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Kinds of Unable Selected AbstractsThe emptiness of zero: representations of loss, absence, anxiety and desire in the late twentieth centuryCRITICAL QUARTERLY, Issue 1 2004Kathy Smith As the new millenium approached, the anxiety which this moment generated found resonance in various cultural representations, and the appearance of spectral imagery seemed to indicate an anxiety about subjectivity, and about its fragmentation or complete loss. Unable to comtemplate a state beyond this loss, there came into being a crisis in subjectivity itself, and the existence of the destabilized millenium subject. This subject approached the moment by both fixating on the threshold and by disavowing what lay beyond. These strategies, and the underlying anxiety which brought them into existence, were resonated through many of the cultural representations of the time. This paper argues that it is through nachträglichkeit - a 'making sense' in retrospect of earlier disparate experiences - that we can begin to examine, contextualise and account for the phenomenon of 'millenium frenzy' which came about at the end of 1999. It constructs a reading of this moment, and of two particular filmic representations which resonate the concerns of the time, examining in the process how - from a psychoanalytic perspective - culture might be understood through its representations, and how these representations can be understood through culture. [source] Parapsychology on the couch: The psychology of occult belief in Germany, c. 1870,1939JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF THE BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES, Issue 3 2006Heather Wolffram This article considers the attempts of academic psychologists and critical occultists in Germany during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to construct a psychology of occult belief. While they claimed that the purpose of this new subdiscipline was to help evaluate the work of occult researchers, the emergence of a psychology of occult belief in Germany served primarily to pathologize parapsychology and its practitioners. Not to be outdone, however, parapsychologists argued that their adversaries suffered from a morbid inability to accept the reality of the paranormal. Unable to resolve through experimental means the dispute over who should be allowed to mold the public's understanding of the occult, both sides resorted to defaming their opponent. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Labor Reform and Dual Transitions in Brazil and the Southern ConeLATIN AMERICAN POLITICS AND SOCIETY, Issue 1 2002María Lorena Cook ABSTRACT The sequencing of transitions to democracy and to a market economy shaped the outcome of labor law reform and prospects for expanded labor rights in Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. Argentina and Brazil experienced democratic transitions before market economic reforms were consolidated in the 1990s. During the transition, unions obtained prolabor reforms and secured rights that were enshrined in labor law. In posttransition democratic governments, market reforms coincided with efforts to reverse earlier labor protections. Unable to block many harmful reforms, organized labor in Argentina and Brazil did conserve core interests linked to organizational survival and hence to future bargaining leverage. In Chile this sequence was reversed. Market economic policies and labor reform were consolidated under military dictatorship. During democratic transition, employers successfully resisted reforms that would expand labor rights. This produced a limited scope of organizational resources for Chilean unions and reduced prospects for future improvements. [source] Suffering in a productive world: Chronic illness, visibility, and the space beyond agencyAMERICAN ETHNOLOGIST, Issue 2 2010M. CAMERON HAY ABSTRACT Is coping with illness really a matter of agency? Drawing on ethnographic research among people with rheumatological and neurological chronic diseases in the United States, I argue that patients' coping strategies were informed by a cultural expectation of productivity that I call the "John Wayne Model," indexing disease as something to be worked through and controlled. People able to adopt a John Wayne,like approach experienced social approval. Yet some people found this cultural model impossible to utilize and experienced their lack of agency in the face of illness as increasing their suffering, which was made all the worse if their sickness was invisible to others. Unable to follow the culturally legitimated John Wayne model, people fell into what I call the "Cultured Response",the realm beyond the agency embedded in cultural models, in which people do not resist but embrace as ideal the cultural expectations they cannot meet and that oppress their sense of value in the world. [suffering, cultural models, agency, chronic illness, United States, cultural anthropology, medical anthropology] [source] Developing a Policy for Sexual Assault Examinations on Incapacitated Patients and Patients Unable to ConsentTHE JOURNAL OF LAW, MEDICINE & ETHICS, Issue 3 2010Mary E. Carr Sexual assault examinations consist of a medical evaluation and forensic evidence collection. Usually the patient signs a consent form allowing the examination to occur. Occasionally circumstances exist that render a patient unable to give consent for this examination. Such circumstances include young age, mental health disease, cognitive delay, or drug/alcohol ingestion. This article provides suggestions for developing a policy allowing a sexual assault examination to be conducted without patient consent. A sample of such a policy is provided. [source] The Elephant in the Living Room That No One Wants to Talk About: Why U.S. Anthropologists Are Unable to Acknowledge the End of CultureANTHROPOLOGY & EDUCATION QUARTERLY, Issue 1 2009Greg Tanaka Findings from a four-year action research project at a highly diverse, West Coast U.S. university reveal that a large percentage of white students cannot trace their identities to a particular nation in Europe and are, as a result, unable to name the shared meanings of a particular ethnic culture. Each time Latino, Asian American, and African American classmates describe their families' ethnic histories, it is the European American student who feels dissociated. Extracted from a polyphonic novelistic ethnography, this essay focuses on an exchange among three students at a town hall meeting and explores the ramifications for social cohesion when members of "the dominant group" appear to be experiencing declining subjectivity. This reflection also raises two larger disciplinary questions: (1) How can 10,000 U.S. anthropologists continue to deploy the concept of culture at field sites outside the United States when so many in their own population cannot claim an ethnic culture of their own? and (2) Given the recent turn in events in the U.S. political scene, shouldn't anthropologists now begin developing new constructs for social analysis after race and culture?,[culture concept, subjectivity, soul] [source] Die chemische Bindung , Lernhindernisse und mögliche LernhilfenCHEMKON - CHEMIE KONKRET, FORUM FUER UNTERRICHT UND DIDAKTIK, Issue 1 2003Christiane S. Reiners Prof. Dr. Abstract THE CHEMICAL BOND There is an often-quoted parable about a group of blind men who are taken to examine an elephant. Each comes in contact with a different part of the elephant and, therefore, draws a different conclusion about its nature: the man examining the trunk thinks, it is some kind of snake, the one touching its leg thinks it is a tree, and so on. The lesson of this story is, of course, that we can have many different views of the same reality, depending on where we are standing and what data we use for our conclusions. The chemical bond is the chemist's "elephant". Unable to see this construct that they use to explain the aggregation of atoms into molecules, the chemists interpret its existence in terms of their own views of chemistry, To each of these chemists the chemical bond has different descriptors, although they may all be investigating the same molecule. Thus, the chemist concerned with quantum mechanics regards the chemical bond as an interaction of wave functions, the more classical physical chemist sees a balancing of energies and charges among the component atoms, and the organic or inorganic chemist interested in the three-dimensional structure of the molecule interprets the bonds in terms of the geometry of the overlapping orbitals. [1, S. 190] [source] Prevalence of Active Epilepsy and Health-Related Quality of Life among Adults with Self-Reported Epilepsy in California: California Health Interview Survey, 2003EPILEPSIA, Issue 10 2007Rosemarie Kobau Summary:,Purpose: To examine the prevalence of self-reported epilepsy and active epilepsy, associated burden of impaired health-related quality of life, risk factors, and access to care in adults with self-reported epilepsy, and those classified as having active epilepsy with and without recent seizures. Methods: We analyzed data from adults aged ,18 years (n = 41,494) who participated in the 2003 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS). Results: In California, 1.2% of adults reported ever being told they had epilepsy or seizure disorder, and 0.7% were classified as having active epilepsy. About three-fourths of adults with active epilepsy with recent seizures reported fair or poor health status. Adults with active epilepsy with recent seizures reported almost two weeks of poor physical or mental health and activity limitation days compared with two to 4 days per month in those without epilepsy. Among adults with active epilepsy and recent seizures, about one-quarter reported not taking any medicine to control their seizure disorder or epilepsy. About one-third reported physical disability/unable to work compared to a small proportion of the general population. The majority of adults with active epilepsy reported having a regular source of medical care. Conclusion: Our findings highlight the burden of epilepsy among adults in California. CHIS serves as a model demonstrating the value of including questions about epilepsy on public health surveillance systems to ascertain the burden of the disorder and to guide intervention research and public policy to improve HRQOL in people with epilepsy. [source] Volumetric Filtering, Modeling and Visualization for Nano-MedicineCOMPUTER GRAPHICS FORUM, Issue 3 2003Chandrajit Bajaj The 3D structures of individual proteins or small complexes, such as most of the Protein Data Bank entries, are still unable to yield the "full picture" of a functional biological complex. The study of large macromolecular complexes, such as viruses, ion channels, the ribosome and other macromolecular machines of various types, offer more complete structural and functional description of the nano-machinery of life. In addition to x-ray crystallography. NMR spectroscopy, electron cryomicroscopy (cryoEM) imaging of single particles, and in-vivo molecular tomographic imaging has become indispensable at revealing the structures of large macromolecular complexes at subnanometer resolutions. In this talk, I shall describe some of the recent computational advances in filtering, modeling, analysis and visualization, that have propelled structure determination by cryoEM and tomographic imaging, to steadily increasing accuracy. [source] Comparison of Two Evolutionary Algorithms for Optimization of Bridge Deck RepairsCOMPUTER-AIDED CIVIL AND INFRASTRUCTURE ENGINEERING, Issue 8 2006Hatem Elbehairy These decisions, however, represent complex optimization problems that traditional optimization techniques are often unable to solve. This article introduces an integrated model for bridge deck repairs with detailed life cycle costs of network-level and project-level decisions. Two evolutionary-based optimization techniques that are capable of handling large-size problems, namely Genetic Algorithms and Shuffled Frog Leaping, are then applied on the model to optimize maintenance and repair decisions. Results of both techniques are compared on case study problems with different numbers of bridges. Based on the results, the benefits of the bridge deck management system are illustrated along with various strategies to improve optimization performance. [source] Improving Heart Failure Self-Management Support by Actively Engaging Out-of-Home Caregivers: Results of a Feasibility StudyCONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE, Issue 1 2008John D. Piette PhD The benefits of heart failure (HF) care management have been demonstrated, yet health systems are often unable to meet patients' needs for support between outpatient visits. Informal care provided by family or friends is a low-cost, and potentially effective, adjunct to care management services. The authors evaluated the feasibility of augmenting HF care management with weekly, automated assessment and behavior change calls to patients, feedback via the Internet to an out-of-home informal caregiver or CarePartner (CP), and faxes to the patient's health care team. The program included 52 HF patient-CP pairs participating for an average of 12 weeks. Patients completed 586 assessments (92% completion rate) and reported problems that might otherwise have gone unidentified. At follow-up, 75% had made changes in their self-care as a result of the intervention. The CP program may extend the impact of HF telemonitoring beyond what care management programs can realistically deliver. [source] The Assessment of Emergency Physicians by a Regulatory AuthorityACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 12 2006Jocelyn M. Lockyer PhD Abstract Objectives To determine whether it is possible to develop a feasible, valid, and reliable multisource feedback program (360° evaluation) for emergency physicians. Methods Surveys with 16, 20, 30, and 31 items were developed to assess emergency physicians by 25 patients, eight coworkers, eight medical colleagues, and self, respectively, using five-point scales along with an "unable to assess" category. Items addressed key competencies related to communication skills, professionalism, collegiality, and self-management. Results Data from 187 physicians who identified themselves as emergency physicians were available. The mean number of respondents per physician was 21.6 (SD ± 3.87) (93%) for patients, 7.6 (SD ± 0.89) (96%) for coworkers, and 7.7 (SD ± 0.61) (95%) for medical colleagues, suggesting it was a feasible tool. Only the patient survey had four items with "unable to assess" percentages ,15%. The factor analysis indicated there were two factors on the patient questionnaire (communication/professionalism and patient education), two on the coworker survey (communication/collegiality and professionalism), and four on the medical colleague questionnaire (clinical performance, professionalism, self-management, and record management) that accounted for 80.0%, 62.5%, and 71.9% of the variance on the surveys, respectively. The factors were consistent with the intent of the instruments, providing empirical evidence of validity for the instruments. Reliability was established for the instruments (Cronbach's , > 0.94) and for each physician (generalizability coefficients were 0.68 for patients, 0.85 for coworkers, and 0.84 for medical colleagues). Conclusions The psychometric examination of the data suggests that the instruments developed to assess emergency physicians were feasible and provide evidence for validity and reliability. [source] Susceptibility of Common and Rare Plant Species to the Genetic Consequences of Habitat FragmentationCONSERVATION BIOLOGY, Issue 3 2007OLIVIER HONNAY diversidad genética; endogamia; fragmentación de hábitat; sistema reproductivo; tamaño poblacional Abstract:,Small plant populations are more prone to extinction due to the loss of genetic variation through random genetic drift, increased selfing, and mating among related individuals. To date, most researchers dealing with genetic erosion in fragmented plant populations have focused on threatened or rare species. We raise the question whether common plant species are as susceptible to habitat fragmentation as rare species. We conducted a formal meta-analysis of habitat fragmentation studies that reported both population size and population genetic diversity. We estimated the overall weighted mean and variance of the correlation coefficients among four different measures of genetic diversity and plant population size. We then tested whether rarity, mating system, and plant longevity are potential moderators of the relationship between population size and genetic diversity. Mean gene diversity, percent polymorphic loci, and allelic richness across studies were positively and highly significantly correlated with population size, whereas no significant relationship was found between population size and the inbreeding coefficient. Genetic diversity of self-compatible species was less affected by decreasing population size than that of obligate outcrossing and self-compatible but mainly outcrossing species. Longevity did not affect the population genetic response to fragmentation. Our most important finding, however, was that common species were as, or more, susceptible to the population genetic consequences of habitat fragmentation than rare species, even when historically or naturally rare species were excluded from the analysis. These results are dramatic in that many more plant species than previously assumed may be vulnerable to genetic erosion and loss of genetic diversity as a result of ongoing fragmentation processes. This implies that many fragmented habitats have become unable to support plant populations that are large enough to maintain a mutation-drift balance and that occupied habitat fragments have become too isolated to allow sufficient gene flow to enable replenishment of lost alleles. Resumen:,Las poblaciones pequeñas de plantas son más propensas a la extinción debido a la pérdida de variación genética por medio de la deriva génica aleatoria, el incremento de autogamia y la reproducción entre individuos emparentados. A la fecha, la mayoría de los investigadores que trabajan con erosión genética en poblaciones fragmentadas de plantas se han enfocado en las especies amenazadas o raras. Cuestionamos si las especies de plantas comunes son tan susceptibles a la fragmentación del hábitat como las especies raras. Realizamos un meta análisis formal de estudios de fragmentación que reportaron tanto tamaño poblacional como diversidad genética. Estimamos la media general ponderada y la varianza de los coeficientes de correlación entre cuatro medidas de diversidad genética y de tamaño poblacional de las plantas. Posteriormente probamos si la rareza, el sistema reproductivo y la longevidad de la planta son moderadores potenciales de la relación entre el tamaño poblacional y la diversidad genética. La diversidad genética promedio, el porcentaje de loci polimórficos y la riqueza alélica en los estudios tuvieron una correlación positiva y altamente significativa con el tamaño poblacional, mientras que no encontramos relación significativa entre el tamaño poblacional y el coeficiente de endogamia. La diversidad genética de especies auto compatibles fue menos afectada por la reducción en el tamaño poblacional que la de especies exogámicas obligadas y especies auto compatibles, pero principalmente exogámicas. La longevidad no afectó la respuesta genética de la población a la fragmentación. Sin embargo, nuestro hallazgo más importante fue que las especies comunes fueron tan, o más, susceptibles a las consecuencias genéticas de la fragmentación del hábitat que las especies raras, aun cuando las especies histórica o naturalmente raras fueron excluidas del análisis. Estos resultados son dramáticos porque muchas especies más pueden ser vulnerables a la erosión genética y a la pérdida de diversidad genética como consecuencia de los procesos de fragmentación que lo se asumía previamente. Esto implica que muchos hábitats fragmentados han perdido la capacidad para soportar poblaciones de plantas lo suficientemente grandes para mantener un equilibrio mutación-deriva y que los fragmentos de hábitat ocupados están tan aislados que el flujo génico es insuficiente para permitir la reposición de alelos perdidos. [source] Earnings Management to Avoid Losses and Earnings Decreases: Are Analysts Fooled?,CONTEMPORARY ACCOUNTING RESEARCH, Issue 2 2003David C. Burgstahler Abstract This paper explores whether analyst forecasts impound the earnings management to avoid losses and small earnings decreases documented in Burgstahler and Dichev 1997, whether analysts are able to identify which specific firms engage in such earnings management, and the implications for significant forecast error anomalies at zero earnings and zero forecast earnings. We use data from Zacks Investment Research 1999 and find that analysts anticipate earnings management to avoid small losses and small earnings decreases. Further, analysts are much more likely to forecast zero earnings than firms are to realize zero earnings, and analysts are unable to consistently identify the specific firms that engage in earnings management to avoid small losses. This latter inability contributes to significant forecast pessimism associated with zero reported earnings and significant forecast optimism associated with zero earnings forecasts. [source] The Anglo-Saxon Approach to Corporate Governance and its Applicability to Emerging MarketsCORPORATE GOVERNANCE, Issue 4 2006Dennis C. Mueller Almost all firms start out as small, owner-managed companies. Many stay that way throughout their lives. Some create attractive investment opportunities, however, that will allow them to grow rapidly and become leading companies in their country. These firms typically do not have sufficient internal funds flows and must turn to external sources of finance. Among these is the issuance of equity. Once a firm sells shares, however, the cost of the managers engaging in on-the-job consumption falls, and they can be expected to do so at the expense of their shareholders. Knowing this, potential shareholders may be unwilling to purchase a new offering of a young firm's shares, and the firm with attractive investment opportunities is unable to finance them. Strong corporate governance institutions help to protect shareholders from the discretionary use of their firm's resources. This paper reviews the case for having strong corporate governance institutions to facilitate the creation of thick equity markets in the context of developing countries in emerging markets, and examines the case for relying on alternative sources of capital including the state. [source] A comparative study of corporate social responsibility in Bangladesh and PakistanCORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2009Malik Asghar Naeem Abstract Making a contribution to sustainable development through good corporate social responsibility presents businesses with a challenge, particularly in developing countries. This paper measures the sensitivity to corporate social responsibility amongst businesses operating in Bangladesh and Pakistan through a review of written policies of both listed local firms and multinational corporations operating there. We use the Global Compact supplemented by relevant parts of the Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Reporting Guidelines to benchmark companies and countries. Significant differences are found between local listed companies and multinational corporations. However, all companies are seen to be failing to engage with many aspects of corporate social responsibility related to sustainable development. Specific deficiencies relate to anti-corruption, gender equality, child labor, community giving and the formal representation of workers. Few differences are found between the approaches taken by companies in Bangladesh and Pakistan. Given the development needs of the region we point to businesses being unwilling or unable to adopt sufficiently robust corporate social responsibility and point to a role for both government and civil society. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source] Assessing corporate environmental reporting motivations: differences between ,close-to-market' and ,business-to-business' companiesCORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2008Janet Haddock-Fraser Abstract In this paper we examine whether proximity to market affects the extent and form of corporate environmental reporting of companies listed in the FTSE 250. The reason for examining this issue is that it is frequently asserted, but not demonstrated, that closeness to market will correlate positively with proactive communication of environmental activities. Our results show that this assertion is, in particular reporting contexts, true. In particular, we find that companies who are close to market, or are brand-name companies, are highly likely to adopt one of the several forms of environmental reporting considered (particularly reporting on product life-cycle or supply chain and reporting through the BitC benchmark system). We also show that companies proximate to market are more likely to be the target of media attention, but are unable within the bounds of the research to assess whether this is a cause of increased environmental reporting or an effect of it. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source] Developmental aspects of violence and the institutional responseCRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR AND MENTAL HEALTH, Issue 3 2000Stephen BlumenthalArticle first published online: 14 MAR 200 Introduction The developmental and attachment literature on violence is reviewed. Violence is conceptualized as an attempt to achieve justice. The cycle of violence is explored with reference to the early experience of perpetrators and their treatment by the criminal justice system after they have committed acts of violence. Aetiology The origins of violence are considered in the context of the experience of trauma in childhood and the consequent damage to ,internal working models' of relationships. The perpetration of violence in later life is viewed in the context of identifying with the aggressor, the obliteration of thought processes and the repetition of the earlier childhood trauma. The offence is considered as a symptom, a symbolic communication, by individuals who are unable to symbolize distress on a verbal level. The institutional response The ,violence begets violence' hypothesis is then extended to include the response of society and its institutions as part of the full circle of the repetition compulsion: the childhood victim who later becomes a perpetrator, then again becomes the victim of a cruel and persecuting system. Incarceration is viewed as a ,compromise formation' in that it fulfils the wish both for punishment and for care, albeit in a highly disguised form and allowing for a defensive state of mind to continue. The therapeutic relationship These issues are considered in the context of the therapeutic relationship and the enactment of early trauma in this setting which may provide insight into the psychological processes at work between the offender and society. Conclusions Understanding violence indicates that, whilst some individuals need to be physically checked, a response which focuses on retribution fails to address the problem of violence and colludes with the very pathology of those who engage in such action. Copyright © 2000 Whurr Publishers Ltd. [source] FATHERS, SONS, AND THE STATE: Discipline and Punishment in a Wolof HinterlandCULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 1 2009DONNA L. PERRY ABSTRACT This essay builds on fieldwork in rural Senegal to examine three cases in which elder household heads called on gendarmes to physically discipline rebellious youths. These cases, which revolved around harsh acts of corporal punishment, invite inquiry into common assumptions about African families and states. The first assumption is the common dichotomy drawn between African youths, portrayed as modern and menacing, and African elders, portrayed as "traditional" and hence benign. The second assumption is the dichotomy drawn between the African family, conceived as solidary and nurturing, and the African state, conceived as alien and predatory. In examining these cases of discipline and punishment, this essay reveals the ever-shifting power relations that link Wolof household heads, dependent junior males, and state agents, and simultaneously introduces new questions about the morality of farmer,state relations and generational conflict. My analysis reveals the spatial geography of Senegal's youth crisis, which takes different forms in rural and urban locales. The anxiety of rural patriarchs is fed by a fear-mongering media obsessed with youthful anarchy in the cities, and a long-standing political rhetoric about the threat of rural out-migration. Elder men in the countryside, who experience diminishing household authority under neoliberalism, make proactive efforts to keep the urban youth crisis at bay. They seek to augment their domestic power by reestablishing links with a state that has long bolstered patriarchy but whose power is currently in decline. By lending patriarchs their coercive force, gendarmes attempt to accomplish through private, indirect means, what the postcolonial state is unable to do: maintain social order by reining in disruptive youths. The harsh disciplinary measures that gendarmes employ are not alien to Wolof culture, but integral to Wolof conceptions of child rearing. [source] Teaching Treaties as (Un)Usual Narratives: Disrupting the Curricular CommonsenseCURRICULUM INQUIRY, Issue 5 2008JENNIFER A. TUPPER This article examines the importance of treaty education for students living in a province entirely ceded through treaty. Specifically, we ask and attempt to answer the questions "Why teach treaties?" and "What is the effect of teaching treaties?" We build on research that explores teachers' use of a treaty resource kit, commissioned by the Office of the Treaty Commissioner in Saskatchewan. Working with six classrooms representing a mix of rural, urban and First Nations settings, the research attempts to make sense of what students understand, know and feel about treaties, about First Nations peoples and about the relationships between First Nations and non,First Nations peoples in Saskatchewan. It is revealing that initially students are unable to make sense of their province through the lens of treaty given the commonsense story of settlement they learn through mandated curricula. We offer a critique of the curricular approach in Saskatchewan which separates social studies, history and native studies into discrete courses. Drawing on critical race theory, particularly Joyce King's notion of "dysconscious" racism, we deconstruct curriculum and its role in maintaining dominance and privilege. We use the term (un)usual narrative to describe the potential of treaty education to disrupt the commonsense. (Un)usual narratives operate as both productive and interrogative, helping students to see "new" stories, and make "new" sense of their province through the lens of treaty. [source] Total nucleated cell differential for blood and bone marrow using a single tube in a five-color flow cytometer,,CYTOMETRY, Issue 2 2008Sven Björnsson Abstract Background: Flow cytometry allows the use of several antibodies in addition to light scatter, and most flow cytometers will provide at least seven measurements on each cell passing through the laser beam. A skilled microscopist will classify at least 14 cell classes in bone marrow or blood. Our goal was to use the seven parameters available in our flow cytometer to provide a reliable differential count using only one tube. Methods: Peripheral blood samples were analyzed on the Beckman Coulter LH750 cell counter, and the flagging and messages from the cell counter were used to select normal or pathological samples. Samples without flags (N = 50), with >2% erythroblasts (N = 80), or with "Blast" or "Verify diff" flags (N = 54) were investigated. We used a lyse-no-wash method to ensure minimal loss of fragile cells with live gating on DRAQ5-positive cells to acquire only nucleated cells. The FL-1 to FL-4 channels were used for the antibodies CD36-FITC, CD203-PE, CD138-PE, CD45-ECD, CD16-Pcy5, and CD56-Pcy5. FL-5 was used for the DNA-stain DRAQ5. Results: Using live gate acquisition on DRAQ5, we were able to classify total nucleated cells into 10 classes. We were unable to identify megakaryocytes, but platelets could be studied by rerunning the sample after dilution and gating on DRAQ5-negative CD36-posive events. Validation against digitized microscopy and cell counter showed linear correlations within each cell class with correlation coefficients that seem reasonable for cellular classification. The lowest correlation was found for basophil granulocytes. Flow cytometry detected twice as many immature neutrophils compared to microscopy. Conclusions: We have designed a one-tube immunophenotyping panel for classification of total nucleated cells and platelets in blood or bone marrow. The seven parameters available in one single tube in our cytometer seem to be enough for reliable differential count even in difficult pathological samples. The analytical imprecision of the flow cytometer differential was much lower than that obtained with microscopy or cell counter differentials. © 2007 Clinical Cytometry Society. [source] Further studies on knockout mice lacking a functional dynein heavy chain (MDHC7).CYTOSKELETON, Issue 2 2005Abstract Male mice had been previously generated in which the inner dynein arm heavy chain 7 gene (MDHC7) was disrupted. MDHC7,/, animals show asthenozoospermia and are sterile. Very few of their spermatozoa can achieve forward progression, but for those that can, we add here the information (1) that the three-dimensional aspects of their movement are normal; (2) that their maximum velocity is less than that of wild-type controls; and (3) that they are entirely unable to penetrate media of raised viscosity (25,4,000 cP). However, the large majority of the spermatozoa can achieve only a low amplitude vibration. In these sperm we find, using electron microscopy, that the outer dense fibres retain attachments to the inner surface of the mitochondria. Such attachments are present in normal epididymal mouse spermatozoa but are broken down as soon as the sperm become motile on release from the epididymis. The attachments are presumed to be essential during midpiece development and, afterwards, to require a threshold level of force to loosen them and so permit the sliding displacements necessary for normal bending. We presume that the disruption of the inner dynein arm heavy chain gene, MDHC7, means that there is insufficient force to overcome the attachments, for all but a few spermatozoa. Cell Motil. Cytoskeleton 61:74,82, 2005. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Remodeling of the actin cytoskeleton of target hepatocytes and NK cells during induction of apoptosisCYTOSKELETON, Issue 2 2001W. Marty Blom Abstract Natural Killer cells are immune cells that recognize and eliminate altered and non-self cells from the circulation. To study the interaction between NK cells and target cells, we set up an experimental system consisting of rat Interleukin-2 activated Natural Killer cells (A-NK cells) and rat hepatocytes with a masked Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC). The masking of the MHC induces recognition of the hepatocytes by the NK cells as non-self. We showed that in vitro apoptosis is rapidly induced in the hepatocytes [Blom et al., 1999] after co-incubation with A-NK cells. Now we describe the morphological changes that occur during and after interaction of A-NK cells with hepatocytes. Confocal laser scanning microscopy showed that the actin cytoskeleton of the NK cells was remodeled during attack of hepatocytes. Some NK cells were in close contact with the hepatocytes while others had formed actin-containing dendrites of varying length that made contact with the hepatocytes. However, dendrite formation is not obligatory for induction of apoptosis because cells that were unable to form these did induce FAS-dependent apoptosis in hepatocytes. Apparently both direct as well as distant contact resulted in apoptosis. Formation of the dendrites was calcium-dependent as EGTA largely prevented it. Importantly, chelation of the calcium also suppressed killing of the hepatocytes. Within 1 h after addition of the A-NK cells, morphological changes in hepatocytes that are characteristic of apoptosis, such as the formation of apoptotic bodies and fragmented nuclei, became apparent. Specifically, the actin cytoskeleton of the hepatocytes was remodeled resulting in the formation of the apoptotic bodies. Inhibition of caspase activity by z-Val-Ala-DL-Asp-fluoromethylketone (100 ,M) partly protected against the rearrangement of the actin filaments in the hepatocytes. Cell Motil. Cytoskeleton 49:78,92, 2001. © 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] An Alternate Multiple-Choice Scoring Procedure in a Macroeconomics CourseDECISION SCIENCES JOURNAL OF INNOVATIVE EDUCATION, Issue 1 2004David A. Bradbard ABSTRACT In the standard scoring procedure for multiple-choice exams, students must choose exactly one response as correct. Often students may be unable to identify the correct response, but can determine that some of the options are incorrect. This partial knowledge is not captured in the standard scoring format. The Coombs elimination procedure is an alternate scoring procedure designed to capture partial knowledge. This paper presents the results of a semester-long experiment where both scoring procedures were compared on four exams in an undergraduate macroeconomics course. Statistical analysis suggests that the Coombs procedure is a viable alternative to the standard scoring procedure. Implications for classroom instruction and future research are also presented. [source] No Smoking Gun: Findings From a National Survey of Office-Based Cosmetic Surgery Adverse Event ReportingDERMATOLOGIC SURGERY, Issue 11 2003Rajesh Balkrishnan PhD Background. Because of recent press reports of adverse outcomes, office-based cosmetic surgery has come under intense scrutiny and associated legislative regulatory action. Objective. To assess the safety of office-based cosmetic surgery through a national survey of state agencies that collect information on adverse patient outcomes. Methods. Medical boards or other responsible authorities were contacted in 48 states to obtain records on adverse outcomes from cosmetic surgery procedures performed in an office-based setting. Results. Five states were able to provide complete information regarding 13 cases of adverse outcomes that resulted from office-based cosmetic surgery procedures. Thirteen states had incomplete information or were unable to provide information. The remaining states reported no adverse outcomes. Information collected by state agencies varies greatly and is inadequate to define the safety of office-based cosmetic surgery practice. Conclusions. The need to regulate physician office surgery on the basis of hospital privileges and office certification is not supported by current data. Mandatory reporting of adverse outcomes from office-based surgery is warranted to identify modifiable risk factors and to reduce the risk of adverse outcomes. [source] Follicular Unit Transplantation: The Option of Beard Construction in Eunuchoid MenDERMATOLOGIC SURGERY, Issue 9 2002Kayihan, ahinoglu MD background. Psychosocial problems are very common in eunuchoids and may be related to the impact of underlying disorders on the physical appearance which makes them unable to overcome the sense of inferiority of childhood. A beardless patient treated with follicular unit transplantation (FUT) is reported here. objective. Such patients desire to get rid of a boyish appearance and want to achieve a masculine appearance. One of the easiest methods to achieve this goal is FUT. methods. By using an 18-gauge needle, the recipient bed was prepared under local anesthesia after premedication, and 1200 one- or two-hair micrografts were transplanted to the perioral (goatee) and its extensions to the sideburns. results. After completion of the procedure to the planned area, we achieved restoration of a masculine appearance which made the patient seem quite satisfied. conclusion. The process of beard reconstruction is time consuming and tedious, but highly effective. [source] Women in the Urban Informal Sector: Perpetuation of Meagre EarningsDEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 2 2005Arup Mitra The argument of exploitation of women workers in the labour market notwithstanding, this article examines whether women in India are unable to participate fully in the labour market because they are required to combine their household activities with income yielding jobs. They are constrained to work in the neighbourhood of their residence (the location of the residence having been decided upon by male family members), and can access jobs only through informal contacts (which usually means they end up in jobs similar to those of the contact persons), both of which reduce their bargaining power considerably. The tendency for specialized activities to be concentrated in different geographic locations of a city further restricts the possibility of women workers being engaged in diverse jobs and thus aggravates the situation of an excess supply of labour in a particular activity. Constrained choice, limited contacts of women and physical segmentation of the labour market perpetuate forces that entrap women workers in a low-income situation with worse outcomes than those of their male counterparts. Consequently with greater intensity of work they still continue to receive low wages, while residual participation in the labour market restricts the possibilities of skill formation and upward mobility. All of these factors offer a substantive basis for policy recommendations. [source] Rescuer Fatigue: Standard versus Continuous Chest-Compression Cardiopulmonary ResuscitationACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 10 2006Joseph W. Heidenreich MD Abstract Objectives Continuous chest-compression cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CCC-CPR) has been advocated as an alternative to standard CPR (STD-CPR). Studies have shown that CCC-CPR delivers substantially more chest compressions per minute and is easier to remember and perform than STD-CPR. One concern regarding CCC-CPR is that the rescuer may fatigue and be unable to maintain adequate compression rate or depth throughout an average emergency medical services response time. The specific aim of this study was to compare the effects of fatigue on the performance of CCC-CPR and STD-CPR on a manikin model. Methods This was a prospective, randomized crossover study involving 53 medical students performing CCC-CPR and STD-CPR on a manikin model. Students were randomized to their initial CPR group and then performed the other type of CPR after a period of at least two days. Students were evaluated on their performance of 9 minutes of CPR for each method. The primary endpoint was the number of adequate chest compressions (at least 38 mm of compression depth) delivered per minute during each of the 9 minutes. The secondary endpoints were total compressions, compression rate, and the number of breaks taken for rest. The students' performance was evaluated on the basis of Skillreporter Resusci Anne (Laerdal, Wappingers Falls, NY) recordings. Primary and secondary endpoints were analyzed by using the generalized linear mixed model for counting data. Results In the first 2 minutes, participants delivered significantly more adequate compressions per minute with CCC-CPR than STD-CPR, (47 vs. 32, p = 0.004 in the 1st minute and 39 vs. 29, p = 0.04 in the 2nd minute). For minutes 3 through 9, the differences in number of adequate compressions between groups were not significant. Evaluating the 9 minutes of CPR as a whole, there were significantly more adequate compressions in CCC-CPR vs. STD-CPR (p = 0.0003). Although the number of adequate compressions per minute declined over time in both groups, the rate of decline was significantly greater in CCC-CPR compared with STD-CPR (p = 0.0003). The mean number of total compressions delivered in the first minute was significantly greater with CCC-CPR than STD-CPR (105 per minute vs. 58 per minute, p < 0.001) and did not change over 9 minutes in either group. There were no differences in compression rates or number of breaks between groups. Conclusions CCC-CPR resulted in more adequate compressions per minute than STD-CPR for the first 2 minutes of CPR. However, the difference diminished after 3 minutes, presumably as a result of greater rescuer fatigue with CCC-CPR. Overall, CCC-CPR resulted in more total compressions per minute than STD-CPR during the entire 9 minutes of resuscitation. [source] Export Processing Zones: Free Market Islands or Bridges to Structural Transformation?DEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 2 2001Andrew Schrank Do export processing zones draw local manufacturers into world markets , and thereby engender broader market reform , by way of a ,demonstration effect'? The answer is likely (i) to be determined, not in the EPZ, but in the host country's national customs area, and (ii) to vary systematically with the size of the relevant market. While manufacturers from large economies are able to compete in world markets, and are therefore susceptible to the demonstration effect, their counterparts from small economies are unable to do so, and are therefore intractable. Thus, the nature of the EPZ life-cycle, like the legacy of import-substituting industrialisation, is in no small measure a function of market size. [source] Participation of children with cerebral palsy is influenced by where they liveDEVELOPMENTAL MEDICINE & CHILD NEUROLOGY, Issue 5 2004Donna Hammal MSc The study aimed to determine whether degree of participation of children with cerebral palsy (CP) is influenced by where they live, as predicted by the social model of disability. Ninety-two per cent children with CP resident in Northern England and born 1991-1996 were entered into the study. Participation was measured by the Lifestyle Assessment Score and its six component domain scores. Regression analysis was used to investigate variations in participation. There were 443 children (265 male, 178 female; mean age 4 years 8 months [SD1 year 1 month] at time of assessment) in the study. In the regression analysis the following factors remained significant with regard to level of participation: type of CP (167 with hemiplegia, and of those remaining 240 with bilateral spasticity); intellectual impairment (105 with IQ<50,113 with IQ 50 to 70, and 225 with IQ>70); presence of seizures (115 with active epilepsy); walking disability (114 unable to walk, 81 restricted and needing aids, 186 restricted but unaided, 62 unrestricted); communication problems (61 no formal communication, 51 use alternative formal methods, 126 some delay or difficulty, 205 no communication problems). After adjustment for these factors, there were significant variations with regard to level of participation in the Lifestyle Assessment Score by district of residence. The magnitude of these variations in Lifestyle Assessment Score between districts is similar to that accounted for by severe intellectual impairment. Similar models were obtained for four of the six domain scores. For one of these four, restriction of social interaction, the significant variation between districts was minimally influenced by the underlying type of CP, walking ability, or presence of seizures. Higher levels of participation among children with CP are associated with residence in certain districts. This is not attributable to variations in case-mix or functional capacity of the children. Participation of children with disability is partly a product of their environment. [source] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||