bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Defective activations of STAT3 Ser727 and PKC isoforms lead to oncostatin M resistance in metastatic melanoma cells
Authors: Lacreusette A. , Barbieux Isabelle , Nguyen Jean‐Michel , Pandolfino Marie‐Christine , Dréno Brigitte , Jacques Yannick , Godard Anne , Blanchard Frédéric
Published: November 2008

Stage III melanoma is refractory to common therapies and shows resistance to the anti‐proliferative activity of cytokines in vitro. We previously demonstrated that, for 30% of the metastatic melanoma cell lines, oncostatin M (OSM) resistance is due to the epigenetic silencing of its receptor OSMRβ. Here we analyse, on a larger panel of short‐term cultures derived from melanoma‐invaded lymph nodes, other mechanisms potentially implicated in OSM resistance. For 18% of the cell lines, OSM resistance is associated with a phosphorylation defect of signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT)3 on serine (Ser)727, in concordance with defects in the activation of various protein kinase C (PKC) isoforms, especially PKCδ. For 21% of the cell lines, OSM resistance is associated with a defect in the activation of Akt on Ser473. By the use of inhibitors, dominant negatives and small interfering (si)RNA, we show that the PKC–STAT3 Ser727, but not the Akt, pathway appears necessary for OSM anti‐proliferative activity. Moreover, we bring evidence that OSM or interleukin (IL)‐6, produced in lymph nodes and/or melanoma cells, could be involved in the establishment of OSM resistance during melanoma progression. These findings could be relevant for the prognosis and the treatment of stage III melanoma patients. Copyright © 2008 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Induction of anti‐tumour immunity by dendritic cells transduced with hTERT recombinant adenovirus in mice
Authors: Chen Ling , Tang Xu‐Dong , Yu Song‐Tao , Ai Zhi‐Hua , Fang Dian‐Chun , Cai Yong‐Guo , Luo Yuan‐Hui , Liang Guang‐Ping , Yang Shi‐Ming
Published: November 2008

Dendritic cells (DCs) transfected with recombinant, replication‐defective adenovirus (Ad) vectors encoding the human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) are potent inducers of cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) and anti‐tumour immunity. However, previous studies have mostly been in vitro. In this study, we sought to determine whether DCs transfected with hTERT (DC/Ad‐hTERT) could elicit a potent anti‐tumour immunogenic response in vivo. We found that murine DCs transfected with recombinant adenovirus encoding the hTERT gene (DC/Ad‐hTERT) induced hTERT‐specific CTLs in vivo effectively, compared with Ad‐LacZ‐transduced DC (DC/Ad‐LacZ) controls. These hTERT‐specific CTLs lysed various tumour cell lines in an hTERT‐specific and MHC‐I molecule‐restricted fashion. We also found that DC/Ad‐hTERT could increase antigen‐specific T‐cell proliferation and augment the number of IFN‐γ secreting T‐cells in mice. These data suggest that the DC/Ad‐hTERT vaccine may induce anti‐tumour immunity against tumour cells expressing hTERT in an MHC‐I molecule‐restricted fashion in vivo through the augmentation of the hTERT‐specific CTL response. The DC/Ad‐hTERT vaccine may thus be used as an efficient DC‐based tumour vaccine in clinical applications. Copyright © 2008 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Germline and somatic NF1 mutations in sporadic and NF1‐associated malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumours
Authors: Bottillo Irene , Ahlquist Terje , Brekke Helge , Danielsen Stine A , van den Berg Eva , Mertens Fredrik , Lothe Ragnhild A , Dallapiccola Bruno
Published: November 2008

Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumours (MPNSTs) are a malignancy occurring with increased frequency in patients with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1). In contrast to the well‐known spectrum of germline NF1 mutations, the information on somatic mutations in MPNSTs is limited. In this study, we screened NF1, KRAS, and BRAF in 47 MPNSTs from patients with (n = 25) and without (n = 22) NF1. In addition, DNA from peripheral blood and cutaneous neurofibroma biopsies from, respectively, 14/25 and 7/25 of the NF1 patients were analysed. Germline NF1 mutations were detected in ten NF1 patients, including three frameshift, three nonsense, one missense, one splicing alteration, and two large deletions. Somatic NF1 mutations were found in 10/25 (40%) NF1‐associated MPNSTs, in 3/7 (43%) neurofibromas, and in 9/22 (41%) sporadic MPNSTs. Large genomic copy number changes accounted for 6/10 and 7/13 somatic mutations in NF1‐associated and sporadic MPNSTs, respectively. Two NF1‐associated and 13 sporadic MPNSTs did not show any NF1 mutation. A major role of the KRAS and BRAF genes was ruled out. The spectrum of germline NF1 mutations in neurofibromatosis patients with MPNST is different from the spectrum of somatic mutations seen in MPNSTs. However, the somatic events share common characteristics with the NF1‐related and the sporadic tumours. Copyright © 2008 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
First trimester maternal serum PAPP‐A, β‐hCG and ADAM12 in prediction of small‐for‐gestational‐age fetuses
Authors: Pihl Kasper , Larsen Torben , Krebs Lone , Christiansen Michael
Published: November 2008

Objective

To examine the ability of predicting fetuses being small‐for‐gestational‐age (SGA) at delivery with the maternal serum markers pregnancy‐associated plasma protein A (PAPP‐A), beta‐human chorionic gonadotrophin (β‐hCG) and A disintegrin and metalloprotease 12 (ADAM12) in first trimester.

Methods

In all,36 cases being SGA (birth weight < 5th centile) and 108 controls being non‐SGA were matched on ethnicity (only Caucasians), smoking status (only nonsmokers), body mass index (BMI), age and parity. Stored blood samples from PAPP‐A and β‐hCG testing obtained at gestational age (GA) of 8 weeks to 13 weeks and 6 days were analyzed for ADAM12. Median MoM values were compared using Mann‐Whitney test. Monte Carlo estimation and receiver‐operator‐characteristics curves were used to asses screening performance.

Results

Median MoM values of PAPP‐A (0.64 vs 1.02, p < 0.001), β‐hCG (0.74 vs 1.04, p = 0.007) and ADAM12 (0.74 vs 0.97, p = 0.004) were significantly reduced in cases compared to controls. The combination of PAPP‐A MoM and β‐hCG MoM yielded a detection rate (DR) for SGA of 26% for a 5% false‐positive rate (FPR). Addition of ADAM12 only improved (28% DR for a 5% FPR) screening performance modestly.

Conclusion

Early prediction of fetuses being SGA is feasible with the combination of first trimester PAPP‐A, β‐hCG and ADAM12. Screening performance is approaching clinical relevance. The inclusion of further markers is an attractive option. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Effects of participation in a martial arts–based antibullying program in elementary schools
Authors: Twemlow Stuart W. , Biggs Bridget K. , Nelson Timothy D. , Vernberg Eric M. , Fonagy Peter , Twemlow Stephen W.
Published: November 2008

This study evaluated the Gentle Warrior Program, a traditional martial arts–based intervention to reduce aggression in children, as it was implemented in three elementary schools. The sample consisted of 254 children in grades 3, 4, and 5 who participated in the Gentle Warrior Program as part of a larger school violence intervention. Results indicated that boys who participated in more Gentle Warrior sessions reported a lower frequency of aggression and greater frequency of helpful bystanding (i.e., helpful behavior toward victims of bullying) over time, relative to boys with less frequent participation. The effect of participation on aggression was partially mediated by empathy. The effect of participation on helpful bystanding was fully mediated by changes in student empathy. No significant results were found for girls. Results of the study provide preliminary support for the use of martial arts–based interventions to address bullying in schools for boys, by teaching empathy, self‐control, and peaceful strategies to resolve conflicts. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The relationship between, and treatment of, DSM Axis I and II disorders encountered in combination
Authors: Stevenson Janine , Boyce Philip , Brodaty Henry
Published: November 2008

Much has been written about the comorbidity of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) Axis I and II disorders in psychiatry. The presence of an Axis II disorder is said to have a negative effect on the symptomatology, treatment and outcome of Axis I disorders. In this paper, we discuss the interrelationship between Axis I and II disorders, between heredity and environment, and between temperament and personality. The clinical utility of the DSM system is challenged. The clinical example used illustrates the difficulty in distinguishing social phobia from avoidant personality disorder in a person also ‘comorbid’ for borderline personality disorder and anorexia nervosa. Biological and dynamic aetiologies are considered in the development of this complex constellation of symptomatology, whether there are indeed multiple disorders in the one person or the symptoms are an expression of a common aetiology. Psychotherapeutic and pharmacotherapeutic treatments are discussed. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Gel‐based proteomics of Gram‐positive bacteria: A powerful tool to address physiological questions
Authors: Hecker Michael , Antelmann Haike , Büttner Knut , Bernhardt Jörg
Published: November 2008

In this review, we demonstrate the power of gel‐based proteomics to address physiological questions of bacteria. Although gel‐based proteomics covers a subpopulation of proteins only, fundamental issues of a bacterial cell such as almost all metabolic pathways or the main signatures of stress and starvation responses can be analyzed. The analysis of the synthesis pattern of single proteins, e.g., in response to environmental changes, requires gel‐based proteomics because only this technique can compare protein synthesis and amount in the same 2‐D gel. Moreover, highly sophisticated software packages facilitate the analysis of the regulation of the main metabolic enzymes or the stress/starvation responses, PTMs, protein damage/repair, and degradation and finally protein secretion mechanisms at a proteome‐wide scale. The challenge of proteomics whose panorama view shows events never seen before is to select the most interesting issues for detailed follow up studies. This “road map of proteomics” from proteome data via new hypothesis and finally novel molecular mechanisms should lead to exciting information on bacterial physiology. However, many proteins escape detection by gel‐based procedures, such as membrane or low abundance proteins. The smart combination of gel‐free and gel‐based approaches is the “state of the art” for physiological proteomics of bacteria.
Omics‐based profiling of carcinoma of the breast and matched regional lymph node metastasis
Authors: Li Jian , Gromov Pavel , Gromova Irina , Moreira José M. , Timmermans‐Wielenga Vera , Rank Fritz , Wang Kai , Li Shengting , Li Heng , Wiuf Carsten , Yang Huanming , Zhang Xiuqing , Bolund Lars , Celis Julio E.
Published: November 2008

Axillary lymph node (ALN) status is currently used as an important clinical indicator of breast cancer prognosis. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying lymph node metastasis are poorly understood and the relationship between ALN metastasis and the primary tumor remains unclear. In an effort to reveal structural changes in the genome and related protein responses that may drive regional metastatic progression we have analyzed matched pairs of primary breast tumors and ALN metastases both at the genomic and proteomic levels using comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) array, quantitative high‐resolution 2‐D PAGE in combination with MS, and immunohistochemistry (IHC). Array CGH revealed a remarkable similarity in genomic aberration profiles between the matched primary tumors and the ALN metastases. Quantitative profiling of 135 known proteins also revealed striking similarities in their overall expression patterns, although we observed distinct changes in the levels of individual proteins in some sample pairs. The remarkable similarities of the overall genomic and proteomic profiles between primary tumors and matched ALN metastases are taken to suggest that, in general, key biological characteristics of the primary breast tumor are maintained in the corresponding lymph node metastases. Given that the omics‐based technologies are oblivious to changes that only occur in minor cellular subsets we validated the proteomic data using IHC, which provides protein expression information with a valuable topological component. Besides confirming the omics‐derived data, the IHC analysis revealed that in two cases the ALN metastases may have been derived from a distinct minor cell subpopulation present in the primary tumor rather than from the bulk of it.
Spin‐controlled optoelectronic devices
Authors: Hövel S. , Gerhardt N. C. , Hofmann M. R. , Lo F.‐Y. , Reuter D. , Wieck A. D. , Schuster E. , Wende H. , Keune W.
Published: November 2008

We report on novel spin‐optoelectronic devices which may transfer spintronics from the lab towards practical applications. Efficient spin‐injection into light emitting diodes is provided by tunnelling through a MgO‐barrier both at room temperature and without magnetic fields due to a special Fe/Tb‐injector architecture. Furthermore, we show spin‐amplification in lasers and finally a robust back conversion of polarised light into a spin‐current by spin‐filtering in a spin‐detector, both working at room temperature. (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Benefits of negative polarization charge in n ‐InGaN on p ‐GaN single heterostructure light emitting diode with p ‐side down
Authors: Reed M. L. , Readinger E. D. , Moe C. G. , Shen H. , Wraback M. , Syrkin A. , Usikov A. , Kovalenkov O. V. , Dmitriev V. A.
Published: November 2008

The effects of negative polarization charge at the n ‐InGaN/p ‐GaN interface on the performance of hydride vapour phase epitaxy‐deposited single heterostructure n ‐In0.17Ga0.83N/p ‐GaN light emitting diodes with p ‐side down are investigated. The negative polarization charge at the interface leads to the formation of a two‐dimensional hole gas within the InGaN near the n ‐InGaN/p ‐GaN interface, as well as reducing the barrier for hole injection. In addition, electrons encounter experience a significant barrier for injection across the heterointerface. As a result, superlinear increase in light output as injection current increases below 20 A/cm2 and peak emission wavelength shift from 495 nm to 470 nm are observed. We show that the combination of two‐dimensional hole‐gas formation on the n ‐InGaN side of the hetero‐interface and enhancement of the electron barrier to transport across this interface may reduce efficiency droop at high current density without the need for an AlGaN electron blocking layer. (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Oxide‐mediated formation of α‐FeSi2 on Si(001) studied by X‐ray adsorption near edge structure analysis using SPELEEM
Authors: Maeda Fumihiko , Hibino Hiroki , Suzuki Satoru , Guo Fang Zhun
Published: November 2008

To investigate the effect of the oxide layer on the oxide‐mediated growth in solid phase epitaxy for the formation of a single‐phase iron disilicides, the annealing processes were analyzed using spectroscopic photoemission and low‐energy electron microscopy for a special surface where oxide areas and clean substrate areas (voids) coexist closely in a micrometer‐order view. From the analysis of high‐resolution X‐ray adsorption near edge structure (XANES), we found that a pure α phase of FeSi2 was obtained in the oxide area after annealing at 720 °C, although a mixture of its α and β phases was obtained in the void area. This indicates that the oxide layer effectively worked and a single‐phase α‐FeSi2 was successfully formed by the oxide‐mediated growth. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Electroless plating of copper on Si(100) surfaces modified by surface‐initiated atom‐transfer radical polymerization of 4‐vinylpyridine
Authors: Li Liang , Yan Guoping , Cheng Zhiyu , Wu Jiangyu , Yu Xianghua , Guo Qingzhong
Published: November 2008

Surface‐initiated atom‐transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of 4‐vinylpyridine (4VP) on a pretreated Si(100) surface was carried out. The composition and topography of the Si(100) surface modified by poly(4‐vinylpyridine) (P4VP) were characterized by XPS and atomic force microscopy (AFM), respectively. The P4VP layer on the Si(100) surface was used not only as chemisorption sites for the palladium complexes without prior sensitization by SnCl2 solution during the electroless plating, but also as an adhesion promotion layer for the electrolessly deposited copper. The electrolessly deposited copper on the Si–P4VP surface exhibited a 180° peel adhesion strength above 6 N/cm. The adhesion strength was much higher than that of the electrolessly deposited copper to the pristine silicon surface. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
With greater power comes greater responsibility? takeover protection and corporate attention to stakeholders
Authors: Kacperczyk Aleksandra
Published: November 2008

Using takeover protection as an indicator of corporate governance, this study examines how an exogenous shift in power from shareholders to managers affects corporate attention to non‐shareholding stakeholders. Two competing hypotheses are entertained. The shareholder view predicts that stronger takeover protection will lead to a decrease in corporate attention to shareholders and non‐shareholding stakeholders alike, as managers divert resources from shareholders to the pursuit of their private interests. The stakeholder view, in contrast, predicts that stronger takeover protection will increase corporate attention to non‐shareholding stakeholders. Because catering to non‐shareholding stakeholders contributes to the long‐term value of the firm, managers will be more likely to attend to those stakeholders when relieved from short‐termism triggered by the threat of hostile takeovers. Using a sample of 878 U.S. firms from 1991 to 2002, the study finds that an exogenous increase in takeover protection leads to higher corporate attention to community and the natural environment, but has no impact on corporate attention to employees, minorities, and customers. Additional analyses show that firms that increase their attention to stakeholders experience an increase in long‐term shareholder value. These findings provide additional evidence that relief from short‐termism is a likely source of the increase in corporate attention to non‐shareholding stakeholders following the increase in takeover protection. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The risk‐return paradox for strategic management: disentangling true and spurious effects
Authors: Henkel Joachim
Published: November 2008

The concept of risk is central to strategy research and practice. Yet, the expected positive association between risk and return, familiar from financial markets, is elusive. Measuring risk as the variance of a series of accounting‐based returns, Bowman obtained the puzzling result of a negative association between risk and mean return. This finding, known as the Bowman paradox, has spawned a remarkable number of publications, and various explanations have been suggested. The present study contributes to this literature by showing that skewness of individual firm' return distributions has a considerable spurious effect on the empirically estimated mean‐variance relationship. I devise a method to disentangle true and spurious effects, illustrate it using simulations, and apply it to empirical data. It turns out that the size of the spurious effect is such that, on average, it explains the larger part of the observed negative relationship. My results might thus help to reconcile mean‐variance approaches to risk‐return analysis with other, ex‐ante, approaches. In concluding, I show that the analysis of skewness is linked to all three streams of literature devoted to explaining the Bowman paradox. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Real‐Time Tracking of Superparamagnetic Nanoparticle Self‐Assembly
Authors: Siffalovic P. , Majkova E. , Chitu L. , Jergel M. , Luby S. , Capek I. , Satka A. , Timmann A. , Roth S. V.
Published: November 2008

The spontaneous self‐assembly process of superparamagnetic nanoparticles in a fast‐drying colloidal drop is observed in real time. The grazing‐incidence small‐angle X‐ray scattering (GISAXS) technique is employed for an in situ tracking of the reciprocal space, with a 3 ms delay time between subsequent frames delivered by a new generation of X‐ray cameras. A focused synchrotron beam and sophisticated sample oscillations make it possible to relate the dynamic reciprocal to direct space features and to localize the self‐assembly. In particular, no nanoparticle ordering is found inside the evaporating drop and near‐surface region down to a drop thickness of 90 µm. Scanning through the shrinking drop‐contact line indicates the start of self‐assembly near the drop three‐phase interface, in accord with theoretical predictions. The results obtained have direct implications for establishing the self‐assembly process as a routine technological step in the preparation of new nanostructures.
Trophic ecology of Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) in the ocean: a synthesis of stable isotope research
Authors: Johnson Susan P. , Schindler Daniel E.
Published: November 2008

Increasing interest in the marine trophic dynamics of Pacific salmon has been motivated by the recognition of their sensitivity to changing climate and to the competitive effects of hatchery fish on wild stocks. It has become more common to use stable isotopes to supplement traditional diet studies of salmon in the ocean; however, there have been no integrated syntheses of these data to determine whether stable isotope analyses support the existing conventional wisdom of feeding strategies of the Pacific salmon. We performed a meta‐analysis of stable isotope data to examine the extent of trophic partitioning among five species of Pacific salmon during their marine lives. Pink, sockeye, and chum salmon showed very high overlap in resource use and there was no consistent evidence for chum relying on alternative food webs dominated by gelatinous zooplankton. δ15N showed that Chinook and coho salmon fed at trophic levels higher than the other three species. In addition, these two species were distinctly enriched in 13C, suggesting more extensive use of coastal food webs compared to the more depleted (pelagic) signatures of pink, sockeye, and chum salmon. This paper presents the first synthesis of stable isotope work on Pacific salmon and provides δ15N and δ13C values applicable to research on the fate of the marine derived nutrients these organisms transport to freshwater and riparian ecosystems.
Pulmonary Artery versus Central Venous Catheter Monitoring in the Outcome of Patients Undergoing Bilateral Total Knee Replacement
Authors: Jules-Elysee Kethy M. , YaDeau Jacques T. , Urban Michael K.
Published: November 2008

Bilateral total knee replacement (BTKR) has been associated with a higher incidence of fat embolism (FES) compared to single knee replacement. Consequently, intraoperative monitoring with a pulmonary artery catheter (PAC) has been recommended. This study compares clinical outcome in BTKR patients monitored with central venous pressure versus PAC. A retrospective chart review of 249 consecutive patients undergoing BTKR, 132 of whom had PAC insertion versus 117 who had central line insertion, over a 1-year period were included in the study. Their medical records were reviewed for co-morbidities, baseline characteristics, and type of intraoperative monitoring. Need and duration for postoperative monitoring in the postoperative care, length of hospital stay (LOHS), signs of fat embolism, development of arrhythmias, and respiratory failure were all outcome measures. A total of four patients (1.6%) had FES as per Schonfeld criteria. One of these patients died within 48 h of surgery. They all had PAC monitoring intraoperatively. Pulmonary artery pressure (PAP) remained unchanged during surgery which raises doubt as to the clinical utility and advisability of the use of PAC's in this setting. There was no statistically significant difference in cardiac or pulmonary complications, or LOHS between the two groups. Central venous pressure monitoring appears to be sufficient in patients undergoing BTKR.
A strategy for screening an inhibitor of viral silencing suppressors, which attenuates symptom development of plant viruses
Authors: Shimura Hanako , Fukagawa Takako , Meguro Ayano , Yamada Hirokazu , Oh-hira Mahito , Sano Shinsuke , Masuta Chikara
Published: November 2008

To find out whether we can control plant virus diseases by blocking viral RNA silencing suppressors (RSSs), we developed a strategy to screen inhibitors that block the association of RSSs with siRNAs using a surface plasmon resonance assay. The screened chemicals were tested in competition with RSSs for binding to siRNAs using a mobility shift assay. We then confirmed that tested chemicals actually inhibited the RSS activity in vivo using a protoplast assay which was developed for this purpose. This entire system can be adapted to screening inhibitors of not only plant viruses but also some animal viruses possessing RSSs.
Medical Malpractice and Sinonasal Disease
Authors: Lydiatt Daniel D. , Sewell Ryan K.
Published: November 2008

Objective

Sinonasal disease is a common diagnosis that is encountered by nearly all specialties. This study examines medical malpractice trends in sinonasal disease.

Methods

One hundred fifty‐two malpractice cases involving sinonasal disease between 1988 and 2005 were obtained from a computerized legal database.

Results

Defendants prevailed in 62 percent of the cases with a median monetary award of $650,000. Younger patients prevailed at a higher rate than did older patients (50% vs 35%), and men had a higher median award than did women ($1.0 million vs $314,000). These results approached but did not reach statistical significance (P = 0.09, P = 0.06). Otolaryngologists were the most commonly sued specialty (56%). The most common complications of endoscopic sinus surgery included cerebrospinal fluid leak, orbital trauma, and anosmia. Cancer plaintiffs received the highest median award of $1.5 million.

Conclusions

Physicians must be diligent in forming differential diagnoses, and surgeons must ensure informed consent is obtained and documented. Future studies should continue to identify risk management strategies and areas for malpractice reform.
Rapid Risk Stratification for Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Based on Snoring Severity and Body Mass Index
Authors: Morris Luc G.T. , Kleinberger Andrew , Lee Kelvin C. , Liberatore Lisa A. , Burschtin Omar
Published: November 2008

Objective

It is unclear whether all snoring patients require polysomnography, and there are no highly sensitive clinical predictors of sleep apnea. Our objective was to develop a simple clinical screening test for OSA in snoring patients.

Study Design

Prospective, IRB‐approved study at a university sleep disorders center.

Subjects and Methods

In 211 patients undergoing polysomnography, snoring severity, Epworth sleepiness scale, body mass index, demographic, and sleep study data were collected. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis and Pearson correlation were used to develop a sensitive screening test for OSA.

Results

Snoring severity score (SSS) and BMI were the two most accurate predictors of OSA on the ROC curve. A bipartite threshold of SSS = 4 or BMI = 26 carried sensitivity of 97.4%, specificity of 40%, positive predictive value of 82.3%, and negative predictive value of 84.2% for moderate/severe OSA. Patients at high risk were those with BMI ≥32 (89% PPV) or SSS ≥7 (92% PPV).

Conclusions

The statistic most predictive of OSA was snoring severity. Combining this with BMI yielded a highly sensitive screening test for moderate/severe OSA. This clinical assessment may be useful in risk‐stratifying patients for polysomnography and therapy, facilitating deferred work‐up in low‐risk patients and expedited therapy in high‐risk patients.
Perspectives on communist successor parties: The case of Lithuania
Authors: Clark Terry D. , Pranevičciūte Jovita
Published: November 2008

The successor party to the Lithuanian Communist Party (LCP) has shown amazing adaptability in weathering the transition period to remain a major political force throughout the post-communist period. The LCP severed all formal ties with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and became the independent Lithuanian Democratic Labor Party (LDLP) in late 1989. As the LDLP, the party was the governing party from 1992 to 1996. In early 2001 it merged with the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP) to become the new LSDP. The LSDP has been the major party in governing coalitions from 2001 to the present. We explore the challenges that Lithuania’s successor party has faced and the reasons for its remarkable success.
Address: A Tour of Harvard in 1908
Authors: Gomes Peter J.
Published: November 2008

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am here as the best that could be got, which is to say that there are at least three others who would be much better suited to the task assigned to me than myself. Two are dead, my great teacher George Williams, who knew everything about everything and would have kept us much longer than I intend to keep you today; Bill Hutchison, whose field was modernism, of which the Harvard Theological Review is a remarkable example, and Conrad Wright, who is not dead but is retired, and may have decided never again to darken our precincts. These three, all of whom were my friends, teachers, and colleagues, would be able to explicate all the interstices of the year 1908 with fascinating and passionate insights, while I, as their student and the only one here, shall simply do the best I can with the assignment.
Between Biography and Ethnography
Authors: Jackson Michael D.
Published: November 2008

My point of departure in this essay is Davíd Carrasco's Convocation Address at the Harvard Divinity School in September 2006. Speaking of the borderlands between Mexico and the United States, Carrasco projects an image of a vexed and ambiguous zone that is not merely geographic or political; it defines an existential situation of being betwixt and between, of struggle and suffering, that Karl Jaspers sums up in the term Grenzsituationen (borders/limit situations). The frontier throws up images of borderline experiences, of a destabilized and transgressive consciousness in which “dreams, repressed memories, psychological transferences and associations” possess greater presence than they do in ordinary waking life, and religious experiences emerge from the unconscious like apparitions. This interplay between borderlands and borderline phenomena—between “the differences we have with others and the conflicts within ourselves” also finds expression in the work of Gloria Anzaldúa. “Mestiza consciousness,” she observes, may be identified with a “juncture … where phenomena collide.” This implies “a shock culture, a border culture, a third country” where migrants find themselves at the limits of what they can endure, border patrol agents are stretched beyond the limits of what they can control, and intellectuals find that orthodox ways of describing and analyzing the world do not do justice to the experiences involved.
Virulence, cultivating conditions, and phylogenetic analyses of oomycete parasites in Daphnia
Authors: WOLINSKA J. , KING K. C. , VIGNEUX F. , LIVELY C. M.
Published: November 2008

We describe the infectivity, virulence, cultivating conditions, and phylogenetic positions of naturally occurring oomycete parasites of Daphnia, invertebrates which play a major role in aquatic food webs. Daphnia pulex individuals were found dead and covered by oomycete mycelia when exposed to pond sediments. We were able to extract 4 oomycete isolates from dead Daphnia and successfully cultivate them. Using the ITS and LSU rDNA sequences, we further showed these isolates to be distinct species. The isolates were experimentally demonstrated to be parasitic and not saprobic. After exposure to the parasites, Daphnia mortality was much higher than that reported for Daphnia infected with other known parasite species. Therefore, it is likely that oomycete parasites are important selective pressures in natural Daphnia populations. Moreover, their close phylogenetic relationship to parasites of fish and algae suggests that the stability of aquatic food webs (i.e. fish–Daphnia–algae) might be influenced by the shared parasite communities.
Cumulative social disadvantage, ethnicity and first-episode psychosis: a case-control study
Authors: Morgan C. , Kirkbride J. , Hutchinson G. , Craig T. , Morgan K. , Dazzan P. , Boydell J. , Doody G. A. , Jones P. B. , Murray R. M. , Leff J. , Fearon P.
Published: November 2008

Background

Numerous studies have reported high rates of psychosis in the Black Caribbean population in the UK. Recent speculation about the reasons for these high rates has focused on social factors. However, there have been few empirical studies. We sought to compare the prevalence of specific indicators of social disadvantage and isolation, and variations by ethnicity, in subjects with a first episode of psychosis and a series of healthy controls.

Method

All cases with a first episode of psychosis who made contact with psychiatric services in defined catchment areas in London and Nottingham, UK and a series of community controls were recruited over a 3-year period. Data relating to clinical and social variables were collected from cases and controls.

Results

On all indicators, cases were more socially disadvantaged and isolated than controls, after controlling for potential confounders. These associations held when the sample was restricted to those with an affective diagnosis and to those with a short prodrome and short duration of untreated psychosis. There was a clear linear relationship between concentrated disadvantage and odds of psychosis. Similar patterns were evident in the two main ethnic groups, White British and Black Caribbean. However, indicators of social disadvantage and isolation were more common in Black Caribbean subjects than White British subjects.

Conclusions

We found strong associations between indicators of disadvantage and psychosis. If these variables index exposure to factors that increase risk of psychosis, their greater prevalence in the Black Caribbean population may contribute to the reported high rates of psychosis in this population.
John Bull in blackface
Authors: Pickering Michael
Published: November 2008

For a mid-twentieth century historian of the music hall, blackface minstrelsy was the ‘oddest form of entertainment imaginable’. He found it ‘incomprehensible’ why people during the Victorian period had delighted in the ‘extraordinary spectacle of the apparently sane white man blacking his face and hands with burnt cork, painting his lips and eyes to resemble those of an African nigger, and then, to complete the incongruity, attiring himself in English evening dress while he sang ditties allegedly emanating from the cotton plantations of Ole Virginny!’ (Felstead 1946, p. 55). There are a number of things to be said about this evaluation, the first being that its severe disparagement of one of the most popular cultural forms of the Victorian period in Britain was, during that period, exceptionally rare. Indeed, the lack of criticism attests to its enduring popularity. From their first wave of success in the late 1830s and early 1840s, minstrel acts, troupes and shows figured as a staple item of the popular stage throughout the remaining decades of the century. What began with its early boom in the second quarter of the century continued to prove attractive to successive generations across all social classes, and among men and women of the large urban centres, provincial towns and outlying rural areas alike.
Robert Johnson's rhythms
Authors: Ford Charles
Published: November 2008

Robert Johnson's 1936–37 recordings are widely held to have consummated the Delta blues style, and to have provided one of the very few pre-war influences on rock. Yet it is his pathetic life and the occasional metaphysical imagery of his lyrics that have commanded critical attention. Consequently we have as yet still to discover what precisely makes his music take on such historical significance. It seems to me that two features of Johnson's music demand our attention: first, his inflections of pitch and timbre; second, his irregular, and often syncopated, metres. This article scrutinises, and extrapolates from the latter.
The Göteborg connection: lessons in the history and politics of popular music education and research
Authors: Tagg Philip
Published: November 2008

BothPopular Musicand the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM) have been in existence for almost a generation. Given the radical social and political changes affecting the general spheres of work, education and research since the establishment of those two institutions in 1981, it is perhaps time for popular music scholars to review their own historical position and to work out strategies for the brave new world of monetarism facing those who will hopefully survive another generation after we quinquagenarian baby boomers of the rock era have disappeared from the academic scene. Of course, such a process of intellectual and ideological stocktaking requires detailed discussion of a wide range of political, economic and social issues that cannot be covered in a single article. I will therefore restrict the account that follows to a discussion of one particular set of historical strands affecting the development of popular music studies. This part of our history is virtually unknown in the anglophone quarters that have, for obvious reasons of language and music media hegemony, dominated the international field of popular music studies. It is, however, as I hope to show, a story of considerable relevance to more general problems of music education and research at the turn of the millennium. I shall return to these broader issues at the end of the article.
The fourth audience
Authors: Hamm Charles
Published: November 2008

Billy Joel's song ‘It's Still Rock and Roll to Me’, which rose to the top of Billboard magazine's ‘Hot 100’ chart in July of 1980, was intended as entertainment, not criticism. But it makes a more accurate statement about the present state of rock music in the USA than have the writings of certain journalists and critics over the past decade. Against a stripped-down instrumental accompaniment, parodying the ‘minimalism’ of much new wave music, Joel sings,

Everybody's talking about the new sound; funny, But it's still rock and roll to me.
The critique criticised: Adorno and popular music
Authors: Paddison Max
Published: November 2008

Adorno's critique of popular music is generally considered the least convincing aspect of his otherwise impressive analysis of the predicament of Western music in the twentieth century. The immediate reasons as to why his views on popular music are difficult to accept are obvious enough, and it must be admitted that the usual criticisms – that Adorno is prejidiced, arrogant and uniformed in this field contain more than a grain of truth. However, my intention here is not to add anything new in the way of invective, nor is it to attack Adorno's basic thesis regarding the dilemma facing twentieth-century culture as a whole. Instead, I propose to offer some suggestions as to how Adorno's writings on popular music may be approached so that the end result is something more than outright dismissal of his extreme and often dogmatic value judgements. It is an attempt to rescue the baby from the bath water, so to speak, as it seems to me that hidden in his theory there remains a potential which was never properly recognised by Adorno.
Black through white: Hoagy Carmichael and the cultural reproduction of racism
Authors: Hewitt Roger
Published: November 2008

The relationship between the black and white elements in the popular music of this century has been intimate and persistent. However, the nature of this relationship has varied from period to period and been mediated by the economic and institutional context in which it has occurred. The ‘free flow’ of musical ideas between black and white has been directed and regulated by numerous distinctly unmusical factors — principally the racist ideologies and practies within which musicians, despite their individual proclivities, have lived and worked.
The record industry: the growth of a mass medium
Authors: Gronow Pekka
Published: November 2008

Common sense tells us that sound recording — that is, records and cassettes - is a mass medium just newspapers, films or television. In industrialised countries, listening to records is just as much part of everyday life as reading the newspaper or listening to the radio. A Swedish survey made in 1976 (Anon. 1979, pp. 85–8) indicates that, on average, Swedish adults spent thirty-five minutes daily reading newspapers, thirty-three minutes listening to records or cassettes and one minute watching films. Watching films on television was not included, but neither was listening to records on the radio.
Sain Cymru: the role of the Welsh phonographic industry in the development of a Welsh language pop/rock/folk scene
Authors: Wallis Roger , Malm Krister
Published: November 2008

One would expect to find a variety of views about a phenomenon which a minority of the 2.3 million inhabitants of Wales (around 500,000 people) value highly, but which a majority literally cannot understand. The role that the Welsh language should play is a controversial subject both within and outside those circles where it is spoken. Wales is one of the countries where the Celtic language has survived as a living language (the other Celtic areas are: Ireland and Scotland, where some Gaelic is spoken; Cornwall in southern England, where the language is dead; Britanny, in northern France, where Celtic just about lingers on). In the immediate post-World War II period, Welsh, it was predicted by many, would die out, with the language only surviving for a few decades in remote areas of North Wales. However, provisions in the 1944 Education Act were responsible for the beginnings of a movement in the reverse direction, and by the sixties, there was a revival of the language, mainly thanks to the activities of an ethnically orientated nationalist movement organised partly through a political party, Plaid Cymru, and partly through the Welsh Language Society, Cymdeithas Yr Iaith Gymraeg (see Williams 1977; Williams 1982, pp. 145–202; the chapter on Wales in Stephens 1976).
Japan in Japan: notes on an aspect of the popular music record industry in Japan
Authors: Mitsui Toru
Published: November 2008

The record and tape sales figures of the Japanese record industry have exceeded those of the industries of all other capitalist nations, except the USA, since the mid-seventies. In 1980, Japan's share amounted to 13.9 per cent of all sales in the capitalist sphere according to surveys by Billboard. The USA had 35.8 per cent, West Germany 11.6 per cent, the UK 11.6 per cent and France 7.3 per cent (Kawabata 1977, p. 22; 1982, pp. 91, 199). The output of foreign records, recorded and pressed by Japanese companies, to foreign records, pressed by Japanese companies from masters recorded by foreign companies primarily for their own consumers, has been about three to two. A good many of these foreign records are of American and European popular music, and in this field one can perceive a new and interesting tendency to promote and succeed with artists who are or were less successful in their own country. The tendency, whose background I am going to discuss here, started in the mid-seventies; one of the early examples is provided by Kiss, a New York group, which was shrewdly promoted and achieved wide popularity in Japan before succeeding nationwide in America.
The production of success: an anti-musicology of the pop song
Authors: Hennion Antoine
Published: November 2008

At the heart of the frenetic activity of the record industry and of all the conflicting opinion to which this activity gives rise, lies a common goal: popular success. This also provides the key to the paradoxes one encounters when one studies the economic aspects of the record industry in France.†What does the achievement of success involve in actual fact? Economic, sociological and musicological analyses tend to evade this issue rather than explain it. Can the ability to achieve success be attributed to a more or less innate sixth sense? Does it reside in the superiority of the smaller producers over the larger ones? Is success achieved through bribery, through massive ‘plugging’, through a dulling of the senses or through conformism, as the ritual claims of the press would have it? Is it a by-product of profit, of standardisation, of alienation or of the prevailing ideology, as marxists argue? The sociology of mass media and culture explains it in an equally wide variety of ways – in terms of manipulation (see Adorno 1941), the meaninglessness of mass culture (see Ellul 1980, Hoggart 1957)/ symbolic exclusion (see Bourdieu 1979), the system of fashion (see Barthes 1967), desocialised ritual (see Baudrillard 1970), or as the cunning strategies of the dominated (see de Certeau 1974). I do not propose casually to invoke all the different theories only to dismiss them with moralistic claims that we must return to the basic facts.
‘A magic science’: rock music as a recording art
Authors: Clarke Paul
Published: November 2008

Jimi Hendrix once claimed ‘I'm working on music to be completely, utterly a magic science’ (Henderson 1981, p. 337). It is a description that fits not just the best of Hendrix's own music, but the best of all that late twentieth-century music in which the ability to capture and control sounds (on tape or disc) has become a means of extending old musical forms and traditions, and establishing new possibilities for them. Throughout his career, Hendrix drew nourishment from his musical roots in black traditions, but it was not until the summer of 1967 that he plugged himself fully into the new possibilities opened up by the technology of sound recording. Hendrix had already proved himself something of a musical ‘magician’ in the ancient sense in that he attempted, through music, to mediate between order and disorder, using his guitar as an expressive extension of himself to flirt with the danger and power of musical disintegration (for the parallel with non-Western musical practice see Shepherd 1977, p. 72; Mellers 1973, pp. 24–6; Clarke 1982, pp. 227–9).
Articulating musical meaning/re-constructing musical history/locating the ‘popular’
Authors: Middleton Richard
Published: November 2008

In thinking about how to locate popular music within music history, I start from two propositions. Firstly, that attempts to isolate and define musical types, functions and effects by purely empirical means are likely to be unhelpful. Understanding ‘popular music’ – for example – in terms of a quantitively measured ‘popularity’ (sales figures) is not only methodologically difficult to do coherently but, more important, it hypostatises what is in reality a result of living, historically changing relationships. Secondly: if, then, musical categories should be grasped as part of social processes, it does not however follow that in this relationship (between musical type, concept or practice on the one hand, social group, factor or formation on the other) the relata are in a one-to-one correspondence. Thus – quoting again examples from commonly assumed positions – the idea that ‘popular music’ is ‘really’ confined to authentic proletarian self-expression is no less misleading than the Adornian notion that it is part of an undifferentiated blanket of leisure-goods imposed on the unresisting masses by a monopoly-capitalist ‘culture industry’.