bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Comparison of steroid administration methods in patients with idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss: a retrospective observational study
Authors: Kim S.H. , Jung S.Y. , Kim M.G. , Byun J.Y. , Park M.S. , Yeo S.G. 
Published: October 2014

ObjectivesTo compare the recovery rates of patients with idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSHL) treated with oral systemic steroids (PO) or intratympanic steroid injection (IT) or both.DesignA retrospective observational study.SettingTertiary referral centre.ParticipantsEight hundred and forty‐four patients diagnosed with ISSHL within 14 days of the onset of symptoms. The patients were divided into three groups by treatment modality.Main outcome measuresThreshold of pure‐tone tests, age, accompanying symptoms and underlying diseases were compared. The level of final hearing recovery was evaluated by the application of the results of the pure‐tone test that was performed at least 3 months after the completion of each treatment.ResultsFinal hearing recovery rate differed significantly by the type of treatment (P = 0.031). Recovery rates in the PO and combined groups were significantly higher in patients with mild (85.1% and 88.6%, respectively) than with profound (52.8% and 69.0%, respectively) hearing loss (P < 0.05). In contrast, severity and recovery rate were not significantly correlated in the IT group (P > 0.05). Combined treatment yielded significantly higher recovery rates than other treatment modalities in patients without hypertension (HTN) and diabetes mellitus (DM) (P = 0.021).ConclusionIn the group treated with combined therapy, better hearing improvement was obtained than in the groups treated with systemic steroid only or with intratympanic steroid injection only without complications. These findings suggest that the combination of systemic administration and intratympanic injection may improve patient prognosis.
The Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Museological Perspective
Authors: Kurin Richard 
Published: October 2014

AbstractThe Smithsonian Folklife Festival began as a four‐day event held over the Fourth of July holiday in 1967, outdoors on the Mall. The impulse for it came from Smithsonian Secretary S. Dillon Ripley. The form of it came from Ralph Rinzler, field research director for the Newport Folk Festival and a documentarian who sought out authentic, grassroots American musicians. The Festival was conceived as giving voice to the less known and under‐represented, a philosophy that quickly expanded to encompass the world of what is now called intangible cultural heritage. The Festival's museology has as its core the foregrounding of the cultural exemplars and the primacy of their voices in the presentations. It has energized new possibilities for what can be done in the Smithsonian and on the National Mall, and in the lives of people, communities, and institutions well beyond.
The Smithsonian Folklife Festival and Cultural Heritage Policy in Colombia: A Case Study
Authors: Cadaval Olivia , Diaz‐Carrera Cristina 
Published: October 2014

AbstractAs Colombia began to develop its Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) policy, it signed an agreement with the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage to collaborate on a Smithsonian Folklife Festival of Colombia's national living traditions, to be shown on the National Mall in 2011. This essay addresses the role of the Smithsonian Folklife Center in advocating for a cultural heritage policy grounded in cultural democracy and intercultural dialogue, as well as its collaboration with UNESCO in crafting the 2003 convention for the protection of intangible cultural heritage. We focus on the Center's signature collaborative program, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, and on our experience with the 2011 Festival program, Colombia: The Nature of Culture. We examine the relationship between the Festival and Colombia's intangible cultural heritage communities, policies, and practices, through intercultural dialogues that contribute to shaping Intangible Cultural Heritage policy from the bottom up.
Making Meaning on the Mall: The Smithsonian Folklife Festival as a Constructivist Museum
Authors: Belanus Betty J. , Fernandez Katie 
Published: October 2014

AbstractGeorge Hein, museum education theorist, asserts that there are five qualities a “constructivist exhibition” must have (1998, 35). The authors, assembling observations of visitor engagement and qualitative data from the 2013 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, compare the event to Hein's constructivist exhibition criteria, to assess whether the Festival allowed visitors to “make meaning,” and to see whether visitor meaning‐making meshed with the goals of the curators. The answers have the potential to help improve visitor experiences and learning outcomes at museums and other curated cultural events.
Cultivating Connectivity: Folklife and Inclusive Excellence in Museums
Authors: Dewhurst C. Kurt , N'Diaye Diana Baird , MacDowell Marsha 
Published: October 2014

AbstractToday there is a growing global awareness of the need to address issues related to the safeguarding and use of both tangible and intangible heritage. By engaging with communities in the documentation of local cultures—especially their folklife, or in other words, their traditional intangible cultural heritage—museums can create collections that will serve as foundations for museum research, exhibitions, and programs that have more resonance with and relevance for those communities. Interactions of these kinds—in particular those of the Smithsonian's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and the Michigan State University Museum, home of the Michigan Traditional Arts Program, as well as collaborations between the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and the Great Lakes Folk Festival, and other programs around the world—have served as important platforms for public discourse about a variety of issues and have produced programs and exhibitions both at home and around the world.
Judicialisation of Trade Policy and the Impact on National Constitutional Rights of EU Free Trade Agreements with Partner Countries in Europe
Authors: Tatham Allan F. 
Published: October 2014

AbstractThis article looks at the way in which the model of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) as a trade policy actor, both internally and externally, has been emulated by courts of European states with a free trade agreement with the Union. It examines in particular how, through application or rejection of—deference or defence to—EU law as interpreted by the ECJ, those courts have sought to balance the benefits of open international trade with the protection of domestic fundamental constitutional values. The article concludes by emphasising how the ‘de‐politicisation’ of trade policy through its concomitant judicialisation has allowed such courts to seise upon a role in trade policy determination, enabling them to become actors in the process of determining the rate and extent to which the Europeanisation of trade law occurs in their national systems.
Protection of Fundamental Rights in Latin American FTAs and MERCOSUR: An Exploratory Agenda
Authors: Franca‐Filho Marcilio Toscano , Lixinski Lucas , Giupponi Belén Olmos 
Published: October 2014

AbstractLatin America is a fertile ground for exploring issues of trade and human rights, but relatively little seems to be written about human rights in economic integration processes across Latin America. This article is an attempt at remedying this. It is an exploratory piece that highlights some of the major issues across a wide range of Free Trade Agreements involving Latin American countries, with particular emphasis on MERCOSUR. The authors conclude that in spite of Latin America's openness to international human rights discourses, pragmatism seems to dominate trade negotiations. While human rights considerations are slowly seeping into trade negotiations, this seems to happen largely because of pressure exerted by outside actors. There appears to be a lack of true endogenous push towards human rights and trade inside the bloc.
Population genomic analyses of early‐phase Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) domestication/captive breeding
Authors: Mäkinen Hannu , Vasemägi Anti , McGinnity Philip , Cross Tom F. , Primmer Craig R. 
Published: October 2014

AbstractDomestication can have adverse genetic consequences, which may reduce the fitness of individuals once released back into the wild. Many wild Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) populations are threatened by anthropogenic influences, and they are supplemented with captively bred fish. The Atlantic salmon is also widely used in selective breeding programs to increase the mean trait values for desired phenotypic traits. We analyzed a genomewide set of SNPs in three domesticated Atlantic salmon strains and their wild conspecifics to identify loci underlying domestication. The genetic differentiation between domesticated strains and wild populations was low (FST < 0.03), and domesticated strains harbored similar levels of genetic diversity compared to their wild conspecifics. Only a few loci showed footprints of selection, and these loci were located in different linkage groups among the different wild population/hatchery strain comparisons. Simulated scenarios indicated that differentiation in quantitative trait loci exceeded that in neutral markers during the early phases of divergence only when the difference in the phenotypic optimum between populations was large. This study indicates that detecting selection using standard approaches in the early phases of domestication might be challenging unless selection is strong and the traits under selection show simple inheritance patterns.
DCT protects human melanocytic cells from UVR and ROS damage and increases cell viability
Authors: Ainger Stephen A. , Yong Xuan L. , Wong Shu S. , Skalamera Dubravka , Gabrielli Brian , Leonard J. Helen , Sturm Richard A. 
Published: October 2014

AbstractDopachrome tautomerase (DCT) is involved in the formation of the photoprotective skin pigment eumelanin and has also been shown to have a role in response to apoptotic stimuli and oxidative stress. The effect of DCT on UVR DNA damage responses and survival pathways in human melanocytic cells was examined by knockdown experiments using melanoma cells, neonatal foreskin melanoblasts (MB) in monoculture and in co‐culture with human keratinocytes. MB cell strains genotyped as either MC1R WT or MC1R RHC homozygotes, which are known to be deficient in DCT, were transduced with lentivirus vectors for either DCT knockdown or overexpression. We found melanoma cell survival was reduced by DCT depletion and by UVR over time. UVR‐induced p53 and pp53‐Ser15 levels were reduced with DCT depletion. Knockdown of DCT in MC1R WT and MC1R RHC MB cells reduced their survival after UVR exposure, whereas increased DCT protein levels enhanced survival. DCT depletion reduced p53 and pp53‐Ser15 levels in WM266‐4 melanoma and MC1R WT MB cells, while MC1R RHC MB cells displayed variable levels. Both MC1R WT and RHC genotypes of MB cells were responsive to UVR at 3 h with increases in both p53 and pp53‐Ser15 proteins. MC1R WT MB cell strains in coculture with keratinocytes have an increased cell survival after UVR exposure when compared to those in monoculture, a protective effect which appears to be conferred by the keratinocytes.
Nineteenth century narratives reveal historic catch rates for Australian snapper (Pagrus auratus)
Authors: Thurstan Ruth H , Campbell Alexander B , Pandolfi John M 
Published: October 2014

AbstractSnapper (Pagrus auratus) is widely distributed throughout subtropical and temperate southern oceans and forms a significant recreational and commercial fishery in Queensland, Australia. Using data from government reports, media sources, popular publications and a government fisheries survey carried out in 1910, we compiled information on individual snapper fishing trips that took place prior to the commencement of fisherywide organized data collection, from 1871 to 1939. In addition to extracting all available quantitative data, we translated qualitative information into bounded estimates and used multiple imputation to handle missing values, forming 287 records for which catch rate (snapper fisher−1 h−1) could be derived. Uncertainty was handled through a parametric maximum likelihood framework (a transformed trivariate Gaussian), which facilitated statistical comparisons between data sources. No statistically significant differences in catch rates were found among media sources and the government fisheries survey. Catch rates remained stable throughout the time series, averaging 3.75 snapper fisher−1 h−1 (95% confidence interval, 3.42–4.09) as the fishery expanded into new grounds. In comparison, a contemporary (1993–2002) south‐east Queensland charter fishery produced an average catch rate of 0.4 snapper fisher−1 h−1 (95% confidence interval, 0.31–0.58). These data illustrate the productivity of a fishery during its earliest years of development and represent the earliest catch rate data globally for this species. By adopting a formalized approach to address issues common to many historical records – missing data, a lack of quantitative information and reporting bias – our analysis demonstrates the potential for historical narratives to contribute to contemporary fisheries management.
The European Commission and the European Defence Agency: A Case of Rivalry?
Authors: Fiott Daniel 
Published: October 2014

AbstractThis article analyzes relations between the European Commission and the European Defence Agency (EDA) as they relate to European defence‐industrial co‐operation. To undertake the analysis, the article departs from a strictly intergovernmental‐supranational study of institutional relations by building upon the concept of ‘mandate overlap’. Additionally, the focus is on the constitutive policy approach of each institution. The EDA's approach is characterized as ad hoc and project‐based in nature, and the European Commission's approach is structural and market‐based. Once the two approaches are delineated, the article then investigates whether either of the bodies has deviated from their respective mandates over a period beginning in 1996 and ending in 2013. On this basis, the conclusion is that there is evidence of rivalry between the two bodies, especially when European Union Member States decide to use either entity to secure their interests.
Track analysis, simulation, and field survey of the 2013 Typhoon Haiyan storm surge
Authors: Takagi H. , Esteban M. , Shibayama T. , Mikami T. , Matsumaru R. , De Leon M. , Thao N.D. , Oyama T. , Nakamura R. 
Published: October 2014

AbstractThe authors have examined the characteristics of Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda), which made landfall on the coast of the Philippines on November 2013, generating a substantial storm surge. In order to better understand the storm surge phenomenon, its nature and severity were analysed by means of a numerical simulation and a field survey. Unlike most other tropical cyclones that weaken before they hit land, Haiyan struck Leyte Island at near peak strength, with maximum sustained wind speeds of 160 knots, the strongest in the recorded history of the Western North Pacific. Haiyan approached very quickly with a forward speed of 41 km/h towards Leyte, which was also the fastest among typhoons with similar intensities. As a result of these extreme gusts and the exceptionally low central pressure of the typhoon (895 hPa), Haiyan caused the largest storm surge in the recorded history of the Philippines. Numerical simulations show that the maximum storm surges occurred in Leyte Island and Samar Island. A storm surge field survey conducted by the authors corroborated this, with maximum inundation height of 7 m recorded in Tacloban, located at the northern end of Leyte Gulf. The simulation results also corroborate the fact that water levels at some locations first lowered and then rapidly began to increase after an hour.
Characterization and comparison of toxin‐producing isolates of Dinophysis acuminata from New England and Canada
Authors: Tong Mengmeng , Smith Juliette L. , Richlen Mindy , Steidinger Karen A. , Kulis David M. , Fux Elie , Anderson Donald M. 
Published: October 2014

Following the identification of the first toxic isolate of Dinophysis acuminata from the northwestern Atlantic, we conducted detailed investigations into the morphology, phylogeny, physiology, and toxigenicity of three isolates from three sites within the northeastern U.S./Canada region: Eel Pond and Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, and the Bay of Fundy. Another isolate, collected from the Gulf of Mexico, was grown under the same light, temperature, and prey conditions for comparison. Despite observed phenotypic heterogeneity, morphometrics and molecular evidence classified the three northwestern Atlantic isolates as D. acuminata Claparède & Lachmann, whereas the isolate from the Gulf of Mexico was morphologically identified as D. cf. ovum. Physiological and toxin analyses supported these classifications, with the three northwestern Atlantic isolates being more similar to each other with respect to growth rate, toxin profile, and diarrhetic shellfish poisoning (DSP) toxin content (okadaic acid + dinophysistoxin 1/cell) than they were to the isolate from the Gulf of Mexico, which had toxin profiles similar to those published for D. cf. ovum F. Schütt. The DSP toxin content, 0.01–1.8 pg okadaic acid (OA) + dinophysistoxin (DTX1) per cell, of the three northwestern Atlantic isolates was low relative to other D. acuminata strains from elsewhere in the world, consistent with the relative scarcity of shellfish harvesting closures due to DSP toxins in the northeastern U.S. and Canada. If this pattern is repeated with the analyses of more geographically and temporally dispersed isolates from the region, it would appear that the risk of significant DSP toxin outbreaks in the northwestern Atlantic is low to moderate. Finally, the morphological, physiological, and toxicological variability within D. acuminata may reflect spatial (and/or temporal) population structure, and suggests that sub‐specific resolution may be helpful in characterizing bloom dynamics and predicting toxicity.
Of linkers and autochaperones: an unambiguous nomenclature to identify common and uncommon themes for autotransporter secretion
Authors: Drobnak Igor , Braselmann Esther , Chaney Julie L. , Leyton Denisse L. , Bernstein Harris D. , Lithgow Trevor , Luirink Joen , Nataro James P. , Clark Patricia L. 
Published: October 2014

SummaryAutotransporter (AT) proteins provide a diverse array of important virulence functions to Gram‐negative bacterial pathogens, and have also been adapted for protein surface display applications. The ‘autotransporter’ moniker refers to early models that depicted these proteins facilitating their own translocation across the bacterial outer membrane. Although translocation is less autonomous than originally proposed, AT protein segments upstream of the C‐terminal transmembrane β‐barrel have nevertheless consistently been found to contribute to efficient translocation and/or folding of the N‐terminal virulence region (the ‘passenger’). However, defining the precise secretion functions of these AT regions has been complicated by the use of multiple overlapping and ambiguous terms to define AT sequence, structural, and functional features, including ‘autochaperone’, ‘linker’ and ‘junction’. Moreover, the precise definitions and boundaries of these features vary among ATs and even among research groups, leading to an overall murky picture of the contributions of specific features to translocation. Here we propose a unified, unambiguous nomenclature for AT structural, functional and conserved sequence features, based on explicit criteria. Applied to 16 well‐studied AT proteins, this nomenclature reveals new commonalities for translocation but also highlights that the autochaperone function is less closely associated with a conserved sequence element than previously believed.
The xylanase inhibitor TAXI‐III counteracts the necrotic activity of a Fusarium graminearum xylanase in vitro and in durum wheat transgenic plants
Authors: Moscetti Ilaria , Faoro Franco , Moro Stefano , Sabbadin Davide , Sella Luca , Favaron Francesco , D'Ovidio Renato 
Published: October 2014

SummaryThe xylanase inhibitor TAXI‐III has been proven to delay Fusarium head blight (FHB) symptoms caused by Fusarium graminearum in transgenic durum wheat plants. To elucidate the molecular mechanism underlying the capacity of the TAXI‐III transgenic plants to limit FHB symptoms, we treated wheat tissues with the xylanase FGSG_03624, hitherto shown to induce cell death and hydrogen peroxide accumulation. Experiments performed on lemmas of flowering wheat spikes and wheat cell suspension cultures demonstrated that pre‐incubation of xylanase FGSG_03624 with TAXI‐III significantly decreased cell death. Most interestingly, a reduced cell death relative to control non‐transgenic plants was also obtained by treating, with the same xylanase, lemmas of TAXI‐III transgenic plants. Molecular modelling studies predicted an interaction between the TAXI‐III residue H395 and residues E122 and E214 belonging to the active site of xylanase FGSG_03624. These results provide, for the first time, clear indications in vitro and in planta that a xylanase inhibitor can prevent the necrotic activity of a xylanase, and suggest that the reduced FHB symptoms on transgenic TAXI‐III plants may be a result not only of the direct inhibition of xylanase activity secreted by the pathogen, but also of the capacity of TAXI‐III to avoid host cell death.
La fin du roman et le « sens ultime »
Authors: Alling Annika Mörte 
Published: October 2014

Cette étude apporte une nouvelle perspective sur un aspect fondamental et peu étudié du roman Illusions perdues de Balzac, à savoir la problématique autour de la fin et de la clôture. Même si, à première vue, ce roman est « lisible » dans le sens de Roland Barthes, avec un récit plein, achevé et clos, sa fin n'est guère du type « réaliste » qui « va sans dire », selon la formulation de Armine Kotin Mortimer dans La clôture narrative (1985). L'examen sera fait à partir de certaines hypothèses et questions formulées dans les ouvrages généraux sur la fin et la clôture dans les récits narratifs. Que dire en effet du rôle et de l'importance de la fin dans Illusions perdues – et de la relation entre le début et la fin ? Quel est, concrètement, le rapport entre la fin et une sorte de « sens de l'œuvre », constaté par exemple par Mortimer, Peter Brooks (1984), Andrea Del Lungo (2010) et Vincent Jouve (2001).
Unnormalized differences between zeros ofL-functions
Authors: Ford Kevin , Zaharescu Alexandru 
Published: October 2014

AbstractWe study a subtle inequity in the distribution of unnormalized differences between imaginary parts of zeros of the Riemann zeta function, which was observed by a number of authors. We establish a precise measure which explains the phenomenon, that the location of each Riemann zero is encoded in the distribution of large Riemann zeros. We also extend these results to zeros of more general$L$-functions. In particular, we show how the rank of an elliptic curve over$\mathbb{Q}$is encoded in the sequences of zeros ofother$L$-functions, not only the one associated to the curve.