bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Natural History and Magnetic Resonance Imaging Follow-up in 9 Sturge-Weber Syndrome Patients and Clinical Correlation
Authors: Udani Vrajesh , Pujar Suresh , Munot Pinki , Maheshwari Shailendra , Mehta Nirad
Published: June 2007

The natural history of Sturge-Weber Syndrome is variable where some patients have refractory epilepsy and persistent neurologic deficits while others do well. Also, evolution of MRI abnormalities is largely unknown. This long-term follow-up study tries to address these two issues. This retrospective and later prospective study followed 9 children with confirmed SWS. Clinical details of seizures, stroke-like episodes, neurologic and developmental deficits were ascertained specifically. Patients were divided into those with onset below or after 6 months of age for analysis. Disease was classified as active or inactive and correlations were made with the use of aspirin. All past, as well as prospectively acquired imaging was reviewed by two independent blinded neuroradiologists and the images were analysed as ictal (temporally related to seizure/stroke-like event) or interictal. Degree and extent of leptomeningeal enhancement was specifically looked for. Four boys and five girls were followed up for a mean of 6.1 years. Disease activity subsided in 8/9. Early-onset patients had a severe early course with significant residual deficits while late-onset patients did uniformly well. In 6 patients where aspirin was used, a stable course ensued. There was a significant increase in degree/extent of leptomeningeal enhancenment during an ictus which returned to the baseline in the interictal state in all 7 patients where both images were available. Focal cerebral atrophy worsened in early-onset cases. In conclusion, SWS patients with onset of seizures/stroke-like events before 6 months of age seem to do worse with a severe early course and persistent neurologic deficits. However the course stabilizes after 5 years of age in most. Late-onset SWS patients have a benign course. Aspirin use is associated with a stable course though further studies are needed. The leptomeningeal enhancement appears to increase during acute events before returning to baseline suggesting that extent of the disease is probably best judged during the interictal state.
Corpus Callosum Size in Children With Spastic Cerebral Palsy: Relationship to Clinical Outcome
Authors: Kułak Wojciech , Sobaniec Wojciech , Kubas Bożena , Walecki Jerzy
Published: June 2007

This study examines corpus callosum pathology in children with spastic cerebral palsy aged 7 to 15 years and to investigates the relation between corpus callosum areas and clinical picture. Magnetic resonance images of 46 patients were reviewed prospectively. Twenty-two patients with cerebral palsy were age and gender matched with the control patients. The cerebral palsy group had a significantly smaller mean corpus callosum surface area than did the control group. The cerebral palsy group also had a significantly smaller mean internal skull surface area measurement than did the control group. The corpus callosum/internal skull surface area ratio was also smaller for those with cerebral palsy. Wechsler Intelligence Scale Verbal IQ scores were associated with the surface area of the corpus callosum in cerebral palsy patients. A significant relationship between corpus callosum surface area and IQ scores in children with cerebral palsy was found. A positive correlation between internal skull surface area and IQ scores in children with cerebral palsy was noted. A significant correlation between Apgar score and corpus callosum surface area in the cerebral palsy group was found. A negative correlation between corpus callosum surface area and the Gross Motor Function Classification System in patients with cerebral palsy was noted.
Seizure Recurrence and Developmental Disabilities After Neonatal Seizures: Outcomes Are Unrelated to Use of Phenobarbital Prophylaxis
Authors: Guillet Ronnie , Kwon Jennifer
Published: June 2007

This study investigated treatment patterns at discharge in infants with neonatal seizures and evaluated the impact of outpatient phenobarbital prophylaxis on the frequency of seizure recurrence and the long-term neurodevelopmental outcome at 1 to 11 years. Infants with neonatal seizures during a 12-year period were identified retrospectively (n = 146), and data were obtained by medical chart review. Outcomes were ascertained by standardized telephone survey. Thirty-three infants (23%) were taking phenobarbital, and 99 infants (68%) were taking no anticonvulsants at discharge. Comparisons were made between these 2 groups. Phenobarbital prophylaxis did not improve neurologic outcomes, either with respect to seizure recurrence or neurologic development. These data have important implications at a time when many are questioning the practice of prophylaxis after neonatal seizures and when newer anticonvulsants are being recommended for treatment of acute neonatal seizures.
Differentiating Between Benign and Less Benign: Epilepsy Surgery in Symptomatic Frontal Lobe Epilepsy Associated With Benign Focal Epileptiform Discharges of Childhood
Authors: Altenmüller Dirk-Matthias , Schulze-Bonhage Andreas
Published: June 2007

Benign focal epileptiform discharges of childhood are a genetically determined electroencephalographic trait. Assessment of their clinical relevance in children with epilepsy may be difficult if imaging reveals a lesion congruent or incongruous with the focus of the benign focal epileptiform discharges of childhood. This article reports a boy with parietooccipital benign focal epileptiform discharges of childhood in whom videoelectroencephalography and magnetic resonance imaging disclosed symptomatic frontal lobe epilepsy. Surgical removal of a focal cortical dysplasia in the left frontal lobe yielded freedom from seizures and positive behavioral and cognitive development. Nocturnal benign focal epileptiform discharges of childhood persisted until puberty (follow-up, 50 months). Early diagnostic differentiation of idiopathic syndromes such as idiopathic benign focal epilepsy of childhood from symptomatic focal epilepsies with a potentially less benign course is important. In symptomatic frontal lobe epilepsy, epilepsy surgery may yield an excellent outcome despite the presence of concurrent benign focal epileptiform discharges of childhood.
Acute Ophthalmoparesis Associated With Anti-GM1, Anti-GD1a, and Anti-GD1b Antibodies After Enterovirus Infection in a 6-Year-Old Girl
Authors: Fusco Carlo , Bertani Gianna , Scarano Angela , Giustina Elvio Della
Published: June 2007

This article presents a 6-year-old girl who developed acute unilateral third cranial nerve palsy in the absence of any other sign of central nervous system involvement. Raised titers of immunoglobulin M antibodies against GM1, GD1a, and GD1b ganglioside components were demonstrated. Ten days earlier, the girl had experienced acute gastroenteritis with positive specific immunoglobulin M antibodies against enterovirus. The results of all other laboratory tests usually performed for infectious diseases were negative, and neuroradiologic findings were also normal. Oral prednisone was administered for a few days, and the ophthalmoparesis fully resolved within 1 month. Two months later, a second episode of isolated ophthalmoparesis occurred, again associated with a positive immunoglobulin M reaction against GM1, GD1a, and GD1b antigens. This report discusses the relationship between acute isolated ophthalmoparesis and antiganglioside antibodies.
Acute Midbrain Infarction in a Child With Intracranial Carotid Artery Hypoplasia and Aberrant Cerebral Vasculature: A Case Report
Authors: Tsai Ming-Ju , Lin Wei-Chen , Kuo Chang-Hung , Chou Hsiao-Feng , Yang Rei-Cheng
Published: June 2007

Strokes identified in older children typically present with sudden hemiparesis, frequent association with seizures, and occasional accompaniment of hemisensory signs or visual field defects. In this case of a left cerebral peduncle infarction, initially the patient was not found with evident right-side hemiparesis but with right-side paresthesia and mild worsening of her underlying left-side weakness, including weakness of left facial expression and left ptosis. Her right limbs became gradually weaker in the first 2 days. These bizarre clinical presentations, the mild worsening of the underlying left-side weakness, and the delayed presentation of right-side hemiparesis added to the difficulty of making a diagnosis and of the initial localization. In addition, the magnetic resonance angiography incidentally found an abnormal vessel, which was additional and serpiginous to the right posterior fossa. The right internal carotid artery was markedly smaller than the left one, and a defect was seen around the area of the presumed distal right internal carotid artery. The abnormal cerebral vasculature might be the cause of the unique clinical presentation and might be the contributing factor to the recurrence of her stroke. In conclusion, the authors report a special case of recurrent stroke on the basis of aberrant cerebral vasculature.
How to Prevent Small Stature in Rett Syndrome—Associated Collapsing Spine Syndrome
Authors: Thorey Fritz , Jäger Marcus , Seller Konrad , Wild Alexander , Adam Rüdiger A. , Krauspe Rüdiger
Published: June 2007

Severe scoliosis in Rett syndrome is an important orthopedic, neurologic, and pediatric problem. The curve in Rett syndrome is of a neurologic type, has its highest incidence during early childhood, and shows rapid progression. In this study, the authors report the results of a 4-year follow-up of a 10-year-old Rett syndrome female patient with early onset and severe rapid progressive thoracolumbar scoliosis. The first signs of spinal deformity were documented at age 3 years. During adolescence, the patient developed a 115-degree thoracolumbal scoliosis with reduced respiratory volume due to a collapsing spine syndrome. To stop this life-threatening progression of the curve, the patient was treated by a 2-stage surgical procedure. The combination of an anterior release, halo traction, and posterior instrumented fusion from Th3 to L5 using a computer-assisted technique was performed. An excellent reduction of the deformity was achieved (postoperative 24-degree Cobb angle). After 4 years, the authors found a radiologically solid spinal fusion and no progression of the deformity. Operative treatment regimes and etiology of severe spinal deformities in Rett syndrome were discussed. The high perioperative risks in Rett syndrome patients who underwent spinal surgery may be reduced by an early cooperation between orthopedic and pediatric specialists. When considering recent data from literature, it can be concluded that an early correction of spine deformities in Rett syndrome patients may prevent a life-threatening collapsing spine syndrome.
X-Linked Myotubular Myopathy: Report of a Case With Novel Mutation
Authors: Hortobágyi Tibor , Szabó Hajnalka , Kovács Krisztián S. , Bódi István , Bereg Edit , Katona Márta , Biancalana Valérie , Túri Sándor , Sztriha László
Published: June 2007

Myotubular myopathy is a well-defined entity within the centronuclear myopathy subgroup of congenital myopathies. The authors present a patient with the most severe X-linked recessive type (XLMTM). A baby boy presented at birth with severe hypotonia, weak spontaneous movements, arthrogryposis, and respiratory insufficiency. Muscle biopsy showed features of myotubular myopathy. The diagnosis was confirmed and further specified by genetic analysis, revealing a novel frameshift mutation (1314-1315insT) of the myotubularin-coding MTM1 gene. This case underlines the importance of interdisciplinary analysis of congenital muscle diseases, including histomorphological and genetic investigations.
Menkes Syndrome Presenting as Myoclonic Seizures: Neuroimaging and EEG Observations
Authors: Bindu P.S. , Sinha S. , Taly A.B. , Kovur J.M.E. , Gayathri N. , Arunodaya G.R.
Published: June 2007

The authors report an 11-month-old boy with Menkes kinky hair disease who presented with global delay in acquiring milestones and repeated myoclonic jerks. He had scanty, hypopigmented scalp hairs with steely wool-like texture and intervening zones of alopecia. There was low serum ceruloplasmin (5 mg/dL) and copper (24.2 µg/dL). Neuroimaging of the brain revealed marked cerebral atrophy and significant delayed myelination. Magnetic resonance angiography showed tortuous cerebral and neck blood vessels. There was poor therapeutic response to symptomatic treatment.
Ocular Manifestations of Donnai-Barrow Syndrome
Authors: Patel Nehal , Hejkal Thomas , Katz Allen , Margalit Eyal
Published: June 2007

Donnai-Barrow syndrome is a rare autosomal recessive disorder first described in 1993. This report presents ocular manifestations of this rare autosomal recessive disorder through 2 additional cases. Ocular features include hypertelorism, down-slanting palpebral fissures, iris coloboma, high myopia, and retinal detachment. The extreme congenital myopia in these patients is a significant risk factor for retinal detachment, and prophylactic barrier photocoagulation may be considered to prevent retinal detachment and its associated functional disability.
Clinical Diagnosis of Syncopes (Including So-called Breath-Holding Spells) Without Electroencephalography or Ocular Compression
Authors: Stephenson John B. P.
Published: June 2007

A recent article in this journal suggested that ocular compression during electroencephalography was useful in distinguishing `breath-holding spells and syncope` from epileptic seizures. The method proposed involved measurement of the RR interval on the simultaneously recorded electrocardiographic trace and determining both the absolute RR lengthening and the change in RR interval as compared with the baseline value. It is argued by the present author that this is not an appropriate way to come to a diagnosis in episodic loss of consciousness in children. It is pointed out that so-called `breath-holding spells` are reflex syncopes and that the diagnosis of reflex syncopes should be by clinical history, even if this means delaying the diagnosis until a future consultation. Published evidence on the nature and clinical diagnosis of reflex syncopes in infants and children is reviewed in depth. It is concluded that routine electroencephalography is not an appropriate investigation when the diagnosis of episodic loss of consciousness is in doubt and has the implicit danger of false positive `abnormality`. Aside from scientific exploration of the developing autonomic nervous system, the only current indication for diagnostic ocular compression is to induce a syncope so that its nature may be better understood. Such a circumstance might be a history of an apparent reflex syncope but with atypical features, including prolonged post-syncopal unconsciousness such as might indicate epileptic absence status. Several additional investigations of a primarily cardiological nature may be indicated in some cases, but a wait-and-see policy is usually to be preferred.
Pharmacology, Efficacy, and Tolerability of Potassium Bromide in Childhood Epilepsy
Authors: Korinthenberg Rudolf , Burkart Peter , Woelfle Christiane , Moenting Jürgen Schulte , Ernst Jan Peter
Published: June 2007

This study investigated the efficacy and tolerability of potassium bromide in 113 patients (aged, 1-20 years) with severe epilepsy and generalized tonic-clonic seizures. Potassium bromide was started at 45 mg/kg and raised to 70 mg/kg (median). Steady-state blood level was reached after a median of 28 days (range, 5-95 days). The number of patients who had suffered generalized tonic-clonic seizures during the last month dropped from 82 to 41, and the median frequency, dropped from 4.5 to 0 per month. Of the patients with generalized tonic-clonic seizures during baseline, 49% showed none in the last 4 weeks of the study, and another 31% showed a reduction by more than 50%. Potassium bromide should have a place as a drug of tertiary choice in the treatment of children with epilepsy. Experience with the drug and close clinical and pharmacologic monitoring are necessary to achieve the greatest possible benefit and avoid side effects.
Quantifying Risk and Benchmarking Performance in the Adult Intensive Care Unit
Authors: Higgins Thomas L.
Published: June 2007

Morbidity, mortality, and length-of-stay outcomes in patients receiving critical care are difficult to interpret unless they are risk-stratified for diagnosis, presenting severity of illness, and other patient characteristics. Acuity adjustment systems for adults include the Acute Physiology And Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE), the Mortality Probability Model (MPM), and the Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS). All have recently been updated and recalibrated to reflect contemporary results. Specialized scores are also available for patient subpopulations where general acuity scores have drawbacks. Demand for outcomes data is likely to grow with pay-for-performance initiatives as well as for routine clinical, prognostic, administrative, and research applications. It is important for clinicians to understand how these scores are derived and how they are properly applied to quantify patient severity of illness and benchmark intensive care unit performance.
Complications of Emergency Tracheal Intubation: Hemodynamic Alterations - Part I
Authors: Mort Thomas C.
Published: June 2007

Emergency airway management outside the elective operating room presents considerable risks to the patient and significant challenges to the practitioner. Complications and adverse consequences are commonplace, yet they have not received their justified discussion or scrutiny in the literature. This review will discuss potentially life-threatening complications partitioned into 2 broad categories: hemodynamic and airway. Part 1 will focus on alterations in the heart rate and blood pressure, new onset cardiac dysrhythmias and cardiac arrest. Part 2 will explore airway related consequences such as hypoxemia, esophageal intubation, multiple intubation attempts, and aspiration.
Minimizing Tolerance and Withdrawal to Prolonged Pediatric Sedation: Case Report and Review of the Literature
Authors: Cho Hannah H. , O'Connell James P. , Cooney Maureen F. , Inchiosa Mario A.
Published: June 2007

Midazolam and fentanyl infusions are commonly used for prolonged sedation and analgesia in the pediatric intensive care setting. Tolerance and withdrawal are major concerns when these infusions are used for days or weeks. Here, we review the current approaches to prolonged pediatric sedation using midazolam and fentanyl and discuss newer strategies to avoid tolerance and withdrawal syndromes. We report the case of a pediatric burn patient who developed tolerance syndrome and a movement disorder in our institution. We also review the relevant literature and methods of minimizing tolerance and withdrawal. Prolonged sedation is often necessary in treating critically ill children, and tolerance and abstinence syndrome can complicate a successful recovery. Scoring systems can be used to minimize oversedation and to titrate effectively. “Drug cycling,” “wake-up protocols,” and weaning regimens, possibly combined with adjuvant drugs, are being implemented successfully. Such novel approaches may decrease the incidence of tolerance and withdrawal associated with prolonged sedative and analgesic use.
She's From a `Good Family'
Authors: Caputo Virginia
Published: June 2007

In this article, the author explores the performances and practices of motherhood and childhood as they materialize in a private elementary school setting in Ottawa, Canada. The author analyses the ways the ideology of intensive mothering and the intensification of children's lives intersect and inform one another in this setting. She argues that these mutually reinforcing conceptualizations are maintained through surveillance and mother blame that result in narrowing possibilities for the lives of both women and children rather than creating spaces of childhood and motherhood envisaged in a capacious and mutually productive way.
Computer and Video Games in Family Life
Authors: Aarsand Pål André
Published: June 2007

In this ethnographic study of family life, intergenerational video and computer game activities were videotaped and analysed. Both children and adults invoked the notion of a digital divide, i.e. a generation gap between those who master and do not master digital technology. It is argued that the digital divide was exploited by the children to control the game activities. Conversely, parents and grandparents positioned themselves as less knowledgeable, drawing on a displayed divide as a rhetorical resource for gaining access to playtime with the children. In these intergenerational encounters, the digital divide was thus an interactional resource rather than a problem.
Paths To Participatory Autonomy
Authors: Hungerland Beatrice , Liebel Manfred , Liesecke Anja , Wihstutz Anne
Published: June 2007

This article examines the experiences of working children aged between 9 and 14 years in a German city, and the meanings the children ascribe to their work. This qualitative study is based upon a broad concept of work, which includes both unpaid and paid work. As far as work is concerned, the most important thing for children is being able to act independently and find approval for their work. They prefer to receive adequate payment as a form of recognition, but money is not a necessary motive nor the only motive for working. Children's attitude towards their work differs according to a number of factors: whether it offers the opportunity to perform their skills; the concrete use it has for others, and how far that work is appreciated by adults in their social environment. Work is not regarded as being in competition with school, but is seen as an additional opportunity for children to gain new experiences and expand their scope of activities. Work experience can become an important element in children's participative autonomy. Thus it can potentially strengthen their social status and encourage girls and boys to play an active role in society.
Theoretical Psychology
Authors: Robinson Daniel N.
Published: June 2007

It remains unclear as to just what a `theoretical psychology' might be or might claim as a mission. This is distinct from various and ad hoc psychological theories (e.g. Hullian learning theory, the opponent-process theory of color vision) which admit at least in principle of empirical tests of adequacy. The example of theoretical physics is offered heuristically to test the different senses of `theoretical psychology'.
Neuroscience and Theoretical Psychology
Authors: Machamer Peter , Sytsma Justin
Published: June 2007

This paper explores three connected claims about the interrelation of psychology and neuroscience that occur in discussions within theoretical psychology. The first and second claims are that neuroscience cannot offer a complete account of human psychology because it can show only correlations between neural events and cognitive or behavioral events. The third claim is that neuroscience ultimately is incomplete or irrelevant to psychological accounts since it is silent on crucial cultural and historical issues relevant to human knowledge and action. We argue that all of these claims are false, not because neuroscience can replace psychology, but because each discipline should be seen to complement and support the other.
Why Marx Left Philosophy for Social Science
Authors: Jost Lawrence J. , Jost John T.
Published: June 2007

It is customary to distinguish between philosophically oriented `critical psychologists' and `mainstream psychologists' who are committed to a scientific approach to the study of human behavior. In this article, we highlight a fundamental irony concerning the critical psychology movement, especially with respect to those contributions that appeal to Karl Marx and his legacy to justify the criticism or rejection of traditional scientific methods in approaching the subject matter of psychology on moral and/or epistemological grounds. The irony is that Marx's own intellectual development led him to abandon philosophy in favor of empirically grounded forms of investigation resembling those of today's `mainstream' social sciences. Unlike many contemporary critics who see little or nothing of possible value in the image and methods of sociology and psychology as sciences, Marx's own work sought to integrate critical, value-laden aims with a serious commitment to establishing independently verifiable facts. After examining a range of historical and biographical explanations given for Marx's change of heart, we show that Marx was one of the world's first social scientists. We highlight the characteristic features of a critical, empirically oriented Marxian social science, paying special attention to issues of continuing theoretical and meta-theoretical relevance in sociology, psychology and their intersection.
Who Do You Say that I Am?
Authors: Dube Musa W.
Published: June 2007

This article is an amalgam of four talks given over several days at The Community of Women and Men in Mission Conference. The overall title `Who do you say that I am?' covers the subjects of Jesus the Liberator, The Healer, The One Who Empowers, and The One Who Sends Us. The author explores these issues in the context of Africa and opens a very illuminating set of questions.
Using a Buddhist Sangha as a Model of Communitarianism in Nursing
Authors: Rich Karen L
Published: June 2007

In spite of a continuing long and rich history of caring for patients, many nurses have not been satisfied with their work. One cause among others for this dissatisfaction is that nurses often do not care for one another. The philosophy of a Buddhist Sangha, or community, is similar to the philosophy of western communitarian ethics. Both philosophies emphasize the importance of people working together harmoniously towards a common good. In this article, unsatisfactory nurse-nurse relationships have been considered and a model for communitarian nursing practice has been suggested based on a Buddhist Sangha.
Ethical and Cultural Considerations in Informed Consent in Botswana
Authors: Shaibu Sheila
Published: June 2007

Reflections on my experience of conducting research in Botswana are used to highlight tensions and conflicts that arise from adhering to the western conceptualization of bioethics and the need to be culturally sensitive when carrying out research in one's own culture. Cultural practices required the need to exercise discretionary judgement guided by respect for the culture and decision-making protocols of the research participants. Ethical challenges that arose are discussed. The brokerage role of nurse educators and leaders in contextualizing western bioethics is emphasized.
Mediating Consolation With Suicidal Patients
Authors: Gilje Fredricka , Talseth Anne-Grethe
Published: June 2007

Psychiatric nurses frequently encounter suicidal patients. Caring for such patients often raises ethical questions and dilemmas. The research question for this study was: 'What understandings are revealed in texts about consolation and psychiatric nurses' responses to suicidal patients?' A Gadamerian approach guided re-interpretation of published texts. Through synthesizing four interpretive phases, a comprehensive interpretation emerged. This revealed being 'at home' with self, or an ethical way of being, as a hermeneutic understanding of a way to become ready to mediate consolation with suicidal patients. Trustworthiness was addressed by means of the qualities of auditability, credibility and confirmability. This re-interpretation adds to nursing knowledge, enhances understanding of previous research findings, provides pre-understanding for further research and reveals the value of hermeneutic inquiry in nursing. It also deepens understanding of a published model of consolation. These understandings may help to guide nurses who are struggling with suicidal patients.
Effect of Lercanidipine on Kidney Microanatomy in Cohen-Rosenthal Diabetic Hypertensive Rats
Authors: Rosenthal Talma , Rosenmann Eliezer , Tomassoni Daniele , Amenta Francesco
Published: June 2007

The study was undertaken to determine the effect of treatment with the dihydropyridine-type calcium antagonist lercanidipine on the renal vasculature in Cohen-Rosenthal diabetic hypertensive rats, a genetic model of hypertension associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Eight animals were given a daily oral dose of 3 mg/kg lercanidipine in drinking water for 8 weeks, and 6 control animals received no treatment. The effects on blood pressure, glucose level, and kidney microanatomy were evaluated. Lercanidipine reduced systolic blood pressure and glucose level. In the control group small arteries and glomerular arterioles exhibited wall thickening and luminal narrowing. Lercanidipine administration prevented the changes in small-sized arteries and glomerular arterioles. The glomerular changes observed in the untreated Cohen-Rosenthal diabetic hypertensive rats were not seen in the lercanidipine-treated animals. Lercanidipine also had beneficial effects on the renal vasculature, suggesting that the compound may be considered for treating hypertension associated with diabetes.
The Cycloxygenase 2 (COX-2) Story: It's Time to Explain, Not Inflame
Authors: Salinas Guillermo , Rangasetty Umamahesh C. , Uretsky Barry F. , Birnbaum Yochai
Published: June 2007

Despite initial promising reports that anti-inflammatory properties of cycloxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitors may confer anti-atherosclerosis effects and stabilize the atherosclerotic plaque, subsequent data from long-term clinical trials have shown that selective COX-2 inhibitors are associated with increased risk of cardiovascular events. The commonly cited explanation is that selective inhibition of COX-2 leads to depletion of prostacyclin, whereas the production of pro-thrombotic thromboxane by means of cycloxygenase-1 (COX-1) is unopposed. This hypothesis seems unlikely as the overall explanation, because low-dose aspirin does not decrease the increased risk associated with COX-2 inhibitors. Moreover, the risk associated with nonselective COX inhibitors may be similar to selective COX-2 inhibitors. Alternative hypotheses include (1) elevated blood pressure, (2) abnormal vascular remodeling, (3) inhibition of protective mechanisms against ischemia—reperfusion injury, and (4) inhibition of 15-epi-lipoxin production. Varying results in different experimental models may be related to the fact that COX-2 is involved in numerous cellular functions. Inhibiting COX-2 in inflammatory cells may have favorable effects, whereas in organs such as the heart and brain and/or blood vessels may have deleterious effects. Currently, the “selective COX-2 inhibitors” are not selective in the sense that they inhibit COX-2 in all tissues without predilection to inflammatory cells and, as a result, may summate to increase the risk of cardiovascular events.
Brain Natriuretic Peptide: Clinical and Research Challenges
Authors: Carrillo-Jimenez Rodolfo , Borzak Steven , Hennekens Charles H.
Published: June 2007

Natriuretic peptides, in particular, brain or B-type, are useful for the assessment of patients presenting with dyspnea to the medical office or emergency department. Levels of natriuretic peptides are useful for assessing prognosis of heart failure or coronary syndrome patients. Less is known about serial peptide measurements for guiding treatment strategies in heart failure. The authors review the uses, pitfalls, and practical points for using natriuretic peptides clinically.
Mode of Death in Patients With Systolic Heart Failure
Authors: Patel Jigar , Heywood J. Thomas
Published: June 2007

Although the landscape of heart failure continues to rapidly evolve, and the widespread use of evidence-based pharmaceutical and device therapies has improved overall survival rates, mortality rates in heart failure patients remain high. Understanding the mode of death in heart failure is particularly important if we are to improve survival. This study reviews the evaluation of modes of death from heart failure and discusses the therapies, both pharmaceutical and device, that are useful in preventing these sequelae.
Therapeutic Angiogenesis With Bone Marrow—Derived Stem Cells
Authors: Tse Hung-Fat , Lau Chu-Pak
Published: June 2007

Despite that advances in medical treatment and interventional procedures have reduced the mortality rate in patients with coronary artery disease, the number of patients with refractory myocardial ischemia and congestive heart failure is rapidly increasing. Experimental studies have demonstrated that bone marrow (BM) contains adult stem cells that can induce neovascularization and improve heart function in ischemic myocardium. Recent insights into the understanding of the mechanisms involved in proliferation, recruitment, mobilization, and incorporation of BM-derived stem cells into the myocardium and blood vessels have prompted development of cellular transplantation therapy for heart diseases refractory to conventional therapy. Initial preliminary clinical studies indicated potential clinical benefit of BM therapy in patients with acute myocardial infarction and chronic myocardial ischemia. Nevertheless, many obstacles remain, such as long-term safety and optimal timing and treatment strategies for BM cell therapy, and these issues need to be addressed in rationally designed, randomized clinical trials.
Team Learning and Communication: the Effectiveness of Email-Based Ethics Discussions
Authors: Peek Lucia , Peek George , Roxas Maria , Robichaud Yves , Blanco Huguette
Published: June 2007

In fall 2003, students from two U.S. universities and a Canadian university participated in an ethics project. One solution to overcome the obstacles to ethics discussions among students who are geographically separated is the use of email as a mode of communication. As a basis for their discussions, the students used the accounting ethics vignette titled “The Error” from the Ar thur Andersen Business Ethics Program. This ar ticle repor ts on the results of the analysis of U.S. and Canadian students' responses to pre- and postquestionnaires concerning the alternatives available to the character in the ethics scenario before and after their written email discussions and group repor ts. The students did have significant changes in their responses after their discussions of the character's alternatives. It also repor ts the students' responses to a project feedback questionnaire concerning the students' perceptions of the importance of ethical training and discussions.
Psychiatric Culture and Bodies of Resistance
Authors: Blackman Lisa
Published: June 2007

Psychiatric culture provides an important site for humanities scholars interested in the relationships between body, culture and identity. The problem raised in this article is how to ‘think’ the body as discursive, material and embodied without reinstating the notion that the discursive and material are two separate, preexisting entities that somehow ‘interact’. The focus of this article will be on the complex relational dynamics that exist between science and culture in the production of psychopathology. The discussion will centre on the practices of a psychiatric user-movement, the Hearing Voices Network, that provide a radical challenge to the alignment of body, culture and identity in the production and understanding of psychopathology, and specifically the phenomenon of voice-hearing. The article will consider the importance of affectivity, relationality and embodiment in understanding the relationship between the performative injunctions of psychiatry, the transformative practices of the HVN and the production of subjectivity.
Faking Like a Woman? Towards an Interpretive Theorization of Sexual Pleasure
Authors: Jackson Stevi , Scott Sue
Published: June 2007

This article explores the possibility of developing a feminist approach to gendered and sexual embodiment which is rooted in the pragmatist/interactionist tradition derived from G.H. Mead, but which in turn develops this perspective by inflecting it through more recent feminist thinking. In so doing we seek to rebalance some of the rather abstract work on gender and embodiment by focusing on an instance of ‘heterosexual’ everyday/night life – the production of the female orgasm. Through engaging with feminist and interactionist work, we develop an approach to embodied sexual pleasure that emphasizes the sociality of sexual practices and of reflexive sexual selves. We argue that sexual practices and experiences must be understood in social context, taking account of the situatedness of sex as well as wider socio-cultural processes – the production of sexual desire and sexual pleasure (or their non-production) always entails interpretive, interactional processes.
Dancing with chains
Authors: Sun Wanning
Published: June 2007

• More than a decade after television became the medium of mass consumption in the West, Raymond Williams published Television: Technology and Cultural Form in 1974. Raymond Williams is interested in television not as the outcome of an isolated aesthetic adventure or technological triumph, but as the manifestation of a profoundly social process. Television arrived in China initially as both metonym and metaphor for the state's socialist modernity, but has now also become a symptom of the triumph of global capitalism. In what way can Williams' insights on television technology and social change be revisited and made meaningful to the socio-economic specificity of China in the reform era? By looking at some significant moments on China Central Television (CCTV) in the era of economic reforms since the 1980s, this article offers an account of the ways in which television as a form of technology plays a crucial role in the various junctures of China's social formations. In doing so, I seek to unravel the tension and dynamism between the creative and innovative impulse of television technology as an industry, the desire of the Chinese state for hegemonic control, and the naked ambition of the global economy ushered in by the Chinese state. •
Re-thinking the `Good Life`
Authors: Soper Kate
Published: June 2007

Citizenship and consumption have frequently been regarded as oppositional and even mutually exclusive domains of activity and theory. Recent consumption practices and discourses — although they raise many complex issues both empirically and theoretically — have begun to revise this perception. This article offers reasons for enlarging the framework of thinking about the contemporary `civic' or `republican' aspects of consumption in order to include considerations that have been little registered even in the argument of those whose special interest is in the environmentally concerned citizen or `ethical' consumer. It argues for the need to recognize the extent to which moral concerns may now be coinciding with more self-interested forms of disaffection with `consumerist' consumption, and revisions in thinking on the part of affluent consumers themselves about the `good life' and what conduces to human flourishing and personal fulfilment. Theorized under the concept of `alternative hedonism', attention is paid to the ways in which affluent consumption is both compromised by its negative effects (including congestion, pollution, overwork, stress) and pre-emptive of other possible pleasures and satisfactions. This theoretical approach is presented as distinctive in allowing for a consumer whose privately experienced and self-interested needs may come to encompass public goods and the gratifications of a more socially accountable consumption. The article advances a case for viewing the `alternative hedonist' reaction to consumerism as further adding to the ways in which consumption may be said today to be acquiring a `republican' dimension and emerging as a site of citizenship, and thereby of pressure for a sustainable consumption.
Conceptual Con/fusion in Democratic Societies
Authors: Jubas Kaela
Published: June 2007

Current rhetoric of democratic citizenship invokes an ideology of consumerism. In this article, I adopt a feminist/critical cultural studies perspective to explore the extent to which the relationship between consumption and citizenship is both part of the strategy of globalization and a historical association. I begin by reviewing a mainstream discourse on citizenship, as well as feminist and other critical responses to it. I then discuss the historical role of consumption as a marker of and, increasingly, a stand-in for citizenship under contemporary neoliberal, consumerist ideologies. Scholars from diverse disciplines and fields have brought the concepts of citizenship and consumption together, now routinely using terms such as citizen-consumer. I close with a discussion of problems with the notion of consumer-citizenship, notably the outstanding concern about equality, a fundamental aim of democratic citizenship, and the limitations of consumption as a strategy of resistance in previous eras and to the contemporary project of globalization.
Remembering Chet: theorizing the mythology of the self-destructive bohemian artist as self-producer and self-consumer in the market for romanticism
Authors: Bradshaw Alan , Holbrook Morris B.
Published: June 2007

From the viewpoint of marketing theory and the potential blurring of the distinction between production and consumption in the sphere of arts, entertainment, and culture, we explore the lived tragedy and mythology of Chet Baker as an epiphenomenon of the market's thirst for self-destructing artists that has plagued jazz for much of the past century. Historically grounding the iconic self-destructing artist as an inheritance from Romanticism, we consider the competing career orientations arising from the contradictory demands for musicians to produce aesthetic experiences for an audience of experts, cognoscenti, or devoted fans while also facing the need to earn cash in the mass market constituted by non-experts. This conceptualization gives rise to a framing of the ideal bohemian musician as self-producer and self-consumer. In marketing terms, pure bohemia entails both the production and consumption of one's own artistic genius and aesthetic experience. But unfortunately — pushing the artist past the need to scuffle to make a living — the market, geared to Romantic expectations, may demand an additional component of self-destruction. Further, with reference to the consumer-research literature, we question the origins of this fascination with the artist as self-destructive icon and conclude by calling for ethical considerations in the consumption and production of jazz.
On the nature of markets and their practices
Authors: Kjellberg Hans , Helgesson Claes-Fredrik
Published: June 2007

This article presents a conceptual model of markets as constituted by practice. Drawing on recent sociological research on the performativity of market theories, the article stresses the need to take seriously the role of ideas in the making of markets. Since extant studies of performativity focus on the role of economics in shaping markets, it is argued that marketing as an academic discipline is a particularly apt partner in expanding this endeavour. The conceptual model presents markets as the ongoing results of three interlinked types of practices: normalizing practices serving to establish normative objectives; representational practices serving to depict markets and/or how they work; and exchange practices serving to realize individual economic exchanges. The links between these practices, which are conceived as translations, are elaborated upon using a number of empirical studies. Finally, the model is used to illustrate differences in how markets are being continuously realized. This highlights the lack of studies on performativity in markets constituted by configurations of market practices in which marketing theories and techniques are likely to be important.
Understanding the `new' distribution reality through `old' concepts: a renaissance for transvection and sorting
Authors: Hulthén Kajsa , Gadde Lars-Erik
Published: June 2007

Technical developments in manufacturing and increasingly efficient systems for physical distribution and information exchange have made new distribution configurations available. The main feature of the new configurations is the opportunity to provide end users with customized solutions. The aim of this article is to analyse the characteristics and implications of the evolving distribution arrangements by comparing the features of these arrangements with those of `traditional channels'. For this analysis we use two concepts developed by Wroe Alderson half a century ago: sorting and transvection. The article explores the features of a transvection and the role of sorting in each of the two channel contexts. We conclude that the transvection concept is particularly well-suited for understanding the characteristics and effects of the evolving distribution arrangements. We also explain how sorting is fundamental to both types of channels, although its role is different in the two settings.
Identity, Exclusion, and Critique
Authors: Fraser Nancy
Published: June 2007

In this article I reply to four critics. Responding to Linda Alcoff, I contend that my original two-dimensional framework discloses the entwinement of economic and cultural strands of subordination, while also illuminating the dangers of identity politics. Responding to James Bohman, I maintain that, with the addition of the third dimension of representation, my approach illuminates the structural exclusion of the global poor, the relation between justice and democracy, and the status of comprehensive theorizing. Responding to Nikolas Kompridis, I defend a view of recognition that prioritizes the critique of institutionalized injustice. Responding to Rainer Forst, I argue that such a critique is better formulated in participation-theoretic than justification-theoretic terms.
Rawls on Kant
Authors: Budde Kerstin
Published: June 2007

This article will investigate Rawls's claim that his theory is Kantian in origin. In drawing on the Lectures on the History of Moral Philosophy, I will show that Rawls's claim to be Kantian cannot be conclusively explained and assessed without the Lectures. An investigation of the Lectures shows that Rawls forces onto Kant's theory a Rawlsian interpretation which crucially alters Kant's theory. So far the secondary literature has neglected to subject Rawls's Lectures to detailed philosophical scrutiny. This article aims to fill this gap in the literature on Rawls's Kantianism. I will identify three points in Rawls's interpretation of Kant (need for CI-procedure, willing condition, true human needs) which are questionable. I argue that the similarities of Rawls's theory to Kant are due to these (mis)interpretations, which makes Rawls's claim to be Kantian ultimately not legitimate.
Plural Values and Heterogeneous Situations
Authors: Ceva Emanuela
Published: June 2007

This article aims to investigate the way in which a political theory of justice should respond to the endorsement of pluralism. After offering reasons in support of the necessity for such a theory to take pluralism seriously, an argument is put forward for its characterization in minimal and procedural terms. However, taking issue with the straightforward relationship of implication identified by a number of scholars between pluralism and procedural justice, this article contends that a direct relation can only be established between pluralism and the need to define a minimal theory of justice, i.e. a theory that assumes as little as possible in terms of values and views of the world. Its procedural formulation is seen, instead, as a consequence of the limited predictive power of theory facing the heterogeneous situations with which it is expected to deal.