bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The effect of carvedilol on serum and tissue oxidative stress parameters in partial ureteral obstruction induced rat model
Authors: Yasar Adem , Erdemir Fikret , Parlaktas Bekir Suha , Atilgan Dogan , Koseoglu Resit Dogan , Saylan Oguzhan , Firat Fatih 
Published: November 2012

AbstractAlthough the pathological mechanism underlying kidney damage is not completely understood, it has been reported that reactive oxygen species (ROS) formed during ureteral obstruction may play an important role in this process. Carvedilol has been used in a limited number of studies examining oxidative injury. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of carvedilol on serum and tissue oxidative stress parameters in the partial unilateral ureteral obstruction (PUUO)‐induced rat model. To our knowledge, the protective effects of carvedilol in the PUUO‐induced rat model have not been reported. Twenty‐six male Wistar albino rats, age 5.5 to 6 months and weighing 250 to 300 g, were used in this study. The rats were randomly divided into three groups. In Group 1 (n = 9), the control group, a sham operation was performed. In Group 2 (n = 8), the PUUO group, the left ureter was embedded into the psoas muscle to create PUUO and maintained for 7 days. In Group 3 (n = 9), carvedilol was orally administered to the rats (2 mg/kg). After the establishment of PUUO, carvedilol was given for the following 7 days. After partial unilateral ureteral obstruction, a nephrectomy was performed to determine the blood and tissue levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA), protein carbonyl (PC), and nitric oxide (NO). The median SOD, MDA, PC, and NO levels in the tissues were 0.006 U/mg protein, 5.11 nmol/g protein, 4.31 nmol/mg protein, and 0.337 μmol/g protein in the control group, respectively. There was a significant increase in tissue SOD (p = 0.014), MDA (p = 0.002), and NO (p = 0.004) levels in Group 2. However, a statistically significant difference was not observed in PC (p = 0.847) enzymatic activity in Group 2. When compared with Group 2, carvedilol treatment caused a reduction in NO (p = 0.003), and PC (p = 0.001) activities in Group 3. The serum SOD (p = 0.004), MDA (p = 0.043), PC (p = 0.043), and NO (p = 0.001) levels were significantly different in Group 3 compared with Group 2. Administration of carvedilol also reduced the detrimental histopathologic effects caused by PUUO. According to histopathological examination of the renal tissues, the inflammation rates were 22.2%, 87.5% and 33.3% in Groups 1, 2, and 3, respectively (p < 0.05). The results of the present study show that partial unilateral ureteral obstruction caused oxidative stress in the serum and kidney tissues of rats, and treatment with carvedilol reduced the harmful effects of ureteral obstruction.
CULTURAL POLITICS IN THE POST-COLONY: MUSIC, NATIONALISM AND STATISM IN MALI, 1964–75
Authors: Skinner Ryan Thomas 
Published: November 2012

ABSTRACTThis article examines the shifting experience of national belonging and state patronage at a crucial juncture in Mali's post-colonial history, the ten-year period that marked the end of the country's First Republic (1960–8) and the beginning of its Second Republic (1968–91). My focus is on the contested politics of culture that characterized this period, elucidated through the experiences and expressions of two popular dance bands, Las Maravillas de Mali and Les Ambassadeurs du Motel. By following the post-colonial careers of Las Maravillas and Les Ambassadeurs I explore social and musical encounters with national community and state authority from which broader questions of political sovereignty and accountability emerge.
HIP-HOP AND CULTURAL CITIZENSHIP ON KENYA'S ‘SWAHILI COAST’
Authors: Eisenberg Andrew J. 
Published: November 2012

ABSTRACTThe Muslim-dominated ‘Swahili coast’ has always served as a conceptual as well as physical periphery for post-colonial Kenya. This article takes Kenyan youth music under the influence of global hip-hop as an ethnographic entry into the dynamics of identity and citizenship in this region. Kenyan youth music borrows from global hip-hop culture the idea that an artist must ‘represent the real’. The ways in which these regional artists construct their public personae thus provide rich data on ‘cultural citizenship’, in Aihwa Ong's (1996) sense of citizenship as subjectification. I focus here on youth music production in the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa between 2004 and 2007. During this time, some local artists adopted a representational strategy that subtly reinscribed the symbolic violence to which members of the coast's Muslim-Swahili society have long been subjected. I examine the representational strategies that were adopted during this period by Mombasan artists who happened to be members of the Muslim-Swahili society (‘subjects of the Swahili coast’, as I name them), with an ethnographic eye and ear trained on what they say about the ways in which young subjects of the Swahili coast are objectified and subjectified as ‘Kenyan youth’ in the twenty-first century.
COERCION, FETISHES AND SUFFERING IN THE DAILY LIVES OF YOUNG NIGERIAN WOMEN IN ITALY
Authors: Taliani Simona 
Published: November 2012

ABSTRACTIn the aftermath of social conflicts and urban violence between autochthons and migrants in Italy in recent years, the question of how to control the growing number of illegal immigrants is increasingly discussed in the language of zero-tolerance anti-crime campaigns. Traffic in women has been a ‘structural’ social reality in the Italian migration landscape over the last 15 years, and is a prominent aspect of illegal female migration. These women are qualified as ‘victims of human trafficking’ when they denounce their pimps. Most of their suffering – involving psychological or psychiatric symptoms and requiring psychosocial support – is expressed through an emic vocabulary that talks about fetishes, spirit possession, witchcraft, sacrifice, debts, and spiritual and moral deliverance. This study – based on extensive field research in Turin into an Ethno-Psychiatric Service (provided by the Frantz Fanon Centre) in which 50 Nigerian women participated – addresses the following anthropological issues: the relationship between emic vocabulary (so called ‘voodoo’ or ‘juju’), migration, and moral economies of violence; and the intersection between symbolic violence and coercion, as experienced through sexual abuse and/or ritual violence (occurring both in Nigeria and Italy, and also during the migration itself in different countries such as Benin, Mali and Libya). In the conclusion of this article, I underline the limits of psychiatric and psychological therapeutical methodsvis-à-visthe symptoms and traumatic experiences that ‘mark’ these female bodies; and I discuss in particular the emergence of new forms of post-colonial disorders affecting subjects who are at the mercy ofcompromiseddesires.
THE LEAST COMMON MULTIPLE OF CONSECUTIVE TERMS IN A QUADRATIC PROGRESSION
Authors: QIAN GUOYOU , TAN QIANRONG , HONG SHAOFANG 
Published: November 2012

AbstractLet k be any given positive integer. We define the arithmetic function gk for any positive integer n by We first show that gk is periodic. Subsequently, we provide a detailed local analysis of the periodic function gk, and determine its smallest period. We also obtain an asymptotic formula for log lcm0≤i≤k
{(n+i)2+1}.
SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE DIOPHANTINE EQUATION y2=x!+A AND RELATED RESULTS
Authors: ULAS MACIEJ 
Published: November 2012

AbstractWe consider the Brocard–Ramanujan type Diophantine equation y2=x!+A and ask about values of A∈ℤ for which there are at least three solutions in the positive integers. In particular, we prove that the set 𝒜 consisting of integers with this property is infinite. In fact we construct a two-parameter family of integers contained in 𝒜. We also give some computational results related to this equation.
Shared Worlds: Rabbinic and Monastic Literature
Authors: Siegal Michal Bar-Asher 
Published: November 2012

In the place where penitents stand even the wholly righteous cannot stand.(R. Abahu)1I prefer a man who hath sinned and done wickedly and repented to the man who hath not sinned and hath not manifested repentance; for the former possesseth a humble mind and the latter esteemeth himself in his thoughts a just man. (Abba Poemen)2
PREDICTING CONTRACEPTIVE USE FROM AN EGALITARIAN MODEL OF WOMEN'S OVERALL HOUSEHOLD POWER VIS-À-VIS CONVENTIONAL POWER MODELS AND THIRD VARIABLES
Authors: LEÓN FEDERICO R. 
Published: November 2012

SummaryResearch on gender power in contraceptive use has focused on whether women have an active role in household decision-making (the participation model) or on the extent of their control of domestic decisions (the control model); it has also addressed the joint effects of power, age, education and work. Findings published in this journal (Woldemicael, 2009) suggest a third power model according to which wives make joint decisions with their husbands on important domestic areas and autonomous decisions on secondary matters (the egalitarian model). In analyses of Demographic and Health Survey data sets from 46 countries, the egalitarian model explained contraceptive use better than the control and participation models in 19 out of 20 countries outside sub-Saharan Africa; its superiority was less overwhelming in this sub-continent. Power effects on contraceptive use that depend on women's education, age and work for cash are larger in sub-Saharan Africa than in other world regions, whereas independent power effects differ little regionally, suggesting the action of a personality factor. Situational specification of decision importance and direct measurement of women's assertiveness are needed to improve the explanation of contraceptive behaviour.
Electrifying the base? Aid and incumbent advantage in Ghana
Authors: Briggs Ryan C. 
Published: November 2012

ABSTRACTIn 1999, the year before Ghana's 2000 election, the country experienced a large, unexpected decline in aid. The incumbent National Democratic Congress (NDC) lost the election. Did the decline in aid hurt the NDC at the polls, or was it simply incidental? Using data from a national, World Bank-funded electrification project, this article shows that the NDC was able to allocate aid according to explicitly political criteria. The article also exploits a quasi-experiment in aid disbursements to show that electrification caused NDC voting to increase in the constituencies that received electrification. Pre-electoral aid fluctuations exert a modest but measurable force on voting patterns. These findings add weight to calls for donors to coordinate to reduce aid volatility. They also show that incumbent governments can allocate aid strategically to secure votes, even under the best-case scenario of strict donor monitoring in an established democracy.
Party factions and power blocs in Ghana: a case study of power politics in the National Democratic Congress
Authors: Bob-Milliar George M. 
Published: November 2012

ABSTRACTCompetition for the executive leadership of a political party and the distribution of state patronage in Ghana is influenced by factional alignments and group interests. In December 2008 the National Democratic Congress (NDC) regained political power, and within months rifts appeared over the allocation of ministerial portfolios. The intra-party murmurings became public when two factions supported rival candidacies for the party's presidential nomination. The pro-Rawlings faction supported the candidacy of Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings, and the anti-Rawlings bloc backed President John Evans Atta Mills. Drawing on Boucek's (2009) typology of factionalism, this article argues that factionalism within the NDC is a dynamic and complex process of informal groupings competing and jockeying for power to satisfy members' interests. It draws three conclusions: party factions are ad hoc groupings that are nurtured into a power bloc, and are constellated around particular individuals; factional conflicts are not rooted in ideology, but are based on differences in policy goals, interests and patronage; and, finally, factionalism fluctuates between cooperative and competitive phases.
Chronic indeterminate phase of Chagas’ disease: mitochondrial involvement in infection with two strains
Authors: BÁEZ ALEJANDRA LIDIA , LO PRESTI MARÍA SILVINA , FRETES RICARDO , DÍAZ CINTIA , PONS PATRICIA , BAZÁN PAOLA CAROLINA , STRAUSS MARIANA , RIVAROLA HÉCTOR WALTER , PAGLINI-OLIVA PATRICIA 
Published: November 2012

SUMMARYChagasic cardiopathy has become one of the most frequent causes of heart failure and sudden death, as well as one of the most common causes of cardio-embolic stroke in Latin America. The myocyte response to oxidative stress involves the progression of cellular changes, primarily targeting the mitochondria and modifying therefore the energy supply. In this paper we analysed the effect of the infection of mice with 2 different strains of Trypanosoma cruzi (Tulahuen and SGO Z12) in the chronic indeterminate stage (75 days post-infection), upon the structure and function of cardiac mitochondria. The structural results showed that 83% of the mitochondria from the Tulahuen-infected mice presented an increase in their matrix and 91% of the mitochondria from the SGO Z12-infected group showed a reduction in their diameter (P < 0·05). When the Krebs cycle and mitochondrial respiratory chain functionality was analysed through the measurement of the citrate synthase and complexes I to IV activity, it showed that their activity was altered in all cases in a similar manner in both infected groups. In this paper we have demonstrated that the chronic indeterminate phase is not ‘silent’ and that cardiac mitochondria are clearly involved in the genesis and progression to the chronic chagasic cardiopathy when different factors alter the host-parasite equilibrium.
The No-Minimum argument, satisficing, and no-best-world: a reply to Jeff Jordan
Authors: DRAGOS CHRIS 
Published: November 2012

AbstractPeter van Inwagen's ‘No-Minimum’ argument boldly rejects a proposition widely accepted by theists and atheists alike: God and gratuitous evil are incompatible. Jeff Jordan (2003) criticizes van Inwagen's argument and (Jordan 2011) defends his position against Michael Schrynemakers (2007). I present two criticisms of Jordan. Concerning his first paper, I argue that if it is plausible to suppose that there exist undetectable evils, Jordan's argument is incomplete. Concerning his second paper, I show how Jordan fails to engage adequately with Schrynemakers's reply and, more seriously, with the notion of satisficing implicit in van Inwagen's No-Minimum argument. To draw out this second criticism, I make use of another debate in the philosophy of religion: the problem of no-best-world.
Outbreak of measles in Central and Eastern Cheshire, UK, October 2008–February 2009
Authors: GHEBREHEWET S. , HAYHURST G. , KEENAN A. , MOORE H. 
Published: November 2012

SUMMARYWe describe the largest outbreak of measles in Central and Eastern Cheshire (North West England) since the MMR vaccine was introduced in 1988, the majority of cases were not vaccinated and more than 20% of the cases belonged to the travelling community. Over 4 months, 147 clinical cases of measles were notified locally to the Cheshire & Merseyside Health Protection Unit (CMHPU). Of these, 67 (45·6%) were laboratory confirmed, 42 (28·6%) were negative, and one was equivocal, leaving 23 probable and 14 possible cases. The primary case was probably an 8-year-old unvaccinated travelling child, symptomatic on 1 October 2008. Measles spread locally and within school-aged children until early February 2009. Most of Central and Eastern Cheshire, including 23 educational institutions (playgroups, nurseries, primary schools, secondary schools, colleges), were affected, showing that there were enough susceptible/unvaccinated children to sustain an outbreak. Nearly a quarter of the confirmed cases (15/67, 22·4%) were aged <13 months and too young to be vaccinated under the UK immunization schedule. This outbreak is a reminder of the importance of achieving herd immunity to prevent spread and protect those at risk of severe illness or complications. There were no fatalities in this outbreak and no significant complications were reported.
A temperate rhamnaceous species with a non-enclosing stone and without physical dormancy
Authors: Walck Jeffrey L. , Shea Cofer M. , Gehan Jayasuriya K.M.G. , Fernando M. Thilina R. , Hidayati Siti N. 
Published: November 2012

AbstractThe purpose of the present study was to investigate the dormancy break and germination requirements of seeds from the rhamnaceous vineBerchemia scandens. The fleshy fruit contains a two-locular stone with an endocarp described as ‘bony, thickish’. Scarified and non-scarified stones increased by about 30–50% in mass during imbibition over a 24-h period. The endocarp of the stone does not completely enclose the seeds and a soft tissue region is present. This region is the primary area of water entrance to the seed, as shown by dye-tracking and by sealing it. Freshly matured and overwintered seeds ofB. scandensgerminated to low percentages at all temperatures during 2 weeks of incubation in light, and they germinated from moderate to high percentages during 12–14 weeks of incubation in light. While cold stratification had a relatively modest effect on the promotion of total germination across most temperatures assessed (if seeds were left for long enough), it had a somewhat stronger effect on germination rate. Cold-stratified seeds germinated equally well in light and darkness. The class of dormancy found in seeds ofB. scandenswould be physiological. The anatomy of the stones readily allows water imbibition, showing that seeds ofB. scandenslack physical dormancy, an uncommon trait in Rhamnaceae.
Source directionality of ambient seismic noise inferred from three‐component beamforming
Authors: Behr Y. , Townend J. , Bowen M. , Carter L. , Gorman R. , Brooks L. , Bannister S. 
Published: November 2012

AbstractThe increased use of ambient seismic noise for seismic imaging requires better understanding of the ambient seismic noise wavefield and its source locations and mechanisms. Although the source regions and mechanisms of Rayleigh waves have been studied extensively, characterization of Love wave source processes are sparse or absent. We present here the first systematic comparison of ambient seismic noise source directions within the primary (~10–20 s period) and secondary (~5–10 s period) microseism bands for both Rayleigh and Love waves in the Southern Hemisphere using vertical‐ and horizontal‐component ambient seismic noise recordings from a dense temporary network of 68 broadband seismometers in New Zealand. Our analysis indicates that Rayleigh and Love waves within the primary microseism band appear to be mostly generated in different areas, whereas in the secondary microseism band they arrive from similar backazimuths. Furthermore, the source areas of surface waves within the secondary microseism band correlate well with modeled deep‐water and near‐coastal source regions.
Fractional seismic velocity change related to magma intrusions during earthquake swarms in the eastern Izu peninsula, central Japan
Authors: Ueno Tomotake , Saito Tatsuhiko , Shiomi Katsuhiko , Enescu Bogdan , Hirose Hitoshi , Obara Kazushige 
Published: November 2012

We investigated temporal changes in seismic velocity associated with active seismic swarms and crustal deformations that occurred in 2006 and 2009 in the eastern Izu peninsula of Japan. To detect changes in seismic velocity during and after these swarm episodes, we used a passive image interferometry technique, by estimating the phase shift of auto‐correlation functions of continuous seismic waveforms in a frequency band of 1–3 Hz. During the 2006 and 2009 swarm episodes, a significant velocity decrease (>0.3%) was detected at the station nearest the swarm area. This velocity decrease occurred when the volumetric strain change at the surface due to magma intrusion was larger than 10−6. We could not, however, find a clear correlation between the velocity decrease and the peak ground acceleration caused by moderate earthquakes (M ∼ 5) that occurred during the swarms. We also found that during the interseismic period the velocity decrease gradually recovered, and appears to be proportional to displacement at the surface measured by GPS stations. These results suggest that the change in the subsurface velocity structure in the eastern Izu peninsula strongly reflects strain changes caused by magma intrusion into the crust.
Local and remote forcing of decadal sea level and thermocline depth variability in the South Indian Ocean
Authors: Trenary Laurie L. , Han Weiqing 
Published: November 2012

AbstractAnalysis is performed on a set of diagnostic numerical experiments designed to isolate local Indian Ocean forcing versus remote forcing from the Pacific via the Indonesian throughflow on decadal variability of subsurface temperature, sea level, and thermocline depth of the South Indian Ocean. It is found that the vertical structure of decadal temperature variability varies from decade‐to‐decade, with maximum variation peaking in the vicinity of the thermocline. The decadal‐scale temperature variations in the tropical southwestern Indian Ocean between 5°S and 17°S are primarily associated with the vertical displacements of the thermocline. Prior to the early 1990s, decadal variations in sea level and thermocline depth can be described in terms of a baroclinic Sverdrup balance, forced by Ekman pumping velocity associated with windstress curl acting on the Indian Ocean. Beginning in the early 1990s, decadal variability of the equatorial Pacific trades forces thermocline variations that modify the sea level and thermocline depth across the tropical South Indian Ocean basin. Farther south, between 20°S and 30°S, oceanic internal variability makes significant contributions to decadal variability of the thermocline. The anomalies along the western coast of Australia are primarily driven by regional forcing acting on the Indian Ocean prior to the 1990s, and signals originating from the equatorial Pacific make a greater contribution thereafter.
An intrinsically disordered protein, CP12: jack of all trades and master of the Calvin cycle
Authors: Gontero Brigitte , Maberly Stephen C. 
Published: November 2012

Many proteins contain disordered regions under physiological conditions and lack specific three-dimensional structure. These are referred to as IDPs (intrinsically disordered proteins). CP12 is a chloroplast protein of approximately 80 amino acids and has a molecular mass of approximately 8.2–8.5 kDa. It is enriched in charged amino acids and has a small number of hydrophobic residues. It has a high proportion of disorder-promoting residues, but has at least two (often four) cysteine residues forming one (or two) disulfide bridge(s) under oxidizing conditions that confers some order. However, CP12 behaves like an IDP. It appears to be universally distributed in oxygenic photosynthetic organisms and has recently been detected in a cyanophage. The best studied role of CP12 is its regulation of the Calvin cycle responsible for CO2 assimilation. Oxidized CP12 forms a supramolecular complex with two key Calvin cycle enzymes, GAPDH (glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase) and PRK (phosphoribulokinase), down-regulating their activity. Association–dissociation of this complex, induced by the redox state of CP12, allows the Calvin cycle to be inactive in the dark and active in the light. CP12 is promiscuous and interacts with other enzymes such as aldolase and malate dehydrogenase. It also plays other roles in plant metabolism such as protecting GAPDH from inactivation and scavenging metal ions such as copper and nickel, and it is also linked to stress responses. Thus CP12 seems to be involved in many functions in photosynthetic cells and behaves like a jack of all trades as well as being a master of the Calvin cycle.