Wright-ing the somatic: narrating the bodily

This special issue emerged from the two-day Symposium Wright-ing the Somatic: dancing & writing Professional Practice that we curated at Middlesex University in August 2016 https://vimeo.com/274485377 . This symposium was the first in a trilogy we have subsequently curated (Narrating the Somatic: gathering voices, sharing practices https://vimeo.com/274482762 in Feb 2018, and the forthcoming Queering the Somatic: interrupting the narrative in November 2019). The Symposiums have been clustered around an interest in how we move through, between, and across the communication of dance practices in order to share our processes for, and understanding of, the moving body. The Symposiums respond to calls to find resonant ways to share the embodied/emplaced perspectives and knowing(s) that the somatic practice of dance gives to artist-scholars as they engage with dance, become dance, or witness dancing. [Editorial

The outcome of the follow-up of consolidations on chest radiographs in a Maltese population, presenting from the community, aged 50 or over : a retrospective study

Background: The British Thoracic Society (BTS) guidelines for community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) suggest a repeat chest radiograph 6 weeks after treatment for patients over the age of 50 to screen for lung malignancy. The benefit of this practice is not well determined. Method: We conducted a retrospective study involving patients from the community over 50 years old with consolidations on chest radiography. These patients presented in Mater Dei Hospital, Gozo General Hospital and Maltese Health Centres during the months of January 2013-2017 and August 2013-2016. The occurrence of follow-up imaging and subsequent diagnosis of lung malignancy was documented. All chest radiographs were reviewed by a radiologist. Results: 402 patients met our inclusion criteria. Follow-up imaging was done in 214 patients (53.2%) within 12 weeks. There was no statistical significance in the follow-up rates when matched for the presenting month, whether radiologists recommended repeat imaging, whether patients were admitted to hospital, and for the patients’ age and gender. The diagnostic yield of lung malignancy was 1.74% (7 patients) within 12 weeks with all malignancies being at an advanced stage at diagnosis (lowest stage being IIIA) when detected. All seven patients had a smoking history. Conclusion: 53.2% of community-acquired pneumonia patients over the age of 50 had follow-up imaging within 12 weeks. No clinical variables explaining this low rate could be identified. This practice results in a low diagnostic yield. Moreover, the diagnosis of lung malignancy is achieved at an advanced stage, making it a poor screening tool.peer-reviewe

Wright-ing the somatic: narrating the bodily

This special issue emerged from the two-day Symposium Wright-ing the Somatic: dancing & writing Professional Practice that we curated at Middlesex University in August 2016 https://vimeo.com/274485377 . This symposium was the first in a trilogy we have subsequently curated (Narrating the Somatic: gathering voices, sharing practices https://vimeo.com/274482762 in Feb 2018, and the forthcoming Queering the Somatic: interrupting the narrative in November 2019). The Symposiums have been clustered around an interest in how we move through, between, and across the communication of dance practices in order to share our processes for, and understanding of, the moving body. The Symposiums respond to calls to find resonant ways to share the embodied/emplaced perspectives and knowing(s) that the somatic practice of dance gives to artist-scholars as they engage with dance, become dance, or witness dancing. [Editorial

Reduced lysosomal acid lipase activity: A new marker of liver disease severity across the clinical continuum of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease?

Lysosomal acid lipase (LAL) plays a key role in intracellular lipid metabolism. Reduced LAL activity promotes increased multi-organ lysosomal cholesterol ester storage, as observed in two recessive autosomal genetic diseases, Wolman disease and Cholesterol ester storage disease. Severe liver steatosis and accelerated liver fibrosis are common features in patients with genetic LAL deficiency. By contrast, few reliable data are available on the modulation of LAL activity in vivo and on the epigenetic and metabolic factors capable of regulating its activity in subjects without homozygous mutations of the Lipase A gene. In the last few years, a less severe and non-genetic reduction of LAL activity was reported in children and adults with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), suggesting a possible role of LAL reduction in the pathogenesis and progression of the disease. Patients with NAFLD show a significant, progressive reduction of LAL activity from simple steatosis to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis and cryptogenic cirrhosis. Among cirrhosis of different etiologies, those with cryptogenic cirrhosis show the most significant reductions of LAL activity. These findings suggest that the modulation of LAL activity may become a possible new therapeutic target for patients with more advanced forms of NAFLD. Moreover, the measurement of LAL activity may represent a possible new marker of disease severity in this clinical setting

Ideology of objectivity in political journalism. Attitudes, values and beliefs around truth as a possible horizon?

Desde un enfoque crítico-discursivo se analizan contenidos automáticos y reflexivos en torno a la “objetividad”, como código estilístico-normativo y dispositivo cultural de contornos míticos, compartido por periodistas y audiencias de la información política. Con base en entrevistas realizadas bajo un enfoque etnográfico entre 2012 y 2014, a profesionales de diferentes medios masivos de Córdoba-Argentina, primero se discuten la auto-percepción de su rol contemporáneo y las condiciones de su vínculo cotidiano con fuentes y acontecimientos. Dado el carácter inter-subjetivo del fenómeno, en un segundo momento se incluye el contraste entre las perspectivas periodísticas y las percepciones de audiencias locales, recopiladas en sesiones experimentales simultáneas. Mediante una estrategia de triangulación analítica, se advierte un significativo vínculo de circularidad entre definiciones profesionales y expectativas de consumo.From a critical-discursive approach, automatic and reflexive contents are analyzed around "objectivity", as a stylistic-normative code and cultural device with mythical contours, shared by journalists and audience of political information. Based on interviews to professionals from different mass media in Córdoba-Argentina (conducted under an ethnographic approach between 2012 and 2014), firstly the self-perception of their contemporary role and the conditions of their daily link with sources and events are discussed. Given the inter-subjective nature of the phenomenon, in a second moment the contrast between the journalistic perspectives and the perceptions of local audiences, gathered in simultaneous experimental sessions, is included. Through an analytical triangulation strategy, a significant circularity link between professional definitions and consumption expectations is noticed.From a critical-discursive approach, automatic and reflexive contents are analyzed around “objectivity”, as a stylistic-normative code and cultural device with mythical contours, shared by journalists and audience of political information. Based on interviews to professionals from different mass media in Córdoba-Argentina — conducted under an ethnographic approach between 2012 and 2014 —, firstly the self-perception of their contemporary role and the conditions of their daily link with sources and events are discussed. Given the inter-subjective nature of the phenomenon, in a second moment the contrast between the journalistic perspectives and the perceptions of local audiences, gathered in simultaneous experimental sessions, is included. Through an analytical triangulation strategy, a significant circularity link between professional definitions and consumption expectations is noticed.Fil: Paz Garcia, Ana Pamela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba; Argentina. Instituto de Investigaciones Psicológicas (IIPsi), CONICET - Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba; Argentin

Editoriales Etno-iconográficos en Vogue (1948-2016): un enfoque a las diplomacias culturales

Este artículo ofrece la visión general de una investigación que ha sentado sus bases en una sistematización de los mensajes que surgen de la interfaz entre diferentes culturas a través de la comunicación visual de la moda. Profundiza en un estudio semántico de las composiciones relacionadas con la "etno-iconografía" desarrolladas por tres ediciones occidentales de Vogue desde 1948 a 2016. Para esta investigación, hemos examinado 100 editoriales fotográficos. El artículo propone un marco teórico que sirva para evaluar la forma en que la moda ha reflejado y construido las nociones coloniales del Otro, impulsadas por políticas visuales de género y raza, y moldeadas por ideologías imperialistas de la industria. El artículo también introduce una exploración del legado de los regímenes visuales eurocéntricos y la negociación con las subjetividades postcoloniales por parte de las últimas ediciones no occidentales. Finalmente resalta que este tipo de imagen puede proporcionar visibilidad a realidades sociales de dichos territorios, permitiendo a las revistas de moda actuar como detonadores de la reflexión crítica y agentes capaces de establecer interrelaciones culturales.This article offers an overview of a seminal research that laid its foundations in a systematization of the messages emerging from the interface between cultures through fashion image making. It delves into a semantic study of the compositions related to “ethno-iconography” that have been developed by three Western editions of Vogue since 1948 to 2016. We had examined 100 photographic editorials. The paper proposes a theoretical framework that serves to evaluate the way that fashion has reflected and built colonial notions of the Other, driven by race and gender visual politics, and shaped by the industry’s imperialist ideologies. The article also introduces a prospective exploration of the legacy of the Eurocentric visual regimes and the negotiation with post-colonial subjectivities by non-Western editions. It ultimately highlights that photo shoots also provide visibility to social realities that permit magazines to act as triggers of critical reflection and agents capable of establishing inter-cultural relations

Enforcing public data archiving policies in academic publishing: A study of ecology journals

To improve the quality and efficiency of research, groups within the scientific community seek to exploit the value of data sharing. Funders, institutions, and specialist organizations are developing and implementing strategies to encourage or mandate data sharing within and across disciplines, with varying degrees of success. Academic journals in ecology and evolution have adopted several types of public data archiving policies requiring authors to make data underlying scholarly manuscripts freely available. Yet anecdotes from the community and studies evaluating data availability suggest that these policies have not obtained the desired effects, both in terms of quantity and quality of available datasets. We conducted a qualitative, interview-based study with journal editorial staff and other stakeholders in the academic publishing process to examine how journals enforce data archiving policies. We specifically sought to establish who editors and other stakeholders perceive as responsible for ensuring data completeness and quality in the peer review process. Our analysis revealed little consensus with regard to how data archiving policies should be enforced and who should hold authors accountable for dataset submissions. Themes in interviewee responses included hopefulness that reviewers would take the initiative to review datasets and trust in authors to ensure the completeness and quality of their datasets. We highlight problematic aspects of these thematic responses and offer potential starting points for improvement of the public data archiving process.Comment: 35 pages, 1 figure, 1 tabl

The Birth Control Divide : U. S. Press Coverage of Contraception, 1873-2013

For more than 140 years, religious, medical, legislative, and legal institutions have contested the issue of contraception. In this conversation, predominantly male voices have attached reproductive rights to tangential moral and political matters, revealing an ongoing, systematic attempt to regulate human bodies, especially those of women. This analysis of 1873-2013 press coverage of contraception in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the Chicago Tribune shows a division between institutional ideology and real-life experience; women’s reproductive rights are negotiable. Although journalists often reported that contraception was a factor in the everyday life of women and men, press accounts also showed religious, medical, legislative, and legal institutions debating whether it should be. Contraception originally was predominately viewed as a practice of prostitutes (despite evidence to the contrary) but became a part of everyday life. The battle has slowly evolved into one about the Affordable Care Act, religious freedom, morality, and employer rights. What did not significantly change over the 140-year period are larger cultural and ideological structures; these continue to be dominated by men, who retain power over women’s bodies

Giving Credit: How Well Do Librarians Cite and Quote Their Sources?

The practice of citing references is integral to scholarship. This paper focuses on three prominent journals for library science: College and Research Libraries, Library Resources and Technical Services, and Reference and User Services Quarterly. Errors in both citations and quotations were found in all three journals, although no statistically significant differences among journals were discovered. Citation errors of less than 10 percent were found for all three journals, while in total, 30.3 percent of quotations were judged to be questionable in some way. The paper includes recommendations for authors, editors and librarians. It also recommends further study of errors in quotations, which appear more troubling than those in citations