Home About us Contact
|
Home About us Contact | ||
|
|
||
Second Half (second + half)
Selected AbstractsEvaluation of a treatment programme for alcohol-related aggressionCRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR AND MENTAL HEALTH, Issue 4 2008Anna McCulloch Background,The development of effective treatments for alcohol-related aggression and violence is important in binge drinking cultures, as in parts of the UK. Aim,The aim was to evaluate the progress and experience of 10 participants in Control of Violence for Angry Impulsive Drinkers (COVAID) using a single case methodology. Method,Participants completed 10 individual weekly sessions with trained facilitators following the COVAID manual. Change scores on psychometric questionnaires were examined by calculating clinical significance and reliability of change. Self-reports of alcohol consumption and aggression were examined. Follow-up data on convictions were collected. Participants were asked their opinions about COVAID. Results,Scores on the Alcohol-Related Aggression Questionnaire (ARAQ) improved for nine participants; change was both clinically significant and reliable in five cases. Nine participants improved on the Controlled Drinking Self-Efficacy Scale (CDSES), with seven showing clinically significant improvement. Six participants reported a reduction in alcohol consumption from the first to the second half of the programme. At a mean of 29 weeks post-treatment, none of the participants had been reconvicted for a violent offence. Participants reported finding COVAID useful and interesting. Conclusion,Overall, our findings support the possibility that COVAID may assist in reducing alcohol-related violence and violent offending. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Idiopathic Circumscripta Calcinosis Cutis of the KneeDERMATOLOGIC SURGERY, Issue 12 2003FACS, Luigi Valdatta MD Background. Calcinosis cutis, a disease characterized by the presence of calcium deposits in the skin, is classified into four types according to etiology: dystrophic, metastatic, iatrogenic and idiopathic. The dystrophic form is the most common while the idiopathic one is the rarest, but specific incidence and frequency data are not available in scientific literature. Objective. Calcinosis cutis circumscripta is a very rare form of idiopathic calcinosis cutis arising in the second half of life. It typically involves the extremities and is associated with prior trauma and scleroderma. We dealt with a very rare form of calcinosis cutis circumscripta in a healthy patient, for whom surgical excision revealed to be an effective and successful treatment. Methods and materials. We present the case of a 46-year-old woman affected by idiopathic circumscripta calcinosis cutis of the left knee, successfully treated by surgical removal. Discussion. Medical and surgical treatment are options to cure calcinosis cutis. Medical therapy is not very effective. Surgical excision has shown to be beneficial, as it can provide a symptomatic relief. However, since calcinosis cutis limits are not always well defined a recurrence of the lesions may occur. [source] A History of Dermatologic Surgery in the United StatesDERMATOLOGIC SURGERY, Issue 1 2000William P. Coleman III MD Background. Dermatologic surgery has a long and distinguished history in the United States. Objective. To examine the specific contributions of American dermatologic surgeons. Method. The medical literature on cutaneous reconstructive and cosmetic surgery for the last century and a half was researched. Results. Numerous American dermatologic surgeons have had a major impact on scientific and technological discoveries in cutaneous surgery. Dermatologic surgeons have been significantly involved in cutaneous surgery since the second half of the 19th century. Dermatologic surgeons have contributed many important advances to the fields of chemical peeling, cryosurgery, dermabrasion, electrosurgery, hair transplantation, soft tissue augmentation, tumescent liposuction, laser surgery, phlebology, Mohs chemosurgery, cutaneous reconstruction, wound healing, botulium toxin, blepharoplasty, and rhytidectomy. Conclusion. Dermatologic surgeons in the United States have contributed significantly to the history of reconstructive and cosmetic surgery. Dermatologic surgeons have been leaders in advancing this field and are poised to continue in the future. [source] Food Industrialisation and Food Power: Implications for Food GovernanceDEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 5-6 2003Tim Lang Food supply chains of developed countries industrialised in the second half of the twentieth century, with significant implications for developing countries over policy priorities, the ensuing external costs and the accompanying concentration of market power. Very powerful corporations dominate many sectors. Primary producers are locked into tight specifications and contracts. Consumers may benefit from cheaper food but there are quality implications and health externalities. As consumer confidence has been shaken, new quality agencies have been created. Tensions have emerged about the state's role as facilitator of industrial efficiencies. Food policy is thus torn between the pursuit of productivity and reduced prices and the demand for higher quality, with implications for both producers and consumers in the developing world. [source] Development of swallowing and feeding: Prenatal through first year of lifeDEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES RESEARCH REVIEW, Issue 2 2008Amy L. Delaney Abstract The development of feeding and swallowing involves a highly complex set of interactions that begin in embryologic and fetal periods and continue through infancy and early childhood. This article will focus on swallowing and feeding development in infants who are developing normally with a review of some aspects of prenatal development that provide a basis for in utero sucking and swallowing. Non-nutritive sucking in healthy preterm infants, nipple feeding in preterm and term infants, and selected processes of continued development of oral skills for feeding throughout the first year of life will be discussed. Advances in research have provided new information in our understanding of the neurophysiology related to swallowing, premature infants' sucking and swallowing patterns, and changes in patterns from preterm to near term to term infants. Oral skill development as texture changes are made throughout the second half of the first year of life is an under studied phenomenon. Knowledge of normal developmental progression is essential for professionals to appreciate differences from normal in infants and children with feeding and swallowing disorders. Additional research of infants and children who demonstrate overall typical development in oral skills for feeding is encouraged and will provide helpful reference points in increasing understanding of children who exhibit differences from typical development. It is hoped that new technology will provide noninvasive means of delineating all phases of sucking and swallowing from prenatal through infancy. Further related topics in other articles of this issue provide a comprehensive review of factors influencing oral intake, growth, nutrition, and neurodevelopmental status of children. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. Dev Disabil Res Rev 2008;14:105,117. [source] Bayes nets and babies: infants' developing statistical reasoning abilities and their representation of causal knowledgeDEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 3 2007David M. Sobel A fundamental assumption of the causal graphical model framework is the Markov assumption, which posits that learners can discriminate between two events that are dependent because of a direct causal relation between them and two events that are independent conditional on the value of another event(s). Sobel and Kirkham (2006) demonstrated that 8-month-old infants registered conditional independence information among a sequence of events; infants responded according to the Markov assumption in such a way that was inconsistent with models that rely on simple calculations of associative strength. The present experiment extends these findings to younger infants, and demonstrates that such responses potentially develop during the second half of the first year of life. These data are discussed in terms of a developmental trajectory between associative mechanisms and causal graphical models as representations of infants' causal and statistical learning. [source] Oral insulin , a review of current statusDIABETES OBESITY & METABOLISM, Issue 3 2010Harish Iyer Oral insulin is one of the most exciting areas of development in the treatment of diabetes because of its potential benefit in patient convenience, rapid insulinization of liver, adequate insulin delivery avoiding peripheral hyperinsulinaemia while potentially avoiding adverse effects of weight gain and hypoglycaemia. Growing evidence that earlier initiation of intensive insulin therapy produces sustained tight glycaemic control resulting in substantial delay in complications makes an effective oral insulin product even more vital for the management of patients with diabetes. Despite knowledge of this unmet medical need, oral delivery of insulin has been unsuccessful because of several barriers. For several decades, researchers have tried to develop oral insulin using various technologies without much clinical or commercial success. This review summarizes the development status of oral insulins which are publicly reported to be undergoing clinical studies. Currently, two oral insulin products are in an advanced stage of clinical development and first data from long-term therapy are expected to be available in the second half of 2010. [source] Maternal blood glucose in diabetic pregnancies and cognitive performance in offspring in young adulthood: a Danish cohort studyDIABETIC MEDICINE, Issue 7 2010G. L. Nielsen Diabet. Med. 27, 786,790 (2010) Abstract Aims, Maternal diabetes is a known risk factor for perinatal complications, but there are little data on consequences for long-term intellectual outcome in offspring. We assess cognitive performance in military conscripts according to maternal blood glucose levels during pregnancy. Methods, We identified a cohort of 60 Danish male offspring of insulin-treated diabetic mothers born between 1976 and 1984 and followed this cohort to military conscription. From medical records, we extracted data on all available values of maternal blood glucose categorized as fasting and non-fasting and by day in pregnancy, together with maternal White class, smoking habits and socio-economic status. The main outcome was cognitive performance at conscription measured with a validated intelligence test. The association between maternal blood glucose level and cognitive performance was assessed by multivariate linear regression and a fitted fractional polynomial. Results, Median fasting blood glucose values in the second half of pregnancy was negatively associated with cognitive scores at conscription [adjusted coefficient ,1.7; 95% confidence interval (CI) ,3.0; ,0.4]. Restriction to only first-born sibling slightly strengthened the association (coefficient ,1.9; 95% CI ,3.3; ,0.5), but after exclusion of two pregnancies with the blood glucose > 10 mmol/l the association became insignificant (coefficient ,0.6; 95% CI ,2.6; 1.4). Conclusions, Maternal blood glucose level during diabetic pregnancy is negatively associated with cognitive performance in offspring at military conscription. In pregnancies with fasting blood glucose levels below 10 mmol/l, the association is weak and considered to be without clinical relevance. [source] Symptomatic candidiasis: Using self sampled vaginal smears to establish the presence of Candida, lactobacilli, and Gardnerella vaginalisDIAGNOSTIC CYTOPATHOLOGY, Issue 10 2007M. K. Engberts M.D. Abstract In a prospective cohort study, 10 symptomatic women with recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis were taught how to prepare vaginal smears of their own vaginal fluids on days 7, 14, 21, and 28. The 40 smears were stained with the PAS-method and examined by three different cytopathologists for presence of Candida. Thereafter, the smears were restained with Giemsa-stain to determine presence of lactobacilli, Gardnerella vaginalis ("clue cells") and neutrophils. All three cytopathologists unequivocally established Candida blastospores and (pseudo)hyphae in 27 out of the 40 PAS-stained vaginal smears, whereas in the remaining 13 smears Candida was not found. All 10 patients had Candida in their smears during the second half of their menstrual cycle. Self sampled smears prove to be reliable for establishing the presence of Candida in symptomatic patients with candidiasis. Candida is associated with a lactobacillus -predominated vaginal flora, but with the absence of Gardnerella vaginalis. Further studies may be directed towards the interaction between the various members of the vaginal flora. This study should open molecular methodology for determining the possible interactions of lactobacilli and Candida. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2007;35:635,639. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Results of longterm hospital based cytological screening in asymptomatic womenDIAGNOSTIC CYTOPATHOLOGY, Issue 3 2006Jata S. Misra Ph.D., M.I.A.C. Abstract Routine cytological screening has been carried out in 27,062 asymptomatic women attending Gynaec and Family Planning O.P.D. of Queen Mary's Hospital, Lucknow, India (April 1971,December 2004). Incidence of squamous intraepithelial lesion (SIL) was found to be 5.9% in the series, while cervical malignancy was seen in 0.6% of cases. The study highlighted the immense utility of cytological screening in minimizing the incidence of carcinoma cervix in the segment of the urban population screened, as the incidence dropped down to 0.5% in the second half from 1.1% noticed in the first half of the screening period. The study also emphasized the utility of clinically downstaging the cervical cancer as 7,316 women showing clinical lesions of cervix were found to harbor SIL in 15.3% and carcinoma cervix in 1.3% of cases as against the incidence of 2.5% for SIL and 0.6% for frank cancer in women with normal cervix. The investigation into different risk factors involved in cervical carcinogenesis revealed that the incidence of SIL and cancer cervix showed a rise with increasing age and parity and prolonged sexual period. The incidences of both cervical cytopathologies were also higher in women of low socio-economic status while religion was found to have no bearing on the occurrence of the disease. Among the four sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) diagnosed in the cervical smears, Trichomonas vaginalis was found to be more prevalent (2.6%), while human papillomavirus (HPV) and Herpes simplex was seen in 0.4 and 0.2% of cases, respectively Herpes simplex was found to have strong affinity with both SIL and carcinoma cervix, while only SIL incidence was high with HPV infection. The study emphasizes need of proper education to women of low socio-economic class for creating awareness regarding hazards and risk factors of cervical cancer as well as management and cure of the disease. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2006;34: 184,187. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Lost zooplanktivorous cichlid from Lake Victoria reappears with a new tradeECOLOGY OF FRESHWATER FISH, Issue 4 2003E. F. B. Katunzi Abstract,,, The zooplanktivorous cichlid Haplochromis pyrrhocephalus, which was one of the most common haplochromine species in the Mwanza Gulf of Lake Victoria, had almost completely disappeared after the Nile perch upsurge in the 1980s. In the second half of the 1990s, this species suddenly reappeared in the strongly changed ecosystem. Gut content investigation revealed a change in diet. Currently, H. pyrrhocephalus eats large prey more frequently than in the past. These large prey comprise fish, shrimps and molluscs. The latter two were never encountered in specimens from the past. Particularly feeding on molluscs was unexpected, as it had been suggested that, because of anatomical constraints, molluscivory and zooplanktivory are incompatible in cichlid fish. Our observations provide a new example of the extreme versatility in feeding behaviour in haplochromine cichlids. [source] Monastic mortality: Durham Priory, 1395,15291ECONOMIC HISTORY REVIEW, Issue 4 2006JOHN HATCHER This article presents reliable data on the life expectancy of the monks of Durham Priory between 1395 and 1529. The number of years that monks survived in this northern monastery plunged precipitously in the second half of the fifteenth century before staging a partial recovery in the early sixteenth. The experience of Durham monks mirrors the scale, direction, and timing of the data already produced for the monks of Canterbury and Westminster. While the precise relationship between monastic mortality and that of the population at large remains difficult to determine, there can be no doubt that the symmetry that has been established between mortality in three monasteries located in different parts of the country has important implications for our understanding of the demographic history of late medieval England. [source] English and Scottish overseas trade, 1300,16001ECONOMIC HISTORY REVIEW, Issue 2 2006MARTIN RORKE This article compares English and Scottish exports, from 1300,1600, using existing statistical data from England and a new data set of Scottish exports. It shows that the significant English and Scottish wool trades collapsed at almost identical rates. However, while England shifted towards exporting woollen cloth, a similar move in Scotland was weak,because of the poor quality of cloth and the urban form of the industry. In the second half of the sixteenth century, as English exports stagnated, Scottish trade began to grow, especially new and less-established commodities. This ,recovery' was based on the heavy depreciation of the Scottish currency. [source] A Defense of Puttenham's Arte of English PoesyENGLISH LITERARY RENAISSANCE, Issue 1 2009Julian Lamb Recent critical accounts of Puttenham's treatise have tended to focus on the political nature of its poetics, and have in turn read the text as an exercise in courtly dissembling, or in self-fashioning. My argument is that such readings misunderstand the pedagogical nature of Puttenham's text, which distinguishes it from Sidney's Defense of Poetry and Daniel's Defense of Rhyme (to which the Art has been compared unfavourably). In the first half of this article I provide a re-interpretation of Puttenham's conception of decorum, suggesting that it is not an inexplicable rule designed to keep poetry the property the courtly elite, but rather a appetite and an imperative motivating the writing of poetry. In the second half of the article I consider Puttenham's understanding of the nature of decorum in terms of the relationship between custom and the rule. I suggest that Puttenham conceptualises this relationship as one between the aural and visual properties of language; between the ear and the eye. [source] Temporal Shifts in Conspicuousness: Mate Attraction Displays of the Texas Field Cricket, Gryllus texensisETHOLOGY, Issue 12 2004Susan M. Bertram Conspicuous mate attraction displays can simultaneously draw the attention of potential mates and predators, placing the signaller in peril of becoming prey. The balance between these countervailing forms of selection has the potential to shape mate attraction displays. Male Texas field crickets (Gryllus texensis; Orthoptera) signal acoustically to attract mates. Mating signals also attract acoustically orienting parasitoid flies (Ormia ochracea; Tachinidae). Both the abundance of female crickets and parasitoid flies fluctuates throughout the night. We show mate attraction displays exhibit diel shifts that correlate positively with expected female cricket presence and negatively with expected parasitoid fly activity. During early evening, when parasitoids are most common and mating is scarce, crickets signal less often and with reduced conspicuousness. During the second half of the evening, when sexually receptive females are abundant and parasitoids are scarce, crickets signal more often and with enhanced conspicuousness. These diel shifts in mate attraction displays do not appear to result from male crickets detecting parasitoid flies or female crickets and altering their behaviour accordingly. Males in close proximity to parasitoid flies or female crickets do not signal differently than lone males. Instead, diel pattern shifts in mate attraction displays appear to be a selective response to trade-offs between natural selection via parasitism and sexual selection via mate choice. [source] Lack of seasonal variation in eating attitudes and behaviours among female college studentsEUROPEAN EATING DISORDERS REVIEW, Issue 2 2005Melissa A. Munn Abstract Objective Previous studies have found a season of birth effect for women with eating disorders. However, findings regarding the two types of season of birth (i.e. month of birth and temperature at conception) have been conflicting, and few studies have examined relationships between season of birth and general disordered eating in non-clinical populations. The present study sought to examine this relationship more closely by investigating both month of birth and temperature at conception in undergraduate women. Method Subjects included 427 undergraduate females from a large university in the United States. Disordered eating in the areas of body dissatisfaction, compensatory behaviour, binge eating and weight preoccupation was assessed with the Minnesota Eating Behaviors Survey (MEBS). Results No significant mean differences in MEBS scores were found between those individuals born in the first versus second half of the year. Furthermore, no significant associations were found between disordered eating and temperature at conception. Discussion Our findings suggest that disordered eating symptoms do not show a season of birth effect. Discrepancies between these findings and those for clinical samples suggest the possible presence of different aetiological mechanisms for general eating symptoms versus clinical eating disorders. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association. [source] Type I collagen markers in cord serum of appropriate vs. small for gestational age infants born during the second half of pregnancyEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF CLINICAL INVESTIGATION, Issue 5 2001T. Saarela Background The serum concentration of the N-terminal propeptide of type I procollagen (PINP) reflects the synthesis rate of type I collagen, whereas the corresponding C-terminal telopeptide (ICTP) mirrors its degradation. Design PINP and ICTP were measured in a total of 690 cord serum samples from 592 appropriate-for-gestational-age (AGA) infants and 98 smal-for-gestational-age (SGA) infants. These markers were compared between AGA and SGA infants of different gestational ages, ranging from 23 to 41 weeks, and birth weights, from 620 to 4555 g. Results Both PINP and ICTP levels were very high in the preterm AGA infants and declined significantly with advancing gestational age, paralleling the shape of the fetal growth velocity curve. Regardless of the quite large interindividual variations observed in these markers, PINP was significantly lower in both the preterm and term AGA infants than in the SGA infants. This was also the case for ICTP in the preterm infants of gestational age less than 36 weeks. In stepwise multiple regression analyses, gestational age, being either AGA or SGA and head circumference were significant factors to explain the levels of PINP and ICTP. The levels of PINP and ICTP were correlated with each other highly significantly in both the AGA and SGA infants (rs = 0·700 and 0·692, respectively; P < 0·001 in both). Conclusions The levels of type I collagen markers seem to follow closely the shape of the fetal growth velocity curve during different stages of gestation. However, because of the large interindividual variations observed, further studies are needed before the significance of these markers for the assessment of normal and abnormal fetal growth can be established. [source] Functional topography of the human nonREM sleep electroencephalogramEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE, Issue 12 2001Luca A. Finelli Abstract The sleep EEG of healthy young men was recorded during baseline and recovery sleep after 40 h of waking. To analyse the EEG topography, power spectra were computed from 27 derivations. Mean power maps of the nonREM sleep EEG were calculated for 1-Hz bins between 1.0 and 24.75 Hz. Cluster analysis revealed a topographic segregation into distinct frequency bands which were similar for baseline and recovery sleep, and corresponded closely to the traditional frequency bands. Hallmarks of the power maps were the frontal predominance in the delta and alpha band, the occipital predominance in the theta band, and the sharply delineated vertex maximum in the sigma band. The effect of sleep deprivation on EEG topography was determined by calculating the recovery/baseline ratio of the power spectra. Prolonged waking induced an increase in power in the low-frequency range (1,10.75 Hz) which was largest over the frontal region, and a decrease in power in the sigma band (13,15.75 Hz) which was most pronounced over the vertex. The topographic pattern of the recovery/baseline power ratio was similar to the power ratio between the first and second half of the baseline night. These results indicate that changes in sleep propensity are reflected by specific regional differences in EEG power. The predominant increase of low-frequency power in frontal areas may be due to a high ,recovery need' of the frontal heteromodal association areas of the cortex. [source] That Which Makes the Sensation of Blue a Mental Fact: Moore on Phenomenal RelationismEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY, Issue 3 2007Benj Hellie A gift of a dollar for each article in the philosophy of perception and consciousness published since 1990 making reference, explicitly or implicitly, to Moore's discussion in the second half of Moore 19031 of an alleged ,transparency' and ,diaphanousness' pertaining to some aspect of perceptual experience would very likely cover the tab of a mid-priced dinner for two.2 Moore's poetically expressed observations have captured the imagination of contemporary philosophers of perception and consciousness, and have served as the basis of much fruitful discussion in those areas. Still, despite all the attention these observations have received, the contemporary literature lacks a close reading of the second half of Moore's paper, without which it is impossible to understand Moore's observations in the context in which they were originally expressed. It is understandable that such a close reading is lacking: the second half of Moore's paper has been rightly described by one of his most sympathetic and dedicated interpreters as ,extremely dense and opaque' (Klemke 2000: 55).3 But despite the evident difficulties of the task, I aim here, with some trepidation, to provide the missing close reading. The main points of my interpretation will be these. The centerpiece of the anti-idealist manoeuvrings of the second half of the paper is a phenomenological argument for what I will call a relational view of perceptual phenomenal character, on which, roughly, ,that which makes the sensation of blue a mental fact' is a relation of conscious awareness, a view close to the opposite of the most characteristic contemporary view going under the transparency rubric.4 The discussion of transparency and diaphanousness is a sidelight, its principal purpose to shore up the main line of argumentation against criticism; in those passages all Moore argues is that the relation of conscious awareness is not transparent, while acknowledging that it can seem to be. My discussion will proceed as follows. In section 1, I will discuss some theses and elucidate some notions from the philosophy of perception and consciousness which will be central to my interpretation; having done so, I will be in a position to explain how an accurate understanding of Moore may contribute to theoretical advances in the philosophy of perception and consciousness. The next two sections contain the exegetical heart of the paper: section 2 provides an analysis of Moore's case for the relational view; section 3 attempts to explain the place of the relational view in the overall refutation of idealism. Section 4 critically discusses a pair of competing interpretations. Section 5 wraps things up, drawing concluding morals as to the campaigns on behalf of which Moore should and should not be enlisted. [source] Lessons from the past: the collapse of Jamaican coral reefsFISH AND FISHERIES, Issue 2 2009Marah J. Hardt Abstract Since Pre-Columbian times, humans have exploited Jamaican marine ecosystems with significant consequences for flora and fauna. This study focuses on the history of reef fish exploitation in Jamaica, from first human occupation to the present day, to determine how past fishing activities contributed to subsequent declines in the coral reef ecosystem. The pattern of declining reef fish populations was nonlinear. Reef fish first declined in prehistoric times but then potentially recovered, following genocide of the native human population. Reduced fishing pressure lasted until the mid-19th century. At that time, depletion of reef fish populations again occurred with a precipitous decline from the 1850s to the 1940s. The final shift from relatively abundant to overfished marine fauna corresponded to subtle changes in fish trap design as well as development of recreational fishing. Government subsidies throughout the second half of the 20th century exacerbated the declines. This analysis shows that local artisanal fisheries with relatively low levels of effort and seemingly subtle shifts in technology can significantly impact the coral reef ecosystem and that declines occurred decades to centuries before modern ecological studies began. This research shows how historical analysis can be a powerful tool to minimize shifted baselines and establish realistic targets for recovery and sustainable management of marine ecosystems. [source] Membranes, strings and integrabilityFORTSCHRITTE DER PHYSIK/PROGRESS OF PHYSICS, Issue 5-7 2009C. Krishnan Abstract In the first half of this note, after briefly motivating and reviewing membrane field theories, we discuss their BPS funnel solutions. We discuss some aspects of embedding M-theory fuzzy funnels in these theories. In the second half, we focus on ABJM theory and discuss a test of AdS4/CFT3 based on integrability. We discuss a numerical mismatch at one loop in worldsheet perturbation theory and its possible resolutions. [source] Expression of the whey acidic protein (Wap) is necessary for adequate nourishment of the offspring but not functional differentiation of mammary epithelial cellsGENESIS: THE JOURNAL OF GENETICS AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 1 2005Aleata A. Triplett Abstract Whey acidic protein (WAP) is the principal whey protein found in rodent milk, which contains a cysteine-rich motif identified in some protease inhibitors and proteins involved in tissue modeling. The expression of the Wap gene, which is principally restricted to the mammary gland, increases more than 1,000-fold around mid-pregnancy. To determine whether the expression of this major milk protein gene is a prerequisite for functional differentiation of mammary epithelial cells, we generated conventional knockout mice lacking two alleles of the Wap gene. Wap-deficient females gave birth to normal litter sizes and, initially, produced enough milk to sustain the offspring. The histological analysis of postpartum mammary glands from knockout dams does not reveal striking phenotypic abnormalities. This suggests that the expression of the Wap gene is not required for alveolar specification and functional differentiation. In addition, we found that Wap is dispensable as a protease inhibitor to maintain the stability of secretory proteins in the milk. Nevertheless, a significant number of litters thrived poorly on Wap-deficient dams, in particular during the second half of lactation. This observation suggests that Wap may be essential for the adequate nourishment of the growing young, which triple in size within the first 10 days of lactation. Important implications of these findings for the use of Wap as a marker for advanced differentiation of mammary epithelial cells and the biology of pluripotent progenitors are discussed in the final section. genesis 43:1,11, 2005. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Bronze Age paleohydrography of the southern Venetian PlainGEOARCHAEOLOGY: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, Issue 1 2010Silvia Piovan The Bronze Age paleohydrography of the distal Adige and Po alluvial plain (northeastern Italy) is notable for its relations with protohistoric human activities in this area. This paper regards the stratigraphy and petrography of the Saline,Cona alluvial ridge, upon which the Saline, Sarzano, and Cantarana Bronze Age sites lie, and the petrography of Fratta alluvial ridge, upon which the Frattesina complex (Bronze,Iron Age) lies. Sand analyses indicate the Po River as the source for sediments underlying the alluvial ridge that runs through Fratta Polesine, Rovigo, Sarzano, and Cona. Radiometric ages indicate that the branch of the Saline,Cona ridge was formed by the Po River between the second half of the 3rd millennium B.C. and the end of 2nd millennium B.C. This ridge represents the maximum northward expansion of the Po alluvial system, through the same area of coastal plain crossed by the Adige and Brenta paleochannels. This paleohydrographic setting implies that fluvial connections between the Central Po Plain settlements, the Venetian Plain and Alps were relatively less complex in the Early and Middle Bronze Age than in the Late Bronze Age, when the terminal reach of the Po River was separated by the Adige River by hundreds of km2 of swampy terrain. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Providence and Sympathy: Consoling the Bereaved in the Late Eighteenth CenturyGERMAN LIFE AND LETTERS, Issue 3 2006Anna Richards In the Enlightenment period restrictions were imposed on mourning practices but grief was valued as a sign of natural humanity, as long as it remained moderate. Consolation was offered to the bereaved to help them temper excessive sadness. In the second half of the eighteenth century, influenced by the period's psychological thinking, the theory and the practice of consolation became more secular and more individualised than they had previously been; consolers took the demands of self-interest and of the emotions into account to a greater extent. This meant an emphasis on the role of providence in the death of the loved one and on the need for sympathy. This article discusses the consequences and the challenges of these developments for consolatory texts. It suggests that they called for narrative strategies and concludes that the ,Trostschrift' and the sentimental novel began to occupy some of the same ground at this period. [source] The Deukalion and Pyrrha Myth in Paul Celan and Christoph RansmayrGERMAN LIFE AND LETTERS, Issue 2 2003Scott G. Williams This article examines the rewriting of Ovid's version of the Deukalion and Pyrrha myth by Paul Celan and Christoph Ransmayr. The myth relates how Jupiter destroys the world by deluge and how Deukalion and Pyrrha repopulate the earth. This myth of destruction and renewal finds resonance in the poetry of Celan and the novel Die letzte Welt by Ransmayr, one at the start of the literature of the post-war years, the other closing the second half of the century. In the case of Celan, this article highlights a connection to the classical tradition little noticed in the critical literature. In turn, it also helps lift a corner of the veil on some of his enigmatic poetry. Ransmayr's version of the myth is embedded in his rewriting of Ovid's Metamorphoses. The analysis of that version also elucidates the sparse reference to the Holocaust in the novel. There are similar metaphoric responses to the myth in both contemporary writers. Furthermore, the critical response to both writers reflects the tumultuous relationship of German-language literature and history since 1945. [source] Impact of CO2 concentration changes on the biosphere-atmosphere system of West AfricaGLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY, Issue 12 2002GUILING WANG Abstract Vegetation dynamics plays a critical role in causing the decadal variability of precipitation over the Sahel region of West Africa. However, the potential impact of changes in CO2 concentration on vegetation dynamics and precipitation variability of this region has not been addressed by previous studies. In this paper, we explore the role of CO2 concentration in the regional climate system of West Africa using a zonally symmetric, synchronously coupled biosphere-atmosphere model. We first document the response of precipitation and vegetation to incremental changes of CO2 concentration; the impact of CO2 concentration on the variability of the regional biosphere-atmosphere system is then addressed using the second half of the twentieth century as an example. An increase of CO2 concentration causes the regional biosphere-atmosphere system to become wetter and greener, with the radiative effect of CO2 and improved plant-water relation dominant in the Sahelian grassland region and the direct enhancement of leaf carbon assimilation dominant in the tree-covered region to the south. Driven by the observed sea surface temperature (SST) of the tropical Atlantic Ocean during the period 1950,97 and with CO2 concentration prescribed at a pre-industrial level 300ppmv, the model simulates a persistent Sahel drought during the period of 1960s,1990s. The simulated drought takes place in the form of a transition of the coupled biosphere-atmosphere system from a wet/green regime in the 1950s to a dry/barren regime after the 1960s. This climate transition is triggered by SST forcing and materialized through vegetation-climate interactions. The same SST forcing does not produce such a persistent drought when a constant modern CO2 concentration of 350ppmv is specified, indicating that the biosphere-atmosphere system at higher CO2 level is more resilient to drought-inducing external forcings. This finding suggests that the regional climate in Sahel, which tends to alternate between dry and wet spells, may experience longer (or more frequent) wet episodes and shorter (or less frequent) dry episodes in the future than in the past. Our study has significant implications regarding the impact of climate change on regional socio-economic development. [source] What caused the mid-Holocene forest decline on the eastern Tibet-Qinghai Plateau?GLOBAL ECOLOGY, Issue 2 2010Ulrike Herzschuh ABSTRACT Aim, Atmospheric CO2 concentrations depend, in part, on the amount of biomass locked up in terrestrial vegetation. Information on the causes of a broad-scale vegetation transition and associated loss of biomass is thus of critical interest for understanding global palaeoclimatic changes. Pollen records from the north-eastern Tibet-Qinghai Plateau reveal a dramatic and extensive forest decline beginning c. 6000 cal. yr bp. The aim of this study is to elucidate the causes of this regional-scale change from high-biomass forest to low-biomass steppe on the Tibet-Qinghai Plateau during the second half of the Holocene. Location, Our study focuses on the north-eastern Tibet-Qinghai Plateau. Stratigraphical data used are from Qinghai Lake (3200 m a.s.l., 36°32,,37°15, N, 99°36,,100°47, E). Methods, We apply a modern pollen-precipitation transfer function from the eastern and north-eastern Tibet-Qinghai Plateau to fossil pollen spectra from Qinghai Lake to reconstruct annual precipitation changes during the Holocene. The reconstructions are compared to a stable oxygen-isotope record from the same sediment core and to results from two transient climate model simulations. Results, The pollen-based precipitation reconstruction covering the Holocene parallels moisture changes inferred from the stable oxygen-isotope record. Furthermore, these results are in close agreement with simulated model-based past annual precipitation changes. Main conclusions, In the light of these data and the model results, we conclude that it is not necessary to attribute the broad-scale forest decline to human activity. Climate change as a result of changes in the intensity of the East Asian Summer Monsoon in the mid-Holocene is the most parsimonious explanation for the widespread forest decline on the Tibet-Qinghai Plateau. Moreover, climate feedback from a reduced forest cover accentuates increasingly drier conditions in the area, indicating complex vegetation,climate interactions during this major ecological change. [source] ,Brain circulation' and transnational knowledge networks: studying long-term effects of academic mobility to Germany, 1954,2000GLOBAL NETWORKS, Issue 3 2009HEIKE JÖNS Abstract ,Brain circulation' has become a buzzword for describing the increasingly networked character of highly skilled migration. In this article, the concept is linked to academics' work on circular mobility to explore the long-term effects of their research stays in Germany during the second half of the twentieth century. Based on original survey data on more than 1800 former visiting academics from 93 countries, it is argued that this type of brain circulation launched a cumulative process of subsequent academic mobility and collaboration that contributed significantly to the reintegration of Germany into the international scientific community after the Second World War and enabled the country's rise to the most important source for international co-authors of US scientists and engineers in the twenty-first century. In this article I discuss regional and disciplinary specificities in the formation of transnational knowledge networks through circulating academics and suggest that the long-term effects can be fruitfully conceptualized as accumulation processes in ,centres of calculation'. [source] The Labour Party and Higher Education: The Nature of the RelationshipHIGHER EDUCATION QUARTERLY, Issue 3 2003Jean Bocock Higher education policy has rarely been a major concern of the Labour Party in the second half of the twentieth century. This article explores the reasons for this and analyses the ideological coalition of the Labour Party in the context of the Welfare State and the commitments to moderate social democratic reformism. Three strands in particular are explored: the dominance of vocational, technological and professional priorities in HE expansion; the influence of utilitarian thinking, broadly construed; and the various social purpose, equality perspectives of those on the Left of the Party. Alongside these strands, has been Labour's reluctance to adopt interventionist policies especially in relation to the so-called elite Universities, and the persistent advocacy of ,modernisation'. Finally, the article considers, within a context of the debate in general political analysis, the potential of the Labour Party within this period to achieve significant reform in the field of higher education, drawing inter alia on the work of Ralph Miliband. [source] Education of the Laity and Advocacy of Violence in Print during the French Wars of ReligionHISTORY, Issue 318 2010LUC RACAUT At the turn of the seventeenth century King Henri IV of France sought to reconcile his Catholic and Protestant subjects by blaming the violent excesses of the French Wars of Religion on religious radicalism. In particular, Catholic preachers and pamphleteers were accused retrospectively of having poured oil on the fire of religious violence through vitriolic sermons and pamphlets. Historians have tended to reproduce this charge while at the same time emphasizing the ,modernity' of Protestantism, particularly in view of religious education. A review of books printed in the sixteenth century enables historians to test empirically the extent to which violence was fuelled by religious polemic. From the beginning of the Reformation the Catholic Church had been torn between educating the laity in correct doctrine on one hand and denouncing heresy on the other. A closer look at the book trade reveals that these concerns were reflected in the kinds of books that were published in the vernacular in the second half of the sixteenth century. While the clergy increasingly saw the merits of educating the laity, it had to compete with the public's taste for polemic that printers were keen to cater for. [source] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||