bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Daughter Zion Speaks in Auschwitz: A Post-Holocaust Reading of Lamentations
Authors: Wilson Kelly M.
Published: August 2012

Ancient texts present the reader with an insurmountable challenge—namely, distance. Concerning the book of Lamentations, which was a response to the destruction of the Temple in 586 bce, readers are too removed from the raw experience of grief that gave rise to the lament in the first place. One way to overcome this obstacle—though imperfectly—is to juxtapose the book of Lamentations with a more recent and better documented horror. This article offers an analysis of women and children in Lamentations juxtaposed with the experiences of women and children in the Holocaust. The goal in this study is not to replace the experience of the destruction of the Temple with the Holocaust; rather, it is to reinvigorate the book of Lamentations, prompting the reader to move from apathy to empathy.
The 1975–2005 glacier changes in Aosta Valley (Italy) and the relations with climate evolution
Authors: Diolaiuti G.A. , Bocchiola D. , Vagliasindi M. , D’Agata C. , Smiraglia C.
Published: August 2012

Here three glacier surface area records (years 1975, 1999 and 2005) available for Aosta Valley (western Italian Alps) have been synthesized. The 1975 data have been collected by previous authors who compiled the first Aosta Valley regional glacier database. The 1999 and 2005 surface area data were computed by the authors here combining registered colour orthophotos with differential GPS (DGPS) field measurements. The surface changes of 174 glaciers (those shared within the three records of data) were calculated to describe the recent evolution of a representative subset of Italian glaciers. Aosta Valley glaciers lost 44.3 km2 during 1975–2005, i.e. c. 27% of the initial area. Small glaciers contributed strongly to total area loss, and during 2005 147 glaciers (c. 84.5% of the studied ones) were smaller than 1 km2, covering 20.7 km2 (c. 17% of the total area), but accounted for 43% of the total loss in area (losing 19 km2 from 1975 to 2005). The area change rate accelerated recently (1999–2005: mean area loss of c. 2.8 km2/year; 1975–1999: mean area loss of c. 1.1 km2/year). We then analyse records (1975–2005) of temperature, precipitation and snow cover from three high-altitude (1332 m asl to 3488 m asl) stations within Aosta Valley, to investigate modified climate within the area. We find increasing temperature especially during late spring and summer, and substantially unchanged total precipitation, with marked reduction of snowfall, snow cover, number of snowfall events and duration of continuous snow cover, especially during spring and summer, likely driving shrinking of glacier coverage.
Emotion Knowledge and Self-Regulation as Predictors of Preschoolers’ Cognitive Ability, Classroom Behavior, and Social Competence
Authors: Garner Pamela W. , Waajid Badiyyah
Published: August 2012

The development of children’s cognitive and social skills is a topic of considerable importance and interest in education and educational psychology. The current study examines whether emotion knowledge and self-regulation predict cognitive competence, social competence, and classroom behavior problems among a sample of 74 preschoolers (40 boys). A hierarchical regression was used to control for age, child gender, and family income level before predicting cognitive competence, social competence, and classroom behavior problems from emotion knowledge and self-regulation. Emotion knowledge incrementally predicted both cognitive competence (Δ R2 = .06) and social competence (Δ R2 = .08) but not classroom behavior problems. Conversely, self-regulation predicted classroom behavior problems (Δ R2 = .07) but not cognitive or social competence. In addition, results demonstrated that the situation knowledge (not the expression knowledge) component of emotion knowledge was the active ingredient for both cognitive and social competence. However, different aspects of self-regulation were relevant for different outcomes: The attentional control element was important for cognitive competence, whereas the positive emotionality element was important for social competence and behavior problems. The study demonstrates that emotion-related competencies are important prerequisites for valued educational and social outcomes in preschoolers.
Erwin Straus and the pathic
Authors: Ratnapalan LM , Reggio David
Published: August 2012

This paper details the significance of the ‘pathic’ mode of sensing in the work of Erwin Straus, through a consideration of its origins, etymology, and relationship with the research of his close contemporaries. The ‘pathic’ describes ‘the immediately present, sensually vivid, still pre-conceptual communication we have with appearances’. Straus came to a coherent understanding of its importance through his critique of Pavlov’s laboratory experiments on the conditioned reflex, which he then developed in phenomenological case studies where he further refined his anthropology. Not simply of relevance to the history of phenomenological psychology alone, the ‘pathic’ has an urgent contemporary implication in opposing the rise of what Straus presciently termed ‘mechanomorphic’ interpretations of human behaviour.
‘Occasionally heard to be answering voices’: aural culture and the ritual of psychiatric audition, 1877–1911
Authors: Brian Kathleen M
Published: August 2012

This essay argues that historians will gain a deeper understanding of the nosological ritual and the professionals who enacted it by placing internal developments of late nineteenth-century psychiatry alongside the synchronic rise of the linguistic sciences. Doing so demonstrates that, contrary to historical consensus, what fell out of favour were traditional methods of observation rather than the practice of classification itself. Through an analysis of the aural culture at St Elizabeths Hospital (Washington, DC) between 1877 and 1911 as evidenced by patient case files and diagnostic training manuals, I focus on shifting methods of psychiatric audition as primary sites of professional claims to legitimacy at a time when the specialty was under attack from critics both external and internal.
Numerical investigations on the leakage flow characteristics of pocket damper labyrinth seals
Authors: Li Zhigang , Li Jun , Yan Xin , Feng Zhenping
Published: August 2012

A combined finite element analysis and computational fluid dynamics was developed to investigate the discharge characteristics and flow field of pocket damper seals at high pressure (up to 7.2 MPa) and high rotational speed (up to 50,200 r/min) flow condition. At first, the leakage flow rates of the published experimental pocket damper seals with the eight-bladed and eight-pocket were conducted at three different pressure drops and three different rotational speeds, and a comparison between finite element analysis and computational fluid dynamics results, experimental data and computational fluid dynamics results was presented. It showed that the utilized finite element analysis/computational fluid dynamics numerical method has sufficient precision (the maximum relative deviation is less than 1.3%) to predict the leakage flow rate through the pocket damper seals. The importance of taking rotor growth with rotational speed into consideration was made apparent by the rotor growth and leakage results. Then, six pressure ratios and seven rotational speeds were utilized to study the effects of these two factors on the leakage flow characteristics of the pocket damper seals. Numerical simulation results show that the leakage through a pocket damper seals increases with decreasing pressure ratio and asymptotically approach a maximum value corresponding to the choked flow condition when the pressure ratio is small enough (less than 0.26). The leakage flow rate with and without rotor growth included both decrease with the increasing rotational speed. In addition, it is quite necessary to take rotor growth with rotational speed into consideration when the rotational speed is very high (larger than 20,200 r/min) according to the numerical results and the engineering accuracy requirement. The influence of the pressure ratio on the structure of the leakage flow field in seal cavity is negligible. A significant influence of the rotational speed on the flow field in the active cavity has been observed. The circumferential partition wall can significantly decrease the circumferential flow in active cavity of the pocket damper seals.
The Influence of Environmental Sound Training on the Perception of Spectrally Degraded Speech and Environmental Sounds
Authors: Shafiro Valeriy , Sheft Stanley , Gygi Brian , Ho Kim Thien N.
Published: August 2012

Perceptual training with spectrally degraded environmental sounds results in improved environmental sound identification, with benefits shown to extend to untrained speech perception as well. The present study extended those findings to examine longer-term training effects as well as effects of mere repeated exposure to sounds over time. Participants received two pretests (1 week apart) prior to a week-long environmental sound training regimen, which was followed by two posttest sessions, separated by another week without training. Spectrally degraded stimuli, processed with a four-channel vocoder, consisted of a 160-item environmental sound test, word and sentence tests, and a battery of basic auditory abilities and cognitive tests. Results indicated significant improvements in all speech and environmental sound scores between the initial pretest and the last posttest with performance increments following both exposure and training. For environmental sounds (the stimulus class that was trained), the magnitude of positive change that accompanied training was much greater than that due to exposure alone, with improvement for untrained sounds roughly comparable to the speech benefit from exposure. Additional tests of auditory and cognitive abilities showed that speech and environmental sound performance were differentially correlated with tests of spectral and temporal-fine-structure processing, whereas working memory and executive function were correlated with speech, but not environmental sound perception. These findings indicate generalizability of environmental sound training and provide a basis for implementing environmental sound training programs for cochlear implant (CI) patients.
Including and Representing End-User’s Needs When Building Houses of Culture
Authors: Wihlborg Elin , Laurell Kristina
Published: August 2012

Expressing end-user needs and including them into the public sector building process is crucial to the public sector client when making an informed and legitimate decision and implementation of a construction project. The aim of this article is to analyze how end-user needs can be, and in a specific case are, articulated and taken up differently by stakeholders through the early phases of the public building process. A time-geographical approach allows for theoretical analysis of the early phases of the construction project over time. Hereby an analysis of end-user needs can be visualized and thereby show the complexity of how to manage end-user needs in public building processes. It is here illustrated by the realization of a public House of Culture in a Scandinavian city. The analysis shows how stakeholders networked until the construction project and procurement forms were settled with the contractors. The analysis shows the complex interplay of how stakeholders take on end-user needs by integrating them into the policy process and the briefing process, creating new functional and technical building solutions. The public sector client has to create openings for all types of stakeholders to contribute as early as possible to the public building process when including and representing end-user needs.
From Cannibal Tours to cargo cult: On the aftermath of tourism in the Sepik River, Papua New Guinea
Authors: Silverman Eric K
Published: August 2012

This article challenges the moral parable of the film Cannibal Tours by drawing on long-term ethnographic research in a Iatmul-speaking village along the Sepik River, Papua New Guinea—one of the very communities featured in the film. In this article, first, I argue that Cannibal Tours silences indigenous agency and thus contributes to the very symbolic violence the film-maker aims to critique. Second, I interpret Sepik River tourist art not as meaningless trinkets, as the film implies, but as complex aesthetic expressions of postcolonial identity. Finally, I discuss the recent emergence of cargo cult ideation in a Sepik society as a response to heightened fiscal marginalization after the sale of the tourist ship in 2006. The moral force of Cannibal Tours leads most viewers to wish that the tourists would simply leave. And they have. Local villagers, however, desperately yearn for the return of tourism—and now enlist the dead in this effort.
Identification of adequate vehicles to carry nerve regeneration inducers using tubulisation
Authors: do Nascimento-Elias Adriana Helena , Fresnesdas Bruno César , Schiavoni Maria Cristina Lopes , de Almeida Natália Fernanda Gaspar , Santos Ana Paula , de Oliveira Ramos Jean , Junior Wilson Marques , Barreira Amilton Antunes
Published: August 2012

Background

Axonal regeneration depends on many factors, such as the type of injury and repair, age, distance from the cell body and distance of the denervated muscle, loss of surrounding tissue and the type of injured nerve. Experimental models use tubulisation with a silicone tube to research regenerative factors and substances to induce regeneration. Agarose, collagen and DMEM (Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium) can be used as vehicles. In this study, we compared the ability of these vehicles to induce rat sciatic nerve regeneration with the intent of finding the least active or inert substance. The experiment used 47 female Wistar rats, which were divided into four experimental groups (agarose 4%, agarose 0.4%, collagen, DMEM) and one normal control group. The right sciatic nerve was exposed, and an incision was made that created a 10 mm gap between the distal and proximal stumps. A silicone tube was grafted onto each stump, and the tubes were filled with the respective media. After 70 days, the sciatic nerve was removed. We evaluated the formation of a regeneration cable, nerve fibre growth, and the functional viability of the regenerated fibres.

Results

Comparison among the three vehicles showed that 0.4% agarose gels had almost no effect on provoking the regeneration of peripheral nerves and that 4% agarose gels completely prevented fibre growth. The others substances were associated with profuse nerve fibre growth.

Conclusions

In the appropriate concentration, agarose gel may be an important vehicle for testing factors that induce regeneration without interfering with nerve growth.
Higher frequency of cagA EPIYA-C Phosphorylation Sites in H. pylori strains from first-degree relatives of gastric cancer patients
Authors: Queiroz Dulciene MM , Silva Cícero ISM , Goncalves Maria HRB , Braga-Neto Manuel B , Fialho Andréa BC , Fialho André MN , Rocha Gifone A , Rocha Andreia MC , Batista Sérgio A , Guerrant Richard L , Lima Aldo AM , Braga Lucia LBC
Published: August 2012

Background

To evaluate the prevalence of more virulent H. pylori genotypes in relatives of gastric cancer patients and in patients without family histories of gastric cancer.

Methods

We evaluated prospectively the prevalence of the infection by more virulent H. pylori strains in 60 relatives of gastric cancer patients comparing the results with those obtained from 49 patients without family histories of gastric cancer. H. pylori status was determined by the urease test, histology and presence of H. pylori ureA. The cytotoxin associated gene (cagA), the cagA-EPIYA and vacuolating cytotoxin gene (vacA) were typed by PCR and the cagA EPIYA typing was confirmed by sequencing.

Results

The gastric cancer relatives were significant and independently more frequently colonized by H. pylori strains with higher numbers of CagA-EPIYA-C segments (OR = 4.23, 95%CI = 1.53–11.69) and with the most virulent s1m1 vacA genotype (OR = 2.80, 95%CI = 1.04–7.51). Higher numbers of EPIYA-C segments were associated with increased gastric corpus inflammation, foveolar hyperplasia and atrophy. Infection by s1m1 vacA genotype was associated with increased antral and corpus gastritis.

Conclusions

We demonstrated that relatives of gastric cancer patients are more frequently colonized by the most virulent H. pylori cagA and vacA genotypes, which may contribute to increase the risk of gastric cancer.
A randomised controlled trial of a cognitive behavioural intervention for men who have hot flushes following prostate cancer treatment (MANCAN): trial protocol
Authors: Yousaf Omar , Stefanopoulou Evgenia , Grunfeld Elizabeth A , Hunter Myra S
Published: August 2012

Background

This randomised controlled trial (RCT) aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a guided self-help cognitive behavioural intervention to alleviate problematic hot flushes (HF) and night sweats (NS) in men who are undergoing prostate cancer treatment. The trial and the self-help materials have been adapted from a previous RCT, which showed that a cognitive behavioural intervention reduced the self-reported problem-rating of hot flushes in women with menopausal symptoms, and in women undergoing breast cancer treatment. We hypothesize that guided self-help will be more effective than usual care in reducing HF/NS problem-rating at post treatment assessment.

Methods/Design

Seventy men who are undergoing treatment for prostate cancer and who have been experiencing more than ten HF/NS weekly for over a month are recruited into the trial from urology clinics in London. They are randomly allocated to either a four-week self-help cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) treatment or to their usual care (control group). The treatment includes information and discussion about hot flushes and night sweats in the context of prostate cancer, monitoring and modifying precipitants, relaxation and paced respiration, stress management, cognitive therapy for unhelpful thoughts and beliefs, managing sleep and night sweats, and advice on maintaining these changes.

Prior to randomisation, men attend a clinical interview, undergo 24-48-hour sternal skin conductance monitoring, and complete pre-treatment questionnaires (e.g., problem-rating and frequency of hot flushes and night sweats; quality of life; mood; hot flush beliefs and behaviours). Post-treatment measures (sternal skin conductance and the above questionnaires) are collected four-six weeks later, and again at a six-month follow-up.

Discussion

MANCAN is the first randomised controlled trial of cognitive behavioural therapy for HF/NS for men that measures both self-reported and physiologically indexed symptoms. The results will inform future clinical practice by evaluating an evidence-based, non-medical treatment, which can be delivered by trained health professionals.

Trial registration

UK Clinical Research Network UKCRN10904.
Indocyanine green angiography findings in patients with long-standing Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease: a cross-sectional study
Authors: da Silva Felipe T , Hirata Carlos E , Sakata Viviane M , Olivalves Edilberto , Preti Rony , Pimentel Sergio LG , Gomes Andre , Takahashi Walter Y , Costa Rogerio A , Yamamoto Joyce H
Published: August 2012

Background

To investigate indocyanine green angiography (ICGA) findings in patients with long-standing Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) disease and their correlation with disease activity on clinical examination as well as with systemic corticosteroid therapy.

Methods

Twenty-eight patients (51 eyes) with long-standing (≥6 months from disease onset) VKH disease whose treatment was tapered based only in clinical features were prospectively included at a single center in Brazil. All patients underwent standardized clinical evaluation, which included fundus photography, fluorescein angiography and ICGA. Clinical disease activity was determined based in the Standardization in Uveitis Nomenclature Working Group. Fisher exact test and logistic regression models were used for statistical analysis.

Results

Disease-related choroidal inflammation on ICGA was observed in 72.5% (31 of 51 eyes). Angiographic findings suggestive of (choroidal and/or retinal) disease activity were not observed on FA. Clinically active disease based on clinical evaluation was observed in 41.2% (21 of 51 eyes). In these 21 eyes, disease-related choroidal inflammation on ICGA was observed in 76.2% (16 of 21 eyes); in the remaining eyes (without clinical active disease) disease-related choroidal inflammation on ICGA was observed in 70.0% (21 of 30 eyes). In respect to systemic corticosteroid therapy, 10 patients (18 of 51 eyes) were under treatment with prednisone. In these 10 (18 of 51 eyes) patients, disease-related choroidal inflammation on ICGA was observed in 83.3% (15 of 18 eyes); in the remaining patients (33 of 51 eyes) disease-related choroidal inflammation on ICGA was observed in 66.7% (22 of 33 eyes).

Conclusion

ICGA findings suggestive of disease-related choroidal inflammation were observed in a considerable proportion of patients with long-standing VKH disease, independent of the inflammatory status of the disease on clinical examination or current use of systemic corticosteroid. Therefore, the current study reinforces the crucial role of ICGA to assist the management and treatment of patients with long-standing VKH disease.
Cardiorespiratory fitness, cardiovascular workload and risk factors among cleaners; a cluster randomized worksite intervention
Authors: Korshøj Mette , Krustrup Peter , Jørgensen Marie Birk , Prescott Eva , Hansen Åse Marie , Kristiansen Jesper , Skotte Jørgen Henrik , Mortensen Ole Steen , Søgaard Karen , Holtermann Andreas
Published: August 2012

Background

Prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors is unevenly distributed among occupational groups. The working environment, as well as lifestyle and socioeconomic status contribute to the disparity and variation in prevalence of these risk factors. High physical work demands have been shown to increase the risk for cardiovascular disease and mortality, contrary to leisure time physical activity. High physical work demands in combination with a low cardiorespiratory fitness infer a high relative workload and an excessive risk for cardiovascular mortality. Therefore, the aim of this study is to examine whether a worksite aerobic exercise intervention will reduce the relative workload and cardiovascular risk factors by an increased cardiorespiratory fitness.

Methods/design

A cluster-randomized controlled trial is performed to evaluate the effect of the worksite aerobic exercise intervention on cardiorespiratory fitness and cardiovascular risk factors among cleaners. Cleaners are eligible if they are employed ≥ 20 hours/week, at one of the enrolled companies. In the randomization, strata are formed according to the manager the participant reports to. The clusters will be balanced on the following criteria: Geographical work location, gender, age and seniority. Cleaners are randomized to either I) a reference group, receiving lectures concerning healthy living, or II) an intervention group, performing worksite aerobic exercise “60 min per week”. Data collection will be conducted at baseline, four months and 12 months after baseline, at the worksite during working hours. The data collection will consist of a questionnaire-based interview, physiological testing of health and capacity-related measures, and objective diurnal measures of heart rate, physical activity and blood pressure. Primary outcome is cardiorespiratory fitness.

Discussion

Information is lacking about whether an improved cardiorespiratory fitness will affect the cardiovascular health, and additionally decrease the objectively measured relative workload, in a population with high physical work demands. Previous intervention studies have lacked robust objective measurements of the relative workload and physical work demands. This study will monitor the relative workload and general physical activity before, during after the intervention, and contribute to the understanding of the previously observed opposing effects on cardiovascular health and mortality from occupational and leisure time physical activity.

Trial registration

The study is registered as ISRCTN86682076.
Genetic signatures shared in embryonic liver development and liver cancer define prognostically relevant subgroups in HCC
Authors: Becker Diana , Sfakianakis Ioannis , Krupp Markus , Staib Frank , Gerhold-Ay Aslihan , Victor Anja , Binder Harald , Blettner Maria , Maass Thorsten , Thorgeirsson Snorri , Galle Peter R , Teufel Andreas
Published: August 2012

Multiple activations of individual genes during embryonic liver and HCC development have repeatedly prompted speculations about conserved embryonic signatures driving cancer development. Recently, the emerging discussion on cancer stem cells and the appreciation that generally tumors may develop from progenitor cells of diverse stages of cellular differentiation has shed increasing light on the overlapping genetic signatures between embryonic liver development and HCC. However there is still a lack of systematic studies investigating this area. We therefore performed a comprehensive analysis of differentially regulated genetic signaling pathways in embryonic and liver cancer development and investigated their biological relevance.

Genetic signaling pathways were investigated on several publically available genome wide microarray experiments on liver development and HCC. Differentially expressed genes were investigated for pathway enrichment or underrepresentation compared to KEGG annotated pathways by Fisher exact evaluation. The comparative analysis of enrichment and under representation of differentially regulated genes in liver development and HCC demonstrated a significant overlap between multiple pathways. Most strikingly we demonstrated a significant overlap not only in pathways expected to be relevant to both conditions such as cell cycle or apoptosis but also metabolic pathways associated with carbohydrate and lipid metabolism. Furthermore, we demonstrated the clinical significance of these findings as unsupervised clustering of HCC patients on the basis of these metabolic pathways displayed significant differences in survival.

These results indicate that liver development and liver cancer share similar alterations in multiple genetic signaling pathways. Several pathways with markedly similar patterns of enrichment or underrepresentation of various regulated genes between liver development and HCC are of prognostic relevance in HCC. In particular, the metabolic pathways were identified as novel prognostically relevant players in HCC development.
A systematic review of the effectiveness of alternative cadres in community based rehabilitation
Authors: Mannan Hasheem , Boostrom Camille , MacLachlan Malcolm , McAuliffe Eilish , Khasnabis Chapal , Gupta Neeru
Published: August 2012

Background

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) aim to improve population health and the quality and dignity of people’s lives, but their achievement is constrained by the crisis in human resources for health. An important potential contribution towards achieving the MDGs for persons with disabilities will be the newly developed Guidelines for Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR), launched in 2010. Given the global shortage of medical and nursing personnel and highly skilled rehabilitation practitioners, effective implementation of the CBR guidelines will require additional health workers, with improved distribution and a new skill set, allowing them to work across the health, education, livelihoods, social, and development sectors.

Methods

We conducted a systematic review to evaluate existing evidence regarding the effectiveness of alternative cadres working in CBR in low and middle income countries. We searched the following databases: PUBMED, LILACS, SCIE, ISMEAR, WHOLIS, AFRICAN MED IND. We also searched the online archive of the Asia Pacific Disability Rehabilitation Journal (available from 2002 to 2010), which was not covered by any of the other databases. There was no limit set on inclusion with regard to how recent a publication was in the general search.

Results

The search yielded 235 abstracts, only 6 of which addressed CBR through some type of evaluative component. Three of the studies explored the effects of CBR interventions, mainly related to physical disabilities, while three explored issues concerned with the work performance of rehabilitation workers. Altogether the studies covered four different countries.

Conclusion

All six studies related to specific service delivery in local contexts, using outcome measures that were not comparable across studies. We do not, therefore, feel that the current results provide adequate methodology or evidence for reliably generalizing their results. Due to the dearth of evidence regarding the effectiveness of alternative cadres in CBR, systematic research is needed on the training, performance and impacts of rehabilitation workers, including their capability of working across sectors and engaging with and making use of health systems research.
Application of a case–control study design to investigate genotypic signatures of HIV-1 transmission
Authors: Mota Talia M , Murray John M , Center Rob J , Purcell Damian F J , McCaw James M
Published: August 2012

Background

The characterization of HIV-1 transmission strains may inform the design of an effective vaccine. Shorter variable loops with fewer predicted glycosites have been suggested as signatures enriched in envelope sequences derived during acute HIV-1 infection. Specifically, a transmission-linked lack of glycosites within the V1 and V2 loops of gp120 provides greater access to an α4β7 binding motif, which promotes the establishment of infection. Also, a histidine at position 12 in the leader sequence of Env has been described as a transmission signature that is selected against during chronic infection. The purpose of this study is to measure the association of the presence of an α4β7 binding motif, the number of N-linked glycosites, the length of the variable loops, and the prevalence of histidine at position 12 with HIV-1 transmission. A case–control study design was used to measure the prevalence of these variables between subtype B and C transmission sequences and frequency-matched randomly-selected sequences derived from chronically infected controls.

Results

Subtype B transmission strains had shorter V3 regions than chronic strains (p = 0.031); subtype C transmission strains had shorter V1 loops than chronic strains (p = 0.047); subtype B transmission strains had more V3 loop glycosites (p = 0.024) than chronic strains. Further investigation showed that these statistically significant results were unlikely to be biologically meaningful. Also, there was no difference observed in the prevalence of a histidine at position 12 among transmission strains and controls of either subtype.

Conclusions

Although a genetic bottleneck is observed after HIV-1 transmission, our results indicate that summary characteristics of Env hypothesised to be important in transmission are not divergent between transmission and chronic strains of either subtype. The success of a transmission strain to initiate infection may be a random event from the divergent pool of donor viral sequences. The characteristics explored through this study are important, but may not function as genotypic signatures of transmission as previously described.
Gait analysis in clinically healthy sheep from three different age groups using a pressure-sensitive walkway
Authors: Agostinho Felipe S , Rahal Sheila C , Araújo Fábio A P , Conceição Renato T , Hussni Carlos A , El-Warrak Alexander O , Monteiro Frederico O B
Published: August 2012

Background

Understanding normal gait requires allowing for variations in normal patterns by the sex, age, and species in question. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate kinetic and temporospatial parameters in clinically healthy sheep from three different age groups with a pressure-sensing walkway. The sheep were judged to be healthy based on the results of complete physical and orthopaedic examinations and had no history of lameness. Twenty-one clinically healthy female Santa Ines sheep were divided into three groups: G1 – seven animals, aged from 8 to 12 months and weighing 19.5-33 kg; G2 - seven individuals, aged from 2 to 4 years and weighing 26.5-42 kg; and G3 - seven sheep, aged more than 5 years and weighing 37.3-45 kg. The animals were examined from two directions: first on the left side and then on the right side of the handler. The data from the first five valid trials in each direction were collected for each sheep and analysed using the designated software. A trial was considered valid if the sheep walked within the correct velocity (1.1-1.3 m/s) and acceleration (from −0.15 to 0.15 m/s2) ranges. The peak vertical force (PVF), vertical impulse (VI), gait cycle time, stance time, swing time, stride length, and the percentage body weight distribution among the four limbs were determined.

Results

No significant differences were observed, in either the forelimbs or the hind limbs, between the left and right sides or between the two directions for any of the variables. No significant temporospatial differences were found among the groups. Significant PVF (%BW) differences were observed in the forelimbs (G1 > G3) and hind limbs (G1 > G3), and significant VI differences were observed in the forelimbs (G1 > G3).

Conclusions

Young healthy sheep differ from older sheep in the vertical forces they create when walking at the same velocity on a pressure-sensing walkway.
Development and evaluation of a real-time PCR assay for the quantitative detection of Theileria annulata in cattle
Authors: Ros-García Amaia , Nicolás Antoni , García-Pérez Ana L , Juste Ramón A , Hurtado Ana
Published: August 2012

Background

The tick-borne apicomplexan bovine parasite Theileria annulata is endemic in many tropical and temperate areas, including Minorca (Balearic Islands, Spain). Real-time PCR is widely used for the detection of piroplasms but quantification is not commonly considered.

Results

We developed a real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay for the detection and quantification of T. annulata that included an internal amplification control (IAC) to monitor for the presence of potential inhibitors. Specificity, sensitivity, precision, linear range and PCR efficiency were calculated and different methods for transformation of quantification cycle (Cq) values into quantities (Q) were evaluated. The assay was able to detect (100% probability) and quantify (linear response) 100 gene copies, and clinical sensitivity was set at 10 T. annulata per μl of blood. The assay was then validated on 141 bovine blood samples analyzed in parallel by a Luminex® suspension array, showing the utility of the qPCR assay developed here for the detection and quantification of the parasite in field conditions. Once validated it was used to monitor T. annulata parasitaemia throughout a year in 8 carrier animals from a farm in Minorca.

Conclusions

The developed qPCR assay offers a reliable and simple way to quantify T. annulata infection loads, which could prove crucial in studying the role of carrier animals as a source of the infection, or assessing the efficacy of treatment and control measures.
Kierkegaard, Gramsci, and the Politics of Irony and Sarcasm
Authors: Opitz Andrew M.
Published: August 2012

This article examines the politics of irony and considers the role this ostensibly elitist mode of communication plays in a world characterized by economic inequality and unequal access to educational resources. Its study of the political uses of irony is grounded in an analysis of Søren Kierkegaard's dissertation On the Concept of Irony with Continual Reference to Socrates and Antonio Gramsci's prison notes on the usefulness of irony and sarcasm for revolutionary politics. The essay places Kierkegaard's canonical and conservative evaluation of irony in dialog with Gramsci's lesser-known writings on “passionate sarcasm” — a politically progressive manifestation of irony that vigorously ridicules the corruption of the social status quo while also building a positive movement for historical change. It argues that although Kierkegaard's philosophical study of irony is of enduring interest to scholars of classical Athens and nineteenth-century Romanticism, Gramsci's historicist evaluation of irony as a political tactic provides a more open and practical framework for the study of today's political satire. Although Gramsci's notes on irony and sarcasm are rooted in the cultural politics of early twentieth-century Europe, and interwar Italy in particular, many of their observations are applicable to the world in which we live. The article concludes by applying Gramsci's insights to select uses of irony in contemporary culture, including New Yorker cartoons and television programs such as The Daily Show.
Joseph Lister (1827–1912): a pioneer of antiseptic surgery remembered a century after his death
Authors: Jessney Benn
Published: August 2012

Joseph Lister was a remarkable British surgeon who pioneered principles of antisepsis. He died 100 years ago after devoting his life to developing and promoting safe, antiseptic surgery. In the 1800s as many as 80% of all operations resulted in infection but many people refused to accept the true nature of infection, believing instead that the deaths were coincidental. Lister became familiar with the work of Pasteur while working in Glasgow. He recognized the truth in Pasteur's work and in 1867 Lister published his landmark paper ‘On the Antiseptic Principle in the Practice of Surgery’ in the British Medical Journal. It proved to be a turning point in healthcare.
Ludwig Guttmann (1899–1980), Stoke Mandeville Hospital and the Paralympic Games
Authors: Silver John R
Published: August 2012

On 27 July 2012 London is hosting the Olympic and the Paralympic Games. The Olympic Games will be attended by 17,000 athletes to be followed by the Paralympic Games with 4200 athletes from 150 countries, participating in 20 different sports. This multicultural event has grown in the last 60 years from a small competition between British and Dutch athletes on the lawns of Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire. The Paralympic Movement was born out of the vision of Sir Ludwig Guttmann. Before World War II, most paraplegic patients died. Guttmann came to Stoke Mandeville Hospital in 1944 and instituted the modern treatment of spinal injuries which kept paraplegic patients alive. While exercise is an essential part of rehabilitation, developing strength and agility, and a paraplegic patient can only participate in competitive sport when he or she is fully rehabilitated so the sports movement grew out of the successful treatment of paraplegic patients.
REVIEWS
Authors: Brabandt Petra Van , Kaufman Cathy , Frost Warwick , Laing Jennifer
Published: August 2012

ENLIGHTENMENT HOSPITALITY. CANNIBALS, HAREMS AND ADOPTION, JUDITH STILL (2011) Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, 310 pp., ISBN: 978 0 7294 1010 6, p/bk, £60.00

SETTING THETABLE FOR JULIA CHILD: GOURMET DINING IN AMERICA, 1934–1961, DAVID STRAUSS (2011) Baltimore, MD: John
Hopkins University Press, 352 pp., ISBN: 9780801897733, h/bk, $45

ROYAL TASTE: FOOD, POWER AND SATUS AT THE EUROPEAN COURTS AFTER 1789, DANIËLLE DE VOOGHT (ED.) (2011) Farnham, Surrey, UK: Ashgate, 246 pp., e-book, ISBN: 978-0-7546-6837-4; 978-0-7546-9478-6, h/bk, £65.00
Hospitality as a gift relationship: Political refugees as guests in the private sphere
Authors: Komter Aafke , Leer Mirjam van
Published: August 2012

In this article we investigate hospitality towards political refugees who were offered prolonged shelter in private homes in the Netherlands during the early 1990s. We assume that the social relationship developing between host and guest in this case will not remain a relationship between
complete strangers, nor will it be based on the intimacy that often characterizes a relationship with friends or family. How does the relationship between host and guest take shape in such a dynamic? We develop a theoretical model based on some basic dimensions of hospitality. Our empirical
analysis shows that the encounter between host and guest-as-stranger is manifested in four different ways: (1) hospitality as a means to control danger represented by the stranger; (2) hospitality as a selective phenomenon, in which those closer in emotional and social distance are preferred
over those farther away in that respect; (3) hospitality as being regulated by the principle of reciprocity; and (4) hospitality as potentially endangered by issues of power and dependency.
Fifty years of Radiochimica Acta: a brief overview
Authors: Qaim S. M.
Published: August 2012

This paper provides a brief account of the development of this journal over the last fifty years. Having started in 1962 as a modest outlet for reporting research results in radiochemistry, Radiochimica Acta soon became a respected specialist journal. There has been long-term continuity both in editorial activity and publishing management, resulting in welldefined publishing policies. Starting with the Founding Editors, the Board of Editors was changed only in 1977 and 1996. Similarly the original Publisher, Akademischer Verlag, published the journal until 1983. Since then OldenbourgWissenschaftsverlag has been managing the publication process. The journal has been broad-based, encompassing all chemical aspects of nuclear science and technology. It has played a significant role in the dissemination of new knowledge, occasionally by bringing forth special issues in fast emerging areas. It has kept pace with the changing trends in worldwide radiochemical research. Whereas by about the middle of 1980s all areas of radiochemistry were equally represented, today the emphasis is more on applied topics, such as chemical behaviour and mobility of actinides and fission products, accelerator-based radiochemistry, medical applications of radioactivity, etc. The number of published scientific contributions to date amounts to about 5100, covering about 30 000 printed pages. The total number of authors is around 7000. The journal follows a strict peer-review system and is supported by a network of about 400 referees. About 200 manuscripts are received per year, out of which 30-35% are rejected. The impact factor (IF) of the journal is almost the highest among the radiochemistry related journals, and the cited half-life (CHL) among the highest of all chemistry and physics oriented journals. In short, today Radiochimica Acta is a well established, internationally recognised periodical. Presently, approximately 50 percent of the published contributions originate from Europe, 25 percent fromNorth- and South America and the remaining 25 percent from Asia, Australia and Africa together. All articles are published in English, and the journal is available to readership both on-line and in printed form.
The Szilard–Chalmers effect in macrocyclic ligands to increase the specific activity of reactor-produced radiolanthanides: Experiments and explanations
Authors: Zhernosekov K.P. , Filosofov D.V. , Rösch F.
Published: August 2012

Successful utilization of medical isotopes in the radiolabeling reactions to a significant degree depends on the technically achievable specific activity. In this respect, the Szilard-Chalmers effect is considered in detail as a radiochemical tool to increase the specific activity of radionuclides produced by direct nuclear reactions. In the present study, a physico-chemical model is described utilizing the specific aspects of thermodynamically and kinetically stabilised metal-ligand complexes. The approach is applied as a proofof- principle study to increase the specific activity of 166Ho, produced via the (n, γ) nuclear reaction. As a target material, 165Ho-DOTA is used. In this case, 166Ho, the product nucleus of the neutron capture reaction, is obtained chemically as non-complexed cationic 166HoIII species in situ. Consequently, it can effectively and quantitatively be separated from the inactive 165Ho-DOTA target material by means of fast and simple chromatographic, column-based methods.

We were able to verify the physico-chemical model by the experimentally obtained data. For the first time we quantitatively describe the interaction of the ligand-framework of the target material (e.g. the Ho-DOTA complex) with the radiation field of the nuclear reactor. The analysis of the experimental data allows to assume that radionuclides with half-lives of T1/2 < 64 h can be produced at a TRIGA II nuclear reactor via the Szilard-Chalmers effect with specific activities higher than in the case of direct irradiation of common target materials such as oxides.
Succinate dehydrogenase (SDHx) mutations in pituitary tumors: could this be a new role for mitochondrial complex II and/or Krebs cycle defects?
Authors: Xekouki Paraskevi , Stratakis Constantine A
Published: August 2012

Succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) or mitochondrial complex II is a multimeric enzyme that is bound to the inner membrane of mitochondria and has a dual role as it serves both as a critical step of the tricarboxylic acid or Krebs cycle and as a member of the respiratory chain that transfers electrons directly to the ubiquinone pool. Mutations in SDH subunits have been implicated in the formation of familial paragangliomas (PGLs) and/or pheochromocytomas (PHEOs) and in Carney–Stratakis syndrome. More recently, SDH defects were associated with predisposition to a Cowden disease phenotype, renal, and thyroid cancer. We recently described a kindred with the coexistence of familial PGLs and an aggressive GH-secreting pituitary adenoma, harboring anSDHDmutation. The pituitary tumor showed loss of heterozygosity at theSDHDlocus, indicating the possibility thatSDHD's loss was causatively linked to the development of the neoplasm. In total, 29 cases of pituitary adenomas presenting in association with PHEOs and/or extra-adrenal PGLs have been reported in the literature since 1952. Although a number of other genetic defects are possible in these cases, we speculate that the association of PHEOs and/or PGLs with pituitary tumors is a new syndromic association and a novel phenotype for SDH defects.
Variation of the Photocurrent Spectra due to Energy Dependent Hole Mobility in Organic Bulk Hetero-junction Solar Cells
Authors: Abeyweera Buddika K. , Alphenaar Bruce W.
Published: August 2012

A comparison of the photocurrent spectra of organic bulk heterojunction solar cells of various thicknesses is presented. Increasing the thickness of the active layer in both MDMO-PPV /PCBM and P3HT/PCBM solar cells reduces the magnitude of the photocurrent due to the low mobility of the photogenerated holes. Measurements show that the photocurrent reduction is predominately due to a loss in carriers generated at the polymer absorption maximum, while the low energy response is relatively unaffected. In a thick enough sample, the low energy response (1.5-2 eV) dominates, and a photocurrent peak is no longer observed at the main absorption maximum (2.6 eV). The results imply that hole transport is blocked for carriers generated in the polymer at higher energy. Because these holes are generated at the absorption maximum their low mobility could be a major factor limiting solar cell efficiency.