Thailand’s Tourist Cooking Schools: Disrupting Distance, Affirming Difference

The growing popularity of culinary tourism inspires many travelers to view local cuisines as a way to connect to the people and places that they visit. Such cross-cultural encounters appeal in part because they offer to disrupt conventional commodity chains and their associated hierarchies, bringing together consumers and producers who would otherwise be separated by significant geographic distances and not infrequently by racial/ethnic, cultural, and/or classed inequalities. At the same time, however, transnational tourists’ relative ease of mobility is a form of global privilege that contrasts sharply with the more limited mobility and economic disadvantage characterizing many of the societies to which leisure travelers are drawn. Similarly, culinary tourism reflects the popularity of ‘eating otherness’ as a form of cosmopolitan cultural capital, one which both obscures and reproduces the hierarchies of difference that enable some, typically more dominant, groups to consume the products of (often) subordinate and culturally distinctive others. Drawing on ethnographic research in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, Thailand, I explore how tourist-oriented cooking schools navigate this tricky terrain, engaging global tourists’ cosmopolitan privilege alongside their desire for a meaningful cultural and culinary encounter

Reporting of noninferiority and equivalence randomized trials for major prostaglandins: A systematic survey of the ophthalmology literature

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Standards for reporting clinical trials have improved the transparency of patient-important research. The Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) published an extension to address noninferiority and equivalence trials. We aimed to determine the reporting quality of prostaglandin noninferiority and equivalence trials in the treatment of glaucoma.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We searched, independently and in duplicate, 6 electronic databases for eligible trials evaluating prostaglandins. We abstracted data on reporting of methodological criteria, including reporting of per-protocol [PP] and intention-to-treat [ITT] analysis, sample size estimation with margins, type of statistical analysis conducted, efficacy summaries, and use of hyperemia measures.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Trials involving the four major prostaglandin groups (latanoprost, travoprost, bimatoprost, unoprostone) were analyzed. We included 36 noninferiority and 11 equivalence trials. Seventeen out of the included 47 trials (36%, 95% Confidence Intervals [CI]: 24–51) were crossover designs. Only 3 studies (6%, 95% CI: 2–17) reported a presented results of both ITT and PP populations. Twelve studies (26%, 95% CI: 15–39) presented only ITT results but mentioned that PP population had similar results. Thirteen trials (28%, 95% CI: 17–42) presented only PP results with no mention of ITT population results while 17 studies (36%, 95% CI: 24–51) presented only ITT results with no mention of PP population results. Thirty-four (72%, 95% CI: 58–83) of studies adequately described their margin of noninferiority/equivalence. Sequence generation was reported in 22/47 trials (47%, 95% CI: 33–61). Allocation concealment was reported in only 10/47 (21%, 95% CI: 12–35) of the trials. Thirty-five studies (74%, 95% CI: 60–85) employed masking of at least two groups, 4/47 (9%, 95% CI: 3–20) masked only patients and 8/47 (17%, 95% CI: 9–30) were open label studies. Eight (17%, 95% CI: 9–30) of the 47 trials employed a combined test of noninferiority and superiority. We also found 6 differing methods of evaluating hyperemia.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The quality of reporting noninferiority/equivalency trials in the field of glaucoma is markedly heterogeneous. The adoption of the extended CONSORT statement by journals will potentially improve the transparency of this field.</p

Metastatic Renal Cell Cancer Treatments: An Indirect Comparison Meta-Analysis

Background: Treatment for metastatic renal cell cancer (mRCC) has advanced dramatically withunderstanding of the pathogenesis of the disease. New treatment options may provide improvedprogression-free survival (PFS). We aimed to determine the relative effectiveness of new therapiesin this field. Methods: We conducted comprehensive searches of 11 electronic databases from inception toApril 2008. We included randomized trials (RCTs) that evaluated bevacizumab, sorafenib, andsunitinib. Two reviewers independently extracted data, in duplicate. Our primary outcome wasinvestigator-assessed PFS. We performed random-effects meta-analysis with a mixed treatmentcomparison analysis. Results: We included 3 bevacizumab (2 of bevacizumab plus interferon-a [IFN-a]), 2 sorafenib, 1sunitinib, and 1 temsirolimus trials (total n = 3,957). All interventions offer advantages for PFS.Using indirect comparisons with interferon-α as the common comparator, we found that sunitinibwas superior to both sorafenib (HR 0.58, 95% CI, 0.38–0.86, P = &lt; 0.001) and bevacizumab + IFNa(HR 0.75, 95% CI, 0.60–0.93, P = 0.001). Sorafenib was not statistically different from bevacizumab+IFN-a in this same indirect comparison analysis (HR 0.77, 95% CI, 0.52–1.13, P = 0.23). Usingplacebo as the similar comparator, we were unable to display a significant difference betweensorafenib and bevacizumab alone (HR 0.81, 95% CI, 0.58–1.12, P = 0.23). Temsirolimus providedsignificant PFS in patients with poor prognosis (HR 0.69, 95% CI, 0.57–0.85). Conclusion: New interventions for mRCC offer a favourable PFS for mRCC compared tointerferon-α and placebo

Comparing Levels of Situational Empathy based on medium of exposure to Covid-19 Mortality Information: Does Political Affiliation Impact Levels of Situational Empathy?

Psychophysical numbing, compassion fading, and the singularity effect are strongly affecting the world amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Empathy-motivated prosocial behavior is not consistent with the drastic number of lives lost due to COVID-19. The current study evaluated participants for situational empathy levels post-exposure to either COVID-19 death statistics or a personal reflection on loss due to COVID-19. Alongside empathy, political affiliation and COVID-19 personal loss were measured as potential moderators on the relationship between medium of exposure to mortality information and empathy levels in the sample

Questioning the rise of gelatinous zooplankton in the World's oceans

During the past several decades, high numbers of gelatinous zooplankton species have been reported in many estuarine and coastal ecosystems. Coupled with media-driven public perception, a paradigm has evolved in which the global ocean ecosystems are thought to be heading toward being dominated by “nuisance” jellyfish. We question this current paradigm by presenting a broad overview of gelatinous zooplankton in a historicalcontext to develop the hypothesis that population changes reflect the human-mediated alteration of global ocean ecosystems. To this end, we synthesize information related to the evolutionary context of contemporary gelatinous zooplankton blooms, the human frame of reference forchanges in gelatinous zooplankton populations, and whether sufficient data are available to have established the paradigm. We conclude that the current paradigm in which it is believed that there has been a global increase in gelatinous zooplankton is unsubstantiated, and we develop a strategy for addressing the critical questions about long-term, human-related changes in the sea as they relate to gelatinous zooplankton blooms

Implementation of Technology-based Patient Engagement Strategies within Practice-Based Research Networks (Poster)

Careyva, B. Shaak, K. Mills, G. Johnson, M. Goodrich, S. Stello, B. Wallace, L. (2016, Nov). Implementation of Technology-Based Patient Engagement Strategies within Practice-Based Research Networks. Poster Presented at: North American Primary Care Research Group, Colorado Springs, CO

Estimating detection and density of the Andean cat in the high Andes

The Andean cat (Leopardus jacobita) is one of the most endangered, yet least known, felids. Although the Andean cat is considered at risk of extinction, rigorous quantitative population studies are lacking. Because physical observations of the Andean cat are difficult to make in the wild, we used a camera-trapping array to photo-capture individuals. The survey was conducted in northwestern Argentina at an elevation of approximately 4,200 m during October-December 2006 and April-June 2007. In each year we deployed 22 pairs of camera traps, which were strategically placed. To estimate detection probability and density we applied models for spatial capture-recapture using a Bayesian framework. Estimated densities were 0.07 and 0.12 individual/km 2 for 2006 and 2007, respectively. Mean baseline detection probability was estimated at 0.07. By comparison, densities of the Pampas cat (Leopardus colocolo), another poorly known felid that shares its habitat with the Andean cat, were estimated at 0.74-0.79 individual/km2 in the same study area for 2006 and 2007, and its detection probability was estimated at 0.02. Despite having greater detectability, the Andean cat is rarer in the study region than the Pampas cat. Properly accounting for the detection probability is important in making reliable estimates of density, a key parameter in conservation and management decisions for any species. © 2011 American Society of Mammalogists.Fil: Reppucci, Juan Ignacio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Biología, Bioquímica y Farmacia; ArgentinaFil: Gardner, Beth. United States Geological Survey; Estados UnidosFil: Lucherini, Mauro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Biología, Bioquímica y Farmacia; Argentin