Dressing Up: Religion and Ethnicity in Israeli National Dolls

This article considers Israel’s national image both at home and abroad through the framework of Israeli costume dolls, looking specifically at the way that gender played a role in Israel’s national image as it travelled from domestic production to international reception. Initially, predominantly female doll makers produced three main types of Israeli dolls, but over time the religious Eastern European male doll triumphed in the pantheon of national types. Produced for retail sale to non-Hebrew speaking tourists by immigrant woman, the Eastern European religious male doll came to represent Israel abroad while the market pushed representations of the Middle Eastern Jewish woman and the native sabra child to the side-lines. This article examines the shift from the multi-ethnic collection of dolls as representative of the nation’s idea of itself to the privileging of the male Eastern European doll as representative of the normative image of Israel abroad

Palliative care and Parkinson's disease : meeting summary and recommendations for clinical research

Introduction: Palliative care is an approach to caring for patients and families affected by serious illnesses that focuses on the relief of suffering through the management of medical symptoms, psychosocial issues, advance care planning and spiritual wellbeing. Over the past decade there has been an emerging clinical and research interest in the application of palliative care approaches to Parkinson’s disease (PD) and outpatient palliative care services are now offered by several movement disorders centers. Methods: An International Working Group Meeting on PD and Palliative Care supported by the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation was held in October 2015 to review the current state of the evidence and to make recommendations for clinical research and practice. Results: Topics included: 1) Defining palliative care for PD; 2) Lessons from palliative care for heart failure and other chronic illnesses; 3) Patient and caregiver Needs; 4) Needs assessment tools; 5) Intervention strategies; 6) Predicting prognosis and hospice referrals; 7) Choice of appropriate outcome measures; 8) Implementation, dissemination and education research; and 9) Need for research collaborations. We provide an overview of these discussions, summarize current evidence and practices, highlight gaps in our knowledge and make recommendations for future research. Conclusions: Palliative Care for PD is a rapidly growing area which holds great promise for improving outcomes for PD patients and their caregivers. While clinical research in this area can build from lessons learned in other diseases, there is a need for observational, methodological and interventional research to address the unique needs of PD patients and caregivers

Efficacy of morning-only compared with split-dose polyethylene glycol electrolyte solution for afternoon colonoscopy: a randomized controlled single-blind study.

OBJECTIVES: Administering a purgative close to the time of colonoscopy is optimal for cleansing. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy and tolerability of morning-only (AM-only) polyethylene glycol electrolyte solution (PEG-ELS) to split-dose (PM/AM) PEG-ELS for afternoon colonoscopy. METHODS: This was a single-center, prospective, randomized, investigator-blinded, non-inferiority study comparing AM-only to PM/AM PEG-ELS for afternoon outpatient colonoscopy. The primary end point was whole colon prep adequacy. Tolerance and polyp detection were secondary outcomes. RESULTS: Overall, 125 patients were randomized and 9 withdrew without taking any prep. Of 116 analyzed, 62 received AM-only prep and 54 received PM/AM prep. The whole colon prep was adequate in 92% in the AM-only group vs. 94% in the PM/AM group (95% lower confidence limit, LCL, for the difference=-11.3%, non-inferiority P=0.013), whereas the right colon prep was adequate in 93 and 92%, respectively (95% LCL=-7.8%, non-inferiority P=0.003). Polyp detection was greater, and not inferior, in the AM-only group (mean=1.57 vs. 0.94 polyps/patient, non-inferiority P=0.007). The overall incidence of adverse events was not significantly different between the two groups (P=0.273), but the AM-only group had lower incidence of abdominal pain (P=0.024). The AM-only group also had better sleep quality (P=0.007) and less interference with the previous workday (P=0.019). CONCLUSIONS: AM-only and PM/AM PEG-ELS are clinically equivalent with respect to cleansing efficacy and polyp detection. AM-only prep was associated with a lower incidence of abdominal pain, superior sleep quality, and less interference with workday before colonoscopy

Cervical dystonia incidence and diagnostic delay in a multiethnic population.

BackgroundCurrent cervical dystonia (CD) incidence estimates are based on small numbers in relatively ethnically homogenous populations. The frequency and consequences of delayed CD diagnosis is poorly characterized.ObjectivesTo determine CD incidence and characterize CD diagnostic delay within a large, multiethnic integrated health maintenance organization.MethodsWe identified incident CD cases using electronic medical records and multistage screening of more than 3 million Kaiser Permanente Northern California members from January 1, 2003, to December 31, 2007. A final diagnosis was made by movement disorders specialist consensus. Diagnostic delay was measured by questionnaire and health utilization data. Incidence rates were estimated assuming a Poisson distribution of cases and directly standardized to the 2000 U.S. census. Multivariate logistic regression models were employed to assess diagnoses and behaviors preceding CD compared with matched controls, adjusting for age, sex, and membership duration.ResultsCD incidence was 1.18/100,000 person-years (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.35-2.0; women, 1.81; men, 0.52) based on 200 cases over 15.4 million person-years. Incidence increased with age. Half of the CD patients interviewed reported diagnostic delay. Diagnoses more common in CD patients before the index date included essential tremor (odds ratio [OR] 68.1; 95% CI, 28.2-164.5), cervical disc disease (OR 3.83; 95% CI, 2.8-5.2), neck sprain/strain (OR 2.77; 95% CI, 1.99-3.62), anxiety (OR 2.24; 95% CI, 1.63-3.11) and depression (OR 1.94; 95% CI, 1.4-2.68).ConclusionsCD incidence is greater in women and increases with age. Diagnostic delay is common and associated with adverse effects. © 2019 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society

The Brumberg Sisters

Born exactly a year apart, sisters Valentina and Zinaida Brumberg worked together their entire careers in the Soviet animation industry, becoming known as the “grandmothers of Russian animation” for their work in the fairytale genre (Katz 2016, 248n1). The Brumberg sisters are notable in Russian animation because they were among the first generation of animators in the country during the Revolutionary years, a unique environment that allowed women—even Jewish women—to make their way to the top of the industry. Perhaps their presence is more notable in the international arena as animation was dominated by men in the early decades and Valentina and Zinaida were among the first women in world animation, alongside anatomized pockets of female artists, such as Lotte Reiniger in Germany, Helena Smith Dayton in America, and Hermína Týrlová in Czechoslovakia. The Brumberg sisters were also at the forefront of many technical and aesthetic innovations, such as the projection of animated segments on theatrical stages, the use of paper cut-outs, the integration of folk styles for the stylization of indigenous tales, and the introduction of sound to Soviet animation

Creative and Stylistic Devices Employed by Children During a Storybook Narrative Task: A Cross-Cultural Study

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of culture on the creative and stylistic features children employ when producing narratives based on wordless picture books. Method: Participants included 60 first- and second-grade African American, Latino American, and Caucasian children. A subset of narratives based on wordless picture books collected as part of a larger study was coded and analyzed for the following creative and stylistic conventions: organizational style (topic centered, linear, cyclical), dialogue (direct, indirect), reference to character relationships (nature, naming, conduct), embellishment (fantasy, suspense, conflict), and paralinguistic devices (expressive sounds, exclamatory utterances). Results: Many similarities and differences between ethnic groups were found. No significant differences were found between ethnic groups in organizational style or use of paralinguistic devices. African American children included more fantasy in their stories, Latino children named their characters more often, and Caucasian children made more references to the nature of character relationships. Conclusion: Even within the context of a highly structured narrative task based on wordless picture books, culture influences children’s production of narratives. Enhanced understanding of narrative structure, creativity, and style is necessary to provide ecologically valid narrative assessment and intervention for children from diverse cultural backgrounds

Relationship Between Pain and Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms in Palliative Care

http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-pain-and-symptom-management/ 0885-3924 Context. Previous research suggests that patients receiving palliative care may simultaneously experience poorly managed pain and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)-related symptoms as a result of their deteriorating health. Objectives. To: 1) examine predictors of PTSD-related symptoms in patients requiring palliative care; 2) assess whether anxiety, depression, pain catastrophizing, and pain anxiety mediate the relationship between pain interference and PTSD-related symptoms; and 3) evaluate the impact of these variables on pain interference and PTSD-related symptoms. Methods. One hundred patients receiving palliative care at one of two palliative care sites in London, ON, Canada, completed the PTSD ChecklistdCivilian version (PCL-C), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS), the Brief Pain Inventory-Short Form (BPI-SF), and the Pain Anxiety Symptoms Scale-20 (PASS-20). Hierarchical multiple regressions were used to examine HADS-Anxiety, HADS-Depression, PCS and PASS-20 scores as predictors of PCL-C scores; and mediation analyses were used to test the effect of HADS-Anxiety, HADS-Depression, PCS, and PASS-20 on the relationship between BPI-SF interference and PCL-C. Mediators that significantly affected this relationship in the individual mediator models were entered into a multiple mediator model. Results. Only pain anxiety and pain catastrophizing emerged as significant mediators of the relationship between pain interference and PTSD-related symptoms. After being entered in a multiple mediator model, pain anxiety emerged as the strongest mediator. Conclusion. The findings of the present study reveal that pain and PTSD-related symptoms are important concerns in palliative care, and that pain must be addressed to best meet the needs of this population.Dr. Roth was supported by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Doctoral Research Award. Dr. Katz was supported by a CIHR Canada Research Chair in Health Psychology. This article is based in part on Dr. Roth’s doctoral dissertation. The authors declare no conflicts of interest

"We are not really marketing mental health":Mental health advocacy in Zimbabwe

Introduction: Few people with mental disorders in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) receive treatment, in part because mental disorders are highly stigmatized and do not enjoy priority and resources commensurate with their burden on society. Advocacy has been proposed as a means of building political will and community support for mental health and reducing stigma, but few studies have explored the practice and promise of advocacy in LMICs. Methods: We conducted 30 semi-structured interviews with leaders in health and mental health in Zimbabwe to explore key stakeholder perceptions on the challenges and opportunities of the country's mental health system. We coded the transcripts using the constant comparative method, informed by principles of grounded theory. Few interview questions directly concerned advocacy, yet in our analysis, advocacy emerged as a prominent, cross-cutting theme across participants and interview questions. Results: Two thirds of the respondents discussed advocacy, often in depth, returning to the concept throughout the interview and emphasizing their belief in advocacy's importance. Participants described six distinct components of advocacy: the advocates, to whom they advocate ("targets"), what they advocate for ("asks"), how advocates reach their targets ("access"), how they make their asks ("arguments"), and the results of their advocacy ("outcomes"). Discussion: Despite their perception that mental health is widely misunderstood and under-appreciated in Zimbabwe, respondents expressed optimism that strategically speaking out can reduce stigma and increase access to care. Key issues included navigating hierarchies, empowering service users to advocate, and integrating mental health with other health initiatives. Understanding stakeholder perceptions sets the stage for targeted development of mental health advocacy in Zimbabwe and other LMICs.</p

Field-induced antiferromagnetic correlations in a nanopatterned van der waals ferromagnet: a potential artificial spin ice

Nano-patterned magnetic materials have opened new venues for the investigation of strongly correlated phenomena including artificial spin-ice systems, geometric frustration, and magnetic monopoles, for technologically important applications such as reconfigurable ferromagnetism. With the advent of atomically thin 2D van der Waals (vdW) magnets, a pertinent question is whether such compounds could make their way into this realm where interactions can be tailored so that unconventional states of matter can be assessed. Here, it is shown that square islands of CrGeTe3 vdW ferromagnets distributed in a grid manifest antiferromagnetic correlations, essential to enable frustration resulting in an artificial spin-ice. By using a combination of SQUID-on-tip microscopy, focused ion beam lithography, and atomistic spin dynamic simulations, it is shown that a square array of CGT island as small as 150 × 150 × 60 nm3 have tunable dipole–dipole interactions, which can be precisely controlled by their lateral spacing. There is a crossover between non-interacting islands and significant inter-island anticorrelation depending on how they are spatially distributed allowing the creation of complex magnetic patterns not observable at the isolated flakes. These findings suggest that the cross-talk between the nano-patterned magnets can be explored in the generation of even more complex spin configurations where exotic interactions may be manipulated in an unprecedented wayThis work was supported by the European Research Council (ERC) Foundation grant No. 802952 and the Israel Science Foundation (ISF) Grant Nos. 645/23, 586/22, 862/19, 576/21. The international collaboration on this work was fostered by the EU-COST Action CA21144. H. Steinberg acknowledges funding provided by the DFG Priority program grant 443404566 and Israel Science Foundation (ISF) grant 861/19. O. Millo is grateful for support from the Academia Sinica \u2013 Hebrew University Research Program, the ISF grant no. 576/21, and the Harry de Jur Chair in Applied Science. S. Gazit acknowledges support from the ISF grant no. 586/22.\u00A0H. Suderow and E. Herrera acknowledge support from the Spanish State Research Agency (PID2023-150148OB-I00, CEX2023-001316-M, TED2021-130546B-I00) and the Comunidad de Madrid through the NANOMAGCOST-CM program (Program No.S2018/NMT-4321)