Lingering Questions Research Articles

Imperial-Way Zen: Ichikawa Hakugen's Critique and Lingering Questions for Buddhist Ethics (review)

Reviewed by: Imperial-Way Zen: Ichikawa Hakugen's Critique and Lingering Questions for Buddhist Ethics Nam-lin Hur (bio) Imperial-Way Zen: Ichikawa Hakugen's Critique and Lingering Questions for Buddhist Ethics. By Christopher Ives . University of Hawai'i Press, Honolulu, 2009. x, 274 pages. $52.00. Ōtani Kōzui (1876-1948), the twenty-second abbot of Nishi Honganji, felt strongly about the importance of Japan's military preparedness. In 1929, he lamented that his country was "addicted to peace and vitiated by cultural pursuits" (p. 29). Two years later, at the time of the Manchurian Incident, [End Page 425] he further "condemned diplomacy and advocated fighting" (p. 29), urging Japan to use military force to protect its interests throughout China. Similarly, in 1937, two Sōtō Zen leaders, Hayashiya Tomojirō and Shimakage Chikai, indicated how eternal peace could be established in East Asia: "We are sometimes accepting and sometimes forceful. We now have no choice but to exercise the benevolent forcefulness of 'killing one so that many may live' (issatsu tashō)" (p. 35). For them, killing was nothing other than Buddhist compassion serving the glory of Imperial Japan. The Buddhist leaders who jumped on the bandwagon of Japanese militarism did not know how or where to stop. Hosokawa Kei'itsu, secretary general of the Myōshinji branch of Rinzai Zen, clarified what his sect's support of Japan's Sacred War meant in doctrinal terms: "If Shakyamuni Buddha had been born in Japan . . . he would have proclaimed, as the First Principle, the Imperial Way" (p. 53). Following Hosokawa's lead, in 1939 Zen Master Harada Sōgaku (1870-1961) explained how Zen and war could be united: "In accord with each situation one should forget all things and the self, and become one with the way (the work at hand) in that situation. March: tramp, tramp, tramp. Shoot: bang, bang, bang" (p. 68). Buddhism is known as a religion that forbids killing, and its peace-loving missions are always blessed with a rich reservoir of doctrinal backup. Nevertheless, many Japanese Buddhist leaders did not shy away from exhorting their followers to kill as many enemies as possible and to sacrifice themselves for the glory of Imperial Japan. How do we make sense of Buddhist leaders who become obsessed with killing and destruction? What causes them to run counter to the peace-loving teachings they are supposed to deliver? Through the lens of Imperial-Way Zen, Ives tries to answer these questions. Was there any serious effort to prevent a repetition of Buddhist-backed destruction in post-1945 Japan? Scholars have attempted to determine why and how Japanese Buddhism supported the war efforts of Imperial Japan and, in doing so, have revealed a dismaying amount of Buddhist hypocrisy in the blood-drenched march of Japanese militarism. Yet Ives is not fully satisfied with their explanations, which, he thinks, do not deal with the core of the problem. In an effort to evaluate Buddhist collusion with the Japanese state during World War II, Ives turns to the work of Ichikawa Hakugen (1902-86). Throughout his life, Ichikawa dedicated himself to chronicling and critiquing Imperial-Way Zen. And Ives's strategy of turning to the work of this foremost scholar of Imperial-Way Zen proves to be effective. Based on a plethora of information available in Ichikawa's works, Ives offers his own reflections on wartime Buddhism, ideology, the emperor system, and Buddhist responsibility for the war. Unlike Brian Victoria, who suggests that, as Ives recapitulates, "Imperial-Way Zen was caused by the Zen connection to the samurai, swordsmanship, and the warrior ethos [End Page 426] (bushidō)" (p. 3), Ives explores how, as Ichikawa suggests, certain aspects of the doctrine of Zen Buddhism helped entangle Zen leaders with the political ambitions inherent within Imperial Japan. These include "peace of mind" (anjin), "becoming one with things" (narikiru), "accepting and according with circumstances" (nin'nun), the "logic of sokuhi," karma, the idea that "differences are none other than equality" (shabetsu-soku-byōdō), indebtedness (on), and harmony (wa). By and large, Ives agrees with Ichikawa, who argues that the conservative social stance incubated by Zen Buddhism rendered Buddhists subservient to the goals of Imperial...

Impact of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Cardiovascular Assessment Requirements on the Development of Novel Antidiabetes Drugs

Lingering questions related to cardiovascular (CV) safety of type 2 diabetes treatments resulted in new U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations requiring careful assessment of CV risk. These new requirements will provide the medical community with robust data to estimate CV risk associated with new therapeutic agents. To meet these requirements, phase 2 and 3 development programs will need to be larger and more comprehensive and will include high-risk patients. In addition, it is likely that most (if not all) newly approved drugs will be required to conduct post-approval CV safety outcome studies. The purpose of this article is to review the drivers for the new FDA requirements and how these new requirements will affect the development of novel antidiabetes drugs. The goals of antidiabetes treatment are to forestall the metabolic effects of high glucose levels and to prevent microvascular and macrovascular complications. Compelling data in type 2 diabetic patients support the conclusion that improved long-term glycemic control reduces the risk of microvascular complications (1,2). Based on several large outcome studies (e.g., the Diabetes Control Complications Trial and the UK Prospective Diabetes Study [UKPDS]), glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) was established as a surrogate biomarker of glycemic control and therapeutic goals were set accordingly (3). Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in patients with type 2 diabetes; more than 60% die of CV disease, and an even greater proportion have serious CV-related complications. Diabetes is associated with a two- to fourfold increase in the risk of coronary heart disease and death (4). Patients with type 2 diabetes who have not had a myocardial infarction (MI) have a risk of infarction similar to that of nondiabetic patients who have had a prior MI (5–7). Pooled data from patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in …

Rapid Engraftment at a Cost?

Rapid Engraftment at a Cost?

Letting go of the truth: researching and writing the other side of silence in women’s lives

In my paper ‘Mixing Memory with the Desire to Forget’ given at the Australian Association of Writing Program’s annual conference last November, I outlined the difficulties in writing about the lives of women, and explained the different narrative strategies I utilised to write about a woman’s history in fiction. Yet, despite writing a novel that strives to highlight the gaps and silences in women’s histories, there remains lingering questions of why the details of‘ordinary’ women’s lives are so difficult to find. This paper examines the reasons why archival information about women’s lives is difficult to unearth, and details some of the ways in which genres such as the social sciences, memoir and fiction have endeavoured to find and document women’s histories. It examines both the loss of women’s history and the ways in which this loss has been, and is being, addressed by writers. It is my contention that it is not only a lack of salient documentation that prohibits certain stories about women from being narrated in fiction, but also that the conventions of realist fiction -particularly the emphasis on revelation and closure - inhibit the narration of certain lives. By challenging the conventions of realism, we, as writers can not only acknowledge the silences that persist in the lives of women in the past, but also signal new ways to write around them.

Towards global consensus in the treatment of gastrointestinal stromal tumor

The contemporary clinical landscape of gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) has evolved rapidly over the past several years. Widely used treatment guidelines – from the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network – have recently been updated and represent the most up-to-date, comprehensive tools guiding the optimal management of GIST. In these, and in other published guidelines, close alignment among recommendations now exists for many of the clinical issues relevant to GIST management – surgery, use of the tyrosine kinase inhibitors imatinib and sunitinib and the role of pre- and post-operative imatinib, among others. This trend towards a global consensus in the treatment of GIST is the result of a relatively large amount of new data across the spectrum of its management. However, for some clinical considerations, recommendations still partially deviate. This review examines clinical recommendations and opinions on the management of GIST in the context of the latest data in the field and with an eye towards a multidisciplinary approach including surgical oncology, medical oncology, pathology and diagnostic radiology. Points of consensus are highlighted. Expert opinion is presented on management areas where no scientific evidence or firm recommendations currently exist; lingering and unresolved questions or issues are included. Within this framework, we present an evaluation of current global guidelines on the following areas in GIST management: surgery in the metastatic setting; neoadjuvant therapy; adjuvant therapy; mutational analysis; maintenance tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy; and radiological imaging in GIST. A summary of consensus across these guidelines based on clinical trial data is juxtaposed with expert opinion where gaps in data still remain.

Reclaiming the Freak: Michael Jackson and the Spectacle of Identity

Brooke Shields seemed to address lingering questions about Jackson’s sexuality (or lack thereof) in her comments about her platonic friendship with the late singer. “Yes, it may have seemed very odd to the outside, but we made it fun, and we made it real.” Comedian Eddie Murphy had joked about the unlikely couple in his 1987 comedy special, Raw. Directing his comments to the white members of the audience, Murphy teased, “This nigga took her to the Grammys, and nobody said shit. If I took Brooke Shields to the Grammys, y’all would lose your minds. ’Cause y’all know Brooke would get fucked that night . . . and Brooke knew, too.” As Jackson’s friend and contemporary and himself a crossover star due to the immense popularity of films like 48 Hours (1982) and Beverly Hills Cop (1984), Murphy knowingly acknowledges the differences between the public perceptions of his own sexuality versus Jackson’s carefully cultivated reputation for being sensitive, childlike, even asexual. Furthermore, the very idea that Jackson might bring Shields back to his place for a late-night rendezvous was certainly offset by the idea that the oxygen chamber he used for a bed might make the deed slightly more difficult or that pet chimp Bubbles might burst into the room at an inopportune moment. America’s shoulder-shrugging acceptance of Jackson’s romantic escapades with Brooke Shields, Tatum O’Neal, Madonna, Debbie Rowe, and Lisa Marie Presley did not necessarily signal the arrival of a postracial America as much as the acceptance of Michael Jackson as some kind of bizarre, raceless, sexless, man-child freak. And even rinning maniacally, he swung the newest addition to his family, “Blanket,” over the railing of his Berlin hotel room balcony. Tiny, chubby, cream-colored legs kicked into the air four stories above the concrete street below, the infant’s face obscured by a towel draped over his head. It may seem gauche to revisit the infamous moment depicted in this photo, given the sudden and shocking death of pop superstar Michael Jackson. In countless discussions that have followed his death fans have attempted to grapple with their own complicated feelings about the icon by choosing to focus on Thriller-era Michael and trying hard to erase memories of Michael in the post-Dangerous years, that uncomfortable period exemplified by moments like Jackson’s awkward kiss with Lisa Marie Presley at the 1994 MTV Movie Awards and his cringeworthy interview with Martin Bashir in the documentary Living with Michael Jackson (2003). As journalist Greg Tate so astutely notes, “The unfortunate blessing of his departure is that we can now all go back to loving him as we first found him, without shame, despair, or complication.” In contrast to this impulse to erase the messier parts of Jackson’s legacy, I propose that we celebrate his freakishness as a vehicle that permitted him access into social spaces and identities typically denied to black male entertainers while allowing him to sidestep the pitfalls that tend to punish nonnormative expressions of race and gender.

Adherence to antiretroviral therapy: the more you look, the more you see

There is evolving understanding of adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) and the consequences of nonadherence. The present review aims to discuss recent research findings that illuminate lingering clinical questions or contribute to the contextual framework for future research. Although some patients can achieve undetectable viral load at moderate adherence levels, studies confirmed that achieving very high adherence optimizes virological and clinical outcomes. In computer modeling, earlier initiation of ART despite suboptimal adherence was associated with improved survival and quality-adjusted life years. Better adherence and virological outcomes occurred when ART was initiated during hospitalization versus outpatient setting, and when depressed patients were treated with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Differential adherence to individual drugs in an antiretroviral regimen appears to be common. Preliminary data from randomized studies designed to evaluate patient-selected treatment partners showed no clear benefit on long-term viral suppression. Earlier initiation of ART may be desirable even in some patients with suboptimal adherence. Adherence should be reinforced during periods of viral suppression, maximum adherence should be targeted, and attention paid to differential adherence and treatment of depression.

Psalmotoxin-1 Docking to Human Acid-sensing Ion Channel-1

Acid-sensing ion channel-1 (ASIC-1) is a proton-gated ion channel implicated in nociception and neuronal death during ischemia. Recently the first crystal structure of a chicken ASIC was obtained. Expanding upon this work, homology models of the human ASICs were constructed and evaluated. Energy-minimized structures were tested for validity by in silico docking of the models to psalmotoxin-1, which potently inhibits ASIC-1 and not other members of the family. The data are consistent with prior radioligand binding and functional assays while also explaining the selectivity of PcTX-1 for homomeric hASIC-1a. Binding energy calculations suggest that the toxin and channel create a complex that is more stable than the channel alone. The binding is dominated by the coulombic contributions, which account for why the toxin-channel interaction is not observed at low pH. The computational data were experimentally verified with single channel and whole-cell electrophysiological studies. These validated models should allow for the rational design of specific and potent peptidomimetic compounds that may be useful for the treatment of pain or ischemic stroke.

Assessing Women, Gender, and Empire in Britain's Nineteenth‐Century Protestant Missionary Movement

AbstractAlthough women constituted the majority of British missionary labor by the turn of the twentieth century, they were largely discounted from the official record of mission work – a silence that until recently has been preserved by women's history, mission history, and imperial history. Over the past two decades, new historical and interpretive frameworks have brought into clearer focus the role of women missionaries and the gendered fabric of the ‘civilizing mission’ in evangelistic, colonial, and feminist projects. Yet the privileging of race as an analytic category has produced a lopsided historiography, in which Christianity has been marginalized in studies of gender and empire, and in which gender has not been used to full effect in explicating the uneven contours of religion and colonialism. This essay explores how studies of women, gender, and the Protestant missionary movement over the ‘long nineteenth century’ have responded to and manifested some of the larger tensions of women's and gender history, feminist history, postcolonial studies, the new imperial history, and area studies, and suggests some avenues for addressing lingering questions of recovery and representation, center and periphery.

Amid Lingering Questions, FDA Reprieves LDL Cholesterol–Lowering Medication

Amid Lingering Questions, FDA Reprieves LDL Cholesterol–Lowering Medication

Modelling malaria pathogenesis

Almost 20 years after the development of models of malaria pathogenesis began, we are beyond the ‘proof-of-concept’ phase and these models are no longer abstract mathematical exercises. They have refined our knowledge of within-host processes, and have brought insights that could not easily have been obtained from experimentation alone. There is much potential that remains to be realized, however, both in terms of informing the design of interventions and health policy, and in terms of addressing lingering questions about the basic biology of malaria. Recent research has begun to iterate theory and data in a much more comprehensive way, and the use of statistical techniques for model fitting and comparison offers a promising approach for providing a quantitative understanding of the pathogenesis of such a complex disease.

A New Perspective on Mechanical Testing: In Situ Compression in the TEM

Abstract Testing the mechanical properties of nanoscale materials faces a number of inherent challenges. As the size of the “target” decreases, the inability to actually see what occurs during testing can be troublesome. While a number of studies have attempted to characterize the mechanical response of nanoscale materials using traditional nanoindentation techniques, certain lingering questions have always remained. For example, the nature and sequence of failure events in the case of multilayer films has long been the subject of scientific debate. Similarly, in the case of individual nanoparticles, it is often difficult to ascertain that contact was both made and maintained throughout the test. Further, the crystallographic orientation of the sample and/or the presence of preexisting defects, which can have a significant influence on mechanical properties at the nanoscale, typically remain unknown.

HIDDEN AGENDAS: SPIES, LIES AND INTRIGUE SURROUNDING TROTSKY’S AMERICAN VISIT OF JANUARY–APRIL 1917

Trotsky’s short stay in the USA in early 1917, and his subsequent detention in Canada, has spawned many stories and left lingering questions. This article is basically a sequel to the author’s ‘Interrupted Journey: British Intelligence and the Arrest of Leon Trotskii, April 1917’, which appeared in this journal in 2000.1 What follows substantially expands the scope of the earlier article and presents much new information drawn from recent releases by MI5, as well as new American, French and Russian sources. It shows that Trotsky was surrounded by a web of intrigue and agents of various stripes throughout, and even before, his American stay. He became a pawn, knowingly or not, in assorted plots. Above all, the article strengthens the conclusion that Trotsky was the target of a scheme by elements of the British intelligence services to secure his cooperation in revolutionary Russia.

First Isolation of Mycobacterium ulcerans from an Aquatic Environment: The End of a 60-Year Search?

First Isolation of Mycobacterium ulcerans from an Aquatic Environment: The End of a 60-Year Search?

Empirical Characterization of Mass Evacuation Traffic Flow

Among the many gaps in the current state of mass evacuation planning and analysis practice has been a lack of the field-based study of traffic flows under actual evacuation conditions. Without observational studies of such conditions, the simulations and forecasts of roadway performance during emergencies have historically been based on conjecture and professional judgment. However, the recent series of hurricane evacuations along the U.S. Gulf Coast has given investigators the opportunity to collect and evaluate traffic conditions during evacuation scenarios. This paper uses recently collected traffic data from two recent evacuations in Louisiana to assess how well various roadway classifications in different geographic areas were able to carry traffic during emergencies under both normal-flow and contraflow operations. The objectives were to characterize the general conditions of traffic flow under an evacuation condition, to address lingering questions related to maximum sustainable flows, and to examine how the flows compared with those suggested in the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM). The findings of this work suggest that during evacuations most roadways carry flows well below the HCM-predicted maximums and that despite the enormous demand conditions generated by a mass evacuation, the maximum flows on urban roadways typically do not even reach those of typical daily commuter periods.

Different Conceptualizations of Optimum Development

This article discusses different conceptualizations of optimum development in adulthood. The existential perspective of Rollo May is compared to the self-actualization theory of Abraham Maslow and to transpersonal psychology. The paradigms and value assumptions underlying the different theories of personality are explicated, and social constructionism is used as an organizing frame of reference. The principal argument is that in addition to repeating viewpoints in a philosophical debate about values, we need to substantiate our claims with evidence from the existing research and explore how well-designed empirical studies can help us answer lingering questions of what is desirable and possible in regard to optimal development. The author examines the existing research literature in regard to how the disagreements of the above-named schools of thought could be clarified. Suggestions for future directions in humanistic research are presented.

Parental Narratives About Genetic Testing for Hearing Loss: A One Year Follow Up Study

Few studies examine whether and how parental attitudes towards genetic testing change over time. In this study we interviewed parents of 14 children with newly identified hearing loss at two time points: after referral to genetics and 1 year later. Qualitative analyses of parental narratives indicate that parental attitudes did not change significantly over this time. Parents who perceived genetic testing to be useful continued to value it after testing, while parents who did not perceive it as being useful for their child's future held the same view a year later. The only parents who changed their views regarding the usefulness of genetic testing for hearing loss were those who reported that their children underwent significant changes in their hearing loss or were faced with other life threatening conditions. Parents were also often unaware of the role of the genetic counselor and how genetic counseling could help address many of their lingering questions and concerns. These emergent themes indicate the need for geneticists and genetic counselors to be aware of and sensitized to the questions and attitudes that bring parents to a genetic evaluation, as well as the reasons why parents may not follow up with genetic testing for hearing loss when recommended.

There Will Be Cooking on Mars

This paper presents the NASA's upcoming Phoenix lander mission. Phoenix, scheduled to be launched this August and to touch down in May 2008, may resolve lingering questions about organic molecules and liquid water on Mars. It main objectives are to determine whether the Martian arctic could support life, to evaluate the history of water near the landing site, and to investigate how the planet's climate is affected by polar dynamics. Phoenix will carry TEGA (thermal and evolved gas analyzer) that could shed light on whether organics are present. Designed primarily to look at ice chemistry and carbonate minerals. TEGA can also detect organic molecules. Other instruments on Phoenix include Mars' first-ever atomic force microscope and electrochemistry instrument.

BENEFITING FROM PAST WRONGDOING, HUMAN EMBRYONIC STEM CELL LINES, AND THE FRAGILITY OF THE GERMAN LEGAL POSITION

This paper examines the logic and morality of the German Stem Cell Act of 2002. After a brief description of the law's scope and intent, its ethical dimensions are analysed in terms of symbolic threats, indirect consequences, and the encouragement of immorality. The conclusions are twofold. For those who want to accept the law, the arguments for its rationality and morality can be sound. For others, the emphasis on the uniqueness of the German experience, the combination of absolute and qualified value judgments, and the lingering questions of indirect encouragement of immoral activities will probably be too much.

Addition by Subtraction: Toward a Literary History of Racial Representation

In Mistaken Identity, Holly Jackson argues that Emma Dunham Kelley-Hawkins, a putative pioneer of African-American women's literature, turns out to be at all. Jackson concludes her essay with the following words: I began my on Kelley-Hawkins hoping to add to our understanding of the of women's writing that has been so painstakingly reconstructed after more than a century of forgetting. But in the end, Kelley-Hawkins from that should produce a more accurate understanding of that tradition. After all, previous scholarship on Kelley-Hawkins has carried the burden of constructing a coherent race-based literary tradition in which her novels connect meaningfully to those written by trailblazing feminists of that time. We have stretched our understanding of how women have written in America to incorporate texts that do not fit. (par. 24) In stating the conceptual virtue (such as accuracy) of subtracting Kelley-Hawkins from [the] canon of women's writing, Jackson consummates her analytic move from paratext to text. According to Gerard Genette, the paratext comprises written or illustrative signifiers surrounding a literary text, such as those describing the author, publisher, site of publication, critical reception, and commercialization. The paratext informs our assumptions about, and guides our approach to, a literary text; it dictates how we classify, interpret, and evaluate that text (1). For Jackson, a key paratext is the US Census (1840 to 1910). Alongside obituaries and early literary editions, the census enables her to disprove the longstanding scholarly assumption that Kelley-Hawkins was Black. Simultaneously, she suggests that Kelley-Hawkins's 1891 and 1895 novels, Megda and Four Girls at Cottage City, should be removed from the canon--and, by extension, the tradition--of African American literature. By using the census, the methodology of Jackson's scholarly detective work resembles that of Henry Louis Gates, Jr., who, ironically, was responsible for our initial assumption that Kelley-Hawkins was Black. (1) He selected Megda and Four Girls at Cottage City, among other recovered novels by Black women, for his 1988 edition of the multi-volume Library of Nineteenth-Century Black Women Writers, published by Oxford University Press and sponsored by Harlem's Schomburg Library for Research in Black Culture. The fact that a couple of decades passed before someone, such as Jackson, verified Kelley-Hawkins's racial identity defies the record of Gates's own thoroughgoing scholarship. Indeed, five years before the publication of the Schomburg Library, Gates confirmed the racial identity of Harriet E. Wilson. In the introduction to his 1983 edition of Our Nig (initially published in 1859), Gates claims that this was the first novel written by a Black person and published in the United States. Gates focuses on the death notice for Wilson's son, George, in which he is marked as black and in which the listed name Mrs. H. E. matches that on the copyright page of the first edition of Our Nig. Gates thereby concludes that Harriet E. Wilson was both Black and the author of Our Nig (Introduction, Our Nig xiii). Nearly two decades later, Gates again incorporated meticulous in trying to prove that Hannah Crafts, the author of The Bondwoman's Narrative (written circa 1853 to 1861), was Black. The proof would have made this the first novel by an enslaved Black woman published in the United States. But this attempt turned out to be not as successful. To date, the evidence remains circumstantial. Crafts's racial Blackness remains only a possibility, not a certainty. Gates concludes that answering lingering questions about Crafts's life and literature demands further research (Introduction, The Bondwoman's Narrative lxxii). The common reliance of Jackson and Gates on ostensibly authoritative evidence to identify Kelley-Hawkins and Wilson as white and as Black, respectively, has epistemological implications. …