bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Effects of Alcohol and Lorazepam During Extinction of Alcohol Self-Administration in Rats
Authors: Jackson Anne , Duka Theodora , Stephens David N.
Published: September 2003

Systemic injections of alcohol have previously been reported to `prime' or to reinstate self-administration of alcohol in rats, and it has been suggested that the priming effects of drugs are related to their stimulus properties. We tested this hypothesis by investigating the effects of lorazepam, which cross-generalizes with alcohol in animal drug-discrimination studies, in rats trained to self-administer 7% alcohol in an operant paradigm. Once animals were trained, extinction tests were carried out twice weekly, before which rats were injected with either vehicle, alcohol (0.063-0.5 g/kg, i.p.) or lorazepam (0.03-0.25 mg/kg, i.p.). Alcohol did not increase responding for alcohol during extinction. Doses of 0.25 and 0.5 g/kg reduced alcohol-appropriate lever pressing (p < 0.05 versus 0 g/kg), with the largest dose also suppressing general activity (p < 0.02 versus 0 g/kg). Lorazepam also reduced alcohol-appropriate responding, in a behaviourally specific manner; doses of 0.03 mg/kg and above decreased lever pressing (p < 0.05 versus 0 mg/kg), whereas general activity was depressed at 0.06 mg/kg and larger doses (p < 0.05 versus 0 mg/kg). Although lorazepam mimicked the effect of alcohol at doses predicted to do so on the basis of their relative potency in drug discrimination studies, neither alcohol nor lorazepam primed rats to respond for alcohol. By contrast, the pattern of results suggested that, in this model, they `satiated' or substituted for alcohol, resulting in a reduced motivation to respond.
The Effects of Acute Tryptophan Depletion on Neuropsychological Function
Authors: Hughes John H. , Gallagher Peter , Stewart Mary E. , Matthews David , Kelly Tom P. , Young Allan H.
Published: September 2003

Serotonin (5-HT, 5-hydroxytryptamine) may have an important role in the maintenance of normal neuropsychological functioning. The method of acute tryptophan depletion (ATD) provides a pharmacological challenge by which central 5-HT levels can be temporarily decreased and effects on learning, memory and mood examined. Twenty healthy male volunteers were recruited to take part in this within-subject, double-blind, crossover study. Neuropsychological function was evaluated 4-6 h after ingestion of a control or 52 g tryptophan (TRP) depleting amino-acid drink. ATD significantly lowered levels of plasma total and free TRP (p < 0.001), but this did not affect mood or performance on tests of verbal and visuo-spatial learning and memory, attention or executive function. These results contradict previous findings; however, the degree of disruption of central 5-HT levels resulting from the use of the 52 g amino-acid protocol may be an important factor in explaining the lack of effect. By utilizing more specific probes of individual 5-HT receptor subtypes, future studies can fully explore the role of 5-HT in neuropsychological functioning and may elucidate the factors determining vulnerability to the effects of serotonergic dysfunction.
Selective Processing of Smoking-Related Cues in Current Smokers, Ex-Smokers and Never-Smokers on the Modified Stroop Task
Authors: Munafò Marcus , Mogg Karin , Roberts Sarah , Bradley Brendan P. , Murphy Michael
Published: September 2003

The aim of this study was to investigate selective processing biases towards smoking-related stimuli in relation to acute abstinence and smoking history. Differences in the processing of smoking-related and control cues in current smokers, ex-smokers and never-smokers on the modified Stroop task were investigated, with smokers randomized to either abstain or smoke normally for a period of 24 h. The results indicated no significant effect of deprivation (abstinent versus non-abstinent smokers), or of smoking history (ex- versus never-smokers) on colour-naming times for smoking-related versus control words. However, there was a significant effect of smoking status (current versus non-smokers) on colour-naming times for smoking words compared to control words (i.e. slower colour-naming of smoking-related words in smokers). This effect approached significance when stimuli were presented in a masked exposure condition. Among smokers, colour-naming interference was associated with the personality trait of Sensitivity to Reward. These results indicate a processing bias for smoking-related cues in current smokers. However, this bias does not appear to be a permanent feature of nicotine addiction, given the lack of difference between ex-smokers and never-smokers.
Effects of Acute Metabolic Stress on the Peripheral Vasopressinergic System in Schizophrenia
Authors: Elman Igor , Lukas Scott , Shoaf Susan E. , Rott David , Adler Caleb , Breier Alan
Published: September 2003

Although both vasopressin and stress have been implicated in the course of schizophrenia, it is unknown whether schizophrenic patients have altered stress-induced function of the vasopressinergic system. We examined the effects of acute metabolic stress induced by pharmacological doses (40 mg/kg) of 2-deoxyglucose (2DG) on plasma concentrations of vasopressin in 13 patients with schizophrenia (with no history of polydipsia and hyponatremia) and 12 healthy control subjects. Baseline vasopressin levels were lower in the schizophrenic patients and progressively increased in both groups throughout the 60 min following 2DG administration to a similar absolute amount, thus remaining lower in the schizophrenic group. Concomitantly, patients with schizophrenia had significantly higher 2DG-induced plasma homovanillic acid (HVA) and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid levels. Vasopressin responses correlated positively and significantly with the HVA responses in schizophrenics and with the pituitary-adrenal axis responses in controls. These results suggest two different patterns of neuroendocrine alterations in schizophrenia, namely a relatively normal vasopressin response to 2DG despite significantly decreased baseline levels and exaggerated responses of the peripheral dopaminegic and serotonergic systems in the face of normal baseline concentrations.
Do Zopiclone, Zolpidem and Flunitrazepam have Residual Effects on Simulated Task of Collision Anticipation?
Authors: Berthelon C. , Bocca M. L. , Denise P. , Pottier A.
Published: September 2003

Few studies have addressed the modifications in visual information processing brought about by taking hypnotic substances. The present experiment with healthy subjects investigated the residual effects of taking a single night-time dose of hypnotics on collision anticipation capacities the next morning. Visual sequences simulated the movement of a driver approaching an intersection where another vehicle was arriving. Ten participants had to estimate, as quickly as possible, whether the other vehicle would arrive before or after them at the intersection. They were tested after having taken a capsule of zolpidem (10 mg), zopiclone (7.5 mg), flunitrazepam (1 mg) or a placebo. The results show no residual effects of the molecules. Only flunitrazepam, a benzodiazepine with a long half-life, appears to cause subjects to focus their attention on an element which, while relevant for the task (a road sign playing the role of a spatial reference), is not used correctly.
The Use of Antidepressants to Treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Adults
Authors: Maidment Ian D.
Published: September 2003

There is increasing evidence that children continue to experience attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms into adult life. The two main treatments for ADHD are antidepressants and stimulants. Here, the effectiveness data relating to the use of antidepressants in adults with ADHD are reviewed. Four controlled and six open studies were identified. Although, there is only limited data currently available, antidepressants may offer an effective therapy for adult ADHD. Controlled trials have studied desipramine, atomoxetine and bupropion, with most evidence supporting the efficacy of desipramine. The initial data indicate that atomoxetine is less effective than desipramine. The efficacy of bupropion is unclear. Initial published open data suggest a response rate of 50-78% with venlafaxine. Controlled studies are required to confirm this efficacy. Most of the present data are short-term, therefore long-term effectiveness data are required.
Neuropsychiatric Consequences (Atypical Psychosis and Complex-Partial Seizures) of Ecstasy Use: Possible Evidence for Toxicity-Vulnerability Predictors and Implications for Preventative and Clinical Care
Authors: Vecellio Marco , Schopper Christian , Modestin Jiri
Published: September 2003

Two case reports of ecstasy abuse and its serious neuropsychiatric complications are presented. The first patient developed a florid paranoid psychosis resembling schizophrenia after repeated long-term recreational ecstasy abuse, and significant alterations with intermittent paroxysmal discharges were found in his electroencephalogram. The second patient showed an atypical paranoid psychosis with Fregoli syndrome and a series of complex-partial epileptic seizures with secondary generalization after a first single ecstasy dose. Both subjects presented considerable vulnerability; the first a minimal brain dysfunction after perinatal asphyxia and a persisting attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, the second a long-lasting opioid addiction. In vulnerable individuals, dose-independent ecstasy abuse can lead to unpredictable and potentially dangerous neuropsychiatric sequelae which require proper initial assessment and adequate treatment.
Antipsychotic Induced Prolongation of QTc Interval Treated with Magnesium
Authors: Imran Nazish , Rampes Hagen , Rosen Stuart
Published: September 2003

We report the case of a patient on antipsychotic medication, who developed an abnormal QTc interval, which normalized following treatment with oral magnesium sulphate.
Olanzapine for Recurrent Aggression in a Patient with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy who had Temporal Lobectomy
Authors: Hallak Jaime E. C. , Dursun Serdar M. , Guarnieri Ricardo , Almeida Edna , Rezeck Karinne , Crippa José A. S. , Sakamoto Américo C. , Zuardi Antonio W. , Deakin John F. W.
Published: September 2003

We report the case of a patient with epilepsy who had interictal severe affective aggression, and whose epilepsy significantly improved (but not aggression) after successful temporal lobectomy. Olanzapine significantly improved these aggressive episodes refractory to neurosurgery and previous pharmacological treatments including antipsychotics, anticonvulsants/mood stabilizers and benzodiazepines.
Vision-Based Control of a Mobile Base and On-Board Arm
Authors: Cárdenas Antonio , Goodwine Bill , Skaar Steven , Seelinger Mike
Published: September 2003

In this paper we present a new methodology to achieve vision-based control using a mobile manipulator to reach a required three-dimensional target position and orientation. Examples of mobile manipulators include standard forklifts and backhoes, which have a fixed manipulator mounted on a mobile platform. The overall objective of this methodology is to apply the nonholonomic degrees of freedom represented by two independently driven wheels together with the holonomic dexterity of the on-board arm in order to bring about a desired positioning objective for the arm. Mobile Camera-Space Manipulation and an extended Kalman filter are implemented to use a minimum number of holonomic and nonholonomic degrees of freedom as required for the end member of the on-board arm to achieve a target position and orientation. We present this vision-based method to control mobile manipulators as an alternative to methods such as visual servoing and calibration (i.e., stereo approaches). This new approach only requires a minimum number of holonomic degrees of freedom to achieve the required three-dimensional positioning by taking full advantage of the nonholonomic degrees of freedom. Experimentally, the method shows itself to be robust to errors in the nominal kinematics and the optics models, as demonstrated by the experimental tests.
Distributed Planning and Control for Modular Robots with Unit-Compressible Modules
Authors: Butler Zack , Rus Daniela
Published: September 2003

Self-reconfigurable robots are versatile systems consisting of large numbers of independent modules. Effective use of these systems requires parallel actuation and planning, both for efficiency and independence from a central controller. In this paper we present the PacMan algorithm, a technique for distributed actuation and planning for systems with two- or three-dimensional unit-compressible modules. We give two versions of the algorithm along with correctness analysis. We also analyze the parallel actuation capability of the algorithm, showing that it will not deadlock and will avoid disconnecting the robot. We have implemented PacMan on the Crystal robot, a hardware system developed in our lab, and we present experiments and discuss the feasibility of large-scale implementation.
Some New Parallel Mechanisms Containing the Planar Four-Bar Parallelogram
Authors: Liu Xin-Jun , Wang Jinsong
Published: September 2003

A parallelogram allows the output link to remain at a fixed orientation with respect to an input link, for which it acts as a unique role in the design of parallel mechanisms. In this paper, the unique role of a parallelogram is used completely to design some new parallel mechanisms with two to six degrees of freedom (DoFs). In these mechanisms, some with three DoFs possess the advantage of very high rotational capability and some with two DoFs have the translational output of a rigid body. More than that, the design concept is also applied first to some parallel mechanisms to improve the systems' rotational capability. The parallel mechanisms proposed in this paper have wide applications in industrial robots, simulators, micromanipulators, parallel kinematics machines, and any other manipulation devices in which high rotational capability and stiffness are needed. Especially, the paper provides new concepts of the design of novel parallel mechanisms and the improvement of rotational capability for such systems.
Spatial Compliant Motion of a Rigid Body Constrained by a Frictional Contact
Authors: Huang Shuguang , Schimmels Joseph M.
Published: September 2003

In this paper, we study the quasi-static motion of an elastically suspended, unilaterally constrained rigid body. The motion of the rigid body is determined, in part, by the position controlled motion of its support base and by the behavior of the elastic suspension that couples the part to the support. The motion is also determined, in part, by contact with a frictional surface that both couples the rigid body to the unilateral constraint and generates a friction force. The unknown friction force, however, is determined in part by the unknown direction of the rigid-body motion. We derive an analytically solvable set of equations that simultaneously determines both the friction force and the resulting rigid-body motion.

We also address the issues of whether a solution to these equations exists and whether the obtained solution is unique. We show that, for any passive compliant system in which the nominal motion imposes contact, a solution to the set of motion equations always exists. We also show that, for any passive system with an upper bounded friction coefficient, the solution is unique. Two sufficient conditions that guarantee the uniqueness of the solution are presented.
Stiffness Synthesis of a Variable Geometry Six-Degrees-of-Freedom Double Planar Parallel Robot
Authors: Simaan Nabil , Shoham Moshe
Published: September 2003

In this paper, we address the stiffness synthesis problem of variable geometry double planar parallel robots. For a desired stiffness matrix, the free geometrical variables are calculated as a solution of a corresponding polynomial system. Since in practice the set of free geometrical variables might be deficient, the suggested solution addresses also the case where not all stiffness matrix elements are attainable. This is done through the use of Gröbner bases that determine the solvability of the stiffness synthesis polynomial systems and by transforming these systems into corresponding eigenvalue problems using multiplication tables. This method is demonstrated on a novel variable geometry double planar six-degrees-of-freedom robot having six free geometric variables. A solution of the double planar stiffness synthesis problem is obtained through decomposing its stiffness matrix in terms of the stiffness matrices of its planar units. An example of this procedure is presented in which synthesizing six elements of the robot's stiffness matrix is obtained symbolically and validated numerically yielding 384 real solutions.
Maternal Singing Modulates Infant Arousal
Authors: Shenfield Tali , Trehub Sandra E. , Nakata Takayuki
Published: September 2003

We examined the effect of maternal singing on the arousal levels of healthy, non-distressed infants. Mothers sang to their 6-month-old infants for 10 minutes, after which they continued interacting for another 10 minutes. To estimate infant arousal, we gathered saliva samples from infants immediately before the mothers began singing and 20 minutes later. Laboratory analyses of the saliva samples revealed that salivary cortisol levels converged from baseline to post-test periods. Specifically, infants with lower baseline levels exhibited modest cortisol increases in response to maternal singing; those with higher baseline levels exhibited modest reductions. This convergence of arousal levels was confirmed by reduced variability in cortisol values from baseline to post-test. These findings are consistent with the view that maternal singing modulates the arousal of prelinguistic infants.
The Effects of Distracted Inner Hearing on Sight-Reading
Authors: Wöllner Clemens , Halfpenny Emma , Ho Stella , Kurosawa Kaori
Published: September 2003

The importance of inner hearing in musical sight-reading was investigated with an interference paradigm. In a repeated measures design, 20 music students sight-sang two melodies, one of those while listening to distracting music. Participants answered aspects of sight-reading ability and strategy in questionnaires and in semi-structured interviews. The number of mistakes in the sung melodies was calculated; in addition, expert listeners rated continuity/fluency and overall quality. Distracted inner hearing only led to significantly worse rating results for overall quality. Nevertheless, participants found inner hearing to be significantly more difficult with distracting music, and the number of mistakes is highly correlated with the experienced difficulty of inner hearing. Possible explanations and implications for further research are discussed.
A Re-Valuation of the Ancient Science of Harmonics
Authors: Crickmore Leon
Published: September 2003

Harmonics was the theoretical arithmetic underpinning the tuning of musical instruments in ancient times. It was a numerical science based on ratios of string-length. The ancients believed that the planets circled the heavens in similar mathematical proportions, and that, by analogy, these also corresponded to powers in the human psyche. Harmonics survived as such until the 17th century. Only recently, however, have musicologists made a breakthrough to a more comprehensive understanding of its coherence and cultural significance. This article offers a short re-valuation of harmonics. It seeks to stimulate debate about the relevance of the relationships between number and tone to contemporary thought, and whether an understanding of harmonics has anything to contribute to future interdisciplinary research into the evolution of music and the human mind.
The Mozart Effect and Primary School Children
Authors: Ivanov Vesna K. , Geake John G.
Published: September 2003

This study found some evidence for the existence of a Mozart Effect with upper-primary school-aged children in a school setting. Scores on a Paper Folding Task (PFT) for a class which listened to Mozart during testing were significantly higher than the PFT scores of a control class. Moreover, a similar result was obtained for another class which listened to Bach during testing. The musical educational experience of the children, ascertained by a Musical Background Questionnaire, did not significantly contribute to the variance in PFT scores. We believe that this study is the first to find a Mozart Effect for school children in a natural setting, in contrast to the original study of Rauscher, Shaw and Ky (1993) who examined the effects of listening to Mozart on the spatial task performance of university students in a laboratory.
Music and the Third Age
Authors: Pickles Vernon
Published: September 2003

Questionnaires were sent to members of some UK University of the Third Age (U3A) music groups and to other people of similar ages, enquiring into their present and past musical tastes and practices, and inviting free comment. This information was intended to identify factors either improving or impairing the enjoyment of music, and to indicate the value of music at that time of life. The first stage of the survey was directed to members of Sheffield U3A music groups, and this was followed by a further selective survey of U3A members throughout England and Wales. In all, 119 responses were received. Where the details were clearly stated, women respondents outnumbered men by about 2 to 1. The range of ages as stated by 38 respondents in the first stage of the survey was 58-86 (mean 68) years. Most groups contacted were devoted to music appreciation and concert-going, and two others to practical music-making. A general preference for music of the baroque, classical, romantic and late-romantic periods had remained unchanged over the recollected years, but many respondents expressed their appreciation of being introduced to more recent works. However, some contemporary music remained impenetrable. Questions of hearing aids and other kinds of instrumentation are considered, as are the benefits of group activities, especially under an expert leader. Further individual comments were received from members of the Incorporated Society of Musicians (ISM). The many individual free statements from all sources spoke of the great value of music, especially in helping to overcome the personal difficulties of that stage of life. A plea is made for better understanding of the musical needs and opportunities of this age group.
Livelihoods in Postcommunist Russia
Authors: Pickup Francine , White Anne
Published: September 2003

Discussions of Russian social trends rarely look below the regional level. This article compares livelihoods within Sverdlovsk Region in the year 2000. In the capital city, Yekaterinburg, postcommunism had opened new opportunities for private sector employment and lucrative additional earnings, but chiefly to the benefit of men with higher education and good connections. By contrast, in Achit, the small administrative centre of an agricultural district, most people continued to work in the state sector and there was an acute money shortage. All respondents, including senior professional people, grew their own vegetables. Livelihood strategies were more clearly `survival strategies' in Achit than in Yekaterinburg, where, by contrast, they could in some cases be classed as `accumulation strategies'. Among the Achit sample, livelihood strategies were less clearly gendered than in Yekaterinburg, and it was possible for women to succeed in business. Nonetheless, livelihood strategies in both locations had certain common features, depending heavily on activities other than primary employment, and relying on extended families and networks of friends and work colleagues.
`A Unique Working Environment': Health, Sickness and Absence Management in UK Call Centres
Authors: Taylor Phil , Baldry Chris , Bain Peter , Ellis Vaughan
Published: September 2003

This article fills an important gap in our knowledge of call centres by focusing specifically on occupational ill-health. We document the recent emergence of health and safety concerns, assess the responses of employers and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), critique the existing regulatory framework and present a holistic diagnostic model of occupationally induced ill-health. This model is utilized to investigate quantitative and qualitative data from a case study in the privatized utility sector, where the relative contributions to employee sickness and ill-health from factors relating to ergonomics, the built environment and work organization are evaluated. The principal conclusions are that the distinctive character of call-handling is the major cause of occupational ill-health and that effective remedial action would involve radical job re-design. Finally, the limitations of recent HSE guidance are exposed and industrial relations processes and outcomes analysed.
PPPs and the Changing Public Sector Ethos: Case-Study Evidence from the Health and Local Authority Sectors
Authors: Hebson Gail , Grimshaw Damian , Marchington Mick
Published: September 2003

This article explores the extent to which a new contractual approach to delivering public services, through public private partnerships (PPPs), is transforming the traditional values underpinning the public sector ethos among both managers and workers. Drawing on two detailed case studies of PPPs - a Private Finance Initiative in the health sector and the outsourcing of housing benefit claims in the local government sector - we identify a range of new pressures impacting on five key elements of a traditional notion of the public sector ethos. Our findings demonstrate that the contractual relations of PPPs have led to a clear weakening of traditional notions of managerial accountability and bureaucratic behaviour, reflecting both a shift to new lines of accountability (private sector shareholders) and a vicious circle of monitoring and distrust between partner organizations, in place of the old faith in bureaucratic process. Among workers, certain traditional values - especially a concern for working in the public interest - continue to inform the way they identify with, and understand, their work in delivering public services. However, the cost cutting and work intensification associated with PPPs present a significant threat to these values.The article identifies examples of short-term resilience of the traditional public sector ethos, as well as developments that threaten its long-term survival.
Good Deal, Bad Deal? Job Satisfaction in Occupations
Authors: Rose Michael
Published: September 2003

Sharply varying levels of job satisfaction in occupations in the UK are documented and explained primarily by reference to individual level data for a large sample of current employees collected in 1999-2000. An accompanying critique of the approach to job satisfaction in some applied and organizational psychology makes two points. First, the terms job and work need to be more carefully distinguished when examining satisfaction data, giving more attention to the terms of the employment contract, skill data, and the mobility implications of jobs, and relatively less weight to employee involvement, empowerment and self-actualization. Second, job satisfaction data supply evidence of the competent rational evaluation of utility on the part of employees, though individual affectivity undoubtedly conditions such assessments. The findings support a re-balancing in explanation between extrinsic and intrinsic sources of job satisfaction, while showing that work-related stress and excessive hours may in practice comprise a more urgent practical problem for management than socio-technical aspects of work-life quality.
The Gender Dimensions of Job Insecurity in a Local Labour Market
Authors: Charles Nickie , James Emma
Published: September 2003

Increasing job insecurity has been associated with the proliferation of nonstandard forms of employment. In order to explore this association, in-depth interviews with 55 women and 56 men were carried out in three different organizations in a local labour market in South Wales. The organizations were in manufacturing, retail and the public sector. The manufacturing organization was characterized by male, full-time employment while the others were female-dominated with various forms of non-standard employment. Levels of insecurity were highest in manufacturing and lowest in retail. Respondents distinguished three types of job insecurity: post, employer and labour market insecurity. There were gender differences in experiences and perceptions of job insecurity, with women feeling less insecure than men. This related to the availability of jobs for women and younger people in the local labour market, women's willingness to take `any' job and the continuing strength of male breadwinner ideology. At an individual level job insecurity is regarded as equally serious for women and men. Our findings question the association of job insecurity with non-standard forms of employment and suggest that the way job insecurity is experienced cannot be fully understood unless it is seen in the context of home as well as work.
The Signal and the Noise: The Historical Epidemiology of Insanity in Ante-Bellum New Jersey
Authors: Moran James E.
Published: September 2003

This paper argues that the historical epidemiology of mental illness is inevitably context bound. This argument is made through the analysis of civil court records relating to the mental illness of New Jersey residents from 1790 to 1867. The records demonstrate that the social contexts out of which mad behaviour emerged at a given period, and the social responses to that behaviour, could influence the incidence and prevalence of mental illness. Attention to historical context leads to the conclusion that the mental illness of individuals in ante-bellum New Jersey was a complex product of the social and the biopathological.
Disappointment and Desolation: Women, Doctors and Interpretations of Puerperal Insanity in the Nineteenth Century
Authors: Marland Hilary
Published: September 2003

Taking case notes as the key source, this paper focuses on the variety of interpretations put forward by doctors to explain the incidence of puerperal insanity in the nineteenth century. It is argued that these went far beyond biological explanations linking female vulnerability to the particular crisis of reproduction. Rather, nineteenth-century physicians were looking at other factors to explain the onset of insanity related to childbirth: stress and environmental factors linked to poverty, family circumstances, poor nutrition, illegitimacy, fear and anxiety, and the strains of becoming a mother. The main focus is on female asylum patients, but all mothers were seen as being susceptible to puerperal insanity.
Female Alcoholism in Paris, 1870-1920: The Response of Psychiatrists and of Families
Authors: Prestwich Patricia E.
Published: September 2003

In late nineteenth-century France, alcoholism was defined in public debates and medical literature as a male problem. In the light of this public silence on female alcoholism, asylum records can provide information about the reactions of psychiatrists and families to extreme cases of female alcohol abuse. Based on the records of one Parisian asylum, Sainte-Anne, this article argues that in their daily practice of asylum medicine, psychiatrists developed a functional definition of female alcoholism that was not unsympathetic to women patients. Asylum records also indicate that working-class families had their own standards of acceptable drinking by women. When these norms were violated and when informal methods of treatment failed, families turned to the asylum as a detoxification facility.
A Brain Hospital in Tokyo and its Private and Public Patients, 1926-45
Authors: Suzuki Akihito
Published: September 2003

This paper examines patients' demography at Ohji Brain Hospital, a prosperous private psychiatric hospital in Tokyo, from 1926 to 1945. Increase and decrease in the number of resident patients, new admissions and deaths are discussed, based on a database compiled from the patients' admission register. Particular attention is paid to the length of stay. The changing pattern of the distribution of the length of stay is examined in the light of new therapeutics and different expectations held by the clients.
Authoritarianism, Democracy and Psychiatric Reform in Argentina, 1943-83
Authors: Ablard Jonathan D.
Published: September 2003

From 1955 through the early 1970s a group of Argentine psychiatrists, influenced by psychoanalysis and the mental health movement, and supported by military and civilian governments alike, began attempts to transform psychiatric care by replacing large asylums with day hospitals, general hospital clinics and therapeutic communities. Their goals included integrating psychiatry into the mainstream of medicine, improving medical and social services to patients, improving the relationship between doctors and patients, and eliminating patients' social isolation. The military coup of March 1976 ushered in a period of unchecked repression and led to the evaporation of what had often been a tenuous alliance between progressive psychiatry and the state.
Cyclothymia, a Circular Mood Disorder
Authors: Hecker Ewald
Published: September 2003

Ewald Hecker (1843-1909) was a collaborator of Karl Ludwig Kahlbaum (1828-1899). Both worked outside the university and public mental institutions of Germany. By meticulously observing clinical signs and illness-course, they laid the groundwork for modern descriptive psychiatry. Their clinical approach influenced Kraepelin and continues to dominate psychiatric classification. Hecker popularized several of Kahlbaum's syndromal concepts, including hebephrenia. Another was cyclothymia, a relatively benign form of manic-depressive illness, introduced by Kahlbaum in 1882. It included depressive (dysthymia), hypomanic (hyperthymia), and mixed hypomanic-depressive phases. The Kahlbaum-Hecker syndrome of cyclothymia survives in DSM-IV bipolar II disorder and cyclothymia. An annotated English translation of Hecker's 1898 paper is provided, with historical notes on Hecker and the significance of his work.
Territorialized Key Words and Methodological Nationalism
Authors: Berndt Christian
Published: September 2003

The institutions around which the postwar German model has been constructed have increasingly been questioned both from within and from outside Germany, a transformation process which many observers have interpreted as cultural convergence to the currently hegemonic Anglo-American paradigm. Rather than representing change and resistance in Germany in terms of a transition from one stable cultural container to the other, the paper starts from a position which assumes the existence of different representations of the social economy at any moment in time, frameworks which compete for authority and hegemony. Conceptualizing this negotiation process as being constituted both discursively and materially, the paper shows that what is currently going on in Germany is neither institutional convergence nor sclerosis, but rather a contested process where different beliefs, ideas and views battle for hegemony and which has profound consequences for those subject to it.
Metropolitan Institutional Reform and the Rescaling of State Space in Contemporary Western Europe
Authors: Brenner Neil
Published: September 2003

Throughout western Europe, metropolitan governance is back on the agenda. Since the early 1990s, new forms of city-suburban cooperation, regional coordination, regionwide spatial planning and metropolitan institutional organization have been promoted in major city-regions. In contrast to the forms of metropolitan governance that prevailed during the Fordist-Keynesian period - which emphasized administrative modernization, interterritorial equalization and the efficient delivery of public services - the newest wave of metropolitan governance reform is focused upon economic priorities such as territorial competitiveness and attracting external capital investment in the context of geoeconomic and European integration. This article develops an interpretation of the new metropolitan governance in western Europe in two steps. First, I situate the new metropolitan governance in historical context by underscoring its qualitative differences from earlier waves of metropolitan institutional reform. Second, building upon a critique of contemporary `new regionalist' discourses, I develop an interpretation of current metropolitan reform initiatives as important structural and strategic expressions of ongoing, crisis-induced transformations of state spatiality. To this end, I relate contemporary metropolitan reform projects: (a) to various broader trends and counter-trends of state spatial reorganization; and (b) to newly emergent political strategies oriented towards a reconfiguration of inherited approaches to entrepreneurial urban governance. From this perspective, contemporary forms of metropolitan institutional reform are interpreted as key expressions of ongoing processes of state rescaling through which territorial competitiveness is being promoted at a regional scale, albeit in highly contradictory, often self-undermining ways. The article concludes by summarizing some of the methodological implications of this analysis for future studies of urban-regional restructuring and the production of new state spaces.
Institutions, Power and Space
Authors: Cumbers Andrew , MacKinnon Danny , McMaster Robert
Published: September 2003

Economic geographers have drawn upon concepts from institutional economics and economic sociology in recent years to understand processes of regional development within an increasingly globalized economy. In this paper, we assess the influence of this institutional `turn' in economic geography and regional development studies. Two interrelated themes provide the focus of our critique. First, we emphasize the neglect of power and politics in relation to potential intraregional tensions and divisions and the effects of wider processes of uneven development and political-economic regulation. Second, we are critical of the tendency to reify the region over other geographical scales as an object of empirical enquiry and a site of policy intervention. In response to these shortcomings, we conclude by emphasizing the need to rediscover `a sense of political economy' (Martin and Sunley, 2001), suggesting that the potential of institutional approaches can best be realized by linking these to a reworked spatial political economy. While this will inevitably run up against conceptual and methodological difficulties given the differing origins and orientations of the two bodies of knowledge, such a theoretical synthesis could combine a sensitivity to difference, context and contingency with a stronger appreciation of the realities of uneven development and contested social relations under advanced global capitalism.
The British Kit Car Industry
Authors: Raven Christopher , Pinch Steven
Published: September 2003

This paper explores how some of the ideas emerging from the `cultural turn' in economic geography can help us understand the `world of production' constituted by a revivified artisanal sector - the British kit car industry. It is argued that the sector can be interpreted as a `community of practice' underpinned by an `economy of regard'. Not only are the `consumers' of kit cars a crucial part of the production chain for this unusual commodity but they are tightly bound together with producers in their common interest in the leisure activity of building and often racing kit cars. This requires considerable two-way exchange of knowledge and information and a mutually recognized reciprocity in the sector. While not subverting capitalist norms of economic exchange, the kit car sector serves to further emphasize the diversity of arrangements that can surround economic activity.
Poverty Regimes and the Constraints on Urban Democratic Politics
Authors: Nicholls Walter J.
Published: September 2003

Do policy communities designed to manage urban poverty (poverty regime) constrain the democratic opportunities found in cities? Recent investigations have targeted urban civil societies as particularly strategic arenas for generating democratic opportunities. In particular, the associational sector of cities has been viewed as a strategic site for forming citizens in relative autonomy of market and state forces, and for sustaining a plural set of voices; both crucial for generating opportunities for democratic activities such as dissent, debate, and claim making. Moreover, some scholars suggest that the city's placement at the juncture of globalization, transnational migration flows, and alternative identity networks has worked to reinforce the autonomy and radical plurality of urban civil societies. While sympathetic to these views, this article suggests that the emergence of poverty regimes across European cities and their tendencies for incorporating third-sector associations as policy `partners' significantly alters the capacities of associational sectors to generate the opportunities for democratic activities. Using the case of Toulouse, France, the article demonstrates that the particular architecture of the city's poverty regime has significantly constrained the capacities of the local associational sector to generate democratic opportunities. The article goes on to show what the implications of these depleted opportunities have been for social-movement organizations attempting to create general anti-system mobilizations. The article concludes that while poverty regimes are increasingly general across Europe, their particular architectures determine the specific effects they will have in terms of either constraining or enhancing the capacities of local civil societies to generate democratic opportunities.
Euro-Commentary
Authors: Gripaios Peter , McVittie Eric
Published: September 2003

Around two-thirds of European Structural Funds are allocated to Objective One regions, classified as such because their level of GDP per head is less than 75 percent of the EU average. In the spending round 2000-2006, four UK areas qualified and, as a result, these areas combined could receive up to £3b from Brussels and also additional funding from the UK Treasury to maximize the `call down' of funds. This Euro-commentary questions whether all four areas should have qualified and also the criterion of qualification itself. One conclusion is that although all four technically qualify, it is only because of the way the area boundaries were drawn. This was rather more economically justified in the case of Merseyside and South Yorkshire than in West Wales and the Valleys and Cornwall. Redrawing boundaries in other areas could have resulted in a different set of qualifying areas. In any event, a second conclusion is that GDP per head is a rather poor indicator of economic performance at least on its own. A more sensible choice of indicators might have cast doubt on the inclusion of all four of the present set of UK Objective One regions and particularly those of Cornwall and Merseyside. These findings are of relevance to the wider European case.
Ward Atmospheres of Horror and Healing: A Comparative Analysis of Narrative
Authors: Edvardsson David , Rasmussen Birgit Holritz , Riessman Catherine Kohler
Published: September 2003

Aspects of a social setting profoundly influence personal experience in the setting. The purpose of our study was to further understand the phenomenon of ward atmosphere through a detailed case study. One narrator describes and contrasts two ward experiences, one where she lost her mother through death, and the other where she became a mother through birthing. Using classic storytelling forms, she develops a long narrative juxtaposing the two settings: one healing, the other horrifying. Close examination of narrative structure and aesthetics of the illness narrative shows how the narrator forges a discourse about the moral life - how healing should occur. Experiences in the two settings continue to have significance in her subjectivity. The research suggests aspects of ward atmosphere that warrant further investigation.
HIV Health in Context: Negotiating Medical Technology and Lived Experience
Authors: Persson Asha , Race Kane , Wakeford Elisabeth
Published: September 2003

Biomedical constructions of health and illness as objective categories have long been challenged by social theorists. As part of this critique, an analytic distinction is made between the domains of doctors and patients to highlight differences in perspective and power. Illness narratives and phenomenological studies foreground how patient experiences and understandings of health are complex, socially embedded and often conflict with medical models. This article, however, asks how patients make sense of their health at the interface of these domains. This question is explored with reference to 16 men living with HIV and the ways in which they negotiate medical discourse and technology in relation to lived experience and, conversely, how they interpret their own bodily symptoms in light of clinical construction of health. These negotiations contest the authority of biomedical definitions, but also reveal a more dynamic and technologically mediated negotiation within patient experience than some phenomenologically oriented theories on health allow.
Between Television and the Audience: Negotiating Representations of Ageing
Authors: Hodgetts Darrin , Chamberlain Kerry , Bassett Graeme
Published: September 2003

The `greying' of populations - the demographic shift in which general populations are `ageing older' - has raised concerns over the future needs of tomorrow's elderly population and contributed to changes in the public persona of elderly people. Traditional representations such as the `frail elderly' are now complemented by newer representations such as the `remarkably' youthful elderly. This article explores the ways a group of lower socio-economic status women draw upon representations of the active and inactive elderly evident in a television documentary, when making sense of the contemporary search for the fountain of youth. Participants' discussion of the programme reveals complex relationships among notions of consumer choice, scientific progress and religion. We conclude by exploring the implications of depictions of the active and inactive elderly in framing the contemporary search for the fountain of youth.
`Aysha': Genetics Education and Community Engagement in a Consanguineous Arab-Bedouin Population in Israel
Authors: Raz Aviad E.
Published: September 2003

I examine the piloting of an educational tool - an Arabic-speaking documentary film entitled `Aysha' - in a Bedouin community in Israel, where consanguinity increases the prevalence of genetic diseases. Textual analysis of the film's changing script versions demonstrates how the dilemma of modern biomedical goals and local Bedouin tradition was reconciled in the film's narrative. Focus groups conducted with 61 teachers and 40 Bedouin pupils illustrate a split between dependence on family and tradition alongside a positive view of the film's message. Four main topics were covered: authenticity and efficiency; consanguinity; genetic tests and carrier matching; and abortion. The conclusion discusses the film in the broader context of tradition and modernization, gender relations and the complex positioning involved in implementing and evaluating health-related intervention programs.