Hysterical inquiry and autoethnography : a Lacanian alternative to institutionalised ethical commandments

Ten years of hospital admissions for liver cirrhosis in Portugal

Background and aims More data on epidemiology of liver diseases in Europe are needed. We aimed to characterize hospital admissions for liver cirrhosis in Portugal during the past decade. Patients and methods We analyzed all hospital admissions for cirrhosis in Portugal Mainland between 2003 and 2012 registered in the national Diagnosis-Related Group database. Cirrhosis was classified according to etiology considering alcohol, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C. Results Between 2003 and 2012, there were 63 910 admissions for cirrhosis in Portugal Mainland; 74.4% involved male patients. Etiologies of admitted cirrhosis were as follows: 76.0% alcoholic, 1.1% hepatitis B, 1.4% hepatitis B plus alcohol, 3.6% hepatitis C, and 4.0% hepatitis C plus alcohol. There was a significant decline (P <0.001) in admissions for alcoholic cirrhosis, whereas hospitalizations for cirrhosis caused by hepatitis C or hepatitis C plus alcohol increased by almost 50% (P <0.001). Patients admitted with alcoholic plus hepatitis B or C cirrhosis were significantly younger than those with either alcoholic or viral cirrhosis (53.1 vs. 59.4 years, respectively, P <0.001). Hospitalization rates for cirrhosis were 124.4/100 000 in men and 32.6/100 000 in women. Hepatocellular carcinoma and fluid retention were more common in viral cirrhosis, whereas encephalopathy and variceal bleeding were more frequent in alcoholic cirrhosis. Hepatorenal syndrome was the strongest predictor of mortality among cirrhosis complications (odds ratio 12.97; 95% confidence interval 11.95–14.09). In-hospital mortality was 15.2%. Conclusion Despite the decline in admissions for alcoholic cirrhosis and the increase in those related to hepatitis C, the observed burden of hospitalized liver cirrhosis in Portugal was essentially attributable to alcoholic liver disease.

Richmond from ten to twelve miles from here.

Shows troop positions, batteries, etc. near Dutch gap on the James River.

Ten minutes of dynamic stretching is sufficient to potentiate vertical jump performance characteristics

The current literature recommends dynamic rather than static stretching for the athletic warm-up. Dynamic stretching and various conditioning stimuli are used to induce potentiation in subsequent athletic performance. However, it is unknown as to which type of activity in conjunction with dynamic stretching within a warm-up provides the optimal potentiation of vertical jump performance. It was the objective of the study to examine the possible potentiating effect of various types of conditioning stimuli with dynamic stretching. Twenty athletes participated in 6 protocols. All the experimental protocols included 10 minutes of dynamic stretching. After the dynamic stretching, the subjects performed a (a) concentric (DS/CON): 3 sets of 3 repetition maximum deadlift exercise; (b) isometric (DS/ISOM): 3 sets of 3-second maximum voluntary contraction back squats; (c) plyometric (DS/PLYO): 3 sets of 3 tuck jumps; (d) eccentric (DS/ECC): 3 modified drop jumps; (e) dynamic stretching only (DS), and (f) control protocol (CON). Before the intervention and at recovery periods of 15 seconds, 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20 minutes, the participants performed 1-2 maximal countermovement jumps. The DS and DS/CON protocols generally had a 95-99% likelihood of exceeding the smallest worthwhile change for vertical jump height, peak power, velocity and force. However, the addition of the deadlift to the DS did not augment the potentiating effect. Time-to-peak potentiation was variable between individuals but was most consistent between 3 and 5 minutes. Thus, the volume and the intensity associated with 10 minutes of dynamic stretching were sufficient to provide the potentiation of vertical jump characteristics. Additional conditioning activities may promote fatigue processes, which do not permit further potentiation.

Ten Year Study on Water Flushing Times and Water Quality in Southern Taylor Slough, Everglades National Park, FL

The purpose of this research was to investigate the effects of wetland restoration on the water balance, flushing time, and water chemistry of southern Taylor Slough, a major water way in Everglades National Park. Water balance and flushing time equations were calculated on a monthly time step from 2001 – 2011. Water chemistry of major ions and nutrients were analyzed and correlated with water flushing times. Results showed that evapotranspiration followed by water volume had the greatest influence on flushing time. The flushing times varied between 3 and 78 days, with longer times observed between October and December, and the shorter times between March and May. Ion concentrations at the coastal areas decreased with increased flushing times. Increased surface water inflow that resulted from restoration projects and water management changes were productive in the rainy season and should result in increased flushing times and decreased ion concentrations in Taylor Slough.

Understanding ten-eleven translocation-2 in hematological and nervous systems

I proposed the study of two distinct aspects of Ten-Eleven Translocation 2 (TET2) protein for understanding specific functions in different body systems. ^ In Part I, I characterized the molecular mechanisms of Tet2 in the hematological system. As the second member of Ten-Eleven Translocation protein family, TET2 is frequently mutated in leukemic patients. Previous studies have shown that the TET2 mutations frequently occur in 20% myelodysplastic syndrome/myeloproliferative neoplasm (MDS/MPN), 10% T-cell lymphoma leukemia and 2% B-cell lymphoma leukemia. Genetic mouse models also display distinct phenotypes of various types of hematological malignancies. I performed 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-Seq) and RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells to determine whether the deletion of Tet2 can affect the abundance of 5hmC at myeloid, T-cell and B-cell specific gene transcription start sites, which ultimately result in various hematological malignancies. Subsequent Exome sequencing (Exome-Seq) showed that disease-specific genes are mutated in different types of tumors, which suggests that TET2 may protect the genome from being mutated. The direct interaction between TET2 and Mutator S Homolog 6 (MSH6) protein suggests TET2 is involved in DNA mismatch repair. Finally, in vivo mismatch repair studies show that the loss of Tet2 causes a mutator phenotype. Taken together, my data indicate that TET2 binds to MSH6 to protect genome integrity. ^ In Part II, I intended to better understand the role of Tet2 in the nervous system. 5-hydroxymethylcytosine regulates epigenetic modification during neurodevelopment and aging. Thus, Tet2 may play a critical role in regulating adult neurogenesis. To examine the physiological significance of Tet2 in the nervous system, I first showed that the deletion of Tet2 reduces the 5hmC levels in neural stem cells. Mice lacking Tet2 show abnormal hippocampal neurogenesis along with 5hmC alternations at different gene promoters and corresponding gene expression downregulation. Through the luciferase reporter assay, two neural factors Neurogenic differentiation 1 (NeuroD1) and Glial fibrillary acidic protein (Gfap) were down-regulated in Tet2 knockout cells. My results suggest that Tet2 regulates neural stem/progenitor cell proliferation and differentiation in adult brain.^

The prevalence of tympanic membrane and related middle ear pathology in children:a large longitudinal cohort study followed from birth to age ten

OBJECTIVE: To record with video-otoscopy the appearance of the tympanic membranes of a cross section of children aged 9 to 10 years. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional study nested within an established longitudinal study of childhood development, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. SETTING: South West England, U.K. PARTICIPANTS: Approximately 6908 of 7261 children with ages ranging from 105 to 140 months born between April 1, 1991, and December 31, 1992, were examined by trained technicians with video-otoscopy. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Two photographs were taken of each child's tympanic membranes to show the features of the pars tensa and the pars flaccida. RESULTS: In just less than three quarters of the children, both ears were normal. Retraction of the pars flaccida was present in 9.6% of children, and that of the pars tensa was present in 7.9%. Most of these changes were mild with few severe retractions. There were 15 cases of overt or suspected cholesteatoma. CONCLUSION: The tympanic membrane changes reflect most of the middle ear disease seen in 9- to 10-year-old children. The prevalence is low, and few children have serious disease at this stage.

SAP-Related Education - Status-Quo and Experience

Integrating Enterprise Systems solutions in the curriculum of not only universities but all types of institutes of higher learning has been a major challenge for nearly ten years. Enterprise Systems education is surprisingly well documented in a number of papers on Information Systems education. However, most publications in this area report on the individual experiences of an institution or an academic. This paper focuses on the most popular Enterprise System - SAP - and summarizes the outcomes of a global survey on the status quo of SAP-related education. Based on feedback of 305 lecturers and more than 700 students, it reports on the main factors of Enterprise Systems education including, critical success factors, alternative hosting models, and students’ perceptions. The results show among others an overall increasing interest in advanced SAP solutions and international collaboration, and a high satisfaction with the concept of using Application Hosting Centers.

Longitudinal Student Evaluations of a Postgraduate Unit Using Importance-Performance Analysis

The Australian tourism tertiary education sector operates in a competitive and dynamic environment, which necessitates a market orientation to be successful. Academic staff and management in the sector must regularly assess the perceptions of prospective and current students, and monitor the satisfaction levels of current students. This study is concerned with the setting and monitoring of satisfaction levels of current students, reporting the results of three longitudinal investigations of student satisfaction in a postgraduate unit. The study also addresses a limitation of a university’s generic teaching evaluation instrument. Importance-performance analysis (IPA) has been recommended as a simple but effective tool for overcoming the deficiencies of many student evaluation studies, which have generally measured only attribute importance or importance at the end of a semester. IPA was used to compare student expectations of the unit at the beginning of semester with their perceptions of performance ten weeks later. The first stage documented key benchmarks for which amendments to the unit based on student feedback could be evaluated during subsequent teaching periods.

ERP success: Does organisation size matter?

Organisations invest enormous sums of money in acquiring Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, presumably expecting positive impacts to the organisation and its functions. Despite the optimistic motives some ERP projects have reported nil or detrimental impacts. This paper studies the proposition that the size of an organisation (e.g. small, large) may have contributed to the differences in receiving benefits reported in prior studies in this domain. The alleged differences in organisational performance are empirically measured using a prior validated model, using five constructs and fortytwo sub-constructs. Information is gathered from three hundred and ten respondents representing twenty-seven public sector organisations. Results suggests that (1) larger organisations have received more benefits compared to small organisations, (2) small organisations demonstrated higher reliance on their ERP systems, (3) employment cohorts demonstrate significant differences in perceived benefits in small and large organisations.

Female Entrepreneurship in Australia: Revisited

This paper is a ten-year follow-up on a study conducted in 1995 that profiled women entrepreneurs in Australia (Bennett and Dann 2000). The aim of the paper is to identify changes in demographic profile, motivation and personality traits of women entrepreneurs over the past ten years by replicating a study from1995 and reporting the results.

Governance and effectiveness in regional planning: an analysis of North American, European, and Australasian practice

Over the past several years, there has been resurgent interest in regional planning in North America, Europe and Australasia. Spurred by issues such as metropolitan growth, transportation infrastructure, environmental management and economic development, many states and metropolitan regions are undertaking new planning initiatives. These regional efforts have also raised significant question about governance structures, accountability and measures of effectiveness.n this paper, the authors conducted an international review of ten case studies from the United States, Canada, England, Belgium, New Zealand and Australia to explore several critical questions. Using qualitative data template, the research team reviewed plans, documents, web sites and published literature to address three questions. First, what are the governance arrangements for delivering regional planning? Second, what are the mechanisms linking regional plans with state plans (when relevant) and local plans? Third, what means and mechanisms do these regional plans use to evaluate and measure effectiveness? The case study analysis revealed several common themes. First, there is an increasing focus on goverance at the regional level, which is being driven by a range of trends, including regional spatial development initiatives in Europe, regional transportation issues in the US, and the growth of metropolitan regions generally. However, there is considerable variation in how regional governance arrangements are being played out. Similarly, there is a range of processes being used at the regional level to guide planning that range from broad ranging (thick) processes to narrow and limited (thin) approaches. Finally, evaluation and monitoring of regional planning efforts are compiling data on inputs, processes, outputs and outcomes. Although there is increased attention being paid to indicators and monitoring, most of it falls into outcome evaluations such as Agenda 21 or sustainability reporting. Based on our review we suggest there is a need for increased attention on input, process and output indicators and clearer linkages of these indicators in monitoring and evaluation frameworks. The focus on outcome indicators, such as sustainability indicators, creates feedback systems that are too long-term and remote for effective monitoring and feedback. Although we found some examples of where these kinds of monitoring frameworks are linked into a system of governance, there is a need for clearer conceptual development for both theory and practice.

Extreme sports as a precursor to environmental sustainability

Extreme sports have unfortunately gained a reputation for being risk focused and adrenaline fuelled. This perspective has obscured the place of the natural world, making extreme athletes appear to seek to conquer, compete against or defeat natural forces. In contrast, this paper explores findings from a larger hermeneutic phenomenological study that suggests extreme sports can initiate a positive change in participants’ relationships with the natural world. Data sources include first-hand accounts of extreme sports participants such as biographies, videos, papers and journals as well as interviews with ten male and five female extreme sports participants. Reports indicate that extreme sport participants develop feelings of connection to the natural world and describe themselves as being at one with the natural world or connected through a life enhancing energy. The paper draws on theoretical perspectives in ecopsychology which suggest that feeling connected to nature leads to a desire to care for the natural world and contributes to more environmentally sustainable practices.

Consumers' accounts of perceived risk online and the influence of communication sources

The purpose of this paper is to extend marketing knowledge into perceived risk in online transactions beyond the current positivistic, hypotheses-driven research by providing qualitative insights into how individuals construct their accounts of perceived risk online. Additionally, the study reported in this paper aims to explore how communication sources influence both these subjective constructions and individuals' behavioural experiences with transaction activity on the web. Design/methodology/approach - The study was developed within a grounded theory method.Ten in-depth interviews were conducted which were analysed using constant comparison of incidents procedures to provide rich descriptions of the interviewees' subjective perceptions and lived experiences with online transaction activity. Findings - The findings provide insights into how the human clement is present in individuals'perceptions and constructions of their accounts of the risk involved online.The findings also identify the influence of mass communication sources on the construction of these accounts. The study provides insights into whether change agent communication sources, such as marketers or web designers,influence consumers' behaviours towards online transaction activity through mediating their perceptions of the risks involved. The study also reveals how social communication networks influence the interviewees' decisions to use the web (or transaction activities, in particular online purchasing, and how the group in this study might act as a communication source to influence others. Research limitations/Implications - While the findings cannot be generalised to the internet population overall, the sample used was able to provide relevant information regarding the phenomenon of interest. Future research should continue to examine perceived risk and the influence of communications sources, such as e-mail, discussion groups and virtual communities. Originality/value - The value of the paper lies in permitting the participants to account for perceived risk for themselves. The findings ex.plore what this means at increasing levels of personal relevance and the influence of communication sources to create, sustain or mediate perceptions of this phenomenon.