Plurality of Perspectives and Subjects in the Literary Genres of the Yucatec Maya

The author applies to literary texts some of the parameters used in reference to questions of perspective in the visual arts. Disagreeing with Erwin Panofsky, who considers perspective a "symbolic form," the author sees it as a device of utterance and thus a generator of signs susceptible to semiotic study. Unlike many scholars, the author believes not that the enunciator's perspective is transferred onto the work, but that the perspective of the work is imposed on the enunciator. The perspective of each genre situates the enunciator in a specific place in relation to the world and shapes him or her differentially as subject.     

Recent fungal diseases of crop plants: is lateral gene transfer a common theme?

A cursory glance at old textbooks of plant pathology reveals that the diseases which are the current scourge of agriculture in many parts of the world are a different set from those that were prominent 50 or 100 years ago. Why have these new diseases arisen? The traditional explanations subscribe to the "nature abhors a vacuum" principle-that control of one disease creates the condition for the emergence of a replacement-but does little to explain why the new pathogen succeeds. The emergence of a new disease requires a series of conditions and steps, including the enhanced fecundity of the new pathogen, enhanced survival from season to season, and spread around the world. Recently, evidence was obtained that wheat tan spot emerged through a lateral gene transfer event some time prior to 1941. Although there have been sporadic and persistent reports of lateral gene transfer between and into fungal plant pathogens, most examples have been dismissed through incomplete evidence. The completion of whole genome sequences of an increasing number of fungal pathogens no longer allows such proposed cases of lateral gene transfer to be dismissed so easily. How frequent are lateral gene transfers involving fungal plant pathogens, and can this process explain the emergence of many of the new diseases of the recent past? Many of the apparently new diseases are dependant on the expression of host-specific toxins. These are enigmatic molecules whose action requires the presence of plant genes with products that specifically encode sensitivity to the toxin and susceptibility to the disease. It is also notable that many new diseases belong to the fungal taxon dothideomycetes. This review explores the coincidence of new diseases, interspecific gene transfer, host-specific toxins, and the dothideomycete class.     

织金瘰螈生物学特性及保护措施

织金瘰螈Paramesotriton zhijinensis是2008年才发现的中国特有珍稀两栖动物.发现于贵州省织金县,它是世界上最稀少的两栖动物之一,在世界其它各地至今还没有被发现,也是被关注和研究最少的濒危动物之一.由于生境的逐渐丧失、环境的恶化、人为的严重干扰等诸多因素导致其种群数量急剧减少.以现在的种群数量和消亡速度来看,如不善加保护,它很可能不久就会灭绝.本文对织金瘰螈的分布区域、栖息环境、体型特征、生活习性、食性及种群资源状况进行了简单分析,希望能为该物种的资源保护提供重要的理论依据.     

An examination of the phenol-croton oil peel: Part II. The lay peelers and their croton oil formulas

From the turn of the century, lay face peelers, known as "skinners," ran "beautifier" salons. Beginning in the 1920s, lay peelers were using croton oil-phenol formulas in Hollywood. These persons were renowned, made a good living, and treated many, if not most, of the leading "stars" of the day. They had a treatment, a "secret," that physicians did not. Physicians brought their own wives to the peelers for their expertise. The leading lay peel personalities from the 1920s through to our time are presented. The lay peelers dominated the field until the 1960s, when legal attacks on them, often directly instigated by the newly educated physician peelers, put them at a legal disadvantage. Nevertheless, there was considerable interaction with many plastic surgeons along the way. Some plastic surgeons came into possession of the techniques and some also into knowledge of the ingredients in a formula. The author has presented the recipes of four of the renowned lay peelers, two from Hollywood, Gradé and Kelsen, and two from Miami, Coopersmith and Maschek. These recipes all have 80 to 90 percent less croton oil than the "classic" Baker formula and, therefore, wound less deeply. The Hollywood formulas were used on many celebrities both inside and outside the film world from the 1920s to the early 1990s. These lay recipes are cumbersome to prepare. The author has simplified the preparation of these lay recipes by using USP liquid phenol instead of crystals. These simple formulas are provided in a table and are as easy to prepare as the Baker formula.     

NPY and stress 30 years later: the peripheral view

Almost 30 years ago, neuropeptide Y (NPY) was discovered as a sympathetic co-transmitter and one of the most evolutionarily conserved peptides abundantly present all over the body. Soon afterward, NPY's multiple receptors were characterized and cloned, and the peptide's role in stress was first documented. NPY has proven to be pivotal for maintaining many stress responses. Most notably, NPY is known for activating long-lasting vasoconstriction in many vascular beds, including coronary arteries. More recently, NPY was found to play a role in stress-induced accretion of adipose tissue which many times can lead to detrimental metabolic changes. It is however due to its prominent actions in the brain, one of which is its powerful ability to stimulate appetite as well as its anxiolytic activities that NPY became a peptide of importance in neuroscience. In contrast, its actions in the rest of the body, including its role as a stress mediator, remained, surprisingly underappreciated and not well understood. Our research has focused on that other, "peripheral" side of NPY. In this review, we will discuss those actions of NPY on the cardiovascular system and metabolism, as they relate to adaptation to stress, and attempt to both distinguish NPY's effects from and integrate them with the effects of the classical stress mediators, glucocorticoids, and catecholamines. To limit the bias of someone (ZZ) who has viewed the world of stress through the eyes of NPY for over 20 years, fresh insight (DH) has been solicited to more objectively assess NPY's contributions to stress-related diseases and the body's ability to adapt to stress.     

International approaches to the concept of integrated control of nematode parasites of livestock

Livestock production systems throughout the world are under severe and sustained pressures. These are diverse and multi-factorial, ranging from the need to redress the oversupply of livestock commodities from the protected industries of the industrialised world, meeting animal welfare expectations, attempts to ease animal-induced land degradation and pollution, and competition with alternative products. As a consequence, funding for research to the ruminant livestock industries has been contracting universally. This applies particularly to research on those diseases of grazing livestock that are not zoonotic, threats to trade, or major "killer" diseases. Gastrointestinal helminths fall outside these priorities. The last decade has witnessed a major contraction throughout the world in the number of research centres and staff involved in applied veterinary parasitology research. This coincides with a time when these livestock industries need the most help. Resistance to anthelmintic drugs amongst the major nematode parasites of sheep and goats has now reached alarming proportions throughout the world and threatens the future viability of continued small ruminant production in many countries. Anthelmintic resistance is also increasing in the important nematode parasites of cattle. Also, this time coincides with the apparent reduction in the discovery and development of entirely new anthelmintic products by the pharmaceutical industry. As a consequence, those remaining researchers and extension personnel who have the responsibility of providing support to the ruminant livestock industry, are showing innovation and lateral thinking in ways to combat the perennial problem of internal parasites in grazing livestock. There are a number of excellent examples of parasite-control schemes, which do not rely entirely on anthelmintic treatment. These are now being supplemented with some exciting novel approaches to dealing with particularly pressing parasite problems. Also there is a move towards the development of true integrated approaches in the control of nematode parasites of livestock, which employ several of these methods when appropriate. This proves that as far as worm control in livestock is concerned, the old adage "necessity is the mother of invention", holds true.     

基于集中参数模型的脑血管疾病数值模拟

脑血管疾病的血流动力研究一直是和脑血管疾病的预防和诊断密切相关的,由于脑部血流循环是一个四端输入的网络,其复杂性导致它的血液动力学规律和体循环有着本质的差别,讨论脑循环这模型和临床应用有着重要的意义,本文使用集中参数模型来模拟三种常见的脑血管疾病;脑动脉硬化,脑梗塞,锁骨下动脉盗血,考察其对相应脑血管的压力和流量的影响,结果显示脑部血液循环的代偿功能在发病情况下的重要作用,本文通过分析数值模拟结果,对不同疾病的血液动力学特征进行研究,给脑血管疾病的临床诊断提供血液动力学方面的参考。     

生态条件的多样性变化对蜜蜂生存的影响

蜜蜂在整个生态系统中起着重要的传花授粉作用,是生态链中不可或缺的物种。随着现代农业的发展,蜜蜂赖以生存的环境遭到破坏,继而引发蜜蜂数量大幅减少,影响了蜂种的生存与可持续发展。总结了近年来生态条件的变化,归纳了影响蜜蜂生存的主要因素,分析了蜜蜂生存艰难的原因,提出了蜜蜂生存的关键问题,并展望了未来维持蜜蜂强群的主要研究方向。     

A better index of body adiposity

Obesity is a growing problem in the United States and throughout the world. It is a risk factor for many chronic diseases. The BMI has been used to assess body fat for almost 200 years. BMI is known to be of limited accuracy, and is different for males and females with similar %body adiposity. Here, we define an alternative parameter, the body adiposity index (BAI = ((hip circumference)/((height)(1.5))-18)). The BAI can be used to reflect %body fat for adult men and women of differing ethnicities without numerical correction. We used a population study, the "BetaGene" study, to develop the new index of body adiposity. %Body fat, as measured by the dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), was used as a "gold standard" for validation. Hip circumference (R = 0.602) and height (R = -0.524) are strongly correlated with %body fat and therefore chosen as principal anthropometric measures on which we base BAI. The BAI measure was validated in the "Triglyceride and Cardiovascular Risk in African-Americans (TARA)" study of African Americans. Correlation between DXA-derived %adiposity and the BAI was R = 0.85 for TARA with a concordance of C_b = 0.95. BAI can be measured without weighing, which may render it useful in settings where measuring accurate body weight is problematic. In summary, we have defined a new parameter, the BAI, which can be calculated from hip circumference and height only. It can be used in the clinical setting even in remote locations with very limited access to reliable scales. The BAI estimates %adiposity directly.     

Individualism,self‐control,and the Finnish temperance movement*

This article analyzes the role of self‐control, moral and ethical doctrines in the rise of individualist world‐view in Finland. In the Finnish case, the formation of the modern individual was closely linked with the temperance movement, the ideology of which is therefore used as an illustrative example. The guiding line in the article is not to treat self‐control as a theoretical concept used in analyzing individual behavior, but as a legitimation of an increasing use of a utilitarian framework. The author discusses the developments in Finnish individualist world‐view by analyzing the main turning points in Finnish notions about drinking. First he discusses the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the era of the strength of Finnish temperance movement. Secondly he analyzes the way in which conceptions about drinking changed when the temperance movement lost its appeal to the masses.     

Patterns of spiral phyllotaxy

The author investigates theoretical variants of spiral phyllotaxy using structural coefficient--the distance between consequent members in genetic spiral, expressed in parts of circle. The meanings of structural coefficient in which parastichies change their isomerism are determined as critical points. The author describes the overlapping of parastichies of lower lane by higher lane parastichies and presents the methods of overlapping determination. Parastichies with minimal distance between members in lane are clearly determined on shoots. Methods and formulas for calculation of structural coefficient using the number of members in parastichy circle are presented. Orthostichy is considered as a special case of parastichy location. Orthostichies are equal to parastichies in maximum critical points.     

X-ray and ultrasonic diagnosis of noninflammatory benign diseases of the gallbladder]

The author analyzes the results of x-ray (cholecystography) and ultrasonic examinations carried out in patients with noninflammatory benign diseases of the gallbladder (71 with cholesterosis and 28 with adenomyomatosis). X-ray and ultrasonic symptoms of these conditions are presented and the diagnostic potentialities of both methods in the detection of such diseases assessed. The author considers ultrasonic scanning the method of choice for the diagnosis of any forms of gallbladder cholesterosis, whereas an x-ray examination appears to be informative only in a polypous form of the disease. X-ray contrast examination is preferable for the recognition of gallbladder adenomyomatosis, for it presents a clear-cut pattern characteristic of each form of this condition, whereas ultrasonic symptoms of such involvement are nonspecific.     

On the highest units in the system of plant communities

It is evident that some higher syntaxonomic unit above the classes is needed. The “circle of vegetation”, proposed byBraun-Blanquet is a geographical, not a synecological unit; the “formation”, recommended recently byPassarge, is based on physiognomy and therefore inconsistent with the principles of lower entities. The “division” proposed recently by Jakucs seems to be identical with the “type of vegetation”, published already 11 years ago by the present author.     

物种与物种多样性

本文首先讨论生物物种的科学概念和生物学本质，分析物种客观存在的自然属性和物种概念的局限性，认为物种的生物学属性和物种多样性的科学属性之间有着本质联系。物种多样性研究的实质是研究生物物种的生物学多样性。度量物种多样性程度有多种方法，但物种数目是物种多样性程度最直接、也是最基本的表达，估计物种多样性数目是当前国际上物种多样性研究的核心与热点内容。物种多样性产生的根源是物种形成，物种绝灭速率是维持物种多样性的关键因素。本文简要总结了物种形成与绝灭的基本模式和机制，通过分析生物地理区系与物种多样性研究的密切关系，说明物种的区系成份分析是物种多样性大尺度格局研究的重要内容。     

Subviral pathogens of plants: viroids and viroidlike satellite RNAs.

Contrary to earlier beliefs, viruses are not the smallest causative agents of infectious diseases. Single-stranded RNAs as small as 246 nucleotides exist in certain higher plants and cause more than a dozen crop diseases. These RNAs have been termed viroids. Despite their extremely limited information content, viroids replicate autonomously in susceptible cells--that is, they do not require helper functions from simultaneously replicating conventional viruses. Viroids are covalently closed circular molecules with a characteristic rodlike secondary structure in which short helical regions are interrupted by internal and bulge loops. Viroids are not translated; they are replicated by a host enzyme (or enzymes) (probably RNA polymerase II) via oligomeric RNA intermediates by a rolling circle mechanism. Viroidlike satellite RNAs resemble viroids in size and molecular structure, but are found within the capsids of specific helper viruses on which they depend for their own replication. These RNAs are of great interest to molecular biology for at least two reasons: 1) they are the smallest and simplest replicating molecules known, and 2) they may represent living fossils of precellular evolution in a hypothetical RNA world.     

Appropriateness in allergic respiratory diseases health care in Italy: definitions and organizational aspects

In a historical period in which sustainability of the National Health Service is mandatory because of the international economical situation, the limited available resources at national level and the tendency of passing from a “population medicine” model towards the concept of “individualized medicine”, the debate on appropriateness of medical and surgical procedures is of central importance. The choosing wisely campaign, started in United States in 2012 and then spread all over the world, tries to summarize which are the most inappropriate procedures for each medical and surgical speciality; as far as allergic respiratory diseases, the most relevant Italian societies and the American Academy defined the allergological procedures with the highest probability of inappropriateness. In Italy, a recent decree of the Ministry of Health defined a list of more than 200 procedures that will be considered as inappropriate in certain conditions; many of these procedures concern allergology, including allergic respiratory diseases. In this commentary we discuss the above mentioned decree and the concept of appropriateness in the field of allergic respiratory diseases, trying to figure out some practical considerations based on the current health resources available in the field of allergology in Italy.     

A history of noma,the "Face of Poverty"

Noma (necrotizing ulcerative stomatitis, stomatitis gangrenosa, or cancrum oris) is a devastating orofacial gangrene that occurs mainly among children. The disease has a global yearly incidence of 140,000 cases and a mortality rate of approximately 90 percent. Patients who survive noma generally suffer from its sequelae, including serious facial disfigurement, trismus, oral incontinence, and speech problems. The medical history of noma indicates that the disease was already known in classical and medieval civilizations in Europe. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Dutch chirurgeons clearly described noma as a clinical entity and realized that the popular name "water canker" was not sufficient, because this quickly spreading ulceration in the faces of children was different from "cancer." In the eighteenth century, awareness that noma is related to poverty, malnutrition, and preceding diseases such as measles increased in northwestern Europe. In the first half of the nineteenth century, extensive surgical procedures were described for the treatment of the sequelae of noma. At the end of that century, noma gradually disappeared in the Western world because of economic progress, which gave the poorest in society the opportunity to feed their children sufficiently. Only in the twentieth century were effective drugs (sulfonamides and penicillin) against noma developed, as well as adequate surgical treatment for the sequelae of noma. These modes of treatment remain inaccessible for the many present-day victims of noma because of their extreme poverty. The only truly effective approach to the problem of noma throughout the world is prevention, namely, combating the extreme poverty with measures that lead to economic progress. In the meantime, medical doctors in the Western world should not forget their own history and ignore this global health problem; rather, they should face "the face of poverty" with the eyes of mercy and concern suited to their profession.     

Drug discovery and development for neglected parasitic diseases

Diseases caused by tropical parasites affect hundreds of millions of people worldwide but have been largely neglected for drug development because they affect poor people in poor regions of the world. Most of the current drugs used to treat these diseases are decades old and have many limitations, including the emergence of drug resistance. This review will summarize efforts to reinvigorate the drug development pipeline for these diseases, which is driven in large part by support from major philanthropies. The organisms responsible for these diseases have a fascinating biology, and many potential biochemical targets are now apparent. These neglected diseases present unique challenges to drug development that are being addressed by new consortia of scientists from academia and industry.     

TRP channels in disease

"Transient receptor potential" cation channels (TRP channels) play a unique role as cell sensors, are involved in a plethora of Ca(2+)-mediated cell functions, and play a role as "gate-keepers" in many homeostatic processes such as Ca(2+) and Mg(2+) reabsorption. The variety of functions to which TRP channels contribute and the polymodal character of their activation predict that failures in correct channel gating or permeation will likely contribute to complex pathophysiological mechanisms. Dysfunctions of TRPs cause human diseases but are also involved in a complex manner to contribute and determine the progress of several diseases. Contributions to this special issue discuss channelopathias for which mutations in TRP channels that induce "loss-" or "gain-of-function" of the channel and can be considered "disease-causing" have been identified. The role of TRPs will be further elucidated in complex diseases of the intestinal, renal, urogenital, respiratory, and cardiovascular systems. Finally, the role of TRPs will be discussed in neuronal diseases and neurodegenerative disorders.     

Chromatographic and mass spectrometric methods for quantitative determination of 3-nitrotyrosine in biological samples and their application to human samples

The permanent modification of soluble and protein-associated tyrosine by nitration results in the formation of 3-nitrotyrosine, which can be used as a marker of "nitro-oxidative" damage to proteins. Based on the analysis of patient materials, over 40 different diseases and/or conditions have been linked to increased nitration of tyrosine. They include many cardiovascular diseases, conditions associated with immunological reactions and neurological diseases. In this article we review the existing chromatographic and mass spectrometric methods for quantitative measurements of 3-nitrotyrosine in different human biological samples including plasma, either from the free amino acid pool or from hydrolyzed proteins from different matrices.