Home About us Contact
|
Home About us Contact | ||
|
|
||
Close Attention (close + attention)
Selected AbstractsUnsettling connections: transnational networks, development and African home associationsGLOBAL NETWORKS, Issue 2 2009CLAIRE MERCER Abstract With the transnational turn in the social sciences attention has now turned to ,global civil society', ,transnational civil society', ,transnational networks' and, most recently, ,migrant' or ,diasporic civil society'. Claims are being made about the developmental potential of these new configurations of civil society, and the global connections forged by migrant and diaspora associational life have been reified into things called ,networks' for the purpose of enrolling them into development policy. In this article, we challenge the network model through an analysis of transnational Cameroonian and Tanzanian home associations. The idea of a network suggests an overly robust and ordered set of linkages for what are in effect often loose and transient connections. African home associations draw attention to the historically-embedded and mundane ways in which forms of associational life can be ,transnational' outside the formalized structures and Eurocentric development hierarchies created by international NGOs and other development institutions. Although they form largely invisible connections operating outside these hierarchies, African home associations unsettle assumptions about the geography of civil society and its relationship with development. Close attention to the histories and geographies of African home associations reveals that power and agency more often lie with migrants and elites within Africa than with the transnational diaspora. [source] Ecology and management of exotic and endemic Asian longhorned beetle Anoplophora glabripennisAGRICULTURAL AND FOREST ENTOMOLOGY, Issue 4 2009Jiafu Hu Abstract 1The Asian longhorned beetle is native to China and Korea, and was found for the first time outside its native habitat in the U.S.A. in 1996, with subsequent detections being made in Canada and several European countries. 2We review the taxonomy, distribution, basic biology, behaviour, ecology and management of endemic and exotic Anoplophora glabripennis, including information that is available in the extensive Chinese literature. 3This species has caused massive mortality of Populus species in China and models have demonstrated that it could become established in many locations worldwide. 4Anoplophora glabripennis is polyphagous but prefers Acer, Salix and Populus, section Aigeiros. 5Although A. glabripennis adults do not disperse far when surrounded by host trees, they have the potential to fly more than 2000 m in a season. 6Volatile organic compounds from preferred host trees are attractive to A. glabripennis and this attraction is heightened by drought stress. Males and females orientate to a volatile released by female A. glabripennis and males attempt to copulate after contacting a sex pheromone on the female cuticle. 7At present, A. glabripennis is being (or has been) eradicated from areas where it has been introduced. After detection, extensive surveys are conducted and, if breeding populations are detected, at the very least, infested trees are removed and destroyed. Close attention is paid to imported solid wood packaging material to prevent new introductions. 8Standard practice to control A. glabripennis in China is to spray insecticides in tree canopies. In North America, largely as a preventative measure, systemic insecticides are injected into trees. Entomopathogenic fungi have been developed for the control of A. glabripennis, and entomopathogenic nematodes, coleopteran and hymenopteran parasitoids and predatory woodpeckers have been investigated as biocontrol agents. 9Ecological control of A. glabripennis in China involves planting mixtures of preferred and nonpreferred tree species, and this practice can successfully prevent outbreaks. [source] Arapaho Imperatives: Indirectness, Politeness and Communal "Face"JOURNAL OF LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 1 2007Andrew Cowell This article first provides a description of the imperative verb order in Arapaho, which has never been fully described. It then examines the use of indirect imperatives in particular, which grammaticalize the roles of third parties, as well as speakers and addressees. Close attention is paid to the interplay between prototypical reference-world situations, questions of socially-determined authority and relationships, and the issue of deference and politeness more generally. This discussion is placed in the context of Arapaho society, where traditional ceremonial roles, stereotyped kinship relationships, and an age-graded hierarchy remain important among older Arapaho speakers. The article concludes with a consideration of the concept of communal "face" as a revision to excessively individualistic analyses of politeness. [source] MRI of sporadic Creutzfeldt,Jakob diseaseJOURNAL OF MEDICAL IMAGING AND RADIATION ONCOLOGY, Issue 4 2008A Kong Summary The key MRI findings in five cases of sporadic Creutzfeldt,Jakob disease (CJD) are illustrated with four ,definite' and one ,probable' according to World Health Organization criteria. Close attention to fluid-attenuation inversion recovery and diffusion-weighted imaging sequences are important for diagnosis, noting especially restricted diffusion in cortical and deep grey matter. Our study and those of others show predominant cortical, caudate and thalamic involvement. This pattern is highly sensitive and specific for the diagnosis. Fluid-attenuation inversion recovery and diffusion-weighted imaging signal abnormality becomes progressively more extensive and bilateral as disease progresses, but may become less pronounced in end-stage disease because of atrophy. [source] Bodensystematik und Bodenklassifikation Teil I: GrundbegriffeJOURNAL OF PLANT NUTRITION AND SOIL SCIENCE, Issue 1 2005Christoph Albrecht Abstract Bodenordnungssysteme lassen sich meist nach zwei Prinzipien entwickeln: Entweder werden nur rein bodenkundliche Informationen als kategorisierendes Merkmal verwendet (pedogenetische Faktoren/Prozesse), oder die Kategorienbildung erfolgt problemorientiert anhand ausgewählter Parameter. Die meisten der weltweit verwendeten Bodenordnungssysteme lassen sich nach ihrer Grundausrichtung einem der beiden Typen zuordnen. Diese Betrachtungsweise ist nicht neu und wird in der Literatur mit unterschiedlichen Begriffen und Begriffsinhalten dargestellt. In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden die verschiedenen Definitionen von Systematik, Klassifikation, Taxonomie und Identifizierung zusammengefasst und geordnet. Dabei fällt auf, dass Begriffe mit sehr unterschiedlichen Inhalten oft synonym verwendet werden. Grundgedanke unserer Überlegungen ist die Trennung von Systematik, Klassifikation und Identifizierung. Systematik ist die grundsätzliche wissenschaftlich-deduktive Gliederung von Objekten in systematische Einheiten. Dabei soll das gesamte Wissen eines Fachgebietes in eine überschaubare Form gebracht werden, im Mittelpunkt stehen sowohl die umfassende Beschreibung einzelner Objekte als auch die Beziehungen zwischen den Objekten. Im Gegensatz dazu ist eine Klassifikation die zielorientiert-induktive Gliederung von Objekten. Die entstehenden Klassen werden nur anhand ausgewählter Parameter abgegrenzt, womit ein schneller Überblick bei speziellen Fragestellungen ermöglicht wird. Die Identifizierung ist die Einordnung von neuen Objekten in eine bestehende Systematik oder Klassifikation. Eine zweifelsfreie Identifizierung erfordert die Messbarkeit der kategorisierenden Merkmale. Bei einer genetisch angelegten Bodensystematik sind die Merkmale die Boden bildenden Prozesse und Faktoren. Da sie beim gegenwärtigen Kenntnisstand oft nicht messbar sind, bleiben Versuche, einen Boden in eine Systematik einzuordnen, häufig hypothetisch und dadurch subjektiv. Die Ergebnisse einer Bodensystematisierung sind daher oft anfechtbar, weil sie nicht durch Messwerte verifiziert werden können. Im Gegensatz dazu erlauben Bodenklassifikationen objektive Profilansprachen. Da jedoch die Festlegung der Grenzwerte eher pragmatisch nach Zweckmäßigkeit geschieht und nicht wissenschaftlich anhand von Prozessintensitäten, ist die Verwendung als grundlegendes Ordnungssystem eines Wissenschaftsgebietes nicht möglich. Die Bodenkunde benötigt beide Arten von Ordnungssystemen, um wissenschaftliche und praktische Ansprüche gleichermaßen erfüllen zu können, jedoch erfordern die Vollendung und Verifizierung der Systematik umfangreiche Forschungsarbeiten. Kurzfristig ist dieses Problem nur durch die Entwicklung einer kennwertbasierten Klassifikation lösbar, mit der die Kategorien der bestehenden Systematik so gut wie möglich nachgebildet werden. Langfristig ist die exakte Erforschung und Modellierung der Boden bildenden Prozesse aber unumgänglich. Soil systematics and classification systems Part I: Fundamentals Soil-ordering systems are primarily based and developed on one of two underlying principles: They are either categorized according to soil-forming processes, or the formation of categories develops by chosen parameters. This perspective has already been established in the literature, though it is often confusing as many terms are defined and applied differently. In this contribution, the various definitions of systematics, classification, taxonomy, and identification will be clearly differentiated and summarized. The core of our work is to clearly define and contrast three terms: systematics, classification, and identification. Systematics is the fundamental scientific and deductive ordering of objects into systematic units. The purpose of this approach is to organize the entire spectrum of knowledge within a discipline into a transparent and manageable form. Classification, in direct contrast to systematics, is goal-oriented and an inductive ordering of objects. Thus, the ordering scheme consists of classes which are clearly parameterized. Identification is the ordering of new objects into an already existing systematics or classification system. Close attention is paid to both the differences and the similarities between a systematics and a classification system, especially pertaining to their practical applications. The identification requires that the category-forming characteristics can be measured (e.g., for soil systematics, these are the soil-forming processes and factors). Currently, it is unfortunately not feasible to objectively quantify most soil-forming processes. Thus, most attempts at categorizing soils by systematics are hypothetical and highly subjective in nature. The resulting identification derived from the soil systematics approach is open to questions and contestable, since a graded measuring system does not yet exist to verify these determinations. In contrast, a soil-classification system does allow an objective soil-profile identification, although such systems are conceived pragmatically and designed for a practical purpose (e.g., not scientifically based on process intensities). Unfortunately, such a classification system cannot be applied as a universal scientific categorization system due to this method of conception. Both categorization approaches are required in soil science in order to satisfy both the practical and the scientific aspects of the field. However, substantial research must be done to complete and verify systematics. The only viable short-term solution is through the development of a graded classification system where the categories of the system are directly derived from the current systematics approach. In the long run both the exact investigation and the detailed modeling of the soil-forming processes are inevitable. [source] Zic4, a zinc-finger transcription factor, is expressed in the developing mouse nervous systemDEVELOPMENTAL DYNAMICS, Issue 3 2005Carles Gaston-Massuet Abstract Zic genes comprise a family of transcription factors, characterized by the presence of a zinc-finger domain containing two cysteines and two histidines (C2-H2). Whereas the embryonic expression patterns of Zic1, 2, 3, and 5 have been described in detail, Zic4 has not yet received close attention. We studied the expression of Zic4 by in situ hybridization during mouse embryogenesis. Zic4 mRNA was first detected at low intensity at embryonic day (E) 9 and, by E10.5, expression was up-regulated in the dorsal midline of the forebrain with a strong, expanded expression domain at the boundary between the diencephalon and telencephalon, the septum, and the lamina terminalis. The choroid plexus of the third ventricle expresses Zic4, as does the dorsal part of the spinal neural tube, excluding the roof plate. The dorsal sclerotome and the dorsomedial lip of the dermomyotome also express Zic4 whereas dorsal root ganglia are negative. At E12.5, Zic4 continues to be expressed in the midline of the forebrain and in the dorsal spinal neural tube. Postnatally, Zic4 is expressed in the granule cells of the postnatal day 2 cerebellum, and in the periventricular thalamus and anterior end of the superior colliculus. We conclude that Zic4 has an expression pattern distinct from, but partly overlapping with, other members of the Zic gene family. Developmental Dynamics 233:1110,1115, 2005. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Bioconcentrations of metals (Fe, Cu, Zn, Pb) in earthworms (Eisenia fetida), inoculated in municipal sewage sludge: Do earthworms pose a possible risk of terrestrial food chain contamination?ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY, Issue 1 2009Surindra Suthar Abstract Efforts have been made to evaluate the possible risks of metal bioaccumulation in composting earthworms during vermicomposting of hazardous wastes, e.g., sewage sludge. The sewage sludge was diluted by mixing cow dung in different proportions, and vermicomposted sludge as well as inoculated earthworms were analyzed for metal (Fe, Cu, Zn, Pb) contents. The sludge processed by worms showed a significant reduction in concentration of metals, Cu (29.4,51.6%), Fe (13.1,19.9%), Zn (15.2,25.8%), and Pb (4.6,46.9%), at the end. A considerable concentration of metals, total Cu (16.7,27.6 mg kg,1), total Fe (42.9,89.8 mg kg,1), total Zn (5.85,75.0 mg kg,1), and total Pb (1.79,12.4 mg kg,1), in composting earthworms was also recorded. The greater values of bioconcentration factors for metals suggested the possible risk of entering contaminants in higher food chains; since, earthworms are near to the terrestrial food chain, they can potentially mediate metal transfer from soil to a range of predators, including birds. Therefore, feasibility of vermitechnology in hazardous waste recycling needs close attention in respect to possible risk of environmental contamination. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol, 2009. [source] Chronic daily headache with medication overuse: predictors of outcome 1 year after withdrawal therapyEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY, Issue 6 2009M. G. Bøe Background and purpose:, We examined prospectively the results of withdrawal therapy in 80 patients with probable medication overuse headache. The aim was to identify baseline patient characteristics that might predict outcome after 1 year (end of study). Methods:, We classified patients according to results of withdrawal therapy measured as the improvement of headache days (HD) from baseline to end of study. Results:, Thirty-six per cent (29/80) had at least 50% improvement. Sixty-four per cent (51/80) had <50% improvement, and among these, 30% (24/80) had <10% improvement. The following baseline characteristics were associated with poor outcome of withdrawal therapy: use of codeine-containing drugs, low self-reported sleep quality, and high self-reported bodily pain as measured by the quality of life tool SF-36. Conclusion:, Before suggesting withdrawal therapy, one should probably pay more close attention to sleep problems. [source] Site-level evaluation of satellite-based global terrestrial gross primary production and net primary production monitoringGLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY, Issue 4 2005David P. Turner Abstract Operational monitoring of global terrestrial gross primary production (GPP) and net primary production (NPP) is now underway using imagery from the satellite-borne Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor. Evaluation of MODIS GPP and NPP products will require site-level studies across a range of biomes, with close attention to numerous scaling issues that must be addressed to link ground measurements to the satellite-based carbon flux estimates. Here, we report results of a study aimed at evaluating MODIS NPP/GPP products at six sites varying widely in climate, land use, and vegetation physiognomy. Comparisons were made for twenty-five 1 km2 cells at each site, with 8-day averages for GPP and an annual value for NPP. The validation data layers were made with a combination of ground measurements, relatively high resolution satellite data (Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus at ,30 m resolution), and process-based modeling. There was strong seasonality in the MODIS GPP at all sites, and mean NPP ranged from 80 g C m,2 yr,1 at an arctic tundra site to 550 g C m,2 yr,1 at a temperate deciduous forest site. There was not a consistent over- or underprediction of NPP across sites relative to the validation estimates. The closest agreements in NPP and GPP were at the temperate deciduous forest, arctic tundra, and boreal forest sites. There was moderate underestimation in the MODIS products at the agricultural field site, and strong overestimation at the desert grassland and at the dry coniferous forest sites. Analyses of specific inputs to the MODIS NPP/GPP algorithm , notably the fraction of photosynthetically active radiation absorbed by the vegetation canopy, the maximum light use efficiency (LUE), and the climate data , revealed the causes of the over- and underestimates. Suggestions for algorithm improvement include selectively altering values for maximum LUE (based on observations at eddy covariance flux towers) and parameters regulating autotrophic respiration. [source] THE ENDURING POWER OF RACISM: A RECONSIDERATION OF WINTHROP JORDAN'S WHITE OVER BLACKHISTORY AND THEORY, Issue 2 2005LAURENCE SHORE ABSTRACT As a history of the origins and development of American racism, White over Black received great acclaim upon its publication in 1968. Deeply researched and covering some 650 pages, it eschewed professional jargon and offered a deft prose style and close attention to matters of sexuality in revealing the origins and lasting influence of racist attitudes arising from Englishmen's impressions of blacks before they became, preeminently, slaves in North America. Jordan's careful weighing of evidence and causation made readers appreciate what he believed his evidence repeatedly demonstrated about white Americans' attitudes toward African-Americans: "the power of irrationality in men." Despite the initial acclaim and scholarly achievement, White over Black soon lost pace with the curve of politics and academic fashion. By the mid-1970s, the post-World War II liberal consensus on racial issues had disintegrated, and professional historians were writing principally for other professional historians. Within a decade after its publication, White over Black was relegated to the wasteland of the "suggested supplemental reading list." However, the book's grasp of the fundamental historical issues requiring explanation has received recent affirmation from influential scholarly and political quarters. A dispassionate review of the literature leading up to and following White over Black's publication indicates that Jordan's emphasis on the causal contribution of racist attitudes to the rise of African slavery in British North America was on target. Moreover, Jordan's appreciation that academic historians should write for nonprofessionals is now widely held inside the academy. The historical accuracy and cogency of expression of Jordan's perspective on race and slavery make White over Black worth reexamining. [source] Apparent/spurious multifractality of data sampled from fractional Brownian/Lévy motionsHYDROLOGICAL PROCESSES, Issue 15 2010Shlomo P. Neuman Abstract Many earth and environmental variables appear to be self-affine (monofractal) or multifractal with spatial (or temporal) increments having exceedance probability tails that decay as powers of , , where 1 < , , 2. The literature considers self-affine and multifractal modes of scaling to be fundamentally different, the first arising from additive and the second from multiplicative random fields or processes. We demonstrate theoretically that data having finite support, sampled across a finite domain from one or several realizations of an additive Gaussian field constituting fractional Brownian motion (fBm) characterized by , = 2, give rise to positive square (or absolute) increments which behave as if the field was multifractal when in fact it is monofractal. Sampling such data from additive fractional Lévy motions (fLm) with 1 < , < 2 causes them to exhibit spurious multifractality. Deviations from apparent multifractal behaviour at small and large lags are due to nonzero data support and finite domain size, unrelated to noise or undersampling (the causes cited for such deviations in the literature). Our analysis is based on a formal decomposition of anisotropic fLm (fBm when , = 2) into a continuous hierarchy of statistically independent and homogeneous random fields, or modes, which captures the above behaviour in terms of only E + 3 parameters where E is Euclidean dimension. Although the decomposition is consistent with a hydrologic rationale proposed by Neuman (2003), its mathematical validity is independent of such a rationale. Our results suggest that it may be worth checking how closely would variables considered in the literature to be multifractal (e.g. experimental and simulated turbulent velocities, some simulated porous flow velocities, landscape elevations, rain intensities, river network area and width functions, river flow series, soil water storage and physical properties) fit the simpler monofractal model considered in this paper (such an effort would require paying close attention to the support and sampling window scales of the data). Parsimony would suggest associating variables found to fit both models equally well with the latter. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Incidence and sources of Listeria monocytogenes in a traditional hot-smoked rainbow trout processing plant in Turkey,INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FOOD SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, Issue 11 2007Duygu K Summary In recent years, microbial fish safety is getting a close attention from regulatory agencies and consumers. Therefore, fish farm raising rainbow trout and affiliated slaughterhouse and smoking plants were evaluated for the occurrence of Listeria monocytogenes. Samples including raw fish, swabbings of equipment or other surfaces, as well as processing water, salt, fish feed and fish samples taken after various stages of processing were collected from thirty different locations in the plant. For the detection of L. monocytogenes, both conventional and Listeria Rapid Test (LRT) were used. L. monocytogenes was detected in thirty out of sixty samples (50%) by LRT, while it was detected in thirty-four out of sixty samples (57%) by conventional method. No L. monocytogenes was detected from raw fish, smoked fish (before handling) and processing water, but it was detected in all environmental samples including swabbings of equipment or other surfaces and smoked fish samples after filleting. [source] Public disclosure of comparative clinical performance data: lessons from the Scottish experienceJOURNAL OF EVALUATION IN CLINICAL PRACTICE, Issue 2 2003Russell Mannion PhD Abstract There is growing international interest in making information available on the clinical quality and performance of health care providers. In the United States of America, where public reporting is most advanced, comparative performance information in the form of ,report cards', ,provider profiles' and ,consumer reports' has been published for over a decade. In Europe, Scotland has been at the forefront of releasing clinical performance data and has disseminated such information since 1994. This paper reviews the Scottish experience of public disclosure and distils the key lessons for other countries seeking to implement similar programmes. It is based on the findings of the first empirical evaluation of a national clinical reporting initiative outside the United States. The study examined the impact of publication of Scottish (CRAG) clinical outcome indicators on four key stakeholder groups: health care providers, regional government health care purchasers, general practitioners and consumer advocacy agencies. We conclude that those responsible for developing clinical reporting systems should not only pay close attention to developing technically valid and professionally credible data which are tailored to the information needs of different end users, but should also focus on developing a suitable incentive structure and organizational environment that fosters the constructive use of such information. [source] Gender, social capital and information exchange in rural UgandaJOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, Issue 1 2008Enid Katungi Abstract Changing agricultural research and extension systems mean that informal mechanisms of information diffusion are often the primary source of information about improved seed and practices for farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. This paper investigates the interactions between gender, social capital and information exchange in rural Uganda. Within the framework of farmer-to-farmer models, we conceptualise the informal information diffusion process to comprise social capital accumulation and information exchange. We assume that each agent participates in information exchange with a fixed (predetermined) level of social capital and examine how endowments of social capital influence information exchange, paying close attention to gender differences. A multinomial logit model is used to analyse multiple participation choices of information exchange facing the farmer. Findings demonstrate that social capital is an important factor in information exchange, with men generally having better access to social capital than women. We also find strong evidence in support of group-based technology dissemination systems. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Paediatric airway management: basic aspectsACTA ANAESTHESIOLOGICA SCANDINAVICA, Issue 1 2009R. J. HOLM-KNUDSEN Paediatric airway management is a great challenge, especially for anaesthesiologists working in departments with a low number of paediatric surgical procedures. The paediatric airway is substantially different from the adult airway and obstruction leads to rapid desaturation in infants and small children. This paper aims at providing the non-paediatric anaesthesiologist with a set of safe and simple principles for basic paediatric airway management. In contrast to adults, most children with difficult airways are recognised before induction of anaesthesia but problems may arise in all children. Airway obstruction can be avoided by paying close attention to the positioning of the head of the child and by keeping the mouth of the child open during mask ventilation. The use of oral and nasopharyngeal airways, laryngeal mask airways, and cuffed endotracheal tubes is discussed with special reference to the circumstances in infants. A slightly different technique during laryngoscopy is suggested. The treatment of airway oedema and laryngospasm is described. [source] Richard Southern and the Twelfth,Century Intellectual World: Essay Review of R. W. Southern, Scholastic Humanism and the Unification of Europe, Vol.JOURNAL OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY, Issue 3 2002I: Foundations Richard Southern's most recent book proposes an interpretation of the intellectual life of twelfth,century Europe that deserves both close attention and critical scrutiny. Particular issues questioned in this review are the dominant centrality of the "scholastic enterprise," Southern's idiosyncratic definition of "humanism," and his prolongation of the twelfth,century renaissance through most of the thirteenth. It is argued that Southern's interpretation has led to the undervaluation of regions of western Europe such as Germany, and of non,scholastic communities such as Benedictine monasticism. [source] Spelling as a self-teaching mechanism in orthographic learningJOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN READING, Issue 1 2008Daphna Shahar-Yames The present study examined the possibility that spelling fulfils a self-teaching function in the acquisition of orthographic knowledge because, like decoding, it requires close attention to letter order and identity as well as to word-specific spelling,sound mapping. We hypothesised that: (i) spelling would lead to significant (i.e. above-chance) levels of orthographic learning; (ii) spelling would actually result in superior learning relative to reading owing to the additional processing demands invoked when spelling; (iii) there would be stronger outcomes for post-test spelling production compared with spelling recognition; and (iv) relative to reading, spelling would produce superior orthographic learning in the case of later-occurring orthographic detail compared with information appearing earlier in the letter string. In a fully within-subjects design, third grade Hebrew readers were exposed to novel letter strings presented in three conditions: spelling, reading and an unseen control condition. With the exception of the position by condition interaction (our fourth hypothesis), which, although in the expected direction, failed to attain significance, all hypotheses were supported. These data highlight yet another dimension of reading,writing reciprocity by suggesting that spelling offers a powerful self-teaching tool in the compilation of word-specific orthographic representations. [source] Late-onset Behçet's disease does not correlate with indolent clinical course: report of seven Taiwanese patientsJOURNAL OF THE EUROPEAN ACADEMY OF DERMATOLOGY & VENEREOLOGY, Issue 5 2008J Tsai Abstract Background, Behçet's disease (BD) is a recurrent multisystem disease of uncertain aetiology. The young adults are most often affected, usually during the third decade. Late occurrence of the disease is considered uncommon and less frequently investigated. Objective, The aim of this study was to examine the clinical features of BD patients with disease onset at a later age and compare them with the usual age of onset group. Methods, Retrospective review of clinical charts of BD patients was conducted. Patients with age of onset at or after 40 years of age were identified. The clinical profiles and medications required to control the disease activity were documented. Comparisons of clinical features and the medications used were made between patients with disease onset before and after 40 years of age. Results, Seven late-onset BD patients were identified. Among them, five patients required the use of systemic immunosuppressant in addition to colchicine and corticosteroid for adequate disease control. There is no significant difference in clinical profiles between patients with disease onset before and after 40 years of age, but the incidence of uveitis, an indicator of unfavourable prognosis, was surprisingly high. More specifically, it was noted in four of seven patients identified. Conclusion, Our findings indicate that the clinical course of BD is not indolent in the patients with late-onset BD. More importantly, physicians should be aware that BD can occur in older patients, and close attention regarding their disease activities is warranted as their clinical courses may not be as benign as previously believed. [source] Hypertrophic scarring of the neck following ablative fractional carbon dioxide laser resurfacingLASERS IN SURGERY AND MEDICINE, Issue 3 2009Mathew M. Avram MD Abstract Background Ablative fractional carbon dioxide (CO2) laser treatments have gained popularity due to their efficacy, shortened downtime, and decreased potential for scarring in comparison to traditional ablative CO2 resurfacing. To date, scarring with fractional CO2 lasers has not been reported. Objective Five patients treated with the same fractional CO2 laser technology for photodamage of the neck were referred to our practices 1,3 months after treatment. Each patient developed scarring. Of the five cases, two are discussed in detail. The first was treated under general anesthesia on the face and anterior neck at a pulse energy of 30 mJ (859 µm depth) with 25% coverage. Eleven days after treatment, three non-healing areas along the horizontal skin folds of the anterior neck were noted. At 2 weeks after CO2 ablative fractional resurfacing, these areas had become thickened. These raised areas were treated with a non-ablative fractionated 1,550 nm laser to modify the wound healing milieu. One week later, distinct firm pale papules in linear arrays with mild hypopigmentation had developed along involved neck skin folds. Skin biopsy was performed. For the second patient, the neck was treated at a pulse energy of 20 mJ (630 µm depth) with 30% coverage of the exposed skin, with a total treatment energy of 5.0 kJ. Minimal crusting was noted on the neck throughout the initial healing phase of 2 weeks. She then experienced tightness on her neck. Approximately 3 weeks after treatment, she developed multiple vertical and horizontal hypertrophic scars (HS). Results Histopathology for the first case confirmed the presence of a hypertrophic scar. The papules in this case completely resolved with mild residual hypopigmentation after treatment with topical corticosteroids. HS failed to resolve in the second case to date after 1 month. Conclusion As with traditional ablative CO2 laser resurfacing, HS is a potential complication of ablative fractional CO2 laser resurfacing, particularly on the neck. With early diagnosis and appropriate treatment HS of neck skin may be reversible. We urge caution when treating the neck with this device and close attention to wound care in the post-operative period. Lasers Surg. Med. 41:185,188, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Private Property and the Law of Nature in Locke's Two Treatises: The Best Advantage of Life and ConvenienceAMERICAN JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS AND SOCIOLOGY, Issue 3 2009B. Jeffrey Reno The study of policy lies at the intersection of economics and ethics, dealing, to a great extent, with private property. Policy design therefore assumes an understanding of the relationship between property and human nature, a matter of great interest to John Locke. Locke's teaching, however, is far from clear, often composed of a set of dual arguments. Yet close attention to the dualistic arguments is revealing: the two objects Locke associates with property,life and convenience,correspond to the two bases upon which he grounds the right to property: labor and consent. His argument reflects the changing economic nature of property, and also provides insight into the poles within which people behave according to the Law of Nature. Thus, a full explication of the relationship between Locke's Law of Nature and doctrine of property illuminates the economic and ethical principles that ought to inform policymakers and analysts. [source] Values-based Political Messages and Persuasion: Relationships among Speaker, Recipient, and Evoked ValuesPOLITICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 4 2005Thomas E. Nelson The persuasive power of values-based political messages may depend on recipients having (1) shared values with the speaker (a type of personal identity match); (2) shared political party identifications with the speaker (a type of social identity match); and/or (3) expectations about values traditionally associated with different political parties (an expectancy violation/confirmation). The independent and joint effects of these factors on the success of a persuasive message were examined, using the theoretical framework of dual-process models of persuasion. Participants (N = 301), classified according to their party identifications and primary value orientations, read a political speech that varied by argument quality, speaker party, and values evoked. Results indicated that value matching promotes close attention to the message, while party mismatching increases message rejection. These effects depend to some extent, however, on expectancies about values traditionally associated with different parties. Participants especially rejected messages from rival party members when the speaker evoked unexpected values. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for the efficacy of values-based political communication. [source] Influences on teacher education student attitudes toward youth who are HIV+PSYCHOLOGY IN THE SCHOOLS, Issue 2 2004Terry A. Stinnett The expectations, attributions, and reactions toward children and youth who have contracted HIV/AIDS warrant close attention from parents, teachers, related service personnel, and others who will interact with these students in the schools. Those who are misinformed or unaware of their beliefs may inadvertently discriminate against children and youth with the disease. This study examined factors that influence judgments about children and youth with HIV/AIDS in a sample of teacher education students. Course of infection of HIV accounted for significant differences in the participants' judgments about responsibility and blame for contracting the disease and also fearfulness and attitudes reflecting isolation for these youth. Educational professionals should be aware of the many negative attributions placed on adolescents who are diagnosed as HIV+ and be prepared to act as facilitators when designing appropriate interventions to assist these students. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 41: 211,219, 2004. [source] The art of expenditure: the court of Paola Malatesta Gonzaga in fifteenth-century MantuaRENAISSANCE STUDIES, Issue 3 2002Evelyn Welch The paper draws on four surviving account books to examine the way a female court functioned during the first quarter of the fifteenth century. The documents, which have never received detailed attention, record Paola Malatesta Gonzaga's income and expenditure over an almost twenty-year period, revealing her close attention to her land, estates, and the welfare of her famiglia. They also provide considerable new information for Paola's important, and now almost entirely lost, patronage of religious institutions in Mantua. From her previous historiographic role as the wife of Mantua's first marquis, Gianfrancesco Gonzaga, or as the mother of Ludovico and Cecilia Gonzaga, Paola emerges as an energetic, ambitious and culturally sensitive figure whose biography deserves re-examination. [source] Is there gender bias in nursing research?RESEARCH IN NURSING & HEALTH, Issue 5 2008Denise F. Polit Abstract Using data from a consecutive sample of 259 studies published in four leading nursing research journals in 2005,2006, we examined whether nurse researchers favor females as study participants. On average, 75.3% of study participants were female, and 38% of studies had all-female samples. The bias favoring female participants was statistically significant and persistent. The bias was observed regardless of funding source, methodological features, and other participant and researcher characteristics, with one exception: studies that had male investigators had more sex-balanced samples. When designing studies, nurse researchers need to pay close attention to who will benefit from their research and to whether they are leaving out a specific group about which there is a gap in knowledge. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Res Nurs Health 31:417,427, 2008 [source] Implicit Value Judgments in the Measurement of Health InequalitiesTHE MILBANK QUARTERLY, Issue 1 2010SAM HARPER Context: Quantitative estimates of the magnitude, direction, and rate of change of health inequalities play a crucial role in creating and assessing policies aimed at eliminating the disproportionate burden of disease in disadvantaged populations. It is generally assumed that the measurement of health inequalities is a value-neutral process, providing objective data that are then interpreted using normative judgments about whether a particular distribution of health is just, fair, or socially acceptable. Methods: We discuss five examples in which normative judgments play a role in the measurement process itself, through either the selection of one measurement strategy to the exclusion of others or the selection of the type, significance, or weight assigned to the variables being measured. Findings: Overall, we find that many commonly used measures of inequality are value laden and that the normative judgments implicit in these measures have important consequences for interpreting and responding to health inequalities. Conclusions: Because values implicit in the generation of health inequality measures may lead to radically different interpretations of the same underlying data, we urge researchers to explicitly consider and transparently discuss the normative judgments underlying their measures. We also urge policymakers and other consumers of health inequalities data to pay close attention to the measures on which they base their assessments of current and future health policies. [source] Decreased ventilatory response to hypercapnia in dementia with Lewy bodies,ANNALS OF NEUROLOGY, Issue 5 2009Katsuyoshi Mizukami MD A systematic autonomic dysfunction observed among patients with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) has recently attracted close attention. Here, we compare cardiovascular and pulmonary autonomic functions among patients with DLB, patients with Alzheimer's disease, and healthy control subjects. All 15 DLB patients demonstrated severely low ventilatory response to hypercapnia, whereas none of the other subjects demonstrated abnormal results. The majority of the DLB patients showed impaired heart rate variability, low uptake on 123I-metaiodobenzylguanidine myocardial scintigraphy, and orthostatic hypotension. Ventilatory response to hypercapnia as a marker of respiratory autonomic function is a promising diagnostic tool for DLB. Ann Neurol 2009;65:614,617 [source] Community cooperation with natural flood management: a case study in the Scottish BordersAREA, Issue 3 2009Olivia Ruth Howgate The cooperation of communities and landowners in the upper catchment is vital for the successful implementation of natural flood management (NFM) projects as few incentives are in place to reward them to host such projects. The aim of this paper is to initiate an exploration of the issues that affect a community's decision to cooperate. The results of a case study in Scotland show that willingness to cooperate is affected by concern about alternative flood management techniques, a sense of responsibility to help connected communities at risk of flooding and the expectation of beneficial impacts from the project. Indeed, these issues appeared to over-ride the hostility generated towards the project as a result of poor communication and engagement with the community from organisations associated with the proposed project. The results of the research suggest that if NFM projects are to proliferate, close attention must be paid to community attitudes towards flood management and related communities at risk, and that NFM projects must be developed and implemented according to well-established principles of public participation. [source] Die Fotografie , ein neues Bildmedium im Wissenschaftspanorama des 19.BERICHTE ZUR WISSENSCHAFTSGESCHICHTE, Issue 2 2005Jahrhunderts. Abstract Photography , a novel medium of scientific representation in the XIXth century array of arts and sciences. To delve into various nineteenth century academic disciplines under the heading ,photography in the arts and sciences' as did last year's annual conference of the History of Science Society , the interest in such a topic only partly stems from the ,iconic turn' that has generally enlarged the scope of the social sciences in recent years. A more poignant feature in any such present day study will probably be a basic scepticism facing the fact that in public use photographs have been manipulated in many respects. Yet, while shying away from any simple success story, a historically minded approach to changing ,visual paradigms' (Historische Bildwissenschaft) has begun to emerge. In this context, it has proved of considerable heuristic value to reconsider the role of early photography in an array of science, arts and technology: Since the reliance on the traditional ways of sketching reality persisted, in many an instance where photography was introduced, the thoughts the pioneer photographers had about their new, seemingly automated business, call for close attention. Thus scholarship sets up a parallel ,discussion room'; the lively debate on the benefit of academic drawings as opposed to photographic portraits is a case in point. Some fairly specialised reports on photographically based analyses, such as electron microscopy, point to a borderline where the very idea of representation as a correspondence of reality and imagination gets blurred. Even though any ,visual culture' will have to shoulder the ,burden of representation', it is equally likely that it will offer a deeper sensibility for the intricacies entailed in the variegated ways of illustrating or mapping chosen subjects of scientific interest. Scholarship may thus somewhat control the disillusionment that by now has become the epitome of writing on photographic history. Provided with a renewed methodological awareness for the perception process and its photographic transition, historians may strike a better balance between the ever present tendencies of a realistic and an aesthetic way of picturing the world we live in. [source] Liberating genetic variance through sexBIOESSAYS, Issue 6 2003Andrew D. Peters Genetic variation in fitness is the fundamental prerequisite for adaptive evolutionary change. If there is no variation in survival and reproduction or if this variation has no genetic basis, then the composition of a population will not evolve over time. Consequently, the factors influencing genetic variation in fitness have received close attention from evolutionary biologists. One key factor is the mode of reproduction. Indeed, it has long been thought that sex enhances fitness variation and that this explains the ubiquity of sexual reproduction among eukaryotes. Nevertheless, theoretical studies have demonstrated that sex need not always increase genetic variation in fitness. In particular, if fitness interactions among beneficial alleles (epistasis) are positive, sex can reduce genetic variance in fitness. Empirical data have been sorely needed to settle the issue of whether sex does enhance fitness variation. A recent flurry of studies1,4 has demonstrated that sex and recombination do dramatically increase genetic variation in fitness and consequently the rate of adaptive evolution. Interpreted in light of evolutionary theory, these studies rule out positive in these experiments epistasis as a major source of genetic associations. Further studies are needed, however, to tease apart other possible sources. BioEssays 25:533,537, 2003. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Re-articulating Identity: The Shifting Landscape of Indigenous Politics and Power on the Ecuadorian CoastBULLETIN OF LATIN AMERICAN RESEARCH, Issue 2 2010DANIEL ERIC BAUER The Levantamiento Indígena of 1990 was a defining moment in the advancement of indigenous politics in Ecuador. Following the uprising of 1990, scholars have paid close attention to the politics of identity and indigenous representation in Ecuador with the main focus being placed on the highland and Amazonian regions of the country. Based on fieldwork conducted in Ecuador's Manabí province, this article provides preliminary insight into the growth of an indigenous discourse on the Ecuadorian coast. I focus on the process of re-indigenisation in the coastal community of Macaboa. This research is significant because while a great deal of scholarly attention has been paid to indigenous movements in Ecuador's highland and Amazonian regions, indigenous politics on the coast have gone largely unnoticed. The case outlined in this article is emblematic of the shifting nature of identity and the way in which ethnic discourses are increasingly being adopted by marginalised groups in their attempts to negotiate with the state. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||