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So you think the economic reforms instituted in China since 1978 have been a great success? That China, now the world's third largest economy in gross terms, is "on a roll" toward becoming an "economic giant" and one of the major players in the newly emerging global economy? That, compared to former communist countries that adopted political democracy and reform, especially Russia, China has maintained a better balance between political stability and economic growth that should, in fact, be emulated by other comparable nations? The "Chinese economic miracle" is a reality, you believe, and so the world must sit up and take notice.

More than fifty years have passed since the American premiere of Stravinsky's Les Noces, which opened on April 25, 1929 at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. Generally overshadowed by the Bronislava Nijinska version (Paris, 1923) and by the later Jerome Robbins version (New York, 1965), the 1929 production presented a significantly different interpretation of the Stravinsky piece. The choreographer was Elizaveta Anderson-Ivantzova (1890–1973), former prima ballerina at the Bolshoi, whose life span parallels almost exactly that of Nijinska (1891–1972) and whose career intersects with that of Nijinska by virtue of her choreographing the second version. Of concommitant interest is that the first two versions of Les Noceswere choreographed by women in an age when women were less than likely to be engaged as choreographers, a fact not unnoticed in 1929. Yet, little is known of this and other aspects of the production today. An examination, therefore, of the background, the production itself, and the choreography in particular is needed to describe, as clearly as the evidence will allow, what the 1929 production was like and how it differed from the better known version of 1923.The little attention given to the New York premiere seems to have had less to do with its original performance than with a subsequent indifference to it.

We recently reported that the peptide C-K4-M2GlyR mimics the action of chloride channels when incorporated into the apical membrane of cultured renal epithelial monolayers. C-K4-M2GlyR is one of a series of peptides that were prepared by the addition of lysine residues to the N- or C-terminus of the M2 transmembrane sequence of the brain glycine receptor. This study addresses how such modifications affect physical properties such as aqueous solubility, aggregation, and secondary structure, as well as the ability of the modified peptides to form channels in epithelial monolayers. A graded improvement in solubility with a concomitant decrease in aggregation in aqueous media was observed for the M2GlyR transmembrane sequences. Increases in short-circuit current (ISC) of epithelial monolayers were observed after treatment with some but not all of the peptides. The bioactivity was higher for the more soluble, less aggregated M2GlyR peptides. As described in our previous communication, sensitivity of channel activity to diphenylamine-2-carboxylate, a chloride channel blocker, and bumetanide, an inhibitor of the Na/K/2Cl cotransporter, was used to assess changes in chloride selectivity for the different assembled channel-forming peptides. The unmodified M2GlyR sequence and the modified peptides with less positive charge are more sensitive to these agents than are the more highly charged forms. This study shows that relatively insoluble transmembrane sequences can be modified such that they are easier to purify and deliver in the absence of organic solvents with retention of membrane association, insertion, and assembly.

If Jiang Zemin's speech to the Fifteenth Party Congress in September 1997 represented the central leadership's plan to reform China's vast state-owned industrial sector, then the blueprint for that bold proposal can be found in the following translation. Written in 1993 by Wu Jinglian and his team of China's "best and brightest" economists, this work outlines the radical organizational and societal changes that, they believe, must be made to convert the country's lumbering and largely money-losing socialist industrial sector into what Jiang Zemin and Wu Jinglian describe as a "modern enterprise system."1 State-owned enterprises now operating under an administrative system of central planning will, under this plan, be converted into relatively autonomous "corporations" that will be managed by boards of directors responsible to public and private shareholders who, unlike government bureaucrats, will be concerned with the bottom line rather than political power and influence. Clear lines of ownership and well-defined powers and responsibilities will replace the current maze of cross-cutting and often contradictory lines of authority by central ministries and provincial and local governments that too often subject enterprises to irrational and misguided policies. Instead of following administrative dicta and operating with funds allocated from the government, these new invigorated enterprises will be driven by market forces and will rely on capital provided by self-interested shareholders. In this way, Jiang Zemin asserted, "China will establish highly competitive large enterprise groups with trans-regional, inter-trade … and transnational operations."2

China's political liberalization in the 1980s produced a general relaxation in publishing circles that resulted in a flurry of memoir literature on the country's leaders. From accounts of Mao Zedong's personal bodyguards and secretaries,1 to firsthand memoirs by military and political leaders,2 to reminiscences of the children of Chinese elites persecuted during the Cultural Revolution,3 these works purport to reveal "inside" information on the political and personal lives of a leadership group that for decades was deeply insulated from public exposure. Often hagiographic in tone, they are generally overconcerned with the lurid and the voyeuristic at the expense of serious historical examination and political analysis. Yet in the absence of access to party archives, these books constitute a major documentary source for students of contemporary Chinese affairs.

What are some recent works on Native American religions that make good additions to courses on American History? With this question, the editors framed their charge for this review. This is a good moment to pose such a question because of the recent upsurge in publishing on the subject of Native American religious life. The treatment of some recent books is outlined in three stages that cover three ways of including Native American religions in courses: framing questions, case study, and key themes.Of course, teachers teach best within the compass of their own interests. This is where their passions reside and where there is the deepest motivation to communicate clearly with others. There is much to be interested in and passionate about in the recent publications on Native American religions.

Whatever the particular intentions of the playwright, Arthur Schnitzler's Der Schleier der Pierrette (The Veil of Pierrette), a ballet-pantomime first performed in Dresden, January 22, 1910, with music by Ernst von Dohnányi, became, in the first year of its composition, a vehicle of avant-garde experimentalists on the Russian theatrical scene. In October 1910, Vsevolod Meyerhold used Schnitzler's ballet-pantomime for his own avant-garde interests in commedia dell'arte motifs, producing Columbine's Scarf(a variant title) at the House of Interludes in St. Petersburg. Three years later, in 1913, Alexander Tairov, as anti-Meyerholdean as he was anti-Stanislavskian, also staged a version of Der Schleierunder the title The Veil of Pierrette, at the Mardzhanov's Free Theatre in Moscow. Both directors, relying on different aesthetic principles, used the commedia dell'arte ballet-pantomime as a statement against Stanislavskian psychological realism (1).

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the morphological, physiological and biochemical effects of gentamicin upon the rat kidney following prolonged administration of the antibiotic. Sprague-Dawley and Fischer 344 strain rats were given 3, 10, 20 or 40 mg gentamicin per kg body weight per day for 28 days. Morphologic alterations were evaluated by light and electron microscopy. Functional parameters included glomerular filtration rate, PAH secretion, renal plasma flow, sodium reabsorption, potassium excretion, urine volume and protein, and serum urea nitrogen. Oxidative metabolism of mitochondrial fractions from renal cortical homogenates was evaluated by oxygen uptake and P:O ratios. The results indicate focal proximal tubular injury, decreased tubular maximum secretion of PAH, and altered oxidative metabolism at the higher dose levels of gentamicin. Neither elevations of serum urea nitrogen nor alterations in glomerular filtration rate, renal plasma flow, or sodium or potassium excretion were observed. Thus, it appears that high dose levels (40 mg per kg per day) alter the structure and function of some proximal tubular segments when administered over prolonged periods. The alterations appear reversible. Although nephrotoxicity is identified under these conditions in rats, extrapolation to human patients usually receiving much lower doses must be guarded.

Personal biographies of Communist Party leaders are a rich new source on the history of the CCP. During the Cultural Revolution, party historiography focused almost exclusively on the leading role of Mao Zedong, but since 1978 China's new leadership has authorized the publication of literally hundreds of biographies and reminiscences to demonstrate the "collective" contributions of party leaders, many relatively unknown in the West, to the Chinese Communist movement. For Western scholars these works contain two important sources of information. First, there is considerable detail on the lives and political experiences of the men and women who fought in the revolution and built the new Chinese state. Although undoubtedly hagiographic, these books provide considerable detail on the human drama behind the Communists' rise to power. With a close but critical reading, Western scholars can gain a deep appreciation of the personal experiences and individual sacrifices that marked CCP history. Second, and more importantly, these works are a good source of data on broader topics of preand post-1949 Chinese history and political analysis for scholars whose interests extend beyond biography. Such topics as the institutional development of the Communist Party apparatus; local history of the many CCP wartime base areas in North and Central China; the implementation of land reform in the early 1950s; and, of course, the Cultural Revolution are often central themes in these recently published materials.

The regional coverage of Lamont nephelometer data in the North and South Atlantic can be used to map seawater turbidity at all depths. At the level of the clearest water, in the mid-depth regions, the turbidity distribution primarily reflects the pattern of productivity in the surface waters. This suggests that the ‘background’ turbidity level in the oceans is largely a function of biogenic fallout. The bottom waters of the western Atlantic generally exhibit large increases in turbidity. The most intense benthic nepheloid layers are in the southwestern Argentine basin and northern North American basin; the lowest bottom water turbidity in the western Atlantic is in the equatorial regions. Both the Argentine and North American basin bottom waters appear to derive their high turbidity largely from local resuspension of terrigenous input in these basins. In contrast to the west, the eastern Atlantic basins show very low turbidities with the exception of three regions: the Mediterranean outflow area, the Cape basin, and the West European basin.