bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Direct measurement of the protein response to an electrostatic perturbation that mimics the catalytic cycle in ketosteroid isomerase
Authors: Jha Santosh Kumar , Ji Minbiao , Gaffney Kelly J. , Boxer Steven G.
Published: September 2011

Understanding how electric fields and their fluctuations in the active site of enzymes affect efficient catalysis represents a critical objective of biochemical research. We have directly measured the dynamics of the electric field in the active site of a highly proficient enzyme, Δ
5
-3-ketosteroid isomerase (KSI), in response to a sudden electrostatic perturbation that simulates the charge displacement that occurs along the KSI catalytic reaction coordinate. Photoexcitation of a fluorescent analog (coumarin 183) of the reaction intermediate mimics the change in charge distribution that occurs between the reactant and intermediate state in the steroid substrate of KSI. We measured the electrostatic response and angular dynamics of four probe dipoles in the enzyme active site by monitoring the time-resolved changes in the vibrational absorbance (IR) spectrum of a spectator thiocyanate moiety (a quantitative sensor of changes in electric field) placed at four different locations in and around the active site, using polarization-dependent transient vibrational Stark spectroscopy. The four different dipoles in the active site remain immobile and do not align to the changes in the substrate electric field. These results indicate that the active site of KSI is preorganized with respect to functionally relevant changes in electric fields.
Isolation, culture and characterization of chicken primordial germ cells
Authors: Xin-Yan Tang , Wei-Dong Zeng , Yu-Ling Mi , Hong-Yun Liu , Cai-Qiao Zhang
Published: September 2011

Primordial germ cells (PGCs) were isolated from the genital ridges of chicken (Gallus domesticus) embryos at the 19th stage and purified by Ficoll density-gradient centrifugation. PGCs were co-cultured with somatic cells in preliminary culture and subcultured. Identification of PGCs was carried out by histochemical methods, including alkaline phosphatase (AKP) and periodic acid–Schiff (PAS). The proliferating activity of PGCs in subculture was demonstrated by immunocytochemistry of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA). Meanwhile, proliferating PGCs were compared under different culture conditions of 5–20% fetal cattle serum (FCS), insulin–transferrin–selenite (ITS) medium, conditioned medium (CM), 15% FCS+ITS, 15% FCS+40% CM. The results showed that the cultured PGCs were positive for AKP and PAS staining and displayed intensive proliferating activity by PCNA. The PGCs without centrifugation grew better than those with centrifugation. The PGCs formed larger colonies in media with 5% FCS or ITS than other media, indicating that 5% FCS or ITS supplemented media could be an ideal culture system for PGC proliferation in the PGC-somatic cell co-culture, in addition to the embryonic fibroblast feeder layer.
The normalization method for cDNA microarray data
Authors: Ji-Gang Zhang , Qin Zhang , Zong-Jun Yin
Published: September 2011

The widely used processing method for cDNA microarray data involves background correction, log-ratio transformation and data normalization before the statistical testing can be done. Here we propose a method that avoids the log-transformation step in view of its drawbacks, but goes directly to normalization after background correction. This method could better estimate the ‘noise’ effect by utilizing the information more effectively. Simulation studies were carried out to compare the feasibility and efficiency of this approach for eliminating experimental ‘noise’ with the log-ratio approach. Results showed that our approach worked well and the method was more robust and powerful than the log-ratio approach.
Cloning and sequence analysis of the leucine-rich repeats region of cereal cyst nematode resistance gene
Authors: Xu-Guang Zhai , Yi Liu , Fang Wu , Guang-Bing Deng , Zhi-Fen Pan , Mao-Qun Yu
Published: September 2011

According to the sequence of Rccn4, which is highly similar to the nucleotide-binding site (NBS) coding region of the cereal cyst nematode resistance gene, Cre3, three 3′ nested primers were designed to amplify its 3′ flanking region through single oligonucleotide nested polymerase chain reaction (SON-PCR). One 1264 bp band, Rccn-L, was amplified from E-10, a wheat–Aegilops variabilis translocation line containing the cereal cyst nematode resistance gene from Ae. variabilis. Sequence analysis showed that Rccn-L possesses the 3′ flanking sequence of Rccn4 and contains a 55 bp-sized consensus sequence with Rccn4. The coding region was 1026 bp, consisting of an incomplete open reading frame, a terminator codon and no initiation codon and intron; it encoded a peptide of 342 amino acid residues and shared 86% nucleotide sequence identity with Cre3. The peptide had a conserved leucine-rich repeat (LRR) domain, containing the imperfect repeats, XXLXXLXXL, comprising 17% leucine residues, and shares, respectively, 89% nucleotide sequence and 78% amino acid sequence identity with the LRR sequence of the Cre3 locus. In the present study, SON-PCR was used successfully, for the first time, in plant genome research and proved to be a valuable method in plant gene cloning. The acquirement of Rccn-L established the foundation for obtaining the complete Rccn gene and further structural and functional investigations.
Revisionists, Oil and Cold War Diplomacy
Authors: Doenecke Justus D.
Published: September 2011

It would indeed be surprising if the recent controversy over revisionist scholarship and the Cold War did not extend to Iran. For the last two decades, most American historians have asserted that United States involvement in Iran was fundamentally a response to Soviet penetration, made manifest during World War II when Russia tried to establish a puppet regime in Azerbaijan. According to the “orthodox” school of Cold War scholarship, America first took an overt interest in Persia in 1946. President Truman sent his “blunt message” to Stalin, the State Department protested sharply, and the United Nations Security Council asked for Russian withdrawal. The Soviets, after boycotting the United Nations discussions, left the territory. America, a disinterested power, had suddenly awaken to her world responsibilities and come to the rescue.
Persian Sufism in its Historical Perspective
Authors: Zarrinkoob A. H. , Zarrinkoob Abdol-Hosein
Published: September 2011

The eight sections of the present essay are drawn from the lectures I delivered at Princeton University and at the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1969-1970. Because of the diverse nature of the audience I did not go into the details that would be necessary in a new approach to a traditional problem. Instead, my principal aim was to present a brief sketch of the contents of what may be called Persian mysticism, while showing at the same time the remarkable role that this variety of Islamic mysticism has played in the cultural development of Persia.

The origins of Sufism—as Islamic mysticism is generally called—presents a very controversial problem indeed, but that Persia was the cradle of early Sufism is beyond doubt. Moreover, if mysticism is taken to be—as it usually is—an expression of man's belief in direct connection with the godhead, the well-known ethical concepts of the Zoroastrians—for whom every particular deed of daily life, good or bad, is the joint product of man and either the principle of Good or of Evil—might also be considered as unconscious expressions of a pantheistic type of mysticism.
Syntactic and Semantic Categories of Echo Words in Persian
Authors: Nilsen Don L. F.
Published: September 2011

The entire Persian-speaking world, including Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan, has had a very long and colorful tradition in oral literature. Since memorization has long been an integral part of Persian culture, rhyming as an aid to memorization has been especially prevalent in Persian literature. Because of this, and because of the oral tradition in general, Persian speakers have long been especially conscious of rhyming patterns. It is the purpose of this paper to investigate what morphological and syntactic devices are used to form rhyming patterns (as well as alliteration and assonance patterns) in Persian, and to investigate the effect that these rhyming patterns have on Persian grammar. In addition, the paper will attempt to determine what semantic categories are especially amenable to echo-word formation.

The least significant, and probably the least deliberate of syntactic devices for echo-word formation in Persian, is the use of various suffixes and prefixes.
The Politics of Iranology
Authors: Enayat Hamid
Published: September 2011

It may at first seem strange to speak of the politics of Iranology since until recently Iranology was so much confined within the limits of archaeology, linguistics, bibliography and other “micro” studies that any suggestion about its possible implications smacked of too conspiratorial an outlook of history. Yet if one sets aside the often unverifiable question of deliberate or non-deliberate political motives, there remains little doubt that Iranology has always been involved with politics. This statement is not difficult to prove in the case of the present phase of Iranology, when an increasing number of Iranian scholars are taking the initiative in the field, and a growing number of issues relating to the contemporary sociopolitical life of Iranians have become susceptible to political interpretation. The difficulty arises with regard to the formative period of Iranology when it was a preserve of European Orientalism and whose great pioneers were long thought to be inspired by nothing less than a pure love of knowledge. It is with this formative period of Iranology that the present paper purports to deal.
Direct Foreign Investment in the Non-Oil Sectors of the Iranian Economy
Authors: Nowshirvani Vahid F. , Bildner Robert
Published: September 2011

The world-wide expansion of multinational corporations and the concomitant rise in direct foreign investment have recently received considerable attention from economists. A continuing controversy has existed over the costs and benefits of foreign investment to both the capital-exporting and the host countries. The conflict between the interests of foreign capital and the "national" interest is particularly noticeable in the underdeveloped countries. While many of these countries have opted for the "free enterprise" path to economic growth, they lack the technical and administrative expertise, as well as political will, to explore alternatives to the foreign investment as an instrument for gaining access to the industrial countries' technological know-how and markets. At the same time there is a gradual realization that the alleged benefits of foreign investment are not automatic and that the costs may be substantial.
Literature in Pre-Safavid Isfahan
Authors: Chelkowski Peter
Published: September 2011

The most common classification of Persian literature is the classification according to geographical divisions. The literary style sabk carries the name of the geographical area in which it reached its climax. The boundaries of these divisions, however, are very flexible.

The three main literary styles which follow each other consecutively are known as: Khurasani, ᶜIraqi, and Hindi. The time spans of each style are equally flexible. Within these broad geographical divisions we then come across certain “literary schools” which reflect regional peculiarities and idiosyncrasies and are identified with smaller entities like provinces or towns. For example, there are: the Azerbayjani school, the Tabriz school, or the Shirvan school. This paper deals with literature in Isfahan in pre-Safavid times.

Isfahan has enjoyed a central geographical position and played a very important role in the history of Iran. It is, therefore, natural that in the history of Persian literature we come across The Isfahan School of poetry.
The Safavid State and Polity
Authors: Savory Roger
Published: September 2011

I regard the arguments about nationalism or the lack of it, and about whether or not the Safavid state can be called a nation-state, as in many ways sterile. What I am much more interested in is the question whether or not the Safavids created a state at all, in any generally accepted sense of the word. I propose in a moment to look at some of the commonly accepted characteristics of the state, and see whether or not the Safavid system possessed these characteristics. It is because I do not want to place primary emphasis on the concept of the “nation-state” that I have entitled this paper “The Safavid state and polity”--the latter meaning, of course, an organized society of which they were a part, for to Plato and Aristotle the polis was more than just a natural organism such as a herd or a hive.
European Visitors to the Safavid Court
Authors: Stevens Roger
Published: September 2011

Before 1600 few Europeans visited Persia. But with the advent of the seventeenth century there was a marked change from several causes: first, the awakened interest in Eastern trade; the East India Company of London was chartered on 31 December 1600, the Dutch East India Company less than two years later; second, the common enmity against the Turk shared by Persia and Western Europe; third, a by-product of that, Shāh ᶜAbbās’ tolerant and even encouraging attitude to Christians; fourth, the freeing of Persian Gulf ports from Portuguese domination; fifth, reports filtering back to Europe of the wonders of Persia and particularly of its splendid new capital; sixth, more Europeans with the means and urge to travel.

And so we have, passing through Isfahan or settling there for long periods, a motley band of Europeans--ambassadors and adventurers, monks and mountebanks, traders and travellers, including combinations of each. Some could scarcely read or write, others wrote volumes--some went on writing about it for the rest of their lives.
Wall Paintings in the Seventeenth Century Monuments of Isfahan
Authors: Grube Ernst
Published: September 2011

Almost nothing of monumental painting in the Islamic world survives. Speculation about its existence and its original appearance has long taken the place of the study of existing monuments. One consoled oneself with the consideration that at least part of the immense loss of monumental Islamic painting is compensated for by the fact that the surviving miniature paintings--or where those are lacking, paintings on pottery, glass, and ivory--in all likelihood reflect both in style and iconography the destroyed wall-paintings which had decorated the palaces of the rulers, princes, and wealthy.

This assumption was supported by the close correspondance between the few fragments of wall-painting surviving from the Seljuq period in Iran and the mina'i and lustre-painted potteries of the time. It was finally substantiated by the discovery of the Varqah va Gulshah manuscript in Istanbul, illustrated with paintings in a style corresponding closely to both the surviving fragments of wall-paintings and the painted potteries of the period.
The Wedding
Authors: Sa'edi Gholamhoseyn
Published: September 2011

Gholamhoseyn Sa'edi, also known by his pen name Gowhar Morad, is one of the two or three most prominent writers of prose fiction in Iran today. His first published work appeared in 1956, and since then he has published some twenty volumes of short stories and plays, and several monographic studies of rural Iranian communities. Initially trained as a physician, Dr. Sa'edi has for some years now devoted himself almost wholly to writing. Most recently he edited four volumes of a new literary journal, Alifba, for the publishing house of Amir Kabir.

The present story is the first in a collection of three, entitled Gūr va Gahvārah (“Cradle and Grave“), that was first distributed some seven years ago and later confiscated.

When we got off the bus, the old man said, “Here we are.” There was a big rectangular square, and at each corner a long street like a hallway that stretched off into the darkness. The old man leading the way, we walked down the street across from us until we reached an open space and a long concrete bridge.
The Social Psychology of Anti-Iranology
Authors: Millward William G.
Published: September 2011

Assuming that every student of the Middle East ought to be at least passingly concerned with the attitudes of Middle Easterners towards him, the group he represents, and the results of their collective academic endeavors, the recent efflorescence of interest in Western “Orientalism” on the part of Iranian scholars and writers deserves the attention of all serious students of Middle Eastern culture and society. Insofar as this interest may be construed as an attempt to set the historical record straight by providing an eastern corrective to West-centered interpretations of Middle Eastern history, it may also be considered a natural and logical consequence of the changing nature of international political and social conditions, particularly as these have obtained since World War II. In this sense it can only be welcomed and applauded in the community of scholars at large.
The Fatal Rage: Heroic Anger in Modern Iranian Fiction
Authors: Shojai D.A.
Published: September 2011

When anger becomes the dominant mode of expression in a narrative context—and this to such a heightened degree that its release determines a whole series of actions—then it becomes necessary to evaluate not only its effect but also its purpose. In epic literatures dealing with heroic warfare, when a hero gets mad, a whole community suffers: castastrophes occur on a broad scale. These catastrophes, Gertrude Levy points out in her Sword From the Rock, “are always brought about by excess of pride arising from [the hero's] special gift of mana, or manas or menos”: which she defines as “the heroic energy which is a sign of [the hero's] divine ancestry and upon which [his] leadership depends; now brought into conflict with the accepted loyalties of organized warfare.”

The hero, in conflict with his society, then, comes to express not just an inner resentment, but a quality of divine origin, which enables history to work itself out.
The Gentry of a Traditional Peasant Community Undergoing Rapid Technological Change: An Iranian Case Study
Authors: Antoun Richard T.
Published: September 2011

The subject of this paper is a patrilineage that lives in two communities six kilometers apart in the north-eastern part of Iran. Traditionally this lineage together with its collateral sections has acted as a gentry for an area composed of eighteen villages. They were and still are (both the lineage and its collateral segments) referred to as the “landlords” (arbāb) of the area although their traditional economic status and political influence has been undermined by the Iranian land reform of 1962. The number of adults (above the age of fifteen) comprising the lineage is roughly between forty and fifty and is composed of the descendants of three brothers. These three brothers are in turn descended from one of three other brothers in the next ascending generation; the descendants of the latter set of brothers comprise the entire maximal lineage, the great majority of which lives in the two above-mentioned communities. Most members of the lineage between the ages of fifteen and twenty count the latter set of brothers as of the great-grandparental generation and the former set of brothers as of the grandparental generation.
Poet and Revolution: The Impact of Iran's Constitutional Revolution on the Social and Literary Outlook of the Poets of the Time: Part I
Authors: Soroudi Sorour
Published: September 2011

The Constitutional Revolution of 1906-1911 and the developments of the following decade greatly altered the social and political atmosphere in Iran. Poetic changes created in the wake of these developments were of considerable transitional importance and generated a suitable literary atmosphere for the more basic changes introduced by Nimā Yushij in the 1920s and the 1930s. A major issue in this regard is the impact of revolutionary developments on the general outlook and the literary creativity of the contemporary poets. The present paper includes a short introductory survey of the background and the characteristics of the “constitutional poetry” and a general discussion of the revolution's impact on the contemporary poets. A number of “constitutional poets” are then discussed individually.
The Ḥaydarī-Niᶜmatī Conflicts in Iran
Authors: Mirjafari Hossein
Published: September 2011

From earliest times, religion has always been one of the most important factors in social cohesion and at the same time a major cause of urban factionalism and strife. The existence of opposing sects in the same city has invariably provided a breeding ground for economic, social, and political differences in the guise of sectarian disputes.

The basic elements of urban organization in the Islamic period were local government (ḥukūmat), religious solidarity (ummat), professional associations (the craft guilds, aṣnāf), and the city wards or quarters (maḥallāt). Occasionally, other social organizations rose to prominence such as esoteric fraternities, mystical and dervish orders, and chivalrous and paramilitary associations (futuvvat, Cayyārān); these too formed part of the overall social life of the city. The wards or city quarters were the centers of group activity based on kinship, or ethnic or sectarian affiliation. Iranian cities during the Islamic period saw political and social activities by the followers of the four rites of the Sunna--Shāfiᶜī, Ḥanbalī, Ḥanafī, and Mālikī--and by Shi'ite and other dissident sects such as the Zaydīs, Carmathians, Mu'tazilites, and Ismāᶜīlīs.
National Dissent in the Soviet Union: The Crimean Tatar Case
Authors: Kowalewski David
Published: September 2011

If those interested in Soviet affairs were to confine their reading to the official Soviet press, they would perhaps conclude that all is quiet behind the Soviet front. However since a large body of underground literature has reached the West in recent years, observers have learned of numerous protest activities against the Soviet regime by various groups in the USSR. We know, for example, that liberal intellectuals are criticizing the Soviet leadership for its rigid control over the literary and scientific life of the country. Various religious groups are protesting against the closure of churches, imprisonment of believers, and restrictions on baptisms, proselyting, and religious instruction of the young. Similarly, certain members of national minorities are demanding more linguistic, educational, and cultural autonomy for their nations. Some of these minority nationalities, such as the Jews, Volga Germans, and Meskhi, have formed repatriation movements in order to obtain permission to settle in those areas which they regard as their homelands.
Problems of Periodization and Terminology in the Histories of Belorussians and Ukrainians: An Introduction
Authors: Tillett Lowell
Published: September 2011

The subject for this symposium may seem at first glance to be rather technical, and perhaps even antiquarian. But for anyone who has attempted to do research and writing, not to mention serious reading, about the part of Eastern Europe we deal with here will know that periodization and terminology are basic. Without a generally agreed—upon conception of them, one cannot produce an understandable historical narrative, much less a viable interpretation. Without such a common conception, the writing of history is like a game in which the opposing players and referees are all playing under different rules.
Problems in Terminology and in the Periodization of Belorussian History
Authors: Zaprudnik Jan
Published: September 2011

In view of the vast scope of my topic I have to restrict myself to the most basic aspects and most recent developments in the subject area. Actually, as far as Soviet Belorussia is concerned there has not been much going on in this area. With sufficient cadres of historians to have produced the 12-volume “Belorussian Soviet Encyclopedia” (Minsk, 1969–1975) and a 5-volume “History of the Belorussian SSR” (the first three volumes appeared in 1972–1973), the topic of terminology and periodization has nonetheless been relegated to silence along with the problem of the general state of historiography. For example among the 4,500 entries in the “Bibliography of Belorussia's History: The Period of Feudalism and Capitalism” (Minsk, 1969, 437 p.) one discovers only nine articles on historiography written in the post-Stalin period, the most recent of which is dated 1965. Of the two articles reviewing the state of historical scholarship on the occasion of the fortieth and fiftieth anniversaries of Soviet Belorussia neither discusses or mentions discussions on the subject of historiography, let alone terminology and periodization. This strange abhorrence by Belorussian Soviet historians of their own metier still persists, as we learn from two reviewers of the third volume of the new 5-volume “History of the Belorussian SSR”: “We must note that in this volume as well as in the previous ones the historiographic part is essentially lacking.” Nevertheless, some individual historians and authors demonstrate their keen awareness of the importance of the matter. This was perhaps most perceptibly expressed in 1968 by a Grodno Professor Jazep Jucho (Yazep Yukho). Explaining the origin and history of one of the basic terms of Belorussia's past and present, the name Bielaruś, Jucho observes: “confusion in terminology leads to a distortion of the whole historical process of the development of the Belorussian people.”
Comments on Periodization and Terminology in Byeloruthenian and Ukrainian Histories
Authors: Wynar Lubomyr R.
Published: September 2011

It is a truism that without clear cut historical terminology and determination of historical periodization, which reflect the multi-dimensional development of individual nations and states, no effective and objective historical research is possible. Therefore, historians should welcome this session which, in my opinion, can serve as a starting point in the discussion dealing with controversial problems of East European historical terminology and periodization.
Confrontation (an extract)
Authors: Lengyel József
Published: September 2011

In this extract from chapter two of Lengyel's novel, Endre Lassú, an old Hungarian communist recently released from one of Stalin's labour camps, is talking to István Banicza, a Counsellor in the Hungarian embassy in Moscow. The place is Banicza's rooms at the embassy, the time 1948, and the scene is conveyed through the eyes of Lassú.
Un-American activities
Authors: Ryan Geoffrey
Published: September 2011

This is the second of three articles describing and analysing the role of the Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) of the United States Congress from 1938 to the present day. The first part appeared in INDEX 1/1973.
Four songs
Authors: Jara Victor
Published: September 2011

Victor Jara was a Chilean singer, guitarist and song-writer. Throughout his working life - except for the short period of the Allende regime - he was subject to various kinds of political censorship, personal smears and even physical attacks.

He was forty when he died, on 14 or 15 September 1973. in the Estadio Chile in Santiago. The circumstances of his death are still shrouded in mystery. On the morning of 11 September he left his home to go to the Technical University, where he was due to sing at the opening of an exhibition later that day. The University became one of the centres of opposition to the military forces which overthrew the government of President Allende. Jara, together with the students and professors who had assembled there, was taken to the Santiago Sports Stadium which the victorious junta turned into a concentration camp. According to his fellow-prisoners who were later released, he was singled out for specially harsh treatment because he sang to keep up the spirits of the inmates. Guards in Chilean Air Force uniform are said to have killed him by breaking his spine and shooting him with their automatics.

In the morning of 18 September - a public holiday commemorating Chile's independence from Spanish rule - Victor Jara's British-born wife was visited by a young civil servant who informed her that her husband was dead and lying in the municipal morgue. Together they went there, and Joan Jara identified her husband, his clothing torn, his spine and the bones of his hands broken, his body full of bullet holes. An official form attached to the body stated that it had been found in the street. Mrs Jara and the civil servant then buried her husband in a marked grave in a cemetery adjoining the morgue. She and her two small daughters now live in England.

We are publishing these four lyrics by Victor Jara, translated by the well-known poet and playwright Adrian Mitchell in collaboration with the author's widow, as a tribute to his memory.
On Solzhenitsyn's ‘Gulag Archipelago’
Authors: Medvedev Roy
Published: September 2011

Soon after the publication of Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago in Russian in Paris last January, it became known that the dissident Soviet historian, Roy Medvedev, had written a long review of the book in which he supported the overwhelming mass of facts cited in it but took issue with Solzhenitsyn's interpretation of the meaning of the Russian Revolution. Medvedev is a Marxist who, while not denying many of the excesses committed by the Bolshevik Party in its seizure of power, assigns to the Revolution - and particularly to Marxism - a positive and progressive role in Russian history. At the same time he is a bitter opponent of Stalinism and his best known and longest work, Let History Judge, is devoted to an exposure of Stalin and Stalinism from a Marxist point of view.

Because of his attitude to Stalinism and his hostility to the present Soviet system of government, Medvedev cannot publish his works in the Soviet Union and is forced to circulate them in samizdat ( typewritten manuscript form). It is in this form that they reach the West and, in some cases, are published. The present review has been quoted in articles in The Times and the New York Times, but this is its first full publication in English. The page references are to the Russian edition of The Gulag Archipelago published by the YMCA Press in Paris.
Life is elsewhere
Authors: Kundera Milan
Published: September 2011

Milan Kundera is a leading Czech novelist and short story writer. Born in Brno in 1929, he studied and later was a lecturer at the Film Faculty of the Prague Drama Academy. He first became known to readers with his three books of short stories called Laughable Loves (1963,1965 and 1968); one of these stories, ‘A Game of Make-Believe’, appeared in the Penguin anthology, New Writing in Czechoslovakia (Penguin Books, 1969) and the whole collection has just been published by Alfred A. Knopf in New York.

At the same time Kundera's American publisher brought out his latest work, Life Is Elsewhere, which, together with The Joke (1967) and a novel he is at present working on, forms a trilogy giving a vivid picture of life in Communist Czechoslovakia. Whereas the hero of Kundera's previous book becomes a victim of the humourless bureaucratic machine because of a harmless joke he makes on a postcard to his girl friend, Jaromil, the protagonist of Life Is Elsewhere, wrecks his girl's life in his eagerness to be accepted as an equal by the secret policeman who used to be a schoolmate of his. A romantic poet with an over-protective mother, Jaromil wholeheartedly joins the ‘revolution ‘of February 1948, which he believes will change the world. (This excerpt is taken from Part 5 of the book entitled ‘The Poet Is Jealous’.)
Why a protein switches sides during translation
Authors: Leslie Mitch
Published: September 2011

Sequences within growing transmembrane proteins determine when loops reverse direction to cross the ER membrane.
Susceptibility to natural killer cell‐mediated lysis of colon cancer cells is enhanced by treatment with epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitors through UL16‐binding protein‐1 induction
Authors: Bae Jae‐Ho , Kim So‐Jung , Kim Mi‐Ju , Oh Sae‐Ock , Chung Joo‐Seop , Kim Sun‐Hee , Kang Chi‐Dug
Published: September 2011

We have previously shown that inhibition of intracellular signaling pathways by treatment with quercetin induced the expression of natural killer cell group 2D (NKG2D) ligands on cancer cells and made the cells sensitive to natural killer (NK)‐cell mediated cytotoxicity. In the present study, we investigated whether epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors could induce the expression of NKG2D ligands in colon cancer cells. Treatment with EGFR inhibitors predominantly increased the levels of mRNA transcripts and surface protein of UL16‐binding protein‐1 (ULBP1) in various colon cancer cells, including KM12, Caco‐2, HCT‐15, and HT‐29, which express EGFR, and increased susceptibility of these colon cancer cells to NK‐92 cells. The expression of ULBP1 was not induced by inhibitors of nuclear factor‐κB, phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase, and MAPK, but was induced by inhibitors of PKC, and the induction of ULBP1 expression with EGFR inhibitors was prevented by treatment with PMA in colon cancer cells. A transcription factor, activator protein‐2 alpha (AP‐2α), which has a suppressive effect on ULBP1 transcription, was prevented from binding to the ULBP1 promoter by treatment with EGFR inhibitors. The present study suggests that EGFR inhibitors can enhance the susceptibility to NK cell‐mediated lysis of colon cancer cells by induction of ULBP1 via inhibition of the PKC pathway. (Cancer Sci 2012; 103: 7–16)
Genetic structure of Eurasian and North American mallard ducks based on mtDNA data
Authors: Hou Z.‐C. , Yang F.‐X. , Qu L.‐J. , Zheng J.‐X. , Brun J.‐M. , Basso B. , Pitel F. , Yang N. , Xu G.‐Y.
Published: September 2011

To elucidate the origin and genetic structure of the domesticated duck in Eurasia and North America, we sequenced 114 duck D‐loop sequences and retrieved 489 D‐loop sequences from GenBank. In total, 603 ducks including 50 duck breeds/populations from eight countries (China, France, Russia, India, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Thailand and USA) were used in this study. One hundred and thirty‐four haplotypes and 81 variable sites were detected. H49 was the predominant haplotype, which was considered to be the same dominant haplotype found in the previous studies, and was found in 309 birds. The smallest values for both genetic differentiation index (FST, 0.04156) and the number of the net nucleotide substitutions between two populations (DA, 0.00018) were observed between Eurasian domestic ducks and Eurasian mallards. No geography, breed or population clusters were observed in the Eurasian domestic ducks and mallards. Five haplotypes were shared by USA mallards and Eurasian domestic duck/Eurasian mallards. Only one haplotype (H49) was shared by Eurasian domestic ducks and China spot‐billed ducks. By combining phylogenetic analyses, haplotype network profile, genetic distances and shared haplotypes, we can draw two major conclusions: (i) Eurasian and North American mallards show a clear geographic distribution pattern; (ii) Eurasian domestic ducks are derived from the Eurasian mallards, not from the spot‐billed ducks.
The role of IL‐33 and its receptor ST2 in human nasal epithelium with allergic rhinitis
Authors: Kamekura R. , Kojima T. , Takano K. , Go M. , Sawada N. , Himi T.
Published: September 2011

Background

Interleukin (IL)‐33 is a novel member of the IL‐1 cytokine family and a ligand for the orphan IL‐1 family receptor ST2. The IL‐33 induces T helper 2‐type inflammatory responses and is considered to play a crucial rule in allergic inflammations, such as asthma and atopic dermatitis. However, the role of IL‐33 and its receptor ST2 in allergic rhinitis remains unknown.

Objective

We investigated expression of IL‐33 and ST2 in the nasal epithelium of patients with allergic rhinitis and the mechanisms of the production of cytokines/chemokines induced by treatment with IL‐33 using normal human nasal epithelial cells (HNECs) in vitro.

Methods

Expression of IL‐33 and ST2 in normal and allergic rhinitis nasal mucosa was evaluated by reverse transcription‐ and real‐time polymerase chain reactions and immunohistochemical methods. The IL‐33 in serum, and IL‐8 and GM‐CSF were measured by ELISA. For in vitro experiments, HNECs in primary culture were used.

Results

The IL‐33 levels in the sera of patients with allergic rhinitis were significantly higher than that in normal controls. Expression of IL‐33 and ST2 was significantly elevated in the epithelium from patients with allergic rhinitis. The IL‐33 mRNA in HNECs in vitro was significantly induced by treatment with IFN‐γ and the toll‐like receptor 9 ligand ODN2006. The IL‐33‐induced production of IL‐8 and GM‐CSF from HNECs in vitro was significantly suppressed by corticosteroid treatment and distinct signal transduction inhibitors of ERK, p38 MAPK, JNK, NF‐κB and epidermal growth factor receptor.

Conclusions and Clinical Relevance

The IL‐33 and its receptor ST2 play important roles in allergic rhinitis. The IL‐33‐mediated inflammatory responses via ST2 are regulated by distinct signalling pathways in HNECs and the IL‐33/ST2 pathway may provide new therapeutic targets for allergic rhinitis.
An observational study of endothelial function in early arthritis
Authors: Foster Will , Lip Gregory Y. H. , Raza Karim , Carruthers David , Blann Andrew D.
Published: September 2011

Eur J Clin Invest 2012; 42 (5): 510–516

Background  Endothelial dysfunction is present in established rheumatoid arthritis, but it is not clear at what stage of the disease this abnormality develops. We set out to determine whether endothelial damage/dysfunction is present in a group of patients with early arthritis (EA) (new onset inflammatory arthritis, EA).

Materials and methods  Eighteen patients with EA, 48 healthy controls and 25 disease controls were recruited. Plasma was obtained for endothelial [von Willebrand factor (vWF) and soluble E‐selectin] and angiogenesis markers (vascular endothelial growth factor and its receptor sFlt‐1), adhesion molecules (intercellular adhesion molecule 1 and vascular cell adhesion molecule 1) and circulating endothelial cells (CECs, as a marker of endothelial damage). Microvascular endothelial function was assessed using laser Doppler perfusion imaging and macrovascular function using flow‐mediated dilatation of the brachial artery.

Results  von Willebrand factor and CECs (both P < 0·05) were significantly elevated in EA suggesting endothelial dysfunction and damage but were unrelated to classical laboratory markers of inflammation C‐reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate or IL6. No other biomarkers was elevated in EA. Microvascular and macrovascular abnormalities were confined to endothelium‐independent (smooth muscle cell) responses.

Conclusions  Endothelial damage/dysfunction is present early in the course of inflammatory arthritis but is not directly related to inflammation markers.
Determination of foetal sex in pregnancies at risk of haemophilia: a qualitative study exploring the clinical practices and attitudes of health professionals in the United Kingdom
Authors: HILL M. , COMPTON C. , LEWIS C. , SKIRTON H. , CHITTY L. S.
Published: September 2011

Summary.  In pregnancies at risk of haemophilia, foetal sex determination is used to plan perinatal management and to guide the offer of invasive testing in pregnancies with a male foetus. Traditionally ultrasound from 12 weeks gestation has been used, but recently options for early foetal sex determination have increased following the introduction of non‐invasive prenatal diagnosis (NIPD) using cell free foetal DNA in maternal plasma. This study was conducted to identify clinical practices and examine health professional attitudes regarding NIPD for foetal sex determination. A qualitative approach using one‐to‐one semi structured interviews was used to enable an in‐depth exploration of current practice, introduction and use of NIPD and benefits and disadvantages of offering NIPD. Interviews were conducted with consultant haematologists (N = 7), specialist haemophilia nurses (N = 7), genetic counsellors (N = 6), consultants in clinical genetics (N = 5), specialist midwives (N = 2) and obstetricians (N = 5) from 24 services across the United Kingdom (UK). Key differences in how NIPD for foetal sexing is utilized throughout the UK were identified. Some services routinely offered NIPD to all carriers of haemophilia or to all carriers of severe haemophilia, others discussed the value of NIPD with all or primarily offered NIPD as a first step to invasive testing. This study informs our understanding of how NIPD is being utilized and provides unique insights into current practice. The identification of variation between services in how prenatal testing options are offered has implications for future policy and guidelines for prenatal care.
Evaluating the effects of trophic complexity on a keystone predator by disassembling a partial intraguild predation food web
Authors: Davenport Jon M. , Chalcraft David R.
Published: September 2011

1. Many taxa can be found in food webs that differ in trophic complexity, but it is unclear how trophic complexity affects the performance of particular taxa. In pond food webs, larvae of the salamanderAmbystoma opacumoccupy the intermediate predator trophic position in a partial intraguild predation (IGP) food web and can function as keystone predators. LarvalA. opacumare also found in simpler food webs lacking either top predators or shared prey.

2. We conducted an experiment where a partial IGP food web was simplified, and we measured the growth and survival of larvalA. opacumin each set of food webs. Partial IGP food webs that had either a low abundance or high abundance of total prey were also simplified by independently removing top predators and/or shared prey.

3. Removing top predators always increasedA. opacumsurvival, but removal of shared prey had no effect onA. opacumsurvival, regardless of total prey abundance.

4. Surprisingly, food web simplification had no effect on the growth ofA. opacumwhen present in food webs with a low abundance of prey but had important effects onA. opacumgrowth in food webs with a high abundance of prey. Simplifying a partial IGP food web with a high abundance of prey reducedA. opacumgrowth when either top predators or shared prey were removed from the food web and the loss of top predators and shared prey influencedA. opacumgrowth in a non‐additive fashion.

5. The non‐additive response inA. opacumgrowth appears to be the result of supplemental prey availability augmenting the beneficial effects of top predators. Top predators had a beneficial effect onA. opacumpopulations by reducing the abundance ofA. opacumpresent and thereby reducing the intensity of intraspecific competition.

6. Our study indicates that the effects of food web simplification on the performance ofA. opacumare complex and depend on both how a partial IGP food web is simplified and how abundant prey are in the food web. These findings are important because they demonstrate how trophic complexity can create variation in the performance of intermediate predators that play important roles in temporary pond food webs.
Prevalence and severity of pulmonary hypertension in asymptomatic rural residents with schistosomal infection in the Nile Delta
Authors: Farrag Azza , El‐Aroussy Wafaa , Zaghloul Salah , El‐Guindy Mohamed , Yacoub Magdi
Published: September 2011

Objectives  Millions of people in the developing world may suffer from pulmonary hypertension (PHTN) because of preexisting infectious conditions. Schistosomiasis can cause pulmonary lesions that eventually lead to PHTN. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of PHTN together with assessment of right ventricular (RV) function in asymptomatic rural residents previously infected with schistosomiasis.

Methods  Three hundred and seventy asymptomatic people from an endemic area in the Nile Delta were screened for antibodies against schistosomiasis. All were scheduled for transthoracic echocardiographic study to assess pulmonary artery systolic (PASP) and diastolic (PADP) pressures as well as RV function. PASP >40 mmHg was considered elevated.

Results  Seropositive (SP) and seronegative (SN) groups had comparable age and body mass index. PASP >40 mmHg was met in 18 subjects (Range 42–72 mmHg) (8.6%) of SP group and in no subject in SN group (P = 0.000). Compared with SN group, the SP group had higher mean values of PASP (30 ± 10 vs. 24 ± 7 mmHg, P < 0.000) and PADP (12 ± 4 vs. 9 ± 3 mmHg, P < 0.000). The SP group had lower values of RV ejection fraction.

Conclusion  Prevalence of PHTN as detected by echocardiography in asymptomatic rural residents with schistosomiasis in Nile Delta is low with mild affection of RV function.
Anxiety and depression in patients with allergic and non‐allergic cutaneous disorders
Authors: Ponarovsky Baruch , Amital Daniela , Lazarov Aneta , Kotler Moshe , Amital Howard
Published: September 2011

Background  Numerous studies have shown that anxiety and depression are more prevalent among patients suffering from chronic skin disorders.

Objectives  The aims of this study were to assess the prevalences of depression and anxiety in patients suffering from chronic skin disorders, focusing particularly on allergic skin conditions. Additionally, we investigated resilience to disease progression using the Sense of Coherence Scale.

Methods  A total of 112 consecutive patients without known psychiatric disease were interviewed and asked to complete questionnaires in order to assess psychiatric symptomatology. The following scales were completed: the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview; the Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAS); the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS); and the self‐administered questionnaire for the Sense of Coherence Scale (SoCS).

Results  Rates of anxiety and depression in patients with allergic and non‐allergic conditions were considerably higher than those in the general population. This difference was notable in patients with allergic skin diseases, reaching 58.3 and 48.3%, compared with 15.4 and 23.1% for participants with non‐allergic conditions, as measured by the HAS and HDRS, respectively (P < 0.05). Statistically significant negative correlations between scores on the SoCS and scores on the HAS (r = −0.45, P < 0.01) and HDRS (r = −0.37, P < 0.01) were observed.

Conclusions  Our findings support the hypothesis that rates of anxiety and depression are higher among patients suffering from allergic chronic skin disorders. High SoCS scores may protect against the development of psychiatric illness in patients suffering from allergic skin disease.