			Home About us Contact

Wider Public (wider + public)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	40%
Humanities and Social Sciences	40%

Selected Abstracts

Increasing longevity through caloric restriction or rapamycin feeding in mammals: common mechanisms for common outcomes?

AGING CELL, Issue 5 2009
Lynne S. Cox
Summary Significant extension of lifespan in important mammalian species is bound to attract the attention not only of the aging research community, but also the media and the wider public. Two recent papers published by Harrison et al. (2009) in Nature and by Colman et al. (2009) in Science report increased longevity of mice fed with rapamycin and of rhesus monkeys undergoing caloric restriction, respectively. These papers have generated considerable debate in the aging community. Here we assess what is new about these findings, how they fit with our knowledge of lifespan extension from other studies and what prospects this new work holds out for improvements in human longevity and human health span. [source]

Where we stand and what we stand for: The DSA now and in the future

JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, Issue 6 2009
Lalage Bown
Abstract The paper looks at some visible and invisible challenges to development studies,seen as comprising a policy-related field,in relation to the UK and the DSA and against the background of world economic turmoil. They include: a revaluation of the multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary nature of the subject, to retain its broad base; the need to work within a comparative framework, linking poor and rich countries and the importance of a value base for development research. A strong appeal is made for better efforts to educate a wider public, especially in collaboration with the Development Education Association. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Privacy, professionalism and Facebook: a dilemma for young doctors

MEDICAL EDUCATION, Issue 8 2010
Joanna MacDonald
Medical Education 2010: 44: 805,813 Objectives, This study aimed to examine the nature and extent of use of the social networking service Facebook by young medical graduates, and their utilisation of privacy options. Methods, We carried out a cross-sectional survey of the use of Facebook by recent medical graduates, accessing material potentially available to a wider public. Data were then categorised and analysed. Survey subjects were 338 doctors who had graduated from the University of Otago in 2006 and 2007 and were registered with the Medical Council of New Zealand. Main outcome measures were Facebook membership, utilisation of privacy options, and the nature and extent of the material revealed. Results, A total of 220 (65%) graduates had Facebook accounts; 138 (63%) of these had activated their privacy options, restricting their information to ,Friends'. Of the remaining 82 accounts that were more publicly available, 30 (37%) revealed users' sexual orientation, 13 (16%) revealed their religious views, 35 (43%) indicated their relationship status, 38 (46%) showed photographs of the users drinking alcohol, eight (10%) showed images of the users intoxicated and 37 (45%) showed photographs of the users engaged in healthy behaviours. A total of 54 (66%) members had used their accounts within the last week, indicating active use. Conclusions, Young doctors are active members of Facebook. A quarter of the doctors in our survey sample did not use the privacy options, rendering the information they revealed readily available to a wider public. This information, although it included some healthy behaviours, also revealed personal information that might cause distress to patients or alter the professional boundary between patient and practitioner, as well as information that could bring the profession into disrepute (e.g. belonging to groups like ,Perverts united'). Educators and regulators need to consider how best to advise students and doctors on societal changes in the concepts of what is public and what is private. [source]

As mental health nursing roles expand, is education expanding mental health nurses? an emotionally intelligent view towards preparation for psychological therapies and relatedness

NURSING INQUIRY, Issue 3 2008
John Hurley
As mental health nursing roles expand, is education expanding mental health nurses? an emotionally intelligent view towards preparation for psychological therapies and relatedness Mental health nurses (MHN) in the UK currently occupy a challenging position. This positioning is one that offers a view of expanding roles and responsibilities in both mental health act legislation and the delivery of psychological therapies, while simultaneously generic pre-registration training is being considered. Clearly, the view from this position, although not without challenge and internal discipline dispute, can also offer growing professional prestige, influence and respect from other health disciplines, as well as the wider public. Conversely, if the training, education and strategic enactment for new MHN roles is formulated and delivered from predominantly non-MHN axiomatic and epistemological stances, MHN identity can be seriously and potentially permanently diminished. This paper offers the construct of emotional intelligence as a framework to respond to these future challenges through making individual MHN enablement a primacy. This enablement of MHNs through enhanced emotional intelligence competencies is argued as requiring priority over the standard approach of enhancing strategies alone. [source]

Seeking the "Counter," in Counterpublics

COMMUNICATION THEORY, Issue 4 2000
Robert Asen
As conceptual models of the public sphere have moved toward multiplicity, "counterpublic" has emerged as a critical term to signify that some publics develop not simply as one among a constellation of discursive entities, but as explicitly articulated alternatives to wider publics that exclude the interests of potential participants. This essay attempts to forestall potential reductionism in future counterpublic theory by considering through 3 "ominous examples" how the "counter" in counter-publics may be reduced to persons, places, or topics. Instead, this essay seeks to orient critical attention to the discursive quality of counterpublics. It argues that the ways in which counterpublics set themselves against wider publics may be most productively explored by attending to the recognition and articulation of exclusion through alternative discourse norms and practices. [source]