bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Über das Verhältnis allgemeiner und individueller materieller und mathematischer Gegenstände nach Thomas von Aquin
Authors: Krause Andrej
Published: May 2008

This article examines one aspect of Thomas Aquinas' understanding of abstraction. It shows in which way, according to Aquinas, universal material objects and individual material objects are the starting point for mathematical objects. It comes to the conclusion that for Aquinas there are not only universal mathematical objects (circle, line), but also individual mathematical objects (this circle, that line). Universal mathematical objects are properties of universal material objects and individual mathematical objects are properties of individual material objects. One type of abstractio formae leads from individual material objects to universal mathematical objects, a second type from universal material objects to universal mathematical objects, and a third type from individual material objects to individual mathematical objects. Therefore, the concept of abstractio formae is ambiguous.
Physicians' Perspectives on Increasing the Use of BMI Charts for Young Children
Authors: Woolford Susan J. , Clark Sarah J. , Strecher Victor J. , Gebremariam Achamyeleh , Davis Matthew M.
Published: May 2008

The objective of the study was to explore the barriers and facilitators to using body mass index (BMI) for preschoolers. A survey was administered to a random sample of 600 pediatricians and family physicians in Michigan addressing usual practice for BMI charting, barriers, perceived influence of BMI chart innovations on the likelihood of increasing use of BMI and participating in training regarding obesity management. The response rate was 52%. Few respondents report that they generally use BMI charts for preschoolers (24%). The most frequently endorsed barrier was time and complexity involved in explaining BMI (70%). Respondents endorsed innovations such as color-coded charts (60%), and the inclusion of management recommendations (61%) as strong influences on the likelihood of using BMI more often. Frequently endorsed training modalities were workshops (47%), online (45%), and DVD (43%). Efforts to increase physician use of BMI should address methods to simplify communication of BMI, such as with color-coded charts, and provision of management recommendations based on BMI findings.
“Dishonourably Postnational”? The Politics of Migrancy and Cosmopolitanism in Rohinton Mistry's A Fine Balance
Authors: Herbert Caroline
Published: May 2008

This article explores Rohinton Mistry's novel A Fine Balance (1996), alongside his short story “Lend Me Your Light” (1987), focussing on the tensions between the politically-distanced cosmopolitan migrant and the socially-committed local activist. My readings draw on Radhakrishnan's notion of diasporic “double duty” — of accountability to, rather than irresponsible detachment from, the homeland. Mistry's representations of migrants, I contend, are centrally concerned not only with the necessity, but also the difficulty, of performing such “double duty” through a sustained engagement with India's history and politics. In this light, I argue that Mistry offers representations of migrants whose attempts to distance themselves from local and national politics are revealed as impossible and irresponsible. Moreover, I suggest that Mistry's representations reveal an anxiety over his position as a migrant writer, and his work seems to mobilize writing as a means of avoiding a problematically apolitical detachment from India. Thus, Mistry establishes a tension between his representation of the migrant within his fiction and his negotiation of his own migrant position through his fiction.
Traversing Diacritical Space: Negotiating and Narrating Parsi Nationness
Authors: Singh Rashna B.
Published: May 2008

The Parsis have been typecast as India's most Anglicized community and as colonial collaborators. Anglicization was, however, a perfomative identity that manifested itself differently in public and in private space. Viewed through the lens of Homi Bhabha's theories of hybridity, and read through fiction by Parsi authors, the Anglicization of the Parsis can be seen not as uncomplicated mimicry, but as negotiation of national and cultural identity and space in terms of historical and geographical contingency. To see Parsi ambivalences as an unequivocal Anglicization is to presuppose a univalent and totalizing national identity from which one group or another strays, rather than to recognize the negotiated and contingent nature of what Bhabha terms “nationness”. It is to posit a departure from an originary culture rather than to recognize the temporal and transitional nature of culture itself.
“Alone in a Landscape”: Lessing's African Stories Remembered
Authors: Walder Dennis
Published: May 2008

In many colonial and post-colonial writers there is a dialectic between different forms of nostalgia that avoids the bad faith assumed by those (like Fredric Jameson) who denounce nostalgia as a de-historicizing trend. Doris Lessing, through her “African” work both fictional and non-fictional, offers a suitable example. From her first African Stories onwards, she suggests that her mythic Africa, the remembered Rhodesia of her childhood, is at once a place of pain and suffering, and yet also the source of something that transcends, as it helps put into perspective, the human condition. As Mara and Dann shows, a nostalgia for the future appears in her later work, as part of her sometimes fruitless search for ever new perspectives upon her past, evident in The Grass is Singing and the Martha Quest series, as it is in The Golden Notebook and, most effectively and poignantly, “The Old Chief Mshlanga”.
Commodifying the Past: Doris Lessing's The Golden Notebook as Nostalgic Narrative
Authors: Bazin Victoria
Published: May 2008

This article focuses on the realist fragment embedded within Doris Lessing's The Golden Notebook concerning Anna Wulf's life in Rhodesia as a member of the Communist Party and, more specifically, the events that take place at the Mashopi Hotel. In this fragment Lessing critically interrogates the nostalgic glance backwards, thereby offering a dialectical understanding of the past as an image of the present. Responding to the post-war impulse to “look back”, a gesture embodied by Jimmy Porter in Look Back in Anger , Lessing's realist fragment reveals the extent to which the past is always already commodified by the present. The Mashopi Hotel embodies an idea of Englishness that is at once comforting but ultimately destructive. Lessing's analysis of the nostalgia for a lost Englishness is, I argue, a response to post-war anxieties concerning English identity, anxieties attributable to the collapse of the British Empire and the influx of new immigrants from Commonwealth countries.
In Pursuit of the English: Hybridity and the Local in Doris Lessing's First Urban Text
Authors: Sizemore Christine W.
Published: May 2008

The narrator of In Pursuit of the English brings a postcolonial, hybrid and feminist standpoint to her “ethnography” of the Notting Hill district of London in this semi-autobiographical account of Lessing's arrival in London from Rhodesia in 1949. “Doris”, as the narrator is known, says she is pursuing two “grails”: “England” and “the Working-Class”, but she has to give up both universalist concepts of England as an “imagined community” and the socialist cosmopolitanism of an undifferentiated working class. She instead discovers the local cosmopolitanism of the neighbourhood of Notting Hill and learns from her female friends how to centre herself in one district and navigate paths through the city. As she travels through the district of Notting Hill, she brings her experience of Africa into her observations of her new space and uses that hybrid and feminist vision to map the neighbourhood and create a snapshot of a culture of London in the 1940s and 1950s.
Rhodesian Children and the Lessons of White Supremacy: Doris Lessing's “The Antheap”
Authors: Cairnie Julie
Published: May 2008

This paper builds on Anne Stoler's study of “race and the intimate” and responds to bell hooks' provocative invitation, “One change in direction that would be real cool would be the production of a discourse on race that interrogates whiteness”. In Doris Lessing's short story “The Antheap” (1953), Tommy, the son of a white mine manager, has a tumultuous relationship with Dirk, the “half-caste” son of the mine owner. It is understood that Tommy needs to break off this relationship and thus learn the codes which sustain white supremacy in Rhodesia. Rather than accept the central lesson — the prohibition against intimacy between whites and blacks — Tommy recognizes that it is repeatedly violated, even by its adult proponents. Tommy “imperfectly” learns lessons about four kinds of intimacy: heterosexual, maternal, paternal and fraternal. These lessons are important for white boys to digest: otherwise, the white community lacks the appearance of homogeneity. Ultimately, Tommy rejects these lessons and the text points to a future that is uncertain: Tommy may wholly reject or simply defer his white masculine privilege.
“Then Spoke the Thunder”: The Grass is Singing as a Zimbabwean Novel
Authors: Visel Robin
Published: May 2008

Doris Lessing's first novel was greeted by the international press as important news from a region that seemed poised for change in 1950, but in subsequent decades, it was read, especially by Southern African critics, as an increasingly irrelevant echo of colonial discourse. I argue here that The Grass is Singing (1950) should be read anew in the twenty-first century as a prescient anti-colonial text which prefigures contemporary postcolonial themes and issues. Specifically, I situate Lessing's novel in dialogue with two novels by Zimbabwean author Alexander Kanengoni: When the Rainbird Cries (1987) and Echoing Silences (1997). I suggest that aspects of The Grass is Singing which literary critics found objectionable, such as its mythopoeic natural symbolism, and the unrealistic, thus implicitly racist depiction of Moses, can be read differently in the context of Kanengoni's novels and related works by his contemporaries. I read Lessing's novel within the genre of the Zimbabwean literature of Chimurenga, or resistance, in which violence is interpreted through ritual and the personification of natural forces.
Ethnic Group Differences in Affective, Behavioral, and Cognitive Markers of Anxiety
Authors: Gordon Tynessa L. , Teachman Bethany A.
Published: May 2008

Ethnic group differences in affective, behavioral, and cognitive measures of anxiety were examined to better characterize the unique triggers and modes of anxious responding across different groups. Using an ethnically diverse sample ( N = 112; 39 African Americans, 34 Asian Americans, and 39 European Americans), the study examined differences in anxious responding following three anxiety provocations (physical, social interpersonal, and social performance), each hypothesized to be a primary anxiety trigger for one of the groups. African Americans and European Americans demonstrated greater behavioral avoidance during a physical provocation designed to elicit shortness of breath sensations relative to Asian Americans. Asian Americans reported a higher number of anxious cognitions than African Americans during a social provocation designed to trigger performance concerns. These findings suggest ethnicity should be carefully considered when assessing the predominant triggers of anxiety and modes of anxious responding.
On Pancultural Self-Enhancement
Authors: Gaertner Lowell , Sedikides Constantine , Chang Kirk
Published: May 2008

Taiwanese participants made better-than-average judgments on collectivistic and individualistic traits, evaluated the personal importance of those traits, and completed measures of psychological adjustment (depression, perceived stress, subjective well-being, and satisfaction with life). Replicating findings from other East Asian samples, participants self-enhanced (i.e., regarded the self as superior to peers) more on collectivistic than individualistic attributes and assigned higher personal importance to the former than the latter. Moreover, better adjusted participants manifested a stronger tendency to self-enhance on personally important attributes. These data are consistent with the view that self-enhancement is a universal human motive that is expressed tactically and at odds with the assertion that self-enhancement is a uniquely Western phenomenon.
A Longitudinal Analysis of State Accommodations Policies
Authors: Lazarus Sheryl S. , Thurlow Martha L. , Lail Kathryn E. , Christensen Laurene
Published: May 2008

State accommodations policies affect the way that students with disabilities are included in large-scale assessments. This articles uses information collected by the National Center on Educational Outcomes to analyze how accommodations policies changed between 1993 and 2005. Throughout the 1990s, state accommodations policies often sought to level the playing field for students with disabilities. In recent years, more emphasis has been placed on seeking to ensure that the accommodations permit valid measurement of test constructs. Accommodations that involve the use of technology and the extended time accommodation are generally better accepted now than in the past. There continues to be no consensus across states about how several accommodations, including calculator, read aloud questions, sign interpret questions, and spell-checker, should be included in the policies, and states may want to consider focusing on the creation of high-quality, universally designed assessments that minimize the need for accommodations.
Spirituality and Popular Religion in Europe
Authors: Knoblauch Hubert
Published: May 2008

The author develops theoretical and partly tentative arguments on the state of what is called religion with a focus on Europe. The concept of ``religion'' is complemented by a more basic and less biased notion such as ``transcendence'', as plemented by a more basic and less biased notion such as "transcendence", as coined by the phenomenological sociology of Schütz, Berger and Luckmann, a notion that starts from the trajectory of subjective experience and action. In the first part the author focuses on extreme yet quite diverse (western) ``religious'' movements that are somewhat dynamic, such as marked Christianity and alternative religiosity. Among other sociological features many of these movements lay great stress on subjective experiences of great transcendences (of a large variety of kinds). The actors' notions of spirituality nicely capture this phenomenological feature; moreover, spirituality also covers various sociological aspects, such as the individualistic orientation, the weak tendency to organization and its holistic function, that have also been identified by other organization and its holistic function, that have also been identified by other researchers. Instead, however, of reducing spirituality to the rather extreme forms of alternative spirituality, the author argues that spirituality of the kind sketched here is disseminated into and communicated by the general culture in such a way as to dissolve the boundaries of religious and non-religious communication. Indeed, modern mediated and popular culture can be identified as a major locus for the distribution of what should be called (modern) ``popular religion''. It is this form of religion that breaks down the boundaries between ``privatized'' and ``public'' religion. It is concluded that the dissolution of the boundaries between the private and public as well as between religiously marked and unmarked communication indicates a basic transformation of religion that demands a reconceptualization in terms of transcendence instead of the binary code sacred/profane.
Religious Change in Europe: Theoretical Considerations and Empirical Findings
Authors: Pollack Detlef
Published: May 2008

The author describes the changes in church adherence and personal religiosity in European societies. In order to understand these changes, different theoretical models are available: the economic market model, the thesis of individualization, and the theory of secularization. A distinction between different dimensions of religion is used for discussing the applicability of these theoretical models on the process of religious change in European societies. As a result, the author states that the secularization thesis and the individualization theory are the most appropriate approaches in describing the religious changes in Europe. Despite much ado about the revival of religion during recent years, in the long run religions and churches have lost in social significance in European societies. The emergence of new religious groups and of individualistic forms of syncretistic religiosity is not able to compensate for the losses of the churches and the traditional religious forms.
Vitalité religieuse et mécanismes de sécularisation institutionnelle en Europe
Authors: Koenig Matthias
Published: May 2008

Si la théorie classique de la sécularisation a été quelque peu bousculée par les débats récents sur la vitalité religieuse, son noyau paradigmatique est resté largement intact. En réalité, le cœur de cette théorie repose sur le présupposé selon lequel les systèmes sociaux s'éloignent de plus en plus de la religion. L'auteur remet en question les conceptions téléologiques de la différenciation, en mettant en lumière les constellations d'acteurs, les cadres institutionnels et les contextes culturels dans lesquels s'inscrivent des formes variables de la différenciation et de la sécularité. Le point de vue analytique adopté est axé sur l'évolution des cadres institutionnels. Cette évolution est analysée par rapport au processus de l'intégration européenne, dans le cadre de laquelle certains agencements institutionnels du droit, de la politique et de l'identité-qui ont émergé au cours de la formation des nations et des États au sein de l'Europe moderne-font l'objet d'une reconfiguration. L'auteur soutient que cette reconfiguration institutionnelle contribue à une renégociation de la place de la religion dans la sphère publique, et, de ce fait même, à une évolution des formes de la sécularité.
How Secularized is Germany? Cohort and Comparative Perspectives
Authors: Wolf Christof
Published: May 2008

The author seeks to answer the question ``How secularized is Germany?'' on the basis of different perspectives and databases. The meaning of the term secularization is limited for this study to the decline of religiosity and its consequences, and a distinction is made between church-related and individual religiosity. First, evidence for the decline of church-related religiosity in Germany is presented. Next, it is shown that individual religiosity, i.e. religiosity not necessarily related to organized religion, is also declining. Then the analysis is extended to investigate the relationship between religiosity and non-religious attitudes. Taking two illustrative examples, it is claimed that religion today is far less salient for the way we live and see the world than it has been in the past. Finally, the focus of the analysis is broadened to an international perspective in which Germany is compared with other countries. The author ends with some thoughts on the future of secularization in Germany.
Countering Urban Segregation: Theoretical and Policy Innovations from around the Globe
Authors: Smets Peer , Salman Ton
Published: May 2008

New forms of urban segregation and exclusion have emerged in the contemporary globalised world. Processes of globalisation, especially those cloaked as free international trade and state withdrawal from economics, have led to increasing inequalities between and within cities. In response, the state, private sector and civil society in many countries have taken a stance and formulated their responses to urban segregation under the banner of `urban governance'. Current manifestations of and evolving debates surrounding contemporary urban segregation will be discussed and then the focus will shift to exploring ideas about countering the trend in various countries around the globe; these include mixing strategies, escapist strategies and strategies that aim to legalise the `informal'. This provides the rationale for this Special Issue, which includes contributions from all around the globe.
Comparing Responses to Ethnic Segregation in Urban Europe
Authors: Ireland Patrick
Published: May 2008

Urban ethnic segregation varies across and within European countries. Segregation is decried by many scholars and policy-makers, accepted by others and ignored by some. A most-similar-case comparison of three national and six local German, Dutch and Belgian cases between the mid 1970s and the early 2000s demonstrates that authorities differed on how they viewed and reacted to the segregation of migrant and migrant-origin residents. Their disparate responses stemmed not from actual levels of segregation but from differences in the ways that segregation was conceived, in the emphases given to broader structural or political-cultural integration policies and in the degree to which they provoked or defused ethnic conflict and anti-migrant political mobilisation. Everywhere, attempts to combat segregation gradually gave way to—or at least made room for—efforts to mitigate the undesirable social costs associated with them.
Minority Ethnic Groups in the Dutch Housing Market: Spatial Segregation, Relocation Dynamics and Housing Policy
Authors: Bolt Gideon , van Kempen Ronald , van Ham Maarten
Published: May 2008

Ethnic segregation is consolidated by differences between ethnic groups with regard to their moving decision. Using unique registration data on population flows between neighbourhoods, the paper shows that native Dutch living in neighbourhoods where ethnic minorities are overrepresented are more likely to move than minority ethnic residents. Moreover, they move much more often to `White' neighbourhoods. Urban policies in the Netherlands focus on countering this tendency to segregation, but are based on simplified assumptions with regard to the causes of residential segregation. Relatedly, the optimism about the positive effects of social mix is hardly substantiated by empirical research.
The Complex Role of Ethnicity in Urban Mixing: A Study of Two Deprived Neighbourhoods in Amsterdam
Authors: Smets Peer , den Uyl Marion
Published: May 2008

In the US and western Europe, mixing policies are widespread. They aim to differentiate various income-groups in deprived neighbourhoods. By constructing `expensive' housing units, the middle classes are encouraged to settle in these neighbourhoods and consequently a concentration of low-income-groups is circumscribed. Such a new population composition is assumed to lead to an improved quality of life in the neighbourhood concerned. However, insufficient attention is paid to ethnicity and interethnic dynamics; these aspects will be elaborated on in two case studies of deprived and ethnically differentiated neighbourhoods in Amsterdam. Furthermore, this paper will also explore the impact of ethnic differences and perceptions on the social contacts and interactions between various ethnic groups of residents.
Spatial Frontiers and Neo-communitarian Identities in the City: The Case of Santiago de Chile
Authors: Márquez Francisca B. , Pérez Francisca P.
Published: May 2008

This article analyses the different, yet similar, processes of identity-building used by poor and middle-income inhabitants of Santiago, Chile. It is suggested that these identity-building processes express the current type of urban segregation in this city and point to a weakening of the previously predominant model, which was based on the acceptance of social differences and daily exchanges between these sectors. Additionally, it is contended that the notion of `public space' and values, such as (political) citizenship and social integration, have weakened. Paradoxically, this `new' urban segregation has paved the way for a practice of neo-communitarian lifestyles, which supposedly reinforce the value of `us' and protect this `us' from the danger posed by `them'.
Civilising the City: Populism and Revanchist Urbanism in Rotterdam
Authors: Uitermark Justus , Duyvendak Jan Willem
Published: May 2008

This paper discusses the relevance of American literature on `revanchist urbanism' for understanding the policies of the populist government that ruled Rotterdam between 2002 and 2006. It is suggested that revanchist urbanism in the European context in general and in the case of Rotterdam in particular takes on a different form from that in the US. Moreover, a wholesale displacement of social-democratic policies by revanchist policies is not observed. Many policy measures which formed part-and-parcel of a social-democratic urban project—anti-segregation policies and policies to promote social cohesion—are redefined and reconfigured by populist parties so that they can be incorporated into more revanchist strategies. In this sense, the differences between social democratic and revanchist governance are large with respect to symbolism but small and gradual when it comes to actual policy measures.
Banking for the Poor: Addressing the Needs of Financially Excluded Communities in Newcastle upon Tyne
Authors: Fuller Duncan , Mellor Mary
Published: May 2008

In the UK, many low-income communities have seen the withdrawal of `mainstream', high-street-based financial service infrastructure from their local areas since the mid to late 1980s, whilst more costly sub-prime lenders have flourished, often in their place. There has been a developing search for `alternative', welfare-oriented rather than profitdriven solutions to the problem of social and spatial segregation in financial service provision. This paper explores an initiative to create such an alternative, affordable and locally embedded form of personal financial service in a socially disadvantaged urban neighbourhood in the North East of England, Financial Inclusion Newcastle (FIN). This paper reflects on FIN's successes and failures, the potential limitations of such alternative area-based solutions and the lessons that can be learnt from these, through a focus on three key issues surrounding FIN's demise—the FIN model, its internal functioning and, perhaps most important of all, its relationship with the local community.
Socioeconomic Status, Economic Problems, and Delinquency
Authors: Agnew Robert , Matthews Shelley Keith , Bucher Jacob , Welcher Adria N. , Keyes Corey
Published: May 2008

Research indicates that the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and delinquency is not as strong as suggested by the leading crime theories. This article argues that such theories do not predict that SES in and of itself causes delinquency but rather that the economic problems associated with SES cause delinquency. Such problems include substantial changes in lifestyle due to lack of money and the inability to purchase needed goods and services. Further, it is argued that (a) the relationship between economic problems and delinquency is nonlinear, such that only the experience of several economic problems is associated with higher delinquency, and (b) the relationship between SES and economic problems is only moderate in size. Data from a nationally representative sample of adolescents support these arguments. These data help explain the weak-to-moderate relationship between SES and delinquency, and they direct attention to economic problems as a potentially important cause of delinquency.
Urothelial Carcinogenesis in the Urinary Bladder of Rats Treated with Naveglitazar, a γ-dominant PPAR α/γ Agonist: Lack of Evidence for Urolithiasis as an Inciting Event
Authors: Long Gerald G. , Reynolds Vincent L. , Lopez-Martinez Alric , Ryan Thomas E. , White Sandy L. , Eldridge Sandra R.
Published: May 2008

Naveglitazar, a γ-dominant peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) α/γ dual agonist, was tested for carcinogenicity in F344 rats in a 2-year study. Changes in urine composition and urothelial morphology were characterized in a companion 18-month investigative study. A significant increase in neoplasms of the bladder occurred only in females of the high-dose group (14/60) in the carcinogenicity study. Trends toward increased cell proliferation in the urothelium were noted in both sexes at all time points evaluated in the 18-month study. Group means for urothelial mitogenesis were increased statistically significantly only in high-dose females at 12 and 18 months. Urothelial hyperplasia occurred in high-dose females at 18 months. Morphologic changes in the urothelium at earlier time points were limited to hypertrophy and decreased immunolabeling of the superficial cells for cytokeratin 20 (a marker of terminal differentiation in urothelial cells) in both males and females. No treatment-related changes in urinary parameters, including urinary sediments, were associated with the occurrence of urothelial proliferation. Urinary pH was unaffected by treatment in both males and females, but expected diurnal changes were demonstrated. Collectively, these data indicate that naveglitazar was associated with hypertrophic and proliferative effects on the urothelium, but a link with changes in urinary parameters was not demonstrated.
Health-related quality of life in significant others of patients dying from lung cancer
Authors: Persson C , Östlund U , Wennman-Larsen A , Wengström Y , Gustavsson P
Published: May 2008

This study compares health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in significant others of patients dying from lung cancer, with a general population sample. Further, it explores the course of HRQOL from diagnosis (T1), at a time point close to the patient’s death (T2), and six months after the patient’s death (T3). The group comparisons at T1 showed that the significant others scored significantly lower on the scales in the mental domain compared with a general population sample. These results were the same at T3, when the significant others also scored lower on most of the scales in the physical and social domains. In the longitudinal analyses, there were significant changes in four scales, and three patterns of change were identified: a decrease–increase pattern for ‘self-rated health’ and ‘positive affect’; a constant decrease pattern for ‘family functioning’; and a decrease–stable pattern for ‘satisfaction with family functioning’. Thus, living with inoperable lung cancer in the family and then facing the death of a family member affects most of the HRQOL dimensions.
Effect of end of life education on medical students’ and health care workers’ death attitude
Authors: Hegedus K , Zana Á , Szabó G
Published: May 2008

One of the goals of education in end of life care is to make communication more open by exploring critical issues related to fear of dying and death in order to reduce anxiety and improve an individual’s attitude to dying patients. The aim of our research was to evaluate the effects of courses for health care workers and medical students in care at the end of life. One hundred and twenty-seven health care professionals and 41 undergraduate medical students completed the Multidimensional Fear of Death Scale (MFODS) on the first and last day of the course. The most significant factors of fear of death are: Fear for Significant Others, Fear of the Dying Process and Fear of the Unknown. Overall fear of death scores were reduced as an effect of the courses. Changes in the components and level of fear of death are influenced by the participants’ gender, age and profession. Improvement was evident in the attitudes to dying patients in both groups, which was related to an increase in knowledge of high-quality care of dying patients.
Socioeconomic differences in service use, payment and receipt of illness-related benefits in the last year of life: findings from the British Household Panel Survey
Authors: Hanratty B , Jacoby A , Whitehead M
Published: May 2008

Background: Terminal illness presents a financial challenge to many households, but in Britain the situation should be eased by state benefits, such as attendance allowance, which is available to everyone in the last six months of life without means testing. Aim: To investigate the use of health and social services, payments and benefit receipt by individuals in differing financial circumstances in the year before death. Methods: Analysis of individual level panel data for 1652 community-dwelling decedents from 12 waves of the British Household Panel Study (1991–2003). Results: In the year before death, over 90% of decedents saw their GP, and around one-third spent some time in hospital. More than 80% paid no fees for any services. Over a third of decedents aged over 65 reported financial strain, but only 13.9% of these were receiving attendance allowance. People who felt that they were having financial difficulties were more likely to be frequent attenders in primary care, taking age, health status and other factors into account (adjusted OR = 1.9, 95% CI = 1.3–2.6, P < 0.001). Older age was associated with less use of primary, but not secondary care. Conclusions: Financial strain was common, but benefit uptake low. Primary health care professionals saw nearly all decedents in their last year, and could play an important role in ensuring that the elderly and the less well off are aware of the services and benefits available to them.
The Nordic Specialist Course in Palliative Medicine: evaluation and experiences from the first course 2003–2005
Authors: Haugen DF , Vejlgaard T
Published: May 2008

Background and aims: Palliative medicine is not recognized as a medical specialty in any of the five Nordic countries, but there is a great need for physicians with specialty qualifications to serve on an increasing number of palliative care services. The Associations for Palliative Medicine in the five countries agreed to develop a common Nordic course on a specialty level. Results: A theoretical training course in six modules in two years was developed, based on the British palliative medicine curriculum and including a limited research project and a written exam. Twenty-two out of 30 students completed the first course as scheduled in 2005, and five more have obtained their course diploma later. The evaluation from the students showed very satisfactory personal experiences and subjective learning outcomes, and a positive influence on the overall development of palliative care in the respective countries. Conclusion: The Nordic Specialist Course in Palliative Medicine has proved a successful Nordic collaboration and may form the basis for a full specialist training programme.
A matter of definition – key elements identified in a discourse analysis of definitions of palliative care
Authors: Pastrana T , Jünger S , Ostgathe C , Elsner F , Radbruch L
Published: May 2008

For more than 30 years, the term “palliative care” has been used. From the outset, the term has undergone a series of transformations in its definitions and consequently in its tasks and goals. There remains a lack of consensus on a definition. The aim of this article is to analyse the definitions of palliative care in the specialist literature and to identify the key elements of palliative care using discourse analysis: a qualitative methodology. The literature search focused on definitions of the term ‘palliative medicine’ and ‘palliative care’ in the World Wide Web and medical reference books in English and German. A total of 37 English and 26 German definitions were identified and analysed. Our study confirmed the lack of a consistent meaning concerning the investigated terms, reflecting on-going discussion about the nature of the field among palliative care practitioners. Several common key elements were identified. Four main categories emerged from the discourse analysis of the definition of palliative care: target groups, structure, tasks and expertise. In addition, the theoretical principles and goals of palliative care were discussed and found to be key elements, with relief and prevention of suffering and improvement of quality of life as main goals. The identified key elements can contribute to the definition of the concept ‘palliative care’. Our study confirms the importance of semantic and ethical influences on palliative care that should be considered in future research on semantics in different languages.
Clinical questions and uncertainty — prolactin measurement in patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder
Authors: Walters James , Jones Ian
Published: May 2008

Many antipsychotic medications have the potential to raise prolactin levels leading to a range of negative consequences. In addition to symptoms such as gynaecomastia, galactorrhoea, menstrual irregularities and sexual dysfunction it is becoming clear that there are a number of important and potentially serious long-term consequences, including a loss of bone mineral density and a possible association with the development of breast cancer. It is clear, therefore, that the tendency to raise prolactin should be an important consideration in the use of antipsychotics but, to a large degree, this area has been neglected in clinical practice and research when compared with other potential adverse effects. We consider some of the practical clinical issues in prolactin measurement and the management of high results. We will identify the areas of uncertainty that remain for clinicians and consider the practical questions that future research should address.
Understanding osteoporosis
Authors: Javaid M Kassim , Holt Richard IG
Published: May 2008

Osteoporosis is a common skeletal condition that results in significant morbidity, mortality and health care costs. There is an increased awareness of bone health in people with severe mental illness (SMI). These people appear to be at a higher risk of low bone density and fracture, and also have a poorer outcome following hip fracture. The reason for the increased risk of osteoporosis is multifactorial and includes general as well as disease-specific factors, such as antipsychotic medication and hyperprolactinaemia. Clinical history and examination followed by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry are required to assess the risk of osteoporosis. Therapies should begin with lifestyle measures, such as physical activity and dietary supplementation, with the use of bone-specific agents reserved for those at high absolute risk.
A review of the association between antipsychotic use and hyperprolactinaemia
Authors: Bushe Chris , Shaw Michael , Peveler Robert C
Published: May 2008

Recent evidence linking hyperprolactinaemia to longer-term clinical sequelae, including osteoporosis, hip fractures and possibly breast cancer, is increasing clinical awareness of the relevance of hyperprolactinaemia. A review of the literature finds clinical trials reporting some degree of comparative prolactin data among antipsychotics. Many of the randomised clinical trials (RCTs) do not report categorical rates of hyperprolactinaemia in contrast with the naturalistic studies, making it complex for clinicians to evaluate the extent and severity of hyperprolactinaemia.

Hyperprolactinaemia is one of the commonest adverse events reported in clinical trials and can be found in association with all antipsychotics. The highest rates of hyperprolactinaemia are reported in association with risperidone and amisulpride, often as high as 80—90% of all female subjects and consistently greater than with the typical antipsychotics. Significant rates of hyperprolactinaemia of lesser severity and more transience have also been reported in association with other atypical antipsychotics.
The impact of hyperprolactinaemia on sexual function in patients with psychosis
Authors: Smith Shubulade M
Published: May 2008

Sexual dysfunction is a common but significantly underestimated side effect of antipsychotic medication. It is frequently related to the hyperprolactinaemia that can be induced by dopamine-blocking properties of these agents, but may also be related to the anti-serotonergic properties or anticholinergic and antiadrenergic properties of antipsychotics. Knowledge of the receptor pharmacology of an individual antipsychotic will help to determine whether it is more or less likely to cause sexual side effects.
Antipsychotic-induced hyperprolactinaemia, hypogonadism and osteoporosis in the treatment of schizophrenia
Authors: O'Keane Veronica
Published: May 2008

Treatment of schizophrenic illness usually involves the long-term administration of antipsychotic drugs. Most antipsychotic agents antagonise the actions of endogenous dopamine (DA) at DA-2 receptors in the brain. The relative affinity for, and binding time to, DA-2 receptors was considered to be one of the key determinants of the antipsychotic potency of classical antipsychotic drugs. Some newer atypical antipsychotics, of which clozapine is the prototype, have a relatively poor affinity for DA-2 receptors; whereas other atypical antipsychotics are potent DA-2 antagonists. The propensity of antipsychotic agents to cause hyperprolactinaemia is related to their potency in antagonising DA-2 receptors on the anterior pituitary. In our studies, bone loss was consistently related to DA-2 antagonist potency of antipsychotic drugs, rather than their classification using conventional `typical' versus `atypical' systems. It is established that hyperprolactinaemia causes suppression of the reproductive endocrine axis and consequent bone mineral density (BMD) loss. Results from our group and others have demonstrated that a similar pathophysiological process is occurring in individuals with antipsychotic-induced hyperprolactinaemia. We found high rates of osteoporosis and osteopenia in those taking long-term antipsychotic drugs, and this was related to the dose and duration of treatment. Bone loss was associated with hypogonadism in male and female groups. Young Caucasian women appear to be particularly vulnerable to developing hyperprolactinaemia and the associated hypogonadism and bone loss. The occurrence of menstrual dysfunction should alert clinical suspicions of hyperprolactinaemia and bone de-mineralisation. Lastly, there are no published trials examining the effects of hormone replacement on BMD in those taking long-term antipsychotic drugs, but preliminary findings from our studies suggest that active management of bone loss in those with antipsychotic-associated bone disease may halt or even reverse this process.
Austronesian Migration and the Establishment of the Malagasy Civilization: Contrasted Readings in Linguistics, Archaeology, Genetics and Cultural Anthropology
Authors: Allibert Claude
Published: May 2008

This article reviews and contrasts research findings in a variety of disciplines seeking corroboration for theories of settlement in Madagascar. Evidence is considered from the fields of linguistics, archaeology (studies of pottery), cultural anthropology and genetic analysis, leading to conclusions broadly supporting the thesis of Austronesian migrations directly to Madagascar from Kalimantan and Sulawesi around the 5th and 7th centuries CE, which combined with a Bantu group originating from the region of Mozambique. The article nevertheless warns against attributing too much to individual discipline studies, concluding that only genetic analysis can provide conclusive proof, and this only when informed by prior anthropological and historical indicators.
Transmitting Knowledge in the 18th Century: The Case of Président de Brosses and Abate Antonio Niccolini
Authors: Rogister John
Published: May 2008

The 18th century in Europe is the ideal period to study the interaction of traditional beliefs and new ideas stemming from scientific observation and philosophical rationalization. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role played by Charles de Brosses and Antonio Niccolini in the process of transmission of knowledge coming through influential members of a European aristocracy that remained attached to traditional values. In fact, the rediscovery of the Classical heritage and its dissemination in print, albeit an expensive enterprise, was not deemed by men such as Niccolini and de Brosses as incompatible with their traditional religious beliefs. The unpublished correspondence between these two men provides the evidence for this claim. The two men exchanged information about the continental nature of Australasia, about the latest mathematical discoveries, about the origin of languages and on oriental religions. At the same time, their religious and political convictions remained firmly based on the received notions about religion and society.
Color Blind
Authors: Lane Marcus B. , Williams Liana J.
Published: May 2008

The dominant approach to environmental management in Australia involves the decentralization of authority and resources to regionally organized citizen boards or statutory committees. The article examines Australian Indigenous participation in a national environmental management program— the Natural Heritage Trust. This program emphasizes regionally scaled implementation and community engagement and ownership. The management of Indigenous lands is of increasing importance in Australia because of the size of this estate, its environmental value, and its role in Indigenous community and economic development. Programmatic efforts to assist Indigenous landowners manage their lands have been largely unsuccessful. This research is concerned with understanding whether regionally scaled, civic approaches to environmental management enable improved levels of Indigenous participation. Results show that this regional environmental management program achieved poor levels of Indigenous participation. This finding, the authors suggest, has important implications for the optimistic claims made about regional environmental management.
Contrasting Adult Literacy Learners With and Without Specific Learning Disabilities
Authors: Mellard Daryl F. , Patterson Margaret Becker
Published: May 2008

This study of 311 adult education learners found 29% self-reported having a specific learning disability (SLD). Significant differences in demographic, academic, and life experience variables between the adult learners with and without SLD included prior participation in special education, having both an SLD diagnosis and a high school diploma, low reading scores, middle age, and negative perceptions about limitations because of reading abilities. A post hoc regression analysis found SLD status significantly contributes to variance in reading level when controlling for age and IQ. From these findings, we conclude that SLD status should be considered an educationally relevant variable in adult education that warrants a diagnostic or clinical teaching approach.
“It's One of Those Things That You Do to Help the Family”
Authors: Dorner Lisa M. , Orellana Marjorie Faulstich , Jiménez Rosa
Published: May 2008

This article examines how immigrant adolescent development is shaped by the cultural and linguistic practice of language brokering. Framed by theories on interdependent/independent developmental scripts, the changing experiences and views of 12 Latino/a children of U.S. immigrants over 5 years were analyzed. It was found that translating is a relational, interdependent activity in which adolescents both help and receive help from family members. As adolescents, they extend this helping orientation beyond their household, but in these public spaces, they sometimes meet up with other developmental scripts. This article's examination of brokering's effects on immigrant adolescence leads to the discussion that one must consider the manner in which all adolescents and parents are negotiating independent and interdependent worlds.