bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Neuraxial Anesthesia
Authors: Aleshi Pedram , Beihaghi Britton Atisa
Published: January 2021

Neuraxial anesthesia refers to all forms of central blockade involving the spinal, epidural, and caudal spaces. This is achieved by the administration of local anesthetic solution into the cerebrospinal fluid or into the epidural space, where the spinal nerve roots exist. Neuraxial blockade has a wide range of applications, including surgical anesthesia, postoperative analgesia, chronic pain management, and anesthesia and analgesia for labor and delivery. It is considered to be one of the most effective methods of producing anesthesia and analgesia as it provides completely reversible loss of sensation in the desired area. By minimizing the amount of systemic medications that are needed for pain relief or by avoiding general anesthesia altogether, neuraxial blockade provides many advantages, including decreased respiratory depression and somnolence, increased functional ability, earlier ambulation, and earlier return of bowel function after surgery. However, the performance of neuraxial blockade is not without risk and therefore requires a well-trained anesthesia provider for safe and effective administration, monitoring, and management. A detailed understanding of neuraxial anesthesia allows for safer practice for the practitioner and more informed decision making for the patient.
Head and Neck Blocks for Headache and Facial Pain
Authors: Khelemsky Yury , Zayed Adham
Published: January 2021

Since medications and interventions may not yield adequate efficacy for many patients with headache and facial pain, the management of these complex conditions often requires a multidisciplinary and multimodal effort. As part of a multifaceted approach, different procedures may have utility in alleviating pain for a variety of pathologies. This article reviews practical considerations for performing occipital nerve blocks, trigeminal nerve blocks, cervical medial branch blocks, cervical epidural steroid injections, sphenopalatine ganglion blocks, and trigger-point injections. Although there is growing evidence for the utility of these varied procedures, further research is warranted to clearly define which patient groups may derive the greatest benefit from these interventions, as well as optimal approaches to enhance their effectiveness. 
Most recent advances covered (3-5):

1. Greater occipital blocks performed with lesser occipital blocks are a useful therapy to complement conservative management to reduce length, frequency, and duration of migraine headache.
2. Cervical medial branch blocks may be helpful for not only for neck pain, but for headache, however, more research is needed in this area.
3. Although dry needling is effective for myofascial pain, injection of local anesthesia may provide longer lasting relief.
Upper Extremity Compartment Syndrome
Authors: Kirsch Jacob M , Lee Simon , Lawton Jeffrey N
Published: January 2021

Acute compartment syndrome (ACS) of the upper extremity is a surgical emergency resulting from decreased perfusion pressures and tissue hypoxia. Variable clinical presentation and physical examination findings produce unique challenges for physicians. Concomitant injuries can often further complicate the clinical picture. Prompt evaluation and diagnosis are essential to maximize functional outcomes and minimize potentially devastating sequelae. Emergent decompression of the involved fascial compartments is required to reestablish the vascular pressure gradient necessary for adequate tissue perfusion and oxygenation. An understanding of the epidemiology, pathophysiology, clinical diagnosis, pertinent anatomy, and surgical management of ACS is essential for the upper extremity surgeon.   

This review contains 15 figures, 3 tables and 74 references
 Key words: acute compartment syndrome, arm, compartments, fasciotomy, forearm, fracture, hand, surgical decompression, trauma, upper extremity
Reconstructive Approaches to Nasal Defects
Authors: Garg Ravi K , Bentz Michael L.
Published: January 2021

Nasal reconstruction is commonly performed for treatment of defects arising from excision of nonmelanoma skin cancers, although other tumors, trauma, or infection may also result in significant nasal deformities necessitating corrective surgery. Patients being evaluated for nasal reconstruction should have a functional assessment of airflow through both the internal and external nasal valves to determine the need for reconstructive maneuvers that will maintain or improve the nasal airway. Aesthetic considerations relate to which nasal subunits are missing and how local, regional, and sometimes free tissue transfer can be used to optimize the final appearance of the nose. Reconstruction must incorporate a plan for reestablishing nasal lining, support, and cover depending on which elements are missing. Postoperative considerations include the need for nasal splints and interventions to optimize nasal scarring and contour such as scar massage, steroid injection, and laser treatments. Patients who are not good candidates for autologous nasal reconstruction may be considered for prosthetic reconstruction.
This review contains 13 figures and 67 references
Key words: Nasal reconstruction, Nasal airway, Mohs surgery, Skin cancer, Nasal aesthetic subunits, Facial flaps, Skin graft, Forehead flap, Nasal cover, Nasal lining, Nasal support, Prosthetic rehabilitation
Intellectual Disability
Authors: Tate Jodi , Vinquist Kelly
Published: January 2021

Individuals with an intellectual disability are one of the most underserved populations in the United States. They have higher rates of medical and psychiatric comorbidity when compared to the general population and face considerable healthcare disparity. Challenging behavior such as physical or verbal aggression is the most common reason why this population interfaces with the mental healthcare system. Understanding and correctly diagnosing the underlying etiology of challenging behaviors requires comprehensive evaluations along with awareness of the key variables that contribute to the occurrence of these behaviors. The differential diagnosis of challenging behavior is wide and includes mental illness, medical illness, pain, side effects from medications, behavioral phenotype of underlying syndrome, behavioral/functional, deficit of skills, and/or developmentally appropriate behavior.
 This review contains 1 figure, 6 tables and 83 references
Key words: behavioral phenotype, challenging behaviors, etiology, intellectual disability, mental retardation, mental illness, psychiatric disorders
Clinical Management of Psychotic Disorders
Authors: Epping Eric
Published: January 2021

Psychotic disorders constitute a spectrum of mental illnesses that include symptoms of hallucinations, delusions, and/or disorganized thinking and behavior. Although some psychoses are short-term and reversible conditions, schizophrenia is the prototypical illness, which often develops in young adulthood and is typically chronic in its course. A complete medical and psychiatric evaluation is necessary to evaluate patients presenting with psychotic symptoms and to differentiate primary from secondary causes. Treatment of psychosis includes treatment of identifiable causal conditions, acute management of potentially harmful behaviors, prescribing antipsychotic medication, and psychotherapeutic and psychosocial interventions. A variety of antipsychotic medications are available for treatment, which must be individualized to maximize symptom reduction and to minimize short-term and long-term side effects. Long-acting injectable medications are available to improve medication adherence. In some cases, medications to counteract side effects may need to be prescribed. In more severe cases, electroconvulsive therapy may be indicated. Psychotherapy such as cognitive-behavioral therapy can reduce the severity of hallucinations and delusions. Integrated care that also includes family psychoeducation, skills training, and/or assertive community treatment is an essential part of a comprehensive multidisciplinary treatment program for the management of patients with psychotic disorders.  
This review contains 5 Figures, 10 tables, and 33 references.
Key words: antipsychotic, dopamine, psychosis, psychosocial treatment, schizophrenia serotonin
Neurobiology of Anxiety Disorders
Authors: Palkar Pooja , Hollander Eric
Published: January 2021

In recent years, advances in the fields of neuroimaging and experimental psychology increased our understanding of the basic mechanisms of classical conditioning and learning, contributing to our knowledge of the neurobiology of anxiety disorders. Research has shown that the amygdala is the cornerstone of fear circuitry and that abnormalities in amygdala pathways can affect the acquisition and expression of fear conditioning. Activation of the amygdala in response to disorder-relevant stimuli has been observed in anxiety disorders. The roles of the hippocampus, nucleus accumbens, periaqueductal gray, and insular and medial prefrontal cortices in response to fear have been identified as well. Neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine, γ-aminobutyric acid, glutamate, and some neurosteroids play an important part in the neurobiology of anxiety disorders. Neuropeptides such as oxytocin, neuropeptide Y, galanin, and cholecystokinin have been shown to modulate stress response. Drugs such as N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) antagonists and blockers of voltage-gated calcium channels in the amygdala are anxiolytic. Fear extinction, which entails new learning of fear inhibition, is the mechanism of effective antianxiety treatments such as d-cycloserine, a partial NMDA agonist. Extinction is thought to occur by the medial prefrontal cortex, which inhibits the lateral amygdala under hippocampal modulation. Harnessing extinction to delink neutral stimuli from aversive responses is an important goal of the psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy of anxiety disorders. Discovery of the role of microRNAs in the etiology of anxiety disorders and their possible utility as targets to treat these disorders is fascinating. In this review, we discuss the neurobiology of anxiety disorders, which will help us better manage them clinically.
This review contains 5 figures, 6 tables, and 39 references.
Key words: Amygdala, anxiety disorders, neurobiology, fear conditioning, neurocircuitry, neurotransmitters, neuropeptides, neurosteroids, endogenous opioids.
Kleptomania, Pyromania, and Disruptive Disorders
Authors: Leppink Eric W , Grant Jon E
Published: January 2021

Chronic disruptive and impulsive behaviors, such as kleptomania, pyromania, and intermittent explosive disorder, are significant concerns for clinicians treating psychiatric disorders due to their persistence and potential legal ramifications. To date, only a few studies have assessed treatment options for pyromania, oppositional defiant disorder, intermittent explosive disorder, kleptomania, disruptive mood dysregulation disorder, and conduct disorder. This review discusses the clinical presentation of these disorders and the available literature on their treatment, focusing primarily on randomized controlled studies. Due to the paucity of available clinical studies for these disorders, however, case studies and open trials are mentioned for reference. Summaries of supported pharmaceutical and psychological interventions are provided for each disorder.
Key words: adolescents, aggression, crime, fire setting, impulsivity, stealing, theft, treatment
Clinical Management of Insomnia
Authors: Roehrs Timothy , Roth Thomas
Published: January 2021

Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder, with a prevalence of around 20%. The clearest risk factors are female gender and the presence of a psychiatric or medical disorder. The most important conceptual change in our understanding of insomnia, defined in the National Institutes of Health 2005 consensus conference, is that insomnia is a disorder itself rather than a symptom of another disorder. Specifically, insomnia is a disorder of hyperarousal. Insomniacs do not have an abnormal sleep homeostat or circadian system but rather an overactivated wake system. Cognitively, patients often complain they cannot “shut [their] brain down.” Physiologic correlates include elevated brain metabolism, increased fast electroencephalographic activity, and increased autonomic, metabolic, and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity. Treatment for insomnia can be divided into two categories, behavioral and pharmacologic. Another important categorization relates to self-treatment (sleep hygiene and over-the-counter drugs) versus clinician-directed therapy (cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia [CBT-I] and prescribed hypnotics). Among behavioral treatments are sleep restriction, stimulus control, relaxation training, and cognitive therapy. The most widely used behavioral therapy is a combination of the four treatment components referred to collectively as CBT-I. The majority of Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved hypnotics are drugs that occupy the benzodiazepine receptor site, which is part of the GABAA receptor complex. The hypnotic efficacy of the FDA-approved benzodiazepine receptor agonists (BzRAs) has been well documented using objective polysomnography and subjective measures of sleep induction and duration. Many BzRA side effects are associated with the desired sedative effects of the drug and relate to the pharmacokinetics, receptor subtype affinities, and dose of the drug.
Key words: behavioral therapy, GABA, histamine, insomnia disorder, melatonin, orexin, pathophysiology, pharmacotherapy
General Psychopharmacology
Authors: Doroudgar Shadi , Perry Paul
Published: January 2021

Initial development of neuropsychiatric medications relied heavily on serendipitous discovery rather than targeted drug designs. Nowadays, drug discovery targets include receptors, enzymes, and transporters. The human brain comprises many neurons, each being connected to other neurons via synapses. Neurotransmission occurs when a presynaptic neuron projects its terminal segment to form a connection or synapse with an adjacent postsynaptic neuron. When stimulated, neurotransmitters that are stored in small vesicles in the presynaptic neuron are released into an interneuronal gap called the synaptic cleft. Serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, γ-amino butyric acid, glutamate, and acetylcholine are among the primary neurotransmitters and chemicals that play important roles in neuropsychiatric functions. As such, they are often common targets of drug development. Grasping the basics of neurotransmission, enzyme degradation, and receptor and transporter pharmacology is essential in understanding today’s FDA-approved pharmaceuticals. This neuropharmacology primer will allow the rational and appropriate clinical selection of pharmacotherapy and accurate anticipation of clinical effects following use.
 
This review contains 1 figure and 45 references
Keywords: acetylcholine, dopamine, γ-amino butyric acid, glutamate, neurotransmission, norepinephrine, pharmacology, psychiatric medications, psychopharmacology, receptor, serotonin
Genetics of Psychosis
Authors: Keshavan Matcheri , Stone William , Tsuang Ming
Published: January 2021

Psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia are among the most disabling human illnesses. The causes of these illnesses have remained unknown, leading to much misunderstanding, stigmatization, and suffering. These illnesses are highly heritable, as evidenced by family association studies. Twin and adoption studies have pointed to the possibility of considerable environmental contributions to their causation. The identification of the chromosome locations and the specific genes is aided by linkage and association studies. Recent large-scale genome-wide association studies have pointed to a large number of genes that may together confer risk to this group of illnesses. These genes include those that have been previously implicated in the pathogenesis of psychotic disorders, such as glutamatergic neurotransmission, brain development and synapse plasticity, ion channels, and immune function. These genes may offer new ways to treat these serious illnesses, which are currently only treated with medications that target one system, namely dopamine.
This review contains 6 figures, 9 tables, and 51 references.
Key words: Brain development, complement, dopamine, familial, genome, glutamate, immune function, psychosis, schizophrenia
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (Introduction)
Authors: Lochner Christine , Stein Dan , Thomas Eileen
Published: January 2021

A hallmark feature of OCD is the presence of obsessions and/or compulsions. The subtyping of OCD has been expanded to allow for a detailed assessment of individuals and their disorder, including insight and tic-related specifiers. Although some individuals with OCD rationalize their behaviors as useful, they are time consuming and cause marked distress and/or functional impairment.  
This review contains 1 table, and 31 references.
Key words: diagnostic and statistical manual, obsessive-compulsive disorder
Hoarding Disorder
Authors: Lochner Christine , Stein Dan , Thomas Eileen
Published: January 2021

Hoarding disorder is characterized by an obsessive need to acquire, collect, or keep possessions and difficulty in organizing and discarding, resulting in accumulation of clutter, which elicits great concern from family and friends. Functioning is usually impaired in a variety of domains. Obsessive-compulsive disorder is the disorder most closely associated with hoarding. Overvalued ideation regarding the value or usefulness of possessions may make it impossible for individuals to discard items.
This review contains 1 table, and 22 references.
Key words: clutter, diagnostic and statistical manual, etiology, hoarding, obsessive-compulsive and related disorder
Body Dysmorphic Disorder
Authors: Lochner Christine , Stein Dan , Thomas Eileen
Published: January 2021

Body dysmorphic disorder requires obsessional thoughts regarding a perceived defect in appearance and/or compulsive behavior that develop in response to those thoughts. Individuals experience clinically significant impairment because of their appearance concerns. Body dysmorphic disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder have many similarities, including phenomenologic features, comorbidities, and underlying pathophysiology. Insight into the excessiveness or irrationality of their beliefs varies from good to delusional. Many individuals with body dysmorphic disorder present with comorbid suicidal ideation and substance use disorders.
This review contains 1 table, and 30 references.
Key words: body dysmorphic disorder, diagnostic and statistical manual, obsessive-compulsive and related disorder
Patient Safety in Surgical Care
Authors: Greenberg Caprice C. , Ghaferi Amir
Published: January 2021

The 1999 report of the Institute of Medicine, To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System, made national headlines with its estimates of the frequency and severity of adverse events in health care, including that as many as 98,000 medical error–related deaths occur each year in the United States. The observation that the basic principles of human error are highly applicable to clinical practice has markedly advanced our understanding and willingness to address error in this setting. This review seeks to address the characteristics of systems in general and the system of surgical care in particular. It describes the growing knowledge of factors that affect human performance and how these factors contribute to adverse surgical outcomes. The review also outlines current obstacles to improving safety,  identifies  systems approaches to making improvements, and discusses ways in which surgeons can take the lead in overcoming these obstacles. An overall goal is that acceptance of error and a willingness to investigate its underlying causes will allow health care professionals to make use of the lessons learned from study of nonmedical systems. Tables include definitions of terms related to patient safety, the operation profile, handoff coordination and communication objectives and relevant strategies, nonmedical system techniques applicable to medical systems, Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research patient safety indicators, National Quality Forum list of health care facility–related serious reportable events, and examples of surgically relevant quality improvement practices appropriate for widespread implementation. Figures include the Swiss Cheese Model representing the relationship between latent and active errors and adverse outcomes, a schematic depiction of the process by which system failures may lead to injury, the Systems Engineering in Patient Safety Model of work system and patient safety, and a depiction of contrasting characteristics of medical practice in the 20th and 21st centuries.This review contains 4 figures, 7 tables, and 165 references.
Preoperative Evaluation of the Elderly Surgical Patient
Authors: Wang Tracy S. , Roberts Jennifer , Berger Nicholas G
Published: January 2021

The elderly population uses a significant portion of health care resources in the United States and poses an increasing challenge to perioperative care. Many reports point to both increasing age and frailty as important risk factors for short-term mortality; cardiovascular, pulmonary, and renal complications; and increased length of stay and hospital costs following operation. To provide the best care for the aging US population, it is important for the clinician to be familiar with the appropriate presurgical workup specific to the comorbidities prevalent to the elderly population. This review discusses the postoperative complications facing elderly surgical patients and the physiologic complications of aging, with a particular emphasis on the concept of frailty as a predictor of major morbidity and mortality. With age and comorbidities in mind, this review discusses the relevant preoperative cardiovascular, respiratory, and renal workup and includes important guidelines for appropriate risk assessment and reduction in the elderly surgical patient.
This review contains 1 figure, 5 tables, and 86 references.
Key words: aging, anesthesia, elderly, frailty, outcomes, preoperative workup, risk assessment
Visceral Artery Aneurysms
Authors: Corle Louise A. , Mitchell Erica L.
Published: January 2021

Although rare, visceral artery aneurysms are being increasingly identified with the widespread use of advanced imaging techniques. Their incidence, based on routine autopsies, has been estimated at 0.01 to 0.2% but is thought to be increasing with the rise in percutaneous biliary procedures, endovascular chemoembolization therapies, liver transplantation, arterial trauma secondary to laparoscopic manipulation of vessels, and a trend toward nonoperative management of blunt liver trauma. The morbidity and mortality associated with visceral aneurysms remain high—up to 22% in some reports. Therefore, early recognition and treatment prior to rupture are a priority. Management is evolving and includes open repair, laparoscopic and robotic-assisted repair, and a more important role for endovascular therapies. This review covers splenic artery aneurysms, hepatic artery aneurysms, superior mesenteric artery aneurysms, celiac artery aneurysms, and gastroduodenal and pancreaticoduodenal artery aneurysms. Tables highlight the estimated frequency of aneurysms by anatomic distribution, current management options, etiology of splanchnic artery aneurysms, average visceral artery diameters, and preoperative imaging options. Angiographic images and intraoperative photos are provided.
This review contains 12 figures, 5 tables, and 25 references.
Evaluation of Leg Pain
Authors: Knowles Martyn
Published: January 2021

Few patient complaints offer such a large range of acuity and differential diagnoses as the complaint of leg pain. This is in part due to the multiple organ systems at play, including cardiac, pulmonary, musculoskeletal, neurologic, vascular, and dermatologic. The surgeon is frequently presented with the challenge of identifying and managing these complaints in a variety of settings. Management involves a spectrum from conservative care to surgical intervention where appropriate. The wide array of symptoms, signs, and often contradictory test results can be confusing and frustrating to patients and physicians alike, leading to delays and errors in diagnosis and ineffective management. This review offers a sequential and ordered approach to the evaluation of leg pain. Tables highlight atherosclerotic risk factors, vascular causes of lower extremity pain, the classification of acute limb ischemia, the ankle-brachial index and corresponding peripheral arterial disease, and the revised cardiac risk score for preoperative risk. Figures show bilateral lower extremity ischemia, chronic ischemic changes to the foot, classic dry gangrene, wet gangrene, acute limb ischemia, Charcot foot, segmental waveform and pulse volume recording analysis of the bilateral lower extremities, and angiographic evaluation of patients with aortoiliac and tibial disease.
This review contains 10 figures, 5 tables, and 55 references.
Therapygenetics: how is effectiveness of psychotherapy related to genotype?
Authors: Faustova Anna , Wang M.
Published: January 2021

Effectiveness of psychotherapy and of clinico-psychological interventions depends on different factors: skills and characteristics of a specialist; diagnosis and extent of severity of symptoms; social and personal peculiarities of patient/client; parameters of psychotherapeutic contact. Therapygenetics is a trend of applied research at the interface of molecular genetics and psychotherapy, which considers molecular-genetic predictors of success/failure of psychotherapeutic interventions.
The aim of the article is analysis and summarization of the current research works in the field of therapygenetics, substantiation of their theoretical and practical significance for psychiatry, psychotherapy and clinical psychology, discussion of the existing limitations and requirements to the design of the respective applied research works. By the moment, contra-dictory, but at the same promising positions in therapygenetics can be outlined. In the given article the results of therapygenetic research performed mostly in accordance with methods of identification of candidate genes, are systematized. Gene-environment correlations in psycho-therapy of anxiety and depressive disorders in children and adults are described. Scarce studies of genetic predictors of effectiveness of psychotherapy in posttraumatic stress-related disorders are summarized. While planning a therapygenetic study, the following methodological, methodical and organizational aspects should be taken into consideration: sufficient representativeness of an experimental sample both from the point of view of socio-demographic characteristics and from the point of view of the diagnosis and used therapy; existence of the control group; use of assessment scales and semi-structured diagnostic interviews for assessment of functioning of respondents; universalization of protocols of assessment of the results of application of methods of psychotherapy; use of polygenomic search for associations; observance of confidentiality and provision of respondents with minimally effective ways of rendering psychological assistance.
Substance-induced psychosis and schizophrenia: the interaction point
Authors: Fedotov I. А. , Quattrone D. , Shustov D. I.
Published: January 2021

One of the most severe complications of narcotic drugs misuse are induced psychotic disorders. Their frequency is varies from 5.2 to 100% and depends on the type of drug. This review provides current data and discussion on the similarities and differences between induced psychosis and schizophrenia. Possible interaction of pathogenic pathways, the possibility of differentiation at the clinical level and the main difficulties in clear diagnostic are discussed. The problem of transformation of induced psychoses into schizophrenia and the significance of differentiated treatment are also considered.
Inkerinsuomalaisten kielitutkinto tarkastelun kohteena
Authors: Nuolijärvi Pirkko
Published: January 2021

Arvioitu teos:

Minna Martikainen: Inkeriläisten paluumuutto – suomalaisuutta, kielitaitoa ja kielitutkintoa. Jyväskylä: Jyväskylän yliopisto 2019. Johdanto 76 s. + artikkelit 88 s. isbn 978-951-39-7872-3. Saatavilla verkossa osoitteessa http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-39-7872-3.
Vaihtelu vahvuutena
Authors: Lesonen Sirkku
Published: January 2021

Sirkku Lesosen suomen kielen alaan kuuluva väitöskirja tarkastettiin tiistaina 25. elokuuta 2020 Jyväskylän ylipistossa. Vastaväittäjänä toimi professori Teresa Cadierno Etelä-Tanskan yliopistosta ja kustoksena professori Minna Suni.

Sirkku Lesonen: Valuing variability: Dynamic usage-based principles in the L2 development of four Finnish language learners. Groningen Dissertation in Linguistics. 184. Groningen: University of Groningen 2020. Kirja on luettavissa osoitteessa https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/71369.
Foneettinen tutkimusmatka hätäpuheluiden prosodiikkaan
Authors: Korpijaakko-Huuhka Anna-Maija
Published: January 2021

Arvioitu teos:

Lauri Tavi: Prosodic cues of speech under stress. Phonetic exploration of Finnish emergency calls. Joensuu: Itä-Suomen yliopisto 2020. Johdanto 59 s. + artikkelit 40 s. isbn 978-952-61-3402-4. Saatavilla verkossa osoitteessa http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-61-3403-1.
Science and the Media
Authors: Väliverronen Esa
Published: January 2021

No abstract
Social Sciences in the Periphery
Authors: Barreiro Adriana , Velho Léa
Published: January 2021

No abstract
The Methodological Implications of Resolving the Realism Debate
Authors: McArthur Dan
Published: January 2021

This paper explores the question of whether or not the resolution of the realism question has any implications for scientific methodology. It proposes a solution to the question that draws features from recent “deflationary” approaches to the realism question. The normative methodological role of the deflationary approach is then defended from the claim that no interpretative, normative or methodological role is left for a deflationary position. An illustration of the utility of the approach is demonstrated through a case study of the role that the realism question has played in the field of quantum mechanics.
Academia and the Reproduction of Unequal Opportunities for Women
Authors: Bagilhole Barbara
Published: January 2021

Despite the introduction of equal opportunities (EO) policies by many UK universities, academic staff continue to be male dominated, particularly at the higher levels and in the more prestigious universities. This paper draws on data from a qualitative research study undertaken in a pre-1992 UK university. The main aim of the study was to measure the effectiveness of its EO policies for women. It uses Ball’s (1993) idea of problematising policies by looking at their ‘underlife’ in their ‘localised complexity’. The paper argues that distinctive aspects of academia produce and reproduce gender inequality. These aspects include: professional autonomy, an isolationist culture, and lack of good management. It is concluded that pre-1992 universities in the UK prove to be sites, which are particularly resistant to the change demanded by EO policies because of the special conditions of academia.
Genetics and Forensics
Authors: Johnson Paul , Martin Paul , Williams Robin
Published: January 2021

This paper is based on a current study of the growing police use of the epistemic authority of molecular biology for the identification of criminal suspects in support of crime investigation. It discusses the development of DNA profiling and the establishment and development of the UK National DNA Database (NDNAD) as an instance of the ‘scientification of police work’ (Ericson and Shearing 1986) in which the police uses of science and technology have a recursive effect on their future development. The NDNAD, owned by the Association of Chief Police Officers of England and Wales, is the first of its kind in the world and currently contains the genetic profiles of more than 2 million people. The paper provides a framework for the examination of this socio-technical innovation, begins to tease out the dense and compact history of the database and accounts for the way in which changes and developments across disparate scientific, governmental and policing contexts, have all contributed to the range of uses to which it is put.
Karl Popper and the Reconstution of the Rationalist Left
Authors: Fuller Steve
Published: January 2021

Notwithstanding the great ‘positivist dispute’ of the 1960s, Karl Popper and Theodor Adorno upheld many of the same general philosophical sensibilities, which together distinguish them from the ‘postmodern’ social theory that has flourished in the wake of their dispute. In particular, both Popper and Adorno upheld a universalist conception of knowledge underwritten by a critical mode of inquiry. These basic tenets constitute what I call the ‘rationalist left’, in contrast to the post-rationalist, postleftist epistemic politics of today. Implicit in the common ground shared by Popper and Adorno was an institutional basis for universal criticism, namely, the university. A sign of the distance we have moved from their shared sensibility is the status of the university today as either a pale transcendental idea (Habermas) or a mere physical site for the play of social forces (Lyotard). I attempt to pick up the pieces of the Popper-Adorno dispute in an attempt to ‘reconstitute’ the rationalist left.
Shifting Concepts of Genetic Disease
Authors: Melendro-Oliver Sara
Published: January 2021

For many years the rhetoric of the new genetics have been criticised for their inherent determinism, especially in the area of health. The move from genetics to genomics has meant that more than just individual genes will be looked at in the causation of disease. At the same time, the findings from the Human Genome Project have challenged the deterministic assumption of the one gene – one trait tenet. The concept of genetic disease, however, is still predominant and still expanding to include more conditions every day under its name. Here, I look at how the model of genetic causation of disease or what I have called the ‘gene model’ is becoming dominant and how this underlines a process of geneticisation, which does not seem to have stopped under the genomic perspective.
Taming the Golem - an Experiment in Participatory and Constructive Technology Assessment
Authors: Heiskanen Eva
Published: January 2021

This article examines the possibilities and limitations of constructive technology assessment in the light of a CTA-type experiment conducted in Finland on sustainable alternatives for online grocery shopping. The starting point of the analysis is the impasse created by the lack of dialogue between technology proponents and technology opponents. Constructive technology assessment is investigated here as a forum for constructive exchange and co-operation between seemingly antagonistic perspectives on technology. Thus, although the experiment did not provide visible practical outcomes in technology development or market evolution, it was successful in creating an atmosphere of dialogue and creativity that helped technology proponents and opponents to learn from each other. The article concludes that adopting a ‘constructive’ approach in the sense of making stakeholders work together on envisioning better alternatives appears to be useful in creating new discursive spaces, even when it does not lead to real-world outcomes. *Key words*: technology, assessment, participation
Animating Mechanism
Authors: Myers Natasha
Published: January 2021

In the scientific literature, proteins are frequently figured as molecular machines; that is, as tiny mechanisms that operate in interlocking assemblages, and which act to build and maintain the body as a higher-order machine. Mechanical models parse living bodies in ways that seem, at first glance, to deaden lively processes. I build on feminist contributions to the science studies literature to show how, rather than spelling the “death of nature”, mechanistic reasoning in the life sciences can become a site for feminist inquiry into modes of embodiment and the role of affect in the performance of scientific knowledge. I observe that researchers use their bodies kinaesthetically to manipulate and learn protein structures. Such forms of body-work enable modellers to animate their molecular mechanisms both onscreen and through elaborate gestures and affects. In this way molecular mechanisms are enlivened as they are propagated between researchers in pedagogical and professional contexts. I argue that this is not an extra-scientific phenomenon, but one intrinsic to the work of mechanistic modelling.
A Gendered Economy of Pleasure
Authors: Landström Catharina
Published: January 2021

This paper analyses cultural signification in the co-production of gender and technology. Focusing on the popular genre of motoring magazines, it discerns a pattern organising men and women in opposite relations to cars. Men’s relationships with cars are premised on passion and pleasure while women are figured as rational and unable to attach emotionally to cars. This “gendered economy of pleasure” is traced in a close reading of motoring magazine representations of cars and humans. Further, a DVD representation of the Volvo YCC, a concept car developed by women for an imagined female user, is discussed in relation to this semiotic pattern. The paper is conceptual, texts are interpreted in order to bring forward aspects of meaning-making that are not immediately obvious. The objective is to critically illuminate one aspect of the cultural production of the car as a masculine technology.
The Unaltered Body? Rethinking the Body When IVF fails
Authors: Throsby Karen
Published: January 2021

Drawing on a series of interviews with women and couples who have had IVF unsuccessfully and who have stopped treatment, this paper challenges the assumption that the (re)production of novel entities that is associated with the new reproductive and genetic technologies only occurs when treatment succeeds. I argue that the work of accounting for the experience of IVF failure generates, at least potentially, a novel, post-IVF body whose construction fragments the category of childlessness, and redefines what constitutes the (in)fertile body. These reconfigurations of normative categories of reproductive belonging serve to normalise their situation and resist the blame and exclusion that often accompanies the experience of infertility. The paper concludes that the assumption that innovation only occurs when treatment succeeds reproduces the problematic definition of IVF by its successes.
Institutions for Simulations
Authors: Johnson Ann
Published: January 2021

Computational nanotechnology is a simulation science; that is, a way of producing scientific knowledge dependent upon computer simulations because, for a variety of reasons, current experimental set-ups do not answer crucial questions. The resource needs of simulation science have often been obscured by two assumptions – that simulations are a ‘cheap’ alternative to experiment and that they are closely connected to theory – though not simply synonymous with or simple extensions of theory. This paper challenges both notions by exploring the resources - human, financial, and computational – needed to perform computational nanotechnology and by showing the close coupling between empirical data and the construction of simulations. I look specifically at three U.S. computational nanotechnology sites and projects: the NASA-Ames Research Center, the Network for Computational Nanotechnology at Purdue University, and the Chemical Industry’s Roadmap for Nanostructured Materials as a protocol for nanotechnological development that specifically addresses the role of simulations.
The Material and Social Dynamics of Motivation
Authors: Freeman Stephanie
Published: January 2021

Volunteer motivation has been a central theme in Free/Libre/Open Source Software (FLOSS) literature. This research has been largely dominated by economists who rely in their surveys on the distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic motivations and the ‘hacker ethic’ – for profi t juxtaposition. The paper argues that survey-based analytical frameworks and research designs have led to a focus on some motivational attributions at the expense of others. It then presents a case study that explores dynamic, non-individualistic and content-sensitive aspects of motivations. The approach is based on socio-cultural psychology and the author’s observations of a hybrid fi rm-community FLOSS project, OpenOffi ce.org. Instead of separating intrinsic motivations from extrinsic ones, it is argued that complex and changing patterns of motivations are tied to changing objects and personal histories prior to and during participation. The boundary between work and hobby in an individual’s participation path is blurred and shifting.
How Buildings 'Surprise'
Authors: Yaneva Albena
Published: January 2021

Can old buildings faithfully transmit social meaning? Conservation studies have taught us for decades that buildings are valuable for their historical substance and symbolic value gradually acquired with time. Drawing on an Actor-Network-Theory-inspired perspective to tackle buildings, this article questions the philosophy of preservation studies and their definitions of building and agency. Following the process of renovation of the 17th century Alte Aula in Vienna, I explore its dynamics and unpredictable drifts. Renovating is not about transforming a passive and subservient object; it rather offers an experimental situation in which one can witness the building recalcitrance, i.e., its capacity to manifest itself as disobedient as possible to the protocol of renovation, to resist the attempts of control and to ‘surprise’ its makers. A building is, I argue here, a complex mediator that skilfully redistributes the agency among human and nonhuman participants in renovation, provokes contextual mutations and transforms social meanings.
Constructing the Alzheimer Patient
Authors: Mendelzweig Marion Droz
Published: January 2021

Identifying a tipping point that might draw a distinction between normal and pathological ageing is a diffi cult task. This paper reviews various steps that lead to establishing a diagnosis of dementia disorders as it is done in a memory clinic. It analyses the way different data is collected in the patient’s daily life. The steps, including a patient’s neurological status, neuropsychological tests and MRI, are interwoven with regard to identifying Alzheimer’s disease. The mild cognitive impairment category that emerges from this process appears as a grey zone, useful to the practitioners and patients despite the controversies underlying the concept. By questioning the performative dynamic stemming from the encounters between patients with cognitive concerns and professionals, this paper intends to fi nd out how this activity contributes to the standardization of the disease outlines, and how this process contributes to separating ageing signs from a pathological way of becoming aged.
Shaping the future e-patient
Authors: Felt Ulrike , Gugglberger Lisa , Mager Astrid
Published: January 2021

This paper investigates how public discourses, as articulated in EU policy and Austrian media documents, take part in the creation and stabilisation of a new patient figure – the e-patient. The documents we analysed act as one material form for enacting, performing and giving meaning to the changes occurring when a new technology enters established networks in the medical realm. Our analysis will show that the public discourses we studied deploy three rather different forms of discursive registers, each of which address and perform a specific relation between currently new information and communication technologies and citizen-patients. From one place, moment or problem-solution package to the next a slightly different hybrid and ‘multiple citizen-patient’ is being shaped, discussed, observed or concealed. The multiplicity we observed reveals crucial tensions and contradicting expectations expressed towards the future citizen-patient, showing the challenges for e-health in the making.
Knowledge, identity and ideology in stances on GMOs
Authors: Pellegrini Pablo
Published: January 2021

Various scientists and social movements are involved in the controversy over GM crops. This paper examines the controversy in Brazil, where the issue may in the future be defined internationally, given the expanse of the country’s arable land. It focuses on a central actor in the dispute: the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST), a peasant organization that takes a firm and active public stand against GM crops. It aims to understand how the movement came to develop this stand against such innovations, and addresses the main events in the history of GM crops in Brazil, the actors in the debate and the arguments they deploy. A complex series of events and interactions in the MST’s history is presented to explain the organization’s commitment to agroecology and its opposition to GMOs, and to specific conditioning emerging from its own peculiar mode of social organization of agricultural production.
Understanding Boundary Work through Discourse Theory
Authors: Friman Mathias
Published: January 2021

Interdisciplinarity is usually described as different from disciplinarity: a discipline is said to generate distinct boundaries, separating it from the undisciplined, while interdisciplinarity connotes the crossing of such boundaries. Less attention is paid to how boundary crossing itself creates new boundaries. This article asks how boundary work can be understood in theory and what this understanding means to academic debate on interdisciplinarity. From this perspective, there is reason to talk of interdisciplines conducting boundary work distinguishable by the fundamental logic guiding boundary creation. In this new approach, disciplinary logic distinguishes itself by promoting the monopolization of knowledge, whereas interdisciplinary logic fundamentally promotes plurality. As opposed to much use of the term “interdisciplinarity”, this version would be conceptually meaningful in relation to “disciplinarity”. Though boundary work following an anti-boundary logic might seem contradictory, this is not necessarily so: what is guarded in an interdiscipline could well be the possibility of permeability.
Visualizing the Invisible Nanoscale
Authors: Ruivenkamp Martin , Rip Arie
Published: January 2021

How does one know what is the right way to visualize the invisible nanoscale? Practices in the visualization processes are studied by moving about in the fi eld of nanoscience/technology. Nine important aspects of visualization processes have identified. Based on nanoscientists’ responses to a small survey, it is argued that some of these aspects–preparatory techniques–which link up to the experimenter’s and visualization regress, are invisible to nanoscientists. Here tacit rules are followed in the production process of visualizations. This contrasts with presentational aspects where nanoscientists are faced with choices, and have to discuss and defend them. Here it is still impossible to follow tacit rules. These presentational aspects might also be closed down in further development of nanotechnology. The paper asks whether it might be important to keep choices visible.