Thinking about schizophrenia, thinking about schizophrenic thinking, and schizophrenic thinking

The thesis treats of schizophrenia as a social institution; consideration is given to the way in which schizophrenics speak and think, and to the ideas and practices that have developed around them. Such ideas and practices - both scientific and non-scientific - it is argued, have been generated by the requirements of living in Western societies. The inquiry is in three parts. First, a detailed study of the way in which a single chronic schizophrenic patient engages with the world. Second, a consideration of prevailing approaches to the study of language and thought in schizophrenia. Singled out for special emphasis is the personal construct theory approach to the study of thought disorder; close attention is given to an examination of repertory grids taken from a number of chronic schizophrenic patients. The account of schizophrenic thought that is given by personal construct theory is shown to be inadequate in its own terms, and more generally as servicing human interests that are falsifying both of schizophrenics and of non- schizophrenics. The final section builds on the earlier discussion, and introduces material from other sources, to suggest that, typically, the ideas and practices that have been developed around schizophrenics in the name of a particular version of science have had as their function the restoration of forms of order, relevance and relation to which, in our society, we strongly adhere and of which the schizophrenic is disruptive. Some suggestions are made as to the requirements for an alternative form of response and relation to the tribulations of schizophrenics, and for a formal characterisation of the way in which the schizophrenic engages with the world

Contra-thermodynamic hydrogen atom abstraction in the selective C−H functionalization of trialkylamine N‑CH3 groups

We report a simple one-pot protocol that affords functionalization of N-CH3 groups in N-methyl-N,N-dialkylamines with high selectivity over N-CH2R or N-CHR2 groups. The radical cation DABCO+•, prepared in situ by oxidation of DABCO with a triarylaminium salt, effects highly selective and contra-thermodynamic C−H abstraction from N-CH3 groups. The intermediates that result react in situ with organometallic nucleophiles in a single pot, affording novel and highly selective homologation of N-CH3 groups. Chemoselectivity, scalability, and recyclability of reagents are demonstrated, and a mechanistic proposal is corroborated by computational and experimental results. The utility of the transformation is demonstrated in the late-stage site-selective functionalization of natural products and pharmaceuticals, allowing rapid derivatization for investigation of structure−activity relationships

Globalization and Latino labor: Labor advocates' accounts of meatpacking in rural Missouri

Includes bibliographical references.The Latinos in Missouri occasional paper series grew out of the writing experiences of graduate students in Rural Sociology 406: The Sociology of Globalization.This paper presents labor advocates' accounts of the common problems faced by Latino/a workers employed in the Missouri meatpacking industry and the potential strategies they identify for addressing them. Information is drawn from participatory observation, document analysis and qualitative interviews. Placed in the context of globalization of the agrifood system and the increasingly problematic position of wage laborers, these accounts are discussed using a theoretical framework based on Karl Polanyi's concept of fictitious commodities. In this study we investigate what labor advocates have to say about the situation faced by Latino workers employed in Missouri meatpacking plants. In the next section, we present an overview of the global agri-food system with specific attention to the meatpacking industry. This is followed by a discussion of Karl Polanyi's (1944) concept of "fictitious commodities," which we use here as a theoretical framework to provide insight into the situation faced by Latino workers in meatpacking. We then examine, in two sections, the problems expressed by labor advocates in Missouri and the proposals for changes they suggest. To conclude, we return to Polanyi's fictitious commodity framework as a way of understanding these issues more fully. Specifically, this theoretical framework supports the argument we make that Latino labor must be able to organize and unionize to correct unfair labor practices that currently exist in the state and the industry as a whole.Occasional Paper Series Developed with Support from the Cambio Center

Mitigating Cotton Revenue Risk Through Irrigation, Insurance, and Hedging

This study focuses on managing cotton production and marketing risks using combinations of irrigation levels, put options (as price insurance), and crop insurance. Stochastic cotton yields and prices are used to simulate a whole-farm financial statement for a 1,000 acre furrow irrigated cotton farm in the Texas Lower Rio Grande Valley under 16 combinations of risk management strategies. Analyses for risk-averse decision makers indicate that multiple irrigations are preferred. The benefits to purchasing put options increase with yields, as they are more beneficial when higher yields are expected from applying more irrigation applications. Crop insurance is strongly preferred at lower irrigation levels.cotton, crop insurance, irrigation, options, puts, risk, simulation, stochastic efficiency with respect to a function, Farm Management, Risk and Uncertainty, D81, Q12, Q15,

Organophotocatalytic Mechanisms: Simplicity or Naïvety? Diverting Reactive Pathways by Modifications of Catalyst Structure, Redox States and Substrate Preassemblies

Photocatalysis is a powerful tool to assemble diverse chemical scaffolds, yet a bottleneck on its further development is the understanding of the multitude of possible pathways when practitioners rely only on oversimplified thermodynamic and optical factors. Recently, there is a growing number of studies in the field that exploit, inter alia, kinetic parameters and organophotocatalysts that are synthetically more programmable in terms of their redox states and opportunities for aggregation with a target substrate. Non-covalent interactions play a key role that enables access to a new generation of reactivities such as those of open-shell organophotocatalysts. In this review, we discuss how targeted structural and redox modifications influence the organophotocatalytic mechanisms together with their underlying principles. We also highlight the benefits of strategies such as preassembly and static quenching that overcome common reactivity issues (e. g., diffusion rate limits and energetic limits)

KOtBu : a privileged reagent for electron transfer reactions?

Many recent studies have used KOtBu in organic reactions that involve single electron transfer; in the literature, the electron transfer is proposed to occur either directly from the metal alkoxide or indirectly, following reaction of the alkoxide with a solvent or additive. These reaction classes include coupling reactions of halobenzenes and arenes, reductive cleavages of dithianes and SRN1 reactions. Direct electron transfer would imply that alkali metal alkoxides are willing partners in these electron transfer reactions, but the literature reports provide little or no experimental evidence for this. This paper examines each of these classes of reaction in turn, and contests the roles proposed for KOtBu; instead, it provides new mechanistic information that in each case supports the in situ formation of organic electron donors. We go on to show that direct electron transfer from KOtBu can however occur in appropriate cases, where the electron acceptor has a reduction potential near the oxidation potential of KOtBu, and the example that we use is CBr4. In this case, computational results support electrochemical data in backing a direct electron transfer reaction

Contacts with primary and secondary healthcare prior to suicide: case–control whole-population-based study using person-level linked routine data in Wales, UK, 2000–2017

Background Longitudinal studies of patterns of healthcare contacts in those who die by suicide to identify those at risk are scarce. Aims To examine type and timing of healthcare contacts in those who die by suicide. Method A population-based electronic case–control study of all who died by suicide in Wales, 2001–2017, linking individuals’ electronic healthcare records from general practices, emergency departments and hospitals. We used conditional logistic regression to calculate odds ratios, adjusted for deprivation. We performed a retrospective continuous longitudinal analysis comparing cases’ and controls’ contacts with health services. Results We matched 5130 cases with 25 650 controls (5 per case). A representative cohort of 1721 cases (8605 controls) were eligible for the fully linked analysis. In the week before their death, 31.4% of cases and 15.6% of controls contacted health services. The last point of contact was most commonly associated with mental health and most often occurred in general practices. In the month before their death, 16.6 and 13.0% of cases had an emergency department contact and a hospital admission respectively, compared with 5.5 and 4.2% of controls. At any week in the year before their death, cases were more likely to contact healthcare services than controls. Self-harm, mental health and substance misuse contacts were strongly linked with suicide risk, more so when they occurred in emergency departments or as emergency admissions. Conclusions Help-seeking occurs in those at risk of suicide and escalates in the weeks before their death. There is an opportunity to identify and intervene through these contacts

Dual roles for potassium hydride in haloarene reduction : CSNAr and SET reduction via organic electron donors formed in benzene

Potassium hydride behaves uniquely and differently than sodium hydride towards aryl halides. Its reactions with a range of haloarenes, including designed 2,6-dialkylhaloarenes, were studied in THF and in benzene. In THF, evidence supports concerted nucleophilic aromatic substitution, CSNAr, and the mechanism originally proposed by Pierre et al. is now validated through DFT studies. In benzene, besides this pathway, strong evidence for single electron transfer chemistry is reported. Experimental observations and DFT studies lead us to propose organic super electron donor generation to initiate BHAS (base-promoted homolytic aromatic substitution) cycles. Organic donor formation originates from deprotonation of benzene by KH; attack on benzene by the resulting phenylpotassium generates phenylcyclohexadienylpotassium that can undergo (i) deprotonation to form an organic super electron donor or (ii) hydride loss to afford biphenyl. Until now, BHAS reactions have been triggered by reaction of a base, MOtBu (M = K, Na), with many different types of organic additive, all containing heteroatoms (N or O or S) that enhance their acidity and place them within range of MOtBu as a base. This paper shows that with the stronger base, KH, even a hydrocarbon (benzene) can be converted into an electron-donating initiator

Nutrition and health in Arab adolescents (NaHAR) : study protocol for the determination of ethnic-specific body fat and anthropometric cut-offs to identify metabolic syndrome

The prevalence of adolescent obesity in the Middle-East is considered among the highest in the world. Obesity in adolescents is associated with several cardiometabolic abnormalities, the constellation of which is referred to as the metabolic syndrome (MetS). This multi-country cross-sectional study aims to determine the optimal cut-off values for body fat (BF); body mass index (BMI) z-score; waist circumference (WC) percentile, and mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) for the prediction of MetS among adolescents from Kingdom of Saudi-Arabia (KSA), Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. A secondary objective is to examine the validity of Bioelectrical Impendence Vector Analysis (BIVA) in estimating BF against the deuterium dilution technique (DDL). In each country, a sample of 210 adolescents will be recruited. Data collection will include demographics, socioeconomic, lifestyle and dietary data using a multi-component questionnaire; anthropometric measurements will be obtained and body composition will be assessed using the DDL and BIVA; blood pressure and biochemical assessment will be performed for the identification of the MetS. Receiver operating characteristic analyses will be undertaken to determine optimal cut-off values of BMI, WC, MUAC and BF in identifying those with MetS. Odds ratios (OR) and their respective 95% confidence interval (CI) for the association of the anthropometric measurements with MetS will be computed based on multiple logistic regression analysis models. The Bland and Altman approach will be adopted to compare BIVA against the reference DDL method for the determination of body composition parameters. This study responds to the need for ethnic-specific anthropometric cut-offs for the identification of excess adiposity and associated cardiometabolic risks in the adolescent population. The adoption of the generated cut-offs may assist policy makers, public health professionals and clinical practitioners in providing ethnic-specific preventive and curative strategies tailored to adolescents in the region