bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Positioning the interviewer: Strategic uses of embedded orientation in interview narratives
Authors: Modan Gabriella , Shuman Amy
Published: February 2011

The structure and function of a sociolinguistic interview sets up a context that affords informants the opportunity to achieve their own goals. We examine how an informant manipulates the reception format of the speech event, using embedded orientation to characterize information as alternately given or new, and the interviewer consequently as an insider or outsider. Whereas previous analyses have examined how embedded orientation highlights or sheds light on information in complicating action clauses, we posit that the content of embedded orientation clauses is important in and of itself. Rather than serving as simply background information, embedded orientation can do important ideological work. In the case here, embedded orientation introduces into the narrative traces of a local story—the history of local Fascism, a topic that is rarely discussed in the teller's community. (Embedded orientation, narrative, sociolinguistic interview)
Interviews as interactional data
Authors: Wortham Stanton , Mortimer Katherine , Lee Kathy , Allard Elaine , White Kimberly Daniel
Published: February 2011

Interviews are designed to gather propositional information communicated through reference and predication. Some lament the fact that interviews always include interactional positioning that presupposes and sometimes creates social identities and power relationships. Interactional aspects of interview events threaten to corrupt the propositional information communicated, and it appears that these aspects need to be controlled. Interviews do often yield useful propositional information, and interviewers must guard against the sometimes-corrupting influence of interactional factors. But we argue that the interactional aspects of interview events can also be valuable data. Interview subjects sometimes position themselves in ways that reveal something about the habitual positioning that characterizes individuals or groups. We illustrate the potential value of this interactional information by describing “payday mugging” stories told by interviewees in one New Latino Diaspora town. (Interview data, narrating events, transference)
Comparing stories told in sociolinguistic interviews and spontaneous conversation
Authors: Koven Michele
Published: February 2011

In this article I challenge the notion that interviews are artificial speech events, by comparing how one participant told stories in a sociolinguistic interview and again in a subsequent spontaneous conversation. As shown by qualitative and quantitative comparison of speaker-role inhabitance (Koven 2002, 2007), I show that the interview stories are no less involved (Tannen 1989), and are actually more interlocutory than the conversational stories. With these comparative materials, I demonstrate how interviews may be contexts in which people (re)tell experiences that they may also tell in “naturally occurring” contexts. (Narrative, interviews, footing, retellings)
Henry James and “An International Episode”
Authors: Daniels Howell
Published: February 2011

In their introduction to A bibliography of Henry James Leon Edel and Dan H. Laurence rightly single out the year 1878 as an example of James's astonishing literary productivity. In that year were published French Poets and Novelists, the revised Watch and Ward, Theodolinde (later to be called Rose-Agathe), Daisy Miller, The Europeans, “Longstaff's Marriage” and an International Episode, together with thirty-one articles, reviews and notes, the majority of which were published in the Nation, although James did not become their regular London correspondent until September, 1878. Throughout the seventies James, consciously or unconsciously, had been increasingly preoccupied in his fiction with the “international subject”, and his letter to America also testified to his growing enchantment with Europe. The decision that he made for Europe in 1881 had in one sense been made several years earlier; in his novels, short stories and articles James may be seen constantly weighing two civilizations in the scales of his own artistic purposes, setting off the achievement of Europe against the promise of America. In writing his biography of Hawthorne in 1879 James must have realised that his own problems were in many ways similar to those which had confronted Hawthorne in America.
Barlow Trecothick
Authors: Watson D. H.
Published: February 2011

American colonists who clung to the British standard when the final break with the mother country came have long been christened Loyalists, and have been extensively studied. Protagonists of the colonies in the mother country, however, have been comparatively neglected, and there were a considerable number of these individuals. Although mainly of secondary importance, there were a number of merchants and others whose sympathies, for various reasons, lay with the American colonies, and who worked on behalf of the colonial interest in this country often as close associates with the Rockingham Whigs.
William Cobbett in North America
Authors: Potter J.
Published: February 2011

Of his seventy-two years of life, William Cobbett spent approximately fifteen in North America, about one-third of his adulthood. This period is accounted for in three separate visits, each of which represents a distinct phase in Cobbett's life.
Barlow Trecothick (continued)
Authors: Watson D. H.
Published: February 2011

When Trecothick was examined as a witness before the Committee of the Whole House which investigated the Stamp Act and was question on the petitions he admitted that they had been sought and there was no secrecy over the circular letter. He spoke as follows:
Confederate Sympathizers in the British Working Class
Authors: Shepperson George
Published: February 2011

Royden Harrison, “British Labour and the Confederacy: A Note on the Southern Sympathies of some British working class journals and leaders during the American Civil War”, International Review of Social History (Royal Van Gorcum Ltd., Assen/Netherlands), Vol. 2, 1957, Pt. I, pp. 78–105.
The Paris Conference of the European Association for American Studies: 3–6 September 1957
Authors: Wightman David
Published: February 2011

The EAAS grew out of the heady atmosphere of fellowship and enthusiasm engendered by a mixed, though by no means representative, assembly of scholars brought together by the Salzburg Seminar in April 1954 to discuss the problems and future of American studies in Europe. It was founded more in hope than in fact. Few foresaw the practical difficulties of arranging future conferences and of, in the meantime, publishing a Newsletter, Nor did or could anyone foresee the formation of important national associations in Germany and Britain. Would not these new bodies be too busy with their own concerns to bother much with wider associations?
The Survey of Sources for American Studies in the United Kingdom
Authors: Crick Bernard
Published: February 2011

Mr. H.L, Beales has asked me to report on the progress of the; Survey while he is teaching at Columbia for the Summer. The survey of Library resources ia still in a quite inexplicable state of bibliographic complexity – though most University Librarians are now aroused, interested and even grateful for the scandal we'll probably discover, so I thought most members would be more interested to hear how the resorting of manuscript and source materials progresses, and to see some examples of unworked veins uncovered.
Revaluations, III: James Bryce, “The American Commonwealth”
Authors: Nicholas H. G.
Published: February 2011

Had Bryce died on his fiftieth birthday, 10 May 1888, he would have been known as the author of The Holy Roman Empire, as a distinguished Regius Professor of Civil Law and as a respectable but undistinguished Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs. The record would have been impressive enough but the content of achievement would have been orthodox – such as might be paralleled by many an academic liberal, British or European. Within a few months, however, Bryce broke into a new field and established a reputation of quite another order, with the appearance in December of The American Commortwealth, The book was more than a notable study of American institutions; it marked the recognition by a European mind of the first order of the importance and interest of the government, politics and manner of life of the contemporary United States. Tocqueville had paid such a tribute, a half-century earlier, but his example had not been followed up. Moreover, penetrating as his study was, as an analysis and a prophecy, one element was lacking in his tribute – observation.
Revaluations, V: F. S. Oliver, “Alexander Hamilton: an Essay on American Union”
Authors: Marshall Peter
Published: February 2011

The writings of F. S. Oliver arouse as little interest today as the causes he espoused: tariff reform, the rights of Ulster, military preparedness, Imperial unity are issues abandoned by Politics but unclaimed by History. Booksellers indifferently expose his works to the elements. It is true that a brief account of his career is to be found in the Dictionary of National Biography; but the third volume of the Cambridge History of the British Empire does not mention his name. Yet to his contemporaries Oliver was a figure of great significance and the decline of his reputation has been swift and startling. Reasons can be put forward to account for the change: his political tracts are no longer relevant, his historical works were the efforts of an amateur in a discipline which has become increasingly professional, and his influence was always based primarily upon the force of his personality and the charm of his correspondence. Oliver's singular position in public affairs both helped and hindered his influence. Business preoccupations and indifferent health excluded him from an active part in politics, or so it is said. Doubt on this point is perhaps permissible, since the decade before 1914 saw him active in discussion and prolific as an author. It seems more likely that these were excuses offered to conceal his inability to accept the conventions of democracy. Walpole and Hamilton, Oliver's two heroes, marked the bounds of his political beliefs: the wider world of manhood suffrage was not for him.
Character and Society in The Adventures of Augie March
Authors: Way Brian
Published: February 2011

The Adventures of Augie March, although it suffers a complete breakdown in structure and in quality of writing two-thirds of the way through, nevertheless is the most brilliant attempt to write the great American novel. That is, it belongs to a group of novels which either, like dos Passo's U.S.A. try to convey the experience of America, or, like Look Homeward, Angel, the experience of being an American. Augie March, in the Chicago scenes — the first two-thirds of the novel —does both, and this is why it is so richly-textured and inclusive in its sense of life. Bellow's grasp of character, in this context, of being an American, is concentrated in the central figure of Augie March himself, growing from childhood to maturity through a specific historical and social situation. The continuity of natural growth, and Bellow's strong sense of the progression of time — not merely the private chronology of Augie's life, but time as history — give the tale a compulsive drive forward (the impetus of the bildungsroman rather than that of the picaresque novel).
Immigrant Minority “Diplomacy”: American Jews and Russia, 1901–1912
Authors: Ward Alan J.
Published: February 2011

The influence of immigrant groups upon American foreign relations has been recognized in most standard American diplomatic histories, but reference is usually made in passing, and is rarely adequately documented. The administrations of Theodore Roosevelt and Taft are cases in point, and the influence of Jewish-Americans on certain of their decisions is the subject of this paper. No attempt has been made to exhaust the subjects of Jewish-American activities, Russo-American relations, or the Jews in Russia during the period analysed, but an effort has been made to illustrate, briefly, the general principle that immigrant minorities can exert an immense amount of pressure on American governments. Attention is focussed not upon the organization of a Jewish lobby, most notably the American Jewish Committee, but upon foreign policy decisions made in the light of what each President and Congress felt were demands and pressures from the potent Jewish minority.
The Democratic Ideas of James Wilson: a Reappraisal
Authors: Seed Geoffrey
Published: February 2011

“The services which such a mind as Wilson's, broad, penetrating, exact and luminous can render to a nation can hardly be overestimated… Whoever gives a nation, and most of all to a nation at the outset of its career, sound just principles for the conduct of its government, principles which are in harmony with its character and are capable of progressive expansion as it expands, is a true benefactor to that nation, and deserves to be held in everlasting memory. Such a one was James Wilson.” Lord Bryce's eulogy of Wilson, conceived in the light of liberal democratic ideas, is echoed at many points by a recent biographer, who emphasises Wilson's contribution to American democratic thought and practice. It is regarded with suspicion by those who believe that Wilson could not have been a sincere democrat, and that he used democratic concepts as a device merely to achieve other purposes. “The difficulty with the picture of Wilson as a democrat,” writes one critic, “is his career in Pennsylvania politics,” and he goes on to suggest that Wilson exploited democratic concepts in order to bring about the dominance of the central government.
A Felicity Forever Gone
Authors: Lee B. C.
Published: February 2011

In the thirty years or so which separate James's The Europeans from The Ivory Tower, the transformation of America was accomplished, and the society James knew and wrote about in 1878 was indeed gone forever. What had taken its place he was not really to discover until his return in 1904. It is true that he had dealt in his work with the American millionaire and the ‘rape of Europe’, but the naivete of his conception of what such a figure as Christopher Newman would be like is easily demonstrated by the lives of such men as Frick, Vanderbilt and Jay Gould. These men and their contemporaries: Hill, Harriman, Rockefeller, Carnegie, Duke, Cornell and Morgan - a comparative handful of multimillionaires - had brought into being an industrial power as remote and different in its own way from mid-century New England, as they both were from the Europe James had come to know so well.
First List of Addenda to a Guide to Manuscripts Relating to America in Great Britain and Ireland
Authors: Crick B. R.
Published: February 2011

This list is compiled from materiel discovered subsequent to the publication of the Guide, and more particularly in response to letters and circulars sent to all British archives during June and July, 1962. Some reports in process of clarification have been held over for a future issue. Space does not allow the detail given in the Guide. Few of these reports have been verified by direct inspection, nor have proper names been checked. This is, as it were, a “first draft” of some speculative Second Edition of the Guide. Additions, corrections and further addenda will be very welcome and should be sent to me at L. S. E. I thank Mrs. Noomi Connelly for helping me in the compilation.
Joel Barlow's The Hasty Pudding: A Study in American Neoclassicism
Authors: Grieder Theodore
Published: February 2011

Although he was known by his contemporaries as a political figure and as the author of a long “philosophical” poem entitled The Vision of Columbus (1787), later retitled The Columbiad (1807), Joel Barlow's name and fame, such as they are today, have survived solely by his humorous poem The Hasty Pudding (1796). While it is not the purpose of this paper to provide a critical estimate of the poem, the judgment of posterity appears just; for The Hasty Pudding remains readable, whereas Columbus seems an interminable muddle. It is commonly remarked that the neoclassical literature of England particularly influenced that of eighteenth century America; but specific studies of this influence are not so common. To study selected elements demonstrating this influence in The Hasty Pudding is the aim of this paper. These elements are respectively form, poetic genres, borrowings, and tone.
The Critics at the Harmonium: Blackmur and Winters on Stevens
Authors: Hobsbaum Philip
Published: February 2011

It is nothing new to find critics disagreeing about a poet. What does not seem to be generally recognized, however, is that such disagreements can shed light on the work under consideration. Certainly this is the case with Wallace Stevens. The key essays on this great and difficult poet remain those by R.P. Blackmur and Yvor Winters, and they each represent a possible approach to his writings. Blackmur adopts a texrural approach, concerned mainly with Stevens's language; while Winters discusses his ideas and the nature of his themes.
Scott Fitzgerald and his Critics: the appreciation of minor art
Authors: Hobsbaum Philip
Published: February 2011

It is rather a pity that modem criticism is couched so exclusively in terms of black and white. If a writer these days is not a great creative artist, he is liable to be wiped off the slate altogether. Therefore, those who would preserve a reputation seek to establish it in the strongest possible terms. Terms, perhaps, which it cannot possibly support. This often draws a rebuttal from critics who are impressed less favourably. And, indeed, they may be quite within the bounds of reason if what is in question is the inflating of a minor talent. Yet, to confute an over-estimation is not to condemn a talent which may be genuine. Good writing is rare enough in any period, and we must take it as we find it.
Pigment and Ether: A Comment on the American Mind
Authors: Tanner Tony
Published: February 2011

Tocqueville once made the extremely penetrating observation that the American mind tends to oscillate between ideas that ‘are all either extremely minute and clear or extremely vague’ and with a view to illustrating the relevance of this remark to American literature I want to start by juxtaposing two quotations from writers separated by almost a century. First, Margaret Fuller, a leading female transcendentalist; ‘Are the stars too distant, pick up that pebble that lies at thy feet, and from it learn the ALL.’ Second, some lines from the end of Sherwood Anderson's novel entitled Poor White. There Hugh McVey, disillusioned by and alienated from the industrial society which hems him in, breaks one of his business journeys and goes down to the beach at Sandusky where he picks up some pebbles from the sands. He renews his journey and as the train passes through depressingly ugly factory towns, he plays with the stones. ‘There was relief for his mind in the stones. The light continually played about them, and their colour shifted and changed. One could look at the stones and get relief from thoughts.’ Those little stones, as Anderson explained in his A Story Teller's Story, gave comfort because they could be seen to ‘glisten and shine outside the muddle of life.’
A Southern Drawl from beyond the Grave
Authors: Jordan Rene
Published: February 2011

The bell has finally tolled for Flannery O'Connor. The National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize have both passed up the opportunity to honor her posthumous collection of short stories, Everything that Rises Must Converge. Still, you can't help wondering what best-sellerdom could have done to a book like this. Few will read it through and most of those who stop at the halfway mark will become rabid anti-O'Connorites. Of all the first-rate American writers of the century, she is the easiest to put down. Her characters are self-conciously larger than life, her prose laden with portent in every semi-colon, her plotting so relentlessly tragic that every sentence is like a step – inevitable and often predictable – toward a witches' brew of a Grand Guignol finale. Impatient readers will feel Flannery is getting nowhere pretty slow. After some stirring and simmering of emotions, they'll quit and stop reading short of the climax, with the worst possible results. An O'Connor story is not one of those “New Yorker” Flirtations that ramble charmingly and stop coquettishly: Flannery O'Connor is no playful, teasing minx.
A novel field-based approach to validate the use of network models for disease spread between dairy herds
Authors: ÁLVAREZ L. GARCÍA , WEBB C. R. , HOLMES M. A.
Published: February 2011

The introduction of a centralized system for recording cattle movements in the UK has provided a framework for network-based models for disease spread. However, there are many types of non-reportable contacts between farms which may play a role in disease spread. The lack of real pathogen data with which to test network models makes it difficult to assess whether reported data adequately captures the risk-potential network between farms and improves the accuracy of disease forecasts. A novel multi-disciplinary approach is described whereby network-based models, built upon reported cattle movements and non-reportable local contacts between study farms, are parameterized using field data on bovineStaphylococcus aureusstrains. Reported cattle movements were found to play a role in strain spread between farms, but other contacts via farm visitors were also correlated with strain distribution, suggesting that parameterizing contact networks using cattle-tracing data alone may not adequately capture the disease dynamics.
Time-dependent analysis of extra length of stay and mortality due to ventilator-associated pneumonia in intensive-care units of ten limited-resources countries: findings of the International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC)
Authors: ROSENTHAL V. D. , UDWADIA F. E. , MUÑOZ H. J. , ERBEN N. , HIGUERA F. , ABIDI K. , MEDEIROS E. A. , FERNÁNDEZ MALDONADO E. , KANJ S. S. , GIKAS A. , BARNETT A. G. , GRAVES N. ,   the International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC)
Published: February 2011

Ventilator-associated pneumonias (VAPs) are a worldwide problem that significantly increases patient morbidity, mortality, and length of stay (LoS), and their effects should be estimated to account for the timing of infection. The purpose of the study was to estimate extra LoS and mortality in an intensive-care unit (ICU) due to a VAP in a cohort of 69 248 admissions followed for 283 069 days in ICUs from 10 countries. Data were arranged according to the multi-state format. Extra LoS and increased risk of death were estimated independently in each country, and their results were combined using a random-effects meta-analysis. VAP prolonged LoS by an average of 2·03 days (95% CI 1·52–2·54 days), and increased the risk of death by 14% (95% CI 2–27). The increased risk of death due to VAP was explained by confounding with patient morbidity.
Syphilis with HIV in Florence, 2003–2009: a 7-year epidemiological study
Authors: MARTINELLI C. V. , TOGNETTI L. , COLAO G. , CAROCCI A. , CORSI P. , LEONCINI F.
Published: February 2011

The aims of this study were to describe the trend of acquired syphilis in the city of Florence and its province over a 7-year period, to investigate sexual behaviours in the syphilis-infected population and to analyse syphilis/HIV co-infection. A total of 259 patients were classified according to age, sex and HIV infection. We estimated that from 2004 to 2008 cases increased by 248%. Most patients with concurrent HIV infection were male (31–45 years), but 40- to 60-year-old men who had sex with men predominated in both male and HIV-positive patients. Oral sex was identified as the most significant route of transmission, although most patients did not consider it so. Late-presenters with HIV accounted for 33% of HIV-positive patients: they were unaware of their HIV status and showed syphilis lesions only. In these cases, syphilis heralded the presence of HIV infection and allowed earlier diagnosis.
Steady state solutions of a bi-stable quasi-linear equation with saturating flux
Authors: BURNS M. , GRINFELD M.
Published: February 2011

In this paper, we consider the bi-stable equation proposed by Rosenau to replace the Allen–Cahn equation in the case of large gradients. We discuss the bifurcation problem for stationary solutions of this equation on an interval as the diffusion coefficient and the length of the interval are varied, concentrating on classical solutions.
The association between blood pressure and cognitive function
Authors: Igase Michiya , Kohara Katsuhiko , Miki Tetsuro
Published: February 2011

Longer lifespans have been accompanied by an increasing number of older people suffering from impaired cognitive function (dementia) including Alzheimer's disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VaD). Some studies have suggested that hypertension in old age correlates with the pathogenesis of dementia. Since hypertension is potentially reversible, a number of randomized trials have examined whether antihypertensive treatment may help to prevent dementia. We review five studies, all using subjects aged 60 years or older, which investigated different antihypertensive pharmacological treatments and found conflicting results regarding impact on dementia. At the same time, other studies have suggested that hypotension in older people, especially those with low diastolic blood pressure, are also at higher risk for developing dementia. Four studies are reviewed here, but none is able to determine unequivocally if hypotension is a cause or a consequence of dementia in old age.
Environmental control of dormancy in quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) seeds: two potential genetic resources for pre-harvest sprouting tolerance
Authors: Ceccato Diana V. , Daniel Bertero H. , Batlla Diego
Published: February 2011

Pre-harvest sprouting (PHS) is a serious risk when adapting quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) seed production to different temperate environments. Two quinoa accessions, ‘2-Want’ and ‘Chadmo’ were evaluated under field conditions in the Argentinean pampas over 2 years on five different sowing dates, to explore a range of climate conditions under which seed filling is manageable in this region. Both accessions exhibited dormancy during seed development and maturation under the conditions examined; however, dormancy expression was restricted to low temperatures in 2-Want, while seeds of Chadmo, originating from the humid island of Chiloe, southern Chile, expressed a high level of dormancy at all examined temperatures. Dormancy release was observed as a reduction in the lowest temperature permissible for seed germination, which broadened the optimal germination temperature window. Higher storage temperature increased the rate of dormancy release. The environment during seed development on the mother plant affected the levels and patterns of seed dormancy, with higher temperatures and longer photoperiods promoting dormancy. As dormancy was released before the next production period, the levels of dormancy observed in the accession would allow timely planting and uniform germination, while dormancy during seed maturation ensures the prevention of PHS. Chadmo showed deeper dormancy levels in all situations, compared with 2-Want, therefore greater PHS tolerance under various conditions in the pampas region can be expected for Chadmo, which makes this accession a better candidate to be included in adaptive breeding programmes for quinoa.
Ultrastructural changes of sheep cumulus–oocyte complexes following different methods of vitrification
Authors: Ebrahimi Bita , Valojerdi Mojtaba Rezazadeh , Eftekhari-Yazdi Poopak , Baharvand Hossein
Published: February 2011

To determine the ultrastructural changes of sheep cumulus–oocyte complexes (COCs) following different methods of vitrification, good quality isolated COCs (GV stage) were randomly divided into the non-vitrified control, conventional straw, cryotop and solid surface vitrification groups. In both conventional and cryotop methods, vitrified COCs were respectively loaded by conventional straws and cryotops, and then plunged directly into liquid nitrogen (LN2); whereas in the solid surface group, vitrified COCs were first loaded by cryotops and then cooled before plunging into LN2. Post-warming survivability and ultrastructural changes of healthy COCs in the cryotop group especially in comparison with the conventional group revealed better viability rate and good preservation of the ooplasm organization. However in all vitrification groups except the cryotop group, mitochondria were clumped. Solely in the conventional straw group, the mitochondria showed different densities and were extremely distended. Moreover in the latter group, plenty of large irregular connected vesicles in the ooplasm were observed and in some parts their membrane ruptured. Also, in the conventional and solid surface vitrification groups, cumulus cells projections became retracted from the zona pellucida in some parts. In conclusion, the cryotop vitrification method as compared with other methods seems to have a good post-warming survivability and shows less deleterious effects on the ultrastructure of healthy vitrified–warmed sheep COCs.
Pilot Study of Group Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Heterogeneous Acute Psychiatric Inpatients: Treatment in a Sole-Standalone Session Allowing Patients to Choose the Therapeutic Target
Authors: Raune David , Daddi Inderpal
Published: February 2011

Background: Group CBT (G-CBT) for heterogeneous acute psychiatric inpatients (HAPIs), which allows patients to choose the group therapeutic target, might have clinical utility but is empirically untested.Aims: To test the feasibility, acceptability and patient-rated effectiveness of G-CBT for HAPIs in which patients' themselves choose the group therapeutic targets, within a previously rarely used sole-standalone session format.Method: Weekly G-CBT was run for two HAPI wards. The G-CBT was evaluated in terms of attendances/re-attendances, and patient feedback on 5-point scales of how strongly patients agreed/disagreed that the group was useful, enjoyable, worth re-attending, and had led to them learning something they could use to reduce their distress.Results: One hundred and thirty-seven separate patients attended a total of 291 times across 31 groups. Being female or having a diagnosis of bipolar disorder significantly predicted re-attendance. Sixty-three percent of patient feedback questionnaires were obtained from groups 10–31 and over 75% of respondents agreed positively with each of the evaluation dimensions.Conclusions: Practise-based evidence from this pilot study suggests that G-CBT for HAPIs, allowing patients to choose therapeutic targets in a sole-session format, is feasible, acceptable and patients find it effective. This supports more widespread deployment of this CBT treatment format. Future research might now test the format's clinical effectiveness with standardized and objective clinical outcome measures.
Stroop Effects in Persons with Traumatic Brain Injury: Selective Attention, Speed of Processing, or Color-Naming? A Meta-analysis
Authors: Ben-David Boaz M. , Nguyen Linh L.T. , van Lieshout Pascal H.H.M.
Published: February 2011

The color word Stroop test is the most common tool used to assess selective attention in persons with traumatic brain injury (TBI). A larger Stroop effect for TBI patients, as compared to controls, is generally interpreted as reflecting a decrease in selective attention. Alternatively, it has been suggested that this increase in Stroop effects is influenced by group differences in generalized speed of processing (SOP). The current study describes an overview and meta-analysis of 10 studies, where persons with TBI (N = 324) were compared to matched controls (N= 501) on the Stroop task. The findings confirmed that Stroop interference was significantly larger for TBI groups (p= .008). However, these differences may be strongly biased by TBI-related slowdown in generalized SOP (r2= .81 in a Brinley analysis). We also found that TBI-related changes in sensory processing may affect group differences. Mainly, a TBI-related increase in the latency difference between reading and naming the font color of a color-neutral word (r2= .96) was linked to Stroop effects. Our results suggest that, in using Stroop, it seems prudent to control for both sensory factors and SOP to differentiate potential changes in selective attention from other changes following TBI. (JINS, 2011,17, 354–363)
THE TRACE PROBLEM FOR TOTALLY POSITIVE ALGEBRAIC INTEGERS
Authors: LIANG YANHUA , WU QIANG
Published: February 2011

Letαbe a totally positive algebraic integer of degreed≥2 andα1=α,α2,…,αdbe all its conjugates. We use explicit auxiliary functions to improve the known lower bounds ofSk/d, whereSk=∑di=1αki andk=1,2,3. These improvements have consequences for the search of Salem numbers with negative traces.
Voicing of Initial Interdental Fricatives in Early Middle English Function Words
Authors: Thurber Beverly A.
Published: February 2011

In Modern English, function words such asthis, that, andtheare pronounced with a voiced onset, while content words have the original voiceless onset. A statistical analysis of the distribution of <ð> and <þ> inVices and Virtues, a text preserved in London, British Library, Stowe MS 34 (circa 1200), reveals a distribution, whose most plausible interpretation is that these two letters were used to encode stress-conditioned differences in voicing. This sets the voicing of function words, normally dated to the fourteenth century, back to circa 1200 or earlier.*
The Pluricentricity of German: Perceptions of the Standardness of Austrian and German Lexical Items
Authors: Pfrehm James
Published: February 2011

This article explores the theory of pluricentricity from an empirical perspective. With a particular focus on the written lexicon, and using questionnaires and statistical analysis, I examine how native speakers from Austria (n=115) and Germany (n=104) rated the standardness of 36 words designated as representing either Austrian Standard German (ASG) or German Standard German (GSG). Analyses of quantitative data offer preliminary empirical support for the pluricentricity of the German language. Ultimately, my study (a) justifies the need for more extensive empirical research on perceptions of standardness among native speakers in Austria, (b) demonstrates the value of eliciting attitudes of nonlinguists to assess the validity of theories posited by linguists, and (c) provides an initial model for investigating coexisting standard varieties which, it is hoped, future researchers will adopt and improve on.
Assessing the potential hydrological impacts of hydraulic redistribution in Amazonia using a numerical modeling approach
Authors: Wang Guiling
Published: February 2011

Most evidence for hydraulic redistribution is from ecosystems in relatively dry regions. Recent data indicate that hydraulic redistribution (HR) may also exist in the central Amazon forest. Assuming that HR can take place in all plant types in the Amazon region, this numerical modeling study examines how the hydrological impact of HR varies spatially and temporally. HR influences transpiration and total evapotranspiration the most in places and during seasons of intermediate soil wetness. Although HR increases the long‐term mean of dry season transpiration, it can reduce transpiration toward the end of the dry season in extremely dry years when the HR‐induced acceleration of moisture depletion leaves less water available later in the dry season. Deep roots may, however, mitigate some of this negative impact. This HR‐induced reduction of water availability is contrary to the general notion of HR increasing plant water availability; the spatial and temporal variation of the HR impact documented in this study may help interpret field observational data and locate future field experiment sites to evaluate the HR hypothesis in the Amazon region.
Gp91phox contributes to the development of experimental inflammatory bowel disease
Authors: Bao Shisan , Carr Emma DJ , Xu Ying‐Hua , Hunt Nicholas H
Published: February 2011

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is related to dysfunction of intestinal immunity. Neutrophils have an important role in innate immunity via the oxidative burst, using the p47phox‐ and gp91phox‐containing NAD(P)H oxidase known as Nox2. In dextran sulphate sodium (DSS)‐induced colitis, no significant difference in inflammation between p47phox−/− and wild‐type (WT) mice was reported, but there was improved endothelium‐dependent arteriolar dilation in gp91phox−/− mice, compared with that in WT mice. Gp91phox and p47 phox are not only essential components of phagocyte Nox2, but also have roles in other enzymes. Thus the differences in response of their respective gene knockout mice to DSS challenge are not completely unexpected, but need further investigation. The clinicopathological changes and immunological responses to DSS challenge have not been fully described in gp91phox−/− mice. Thus we treated WT and gp91phox−/− mice with 2.5% DSS for 7 days. The gp91phox−/− mice developed less severe colitis than WT mice following DSS treatment, reflected by a smaller body weight loss, less rectal bleeding and fewer histopathological changes. Less colonic myeloperoxidase was observed in gp91phox−/−, compared with WT mice, following DSS challenge, correlating with interleukin (IL)‐6 production. IL‐10 was upregulated in both gp91phox−/− and WT mice, but was significantly higher in the latter, following 7 days DSS challenge. These results suggest that gp91phox−/− mice are less susceptible to acute DSS‐induced colitis, possibly because of a reduced oxidative burst in the intestine and, consequently, less tissue damage.
RNA-seq reveals cooperative metabolic interactions between two termite-gut spirochete species in co-culture
Authors: Rosenthal Adam Z , Matson Eric G , Eldar Avigdor , Leadbetter Jared R
Published: February 2011

The hindguts of wood-feeding termites typically contain hundreds of microbial species. Together with their insect host, these gut microbes degrade lignocellulose into usable catabolites. Although past research revealed many facets of the stepwise flow of metabolites in this scheme, not much is known about the breadth of interactions occurring between termite-gut microbes. Most of these microbes are thought to depend on, and to have co-speciated with, their host and each other for millions of years. In this study, we explored the interactions of two spirochetes previously isolated from the very same termite species. As hydrogen (H2) is the central free intermediate in termite-gut lignocellulose digestion, we focused on interactions between two closely related termite-gut spirochetes possessing complementary H2 physiologies: one produces H2, while the other consumes it. In vitro, these two Treponema species markedly enhanced each other's growth. RNA sequencing resolved the transcriptomes of these two closely related organisms, revealing that co-cultivation causes comprehensive changes in global gene expression. The expression of well over a 100 genes in each species was changed >twofold, with over a dozen changed >10-fold. Several changes implicating synergistic cross-feeding of known metabolites were validated in vitro. Additionally, certain activities beneficial to the host were preferentially expressed during consortial growth. However, the majority of changes in gene expression are not yet understandable, but indicate a broad, comprehensive and mutualistic interaction between these closely related, co-resident gut symbionts. The results suggest that staggeringly intricate networks of metabolic and gene interactions drive lignocellulose degradation and co-evolution of termite gut microbiota.
Circulating Oxidized LDL and Inflammation in Extreme Pediatric Obesity
Authors: Norris Anne L. , Steinberger Julia , Steffen Lyn M. , Metzig Andrea M. , Schwarzenberg Sarah Jane , Kelly Aaron S.
Published: February 2011

Oxidative stress and inflammation have not been well‐characterized in extreme pediatric obesity. We compared levels of circulating oxidized low‐density lipoprotein (oxLDL), C‐reactive protein (CRP), and interleukin‐6 (IL‐6) in extremely obese (EO) children to normal weight (NW) and overweight/obese (OW/OB) children. OxLDL, CRP, IL‐6, BMI, blood pressure, and fasting glucose, insulin, and lipids were obtained in 225 children and adolescents (age 13.5 ± 2.5 years; boys 55%). Participants were classified into three groups based on gender‐ and age‐specific BMI percentile: NW (<85th, n = 127), OW/OB (85th– <1.2 times the 95th percentile, n = 64) and EO (≥1.2 times the 95th percentile or BMI ≥35 kg/m2, n = 34). Measures were compared across groups using analysis of covariance, adjusted for gender, age, and race. Blood pressure, insulin, and lipids worsened across BMI groups (all P < 0.0001). OxLDL (NW: 40.8 ± 9.0 U/l, OW/OB: 45.7 ± 12.1 U/l, EO: 63.5 ± 13.8 U/l) and CRP (NW: 0.5 ± 1.0 mg/l, OW/OB: 1.4 ± 2.9 mg/l, EO: 5.6 ± 4.9 mg/l) increased significantly across BMI groups (all groups differed with P < 0.01). IL‐6 was significantly higher in EO (2.0 ± 0.9 pg/ml) compared to OW/OB (1.3 ± 1.2 pg/ml, P < 0.001) and NW (1.1 ± 1.0 pg/ml, P < 0.0001) but was not different between NW and OW/OB. Extreme pediatric obesity, compared to milder forms of adiposity and NW, is associated with higher levels of oxidative stress and inflammation, suggesting that markers of early cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus are already present in this young population.
Pretreatment Weight Change Is Associated With Obesity Treatment Outcomes
Authors: West Delia Smith , Harvey‐Berino Jean , Krukowski Rebecca A. , Skelly Joan M.
Published: February 2011

Clinical experience suggests some individuals begin obesity treatment weighing more than they did at pretreatment assessment. Weight fluctuations between baseline screening and the first treatment session were examined among individuals enrolling in a group behavioral obesity treatment outcome study. Participants (N = 480, 94% female; 28% African American; M BMI = 35.7) were classified into those who started treatment having gained weight (≥+1.15% above screening weight), lost weight (≤−1.15% below screening weight) or remained weight stable. The majority of participants were weight‐stable (61%) during the waiting period, but 23% lost weight (−2.36 ± 1.26 kg) and 16% gained weight (+2.11 ± 1.04 kg) between baseline screening and initiating treatment. Those who lost during the pretreatment period went on to have the greatest losses at 6‐months (−8.9 ± 4.9 kg), with significantly greater weight losses than either the weight‐stable (−6.1 ± 5.8 kg) or the weight‐gain (−5.7 ± 5.8 kg) groups. Further, those who lost weight during the waiting period went on to attend a significantly higher proportion of treatment sessions and submitted more self‐monitoring diaries than those who gained weight and those who stayed weight stable while waiting. Thus, pretreatment weight change was associated with treatment outcomes and may be relevant for research screening. Further, pretreatment weight change may be a clinical marker for likely success in behavioral weight control and as such warrants additional investigation to inform potential methods for enhancing outcomes for individuals in obesity treatment.
Identification of a DNA aptamer that inhibits sclerostin's antagonistic effect on Wnt signalling
Authors: Shum Ka To , Chan Celine , Leung Ching-Man , Tanner Julian A.
Published: February 2011

Sclerostin is an extracellular negative regulator of bone formation that is a recognized therapeutic target for osteoporosis therapy. In the present study, we performed DNA aptamer selection against sclerostin, then characterized aptamer–sclerostin binding and the ability to inhibit sclerostin function in cell culture. We show that a selected DNA aptamer was highly selective for binding to sclerostin with affinities in the nanomolar range as determined by solid-phase assays and by isothermal titration calorimetry. Binding between sclerostin and the aptamer was exothermic and enthalpically driven. CD confirmed that the aptamer had temperature-dependent parallel G-quadruplex characteristics. The aptamer was stabilized with 3′ inverted thymidine to investigate efficacy at inhibiting sclerostin function in cell culture. The stabilized DNA aptamer showed potent and specific dose-dependent inhibition of sclerostin's antagonistic effect on Wnt activity using a reporter assay. Taken together, the present findings suggest an alternative approach to inhibiting sclerostin function with therapeutic potential.
Lipid binding to cytoglobin leads to a change in haem co-ordination: a role for cytoglobin in lipid signalling of oxidative stress
Authors: Reeder Brandon J. , Svistunenko Dimitri A. , Wilson Michael T.
Published: February 2011

Cytoglobin is a recently discovered hexa-co-ordinate haemoglobin that does not appear to function as a classical oxygen-binding protein. Its function is unknown and studies on the effects of changes in its expression have not decisively determined its role within the cell. In the present paper, we report that the protein is transformed from hexa-co-ordinate to penta-co-ordinate on binding a lipid molecule. This transformation occurs with the ferric oxidation state of the protein, but not the ferrous state, indicating that this process only occurs under an oxidative environment and may thus be related to redox-linked cell signalling mechanisms. Oleate binds to the protein in a 1:1 stoichiometry and with high affinity (Kd=0.7 μM); however, stopped-flow kinetic measurements yield a Kd value of 110 μM. The discrepancy between these Kd values may be rationalized by recognizing that cytoglobin is a disulfide-linked dimer and invoking co-operativity in oleate binding. The lipid-induced transformation of cytoglobin from hexa-co-ordinate to penta-co-ordinate does not occur with similar hexa-co-ordinate haemoglobins such as neuroglobin, and therefore appears to be a unique property of cytoglobin among the haemoglobin superfamily. The lipid-derived transformation may explain why cytoglobin has enhanced peroxidatic activity, converting lipids into various oxidized products, a property virtually absent from neuroglobin and much decreased in myoglobin. We propose that the binding of ferric cytoglobin to lipids and their subsequent transformation may be integral to the physiological function of cytoglobin, generating cell signalling lipid molecules under an oxidative environment.