bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Impact of Prosthesis–Patient Size on Functional Recovery After Aortic Valve Replacement
Authors: Koch Colleen Gorman , Khandwala Farah , Estafanous Fawzy G. , Loop Floyd D. , Blackstone Eugene H.
Published: June 2005

Background—

Prosthesis–patient size mismatch results when an implanted prosthetic aortic valve is of insufficient size for a patient’s body surface area. The relation between prosthesis–patient size and functional capacity and adverse postoperative outcome is inconsistent. Our objectives were to examine the impact of valve replacement, continuous prosthesis–patient size, and other factors on functional recovery after aortic valve replacement (AVR) with the Duke Activity Status Index (DASI).

Methods and Results—

From June 15, 1995, through May 14, 1998, 1108 patients underwent AVR after completing a DASI survey. Of these, 1014 completed a postoperative DASI survey at an average of 8.3 months postoperatively. Logistic ordinal regression was used to examine the influence of demographic variables, comorbidities, baseline DASI scores, indexed valve orifice area, standardized orifice size, and postoperative morbid events on postoperative DASI. There was overall improvement in postoperative functional recovery reflected by median preoperative and postoperative DASI scores of 29 and 46,
P
<0.001, respectively. Neither indexed orifice area,
P
=0.94, nor standardized orifice size,
P
=0.96, was associated with functional recovery. Female sex, increasing age, elevated serum creatinine, increased central venous pressure, and red blood cell transfusion were factors associated with poor postoperative functional recovery.

Conclusions—

A majority of patients report improvement in functional quality of life early after AVR. Similar functional recovery was demonstrated for patients along the full spectrum of valve sizes indexed to body size, even for values considered to represent severe mismatch for patient size. Factors other than prosthesis–patient size influence functional quality of life early after AVR.
Doppler Estimation of Left Ventricular Filling Pressures in Patients With Mitral Valve Disease
Authors: Diwan Abhvinav , McCulloch Marti , Lawrie Gerald M. , Reardon Michael J. , Nagueh Sherif F.
Published: June 2005

Background—

Conventional Doppler measurements have limitations in the prediction of left atrial pressure (LAP) in patients with mitral valve disease (MVD), given the confounding effect of valve area, left ventricular (LV) relaxation, and stiffness. However, the time interval between the onset of early diastolic mitral inflow velocity (E) and annular early diastolic velocity (Ea) by tissue Doppler imaging (TDI), T
E−Ea
, which is well related to the time constant of LV relaxation (τ) in canine and clinical studies, is not subject to these variables. We therefore undertook this study to test its usefulness in a patient population.

Methods and Results—

Two-dimensional Doppler and TDI echocardiography were performed simultaneously with right-heart catheterization in 51 consecutive patients (mean±SD age, 64±11 years) with MVD: 35 with moderately severe to severe mitral regurgitation (MR) and 16 with moderate to severe mitral stenosis (MS). Among several Doppler measurements, only the mitral E/A ratio, isovolumetric relaxation time (IVRT), and pulmonary venous Ar duration had significant relations with mean pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP). The ratio of IVRT to T
E−Ea
(for MR,
r
=−0.92; for MS,
r
=−0.88; both
P
<0.001) and the ratio of IVRT to τ (for MR,
r
=−0.74; for MS,
r
=−0.85; both
P
<0.001) had the best correlations with PCWP. In 54 repeat studies, including those performed after MV repair or replacement, these ratios tracked well the changes in PCWP and readily identified changes in mean PCWP by ≥5 mm Hg. A similar correlation was noted in 13 patients with atrial fibrillation (
r
=−0.92,
P
<0.01) and in a prospective group of 14 patients with MR (
r
=−0.93,
P
<0.001).

Conclusions—

The ratio of IVRT to T
E−Ea
or to τ can be readily applied for estimating mean PCWP in patients with MVD and can track changes in PCWP after valve surgery.
β
2
- and β
3
-Adrenergic Receptor Polymorphisms Are Related to the Onset of Weight Gain and Blood Pressure Elevation Over 5 Years
Authors: Masuo Kazuko , Katsuya Tomohiro , Fu Yuxiao , Rakugi Hiromi , Ogihara Toshio , Tuck Michael L.
Published: June 2005

Background—

The genes responsible for obesity are candidate genes for obesity-related diseases, such as hypertension. Functional polymorphisms in the β
2
- and β
3
-adrenergic receptors have been reported to be associated with hypertension and obesity.

Methods and Results—

To longitudinally clarify the relevance to alterations in β-adrenergic receptor polymorphisms related to weight gain, blood pressure (BP) elevation, and sympathetic nerve activity as measured by plasma norepinephrine level, we studied 160 young, nonobese, normotensive men. Changes in body weight, BP, plasma norepinephrine levels, and β
2
-adrenergic (Arg16Gly, Gln27Glu) and β
3
-adrenergic (Trp64Arg) receptor polymorphisms were measured periodically over a 5-year period. Weight gain and BP elevation were defined as ≥10% increases from entry levels over 5 years in body mass index or mean BP. The presence of the Gly16 allele of Arg16Gly was associated with a higher frequency of weight gain and BP elevation over the 5-year period. The subjects carrying the Glu27 allele of Gln27Glu and the Trp64 allele of Trp64Arg had a higher frequency of BP elevation. Significantly higher levels of plasma norepinephrine at entry and at year 5 were observed in the subjects with the Gly16 allele of Arg16Gly and the Glu27 allele of Gln27Glu compared with those without the Gly16 or the Glu27 alleles.

Conclusions—

These results demonstrate that the Gly16 allele is related to greater weight gain and BP elevation. Additionally, Glu27 and Trp64 alleles are linked to BP elevation. The subjects carrying the β
2
-polymorphisms linked to weight gain and BP elevation also have higher plasma norepinephrine levels that are present at entry before weight gain and BP elevation. These findings suggest that β
2
-adrenergic receptor polymorphisms in association with a heightened sympathetic nerve activity could predict the future onset of obesity and hypertension, as shown in the 5-year longitudinal study.
Signifying Deviance and Transgression
Authors: Lopes Paul
Published: June 2005

This article analyzes a jazz trope that appeared in literature, film, and journalism from the 1930s to the early 1960s. It shows how the distinct symbolic order and moral boundaries of these cultural fields shaped a “story of jazz” that acted as a metaphor for class, race, and urban America. The jazz trope represented a double consciousness of romantic rebellion and dangerous deviancy in which the story of jazz almost always ended in tragic consequences. The ultimate tragedy of the jazz life in the popular imagination acted to reaffirm dominant norms against a rebellious and deviant world in urban America.
Taylorism, Managerial Control Strategies, and the Ballets of Balanchine and Stravinsky
Authors: Van Delinder Jean
Published: June 2005

In the early 20th century, Taylor’s principles of scientific management (i.e., Taylorism) fashioned control strategies that sought improvements in workers’ productivity yet resulted in control of workers’bodies. This article explores the affinities between Taylorism and the ballets Apollo and Agon choreographed by George Balanchine and scored by Igor Stravinsky. Their work embodies a modernist aesthetic influencedby the principles of scientific management, and it reshaped the organization of modern ballet away from focus on the ballerinas and onto the “creative” choreographer and composer.
Gender Power
Authors: Danaher William F.
Published: June 2005

Structural changes in the United States during the 1920s enabled African American females to attain an historically prominent position as classic blues singers. Historical analysis of record availability is combined with analysis of song lyrics to assess the relevance of Connell’s ideas in explaining the success of these women; Connell’s theory of gender structures offers three loci within which to frame such structures: labor, power, and intimate relationships. Analysis of available popular music recordings during the period indicates that these singers were influential beyond their particular genre, whereas lyrical analysis mainly points to the importance of intimate relationships.
The Push and Pull of Hip-Hop
Authors: Trapp Erin
Published: June 2005

This article explores how hip-hop music—with its grim portrayals of urban reality and youth manifestos—can be both the mirror and engine of a social movement, based on two divergent theories, new social movement theory and political opportunity theory, as well as the work of W. E. B. Du Bois. Contrasting the work of two prominent artists, the author examines the portrayal of women in rap and finds that these artists attempt to “represent” and influence reality and that they comfortably carry the mantle of movement leaders.
Digital Recording and the Reconfiguration of Music as Performance
Authors: Marontate Jan
Published: June 2005

Digital technologies are transforming the lived experience of music in ways that may recon- figure relations between creators, mediators, and publics. Many uses of recorded popular music in the 20th century emphasized the canonical character of recordings rather than the performative nature of music making; it was no longer necessary to make music or be around musicians to hear music. Recently, digital technologies and their attendant creative practices have allowed for the reemergence of musical works as practices rather than objects. This article examines the experiences of musicians and audio technicians in a music technology program at a rural Canadian university.
A Comparative Study of Lebanese and Palestinian Perceptions of Suicide Bombings: The Role of Militant Islam and Socio-Economic Status
Authors: Haddad Simon
Published: June 2005

In the present study I compare public views regarding suicide bombings using data from two surveys of Palestinian refugees living in southern Lebanon (N = 342) and Lebanese Muslims (N = 553) administered during the summers of 2002 and 2003 respectively. The data reveal that approval of suicide operations is more pronounced among Lebanese than Palestinians. These findings hold even after controlling for individual socio-economic and demographic characteristics. For both populations, support for suicide attacks is more evident among women than men. Among Lebanese, support for suicide attacks is also a function of low income and among Palestinians, a function of residence in camps. For both samples, the most important determinant of support for suicide attacks is attachment to political Islam. The greater the commitment to political Islam the more likely respondents are to endorse suicide activities. It should be noted however, that the impact of political Islam is more evident among Palestinians than Lebanese.
The Relationship between Background Variables and Sex-Typing of Gender Roles and Children’s Chores: The Israeli Case
Authors: Kulik Liat
Published: June 2005

The article examines the relationship between sex-typing of adult gender roles and children’s chores in Israeli society. Adult gender roles were examined from a general perspective, while children’s chores were examined in five distinctive areas - domestic chores, help with siblings, self-care, outside, and technical chores. The research sample consisted of 238 married and unmarried participants (81 men and 157 women). Specifically, sex-typing of adult gender roles and children’s chores was examined in relation to three sets of background variables: (1) personal background variables (age, religiosity, and ethnicity); (2) education and employment variables (level of education, extent of job position, and earning patterns); and (3) family variables (marital status, length of marriage, number of children, and age of children). The women tended to have less sex-typed attitudes than the men did with regard to children’s chores. However, no differences were found between the genders with regard to sex-typing of adult gender roles. In addition, the married women expressed more sex-typed attitudes toward adult gender roles than did unmarried women, whereas the differences between married and unmarried men were less significant. Among both genders, a correlation was found between sex-typing of adult gender roles and domestic children’s chores.
Public governance: balancing stakeholder power in a network society
Authors: Bovaird Tony
Published: June 2005

The emergence of governance as a key concept in the public domain is relatively recent, although the concerns which it embraces are age-old. This article traces the evolution of the concept and maps the contours of its current position in public administration. It suggests that ‘governance’ as a set of balancing mechanisms in a network society is still a contested concept, both in theory and in practice, but that there are already many attempts to delineate its dimensions more clearly and to assess how well it is being achieved in different contexts. Public governance principles are also being incorporated within legislation but there is a need for proportionality — such principles need to be weighed against cost-effectiveness considerations. It is still unclear whether we are moving to a future in which government remains the key player in public governance or whether we might move through ‘governance in the shadow of government’ to self-organizing policy and service delivery systems — ‘governance without government’.
Potential for comparative public opinion research in public administration
Authors: Bouckaert Geert , Van de Walle Steven , Kampen Jarl K.
Published: June 2005

Public administration and public services have always taken a marginal place in political scientists’ behavioural research. Public administration students, in contrast, tend to focus on political and administrative elites and institutions and have largely ignored citizens in comparative research. In this article, we make a plea for international comparative research on citizens’ attitudes towards public administration from an interdisciplinary perspective. Available international survey material is discussed and main trends in empirical practice and theoretical approaches are outlined, especially those with a potential impact on public sector reform.
Electronic government and public administration
Authors: Brown David
Published: June 2005

Electronic government encompasses all government roles and activities, shaped by information and communications technologies (ICTs). Going well beyond analogies to e-commerce, it encompasses the four domains of governance and public administration: the state’s economic and social programs; its relationships with the citizen and the rule of law (e-democracy), its internal operations and its relationship with the international environment. E-government builds on three evolving forces: technology, management concepts and government itself. It has given rise to several phenomena that are redefining the public sector environment, including the International Institute of Administrative Sciences. Four aspects of e-government have lasting impacts on public administration: citizen-centered service, information as a public resource, new skills and working relationships, and accountability and management models. The challenges of e-government are even more acute in developing countries, although it also offers solutions. Public administration in all countries requires new thinking and leadership to ensure that e-government realizes its full potential.
The United Nations Programme in Public Administration: reinventing itself to help reinvent public administration
Authors: Bertucci Guido , Alberti Adriana
Published: June 2005

In a world that is changing rapidly and constantly, public administration needs to be able to respond as rapidly and as effectively as possible to new challenges and priorities. The process of reinvention and revitalization requires vision, knowledge and capacity. The same qualities are required from the United Nations if they are to assist developing countries and countries with economies in transition effectively in their efforts to reform public administration. This article provides an historical excursus of how the conception of the role of the state has changed in the past decades and its impact on developing countries; how instrumental the United Nations was in re-establishing awareness of the role of public administration in development, and the significant preparatory work done in this area by the International Institute of Administrative Sciences (IIAS). The article also illustrates how the United Nations Programme in Public Administration has reinvented itself in order to help reinvent government and singles out some of the emerging challenges in the field of public administration.
Price Convergence on World Commodity Markets: Fact or Fiction?
Authors: Bukenya James O. , Labys Walter C.
Published: June 2005

This article examines the degree to which commodity prices have converged on world commodity markets over recent decades. Ideally, increases in communications, central bank activities, and globalization would suggest that commodity prices in spatially dispersed markets should become similar over time. To measure convergence, correlation, regression, cointegration, and vector autoregressive methods are employed. Comparable geographic data were assembled for six commodities: coffee, cotton, wheat, lead, copper, and tin, covering the period 1930 through 1998. Overall, the empirical results do not support the convergence hypothesis but rather a pattern of fluctuating divergences.
From ridicule to institutionalization: anti-oppression, the state and social work
Authors: Mclaughlin Kenneth
Published: June 2005

Anti-racist and anti-oppressive practices are considered essential components of social work education and practice. This paper charts the rise and rationale for these initiatives, detailing the social and political factors that influenced their development and incorporation into the profession. The criticism of such measures from a variety of perspectives is also discussed. Whilst this was at times vitriolic and did affect policy, the claim that it constituted a backlash is contested. Influenced by a Marxist view of the state and Foucauldian insights into both the power of discourse and controlling aspects of the ‘helping professions’, it is argued that what were considered radical measures have now become institutionalized and in the process lost their original meaning. Anti-oppressive social work, rather than being a challenge to the state has allowed the state to reposition itself once again as a benign provider of welfare, and via the anti-oppressive social worker is able to enforce new moral codes of behaviour on the recipients of welfare.
Workfare as welfare: governing unemployment in the advanced liberal state
Authors: Mcdonald Catherine , Marston Greg
Published: June 2005

Case management has become a key technology in governing the problem of unemployment in western countries such as Britain, the United States and Australia. In this paper we argue that case management represents a radical localization of governance wherein the rights and responsibilities between unemployed people and the state are articulated primarily in the relationship between the case manager and his or her client. This paper reports on a study undertaken in Australia’s Job Network system of employment services. Using a governmental analysis we show how the case management relationship is experienced by case managers and long-term unemployed people in a sample of nonprofit and for-profit Job Network agencies in two states of Australia. The research reveals the micro relations of power and authority that are invoked in the everyday politics of welfare reform. We argue that engaging in policy research at a local level of analysis acts as a necessary balance to more macro welfare state comparisons. Working within a ‘street-level’ approach illuminates how workfare policies and programmes are aligning social relations and identities with new welfare ends and means.
Supporting or controlling? New Labour’s housing strategy for teenage parents
Authors: Giullari Susanna , Shaw Mary
Published: June 2005

Teenage pregnancy has been the subject of much attention in recent social policy, including a particular strategy for supported housing for teenage parents. The issue of support, both formal and from family, is central to this endeavour, and problematic. In this paper we unravel New Labour’s construction of teenage parents’ housing need as an issue of isolation from support. First we focus on family support, and argue that New Labour’s supported housing strategy ignores its fragile and individualized nature and thus puts it in jeopardy. We then disentangle the discourse of welfare dependency that underpins this strategy and show that its disregard for teenage parents’ need for independent housing and capacity for autonomous living says more about the wish to control those teenage parents that New Labour perceives most at risk of welfare dependency than it does about a genuine desire to support them. We conclude that a right to independent housing is key to a strategy that genuinely aims to support teenage parents.
Portugal: national pride and imperial neurosis
Authors: Reiter Bernd
Published: June 2005

Portugal’s journey, from a minor colonising power to a member of the European Union, transformed its sense of national belonging and citizenship. African colonial possessions, which under the Salazar-Caetano regime had been formally incorporated into the nation as a ruse to offset international criticism of Portugal’s prolonged imperialism, were later disavowed, along with those Africans who had become Portuguese citizens under the earlier arrangement. As a result, Portugal has failed to recognise the existence within its borders of a black community, its history and its exclusion, which continues to the present day.
The politics of identity in Germany: the Leitkultur debate
Authors: Pautz Hartwig
Published: June 2005

‘Germany is not a country of immigration’ is a fiction of national homogeneity that came under increased pressure with the advent, in 1998, of a centre-left government. New laws for immigration, integration and citizenship were to be introduced, eradicating the concept of Volk tied together by ius sanguinis. But the opposition Christian Democratic Union made an electoral issue of ‘Ausländerpolitik’, especially integration, accusing the government of jeopardising ‘German cultural identity’. What ensued was the Leitkulturdebatte, about Germany’s predominant culture, characterised by the notion of the ‘clash of civilisations’ and the incompatibility of ‘different’ cultures. This not only replaced racial belonging with cultural belonging, transforming the ius sanguinis into an equally essentialist ius cultus, it also formed part of a conservative attempt to re-establish a ‘normal’ German national consciousness, cleared of the memory of the Holocaust.
The business of apocalypse: Robert Putnam and diversity
Authors: Hallberg Peter , Lund Joshua
Published: June 2005

The work of political scientist Robert Putnam on social capital and community values and their relationship to ‘diversity’, or racialised difference, has been heavily popularised, feeding into the current genre of apocalyptic cultural commentary. It has also been taken up at the highest government levels in both the US and the UK as containing the answer to multifarious social and cultural problems. The basic lesson that emerges from Putnam’s research is that high levels of diversity currently have a negative impact on levels of social capital. It is an approach that, as argued here, displays serious methodological and analytical shortcomings.
Redeeming the failed promise of democracy in Eritrea
Authors: Connell Dan
Published: June 2005

In 1991, after a long, arduous and highly dynamic struggle that transformed many of the bases of their society, the Eritrean people won their freedom. The attempt began to reconstruct their war-ravaged society. But, following the renewal of conflict with Ethiopia in 1998 and continuation of hostilities, many of those earlier gains have been set back and the movement towards popular democracy reversed. The nature of Eritrea’s post-independence state, the earlier struggle for gender equality and the current crackdown on dissent are here illuminated.
Powerful drivers and meek passengers: on the buses in Santiago
Authors: Tomic Patricia , Trumper Ricardo
Published: June 2005

Unlike walking, driving or travelling by train, little has been written about bus travel. But imperialism and capitalism have always been premised on traffic; closely connected to traffic is speed. And both traffic and speed are woven into today’s economic, social, political, even aesthetic and cultural hierarchies; they are linked, ultimately, to power. The evolution of the transport system in Santiago reveals not only the nature of the power relations between bus drivers and passengers, but is also a microcosm of the impact of neo-liberal economic policies.
Gender, Equality and Industrial Relations in the ‘New Europe’: An Introduction
Authors: Kirton Gill , Greene Anne-marie
Published: June 2005

This introduction draws together the broad themes discussed in the articles presented in this special issue, placing cross-national similarities and differences in gender, equality, and industrial relations within a broader conceptual and policy context. As a field of study, industrial relations traditionally downplays the salience of gender and other identity characteristics; however, the European policy context now firmly supports the positioning of gender and equality as key issues within the industrial relations system.
The European Construction Social Partners: Gender Equality in Theory and Practice
Authors: Clarke Linda , Pedersen Elsebet Frydendal , Michielsens Elisabeth , Susman Barbara
Published: June 2005

This article explores the social partners’ role in the gender equality agenda in construction at skilled operative level. It draws on a survey of the European construction social partners that investigated the presence of women in skilled trades and the policies, collective agreements and practices that play a role in women’s integration. The responses indicate that the construction industry still displays inertia and conservatism, and that the social partners corroborate rather than counter this. They express a ‘discourse’ of gender equality, but this does not automatically lead to equal opportunity policies or programmes. The social partners have the platform to make inroads and to change the industry from within, but need further encouragement to put this on their agenda.
Women’s Choices in Europe: Striking the Work-life Balance
Authors: Hantrais Linda , Ackers Peter
Published: June 2005

The article presents evidence from interviews in France, Spain and Poland to explore how individual actors make choices about their work-life balance. It shows that choice is a complex, contingent, and relative concept, which is both facilitated and obstructed by public policies and working regulations. Despite differences in national and sub-national policy contexts, institutional and cultural norms and expectations, the article draws the conclusion that family-friendly issues need to be mainstreamed and that the concerns of families should be added to those of the state, trade unions and employers on the agenda for negotiating work-life balance. It is also argued that the focus and scope of industrial relations need to be rethought to take account of the gendered nature of employment relationships.
Gender, Transformation and Employment in Central Eastern Europe
Authors: Pollert Anna
Published: June 2005

This article discusses gender and employment in 10 central eastern European countries: eight new EU member states and two candidate countries. The context is set with demographic, economic, and labour-market trends, including population, GDP, and gender disaggregated employment, activity, and unemployment rates. Changes in horizontal and vertical gender segregation are then addressed, especially the uneven gender effect on employment patterns of sectoral restructuring during capitalist transformation. Lastly, the gender pay gap is examined, and compared to patterns in western Europe. The article concludes with a discussion of the advances, but also the limits of harmonization through EU gender-equality legislation.
Highly Qualified Women in the ‘New Europe’: Territorial Sex Segregation
Authors: Glover Judith
Published: June 2005

The proportion of women in highly qualified scientific employment in central and eastern Europe and the Baltic States (CEEC-10) is higher than in western Europe. However, this relatively high representation is counteracted by unequal access to resources. This is illustrated by a new measure, the ‘honeypot indicator’. The focus of the EU ‘Lisbon strategy’ summit on increasing overall numbers of scientists does little to address the key issues of retention and advancement. Although social closure mechanisms may undermine the employment prospects of highly qualified women, the conclusion is that the accession of the CEEC-10 to the ‘mainstreaming’ of equal opportunities proclaimed by the European Union provides the best hope of improvement for their employment prospects.
Academic Employment and Gender: A Turkish Challenge to Vertical Sex Segregation
Authors: Healy Geraldine , Özbilgin Mustafa , Aliefendioğlu Hanife
Published: June 2005

This article explores the paradox of women’s academic employment in Turkey. There is a low rate of female labour market participation in the formal sector, yet a higher proportion of women professors than in any of the 25 European Union countries. We use a range of data to set the Turkish labour market and its higher education sector in comparative European perspective, then present findings from two qualitative studies of Turkish professors, concluding that ideological state support rather than legal frameworks of equal opportunities laid the foundations for women’s hierarchical achievements in Turkey. However, the explanation is multilayered and lies in the cumulative and interrelated effect of state policy, institutional transparency, increased labour demand, the home-work interface, and the agency of the professors themselves.
L’Oedipe Africain, A Retrospective
Authors: Bullard Alice
Published: June 2005

L’Oedipe Africain is a vital text from the early years of post-colonialism and transcultural psychiatry. Psychologist Marie-Cécile Ortigues and her philosopher husband, Edmond Ortigues produced this study after 4 years of clinical work (from 1962 to 1966) at the Fann Hospital in Dakar, Senegal. These were years of intense creativity at Fann, as Dr Henri Collomb set in motion a series of innovations that transformed a classical asylum into an open-door, culturally sensitive therapeutic center. L’Oedipe Africain confronts the transcultural project in the early post-colonial era with such candor and insight that it continues to speak to the profession today. The discussion of transference in situations of racial and cultural difference, and the theorizing of the cultural and universal dimensions to the psyche, emerge as enduring contributions of this text. The assumptions about history, tradition and modernity, and the gloss on female patients prove less durable.
Shenjing Shuairuo and the DSM-IV: Diagnosis, Distress, and Disability in a Chinese Primary Care Setting
Authors: Chang Doris F. , Myers Hector F. , Yeung Albert , Zhang Yalin , Zhao Jingping , Yu Shunying
Published: June 2005

This study examines diagnostic concordance, symptomatology and disability among Chinese patients with shenjing shuairuo, ICD-10 neurasthenia, and DSM-IV diagnoses. Patients ( N = 139) with unexplained somatic complaints completed the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III (SCID), the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), and the Short Form 36 (SF-36). Shenjing shuairuo could be reclassified as DSM-IV undifferentiated somatoform disorder (30.6%) and somatoform pain disorder (22.4%); however, 44.9% did not qualify for a core DSM-IV diagnosis. Concordance of neurasthenia and shenjing shuairuo was significant ( p < .001). Symptom distress and disability was similar to that reported by patients with somato-form and anxiety disorders. Within the Chinese context, shenjing shuairuo describes a heterogeneous group with clinically significant levels of disturbance and disability.
The Validity of DSM-IV Dissociative Disorders Categories in South-West Uganda
Authors: Van Duijl Marjolein , Cardeña Etzel , De Jong Joop T. V. M.
Published: June 2005

There is little systematic research on the cross-cultural validity of the dissociative disorders, especially in non-western countries. This study evaluates the fit of the DSM-IV classification and concepts of these disorders with local concepts, experiences and local presentations in south-west Uganda. We conducted focus group discussions with medical students, traditional healers, religious leaders, counselors, community members and other health workers ( n = 48). They were supplemented by key informant interviews with religious people, traditional healers and leaders ( n = 11). The responses were subjected to thematic analysis. Dissociative amnesia and depersonalization were generally recognized and seen as the result of traumatic experiences and were useful categories in Uganda. However, dissociative fugue did not match local concepts and was confused with spirit possession and other conditions such as alcoholic fugues and dementia. The description of dissociative identity disorder was always interpreted as a possession trance disorder by the local healers. We found only partial support for the validity of the DSM-IV classification of dissociative disorders in Uganda.
Cultural Challenges to Psychosocial Counselling in Nepal
Authors: Tol Wietse A. , Jordans Mark J.D. , Regmi Sushama , Sharma Bhogendra
Published: June 2005

This article describes the way in which the practice of psychosocial counselling was adapted culturally to the context of Nepal within the Centre for Victims of Torture, Nepal (CVICT). After a brief description of the Nepali setting and CVICT’s counselling and training approach and the relationship of its psychosocial counselling intervention with existing methods of dealing with psychosocial problems, the cultural challenges of implementing psychosocial counselling and our response to them are sketched along with concepts deemed important in psychosocial counselling. A discussion follows in which the authors’ stance on the export of psychosocial counselling to non-western cultures is outlined.
Size matters
Authors: Evans Nicola
Published: June 2005

One effect of the interdependencies fuelled by globalization and new communication technologies is the disappearance of a stable sense of the size of the world and our location in it. This article looks at a number of attempts to cognitively remap the world by scaling it down to more manageable proportions, drawing on examples from anthropology, cosmopolitan discourse, Hollywood film and ‘small world’ theory. My focus is on how these new world maps transform the role of the stranger. Focusing on six degrees of separation chains in which individuals form connections with randomly encountered strangers across the world, I argue that this type of global networking reveals the many ways there are of not knowing other people and provides a useful counter-narrative to the paranoid cosmopolitanism fostered by the contemporary war on terror.
Bollywood in the Indian-American diaspora
Authors: Punathambekar Aswin
Published: June 2005

This article brings together ethnographic detail and a thematic reading of Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham ( K3G) to examine the mediation of consensus regarding ‘Indianness’ in the diaspora. I argue that K3G’s emotional resonance with viewers in the diaspora is attributable in part to the departure that its narrative marks from Hindi cinema’s earlier efforts to recognize and represent expatriate Indians. In positioning and drawing the diaspora into the fold of a ‘great Indian family’, K3G articulates everyday struggles over being Indian in the US to a larger project of cultural citizenship that has emerged in relation to India’s tentative entry into a transnational economy and the centrality of the NRI (non-resident Indian) figure to India’s navigation of this space. I argue that this process of mediation follows a transitive logic involving K3G’s representational strategies, first generation Indian immigrants’ emotional investment in the idea of India and the Indian nation state’s attempts to forge symbolic and material ties with the expatriate community.
Transformation scenes
Authors: Philips Deborah
Published: June 2005

The ‘transformation’ or ‘makeover’ of people and places has long been a standard feature of popular women’s magazines and is now a dominant form of television. The television design programme offers an uneasy interface between the private world of the domestic and the public world of television, a tension apparent in the conventions that surround the encounter between ‘ordinary’ people and television personalities in interior decoration programmes such as Home Front and Changing Rooms. The magic of television promises that the old fashioned, the dowdy, the ‘tasteless’ can be transformed through the expertise of ‘designers’ and experts. This article will address the transformation of designers into television personalities and argue that the ‘experts’ on the television makeover show act as ‘tastemakers’. The article will argue that the growth of the transformation programme on television is bound up with the privatization of property and with the rising cost of housing and that knowledge of interior design is explicitly understood in the language of these programmes as a capital investment. Using Bourdieu, this article suggests that while claiming a democratization of taste, such programmes serve to confirm the superior knowledge and cultural capital of the designated expert. The subjects of the makeover are required by the programme’s conventions to accept the dictates of the ‘tastemaker’ and, in that acceptance, to erase the traces of their own ‘habitus’ in favour of a commodification of taste and style.
Apocalypse probably
Authors: Gow John , Leahy Terry
Published: June 2005

Beck suggests that contemporary society is perceived in terms of real and often catastrophic risks that are integral to modernity. This article explores people’s fears of environmental risks and how these are mediated by socioeconomic circumstances. Issues are explored with reference to a first phase interview and focus group study, and a second phase survey of Hunter residents. A majority of respondents reported that a range of catastrophic future outcomes were likely and that urgent action was required. Responsibility for this crisis was attributed to ‘others’, notably ‘big business’. While respondents demonstrated little confidence in governments or major parties, they were wary of environmentalism, fearing negative impacts on the lives of ‘ordinary people’. Only a small minority were politically active. This apathy can be interpreted in a number of ways - in relation to ‘risk society’ and globalization, or as fatalistic withdrawal in the face of impending catastrophe.
Interviewing men
Authors: Pini Barbara
Published: June 2005

This article describes the masculinities engaged by male leaders of an Australian agricultural organization, CANEGROWERS, during interviews with a young, female, doctoral student. The masculinities displayed involved the men emphasizing their heterosexuality, presenting themselves as powerful and busy, and positioning themselves as having expert and superior knowledge. It is argued that important in shaping the interview process was the gender focus of the research topic itself, as well as the gendered research context of CANEGROWERS. Thus, to understand the impact of gender on interviewing, we need to go beyond a simple focus on the gender of the interviewer and interviewee, and undertake a more sophisticated analysis which explores the intersection of the mediating influences of ‘who, whom, what and where’.
Consumption and Theories of Practice
Authors: Warde Alan
Published: June 2005

This article considers the potential of a revival of interest in theories of practice for the study of consumption. It presents an abridged account of the basic precepts of a theory of practice and extracts some broad principles for its application to the analysis of final consumption. The basic assumption is that consumption occurs as items are appropriated in the course of engaging in particular practices and that being a competent practitioner requires appropriation of the requisite services, possession of appropriate tools, and devotion of a suitable level of attention to the conduct of the practice. Such a view stresses the routine, collective and conventional nature of much consumption but also emphasizes that practices are internally differentiated and dynamic. Distinctive features of the account include its understanding of the way wants emanate from practices, of the processes whereby practices emerge, develop and change, of the consequences of extensive personal involvements in many practices, and of the manner of recruitment to practices. The article concludes with discussion of some theoretical, substantive and methodological implications.
Consumption Denied?
Authors: Burton Dawn , Knights David , Leyshon Andrew , Alferoff Catrina , Signoretta Paola
Published: June 2005

This article explores the rise and fall of a distinctive form of financial services consumption within the UK: industrial branch, or home service, insurance. It developed in the 19th century as one of the first generally available financial services products, and was targeted at working-class and lower-middle-class households through agents who sold products, and collected premiums, door-to-door. However, this industry is now in terminal decline, which is in part a product of long-term social processes, the rise of ‘at-a-distance’ delivery systems for financial services, but also due to the unintended consequence of government regulation in the 1990s. This article draws upon research into this industry as it withdraws from this market, reveals the ways in which such firms interact with their customers, throws light upon their strategies of market withdrawal, and reflects upon the implications of the demise of this market for their former customers.
Brands
Authors: Arvidsson Adam
Published: June 2005

This article proposes a critical perspectives on brands based on recent developments within Marxist thought. It argues that brands build on the immaterial labour of consumers: their ability to create an ethical surplus (a social bond, a shared experience, a common identity) through productive communication. This labour is generally free in the sense that it is both un-paid and more or less autonomous. Contemporary brand management consists in a series of techniques by means of which such free labor is managed so that it comes to produce desirable and valuable outcomes. By thus making productive communication unfold on the plateau of brands, the enhanced ability of the contemporary multitude to produce a common social world is exploited as a source of surplus value.
The uses of marketing theory: Constructs, research propositions, and managerial implications
Authors: Cornelissen Joep P. , Lock Andrew R.
Published: June 2005

Although images of the relationship between marketing science and practice have been dominant features of past and contemporary marketing thought, surprisingly little research has been conducted on the subject, particularly at the level of the marketing practitioner. This article provides a framework for characterizing and better understanding the ways in which practitioners value and use academic theory, and defines a set of propositions for guiding research into this area. The exercise is intended to urge fellow researchers to refine, test and augment the working hypotheses suggested herein in order to achieve a better understanding of the ways in which marketing practitioners attend to, value and use marketing scientific theories. Managerial implications of this research are discussed.
The fourth hermeneutic in marketing theory
Authors: Lowe Sid , Carr Adrian N. , Thomas Michael , Watkins-Mathys Lorraine
Published: June 2005

Murray and Ozanne (1991) provided evidence of paradigmatic approaches in market and consumer research by classifying the field into Positivism, Interpretivism and Critical Theory. We discuss these approaches and celebrate their contribution. We posit, however, that paradigms are symptomatic of an epistemological trap that privileges knowledge to the detriment of other vital virtues. We propose to employ Capra’s triadic concept (Capra, 1997) to develop the notion of ‘paradigmapping’ and demonstrate that this concept can be employed to transcend incommensurability in the field of marketing. We also propose to supplement Alvesson and Skoldberg’s (2000) ‘triple’ hermeneutics of individual reflection, social construction and critical theory with a healthier balance between knowledge and other virtues. We posit a relativist position where we clearly wish to argue the case for considering marketing’s potential as a moral art rather than the amoral science we submit it has become.
Thinking of marketing in meridian terms
Authors: Cova Bernard
Published: June 2005

The present article sustains the idea of a Mediterranean approach to marketing by highlighting one of the major differentiating traits of ‘Meridian thinking’, as defined by Cassano: a sense of proportion that makes it possible to trace the main directions of a moderate marketing approach capable of avoiding the excesses characterizing so many marketing proposals on offer today.
Patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria have a high frequency of peripheral-blood T cells expressing activating isoforms of inhibiting superfamily receptors
Authors: Poggi Alessandro , Negrini Simone , Zocchi Maria Raffaella , Massaro Anna-Maria , Garbarino Lucia , Lastraioli Sonia , Gargiulo Lucia , Luzzatto Lucio , Notaro Rosario
Published: June 2005

Patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) have a large clonal population of blood cells deriving from hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) deficient in glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored surface molecules. A current model postulates that PNH arises through negative selection against normal HSCs exerted by autoreactive T cells, whereas PNH HSCs escape damage. We have investigated the inhibitory receptor superfamily (IRS) system in 13 patients with PNH. We found a slight increase in the proportion of T cells expressing IRS. In contrast to what applies to healthy donors, the engagement of IRS molecules on T cells from patients with PNH elicited a powerful cytolytic activity in a redirected killing assay, indicating that these IRSs belong to the activating type. This was confirmed by clonal analysis: 50% of IRS+ T-cell clones in patients with PNH were of the activating type, while only 5% were of the activating type in healthy donors. Moreover, the ligation of IRS induces (1) production of tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) and interferon γ (IFN-γ) and (2) brisk cytolytic activity against cells bearing appropriate IRS counter-ligands. In addition, these IRS+ T cells show natural killer (NK)-like cytolytic activity to which GPI- cells were less sensitive than GPI+ cells. Thus, T cells with NK-like features, expressing the activating isoforms of IRS, may include effector cells involved in the pathogenesis of PNH.