bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The relationship between α and the cross‐correlation of cloud fraction
Authors: Astin I. , Di Girolamo L.
Published: November 2006

The cloud overlap weighting parameter, α, relates the averaged combined cloud fraction between two altitude levels to the averages derived under the random and maximum overlap assumptions. In several recent studies, it is found that α decreases approximately exponentially with separation distance between the two altitudes. This note provides a mathematical basis for these observed behaviours. An analytic expression for α is derived. It is found that α is solely a function of the cross‐correlation function between cloud fractions at the two altitudes, and the individual averages and variances in cloud fraction at the two altitudes. Only the first of these is a joint function of the two altitudes of interest and therefore determines the form of the dependence of α on the height separation between the two altitudes. Where the variances in cloud fraction are small compared to their respective averages, it is found that α is approximated by the cross‐correlation function. As the cross‐correlation function is exponential wherever and whenever the physical thickness of clouds follows an exponential distribution, it is suggested that, where observations show a strong exponential dependence of α on separation distance between two altitudes, this indicates times and regions where cloud thickness follows an exponential distribution. Copyright © 2006 Royal Meteorological Society
Life‐cycle simulations of shallow frontal waves and the impact of deformation strain
Authors: Dacre H. F. , Gray S. L.
Published: November 2006

The life cycle of shallow frontal waves and the impact of deformation strain on their development is investigated using the idealized version of the Met Office non‐hydrostatic Unified Model which includes the same physics and dynamics as the operational forecast model. Frontal‐wave development occurs in two stages: first, a deformation strain is applied to a front and a positive potential‐vorticity (PV) strip forms, generated by latent‐heat release in the frontal updraught; second, as the deformation strain is reduced the PV strip breaks up into individual anomalies. The circulations associated with the PV anomalies cause shallow frontal waves to form. The structure of the simulated frontal waves is consistent with the conceptual model of a frontal cyclone. Deeper frontal waves are simulated if the stability of the atmosphere is reduced.

Deformation strain rates of different strengths are applied to the PV strip to determine whether a deformation strain threshold exists above which frontal‐wave development is suppressed. An objective method of frontal‐wave activity is defined and frontal‐wave development was found to be suppressed by deformation strain rates ≥0.4×10−5 s−1. This value compares well with observed deformation strain‐rate thresholds and the analytical solution for the minimum deformation strain rate needed to suppress barotropic frontal‐wave development. The deformation strain‐rate threshold is dependent on the strength of the PV strip with strong PV strips able to overcome stronger deformation strain rates (leading to frontal‐wave development) than weaker PV strips. Copyright © 2006 Royal Meteorological Society
Sodium measurement: effects of differing sampling and analytical methods
Authors: Loughrey Clodagh M , Hanna Elinor V , McDonnell Margaret , Archbold G Pooler
Published: November 2006

Background: It is recommended that children receiving intravenous fluids should have frequent biochemical monitoring, in some situations 4-6 hourly. Small changes in sodium must be detected, requiring very high precision from sodium analyses. Some children are monitored using venous blood analysed by indirect ion-selective electrode (ISE) interchangeably with capillary blood analysed by direct ISE. Our aim was to determine whether variability in sample collection together with variability in sodium measurement would lead to results which were unacceptable in the clinical setting.

Methods: Fifty-seven adults had capillary and venous blood analysed for sodium using direct ISE and venous plasma analysed for sodium using indirect ISE.

Results: Comparison of capillary blood analysed by direct ISE with venous plasma analysed by indirect ISE demonstrated wide scatter and poor correlation of results: r = 0.36, standard deviation (SD) of the differences 2.7 mmol/L and range of limits of agreement 10.6 mmol/L. Significant biases were observed comparing capillary blood sodium with venous plasma sodium ( P < 0.001), and comparing direct ISE with indirect ISE ( P < 0.001).

Conclusions: Venous plasma using indirect ISE and capillary blood with direct ISE cannot be used interchangeably to detect small changes in plasma sodium concentrations. To avoid misinterpretation of results when monitoring sodium over short time periods, the use of single methods of sampling and analysis must be strongly encouraged.
Evaluation of the albumin cobalt binding (ACB®) assay for measurement of ischaemia-modified albumin (IMA®) on the Beckman Coulter LX-20
Authors: Maguire Orla C , O'Sullivan Jean , Ryan John , Cunningham Sean K
Published: November 2006

Background: In the presence of ischaemia, albumin undergoes changes resulting in the formation of ischaemia-modified albumin (IMA). Increased serum concentrations of IMA have been found in patients with myocardial ischaemia. The purpose of this study was threefold: to evaluate the albumin cobalt binding (ACB) assay for measurement of IMA on the Beckman Coulter LX-20; to establish a reference range for IMA; and to investigate the relationship between IMA and total albumin concentrations.

Methods: The ACB assay was evaluated under the following headings: imprecision, accuracy and reliability. A reference range was established on a population of 81 healthy subjects.

Results: The within-batch coefficient of variation (CV) at IMA concentrations of 88, 99 and 120 KU/L were 1.4, 2.0 and 2.5%, respectively. The between-batch CVs at 74, 84 and 123 KU/L were 3.4, 3.3 and 3.0%, respectively. Comparison with the Cobas Mira Plus showed a mean negative bias of 7 KU/L. The 97.5th percentile established on our reference population was 110 KU/L. A significant inverse relationship was found between total serum albumin and IMA concentrations ( r = -0.66, P < 0.0001). Correcting the IMA concentrations for total albumin in our reference population, using a formula devised in this study, yielded a range similar to that of uncorrected IMA.

Conclusions: The ACB assay was found to have acceptable precision and performed very satisfactorily on the Beckman Coulter LX-20. A correction to measured IMA concentrations, to take into account total albumin concentrations, may need to be applied for the proper interpretation of IMA results.
Simultaneous quantitation of homocysteine, cysteine and methionine in plasma and urine by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry
Authors: Weaving G , Rocks B F , Iversen S A , Titheradge M A
Published: November 2006

Background: A method utilizing liquid chromatography-electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) has been developed and evaluated for the determination of total homocysteine, cysteine and methionine in plasma and urine. The simultaneous measurement of homocysteine and methionine concentrations may help explain the underlying mechanism responsible for hyperhomo-cysteinaemia.

Methods: Samples were prepared by simple protein precipitation after reduction of disulphides by dithiothreitol. Reduced analyte signal caused by ionization suppression effects, seen with plasma samples, was compensated for with matrix-matched standards, and the use of isotopically labelled internal standards. Recovery for each analyte was better than 94%.

Results: Concentrations of plasma homocysteine determined by LC-MS/MS were compared with those obtained by two automated commercially available FDA-approved procedures: (i) high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with pre-column derivatization and fluorescence detection and (ii) by fluorescence polarization immunoassay (FPIA). Agreement with the LC-MS/MS method is given by the Deming regression equations LC-MS/MS = 1.062 HPLC-0.01 and LC-MS/MS = 1.104 FPIA-0.43.

Conclusion: Low reagent costs together with the relative simplicity of sample preparation make the LC-MS/MS method well suited, not only for research work but also in those laboratories with a tandem mass spectrometer, for the measurement of routine clinical samples.
Vitamin D concentrations in an UK inner-city multicultural outpatient population
Authors: Ford Loretta , Graham Valerie , Wall Alan , Berg Jonathan
Published: November 2006

Background: Vitamin D deficiency is still thought to be widespread in the UK and in recent years the number of cases of rickets reported in children has increased. In this study, the distribution of vitamin D and the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency have been determined for a multi-ethnic population from the inner-city area of Birmingham, UK, where a vitamin D testing service has been readily available for over 10 years.

Methods: Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration was determined using an automated platform (Nichol's Advantage Speciality System) for 830 outpatient samples collected randomly at the end of summer (September).

Results: In our total study population, prevalence of vitamin D deficiency, defined as a 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration < 10 μg/L, was high (24%): one in eight Caucasians, one in four Black Afro-Caribbeans and one in three Asians were found to be deficient. Levels of deficiency were much higher in Asian women, with almost one in two individuals (43%) found to have a vitamin D level below 10 μg/L.

Conclusion: Our study has shown that widespread vitamin D deficiency in a UK inner-city population remains an issue. In concordance with other studies, we found a high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in Afro-Caribbean and Asians, and, in particular, women. It is clear that more routine screening of vitamin D is needed.
Serum calcium, urine calcium and polymorphisms of the calcium sensing receptor gene
Authors: Kelly Claire , Gunn Ian R , Gaffney Dairena , Devgun Manjit S
Published: November 2006

Background: Recent studies have suggested a correlation between the A986S polymorphism of the calcium sensing receptor (CASR), and serum total and ionized calcium. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of three CASR polymorphisms in a West of Scotland population and relate genotype to serum and urine calcium levels.

Methods: Fasting blood and urine samples were obtained from 121 healthy male and female volunteers aged 20-60 years. Volunteers were genotyped for the A986S, Q1011E and R990G polymorphisms using allele-specific amplification and amplification-created restriction site techniques. Total calcium, ionized calcium and urine calcium excretion were measured using automated clinical chemistry analysers.

Results: Genotype frequencies for the A986S polymorphism were: AA, 74.4%; AS, 24.8%; SS, 0.8%. There was a small but statistically significant ( P < 0.01) increase in ionized calcium concentration in AS individuals compared with the wild type (1.22 versus 1.20 mmol/L). No statistical difference was detected in serum total calcium or parameters of urine calcium excretion. Genotype frequencies for the remaining polymorphisms were: RR, 82.6%; RG, 16.5%; GG, 0.8% and QQ, 93.4%; QE, 6.6%; EE, 0%. Biochemical parameters in these individuals were not statistically different from the wild type.

Conclusion: The increase in serum ionized calcium in the AS group was small and, therefore, unlikely to be of clinical significance.
Diagnosis and screening for familial hypercholesterolaemia: finding the patients, finding the genes
Authors: Bhatnagar Deepak
Published: November 2006

Familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) is a genetic disorder in which the concentration of serum cholesterol is elevated from birth and leads to premature coronary heart disease. FH is commonly caused by a mutation in the LDL receptor, but mutations in other genes can lead to a phenotype similar to FH. FH exhibits marked phenotypic variability due to genetic, metabolic and environmental factors. The presence of tendon xanthomata is the characteristic clinical sign seen in many patients with FH, but they may also have other non-specific signs of lipid disorders such as corneal arcus and xanthelasmata. Premature vascular disease is apparent in many patients. The wide variety of mutations and phenotypic variability have made it difficult to establish definite diagnostic criteria, but three sets of clinical criteria commonly used are the Simon Broome criteria, the Dutch Lipid Clinic criteria and the American criteria. FH screening fits the Wilson and Jungner recommendations for validity of a screening programme. Screening could be carried out on a population basis, in a clinical setting or by application to relatives of probands. This latter approach, termed cascade testing, appears to be the more cost-effective compared with population screening and can be carried out using clinical criteria or genetic testing, or by a combination of both methods. Clinicians need to be made more aware of the clinical features of FH and how to diagnose it in order to increase the index of suspicion and instigate appropriate treatment early, with the aim of preventing premature coronary heart disease.
A mild case of abetalipoproteinaemia in association with subclinical hypothyroidism
Authors: Al-Mahdili Huda A , Hooper Amanda J , Sullivan David R , Stewart Peter M , Burnett John R
Published: November 2006

Abetalipoproteinaemia (ABL), an extremely rare recessive disorder, is characterized by exceptionally low or undetectable concentrations of apolipoprotein (apo) B-containing lipoproteins. ABL results from mutations in the gene encoding microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTP), a chaperone that facilitates the transfer of lipids onto apoB. Patients with ABL often present in childhood with a range of symptoms including fat malabsorption and manifestations of fat-soluble vitamin deficiencies. We describe a patient with sub-clinical hypothyroidism and ABL found to be compound heterozygous for a novel splice site mutation of intron 1 (c.61 + 2T > C) and a single adenine insertion in MTP exon 4 (c.419-420insA) that results in a frameshift and a protein truncated at 140 amino acids.
Effects of storage at -20°C on ischaemia-modified albumin results
Authors: Beetham R , Monk C , Keating L , Benger J R , Kendall J
Published: November 2006

Background: Ischaemia-modified albumin (IMA) is being studied as a new marker for reversible ischaemia in patients presenting with possible cardiac chest pain. The conditions under which samples are stored prior to analysis may be critical in influencing the analytical result and hence the cut-off used in any particular study.

Methods: Sixty-eight samples taken during a study assessing the performance of IMA for risk stratification in patients presenting with possible cardiac chest pain were analysed both within 2.5 h of collection and after periods of storage at -20°C.

Results: Samples stored at -20°C yielded IMA values on average 3 units higher than those analysed within 2.5 h (mean 90.5 vs. 87.5; P < 0.00001). A Bland-Altman plot showed that the difference was not concentration dependent.

Conclusions: These results indicate that decision cut-offs will be influenced by conditions of sample storage prior to IMA analysis, and that these should be stated in detail for each study.
Thyroid hormone resistance
Authors: Olateju Tolulope O , Vanderpump Mark P J
Published: November 2006

Resistance to thyroid hormone (RTH) is a rare autosomal dominant inherited syndrome of reduced end-organ responsiveness to thyroid hormone. Patients with RTH have elevated serum free thyroxine (FT4) and free triiodothyronine (FT3) concentrations and normal or slightly elevated serum thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) level. Despite a variable clinical presentation, the common characteristic clinical features are goitre but an absence of the usual symptoms and metabolic consequences of thyroid hormone excess. Patients with RTH can be classified on clinical grounds alone into either generalized resistance (GRTH), pituitary resistance (PRTH) or combined. Mutations in the thyroid hormone receptor (TR) β gene are responsible for RTH and 122 different mutations have now been identified belonging to 300 families. With the exception of one family found to have complete deletion of the TR β gene, all others have been demonstrated to have minor alterations at the DNA level. The differential diagnosis includes a TSH-secreting pituitary adenoma and the presence of endogenous antibodies directed against thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3). Failure to differentiate RTH from primary thyrotoxicosis has resulted in the inappropriate treatment of nearly one-third of patients. Although occasionally desirable, no specific treatment is available for RTH; however, the diagnosis allows appropriate genetic counselling.
Effect of variability in assay bias and imprecision on external quality assessment bias and imprecision measures
Authors: Hawkins Robert C
Published: November 2006

Background: External quality assessment/proficiency testing programmes that report consensus means and coefficients of variations (CVs) are a potential source of information on assay bias and imprecision. This study examined the effect of variability in assay bias and imprecision on consensus means and CVs, using a computerized spreadsheet model.

Methods: A model with varying assay bias (mean and standard deviation) and assay imprecision (mean and standard deviation) was developed using a MS Excel 2003 spreadsheet with a macro to generate pseudo-random numbers from a Gaussian distribution. The means, standard deviations and CVs of these data points were considered to simulate the consensus measures reported in external quality assessment testing programmes.

Results: The simulated consensus CV was very sensitive to increases in assay bias variability, with greater effects at low levels of mean assay imprecision. Changes in assay imprecision variability had a much smaller effect on the simulated consensus CV, while the simulated consensus mean was relatively insensitive to any change in the other variables.

Conclusion: Consensus imprecision measures from external quality assessment programmes are unreliable measures of assay imprecision. Consensus means are relatively unaffected by variability in assay bias and imprecision, and can be used as reliable measures of assay bias from a statistical standpoint.
Cellular content in plasma of Becton-Dickinson lithium-heparin tubes: cause of unreliable results in the IFCC-recommended lactate dehydrogenase method
Authors: Bakker Andries J , Bakker Anneke , Renting-Wiering Hennie
Published: November 2006

Background: Measurement of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) with the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry (IFCC)-recommended method in plasma was reported unreliable with primary evacuated lithium-heparin tubes from Becton-Dickinson, despite adequate removal of platelets from the plasma by optimized sample preparation. In this study, the composition of the top layer of the heparin plasma was investigated in relation to these duplicate errors.

Method: Microscopic evaluation of cytospin preparations of the top layer of the plasma was compared with the difference between duplicates in the IFCC-recommended LDH assay using a Hitachi 911 analyser.

Results: Duplicate errors could not be explained by the presence of one of the individual cell types. In 16 samples with cellular aggregates absent, three did show duplicate errors; all three had a moderate amount of red blood cells present.

Conclusion: The presence of cellular aggregates in the top layer of the plasma was the main determinant for the occurrence of the high frequency of duplicate errors in the IFCC-recommended LDH method.
The Human Tissue Act: implications for clinical biochemistry
Authors: Laker M F
Published: November 2006

The Human Tissue Act sets out a new legal framework for the use and retention of tissues from living persons as well as the removal, retention and use of tissue and organs from the deceased. The Human Tissue Authority (HTA) has been established as the regulatory body in relation to the Act and also to give advice and guidance initially through the publication of Codes of Practice. The HTA will also license activities within the remit of the Act and will inspect to ensure compliance with the Act and licence conditions.

The Act establishes consent as the essential requirement for the lawful retention and use of tissues and organs; failure to comply could result in penalties that include a custodial sentence. In addition to solid organs and tissues, the Act applies to the use of other specimens including body fluids if they contain cells. Tissue can be stored and used without consent for a number of purposes on the basis that these are integral to the general provision of clinical and diagnostic services. These include clinical audit, education or training relating to human health, performance assessment and quality assurance. In the case of research, the Act allows tissue to be used without consent, provided that the tissue is anonymized so that the researcher cannot identify from whom the material came. Linking with medical records is allowed, provided patient-identifying information is not obtained. There is a requirement to respect the wishes of any patient who specifies that they do not wish diagnostic or therapeutic samples to be kept or used for additional purposes.
Comparison of Bayer Advia Centaur® immunoassay results obtained on samples collected in four different Becton Dickinson Vacutainer® tubes
Authors: Morovat A , James TS , Cox SD , Norris SG , Rees MC , Gales MA , Taylor RP
Published: November 2006

Background: Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency's (MHRA's) Medical Device Alert MDA/2004/048 described bias in some endocrine test results obtained on a few immunoassay platforms, particularly the Bayer Advia Centaur® instrument, when using blood specimens collected into Becton Dickinson (BD) VacutainerTM SSTTMII Advance tubes. As users of BD tubes and the Advia Centaur® instrument, we addressed our concerns about the quality of the results that we had previously reported by undertaking an independent study.

Method: We compared the results of 15 immunoassays performed on Bayer Advia Centaur® using blood specimens collected into four different BD Vacutainer® tubes (plain, old and newly released BD SSTTMII Advance, and BD PSTTMII).

Results: Compared with plain tubes, old SSTTMII Advance tube results showed no bias for testosterone, CA15-3, follicle-stimulating hormone and folate assays, but gave a positive bias for cortisol and a negative bias for vitamin-B12. Compared with plain tubes, BD PSTTMII tubes gave no significant bias for thyroid function tests, prolactin, parathyroid hormone, and CA125, but gave a negative bias for steroid assays, and a positive bias for gonadotrophins. The results obtained using new BD SSTTMII Advance tubes were generally comparable with those on plain tubes.

Conclusions: Only for cortisol did our findings support the bias described by MHRA. Based on our results, apart from vitamin-B12 and possibly cortisol, there may have been no significant influence on clinical decisions as a result of using the old BD SSTTMII Advance specimen tubes. New BD SSTTMII Advance tubes and plain tubes give generally comparable results. BD PSTTMII tubes should not be used for steroid hormone measurements on the Bayer Advia Centaur® instrument.
Assessment of the practicability and analytical performance of a point-of-care affinity chromatography haemoglobin A1c analyser for use in the non-laboratory setting
Authors: Shephard Mark , Whiting Malcolm
Published: November 2006

Background: Haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) is a pivotal pathology test used around the world for the long-term management of patients with diabetes. Point-of-care testing (POCT) provides a convenient means for conducting HbA1c testing outside the laboratory.

Methods: The practicability and analytical performance of the Micromat II POCT HbA1c analyser (Bio-Rad Laboratories, USA), which has affinity chromatography as its methods principle, was evaluated in Australia and compared with the DCA 2000 POCT device (Bayer Australia) and a laboratory-based high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method.

Results: Overall between-day imprecision over 10 days was 1.9% for the laboratory HPLC method, 2.2% for the DCA 2000 and 7.0% for the Micromat II. In a second study over the same time period, the Micromat II's imprecision was 6.4%. The mean difference between the Micromat II and the laboratory method in a patient comparison ( n = 100) was -0.25% (lower and upper limits of agreement -1.79 to 1.30).

Conclusions: The imprecision obtained with the Micromat II was inferior to both the DCA 2000 and laboratory methods and did not meet current internationally accepted precision goals for this analyte. The Micromat II's poor imprecision can be explained by the high degree of technical expertise needed to perform the test; its use by non-laboratory health professionals such as nurses and Aboriginal health workers in rural and remote Australia cannot be recommended.
Current perspectives in protein array technology
Authors: Kricka Larry J , Master S R , Joos T O , Fortina P
Published: November 2006

This article reviews post-2000 trends in the development of two-dimensional protein microarrays and nanoarrays. Progress in array manufacture, assay design and applications are considered, with an emphasis on issues surrounding the implementation of arrays in clinical diagnostics. These include the effect of factors in the pre-analytical phase (quality of the reagents, sample integrity, etc.), and those in the analytical phase that contribute to inaccuracy and imprecision of an array-based assay. Important requirements for the quality control and quality assurance of protein microarray assays as they move from the research environment into routine clinical application are also discussed.
Secreted phosphoprotein 1 (osteopontin) is expressed by stromal macrophages in cyclic and pregnant endometrium of mice, but is induced by estrogen in luminal epithelium during conceptus attachment for implantation
Authors: White Frankie J , Burghardt Robert C , Hu Jianbo , Joyce Margaret M , Spencer Thomas E , Johnson Greg A
Published: November 2006

Secreted phosphoprotein 1 (SPP1, osteopontin) is the most highly upregulated extracellular matrix/adhesion molecule/cytokine in the receptive phase human uterus, and Spp1 null mice manifest decreased pregnancy rates during mid-gestation as compared with wild-type counterparts. We hypothesize that Spp1 is required for proliferation, migration, survival, adhesion, and remodeling of cells at the conceptus–maternal interface. Our objective was to define the temporal/spatial distribution and steroid regulation of Spp1 in mouse uterus during estrous cycle and early gestation. In situ hybridization localized Spp1 to luminal epithelium (LE) and immune cells. LE expression was prominent at proestrus, decreased by estrus, and was nearly undetectable at diestrus. During pregnancy, Spp1 mRNA was not detected in LE until day 4.5 (day 1 = vaginal plug). Spp1-expressing immune cells were scattered within the endometrial stroma throughout the estrous cycle and early pregnancy. Immunoreactive Spp1 was prominent at the apical LE surface by day 4.5 of pregnancy and Spp1 protein was also co-localized with subsets of CD45-positive (leukocytes) and F4/80-positive (macrophages) cells. In ovariectomized mice, estrogen, but not progesterone, induced Spp1 mRNA, whereas estrogen plus progesterone did not induce Spp1 in LE. These results establish that estrogen regulates Spp1 in mouse LE and are the first to identify macrophages that produce Spp1 within the peri-implantation endometrium of any species. We suggest that Spp1 at the apical surface of LE provides a mechanism to bridge conceptus to LE during implantation, and that Spp1-positive macrophages within the stroma may be involved in uterine remodeling for conceptus invasion.
Developmental ability of cloned embryos from neural stem cells
Authors: Mizutani Eiji , Ohta Hiroshi , Kishigami Satoshi , Van Thuan Nguyen , Hikichi Takafusa , Wakayama Sayaka , Kosaka Mitsuko , Sato Eimei , Wakayama Teruhiko
Published: November 2006

The success rate is generally higher when cloning mice from embryonic stem (ES) cell nuclei than from somatic cell nuclei, suggesting that the embryonic nature or the undifferentiated state of the donor cell increases cloning efficiency. We assessed the developmental ability of cloned embryos derived from cultured neural stem cell (NSC) nuclei and compared the success rate with that of embryos cloned from other donor cells such as differentiated NSCs, cumulus cells, Sertoli cells and ES cells in the mouse. The transfer of two-cell cloned embryos derived from cultured NSC nuclei into surrogate mothers produced five live cloned mice. However, the success rate (0.5%) was higher in embryos cloned from cultured NSC nuclei than from differentiated NSCs (0%), but lower than that obtained by cloning mice from other cell nuclei (2.2–3.5%). Although the in vitro developmental potential to the two-cell stage of the cloned embryos derived from NSC nuclei (73%) was similar to that of the cloned embryos derived from other somatic cell nuclei (e.g., 85% in Sertoli cells and 75% in cumulus cells), the developmental rate to the morula–blastocyst stage was only 7%. This rate is remarkably lower than that produced from other somatic cells (e.g., 50% in Sertoli cells and 54% in cumulus cells). These results indicate that the undifferentiated state of neural cells does not enhance the cloning efficiency in mice and that the arrest point for in vitro development of cloned embryos depends on the donor cell type.
Reduced nitric oxide synthase and cyclo-oxygenase activity in the uterus of non-obese diabetic mice
Authors: Roca Valeria , Larocca Luciana , Calafat Mario , Aisemberg Julieta , Meiss Roberto , Franchi Ana M , Leirós Claudia Pérez
Published: November 2006

A functional interaction between progesterone, Th2 cytokines and a suitable balance between nitric oxide and prostaglandins in the uterus is considered to have a major role in the success of embryo implantation and pregnancy. Non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice offer a suitable model to study the modulatory role of Th1 cytokines on uterus signalling and function, since at the prediabetic stage they develop a spontaneous Th1 autoimmune response against exocrine glands similar to Sjögren’s syndrome. Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) is a vasoactive neuro- and immunopeptide that promotes Th2 profiles and contributes to the smooth muscle relaxation and vasodilation. The aim of the present study was to investigate the activities of nitric oxide synthase and cyclo-oxygenase and the effect of VIP in the uterus of NOD mice with an emerging Th1 cytokine response. We present evidence of a reduced basal and VIP-stimulated activity of both enzymes in the uterus of NOD mice compared with normal BALB/c mice in proestrus. An altered functional interaction between both enzymes is also present in NOD mice at the time when increased levels of serum interleukin (IL)-12 and tumour necrosis factor-α but not interferon (IFN)-γ or IL-10 were detected. We conclude that signalling alterations in uteri of NOD mice are simultaneous to the onset of a systemic Th1 cytokine response.
NuMA distribution and microtubule configuration in rabbit oocytes and cloned embryos
Authors: Yan Li-Ying , Huang Jun-Cheng , Zhu Zi-Yu , Lei Zi-Li , Shi Li-Hong , Nan Chang-Long , Zhao Zhen-Jun , OuYang Ying-Chun , Song Xiang-Fen , Sun Qing-Yuan , Chen Da-Yuan
Published: November 2006

The assembly of microtubules and the distribution of NuMA were analyzed in rabbit oocytes and early cloned embryos. α-Tubulin was localized around the periphery of the germinal vesicle (GV). After germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD), multi-arrayed microtubules were found tightly associated with the condensed chromosomes and assembled into spindles. After the enucleated oocyte was fused with a fibroblast, microtubules were observed around the introduced nucleus in most reconstructed embryos and formed a transient spindle 2–4 h post-fusion (hpf). A mass of microtubules surrounded the swollen pseudo-pronucleus 5 hpf and a normal spindle was formed 13 hpf in cloned embryos. NuMAwas detected in the nucleus in germinal vesicle-stage oocytes, and it was concentrated at the spindle poles in both meiotic and mitotic metaphase. In both donor cell nucleus and enucleated oocyte cytoplasm, NuMA was not detected, while NuMA reappeared in pseudo-pronucleus as reconstructed embryo development proceeded. However, no evident NuMA staining was observed in the poles of transient spindle and first mitotic spindle in nuclear transfer eggs. These results indicate that NuMA localization and its spindle pole tethering function are different during rabbit oocyte meiosis and cloned embryo mitosis.
Facts of Journal Publishing, IV
Authors: Lavelle John
Published: November 2006

When the first “Facts of Journal Publishing” appeared in PMLA (December 1954), its circulation statistics were cited as illustrations of the precarious positions of a number of publications in the field of modern languages. William Riley Parker introduced the tabulations with an exhortation to the MLA membership to support journals in their respective disciplines with their subscriptions. “Study the stark figures we have compiled for you,” he advised. “In some cases they are a kind of fever chart in reverse, showing the condition of dying, or very sick, patients. In general they reveal many periodicals in search of a profession. We have been letting George support these old friends of ours, and George has not been very numerous lately.”
Fettered Fancy in Hard Times
Authors: Sonstroem David
Published: November 2006

The major conflict in Hard Times pits Fact against Fancy; but Dickens ascribes two meanings to Fancy: imaginative play and fellow feeling. Each is directed separately against Fact: (1) The narrative personality combines images of life (horses, flowers, the sun, and fire) with images of lifelessness (pits, destructive violence, artificiality) in complex relationships, creating an impressive model of a highly fused, interdependent world, which contradicts the disjointed world of Gradgrindian Fact. (2) The virtuous characters employ fellow feeling to soften ills caused by Fact. But the novel does not show the 'components of Fancy to be coordinate, as Dickens implies. In practice, imaginative play provides a protective atmosphere of delusion, within which fellow feeling is supposed to grow to strength. Imagination fortifies innocence against the sordid and bad aspects of reality. Thus Dickens seems uncertain whether to work toward a coherent, interdependent world, or toward a scattering of islands of innocence—whether to employ imaginative play in building bridges to extend fellow feeling, or in building buffers to protect innocence. The result of his double advocacy is a series of probably unconscious compromises. Because the forces of Fancy are so divided, so fettered, the book's alternative to the Facts of Gradgrind is not so clear and attractive as one could wish.
Poe and the Power of Animal Magnetism
Authors: Falk Doris V.
Published: November 2006

Accurate interpretation of Poe's three tales of “mesmerism” depends on the correct historical definition of that term. It referred not to “hypnotism,” a later concept, but to “animal magnetism.” Hypnotism is a psychological phenomenon, a function of suggestibility, demonstrating the influence of one human will upon another. “Animal magnetism” was thought to be a physical “fluid”—comparable to electricity and other “imponderables”— pervading animate and inanimate Being, and acting as the unifier, the cohesive force which organizes both matter and mind. In “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar” it is this magnetic “current” which preserves Valdemar's body until the circuit between him and the magnetist is broken, and the body decomposes. In “A Tale of the Ragged Mountains” the fluid preserves Bedloe's body and his “nervous field” of identity; it also expands his consciousness into the past, which he relives as the magnetist writes his memoir. In “Mesmeric Revelation” Vankirk's consciousness is magnetized just on the verge of death; i.e., of absorption into the unparticled matter of a magnetized universe. His revelation of this universe relates animal magnetism not only to the attractionrepulsion force of Eureka, but to imagination and “ratiocination,” and the inevitable tension or “magnetism” between opposites in life. The unifying effect of animal magnetism, then, constitutes the “unity of effect” in these tales.
A Local Pride: The Poetry of Paterson
Authors: Conarroe Joel Osborne
Published: November 2006

William Carlos Williams invented his own form for Paterson. His long and complex poem has a number of important literary forebears and counterparts, including the other major American sequences (particularly Song of Myself and the Cantos), but in each case it is more unlike than like the work with which it shares significant affinities. The poem is a vast montage comprised of associated images, symbols, and themes. Prose is interspersed with various sorts of poetry, which gains its effects through metrical variations, tonal modulations, and concrete imagery. A close look at a representative formal passage and a loose “unfinished piece” helps to clarify the poet's strategy of maneuvering the reader through a series of alternately high- and low-pitched experiences. Williams pays particular attention to visual patterns and to auditory effects, relying heavily on the American idiom and on spoken language. His diction, like his handling of theme, allusion, imagery, and sound, is part of an attempt to break with outmoded conventions and to find a measure and a form capable of expressing his particular vision of contemporary urban America. The sequence as a whole, though uneven in quality, provides incontrovertible evidence of his integrity and of his skill.
Arboreal Figures in the Golden Age Sonnet
Authors: Erdman E. George
Published: November 2006

The tree beset by natural forces, the embrace of elm and vine, and the antithesis of mulberry and almond are related figures which Spanish sonneteers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries frequently used when structuring agudezas por semejanza. The extent to which these stock figures are revitalized in unique poetic artifacts reveals each poet s ability to work within the limitations of an aesthetics of invention through imitation. Moreover, to follow the varying fortunes of these topoi is to assess the efficacy of the modes of correlation (simile, allegory, adequate symbol, or objective correlative); to witness the interplay of the Petrarchan and emblematic traditions; to note the variations on a theme exploited first by the erotic poets, later by the moralists; and to highlight the shift of emphasis from the discursive to the pictorial which marks the transition from the aesthetics of the Renaissance to that of the Baroque. Finally, the precise delineation of the specific context or whole, of which each sonnet is an integral part, permits a more comprehensive exegesis of that sonnet's alma de sutileza, for Gracian the essence of the craft and criticism of poetry.
Cervantes and Ayala's El Rap To: The Art of Reworking A Story
Authors: Ellis Keith
Published: November 2006

AN AUTHOR who reworks a story adapts the original in such a way that his new story, while obviously based on it, is endowed with new meaning. The original is usually adapted by means of a clear alteration of characterization and plot with a resultant change in underlying philosophy between the original and the reworked story. The Greek plays, for instance, have been altered in this way by Existentialists to diminish the role of fate and to emphasize human responsibility. Rarely is a story reworked in such a way that the meaning of the new work lies not in its difference from but in its similarity to the original.1 To effect this, plot and characterization are only minimally altered and crucial importance is given to a change of period. The new setting superficially disguises but in fact emphasizes the correspondence between the two stories. Some of the key problems encountered in this kind of reworking, such as the avoidance of mere imitation, archaism, and triviality of statement,2 can be revealed by a structural examination of Francisco Ayala's El rapto,3 a short novel based on an episode from Don Quijote.
Ben Jonson and the Illusion of Completeness
Authors: Beaturline L. A.
Published: November 2006

IN Our Knowledge of the External World, Bertrand Russell makes a significant distinction between two kinds of infinity. One kind is illustrated by the progression from zero to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, on to infinity; Russell calls this an infinite progression, and it is unlimited. The other idea is illustrated by the division of an interval between, say, one and two; first divide it into halves, then divide each of those halves, and so on infinitely. This is a compact series or an infinite class, and it is limited. The infinite progression and the infinite class are quite different ideas, and they have different philosophical uses. I suggest that a similar distinction may be made concerning literary forms, and that this distinction helps us to understand what is new about Ben Jonson's dramatic method. The distinction reverberates through seventeenth-century literature, I believe, but Jonson is especially interesting because he is somewhat of a pioneer.
Albertine: Characterization Through Image and Symbol
Authors: Kostis Nicholas
Published: November 2006

IN A la recherche du temps perdu Marcel Proust often portrays Albertine through imagery perceived by the narrator, Marcel. The loved object, Albertine, is predominantly a projection of Marcel's desires. The images through which he sees her communicate his emotional experience—happiness, jealousy, passion, suffering, and indifference—with Albertine. Springing from the depths of his consciousness, they are outpourings of lyricism. Consequently, the mood which sustains them cannot last for a long period of time. When these images, which are interspersed throughout the novel, are isolated and then juxtaposed, they form a lyrical poem.
Verlaine's Opéra Bouffe
Authors: Moore C. H.
Published: November 2006

Laughter, in Verlaine's early work, has a major function in the creative process, both as a means and an end in itself. In two uncompleted Opéra bouffe librettos composed in collaboration with Emmanuel Chabrier, Verlaine satirizes Napoleon Ill's regime but, through laughter, replaces the Second Empire with a clown's world. His development of a comical “tyrantclown” theme to effect this transformation parallels the sinister “clowntyrant” theme of the early poetry. Whereas, in the latter, laughter resolves itself in silence and death, in the Opéra bouffe it creates and animates a timeless life of innocence and freedom. Comparison with “tyrant-clown” passages in Hugo's Châtiments further reveals Verlaine's effort to convert the world against which he revolts into a sanctuary where a buffoon's laughter can reign absolutely.
The Humanization of Auden's Early Style
Authors: Bloom Robert
Published: November 2006

The widespread feeling that Auden's poetic powers have declined steadily since the thirties, which is epitomized in an essay like Randall Jarrell's “Changes of Attitude and Rhetoric in Auden's Poetry,” is based on a misunderstanding of both his intellectual and stylistic evolution. By taking adequate account of the important stylistic shift which moved Auden away from his early Anglo-Saxon and Hopkinsesque addictions and made it possible for him to express a more straightforward and centrally human concern in the poetry of his middle period, we can appraise his achievement more accurately. This crucial and beneficial shift, which owes something to Yeats, begins in Look, Stranger! (1936) and is characterized by Auden's new willingness to face the dangers and failures of the period directly in lucid, reflective, fully syntactic speech. The full-throated, implicated, moving human voice which emerges here, concerned not with extravagance or exaggeration but with facing the truth and accounting for it, is largely responsible for Auden's preeminence among English poets born in this century.
Developing Guidelines for Teacher Education Programs in Modern Foreign Languages
Authors: Paquette F. André
Published: November 2006

No person who has served as a state foreign language consultant can long ignore what is surely one of the most pressing and complex problems facing our profession: the preparation of teachers. During the three years when I was a state consultant, I spent about two-thirds of my time visiting schools and working directly with classroom teachers. I remember my first visit to a classroom vividly; I was introduced as, “the inspector from the state department of education,” a phrase indicative of the “high esteem” in which state department personnel were held.
Sense and Nonsense About American Dialects*
Authors: McDavid Raven I.
Published: November 2006

In my boyhood—more years ago than I care to remember—we used to define an expert as “a damned fool a thousand miles from home.” Since I am considerably less than a thousand miles from where I grew up, and stand but a few minutes from my residence in Hyde Park, it behooves me to avoid any claim to expertness about the problems faced in practical situations where the dialect of the school child is sharply divergent from what is expected of him in the classroom. For many of these situations, neither I nor any other working dialectologist knows what the local patterns actually are; for some, there has been no attempt, or at best a partial and belated one, to find out the patterns. Nevertheless, the implications of dialectology for the more rational teaching of English in the schools—and not only in the schools attended by those we currently euphemize as the culturally disadvantaged—are so tremendous that I am flattered to have John Fisher ask for my observations. The problems are not limited to Americans of any race or creed or color, nor indeed to Americans; they are being faced in England today, as immigrants from Pakistan and the West Indies compete in the Midlands for the same kinds of jobs that have drawn Negro Americans to Harlem and the South Side, and Appalachian whites to the airplane factories of Dayton. In fact, such problems are faced everywhere in the world as industrialization and urbanization take place, on every occasion when people, mostly but not exclusively the young, leave the farm and the village in search of the better pay and more glamorous life of the cities. In all parts of the world, educators and politicians are suddenly realizing that language differences can create major obstacles to the educational, economic, and social advancement of those whose true integration into the framework of society is necessary if that society is to be healthy; they are realizing that social dialects —that is, social differences in the way language is used in a given community—both reflect and perpetuate differences in the social order. In turn, the practicing linguist is being called on with increasing frequency to devise programs for the needs of specific groups—most often for the Negroes dwelling in the festering slums of our northern and western cities; and generous government and private subsidies have drawn into the act many teachers and administrators—most of them, I trust, well meaning—who not only have made no studies of dialect differences, but have ignored the studies and archives that are available, even those dealing with their own cities.