Goffman Turned to Me and Said With Some Surprise, “You like doing fieldwork?”

Dr. Ruth Horowitz, Professor of Sociology at the New York University, wrote this memoir at the invitation of Dmitri Shalin and gave her approval for posting the present version in the Erving Goffman Archives

Inégalités, démocraties et travail de terrain : l’école de Chicago d’hier et d’aujourd’hui

Les plus importants programmes de recherche des interactionnistes et des pragmatistes de l’École de Chicago des années 1920-1930 se préoccupaient des questions d’inégalité urbaine, de pouvoir et de démocratie. Certaines études, telles que le Jackroller de Shaw (1930), mettaient l’accent sur les phénomènes d’immigration récente, de pauvreté, de conflits culturels et de désorganisation collective. Un livre comme The Gold Coast and the Slum de Zorbaugh (1929) analysait finement les relations ent..

America's Complex Relationship With Guns: An In-depth Look at the Atttitudes and Experiences of U.S. Adults

A new Pew Research Center survey attempts to better understand the complex relationship Americans have with guns and how that relationship intersects with their policy views.The survey finds that Americans have broad exposure to guns, whether they personally own one or not. At least two-thirds have lived in a household with a gun at some point in their lives. And roughly seven-in-ten – including 55% of those who have never personally owned a gun – say they have fired a gun at some point. Today, three-in-ten U.S. adults say they own a gun, and an additional 36% say that while they don't own one now, they might be open to owning a gun in the future. A third of adults say they don't currently own a gun and can't see themselves ever doing so.To be sure, experiences with guns aren't always positive: 44% of U.S. adults say they personally know someone who has been shot, either accidentally or intentionally, and about a quarter (23%) say they or someone in their family have been threatened or intimidated by someone using a gun. Half see gun violence as a very big problem in the U.S. today, although gun owners and non-owners offer divergent views on this.Gun owners and non-owners are also deeply divided on several gun policy proposals, but there is agreement on some restrictions, such as preventing those with mental illnesses and those on federal watch lists from buying guns. Among gun owners, there is a diversity of views on gun policy, driven in large part by party affiliation.The nationally representative survey of 3,930 U.S. adults, including 1,269 gun owners, was conducted March 13 to 27 and April 4 to 18, 2017, using the Pew Research Center's American Trends Panel

The Instability of Charged Black Strings and p-Branes

We investigate the evolution of small perturbations around charged black strings and branes which are solutions of low energy string theory. We give the details of the analysis for the uncharged case which was summarized in a previous paper. We extend the analysis to the small charge case and give also an analysis for the generic case, following the behavior of unstable modes as the charge is modified. We study specifically a magnetically charged black 6-brane, but show how the instability is generic, and that charge does not in general stabilise black strings and p-branes.Comment: 41 pages plain TeX, 6 figures appended at end of file, DAMTP/R-94/7,LA-UR-93-447

Experiences of reduction and discontinuation of antipsychotics: a qualitative investigation within the RADAR trial

BACKGROUND: Antipsychotics are a core treatment for psychosis, but the evidence for gradual dose reductions guided by clinicians is under-developed. The RADAR randomised controlled trial (RCT) compared antipsychotic reduction and possible discontinuation with maintenance treatment for people with recurrent psychotic disorders. The current study explored participants’ experiences of antipsychotic reduction or discontinuation within this trial. METHODS: This qualitative study was embedded within the RADAR RCT (April 2017–March 2022) that recruited 253 participants from specialist community mental health services in 19 public healthcare localities in England. Participants were adults with recurrent non affective psychosis who were taking antipsychotic medication. Semi-structured interviews, lasting 30–90 min, were conducted after the trial final 24-month follow-up with 26 people who reduced and/or discontinued antipsychotics within the trial, sampled purposively for diversity in sociodemographic characteristics, trial variables, and pre-trial medication and clinical factors. Data were analysed using thematic analysis and findings are reported qualitatively. FINDINGS: Most participants reported reduced adverse effects of antipsychotics with dose reductions, primarily in mental clouding, emotional blunting and sedation, and some positive impacts on social functioning and sense of self. Over half experienced deteriorations in mental health, including psychotic symptoms and intolerable levels of emotional intensity. Nine had a psychotic relapse. The trial context in which medication reduction was explicitly part of clinical care provided various learning opportunities. Some participants were highly engaged with reduction processes, and despite difficulties including relapses, developed novel perspectives on medication, dose optimisation, and how to manage their mental health. Others were more ambivalent about reduction or experienced less overall impact. INTERPRETATION: Experiences of antipsychotic reductions over two years were dynamic and diverse, shaped by variations in dose reduction profiles, reduction effects, personal motivation and engagement levels, and relationships with prescribers. There are relapse risks and challenges, but some people experience medication reduction done with clinical guidance as empowering. Clinicians can use findings to inform and work flexibly with service users to establish optimal antipsychotic doses. FUNDING: National Institute for Health Research

Relationship between reproductive success and male plasma vitellogenin concentrations in cunner, Tautogolabrus adspersus

The gene for vitellogenin, an egg yolk protein precursor, is usually silent in male fish but can be induced by estrogen exposure. For this reason, vitellogenin production in male fish has become a widely used indicator of exposure to exogenous estrogens or estrogen mimics in the aquatic environment. The utility of this indicator to predict impacts on fish reproductive success is unclear because information on the relationship between male plasma vitellogenin and reproductive end points in male and female fish is limited. In the research reported in this article, we investigated whether the presence of male plasma vitellogenin is a reliable indicator of decreased reproductive success in mature fish. Adult and sexually mature male and female cunner (Tautogolabrus adspersus) were exposed to 17β-estradiol, ethynylestradiol, or estrone, three steroidal estrogens that elicit the vitellogenic response. Data were gathered and pooled on egg production, egg viability, egg fertility, sperm motility, and male plasma vitellogenin concentrations. All males, including two with plasma vitellogenin levels exceeding 300 mg/mL, produced motile sperm. Neither percent fertile eggs nor percent viable eggs produced by reproductively active fish demonstrated a significant correlation with male plasma vitellogenin concentrations. Male gonadosomatic index and average daily egg production by females showed significant, but weak, negative correlation with male plasma vitellogenin concentrations. Results suggest that male plasma vitellogenin expression is not a reliable indicator of male reproductive dysfunction in adult cunner exposed to estrogens for 2-8 weeks during their reproductive season, at least in relation to capacity to produce motile sperm or fertilize eggs. Male plasma vitellogenin expression may serve as an indicator of reduced female reproductive function caused by estrogen exposure

The future of evolutionary medicine: sparking innovation in biomedicine and public health

Evolutionary medicine - i.e. the application of insights from evolution and ecology to biomedicine - has tremendous untapped potential to spark transformational innovation in biomedical research, clinical care and public health. Fundamentally, a systematic mapping across the full diversity of life is required to identify animal model systems for disease vulnerability, resistance, and counter-resistance that could lead to novel clinical treatments. Evolutionary dynamics should guide novel therapeutic approaches that target the development of treatment resistance in cancers (e.g., via adaptive or extinction therapy) and antimicrobial resistance (e.g., via innovations in chemistry, antimicrobial usage, and phage therapy). With respect to public health, the insight that many modern human pathologies (e.g., obesity) result from mismatches between the ecologies in which we evolved and our modern environments has important implications for disease prevention. Life-history evolution can also shed important light on patterns of disease burden, for example in reproductive health. Experience during the COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has underlined the critical role of evolutionary dynamics (e.g., with respect to virulence and transmissibility) in predicting and managing this and future pandemics, and in using evolutionary principles to understand and address aspects of human behavior that impede biomedical innovation and public health (e.g., unhealthy behaviors and vaccine hesitancy). In conclusion, greater interdisciplinary collaboration is vital to systematically leverage the insight-generating power of evolutionary medicine to better understand, prevent, and treat existing and emerging threats to human, animal, and planetary health

Holographic Superconductivity with Gauss-Bonnet gravity

I review recent work on holographic superconductivity with Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet gravity, and show how the critical temperature of the superconductor depends on both gravitational backreaction and the Gauss-Bonnet parameter, using both analytic and numerical arguments. I also review computations of the conductivity, finding the energy gap, and demonstrating that there is no universal gap ratio, $\omega_g/T_c$, for these superconductors.Comment: Contribution to the proceedings of the conference: Recent Developments in Gravity (NEB-14) 06/2010, Ioannina, Greece. 12 pages latex, 5 figure

Macroscopic open strings and gravitational confinement

We consider classical solutions for strings ending on magnetically charged black holes in four-dimensional Kaluza-Klein theory. We examine the classical superstring and the global vortex, which can be viewed as a nonsingular model for the superstring. We show how both of these can end on a Kaluza-Klein monopole in the absence of self-gravity. Including gravitational back-reaction gives rise to a confinement mechanism of the magnetic flux of the black hole along the direction of the string. We discuss the relation of this work to localized solutions in ten dimensional supergravity.Comment: 14 pages latex (JHEP style), 2 figure

Antipsychotic dose reduction and discontinuation versus maintenance treatment in people with schizophrenia and other recurrent psychotic disorders in England (the RADAR trial): an open, parallel-group, randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Maintenance antipsychotic medication is recommended for people with schizophrenia or recurrent psychosis, but the adverse effects are burdensome, and evidence on long-term outcomes is sparse. We aimed to assess the benefits and harms of a gradual process of antipsychotic reduction compared with maintenance treatment. Our hypothesis was that antipsychotic reduction would improve social functioning with a short-term increase in relapse. METHODS: RADAR was an open, parallel-group, randomised trial done in 19 National Health Service Trusts in England. Participants were aged 18 years and older, had a diagnosis of recurrent, non-affective psychotic disorder, and were prescribed an antipsychotic. Exclusion criteria included people who had a mental health crisis or hospital admission in the past month, were considered to pose a serious risk to themselves or others by a treating clinician, or were mandated to take antipsychotic medication under the Mental Health Act. Through an independent, internet-based system, participants were randomly assigned (1:1) to gradual, flexible antipsychotic reduction, overseen by treating clinicians, or to maintenance. Participants and clinicians were aware of treatment allocations, but assessors were masked to them. Follow-up was for 2 years. Social functioning, assessed by the Social Functioning Scale, was the primary outcome. The principal secondary outcome was severe relapse, defined as requiring admission to hospital. Analysis was done blind to group identity using intention-to-treat data. The trial is completed and has been registered with ISRCTN registry (ISRCTN90298520) and with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03559426). FINDINGS: 4157 people were screened, of whom 253 were randomly allocated, including 168 (66%) men, 82 (32%) women, and 3 (1%) transgender people, with a mean age of 46 years (SD 12, range 22-79). 171 (67%) participants were White, 52 (21%) were Black, 16 (6%) were Asian, and 12 (5%) were of other ethnicity. The median dose reduction at any point during the trial was 67% in the reduction group and zero in the maintenance group; at 24 months it was 33% versus zero. At the 24-month follow-up, we assessed 90 of 126 people assigned to the antipsychotic dose reduction group and 94 of 127 assigned to the maintenance group, finding no difference in the Social Functioning Scale (β 0·19, 95% CI -1·94 to 2·33; p=0·86). There were 93 serious adverse events in the reduction group affecting 49 individuals, mainly comprising admission for a mental health relapse, and 64 in the maintenance group, relating to 29 individuals. INTERPRETATION: At 2-year follow-up, a gradual, supported process of antipsychotic dose reduction had no effect on social functioning. Our data can help to inform decisions about the use of long-term antipsychotic medication. FUNDING: National Institute for Health Research