Letter regarding the work of Dr. Leo for the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews

Letter in English script on stationery of the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews regarding the work of Dr. Leo for the Home, written on white lined paper.

Invitation to the opening of new Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews.

Invitation to Opening of New Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews. Invitation to a reception for new building. Simeon N. Leo, M.D., Hon. Sec.

Novel surgical and imaging methods of the middle ear and temporal bone

Välikorvaleikkauksiin usein liittyvän välikorvan ja kuuloluuketjun kirurgisen rekonstruktion tavoitteena on luoda olosuhteet, jotka mahdollistavat hyvän kuulon sekä välikorvan säilymisen tulehduksettomana ja ilmapitoisena. Välikorvan rekonstruktiossa on käytetty implanttimateriaaleina perinteisesti potilaan omia kudoksia sekä tarvittaessa erilaisia hajoamattomia biomateriaaleja, mm. titaania ja silikonia. Ongelmana biomateriaalien käytössä voi olla bakteerien adherenssi eli tarttuminen vieraan materiaalin pintaan, mikä saattaa johtaa biofilmin muodostumiseen. Tämä voi aiheuttaa kroonisen, huonosti antibiootteihin reagoivan infektion kudoksessa, mikä usein käytännössä johtaa uusintaleikkaukseen ja implantin poistoon. Maitohappo- ja glykolihappopohjaiset biologisesti hajoavat polymeerit ovat olleet kliinisessä käytössä jo vuosikymmeniä. Niitä on käytetty erityisesti tukimateriaaleina mm. ortopediassa sekä kasvo- ja leukakirurgiassa. Niitä ei ole toistaiseksi käytetty välikorvakirurgiassa. Korvan kuvantamiseen käytetään ensisijaisesti tietokonetomografiaa (TT). TT-tutkimuksen ongelmana on potilaan altistuminen suhteellisen korkealle sädeannokselle, joka kasvaa kumulatiivisesti, jos kuvaus joudutaan toistamaan. Väitöskirjatyö selvittää uuden, aiemmin kliinisessä työssä rutiinisti lähinnä hampaiston ja kasvojen alueen kuvantamiseen käytetyn rajoitetun kartiokeila-TT:n soveltuvuutta korvan alueen kuvantamiseen. Väitöskirjan kahdessa ensimmäisessä osatyössä tutkittiin ja verrattiin kahden kroonisia ja postoperatiivisia korvainfektioita aiheuttavan bakteerin, Staphylococcus aureuksen ja Pseudomonas aeruginosan, in vitro adherenssia titaanin, silikonin ja kahden eri biohajoavan polymeerin (PLGA) pintaan. Lisäksi tutkittiin materiaalien albumiinipinnoituksen vaikutusta adherenssiin. Kolmannessa osatyössä tutkittiin eläinmallissa PLGA:n biokompatibiliteettia eli kudosyhteensopivuutta kokeellisessa välikorvakirurgiassa. Chinchillojen välikorviin istutettiin PLGA-materiaalia, eläimiä seurattiin, ja ne lopetettiin 6 kk:n kuluttua operaatiosta. Biokompatibiliteetin arviointi perustui kliinisiin havaintoihin sekä kudosnäytteisiin. Neljännessä osatyössä tutkittiin kartiokeila-TT:n soveltuvuutta korvan alueen kuvantamiseen vertaamalla sen tarkkuutta perinteisen spiraali-TT:n tarkkuuteen. Molemmilla laitteilla kuvattiin ohimo- eli temporaaliluita korvan alueen kliinisesti ja kirurgisesti tärkeiden rakenteiden kuvantumisen tarkkuuden arvioimiseksi. Viidennessä osatyössä arvioitiin myös operoitujen temporaaliluiden kuvantumista kartiokeila-TT:ssa. Bakteeritutkimuksissa PLGA-materiaalin pintaan tarttui keskimäärin korkeintaan saman verran tai vähemmän bakteereita kuin silikonin tai titaanin. Albumiinipinnoitus vähensi bakteeriadherenssia merkitsevästi kaikilla materiaaleilla. Eläinkokeiden perusteella PLGA todettiin hyvin siedetyksi välikorvassa. Korvakäytävissä tai välikorvissa ei todettu infektioita, tärykalvon perforaatioita tai materiaalin esiin työntymistä. Kudosnäytteissä näkyi lievää tulehdusreaktiota ja fibroosia implantin ympärillä. Temporaaliluutöissä rajoitettu kartiokeila-TT todettiin vähintään yhtä tarkaksi menetelmäksi kuin spiraali-TT välikorvan ja sisäkorvan rakenteiden kuvantamisessa, ja sen aiheuttama kertasäderasitus todettiin spiraali-TT:n vastaavaa huomattavasti vähäisemmäksi. Kartiokeila-TT soveltui hyvin välikorvaimplanttien ja postoperatiivisen korvan kuvantamiseen. Tulokset osoittavat, että PLGA on välikorvakirurgiaan soveltuva, turvallinen ja kudosyhteensopiva biomateriaali. Biomateriaalien pinnoittaminen albumiinilla vähentää merkittävästi bakteeriadherenssia niihin, mikä puoltaa pinnoituksen soveltamista implanttikirurgiassa. Kartiokeila-TT soveltuu korvan alueen kuvantamiseen. Sen tarkkuus kliinisesti tärkeiden rakenteiden osoittamisessa on vähintään yhtä hyvä ja sen potilaalle aiheuttama sädeannos pienempi kuin nykyisen korva-spiraali-TT:n. Tämä tekee menetelmästä spiraali-TT:aa potilasturvallisemman vaihtoehdon erityisesti, jos potilaan tilanne vaatii seurantaa ja useampia kuvauksia, ja jos halutaan kuvata rajoitettuja alueita uni- tai bilateraalisesti.

Poetics of the Nameless Middle : Japan and the West in Philosophy and Music of the Twentieth Century

This study investigates the affinities between philosophy, aesthetics, and music of Japan and the West. The research is based on the structuralist notion (specifically, on that found in the narratology of Algirdas Julius Greimas), that the universal grammar functions as an abstract principle, underlying all kinds of discourse. The study thus aims to demonstrate how this grammar is manifested in philosophical, aesthetic, and musical texts and how the semiotic homogeneity of these texts can be explained on this basis. Totality and belongingness are the key philosophical concepts presented herein. As distinct from logocentrism manifested as substantializations of the world of ideas , god or mind, which was characteristic of previous Western paradigms, totality was defined as the coexistence of opposites. Thus Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Dōgen, and Nishida often illustrated it by identifying fundamental polarities, such as being and nothing, seer and seen, truth and illusion, etc. Accordingly, totality was schematically presented as an all-encompassing middle of the semiotic square. Similar values can be found in aesthetics and arts. Instead of dialectic syntagms, differentiated unity is considered as paradigmatic and the study demonstrates how this is manifested in traditional Japanese and Heideggerian aesthetics, as well as in the aspects of music of Claude Debussy and Tōru Takemitsu.

Incidental Memory of Younger and Older Adults for Objects Encountered in a Real World Context

Effects of context on the perception of, and incidental memory for, real-world objects have predominantly been investigated in younger individuals, under conditions involving a single static viewpoint. We examined the effects of prior object context and object familiarity on both older and younger adults' incidental memory for real objects encountered while they traversed a conference room. Recognition memory for context-typical and context-atypical objects was compared with a third group of unfamiliar objects that were not readily named and that had no strongly associated context. Both older and younger adults demonstrated a typicality effect, showing significantly lower 2-alternative-forced-choice recognition of context-typical than context-atypical objects; for these objects, the recognition of older adults either significantly exceeded, or numerically surpassed, that of younger adults. Testing-awareness elevated recognition but did not interact with age or with object type. Older adults showed significantly higher recognition for context-atypical objects than for unfamiliar objects that had no prior strongly associated context. The observation of a typicality effect in both age groups is consistent with preserved semantic schemata processing in aging. The incidental recognition advantage of older over younger adults for the context-typical and context-atypical objects may reflect aging-related differences in goal-related processing, with older adults under comparatively more novel circumstances being more likely to direct their attention to the external environment, or age-related differences in top-down effortful distraction regulation, with older individuals' attention more readily captured by salient objects in the environment. Older adults' reduced recognition of unfamiliar objects compared to context-atypical objects may reflect possible age differences in contextually driven expectancy violations. The latter finding underscores the theoretical and methodological value of including a third type of objects-that are comparatively neutral with respect to their contextual associations-to help differentiate between contextual integration effects (for schema-consistent objects) and expectancy violations (for schema-inconsistent objects).

Home, family and society: women of the Irish landed class, 1860-1914. A Munster case study

The thesis analyses the roles and experiences of female members of the Irish landed class (wives, sisters and daughters of gentry and aristocratic landlords with estates over 1,000 acres) using primary personal material generated by twelve sample families over an important period of decline for the class, and growing rights for women. Notably, it analyses the experiences of relatively unknown married and unmarried women, something previously untried in Irish historiography. It demonstrates that women’s roles were more significant than has been assumed in the existing literature, and leads to a more rounded understanding of the entire class. Four chapters focus on themes which emerge from the sources used and which deal with their roles both inside and outside the home. These chapters argue that: Married and unmarried women were more closely bound to the priorities of their class than their sex, and prioritised male-centred values of family and estate. Male and female duties on the property overlapped, as marriage relationships were more equal than the legislation of the time would suggest. London was the cultural centre for this class. Due to close familial links with Britain (60% of sample daughters married English men) their self-perception was British or English, as well as Irish. With the self-confidence of their class, these women enjoyed cultural and political activities and movements outside the home (sport, travel, fashion, art, writing, philanthropy, (anti-)suffrage, and politics). Far from being pawns in arranged marriages, women were deeply conscious of their marriage decisions and chose socially, financially and personally compatible husbands; they also looked for sexual satisfaction. Childbirth sometimes caused lasting health problems, but pregnancy did not confine wealthy women to an invalid state. In opposition to the stereotypical distant aristocratic mother, these women breastfed their children, and were involved mothers. However, motherhood was not permitted to impinge on the more pressing role of wife

Climate change, water resources, and the politics of adaptation in the Middle East and North Africa

Through an examination of global climate change models combined with hydrological data on deteriorating water quality in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), we elucidate the ways in which the MENA countries are vulnerable to climate-induced impacts on water resources. Adaptive governance strategies, however, remain a low priority for political leaderships in the MENA region. To date, most MENA governments have concentrated the bulk of their resources on large-scale supply side projects such as desalination, dam construction, inter-basin water transfers, tapping fossil groundwater aquifers, and importing virtual water. Because managing water demand, improving the efficiency of water use, and promoting conservation will be key ingredients in responding to climate-induced impacts on the water sector, we analyze the political, economic, and institutional drivers that have shaped governance responses. While the scholarly literature emphasizes the importance of social capital to adaptive governance, we find that many political leaders and water experts in the MENA rarely engage societal actors in considering water risks. We conclude that the key capacities for adaptive governance to water scarcity in MENA are underdeveloped. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

Effects of task instruction on autobiographical memory specificity in young and older adults

Older adults tend to retrieve autobiographical information that is overly general (i.e., not restricted to a single event, termed the overgenerality effect) relative to young adults' specific memories. A vast majority of studies that have reported overgenerality effects explicitly instruct participants to retrieve specific memories, thereby requiring participants to maintain task goals, inhibit inappropriate responses, and control their memory search. Since these processes are impaired in healthy ageing, it is important to determine whether such task instructions influence the magnitude of the overgenerality effect in older adults. In the current study participants retrieved autobiographical memories during presentation of musical clips. Task instructions were manipulated to separate age-related differences in the specificity of underlying memory representations from age-related differences in following task instructions. Whereas young adults modulated memory specificity based on task demands, older adults did not. These findings suggest that reported rates of overgenerality in older adults' memories might include age-related differences in memory representation, as well as differences in task compliance. Such findings provide a better understanding of the underlying cognitive mechanisms involved in age-related changes in autobiographical memory and may also be valuable for future research examining effects of overgeneral memory on general well-being. © 2013 Taylor & Francis.

Muscle coordination during rapid force production by young and older adults

Background. Older adults typically exhibit dramatic reductions in the rate of force development and deficits in the execution of rapid coordinated movements. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the association between the reduced rate of force development exhibited by older adults and the ability to coordinate groups of muscles.

The Gerontological Imagination : Crime Policy and Older Prisoners

The Gerontological Imagination, Crime Policy and Older Prisoners This paper will discuss the needs of a group that more often than not has been ignored by criminologists and gerontologists: older offenders in prison. In relation to the disci-pline of criminology, I want to suggest that the gerontological and criminological ima-gination indeed are creative, resourceful, eclectic and can cross disciplinary boundaries. By drawing on the concept of the sociological imagination “which works between the personal troubles of milieu” and “the public issues of social structure” (Mills, 1959: 8): this paper will draw out the troubles and concerns of an aging prison population from a gerontological and criminological theoretical perspective. As the reader, you may be asking: why integrate the discipline of gerontology and criminology?