bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Henry Giroux and the Arts
Authors: Trend David
Published: December 2012

Henry A. Giroux is well known for pushing the definitions of education. From his early forays into what has been termed the ‘New Sociology of Education’ in the early 1980s to his more recent discussions of ‘public pedagogy’, Giroux has methodically challenged existing orthodoxies. This essay will focus on the interdisciplinary broadening of Giroux ‘s work in the early 1990s, especially his scholarship on the arts as it reflects the inclusive thinking that subsequently drove his contributions to critical theory, cultural studies, media, and radical democracy, as well as the field of education. In a period fraught with controversies over the role of teachers and artists in public life, Giroux forged new connections between these two embattled groups. Advancing the common figure of the ‘cultural worker‘ as a facilitator of change, Giroux argued for ’Artists as Teachers' and ‘Teachers as Artists’. This work inspired many in the arts and education, especially those with activist leanings, to see beyond definitions and conventions that had confined or isolated their efforts.
The Transformative Intellectual: An Examination of Henry Giroux's Ethics
Authors: Kashani Tony
Published: December 2012

This article explores Henry Giroux's contributions to critical pedagogy. The author demonstrates how Giroux, as a public intellectual, has found his Ethics in the right place. The author further argues that Giroux's Ethics of virtue are present not only in the public person but also in his transformative writing.
Disposable Youth/Damaged Democracy: Youth, Neoliberalism, and the Promise of Pedagogy in the Work of Henry Giroux
Authors: Robbins Christopher G.
Published: December 2012

Perhaps more extensively and provocatively than any other contemporary theorist, Henry Giroux has theorized the relationship between youth and democratic public life. Beginning arguably with his first book, Ideology, Culture, and the Process of Schooling (Temple University Press, 1981), and continuing across a number of critically acclaimed works in the 1980s and early 1990s, Giroux uncompromisingly theorized the relationship between schooling and democracy, implicitly registering the importance of youth to a vibrant, radical democracy. Giroux redefined and expanded his analytic in the early 1990s with forays into postmodern theory, critical feminism, and media and cultural studies, among many other fields. With this redefined (and to this day evolving) analytic frame came an intensified effort to explicitly theorize the category of youth and analyze the broad socio-political, cultural and economic shifts that simultaneously transformed everyday life for youth and the ‘image’ – or figure – of youth across a range of sites, including policy discourse, news reportage and popular film. Yet, unlike other scholars and critics who considered youth in the 1990s (and today), Giroux also situated youth in relationship to the intellectual and her/his re-articulation amid these shifts. Giroux's contributions in this regard are singular and predictably compelling. In this article, the author considers the underlying method by which Giroux has theorized the relationships between youth, the intellectual, and democratic public life, while highlighting the contemporary relevance of this aspect of Giroux's massive body of work by appropriating it in an analysis of one intensification of the current war on youth found in the increasing use of tasers on children and youth in schools.
‘Young People are No Longer at Risk — They are the Risk’: Henry Giroux's Youth in a Suspect Society
Authors: McClennen Sophia A.
Published: December 2012

This article analyzes Henry Giroux's recent book Youth in a Suspect Society: democracy or disposability? (Palgrave, 2009) and situates it within his post-9/11 critical interventions. Giroux has focused his recent work on theorizing, critiquing and challenging the confluence of militarization, corporatization and right-wing ideology that has characterized US society post 9/11. Giroux's post-9/11 books take up a central concern – higher education, raced biopolitics, media spectacles, neoliberalism – but that central concern is understood within a larger matrix of interconnected forces that have all combined in recent years to create a major threat to the future of democracy in this nation. To that end, this essay surveys how Youth in a Suspect Society analyzes the ways that post-9/11 US society has transformed its understanding of youth from promise and potential to suspect and commodity.
Pedagogy in Catastrophic Times: Giroux and the Tasks of Critical Public Intellectuals
Authors: Morris Doug
Published: December 2012

This article reflects on Henry Giroux's work as a critical public intellectual and the important role his work plays in fostering educated hope and insurgent possibilities during our present times of daily and longer term catastrophes. In addition to attempting to capture the experience of what it means and how it feels to read Giroux along with what Giroux is working to accomplish, the piece reflects on various forms of public pedagogy (anti-public and ‘public’ public), and the interpenetrating relationships between knowledge, power, politics and pedagogy. Furthermore, it examines the stepping in/stepping out nature of the approaches to theorizing and practicing, proposing and activating, and reflecting and insurrecting that inform Giroux's ongoing critical project. The piece includes a postscript: ‘Blues for Giroux’.
The New Taylorism: Hacking at the Philosophy of the University's End
Authors: Goodman Robin Truth
Published: December 2012

This article looks at the critical writings of Mark C. Taylor. It suggests that Mark C. Taylor is rewriting a global imaginary devoid of the kind of citizenship that Henry Giroux claims as the basis for public education. Instead, Taylor wants to see the university take shape as profit-generating. According to Taylor, in lieu of learning to take positions in relation to the historical understanding that constitutes them, students are to be fitted into their identities as technology-users, directing their knowledge acquisition towards fulfilling contemporary corporate demand. This article places Taylor's op-ed positions on universities in the context of his writings in his fields of specialization, philosophy and religion, to show how he has manipulated the key terms of critical theory against critical theory's emphasis on critique and citizenship. Taylor twists the ideas of Kant, Kierkegaard, Hegel, and the Frankfurt School to show how the market must be thought of as God.
Why Henry Giroux's Democratic Pedagogy is Crucial for Confronting Failed Corporate School Reform and How Liberals like Ravitch and Darling-Hammond are Making Things Worse
Authors: Saltman Kenneth J.
Published: December 2012

Progressive media and the academic community outside of education has largely embraced liberal criticisms of corporate school reform or neoliberal educational restructuring, typified by the highly publicized writing and speaking of Diane Ravitch and Linda Darling-Hammond. Despite offering valuable policy information, the liberal view is grounded in a number of indefensible positions with regard to the politics of knowledge and curriculum, neoliberal globalization, and the relationship between the political economy of schooling and broader economic and political questions. The article juxtaposes the ethical, political and cultural thought of Henry Giroux against the liberal position. It suggests that those committed to educational justice ought to re-evaluate political and cultural values in the struggles against corporate school reform so as not to follow the mistaken liberal thought and collude with the neoliberal ideology and economic doctrine that animates these destructive policies.
Henry Giroux on Democracy Unsettled: From Critical Pedagogy to the War on Youth — An Interview
Authors: Peters Michael A.
Published: December 2012

This interview conducted with Henry Giroux begins by probing Henry's childhood, upbringing and undergraduate years to discover where his sense of social justice took hold. It also questions Henry about his working-class background and the major influences on his thought, including his relationships with Paulo Freire and Howard Zinn. The interview follows an autobiographical path to trace career highlights and contemporary interests.
Limits to Stability
Authors: Cottey Alan
Published: December 2012

The author reflects briefly on what limited degree of global ecological stability and human cultural stability may be achieved, provided that humanity retains hope and does not give way to despair or hide in denial. These thoughts were triggered by a recent conference on International Stability and Systems Engineering.
On Estimating Conditional Conservatism
Authors: Ball Ray , Kothari S. P. , Nikolaev Valeri V.
Published: December 2012

The concept of conditional conservatism (asymmetric earnings timeliness) has provided new insight into financial reporting and stimulated considerable research since Basu (1997). Patatoukas and Thomas (2011) report bias in firm-level cross-sectional asymmetry estimates that they attribute to scale effects. We do not agree with their advice that researchers should avoid conditional conservatism estimates and inferences from research based on such estimates. Our theoretical and empirical analyses suggest the explanation is a correlated omitted variables problem that can be addressed in a straightforward fashion, including fixed-effects regression. Correlation between the expected components of earnings and returns biases estimates of how earnings incorporate the information contained in returns. Further, the correlation varies with returns, biasing asymmetric timeliness estimates. When firm-specific effects are taken into account, estimates do not exhibit the bias, are statistically and economically significant, are consistent with priors, and behave as a predictable function of book-to-market, size, and leverage.

Data Availability: Data are publicly available from sources identified in the article.
MicroRNA-7 Regulates the mTOR Pathway and Proliferation in Adult Pancreatic β-Cells
Authors: Wang You , Liu Jiangying , Liu Chengyang , Naji Ali , Stoffers Doris A.
Published: December 2012

Elucidating the mechanism underlying the poor proliferative capacity of adult pancreatic β-cells is critical to regenerative therapeutic approaches for diabetes. Here, we show that the microRNA (miR)-7/7ab family member miR-7a is enriched in mouse adult pancreatic islets compared with miR-7b. Remarkably, miR-7a targets five components of the mTOR signaling pathway. Further, inhibition of miR-7a activates mTOR signaling and promotes adult β-cell replication in mouse primary islets, which can be reversed by the treatment with a well-known mTOR inhibitor, rapamycin. These data suggest that miR-7 acts as a brake on adult β-cell proliferation. Most importantly, this miR-7–mTOR proliferation axis is conserved in primary human β-cells, implicating miR-7 as a therapeutic target for diabetes.
Increase of Palmitic Acid Concentration Impairs Endothelial Progenitor Cell and Bone Marrow–Derived Progenitor Cell Bioavailability
Authors: Trombetta Antonella , Togliatto Gabriele , Rosso Arturo , Dentelli Patrizia , Olgasi Cristina , Cotogni Paolo , Brizzi Maria Felice
Published: December 2012

Metabolic profiling of plasma nonesterified fatty acids discovered that palmitic acid (PA), a natural peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor γ (PPARγ) ligand, is a reliable type 2 diabetes biomarker. We investigated whether and how PA diabetic (d-PA) concentrations affected endothelial progenitor cell (EPC) and bone marrow–derived hematopoietic cell (BM-HC) biology. PA physiologic (n-PA) and d-PA concentrations were used. Proliferating cell nuclear antigen content and signal transducer and activator of transcription 5 (STAT5), PPARγ, cyclin D1, and p21Waf expression were evaluated. Small interfering RNA technology, gene reporter luciferase assay, electrophoretic mobility shift assay, chromatin immunoprecipitation assay, and coimmunoprecipitation were exploited. In vivo studies and migration assays were also performed. d-PA, unlike n-PA or physiological and diabetic oleic and stearic acid concentrations, impaired EPC migration and EPC/BM-HC proliferation through a PPARγ-mediated STAT5 transcription inhibition. This event did not prevent the formation of a STAT5/PPARγ transcriptional complex but was crucial for gene targeting, as p21Waf gene promoter, unlike cyclin D1, was the STAT5/PPARγ transcriptional target. Similar molecular events could be detected in EPCs isolated from type 2 diabetic patients. By expressing a constitutively activated STAT5 form, we demonstrated that STAT5 content is crucial for gene targeting and EPC fate. Finally, we also provide in vivo data that d-PA–mediated EPC dysfunction could be rescued by PPARγ blockade. These data provide first insights on how mechanistically d-PA drives EPC/BM-HC dysfunction in diabetes.
Amyloid-β Induces Hepatic Insulin Resistance In Vivo via JAK2
Authors: Zhang Yi , Zhou Ben , Deng Bo , Zhang Fang , Wu Jingxia , Wang Yuangao , Le Yingying , Zhai Qiwei
Published: December 2012

Amyloid-β (Aβ), a natural product of cell metabolism, plays a key role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Epidemiological studies indicate patients with AD have an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Aβ can induce insulin resistance in cultured hepatocytes by activating the JAK2/STAT3/SOCS-1 signaling pathway. Amyloid precursor protein and presenilin 1 double-transgenic AD mouse models with increased circulating Aβ level show impaired glucose/insulin tolerance and hepatic insulin resistance. However, whether Aβ induces hepatic insulin resistance in vivo is still unclear. Here we show C57BL/6J mice intraperitoneally injected with Aβ42 exhibit increased fasting blood glucose level, impaired insulin tolerance, and hepatic insulin signaling. Moreover, the APPswe/PSEN1dE9 AD model mice intraperitoneally injected with anti-Aβ neutralizing antibodies show decreased fasting blood glucose level and improved insulin sensitivity. Injection of Aβ42 activates hepatic JAK2/STAT3/SOCS-1 signaling, and neutralization of Aβ in APPswe/PSEN1dE9 mice inhibits liver JAK2/STAT3/SOCS-1 signaling. Furthermore, knockdown of hepatic JAK2 by tail vein injection of adenovirus inhibits JAK2/STAT3/SOCS-1 signaling and improves glucose/insulin tolerance and hepatic insulin sensitivity in APPswe/PSEN1dE9 mice. Our results demonstrate that Aβ induces hepatic insulin resistance in vivo via JAK2, suggesting that inhibition of Aβ signaling is a new strategy toward resolving insulin resistance and T2DM.
Hepatic Glucose Metabolism in Late Pregnancy
Authors: Coate Katie C. , Smith Marta S. , Shiota Masakazu , Irimia Jose M. , Roach Peter J. , Farmer Ben , Williams Phillip E. , Moore Mary Courtney
Published: December 2012

Net hepatic glucose uptake (NHGU) is an important contributor to postprandial glycemic control. We hypothesized that NHGU is reduced during normal pregnancy and in a pregnant diet-induced model of impaired glucose intolerance/gestational diabetes mellitus (IGT/GDM). Dogs (n = 7 per group) that were nonpregnant (N), normal pregnant (P), or pregnant with IGT/GDM (pregnant dogs fed a high-fat and -fructose diet [P-HFF]) underwent a hyperinsulinemic-hyperglycemic clamp with intraportal glucose infusion. Clamp period insulin, glucagon, and glucose concentrations and hepatic glucose loads did not differ among groups. The N dogs reached near-maximal NHGU rates within 30 min; mean ± SEM NHGU was 105 ± 9 µmol⋅100 g liver−1⋅min−1. The P and P-HFF dogs reached maximal NHGU in 90–120 min; their NHGU was blunted (68 ± 9 and 16 ± 17 µmol⋅100 g liver−1⋅min−1, respectively). Hepatic glycogen synthesis was reduced 20% in P versus N and 40% in P-HFF versus P dogs. This was associated with a reduction (>70%) in glycogen synthase activity in P-HFF versus P and increased glycogen phosphorylase (GP) activity in both P (1.7-fold greater than N) and P-HFF (1.8-fold greater than P) dogs. Thus, NHGU under conditions mimicking the postprandial state is delayed and suppressed in normal pregnancy, with concomitant reduction in glycogen storage. NHGU is further blunted in IGT/GDM. This likely contributes to postprandial hyperglycemia during pregnancy, with potential adverse outcomes for the fetus and mother.
GATA6 Mutations Cause a Broad Phenotypic Spectrum of Diabetes From Pancreatic Agenesis to Adult-Onset Diabetes Without Exocrine Insufficiency
Authors: De Franco Elisa , Shaw-Smith Charles , Flanagan Sarah E. , Shepherd Maggie H. ,   International NDM Consortium, Hattersley Andrew T. , Ellard Sian
Published: December 2012

We recently reported de novo GATA6 mutations as the most common cause of pancreatic agenesis, accounting for 15 of 27 (56%) patients with insulin-treated neonatal diabetes and exocrine pancreatic insufficiency requiring enzyme replacement therapy. We investigated the role of GATA6 mutations in 171 subjects with neonatal diabetes of unknown genetic etiology from a cohort of 795 patients with neonatal diabetes. Mutations in known genes had been confirmed in 624 patients (including 15 GATA6 mutations). Sequencing of the remaining 171 patients identified nine new case subjects (24 of 795, 3%). Pancreatic agenesis was present in 21 case subjects (six new); two patients had permanent neonatal diabetes with no enzyme supplementation and one had transient neonatal diabetes. Four parents with heterozygous GATA6 mutations were diagnosed with diabetes outside the neonatal period (12–46 years). Subclinical exocrine insufficiency was demonstrated by low fecal elastase in three of four diabetic patients who did not receive enzyme supplementation. One parent with a mosaic mutation was not diabetic but had a heart malformation. Extrapancreatic features were observed in all 24 probands and three parents, with congenital heart defects most frequent (83%). Heterozygous GATA6 mutations cause a wide spectrum of diabetes manifestations, ranging from pancreatic agenesis to adult-onset diabetes with subclinical or no exocrine insufficiency.
Limitations in the Use of Indices Using Glucose and Insulin Levels to Predict Insulin Sensitivity
Authors: Pisprasert Veeradej , Ingram Katherine H. , Lopez-Davila Maria F. , Munoz A. Julian , Garvey W. Timothy
Published: December 2012

OBJECTIVE

To examine the utility of commonly used insulin sensitivity indices in nondiabetic European Americans (EAs) and African Americans (AAs).

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

Two-hundred forty nondiabetic participants were studied. Euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamp was the gold standard approach to assess glucose disposal rates (GDR) normalized by lean body mass. The homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and the quantitative insulin sensitivity check index (QUICKI) were calculated from fasting plasma glucose and insulin (FIL). Oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was performed to determine Matsuda index, the simple index assessing insulin sensitivity (SIisOGTT), Avignon index, and Stomvoll index. Relationships among these indices with GDR were analyzed by multiple regression.

RESULTS

GDR values were similar in EA and AA subgroups; even so, AA exhibited higher FIL and were insulin-resistant compared with EA, as assessed by HOMA-IR, QUICKI, Matsuda index, SIisOGTT, Avignon index, and Stumvoll index. In the overall study population, GDR was significantly correlated with all studied insulin sensitivity indices (/r/ = 0.381–0.513); however, these indices were not superior to FIL in predicting GDR. Race and gender affected the strength of this relationship. In AA males, FIL and HOMA-IR were not correlated with GDR. In contrast, Matsuda index and SIisOGTT were significantly correlated with GDR in AA males, and Matsuda index was superior to HOMA-IR and QUICKI in AAs overall.

CONCLUSIONS

Insulin sensitivity indices based on glucose and insulin levels should be used cautiously as measures of peripheral insulin sensitivity when comparing mixed gender and mixed race populations. Matsuda index and SIisOGTT are reliable in studies that include AA males.
Parenteral Nutrition–Associated Hyperglycemia in Non–Critically Ill Inpatients Increases the Risk of In-Hospital Mortality (Multicenter Study)
Authors: Olveira Gabriel , Tapia María José , Ocón Julia , Cabrejas-Gómez Carmen , Ballesteros-Pomar María D. , Vidal-Casariego Alfonso , Arraiza-Irigoyen Carmen , Olivares Josefina , Conde-García Maria del Carmen , García-Manzanares Álvaro , Botella-Romero Francisco , Quílez-Toboso Rosa P. , Cabrerizo Lucio , Matia Pilar , Chicharro Luisa , Burgos Rosa , Pujante Pedro , Ferrer Mercedes , Zugasti Ana , Prieto Javier , Diéguez Marta , Carrera María José , Vila-Bundo Anna , Urgelés Juan Ramón , Aragón-Valera Carmen , Rovira Adela , Bretón Irene , García-Peris Pilar , Muñoz-Garach Araceli , Márquez Efren , del Olmo Dolores , Pereira José Luis , Tous María C. ,   Study Group of Hyperglycemia in Parenteral Nutrition: Nutrition Area of the Spanish Society of Endocrinology and Nutrition (SEEN)
Published: December 2012

OBJECTIVE

Hyperglycemia may increase mortality in patients who receive total parenteral nutrition (TPN). However, this has not been well studied in noncritically ill patients (i.e., patients in the nonintensive care unit setting). The aim of this study was to determine whether mean blood glucose level during TPN infusion is associated with increased mortality in noncritically ill hospitalized patients.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

This prospective multicenter study involved 19 Spanish hospitals. Noncritically ill patients who were prescribed TPN were included prospectively, and data were collected on demographic, clinical, and laboratory variables as well as on in-hospital mortality.

RESULTS

The study included 605 patients (mean age 63.2 ± 15.7 years). The daily mean TPN values were 1.630 ± 323 kcal, 3.2 ± 0.7 g carbohydrates/kg, 1.26 ± 0.3 g amino acids/kg, and 0.9 ± 0.2 g lipids/kg. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that the patients who had mean blood glucose levels >180 mg/dL during the TPN infusion had a risk of mortality that was 5.6 times greater than those with mean blood glucose levels <140 mg/dL (95% CI 1.47–21.4 mg/dL) after adjusting for age, sex, nutritional state, presence of diabetes or hyperglycemia before starting TPN, diagnosis, prior comorbidity, carbohydrates infused, use of steroid therapy, SD of blood glucose level, insulin units supplied, infectious complications, albumin, C-reactive protein, and HbA1c levels.

CONCLUSIONS

Hyperglycemia (mean blood glucose level >180 mg/dL) in noncritically ill patients who receive TPN is associated with a higher risk of in-hospital mortality.
Reaction times as indicators of the quality of expert work of belgrade municipal institutions for emergency medical services
Authors: Anđelic Slađana , Ivančević Nenad , Bogunović Snežana
Published: December 2012

Introduction. Methodological Instructions for Procedures of Healthcare Institution Reports on the Indicators of the Quality of Healthcare from 2007 also involve reaction times (RTs) I, II, I+II, III and IV, as the obligatory indicator of the quality of expert work of Emergency Medical Services (EMS). Objective. Evaluation of the quality of expert work of Belgrade EMS based on RTs. Methods. A retrospective analysis of priority 1 emergency calls in September 2009 vs September 2010, and RTs from I to IV as the recommended indicators of the quality of expert work of Belgrade EMS. Results. As detected, in 2010 there has been decrease in the total number of calls for physicians, and the total number of priority 1 emergency calls. By comparing RTs, the obtained data showed that in 2010 the time elapsed from when a priority 1 call was received until it was handed to the EMS team for implementation (RT I) was on average faster by 0.1 min (p<0.01), that the time elapsed from the dispatcher’s receipt of the call until the EMS team arrived to the patient (RT II) was faster on average by 0.42 min (p<0.05), and that the time for the team to reach the patient after the received call through the call centre (RT I+II) was faster by 0.15 min. Also, in 2010, RT III was shortened by 1.27 min and RT IV by 1.00 min. By summing RTs I, II and III, independently resolved level I emergency calls at the scene are obtained. In 2009, this time interval was, on average 38.02 min, and in 2010 it was an average of 36.23 min. By summing RTs I, II and IV, the time elapsed from the call received through the call centre until the patient’s hospital admission is obtained. In 2009 this time was average 31.08 min, and in 2010 it was average 29.16 min. Conclusion. One of the major advances in emergency medicine is providing assistance to a request for emergency medical care where this is produced. Therefore, the indicator of RTs may measure the quality of care provided by pre-hospital services.
The mineralogy and petrology of the Pahnavar Fe skarn, In the Eastern Azarbaijan, NW Iran
Authors: Mokhtari Mir
Published: December 2012

The Pahnavar calcic Fe-bearing skarn zone is located in the Eastern Azarbaijan (NW Iran). This skarn zone occurs along the contact between Upper Cretaceous impure carbonates and an Oligocene granodioritic batholith. The skarnification process can be categorized into two discrete stages: prograde and retrograde. The prograde stage began immediately after the initial emplacement of the granodioritic magma into the enclosing impure carbonate rocks. The effect of heat flow from the batholith caused the enclosing rocks to become isochemically marmorized in the pure limestone layers and bimetasomatized (skarnoids) in the impure clay-rich carbonates. Segregation and evolution of an aqueous phase from the magma that infiltrated to the marbles and skarnoids through fractures and micro-fractures took place during the emplacement of magma. The influx of Fe, Si and Mg from the granodiorite to the skarnoids and marbles led to the crystallization of anhydrous calc-silicates (garnet and pyroxene).

The retrograde stage can be divided, in turn, into two distinct sub-stages. During earliest sub-stage, the previously formed skarn assemblages were affected by intense hydro-fracturing; in addition, Cu, Pb, Zn, along with H2S and CO2 were added. Consequently, hydrous calc-silicates (epidote and tremolite-actinolite), sulfides (pyrite, chalcopyrite, galena and sphalerite), oxides (magnetite and hematite) and carbonates (calcite) deposited the anhydrous calc-silicates. The late-retrograde sub-stage was due the incursion of colder oxidizing fluids into the skarn system, causing the alteration of the previously formed calc-silicate assemblages and the development of fine-grained aggregates of chlorite, illite, kaolinite, hematite and calcite.

The lack of wollastonite in the mineral assemblage, along with the garnet-clinopyroxene paragenesis, suggests that the prograde stage formed under temperature and fO2 conditions of 430–550°C and 10−26–10−23, respectively.
Late Glacial, Early Holocene and Late Holocene life at the interface of a distinct landscape — relationship of humans and environments in the Sub-Carpathian region (N Hungary)
Authors: Bácsmegi Gábor , Sümegi Pál , Törőcsik Tünde
Published: December 2012

Relationships between the communities and environment surrounding these communities can be disclosed by the application of different archeological, geological and environmental historical methods. This includes the deployment of numerous tools in scientific investigation including the application of chronological, sedimentological, geochemical and paleoecological analytical methods on sequences accumulated in historical catchment basins of peat-bog. The Nádas-tó at Nagybárkány is a small peatbog in the northern part of Hungary, on the Sub-Carpathian region. The formation of the lake can be traced back to the Late Glacial period. The sediments deposited in the lakebed provide a record of climatic and hydrologic changes. A higher water level could be demonstrated from the Late Glacial to the Mid-Holocene, when the reed-beds covered a small area only. This was followed by a hiatus spanning ca. 4400 years, caused by the deepening and cleaning of the lakebed during the Late Iron / Imperial Age, between 2100 - 1900 cal BP years. After this change the water level decreased and the water quality was more eutrophic. A reed-bed evolved around the lake. Paludification started with a bulrush floating mat phase at the close of the Middle Age, ca. 1500 cal AD years. The endowments and settlement pattern persisted from the Neolithic onwards until the terminal Modern Age, when measures aimed to ordain the area substantially altered the natural landscape. Although some anthropogenic disturbances can be reconstructed in the development of the peatland, some climatic effects and authogenic processes might be separated by paleoecological analyses.
Erratum to: Geotechnical and mineralogical properties of weak rocks from Central Greece
Authors: Ilia Ioanna , Rozos Dimitrios , Perraki Theodora , Tsangaratos Paris
Published: December 2012

The original version of this article was published in Central European Journal of Geosciences volume 1, issue 4 (2009), pp 431–442, DOI:10.2478/v10085-009-0029-0. Unfortunately the original version of this article contains mistakes in authors names which we correct here. Editorial staff of the journal apologise for any inconvenience that may result from the oversight.
Physical Exercise for Patients Undergoing Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation: Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses of Randomized Controlled Trials
Authors: van Haren Inge E.P.M. , Timmerman Hans , Potting Carin M. , Blijlevens Nicole M.A. , Staal J. Bart , Nijhuis-van der Sanden Maria W.G.
Published: December 2012

Background

The treatment-related burden for patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) may be relieved by physical exercises.

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to summarize and analyze the evidence provided by randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on physical exercise interventions among patients with cancer undergoing HSCT.

Data Sources

PubMed, CINAHL, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, and PEDro were searched for relevant RCTs up to October 1, 2011.

Study Selection

Two reviewers screened articles on inclusion criteria and indentified relevant RCTs.

Data Extraction

Two authors assessed the selected articles for risk of bias. Data extraction was performed by 1 reviewer. Meta-analyses were undertaken to estimate the outcomes quality of life (QOL), psychological well-being and distress, and fatigue.

Data Synthesis

Eleven studies were included, with study populations consisting of recipients undergoing either an allogeneic or autologous HSCT (n=734). Four studies had low risk of bias. The exercise interventions were performed before, during, and after hospitalization for the HSCT. Different exercise programs on endurance, resistance and/or activities of daily living training, progressive relaxation, and stretching were used. Meta-analyses showed that exercise during hospitalization led to a higher QOL (weighted mean difference=8.72, 95% confidence interval=3.13, 14.31) and less fatigue (standardized mean difference=0.53, 95% confidence interval=0.16, 0.91) in patients with an allogeneic HSCT at the moment of discharge from the hospital. No marked effects were found for psychological well-being and distress. Individual study results suggested significant positive effects on QOL, fatigue, psychological well-being and distress, and physical functioning.

Limitations

Prevalent shortcomings in the included studies were the heterogeneity among studies and the lack of blinding of participants, personnel, and outcome assessment.

Conclusions

The results suggest that recipients of HSCT may benefit from physical exercise.
Needs assessment for simulation training in neuroendoscopy: a Canadian national survey
Authors: Haji Faizal A. , Dubrowski Adam , Drake James , de Ribaupierre Sandrine
Published: December 2012

Object

In recent years, dramatic changes in surgical education have increased interest in simulation-based training for complex surgical skills. This is particularly true for endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV), given the potential for serious intraoperative errors arising from surgical inexperience. However, prior to simulator development, a thorough assessment of training needs is essential to ensure development of educationally relevant platforms. The purpose of this study was to conduct a national needs assessment addressing specific goals of instruction, to guide development of simulation platforms, training curricula, and assessment metrics for ETV.

Methods

Canadian neurosurgeons performing ETV were invited to participate in a structured online questionnaire regarding the procedural steps for ETV, the frequency and significance of intraoperative errors committed while learning the technique, and simulation training modules of greatest potential educational benefit. Descriptive data analysis was completed for both quantitative and qualitative responses.

Results

Thirty-two (55.2%) of 58 surgeons completed the survey. All believed that virtual reality simulation training for ETV would be a valuable addition to clinical training. Selection of ventriculostomy site, navigation within the ventricles, and performance of the ventriculostomy ranked as the most important steps to simulate. Technically inadequate ventriculostomy and inappropriate fenestration site selection were ranked as the most frequent/significant errors. A standard ETV module was thought to be most beneficial for resident training.

Conclusions

To inform the development of a simulation-based training program for ETV, the authors have conducted a national needs assessment. The results provide valuable insight to inform key design elements necessary to construct an educationally relevant device and educational program.
Hearing preservation in patients with vestibular schwannoma treated with Gamma Knife surgery
Authors: Baschnagel Andrew M. , Chen Peter Y. , Bojrab Dennis , Pieper Daniel , Kartush Jack , Didyuk Oksana , Naumann Ilka C. , Maitz Ann , Grills Inga S.
Published: December 2012

Object

Hearing loss after Gamma Knife surgery (GKS) in patients with vestibular schwannoma has been associated with radiation dose to the cochlea. The purpose of this study was to evaluate serviceable hearing preservation in patients with VS who were treated with GKS and to determine if serviceable hearing loss can be correlated with the dose to the cochlea.

Methods

Forty patients with vestibular schwannoma with serviceable hearing were treated using GKS with a median marginal dose of 12.5 Gy (range 12.5–13 Gy) to the 50% isodose volume. Audiometry was performed prospectively before and after GKS at 1, 3, and 6 months, and then every 6 months thereafter. Hearing preservation was based on pure tone average (PTA) and speech discrimination (SD). Serviceable hearing was defined as PTA less than 50 dB and SD greater than 50%.

Results

The median cochlear maximum and mean doses were 6.9 Gy (range 1.6–16 Gy) and 2.7 Gy (range 0.7–5.0 Gy), respectively. With a median audiological follow-up of 35 months (range 6–58 months), the 1-, 2-, and 3-year actuarial rates of maintaining serviceable hearing were 93%, 77%, and 74%, respectively. No patient who received a mean cochlear dose less than 2 Gy experienced serviceable hearing loss (p = 0.035). Patients who received a mean cochlear dose less than 3 Gy had a 2-year hearing preservation rate of 91% compared with 59% in those who received a mean cochlear dose of 3 Gy or greater (p = 0.029). Those who had more than 25% of their cochlea receiving 3 Gy or greater had a higher rate of hearing loss (p = 0.030). There was no statistically significant correlation between serviceable hearing loss and age, tumor size, pre-GKS PTA, pre-GKS SD, pre-GKS Gardner-Robertson class, maximum cochlear dose, or the percentage of cochlear volume receiving 5 Gy. On multivariate analysis there was a trend toward significance for serviceable hearing loss with a mean cochlear dose of 3 Gy or greater (p = 0.074). Local control was 100% at 24 months. No patient developed facial or trigeminal nerve dysfunction.

Conclusions

With a median mean cochlear dose of 2.7 Gy, the majority of patients with serviceable hearing retained serviceable hearing 3 years after GKS. A mean cochlear dose less than 3 Gy was associated with higher serviceable hearing preservation.
Addressing the siphoning effect in new shunt designs by decoupling the activation pressure and the pressure gradient across the valve
Authors: Mattei Tobias A. , Morris Martin , Nowak Kathleen , Smith Daniel , Yee Jeremy , Goulart Carlos R. , Zborowski Anne , Lin Julian J.
Published: December 2012

Object

Although several improvements have been observed in the past few years in shunt technology, currently available systems still present several associated problems. Among these, overdrainage along with its complications remains one of the great challenges for new shunt designs. To address the so-called siphoning effect, the authors provide a practical example of how it is possible to decouple the activation pressure and the pressure gradient across the valve through a 3–key component system. In this new shunt design, the flow is expected to depend only on the intracranial pressure and not on the pressure gradient across the valve, thus avoiding the so-called siphoning effect.

Methods

The authors used computer models to theoretically evaluate the mechanical variables involved in the operation of the newly designed valve, such as the fluid's Reynolds number, proximal pressure, distal pressure, pressure gradient, actual flow rate, and expected flow rate. After fabrication of the first superscaled model, the authors performed benchmark tests to analyze the performance of the new shunt prototype, and the obtained data were compared with the results predicted by the previous mathematical models.

Results

The final design of the new paddle wheel valve with the 3–key component antisiphoning system was tested in the hydrodynamics laboratory to prove that the siphoning effect did not occur. According to the calculations obtained using the LabVIEW program during the experiments, each time the distal pressure decreased without an increase in the proximal pressure (despite the range of the pressure gradient), the pin blocked the spinning of the paddle wheels, and the calculated fluid velocity through the system tended to zero. Such a situation was significantly different from the expected flow rate for such a pressure gradient in a siphoning situation without the new antisiphon system.

Conclusions

The design of this new prototype with a 3–key component antisiphoning system demonstrated that it is possible to decouple the activation pressure and the pressure gradient across the valve, avoiding the siphoning effect. Although further developments are necessary to provide a model compatible to clinical use, the authors believe that this new prototype illustrates the possibility of successfully addressing the siphoning effect by using a simple 3–key component system that is able to decouple the activation pressure and the pressure gradient across the valve by using a separate pressure chamber. It is expected that such proof of concept may significantly contribute to future shunt designs attempting to address the problem of overdrainage due to the siphoning effect.
Timing and mechanism of ischemic stroke due to extracranial blunt traumatic cerebrovascular injury
Authors: Griessenauer Christoph J. , Fleming J. Brett , Richards Boyd F. , Cava Luis P. , Curé Joel K. , Younan Duraid S. , Zhao Limin , Alexandrov Andrei V. , Barlinn Kristian , Taylor Tracy , Harrigan Mark R.
Published: December 2012

Object

Extracranial cerebrovascular injury is believed to be an important cause of neurological injury in patients who have suffered blunt trauma. The authors sought to determine the timing and mechanisms of ischemic stroke in patients who suffered traumatic cerebrovascular injury (TCVI).

Methods

This is a prospective study of all patients with TCVI who were admitted to a Level I trauma center during a 28-month period. All patients who suffered blunt trauma and had risk factors for TCVI underwent screening CT angiography (CTA) of the head and neck on admission. All patients with either an ischemic stroke or CTA suggesting TCVI underwent confirmatory digital subtraction angiography (DSA). Patients with DSA-confirmed TCVI were treated with 325 mg aspirin daily; all patients were observed during their hospitalization for the occurrence of new ischemic stroke. In addition, a subset of patients with TCVI underwent transcranial Doppler ultrasonography monitoring for microembolic signals.

Results

A total of 112 patients had CTA findings suggestive of TCVI; 68 cases were confirmed by DSA. Overall, 7 patients had an ischemic stroke in the territory of the affected artery prior to or during admission. Four of the patients had their event prior to diagnosis with CTA and 2 occurred prior to DSA. In 1 patient the ischemic stroke was found to be due to an extracranial atherosclerotic carotid plaque, and this patient was excluded from further analysis. All patients with ischemic stroke had brain CT findings consistent with an embolic mechanism. Two (8.7%) of 23 monitored patients with TCVI had microembolic signals on transcranial Doppler ultrasonography.

Conclusions

Most ischemic strokes due to TCVI are embolic in nature and occur prior to screening CTA and initiation of treatment with aspirin.
The Y-shaped double-barrel bypass in the treatment of large and giant anterior communicating artery aneurysms
Authors: Dengler Julius , Kato Naoki , Vajkoczy Peter
Published: December 2012

Large and giant anterior communicating artery (ACoA) aneurysms usually show partial thrombosis and incorporate both the A1 and A2 segments and crucial perforating vessels. Therefore, direct clip placement or endovascular strategies often fail, leaving cerebral bypass surgery as a relevant therapeutic option. The authors present 3 cases in which a giant or large ACoA aneurysm was successfully occluded using a new technique that applies a double-barrel radial artery bypass. A radial artery graft is modified into a Y-shaped double-barrel conduit. After both pterional and parasagittal craniotomies are carried out, the graft is tunneled between both sites and anastomosed in an end-to-side fashion proximally to either a superficial temporal artery (STA) or M2 branch and distally to bilateral A3 branches. Aneurysm occlusion is then conducted through the pterional or parasagittal craniotomy. In one case, a 42-year-old patient in whom an endovascular approach had failed, the authors performed an STA-A3-A3 bypass and proximal aneurysm occlusion. In two others, a 49-year-old man in whom coiling had failed and a 56-year-old man in whom a giant ACoA aneurysm was partially thrombosed, the authors performed an M2-A3-A3 double-barrel bypass followed by either proximal or distal aneurysm occlusion. Complete aneurysm occlusion with excellent bypass perfusion was documented in the first two cases. In the third case, the authors observed good bypass perfusion with persistent antegrade aneurysm filling, and thus endovascular coil embolization was added to completely occlude the aneurysm.

The Y-shaped double-barrel bypass using a radial artery graft allows for safe and effective occlusion of large and giant ACoA aneurysms that cannot be treated by direct clip application.
Drowning by numbers
Authors: Hasselberg Ylva
Published: December 2012

The purpose of this text is manifold. The primary purpose is to look into the effects of marketization of academia on the reading habits of academics, which also demands a problematization of reading and its role in the process of creating new knowledge. The second purpose is to discuss and problematize the citation as a sign of intellectual debt. And the third, but not least important, purpose is to write a text that demands the reader to read in a manner that is necessary to learn, instead of writing it in a manner that is adapted to promoting “citability”. And so of course, what I would like more than anything to teach the reader is that the only possible way forward, the only method of reproducing real scholarship in a commodified setting, is to live it yourself. This way of writing a text is my way of living eal scholarship. If this does not agree with you – don’t bother citing me.
Generating Functions for q-Apostol Type Frobenius–Euler Numbers and Polynomials
Authors: Simsek Yilmaz
Published: December 2012

The aim of this paper is to construct generating functions, related to nonnegative real parameters, for q-Eulerian type polynomials and numbers (or q-Apostol type Frobenius–Euler polynomials and numbers). We derive some identities for these polynomials and numbers based on the generating functions and functional equations. We also give multiplication formula for the generalized Apostol type Frobenius–Euler polynomials.
Improved Cyclability of Liquid Electrolyte Lithium/Sulfur Batteries by Optimizing Electrolyte/Sulfur Ratio
Authors: Zhang Sheng
Published: December 2012

A liquid electrolyte lithium/sulfur (Li/S) cell is a liquid electrochemical system. In discharge, sulfur is first reduced to highly soluble Li2S8, which dissolves into the organic electrolyte and serves as the liquid cathode. In solution, lithium polysulfide (PS) undergoes a series of complicated disproportionations, whose chemical equilibriums vary with the PS concentration and affect the cell’s performance. Since the PS concentration relates to a certain electrolyte/sulfur (E/S) ratio, there is an optimized E/S ratio for the cyclability of each Li/S cell system. In this work, we study the optimized E/S ratio by measuring the cycling performance of Li/S cells, and propose an empirical method for determination of the optimized E/S ratio. By employing an electrolyte of 0.25 m LiSO3CF3-0.25 m LiNO3 dissolved in a 1:1 (wt:wt) mixture of dimethyl ether (DME) and 1,3-dioxolane (DOL) in an optimized E/S ratio, we show that the Li/S cell with a cathode containing 72% sulfur and 2 mg cm−2 sulfur loading is able to retain a specific capacity of 780 mAh g−1 after 100 cycles at 0.5 mA cm−2 between 1.7 V and 2.8 V.
Simulation of Water Environmental Capacity and Pollution Load Reduction Using QUAL2K for Water Environmental Management
Authors: Zhang Ruibin , Qian Xin , Yuan Xingcheng , Ye Rui , Xia Bisheng , Wang Yulei
Published: December 2012

In recent years, water quality degradation associated with rapid socio-economic development in the Taihu Lake Basin, China, has attracted increasing attention from both the public and the Chinese government. The primary sources of pollution in Taihu Lake are its inflow rivers and their tributaries. Effective water environmental management strategies need to be implemented in these rivers to improve the water quality of Taihu Lake, and to ensure sustainable development in the region. The aim of this study was to provide a basis for water environmental management decision-making. In this study, the QUAL2K model for river and stream water quality was applied to predict the water quality and environmental capacity of the Hongqi River, which is a polluted tributary in the Taihu Lake Basin. The model parameters were calibrated by trial and error until the simulated results agreed well with the observed data. The calibrated QUAL2K model was used to calculate the water environmental capacity of the Hongqi River, and the water environmental capacities of CODCr NH3-N, TN, and TP were 17.51 t, 1.52 t, 2.74 t and 0.37 t, respectively. The results showed that the NH3-N, TN, and TP pollution loads of the studied river need to be reduced by 50.96%, 44.11%, and 22.92%, respectively to satisfy the water quality objectives. Thus, additional water pollution control measures are needed to control and reduce the pollution loads in the Hongqi River watershed. The method applied in this study should provide a basis for water environmental management decision-making.