bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
miR-20a Encoded by the miR-17–92 Cluster Increases the Metastatic Potential of Osteosarcoma Cells by Regulating Fas Expression
Authors: Huang Gangxiong , Nishimoto Kazumasa , Zhou Zhichao , Hughes Dennis , Kleinerman Eugenie S.
Published: December 2011

The ability of osteosarcoma cells to form lung metastases has been inversely correlated to cell surface Fas expression. Downregulation of Fas allows osteosarcoma cells to circumvent FasL-mediated apoptosis upon entrance into the FasL+ lung microenvironment. However, the mechanism of Fas regulation remains unclear. Here, we show that miRNA plays a role in the downregulation of Fas expression in osteosarcoma. Expression levels of several members of the miR-17–92 cluster including miR-20a and miR-19a were found to be higher in metastatic low-Fas–expressing LM7 cells than in the parental nonmetastatic high-Fas–expressing SAOS-2 cells. We also found an inverse correlation between Fas and miR-20a expression in all 8 cell lines derived from patient samples. Overexpression of miR-20a consistently resulted in the downregulation of Fas expression in SAOS-2 cells and thus in decreased sensitivity to FasL. Conversely, inhibiting miR-20a in LM7 cells increased Fas expression and their sensitivity to FasL. Mice injected with LM7 stably transfected with anti-miR-20a had fewer metastases than those with control plasmids. Taken together, our findings suggest that miR-20a, encoded by miR-17–92, downregulates Fas expression in osteosarcoma, thus contributing to the metastatic potential of osteosarcoma cells by altering the phenotype and allowing survival in the FasL+ lung microenvironment. Cancer Res; 72(4); 908–16. ©2011 AACR.
Immune Inhibitory Molecules LAG-3 and PD-1 Synergistically Regulate T-cell Function to Promote Tumoral Immune Escape
Authors: Woo Seng-Ryong , Turnis Meghan E. , Goldberg Monica V. , Bankoti Jaishree , Selby Mark , Nirschl Christopher J. , Bettini Matthew L. , Gravano David M. , Vogel Peter , Liu Chih Long , Tangsombatvisit Stephanie , Grosso Joseph F. , Netto George , Smeltzer Matthew P. , Chaux Alcides , Utz Paul J. , Workman Creg J. , Pardoll Drew M. , Korman Alan J. , Drake Charles G. , Vignali Dario A.A.
Published: December 2011

Inhibitory receptors on immune cells are pivotal regulators of immune escape in cancer. Among these inhibitory receptors, CTLA-4 (targeted clinically by ipilimumab) serves as a dominant off-switch while other receptors such as PD-1 and LAG-3 seem to serve more subtle rheostat functions. However, the extent of synergy and cooperative interactions between inhibitory pathways in cancer remain largely unexplored. Here, we reveal extensive coexpression of PD-1 and LAG-3 on tumor-infiltrating CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in three distinct transplantable tumors. Dual anti–LAG-3/anti–PD-1 antibody treatment cured most mice of established tumors that were largely resistant to single antibody treatment. Despite minimal immunopathologic sequelae in PD-1 and LAG-3 single knockout mice, dual knockout mice abrogated self-tolerance with resultant autoimmune infiltrates in multiple organs, leading to eventual lethality. However, Lag3−/−Pdcd1−/− mice showed markedly increased survival from and clearance of multiple transplantable tumors. Together, these results define a strong synergy between the PD-1 and LAG-3 inhibitory pathways in tolerance to both self and tumor antigens. In addition, they argue strongly that dual blockade of these molecules represents a promising combinatorial strategy for cancer. Cancer Res; 72(4); 917–27. ©2011 AACR.
Signaling Pathways in Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Authors: Sia Daniela , Villanueva Augusto
Published: December 2011

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the sixth most common cancer, and its mortality rate is the third highest after lung and colon cancer. Its incidence has significantly increased in the last two decades in close relation with the ubiquitous spread of viral hepatitis. HCC has a poor prognosis since less than 30% of newly diagnosed patients will be eligible for potential curative treatment. Molecular therapies such as sorafenib, a BRAF/ VEGFR/PDGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor, have shown to improve survival in patients with advanced HCC. This recent success has spurred intensive research aimed at identifying aberrant activation of signaling pathways. This approach will probably aid to define previously unrecognized oncogenic addiction loops in HCC and in developing more effective targeted therapies.
Signaling Pathways Governing Tumor Angiogenesis
Authors: Sakurai Toshiharu , Kudo Masatoshi
Published: December 2011

Angiogenesis is regulated by the highly coordinated function of various proteins with pro- and antiangiogenic functions. Proangiogenic factors include vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), fibroblast growth factor, platelet-derived growth factor, insulin-like growth factor, transforming growth factor, angiopoietins, and several chemokines; antiangiogenic factors include thrombospondin-1, angiostatin, and endostatin. Matrix metalloproteinases display a dual role in vascular development. Notch signaling affects remodeling of the primary vascular network of uniformly sized vessels into functionally and morphologically distinct arteries, veins, and capillaries. Tumors, described as ‘wounds that never heal’, lose the appropriate balance among these factors. Although VEGF-targeted therapies are showing promise, new angiogenesis targets are needed to make additional gains. Here, we highlight recent advances in our understanding of the regulation of tumor angiogenesis and discuss the potential of molecular targeting as a new therapeutic approach.
Role of Radiofrequency Ablation in the Treatment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Experience of a Cancer Center in China
Authors: Chen Min-Shan , Peng Zhen-Wei , Xu Li , Zhang Yao-Jun , Liang Hui-Hong , Li Jin-Qing
Published: December 2011

Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) has become an important treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The good candidates for RFA are patients with HCC at an early stage (solitary tumor ≤5 cm in diameter or ≤3 nodules ≤3 cm in diameter). Several clinical trials have shown that RFA is effective in resection for the treatment of small HCC. Until now, RFA has been widely used as a radical treatment for small HCC. RFA also plays an important role in the multidisciplinary treatment of HCC and is usually combined with other therapies such as resection, vascular intervention, intratumor ethanol injection, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, targeted drug therapy, and biological immune therapy. In this study, we will introduce our experience of RFA in the treatment of HCC in a cancer center in China.
Prognostic Indicators for Tumor Recurrence after Liver Transplantation in Hepatocellular Carcinoma and Related Molecular Targeted Therapy
Authors: Yu Lei , Dai Zhi , Wang Zheng , Fan Jia , Zhou Jian
Published: December 2011

Liver transplantation (LT) is a viable therapeutic option for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Many criteria, such as the Milan criteria and the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) criteria, have been established to select a subset of HCC patients who stand to benefit from LT. However, they are still insufficient for predicting HCC patients at high risk for recurrence and selecting those at low risk. Many molecules which are probable candidates for recognizing HCC patients at high or low risk for recurrence give a wider perspective to consider for LT indication. Besides working as biomarkers, most of them are also functionally involved in some important pathways which contribute to HCC metastasis. The complex network constituted by them shows a multichannel, multistep HCC metastatic process which indicates difficulty in tumor therapy. Given the efficacy of some molecular targeted drugs in the treatment of HCC or prevention of tumor recurrence after LT, the emerging molecular targeted therapy is also discussed in this review.
Lung Cancer following Bronchoscopic Lung Volume Reduction for Severe Emphysema: A Case and Its Management
Authors: Tummino Celine , Maldonado Fabien , Laroumagne Sophie , Astoul Philippe , Dutau Hervé
Published: December 2011

Bronchoscopic lung volume reduction using endobronchial valves has been suggested as a potentially safer alternative to surgery in selected cases. Complications of this technique include pneumothoraces, pneumonia, COPD exacerbations, hemoptysis, and valve migrations. We report the case of a male patient who developed a parenchymal mass in the treated lobe after valve insertion. Due to severe emphysema, transthoracic needle aspiration was not feasible. Removal of the valves was mandatory to perform transbronchialbiopsies which revealed a non-small cell primary lung cancer. This first description illustrates the potential risk of lung cancer development following bronchoscopic lung volume reduction and highlights the different approach to diagnosis and management of indeterminate peripheral lung lesions needed in this context.
Depression, Anxiety and Quality of Life of Family Caregivers of Patients with Type 2 Diabetes
Authors: Anaforoğlu İnan , Ramazanoğulları İbrahim , Algün Ekrem , Kutanis Remzi
Published: December 2011

Objective: It was our aim to investigate the quality of life (QOL) among family caregivers of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Subjects and Methods: The Short Form-36 QOL scale, Beck Depression Inventory and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Form were used to evaluate the presence and degree of depression and anxiety and their association with sociodemographic features of 50 family caregivers of diabetic patients compared to 54 controls. Results: The groups were similar in terms of age, sex, health insurance, educational status and marital and financial status. Beck Depression Inventory scores were significantly higher in family caregivers (p = 0.001) than in controls. Depression as a categorical variable was significantly more frequent among family caregivers of diabetic patients than among controls (p < 0.001). The social function component of the QOL of controls was better than that of family caregivers (p < 0.005). There was no difference between groups in terms of anxiety. Conclusion: Family caregivers of diabetic patients appeared to be more prone to depression and tended to have a poorer QOL.
Inter-patient variability and impact of proton pump inhibitors on platelet reactivity after prasugrel
Authors: Kuliczkowski Wiktor , Atar Dan , Serebruany Victor , Aradi Dániel
Published: December 2011

Although there is considerable variability of platelet reactivity among patients treated with clopidogrel, little is known about inter-individual differences and possible role of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) after prasugrel. We defined the extent of inter-patient variability, and evaluated the impact of PPI interaction in prasugrel-treated patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Between January 2010 and May 2011, 104 prospective, high-risk patients with ACS were recruited into this multicentre, prospective, observational study. Twelve to 24 hours after receiving 60 mg loading dose of prasugrel, light transmission aggregometry (LTA) and whole blood impedance aggregometry (Multiplate) were used to assess platelet activity. Platelet function measurements were repeated during maintenance phase on reduced (5 mg) or on conventional (10 mg) doses of prasugrel. High platelet reactivity (HPR) was defined according to the consensus document of the Working Group on High On-Treatment Platelet Reactivity (LTA:>46%; Multiplate:>47U). Compared to maintenance doses, 60 mg loading dose of prasugrel provided significantly greater platelet reactivity inhibition (p<0.05). There were no significant differences between the conventional and reduced maintenance doses. Notably, a remarkable inter-patient variability was present in platelet reactivity after all doses of prasugrel, and the prevalence of HPR was significantly higher during the maintenance doses (p<0.05). Although median platelet reactivity values were consistently higher when prasugrel was used in combination with PPIs, these differences were not significant (p≥0.17). Despite potent platelet inhibition, inter-patient variability is present after all tested doses of prasugrel. The 60 mg loading dose is superior to conventional and reduced maintenance doses in terms of platelet reactivity inhibition and regarding the prevention of HPR.
Dependence of Snow Gauge Collection Efficiency on Snowflake Characteristics
Authors: Thériault Julie M. , Rasmussen Roy , Ikeda Kyoko , Landolt Scott
Published: December 2011

Accurate snowfall measurements are critical for a wide variety of research fields, including snowpack monitoring, climate variability, and hydrological applications. It has been recognized that systematic errors in snowfall measurements are often observed as a result of the gauge geometry and the weather conditions. The goal of this study is to understand better the scatter in the snowfall precipitation rate measured by a gauge. To address this issue, field observations and numerical simulations were carried out. First, a theoretical study using finite-element modeling was used to simulate the flow around the gauge. The snowflake trajectories were investigated using a Lagrangian model, and the derived flow field was used to compute a theoretical collection efficiency for different types of snowflakes. Second, field observations were undertaken to determine how different types, shapes, and sizes of snowflakes are collected inside a Geonor, Inc., precipitation gauge. The results show that the collection efficiency is influenced by the type of snowflakes as well as by their size distribution. Different types of snowflakes, which fall at different terminal velocities, interact differently with the airflow around the gauge. Fast-falling snowflakes are more efficiently collected by the gauge than slow-falling ones. The correction factor used to correct the data for the wind speed is improved by adding a parameter for each type of snowflake. The results show that accurate measure of snow depends on the wind speed as well as the type of snowflake observed during a snowstorm.
Quantification of Uncertainty in High-Resolution Temperature Scenarios for North America
Authors: Li Guilong , Zhang Xuebin , Zwiers Francis , Wen Qiuzi H.
Published: December 2011

A framework for the construction of probabilistic projections of high-resolution monthly temperature over North America using available outputs of opportunity from ensembles of multiple general circulation models (GCMs) and multiple regional climate models (RCMs) is proposed. In this approach, a statistical relationship is first established between RCM output and that from the respective driving GCM and then this relationship is applied to downscale outputs from a larger number of GCM simulations. Those statistically downscaled projections were used to estimate empirical quantiles at high resolution. Uncertainty in the projected temperature was partitioned into four sources including differences in GCMs, internal variability simulated by GCMs, differences in RCMs, and statistical downscaling including internal variability at finer spatial scale. Large spatial variability in projected future temperature changes is found, with increasingly larger changes toward the north in winter temperature and larger changes in the central United States in summer temperature. Under a given emission scenario, downscaling from large scale to small scale is the most important source of uncertainty, though structural errors in GCMs become equally important by the end of the twenty-first century. Different emission scenarios yield different projections of temperature change. This difference increases with time. The difference between the IPCC’s Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) A2 and B1 in the median values of projected changes in 30-yr mean temperature is small for the coming 30 yr, but can become almost as large as the total variance due to internal variability and modeling errors in both GCM and RCM later in the twenty-first century.
Influence of Wind Forcing on Modulation and Breaking of One-Dimensional Deep-Water Wave Groups
Authors: Galchenko Alina , Babanin Alexander V. , Chalikov Dmitry , Young I. R. , Haus Brian K.
Published: December 2011

Evolution of nonlinear wave groups to breaking under wind forcing was studied by means of a fully nonlinear numerical model and in a laboratory experiment. Dependence of distance to breaking and modulation depth (height ratio of the highest and the lowest waves in a group) on wind forcing was described. It was shown that in the presence of a certain wind forcing both distance to breaking and modulation depth decrease; the latter signifies slowing down of the instability growth. It was also shown that wind forcing significantly reduces the energy loss in a single breaking event.
Overcoming Relational Inertia
Authors: Briscoe Forrest , Tsai Wenpin
Published: December 2011

This paper examines how organizational members overcome relational inertia and contribute to integration and value creation following an acquisition, through an analysis of a large law firm’s acquisition of two smaller firms. When merging law firm partners share clients with one another, both within and across the boundaries of the formerly separate firms, they create new relationships that connect the organizational units together. We examine both the antecedents and consequences of post-acquisition integration through client sharing. Drawing on network theory, we consider how the configuration of prior referral relationships influences new sharing of clients undertaken by individual partners. We also use the prior referral-network structure to predict which partners will cut their former intraunit client-sharing ties. To ascertain how client sharing creates value for the combined organization, we analyze the effects of client sharing on revenue generation and human capital development. Our findings uncover a paradox in integration behavior: the same referral-network structures that contribute to integration by increasing interunit sharing also tend to detract from integration because they are associated with cutting existing intraunit ties. We also find that interunit client sharing is positively associated with revenue generation but negatively associated with human capital development. Overall, this research advances a relational perspective on post-acquisition integration and sheds new light on how networks are formed and become reconfigured inside organizations.
Depression and the medicalization of sadness: Conceptualization and recommended help-seeking
Authors: Durà-Vilà Glòria , Littlewood Roland , Leavey Gerard
Published: December 2011

Background:

Critiques of the validity of the DSM diagnostic criteria for depressive disorder argue that it fails to differentiate between abnormal sadness due to internal dysfunction or depression (sadness without an identifiable cause), and normal sadness (sadness with a clear cause).

Aims and Methods:

A population survey was undertaken in adult education centres in Spain aiming to explore beliefs about depression and normal sadness. Two hypothetical case vignettes portrayed individuals experiencing deep sadness, both fulfilling criteria for major depressive disorder (DSM-IV), one with a clear cause, the other without an identifiable cause. Three hundred and forty-four (344) questionnaires were obtained (95% response rate).

Results:

Participants statistically significantly differentiated between the sadness- with-cause vignette, seen more frequently as a normal response, while the one without a cause was seen as pathological. Help-seeking behaviour recommendations followed this distinction: a medical option was statistically significantly more common when there was no cause for sadness. Socio-cultural variation in how people understand and deal with sadness was also found.

Conclusions:

This study emphasizes the importance of taking into account the context in which depressive symptoms occur as it seems that the absence of an appropriate context is what makes people conceptualize them as abnormal. It also raises questions about the lack of face validity of the current diagnostic classification for depressive disorder that exclusively uses descriptive criteria.
Experimental determination of fabric shear by yarn pull-out method
Authors: Bilisik Kadir
Published: December 2011

The aim of this study was to determine fabric shear by the yarn pull-out method. For this purpose three fabric types were tested. The fabric width/length ratio and the number of pull-out ends were identified as important test parameters. After the yarn in the fabric was pulled from the top ravel region before the start of the crimp extension stage, it was found that fabric shear strength increased as the number of pulled ends increased. On the other hand, when the fabric width/length ratio decreased the fabric shear strength increased. Fabric shear rigidity was also identified for each fabric type and it was found that the number of pulled ends and the fabric width/length ratio influenced fabric shear rigidity. Finally, shear jamming angles were found to be a function of the number of pulled ends. Local fabric shear properties could be identified by pulling the yarn ends in various regions of the fabric. This could be important for the handling of a fabric during its formation. The pull-out method is considered to be a simple way of defining overall and local fabric shear properties for various end-uses.
Negotiating tension toward a hipper groove: Jazz improvisation as a metaphor within Christian ethics
Authors: Kane Ross
Published: December 2011

Jazz improvisation provides the Church with two fruitful metaphors as it faces tension and conflict. First, the Church in conflict might view itself as an improvising jazz band – a community of trust and mutuality that sees the negotiation of tension and resolution as a potentially positive process deepening identity and fellowship. Second, the jazz musician struggling with the contingency of her instrument provides a model for facing our creatureliness as a source of human tension.
The Effects of Racial Segregation on Trust and Volunteering in US Cities
Authors: Rothwell Jonathan T.
Published: December 2011

A large body of recent research claims that racial diversity hinders the general trust of others, but these studies rarely consider how racial segregation mediates diversity. This article re-examines the issue by considering how the residential isolation of minorities alters general trust and one manifestation of trust: volunteering in cities. Using data from the US, the results from a regression analysis suggest that metropolitan-level racial segregation decreases trust and volunteering. Diversity has no significant effect. The results are robust to a variety of specifications and assumptions. The use of historical metropolitan and state characteristics improves the fit between segregation and distrust, and political affiliation is explored as a potential link between group distrust and general distrust. High levels of trust have been identified as a source of good governance and economic performance; integration is likely to enhance these attributes regardless of the level of diversity.
‘Er gab mir, was äußerst ungewöhnlich war, zum Abschied die Hand’: Touch and tact in W. G. Sebald’s Die Ausgewanderten and Austerlitz
Authors: Bird Stephanie
Published: December 2011

This essay explores the theme and representation of touch in Austerlitz ( A) and Die Ausgewanderten/ The Emigrants ( DA/TE) and argues that the absence of touch and an excess of touch are both shown to be threatening, if not deadly. So touch must be mediated, and the complex interplay of distance and proximity characteristic of touch is encapsulated in the notion of tact. Sebald’s texts explore tact in three ways: in allusions to particular objects, particularly gloves and dust; in the visual evocation of touch in photographs; and in the mode of narration itself. Nevertheless, the careful negotiation between the ‘too much’ and the ‘too little’ of touch tips easily into an aesthetics of reticence that both facilitates and disguises the privileging of a melancholic sensibility over the untouchable body of the woman. The obscene, untouchable body is exemplified by Gwendolyn Elias, and the seductive, untouchable body by the erotic mother and female lover.
W. G. ‘Max’ Sebald as I knew him: A memoir
Authors: Smith Christopher
Published: December 2011

For many years, Max, as we called W. G. Sebald, was a colleague of mine at the University of East Anglia (UEA), if not a close friend. In this article I comment on his appointment and various teaching responsibilities, his attitudes to university funding crises and his administrative style. I also add information about his attitudes to translation. While drawing attention to his personal kindness towards me, I suggest that he was never entirely at home in England or the University of East Anglia, but was glad not to work in Germany. As editor of Essays in Memory of Michael Parkinson and Janine Dakyns (Smith, 1996), I provide information about Sebald’s contribution to the volume. Richard Sheppard has added supplementary annotation from his personal knowledge of Sebald.
A Limit to Reflexivity
Authors: Walters Peter , Whitehouse Gillian
Published: December 2011

Unpaid household labor is still predominantly performed by women, despite dramatic increases in female labor force participation over the past 50 years. For this article, interviews with 76 highly skilled women who had returned to the workforce following the birth of children were analyzed to capture reflexive understandings of the balance of paid and unpaid work in households. Alongside a need to work for selfhood was a reflexive awareness of inequity in sharing household labor and dissatisfaction with the ways in which male partners contributed around the home. However, in parallel with this discourse of inequity was one of control, manifest in perceptions of male partners’ inability to competently complete household tasks. Although the discursive aspects of women’s understandings of inequality in the home can be understood as manifestations of reflexive modernization, participants’ general incapacity to effect everyday changes is better explained by the more fully socialized feminist reading of Bourdieu’s conception of embodied practice.
‘Friendship in all directions’: Norwegian children with physical disabilities experiencing friendship
Authors: Asbjørnslett Mona , Engelsrud Gunn H , Helseth Sølvi
Published: December 2011

This article examines how Norwegian children with physical disabilities experience friendship during the transition between primary and secondary school. The research was based on 38 life mode interviews with 15 children. Two themes were explored: (1) different kinds of friends: friends with disabilities, friends without disabilities and technology-mediated friendships; and (2) qualities of friendship: understanding, intimacy and trust, mutuality and friendships with children both with and without disabilities. The conclusion is that children with physical disabilities adapt to different, but mutual friendships.
Dictatorship in a single export crop economy
Authors: Capéau Bart , Verwimp Philip
Published: December 2011

We provide an analysis of a power-maximising model for dictatorial behaviour. In the model, the dictator’s revenues depend on the exports of a single crop. Using export earnings the dictator buys loyalty from the producers of the export crop by setting the domestic producer price. Revenues resulting from the difference between the international and the domestic price of the crop are used to finance a repressive apparatus. We present a complete comparative statics analysis of the choice between repression and loyalty to obtain power, in response to changes in the international price of the single crop in the economy. The results allow for a novel classification of power-maximising behaviour into benevolent, tyrannical and totalitarian dictatorships. We argue that the model and the associated dictatorship typology can be embedded into Wintrobe’s more general specification of a dictator’s objective function, which combines aspirations for power with rent-seeking motives. We compare our analysis with empirical observations of the Habyarimana regime in Rwanda (1973–1994).

JEL Classification Numbers: D72, H30, H56.
Factors Associated With Acute Mountain Sickness in Young Chinese Men on Entering Highland Areas
Authors: Li Xiaoxiao , Tao Fasheng , You Haiyan , Pei Tao , Gao Yuqi
Published: December 2011

Aim. The aim of this study was to explore the prediction factors for incidence of acute mountain sickness (AMS) in young males newly entering highland areas. Methods. A retrospective study of 4367 records of male highland soldiers from 2000 to 2005 was done. The factors were tested by logistic regression. Results. After selection by univariate model, ethnicity, altitude, season, deployment type, and prophylaxis were inserted into a multivariate model. The adjusted odds ratio (AOR) was 0.078 for Tibetan compared with Han. AORs for altitudes 3600 to 3700, 4000 to 4300, and 4600 to 4700 m versus 2900 to 3100 m were 4.490, 4.532, and 4.964, respectively. AOR for cold season versus warm season was 1.332. AORs for emergency land deployment and air deployment versus normal land deployment were 2.261 and 1.614, respectively. The AOR was 0.741 for prophylaxis versus none. The area under receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.731 (optimal cutoff = 0.370). Conclusions. Adjusting for altitude, risk factors that contributed to AMS were being non-Tibetan, cold season, greater speed of transport, emergency conditions, and without prophylaxis. The model established is acceptable for assisting AMS prediction.
Routine EPI Coverage
Authors: Khowaja Asif Raza , Zaman Umber , Feroze Asher , Rizvi Arjum , Zaidi Anita K.M.
Published: December 2011

High vaccine coverage at the district level may not translate with the same vigor to subdistrict levels; therefore, it is important to understand coverage inequalities. This study underscored vaccine coverage inequalities at subdistrict levels and explored reasons for immunization failure in a high-performing rural district of Pakistan. Parents of children aged 12 to 23 months were randomly selected and interviewed for child’s vaccination history through a cross-sectional survey in 2008. Using secondary data (GIS maps and population census), coverage was plotted in respect to sociodemographic and presence of lady health workers. The proportion of children fully immunized was found notably low (75%) than officially reported (85%). Coverage inequalities were observed at subdistrict levels, ranging from 58% to 85% in rural to urban areas and from 60% to 80% in lower to higher income quintiles. Distance to immunization facility, parental unawareness, and wrong ideas about vaccination were statistically significant for immunization failure. Focus of immunization microplans at the subdistrict level are needed to achieve universal immunization goals.
Caries Increment Among Army Personnel
Authors: Wahid Amrizan Abdul , Yusof Zamros Yuzadi Mohd , Jaafar Nasruddin
Published: December 2011

To assess the progression of dental caries among Malaysian infantry soldiers after 5 years in military service. A retrospective cohort study with a self-administered questionnaire and a clinical oral examination. Data were available for 173 (67.3%) soldiers. Mean decayed, missing, or filled teeth had increased significantly by 20.6% ( P = .001) over 5 years. The highest increase was in the missing teeth component (+120%), followed by filled teeth (+23%). This was accompanied by a decrease in decayed teeth (−23.5%; P < .05). In terms of surfaces, mean decayed, missing, or filled surfaces, missing surfaces, and filled surfaces had increased significantly ( P < .05). Caries experience was significantly associated with smoking status and rank ( P < .05). Dental caries experience was worse after 5 years in military service compared with during recruitment, and there were more tooth extractions than restorations. Health promotion interventions are needed to prevent further tooth loss among soldiers.
Relationships Between the Responsiveness of Fathers and Mothers and the Object Play Skills of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders
Authors: Flippin Michelle , Watson Linda R.
Published: December 2011

In this observational study, the concurrent relationships between the verbal and play responsiveness of 16 mothers and fathers and the object play skills of 16 children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) were investigated. First, the frequencies of children’s play at four levels (i.e., exploratory, relational, functional, and symbolic) across unsupported, mother–child, and father–child play conditions were compared. Next, relationships between mothers’ and fathers’ verbal responsiveness and the object play skills of their children with ASD were examined. Finally, relationships between parents’ play responsiveness and child object play skills were also examined. The results revealed several key findings. Children in the study tended to engage in more relational play with mothers than in unsupported play or play with fathers. For both fathers and mothers, use of responsive verbal behaviors was strongly correlated with higher level object play; however, use of responsive play behaviors was correlated with higher level object play only for fathers. The findings provide a foundation for longitudinal investigations to examine the associations between parental responsive strategies and child play and other developmental outcomes across time as well as for intervention studies to evaluate the efficacy of targeting parent responsiveness to children’s play as an intervention strategy for young children with ASD.
JEI Guidelines for Manuscripts Describing the Development and Testing of an Assessment Instrument or Measure
Authors: Greenwood Charles R. , McConnell Scott R.
Published: December 2011

The purpose of this article is to describe guidelines for reporting and reviewing findings from studies and to provide guidance to authors seeking to report results of research on measurement and the development or evaluation of assessment procedures or instruments in early intervention (EI) and early childhood special education (ECSE). Following on a recent series of similar articles in the Journal of Early Intervention and Exceptional Children, this article will (a) provide rationale for the specific focus of assessment and measurement research in EI/ECSE, (b) describe existing standards for this research and practice, and (c) provide guidelines for preparation, review, and publication of research in EI/ECSE.
Assessing the Effects of In-Vehicle Tasks on Driving Performance
Authors: Horrey William J.
Published: December 2011

New technologies and devices inside the automobile can compete for drivers’ limited attention, raising concerns about driver distraction. This article provides a short overview of some of the issues surrounding in-vehicle tasks, particularly their impact on visual scanning and driving performance. Evidence from a variety of experimental approaches offers key scientific findings that form the basis for taking action to prevent and manage distraction – through the design of products, advanced technology, legislation, and education and training applications.
Estimating Crash Risk
Authors: Dingus Thomas A. , Hanowski Richard J. , Klauer Sheila G.
Published: December 2011

Naturalistic driving research involves the instrumentation of vehicles, including video cameras, for the purpose of precisely recording participants as they normally drive as well as in the seconds leading up to crashes and near-crashes. The results provide new insight into driver behavior and performance that cannot be gained through traditional empirical approaches. Naturalistic driving studies provide context of the overall driving environment, information that is absent from other methods. This article highlights how results from naturalistic driving research have reshaped our understanding of driver behavior and crash risk, including the fact that some findings are contrary to results from other empirical approaches.
Effects of gain- and loss-framed messages on the sun safety behavior of adolescents: The moderating role of risk perceptions
Authors: Hwang Yoori , Cho Hyunyi , Sands Laura , Jeong Se-Hoon
Published: December 2011

This study examined how message framing effects can be moderated by two types of risk: (a) perceived effectiveness in preventing a risk and (b) perceived susceptibility to the risk. The results indicate that the perceived effectiveness moderated framing effects on the intention to use sunscreen such that a loss-framed message was more effective when perceived effectiveness was low, whereas a gain-framed message was more effective when perceived effectiveness was high. In addition, perceived susceptibility to skin cancer moderated framing effects on the intention to use sunscreen and the intention to wear long pants such that a loss-framed message was more effective when perceived susceptibility was high.
Metalinguistic awareness mediates effects of full biliteracy on third-language reading proficiency in Turkish–German bilinguals
Authors: Rauch Dominique P. , Naumann Johannes , Jude Nina
Published: December 2011

Bilingualism has been reported to be positively associated with both metalinguistic awareness and third-language (L3) acquisition. In the present research, the assumptions were tested that literacy in both first (L1) and second (L2) language (full biliteracy) is needed for bilingualism to be positively associated with L3 reading proficiency, and that positive effects of full biliteracy on L3 reading proficiency are mediated through metalinguistic awareness. L1, L2 and L3 reading proficiency and metalinguistic awareness were measured in 299 German and Turkish-German secondary school students. Overall, fully biliterate students outperformed monolingual and partially biliterate students in both L3 (Δ R2 = .07) and metalinguistic awareness (Δ R2 = .06). An effect of full biliteracy on L3 reading proficiency persisted when SES, gender, general cognitive ability and school track were controlled for. In addition, within the group of biliterate students, positive effects of the individual degree of biliteracy on L3 reading proficiency could be shown to be an indirect effect that was mediated through metalinguistic awareness.
Reading across the Germanic languages: Is equal access just wishful thinking?
Authors: Marx Nicole
Published: December 2011

To meet increasing needs for multilingual speakers, varied concepts such as Intercomprehension Pedagogy have evolved. Here, speakers of one language concurrently develop reading skills in multiple etymologically related languages. A prerequisite of such projects is information about mutual comprehensibility, including which languages might be easier to comprehend in which situations and for which learners. The present study investigated 73 German university students who read a short text in an unknown Germanic language (Danish, Dutch, Icelandic, Norwegian or Swedish) and then answered specific questions on content and structure. Results showed significantly higher success rates on all measures for Dutch, with isolated significant differences between the other languages and higher success in decoding lexical, in comparison to structural, information. No individual learner variables were found to be correlated with success. These data have implications for planning courses in Germanic intercomprehension, especially regarding time allotted the various languages.
Architectures of incarceration: The spatial pains of imprisonment
Authors: Hancock Philip , Jewkes Yvonne
Published: December 2011

This article considers the contribution that physical environment makes to the pains of imprisonment. Synthesizing concepts and theories from critical organization studies with those that have informed criminological studies of prison design and the lived experience of imprisonment, the article discusses the ways in which the architecture and aesthetics of penal environments might be better understood with reference to the restricted economies of space found in industrial and bureaucratic organizations. It is argued that a grasp of the limits historically placed on the subjective growth of individual workers (workspaces frequently being characterized as ‘iron cages’ or ‘psychic prisons’) can enhance our understanding of the physical and psychological confinement of those in custody. Moreover, critical organization studies can inform emerging debates about what future prisons should look like and alert us to the potential fallacy in assuming that ‘modern’ equates to ‘better’. While clean, humane and safe environments are unquestionably desirable for both prisoners and prison staff, and considerations such as natural daylight, access to outside space and aesthetic stimuli are increasingly being incorporated into penal environments around the world, this article will critically interrogate the value of such initiatives arguing that they may, in fact, represent a new and potentially more insidious form of control that bring their own distinctive ‘pains’.
Depth, weight, tightness: Revisiting the pains of imprisonment
Authors: Crewe Ben
Published: December 2011

The ‘pains of imprisonment’ have been a longstanding concern within prison sociology. This article revisits the topic, suggesting that modern penal practices have created some new burdens and frustrations that differ from other pains in their causes, nature and effects. It notes that the pains of imprisonment can be divided up conceptually, and to some degree historically, into those deriving from the inherent features of incarceration, those resulting from deliberate abuses and derelictions of duty, and those that are consequences of systemic policies and institutional practices. Having described the latter in detail – focusing on the pains of indeterminacy, the pains of psychological assessment and the pains of self-government, the article explains the relevance of the concept of ‘tightness’, as well as ‘depth’ and ‘weight’, to the contemporary prison experience.
Physiologic Changes Associated With Violence and Abuse Exposure
Authors: Keeshin Brooks R. , Cronholm Peter F. , Strawn Jeffrey R.
Published: December 2011

Although the extant evidence is replete with data supporting linkages between exposure to violence or abuse and the subsequent development of medical illnesses, the underlying mechanisms of these relationships are poorly defined and understood. Physiologic changes occurring in violence- or abuse-exposed individuals point to potentially common biological pathways connecting traumatic exposures with medical outcomes. Herein, the evidence describing the long-term physiologic changes in abuse- and violence-exposed populations and associated medical illnesses are reviewed. Current data support that (a) specific neurobiochemical changes are associated with exposure to violence and abuse; (b) several biological pathways have the potential to lead to the development of future illness; and (c) common physiologic mechanisms may moderate the severity, phenomenology, or clinical course of medical illnesses in individuals with histories of exposure to violence or abuse. Importantly, additional work is needed to advance our emerging understanding of the biological mechanisms connecting exposure to violence and abuse and negative health outcomes.
Reassessing Hannah Arendt’s “Reflections on Little Rock” (1959)
Authors: Morey Maribel
Published: December 2011

In 1959, Hannah Arendt published an essay in Dissent criticizing the school integration movement. Ever since, the essay has been understood as an anomaly in her work and an affront to the school integration movement that followed Brown v. Board of Education (1954). Rather than being dismissed, this article suggests that Arendt’s “Reflections on Little Rock” should be read alongside her contemporaneous works and appreciated for bringing up a topic that was central to Brown. It argues that Arendt’s “Reflections,” like the Brown opinion, was largely concerned with improving black children’s childhoods and that this point brought to light a broader concern for children’s childhoods that preoccupied Arendt deeply in the late 1950s.
Activation of endothelial TLR2 by bacterial lipoprotein upregulates proteins specific for the neutrophil response
Authors: Wilhelmsen Kevin , Mesa Kailin R , Prakash Arun , Xu Fengyun , Hellman Judith
Published: December 2011

The vascular endothelium is integrally involved in the host response to infection and in organ failure during acute inflammatory disorders such as sepsis. Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacterial lipoproteins circulate in sepsis and can directly activate the endothelium by binding to endothelial cell (EC) TLR2. In this report, we perform the most comprehensive analysis to date of the immune-related genes regulated after activation of endothelial TLR2 by bacterial di- and triacylated lipopeptides. We found that TLR2 activation specifically induces the expression of the genes IL-6, IL-8, CSF2, CSF3, ICAM1 and SELE by human umbilical vein ECs and human lung microvascular ECs. These proteins participate in neutrophil recruitment, adherence and activation at sites of inflammation. Significantly, our studies demonstrate that TLR2-mediated EC responses are specifically geared towards recruitment, activation, and survival of neutrophils and not mononuclear leukocytes, that ECs do not require priming by other inflammatory stimuli to respond to bacterial lipopeptides and, unlike mononuclear leukocytes, TLR2 agonists do not induce ECs to secrete TNF-α. This study suggests that endothelial TLR2 may be an important regulator of neutrophil trafficking to sites of infection in general, and that direct activation of lung endothelial TLR2 may contribute to acute lung injury during sepsis.
Diagnosis and treatment of inflammatory myopathy: issues and management
Authors: Castro Christine , Gourley Mark
Published: December 2011

The idiopathic inflammatory myopathies include polymyositis (PM), dermatomyositis (DM) and inclusion body myositis (IBM). The specific etiologies of these muscle diseases are not well known and are thought to involve components of the humoral and cellular immune system as well as other nonimmune factors. Diagnosing these myopathies involves a laboratory evaluation, imaging studies, multidisciplinary consultations, histologic examination and potentially genetic studies. Despite all that we currently know about inflammatory muscle disease with these studies, we find that our current concept of muscle disease is changing. In the cases of immune-mediated necrotizing myopathy and inclusion body myositis, the concept of inflammation needs to be rethought. Moreover, the classification schemes for these idiopathic myopathies may need updating to include current research findings that relate to pathogenesis. With ongoing discoveries, classification and appropriate treatment is becoming increasingly challenging. This paper discusses the inflammatory myopathies, the challenges to diagnosis, classification controversies and potential treatment options.