Where there's smoke, there's fire : the brain reactivity of chronic smokers to anti-smoking stimuli

Contexte: Plusieurs études ont démontré que les indices environnementaux associés à la cigarette peuvent provoquer des envies de consommer (« cravings ») chez les fumeurs, ce qui nuit aux efforts d’abandon de la substance et favorise le maintien du tabagisme. Un bon nombre d’études en imagerie cérébrale ont examiné les bases neurophysiologiques de cette caractéristique clinique. Le tabagisme se caractérise aussi par l’incapacité des représentations négatives de la consommation (méfaits médicaux et sociaux) d’influencer la consommation des fumeurs. Étonnamment toutefois, très peu de travaux de recherche se sont intéressés à examiner les bases neurophysiologiques de cette insouciance envers les méfaits de la cigarette chez les fumeurs. En utilisant l'imagerie cérébrale fonctionnelle, l'objectif de cette étude était: d’examiner la réponse neurophysiologique des fumeurs chroniques à des images qui illustrent les effets négatifs de la cigarette (campagne anti-tabac); d’examiner le caractère affectif de cette réactivité utilisant des conditions contrôles (c.-à-d., images aversives non-liées au tabac et appétitives liées au tabac); d'examiner la connectivité fonctionnelle durant cette tâche entre les systèmes affectifs et exécutifs (une interaction qui peut favoriser ou entraver l'impact des évènements aversifs). Méthodes: 30 fumeurs chroniques ont passé une session de neuroimagerie durant laquelle ils devaient regarder des images appétitives et aversives de cigarettes, des images aversives non-reliées au tabac et des images neutres. Résultats: Les images aversives liés au tabagisme suscitent une plus grande activation dans le cortex médial préfrontal, l'amygdale, le gyrus frontal inférieur et le cortex orbitofrontal latéral en comparaison avec les images neutres, mais une moins grande activation dans des structures médiaux / sous-corticales comparé aux images aversives non-reliés et images appétitives reliées aux tabac. L’activité du système exécutif présente une connectivité fonctionnelle négative avec le système affectif lorsque les images aversives sont liées au tabac, mais pas quand elles ne le sont pas. Conclusions: Le modèle d'activation du cerveau observé suggère qu’il y a un biais dans la réactivité des fumeurs chroniques lorsqu’ils observent des représentations négatives de la consommation du tabac. L’activité du système exécutif cérébral semble promouvoir chez les fumeurs une baisse d’activité dans des régions impliquées dans la genèse d’une réponse physiologique affective; il s’agit d’un mécanisme qui permettrait de réduire l’impact persuasif de ces représentations des méfaits de la cigarette sur la consommation des fumeurs.

Whither RDS? An investigation of respondent driven sampling as a method of recruiting mainstream marijuana users.

Background: An important challenge in conducting social research of specific relevance to harm reduction programs is locating hidden populations of consumers of substances like cannabis who typically report few adverse or unwanted consequences of their use. Much of the deviant, pathologized perception of drug users is historically derived from, and empirically supported, by a research emphasis on gaining ready access to users in drug treatment or in prison populations with higher incidence of problems of dependence and misuse. Because they are less visible, responsible recreational users of illicit drugs have been more difficult to study. Methods: This article investigates Respondent Driven Sampling (RDS) as a method of recruiting experienced marijuana users representative of users in the general population. Based on sampling conducted in a multi-city study (Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver), and compared to samples gathered using other research methods, we assess the strengths and weaknesses of RDS recruitment as a means of gaining access to illicit substance users who experience few harmful consequences of their use. Demographic characteristics of the sample in Toronto are compared with those of users in a recent household survey and a pilot study of Toronto where the latter utilized nonrandom self-selection of respondents. Results: A modified approach to RDS was necessary to attain the target sample size in all four cities (i.e., 40 'users' from each site). The final sample in Toronto was largely similar, however, to marijuana users in a random household survey that was carried out in the same city. Whereas well-educated, married, whites and females in the survey were all somewhat overrepresented, the two samples, overall, were more alike than different with respect to economic status and employment. Furthermore, comparison with a self-selected sample suggests that (even modified) RDS recruitment is a cost-effective way of gathering respondents who are more representative of users in the general population than nonrandom methods of recruitment ordinarily produce. Conclusions: Research on marijuana use, and other forms of drug use hidden in the general population of adults, is important for informing and extending harm reduction beyond its current emphasis on 'at-risk' populations. Expanding harm reduction in a normalizing context, through innovative research on users often overlooked, further challenges assumptions about reducing harm through prohibition of drug use and urges consideration of alternative policies such as decriminalization and legal regulation.

Moving from Margin to Mainstream

School of Management Studies,Cochin University of Science and Technology

‘Green Consumption’ beyond mainstream economy: A discourse analysis

In contemporary society, green consumption is a popular concept. The life styles of people and consumption behaviors are moderated in accordance to the ‘green ideology’. The process of green consumption can be observed through social behaviors such as preference of bio foods, recycling, reusing, limiting the over consumption and using environmentally friendly transport systems. However, mainstream economic analyses on green consumption argued that consumer behaviors are due to the rational choice of individuality based on utility and self-preferences. The hypothesis of this paper on consumer behavior in green consumption is configured by discourses according to the discourse analysis.

Second language students in mainstream classrooms : a handbook for teachers in international schools.

Este manual está diseñado como una ayuda a los profesores que enseñan una segunda lengua a niños de colegios internacionales. En este entorno, se aprecia una variada gama de estudiantes, cuyas familias tienen grandes expectativas para sus hijos. El papel de los profesores es el de crear un ambiente en clase, en el que los niños prosperen social y académicamente, y se conviertan, además, en usuarios competentes del idioma inglés; para ello se les ofrece una gran riqueza de sugerencias prácticas que abarcan todos los aspectos de la segunda lengua, la vida de los niños, y también factores sociales, emocionales y pedagógicos.

Mainstreaming ESL : case studies in integrating ESL students into the mainstream curriculum.

Se recogen varios estudios de profesionales de las escuelas primarias y secundarias del Reino Unido, Estados Unidos,Canadá y Australia que describen sus experiencias docentes en la integración con éxito en las aulas regulares de niños con inglés como segundo idioma (ESL).

Meeting special needs in mainstream schools : a practical guide for teachers.

Se ofrece información sobre la identificación de los tipos de necesidades educativas especiales, ya que la mayoría de los niños con estas necesidades se encuentran en las escuelas ordinarias, y sugiere estrategias para facilitar a los profesores el desarrollo de las habilidades requeridas para que puedan: identificar a los alumnos con necesidades educativas especiales; saben donde conseguir ayuda; proporcionar un apoyo positivo y objetivo; estar familiarizados con el código de prácticas para NEE; aplicar registros y seguir los planes de enseñanza individualizada.

A manual of FM systems for mainstream teachers

This paper presents a manual of frequency modulated (FM) sound systems designed for use by mainstream teachers who have hearing impaired students in their classrooms.

The mainstreaming process and materials for the mainstream classroom

This paper studies the success of mainstreaming disabled students and specifically hearing-impaired students and the transitional procedures used by local St. Louis schools for the hearing impaired.

Validating the Mainstream Success Index

This paper seeks to evaluate and validate the efficiency of the Mainstream Success Index.

Parents as advocates for their hearing impaired children transitioning from a private setting to a mainstream setting

This project studied the experiences of parents whose hearing impaired children moved from private education settings into mainstream education.

School counselors in the mainstream setting: a tool for working with students with hearing impairments in the public school environment

This study looks at public school counselors who work with hearing impaired students and the counselor’s awareness of specific issues of problems of these students.

Educating deaf and hard of hearing students in the mainstream classroom

This paper examines the mainstreaming of hearing-impaired students in regular education classrooms. It evaluates the areas where teachers need more information regarding deafness, hearing loss and the teaching of hearing-impaired students. The paper also presents a list of resources to assist teachers in the education of hearing-impaired students in the mainstream classroom.

Activities for social skills development in deaf children preparing to enter the mainstream

A sample of regular education teachers was surveyed to assess the social skills of recently mainstreamed students from oral deaf programs in their classrooms. In addition, a curriculum of social skills activities was developed to help prepare students from oral deaf schools to enter the mainstream.

Social integration or social alienation: A look at the social functioning of oral deaf teenagers in the mainstream educational setting

The purpose of this literature review was to determine the social functioning of oral deaf adolescents in the mainstream educational setting.