bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Systemic Anti-CD25 Monoclonal Antibody Administration Safely Enhances Immunity in Murine Glioma without Eliminating Regulatory T Cells
Authors: Fecci Peter E. , Sweeney Alison E. , Grossi Peter M. , Nair Smita K. , Learn Christopher A. , Mitchell Duane A. , Cui Xiuyu , Cummings Thomas J. , Bigner Darell D. , Gilboa Eli , Sampson John H.
Published: July 2006

Purpose: Elevated proportions of regulatory T cells (Treg) are present in patients with a variety of cancers, including malignant glioma, yet recapitulative murine models are wanting. We therefore examined Tregs in mice bearing malignant glioma and evaluated anti-CD25 as an immunotherapeutic adjunct.

Experimental Design: CD4+CD25+Foxp3+GITR+ Tregs were quantified in the peripheral blood, spleens, cervical lymph nodes, and bone marrow of mice bearing malignant glioma. The capacities for systemic anti-CD25 therapy to deplete Tregs, enhance lymphocyte function, and generate antiglioma CTL responses were assessed. Lastly, survival and experimental allergic encephalitis risks were evaluated when anti-CD25 was combined with a dendritic cell–based immunization targeting shared tumor and central nervous system antigens.

Results: Similar to patients with malignant glioma, glioma-bearing mice show a CD4 lymphopenia. Additionally, CD4+CD25+Foxp3+GITR+ Tregs represent an increased fraction of the remaining peripheral blood CD4+ T cells, despite themselves being reduced in number. Similar trends are observed in cervical lymph node and spleen, but not in bone marrow. Systemic anti-CD25 administration hinders detection of CD25+ cells but fails to completely eliminate Tregs, reducing their number only moderately, yet eliminating their suppressive function. This elimination of Treg function permits enhanced lymphocyte proliferative and IFN-γ responses and up to 80% specific lysis of glioma cell targets in vitro. When combined with dendritic cell immunization, anti-CD25 elicits tumor rejection in 100% of challenged mice without precipitating experimental allergic encephalitis.

Conclusions: Systemic anti-CD25 administration does not entirely eliminate Tregs but does prevent Treg function. This leads to safe enhancement of tumor immunity in a murine glioma model that recapitulates the tumor-induced changes to the CD4 and Treg compartments seen in patients with malignant glioma.
Selecting Lung Cancer Patients for Treatment with Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors by Immunohistochemistry and FluorescenceIn situHybridization—Why, When, and How?
Authors: Dziadziuszko Rafal , Hirsch Fred R. , Varella-Garcia Marileila , Bunn Paul A.
Published: July 2006

Recent evidence indicates that high epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene copy number evaluated by fluorescence in situ hybridization is an excellent predictive biomarker for response and survival benefit in patients with non–small cell lung cancer who receive epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Data on EGFR protein expression by immunohistochemistry as a selection marker are conflicting, although several studies showed that the treatment benefit was confined to EGFR-positive patients. Our studies and others showed that fluorescence in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry were associated with the best predictive value. Expeditious validation of this information in prospective clinical trials with patient selection to first-line treatment is currently being done or planned by several cancer research groups worldwide.
Genomic Approaches to Lung Cancer
Authors: Thomas Roman K. , Weir Barbara , Meyerson Matthew
Published: July 2006

The last decade has seen remarkable success in clinical targeting of activated oncogenes in cancer. We have applied gene expression profiling, high-density single-nucleotide polymorphism arrays, and systematic resequencing of genes to identify novel oncogenes and signaling pathways in lung cancer that might represent therapeutic targets. Systematic resequencing of tyrosine kinase genes has led to the discovery of somatic mutations in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene in lung adenocarcinomas. These mutations range in frequency from 10% in Caucasian to 40% in East Asian patients. Lung cancer–derived EGFR mutations are oncogenic and are tightly associated with clinical response to the EGFR kinase inhibitors erlotinib and gefitinib. Furthermore, gene expression profiling has been shown to classify patients according to their clinical outcome, indicating that the application of this technique may help in guiding patient selection for therapy in the future. Finally, genome-wide analyses of copy number gains and losses were successfully applied to detect gene amplifications and deletions. Taken together, the application of genomics technologies has led to important discoveries with clinical implications in lung cancer that might help to improve clinical care for patients suffering from this highly fatal tumor.
The Synthetic Triterpenoid CDDO-Imidazolide Suppresses STAT Phosphorylation and Induces Apoptosis in Myeloma and Lung Cancer Cells
Authors: Liby Karen , Voong Nga , Williams Charlotte R. , Risingsong Renee , Royce Darlene B. , Honda Tadashi , Gribble Gordon W. , Sporn Michael B. , Letterio John J.
Published: July 2006

Purpose: Excessive activity of the transcription factors known as signal transducers and activators of transcription (STAT) contributes to the development and progression of malignancy in many organs. It is, therefore, important to develop new drugs to control the STATs, particularly their phosphorylation state, which is required for their transcriptional activity.

Experimental Design: Myeloma and lung cancer cells were treated with the new synthetic triterpenoid CDDO-Imidazolide, and STAT phosphorylation and apoptosis were evaluated by immunoblotting and fluorescence-activated cell sorting analysis.

Results: We now report that CDDO-Imidazolide, previously shown to be a potent agent for control of inflammation, cell proliferation, and apoptosis, rapidly (within 30-60 minutes) and potently (at nanomolar levels) suppresses either constitutive or interleukin-6-induced STAT3 and STAT5 phosphorylation in human myeloma and lung cancer cells. Furthermore, in these cells, CDDO-Imidazolide also up-regulates critical inhibitors of STATs, such as suppressor of cytokine signaling-1 and SH2-containing phosphatase-1 (a tyrosine phosphatase). Moreover, gene array studies reported here show that CDDO-Imidazolide potently regulates the transcription of important genes that are targets of the STATs.

Conclusions: Our new data thus show that CDDO-Imidazolide is a potent suppressor of STAT signaling and provide a further mechanistic basis for future clinical use of this agent to control inflammation or cell proliferation.
Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Inhibitors in Development for the Treatment of Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer
Authors: Heymach John V. , Nilsson Monique , Blumenschein George , Papadimitrakopoulou Vassiliki , Herbst Roy
Published: July 2006

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors erlotinib, gefitinib, and cetuximab have undergone extensive clinical testing and have established clinical activity in non–small cell lung cancer and other types of solid tumors. A number of newer inhibitors are currently in clinical development with different spectra of activity or mechanisms of receptor inhibition. These include monoclonal antibodies, such as panitumumab and matuzumab; dual inhibitors of EGFR and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor, such as ZD6474 and AEE788; inhibitors of multiple EGFR family members, such as lapatinib; and irreversible inhibitors, such as canertinib and HKI272. Preclinical studies suggest that several of these agents may have activity in tumors refractory to erlotinib or gefitinib. Among these agents, ZD6474 has undergone the most extensive clinical testing. The antitumor activity of ZD6474 in these two randomized phase II clinical trials in patients with non–small cell lung cancer was felt to be sufficiently promising to warrant phase III clinical testing. Several of the other EGFR inhibitors are also undergoing advanced clinical testing, either alone or in combination with other agents. EGFR has now been validated as a clinically relevant target, and several different types of agents inhibiting this receptor are currently in development. Future research will be needed to elucidate the role of these agents in patients with EGFR inhibitor–naive and EGFR inhibitor–refractory disease, to define the molecular characteristics that predict response, and to determine whether these drugs should be used in combination with other targeted agents or chemotherapy.
Isolation of Human Prostatic Epithelial Plasma Membranes for Proteomics Using Mirror Image Tissue Banking of Radical Prostatectomy Specimens
Authors: Sircar Kanishka , Gaboury Louis , Ouadi Lydia , Mecteau Melanie , Scarlata Eleonora , Saad Fred , Aprikian Armen , Tanguay Simon , Lapointe Steven , Lussier Christian , Miletti Tina , Lanoix Joel
Published: July 2006

Purpose: To isolate human prostatic epithelial plasma membranes for the identification of cell surface proteins in the therapeutic targeting of cancer cells while permitting the retrieval of banked samples for clinical purposes.

Experimental Design: Radical prostatectomies from 84 patients (median, 61 years; prostate-specific antigen, 5.9; 66% nonpalpable) were processed with alternate, mirror image slices submitted for histology and tissue banking. Benign and malignant foci were macrodissected from the banked sections using the pathologically mapped, mirror image histology sections as a guide. Epithelial plasma membranes were isolated using novel immunomagnetic purification and their purity was assessed. Tissue homogenates were probed by Western blot for malignant (AMACR) and benign (p63) markers to test the accuracy of this protocol. Selected banked tissue slices were retrieved, thawed, and compared pathologically to their corresponding routinely processed alternate slices.

Results: Plasma membrane preparations showed the enrichment of epithelial plasma membrane markers (prostate-specific membrane antigen and epithelial-specific antigen) with minimal marker expression from nonepithelial cells or intracellular organelles. Cancer homogenates showed up-regulated AMACR and down-regulated p63, whereas benign homogenates showed up-regulated p63 and down-regulated AMACR. There was 30% benign (p63+) contamination in cancer slices and <6% cancer (AMACR+) contamination in benign slices. Retrieved tissues showed the retention of immunoreactivity while their histology was always adequate for diagnosis.

Conclusions: We have successfully isolated purified epithelial plasma membranes from benign and malignant human prostates and provided validation data for the accuracy of our protocol in a prostate-specific antigen–screened cohort. Our method also enabled the retrieval of banked tissues for clinical purposes with the retention of good histologic and immunohistochemical quality.
Basoluminal Carcinoma: A New Biologically and Prognostically Distinct Entity Between Basal and Luminal Breast Cancer
Authors: Laakso Mervi , Tanner Minna , Nilsson Jonas , Wiklund Tom , Erikstein Björn , Kellokumpu-Lehtinen Pirkko , Malmström Per , Wilking Nils , Bergh Jonas , Isola Jorma
Published: July 2006

Purpose: Breast carcinomas expressing basal epithelium cytokeratins constitute a tumor subgroup that is typically hormone receptor negative and shows a distinct gene expression profile. Based on variable basal cytokeratin immunostaining patterns, we hypothesized that the “basal phenotype” tumor group may comprise more than one biological entity.

Experimental Design: Basal cytokeratins 5 and 14 (CK5/14) were stained by immunohistochemistry and the percentage of positive cells was defined by image analysis. The results thus obtained were compared with clinicopathologic characteristics and relapse-free survival.

Results: Of the 506 breast tumors, 53 (10.5%) showed immunoreactivity for CK5/14. Basal cytokeratin expression showed up as two microscopically distinguishable subtypes, i.e., a uniformly positive type (“basal”) and a partially positive type (“basoluminal”) often displaying a checkerboard-type intratumoral heterogeneity. These subgroups could also be separated with a third basal cytokeratin (CK17, P < 0.0001). Both basal and basoluminal subtypes were hormone receptor negative and of high grade, but differed with respect to the Ki-67 labeling index (P = 0.0014), vimentin (P = 0.005), and c-kit (P = 0.02), which were more frequently expressed in basal than in basoluminal tumors. In contrast, the amplification of HER-2 was found almost exclusively in the basoluminal subgroup (P = 0.009). Compared with the basal tumors, basoluminal tumors associated with significantly shorter relapse-free survival (P = 0.01), which was not explained by their more frequent HER-2 amplification.

Conclusions: We conclude that the intratumoral heterogeneity in basal cytokeratin expression can be used to define two distinct breast cancer subtypes, basal and basoluminal, with distinctive features related to proliferation activity, oncogene and biomarker status, and patient survival.
An Immunohistochemical Study of Morules in Endometrioid Lesions of the Female Genital Tract: CD10 Is a Characteristic Marker of Morular Metaplasia
Authors: Chiarelli Silvia , Buriticá Catalina , Litta Piero , Ciani Susana , Guarch Rosa , Nogales Francisco F.
Published: July 2006

Purpose: To analyze immunohistochemically morules in endometrioid lesions to show that CD10 is a sensitive marker for morular metaplasia.

Experimental Design: Immunohistochemical analysis of 53 instances of morular metaplasia comprising 1 cyclic endometrium and 52 endometrioid lesions associated with focal glandular complexity corresponding to 9 polyps, 4 atypical polypoid adenomyomas, 24 complex endometrial hyperplasias (18 with and 6 without atypia), 12 grade 1 endometrioid adenocarcinomas in early clinical stages of both uterus and ovary, and three ovarian adenofibromas. Immunohistochemistry in paraffin sections was done for CD10, β-catenin, estrogen and progesterone receptors, and cytokeratins 5-6, 7, 8, 13, 18, 19, 20, and 34β-E12.

Results: Morules were negative for estrogen and progesterone receptors and had β-catenin–positive nuclei. Cytokeratins 8, 18, 19 were positive; cytokeratins 7 and 20 were negative; and cytokeratins 5-6, 13, and 34β-E12 were weakly positive. All cases revealed strongly positive membranous CD10 staining in morules, which was absent in glands. CD10 positivity allowed easy identification of morules at low power in various types of surgical specimens and in curettings. CD10 also highlighted early morular metaplasia in glandular epithelium. In cases associated with squamous, keratinizing metaplasia, CD10 discriminated between both types of metaplasia.

Conclusions: CD10 staining represents a useful marker of morules in endometrioid neoplasms of the female genital tract, permitting identification of lesions usually associated with an attenuated malignancy. Considering the immunohistochemical and genetic similarities of morules in tumors of different organs, it is likely that this marker may be also useful to diagnose morular metaplasia in similar neoplasms of extragenital locations.
Rationale for a Phase II Trial of Pertuzumab, a HER-2 Dimerization Inhibitor, in Patients with Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer
Authors: Johnson Bruce E. , Jänne Pasi A.
Published: July 2006

Background and Rationale: In non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) HER-2 gene amplification and 3+ staining by immunohistochemistry are present in only 2% to 5% of the tumors. Therefore, relatively few patients with lung cancer are likely to benefit from treatment with trastuzumab, the humanized monoclonal antibody that is effective in the 20% of patients with breast cancer and HER-2 gene amplification and/or 3+ staining by immunohistochemistry. Pertuzumab (rhuMAb 2C4), a humanized HER2 antibody, represents a new class of targeted therapeutics that inhibit dimerization of HER2 with ligand-activated EGFR (HER1), HER3, and HER-4. Pertuzumab can have antitumor activity in patients with HER-2 present on the tumor without gene amplification or 3+ staining by immunohistochemistry. Preclinical xenograft studies have shown efficacy of pertuzumab in treating NSCLC. Therefore, a trial was undertaken for patients with relapsed NSCLC.

Materials and Methods: Subjects with advanced or recurrent NSCLC treated previously with chemotherapy were treated with pertuzumab (840 mg i.v. loading dose then 420 mg every 3 weeks). Mandatory fresh tumor biopsies before treatment were obtained for biomarker analysis including HER-2 phosphorylation. Computed tomography scans were obtained every two cycles to assess tumor response. Tumor response (response evaluation criteria in solid tumors criteria) was the primary end point.

Results: As reported in a previous abstract, none of the 33 patients with NSCLC and evaluable disease had a response to the treatment.

Conclusions: Pertuzumab has an appropriate rationale for therapeutic use in patients with NSCLC. A phase II trial in patients with NSCLC has completed enrollment, and the details of the trial will be presented in a future publication. This article will review the preclinical rationale for undertaking a study of pertuzumab for patients with relapsed NSCLC.
The Role of the ErbB Family Members in Non–Small Cell Lung Cancers Sensitive to Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Kinase Inhibitors
Authors: Engelman Jeffrey A. , Cantley Lewis C.
Published: July 2006

Inhibitors targeting the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) are effective in a subset of non–small cell lung cancers. Such cancers often harbor EGFR mutations and/or amplification. These cancers require EGFR activity for the maintenance of critical intracellular survival and growth signaling pathways. Evidence is now accruing that EGFR works in concert with other ErbB family members, particularly HER2 and ErbB3, to activate these signaling pathways in lung cancers. These findings have important implications regarding the biology of these cancers and may lead to improved methods for identifying tumors that are responsive to EGFR kinase inhibitors and alternative therapies to treat cancers driven by ErbB signaling.
Soft Law, Hard Law, and Effective Implementation of International Environmental Norms
Authors: Skjærseth Jon Birger , Stokke Olav Schram , Wettestad Jørgen
Published: July 2006

The article compares the interplay between soft law institutions and those based on hard law in international efforts to protect the North Sea, reduce transboundary air pollution, and discipline fisheries subsidies. Our cases confirm that ambitious norms are more easily achieved in soft law institutions than in legally binding ones, but not primarily because they bypass domestic ratification or fail to raise concerns for compliance costs. More important is the greater flexibility offered by soft law instruments with respect to participation and sectoral emphasis. Second, ambitious soft law regimes put political pressure on laggards in negotiations over binding rules, but this effect is contingent on factors such as political saliency and reasonably consensual risk and option assessment. Third, hard-law instruments are subject to more thorough negotiation and preparation which, unless substantive targets have been watered down, makes behavioral change and problem solving more likely. Finally, although most of the evidence presented here confirms the implementation edge conventionally ascribed to hard law institutions, the structures for intrusive verification and review that provide part of the explanation can also be created within soft law institutions.
Problem Structure, Institutional Design, and the Relative Effectiveness of International Environmental Agreements
Authors: Mitchell Ronald B.
Published: July 2006

To accurately assess the relative effectiveness of international environmental agreements requires that we pay greater attention to how problem structures influence both institutional design and the outcomes we use to evaluate institutional effects. Analyzing multiple agreements allows us to move beyond claims that an agreement was influential to claims regarding which variables explain that influence, to examine how institutional influence depends on other factors and to evaluate an agreement's effectiveness relative to other agreements and non-institutional influences. Accounting for problem structure is crucial to such endeavors because problem structure variables may be alternatives to or interact with institutional variables and because institutional design is endogenous to the problem structure-outcome relationship. The shortcomings related to incorporating problem structure in extant effectiveness research can be overcome through four strategies: carefully describing analytically useful variation in problem structure, selecting cases to limit variation in problem structure, evaluating problem structure variables and their influence on design and behavior, and evaluating effectiveness in terms appropriate to the problem structure.
Tense Variation in Preadolescent Narratives
Authors: Levey Stephen
Published: July 2006

Most of the previous research on variation in tense-aspect morphology in narrative has focused on the discourse functions of the alternation between the simple past and the conversational historical present (CHP). However, it is not clear what discourse functions may be implicated in narrative by switches between the simple past and other tense-aspect categories and whether there are differences between contemporary vernacular varieties of English in this regard. This article addresses these issues by examining tense variation in the narrative complicating action clauses embedded in fifty-six narratives of personal experience recounted by a small group of preadolescents recorded in Greater London in the southeast of England. Using a variationist methodology incorporating distributional and multivariate analyses of tense variation in a circumscribed narrative subcomponent, the article examines switches between the simple past, the CHP, and the present perfect. Building on the foundational research conducted on the alternation between the simple past and the CHP in narrative, the results presented here suggest that alternations between the present perfect and other tense forms are motivated by structural and pragmatic considerations associated with the segmentation and evaluation of narrative episodes.
Mobility, Indexicality, and the Enregisterment of “Pittsburghese”
Authors: Johnstone Barbara , Andrus Jennifer , Danielson Andrew E.
Published: July 2006

This article explores the sociolinguistic history of a U.S. city. On the basis of historical research, ethnography, discourse analysis, and sociolinguistic interviews, the authors describe how a set of linguistic features that were once not noticed at all, then used and heard primarily as markers of socioeconomic class, have come to be linked increasingly to place and “enregistered” as a dialect called “Pittsburghese.” To explain how this has come about, the authors draw on the semiotic concept of “orders of indexicality.” They suggest that social and geographical mobility during the latter half of the twentieth century has played a crucial role in the process. They model a particularistic approach to linguistic and ideological change that is sensitive not only to ideas about language that circulate in the media but also to the life experiences of particular speakers; and they show how an understanding of linguistic variation, language attitudes, and the stylized performance of dialect is enhanced by exploring the historical and ideological processes that make resources for these practices available.
Obtaining subject data from log files using deep log analysis: case study OhioLINK
Authors: Huntington Paul , Nicholas David , Jamali Hamid R. , Watkinson Anthony
Published: July 2006

Traditionally web site statistics and analysis focus on the organization and location information of Internet Protocol addresses and do not analyse sub-network and computer-label information. This paper aims to extract and make use of the information content of sub-network labels in transactional server log files and add an additional level to transaction log analysis. The authors apply microanalytical procedures (i.e. analysis of small segments and sections of log files) to the analysis of log files of the OhioLINK electronic journal service. The authors demonstrate an analysis based on extracted sub-network information and argue that these names can be interpreted as departmental (subject) names. They present an analysis between journal subject groupings and departments based on sub-network labels and find a degree of correlation between department name and subject of journal use. Further, the authors break down journal usage by sub-network label information. The analyses show that sub-network names reflect the physical location of the computer. This presents another possibility of analysing what journals are being used by which academic department.
Transformation in managers’ information seeking behaviour: a review of the literature
Authors: de Alwis Gina , Majid Shaheen , Chaudhry Abdus Sattar
Published: July 2006

There has been a transformation in managers’ information seeking behaviour over the decades. Based on an extensive literature review, this article analyses the factors which have influenced managers’ choice of source preferences. The review reveals four key dimensions used to study source preferences, i.e. contextual, situational, personal/sociocultural, and informational and identifies common factors under each. The factors given main weight in the literature are accessibility, quality, and richness of the information, as well as individual and institutional characteristics. The article also reflects on the data collection techniques used in information needs studies.
Managerial Frames and Institutional Discourses of Change: Employee Appropriation and Resistance
Authors: Chreim Samia
Published: July 2006

This paper proposes that the notions of frame and frame appropriation are useful tools for the study of control in organizations, as well as for the analysis of the connection between micro-level discursive activities and wider discourses that enable and constrain such activities. To date, most studies of framing and of wider discourses have proceeded independently of each other. An empirical study of bank employees' accounts of their responses to two different changes introduced by management indicates that employees frame their responses in part according to their individual capabilities and experiences; that employee frames show an alignment with managerial frames and institutional discourses that are unified and reified; and that employee frames exhibit both alignment and misalignment with managerial frames that are open to contestation. The study also indicates that institutional discourses can both constrain and enable employee resistance to managerial frames.
An Eclectic Explanation of Shopfloor Control Using Efficiency and Power Theories
Authors: Vázquez Xosé H.
Published: July 2006

The paper identifies four control mechanisms on the shopfloor and explains their determinants. By enriching contingency and transaction cost theories with power notions, several hypotheses are tested in a dataset composed of 329 Spanish firms in the food and electronic industries. Results show that shopfloor control is shaped by efficiency concerns, power asymmetries and interdependences between control modes. In particular, control mechanisms depend on several structural traits of the firm and labour transaction attributes. However, managers’ opportunism also plays an important role through its effect on workers’ opportunism. This fact calls for the internalization of principals’ opportunistic behaviour in efficiency-driven organizational theories. Furthermore, control mechanisms also show specific interdependences through their relations with certain labour transaction attributes and organizational traits. In fact, the level of human capital can at the same time be the outcome and the cause of certain control mechanisms. A relevant by-product is therefore that the level of human capital is not necessarily the main reason — as suggested by transaction cost economics — to internalize a labour transaction within the firm.
Inertia in Japanese Organizations: Knowledge Management Routines and Failure to Innovate
Authors: Collinson Simon , Wilson David C.
Published: July 2006

This paper argues that features of Japanese organizations, previously held to be the foundations of innovation, change and flexibility, can equally be significant barriers to change, innovation and adaptation in turbulent economic environments. This paper draws on two in-depth case studies of Japanese organizations. It shows how, in both cases, these firms displayed specific weaknesses in the ways in which they integrate and bundle knowledge, in particular around their research and development (R&D) functions. Despite the adoption of strategies of technological innovation and internationalization, the data suggest that the pursuit of both strategies is beset by barriers of inertia. Embedded internal network connections and knowledge-sharing routines between central R&D and other divisions are inappropriate for the revised strategy. Existing external connections, with preferred suppliers and customers within keiretsu structures, and close relationships with existing R&D partners retard these firms' strategic flexibility. With a limited variety of latent routines, knowledge, capabilities and agency to draw on when needed, these firms have limited organizational responsiveness and high levels of path-dependency.
The Role of Knowledge in Business Start-up Activity
Authors: Clercq Dirk De , Arenius Pia
Published: July 2006

Drawing on the literature on knowledge and self-efficacy, we examine the effects of individuals’ possession of and exposure to knowledge on the likelihood to engage in business start-up activity. Our analyses are based on data collected for the 2002 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. More specifically, we analysed data from individuals located in Belgium and Finland in terms of their education and skills, and their contacts with the entrepreneurial community. Our findings suggest that knowledge-based factors indeed have a strong impact on the decision to engage in business start-up activity. We also found cross-country differences for these knowledge-based effects, in particular as regards the growth-orientation of business start-up activity. We discuss our findings and provide directions for future research.
Formation and Survival of New Ventures
Authors: Hung Humphry
Published: July 2006

This article proposes a staged model of how relevant interpersonal and interorganizational networks can affect the formation and survival of new entrepreneurial ventures. Focusing on two critical points in new entrepreneurial venture formation, the article posits that the formation process requires not only the supply of appropriate resources, but also specific patterns of resource exchanges between the entrepreneur, the potential new venture and their respective networks. The model advances the existing literature on new entrepreneurial venture formation by highlighting the importance of maintaining appropriate patterns of resource exchanges between the entrepreneur’s new venture and the relevant networks in which the venture embeds.
‘Okay, but we are not whores you know’
Authors: Lundström Catrin
Published: July 2006

The use of the term ‘whore’ is commonly directed at young women, and has, for this reason, been widely debated in the Swedish media and elsewhere. In the article, I focus on Latina girls’ experiences of being called ‘whores’ in Sweden. Individual interviews and focus group discussions were used for generation of data. Their narratives are analysed from a perspective that highlights how gender and ethnicity intersect in this highly sexualized word. In my analysis, I explore the diverse meanings of the term ‘whore’, and how discursive categories such as ‘immigrants’ and ‘Swedes’ are elaborated. The study suggests that meanings of the term ‘whore’ shift within a multiplicity of relationships and contexts and might, among other things, be associated with toughness. In conclusion, while women of diverse backgrounds are called ‘whores’, the connotations of the term depend on how this sexualized issue interacts with local constructions of ethnicity and femininity. These different constructions also shape the girls’ possibilities of negotiating their subject positions.
Imagining selves. School narratives from girls in Eritrea, Denmark and Nepal
Authors: Madsen Ulla Ambrosius
Published: July 2006

The article has a double aim. First, to study the relation between education, schooling and the construction of identity as it is played out in everyday life and school among young girls in secondary schools in Eritrea, Nepal and Denmark; second, to explore challenges and opportunities for an ethnographic comparison of schooling cutting across cultures and contexts. Inspired by contributions on globalization and education the article focuses on the consequence and implications of schooling. With the point of departure in girls’ narratives, individual responses and resistance to national projects on education and the making of future citizens are explored.
Creative thinking of adolescents in Estonian society
Authors: Heinla Eda
Published: July 2006

The article presents the comparative results of research on 16-17 year-old Estonian adolescents’ and 9-12 year-old children’s creative thinking in connection with their social environment. Creative thinking has been defined through three components: fluency of thought, originality and flexibility of thinking. The aim of the empirical research on which this article is based was, firstly, to find out whether there is a connection between the child’s creative thinking and the parents’ profession, the family’s economic status and the child’s place of residence; and, secondly, to carry out a comparative analysis of two age groups, 9-12, and 16-17, regarding manifestations of creativity in connection with the factors described above. The results of the study demonstrate that the creative thinking of the 16-17 year-old adolescents is higher in the group where one or both parents have university education, work as top executives or specialists, where the families cope well economically and live in the capital. The creative thinking of the 9-12 year-old children is higher in the group where the mothers have a higher education and where they live in a rural area. Even though the correlation between social factors and the creative thinking of the adolescents treated in the study occurs only at the older age level, it is likely that the influence of cognitive and personality components of the child’s creativity begins at a much earlier age.
Rethinking subcultural capital
Authors: Jensen Sune Qvotrup
Published: July 2006

The aim of this article is to contribute to the rethinking of the notion of subcultural capital as coined by Sarah Thornton. Drawing on Bourdieu, I argue that Thornton’s original work on the notion is flawed by a reluctance to devote analytical attention to the social position and other socio-structural variables of the participants in the subculture. With my fieldwork among underprivileged young men of non-Danish ethnic origin as the point of departure, I reason that a sociological grasp on hierarchical differentiation and intersections between different socio-structural variables is necessary to explain and understand subcultures and subcultural capital adequately. The relation between the subculture and its surroundings is best understood by focusing on what is appreciated within the subculture (i.e. subculture capital) and at the same time analytically situating the subculture in terms of class, gender, ethnicity and ‘race’.
Reconfigurations of penality
Authors: Carlen Pat , Tombs Jacqueline
Published: July 2006

Illustrating their arguments with empirical examples drawn from two recent research projects—one cross-European, the other Scottish—the authors argue that the new multi-layering of carceral forms in both prison and the community is one major, but under-explored, cause of continuing increases in women’s prison populations. Whether it is because sentencers believe the reintegration industry’s rhetoric about the effectiveness of in-prison programmes in ‘reintegrating’ ex-prisoners, or whether, conversely, it is because sentencers are reluctant to award transcarceral and over-demanding community sentences which set women up to fail, the result is the same—more women go to prison.
Beyond ‘bad apples’ and ‘weak leaders’
Authors: Monahan Susanne C. , Quinn Beth A.
Published: July 2006

This article examines two starkly different cases—the abuse of prisoners in the Abu Ghraib prison and the falsification of architectural internship reports—in developing a neo-institutional analysis of deviance within organizations. We argue that the organization’s role extends beyond a failure to act (e.g. monitor, prevent, punish) to include implementing formal structures—decoupling—that make individual deviance both predictable and a predicate of organizational ‘success’. We identify environmental conditions associated with decoupling, strategies to achieve it and organizational responses of deflection. By linking macro-level rule environments, organizational structure and participant behavior, we offer a theoretical framework that elides the long-standing definitional struggles in white-collar crime research through the simultaneous consideration of the organization as environment and the environment of the organization.
Job Formalization and Cultural Individualism as Barriers to Trust in Management
Authors: Huang Xu , Van de Vliert Evert
Published: July 2006

The aim of this study was to identify some structural and cultural barriers to employees' trust in management. Multilevel analyses of data from 160,577 employees in 46 countries suggested that job formalization is negatively associated with trust in management, especially in individualistic countries, and that this relationship is mediated by less open employee–management communication. By contrast, in collectivistic countries no strong link was found between job formalization and both trust and open communication.
Developing Leaders or Developing Leadership? The Academy of Chief Executives’ Programmes in the North East of England
Authors: Iles Paul , Preece David
Published: July 2006

The article distinguishes between leaders and leadership on the one hand, and leader and leadership development on the other. It then explores a particular mode of leadership development, based upon membership of the UK Academy of Chief Executives (ACE). Semi-structured interviews, documentary analysis, and participant observation were used to study the experiences and obtain the views of members of the North East England branch of the ACE. It is argued that leadership development has often been equated with leader development, with the resulting focus upon the individual, as against attending to the social, political, collective and other contexts of action and meaning. Social capital theory, following Day (2000), is drawn upon in order to help conceptualize and apply leadership development in context, where the emphasis is upon understanding and building relationships and networks, coordinating activities, and developing commitments.
Aphorisms and Leaders’ Rhetoric: A New Analytical Approach
Authors: Morrell Kevin
Published: July 2006

Using insights from conversation analysis, the article analyses aphorisms from 20 different writers demonstrating how these combine common rhetorical formats. It then proposes a simple framework that allows for aphorisms to be analysed further and in terms of two continua: whether they are convex or concave, and whether they are creative or destructive. The framework supplements content-based approaches with a structural account of how aphorisms may be organized and deployed. This offers a new approach for studying leaders’ rhetoric and introduces a more detailed analysis of two speeches acknowledged as powerful pieces of oratory: Marcus Antonius’ address in Julius Caesar, and Churchill’s first speech as Prime Minister. Discussion of these speeches is informed by consideration of two contextual features that influence the impact of aphorisms: setting and sequence.
Liquid security
Authors: Zedner Lucia
Published: July 2006

Liquid security captures the shift from the solid-state technology of the criminal justice state to the more fluid, transient and dispersed operations of the private security industry. Despite its promise to sell security, the industry is often better known for the dangers it poses to the safety of people and property. Marked by high levels of corruption, violence, rapid staff turnover and high customer churn the private security industry cannot maintain consumer confidence or public respect. This article examines various attempts to manage the market for crime control and seeks to disclose their underlying rationale. Attempts to govern through industry self-regulation, market competition and the design and architecture of provision have failed to secure standards. Yet formal state regulation appears directed less at compliance with articulated ethical standards, a clear conception of what security is for and whom it should serve, than ensuring the health of the market. The state presents itself as facilitator, but appears as pimp, to the security industry. Regulation is sold as a ‘business opportunity’ and compliance as the means to ensuring profitability. In the telling words of the Security Industry Authority, ‘Good security is good for the whole business environment’.
The revolving door at the prison gate
Authors: Padfield Nicola , Maruna Shadd
Published: July 2006

In this article we draw attention to the recent and extraordinary increase in the number of people in England and Wales recalled to prison during the licence period of their sentence (by examining the published Parole Board and prison statistics). This is followed by a description of the existing law and the recent changes to it, which we suggest will exacerbate the current trend. We seek then to explain the increase by looking primarily at the US experience (which reveals a system which is costly, discriminatory and apparently ineffective at reducing crime) and at recent judicial review cases (which reveal a system which is increasingly acknowledged to be unfair), concluding that current sentencing law and practice puts inappropriate emphasis on ‘front door’ sentencing practices rather than the equally important ‘back door’ practices of release, supervision and recall. Unsurprisingly, the article ends with a call for much more research in this area.
Accuracy of commercial geocoding: assessment and implications
Authors: Whitsel Eric A , Quibrera P Miguel , Smith Richard L , Catellier Diane J , Liao Duanping , Henley Amanda C , Heiss Gerardo
Published: July 2006

Background

Published studies of geocoding accuracy often focus on a single geographic area, address source or vendor, do not adjust accuracy measures for address characteristics, and do not examine effects of inaccuracy on exposure measures. We addressed these issues in a Women's Health Initiative ancillary study, the Environmental Epidemiology of Arrhythmogenesis in WHI.

Results

Addresses in 49 U.S. states (n = 3,615) with established coordinates were geocoded by four vendors (A-D). There were important differences among vendors in address match rate (98%; 82%; 81%; 30%), concordance between established and vendor-assigned census tracts (85%; 88%; 87%; 98%) and distance between established and vendor-assigned coordinates (mean ρ [meters]: 1809; 748; 704; 228). Mean ρ was lowest among street-matched, complete, zip-coded, unedited and urban addresses, and addresses with North American Datum of 1983 or World Geodetic System of 1984 coordinates. In mixed models restricted to vendors with minimally acceptable match rates (A-C) and adjusted for address characteristics, within-address correlation, and among-vendor heteroscedasticity of ρ, differences in mean ρ were small for street-type matches (280; 268; 275), i.e. likely to bias results relying on them about equally for most applications. In contrast, differences between centroid-type matches were substantial in some vendor contrasts, but not others (5497; 4303; 4210) pinteraction < 10-4, i.e. more likely to bias results differently in many applications. The adjusted odds of an address match was higher for vendor A versus C (odds ratio = 66, 95% confidence interval: 47, 93), but not B versus C (OR = 1.1, 95% CI: 0.9, 1.3). That of census tract concordance was no higher for vendor A versus C (OR = 1.0, 95% CI: 0.9, 1.2) or B versus C (OR = 1.1, 95% CI: 0.9, 1.3). Misclassification of a related exposure measure – distance to the nearest highway – increased with mean ρ and in the absence of confounding, non-differential misclassification of this distance biased its hypothetical association with coronary heart disease mortality toward the null.

Conclusion

Geocoding error depends on measures used to evaluate it, address characteristics and vendor. Vendor selection presents a trade-off between potential for missing data and error in estimating spatially defined attributes. Informed selection is needed to control the trade-off and adjust analyses for its effects.
Extrahepatic tissue concentrations of vitamin K are lower in rats fed a high vitamin E diet
Authors: Tovar Alison , Ameho Clement K , Blumberg Jeffrey B , Peterson James W , Smith Donald , Booth Sarah L
Published: July 2006

Background

An adverse hematological interaction between vitamins E and K has been reported, primarily in patients on anticoagulants. However, little is known regarding circulating levels or tissue concentrations of vitamin K in response to vitamin E supplementation. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of different levels of dietary α-tocopherol on phylloquinone and menaquinone-4 concentrations, while maintaining a constant intake of phylloquinone, in rat tissues.

Methods

Male 4-wk old Fischer 344 rats (n = 33) were fed one of 3 diets for 12 wk: control (n = 13) with 30 mg all-rac-α-tocopherol acetate/kg diet; vitamin E-supplemented (n = 10) with 100 mg all-rac-α-tocopherol acetate/kg diet; and vitamin E-restricted (n = 10) with <10 mg total tocopherols/kg diet. All 3 diets contained 470 ± 80 μg phylloquinone/kg diet.

Results

Phylloquinone concentrations were lower (P ≤ 0.05) in the vitamin E-supplemented compared to the vitamin E-restricted group (mean ± SD spleen: 531 ± 58 vs.735 ± 77; kidney: 20 ± 17 vs. 94 ± 31, brain: 53 ± 19 vs.136 ± 97 pmol/g protein respectively); no statistically significant differences between groups were found in plasma, liver or testis. Similar results were noted with menaquinone-4 concentrations in response to vitamin E supplementation.

Conclusion

There appears to be a tissue-specific interaction between vitamins E and K when vitamin E is supplemented in rat diets. Future research is required to elucidate the mechanism for this nutrient-nutrient interaction.
One Semester or Two? No Student Advantage with a Two-Semester Introductory Psychology Course
Authors: Thornton Bill
Published: July 2006

A 2-semester introductory course sequence in any discipline may be justified on the basis that there is too much material to cover in 1 semester and that more in-depth consideration of material will provide students with a better foundation from which to approach subsequent courses. This study took advantage of a natural situation to compare students who had taken a 1-semester introductory psychology course and those who had taken a 2-semester sequence. Analyses of student performance (grades) in upper level psychology courses indicated no advantage associated with a 2-semester introductory course. Students incur a 100% cost increase (the additional introductory course) for 0% benefit.