bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Nation/Building: Hugo’s Notre-Dame de Paris and the Novelist as Post-Revolutionary Historian
Authors: Minott-Ahl Nicola
Published: July 2012

This essay argues that Victor Hugo’s novel Notre Dame de Paris rescues Gothic buildings that still existed in France from destruction by transforming them into national symbols. Through his novel, he transforms the people who were their greatest threat — from a restive mob into a nation — by inserting them and their ancestors into the narrative of French history.

Hugo saw destruction of castles and churches in France in the wake of the Revolution and became convinced that these first and easiest targets of political unrest were also irreplaceable witnesses to important events right up to his own uneasy present. Their disappearance meant the loss of part of the historical record, gaps in collective memory, and the loss of a corresponding part of the national identity. The 1830s, when Notre Dame de Paris was published, political debate turned to how to end the cycle of revolution and restoration in which the French seemed locked. What sort of government was France to have? How was French society to be organised? By whom were such decisions to be made? Hugo’s novel answers these questions by turning the attention of a wide readership to a distant, non-controversial past in order to construct an image of France and its people that everyone could endorse, one that combines the best qualities of all people, regardless of faction or ideology.

United and possessing political will and real power to effect change, they are the French nation centuries before the idea of nation. The writing and publication of this novel, then, is an act of architectural restoration, recovery of a lost world, and creation of national myth rooted in the “Gothic” past—a literary restoration of the buildings of the ancien régime , even as his it underscores the impossibility and undesirability of the restoration of Bourbon absolutism. Hugo showed post-Revolutionary France how to make sense of their recent past as periodically recurring upheaval in modern guise, not as catastrophe to be explained away or denied. The publication of his novel marks a novelist’s insertion of himself into what his contemporaries often saw as an essentially political debate.

Hugo presents French identity as a collective project driven by people’s intellectual engagement with their culture and with a past they have never really considered their own. By including a mass readership in the process of defining French identity, Hugo’s novel could extend Revolution into the realm of civil discourse — and, perhaps, remove it from the streets.
Articulations of Memory: Reflections on Imagination and the Scope of Collective Memory in the Public Sphere
Authors: Barash Jeffrey Andrew
Published: July 2012

During the decades following the pioneering work of authors such as Walter Benjamin or Maurice Halbwachs in the 1920s and 1930s, it has become increasingly common to refer to memory as a source not only of personal identity or of the identity of small groups but also of large collectivities. In recent years an ever growing number of studies in a variety of disciplines employ the concept of collective memory. Using the example of an episode from Chateaubriand’s Mémoires d’outre-tombe , this paper investigates the meaning of this concept in the methodological perspective of philosophy and the role of imagination in collectively remembered, communicable experience. It aims to elucidate the way in which collective memory might be demarcated from constructs of the imagination, above all in the public sphere.
Bildung and the State in the Long Nineteenth Century
Authors: Vermeulen Pieter , de Graef Ortwin
Published: July 2012

The relations between literature and the political community have figured prominently on the research agenda in the humanities in the last few decades. The tension between political power and its different rhetorical and literary figurations can be productively explored by focusing on the juncture of two prominent nineteenth-century discourses: those relying on notions of Bildung (a term capturing processes of self-development and organic growth) and the state (which often denotes those aspects of power that cannot be couched in a naturalizing rhetoric of the nation or, indeed, Bildung ). This forum traces the mobilization of figures of Bildung for the legitimation of political power in the paradigmatic genre of the Bildungsroman as well as in novelistic, biological, utopian, architectural, educational, and journalistic discourses.
John Russell Bartlett’s Literary Borderlands: Ethnology, War, and the United States Boundary Survey
Authors: Gunn Robert
Published: July 2012

This article argue that John Russell Bartlett’s Personal Narrative of Explorations and Incidents in Texas, New Mexico, California, Sonora, and Chihuahua —a first-person account of the United States and Mexican Boundary Commission’s efforts to establish the international border following the U.S.-Mexico War—represents a key literary consolidation of the agendas of ethnology and empire along the U.S./Mexico borderlands. Documenting Bartlett’s controversial tenure as Boundary Commissioner in terms of previous acts of scientific collaboration between the American Ethnological Society and the War Department, this article explores the relationship between ethnological research, geographical surveys, and techniques of literary representation. This discussion culminates in two episodes of Indian captivity Bartlett documents in encounters with the Mimbreño Apache near present-day Silver City, New Mexico. In Bartlett’s Personal Narrative , ambiguous literary boundaries between scientific and sentimental styles of representation correspond powerfully to the troubled efforts of the Commission to establish stable boundaries in their survey of the international border.
"Perhaps the Words Remember Me": Richard Brautigan's Very Short Stories
Authors: Gair Christopher
Published: July 2012

This essay situates Richard Brautigan within a literary genealogy reaching back to the eighteenth century. It views him as an exponent of a particular type of American writing—working in and against the traditions of Franklin, Thoreau, Hemingway, Jack London, and Ezra Pound—and as an artist insisting upon the relevance of that tradition to the present. Thus, Brautigan is no casual tourist in the American canon; instead, his work provides an updating of quintessential themes and a series of implicit and explicit references to the trans-historical resonances of texts offering imaginative resistance to hegemonic control. The essay focuses on Brautigan's very short stories "The Scarlatti Tilt" (1970) and "A Short Story about Contemporary Life in California" (1969) as exemplifications of his ability to combine formal experimentation with intertextual allusion in commentaries on (post)modern American existence. Reading his fiction, it is apparent that Brautigan detects narratives and monuments that limit human freedom everywhere he looks and that he believes escaping the control they wield requires constant vigilance and imagination. This is a process that is exemplified in the very short stories that strip almost all the layers of representational form that are normally present in fiction.
No Laughing Matter: William Saroyan’s Californians in Crisis
Authors: Levonian Greg
Published: July 2012

“No Laughing Matter: William Saroyan’s Californians in Crisis” examines the conflicted and melancholy male protagonists of three Saroyan novels: Rock Wagram (1950), The Laughing Matter (1953), and Boys and Girls Together (1963). Edward Said’s thoughts on filiation and affiliation as well as Homi K. Bhabha’s notion of the “silent Other” speak to the unsteady first-generation males, who are victims of their Armenian American double-consciousness. Two of the protagonists grapple with deceased fathers and meet unfortunate fates on the roads of California, illustrating Saroyan’s nihilistic vision is consistent with that of James M. Cain and other California authors.
Translating the American West into English: The Case of Hendrik Conscience's Het Goudland
Authors: Boyden Michael , Vandenbussche Liselotte
Published: July 2012

This essay analyzes the US adaptations of Het Goudland (1862), an adventure novel about the California Gold Rush by the Flemish writer Hendrik Conscience (1812–1883). Contrary to other European writers of Western romances, Conscience refrained from romanticizing the West. Rather, he approached the hunt for gold as a symptom of moral decay in Belgian society at a time of intense social change. During the early 1880s, Het Goudland was adapted for an American audience in two English translations, The Boys of the Sierras (1883) and Off to California (1884). The translational changes reveal how the work was refunctionalized to fit into an emergent monolingualized vision of the West as a site of American self-realization. We argue that Conscience's novel was submitted to a threefold domesticating strategy to adjust its depiction of California and its inhabitants to an increasingly dominant Anglo-Protestant vision of the frontier: (1) the multilingualism of the original was flattened out; (2) Conscience's very negative portrayal of the West as a lawless nonplace was neutralized; and (3) the Roman-Catholic framework of the book was downplayed even while its eschatological dimension received added emphasis. Thus, the essay demonstrates that the American West as a cultural space was made not only within the borders of what is now the United States, but that this cultural construction depended in part on a selective engagement with international and multilingual traditions.
Morta Las Vegas
Authors: Tatum Stephen , Lewis Nathaniel
Published: July 2012

“Morta Las Vegas” focuses on Las Vegas through the lens provided by the “4×4” episode from the fifth season of CSI: Las Vegas. Like the episode, the essay itself has four segments or sections, each one nominally focusing on specific moments in this episode, but then branching out to consider larger issues having to do with postregional space/built environment, the interpenetration of history by spatial logic, and aesthetics of representation. The essay argues in general that through this CSI episode we see the lineaments of a postmodern/postregional West displayed in the built environment and in the narrative emphasis on repetition and the serial logic of reproduction. Even so, contra postmodern theorists of the hyperreal in the vein of Baudrillard and Jameson, we argue that in the end there is no complete erasure of the past and its historical traces. Rather, using Benjamin and Lefebvre as guides, we argue that CSI literally and metaphorically illustrates the past imprinting on the present through the murder mystery narrative logic and its spatial mise-en-scène.
West by Southeast: Peter Matthiessen's Florida Trilogy as Western Fiction
Authors: Abbott Carl
Published: July 2012

Set on the edge of settlement in Southwest Florida, Peter Matthiessen's trilogy based on the life and death of the planter E. J. Watson westernizes the South. Killing Mr. Watson, Lost Man's River , and Bone by Bone utilize themes and tropes that are common in fiction set on the frontiers of western North America. The trilogy is "western" fiction in terms of its plot of loner versus community, the character of its protagonist, who is depicted as a western desperado with experience in Oklahoma as well as the South, and description of Florida as a resource frontier experiencing rapacious development. The trilogy fits within a framework of historical interpretation that defines "frontier" in terms of shared social and economic conditions.
Peyote in the Kitchen: Gendered Identities and Imperial Domesticity in Edna Ferber's Cimarron
Authors: Zink Amanda
Published: July 2012

Edna Ferber's regional novels enjoyed popular acclaim as serial fiction in American magazines, show-stopping musicals on the Broadway stage, and epic sagas on the silver screen. Her 1925 novel So Big even won the Pulitzer Prize. But aside from Broadway revivals of Show Boat and late-night runs of films such as Giant and Cimarron on obscure cable television stations, Ferber's work rarely circulates popular venues or draws critical attention. This essay joins a nascent scholarly conversation about Ferber's work and an established critical dialogue about the role of white women in colonizing what would become the western half of the United States. Through the imperial domesticity of Sabra Cravat and the cultural exchanges between the Cravat family and the Osage people of Oklahoma, Ferber's Cimarron implicates American feminism for its colonial underpinnings and probes the complexities and costs of the relations between the colonizer and the colonized. Ferber narrates the price of white women's colonizing movement into the West, displaying both the desirability of cross-cultural exchange and white women's resistance to exchange. Cimarron exposes the fallout of cultural synthesis, for in this novel, Ferber undermines any sense of cultural security about "the way things are." In Cimarron, border-crossing and boundary-blurring demystify staid beliefs about American femininity and masculinity, class distinction and work ethic, and biological markers of racial difference.
Customer Clusters as Sources of Innovation-Based Competitive Advantage
Authors: Bindroo Vishal , Mariadoss Babu John , Pillai Rajani Ganesh
Published: July 2012

The authors examine the effect of customer clusters on a firm's innovation. They argue that knowledge leveraged from customer clusters can help the firm develop innovations. The authors specifically concentrate on the effect of a firm's geographical proximity and diversity of customer clusters on innovation outcomes. In addition to showing the importance of customer cluster proximity on firm innovation, they explore the effect of customer cluster heterogeneity on innovation in an international marketing environment. They test the theoretical model using multicountry data (N = 288) drawn from the U.K. innovation survey implemented by the Economic and Social Research Council, which collected the data across five European countries. Theoretical constructs operate largely as hypothesized and explain a substantial proportion of the variation in the different innovation outcomes tested.
Determinants of Joint Action in International Channels of Distribution: The Moderating Role of Psychic Distance
Authors: Johnston Wesley J. , Khalil Shadab , Jain Megha , Cheng Julian Ming-Sung
Published: July 2012

Joint action, a key element of relational exchanges, has largely been ignored in the international channel literature, and not much is known about the determinants of joint action in cross-border exchanges. In view of this, the authors investigate the role of interchannel communication in motivating buyers for joint action in cross-border channel exchange relationships. The authors also propose and examine the moderating effect of psychic distance, a crucial aspect of cross-border exchanges. They use partial least squares to analyze survey data collected from Taiwanese importers, and the findings reveal that trust and satisfaction fully mediate the relationships between frequent and bidirectional communication and joint action. The authors also confirm the detrimental moderating impact of psychic distance on the relationships between communication facets and relational mediators (trust and satisfaction). However, psychic distance does not hinder the relationships between the relational mediators and joint action. The research provides insights into two underresearched areas—namely, joint action and intercultural communication—and advances theoretical understanding on how to encourage joint action in psychically distinct buyers and sellers.
Is Product Imitation Good for Firm Performance? An Examination of Product Imitation Types and Contingency Factors
Authors: Lee Ruby P. , Zhou Kevin Zheng
Published: July 2012

Despite the prevailing phenomenon of product imitation in transition economies, theoretical development of product imitation strategies still lags behind anecdotal evidence. The authors distinguish between pure imitation and creative imitation and examine their contingent effects on firm performance. They test hypotheses on data collected from multiple sources, including top and middle managers and archival financial data from 192 firms in China. The findings indicate that creative imitation has a stronger positive effect on financial performance (i.e., lagged return on assets) than pure imitation. Furthermore, pure imitation and creative imitation, when coupled with strong marketing capability, positively affect market performance (i.e., market share). Finally, compared with their local counterparts, foreign firms operating in China benefit less from pure and creative imitations in terms of financial performance.
Stakeholder Theory and Marketing: Moving from a Firm-Centric to a Societal Perspective
Authors: Laczniak Gene R. , Murphy Patrick E.
Published: July 2012

This essay is inspired by the ideas and research examined in the special section on “Stakeholder Marketing” of the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing in 2010. The authors argue that stakeholder marketing is slowly coalescing with the broader thinking that has occurred in the stakeholder management and ethics literature streams during the past quarter century. However, the predominant view of stakeholders that many marketers advocate is still primarily pragmatic and company centric. The position advanced herein is that stronger forms of stakeholder marketing that reflect more normative, macro/societal, and network-focused orientations are necessary. The authors briefly explain and justify these characteristics in the context of the growing “prosociety” and “proenvironment” perspectives—orientations that are also in keeping with the public policy focus of this journal. Under the “hard form” of stakeholder theory, which the authors endorse, marketing managers must realize that serving stakeholders sometimes requires sacrificing maximum profits to mitigate outcomes that would inflict major damage on other stakeholders, especially society.
Precarious Dystopias: The Hunger Games, in Time, and Never Let Me Go
Authors: Fisher Mark
Published: July 2012

Survey of three recent movie dystopias—The Hunger Games, In Time, Never Let Me Go—that explore the politics of precariousness, dramatizing the predicament of exploitation in both fatalistic and tentatively hopeful ways.
Information Managers: The Andromeda Strain and The Man Who Fell to Earth
Authors: Tyree J. M.
Published: July 2012

Discussion of technology, technocracy, and computerization in two landmark 1970s science-fiction films: Robert Wise's The Andromeda Strain and Nicolas Roeg's The Man Who Fell to Earth.
Inhaled Prostacyclin and High-Frequency Oscillatory Ventilation in a Premature Infant With Respiratory Syncytial Virus–Associated Respiratory Failure
Authors: Gupta Manoj , Guertin Stephen , Martin Steve , Omar Said
Published: July 2012

In a 29-day-old premature infant with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) pneumonia, we have shown an additive effect of high-frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV) and continuous inhalation of prostacyclin (iPGI2) with improvement of ventilation and oxygenation. The addition of continuous inhaled iPGI2 to HFOV was beneficial in the treatment of hypoxemic respiratory failure owing to RSV-associated pneumonia. The improvement in alveolar recruitment by increasing lung expansion by HFOV along with less ventilation-perfusion mismatch by iPGI2 appears to be responsible for the synergistic effect and favorable clinical outcome. We conclude that the combined therapy of HFOV and continuous inhaled iPGI2 may be considered in RSV-associated hypoxemic respiratory failure in pediatric patients.
Racial Disparity Trends in Children’s Dental Visits: US National Health Interview Survey, 1964–2010
Authors: Isong Inyang A. , Soobader Mah-J , Fisher-Owens Susan A. , Weintraub Jane A. , Gansky Stuart A. , Platt Larry J. , Newacheck Paul W.
Published: July 2012

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE:

Research that has repeatedly documented marked racial/ethnic disparities in US children’s receipt of dental care at single time points or brief periods has lacked a historical policy perspective, which provides insight into how these disparities have evolved over time. Our objective was to examine the im-pact of national health policies on African American and white children’s receipt of dental care from 1964 to 2010.

METHODS:

We analyzed data on race and dental care utilization for children aged 2 to 17 years from the 1964, 1976, 1989, 1999, and 2010 National Health Interview Survey. Dependent variables were as follows: child’s receipt of a dental visit in the previous 12 months and child’s history of never having had a dental visit. Primary independent variable was race (African American/white). We calculated sample prevalences, and χ2 tests compared African American/white prevalences by year. We age-standardized estimates to the 2000 US Census.

RESULTS:

The percentage of African American and white children in the United States without a dental visit in the previous 12 months declined significantly from 52.4% in 1964 to 21.7% in 2010, whereas the percentage of children who had never had a dental visit declined significantly (P < .01) from 33.6% to 10.6%. Pronounced African American/white disparities in children’s dental utilization rates, whereas large and statistically significant in 1964, attenuated and became nonsignificant by 2010.

CONCLUSIONS:

We demonstrate a dramatic narrowing of African American/white disparities in 2 measures of children’s receipt of dental services from 1964 to 2010. Yet, much more needs to be done before persistent racial disparities in children’s oral health status are eliminated.
Academic Achievement Varies With Gestational Age Among Children Born at Term
Authors: Noble Kimberly G. , Fifer William P. , Rauh Virginia A. , Nomura Yoko , Andrews Howard F.
Published: July 2012

OBJECTIVE:

The goal of this study was to examine the degree to which children born within the “normal term” range of 37 to 41 weeks’ gestation vary in terms of school achievement.

METHODS:

This study analyzed data from 128 050 singleton births born between 37 and 41 weeks’ gestation in a large US city. Data were extracted from city birth records to assess a number of obstetric, social, and economic variables, at both the individual and community levels. Birth data were then matched with public school records of standardized city-wide third-grade reading and math tests. Specifically, we assessed (1) whether children born within the normal term range of 37 to 41 weeks’ gestation show differences in reading and/or math ability 8 years later as a function of gestational age, and (2) the degree to which a wide range of individual- and community-level social and biological factors mediate this effect.

RESULTS:

Analyses revealed that gestational age within the normal term range was significantly and positively related to reading and math scores in third grade, with achievement scores for children born at 37 and 38 weeks significantly lower than those for children born at 39, 40, or 41 weeks. This effect was independent of birth weight, as well as a number of other obstetric, social, and economic factors.

CONCLUSIONS:

Earlier normal term birth may be a characteristic considered by researchers, clinicians, and parents to help identify children who may be at risk for poorer school performance.
Duration of Protection of Pentavalent Rotavirus Vaccination in Nicaragua
Authors: Patel Manish , Pedreira Cristina , De Oliveira Lucia Helena , Umaña Jazmina , Tate Jacqueline , Lopman Ben , Sanchez Edmundo , Reyes Martha , Mercado Juan , Gonzalez Alcides , Perez Maria Celina , Balmaceda Angel , Andrus Jon , Parashar Umesh
Published: July 2012

OBJECTIVE:

To evaluate the duration of protection of pentavaent rotavirus vaccine (RV5) against rotavirus hospitalizations in Nicaragua, a developing country in Central America.

METHODS:

We conducted a case-control study at 4 hospitals from 2007 through 2010, including 1016 children hospitalized with laboratory-confirmed rotavirus diarrhea, 4930 controls with nonrotavirus diarrhea (ie, “test-negative”), and 5627 controls without diarrhea. All cases and controls were aged ≥6 months and born after August 2006. Outcomes included odds of antecedent vaccination between case-patients and controls, and effectiveness of vaccination (1 – adjusted odds ratio [OR] × 100). Duration of protection was assessed by comparing effectiveness among children aged <1 year compared with ≥1 year.

RESULTS:

Indicators of socioeconomic conditions and nonrotavirus vaccination (oral polio vaccine and diphtheria/tetanus/pertussis/hepatitis A/hepatitis B) for test-negative controls were more comparable to the rotavirus case-patients than nondiarrhea controls. RV5 vaccination was associated with a significantly lower risk of rotavirus hospitalization by using test-negative controls (OR: 0.55; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.41–0.74) and nondiarrhea controls (OR: 0.30; 95% CI: 0.22–0.40). Risk of rotavirus hospitalization was twofold lower among RV5 vaccinated children aged <1 year (OR: 0.36; 95% CI: 0.22–0.57) compared with RV5 vaccinated children aged ≥1 year (OR: 0.70; 95% CI: 0.47–1.05).

CONCLUSIONS:

RV5 provided good protection against severe rotavirus disease in Nicaragua during the first year of life, when most severe and fatal rotavirus disease in developing countries occurs. However, the decline in protection with age warrants monitoring of disease among older children and consideration of a booster dose evaluation at the end of infancy.
Tonsillectomy Care for the Pediatrician
Authors: Isaacson Glenn
Published: July 2012

Pediatricians play an important role in the perioperative care of hospitalized children after tonsillectomy and are often called upon to manage posttonsillectomy problems in the outpatient setting. The tonsillectomy operation has changed in recent years. More children are operated upon for sleep disordered breathing and fewer for recurrent pharyngitis. New instruments now permit less invasive surgery. Systematic reviews by the Cochrane Collaboration and others have helped define best practices for preoperative assessment and postoperative care. This article will outline these practices as defined in the 2011 American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery Foundation clinical practice guideline “Tonsillectomy in Children.” It will describe the different tonsillectomy operations, discuss patterns of normal healing, and review management of pain and posttonsillectomy hemorrhage to form a foundation for improved pediatric care.
Adherence to PALS Sepsis Guidelines and Hospital Length of Stay
Authors: Paul Raina , Neuman Mark I. , Monuteaux Michael C. , Melendez Elliot
Published: July 2012

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:

Few studies have evaluated sepsis guideline adherence in a tertiary pediatric emergency department setting. We sought to evaluate (1) adherence to 2006 Pediatric Advanced Life Support guidelines for severe sepsis and septic shock (SS), (2) barriers to adherence, and (3) hospital length of stay (LOS) contingent on guideline adherence.

METHODS:

Prospective cohort study of children presenting to a large urban academic pediatric emergency department with SS. Adherence to 5 algorithmic time-specific goals was reviewed: early recognition of SS, obtaining vascular access, administering intravenous fluids, delivery of vasopressors for fluid refractory shock, and antibiotic administration. Adherence to each time-defined goal and adherence to all 5 components as a bundle were reviewed. A detailed electronic medical record analysis evaluated adherence barriers. The association between guideline adherence and hospital LOS was evaluated by using multivariate negative binomial regression.

RESULTS:

A total of 126 patients had severe sepsis (14%) or septic shock (86%). The median age was 9 years (interquartile range, 3–16). There was a 37% and 35% adherence rate to fluid and inotrope guidelines, respectively. Nineteen percent adhered to the 5-component bundle. Patients who received 60 mL/kg of intravenous fluids within 60 minutes had a 57% shorter hospital LOS (P = .039) than children who did not. Complete bundle adherence resulted in a 57% shorter hospital LOS (P = .009).

CONCLUSIONS:

Overall adherence to Pediatric Advanced Life Support sepsis guidelines was low; however, when patients were managed within the guideline’s recommendations, patients had significantly shorter duration of hospitalization.
Hungarian Diet and Nutritional Status Survey – The OTAP2009 study. II. Energy and macronutrient intake of the Hungarian population
Authors: Sarkadi Nagy Eszter , Bakacs Márta , Illés Éva , Zentai Andrea , Lugasi Andrea , Martos Éva
Published: July 2012

The Hungarian Diet and Nutritional Status Survey is the fourth in the row of the Hungarian national dietary surveys conducted by the Institute for Food and Nutrition Science. Aims: The present study was performed to provide valid, up-to-date data on energy and nutrient intakes and dietary habits of the Hungarian adult population. Methods: The energy and nutrient intakes were calculated on validated three-day dietary records of a representative sample by age and gender of the Hungarian population aged ≥18 ys. Results: The energy percentage of fat was too high (39 E% for men and 36 E% for women), that of carbohydrate was too low (45 E% for men and 48 E% for women), whereas that of protein met the recommendation (15 E% for men and 15 E% for women). Conclusions: Reduction of the nutritional risk factors would greatly reduce the mortality and morbidity rates of nutrition-related diseases. Orv. Hetil., 2012, 153, 1057–1067.
Type 1 diabetes mellitus: most recent advances in its pathogenesis and treatment
Authors: Zóka András , Somogyi Anikó , Firneisz Gábor
Published: July 2012

The incidence and prevalence of diabetes mellitus is globally increasing. The causes of this trend are relatively obvious in the case of type 2 diabetes. In contrast, in case of type 1 diabetes the amount of available data is continuously growing, but the causes are not so well defined. The genetic risk, especially related to the MHC genes is well known, and the increasing amount of data underlines the role of additional risks due to non-MHC genetic polimorphisms. Hopefully, they will provide the basis for future diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. There is increasing knowledge about the pathophysiological aspects including the role of immunological disregulation (balance of autotolerance, role of regulatory T-cells) and environmental triggers (nutrients, viruses). Information on the entero-insular axis and the β-cell protective role of incretin hormones might offer an opportunity for new therapeutic strategies. In this paper, the authors try to summarize some current aspects of the pathomechanism and related therapeutic approaches. Orv. Hetil., 2012, 153, 1047–1056.
O apoio da rede social a transexuais femininas
Authors: Soares Milene , Feijó Marianne Ramos , Valério Nelson Iguimar , Siquieri Carmem Lúcia dos Santos Maia , Pinto Maria Jaqueline Coelho
Published: July 2012

O presente estudo teve como objetivo compreender a relação atual de transexuais femininas com suas redes sociais. Participaram cinco pacientes submetidas à cirurgia de transgenitalização em um hospital público do interior do Estado de São Paulo, Brasil. Elas responderam à entrevista semi-estruturada e a perguntas para a construção de Genogramas e Mapas de Rede. Os dados foram compreendidos de forma qualitativa a partir da teoria sistêmico-cibernética novo paradigmática. As entrevistadas relataram situações em que sentiram apoio, inclusive diante da decisão de operar, mas também descreveram situações nas quais sentiram humilhação e exclusão pelo fato de expressarem e viverem sua sexualidade de forma diferente da maioria das pessoas. O estudo mostrou que ainda prevalece a posição heteronormativa, sustentando preconceitos e atos de discriminação direcionados às mulheres transexuais.
Intervenção interdisciplinar enquanto estratégia para o Uso Racional de Medicamentos em idosos
Authors: Medeiros Eloá Fátima Ferreira , Moraes Clayton Franco , Karnikowski Mauro , Nóbrega Otávio Toledo , Karnikowski Margô Gomes de Oliveira
Published: July 2012

A presente pesquisa avaliou a efetividade de intervenções interdisciplinares, envolvendo médicos, farmacêuticos e nutricionistas, destinadas à promoção do Uso Racional dos Medicamentos. Trata-se de um estudo de caráter prospectivo e analítico, com uma população de mulheres idosas, onde a efetividade da intervenção foi avaliada de acordo com indicadores de Uso Racional dos Medicamentos preconizados pela Organização Mundial de Saúde. As análises estatísticas foram realizadas utilizando-se do teste t ou one-way ANOVA para variáveis discretas, e o teste de qui-quadrado para avaliação categórica das variáveis. Após a intervenção, houve uma redução média no consumo de medicamentos em relação às consultas da pré-intervenção (p=0,001). Os medicamentos utilizados na terapêutica cardiovascular foram os mais consumidos, o que se encontra em consonância com as doenças autoreferidas pelas idosas. Foi possível verificar que a intervenção interdisciplinar em idosas pôde contribuir para melhoria dos indicadores de Uso Racional dos Medicamentos, em especial os de prescrição.
Halloysite as support matrices: a review
Authors: Rawtani Deepak , Agrawal Yadvendra K.
Published: July 2012

Developing new applications of natural resources is an interesting area of science. Clay minerals are very versatile materials and have attracted more attention due to their wide applications in various fields for more than a decade. Naturally occurring clay minerals offer a great potential, due to their specific structure (layered and three-dimensional), in several technological applications based on the adsorptive and ionic exchange properties. Halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) are naturally occurring clays with nanotubular structures. Various features such as nanoscale lumens, high length-to-diameter ratio, and low-hydroxyl-group density on the surface of halloysite make them an attractive alternative to other materials; simultaneously, their abundance and cheap cost enhance their utility. Applications of halloysite include various fields such as controlled drug release, nanotemplating, sorption, and fabrication of polymer nanocomposites. Recently, because of features like higher reactivity, higher cationic exchange, and tubular geometry, halloysite has been recognized as an attractive candidate to perform as a catalytic support for polymerization as well as immobilization reactions. The unique structure of HNT provides not only support to catalyst but it also enhances the performance of HNT-supported catalyst for various applications. Numerous studies suggest that halloysite and catalyst complex exhibit tremendous performance for the recovery of catalyst complex as well as for easy and safe administration of catalyst. In continuum, HNTs should be material of interest as a support for various structural and functional applications.
Taguchi and Anova approach for optimisation of design parameters on the compressive strength of HSC
Authors: Uysal Mucteba
Published: July 2012

In this study, the effect of cement type, cement dosage, superplasticiser type and mineral admixture on the compressive strength of high-strength concrete (HSC) was investigated experimentally and statistically. The concrete mixtures were prepared using two different cement types (ordinary Portland cement and white Portland cement), two different cement dosages (450 and 550 kg/m3), two different superplasticisers (polycarboxylate based and modified polycarboxylate based) and two different mineral admixtures (silica fume and fly ash). After being cured under the standard conditions for 2, 7, 28 and 90 days, the specimens were tested for the compressive strength. The Taguchi method was used to determine the optimum conditions and to reduce the number of experiments. Five control factors such as time, cement type, cement dosage, superplasticiser and mineral admixture were used for this study. The results showed that the parameter that most influenced the compressive strength properties of HSC was time.
Bridge pier scour prediction by gene expression programming
Authors: Khan Mujahid , Azamathulla Hazi M. , Tufail Mohammad , Ab Ghani Aminuddin
Published: July 2012

Extensive research has been carried out to predict bridge pier scour, with laboratory and field data, using different modelling techniques. This study introduces a new soft computing technique called gene expression programming (GEP) for pier scour depth prediction using field data. A functional relationship has been established using GEP and its performance is compared with other inductive modelling techniques such as artificial neural networks (ANNs) and conventional regression-based techniques. Field data comprising 370 data sets were collected from the published literature and divided into calibration and validation (testing) data sets. The performance of GEP was found to be satisfactory and encouraging when compared with regression and ANN models in predicting bridge pier scour depth. GEP has the unique capability of providing a compact and explicit mathematical expression for computing bridge scour. This advantage of GEP over ANN is one of the main motivations for this work. The resulting GEP models add to the existing literature on artificial intelligence based inductive models that can be used effectively for bridge scour modelling.
Bird assemblage response to restoration of fire‐suppressed longleaf pine sandhills
Authors: Steen David A. , Conner L. M. , Smith Lora L. , Provencher Louis , Hiers J. Kevin , Pokswinski Scott , Helms Brian S. , Guyer Craig
Published: July 2012

The ecological restoration of fire‐suppressed habitats may require a multifaceted approach. Removal of hardwood trees together with reintroduction of fire has been suggested as a method of restoring fire‐suppressed longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) forests; however, this strategy, although widespread, has not been evaluated on large spatial and temporal scales. We used a landscape‐scale experimental design to examine how bird assemblages in fire‐suppressed longleaf pine sandhills responded to fire alone or fire following mechanical removal or herbicide application to reduce hardwood levels. Individual treatments were compared to fire‐suppressed controls and reference sites. After initial treatment, all sites were managed with prescribed fire, on an approximately two‐ to three‐year interval, for over a decade. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling ordinations suggested that avian assemblages on sites that experienced any form of hardwood removal differed from assemblages on both fire‐suppressed sites and reference sites 3–4 years after treatment (i.e., early posttreatment). After >10 years of prescribed burning on all sites (i.e., late posttreatment), only assemblages at sites treated with herbicide were indistinguishable from assemblages at reference sites. By the end of the study, individual species that were once indicators of reference sites no longer contributed to making reference sites unique. Occupancy modeling of these indicator species also demonstrated increasing similarity across treatments over time. Overall, although we documented long‐term and variable assemblage‐level change, our results indicate occupancy for birds considered longleaf pine specialists was similar at treatment and reference sites after over a decade of prescribed burning, regardless of initial method of hardwood removal. In other words, based on the response of species highly associated with the habitat, we found no justification for the added cost and effort of fire surrogates; fire alone was sufficient to restore these species.
Self-Management Support in Chronic Illness Care: A Concept Analysis
Authors: Kawi Jennifer
Published: July 2012

Purpose: This article reports on the concept analysis of self-management support (SMS) to provide clarity for systematic implementation in practice. Background: SMS is a concept in its early phase of development. It is increasingly evident in literature on chronic illness care. However, the definition has been simplified or vague leading to variable SMS programs and inconsistent outcomes. Elucidation of SMS is necessary in chronic illness care to facilitate clear understanding and implementation. Method: Rodgers’ evolutionary concept analysis method was used to examine SMS. Data sources included systematic multidisciplinary searches of multiple search engines. Results: SMS refers to comprehensive sustaining approaches toward improving chronic illness outcomes consisting of patient-centered attributes (involving patients as partners; providing diverse, innovative educational modalities specific to patients’ needs; individualizing patient care), provider attributes (possessing adequate knowledge, skills, attitudes in providing care), and organizational attributes (putting an organized system of care in place, having multidisciplinary team approach, using tangible and social support). Implications: A well-clarified SMS concept is important in theory development. The attributes offer necessary components in SMS programs for systematic implementation, evaluation, and research. There is great potential that SMS can help improve outcomes of chronic illness care.
Assessment of microbial growth potential of PVC flexible tubing in contact with drinking water
Authors: Tsvetanova Z. G. , Hoekstra E. J.
Published: July 2012

Plasticized polyvinyl chloride (PVCp) tubes are commonly used to transport drinking water to public coffee vending machines, ice machines or water fountains. In contrast to pipe materials, the materials used beyond the consumer's tap are considered to be in contact with food and need to comply with the European Regulation for food contact materials; this, however, does not contain specific requirements about the enhancement of microbial growth. The aims of this study were to estimate microbial growth on PVCp tubes which were used to transport water to the types of machines noted above and to compare two methods of evaluating their net microbial growth potential. Four PVCp brands were tested for enhancement of microbial growth using a tube immersion test (the original Biomass Production Potential test) and a new tube filling test. Under field operating conditions, significant amounts of active biofilm accumulated on the PVCp-I tubes thereby impacting on water quality. In the laboratory test, the amount of biofilms on PVCp tubes and bacterial regrowth in the water depended on brand and were influenced by the surface-to-volume (S/V) contact ratio. To protect consumers' health, the microbial growth promoting potential of PVCp tubes should be taken into consideration when these products are in contact with drinking water.
Treatment of Metastatic Breast Cancer in Women Aged 65 Years and Older
Authors: Jolly Trevor , Williams Grant R , Jones Ellen , Muss Hyman B
Published: July 2012

Breast cancer is a disease of aging and the incidence of breast cancer increases dramatically with increasing age. In spite of major advances in prevention, screening and treatment approximately 40,000 Americans still die of metastatic breast cancer every year – the majority being women aged 65 years and older. Metastatic breast cancer remains incurable regardless of age and the goals of treatment are to reduce symptoms when present and to provide the patient with the best quality of life for as long as possible. Cornerstones of treatment to control metastases include endocrine therapy, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Supportive care that includes psychosocial support and treatment of pain is also a key component of management. This review focuses on the issues related to the care of older women with metastatic breast cancer.
Effects of Surgical Excision of Endometriosis regarding Quality of Life and Psychological Well-Being: A Review
Authors: Fritzer Nadja , Tammaa Ayman , Salzer Heinrich , Hudelist Gernot
Published: July 2012

The aim of the present work is to give a critical and detailed reflection on the effects of surgical resection of deep infiltrating endometriosis regarding reduction of symptoms, psychological well-being and quality of life. The current evidence strongly supports the effectiveness of radical laparoscopic resection in relieving endometriosis-associated symptoms and enhancing psychological well-being. In addition, studies suggest a general improvement of quality of life, however, further studies are needed to support this observation.
Disparities in Heart Failure and other Cardiovascular Diseases among Women
Authors: McSweeney Jean , Pettey Christina , Lefler Leanne L , Heo Seongkum
Published: July 2012

This article reviews literature pertinent to cardiovascular disparities in women, focusing primarily on heart failure (HF). It provides an in-depth look at causes, biological influences, self-management and lack of adherence to HF-treatment guidelines in women. Disparities in treatment of causative factors of HF, such as myocardial infarction and hypertension, contribute to women having poorer HF outcomes than men. This article discusses major contributing reasons for nonadherence to medication regimes for HF in women, including advanced age at time of diagnosis, likelihood of multiple comorbidities, lack of social support and low socioeconomic status. Limited inclusion of women in clinical trials and the scarcity of gender analyses for HF and other cardiovascular diseases continues to limit the applicability of research findings to women.
Novel Antiangiogenic Therapies in Ovarian Cancer
Authors: Stuckey Ashley , Dizon Don S
Published: July 2012

Epithelial ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death in the developed world for women with gynecologic carcinomas. Despite the effectiveness of platinum salts and taxanes as primary treatments, approximately 80% of women will recur and for them prognosis with available treatments is poor. Of the novel mechanisms under active investigation, there is ample evidence to indicate that angiogenesis is important to the development, progression and poor prognosis of ovarian cancer. Novel treatments are therefore required. A number of agents are undergoing evaluation, including vascular disrupting agents, angiogenesis inhibitors, tyrosine kinase inhibitors and agents targeting the folate receptor. At present, Phase III data are only available for the VEGF-targeted monoclonal antibody, bevacizumab, and that has demonstrated a progression-free survival benefit when used in combination with first-line paclitaxel/carboplatin and continued as maintenance therapy. The strategy of inhibiting angiogenesis in ovarian cancer remains promising. However, other agents in development may point to other important targets in ovarian cancer.
Androgens in Women before and after the Menopause and Post Bilateral Oophorectomy: Clinical Effects and Indications for Testosterone Therapy
Authors: Davey Dennis A
Published: July 2012

In postmenopausal women, the ovaries produce significant amounts of androgens for many years after the menopause. Bilateral oophorectomy markedly reduces circulating testosterone (T) in both pre- and postmenopausal women. Oral estrogen therapy in postmenopausal women increases sex hormone-binding globulin and decreases T bioavailablity. Circulating androgens decrease with increasing age. The occurrence of an androgen deficiency syndrome associated with loss of libido and sense of well-being is disputed, but in several randomized controlled trials, transdermal T patches produced a significant improvement in hypoactive sexual desire disorder in postmenopausal women who had bilateral oophorectomy and in some women who had a natural menopause. T therapy is legitimate and is clinically indicated in such women. T therapy may have other benefits in postmenopausal women including an increase in lean body mass and bone mineral density. T therapy should become an integral part of hormone therapy in selected postmenopausal women in the future.