bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Panorama y panóptico en México y los mexicanos de José Zorrilla
Authors: Karageorgou-Bastea Christina
Published: November 2009

This article analyzes the ways in which panorama and panopticon, two visual and disciplinary techniques, invented in the late eighteenth century become discursive strategies in the writing of José Zorrilla’s México y los mexicanos, the first history of Mexican lyric poetry, published in the mid nineteenth century. The book, written in the form of letters to the Duque de Rivas, is the result of historical, aesthetic and personal circumstances that are put forward by the author of Don Juan Tenorio in an attempt to render visible and audible the poetic accent of an independent nation to a Spanish audience. The aspects of the Romantic poet, the expatriate, and the resentful son, shape Zorrilla’s position with respect to the geographical, political, and intellectual landscape of Mexico. Such multifaceted perspective makes possible an awareness that the Spanish writer uses to warn about the limitations of the European eye and ear in order to capture the vastness of the valley of Mexico, the turbulence of its political processes, and the value of its poetic accomplishments. Nevertheless, Zorrilla proves unable to overcome these same constraints. The effort of a panoramic sight and the demand of a panoptical vigilance convert his text to a patent example that, ironically, illustrates all the caveats put forward at the beginning of the book. Progressively, Zorrilla seems to become aware of his own inadequacy. As a result, the Spanish author abandons the discursive foreground, and the original Mexican texts resonate beyond his endorsement.
The Meaning of Blood in Argentina: Genealogy and Darwinism in the Recovery of the Past
Authors: Novoa Adriana
Published: November 2009

This essay addresses how the spread of Darwinian ideas helped to revive concerns about lineage and purity of blood in Argentina by the end of the nineteenth century. An analysis of how blood was engaged symbolically, before and after evolutionary ideas became dominant, underscores how the aristocratic culture that emerged by the 1880s was linked to genealogy. This genealogical thinking deeply affected ideas regarding gender, race, and the possibility of continuity and discontinuity of certain populations. The study concludes by tracing how the return to a genealogical system created a new understanding of what was civilized and modern, one that contradicted many ideas that the Generation of 1837 held on these same questions.
Torture and Truth in Ariel Dorfman’s La muerte y la doncella
Authors: McClennen Sophia A.
Published: November 2009

La muerte y la doncella (1990) represents a watershed moment in Ariel Dorfman’s literary career for a number of reasons. It is his most internationally successful work, it is his first work after the end of Pinochet’s official rule, and it is his first published play. It is also an example of the way that his post-exile writing bridges the local and the global. Ambiguous, provocative, and driven by questions that have no easy answers, the play lends itself to numerous avenues of inquiry that relate to the social role of truth commissions, to the representation of a nation in crisis, to storytelling and human rights, and to themes of betrayal, trust, deceit, and redemption. This essay begins by situating the end of Dorfman’s exile within the larger critical context of the 1990s when three, often overlapping, social and critical shifts about globalization, about trauma, truth, and social justice, and about art and representation dominated intellectual debates. After tracing this panorama and Dorfman’s response to it, I then analyze how La muerte y la doncella addresses the problems of memory, history, justice, and trauma and thereby reflects a series of critical concerns that came to the fore in the 1990s.
La ceguera de Cronos. Historia y tiempo en el cine de Víctor Erice
Authors: Moreno-Caballud Luis
Published: November 2009

This article elucidates the role of time and history in the cinema of Víctor Erice. Collective history is not exactly opposed to personal life in Erice’s films, because often both are characterized equally by provoking an experience of time as a linear succession of instants leading to destruction or ruins. On the other hand, this destructive time does have a crucial opponent: time mediated by dream and fascination. This fundamental dichotomy of Erice’s work can be better understood by relating it to the following conceptual pair used by Gilles Deleuze in his Logic of Sense: Chronos is time as a succession of causally connected and corporeal presents, and Aion is time as an incorporeal event that is unique but also linked to other events by relations that exceed causality. Erice’s cinematic art attempts to unveil time as Aion (the poetic and non-causal logic of the event) in the midst of time as Chronos (the destructive logic of time as historic or personal loss). In any case, Aion is in itself also a kind of destructive time: it cancels the possibility of attaching events to a present state of things. Erice has often used the idea of light and, in particular, of the light cinema creates, as a metonymy of the destructive power of time as event. However, as the title of his short film Alumbramiento (Lifeline, 2002), suggests, this destruction is also a way of giving new life to the event, a sort of impersonal and incorporeal life beyond any presence.
Estética, política y el posible territorio de la ficción en 2666 de Roberto Bolaño
Authors: Macaya Ángeles Donoso
Published: November 2009

This article analyzes the novel 2666 (2004) by Chilean writer Roberto Bolaño. The aim of this study is to rethink the intertwining of fiction, politics, and violence in Bolaño’s literature: this means to reflect on the potentiality of Bolaño’s writing, and from this perspective to reconsider the specificity of Bolaño’s political engagement. This article identifies and describes the ways in which violence is used in the construction of the fiction. By reading 2666 together with Jacques Rancière’s ideas on the relationship between politics and aesthetics, this study highlights 2666’s aesthetic ‘disagreement’, which consists in the repetition of the heterogeneous. In the novel, this repetition produces a specific form of violence. By means of repetition, the narrator of 2666 draws a possible connection between two different forms of violence experienced during the 20th Century: the Jewish genocide and the Mexican feminicide of Ciudad Juárez. Bolaño develops within his writing a ‘methodology of evil’, which allows him to make seeable and sayable specific manifestations of violence, specific crimes. This is how politics relates to aesthetics in Bolaño’s fiction. This study briefly comments on other works by Bolaño, Amuleto (Amulet) and Estrella distante (Distant Star).
"A man is a fool who prefers poor California beef to human flesh": (Re)Definitions of Masculinity in Nineteenth-Century US Donner Party Literature
Authors: Voeller Carey R.
Published: November 2009

"'A man is a fool who prefers poor California beef to human flesh' : (Re)Definitions of Masculinity in Nineteenth-Century U.S. Donner Party Literature" discusses representations of two men, William Eddy and Lewis Keseberg, in 1840s Donner Party narratives, particularly in J. Quinn Thornton's Oregon and California in 1848 (1849). Eddy and Keseberg were members of the ill-fated group that spent the winter of 1846-47 snowbound in the Sierra Nevadas. Thornton recorded his own Overland journey in Oregon and California , and relied on Eddy for information regarding the Donner Party's ordeal. Eddy and Keseberg survived the winter in part by resorting to cannibalism, yet Thornton describes the two men in vastly different manners: Eddy emerges as a sentimental, benevolent, and paternal leader, and Keseberg as a monster who preys on fellow emigrants and enjoys the taste of human flesh. I discuss Keseberg as the embodiment of "survivalist manhood," a masculine trope structured on the market ethos of individualism and competition but that simultaneously defies what it means to be a civilized and moral middle-to-upper class white man. In other words, Keseberg represents a new, terrifying type of Western manhood. Thornton is deeply troubled by the kinds of meanings Keseberg advertises to men considering a move to the West; thus, against Keseberg's aggressive textual persona, Eddy emerges as a model male figure, one who offers a kinder, gentler—and ultimately familiar—masculine option. I argue that this idealized portrait of Eddy reflects Thornton's attempt to (re)implement recognizable gender roles in a new geographic space that is still largely void of culturally-acceptable social structures.
Mary Barnard's "North Window": Imagism and the Pacific Northwest
Authors: Barnsley Sarah
Published: November 2009

This essay presents a new interpretation of the poetry and significance of Mary Barnard (1909-2001) through an exploration of the relationship between region and poetic technique. One of the first to articulate the "little known landscape" of the northwest in American poetry, Barnard's mid-century poetics can be seen as an attempt to refine and forward the Imagist project in order to create what she called a "spare but musical" style focused, like the work of her friend William Carlos Williams, on her experience of the local. Centering discussion on "North Window," one of over two hundred unpublished poems recently recovered and transferred to the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University as part of the newly-established Mary Barnard archive, this essay traces some of the ways in which two particular "little known landscapes" of Barnard's local shaped her Imagist poetics: the austere sawmill settlements she experienced as a lumber merchant's daughter, and the desolate, wind-lashed beaches of the Washington Long Beach peninsula where she spent long summers in her youth.
Fair Value Accounting and the Financial Crisis: Messenger or Contributor?*
Authors: Magnan Michel L.
Published: December 2009

This commentary discusses how fair value accounting (FVA) affects the nature of financial reporting, especially for financial institutions that were deeply affected by the 2007‐9 financial crisis. Toward that end, I address four questions. First, I review FVA's role in financial reporting, emphasizing its development over time. While the commentary's focus is on the interface between financial instruments and FVA, its reach extends well beyond financial instruments. Thereafter, I discuss the measurement and valuation challenges that arise from the use of FVA in financial reporting. Then, I analyze the evidence, analytical and empirical, on the role that FVA may have played in the financial crisis of 2007‐9. Since, to some extent, the crisis is still unfolding, there is limited yet very insightful empirical evidence on this issue. The evidence does suggest that FVA, in combination with its use by regulators, may have severely undermined the financial condition of some institutions. The effect was amplified for institutions holding assets in markets that saw their liquidity dry up during the crisis. In other words, FVA may have amplified the crisis. Finally, I discuss some implications that we can draw from the crisis about the merits and risks underlying FVA. For instance, I conclude that, in a search for relevance, the use of FVA in financial reporting may accelerate its disconnection from a firm's business reality.
The Direct Relationship between Inhibitory Currents and Local Field Potentials
Authors: Trevelyan Andrew J.
Published: December 2009

The frequency profiles of various extracellular field oscillations are known to reflect functional brain states, yet we lack detailed explanations of how these brain oscillations arise. Of particular clinical relevance are the high-frequency oscillations (HFOs) associated with interictal events and the onset of seizures. These time periods are also when pyramidal firing appears to be vetoed by high-frequency volleys of inhibitory synaptic currents, thereby providing an inhibitory restraint that opposes epileptiform spread (Trevelyan et al., 2006, 2007). The pattern and timing of this inhibitory volley is suggestive of a causal relationship between the restraint and HFOs. I show that at these times, isolated inhibitory currents from single pyramidal cells have a similarity to the extracellular signal that significantly exceeds chance. The ability to extrapolate from discrete currents in single cells to the extracellular signal arises because these inhibitory currents are synchronized in local populations of pyramidal cells. The visibility of these inhibitory currents in the field recordings is greatest when local pyramidal activity is suppressed: the correlation between the inhibitory currents and the field signal becomes worse when local activity increases, suggestive of a switch from one source of HFO to another as the restraint starts to fail. This association suggests that a significant component of HFOs reflects the last act of defiance in the face of an advancing ictal event.
Input-Specific GABAergic Signaling to Newborn Neurons in Adult Dentate Gyrus
Authors: Markwardt Sean J. , Wadiche Jacques I. , Overstreet-Wadiche Linda S.
Published: December 2009

Adult neurogenesis is the multistage process of generating neurons from adult neural stem cells. Accumulating evidence indicates that GABAergic depolarization is an important regulator of this process. Here, we examined GABAergic signaling to newly generated granule cells (GCs) of the adult mouse dentate gyrus. We show that the first synaptic currents in newborn GCs are generated by activation of GABAAreceptors by GABA with a spatiotemporal profile suggestive of transmitter spillover. However, the GABAergic response is not attributable to spillover from surrounding perisomatic synapses. Rather, our results suggest that slow synaptic responses in newborn GCs are generated by dedicated inputs that produce a relatively low concentration of GABA at postsynaptic receptors, similar to slow IPSCs in mature GCs. This form of synaptic signaling drives robust phasic depolarization of newborn GCs when the interneuron network is synchronously active, revealing a potential mechanism that translates hippocampal activity into regulation of adult neurogenesis via synaptic release of GABA.
Photoreceptor Coupling Is Controlled by Connexin 35 Phosphorylation in Zebrafish Retina
Authors: Li Hongyan , Chuang Alice Z. , O'Brien John
Published: December 2009

Electrical coupling of neurons is widespread throughout the CNS and is observed among retinal photoreceptors from essentially all vertebrates. Coupling dampens voltage noise in photoreceptors and rod–cone coupling provides a means for rod signals to enter the cone pathway, extending the dynamic range of rod-mediated vision. This coupling is dynamically regulated by a circadian rhythm and light adaptation. We examined the molecular mechanism that controls photoreceptor coupling in zebrafish retina. Connexin 35 (homologous to Cx36 of mammals) was found at both cone–cone and rod–cone gap junctions. Photoreceptors showed strong Neurobiotin tracer coupling at night, extensively labeling the network of cones. Tracer coupling was significantly reduced in the daytime, showing a 20-fold lower diffusion coefficient for Neurobiotin transfer. The phosphorylation state of Cx35 at two regulatory phosphorylation sites, Ser110 and Ser276, was directly related to tracer coupling. Phosphorylation was high at night and low during the day. Protein kinase A (PKA) activity directly controlled both phosphorylation state and tracer coupling. Both were significantly increased in the day by pharmacological activation of PKA and significantly reduced at night by inhibition of PKA. The data are consistent with direct phosphorylation of Cx35 by PKA. We conclude that the magnitude of photoreceptor coupling is controlled by the dynamic phosphorylation and dephosphorylation of Cx35. Furthermore, the nighttime state is characterized by extensive coupling that results in a well connected cone network.
Interneurons Produced in Adulthood Are Required for the Normal Functioning of the Olfactory Bulb Network and for the Execution of Selected Olfactory Behaviors
Authors: Breton-Provencher Vincent , Lemasson Morgane , Peralta Modesto R. , Saghatelyan Armen
Published: December 2009

Olfactory bulb (OB) interneurons are continuously renewed throughout an animal's lifespan. Despite extensive investigation of this phenomenon, little is known about bulbar circuitry functioning and olfactory performances under conditions of ablated arrival of new neurons into the adult OB. To address this issue we performed morphological, electrophysiological, and behavioral analysis in mice with suppressed bulbar neurogenesis. Infusion of the antimitotic drug AraC to the lateral ventricle via 28 d osmotic minipumps abolished the arrival of newly born neurons into the adult OB without affecting the total number of granule cells. The number, dendritic arborization, and spine density of interneurons generated in adulthood, before pump installation, were also not affected by AraC treatment. As a result of ablated neurogenesis, mitral cells—the principal output neurons in the OB—receive fewer inhibitory synapses, display reduced frequency of spontaneous IPSCs, experience smaller dendrodendritic inhibition, and exhibit decreased synchronized activity. Consequently, short-term olfactory memory was drastically reduced in AraC-treated mice. In contrast, olfactory performances of AraC-treated animals were undistinguishable from those of control mice in other odor-associated tests, such as spontaneous odor discrimination and long-term odor-associative memory tasks. Altogether, our data highlight the importance of adult neurogenesis for the proper functioning of the OB network and imply that new bulbar interneurons are involved in some, but not all, odor-associated tasks.
Influence and Limitations of Popout in the Selection of Salient Visual Stimuli by Area V4 Neurons
Authors: Burrows Brittany E. , Moore Tirin
Published: December 2009

The neural mechanism of bottom-up attention and its relationship to top-down attention are poorly understood. Visual stimuli that differ from others in their component features are salient and tend to draw attention in a bottom-up manner. “Popout” stimuli differ uniformly from surrounding items and are more easily detected than stimuli composed of a conjunction of surrounding features. We compared the responses of single area V4 neurons to popout and conjunction stimuli appearing within the classical receptive field (CRF) and found that their responses are modulated by popout. This selectivity was more robust when larger numbers of surrounding items and multiple features were included in the display, and it was absent when only a few items were presented immediately outside the CRF. In addition, the popout modulation of V4 activity was eliminated when top-down attention was directed to locations outside of the CRFs during saccade preparation, indicating that the salience of popout stimuli is not sufficient to drive selection by V4 neurons. These results demonstrate that neurons in feature-selective cortex are influenced by bottom-up attention, but that this influence is limited by top-down attention.
Visual Motion Perception Deficits Due to Cerebellar Lesions Are Paralleled by Specific Changes in Cerebro-Cortical Activity
Authors: Händel Barbara , Thier Peter , Haarmeier Thomas
Published: December 2009

Recent anatomical studies have revealed strong cerebellar projections into parietal and prefrontal cortex. These findings suggest that the cerebellum might not only play a functional role in motor control but also cognitive domains, an idea also supported by neuropsychological testing of patients with cerebellar lesions that has revealed specific deficits. The goal of the present study was to test whether or not cognitive impairments after cerebellar damage are resulting from changes in cerebro-cortical signal processing. The detection of global visual motion embedded in noise, a faculty compromised after cerebellar lesions, was chosen as a model system. Using magnetoencephalography, cortical responses were recorded in a group of patients with cerebellar lesions (n= 8) and controls (n= 13) who observed visual motion of varied coherence, i.e., motion strength, presented in the peripheral visual field during controlled stationary fixation. Corroborating earlier results, the patients showed a significant impairment in global motion discrimination despite normal fixation behavior. This deficit was paralleled by qualitative differences in responses recorded from parieto-temporal cortex, including a reduced responsiveness to coherent visual motion and a striking loss of bilateral representations of motion coherence. Moreover, the perceptual thresholds correlated with the cortical representation of motion strength on single subject basis. These results demonstrate that visual motion processing in cerebral cortex critically depends on an intact cerebellum and establish a correlation between cortical activity and impaired visual perception resulting from cerebellar damage.
Subthreshold Activation of the Superior Colliculus Drives Saccade Motor Learning
Authors: Soetedjo Robijanto , Fuchs Albert F. , Kojima Yoshiko
Published: December 2009

How the brain learns and maintains accurate precision movements is currently unknown. At times throughout life, rapid gaze shifts (saccades) become inaccurate, but the brain makes gradual adjustments so they again stop on target. Previously, we showed that complex spikes (CSs) in Purkinje cells of the oculomotor cerebellum report the direction and amplitude by which saccades are in error. Anatomical studies indicate that this error signal could originate in the superior colliculus (SC). Here, we deliver subthreshold electrical stimulation of the SC after the saccade lands to signal an apparent error. The size of saccades in the same direction as the simulated error gradually increase; those in the opposite direction decrease. The electrically adapted saccades endure after stimulation is discontinued, exhibit an adaptation field, can undergo changes in direction, and depend on error timing. These electrically induced adaptations were virtually identical with those produced by the visually induced adaptations that we report here for comparable visual errors in the same monkeys. Therefore, our experiments reveal that an additional role for the SC in the generation of saccades is to provide a vector error signal that drives dysmetric saccades to adapt. Moreover, the characteristics of the electrically induced adaptation reflect those of error-related CS activity in the oculomotor cerebellum, suggesting that CS activity serves as the learning signal. We speculate that CS activity may serve as the error signal that drives other kinds of motor learning as well.
Spatially Global Representations in Human Primary Visual Cortex during Working Memory Maintenance
Authors: Ester Edward F. , Serences John T. , Awh Edward
Published: December 2009

Recent studies suggest that visual features are stored in working memory (WM) via sensory recruitment or sustained stimulus-specific patterns of activity in cortical regions that encode memoranda. One important question concerns the spatial extent of sensory recruitment. One possibility is that sensory recruitment is restricted to neurons that are retinotopically mapped to the positions occupied by the remembered items. Alternatively, specific feature values could be represented via a spatially global recruitment of neurons that encode the remembered feature, regardless of the retinotopic position of the remembered stimulus. Here, we evaluated these alternatives by requiring subjects to remember the orientation of a grating presented in the left or right visual field. Functional magnetic resonance imaging and multivoxel pattern analysis were then used to examine feature-specific activations in early visual regions during memory maintenance. Activation patterns that discriminated the remembered feature were found in regions of contralateral visual cortex that corresponded to the retinotopic position of the remembered item, as well as in ipsilateral regions that were not retinotopically mapped to the position of the stored stimulus. These results suggest that visual details are held in WM through a spatially global recruitment of early sensory cortex. This spatially global recruitment may enhance memory precision by facilitating robust population coding of the stored information.
Preferred Sites of Exocytosis and Endocytosis Colocalize during High- But Not Lower-Frequency Stimulation in Mouse Motor Nerve Terminals
Authors: Gaffield Michael A. , Tabares Lucia , Betz William J.
Published: December 2009

The spatial relationship of exocytosis and endocytosis in motor nerve terminals has been explored, with varied results, mostly in fixed preparations and without direct information on the utilization of each exocytic site. We sought to determine these spatial properties in real time using synaptopHluorin (spH) and FM4-64. Earlier we showed that nerve stimulation elicits the appearance of spH fluorescence hot spots, which mark preferred sites of exocytosis. Here we show that nerve stimulation in the presence of the styryl dye FM4-64 evokes hot spots of FM4-64 fluorescence. Their size, density, and rate of appearance are similar to the spH hot spots, but their rate of disappearance after stimulation was much slower (t1/2∼9 min vs ∼10 s for spH hot spots), consistent with FM4-64 spots identifying bulk endocytosis and subsequent slow intracellular dispersion of nascent vesicles. Simultaneous imaging of both fluorophores revealed a strong colocalization of spH and FM4-64 spots, but only during high (100 Hz) stimulation. At 40 Hz stimulation, exocytic and endocytic spots did not colocalize. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that hot spots of endocytosis, possibly in the form of bulk uptake, occur at or very near highly active exocytic sites during high-frequency stimulation.
Rho-Associated Kinase II (ROCKII) Limits Axonal Growth after Trauma within the Adult Mouse Spinal Cord
Authors: Duffy Philip , Schmandke Andre , Schmandke Antonio , Sigworth Jonathan , Narumiya Shuh , Cafferty William B. J. , Strittmatter Stephen M.
Published: December 2009

Rho GTPases are thought to mediate the action of several axonal growth inhibitors in the adult brain and spinal cord. RhoA has been targeted pharmacologically in both humans and animals to promote neurite outgrowth and functional recovery following CNS trauma. However, rat spinal cord injury studies suggest a complicated and partial benefit of inhibiting Rho or its downstream effector, Rho-associated kinase (ROCKII). This limited benefit may reflect inhibition of other kinases, poor access, or a minimal role of ROCKIIin vivo. Therefore, we studied ROCKII mutant mice to probe this pathway genetically.ROCKII−/−dorsal root ganglion neurons are less sensitive to inhibition by Nogo protein or by chondroitin sulfate proteoglycanin vitro. We examined adultROCKII−/−mice in two injury paradigms, cervical multilevel dorsal rhizotomy and midthoracic dorsal spinal cord hemisection. After dorsal root crush injury, theROCKII−/−mice recovered use of the affected forepaw more quickly than did controls. Moreover, multiple classes of sensory axons regenerated across the dorsal root entry zone into the spinal cord of mice lacking ROCKII. After the spinal cord injury,ROCKII−/−mice showed enhanced local growth of raphespinal axons in the caudal spinal cord and corticospinal axons into the lesion site. Improved functional recovery was not observed by Basso Mouse Scale score following dorsal hemisection, likely due to developmental defects in the nervous system. Together, these findings demonstrate that theROCKIIgene product limits axonal growth after CNS trauma.
Are short women at risk for gestational diabetes mellitus?
Authors: Ogonowski Jarosław , Miazgowski Tomasz
Published: December 2009

Objective

The aim of the study was to assess the influence of height variations on the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM).

Research design and methods

We analyzed the medical records of 1830 Caucasian women with GDM and 1011 healthy pregnant women. The following data were collected: age, prior macrosomia, prior GDM, parity, history of type 2 diabetes in first-degree relatives, weight before pregnancy, weight gain during pregnancy, glucose level at the first obstetric visit, results of the glucose challenge test and oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), HbA1c, and method for treatment of GDM.

Results

Women with GDM were significantly shorter than the healthy controls (165.7±5.6 vs 163.8±6.6 cm; P<0.001). The differences in height were not significant between GDM women who required insulin therapy and those treated with diet alone (P=0.12). All the studied variables, including height, were independently associated with GDM. Even after adjustment for confounding variables, height was still associated with GDM (odds ratio 0.958, 95% confidence interval: 0.94–0.97; P<0.00001). In women with GDM diagnosed by 75-g OGTT, we found a significant inverse association of height adjusted for age and pregravid weight with 2-h glucose level (β=−0.12; P<0.0001).

Conclusions

Caucasian women with GDM are shorter than pregnant women without GDM regardless of the diagnostic criteria used or the severity of glucose intolerance. Although height is an independent predictor for GDM, its predictive value for identifying women at risk is relatively low and should not be considered in selective screening for this disease.
Comparative analysis of leafy and non-leafy silage maize hybrids
Authors: Hegyi Z. , Zsubori Z. , Rácz F.
Published: December 2009

Twelve silage hybrids were included in field experiments in Martonvásár in 2007 and 2008 to compare the agronomic traits and chemical quality traits of leafy and non-leafy hybrids. The climatic data for the two experimental years differed considerably. The results reflected the differences in weather conditions. Thanks to the plentiful rainfall in 2008 the hybrids reached their genetically determined height (274.32 cm on average), while in 2007 the average height was only 238.03 cm. In both years a leafy hybrid was the tallest, while the shortest plants were non-leafy. The assimilation leaf area above the main ear was greatest for the five leafy hybrids in both years, with values of 0.35–0.45 m
2
per plant for conventional hybrids and 0.53–0.84 m
2
per plant for leafy hybrids, averaged over the two years. The larger leaf area in leafy hybrids could be attributed both to the larger number of leaves and to the fact that they were broader. The greatest ear mass per plant was produced by Mv Massil (198.66; 320.00 g), a leafy hybrid which also had the greatest leaf area above the main ear. In addition to large green mass (leaf, stalk), an ideal silage maize hybrid should also have satisfactory grain yield. Several of the leafy and non-leafy hybrids in the experiment gave favourable results. In the present experiment the highest starch content was recorded for a leafy hybrid, while the highest protein and oil contents were characteristic of early maturing, non-leafy hybrids. Nevertheless, three of the leafy hybrids had above-average protein content.
Productivity and nitrogen use of maize as affected by in situ and ex situ green manuring in major and minor seasons of tropical Asia
Authors: Sangakkara U. , Stamp P.
Published: December 2009

Green manuring is considered an important agronomic practice for smallholder farming systems in the tropics. Different species of legumes and non-legumes are applied either asex situorin situgreen manures. Thus a field study conducted under rainfed conditions in Sri Lanka compared the effect ofin situandex situgreen manuring using two popular green manures (Crotolaria juncea— a legume andTithonia diversifolia— a non-legume) on the growth, seed yield and N use pattern of maize (Zea mays), the most popular upland cereal in the Asian tropics, grown with high and low N rates, in the two seasons that correspond to the monsoonal rains.In situgreen manuring, especially with crotolaria, increased the growth, seed yield and N use efficiency of maize when compared to theex situaddition of similar quantities of the green manure. The impact was also greater in the minor season, when the crop was subjected to moisture stress conditions. The benefits ofin situgreen manuring with tithonia were lower than those due to crotolaria.In situgreen manuring with tithonia also led to a greater increase in growth, seed yield and N use efficiency in maize compared toex situgreen manuring with this species. The green manures, especiallyin situapplication, also increased the benefits of enhanced rates of N fertilizer to the crops in both seasons, with greater use efficiency in the major season. The study showed the benefits of green manuring (bothinandex situ) for obtaining higher yields of maize in the growing seasons of the Asian tropics, especially thein situapplication of legume species.
Role of salicylic acid in regulation of cadmium toxicity in wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.)
Authors: Moussa H. , EL-Gamal S.
Published: December 2009

Treatment with CdCl
2
(0, 100, 400 and 1000 μM) resulted in the inhibition of root dry biomass and root elongation and to increased Cd accumulation in the roots. These treatments also decreased the relative water content, chlorophyll content,
14
CO fixation, phosphoenol pyruvate carboxylase and ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase activity and abscisic acid (ABA) content, while increasing the malondialdehyde, hydrogen peroxide and free proline contents and causing changes in the chloroplast and root ultrastructure. Pretreatment of seeds with SA (500 μM) for 20 h resulted in the amelioration of these effects.
Analysis of heat stress tolerance in winter wheat
Authors: Balla K. , Bencze S. , Janda T. , Veisz O.
Published: December 2009

As a consequence of climate change, the incidence of extreme weather events has increased in Hungary, as elsewhere. Extremely high temperatures are the factor causing the greatest problems for agriculture and crop production. The aim was to determine the heat tolerance of two wheat varieties (Plainsman V. and Mv Magma) by measuring physiological and yield parameters under high temperature conditions (35/20°C day/night) in the phytotron. Heat stress had a substantial influence on the chlorophyll content, antioxidant enzyme activity and yield parameters of the two winter wheat varieties. Heat stress during grain filling led to a significant reduction in the yield, biomass, grain number, harvest index and thousand-kernel weight. Significant differences could be detected between the two varieties, confirming the greater heat sensitivity of Plainsman V. and the better heat tolerance of Mv Magma. The importance of the antioxidant enzyme system was demonstrated in defence against heat stress. The activity of the enzymes glutathione-Stransferase (GSH-S-Tr), ascorbate peroxidase (APx) and catalase (CAT) was enhanced in Plainsman V., and that of GSH-S-Tr and CAT in Mv Magma. The tolerance of the wheat varieties appeared to be correlated with the antioxidant level, though changes in activity were observed for different antioxidant enzymes in the two genotypes tested.
Indole-3-butyric acid application mitigates sodium chloride stress in two cotton cultivars differing in salt tolerance
Authors: Tammam A.
Published: December 2009

Soil salinity is a major constraint to food production because it limits crop yield and restricts the use of land previously uncultivated. Breeding for tolerance to salinity in crops has usually been limited by the lack of reliable traits for selection. The mechanism of salt tolerance in two cotton (Gossypium barbadensL.) cultivars (Giza 70 and Giza 88) and their responses to shoot spraying with 200 ppm m−3IBA were studied.Treatment with IBA not only improved the growth of salt-affected Giza 70, but also increased the growth of this cultivar up to −2.7 MPa and reduced the inhibitory effect of salinity on photosynthetic pigments.This was accompanied by differences in the accumulation of sucrose and total soluble sugars and in the total available carbohydrate and protein contents. IBA ameliorated the inhibitory effect of salinity on growth, increased the carbohydrate and protein contents of both cotton cultivars and markedly retarded the accumulation of proline and glycine betaine. It resulted in the reduction of Na+accumulation in Giza 70, while in Giza 88 it enhanced the absorption and translocation of K+, resulting in higher K+/Na+ratios in the shoots. There were pronounced differences in the electrophoretic patterns of the proteins in both cultivars under salt stress and IBA treatment.
Food safety in focus
Authors: Bánáti D.
Published: December 2009

The review provides selected examples on the activities and main results of the research and development work after the re-organization of the Central Food Research Institute (Budapest) at the turn of the 21
st
century.
Main trends and research results at the unit of technology
Authors: Cserhalmi Zs.
Published: December 2009

The continuous development of food production technologies is essential because of the uninterruptedly growing food production; the transportation of these food products, which means longer and longer transport; and because of the increasing consumer demands concerning the applied technologies, which assure the safe and healthy nutrition. This modernisation trend today has already reached the development of minimally food processing technologies, which make possible the creation of food products preserving their original nutritional values and having a higher added value. Concerning the application of any new technology, it is a more and more important demand that the environmental impact should be lower compared to the earlier technologies. This lower impact can be manifested in less energy and water use, in less wastes production or in more rational energy use.
A műtéti szakmákban folytatott kontrollcsoportos klinikai vizsgálatok metodikai problémáir
Authors: Antal János , Harsányi László
Published: December 2009

Absztrakt

A sebészeti szakma világszerte lépéshátrányban van a klasszikus gyógyszerfejlesztéshez képest az új eljárások bevezetésével kapcsolatos szakmai és etikai kérdésekre adott válaszadásban. Az invazív eljárások megítéléséért felelős szakemberek nagy kihívással küzdenek, amikor meg kell felelniük a bizonyítékon alapuló orvostudományi kutatás követelményeinek, valamint az erőforrás allokációért felelős szervezetek felvetéseire. Az álműtétes kar a kontrollcsoportos kísérletes sebészi orvostechnikai vizsgálatok egyik kevésbé ismert módszere. Korábban klinikai vizsgálatokban csak alkalmanként kapott szerepet; napjainkban azonban egyre többen vetik fel rendszeres alkalmazhatóságának kérdését is. Az álműtét alkalmazhatóságának végiggondolása segít kidolgozni egyéb, sebészeti orvostechnikai kutatási problémákat, döntéseket.
Kirschner-drótok intrathoracalis vándorlásar
Authors: Veres Lukács , Kiss Regina , Boros Miklós , Enyedi Attila , Takács István , Kollár Sándor , Damjanovich László , Sz. Kiss Sándor
Published: December 2009

Absztrakt

A baleseti és ortopéd sebészek gyakran használnak tűződrótot a clavicula és a humerus rögzítésére. A fémanyagok mellüregbe történő elvándorlása ritkán fordul elő. Egy idős nőbeteg humeroscapularis ízületét ismételt jobb vállficama miatt 6 héttel korábban Kirschner-drótokkal tűzték meg. Kontrollröntgen során fedezték fel, hogy a tűződrótok a jobb mellüregbe vándoroltak. Videothoracoscopos úton technikailag nem lehetett őket eltávolítani, ezért jobb oldali thoracotomia történt. Pneumolysist követően a 2-es tüdősegmentumból és a kupolánál, medialisan a gerinccsatornába fúródó Kirschner-drótot távolítottak el. A posztoperatív időszakban sebészeti komplikáció nem volt. A szerzők áttekintik ennek a ritkán előforduló szövődménynek az irodalmát és felhívják a figyelmet, hogy a mellüregbe vándorolt tűződrótok eltávolítása szükséges a fenyegető súlyos szövődmények megelőzésére.
Effect of moderate alcohol consumption on insulin sensitivity
Authors: Ábel Tatjána , Fehér János
Published: December 2009

A mérsékelt alkoholfogyasztás csökkenti a cardiovascularis és 2-es típusú diabetes kockázatát. Ennek az epidemiológiai megfigyelésnek a magyarázata azonban még nem pontosan ismert. Az alkohol emeli a high-density lipoprotein (HDL) koleszterin szintjét. Felmerültek egyéb mechanizmusok is, úgymint a gyulladás- és thrombosisgátló hatások. A mérsékelt alkoholfogyasztás és inzulinérzékenység közötti kapcsolat még vitatott. A lehetséges mechanizmusok közé tartoznak az adiponektinszint emelése, a C-reaktív protein csökkentése és a szabad zsírsav zsírszövetből történő kiáramlásának csökkentése is.
Therapy of mantle cell lymphoma
Authors: Udvardy Miklós
Published: December 2009

A köpenysejtes lymphoma egyesíti az indolens és az agresszív lymphomák rossz tulajdonságait, azaz az agresszív lymphomákhoz hasonlóan gyors lefolyású és progresszív, és az indolens lymphomákhoz hasonlóan kemoterápiával, illetve immunokemoterápiával nem gyógyítható. Az elmúlt években számos olyan előrelépés történt, amely nagyban javítja a köpenysejtes lymphomás betegek életkilátásait. Az intenzifikált immunokemoterápiára jól válaszoló betegek első komplett remissziójában konszolidációs kezelést kell végezni. A konszolidáció: rituximab és citozin-arabinosidal intenzifikált kezelést követően a lehetőleg sugárterápiát is alkalmazó kondicionáló kezelés és autológ transzplantáció, amely a várható átlagos túlélést minden korábbi adathoz képest lényegesen meghosszabbítja (átlag 2,5–3 év helyett valószínűleg 7–10 év között). A visszaeső betegek kezelésére pedig számos új lehetőség kínálkozik, amelyek közül az egyik legfontosabbat az Egyesült Államokban már erre a betegségre is törzskönyvezték. Az új terápiás lehetőségek áttekintésével foglalkozik a közlemény.
Asymptotics of generalized Hadwiger numbers
Authors: Boju Valentin , Funar Louis
Published: December 2009

We give asymptotic estimates for the number of non-overlapping homothetic copies of some centrally symmetric oval B which have a common point with a 2-dimensional domain F having rectifiable boundary, extending previous work of L. Fejes Tóth, K. Böröckzy Jr., D. G. Larman, S. Sezgin, C. Zong and the authors. The asymptotics compute the length of the boundary ∂F in the Minkowski metric determined by B. The core of the proof consists of a method for sliding convex beads along curves with positive reach in the Minkowski plane. We also prove that level sets are rectifiable subsets, extending a theorem of Erdős, Oleksiv and Pesin for the Euclidean space to the Minkowski space.
Evaluating the Prevention through Alternative Learning Styles Program
Authors: Huber Mary J. , Workman Judson , Ford Jo Ann , Moore Dennis , Mayer Theresa
Published: December 2009

This article reports on the evaluation of a two-year alcohol, tobacco and other drug (ATOD) intervention, the Prevention through Alternative Learning Styles ( PALS) program, targeting both teachers and middle-school students. Teachers are taught to recognize students' unique learning styles in the context of the ATOD curriculum and adapt the ATOD messages to these learning styles. The student curriculum consists of 5 topic areas with two lessons per topic area. Student goals include enhancing students' knowledge of the effects of ATOD, promoting students' use of refusal skills and decreasing students' intentions to use ATOD. The program was implemented in school districts in the greater Dayton Ohio area. Support was found for the intervention's overall effectiveness in both years, with statistically significant improvements demonstrated by the students who participated in the PALS program. Students had an increase in their knowledge of ATOD topic areas and a decrease in their intentions to use ATOD.
Creating Task-Centered Instruction for Web-Based Instruction: Obstacles and Solutions
Authors: Gardner Joel , Jeon Tae
Published: December 2009

Merrill proposes First Principles of Instruction, including a problem- or task-centered strategy for designing instruction. However, when the tasks or problems are ill-defined or complex, task-centered instruction can be difficult to design. We describe an online task-centered training at a land-grant university designed to train employees to use Banner, an administrative suite supporting student, financial aid, finance, HR, and advancement systems. Our training solution, housed in Blackboard Vista, includes desktop capturing application screencasts, interactive HTML, and Flash. We present several obstacles in designing and developing the training, including (1) implementing effective technology solutions, (2) identifying, analyzing, and documenting real-world tasks, and (3) creating a systematic process for design. We describe our solutions and prescribe methods for designing a course with a task-centered instructional strategy.
Technophobia and the Effective Use of Library Resources at the College/University Level
Authors: Ben-Jacob Marion G. , Liebman Judith T.
Published: December 2009

Technology has been integrated into academia. The 21st century learner will be a life-long learner and students need to be comfortable and familiar with computers and technology. Computers are part of the educational environment independent of the different learning styles of the students. Regardless of the major field of study elected by a student, the use of library resources is necessary. Library technophobia is a fear of using a library because of the technology involved. This article addresses different groups who may suffer from library technophobia, the reasons they are anxious, and positive steps that can be taken to ameliorate this stumbling block to academic success.
A Pilot Study of Instructor Factors and Student Preferences
Authors: Brouse Corey H. , McKnight Kelly R. , Basch Charles E. , LeBlanc Michael
Published: December 2009

In order to gain a better understanding of the ways in which an instructor could enhance an on-line learning experience, we surveyed 96 students enrolled in on-line Health Promotion and Wellness courses. Almost all respondents felt that sending e-mailed reminders and posting announcements on the course was very important or important for enhancing the on-line learning experience. There was a mixed response in the ratings for how important it was for an on-line instructor to host on-line office hours and the weakest ratings were for rating importance of having asynchronous time with an on-line instructor. Not surprisingly, most students used the library for research purposes less often or as often for their on-line courses than for their face-to-face courses. However, the majority of students used the Internet for resources more often or as often. Interestingly, half of the respondents felt that they interacted more with classmates in their on-line course. The amount of time spent preparing assignments in a face-to-face versus an on-line course was split.