bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A New Denominational Historiography?
Authors: Wilson John F. 
Published: August 2007

Over the last decade, a noteworthy number of published studies have, in one fashion or another, been defined with reference to religious denominations. This is an arresting fact, for, coincidentally, the status of religious denominations in the society has been called into question. Some formerly powerful bodies have lost membership (at least relatively speaking) and now experience reduced influence, while newer forms of religious organization(s)—e.g., parachurch groups and loosely structured movements—have flourished. The most compelling recent analysis of religion in modern American society gives relatively little attention to them. Why, then, have publications in large numbers appeared, in scale almost seeming to be correlated inversely to this trend?No single answer to this question is adequate. Surely one general factor is that historians often “work out of phase” with contemporary social change. If denominations have been displaced as a form of religious institution in society in the late twentieth century, then their prominence in earlier eras is all the more intriguing.
The Troubles with Harry: Freedom, America, and God in John Updike'sRabbitNovels
Authors: Pasewark Kyle A. 
Published: August 2007

[I] had all of Shillington to say, Shillington and Pennsylvania and the whole mass of middling, hidden, troubled America to say.…In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea—this odd and uplifting line from among the many odd lines of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” seemed to me, as I set out, to summarize what I had to say about America, to offer itself as the title of a Continentalmagnum opusof which all my books, no matter how many, would be mere installments, mere Starts at the hymning of this great roughly rectangular country severed from Christ by the breadth of the sea.John Updike's corpus is punctuated forcefully by his own magnum opus, the Rabbit series, a tetralogy that is simultaneously literature, cultural critique, and theology.
Carnival of Shame: Doctorow and the Rosenbergs
Authors: Detweiler Robert 
Published: August 2007

“Literature can turn language, for the moment at least, against the sentence of death.”Considering the national and international furor provoked by the sensational early 1950's “atom spy” trial and execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, one may be surprised that these dramatic and traumatic events have not inspired more literary artistry than they have. But a prominent playwright, Arthur Miller, did write The Crucible (produced in 1953) in part as a response to the rabid McCarthyism of that era, and two highly regarded novelists in a later decade composed ambitious novels drawing directly on the Rosenberg affair: E. L. Doctorow in The Book of Daniel (1971) and Robert Coover in The Public Burning (1977). In 1987, Sidney Lumet produced the little noticed film Daniel, based on Doctorow's novel, and still more recently Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Angels in America, with Ethel Rosenberg as one of the characters, has been playing on Broadway.
The Puritans as Founders: The Quest for Identity in Early Whig Rhetoric*
Authors: Hammer Dean C. 
Published: August 2007

In looking at the politics of the opening decades of the nineteenth Century, scholarly attention has been drawn to the self-destruction of the Federalists, the ascendancy of the Jeffersonian Republicans, or the emergence of the Jacksonian Democrats. What gets lost in the way scholars view this political drama is the coalescence of an American Whig identity, forged in the decade of the 1820's. At least part of this inattention can be explained by scholarly appraisals of the Whig party as intellectually incoherent, politically cynical, and, ultimately, unsuccessful.The Whig position was, indeed, a curious one: the Whigs heralded the growth of the modern capitalist market that would unleash the forces of entrepreneurial individualism, yet they decried the loss of the precommercial values of deference, virtue, and hierarchical Community; they embraced the prosperity brought about by commerce, yet they feared the corruption of virtue that resulted from the pursuit of interest; and they looked forward to a capitalist economy while glancing back at an antidemocratic Federalism and Puritan moralism.
The Religious Construction of Masculinity in Victorian America: The Male Mediumship of John Shoebridge Williams
Authors: Carroll Bret E. 
Published: August 2007

After John Shoebridge Williams became a Spiritualist medium in February 1852, establishing what he believed to be contact with the spirit of his deceased daughter, Eliza, and access to the wisdom of the spirit world, the sixty-one-year-old man came to the startling realization that he was assuming the features of a woman. At least, this is what he thought as he recorded the events of March 15, 1852, in his spiritual Journal:When walking the streets of Cincinnati Eliza said to me, “You know, Dear Father, that of late years, your breasts have been partly developed like a females [sic]. This was from my influence. You were well prepared to receive me into your bosom, and already do our souls unite in substance so as to become one.”
Conjure and Christianity in the Nineteenth Century: Religious Elements in African American Magic
Authors: Chireau Yvonne 
Published: August 2007

Shortly before the turn of the nineteenth Century, an amateur collector of Negro Spirituals and folklore recounted a conversation that she had had with an unidentified African American clergyman. According to the collector, the clergyman, “one of the most scholarly and noted ministers of the colored race,” admitted that, even as a professed Christian, he found himself “under the influences ofvoodooism” and other African occult practices. He explained that, as a young pastor, he had grown “completely discouraged” after numerous unsuccessful attempts to attract new worshipers into his congregation until one day an unexpected visitor happened his way:I was in my study praying when the door opened and a little Conjure man came in and said softly: “You don't understand de people. You must get you ahandas a friend to draw 'em. Ef you will let me fix you a luck charm, you'll git 'em.”
Trifling with Holy Time: Women and the Formation of the Calvinist Church of Worcester, Massachusetts, 1815-1820
Authors: Lawes Carolyn J. 
Published: August 2007

It was half past nine on a quiet Monday night in April 1818. Elizabeth Tuckerman Salisbury, known throughout Worcester as “Madame Salisbury” in deference to her family's wealth and social position, was passing a serene evening at home with her niece and adopted daughter, Eliza Weir. Her husband, Stephen, a merchant and the town's wealthiest Citizen, was away on business. The Salisbury mansion's comfortable drawing room was pleasant, graced by Elizabeth's harp and a piano bought expressly for Eliza.Suddenly, the peace was shattered as something crashed violently against the front window. Salisbury immediately “call'd in the people” (the servants) for protection. Venturing outside, they spotted no one lurking about but did find two good-sized stones, one weighing over half a pound. Peering out into the now still night, Elizabeth Salisbury noted that “it was very dark, & no one appeared to be in the street. [Y]ou may suppose I did not recover my tranquil[l]ity very soon.”
Mary Marshall Dyer, Gender, and A Portraiture of Shakerism
Authors: De Wolfe Elizabeth A. 
Published: August 2007

Those who have witnessed [the Shakers'] institutions, seen the neatness and economy … the sincere though singular ceremonies of their religious devotions, have feit an unwillingness to believe the slanderous representations of Mrs. Dyer.—Newburyport Herald, April 27, 1824Suffice it to say that everything we saw and heard tended to confirm M. Dyer's assertions respecting them.—Mary Clark to Francis Jackson, July 16, 1823When Mary Marshall Dyer, a vociferous and ambitious convert, departed the Enfield, New Hampshire, Shakers in 1815, the elders breathed a sigh of relief. Since joining the Community two years earlier, Dyer sought her own interpretation of Scripture, repeatedly questioned the eiders, and aggressively campaigned for a leadership position. When Mary left the Enfield Community, the elders felt relief—but it was momentary. Little did they realize that they would soon become embroiled in one of the most public and aggressive disputes to threaten Shakerism in forty years.
Entering the “Tent of Abraham”: Fraternal Ritual and American-Jewish Identity, 1880-1920
Authors: Soyer Daniel 
Published: August 2007

One evening in 1893, a young Jewish immigrant named William Bakst joined the New York mutual-aid association made up of his compatriots from the Lithuanian town of Oshmene. The strange ceremony that marked his induction made a deep impression on him. He found especially striking the regalia that seemed utterly to transform the presiding officer, whom Bakst knew by his familiar old-country nickname. “When the inside-guard led me to the president,” Bakst later recalled,so that I could give the oath that I would never, God forbid, reveal the secrets of the society and that I would be true to its goals, when I set eyes on Gershke Yankls with a red sash across his chest, Standing there giving three strong raps of the gavel, and all those present responding by standing, I became so scared that I didn't even know what they were telling me to repeat. The “regalia” that the president wore frightened me most of all. For me, a greenhorn just out of the yeshiva who had never in his life attended a meeting, the red sash gave the impression of a high government official.
The Poetic Uses of Religion inThe Miraculous Day of Amalia Gómez
Authors: León Luis 
Published: August 2007

It is surprising that so few historians of religions have ever tried to interpret a literary work from their own perspective.—Mircea EliadeThere are no gospels that are immortal, but neither is there any reason for believing that humanity is incapable of inventing new ones.—Emile DurkheimWas that what God expected, that ritual of more pain? She thought of Milagros. Addthisto all her miseries? Milagros yearned for less pain… . Was the old woman in veils courting something more with her crawling on bloodied knees—a miracle—by displaying her endurance for greater misery?—John RechyThe past thirty years have been a watershed in Mexican American literature, witnessing the proliferation of texts with increasingly diverse themes. For the most part, this literary production has been motivated by the impulse to narrate the stories that typify Mexican cultural history in the United States.
High-Resolution Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Normal and Atherosclerotic Human Coronary Arteries Ex Vivo: Discrimination of Plaque Tissue Components
Authors: Yuan Chun , Hatsukami Thomas S. , O'Brien Kevin D. 
Published: August 2007

Background Noninvasive detection of plaque lipid and calcium in human atherosclerosis may have clinical utility, because the presence of each may be associated with increased risk of plaque disruption. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has the potential to detect both plaque lipid and calcium. However, no previous studies have: 1) used an MR coil with sufficient resolution to image the components of human coronary arteries, 2) evaluated the utility of a combination of different MR contrast weightings in discriminating plaque components in human coronary arteries, or 3) used sensitive and specific histological stains for lipid and calcium to determine their MR image characteristics in human atherosclerosis. Methods Using a custom-made surface coil on a whole-body, 1.5T MRI scanner, high resolution MR images were obtained from 22 nonatherosclerotic and atherosclerotic human coronary artery segments and then compared with histological sections stained for neutral lipid, calcium, and fibrous and cellular components. Results With a multicontrast protocol using T1-, proton density-, and T2-weighted images, statistically significant differences were found among MR image contrast values for regions identified by histological stains as containing lipid only, calcium only, mixed lipid and calcium, or fibrous tissue. All four of these histologically defined region types could be differentiated from one another by a multicontrast MRI protocol. Of the 22 segments, 10 (45%) contained areas with combined plaque lipid and calcium; calcium would not have been recognized histologically in these regions without the use of a specific calcium stain. Conclusions These results demonstrate that multicontrast MRI can produce remarkably high-resolution images and can discriminate between clinically relevant components of the atherosclerotic vessel wall.
Relationship of Early Carotid Artery Disease with Lipoprotein (a), Apolipoprotein B, and Fibrinogen in Asymptomatic Essential Hypertensive Patients and Normotensive Subjects
Authors: Rossi Alberto , Baldo-Enzi Goretta , Ganzaroli Chiara , Coscetti Giovanna , Calabrò Alessio , Baiocchi Maria Rosa , Maiolino Giuseppe , Pessina Achille C. , Rossi Gian Paolo 
Published: August 2007

Background We investigated the relationships between plasma lipids and lipoprotein fractions and carotid artery lesions (CAL) in 177 cerebro-vascularly asymptomatic subjects, of whom 107 were primary hypertensive patients and 70 normotensive controls. Methods The prevalence and severity of CAL, as assessed by calculating a score of severity (score of CAL) and the maximal stenosis of both sides, as well as the intimal-medial thickness (IMT) were evaluated with a high-resolution echo-Doppler technique. We measured total serum cholesterol, triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, lipoprotein (a) [Lp(a)], Apo (apolipoprotein)AI, ApoAII, ApoB, and fibrinogen. Results Both the prevalence (59.4% vs 26.2%) and severity of sex- and age-adjusted and unadjusted CAL and IMT were significantly higher in hypertensive patients than in controls. Regression analysis showed different predictors of IMT and maximal stenosis. The variables that remained in the model were age, mean blood pressure (BP), and smoking for IMT; pulse pressure, known duration of hypertension (HT), fibrinogen, and ApoB for the score of CAL; and the last four variables along with age and mean BP for maximal stenosis. Furthermore, we identified a link between the atherogenic lipoprotein fractions Lp(a) and ApoB, fibrinogen and early carotid artery atherosclerotic changes. Conclusions The different correlates of IMT, CAL, and maximal degree of stenosis suggest that they reflect different events occurring in the arterial wall in response to aging, HT, and other risk factors, rather than simply different stages of the same atherosclerotic process.
Transesophageal Dobutamine Stress Echocardiography with Tissue Doppler Imaging for Detection and Assessment of Coronary Artery Disease
Authors: Vitarelli Antonio , Conde Ysabel , Ferro Luzzi Marco , Di Benedetto Giulia , Giubilei Rossella , Leone Tiziana , Cimino Ester 
Published: August 2007

Background Transesophageal dobutamine stress echocardiography (T-DSE) has been shown to be a sensitive and specific technique for the detection of myocardial ischemia. A major limitation of echocardiographic study interpretation, however, is the subjective visual analysis of endocardial motion and wall thickening, which is only semiquantitative. Methods To analyze whether T-DSE with the use of tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) during graded dobutamine infusion may be useful to detect and quantify stress-induced myocardial ischemia by changes in myocardial velocities, 70 patients undergoing coronary arteriography were studied with T-DSE and TDI. Midesophageal and transgastric short- and long-axis images were obtained at each level of dobutamine infusion. T-DSE was successful in 67 patients (96%). Baseline resting pulsed and color peak systolic (S) and early diastolic (E) velocities of the anterior, septal, lateral, and inferior walls were examined. Results Pulsed and color TDI correlated well at rest and after stress. Fifteen patients had a normal response to dobutamine, and 52 patients had inducible ischemia by two-dimensional criteria. In the normal group, there was a significant dose-dependent increase in S and E velocities. Compared with those in the normal group, patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) had lower resting S and E velocities and blunted S wave increase or E wave decrease during DSE. Conclusions T-DSE with TDI is a feasible and accurate test for the quantitative assessment of patients with CAD who have impaired augmentation of systolic and diastolic myocardial velocities during dobutamine infusion.
Heme Oxygenase-1 Protects Pancreatic β Cells from Apoptosis Caused by Various Stimuli
Authors: Tobiasch Edda , Günther Lukas , Bach Fritz H. 
Published: August 2007

Background Several problems can occur after allogeneic islet transplantation: primary nonfunction, rejection, and the recurrence of autoimmune disease, which involve attack by the recipient's cytokines, T cells, natural killer cells, and monocytes on the donor's β cells, which leads to β-cell destruction. Recent studies have revealed that loss of transplanted islets is caused mainly by apoptosis. Heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) is one of the antiapoptotic genes up-regulated under stress conditions. The aim of this work was to investigate any mechanisms of HO-1-mediated protection of β cells from apoptosis. Methods Apoptosis was assessed by comparison of viable transfected cells with and without apoptotic stimuli, and with and without HO-1 overexpression. Activation and function of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase were determined using the specific inhibitor SB203580. Results We have shown that HO-1 mediates antiapoptotic effects in β cells. The percentage of apoptotic cells after stimulation with tumor necrosis factor α decreased from 75% without HO-1 to 5% when HO-1 was overexpressed. Our data indicate that HO-1 acts as a signal terminator of tumor necrosis factor α-induced apoptosis by modulation of the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway. Conclusions Profound cell stress that occurs in islets after transplantation, as well as at the onset of diabetes, results in β-cell loss through apoptosis. Protection of β cells by HO-1 improves their survival in vitro after various proapoptotic stimuli, suggesting that HO-1 suppresses one or several signaling pathways leading to apoptosis. We hypothesize that our in vitro findings can be extrapolated to the in vivo situation, and we propose that expression of HO-1 in islets may illuminate a valuable new approach to improving diabetes treatment.
Increased Soluble P-Selectin Levels in Hepatitis C Virus-Related Chronic Hepatitis: Correlation with Viral Load
Authors: Ferroni Patrizia , Mammarella Antonio , Martini Francesca , Paoletti Vincenzo , Cardarello Cristiano M. , Labbadia Giancarlo , Donnarumma Lucia , De Matteis Antonio , Gazzaniga Pier Paolo , Musca Antonino , Basili Stefania 
Published: August 2007

Background Platelet functional abnormalities are commonly found in patients with chronic liver disease; however, their nature and clinical significance are still a matter of discussion. Methods Soluble P-selectin (sP-selectin, a marker of in vivo platelet activation) levels, lipid pattern, and clotting activity were investigated in 39 patients with histologically confirmed chronic C hepatitis. Results Serum factor VIIc ( P<0.01), total cholesterol ( P<0.005), high density lipoprotein ( P<0.001), and low density lipoprotein ( P<0.05) levels were lower in patients compared with healthy subjects, whereas triglyceride and fibrinogen levels were similar in both groups. Platelet counts were lower in chronic hepatitis patients compared with controls ( P<0.0001), and approximately 20% of patients had thrombocytopenia (platelet counts <110x103/μL). Platelet-associated immunoglobulin G (PAIgG) was present in 30.8% of patients. Plasma sP-selectin levels were higher in hepatitis C patients compared with controls ( P<0.0001), and significant differences were observed with respect to the Scheuer score ( P<0.01). The analysis of the distribution of plasma sP-selectin showed the presence of higher levels in patients with low platelet counts compared with patients with normal platelet counts and controls ( P<0.0001); moreover, sP-selectin levels did not correlate with the presence of PAIgG. On the other hand, sP-selectin levels directly correlated with serum hepatitis C virus (HCV)-RNA ( P<0.05) and inversely correlated with platelet count, blood lipids, and factor VIIc. Conclusions The results obtained in this study support the hypothesis that HCV infection might be directly responsible for a condition of in vivo platelet activation in patients with chronic C hepatitis.
Early Onset of Lipid Peroxidation after Human Traumatic Brain Injury: A Fatal Limitation for the Free Radical Scavenger Pharmacological Therapy?
Authors: Cristofori Luciano , Tavazzi Barbara , Gambin Roberta , Vagnozzi Roberto , Vivenza Carlo , Amorini Angela Maria , Di Pierro Donato , Fazzina Giovanna , Lazzarino Giuseppe 
Published: August 2007

Background On the basis of the contradiction between data on experimental head trauma showing oxidative stress-mediated cerebral tissue damage and failure of the majority of clinical trials using free radical scavenger drugs, we monitored the time-course changes of malondialdehyde (MDA, an index of cell lipid peroxidation), ascorbate, and dephosphorylated ATP catabolites in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of traumatic brain-injured patients. Methods CSF samples were obtained from 20 consecutive patients suffering from severe brain injury. All patients were comatose, with a Glasgow Coma Scale on admission of 6±1. The first CSF sample for each patient was collected within a mean value of 2.95 hours from trauma (SD=1.98), after the insertion of a ventriculostomy catheter for the continuous monitoring of intracranial pressure. During the next 48 hours, CSF was withdrawn from each patient once every 6 hours. All samples were analyzed by an ion-pairing high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the simultaneous determination of MDA, ascorbic acid, hypoxanthine, xanthine, uric acid, inosine, and adenosine. Results In comparison with values recorded in 10 herniated-lumbar-disk, noncerebral control patients, data showed that all CSF samples of brain-injured patients had high values (0.226 μmol/L; SD=0.196) of MDA (undetectable in samples of control patients) and decreased ascorbate levels (96.25 μmol/L; SD=31.74), already at the time of first withdrawal at the time of hospital admission. MDA was almost constant in the next two withdrawals and tended to decrease thereafter, although 48 hours after hospital admission, a mean level of 0.072 μmol/L CSF (SD=0.026) was still recorded. The ascorbate level was normalized 42 hours after hospital admission. Changes in the CSF values of ATP degradation products (oxypurines and nucleosides) suggested a dramatic alteration of neuronal energy metabolism after traumatic brain injury. Conclusions On the whole, these data demonstrate the early onset of oxygen radical-mediated oxidative stress, proposing a valid explanation for the failure of clinical trials based on the administration of oxygen free radical scavenger drugs and suggesting a possible rationale for testing the efficacy of lipid peroxidation “chain breakers” in future clinical trials.