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Selected AbstractsA Comparison of the Attitudes of Learners, Instructors, and Native French Speakers About the Pronunciation of French: An Exploratory StudyFOREIGN LANGUAGE ANNALS, Issue 3 2007Isabelle Drewelow The stereotype has it that native French Speakers are annoyed by foreign Speakers' errors in pronunciation. The purpose of this pilot study was to assess beliefs about the importance of accurate pronunciation in French held by three afferent groups: (1) 73 second- and third-semester students of French at a large midwestern research university in the United States, (2) 16 nonnative-speaker instructors of French at the same institution, and (3) 24 native Speakers of French living in France. In a fall Semester, each of the three groups received near mirror-image versions of a questionnaire, ranging from 33 items (for the learners) to 29 items (for the instructors) to 26 items (for the native French Speakers) in true/false format. Acknowledging that attitudes toward foreign accents might be language- and nationality-specific, all questions pertained to Americans speaking French. Percentages were calculated, and corresponding questions on all three questionnaires were grouped according to theme, then compared and cross-referenced with participants' backgrounds. Generally, this study revealed a gap between the attitudes of hypothetical native Speakers, promoted in teaching on the one hand, and the attitudes professed by real native Speakers on the other hand. The results of this study discredit the myth that native French Speakers have a low tolerance for an American accent in French. Instructors, and nonnative Speaker instructors specifically, need to project more realistic goals and refrain from misinforming their students that a perfect native-like pronunciation is vital to successful communication with native Speakers. [source] Influence of Educational Background on Stated Retreatment Choices for Suboptimal Fixed Prosthodontic ConditionsJOURNAL OF PROSTHODONTICS, Issue 2 2008Riyadh Akeel BDS Abstract Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare the stated retreatment choices for defined, suboptimal fixed prosthodontic scenarios among groups of dental professionals with differing levels of education. Materials and Methods: The study population (n = 75) comprised interns (n = 27), various categories of graduate students (n = 32), and specialist staff (n = 16) from the same institution. Participants were required to record their choices of retreatment or no retreatment for 22 suboptimal fixed prosthodontic scenarios. Results: Participants' choices varied within and between groups, with regard to specific scenarios. Intergroup differences that were statistically significant were for faulty occlusion (p= 0.013), open margin (p= 0.019), defective root filling (p= 0.001), periapical radiolucency (p= 0.011), and improper pontic design (p= 0.005), when no signs and symptoms, no caries, or no inflammation were present. The results confirm the widely-acknowledged variability in decision making that exists among dental professionals in general. Conclusion: The tendency for a significantly more interventive approach by those on a training pathway focused on imparting primarily clinical/technical skills than those enrolled in more conventional, academically-based programs, suggests that an educational dimension cannot be overlooked in the characterization of dentists' stated retreatment decision choices. [source] Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency as an end stage of pancreatitis in four dogsJOURNAL OF SMALL ANIMAL PRACTICE, Issue 7 2003P. J. Watson Chronic pancreatitis is a common cause of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI) in humans and cats but is rarely recognised in dogs in which pancreatic acinar atrophy (PAA) is reportedly more common. This paper describes four dogs which developed EPI secondary to pancreatitis. Two of the dogs also had diabetes mellitus which developed before EPI. One diabetic dog had concurrent hyperadrenocorticism and was euthanased five months after presentation; the other diabetic dog died 48 months after diagnosis. The remaining dogs were alive 78 and 57 months after diagnosis. The number of affected dogs was comparable to the number of cases of presumed PAA seen over the same time period in the same institution. Chronic pancreatitis may be a more common cause of EPI in dogs than previously assumed and may be under-recognised because of difficulties in diagnosis. The relative importance of chronic pancreatitis as a cause of canine diabetes mellitus remains to be ascertained. [source] The Benefits of Diversity in Education for Democratic CitizenshipJOURNAL OF SOCIAL ISSUES, Issue 1 2004Patricia Gurin The social science statement in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) stressed that desegregation would benefit both African American and White children. Eventually, it was recognized that integration, rather than mere desegregation, was important for benefits to be realized. A parallel argument is made in the legal cases concerning affirmative action in higher education: educational benefits of diversity depend on curricular and co-curricular experience with diverse peers, not merely on their co-existence in the same institution (Gurin, P., 1999, Gurin, Dey, Hurtado, & Gurin, 2002). Positive benefits of diversity were demonstrated in a study comparing students in a curricular diversity program with students in a matched control group (n = 174), and in a longitudinal survey of University of Michigan students (n = 1670). [source] Lack of association between progressive supranuclear palsy and arterial hypertension: A clinicopathological studyMOVEMENT DISORDERS, Issue 6 2003Carlo Colosimo MD Abstract It has been reported that up to 80% of patients clinically diagnosed as having progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) may have arterial hypertension (HT). Because previous studies were performed on patients with presumed diagnosis of PSP, we tried to replicate these studies in a series of pathologically confirmed patients. Seventy-three patients with a neuropathological diagnosis of PSP autopsied at the Queen Square Brain Bank for Neurological Disorders in London were collected between 1989 and 1999. For the purpose of this study, patients were considered hypertensive if a blood pressure above 140/90 mm Hg was found in the clinical records. The prevalence of HT in PSP patients at the first and at the last visit during their neurological disease was compared with that found in a series of 21 normal controls who donated their brain to the same institution. Overall, 29 of 73 (39.7%) of the patients were recorded as having HT at the first visit during the disease course; this ratio increased to 42 of 73 (57.5%) at the last visit before death. When these figures were compared to the 21 normal controls (11 of 21 with HT, 52.4%), we were unable to find an increased prevalence of HT in PSP (odds ratio, 0.60; 95% confidence interval, 0.20,1.76). Therefore, HT does not represent an important clinical feature of this neurodegenerative disorder, although cerebrovascular disease can masquerade clinically as PSP. © 2003 Movement Disorder Society [source] Significance of Abnormal Q Waves in the Electrocardiograms of Adults Less than 40 Years OldANNALS OF NONINVASIVE ELECTROCARDIOLOGY, Issue 3 2006Rex N. MacAlpin M.D. Background: Abnormal Q waves (AQW) in the electrocardiogram are commonly ascribed to underlying myocardial infarction (MI). As an imperfectly specific sign of MI, the usefulness of AQW in identifying MI depends on its incidence in the population studied. Methods: Eighty-two subjects under 40 years of age with AQW were compared with 82 subjects from the same institution aged ,40 years with similar AQW to determine the presence or absence of cardiac disease or MI. Results: Cardiac disease was present in 90.2% and 92.7% of the younger and older subjects, respectively, whereas MI was present in only 15.9% of younger subjects and in 68.3% of older subjects. Etiologies of cardiac disease differed between younger and older subjects. Some types of AQW were more useful than others in ruling MI in or out. Conclusions: AQW were a strong indicator of organic heart disease in both adult age groups, but their utility to indicate MI was age-dependent. In the population studied, MI was present in only a small minority of subjects under 40 years of age with AQW, but was usually present in older subjects with similar AQW. [source] Laparoscopic radical nephrectomy for T1 renal cancer: the gold standard?BJU INTERNATIONAL, Issue 1 2004A comparison of laparoscopic vs open nephrectomy OBJECTIVE To evaluate the complication rate and clinical follow-up of patients treated for T1 renal cancer by open or laparoscopic nephrectomy at the same institution, as this approach appears to be attractive for treating small renal cancers. PATIENTS AND METHODS Between 1995 and 2002, 39 patients underwent retroperitoneal laparoscopic and 26 transperitoneal open radical nephrectomy for T1 renal cancer (TNM 1997). Variables before during and after surgery, e.g. cancer recurrence, were compared between the groups. RESULTS There were no differences between the laparoscopic and open groups in age, sex ratio, weight, height, fitness score, operative duration (134 vs 133 min), minor or major complications, tumour diameter, Fuhrman grade or length of follow-up. Patients who underwent laparoscopic surgery had less blood loss (133 vs 357 mL, P < 0.001), less need for transfusion (none vs 150 mL, P = 0.04), a lower consumption of analgesia drugs, and shorter hospitalization (5.5 vs 8.8 days, P < 0.001). With a mean follow-up of 20.4 months there was no recurrence or tumour progression. CONCLUSION Laparoscopic radical nephrectomy for patients with T1 renal cancer is a safe, reliable procedure that decreases hospitalization time and bleeding, and ensures the same cancer control as open nephrectomy. [source] Breast cancer subtypes and response to systemic treatment after whole-brain radiotherapy in patients with brain metastasesCANCER, Issue 18 2010Anna Niwi, ska MD Abstract BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to assess the role of systemic treatment after whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT) in immunohistochemically defined biological subsets of breast cancer patients with brain metastases. METHODS: The group of 420 consecutive breast cancer patients with brain metastases treated at the same institution between the years of 2003 to 2009 was analyzed. Patients were divided into 4 immunohistochemically biological subsets, based on the levels of estrogen, progesterone, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) receptors, and labeled as luminal A, luminal B, HER2, and triple-negative. Survival from brain metastases with and without systemic treatment after WBRT was calculated in 4 subsets. RESULTS: In the entire group, the median survival from brain metastases in patients without and with systemic treatment after WBRT was 3 and 10 months, respectively (P < .0001). In the triple-negative subset, the median survival from brain metastases with and without systemic treatment was 4 and 3 months (P = .16), and in the luminal A subset, it was 12 and 3 months, respectively (P = .003). In the luminal B subset, the median survival without further treatment, after chemotherapy and/or hormonal therapy, and after chemotherapy and/or hormonal therapy with targeted therapy was 2 months, 9 months, and 15 months, respectively (P < .0001). In the HER2 subset, the median survival was 4 months, 6 months, and 13 months, respectively (P < .0001). No significant response to systemic treatment was noted in the triple-negative breast cancer population. CONCLUSIONS: Systemic therapy, ordered after WBRT, appears to improve survival in patients with the luminal A, luminal B, and HER2 breast cancer subtypes. Targeted therapy was found to have an additional positive impact on survival. In patients with triple-negative breast cancer, the role of systemic treatment after WBRT appears to be less clear, and therefore this issue requires further investigation. Cancer 2010. © 2010 American Cancer Society. [source] An interinstitutional and interspecialty comparison of treatment outcome data for patients with prostate carcinoma based on predefined prognostic categories and minimum follow-up,CANCER, Issue 10 2002Frank A. Vicini M.D. Abstract BACKGROUND The optimal management of patients with clinically localized prostate carcinoma remains undefined due in part to the absence of well-designed, prospective, randomized trials. The current study was conducted to compare and contrast outcomes with different forms of therapy for patients with prostate carcinoma who were treated at several institutions using predefined prognostic categories. METHODS A retrospective study of 6877 men with prostate carcinoma who were treated between 1989 and 1998 at 7 different institutions with 6 different types of therapy was conducted. Five-year actuarial rates of prostate specific antigen (PSA) failure were calculated based on predefined prognostic categories, which included combinations of pretreatment PSA level, tumor stage, and Gleason score. In addition, outcome was calculated using consistent biochemical failure definitions and a minimum, median length of follow-up. RESULTS Substantial differences in outcome were observed for the same type of treatment and at the same institution, depending on the number of prognostic variables used to define treatment groups. However, estimates of 5-year PSA outcomes after all forms of therapy for low-risk and intermediate-risk patient groups were remarkably similar (regardless of the type of treatment) when all three pretreatment variables were used to define prognostic categories. For patients in high-risk groups, the 5-year PSA outcomes were suboptimal, regardless of the treatment technique used. CONCLUSIONS The current data suggest that interinstitutional and interspecialty comparisons of treatment outcome for patients with prostate carcinoma are possible but that results must be based on all major prognostic variables to be meaningful. Analyzed in this fashion, 5-year PSA results were similar for patients in low-risk and intermediate-risk groups, regardless of the form of therapy. Findings from prospective, randomized trials using survival (cause specific and overall) as the end point for judging treatment efficacy and longer follow-up will be needed to validate these findings and to identify the most appropriate management option for patients with all stages of disease. Cancer 2002;95:2126,35. © 2002 American Cancer Society. DOI 10.1002/cncr.10919 [source] Anthropometry and Breast Cancer Risk in Nigerian WomenTHE BREAST JOURNAL, Issue 5 2006FWACS, Michael N. Okobia MBBS Abstract: The recent upsurge in global obesity and the recognition of the role of metabolic syndrome and other correlates of obesity in the etiology of breast cancer and other chronic diseases has created the impetus for renewed interest in the role of anthropometric measures in breast cancer risk. This case-control study was designed to evaluate the role of anthropometric variables in breast cancer susceptibility in an indigenous sub-Saharan African population drawn from midwestern and southeastern Nigeria, a population grossly underreported in the global epidemiologic literature. Study participants were 250 women with breast cancer who were receiving treatment in the surgical outpatient clinics and surgical wards of four university teaching hospitals located in midwestern and southeastern Nigeria, while the controls were 250 age-matched women without breast cancer or other malignant diseases being treated for other surgical diseases in the same institutions between September 2002 and April 2004. Waist:hip ratio (WHR) was associated with a significant 2.5-fold increased risk of premenopausal breast cancer (odds ratio [OR] = 2.56, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.48,4.41] and a 2-fold increased risk of postmenopausal breast cancer (OR = 2.00, 95% CI 1.04,2.53). Increasing height conferred a modestly nonsignificant increased risk of premenopausal breast cancer (OR = 1.59, 95% CI 0.98,2.58). The study showed that WHR is a significant predictor of breast cancer risk in Nigerian women and measures to sustain increased physical activity and ensure healthy dietary practices are recommended to reduce the burden of obesity in the population. [source] Cultural Politics, Communal Resistance and Identity in Andean Irrigation DevelopmentBULLETIN OF LATIN AMERICAN RESEARCH, Issue 3 2005Rutgerd Boelens This article uses two case studies to illustrate how Andean irrigation development and management emerges from a hybrid mix of local community rules and the changing political forms and ideological forces of hegemonic states. Some indigenous water-control institutions are with us today because they were consonant with the extractive purposes of local elites and Inca, Spanish and post-independence Republican states. These states often appropriated and standardised local water-management rules, rights and rituals in order to gain control over the surplus produced by these irrigation systems. However, as we show in the case of two communities in Ecuador and Peru, many of these same institutions are reappropriated and redirected by local communities to counteract both classic ,exclusion-oriented' and modern ,inclusion-oriented' water and identity politics. In this way, they resist subordination, discrimination and the control of local water management by rural elites or state actors. [source] Endophthalmitis in the western Sydney region: a case-control studyCLINICAL & EXPERIMENTAL OPHTHALMOLOGY, Issue 6 2001Somsak Lertsumitkul FRACO ABSTRACT Background: A retrospective case-control study was conducted to investigate risk factors for endophthalmitis following routine intraocular surgery. Methods: A review was performed of consecutive cases of endophthalmitis from three teaching hospitals in the western Sydney region and matched controls from the same institutions between 1996 and 1998. Results: There were 31 cases and 66 controls. Eighty procedures were phacoemulsification, 15 conventional extracapsular cataract extraction, and two were penetrating keratoplasties. Of the 80 patients who had phacoemulsification surgery, 50 had a clear corneal incision, and 26 had a scleral incision (four were unknown). Logistic regression showed an increased risk of endophthalmitis with surgical complications (P = 0.002) and clear cornea temporal incisions (P = 0.007). Risk of endophthalmitis was reduced with use of subconjunctival injections (P = 0.008). The yield for the Gram stain was 47% and for culture was 67%. Anterior chamber tap in addition to vitreous biopsy alone did not increase the yield for microorganism (P = 0.78). Mean visual acuity on presentation was hand movement with 13 patients (50%) showing visual improvement following intravitreal injections of antibiotics (P = 0.003). Visual prognosis did not correlate with presenting visual acuity but appeared to be better in those who grew Staphylococcus epidermidis or were culture negative. Conclusions: Although this study is unable to draw definite conclusions regarding risk of endophthalmitis in clear corneal temporal cataract surgery, sufficient data suggest the importance of incision type and location. Surgical complication is an important risk factor for endophthalmitis. Use of subconjunctival antibiotic injections at the conclusion of the procedure is recommended. [source] | |||||||||||||