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Current Explanations (current + explanation)
Selected AbstractsGender differences in unipolar depression: an update of epidemiological findings and possible explanationsACTA PSYCHIATRICA SCANDINAVICA, Issue 3 2003C. Kuehner Objective: To give an update on epidemiological findings on sex differences in the prevalence of unipolar depression and putative risk factors. Material and methods: Systematic review of the literature. Results: Recent epidemiological research yields additional evidence for a female preponderance in unipolar depression, holding true across different cultural settings. Current explanations include artefacts, genetic, hormonal, psychological and psychosocial risk factors. Rather consistently, intrapsychic and psychosocial gender role related risk factors have been identified which may contribute to the higher depression risk in women. Gender role aspects are also reflected in endocrine stress reactions and possibly influence associated neuropsychological processes. Conclusion: There is a need for more integrative models taking into account psychological, psychosocial, and macrosocial risk factors as well as their interactions, which also connect these factors with physiological and endocrine responses. Furthermore, it is conceivable that across the life span, as well as across cultural settings, individual risk factors will add with varying emphasis to the higher prevalence of depression in women. [source] Barrier requirements as the evolutionary "driver" of epidermal pigmentation in humansAMERICAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN BIOLOGY, Issue 4 2010Peter M. Elias Current explanations for the development of epidermal pigmentation during human evolution are not tenable as stand-alone hypotheses. Accordingly, we assessed instead whether xeric- and UV-B-induced stress to the epidermal permeability barrier, critical to survival in a terrestrial environment, could have "driven" the development of epidermal pigmentation. (1) Megadroughts prevailed in central Africa when hominids expanded into open savannahs [,1.5,0.8 million years ago], resulting in sustained exposure to both extreme aridity and erythemogenic UV-B, correlating with genetic evidence that pigment developed ,1.2 million years ago. (2) Pigmented skin is endowed with enhanced permeability barrier function, stratum corneum integrity/cohesion, and a reduced susceptibility to infections. The enhanced function of pigmented skin can be attributed to the lower pH of the outer epidermis, likely due to the persistence of (more-acidic) melanosomes into the outer epidermis, as well as the conservation of genes associated with eumelanin synthesis and melanosome acidification (e.g., TYR, OCA2 [p protein], SLC24A5, SLC45A2, MATP) in pigmented populations. Five keratinocyte-derived signals (stem cell factor,KIT; FOXn1,FGF2; IL-1,, NGF, and p53) are potential candidates to have stimulated the sequential development of epidermal pigmentation in response to stress to the barrier. We summarize evidence here that epidermal interfollicular pigmentation in early hominids likely evolved in response to stress to the permeability barrier. Am. J. Hum. Biol., 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Don't Forget to Vote: Text Message Reminders as a Mobilization ToolAMERICAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, Issue 4 2009Allison Dale Current explanations of effective voter mobilization strategies maintain that turnout increases only when a potential voter is persuaded to participate through increased social connectedness. The connectedness explanation does not take into account, however, that registered voters, by registering, have already signaled their interest in voting. The theory presented in this article predicts that impersonal, noticeable,messages can succeed in increasing the likelihood that a registered voter will turn out by reminding the recipient that Election Day is approaching. Text messaging is examined as an example of an impersonal, noticeable communication to potential voters. A nationwide field experiment (n = 8,053) in the 2006 election finds that text message reminders produce a statistically significant 3.0 percentage point increase in the likelihood of voting. While increasing social connectedness has been shown to positively affect voter turnout, the results of this study, in combination with empirical evidence from prior studies, suggest that connectedness is not a necessary condition for a successful mobilization campaign. For certain voters, a noticeable reminder is sufficient to drive them to the polls. [source] Transferring HR practices within multinational corporationsHUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, Issue 4 2007Ingmar Björkman There is extensive evidence that planned transfers of management practices by the headquarters of multinational corporations (MNCs) to foreign subsidiaries are not always successful. In this article, we outline a model of factors influencing the transfer of HR practices to MNC units abroad. The article has two main contributions. First, we develop a more holistic understanding of the outcome of HR practice transfer as encompassing three dimensions: implementation, internalisation and integration. Second, we expand current explanations of transfers of practices to foreign units. We argue that transfer of HR practices is a social process where the governance mechanisms used by the MNC, characteristics of the subsidiary HR systems, the social relationship between the subsidiary and MNC headquarters, and the transfer approach taken by headquarters management will influence the outcome of the process. [source] The Bishops' Ban of 1599 and the Ideology of English SatireLITERATURE COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 5 2010William R. Jones On June 1, 1599, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London banned the further printing of satires, epigrams, and unlicensed histories and plays. Furthermore, the order demanded the immediate recall and burning of specific works, many of which were verse imitations of the Roman satirist Juvenal. Although the order itself lacks specific motivational language, current explanations tend to foreground the potentially obscene and/or libelous nature of the recalled works. Comparatively little attention has been paid, however, to the internal ideologies of the banned satires themselves and to the dialogue between the satires and the cultural and political conditions that inspired them. Instead of an ad hoc response to any one particular transgression, this essay argues for the Ban as an attempt to stem the growing cultural influence of a particularly unorthodox mode of Juvenalian imitative satire expressed most forcefully in John Marston's banned work, The Scourge of Villanie. Marston's rejection of all established belief systems, especially the conservative literary traditions of native English and Horatian imitative satire, in favor of a highly individualistic and indecorous mode of social representation, was simply too ideologically destabilizing for the bishops to tolerate. In support of this reading, two relatively underexplored pieces of evidence are examined: first, the reprieve granted to Joseph Hall's imitative satire entitled Virgidemiarum, which attempts to negotiate an ideologically safe middle-ground between the radical Juvenalian mode and the conservative Horatian tradition; and second, the contemporary reflections on the bishops' prohibition within John Weever's 1599 Epigrams, his 1600 pastoral Faunus and Melliflora, and his 1601 direct attack on Marston in The Whipping of the Satyre. Weever's support of the bishops' actions derives from his identification of the banned Juvenalian mode as not merely morally offensive or personally defamatory, but as a tangible threat to the ideological stability of the English nation. [source] Five years of Homo floresiensisAMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 2 2010Leslie C. Aiello Abstract Since Homo floresiensis was first described in October 2004 there has been a lively debate over its status. Is it a late surviving species of early Homo or merely a modern individual afflicted with disordered growth and one of the many syndromes resulting in microchephaly? Recently the discovery team has published a series of articles providing detailed descriptions of the hominin material, its geomorphological context, and the associated archaeology and faunal material (Morwood and Jungers: J Hum Evol 57 (2009) 437-648). In addition, other researchers have put forward new hypotheses for possible pathologies including Laron's Syndrome and Myxoedematous Endemic (ME) Cretinism. Here I review this new information and conclude that the evidence supports the hypothesis that Homo floresiensis is a late-surviving species of early Homo with its closest morphological affinities to early African pre- erectus/ergaster hominins. Although this hypothesis requires fundamental paradigm changes in our understanding of human evolution, it provides a more economical explanation for H. floresiensis than do the alternatives. None of the current explanations for microcephaly and disordered growth account for the range of features observed in H. floresiensis. Neither do they provide explanations for why a pathological condition in modern humans would mimic so closely the morphology observed in earlier hominins. This conclusion is based on the current evidence for H. floresiensis and on the particular pathological explanations that have appeared in the literature. There is no doubt that controversy over H. floresiensis will continue until new and conclusive evidence is available to settle the debate one way or another. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] | |||||||||||||