Several Important Ways (several + important_way)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Patterns of motor disability in very preterm children

DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES RESEARCH REVIEW, Issue 4 2002
Melanie Bracewell
Abstract Motor development in very preterm children differs in several important ways from that of children born at full term. Variability is common, although the anatomic and physiologic bases for that variability are often poorly understood. Motor patterns over the first postnatal year may depend on behaviours learned during often long periods of neonatal intensive care. The normal pattern of development may be modified by disturbances of brain function caused both by the interruption of normal brain maturation ex-utero and the superimposition of focal brain injuries following very preterm birth. Abnormal patterns of development over the first year may evolve into clear neuromotor patterns of cerebral palsy or resolve, as "transient dystonias." Cerebral palsy is associated with identified patterns of brain injury secondary to ischaemic or haemorrhagic lesions, perhaps modified by activation of inflammatory cytokines. Cerebral palsy rates have not fallen as might be expected over the past 10 years as survival has improved, perhaps because of increasing survival at low gestations, which is associated with the highest prevalence of cerebral palsy. Children who escape cerebral palsy are also at risk of motor impairments during the school years. The relationship of these impairments to perinatal factors or to neurological progress over the first postnatal year is debated. Neuromotor abnormalities are the most frequent of the "hidden disabilities" among ex-preterm children and are thus frequently associated with poorer cognitive ability and attention deficit disorders. Interventions to prevent cerebral palsy or to reduce these late disabilities in very preterm children are needed. MRDD Research Reviews 2002;8:241,248. © 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


Innovative Governance and Development in the New Ireland: Social Partnership and the Integrated Approach

GOVERNANCE, Issue 1 2004
J. D. House
Since the mid-1980s, the economy of the Republic of Ireland has displayed a remarkable turnaround. Its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has grown at a faster rate than any developed country in the world. The government's deficit has been cut severely and the debt-to-GDP ration sharply reduced. Average incomes have risen significantly, and the unemployment rate reduced dramatically. This article documents these changes. Its main purpose, however, is to provide a plausible explanation for the "Irish miracle." While many factors have been important,support for the Economic Union's regional development programs, a favorable tax structure, locational and language advantages for attracting multinational corporations, strong education and training programs,these factors in themselves do not explain the emergence of the "Celtic tiger." They were in place before the mid-1980s when Ireland was suffering from a fiscal, economic, and political crisis. Instead, the article argues, it was the creative and innovative response of Irish leaders in government, industry, and labor movement and community organizations to the crisis, and the subsequent institutionalization of this response in a new form of governance, that has been the catalyst for the Irish success story. Based on the thorough background research of the Economic and Social Research Council, a farsighted group of leaders developed a strategic plan in 1987 that provided a blueprint for constructive economic and social change. This was then formally instituted for wage restraint on the part of labor in return for income tax and social supposed provisions by government. Irish social Partnership is modeled to some extent on Northern European corporatism. The article reviews corporatism as an early form of innovative governance, using classical corporatism in Sweden and competitive corporatism in the Netherlands to illustrate how this approach has evolved over the years. Dutch economic success in recent years is due in part to its new form of corporatism that has helped it become globally competitive. It is argued, however, that Irish social partnership goes beyond continental corporatism in several important ways. It is more inclusive, covering a large array of social interests; it is more strategic, with a well-articulated integrated approach to social and economic development that is self-corrective and articulated in a new national agreement every three years; and it is more firmly institutionalized in both government and nongovernment agencies in the country. Social partnership and the integrated approach have become part of the culture of the new Ireland. This innovative form of governance underlies the Irish turnaround and augurs well for the future. It can also serve as a model, with appropriate modification tailor-made to each case, for other jurisdictions hoping to emulate Ireland's success. [source]


Assessing the role of architecture in conspicuous consumption in the middle minoan I,II periods

OXFORD JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY, Issue 3 2004
Ilse Schoep
Summary., This paper uses Middle Minoan architecture to explore the degree to which the conceptualization and reconstruction of the First Palaces on Crete have been unduly influenced by the model of the Minoan palace as the centralized political, economic and religious authority. It is generally assumed that this model, first formulated on the basis of the LM II,III palace at Knossos, also serves to explain the First Palaces despite the fact that relatively little attention has hitherto been paid to their external and internal characteristics. Detailed reassessment of the available data strongly suggests that the First Palaces differed from their Late Bronze Age counterparts in several important ways. Particularly striking is the absence of so-called ,palatial' architectural features (e.g. ashlar masonry, Minoan Hall, Lustral Basin, etc.), which hitherto had been thought to form an integral part of the First Palaces. Rather, the earliest evidence for these architectural features seems to be found in elite residences in settlement contexts (e.g. Malia). This observation urges a reassessment not only of the term ,palatial' architecture but also of the nature and location of power in Middle Bronze Age Crete and the role played by architecture as a medium of elite conspicuous consumption. [source]


Successful granulocyte-colony stimulating factor treatment of Crohn's disease is associated with the appearance of circulating interleukin-10-producing T cells and increased lamina propria plasmacytoid dendritic cells

CLINICAL & EXPERIMENTAL IMMUNOLOGY, Issue 3 2009
P. J. Mannon
Summary Granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) has proved to be a successful therapy for some patients with Crohn's disease. Given the known ability of G-CSF to exert anti-T helper 1 effects and to induce interleukin (IL)-10-secreting regulatory T cells, we studied whether clinical benefit from G-CSF therapy in active Crohn's disease was associated with decreased inflammatory cytokine production and/or increased regulatory responses. Crohn's patients were treated with G-CSF (5 µg/kg/day subcutaneously) for 4 weeks and changes in cell phenotype, cytokine production and dendritic cell subsets were measured in the peripheral blood and colonic mucosal biopsies using flow cytometry, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and immunocytochemistry. Crohn's patients who achieved a clinical response or remission based on the decrease in the Crohn's disease activity index differed from non-responding patients in several important ways: at the end of treatment, responding patients had significantly more CD4+ memory T cells producing IL-10 in the peripheral blood; they also had a greatly enhanced CD123+ plasmacytoid dendritic cell infiltration of the lamina propria. Interferon-, production capacity was not changed significantly except in non-responders, where it increased. These data show that clinical benefit from G-CSF treatment in Crohn's disease is accompanied by significant induction of IL-10 secreting T cells as well as increases in plasmacytoid dendritic cells in the lamina propria of the inflamed gut mucosa. [source]