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Modern Studies (modern + studies)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	33%

Selected Abstracts

Oral health and morbidity , implications of oral infections on the elderly

GERODONTOLOGY, Issue 1 2006
Jukka H. Meurman
Detrimental effects of oral infections on general health have been known for almost 3000 years. Modern studies, however, have cast new light on the pathogenic mechanisms by which oral infections appear to link with morbidity and mortality. In particular, among the elderly, poor dental health seems to associate with all-cause mortality. This review aims to provide an overview of present knowledge of these issues, starting from dental bacteraemia, oral mucosal infections and problems of drug resistance and, briefly, discussing what is known about the link between oral health and some systemic diseases such as atherosclerosis and type-2 diabetes. The main conclusions are that scientific evidence is still weak on these interactions and that the elderly should be better taken into account when planning future studies. Functions of the body differ in the frail and diseased from those of the young. Consequently, novel prevention and treatment strategies should be developed and properly tested for combating oral infections in elderly populations. Specific suggestions for further research are outlined. [source]

Inflammatory bowel disease: Established and evolving considerations on its etiopathogenesis and therapy

JOURNAL OF DIGESTIVE DISEASES, Issue 5 2010
Anja SCHIRBEL
Modern studies of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) pathogenesis have been pursued for about four decades, a period of time where the pace of progress has been steadily increasing. This progress has occurred in parallel with and is largely due to developments in multiple basic scientific disciplines that range from population and social studies, genetics, microbiology, immunology, biochemistry, cellular and molecular biology, and DNA engineering. From this cumulative and constantly expanding knowledge base the fundamental pillars of IBD pathogenesis appear to have been identified and consolidated during the last couple of decades. Presently there is a general consensus among basic IBD investigators that both Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) are the result of the combined effects of four basic components: global changes in the environment, the input of multiple genetic variations, alterations in the intestinal microbiota, and aberrations of innate and adaptive immune responses. There is also agreement on the conclusion that none of these four components can by itself trigger or maintain intestinal inflammation. A combination of various factors, and most likely of all four factors, is probably needed to bring about CD or UC in individual patients, but each patient or set of patients seems to have a different combination of alterations leading to the disease. This would imply that different causes and diverse mechanisms underlie IBD, and this could also explain why every patient displays his or her own clinical manifestations and a personalized response to therapy, and requires tailored approaches with different medications. While we are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of this individual variability, we have only a superficial notion of the reasons why this occurs, as hinted by the uniqueness of the genetic background and of the gut flora in each person. So, we are apparently facing the paradox of having to deal with the tremendous complexity of the mechanisms responsible for chronic intestinal inflammation in the setting of each patient's individuality in the response to this biological complexity. This obviously poses considerable challenges to reaching a full understanding of IBD pathogenesis, but being aware of the difficulties is the first step in finding answers to them. [source]

WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE PROFITABILITY OF TECHNICAL ANALYSIS?

JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC SURVEYS, Issue 4 2007
Cheol-Ho Park
Abstract The purpose of this paper is to review the evidence on the profitability of technical analysis. The empirical literature is categorized into two groups, ,early' and ,modern' studies, according to the characteristics of testing procedures. Early studies indicate that technical trading strategies are profitable in foreign exchange markets and futures markets, but not in stock markets. Modern studies indicate that technical trading strategies consistently generate economic profits in a variety of speculative markets at least until the early 1990s. Among a total of 95 modern studies, 56 studies find positive results regarding technical trading strategies, 20 studies obtain negative results, and 19 studies indicate mixed results. Despite the positive evidence on the profitability of technical trading strategies, most empirical studies are subject to various problems in their testing procedures, e.g. data snooping, ex post selection of trading rules or search technologies, and difficulties in estimation of risk and transaction costs. Future research must address these deficiencies in testing in order to provide conclusive evidence on the profitability of technical trading strategies. [source]

Queering the Seventeenth Century: Historicism, Queer Theory, and Early Modern Literature

LITERATURE COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 2 2008
Jeremy W. Webster
This article explores the continuing prevalence of historicism and queer theory in seventeenth-century literature. While some scholars have announced the demise of new historicism and queer theory and others have challenged these critical perspectives' methodologies and assumptions, scholarship on the history of sexuality published within the past ten years demonstrates the continuing importance of historicist and queer theories on seventeenth-century literary criticism. Queer historicists, also called alteritists, constructivists, or differentialists, argue that the seventeenth century's constructions of same-sex sexual practices, desires, and emotions are fundamentally different from those of the present day. Challenges to this position maintain that early modern representations of same-sex eroticism share some continuity with those of today. Through an examination of scholarship on female same-sex erotics, passionate male friendship, constructions of ,sodomy' as a legal and social category, the exiling of homoeroticism from the center of government to the margins of society, and depictions of same-sex desire in the theater during the seventeenth century, this piece concludes that queer historicism remains a dominant voice in early modern studies. [source]