bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Deleuze's War Machine: Nomadism Against the State
Authors: Reid Julian
Published: March 2008

This article contributes to an emerging body of post-structuralist international relations scholarship that focuses upon the core problematic of international relations theory: war. While existing post-structuralist treatments of war have generally derived their inspiration from the work of Foucault and Virilio, this article focuses specifically upon the ideas of Gilles Deleuze. In particular, it deals with Deleuze's arguments upon the nature of the relation between war and the state, detailing how he uses this debate to take issue with Foucault's concept of power. As I argue, the role of the concept of war within Deleuze's philosophy is comparable with that of the concept of desire. Further, I demonstrate how Deleuze's thesis on the relationship between war and the state is influenced by Nietzsche's discourse on war, and how it serves to undermine arguments that equate Nietzsche's concept of war with that of fascism.
The Question of Information Technology in International Relations
Authors: Der Derian James
Published: March 2008

Against the backdrop of events produced by the InfoTechWarPeace Project at Brown University, including internet interventions, videoconferences, symposia, public forums, multi-media exhibitions and video documentaries, this article seeks to understand through information technology (IT) how the `Digital Age' and an `Age of Terror' converged on 9/11. As an inquiry into the impact of IT on International Relations (IR), it mobilizes the key concepts of `infowar' and `infopeace' to trace the development of network-centric forms of conflict and peacemaking. Two short case studies of 11/9 and 9/11 are presented to assess the dual capacity of IT in IR. Trapped in a new interwar of technological and theological fundamentalisms, we need to tap into the surplus capacity of information networks to awaken a global critical consciousness.
Accidents Don't Just Happen: The Liberal Politics of High-Technology `Humanitarian' War
Authors: Owens Patricia
Published: March 2008

From the bombing of Serb residential neighbourhoods to the destruction of Afghan refugee convoys, a series of dramatic events in recent military campaigns have come to be labelled `accidents'. From the vantage point of a wider cultural and political history of technology, this article suggests that civilian deaths are being constructed as permissible, not impermissible, when normalised as `accidents'. For while the number of `accidents' involving civilian death may increasingly be known and the potential of high-tech warfare to produce disaster may also be recognised, small massacres of civilian populations are nonetheless - and perhaps necessarily- becoming normalised as part of the post-9.11 order of entrepreneurial (pre-emptive) war. Some of the most important military dimensions of recent campaigns - `accidents' in which civilians or Western military personnel were killed or injured - need to be understood as both technological acts and spaces of political subjectivity partly productive of liberal-state `humanitarian' war as currently conceived. ————————————————————————
Weaving the Web: The Internet's Effect on International News Coverage and International Relations
Authors: Seib Philip
Published: March 2008

The convergence of media fostered by the rise of the Internet is reshaping international news coverage and changing relations between nations. The tripartite relationship of public, news media, and policy-makers is made tighter by the convergence powers of the Web. To take advantage of the Internet, news organisations are expanding their in-house capabilities and forming new partnerships. In the United States, these changes could have particularly profound effect on long-neglected international news coverage. Governments are also affected by these changes, using the Web to acquire and disseminate information. For their part, members of the public can gather information on their own, rather than waiting for news organisations to filter and then deliver it. Other facets of international relations affected by the Internet include the expansion of venues for terrorist organisations, supporters of democratisation, and watchdog/pressure groups. Beyond news and other communications functions, the Internet presents new challenges to systems of international relations. The information revolution is proceeding on numerous fronts, redefining the role and power of the news media and presenting policy-makers with a tool that they must contend with as well as use for their own purposes.
Pursuing the Political: A Postcolonial Rethinking of Relations International
Authors: Darby Phillip
Published: March 2008

Taking its bearings from postcolonial studies, this article probes the meaning of the political in contemporary international life and how it works to block systemic change in North-South relations. The paper begins by attempting to reposition postcolonial criticism, contending that it needs to engage more directly with the politics of global relations today. It then examines the present world order arguing that the political is so constituted as to proscribe dissent. I go on to argue for a politics of difference, paying particular attention to the campaign for democratisation. I further argue that there is a need to take account of everyday life which can represent a politics in the making. The paper concludes by suggesting that the political as it is currently understood works to underwrite the existing order and that what is threatening is relegated to the sphere of the non-political.
The Empire Writes Back (to Michael Ignatieff)
Authors: Rao Rahul
Published: March 2008

This article critiques the re-legitimisation of empire evident in recent writing by Michael Ignatieff. It begins by locating his work within the larger debate on empire emerging today. Focusing first on Ignatieff's more general comments on empire, it suggests that his defensive case for empire is misleading: it ignores the extent to which the circumstances allegedly necessitating `new' empire are themselves a consequence of older empire, and indeed older US empire. Focusing next on Ignatieff's largely consequentialist case for the 2003 attack on Iraq, it argues that the `success' of the imperial project — to the extent that this requires the cooperation of Iraqis — will depend crucially on the motives of the imperialists. Without engaging directly with Ignatieff's work, the final section addresses some of the questions that the foregoing critique may have raised. In particular, it examines critically the claim that empires are legitimised by the public goods they provide.
The Power to Construct International Security: On the Significance of Private Military Companies
Authors: Leander Anna
Published: March 2008

This article suggests that the full significance of PMCs for international security is often missed because the concept of power framing these discussions is inadequate. The power to shape shared understandings of security is particularly neglected. The article argues that the emergence of PMCs has shifted the location of this power from the public/state to the private/market and, even more significantly, from the civil to the military sphere. The article reaches this conclusion in three steps. First, it suggests that PMCs have considerable power to shape the security agenda (Bacharach and Baratz). Second, it suggests that PMCs shape security understandings of key actors and hence their interests and preferences (Lukes's third dimension). These two facets highlight what I term the PMCs' epistemic power, located at the level of agency. Third, the article suggests that the action of PMCs have affected the field of security expertise, empowering a more military understanding of security which, in turn, empowers PMCs as particularly legitimate security experts. This third enlargement of the power concept highlights the `structural power' of PMCs related to their position in the field of security (Bourdieu). ————————————————————————
Why `Soft Power' Isn't So Soft: Representational Force and the Sociolinguistic Construction of Attraction in World Politics
Authors: Mattern Janice Bially
Published: March 2008

Soft power—the ability to achieve desired outcomes through attraction rather than coercion—has become an important part of scholarly thinking and policy practice with respect to world politics. And yet attraction, the core component of soft power, has been largely neglected in scholarly research. Research has been undertaken, policy suggestions offered, and ethical conclusions about soft power drawn all on the basis of implicit and often unacknowledged assumptions about attraction. As I argue here, this is problematic because neither of the most prominent assumptions— attraction as natural and attraction as constructed through persuasive argument—are feasible or logical in the context of world politics. In fact, as I argue, in the context of world politics it makes far more sense to model attraction as a relationship that is constructed through representational force—a nonphysical but nevertheless coercive form of power that is exercised through language. Insofar as attraction is sociolinguistically constructed through representational force, soft power should be not be understood in juxtaposition to hard power but as a continuation of it by different means. This analytic insight in turn demands some practical and normative reformulations about soft power. ————————————————————————
The Political Sublime: An Oxymoron
Authors: O'Gorman Ned
Published: March 2008

The sublime has been a categorical refuge in a number of important `postmodern' critical and theoretical projects, most of which are aimed at retrieving or inventing a more radical, liberating, or progressive politics. Using Kant's theory of the sublime, an übertheory for postmodern thought, this essay argues that the political sublime is self-defeating because it precludes differentiation, a sine qua non of politics. Furthermore, I argue that where the sublime takes on political purchase it slips into the beautiful — the `political sublime' is a form of the beautiful. The political sublime is a means of pronouncing the limits of one set of political practices and displacing them with another, purportedly stron ge r, politics. I make this argument through two distinct but interconnected approaches: (1) through a reading of theories of the political sublime in Jean-François Lyotard and Hayden White, and (2) through a reading of CNN's live US coverage of the 11 September 2001 attacks.
The Visible Hand of Neo-conservative Capitalism
Authors: Drolet Jean-Francois
Published: March 2008

Set in the context of the neo-liberalisation of capitalism, this article examines the intellectual basis of neo-conservative interventions in debates over the reformation of America's regimes of citizenship and analyses the ethico-politics enacted by those interventions. The article highlights the main axes of the neo-conservative critique of both the post-War Left and the New Right and calls attention to the extent to which this critique has translated into an expressive politics of security facilitating the rearticulation of class interests and the further advancement of market forces in the US since the late 1970s. It is argued that neo-conservative expressive security discourses are underpinned by a distinctively Schmittian rationale that transcends the traditional separation between domestic and foreign policy and aspires to a mode of political association which is fundamentally extrinsic to the liberal tradition that neo-conservatives allegedly want to reform. Unlike a number of studies published since the advent of the post-9/11 `neo-conservative moment' in American foreign policy, the analysis presented here suggests that it is not necessarily in the imperialist character of the Bush administration's foreign policy as such that the Schmittian (and Straussian) bent of the neo-conservative project can be observed but in neo-conservatism's ambivalence towards the modern liberal state and the steering mechanisms upon which the latter relies to govern the life process.
Unveiling the `International': Process, Identity and Alterity
Authors: Guillaume Xavier
Published: March 2008

Process-based approaches avoid ontological consideration of social entities as substances, avoid epistemological reification of social entities or phenomena into static units and, on the contrary, integrate the idea of change into their whole conceptualisation of the social world. Finally, process-based approaches also aim to endogenise social phenomena theoretically in order to have a better understanding of their complexity. In sum, the key ideas of process-based approaches basically lie in the prioritisation of process over substance, relation over separateness, and activity over passivity. Starting from this position, the aim of this article is to offer a more concrete approach to a specific dimension of the `international' by focusing on the identity— alterity nexus. It will be shown how the spatial understanding of the `international' still characteristic of most contemporary IR theories is at odds with issues about the identity—alterity nexus that is partly constitutive of the `international', which rather than being thought of as a spatial dimension should be thought of as a process in itself. The French `veil affair' will be presented as an example to highlight the limits of our current spatial perspective about the `international'.
Whither the International at the End of IR1
Authors: Sylvester Christine
Published: March 2008

IR today has a far more expansive sense of the international than it had prior to the third debate era. Exciting as this is, the broadening has also resulted in a certain narrowing. We are now an IR of camps that form around, and develop particularistic notions of, the international and its key relations. Camps follow particular personages and texts, often interact minimally with one another, and can be unfamiliar with texts and theories that do not concern them; increasingly, the camps even develop their own journals. Establishing zones of professional distinction that operate in camp-ish modes, the camps of IR render intellectual exception-taking the norm. In some ways, this means that IR is at an end: there is little agreement today on what the field is about. Yet IR lives on with a structure that simultaneously lets more in and misses elements of the international that lie in spaces between camps. Drawing on a range of writings on “camps” and “the end,” I characterise IR's structure today and propose a route to an afterlife that juxtaposes fragmented knowledges instead of seeking reconciliation or continuing on with separateness. The idea is to construct IR collages, wherein differences, even seeming incommensurabilities, are put together into compositions that suggest locations and links as yet unexplored.
The Couples Gender-Based Questionnaire (CGQ): Thirty-Three Relationship Considerations
Authors: Eckstein Daniel , Love Pat , Aycock Kristen J. , Van Wiesner V.
Published: March 2008

Thirty-three research-referenced gender differences are explored by means of a couple's gender-based questionnaire (CGQ). Couples take the questionnaire individually and then collaboratively choose one answer relative to whether each statement is more characteristic of males, females, or both genders. A review of gender-related literature follows. Implications and applications to the couples themselves conclude the article.
Social Work in Home Care and Adult Day Settings: A Comparative Study
Authors: Novick Judith G.
Published: March 2008

This article explores the job characteristics of social work practice in the home health care field versus the adult day care arena. In many ways, the two positions are very similar; the types of clients or patients serviced, the multidisciplinary nature of the work, and the issues faced when working with this population are examples of similarities. This comparison helps readers understand how the transition from fieldwork to the center setting can be achieved. This exploration represents the personal experiences of the author, who, after almost 25 years in the home health care field, now works in adult day care.
Revaluing Social Work in Home Care: Lessons From Innovators, Rebels, and Hospice
Authors: Cabin William D.
Published: March 2008

The Medicare and Medicaid home health benefits are extensive programs covering more than 4 million persons, costing $13 billion annually. However, these benefits have limited social work coverage, representing only 1% to 2% of all Medicare and Medicaid home health visits, and social work is not a required service under Medicaid. There has been limited research addressing home care social workers' frustrations with unmet patient needs but no research on coping strategies social workers use to deal with the devalued status of social work in home care. This article presents the results of an interview-based pilot study of the topic, using a convenience sample of 14 home care social workers in New York City interviewed in 2006. Policy makers and practitioners should take guidance from the innovator and rebel social work types and from the Hospice Medicare Benefit and create a more robust social work—based psychosocial care component in Medicare and Medicaid home health care.
U.K. Clergy and People in Mental Distress: Community and Patterns of Pastoral Care
Authors: Leavey Gerard
Published: March 2008

Despite the advance of secularizing influences in many western societies, religion and faith-based organizations play a significant role in the lives of many individuals and communities. Despite this, little is known about what clergy do when faced with mental health problems among their communities. Based on an analysis of in-depth interviews with U.K. Christian, Muslim and Jewish clergy this article examines models of pastoral care provided within different faith groups. The provision of such care was generally influenced by religious tradition and beliefs, community integrity and mission. Implications of the findings for collaboration with pastoral care are discussed.
No one's looking: the disappearing audience for war
Authors: Carruthers Susan L.
Published: March 2008

The Iraq war has generated an abundance of documentary films, supplemented by a small but growing number of Hollywood features. Yet American audiences for imagery from, of, or about the US enterprise in Iraq are remarkably scant. This article ponders the implications of this collective aversion to inspecting the war and its consequences. Setting popular `reluctance to see' in historical context, the author suggests that the current moment is sui generis: a challenge to media scholars to re-examine prevailing paradigms and to historicize the specificities of anemic contemporary `anti-war' sentiment.
IgG regulates the CD1 expression profile and lipid antigen-presenting function in human dendritic cells via FcγRIIa
Authors: Smed-Sörensen Anna , Moll Markus , Cheng Tan-Yun , Loré Karin , Norlin Anna-Carin , Perbeck Leif , Moody D. Branch , Spetz Anna-Lena , Sandberg Johan K.
Published: March 2008

Dendritic cells (DCs) process and present bacterial and endogenous lipid antigens in complex with CD1 molecules to T cells and invariant natural killer T (NKT) cells. However, different types of DCs, such as blood myeloid DCs and skin Langerhans cells, exhibit distinct patterns of CD1a, CD1b, CD1c, and CD1d expression. The regulation of such differences is incompletely understood. Here, we initially observed that monocyte-derived DCs cultured in an immunoglobulin-rich milieu expressed CD1d but not CD1a, CD1b, and CD1c, whereas DCs cultured in the presence of low levels of immunoglobulins had an opposite CD1 profile. Based on this, we tested the possibility that immunoglobulins play a central role in determining these differences. IgG depletion and intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) add-in experiments strongly supported a role for IgG in directing the CD1 expression profile. Blocking experiments indicated that this effect was mediated by FcγRIIa (CD32a), and quantitative polymerase chain reaction data demonstrated that regulation of the CD1 profile occurred at the gene expression level. Finally, the ability of DCs to activate CD1-restricted NKT cells and T cells was determined by this regulatory effect of IgG. Our data demonstrate an important role for FcγRIIa in regulating the CD1 antigen presentation machinery of human DCs.
Testing the Coulomb/Accessible Surface Area solvent model for protein stability, ligand binding, and protein design
Authors: am Busch Marcel Schmidt , Lopes Anne , Amara Najette , Bathelt Christine , Simonson Thomas
Published: March 2008

Background

Protein structure prediction and computational protein design require efficient yet sufficiently accurate descriptions of aqueous solvent. We continue to evaluate the performance of the Coulomb/Accessible Surface Area (CASA) implicit solvent model, in combination with the Charmm19 molecular mechanics force field. We test a set of model parameters optimized earlier, and we also carry out a new optimization in this work, using as a target a set of experimental stability changes for single point mutations of various proteins and peptides. The optimization procedure is general, and could be used with other force fields. The computation of stability changes requires a model for the unfolded state of the protein. In our approach, this state is represented by tripeptide structures of the sequence Ala-X-Ala for each amino acid type X. We followed an iterative optimization scheme which, at each cycle, optimizes the solvation parameters and a set of tripeptide structures for the unfolded state. This protocol uses a set of 140 experimental stability mutations and a large set of tripeptide conformations to find the best tripeptide structures and solvation parameters.

Results

Using the optimized parameters, we obtain a mean unsigned error of 2.28 kcal/mol for the stability mutations. The performance of the CASA model is assessed by two further applications: (i) calculation of protein-ligand binding affinities and (ii) computational protein design. For these two applications, the previous parameters and the ones optimized here give a similar performance. For ligand binding, we obtain reasonable agreement with a set of 55 experimental mutation data, with a mean unsigned error of 1.76 kcal/mol with the new parameters and 1.47 kcal/mol with the earlier ones. We show that the optimized CASA model is not inferior to the Generalized Born/Surface Area (GB/SA) model for the prediction of these binding affinities. Likewise, the new parameters perform well for the design of 8 SH3 domain proteins where an average of 32.8% sequence identity relative to the native sequences was achieved. Further, it was shown that the computed sequences have the character of naturally-occuring homologues of the native sequences.

Conclusion

Overall, the two CASA variants explored here perform very well for a wide variety of applications. Both variants provide an efficient solvent treatment for the computational engineering of ligands and proteins.
Effects of cyclic nucleotides on midgut infections and maturation of T. b. brucei in G. m. morsitans
Authors: MacLeod Ewan T , Maudlin Ian , Welburn Susan C
Published: March 2008

Cyclic nucleotide signalling through cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) is thought to play an important role in the transformation of the long slender (dividing) form to the short-stumpy (arrested) form in the mammalian bloodstream but the role of cyclic nucleotides in the tsetse-based part of the trypanosome life cycle is unknown. In a series of in vivo experiments, it was found that cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) but not cAMP could induce significantly higher rates of midgut infection in tsetse. Continuous feeding of either cGMP or cAMP to tsetse had no effect on rates of maturation of established midgut infections suggesting that these two parts of the life cycle in tsetse are not linked.
Resistivity and offset error estimations for the small-loop electromagnetic method
Authors: Sasaki Yutaka , Son Jeong-Sul , Kim Changryol , Kim Jung-Ho
Published: March 2008

Handheld frequency-domain electromagnetic (EM) instruments are being used increasingly for shallow environmental and geotechnical surveys because of their portability and speed of use in field operations. However, in many cases, the quality of data is so poor that quantitative interpretation is not justified. This is because the small-loop EM method is required to detect very weak signals (the secondary magnetic fields) in the presence of the dominant primary field, so the data are inherently susceptible to calibration errors. Although these errors can be measured by raising the instrument high above the ground so that the effect of the conducting ground is negligible, it is impracticable to do so for every survey. We have developed an algorithm that simultaneously inverts small-loop EM data for a multidimensional resistivity distribution and offset errors. For this inversion method to work successfully the data must be collected at two heights. The forward modeling used in the inversion is based on a staggered-grid 3D finite-difference method; its solution has been checked against a 2.5D finite-element solution. Synthetic and real data examples demonstrate that the inversion recovers reliable resistivity models from multifrequency data that are contaminated severely by offset errors.
Cross Talk of Signaling Pathways in the Regulation of the Glucocorticoid Receptor Function
Authors: Davies Laura , Karthikeyan Nirupama , Lynch James T. , Sial Elin-Alia , Gkourtsa Areti , Demonacos Constantinos , Krstic-Demonacos Marija
Published: March 2008

Several posttranslational modifications including phosphorylation have been detected on the glucocorticoid receptor (GR). However, the interdependence and combinatorial regulation of these modifications and their role in GR functions are poorly understood. We studied the effects of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK)-dependent phosphorylation of GR on its sumoylation status and the impact that these modifications have on GR transcriptional activity. GR is targeted for phosphorylation at serine 246 (S246) by the JNK protein family in a rapid and transient manner. The levels of S246 phosphorylation of endogenous GR increased significantly in cells treated with UV radiation that activates JNK. S246 GR phosphorylation by JNK facilitated subsequent GR sumoylation at lysines 297 and 313. GR sumoylation increased with JNK activation and was inhibited in cells treated with JNK inhibitor. GR sumoylation in cells with activated JNK was mediated preferentially by small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO)2 rather than SUMO1. An increase in GR transcriptional activity was observed after inhibition of JNK or SUMO pathways and suppression of GR transcriptional activity after activation of both pathways in cells transfected with GR-responsive reporter genes. Endogenous GR transcriptional activity was inhibited on endogenous target genes IGF binding protein (IGFBP) and glucocorticoid-induced leucine zipper (GILZ) when JNK and SUMO pathways were induced individually or simultaneously. Activation of both of these signals inhibited GR-mediated regulation of human inhibitor of apoptosis gene (hIAP), whereas simultaneous activation had no effect. We conclude that phosphorylation aids GR sumoylation and that cross talk of JNK and SUMO pathways fine tune GR transcriptional activity in a target gene-specific manner, thereby modulating the hormonal response of cells exposed to stress.
Beneficial effect of antibiotics on ciliary beat frequency of human nasal epithelial cells exposed to bacterial toxins
Authors: Mallants Roel , Jorissen Mark , Augustijns Patrick
Published: March 2008

In the present study, we explored whether the cilio-inhibitory effect induced by toxins derived from bacterial infections could be compensated for by a cilio-stimulatory effect of antibiotics. Human nasal epithelial cells (HNEC) expressing beating cilia were grown as monolayers. Ciliary beat frequency (CBF) was determined using an inverted microscope coupled with a high-speed digital camera. Clarithromycin and neomycin did not influence ciliary activity. Bacitracin, clindamycin, gramicidin and roxithromycin increased CBF significantly: by 50 ± 12%, 54 ± 16%, 31 ± 16% and 31 ± 18%, respectively. A 30 min exposure to Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin B (SEB) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa lipopolysaccharide (PAL) decreased CBF significantly, by 37 ± 16 and 28 ± 12%, respectively. In contrast with exposure to the toxin alone, co-incubation of the nasal monolayer cells with PAL and bacitracin or clindamycin did not result in a decrease in CBF after 30 and 60 min. The effect of SEB could be compensated for by bacitracin but not by clindamycin. After a 12 h pre-incubation period with SEB, co-incubation with either bacitracin or clindamycin resulted in the complete recovery of CBF. This study suggests that topical antibiotic treatment of nasal infections could result in a dual positive effect, namely treatment of the bacterial infection and recovery of ciliary activity.
Soybean fat supplementation controls insulin resistance caused by fat-free total parenteral nutrition
Authors: Ohkawa Hiroko , Fukuwa Chie , Matsuzawa-Nagata Naoto , Yokogawa Koichi , Omura Kenji , Miyamoto Ken-ichi
Published: March 2008

Conscious young adult male rats were given total parenteral nutrition (TPN) with or without soybean fat for 4 days. Those given fat-free TPN developed severe fatty liver, with hyperglycaemia, hyperinsulinaemia, and hypotriglyceridaemia. These disorders were clearly improved by supplementing TPN with soybean fat, in an amount equivalent to 20% of total calories, and correspondingly reducing glucose. Insulin resistance also developed over a 4-day infusion of fat-free TPN in mature rats. Even after overnight fasting after stopping the TPN infusion, the levels of serum glucose and insulin were higher in the fat-free TPN group than in the control group, and intravenous glucose tolerance test results indicated insulin resistance in the fat-free TPN group. The HOMA-IR index of insulin resistance was significantly improved by supplementation with soybean fat. In conclusion, fat-free TPN infusion induced hyperglycaemia and hyperinsulinaemia, leading to fatty liver and insulin resistance. TPN with glucose should be supplemented with soybean fat emulsion as replacement for part of the glucose calories.
Induction of hepatocyte growth factor by fucoidan and fucoidan-derived oligosaccharides
Authors: Fukuta Kazuhiro , Nakamura Toshikazu
Published: March 2008

Fucoidan, which is extracted from brown seaweed, is a complex sulphated polysaccharide that is mostly composed of l-fucose and sulphated ester groups. The structural and anionic characteristics of fucoidan are similar to those of heparin. Heparin stimulates production of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), which has key roles in tissue regeneration. We have shown that fucoidan and fucoidan-derived oligosaccharides have similar ability to stimulate production of HGF as heparin and heparin-derived oligosaccharides. This induction of HGF by heparin or fucoidan and their oligosaccharide derivates occurs primarily at the level of translation, probably via the same mechanism. Fucoidan may thus be useful to protect tissues and organs from various injuries and diseases, via mechanisms involving HGF.
Effect of methanolic extract of Terminalia arjuna against Helicobacter pylori 26695 lipopolysaccharide-induced gastric ulcer in rats
Authors: Devi Rethinam Sundaresan , Kist Manfred , Vani Ganapathy , Devi Chennam Srinivasulu Shyamala
Published: March 2008

Helicobacter pylori lipopolysaccharide (HP-LPS) is a potent virulence factor in the causation of gastric ulcer and gastritis. H. pylori-induced gastric pathology is prevalent throughout the world. Herbal medicines are attracting attention because of their traditional values, popularity and belief, as well as for their advantages such as less toxicity, affordability and medicinal value. The present study aimed to evaluate the anti-ulcer effect of a methanolic extract of Terminalia arjuna (TA) against HP-LPS-induced gastric damage in rats. Ulcers were induced with HP-LPS (50 μg per animal) administered orally daily for 3 days. The efficacy of TA on gastric secretory parameters such as volume of gastric juice, pH, free and total acidity, pepsin concentration, and the cytoprotective parameters such as protein-bound carbohydrate complexes in gastric juice and gastric mucosa was assessed. The protective effect of TA was also confirmed by histopathological examination of gastric mucosa. HP-LPS-induced alterations in gastric secretory parameters were altered favourably in rats treated with TA, suggesting that TA has an anti-secretory role. Furthermore, HP-LPS-induced impairments in gastric defence factors were also prevented by treatment with TA. These results suggest that the severe cellular damage and pathological changes caused by HP-LPS are mitigated by TA; these effects are comparable with those of sucralfate. The anti-ulcer effect of TA may reflect its ability to combat factors that damage the gastric mucosa, and to protect the mucosal defensive factors.
Methanol extract of Desmodium gangeticum roots preserves mitochondrial respiratory enzymes, protecting rat heart against oxidative stress induced by reperfusion injury
Authors: Kurian Gino A , Yagnesh N , Kishan R Sanchit , Paddikkala Jose
Published: March 2008

Ischaemia and reperfusion result in mitochondrial dysfunction, with decreased oxidative capacity, loss of cytochrome c and generation of reactive oxygen species. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a methanol extract of Desmodium gangeticum (L) DC (Fabaceae) (DG) on lipid per-oxidation and antioxidants in mitochondria and tissue homogenates of normal, ischaemic and ischaemia-reperfused rats. Myocardial lipid peroxidation products (thiobarbituric acid reactive substances; TBARS) in cardiac tissue homogenates and mitochondrial fractions were significantly increased during ischaemia reperfusion. Antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and glutathione reductase) in the myocardial tissue homogenate and mitochondria decreased significantly during ischaemia reperfusion, accompanied by a decreased activity of mitochondrial respiratory enzymes. Daily pretreatment of rats with DG (50 or 100 mgkg−1) orally for 30 days had a significant effect on the activity of mitochondrial and antioxidant enzymes. In-vitro studies showed that DG inhibited lipid peroxidation, and also scavenged hydroxyl and superoxide radicals. The concentrations required to scavenge 50% of the superoxide and hydroxyl radicals were 21 and 50.5 μgmL−1, respectively. Administration of DG to normal rats did not have any significant effect on any of the parameters studied. The results of our study showed that DG possesses the ability to scavenge the free radicals generated during ischaemia and ischaemia reperfusion and thereby preserves the mitochondrial respiratory enzymes that eventually lead to cardioprotection.
TheBLADE-ON-PETIOLEgenes are essential for abscission zone formation inArabidopsis
Authors: McKim Sarah M. , Stenvik Grethe-Elisabeth , Butenko Melinka A. , Kristiansen Wenche , Cho Sung Ki , Hepworth Shelley R. , Aalen Reidunn B. , Haughn George W.
Published: March 2008

The Arabidopsis BLADE-ON-PETIOLE 1 (BOP1) and BOP2 genes encode redundant transcription factors that promote morphological asymmetry during leaf and floral development. Loss-of-function bop1 bop2 mutants display a range of developmental defects, including a loss of floral organ abscission. Abscission occurs along specialised cell files, called abscission zones (AZs) that develop at the junction between the leaving organ and main plant body. We have characterized the bop1 bop2 abscission phenotype to determine how BOP1 and BOP2 contribute to the known abscission developmental framework. Histological analysis and petal breakstrength measurements of bop1 bop2 flowers show no differentiation of floral AZs. Furthermore,vestigial cauline leaf AZs are also undifferentiated in bop1 bop2mutants, suggesting that BOP proteins are essential to establish AZ cells in different tissues. In support of this hypothesis, BOP1/BOP2 activity is required for both premature floral organ abscission and the ectopic abscission of cauline leaves promoted by the INFLORESCENCE DEFICIENT IN ABSCISSION (IDA) gene under the control of the constitutive CaMV 35S promoter. Expression of several abscission-related marker genes, including IDA, is relatively unperturbed in bop1 bop2 mutants,indicating that these AZ genes respond to positional cues that are independent of BOP1/BOP2 activity. We also show that BOP1 and BOP2promote growth of nectary glands, which normally develop at the receptacle adjacent to developing AZs. Taken together, these data suggest that BOP1/BOP2 activity is required for multiple cell differentiation events in the proximal regions of inflorescence lateral organs.
NKX2.1 specifies cortical interneuron fate by activatingLhx6
Authors: Du Tonggong , Xu Qing , Ocbina Polloneal J. , Anderson Stewart A.
Published: March 2008

In the ventral telencephalon, the medial ganglionic eminence (MGE) is a major source of cortical interneurons. Expression of the transcription factor NKX2.1 in the MGE is required for the specification of two major subgroups of cortical interneurons - those that express parvalbumin (PV) or somatostatin(SST) - but direct targets of NKX2.1 remain to be established. We find that electroporation of Nkx2.1 cDNA into the ventral telencephalon of slice cultures from Nkx2.1-/- mouse embryos, followed by transplantation into neonatal cortex to permit postnatal analysis of their fate, rescues the loss of PV- and SST-expressing cells. The LIM-homeobox gene Lhx6 is induced by this rescue experiment, and gain- and loss-of-function studies suggest that Lhx6 is necessary and sufficient to rescue these and other interneuron phenotypes in cells transplanted from Nkx2.1-/- slices. Finally, NKX2.1 protein binds a highly conserved sequence in the Lhx6 promoter, and this sequence appears to mediate the direct activation of Lhx6 by NKX2.1. The slice transfection and transplantation methods employed here are beginning to uncover embryonic mechanisms for specifying neuronal fates that only become definable postnatally.
Shroom3-mediated recruitment of Rho kinases to the apical cell junctions regulates epithelial and neuroepithelial planar remodeling
Authors: Nishimura Tamako , Takeichi Masatoshi
Published: March 2008

Remodeling of epithelial sheets plays important roles in animal morphogenesis. Shroom3 is known to regulate the apical constriction of epithelial cells. Here, we show that Shroom3 binds ROCKs and recruits them to the epithelial apical junctions. We identified the Shroom3-binding site(RII-C1) on ROCKs, and found that RII-C1 could antagonize the Shroom3-ROCK interaction, interfering with the action of Shroom3 on cell morphology. In the invaginating neural plate/tube, Shroom3 colocalized with ROCKs at the apical junctions; Shroom3 depletion or RII-C1 expression in the tube removed these apically localized ROCKs, and concomitantly blocked neural tube closure. Closing neural plate exhibited peculiar cell assemblies, including rosette formation, as well as a planar-polarized distribution of phosphorylated myosin regulatory light chain, but these were abolished by ROCK inhibition or RII-C1 expression. These results demonstrate that the Shroom3-ROCK interaction is crucial for the regulation of epithelial and neuroepithelial cell arrangement and remodeling.
Direct interaction of AGL24 and SOC1 integrates flowering signals in Arabidopsis
Authors: Liu Chang , Chen Hongyan , Er Hong Ling , Soo Hui Meng , Kumar Prakash P. , Han Jin-Hua , Liou Yih Cherng , Yu Hao
Published: March 2008

During the transition from vegetative to reproductive growth, the shoot meristem of flowering plants acquires the inflorescence identity to generate flowers rather than vegetative tissues. An important regulator that promotes the inflorescence identity in Arabidopsis is AGAMOUS-LIKE 24 (AGL24),a MADS-box transcription factor. Using a functional estradiol-inducible system in combination with microarray analysis, we identified AGL24-induced genes, including SUPPRESSOR OF OVEREXPRESSION OF CO 1(SOC1), a floral pathway integrator. Chromatin immunoprecipitation(ChIP) analysis of a functional AGL24-6HA-tagged line revealed in vivo binding of AGL24-6HA to the regulatory region of SOC1. Mutagenesis of the AGL24 binding site in the SOC1 promoter decreased ProSOC1:GUS expression and compromised SOC1function in promoting flowering. Our results show that SOC1 is one of the direct targets of AGL24, and that SOC1 expression is upregulated by AGL24 at the shoot apex at the floral transitional stage. ChIP assay using a functional SOC1-9myc-tagged line and promoter mutagenesis analysis also revealed in vivo binding of SOC1-9myc to the regulatory regions of AGL24 and upregulation of AGL24 at the shoot apex by SOC1. Furthermore, we found that as in other flowering genetic pathways, the effect of gibberellins on flowering under short-day conditions was mediated by the interaction between AGL24and SOC1. These observations suggest that during floral transition, a positive-feedback loop conferred by direct transcriptional regulation between AGL24 and SOC1 at the shoot apex integrates flowering signals.
Variability in forelimb bone strains during non-steady locomotor activities in goats
Authors: Moreno Carlos A. , Main Russell P. , Biewener Andrew A.
Published: March 2008

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of non-steady locomotor activities on load predictability in two goat forelimb bones and to explore the degree to which bone curvature influences load predictability. We measured in vivo bone strains in the radius and metacarpus of juvenile goats performing a variety of natural behaviors in an outdoor arena and compared these strain magnitudes and loading patterns with those measured during steady-state treadmill locomotion. We sought to test two hypotheses:our first hypothesis expects an increase in the variability of strain magnitude and pattern during outdoor non-steady behavior when compared to treadmill locomotion. Our second hypothesis was that the curved radius experiences higher peak strains but less variability during non-steady activities than the straighter metacarpus. We found that unsteady, outdoor locomotion generally caused more variable strain patterns (consistent with the first hypothesis), but not more variable strain magnitudes, than treadmill locomotion in both bones. During outdoor locomotion, higher magnitude strain events in the radius showed more constrained loading patterns than in the metacarpus (consistent with the second hypothesis). In addition to the radius experiencing significantly greater bending strains compared to the straighter metacarpus, these results support the idea of a trade-off between increased predictability of loading pattern and increased bending-induced strain. Strain magnitudes recorded during both outdoor and treadmill locomotion showed a lognormal frequency distribution, but the outdoor bone strain distributions had a greater range because they included high magnitude loading events that did not occur during steady treadmill locomotion.
Thermodynamics of oxygenation-linked proton and lactate binding govern the temperature sensitivity of O2 binding in crustacean(Carcinus maenas) hemocyanin
Authors: Weber Roy E. , Behrens Jane W. , Malte Hans , Fago Angela
Published: March 2008

With the aim of understanding the molecular underpinnings of the enormous variation in the temperature sensitivity of hemocyanin–O2affinity encountered in crustaceans, we measured O2 binding to Carcinus maenas hemocyanin at two temperatures, varying pH values and in the absence and presence of lactate ions in order to assess the contributions of oxygenation-linked binding of protons (the Bohr effect) and lactate ions to the overall enthalpies of oxygenation (ΔH′). The hemocyanin binds maximally 0.35 lactate ions per functional subunit. Lactate(which accumulates under hypoxic conditions) increases O2 affinity by preferentially raising the association equilibrium constant of the hemocyanin in the low-affinity Tense state (KT), without significantly affecting that of the high-affinity Relaxed state(KR). In the absence of lactate, the variation in the temperature sensitivity observed with decreasing pH tallies neatly with changes in the nature and magnitude of the Bohr effect. Accordingly, the normal, absent and reverse Bohr effects observed under alkaline, neutral and acid conditions, respectively, reflect endothermic proton dissociation,absence of proton binding and exothermic proton association, respectively,upon oxygen binding. Oxygenation-linked lactate binding is exothermic, highly pH dependent and peaks near pH 7.6, where it contributes approximately–30 kJ mol–1 to the overall heat of oxygenation. This predictably increases the temperature sensitivity of O2 affinity,potentially hampering O2 loading in warm, hypoxic habitats. The data demonstrate governing roles for lactate and proton ions in determining the temperature sensitivity of hemocyanin–O2 affinity in crustaceans.
Involvement of lactate in glucose metabolism and glucosensing function in selected tissues of rainbow trout
Authors: Polakof Sergio , Soengas José L.
Published: March 2008

The aim of this study was to obtain evidence in rainbow trout for a role of lactate in glucose homeostasis as well as in the function of glucosensing tissues. In a first set of experiments, trout were injected, either (1)intraperitoneally (N=8) with 5 ml kg–1 of Cortland saline alone (control) or saline containing l-(+)-lactate (22.5 mg kg–1 or 45 mg kg–1), oxamate (22.5 mg kg–1) or d-glucose (500 mg kg–1),or (2) intracerebroventricularly (N=11) with 1 μl 100 g–1 body mass of Cortland saline alone (control) or containing d-glucose (400 μg μl–1) or l-(+)-lactate (400 μg μl–1), with samples being obtained 6 h after treatment. In a second set of experiments,hypothalamus, hindbrain and Brockmann bodies were incubated in vitrofor 1 h at 15°C in modified Hanks' medium containing 2, 4 or 8 mmol l–1l-(+)-lactate alone (control) or with 50 mmol l–1 oxamate, 1 mmol l–1 DIDS, 1 mmol l–1 dichloroacetate, 10 mmol l–12-deoxy-d-glucose, 1 mmol l–1α-cyano-4-hydroxy cinnamate or 10 mmol l–1d-glucose. The response of parameters assessed (metabolite levels,enzyme activities and glucokinase expression) in tissues provided evidence for(1) a role for lactate in the regulation of glucose homeostasis through changes not only in brain regions but also in liver energy metabolism, which are further reflected in changes in plasma levels of metabolites; (2) the possible presence in trout brain of an astrocyte–neuron lactate shuttle similar to that found in mammals; and (3) the lack of capacity of lactate to mimic in vitro (but not in vivo) glucose effects in fish glucosensing regions.
Comparison of rotordynamic coefficients for labyrinth seals using a two-control volume method
Authors: Dereli Y
Published: March 2008

In the current paper, the gas flow in straight through labyrinth seals is investigated using a two-control volume model. The continuity and the circumferential momentum equations are reobtained using the above model and three different friction functions. The effects of different friction factor models on the rotordynamic coefficients are shown. Thus, this is a comparative study for investigation of the effects of the shear stress forces to the rotordynamic coefficients. Subsequently, rotordynamic coefficients in straight through labyrinth seals are calculated. Results so obtained are then compared with earlier results.