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Kinds of Pennsylvania Terms modified by Pennsylvania Selected Abstracts2005 NATIONAL ORAL HEALTH CONFERENCE: MAY 2,4, 2005, PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIAJOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH DENTISTRY, Issue 2005Highlights First page of article [source] LATE DEVONIAN (FAMENNIAN) LUNGFISHES FROM THE CATSKILL FORMATION OF PENNSYLVANIA, USAPALAEONTOLOGY, Issue 6 2006MATT FRIEDMAN Abstract:, Occurrences of fossil lungfishes (Dipnoi: Sarcopterygii) in the Famennian Catskill Formation of Pennsylvania are reviewed. A nearly complete dermal skull roof is assigned to a new genus and species, Apatorhynchus opistheretmus. Other recently discovered lungfish specimens include an incomplete postcranium similar to that of the Frasnian genus Fleurantia, a small parasphenoid of uncertain affinities, and isolated toothplates. Previously described dipnoan remains from the Catskill Formation include a partial skull roof of Soederberghia groenlandica, toothplates assigned to several species of Dipterus, a putative rostral or symphysial region placed in the problematic form taxon Ganorhynchus, and sedimentary structures interpreted as burrows. The toothplates attributed to Dipterus are indeterminate and are placed in open nomenclature, while the specimen identified as Ganorhynchus is not convincingly dipnoan. The status of the burrows remains uncertain pending the discovery of lungfish remains within these or similar structures in Catskill deposits. The distinct ichthyofaunas within the Catskill Formation and their lungfish components are briefly reviewed. Lungfishes are found in the Holoptychius - and Bothriolepis -dominated faunas common in the Catskill succession, as well as in the compositionally distinctive Red Hill assemblage. Many of the Devonian continental faunas that contain tetrapods also include long-snouted, denticle-bearing lungfishes (,rhynchodipterids', fleurantiids, or both). The composition of Late Devonian ichthyofaunas may have predictive qualities that will allow researchers to identify localities likely to produce the remains of early tetrapods. [source] Juramentos AND Mandas: TRADITIONAL CATHOLIC PRACTICES AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE IN MEXICAN COMMUNITIES OF SOUTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIAANNALS OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL PRACTICE, Issue 1 2009Víctor García This article describes the use of traditional Catholic beliefs and practices by Mexican sojourners in southeastern Pennsylvania to deal with and overcome substance abuse. Two practices in particular are the focus: juramentos and mandas. Juramentos are ritual promises to a saint, made by a drinker or drug user, to abstain from drinking or using drugs; whereas mandas are requests or pleas for divine intervention in protecting a loved one from dangers, including from substance abuse, made by the wives and mothers of the substance users. These religious practices were observed and studied while conducting alcohol and drug abuse research in southeastern Pennsylvania and teaching an ethnographic field school in Mexican sending communities to this region of the United States. [source] The Financial Impact of Ambulance Diversions and Patient ElopementsACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 1 2007Thomas Falvo DO Abstract Objectives Admission process delays and other throughput inefficiencies are a leading cause of emergency department (ED) overcrowding, ambulance diversion, and patient elopements. Hospital capacity constraints reduce the number of treatment beds available to provide revenue-generating patient services. The objective of this study was to develop a practical method for quantifying the revenues that are potentially lost as a result of patient elopements and ambulance diversion. Methods Historical data from 62,588 patient visits to the ED of a 450-bed nonprofit community teaching hospital in central Pennsylvania between July 2004 and June 2005 were used to estimate the value of potential patient visits foregone as a result of ambulance diversion and patients leaving the ED without treatment. Results The study hospital may have lost $3,881,506 in net revenue as a result of ambulance diversions and patient elopements from the ED during a 12-month period. Conclusions Significant revenue may be foregone as a result of throughput delays that prevent the ED from utilizing its existing bed capacity for additional patient visits. [source] Immersive Integration of Physical and Virtual EnvironmentsCOMPUTER GRAPHICS FORUM, Issue 3 2004Henry Fuchs We envision future work and play environments in which the user's computing interface is more closely integrated with the physical surroundings than today's conventional computer display screens and keyboards. We are working toward realizable versions of such environments, in which multiple video projectors and digital cameras enable every visible surface to be both measured in 3D and used for display. If the 3D surface positions were transmitted to a distant location, they may also enable distant collaborations to become more like working in adjacent offices connected by large windows. With collaborators at the University of Pennsylvania, Brown University, Advanced Network and Services, and the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, we at Chapel Hill have been working to bring these ideas to reality. In one system, depth maps are calculated from streams of video images and the resulting 3D surface points are displayed to the user in head-tracked stereo. Among the applications we are pursuing for this tele-presence technology, is advanced training for trauma surgeons by immersive replay of recorded procedures. Other applications display onto physical objects, to allow more natural interaction with them "painting" a dollhouse, for example. More generally, we hope to demonstrate that the principal interface of a future computing environment need not be limited to a screen the size of one or two sheets of paper. Just as a useful physical environment is all around us, so too can the increasingly ubiquitous computing environment be all around us -integrated seamlessly with our physical surroundings. [source] Community Supported Agriculture in Central PennsylvaniaCULTURE, AGRICULTURE, FOOD & ENVIRONMENT, Issue 2 2002Professor E. Paul Durrenberger First page of article [source] Late Devonian tetrapod remains from Red Hill, Pennsylvania, USA: how much diversity?ACTA ZOOLOGICA, Issue 2009Edward B. Daeschler Abstract The remains of Late Devonian tetrapods from the Red Hill locality in Pennsylvania help to elucidate the early stages of tetrapod evolution. Red Hill is a particularly informative site that preserves a diverse fauna and flora within a depositional setting suggesting penecontemporaneous deposition of locally derived material. Here, for the first time, we report on the full suite of early tetrapod remains from Red Hill and consider the implications for tetrapod diversity within the Red Hill ecosystem. Previously described material is reviewed and considered in relation to newly reported specimens. New material described includes isolated skull elements (two jugals, a postorbital, a lacrimal and a coronoid) and postcranial elements (a femur and a gastral scale). The characteristics of many of the Red Hill tetrapod specimens conform to the morphological expectations of Late Devonian forms. Several elements, however, illustrate more derived characteristics and strongly suggest the presence of the oldest known whatcheeriid-like tetrapod. This study demonstrates the difficulty in making taxonomic associations with isolated remains, even when found in close proximity to one another. Exploration of the characteristics of each element, however, demonstrates the presence of at least three early tetrapod taxa at the Red Hill site. [source] Factors influencing the effectiveness of an attracticide formulation against the Oriental fruit moth, Grapholita molestaENTOMOLOGIA EXPERIMENTALIS ET APPLICATA, Issue 2 2004Maya L. Evenden Abstract An attracticide formulation, LastCallÔOFM, was tested against the Oriental fruit moth Grapholita molesta (Busck) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) in replicated small plot field trials in apple, Malus domestica (Borkhausen), orchards in South-eastern Pennsylvania, USA. Attracticide treatments were applied using a calibrated hand pump, and treated plots were compared to similar untreated plots. Male moth activity was monitored using virgin female-baited traps, and the potential for reduction in mating activity was assessed using sentinel virgin females. A comparison of application rates showed that 1500 droplets per ha of the attracticide formulation was as effective as 3000 droplets per ha, and both application rates reduced captures in synthetic pheromone-baited traps for prolonged periods. Droplets placed either at high or low positions within the canopy significantly reduced trap capture and mating with sentinel females. In addition, the only sentinel females that mated in the treated plots were located in the untreated portion of the tree canopy. Mate finding behaviour was equally disrupted by formulations with and without insecticide. Therefore, under the test conditions, the mechanism by which the attracticide formulation worked was by disruption of male orientation, and not by the removal of males due to insecticide poisoning. Two field cage experiments tested the impact of population density on the competitiveness of the attracticide formulation compared to virgin females. A significant proportion of males were captured in female-baited traps at the highest female-to-droplet ratio tested. Equal proportions of males were captured in attracticide-baited traps at male moth densities of 10, 20, 40, and 80 males per cage. These results clarify some of the factors influencing the effectiveness and possible mechanisms of an attracticide management tactic against the Oriental fruit moth. [source] Phonology and Geographic Song Discrimination in Song SparrowsETHOLOGY, Issue 1 2003William A. Searcy We investigated whether song sparrows discriminate foreign from local songs using specific phonologic markers, a mechanism of geographic discrimination previously described for some other songbirds. Song sparrows from Linesville, Pennsylvania (PA) respond more strongly to local songs than to songs from Millbrook, New York (NY). We identify 61 note categories in PA and NY songs, of which 13 are unique to PA, 17 are unique to NY, and 31 are shared. The most common note category in PA song, ,buzz BO5', is present in 89% of PA songs and only in 8% of NY songs; this difference in percentage representation is the largest we found for any note category. Substituting this potential PA marker into NY songs, however, did not make those songs more salient to PA sparrows; instead, PA males tested with territorial playback responded significantly less aggressively to NY/PA hybrid songs than to NY songs. A series of control experiments showed that song sparrows do not detect substitution of PA notes into PA songs or of NY notes into NY songs. The results weigh against the hypothesis that geographic discrimination in song sparrows is accomplished simply by recognition of a small number of phonologic markers. [source] CHILD-CENTERED, VERTICALLY STRUCTURED, AND INTERDISCIPLINARYFAMILY COURT REVIEW, Issue 1 2002An Integrative Approach to Children's Policy, Practice, Research This paper will describe the genesis and philosophy of the Center for Children's Policy. Practice and Research at the University of Pennsylvania (CCPPR), a joint project of the Schools of Law, Medicine and Social Work. The mission of CCPPR was to mobilize the resources of all disciplines engaged in childhood issues across the campus to seek innovative solutions for the crises facing America's children. CCPPR seeks to combine clinical practice, research, and policy in a vertical structure that would maintain linkages at all stages of scholarship, practice, and reform. Five essential structural factors were that the project must be: (a) vertically integrated; (b) interdisciplinary; (c) team-based; (d) child-centered and (e) developmentally informed. This paper can serve as a template for developing similar centers or projects, and will describe our methods, the projects we have undertaken, as well as the pitfalls and challenges of this highly demanding integrative approach. [source] Effects of acidification on the breeding ecology of a stream-dependent songbird, the Louisiana waterthrush (Seiurus motacilla)FRESHWATER BIOLOGY, Issue 11 2008ROBERT S. MULVIHILL Summary 1.,We compared breeding ecology of the Louisiana waterthrush (Seiurus motacilla) on acidified and circumneutral streams in the Appalachian Highlands of Southwestern Pennsylvania from 1996 to 2005. 2.,Headwater streams impacted by acid mine drainage and/or acidic precipitation showed reduced pH (range 4.5,5.5) compared to four circumneutral streams (pH c. 7). Acid-sensitive taxa, including most mayflies (Ephemeroptera), were almost completely absent from acidified streams, whereas several acid-tolerant taxa, especially stonefly (Plecoptera) genera Leuctra and Amphinemura, were abundant. 3.,Louisiana waterthrush breeding density (c. 1 territory km,1) was significantly reduced on acidified streams compared to circumneutral streams (>2 territories km,1). Territories on acidified streams were almost twice as long as on circumneutral streams. Territories usually were contiguous on circumneutral streams, but they were often disjunct on acidified streams. Breeding density declined on one acidified stream that we studied over a 10-year period. 4.,Clutch initiation was significantly delayed on acidified streams, on average by 9 days in comparison to circumneutral streams, and first-egg dates were inversely related to breeding density. Birds nesting along acidified streams laid smaller clutches, and nestlings had shorter age-adjusted wing lengths. Stream acidity had no effect on nest success or annual fecundity (fledglings/female). However, the number of young fledged km,1 was nearly twice as high on circumneutral streams as on acidified streams. 5.,Acidified streams were characterized by a younger, less site-faithful breeding population. Individuals were less likely to return multiple years to breed, allowing inexperienced breeders to settle on acidified streams. Pairing success was lower on acidified streams, and we observed four cases of waterthrushes emigrating from territories on acidified streams to nearby circumneutral streams in the following year. 6.,We conclude that acidified headwaters constitute lower quality habitat for breeding Louisiana waterthrush. However, breeding birds can apparently compensate for reduced prey resources to fledge young on acidified streams by increasing territory size, foraging in peripheral non-acidified areas, and by provisioning young with novel prey. [source] Interregional comparisons of sediment microbial respiration in streamsFRESHWATER BIOLOGY, Issue 2 2000B. H. Hill Summary 1The rate of microbial respiration on fine-grained stream sediments was measured at 371 first to fourth-order streams in the Central Appalachian region (Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia), Southern Rocky Mountains (Colorado), and California's Central Valley in 1994 and 1995. 2Study streams were randomly selected from the United States Environmental Protection Agency's (USEPA) River Reach File (RF3) using the sample design developed by USEPA's Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP). 3Respiration rate ranged from 0 to 0.621 g O2 g -1 AFDM h -1 in Central Appalachian streams, 0-0.254 g O2 g -1 AFDM h -1 in Rocky Mountain streams, and 0-0.436 g O2 g -1 AFDM h -1 in Central Valley streams. 4Respiration was significantly lower in Southern Rocky Mountain streams and in cold water streams (< 15 °C) of the Central Appalachians. 5Within a defined index period, respiration was not significantly different between years, and was significantly correlated with stream temperature and chemistry (DOC, total N, total P, K, Cl, and alkalinity). 6The uniformity of respiration estimates among the three study regions suggests that sediment microbial respiration may be collected at any number of scales above the site-level for reliable prediction of respiration patterns at larger spatial scales. [source] Threshold citation analysis of influential articles, journals, institutions and researchers in accountingACCOUNTING & FINANCE, Issue 1 2009Kam C. Chan M40; M41 Abstract We use a threshold citation approach to measure the influence of articles, journals, institutions and researchers in accounting research. The Journal of Accounting Research, the Journal of Accounting and Economics and Accounting Review are the 3 most influential journals in accounting research. The 3 most influential institutions in accounting research are the University of Chicago, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Michigan, while the 3 most frequently cited authors in accounting research are Richard G. Sloan, Robert E. Verrecchia and Paul M. Healy. [source] Ground Water Flow Parameterization of an Appalachian Coal Mine ComplexGROUND WATER, Issue 5 2004William R. Winters We examined a large (240 km2) northern Appalachian bituminous coal basin (Irwin Syncline, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania) comprising 27 mine complexes with nine major (> 2.5 × 103 L/min) discharges. The synclinal basin was divided into seven subbasins based on equilibrium hydraulic relationships established during the past 25 years. Recharge rates, mine pool velocity, and residence times respond to hydraulic changes in the overburden induced by mine subsidence. The estimated maximum depth for subsidence fractures is 60 m (30 times mined thickness) with recharge rates decreasing significantly in subbasins with thicker overburden (> 75 m). Calculated subbasin recharge rates range from 2 to 6 × 10,4 L/min/m2 and are significantly lower than the previously used rate for the basin. Residence time of ground water in the Irwin subbasins calculated using average linear velocity ranged from one to five years and were more consistent with field observations than estimates obtained using discharge and basin volume area. A positive correlation (r2= 0.80) exists between net alkalinity of the mine water-impacted discharges and residence time in the mine pools. Our results for the Irwin coal basin suggest that use of a subbasin approach incorporating overburden depth, mining methodology, and the extent of postmining inundation will lead to improved determination of ground water flow parameters in mined watersheds in northern Appalachia and elsewhere. [source] The Relationship between Hospital Volume and Mortality in Mechanical Ventilation: An Instrumental Variable AnalysisHEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH, Issue 3 2009Jeremy M. Kahn Objective. To examine the relationship between hospital volume and mortality for nonsurgical patients receiving mechanical ventilation. Data Sources. Pennsylvania state discharge records from July 1, 2004, to June 30, 2006, linked to the Pennsylvania Department of Health death records and the 2000 United States Census. Study Design. We categorized all general acute care hospitals in Pennsylvania (n=169) by the annual number of nonsurgical, mechanically ventilated discharges according to previous criteria. To estimate the relationship between annual volume and 30-day mortality, we fit linear probability models using administrative risk adjustment, clinical risk adjustment, and an instrumental variable approach. Principle Findings. Using a clinical measure of risk adjustment, we observed a significant reduction in the probability of 30-day mortality at higher volume hospitals (,300 admissions per year) compared with lower volume hospitals (<300 patients per year; absolute risk reduction: 3.4%, p=.04). No significant volume,outcome relationship was observed using only administrative risk adjustment. Using the distance from the patient's home to the nearest higher volume hospital as an instrument, the volume,outcome relationship was greater than observed using clinical risk adjustment (absolute risk reduction: 7.0%, p=.01). Conclusions. Care in higher volume hospitals is independently associated with a reduction in mortality for patients receiving mechanical ventilation. Adequate risk adjustment is essential in order to obtained unbiased estimates of the volume,outcome relationship. [source] Teaching & Learning Guide for: The Origins of the Civil WarHISTORY COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 4 2007Nicole Etcheson Author's Introduction The author argues that slavery is the root cause of the Civil War even though historians have often posited other explanations. Some other interpretations have been ideological (i.e., about the morality of slavery), others have been economic, political, or cultural. Focus Questions 1If you were to make an argument for the causes of the Civil War, what evidence or types of evidence would you want to examine? 2In what ways can the different types of arguments (ideological, economic, political, and cultural), be combined to explain the causes of the Civil War? Do such arguments exclude or reinforce each other? In what ways? Author Recommends * E. L. Ayres, In the Presence of Mine Enemies: War in the Heart of America, 1859,1863 (New York, NY: Norton, 2003). A study of two counties, one north and one south, during the end of the sectional crisis and the early Civil War. While Potter, Walther, and Wilentz offer sweeping, often political, histories, Ayres offers a microhistory approach to the sectional conflict. Although Ayres writes within the tradition of seeing cultural differences between North and South, he concludes that slavery was the issue that drove the two sections apart. * M. A. Morrison, Slavery and the American West: The Eclipse of Manifest Destiny and the Coming of the Civil War (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1997). Views the development of the sectional crisis through the lens of Manifest Destiny. Territorial expansion drove hostility between the sections. Morrison concentrates on the political developments of the period connected to the acquisition and organization of the territories to show how the issue of slavery in the territories polarized the sections. * D. M. Potter, The Impending Crisis, 1848,1861 (New York, NY: Harper & Row, 1976). The most comprehensive survey of the decade before the war. Potter traces the development of slavery as a political issue that North and South could not resolve. While it is a masterly and nuanced treatment of the political history, it does not incorporate social history and is more detailed than is useful for most undergraduates. E. H. Walther, The Shattering of the Union: America in the 1850s (Wilmington, Scholarly Resources, 2004) has recently supplanted Potter as a survey of the decade. It is an easier read for undergraduates and incorporates the new literature than has emerged since Potter wrote. * S. Wilentz, The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln (New York, NY: Norton, 2005). A sweeping history of the United States from the constitutional era to the outbreak of the Civil War. Wilentz attempts to update Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.'s synthesis The Age of Jackson by returning to a focus on the evolution of democracy while at the same time incorporating the social history that emerged after Schlesinger wrote. Only the last third of this very long book covers the 1850s, but Wilentz argues that democracy had taken differing sectional forms by that period: a free-labor version in the North and a plantation version in the South. Online Materials 1. The Valley of the Shadow: Two Communities in the American Civil War (http://valley.vcdh.virginia.edu/) A prize-winning website that profiles Augusta County, Virginia and Franklin County, Pennsylvania. Material from this website formed the basis of Ayres, In the Presence of Mine Enemies. Although the website primarily concentrates on the Civil War itself, it provides access to newspapers and letters and diaries from the 1850s that show the development of, and reaction to, the sectional crisis in those counties. It also shows students the types of materials (census, tax, and church records as well as newspapers and letters and diaries) with which historians work to build an argument. 2. American Memory from the Library of Congress (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html) Although not specifically devoted to the origins of the Civil War, the American Memory site provides access to the collections of the Library of Congress which contain massive amounts of primary materials for students and scholars. From the website, one can gain access to congressional documents, periodicals from the 1850s, nineteenth-century books, music, legal documents, memoirs by white and black southerners as well as slave narratives. Sample Syllabus Nicole Etcheson's ,Origins of the Civil War,' History Compass, 3/1 (2005), doi:10.1111/j.1478-0542.2005.00166.x can be used as a reading in any Civil War course. [source] Dynamics of stream nitrate sources and flow pathways during stormflows on urban, forest and agricultural watersheds in central Pennsylvania, USAHYDROLOGICAL PROCESSES, Issue 23 2009Anthony R. Buda Abstract Understanding the influence of storm events on nitrate (NO3,) dynamics is important for efficiently managing NO3, pollution. In this study, five sites representing a downstream progression of forested uplands underlain by resistant sandstone to karst lowlands with agricultural, urban and mixed land-use were established in Spring Creek, a 201 km2 mixed land-use watershed in central Pennsylvania, USA. At each site, stream water was monitored during six storm events in 2005 to assess changes in stable isotopes of NO3, (,15N-NO3, and ,18O-NO3,) and water (,18O-H2O) from baseflow to peakflow. Peakflow fractions of event NO3, and event water were then computed using two-component mixing models to elucidate NO3, flow pathway differences among the five sites. For the forested upland site, storm size appeared to affect NO3, sources and flow pathways. During small storms (<35 mm rainfall), greater event NO3, fractions than event water fractions indicated the prevalence of atmospheric NO3, source contributions at peakflow. During larger storms (>35 mm rainfall), event NO3, fractions were less than event water fractions at peakflow suggesting that NO3, was flushed from stored sources via shallow subsurface flow pathways. For the urbanized site, wash-off of atmospheric NO3, was an important NO3, source at peakflow, especially during short-duration storms where event water contributions indicated the prevalence of overland flow. In the karst lowlands, very low fractions of event water and even lower fractions of event NO3, at peakflow suggested the dominance of ground water flow pathways during storms. These ground water flow pathways likely flushed stored NO3, sources into the stream, while deep soils in the karst lowlands also may have promoted NO3, assimilation. The results of this study illustrated how NO3, isotopes and ,18O-H2O could be combined to show key differences in water and NO3, delivery between forested uplands, karst valleys and fully urbanized watersheds. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Nephrogenic fibrosing dermopathy/nephrogenic systemic fibrosis: a case series of nine patients and review of the literatureINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DERMATOLOGY, Issue 5 2007Camille E. Introcaso MD Background, Nephrogenic fibrosing dermopathy/nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NFD/NSF) is a fibrosing cutaneous disorder recently recognized to have systemic manifestations. The disease is characterized clinically by an acute onset of hardening and thickening of the skin of the extremities and trunk, often resulting in flexion contractures, and histologically by an increase in spindle-shaped cells, collagen, and sometimes mucin deposition in the dermis. The only common exposure amongst patients is acute or chronic renal failure. The pathophysiology of the disease remains to be elucidated, and there is currently no consistently effective treatment for this unremitting disease. Methods, We report a case series of nine patients seen at the University of Pennsylvania between 1998 and mid-2004. The clinical, laboratory, and pathologic data of these patients are reviewed. Results, All patients had renal disease, received peritoneal or hemodialysis, and five had received at least one renal transplant. All patients had characteristic fibrotic cutaneous lesions involving the trunk, extremities, or both, and eight of the nine patients had scleral plaques. There were no other common findings amongst the histories, medications, or laboratory results of the patients. Conclusion, Our report confirms the clinical and histologic characteristics of NFD that have been described previously, and raises new issues regarding the possible subtypes. A review of the current literature stresses that further basic science and translational studies are necessary to understand the disease mechanism and to propose effective therapy, and emphasizes the importance of recognizing the systemic effects of NFD. [source] The Participant's Dilemma: Bringing Conflict and Representation Back InINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN AND REGIONAL RESEARCH, Issue 3 2010DEBBIE BECHER Abstract Innovations in democratic participation involving small-scale, long-term focused governing bodies have increased citizen influence in poor American urban neighborhoods. Scholars have described these emerging forms of participation as essentially cooperative in spirit and directly democratic in nature. I argue that the new participatory regimes continue to involve social processes of representation and conflict inherent to more traditional forms of engagement. Participants move dynamically between cooperation and conflict and between participating as individuals and representing constituencies. This article presents a careful study of how a single decision developed and was implemented in such a participatory experiment, the American Street Empowerment Zone in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, between 1994 and 2008. Archival and interview data support the general perspective shared by articles in this symposium , that participation involves dynamic movement between conflict and cooperation. This article suggests that the durability of the participatory regime depends not on the level of conflict but on how participants move between displaying identification with either government or their community constituents. This article uses the concept of intermediation to describe this kind of dynamism and to reflect the flexibility a participatory structure must nurture to endure. Résumé Les innovations en matière de participation démocratique qui impliquent des organes de gouvernement ,uvrant à petite échelle et à long terme ont accru l'influence des habitants dans les quartiers urbains pauvres américains. D'après certains auteurs, ces formes nouvelles de participation sont, dans l'esprit, essentiellement coopératives et, par nature, directement démocratique. Il est exposé ici que les nouveaux régimes participatifs font encore intervenir des processus sociaux de représentation et de conflit propres à des formes d'engagement plus traditionnelles. Les participants oscillent de manière dynamique entre coopération et conflit, et entre participation en tant qu'individus et représentation collective. Cet article présente une étude minutieuse de la manière dont une décision a étéélaborée et mise en ,uvre dans le cadre d'une expérience participative de ce type, ,American Street Empowerment Zone'à Philadelphie (Pennsylvanie), de 1994 à 1998. Des données issues d'archives et d'entretiens corroborent la perspective générale commune aux articles de ce symposium: la participation implique un mouvement dynamique entre conflit et coopération. L'article suggère que la pérennité du régime participatif dépend, non pas du niveau de conflit, mais de la façon dont les participants alternent dans leur manifestation d'une identification soit au gouvernement soit aux membres de leur communauté. Le concept d'intermédiation est utilisé pour décrire cette forme de dynamique et pour traduire la souplesse que doit garder une structure participative pour perdurer. [source] From September 11th, 2001 to 9-11: From Void to Crisis,INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY, Issue 3 2009Jack Holland This paper draws on interviews conducted in the days and weeks after the events of September 11th, 2001, analyzing the transition from "September 11th, 2001" to "9-11." That is, from the discursive void that immediately followed the acts of terrorism in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania to the apparently self-evident crisis that the events came to represent in the following days and weeks. First, the paper redresses persistent oversights of discourse-oriented work by recognizing and investigating both the agency of the US general public and the context that official responses were articulated in. Second, the paper serves to denaturalize the construction of 9-11 as crisis, questioning the first and pre-requisite stage of the emerging discourse of the "War on Terror." Theorizing void, crisis and their relationship enables an understanding of how the War on Terror was possible and opens a critical space for its contestation. [source] Cardiovascular Disease Is Associated with Greater Incident Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate Decline in the Oldest Old: The Cardiovascular Health Study All Stars StudyJOURNAL OF AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY, Issue 3 2010Jason L. Sanders BA OBJECTIVES: To describe cross-sectional and longitudinal associations with dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) and change in DHEAS with age. DESIGN: Longitudinal cohort study. SETTING: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. PARTICIPANTS: Cardiovascular Health Study All Stars study participants assessed in 2005/06 (N=989, mean age 85.2, 63.5% women, 16.5% African American). MEASUREMENTS: Health characteristics were assessed in 2005/06 according to DHEAS level, mean DHEAS and DHEAS change across age categories were tested, and linear and logistic regression was used to identify factors present in 1996/97 associated with continuous and categorical DHEAS change. RESULTS: Mean ± standard deviation DHEAS was 0.555 ± 0.414 ,g/mL in 1996/97 and 0.482 ± 0.449 ,g/mL in 2005/06 for women and 0.845 ± 0.520 ,g/mL in 1996/97 and 0.658 ± 0.516 ,g/mL in 2005/06 for men. In 2005/06, DHEAS was lower in women and subjects with cardiovascular disease (CVD) and chronic pulmonary disease and higher for African Americans and subjects with hypertension and high cholesterol. Mean DHEAS change was greater in men (,0.200 ,g/mL) than in women (,0.078 ,g/mL) (P<.001). Each 1-year increase in age attenuated the effect of male sex by 0.01 ,g/mL (P=.009), abolishing the sex difference in DHEAS change by age 79. Presence of CVD before the study period was associated with greater absolute DHEAS change (,=,0.04 ,g/mL, P=.04) and with the fourth quartile of DHEAS change versus the first to third quartiles (odds ratio=1.46, 95% confidence interval=1.03,2.05). CONCLUSION: DHEAS change continues into very old age, is not homogenous, is affected by sex, and is associated with prevalent CVD. Future studies should investigate factors that might accelerate DHEAS decline. [source] Association Between Fitness and Changes in Body Composition and Muscle StrengthJOURNAL OF AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY, Issue 2 2010George A. Kuchel, [see editorial comments by Drs. Gustavo Duque, pp 37 OBJECTIVES: To examine the association between physical fitness, assessed according to ability and time to complete a 400-m walk, on changes in body composition and muscle strength over a 7-year period. DESIGN: Prospective observational cohort study. SETTING: Memphis, Tennessee, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. PARTICIPANTS: Two thousand nine hundred forty-nine black and white men and women aged 70 to 79 participating in the Health, Aging and Body Composition Study. MEASUREMENTS: Body composition (fat and bone-free lean mass) was assessed using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry in Years 1 to 6 and 8. Knee extension strength was measured using isokinetic dynamometry and grip strength using isometric dynamometry in Years 1, 2, 4, 6, and 8. RESULTS: Less fit people weighed more and had a higher total percentage of fat and a lower total percentage of lean mass than very fit men and women at baseline (P<.001). Additionally, the least fit lost significantly more weight, fat mass, and lean mass over time than the very fit (all P<.01). Very fit people had the highest grip strength and knee extensor strength at baseline and follow-up; decline in muscle strength was similar in every fitness group. CONCLUSION: Low fitness in old age was associated with greater weight loss and loss of lean mass than with high fitness. Despite having lower muscle strength, the rate of decline in the least fit persons was similar to that in the most fit. In clinical practice, a long-distance walk test as a measure of fitness might be useful to identify people at risk for these adverse health outcomes. [source] Agreement Between Nosologist and Cardiovascular Health Study Review of Deaths: Implications of Coding DifferencesJOURNAL OF AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY, Issue 1 2009Diane G. Ives MPH OBJECTIVES: To compare nosologist coding of underlying cause of death according to the death certificate with adjudicated cause of death for subjects aged 65 and older in the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS). DESIGN: Observational. SETTING: Four communities: Forsyth County, North Carolina (Wake Forest University); Sacramento County, California (University of California at Davis); Washington County, Maryland (Johns Hopkins University); and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (University of Pittsburgh). PARTICIPANTS: Men and women aged 65 and older participating in CHS, a longitudinal study of coronary heart disease and stroke, who died through June 2004. MEASUREMENTS: The CHS centrally adjudicated underlying cause of death for 3,194 fatal events from June 1989 to June 2004 using medical records, death certificates, proxy interviews, and autopsies, and results were compared with underlying cause of death assigned by a trained nosologist based on death certificate only. RESULTS: Comparison of 3,194 CHS versus nosologist underlying cause of death revealed moderate agreement except for cancer (kappa=0.91, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.89,0.93). kappas varied according to category (coronary heart disease, kappa=0.61, 95% CI=0.58,0.64; stroke, kappa=0.59, 95% CI=0.54,0.64; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, kappa=0.58, 95% CI=0.51,0.65; dementia, kappa=0.40, 95% CI=0.34,0.45; and pneumonia, kappa=0.35, 95% CI=0.29,0.42). Differences between CHS and nosologist coding of dementia were found especially in older ages in the sex and race categories. CHS attributed 340 (10.6%) deaths due to dementia, whereas nosologist coding attributed only 113 (3.5%) to dementia as the underlying cause. CONCLUSION: Studies that use only death certificates to determine cause of death may result in misclassification and potential bias. Changing trends in cause-specific mortality in older individuals may be a function of classification process rather than incidence and case fatality. [source] Weight, Mortality, Years of Healthy Life, and Active Life Expectancy in Older AdultsJOURNAL OF AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY, Issue 1 2008Paula Diehr PhD OBJECTIVES: To determine whether weight categories predict subsequent mortality and morbidity in older adults. DESIGN: Multistate life tables, using data from the Cardiovascular Health Study, a longitudinal population-based cohort of older adults. SETTING: Data were provided by community-dwelling seniors in four U.S. counties: Forsyth County, North Carolina; Sacramento County, California; Washington County, Maryland; and Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. PARTICIPANTS: Five thousand eight hundred eighty-eight adults aged 65 and older at baseline. MEASUREMENTS: The age- and sex-specific probabilities of transition from one health state to another and from one weight category to another were estimated. From these probabilities, future life expectancy, years of healthy life, active life expectancy, and the number of years spent in each weight and health category after age 65 were estimated. RESULTS: Women who are healthy and of normal weight at age 65 have a life expectancy of 22.1 years. Of that, they spend, on average, 9.6 years as overweight or obese and 5.3 years in fair or poor health. For both men and women, being underweight at age 65 was associated with worse outcomes than being normal weight, whereas being overweight or obese was rarely associated with worse outcomes than being normal weight and was sometimes associated with significantly better outcomes. CONCLUSION: Similar to middle-aged populations, older adults are likely to be or to become overweight or obese, but higher weight is not associated with worse health in this age group. Thus, the number of older adults at a "healthy" weight may be much higher than currently believed. [source] Kidney Function as a Predictor of Loss of Lean Mass in Older Adults: Health, Aging and Body Composition StudyJOURNAL OF AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY, Issue 10 2007Linda F. Fried MD OBJECTIVES: To assess the association between kidney function and change in body composition in older individuals. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SETTING: Two sites, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Memphis, Tennessee. PARTICIPANTS: Three thousand twenty-six well-functioning, participants aged 70 to 79 in the Health, Aging and Body Composition Study. MEASUREMENTS: Body composition (bone-free lean mass and fat mass) was measured using dual x-ray absorptiometry annually for 4 years. Kidney function was measured at baseline according to serum creatinine (SCr). Comorbidity and inflammatory markers were evaluated as covariates in mixed-model, repeated-measures analysis. RESULTS: High SCr was associated with loss of lean mass in men but not women, with a stronger relationship in black men (P=.02 for difference between slopes for white and black men). In white men, after adjustment for age and comorbidity, higher SCr remained associated with loss of lean mass (,0.07±0.03 kg/y greater loss per 0.4 mg/dL (1 standard deviation (SD)), P=.009) but was attenuated after adjustment for inflammatory factors (,0.05±0.03 kg/y greater loss per SD, P=.10). In black men, the relationship between SCr and loss of lean mass (,0.19±0.04 kg/y per SD, P<.001) persisted after adjustment for inflammation and overall weight change. CONCLUSION: Impaired kidney function may contribute to loss of lean mass in older men. Inflammation appeared to mediate the relationship in white but not black men. Future studies should strive to elucidate mechanisms linking kidney disease and muscle loss and identify treatments to minimize loss of lean mass and its functional consequences. [source] Self-Reported Sleep and Nap Habits and Risk of Falls and Fractures in Older Women: The Study of Osteoporotic FracturesJOURNAL OF AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY, Issue 8 2006Katie L. Stone PhD OBJECTIVES: To test the association between self-reported sleep and nap habits and risk of falls and fractures in a large cohort of older women. DESIGN: Study of Osteoporotic Fractures prospective cohort study. SETTING: Clinical centers in Baltimore, Maryland; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Portland, Oregon; and the Monongahela Valley, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. PARTICIPANTS: Eight thousand one hundred one community-dwelling Caucasian women aged 69 and older (mean 77.0). MEASUREMENTS: Sleep and nap habits were assessed using a questionnaire at the fourth clinic visit (1993/94). Fall frequency during the subsequent year was ascertained using tri-annual questionnaire. Incident hip and nonspinal fractures during 6 years of follow-up were confirmed using radiographic reports. RESULTS: Five hundred fifty-three women suffered hip fractures, and 1,938 suffered nonspinal fractures. In multivariate models, women who reported napping daily had significantly higher odds of suffering two or more falls during the subsequent year (odds ratio=1.32, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.03,1.69) and were more likely to suffer a hip fracture (hazard ratio (HR)=1.33, 95% CI=0.99,1.78) than women who did not nap daily. Those sleeping at least 10 hours per 24 hours had a higher risk of nonspinal fracture than (HR=1.26, 95% CI=1.00,1.58) and a similar but nonsignificant increased risk of hip fracture to (HR=1.43, 95% CI=0.95,2.15) those who reported sleeping between 8 and 9 hours. CONCLUSION: Self-reported long sleep and daily napping are associated with greater risk of falls and fractures in older women. Interventions to improve sleep may reduce their risk of falls and fractures. Future research is needed to determine whether specific sleep disorders contribute to these relationships. [source] Simvastatin Causes Changes in Affective Processes in Elderly VolunteersJOURNAL OF AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY, Issue 1 2006Knashawn Morales ScD OBJECTIVES: To test for simvastatin-induced changes in affect and affective processes in elderly volunteers. DESIGN: Randomized, clinical trial. SETTING: The Geriatric Behavioral Psychopharmacology Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania. PARTICIPANTS: Eighty older volunteers, average age 70, with high normal/mildly elevated serum cholesterol. INTERVENTION: Simvastatin up to 20 mg/d or placebo for 15 weeks. MEASUREMENTS: Daily diary records of positive and negative affects and of events and biweekly measures of depressive symptoms. Affect ratings were obtained using the Lawton positive and negative affect scales; independent raters coded the valences of events. RESULTS: Thirty-one of 39 subjects assigned to placebo and 33 of 41 receiving simvastatin completed the study. During biweekly assessments, four subjects on simvastatin and one on placebo experienced depressive symptoms, as manifest by Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale scores greater than 16 (exact P=.36). Diary data demonstrated significant effects on affective processes. For positive affect, there was a significant medication-by-time interaction that reflected decreases in positive affect in subjects receiving simvastatin, greatest in those patients whose final total cholesterol levels were below 148 mg/dL. For negative affect, there were significant medication-by-event, and medication-by-event-by-time interactions, reflecting a time-limited increase in the apparent effect of negative events. CONCLUSION: Simvastatin has statistically significant effects on affect and affective processes in elderly volunteers. The decrease in positive affect may be significant clinically and relevant to the quality of life of many patients. [source] What Predicts Influenza Vaccination Status in Older Americans over Several Years?JOURNAL OF AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY, Issue 8 2005Melissa Tabbarah PhD Objectives: To examine the correlates of repeat influenza vaccination and determine whether there are age-group (50,64, ,65) differences in decision-making behavior. Design: Longitudinal survey study. Setting: Two community health centers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Participants: Two hundred fifty-three patients aged 50 and older in 2001 who visited one of the health centers and completed telephone surveys in 2002 and 2003 after the respective influenza seasons. Measurements: Influenza vaccination status, demographic characteristics, and decision-making behavior were self-reported. Vaccination status was identified for three seasons: 2000,2001, 2001,2002, and 2002,2003. A three-level outcome was defined as unvaccinated all 3 years, vaccinated one to two times over 3 years, and vaccinated all 3 years. Factor analysis identified three decision-making behaviors. Results: Predictors of being vaccinated across 3 years included being older, the belief that social forces influence vaccination behavior, and disagreement with the view that vaccine is detrimental. Conclusion: National educational efforts should be intensified to dispel the myths about alleged adverse events, including contracting influenza from inactivated influenza vaccine. Physicians should continue to share their personal experiences of treating patients with influenza, including the incidence of hospitalization and death. [source] Illness Representations According to Age and Effects on Health Behaviors Following Coronary Artery Bypass Graft SurgeryJOURNAL OF AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY, Issue 3 2001Brooks B. Gump PhD OBJECTIVES: To determine if illness representations differ as a function of age and how these representations, in conjunction with age, predict postoperative health behaviors. DESIGN: Prospective study of patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. SETTING: A large metropolitan hospital providing regional cardiac care for patients in a tri-state area, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. PARTICIPANTS: All consenting patients (N = 309) from a consecutive series of patients scheduled for CABG surgery between January 1992 and January 1994. To be eligible for participation, patients could not be scheduled for any other coincidental surgery (e.g., valve replacement), and could not be in cardiac intensive care or experiencing angina at the time of the referral. Participants were predominantly male (70%) and married (80%), and averaged 62.8 years of age. MEASUREMENTS: Postoperative self-reported health behaviors. RESULTS: Older participants awaiting CABG surgery were significantly more likely to believe old age to be the cause of their coronary heart disease (CHD) and significantly less likely to believe genetics, health-damaging behaviors, health protective behaviors, and emotions to be the cause of their CHD than were younger participants awaiting surgery. Furthermore, the older participants were significantly more likely to believe they had no control over the disease and that the disease would be gone after surgery, and reported fewer postoperative health behavior changes than did younger participants. CONCLUSION: These findings demonstrate significant differences in illness representations as a function of age. Furthermore, differences in postoperative health behaviors were consistent with differing illness representations. [source] Numerical fluctuations in the northern short-tailed shrew: evidence of non-linear feedback signatures on population dynamics and demographyJOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY, Issue 2 2002Mauricio Lima Summary 1,We studied a fluctuating population of the northern short-tailed shrew (Blarina brevicauda) in the Appalachian Plateau Province of Pennsylvania, USA, spanning 21 years of monitoring. We analysed the pattern of annual temporal variation fitting both time-series models and capture,mark,recapture (CMR) statistical models for survival and recruitment rates. 2,We determined that non-linear first-order models explain almost 80% of the variation in annual per capita population growth rates. In particular, a non-linear self-excited threshold autoregressive (SETAR) model describes the time-series data well. Average snowfall showed positive and non-linear effects on population dynamics. 3,The CMR statistical models showed that a non-linear threshold model with strong effects of population density was the best one to describe temporal variation in survival rates. On the other hand, population density or climatic variables did not explain temporal variation in recruitment rates. Survival rates were high during the study period. Weekly changes in population size attributable to new recruits entering in the population fluctuate between 21% and 0%, while the changes in population size related to survival fluctuate between 79% and 100%. 4,Two important results arise from this study. First, non-linear models with first-order feedback appear to capture the essential features of northern short-tailed shrew dynamics and demography. Secondly, climate effects represented by snowfall appear to be small and non-linear on this insectivore. The population dynamics of this shrew in the Appalachian Plateau are determined apparently by a strong non-linear first-order feedback process, which is related to survival rates. 5,This study links population dynamics and demography by detecting the underlying demographic mechanisms driving population dynamics. The feedback structure of this shrew suggests the existence of population dynamics dominated by intraspecific competitive interactions, such as aggression, solitary nesting, non-overlapping home ranges and territoriality. [source] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||