bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Cold-Induced Sweating Syndrome Type 1, with a CRLF1 Level Mutation, Previously Associated with Crisponi Syndrome
Authors: González Fernández D. , Lázaro Pérez M. , Santillán Garzón S. , Álvarez Martínez V. , Encinas Madrazo A. , Fernández Toral J. , Pérez Oliva N.
Published: August 2013

Introduction: Cold-induced sweating syndrome type 1 (CISS1) is a rare autosomal recessive genodermatosis caused by mutations in the CRLF1 gene, characterized by profuse sweating when the ambient temperature is below 22°C and morphological alterations. CRLF1 mutations also cause Crisponi syndrome (CS), which presents neonatal muscle contractions, morphological disorders and alterations in the autonomous nervous system. Case Report: A 30-year-old man sought treatment for profuse sweating. His medical record included neonatal admission for generalized hypertonicity. Clinical examination revealed morphological alterations. A genetic study was requested, detecting a c.713dupC mutation in homozygosity in the CRLF1 gene. Conclusions: We report the case of a male with clinical and genetic diagnosis of CISS1 who in childhood presented clinical characteristics of CS. The mutation detected in CRLF1 has not been described in patients with CISS1, but in one with CS. These data seem to support the theory that CS and CISS1 are variants of the same disorder.
Rationale and Design of the TETHYS Trial: The Effects of Methotrexate Therapy on Myocardial Infarction with ST-Segment Elevation
Authors: Moreira Daniel Medeiros , Lueneberg Maria Emilia , da Silva Roberto Leo , Fattah Tammuz , Mascia Gottschall Carlos Antonio
Published: August 2013

Introduction: Methotrexate is a drug that has shown anti-ischemic effects in animal studies and positive results in heart failure clinical trials. Methods: We will randomly assign 80 patients with acute myocardial infarction to receive methotrexate (0.05 mg/kg bolus followed by 0.05 mg/kg/h for 6 h) or matching placebo. The primary outcome will be the area under the curve (AUC) for creatine kinase (CK) release for 72 h. Secondary outcomes will be the peak levels of CK, CK-MB fraction and troponin I, AUC for CK-MB and troponin I, levels of B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) at admission and at 30 days, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) at baseline and at 30 days, death, TIMI (thrombolysis in myocardial infarction) frame count in the culprit artery, Killip score after 72 h and rate of reinfarction at 30 days. Results: We expect a reduction in the AUC for CK, CK-MB and troponin release in the methotrexate group compared to the placebo group. We also expect a reduction in the levels of BNP, hsCRP and ESR and an improvement of LVEF and TIMI frame count in the methotrexate group. Conclusion: This trial may be the first to demonstrate the anti-inflammatory and anti-ischemic effects of methotrexate in patients with acute myocardial infarction.
Dietary Restriction Increases Protein Acetylation in the Livers of Aged Rats
Authors: Nakamura Akihiro , Kawakami Kyojiro , Kametani Fuyuki , Goto Sataro
Published: August 2013

Background: Dietary restriction (DR) is a well-established biological method for lifespan extension in various organisms by delaying the progression of age-related disorders. With regard to its molecular mechanisms, a family of NAD-dependent protein deacetylases, such as sirtuins, is considered to mediate DR-induced lifespan extension in some lower organisms. Furthermore, the effects of DR on sirtuins (e.g. SIRT1, SIRT2, SIRT3, and SIRT5) have also been reported in mammals. However, the relationship between sirtuins and DR-associated longevity in mammals is still not clear. In addition, ageing and DR-associated changes in cellular protein acetylation have not been fully elucidated, especially in DR-aged animals. Objective: We aimed to elucidate the effect of ageing and DR on cellular protein acetylation in young and aged rats. Methods: Fischer 344 rats were subjected to DR for 7.5 or 25.5 months from 1.5 months of age. Protein acetylation status in tissues was analyzed by Western blotting, subcellular fractionation, and immuno-pull-down assay. We also analyzed the quantitative changes in some related deacetylases and an acetyltransferase. Results: Acetylation of multiple proteins in the liver of young and aged rats decreased slightly with ageing and increased markedly under DR. The results of subcellular fractionation revealed that the DR-induced increase in protein acetylation was more prominent in extranuclear proteins than in nuclear proteins, indicating that acetylation is global, but protein-specific. This was further confirmed in the results of immune-pull-down assays for mitochondrial acetylated proteins. Cellular protein acetylation is regulated by multiple factors, including various deacetylases and acetyltransferases. With regard to the possible mechanisms of DR-induced increases in protein acetylation, we observed that DR increased SIRT3 expression in the liver of young and aged rats. Expression of the mitochondrial protein acetyltransferase GCN5L1 significantly increased with ageing but did not respond to DR. Conclusions: The increased acetylation of extranuclear proteins may be involved in DR-induced anti-ageing effects including longevity. However, the mechanisms underlying the changes in protein acetylation might not result from quantitative changes in mitochondrial sirtuins and the mitochondrial protein acetyltransferase.
Endothelial Dysfunction Occurs prior to Clinical Evidence of Polycystic Kidney Disease
Authors: Peterson Karen M. , Franchi Federico , Loeffler Darrel L. , Psaltis Peter J. , Harris Peter C. , Lerman Lilach O. , Lerman Amir , Rodriguez-Porcel Martin
Published: August 2013

Objective: Polycystic kidney disease (PKD), a monogenic disease with an autosomal dominant or an autosomal recessive form of inheritance (ARPKD), is the most common genetic cause of renal dysfunction and end-stage renal failure. In addition to the development of cysts, the autosomal form of PKD is associated with vascular endothelial dysfunction, a marker of vascular disease. Whether vascular endothelial dysfunction is also present in ARPKD, and its relationship with renal dysfunction remain to be determined. Methods: ARPKD rats (PCK model) and controls were studied at 6 and 10 weeks of age, and mean arterial pressure and renal function were measured. Aortic endothelial function was assessed using organ chamber techniques. Aortic endothelial cells (ECs) were isolated, characterized and their function studied. Results: Compared to controls, ARPKD animals had a decrease in the vasorelaxation to endothelium-dependent vasodilators, even prior to changes in mean arterial pressure or renal function. The abnormal vasoreactivity was corrected with L-arginine (a precursor of nitric oxide, NO), while the expression of endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) was unchanged. Furthermore, isolated ECs from 6-week-old ARPKD animals showed increased oxidative stress, with preserved eNOS expression and abnormal patterns of migration and angiogenic capacity (measured by the scratch and tube formation assays, respectively). Conclusion: ARPKD leads to impairments in aortic vascular function and ECs at an early stage, which can have significant functional consequences, potentially representing a novel therapeutic target in this disease.
Down Syndrome: Genes, Model Systems, and Progress towards Pharmacotherapies and Clinical Trials for Cognitive Deficits
Authors: Busciglio J. , Capone G. , O'Byran J.P. , Gardiner K.J.
Published: August 2013

Down syndrome (DS) is caused by an extra copy of all or part of the long arm of human chromosome 21 (HSA21). While the complete phenotype is both complex, involving most organs and organ systems, and variable in severity among individuals, intellectual disability (ID) is seen in all people with DS and may have the most significant impact on quality of life. Because the worldwide incidence of DS remains at approximately 1 in 1,000 live births, DS is the most common genetic cause of ID. In recent years, there have been important advances in our understanding of the functions of genes encoded by HSA21 and in the number and utility of in vitro and in vivo systems for modeling DS. Of particular importance, several pharmacological treatments have been shown to rescue learning and memory deficits in one mouse model of DS, the Ts65Dn. Because adult mice were used in the majority of these experiments, there is considerable interest in extending the studies to human clinical trials, and a number of trials have been completed, are in progress or are being planned. A recent conference brought together researchers with a diverse array of expertise and interests to discuss (1) the functions of HSA21 genes with relevance to ID in DS, (2) the utility of model systems including Caenorhabditis elegans, zebrafish and mouse, as well as human neural stem cells and induced pluripotent stems cells, for studies relevant to ID in DS, (3) outcome measures used in pharmacological treatment of mouse models of DS and (4) outcome measures suitable for clinical trials for cognition in adults and children with DS.
Current Practices of Saudi Shareholder’s Rights: A Case for Reform
Authors: al-Kahtani Faleh Salem
Published: August 2013

Abstract

This article will analyse Saudi shareholder’s rights, in particular by focusing on the legitimate articles of the Corporate Governance Code (hereinafter CGC), Company Law (hereinafter CL) and law cases related to shareholder’s rights. Analytical and comparative approaches are employed, examining the OECD principles of corporate governance and the UK Companies Act provisions with a view to reforming shareholder’s rights in the Saudi corporate governance system. In addition, shareholder’s rights are divided into financial and administrative rights. Thereafter, a number of recommendations are made regarding shareholder’s rights in the Saudi context.
The genus Leucophenga (Diptera, Drosophilidae), part II: the ornata species group from East Asia, with morphological and molecular evidence (I)
Authors: Huang JIA , Li Tong , Gao Jianjun , Chen Hongwei
Published: August 2013

Fifteen new species of the Leucophenga ornata species group are described from East Asia: L. apunctata Huang & Chen, sp. nov., L. arcuata Huang & Chen, sp. nov., L. brevifoliacea Huang & Chen, sp. nov., L. euryphylla Huang & Chen, sp. nov., L. falcata Huang & Chen, sp. nov., L. fuscinotata Huang & Chen, sp. nov., L. fuscithorax Huang & Chen, sp. nov., L. glabella Huang & Chen, sp. nov., L. hirsutina Huang & Chen, sp. nov., L. hirudinis Huang & Chen, sp. nov., L. piscifoliacea Huang & Chen, sp. nov., L. rectifoliacea Huang & Chen, sp. nov., L. serrateifoliacea Huang & Chen, sp. nov., L. subulata Huang & Chen, sp. nov., L. uncinata Huang & Chen, sp. nov. Four known species, L. ornata Wheeler, 1959, L. saigusai Okada, 1968, L. sculpta Chen & Toda, 1994 and L. todai Sidorenko, 1991 are redescribed as supplementary. A key to all the examined species in the ornata group is provided. We try to improve our species delimitation by integrating the DNA sequences data with morphological information. The intra- and interspecific pairwise K-2P (Kimura’s two-parameter) distances are summaried.
Type species designation for the genus Rhagonycha Eschscholtz, 1830 (Coleoptera, Cantharidae)
Authors: GROSSO-SILVA JOSÉ MANUEL , ALONSO-ZARAZAGA MIGUEL A. , DA SILVA RUBIM M. ALMEIDA
Published: August 2013

The Principle of Typification, defined by Chapter 13 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (I.C.Z.N., 1999), from here on referred as “Code”, determines in Article 61.1. that each nominal taxon in the family, genus or species groups has actually or potentially a name-bearing type whose fixation provides the objective standard of reference for the application of the name it bears.
Four new genera of Nearctic Cecidomyiidae (Diptera) for species previously incorrectly placed
Authors: GAGNÉ RAYMOND J.
Published: August 2013

Four new genera belonging to the tribe Dasineurini (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae: Lasiopteridi) are described for previously incorrectly placed species. The new genera are: Cembrotia Gagné, type species Janetiella coloradensis Felt; Cupressatia Gagné, type-species Janetiella siskiyou Felt; Strobilotia Gagné, type species Phytophaga carpophaga Tripp; and Rhizocecis Gagné, type species Cecidomyia rhois Coquillett. Resulting new combinations are: Cembrotia coloradensis (Felt), Cupressatia siskiyou (Felt), Cupressatia thujae (Hedlin), Strobilotia carpophaga (Tripp) and Rhizocecis rhois (Coquillett).
A checklist and key for the identification of bess beetles
(Coleoptera: Passalidae) of Argentina
Authors: JIMÉNEZ-FERBANS LARRY , REYES-CASTILLO PEDRO , SCHUSTER JACK C. , SALAZAR-NIÑO KAREN
Published: August 2013

Based on field collections, museum specimens and literature review, we present a checklist of Argentine Passalidae, with a key to their identification. A total of five genera and 24 species are listed, including Passalus quadricollis, Passalus perplexus and Passalus elfriedae as first records for the country.
Taxonomic circumscription of Adenomera martinezi (Bokermann, 1956) (Anura: Leptodactylidae: Leptodactylinae) with the recognition of a new cryptic taxon through a bioacoustic approach
Authors: DE CARVALHO THIAGO RIBEIRO , GIARETTA ARIOVALDO ANTONIO
Published: August 2013

In this paper, we provide a taxonomic circumscription of Adenomera martinezi from its type locality (Cachimbo, southwestern State of Pará) since its description (57 years ago) based on a newly collected series of eleven adult topotypes, and through a bioacoustic approach, recognize an undescribed cryptic taxon under this nominal species, which is widely distributed in central and northern Brazil. Adenomera martinezi and Adenomera saci sp. nov. can be diagnosed from all congeners by their distinctive 4–6 symmetrically arranged rows of longitudinal dark-colored spots on dorsum. They differ from each other through advertisement call structure, pulsed in Adenomera martinezi (audibly pulsed to the human ear), and non-pulsed in Adenomera saci sp. nov. (a whistle to the human ear). The recognition of Adenomera saci sp. nov. has conservation implications. Based on our assumed distribution of A. martinezi and Adenomera saci sp. nov., the IUCN conservation status of A. martinezi requires a reassessment, inasmuch as we herein reconsider this species, as far as we know, as endemic to Cachimbo, southwestern State of Pará, Brazil. The 2004 extinction risk assessment included both A. martinezi and Adenomera saci sp. nov., and the conservation status category of ‘Least Concern’ might only be applied to Adenomera saci sp. nov., a widely distributed and abundant species in central and northern Brazil.
Lizard Wears Shades. A Spectacled Sphenomorphus (Squamata: Scincidae), from the Sacred Forests of Mawphlang, Meghalaya, North-east India
Authors: DATTA-ROY ANIRUDDHA , DAS INDRANEIL , BAUER AARON M. , TRON RONALD K. LYNGDOH , KARANTH PRAVEEN
Published: August 2013

A new species of lygosomatine scincid lizard is described from the sacred forests of Mawphlang, in Meghalaya, north-eastern India. Sphenomorphus apalpebratus sp. nov. possesses a spectacle or brille, an unusual feature within the Scincidae, and a first for the paraphyletic genus Sphenomorphus. The new species is compared with other members of the genus to which it is here assigned, as well as to members of the lygosomatine genera Lipinia and Scincella from mainland India, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and south-east Asia, to which it also bears resemblance. The new taxon is diagnosable in exhibiting the following combination of characters: small body size (SVL to 42.0 mm); moveable eyelids absent; auricular opening scaleless, situated in a shallow depression; dorsal scales show a line of demarcation along posterior edge of ventral pes; midbody scale rows 27–28; longitudinal scale rows between parietals and base of tail 62–64; lamellae under toe IV 8–9; supraoculars five; supralabials 5–6; infralabials 4–5; subcaudals 92; and dorsum golden brown, except at dorsal margin of lateral line, which is lighter, with four faintly spotted lines, two along each side of vertebral row of scales, that extend to tail base. The new species differs from its congeners in the lack of moveable eyelids, a character shared with several distantly related scincid genera.
Parasitoids of Hesperiidae from peninsular India with description of a new species of Dolichogenidea (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) parasitic on caterpillar of Borbo cinnara (Wallace) (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae)
Authors: GUPTA ANKITA , LOKHANDE SWAPNIL A. , SOMAN ABHAY
Published: August 2013

Five species of parasitic wasps associated with hesperiids from peninsular India are documented along with the description of a new species of gregarious endoparasitoid, Dolichogenidea cinnarae sp. nov. (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) parasitic on caterpillar of Borbo cinnara (Wallace) (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae). Also, the gregarious larval parasitoid, Cotesia erionotae (Wilkinson) (Braconidae) and solitary pupal parasitoid Charops plautus Gupta & Maheshwary (Ichneumonidae) were bred from the host Udaspes folus (Cramer) on the host plant Hedychium coronarium J. Koenig. Udaspes folus is the new host record for the parasitic wasp genus Charops. Cotesia erionotae was bred from U. folus caterpillars from three states: Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala. An encyrtid wasp Ooencyrtus papilionis Ashmead was bred from eggs of Bibasis jaina (Moore) on the host pant Hiptage benghalensis (L.). This is the first documentation of a parasitic wasp from the genus Bibasis. Leptobatopsis indica (Cameron) (Ichneumonidae), often associated with Parnara guttatus (Bremer & Grey), was recorded from the Andaman islands.
Bone mineral density in systemic lupus erythematosus women one year after rituximab therapy
Authors: Pinto C Mendoza , Carrasco M García , Morales I Etchegaray , Hernández M Jiménez , Martínez S Méndez , Hernández C Jiménez , Rojas R Briones , Álvarez G Ramos , Gallegos A Rodríguez , Jarquín Á Montiel , Colombo A López , Cervera R
Published: August 2013

The objective of this study was to assess the effects of rituximab on bone mineral density (BMD) in women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) 1 year after treatment. Thirty active female SLE patients treated with rituximab were compared with 43 SLE women not treated with rituximab. BMD was measured using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) before initiating biologic therapy and after 1 year. The mean age was 38.5 ± 2.1 years; median disease duration was 7 years. In the rituximab group, after 1 year of follow-up, BMD at the femoral neck (FN) decreased from 0.980 ± 0.130 g/cm2 to 0.809 ± 0.139 g/cm2 (−17.4%; p = 0.001). Similarly, BMD at the lumbar spine (LS) decreased from 1.062 ± 0.137 g/cm2 to 0.893 ± 0.194 g/cm2 (−15.8%; p = 0.001). In control subjects, BMD at the FN decreased from 0.914 ± 0.193 g/cm2 to 0.890 ± 0.135 g/cm2 (−2.6%; p = 0.001), and BMD at the LS decreased from 0.926 ± 0.128 g/cm2 to 0.867 ± 0.139 g/cm2 (−6.2%; p = 0.09). After 1 year, SLE patients had lower BMD at both the FN and LS, but the loss was greater in postmenopausal patients who had received rituximab therapy.
Rituximab effectiveness in a patient with juvenile systemic lupus erythematosus complicated with acquired Von Willebrand syndrome
Authors: Jimenez AR Torres , Vallejo E Solis , Cruz M Zeferino , Cruz A Cespedes , Miramontes JV Ramirez , Jara B Sanchez
Published: August 2013

The acquired von Willebrand Syndrome (AvWS) is a bleeding disorder with laboratory findings similar to those of the congenital form. Its presentation is more common in adults than in children and is mainly associated with lymphoproliferative and myeloproliferative diseases and rarely with autoimmune diseases including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Here, we report the case of a girl with SLE and AvWS with mucosal bleeding and low plasma levels of von Willebrand factor and factor VIII (FVIII) with failure to respond to treatment with first- and second-line therapies. The patient finally responded to rituximab. To our knowledge this is the first reported case of SLE associated with AvWS, that responded to rituximab.
Male body dissatisfaction and eating disorder symptomatology: Moderating variables among men
Authors: Dakanalis Antonios , Zanetti Assunta M , Riva Giuseppe , Colmegna Fabrizia , Volpato Chiara , Madeddu Fabio , Clerici Massimo
Published: August 2013

Body dissatisfaction is recognized as a robust risk factor for eating disorders. Despite over 80% of college men being body dissatisfied, not all men report several levels of eating disorder symptoms. In this study, we examined poor impulse control, social anxiety and internalization of media ideals as potential moderators. Data collected from 405 college-aged men were analysed, using latent variable structural equation modelling approach. All variables investigated have been found to moderate the body dissatisfaction–eating disorder symptomatology, such that male body dissatisfaction was strongly related to men’s eating disorder symptomatology when each moderator was at its highest level. Practical implications are discussed.
Disavowal and foundational fantasies: A psychosocial exploration of the class, race and the social construction of the sexual child in the Anglophone West
Authors: Egan R Danielle , Hawkes Gail
Published: August 2013

Archival data offers rich source material for examining the complicated, and often paradoxical, deployment of the sexual child within protection literature crafted in the Anglophone West during the early 19th century. Drawing on a psychosocial framework, I analyze the affective and ideological subtext of social purity narratives in order to understand how and why it came to feel so natural for reformers and their primary audience – middle-class parents. I argue that the social construction of the sexual child within this discourse rests upon longstanding ideological preoccupations and middle class anxieties regarding class and race distinction. Attempts to secure the myth of middle-class purity through the disavowal of the middle-class child’s autoeroticism functioned as a foundational fantasy in calls for protection. In the end, the construction of the sexual child within this protection movement was largely a figment of middle-class anxiety and defense, but one which nevertheless had and continues to have powerful cultural resonance.
Community practitioner involvement in collaborative research
Authors: Stockwell-Smith Gillian , Moyle Wendy , Kellett Ursula , Brodaty Henry
Published: August 2013

This paper focuses on the benefits and limitations of collaborative research in community-based service settings explored through the implementation of a psychosocial intervention. The study aimed to establish the effectiveness of working with dementia dyads (person with dementia and family caregiver) in the early stages of dementia and to recruit and train an existing practitioner workforce to deliver a psychosocial intervention designed to assist dementia dyads to manage the consequences of dementia. Seven intervention staff participated in post-intervention semi-structured interviews. Whilst staff recruitment and retention proved challenging the degree to which staff demonstrated the required communication skills and competence was an important component in dyad acceptability of the intervention. Participatory factors, collaborative development, selective recruitment, focused training and ongoing specialist support, can assist the implementation of practice-based research. However, intervention staff participation and therefore intervention delivery can be hampered by workplace culture and workforce demands.
Performance and interaction behaviour during visual search on large, high-resolution displays
Authors: Ruddle Roy A , Thomas Rhys G , Randell Rebecca S , Quirke Phil , Treanor Darren
Published: August 2013

Large, high-resolution displays allow orders of magnitude more data to be visualized at a time than ordinary computer displays. Previous research is inconclusive about the circumstances under which large, high-resolution displays are beneficial and lacks behavioural data to explain inconsistencies in the findings. We conducted an experiment in which participants searched maps for densely or sparsely distributed targets, using 2-million-pixel (0.4 m × 0.3 m), 12-million-pixel (1.3 m × 0.7 m) and 54-million-pixel (3.0 m × 1.3 m) displays. Display resolution did not affect the speed at which dense targets were found, but participants found sparse targets in easily identifiable regions of interest 30% faster with the 54-million-pixel display than with the other displays. This was because of the speed advantage conferred by physical navigation and the fact that the whole dataset fitted onto the 54-million-pixel display. Contrary to expectations, participants found targets at a similar speed and interacted in a similar manner (mostly short panning movements) with the 2- and 12-million-pixel displays even though the latter provided more opportunity for physical navigation, though this may have been because panning used velocity-based control. We are applying these findings to the design of a virtual microscope for the diagnosis of diseases such as cancer.
Nitric oxide modulates the hyperalgesic response to mechanical noxious stimuli in sleep-deprived rats
Authors: Damasceno Fabio , Skinner Gabriela O , Araújo Paulo C , Ferraz Marcia MD , Tenório Frank , de Almeida Olga MMS
Published: August 2013

Background

Sleep restriction alters pain perception in animals and humans, and many studies have indicated that paradoxical sleep deprivation (PSD) promotes hyperalgesia. The hyperalgesia observed after mechanical nociceptive stimulus is reversed through nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibition. Both nitric oxide (NO) and the dorsolateral periaqueductal gray matter (dlPAG) area of the brainstem are involved in hyperalgesia. Thus, in this work, we investigated the pain-related behavior response after mechanical noxious stimuli (electronic von Frey test), and the activity of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate diaphorase (NADPH-d), an indicator of NOS activity, within the dlPAG of paradoxical sleep-deprived rats. We also evaluated the effects of pre-treatment with L-NAME on these parameters.

Results

These data revealed that PSD reduced the hindpaw withdrawal threshold (−47%, p < 0.0001) confirming the hyperalgesic effect of this condition. In addition, there were more NADPH-d positive cells in dlPAG after PSD than in control rats (+ 59%, p < 0.0001). L-NAME treatment prevented the reduction in the hindpaw withdrawal threshold (+ 93%, p < 0.0001) and the increase in the NADPH-d positive cells number in the dlPAG of PSD-treated rats (−36%, p < 0.0001).

Conclusion

These data suggest that the hyperalgesic response to mechanical noxious stimuli in paradoxical sleep-deprived rats is associated with increased NOS activity in the dlPAG, which presumably influences the descending antinociceptive pathway.
HLA-DRB1 Class II antigen level alleles are associated with persistent HPV infection in Mexican women; a pilot study
Authors: Bernal-Silva Sofía , Granados Julio , Gorodezky Clara , Aláez Carmen , Flores-Aguilar Hilario , Cerda-Flores Ricardo M , Guerrero-González Geraldina , Valdez-Chapa Lezmes D , Morales-Casas José , González-Guerrero Juan Francisco , Barrera-Saldaña Hugo A
Published: August 2013

Background

Persistent infection with high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) is a major risk factor for malignant lesions and cervical cancer. A widely studied element in the search for genetic factors influencing risk HPV infection diseases is allelic variation of the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) locus. The study was designed to search for HLA susceptibility alleles contributing to the persistence of HPV infection in Mexican women.

Methods

A total of 172 subjects were divided into three groups: 1) HPV–persistent patients; 2) HPV–cleared; and 3) HPV–reinfected patients. They were screened for HPV types using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR). PCR-sequence specific oligonucleotide probes (PCR-SSOP) was used for HLA DRB1 and DQB 1 typing.

Results

We observed that HLA-DQB1*0501 allele might be associated with susceptibility of reinfection with HPV (p = 0.01, OR = 4.9, CI 95% = 1.3 -18.7). Allele frequency of HLA-DRB1*14 was particularly reduced in patients with cancer when compared with the HPV–persistent group (p = 0.04), suggesting that this allele is a possible protective factor for the development of cervical cancer (OR = 2.98). HLA-DRB1*07 might be associated with viral clearance (p = 0.04).

Conclusions

Genetic markers for HPV infection susceptibility are different in each population, in Mexicans several HLA-DQB1 alleles might be associated with an enhanced risk for viral persistence. In contrast, DRB1*14, seems to confer protection against cervical cancer.
Probabilistic Methods for the Incompressible Navier–Stokes Equations With Space Periodic Conditions
Authors: Milstein G. N. , Tretyakov M. V.
Published: August 2013

We propose and study a number of layer methods for Navier‒Stokes equations (NSEs) with spatial periodic boundary conditions. The methods are constructed using probabilistic representations of solutions to NSEs and exploiting ideas of the weak sense numerical integration of stochastic differential equations. Despite their probabilistic nature, the layer methods are nevertheless deterministic.
Overlap Problems on the Circle
Authors: Juneja S. , Mandjes M.
Published: August 2013

Consider a circle with perimeterN> 1 on whichk<Nsegments of length 1 are sampled in an independent and identically distributed manner. In this paper we study the probability π (k,N) that theseksegments do not overlap; the density φ(·) of the position of the disks on the circle is arbitrary (that is, it is not necessarily assumed uniform). Two scaling regimes are considered. In the first we setk≡a√N, and it turns out that the probability of interest converges (N→ ∞) to an explicitly given positive constant that reflects the impact of the density φ(·). In the other regimekscales asaN, and the nonoverlap probability decays essentially exponentially; we give the associated decay rate as the solution to a variational problem. Several additional ramifications are presented.
Polyethyleneimine-functionalized Biomass-derived Adsorbent Beads for Carbon Dioxide Capture under Ambient Conditions
Authors: Fujiki Junpei , Yogo Katsunori
Published: August 2013

A chitosan-based adsorbent functionalized by polyethyleneimine has been prepared using a freeze-drying method. The adsorbent showed a CO2 adsorption capacity of 2.38 mmol g−1 at 333 K and 15 kPa of CO2. Furthermore, the adsorption capacity increased up to 3.61 mmol g−1 in the presence of water vapor. This biomass-derived material is, therefore, a potential low-cost and efficient adsorbent for CO2.
Curcumin reduces prostaglandin E2, matrix metalloproteinase-3 and proteoglycan release in the secretome of interleukin 1β-treated articular cartilage
Authors: Clutterbuck Abigail L , Allaway David , Harris Pat , Mobasheri Ali
Published: August 2013

Objective:Curcumin (diferuloylmethane) is a phytochemical with potent anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties, and has therapeutic potential for the treatment of a range of inflammatory diseases, including osteoarthritis (OA). The aim of this study was to determine whether non-toxic concentrations of curcumin can reduce interleukin-1beta (IL-1β)-stimulated inflammation and catabolism in an explant model of cartilage inflammation.

Methods:Articular cartilage explants and primary chondrocytes were obtained from equine metacarpophalangeal joints. Curcumin was added to monolayer cultured primary chondrocytes and cartilage explants in concentrations ranging from 3μM-100μM. Prostaglandin E2(PGE2) and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-3 release into the secretome of IL-1β-stimulated explants was measured using a competitive ELISA and western blotting respectively. Proteoglycan (PG) release in the secretome was measured using the 1,9-dimethylmethylene blue (DMMB) assay. Cytotoxicity was assessed with a live/dead assay in monolayer cultures after 24 hours, 48 hours and five days, and in explants after five days.

Results:Curcumin induced chondrocyte death in primary cultures (50μM p<0.001 and 100μMp<0.001) after 24 hours. After 48 hours and five days, curcumin (≥25μM) significantly increased cell death (p<0.001 both time points). In explants, curcumin toxicity was not observed at concentrations up to and including 25μM after five days. Curcumin (≥3μM) significantly reduced IL-1β-stimulated PG (p<0.05) and PGE2release (p<0.001) from explants, whilst curcumin (≥12μM) significantly reduced MMP-3 release (p<0.01).

Conclusion:Non-cytotoxic concentrations of curcumin exert anti-catabolic and anti-inflammatory effects in cartilage explants.
Blogs, Advertising, and Local-Market Movie Box Office Performance
Authors: Gopinath Shyam , Chintagunta Pradeep K. , Venkataraman Sriram
Published: August 2013

We measure the effects of pre- and postrelease blog volume, blog valence, and advertising on the performance of 75 movies in 208 geographic markets in the United States. We attribute the variation in blog effects across markets to differences in demographic characteristics of markets combined with differences across demographic groups in their access and exposure to blogs as well as their responsiveness conditional on access. We study the effects of prerelease factors on opening day box office performance and of pre- and postrelease factors on box office performance one month after release. Our estimation accounts for confounding factors in the measurement of these effects via the use of instrumental variables. We find considerable heterogeneity in the effects across consumer- and firm-generated media and across geographic markets, with gender, income, race, and age driving across-market differences. Release day performance is impacted most by prerelease blog volume and advertising, whereas postrelease performance is influenced by postrelease blog valence and advertising. Across markets, there is more variance in advertising and blog valence (postrelease) elasticities than there is in blog volume (prerelease) elasticities. We identify the top 20 markets in terms of their elasticities to each of these three instruments. Further, we classify markets in terms of their sensitivities across these three instruments to identify the most sensitive markets that studios can target with their limited release strategies. Finally, we characterize the extent to which studios could have improved their limited release strategies by identifying the overlap between the actual release markets and the most responsive ones. We find that at the time of first-release studios cover only 53% of the most responsive advertising markets and 44% of the most responsive markets to prerelease blog volume in their limited release strategies, implying considerable room for improvement if these were the only metrics to assess those strategies.

This paper was accepted by Gérard P. Cachon, marketing.
The Unheard Voice in the Sound Film
Authors: Horton Justin
Published: August 2013

Much has been written on the “disembodied voice” in film. This article seeks to address the inverse: speaking characters whose words go unheard. Often thought rare, this phenomenon is quite common, and to address this blind spot, I propose the neologism “the voice-out” and identify ten categories thereof. In so doing, I illuminate a number of understudied sound-image relations within the cinema.
The Maison and Its Minor: Lumière(s), Film History, and the Early Archive
Authors: Groo Katherine
Published: August 2013

This article examines three distinct examples of expedition filmmaking in the Lumière archive: the Village Ashanti series, Alexandre Promio’s North African street scenes, and Repas d’Indiens , a single shot from Mexico City. Taking departure as a historical fact and a critical tool, this article explores the visual, epistemological, and archival instabilities that the expedition films produce.
Absolute Advertising: Walter Ruttmann and the Weimar Advertising Film
Authors: Cowan Michael
Published: August 2013

Examining Walter Ruttmann’s early animated advertisements in relation both to his Opus films and to contemporary advertising psychology, this article argues that advertising, far from representing a marginal phenomenon or a compromise of artistic integrity, was central to Ruttmann’s professional identity as an avant-garde filmmaker. In so doing, I also seek to reframe our understanding of abstract animation in the 1920s as a form profoundly compatible with capitalist modernity and its regulation of perception. Through their combination of abstraction and figuration, Ruttmann’s advertisements sought to incorporate contemporary theories of advertising pleasure and activate spectatorial competencies specific to the newly commodified spheres of post–World War I Germany.
Landscape, Vitality, and Desire: Cross-Dressed Frontier Girls in Transitional-Era American Cinema
Authors: Horak Laura
Published: August 2013

Cross-dressed frontier women allowed moving pictures to capitalize on cherished American frontier mythologies while offering new, uniquely cinematic attractions. These figures provided the spectacle of a triumphant white body navigating the American landscape, while fixing both the neurasthenic middle-class family and the sexual dilemma of the gender-imbalanced frontier.
Dying to Love: Gay Identity, Suicide, and Aesthetics in A Single Man
Authors: Stevens Kyle
Published: August 2013

Through an analysis of A Single Man ’s adaptation, reception, and aesthetic affect, this article argues that a workable theory of on-screen subjectivity ought to be rooted not in desire but in care, and in love as a special form of caring.
Analysis of Vulnerability to Food Insecurity in Drought-Prone Areas of the Amhara Region of Ethiopia: Case Study in Lay Gaint Woreda
Authors: Bazezew Arega , Bewket Woldeamlak
Published: August 2013

Vulnerability to food insecurity is a major social and economic problem in drought-prone areas of Ethiopia. A range of factors from physical environmental circumstances to policy and institutions-related issues determine food security outcomes and vulnerability to food insecurity at the household level. The general objective of this study was to identify factors that determine households' vulnerability to food insecurity in drought prone areas of the Amhara Region of Ethiopia by using Lay Gaint woreda (district) as a case study site. Data were collected using questionnaire, in-depth interview and focus group discussions and both quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis were employed. The results showed that the majority of households sampled (79.6 per cent) experienced food insecurity. The situation was worse among female-headed households that 86 per cent of them were food insecure. It was also found that 39 per cent of the female-headed households did not have farmland. The majority of sampled households employed ex-post coping strategies to reduce seasonal food shortages, such as reducing quantity of meals (69 per cent), borrowing from relatives and friends (68 per cent), selling small ruminants (64 per cent) and consuming less preferred foods (62 per cent). The main adaptive strategies employed by the majority of sampled households included diversifying livestock kept (68 per cent), planting trees (66 per cent) and livestock fattening (58 per cent). Binary logistic regression results showed that location or agro-climatic zone, number of livestock owned, education of household heads and availability of working labour were significant predictors of household vulnerability to food insecurity. This suggests that building household assets and geographically differentiated development interventions will improve household food security in the study area, and in other similar environments in the country.
Partners for Progress and Modernization: Rise and Fall of United States of America's Soft-power Relations with Ethiopia
Authors: Mehretu Assefa
Published: August 2013

This is a brief historical analysis of U.S. -Ethiopian relations for progress and modernization that lasted for more than 70 years and produced many tangible and significant outcomes for the benefit of both countries. What began as people-to-people contacts led by Africans in the Diaspora in the 19 th century had risen to one of the friendliest official relations that the U.S. has had with an African country in the twentieth century. The paper highlights the various accomplishments that the bilateral relationship produced and makes a critical appraisal of how new patterns that had emerged after the mid-1970s were less favourable for America's soft-power resources for Ethiopia.
Teachers' Expectations on Academic Achievement and Social Skills and Behaviour of Students with Emotional and Behavioural Disorders
Authors: Teklu Fiseha , Kumar R. Sreevalsa
Published: August 2013

Teachers' expectations on academic achievement and social skills and behaviour of students with emotional and behavioural disorders were the core of inquiry of this study. A sample of 171 first cycle secondary school teachers drawn following two-stage cluster sampling procedure responded to individually-administered Teachers' Expectation Scale. Results revealed that teachers held moderate realistic expectations on both the variables studied. Teachers' expectation on academic achievement was positively correlated with their expectation on social skill and behaviour. Sex and training and/or courses on special needs education taken were not found to be contributing to their expectations. Though teaching experience could be established as influencing teacher expectations, a predictable direction could not be established. Implications of results were discussed against Ethiopia's attention to inclusive education.
Ethnic Conflict, Interaction and Cohabitation in Africa: The Case of Nuer and Anuak
Authors: Gebeyehu Temesgen
Published: August 2013

The historical root of the Anuak-Nuer conflict and interaction can be traced back to the eastward expansion of the eastern Jikany Nuer groups. The findings suggest that conflicts and interactions between two groups aggravated and shaped by the new developments in Ethiopia and Sudan. This study analyzes the context and origins of the conflict between the two groups and explains the key determinants of the conflict. The study of the conflict and interaction between Nuer and the Anuak would partly explain how the security and unity of the Sudan and Ethiopia is being challenged and questioned in the twentieth first century.
Sub-Saharan Africa Electricity Supply Inadequacy: Implications
Authors: Kaseke Nyasha , Hosking Stephen G.
Published: August 2013

Africa has many electricity supply problems with major causes being natural causes (drought), oil price shock, system disruption by conflict, and low investment in electricity generation. To solve the problem, many countries adopted several reforms. However, the reforms failed to bring solutions. Electricity sector privatisation has received great criticism. Individual firms and households resorted to own private power generation due to electricity supply inadequacy from the public grid supply, as is the feature of many African countries. This paper focuses on sub-Saran Africa's electricity supply inadequacy. It provides the economic implications of power outages.
Fossil Fuel and Food Tax Incidence in Ethiopia
Authors: Mekonnen Alemu , Deribe Rahel , Gebremedhin Liyousew
Published: August 2013

Most studies suggest that environmental taxes are regressive, making them less attractive policy options. The general objective of this paper is to analyze and compare fossil fuel and food tax incidence in Ethiopia in different expenditure groups of households considering urban and rural parts of Ethiopia separately. We use three related methods. First, we compute the budget share of fossil fuel and food in household expenditures for each category of households. Suits coefficients and concentration curves are also calculated in order to compare the degree of regressivity/progressivity. We also report tax burden from private fuel consumption, public fuel consumption, kerosene and butane gas, total transport and total fossil fuel consumption and from food items. The results suggest that fossil fuel taxes in Ethiopia are not regressive; rather they are progressive even if the progressivity varies across items considered. However, when we consider kerosene and butane gas in urban areas, tax burden would be regressive unlike other fuel types. On the other hand, the budget shares for food decrease as total expenditure increases. Generally, food tax burden in rural as well as urban areas of Ethiopia is regressive. Tax burden from public transport fuel use falls more heavily on the rich than the poor, the effect being even higher for private fuel consumption. However, in the case of kerosene, butane gas and food, the tax burden on the poor is higher than on the rich. If policy makers want to make sure that fuel and food taxes do not hurt the poor, then an increase in fuel tax could be complemented with some tax relief or subsidy for kerosene, butane gas and food items. In addition to the distributional effects, this may help address local and global environmental problems.
Recovering the Flesh and Blood of the European Enlightenment
Authors: Webster Jeremy W.
Published: August 2013

A review of A Wicked Company: The Forgotten Radicalism of the European Enlightenment (2012) by Philipp Blom.
Emma Courtney , Feminist Ethics, and the Problem of Autonomy
Authors: Norton Brian Michael
Published: August 2013

This article approaches Mary Hays’s Memoirs of Emma Courtney through recent work in feminist moral philosophy on the concept of autonomy, noting the striking ways in which Hays anticipates the concerns and ideas of modern feminist philosophers. It argues that Hays’s novel critically engages traditional thinking about the good life on three levels: it identifies the complex ways that social “prejudice”—and the internalization of that prejudice—undermines female independence; it simultaneously calls into question the masculine biases inhering in the concept of “independence” itself, particularly in philosophy’s privileging of reason over emotion, abstraction over particularity, and self-sufficiency over interdependence; and it highlights the ongoing challenges facing any specifically feminist ethics. The essay, moreover, insists on reading Hays as an Enlightenment writer, suggesting that the feminist critique of rationalism and atomism was immanent to the Enlightenment itself.
The Enlightenment: A (French) Restoration
Authors: Warner William B.
Published: August 2013

A review of Dan Edelstein’s The Enlightenment: A Genealogy (University of Chicago Press, 2010).
The Problem of Suspense in Richardson’s Sir Charles Grandison
Authors: Koehler Martha J.
Published: August 2013

This essay examines the pervasive occurrence of suspense in Richardson’s Sir Charles Grandison: as a key term that the characters use to articulate pain, as a basic concept within the moral “sentiments” drawn from the text by Richardson, and as a dynamic of the narrative. Richardson allows suspense to create new forms of subjectivity and energies of plot, but he also attempts to contain it by subordinating it to the structure of moral precepts and examples, and incorporating arguments about its basis in short-lived passions. The novel’s ambivalent manifestations of suspense expose deep divisions in Richardson’s thought about how to reconcile exemplary virtue with the forces of desire and romance, in the context of the new, “privatized” marriage centered on individual choice.
The Creole Quakers of Early Pennsylvania
Authors: Erben Patrick M.
Published: August 2013

A review of John Smolenski’s Friends and Strangers: The Making of a Creole Culture in Colonial Pennsylvania, a book examining the formation of a creole civic and political culture among the Quakers of early colonial Pennsylvania through the evolution of stable, yet hybrid identities based on mythic narratives of the province’s founding.