bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Multifaceted link between cancer and inflammation
Authors: Sethi Gautam , Shanmugam Muthu K. , Ramachandran Lalitha , Kumar Alan Prem , Tergaonkar Vinay
Published: September 2011

Increasing evidence from epidemiological, preclinical and clinical studies suggests that dysregulated inflammatory response plays a pivotal role in a multitude of chronic ailments including cancer. The molecular mechanism(s) by which chronic inflammation drives cancer initiation and promotion include increased production of pro-inflammatory mediators, such as cytokines, chemokines, reactive oxygen intermediates, increased expression of oncogenes, COX-2 (cyclo-oxygenase-2), 5-LOX (5-lipoxygenase) and MMPs (matrix metalloproteinases), and pro-inflammatory transcription factors such as NF-κB (nuclear factor κB), STAT3 (signal transducer and activator of transcription 3), AP-1 (activator protein 1) and HIF-1α (hypoxia-inducible factor 1α) that mediate tumour cell proliferation, transformation, metastasis, survival, invasion, angiogenesis, chemoresistance and radioresistance. These inflammation-associated molecules are activated by a number of environmental and lifestyle-related factors including infectious agents, tobacco, stress, diet, obesity and alcohol, which together are thought to drive as much as 90% of all cancers. The present review will focus primarily on the role of various inflammatory intermediates responsible for tumour initiation and progression, and discuss in detail the critical link between inflammation and cancer.
Repetitive operation of switchless transverse flow transversely excited atmosphere CO2 lasers
Authors: Patil Gautam C. , Nilaya J. Padma , Biswas D. J.
Published: September 2011

The enhanced preionisation efficiency of a mutually coupled parallel spark preioniser has been exploited to achieve switchless operation of a transversely excited atmosphere (TEA) CO2 laser in the conventional transverse gas flow configuration. This made the laser more compatible to repetitive operation and the satisfactory performance of a switchless TEA CO2 laser of ∼8 cc active volume is reported here up to a maximum repetition rate of 100 Hz at a gas replenishment factor of ∼2.
From indirect to direct object
Authors: Troberg Michelle
Published: September 2011

This article provides an account of the shift in the expression of the internal argument of a small class of dynamic two-place verbs best represented by aider “help” from ‘dative’, i.e., as an indirect object with the preposition à, to ‘accusative’, i.e., as a direct object with no preposition. This change is not correlated with a change in the meaning of the verbs or with any obvious change in the selectional restrictions imposed on the internal argument. One of the central results of this study is to demonstrate that the shift in argument realization was systematic and part of a broader change involving the loss of directionality as a property of prepositions in French, explaining its correlation with several other related changes in verbal complementation that also occurred in the 15th century.
The Creation of the Food Administration in Iran
Authors: Floor Willem M.
Published: September 2011

Agricultural production considered from an economic point of view has two important functions: first, to provide prime necessities for those inside and outside the agricultural sector, and second, to enable the financing of imports. In preindustrial countries like Qajar Iran, where more than 85 percent of the population was earning its living in the agricultural sector, the economic basis of the country was land and agriculture.

Agricultural production in Qajar Iran was characterized by a low level of technical specialization and labor division. The landlords showed no great interest in furthering agricultural production as indicated by a low level of investment in this sector, while the farmers were not encouraged by their masters to work for greater productivity.

The landlords were interested only in extracting the agricultural surplus, i.e., the agricultural production minus the consumption of the agricultural sector or, in other words, that part of the production that would end up outside the agricultural sector.
The Significance of Private Archives for the Study of the Economic and Social History of Iran in the Late Qajar Period
Authors: Mahdavi Asghar
Published: September 2011

Since the last world war, there has been an increasing interest in preserving and utilizing archival material in Iran, but, despite several attempts, appropriate institutions have not as yet been established for this purpose. To substantiate their viewpoints, researchers often have to wait long periods before gaining access to the desired archival material. This, of course, does not imply that documents were not preserved in Iran. Throughout the entire Qajar period, the existence of a document chamber at the imperial court, in which documents of unequal value were preserved with reasonable care, indicates that the preservation of archival material is a long-established custom.

There are also private archives of considerable interest, but unfortunately these materials were preserved for long periods only if they had legal or administrative importance. For example, the contracts for real estate transactions, or designations of waqf properties, were carefully preserved by heirs or distantly entitled parties, while documents of only practical interest usually disappeared within two or three generations.
Lithuania and the Provisional Government
Authors: Cadzow John F.
Published: September 2011

The Provisional Government, which held power from March to November 1917, had little effect on Lithuania. This was not due to the Russian government's attempt to carry on the war in the midst of internal rebellion and general chaos, but rather to Lithuania's having been overrun by the German army, which occupied the country for the entire period. Nevertheless, this period provides a glimpse into the forces at work, which were to effect profoundly Lithuania to the present. The Lithuanians were trying to establish an independent state of their own against the wishes of the Poles, Russians, and Germans, and in order to understand the situation properly, it is necessary to go back much further in history.
Protest for National Rights in the USSR: Characteristics and Consequences*
Authors: Kowalewski David
Published: September 2011

The Soviet regime's contention that the nationalities problem has been solved can no longer be taken seriously. At his speech honoring the fiftieth anniversary of the formation of the Soviet Union on December 21, 1972, party chief Leonid Brezhnev claimed:

By now … solving the nationalities problem, overcoming the backwardness of previously oppressed nations, is … habitual for the Soviet people. We must remember the scope and complexity of the accomplishments, in order to appreciate the wisdom … of the party, which took upon itself such a task — and accomplished it.
Nationalities and Minorities in the Independent State of Croatia
Authors: Jelinek Yeshayahu
Published: September 2011

After the military defeat of April 1941, the Axis powers divided Yugoslavia. The Independent State of Croatia (Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH) received the lion's share of the defunct state. At least in theory — since the NDH could claim no sovereignity in several regions — the new state included Croatia, Slavonia, Dalmatia, parts of the Littoral, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Srem (Sirmium), and parts of Vojvodina. It sheltered most of the nationalities inhabiting the old Yugoslavia, while conferring the honor of the state-making nation on Croatians only. Minorities, albeit not recognized as nationalities, expanded the list of non-Croatian people living in the NDH. Without a regular census, which was never taken in the country, we do not possess exact data for the population; furthermore, the published statistics were twisted to support nationalistic ambitions.
The Soviet-German Newspaper “Freundschaft” and the Cultural Transformation of the Soviet-Germans in Kazakhstan*
Authors: Schachner Gerhard
Published: September 2011

The 1970 census returns of the Soviet Union provided scholars with additional information about a hitherto little studied ethnic group, the Soviet-Germans. These figures not only broke the Germans down according to the regions and republics in which they lived, but also revealed how many still claimed German as their native language. A comparison of figures for 1959, 1970 and 1979 indicated the number making this claim had decreased considerably.
An Adaptive Approach to the Study of Ethnicity: Serbian-Americans in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Authors: Padgett Deborah
Published: September 2011

Studies of southern and eastern European ethnic groups in the United States often become submerged in the ongoing argument of assimilation vs. cultural pluralism. As a result, underlying factors affecting the persistence or dissolution of a particular group are obscured or ignored. Social, historical, cultural, religious, political, and economic aspects of ethnic differences are useful targets of analysis. However, much of the research on ethnicity is devoted to documenting the loss or retention of specific cultural traits such as language, religion, or custom. Thus, two distinct though related problems emerge: 1) a tendency to “rate” ethnic groups in terms of degree of assimilation or cultural distinctiveness; and 2) a reliance on cultural indicators as the sole measure of ethnic persistence.
The Fate of a Language: A Brief Survey of Wotic
Authors: Szabó László
Published: September 2011

Wotic is one of the Balto-Finnic languages. In the nineteenth century, there were about 5000 speakers of this language. It was spoken between Leningrad and Estonia, in the area which is known as Ingermanland. Before the Second World War, their number was already drastically reduced (a loss of about 80–90% of the speakers). In 1939, their number was between 500 and 700. Even this small number of people who still spoke the language was spread out in a number of villages. Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian and Russian researchers who tried to note down some materials in this dying language even found dialectal differences between Eastern Wotic (spoken in the village which is called in Russian Itsepino), and Western Wotic which was spoken in several villages (for instance Korvettula, Mati, Velikino, Undova etc.)
Soviet Germans and the 1979 Census: A Note on the Reliability of Soviet Nationality Data
Authors: Heitman Sidney
Published: September 2011

One of the most important sources of demographic data concerning the Soviet nationalities is the official Soviet census reports. Considering the sensitivity of the nationality problem in the USSR today, however, how thorough and dependable are the published results of the Soviet censuses regarding the more than 100 Soviet nationalities? In January 1980, a preliminary and partial report on the 1979 enumeration was issued, and until the full reports are published, probably in a year or two, it is the best source of information concerning the current numbers and distribution of the Soviet nationalities. These figures have already been and will be used for comparisons with the 1970 census reports and projections, as well as for other analyses and computations. But how reliable are these most recent statistics? Can they be taken on face value as accurate, thorough reflections of the ethnic scene in the USSR in January 1979, when the count was taken?
Political and Social Dimensions of the Jewish Communities in the German Democratic Republic
Authors: Herrmann Klaus J.
Published: September 2011

With the destruction of the Third Reich and subsequent establishment of two separate and sovereign German states, different perspectives on society and class have resulted in differences in German-Jewish affairs. The Jewish communities in the Federal Republic of Germany, while predicated on the principles of religious corporations, became oriented toward the World Zionist Organization and the State of Israel. Indeed, Jewish life in West Germany soon represented expatriate Israeli existence, and the religious, cultural and political organizations of West-German Jews have become largely extensions of Zionist and Israeli purposes.
Economic Costs of Linguistically Alternative Communication Systems: The Case of Uzbekistan∗
Authors: Hočevar Toussaint
Published: September 2011

Before engaging in empirical treatment inherent in the title, I will outline the model on which my analysis is based. I begin with the observation that natural languages are codes which groups of people have conveniently adopted for the purposes of communicating and of information storing. The costs, both explicit and implicit, associated with a given code can be divided into two categories.
Self-Determination vs. Territorial Integrity
Authors: Killen Linda
Published: September 2011

The protection of Imperial Russian territorial integrity was, when the peace conference convened in Paris, one of the firmest and least ambivalent elements of Woodrow Wilson's Russian policy.1 The Russia to which he applied this policy was in fact an empire, including nationality groups incorporated, often forceably, during the 17th and 18th centuries. Many of these ethnic nationalities — and especially those with which Wilson and his fellow peacemakers were familiar — were concentrated along the borders of European Russia. Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine were perhaps the best known of the ethnic nationalities, each with defined geographic areas, which had formed part of imperial Russia. Such nationality centers, many of which had long established administrative borders which changed little as a result of the peace conference, are the Russian borderlands to which this paper refers.
The Nature and Philosophy of Baltic Dissent: A Comparative Perspective
Authors: Vardys V. Stanley
Published: September 2011

Opposition to Soviet rule has deep roots and traditions in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Modern dissentism, however, is a response to Soviet rule different from what we call opposition in the West. In the Baltic republics it must be dated from 1968, the watershed year in the rise of human rights movement in the Soviet Union. In Estonia and Latvia, dissident activity was galvanized to life primarily by the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia which provoked vocal criticism. In Lithuania, reaction to Czechoslovakia's occupation coincided with the growing concern that an increasingly severe implementation of prohibitive anti-religious legislation will choke off the existence of the Catholic church. Concern for religious rights served as the primary catalyst for the reborn dissent movement in Lithuania.
Romanian Reform Movement in the 1980s: Fundamental Changes in the Making?
Authors: Gilberg Trond
Published: September 2011

The concepts of “reform” and “revision” need considerable elaboration before a systematic study of their political ramifications can be undertaken. Common usage in the West seems to indicate that “reform” in communist systems means change towards political pluralism, less ideology, and greater participation by the citizenry in political communication, aggregation, and decision-making. “Revision” and “revisionism,” which are essentially communist concepts, are also interpreted to indicate a process of “loosening up” the autocratic, bureaucratic, and ideological nature of contemporary political and socio-economic systems in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.
The Phenomenon of Solidarity: An Attempt of Assessment
Authors: Matejko Alexander J.
Published: September 2011

What happened in Poland in the early 1980s is fascinating in many respects. The possibility of changing the Communist system in a peaceful manner was once again tried without much success, this time by the mass movement of industrial workers, with some additional help offered by intellectuals. The importance of these events should be fully recognized. As Persky states, “For the first time, a workers' state had been forced to concede to its workers, among other things, the ironic right to form their own working class organization to defend themselves from the workers' state.” According to Ascherson, the success of Polish workers in setting up permanent representation beyond the control of the Party was a major achievement. In this respect the events of 1980/81 differed substantially from all previous workers' uprisings in eastern Europe.
Psycho-Sociological Aspects of Relations among Three Ethnic Groups: Slovenes, Italians and Friulians
Authors: Sussi Emidio
Published: September 2011

This essay concentrates on the psycho-sociological and socio-cultural aspects of relations among ethnic groups in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region, especially between Slovenes and the other ethnic groups. Therefore it will not deal with the following two points: the ethno-minority problem of the Slovenes in Italy in demographic and ecologic terms (such as, for example, the number of members in a specific group, their territorial dislocation, etc.), or the problem of their socio-professional relations and of their institutional structures (such as, the distribution of minority group members in the professional stratification, the existence of economic, political and cultural structures within the minority groups, etc.).
The Multinationalization of Soviet Dissent
Authors: Kowalewski David
Published: September 2011

If one may judge by Soviet political humor on Radio Armenia, the so-called “socialist internationalism” among the many nationalities in the USSR has reflected less than a perfect “friendship of peoples” in the past: Question: What is the “friendship of peoples”? Radio Armenia: It's when an Armenian takes the hand of an Uzbek, an Uzbek that of a Latvian, a Latvian that of a Russian, a Russian that of a Kazakh, a Kazakh that of a Ukrainian, and then they all go and beat up a Georgian.
Zorian Dolega Chodakowski (1784–1825) and the Unity of Slavonic Culture
Authors: Saunders David
Published: September 2011

October 1819 was a key month in the history of relations between the Slavs. Alexander I spent the early part of it in Warsaw, drawing on the contitution of the Congress Kingdom of Poland and putting the finishing touches to his project for a pan-imperial constitutional charter. In Tsarskoe Selo the conservative historian N. M. Karamzin reacted with horror to the tsar's concurrent plan for the revivification of Poland. On 9 October, in the hope of securing official support for his archaeological and ethnographic studies, the Pole Zorian Dolega Chodakowski arrived in St. Petersburg. His first publication in Russian, which appeared later in the month in Moscow, argued that before the coming of Christianity the Slavonic peoples were ‘everywhere and in all respects’ identical. Behind these three events — Alexander's charter, Karamzin's sense of outrage, Chodakowski's arrival — lay three approaches to the bringing-together of the Slavs: the federal, the Russifying, and what I shall call the cultural. In various hands, these approaches were long-lived in pre-revolutionary Russia. Chodakowski's significance lay in the impetus he gave to the third of them.
Aspekte Polnisch-Jüdischer Beziehungen in Lublin, 1918–1924
Authors: Golczewski Frank
Published: September 2011

Die Stadt Lublin war in den letzten Jahren das Objekt umfassenderer Arbeiten. Wenn aber selbst die allgemeine Geschichte Lublins in der Zwischenkriegszeit im Unterschied zur historiographischen Würdigung der Zeit bis zum Eersten Weltkrieg ein “unbeschriebenes Blatt” ist, dann gilt dies umso mehr für die Geschichte der Lubliner Juden und ihr Verhältnis zur nicht-jüdischen Bevölkerung. Regionalbezogene Untersuchungen fehlen völlig. Dies liegt an der Komplexität des Themas, aber auch an der lange Zeit ungenügenden Bereitschaft polnischer amtlicher Stellen, Archivalien frei zugänglich zu machen.
Linguistic Minorities of Yugoslavia and Adjacent Areas During the Interwar Period: An Economic Perspective∗
Authors: Hočevar Toussaint
Published: September 2011

In attempting to provide a framework for the study of linguistic minorities within Yugoslavia and peripheral areas, I shall proceed along conceptual lines suggested by economic theory. Although the terms “ethnic minority” and “linguistic minority” are often used interchangeably, the focus is on linguistic minorities since in terms of economic significance the linguistic attribute generally outweighs other attributes which define ethnic groups. After all, communications involve substantial costs, and it is precisely the distribution of these costs between linguistic groups which gives the minority status its economic dimension. The subsequent discussion hinges in part on these costs.
The Czechoslovak Problem
Authors: Kalvoda Joseph
Published: September 2011

Since the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968, an increasing number of Czech voices have suggested that the nation would have been better off in a federalized Austria-Hungary. While the Czechs would have survived and, most likely, prospered in such an arrangement, it was necessary for the Slovak national survival to severe the nation's ties with Hungary. As it happened, the Czechoslovak Republic, proclaimed on October 28, 1918, lasted for merely twenty years — a short span in the life of both nations. The collapse of the Republic has been blamed by various writers on France and England, the national minorities, the rise of Nazism in Germany and others. But, in the last analysis, the responsibility has to be placed on the shoulders of the leaders who did not have the foresight to secure the state externally and internally and/or were unwilling to fight for its territorial integrity in the fall of 1938.
Islam and Nationalism in West Turkestan (Central Asia) on the EVE of October Revolution
Authors: Shorish M. Mobin
Published: September 2011

On the eve of the October revolution most of Central Asia was a tsarist colony with the exception of the Amaret of Bukhara. Islam as a religion and a way of life had become more and more ibadah (religious ritual) and less and less as a program of action for the ummah. The tsarist functionaries deprived its religious and educational institutions from their major sources of income (the auqāf) and encouraged instead a program of russification through the schools, specially the Russian-Native schools (russkotuzamnaya shkola) and active conversion of the Muslims of Turkestan to Orthodox Christianity through organizations such as the Anti-Muslim Missionary Division (protivo-musul'manskoe missionerskoe otdelenie), of the Kazan Ecclesiastical Academy. Aside from these and settlements of the Slav immigrants on the Turkestanis lands by force and without compensation the Tsarist government interfered very little in the Central Asian way of life. Almost all of the religious laws (Shariah) dealing with the domestic matters, and the customary laws of the land (adāt) were kept intact.
Andropov and the Non-Russian Nationalities: Attitudes and Policies
Authors: Zemtsov Ilya
Published: September 2011

In early 1983 I concluded my book on Iu. V. Andropov with the prediction: “This is how Andropov's country will advance toward its own 1984 which hopefully will not correspond to Orwell's description.” Scarcely one year later the Soviet Union did actually enter 1984 — both in the chronological and in the profounder sense — but without Andropov. And it probably happened against Andropov's desires and expectations.
The Soviet Collectivization of Western Ukraine, 1948-1949
Authors: Marples David R.
Published: September 2011

Western Ukraine comprises those areas of Ukraine annexed by the Soviet Union after September 1939. They are (1) Galicia, made up of the Soviet oblasts of Lviv, Stanislav (now Ivano-Frankivsk), Drohobych (now part of Lviv oblast) and Ternopil; (2) Volynia, made up of Rivne and Volyn oblasts; (3) Bukovyna (Chernivtsi oblast); and (4) Transcarpathia (Zakarpatska oblast). In the interwar period, the Galician and Volynian territories were governed by Poland, Chernivtsi was part of Romania and Transcarpathia was ruled by Czechoslovakia. Whereas the former areas were all annexed by the USSR after the invasion of Eastern Poland in 1939, Transcarpathia became part of the Soviet Union only in June 1945.
W. H. Auden - a tribute
Authors: Spender Stephen
Published: September 2011

A stone commemorating the late W. H. Auden was laid in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey on 2 October 1974. The following is the text of the address made on that occasion by his lifelong friend, the poet Stephen Spender.
Conversation
Authors: Havel Václav
Published: September 2011

(The FOREMAN'S office. A door, left, and next to it a framed diploma hanging on the wall. Right, a wardrobe and filing cabinet, on top of which are several empty beer bottles. On the rear wall a large, amateurish painting of Ŝvejk and the publican Palivec, with the inscription ‘Lot of good beer, lot of good cheer’. In the centre of the stage, an office desk and three chairs, the desk covered with papers and more beer bottles; also a few glasses. A crate of beer stands next to the desk. Along the walls, and especially in the corners of the room, a motley of discarded bits of machinery, an ancient radio, a broken hat-stand, a pile of old newspapers, rubber boots, etc. The curtain goes up to reveal the FOREMAN sitting with his head resting on his folded arms on top of the desk, snoring loudly. After a while there is a knock at the door. The FOREMAN immediately awakes.)
Silenced singer
Authors: Novák A. B.
Published: September 2011

May over this our state lasting peace hold sway oppression fear and hate let them all pass away all pass away May you my nation once again your liberty sovereignty regain Here your home create in keeping with your dream from the oppressor's yoke escape May injustice falsehood dread brute force not long bow your head
Holistic Understanding in Geography Education (HUGE) – an alternative approach to curriculum development and learning at Key Stage 3
Authors: Renshaw Simon , Wood Phil
Published: September 2011

This article reports the results of a small‐scale curriculum development project focusing on two of the seven ‘key concepts’ identified in the revised Key Stage 3 (KS3) National Curriculum programme of study for geography, introduced into schools in 2007. The study used ‘interdependence’ and ‘physical processes’ as part of a conceptual framework for creating a holistic approach to the subject, underpinned by the notion of threshold concepts. Year 9 students (aged 13–14 years) undertook classroom work investigating atmosphere, oceans, volcanoes and glaciers to develop an understanding of process, landscape, life and futures, while also considering the interdependent nature of these areas, to build an understanding of global physical systems. Use was made of student questioning and concept mapping to create ‘liminal spaces’ in which students could develop deeper understanding of interdependent processes and patterns. Perceptual results from student and teacher interviews suggest that a holistic curriculum was popular and also led to a greater level of critical understanding and a relational underpinning to approaching the subject.
Globalisation, geography education and the curriculum: what are the challenges for curriculum makers in geography?
Authors: Butt Graham
Published: September 2011

The forces of globalisation affect the lives of everybody on the planet – but defining the concept of globalisation, and its appropriate place within the school curriculum, still proves problematic. This article engages with three key issues: our understanding and conceptualisation of globalisation; the impacts of globalisation on education; and the place of globalisation in the geography curriculum. Globalisation influences education policy and practice worldwide, in turn creating concerns that national curricula, teaching and assessment are increasingly tending towards uniformity. The opportunities and challenges faced by young people growing up in our rapidly globalising world are considered in this article from the perspective of curriculum makers in geography.
The Functional Equivalence of Imagery and Movement
Authors: Johnson Peter
Published: September 2011

A method of investigating mental imagery is presented which shows that movements and imagery of movements are functionally equivalent. Experiment I uses a short-term-motor-memory linear positioning task in which a novel movement interpolated between initial presentation and recall of a criterion movement length can bias recall. It was predicted that if a similar bias occurred when the interpolated novel movement was imagined rather than performed, then imagery of movements had effects on memory which were functionally similar to producing movements. The results showed that imagery for movements did produce a similar bias. In Experiment II a second order interference task was introduced while instructions to imagine movements were carried out. It was predicted that if imagery for movements were based on the visual/perceptual system then a simultaneous visual inspection task should inhibit imagery. If imagery were based on the motor system though, a simultaneous motor task should prohibit imagery. The results showed that a visual task inhibited imagery. The role of visual imagery in movement control is discussed in terms of spatial representations.
The Pseudohomophone Effect: The Role of Visual Similarity in Non-Word Decisions
Authors: Martin Randi C.
Published: September 2011

The pseudohomophone effect, that is, the finding that non-words that are pronounced like words (e.g. MEEN) take longer to reject in a lexical decision task than other pronounceable non-words (e.g. NEEN), has been used to support the hypothesis of phonological receding in lexical access. The lexical decision experiments reported here matched pseudohomophones to control non-words that were as visually similar to words as were the pseudohomophones. For both normal and aphasic subjects, reaction times to reject the pseudohomophones were no longer than those for the visual controls. However, the pseudohomophones did take longer to reject than other pronounceable non-words which were not as visually similar to words. The results suggest that most previous findings of the pseudohomophone effect result from the greater visual rather than phonological similarity of the pseudohomophones to words. The absence of a phonological effect on the non-words in the present study implies that phonological coding is an optional rather than a slow, but obligatory process.
The Comparative Judgements of Generally and Specifically Gifted Children
Authors: O'Connor N. , Hermelin B.
Published: September 2011

Different groups of children were compared on sentence verification tasks. The children were either academically, musically or artistically gifted, and there were two forms of the task. In one, a picture was followed by a sentence, and in another, one sentence was followed by another. Subjects had to decide as quickly as possible whether or not the second proposition logically confirmed the first. In the picture-sentence condition results from all groups could be fitted to the constituent comparison model for sentence verification proposed by Carpenter and Just (1975). For the sentence-sentence condition, however, the observed results diverged from those predicted by the model. The results are explained in terms of different degrees of linguistic processing capacities of the subjects, and they demonstrate the importance which verbal-logical congruence has for children. Artistically able children had difficulties in processing subject/object incongruence in sentence pairs whereas musically able children had more problems in processing above/below incongruence.
Judgement of Act-Outcome Contingency: The Role of Selective Attribution
Authors: Dickinson Anthony , Shanks David , Evenden John
Published: September 2011

In the first experiment subjects were presented with a number of sets of trials on each of which they could perform a particular action and observe the occurrence of an outcome in the context of a video game. The contingency between the action and outcome was varied across the different sets of trials. When required to judge the effectiveness of the action in controlling the outcome during a set of trials, subjects assigned positive ratings for a positive contingency and negative ratings for a negative contingency. Furthermore, the magnitude of the ratings was related systematically to the strength of the actual contingency. With a fixed probability of an outcome given the action, judgements of positive contingencies decreased as the likelihood that the outcome would occur without the action was raised. Correspondingly, the absolute value of ratings of negative contingencies was increased both by an increment in the probability of the outcome in the absence of the action and by a decrement in the probability of the outcome following the action. A systematic bias was observed, however, in that positive judgements were given under a non-contingent relationship when the outcome frequency was relatively high. However, this bias could be reduced by giving extended exposure to the non-contingent schedule (Experiment 2).

This pattern of contingency judgements can be explained if it is assumed that a process of selective attribution operates, whereby people are less likely to attribute an outcome to some potential target cause if another effective cause is present. Experiments 2 and 3 demonstrated the operation of this process by showing that initially establishing another agent as an effective cause of the outcome subsequently reduced or blocked the extent to which the subjects attributed the outcome to the action.

Finally, we argue that the pattern and bias in contingency judgements based upon interactions with a causal process can be explained in terms of contemporary conditioning models of associative learning.
The Stroop Effect: Failure to Focus Attention or Failure to Maintain Focusing?
Authors: Harvey Nigel
Published: September 2011

Subjects matched the position (high or low) of a first stimulus with either the position or the meaning of a word ( HI or LO) presented after an interstimulus interval (ISI). The form of the first stimulus ( X or O) varied randomly within trial blocks and specified the relevant feature (meaning or position) of the second stimulus to the subject. When the relevant feature was meaning, Stroop interference from the second stimulus position was observed. This interference decreased as ISI increased. At the longest ISI, it was eliminated completely. A number of explanations for these effects are discussed and then tested in two further matching experiments. In a fourth experiment a similar decrease in interference was observed. These reductions in interference with increase in ISI appear to represent the development of attentional focusing on the relevant feature of the second stimulus. Stroop interference may occur in experiments where the relevant attribute is constant because of a difficulty associated with repeated focusing on the same attribute.
RASP: rapid modeling of protein side chain conformations
Authors: Miao Zhichao , Cao Yang , Jiang Taijiao
Published: September 2011

Motivation: Modeling of side chain conformations constitutes an indispensable effort in protein structure modeling, protein–protein docking and protein design. Thanks to an intensive attention to this field, many of the existing programs can achieve reasonably good and comparable prediction accuracy. Moreover, in our previous work on CIS-RR, we argued that the prediction with few atomic clashes can complement the current existing methods for subsequent analysis and refinement of protein structures. However, these recent efforts to enhance the quality of predicted side chains have been accompanied by a significant increase of computational cost.

Results: In this study, by mainly focusing on improving the speed of side chain conformation prediction, we present a RApid Side-chain Predictor, called RASP. To achieve a much faster speed with a comparable accuracy to the best existing methods, we not only employ the clash elimination strategy of CIS-RR, but also carefully optimize energy terms and integrate different search algorithms. In comprehensive benchmark testings, RASP is over one order of magnitude faster (~ 40 times over CIS-RR) than the recently developed methods, while achieving comparable or even better accuracy.

Availability: RASP is available to non-commercial users at our website: http://jianglab.ibp.ac.cn/lims/rasp/rasp

Contact:  taijiao@moon.ibp.ac.cn

Supplementary Information: Supplementary information is available at Bioinformatics online.
Proposal of a tool for evaluating people’s values regarding Lake Biwa
Authors: Hirayama Naoko , Nakamura Masahisa , Ide Shinji
Published: September 2011

The Shiga Prefectural Government (SPG) is in a process of reviewing and revising ‘Mather Lake 21 Plan’, which is a comprehensive conservation plan developed in 2000 for Lake Biwa. This study was meant to compass the values of people for Lake Biwa, allowing them to be reflected in the revised plan. The authors first conducted a value survey (VS) as a part of an opinion survey by the SPG, requesting prefectural inhabitants to evaluate the level of importance of five major functions of the lake in absolute terms. The five major functions include the following: water resources, ecosystem, landscape, lifestyle and industry. An experiment involving undergraduate students also was conducted, in which the students were asked to evaluate the level of importance, in both absolute and relative terms. Relative evaluations were accomplished by the Analytic Hierarchy Process method. The results indicated that (i) The average values of the prefectural people regarding Lake Biwa, in terms of the lake’s functions, were determined, with the values found to be less subject to people’s attributes; (ii) A good linear relationship between the absolute and relative evaluations was obtained in the student experiment, suggesting that the absolute evaluations could be converted to relative ones with the derived relationship; and (iii) By converting the absolute evaluations of the VS to relative ones, it was revealed that prefectural residents attached importance to the lake’s functions, with the relative order of importance being water resources, ecosystem, landscape, industry and lifestyle.
How microcystin‐degrading bacteria express microcystin degradation activity
Authors: Shimizu Kazuya , Maseda Hideaki , Okano Kunihiro , Itayama Tomoaki , Kawauchi Yukio , Chen Rongzhi , Utsumi Motoo , Zhang Zhenya , Sugiura Norio
Published: September 2011

Alkali tolerance and the mechanism of microcystin (MC) degradation were investigated in the MC‐degrading bacterial species, Sphingopyxis sp. C‐1, to better understand the increased MC degradation under the alkaline conditions that arise during the disappearance of water blooms. MC‐degrading bacteria harbour mlrA, mlrB and mlrC that encode MC‐degrading enzymes. Sphingopyxis sp. C‐1 also possesses these genes, as well as the mlrD gene that has been assumed to encode MC and its degradation transporter. This study demonstrated that MC degradation activity was promoted by the intermittent addition of microcystin‐LR (MCLR) to cultures of strain C‐1. That the expression of mlrA, mlrB and mlrC is induced by MCLR also was indicated, whereas that of mlrA and mlrB is induced by the MCLR degradation products linear MC, H‐Adda‐Glu‐Mdha‐Ala‐OH (tetra peptide) and 2S, 3S, 8S, 9S‐3‐amino‐9‐methoxy‐2, 6, 8‐trimethyl‐10‐phenyldeca‐4E, 6E‐dienoic acid (Adda). Adda played a key role in the induction of mlrA and mlrB gene expression, and the cyclic structure of MCLR was closely associated with the induction of mlrC gene expression. It is suggested, therefore, that Adda is an essential part of a signalling molecule involved in cell‐to‐cell communication. Finally, the MC‐degrading bacteria responded to MCLR and its degradation products by degrading the MlrA, MlrB and MlrC enzymes through a sequential chain reaction for the expression of each.
Brain plasticity and recovery from early cortical injury
Authors: KOLB BRYAN , MYCHASIUK RICHELLE , WILLIAMS PRESTON , GIBB ROBBIN
Published: September 2011

Neocortical development represents more than a simple unfolding of a genetic blueprint: rather, it represents a complex dance of genetic and environmental events that interact to adapt the brain to fit a particular environmental context. Most cortical regions are sensitive to a wide range of experiential factors during development and later in life, but the injured cortex appears to be unusually sensitive to perinatal experiences. This paper reviews the factors that influence how normal and injured brains (both focal and ischemic injuries) develop and adapt into adulthood. Such factors include prenatal experiences in utero as well as postnatal experiences throughout life. Examples include the effects of sensory and motor stimulation, psychoactive drugs (including illicit and prescription drugs), maternal and postnatal stress, neurotrophic factors, and pre‐ and postnatal diet. All these factors influence cerebral development and influence recovery from brain injury during development.
Developmental programming of early brain and behaviour development and mental health: a conceptual framework
Authors: VAN DEN BERGH BEA R H
Published: September 2011

The Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) hypothesis studies the short‐ and long‐term consequences of the conditions of the developmental environment for phenotypic variations in health and disease. Central to this hypothesis is the idea of interdependence of developmental influences, genes, and environment. Developmental programming effects are mediated by alterations in fundamental life functions, and the most enduring effects seem to occur if the main regulatory instances of the organ – the (epi)genome and the brain – are affected. Some new insights in the role of chromatin, in cellular development and differentiation, and neural plasticity from the field of epigenetics are introduced, followed by a section on epigenetics and brain development. It is proposed to extend the DOHaD hypothesis into the ‘Developmental Origins of Behaviour, Health, and Disease’ (DOBHaD) concept. Pregnancy and the early postnatal period are times of both great opportunity and considerable risk, and their influence can extend over a lifetime. The DOBHaD hypothesis opens fundamental new perspectives on preventing diseases and disorders.
To constrain or not to constrain, and other stories of intensive upper extremity training for children with unilateral cerebral palsy
Authors: GORDON ANDREW M
Published: September 2011

Impaired hand function is among the most functionally disabling symptoms of unilateral cerebral palsy. Evidence‐based treatment approaches are generally lacking. However, recent approaches providing intensive upper extremity training appear promising. In this review, we first describe two such approaches, constraint‐induced movement therapy (CIMT) and bimanual training (hand–arm bimanual intensive therapy). We then summarize findings across more than 100 participants in our CIMT/bimanual training studies since 1997. We show that (1) at high intensities, CIMT and bimanual training improve dexterity and bimanual upper extremity use; (2) bimanual training may allow direct practice of functionally meaningful goals, and such practice may transfer to unpracticed goals and improve bimanual coordination; (3) 90 hours of CIMT and bimanual training leads to greater improvements than 60 hours of the same treatments; (4) higher doses may be required for bimanual training; (5) increased dosing frequency and shaping may be needed for older children; and (6) combined CIMT/bimanual approaches may be useful, but require sufficient intensity. Together these findings suggest that dosage (treatment amount and frequency), more so than ingredients, may well be the key to successful training protocols, especially for older children. Such rehabilitation efforts should be ‘child‐friendly’, and as least invasive as possible, especially because these approaches may be provided throughout development.
A clinical review of peritoneal dialysis
Authors: Bersenas Alexa M.E.
Published: September 2011

Objective

To review the principles and practice of peritoneal dialysis in veterinary medicine.

Data Sources

Clinical and experimental studies and current guideline recommendations from the human literature; and original case studies, case reports, and previous reviews in the veterinary literature.

Peritoneal dialysis involves the exchange of solutes and fluid between the peritoneal capillary blood and the dialysis solution across the peritoneal membrane. It requires placement of a peritoneal dialysis catheter for repeated dialysate exchange. The ideal catheter provides reliable, rapid dialysate flow rates without leaks or infections. Catheter selection and placement are reviewed along with dialysate selection, exchange prescriptions, and overall patient management. PD does not require specific or complex equipment, and it can achieve effective control of uremia and electrolyte imbalances.

Conclusions

Peritoneal dialysis is a potential life‐saving measure for patients with acute renal failure. Peritoneal dialysis results in gradual decline in uremic toxins. Previously low success rates have been reported. Improved success rates have been noted in dogs with acute kidney injury (AKI) secondary to leptospirosis. Cats also have a good success rate when PD is elected in patients with a potentially reversible underlying disease. Overall, PD remains a viable intervention for patients with AKI unresponsive to medical management. In select patients a favorable outcome is attained whereby PD provides temporary support until return of effective renal function is attained.
Serum 25‐Hydroxyvitamin D and Physical Function in Older Adults: The Cardiovascular Health Study All Stars
Authors: Houston Denise K. , Tooze Janet A. , Davis Cralen C. , Chaves Paulo H. M. , Hirsch Calvin H. , Robbins John A. , Arnold Alice M. , Newman Anne B. , Kritchevsky Stephen B.
Published: September 2011

Objectives

To examine the association between 25‐hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) and physical function in adults of advanced age.

Design

Cross‐sectional and longitudinal analysis of physical function over 3 years of follow‐up in the Cardiovascular Health Study All Stars.

Setting

Forsyth County, North Carolina; Sacramento County, California; Washington County, Maryland; and Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.

Participants

Community‐dwelling adults aged 77 to 100 (N = 988).

Measurements

Serum 25‐hydroxyvitamin D 25(OH)D), Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB), and grip and knee extensor strength assessed at baseline. Mobility disability (difficulty walking half a mile or up 10 steps) and activities of daily living (ADLs) disability were assessed at baseline and every 6 months over 3 years of follow‐up.

Results

Almost one‐third (30.8%) of participants were deficient in 25(OH)D (<20 ng/mL). SPPB scores were lower in those with deficient 25(OH)D (mean (standard error) 6.53 (0.24)) than in those with sufficient 25(OH)D (≥30 ng/mL) (7.15 (0.25)) after adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, season, health behaviors, and chronic conditions (P = .006). Grip strength adjusted for body size was also lower in those with deficient 25(OH)D than in those with sufficient 25(OH)D (24.7 (0.6) kg vs 26.0 (0.6) kg, P = .02). Participants with deficient 25(OH)D were more likely to have prevalent mobility (OR = 1.44, 95% confidence interval (CI)) = 0.96–2.14) and ADL disability (OR = 1.51, 95% CI = 1.01–2.25) at baseline than those with sufficient 25(OH)D. Furthermore, participants with deficient 25(OH)D were at greater risk of incident mobility disability over 3 years of follow‐up (hazard ratio = 1.56, 95% CI = 1.06–2.30).

Conclusion

Vitamin D deficiency was common and was associated with poorer physical performance, lower muscle strength, and prevalent mobility and ADL disability in community‐dwelling older adults. Moreover, vitamin D deficiency predicted incident mobility disability.