Explore the vast range of titles available.

Tormey reviews \"Time and Revolution. Marxism and the Design of Soviet Institutions\" by Stephen E. Hanson.

Leslie Holmes, Post-Communism: An Introduction. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1997, xiv + 384 pp., £14.95. Stephen White, Richard Rose & Ian McAllister, How Russia Votes. Chatham, NJ: Chatham House Publishers, 1997, xx + 332 pp., £14.95. Matthew Wyman, Public Opinion in Postcommunist Russia. London: Macmillan, 1997, xiv + 269 pp., £15.99. David Kotz with Fred Weir, Revolution from Above: The Demise of the Soviet System. London: Routledge, 1997, xiv + 302 pp., £16.99. F. Barry (ed.), Douze Etats indépendants issus de l'ex-URSS, special issue of Le Courrier des Pays de l'Est. Paris: La Documentation Francaise, March-April 1995, 225 pp., abstracts in English. Jeffrey Kopstein, The Politics of Economic Decline in East Germany, 1945-1989. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1997, xii + 246 pp., $39.95. David Childs & Richard Popplewell, The Stasi: The East German Intelligence and Security Service. London: Macmillan, 1996, xii + 253 pp., £40.00. Eric Solsten (ed.), Germany. A Country Study. Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1996, xlix + 642 pp. Valery Tishkov, Ethnicity, Nationalism and Conflict in and after the Soviet Union: The Mind Aflame. London: Sage, 1997, xv + 334 pp., £14.95. Aleksandar Pavković, The Fragmentation of Yugoslavia. Nationalism in a Multinational State. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1997, xii + 222 pp., £40.00. David A. Dyker & Ivan Vejvoda (eds), Yugoslavia and After: A Study in Fragmentation, Despair and Rebirth. London, Longman, 1996, xi + 268 pp. Tanya Renne, Ana's Land: Sisterhood in Eastern Europe. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1997, xi + 240 pp., £13.50. Carol Skalnik Leff, The Czech and Slovak Republics: Nation versus State. Nations of the Modern World. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1997, xvii + 295 pp., $22.95. Dennis Deletant, Ceausescu and the Securitate: Coercion and Dissent in Romania, 1965-1989. London: Hurst, 1995, xxxii + 403 pp., £39.50 h/b, £16.50 p/b. Paul Robert Magocsi, A History of Ukraine. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1996, xxvi + 784 pp., £56.00 h/b, £26.00 p/b. Leokadia Drobizheva, Rose Gottemoeller, Catherine McArdle Kelleher & Lee Walker (eds), Ethnic Conflict in the Post-Soviet World: Case Studies and Analysis. New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1996, xv + 365 pp., $69.95. Edgar O'Ballance, Wars in the Caucasus, 1990-95. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1997, xxviii + 238 pp., £42.50. Leokadia Drobizheva, Rose Gottemoeller, Catherine McArdle Kelleher & Lee Walker (eds), Ethnic Conflict in the Post-Soviet World: Case Studies and Analysis. New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1996, xvi + 365 pp., $69.95. Garry Rodan (ed.), Political Oppositions in Industrialising Asia. London: Routledge, 1996. Diane P. Koenker & Ronald D. Bachman (eds), Revelations from the Russian Archives: Documents in English Translation. Washington. DC: Library of Congress, 1997, xxv + 808 pp., £69.95. Theresa C. Smith, in collaboration with Thomas A. Oleszczuk. No Asylum. State Psychiatric Repression in the Former USSR. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1997, xi + 290 pp., £40.00. Stephen E. Hanson, Time and Revolution. Marxism and the Design of Soviet Institutions. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1997, xv + 258 pp., $45.00 h/b, $18.95 p/b. Dmitry Shlapentokh, The French Revolution in Russian Intellectual Life 1865-1905. Westport, CT, London: Praeger, 1996, viii + 202 pp., £46.50. N. E. Andreyev, To, chto vspominaetsya. Tallinn: Avenarius, 1996, Vol. 1. 336 pp., Vol. 2, 320 pp.

Prediction of clinical outcome in cancer is usually achieved by histopathological evaluation of tissue samples obtained during surgical resection of the primary tumor. Traditional tumor staging (AJCC/UICC-TNM classification) summarizes data on tumor burden (T), presence of cancer cells in draining and regional lymph nodes (N) and evidence for metastases (M). However, it is now recognized that clinical outcome can significantly vary among patients within the same stage. The current classification provides limited prognostic information, and does not predict response to therapy. Recent literature has alluded to the importance of the host immune system in controlling tumor progression. Thus, evidence supports the notion to include immunological biomarkers, implemented as a tool for the prediction of prognosis and response to therapy. Accumulating data, collected from large cohorts of human cancers, has demonstrated the impact of immune-classification, which has a prognostic value that may add to the significance of the AJCC/UICC TNM-classification. It is therefore imperative to begin to incorporate the ‘Immunoscore’ into traditional classification, thus providing an essential prognostic and potentially predictive tool. Introduction of this parameter as a biomarker to classify cancers, as part of routine diagnostic and prognostic assessment of tumors, will facilitate clinical decision-making including rational stratification of patient treatment. Equally, the inherent complexity of quantitative immunohistochemistry, in conjunction with protocol variation across laboratories, analysis of different immune cell types, inconsistent region selection criteria, and variable ways to quantify immune infiltration, all underline the urgent requirement to reach assay harmonization. In an effort to promote the Immunoscore in routine clinical settings, an international task force was initiated. This review represents a follow-up of the announcement of this initiative, and of the J Transl Med. editorial from January 2012. Immunophenotyping of tumors may provide crucial novel prognostic information. The results of this international validation may result in the implementation of the Immunoscore as a new component for the classification of cancer, designated TNM-I (TNM-Immune).

SARS-CoV-2 vaccination promises to improve outcomes for patients with COVID-19 pneumonia (most notably those with advanced age and at high risk for severe disease). Here, we examine serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) status and outcomes in both old (>70 years) and young vaccinated (n = 80) and unvaccinated (n = 91) subjects, who were hospitalized due to COVID-19 pneumonia in a single center (Connolly Hospital Dublin). Outcomes included ICU admission and mortality. Serum 25(OH)D levels were categorized as D30 (<30 nmol/L), D40 (30–49.99 nmol/L) and D50 (≥50 nmol/L). In multivariate analyses, D30 was independently associated with ICU admission (OR: 6.87 (95% CI: 1.13–41.85) (p = 0.036)) and mortality (OR: 24.81 (95% CI: 1.57–392.1) (p = 0.023)) in unvaccinated patients, even after adjustment for major confounders including age, sex, obesity and pre-existing diabetes mellitus. While mortality was consistently higher in all categories of patients over 70 years of age, the highest observed mortality rate of 50%, seen in patients over 70 years with a low vitamin D state (D30), appeared to be almost completely corrected by either vaccination, or having a higher vitamin D state, i.e., mortality was 14% for vaccinated patients over 70 years with D30 and 16% for unvaccinated patients over 70 years with a 25(OH)D level greater than 30 nmol/L. We observe that high mortality from COVID-19 pneumonia occurs in older patients, especially those who are unvaccinated or have a low vitamin D state. Recent vaccination or having a high vitamin D status are both associated with reduced mortality, although these effects do not fully mitigate the mortality risk associated with advanced age.

Facultative parthenogenesis (FP) has historically been regarded as rare in vertebrates, but in recent years incidences have been reported in a growing list of fish, reptile, and bird species. Despite the increasing interest in the phenomenon, the underlying mechanism and evolutionary implications have remained unclear. A common finding across many incidences of FP is either a high degree of homozygosity at microsatellite loci or low levels of heterozygosity detected in next-generation sequencing data. This has led to the proposal that second polar body fusion following the meiotic divisions restores diploidy and thereby mimics fertilization. Here, we show that FP occurring in the gonochoristic Aspidoscelis species A. marmoratus and A. arizonae results in genome-wide homozygosity, an observation inconsistent with polar body fusion as the underlying mechanism of restoration. Instead, a high-quality reference genome for A. marmoratus and analysis of whole-genome sequencing from multiple FP and control animals reveals that a post-meiotic mechanism gives rise to homozygous animals from haploid, unfertilized oocytes. Contrary to the widely held belief that females need to be isolated from males to undergo FP, females housed with conspecific and heterospecific males produced unfertilized eggs that underwent spontaneous development. In addition, offspring arising from both fertilized eggs and parthenogenetic development were observed to arise from a single clutch. Strikingly, our data support a mechanism for facultative parthenogenesis that removes all heterozygosity in a single generation. Complete homozygosity exposes the genetic load and explains the high rate of congenital malformations and embryonic mortality associated with FP in many species. Conversely, for animals that develop normally, FP could potentially exert strong purifying selection as all lethal recessive alleles are purged in a single generation.

Background:Hyponatraemia is a well-recognised complication of neurosurgical conditions, but the incidence and implications have not been well documented.Objective:To define the incidence, pathophysiology and clinical implications of significant hyponatraemia in several neurosurgical conditions.Methods:All patients admitted to the Irish National Neurosciences Centre at Beaumont Hospital, Dublin with traumatic brain injury, subarachnoid haemorrhage, intracranial neoplasm, pituitary disorders and spinal disorders who developed significant hyponatraemia (plasma sodium <130 mmol/l) from January 2002 to September 2003 were identified from computerised laboratory records. Data were collected by retrospective case note analysis.Results:Hyponatraemia was more common in patients with pituitary disorders (5/81, 6.25%; p = 0.004), traumatic brain injury (44/457, 9.6%; p<0.001), intracranial neoplasm (56/355, 15.8%; p<0.001) and subarachnoid haemorrhage (62/316, 19.6%; p<0.001) than in those with spinal disorders (4/489, 0.81%). The pathophysiology of hyponatraemia was: syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion (SIADH) in 116 cases (62%) (31 (16.6%) drug-associated), hypovolaemic hyponatraemia in 50 cases (26.7%) (which included patients with insufficient data to assign to the cerebral salt-wasting group (CSWS)), CSWS in nine cases (4.8%), intravenous fluids in seven cases (3.7%) and mixed SIADH/CSWS in five cases (2.7%). Hyponatraemic patients with cerebral irritation had significantly lower plasma sodium concentrations (mean (SD) 124.8 (0.34) mmol/l) than asymptomatic patients (126.6 (0.29) mmol/l) (p<0.0001). Hyponatraemic patients had a significantly longer hospital stay (median 19 days (interquartile range (IQR) 12–28)) than normonatraemic patients (median 12 days (IQR 10.5–15)) (p<0.001).Conclusions:Hyponatraemia is common in intracerebral disorders and is associated with a longer hospital stay. Cerebral irritation is associated with more severe hyponatraemia. SIADH is the most common cause of hyponatraemia and is often drug-associated.

When breast cancer progresses to a metastatic stage, survival rates decline rapidly and it is considered incurable. Thus, deciphering the critical mechanisms of metastasis is of vital importance to develop new treatment options. We hypothesize that studying the proteins that are newly synthesized during the metastatic processes of migration and invasion will greatly enhance our understanding of breast cancer progression. We conducted a mass spectrometry screen following bioorthogonal noncanonical amino acid tagging to elucidate changes in the nascent proteome that occur during epidermal growth factor stimulation in migrating and invading cells. Annexin A2 was identified in this screen and subsequent examination of breast cancer cell lines revealed that Annexin A2 is specifically upregulated in estrogen receptor negative (ER-) cell lines. Furthermore, siRNA knockdown showed that Annexin A2 expression promotes the proliferation, wound healing and directional migration of breast cancer cells. In patients, Annexin A2 expression is increased in ER- breast cancer subtypes. Additionally, high Annexin A2 expression confers a higher probability of distant metastasis specifically for ER- patients. This work establishes a pivotal role of Annexin A2 in breast cancer progression and identifies Annexin A2 as a potential therapeutic target for the more aggressive and harder to treat ER- subtype.

Quinquennial overviews (1985–2000) of the randomised trials in early breast cancer have assessed the 5 year and 10-year effects of various systemic adjuvant therapies on breast cancer recurrence and survival. Here, we report the 10-year and 15-year effects. Collaborative meta-analyses were undertaken of 194 unconfounded randomised trials of adjuvant chemotherapy or hormonal therapy that began by 1995. Many trials involved CMF (cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, fluorouracil), anthracycline-based combinations such as FAC (fluorouracil, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide) or FEC (fluorouracil, epirubicin, cyclophosphamide), tamoxifen, or ovarian suppression: none involved taxanes, trastuzumab, raloxifene, or modern aromatase inhibitors. Allocation to about 6 months of anthracycline-based polychemotherapy (eg, with FAC or FEC) reduces the annual breast cancer death rate by about 38% (SE 5) for women younger than 50 years of age when diagnosed and by about 20% (SE 4) for those of age 50–69 years when diagnosed, largely irrespective of the use of tamoxifen and of oestrogen receptor (ER) status, nodal status, or other tumour characteristics. Such regimens are significantly (2p=0·0001 for recurrence, 2p<0·00001 for breast cancer mortality) more effective than CMF chemotherapy. Few women of age 70 years or older entered these chemotherapy trials. For ER-positive disease only, allocation to about 5 years of adjuvant tamoxifen reduces the annual breast cancer death rate by 31% (SE 3), largely irrespective of the use of chemotherapy and of age (<50, 50–69, ≥70 years), progesterone receptor status, or other tumour characteristics. 5 years is significantly (2p<0·00001 for recurrence, 2p=0·01 for breast cancer mortality) more effective than just 1–2 years of tamoxifen. For ER-positive tumours, the annual breast cancer mortality rates are similar during years 0–4 and 5–14, as are the proportional reductions in them by 5 years of tamoxifen, so the cumulative reduction in mortality is more than twice as big at 15 years as at 5 years after diagnosis. These results combine six meta-analyses: anthracycline-based versus no chemotherapy (8000 women); CMF-based versus no chemotherapy (14 000); anthracycline-based versus CMF-based chemotherapy (14 000); about 5 years of tamoxifen versus none (15 000); about 1–2 years of tamoxifen versus none (33 000); and about 5 years versus 1–2 years of tamoxifen (18 000). Finally, allocation to ovarian ablation or suppression (8000 women) also significantly reduces breast cancer mortality, but appears to do so only in the absence of other systemic treatments. For middle-aged women with ER-positive disease (the commonest type of breast cancer), the breast cancer mortality rate throughout the next 15 years would be approximately halved by 6 months of anthracycline-based chemotherapy (with a combination such as FAC or FEC) followed by 5 years of adjuvant tamoxifen. For, if mortality reductions of 38% (age <50 years) and 20% (age 50–69 years) from such chemotherapy were followed by a further reduction of 31% from tamoxifen in the risks that remain, the final mortality reductions would be 57% and 45%, respectively (and, the trial results could well have been somewhat stronger if there had been full compliance with the allocated treatments). Overall survival would be comparably improved, since these treatments have relatively small effects on mortality from the aggregate of all other causes. Some of the widely practicable adjuvant drug treatments that were being tested in the 1980s, which substantially reduced 5-year recurrence rates (but had somewhat less effect on 5-year mortality rates), also substantially reduce 15-year mortality rates. Further improvements in long-term survival could well be available from newer drugs, or better use of older drugs.