bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Treatment of proliferative feline eosinophilic keratitis with topical 1.5% cyclosporine: 35 cases
Authors: Spiess Amelie K. , Sapienza John S. , Mayordomo Aloma 
Published: March 2009

AbstractObjective Proliferative feline eosinophilic keratitis is a chronic keratopathy caused by a suspected immune mediated response to an unknown antigenic stimulus. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the efficacy of topical 1.5% cyclosporine solution in proliferative feline eosinophilic keratitis.Methods Thirty‐five cats were treated topically with 1.5% cyclosporine A between 1997 and 2007. Eosinophilic keratitis was diagnosed by clinical appearance and evidence of eosinophils and/or mast cells in corneal cytology. The patients were treated with topical cyclosporine (1.5%) twice (26 of 35, 74.3%) and three times (9 of 35, 25.7%) daily. The minimum period for follow‐up was 5 months.Results The age of the patients ranged from 2 to 13 years with a mean age of 6.0 years. Twenty‐two were neutered males, and 13 were females. The represented breeds were 30 DSH, 3 DLH, one Siamese and one Maine Coon. Cytologic examination of a corneal scrape revealed the presence of eosinophils in 34 of 35 specimens, and mast cells in 25 of 35 specimens. Improvement in the treated eyes was seen in 31 cats (88.6%). Four animals (11.4%) did not respond to the treatment with topical cyclosporine. Recurrences were seen in seven (22.6%) cases. Blepharitis was noted as an infrequent side effect.Conclusion Based on our findings, topical cyclosporine (1.5%) is an effective treatment of proliferative feline eosinophilic keratitis in the vast majority of cases. Recurrences were mainly associated with poor owner compliance. Chronic, often lifelong therapy with medications is thus recommended.
Extramedullary plasmacytoma of the third eyelid gland in a dog
Authors: Perlmann Eduardo , Dagli Maria L. Z. , Martins Maria C. , Siqueira Sheila A. C. , Barros Paulo S. M. 
Published: March 2009

AbstractA case of extramedullary plasmacytoma of the third eyelid gland in a 7‐year‐old American Cocker Spaniel is reported. An enlargement of the third eyelid gland, abundant mucopurulent discharge, mild hyperemia and corneal pigmentation in the OD was present. Excisional biopsy of the mass revealed the gland was infiltrated and partially destroyed by a uniform population of neoplastic plasma cells. The neoplastic cells were positive for CD138, Ki‐67 and λ light chain. CD20, CD3, κ light chain and cytokeratin were negative. Twelve months following surgery, no recurrence was observed. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first extramedullary plasmacytoma of the third eyelid gland reported in dogs.
Immunohistochemical analysis of ocular hemangiomas and hemangiosarcomas in dogs
Authors: Chandler Heather L. , Newkirk Kimberly M. , Kusewitt Donna F. , Dubielzig Richard R. , Colitz Carmen M. H. 
Published: March 2009

AbstractPurpose To determine if molecular markers typically associated with ultraviolet exposure could be detected in canine ocular hemangiomas (HA) and hemangiosarcomas (HSA).Methods Paraffin‐embedded samples of canine ocular HA (n = 6) and HSA (n = 6) were examined for the presence of p53, p21, p16, cyclin D, PCNA, pAkt, telomerase, and estrogen receptor (ER)‐α using immunohistochemistry.Results p53 and cyclin D protein were not detected in any of the canine HA or HSA samples. The majority of the HA and HSA were negative for both p21 and telomerase. pAkt immunoreactivity was absent in one HA, one HSA, but was present in five HA and five HSA. All of the HA or HSA samples were strongly positive for p16 and PCNA. ERα was expressed in all of the samples examined; there was more intense staining in the HSA samples compared to the HA samples.Conclusions Results from this study describe the protein expression, via immunohistochemistry, that might be altered in UV exposure in HA and HAS formation. p53 may not play an important role in tumor development; rather, in the tumors examined, expression of cell cycle regulators independent of the p53 pathway appear central in HA and HSA formation and progression. In addition, this study finds that ERα may be involved in promoting the invasive behavior associated with HSA.
Response to Vanclayet al.on Farming Styles: Q Methodology for Identifying Styles and its Relevance to Extension
Authors: Fairweather John R. , Klonsky Karen 
Published: March 2009

AbstractIn 2006 Vanclayet al.provided a critical account of the concept of farming styles and proposed revised concepts that enhance our understanding of styles. Their research experience led them to reconceptualise farming styles by applying them to five levels. They concluded that there was no support for a single set of farming styles, that farming styles are more an intellectual construction than a social construction, and that they were not real. In their revised view of farming styles Vanclayet al.discussed and assessed eight issues about the concept of farming styles. We agree with all but two of these assessments – the claim that there is no method that can uncover styles of farming and the claim that such research is not useful for extension. We show in this article that there is a well‐established method for identifying farming styles and that such research is very useful for extension. In making our case we contribute to a better understanding of farming styles, one that uses a method that rests on what farmers state is their approach to managing a farm rather than on methods that rely on researcher assessments of farming styles.
From the Social to the Economic and Beyond? A Relational Approach to the Historical Development of Danish Organic Food Networks
Authors: Kjeldsen Chris , Ingemann Jan Holm 
Published: March 2009

AbstractThe organic movement has its roots in a critical attitude towards the capitalist development of farming and food systems and constitutes in that sense an alternative to conventional food systems. The article aims at exploring which meaning the notions of ‘alternative’ and ‘conventional’ carry, using the historical development of organic food in Denmark as an example. From the 1970s and onwards, organic food networks in Denmark have evolved from being primarily a marginal social movement to becoming included in the market mainstream. The social and spatial settings for organic food networks in Denmark have thus been significantly altered. Using debates on the conventionalisation of organic food systems as the starting point, it is argued in this article that this development in Denmark can be interpreted from a relational perspective as an ongoing process of establishing organisational innovations, which transcends established dichotomies between notions like alternative and mainstream.
Labour mobility during transition Evidence from Georgia1
Authors: Bernabè Sabine , Stampini Marco 
Published: March 2009

AbstractThis article deals with labour mobility in Georgia during economic transition. We use quarterly 1998–99 panel data to examine mobility across six labour market statuses (inactivity, unemployment, formal wage employment, informal wage employment, self‐employment and farming). Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis of labour market segmentation. Formal employment is preferred to informal employment. Unemployment is largely a queuing device for individuals with higher education waiting for formal jobs. Some self‐employment is subsistence activities and consistent with a segmented labour market, while other is high risk and potentially high return activities. Age, gender and education are significant determinants of labour mobility. Finally, informal employment serves as a buffer in times of recession – with farming and informal wage employment absorbing labour shed by other statuses during the Russian financial crisis.
What explains persistent inflation differentials across transition economies?1
Authors: Hammermann Felix , Flanagan Mark 
Published: March 2009

AbstractWe document that a persistent inflation differential has opened across different groups of transition economies since 2001, with the CIS‐West seeing particularly high outcomes. We consider a range of non‐monetary explanations discussed in the literature (economic structure, policy and institutions), and controlling for economic shocks, we find a role for political stability, as emphasized in previous cross‐country work. However, our results suggest that lagging internal and external liberalization have been the key disincentives to disinflation. Consequently, lower inflation targets would not be credible in the absence of stronger structural and monetary policy frameworks.
The informal economy and the growth of small enterprises in Russia1
Authors: Kim Byung‐Yeon , Kang Youngho 
Published: March 2009

AbstractThis article uses Russian regional data to estimate the determinants of the informal economy and to examine the relationship between the informal economy and the growth of legally registered small private enterprises during the transition period. After obtaining an estimate of the size of the informal economy in each Russian region from 1992 to 1999, an analysis is performed to find whether reform progress and institutional qualities account for the informal economy. An evaluation of the links between the informal economy and the growth of small enterprises within Russia is then carried out. The findings suggest that Russia's informal economy resulted from a delay in reform and low qualities of institutions. It was found that the growth of small enterprises is positively affected by the informal economy. These results imply that the informal economy helped entrepreneurial activities to grow in the face of government failure, but these informal activities tend to become official over time.
Regional unemployment and human capital in transition economies1
Authors: Jurajda Štěpán , Terrell Katherine 
Published: March 2009

AbstractDifferences in regional unemployment in post‐communist economies are large and persistent. We show that within‐country regional variation in inherited human capital in four such economies explains the bulk of regional variation in unemployment; we explore potential explanations. Our evidence suggests that internal skill‐biased migration and the flow of foreign direct investment are not working as adjustment mechanisms but rather help explain the lack of convergence in regional unemployment rates. Although this capital and labour mobility pattern is consistent with the presence of regional skill spillovers, we find little support for this hypothesis. Instead, the observed migration pattern appears to arise from different skill‐specific adjustments to regional shocks brought about in part by labour‐market institutions such as guaranteed welfare income.
Profit‐maximizing behaviour replaces social sanctions in urban microcredit markets The case of Italian MAGs1
Authors: Calidoni Federica , Fedele Alessandro 
Published: March 2009

AbstractPoor local information networks and weak social sanctions in urban settings make joint liability unable to guarantee high repayment rates to microlenders. Yet, microcredit programmes in Western Europe report good performance even if the majority of them require no collateral. We collected data from three Italian microcredit institutions which operate in urban areas, granting individual loans without collateral to single entrepreneurs and teams (associations and cooperatives). We found that teams repay with higher probability. On this basis we developed a microlending instrument which, like joint liability implemented in rural economies, mitigates informational problems but, unlike joint liability, fits the urban context in that it reproduces a cohesion among entrepreneurs based on profit‐maximizing behaviour and not on social capital.
The political economy of corruption and the role of economic opportunities1
Authors: Boerner Kira , Hainz Christa 
Published: March 2009

AbstractIn many developing and transition countries, we observe rather high levels of corruption. We argue that the missing political support for anti‐corruption policies is due to a lack of economic and financial reforms. Our model is based on the fact that corrupt officials have to pay entry fees to get lucrative positions. In a probabilistic voting model, we show that this, together with the lack of economic opportunities, makes anti‐corruption policies less likely. Compared to a reformed economy, more voters are part of the corrupt system and, more importantly, rents from corruption are distributed differently. Economic liberalization increases the support for anti‐corruption measures. The additional effect of financial liberalization is ambiguous.
Insider Trading and Corporate Governance: The Case of Germany
Authors: Betzer André , Theissen Erik 
Published: March 2009

Abstract We analyse transactions by corporate insiders in Germany. We find that insider trades are associated with significant abnormal returns. Insider trades that occur prior to an earnings announcement have a larger impact on prices. This result provides a rationale for the UK regulation that prohibits insiders from trading prior to earnings announcements. Both the ownership structure and the accounting standards used by the firm affect the magnitude of the price reaction. The position of the insider within the firm has no effect, which is inconsistent with the informational hierarchy hypothesis.
Portfolio Performance Measurement: a No Arbitrage Bounds Approach
Authors: Ahn Dong‐Hyun , Cao H. Henry , Chrétien Stéphane 
Published: March 2009

Abstract This paper presents a new method to examine the performance evaluation of mutual funds in incomplete markets. Based on the no arbitrage condition, we develop bounds on admissible performance measures. We suggest new ways of ranking mutual funds and provide a diagnostic instrument for evaluating the admissibility of candidate performance measures. Using a monthly sample of 320 equity funds, we show that admissible performance values can vary widely, supporting the casual observation that investors disagree on the evaluation of mutual funds. In particular, we cannot rule out that more than 80% of the mutual funds are given positive values by some investors. Moreover, we empirically demonstrate that potential inference errors embedded in existing parametric performance measures can be of important magnitude.
‘Sprechmaschine Du’: Sprachkritik in Ausgewählten Romanen Hedwig Dohms
Authors: Mikus Birgit 
Published: March 2009

ABSTRACTDer Topos der Sprache bzw. des Sprachverlusts von Frauen in literarischen Texten ist heute bereits ein viel beachteter Gegenstand der Forschung. Auch die besondere Schwierigkeit von Autorinnen, sich innerhalb des Sprachsystems, aus dem sie als sprachloses Gesellschaftsobjekt ausgeschlossen sind, dennoch schreibend Gehör zu verschaffen, steht zumindest in der feministischen Literaturwissenschaft außer Frage. Weil in der Forschung die Analysen und Theorien von Jacques Lacan, Luce Irigaray, oder Julia Kristeva in Bezug auf Sprache meistens rückblickend auf literarische Texte angewendet werden, wird oft übersehen, dass auch die Autorinnen des 19. Jahrhunderts sich oft sehr deutlich der Diskrepanz ihrer sprachlichen Fähigkeiten und der Notwendigkeit, abseits von geläufigen Erwartungen und Klischees zu formulieren, bewusst waren. Vor diesem Hintergrund muss angenommen werden, dass eine Autorin wie Hedwig Dohm, die in diesem soziokulturellen Rahmen gelebt und geschrieben hat, diese Einschränkungen nicht nur selbst erlebt, sondern sich auch kritisch damit auseinandergesetzt hat. Damit ist zum einen die sehr restriktive Erziehung der jungen Mädchen im 19. Jahrhundert gemeint, die oft zu Sprachverlust führt und von vielen Autorinnen kritisiert wird, zum anderen aber auch der reflektierte Umgang mit bzw. Einsatz von Sprache im eigenen Schreiben. Im Folgenden soll untersucht werden, auf welche Weise Hedwig Dohm den Einfluss von Sprache auf die sich entwickelnden Selbstbilder von Frauen darstellt, und wie Sprache von verschiedenen Institutionen der Gesellschaft instrumentalisiert wird, um die bestehende soziale Ordnung, und damit die vorherrschenden Bilder und Rollen von Frauen zu etablieren und zu verstärken.
Re‐Membering Adorno: Political and Cultural Agendas in the Debate about Post‐Holocaust Art
Authors: Ryland Charlotte 
Published: March 2009

ABSTRACTThis essay examines the reception of one of the most oft quoted and misquoted phrases in German literary history: ‘nach Auschwitz ein Gedicht zu schreiben, ist barbarisch’ (Theodor W. Adorno, ‘Kulturkritik und Gesellschaft’, 1951). It argues that interpretations of Adorno's words by German writers and intellectuals have invariably failed to engage with the dialectical detail of his essay, and that these responses consequently reveal more about each individual writer's background and cultural and political agenda than about the issue of post‐Holocaust literature itself. By examining Adorno's original essay and then its reception by Peter Härtling, Harald Hartung and Hilde Domin in the late 1960s, at the height of the debate about ‘committed’ literature, this essay shows that the particular concerns of these writers have influenced how they cite Adorno's words. The analyses of essays by these writers reveal that the varying positions in the debate about Adorno's statement, generally considered irreconcilable, are grounded in the different approaches taken to literature by poets and by literary critics respectively. The literary critic achieved a more critical and therefore nuanced reading of Adorno's words, but it was nevertheless the responses of poets and authors that determined the trajectory of the debate as it continued into the 1970s.
‘…von der Unmöglichkeit der Gegenwart’: Geschlecht, Generation und Nation in Petzolds Die Innere Sicherheit und Sanders‐Brahms' Deutschland, Bleiche Mutter
Authors: Hofer Stefanie 
Published: March 2009

ABSTRACTChristian Petzold gehört zur Berliner Schule, die sich gern als Gegenbewegung zum deutschen Kommerzkino versteht und der deshalb Parallelen zum Neuen Deutschen Film nachgesagt werden. Ein Vergleich zwischen Petzolds Die innere Sicherheit (2000) und Sanders‐Brahms' Deutschland, bleiche Mutter (1980) wird jedoch aufzeigen, dass fundamentale Unterschiede in der Bedeutung bestehen, die der (cineastischen) Erinnerung beigemessen werden. Besonders anschaulich lässt sich dieser Gegensatz am Generationenverständnis ablesen. In Deutschland, bleiche Mutter sorgt – typisch für feministische Filme des Neuen Deutschen Kinos – intergenerationelle Kommunikation und die aktive Aufarbeitung der (konfliktreichen) Vergangenheit für die Subjektwerdung. Gleichzeitig hinterfragt der Film traditionelle Generationenvorstellungen, die die ödipale Rebellion favorisieren, und gesellschaftliche Konventionen, die die Unterdrückung der Frau befürworten. In Petzolds Terroristendrama ist es dagegen der Generationenkonflikt, der gesellschaftlichen Wandel vorantreibt. Nicht die Auseinandersetzung mit der Vergangenheit, sondern der Bruch mit ihr ist für die persönliche und soziale Identitätsentwicklung verantwortlich. Folglich favorisiert Die innere Sicherheit ein psychoanalytisches und soziologisches Generationenverständnis, das – im Gegensatz zur (feministischen) Tradition des Neuen Deutschen Films – eine erstaunlich patriarchalische Prägung aufweist.
‘Gegen den Strich’: The Early Representation of German Wartime Suffering in Walter Kempowski's Mark Und Bein (1991)
Authors: Berger Karina 
Published: March 2009

ABSTRACTThis article examines Walter Kempowski's Mark und Bein. Eine Episode (1991), a text that commemorates and represents the flight and expulsion of ethnic Germans from the eastern territories at the end of the Second World War. Published almost a decade before the recent preoccupation with ‘German wartime suffering’ began, the book was largely ignored by critics, scholars and the public at the time of its publication. I argue that Mark und Bein anticipates some of the major themes in Germany's ongoing ‘Vergangenheitsbewältigung’ and should be reconsidered in the context of the current wave of literary representations of German victimhood. Reflecting on the various ‘memory contests’ surrounding the Nazi past, the text aims to represent German victimhood in a way that shuns both ‘political correctness’ and apologism, and attempts a more inclusive portrayal where German suffering and German perpetration stand alongside each other. This article contends that Mark und Bein largely succeeds in achieving historical balance, despite occasional dehistoricising or relativising elements in the narrative, and is thus an early and valuable example of post‐unification German fiction attempting adequately to represent Germany's past.
Poetics of the ‘Gruppenbild’: The Fictions of Vladimir Vertlib1
Authors: Haines Brigid 
Published: March 2009

ABSTRACTTaking as its starting point Vladimir Vertlib's noted ability to cross borders and represent otherness in his writing, the article examines this Russian‐Austrian‐Jewish author's use of narrative form in all his work to date. While his deceptively conventional realist narratives achieve provisional closure at the level of plot, they are structured so as to juxtapose voices, times and modes in a way which probes, but does not resolve, a range of contemporary problems. These concern migration (in Abschiebung and Zwischenstationen), memory, remembrance and twentieth‐century European history (in Das besondere Gedächtnis der Rosa Masur), Jewish identities and the negative German‐Jewish symbiosis (in Letzter Wunsch), and the remembrance of the Third Reich in central Europe (in Mein erster Mörder and …und alle Toten starben friedlich…). Close readings reveal Vertlib's increasing integration into Austrian culture, while stressing the global import of his dialogism and border crossings.
Effects of parasitic infection and radio‐transmitters on condition, hematological characteristics and corticosterone concentrations in Texas ratsnakes
Authors: Sperry J. H. , Butler L. K. , Romero L. M. , Weatherhead P. J. 
Published: March 2009

AbstractParasites are a health concern of many wildlife species, although their effect on reptiles is poorly studied. Here we examine effects of hemogregarine and external parasites on Texas ratsnake Elaphe obsoleta white blood cell (WBC) concentrations, WBC differentials, heterophil/lymphocyte ratios, packed cell volume (PCV), corticosterone concentrations and body condition. We found little evidence that either ectoparasites or hemogregarines affected the health of Texas ratsnakes. We found a seasonal increase in corticosterone, consistent with glucocorticoids priming the snakes to deal with higher predation risks later in the season. We also examined whether the potential stress of carrying a surgically implanted radio‐transmitter compounds any parasitic health effects. We found no effect of transmitters on most aspects of health. We did find equivocal evidence that WBC concentrations were higher in snakes with transmitters and that PCV decreased following transmitter implantation. Although our results generally support the view that data collected using radio‐telemetry are unlikely to be biased due to adverse health effects of transmitters, the growing importance of telemetry for studies of snakes and other taxa argues for further research on this topic. When possible, researchers should design telemetry studies in such a way that assessing potential heath effects of transmitters is one of the objectives.