bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Toll-Like Receptors: Sentinels of Host Defence against Bacterial Infection
Authors: Schnare Markus , Röllinghoff Martin , Qureshi Salman
Published: November 2005

Innate immunity provides a first line of host defence against infection through microbial recognition and killing while simultaneously activating a definitive adaptive immune response. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are principal mediators of rapid microbial recognition and function mainly by detection of structural patterns that do not exist in the host. TLR2 and TLR4 were the first members of this innate immune receptor family to be strongly implicated in antibacterial host defence. Following the initial description of the mammalian TLR family, susceptibility to infection with numerous human microbial pathogens has been intensively studied using mice with engineered deletions of each of these molecules. While it has become quite clear that TLR activation is necessary for optimal host defence, a comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms by which this family of pattern recognition receptors engages protective immunity, particularly the adaptive response, is still evolving.
Detection and Management of Associated Atherothrombotic Locations in Patients with a Recent Atherothrombotic Ischemic Stroke: Results of the DETECT Survey
Authors: Leys D. , Woimant F. , Ferrières J. , Bauters C. , Touboul P.-J. , Guérillot M. , Herrmann M.A. , Priollet P.
Published: November 2005

Background: Cerebral infarction (CI), myocardial infarction, peripheral artery disease (PAD) and aortic atheroma are the main clinical manifestations of atherothrombosis. Long-term prevention after CI of atherothrombotic origin may require preventive measures at other sites, such as specific drug therapies, surgery, or angioplasty. Therefore the detection of other locations is potentially important. Objectives: The primary objective was to describe the other locations of atherothrombosis in patients hospitalized for a recent cerebral infarct of atherothrombotic origin. Secondary objectives were to describe their vascular risk factor profiles, and their management before and after the cerebral event. Method: This prospective, observational, multicenter survey was conducted in France between September 2003 and July 2004, mainly in neurological departments and stroke units. Results: 753 patients were included (74% men; mean age 69.3 years). Previous coronary events had occurred in 119 (16%). Previous stroke or transient ischemic attacks had occurred in 233 (31%). PAD was already known in 109 (15%). A search for other atherothrombotic locations was positive in 216 patients (29%). The minimum prevalence for any associated atherothrombotic location (either present before or identified during hospitalization) was 47.5% for any location, 33.7% for coronary artery disease, 16.6% for aortic atheroma, and 22.7% for PAD. Conclusion: Fifty percent of the patients with recent atherothrombotic CI have other locations of atherothrombosis. For this reason, a systematic search for these other locations is recommended because of the possible therapeutic consequences. However, the question of the most appropriate period for this search after the cerebral event remains unsettled.
Association of Soluble Intercellular Adhesion Molecule 1 with Neurological Deterioration of Ischemic Stroke: The Chongqing Stroke Study
Authors: Wang John Y.J. , Zhou David H.D. , Li Jingcheng , Zhang Meng , Deng Juan , Gao Changyue , Li Jing , Lian Yan , Chen Man’e
Published: November 2005

Background: Adhesion molecules play important roles in the pathophysiology of ischemic stroke. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether serum levels of soluble intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (sICAM-1), soluble vascular cellular adhesion molecule 1 (sVCAM-1) and soluble E-selectin were associated with neurological deterioration of ischemic stroke. Methods: 238 consecutive patients with ischemic stroke examined within 24 h from onset were enrolled into the study. The stroke severity was daily assessed with the NIH Stroke Scale (NIHSS) within the first week after admission. Serum levels of sICAM-1, sVCAM-1 and sE-selectin after admission were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Multivariate logistic regression was used to analyze the association of serum levels of sICAM-1, sVCAM-1 and sE-selectin on admission with the neurological deterioration of ischemic stroke, adjusted for potential confounders. Results: 52 (21.8%) out of 238 stroke patients suffered from neurological deterioration. Serum levels of sICAM-1 on admission of stroke patients were significantly higher than those of healthy controls. Compared with patients without deterioration, patients with neurological deterioration had higher levels of sICAM-1, but not of sVCAM-1 and sE-selectin. On multivariate logistic regression, the serum level of sICAM-1 on admission was associated with neurological deterioration of stroke (OR 2.92, 95% CI 1.41–6.05). Other variables associated with neurological deterioration were fasting serum glucose (OR 1.65, 95% CI 1.24–2.20), baseline fibrinogen (OR 1.31, 95% CI 1.13–1.52) and NIHSS score (OR 1.23, 95% CI 1.15–1.32). Conclusions: The serum level of sICAM-1 on admission is associated with neurological deterioration of ischemic stroke.
Safety and Therapeutical Benefit of Hemicraniectomy Combined with Mild Hypothermia in Comparison with Hemicraniectomy Alone in Patients with Malignant Ischemic Stroke
Authors: Els Thomas , Oehm Eckard , Voigt Sabine , Klisch Joachim , Hetzel Andreas , Kassubek Jan
Published: November 2005

Introduction: Both for hemicraniectomy and for hypothermia, several reports describe a beneficial effect in patients with malignant supratentorial cerebral ischemia. We compared the safety and the clinical outcome in patients with a malignant supratentorial infarction who were treated with hemicraniectomy alone (HA) or received a combination therapy with hemicraniectomy and hypothermia of 35°C (HH), respectively. Methods: In a prospective and randomized study, 25 consecutive patients were treated after an ischemic infarction of more than two thirds of one hemisphere by HA (n = 13 patients) or the HH combination therapy (n = 12 patients). Safety parameters were compared between both treatment groups, the clinical outcome was assessed during treatment and after 6 months. Results: Age, cranial CT or MRI findings, initial National institutes of Health Stroke Scale Score (NIHSSS) and level of consciousness were not significantly different between both groups. Hemicraniectomy was performed within 15 ± 6 h after the ischemic event. Hypothermia was induced immediately after surgery. Overall mortality was 12% (2/13 vs. 1/12 in the two groups), but none of these 3 patients died due to treatment-related complications. There were no severe side effects of hypothermia. Duration of need for intensive care or for mechanical ventilation and infectious status did not differ significantly between both groups, but the need for catecholamine application was increased in the HH group. The clinical outcome showed a tendency for a better outcome in the HH compared with the HA group with respect to status after 6 months, as assessed by the NIHSSS (10 ± 1 vs. 11 ± 3, p < 0.08). Discussion: The present study suggests that a combined therapy of mild hypothermia and hemicraniectomy in malignant brain infarction does not imply additional risks by side effects and improves functional outcome as compared with hemicraniectomy alone.
Epidermal Growth Factor Reduces Hepatic Sequelae in Experimental Necrotizing Enterocolitis
Authors: Halpern Melissa D. , Holubec Hana , Clark Jessica A. , Saunders Tara A. , Williams Catherine S. , Dvorak Katerina , Dvorak Bohuslav
Published: November 2005

Background and Aim: Neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is the most common gastrointestinal disease of premature infants. We recently demonstrated that the gut/liver axis plays an important role in the pathophysiology of NEC through the release of inflammatory mediators into the intestinal lumen. We have also shown that supplementation of formula with epidermal growth factor (EGF) dramatically decreases ileal pathology associated with experimental NEC. In this study, we examined the effects of EGF on the liver portion of the gut/liver axis in the neonatal rat model of NEC. Methods: Newborn rats were divided into three experimental groups, NEC, hand-fed with growth-factor free formula; NEC + EGF, hand-fed with formula supplemented with 500 ng/ml rat EGF; or DF, dam fed. All animals were exposed to asphyxia and cold stress twice daily for 4 days to develop NEC. Results: EGF receptor expression was significantly (p ≤ 0.01) decreased in the NEC + EGF group compared to the NEC group. EGF supplementation significantly decreased Kupffer cell numbers (p ≤ 0.01) as well as hepatic tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and interleukin-18 production (p ≤ 0.05). Further, TNF-α in the intestinal luminal contents of the NEC + EGF group were normalized to levels observed in DF controls compared to the NEC group (p ≤ 0.05). Activated nuclear factor-ĸB was also substantially decreased in the NEC + EGF group versus the NEC group. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that EGF normalizes cytokine overproduction in the liver of neonatal rats with NEC, which contributes to diminished intestinal damage during the development of experimental NEC. These data suggest that supplementation of formula with EGF can have beneficial effects on the gut/liver axis during NEC pathogenesis.
Pelvic Organ Prolapse Complicating Third Trimester Pregnancy
Authors: Meydanli M. Mutlu , Üstün Yusuf , Yalcin Omer T.
Published: November 2005

The concomitant phenomenon of a third trimester pregnancy with a significant degree of pelvic organ prolapse is extremely rare. We report on a patient with pelvic organ prolapse complicating third trimester pregnancy treated by concomitant cesarean hysterectomy and abdominal sacrocolpopexy. A 30-year-old woman, gravida 6, parity 5, was admitted to the hospital with uterine contractions in week 35 of gestation. Pelvic examination in the dorsal lithotomy position revealed a stage 3 pelvic organ prolapse. A cesarean hysterectomy was performed. After hysterectomy, the vaginal cuff was suspended to the periosteum overlying the sacral promontory. Cesarean hysterectomy might be a therapeutic option for women who have completed their families and are suffering from severe pelvic organ prolapse complicating third trimester pregnancy, particularly in developing countries where access to health care is limited.
Activation of Nuclear Factor-κB in Airway Epithelial Cells in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Authors: Yagi Osamitsu , Aoshiba Kazutetsu , Nagai Atsushi
Published: November 2005

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by chronic airway inflammation. Nuclear factor-ĸB (NF-ĸB) is a transcription factor that mediates proinflammatory gene expression. NF-ĸB is activated when its inhibitor, IĸBα, is phosphorylated and degraded. Objectives: The aims of this study were to compare the number of phosphorylated IĸBα-immunopositive airway epithelial cells (AECs) in the peripheral airways of patients with COPD, asymptomatic smokers and asymptomatic nonsmokers. Methods: We examined lung tissues obtained from 10 smokers with COPD, 7 asymptomatic smokers and 10 asymptomatic nonsmokers. Paraffin-embedded sections and immunohistochemical techniques were used to assess the number of phosphorylated IĸBα-positive AECs as well as the numbers of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)α-positive, 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG)-positive and 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal (4-HNE)-positive AECs in the peripheral airway specimens. Results: The percentages of phosphorylated IĸBα-positive AECs and TNFα-positive AECs out of the total number of AECs were significantly higher in patients with COPD than in asymptomatic nonsmokers (p < 0.05). The percentage of phosphorylated IĸBα-positive AECs was positively correlated with the percentage of TNFα-positive AECs (r = 0.82, p < 0.01), but not with the percentage of 8-OHdG-positive AECs or the percentage of 4-HNE-positive AECs. Conclusions: The activation of NF-ĸB, which was evaluated by measuring the level of phosphorylated IĸBα, was enhanced in the peripheral airway epithelia of the COPD patients in this study. The activation of NF-ĸB in the peripheral airway epithelium is associated with an elevated level of TNFα and seems to occur through a mechanism independent of oxidative stress.
Dream Bodies and Dream Pains in Augustine's "De Natura et Origine Animae"
Authors: Sirridge Mary
Published: November 2005

In his De Natura et Origine Animae, an answer to a work by Vincentius Victor, Augustine was drawn into attempting to answer some questions about what kind of reality dream-bodies, dream-worlds and dream-pains have. In this paper I concentrate on Augustine's attempts to show that none of Victor's arguments for the corporeality of the soul are any good, and that Victor's inflated claims about the extent of the soul's self-knowledge are the result of mistaking self-awareness for self-knowledge. Augustine takes the position that the feelings we have in dreams and the feelings of the dead, although they are real feelings, are not always the feelings they seem to be. This position is consistent with Augustine's later works, though it departs from his understanding of these issues in his earliest works.
Theology, Philosophy, and Immortality of the Soul in the Late Via Moderna of Erfurt
Authors: Kärkkäinen Pekka
Published: November 2005

In 1513 the Fifth Lateran Council determined that the immortality of the rational soul is not true only in theology, but also in philosophy. The determination can be related also to the actual teaching of philosophy. In the university of Erfurt, Bartholomaeus Arnoldi de Usingen and Jodocus Trutfetter wrote expositions on natural philosophy at that time. Usingen's and Trutfetter's expositions of De anima represent a position, which faithfully follows in methodology and aspirations the tradition of the via moderna. Furthermore, they give an interpretation of the relationship between philosophy and theology, which Trutfetter considered consonant with the intentions and the formulations of the Fifth Lateran Council; and finally, Trutfetter even presents a practical application of the Council's recommendations.
Emotions and Cognitions. Fourteenth-Century Discussions on the Passions of the Soul
Authors: Perler Dominik
Published: November 2005

Medieval philosophers clearly recognized that emotions are not simply "raw feelings" but complex mental states that include cognitive components. They analyzed these components both on the sensory and on the intellectual level, paying particular attention to the different types of cognition that are involved. This paper focuses on William Ockham and Adam Wodeham, two fourteenth-century authors who presented a detailed account of "sensory passions" and "volitional passions". It intends to show that these two philosophers provided both a structural and a functional analysis of emotions, i.e., they explained the various elements constituting emotions and delineated the causal relations between these elements. Ockham as well as Wodeham emphasized that "sensory passions" are not only based upon cognitions but include a cognitive component and are therefore intentional. In addition, they pointed out that "volitional passions" are based upon a conceptualization and an evaluation of given objects. This cognitivist approach to emotions enabled them to explain the complex phenomenon of emotional conflict, a phenomenon that has its origin in the co-presence of various emotions that involve conflicting evaluations.
Performance Evaluation of Leveled Probabilistic Broadcasting in MANETs and Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Zhang Q. , Agrawal D. P.
Published: November 2005

In a mobile ad hoc network (MANET) or a wireless sensor network (WSN), a mobile node or sensor node can communicate with nodes outside of its transmission range by employing intermediate nodes as relays. To find a path to a specific destination node, the source node broadcasts route request packets that are forwarded to all other nodes. A simple flooding scheme is employed in AODV, where every node rebroadcasts these route request packets even if some of its neighbors have already received the requests, and thus the rebroadcasts may reach no additional nodes. To avoid such redundant packet relays, the authors propose a routing protocol based on a preassigned probability model. They compare their approach with AODV in terms of numerous metrics, including average number of rebroadcasts, average number of packet collisions, end-to-end delay, and throughput. Both analytical and simulation results show that their approach outperforms the AODV protocol for most cases.
Quantifying Factors Affecting Quality of Service in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks
Authors: Vadde K. K. , Syrotiuk V. R.
Published: November 2005

Support for quality of service (QoS) is increasingly important in mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) with the emergence of delay-sensitive applications. This article quantifies the impact of factors and their interactions on the performance of real-time flows through statistical analysis of data gathered in simulation. The factors considered include QoS architecture, routing protocol, medium access control (MAC) protocol, mobility model, and offered load. The QoS architectures considered include stateless (Swan), stateful (Insignia), and no support for QoS. For routing, proactive (OLSR) and reactive (DSR, AODV) protocols are considered. The IEEE 802.11 distributed coordination function (DCF) and its QoS-aware extension enhanced DCF (EDCF) are the MAC protocols considered. The authors find that the stateless architecture of Swan better supports QoS than the stateful approach of Insignia or the classic architecture in the two mobility models considered.
Simulation and Performance Evaluation of a Public Safety Wireless Network: Case Study
Authors: Cackov N. , Song J. , Vujičcić B. , Vujičcić S. , Trajković L.
Published: November 2005

In this article, the authors describe simulation and performance evaluation of a deployed radio communication network operated by a public safety agency. The network consists of a central site and multiple cells.Each cell has a finite number of available radio channels. The network is circuit-switched. Hence, the system utilization is a time and space distribution of the number of concurrent calls. To determine the traffic load variations, the authors analyze activity data from sample weeks in 2002 and 2003. They simulate the network by using the OPNET simulation tool and a newly developed network simulator named WarnSim. Simulation models are based on the collected activity data and are used to evaluate the utilization of system resources and to locate network bottlenecks.
Modeling of Loosely Coupled Scatternets with Finite Buffers
Authors: Mišić V. B. , Mišić J. , Reddy G. R.
Published: November 2005

This article deals with the performance of Bluetooth scatternets in a real-life environment where different queues are implemented with finite buffers. Finite buffer size will introduce packet blocking at different queues along the packet path, which in turn causes changes in effective traffic load as well as retransmissions and ultimately affects end-to-end packet delays. The authors assume that the piconet masters use E-limited intra-piconet polling, while bridge scheduling is performed using the walk-in approach without rendezvous points. They present a detailed simulation model that allows them to obtain accurate measurements of blocking probabilities, end-to-end-packet delays, and overall throughput in the network as functions of network and device parameters. Some practical recommendations about the buffer size that will keep the blocking probability within reasonable limits are also given.
The Influence of Mood on the Search for Supporting Versus Conflicting Information: Dissonance Reduction as a Means of Mood Regulation?
Authors: Jonas Eva , Graupmann Verena , Frey Dieter
Published: November 2005

Focusing on similarities between the mood regulation approach and dissonance theory, this article addresses the interplay between dissonance and mood by examining how individuals search for information after making a decision while under the influence of positive versus negative mood. Study 1 suggested that negative mood increased the preference for consonant over dissonant information after decisions, whereas positive mood led to a more balanced information search. In Study 2, participants in negative mood rated consonant information as more pleasant and dissonant information as more annoying than participants in positive mood. In addition, the results suggested that mood regulation processes took place. In Study 3, the findings from Study 1 were replicated with a paradigm in which higher stakes were involved.
Different Selves Have Different Effects: Self-Activation and Defensive Social Comparison
Authors: Schwinghammer Saskia A. , Stapel Diederik A. , Blanton Hart
Published: November 2005

Three studies show that different forms of self-activation have differential influences on the processing of social comparison information. Activating neutral self-conceptions results in defensive processing of threatening social comparison information (Study 1). Participants maintain favorable selfevaluations in the face of upward comparison and rate the upward target of comparison negatively. Activating positive selfconceptions results in nondefensive processing of threatening social comparison information (Study 2). Participants endorse negative self-evaluations following upward comparison and rate the upward target of comparison positively. Activating negative self-conceptions maximizes defensive processing of threatening social comparison information (Study 3). Participants maintain favorable self-evaluations in the face of upward comparison and rate both upward and downward targets of comparison negatively. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for strategies to maintain self-esteem in the face of threatening comparisons.
Marginalized Relationships: The Impact of Social Disapproval on Romantic Relationship Commitment
Authors: Lehmiller Justin J. , Agnew Christopher R.
Published: November 2005

Little research has examined the effects of prejudice and discrimination on people's romantic relationships. The authors explored whether belonging to a socially devalued relationship affects consequential relational phenomena. Within the framework of the Investment Model, the authors (a) tested the association between perceived relationship marginalization and relationship commitment, (b) compared investment levels of individuals involved in marginalized versus nonmarginalized relationships, and (c) explored ways in which couples may compensate for decreased investments to maintain high commitment. Consistent with hypotheses, marginalization was a significant negative predictor of commitment. Moreover, individuals in marginalized relationships invested significantly less than individuals in nonmarginalized relationships. Despite investing less, marginalized relationship partners were significantly more committed than were their nonmarginalized counterparts. Thus, marginalized partners appeared to compensate for their reduced investments, with evidence suggesting that compensation occurs via reduced perception of relationship alternatives rather than via increased perception of relationship satisfaction.
A Multilevel Approach to the Relationship Between Birth Order and Intelligence
Authors: Wichman Aaron L. , Rodgers Joseph Lee , MacCallum Robert C.
Published: November 2005

Many studies show relationships between birth order and intelligence but use cross-sectional designs or manifest other threats to internal validity. Multilevel analyses with a control variable show that when these threats are removed, two major results emerge: (a) birth order has no significant influence on children's intelligence and (b) earlier reported birth order effects on intelligence are attributable to factors that vary between, not within, families. Analyses on 7- to8 - and 13- to 14-year-old children from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth support these conclusions. When hierarchical data structures, age variance of children, and within-family versus between-family variance sources are taken into account, previous research is seen in a new light.
Tempting Today, Troubling Tomorrow: The Roots of the Precarious Couple Effect
Authors: Swann William B. , Sellers Jennifer Guinn , McClarty Katie Larsen
Published: November 2005

The precarious couple effect occurs when men pair with women who are both critical and more verbally disinhibited than them. Evidence that dissatisfaction runs high in such relationships makes one ask why people enter them in the first place. In Study 1, respondents recalled that past partners who were verbally disinhibited were relatively active in initiating the relationship. In Study 2, verbally inhibited men evidenced ambivalence in that they disliked disinhibited women more than inhibited ones but these feelings of disliking did not translate into expectations of feeling tense during the interaction. Study 3 revealed that initial interactions between inhibited men and disinhibited women go smoothly unless (a) the women are critical and (b) the pair discusses a stressful topic. The authors suggest that members of precarious couples are drawn to one another because, in initial encounters, their communication styles are relatively symbiotic. Alas, this initial chemistry does not always endure.
Narcissism and Childhood Recollections: A Quantitative Test of Psychoanalytic Predictions
Authors: Otway Lorna J. , Vignoles Vivian L.
Published: November 2005

Different psychotherapeutic theories provide contradictory accounts of adult narcissism as the product of either parental coldness or excessive parental admiration during childhood. Yet, none of these theories has been tested systematically in a nonclinical sample. The authors compared four structural equation models predicting overt and covert narcissism among 120 United Kingdom adults. Both forms of narcissism were predicted by both recollections of parental coldness and recollections of excessive parental admiration. Moreover, a suppression relationship was detected between these predictors: The effects of each were stronger when modeled together than separately. These effects were found after controlling for working models of attachment; covert narcissism was predicted also by attachment anxiety. This combination of childhood experiences may help to explain the paradoxical combination of grandiosity and fragility in adult narcissism.
Freedom, Constraint, and Family Responsibility
Authors: Best Amy L.
Published: November 2005

This article examines kids' talk about cars, exploring what their talk reveals about the dynamics of family life among families with teenagers. 1Using indepth and focus group interviews with teens, this article identifies how the car serves as cultural object around which parents and kids collaboratively negotiate both kids' autonomy from the world of family and their increasing responsibility to family that usually follows learning to drive. Highlighting the accounts of teens, this article identifies the central role of gender, class, and culture as parents and their young adult children collaboratively negotiate around the car. This analysis sets these family negotiations within the context of broader economic and social shifts often associated with “the new global economy,” including changing demands of work, mounting economic pressures for American families, and the eclipsing of family members' free time.
Father Stories
Authors: Roy Kevin M.
Published: November 2005

Life history interviews were conducted with 40 low-income noncustodial African American men in three age cohorts. Using four elements of a life course perspective (human agency, linked lives, social context, and multiple rhythms of time), the author explored how the stories that men told of their fathers' life experiences shaped their own paternal identities. Three narrative themes (stability, liminality, and inquiry) gave meaning to men's struggles to become involved fathers and linked them to similar challenges faced by their fathers years earlier. Differences in narrative construction between cohorts suggest how sociohistorical context defines opportunities for men to become involved parents.
Put Yourself in My Work Shoes
Authors: Janning Michelle
Published: November 2005

Level and type of spousal shared work has been oversimplified in past research. This research proposes that being similar to a spouse, in the case of paidwork, differs depending on whether spouses shareworkplace, occupation, or both. And this level and type of similarity can influence the level and qualitative characteristics of work-related spousal support as an indicator of marital satisfaction. The results of this study are based on 52 individual semistructured interviews with each member of 26 professional married couples for whom work is shared in terms of occupation, workplace, both, or neither. The level and characteristics of spousal support vary to some extent by occupation pattern. Most strikingly, people who share both occupation and workplace feel that they work closely with their spouses and that working together has been beneficial to their marriages. However, the components of working together qualitatively vary by occupation category.
Union Quality Comparisons Between Long-Term Heterosexual Cohabitation and Legal Marriage
Authors: Willetts Marion C.
Published: November 2005

A longitudinal analysis is conducted on the union quality of long-term cohabiting and legally married couples using data from both waves of the National Survey of Families and Households. An analysis of racially homogamous (Anglo-American and African American) couples indicates that the cohabitors and marrieds do not differ significantly with regard to their frequency of conflict, perceptions of equity, and relationship satisfaction, although age, educational attainment, and educational homogamy affect differentially the cohabitors' and marrieds' perceptions of equity with time, and the cohabitors' satisfaction in particular is negatively affected by the number of children biologically related to both partners. Cohabiting couples initially spend more time alone together than do married couples but with time come to resemble the marrieds. The union quality of cohabiting and married couples is affected in the same way by union duration and prior residential union experience.
The ERISA“Copycat” Phenomenon
Authors: Chester Matt , Dodds David , Walker Tiffany
Published: November 2005

Over the past several years, nearly 50 lawsuits have been brought under ERISA against companies that permit employees to invest their retirement plan funds in company stock and/or companies that contribute company stock as a matching contribution to the company's retirement plan. These lawsuits are frequently referred to as ERISA copycat suits because they rely in large part on the same factual allegations in the parallel securities fraud proceedings. Haynes & Boone, LLP has been conducting a comprehensive evaluation of each of the ERISA copycat suits that has been filed over the past several years. This article examines the following issues with respect to the developing phenomenon of ERISA copycat suits: the typical parties, procedural issues, the common allegations made by plaintiffs and the defenses raised in response to those allegations, and the courts' initial responses to common allegations and defenses.
Mergers and Acquisitions: Employee Benefit Plan Due Diligence
Authors: Colwell Christopher A. , Wasserstrum David J.
Published: November 2005

When a corporate transaction occurs, many pervasive technical, economic, plan design, and human resource issues surface in compensation and benefits. This article examines the breadth and depth of those issues. In recent years, infamous corporate scandals regarding fiduciary issues coupled with significant legislative and regulatory activity have made employee benefit plan due diligence more visible and complex when viewed through the paradigm of corporate transactions. Unfortunately, very often the buyer's due diligence teams do not focus on these employee benefit plan issues, which can be costly in terms of overstated purchase price, and the difficulty in obtaining retroactive adjustments or credits. It is important for companies to review employee benefit plans at the earliest stage of a corporate transaction. Because of the complexities of employee benefit plans, the due diligence review will bring to the surface the economic and technical impact that may affect the purchase price or administrative issues going forward.
Life and death in a city unhinged
Authors: Frei Matt
Published: November 2005

The BBC's Washington correspondent recalls reporting from the streets after Hurricane Katrina: "In New Orleans that day... It was a battle between fact and fiction, reality and rumour, fear and sanity. In the absence of working mobile phones and wireless communications everyone was struggling. Even the military was reduced to employing "runners", last used in the Civil War. Ironically the city's few remaining pay phones, abandoned relics in the era of mobile technology, were working perfectly and experienced a brief resurrection. A colleague from The Daily Telegraph resorted to sitting on a stranded armchair in the middle of Canal Street, juggling quarters and dictating his story to a copytaker in London. Everyone was floundering and improvising. What surprised my colleagues and me is that the authorities - city, state and federal - floundered longer and improvised less than most."
My love affair with newspapers
Authors: Stoppard Tom
Published: November 2005

In an interview with Bill Hagerty, the playwright and former newspaperman talks about his journalistic upbringing, whether he could have been successful in Fleet Street and his view of the modern newspaper industry: "There's a line in Night and Day people are always quoting or misquoting - "I'm with you on the free press, it's the newspapers I can't stand", and because it's the only line people remember, they assume it's my entire view of newspapers. But... the good stuff is still good. I admire huge amounts of it, mostly people who go out there and file a story. From the very beginning I've admired foreign and war correspondents, all the way back to Sefton Delmer and Noel Barber, all the way forward to Robert Fisk. I don't give a damn about Fisk's so-called bias, I'm a thinking animal, I can deal with it, I can read round him - the point is it takes courage to be out there and get the story."
FOI: turning the tide of secrecy
Authors: Brooke Heather
Published: November 2005

The author of Your Right To Know believes the Freedom of Information Act - in operation for almost a year - is working, but not as well as it could or should have done. This is partly due to Government deficiencies, she writes: "It will come as no surprise that the Government did not launch a campaign in the run-up to January 1 to tell the public about their new "right to know". Even today, neither the Department for Constitutional Affairs (charged with implementing the law across Government) nor the Information Commissioner have fulfilled promises of launching a public awareness drive. Don't hold your breath for politicians to tell the public about their new rights."
Bucking the system
Authors: Sweeney John
Published: November 2005

The winner of the inaugural Paul Foot Award for campaigning journalism conducted a four-year investigation into the injustices suffered by three women wrongly imprisoned for killing their children. Sweeney's work led to the exposure of erroneous evidence by chief prosecution witness Sir Roy Meadow and him being struck off by the General Medical Council. Here the reporter argues that the families and friends of accused persons should be actively brought cases and the jury required to consider their expertise. "There came a point when [in court] I wondered to myself: why is the system not listening to these people, the friends and family? Reporters do it, because it's their job. Well, it's the system's job too."
Floundering in the macho media
Authors: Orr Deborah
Published: November 2005

The Independent columnist who resigned from the lobby group, Women In Journalism: writes: The great irony is that while the macho media does more to denigrate family life and what, from the beginning of WIJ, Mary Anne Sieghart - bless her - called "family friendly policies", journalism is one of the industries that is actually in a good position to challenge the tyranny of the minimum 40-hour, full-time week. On the dailies, no editor works six days every week anyway, so someone has to deputise. Usually a job-share would make more sense. On the Sundays, turning up for work on a Tuesday is often an exercise to get one's name ticked in the register. The newspaper industry manufactures the myth of long hours of dedicated time at the office being necessary. Mostly, journalists sit around in the office reading the papers, since they are pathologically unable to spring into action until a deadline comes close enough to inspire the release of adrenalin. Hey guys - that's just like childbirth."
Putting the world back on the map
Authors: Rubin James P
Published: November 2005

The anchor of Sky TV's World News Tonight says that the hands down winner for the most frequently asked question about his new job is whether he wants to join the likes of Jeremy Paxman and John Humphrys as a tough interrogator of politicians and top government officials. He writes: "Although I am certainly flattered that people would even consider putting me in the same category as those two icons of British journalism, the short answer is no... That style is just not something to which I am well suited, nor is it something to which I aspire." Rubin continues: "In my view, the function of the British and American media is the same, but the form is often different. Much of the difference in form is a direct result of differences between the American and British governmental systems... Some British reporters seem to think that their often aggressive treatment of Prime Ministers should be the norm and the deference of American reporters somehow reflects their lack of scepticism or tendency to be 'in the tank' for whoever occupies the Oval Office."
Hard labour
Authors: Gall Gregor
Published: November 2005

Academic Gall laments the virtual disappearance of industrial or labour correspondents - reduced now to "strike reporters" - and writes: "Firstly, journalists who are trade unionists could be expected to try to obtain greater and better coverage for issues germane to fellow trades unionists in general - issues of work and employment. Second, as, generally speaking, enlightened, educated and intelligent people, journalists could be expected to try to obtain greater or better coverage for issues which affect seven million people - the aggregate size of union membership... Third, journalists could be expected to try to obtain greater or better coverage for issues that affect 25 million people, the current size of the workforce... For many, work is the central part of people's lives."
Mind the Gap
Authors: Guzder Jaswant , Krishna Meenakshi
Published: November 2005

Diaspora women, with origins in Hindu Indian cultural spaces, are seeking psychotherapy to address mental health and personal identity issues within the North American context. Since psychotherapy literature is dominated by ethnocentric Euro-North American paradigms, the challenge to analysts and therapists working in the diaspora is to widen bedrock questions of counter-transference, neutrality, identity and psychotherapy processes to accommodate the cross-cultural realities of Hindu women. This article suggests that contemporary discourse on intrapsychic theories or psychotherapeutic work needs enrichment by multi-disciplinary discourses with social sciences, cross-cultural studies, alternative healing traditions augmented by structural, mythic, metaphoric and hermeneutic reasoning.

Working with women in the Indian diaspora implicates the traditions of Hindu gendered hierarchies, the living legacy of the mother goddess, caste structures and boundaries, as well as differences between Western feminism and a feminism formed from South Asian contextual currents. The diaspora woman is in a predicament of options as she is pressured to reconcile and master her choice of internalisations from both traditional and Western individuation paradigms while finding her voice shaped by her particular narrative. Economic, legal and educational advantages in the host country allow options that place her in conflict with traditional identity paradigms. Older diaspora women may carry many worlds within them that shape their marital life, parenting and other role changes related to the migratory reality. The article explores some trends in the literature regarding South Asian women in therapy. It raises unresolved questions situated in therapeutic work illustrated by personal clinical vignettes.
The Dynamics of Oppression
Authors: Naidoo Josephine C. , Rajab Devi Moodley
Published: November 2005

Asian Indians arrived in South Africa in 1860 during the era of the British Empire. Three occupational groups were represented: indentured agricultural workers, business entrepreneurs and a few professionals. Their presence was not welcomed by White South Africa. The ideology of Apartheid (“separateness”) ushered in oppressive legislation for all Non-Whites from 1948 until the first democratic elections of 1994, a period of trauma, violence and pain for Non-White peoples. This report centres on traumatic personal experiences during Apartheid of 100 Asian Indians, 54 males and 46 females, professional and business people, Hindus, Muslims and Christians, living in segregated racial zones of metropolitan Durban, South Africa. These traumatic incidents yielded six basic themes identified by the technique of constant comparative analysis, a central qualitative analytical approach in grounded theory. Four themes related directly to Apartheid laws; two themes to interactions with the White public and police, invariably involving abuse. The experiences created emotional distress, powerlessness, anger and fear. Few risked protesting discriminatory laws as most were immobilised by fear. Forty-six % judged they adapted to the Apartheid system, and most were aware of its psychological effects. Illustrating with excerpts from the reported experiences, a psycho-socio-political analysis of the dynamics of oppression is presented in the context of the stages of conscientisation to empowerment (Prilleltensky & Gonick, 1996).
Marriage, Depression and Illness
Authors: Karasz Alison
Published: November 2005

Among South Asian women, epidemiological studies identify a strong link between marital and family problems and a wide range of health problems. Studies of women in the South Asian diaspora suggest the vulnerability of married women in immigrant communities, compared to native women. The present study examines how women understand this link by examining their conceptual representations of the causal relationship between marriage roles, health and illness. Using qualitative methods and a model of illness representation from health psychology literature, 35 traditional South Asian immigrant women living in New York City were interviewed. Results indicate that problems associated with marriage roles, including marital and affinal family conflict, domestic overwork and isolation were viewed as extremely serious and were associated conceptually with a variety of health problems. Two overlapping sociosomatic models of marital illness emerge in the findings. One model revolves around a semantic framework of ideas associated with pressure and tension that lead to illness, either mental or physical. The other model focuses on notions of weakness and deficiency. Women's sociosomatic models reveal a complex understanding of the role of social stress in illness. These models are shaped both by traditional humoral concepts and by modern biomedical models.
South Asians in Britain
Authors: Robinson Lena
Published: November 2005

Great Britain's falling birth rate and aging population make immigration a matter of urgent concern. The post-World War II period has seen a marked rise in people originating in countries of South Asia, once part of colonial Britain, now resident in the major cities of the country. This article discusses research findings in the field of acculturation, identity and psychological wellbeing among first and second generation South Asians living in Britain. It focuses mainly on Indian (Punjabi, Sikh and Gujarati Hindu) and Pakistani groups, commencing with a brief overview of South Asian immigration to Britain. The article examines aspects of psychological acculturation that are most important for the two generations. These include: acculturation attitudes; language usage and proficiency; family and social contacts; and religion. It attempts to analyse differences in ethnic identity and acculturation strategies between the Indian and Pakistani groups, and their perception of racism and discrimination. Social disadvantage and social exclusion experienced by ethnic minority groups is well documented. The discrimination and disadvantage experienced by South Asian groups may well influence their self-perceptions regarding ethnocultural identification and openness to integration with the host society. Studies point to an urgent call for the examination of systemic and structural biases in major British institutions.
South Asian Youth in Scandinavia
Authors: Singla Rashmi
Published: November 2005

This article throws light on the psychological situation of South Asian youth in Scandinavia, primarily in Denmark, and to some extent in Norway, through the youths’ inter-ethnic and intergenerational relationships. Within the social psychological conceptualisation of transmigration, inclusion and exclusion, individualisation and interdependency, these relationships are delineated on the basis of two empirical projects, combined with an array of secondary sources. South Asian youth are becoming a part of the receiving society along with developing their complex diaspora identities through strategies like forming relationships across ethnic borders, youth organisations and media consumption. Intergenerational relationships indicate negotiations for most, combining individualisation with interdependency, but with serious conflicts for some. The conclusions pinpoint the challenges for Scandinavian societies, South Asian countries and the South Asian diaspora living in Scandinavia.
The Bhojpuri Diaspora
Authors: Eldering Lotty
Published: November 2005

Acculturation is an important research topic for cultural anthropologists, sociologists and psychologists. Research on acculturation has on average a very limited time scope, focusing on the “here and now”. Another shortcoming in current acculturation research is the lack of comparison between immigrant groups, particularly between those originating from the same country. In this article I will outline why the Bhojpuri diaspora provides a promising field for interdisciplinary comparative acculturation research. India has a long tradition of emigration. In the first millennium CE predominantly members of high castes migrated to East Asia mainly for religious reasons. A second substantial migratory flow from India, particularly from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar (the Bhojpuri region) started after the abolition of slavery in the British colonies in 1834. Indians migrating as indentured labourers from the Bhojpuri region to the West Indies, British Guiana and Dutch Surinam has similar socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. Many east Indians migrated to England and the Netherlands when the West Indies and Guianas became independent states after the Second World War. I conclude with giving some examples of comparative research that have already been carried out on the Bhojpuri diaspora.