bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Autothermal thermophilic aerobic digestion (ATAD) — Part I: Review of origins, design, and process operation
Authors: Layden Noreen M. , Mavinic Donald S. , Kelly Harlan G. , Moles Richard , Bartlett John
Published: December 2007

Increased legislative constraints have fuelled an interest in developing sustainable and economical methods for sludge digestion. Autothermal thermophilic aerobic digestion (ATAD) is a robust process that produces Class A biosolids from a wide range of organic sludge (e.g., animal waste, sewage sludge, food processing waste etc.). The advantages of this technology include good biomass biodegradation, pasteurization and process stability. Thermophilic temperatures result from the metabolic heat released by microorganisms during digestion. Efficient aeration and mixing are needed in addition to adequate reactor insulation to maintain thermophilic temperatures. Significant advances have been made in the optimization and adaptation of ATAD technology since it was first introduced in the early 1970s. Continuing innovation and advancement of the process is reflected in the number of patents for “next” generation technologies. Despite the apparent benefits of this process, ATAD is still not well understood. This article seeks to establish the existing state-of-the-art for the ATAD process. Information from a wide range of sources is presented to provide an insight into the key issues, discuss some of the advantages and perceived disadvantages, and list some of its operating limitations.
Preliminary research from the use of compostable dinnerware at the 2005 Jeux du Canada Summer Games in Regina, Saskatchewan
Authors: McMartin Dena
Published: December 2007

Compostable dinnerware was used and tested during the 2005 Jeux du Canada Games at the University of Regina. Prior to, during, and following the Games, several research activities were undertaken to examine the structural integrity, user friendliness, consumer opinions, and general compostability of the dinnerware under various conditions. The results indicate that consumers are highly motivated to purchase and use environmentally friendly options and that structural integrity is sufficient for most applications. Overall, the dinnerware performed as advertised by the manufacturer and can be composted within a 2-week timeframe.
Platinum-group mineralization in the Rum layered intrusion, Scottish Hebrides, UK
Authors: BUTCHER A. R. , PIRRIE D. , PRICHARD H. M. , FISHER P.
Published: December 2007

Abundant and diverse platinum-group minerals occur in the Rum layered intrusion, Inner Hebrides, Scotland. Platinum-group minerals are associated with chromite-rich horizons in both the Eastern and Western layered series, and are enclosed by Ni- and Cu-rich sulphides, or silicates. The most common phases are Pd–Cu alloys; Pt–Fe alloys; laurite (Ru(Ir,Os)S
2
); sperrylite (PtAs
2
); and Pt–Pd-bearing bismuthides, tellurides and antimonides. The mineralization on Rum is due to: (1) initial concentration in the parental magma linked to a high degree of melting associated with mantle plume activity, and (2) localized concentration due to magma mixing and subsequent crystallization within an open-system magma chamber.
Dense welding caused by volatile resorption
Authors: SPARKS R. S. J. , TAIT S. R. , YANEV Y.
Published: December 2007

Welding of pyroclastic rocks is generally thought to occur by mechanical expulsion of interstitial gas from a deposit as it compacts under its own weight. We propose here that volatile resorption and compression can also be important factors in welding. We describe densely welded rocks which cannot be explained by loading and re-evaluate the welding process taking into account the effects of volatile resorption into the glassy fragments. Intra-caldera Oligocene ignimbrites from the Rhodope Mountains, Bulgaria, and intrusive tuffs of the Loch Ba ring dyke, Mull in Scotland are intensely welded but some samples lack foliation (eutaxitic texture). Fiamme and glass shards show no preferred orientation in thin section or on outcrop scale. Fiamme are sometimes complexy deformed into U or S shapes. We propose that these textures are the consequence of volatile dissolution in the glass and gas compression. Scaling analysis indicates that there are two regimes for gas behaviour following emplacement of hot pyroclastic deposits which depend on the relative characteristic time-scales of compaction, gas escape and gas resorption: a
gas escape regime
and a
gas retention regime.
During explosive eruption, glassy pyroclasts are decompressed to less than one atmosphere pressure and are outgassed. During deposition and subsequent burial in a thick hot deposit, volatiles will be retained and soluble gases (H
2
O) can be resorbed back into the glass, defining the gas retention regime. Poorly soluble gases (air) are compressed to small fractions of their original volume, resulting in destruction of pore spaces and vesicles in pumice. In some circumstances, such as volcanic vents, the volume changes involve isotropic strain and implosion of the tuff. Resorption of water greatly speeds up welding during compactional loading by reducing the viscosity of the glass. Welding is inhibited not only by lower temperatures but also by entrainment of insoluble atmospheric gases. The two regimes also can explain the common presence of post-emplacement gas escape pipes in non-welded ignimbrites and their rarity in densely welded ignimbrite. Factors that are likely to promote the gas retention regime include fine grain size, low collapsing columns, a large thickness of tuff and incorporation of external water.
The Palaeoproterozoic Tchilit exotic terrane (Air, Niger) within the Pan-African collage of the Tuareg shield
Authors: NAVEZ J. , LIÉGEOIS J. P. , LATOUCHE L. , BOVEN A. , BLACK R.
Published: December 2007

The Tchilit terrane in A¿r (Niger) is one of the most exotic terranes among those constituting the Tuareg shield. It is composed of low-K calc-alkaline metabasalts and meta-andesites (amphibolites), alkaline metarhyolites, detrital metasediments and of a syenogranite. Volcanic protoliths are Palaeoproterozoic in age (within the 1600–2200 Ma time span; Sm-Nd, Rb-Sr and Ar-Ar systematics) and underwent two metamorphisms accompanied by mylonitization. The first, amphibolite-facies (690 ± 40°C) metamorphism occurred during the Palaeoproterozoic whereas the second is a greenschist retrogression, late Pan-African in age (646 ± 6 Ma,
2σ,
Ar-Ar age). The metasediments have been affected only by the Pan-African event and are probably Neoproterozoic. The syenogranite (619 ± 39 Ma,
2
σ
,
Rb-Sr) is later than both metamorphisms: it is the only Pan-African material in Tchilit. The Pan-African tectonics, a N-S transpression (dextral shear) induced the overthrusting of the neighbouring Assode terrane onto Tchilit. Major, trace elements and Sr-Nd isotopes give to the protoliths of amphibolites a continental active margin signature (low-K calc-alkaline) and to those of the metarhyolites an alkaline one, more typical of a post-collisional or intraplate setting. Both were significantly contaminated by an early Archaean crust (Sm-Nd T
DM
model ages >3 Ga). Whether these two magmatisms were generated in the same environment or not is unresolved. In any case, the Tchilit terrane is distinctive from the 2.1 Ga Birimian volcanosedimentary series of the West African craton that are entirely juvenile. Tchilit is the first Palaeoproterozoic non-granulitic terrane found in the Pan-African assembly of the Tuareg shield which raises questions about its provenance.
First40Ar/39Ar age constraints for the Caledonian evolution of the Trans–European Suture Zone in NE Germany
Authors: DALLMEYER R. D. , GIESE U. , GLASMACHER U. , PICKEL W.
Published: December 2007

From three Rügen boreholes (G14, Rügen 5, Loissin 1) across the Caledonian deformation front four Lower Palaeozoic slate samples and three detrital muscovite concentrates from associated sandstones have been analysed by40Ar/39Ar analysis. Microprobe analysis of the detrital muscovites show homogeneous, but distinct chemical compositions for each concentrate. Particulate organic matter reflectance and illite crystallinity indicate that all the analysed whole–rock samples have experienced anchizonal metamorphic conditions.

40Ar/39Ar analysis of the samples from the G14 and Loissin 1 wells give almost identical results. Muscovite concentrates define plateau ages ofc.830 Ma and show an isotopic rejuvenation of low–temperature increments around 440 Ma. Whole–rock slate samples give plateau ages ofc.440 Ma andc.427 Ma. Isotopic rejuvenation in the low–temperature increments prior to 350 Ma in the Loissin 1 sample can be attributed to the Permo–Carbonifereous volcanism which is known from this borehole. In contrast, samples from the borehole Rügen 5 show a different isotope pattern. A muscovite concentrate defines a plateau age of 609 Ma. Two whole rock slate samples give internally discordant but identical40Ar/39Ar spectra with consistent isotopic rejuvenation from high– to low–temperature increments from 510 Ma to 420 Ma.

While for the G14 and Loissin 1 sandstone samples a Baltica–derived provenance can be assumed, greywackes of Rügen 5 indicate a Cadomian–influenced Perigondwanan detrital source. According to the results of whole–rock slate samples the main Caledonian tectonothermal event in NE–Germany occurred around the Ordovician–Silurian boundary or in the early Silurian (450–425 Ma). From these data the Rügen Palaeozoic appears as an allochthonous Caledonian nappe complex which has been thrust much further onto the Baltic shield than previously thought.
Palaeomagnetic correlation of the Upper Triassic of Somerset, England, with continental Europe and eastern North America
Authors: BRIDEN J. C. , DANIELS B. A.
Published: December 2007

Three Normal and three Reversed palaeomagnetic polarity zones were identified in the exposed 67 m section of Mercia Mudstone at St Audrie’s Bay, Somerset, which has been regarded as being of Norian age on limited biostratigraphic evidence. The polarity sequence is correlated with magnetozones E15 to E17 in the Newark Basin, New Jersey, further supporting the inferred Norian age and tentatively placing it in the mid-Norian. Correlations with the northern North Sea and the Alps are also suggested. Results from Doniford Bay, where tectonic dips are steeper but which cannot be correlated precisely with the St Audrie’s section, are incorporated for the calculation of the mean direction of Characteristic Remanent Magnetization which has declination 30.8° and inclination +34.3°
(N=
27 horizons, α
95
= 5.1°). The corresponding palaeomagnetic pole is 49.6°N, 128.4°E (dp = 3.3°, dm = 5.8°), which also correlates with the Norian of the Newark Basin, while possibly indicating that small adjustments should be made to the orientation of all or part of Britain within the 1965 Bullard
et al.
configuration as a representation of Late Triassic geography.
TIGGER: NERC-stimulated research into the geological perspective of terrestrial global environmental research
Authors: OLIVER HOWARD R. , CHALONER WILLIAM G. , ROSE JAMES
Published: December 2007

TIGGER was devised to study the geological factors relevant to the NERC TIGER programme (Terrestrial Initiative in Global Environmental Research). The geological initiative concerned itself with the collection of high resolution data to solve issues of global environmental change at different timescales. All of the topics concerned are critical to natural climatic changes since the Last Interglacial
(c.
125 ka BP) and to the methodology of investigating these changes. TIGGER I, the SAHEL project, seeks to understand groundwater discharge and recharge since the LGM (Last Glacial Maximum) and the aeolian dune and lake changes since the Lateglacial in northeast Nigeria, an area highly sensitive to drought. TIGGER Ha is concerned with proxy records of climate change over the last two millennia and their application at a time of relatively low magnitude climate variation but characterized by high-resolution data sources. TIGGER llb has investigated the way that terrestrial ecosystems have adjusted to variations in climate, carbon dioxide and surface chemistry over the period 15–11.5 cal ka BP and TIGGER lie has attempted to reconstruct longitudinal palaeoenvironmental gradients across southern Europe during the Last Interglacial/Glacial transition based on multiproxy studies from across the region, two of which are recorded here: one from Kopias in Greece and one from northeast Mallorca.
Lakes, groundwater and palaeohydrology in the Sahel of NE Nigeria: evidence from hydrogeochemistry
Authors: EDMUNDS W. M. , FELLMAN E. , GONI I. B.
Published: December 2007

The geochemistry of natural waters from rain, soil, the unsaturated zone, shallow aquifers, lakes and the stratified aquifer system of the Chad Basin sediments has been investigated to interpret modern hydrological processes and to reconstruct the palaeohydrology of NE Nigeria, a type region of the southern Sahel. Recharge to the confined Middle and Lower aquifers, recorded in NE Nigeria, occurred between 24 and 18.6 ka BP, prior to the last glacial maximum. The mean annual temperature at this time derived from dissolved noble gas ratios was at least 6°C cooler than at the present day. This groundwater is not coupled to the active modern recharge cycle and was not reactivated during the Holocene wet phases as elsewhere in the Saharan region, a reflection of changing lake levels and/or of changing climatic regimes. The absence of groundwater recharge at the time of the last glacial maximum supports other evidence for aridity at this time. Present day direct recharge rates in the Manga Grasslands are high (mean 44 mm a
−1
). However, regional recharge in NE Nigeria at the present day is even higher (60 mm a
−1
) emphasizing the importance of infiltration from surface runoff as input to groundwater. The present study confirms that the shallow aquifer in the region contains significant renewable groundwater resources. However the confined aquifer of the Chad Basin clearly contains palaeowater and this declining artesian basin will need careful conservation prior to a return to traditional water use methods via improved management of the renewable waters in the shallow phreatic aquifers.
Holocene landscape evolution of the Manga Grasslands, NE Nigeria: evidence from palaeolimnology and dune chronology
Authors: HOLMES J. A. , STREET-PERROTT F. A. , PERROTT R. A. , STOKES S. , WALLER M. P. , HUANG Y. , EGLINTON G. , IVANOVICH M.
Published: December 2007

This paper presents a synthesis of results from investigations into palaeolimnology and dune chronology in the Manga Grasslands and adjacent areas of NE Nigeria, in order to reconstruct the evolution of this semi-arid landscape since the late glacial. A marked wet phase gave way to a fall in lake levels during the late glacial. Dune emplacement was active at this time to the south of the Manga Grasslands, but seems to have been absent from the grasslands themselves. Wet conditions prevailed during much of the early to mid-Holocene, accompanied by periods of significant barchanoid dune reactivation. A marked deterioration in climate and vegetation commenced around 4.1 ka BP, leading to the formation of the present-day semi-arid landscape. The data suggest that there have been major changes in humidity in this part of Subsaharan West Africa during the late glacial to Holocene and that the relationship between changes in precipitation and aeolian activity is complex.
Proxy records of climate change in the UK over the last two millennia: documented change and sedimentary records from lakes and bogs
Authors: BARBER K. E. , BATTARBEE R. W. , BROOKS S. J. , EGLINTON G. , HAWORTH E. Y. , OLDFIELD F. , STEVENSON A. C. , THOMPSON R. , APPLEBY P. G. , AUSTIN W. E. N. , CAMERON N. G. , FICKEN K. J. , GOLDING P. , HARKNESS D. D. , HOLMES J. A. , HUTCHINSON R. , LISHMAN J. P. , MADDY D. , PINDER L. C. V. , ROSE N. L. , STONEMAN R. E.
Published: December 2007

This project of collaborative research (project Ha of the NERC TIGGER programme—Terrestrial Initiative in Global Geological Environmental Research) into the climatic history of the late Holocene used a variety of techniques, both tested and experimental, on carefully chosen sites in lowland and upland environments, to derive high quality proxy-records of climatic change over the last 2000 years. The methodology involved the use of high-resolution analyses (diatoms, cladocera, chironomids, ostracods, magnetics, pollen, macrofossils, humification, lipid biomarkers and stable-isotopes) of the stratigraphy of well-dated (AMS and conventional
14
C,
210
Pb, pollen, tephra, SCP spheroidal carbonaceous particles) cores from a remote montane lake and lowland lakes, and from a montane blanket and a lowland raised bog, linked to historical records of climate change. This paper reviews some of the major results obtained, both in the magnitude, synchroneity and periodicity of change, especially during the Little Ice Age, and in the evaluation of the various techniques used. The fact that such techniques can be validated and calibrated against a known climatic signal in the recent past, allows for better interpretation of changes in the more distant past.
The chronology of palaeoenvironmental changes during the Last Glacial-Holocene transition: towards an event stratigraphy for the British Isles
Authors: LOWE J. J. , BIRKS H. H. , BROOKS S. J. , COOPE G. R. , HARKNESS D. D. , MAYLE F. E. , SHELDRICK C. , TURNEY C. S. M. , WALKER M. J. C.
Published: December 2007

The overall aim of the
TIGGER
IIb project is to increase our understanding of the manner and rates by which ecosystems responded to climate changes during the Last Glacial-Holocene transition. Success in this venture requires better constrained palaeoenvironmental reconstructions than have been achieved thus far, and the
TIGGER
project focused, in particular, on three main aims: (1) off-setting the limitations of conventional radiocarbon dating, in order to provide a more secure chronology of events; (2) increasing the resolution and precision of palaeoclimatic reconstructions; (3) widening the scope of site-specific palaeoecological investigations. In this paper we focus on the first of these strategies, and describe the progress made in developing a more coherent timescale for the climate history of the Lateglacial period. This has been achieved by using a number of independent methods, including calibration of
AMS
radiocarbon dates obtained from terrestrial plant macrofossils,
MCR
estimates of summer temperatures based on coleopteran records, analysis of stable carbon isotope ratios in terrestrial plant macrofossils and tephrochronology. Following Björck
et al.'s
1998 recommendations, we integrate the new results to construct a provisional
event stratigraphy
for the Last Glacial-Holocene transition in the British Isles, which is based on a sequence of features that are believed to be time-parallel. This approach is considered to provide a more coherent framework for direct comparison of the palaeoenvironmental evidence from Britain with that from elsewhere.
Palaeoclimate and palaeoenvironmental responses in the western Mediterranean over the last 140 ka: evidence from Mallorca, Spain
Authors: ROSE JAMES , MENG XINGMIN , WATSON CLARE
Published: December 2007

Climatic change in the western Mediterranean basin over the last 140 ka has been investigated from sediment and soil sequences along the coast of the northeastern part of Mallorca, Spain. Palaeoclimate and palaeoenvironments are reconstructed from sediment and soil structures, marine and terrestrial molluscan fauna, grain size distributions, mineral magnetics, sediment and soil chemistry, SEM and oxygen isotope values. Dating is by OSL and amino acid geochronometry along with marine molluscan faunal assemblages. All Oxygen Isotope stages and substages from OIS 6 to 1 are recorded. Mean annual temperatures (m.a.t.) of
c.
19.2°C for the climatic optimum of the Last Interglacial compare with
c.
17.3°C for the present, and are associated with high sea level, extensive woodland and stable soils, although wide temperature ranges are detected during this stage with values as low as
c.
10.3°C. Through OIS 5d to 5a m.a.t. fluctuated from 8.2°C to 17.9°C. Low sea level, open vegetation, effective river activity and aeolian sand and dust deposition characterize 5d and 5b while relatively high sea-level and soil development on stable landscapes dominate OIS 5c and 5a. OIS 4 is represented by m.a.t. of
c.
4.9°C with aeolian sand and loess deposition, limited river activity and weak soil development. Loess deposition persisted into OIS 3, but at this time the m.a.t. was
c.
13°C and with higher humidity and vegetation growth. During the LGM (OIS 2) m.a.t. was
c.
8.1°C and effective river, slope and aeolian processes, along with associated with limited vegetation cover, were responsible for the most extensive changes in the landscape. Major rates of change occur during periods of climatic deterioration when the high levels of geomorphic energy were imposed on a landscape undergoing a breakdown of vegetation cover.
Cardiac autonomic balance in small-for-gestational-age neonates
Authors: Schäffer Leonhard , Burkhardt Tilo , Müller-Vizentini Deborah , Rauh Manfred , Tomaske Maren , Mieth Romaine Arlettaz , Bauersfeld Urs , Beinder Ernst
Published: December 2007

The cardiac sympathetic nervous system is one putative key factor involved in the intrauterine programming of adult cardiovascular disease. We therefore analyzed cardiac autonomic system activity in small for gestational age (SGA) neonates. Heart rate variability (HRV) from 24-h ECG recordings were analyzed for time-domain and frequency-domain parameters in 27 SGA neonates [median 261 (240–283) days of gestation] compared with 27 appropriate for gestational age (AGA) neonates [median 270 (239–293) days of gestation]. In addition, salivary α-amylase levels were analyzed during resting conditions and in response to a pain-induced stress event in 18 SGA [median 266 (240–292) days of gestation] and 34 AGA [median 271 (240–294) days of gestation] neonates. Overall HRV was not significantly different in SGA neonates compared with AGA neonates (SD of all valid NN intervals: P = 0.14; triangular index: P = 0.29), and the sympathovagal balance [low frequency (LF)/high frequency (HF)] was similar ( P = 0.62). Parameters mostly influenced by sympathetic activity did not reveal significant differences: (SD of the average of valid NN intervals: P = 0.27; average of the hourly means of SDs of all NN intervals: P = 0.66, LF: P = 0.83) as well as vagal tone-influenced parameters were unaltered (average of the hourly square root of the mean of the sum of the squares of differences between adjacent NN intervals: P = 0.59; proportion of pairs of adjacent NN intervals differing by >50 ms: P = 0.93; HF: P = 0.82). Median resting levels for α-amylase were not significantly different in SGA neonates ( P = 0.13), and a neonatal stress stimulus revealed similar stress response patterns ( P = 0.29). HRV and salivary α-amylase levels as indicators of cardiac autonomic activity were not altered in SGA neonates compared with AGA neonates. Thus, it appears that the intrauterine activation of the sympathetic system in SGA fetuses does not directly persist into postnatal life, and neonatal sympathovagal balance appears to be preserved.
Protective mechanisms of resveratrol against ischemia-reperfusion-induced damage in hearts obtained from Zucker obese rats: the role of GLUT-4 and endothelin
Authors: Lekli Istvan , Szabo Gergo , Juhasz Bela , Das Samarjit , Das Manika , Varga Edit , Szendrei Levente , Gesztelyi Rudolf , Varadi Judit , Bak Istvan , Das Dipak K. , Tosaki Arpad
Published: December 2007

The resveratrol-induced cardiac protection was studied in Zucker obese rats. Rats were divided into five groups: group 1, lean control; group 2, obese control (OC); group 3, obese rats treated orally with 5 mg·kg−1·day−1 of resveratrol (OR) for 2 wk; group 4, obese rats received 10% glucose solution ad libitum for 3 wk (OG); and group 5, obese rats received 10% glucose for 3 wk and resveratrol (OGR) during the 2nd and 3rd wk. Body weight, serum glucose, and insulin were measured, and then hearts were isolated and subjected to 30 min of ischemia followed by 120 min of reperfusion. Heart rate, coronary flow, aortic flow, developed pressure, the incidence of reperfusion-induced ventricular fibrillation, and infarct size were measured. Resveratrol reduced body weight and serum glucose in the OR compared with the OC values (414 ± 10 g and 7.08 ± 0.41 mmol/l, respectively, to 378 ± 12 g and 6.11 ± 0.44 mmol/l), but insulin levels were unchanged. The same results were obtained for the OG vs. OGR group. Resveratrol improved postischemic cardiac function in the presence or absence of glucose intake compared with the resveratrol-free group. The incidence of ventricular fibrillation and infarct size was reduced by 83 and 20% in the OR group, and 67 and 16% in the OGR group, compared with the OC and OG groups, respectively. Resveratrol increased GLUT-4 expression and reduced endothelin expression and cardiac apoptosis in ischemic-reperfused hearts in the presence or absence of glucose intake. Thus the protective effect of resveratrol could be related to its direct effects on the heart.
SOX-18 controls endothelial-specific claudin-5 gene expression and barrier function
Authors: Fontijn Ruud D. , Volger Oscar L. , Fledderus Joost O. , Reijerkerk Arie , de Vries Helga E. , Horrevoets Anton J. G.
Published: December 2007

Members of the claudin family constitute tight junction strands and are major determinants in specificity and selectivity of paracellular barriers. Transcriptional control of claudin gene expression is essential to establish individual claudin expression patterns and barrier properties. Using full genome expression profiling, we now identify sex-determining region Y-box (SOX)-18, a member of the SOX family of high-mobility group box transcription factors, as one of the most differentially induced genes during establishment of the endothelial barrier. We show that overexpression of SOX-18 and a dominant-negative mutant thereof, as well as SOX-18 silencing, greatly affect levels of claudin-5 (CLDN5). The relevance of an evolutionary conserved SOX-binding site in the CLDN5 promoter is shown using sequential promoter deletions, as well as point mutations. Furthermore, SOX-18 silencing abrogates endothelial barrier function, as measured by electric cell-substrate impedance sensing. Thus an obligatory role for SOX-18 in the regulation of CLDN5 gene expression in an endothelial-specific and cell density-dependent manner is established, as well as a crucial, nonredundant role for specifically SOX-18 in the formation of the endothelial barrier.
Regulation of hepatocyte growth factor secretion by fibroblasts in patients with acute lung injury
Authors: Quesnel Christophe , Marchand-Adam Sylvain , Fabre Aurélie , Marchal-Somme Joëlle , Philip Ivan , Lasocki Sigismond , Leçon Véronique , Crestani Bruno , Dehoux Monique
Published: December 2007

The mechanisms of pulmonary repair in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and acute lung injury (ALI) are poorly known. Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and keratinocyte growth factor (KGF) are key factors involved in alveolar epithelial repair, present in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) from patients with ALI/ARDS. The role of BALF mediators in their production remains to be determined. We evaluated the overall effect of BALF from 52 patients (27 ventilated patients with ALI/ARDS, 10 ventilated patients without ALI, and 15 nonventilated control patients) on HGF and KGF synthesis by lung fibroblasts. Fibroblasts were cultured in the presence of BALF. HGF and KGF protein secretion was measured using ELISA, and mRNA expression was evaluated using quantitative real-time RT-PCR. Only BALF from ALI/ARDS patients upregulated both HGF and KGF mRNA expression and protein synthesis (+271 and +146% for HGF and KGF, respectively). BALF-induced HGF synthesis from ALI/ARDS patients was higher than that from ventilated patients without ALI ( P < 0.05). HGF secretion was correlated with BALF IL-1β levels (rho = 0.62, P < 0.001) and BALF IL-1β/IL-1 receptor antagonist ratio (rho = 0.54, P < 0.007) in the ALI/ARDS group. An anti-IL-1β antibody partially (>50%) inhibited the BALF-induced HGF and PGE2 secretion, whereas NS-398, a specific cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor, completely inhibited it. Anti-IL-1β antibodies as well as NS-398 reversed the COX-2 upregulation induced by BALF. Therefore, IL-1β is a main BALF mediator involved in HGF secretion, which is mediated through a PGE2/COX-2-dependent mechanism. BALF mediators may participate in vivo in the production of HGF and KGF by lung fibroblasts during ALI/ARDS.
Selective targeting of death receptor 5 circumvents resistance of MG-63 osteosarcoma cells to TRAIL-induced apoptosis
Authors: Locklin Rachel M. , Federici Ermanno , Espina Belen , Hulley Philippa A. , Russell R. Graham G. , Edwards Claire M.
Published: December 2007

Tumor necrosis factor–related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL), a tumor necrosis factor superfamily member, targets death receptors and selectively kills malignant cells while leaving normal cells unaffected. However, unlike most cancers, many osteosarcomas are resistant to TRAIL. To investigate this resistance, we characterized the response of MG-63 osteosarcoma cells and hPOB-tert osteoblast-like cells to TRAIL and agonist antibodies to death receptor 4 (DR4) and death receptor 5 (DR5). We found that MG-63 osteosarcoma cells and hPOB-tert osteoblast-like cells show no or very little response to TRAIL or a DR4 agonist, but MG-63 cells undergo apoptosis in response to a DR5 agonist. Analysis of TRAIL receptor expression showed that normal osteoblastic and osteosarcoma cells express a variety of TRAIL receptors but this does not correlate to TRAIL responsiveness. Production of the soluble decoy receptor osteoprotegerin also could not explain TRAIL resistance. We show that TRAIL activates the canonical caspase-dependent pathway, whereas treatment with cycloheximide increases the sensitivity of MG-63 cells to TRAIL and anti-DR5 and can also sensitize hPOB-tert cells to both agents. Proapoptotic and antiapoptotic protein expression does not significantly differ between MG-63 and hPOB-tert cells or change following treatment with TRAIL or anti-DR5. However, sequencing the death domain of DR4 in several osteoblast-like cells showed that MG-63 osteosarcoma cells are heterozygous for a dominant-negative mutation, which can confer TRAIL resistance. These results suggest that although the dominant-negative form of the receptor may block TRAIL-induced death, an agonist antibody to the active death receptor can override cellular defenses and thus provide a tailored approach to treat resistant osteosarcomas. [Mol Cancer Ther 2007;6(12):3219–28]
The synthetic oleanane triterpenoid, CDDO-methyl ester, is a potent antiangiogenic agent
Authors: Vannini Nicola , Lorusso Girieca , Cammarota Rosaria , Barberis Massimo , Noonan Douglas M. , Sporn Michael B. , Albini Adriana
Published: December 2007

We show that the synthetic oleanane triterpenoid, CDDO-methyl ester (CDDO-Me; methyl 2-cyano-3,12-dioxoolean-1,9-dien-28-oate) is an effective agent for suppressing angiogenesis, both in cell culture and in vivo. The potency of CDDO-Me is particularly striking when dosed in vivo to inhibit the angiogenic effects of vascular endothelial growth factor and tumor necrosis factor-α in Matrigel sponge assays; activity is seen at i.p. doses of CDDO-Me as low as 0.003 mg/kg of body weight. If the Matrigel sponges are impregnated with CDDO-Me just before implantation in the mice, picomolar doses of CDDO-Me will suppress angiogenesis. CDDO-Me also inhibits growth of endothelial cells in monolayer cultures and suppresses neovascular morphogenesis in three-dimensional cultures, but significantly higher doses (50-200 nmol/L) are required. We also show antiangiogenic effects of CDDO-Me on xenografts of Kaposi's sarcoma cells in immunocompromised mice, using CD31 as a marker. Several known individual molecular targets of CDDO-Me and related triterpenoids that are relevant to all of these findings include nuclear factor-κB signaling, signal transducers and activators of transcription signaling, and transforming growth factor-β signaling, as well as Keap1, the endogenous inhibitor of the transcription factor Nrf2. However, the particularly potent antiangiogenic activity seen in vivo in the present experiments suggest that CDDO-Me, as an angioprevention agent, may be interacting with an entire network of molecular and cellular targets, rather than at a single molecular locus or in a single-cell type. [Mol Cancer Ther 2007;6(12):3139–46]
The naphthoquinones, vitamin K3 and its structural analogue plumbagin, are substrates of the multidrug resistance–linked ATP binding cassette drug transporter ABCG2
Authors: Shukla Suneet , Wu Chung-Pu , Nandigama Krishnamachary , Ambudkar Suresh V.
Published: December 2007

Vitamin K3 (menadione; 2-methyl-1,4-naphthoquinone) is a structural precursor of vitamins K1 and K2, which are essential for blood clotting. The naturally occurring structural analogue of this vitamin, plumbagin (5-hydroxy-menadione), is known to modulate cellular proliferation, apoptosis, carcinogenesis, and radioresistance. We here report that both vitamin K3 and plumbagin are substrates of the multidrug resistance–linked ATP binding cassette drug transporter, ABCG2. Vitamin K3 and plumbagin specifically inhibited the ABCG2-mediated efflux of mitoxantrone but did not have any effect on the ABCB1-mediated efflux of rhodamine 123. This inhibition of ABCG2 function was due to their interaction at the substrate-binding site(s). Vitamin K3 and plumbagin inhibited the binding of [125I]iodoarylazidoprazosin, a substrate of ABCG2, to this transporter in a concentration-dependent manner with IC50 values of 7.3 and 22.6 μmol/L, respectively, but had no effect on the binding of the photoaffinity analogue to ABCB1. Both compounds stimulated ABCG2-mediated ATP hydrolysis and also inhibited the mitoxantrone-stimulated ATPase activity of the ABCG2 transporter, but did not have any significant effect on the ATPase activity of ABCB1. In a cytotoxicity assay, ABCG2-expressing HEK cells were 2.8- and 2.3-fold resistant to plumbagin and vitamin K3, respectively, compared with the control cells, suggesting that they are substrates of this transporter. Collectively, these data show for the first time that vitamin K3 is a substrate of the ABCG2 transporter. Thus, ABCG2 may have a role in the regulation of vitamin K3 levels in the body. In addition, vitamin K3 and its structural derivative, plumbagin, could potentially be used to modulate ABCG2 function. [Mol Cancer Ther 2007;6(12):3279–86]
Internal Coordination in Complex Trade Negotiations
Authors: Altschul Carlos
Published: December 2007

Complex trade negotiations call for elaborate internal coordination and adept negotiating actors. In successful cases, these actors develop reciprocal dependent behaviors. Recent business and trade negotiation experiences testify to the development of process mechanisms in a variety of settings that demonstrate the capacity of the negotiators' role to expand. Constraints are acknowledged, essentially, the fact that the negotiator is a mandated agent and acts within a timebound context. Still, as drivers, negotiators practice their trade creatively to promote internal coordination, restructure the context, reframe and help solve micro-negotiation conflicts, and create conditions for the observance of reciprocating behaviors. The French term endroit is used to describe the venue in which collaborative negotiation is conducted.
The Institutional Choice of Bilateralism and Multilateralism in International Trade and Taxation
Authors: Rixen Thomas , Rohlfing Ingo
Published: December 2007

Trade relations are governed by a multilateral agreement, whereas the avoidance of double taxation rests on a network of about 2000 separate bilateral treaties. What accounts for the difference in the institutional form? Distinguishing between the bargaining and agreement stage of international cooperation, we first show that the institutional design of both regimes is more complex than commonly assumed. Both exhibit a mix of bilateral and multilateral bargaining that precedes multilateral agreement in trade and bilateral agreement in taxation. We demonstrate that in both regimes, governmental concerns for the distribution of benefits can best be achieved through bilateral bargaining. Multilateral bargaining serves to reduce the high transaction costs of bilateral bargains. Multilateral agreement in trade helps to overcome the problem of free-riding that results from a particular interaction of concerns on distribution and enforcement problems. Since no such problem exists in double tax avoidance, agreement is therefore bilateral in nature.
The Enduring Value of the Old Testament—An Interesting Quest
Authors: Clements Ronald
Published: December 2007

The period when the Society for Old Testament Study held its first meeting in 1917 marked a major turning point for the study of the Hebrew Bible. This rested on two factors: first, the preceding half-century had witnessed the slow, and often painful, acceptance in Christian and Jewish circles of a modern 'critical' explanation of the historical origin of its writings. Secondly, the context in which serious study of this literature was undertaken had increasingly moved out from a religious forum into that of a wider secular field of cultural and academic interests. The new methodology aimed to show that the Bible presented a worldview agreeable to modern scientific knowledge. In this setting, older, well-worn hermeneutical strategies were abandoned and replaced with new ones consonant with this aim. Prominent among these was a claim to present a historically verifiable demonstration that the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament possessed an enduring value based on its presentation of ideas of social justice, religious monotheism and universal morality. The claims to this uniqueness, however, rapidly lost credibility when fuller knowledge of the social world of antiquity became better known through archaeological and anthropological research. Such claims could be shown to depend largely on the Bible's own polemic. Nevertheless the idea of enduring value bears welcome comparison with comparable concerns to define what entitles any literary work to be regarded as a classic, and to deserve universal approval. Useful criteria can be set out but fail to command any wholly definitive acceptance. Rather, the best that can be achieved is to note those features and qualities which give to certain writings an intrinsic power to generate a continuity of interest and appeal. The history of the interpretation of the Old Testament shows that it performs well in such a context.
Israel's Baby: The Horror of Childbirth in the Biblical Prophets
Authors: Kalmanofsky Amy
Published: December 2007

Using verbal threats and graphic images of destruction, the biblical prophets employed a rhetoric of horror to terrify their audience. Modern theories about the genre of horror provide insight into the prophets' rhetoric. They elucidate the nature of biblical horror and the objects that provoke horror, as well as the ways texts work to elicit horror from their audience. This paper examines the image of the laboring woman within the context of the prophets' horror rhetoric. This image captures the physical and emotional experience of Israel awaiting Babylonian conquest and conveys the irony and futility of Israel's situation. The image also serves as a strategy of cross-gender identification, common in the horror genre, which asks a predominantly male audience to identify with a female character. This strategy reveals the essential elements of biblical horror—fear and shame—and uses these elements to motivate wayward Israel to repent. By identifying with the birthing woman, Israel will come to recognize its physical and emotional vulnerability, the futility and disgrace of its situation, and strive to reform.
The Pulsating Heart and Its Divine Sense Energies: Body and Touch in Abhinavagupta's Trika Śaivism
Authors: Skora Kerry Martin
Published: December 2007

This paper is a study of the significance of body and touch in the embodied thinking and lifeworld of the Hindu Tantric visionary Abhinavagupta (c. 975–1025 C.E.). I elucidate Abhinavagupta's embodied phenomenology of Śiva-Who-Is-Being, focusing on his multivocal metaphor of the pulsating heart and its divine sense-energies. I show that Abhinavagupta understood the central act of salvation, the recollection (vimarśa) of Being, or ultimate consciousness, as being a bodily felt process. Abhinavagupta drew on an earlier body of discourse and practice, the Kaula Trika substratum, whose pivotal ritual was that of sexual union. Thus, Abhinavagupta recovered the body and senses for consciousness in a sensuous and erotic phenomenology, so that vimarśa was understood precisely as the “body's recollection of Being,” the bodily felt awareness of the Pulsating Heart.
Soteriology of the Senses in Tibetan Buddhism
Authors: Gayley Holly
Published: December 2007

In Tibet, certain categories of Buddhist sacra are ascribed the power to liberate through sensory contact. No less than “buddhahood without meditation” is promised, offering an expedient means to salvation that seemingly obviates the need for a rigorous regime of ethical, contemplative, and intellectual training. This article investigates two such categories of sacra, substances that “liberate through tasting” and images that “liberate through seeing” as found in a mode of revelation particular to Tibet and culturally related areas, in which scriptures and sacred objects are reportedly embedded in the landscape as terma or “treasures” (gter ma). The author argues that charisma invested in these substances and images — through an amalgamation of relics and special means of consecration — provides the grounds for the soteriological benefits claimed as a result of sensory contact with them. The question is whether these benefits suggest a notion of grace in Tibetan Buddhism, and if so how it might contravene without contradicting the law of karma. Exploring this question sheds light on the role of the senses and the nature of Buddhist soteriology as it developed in Tibet.
A Late Medieval Syrian Pilgrimage Guide: Ibn Al-Awrānī's Al-Ishārāt Ilā Amākin Al-Ziyārāt (Guide To Pilgrimage Places)1
Authors: Meri Josef W.
Published: December 2007

Pilgrimage to the tombs of holy persons, known as ziyāra (lit. a visit, visiting) was a fundamental aspect of devotional life throughout the medieval Near East. Medieval Muslims composed pilgrimage guides reflecting their pilgrimage experiences and those of others. Such guides, known collectively as "kutub al-ziyārāt" (pilgrimage guides), meant to be employed at tombs and shrines, mention places efficacious for prayer, obtaining baraka (blessings), achieving cures, and fulfilling supplication for worldly and spiritual needs. This study looks at the first known Syrian pilgrimage guide which was composed during the sixteenth-century Ibn al-awrānīs-Ishārāt ilā Amākin al-Ziyārāt (Guide to Pilgrimage Places). It also explores the genesis of the ziyāra genre in Syria and offers a number of suggestions as to its late emergence there. This is followed by an annotated translation of the guide.
Gender and Struggle for Identity: the Moriscas in Sixteenth-Century Castile1
Authors: Hasenfeld Galia
Published: December 2007

The Castilian community of Arcos possessed the second largest concentration of Moriscos in the jurisdiction of the Inquisition tribunal of Cuenca, and offers an excellent case study in which to focus on women's share in the daily struggle to maintain Morisco traditional lifestyle under Christian oppression. Nearly half of the extant trials from Arcos concern women, and as such they enable a partial reconstruction of family structures, kinship relations, and women's activities as well as their social networks. The disappearance of Islamic religious and legal institutions following the forced conversion of Castilian Mudejars (Muslims living under Christian rule) may actually have created a greater opportunity for women to participate in unofficial leadership of crypto-Islamic practices. This article presents the cases of the sisters Beatriz and Maria del Sastre, who drew the attention of "old" Christian neighbors, their Morisco brethren, and eventually the Inquisition.
Timur the (Terrible/Tartar) Trope: a Case of Repositioning in Popular Literature and History'
Authors: Knobler Adam
Published: December 2007

This study details how the medieval Central Asian leader, Timur, looked upon by many in the Latin West as a potential savior, came to be vilified as British imperial interests moved from the Ottoman Porte to India and Central Asia. To the vast majority of those to whom his name means anything at all, it commemorates a militarist who perpetuated as many horrors in the span of twenty-four years as the last five Assyrian kings perpetrated in a hundred and twenty ... The crack-brained megalomania of [a] homicidal madman whose one idea is to impress the imagination of mankind with a sense of his military power by a hideous abuse of it ...2
The Dutch book trade, Christian Enlightenment and the national bibliography. The catalogues of Johannes van Abkoude (1703-60) and Reinier Arrenberg (1733-1812)
Authors: Van Lieburg Fred
Published: December 2007

In the 'genealogy' of Dutch national bibliographies there follows - after the Catalogus universalis by Broer Jansz and lists published by Johannes Janssonius van Waesberge between 1675 and 1684 - a hand-written booksellers catalogue by Pieter van der Aa in Leiden. It was copied, augmented and published in 1743 by his pupil Johannes van Abkoude. Publication was accompanied by conflicts with several rivals, like Bernardus Noordbeek in Amsterdam and Nicolaas Goetzee in Gorinchem. Van Abkoude defeated his colleagues' disputes thanks to the quality and public function of his work. It was not only intended for booksellers, but also for book lovers, especially for persons with a theological interest. Reinier Arrenberg, coming from a comparable religious lay culture, developed into a follower of the Christian but tolerant Dutch Enlightenment. Inspired by learned people and other socially involved individuals he himself promoted 'the education of the people' by composing, translating and publishing stories for young and old. His revised new edition of Van Abkoude's catalogue is characterised by the removal of all small publications, such as pamphlets, popular literature and religious or political controversial writings for the reason that they were no longer commercially important. The booksellers catalogues reflected the eighteenth-century developments of levelling up book prices and marketing copyrights. As precursors of national bibliographies the catalogues of Van Abkoude, Arrenberg and De Jong will keep their value.