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Which two Civil War battles were fought west of the Mississippi River? Chief Justice William Rehnquist knew the answer, as he knew a myriad of often obscure (but never unimportant) [...]

FACES FROM THE FLOOD: HURRICANE FLOYD REMEMBERED. By Richard Moore and Jay Barnes. University of North Carolina Press, 2004. 225 pp. Softbound $29.95. The royalties from the sale of this [...]

This report describes measures and methods of data analysis and representation of a systemic approach to the assessment of curricular and pedagogical contributions to general education learning objectives. An existing system for student evaluation of teaching was transformed to enable faculty to designate the learning objectives of the course and students to evaluate the extent to which the course contributed to their self-appraised growth in intellectual skills. This systemic approach enables analysis at the level of the individual course and across courses with common learning objectives and pedagogical approaches. The utility of this system is demonstrated through assessing the differential contribution to general education learning objectives of curricular components and an innovative pedagogical approach that blends field-based research and service learning., Motivated by recognition of the inadequate state of undergraduate education, research universities are engaged in efforts to renew undergraduate education through curricular and pedagogical initiatives. There is an emphasis on [...]

The central question was, independent of marital status and health, is the satisfaction that older men derive from their social networks linked to gender ideology? Based on the 135 older men within a larger study of community-based older adults, findings show that masculinity ideology is inversely related to the size of networks and the extent of men's social participation; however, endorsing the traditional masculinity ideology is directly associated with the satisfaction men derived from their social participation. Older men who believe in the traditional masculinity script felt satisfied in their relationships, whereas men who reject this ideology and reported a greater need to discuss private feelings had developed larger networks and increased their involvement in their networks during the year between the [T.sub.1] and [T.sub.2] interviews. Discussed in the context of covert and face-to-face intimacy pursuits, abiding by the cultural of hegemony masculinity seems to yield less interaction but greater satisfaction among older men. Keywords: older men, social participation, social networks, gender ideology, traditional masculinity ideology, intimacy, hegemonic masculinity, Active engagement in society is a key component of successful aging (Rowe & Kahn, 1998). In fact, the salubrious effects of social participation have been continually documented (e.g., Berkman, 1995; [...]

[I]n an important sense there is only one complete unblushing male in America: a young, married, white, urban, northern, heterosexual, Protestant, father, of college education, fully employed, of good complexion, weight, and height, and a recent record in sports.... The general identity-values of a society may be fully entrenched nowhere, and yet they can cast some kind of shadow on the encounters encountered everywhere in daily living. (Goffman, 1963, p. 128), This is the first special issue ever devoted to old men's gendered performances as men in a men's studies journal. Unlike discussions of masculinity and class, ethnicity, sexuality, or religious [...]

Aims: to describe a pattern of illness in 'normal' infants, and to assess to what extent this may differ in infants who die suddenly and unexpectedly. Methods: All infants are [...]

Egg binding and excessive laying frequently affect avian patients, and in many cases the treatment includes suppression of egg production. Currently, for the suppression of egg production in avian patients, a gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist, in the form of a deslorelin implant, is often used. However, the commercially available deslorelin implants have an undesired delayed onset, as well as a potential brief increase in gonadotropin secretion after administration ("flare-up" effect) that can lead to oviposition before the actual suppression of gonadotropins. The objective of this study was to investigate whether the prolactin inhibitor cabergoline suppresses ovulation and whether it could be used to bridge the time until the onset of effect by the deslorelin implant. We measured the effect of cabergoline (30 µg/kg PO q24h × 14 days), deslorelin implants (4.7 mg SC), and a combination of both on egg laying and plasma prolactin concentrations in 37 quail (Coturnix japonica) over 6 weeks. Quail were divided into 4 groups: group DesCab (deslorelin implant and cabergoline oral; n = 9); group DesPlac (deslorelin implant and placebo oral; n = 9); group PlacCab (placebo implant and cabergoline oral; n = 9); and group PlacPlac (placebo implant and placebo oral; n = 10). Regular egg laying stopped in 100% (9/9) of birds in group DesCab and 78% (7/ 9) of birds in group DesPlac within 5 days of placing the deslorelin implant. No bird ceased egg production in group PlacCab (0/9), and 10% of birds ceased egg production intermittently in group PlacPlac (1/10). Treatment with the deslorelin implant (P <.001) and with cabergoline (P =.04) had a significant (negative) influence on plasma prolactin concentrations compared with the baseline. The interaction of deslorelin and cabergoline treatment, as well as time after initiation of treatment, did not have a significant effect on plasma prolactin concentrations. These results show that daily oral cabergoline has no significant influence on egg laying and only a minor biologically nonsignificant effect on lowering the relative plasma prolactin concentrations in quail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-supplemental carotenoids and retinol may potentiate antioxidant and anti-inflammatory mechanisms. Chronic intraprostatic inflammation is linked to prostate carcinogenesis. We investigated the association of circulating carotenoids and retinol with intraprostatic inflammation in benign tissue. We included 235 men from the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial placebo arm who had a negative end-of-study biopsy, most (92.8%) done without clinical indication. α-carotene, β-carotene, β-cryptoxanthin, lycopene, and retinol were assessed by high-performance liquid chromatography using pooled year 1 and 4 serum. Presence and extent of intraprostatic inflammation in benign tissue was assessed in 3 (of 6–10) biopsy cores. Logistic (any core with inflammation vs none) and polytomous logistic (some or all cores with inflammation vs none) regression was used to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of intraprostatic inflammation by concentration tertile adjusting for age, race, prostate cancer family history, and serum cholesterol. None of the carotenoids or retinol was associated with intraprostatic inflammation, except β-cryptoxanthin, which appeared to be positively associated with any core with inflammation [vs none, T2: OR (95% CI) = 2.67 (1.19, 5.99); T3: 1.80 (0.84, 3.82), P-trend = 0.12]. These findings suggest that common circulating carotenoids and retinol are not useful dietary intervention targets for preventing prostate cancer via modulating intraprostatic inflammation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colloidal stability of IgG antibody solutions is important for pharmaceutical and medicinal applications. Solution pH and ionic strength are two key factors that affect the colloidal stability of protein solutions. In this work, we use a method based on the PEG-induced liquid-liquid phase separation to examine the effects of pH and ionic strength on the colloidal stability of IgG solutions. We found that at high ionic strength (≽0.25M), the colloidal stability of most of our IgGs is insensitive to pH, and at low ionic strength (≼0.15M), all IgG solutions are much more stable at pH 5 than at pH 7. In addition, the PEG-induced depletion force is less efficient in causing phase separation at pH 5 than at pH 7. In contrast to the native inter-protein interaction of IgGs, the effect of depletion force on phase separation of the antibody solutions is insensitive to ionic strength. Our results suggest that the long-range electrostatic inter-protein repulsion at low ionic strength stabilizes the IgG solutions at low pH. At high ionic strength, the short-range electrostatic interactions do not make a significant contribution to the colloidal stability for most IgGs with a few exceptions. The weaker effect of depletion force at lower pH indicates a reduction of protein concentration in the condensed phase. This work advances our basic understanding of the colloidal stability of IgG solutions and also introduces a practical approach to measuring protein colloidal stability under various solution conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By John E. Kwoka, Jr., (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1996) 189 pages, ISBN 0-7923-9843-2. Kwoka's book presents a comprehensive and timely study of the electric utility industry. He examines the impacts [...]

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Background: The continued increase in prevalence of methamphetamine use in the United States has resulted in a significant increase in the number of patients entering treatment for methamphetamine use. However, no robustly efficacious pharmacologic treatment for methamphetamine use or withdrawal has been identified to date after stopping methamphetamine use. Aims: Given the association between methamphetamine withdrawal and relapse during early treatment, this study tested a controlled d-amphetamine withdrawal paradigm among methamphetamine-using individuals. Methods: Treatment-seeking adults who used methamphetamine (N = 34; 47% female; 100% white) were enrolled in a 4-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in a residential setting, in which all participants were maintained on d-amphetamine (30 mg BID) during week 1, then half were switched to placebo during weeks 2–3. All participants received placebo during week 4. Outcomes included vital signs, withdrawal, cravings for methamphetamine, mood, and cognition. Bivariate analyses tested treatment group differences on baseline demographic and outcome variables. Repeated measures models examined main and interaction effects of treatment over time. Results/Outcomes: Participants were successfully randomized and safely stabilized on d-amphetamine. Craving for methamphetamine increased during weeks 2–3 in the placebo group relative to those on d-amphetamine. Interactions with age and heart rate were noted. Conclusions/Interpretation: To our knowledge, this is the first double-blind, placebo-controlled trial measuring pharmacologic effects of abruptly stopping controlled d-amphetamine administration in adults who use methamphetamine. Results support the potential of this withdrawal paradigm to further examine the efficacy of pharmacologic agents in ameliorating methamphetamine withdrawal symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This reading of Arna Bontemps's Black Thunder , which portrays Gabriel Prosser's 1800 rebellion, argues that the novel is both a tribute to the courage and to the largely oral culture of enslaved persons. The text is also a study of the broader spectrum of orality and literacy. Viewing orality and literacy not in a dichotomous but rather in a symbiotic relationship, Black Thunder depicts the ways that these modes of communication interact to foment political consciousness and revolution. Long before scholarly engagement with print culture studies, Bontemps's fiction theorized the relationship between orality, literacy, power, and the struggle for Black liberation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]