Measurement of complement receptor 1 on neutrophils in bacterial and viral pneumonia

BACKGROUND: A reliable prediction of the causative agent of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is not possible based on clinical features. Our aim was to test, whether the measurement of the expression of complement receptors or Fcγ receptors on neutrophils and monocytes would be a useful preliminary test to differentiate between bacterial and viral pneumonia. METHODS: Sixty-eight patients with CAP were studied prospectively. Thirteen patients had pneumococcal pneumonia; 13 patients, influenza A pneumonia; 5 patients, atypical pneumonia, and 37 patients, aetiologically undefined pneumonia. Leukocyte receptor expression was measured within 2 days of hospital admission. RESULTS: The mean expression of complement receptor 1 (CR1) on neutrophils was significantly higher in the patients with pneumococcal pneumonia than in those with influenza A pneumonia. The mean expression of CR1 was also significantly higher in aetiologically undefined pneumonia than in influenza A pneumonia, but there was no difference between pneumococcal and undefined pneumonia. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that the expression of CR1 is higher in classical bacterial pneumonia than in viral pneumonia. Determination of the expression of CR1 may be of value as an additional rapid tool in the aetiological diagnosis, bacterial or viral infection, of CAP. These results are preliminary and more research is needed to assess the utility of this new method in the diagnostics of pneumonia

Integrating qualitative and quantitative methods in research on international entrepreneurship

Using mixed methods is an often proposed but rarely used research design. In this paper, I describe a mixed method approach to research on international entrepreneurship. Using a mixed methods design with a case study and a mail survey, I show how the two methods make it possible to reach a better understanding of the antecedents of organizational memory and how organizational memory affects perceived costs of further international expansion of Swedish small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). I also propose research designs for studying both novel phenomena and for developing established theory through a combination of case studies and structural equation modeling. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2006Mixed methods, Case studies, Structural equation modeling, International expansion, Organizational memory, International experience,

Uma etnologia dos "índios misturados"? Situação colonial, territorialização e fluxos culturais

Até recentemente os estudos sobre os povos e culturas indígenas do Nordeste brasileiro não constituíram um objeto mais sistemático de investigações, parecendo apenas propiciar uma etnologia secundária e menor. Na visão do autor, isso decorreu da dificuldade de aplicação àquelas culturas dos pressupostos da antropologia americanista, a qual opera com modelos societários que enfatizam a descontinuidade cultural, bem como a objetividade e a exterioridade do observado em face do pesquisador e de sua sociedade. Dialogando com diferentes perspectivas teóricas, o autor delineia ou reelabora algumas noções como, respectivamente, as de "territorialização", "situação colonial", "diáspora" e "viagem da volta" que lhe permitem realizar uma análise compreensiva do processo histórico que veio a transformar tais populações nos grupos étnicos atuais. Sugere, ao final, que os estudos que vêm sendo realizados no Brasil e em diferentes partes do mundo sobre "índios misturados" (isto é, relações interétnicas em áreas de colonização muito antiga) podem contribuir para a construção de uma antropologia mais articulada com a história.<br>Until quite recently, indigenous peoples in the Brazilian Northeast were not the object of systematic investigation, rather appearing to inspire a kind of secondary, lesser ethnology. According to the author, this oversight resulted from a difficulty in applying the premises of Americanist anthropology to such cultures, since the latter operates with societal models emphasizing both cultural discontinuity and the objectivity and externality of the observed vis-à-vis the researcher and his/her society. By establishing a dialogue with different theoretical perspectives, the author delineates or reworks several notions, such as "territorialization", "colonial situation", "diaspora", and "return journey", allowing him to produce a comprehensive analysis of the historical process which turned such populations into the current ethnic groups. Finally, he suggests that studies on "mixed Indians" (i.e., relations between ethnic groups in areas of very old colonization) in Brazil and elsewhere can help construct an anthropology that is better articulated with history