Cross-cultural adaptations of the Oxford-12 HIP score to the French speaking population.

BACKGROUND: An objective measurement of surgical procedures outcomes is inherent to professional practices quality control; this especially applies in orthopaedics to joint replacement outcomes. A self-administered questionnaire offers an attractive alternative to surgeon's judgement but is infrequently used in France for these purposes. The British questionnaire, the 12-item Oxford Hip Score (OHS) was selected for this study because of its ease of use. HYPOTHESIS: The objective of this study was to validate the French translation of the self-assessment 12-item Oxford Hip Score and compare its results with those of the reference functional scores: the Harris Hip Score (HHS) and the Postel-Merle d'Aubigné (PMA) score. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Based on a clinical series of 242 patients who were candidates for total hip arthroplasty, the French translation of this questionnaire was validated. Its coherence was also validated by comparing the preoperative data with the data obtained from the two other reference clinical scores. RESULTS: The translation was validated using the forward-backward translation procedure from French to English, with correction of all differences or mistranslations after systematized comparison with the original questionnaire in English. The mean overall OHS score was 43.8 points (range, 22-60 points) with similarly good distribution of the overall value of the three scores compared. The correlation was excellent between the OHS and the HHS, but an identical correlation between the OHS and the PMA was only obtained for the association of the pain and function parameters, after excluding the mobility criterion, relatively over-represented in the PMA score. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Subjective questionnaires that contribute a personal appreciation of the results of arthroplasty by the patient can easily be applied on a large scale. This study made a translated and validated version of an internationally recognized, reliable self-assessment score available to French orthopaedic surgeons. The results obtained encourage us to use this questionnaire as a complement to the classical evaluation scores and methods.

Proximal tibia volumetric bone mineral density is correlated to the magnitude of local acceleration in male long distance runners.

Introduction: The beneficial effect of physical exercise on bone mineral density (BMD) is at least partly explained by the forces exerted directly on the bones. Male runners present generally higher BMD than sedentary individuals. We postulated that the proximal tibia BMD is related to the running distance as well as to the magnitude of the shocks (while running) in male runners. Methods: A prospective study (three yearly measurements) included 81 healthy male subjects: 16 sedentary lean subjects and three groups of runners (5-30 km/week, n=19; 30-50 km/week, n=29; 50-100 km/week, n=17). Several measurements were performed at the proximal tibia level: volumetric BMD (vBMD), cortical index (CI) i.e. an index of cortical bone thickness and peak accelerations (an index of shocks during heel strike) while running (measured by a 3-D accelerometer). A general linear model assessed the prediction of vBMD or CI by a) simple effects (running distance, peak accelerations, time) and b) interactions (for instance if vBMD prediction by peak acceleration depends on running distance). Results: CI and vBMD a) increase with running distance to reach a plateau over 30 km/wk, b) are positively associated with peak accelerations over 30 km/week. Discussion: Running may be associated with high peak accelerations in order to have beneficial effects on BMD. More important strains are needed to be associated with the same increase in BMD during running sessions of short duration than those of long duration. Conclusion: CI and vBMD are associated with the magnitude of the shocks during heel strike in runners. Key words: Bone mineral density, strains, physical exercise, running distance.

Long-distance wound signalling in arabidopsis

The leaves of all plants use elaborate and inducible defence systems to protect themselves. A wide variety of such defences are known and they include defence chemicals such as alkaloids, phenolics and terpenes, physical structures ranging from fibre cells to silica deposits, and a wide variety of defence proteins many of which target digestive processes in herbivores. It has long been known that the defence responses of plants under attack by insects are not restricted to the site of attack. Instead, if a leaf is damaged, defence can be triggered in other parts of the plant body, for example in distal leaves or even in roots and flowers. This raises the question of what are the organ-to-organ signals that coordinate this process. Several hypotheses have been proposed. These include the long-distance transfer of chemical signals through the plant vasculature, hydraulic signals that may transit through the xylem, and electrical signals that would move through living tissues such as the phloem. Much evidence for each of these scenarios has been published. In this thesis we took advantage of the fact that many plant defence responses are regulated by a signal transduction pathway based on a molecule called jasmonic acid. We used this molecule, one of its derivatives (jasmonoyl-isoleucine), and some of the genes it regulates as markers. Using these we investigated the possible role of the electrical signals in the leaf- to-leaf activation of the jasmonate pathway. We found that feeding insects stimulate easily detected electrical activity in the leaves of Arabidopsis thaliana and we used non-invasive surface electrodes to record this activity. This approach showed that jasmonate pathway activity and the electrical activity provoked by mechanical wounding occurred within identical spatial boundaries. Measurements of the apparent speed of surface potentials agreed well with previous velocity estimates for the speed of leaf-to-leaf signals that activate the jasmonate pathway. Using this knowledge we were able to investigate the effects of current injection into Arabidopsis leaves. This resulted in the strong expression of many jasmonate-regulated genes. All these results showed that electrical activity and the activation of jasmonate signalling were highly correlated. In order to test for possible causal links between the two processes, we conducted a small-scale reverse genetic screen on a series of T-DNA insertion mutants in ion channel genes and in other genes encoding proteins such as proton pumps. This screen, which was based on surface potential measurements, revealed that mutations in genes related to ionotropic glutamate receptors in animals had impaired electrical activity after wounding. Combining mutation of two of these glutamate-receptor-like genes in a double mutant reduced the response of leaves to current injection. When a leaf of this double mutant was wounded it failed to transmit a long-distance signal to a distal leaf. This result distinguished the double mutant from the wild-type plant and provides the first genetic evidence that electrical signalling is necessary to coordinate defence responses between organs in plants. - Les feuilles des plantes disposent de systèmes de défense inductibles très élaborés. Un grand nombre de ces systèmes de défenses sont connus et sont basés sur des composés chimiques comme les alcaloïdes, les composés phénoliques ou les terpènes, des systèmes physiques allant de la production de cellules fibreuses aux cristaux de silice ainsi qu'un grand nombre de protéines de défense ciblant le processus digestif des herbivores. Il est connu dépuis longtemps que la réponse défensive de la plante face à l'attaque pas un insecte n'est pas seulement localisée au niveau de la zone d'attaque. A la place, si une feuille est attaquée, les systèmes de défense peuvent être activés ailleurs dans la plante, comme par exemple dans d'autres feuilles, les racines ou même les fleurs. Ces observations soulèvent la question de la nature des signaux d'organes à organes qui régulent ces systèmes. Plusieurs hypothèses ont été formulées; une ou plusieures molécules pourraient être véhiculées dans la plante grâce au système vasculaire, un signal hydraulique transmis au travers du xylème ou encore des signaux électriques transmis par les cellules comme dans le phloème par exemple. De nombreuses études ont été publiées sur ces différentes hypothèses. Dans ce travail de thèse, nous avons choisi d'utiliser à notre avantage le fait que de nombreuses réponses de défense de la plante sont régulées par une même voie de signalisation utilisant l'acide jasmonique. Nous avons utilisé comme marqueurs cette molécule, un de ses dérivés (le jasmonoyl-isoleucine) ainsi que certains des gènes que l'acide jasmonique régule. Nous avons alors testé l'implication de la transmission de signaux électriques dans l'activation de la voie du jasmonate de feuille à feuille. Nous avons découvert que les insectes qui se nourrissent de feuilles d'Arabidopsis thaliana activent un signal électrique que nous avons pu mesurer grâce à une technique non invasive d'électrodes de surface. Les enregistrements ont montré que la génération de signaux électriques et l'activation de la voie du jasmonate avaient lieu aux mêmes endroits. La mesure de la vitesse de déplacement des impulsions électriques correspond aux estimations faites concernant l'activation de la voie du jasmonate. Grâce à cela, nous avons pu tester l'effet d'injection de courant électrique dans les feuilles d'Arabidopsis. La conséquence a été une forte expression de nombreux gènes de la voie du jasmonate, suggérant une forte corrélation entre l'activité électrique et l'activation de la voie du jasmonate. Afin de tester le lien de cause entre ces deux phénomènes, nous avons entrepris un criblage génétique sur une série de mutants d'insertion à l'ADN-T dans des gènes de canaux ioniques et d'autres gènes d'intérêt comme les gènes des pompes à protons. Ce criblage, basé sur la mesure de potentiels de surface, a permis de montrer que plusieurs mutations de gènes liés aux récepteurs au glutamate ionotropique présentent une baisse drastique de leurs activités électriques après une blessure mécanique des feuilles par rapport au type sauvage. Par la combinaison de deux mutations de ces récepteurs au glutamate en un double mutant, on obtient une réponse à la stimulation électrique encore plus faible. Quand une feuille du double mutant est blessée, elle est incapable de transmettre un signal à longue distance vers une feuille éloignée. Ce résultat permet de distinguer le double mutant de la plante sauvage et amène la première preuve génétique que l'activité électrique est nécessaire pour coordonner les réponses de défense entre les organes chez les plantes.

Conhecimento e significado cultural da menopausa para um grupo de mulheres

Este estudo etnográfico, realizado junto a um grupo de mulheres, teve como objetivo verificar o nível de conhecimento sobre a menopausa e compreender como ocorre a vivência deste estágio biológico próprio do sexo feminino. Para a coleta dos dados, usou-se a observação participante, a entrevista, mediante uso de gravador, além de desenhos previamente reproduzidos. A análise foi efetuada com base nos pressupostos teóricos, de método etnográfico e de alguns pressupostos do interpretativismo biográfico. Das narrativas coletadas, extraíram-se as categorias e os temas culturais. Assim, foi possível verificar que o processo da menopausa era entendido como resultante de uma construção singular, estando integrado a uma rede de significados, instituídos pelo grupo, os quais condicionam o conhecimento e a vivência dentro de determinados padrões culturais, entre eles, o fato de que a menopausa significa deixar de ser mulher.

Ser mulher portadora do HPV: uma abordagem cultural

Este trabalho foi realizado com o objetivo de investigar o nível de conhecimento das mulheres sobre o HPV, para, a partir daí, identificar crenças, mitos e tabus sobre a doença e analisar a influência destes elementos culturais no comportamento da mulher. Realizamos um estudo baseado nos pressupostos da teoria do cuidado transcultural. A pesquisa foi desenvolvida a partir do depoimento de quinze mulheres que realizavam tratamento para HPV. Através da investigação, foi possível perceber que, apesar das inúmeras fontes de informação sobre DST, o HPV ainda é uma doença desconhecida e cercada de mistério. Este desconhecimento, interagindo com fatores culturais, favorece o desenvolvimento de conceitos equivocados, tais como crenças e mitos.

Adaptação cultural e validação do instrumento The Bowel Function in the Community para o Brasil

Estudos sobre hábito intestinal, considerando cultura, hábitos alimentares e de vida entre outros, não existem no Brasil. O objetivo deste artigo é apresentar o The Bowel Function in the Community, ferramenta específica para avaliação do hábito intestinal das populações, adaptado e validado para o Brasil. O processo de adaptação cultural incluiu tradução, retrotradução e avaliação por comitê de especialistas, obtendo-se uma versão traduzida do instrumento, posteriormente submetida a análises que atestaram a validade de conteúdo do mesmo. A confiabilidade inter-observadores e estabilidade (teste-reteste) foram confirmadas por níveis de concordância de boa a excelente e de moderada a excelente para a maioria das questões e agrupamentos do instrumento. Concluiu-se que a versão adaptada do instrumento pode ser aplicada em nosso meio para dar continuidade ao processo de validação, bem como para ampliar o conhecimento do hábito intestinal na população brasileira.

Report of Recommendations to the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs, June 30, 2004

State Audit Reports

Tradução e adaptação cultural para o Brasil do DISABKIDS® Atopic Dermatitis Module (ADM)

O objetivo deste estudo foi traduzir e adaptar culturalmente para o Brasil o DISABKIDS® Atopic Dermatitis Module (ADM), instrumento para mensuração de qualidade de vida relacionada à saúde de crianças e adolescentes, com Dermatite Atópica. O instrumento possui 12 itens com respostas em escala do tipo Likert, com duas versões, self e proxy. A pesquisa incluiu uma amostra de 18 crianças e adolescentes brasileiros com Dermatite Atópica, na faixa etária de 8 a 18 anos, e seus respectivos pais ou cuidadores. O processo envolveu as fases de tradução-retrotradução e validação semântica. A validação semântica mostrou boa aceitação da versão traduzida do instrumento com fácil compreensão de seus itens pelos participantes. Após o término de seu processo de validação no país, o instrumento poderá ser utilizado por pesquisadores brasileiros para mensuração de qualidade de vida relacionada à saúde, bem como possibilitará comparação entre resultados no Brasil com outras culturas nas quais o instrumento já se encontra validado.

Opportunities for a cultural specific approach in the computational description of music

The current research in Music Information Retrieval (MIR) is showing the potential that the Information Technologies can have in music related applications. Amajor research challenge in that direction is how to automaticallydescribe/annotate audio recordings and how to use the resulting descriptions to discover and appreciate music in new ways. But music is a complex phenomenonand the description of an audio recording has to deal with this complexity. For example, each musicculture has specificities and emphasizes different musicaland communication aspects, thus the musical recordings of each culture should be described differently. At the same time these cultural specificities give us the opportunity to pay attention to musical concepts andfacets that, despite being present in most world musics, are not easily noticed by listeners. In this paper we present some of the work done in the CompMusic project, including ideas and specific examples on how to take advantage of the cultural specificities of differentmusical repertoires. We will use examples from the art music traditions of India, Turkey and China.

Rates of cultural change and patterns of cultural accumulation in stochastic models of social transmission.

Cultural variation in a population is affected by the rate of occurrence of cultural innovations, whether such innovations are preferred or eschewed, how they are transmitted between individuals in the population, and the size of the population. An innovation, such as a modification in an attribute of a handaxe, may be lost or may become a property of all handaxes, which we call "fixation of the innovation." Alternatively, several innovations may attain appreciable frequencies, in which case properties of the frequency distribution-for example, of handaxe measurements-is important. Here we apply the Moran model from the stochastic theory of population genetics to study the evolution of cultural innovations. We obtain the probability that an initially rare innovation becomes fixed, and the expected time this takes. When variation in cultural traits is due to recurrent innovation, copy error, and sampling from generation to generation, we describe properties of this variation, such as the level of heterogeneity expected in the population. For all of these, we determine the effect of the mode of social transmission: conformist, where there is a tendency for each naïve newborn to copy the most popular variant; pro-novelty bias, where the newborn prefers a specific variant if it exists among those it samples; one-to-many transmission, where the variant one individual carries is copied by all newborns while that individual remains alive. We compare our findings with those predicted by prevailing theories for rates of cultural change and the distribution of cultural variation.

Intertwined cultural demands of immigrants and minority nations

Since at least the last two decades of the 20th century, the normative debate on multiculturalism has been one-dimensional. It has deployed arguments related to cultural demands either linked to feminism and sub-cultural identities, immigration or national minorities. Little attention has been given to the relations between these dimensions, and how they effect each other in putting forward demands to the nation-state. The purpose of this article is to analyse the interaction between cultural demands of immigrants and minority nations. The basic objective of this paper is to give an overview of different reflections coming from three basic contributors: J. Carens, W. Kymlicka and R. Bauböck.

Department of Cultural Affairs Performance Report, FY 2004

Agency Performance Report

Redefinición del espectador cinematográfico en relación al audiovisual contemporáneo. Un nuevo agente en la producción cultural

El cine se enfrenta, hoy, a múltiples retos en su propia configuración, acompañando un frenético desarrollo tecnológico. Se ha convertido en matriz de la multiplicación audiovisual contemporánea. En este contexto es preciso redefinir al espectador como sujeto que encarna hoy nuevas funciones y ocupa espacios variados en el conjunto de la producción cultural.Se apuesta por una redefinición del espectador cinematográfico en relación a la evolución del audiovisual digital -sus implicaciones tecnológicas y narrativas- y la relación de ambos con las instituciones de la producción cultural contemporánea -sus políticas de acceso y estrategias de adaptación-.Esta aproximación se fundamenta en el reconocimiento de la capacidad productiva de este nuevo agente cultural y las correspondencias que esta evolución implica respecto al panorama audiovisual contemporáneo.

Historia cultural de los cuidados paliativos en las sociedades primitivas: revisión integrativa

Este estudio tiene el objetivo de describir la evolución de los cuidados paliativos, reflexionando sobre la posibilidad de su origen en las culturas primitivas y su relación con el inicio del culto a los muertos. Se describe el cambio producido en las estructuras, las interacciones simbólicas y sociales implicadas en el desempeño de cuidados paliativos durante la prehistoria: unidad funcional, marco funcional y elemento funcional. El marco teórico se fundamenta en la historia cultural, el modelo estructural dialéctico y el interaccionismo simbólico. Se aplicaron técnicas de categorización y análisis de la historia cultural y el estructuralismo dialéctico. Los cuidados paliativos ya existían en las sociedades primitivas vinculados, en gran medida, a los ritos de transición con un alto contenido simbólico. Las estructuras sociales: unidad funcional, marco funcional y elemento funcional; constituyen los pilares sobre los que se sustentaron los cuidados paliativos en las sociedades prehistóricas.

Crianças e adolescentes renais crônicos em espaço educativo-terapêutico: subsídios para o cuidado cultural de enfermagem

Trata-se de estudo qualitativo na abordagem etnográfica, cujos objetivos foram compreender como crianças e adolescentes com doença renal crônica vivenciam o adoecimento e a terapêutica e descrever o cuidado educativo-terapêutico no enfoque da enfermagem transcultural. Participaram onze sujeitos em tratamento dialítico. As fases da pesquisa seguiram o modelo observação-participação-reflexão complementado com a entrevista. A análise foi orientada pelas quatro fases do guia da etnoenfermagem, emergindo as categorias: convivência com a insuficiência renal e mudanças no cotidiano; ambiente hospitalar e atividades educativo-terapêuticas, as quais mostram desconfortos e dificuldades em várias dimensões da vida de certa forma compensados pelo ambiente terapêutico e oferta de lazer. O cuidar culturalmente congruente foi entendido como uma ação intencional construída pela interação entre os saberes científicos e a valorização dos saberes culturais das crianças e adolescentes e de suas famílias