bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Lack of association of mannose-binding lectin gene polymorphisms with development and clinical manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus in Chinese children
Authors: Tsai YC , Yao TC , Kuo ML , Cheng TT , Huang JL
Published: March 2009

Mannose-binding lectin (MBL) gene polymorphisms may be associated with adult-onset systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), but studies in children with SLE are rare. This study tested the genetic association between MBL polymorphisms and paediatric-onset SLE in a cohort of Chinese children in Taiwan. In all 150 children with SLE and 100 healthy controls of comparable age were genotyped for codon 52, 54 and 57 mutations of the MBL gene using a polymerase chain reaction–based assay. Clinical manifestations, organ involvement, disease activity, laboratory characteristics and outcome were recorded and compared between patients with different MBL genotypes. Codon 54 mutation was fairly common in both SLE patients and controls, whereas codon 52 and codon 57 mutations were not detected in our study subjects. No statistically significant differences were found in allele frequencies of the codon 54 mutation between SLE and control groups. Moreover, no association was found between this MBL polymorphism and clinical manifestations, organ involvement, disease activity, laboratory characteristics or outcome of SLE. These results suggest that MBL polymorphisms do not influence susceptibility to paediatric-onset SLE and do not influence clinical manifestations of SLE in Chinese children.
Testing for lupus anticoagulants: all that a clinician should know
Authors: Tripodi A
Published: March 2009

The presence of lupus anticoagulants (LA) in plasma alone or in combination with solid-phase antiphospholipid antibodies is an important prerequisite to define the antiphospholipid syndrome. The lack of specific tests to identify LA prompted standardization authorities to define a set of diagnostic criteria based on indirect evidence of the presence of LA and defined as screening, mixing and confirmatory studies. Accordingly, these studies must be carried out on patient plasmas and the relevant criteria satisfied before a firm diagnosis of LA can be made. Clinicians involved in LA testing should be aware of the limits which are inherent to this diagnosis, especially in patients who at the time of testing are on heparin and/or oral anticoagulant treatment, or are close to the acute thrombotic event. This article is aimed at reviewing the current situation and the light and shadows associated with this diagnostic procedure.
Stochastic Averaging of Quasi Linear Systems Subject to Multi- time-delayed Feedback Control and Wide-band Random Excitation
Authors: Li X.P. , Zhu W.Q. , Liu Z.H.
Published: March 2009

A stochastic averaging technique for resonant and non-resonant quasi linear systems subject to multi-time-delayed feedback control and wide-band random excitation is developed. The technique is then applied to predict the response of one and two degree-of-freedom linear oscillators with nonlinear dampings subject to wide-band random excitations and multi-time-delayed feedback control. It is shown through comparison with the result from Monte Carlo simulation that the proposed technique yields quite a good result, even for long delay time, and that the time-delayed feedback control may result in phenomenological bifurcation.
Chaos in Non-ideal Mechanical System with Clearance
Authors: Zukovic M. , Cveticanin L.
Published: March 2009

In this paper a non-ideal mechanical system with clearance is considered. The mechanical model of the system is an oscillator connected with an unbalanced motor. Due to the existence of clearance the connecting force between motor and the fixed part of the system is discontinuous but linear. The mathematical model of the system is represented by two coupled second-order differential equations. The transient and steady-state motion and also the stability of the system are analyzed. The Sommerfeld effect is detected. For certain values of the system parameters the motion is chaotic. This is caused by the period doubling bifurcation. The existence of chaos is proved with maximal Lyapunov exponent. A new chaos control method based on the known energy analysis is introduced and the chaotic motion is transformed into a periodic one.
Earthquake Response of RC Coupled Shear Walls Strengthened with Thin Composite Plates
Authors: Yeghnem R. , Meftah S.A. , Tounsi A. , Adda-Bedia E.
Published: March 2009

This paper deal with the seismic analysis of reinforced concrete (RC) coupled shear wall structures strengthened by bonded composite plates. In the analytical formulation of the present study, the adherent and the adhesive layers are modeled as shear wall elements, using the mixed finite element method. In the validation process of the proposal model, static and free vibration analyses of coupled shear walls are firstly studied. Comparisons with theoretical results reported in the literature are made and good agreement is observed. After this stage, numerical results are presented that relate to the performance of RC coupled shear walls bonded with composite plates under several different earthquake scenarios, in which an RC coupled shear wall strengthened by steel plates is treated as a limiting case.
Vold-Kalman Filter Order Tracking in Vibration Monitoring of Electrical Machines
Authors: Wang K.S. , Heyns P.S.
Published: March 2009

This paper presents a simplified simulation model of electrical rotating machinery and an experimental test rig for applying the Vold-Kalman filter order tracking technique (VKF-OT). The effectiveness and advantages of VKF-OT for condition monitoring are demonstrated on both the simulation model and the experimental test rig through time domain analysis, using crest factor and kurtosis. The choice of the Vold-Kalman filter bandwidth is considered in the context of the simulation model, based on two different damping ratios. Several observations are made regarding the choice of Vold-Kalman filter bandwidth for the different damping ratios. Three different filter bandwidths are subsequently considered in a study of the experimental data, to confirm the conclusions made during the simulation study.
Mobilization, Participation, and Solidaridad
Authors: Barreto Matt A. , Manzano Sylvia , Ramírez Ricardo , Rim Kathy
Published: March 2009

This article tests multiple hypotheses regarding participation in the 2006 immigration rallies in American cities. Specifically, the authors test whether the movement was widespread among Latinos or limited to Mexican immigrants, as speculated by the media, or whether group solidarity can be credited with mobilizing participation and support of Latino citizens for a largely immigrant cause. The consistent findings using both qualitative and quantitative approaches provide robust support for the conclusion that Latino support for the protests was strong across the population as a strong sense of solidarity unified the population around the immigration issue.
Designing for Dissemination: Development of an Evidence-Based Tobacco Treatment Curriculum for Psychiatry Training Programs
Authors: Prochaska Judith J. , Fromont Sebastien C. , Hudmon Karen Suchanek , Cataldo Janine K.
Published: March 2009

Psychiatry training programs provide a unique arena for affecting professional norms and increasing access to tobacco cessation services among smokers with mental illness. Psychiatry Rx for Change emphasizes evidence-based patient-oriented tobacco treatments relevant for tobacco users with psychiatric disorders. Following Diffusion of Innovations theory and the RE-AIM framework, the curriculum is being disseminated to psychiatry residency and graduate psychiatric nursing programs in the Western United States with plans to study curriculum adoption, implementation, and maintenance on a broad scale. Psychiatry Rx for Change aims to increase the likelihood that smokers with co-occurring disorders will receive evidence-based cessation treatment.
Windows of Opportunity for Culture Change Around Tobacco Use in Mental Health Settings
Authors: Solway Erica
Published: March 2009

BACKGROUND: Smoking rates among individuals with mental illnesses are significantly higher than in the general population and contribute to increased rates of morbidity and mortality. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to generate a theory of the process by which to lower the prevalence of smoking in this population. STUDY DESIGN: Grounded theory methods, including constant comparison and theoretical sampling, were used to uncover the emerging process of addressing tobacco use in mental health settings from the perspective of national leaders. RESULTS: Participants suggested that the culture in mental health settings around tobacco use significantly contributes to the high rates of smoking and described barriers to and opportunities for culture change. CONCLUSIONS: The findings highlight several windows of opportunity that have begun to be explored. Leaders described current signs of change within mental health settings and expressed optimism about the possibility to lower future rates of smoking among mental health consumers and staff members.
Tobacco Quitlines and Persons With Mental Illnesses: Perspective, Practice, and Direction
Authors: Morris Chad D. , Tedeschi Gary J. , Waxmonsky Jeanette A. , May Mandy , Giese Alexis A.
Published: March 2009

The prevalence of tobacco use among persons with mental illnesses is 2 to 3 times that of the general population, and these individuals suffer significant related health disparities. Many people with mental illnesses contact tobacco quitlines for cessation assistance. With free telephone counseling and in some cases nicotine replacement therapy, quitlines offer a potentially effective resource for this population. However, quitlines are still trying to determine how best to meet these callers' unique needs. The authors discuss emerging practices regarding quitline services for persons with mental illnesses, as well as expert opinion for enhancing work with these individuals.
How to Promote Self-Determination for Young Children With Disabilities
Authors: Erwin Elizabeth J. , Brotherson Mary Jane , Palmer Susan B. , Cook Christine C. , Weigel Cindy J. , Summers Jean Ann
Published: March 2009

Fran Martin, an early interventionist, arrives at the apartment of Jenny, a 3-year-old child with Down's syndrome, to provide services for Jenny and her mom, who is a single parent. Jenny is wearing a pretty pink dress that she chose to wear today. When she enters the family room, Fran is happy to see that the furniture has been rearranged to encourage Jenny's emerging gross motor activity while ensuring her safe use of the space. The toys provided are attractive and interesting to encourage Jenny's activity. Although Jenny has motor movement delays because of a cardiac condition and a number of surgeries to repair her malformed feet, she is beginning to pull up and shift her weight in a standing position. Fran talks with Jenny's mother about both her hopes and her concerns for her daughter. Fran and Jenny's mother continue to discuss ways to provide a safe environment that promotes movement that is both stimulating and interesting.
And lead us not into thinking the new is new: a bibliographic case for new media history
Authors: Peters Benjamin
Published: March 2009

Must the concept of the study of new media seem so thoroughly ordinary? What does it mean to study new media other than to study media that exist now? Prompted by the 10th anniversary of New Media & Society, this article aims to help rethink and elongate the history of new media studies by merging new media studies and media history literatures.The recursive definition and use of the term `new media' are reviewed. New media need to be understood not as emerging digital communication technologies, so much as media with uncertain terms and uses. Moreover, by recognizing that new media studies quickly become history and that most media history is already new media history, this article calls for a use of both literatures to focus on the renewable nature of media in history. It reflects on a complementary attitude toward history meant to help usher in a sounder future of the study of the past.
Renvois of the past, present and future: hyperlinks and the structuring of knowledge from the Encyclopédie to Web 2.0
Authors: Zimmer Michael
Published: March 2009

This article provides a 'long history' of the renvois, an 18th century antecedent of hyperlinked text featured prominently in Denis Diderot's Encyclopédie (1791). It describes the emergence of renvois in the encyclopedias of early modern Europe, traces its expansion over the course of the 20th century through the work of such pioneers as Vannevar Bush, Ted Nelson and Tim Berners-Lee, and looks forward to the potential of renvois as a key component of the semantic web and the growing use of folksonomies online. The article reveals how the use of renvois — both in the 18th century and today — leads to unsettling juxtapositions, contradictions and unexpected meanings, allowing readers to relinquish their position as passive receivers of pre-organized information, to subvert traditional knowledge structures and hierarchies, and to become active and integral participants in the production of knowledge.
The other path to the web: the forgotten role of videotex and other early online services
Authors: Carey John , Elton Martin C.J.
Published: March 2009

Accounts about the origins of the web generally start with a US Department of Defense project that began in the late 1960s, which subsequently expanded to include universities and research laboratories, then later evolved into a service for the public in the mid-1990s: ARPANET, NSFNET, the internet—world wide web. However, the content that eventually populated the web as well as how the public learned to interact with online content had a long history of development via videotex and other online services.These are largely forgotten, except by a few scholars who have kept the history alive. What was learned in the extensive research about these services is very relevant to the current new media environment. Also, it can inform us at a theoretical level about the diffusion of innovations and at a policy level about the role of government in developing new media services.
DAB Eureka-147: a European vision for digital radio
Authors: O'Neill Brian
Published: March 2009

Like its analogue counterpart, digital radio is one of the 'older' forms of new media. The technology of digital radio broadcasting has been under active development for at least 25 years and has produced a number of different technical solutions, the longest established of which is Eureka-147 or Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB). This article explores DAB's distinctly European vision for the future of broadcasting. DAB is traced to its origins in 1980s European research and development policy and its affinity with traditions of European public service broadcasting. Ironically, it was DAB's failure to capitalize on its 'Europeanness' that contributed to the fragmentary political support that it later received, compromising its subsequent implementation. From a contemporary perspective DAB's original mission, while visionary, to provide enhanced, interactive information and entertainment services through audio, text and visual content, appears to have misread trends towards convergence and appears out of step with contemporary media consumption patterns.
Audience manufacture in historical perspective: from broadcasting to Google
Authors: Bermejo Fernando
Published: March 2009

The question of what is new about new media has become a central topic of discussion in new media studies. This article frames within that question a historical and comparative analysis of the process of audience manufacture, and attempts to overcome the limitations of previous literature on the internet by situating the discussion within the political economy of communication. The main topics addressed in the 'blindspot debate' — the debate regarding the audience as the commodity produced by advertising-supported media — are used to guide an examination of audience manufacture in broadcasting media, and to contrast it with the manufacture of the online audience. The evolution of online advertising, in particular its relationship with search engines, serves as an entry point for questioning some well-established assumptions about the role of audiences in commercial media systems.
Not so revolutionary after all: the role of reinforcing frames in US magazine discourse about microcomputers
Authors: Kelly Jean P.
Published: March 2009

This study investigates the role of media discourse in the hegemonic process by which the microcomputer became a common and trusted appliance in the USA during the early years of the technology's adoption: the 1980s to 1990s. A critical discourse analysis combined with framing analysis of four cases from consumer magazines — two advertisements and two editorial feature stories — reveals that a device heralded as 'revolutionary' was presented in fact using rhetoric that incorporated and legitimized traditional values, roles and practices such as capitalism. Any frames that potentially challenged existing social structures and power relationships were secondary and 'super-framed' by the reinforcing frames.
'Free the spectrum!' Activist encounters with old and new media technology
Authors: Dunbar-Hester Christina
Published: March 2009

This article contextualizes discourses surrounding new media technologies by examining activism around community media, using as a case study an activist group which has advocated for greater citizen access to low-power FM (LPFM) radio since the mid-1990s. It argues that the significance of new and emerging communication technologies can be grasped most effectively when emerging technologies are considered in a dynamic field that includes older technologies; emerging technologies are viewed often through the lens of patterns of use and interpretation of older technologies, at least initially. The article follows the activists' assessments of not only FM radio but emerging internet-based technologies, including webstreaming and wi-fi networks. In practice, the activists circumspectly negotiate expanding their efforts to encompass community wi-fi networks, while trying to retain the vision, flavor and organizing strategies from their LPFM campaigns.
The politics of love
Authors: Hesford Victoria
Published: March 2009

Contemporary queer interrogations of heteronormativity are fraught with the traces of feminist contestations of the intimate domains of women's `ordinary' lives during the era of the women's liberation movement. These traces remain enigmatic within contemporary theories of public affect and emotion rather than incorporated into their critiques of the present political moment. This essay argues that the work of the early women's liberationists — their attempts to bring the personal into view as the dense, affect laden, site of social reproduction — can offer us a countermemory to the enduring and alluring force of the `private' domains of love and ordinary feeling in the contemporary US national public sphere. In order to hear the echoes of that moment — the time of women's liberation — in this one, the essay stages a comparative reading between two novels, Doris Lessing's A Ripple from the Storm (1958) and June Arnold's The Cook and the Carpenter: A Novel by the Carpenter (1973). Although the two novels were written over a decade apart, both have as their subject the dense and complex relations between political action, personal relationships and feelings within a (broadly conceived) feminist paradigm. By taking the risk of an odd conjunction, and reading the two novels side-by-side, the essay aims to open up the messiness and contingencies of an era in which both `the political' and `the personal' were contested terms, their meanings challenged, their domains struggled over, their practices altered and, in some cases, transformed.
Against abjection
Authors: Tyler Imogen
Published: March 2009

This article is about the theoretical life of `the abject'. It focuses on the ways in which Anglo-American and Australian feminist theoretical accounts of maternal bodies and identities have utilized Julia Kristeva's theory of abjection. Whilst the abject has proved a compelling and productive concept for feminist theory, this article cautions against the repetition of the maternal (as) abject within theoretical writing. It argues that employing a Kristevan abject paradigm risks reproducing, rather than challenging, histories of violent disgust towards maternal bodies. In place of the Kristevan model of the abject, it argues for a more thoroughly social and political account of abjection. This entails a critical shift from the current feminist theoretical preoccupation with the `transgressive potentiality' of `encounters with the abject' to a consideration of consequences of being abject within specific social and political locations.
The politics of gender, witnessing, postcoloniality and trauma
Authors: Husanovic Jasmina
Published: March 2009

Although the ways in which the fields of gender studies, feminist theory and politics have grown and developed in Bosnia and Herzegovina over the last decade are largely unaccounted for in feminist scholarship, their lessons, insights and potentials are relevant for scholarship and politics that weaves through the traumatic knots of postcoloniality and biopolitics. This article looks at the politics of witnessing through a creative approach to losses and the potential politics of hope in such a context. It engages with several lines of inquiry through a dialogue of `local'/`global' feminist and postcolonial theory and practice, through subaltern lenses of transnational feminist solidarities and informed by the lessons of non-institutional public spaces of thinking, judging and acting as instances of vernacular cosmopolitanism in the field of cultural production within Bosnia. Continuously re-emerging postcolonial/biopolitical fractures, induced by the global/local political economy of capital and violence, also produce political (cultural/artistic/public) practices of witnessing which shake and reshuffle our quests for social and political transformation. Embracing them effectively is one of the most important lessons of Bosnian (postcolonial, post-war, post-communist . . .) ambivalences and forbearances. Such hopeful political navigation through injustices and injuries inflicted by global/local regimes of biopolitics and capital is fundamentally about reinvigorating the scholarship and politics of gender, witnessing, postcoloniality and trauma along creative feminist trajectories.
The ISSA and Dynamic Social Security
Authors: McKinnon Roddy
Published: March 2009

Worldwide, many social security administrations, and their respective programmes and policies, show signs of adapting positively to evolving and new challenges. To better articulate and promote these developments, the International Social Security Association (ISSA) is fostering an innovative conceptual framework: Dynamic Social Security (DSS). This article investigates, first, some of the potential wider implications for the common understanding of social security arising from the ISSA's decision to foster DSS and, second, the feasibility for ISSA member organizations generally of implementing policies and practices inspired by DSS.
What Price a Living Wage?
Authors: Miller Doug , Williams Peter
Published: March 2009

This article sets out to examine ways in which a living wage might be implemented in the global apparel sector. We argue that an increase in the unit labour cost element of the free on board price paid by brands by a factor equivalent to the difference between the existing wage and a nationally determined living wage figure would not impact in any serious way upon retailer/brand-owner's (or supplier's) bottom line. However, the existence of fragmented and outsourced manufacturing, accompanied by aggressive buying practices, militates against `aspirational' code provisions in this area. Limited progress is possible only through substantial brand collaboration, an acceptance of collective bargaining through trade unions in supplier factories and, longer term, moves by brands and retailers to own and control their own manufacturing capacity.
The unified system of photometry applied to remote airfield lighting
Authors: Rea MS , Yuan Z. , Bierman A.
Published: March 2009

A consortium of American universities was sponsored by the Federal Aviation Administration to develop technical specifications for remote airfield lighting systems that would be used for nighttime operations by general (non-commercial) aircraft. The results from three psychophysical experiments are presented here dealing specifically with the effects of light source intensity, colour and flash frequency on both objective and subjective measures of behaviour under simulated flight conditions. Of special significance, this study showed for the first time that the unified system of photometry developed by Rea et al. (2004) to model the relative contributions of rods and cones for a given visual task could also be used to model the relative contributions of rods and cones for sequential visual tasks.
Chronic condition self-management support: proposed competencies for medical students
Authors: Pols Rene G. , Battersby Malcolm W. , Regan-Smith Martha , Markwick Mignon J. , Lawrence John , Auret Kirsten , Carter Jan , Cole Andrew , Disler Peter , Hassed Craig , McGuiness Clare , Nguyen Hung
Published: March 2009

Objective: Governments and the medical profession are concerned that there continues to be less than optimal health outcomes despite escalating expenditure on health services from the effect of the ageing population with chronic illnesses. In this context, doctors will need to have knowledge and skills in effective chronic condition management (CCM) and chronic condition self-management (CCSM).

Method: A national workshop of representatives of eight medical schools from the CCSM special interest group (SIG) of the Australian and New Zealand Association on Medical Education met in September 2004, to consider curriculum content in CCM and CCSM.

Results: The workshop recommended that the Committee of Deans of Australian Medical Schools and the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing consider the identification and possible development of a specific curriculum for CCM and CCSM within the curricula of Australian Medical Schools.

Discussion: Consideration needs to be given to the changing nature of medical practice and that as part of this; doctors of the future will need skills in team participation, continuity of care, self-management support and patient-centered collaborative care planning. Doctors will also need skills to assist patients to better adhere to medical management, lifestyle behaviour change and risk factor reduction, if optimal health outcomes are to be achieved and costs are to be contained.
Palliative care and Parkinson's disease: managing the chronic-palliative interface
Authors: Lanoix Monique
Published: March 2009

The increasing numbers of individuals needing palliative services and changing the nature of these services bring about new challenges for the delivery and accessibility of timely and appropriate palliative care services. Socioeconomic factors are known to affect access but disease type is a factor which can negatively impact the availability of adequate palliative services. The purpose of this article is to examine the barriers to palliation for chronic illnesses that span long periods of time. My analysis centers on palliation for Parkinson's disease because it illustrates the difficulties of managing the chronic-palliative interface, and it also demonstrates how care is situated in an evolving network of professional and non-professional actors. I argue that insuring the availability of adequate palliative services entails negotiating the chronic-palliative interface, which, in turn, requires continued multi-disciplinary professional involvement as well as the integration and recognition of the care provided by family caregivers.
Chronically ill mothers experiencing pain: relational coping strategies used while parenting young children
Authors: White Carmel Parker , Mendoza Jaymi , White Mark B. , Bond Christy
Published: March 2009

Objective: There has been little research on women who are parenting while they experience pain and none of this research has focused on mothers with young children. The purpose of this study was to consider relational coping strategies generated by mothers that they used when parenting young children and experiencing pain.

Methods: Two-hundred sixty-two mothers participated in this survey research; 171 who have either multiple sclerosis (MS) or rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and a comparison group of 91well mothers. Mothers completed questionnaires inquiring about (a) their coping strategies, (b) levels of pain, fatigue and physical functioning, and (c) if they were currently experiencing an exacerbation of their chronic illness.

Results: Well mothers reported using more self-care when parenting while experiencing pain. Mothers with RA were more likely to set boundaries around their behaviour. Women with MS who were experiencing an exacerbation changed their coping strategies to include more child activities and encourage more mature child behaviour when compared to women with RA who were experiencing an exacerbation.

Discussion: From the perspective of relational coping theory, mothers consider their own pain while simultaneously attending to their responsibilities as a parent. Previous research has suggested that women may withdraw or reduce their parenting activities when they are in pain and this study supported the previous research, especially for women with RA.
UK self-care support initiatives for older patients with long-term conditions: a review
Authors: Berzins K. , Reilly S. , Abell J. , Hughes J. , Challis D.
Published: March 2009

Objectives: Supporting self-care for people with long-term conditions is an aim of UK health policy. As many with long-term conditions are older it is of interest to explore which self-care support interventions have positive impacts for this group. This review explores what types of intervention have been reported in the UK and their impact upon older people.

Methods: Studies were identified using existing reviews, electronic databases and through hand searching journals. After inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied data were extracted from 18 studies. These were summarized in a narrative synthesis supported by summary tables.

Results: All studies described interventions to support self-care, many targeted at people with arthritis. All used patient education, usually delivered to groups by a range of professionals. The majority of studies reported some significant positive outcomes, most frequently changes in physical functioning, illness knowledge and increased self-efficacy. The average age of participants was 60.

Discussion: This review shows that self-care interventions have had positive effects for older participants but it remains unknown how best to support self-care in participants over 75, a group of people with long-term conditions who may have different needs.
Open Global Networks, Closed International Flows
Authors: Chang Tsan-Kuo , Himelboim Itai , Dong Dong
Published: March 2009

/ The purpose of this study is twofold: first, to propose a conceptual framework incorporating various theoretical perspectives in the fields of sociology and mass communication to identify the determinants of international flow and hyperlinks of foreign news in cyberspace and second, to test this model using data randomly collected from online news media in 15 countries. Against the backdrop of the world system theory, three specific hypotheses were tested. The results suggest that, although the Internet is an open global network, the flow of news and information through outgoing hyperlinks between countries remains mostly closed. If the findings are any indication, online journalism around the world does not make better use of the `open media code' of the Internet, still subscribing to a `closed media code' in its practices.
Examination of a Global Prohibition Regime
Authors: Campbell Rose G. , Sato Hajime
Published: March 2009

/ Important public health issues have become entangled in trade regulation, where one country's policies may have detrimental effects on other nations. News documents are critical historical records to examine such actions. There appear to be no studies that have employed matched international news documents on a particular public health issue. This article reports on a content analysis that compared tobacco policy articles in two major newspapers each in Japan and the US for a six-year period defining the context during which the WHO negotiated the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control with the international constituencies. The findings indicate significant differences between US and Japanese newspapers in sources, arguments and advocacy bias. Arguments about the policy itself, including effectiveness, legality and jurisdiction, were important predictors of positive bias in the Japanese sample, indicating that `health and harm' is not the most important argument promoting tobacco control via media advocacy. The implications for effective tobacco policy campaigns are reported.
Le Monde, French Secular Republicanism and `The Mohammed Cartoons Affair'
Authors: Eko Lyombe , Berkowitz Dan
Published: March 2009

/ This article explores how France's leading newspaper, Le Monde , `re-presented', or presented anew, French secular republican ideology and the right of free expression at the height of the `affaire des caricatures de Mahomet' (the Mohammed cartoons affair). This global crisis, which was spawned by the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, took on a specific French coloration when French newspapers republished the cartoons and added their own caricatures to the lot. It was found that Le Monde used the crisis to restate French free speech values, and placed the controversy squarely within the framework of French secular republicanism where the right to blaspheme and offend is sacrosanct.
Press Coverage and Public Opinion On Women Candidates
Authors: Valenzuela Sebastián , Correa Teresa
Published: March 2009

/ Because more women are running — and succeeding — in presidential races all over the world, it is important to analyze the way they are portrayed by the news media. Using Chile as a case study and agenda setting as a theoretical framework, the authors examined differences in press coverage of this country's first woman president, Michelle Bachelet, and her male contenders in the 2005/6 elections and compared them to public opinion. As expected, the press covered the candidates' personal attributes and issue positions following traditional gender stereotypes. However, some gender-based differences in news coverage actually boosted the image of Michelle Bachelet. The authors suggest that the media may have influenced public opinion toward the candidates, and discuss the implications of these findings for future research.
The salutogenic approach to the making of HiAP/healthy public policy: illustrated by a case study
Authors: Lindström Bengt , Eriksson Monica
Published: March 2009

Twenty years have passed since the central document of health promotion, the Ottawa Charter, was constituted. Health was seen as the process enabling individuals and communities to increase control over their determinants of health, thereby improving their health and enabling an active and productive life, that is, a good quality of life. One main strategy was the making of a healthy public policy. At the same time Aaron Antonovsky developed the salutogenic theory and its core concepts the sense of coherence and the generalized resistance resources. This paper integrates Antonovsky's salutogenic theory and a salutogenic model of quality of life into the core principles of the Ottawa Charter and exemplifies how to make healthy public policy the salutogenic way. A process-oriented coherent health promotion research model integrating an ecological, a salutogenic and a resilient approach is shown. The objective of this theoretical model is to bring together the whole spectrum of risk factors, protective factors and promotion factors in one model. Further, individual, group and society level are considered. The model suggested aims to contribute to the creation of sense of coherence. This is exemplified in practice in a case study of a Nation, that is, on a national level. The case study of the “Nation” is partly masked. The principles behind these processes are explained in detail while the case study of the “Nation” only includes parts of the process explaining some core issues. The overall aim of this paper is to stimulate health promotion activities along the lines presented and invite the readers to comment and continue the discussion. (Global Health Promotion, 2009; 16 (1): pp. 17—28)
Priorities for mental health promotion during pregnancy and infancy in primary health care
Authors: Loureiro Maria Isabel , Goes Ana Rita , Paim da Câmara Gisele , Gonçalves-Pereira Manuel , Maia Teresa , Saboga Nunes Luís
Published: March 2009

The perinatal period (shortly before and after birth) is a particularly significant stage, providing a sound base for healthy development. Primary health care should accompany the individual through the entire life cycle, and mental health problems constitute a public health threat that calls for the development of mental health promotion initiatives in primary health care. Responding, in 2004 our team initiated an action research project with the aim of reorganising primary health care during pregnancy and the first year of life. The aim is to enable health professionals to support families in the transition to parenthood, thereby promoting children's mental health.

In order to plan this reorganisation, we developed a two-step decision-making process: 1. assessment of antenatal health care; 2. joint reflection concerning the priorities for change. The study goal was to assess the particular characteristics and needs of families during the perinatal period as well as the kind of care they were actually receiving. We designed a cross-sectional quantitative—qualitative study that collected data from users and health professionals using questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The reflection step took place during a workshop that aimed to analyse the results and discuss priorities. The study confirmed the need to search for mental health problems during pregnancy, particularly to prevent a disturbed mother/child bonding process, and the importance of emphasising issues such as communication, information provision and the adequate availability of health professionals for antenatal care.

The findings led to the following conclusions: 1. risk and needs assessment regarding mental health and options for family support should be included in the protocols of antenatal care; 2. primary health care professionals should be enabled to undertake diagnostic work and problem solving related to mental health; 3. collaboration between different levels of health care and between health sector and community resources should be increased.

The highly participative decision-making process used led to a selection of priorities and strategies that was meaningful to users and health professionals and should contribute to the implementation and sustainability of changes for mental health promotion. (Global Health Promotion, 2009; 1 (1): pp. 29—38)
Health promotion, environmental psychology and sustainable development — a successful “ménage-à-trois”
Authors: Annerstedt Matilda
Published: March 2009

Our society is facing a crisis with escalating mental health disorders, long-term sick leaves and a health care system not provided with the appropriate healing tools. Combined with the global environmental degradation this could be a very depressive scenario.

I suggest a new and dynamic thinking in order to create a more positive atmosphere, both literally and conceptually, into which diverse disciplines work together to reach a mutual goal — global health and environmental justice. It is time to accept that science cannot be dispensed from the dynamics of living, culture and nature, but on the contrary those belong together. Only by working with this premise as a point of departure, can former criteria and old traditions in science be challenged and subsequently ameliorated. (Global Health Promotion, 2009; 16 (1): pp. 49—52)
The struggle for abandonment of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) in Egypt
Authors: Molleman Gerard , Franse Lilian
Published: March 2009

This commentary describes a visit to the Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting project in Cairo. FGM/C is a very serious problem in Egypt and other countries in the North of Africa. Among girls between the age of 15—17, 77% have been cut, with very serious health consequences. In Egypt, there is a comprehensive strategy led by very enthusiastic employees of the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood with support of UNICEF. At a national level a broad coalition is being built that tries to mobilise the legal, medical and media communities to overcome the practice of FGM/C and realising adequate laws that criminalise FGM/C.

At a local level two community projects were started in 160 villages in Upper and Lower Egypt for raising community awareness and dialogue on FGM/C. That is the only way to create a growing social movement that can collectively abandon the practice of FGM/C. (Global Health Promotion, 2009; 16 (1): pp. 57—60)
A rights-based approach to accessing health determinants
Authors: Perkins Fran
Published: March 2009

This commentary summarizes the experience and learnings from a site visit in May 2008 to a drop-in centre for vulnerable women in downtown Cairo run by El-Shehab Institution for Comprehensive Development, which provides street outreach for the prevention of Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI). The Centre successfully provides services and support for women, many of who are displaced or refugees and are from the most marginalized areas in Cairo. Through a rights-based approach to the work, the Centre helps people living in the slums fight and win the right to access clean water, sewerage and electrical power in their communities. An individual-based approach to human rights is also used. In the last year El-Shehab have helped 67 women go to court and win their marriage rights from husbands who have abandoned them. Their approach is an example of a successful way to achieve access to basic health determinants. (Global Health Promotion, 2009; 16 (1): pp. 61—64)
New horizons for social development
Authors: Lamarre Marie-Claude , Jackson Suzanne , Mittelmark Maurice B. , Onya Hans , Leger Lawrence St , Contu Paolo
Published: March 2009

This commentary follows up on a field visit made by the authors to a community development programme in Cairo supported by a local non-governmental organization called New Horizon Association for Social Development (NHASD). The people who comprise NHASD are dedicated to improving the conditions and quality of life of the most marginalized and underdeveloped communities. The paper describes the overall approach that community members, social workers and leaders use to tackle the underlying causes of poverty and the skills, resources and services they build using a rights-based and participatory community development approach. It also addresses ideas for IUHPE concrete action, which came from discussions stimulated by the visit, to support such community initiatives out of isolation. It ranges from complimentary membership of the NHASD to the organization of a specific health promotion network of extremely socio-economically vulnerable communities in urban areas worldwide, connected to the IUHPE Group on Settings-based Health Promotion, as well as sessions at the forthcoming IUHPE 20th World Conference on Health Promotion on the theme “Health, Equity and Sustainable Development”. (Global Health Promotion, 2009; 16 (1): pp. 65—68)
Bromohydrin pyrophosphate enhances antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity induced by therapeutic antibodies
Authors: Gertner-Dardenne Julie , Bonnafous Cecile , Bezombes Christine , Capietto Aude-Hélène , Scaglione Virginie , Ingoure Sophie , Cendron Delphine , Gross Emilie , Lepage Jean-François , Quillet-Mary Anne , Ysebaert Loîc , Laurent Guy , Sicard Hélène , Fournié Jean-Jacques
Published: March 2009

In human blood, 1% to 5% of lymphocytes are γδ T cells; they mostly express the γδ T-cell receptor (TCR)Vγ9, recognize nonpeptide phosphoantigens (PAgs) produced by microbes and tumor cells, and mediate different modes of lytic activities directed against tumor target cells. Antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) mediated by cytolytic lymphoid cells is essential for the clinical activity of anticancer monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), but whether PAgs affect ADCC by γδ T cells is unknown. Here we report that, in association with the CD20+-specific mAb rituximab (RTX), the synthetic PAg bromohydrin pyrophosphate (BrHPP) increased TCRVγ9+ cell binding to CD20+ lymphoma cells in vitro. This combination activated phospho-ZAP70 and phospho-ERK1/2 signaling in TCRVγ9+ cells and strongly enhanced their ADCC activity. We obtained similar results with BrHPP in the context of the mAbs alemtuzumab and trastuzumab. Furthermore, BrHPP enhanced RTX-mediated depletion of CD20+ cells in vitro from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of healthy subjects and enhanced ADCC by γδ T cells from patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. In cynomolgus macaques, a regimen combining RTX, BrHPP, and IL2 activated TCRVγ9+ lymphocytes and enhanced B-cell depletion from blood and lymph nodes. Thus, the combination with BrHPP PAg is able to improve the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy by therapeutic mAbs.
Sonic hedgehog negatively regulates pre-TCR–induced differentiation by a Gli2-dependent mechanism
Authors: Rowbotham Nicola J. , Hager-Theodorides Ariadne L. , Furmanski Anna L. , Ross Susan E. , Outram Susan V. , Dessens Johannes T. , Crompton Tessa
Published: March 2009

Hedgehog signaling regulates differentiation, survival, and proliferation of the earliest double-negative (DN) thymocytes, but its importance at later stages of T-cell development is controversial. Here we use loss- and gain-of-function mouse models to show that Shh, by signaling directly to the developing thymocyte, is a negative regulator of pre-TCR–induced differentiation from DN to double-positive (DP) cell. When hedgehog signaling was reduced, in the Shh−/− and Gli2−/− thymus, or by T lineage–specific transgenic expression of a transcriptional-repressor form of Gli2 (Gli2ΔC2), differentiation to DP cell after pre-TCR signal transduction was increased. In contrast, when Hh signaling was constitutively activated in thymocytes, by transgenic expression of a constitutive transcriptional-activator form of Gli2 (Gli2ΔN2), the production of DP cells was decreased. Gene expression profiling showed that physiologic Hh signaling in thymocytes maintains expression of the transcription factor FoxA2 on pre-TCR signal transduction.