bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Origins of Morality: An Essay in Philosophical Anthropology
Authors: Oldenquist Andrew
Published: January 2009

By what steps, historically, did morality emerge? Our remote ancestors evolved into social animals. Sociality requires, among other things, restraints on disruptive sexual, hostile, aggressive, vengeful, and acquisitive behavior. Since we are innately social and not social by convention, we can assume the biological evolution of the emotional equipment – numerous predispositions to want, fear, feel anxious or secure – required for social living, just as we can assume cultural evolution of various means to control antisocial behavior and reinforce the prosocial kind. Small clans consisting, say, of several extended families whose members cooperated in hunting, gathering, defense, and child-rearing could not exist without a combination of innate and social restraints on individual behavior.

I shall argue for a naturalistic theory of morality, by which I do not mean the definitional claims G.E. Moore sought to refute, but a broader and more complex theory that maintains that a sufficient understanding of human nature, history, and culture can fully explain morality; that nothing is left hanging. A theory that coherently brings together the needed biological, psychological, and cultural facts I shall call a philosophical anthropology; it is a theory that:

1) takes the good for humans – both an ultimate good (if there is any) and other important goods – to depend on human nature;

2) argues that a rudimentary but improving scientific and philosophical theory of human nature now exists, and thus denies that people are “essenceless”;

3) takes this theory to be evolutionary and historical, making the question “How did morality originate?” pivotal for ethical theory, but leaves open the empirical question of the relative importance of biological and cultural evolution; and

4) takes the origin of the moral ideas to be explainable in terms of human nature and history.
The Epistemology of Human Rights
Authors: Gewirth Alan
Published: January 2009

Human rights are rights which all persons equally have simply insofar as they are human. But are there any such rights? How, if at all, do we know that there are?

It is with this question of knowledge, and the related question of existence, that I want to deal in this paper.

1. CONCEPTUAL QUESTIONS

The attempt to answer each of these questions, however, at once raises further, more directly conceptual questions. In what sense may human rights be said to exist? What does it mean to say that therearesuch rights or that persons have them? This question, in turn, raises a question about the nature of human rights. What is the meaning of the expression “human rights”?

Within the limits of the present paper I cannot hope to deal adequately with the controversial issues raised by these conceptual questions. But we may make at least a relevant beginning by noting that, in terms of Hohfeld's famous classification of four different kinds of rights, the human rights are primarily claim-rights, in that they entail correlative duties of other persons or groups to act or to refrain from acting in ways required for the right-holders' having that to which they have rights.

It will help our understanding of this and other aspects of human rights if we note that the full structure of a claim-right is given by the following formula:

A has a right to X against B by virtue of Y.

There are five main elements here: first, theSubject(A) of the right, the person or persons who have the right; second, theNatureof the right; third, theObject(X) of the right, what it is a right to; fourth, theRespondent(B) of the right, the person or persons who have the correlative duty; fifth, theJustifying BasisorGround(Y) of the right.
Comment on Gewirth Constructing an Epistemology of Human Rights: a Pseudo Problem?
Authors: Danto Arthur C.
Published: January 2009

Those rights are human rights which, in Professor Gewirth's phrase, “all persons equally have simply insofar as they are human.” His task is to demonstrate that there are human rights, and to demonstrate that such demonstration is necessary to the very existence of these rights. “That human rights exist…is a proposition whose truth depends upon the possibility, in principle, of constructing a body of moral justificatory argument from which that proposition follows as a logical consequence.” As philosophers we should no doubt like to be able to prove the existence of human rights – prove that there are such rights in the event that the fool shall have said in his heart that there are none, even using his folly against him by showing his denial to entail its denial – but it is a bold claim that rights are things whose esse est demonstrari.
Why Do We Have the Rights We Do?
Authors: Bedau Hugo Adam
Published: January 2009

1. The question “Why do we have the rights we do?” obviously presupposes that wedohavesomerights; that is, that propositions of the form ‘We have the right tox,’ or of the form ‘We have the right to do (or to have)x,’ are true for certain values ofx. The same issues would arise if the original question had been formulated, or were to be reformulated, as it sometimes is, in a purely existential manner, viz., “Why are there the rights there are?” I believe there is no difference between the two questions except a verbal one; at least, both of them share the same existential presupposition to the effect that there are certain rights. I mention this point for two reasons. One is merely to acknowledge the trivial but true point that the question in my title does have an existential presupposition. The second and more important point is that since I shall have very little to say about any actual rights, I would not want anyone to infer from my silence that I do not think we have any rights. I accept the presupposition of my original question, but I shall not dwell upon it.

2. One might ask my original question and mean by rights,legalrights, that is, rights identified through the legal provisions of some legal system. That is not the sense in which I pose the question. It is true that a legal positivist would be able to give no intelligible meaning to my question except by treating it as equivalent to asking, “Why do we have the legal rights we do?” However, since I am not a legal positivist, I want my question understood in another way.
Utilitarianism and Human Rights
Authors: Gibbard Allan
Published: January 2009

INTRODUCTION

We look to rights for protection. The hope of advocates of “human rights” has been that certain protections might be accorded to allof humanity. Even in a world only a minority of whose inhabitants live under liberal democratic regimes, the hope is, certain standards accepted in the liberal democracies will gain universal recognition and respect. These include liberty of persons as opposed to enslavement, freedom from cruelty, freedom from arbitrary execution, from arbitrary imprisonment, and from arbitrary deprivation of property or livelihood, freedom of religion, and freedom of inquiry and expression.

Philosophers, of course, concern themselves with the theory of rights, and that is partly because of the ways questions of rights bear on fundamental normative theory. By far the most highly developed general normative theory has been utilitarianism. Now many opponents of utilitarianism argue that considerations of rights discredit utilitarianism, that utilitarianism yields conclusions about rights that we would normally regard as faulty, and that moreover, the reasons for regarding those conclusions as faulty turn out, upon examination, to be stronger than the reasons forregarding utilitarianism as valid. A valid theory cannot have faulty conclusions, and so thinkingabout rights shows utilitarianism not to be a valid normative theory.

Jeremy Bentham, the founder of the utilitarian movement in nineteenth century England, accepted the incompatibility of utilitarianism and “the rights of man, ” and rejected talkof the latter as “anarchical fallacies”. His great successor John Stuart Mill, however, argued that a perceptive and far–sighted utilitarianism supports strong rights both of democratic participation and of individual freedom of action.
The Primacy of Welfare Rights
Authors: Golding Martin P.
Published: January 2009

This paper deals with three topics: (1) types of rights, (2) the development of the terminology of rights, and (3) the question of the primacy of welfare rights. Because these topics are interrelated, my exposition does not observe rigid boundaries among them. There is no pretence at all that any of these subjects is fully covered here; nor is it proposed, except for one writer, to touch upon the contemporary literature on rights, as noteworthy as some of that literature is. In order to gain entrance into the field, on which the writing has grown to massive proportions, I shall begin with an interesting historical phenomenon, some of whose philosophical import I want to explore.

I should say at the outset, however, that the general motivation of this paper is the problem of the significance of the language of “rights.” Does it really make a difference, for instance, to speak of the “rights of man” rather than the “common duties of humanity”? Does the term “rights” add anything of special significance or is its only significance rhetorical and ideological? Can we dispense with the language of rights and still say everything we need to say about our moral relations? I confess to a moderate skepticism about the necessity of the language of rights in the last analysis. At any rate, this paper is intended as a contribution, however small, to this problem. The historical phenomenon with which I am going to begin will enable us to bring into focus the issue of the meaning of “rights.”
The Right not to Incriminate Oneself
Authors: Donagan Alan
Published: January 2009

The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States contains the following words: “No person… shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.” In laying down this restriction on what government may do, the Constitution creates a legal right: the right to be free from coercion by any organ of government to testify against oneself – to incriminate oneself.
Moderating Rights
Authors: Flathman Richard E.
Published: January 2009

Rights might be regarded as an objectionable and even a dangerous feature of moral, political, and legal arrangements. It is an element of all (Hohfeldian) types of rights that Able's having right X entails requirements or prohibitions for Baker. These restrictions hold against Baker at Able's discretion, that is unless Able excuses Baker from respecting them. Nor are the restrictions merely decorative. We must presume that they are established because of the expectation that Baker would otherwise be disposed to interfere with the action Ms. Able's right warrants her in taking. Thus as writers as early as Spinoza have stressed, rights are powers – one might even say weapons – that Able may use against Baker. Of course, as a practical matter these “weapons” are frequently ineffective. Ms. Baker may willfully ignore her obligations and prevent Ms. Able from enjoying her entitlements. But such occurrences, as common and as unfortunate as they are, do not materially ease the task of justifying rights. It is only insofar as rights are effective, and hence only insofar as anyone will have reason to defend them, that they are weapons in Able's hands.
All-China Federation of Trades Unions beyond Reform? The Slow March of Direct Elections
Authors: Howell Jude A
Published: January 2009

Since the mid-1990s trade union leaders in Zhejiang, Guangdong, Shandong and other coastal provinces have been quietly introducing direct elections for grassroots trade union cadres, in order to nurture a stratum of grassroots trade union cadres who prioritize workers' interests. Yet these elections have not been generalized across the country, been institutionalized through legislation or drawn droves of international observers in the way that village elections did in the 1980s and 1990s. What might have promised to be China's “second silent revolution” has failed to take off. This article explores the political, structural and institutional reasons behind the piecemeal and slow spread of direct basic union elections in China. In doing so it analyses the parameters constraining the reform of the All-China Federation of Trades Unions in the direction of a more effective, worker-oriented organization.
Campaign Advertising and Democracy in Taiwan
Authors: Sullivan Jonathan
Published: January 2009

This article sets out a framework for conceptualizing and researching an increasingly important element of electoral competition in Taiwan. Analysing the tone and content of television and newspaper advertising across three presidential campaigns, it provides empirical estimates that challenge some common stereotypes about advertising in Taiwan.
Estimated mortality and hospital admission due to rotavirus infection in the WHO European region
Authors: WILLIAMS C. J. , LOBANOV A. , PEBODY R. G.
Published: January 2009

In 2006 two rotavirus vaccines were licensed for use in young children in Europe. This study aimed to estimate the mortality and hospital admissions due to rotavirus in children aged <5 years in the WHO European region using data from routine sources and published literature. We grouped 49/52 countries in the region by their World Bank Gross National Income (GNI) per capita. We obtained for children aged <5 years: populations, hospital discharges for diarrhoeal disease, estimated mortality rates and the percentage of deaths attributable to diarrhoeal disease, from WHO data sources or published literature, and combined them to estimate country-specific diarrhoeal disease mortality. Rotavirus-attributable percentages of hospital admissions due to diarrhoeal disease were obtained through a literature search, and an income-group median applied to countries in each GNI category. In the countries we studied in the WHO European region, rotavirus infection causes an estimated 6550 deaths (range 5671–8989) and 146 287 (range 38 374–1 039 843) hospital admissions each year in children aged <5 years. Hospital admission rates were similar across income groups (medians 2·0, 2·8, 4·2 and 1·9/1000 per year in low-, lower-middle-, upper-middle- and high-income countries, respectively). Seven countries, mostly in the low- and lower-middle-income groups, accounted for 93% of estimated deaths. Disease burden varied dramatically by income level in the European region. Rotavirus vaccination in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Turkey could potentially prevent 80% of all regional rotavirus deaths. Data from low-income countries is still sparse, and improved disease burden studies are required to better inform regional vaccine policy.
Is Rotavirus contributing to an increase of diarrhoea in a region of Spain?
Authors: GERSTEL L. , RODRIGO M. P. , ADIEGO B. , LUQUERO F. J. , REVILLO M. J. , CASTILLO F. J. , BARRASA A. , VALENCIANO M.
Published: January 2009

Diarrhoeal illnesses are the most frequent of notifiable diseases in Aragon. Physicians notify diarrhoea cases with presumed infectious origin on a weekly basis. Following an increase in 2005–2006, we aimed to identify the responsible organism(s) in order to inform control measures. We described seasonality of diarrhoea notifications for 1998–2004 and 2005–2006. We calculated correlations between diarrhoea notifications and enteric pathogens diagnosed in two Aragonese laboratories, and applied linear regression using coefficients of determination (r2). In 2005–2006 the winter peak of diarrhoea notifications increased from 2494 to 3357 weekly cases (34·6%) and the peak in Rotavirus diagnoses from 15 to 39 weekly cases. The correlation of diarrhoea notifications with Rotavirus was 0·05 in 1998–2004 and 0·42 in 2005–2006. The model for 1998–2004 included Salmonella enterica, Giardia lamblia and Clostridium difficile (r2=0·08) and for 2005–2006 Rotavirus and Astrovirus (r2=0·24). Our results suggest that Rotavirus contributed to the increase of diarrhoea notifications. We recommend determining the disease burden of Rotavirus in order to guide vaccination policies.
Farm-level risk factors for fluoroquinolone resistance inE. coliand thermophilicCampylobacterspp. on finisher pig farms
Authors: TAYLOR N. M. , CLIFTON-HADLEY F. A. , WALES A. D. , RIDLEY A. , DAVIES R. H.
Published: January 2009

Logistic regression, supported by other statistical analyses was used to explore the possible association of risk factors with the fluoroquinolone (FQ)-resistance status of 108 pig finisher farms in Great Britain. The farms were classified as ‘affected’ or ‘not affected’ by FQ-resistantE. coliorCampylobacterspp. on the basis of isolation of organisms from faecal samples on media containing 1 mg/l FQ. The use of FQ was the most important factor associated with finding resistantE. coliand/orCampylobacter, which were found on 79% (FQ-resistantE. coli) and 86% (FQ-resistantCampylobacter) of farms with a history of FQ use. However, resistant bacteria were also found on 19% (FQ-resistantE. coli) and 54% (FQ-resistantCampylobacter) of farms with no history of FQ use. For FQ-resistantE. coli, biosecurity measures may be protective and there was strong seasonal variation, with more farms found affected when sampled in the summer. For FQ-resistantCampylobacter, the buying-in of grower stock may increase risk and good on-farm hygiene may be protective. The findings suggest that resistant organisms, particularlyCampylobacter, may spread between pig farms.
Correctness of high-level transformation systems relative to nested conditions
Authors: HABEL ANNEGRET , PENNEMANN KARL-HEINZ
Published: January 2009

In this paper we introduce the notions of nested constraints and application conditions, short nested conditions. For a category associated with a graphical representation such as graphs, conditions are a graphical and intuitive, yet precise, formalism that is well suited to describing structural properties. We show that nested graph conditions are expressively equivalent to first-order graph formulas. A part of the proof includes transformations between two satisfiability notions of conditions, namely-satisfiability and-satisfiability. We consider a number of transformations on conditions that can be composed to construct constraint-guaranteeing and constraint-preserving application conditions, weakest preconditions and strongest postconditions. The restriction of rule applications by conditions can be used to correct transformation systems by pruning transitions leading to states violating given constraints. Weakest preconditions and strongest postconditions can be used to verify the correctness of transformation systems with respect to pre- and postconditions.
Early Ministerial Training in America
Authors: Simpson Samuel
Published: January 2009

What is contemplated in this paper is a general rather than a careful or exhaustive treatment of the subject named,—a rapid survey, we may say, of the nature and extent of ministerial training in America prior to the establishment of our present theological schools.
The Church and Medieval Trade Unions
Authors: Miller Edward Waite
Published: January 2009

The instinct of association must be regarded as among the most elemental and important of human instincts. It has bound men together in various forms of organization, domestic, political, religious. The family, the state, the church are its most familiar products. But there is another type of association distinct from these, prompted by different motives and seeking different ends. Of this type the Guild is historically the most familiar example. It may be described as a voluntary association of those living near together, who unite in a fraternal spirit for a common purpose, who feast and worship together, pay contributions into a common fund, and aid each other in case of poverty, sickness, bereavement, or other misfortune.
The Early Dutch Anabaptists
Authors: Dosker Henry Elias
Published: January 2009

Since 1885, when Ludwig Karl Keller published his Reformation und die älieren Reformparteien. In ihrem Zusammenhange dargestellt (Leipzig), the question of the true origin of the Anabaptists has been a matter of debate. With considerable ingenuity and show of reason, Keller argues for the historical genesis of the sect from the well-known medieval movements of the Petrubrusians, the Apostolic Brothers, the Arnoldists, the Humiliati, the Lollards, the Spirituals, the Friends of God, the Brethren of the Common Life, the Waldensians, the Moravian Brethren, and the German Mystics. Kolde and Carl Mueller have shown the untenability of this theory, and yet it is appealed to again and again by that class of Baptist historians who endeavor to set up for their theological views a quasi apostolic succession
On the Medieval National Church
Authors: Ayer Joseph Cullen
Published: January 2009

That Magna Carta guarantees to every Englishman trial by jury is in some legal circlesan almost inerradicable conviction. As firmly rooted in many ecclesiastical circles is a belief in respect to the first clause of that great document: quod Anglicana Ecclesia libera sit. Though the historical meaning of the phrase is indisputable, it is constantly used in a false sense. It is supposed to have defined a fundamental principle of English ecclesiastical policy although not immediately realized. Just as trial by jury was definitively established only in the contest with the Stuarts, so this great principle of liberty was only secured for the Church at the Reformation; at that time the Anglicana Ecclesia became free and received its birthright assured it in the Charter. This quaint perversion of the meaning of the phrase may in some points be connected with the indisputable fact of the religious and administrative continuity of the Church of England; and the legal status of the modern Church of England has come to be regarded as practically identical with that of the Anglicana Ecclesia contemplated by the Charter. That the libertas electionum, the liberty especially referred to in Magna Carta, has totally disappeared, lost at the Reformation, seems not in the least to have effected the popular ecclesiastical interpretation. But closely connected with that belief as to Magna Carta and the Church is a commonplace of English legal tradition, universal since the sixteenth century, that the Ecchsia Anglicana, which term may be conveniently used throughout this discussion to designate the medieval Church in England as distinguished from the Church in modern times, stood in some exceptional legal relation to the rest of Western Christendom and to the Roman See and that that See had usurped at some time an authority over that Church not recognized either by theChurch or the State. In the exposition of this theory the point is often made that Pope Urban recognized this exceptional position when, according to William of Malmesbury, he introduced Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, to a Roman synod as quasi alterius orbis papam.
The Relation of Wessel Gansvoort to the Reformation
Authors: Miller Edward Waite
Published: January 2009

It is everywhere conceded that the forces which brought about the change in the religious life of Northern Europe that we call the Reformation were much more complex than was formerly supposed. No one now thinks of attributing results so widespread and permanent to restored emphasis on a single neglected doctrine, or to the personal influence of a few divinely commissioned men. However important to the movement Luther and his colleagues may have been, their importance is seen to lie chiefly in the fact that they embodied convictions and hopes that had been gradually developing in Teutonic Christendom. The modern student of the origins of the Reformation is not so much concerned with the lives of the Reformers as with the influences which made the Reformation possible. This is a much more difficult and a much more fascinating subject.
A Sketch of the Religious History of the Negroes in the South
Authors: Reed Richard Clark
Published: January 2009

“A Bout the last of August came in a Dutch man of warre that sold us twenty negars.” Thus reads the ancient official record which chronicles in those few words one of the most fateful events that has found place in the annals of our country, the introduction of African slavery. The year was 1619, and the place was the little colony of Jamestown, then in the thirteenth year of its existence. The institution at once took root downward and bore fruit upward. The trade rapidly grew and the market enlarged despite many earnest protests, until throughout the thirteen colonies ready sale was found for all the slaves that were offered. The traffic continued for one hundred and eighty-nine years, and when it was finally suppressed in 1808, there was a slave population in the United States numbering considerably over one million. From the first the most popular market was in the South, and ultimately the institution became localized in that section. This was not because of difference of mental and moral attitude in the two sections, but because of different climatic and economic conditions.
Recent Activities of Catholic Historians
Authors: Healy Patrick Joseph
Published: January 2009

In ordinary times a paper on Recent Activities of Catholic Historians could have meant nothing more than a bibliographical survey or a critical enumeration of the writings of Catholic authors on the subject of ecclesiastical history during the preceding year or even the preceding six months. Such an approach to the matter is now impossible. The last four years have been lean years in historical bibliography. Historians may not have been idle; but they have concerned themselves more with the problems of the present than with the problems of the past. The output of historical works has been meager. Our knowledge of them is more meager still. We have not only been shut off, through the exigencies of war, from a large part of the world, but we have been deprived of the guidance of historical periodicals which would make it possible to give a complete survey of the actual conditions of historical writing and investigation at the present. Many of these periodicals have gone out of existence, others have been temporarily suspended, and many more have been inaccessible because of censorship regulations, while others have changed their character to such a degree that they hardly deserve the name of historical magazines.
Aims and Methods of Teaching Church History
Authors: Nichols Robert Hastings
Published: January 2009

Looking over the published proceedings of our Society, I find no mention of the reading of a paper dealing with what is the occupation of about half of our members, the teaching of Church History. Discussions of this subject are recorded, but no formal treatment. Therefore, it has seemed not inappropriate to consider in this address some questions which constantly present themselves in the daily work of many here present. Our business is teaching Church History, and with almost all it is this teaching as a part of the training of men for the Christian ministry. Were there no such training, there would be little teaching of the subject to which our Society is devoted. The raîson d'être of our teaching must vitally affect it. We are bound by every sort of obligation to keep always in view the practical purpose which gives us being as teachers.
The Reformation Historically Explained
Authors: Smith Preserved
Published: January 2009

By many scientists as well as by the pragmatist philos-ophers we are told that the best, if not the only possible, test of a given thing is what it does. From physics we learn that whereas the nature of matter or of electricity defies definition, it is possible to describe the operation or effect that each has. In a book of economics I have read the definition “money is what money does.” Apparently the same test must be applied to historical phenomena. If we would know the real nature of a given invention or a new ideal we must inquire exactly what was the change in human life that it introduced. It is this test that I propose to apply to the Reformation. I propose to show that of seven great changes which came over the people of Western Europe in the sixteenth century the Reformation was the ideal expression; in part effect, in part cause, in part so intimately connected with some social, philosophical, political or economic movement, that it is hard to say which it is.
Wyclif and the Independence of the Church in England
Authors: Gifford William Alva
Published: January 2009

I was moved to investigate the subject of this study by an admiration of long standing for John Wyclif, and by the feeling that James Gairdner, the latest historian of Lollardy, had done scant justice to the religious movement that began with Wyclif, and that survived through a century and a half to lend powerful aid to Henry VIII, when the hour struck for the rejection of the Roman jurisdiction. When the work was finished, I found myself at a goal not far removed from that of Dr. Gairdner, although I had reached it with less reluctant feet. Dr. Gairdner had the spirit of the true archivist.1 He had no aversion to dust; he could endure even dirt; but disorder, never. And Lollardy, in English society in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, was a source of disorder. I do not revolt at disorder when great changes are necessary. Unlike Dr. Gairdner, I can find great uses for the man who “refused to recant or bow to the opinion of trained judges,” even though they “presumably understood such questions better than himself.” I cannot view the literature of Lollardy, admittedly crude, as “poisonous.” And I respectfully dissent from the view that an admission of the right of sects to exist is “fatal to the essence of Christianity itself.” But I have found ever increasing reason to concur in the conclusion to which Dr. Gairdner's unrivalled knowledge led him, viz., that Lollardy survived through the troubled days of the fifteenth century to “help Henry VIII put down the Pope,” that Henry's reformation of the Church was “precisely on Lollard lines,” and that “Lollardy affected the Church more and more after his death.”
The Reformers and Toleration
Authors: Faulkner John Alfred
Published: January 2009

The Protestant Reformers of the sixteenth century inherited as a part of their consciousness the following ideas which had to do with their views of toleration.
Recent Sources of Information on the Anabaptists in the Netherlands
Authors: Dosker Henry Elias
Published: January 2009

The subject is not of my own choosing. It was assigned to me by our Secretary, when he invited me last summer to write a paper for this meeting of the Society. The raeson for this request lies in the fact that, for the last dozen years, much of my spare time has been spent in special work on this engrossing subject, which is shrouded in much mystery. But we all know something about the great Anabaptist movement, which paralleled the history of the Reformation. We have all touched these Anabaptists in their life and labors, in the sixteenth century, in all Europe, but especially in Switzerland, upper Germany, and Holland. Crushed and practically wiped out everywhere else, they rooted themselves deeply in the soil of northeastern Germany and above all in the Low Countries. And thence, whenever persecution overwhelmed them, they crossed the channel and moved to England, where their history is closely interwoven with that of the Nonconformists in general and especially with the nascent history of the English Baptists.
Inflammation and neuropeptides: the connection in diabetic wound healing
Authors: Pradhan Leena , Nabzdyk Christoph , Andersen Nicholas D. , LoGerfo Frank W. , Veves Aristidis
Published: January 2009

Abnormal wound healing is a major complication of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, with nonhealing foot ulcerations leading in the worst cases to lower-limb amputation. Wound healing requires the integration of complex cellular and molecular events in successive phases of inflammation, cell proliferation, cell migration, angiogenesis and re-epithelialisation. A link between wound healing and the nervous system is clinically apparent as peripheral neuropathy is reported in 30–50% of diabetic patients and is the most common and sensitive predictor of foot ulceration. Indeed, a bidirectional connection between the nervous and the immune systems and its role in wound repair has emerged as one of the focal features of the wound-healing dogma. This review provides a broad overview of the mediators of this connection, which include neuropeptides and cytokines released from nerve fibres, immune cells and cutaneous cells. In-depth understanding of the signalling pathways in the neuroimmune axis in diabetic wound healing is vital to the development of successful wound-healing therapies.
THE MIND-BODY WORLD-KNOT
Authors: Kallestrup Jesper
Published: January 2009

Here Kallestrup presents a succinct introduction to some of the latest thinking about the notorious mind-body problem.
PAINISM VERSUS UTILITARIANISM
Authors: Ryder Richard D.
Published: January 2009

Richard Ryder, one of the founding fathers of the modern animal rights movement, here explains his latest thinking about morality.
Linking active margin dynamics to overriding plate deformation: Synthesizing geophysical images with geological data from the Norfolk Basin
Authors: DiCaprio Lydia , Müller R. Dietmar , Gurnis Michael , Goncharov Alexey
Published: January 2009

The Tonga‐Kermadec subduction system in the southwest Pacific preserves a series of crustal elements and sediments which have recorded subduction initiation, rift, and back‐arc basin formation. The Norfolk Basin is the farthest landward of all back‐arc basins formed in the Tonga‐Kermadec region and may preserve the earliest record of subduction initiation regionally. For the Norfolk Basin, we use a set of multibeam bathymetry, magnetic, and seismic reflection and refraction data to constrain basin structure and the mode and timing of formation. A structural interpretation reveals a two‐stage tectonic evolution: (1) a convergent tectonic regime until 38–34 Ma, alternatively related to island arc collision or subduction initiation, and (2) lithospheric extension after 34 Ma. These observations may help to constrain mechanical models that predict rapid extension following convergence of the overriding plate during subduction initiation or arc reversals.
Phenology of marine phytoplankton from satellite ocean color measurements
Authors: Vargas M. , Brown C. W. , Sapiano M. R. P.
Published: January 2009

Climate change is expected to affect the timing and magnitude of numerous environmental conditions, including temperature, wind, and precipitation. Amongst other repercussions, such alterations will engender a response in marine ecosystem productivity manifested by changes in the timing and magnitude of phytoplankton biomass and primary productivity. Several investigations have examined the change in magnitude in chlorophyll concentration in relation to changing environmental conditions, but little has been done to examine the change in the timing of the annual cycle of phytoplankton biomass. In order to establish a baseline from which to assess any future changes in the phenology of phytoplankton biomass, we constructed nine‐year climatologies of phytoplankton bloom onset, maturity, start of bloom decay, and termination in the central North Atlantic. This was accomplished by extracting annual values of these phenological markers from Generalized Linear Models fit to pentad (five‐day) estimates of SeaWiFS chlorophyll concentrations dating from 1998 to 2006. This novel modeling approach, which produced results consistent with known patterns of phytoplankton bloom dynamics in this region, provides a statistically robust approach to detect and account for changes in the annual cycle of phytoplankton biomass.
Freakish sea state and swell‐windsea coupling: Numerical study of the Suwa‐Maru incident
Authors: Tamura H. , Waseda T. , Miyazawa Y.
Published: January 2009

On 23 June 2008, a fishing boat with 20 crewmembers onboard sank in reportedly moderate sea‐state conditions in the Kuroshio Extension region east of Japan. To determine the sea state at the time of the incident, we conducted a hindcast wave simulation, as realistically as possible, using an improved third‐generation wave model driven by wind and current reanalysis products. Our results indicated that at the time of the accident, the wave steepness increased and the spectral peakedness narrowed, creating a sea state favorable for freak wave occurrence due to quasi‐resonance. Detailed analyses of the spectral evolution revealed that nonlinear coupling of swell and windsea waves was the key to generating the narrow spectrum. Under the influence of rising wind speed, the swell system grew exponentially at the expense of the windsea energy, and the bimodal crossing sea state transformed into a freakish unimodal sea.
Modeling seasonal variations of auroral particle precipitation in a global‐scale magnetosphere‐ionosphere simulation
Authors: Wiltberger M. , Weigel R. S. , Lotko W. , Fedder J. A.
Published: January 2009

A variety of observations have shown strong seasonal variations in a vast array of magnetosphere‐ionosphere parameters, including field‐aligned currents, cross polar cap potential, and precipitating electron energy flux. In this paper we examine how these variations are modeled in the Lyon‐Fedder‐Mobarry (LFM) global‐scale magnetohydrodynamic simulation of the coupled solar wind‐magnetosphere‐ionosphere system. In order to account for changes in the solar wind conditions caused by the seasonal variation of the Earth's dipole tilt we carefully select the solar wind parameters so that the effective driving conditions are the same across the March, June, and December intervals examined. The seasonal variation of the field‐aligned current strengths is in good agreement with observations, with the sunlit hemisphere having more current than the dark hemisphere in the June and December intervals. However, in order to bring the modeled precipitating electron energy flux into better agreement with the observations we need to utilize a modified current‐voltage relationship which includes a proxy for illumination effects. We provide a detailed description of the LFM's magnetosphere‐ionosphere coupling interface including how illumination effects are incorporated into the model. This methodology for including these effects does not allow for determining if changes in conductance or ionospheric density are responsible for the changes. In addition to improving the agreement with observations the new version of the current‐voltage relationship results in enhanced geomagnetic activity in the March interval examined and suppression of activity during the June interval.
Morphologic and transport properties of natural organic floc
Authors: Larsen Laurel G. , Harvey Judson W. , Crimaldi John P.
Published: January 2009

The morphology, entrainment, and settling of suspended aggregates (“floc”) significantly impact fluxes of organic carbon, nutrients, and contaminants in aquatic environments. However, transport properties of highly organic floc remain poorly understood. In this study detrital floc was collected in the Florida Everglades from two sites with different abundances of periphyton for use in a settling column and in racetrack flume entrainment experiments. Although Everglades flocs are similar to other organic aggregates in terms of morphology and settling rates, they tend to be larger and more porous than typical mineral flocs because of biostabilization processes and relatively low prevailing shear stresses typical of wetlands. Flume experiments documented that Everglades floc was entrained at a low bed shear stress of 1.0 × 10−2 Pa, which is considerably smaller than the typical entrainment threshold of mineral floc. Because of similarities between Everglades floc and other organic floc populations, floc transport characteristics in the Everglades typify the behavior of floc in other organic‐rich shallow‐water environments. Highly organic floc is more mobile than less organic floc, but because bed shear stresses in wetlands are commonly near the entrainment threshold, wetland floc dynamics are often transport‐limited rather than supply limited. Organic floc transport in these environments is therefore governed by the balance between entrainment and settling fluxes, which has implications for ecosystem metabolism, materials cycling, and even landscape evolution.
Predicting organic floc transport dynamics in shallow aquatic ecosystems: Insights from the field, the laboratory, and numerical modeling
Authors: Larsen Laurel G. , Harvey Judson W. , Noe Gregory B. , Crimaldi John P.
Published: January 2009

Transport of particulate organic material can impact watershed sediment and nutrient budgets and can alter the geomorphologic evolution of shallow aquatic environments. Prediction of organic aggregate (“floc”) transport in these environments requires knowledge of how hydraulics and biota affect the entrainment, settling, and aggregation of particles. This study evaluated the aggregation and field transport dynamics of organic floc from a low‐gradient floodplain wetland with flow‐parallel ridges and sloughs in the Florida Everglades. Floc dynamics were evaluated in a rotating annular flume and in situ in the field. Under present managed conditions in the Everglades, floc is not entrained by mean flows but is suspended via biological production in the water column and bioturbation. Aggregation was a significant process affecting Everglades floc at high flume flow velocities (7.0 cm s−1) and during recovery from high flow; disaggregation was not significant for the tested flows. During moderate flows when floc dynamics are hydrodynamically controlled, it is possible to model floc transport using a single “operative floc diameter” that accurately predicts fluxes downstream and to the bed. In contrast, during high flows and recovery from high flows, aggregation dynamics should be simulated. When entrained by flow in open‐water sloughs, Everglades floc will be transported downstream in multiple deposition and reentrainment events but will undergo net settling when transported onto ridges of emergent vegetation. We hypothesize that net transport of material from open to vegetated areas during high flows is critical for forming and maintaining distinctive topographic patterning in the Everglades and other low‐gradient floodplains.
The suppression of hypersensitivity by ocular‐induced CD8+T cells requires compatibility in the Qa‐1 haplotype
Authors: Cone Robert E , Chattopadhyay Subhasis , Sharafieh Roshanak , Lemire Yen , O'Rourke James
Published: January 2009

The injection of antigen into the anterior chamber (AC, intracameral injection) of a murine eye induces the generation of splenic CD8+regulatory T cells (AC‐SPL cells) that effect the antigen‐specific suppression of a delayed‐type hypersensitivity (DTH) reaction. Here we show (i) for the first time that the local antigen‐specific suppression of DTH‐induced swelling in immunized mice either by an intracameral injection of antigen or by the direct injection of CD8+AC‐SPL cells into an antigen‐challenged site is associated with an absence of infiltrated mononuclear cells, (ii) that the local antigen‐specific suppression of the DTH reaction by CD8+AC‐SPL cells requires compatibility between the Qa‐1 but not H2 antigen haplotype of the immunized recipient and the injected AC‐SPL regulatory T cells, (iii) that the suppression of the DTH reaction by CD8+AC‐SPL cells requires the expression of Qa‐1 but not H2 antigens and is not due to bystander suppression.
A novel motif at the C-terminus of palmitoyltransferases is essential for Swf1 and Pfa3 function in vivo
Authors: González Montoro Ayelén , Quiroga Rodrigo , Maccioni Hugo J. F. , Valdez Taubas Javier
Published: January 2009

S-acylation (commonly known as palmitoylation) is a widespread post-translational modification that consists of the addition of a lipid molecule to cysteine residues of a protein through a thioester bond. This modification is predominantly mediated by a family of proteins referred to as PATs (palmitoyltransferases). Most PATs are polytopic membrane proteins, with four to six transmembrane domains, a conserved DHHC motif and variable C-and N-terminal regions, that are probably responsible for conferring localization and substrate specificity. There is very little additional information on the structure–function relationship of PATs. Swf1 and Pfa3 are yeast members of the DHHC family of proteins. Swf1 is responsible for the S-acylation of several transmembrane SNAREs (soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive fusion protein-attachment protein receptors) and other integral membrane proteins. Pfa3 is required for the palmitoylation of Vac8, a protein involved in vacuolar fusion. In the present study we describe a novel 16-amino-acid motif present at the cytosolic C-terminus of PATs, that is required for Swf1 and Pfa3 function in vivo. Within this motif, we have identified a single residue in Swf1, Tyr323, as essential for function, and this is correlated with lack of palmitoylation of Tlg1, a SNARE that is a substrate of Swf1. The equivalent mutation in Pfa3 also affects its function. These mutations are the first phenotype-affecting mutations uncovered that do not lie within the DHHC domain, for these or any other PATs. The motif is conserved in 70% of PATs from all eukaryotic organisms analysed, and may have once been present in all PATs. We have named this motif PaCCT (‘Palmitoyltransferase Conserved C-Terminus’).
Substrate specificity of transthyretin: identification of natural substrates in the nervous system
Authors: Liz Márcia A. , Fleming Carolina E. , Nunes Ana F. , Almeida Maria R. , Mar Fernando M. , Choe Youngchool , Craik Charles S. , Powers James C. , Bogyo Matthew , Sousa Mónica M.
Published: January 2009

Besides functioning as the plasma transporter of retinol and thyroxine, TTR (transthyretin) is a protease, cleaving apoA-I (apolipoprotein A-I) after a phenylalanine residue. In the present study, we further investigated TTR substrate specificity. By using both P-diverse libraries and a library of phosphonate inhibitors, a TTR preference for a lysine residue in P1 was determined, suggesting that TTR might have a dual specificity and that, in addition to apoA-I, other TTR substrates might exist. Previous studies revealed that TTR is involved in the homoeostasis of the nervous system, as it participates in neuropeptide maturation and enhances nerve regeneration. We investigated whether TTR proteolytic activity is involved in these functions. Both wild-type TTR and TTRprot− (proteolytically inactive TTR) had a similar effect in the expression of peptidylglycine α-amidating mono-oxygenase, the rate-limiting enzyme in neuropeptide amidation, excluding the involvement of TTR proteolytic activity in neuropeptide maturation. However, TTR was able to cleave amidated NPY (neuropeptide Y), probably contributing to the increased NPY levels reported in TTR-knockout mice. To assess the involvement of TTR proteolytic activity in axonal regeneration, neurite outgrowth of cells cultivated with wild-type TTR or TTRprot−, was measured. Cells grown with TTRprot− displayed decreased neurite length, thereby suggesting that TTR proteolytic activity is important for its function as a regeneration enhancer. By showing that TTR is able to cleave NPY and that its proteolytic activity affects axonal growth, the present study shows that TTR has natural substrates in the nervous system, establishing further its relevance in neurobiology.