bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Preoperative albumin as a predictor of one-year mortality in patients with fractured neck of femur
Authors: Kieffer WKM , Rennie CS , Gandhe AJ
Published: December 2012

A simple measure to determine one-year mortality following hip fractures has its benefits. Where there is controversy over implant selection, such a scoring system can facilitate the decision-making process. We undertook a retrospective analysis of one-year postoperative mortality of our hip fracture patients and established their admission serum albumin levels to see if there was any correlation between this and one-year mortality. Our results showed one-year mortality was significantly higher (p=0.0049) for those patients with a serum albumin of <35g/dl. Of the patients with low albumin, we found that there was no statistical significance between one-year mortality and source of admission (p=0.0789). Prefracture serum albumin can be used as a simple predictor of one-year mortality in patients presenting with a fractured neck of femur, thereby aiding operative planning and implant selection with a view to likely survival and possible need for revision.
Cystic schwannoma of the pelvis
Authors: Jindal T , Mukherjee S , Kamal MR , Sharma RK , Ghosh N , Mandal SN , Das AK , Karmakar D
Published: December 2012

Schwannomas are benign tumours that arise from the Schwann cells of nerve fibres. They commonly occur in the head and neck, mediastinum and extremities. They are extremely rare in the pelvis. These are usually slow growing tumours and are often detected incidentally. Pre-operative diagnosis is extremely difficult as there are no definitive signs on imaging. Aspiration biopsy is often inconclusive or misleading. Surgical excision is both diagnostic and therapeutic. As these tumours are often large in size, open excision is most commonly performed. We describe a case of a large, cystic schwannoma of the pelvis causing bladder outlet obstruction and bilateral hydroureteronephrosis. Complete surgical excision was performed laparoscopically.
What's in a Word?: Classifications and Conundrums in Japanese Folk Performing Arts
Authors: Lancashire Terence
Published: December 2012

The study of Japanese folk performing arts in the latter half of the twentieth century was dominated by the figure of Honda Yasuji. Honda's immense contribution to Japanese folk performing arts studies was not only evident in his voluminous accounts but also in the classification system he devised, which attempted to organize the wide variety of performance forms. The classification still remains the predominant perspective today but has not been without its critics. This paper takes a critical look at Honda's classification and identifies problem areas that need to be understood when viewing Japanese folk performing arts.
Tonight You Will Hear the Wedding of God: Heteroglossia and Polythematicism in the Performance of a Rājasthani Kathā
Authors: Napier John
Published: December 2012

This paper investigates a performance of the Mahādevjī kā byāvalā , a kathā or story, by Kishori Nāth, a Rājasthani musician. The story is familiar: performers engage audiences through several strategies. I outline two of these: tone and heteroglossia. Performers are never evaluated primarily for musical ability, and most present the kathā using only a few melodies. Kishori Nāth's performance was atypical, using 110 distinct melodies. Analysis of this performance from several perspectives—musical variety, affect, episodic structure, and the interaction of melody and heteroglossia—demonstrates that a complex meshing of these leads to a powerful event to which musical skill contributes greatly.
Medical Climatology in France: The Persistence of Neo-Hippocratic Ideas in the First Half of the Twentieth Century
Authors: Osborne Michael A. , Fogarty Richard S.
Published: December 2012

In interwar France the Lyonnais physician Marius Piéry undertook an ambitious Neo-Hippocratic research program to study how atmospheric and terrestrial environments influenced health. Lyon had a number of institutions linked to the colonies and was a center for the training of military physicians. Colonial physicians had a long tradition of contending with the diseases of tropical environments, and their ideas and many returned colonials circulated in Lyon and its region. Piéry was a physician during World War I and published on military medical topics. He also included colonial and military health concerns in his more mature works from the 1930s. An advocate of the close study of the physical sciences, he investigated the radioactive gases of health spas and the effects of altitude on pulmonary tuberculosis, and he directed a meteorological observatory.
Anticolonial Climates: Physiology, Ecology, and Global Population, 1920s–1950s
Authors: Bashford Alison
Published: December 2012

Historiography on tropical medicine and determinist ideas about climate and racial difference rightly focuses on links with nineteenth- and twentieth-century colonial rule. Occasionally and counterintuitively, however, these ideas have been redeployed as anticolonial argument. This article looks at one such instance; the racial physiology of Indian economist, ecologist, and anticolonial nationalist Radhakamal Mukerjee (1889–1968). It argues that the explanatory context was mid-twentieth-century discussion of global population growth, which raised questions of density and belonging to land. Ecology offered a new language and scientific system within which people and place were conceptually integrated, in this instance to anticolonial ends.
Introduction: Modern Airs, Waters, and Places
Authors: Bashford Alison , Tracy Sarah W.
Published: December 2012

Twenty-four centuries have passed since the doctrine of Airs Waters Places was articulated in the Hippocratic corpus, promoting a mutually constitutive vision of humankind and climate. Yet the “airs, waters, places tradition” has proved remarkably resilient and adaptable as a framing device for relations among nations, natural and human resources, and human health. Redeployed in diverse historical contexts across time, the relationship between climate and humans has evolved from a dependent one in which human constitution and health are determined by climate to an interdependent one in which humans and climate influence one another. Recent scholarship extends the ways in which historians of colonial medicine, neo-Hippocratic medicine, public health, tropical disease, and race have characterized the climate–human nexus and its attendant politics. Through the exploration of the works of circumnavigators, physicians, physiologists, ecologists, geographers, paleoanthropologists, and economists, contributors to this special issue offer some new and sometimes challenging interpretations of medical climatology: beyond the link between tropical medicine and colonialism, beyond temperate versus tropical, beyond latitude to think of altitude.
Why Bare Demonstratives Need Not Semantically Refer
Authors: Smit J.P.
Published: December 2012

I-theories of bare demonstratives take the semantic referent of a demonstrative to be determined by an inner state of the utterer. These states are typically taken to be states that constitute having certain referential intentions. E-theories take the referent to be determined by factors external to the utterer. These are typically taken to be criteria like salience, conversational relevance and the like. The issue has recently flared up again in an exchange between Gauker (2008), who defends an E-theory, and Åkerman (2009; 2010), who defends an I-theory.
The Syntactic Priority Thesis and Ontological Disputes
Authors: Duke George
Published: December 2012

The syntactic priority thesis (henceforth SP) asserts that the truth of appropriate sentential contexts containing what are, by syntactic criteria, singular terms, is sufficient to justify the attribution of objectual reference to such terms (Wright, 1983, 24). One consequence that the neo-Fregean draws from SP is that it is through an analysis of the syntactic structure of true statements that ‘ontological questions are to be understood and settled’ (Wright, 1983, 25). Despite the significant literature on SP, little consideration has been given to this bold metaontological claim.1 My concern here is accordingly not with specific applications of SP to debates in the philosophy of mathematics, but rather with the neo-Fregean's claim that SP can constitute adecisionprocedurein relation to substantive ontological disputes. I argue that the explanatory power of SP is limited to an account of what ‘there are’ sentences are true and does not extend as far as substantive ontology.
Indexical Color Predicates: Truth Conditional Semantics vs. Truth Conditional Pragmatics
Authors: Clapp Lenny
Published: December 2012

Truth conditional semantics is the project of ‘determining a way of assigning truth conditions to sentences based on A) the extension of their constituents and B) their syntactic mode of combination’ (Rothschild and Segal, 2009). This research program has been subject to objections that take the form of underdetermination arguments, an influential instance of which is presented by Travis:

… consider the words ‘The leaf is green,’ speaking of a given leaf, and its condition at a given time, used so as to mean what they do mean in English. How many distinct things might be said in words with all that true of them? Many.… Suppose a Japanese maple leaf, turned brown, was painted green for a decoration. In sorting leaves by colour, one might truly call this one green. In describing leaves to help identify their species, it might, for all the paint, be false to call it that.
Negotiating Religious and Women's Identities: Catholic Women at the UN World Conferences, 1975-1995
Authors: Desmazières Agnès
Published: December 2012

At the 1995 Beijing Conference on Women, the delegation from the Holy See succeeded in ensuring that religious views of women were placed prominently on the UN agenda. Yet the situation was not without conflict in the Catholic ranks. The Vatican's recent involvement in this field challenged the authority and influence of long-time Catholic women's organizations, such as the World Union of Catholic Women's Organizations, who had, since the birth of the UN, often single-handedly represented the Catholic perspective on women. This article explores how the participation of this NGO in the World Conferences on Women encouraged Catholic women to take an active part in the global women's movement and to promote a more secular-influenced understanding of women's rights. It also describes how the growth of discussion on reproductive rights in the 1990s engendered a reconsideration of their "moderate" feminism under the pressure of John Paul II's "new feminism" and the emerging women's human rights movement.
Acquisition of L2 Written Narrative Competence: Tense-Switching by Russian L2 Speakers of German
Authors: Schmiedtová Barbara , Sahonenko Natalya
Published: December 2012

The present study examines how foreground and background is marked in L1 Russian and L1 German, to test the hypothesis that L1 speakers of Russian writing in German as L2 will use tense-switching to differentiate foreground and background. Results suggest that Russian-speaking writers used grammatical aspect while German-speaking writers employed inherent properties of the verbal predicate to mark foreground and background. The L2 data revealed a more mixed pattern: one third of the Russian-speaking L2 speakers of German used L1 Russian pattern, switching between different tenses to mark foreground and background; another third of the Russian-speaking L2 users of German were comparable to L1 German speakers; and a third group of the Russian-speaking L2 users of German wrote their texts in the present tense. These results indicate that switching between foreground and background, as a critical property of proficient narrative discourse, constitutes a long-lasting challenge in learning a second language.
Semantic binding of long-distance anaphor caki in Korean
Authors: Han Chung-hye , Storoshenko Dennis Ryan
Published: December 2012

In this article, we consider the binding-theoretic status of the Korean long-distance anaphor caki . While caki has been called a long-distance anaphor, in reality its antecedent can be found locally as well as at a distance. It can also have a non-c-commanding antecedent, and an antecedent from a previous sentence. Though there are many different approaches to caki , what is apparent is the generalization that caki must be coindexed with an NP/DP if there is a possible antecedent in the syntax. We take this one step further and show that caki must be bound if there is a possible binder in the semantics, using examples where caki is bound by implicit arguments coming from reportative evidentials and generics/modals. We argue that this generalization is best captured if caki is seen as a bound variable requiring a semantic binder, and demonstrate how this bound-variable analysis can provide a unified account for local, long-distance, and discourse-bound instances of caki , as well as instances of caki with a non-c-commanding antecedent and those bound by an implicit argument. The residual cases where caki has no possible semantic binder are treated as instances of exempt anaphora, free variables, the felicity of which are subject to discourse conditions.*
Computational phylogenetics and the internal structure of Pama-Nyungan
Authors: Bowern Claire , Atkinson Quentin
Published: December 2012

We present the first proposal of detailed internal subgrouping and higher-order structure of the Pama-Nyungan family of Australian languages. Previous work has identified more than twenty-five primary subgroups in the family, with little indication of how these groups might fit together. Some work has assumed that reconstruction of higher nodes in the tree was impossible, either because extensive internal borrowing has obscured more remote relations, or because the languages are not sufficiently well attested (see, for example, Bowern & Koch 2004b, Dixon 1997). With regard to the first objection, work by Alpher and Nash (1999) and Bowern and colleagues (2011) shows that loan levels are not high enough to obscure vertical transmission for all but a few languages. New data remove the second objection. Here we use Bayesian phylogenetic inference to show that the Pama-Nyungan tree has a discernible internal subgrouping. We identify four major divisions within the family and discuss the implications of this grouping for future work on the family.
Relic syntax in Middle English and Medieval Spanish: Parameter interaction in language change
Authors: Mackenzie Ian , van der Wurff Wim
Published: December 2012

This article looks at a hitherto unnoticed series of parallels between Middle English (ME) and Medieval Spanish (MS). In the first place, while both appear to have been essentially VO languages, they allow identical classes of object to move leftward over the verb. In ME, movement is normally to a position between the auxiliary and the main verb, whereas in MS the movement is normally to the left of the auxiliary, if one is present. Second, both languages allowed the fronting of nonfinite verb forms. We argue that the parallels in question are the result of analogous processes of reanalysis operating in the two languages at earlier periods in their history. Both MS and ME descend from languages that tended toward O-V(-Aux) order. According to our analysis, when the structural mechanism giving rise to the latter order was lost, certain instances of OV ordering were nevertheless able to survive in reanalyzed form. The ‘low’ pattern of reanalysis in ME versus the ‘high’ pattern observable in MS can then be attributed to the blocking effect of the subject in Spec-TP in English and its absence in the Spanish case (where the subject is either null or not in spec-TP). As regards nonfinite fronting, this too can be regarded as a relic of the older word order. For MS we posit an analogous reanalysis to that observed for relic OV ordering, whereas for ME the evidence points toward an undisturbed continuation of the earlier V-Aux pattern. This difference between MS and ME can again be attributed to the absence versus presence of a spec-TP subject.
Maxent grammars for the metrics of Shakespeare and Milton
Authors: Hayes Bruce , Wilson Colin , Shisko Anne
Published: December 2012

We propose a new approach to metrics based on maxent grammars, which employ weighted constraints and assign well-formedness values to verse lines. Our approach provides an account of metricality and complexity that has a principled mathematical basis and integrates information from all aspects of scansion. Our approach also makes it possible to detect vacuous constraints through statistical evaluation.

We begin with a system built on earlier work that defines the set of possible constraints, following principles of stress matching, bracket matching, and contextual salience. The basic concepts of this system work well in describing our data corpora, taken from Shakespeare’s Sonnets and Milton’s Paradise Lost . However, one well-known type of constraint, based on the principle of the stress maximum (Halle & Keyser 1966 et seq.), emerges as vacuous; testing indicates that the work of such constraints is already done by simpler constraints independently needed in the grammar.
Hierarchical structure in a self-created communication system: Building nominal constituents in homesign
Authors: Hunsicker Dea , Goldin-Meadow Susan
Published: December 2012

Deaf children whose hearing losses are so severe that they cannot acquire spoken language and whose hearing parents have not exposed them to sign language nevertheless use gestures, called homesigns , to communicate. Homesigners have been shown to refer to entities by pointing at that entity (a demonstrative, that). They also use iconic gestures and category points that refer, not to a particular entity, but to its class (a noun, bird ). We used longitudinal data from a homesigner called David to test the hypothesis that these different types of gestures are combined to form larger, multigesture nominal constituents ( that bird ). We verified this hypothesis by showing that David’s multigesture combinations served the same semantic and syntactic functions as demonstrative gestures or noun gestures used on their own. In other words, the larger unit substituted for the smaller units and, in this way, functioned as a nominal constituent. Children are thus able to refer to entities using multigesture units that contain both nouns and demonstratives, even when they do not have a conventional language to provide a model for this type of hierarchical constituent structure.
Making Memory, Making Landscapes: Classroom Applications of Parallel Trends in the Study of Landscape, Memory, and Learning
Authors: Dwyer Owen J. , McCourt Matthew
Published: December 2012

Nuevos enfoques hacia el paisaje cultural han fomentado una amplia gama de encuentros con la relación entre la memoria y el paisaje. Al mismo tiempo, el cambio de enfoques pedagógicos desde un paradigma de instrucción a uno centrado en el alumno ha enfatizado un aprendizaje práctico, de evaluación y dirigido a la investigación, y basado en proyectos. En este artículo reflexionamos sobre dos ejercicios que hemos desarrollado en nuestros marcadamente diferentes entornos para responder a estas tendencias en el paisaje y el aprendizaje. En un caso, estudiantes en un seminario de primer año, crearon, compartieron, analizaron y reflexionaron sobre mapas de paisajes de la infancia, atendiendo registros de memoria multisensoriales y adoptando una particular perspectiva agencial sobre el ejercicio y la elaboración de la memoria. En el segundo caso, un seminario de alto nivel exploró las tradiciones disciplinarias y técnicas en el marco de un ejercicio práctico de “geocaching” dirigido a la construcción de la memoria del diario vivir. En conjunto, estos ejercicios sugieren el potencial de las pedagogías centradas en el alumno y de una ampliada gama de enfoques para la memoria y el paisaje para animar nuestras aulas de clase.
“History by the Spoonful” in North Carolina: The Textual Politics of State Highway Historical Markers
Authors: Alderman Derek H.
Published: December 2012

Los monumentos y memoriales reviven el pasado a través de una variedad de medios visuales, pero sobre todo a través de palabras, narrativas y otras referencias textuales. Sorprendentemente, los geógrafos han prestado escasa atención a la inter-pretación de las frases textuales inscritas en los lugares de memoria y cómo estas narrativas se encuentran en el centro de la lucha para ser recordados (u olvidados) de los grupos sociales tradicionalmente excluidos de las representaciones dominantes de la historia pública. Empleando un marco pedagógico llamado “políticas textuales”, describo dos proyectos en los que mis estudiantes abordaron el programa Highway Historical Marker de Carolina del Norte. El primer proyecto involucró a un grupo de estudiantes que realizaron un análisis de contenido y de discurso de las inscripciones encontradas en los marcadores al borde de las carreteras de Carolina del Norte, identificando cambios sociales importantes, pero también, notables injusticias en la representación de la esclavitud y los afroamericanos. En el segundo proyecto, un estudiante y yo nos asociamos con una organización comunitaria de desarrollo sin fines de lucro en New Bern, Carolina del Norte para solicitar el establecimiento de un marcador de carretera que reviva la historia de un gran incendio a principios del siglo 20 y su impacto en la población afroamericana de la ciudad. La solicitud para el marcador no tuvo éxito, arrojando luz sobre los obstáculos que enfrentan los esfuerzos por reescribir, literal y políticamente, los paisajes de la memoria pública.
Editing Memory and Automobility & Race: Two Learning Activities on Contested Heritage and Place
Authors: Foote Kenneth E.
Published: December 2012

Las dos actividades de aprendizaje que se presentan aquí fueron desarrolladas para clases de nivel avanzado y seminarios de postgrado en geografía cultural e historia del paisaje. La primera actividad cuestiona a los estudiantes para considerar situaciones en las que las inscripciones en monumentos y memoriales históricos deberían ser editadas o cambiadas. Les pido a los estudiantes que se enfoquen en un ejemplo y que consideren en un artículo, póster o presentación en clase cómo recomendarían editar una inscripción errónea o incor-recta. La segunda actividad se enfoca en la raza y la automovilidad en los Estados Unidos del siglo XX, pidiendo a los alumnos preparar un pareo en Google Maps de los anuncios en el The Negro Motorist Green Book (Green 1949), una guía de viajes para los viajeros afroamericanos en la era de Jim Crow. La actividad ayuda a los estudiantes a visualizar las opciones restringidas de viaje disponibles para los afroamericanos durante la llamada edad de oro de las vacaciones de la familia estadounidense.
Parkinson’s puzzle
Authors: Guseo András
Published: December 2012

Parkinson’s disease is one of the most frequent progressive degenerative disorders with unknown origin of the nervous system. The commutation of the disease on Guam led to the discovery of a neurotoxin which was also found in other continents. This neurotoxin was identified in the common cyanobacteria (blue-green algae). Early clinical observations suggested some loose correlations with gastric and duodenal ulcer and Parkinson’s disease, while recent studies revealed a toxin, almost identical to that found in cyanobacteria in one strain of Helicobacter pylori, which proved to cause Parkinson like symptoms in animals. Therefore, it cannot be ruled out that there is a slowly progressive poisoning in Parkinson’s disease. The disease specific alpha-sinuclein inclusions can be found in nerve cells of the intestinal mucosa far before the appearance of clinical symptoms indicating that the disease may start in the intestines. These results are strengthened by the results of Borody’s fecal transplants, after which in Parkinson patients showed a symptomatic improvement. Based on these observations the Parkinson puzzle is getting complete. Although these observations are not evidence based, they may indicate a new way for basic clinical research, as well as a new way of thinking for clinicians. These new observations in psycho-neuro-immunology strengthen the fact that immunological factors may also play a critical factor facilitating local cell necrosis which may be influenced easily. Orv. Hetil., 2012, 153, 2060–2069.
Connections between apolipoprotein E genotypes and the development of cardiovascular diseases
Authors: Végh Csaba , Langmár Zoltán , Szerző Melinda , Ágota Annamária , Marosi Krisztina , Szabolcs Zoltán , Nagy Zsolt B.
Published: December 2012

Elevated plasma lipid level is one of the main risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, which are considered to be pimary causes of death. Apolipoprotein E plays a part in the lipid transport in the blood, thus polimophisms of that affect the lipid composition of the plasma. The three most common alleles of apolipoprotein E are e2, e3, e4. Out of the two non-wild type alleles, the e2 and e4, the latter was shown to play a role in the development of cardiovascular diseases and Alzheimer’s disease. Some studies mention the e2/e2 homozygote genotype as one of the causes of hyperlipoproteinemia type III. Besides lipid metabolism, apolipoprotein E also influences the manifestation of cardiovascular diseases through other biochemical pathways, therefore it is essential to explore the molecular background of these metabolic pathways. Orv. Hetil., 2012, 153, 2070–2076.
Successful treatment of life-threatening, treatment resistant Clostridium difficile infection associated pseudomembranous colitis with faecal transplantation
Authors: Nagy Gergely György , Várvölgyi Csaba , Paragh György
Published: December 2012

Due to world-wide spread of hypervirulent and antibiotic resistant Clostridium difficile strains, the incidence of these infections are dramatically increasing in Hungary with appalling mortality and recurrence rates. Authors present a case of a 59-year-old patient who developed a severe, relapsing pseudomembranous colitis after antibiotic treatment. Life-threatening symptoms of fulminant colitis were successfully treated with prolonged administration of metronidazole and vancomycin, careful supportive therapy and weeks of intensive care. However, a well-documented, severe relapse developed within a week and this time faecal bacteriotherapy was performed. This treatment resulted in a complete cure without any further antibiotic treatment. In relation to this life-saving faecal transplantation, methodology and indications are briefly discussed. In addition, microbiological issues, epidemiological data and threats associated with antibiotic treatment of Clostridium difficile infections are also covered. Finally, relevant professional societies are urged to prepare a national protocol for faecal transplantation, which could allow introduction of this valuable, cost-effective procedure into the routine clinical practice. Orv. Hetil., 2012, 153, 2077–2083.
MicroRNAs and their role in hematological malignant diseases
Authors: Gaál Zsuzsanna , Oláh Éva
Published: December 2012

MicroRNAs are a class of small non-coding RNAs regulating gene expression at posttranscriptional level. Their target genes include numerous regulators of cell cycle, cell proliferation as well as apoptosis. Therefore, they are implicated in the initiation and progression of cancer, tissue invasion and metastasis formation as well. MicroRNA profiles supply much information about both the origin and the differentiation state of tumours. MicroRNAs also have a key role during haemopoiesis. An altered expression level of those have often been observed in different types of leukemia. There are successful attempts to apply microRNAs in the diagnosis and prognosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia and acute myeloid leukemia. Measurement of the expression levels may help to predict the success of treatment with different kinds of chemotherapeutic drugs. MicroRNAs are also regarded as promising therapeutic targets, and can contribute to a more personalized therapeutic approach in haemato-oncologic patients. Orv. Hetil., 2012, 153, 2051–2059.
Everolimus Plus Octreotide Long-Acting Repeatable in Patients With Colorectal Neuroendocrine Tumors: A Subgroup Analysis of the Phase III RADIANT-2 Study
Authors: Castellano Daniel , Bajetta Emilio , Panneerselvam Ashok , Saletan Stephen , Kocha Walter , O'Dorisio Thomas , Anthony Lowell B. , Hobday Timothy ,   RADIANT-2 Study Group
Published: December 2012

Introduction.

The incidence of colorectal neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) is increasing, and patients with this disease have particularly poor prognoses. Treatment options are limited, and survival times have not improved in the past decade.

Methods.

A post hoc analysis of the efficacy and tolerability of everolimus plus octreotide long-acting repeatable (LAR) was conducted in patients with colorectal NETs enrolled in the phase III RAD001 in Advanced Neuroendocrine Tumors, Second Trial (RADIANT-2) study. The primary endpoint (progression-free survival [PFS]), secondary endpoints (including objective response rate), and safety were assessed.

Results.

Patients with colorectal NETs receiving everolimus plus octreotide LAR had a significantly longer median PFS (29.9 months; n = 19) than did those receiving placebo plus octreotide LAR (6.6 months; n = 20). Everolimus plus octreotide LAR treatment also significantly reduced the risk for disease progression (hazard ratio: 0.34; 95% confidence interval: 0.13–0.89; p = .011). Although no objective responses were observed, tumor shrinkage was more frequently noted in the everolimus plus octreotide LAR arm than in the placebo plus octreotide LAR arm (67% vs. 37%, respectively). The combination of everolimus plus octreotide LAR was generally well tolerated by patients with colorectal NETs; rash and stomatitis were the most commonly reported adverse events.

Conclusions.

Everolimus plus octreotide LAR treatment had significant benefits and improved outcomes for patients with advanced colorectal NETs compared with placebo plus octreotide LAR treatment. Results of this exploratory analysis are consistent with those reported from the RADIANT-2 primary analysis. These findings support additional investigations of everolimus plus octreotide LAR in patients with colorectal NETs.
Elderly Postmenopausal Patients With Breast Cancer Are at Increased Risk for Distant Recurrence: A Tamoxifen Exemestane Adjuvant Multinational Study Analysis
Authors: Van De Water Willemien , Seynaeve Caroline , Bastiaannet Esther , Markopoulos Christos , Jones Steve E. , Rea Daniel , Hasenburg Annette , Putter Hein , Hille Elysée T.M. , Paridaens Robert , de Craen Anton J.M. , Westendorp Rudi G.J. , Van De Velde Cornelis J.H. , Liefers Gerrit-Jan
Published: December 2012

Introduction.

For postmenopausal patients with hormone-sensitive breast cancer, outcome is worse with increasing age at diagnosis. The aim of this study was to assess the incidence of breast cancer recurrence (locoregional and distant), and contralateral breast cancer by age at diagnosis.

Methods.

Patients enrolled in the Tamoxifen Exemestane Adjuvant Multinational (TEAM) trial were included. Primary endpoints were locoregional recurrence, distant recurrence, and contralateral breast cancer. Age at diagnosis was categorized as younger than 65 years, 65–74 years, and 75 years or older.

Results.

Overall, 9,766 patients were included, of which 5,349 were younger than 65 years (reference group), 3,060 were 65–74 years, and 1,357 were 75 years or older. With increasing age, a decreased administration of radiotherapy after breast conserving surgery (94%, 92%, and 88%, respectively) and adjuvant chemotherapy (51%, 23%, and 5%, respectively) was observed. Risk of distant recurrence increased with age at diagnosis; multivariable hazard ratio for patients aged 65–74 years was 1.20 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.00–1.44), hazard ratio for patients aged 75 years or older was 1.39 (95% CI: 1.08–1.79). Risks of locoregional recurrence and contralateral breast cancer were not significantly different across age groups.

Conclusion.

Elderly patients with breast cancer were at increased risk for distant recurrence. Other studies have shown that the risk of distant recurrence is mainly affected by adjuvant systemic therapy. All TEAM patients received adjuvant endocrine treatment; however, chemotherapy was administered less often in elderly patients. These findings are suggestive for consideration of chemotherapy in relatively fit elderly breast cancer patients with hormone-sensitive disease.
Erratum to the article published in The Open Dentistry Journal, 2012, volume (6): page 153-156
Authors: Verma Pushpendra Kumar * , Srivastava Ruchi , Baranwal HC , Chaturvedi TP , Gautam Anju , Singh Amit
Published: December 2012

Pyogenic granuloma is a reactive hyperplasia of connective tissue in response to local irritants. It is a tumourlike growth of the oral cavity, frequently located surrounding the anterior teeth or skin that is considered to be neoplastic in nature. It usually arises in response to various stimuli such as low-grade local irritation, traumatic injury, hormonal factors, or certain kinds of drugs. Histologically, the surface epithelium may be intact, or may show foci of ulcerations or even exhibiting hyperkeratosis. It overlies a mass of dense connective tissue composed of significant amounts of mature collagen. Gingiva is the most common site affected followed by buccal mucosa, tongue and lips. Pyogenic granuloma in general, does not occur when excised along with the base and its causative factors. This paper presents some cases of a pyogenic granuloma managed by surgical intervention.
Oral Hygiene Behaviour Change During the Nonsurgical Periodontal Treatment Phase
Authors: Shamani Saeed , Jansson Leif
Published: December 2012

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the frequency of smoking cessation and the use of proximal tooth cleaning routines after a nonsurgical periodontal treatment phase in a Specialist clinic of Periodontology and to evaluate if these behaviour changes had any influence on the periodontal healing results. The investigation was conducted as a retrospective longitudinal study on a randomly selected population of 100 patients referred for periodontal treatment. The variables were registered from the dental records and the radiographs. Forty-six individuals declared that they were smokers at baseline and one individual of those quitted smoking during the nonsurgical treatment period. The percentage of individuals who performed proximal tooth cleaning daily was significantly increased from 56% to 72% during the treatment period. The patients practising proximal tooth cleaning daily had significantly lower Plaque index before as well as after the nonsurgical periodontal treatment phase compared to those without the routine. The subjects who did not perform tooth cleaning daily before the treatment and who did not introduce this routine had significantly deeper periodontal pockets compared to those who performed inter-dental cleaning daily before treatment or who had adopted the routine during the treatment phase. However, there were no significant differences according to number of deepened periodontal pockets after nonsurgical treatment irrespective of proximal cleaning routines. In the future, motivational interviewing may be a more effective method to achieve a behaviour change if an extended education of dental hygienists within this area will be implemented.
Expertise Regarding Dental Management of Oral Cancer Patients Receiving Radiation Therapy Among Western Australian Dentists
Authors: Frydrych AM , Slack-Smith LM , Park JH , Smith AC
Published: December 2012

Objectives:

Dental care forms an important part of the multidisciplinary management of oral cancer patients. The aim of this study was to examine actual and self-perceived knowledge and clinical expertise regarding dental management of oral cancer patients receiving radiation therapy among Western Australian general dentists.

Materials and Methods:

An invitation to participate in a web-based questionnaire was emailed to 1095 dentists registered with the Australian Dental Association (ADA), WA branch. To assess dentists’ knowledge and expertise, actual and perceived knowledge was investigated. Information regarding type of practice, practice location, year of graduation and number of oral cancer patients treated in the preceding 12 months was also obtained.

Results:

One hundred and ninety one dentists responded to the survey. General dentists who took part in the study appeared to possess some knowledge regarding dental management of oral cancer patients treated with radiation therapy. The majority of responders however identified deficiencies in their knowledge and willingness to participate in continuing education programs.

Conclusion:

In view of the rising incidence of oral cancer in Western Australia, efforts should be made to provide more clinically relevant training to dentists in this area.
Challenges and prospects of German foreign policy
Authors: Pribicevic Ognjen , Miljus Brano
Published: December 2012

For the last few years, the German foreign policy has been under constant
temptations and substantial reconsideration. The key role in resolving the
difficult economic and financial crises in the EU, the development of close
economic ties with the Russian and other rising world economic powers, the
decision to sustain in the UN Security Council in deciding to authorise the
use of force in Libya, as well as the dominant attitude towards the crises in
Greece and Kosovo clearly shows the wish of Germany to pursue a more
independent foreign policy. In spite of all these efforts and its huge
economic power, Germany has failed to become a global political power.
Moreover, in order to protect and develop its trade interests Germany must
remain within the frameworks of the EU and the NATO. For a long time, Germany
has been one of Serbia?s most important economic and political partners.
Since it is realistic to expect that Germany will be more oriented towards
developing its economic ties with the new world economic powers, the Western
Balkans and Serbia will not be in the focus of its foreign and economic
policies. Therefore, for Serbia, it will be useful to concentrate on the
cooperation with the mighty German provinces that have their interests in
developing this cooperation. In the future, the Kosovo issues will remain the
main obstacle to it.
Eastern Orthodox Church and modern religious processes in the world
Authors: Jevtic Miroljub
Published: December 2012

The majority of the Christian world today is affected by weakening adherence
to principles of religious practice. The reverse is the case in the countries
of predominantly Orthodox tradition. After the collapse of communism, all
types of human freedom were revived, including the religious one. The
consequence is the revival of the Orthodox Christianity. It is reflected in
the influence of the Orthodox Church on the society. Today, the most
respected institutions in Russia and Serbia are the Russian and Serbian
Orthodox Church, respectively. Considering the decline of the Western
Christianity, the revival of the Orthodox Church has raised hopes that the
Western Christianity can be revived, too. Important Christian denominations,
therefore, show great interest in including the Orthodox Church in the
general Christian project. It is particularly evident in the Roman Catholic
Church foreign policy. The Roman Catholic Church is attempting to restore
relations with Orthodox churches. In this sense, the most important churches
are the Russian and the Serbian Church. But, establishing relations with
these two is for Vatican both a great challenge and a project of great
significance.
The analysis of un activities in resolving the issue of Kosovo and Metohija
Authors: Dimitrijevic Dusko , Ladjevac Ivona , Vucic Mihajlo
Published: December 2012

After the Security Council had established the international administration
in Kosovo on grounds of the Resolution no. 1244 of 10 June 1999 for the
construction and reconstruction of the legal and economic systems, the
support and protection of human rights, the provision of humanitarian and
other assistance, it adopted the conclusion that the achievement of a
political settlement for the southern Serbian province would primarily depend
on the development and consolidation of peace and security. Accordingly, in
May 2001, the international administration adopted the Constitutional
Framework for Provisional Self- Government in Kosovo, which defined the
status of the Serbian southern province as a whole and indivisible
territorial entity under the interim international administration. The
Constitutional Framework is regulated as a substantial transfer of state
responsibilities by the peoples of Kosovo and Metohija to the provisional
institutions of self-government and it should ?enjoy substantial autonomy
within the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia?. This institutional development is
aimed at establishing constructive cooperation among various ethnic
communities in order to build a common democratic state. Since this solution
is not quite legally balanced, it could not go without any negative
consequences in terms of national sovereignty. The suspension of sovereignty
of the Republic of Serbia in Kosovo and Metohija has eventually contributed
to creating of the conditions for the socalled unilateral declaration of
independence of the Republic of Kosovo. The analysis of the activities
undertaken in the field of resolving the status issue after the unilateral
declaration of independence of 17 February 2008 suggests that the solution
for the Kosovo and Metohija should be primarily sought within the United
Nations system.
China: Flows and effects of foreign direct investments
Authors: Antevski Miroslav
Published: December 2012

The paper analyses international flows and effects of a form of investment
capital in case of China. Apart from the fact that they are a form of imports
of foreign savings as a source of investment capital, foreign direct
investments are rightly considered one of the potentially most significant
factors of economic growth and international transfer of technology and
knowledge. The empirical research has confirmed that such their potential,
this also including the degree of its utilization, depends on the absorption
capacity of the host country. China has recorded the greatest rates of
economic growth in the last decade and its response to challenges of the
global economic crisis has been the most successful. Also, China is the
largest investment area in the world and the inflow of foreign direct
investments is very significant, resulting from the attractiveness of the
Chinese economy itself and measures for attracting foreign investments. The
Chinese experience with the effects of foreign direct investment has been
multiple, being both positive and negative, and it is very useful for other
countries. On the other side, Chinese investments abroad have recorded fast
growth rates, although their scope is still small in comparison to those of
the most developed countries and they are present only in trade flows.
Human rights violation: Responsibility of international organizations or of their member states
Authors: Stojsic Jelena
Published: December 2012

Although international organizations as subjects of international law are
obliged to respect fundamental human rights in their acting, a very small
number of them are contracting parties to international instruments for human
rights protection, unlike their member states, which are contracting parties
to many of them. As international organizations take more and more activities
that can and often result in violation of human rights there is an obvious
problem to what forum victims of those violations can turn to for determining
responsibility of the international organization. The European Court of Human
Rights and the European Court of Justice have developed through their
practices modalities for indirect control of acts of international
organizations by controlling the acts of their member states, which result
from their duties as members of those organizations. The paper assumes that
such control is efficient and that it fills the void in the international
system of determining responsibility for violation of human rights through
acts of international organizations according to which, the states basically
keep on being responsible for violation of human rights.
Policy responses to the European debt crisis treating the “symptoms” or the “disease”?
Authors: Antzoulatos Angelos
Published: December 2012

The conventional narrative for the European debt crisis stresses three
factors, namely, bad policies and profligacy in the afflicted countries -
mostly southern ones, flaws in the EMU design, and wise policies in the
northern frugal countries. This paper argues that the root causes of the
crisis lie in the failure of many ?safety valves? of market economies, at
many levels of the society, both in the crisis countries and in the more
?prudent? EMU countries, in an economic environment where unfettered finance
can overwhelm even the biggest and best managed economies. Hence, the policy
responses based on the conventional narrative are akin to treating the
?symptoms?, not the ?disease?. As such, they may be setting the foundations
for a bigger crisis in the future by strengthening the always-present
perverse incentives of many economic players and by proposing complex and
unworkable regulatory and supervisory structures. This, together with the
unequal sharing of the burden of adjustment - both across and within
countries, bodes ill for the long-term prospects of EMU, despite that the
aforementioned failures are not intrinsically related to the euro.
Finance, growth and threshold effects
Authors: Allegret Jean-Pierre , Azzabi Sana
Published: December 2012

In this paper, we test the existence of financial development threshold
effects, firstly, between financial development and long-term growth, and,
secondly, between financial development and long-term GDP. We also ask
whether such effects may explain the link financial development -
convergence/ divergence to the advanced countries? growth. Our work builds on
that of Aghion, Howitt, and Mayer-Foulkes (2004). It differs from previous
work about assumptions and methodology. Estimates are performed with GMM
dynamic panel data techniques for 112 emerging and developing countries from
1975 to 2007. The results show a positive but vanishing effect of financial
development on steady-state GDP, from a critical (an average) level of
financial development. They do not validate, however, the assumption that the
marginal impact of financial development on the steady-state growth rate is
more favorable than the degree of financial development is low. We support
only partially the role that the financial development could play in the
acceleration of the convergence of emerging and developing economies towards
the world frontier growth.
The two sector model of learning-by doing and productivity differences
Authors: Dinç Tuna
Published: December 2012

This paper proposes that even when all countries have access to common
technology frontier and can use the technologies which are fully appropriate
to their needs, there will still be productivity differences across
countries depending on their relative skill endowments. To illustrate this
view, we have constructed a two sector model of productivity differences in
which the level of technology is determined endogenously depending on the
aggregate capital externalities. The relative supply of skilled and
unskilled labor determines the direction of technical choices of the
countries and differences in these relative factor supplies lead to
cross-country income differences combined with the fact that capital is more
productive in the advance of the skilled labor complement technologies than
in the unskilled labor complement technologies.