic of considerable interest and debate. Recent transfers of genome fragments from Wolbachia into insect chromosomes have been reported, but it has been argued that these fragments may be on an evolutionary trajectory to degradation and loss.

Results

We have discovered a case of HGT, involving two adjacent genes, between the genomes of Wolbachia and the currently Wolbachia-uninfected mosquito Aedes aegypti, an important human disease vector. The lower level of sequence identity between Wolbachia and insect, the transcription of all the genes involved, and the fact that we have identified homologs of the two genes in another Aedes species (Ae. mascarensis), suggest that these genes are being expressed after an extended evolutionary period since horizontal transfer, and therefore that the transfer has functional significance. The association of these genes with Wolbachia prophage regions also provides a mechanism for the transfer.

Conclusion

The data support the argument that HGT between Wolbachia endosymbiotic bacteria and their hosts has produced evolutionary innovation.
Antimicrobial activities of pomegranate rind extracts: enhancement by addition of metal salts and vitamin C
Authors: McCarrell Erin M , Gould Simon WJ , Fielder Mark D , Kelly Alison F , El Sankary Waffa , Naughton Declan P
Published: January 2009

Background

Punica granatum L. or pomegranates, have been reported to have antimicrobial activity against a range of Gram positive and negative bacteria. Pomegranate formulations containing ferrous salts have enhanced although short-term, antibacteriophage activities which are rapidly diminished owing to instability of the ferrous combination. The aim of this study was to determine the antimicrobial activities of combinations of pomegranate rind extracts (PRE) with a range of metals salts with the added stabiliser vitamin C.

Methods

PRE solutions, prepared by blending rind sections with distilled water prior to sterilisation by autoclaving or filtration, were screened with a disc diffusion assay using penicillin G as a control. Suspension assays were used to determine the antimicrobial activities of PRE alone and in combination with salts of the following metals; Fe (II), Cu (II), Mn (II) or Zn (II), and vitamin C, against a panel of microbes following exposure for 30 mins. The test organisms included Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Proteus mirabilis.

Results

The screening assay demonstrated that PRE exhibited activity against the Gram positive organisms at 24 h with no observable effect on any of the Gram negative bacteria. However, after 12 h, zones of inhibition were only observed for Ps. aeruginosa. In contrast, using the suspension assay, addition of Cu (II) salts to PRE solutions extended the activities resulting in no detectable growth being observed for the PRE/Cu (II) combination against E. coli, Ps. aeruginosa and P. mirabilis. Minimal antimicrobial activity was observed following incubation with Fe (II), Mn (II) or Zn (II) salts alone or in combination with PRE against any of the organisms in the test panel. The addition of vitamin C markedly enhanced the activities of both PRE/Fe (II) and PRE/Cu (II) combinations against S. aureus.

Conclusion

This is the first report demonstrating the enhanced efficacy of PRE/metal salt combinations in the presence of the stabilising agent vitamin C, to which all isolates were sensitive with the exception of B. subtilis. This study has validated the exploration of PRE along with additives such as metal salts and vitamin C as novel antimicrobial combinations.
Tracking of leisure-time physical activity during adolescence and young adulthood: a 10-year longitudinal study
Authors: Kjønniksen Lise , Torsheim Torbjørn , Wold Bente
Published: January 2009

Background

The purpose of this study was to show how participation in leisure-time physical activity changes between ages 13 to 23, and to what extent engaging in specific types of sports tracks into young adulthood.

Methods

The sample comprised 630 subjects who responded to questionnaires at age 13, with seven follow-ups over a 10-year period in the Norwegian Longitudinal Health Behaviour Study. The associations between adolescent participation in global and specific types of leisure-time physical activity were examined by analyses of variance, regression analysis and growth curve analysis.

Results

The findings suggest that the transition from adolescence to adulthood is, on average, a period of decline in physical activity, but with the decline levelling off into adulthood. The decline was significantly greater among males than females. There were substantial individual differences in the amount of change, in particular among males.

Jogging alone and cycling, recreational activities such as skiing and hiking, and ball games, showed a high degree of tracking from age 15 to 23.

The findings indicate low associations between participation in specific types of activities during adolescence and global leisure-time physical activity in young adulthood, while participation in several adolescent physical activities simultaneously was moderately related to later activity. Thus, being involved in various types of physical activity may offer good opportunities for establishing lifelong involvement in physical activity, independent of the specific type of activity.

Conclusion

The observed variation in change might suggest a need for a more targeted approach, with a focus on subgroups of individuals. The group of inactive youth may be considered as a high risk group, and the findings suggest that adolescent males who are inactive early seem likely to continue to be inactive later.

The observed heterogeneity in change highlights the limitation of previous approaches to analyzing physical levels over time, and suggests that multilevel analysis should be used in future research on longitudinal data on physical activity.
TRIP-Br2 promotes oncogenesis in nude mice and is frequently overexpressed in multiple human tumors
Authors: Cheong Jit Kong , Gunaratnam Lakshman , Zang Zhi Jiang , Yang Christopher M , Sun Xiaoming , Nasr Susan L , Sim Khe Guan , Peh Bee Keow , Rashid Suhaimi Bin Abdul , Bonventre Joseph V , Salto-Tellez Manuel , Hsu Stephen I
Published: January 2009

Background

Members of the TRIP-Br/SERTAD family of mammalian transcriptional coregulators have recently been implicated in E2F-mediated cell cycle progression and tumorigenesis. We, herein, focus on the detailed functional characterization of the least understood member of the TRIP-Br/SERTAD protein family, TRIP-Br2 (SERTAD2).

Methods

Oncogenic potential of TRIP-Br2 was demonstrated by (1) inoculation of NIH3T3 fibroblasts, which were engineered to stably overexpress ectopic TRIP-Br2, into athymic nude mice for tumor induction and (2) comprehensive immunohistochemical high-throughput screening of TRIP-Br2 protein expression in multiple human tumor cell lines and human tumor tissue microarrays (TMAs). Clinicopathologic analysis was conducted to assess the potential of TRIP-Br2 as a novel prognostic marker of human cancer. RNA interference of TRIP-Br2 expression in HCT-116 colorectal carcinoma cells was performed to determine the potential of TRIP-Br2 as a novel chemotherapeutic drug target.

Results

Overexpression of TRIP-Br2 is sufficient to transform murine fibroblasts and promotes tumorigenesis in nude mice. The transformed phenotype is characterized by deregulation of the E2F/DP-transcriptional pathway through upregulation of the key E2F-responsive genes CYCLIN E, CYCLIN A2, CDC6 and DHFR. TRIP-Br2 is frequently overexpressed in both cancer cell lines and multiple human tumors. Clinicopathologic correlation indicates that overexpression of TRIP-Br2 in hepatocellular carcinoma is associated with a worse clinical outcome by Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. Small interfering RNA-mediated (siRNA) knockdown of TRIP-Br2 was sufficient to inhibit cell-autonomous growth of HCT-116 cells in vitro.

Conclusion

This study identifies TRIP-Br2 as a bona-fide protooncogene and supports the potential for TRIP-Br2 as a novel prognostic marker and a chemotherapeutic drug target in human cancer.
PreS1 epitope recognition in newborns after vaccination with the third-generation Sci-B-Vac™ vaccine and their relation to the antibody response to hepatitis B surface antigen
Authors: Hellström Ulla B , Madalinski Kazimierz , Sylvan Staffan PE
Published: January 2009

Background

Sci-B-Vac™ is a recombinant, hepatitis B vaccine derived from a mammalian cell line and containing hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) as well as preS1 and preS2 antigens. Few studies have been performed on the antibody responses to preS1 in relation to the antibody to hepatitis B surface antigen (anti-HBs) response during immunisation of healthy children with preS-containing vaccines.

Results

In this study 28 healthy newborns were randomly selected to receive either 2.5 ug or 5.0 ug of the Sci-B-Vac vaccine. Children received three doses of vaccine according to a 0-, 1-, 6-month scheme. Antibodies against the S-protein and three synthetic peptides mimicking three B-cell preS1 epitopes, (21–32 amino acid epitope), (32–47 amino acid epitope) and the C-terminal (amino acid epitope 94–117) were determined at 6 and 9 months. Fourteen (50%) of the 28 newborns had detectable levels of anti-preS1 (21–32) antibodies; 15 (54%) were anti-preS1 (32–47) reactive and 12 (43%) were anti-preS1 (94–117) reactive at 6 or 9 months after initiation of the vaccination. Significantly higher levels of anti-HBs were observed in the sera of patients with detectable anti-preS1 (32–47) reactivity (24 550 ± 7375 IU/L, mean ± SEM) as compared with the non-reactive sera (5991 ± 1530 IU/L, p < 0.05). The anti-HBs levels were significantly lower if none (p < 0.05) or one (p < 0.025) of the preS1 (21–32, 32–47, 94–117) peptides were recognised compared with the anti-HBs levels if two or three peptides were recognised.

Conclusion

Recognition of several preS1 epitopes, and in particular, the epitope contained within the second half of the hepatocyte binding site localised in the hepatitis B surface protein of the third-generation hepatitis B vaccine is accompanied by a more pronounced antibody response to the S-gene-derived protein in healthy newborns.
Role of Spinal Cord Alpha-Amino-3-Hydroxy-5-Methyl-4-Isoxazolepropionic Acid Receptors in Complete Freund's Adjuvant-Induced Inflammatory Pain
Authors: Park Jang-Su , Yaster Myron , Guan Xiaowei , Xu Ji-Tian , Shih Ming-Hung , Guan Yun , Raja Srinivasa N , Tao Yuan-Xiang
Published: January 2009

Spinal cord α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptors (AMPARs) mediate acute spinal processing of nociceptive and non-nociceptive information, but whether and how their activation contributes to the central sensitization that underlies persistent inflammatory pain are still unclear. Here, we examined the role of spinal AMPARs in the development and maintenance of complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA)-induced persistent inflammatory pain. Intrathecal application of two selective non-competitive AMPAR antagonists, CFM-2 (25 and 50 μg) and GYKI 52466 (50 μg), significantly attenuated mechanical and thermal hypersensitivities on the ipsilateral hind paw at 2 and 24 h post-CFA injection. Neither CFM-2 nor GYKI 52466 affected the contralateral basal responses to thermal and mechanical stimuli. Locomotor activity was not altered in any of the drug-treated animals. CFA-induced inflammation did not change total expression or distribution of AMPAR subunits GluR1 and GluR2 in dorsal horn but did alter their subcellular distribution. The amount of GluR2 was markedly increased in the crude cytosolic fraction and decreased in the crude membrane fraction from the ipsilateral L4–5dorsal horn at 24 h (but not at 2 h) post-CFA injection. Conversely, the level of GluR1 was significantly decreased in the crude cytosolic fraction and increased in the crude membrane fraction from the ipsilateral L4–5dorsal horn at 24 h (but not at 2 h) post-CFA injection. These findings suggest that spinal AMPARs might participate in the central spinal mechanism of persistent inflammatory pain.
Value of ultrasound-guided irrigation and drainage of refractory pyocysts in ADPKD
Authors: Saedi Daryoush , Varedi Peyman , Varedi Payam , Mahmoodi Simin , Gashti Hossein Nejad , Darabi Mohsen
Published: January 2009

Background

Cyst infections is not common in the patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) however it may pose major problems to the clinicians because the diagnosis is hampered by lack of reliable imaging techniques for identification of the infected cysts and treatment may be difficult due to poor penetration of antibiotics into the cysts.

Case presentation

We present a case of ADPKD and intractable pyocysts that did not respond to standard antibiotic therapy but successfully treated by using ultrasound-guided cyst puncture, and repeated irrigation and drainage.

Conclusion

Where the experienced interventional radiologists are available, this method can rescue these patients from nephrectomy.
Rupture and intra-peritoneal bleeding of a hepatocellular carcinoma after a transarterial chemoembolization procedure: a case report
Authors: Reso Artan , Ball Chad G , Sutherland Francis R , Bathe Oliver , Dixon Elijah
Published: January 2009

Background

Transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) is a well accepted treatment for inoperable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). While minor complications involve 10% of all patients, severe complications are rare.

Case Presentation

We describe a case of a 90-year-old male with a large, superficial HCC who underwent TACE. He had a significant intraperitoneal bleed secondary to tumor rupture immediately following the procedure.

Conclusion

Tumor size and superficial location must be considered risk factors for tumor rupture and related complications.
Review of knee arthroscopy performed under local anesthesia
Authors: Law Billy Kan-Yip , Yung Patrick Shu-Hang , Ho Eric Po-Yan , Chang Joseph Jeremy Hsi-Tse , Kwok Grace Ken , Fung Kwai-Yau , Chan Kai-Ming
Published: January 2009

Local anesthesia for knee arthroscopy is a well documented procedure with diagnostic and therapeutic role. Numerous therapeutic procedures including partial menisectomy, meniscus repair, abrasion chondroplasy, synovectomy, loose body removal can be performed safely and comfortably. Appropriate case selection, anesthetic strategy and technical expertise are the key to smooth and successful surgery.
Vastus medialis cross-sectional area is positively associated with patella cartilage and bone volumes in a pain-free community-based population
Authors: Berry Patricia A , Teichtahl Andrew J , Galevska-Dimitrovska Ana , Hanna Fahad S , Wluka Anita E , Wang Yuanyuan , Urquhart Donna M , English Dallas R , Giles Graham G , Cicuttini Flavia M
Published: January 2009

Introduction

Although vastus medialis and lateralis are important determinants of patellofemoral joint function, their relationship with patellofemoral joint structure is unknown. The aim of this study was to examine potential determinants of vastus medialis and lateralis cross-sectional areas and the relationship between the cross-sectional area and patella cartilage and bone volumes.

Methods

Two hundred ninety-seven healthy adult subjects had magnetic resonance imaging of their dominant knee. Vastus medialis and lateralis cross-sectional areas were measured 37.5 mm superior to the quadriceps tendon insertion at the proximal pole of the patella. Patella cartilage and bone volumes were measured from these images. Demographic data and participation in vigorous physical activity were assessed by questionnaire.

Results

The determinants of increased vastus medialis and lateralis cross-sectional areas were older age (P ≤ 0.002), male gender (P < 0.001), and greater body mass index (P ≤ 0.07). Participation in vigorous physical activity was positively associated with vastus medialis cross-sectional area (regression coefficient [beta] 90.0; 95% confidence interval [CI] 38.2, 141.7) (P < 0.001) but not with vastus lateralis cross-sectional area (beta 10.1; 95% CI -18.1, 38.3) (P = 0.48). The cross-sectional area of vastus medialis only was positively associated with patella cartilage volume (beta 0.6; 95% CI 0.23, 0.94) (P = 0.001) and bone volume (beta 3.0; 95% CI 1.40, 4.68) (P < 0.001) after adjustment for potential confounders.

Conclusions

Our results in a pain-free community-based population suggest that increased cross-sectional area of vastus medialis, which is associated with vigorous physical activity, and increased patella cartilage and bone volumes may benefit patellofemoral joint health and reduce the long-term risk of patellofemoral pathology.
Cerebral microdialysis for detection of bacterial meningitis in aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage patients: a cohort study
Authors: Schlenk Florian , Frieler Katja , Nagel Alexandra , Vajkoczy Peter , Sarrafzadeh Asita S
Published: January 2009

Introduction

Bacterial meningitis (BM) is a severe complication in patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH). Clinical signs of meningitis are often masked by SAH-related symptoms, and routine cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis fails to indicate BM. Microdialysis (MD) is a technique for monitoring cerebral metabolism in patients with SAH. A cohort study was performed to investigate the value of MD for the diagnosis of BM.

Methods

Retrospectively, 167 patients with SAH in an ongoing investigation on cerebral metabolism monitored by MD were analysed for the presence of BM and related MD changes. Diagnosis of BM was based on microbiological CSF culture or clinical symptoms responding to antibiotic treatment, combined with an increased CSF cell count and/or fever. Levels of MD parameters before and after diagnosis of BM were analysed and compared with the spontaneous course in controls.

Results

BM developed in 20 patients, of which 12 underwent MD monitoring at the time of diagnosis. A control group was formed using 147 patients with SAH not developing meningitis. On the day BM was diagnosed, cerebral glucose was lower compared with the value three days before (p = 0.012), and the extent of decrease was significantly higher than in controls (p = 0.044). A decrease in cerebral glucose by 1 mmol/L combined with the presence of fever ≥ 38°C indicated BM with a sensitivity of 69% and a specificity of 80%. CSF chemistry failed to indicate BM, but the cell count increased during the days before diagnosis (p < 0.05).

Conclusions

A decrease in MD glucose combined with the presence of fever detected BM with acceptable sensitivity and specificity, while CSF chemistry failed to indicate BM. In patients with SAH where CSF cell count is not available or helpful, MD might serve as an adjunct criterion for early diagnosis of BM.
Surgical and medical emergencies on board European aircraft: a retrospective study of 10189 cases
Authors: Sand Michael , Bechara Falk-Georges , Sand Daniel , Mann Benno
Published: January 2009

Introduction

In-flight medical and surgical emergencies (IMEs) onboard commercial aircrafts occur quite commonly. However, little epidemiological research exists concerning these incidents.

Methods

Thirty-two European airlines were asked to provide anonymous data on medical flight reports of IMEs for the years 2002 to 2007. The total number of incidents was correlated to revenue passenger kilometers (rpk). Additionally, on-board births and deaths, flight diversions, flight routes (continental/intercontinental) and involvement of a physician or medical professional in providing therapy were analysed.

Results

Only four airlines, of which two participated in this study, were able to provide the necessary data. A total of 10,189 cases of IMEs were analysed. Syncope was the most common medical condition reported (5307 cases, 53.5%) followed by gastrointestinal disorders (926 cases, 8.9%) and cardiac conditions (509 cases, 4.9%). The most common surgical conditions were thrombosis (47 cases, 0.5%) and appendicitis (27 cases, 0.25%). In 2.8% of all IMEs, an aircraft diversion was performed. In 86% of cases, a physician or medical professional was involved in providing therapy. A mean (standard deviation) of 14 (+/- 2.3, 10.8 to 16.6 interquartile range) IMEs per billion rpk was calculated.

Conclusions

The study demonstrates that although aviation is regulated by a variety of national and international laws, standardised documentation of IMEs is inadequate and needs further development.
Nation and the Cold War: Reflections on the Circuitous Routes of African Diaspora Studies
Authors: Brock Lisa
Published: January 2009

This essay reflects on the history of the African diaspora—both as an academic and as a political project. The study of black peoples in academic organizations from 1945 to 1990 problematically formed part of civil rights, nation-building, and Cold War agendas. The result: a distancing and isolation of people in the diaspora from each other. Today there is an explosion of African diaspora studies in the academy, but what of the political project?
Visible Men: African American Boxers, the New Negro, and the Global Color Line
Authors: Runstedtler Theresa
Published: January 2009

This article examines the various debates surrounding the exploits of African American boxers in France during the early 1900s as a window into the transnational struggle over the terms of race and modernity. Because of the pervasive racial segregation in U.S. boxing, black American heavyweights like Sam McVea, Joe Jeannette, and world champion Jack Johnson ventured across the ocean in search of better opportunities for fame, fortune, and personal freedom. Their incredible commercial success bolstered the myths of French color blindness that had long circulated in black communities throughout the United States. However, in reality, questions of color were at the very heart of black American boxers' great popularity in Paris. Men like McVea, Jeannette, and Johnson inspired French sports enthusiasts to publicly reflect on their own conceptions of race, manhood, civilization, and the place of Western empire in the modern world. These African American boxers provided French fans with a comfortable abstraction of the colonial question, enabling them to project a public image of enlightened benevolence. Nevertheless, African American pugilists cleverly capitalized on this French fascination with black manhood, not only articulating their own vision of what it meant to be a New Negro but also critiquing the backwardness of U.S. race relations on the world stage. As some of the first and most famous “organic intellectuals” of the African diaspora, they and their audacious brand of masculine blackness held a particular appeal for the dark proletariat. While not explicitly political, black boxers publicly embodied a New Negro masculinity grounded in working-class sensibilities that influenced the radical critiques of white supremacy later forwarded by black intellectuals and artists of the Harlem Renaissance and the Nègritude movement.
Sovereignty, Neoliberalism, and the Postdiasporic Politics of Globalization: A Conversation about South Africa with Patrick Bond, Ashwin Desai, and Molefi Mafereka ka Ndlovu
Authors: Lee Christopher J.
Published: January 2009

This article is an interview with Patrick Bond, Ashwin Desai, and Molefi Mafereka na Ndlovu, who are based at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was recorded in June 2007.
Transnationalism and the Construction of Black Political Identities
Authors: Cumberbatch Prudence D.
Published: January 2009

In this essay I discuss teaching a seminar on the history of the interrelated intellectual discourses on the black diaspora in the context of a changing black student population. The course is designed to explore the political engagements of black people both locally and internationally as the framework for examining an emerging black global consciousness in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
To Be Real: Figuring Blackness in Modern and Contemporary African Diaspora Visual Cultures
Authors: Francis Jacqueline
Published: January 2009

This essay explores figuration in artistic- and museum-exhibiting practices of the late twentieth and early twenty-first century that undermine the authority of authentic blackness as a primary tenet of African diasporic identification. It takes its cue from the cultural theorist Stuart Hall's keen assessment: “The fact is that `black' has never been just there. It has always been an unstable identity, psychically, culturally, and politically.” The essay's first section is an analysis of art by Rasheed Araeen and Roshini Kempadoo created in the 1970s and 1990s, an era during which they and other progressives of African, Asian, and Caribbean descent in the United Kingdom claimed the political and cultural position “black.” The essay's second section considers the representation of blackness in three exhibitions from 1997 to 2007 at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. The essay's final section examines the cartoonlike paintings of the African American artists Laylah Ali and Kojo Griffin. Figuring is the conceptual thread uniting these African diasporic moments, which, though not causally related, similarly transgress against limiting definitions of blackness in order to privilege its productive, transforming visibilities.
Centering Africa in African American Diasporic Travels and Activism
Authors: Gore Dayo F.
Published: January 2009

This review examines three recent historical studies that chronicle African American diasporic travels to Africa. Centering Africa as a key location in African diasporic imaginings and affiliations, these studies trace the shifting political and cultural meanings African Americans have mapped onto Africans and the African continent. Taken together these works highlights a new range of scholarship in the field and reveal some of the central questions shaping African diaspora studies.
Intricate Alliances: Early Modern Spain and England
Authors: Brownlee Marina
Published: January 2009

“Intricate Alliances” is a phrase that calls attention to the inevitability of contrastive referencing by which the two imperial powers of early modern Europe–Spain and England–have all too often been regarded. This special issue explores in a more nuanced manner, and from a variety of methodological perspectives, cultural constructions and parallel concerns common to both empires as well as a number of inherent differences. Articles address the emergence of new historical, political, social, and aesthetic possibilities for these two imperial powers in both Old World and transatlantic contexts.
Tears in the Desert: Baroque Adaptations of the Book of Lamentations by John Donne and Francisco de Quevedo
Authors: Kallendorf Hilaire
Published: January 2009

Scholars have for decades compared many aspects of the poetry of two contemporaneous Baroque poets, John Donne (1572–1631) and Francisco de Quevedo (1580–1640). But, oddly, no one has compared their almost simultaneous adaptations of the Old Testament Book of Lamentations. Why would both poets independently, but writing at almost exactly the same time, choose this biblical text for poetic adaptation? What was it about the Book of Lamentations that resonated so poignantly with their particular historical moment? This study focuses not on questions of political or personal crisis, nor on affirmations of religious orthodoxy. Instead, it concentrates on a shared spiritual formation involving Jesuit meditational techniques. Jesuit meditational practice relied on sensorial imagery, and this type of acute sensorial experience is found in both Donne's and Quevedo's reworkings of Lamentations.
Windmills over Oxford: Quixotic and Other Subversive Spanish Narratives in England, 1606–1654
Authors: Smith Nigel
Published: January 2009

This article explores Edmund Gayton's Pleasant notes upon Don Quixot (1654), a sentence-by-sentence commentary on Thomas Shelton's 1612 and 1620 translation of Cervantes. Gayton's text partakes in the characteristics of a series of translations from the Spanish that involve some degree of intrigue against the English polity. Pleasant notes itself was a defense of pre–Civil War literary values (where Ben Jonson is regarded as the English Cervantes) and of pre–Civil War and Civil War Oxford (during which time the university was the royalist headquarters), which is presented as a picaresque, carnivalesque utopia. Mock-romance becomes an acceptable mode of fantasy for the defeated royalist, including erotic encounters offered as a culturally rebellious, defiantly anti-Puritan activity. Gayton's playfulness is, in its own terms, consistent with the cultural interplay of Spanish and English terms manifest in James Mabbe's earlier translations of Spanish romance, Rojas's Celestina and Aleman's Guzman, and their own pro-Roman-Catholic politics, played out in the real and literary landscapes where Spanish and English interests met–in the Low Countries.
Beyond the Missing Cardenio: Anglo-Spanish Relations in Early Modern Drama
Authors: Fuchs Barbara
Published: January 2009

This essay uses the lost Shakespeare play Cardenio and its eighteenth-century redaction, Double Falshood to think through the problem of Spanish sources in early modern English drama. I argue that the search for Shakespeare's hand in the texts has occluded the significance of the contemporary Spanish source, Don Quijote, and, moreover, that the field systematically overlooks the translatio from Spanish prose to English drama. I offer a reading of Fletcher's Rule a Wife and Have a Wife as an example of how we might recover the ideological vectors between the two corpora.
“A Language All Nations Understand”: Portraiture and the Politics of Anglo-Spanish Identity in Aphra Behn's The Rover
Authors: Lockey Brian C.
Published: January 2009

Aphra Behns' The Rover harks back to an earlier period of intense Anglo-Spanish rivalry in which the iconography surrounding Queen Elizabeth played a central role. But the play also moves past nostalgia for late-sixteenth-century narratives of English national identity to a cosmopolitan perspective that substitutes the vitiated courtesan for the virgin queen. This essay considers Behn's play–as well as its antecedent, Thomas Killigrew's Thomaso–as part of a trajectory of dramatic, poetic, and prose works, including Robert Greene's Friar Bacon and Friay Bungay, Sir Walter Ralegh's Discovery of Guiana, Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene, and Philip Massinger's The Renegado. Such works either directly or indirectly comment on the Anglo-Spanish rivalry, and together they amount to an incremental critique of Queen Elizabeth's defining place within the late-sixteenth-century imagination.
Thomas Gage and the English Colonial Encounter with Chocolate
Authors: Campos Edmund Valentine
Published: January 2009

This essay explores the early English encounter with chocolate, a beverage associated with New World and Spanish tastes, and popular among English recusants returned from Spanish service. In particular, it follows the career of Thomas Gage a Dominican priest who had spent considerable time in the Spanish New World before returning to England, where his account of travels in Spanish America helped ease his repatriation and religious reintegration. Gage's attention to New World food, especially the confection and consumption of the Indian drink chocolate, provided English readers with valuable information on the cultures of colonial Spanish America in the early seventeenth century. The Spanish lore transmitted to England by reconciled recusants became an abiding cultural concern of colonial promoters upon England's acquisition of cacao-producing Jamaica later in the century.
Teaching General Education Writing
Authors: Isaacs Emily
Published: January 2009

Fueled by disciplinary disagreements and resource fights, comp/lit conflicts continue. However, productive collaboration is possible and an opportunity remains in developing general education writing courses. A general education course in teaching writing through literature is argued for on the grounds that English studies has been positively transformed by the mainstreaming of composition, pedagogy, and cultural studies.
Traction
Authors: Regaignon Dara Rossman
Published: January 2009

Entering college students often struggle with their professors' expectations for “analysis” since those expectations are often ingrained in disciplinary assumptions that scholars rarely need to articulate. In this essay, I argue that we need to teach analysis explicitly in first-year writing courses and that we need to help students transfer those lessons across the curriculum. By asking students to read “with” and “against” the grain of texts, I give them tangible ways to rough up and pull apart the sources we read together. Students find this language useful in helping them engage directly with sources and ideas, rather than sliding into description or summary. Reminding them that this particular approach originates in the discipline of literary studies, I then have students themselves draw conclusions about what “analysis” looks like -- and what it does -- in other disciplines by examining samples of scholarly writing.
Writ101
Authors: Cosgrove Shady
Published: January 2009

While disciplines such as law, journalism and medicine have ethics classes embedded into their degree structures, fiction writing has escaped this administrative scrutiny. This paper argues that an `ethics of representation' should be raised within the prose fiction classroom if creative writing teachers are serious about training future writers. Drawing on work by Michael Riffaterre and Seymour Chatman, this paper argues that due to the historic privileging of realism and ensuing reader assumptions, writing students need to understand the importance of research and representation. After a brief discussion of how creative writing is situated within the tertiary administrative context, this paper then cites a critical teaching pedagogy (as articulated by Rochelle Harris) and practical strategies that teachers can use to bring discussions of representation into the prose fiction classroom. Inspired by the work of creative writing academics such as George Kalamaras and Sandra Young, these strategies include using the workshop session, classroom readings and formal assignments to foreground matters of representation.
Surgery in patients with vascular malformations of the head and neck: value of coagulation disorders
Authors: Wiegand S , Eivazi B , Karger R , Al Kadah B , Sesterhenn A M , Werner J A
Published: January 2009

Objectives

The surgical treatment of congenital vascular malformations always bears the risk of severe bleeding. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of haemostatic abnormalities in patients with congenital vascular malformations of the head and neck which could additionally complicate the complex surgery of vascular malformations.

Methods

Thirteen patients with congenital vascular malformations of the head and neck, who underwent scheduled surgery, were reviewed regarding their haemostatic tests, including prothrombin time, activated partial thromboplastin time, fibrinogen level, platelet count, platelet function analyzer-epinephrine (PFA-Epi) and -adenosine diphosphate (ADP) (PFA-100®), von Willebrand factor (vWF) and D-dimers.

Results

In six of 13 patients an impaired primary haemostasis was detected by prolonged PFA-Epi and one of these patients also had a slightly prolonged PFA-ADP. Additionally, two of the patients showed mild coagulation factor deficiency. One patient had a mild vWF deficiency that was not detected by PFA-100®.

Conclusion

Prior to surgery of congenital vascular malformations of the head and neck, a detailed coagulation analysis is needed in order to identify those patients at increased risk of bleeding. This proceeding is supported by the fact that a relevant portion of the patients with congenital vascular malformations of the head and neck show an impaired primary haemostasis.
First results with a new 1470-nm diode laser for endovenous ablation of incompetent saphenous veins
Authors: Pannier F , Rabe E , Maurins U
Published: January 2009

Introduction

Most of the published EVLA data concern 810, 940, 980 nm diode lasers and 1064 or 1320 nm Nd:Yag laser systems. Major side effects are postoperative pain and bruising. The aim of this study was to show the outcome one year after EVLA of incompetent saphenous veins with a 1470 nm Diode laser (Ceralas E, biolitec).

Patients and method

Between December 2006 and February 2007, 134 saphenous veins (108 GSV, 26 SSV) in 117 legs of 100 consecutive patients where treated by EVLA for GSV and SSV incompetence. All patients were examined clinically and with duplex by an experienced phlebologist prior to intervention, and at the follow-up visits for complications, occlusion, flow and reflux in the treated vein segment. The clinical evaluation included clinical CEAP and the presence of recurrent varicose veins. Patient satisfaction was assessed by a 0 to 4 scale.

Results

After a mean follow-up period of 184 days (SD 27) 127 treated veins (102 GSV, 25 SSV) of 111 limbs in 94 patients and after 329 days (SD 14) 105 treated veins (94 GSV, 21 SSV) of 105 limbs in 83 patients were reinvestigated. Six patients were lost to follow up after six months and an additional 11 patients after one year. Up to one year follow-up all treated veins remained occluded. At six months, one new insufficient anterior accessory saphenous vein (AASV) and after 12 months, three new insufficient AASV occurred. After one year 45 patients were very satisfied with the method, 34 were satisfied, three were fairly and one was not satisfied. The mean of all answers was 0.5 (SD 0.5). In three cases phlebitic reactions after 10 days, but no severe complications such as deep vein thrombosis occured. After six months in 9.5% of the legs paresthesia was present in the treated area which reduced to 7.6% after one year. Intake of painkillers was mean 6.7 tablets (SD 3.5). When we compared GSV legs treated with LEED below or above 100 J/cm, the paresthesia rate was significantly lower in the first group with 2.3% compared to 15.5 % in the higher LEED group. The differences for number of days with analgesic intake and for the paraesthetic area were significant.

Discussion

In this prospective follow-up study with 100 consecutive patients and 134 treated saphenous veins a high occlusion rate of 100% could be demonstrated one year after treatment. However, with LEED > 100 J/cm in this study, the incidence of paresthesia rose significantly. Therefore it seems adequate to stay below 100 J/cm in the future as the occlusion rate was the same below and above 100 J/cm.

Conclusion

EVLA of GSV and SSV with a 1470 nm diode laser is a minimally invasive, safe and efficient therapy option with a high success rate.