bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
17-β-estradiol affects BLyS serum levels and the nephritogenic autoantibody network accelerating glomerulonephritis in NZB/WF1 mice
Authors: Bassi N , Luisetto R , Ghirardello A , Gatto M , Valente M , Della Barbera M , Nalotto L , Punzi L , Doria A 
Published: March 2015

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease that predominantly affects fertile women, suggesting sex hormones are involved in disease pathogenesis. B lymphocyte stimulator (BLyS) has been found to be elevated in SLE patients and to drive a lupus-like syndrome in transgenic mice. Our aim was to evaluate the effects of estrogen administration on BLyS and nephritogenic anti-C1q and anti-dsDNA antibodies in lupus-prone NZB/WF1 mice. We implanted pellets releasing 17-β-estradiol (18.8 µg/day) on the back side the ear of 10 NZB/WF1 mice (group 1), and compared them with 10 mice intraperitoneally injected with PBS 200 μl twice a week (group 2), as controls. We evaluated BLyS, anti-dsDNA and anti-C1q serum levels starting one week after pellet implantation. We also analyzed time to proteinuria onset, proteinuria-free survival and overall survival. Kidneys, spleen, liver and lungs were harvested for histological analysis. Mice were bred until natural death. BLyS serum levels were higher in group 1 than in group 2 mice at each evaluation. Group 1 mice developed nephritogenic antibodies and proteinuria significantly earlier and at higher levels than controls. Direct correlation between BLyS and anti-C1q ( R2 = 0.6962, p < 0.0001) or anti-dsDNA ( R2 = 0.5953, p < 0.0001), and between anti-C1q and anti-dsDNA autoantibodies ( R2 = 0.5615, p < 0.0001) were found. Proteinuria-free and global survival rates were significantly lower in group 1 than in controls. Histological analyses showed more severe abnormalities in group 1 mice. Estrogen administration is associated with increased levels of BLyS as well as of anti-C1q and anti-dsDNA antibodies, leading to accelerated glomerulonephritis and disease progression in NZB/WF1 mice.
Experienced Challenges in Prehospital Management
Authors: Nordby Halvor 
Published: March 2015

The article presents an exploratory qualitative study of how managers of ambulance stations experience communication with employees working as authorized paramedics. The aim was to understand how the managers perceived challenges in this communication, and how they thought it was possible to meet these challenges. Method: The study involved semi-structured interviews with 20 managers, supplemented with observation studies in ambulance stations. The interviews were analyzed on the basis of a methodological reflective lifeworld approach, and compared to the participant observations of interaction between managers and employees. Results: The managers thought it was difficult to secure good communication. The reasons varied, but everybody referred to lack of time, knowledge gaps and unpredictable, hectic work schedules. This implied that employee dialogue often had to be brief and direct, and that it was difficult to conform to ideals of extensive communication. In the light of these challenges, the managers held that it was important to focus on attitudes, interpersonal relations and team building in order to develop well-functioning services. Discussion: It is challenging to implement modern ideals of communicative human resource management (HRM) in prehospital management. Practical limits justify communication practices with elements from top-down management (TDM). In recent management theory, TDM has been conceived of as a brutal and old-fashioned communication model, but it is sometimes necessary to use principles from TDM in prehospital management. Conclusion: In management theory, HRM is often presented as a communication model that health managers should conform to. This study suggests that HRM should not be implemented in all areas of health management. It is important to develop models that combine elements from HRM and TDM with ethical frameworks and team-building approaches, in order to capture the reality of health care services where lack of time and other resources are salient aspects. Such models can help managers to cope with difficult situations and should, therefore, be a focus area in health management theory.
Impact of active screening for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and decolonization on MRSA infections, mortality and medical cost: a quasi-experimental study in surgical intensive care unit
Authors: Lee Yuarn-Jang , Chen Jen-Zon , Lin Hsiu-Chen , Liu Hsin-Yi , Lin Shyr-Yi , Lin Hsien-Ho , Fang Chi-Tai , Hsueh Po-Ren 
Published: March 2015

Abstract
Introduction
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a leading pathogen of healthcare-associated infections in intensive care units (ICUs). Prior studies have shown that decolonization of MRSA carriers is an effective method to reduce MRSA infections in ICU patients. However, there is currently a lack of data on its effect on mortality and medical cost.

Methods
Using a quasi-experimental, interrupted time-series design with re-introduction of intervention, we evaluated the impact of active screening and decolonization on MRSA infections, mortality and medical costs in the surgical ICU of a university hospital in Taiwan. Regression models were used to adjust for effects of confounding variables.

Results
MRSA infection rate decreased from 3.58 (baseline) to 0.42‰ (intervention period) (P <0.05), re-surged to 2.21‰ (interruption period) and decreased to 0.18‰ (re-introduction of intervention period) (P <0.05). Patients admitted to the surgical ICU during the intervention periods had a lower in-hospital mortality (13.5% (155 out of 1,147) versus 16.6% (203 out of 1,226), P = 0.038). After adjusting for effects of confounding variables, the active screening and decolonization program was independently associated with a decrease in in-hospital MRSA infections (adjusted odds ratio: 0.3; 95% CI: 0.1 to 0.8) and 90-day mortality (adjusted hazard ratio: 0.8; 95% CI: 0.7 to 0.99). Cost analysis showed that $22 medical costs can be saved for every $1 spent on the intervention.

Conclusions
Active screening for MRSA and decolonization in ICU settings is associated with a decrease in MRSA infections, mortality and medical cost.
The Ensembl Regulatory Build
Authors: Zerbino Daniel R , Wilder Steven P , Johnson Nathan , Juettemann Thomas , Flicek Paul R 
Published: March 2015

AbstractMost genomic variants associated with phenotypic traits or disease do not fall within gene coding regions, but in regulatory regions, rendering their interpretation difficult. We collected public data on epigenetic marks and transcription factor binding in human cell types and used it to construct an intuitive summary of regulatory regions in the human genome. We verified it against independent assays for sensitivity. The Ensembl Regulatory Build will be progressively enriched when more data is made available. It is freely available on the Ensembl browser, from the Ensembl Regulation MySQL database server and in a dedicated track hub.
Bone mineral density and carotid atherosclerosis in systemic lupus erythematosus: a controlled cross-sectional study
Authors: Ajeganova Sofia , Gustafsson Thomas , Jogestrand Tomas , Frostegård Johan , Hafström Ingiäld 
Published: March 2015

Abstract
Introduction
As osteoporosis is reported to be associated with atherosclerosis in the general population we examined the relationship between bone mass and carotid measurements in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and controls, and possible links between them in SLE.

Methods
In a cross-sectional study, 111 SLE-patient were compared with 111 age- and sex-matched controls, mean age 48.7(12.9) years, 89% were women, of which 51% postmenopausal. Carotid intima media thickness (cIMT), carotid plaque occurrence and echogenicity were determined by B-mode ultrasound and bone mineral density (BMD) by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA).

Results
BMD and cIMT were inversely associated both in patients and controls. Patients, but not controls, with carotid plaque had higher cIMT at low BMD than at normal BMD, p = 0.010. Logistic regression indicated more than doubled odds ratio (OR) of carotid plaque in patients, particularly in post-menopausal women, than in controls in relation to all BMD measurements. For low BMD at hip, significant increased OR for echolucent plaque was shown for patients compared with controls.
In patients, significant impact of age, body mass index, smoking, systolic blood pressure, blood lipids, diabetes mellitus, impaired renal function, low levels of complement C3 and C4, history of nephritis, SLE-damage index and ever use of antimalarial was found for association between BMD and higher cIMT and carotid plaque. In multivariate regression, low C4 was independent contributor to association between total BMD and upper cIMT tertile, accounted for OR (95% confidence interval) of 3.2 (1.03-10.01), and also for association with bilateral carotid plaque, OR of 4.8 (1.03-22.66). The contribution of low C4 for the association between BMD and carotid atherosclerosis was enhanced within the second and third tertiles of total BMD.

Conclusion
This study is the first to demonstrate inverse association between BMD and carotid measurements in both SLE-patients and controls. Our results suggest that SLE-patients may suffer higher burden of (sub)clinical atherosclerotic disease, especially presence of both echolucent and echogenic plaque, than controls with the same bone mineral status. Low complement C4 seems to play an important role in earlier development of carotid atherosclerosis already within (sub)normal ranges of total BMD in patients.
Workers’ Lunch Away from Home in the Paris of the Belle Epoque: The French Model of Meals as Norm and Practice
Authors: Bruegel Martin 
Published: March 2015

This article expands the anthropological notion of the “proper meal” to account for the quantitative aspects of workers’ lunch away from home in Paris around 1900. It reconstructs the meals’ caloric content and shows that male workers had easier access than their female colleagues to what they considered a full repast. Yet not everybody behaved according to the French model of the structured meal, namely, appetizer, entrée, and dessert. A full-fledged takeout food sector offered alternatives to the French model and allowed consumers to distance themselves from norms. Many French scholars have accepted the canonical dietary model as self-evident, which has led to neglect of this more informal food space where cultural rules exerted a weaker hold on eating behavior. Attention to the cultural importance and the material content of the commercial midday meal around 1900 offers a starting point to examine the developments of food practices and body weights in the twentieth century.
En élaborant la notion anthropologique du « vrai repas » pour estimer le contenu calorique des déjeuners des ouvriers à l’extérieur autour de 1900, cette recherche montre que les hommes ont un accès plus facile que les femmes à ce qu’ils considèrent comme un repas roboratif. Mais tout le monde ne mange pas selon le modèle français du repas structuré en trois: hors d’œuvre, plat de résistance, dessert. Un secteur d’aliments à emporter propose des alternatives au modèle français et permet aux consommateurs de tenir les normes à distance. L’histoire ou le retour du refoulé: l’ethnocentrisme contemporain qui accepte le modèle canonique comme une évidence a fait négliger aux chercheurs français cet espace informel où les règles de la bienséance n’exercent qu’une influence limitée sur les pratiques alimentaires. L’oubli dans lequel est tombée l’histoire de cette nourriture de rue a permis d’interpréter l’émergence de la restauration rapide comme une manœuvre étrangère et de qualifier de « malbouffe » les mets qu’elle propose.
The Basque Lobby at the EU level: A matter of expertise and networks
Authors: Bienefeld Eric 
Published: March 2015

Abstract
Unexplored areas in EU literature regarding regional representational channels give impetus to the research. Novelty lies in the article’s concentration on reciprocal regional governmental and EU relations to prove that Regions with Legislative Competencies interact in EU decision-making, to influence it both formally and informally. It relies on a Multilevel Governance (MLG) approach, considering varying levels of influence of sub-state, state and supranational entities within the EU. The Basque Country’s high degree of autonomy and resources maximize its ability to influence policy. The article explores the most effective forms of representation and the policy areas where its activism has an impact.
Child pornography and the law: Of Good Report (2013). Reopening debates on secrecy, information and censorship
Authors: Tomaselli Keyan 
Published: March 2015

Abstract
The first cinema-release South African made film to be banned since the fall of apartheid was Of Good Report (2013). This article discusses the broader context of the banning, its unbanning, and the debates that occurred. These are linked to broader issues of freedom of media and democracy, of who gets to decide, and the nature of increasingly repressive state–civil society relations. Issues of censorship, regulation of images and audience agency are examined.
Everything but ‘ordinary’: Representations of Africa in film
Authors: Sakota-Kokot Tanja 
Published: March 2015

Abstract
This article examines four war-themed mainstream films about Africa – I Dreamed of Africa (Hugh Hudson, 2000), The Constant Gardener (Fernando Meirelles, 2005), Black Hawk Down (Ridley Scott, 2001) and Blood Diamond (Edward Zwick, 2006). The films were chosen because they present seemingly different representations of the African characters through their narrative strategies. The discussion will examine the representation of Western and African characters and how they function and interact with each other within a particular narrative context. The films remain centred on events that have occurred in Africa yet display typical features and characteristics of Hollywood film: the central characters are predominantly colonizers from the West who have entered Africa and interact from a hierarchical point of view with the land, the animals and the people. Drawing on Ndebele’s discussion on whether states in Africa can ever be represented as ‘ordinary’, this article will interrogate how the representation of both characters from Africa and the African setting contribute to the perceived notion that Africa can never be ‘ordinary’ and it will always be represented in extreme terms.
TIA (This is Africa!): Colonial violence in Edward Zwick’s Blood Diamond (2006)
Authors: Dokotum Okaka Opio 
Published: March 2015

Abstract
Blood Diamond is one of the recent Hollywood films that avoids the exotic representations of Africa of the colonial melodramas and even critiques western stereotypes about Africa, but as Curtis Keim asserts, ‘Hollywood stereotyping of Africa has become veiled rather than growing less prevalent’ (2009: 24–25). The code TIA (This is Africa) in the film summarizes the film’s representational logic of violence which implies that in Africa, violence is the order of the day. The image of Africa as a death-trap invokes memories of dystopian colonial literary discourse about Sierra Leone as ‘the white man’s grave’ (Phillips 2002). In this article I examine the treatment of violence in Blood Diamond to establish its complex patterns and motifs, and the racialized frame of representing violent death. I examine the lucrative nature of neocolonial violence for mercenaries, their African nation clients, and rebels, and what it says about the complexity of neocolonial violence in Africa.
Violence as a symbolic tool of enunciation: Film as an artistic response to Kenya’s socio-eco-political realities
Authors: Mugubi John 
Published: March 2015

Abstract
Most socio-political films in Kenya in the last decade manifest manifold shades of violence. By juxtaposing two films (Wale Watu and Pieces for Peace) that reflect the scenario in Kenya following the bungled elections of 27 December 2007 – films that exhibit obvious physical violence – against two more (Benta and Nairobi Half Life), that explore everyday violence in metropolises characterized by social inequalities. This article aims to evolve a practical framework for the evaluation of how dramatic craftsmanship on the theme of violence in these films operates to interpret the Kenyan social, cultural, economic and political experiences. A framework of this nature will provide us with grounds upon which we can make objective deductions and substantive statements about Kenyan films in this regard. The article examines the external and internal processes operating upon the characters in the film texts and the strategies the film-makers employ to bring out these processes. Such an analysis is crucial in the evaluation of the relationship between an aspect of form – character – and content in the Kenyan film. Characters in the four selected films are considered from a socio-political perspective. Guided by the belief that any committed art is inseparable from political and social realities in its function, the article looks at the film-makers as committed artists, and examines their use of film as a vehicle for evaluating society and enunciating their visions for their societies.
HIV and AIDS: The violence of visuality and the visuality of violence
Authors: Rwafa Urther , Mushore Washington 
Published: March 2015

Abstract
This article explores the expression of violence through verbal and visual representations of HIV and AIDS in the film ‘Musinsimuke’ which literary means ‘change’ (Markham, 2001). The epistemological understanding of violence embraces two important strands: the symbolic and the physical. These two facets are intertwined and feed into each other. The manifestations of violence are played out onto the body which is a contestable terrain that reflects possibilities for both hope and social abjectivity. Violence destabilizes the normal: it is the politics of representation in which people infected can be viewed as hopeless and useless, and destined for death. In its psychological dimension, violence is the unstable condition in which infected people may begin to undermine themselves instead of living positively with the disease by leading a healthy life. This article will argue that extreme cinematic representations of diseased bodies gloss over the realities and methods of preventing HIV and AIDS. We will also conceptualize the violence of representation as metaphorically depicting Zimbabwe as a contaminated nation, undergoing challenging times and in need of serious attention. Most donor-funded films have a tendency to hit out at the government by proffering macabre images of diseased bodies, creating stereotypes and reinforcing damaging myths about African sexuality. Such myths need to be challenged and deconstructed through visual images working as counter-cultures.
In Defense of Mali’s Gold: The Political and Military Organization of the Northern Upper Niger, c. 1650–c. 1850
Authors: Jansen Jan 
Published: March 2015

Abstract
This analysis offers a compelling alternative to the received wisdom that the Mali Empire had dissolved by the end of the seventeenth century. It will be demonstrated that between 1650 and 1850, to the north of the gold fields of the Mali Empire the rulers of Kangaba successfully managed a defense zone. Using military and organizational innovations attributed to polities east of the Niger River (Kong, Segu [Ségou], Kano), they fused the political heritage of the Mali Empire with a system of triads of refuges or fortifications. Throughout the zone, groups of mercenaries of different ethnic origins were assimilated into the Kangaba polity and integrated into the political organization as well as Mali’s political ideology. The defense zone protected the gold fields from northern military pressure, in particular from the Bambara Segu kingdom, as well as from small bands of marauders and, later, the armies of El Hadji Umar. By elaborating a regional military-strategic focus that pays close attention to the landscape, and by using the concept of warrior state as a heuristic device, this article mobilizes a variety of hitherto unused archival, architectural, genealogical, and geographical sources. This article does a historiographic reassessment of the dominance of oral traditions as sources for the study of the history of the Mali Empire and the Upper Niger.
Finding the Historical Wangrin or the Banality of Virtue
Authors: Austen Ralph A. 
Published: March 2015

Abstract
The hero of Amadou Hampâté Bâ’s canonical book, L’étrange destin de Wangrin, was a historical figure. However, the rich, if incomplete, colonial records of this individual’s career as an interpreter and clerk in French West Africa indicate that he was far less corrupt or heroic than the person depicted in what we now have to call a novel. This work makes use of real historical incidents but misplaces and distorts them, indicating that Hampâté Bâ’s was inspired as much by literary tropes as by empirical reality. The banal virtue of the historical Wangrin (and even that of his shadier rival, the interpreter Romo Sidebi/Moro Sidibé) also suggests a break between the incentives and opportunities for corruption in the “classical” interwar colonial era and the late- and postcolonial conditions that have produced far more consequential patterns of African administrative malfeasance.
Reflections on Legitimation and Pedagogy in the “Islamic Revolutions” of West Africa on the Frontiers of the Islamic World
Authors: Robinson David 
Published: March 2015

Abstract
In an effort to create elements of comparability across reform movements at the frontiers of the Islamic world, this article examines issues of legitimation and pedagogy in the five widely reported movements of reform in the western and central Sudan in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Among the three most intentional efforts to legitimate reform and jihad, the “Muhammadan” form followed carefully by Uthman dan Fodio in Hausaland was the most successful and easily generalized. I then turn to the issue of pedagogy and the development of vernacular literatures (‘ajami) for the spread of Islam. The most widely developed were those of Sokoto, on the one hand, and Futa Jalon and, especially, Labe, on the other. These literatures of recitation enabled reformers to expand practice beyond the merchant and urban elites to reach the non- or less-literate people (e.g., slaves, women, and those in the rural areas generally) through recitation of poetry and narrative about Islam. At the end, I suggest a possible alternative path to the creation of vernacular literature, in the marriage of griot skills to the use of Arabic.