bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Influence of nitrogen source and pH value on undesired poly(γ-glutamic acid) formation of a protease producing Bacillus licheniformis strain
Authors: Meissner Lena , Kauffmann Kira , Wengeler Timo , Mitsunaga Hitoshi , Fukusaki Eiichiro , Büchs Jochen
Published: July 2015

Bacillus spp. are used for the production of industrial enzymes but are also known to be capable of producing biopolymers such as poly(γ-glutamic acid). Biopolymers increase the viscosity of the fermentation broth, thereby impairing mixing, gas/liquid mass and heat transfer in any bioreactor system. Undesired biopolymer formation has a significant impact on the fermentation and downstream processing performance. This study shows how undesirable poly(γ-glutamic acid) formation of an industrial protease producing Bacillus licheniformis strain was prevented by switching the nitrogen source from ammonium to nitrate. The viscosity was reduced from 32 to 2.5 mPa s. A constant or changing pH value did not influence the poly(γ-glutamic acid) production. Protease production was not affected: protease activities of 38 and 46 U mL−1 were obtained for ammonium and nitrate, respectively. With the presented results, protease production with industrial Bacillus strains is now possible without the negative impact on fermentation and downstream processing by undesired poly(γ-glutamic acid) formation.
Contraception Use, Abortions, and Births: The Effect of Insurance Mandates
Authors: Mulligan Karen
Published: July 2015

Beginning August, 2012, the U.S. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) required new private health insurance plans to cover contraceptive methods and counseling without requiring an insured’s copay. The ACA represents the first instance of federally mandated contraception insurance coverage, but 30 U.S. states had already mandated contraceptive insurance coverage through state-level legislation prior to the ACA. This study examines whether mandated insurance coverage of contraception affects contraception use, abortions, and births. I find that mandates increase the likelihood of contraception use by 2.1 percentage points, decrease the abortion rate by 3 %, and have an insignificant impact on the birth rate. The results imply a lower-bound estimate that the ACA will result in approximately 25,000 fewer abortions.
Validation of a score to guide endometriosis therapy for the non‐specialized gynecologist
Authors: Lasmar Ricardo B. , Lasmar Bernardo P. , Keller Celeste Roger , Larbig Angelika , De Wilde Rudy L.
Published: July 2015

Objective

To validate a tool—the ECO system—developed to guide non‐specialized gynecologists in the treatment of patients with suspected endometriosis in outpatient clinics.

Methods

In a retrospective study, data were assessed from patients presenting to a center in Brazil or a center in Germany with suspected endometriosis and pelvic pain between July 2012 and June 2013. Data reviewed included patient complaints, clinical extent of disease, patient goals, recent use of medication, previous pelvic surgeries, visual analog pain scale, treatment provided, and histopathology after surgery. Data were transformed into a score according to the ECO system (0–6) indicating the suggested management, which was compared with the approach used in the study hospitals.

Results

Among 166 patients, 78 (47.0%) were medically treated and 88 (53.0%) underwent therapeutic laparoscopy. All 3 patients scoring 2 had undergone hormonal treatment. Among 51 patients scoring 3, 49 (96.1%) were clinically managed and 2 (3.9%) underwent surgery. Among 52 patients scoring 4, 26 (50.0%) had undergone medical treatment and 26 (50.0%) surgical treatment. All 56 patients who scored 5 and the four patients who scored 6 underwent surgery.

Conclusion

The ECO system seems to effectively represent the management of patients with endometriosis in specialized services.
Russian influence on news media in Belarus
Authors: Szostek Joanna
Published: July 2015

This article investigates Russian media influence in Belarus during the second half of 2010, when an “information war” broke out between Moscow and Minsk. Samples of news content are analysed to reveal the varying portrayals of Russia generated by leading broadcasters and publishers; interviews with media professionals shed light on the forces which shaped the news. The article considers the outcomes of the information war and argues that the impact of Russian news exports lay more in their capacity to provoke than their capacity to “elicit attraction” as envisaged by the literature on soft power.
Practitioners’ perspective on pain disabilities in Ghanaian women. A qualitative study
Authors: Ayim-Aboagye D. , Gordh T.
Published: July 2015

Aims

Women show higher frequency of most painful disorders. This is usually explained that endogenous pain modulation pathways, which affect incoming nociceptive signals, act differently in women and men, but psycho-social factors are likelytoinfluence as well. Ghanaian women suffer different disabilities that may lead to severe pain. The hard climatic conditions and the hard physical toil in work exert untold injuries. How do women in Ghana cope with painful disorders, and do they show certain behavioural pattern during diagnosis and treatments?

Methods

The study used in-depth interviews with health care providers to accomplish its aim. The “snowball effect” was added by which those interviewed aided us to find other prospective interviewee. In qualitative methodology, such an approach can be adopted to enable the researcher acquire relevant data with help from respondents.Practitioners were askedtoreflectontheir experiences from meeting women with severe pain as their patients. Seven practitioners, four female and three male, were interviewed.

Results

By talking spontaneously about pain, women cope with painful disorders. This ensures easy diagnoses and treatments. The majority of women report their severe pain disabilities freely as against a smaller group who behave differently.The other group has explored other practitioners and have been unsuccessful. They are afraid to reveal their situations openly. Others test the skills of the practitioners whether they could perform efficient diagnoses. This strengthens patients’ faith and ability to be cured. In behavioural terms, inability to report severe pain stem from comorbid depressive symptoms (timidity-shyness, over-worried/confusion, distraction), lack of trust-expectant faith, thought of practitioner’s omniscient power, threat of practitioner’s knowledge (patient’s wrongs and evil thoughts), religious affiliation-constraints, etc. Women cope and show more positive attitudes than men; they expect practitioners to be in careful control.

Conclusions

Ghanaian women deal with their severe pains in meaningful manner by talking spontaneously about them. They show their willingness to be helped during diagnosis. Only few patients are not spontaneous, and are due to the condition of the mind and uncertainty with previous treatment encounters.
Characterization of complex chronic pain patients
Authors: Hysing E.-B. , Gordh T. , Karlsten R. , Smith L.
Published: July 2015

Aims

Treatment of the most complex chronic pain patients, often not accepted in regular pain management programs, remains a challenge.To beable todesign interventions for these patients we must know what characterize them. The aim of this study was to characterize a subgroup of pain patients, treated in our in-patient rehabilitation programme, organized at the University Hospital in Uppsala, the only tertiary treatment for pain patients in Sweden.

Methods

The study was approved by the Regional Ethical Review Board in Uppsala (Dnr 2010/182). Seventy-two patients, consecutive new referrals seen at the rehabilitation program in 2008–2010 were enrolled and examined with a 41-item questionnaire of symptoms other than pain. The 41 symptoms were listed on an ordinal scale from 0–10, with 0–no problems and 10–severe problem. The mean pain intensity within the preceding 24-h was assessed using an 11-point NRS, numeric rating scale from 0–no problems to 10–severe problems. Information about drug-consumption was obtained from the medical record. The opioid medication was translated to morphine-equivalents dos using EAPC (European Association for Palliative Care) conversion table.

Results

Seventy-two patients were enrolled and screened, 39% men and 61% woman. Median age 45 years (range 20–70). Seventy-four percent of patients were treated with opioids, 15 patients with more than one opioid. They all reported high pain intensity, the four patients with doses over 150 mg MEq reported pain 5–8. There was no correlation between the dose of opioids and pain intensity. The patients reported 22 symptoms (median) other than pain. The number of symptoms reported using this scaleina normal population is three–four. The most common symptoms reported were lethargy, tiredness, concentration difficulties and headache reported by over 80%. Sleeping disorders and tiredness were considered as the two most problematic symptom to deal with. We found no correlation between the degree of pain and presence and severity of symptoms reported. Number of symptoms reported diminished when the dose of opioids increased.

Conclusions

The pain patient considered too complex for regular pain-management programs are characterized by reporting many symptoms other than pain. High pain intensity or high opioid-dose does not correlate to presence or severity of other symptoms, and high dose of opioids does not have a connection to low pain intensity. Many of the symptoms commonly reported – lethargy, tiredness, concentration difficulties and headache are real obstacles for successful rehabilitation, and have to be dealt with to achieve successful results.
Increased C-fiber response induced by experimental disc herniation is associated with upregulation of fractalkine and its receptor in nucleus pulposus and dorsal root ganglion
Authors: Jacobsen D.P. , Moen A. , Haugen F. , Gjerstad J.
Published: July 2015

Aims

Lumbar radicular pain following intervertebral disc herniation may be caused by a local inflammatory response induced by nucleus pulposus (NP) cells. Here in an animal model mimicking the clinical situation following disc herniation we investigated the effect of NP on the spinal nociceptive signaling and local gene expression.

Methods

In anaesthetized Lewis rats, extracellular single unit recordings of spinal nociceptive activity and qPCR were used to explore the effect of NP application onto the dorsal nerve roots (L3-L5). All animal experiments were approved by the Norwegian Animal Research Authority and were performed in conformity with the laws and regulations controlling experiments and procedures on live animals in Norway.

Results

A clear increase in C-fiber response was observed following NP conditioning. In the NP tissue, the gene expression of interleuking-1 β (IL-1β), colony stimulating factor 1 (Csf1), fractakine (CX3CL1) and the fractalkine receptor CX3CR1 was increased. Minocycline, an inhibitor of microglial activation, inhibited the increase in neuronal activity, and attenuated the increase in gene expression in NP tissue. Interestingly, gene expression analysis demonstrated an increase in the expression of TNF, CX3CL1 and CX3CR1 in the dorsal roots ganglion (DRG). An increase in the expression of IL-1 β and TNF in cultured DRG cells was also induced in vitro.

Conclusions

The present study suggests that hyperexcitability in the pain pathways after disc herniation may involve upregulation of CX3CL1 signaling in NP - but also in the DRG.
High-throughput screening reveals enzyme and GPCR targets as putative binding sites for D-deprenyl
Authors: Lesniak A. , Jonsson A. , Aarnio M. , Norberg T. , Nyberg F. , Gordh T.
Published: July 2015

Aims

In PET studies of patients suffering from chronic pain following whip lash trauma, d-deprenyl was shown to bind to painful sites in the neck [1]. High uptake points towards an existence of an inflammation-specific binding site. Thus, the aim of this study was to identify the binding site for d-deprenyl employing radioligand receptor binding and high-throughput analysis of its activity towards 165 G-protein coupled receptors and 84 enzyme targets commonly used in drug discovery and development.

Methods

D-Deprenyl activity towards GPCR targets was assessed by DiscoverX in CHO-K1 EDG1 β-arrest in EFC cell line utilizing the PathHunter™ technique. Enzyme inhibition by D-deprenyl was identified in the EnzymeProfiling™ screening panel provided by Eurofins Cerep Panlabs. [H3]D-deprenyl binding studies with specific GPCR agonists and enzyme inhibitors at newly identified targets were also performed.

Results

Our investigation revealed that a 10μM concentration of d-deprenyl inhibited MAO-B and MAO-A activity by 99% and 55%, respectively. In addition, a 70% inhibition of angiotens in converting enzyme (ACE) activity in rabbit lung preparations was found. Furthermore, binding studies in rat mitochondrial membrane homogenates confirmed a submicromolar [H3]D-deprenyl competition with a selective MAO-B inhibitor seligiline, but not with the selective MAO-A inhibitor pirlindole mesylate. No evident hits among GPCR targets were identified. However, attention was drawn towards the histamine HRH1 and HRH3 receptors to which d-deprenyl showed a 20% and 42% antagonistic activity.

Conclusions

MAO-B might be a candidate target for D-deprenyl, as many other studies documented higher d-deprenyl uptake in activated astrocytes, non-secreting pituitary adenomas and brown adipose tissue, where MAO-B is over expressed. Moreover, ACE inhibition was shown to hamper down-regulation of transcription factors preventing ROS-mediated cartilage damage.
Local up-regulation of interferon-γ (IFN-γ following disc herniation is involved in the inflammatory response underlying acute lumbar radicular pain
Authors: Moen G.H. , Moen A. , Gjerstad J.
Published: July 2015

Aims

Lumbar radicular pain after disc herniation may be associated release of pro-inflammatory cytokines from nucleus pulposus (NP) tissue. In the present study we examined the role of interferon-γ (IFN-γ) and cluster of differentiation 68 (CD68) in the acute phase of this process.

Methods

First, in an animal model mimicking the clinical situation after disc herniation, the role of IFN-γ on the dorsal horn single cell activity and gene expression close to the nerve roots was studied. Second, in patients with severe lumbar radicular pain due to disc herniation, we examined how two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs; rs2069705 and rs2069718) important for the IFN-γ expression influenced the pain and disability measured by visual analogue scale (VAS) and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI).

Results

The animal data demonstrated a significant increase in the nociceptive activity at the spinal level after local application of NP and IFN-γ onto the nerve-roots. A positive correlation between IFN-γ and CD68 in the NP tissue was also observed. Moreover, the data of the patients revealed that carriers of the IFN-γ SNPs; rs2069705 A allele and rs2069718 G allele had an increased disability score i.e. ODI.

Conclusions

The present data suggest that IFN-γ through activation of tissue-specific macrophages close to the nerve roots may be important for acute inflammatory pain and disability following lumbar disc herniation.
Pain intensity and duration in a cohort of Norwegian construction workers
Authors: Veiersted K.B. , Lunde L.-K. , Koch M. , Wærsted M. , Knardahl S.
Published: July 2015

Aims

To compare musculoskeletal pain intensity and duration of construction workers as a function of type of work.

Methods

239 male construction workers in active employment filled out a (baseline) questionnaire for a prospective study of jobs with assumed heavy work load. Reports of pain presented here was collected from the men in four work categories; project leaders/foremen (N = 62, age 45 y, SD ± 13), carpenters (N = 60, 41 y ± 13), concrete workers (N = 35, 42 y ± 12) and miscellaneous other manual workers (e.g. brick layers, henchmen, N = 28, 45 y ± 13). The participants were asked to report pain intensity in different body regions during the last four weeks (0: none, 1: mild, 2: moderate and 3: severe) and the duration of this pain (1: 1–5, 2: 6–10, 3: 11–14 and 4: 15–28 days). A severity index was constructed by multiplying the two recordings, intensity and duration (range 0–12). Two dichotomized variables were defined; for the intensity with a cut point ≥2 (in %) and for the index with a cut point ≥6 (in %). Five % trimmed mean is used due to skewed data.

Results

Low back pain was the most frequently reported pain symptom for all categories of workers (mean for all: mean intensity: 0.74, intensity ≥2: 23%, mean severity index: 1.64, index ≥6: 13%), expect carpenters that reported knee pain most frequent (mean intensity: 0.78, intensity ≥2: 26%, mean severity index: 2.08, index ≥6: 22%). The miscellaneous worker group reported the highest level of neck pain (mean intensity: 0.84, intensity ≥2: 25%, mean severity index: 2.03, index ≥6: 20%). Due to different time distribution of pain symptoms between individuals the use of pain duration gave additional information.

Conclusions

Most construction workers reported low levels of pain. The measurement of both intensity and duration allows computation of a proxy for pain severity.
The Growth of Literature
Authors: Chadwick H. Munro , Chadwick Nora K.
Published: July 2015

First published between 1932 and 1940, this is a three-volume study of the historical development of literature. It explores the oral and written literatures of regions from Iceland and the British Isles, to Russia, the Balkans, Africa, India and the Pacific, placing them in their historical context and examining similarities between them. The authors discuss both ancient and recent texts, illustrating the connections within each group and considering the question of whether all literary growth is influenced by common factors. Praised on publication as '… a work that is not, probably could not be, superseded' (International Journal of Comparative Sociology), the book remains a benchmark for those studying comparative literature or the history of literary criticism. Volume 3, which includes a summary of the literary categories used in the book, surveys the oral literature of the Tatar and Polynesian peoples, along with that of a selection of African ethnic groups.
Governing Borderless Threats
Authors: Hameiri Shahar , Jones Lee
Published: July 2015

'Non-traditional' security problems like pandemic diseases, climate change and terrorism now pervade the global agenda. Many argue that sovereign state-based governance is no longer adequate, demanding and constructing new approaches to manage border-spanning threats. Drawing on critical literature in political science, political geography and political economy, this is the first book that systematically explains the outcomes of these efforts. It shows that transboundary security challenges are primarily governed not through supranational organisations, but by transforming state apparatuses and integrating them into multilevel, regional or global regulatory governance networks. The socio-political contestation shaping this process determines the form, content and operation of transnational security governance regimes. Using three in-depth case studies - environmental degradation, pandemic disease, and transnational crime - this innovative book integrates global governance and international security studies and identifies the political and normative implications of non-traditional security governance, providing insights for scholars and policymakers alike.
Does cooking with vegetable oils increase the risk of chronic diseases?: a systematic review
Authors: Sayon-Orea Carmen , Carlos Silvia , Martínez-Gonzalez Miguel A.
Published: July 2015

Overweight/obesity, CVD and type 2 diabetes are strongly associated with nutritional habits. High consumption of fried foods might increase the risk of these disorders. However, it is not clear whether the use of vegetables oils for cooking increases the risk of chronic diseases. We systematically searched for published studies that assessed the association between vegetable oil consumption including fried food consumption and the risk of overweight/obesity or weight gain, T2DM or the metabolic syndrome, and CVD or hypertension in the following databases: PubMed; Web of Science; Google Scholar. Keywords such as ‘fried food’ or ‘vegetable oil’ or ‘frying’ or ‘frying oils’ or ‘dietary fats’ and ‘weight gain’ or ‘overweight’ or ‘obesity’ or ‘CHD’ or ‘CVD’ or ‘type 2 diabetes’ or ‘metabolic syndrome’ were used in the primary search. Additional published reports were obtained through other sources. A total of twenty-three publications were included based on specific selection criteria. Based on the results of the studies included in the present systematic review, we conclude that (1) the myth that frying foods is generally associated with a higher risk of CVD is not supported by the available evidence; (2) virgin olive oil significantly reduces the risk of CVD clinical events, based on the results of a large randomised trial that included as part of the intervention the recommendation to use high amounts of virgin olive oil, also for frying foods; and (3) high consumption of fried foods is probably related to a higher risk of weight gain, though the type of oil may perhaps modify this association.
Nutrition attributes and health effects of pistachio nuts
Authors: Bulló M. , Juanola-Falgarona M. , Hernández-Alonso P. , Salas-Salvadó J.
Published: July 2015

Epidemiological and/or clinical trials have suggested that nut consumption has a beneficial impact on health outcomes such as hypertension, diabetes, CVD, cancer, other inflammatory conditions and total mortality. Nuts are nutrient-dense foods with a healthy fatty acid profile, as well as provide other bioactive compounds with recognised health benefits. Among nuts, pistachios have a lower fat and energy content and the highest levels of K, γ-tocopherol, vitamin K, phytosterols, xanthophyll carotenoids, certain minerals (Cu, Fe and Mg), vitamin B6 and thiamin. Pistachios have a high antioxidant and anti-inflammatory potential. The aforementioned characteristics and nutrient mix probably contribute to the growing body of evidence that consumption of pistachios improves health. The present review examines the potential health effects of nutrients and phytochemicals in pistachios, as well as epidemiological and clinical evidence supporting these health benefits.
Review of nut phytochemicals, fat-soluble bioactives, antioxidant components and health effects
Authors: Alasalvar Cesarettin , Bolling Bradley W.
Published: July 2015

The levels of phytochemicals (total phenols, proanthocyanidins, gallic acid+gallotannins, ellagic acid+ellagitannins, flavonoids, phenolic acids, stilbenes and phytates), fat-soluble bioactives (lipid, tocols, phytosterols, sphingolipids, carotenoids, chlorophylls and alkyl phenols) as well as natural antioxidants (nutrient and non-nutrient) present in commonly consumed twelve nuts (almond, Brazil nut, cashew, chestnut, hazelnut, heartnut, macadamia, peanut, pecan, pine nut, pistachio and walnut) are compared and reported. Recent studies adding new evidence for the health benefits of nuts are also discussed. Research findings from over 112 references, many of which have been published within last 10 years, have been compiled and reported.
Fish, a Mediterranean source ofn-3 PUFA: benefits do not justify limiting consumption
Authors: Gil Angel , Gil Fernando
Published: July 2015

Fish is an important source of energy, high-quality proteins, fat, vitamins and minerals. Within lipids,n-3 long-chain PUFA (n-3 LC PUFA), mainly EPA and DHA, play an important role in health promotion and disease prevention. In contrast to the potential health benefits of dietary fish intake, certain chemical pollutants, namely heavy metals and some organic compounds, contained in seafood have emerged as an issue of concern, particularly for frequent fish consumers and sensitive groups of populations. The present review summarises the health benefits and risks of fish consumption.n-3 LC-PUFA are key compounds of cell membranes and play an important role in human health from conception through every stage of human development, maturation and ageing. DHA has a major role in the development of brain and retina during fetal development and the first 2 years of life and positively influences neurodevelopment, mainly visual acuity and cognitive functions.n-3 LC-PUFA are also effective in preventing cardiovascular events (mainly stroke and acute myocardial infarction) especially in persons with high cardiovascular risk. By contrast, there is convincing evidence of adverse neurological/neurodevelopmental outcomes in infants and young children associated with methylmercury exposure during fetal development due to maternal fish consumption during pregnancy. Dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls present in contaminated fish may also develop a risk for both infants and adults. However, for major health outcomes among adults, the vast majority of epidemiological studies have proven that the benefits of fish intake exceed the potential risks with the exception of a few selected species in sensitive populations.
Virgin olive oil: a key food for cardiovascular risk protection
Authors: Covas María-Isabel , de la Torre Rafael , Fitó Montserrat
Published: July 2015

Olive oil is considered to be one of the most healthy dietary fats. However, several types of olive oils are present in the market. A key question for the consumer is: What of the olive oils is the best when concerning nutritional purposes? With the data available at present, the answer is: the Virgin Olive Oil (VOO), rich in phenolic compounds. On November 2011, the European Food Safety Authority released a claim concerning the benefits of daily ingestion of olive oil rich in phenolic compounds, such as VOO. In this review, we summarised the key work that has provided the evidence of the benefits of VOO consumption on other types of edible oils, even olive oils. We focused on data from randomised, controlled human studies, which are capable of providing the evidence of Level I that is required for performing nutritional recommendations at population level.
Commerce and Conflict: New Data about the Great War
Authors: Gowa Joanne , Hicks Raymond
Published: July 2015

The First World War is often cited as proof par excellence of the flaws in the liberal peace argument because the adversaries it engaged had been each other’s major pre-war trading partners. Although commonly assumed to have wreaked havoc on the trade of the states it engaged, the war’s impact on commerce has rarely been rigorously examined. Using an original dataset, this study shows that the Great War triggered substitution processes that reduced its trade-related costs. Although recourse to second-best alternatives always induces efficiency losses, the costs of adjustment were small relative to the other costs that states incurred during the war. The analysis shows that the Great War is not the egregious exception to the theory that conventional wisdom has long assumed it to be. At the same time, it makes clear that the deterrent power of trade varies inversely with belligerents’ ability to access the markets of alternative trading partners.
“Cult of Equity”: Actuaries and the Transformation of Pension Fund Investing, 1948–1960
Authors: Avrahampour Yally
Published: July 2015

This article examines the mid-twentieth-century transformation of U.K. pension fund investment policy known as the “cult of equity.” It focuses on the influence exercised by the Association of Superannuation and Pension Funds over actuarial and corporate governance standards, through actuaries who were members of its council. This intervention led to increasingly permissive actuarial valuations that reduced contributions for sponsors of pension funds investing in equities. Increased demand for equities required pension funds to adopt a more permissive approach to corporate governance than insurance companies and investment trusts, and contributed to declining standards of corporate governance.
Pituitary volume and clinical trajectory in young relatives at risk for schizophrenia
Authors: Shah J. L. , Tandon N. , Howard E. R. , Mermon D. , Miewald J. M. , Montrose D. M. , Keshavan M. S.
Published: July 2015

Background

Stress and vulnerability likely interact to play a major role in psychosis. While much has been written about the neural diathesis-stress model in psychosis and its clinical risk states, little is known about HPA axis biomarkers in non-help-seeking individuals at familial high risk (FHR). We sought to prospectively measure pituitary volume (PV) in adolescents and young adults at FHR for schizophrenia and to follow their emerging sub-clinical psychotic symptoms and clinical trajectories.

Method

Forty healthy controls and 38 relatives of patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder were identified in Pittsburgh, USA. PV was derived from baseline 1.5 T magnetic resonance imaging. Chapman's schizotypy scales were acquired at baseline, and structured clinical interviews for DSM-IV-TR Axis I diagnoses were attempted annually for up to 3 years.

Results

Seven individuals converted to psychosis. PV did not differ between FHR and control groups overall. Within the FHR group, PV was positively correlated with Chapman's positive schizotypy (Magical Ideation and Perceptual Aberration) scores, and there was a significant group × PV interaction with schizotypy. PV was significantly higher in FHR subjects carrying any baseline Axis I diagnosis (p= 0.004), and higher still in individuals who went on to convert to psychosis (p= 0.0007).

Conclusions

Increased PV is a correlate of early positive schizotypy, and may predict trait vulnerability to subsequent psychosis in FHR relatives. These preliminary findings support a model of stress-vulnerability and HPA axis activation in the early phases of psychosis.
Latent classes of childhood trauma exposure predict the development of behavioral health outcomes in adolescence and young adulthood
Authors: Ballard E. D. , Van Eck K. , Musci R. J. , Hart S. R. , Storr C. L. , Breslau N. , Wilcox H. C.
Published: July 2015

Background

To develop latent classes of exposure to traumatic experiences before the age of 13 years in an urban community sample and to use these latent classes to predict the development of negative behavioral outcomes in adolescence and young adulthood.

Method

A total of 1815 participants in an epidemiologically based, randomized field trial as children completed comprehensive psychiatric assessments as young adults. Reported experiences of nine traumatic experiences before age 13 years were used in a latent class analysis to create latent profiles of traumatic experiences. Latent classes were used to predict psychiatric outcomes at age ⩾13 years, criminal convictions, physical health problems and traumatic experiences reported in young adulthood.

Results

Three latent classes of childhood traumatic experiences were supported by the data. One class (8% of sample), primarily female, was characterized by experiences of sexual assault and reported significantly higher rates of a range of psychiatric outcomes by young adulthood. Another class (8%), primarily male, was characterized by experiences of violence exposure and reported higher levels of antisocial personality disorder and post-traumatic stress. The final class (84%) reported low levels of childhood traumatic experiences. Parental psychopathology was related to membership in the sexual assault group.

Conclusions

Classes of childhood traumatic experiences predict specific psychiatric and behavioral outcomes in adolescence and young adulthood. The long-term adverse effects of childhood traumas are primarily concentrated in victims of sexual and non-sexual violence. Gender emerged as a key covariate in the classes of trauma exposure and outcomes.
An undefensive presence: the mission and identity of the church in Kathryn Tanner and John Howard Yoder
Authors: East Brad
Published: July 2015

This article proposes looking to Kathryn Tanner and John Howard Yoder as resources for moving beyond a stalemate in recent ecclesiology which locates competing centres of gravity ineitherchurchorworld. By contrast, Tanner and Yoder locate that centre outside of both church and world: in God, who ‘was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself . . . and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation’ (2 Cor 5:19). Accordingly, they articulate a vision of the church in the world whose posture is wholly, and constitutively, undefensive: a community free of the violence – actual, rhetorical or otherwise – produced by anxiety about securing its place vis-à-vis the wider society. Tanner envisages the church as a graced community of argument founded and sustained by God's cosmos-wide generosity in Christ, unconcerned with itself as such and instead intent on the world's good. In Yoder's case, his christological pacifism undergirds a church whose politics are Jesus' own, and which therefore seeks, forsaking all coercion, to embody God's eschatological peace in and for the world. These accounts share three theological moves in common. First is a Barthian priority of divine transcendence, whereby neither God, nor the gospel, nor the world is put in jeopardy by the church's fallibility (human or sinful). Second is a non-foundationalist commitment to social-historical process, to the particularities of context which constantly form (and reform) the church as a creature in time and space. Third is the generative root of all: the incarnation of God the Word. Insofar as the church is christocentric, it is by grace turned out to the world in commissioned blessing. The result is an account of the church as at once eccentric (its life hid with Christ in God) and firmly rooted in the messy realities of the here and now – realities just as present within the church as outside of it. To be sure, Tanner and Yoder are different theologians with different methods and ends; where Tanner perhaps lacks a sufficient theology of peoplehood, Yoder's ecclesiology verges at times on the heroic or ideal. Nevertheless, brought together in this way they make for productive partners in non-alarmist ecclesiology, freeing the church to fulfil its calling to serve and bless the world, even as it leaves its borders unsecured, because its faith abides not in itself but in God.
Christopher Beeley, The Unity of Christ
Authors: Daley Brian E.
Published: July 2015

It is always exciting to read the retelling of a familiar narrative, whether it is of the early life of Shakespeare, the political careers of Washington and Jefferson, or the story of the development of the classic Christian understanding of the person of Jesus Christ during the first seven or eight centuries of Christianity. In this last case, the reader feels liberated from the weight of inherited pieties, invited to look again at the existing documentation with fresh eyes, urged to reconceive what he imagines to be the implied agenda of the main actors, and their significance for the later history of Christian faith. Christopher Beeley's new book from Yale certainly has this effect on those trained by earlier tellings of the story of early Christology, from Newman to Harnack and Loofs, to Sellers and Grillmeier and Kelly. The heroes and villains, characteristic phrases and defining moments of heresy and orthodoxy, all take on a slightly new form in Christopher's reconstruction – a form centred on the question of how the personal and ontological unity of the Saviour is conceived and emphasised by key Christian authors and principal church synods from the third to the eighth centuries.
Response to Brian Daley and Paul Gavrilyuk on The Unity of Christ
Authors: Beeley Christopher A.
Published: July 2015

I am deeply grateful to my colleagues for their careful attention to my work, and for the invitation to respond to their comments in the pages of the Scottish Journal of Theology. It is a privilege to participate in such a conversation among friends and fellow scholars.
Infinitary affine proofs
Authors: MAZZA DAMIANO
Published: July 2015

Even though the multiplicative–additive fragment of linear logic forbids structural rules in general, is does admit a bounded form of exponential modalities enjoying a bounded form of structural rules. The approximation theorem, originally proved by Girard, states that if full linear logic proves a propositional formula, then the multiplicative–additive fragment proves every bounded approximation of it. This may be understood as the fact that multiplicative–additive linear logic is somehow dense in full linear logic. Our goal is to give a technical formulation of this informal remark. We introduce a Cauchy-complete space of infinitary affine term-proofs and we show that it yields a fully complete model of multiplicative exponential polarised linear logic, in the style of Girard's ludics. Moreover, the subspace of finite term-proofs, which is a model of multiplicative polarised linear logic, is dense in the space of all term-proofs.
ETERNAL RETURNS:A CHRISTMAS CAROL'S GHOSTS OF REPETITION
Authors: Chitwood Brandon
Published: July 2015

In spite of the supernatural trappingsof Charles Dickens's most famous work,A Christmas Carol, critics from G. K. Chesterton to Edmund Wilson have found its equally famous protagonist, Ebenezer Scrooge, to be arealcharacter, more fleshed-out and compelling than many of the characters of Dickens's longer, presumably more “serious” novels. Much of the reaction toA Christmas Caroland its protean anti-hero can be summarized by Stephen Prickett's succinct appraisal in his seminal study,Victorian Fantasy: “The strength ofA Christmas Carollies quite simply in its psychological credibility” (54). Scrooge is a character we can believe in, a character that, as Margaret Atwood suggests, “remains fresh and vital. ‘Scrooge Lives!’ we might write on our T-shirts” (xiii).
Acousmatic Approaches to the Construction of Image and Space in Sound Art
Authors: Batchelor Peter
Published: July 2015

This article considers ideas of image and space as they apply to acousmatic music and to sound art, establishing overlaps and compatibilities which are perhaps overlooked in the current trend to consider these two genres incompatible. Two issues in particular are considered: compositional (especially mimesis and the construction of image, and what shall be termed ‘ephemeral narrative’) and presentational (in particular multichannel speaker deployment). While exploring several relevant works within this discussion, by way of a case study the article introduces the author’s GRIDs project – a series of four multichannel sound sculptures united in their arrangement in geometric arrays of many (in some cases potentially hundreds of) loudspeakers. These permit, by virtue of being so massively (and geometrically) multichannel, the generation of extremely intricate spatial sound environments – fabricated landscapes – that emerge directly from an acousmatic compositional aesthetic. Owing to their alternative means of presentation and presentation contexts, however, they offer very different experiences from those of acousmatic music encountered in the concert hall. So the latter part of this article explores the various ways in which the listener might engage with constructed image space within these sound sculptures, along with the relationship of the audio content of each with its visual and situational setup – that is, its environment.
Getting Out of the Black Box: analogising the use of computers in electronic music and sound art
Authors: Charrieras Damien , Mouillot François
Published: July 2015

The process of creating computer-based music is increasingly being conceived in terms of complex chains of mediations involving composer/performer and computer software interactions that prompt us to reconsider notions of materiality within the context of digital cultures. Recent scholarship has offered particularly useful re-evaluations of computer music software in relation to musical instrumentality. In this article, we contend that given the ubiquitous presence of computer units within contemporary musical practices, it is not simply music software that needs to be reframed as musical instruments, but rather the diverse material strata of machines identified as computers that need to be thought of as instruments within music environments. Specifically, we argue that computers, regardless of their technical specifications, are not only ‘black boxes’ or ‘meta-tools’ that serve to control music software, but are also material objects that are increasingly being used in a wide range of musical and sound art practices according to an ‘analog’ rather than ‘digital’ logic. Through a series of examples implicating both soft and hard dimensions of what constitutes computers, we provide a preliminary survey of practices calling for the need to rethink the conceptual divide between analog and digital forms of creativity and aesthetics.
Mimetic Instrumental Resynthesis
Authors: O’Callaghan James
Published: July 2015

This article provides a brief survey of composition in which field recordings or other referential sounds are transcribed for acoustic instruments. Through a discussion of how electroacoustic music and scholarship have conceptualised the notion of mimesis, and how various forms of contemporary acoustic music have adopted electroacoustic techniques, it identifies a recent musical practice in which these concerns are brought together. The article proposes the term mimetic instrumental resynthesis as a way of describing the common threads behind works that employ electronic-assisted or computer-assisted techniques towards instrumental imitations of environmental and extra-musical sounds. The article also highlights some of the conceptual and aesthetic questions emerging from such a practice, including the idea of transformation, issues of referentiality, listening, the influence of different technologies and their aesthetic implications, and the tension between abstract and concrete conceptions of the works discussed. Finally, the article raises concerns surrounding the language of discussing what is necessarily an interdisciplinary venture.
Investigating Sound in Space: Five meanings of space in music and sound art
Authors: Macedo Frederico
Published: July 2015

Since the 1950s the spatiality of sound has become a key concept in different fields of artistic practice, emerging as one of the most relevant subjects in the contemporary arts. Ideas related to sound and space have been used in different discourses and practices to refer to or to explore perceptually different facets of the spatiality of sound. In the field of fine art they have been associated with the emergence of sound art, while in music, they have been associated with spatial music. In spite of this widespread interest in sound and space, the uses of spatial concepts in relation to sound and music have been inconsistent, with different authors and practitioners referring to different aspects of the complex relationship between the two. In this article I suggest a typology with five categories to describe five meanings of space I identified in the recent literature of music and sound art: metaphor, acoustic space, sound spatialisation, reference and location. With this typology I expect to clarify the contemporary uses of space and spatial concepts in music and sound art.
The Identity of Prakāśāditya
Authors: TANDON PANKAJ
Published: July 2015

One of the enduring open questions in ancient Indian history is the identity of the king who identifies himself on the reverse of his gold coins as prakāśāditya. Most authors have assumed that he was a Gupta king. This paper reviews the various proposals on the identity of Prakāśāditya, arguing why we can be quite sure, as suggested by Robert Göbl, that he was in fact a Hun king and not a Gupta. Then, by presenting a near-complete reading of the obverse legend, it is shown that it is virtually certain that he was in fact the Hun king Toramāṇa, as Göbl had speculated. Implications of this finding are then considered.
Training, Transformation and Education
Authors: Bakhurst David
Published: July 2015

InMind and World, John McDowell concludes that human beings ‘are born mere animals’ and ‘are transformed into thinkers and intentional agents’, principally by their initiation into language. Such ‘transformational views’ of human development typically represent first-language learning as a movement from a non-rationally secured conformity with correct practice, through increasing understanding, to a state of rational mastery of correct practice. Accordingly, they tend to invoke something like Wittgenstein's concept of training to explain the first stage of this process. This essay considers the cogency of this view of learning and development. I agree with Sebastian Rödl that the idea of training (as developed, say, by Meredith Williams) is inadequate to the nature of infancy and child-parent interaction, and I draw on the work of Lev Vygotsky and Michael Tomasello to offer McDowell a richer picture, which acknowledges the child's active role in fostering the second-personal relations that underlie the possibility of language learning. Such considerations force us to revise the transformational view, but do not refute it outright as Rödl believes. I conclude by considering the relevance of McDowell's view of second nature to two striking ideas: Ian Hacking's suggestion that the development of autistic children is ‘non-Vygotskian’ and Derek Parfit's claim that persons are not human beings.
From Phenomenal Selves to Hyperselves
Authors: Dainton Barry
Published: July 2015

The claim that we aresubjects of experience, i.e. beings whose nature is intimately bound up with consciousness, is in many ways a plausible one. There is, however, more than one way of developing a metaphysical account of the nature of subjects. The view that subjects are essentially conscious has the unfortunate consequence that subjects cannot survive periods of unconsciousness. A more appealing alternative is to hold that subjects are beings with thecapacityto be conscious, a capacity which need not always be exercised. But this view can itself be developed in more than one way. The option I defend here is that subjects are nothing more than capacities for consciousness, a view I call the ‘C-theory’. Although the C-theory supplies us with a potentially appealing account of the nature of subjects (and hence ourselves), there are challenges to be overcome. Olson has argued that identifying ourselves with what are, in effect,partsof human organisms leads to a variety of intolerable problems. I suggest that these problems are by no means insuperable. Bayne and Johnston have argued that identifying subjects with experience-producing systems is confronted with a different difficulty. What if these systems can produce multiple streams of consciousness at once. Whatever else they may be, aren't subjects the kind of thing that can havejust onestream of consciousness at a time? In response I argue that this is true in one sense, but not in another. Once this is appreciated, the notion that a subject could have several streams of consciousness at once no longer seems absurd, or impossible.
The Place of The Self in Contemporary Metaphysics
Authors: Madden Rory
Published: July 2015

I explain why the compositionalist conception of ordinary objects prevalent in contemporary metaphysics places the manifest image of the human self in a precarious position: the two theoretically simplest views of the existence of composites each jeopardize some central element of the manifest image. I present an alternative,nomologicalconception of ordinary objects, which secures the manifest image of the human self without the arbitrariness that afflicts compositionalist attempts to do the same. I close by sketching the consequences of the recommended position for the traditional personal identity debate about the nature and persistence of human selves.