The Emergence of Naturopathy in Two Canadian Provinces: British Columbia and Ontario, 1920-1970

This paper explores the development and regulation of naturopathy in two Canadian provinces, Ontario and British Columbia, prior to 1950. Naturopathy has been a regulated profession in British Columbia since 1936. In Ontario the regulated group, since 1926 until recently, has been ‘drugless therapy.’ Through a comparative case study we not only document the early history of naturopathy, and its regulation, but we explore the factors shaping professional regulation and development historically. In particular, we highlight the importance of provincial patterns of professional regulation, and inter-professional relations in shaping regulatory trajectories.Voici un article qui traite de l’évolution et de la réglementation de la naturopathie dans deux provinces canadiennes, l’Ontario et la Colombie-Britannique, avant 1950. La naturopathie est une profession réglementée en Colombie-Britannique depuis 1936. En Ontario, le groupe réglementé a été, de 1926 jusqu’à tout récemment, celui des « praticiens ne prescrivant pas de médicaments ». Au moyen d’une étude de cas comparative, nous rendons compte des débuts de la naturopathie et de sa réglementation, mais nous étudions aussi les facteurs qui, pendant très longtemps, ont façonné la réglementation et l’évolution des professions. Nous soulignons en particulier l’importance des caractéristiques provinciales de la réglementation des professions et celle des relations interprofessionnelles dans l’orientation des trajectoires en matière de réglementation

A new Tolman test of a cosmic distance duality relation at 21 cm

Under certain general conditions in an expanding universe, the luminosity distance (d_L) and angular diameter distance (d_A) are connected by the Etherington relation as d_L = d_A (1 + z)^2. The Tolman test suggests the use of objects of known surface brightness, to test this relation. In this letter, we propose the use of redshifted 21 cm signal from disk galaxies, where neutral hydrogen (HI) masses are seen to be almost linearly correlated with surface area, to conduct a new Tolman test. We construct simulated catalogs of galaxies, with the observed size-luminosity relation and realistic redshift evolution of HI mass functions, likely to be detected with the planned Square Kilometer Array (SKA). We demonstrate that these observations may soon provide the best implementation of the Tolman test to detect any violation of the Etherington relation.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, 1 table, v2: published versio

Frit valg eller frit fald: når velfærd er et tilbud [Free choice or free fall when welfare is a choice]

Denne rapport er blevet til på et initiativ fra Fagligt Fælles Forbund. Hovedsigtet med rapporten at belyse udviklingen i det britiske velfærdssystem siden Margaret Thatchers konservative regering i 1979 påbegyndte den liberalt inspirerede reformproces, som har ført til det system, der eksisterer i dag og at drage sammenligninger med udviklingen i Storbritannien og Danmark. Storbritannien har oplevet en dramatisk forværring af levevilkårene for de fattigste og dårligst uddannede dele af befolkningen i løbet af den samme periode, som Thatchers konservative regering gennemførte en række reformer af den offentlige sektor og af arbejdsmarkedet. Der er mange forskelle mellem Danmark og Storbritannien, ikke mindst efter Thatchers reformer, men en del af det, Thatcher gennemførte, og som kun i begrænset omfang er blevet ændret af Tony Blairs New Labour regering, er under gennemførelse eller planlagt her i Danmark af vores nuværende borgerlige regering. Det er derfor af stor interesse for beslutningstagere i Danmark og den danske offentlighed mere bredt at få kendskab til indholdet i og virkningerne af de reformer, der er blevet gennemført i Storbritannien. Dette er formålet med denne rapport

Unravelling functional neurology: A scoping review of theories and clinical applications in a context of chiropractic manual therapy

Background: Functional Neurology (FN), a seemingly attractive treatment approach used by some chiropractors, proposes to have an effect on a multitude of conditions but some of its concepts are controversial. Objectives and design: A scoping review was performed to describe, in the context of chiropractic manual therapy, 1) the FN theories, and 2) its clinical applications (i.e. its indications, examination procedures, treatment modalities, treatment plans, and clinical outcomes) using four sources: i) one key textbook, ii) the scientific peer-reviewed literature, iii) websites from chiropractors using FN, and iv) semi-structured interviews of chiropractors using FN. Methods: The scientific literature was searched in PubMed, PsycINFO, and SPORTDiscus, completed by a hand search in the journal Functional Neurology, Rehabilitation and Ergonomics (November 2016 and March 2017, respectively). The only textbook on the topic we found was included and articles were chosen if they had an element of manual therapy. There was no restriction for study design but discussion papers were excluded. Websites were found in Google using the search term "Functional Neurology". Chiropractors, known to use FN, were invited based on their geographical location. Theories were mainly uncovered in the textbook as were all aspects of the clinical applications except treatment plans. The other three sources were used for the five aspects of clinical applications. Results were summarized and reported extensively in tables. Results: Eleven articles were included, five websites scrutinized, and four semi-structured interviews performed. FN is based on the belief that reversible lesions in the nervous system are the cause of a multitude of conditions and that specific clusters of neurons can be positively affected by manipulative therapy, but also by many other stimuli. Diagnostic procedures include both conventional and unusual tests, with an interpretation specific to FN. Initial treatment is intense and clinical outcomes reported as positive. Conclusion: FN gives the impression to be a complex alternative to the old variant of the chiropractic subluxation model, in which the vertebral subluxation is replaced by "physiological lesions" of the brain, and the treatment, spinal adjustments, are complemented by various neurological stimuli. Both models purport to treat not the symptoms but the cause. We conclude there is a need for more scientific documentation on the validity of FN

Distance-redshift from an optical metric that includes absorption

We show that it is possible to equate the intensity reduction of a light wave caused by weak absorption with a geometrical reduction in intensity caused by a "transverse" conformal transformation of the spacetime metric in which the wave travels. We are consequently able to modify Gordon's optical metric to account for electromagnetic properties of ponderable material whose properties include both refraction and absorption. Unlike refraction alone however, including absorption requires a modification of the optical metric that depends on the eikonal of the wave itself. We derive the distance-redshift relation from the modified optical metric for Friedman-Lema\^itre-Robertson-Walker spacetimes whose cosmic fluid has associated refraction and absorption coefficients. We then fit the current supernovae data and provide an alternate explanation (other than dark energy) of the apparent acceleration of the universe.Comment: 2 figure

Patient-reported experience and quality of care for people with schizophrenia

BACKGROUND: Evidence is mounting that patient-reported experience can provide a valuable indicator of the quality of healthcare services. However, little is known about the relationship between the experiences of people with severe mental illness and the quality of care they receive. We conducted a study to examine the relationship between patient-reported experience and the quality of care provided to people with schizophrenia. METHODS: We calculated a composite global rating of quality of care for people with schizophrenia using data from an audit of 64 mental health providers. We then examined associations between these ratings and mean patient satisfaction and patient-rated outcome using data from a survey of 5608 schizophrenic patients treated in these services. RESULTS: Global rating of quality of care was positively correlated with patient-rated outcome (r = 0.33; p = 0.01) but not with patient satisfaction (r = 0.21, p = 0.10). Patient-rated outcome was also positively correlated with patient involvement (r = 0.26, p = 0.04) and the quality of prescribing practice (r = 0.31, p = 0.02). High patient satisfaction scores were significantly associated with the extent of use of care plans within each organisation (r = 0.27, p = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: Among people with schizophrenia, patient-rated outcome provides a better guide to the quality of care than patient-rated satisfaction. Greater use of patient-reported outcome measures should be made when assessing the quality of care provided to people with psychosis

Spatial and observational homogeneities of the galaxy distribution in standard cosmologies

This work discusses the possible empirical verification of the geometrical concept of homogeneity of the standard relativistic cosmology considering its various definitions of distance. We study the physical consequences of the distinction between the usual concept of spatial homogeneity (SH), as defined by the Cosmological Principle, and the concept of observational homogeneity (OH), arguing that OH is in principle falsifiable by means of astronomical observations, whereas verifying SH is only possible indirectly. Simulated counts of cosmological sources are produced by means of a generalized number-distance expression that can be specialized to produce either the counts of the Einstein-de Sitter (EdS) cosmology, which has SH by construction, or other types of counts, which do, or do not, have OH by construction. Expressions for observational volumes and differential densities are derived with the various cosmological distance definitions in the EdS model. Simulated counts that have OH by construction do not always exhibit SH features. The reverse situation is also true. Besides, simulated counts with no OH features at low redshift start showing OH characteristics at high redshift. The comoving distance seems to be the only distance definition where both SH and OH appear simultaneously. The results show that observations indicating possible lack of OH do not necessarily falsify the standard Friedmannian cosmology, meaning that this cosmology will not necessarily always produce observable homogeneous densities. The general conclusion is that the use of different cosmological distances in the characterization of the galaxy distribution lead to significant ambiguities in reaching conclusions about the behavior of the large-scale galaxy distribution in the Universe.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures, LaTeX. Matches the final version sent to the journal. Accepted for publication in "Astronomy and Astrophysics