bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The Relationship of Rapid Weight Gain in Infancy to Obesity and Skeletal Maturity in Childhood
Authors: Cameron Noël , Pettifor John , De Wet Thea , Norris Shane 
Published: April 2008

AbstractObjective: Children with birth weight appropriate for gestational age (AGA) who also demonstrate rapid weight gain in infancy have a greater risk of being overweight or obese during childhood. A concurrent advancement in skeletal maturity would account for their greater size and would, therefore, not necessarily pose a threat of greater risk during adolescence and early adulthood. This study aims to determine whether children with rapid weight gain during infancy have advanced skeletal maturity during childhood.Research Methods and Procedures: One hundred and ninety‐three African children (boys = 108; girls = 85) of normal birth weight and gestational age were assessed from birth to 9 years. Body composition was assessed at 9 years of age by whole‐body DXA, and skeletal maturity was assessed using the Tanner‐Whitehouse II technique. Rapid weight gain in infancy was defined as a +0.67 change in weight‐for‐age Z‐score between birth and 2 years.Results: Rapid weight gain was experienced by over 20% of the sample. Children with rapid weight gain were significantly lighter at birth and significantly taller, heavier, and fatter throughout childhood. Chronological age and Tanner‐Whitehouse II technique skeletal ages at 9 years were not significantly different between groups or between sexes within groups.Discussion: Because AGA children with rapid weight gain have a greater risk of overweight and obesity but are not advanced in skeletal maturity, later adolescent adjustments toward average weight and fatness values are unlikely. The identification and monitoring of such children is of importance in reducing their risk of morbidity.
Plasma Markers of Cholesterol Homeostasis and Apolipoprotein B‐100 Kinetics in the Metabolic Syndrome
Authors: Chan Dick C. , Watts Gerald F. , Barrett P. Hugh R. , O'Neill Frans H. , Thompson Gilbert R. 
Published: April 2008

AbstractObjective: The metabolic syndrome is characterized by defective hepatic apolipoprotein B‐100 (apoB) metabolism. Hepato‐intestinal cholesterol metabolism may contribute to this abnormality.Research Methods and Procedures: We examined the association of cholesterol absorption and synthesis with the kinetics of apoB in 35 obese subjects with the metabolic syndrome. Plasma ratios of campesterol and lathosterol to cholesterol were used to estimate cholesterol absorption and synthesis, respectively. Very‐low‐density lipoprotein (VLDL), intermediate‐density lipoprotein (IDL), and low‐density lipoprotein apoB kinetics were studied using stable isotopy and mass spectrometry. Kinetic parameters were derived using multicompartmental modeling.Results: Compared with controls, the obese subjects had significantly lower plasma ratios of campesterol, but higher plasma ratios of lathosterol (p < 0.05 in both). This was associated with elevated VLDL‐apoB secretion rate (p < 0.05) and delayed fractional catabolism of IDL and low‐density lipoprotein‐apoB (p < 0.01). In the obese group, plasma ratios of campesterol correlated inversely with VLDL‐apoB secretion (r = −0.359, p < 0.05), VLDL‐apoB (r = −0.513, p < 0.01) and IDL‐apoB (r = −0.511, p < 0.01) pool size, and plasma lathosterol ratio (r = −0.366, p < 0.05). Subjects with low cholesterol absorption had significantly higher VLDL‐apoB secretion, VLDL‐apoB and IDL‐apoB pool size, and plasma lathosterol ratio (p < 0.05 in both) than those with high cholesterol absorption.Discussion: Subjects with the metabolic syndrome have oversecretion of VLDL‐apoB and decreased catabolism of apoB‐containing particles and low absorption and high synthesis rates of cholesterol. These changes in cholesterol homeostasis may contribute to the kinetic defects in apoB metabolism in the metabolic syndrome.
K121Q PC‐1 Gene Polymorphism Is Not Associated with Insulin Resistance in a Spanish Population
Authors: González‐Sánchez José Luis , Martínez‐Larrad María Teresa , Fernández‐Pérez Cristina , Kubaszek Agata , Laakso Markku , Serrano‐Ríos Manuel 
Published: April 2008

AbstractObjective: To investigate the effect of the K121Q plasma cell membrane glycoprotein (PC‐1) polymorphism on the components of the insulin resistance syndrome in a population‐based nationwide multicenter study in Spain.Research Methods and Procedures: The subjects of the study were 293 nonrelated adults (44.7% men and 55.3% women) ages 35 to 64 years randomly chosen from a nationwide population‐based survey on obesity and related conditions, including insulin resistance and cardiovascular risk factors. Obesity‐related anthropometric measurements included blood pressure, oral glucose tolerance test, lipid profile (total cholesterol, high‐density lipoprotein‐ and low‐density lipoprotein‐cholesterol, and triglycerides), plasma leptin, insulin levels by radioimmunoassay, and insulin resistance (homeostasis model assessment). K121Q PC‐1 genotypes were determined by restriction fragment‐length polymorphism‐polymerase chain reaction.Results: Overall Q allele frequency was 0.14, with no differences between obese and nonobese individuals (0.15 vs. 0.13). After adjustment for sex, age, BMI, and degree of glucose tolerance, the Q allele was associated with high plasma leptin and triglyceride levels, but not with insulin resistance.Discussion: The results showed that the K121Q PC‐1 polymorphism in the Spanish population has no significant impact on insulin sensitivity.
Decreased Uncoupling Protein Expression and Intramyocytic Triglyceride Depletion in Formerly Obese Subjects
Authors: Mingrone Geltrude , Rosa Giuseppina , Greco Aldo V. , Manco Melania , Vega Nathalie , Hesselink Matthijs K. , Castagneto Marco , Schrauwen Patrick , Vidal Hubert 
Published: April 2008

AbstractObjective: To examine the muscular uncoupling protein expression 2 (UCP2) and UCP3 gene expression in morbid obese subjects before and after bariatric surgery [bilio‐pancreatic diversion (BPD)].Research Methods and Procedures: Eleven obese subjects (BMI = 49 ± 2 kg/m2) were studied before BPD and 24 months after BPD. Skeletal muscle UCP2 and UCP3 mRNA was measured using reverse transcriptase‐competitive polymerase chain reaction and UCP3 protein by Western blotting. Intramyocytic triglycerides were quantified by high‐performance liquid chromatography. Twenty‐four‐hour energy expenditure and respiratory quotient (RQ) were measured in a respiratory chamber.Results: After BPD, the average weight loss was ∼38%. Nonprotein RQ was increased in the postobese subjects (0.73 ± 0.00 vs. 0.83 ± 0.02, p < 0.001). The intramyocytic triglyceride level dropped (3.66 ± 0.16 to 1.60 ± 0.29 mg/100 mg of fresh tissue, p < 0.0001) after BPD. Expression of UCP2 and UCP3 mRNA was significantly reduced (from 35.9 ± 6.1% to 18.6 ± 4.5% of cyclophilin, p = 0.02; from 60.2 ± 14.0% to 33.4 ± 8.5%, p = 0.03; respectively). UCP3 protein content was also significantly reduced (272.19 ± 84.13 vs. 175.78 ± 60.31, AU, p = 0.04). A multiple regression analysis (R2 = 0.90) showed that IMTG levels (p = 0.007) represented the most powerful independent variable for predicting UCP3 variation.Discussion: The strong correlation of UCP expression and decrease in IMTG levels suggests that triglyceride content plays an even more important role in the regulation of UCP gene expression than the circulating levels of free fatty acids or the achieved degree of weight loss.
Geographic and Demographic Variation in the Prevalence of Overweight Canadian Children
Authors: Willms J. Douglas , Tremblay Mark S. , Katzmarzyk Peter T. 
Published: April 2008

AbstractObjective: To examine the geographic and demographic variation in the prevalence of overweight Canadian children.Research Methods and Procedures: Using BMI data from the 1981 Canada Fitness Survey and the 1996 National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, this study assessed: 1) the prevalence of overweight and obesity among Canadian boys and girls ages 7 to 13 years; 2) secular trends in the prevalence of overweight from 1981 to 1996, by province and adjusted for age and sex; and 3) provincial variation in the prevalence of overweight, before and after adjusting for socioeconomic and demographic characteristics.Results: The prevalence of boys and girls classified as overweight in 1996 was 33% and 26%, respectively. The corresponding figures for obesity were 10% for boys and 9% for girls. Provincial variation was observed with a trend of increasing risk of being overweight from west to east. Socioeconomic status was inversely related to the prevalence of overweight regardless of geographic region. The risk of being overweight was more related to geography (province) than demographic variables (income and family background); however, the effect of secular trends (1981 to 1996) exceeded the effect of geographic or demographic variables.Discussion: The prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity is increasing in all areas of Canada and can be explained only partially by geographic or demographic characteristics.
Metalloprotease‐mediated OPA1 processing is modulated by the mitochondrial membrane potential
Authors: Guillery Olwenn , Malka Florence , Landes Thomas , Guillou Emmanuelle , Blackstone Craig , Lombès Anne , Belenguer Pascale , Arnoult Damien , Rojo Manuel 
Published: April 2008

Background information. Human OPA1 (optic atrophy type 1) is a dynamin‐related protein of the mitochondrial IMS (intermembrane space) involved in membrane fusion and remodelling. Similarly to its yeast orthologue Mgm1p that exists in two isoforms generated by the serine protease Pcp1p/Rbd1p, OPA1 exists in various isoforms generated by alternative splicing and processing. In the present paper, we focus on protease processing of OPA1.Results. We find that various mammalian cell types display a similar pattern of OPA1 isoforms [two L‐OPA1 (long isoforms of OPA1) and three S‐OPA1 (short isoforms of OPA1)] and that loss of the inner membrane potential, but not inhibition of oxidative phosphorylation or glycolysis, induces rapid and complete processing of L‐OPA1 to S‐OPA1. In isolated mitochondria, OPA1 processing was inhibited by heavy‐metal chelators, pointing to processing by a mitochondrial metalloprotease. The pattern of OPA1 isoforms and its processing kinetics were normal in mitochondria devoid of the serine protease PARL (presenilins‐associated rhomboid‐like protein) – the human orthologue of Pcp1/Rbd1 – and in cells from patients carrying homozygous mutations in SPG7 (spastic paraplegia type 7), a gene encoding the matrix‐oriented metalloprotease paraplegin. In contrast, OPA1 processing kinetics were delayed upon knock‐down of YME1L (human yme1‐like protein), an IMS‐oriented metalloprotease. OPA1 processing was also stimulated during apoptosis, but inhibition of this processing did not affect apoptotic release of OPA1 and cytochrome c. Finally, we show that all OPA1 isoforms interact with Mfn1 (mitofusin 1) and Mfn2 and that these interactions are not affected by dissipation of ΔΨm (inner mitochondrial membrane potential) or OPA1 processing.Conclusions. Metalloprotease‐mediated processing of OPA1 is modulated by the inner membrane potential and is likely to be mediated by the YME1L protease.
In nucleoli, the steady state of nucleolar proteins is leptomycin B‐sensitive
Authors: Muro Eleonora , Hoang Thang Q. , Jobart‐Malfait Aude , Hernandez‐Verdun Danièle 
Published: April 2008

Background information. The nucleolus is a dynamic structure. It has been demonstrated that nucleolar proteins rapidly associate with and dissociate from nucleolar components in continuous exchanges with the nucleoplasm using GFP (green fluorescent protein)‐tagged proteins. However, how the exchanges within one nucleolus and between nucleoli within the nuclear volume occurred is still poorly understood.Results. The movement of PAGFP (photoactivatable GFP)‐tagged proteins that become visible after photoactivation can be followed. In the present study, we establish the protocol allowing quantification of the traffic of PAGFP‐tagged nucleolar proteins in nuclei containing two nucleoli. The traffic in the activated area, at the periphery of the activated area and to the neighbouring nucleolus is measured. Protein B23 is rapidly replaced in the activated area, and at the periphery of the activated area the steady state suggests intranucleolar recycling of B23; this recycling is LMB (leptomycin B)‐sensitive. The pool of activated B23 is equally distributed in the volume of the two nucleoli within 2 min. The three‐dimensional distribution of the proteins Nop52 and fibrillarin is less rapid than that of B23 but is also LMB‐sensitive. In contrast, traffic of fibrillarin from the nucleoli to the CB (Cajal body) was not modified by LMB.Conclusions. We propose that the steady state of nucleolar proteins in nucleoli depends on the affinity of the proteins for their partners and on intranucleolar recycling. This steady state can be impaired by LMB but not the uptake in the neighbouring nucleolus or the CB.
Representation, Interaction, and Intersubjectivity
Authors: Alterman Richard 
Published: April 2008

AbstractWhat the participants share, their common “sense” of the world, creates a foundation, a framing, an orientation that enables human actors to see and act in coordination with one another. For recurrent activities, the methods the participants use to understand each other as they act change, making the intersubjective space in which actors operate richer and easier to produce. This article works through some of the issues that emerge from a close examination of intersubjectivity as it is managed through representation and interaction. The data that are presented document, in detail, a sequence of related interactions, within and across episodes of cooperation, where continuity and change can be observed. The emergence of conversational structure and coordinating representations are significant milestones in the long‐term development of a representational practice that support the runtime co‐construction of intersubjective space. Conversational structures emerge interactively to mediate recurrent points of coordination in the domain activity, and only secondarily the conversation itself. Coordinating representations change the representational practice of the participants by making it easier to manage their “shared view” of the collective work, enabling the participants to make progress, expand the field of the common activity, while exhibiting more control of if and when explicit grounding occurs.
The Dossettiani and the Concept of the Secular State in the Constitutional Debates: 1946–7
Authors: Bedani Gino 
Published: April 2008

SummaryIt is now generally accepted that the members of the Constituent Assembly who were charged with drafting the Constitution concentrated their efforts on formulating the ideals to be expressed in it at the expense of the institutional arrangements of the new Republic. This has generally been viewed as resulting from a combination of two factors: their weak grasp of the liberal principles underpinning liberal parliamentary democracy, and a concomitant error of judgement in assuming that sufficient stress on the ideals of the Constitution would guarantee the basis of a healthy democracy. This article sets out to examine the input of the most influential Catholic group, the dossettiani, and argues, against the error of judgement thesis, that in fact their rejection of the concept of the secular state was a more fundamental denial of important principles of a pluralist democracy than has usually been supposed. The article also places their contribution within the context of the Church's aim to create a ‘Christian civilization’, and further suggests that the model of Catholic Action which inspired its collateral vision of Catholic forces was corrosive of a pluralist vision of correct institutional arrangements. The article ends by suggesting that these factors may have weighed more heavily on subsequent distortions of Italian democracy than has so far been supposed.
An end to Collective Identities? Political Culture and Voting Behaviour in Sesto San Giovanni and Erba
Authors: Bull Anna 
Published: April 2008

SummaryThis paper addresses the question of the demise or resilience of political subcultures in Italy today, focusing on two areas, Sesto San Giovanni and Erba, characterized until recently by a socialist/communist subculture and a Catholic/interclassist one. The voting behaviour and political values of key social groups, above all industrial workers, in these two towns provides evidence of the persistence and indeed revival of political subcultures in Italy. The paper argues that their function has changed, though. Whereas in the past a political subculture encompassed the whole spatial community, nowadays it appears to represent the interests and needs of specific groups within a territory, thus becoming one of many political instruments and choices open to social actors and voters.
The tale of San Vittore: prisons, politics, crime and Fascism in Milan, 1943–1946
Authors: Foot John 
Published: April 2008

Summary
The prison system under Fascism was used to house both common and political prisoners. After 25 July 1943, the prisons were opened, only to be closed once again in occupied Italy as the Nazis took over the system. San Vittore prison in Milan was theatre to a series of changes over the period from 1943 to 1946, culminating in the famous riots of April 1946. This article analyses the changes in the prison system, the mix of prisoners inside the institution and the continuation of the civil war inside San Vittore after liberation. This micro-focus allows reflections on a number of key issues regarding the post-war state: legitimacy, legality, repression and amnesty. The post-liberation regime's failure to keep order both inside and outside of the prison system was a key test of its legitimacy among those who had gone along with Fascism and were worried about what was to come: The article centres on the extraordinary and contested events surrounding the ‘revolt’ of 1946 in San Vittore and argues that accounts thus far provided are neither accurate nor particularly insightful about this key post-war moment. The amnesty of 1946, so long attributed to Togliatti's personal sense of responsibility was, in reality, forced upon the justice minister by the chaos in the prisons right across the peninsula.
Transforming Italy's institutions? The bicameral committee on institutional reform
Authors: Gilbert Mark 
Published: April 2008

SummaryIn 1997, Italy's leading politicians began the overdue process of revising the existing constitution. The bicameral commission of parliament charged with this task has proposed significant alterations to the country's institutional structure. Innovations include a directly elected presidency, an end to bicameralism and a greater role for sub-national tiers of administration. However, this article argues that the suggested changes are in fact less sweeping than they seem, and do not address the country's urgent need to move towards a more competitive form of democracy.
Pasolini contro Calvino: culture, the canon and the millennium
Authors: Gordon Robert S. C. 
Published: April 2008

Summary

This article offers an account of a recent debate in the cultural pages of the Italian press on a polemical work of literary criticism entitled Pasolini contro Calvino, in which the two authors are shown to represent emblematically different attitudes towards literature, cultural institutions and the culture industry in post-war Italy. The debate surrounding this claim is examined in substance, but also as an illustration of the workings of culture in 1990s Italy.
The organization of industrial interests in Italy, 1906–1925
Authors: Morris Jonathan 
Published: April 2008

Franklin Hugh Adler,Italian Industrialists from Liberalism to Fascism. The Political Development of the Industrial Bourgeoisie, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1996, xv + 458 pp., ISBN 0–521–433406–8 hbk, £40.00Giuseppe Berta,Il governo degli interessi. Industriali, rappresentanza e politica nell'Italia del nord-ovest 1906–1924, Marsilio, Venice, 1996, xv + 175 pp., ISBN 88–317–6342–3 pbk, 32,000 LireGiorgio FioccaStoria della Confindustria 1900–1914, Marsilio, Venice, 1994, 266 pp., ISBN 88–317–5850–0 hbk, 70,000 LireThe three books under review trace the organization of industrial interests in Italy from the foundation of the Lega industrial di Torino (LIT) in 1906 to the insertion of Confindustria into the Fascist totalitarian state. As Franklin Hugh Adler's ambitious and detailed account relates the Lega (LIT) begat first a Federazione Industriali Piemontesi (1908) and then the Confederazione Italiana dell'Industria (CIDI) in 1910 which was relaunched as the Confederazione generale dell'industria Italiana (Confindustria) in 1919. All of these organizations came under the effective direction of Gino Olivetti, the first secretary of the Lega who emerges from Adler's analysis as the principal theorist of a liberalproductionist ideology that the author regards as the central value system of the Italian industrial bourgeoisie. The slimmer volumes (in both scope and size) of Giuseppe Berta and Giorgio Fiocca diverge from Adler's account in stressing the discontinuities in the process of association which are attributed to the triumph of one industrial faction over another, and the changes in direction consequent upon this. By presenting these organizations within the broader context of entrepreneurial and associational activity, their accounts also call into question the extent to which the positions of Confindustria can be assumed to be representative of Italian industrialists as a whole.
Mussolini's charisma
Authors: Gentile Emilio 
Published: April 2008

SummaryMussolini was the prototype of twentieth-century charismatic dictators. His personal charisma antedated the founding of Fascism and the formal construction of collective charisma through the movement and the personality cult. First forged in the socialist movement, Mussolini's charisma assumed a new guise when he became a supporter of Italy's intervention in the First World War. He acquired an aura for the third time as Fascist leader. There were always tensions between the Duce and Fascism as the latter embodied the collective charisma of a movement. Nevertheless, Fascist ideology and culture incorporated the idea of the charismatic leader as a focus and source of authority on the model of the Catholic Church. Although it was difficult by the 1930s to distinguish between the believer's exaltation and courtly adulation, Mussolini exercised a personal charisma for many Fascists even after his death.
Political leadership in Italy: towards a plebiscitary democracy?
Authors: Donovan Mark 
Published: April 2008

SummaryFollowing the collapse of the ‘First Republic’, political leadership has become both more technocratic and more charismatic. Constitutional reform of a presidential type, which would reinforce this dual trend, has come near to being effected. This paper argues that organizational changes in the main political parties bring them close to being able to participate in such a system. It also argues that a plebiscitary form of constitutional democracy, namely some form of presidentialism, could reinforce the consolidation of the nascent two-bloc party system. Finally, it argues that a political system based on two competitive party blocs could be of great benefit to the Italian polity.