Mapping genetic factors for resistance to Soil-borne cereal mosaic virus (SBCMV) in durum wheat

Article first published online: 8 FEB 2014OBJECTIVE: In an unselected group of women with signs of preterm labour, maintenance tocolysis is not effective in the prevention of preterm birth and does not improve neonatal outcome. Among women with signs of preterm labour, those who are fetal fibronectin positive have an increased risk of preterm birth. We investigated whether maintenance tocolysis with nifedipine would delay delivery and improve neonatal outcome in women with threatened preterm labour and a positive fetal fibronectin status. STUDY DESIGN: Women with a singleton pregnancy in threatened preterm labour (24(+0) to 33(+6)  weeks) with a positive fetal fibronectin test were randomised to nifedipine or placebo. Study medication was continued until 36 completed weeks' gestation. The primary endpoint was prolongation of pregnancy of seven days. Secondary endpoints were gestational age at delivery and length of NICU admission. RESULTS: Of the 60 participants, 29 received nifedipine and 31 placebo. Prolongation of pregnancy by >7 days occurred in 22/29 (76%) in the nifedipine group and 25/31 (81%) in the placebo group (relative risks, RR 0.94 [0.72-1.2]). Gestational age at delivery was 36.1 ± 5.1 weeks for nifedipine and 36.8 ± 3.6 weeks for placebo (P = 0.027). Length of NICU admission [median (interquartile ranges, IQR)] was 27 (24-41) days and 16 (8-37) days in nifedipine and placebo groups, respectively (P = 0.17). CONCLUSION: In women with threatened preterm labour who are fetal fibronectin positive, maintenance tocolysis with nifedipine does not seem to prolong pregnancy, nor reduce length of NICU admission.Emma Parry, Carolien Roos, Peter Stone, Lynsey Hayward, Ben Willem Mol and Lesley McCowa

Out of the Panopticon and into Exile:Visibility and Control in Distributed New Culture Organizations

This paper builds a theoretical argument for exile as an alternative metaphor to the panopticon, for conceptualizing visibility and control in the context of distributed “new culture” organizations. Such organizations emphasize team relationships between employees who use digital technologies to stay connected with each other and the organization. I propose that in this context, a fear of exile – that is a fear of being left out, overlooked, ignored or banished – can act as a regulating force that inverts the radial spatial dynamic of the panopticon and shifts the responsibility for visibility, understood both in terms of competitive exposure and existential recognition, onto workers. As a consequence these workers enlist digital technologies to become visible at the real or imagined organizational centre. A conceptual appreciation of exile, as discussed in existential philosophy and postcolonial theory, is shown to offer productive grounds for future research on how a need for visibility in distributed, digitised, and increasingly precarious work environments regulates employee subjectivity, in a manner that is not captured under traditional theories of ICT-enabled surveillance in organizations

L'antimonde de l'économie : les structures franches

Vallega A. L'antimonde de l'économie : les structures franches. In: Espace géographique, tome 16, n°1, 1987. pp. 75-76