bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
‘Queer’ treatments: giving a voice to former patients who received treatments for their ‘sexual deviations’
Authors: Dickinson Tommy , Cook Matt , Playle John , Hallett Christine
Published: February 2012

Aims and objectives.  The study aimed to examine the experiences of patients and meanings attached to ‘treatments’ of sexual deviations, which included homosexuality and transvestism, in the UK (1949–1992), exploring reasons for such treatments, experiences and how individual lives were affected.

Background.  Male homosexuality remained illegal in England until 1967 and, along with transvestism, was considered an antisocial sexual deviation that could be cured. Homosexuality remained classifiable as a mental illness until 1992. Nurses were involved in administering treatments to cure these individuals; however, there is a paucity of information about this now‐discredited mental health nursing practice.

Design.  A nationwide study based on oral history interviews.

Methods.  Purposeful and snowball sampling was utilised when selecting participants for the study. Participants were recruited via adverts in gay establishments/media. All participants gave signed informed consent. Face‐to‐face oral history interviews were conducted and transcribed for historical interpretation.

Results.  Seven former male patients made contact, aged 65–97 years at interview. All reported that the treatments had been unsuccessful in altering their sexual desires or behaviour. Most sought treatment owing to unsupportive and negative attitudes from friends, family and wider society. Others selected treatments instead of imprisonment. Most eventually found happiness in same‐sex relationships. However, all were left feeling emotionally troubled by the treatments they received.

Conclusion.  Defining homosexuality and transvestism as mental illnesses and implementing what could be argued to be inefficient treatments to eradicate them appears to have had a lasting negative impact on the patients who received them.

Relevance to clinical practice.  Nurses who care for older gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender patients need to be mindful of their potential past treatment by healthcare services and ensure that they are non‐judgmental and accepting of their sexual orientation and current gender.
Divergence and biogeography of the recently evolved Macaronesian red Festuca (Gramineae) species inferred from coalescence‐based analyses
Authors: DÍAZ‐PÉREZ A. J. , SEQUEIRA M. , SANTOS‐GUERRA A. , CATALÁN P.
Published: February 2012

Studying the biogeography and the phylogeography of the endemic Macaronesian red Festuca species (Loliinae, Poaceae) is of prime interest in understanding the speciation and colonization patterns of recently evolved groups in oceanic archipelagos. Coalescence‐based analyses of plastid trnLF sequences were employed to estimate evolutionary parameters and to test different species‐history scenarios that model the pattern of species divergence. Bayesian IM estimates of species divergence times suggested that ancestral lineages of diploid Macaronesian and Iberian red fescues could have diverged between 1.2 and 1.57 Ma. When empirical data were compared to coalescence‐based simulated distributions of discordance and p‐distance statistics, two species‐history models were chosen in which the first branching lineage derived in Canarian Festuca agustinii. Its sister lineage could have involved a recent polytomy leading to the Madeiran Festuca jubata, the Azorean Festuca francoi + Festuca petraea and the continental Festuca rivularis lineages (Canarian model) or the sequential branching of lineages leading to F. jubata and finally to the sister clades of F. rivularis and F. francoi + F. petraea (Sequential model). Nested clade phylogeographic analysis (NCPA) and a first adapted host–parasite co‐evolutionary ParaFit method were used to detect the phylogeographic signal. NCPA inferred long‐distance colonizations for the entire diploid red Festuca complex, but allopatric‐fragmentation and isolation‐by‐distance (IBD) patterns were inferred within archipelagos. In addition, the ParaFit method suggested a generalized pattern of a stepping‐stone model at all hierarchical levels. Maximum‐likelihood‐based dispersal‐extinction‐cladogenesis (DEC) models were superimposed on the Sequential model species tree. The three‐independent‐colonization (3IC) model was the best supported biogeographic scenario, concurring with previous analysis based on multilocus AFLP data.
Tidal modulation of eruptive activity at open‐vent volcanoes: evidence from Stromboli, Italy
Authors: Sottili Gianluca , Palladino Danilo M.
Published: February 2012

Terra Nova, 24, 233–237, 2012

The role of Earth tides as a relevant controlling factor of a variety of geological processes, including seismicity and volcanism, is widely debated. Stromboli Volcano, Italy, is well known for its persistent explosive activity and represents an ideal setting to investigate tidal effects on the energy release and eruptive behaviour of volcanoes. Herein, we report new evidence that tidal stresses may modulate the timing of eruptive activity at volcanoes in an open‐vent state. We report statistically significant correlations of the peak eruption frequencies to fortnightly tidal maxima (i.e. full and new moon) during a 17‐month‐long period of activity in 2010–2011: in fact, the number of explosive events per hour increases by >85% during tidal maxima with respect to the average values. We suggest that tidally induced cycles of compression–decompression of country rocks controls fluctuating magma supply rate from the shallow plumbing system and, thus, eruption frequency.
The peptide growth factor, phytosulfokine, attenuates pattern‐triggered immunity
Authors: Igarashi Daisuke , Tsuda Kenichi , Katagiri Fumiaki
Published: February 2012

Pattern‐triggered immunity (PTI) is triggered by recognition of elicitors called microbe‐associated molecular patterns (MAMPs). Although immune responses may provide good protection of plants from pathogen attack, excessive immune responses have negative impacts on plant growth and development. Thus, a good balance between positive and negative effects on the immune signaling network is important for plant fitness. However, little information is known about the molecular mechanisms that are involved in attenuation of PTI. Here, we describe a growth‐promoting peptide hormone, phytosulfokine (PSK), as attenuating PTI signaling in Arabidopsis. This research was motivated by the observation that expression of the PSK Receptor 1 (PSKR1) gene was induced by MAMP treatment. Plants homozygous for pskr1 T‐DNA insertions showed enhanced defense gene expression and seedling growth inhibition triggered by MAMPs. The pskr1 plants also showed enhanced PTI against the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae. These results indicate that the PSKR‐mediated signaling attenuates immune responses. Tyrosyl protein sulfotransferase (TPST) is an enzyme required for production of the mature sulfated PSK. Like pskr1 mutants, a tpst T‐DNA insertion line exhibited enhanced MAMP‐triggered seedling growth inhibition, which was suppressed by exogenous application of PSK. Thus, PSK signaling mediated by PSKR1 attenuates PTI but stimulates growth.
Effects of woodchip mulch and barley intercropping on weeds in lentil crops
Authors: WANG L , GRUBER S , CLAUPEIN W
Published: February 2012

Wang L, Gruber S & Claupein W (2012). Effects of woodchip mulch and barley intercropping on weeds in lentil crops. Weed Research 52, 161–168.

The effect of woodchip mulch on weed infestation and crop yield of lentil (Lens culinaris) was tested in a 2‐year field experiment at the organic research station Kleinhohenheim, University of Hohenheim, Germany, in 2009 and 2010. The treatments included no mulch and an amount of 160 m3 ha−1 (fresh matter) woodchips (a mixture of hedgerow shrub species) applied both in spring‐sown lentil sole cropping and in lentil–barley mixed cropping systems after the crops were well established. Averaged over the two years, woodchip mulch reduced weed biomass and weed density (plants m−2) in both cropping systems, with a reduction by 43% and 29% (sole), and by 51% and 30% (mixed) respectively. Compared with lentil sole cropping, lentil–barley mixed cropping decreased weed biomass significantly; however, there was no effect on weed density. Lentil grain yield from sole and mixed cropping was 3.0–3.4  t ha−1 and 2.1–2.2 t ha−1 in 2009 and 1.0–1.1 t ha−1 and 0.8–0.9 t ha−1 in 2010. Barley grain yield was 1.4 t ha−1 in 2009 and 0.7 t ha−1 in 2010. Despite decreasing weeds, the mulch did not improve grain yields of lentil or barley in mixed or sole cropping. In conclusion, the combination of woodchip mulch and mixed cropping is useful to reduce weed infestation in cropping systems where chemical or mechanical weed control is not possible and for crops with a low capacity for competition against weeds.
Experimental Study on the Location of Neurons Associated with the First Sacral Sympathetic Trunk Ganglion of the Pig
Authors: Ragionieri L. , Botti M. , Gazza F. , Minelli L. Bo , Panu R.
Published: February 2012

The neurons associated with the left first sacral sympathetic trunk ganglion (STG S1), an autonomic ganglion particularly concerned in the innervation of the smooth and striated musculature associated with pelvic organs, were identified in the pig, using the non‐trans‐synaptic fluorescent retrograde neuronal tracer Fast Blue. The labelled neurons were located mostly ipsilaterally, in the intermediolateral nucleus of the spinal cord segments T10‐L5, in the sympathetic trunk ganglia L3‐Co1, in the caudal mesenteric ganglia, in the pelvic ganglia, and in the spinal ganglia T13‐S4. Our results could indicate the existence of visceral neuronal circuits concerning the ganglia of the sympathetic trunk and the caudal mesenteric, pelvic and spinal ganglia with or without the intervention of the central nervous system, whose identification and preservation during surgical treatments could be helpful in reducing the risk of subsequent urinary and sexual disfunctions.
Epithelial–mesenchymal transition and the liver: Role in hepatocellular carcinoma and liver fibrosis
Authors: Maheswaran Tina , Rushbrook Simon Matthew
Published: February 2012

See article in J. Gastroenterol. Hepatol. 2012; 27: 566–578.
Should we stop “MaS”ing about with steatotic liver grafts and “MiS” out on potential donor livers?
Authors: Teoh Narci C
Published: February 2012

See article in J. Gastroenterol. Hepatol. 2012; 27: 540–546.
Diversity in anti‐N‐methyl‐D‐aspartate receptor encephalitis: Case‐based evidence
Authors: Pinho João , Rocha João , Rodrigues Margarida , Pereira João , Maré Ricardo , Ferreira Carla , Lourenço Esmeralda , Beleza Pedro
Published: February 2012

Antibodies against N‐methyl‐D‐aspartate receptor (NMDAR) are identified in the form of immune‐mediated encephalitis in which typical manifestations include neuropsychiatric symptoms, seizures, abnormal movements, dysautonomia and hypoventilation. The authors report two cases of anti‐NMDAR encephalitis with different presentations and patterns of progression. The first patient presented with status epilepticus and later developed psychosis, pyramidal signs and diffuse encephalopathy. The second patient presented with acute psychosis followed a week later by seizures, dystonia, rigidity, oromandibular dyskinesias and dysautonomia. Possible mechanisms responsible for the clinical manifestations of this disease are discussed in light of recently described additional clinical and laboratory findings.
The relationship between the plasma concentration of blonanserin, and its plasma anti‐serotonin 5‐HT2A activity/anti‐dopamine D2 activity ratio and drug‐induced extrapyramidal symptoms
Authors: Suzuki Hidenobu , Gen Keishi
Published: February 2012

Aims:  Blonanserin is a second‐generation antipsychotic that was developed in Japan. We investigated the relationships between plasma concentration, the plasma anti‐5‐HT2A activity/anti‐D2 activity (S/D) ratio and extrapyramidal symptoms (EPS) in blonanserin dosing.

Methods:  The subjects were 29 outpatients with schizophrenia. We assessed EPS using the Drug‐Induced Extrapyramidal Symptoms Scale (DIEPSS). The plasma concentrations were measured by high performance liquid chromatography, and the plasma anti‐D2 and anti‐5‐HT2A activities were measured by [3H]‐spiperone and [3H]‐ketanserin radioreceptor assays.

Results:  The results revealed that there were significant correlations between both the plasma concentration and the DIEPSS total score (P < 0.05). A negative correlative tendency was found between the S/D ratio and the DIEPSS total score. Furthermore, the plasma concentrations were divided into a low plasma concentration group and a high plasma concentration group, and the S/D ratios were divided into a low S/D ratio group and a high S/D ratio group. We then compared each group based on the DIEPSS total scores. The score in the high plasma concentration‐low S/D ratio group was significantly higher than in the high plasma concentration‐high S/D ratio, low plasma concentration‐high S/D ratio and low plasma concentration‐low S/D ratio groups (P < 0.05 for all).

Conclusions:  These findings indicate that the incidence of EPS during treatment with blonanserin is mainly determined by plasma concentration, but the incidence of EPS may be inhibited when anti‐5HT2A activity is predominant over anti‐D2 activity.
Cerebral blood flow in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex correlates with treatment response to low‐frequency right prefrontal repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in the treatment of depression
Authors: Kito Shinsuke , Hasegawa Takashi , Koga Yoshihiko
Published: February 2012

Aims:  Low‐frequency right prefrontal repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is effective in treating depression, and its antidepressant effects have proven to correlate with decreases in cerebral blood flow (CBF) in the orbitofrontal cortex and subgenual cingulate cortex. However, a predictor of treatment response to low‐frequency right prefrontal rTMS in depression has not been identified yet. The aim of this study was to estimate regional CBF in the frontal regions and investigate the correlation with treatment response to low‐frequency right prefrontal rTMS in depression.

Methods:  We examined 26 depressed patients for the correlation between treatment response to rTMS and regional CBF in the frontal regions, by analyzing their brain scans with 99mTc‐ethyl cysteinate dimer before rTMS treatment. CBF in 16 brain regions was estimated using fully automated region of interest analysis software. Two principal components were extracted from CBF in 16 brain regions by factor analysis with maximum likelihood method and Promax rotation with Kaiser normalization.

Results:  Sixteen brain regions were divided into two groups: dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (superior frontal, medial frontal, middle frontal, and inferior frontal regions) and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (anterior cingulate, subcallosal, orbital, and rectal regions). Treatment response to rTMS was not correlated with CBF in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, but it was correlated with CBF in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex.

Conclusion:  These findings suggest that CBF in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex may be a potential predictor of low‐frequency right prefrontal rTMS, and depressed patients with increased CBF in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex may show a better response.
Genetic polymorphism of angiotensin I‐converting enzyme (ACE), but not angiotensin II type I receptor (ATr1), has a gender‐specific role in panic disorder
Authors: Bayoglu Burcu , Cengiz Mujgan , Karacetin Gul , Uysal Omer , Kocabasoğlu Nese , Bayar Reha , Balcioglu Ibrahim
Published: February 2012

Aims:  Angiotensins were shown to have some role in the development of panic disorder (PD). In this study, we aimed to determine the frequency of polymorphisms in two angiotensin‐related genes, angiotensin I‐converting enzyme (ACE) and angiotensin II type I receptor (ATr1), in a sample of Turkish patients with PD and to evaluate their association with PD development.

Methods:  Polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism was used to analyze ATr1 A1166C polymorphism, and only polymerase chain reaction was used to analyze functional ACE insertion/deletion polymorphism in 123 patients with PD and in 169 similarly aged disease‐free controls.

Results:  There was no significant difference in the genotype distribution between PD patients and controls for each polymorphism (P > 0.05). Allele frequency of ACE insertion/deletion was borderline statistically significant between the groups (P = 0.055; odds ratio: 1.39; 95% confidence interval: 0.99–1.95), and allele frequency of ATr1 A1166C was not significantly different between the groups (P = 0.32; odds ratio: 0.81; 95% confidence interval: 0.53–1.22).

Conclusion:  This study suggests that polymorphisms of ACE I/D and ATr1 A1166C are not associated with risk of PD in Turkish patients. However, in ACE insertion/deletion polymorphism, the insertion allele was found to be more frequent in the male subgroup of patients (χ2 = 4.61, P = 0.032) than in controls, suggesting a potential male‐specific role of the less active ACE insertion allele in the pathogenesis of PD.
Transient receptor potential A1 receptor‐mediated neural cross‐talk and afferent sensitization induced by oxidative stress: Implication for the pathogenesis of interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome
Authors: Furuta Akira , Suzuki Yasuyuki , Hayashi Norihiro , Egawa Shin , Yoshimura Naoki
Published: February 2012

Although the pathogenesis of interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome remains unknown, there is a significant correlation of interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome with other chronic pain disorders, such as irritable bowel syndrome, endometriosis and fibromyalgia syndrome. In this review, we highlight evidence supporting neural cross‐talk in the dorsal root ganglia, spinal cord and brain levels, which might play a role in the development of chronic pain disorders through central sensitization. In addition, we focus on transient receptor potential V1 and transient receptor potential A1 as the receptor targets for chronic pain conditions, because transient receptor potential V1 and transient receptor potential A1 act as a nocisensor to mediate not only an afferent signal to the dorsal horn of the spinal cord, but also an efferent signal in the periphery through secretion of inflammatory agents, such as substance P and calcitonin gene‐related peptide in nociceptive sensory neurons. Furthermore, peripheral inflammation produces multiple inflammatory mediators that act on their cognate receptors to activate intracellular signal transduction pathways and thereby modify the expression and function of transient receptor potential V1 and transient receptor potential A1 (peripheral sensitization). During tissue damage and inflammation, oxidative stress, such as reactive oxygen species or reactive carbonyl species is also generated endogenously. The highly diffusible nature might account for the actions of free radical formation far from the site of injury, thereby producing systemic pain conditions without central sensitization through neural cross‐talk. Because oxidative stress is considered to induce activation of transient receptor potential A1, we also discuss exogenous and endogenous oxidative stress to elucidate its role in the pathogenesis of interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome and other chronic pain conditions.
ESOPHAGEAL PARAKERATOSIS MIMICKING ENDOSCOPIC APPEARANCE OF SUPERFICIAL ESOPHAGEAL NEOPLASTIC LESION SUCH AS DYSPLASIA
Authors: PARK JUN YOUNG , KIM DA‐MIN , MIN BYUNG‐HOON , KIM KYOUNG‐MEE
Published: February 2012

The endoscopic findings of esophageal parakeratosis have not been well defined and its clinical significance including malignant potential is unclear. Here, we report a case of esophageal parakeratosis presenting as a discrete flat elevated lesion and mimicking the endoscopic appearance of superficial esophageal neoplastic lesion such as dysplasia or cancer. A 72‐year‐old woman was referred to our hospital for an esophageal lesion detected by upper endoscopy during a medical check‐up. Upper endoscopy revealed a 5‐cm sized whitish flat elevated lesion involving the mucosa of the middle esophagus. The surface of this lesion showed mild nodularity and the margin was discrete. When spraying with lugol solution, the lesion was not stained. On microscopic examination, esophageal parakeratosis was noted on the luminal surface with a hyaline eosinophilic cytoplasm and small elongate nuclei oriented parallel to the surface. Although pathological examination of initial biopsy specimens revealed no evidence of neoplasia or infection, we carried out follow‐up upper endoscopies 1 month and 1 year later because of endoscopic findings mimicking dysplasia or cancer. Endoscopic and histopathological findings from the first and the second follow‐up upper endoscopies were same as those of the first examination and the final diagnosis of esophageal parakeratosis was made. Given the present case, esophageal parakeratosis needs to be considered as a differential diagnosis when a flat elevated lesion is found in the esophagus and biopsy specimens reveal no evidence of dysplasia or cancer.
Preparation, clinical support, and confidence of speech–language therapists managing clients with a tracheostomy in the UK
Authors: Ward Elizabeth , Morgan Tessa , McGowan Sue , Spurgin Ann‐Louise , Solley Maura
Published: February 2012

Background:Literature regarding the education, training, clinical support and confidence of speech–language therapists (SLTs) working with patients with a tracheostomy is limited; however, it suggests that many clinicians have reduced clinical confidence when managing this complex population, many face role and team challenges practising in this area, and most are seeking more opportunities for professional development and training.

Aims:To investigate the education, training, clinical support and confidence of SLTs in the UK who manage patients with a tracheostomy in order to identify current challenges and inform the future clinical training needs of this professional group.

Methods & Procedures:Via an online survey, the clinical training, clinical support and confidence of SLTs with more than one year of clinical experience was examined. A total of 106 SLTs from the UK completed the survey. Within the questionnaire, clinicians were also asked to identify if their workplace had a tracheostomy competency training programme (CTP) to allow further exploration of the preparation, clinical support and confidence of respondents with (43% of respondents) and without (32% of respondents) a CTP.

Outcomes & Results:Most SLTs (71%) were confident managing patients with a tracheostomy. The majority were accessing professional development and receiving expert support, though many identified specific areas where more support and training was needed. Less than half the group felt up to date with the current evidence. Only 35% of clinicians felt they worked in an optimal team for tracheostomy management, and poor recognition of the role of the SLT in managing dysphagia in patients with a tracheostomy was an issue for many clinicians, particularly on more general care wards. SLTs in workplaces with a CTP were found to have received significantly more expert support, on‐the‐job training, access to evidence‐based practice and were significantly more confident in managing ventilator‐assisted patients.

Conclusions & Implications:SLTs are eager to access further professional development and training; however, such training needs to target specific areas of need. The significant difference in the preparation, support and confidence of SLTs with CTPs in their workplace highlights potential benefits that can be achieved through workplace training and support.
Urine survivin as a diagnostic biomarker for bladder cancer: a systematic review
Authors: Ku Ja Hyeon , Godoy Guilherme , Amiel Gilad E. , Lerner Seth P.
Published: February 2012

What's known on the subject? and What does the study add?

Although many tests for identifying patients with new or recurrent bladder cancer have been used, a reliable method has yet to be established. Recently, increasing attention has focused on the role of survivin in bladder cancer detection.

Because urine survivin tests have better sensitivity than cytology, urine survivin could potentially replace routine cytology and might be used as an adjunct method for cystoscopy. However, the clinical utility of urine survivin as a bladder tumour marker identified in the present study remains to be elucidated.

To determine the clinical utility of urine survivin as a bladder tumour marker we systematically reviewed the available evidence. A comprehensive literature review was performed, from August 1997 to March 2011, using three search engines in English including PubMed, Cochrane Library, and SCOPUS. Two reviewers independently evaluated both trial eligibility and methodological quality and data extraction. We included studies that evaluated urine survivin, used cystoscopy and/or histopathology as the reference standard, and allowed the construction of a 2 × 2 contingency table. Bivariate random effect meta‐analyses were used to calculate the summary estimated of sensitivity and specificity and to construct a summary receiver‐operating characteristics curve of urine survivin tests. In all, 14 studies were included in the present review; two studies had two subsets of data. There were 2051 subjects, including 1038 in the case group and 1013 in the control group, and heterogeneity was present among diagnostic studies. The pooled sensitivity and specificity for urine survivin tests were 0.772 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.745–0.797) and 0.918 (95% CI 0.899–0.934), respectively. The area under the curve of urine survivin tests was 0.9392. When a subgroup analysis with six studies was performed, urine survivin tests had better sensitivity than cytology, but did not match cytology for specificity. The clinical utility of urine survivin as a bladder tumour marker identified in the present study remains to be elucidated.
The Pragmatic Sanction of Materials: Notes for an Ethnography of Legal Substances
Authors: Lezaun Javier
Published: February 2012

How is the law bound to the material world? This article examines the production of reference materials, artefacts that incarnate legally relevant measurements and serve as a transitional object for the law in its approximation to the stuff of the world. The argument, an opening for an ethnographic investigation into the life of legal materials, is based on a study of the work conducted at the Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (IRMM), an agency that, for over fifty years, has fabricated official versions of the objects and substances mentioned in European law.
The Donor‐conceived Child's ‘Right to Personal Identity’: The Public Debate on Donor Anonymity in the United Kingdom
Authors: Turkmendag Ilke
Published: February 2012

On 1 April 2005, with the implementation of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (Disclosure of Donor Information) Regulations 2004, United Kingdom law was changed to allow children born through gamete donation to access details identifying the donor. Drawing on trends in adoption law, the decision to abolish donor anonymity was strongly influenced by a discourse that asserted the ‘child's right to personal identity’. Through examination of the donor anonymity debate in the public realm, while adopting a social constructionist approach, this article discusses how donor anonymity has been defined as a social problem that requires a regulative response. It focuses on the child's ‘right to personal identity’ claims, and discusses the genetic essentialism behind these claims. By basing its assumptions on an adoption analogy, United Kingdom law ascribes a social meaning to the genetic relatedness between gamete donors and the offspring.
A Socio‐legal Analysis of an Actor‐world: The Case of Carbon Trading and the Clean Development Mechanism
Authors: Cloatre Emilie , Wright Nick
Published: February 2012

This article reviews the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), and analyses how it reflects a particular international vision of climate change and its solutions. It discusses how the expectations this approach embeds have become challenged by practice, and practitioners, and how alternative models for the CDM have been put forward. The article argues that these challenges and alternatives can be understood better by borrowing Michel Callon's concept of ‘actor‐world’, in order to analyse how contrasting visions of technologies also inevitably entail conflicting ideas about the world.
The Legal Landscape for Advanced Therapies: Material and Institutional Implementation of European Union Rules in France and the United Kingdom
Authors: Mahalatchimy Aurélie , Rial‐Sebbag Emmanuelle , Tournay Virginie , Faulkner Alex
Published: February 2012

In 2007, the European Union adopted a lex specialis, Regulation (EC) No. 1394/2007 on advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs), a new legal category of medical product in regenerative medicine. The regulation applies to ATMPs prepared industrially or manufactured by a method involving an industrial process. It also provides a hospital exemption, which means that medicinal products not regulated by EU law do not benefit from a harmonized regime across the European Union but have to respect national laws. This article describes the recent EU laws, and contrasts two national regimes, asking how France and the United Kingdom regulate ATMPs which do and do not fall under the scope of Regulation (EC) No. 1394/2007. What are the different legal categories and their enforceable regimes, and how does the evolution of these highly complex regimes interact with the material world of regenerative medicine and the regulatory bodies and socioeconomic actors participating in it?
Biodiversity for Billionaires: Capitalism, Conservation and the Role of Philanthropy in Saving/Selling Nature
Authors: Holmes George
Published: February 2012

This article examines the role of philanthropy in conservation as a way of exploring how and why conservation might be becoming more neoliberal. It describes how conservation philanthropy supports capitalism both discursively and in more practical ways. Philanthropy is examined in terms of the two forces considered to be driving the neoliberalization of conservation — the need for capitalism to find new ways of making money, and the desire of conservationists to engage with capitalism as the best way of getting things done. It demonstrates how philanthropy can speak to both of these logics simultaneously, particularly through emerging ideas of philanthrocapitalism, which may be enhancing the neoliberalization of both philanthropy and conservation.
Using the Master's Tools? Neoliberal Conservation and the Evasion of Inequality
Authors: Fletcher Robert
Published: February 2012

The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's HouseAudre Lorde (1983)

Recently, a number of prominent conservationists have declared the last quarter century of global efforts to unite conservation and development through so‐called integrated conservation and development projects (ICDPs) an overwhelming failure, asserting that there are likely to be irreconcilable trade‐offs between environmental preservation and enhancing human well‐being that future policy will have to take into account. I suggest, however, that such trade‐offs may be less an inherent feature of the world than an artefact of the neoliberal governance model upon which the global conservation movement increasingly relies, as embodied in the ICDP approach. In eschewing questions of resource redistribution and instead depending on economic growth to address social inequality, neoliberal conservation strategies often paradoxically force into opposition the very conservation and development interests they ostensibly seek to reconcile. This thesis is illustrated through discussion of Costa Rica's Osa Peninsula, a celebrated biodiversity hotspot where conservation interventions increasingly emphasize neoliberal market mechanisms designed to incentivize preservation by demonstrating the economic value ofin situnatural resources.
How do Investors Value Environmental Harm/Care? Private Equity Funds, Development Finance Institutions and the Partial Financialization of Nature‐based Industries
Authors: Bracking Sarah
Published: February 2012

Private equity funds, mostly domiciled in secrecy jurisdictions, are dominant investors in the resource‐based economies of Africa. Some of the investments that these funds make have been speculative and based on perceived high‐value ‘futures’ in biodiversity, bio‐fuels and land, carbon capture or strategic minerals. However, private equity funds are also heavily invested in mining, energy and infrastructure, which also generate wealth from the non‐human world; ‘old’ markets alongside the ‘new’ markets for discovered nature‐based commodities. This article reviews how private equity funds, and their partners in development finance institutions, frame and value the consequential impact of their industries on people and things. It then explores how this valuation, and other related calculative technologies of ‘concern’ for the ‘environment’— such as risk assessment and offsetting — are incorporated into firms’ investment decision making. This enquiry finds that: 1) financiers currently employ thin, partial and pseudo‐mathematical methods of assessing environmental impact and worth; and 2) that environmental and developmental impact ‘science’ is a performative technology,with only marginal relation to the material world it seeks to measure and protect. Using calculative technologies in which financial considerations are privileged, financiers have wrought a dissociated, incomplete and partial valorization of the non‐human world. Nonetheless, 3) these calculative devices assist in legitimizing private equity funds as institutional leaders in pre‐existing power structures which exploit natural resources in Africa for the benefit of money‐holders. These propositions roughly correspond to the technical, empirical and theoretical dimensions of a socio‐technical arrangement applying to nature‐based accumulation, which, overall, performs a political process of financialization.
Consuming the Forest in an Environment of Crisis: Nature Tourism, Forest Conservation and Neoliberal Agriculture in South India
Authors: Münster Daniel , Münster Ursula
Published: February 2012

This article engages ethnographically with the neoliberalization of nature in the spheres of tourism, conservation and agriculture. Drawing on a case study of Wayanad district, Kerala, the article explores a number of themes. First, it shows how a boom in domestic nature tourism is currently transforming Wayanad into a landscape for tourist consumption. Second, it examines how tourism in Wayanad articulates with projects of neoliberalizing forest and wildlife conservation and with their contestations by subaltern groups. Third, it argues that the contemporary commodification of nature in tourism and conservation is intimately related to earlier processes of commodifying nature in agrarian capitalism. Since independence, forest land has been violently appropriated for intensive cash‐cropping. Capitalist agrarian change has transformed land into a (fictitious) commodity and produced a fragile and contested frontier of agriculture and wildlife. When agrarian capitalism reached its ecological limits and entered a crisis of accumulation, farming became increasingly speculative, exploring new modes of accumulation in out‐of‐state ginger cultivation. In this scenario nature and wildlife tourism emerges as a new prospect for accumulation in a post‐agrarian economy. The neoliberalization of nature in Wayanad, the authors argue, is a process driven less by new modes of regulation than by the agrarian crisis and new modes of speculative farming.
What's Nature Got To Do With It? A Situated Historical Perspective on Socio‐natural Commodities
Authors: Peluso Nancy Lee
Published: February 2012

Nature(s) have been commodified since the early days of capitalism, but through processes and socio‐natural relationships mediated by their times, histories and localities. While the conditions under which nature's commodities are being trademarked today may be new, their potential for commodification is not. Commodifications of nature should not come as a surprise to environmental social scientists and activists. In this article, I argue that commodification of ‘nature's products, places and processes’ produces new sorts of socio‐natures. Situated histories of rubber are particularly relevant because, like carbon, ecosystem services and other recently commodified natures, rubber sits comfortably on the line between a fictitious commodity and a commodity produced explicitly for market: the latex alone has almost no use value, and to give it any exchange value, it requires processing. Yet analytically, it is still considered a ‘natural commodity’, different from ‘synthetic rubber’ and other tradable tree latexes in qualities and socio‐natural characteristics. However, it is the social relations constituting rubber's production and trade in various rainforest and agro‐forestry environments that have given it a positive or negative connotation, rather than its natural properties or the ecological contexts within which it has been produced. By situating rubber in three of its globally important temporal and spatial contexts, I show how it has been subjected to fairy‐tale‐like stories that masked and naturalized its commodity lives of the moment. Understanding how history is told or remains untold is thus an essential part of the politics of knowledge production, but also of human experience and mobilization for change. It should be part of any political ecology analysis.
Negative Dependence in Sampling
Authors: BRÄNDÉN PETTER , JONASSON JOHAN
Published: February 2012

Abstract.  The strong Rayleigh property is a new and robust negative dependence property that implies negative association; in fact it implies conditional negative association closed under external fields (CNA+). Suppose that and are two families of 0‐1 random variables that satisfy the strong Rayleigh property and let . We show that {Zi} conditioned on is also strongly Rayleigh; this turns out to be an easy consequence of the results on preservation of stability of polynomials of Borcea & Brändén (Invent. Math., 177, 2009, 521–569). This entails that a number of important πps sampling algorithms, including Sampford sampling and Pareto sampling, are CNA+. As a consequence, statistics based on such samples automatically satisfy a version of the Central Limit Theorem for triangular arrays.
Prevalence and immunological spectrum of temporal lobe epilepsy with glutamic acid decarboxylase antibodies
Authors: Falip M. , Carreño M. , Miró J. , Saiz A. , Villanueva V. , Quílez A. , Molins A. , Barceló I. , Sierra A. , Graus F.
Published: February 2012

Background and purpose:  High levels of glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD)‐ab were initially described in patients with stiff person syndrome, and have since also been observed in patients with other neurological diseases. Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) seems to be specially associated. Our purpose is to describe the prevalence of GAD‐ab in patients with TLE, and to characterize the clinical‐immunological profile of TLE patients with high levels of GAD‐ab.

Methods:  An immunological profile including GAD‐ab and antinuclear, anti‐DNA, anti‐cardiolipin, anti‐transglutaminase and antithyroid antibodies was determined in a consecutive series of patients with TLE. As adulthood onset is the least common onset in TLE + hipocampal sclerosis and febrile seizures, we selected patients whose onset was after 30 years of age, to expand the spectrum of aetiologies. Patients were divided into two groups: known aetiology, 19 patients (45%) and unknown aetiology, 23 (55%). The clinical–immunological study included TLE patients with high GAD‐ab levels (>1000 IU).

Results:  Amongst 42 patients, serum GAD‐ab levels were positive in 5 (152–11 963 IU/ml), all from the unknown aetiology group. Thus, GAD‐ab levels were positive in 21.7% and high in 8.7% of the unknown aetiology group. The immunological profile study included nine patients (seven pharmacoresistant), of whom six were women (66%) with mean age 41 years. Three patients reported acute debut, four (44%) insulin‐dependent diabetes mellitus, five (55%) other concomitant autoimmune diseases, four (44%) memory impairment and four moderate‐to‐severe mood disturbance. Intrathecal synthesis of GAD‐ab was observed in seven patients (77%).

Conclusions:  Temporal lobe epilepsy with GAD‐ab is not a rare condition. In the subgroup of patients with high titres, this epilepsy is often pharmacoresistant and associated with memory impairment, depression and other autoimmune diseases.
Cognitive and affective impairments of a novel SCA/MND crossroad mutation Asidan
Authors: Abe K. , Ikeda Y. , Kurata T. , Ohta Y. , Manabe Y. , Okamoto M. , Takamatsu K. , Ohta T. , Takao Y. , Shiro Y. , Shoji M. , Kamiya T. , Kobayashi H. , Koizumi A.
Published: February 2012

Background:  A variety of hereditary spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA) develops a broad spectrum of both ataxia and non‐ataxia symptoms. Cognitive and affective changes are one such non‐ataxia symptoms, but have been described only in hereditary SCAs with exonic CAG gene expansion.

Methods:  We newly found intronic hexanucleotide GGCCTG gene expansion in NOP56 gene as the causative mutation (=SCA36) in nine unrelated Japanese familial SCA originating from Asida river area in the western part of Japan, thus nicknamed Asidan for this mutation. These patients show unique clinical balance of cerebellar ataxia and motor neuron disease (MND), locating on the crossroad of these two diseases. In the nine families, 14 patients were clinically examined and genetically confirmed to Asidan. In the present study, we examined cognitive and affective analyses on 12 patients (seven men and five women) who agreed to join the examination with average age at onset of 53.1 ± 3.2 years, average duration of 12.1 ± 5.2 years, and current average age at 65.1 ± 6.2 years.

Results:  The 12 Asidan patients demonstrated a significant decrease in their frontal executive functions measured by frontal assessment battery (FAB) and Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA) compared with age‐ and gender‐matched controls, whilst mini‐mental state examination (MMSE) and Hasegawa dementia score‐revised (HDS‐R) were within normal range. The decline of frontal executive function was related to their disease duration and scale for the assessment and rating of ataxias (SARA). They also demonstrated mild depression and apathy. Single‐photon emission tomography (SPECT) analysis showed that these Asidan patients showed decline of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in a particular areas of cerebral cortices such as Brodmann areas 24 and 44–46.

Conclusion:  These data suggest that the patients with Asidan mutation show unique cognitive and affective characteristics different from other hereditary SCAs with exonal CAG expansion or MND.
The Content Validity of Cognitively Oriented Tests: Commentary on Schmidt ()
Authors: Ployhart Robert E.
Published: February 2012

Schmidt (International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 20, 1–13 (2012)) argues that it is possible for scores based on measures of general cognitive ability (GCA) to have content validity evidence. This commentary examines this argument further. I first decompose the various lines of validity evidence that may exist for GCA scores. Next, I consider whether GCA scores can have content validity evidence and whether they cannot. I conclude with several observations about the meaning of content validity within GCA research and practice. The bottom line is that although I agree with Schmidt that GCA scores can have content validity evidence, I am not sure such evidence tells us much about the overall validity of GCA.
Cognitive Tests, Constructs, and Content Validity: A commentary on Schmidt ()
Authors: Sackett Paul R.
Published: February 2012

This commentary discusses a number of issues that build on Schmidt's (International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 20, 1‐13 (2012)) perspective on content validity and cognitive tests. First, it elaborates on the relationship between the treatment of content validity in various professional standards and government guidelines. Second, it offers a differing perspective on the definition of ‘construct’ than that taken by Schmidt. Third, it elaborates on the settings in which content validity can and cannot be used to support the use of a given test in the cognitive ability domain.
Rarity, willingness to pay and conservation
Authors: Festa‐Bianchet M.
Published: February 2012

Read the Feature Paper: Rarity, trophy hunting and ungulates, other Commentaries on this paper: Trophy hunting with uncertain role for population dynamics and extinction of ungulates and the Response from the authors: Response: rarity, trophy hunting and ungulates
Prey preferences of the tiger Panthera tigris
Authors: Hayward M. W. , Jędrzejewski W. , Jêdrzejewska B.
Published: February 2012

Tigers Panthera tigris continue to decline despite the best efforts of the worldwide scientific and conservation communities. Prey depletion has been linked to this decline, but a clear definition of what constitutes preferred prey and preferred prey weight range does not exist. This is critical information if we are to assess tiger reintroduction potential, monitor unforeseen poaching of predators and prey, and successfully conserve the species. Here we reviewed the available literature on tiger diet and prey availability and calculated Jacobs's electivity index scores from 3187 kills or scats of 32 prey species. We found that wild boar and sambar deer are significantly preferred by tigers, with red deer and barasingha likely to be significantly preferred also with a larger sample size. Prey body mass was the only variable that related to tiger prey preference with species weighing between 60 and 250 kg preferred by tigers yielding a ratio of predator to preferred prey of 1:1, which is similar to other solitary felids. This information can be used to predict tiger diet, carrying capacity and movement patterns, as it has been for Africa's large predator guild, and has important implications for tiger conservation throughout its distribution.
Discrimination and silence: minority foundations in Turkey during the Cyprus conflict of 1974
Authors: kenanoğlu Pinar Dinç
Published: February 2012

In 1974, the dispute between Turkey and Greece over Cyprus resulted in Turkish military intervention in the island. The same year, the Turkish Court of Cassation issued a legal decision that rendered possible the confiscation of properties belonging to minority foundations in the years to come. I argue that the case of minority foundations in 1974 was not a coincidence but a conscious reciprocal discrimination applied in both official and unofficial spheres. I support my argument with the following indicators: (1) the wider historical Greek–Turkish conflict and its ‘reciprocal’ nature of discrimination against non‐Muslim minorities; (2) the laden interpretation of the non‐Muslim minorities as the internal enemies in the Turkish mind‐set and its direct reflections on the 1974 case of foundations; and (3) the nature of the press coverage, which I assess using detailed reading and content analysis of three Turkish newspapers (H
ürriyet, T
ercüman, C
umhuriyet) and one Rum minority newspaper (A
poyevmatini).
An augmented Arabidopsis phenology model reveals seasonal temperature control of flowering time
Authors: Chew Yin Hoon , Wilczek Amity M. , Williams Mathew , Welch Stephen M. , Schmitt Johanna , Halliday Karen J.
Published: February 2012

See also the Commentary by Wullschleger and Weston