HOW TO HELP GROUPS DEVELOP AN UNDERSTANDING OF CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES

Institutional and Behavioral Economics,

Changing patterns of rent: state, private sector and donors in Jordan, 1989-2000

Two major changes since 1989 have affected the political economy of Jordan, namely: 1) The transformation from an economy primarily based on official economic assistance (an induced rentier state economy) to one primarily based on remittance income (a private sector rentier economy); and 2) The increased level of involvement of the donor community (led by the IMF and the World Bank) which has as its stated aim the desire to increase the involvement of the private sector in the economy at the expense of the state. The thesis sets out to answer the question: what does rentier theory tell us about the effects of these changes on the nature of the state and the private sector and the relationship between the two in Jordan? The study contends that an induced rentier state economy creates a different political economy (induced state rentierism) from a private sector rentier economy (private sector rentierism), both of which are different from a 'normal' market economy. Evidence for these differences can be found in the natures of the economy, the state, the private sector and the relationship between the latter two. The research question is answered with the help of four innovative models: 1) A measure of the level of the induced rentier state economy; 2) A measure of the level of the private sector rentier economy; 3) A five-continua state-market model; and 4) The characteristics of induced state rentierism. The concepts of private sector rentier economy and private sector rentierism are also introduced. The high levels of official economic assistance had by 1989 created a political economy which exhibited the characteristics of induced state rentierism: the existence of a rentier elite; state ownership and/or control of productive assets; state involvement in the market; the use of the economy by the state for political purposes; and the co- optation of the private sector institutions by the state. The state and the rentier elite's raison d’être had become one of maintaining control of and access to the flows of rent. Despite the two aforementioned transformations, the study concludes that: 1) Both the state and the rentier elite have been able to continue to rent-seek—albeit in a reduced and different format; 2) The economy has moved slightly towards the market- end of the state-market continuum, as the role of state has altered from one of direct control to one using indirect methods, such as regulation; and 3) The features of induced state rentierism have been reduced slightly, while the features of both private sector rentierism and the market economy have been strengthened slightly

HOW TO DO EDUCATIONAL WORK ON CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES: A GROUP CONSULTATION

Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

MUN Brass Quintet, Kenneth Knowles, director (April 5, 1995) and MUN Jazz Ensemble, Jim Duff, director

MUN Brass Quintet, Kenneth Knowles, director (April 5, 1995) and MUN Jazz Ensemble, Jim Duff, directo

Anorectal Disorders

This report defines criteria and reviews the epidemiology, pathophysiology, and management of the following common anorectal disorders: fecal incontinence (FI), functional anorectal pain, and functional defecation disorders. FI is defined as the recurrent uncontrolled passage of fecal material for at least 3 months. The clinical features of FI are useful for guiding diagnostic testing and therapy. Anorectal manometry and imaging are useful for evaluating anal and pelvic floor structure and function. Education, antidiarrheals, and biofeedback therapy are the mainstay of management; surgery may be useful in refractory cases. Functional anorectal pain syndromes are defined by clinical features and categorized into 3 subtypes. In proctalgia fugax, the pain is typically fleeting and lasts for seconds to minutes. In levator ani syndrome and unspecified anorectal pain, the pain lasts more than 30 minutes, but in levator ani syndrome there is puborectalis tenderness. Functional defecation disorders are defined by ≥2 symptoms of chronic constipation or irritable bowel syndrome with constipation, and with ≥2 features of impaired evacuation, that is, abnormal evacuation pattern on manometry, abnormal balloon expulsion test, or impaired rectal evacuation by imaging. It includes 2 subtypes: dyssynergic defecation and inadequate defecatory propulsion. Pelvic floor biofeedback therapy is effective for treating levator ani syndrome and defecatory disorders

A multi-stage genome-wide association study of bladder cancer identifies multiple susceptibility loci.

We conducted a multi-stage, genome-wide association study of bladder cancer with a primary scan of 591,637 SNPs in 3,532 affected individuals (cases) and 5,120 controls of European descent from five studies followed by a replication strategy, which included 8,382 cases and 48,275 controls from 16 studies. In a combined analysis, we identified three new regions associated with bladder cancer on chromosomes 22q13.1, 19q12 and 2q37.1: rs1014971, (P = 8 × 10⁻¹²) maps to a non-genic region of chromosome 22q13.1, rs8102137 (P = 2 × 10⁻¹¹) on 19q12 maps to CCNE1 and rs11892031 (P = 1 × 10⁻⁷) maps to the UGT1A cluster on 2q37.1. We confirmed four previously identified genome-wide associations on chromosomes 3q28, 4p16.3, 8q24.21 and 8q24.3, validated previous candidate associations for the GSTM1 deletion (P = 4 × 10⁻¹¹) and a tag SNP for NAT2 acetylation status (P = 4 × 10⁻¹¹), and found interactions with smoking in both regions. Our findings on common variants associated with bladder cancer risk should provide new insights into the mechanisms of carcinogenesis

A multi-stage genome-wide association study of bladder cancer identifies multiple susceptibility loci.

We conducted a multi-stage, genome-wide association study of bladder cancer with a primary scan of 591,637 SNPs in 3,532 affected individuals (cases) and 5,120 controls of European descent from five studies followed by a replication strategy, which included 8,382 cases and 48,275 controls from 16 studies. In a combined analysis, we identified three new regions associated with bladder cancer on chromosomes 22q13.1, 19q12 and 2q37.1: rs1014971, (P = 8 × 10⁻¹²) maps to a non-genic region of chromosome 22q13.1, rs8102137 (P = 2 × 10⁻¹¹) on 19q12 maps to CCNE1 and rs11892031 (P = 1 × 10⁻⁷) maps to the UGT1A cluster on 2q37.1. We confirmed four previously identified genome-wide associations on chromosomes 3q28, 4p16.3, 8q24.21 and 8q24.3, validated previous candidate associations for the GSTM1 deletion (P = 4 × 10⁻¹¹) and a tag SNP for NAT2 acetylation status (P = 4 × 10⁻¹¹), and found interactions with smoking in both regions. Our findings on common variants associated with bladder cancer risk should provide new insights into the mechanisms of carcinogenesis