A non-commutative Priestley duality

We prove that the category of left-handed strongly distributive skew lattices with zero and proper homomorphisms is dually equivalent to a category of sheaves over local Priestley spaces. Our result thus provides a non-commutative version of classical Priestley duality for distributive lattices and generalizes the recent development of Stone duality for skew Boolean algebras. From the point of view of skew lattices, Leech showed early on that any strongly distributive skew lattice can be embedded in the skew lattice of partial functions on some set with the operations being given by restriction and so-called override. Our duality shows that there is a canonical choice for this embedding. Conversely, from the point of view of sheaves over Boolean spaces, our results show that skew lattices correspond to Priestley orders on these spaces and that skew lattice structures are naturally appropriate in any setting involving sheaves over Priestley spaces.Comment: 20 page

Real-Time MRI of Continent and Stress Incontinent Male Patients after Orthotopic Ileal Neobladder

Introduction: The aim of this study was to correlate anatomic differences with continence status in male patients after cystoprostatectomy and ileal neobladder using real-time magnetic resonance imaging. Patients and Methods: Anatomic differences of 14 male patients (7 daytime continent and 7 stress incontinent) with ileal neobladder were determined by measuring the orthogonal distance of the bladder neck to the pubococcygeal line (PCL) to correlate anatomic differences with continence status. Results: The median distance of the bladder neck to PCL was +5.4 mm in continent patients before voiding whereas in incontinent patients it was +2 mm (p = 0.012). During the Valsalva maneuver, the median distance in continent patients was +4 and in incontinent patients -3 mm (p = 0.003). At the end of micturition, the median distance was +2.3 mm in continent patients and -12 mm in incontinent patients (p = 0.002). Conclusions: The bladder neck in incontinent patients showed more pronounced mobility in relation to the PCL during micturition and the Valsalva maneuver as compared to continent patients. In addition, the ileal neobladder was positioned significantly lower in the pelvis of incontinent patients. These preliminary results suggest that a stable bladder neck may be an important factor to reach full continence in patients with ileal neobladder. Copyright (C) 2011 S. Karger AG, Base

A Retrospective Observational Single-Centre Study on the Burden of Immune Thrombocytopenia (ITP)

Background: German data on economic consequences of immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) are limited. Patients and Methods: A retrospective, observational study based on chart review of adult patients with a confirmed diagnosis of ITP was conducted at a German university hospital. Costs are presented from the hospital perspective. Results: Of 50 eligible patients, 45 could be classified by disease duration: 19 patients = 3 to = 12 months (38%, chronic ITP). Complications included 85 bleeding events in 43 patients, including 3 intracranial haemorrhages. Documented were 955 outpatient visits in 43 patients (86%) and 92 inpatient hospital admissions in 45 patients (90%). Of the 46 patients (92%) treated, all received corticosteroids, 25 (50%) intravenous immunoglobulin, and 7 (14%) further therapies. 12 patients (24%) underwent splenectomy. Average total direct medical costs (mean (standard deviation)) were (sic) 17,091 ((sic) 18,859) per patient, (sic) 12,749 ((sic) 11,663) in 17 newly diagnosed ITP patients with a 0.88-month (0.65 months) average disease duration, and (sic) 29,868 ((sic) 29,397) in 13 chronic ITP patients with a 33.5-month (16.8 months) average disease duration. Inpatient stays were the main cost drivers. Conclusion: These data concerning current healthcare provision for ITP patients in Germany indicate considerable resource consumption and the need for more effective treatment options in individual patients

Introduction:Herta Müller and the currents of European history

Ten years on from the award to her of the Nobel Prize in Literature and twenty years after German reunification and the fall of the Ceausescu regime in Romania this volume of essays by international scholars revisits Herta Müller’s work and places it within broader intellectual, geographical, and historical horizons than has hitherto been attempted. It also reconciles the public intellectual with the literary author. For while it has long been clear that Müller’s aesthetically innovative and highly acclaimed novels, essays, and collages stand as a testament to the major upheavals of twentieth-century European history, her self-adopted role as moral voice and her willingness to make broad historical comparisons over the past three decades have often met with controversy. The broad relevance of Müller’s ethical and political concerns – central, we argue here, to both her literary work and her public statements – has been underestimated in both the feuilleton and scholarly criticism in favour of a focus on the historical interest of her life under Romanian communism. But her warnings regarding the vulnerability of the West’s post-war settlement, denazification and the stability of Europe, received by some as tiresome ten years ago, are, at the time of writing, thrown into sharp relief by the greatest humanitarian crisis Europe has faced since 1945 – the so-called refugee crisis – and by the global rise of populism. Put plainly, the complacency that might previously have allowed Müller’s interventions on the topics of xenophobia, nationalism, flight, and expulsion to be regarded as pertaining solely to Europe’s pre-1989 history is no longer sustainable

Using Wikis to Promote Reflective Teaching and Collaboration among Higher Education Institutions

The purpose of this article is to describe how teacher educators from different higher education institutions used Web 2.0 technology to facilitate collaboration in a small pedagogy group. Faculty from three different institutions participated in monthly face-to-face group meetings. They used technology to facilitate reflection on practice and scholarship. In addition, they were engaged in interactive journaling and collaborative writing activities. Wikis provided useful supports, and enhanced their learning. The group used a hybrid format that allowed increased opportunities to meet group and individual goals and extend benefits to students. Some themes emerged from the qualitative analysis of reflections in response to prompts regarding the impact of using Wikis. These included co-ownership, communication, organization, sharing resources, accessibility, and community. The authors offered some suggestions for facilitating the successful use of this technology in collaborative efforts. Each member of a Wiki must clearly understand the purpose of his or her involvement. Wiki communities participate in social negotiation. This means that each individual should have a clear role, and a sense of belonging. The group used Wikis as extensions and supports that assist group members to reach shared goals. Wiki selfefficacy, or how capable members feel while using wikis, depend on perceived ease of use and decreased sense of user anxiety