bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Deficiency of the 5-Hydroxytryptamine Transporter Gene Leads to Cardiac Fibrosis and Valvulopathy in Mice
Authors: Mekontso-Dessap A. , Brouri F. , Pascal O. , Lechat P. , Hanoun N. , Lanfumey L. , Seif I. , Benhaiem-Sigaux N. , Kirsch M. , Hamon M. , Adnot S. , Eddahibi S.
Published: December 2005

Background—Serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine; 5-HT) overproduction is responsible for cardiac valvular disease in patients with carcinoid tumors. Reduced 5-HT inactivation is one proposed mechanism of the valvulopathy observed in individuals treated with the appetite suppressants fenfluramine and phentermine. One key protein limiting systemic availability of 5-HT is the 5-HT transporter (5-HTT) expressed by platelets and pulmonary vascular cells; 5-HTT is responsible for 5-HT uptake and subsequent inactivation of the amine passing through the lung. Here we investigated whether 5-HTT–deficient (5-HTT-KO) mice developed structural and/or functional cardiac abnormalities and valvulopathy.

Methods and Results—Cardiac endothelial cells expressed large amounts of 5-HTT in wild-type mice. 5-HTT deficiency appeared to be associated with marked interstitial, perivascular, and valvular fibrosis as evidenced by staining of cardiac collagen in 5-HTT-KO mice. Histological analysis provided evidence for valvulopathy characterized by valvular hyperplasia and prominent fibrosis at the attachment site and base of the leaflets. Echocardiography revealed an increase in left ventricular lumen diameter and a decrease in left ventricular diameter fractional shortening. Although 5-HT1Breceptors mediated the 5-HT–induced collagen secretion by human cardiac myofibroblasts, the contribution of this receptor type to valvulopathy was ruled out because double-KO mice deficient in both 5-HTT and 5-HT1Breceptors showed the same cardiac alterations as 5-HTT-KO mice.

Conclusions—The present results establish a link between 5-HTT and the development of cardiac fibrosis and valvulopathy in vivo. 5-HTT-KO mice represent an especially relevant model for studying the mechanisms by which 5-HT induces valvulopathy.
Inhibition of Histone Deacetylation Blocks Cardiac Hypertrophy Induced by Angiotensin II Infusion and Aortic Banding
Authors: Kee Hae Jin , Sohn Il Suk , Nam Kwang Il , Park Jong Eun , Qian Yong Ri , Yin Zhan , Ahn Youngkeun , Jeong Myung Ho , Bang Yung-Jue , Kim Nacksung , Kim Jong-Keun , Kim Kyung Keun , Epstein Jonathan A. , Kook Hyun
Published: December 2005

Background—

A number of distinct stress signaling pathways in myocardium cause cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure. Class II histone deacetylases (HDACs) antagonize several stress-induced pathways and hypertrophy. However, cardiac hypertrophy induced by transgenic overexpression of the homeodomain only protein, HOP, can be prevented by the nonspecific HDAC inhibitors trichostatin A and valproic acid, suggesting that alternate targets that oppose class II HDAC function might exist in myocardium. We tested the effects of several HDAC inhibitors, including a class I HDAC-selective inhibitor, SK-7041, on cardiac hypertrophy induced by angiotensin II (Ang II) treatment or aortic banding (AB).

Methods and Results—

Cardiac hypertrophy was induced by chronic infusion of Ang II or by AB in mice or rats and evaluated by determining the ratio of heart weight to body weight or to tibia length, cross-sectional area, or echocardiogram. Cardiac hypertrophy induced by Ang II or AB for 2 weeks was significantly reduced by simultaneous administration of trichostatin A, valproic acid, or SK-7041. Echocardiogram revealed that exaggerated left ventricular systolic dimensions were relieved by HDAC inhibitors. HDAC inhibitors partially reversed preestablished cardiac hypertrophy and improved survival of AB mice. The expressions of atrial natriuretic factor, α-tubulin, β-myosin heavy chain, and interstitial fibrosis were reduced by HDAC inhibition.

Conclusions—

These results suggest that the predominant effect of HDAC inhibition, mainly mediated by class I HDACs, is to prevent cardiac hypertrophy in response to a broad range of agonist and stretch stimuli.
Relationship Between C-Reactive Protein and Subclinical Atherosclerosis
Authors: Khera Amit , de Lemos James A. , Peshock Ronald M. , Lo Hao S. , Stanek Harold G. , Murphy Sabina A. , Wians Frank H. , Grundy Scott M. , McGuire Darren K.
Published: December 2005

Background—

Elevated levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) are associated with increased risk for incident cardiovascular events on the basis of observations from several prospective epidemiological studies. However, less is known regarding the relationship between CRP levels and atherosclerotic burden.

Methods and Results—

We measured CRP in 3373 subjects 30 to 65 years of age who were participating in the Dallas Heart Study, a multiethnic, population-based, probability sample. Electron-beam CT scans were used to measure coronary artery calcification (CAC) in 2726 of these subjects, and MRI was used to measure aortic plaque in 2393. CRP levels were associated with most traditional cardiovascular risk factors. Subjects with CAC had higher median CRP levels than those without CAC (men: median, 2.4 versus 1.8 mg/L,
P
<0.001; women: median, 5.2 versus 3.6 mg/L,
P
<0.001), and there was a modest trend toward increasing CRP levels with increased CAC levels in men (
P
for trend=0.003) but not in women (
P
for trend=0.08). Male subjects with aortic plaque also had higher CRP levels than those without (median, 2.3 versus 1.8;
P
<0.001). In multivariate analysis adjusted for traditional cardiovascular risk factors, body mass index, and estrogen and statin medication use, the associations between CRP levels and CAC and CRP levels and aortic plaque were no longer statistically significant.

Conclusions—

In a large, population-based sample, subjects with higher CRP levels had a modest increase in the prevalence of subclinical atherosclerosis, but this association was not independent of traditional cardiovascular risk factors. CRP is a poor predictor of atherosclerotic burden.
CD8
+
T Lymphocytes Regulate the Arteriogenic Response to Ischemia by Infiltrating the Site of Collateral Vessel Development and Recruiting CD4
+
Mononuclear Cells Through the Expression of Interleukin-16
Authors: Stabile Eugenio , Kinnaird Timothy , la Sala Andrea , Hanson Sue Kim , Watkins Craig , Campia Umberto , Shou Matie , Zbinden Stephan , Fuchs Shmuel , Kornfeld Hardy , Epstein Stephen E. , Burnett Mary Susan
Published: December 2005

Background—

Previous studies have demonstrated that macrophages and CD4
+
T lymphocytes play pivotal roles in collateral development. Indirect evidence suggests that CD8
+
T cells also play a role. Thus, after acute cerebral ischemia, CD8
+
T cells infiltrate the perivascular space and secrete interleukin-16 (IL-16), a potent chemoattractant for monocytes and CD4
+
T cells. We tested whether CD8
+
T lymphocytes contribute to collateral vessel development and whether the lack of circulating CD8
+
T cells prevents IL-16 expression, impairs CD4
+
mononuclear cell recruitment, and reduces collateral vessel growth after femoral artery ligation in CD8
−/−
mice
.

Methods and Results—

After surgical excision of the femoral artery, laser Doppler perfusion imaging demonstrated reduced blood flow recovery in CD8
−/−
mice compared with C57/BL6 mice (ischemic/nonischemic limb at day 28, 0.66±0.04 versus 0.87±0.04, respectively;
P
<0.01). This resulted in greater calf muscle atrophy (mean fiber area, 785±68 versus 1067±69 μm
2
, respectively;
P
<0.01) and increased fibrotic tissue content (10.8±1.2% versus 7±1%, respectively;
P
<0.01). Moreover, CD8
−/−
mice displayed reduced IL-16 expression and decreased CD4
+
T-cell recruitment at the site of collateral vessel development. Exogenous CD8
+
T cells, infused into CD8
−/−
mice immediately after femoral artery ligation, selectively homed to the ischemic hind limb and expressed IL-16. The restoration of IL-16 expression resulted in significant CD4
+
mononuclear cell infiltration of the ischemic limb, faster blood flow recovery, and reduced hindlimb muscle atrophy/fibrosis. When exogenous CD8
+
T cells deficient in IL-16 (IL-16
−/−
) were infused into CD8
−/−
mice immediately after femoral artery ligation, they selectively homed to the ischemic hind limb but were unable to recruit CD4
+
mononuclear cells and did not improve blood flow recovery.

Conclusions—

These results demonstrate that CD8
+
T cells importantly contribute to the early phase of collateral development. After femoral artery ligation, CD8
+
T cells infiltrate the site of collateral vessel growth and recruit CD4
+
mononuclear cells through the expression of IL-16. Our study provides further evidence of the significant role of the immune system in modulating collateral development in response to peripheral ischemia.
Riboflavin Lowers Homocysteine in Individuals Homozygous for the
MTHFR
677C→T Polymorphism
Authors: McNulty Helene , Dowey Le Roy C. , Strain J.J. , Dunne Adrian , Ward Mary , Molloy Anne M. , McAnena Liadhan B. , Hughes Joan P. , Hannon-Fletcher Mary , Scott John M.
Published: December 2005

Background—

Meta-analyses predict that a 25% lowering of plasma homocysteine would reduce the risk of coronary heart disease by 11% to 16% and stroke by 19% to 24%. Individuals homozygous for the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (
MTHFR
) 677C→T polymorphism have reduced MTHFR enzyme activity resulting from the inappropriate loss of the riboflavin cofactor, but it is unknown whether their typically high homocysteine levels are responsive to improved riboflavin status.

Methods and Results—

From a register of 680 healthy adults 18 to 65 years of age of known
MTHFR
677C→T genotype, we identified 35 with the homozygous (TT) genotype and age-matched individuals with heterozygous (CT, n=26) or wild-type (CC, n=28) genotypes to participate in an intervention in which participants were randomized by genotype group to receive 1.6 mg/d riboflavin or placebo for a 12-week period. Supplementation increased riboflavin status to the same extent in all genotype groups (8% to 12% response in erythrocyte glutathione reductase activation coefficient;
P
<0.01 in each case). However, homocysteine responded only in the TT group, with levels decreasing by as much as 22% overall (from 16.1±1.5 to 12.5±0.8 μmol/L;
P
=0.003; n=32) and markedly so (by 40%) in those with lower riboflavin status at baseline (from 22.0±2.9 and 13.2±1.0 μmol/L;
P
=0.010; n=16). No homocysteine response was observed in the CC or CT groups despite being preselected for suboptimal riboflavin status.

Conclusions—

Although previously overlooked, homocysteine is highly responsive to riboflavin, specifically in individuals with the
MTHFR
677 TT genotype. Our findings might explain why this common polymorphism carries an increased risk of coronary heart disease in Europe but not in North America, where riboflavin fortification has existed for >50 years.
Introduction
Authors: Perloff Richard M.
Published: December 2005

There are striking racial and class-based disparities in health care. Racial and ethnic inequalities remain when socioeconomic factors are parceled out. Such inequities are profoundly disturbing in the United States, given the nation's philosophical commitment to equality. Communication can play an important part in reducing health care inequities. This introductory article discusses contributions communication can make, briefly summarizes the cross-disciplinary articles in this issue, and describes challenges that lie ahead.
How Underserved Breast Cancer Patients Use and Benefit From eHealth Programs
Authors: Shaw Bret , Gustafson David H. , Hawkins Robert , McTavish Fiona , McDowell Helene , Pingree Suzanne , Ballard Denise
Published: December 2005

This article consolidates insights from 15 years of research examining howthe medically underserved use and benefit from an eHealth program, the Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System (CHESS). The authors outline results from early feasibility tests to determine if the underserved would use CHESS. Distinctive behaviors of underserved populations who have used CHESS are reported with a focus on how online health information and computer-mediated support groups are used. The article then reports on how the underserved benefit from using CHESS. Best practice recommendations for recruitment and training the underserved are offered, and implications for closing the digital divide are discussed.
Doctor-Patient Communication, Cultural Competence, and Minority Health
Authors: Perloff Richard M. , Bonder Bette , Ray George B. , Ray Eileen Berlin , Siminoff Laura A.
Published: December 2005

This article presents an integrative perspective on the role that doctor-patient communication and cultural competency training play in health care disparities. Communication between minority patients and physicians is characterized by doctors' biased expectations, patients' perceptions of discrimination, linguistic asymmetry, and self-fulfilling prophecy spirals. Cultural competency training, which has been put forth as a remedy, is itself a complex construct, and methodological variations in cultural competency research make it difficult to reach simple conclusions about its effects. The authors review and synthesize the cross-disciplinary literature in these areas. They propose several directions for research, emphasizing that new studies can lay the groundwork for more trusting verbal communication between doctors and minority patients.
On Addressing Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities
Authors: Cegala Donald J. , Post Douglas M.
Published: December 2005

Several factors affect observed racial/ethnic health disparities in the United States. Among them are features of provider-patient communication. In Study 1, the literature in patient communication skills training is reviewed to determine the extent to which researchers have reported comparative effects of interventions designed to enhance patients'communication skills and participation in medical interviews. Of the 27 studies reported, only 1 conducted a comparative analysis. In Study 2, a post hoc analysis of available communication skills training data sets is conducted to explore comparative intervention effectiveness. Similar to the results of the single report found in Study 1, the communication intervention was more effective with White than with non-White patients. These results are discussed with respect to implications for addressing racial/ethnic health disparities.
Racial/Ethnic Disparities and Segmentation in Communication Campaigns
Authors: Hornik Robert C. , Ramirez A. Susana
Published: December 2005

There are disturbing racial disparities in many health outcomes. However, do health communicators know how to do interventions that redress disadvantage? This article describes what communication campaigns do to address disparities, looks for evidence that segmented campaigns reduce disparities, and describes evidence that might support segmentation decisions (about behaviors, messages, channels, or message executions). The authors note arguments that segmentation can risk negative effects yet find no evidence about whether race or ethnicity-conscious segmentation reduces disparities. Nonetheless, with evidence, some approaches to segmentation are justified on commonsense grounds and for their political legitimacy.
Tailored Interventions in Public Health
Authors: Campbell Marci Kramish , Quintiliani Lisa M.
Published: December 2005

The authors present a program of research that focuses on reducing health disparities among African American populations through innovative health communication and health promotion interventions. Research on tailored communications ranges from investigating efficacy, manipulating communication variables, and comparing tailored print versus other state-of-the-art intervention modalities to integrating tailored materials into public health interventions based on a socioecological model. Examples from other research, as well as advantages and disadvantages of these approaches, are discussed. The purpose of the overall research program is to develop effective and cost-effective health communications for promoting health behavior change that also are culturally relevant and potentially sustainable in communities.
When Group Members Admit to Being Conformist: The Role of Relative Intragroup Status in Conformity Self-Reports
Authors: Jetten Jolanda , Hornsey Matthew J. , Adarves-Yorno Inmaculada
Published: December 2005

Five studies examined the hypothesis that people will strategically portray the self as being more group influenced the more junior they feel within the group. Among social psychologists (Study 1), ratings of self-conformity by group members were greater when the status of the participant was low than when it was high. These effects were replicated in Studies 2, 3, and 4 in which relative intragroup status was manipulated. In Study 3, the authors found junior group members described themselves as more conformist than senior members when they were addressing an ingroup audience, but when they were addressing an outgroup audience the effect disappeared. Furthermore, junior members (but not senior members) rated themselves as more conformist when they were led to believe their responses were public than when responses were private (Study 5). The discussion focuses on the strategic processes underlying low-status group members’ self-reports of group influence and the functional role of conformity in groups.
Responses to Discrimination: The Role of Emotion and Expectations for Emotional Regulation
Authors: Gill Ritu , Matheson Kimberly
Published: December 2005

The present study examined the role of emotion in women’s perceptions of discrimination and their endorsement of behavioral responses to change the status quo. In an experimental simulation involving a situation of sex discrimination, women (N = 108) were primed to experience a particular emotion (sad, angry, control condition) and were subsequently instructed to either suppress or express (or neither) their emotional responses. Women primed to feel sad and told to suppress their emotions reported the least discrimination, whereas angered women who were permitted to express themselves reported the greatest discrimination. Furthermore, when encouraged to express their emotions, women primed to feel sad were more likely to endorse normative actions to rectify the situation, whereas women induced to feel angry were more likely to endorse collective actions to change the status quo. These findings have implications for the role of emotions and expectations regarding their expression on collective action taking.
Passion and Psychological Adjustment: A Test of the Person-Environment Fit Hypothesis
Authors: Amiot Catherine E. , Vallerand Robert J. , Blanchard Céline M.
Published: December 2005

Passion represents a strong inclination toward an activity that is important, liked, and in which significant time is invested. Although a harmonious passion is well integrated in one’s identity and is emitted willingly, obsessive passion is not well integrated and is emitted out of internal pressure. This study tested for the presence of a Passion × Environment fit interaction with respect to psychological adjustment. Elite hockey players (N = 233) who tried out for a team in a highly competitive league participated in this short-term longitudinal study. As hypothesized, being selected by the highly competitive leagues led to higher psychological adjustment than not being selected by such leagues. Two months later, an interaction revealed that among athletes who were playing in highly competitive leagues, obsessively passionate athletes reported higher psychological adjustment than did harmonious athletes. Conversely, among athletes playing in less competitive leagues, harmonious athletes reported higher psychological adjustment than did obsessive athletes.
Working Models of Attachment and Attribution Processes in Intimate Relationships
Authors: Collins Nancy L. , Ford Máire B. , Guichard AnaMarie C. , Allard Lisa M.
Published: December 2005

Two studies examined the link between working models of attachment and social construal processes in romantic relationships. In Study 1, individuals high in attachment-related anxiety responded to hypothetical partner transgressions by endorsing relationship-threatening attributions, experiencing emotional distress, and endorsing behavioral intentions that were likely to result in conflict. These effects emerged after controlling for pessimistic explanatory style, depressed mood, and self-esteem. In addition, the association between anxiety and emotional distress was mediated by attributions and attachment-related needs. In Study 2, anxious individuals endorsed relationship-threatening attributions for their partner’s transgressions but less so for their partner’s positive behaviors, and these effects occurred primarily among those in unhappy relationships. In contrast, avoidant individuals endorsed pessimistic attributions for their partner’s positive behavior but less so for their partner’s transgressions, and these effects occurred regardless of their level of relationship satisfaction.
Recategorization and Subgroup Identification: Predicting and Preventing Threats From Common Ingroups
Authors: Crisp Richard J. , Stone Catriona H. , Hall Natalie R.
Published: December 2005

Much work has supported the idea that recategorization of ingroups and outgroups into a superordinate category can have beneficial effects for intergroup relations. Recently, however, increases in bias following recategorization have been observed in some contexts. It is argued that such unwanted consequences of recategorization will only be apparent for perceivers who are highly committed to their ingroup subgroups. In Experiments 1 to 3, the authors observed, on both explicit and implicit measures, that an increase in bias following recategorization occurred only for high subgroup identifiers. In Experiment 4, it was found that maintaining the salience of subgroups within a recategorized superordinate group averted this increase in bias for high identifiers and led overall to the lowest levels of bias. These findings are discussed in the context of recent work on the Common Ingroup Identity Model.
Push-You-Pull-You: The Boundaried Self in Close Relationships
Authors: Rempel John K. , Burris Christopher T.
Published: December 2005

Based on Amoebic Self Theory, the authors propose that the salience of different threats to the self affects the extent to which an intimate relationship partner is pushed away (excluded) or pulled closer (included). When social threat is salient among persons in relationships, it is hypothesized that partners will attempt to defuse the resulting sense of interpersonal vulnerability: offending partners may be pushed away, whereas offenders themselves may draw closer. When spatial-symbolic threat is salient and the relationship’s capacity to function as an identity marker is jeopardized, it is hypothesized that the partner—regardless of his or her role—will be pulled closer to maintain the perception that the relationship is secure. Self-report responses to hypothetical scenarios and perceptions of behaviors during a role-play were generally consistent with these hypotheses, suggesting that both an intimate partner and the relationship with that partner can be incorporated into the self.
The Carrot and the Stick: Affective Commitment and Acceptance Anxiety as Motives for Discretionary Group Efforts by Respected and Disrespected Group Members
Authors: Sleebos Ed , Ellemers Naomi , de Gilder Dick
Published: December 2005

Previous research has demonstrated that intragroup respect can strengthen people’s commitment to the group and encourage them to exert themselves on behalf of it. In the present research, the authors argue that similar behavior can ensue from self-focused concerns when group members are disrespected. Experiment 1 (N = 174) confirms that high respect as well as low respect motivates people to increase their actual discretionary efforts on behalf of the group. These findings were replicated and extended in Experiment 2 (N = 138), where it was established that enhanced efforts only emerge when people consider the way they are evaluated by others as diagnostic for their position in the group. In addition, it is demonstrated that whereas the efforts of respected people were primarily motivated by affective commitment to the group (group-focused concerns), the behavior of disrespected people was driven by anxiety about their acceptance into the group (self-focused concerns).
Playing Dice With Criminal Sentences: The Influence of Irrelevant Anchors on Experts’ Judicial Decision Making
Authors: Englich Birte , Mussweiler Thomas , Strack Fritz
Published: December 2005

Judicial sentencing decisions should be guided by facts, not by chance. The present research however demonstrates that the sentencing decisions of experienced legal professionals are influenced by irrelevant sentencing demands even if they are blatantly determined at random. Participating legal experts anchored their sentencing decisions on a given sentencing demand and assimilated toward it even if this demand came from an irrelevant source (Study 1), they were informed that this demand was randomly determined (Study 2), or they randomly determined this demand themselves by throwing dice (Study 3). Expertise and experience did not reduce this effect. This sentencing bias appears to be produced by a selective increase in the accessibility of arguments that are consistent with the random sentencing demand: The accessibility of incriminating arguments was higher if participants were confronted with a high rather than a low anchor (Study 4). Practical and theoretical implications of this research are discussed.
A Foucauldian Reading of Learning in Feminist, Nonprofit Organizations
Authors: English Leona M.
Published: December 2005

This article reports on research with eight board members and eight directors of 10 feminist, nonprofit organizations. A Foucauldian poststructuralist reading of the data gives voice to undertheorized aspects of learning in feminist organizations and makes visible the power relationships. It explores women’s learned practices of resistance and offers an in-depth and paradoxical view of women’s learning in nonprofit organizations. In focusing on women and on particular organizational sites, this study contributes to a contextualized and gendered reading of Foucault.
African Americans in Adult Education: The Harlem Renaissance Revisited
Authors: Johnson-Bailey Juanita
Published: December 2005

This study examined a 25-year period of African Americans in adult education by accessing the archival holdings of three major data centers: the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the Moorland-Spingarn Archives, and the Hollis Burke Frissell Library. The sociopolitical context of the data was analyzed using a Black feminist theoretical framework. Three themes emerged from the data and were seen to be representative of the major issues found in adult education for African Americans: education for assimilation, education for cultural survival, and education for resistance.
Nonformal Education and Informal Economies in Sub-Saharan Africa: Finding the Right Match
Authors: Minnis John R.
Published: December 2005

Education policy in sub-Saharan Africa is predicated on human capital assumptions and therefore promotes the expansion of formal education as a way to promote economic growth. As a result, formal education is valued primarily as a private consumer good, a form of cultural capital that allows some to get ahead and stay ahead, rather than as a public good that also benefits the overall society. In the absence of vibrant industrial labor markets, job prospects for school leavers are poor, which places an inflated premium on educational credentials. The collapse of formal economies combined with high population growth rates suggests that higher social rates of return might accrue from more investments in nonformal adult education aimed at improving the skills and labor productivity of rural populations.
Negotiating the Labyrinth from Margin to Center: Adult Degree Program Administrators as Program Planners within Higher Education Institutions
Authors: Watkins Bryan J. , Tisdell Elizabeth J.
Published: December 2005

This qualitative study examined how eight adult degree program administrators negotiate power and interest while planning programs in specific higher education settings: small, private, nonprofit, higher education institutions. The conceptual framework was grounded in Cervero and Wilson’s program-planning model in combination with Bourdieu’s concept of cultural and social capital and Raven’s consideration of types of power at play in organizations. The primary means of data collection were in-depth interviews and qualitative questionnaires. There were four primary categories of findings dealing with how these adult degree program planners negotiate power and interest, centering on (a) moving the institutional interest in adult learners from the margins closer to the center, (b) gaining influence by drawing on multiple forms of capital, (c) building a bridge of common interests among key players as a way of leveraging power, and (d) balancing institutional expectations for growth with resource limitations.
A Different Type of Gender Gap: How Women and Men Experience Poverty
Authors: Fodor Éva
Published: December 2005

While recent surveys do not find that poverty is feminized in post-communist Hungary, this project explores gender differences in the experience of destitution. Drawing on a content analysis of in-depth interviews in twentyseven very low-income households, the author exposes the particularly gendered daily practice of poverty in Hungarian families. The author argues that one of the major gender differences in the experience of poverty is that men often find themselves in a gender role crisis when they are too poor to function as successful breadwinners. Women, on the other hand, tend to feel their roles as caretakers intensified and thus avoid a conflict with (newly) hegemonic ideals of femininity. As a response, poor marriedcouple families devise ways in which they try to alleviate men's gender shame. The goal of the article is to identify four such strategies, which are used by poor couples to devise livable alternatives to hegemonic gender roles.
Foundation Feminism and the Articulation of Hybrid Feminisms in Post-Socialist Ukraine
Authors: Hrycak Alexandra
Published: December 2005

Drawing on research conducted in Ukraine and Washington, D.C., the author illustrates how U.S. programs to develop nongovernmental organizations in the former Soviet Union have led to the creation in Ukraine of a nonprofit sector that is dominated by “hybrid organizations.” These organizations cannot be easily categorized using the conventional dualistic labels that social scientists and policy makers adopt. They are neither strictly state-run nor based in civil society, neither free market nor state enterprise, neither elite nor grassroots. The author examines the main types of “hybrid feminist” organizations that have been established in Ukraine in response to foreign programs devoted to raising awareness of women's rights.
“Goodbye Serbian Kennedy”: Zoran Dindić and the New Democratic Masculinity in Serbia
Authors: Greenberg Jessica
Published: December 2005

In this article, the author demonstrates how representations of the assassination and funeral of Serbian Prime Minister Zoranëiniclenacted politics, reshaping the relationship between citizen and state during a time of political crisis. The expression of citizen-state relations through public mourning grounded in intimate, familial loss produced a break between a violent, nationalist past and a possible democratic future. This process relied on the deployment of normative assumptions about gender and kinship. The figure of Zoranëiniclrepresented a heteronormative, democratic masculinity that evoked a new relationship between family, citizen, state, and nation in the Serbian context. In contrast, those held responsible for his assassination were presented as antifamily and part of a clan structure based on nonreproductive, criminal connections that evoked a contrasting and undemocratic form of masculinity. Such representations masked ways that current political institutions and public figures were implicated in past state violence by focusing on a story aboutëinicland his killers as certain kinds of men, rather than about structural features of politics and government.
European Union Gender Regulations in the East: The Czech and Polish Accession Process
Authors: Anderson Leah Seppanen
Published: December 2005

This article explains, first, why there was a uniform emergence of equal opportunities legislation across East Central European states in the late 1990s and early 2000s and, second, why the speed of adoption varied across countries. The author deviates from a traditional comparative focus on domestic factors and instead treats her two case studies—Poland and the Czech Republic—as part of an international system in which external actors can exert a simultaneous but differential effect on domestic policies. The author argues that the European Union (EU) accession process prompted equal opportunities legislation in both countries but domestic actors mediated this influence in different ways. In Poland, legislation was delayed due to an organized opposition to EU gender equity laws and its close ties to parties of the Right in government, two factors absent from the Czech case where laws passed earlier. The author also suggests that the EU's financial and political resources may enable it to reshape these domestic actors in the future.
Telling the Code of the Street
Authors: Jimerson Jason B. , Oware Matthew K.
Published: December 2005

In traditional ethnographies, codes explain conduct. A code of conduct is implied by research participants, explicated by researchers, and used by both to explain interactions. The Code of the Street by Elijah Anderson epitomizes this orthodox ethnographic analysis of codes. In ethnomethodology, conduct explains codes. Researchers analyze how research participants refer to codes of conduct in their interactions. “Telling the Code” by D. L. Wieder exemplifies this ethnomethodological analysis of codes. In this ethnomethodological ethnography, we analyze how the code of the street influences the conduct of black male basketball players and how those players explain their conduct by telling the code. This article clarifies how ethnographers can use ethnomethodology to analyze codes as causes and consequences (doing so will produce more skeptical texts).
Ground Truth
Authors: Fine Gary Alan
Published: December 2005

To gain occupational legitimacy, workers depend on claims of accuracy. How are these claims assessed? Organizations judge competence and effectiveness using metrics, which can be massaged. Using a case study of operational meteorology, the author examines the organizational and self-presentational politics whereby meteorologists verify their predictions. Forecasts of future events are central to occupational work in operational meteorology. However, assessing what really happened “on the ground” is not unproblematic. So, meteorologists and their employers construct measures for assessments, even though these assessments are social and organizational routines. Verification statistics are signals whereby local offices are judged on effectiveness, and as a result, workers develop strategies to increase their verification scores. The author examines the production of verification at three local offices of the National Weather Service using ethnographic observations and in-depth interviews. Similar strategies operate when workers are judged in accountability systems, leading to forms of organizational impression management to demonstrate competence.
Kinship, Computing, and Anthropology
Authors: Lyon Stephen M. , Magliveras Simeon S.
Published: December 2005

This article proposes two important points about genealogical software: (a) Not all such software need necessarily be complicated or address high level theoretical issues, and (b) diversity of data, processing, and infrastructure means that it is particularly desirable that scholars begin to understand software tools as utilities that should have flexibility, including platform independence built into the design from the outset. Following a discussion of high performance packages used by White and Houseman to analyze social networks from marital data, the authors present examples from their research that suggest that even apparently trivial, nonanalytic tasks that form part of the process of preparing data for higher end analyses may yield exciting and productive results. The authors conclude with a statement on the nature of e-science in anthropology and the implications for the types of software that will be most useful.
TAMS Analyzer
Authors: Weinstein Matthew
Published: December 2005

This article provides an overview of an open source qualitative coding and analysis program called TAMS Analyzer, where TAMS stands for Text Analysis Mark-up System. The article reviews the history and design of this software. This history focuses on transformations in the software that have allowed it to work with larger scale projects, more abstract analytic categories, and wider varieties of media. In examining the software design, the article reflects variously on the value of software-assisted qualitative research, issues of openness with respect to software standards and licensing, and transparency to the user. It concludes by looking at some future directions for software-assisted qualitative research and by noting contradictions in the qualitative marketplace that will likely shape what will be available to qualitative researchers.
Assessing Different Bayesian Neural Network Models for Militarized Interstate Dispute
Authors: Lagazio Monica , Marwala Tshilidzi
Published: December 2005

This article develops and compares two Bayesian neural network models, a more restrictive Bayesian framework using Gaussian approximation and a less restrictive one using a hybrid version of Markov Chain Monte Carlo method (HMC), for the prediction of militarized interstate disputes (MIDs). In addition, to compare and analyze different Bayesian models for international conflict, the authors introduce a new measurement to interpret the relative influence of the model variables on the MIDs. The results indicate that the Gaussian approximation and HMC models are not statistically different in their performance. However HMC correctly recognized a marginally higher number of militarized disputes whose classification is important for policy purpose. On the variable effect, both models indicate similar patter of influences, where the two key liberal variables, democracy and economic interdependence, produce a strong dynamic feedback loop among each other, which greatly increases or decreases the probability of MIDs.
Understanding Complex Behavior and Decision Making Using Ethnographic Knowledge Elicitation Tools (KnETs)
Authors: Bharwani Sukaina
Published: December 2005

Understanding ethnographic data in a formal way is imperative when faced with multiple responses of humans within their environments. Knowledge Elicitation Tools (KnETs) incorporate techniques for modeling knowledge using methods long used in anthropological fieldwork and formalizing knowledge using knowledge engineering methods from computer science. KnETs enhance our understanding of our data to reveal new avenues for enquiry. KnETs support traditional participatory fieldwork methods and produce input for agent-based models, supporting a formalized link between qualitative and quantitative representations of knowledge and their interaction. The fusion of these techniques has resulted in a four-stage process that incorporates consistent verification and validation on data as it is collected by domain experts and informants. The application of this innovative methodology is successful precisely due to the mutual benefits that each technique provides by addressing current bottlenecks in both processes of ethnographic data collection and knowledge engineering.
Kinship Algebra Expert System (KAES)
Authors: Read Dwight W.
Published: December 2005

The computer program Kinship Algebra Expert System (KAES) provides a graphically based framework for constructing, if possible, a generative algebraic model for the structure of a kinship terminology (the terms used to refer to one’s kin). The algebraic modeling is based on a theory of kinship terminologies elaborated through writing the software program. The theory relates the properties and structure of kinship terminologies to an underlying logic that the KAES program helps uncover and model as a generative structure. The program then relates the structural logic of a kinship terminology modeled by the KAES program to a genealogical space based on genealogical tracing of kin relations. The KAES program demonstrates the surprisingly logical character of kinship terminologies and challenges the received view of the primacy of genealogical relations in defining cultural kinship through showing how genealogical definitions of kin terms can be accurately predicted in the terminologies considered to date.
High-Fidelity Computational Social Science in Anthropology
Authors: Kuznar Lawrence A.
Published: December 2005

Approaches to modeling social phenomena vary on a continuum from simple models, in which causality is clear and parameters few, to realistic, high-fidelity models designed to capture the most detailed system behavior possible in a specific setting. Anthropologists have produced both simple and high-fidelity models. The focus of this article is on high-fidelity modeling in anthropology and the special challenge its complexity presents for model comparison. Useful model comparison requires docking, or rendering models comparable, and the author presents a framework for docking based on the work of Axelrod, and Cioffi-Revilla and Gotts. Docking not only renders models more comparable, allowing for more traditional theory testing, but it also sharpens the discussion about the ontology of anthropological phenomena and how they are best represented as theories and models.
Introduction: Configuring Anthropology
Authors: Fischer Michael D.
Published: December 2005

The authors present examples of how anthropologists are presently using computers to advance ethnographic research in new directions while building on what has come before. All the methods, protocols, and tools created by the authors are free, open source, and available on the Internet. The contributions are the authors’ attempts to address greater complexity through greater control over the data and structures within which anthropologists work. These methods are suitable to a large number of problems, basic and applied, across the range of anthropology from its humanities axis to its science axis. Anthropology is what anthropologists make of it, and each author is attempting to make a little bit more of anthropology and to configure anthropology for addressing old problems in new ways and positioning anthropology to address new problems and new opportunities to influence others through anthropology.
Cultural Intelligence and Successful Intelligence
Authors: Sternberg Robert J. , Grigorenko Elena L.
Published: December 2005

Intelligence cannot be fully or even meaningfully understood outside its cultural context. Work that seeks to study intelligence a contextually risks the imposition of an investigator’s view of the world on the rest of the world. Moreover, work on intelligence within a single culture may fail to do justice to the range of skills and knowledge that may constitute intelligence broadly defined and risks drawing false and hasty generalizations. In this article, we consider the relevance of culture to intelligence and its investigation, assessment, and development. We describe studies from diverse continents, based on the theory of successful intelligence, that show the importance of understanding intelligence in its cultural context and conclude that intelligence must be understood in such context.
Commentary on “Redefining Interactions Across Cultures and Organizations”
Authors: Berry John W. , Ward Colleen
Published: December 2005

The authors make two basic points in their commentary, both stemming from the field of cross-cultural psychology. First, in their view, intelligence is a concept that is highly variable across cultures; its meaning, development, display, and assessment are all embedded in cultural contexts. Thus, they consider that a single concept such as cultural intelligence (CQ) is unlikely to be culturally appropriate in all sociocultural settings. Second, when groups and individuals of different cultural backgrounds come into contact, the process of acculturation is set in motion. In this situation, two differing meanings of intelligence are likely to engage each other, bringing some challenges to the intercultural interaction, often resulting in stress, and sometimes in conflict. Eventually, some forms of adaptation are achieved, with the emergence of some effective ways of acting in the intercultural situation. The authors believe that these two points need attention during the further development of the concept of CQ.
Domain and Development of Cultural Intelligence
Authors: Thomas David C.
Published: December 2005

The potential for defining a reliable measure of a cross-cultural facet of intelligence has enormous implications for explaining and predicting the increasingly prevalent cross-cultural interactions that occur in business settings. In this article, the author presents a definition of cultural intelligence (CQ) that explicitly introduces the concept of mindfulness as a key component that links knowledge with behavioral capability. It builds on previous definitions by grounding the conceptualization in the cognitive domain and differentiating CQ as a capability that includes skilled behavior. However, alternatives to previous conceptualizations with regard to the constituent elements and their relationship to each other are presented with a view toward a tighter specification of the construct. Also, a developmental stage model of CQ is outlined. Implications for the assessment of CQ are discussed.
Motivational Cultural Intelligence, Realistic Job Preview, Realistic Living Conditions Preview, and Cross-Cultural Adjustment
Authors: Templer Klaus J. , Tay Cheryl , Chandrasekar N. Anand
Published: December 2005

This study explores the relationship of the motivational factor of cultural intelligence (CQ) and realistic previews to cross-cultural adjustment (work, general, and interaction adjustment) of global professionals. Regression analyses demonstrate positive relationships between motivational CQ and all three adjustment criteria after controlling for gender, age, time in the host country, and prior international assignment. Realistic job preview relates to work adjustment, realistic living conditions preview relates to general adjustment, and motivational CQ relates to work and general adjustment over and above realistic job and living conditions preview. This study demonstrates the importance and utility of motivational CQ in understanding cross-cultural adjustment. We discuss implications for cross-cultural adjustment research and suggest practical implications for organizations and individuals seeking overseas assignments.