bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The phenotype and function of preterm infant monocytes: implications for susceptibility to infection
Authors: de Jong Emma , Strunk Tobias , Burgner David , Lavoie Pascal M , Currie Andrew
Published: June 2017

The extreme vulnerability of preterm infants to invasive microbial infections has been attributed to “immature” innate immune defenses. Monocytes are important innate immune sentinel cells critical in the defense against infection in blood. They achieve this via diverse mechanisms that include pathogen recognition receptor- and inflammasome-mediated detection of microbes, migration into infected tissues, and differentiation into Mϕs and dendritic cells, initiation of the inflammatory cascade by free radicals and cytokine/chemokine production, pathogen clearance by phagocytosis and intracellular killing, and the removal of apoptotic cells. Relatively little is known about these cells in preterm infants, especially about how their phenotype adapts to changes in the microbial environment during the immediate postnatal period. Overall, preterm monocytes exhibit attenuated proinflammatory cytokine responses following stimulation by whole bacterial or specific microbial components in vitro. These attenuated cytokine responses cannot be explained by a lack of intracellular signaling events downstream of pattern recognition receptors. This hyporesponsiveness also contrasts with mature, term-like phagocytosis capabilities detectable even in the most premature infant. Finally, human data on the effects of fetal chorioamnionitis on monocyte biology are incomplete and inconsistent. In this review, we present an integrated view of human studies focused on monocyte functions in preterm infants. We discuss how a developmental immaturity of these cells may contribute to preterm infants’ susceptibility to infections.
New horizons: Forensic mental health services for older people
Authors: Natarajan Muthusamy , Mulvana Sophie
Published: June 2017

Although the older adult population makes up only a small percentage of mentally disordered offenders, there is a clear need for forensic mental health services for older people. However, these services to date have developedad hocand with no coordination. In this article we discuss the evolution, current provision, future direction and therapeutic implications of such services. Although the epidemiology, criminology and clinical characteristics of older people are sufficiently different from those of younger people to warrant such service specificity, we suggest that the provision of care should be geared to services based on older people's multiple and complex needs, rather than on arbitrary age cut-offs.

Learning Objectives

• Be able to use an understanding of epidemiology, criminology and clinical characteristics of older people in the provision of forensic mental healthcare

• Understand the forensic mental healthcare needs of older people

• Be able to develop forensic mental health services for older people
Controversial treatments in psychiatry
Authors: Luty Jason
Published: June 2017

Psychiatry uses some of the most controversial treatments in medicine. This may be partly because several are administered under coercion and opposed to the patient's expressed will, under the protection of the relevant mental health legislation. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is perhaps the archetypal controversial treatment; although it is considered to be effective, the research supporting it is much less impressive than one would expect. The prescription of stimulant drugs for childhood attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and substitution therapy (such as methadone maintenance) in addictions treatment remain topical and appear to be subject to political interference. ‘Treatment’ for homosexuality and psychosurgery were common in the past but are now rare. These issues are discussed to give insight into how once common controversial treatments can decline and become obsolete. However, seclusion and covert medication remain in practice and are highly scrutinised.

Learning Objectives

• Recognise that many controversial treatments, such as psychosurgery, have been superseded by psychotropic drugs used since the 1950s

• Be aware of the limitations of evidence supporting controversial treatments, such as stimulants for childhood ADHD and ECT for depression in adults

• Be aware that controversial treatments are highly emotive and may be viewed negatively by the public or politicians, despite evidence for their safety and effectiveness
Going beyond ‘good enough’ teaching in psychiatric training
Authors: Sarkar S. Neil , Young Allan H.
Published: June 2017

Psychiatrists have a role in teaching all medical undergraduates and foundation year doctors generic skills to become good doctors, but they also have to appeal to and nurture the interests of future psychiatrists by maintaining core psychiatric skills/knowledge in their teaching. They must tackle poor recruitment to psychiatry and stigma against both the profession and its patients. Medical students and junior doctors tend to be strategic learners, motivated by passing assessments, and psychiatrists are often guilty of gearing their teaching only to this. This article explores the assessment process itself and ways to optimise it, and presents a case for going beyond teaching how to pass exams in order to address wider issues relating to psychiatry.

Learning Objectives

• Identify the extent of current problems of recruitment and stigma in psychiatry and recognise the role of psychiatrists in addressing these through teaching

• Be aware of the impact and limitations of tailoring teaching to assessment only

• Identify ways of improving your own practice, taking account of the literature and strategies suggested
Therapeutic risk-taking: A justifiable choice
Authors: Felton Anne , Wright Nicola , Stacey Gemma
Published: June 2017

Taking risks is a fundamental part of the human experience that supports personal growth. Therapeutic risk-taking enables patients to make decisions about their level of safety and to pursue goals. Promoting therapeutic risk-taking can be complex. Professionals can experience tension striving for a balance between the interests of the individual and societal pressures to control risk. This article examines therapeutic risk-taking, recognising the challenges to supporting it in practice and debating how they may be overcome.

Learning Objectives

• Be able to explain what therapeutic risk-taking is and discuss its application to psychiatric practice

• Understand the factors that challenge and enable therapeutic risk-taking in psychiatric practice

• Describe the association between therapeutic risk-taking and recovery
Psychiatry in the Foundation Programme: An overview for supervisors
Authors: Perry Jennifer , Ryland Howard , Thoms Lesley , Boyle Ann
Published: June 2017

Health Education England's 2014 reportBroadening the Foundation Programmehas led to a rapid increase in the number of psychiatry placements for foundation doctors. This will have implications for existing psychiatrists in that they will start to teach, train and supervise foundation doctors. This article outlines how to develop high-quality foundation posts and how to support doctors in meeting the foundation curriculum competencies, which include experience of working in multidisciplinary teams and developing communication skills. The knowledge and skills gained in psychiatry placements will be valuable to all doctors, no matter what their future career intentions.

Learning Objectives

• Describe the recent changes to the Foundation Programme in psychiatry and how they will affect supervisors

• Learn how high-quality placements for foundation doctors can be developed

• Recognise how foundation doctors can be supported to achieve the generic and mental health-specific competencies of the foundation curriculum in psychiatry placements
Psychological treatments for psychosis
Authors: Greenwood Kathryn
Published: June 2017

Most of the novel psychological therapies reviewed by Turkington & Lebert have their roots in at least one traditional approach of cognitive, behavioural and meditation practice. These therapies offer exciting prospects, but none as yet has a strong enough evidence base to warrant routine implementation in the National Health Service. In a climate of scarce resources, implementation of novel therapies is likely to come at the cost of traditional therapies with a stronger evidence base. Clinical practice must not run ahead of the evidence, but we must enable new, targeted treatments to be implemented in a timely manner once their evidence base becomes secure.
Case Article—Miller Pain Treatment Center—Eastern Hospital Outpatient Center
Authors: Chambers Chester , Williams Kayode
Published: June 2017

Introductory courses in operations management typically introduce students to process analysis and queuing theory. We apply these tools to consider patient flows in an outpatient clinic where processes are made more complex by inclusion of the teaching mission of an Academic Medical Center. The case narrative deals with a physician who moved his practice from a setting with no teaching mission to the academic setting. This created a natural experiment because he began treating the same patients using a different process flow. Students are asked to use data collected at both settings to compare and contrast these flows. The protagonist weighs options designed to improve an appointment schedule, change patient punctuality, and introduce a type of pre-processing of patients. Evaluation of these proposals calls for a different style of analysis. Students are introduced to the use of discrete event simulation to address such questions. Simulation models are provided corresponding to the two clinic settings. This allows students to conduct and learn from virtual experiments using calibrated models. The case fills a need for material that covers issues in healthcare delivery, which the basic tools of process analysis and queuing theory are insufficient to fully address.

The simulation tool and the teaching note are available at https://www.informs.org/Publications/Subscribe/Access-Restricted-Materials .
Case—Miller Pain Treatment Center
Authors: Chambers Chester , Williams Kayode
Published: June 2017

On a cool Saturday morning Dr. Keith Weems walked briskly down the hallway toward the main entrance to Eastern Hospital (JHH). He was on his way to visit in-patients in several wards as part of his duties as the pain specialist on call for that weekend. However, his mind kept drifting to issues he was facing as the new manager of the Miller Pain Treatment Center in the neighboring Eastern Outpatient Center (E-HOC). Dr. Weems had been working as part of the Eastern system for several years. However, he recently merged his successful private practice into the Miller Pain Treatment Center and was appointed as its director. In so doing he moved from a setting where he was the clear boss to one in which he was dealing with a collection of more established doctors already set in their ways. He also had to figure out how to improve the care delivery process in this environment, which considered itself to be part of the premier teaching hospital in the world. After reviewing the operations and meeting the staff he was coming to grips with the fact that this new setting was much more complex than his old practice in a myriad of ways. Additionally, between treating outpatients and in-patients, managing the clinic, teaching medical students, and conducting research, it was clear that the complexity of the job mirrored the complexity of the operating environment. However, he was confident that he could find ways to get this larger clinic to surpass the success of his old, simpler practice.

The online spreadsheet supplement is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/ited.2017.0176cs .
Cancer screening and diagnosis in primary sclerosing cholangitis
Authors: Skinner Joanne , Peters Louis , Partington Tomas , Barnabas Ashley
Published: June 2017

Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a progressive liver disease seen predominantly in patients who also have inflammatory bowel disease. PSC is characterised by inflammation and fibrosis of the intra- and extra-hepatic biliary ducts leading to progressive cholestasis, and it frequently leads to decompensated liver disease, necessitating liver transplantation. Patients with PSC and IBD have a predisposition to developing cancer, particularly in the colon and biliary tree. There are no available treatments for PSC; however, the efficacy of simtuzumab and obeticholic acid are being investigated. This article presents evidence and guidelines for screening and early detection of colorectal carcinoma, cholangiocarcinoma and gallbladder cancer, as well as other malignancies, including hepatocellular carcinoma and pancreatic cancer. Nurses have an important role in remaining vigilant for signs of cancer and helping patients make more informed decisions.
More than just ‘the back office’
Authors: Richards Jon
Published: June 2017

Back office staff get little credit for the wide-ranging work they do and suggestions they can be easily cut are ill-informed, says Jon Richards
The happy housewife and the mortal economies of domestic labour in Desperate Housewives
Authors: Randell-Moon Holly
Published: June 2017

Desperate Housewives (2004–12, US: ABC) was a North American long-running female ensemble television series with a narrative focus on marriage, domestic labour and death. In this article, I explore how the programme’s emphasis on death offers a subtle critique of happy heterosexuality and the heteronormative labour that sustains this ideal. Through its explorations of the domestic, economic and mortal trajectories of idealized ‘womanhood’ and ‘motherhood’, Desperate Housewives offers a stylized and sophisticated interrogation of the social and cultural practices that normalize marriage as an emotionally and morally rewarding institution for the reproduction of the white American nuclear family. By drawing attention to the role of performance and the labour required to accomplish an ideal of familial happiness, Desperate Housewives was able to popularize an interest in the private and domestic spheres of affluent American women. The thematics of Desperate Housewives cohere with and extend the neo-liberal reconfiguration of feminist discourse and housewife labour in the mid-aughts in complex ways. In showing how the conventions of marriage and family are performative, the programme suggests that the roles of wife and mother are constructed through social compliance rather than being innate or natural expressions of femininity. However, in positioning death as an escape from or failure to adhere to the social conventions of life, Desperate Housewives nevertheless reaffirms both gendered and racially exclusionary representational tropes and domestic economies that locate life as the correct purview for happy, affluent and heterosexual housewives.
Gothic reflections: Mirrors, mysticism and cultural hauntings in contemporary horror film
Authors: Piatti-Farnell Lorna
Published: June 2017

As both a cultural and an aesthetic entity, the mirror functions as a site of transformation, intermingling, and (un)clarity. Even at the most embryonic level, the mirror is connected to the framework of the Gothic via the notion of the ‘double’, the terrifying Other that lingers in the margins of our consciousness, and challenges our cultural certainties. In the reflection, the familiar becomes unfamiliar, the known becomes unknown, the certain merges with the uncertain. Taking this in-between status as a point of departure, this article offers a preliminary analysis of the role played by the mirror in contemporary Gothic horror film. Focusing particularly on The Skeleton Key (Softley, 2005) as an evocative example, I uncover how the mirror is intertwined with narratives of magic and mysticism. My discussion shows how scary and often supernatural encounters with mirrors are inevitably entangled with matters of a cultural nature, where the blurred and intangible margins of Gothicized reflections channel contemporary preoccupations surrounding ethnicity, spirituality, identity and haunted histories.
‘Something diabolical but delicious’: Heston Blumenthal’s ‘Gothic Horror Feast’
Authors: Brien Donna Lee
Published: June 2017

This article explores how chef and author Heston Blumenthal has drawn on Gothic and other popular literature to inspire his multimedia output, with a focus on the ‘Gothic Horror Feast’ episode of the second series of his popular television series, Heston’s Feasts (2010). In this episode, Blumenthal himself uses Gothic literature as he draws on some of his supposed favourite Gothic tales to inspire an edible feast, in which, he states, he wants to recreate what is for him the pleasure of Gothic literature – ‘that spine chilling thrill of being terrified but wanting to come back for more’. The guests at his feast are filmed as they foray into this unknown territory, experiencing a range of responses to the Gothic-inspired food – including fear, horror and disgust – and finding words to articulate these responses. Finally, viewers of the television series watch and experience this brief but surprisingly intense trip into the Gothic at a safe remove. Drawing on both Contemporary Gothic and food studies scholarship, this article will use this detailed example to investigate this specialist form of culinary television.
‘...touched by the back hand of God’: Outcasts, monstrous love and queer fellowship in Penny Dreadful
Authors: Finegan Samuel
Published: June 2017

Having completed its third (and final) season on Showtime and Sky in 2016, the Anglo-American Penny Dreadful (2014–16, US: Sky Atlantic and Showtime) is a strange show, a horror melodrama confected out of a blending of nineteenthand twentieth-century classics and situated in a geographically unstable Victorian London. The resultant text, however, is remarkably coherent, offering a compassionate reading of its Gothic and queer outcasts in the face of a ruthlessly heterosexually coded Evil. Each of the protagonists in Penny Dreadful is in some way benighted: marked out from their peers by contact with something unwholesome and potentially unholy. The threats they face, however, are both unholy and hinged on heterosexual desire: the vampire brides of Dracula, the witches marked by their Master and the monstrous bride created for Frankenstein’s original creature. In comparison to the monstrous families they oppose, the ‘company’ that forms in the name of ‘night work’ and self-defence is a community of outsiders – without, or rejected by, their families and unentangled romantically. Nestled amongst the monster hunting and constant threat of destruction the company finds quiet moments of fellowship, compassion and community building. The cursed and death-haunted protagonists, when they cook, and shop, eat and smoke together, find value in a life lived in the margins of their Victorian society. Reading out the queerness of Penny Dreadful renders the show a portrait of marginal lives lived in the shadows, but standing against the dark.
ISIS’s Destruction of Mosul’s Historical Monuments: Between Media Spectacle and Religious Doctrine
Authors: Melčák Miroslav , Beránek Ondřej
Published: June 2017

This article examines the rationale behind ISIS’s (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) destruction of the historical monuments in the Iraqi town of Mosul. Their demolition campaign started shortly after this radical organization seized control of the town on June 10, 2014 and was
systematically tracked by the authors during the first fifteen months of their control of Mosul. Analysis of satellite imagery, historical literature and ISIS’s propaganda material shows that the main object of their destruction was funerary architecture. The collected data has been
interpreted within the context of the discourse regarding the destruction of graves in Salafi teachings. The article assumes that among the range of possible reasons for ISIS’s behaviour toward Mosul’s architecture, special importance should be ascribed to the religious doctrine
of taswiyat al-qubur (the levelling of graves). This particular policy has been supported by Salafi scholars and ideologists and often vigorously invoked by religious institutions within Saudi Arabia.
Book Reviews
Authors: Haghighi Farzaneh , Ardalan Nader , Howard Deborah , Sadek Noha
Published: June 2017

PERSIAN KINGSHIP AND ARCHITECTURE: STRATEGIES OF POWER IN IRAN FROM THE ACHAEMENID TO THE PAHLAVIS, SUSSAN BABAIE AND TALINN GRIGOR, EDS (2015) London: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd, 260 pp., 127 illus., ISBN: 9781848857513, $99.00 (hardback)

THE AGE OF THE SELJUQS: THE IDEA OF
IRAN, VOLUME VI, EDMUND HERZIG AND SARAH STEWART, EDS (2015) London: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd, 188 pp., 25 illus., ISBN: 9781780769479, $80.00 (hardback)

TRANSCENDING ARCHITECTURE, CONTEMPORARY VIEWS ON SACRED SPACE, JULIO BERMUDEZ, ED., FOREWORD BY RANDALL OTT (2015) Washington,
DC: Catholic University of America Press, 333 pp., 62 figs., ISBN: 978081322679, $35.00 (paperback)

IN-BETWEEN: ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING AND IMAGINATIVE KNOWLEDGE IN ISLAMIC AND WESTERN TRADITIONS, HOOMAN KOLIJI (2015) Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate, 216 pp., 109 colour and b&w illus.,
ISBN: 9781472438683, $109.95 (hardback)

BUILDING A WORLD HERITAGE CITY: SANAA, YEMEN, MICHELE LAMPRAKOS (2015) Farnham, Surrey and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 270 pp., 57 illus., ISBN: 9781472435408, $122.99 (hardback)
Brides and widows: Iconic dress and identity in Howard Barker’s costumes
Authors: Kipp Lara Maleen
Published: June 2017

One of the strongest recurring motifs in the work of contemporary British playwright Howard Barker is women’s marital status: brides and widows abound in his work. Their status as such is often crucially configured, but also subverted through their costumes (in a Western cultural context). This article considers the central role that brides and widows play in a variety of Barker’s dramatic texts and identifies some core working principles with regard to his use of costume. It explores the notion of the iconic garment, as proposed by Hannah in 2014, and its influence on these characters’ identities. Drawing on aesthetic discourse, in particular that of the sublime, I analyse how Barker proposes a reconsideration of stable subject identity through these recognizable, yet ambiguous and unstable female figures.
Australia on display: Tracing an Australian identity through the evolving costume design for The Australian Ballet’s production The Display
Authors: Collett Emily , Alsop Roger
Published: June 2017

The topic of costume for performance as a marker of national identity is in its infancy within the context of theatre studies. As the means by which an audience relates to character and narrative, costume is central to our understanding of identity. Here, we consider costume for performance, specifically for dance, in Australia as an indicator of the developing national identity, using the 1964, 1983 and 2012 Australian Ballet productions of The Display as a case study. The original 1964 costumes were credited to expatriate artist Sidney Nolan, the 1983 version was designed by Sydney fashion designer Adele Weiss and the 2012 remount utilized photographs, written documentation and memories to recreate the original 1964 costumes. By examining the three sets of costumes, we aim to demonstrate how a study of the costumed body offers insights into Australia’s evolving national character.
Osteological analysis of a skeleton with intentional dental modifications, exhumed from Largo do Carmo, Lisbon
Authors: Wasterlain Sofia Neto
Published: June 2017

Este trabalho apresenta a análise osteobiográfica de um jovem adulto exumado do cemitério associado à Igreja do Carmo, Lisboa, durante a 2.ª campanha de intervenções arqueológicas decorrida em 2010/2011. O cemitério terá sido usado entre inícios do século XV e 1755 A.D., ainda que os contextos arqueológicos associados ao enterramento nos permitam balizá-lo entre os séculos XVII e XVIII. O esqueleto destaca-se pela morfologia craniana sugestiva de uma origem africana e pelas modificações dentárias intencionais. Estas consistem na remoção de ambos os ângulos incisais dos incisivos superiores, o que corresponde a uma prática de cariz ritual e sociocultural, comummente efectuada na África subsariana, desde tempos pré-históricos até à actualidade. De destacar uma lesão periapical associada ao incisivo central superior direito que se encontra hígido mas modificado. A diáfise da clavícula esquerda apresenta reacção óssea remodelada do periósteo, cinco costelas apresentam formação óssea incorporada no periósteo ao longo do colo e a articulação esternal da primeira costela esquerda encontra-se deformada. Considerando que, durante o século XVI, Lisboa se tornou num eixo fundamental das estradas marítimas intercontinentais, não é de estranhar que pessoas Africanas tenham sido sepultadas nos cemitérios de Lisboa, permitindo-nos reconstruir as suas vidas e mortes.
Hematopoietic Recovery after Transplantation CD117+B220- (lacZ+) Bone Marrow Cells in Lethally Irradiated Mice
Authors: Hodek Miroslav , Vávrová Jiřina , Šinkorová Zuzana , Mokrý Jaroslav , Filip Stanislav
Published: June 2017

Experiments presented here were aimed at the description of hematopoiesis repair and in vivo homing of transplanted separated CD117+B220–bone marrow cells after whole-body lethal irradiation at LD 9Gy. ROSA 26 mice were used as donors of marrow cells for transplantation [B6;129S/Gt (ROSA)26Sor] and were tagged with lacZ gene, and F2 hybrid mice [B6129SF2/J] were used as recipients of bone marrow transplanted cells. Hematopoiesis repair was provided by transplantation, both suspension of whole bone marrow cells (5x106) and isolated CD117+B220–cells (5x104). Mice survived up to thirty days after irradiation. We demonstrated that transplantation of suspension of whole bone marrow cells led to faster recovery of CFU-GM (Granulocyte-macrophage colony forming units) in bone marrow and in the spleen too. It is not clear what the share of residential and transplanted cells is in the repair process. Our results demonstrate that sufficient hematopoietic repair occurs after transplantation of CD117+B220–(lacZ+) in lethally irradiated mice, and the difference in CFU-GM numbers in the bone marrow and spleen found on day 8 posttransplant has no influence on the survival of lethally irradiated mice (30 days follow-up).
Increased Uptake of Zinc in Malignant Cells is Associated with Enhanced Activation of MAPK Signalling and P53-Dependent Cell Injury
Authors: Rudolf Emil
Published: June 2017

Excess intracellular zinc has been demonstrated to be responsible for cell injury and cell death in various experimental as well as clinical models. While the cells possess a system of mechanisms regulating intracellular zinc homeostasis, their saturation by acutely increased zinc levels or by a sustained exposure to elevated zinc levels results in liberation of free zinc stores within the cells and ultimate cell damage and cell death. Here we report that in Hep-2 malignant cells enhanced uptake of zinc causes activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling with resulting p53-dependent cell injury which can be significantly prevented by specific p53 inhibition and by prevention of oxidative stress. Our observations are consistent with the view that subacutely increased intracellular free zinc levels stimulate via oxidative stress p53-dependent pathways which are responsible for the final cell damage in tumor cells.
Predictive autoimmunity using autoantibodies: screening for anti-nuclear antibodies
Authors: Pérez Dolores , Gilburd Boris , Cabrera-Marante Óscar , Martínez-Flores Jose A. , Serrano Manuel , Naranjo Laura , Pleguezuelo Daniel , Morillas Luis , Shovman Ora , Paz-Artal Estela , Shoenfeld Yehuda , Serrano Antonio
Published: June 2017

Background:

Early detection of antinuclear antibodies (ANA) in asymptomatic subjects is useful to predict autoimmune diseases years before diagnosis. ANA have been determined by indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) using human epithelial type 2 (HEp-2) cells, which is considered the gold standard technique. Multiplex technology (BioPlex ANA Screen) has been introduced for ANA evaluation in recent years. Nevertheless, concordance between BioPlex and IIF is low and there is no harmonization between both methods for detection of autoantibodies. This study has aimed to clarify the clinical significance of autoantibodies detected by BioPlex ANA Screen in subjects with undiagnosed clinical suspicion of autoimmune disease and to determine the predictive value of autoantibodies detected by BioPlex ANA Screen.

Methods:

A 3-year follow-up study was performed of 411 subjects without a clear diagnosis of autoimmune diseases in whom autoantibodies were detected by BioPlex ANA Screen that were negative by IIF on HEp-2 cells.

Results:

At 3 years of follow-up, 312 (76%) subjects were positive for autoantibodies by IIF and 99 subjects continued to be negative. A diagnosis of autoimmune disease was found in most of the subjects (87%).

Conclusions:

BioPlex ANA Screen has greater sensitivity than IIF on HEp-2 cells for autoantibodies detection. Early detection of these antibodies by BioPlex can predict possible development of autoimmune diseases.
Ground-truthing Phylotype Assignments for Antarctic Invertebrates
Authors: Czechowski Paul , Clarke Laurence , Cooper Alan , Stevens Mark
Published: June 2017

Biodiversity information from Antarctic terrestrial habitats helps conservation efforts, but the distribution and diversity particularly of microinvertebrates remains poorly understood. Springtails, mites, tardigrades, nematodes and rotifers are difficult to identify using morphological features, hence DNA-based metabarcoding methods are well suited for their study. We compared taxonomy assignments of a high throughput sequencing metabarcoding approach using one ribosomal DNA (18S rDNA) and one mitochondrial DNA (cytochrome c oxidase subunit I - COI) marker with morphological reference data. Specifically, we compared metabarcoding or morphological taxonomic assignments on multiple taxonomic levels in an artificial DNA blend containing Australian invertebrates, and in seven extracts of Antarctic soils containing known micro-faunal taxa. Avoiding arbitrary application of metabarcoding analysis parameters, we calibrated those parameters with metabarcoding data from non-Antarctic soils. Metabarcoding approaches employing 18S rDNA and COI markers enabled detection of small and cryptic Antarctic invertebrates, and on low taxonomic ranks 18S data outperformed COI data in this respect. Morphological taxonomy determination did not outperform metabarcoding approaches. Our study demonstrates how barcoding markers can be tested prior to their application to specific taxonomic groups, and that taxonomy fidelity of markers needs to be validated in relation to environment, taxa, and available reference information.
The variance of divisor sums in arithmetic progressions
Authors: Rodgers Brad , Soundararajan Kannan
Published: June 2017

We study the variance of sums of the k-fold divisor function

d
k

⁢

(
n
)

{d_{k}(n)}

over sparse arithmetic progressions, with averaging over both residue classes and moduli. In a restricted range, we confirm an averaged version of a recent conjecture about the asymptotics of this variance. This result is closely related to moments of Dirichlet L-functions, and our proof relies on the asymptotic large sieve.
Homotopy classification of morphisms of differential graded algebras
Authors: Kadeishvili Tornike
Published: June 2017

We present homotopy classification of morphisms of differential graded algebras

f
:

A
→

A
′

{f:A\to A^{\prime}}

in terms of induced

A
∞

{A_{\infty}}

-algebra morphisms of corresponding minimal models

{

f
i

}

:

(

H
⁢

(
A
)

,

{

m
i

}

)

→

(

H
⁢

(

A
′

)

,

{

m
i
′

}

)

{\{f_{i}\}\kern-1.0pt:\kern-1.0pt(H(A),\{m_{i}\})\kern-1.0pt\to\kern-1.0pt(H(A%
^{\prime}),\{m^{\prime}_{i}\})}

.
Differences in physical activity, eating habits and risk of obesity among Kuwaiti adolescent boys and girls: a population-based study
Authors: Badr Hanan E. , Lakha S. Fatima , Pennefather Peter
Published: June 2017

The study aimed to assess gender differences among Kuwaiti adolescents in healthy living choices that impact the risk of obesity. A cross-sectional multistage cluster design was employed with a representative sample of 2672 students aged 13–15 years who completed a self-administered Global School-based Student Health (GSHS) survey. The study found that around 48.0% of adolescents were overweight and obese. More boys than girls were obese (28.2% vs. 22.3%, p < 0.0001). However, boys were more likely than girls to report healthy food choices regarding fruit (38.1% vs. 33.2%), and vegetables (21.8% vs. 16.7%). Only 20.7% of adolescents reported physical activity for more than 60 min/day, predominately by boys rather than girls (30.8% vs. 10.5%, respectively, p < 0.0001). Multivariate analysis revealed that male gender, skipping breakfast and physical inactivity were significantly correlated with the risk of overweight and obesity among adolescents. These results suggest that lifestyle education for promoting healthy body masses targeting adolescents should take gender into account.
Reducing barriers to primary school education for girls in rural Kenya: reusable pads’ intervention
Authors: Mucherah Winnie , Thomas Kendra
Published: June 2017

Purpose

The current study explored girls’ perceptions of the impact of sanitary pads’ intervention on their school attendance and grades.

Methods

Participants included 150 girls in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade in two rural schools in Kenya. Participants completed a questionnaire on menstrual health issues and the perceived impact on school attendance and academic performance.

Results

Results indicated that of all participants (150), those who had passed menarche and had cloth pads had similar comfort levels at school as those who had not yet had their period. Of those who had reached menarche (with pads n = 34, without pads n = 91), they answered questions about how much their period interfered with their attendance and grades. Those who had received the pads reported significantly less negative influence on their attendance and schoolwork than those who did not have pads. They also reported significantly lower levels of wanting to hide their menstrual cycle from friends and family. In addition, they reported significantly higher levels of comfort at home and school than those who did not have pads. Finally, those with pads reported significantly lower levels of fear during their period.

Conclusion

These findings suggest providing girls with pads minimizes the barriers to successful schooling.
Kernel-Based Measure of Variable Importance for Genetic Association Studies
Authors: Gallego Vicente , Luz Calle M. , Oller Ramon
Published: June 2017

The identification of genetic variants that are associated with disease risk is an important goal of genetic association studies. Standard approaches perform univariate analysis where each genetic variant, usually Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs), is tested for association with disease status. Though many genetic variants have been identified and validated so far using this univariate approach, for most complex diseases a large part of their genetic component is still unknown, the so called missing heritability. We propose a Kernel-based measure of variable importance (KVI) that provides the contribution of a SNP, or a group of SNPs, to the joint genetic effect of a set of genetic variants. KVI can be used for ranking genetic markers individually, sets of markers that form blocks of linkage disequilibrium or sets of genetic variants that lie in a gene or a genetic pathway. We prove that, unlike the univariate analysis, KVI captures the relationship with other genetic variants in the analysis, even when measured at the individual level for each genetic variable separately. This is specially relevant and powerful for detecting genetic interactions. We illustrate the results with data from an Alzheimer’s disease study and show through simulations that the rankings based on KVI improve those rankings based on two measures of importance provided by the Random Forest. We also prove with a simulation study that KVI is very powerful for detecting genetic interactions.
In eigener Sache. 25 Jahre Jahrbuch unter neuer Leitung
Authors: Pierenkemper Toni
Published: June 2017

As the Institute for Economic History at the GDR Academy of Science was being wound up following German reunion, the existence of the Economic History Yearbook was also threatened. Initially, its publication was only guaranteed for 1991, so in the early nineties the question was pertinent whether the Yearbook could be continued in a new form or whether it would be wound up too. As we know today, the Yearbook survived the “Wende” but with a new editorial and advisory board and a new concept. To mark the 25th anniversary of the new “Yearbook”, the editors called upon Toni Pierenkemper – as both first and long-standing Managing Editor – to provide his perspective on the situation in which the Yearbook was relaunched. The following insights are essentially based on his correspondence as managing editor today archived in Bochum.
Industrial Policy in Western Europe since the 1960s: Historical Varieties and Perspectives
Authors: Ahrens Ralf , Eckert Astrid M.
Published: June 2017

Historical research on industrial policy has only recently begun to focus on the crisis-shaken decades of the 1970s and 1980s, demonstrating the broadness of the topic as well as the need for further research. In the first section of this introduction, we address the challenges in arriving at a definition of industrial policy that would encompass the wide variety of this type of state intervention into economic structures. In a second step, we provide a short survey of the variations of industrial policy in Western market economies since the 1960s, emphasizing the plurality of goals and methods that make this topic such a promising avenue of historical research. Finally, we suggest some perspectives for future research, including its potential for interdisciplinary connections.
Sectoral Subsidies in West German Industrial Policy: Programmatic Objectives and Pragmatic Applications from the 1960s to the 1980s
Authors: Ahrens Ralf
Published: June 2017

After the end of the postwar reconstruction boom, the decline of traditional large-scale industries and intensified international competition increased the demand for state aid in the Federal Republic of Germany. This article discusses the relevance of overall industrial policy concepts for the utilization of subsidies from the 1960s to the 1980s. Concentrating on the federal level, it delineates the development of industrial subsidies in relation to the financial support of other sectors and identifies the main benefitting industries. Then the focus turns to attempts to professionalize reporting on subsidies and ideas on the “scientization” of industrial policy, the disillusionment with these instruments, and debates about subsidy cuts. Overall it becomes clear that the extent and composition of federal subsidies were not the result of a coherent policy.
Structural Policies, regional Development and industrial Specialization in Italy, 1952-2002
Authors: Lavista Fabio
Published: June 2017

The article analyses Italian regional developmental policies between the 1950s and 1990s. It focuses in particular on the intervention through state-owned enterprises and public agencies in the underdeveloped southern regions known as the Mezzogiorno. Analysing the flow of investments in these regions, the article assesses the targets and the results of the so-called “extraordinary intervention,” advancing some hypotheses about the causes of its long-term failure: the lack of planning, the preference for top-down actions, and the peculiar institutional framework. The article also evaluates the long-term effects of this failure on the Italian industrial structure.
Relationship between solitary pulmonary nodule lung cancer and CT image features based on gradual clustering
Authors: Zhang Weipeng
Published: June 2017

Background

The relationship between the medical characteristics of lung cancers and computer tomography (CT) images are explored so as to improve the early diagnosis rate of lung cancers.

Methods

This research collected CT images of patients with solitary pulmonary nodule lung cancer, and used gradual clustering methodology to classify them. Preliminary classifications were made, followed by continuous modification and iteration to determine the optimal condensation point, until iteration stability was achieved. Reasonable classification results were obtained.

Results

the clustering results fell into 3 categories. The first type of patients was mostly female, with ages between 50 and 65 years. CT images of solitary pulmonary nodule lung cancer for this group contain complete lobulation and burr, with pleural indentation; The second type of patients was mostly male with ages between 50 and 80 years. CT images of solitary pulmonary nodule lung cancer for this group contain complete lobulation and burr, but with no pleural indentation; The third type of patients was also mostly male with ages between 50 and 80 years. CT images for this group showed no abnormalities.

Conclusions

the application of gradual clustering methodology can scientifically classify CT image features of patients with lung cancer in the initial lesion stage. These findings provide the basis for early detection and treatment of malignant lesions in patients with lung cancer.
Fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model of interuniversity collaborative learning based on network
Authors: Wenhui Ma , Yu Wang
Published: June 2017

Learning evaluation is an effective method, which plays an important role in the network education evaluation system. But most of the current network learning evaluation methods still use traditional university education evaluation system, which do not take into account of web-based learning characteristics, and they are difficult to fit the rapid development of interuniversity collaborative learning based on network. Fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method is used to evaluate interuniversity collaborative learning based on the combination of fuzzy theory and analytic hierarchy process. Analytic hierarchy process is used to determine the weight of evaluation factors of each layer and to carry out the consistency check. According to the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method, we establish interuniversity collaborative learning evaluation mathematical model. The proposed scheme provides a new thought for interuniversity collaborative learning evaluation based on network.
After notes on self-similarity exponent for fractal structures
Authors: Fernández-Martínez Manuel , Caravaca Garratón Manuel
Published: June 2017

Previous works have highlighted the suitability of the concept of fractal structure, which derives from asymmetric topology, to propound generalized definitions of fractal dimension. The aim of the present article is to collect some results and approaches allowing to connect the self-similarity index and the fractal dimension of a broad spectrum of random processes. To tackle with, we shall use the concept of induced fractal structure on the image set of a sample curve. The main result in this paper states that given a sample function of a random process endowed with the induced fractal structure on its image, it holds that the self-similarity index of that function equals the inverse of its fractal dimension.
D’où vient le sens? Remarques sur la sémio-phénoménologie de Greimas
Authors: Brandt Per Aage
Published: June 2017

Greimas’ structural semantics has always intrigued both linguists and philosophers of meaning, because of its ambiguous relations to language and to life-world phenomenology. These critical remarks attempt to clarify these questions by asking a simpler one: Where does meaning come from? Is language, discourse, or the human mind its base? My discussion examines the Paris School’s semio-phenomenology and its anchoring of meaning both in discourse and in Greimas’ “natural world,” understood as a Husserlian Lebenswelt, and even, mysteriously, in an experiential world which is made of discourse. I show the possibility of a clarification of the concepts of discourse and experiential world, and a solution that interprets the work of Greimas and his school in the framework of a cognitive semiotics which is still in its beginnings.
Jehoiachin: Not a Broken Vessel but a Humiliated Vassal (Jer 22:28–30)
Authors: Crouch C. L.
Published: June 2017

Eine unsichere Terminologie, textliche Varianten und das Nebeneinander mehrerer Bilder für Jojachin erschweren die Interpretation von Jer 22,28–30. Der Artikel schlägt vor, dieses Problem durch die Emendation des ersten Wortes von V. 28,
KNDy neurone activation prior to the LH surge of the ewe is disrupted by LPS
Authors: Fergani C , Routly J E , Jones D N , Pickavance L C , Smith R F , Dobson H
Published: June 2017

In the ewe, steroid hormones act on the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus (ARC) to initiate the GnRH/LH surge. Within the ARC, steroid signal transduction may be mediated by estrogen receptive dopamine-, β-endorphin- or neuropeptide Y (NPY)-expressing cells, as well as those co-localising kisspeptin, neurokinin B (NKB) and dynorphin (termed KNDy). We investigated the time during the follicular phase when these cells become activated (i.e., co-localise c-Fos) relative to the timing of the LH surge onset and may therefore be involved in the surge generating mechanism. Furthermore, we aimed to elucidate whether these activation patterns are altered after lipopolysaccharide (LPS) administration, which is known to inhibit the LH surge. Follicular phases of ewes were synchronised by progesterone withdrawal and blood samples were collected every 2 h. Hypothalamic tissue was retrieved at various times during the follicular phase with or without the administration of LPS (100 ng/kg). The percentage of activated dopamine cells decreased before the onset of sexual behaviour, whereas activation of β-endorphin decreased and NPY activation tended to increase during the LH surge. These patterns were not disturbed by LPS administration. Maximal co-expression of c-Fos in dynorphin immunoreactive neurons was observed earlier during the follicular phase, compared to kisspeptin and NKB, which were maximally activated during the surge. This indicates a distinct role for ARC dynorphin in the LH surge generation mechanism. Acute LPS decreased the percentage of activated dynorphin and kisspeptin immunoreactive cells. Thus, in the ovary-intact ewe, KNDy neurones are activated prior to the LH surge onset and this pattern is inhibited by the administration of LPS.
Expandiendo los horizontes de la comunidad moral: la incorporación de animales no-humanos a nuestro Ethos. En torno a Francisco Lara & Olga Campos: Sufre, luego importa. Reflexiones éticas sobre los animales, Madrid, Plaza y Valdés Editores, 2015.
Authors: Samamé Luciana
Published: June 2017

En esta nota de discusión me propongo reconstruir críticamente los principales argumentos que Francisco Lara y Olga Campos exponen en su libro, de reciente aparición, Sufre, luego importa. Reflexiones éticas sobre los animales. A los fines de la claridad metodológica, divido este escrito en dos secciones: una de carácter más descriptivo, en donde repaso los argumentos centrales de cada uno de sus seis capítulos, y otra de carácter más especulativo, en donde planteo ciertas sugerencias y objeciones respecto de algunas tesis defendidas por los autores, especialmente de aquellas vinculadas con el utilitarismo clásico.