bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Laparoscopic Nephroureterectomy and Management of the Distal Ureter: A Review of Current Techniques and Outcomes
Authors: Viprakasit Davis P. , Macejko Amanda M. , Nadler Robert B.
Published: January 2009

Laparoscopic nephroureterectomy (LNU) is becoming an increasingly common alternative treatment for transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) of the renal pelvis and ureter due to decreased perioperative morbidity, shorter hospitalization, and comparable oncologic control with open nephroureterectomy (ONU). Mobilization of the kidney and proximal ureter may be performed through a transperitoneal, retroperitoneal, or hand-assisted approach. Each technique is associated with its own benefits and limitations, and the optimal approach is often dictated by surgeon preference. Our analysis of the literature reflects equivalent cancer control between LPN and OPN at intermediate follow-up with significantly improved perioperative morbidity following LPN. Several methods for bladder cuff excision have been advocated, however, no individual technique for management of the distal ureter proved superior. Overall, complete en-bloc resection with minimal disruption of the urinary tract should be optimized to maintain oncologic outcomes. Longer follow-up and prospective studies are needed to fully evaluate these techniques.
Effects of Symptom Reduction and Psychotropic Medication on Cognitive Impairment in Depression
Authors: Frasch K. , Bullacher C. , Jäger M. , Kilian R. , Rink M. , Wittek R. , Becker T. , Neumann N.U.
Published: January 2009

Background: Depression is related to cognitive performance. This follow-up study examines the influence of depression symptoms and psychopharmacological treatment on change in the cognitive performance of patients with depressive episodes over a 2-year period. Sampling and Methods: Sixty-two in- and outpatients with depression of varying severity (ICD-10: F31–F33) were examined in an open prospective naturalistic observational study with 3 points of measurement and tested by use of 3 computerized cognitive performance tests [Visual Attentiveness Test (VAT), Continuous Attention Test (CAT), Word Recognition Test (WRT)], while the psychotropic medication was classified by subclass and dosage. Statistical analysis was performed by random-effects regression models. Results: The raw values of VAT speed, CAT speed and WRT quality improved over time. However, the positive time trend disappeared after the patients’ clinical and personal characteristics were controlled for. The processing speed of the VAT was found to be negatively influenced by depressive symptoms. That of the CAT developed favorably with increasing level of education. The performance qualities of the VAT, WRT and CAT were positively related to the participants’ educational level. The patients who received antipsychotic treatment performed worse on WRT quality than those who were not treated with antipsychotics. Conclusions: The cognitive performance was relatively stable during the treatment process and not affected by clinical characteristics or type of medication. Cognitive deficits in patients with depression could be a trait rather than a state marker.
Lipiodol and Dye at the Site of Ablation Decreases during RFA
Authors: Hirakawa Miharu , Ikeda Kenji , Kawamura Yusuke , Kobayashi Masahiro , Hosaka Tetsuya , Yatsuji Hiromi , Sezaki Hitomi , Akuta Norio , Saitoh Satoshi , Suzuki Fumitaka , Suzuki Yoshiyuki , Arase Yasuji , Kumada Hiromitsu
Published: January 2009

Objectives: Intrahepatic metastasis is one of the serious complications of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma. The aim of this study was to investigate how liver tissue could be disseminated during the RFA procedure with different devices and protocols in an in vivo porcine model. Methods: Three pigs underwent RFA procedures using 2 different devices: needles that could be expanded (LeVeen needle) and those that could not (cool-tip needle). A LeVeen needle was used with a single-step full extension method or a stepwise extension method. Before RFA, a mixture of lipiodol and blue dye was injected intrahepatically into a precoagulated area. After the ablation procedure, the specimen was cut to evaluate the amount of dye remaining in the ablated region and the distribution of the dye outside the ablated area. Results: The stepwise extension method resulted in the disappearance of the smallest amount of the dye and lipiodol at the ablation site, compared with the full extension method and cool-tip needle. Dye was found at sites distant from the ablated area in all cases using the cool-tip needle, but in none with the stepwise extension method. Conclusions: The stepwise procedure using the expandable needle can reduce tumor cell scattering, which can cause intrahepatic metastasis, compared with other methods.
Peanut Allergy Diagnosis in the Context of Grass Pollen Sensitization for 125 Patients: Roles of Peanut and Cross-Reactive Carbohydrate Determinants Specific IgE
Authors: Guilloux L. , Morisset M. , Codreanu F. , Parisot L. , Moneret-Vautrin D.A.
Published: January 2009

Background: In vitro testing for food allergy may yield clinically irrelevant results due to cross-reactive carbohydrate determinants (CCD) specific immunoglobulin E (sIgE) induced by pollen exposure. The performances of 2 in vitro methods were evaluated for peanut sIgE measurement in patients allergic to grass pollen with or without subsequent allergy to peanuts. The correlation between clinically irrelevant peanut sIgE and the presence of CCD sIgE was investigated. Methods: In vitro measurement of peanut sIgE was performed using the Pharmacia ImmunoCap™ system Radio Immuno Assay (RIA) and the Immulite ® 2000 3gAllergy™ system. Discrepancies between in vitro results and peanut allergy diagnosis were evaluated by measurement of CCD sIgE using bromelain and ascorbic acid oxydase (AAO). Results: The sensitivity was 100% with both systems for the diagnosis of allergy to peanut (58 patients), nevertheless the specificity obtained with Immulite (73%) was better than that obtained using ImmunoCap (46%) in patients who were not allergic to peanuts, but who had a grass pollen allergy (n = 41). In 22 out of 41 patients who presented clinically irrelevant peanut sIgE results using ImmunoCAP, CCD sIgE was detected in 72% of the cases by bromelain and in 86% by AAO. In 11 patients out of 41 who presented irrelevant peanut sIgE results using Immulite, CCD sIgE was detected in 81% of the cases by bromelain and in 100% by AAO. Conclusion: The Immulite 2000 system had better specificity than the ImmunoCap system for accurate diagnosis of peanut allergy in patients allergic to grass pollen. CCD sIgE was identified in most of the false-positive peanut sIgE results.
Validation Study of the OHIO Chamber in Patients with Japanese Cedar Pollinosis
Authors: Hashiguchi Kazuhiro , Tang Huaipeng , Fujita Toshio , Suematsu Kiyochika , Tsubaki Shigekazu , Nagakura Hitoshi , Kitajima Sei , Gotoh Minoru , Okubo Kimihiro
Published: January 2009

Background: An artificial exposure chamber (OHIO Chamber), which allows dispersal of a fixed concentration of Japanese cedar (JC) pollen under stable conditions, was constructed. This study was conducted to identify the exposure conditions assuring validity of the clinical tests conducted using this chamber. Methods: Twenty-four adult patients with JC pollinosis were exposed to different concentrations of JC pollen: 0 (only during the summer period), 4,000, 8,000 and 12,000 grains/m3, and the nasal and ocular symptoms were self-assessed during a 4-hour period of exposure. The amount of nasal discharge was measured and the sneezing frequency was recorded. This study was conducted twice during the summer and winter periods, i.e. non-pollen seasons. The reproducibility of the symptoms between the two seasons was assessed. Results: None of the subjects developed any symptom at the pollen concentration of 0 grains/m3. No significant differences in the time to the onset of symptoms were found between the summer and winter study, regardless of the pollen concentration. There were no significant differences between the summer and winter study in the total symptom score and total nasal symptom score at any pollen concentration, suggesting the very favorable reproducibility of symptoms. Conclusions: Efficient and reproducible results are obtained in patients exposed to JC pollen in the OHIO Chamber. The results suggest the conditions of JC pollen exposure have scientific validity and the OHIO Chamber has the potential to contribute significantly to basic and clinical studies of JC pollinosis.
Montelukast Is Not Effective in Controlling Allergic Symptoms Outside the Airways
Authors: Lehtimäki Lauri , Petäys Tuula , Haahtela Tari
Published: January 2009

Background: Subjects with atopic syndrome often perceive symptoms from various organs. A single drug that acts on all the syndrome’s manifestations would be the ideal treatment. The role of montelukast, a cysteinyl-leukotriene receptor antagonist, is established in treating allergic rhinitis and asthma, but its ability to alleviate atopic symptoms outside the airways is controversial. Our aim was to assess if montelukast could be used to treat all the various symptoms seen in subjects with atopic syndrome. Methods: A randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study on the effect of montelukast in atopic syndrome was conducted during the 2007 pollen season. Forty-five pollen-sensitised subjects who had allergic symptoms from both the upper and lower airways and allergic symptoms outside the airways (conjunctivitis, oral symptoms, eczema and/or urticaria) were recruited. The primary outcome parameter was the allergic symptoms, which were assessed using a questionnaire. Secondary outcome parameters were lower-airway inflammation (exhaled nitric oxide) and the need for rescue medication (inhaled β2-agonists and oral antihistamines). Results: There were no differences between montelukast and placebo treatments in allergic symptoms, in exhaled NO concentration or in the need for oral antihistamines. The need for inhaled β2-agonists was significantly lower during montelukast treatment. Conclusions: Montelukast was not effective in treating allergic symptoms outside the airways in subjects suffering from different manifestations of the atopic syndrome. Based on the current results, montelukast should not be recommended as a general drug to treat all the symptoms of atopic syndrome, but it should be considered as a drug for asthma and rhinitis.
Classification of Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis
Authors: Lacasse Yves , Selman Moises , Costabel Ulrich , Dalphin Jean-Charles , Morell Ferran , Erkinjuntti-Pekkanen Riitta , Mueller Nestor L. , Colby Thomas V. , Schuyler Mark , Jomphe Valérie , Cormier Yvon
Published: January 2009

Background: Regardless of the causative antigen, hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP) is usually classified as ‘acute’, ‘subacute’ or ‘chronic’. Considerable confusion still surrounds this classification because there are no widely accepted criteria to distinguish the various stages. The objective of this study wasto determine whether the current classification of HP truly reflects categories of patients with distinct clinical features. Methods: Data obtained from a large prospective multicenter cohort study (the HP Study) were used to divide a cohort of patients with HP into a limited number of categories (clusters) with maximally differing clinical patterns, without prejudgment. The results of this cluster analysis were compared with the current classification of HP (acute, subacute or chronic). Results: 168 patients were included in the analysis. A 2-cluster solution best fitted the data. Patients in cluster 1 (41 patients) had more recurrent systemic symptoms (chills and body aches) and normal chest radiographs than those in cluster 2 (127 patients) who showed significantly more clubbing, hypoxemia, restrictive patterns on pulmonary function tests and fibrosis on high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT). All p values were <0.0001, using Fisher’s exact test. Nodular opacities were seen on HRCT as often in cluster 1 as in cluster 2. There was considerable disagreement between the current classification of HP and the results of our analysis. Conclusion: The current classification of acute, subacute and chronic HP is not supported by our analysis. Subacute HP is particularly difficult to define.
Carbamazepine Hypersensitivity Syndrome Triggered by a Human Herpes Virus Reactivation in a Genetically Predisposed Patient
Authors: Calligaris Lorenzo , Stocco Gabriele , De Iudicibus Sara , Marino Sara , Decorti Giuliana , Barbi Egidio , Carrozzi Marco , Marchetti Federico , Bartoli Fiora , Ventura Alessandro
Published: January 2009

A case of severe hypersensitivity syndrome, triggered by carbamazepine in the presence of a concomitant active human herpes virus (HHV) 6 and 7 infection is described. To further understand the molecular mechanism of this adverse reaction, analyses of the genetic variants of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) and of the epoxide hydrolase gene (EPHX1), previously associated with carbamazepine hypersensitivity, were performed. A lymphocyte transformation test (LTT) was conducted in order to detect drug-specific lymphocytes. In the hypersensitive patient, 2 genetic factors previously associated with intolerance to carbamazepine were detected: the allele HLA-A*3101 and homozygosity for the variant allele of SNP rs1051740 in EPHX1. Drug-specific lymphocytes could be detected by LTT when the HHV was active (positive PCR for viral DNA and increased anti-HHV 6 IgG titer), but not when it was no longer active. In conclusion, we document a case of severe carbamazepine hypersensitivity triggered by viral reactivation in a patient presenting the interaction of 2 unfavorable genetic factors.
Identification of Nonlinear Behavior in Transient Climate Change Projections of Soil Moisture over the United States
Authors: Anderson Bruce T. , Reifen Catherine , Toumi Ralf
Published: January 2009

While most projections of climate change and its regional impacts focus on overall changes in the state of the climate system, useful information can also be found in the evolution of the climate system from one state to another. Here the authors introduce one method for identifying regions in which significant and systematic long-term nonlinear evolutions may be present, even given quasi-linear anthropogenic forcing. Using climate change projections taken from simulations of NCAR’s Community Climate System Model, version 3 (CCSM3), the authors then employ the technique to isolate systematic nonlinear behavior of soil moisture variations over the United States. While the projections presented here only represent the results from one model system, it is argued that such nonlinear behavior is an important characteristic of future climate change that should be considered when discussing both short-term and long-term impacts of anthropogenic climate forcing.
Poststreptococcal Reactive Arthritis in Children: A Retrospective Study
Authors: Nandini Moorthy Lakshmi , Gaur Sunanda , Peterson Margaret G. , Flores Landa Yanetsi , Tandon Mandvi , Lehman Thomas J.
Published: January 2009

The duration of treatment and appropriate guidelines for antibiotic prophylaxis for children with poststreptococcal reactive arthritis (PSRA) have not been determined. The authors performed a retrospective chart review of 40 children with PSRA and examined their clinical features at initial evaluation and at 6, 12, and 24months. At baseline, 18% (n = 7) had a finding noted on the echocardiogram. Although most patients developed cardiac findings early on in the course of their disease, 2 patients with a normal baseline echocardiogram may have developed findings after 12 months of follow-up. The mean duration of prophylaxis was 22 months. During the follow-up period, there was improvement in Physician's Global Assessment, number of patients with arthralgia, tender and swollen joints, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, anti—streptolysin O, and anti—DNAse B antibody titers. The authors conclude that marked improvement in clinical features and laboratory values was seen over time. Patients may benefit with long-term cardiac follow-up.
The Rotten Barrel Spoils the Apples: How Situational Factors Contribute to Detention Officer Abuse Toward Inmates
Authors: Lurigio Arthur J.
Published: January 2009

This article reviews The Lucifer Effect, a fascinating and incisive book by Phillip Zimbardo, a professor emeritus at Stanford University. The book is a multilayered and compelling treatise about the malleability of human nature and the utter rapidity with which it can change from civility to malevolence. Lying at the heart of the volume is a painstaking chronology of the Stanford Prison Experiment, a case study that illustrates the overriding “power of the situation” to transform “good citizens” into “evil doers.” The book's most valuable contributions are the parallels Zimbardo draws between the experiment and the Abu Ghraib atrocities. This underscore the timelessness of the insights generated in his laboratory that went unheeded in Iraq because of systemic and situational forces that compelled young men and women of the military to engage in wanton acts of abuse and torture. The author extracts from The Lucifer Effect seven enduring lessons for America's prison administrators.
The Evolution of Community Corrections
Authors: Wodahl Eric J. , Garland Brett
Published: January 2009

Community corrections has grown into a salient component of the correctional system. This article traces the growth and development of community-based sanctions in the United States. The authors assert that the evolution of community corrections has largely been shaped by its enduring relationship with the prison. Thus, it is not possible to fully comprehend the evolution of community-based corrections without considering the influence of the institutions. As such, this article documents the development and durability of community corrections by focusing on their unique and dynamic relationship with the prison.
Re-searching Ethics: Towards a More Reflexive Critical Management Studies
Authors: Brewis Joanna , Wray-Bliss Edward
Published: January 2009

Fournier and Grey (2000) suggest that those inhabiting the contested terrain of Critical Management Studies (CMS) share a commitment to identifying inequality and subordination in organizations and to the associated possibility of emancipation, however this is conceived. Despite their additional claim that one crucial distinction between critical and non-critical management studies is the `philosophical and methodological reflexivity' of the former (Fournier and Grey 2000: 19), our review indicates limits to this reflexivity in CMS's empirical practices — indeed, we argue these may even be counter-productive with regard to its political allegiances. To encourage wider discussion of these issues, we provide a tripartite framework of understandings of research ethics drawn from within and outside the management academy, and interrogate the opportunities and limitations of each for enriching CMS research.
Necrocapitalism
Authors: Bobby Banerjee Subhabrata
Published: January 2009

In this paper I develop the concept of necrocapitalism, defined as contemporary forms of organizational accumulation that involve dispossession and the subjugation of life to the power of death. I examine how different forms of power — institutional, material, and discursive — operate in the political economy and the violence and dispossession that result. I describe some contemporary forms of organizational accumulation that involve dispossession and death and could therefore be described as necrocapitalist practices — for example, the impact of the resources industry in developing countries and the privatization of war and the military. I conclude by discussing some possibilities of resistance and outlining directions for future research.
Constructing Consumer Responsibility: Exploring the Role of Corporate Communications
Authors: Caruana Robert , Crane Andrew
Published: January 2009

This article examines the role of corporations in constructing the nature, meaning and implications of `consumer responsibility'. It draws on a theoretical framework that elaborates how objects, subjects and concepts are configured in organizational discourse. Using critical discourse analysis, it reveals how consumer responsibility is organized into meaningful cultural knowledge through corporate communications. The findings suggest that such communications rely on strategic juxtapositions that offer a morally unconflicting concept of consumer responsibility that is facilitative of market choice.
Carnival and Spectacle in Krewe de Vieux and the Mystic Krewe of Spermes: The Mingling of Organization and Celebration
Authors: Islam Gazi , Zyphur Michael J. , Boje David
Published: January 2009

This is an ethnographic study of the Mystic Krewe of Spermes, which does float construction and a parade for Mardis Gras in New Orleans. We compare spectacular and carnivalesque elements of the organization in its preparation for and enactment of the annual parade. We show that both system-maintaining spectacular theatrics and system-challenging carnivalesque protest govern the event, which at once leads to opposition and tension, as well as acceptance and renewal within the krewe and its local audience. We discuss implications for critical organization studies, and the importance of the krewe as an indigenous organizational form.
Making Space for Graduate Student Parents
Authors: Springer Kristen W. , Parker Brenda K. , Leviten-Reid Catherine
Published: January 2009

Work—family issues of graduate students are nearly invisible, despite record numbers of men and women in graduate school during their peak childbearing years. Furthermore, very little is known about what, if any, services are available for graduate student parents. In this article we describe the theoretical and practical tensions between society's view of idealized mothering and academia's vision of graduate students as idealized workers. We then present results of a survey about parental supports for graduate students administered to graduate directors of sociology PhD programs. The results demonstrate that few official policies exist, most situations are accommodated individually, and graduate directors are often unaware of university services for graduate student parents. The article concludes with a detailed presentation of potential departmental and university initiatives designed to support graduate student parents. These initiatives can be readily incorporated by graduate departments and universities to help curb the leaking pipeline of women in academia.
Correlates of Hospitalization for Alcohol-Using Methadone-Maintained Persons With Physical Health Problems
Authors: Nyamathi Adeline , Compton Peggy , Cohen Allan , Marfisee Mary , Shoptaw Steven , Greengold Barbara , de Castro Viviana , Reaves Mashid , Hasson Albert , George Daniel , Leake Barbara
Published: January 2009

This cross-sectional study ( n = 190) examined correlates of hospitalization for physical health problems among methadone maintenance therapy (MMT) clients with a history of alcohol abuse. The study was derived from baseline data collected for a longitudinal trial assessing the effect of motivational interviewing among alcohol-abusing adults undergoing MMT. The sample included clients who were 18-55 years of age, abusing alcohol, and receiving MMT from five large methadone maintenance clinics in the Los Angeles area. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the data. Correlates of hospitalization in logistic regression analysis included lack of social support, recent victimization, age of first alcohol use, chronic severe pain in the previous 6 months, not having children, and ethnicity. Identification of hospitalization risk factors among alcohol-abusing MMT clients is a first step to developing risk-reducing interventions designed to lower hospitalization rates in this population.
In the Social Factory?
Authors: Gill Rosalind , Pratt Andy
Published: January 2009

This article introduces a special section concerned with precariousness and cultural work. Its aim is to bring into dialogue three bodies of ideas — the work of the autonomous Marxist `Italian laboratory'; activist writings about precariousness and precarity; and the emerging empirical scholarship concerned with the distinctive features of cultural work, at a moment when artists, designers and (new) media workers have taken centre stage as a supposed `creative class' of model entrepreneurs. The article is divided into three sections. It starts by introducing the ideas of the autonomous Marxist tradition, highlighting arguments about the autonomy of labour, informational capitalism and the `factory without walls', as well as key concepts such as multitude and immaterial labour. The impact of these ideas and of Operaismo politics more generally on the precarity movement is then considered in the second section, discussing some of the issues that have animated debate both within and outside this movement, which has often treated cultural workers as exemplifying the experiences of a new `precariat'. In the third and final section we turn to the empirical literature about cultural work, pointing to its main features before bringing it into debate with the ideas already discussed. Several points of overlap and critique are elaborated — focusing in particular on issues of affect, temporality, subjectivity and solidarity.
Precarity as a Political Concept, or, Fordism as Exception
Authors: Neilson Brett , Rossiter Ned
Published: January 2009

In 2003, the concept of precarity emerged as the central organizing platform for a series of social struggles that would spread across the space of Europe. Four years later, almost as suddenly as the precarity movement appeared, so it would enter into crisis. To understand precarity as a political concept it is necessary to go beyond economistic approaches that see social conditions as determined by the mode of production. Such a move requires us to see Fordism as exception and precarity as the norm. The political concept and practice of translation enables us to frame the precarity of creative labour in a broader historical and geographical perspective, shedding light on its contestation and relation to the concept of the common. Our interest is in the potential for novel forms of connection, subjectivization and political organization. Such processes of translation are themselves inherently precarious, transborder undertakings.
Creative Work and Emotional Labour in the Television Industry
Authors: Hesmondhalgh David , Baker Sarah
Published: January 2009

In keeping with the focus of this special section, we concentrate initially on some of the problems of autonomist Marxist concepts such as `immaterial labour', `affective labour' and `precarity' for understanding work in the cultural industries. We then briefly review some relevant media theory (John Thompson's notion of mediated quasi-interaction) and some key recent sociological research on cultural labour (especially work by Andrew Ross and Laura Grindstaff, the latter drawing on Hochschild's concept of emotional labour), which we believe may be more useful than autonomist concepts in developing empirically informed critique. The main body of the article then consists of an ethnographic account of working on one particular television programme, an account that aims to build on these theoretical debates. We analyse how the power to provide exposure or not to individuals in the talent show genre in contemporary television (a feature that derives from the symbolic power of producers to make texts that are then circulated to massive numbers of people) and disputes between commissioners and independent producers about how best to go about doing so (an organizational issue) are registered in the form of stress, anxiety and sometimes poor working relations among project teams of young television researchers (a matter of working conditions and experiences). We especially focus on how additional pressures are borne by these workers because of the requirements to undertake emotional labour, involving the handling of strong emotions on the part of talent show contributors, and to maintain good working relations in short-term project work, requirements generated by the need to ensure future employment. Ultimately, then, we support the view that creative work is `precarious' — but we go beyond the generalizations involved in concepts such as immaterial labour and affective labour to show the specific ways in which precariousness is registered and negotiated in the lives of young workers in one industry.
Messiaen and Deleuze
Authors: Pickstock Catherine
Published: January 2009

This article explores an anomaly of modern music. Music has remained more obviously aligned with religious sensibility, practice and belief than other modern art-forms or cultural tendencies. To understand this phenomenon fully, it is not sufficient to see musical composition, performance and reflection as simply expressive of wider cultural and philosophical tendencies, nor as contributing to them in its own idiom. Instead, one must see musical composition and theory as itself, at least in the modern era, a prime mode of philosophical reflection which possesses resources which allow it both to take to an extreme, and yet to criticize fundamental intellectual tendencies of our time. This criticism tends to take the form of a religious transcendence of the secular, despite the fact that it is in no way shielded from the most avant-garde influences. This is exhibited, I shall argue, in the Catholicism of Olivier Messiaen and his legacy, since Messiaen was arguably the central composer of the previous century and the one who has perhaps most directly influenced philosophical understanding.
Sociology into Theology
Authors: Flanagan Kieran
Published: January 2009

By means of a comparison between Bourdieu and Simmel, this article explores the fusion of theology and religion so as to give sociological expression to Kierkegaard's leap of faith. When detached from theology, religion services civil and secular needs in ways that enhance power and the right of the state to regulate the agenda of the politics of identity. In their dealings with religion, Bourdieu and Simmel present sociology with a choice of fusing the category of religion with theology or not. If the outcome is fusion, then the prospects of a religious reflexivity are enhanced, thus facilitating a leap of faith and the opening of a fruitful dialogue with theology, where sociology can develop new horizons for understandings of culture.
Claude Lévi-Strauss at His Centennial
Authors: Doja Albert
Published: January 2009

Lévi-Strauss's centennial is an opportunity to show his inextricable connections with the evolution of 20th-century thought and what these promise for 21st-century anthropology. He has mapped the philosophical parameters for a renewed ethnography which opens innovative approaches to history, agency, culture and society. The anthropological understanding of history, for instance, is enriched by methodical application of his mytho-logical analysis, in particular his claim that myths are `machines for the suppression of time'. Lévi-Strauss's thought has led to the development of new and invigorated forms of structural analysis, exemplified by the way that his concept of canonical expression has provided the foundation for the sophisticated application of transformational analysis and formalization.
Does behaviour modification affect post-stroke risk factor control? Three-year follow-up of a randomized controlled trial
Authors: McManus Julie Ann , Craig Alison , McAlpine Christine , Langhorne Peter , Ellis Graham
Published: January 2009

Objective: Little is known about the long-term effectiveness after stroke of interventions for behaviour modification and ensuring concordance with therapies. We describe a follow-up study of a previous randomized controlled trial of a brief period of behaviour modification. The aim of this study was to determine outcomes three years after the initial intervention.

Design: Survivors of the original cohort were contacted and asked to attend for follow-up interview, within a geriatric day hospital. This study was carried out in the Geriatric Day Hospital at Stobhill Hospital, Balornock Road, Glasgow.

Interventions: Details of risk factor control, including blood pressure, cholesterol levels and diabetic control, were assessed. Questionnaires used in the initial study were repeated including the Geriatric Depression Scale score, Euroqol Perceived Health Status and Stroke Services Satisfaction Questionnaire.

Main measures: Primary outcome was collective risk factor control. Clinical outcomes including recurrent cerebrovascular events, medication persistence and perceived health status were also recorded.

Results: Mean length of follow-up was 3.6 years (SD 0.43). Of the 205 patients enrolled in the initial study, 102 patients attended for repeat interview

(49 intervention/53 control). There were no significant differences in the percentage of controlled risk factors between groups (intervention 51.7% versus control 55.9%, P = 0.53). Similarities were observed in the number of recurrent clinical events and medication persistence between groups. No overall difference was observed in perceived health status, satisfaction with care or depression scores.

Conclusions: Brief intervention with respect to behaviour modification and risk factor control does not appear to have any long-term benefit. These results must be cautiously interpreted in light of the small study number and further research is required.
The effects of two different auditory stimuli on functional arm movement in persons with Parkinson's disease: a dual-task paradigm
Authors: Ma Hui-Ing , Hwang Wen-Juh , Lin Keh-Chung
Published: January 2009

Objective: To examine, in a dual-task paradigm, the effect of auditory stimuli on people with Parkinson's disease.

Design: A counterbalanced repeated-measures design.

Setting: A motor control laboratory in a university setting.

Subjects: Twenty individuals with Parkinson's disease.

Experimental conditions: Each participant did two experiments (marching music experiment and weather forecast experiment). In each experiment, the participant performed an upper extremity functional task as the primary task and listened to an auditory stimulus (marching music or weather forecast) as the concurrent task. Each experiment had three conditions: listening to the auditory stimulus, ignoring the auditory stimulus and no auditory stimulus.

Main measures: Kinematic variables of arm movement, including movement time, peak velocity, deceleration time and number of movement units.

Results: We found that performances of the participants were similar across the three conditions for the marching music experiment, but were significantly different for the weather forecast experiment. The comparison of condition effects between the two experiments indicated that the effect of weather forecast was (marginally) significantly greater than that of marching music.

Conclusions: The results suggest that the type of auditory stimulus is important to the degree of interference with upper extremity performance in people with Parkinson's disease. Auditory stimuli that require semantic processing (e.g. weather forecast) may distract attention from the primary task, and thus cause a decline in performance.
Gender, Anxiety, and Depressive Symptoms
Authors: Chaplin Tara M. , Gillham Jane E. , Seligman Martin E. P.
Published: January 2009

Does anxiety lead to depression more for girls than for boys? This study prospectively examines gender differences in the relationship between anxiety and depressive symptoms in early adolescence. One hundred thirteen 11-to 14-year-old middle school students complete questionnaires assessing depressive symptoms and three dimensions of anxiety (worry and oversensitivity, social concerns and concentration, and physiological anxiety) as well as total anxiety symptoms at an initial assessment and 1 year later. Total anxiety and worry and oversensitivity symptoms are found to predict later depressive symptoms more strongly for girls than for boys. There is a similar pattern of results for social concerns and concentration symptoms, although this does not reach statistical significance. Physiological anxiety predicts later depressive symptoms for both boys and girls. These findings highlight the importance of anxiety for the development of depression in adolescence, particularly worry and oversensitivity among girls.
Cost-Effectiveness of Insuring the Uninsured: The Case of Korean American Children
Authors: Chen Judy Y. , Swonger Sharon , Kominski Gerald , Honghu Liu  , Ji Eun Lee  , Diamant Allison
Published: January 2009

Background . More than one quarter of Korean American children are uninsured, and many are eligible for children's health insurance programs. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of different school-based health insurance strategies to provide coverage to uninsured Korean American children. Method . The authors used a quasi-experimental nonequivalent control group design, conducted from July to December 2005 in Los Angeles, California. The subjects were Korean American children in 3 groups/schools (n = 1181 ). Parents received a variation of outreach methods (i.e., information sheets, school site presentations, automated telephone messages, personal telephone calls) and application assistance (i.e., telephone helpline, on-site assistance). The authors used bivariate and multivariable analysis to assess effectiveness. Cost-effectiveness was performed using a 3-stage model and Monte Carlo simulation. Results . Of the uninsured in the intensive intervention group, 41% applied for insurance compared with 13% of the control group (P = 0:002 ). This success was due to personal telephone calls. Of the uninsured in the intensive intervention group, 23% enrolled in insurance compared with 10% of the control group (P = 0:048 ). The most common reason reported by parents for nonenrollment despite assistance was failure to mail in the application. Despite the small increase in insurance enrollment from the intensive intervention strategy compared with the control group, it is cost-effective. Conclusions . Personal telephone calls are effective in increasing outreach for children's health insurance application. However, more research is needed to investigate why parents fail to mail in the application. Ultimately, insuring more children will result in cost-effective improvements in quality-adjusted life years.
Competitive Sourcing in the Federal Civil Service
Authors: Snavely Keith , Desai Uday
Published: January 2009

Competitive sourcing, meaning public—private competitions to perform work in the federal civil service, was made a priority management policy of the George W. Bush administration. Competition, it is believed, will greatly enhance administrative efficiency whichever bidder, public or private, wins. Introduction of such market-based human resource policies into the federal civil service has engendered debate over long-term effects on merit principles, public service motives and ethics, and administrative performance. This article contributes to that discussion by examining the policy origins and purposes behind competitive sourcing and by analyzing implementation of the policy during the Bush administration. Results show that the market ideology expressed in competitive sourcing has been moderated and mediated by the implementation process. Congressional and public employee involvement alongside that of the administration produced policy outcomes of mixed results.
Using Electronic Monitoring to Supervise Sex Offenders
Authors: Button Deeanna M. , DeMichele Matthew , Payne Brian K.
Published: January 2009

The contemporary crime control policy arena is one in which many states and the federal government are passing increasingly punitive legislation authorizing, and often, requiring electronic monitoring of sex offenders. This article reviews exploratory legal data on relevant state codes of all 50 states in the United States. The authors review state statutes regulating the electronic monitoring of sex offenders to identify the characteristics of the legislation, the necessity of (and budgetary support for) the laws, and the implications for probation and parole agencies and officers. Eight patterns are identified through the content analysis of recent legislation regarding electronic monitoring of sex offenders. Policy implications are identified.
The Issue of Globalization through the Theory of Imperialism and the Periodization of Modes of Production
Authors: Sakellaropoulos Spyros
Published: January 2009

The aim of this article is to illustrate why the notions of mode of production and of social formation are still necessary for understanding the transformations taking place in the modern phase of imperialism. The basic object is to demonstrate the enduring significance of the Leninist theory of imperialism as a method used to analyse the current era of the capitalist development. What we have been witnessing over the last years is not the emergence of a new mode of production or the transition to a new stage of capitalism, so-called globalization, but merely imperialism in its modern phase.
Images of War: Content Analysis of the Photo Coverage of the War in Kosovo
Authors: Nikolaev Alexander G.
Published: January 2009

This study is a content analysis of the coverage of the war in Kosovo by three major American magazines - Time, Newsweek, and US News & World Report. American and independent international official documents show that the Kosovo conflict was a civil war between Kosovo's Serbian population supported by the Yugoslavian government and an Albanian nationalist terrorist organization (KLA). The main question of this study is: Did the American media tell this story correctly? The general hypothesis of this study was that the photo coverage of the war had been imbalanced with apparent bias against the Serbs. The hypothesis was statistically supported. A theoretical explanation for similar types of situations is offered in the discussion section. The author refers to this phenomenon as the media agitation mode and identifies eight main characteristics of such situations. The theory of supply and demand of political news is also introduced in this article.
Trends in the Treatment of Chronic Hepatitis C Virus Infection
Authors: Kiser Jennifer J.
Published: January 2009

Despite reductions in the incidence of new hepatitis C virus infections, infections from previous decades continue to place a substantial burden on our health care system. Although the course of the disease is highly variable, approximately 20% to 30% of patients develop cirrhosis, end-stage liver disease, or hepatocellular carcinoma. Fortunately, treatment with our current standard of care, peginterferon a and ribavirin, can reduce the complications of chronic liver disease. However, these drugs are associated with significant adverse effects, many patients are ineligible for treatment, and only 50% are cured. Thus, there is a tremendous need to improve our current therapies and develop new compounds for this disease. This review highlights the transmission, pathophysiology, and course of illness; the pharmacokinetics, proposed mechanisms of action, adverse events, and potential drug interactions with peginterferon a and ribavirin; current treatment trends; the role of the pharmacist in the treatment of this disease; and investigational drugs in later stages of clinical development. Despite the initial hope that these new drugs would replace our current standard of care, it has become clear that ribavirin and peginterferon a will continue to play an important role in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus in the years to come.
Cultural Competency in Baccalaureate Nursing Education
Authors: Calvillo Evelyn , Clark Lauren , Ballantyne Jean E. , Pacquiao Dula , Purnell Larry D. , Villarruel Antonia M.
Published: January 2009

This article presents the work of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Advisory Committee in developing an integrated curriculum for cultural competence in baccalaureate nursing education. Five competencies for Cultural Competency in Baccalaureate Nursing Education were developed with supporting rationale. Suggestions for developing and implementing curricula for cultural competency, teaching content, specific integrative learning strategies, methods for evaluating nursing students' cultural competence and recommendations for effective implementation of the integrated curriculum are presented.
Personality, Vocational Interests, and Work Values of Medical Students
Authors: Duffy Ryan D. , Borges Nicole J. , Hartung Paul J.
Published: January 2009

Interests, personality, and values figure prominently in work motivation, yet little research has examined the combined influence of these factors on vocational behavior. The present study therefore examined relationships among these variables in a sample of 282 medical students (169 women, 113 men) who responded to the Strong Interest Inventory, NEO Personality Inventory—Revised, and the Physician Values in Practice Scale. Supporting prior research, results indicated significant relationships between openness and artistic interests and between extraversion and enterprising interests, social interests, and management work values. Regression analyses indicated that personality and vocational interests predicted between 2% and 14% of the variance in each of six work values measured. Personality traits and vocational interests appear to play a meaningful, albeit limited, role in determining work values.
Evidence-Based Reading Instruction for Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorders
Authors: Whalon Kelly J. , Al Otaiba Stephanie , Delano Monica E.
Published: January 2009

Legislation mandates that all children, including children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), be taught to read in ways that are consistent with reading research and target the five components of evidence-based reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, reading fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension strategies. This review synthesized the literature on reading instruction for children with ASD that encompassed one or more of the five components of reading. The review included 11 studies with 61 participants ages 4 to 17 years. Results indicated that children with ASD can benefit from reading instruction consistent with reading research. Research in this area is still preliminary, and more research is needed to guide practice. Possible directions for future research are provided.
Schooling, religion, youth and everyday life
Authors: Johansson Thomas
Published: January 2009

This article investigates the ways in which different and complex learning processes take place in an independent Muslim school in Sweden. In particular it focuses on how a group of young women interprets, discusses and relates to school and everyday life. The empirical material consists of interviews with teachers and repeated focus group interviews with eight to ten 15–year–old Muslim women. Methodologically, the focus is on how these subjects relate to central questions of gender relations, ‘religious rules’, the school curriculum and various aspects of everyday life. The results indicate that even though there is a considerable degree of freedom in the interpretations of what it means to be a good Muslim, the different formal and informal learning processes also involve and define particular ways of looking at gender, lifestyle and society. In certain aspects this leads to a cleavage between what is regarded as a Swedish lifestyle, on the one hand, and a Muslim lifestyle, on the other. The processes that take place within and outside school must therefore be understood in relation to segregation, identity politics and youth culture.