bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Cultures of Clothing in Later Medieval and Early Modern Europe
Authors: Rosenthal Margaret F.
Published: September 2009

In the past two decades, the multifaceted discipline of the history of medieval and early modern dress has benefited from reconceptualizations of the long, late Middle Ages and Renaissance as having undergone a revolution of consciousness, belief, and thought with global implications that we still recognize today. A widening of the number and variety of crafts and industries, a proliferation and multiplication of skills and artisanal productivity that crossed regions, the ingenuity of pioneering ideas, and an unprecedented movement of goods, all had far-reaching influences on how merchants, diplomats, humanists, artists, mendicants, pilgrims, itinerant artisans, and laborers viewed their world and moved within it.
Moralizing Apparel in Early Modern London: Popular Literature, Sermons, and Sartorial Display
Authors: Hentschell Roze
Published: September 2009

This study investigates the cultural and textual relationship between two types of texts that inveigh against the preoccupation with fashionable attire: imaginative secular writing and sermons. While scholars have noted the influence sermons had on secular texts in the period, this article shows how popular literature of the profane, in denouncing excessive pride in apparel, had a profound and lasting influence on homiletic discourse. Sermons are hybrid texts that incorporate both the themes and literary flourish of texts written by secular, polemical authors, such as Philip Stubbes and Thomas Nashe. Special attention is given to the sermons preached at Paul's Cross to show how the complex social space surrounding the pulpit was crucial in enabling preachers to express the critique against excesses in apparel.
Fashions of Friendship in an Early Modern Illustrated Album Amicorum: British Library, MS Egerton 1191
Authors: Rosenthal Margaret F.
Published: September 2009

The album amicorum, or album of friends, is a singular visual example of early modern travelers' fascination with swiftly changing fashions, regional customs, family lineage, and manuscript decoration. A type of souvenir scrapbook, the album amicorum preserves in its pages colored depictions of local fashions in dress and various regional customs witnessed while traveling. Along with these miniatures, the album combines sententious mottoes, heraldic shields, and personalized inscriptions from friends met during one's travels. The album owner and friends display their newly acquired humanist education by quoting from ancient, medieval, and contemporary authors in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, French, and Italian, often on the theme of everlasting friendship. This essay looks closely at one album, owned by a German student attending law school at the University of Padua from 1575 to 1579, in order to determine the organizational structure of the album amicorum and how the visual material interacts with the written mottoes and inscriptions.
“Pressing an Ear against the Hive”
Authors: Chick Nancy L. , Hassel Holly , Haynie Aeron
Published: September 2009

This article documents a scholarship of teaching and learning project designed to help literature students cultivate the core disciplinary skill of reading for complexity. We offer a close reading of student responses from a collaboratively designed lesson to understand what happens when students read complex texts in introductory literature courses.
Negotiating a Third Space in the Classroom
Authors: Schapiro Barbara
Published: September 2009

This essay uses Jessica Benjamin's concept of intersubjectivity to consider a third space in the classroom, outside the teacher-centered or student-centered polarity. The intersubjective third space is characterized by the interplay of inner fantasy and recognition of otherness, and it is distinguished, above all, by the tension of paradox.
Bloom and His Detractors
Authors: Ellwanger Adam
Published: September 2009

Allan Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind elicited a storm of critical discourse regarding the condition of higher education in the United States. This essay performs a retrospective evaluation of the rhetorical modes that animated that body of discourse, suggesting that the polemical responses offered by Bloom's detractors validate his claims about the contradictory ways that openness, tolerance, and diversity are pursued in the university. Revisiting this controversy provides an opportunity for considering the ethics of the academic polemic.
Thumbs Up on Hirsch, Thumbs Down on Bloom
Authors: Lazere Donald
Published: September 2009

Lazere strongly endorses Paul G. Cook's essay as a step toward rehabilitation of E. D. Hirsch's reputation in English studies and disagrees with Adam Ellwanger's attempt to do the same for Allan Bloom. The coincidence of their books' appearance has caused Hirsch to be saddled with Bloom's debts.
Genre and Communication
Authors: Clark Lorraine
Published: September 2009

Readers of E. D. Hirsch's work on cultural literacy may be unaware that it is informed by the same theory of interpretation proposed by his much earlier book in literary studies, Validity in Interpretation. Understanding how the concept of genre functions in both projects clarifies why prior knowledge—not formal skills—is indispensable to all reading comprehension.
Teaching Marx, Dickens, and Yunus to Business Students
Authors: Vlock Deborah
Published: September 2009

This essay explores strategies for teaching texts that are critical of an untempered pursuit of wealth to business students, although many of these students have chosen their course of study based on their internalization and privileging of capitalist discourse. Karl Marx's “Estranged Labour,” Charles Dickens's Hard Times, and the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech by Muhammad Yunus can be used in the classroom to encourage students to broaden their understanding of wealth, power, and class and to suggest that they, in their professional lives, may be agents of social change. Pedagogical strategies employed in this first-year course include giving students responsibility for the direction of class discussions, so that their specific interests and agendas receive attention, and requiring that students personalize these texts that may seem distant to them by exploring their own experiences in the world of work and commerce in the context of the readings. By the end of the semester, the binary structure of their worldview has been challenged and, ideally, complicated.
The Discovery That Changes Everything
Authors: Kraus Carolyn
Published: September 2009

In assigning her university memoir-writing class to locate documents of significance to their lives as a starting point for composing personal essays, this teacher compelled her students to search outside themselves for material—in effect, to undertake research in a genre that many initially approach as if the story is already there, complete, inside their heads. By immersing themselves in material that was personal but also concrete and exterior, students discovered that memoir writing calls for as much exploration outside the self as searching within. As it turned out, the assignment not only helped to clarify the role of research in memoir writing, it also served as a springboard for discussions on the nature of documents and on their various uses in conveying a personal story.
Buffer-gas Pressure Broadening for the Third Overtone Band of NO Measured with Continuous-wave Cavity Ring-down Spectroscopy
Authors: Sakamoto Yosuke , Yamano Daisuke , Nakayama Tomoki , Kawasaki Masahiro , Morino Isamu , Inoue Gen
Published: September 2009

The buffer-gas pressure broadening coefficients and the temperature dependent parameter of the third overtone band of NO at 1.35–1.38 μm by N2 and rare gases for two ground electronic states, 2Π1⁄2 and 2Π3⁄2, were investigated for rotational levels of P(7.5)–R(14.5) using continuous-wave cavity ring-down spectroscopy. Obtained pressure-broadening coefficients are consistent with literature values.
Syntheses and Characterization of Sulfonated Poly(arylene ether sulfone) Containing Naphthyl Moiety as Pendent Groups for Proton Exchange Membranes
Authors: Wang Lei , Xiang Shenglin , Zhu Guangming
Published: September 2009

Novel poly(arylene ether sulfone) with sulfonic acid groups attached onto pendent naphthyl rings was successfully synthesized by the nucleophilic displacement of aromatic dihalides with bisphenols in aprotic solvent, followed by sulfonation with chlorosulfonic acid. The sulfonation took place only on the pendent naphthyl rings due to the specially designed molecular structure. The sulfonated polymers are soluble in common organic solvents and can be readily cast into tough and smooth films. The films of the side-chain-type polymer showed good thermal and oxidation stabilities.
Alternate Multiaddition Reactions for the Synthesis of Commodity Dendrimers
Authors: Aoki Ken’ichi , Ichimura Kunihiro
Published: September 2009

A selection rule for the reactivity of monomers to realize a quantity production of dendrimers through alternate multiadditions (AMA) is presented. The prototype of the AMA process was shown by using 2-sulfanylethanol and pentaerythritol tetraacrylate to give a tetraol, which was reacted with 1,1-bis(acryloyloxymethyl)ethyl isocyanate as a branched building block to yield a dendritic octaacrylate. Both additions were repeated for the second generation growth.
Foliar Damage Assessment and Selection of Cold Resistant Genotypes Using near Infrared Spectra of Eucalyptus Globulus Leaves
Authors: Castillo Rosario del P. , Contreras David , Otto Matthias , Baeza Jaime , Freer Juanita
Published: September 2009

Near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy was used to predict cold resistance in Eucalyptus globulus genotypes after acclimatation treatments at low temperatures. Branches of the genotypes were maintained during 31 days in three cold chambers and the NIR spectra of milled leaves were obtained. The samples were subsequently exposed to artificial freezing (with some branches exposed to −2°C) and the foliar damage was assessed by visually estimating the necrotic area of each leaf. These values were used as reference parameters to evaluate cold resistance in the genotypes. A partial least squares (PLS) method was performed using the foliar damage and the NIR spectra of leaves. Spectra were treated with multiplicative scatter correction (MSC) and orthogonal signal correction (OSC). An excellent model was achieved which predicted foliar damage in the genotypes with a low standard error of prediction (3.5%), a high regression coefficient in cross-validation and external validation ( r > 0.9) and a high percentage of the variance explained by the spectra (95.4%). Furthermore, a pattern recognition method, using a regularised discriminant analysis (RDA) of the scores matrix obtained in PLS, in a denominated PLS/RDA on scores strategy, was applied directly to the spectra to classify each genotype as tolerant or sensitive; 100% of the genotypes were correctly assigned. These results demonstrate the advantages of using the NIR spectra of leaves as a rapid, nondestructive tool to evaluate cold resistance in genotypes.
Method for near Infrared Sensor-Based Sorting of a Copper Ore
Authors: Gaydon James W. , Glass Hylke J. , Pascoe Richard D.
Published: September 2009

Sorting of minerals based on near infrared (NIR) analysis is promising because many minerals have distinct “fingerprints” in the NIR region. An experimental system was customised in order to obtain accurate NIR reflectance spectra. As a test application, the NIR spectra of transects across pre-classified copper ore particles were measured. Matrices containing correlation coefficients of particle pixel–pixel spectra were subjected to principal component analysis. In addition to providing insight into the homogeneity of the particle surface, the results were used to identify key spectral features which could be used to sort product from waste particles. With a selected spectral range, it was found that the classification improved when two standard pixels relating to product and waste were inserted into the transects. While testing an equal number of particles from each rock type, it was found that a correct classification was made in 82% of all rocks. It was found that moisture had little to no effect on the sorting method.
Distinct extremely abundant siRNAs associated with cosuppression in petunia
Authors: De Paoli Emanuele , Dorantes-Acosta Ana , Zhai Jixian , Accerbi Monica , Jeong Dong-Hoon , Park Sunhee , Meyers Blake C. , Jorgensen Richard A. , Green Pamela J.
Published: September 2009

Cosuppression is a classical form of eukaryotic post-transcriptional gene silencing. It was first reported in transgenic petunia, where a sense transgene meant to overexpress the host Chalcone Synthase-A (CHS-A) gene caused the degradation of the homologous transcripts and the loss of flower pigmentation. In this work, we used deep sequencing technology to characterize in detail the small RNA population generated from the CHS-A sequence in cosuppressed transgenic petunia. Unexpectedly, two distinct small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) were found to vastly predominate. Our demonstration that they guide prominent cleavage events in CHS-A mRNA provides compelling and previously lacking evidence of a causative association between induction of individual siRNAs and an example of cosuppression. The preferential accumulation of these siRNAs provides new insights about sense cosuppression that may apply to other natural and engineered RNA silencing events.
Combined proteomic–RNAi screen for host factors involved in human hepatitis delta virus replication
Authors: Cao Dan , Haussecker Dirk , Huang Yong , Kay Mark A.
Published: September 2009

Human hepatitis delta virus (HDV) is the only animal virus known to replicate its RNA genome using a host polymerase because its only virally encoded proteins, the small and large hepatitis delta antigens (HDAg-S and HDAg-L), lack polymerase activity. Although this makes HDV an ideal model system to study RNA-directed transcription in mammalian cells, little is known about the host factors involved in its replication. To comprehensively identify such host factors, we created a stable cell line carrying a functional FLAG–HDAg-S. Anti-Flag immunopurification and mass spectrometry identified >100 proteins associated with FLAG–HDAg-S, many of which had predicted roles in RNA metabolism. The biological relevance of this screen was strongly supported by the identification of nine out of the 12 subunits of the RNA polymerase II complex thought to mediate HDV replication. To further investigate the significance of these factors for HDV replication, we selected 65 proteins to look for factors that would also affect the accumulation of HDV RNA following siRNA knockdown. Fifteen and three factors were found to regulate HDV RNA accumulation negatively and positively, respectively, upon RNAi knockdown. Our results provide a valuable resource for future research to advance our mechanistic understanding of HDV replication and RNA-directed transcription in mammalian cells.
Domain-elongation NMR spectroscopy yields new insights into RNA dynamics and adaptive recognition
Authors: Zhang Qi , Al-Hashimi Hashim M.
Published: September 2009

By simplifying the interpretation of nuclear magnetic resonance spin relaxation and residual dipolar couplings data, recent developments involving the elongation of RNA helices are providing new atomic insights into the dynamical properties that allow RNA structures to change functionally and adaptively. Domain elongation, in concert with spin relaxation measurements, has allowed the detailed characterization of a hierarchical network of local and collective motional modes occurring at nanosecond timescale that mirror the structural rearrangements that take place following adaptive recognition. The combination of domain elongation with residual dipolar coupling measurements has allowed the experimental three-dimensional visualization of very large amplitude rigid-body helix motions in HIV-1 transactivation response element (TAR) that trace out a highly choreographed trajectory in which the helices twist and bend in a correlated manner. The dynamic trajectory allows unbound TAR to sample many of its ligand bound conformations, indicating that adaptive recognition occurs by “conformational selection” rather than “induced fit.” These studies suggest that intrinsic flexibility plays essential roles directing RNA conformational changes along specific pathways.
Acceleration Operators in the Value Iteration Algorithms for Markov Decision Processes
Authors: Shlakhter Oleksandr , Lee Chi-Guhn , Khmelev Dmitry , Jaber Nasser
Published: September 2009

We study the general approach to accelerating the convergence of the most widely used solution method of Markov decision processes (MDPs) with the total expected discounted reward. Inspired by the monotone behavior of the contraction mappings in the feasible set of the linear programming problem equivalent to the MDP, we establish a class of operators that can be used in combination with a contraction mapping operator in the standard value iteration algorithm and its variants. We then propose two such operators, which can be easily implemented as part of the value iteration algorithm and its variants. Numerical studies show that the computational savings can be significant especially when the discount factor approaches one and the transition probability matrix becomes dense, in which the standard value iteration algorithm and its variants suffer from slow convergence.
Derivation and Validation of the ASK-12 Adherence Barrier Survey
Authors: Matza Louis S , Park Jinhee , Coyne Karin S , Skinner Elizabeth P , Malley Karen G , Wolever Ruth Q
Published: September 2009

Background:

The ASK-20 survey is a previously validated patient-report measure of barriers to medication adherence and adherence-related behavior.

Objective:

To derive and validate a shorter version of the ASK-20 scale.

Methods:

Patients with asthma, diabetes, and congestive heart failure were recruited from a university medical center. Participants completed the ASK-20 survey and other questionnaires. Approximately one-third of participants were randomized to a 2-week retest administration. Item performance and results of an exploratory factor analysis were examined for item reduction and subscale identification. Subsequent analyses examined reliability and validity of the shorter version of the ASK.

Results:

A total of 112 patients participated (75.9% female; mean age 46.7 y; 53.6% African American). Eight items were dropped from the ASK-20 based on factor loadings, floor effects, Cronbach's α, and the ability of each item to discriminate between groups of patients differing in self-reported adherence. The new total score (ASK-12) had good internal consistency reliability (Cronbach's α 0.75) and test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation 0.79). Convergent validity was demonstrated through correlations with the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (r -0.74; p < 0.001), condition-specific measures, the SF-12 Mental Component Score (r –.32; p < 0.01), and proportion of days covered by tilled medication prescriptions in the past 6 months as indicated by pharmacy claims data (r -0.20; p = 0.059). The ASK-12 total score also discriminated among groups of patients who differed in self-reported adherence indicators, including whether a dose was missed in the past week, the number of days medication was not taken as directed, and treatment satisfaction. Three subscales were identified (adherence behavior, health beliefs, inconvenience/forgetfulness), and results provided initial support for their validity.

Conclusions:

The ASK-12 demonstrated adequate reliability and validity, and it may be a useful brief measure of adherence behavior and barriers to treatment adherence.
Atenolol Hepatotoxicity: Report of a Complicated Case
Authors: Dumortier Jérôme , Guillaud Olivier , Gouraud Aurore , Pittau Gabriella , Vial Thierry , Boillot Olivier , Scoazec Jean-Yves
Published: September 2009

Objective:

To report a case of acute hepatitis related to atenolol administration in a liver transplant (LT) recipient.

Case Summary:

A 57-year-old woman was evaluated for LT because of liver failure due to cirrhosis of unknown origin. LT was performed in November 2006. In March 2007, results of liver function tests (LFTs) were within the reference ranges. She had received atenolol for hypertension for 3 years prior to surgery and it was reintroduced at a dose of 100 mg/day because of recurrence of hypertension. One month later, she presented with acute hepatitis. The first post-LT liver biopsy was performed. Histologic examination disclosed a combination of portal and centrilobular inflammatory lesions. The diagnosis of acute rejection was accepted and 3 bolus doses of prednisone 500 mg/day were administered. Evolution was not favorable and a second liver biopsy was obtained. Histologic examination showed the complete disappearance of portal inflammatory lesions but an increase of centrilobular lesions. Toxic hepatitis was suspected and atenolol was stopped. No other therapeutic modification was done and resolution of the toxicity was good. An objective causality assessment revealed that the adverse drug event was probable.

Discussion:

This case report represents a very rare severe hepatotoxicity due to atenolol and illustrates the diagnostic difficulties raised by such clinical situations in the context of LT. It is noteworthy that the initial diagnosis considered in this patient was acute rejection. This diagnosis had to be reconsidered because of the unfavorable outcome, despite specific treatment of rejection. Moreover, the patient had been treated with atenolol for 3 years before LT: in the absence of any other etiology, the possibility that she had drug-induced cirrhosis may therefore be considered. The mechanism of β-blocker–related hepatotoxicity is debatable. In our case, the composition of the inflammatory infiltrates observed in the liver biopsy specimens suggests an immune-mediated mechanism.

Conclusions:

Despite the fact that β-blocker–induced hepatotoxicity is probably extremely rare, it must be suspected and the drug therefore discontinued.
Fat and bone in children: Differential effects of obesity on bone size and mass according to fracture history
Authors: Dimitri Paul , Wales Jerry K , Bishop Nick
Published: September 2009

Fat mass predicts bone accrual in prepubertal children, but obese children have increased fracture risk. We hypothesised that bone size and mass would vary according to prior fracture in obese children. One hundred and three children (52 obese) underwent dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scanning of the lumbar spine, total body, and radial metaphysis and diaphysis. We derived body size–adjusted bone mineral density (BMD) estimates for each site using commonly employed procedures. Following adjustment for either age, age2 and weight, or height and weight based on a reference group of nonobese controls without previous fracture, obese children with prior fracture showed a 0.8 to 1.2 SD reduction in total body areal BMD (aBMD), a 3.0 SD decrease in lumbar (L2–4) aBMD, and a 2.0 SD reduction in radial shaft aBMD. These changes were significant at p < .005. Lumbar volumetric BMD (vBMD) calculated by Carter and Kröger algorithms was significantly reduced in obese children with prior fracture (2.0 to 3.3 SD). Eighteen percent of obese children fulfilled the criteria for osteoporosis. Despite greater lean mass for height in obese children (p < .0001), total body bone mineral content (BMC) for lean mass was reduced (p = .002). Multiple regression models adjusting for height, weight, and gender demonstrated an inverse relationship between total body fat mass and total body, lumbar, and ultradistal radius BMC and aBMD. The data suggest that fat mass substantially inhibits bone accrual in children with prior fracture. These children may require targeted interventions to increase bone mass during adolescence to achieve optimal peak bone mass and reduce the risk of osteoporosis later in life. © 2010 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research
The Aesthetic Uncanny: staging Dorian Gray
Authors: Tunstall Darren
Published: September 2009

This article discusses my theatrical adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe (2008). Freud's concept of the uncanny (1919) was treated as a purely aesthetic phenomenon and related to late nineteenth century social and literary
preoccupations such as Christianity, the supernatural and glamorous, criminal homosexuality. These considerations led to a conceptual ground plan that allowed for experiments during rehearsal in a form of theatrical shorthand.
Adapting the Literature of the Double: manifestations of cinematic forms in Fight Club and Enduring Love
Authors: Constandinides Costas
Published: September 2009

This article examines the relationship between the film adaptations Fight Club (David Fincher 1999) and Enduring Love (Roger Michell 2004) in their attempt to transfer to the screen the theme of the double or to suggest relevant implications about the psychological condition
of the characters. The analysis develops within the framework of interpretation processes that are relevant to cinema's ontology and form; thus it focuses on the cinematic codes that each film employs in order to construct a consistent style. This leads to a discussion which activates and
suggests ways of reading the relationship between an adaptation and its source text by emphasizing the significance of form, style and cinematic space.
Methods and Equipment Used in Preparing and Examining Fluorescent Ultrathin Sections of Portland Cement Concrete
Authors: Walker HN , Marshall BF
Published: September 2009

The method of preparation is explained for fluorescent dye-impregnated polished ultrathin sections of portland cement concrete used for a study of the microstructure of concrete. The sections were examined with a microscope that combines the features of a petrographic microscope with those of a microscope having incident fluorescing capabilities. Photomicrographs are used to illustrate microcracks, hollow shell hydration, impermeable areas, and the influence of coatings on aggregate particles.
The Precision of the Microscopical Determination of the Air-Void System in Hardened Concrete
Authors: Sommer H
Published: September 2009

Twenty laboratories from ten countries took part in an international comparative test to determine the air-void system of hardened concrete. The method of measurement did not seem to have a significant influence on results, but good grinding techniques and the magnifications were important. Further tests were performed at the Viennese Cement Research Institute with the aim of improving the precision of the results. It is recommended that the entrapped and the entrained air voids be counted separately and that the spacing factor be calculated from the entrained air voids only.
The Skin and the Self: A Note on the Limits of the Body in Brahmanic India
Authors: Malamoud Charles
Published: September 2009

This paper discusses some aspects and moments of the Vedic ritual in which the skin of an animal, when removed from the body to which it belonged, may either be used as a cloth and/or as a symbol, or transformed into the living skin of a new body it is meant to cover (earth for instance). The formulas one has to recite while performing these rituals operate this shift from nature to artefact and back to nature.
The Indian Body and Unani Medicine: Body History as Entangled History
Authors: Pernau Margrit
Published: September 2009

Cultures, and especially medical cultures, did not develop in isolation from one another, indebted only to their own dynamics, but in constant interchange. A history of the body hence can only be written as a history of entanglements. The article elaborates this thesis with reference to Unani medicine, a cluster of medical systems still today widely in use among the Muslims (and a good number of Hindus) of South Asia. The history of Unani medicine shows that the Indian body is the site of a long tradition of multiple influences and entanglements, Greek, Arabic, Persian, Central Asian, Western and Ayurvedic.
Translating the Body Into Image. The Body Politic and Visual Practice at the Mughal Court During the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
Authors: Juneja Monica
Published: September 2009

This article investigates the ways in which visual representations reconfigured the body in North Indian political culture of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. While images were meant to transmit and translate ethical conceptions of the polity, communicative modes of the visual medium followed a dynamic that was not a rehearsal of the path taken by texts. As images cut across distinctions formulated elsewhere and drew up new boundaries, they worked to refine and pluralise the understandings of political culture beyond the normative. Pictorial experiments at the North Indian courts involved negotiating multiple regimes of visuality and arriving at pictorial choices that ended up creating a new field of sensibilities, especially the corporeal. An argument is therefore made for the agency of the visual in defining new ideas of the political body that were constitutive of politico-ethical ideals in early modern North India.
The Multiple Bodies of the Bride: Ritualising 'World Class′ at Elite Weddings in Urban India
Authors: Brosius Christiane
Published: September 2009

This paper examines the gap between the wedding and the beauty or fitness industries, underlining how closely they are connected by means of 'marketing the body′ and how much pressure is put on aspiring candidates in terms of their performance. The beautiful and the fit body of women as well as men have moved centre-stage in the feel-good ideology promoted in neoliberal urban India. The wedding ritual is a field of discourse through which a host of media and gender concepts are entangled in an ambivalent way: at once empowering and domesticating.
The Politics of the Sensuous and the Sacred Body in India
Authors: Menon Rekha
Published: September 2009

This paper is written inspired by looking at the hypocritical neocolonial/postcolonial Indians who claim to be the moralistic proper Hindu Indians. The paper discusses contemporary Indian aesthetic creations, specifically visual images and plastic arts, and correlates them with the excessive psychological, ethical, social, and gender judgments in which they are placed. Nakedness and naked bodies, the sensuous and the sacred body are judged within different hermeneutical contexts. By nakedness I do not mean just the nude body or the sexed body/body-ness, but nakedness in all its ambivalence. The paper focuses on various events in India to show how the domain of the expressive lifeworld of the sensuous and the sacred is still a question of debate, which has not changed since the Victorian moral codes.
Benign fine-needle aspiration cytology of thyroid nodule: to repeat or not to repeat?
Authors: Gabalec Filip , Čáp Jan , Ryška Aleš , Vašátko Tomáš , Ceeová Věra
Published: September 2009

Context

Fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is the gold standard for evaluating thyroid nodules. It has a sensitivity rate of about 95%, i.e. false negative results represent up to 5% of cases. The value of repeated FNAC during follow-up is still controversial.

Objective

To evaluate the usefulness of repeating the FNAC for initially benign nodules.

Design and methods

All 5017 patients who underwent FNAC of the thyroid nodule in years 1991–2008 were retrospectively evaluated.

Results

Repeated FNAC was performed in 574 nodules with initially benign results. The number of repetitions varied from one to six. Repeatedly benign results were found in 498 cases, and malignant/suspicious results with initially benign cytology were found in 76 nodules (13.2%). Carcinoma was present in 13 out of the 58 surgically treated malignant/suspicious results of initially benign cytology.

Conclusions

A change from a benign FNAC result to a malignant/suspicious one was present in more than 13% of the patients with initially benign cytology; malignancy has been recognised on the basis of repeated FNAC in 2.3% patients. In the majority of cases, the repetition corrected wrong cytological interpretation of results other than colloidal goitre, especially Hashimoto's thyroiditis and regressive changes. We believe that repeating FNAC in patients with benign cytology in about a 1-year horizon can reduce the rate of undiagnosed tumours.
Adrenal crisis in treated Addison's disease: a predictable but under-managed event
Authors: White Katherine , Arlt Wiebke
Published: September 2009

Context

Adrenal crisis is a life-threatening event that occurs regularly in Addison's patients receiving standard replacement therapy. Patient reports suggest that it is an underestimated and under-managed event.

Objective

To assess the frequency of adrenal crisis in diagnosed patients and to understand the factors contributing to the risks of adrenal crisis.

Design

We conducted a postal survey of Addison's patients in four countries, UK (n=485), Canada (n=148), Australia (n=123) and New Zealand (n=85) in 2003, asking about patients' experiences of adrenal crisis and their demographic characteristics. In 2006, a shorter follow-up survey was conducted in the UK (n=261).

Method

The frequency and causes of adrenal crisis were compared across both surveys. Demographic data from the 2003 survey were analysed to establish the main variables associated with an elevated risk of crisis.

Results

Around 8% of diagnosed cases can be expected to need hospital treatment for adrenal crisis annually. Exposure to gastric infection is the single most important factor predicting the likelihood of adrenal crisis. Concomitant diabetes and/or asthma increase the frequency of adrenal crises reported by patients.

Conclusion

The endocrinologist has a responsibility to ensure that Addison's patients have adequate access to life-saving emergency injection materials and repeated, practical training sessions in how to use them, while the general practitioner plays a vital role as in arranging prompt emergency admissions.
Fibroblast growth factor 23 and its role in phosphate homeostasis
Authors: Ramon Isolde , Kleynen Pierre , Body Jean-Jacques , Karmali Rafik
Published: September 2009

Phosphate homeostasis is complex and incompletely understood. The identification of different factors involved in the regulation of phosphate balance, also called phosphatonins, has largely changed our view on the regulation of phosphate homeostasis. The active role of bone has been demonstrated clearly. Currently, maintaining phosphate homeostasis is considered the result of a complex network of endocrine feedback loops between parathyroid gland, kidney, and bone. This review describes current knowledge on fibroblast growth factor 23, which is one of the best studied phosphatonins.
Controle de vetores utilizando mosquitos geneticamente modificados
Authors: Wilke André Barreto Bruno , Gomes Almério de Castro , Natal Delsio , Marrelli Mauro Toledo
Published: September 2009

Formas químicas de controle de mosquitos vetores são ineficazes, levando ao desenvolvimento de novas estratégias. Assim, foi realizada revisão das estratégias de controle genético de populações de mosquitos vetores baseada na técnica do inseto estéril. Uma delas consiste na liberação de machos esterilizados por radiação, a outra, na integração de um gene letal dominante associado a um promotor específico de fêmeas imaturas. Entre as vantagens sobre outras técnicas biológicas e químicas de controle de vetores estão: alta especificidade, não prejudicial ao meio ambiente, baixo custo de produção e alta eficácia. O uso desta técnica de modificação genética pode vir a ser uma importante ferramenta do manejo integrado de vetores.
Gravidade dos acidentes de trabalho atendidos em serviços de emergência
Authors: Santana Vilma Sousa , Xavier Cibele , Moura Maria Claudia Peres , Oliveira Rosane , Espírito-Santo Jônatas Silva , Araújo Gustavo
Published: September 2009

OBJETIVO: Estimar o nível de gravidade de acidentes de trabalho e fatores associados. MÉTODOS: Estudo longitudinal realizado em Salvador, BA, conduzido com todos os 406 casos de acidentes de trabalho atendidos em duas unidades de emergência de hospitais públicos, entre junho e agosto de 2005. Os participantes foram identificados durante a admissão no serviço de emergência e entrevistados mensalmente em suas residências, até o retorno ao trabalho ou finalização do tratamento. A gravidade foi definida com a Abbreviated Injury Scale utilizada para calcular escores do Injury Severity Score. Foram estimadas a letalidade e a mortalidade hospitalar, permanência e internação na unidade de terapia intensiva (UTI). Variáveis descritoras foram sexo, idade, ramo de atividade econômica e ocupação. Empregaram-se proporções, razões de proporções e intervalos de confiança para a inferência estatística e média e teste t de Student para variáveis normais contínuas. RESULTADOS: A maior parte dos 406 casos foi de gravidade leve (39,4%) e moderada (38,7%), seguida pelos de nível sério (17,2%), severo (3,2%) e crítico (1,5%). A letalidade global foi 0,7% e 5,0% entre os que ficaram internados (14,8%), enquanto a média de hospitalização foi 3,2 dias (DP=2,8). Três casos (0,7%) necessitaram UTI (média= 8,4 dias, DP=1,2). A maior parte dos casos graves ocorreu entre os homens e os que tinham mais que 37 anos de idade. Acidentes com trabalhadores de transporte (RP=2,20; IC 90%: 1,06;4,58) e comércio (RP=1,85 IC 90%: 1,14;3,00) foram mais graves do que o do grupo referente. A proporção de acidentes graves foi 54% maior entre os de trajeto em comparação com os típicos. No total foram 325 dias de hospitalização e 34 dias de permanência em UTI. CONCLUSÕES: Foi elevada a gravidade de acidentes de trabalho, especialmente os ocorridos com trabalhadores do ramo de transporte e comércio, repercutindo nos serviços de emergência e ocupação de leitos hospitalares e UTI.
Algumas medidas microclimáticas, em mata da região "Bromélia-Malária", em Santa Catarina, Brasil: II - Efeito do abrigo, temperaturas extremas, amplitude térmica diária, temperatura do solo, radiação global, velocidade do vento e déficit de saturação
Authors: Aragão Mário B.
Published: September 2009

Em continuação a um artigo anterior (I), são apresentados os valores médios mensais das seguintes observaçõs: efeito do abrigo, temperaturas extremas, amplitude térmica diária, temperatura do solo, radiação global, velocidade do vento e déficit de saturação. O exame, dos gráficos e tabelas contidos no texto, mostra que: 1 - Enquanto em locais livremente expostos ao vento a diferença entre a temperatura lida dentro do abrigo tipo "Stevenson" e a obtida com o psicrômetro ventilado, só excepcionalmente tem significado estatístico, na mata as diferenças médias da ordem de 0,5ºC são comuns, em qualquer das horas de observação. 2 - As maiores médias das temperaturas máximas foram sempre as obtidas ao ar livre. Na mata elas são mais elevadas no vale e mais baixas no alto da elevação. 3 - As diferenças entre as temperaturas mínimas só são nítidas no inverno, quando em alguns pontos da mata elas são mais baixas e em outros mais altas do que as observadas ao ar livre. Nos meses mais frios a inversão noturna póde provocar, na mata, uma diferença médias de 3ºC para um desnível de 100 m. 4 - A não ser no vale, onde foram registrados alguns valores médios iguais aos observados aos ar livre, a amplitude térmica diária é sempre menor na mata. 5 - A evolução da curva da temperatura do solo é influenciada pela situação topográfica e pela proteção oferecida pela vegetação. 6 - A atenuação da velocidade do vento é provocada principalmente pelas copas das árvores. Abaixo dess estrato, praticamente não foi registrada variação nos valores médios da velocidade do vento. 7 - Para o estudo do estado higrométrico do ar, dentro da mata, o déficit de saturação fornece melhors informações do que a umidade relativa.
Resistência de alguns vírus à ação oligodinâmica da prata
Authors: Lacorte J. Guilherme , Monteiro Estácio , Loures J. Carvalho
Published: September 2009

Tentamos verificar, em algumas experiências, a ação oligodinâmica da prata sôbre os vírus da coriomeningite linfocitária benigna, amostra WE, da poliomielite, amostra MEF1, e da vacina, amostra do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, como o haviamos feito com o vírus da gripe, amostras PR8 e DL/Rio. Nas provas usamos recipientes de barro, recobertos de fina camada de prata na parede interna, ou aquêles em que a prata, sob a forma de pó se misturava ao próprio barro. Esses recipientes são denominados, no comércio, moringas esterilizantes. Colocou-se, no seu interior, a emulsão a 10% do tecido cerebral contendo o vírus da coriomeningite linfocitária ou da poliomielite, verificando-se o seu poder patogênico para camundongos, em intervalos regulares, pela injeção intracerebral de 0,03 ml do material. Os resultados, que podem ser vistos nos Quadros 1 e 2, indicam que aquêles virus resistem à ação oligodinâmica da prata. No caso do vírus da vacina, a diluição foi colocada, da mesma maneira, nos referidos recipientes. O vírus apresentou, também, completa resistência, conforme se vê nas figuras de 1, 2 e 3. Experiências testemunhas feitas com Micrococcus pyogenes e Escherichia coli, cujas suspensões foram igualmente colocadas nas moringas esterilizantes, revelaram que as bactérias não sobreviviam além de 20 horas. Frizamos, na publicação sôbre vírus da gripe, que o referido fenômeno é importante porque sabemos que o efieto oligodinâmico se observa sôbre microorganismos como bactérias, protozoários e outros seres vivos, alterando as suas propriedades ou matando-os sendo, portanto, interessante sob o ponto de vista biológico. O fenômeno pode ainda ser aplicado para o isolamento de vírus, quando em contaminação com bactérias.
A reação de fixação do complemento no estudo do vírus da gripe asiática
Authors: Lacorte J. Guilherme , Monteiro Estácio , Loures J. Carvalho
Published: September 2009

Dada a importância da reação de fixação do complemento no estudo do vírus da gripe, resolvemos aplicá-la ao exame e inúmeras amostras que isolamos no decurso da epidemia de gripe asiática, ocorrida em 1957, no Brasil. As referidas amostras já haviam sido estudadas pela prova de hemaglutinação, que serviu para diagnosticá-las. Sabemos que, pela reação de fixação do complemento, se define o tipo de qualquer amostra, não a variante, isto é, os antígenos A, A1 e A2 fixam o complemento, indiferentemente, em presença de anticorpos A, A1 e A2. Não o fazem com o tipo B, C ou D. Tal separação só é possível com a prova de hemaglutinação, que havíamos anteriormente praticado. Visamos, no presente trabalho, por meio daquela reação, estabelecer as relações entre os antígenos de amostras padrões com soros por nós preparados, pela inoculação das amostras que isolamos, ao lado dos soros preparados com as amostras padrões. Foram empregadas as variantes do tipo A e o tipo B. O antígeno foi preparado com o líquido cório-alantóide contendo razoável taxa de hemaglutininas para cada amostra do vírus. Os imunesoros foram preparados em galos, pela injeção do líquido alantóide contendo vírus. A técnica empregada na reação foi a do Centro Internacional de Estudo da gripe, ramo das Américas, localizado em Montgomery. Verificamos, pelos resultados obtidos, assinalados nos Quadros 8 e 9, que separamos nìtidamente o tipo A do B, mas não as variantes do tipo A, em sentido absoluto, uma vez que qualquer dos seus antígenos, A, A1 ou A2, apresentou a reação positiva se bem que houvesse diferença, às vêzes bastante acentuada, na intensidade da reação. Sempre que se usou o antígeno da variante A2 a reação foi 8 a 16 vêzes mais forte, em comparação com os antígenos das variantes A e A1. Em raros casos, a reação foi negativa com êstes antígenos. Verificamos, portanto, a perfeita individualidade da variante A2, para isso trabalhando com 17 das 43 amostras que isolamos no decorrer da última pandemia de gripe.
Observações histológicas na musculatura de Phlebotomus na Renei e P. Longipalpis
Authors: Barth Rudolf
Published: September 2009

Descrevem-se 4 tipos histológicos diferentes de músculos em Phlebotomus renei, sendo êstes comparados com os correspondentes de Phlebotomus longipalpis. Obtivemos os seguintes resultados: 1. De uma forma primitiva embriogenética, cujos feixes de fibrilas se agrupam em fitas radiais e cuja massa sarcoplasmática é muito elevada em comparação com os elementos contráteis, desenvolveu-se um músculo, pobre em sarcoplasma, que funciona como músculo direto do vôo, condicionado para contrações fortes, modificando a posição das partes da articulação das asas para a orientação do vôo. 2. O tipo que se assemelha mais à forma primitiva, é o músculo do tipo lamelar que se encontra em tôdas as partes do corpo e que efetua os movimentos gerais. 3. Por meio de desintegração das fitas de feixes fibrilares resulta um músculo, rico em sarcoplasma, com número reduzido de elementos contráteis. 4. O último tipo é considerado como sendo um músculo que exerce contraturas "tônicas" de ação lenta, porém persistentes. Encontra-se no basipodito do aparelho de cópula do macho e em outras regiões do corpo onde são necessárias contraturas prolongadas. 5. É de supor que o músculo indireto do vôo se formou, por meio de desintegração progressiva dos seus elementos contráteis, sendo o mesmo também rico em sarcoplasma. 6. A estriação transversal do músculo indireto do vôo é de interêsse especial, porque a linha K (de contração) desenvolve-se, aparentemente, na altura da zona h. 7. Observa-se que diferentes regiões do músculo indireto do vôo mostram ondas de contração intermitentes; dêste fato conclui-se que, por meio de entradas e saídas aceleradas, de ondas de contração, é favorecida a alta freqüência das asas.
Estudos anatômicos e histológicos sôbre a subfamília Triatominae (Heteroptera, reduviidae): XIX parte: estudo comparado das mandíbulas de vários Triatominae e outros Reduviidae
Authors: Barth Rudolf
Published: September 2009

Descreve-se, nesta publicação, as mandíbulas de 8 espécies de Triatominae e de 8 de outros Heteroptera, do grupo dos predadores, focalizando a forma e a armação da parte apical. Os caracteres permitem diferenciar entre um tipo hematófago e um predador. Nos hematófagos conseguimos diferenciar os 3 gêneros estudados pela forma e armação das mandíbulas; não é possível, porém, a classificação das espécies pelas mandíbulas, porque as diferenças, sendo mesmo específicas, não são suficientemente significativas. Forma e armação dos estiletes dos dois tipos estão relacionadas, diretamente, com os costumes dos animais no ato de alimentação.
Sistemas de adubação e consórcio de culturas intercalares e seus efeitos nas variáveis de colheita da cultura do milho
Authors: Cortez Jorge W. , Furlani Carlos E. A. , Silva Rouverson P. da
Published: September 2009

A colheita é a operação final de campo do processo produtivo, e por isso os fatores que interferem na mesma devem ser observados e avaliados atentamente para reduzir ao mínimo as perdas nessa etapa. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a influência dos sistemas de adubação (em pré-semeadura e na semeadura) e dos consórcios de culturas intercalares (milho+mucuna-cinza-anã, milho+guandu-anão e milho+lablab) nas variáveis de colheita da cultura do milho em sistema plantio direto. O experimento foi realizado na UNESP de Jaboticabal - SP, no período de safra normal, utilizando-se do delineamento em blocos ao acaso, no esquema fatorial (2 x 3), com quatro repetições. Os componentes avaliados na colheita foram: diâmetro do colmo, altura de inserção da primeira espiga, altura da planta, número de espigas por planta, índice de espiga, número de fileiras na espiga, biomassa seca da palhada no solo, estande final, produtividade de grãos, fluxos de grãos, de palha e de sabugo e perdas na colheita. Os resultados demonstraram que o diâmetro do colmo, a altura de inserção da primeira espiga e a altura de plantas apresentaram maiores valores para o sistema de adubação na semeadura. O número de fileiras, espigas viáveis, índice de espiga, estande final, biomassa seca da palhada, produtividade, fluxos de palha, de sabugo, de grãos e as perdas na colheita não foram afetados pelos sistemas de adubação e os consórcios.