bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
‘Ons is saam’ – Afrikaans metal and rebuilding whiteness in the Rainbow Nation
Authors: Hoad Catherine
Published: September 2014

The South African general election of 1994 installed a democratic system of government in a nation that had ruptured by violent segregation since 1948. While the ‘miracle’ of the Rainbow Nation aimed for a unified state, the redistribution of power heralded by the rise of ‘new’ South Africa left much of the white Afrikaner population with a sense of loss. The task of the post-apartheid Afrikaner cultural industry is now concerned with finding a place for the Afrikaner in modern South Africa. As such, this article explores how ‘Afrikaans metal’ has been compliant in fostering a sense of community and encourages sentiments of localized belonging. The passion and dynamism of heavy metal allows for the proliferation of a metal scene explicitly concerned with the promotion of an Afrikaner identity, performing in Afrikaans and creating Afrikaans metal for South African metal fans. However, just as the Afrikaner community at large struggles to find a white identity untarnished by apartheid, Afrikaans metal fans and bands face a similarly complex mission. Afrikaans metal represents a site within which this ‘lost’ Afrikaner identity can be both reclaimed and contested, and thus renegotiates the role of Africa’s ‘white tribe’ into the twenty-first century.
Thinking of community as an aspirational and contestable idea: A role for the arts in creating community
Authors: Mulligan Martin
Published: September 2014

Community-based arts have had a clear influence on public arts and culture policies in countries such as Australia, United Kingdom and the United States and yet the word ‘community’ tends to be used in such policy discourses in shallow and ambiguous ways. This article notes that the very idea of community has divided western scholars for over a century, with recurring suggestions that industrialization, urbanization and/or globalization have made it largely irrelevant. However, some have noted that the search for community is both ancient and enduring and that the idea of community has perennial symbolic importance. Against predictions that attachment to community would fade away it has been noted that the desire for belonging to community has gathered force in a world of increasing global flows. New communication technologies enable most people in the world to belong to a greater array of real and virtual communities. While virtual communities will often have specific membership criteria, problems emerge when particular people or groups of people feel excluded from participation in local or place-based communities because such exclusions can have devastating consequences in a world of great flux and uncertainty. Gerard Delanty has explained that communities only come into existence in the contemporary world to the extent that they are ‘wilfully constructed’. This article argues that community-based arts have a significant role to play in the creation and projection of communities. It argues that we should engage with the complexities embedded in the word community rather than turn to alternative terminology, such as ‘social capital’. However, the word community needs to be used thoughtfully and carefully rather then loosely and divisively.
Agonistic participation: A political and architectural opportunity
Authors: Beyerle Ammon
Published: September 2014

This study explores theory and practice in architecture and participation through an ethnographic exposition of an architectural design and community development process for Hub Melbourne, a new coworking space in Melbourne. As well as contributing a practical example of a participatory process in architecture, the analysis aims to situate learnings from the architectural practice here studio in a long history of participation in architecture. Claire Bishop’s ‘The social turn: Collaboration and its discontents’ (2006) is used as a starting point from which to argue for autonomous evaluations in social practice that value the production of ethical and political engagement as creative content. This content is intricately connected to the project’s aesthetics. Borrowing from the pluralist political theory of Chantal Mouffe, the article suggests that participation is difficult in architecture, yet presents opportunities if conflict between stakeholders is valued in an agonistic way.
The Turn to Community: Exploring the political and relational in the arts
Authors: Badham Marnie
Published: September 2014

This article builds on Mulligan and Smith’s notion of The Turn to Community in the Arts. Recognizing the lack of official histories for these forms of relational, social and collaborative practices, the article offers an expanded cartography for this collaborative art practice through three interrelated terrains: as identity politics; as governmental intervention; and finally, as contemporary art. This new mapping has implications not only for how the field is theorized, but also how its value is understood artistically.
Taylorism 2.0: Gamification, scientific management and the capitalist appropriation of play
Authors: deWinter Jennifer , Kocurek Carly A. , Nichols Randall
Published: September 2014

By making work seem more like leisure time, gamification and corporate training games serve as a mechanism for solving a range of problems and, significantly, of increasing productivity. This piece examines the implications of gamification as a means of productivity gains that extend Frederick Winslow Taylor’s principles of scientific management, or Taylorism. Relying on measurement and observation as a mechanism to collapse the domains of labour and leisure for the benefit of businesses (rather than for the benefit or fulfilment of workers), gamification potentially subjugates all time into productive time, even as business leaders use games to mask all labour as something to be enjoyed. In so doing, this study argues, the agency of individuals – whether worker or player – becomes subject to the rationalized nature of production. This rationalization changes the nature of play, making it a duty rather than a choice, a routine rather than a process of exploration. Taken too far or used unthinkingly, it renders Huizinga’s magic circle into one more regulated office cubicle.
Walking Artists
Authors: Fischer Ralph
Published: September 2014

»Was ist der Name dieses Wesens, es erscheint am Morgen auf vier, am Mittag auf zwei und am Abend auf drei Beinen.« (Das Rätsel der Sphinx) Gehen ist eng mit der Idee des Menschen verknüpft. In den 1960er-Jahren entdeckten die performativen Künste diesen Prototyp menschlicher Fortbewegung für sich. Ralph Fischer zeichnet nach, wie Protagonisten aus den Bereichen Performance und Conceptual Art (Bruce Nauman, Richard Long, Vito Acconci), aber auch Theater- und Tanzschaffende (Samuel Beckett, Steve Paxton, Trisha Brown), mit Gangarten und Schrittmustern zu experimentieren begannen und damit die Grundlage legten für die produktive Auseinandersetzung mit jener universellen Bewegungstechnik in der Kunst- und Theaterlandschaft der Gegenwart. Die (Wieder-)Entdeckung des Gehens, so ein Ergebnis der Studie, ist weit mehr als nur eine Besinnung auf das motorische Grundvokabular performativer Kunst, sie ist das symbolische Zentrum einer radikalen Revision des traditionellen künstlerischen Formenvokabulars und zugleich ein Versuch der Neuverortung des Subjekts in einer veränderten soziokulturellen Wirklichkeit.
Stadtlandschaften Entwerfen?
Authors: Kurath Stefan
Published: September 2014

Was kann Planung? Und was kann sie nicht? Orientiert an Arbeiten der Aktor-Netzwerk-Theorie rekonstruiert Stefan Kurath die lokale städtebauliche Praxis am Beispiel von vier ausgewählten Mikrostudien, um in einem zweiten Schritt Planungsansätze wie »Handbuch zum Stadtrand«, »After Sprawl«, »Neun Thesen zur Stärkung der Peripherie« und »Zwischen Stadt Entwerfen« auf ihre Alltagstauglichkeit zu beurteilen. Er zeigt, dass sich zukunftsfähige Handlungstheorien der Stadtplanung den Dynamiken gesellschaftlicher Aushandlungsprozesse stellen müssen, und erläutert, wie sie ihre raumplanerischen und topologischen Perspektiven um eine Perspektive des relationalen Entwerfens erweitern können.
Die Konstitution der Dinge
Authors: Witzel Eva
Published: September 2014

Mit seinen monumentalen Fotografien gilt Andreas Gursky wie kaum ein anderer zeitgenössischer Künstler als Diagnostiker der Globalisierung. Sein Instrument: eine neue Bildsprache, deren Ausdrucksfülle stets in Zusammenhang mit der Abstraktion und der digitalen Bildbearbeitung gesehen wird. Eva Witzel legt mit diesem Buch die erste umfassende Untersuchung der Abstraktionsphänomene in Gurskys Werk von 1984 bis 2001 vor und identifiziert in synoptischer Analyse die Phasen und Strategien der Bildfindung. Dabei etabliert sie den Terminus »abstrakt« für die thematische Interpretation: als essenzielle Verdichtung des Motivs, die über den singulären Gegenstand hinaus auf etwas Universales weist.
Ordnungen des Verkehrs
Authors: Schlimm Anette
Published: September 2014

Verkehr ist mehr als nur eine Frage der Technik. Über weite Strecken des 20. Jahrhunderts begriffen ihn Verkehrsexperten in Deutschland und Großbritannien vor allem auch als soziales Problem, das gelöst werden musste - und zugleich als Mittel, die gefährdete Gesellschaft zu regulieren. Anette Schlimm analysiert die Ideen der Experten in Großbritannien und Deutschland als transnationales Vorhaben, mit wissenschaftlichen Methoden und organisatorischen Zugriffen die negativen Folgen der Moderne zu bekämpfen und die neuen Möglichkeiten gewinnbringend für die Gesellschaft als Ganzes nutzbar zu machen.
»Republik, das ist nicht viel«
Authors: Walter Franz
Published: September 2014

Die sozialdemokratische Arbeiterbewegung in Deutschland hat sich bis 1914 kontinuierlich entwickelt. Man trat optimistisch und zukunftsgewiss auf und wähnte sich im Einklang mit dem Fortschritt der Gesellschaft. Der Erste Weltkrieg und die gescheiterte Revolution von 1918/19 jedoch führten zu einem jähen Einschnitt. Gleichsam als Seismographen für die Krise in der Arbeiterbewegung der Zwischenkriegsjahre wirkten ihre Jugendorganisationen. Hier lebten sich die Zweifel am bisherigen Fortschrittsparadigma aus, hier traten Lebens- und Individualreform gleichwertig neben die klassische Gesellschaftsreform. Am Ende der Weimarer Republik hatten neue gesellschaftliche Bewegungen weit links und weit rechts an Terrain gewonnen; zudem verdrängten die kommerziellen Freizeitkulturen die überkommenen Verbandsangebote der sozialistischen Jugend in den Arbeiterquartieren der Industriestädte. Franz Walter zeichnet die Krise des Weimarer Sozialismus nach und weist auf die tiefe, konfliktträchtige Kluft zwischen den Generationen im Sozialismus hin. Er zeigt, wie die alten sozialistischen Offerten an Zugkraft verloren - aber auch den Weg frei gemacht haben für neue Entwürfe im jungen Sozialismus der 1920er und 1930er Jahre._______
Die erlesene Nation
Authors: Henning Astrid
Published: September 2014

Astrid Hennings Diskursanalyse rekonstruiert den Zusammenhang zwischen der staatlichen Herrschaftssicherung in der DDR und der emotionalen Identifizierung mit Heinrich Heine als literarischen Klassiker. Anhand der Heine-Rezeption im Schulunterricht der DDR zeichnet sie die Herausbildung einer emotionalen nationalen Identität nach, die es dem Subjekt erlaubt, sich als Teil einer Gemeinschaft zu fühlen, indem es eine imaginierte Kultur als die eigene akzeptiert. Der Band liefert somit wichtige Erkenntnisse über die Implementierung nationaler Identitätspraktiken und macht die Theorien der Identitäts- und Subjektivitätsforschung auch für ein nicht akademisches Publikum zugänglich.
Wenn die Musik spielt ...
Authors: Schulz Daniela
Published: September 2014

Schlagerfilme - von Millionen Kinofans geliebt. Von Kritikern dagegen oft als »Singspiel-Tralala« verschmäht. Zu Unrecht! Daniela Schulz zeigt, dass die Filme mit Peter Alexander, Caterina Valente oder Roy Black Mediengeschichte(n) erzählen und als musikalisches Gemischtwarenkino wie kein anderes Genre in der Wirtschaftswunderzeit die Faszination an einer neuen Medienkultur transportieren. Das Buch, das nicht nur Filmklassiker wie »Schwarzwaldmädel« oder »Im weißen Rössl« bespricht, zeigt Traditionslinien auf und holt die beliebten Schlagerkomödien der 1950er bis 1970er Jahre aus dem Schatten des Heimatfilms hervor.
»Love it or Loathe it«
Authors: Brichta Mascha K.
Published: September 2014

Popular newspapers like the British »The Sun« and the German »Bild« regularly invite controversy over their morals and methods, power and responsibility, political and social impact. At best, their reporting is rejected as trivial, vulgar and tasteless; at worst, it is deemed hazardous to the workings of democratic society. Yet, the papers are able to attract large audiences, and contribute significantly to the daily lives of millions of readers. This book looks at popular newspapers from an audience point of view. Examining the crucial relationship between news and entertainment, it provides timely empirical evidence for the values tabloids really have for readers and modern day Britain and Germany. Contradicting common myths and stereotypes, the book calls for fresh perspectives on the popular media and their audiences. With a foreword by Peter Dahlgren, Lund University, Sweden.
Mit Leib und Körper
Authors: Petrovic-Ziemer Ljubinka
Published: September 2014

Die Differenz zwischen Körper und Leib ist radikal - und wird doch erst sinnfällig im Spannungsfeld von Leben und Tod. Solange das Ich lebt und Gebrauch macht vom eigenen Körper, solange der Körper nach eigenen Gesetzmäßigkeiten (re-)agiert, hat das Ich Körper und ist Leib. Trotz dieser markanten Unterscheidbarkeit ist es gerade die Leibdimension, die in den Kulturwissenschaften bisher als Untersuchungsgegenstand vernachlässigt wird. In einer ausführlichen Auseinandersetzung mit leibesphilosophischen Überlegungen, Impulsen aus der Psychologie, aus körperzentrierten Kulturtheorien sowie aus konstruktivistischen Ansätzen entwickelt Ljubinka Petrovic-Ziemer ein interdisziplinär anschlussfähiges körperleib-orientiertes Analysemodell, das sie an Theatertexten der deutschsprachigen Gegenwartsdramatik erprobt.
Die Kunst der Diagrammatik
Authors: Schmidt-Burkhardt Astrit
Published: September 2014

Der aktuelle Diskurs um Diagramme wird nicht zuletzt durch den rasanten konjunkturellen Aufschwung von Schaubildern in der Kunst geprägt. Dieses Buch stellt die Frage nach den historischen Voraussetzungen, die hinter dem großen Interesse an diagrammatischen Formen des Visualisierens und Argumentierens stehen. In facettenreichen Fallstudien und theoretischen Analysen wird das diagrammatische Potenzial für die bildgeleitete Erkenntnis aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven untersucht. Der Band lotet damit nicht zuletzt auch die Zukunftsträchtigkeit der Diagrammatologie als eigenständiges bildwissenschaftliches Forschungsfeld aus.
Performative Kritik
Authors: Nestler Sebastian
Published: September 2014

Im Laufe ihrer Geschichte haben die Cultural Studies viele begriffliche Interventionen erfahren, die die kritische Schärfe dieses Projekts weitergebracht haben. So begründet dieser Band ausgehend von der Sprachphilosophie John L. Austins und dem performative turn in den Kultur- und Medienwissenschaften sowie unter Einbeziehung der Arbeiten Michel Foucaults und Judith Butlers den Begriff der »performativen Kritik« und erschließt ihn für Kultur- und Medienanalysen in der Tradition der Cultural Studies. Der praktische Nutzen dieses Konzepts wird anhand von ausgewählten Film- und Fernsehanalysen verdeutlicht - und so auch für eine kritische Medienpädagogik interessant.
Wenn Jugendämter scheitern
Authors: Biesel Kay
Published: September 2014

In Organisationen der Kinderschutzarbeit können latente Fehler schwere Folgen nach sich ziehen, wenn sie nicht rechtzeitig wahrgenommen werden. Erstmals im deutschsprachigen Raum geht diese Studie deshalb der Frage nach, welche Auswirkungen die im Kinderschutz immer wichtiger werdenden und dem Sicherheitsprimat unterliegenden Fehlerdiskussionen und -konzepte auf die organisationale Praxis der Kinderschutzeinrichtungen haben. Auf Grundlage einer qualitativen Evaluationsstudie zeigt Kay Biesel, wie die Jugendämter der Städte Schwerin und Dormagen mit ihren Fehlern im Kinderschutz umgehen.
Active Audience
Authors: Jin Huimin
Published: September 2014

Despite a number of retrospective works on cultural studies, to date no other book dedicates itself to the historical and theoretical examination of British cultural studies' engagement with the »active audience theory« of the Birmingham School and its legacies. However, this book is no mere reconstruction of active audience theory as Huimin Jin develops new theoretical insights initially through a critical review of Stuart Hall's classical model of »encoding/decoding« and close readings of David Morley's groundbreaking ethnographic audience studies. Questioning the discourse model of the active audience proposed by Hall and Morley, Jin elaborates a new materialistic concept of audiences for the twenty-first century.
Erzähltes Wohnen
Authors: Wichard Norbert
Published: September 2014

Wohnen wird ab dem 18. Jahrhundert zu einem zentralen Thema der Selbstvergewisserung der bürgerlichen Gesellschaft: Insbesondere Identität oder Privatheit und Öffentlichkeit werden durch die Fortschreibung von Wohndiskursen in der Literatur inszeniert. Vor dem Hintergrund des langen, »wohnsüchtig[en]« 19. Jahrhunderts (Walter Benjamin) untersucht diese Studie Texte der deutschsprachigen Literatur von Karl Philipp Moritz über Goethe, die Romantiker und Theodor Fontane bis hin zu Alfred Kubin im kulturellen Kontext und verfolgt in zahlreichen Einzelanalysen die narrative Produktivität des Diskurskomplexes Wohnen.
Das Subjekt der Kunst: Schrei, Klage und Darstellung
Authors: König Diana
Published: September 2014

Gemäß einer Reihe von philosophischen Strömungen erschöpft sich das Subjekt im Vernünftigen - die Kunst hingegen überschreitet den Rahmen der Vernunft immer wieder. Existentielle Erfahrungen von Leid, Klage und Angst fließen hier in das Verständnis von Subjektivität ein. Durch eine Auseinandersetzung mit den Grenzen der Kunst, wie sie Winckelmann, Lessing und Hegel gesetzt haben, zeigt Diana König auch die Grenzen der Vernunft auf. Sie versteht Kunst als ständige Überschreitung, die sich an mehr als an die vernünftigen Fähigkeiten richtet. Das Subjekt bekommt hier noch eine andere Fähigkeit zugeschrieben: die der intuitiven Erkenntnis.
Homo militaris
Authors: vom Hagen Ulrich
Published: September 2014

Als politische Institution des Staates und der Gesellschaft prägt das Militär Soldaten und Zivilisten - und erzeugt den »Homo militaris«. Ulrich vom Hagen widmet sich der spezifischen Kultur des Militärs: In Verbindung der Weber'schen Herrschaftstheorie und der Bourdieu'schen Feldtheorie konzipiert er das Militär als gewaltsame Körperschaft und lässt den Homo militaris dabei als soziologische Figur - als eine Gestalt institutionalisierter Gewalt - sichtbar werden. Zur Untersuchung des militärischen Feldes Deutschlands konnten hierfür erstmals Daten einer internen Erhebung der Bundeswehr genutzt werden. Das Buch macht eine kritische Militärsoziologie an die allgemeine Soziologie anschlussfähig.
Biographie, Ritual und Medien
Authors: Miczek Nadja
Published: September 2014

Engel, Reiki, Jesus und das Vaterunser - wie passt das zusammen? Für viele religiöse Menschen ist es heute selbstverständlich, verschiedenste Vorstellungen und rituelle Praktiken in die eigene Biographie zu integrieren. Sie gestalten ihre Religiosität so, wie es für sie passend erscheint. Nadja Miczek zeigt: Das Internet und andere Medien spielen hierbei eine zentrale Rolle - sowohl als Wissensvorrat als auch für die öffentliche Präsentation der eigenen Biographie und Anschauungen. Mit Hilfe diskurs- und subjektorientierter Theorien zeichnet sie die komplexen Konstruktionen von individueller Religiosität nach.
Foucaults ethnologischer Blick
Authors: Birkhan Barbara
Published: September 2014

Was macht für Foucault den Reiz der Ethnologie aus? Foucaults Selbstverständnis als Ethnologe, das bisher nicht systematisch ausgelotet ist, wird in diesem Buch als fundamentaler Blickwinkel eingeführt, von dem her sich die Relevanz seiner Gesellschaftsdiagnosen sowie seines theoretisch-methodischen Werkzeugs auf die Perspektive einer kritischen Alternative zur Moderne zuspitzen lässt. Barbara Birkhans fachübergreifende Analyse diskutiert Grundorientierungen in der Konzeption kultureller Tatsachen, wie sie - nicht zuletzt wegen ihres performativen Gehalts - für alle Sozial- und Kulturwissenschaften wichtig sind.
Der Sudoku-Effekt
Authors: Kühl Stefan
Published: September 2014

Wo liegen die Ursachen der wachsenden Bürokratisierung an den Hochschulen? Wie ist die Verschulung der Bachelor- und Masterstudiengänge zu erklären? Verantwortlich dafür sind nicht eine neoliberale Verschwörung zum Umbau der Hochschulen, Steuerungsphantasien von Hochschulleitungen oder handwerkliches Ungeschick bei der Konzeption der Studiengänge. Stefan Kühl zeigt vielmehr, dass es sich hierbei um die ungewollte Nebenfolge einer scheinbar kleinen Veränderung in der Organisation des Studiums handelt: der Einführung der Leistungspunkte als einer neuen Verrechnungseinheit an den Universitäten. Durch den Zwang, jede einzelne Arbeitsstunde der Studierenden in dieser Zeiteinheit vorauszuplanen, entsteht ein »Sudoku-Effekt« - die Notwendigkeit, die in Leistungspunkten ausgedrückten Veranstaltungen, Prüfungen und Module so miteinander zu kombinieren, dass das Studium punktemäßig »aufgeht«. Eine selbst von Computern kaum noch zu beherrschende Komplexität und eine Inflation von Prüfungen zählen ebenso zu den Folgen wie eine permanente weitere Verfeinerung des Regelwerks, das auf seine eigenen Unzulänglichkeiten zu reagieren sucht.
Divulgación: Discontinuidades en el costo variable cuando la discontinuidad se produce para todas las unidades a partir de un cierto «N», y válido para todas ellas
Authors: Ambrosini María Inés
Published: September 2014

El objetivo del presente trabajo es plantear y dar respuestas ordenadamente a ciertas inquietudes —sin agotarlas— que se presentan como complejidades, en el caso específico de discontinuidades en el costo variable,cuando la discontinuidad se produce para todas las unidades a partir de un cierto «n» y válido para todas ellas. El mismo ha sido sistematizado realizando presentaciones teóricas que luego se refuerzan con simples ejemplos numéricos, gráficosoportunos y consumaciones vinculadas a resultados absolutos y relativos a diferentes variables. Todas estas herramientas nos posibilitarán ir anticipando la resolución del tema para finalmente arribar a la conclusión que nos permite realizar una generalización del mismo.
Investigación: Investigación científica Retrasos en la transmisión de precios de exportación entre los principales productos lácteos santafesinos: leche en polvo entera y quesos
Authors: Masaro Jimena Vicentin , Depetris Edith , Arancibia Rodrigo García , Rossini Gustavo
Published: September 2014

A nivel internacional, los precios de la leche en polvo entera (LPE) traccionan a los de quesos semiduros. Como Santa Fe es el principal exportador de Argentina, el primer objetivo fue conocer si los precios de exportación se comportaban como los internacionales; y segundo, si existía transmisión entre estos precios santafesinos. A partir de un análisis descriptivo, se encontró que los precios de los quesos variaron 3 o 2 meses después a los de LPE, según el período. Para el segundo objetivo se realizó un análisis de cointegración, corroborándose una relación de largo plazo. Se espera que los resultados contribuyan al conocimiento del mercado lácteo
Divulgación: Offering Minority Communities Equal Opportunities Through Entrepreneurship
Authors: Cooney Thomas M.
Published: September 2014

A substantial body of research has been undertaken in recent years giving prominence to the additional and distinctive challenges faced by female entrepreneurs and by ethnic entrepreneurs. However, other groups of minority entrepreneurs have received relatively little attention and so remain underexplored within entrepreneurship literature. This article introduces some of these minority communities (Ex–Prisoners, Disabled People, Travellers/Gypsies, Grey and Gay) and highlights the research opportunities that exist for entrepreneurship academics who might wish to analyse such ‘silent’ minorities. These communities are all relatively large in terms of population numbers, require tailored support to overcome distinctive economic, social and personal obstacles, and would benefit from critical appraisals of their circumstances.
Divulgación científica Una experiencia acerca de la evaluación como aprendizaje
Authors: Alaniz Belquis , Cámara Viviana , Nardoni Marta
Published: September 2014

Entendemos que la evaluación de los aprendizajes es un proceso complejo que no se reduce sólo a la acreditación sino que tiende fundamentalmente a la comprensión del proceso de construcción de los aprendizajes. Por lo cual debe ser un proceso continuo, formativo e integral. Desde esta perspectiva adquieren importancia la construcción de los instrumentos evaluativos a aplicarse, de modo que la evaluación también resulte un aprendizaje para los estudiantes. Las autoras de este trabajo relatamos una experiencia en la aplicación de instrumentos evaluativos y los resultados obtenidos respetando las normas de la evaluación auténtica, llevado a cabo en la cátedra de Análisis Matemático de la Facultad de Ciencias Económicas de la Universidad Nacional del Litoral.
Breech delivery in the all fours position: a prospective observational comparative study with classic assistance
Authors: Bogner Gerhard , Strobl Martina , Schausberger Christiane , Fischer Thorsten , Reisenberger Klaus , Jacobs Volker R.
Published: September 2014

Objective: Vaginal delivery of fetal breech presentation is considered to be a challenge for obstetricians. The purpose of this study was to show that vaginal delivery in all fours position is feasible and safe for mother and child compared with vaginal breech and classic support.

Methods: A single-center prospective observational case series of breech delivery (n=41) in all fours position was compared to a retrospective cohort of breech deliveries in the form of a matched-pair analysis.

Results: Deliveries in the all fours position successfully took place without obstetric intervention in 70.7% of deliveries (n=29/41), and those including intervention in 90.2% (n=37/41). The rate of maternal perineal injuries was reduced (14.6% vs. 58.5%, P<0.001). Newborns delivered in all fours position had increased prenatal hypoxic stress with a pH of 7.19 [95% confidence interval (CI) 7.16–7.22] vs. a pH of 7.24 (95% CI 7.21–7.27; P=0.016). With n=24 vs. n=16, a higher number of newborns had a pH of <7.20 (P=0.03) and decreased base excess of –7.2 mmol/L (95% CI –8.2–6.2) vs. –4.8 mmol/L (95% CI –5.7–4.0; P<0.001). However, this had no clinical consequences for the newborns (5 min Apgar score <9: n=5 vs. n=4, not significant; transfer rate to neonatal intensive care unit n=7 vs. n=6, not significant).

Conclusion: This is the first clinical evaluation of breech delivery in the all fours position. It is a feasible non-interventional obstetric delivery method. It seems to be safe for the fetus with reduced maternal morbidity. Vaginal delivery of fetal breech presentation, even in the all fours position, creates stress for the newborn.
Anxiety- and Depression-Like Behavior and Impaired Neurogenesis Evoked by Peripheral Neuropathy Persist following Resolution of Prolonged Tactile Hypersensitivity
Authors: Dimitrov Eugene L. , Tsuda Mumeko C. , Cameron Heather A. , Usdin Ted B.
Published: September 2014

Pain and depression are frequently associated with and often persist after resolution of an initial injury. Identifying the extent to which depression remains causally associated with ongoing physical discomfort during chronic pain, or becomes independent of it, is an important problem for basic neuroscience and psychiatry. Difficulty in distinguishing between effects of ongoing aversive sensory input and its long-term consequences is a significant roadblock, especially in animal models. To address this relationship between localized physical discomfort and its more global consequences, we investigated cellular and behavioral changes during and after reversing a mouse model of neuropathic pain. Tactile allodynia produced by placing a plastic cuff around the sciatic nerve resolved within several days when the cuff was removed. In contrast, the changes in elevated O-maze, forced-swim, Y-maze spontaneous alternation and novel-object recognition test performance that developed after nerve cuff placement remained for at least 3 weeks after the nerve cuffs were removed, or 10–15 d following complete normalization of mechanical sensitivity. Hippocampal neurogenesis, measured by doublecortin and proliferating cell nuclear antigen expression, was also suppressed after nerve cuff placement and remained suppressed 3 weeks after cuff removal. FosB expression was elevated in the central nucleus of the amygdala and spinal cord dorsal horn only in mice with ongoing allodynia. In contrast, FosB remained elevated in the basolateral amygdala of mice with resolved nociception and persisting behavioral effects. These observations suggest that different processes control tactile hypersensitivity and the behavioral changes and impaired neurogenesis that are associated with neuropathic allodynia.
A Positive Autoregulatory BDNF Feedback Loop via C/EBPβ Mediates Hippocampal Memory Consolidation
Authors: Bambah-Mukku Dhananjay , Travaglia Alessio , Chen Dillon Y. , Pollonini Gabriella , Alberini Cristina M.
Published: September 2014

Little is known about the temporal progression and regulation of the mechanisms underlying memory consolidation. Brain-derived-neurotrophic-factor (BDNF) has been shown to mediate the maintenance of memory consolidation, but the mechanisms of this regulation remain unclear. Using inhibitory avoidance (IA) in rats, here we show that a hippocampal BDNF-positive autoregulatory feedback loop via CCAAT-enhancer binding protein β (C/EBPβ) is necessary to mediate memory consolidation. At training, a very rapid, learning-induced requirement of BDNF accompanied by rapidde novotranslation controls the induction of a persistent activation of cAMP-response element binding-protein (CREB) and C/EBPβ expression. The latter, in turn, controls an increase in expression ofbdnf exon IVtranscripts and BDNF protein, both of which are necessary and, together with the initial BDNF requirement, mediate memory consolidation. The autoregulatory loop terminates by 48 h after training with decreased C/EBPβ and pCREB and increased methyl-CpG binding protein-2, histone-deacetylase-2, and switch-independent-3a binding at thebdnf exon IVpromoter.
Thalamic δ-Subunit Containing GABAAReceptors Promote Electrocortical Signatures of Deep Non-REM Sleep But Do Not Mediate the Effects of Etomidate at the ThalamusIn Vivo
Authors: Mesbah-Oskui Lia , Orser Beverley A. , Horner Richard L.
Published: September 2014

Extrasynaptic δ-subunits containing GABAAreceptors (δGABAARs) are sensitive targets for several commonly used hypnotic agents and mediate tonic neuronal inhibition. δGABAARs are highly expressed within the thalamus and their activation promotes a switch from tonic to burst firingin vitro. Here we test two hypothesesin vivo. (1) Activation of thalamic δGABAARs will elicit electrocortical signatures consistent with widespread thalamocortical burst firing such as increased delta oscillations (1–4 Hz) and reciprocal changes in spindle-like oscillations (7–14 Hz). (2) These signatures will be recapitulated by the general anesthetic etomidate, if the electrocortical effects of etomidate at the thalamus are mediated by δGABAARs. Microperfusion of the δGABAAR-preferring agonist 4,5,6,7-tetrahydroisoxazolo[5,4-c]pyridin-3-ol (THIP; 10 and 50 μm) into the ventrobasal complex produced significant effects on electrocortical activity in wild-type mice, but not in mice lacking δGABAARs (Gabrd−/−), i.e., the effects with THIP were dependent on δGABAARs. THIP (1) increased 1–4 Hz power in wakefulness and nonrapid-eye movement (NREM) sleep; (2) reduced spindle-like oscillations in NREM sleep; and (3) increased the speed of stable transitions into NREM sleep, indicating effects on state-space dynamics. In contrast, microperfusion of etomidate (10 and 30 μm) into the ventrobasal complex produced effects on electrocortical activity that were independent of δGABAARs, i.e., effects occurred in wild-type andGabrd−/−mice. Etomidate (1) decreased 1–4 Hz power, increased 8–12 Hz, and/or 12–30 Hz power in all sleep–wake states; (2) increased spindle-like oscillations; and (3) increased REM sleep expression. These results indicate that thalamic δGABAARs promote electrocortical signatures of deep NREM sleep, but do not mediate the effects of etomidate at the thalamusin vivo.
Stress-Induced Cocaine Seeking Requires a Beta-2 Adrenergic Receptor-Regulated Pathway from the Ventral Bed Nucleus of the Stria Terminalis That Regulates CRF Actions in the Ventral Tegmental Area
Authors: Vranjkovic Oliver , Gasser Paul J. , Gerndt Clayton H. , Baker David A. , Mantsch John R.
Published: September 2014

The ventral bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (vBNST) has been implicated in stress-induced cocaine use. Here we demonstrate that, in the vBNST, corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) is expressed in neurons that innervate the ventral tegmental area (VTA), a site where the CRF receptor antagonist antalarmin prevents the reinstatement of cocaine seeking by a stressor, intermittent footshock, following intravenous self-administration in rats. The vBNST receives dense noradrenergic innervation and expresses β adrenergic receptors (ARs). Footshock-induced reinstatement was prevented by bilateral intra-vBNST injection of the β-2 AR antagonist, ICI-118,551, but not the β-1 AR antagonist, betaxolol. Moreover, bilateral intra-vBNST injection of the β-2 AR agonist, clenbuterol, but not the β-1 agonist, dobutamine, reinstated cocaine seeking, suggesting that activation of vBNST β-2 AR is both necessary for stress-induced reinstatement and sufficient to induce cocaine seeking. The contribution of a β-2 AR-regulated vBNST-to-VTA pathway that releases CRF was investigated using a disconnection approach. Injection of ICI-118,551 into the vBNST in one hemisphere and antalarmin into the VTA of the contralateral hemisphere prevented footshock-induced reinstatement, whereas ipsilateral manipulations failed to attenuate stress-induced cocaine seeking, suggesting that β-2 AR regulate vBNST efferents that release CRF into the VTA, activating CRF receptors, and promoting cocaine use. Last, reinstatement by clenbuterol delivered bilaterally into the vBNST was prevented by bilateral vBNST pretreatment with antalarmin, indicating that β-2 AR-mediated actions in the vBNST also require local CRF receptor activation. Understanding the processes through which stress induces cocaine seeking should guide the development of new treatments for addiction.
The Active Zone Protein Family ELKS Supports Ca2+Influx at Nerve Terminals of Inhibitory Hippocampal Neurons
Authors: Liu Changliang , Bickford Lydia S. , Held Richard G. , Nyitrai Hajnalka , Südhof Thomas C. , Kaeser Pascal S.
Published: September 2014

In a presynaptic nerve terminal, synaptic vesicle exocytosis is restricted to specialized sites called active zones. At these sites, neurotransmitter release is determined by the number of releasable vesicles and their probability of release. Proteins at the active zone set these parameters by controlling the presynaptic Ca2+signal, and through docking and priming of synaptic vesicles. Vertebrate ELKS proteins are enriched at presynaptic active zones, but their functions are not well understood. ELKS proteins are produced by two genes in vertebrates, and each gene contributes ∼50% to total brain ELKS. We generated knock-out mice for ELKS1 and found that its constitutive removal causes lethality. To bypass lethality, and to circumvent redundancy between ELKS1 and ELKS2 in synaptic transmission, we used a conditional genetic approach to remove both genes in cultured hippocampal neurons after synapses are established. Simultaneous removal of ELKS1 and ELKS2 resulted in a 50% decrease of neurotransmitter release at inhibitory synapses, paralleled by a reduction in release probability. Removal of ELKS did not affect synapse numbers or their electron microscopic appearance. Using Ca2+imaging, we found that loss of ELKS caused a 30% reduction in single action potential-triggered Ca2+influx in inhibitory nerve terminals, consistent with the deficits in synaptic transmission and release probability. Unlike deletion of the active zone proteins RIM, RIM-BP, or bruchpilot, ELKS removal did not lead to a measurable reduction in presynaptic Ca2+channel levels. Our results reveal that ELKS is required for normal Ca2+influx at nerve terminals of inhibitory hippocampal neurons.
Motion Direction Biases and Decoding in Human Visual Cortex
Authors: Wang Helena X. , Merriam Elisha P. , Freeman Jeremy , Heeger David J.
Published: September 2014

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have relied on multivariate analysis methods to decode visual motion direction from measurements of cortical activity. Above-chance decoding has been commonly used to infer the motion-selective response properties of the underlying neural populations. Moreover, patterns of reliable response biases across voxels that underlie decoding have been interpreted to reflect maps of functional architecture. Using fMRI, we identified a direction-selective response bias in human visual cortex that: (1) predicted motion-decoding accuracy; (2) depended on the shape of the stimulus aperture rather than the absolute direction of motion, such that response amplitudes gradually decreased with distance from the stimulus aperture edge corresponding to motion origin; and 3) was present in V1, V2, V3, but not evident in MT+, explaining the higher motion-decoding accuracies reported previously in early visual cortex. These results demonstrate that fMRI-based motion decoding has little or no dependence on the underlying functional organization of motion selectivity.
Three Mechanisms by which Striatal Denervation Causes Breakdown of Dopamine Signaling
Authors: Dreyer Jakob K.
Published: September 2014

Progressive loss of nigrostriatal dopamine (DA) neurons is the neuropathological hallmark of Parkinson's disease (PD). Symptoms of the disease can often be treated by DA D2agonists and thus seem related to disinhibition of the indirect striatal pathway. However, there is no evidence that symptoms arise by low extracellular DA concentration or are associated with reduced D2receptor binding. Here I provide a theoretical analysis of the pathophysiology and postsynaptic adaptation resulting from striatal DA denervation. I found that progressive denervation may alter DA signaling by three independent mechanisms depending on degree of denervation and macroscopic morphology of the lesion. As long as the remaining innervation stays anatomically coherent, denervation reduces phasic variations in extracellular DA, but the DA tone is not changed. The reduction of phasic signaling can be partially compensated by upregulating postsynaptic signaling cascades. However, changes in DA dynamics evade compensation. With 80–99% denervation, a persistent aberrant signal develops in D2-regulated pathways caused by random fluctuations in tonic DA release. Permanent low DA levels occur in regions completely void of innervation. Simulation ofl-dopa therapy reduced the aberrant D2signal. With a high degree of denervation,l-dopa enhanced another aberrant signal, this time in the D1pathway. This analysis provides a quantitative, physiologically consistent view of the early and late stages of PD, the effect of main therapeutic medications, and potential side effects. The mechanisms described here may also provide an explanation to currently inexplicable pathological phenomena such as psycho stimulant-induced contraversive rotations in animal models.
Cross-Inhibition of NMBR and GRPR Signaling Maintains Normal Histaminergic Itch Transmission
Authors: Zhao Zhong-Qiu , Wan Li , Liu Xian-Yu , Huo Fu-Quan , Li Hui , Barry Devin M. , Krieger Stephanie , Kim Seungil , Liu Zhong-Chun , Xu Jinbin , Rogers Buck E. , Li Yun-Qing , Chen Zhou-Feng
Published: September 2014

We previously showed that gastrin-releasing peptide receptor (GRPR) in the spinal cord is important for mediating nonhistaminergic itch. Neuromedin B receptor (NMBR), the second member of the mammalian bombesin receptor family, is expressed in a largely nonoverlapping pattern with GRPR in the superficial spinal cord, and its role in itch transmission remains unclear. Here, we report thatNmbrknock-out (KO) mice exhibited normal scratching behavior in response to intradermal injection of pruritogens. However, mice lacking bothNmbrandGrpr(DKO mice) showed significant deficits in histaminergic itch. In contrast, the chloroquine (CQ)-evoked scratching behavior of DKO mice is not further reduced compared withGrprKO mice. These results suggest that NMBR and GRPR could compensate for the loss of each other to maintain normal histamine-evoked itch, whereas GRPR is exclusively required for CQ-evoked scratching behavior. Interestingly, GRPR activity is enhanced inNmbrKO mice despite the lack of upregulation ofGrprexpression; so is NMBR inGrprKO mice. We found that NMB acts exclusively through NMBR for itch transmission, whereas GRP can signal through both receptors, albeit to NMBR to a much lesser extent. Although NMBR and NMBR+neurons are dispensable for histaminergic itch, GRPR+neurons are likely to act downstream of NMBR+neurons to integrate NMB-NMBR-encoded histaminergic itch information in normal physiological conditions. Together, we define the respective function of NMBR and GRPR in itch transmission, and reveal an unexpected relationship not only between the two receptors but also between the two populations of interneurons in itch signaling.
Neuromodulators Produce Distinct Activated States in Neocortex
Authors: Castro-Alamancos Manuel A. , Gulati Tanuj
Published: September 2014

Neocortical population activity varies between deactivated and activated states marked by the presence and absence of slow oscillations, respectively. Neocortex activation occurs during waking and vigilance and is readily induced in anesthetized animals by stimulating the brainstem reticular formation, basal forebrain, or thalamus. Neuromodulators are thought to be responsible for these changes in cortical activity, but their selective cortical effects (i.e., without actions in other brain areas) on neocortical population activityin vivoare not well defined. We found that selective cholinergic and noradrenergic stimulation of the barrel cortex produces well differentiated activated states in rats. Cholinergic cortical stimulation activates the cortex by abolishing synchronous slow oscillations and shifting firing to a tonic mode, which increases in rate at high doses. This shift causes the sensory thalamus itself to become activated. In contrast, noradrenergic cortical stimulation activates the cortex by abolishing synchronous slow oscillations but suppresses overall cortical firing rate, which deactivates the thalamus. Cortical activation produced by either of these neuromodulators leads to suppressed sensory responses and more focused receptive fields. High-frequency sensory stimuli are best relayed to barrel cortex during cortical cholinergic activation because this also activates the thalamus. Cortical neuromodulation sets different cortical and thalamic states that may serve to control sensory information processing according to behavioral contingencies.
Differential Release of β-Amyloid from Dendrite- Versus Axon-Targeted APP
Authors: DeBoer Scott R. , Dolios Georgia , Wang Rong , Sisodia Sangram S.
Published: September 2014

The β-amyloid precursor protein (APP) plays a central role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease. APP is processed in neurons, but little is known about the relative contributions of presynaptic or postsynaptic compartments to the release of Aβ peptides. To address this issue, we transduced primary neurons from Sprague-Dawley rats or APP−/−mice (B6.129S7-Apptm1Dbo/J) with lentiviral constructs expressing APP chimeras harboring targeting motifs from low-density lipoprotein receptor or neuron-glia cell-adhesion molecule to polarize expression to either dendritic or axonal membranes, respectively. Using imaging and quantitative biochemical approaches, we now report that APP selectively targeted to either axons or dendrites leads to the secretion of full-length Aβ peptides with significantly elevated release from dendritic compartments. These findings reveal that the enzymatic machinery required for production of Aβ peptides are operative both in presynaptic and postsynaptic compartments of primary neurons, leading to the suggestion that Aβ-mediated impairments in glutamatergic neurotransmission is the result of Aβ release from both local and distal neuronal compartments.
Depolarized Inactivation Overcomes Impaired Activation to Produce DRG Neuron Hyperexcitability in a Nav1.7 Mutation in a Patient with Distal Limb Pain
Authors: Huang Jianying , Yang Yang , Dib-Hajj Sulayman D. , van Es Michael , Zhao Peng , Salomon Jody , Drenth Joost P.H. , Waxman Stephen G.
Published: September 2014

Sodium channel Nav1.7, encoded bySCN9A, is expressed in DRG neurons and regulates their excitability. Genetic and functional studies have established a critical contribution of Nav1.7 to human pain disorders. We have now characterized a novel Nav1.7 mutation (R1279P) from a female human subject with distal limb pain, in which depolarized fast inactivation overrides impaired activation to produce hyperexcitability and spontaneous firing in DRG neurons. Whole-cell voltage-clamp recordings in human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 cells demonstrated that R1279P significantly depolarizes steady-state fast-, slow-, and closed-state inactivation. It accelerates deactivation, decelerates inactivation, and facilitates repriming. The mutation increases ramp currents in response to slow depolarizations. Our voltage-clamp analysis showed that R1279P depolarizes channel activation, a change that was supported by our multistate structural modeling. Because this mutation confers both gain-of-function and loss-of-function attributes on the Nav1.7 channel, we tested the impact of R1279P expression on DRG neuron excitability. Current-clamp studies reveal that R1279P depolarizes resting membrane potential, decreases current threshold, and increases firing frequency of evoked action potentials within small DRG neurons. The populations of spontaneously firing and repetitively firing neurons were increased by expressing R1279P. These observations indicate that the dominant proexcitatory gating changes associated with this mutation, including depolarized steady-state fast-, slow-, and closed-state inactivation, faster repriming, and larger ramp currents, override the depolarizing shift of activation, to produce hyperexcitability and spontaneous firing of nociceptive neurons that underlie pain.