The Triumph and Tragedy of Tobacco Control: A Tale of Nine Nations

The use of law and policy to limit tobacco consumption illustrates one of the greatest triumphs of public health in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, as well as one of its most fundamental failures. Overall decreases in tobacco consumption throughout the developed world represent millions of saved lives and unquantifiable suffering averted. Yet those benefits have not been equally distributed. The poor and the undereducated have enjoyed fewer of the gains. In this review, we build on existing tobacco control scholarship and expand it both conceptually and comparatively. Our focus is the social gradient of smoking both within and across borders and how policy makers have been most effective in limiting smoking prevalence among the more privileged segments of society. To illustrate that point, we reference a range of literature on tobacco taxation, advertising, and public smoking in five economically advanced democracies—France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States—and four less developed nations—India, China, Brazil, and South Africa—that together comprise 40% of the world’s population

Anatomy of STEM teaching in North American universities

National and local initiatives focused on the transformation of STEM teaching in higher education have multiplied over the last decade. These initiatives often focus on measuring change in instructional practices, but it is difficult to monitor such change without a national picture of STEM educational practices, especially as characterized by common observational instruments. We characterized a snapshot of this landscape by conducting the first large scale observation-based study. We found that lecturing was prominent throughout the undergraduate STEM curriculum, even in classrooms with infrastructure designed to support active learning, indicating that further work is required to reform STEM education. Additionally, we established that STEM faculty’s instructional practices can vary substantially within a course, invalidating the commonly-used teaching evaluations based on a one-time observation

Creative suburbs? How women, design and technology renew Australian suburbs

Australian suburbs have long been subjected to negative stereotyping – as aesthetic wastelands, politically conservative, socially isolated and environmentally rapacious – as the last places you would expect creativity. A critical engagement with this discourse and an examination of older as well as some newer suburbs unsettles these characterizations. A broad definition of ‘creativity’ directs attention to what was occurring in 20th century Australian suburbs – with a creative domestic economy and modernist architecture providing strong counters to their negative portrayal. Further, as a sample of Melbourne’s contemporary master-planned estates will illustrate, at least some of this city’s houses and neighbourhoods are at the leading edge of architectural innovation, community building and environmental sustainability – creatively developing alternatives to the stereotypical suburb

Cowden syndrome: mucocutaneous lesions as precursors of internal malignancy

BACKGROUND: Cowden syndrome is an autosomal-dominant hereditary cancer syndrome with high variability and susceptibility. It is characterized by multiple hamartomas and neoplasms of ectodermal, endodermal and mesodermal origin affecting many organs and also by the increased risk of development of internal malignancies. CASE REPORT: A 62-year-old woman was referred to our Maxillofacial Unit with a hamartomatous mass of the left lateral tongue which had slowly grown and was obstructing normal speech and restricting oral intake. The patient had a known history of Cowden syndrome and underwent excision of the lesion under general anaesthetic. DISCUSSION: Orofacial mucocutaneous features are very common in multiple hamartoma and neoplasia syndrome with almost up to 90% of the patients being affected. These cutaneous and mucosal lesions, which are predominantly benign, often manifest prior to the development of the internal malignant tumours associated with the syndrome. CONCLUSIONS: The prompt identification of Cowden syndrome's plethoric signs and symptoms can lead to appropriate surveillance and multidisciplinary management. Oral manifestations are frequent, prominent and usually precede the establishment of malignant tumours of visceral organs; hence, the maxillofacial surgeon or general dentist may have a significant role in the recognition of the disease. Overall prognosis is dependent on prevention or early treatment of internal malignancies; consequently, early diagnosis together with frequent follow-up forms the cornerstone of management