In Deadly Time: The Lasting On of Waste in Mayhew’s London

This paper examines the temporal dimension of waste in Henry Mayhew’s London Labour and the London Poor as an instance of how modernity has produced a largely hidden domain of the non-identical and indeterminate. Through a consideration of the phenomena of uselessness, decay and poverty I argue that the temporal dimension of waste is constituted as a corrosive or malign ‘Deadly Time.’ In placing such emphasis on time directed towards death, I aim to show that Mayhew’s undisciplined researches can be seen as a valuable source for understanding why modern thinking struggles to come to terms with waste

Creating the cultures of the future: cultural strategy, policy and institutions in Gramsci. Part one: Gramsci and cultural policy studies: some methodological reflections

Gramsci’s writings have rarely been discussed and used systematically by scholars in cultural policy studies, despite the fact that in cultural studies, from which the field emerged, Gramsci has been a major source of theoretical concepts. Cultural policy studies were, in fact, theorised as an anti-Gramscian project between the late 1980s and the early 1990s, when a group of scholars based in Australia advocated a major political and theoretical reorientation of cultural studies away from hegemony theory and radical politicisation, and towards reformist-technocratic engagement with the policy concerns of contemporary government and business. Their criticism of the ‘Gramscian tradition’ as inadequate for the study of cultural policy and institutions has remained largely unexamined in any detail for almost twenty years and seems to have had a significant role in the subsequent neglect of Gramsci’s contribution in this area of study. This essay, consisting of three parts, is an attempt to challenge such criticism and to provide an analysis of Gramsci’s writings, with the aim of proposing a more systematic contribution of his work to the theoretical development of cultural policy studies. In Part One, I question the use of the notion of ‘Gramscian tradition’ made by its critics and challenge the claim that it was inadequate for the study of cultural policy and institutions. In parts Two and Three, I consider Gramsci’s specific writings on questions of cultural strategy, policy and institutions, which have so far been overlooked by scholars, arguing that they provide further analytical insights to those offered by his more general concepts. More specifically, in Part Two, I consider Gramsci’s pre-prison writings and political practice in relation to questions of cultural strategy and institutions. I argue that the analysis of these early texts, which were written in the years in which Gramsci was active in party organisation and leadership, is fundamental not only for understanding the nature of Gramsci’s early and continued involvement with questions of cultural strategy and institutions, but also as a key for deciphering and interpreting cultural policy themes that he later developed in the prison notebooks, and which originated in earlier debates. Finally, in Part Three, I carry out a detailed analysis of Gramsci’s prison notes on questions of cultural strategy, policy and institutions, which enrich the theoretical underpinnings for critical frameworks of analysis as well as for radical practices of cultural strategy, cultural policy-making and cultural organisation. I then answer the question of whether Gramsci’s insights amount to a theory of cultural policy

US hegemony and the origins of Japanese nuclear power : the politics of consent

This paper deploys the Gramscian concepts of hegemony and consent in order to explore the process whereby nuclear power was brought to Japan. The core argument is that nuclear power was brought to Japan as a consequence of US hegemony. Rather than a simple manifestation of one state exerting material ‘power over' another, bringing nuclear power to Japan involved a series of compromises worked out within and between state and civil society in both Japan and the USA. Ideologies of nationalism, imperialism and modernity underpinned the process, coalescing in post-war debates about the future trajectory of Japanese society, Japan's Cold War alliance with the USA and the role of nuclear power in both. Consent to nuclear power was secured through the generation of a psychological state in the public mind combining the fear of nuclear attack and the hope of unlimited consumption in a nuclear-fuelled post-modern world

Delayed presentation of blunt duodenal injuries in children. Case report and review of literature

Background. Duodenal injuries are rare in children and classically present following a fall over the handle bar. Retroperitoneal location of the duodenum may lead to delay in diagnosis, and missed injuries are associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Case report. A 5-year-old child was admitted to the National Trauma Center, in Tirana (Albania), 28 hours after a Motor Vehicle Crash (MVC), complaining of mild abdominal pain. He was febrile (39°C) and had a white blood cells count of 18,000 mm3. On physical exam he had mild tenderness. Plain abdominal X-rays and Focused Abdominal Sonography for Trauma (FAST) were negative for free air or free fluid. The CT scan of the abdomen demonstrated free air and fluid in the retroperitoneal space. At laparatomy, a perforation of the second portion of the duodenum was found. A single layer suture repair of the duodenum with wide drainage was performed. The patient was discharged from the hospital tolerating oral feeding 8 days later. Conclusion. Duodenal injuries in children are rare. Most duodenal hematomas are managed non-operatively. This is a case of MCV with delayed presentation that was treated surgically for perforation successfully

The rate of success of the conservative management of liver trauma in a developing country

Abstract Background The conservative treatment of liver trauma has made important progress over the last 10 years at the Trauma University Hospital in Tirana, Albania. The percentage of success was 58.7%. The aims of this study were to analyze the conservative treatment of liver trauma and to compare the results with those in the literature. Methods This study was conducted prospectively from January 2009 to December 2012. We analyzed 173 patients admitted to our hospital with liver trauma. Liver injuries were evaluated according to the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma and the World Society of Emergency Surgery classification, while the anatomic gravity of the associated injuries was defined using the Injury Severity Score system. The potential mortality was estimated with the Revised Trauma Score. Results Out of the 173 patients with liver trauma, 83.2% were male. The main cause of liver trauma was motor vehicle crashes (50.9%). Blunt trauma was the cause of liver injury in 129 cases (74.6%), and penetrating trauma occurred in 44 cases (25.4%). Initially, the decision was to manage 88 cases (50.9%) via the conservative approach. Of these, 73 cases (42.2%) were successfully treated with conservative treatment, while in 15 cases (17.2%), this approach failed. The success rate of conservative treatment by grade of injuries was as follows: grade I (38.4%), grade II (30.1%), grade III (28.8%), and grade IV (2.7%). The likelihood of the success of conservative treatment had a significant correlation with the grade of the liver injury (p < 0.00001), associated intra-abdominal injuries (p = 0.00051), and complications (z = 2.3169, p = 0.02051). The overall mortality rate of liver trauma was 13.2%. Conclusions The likelihood of success in using conservative treatment had a significant correlation with the grade of liver injury and associated intra-abdominal injuries. The limited hospital resources and low level of consensus on conservative treatment had a negative impact on the level of success

Expression of cyclic adenosine 3&apos;,5&apos;-monophosphate (cAMP)-responsive element binding protein and inducible-cAMP early repressor genes in growth hormone-secreting pituitary adenomas with or without mutations of the Gsalpha gene

In about 30-40% of GH-secreting adenomas, gain-of-function mutations of the Gsalpha gene, which convert this gene into an oncogene termed gsp, occur. Gsalpha mutations have been related to pituitary tumorigenesis. We focused on 2 nuclear transcription factors that are final targets of the cAMP-dependent pathway and are positively regulated by cAMP signaling, i.e. the cAMP-responsive element binding protein (CREB) and the inducible cAMP early repressor (ICER), that derives from alternative splicing of cAMP-responsive element modulator gene. We examined 21 GH-secreting adenomas, 8 with (gsp(+)) and 13 without (gsp(-)) a mutated Gsalpha. Analysis of CREB and ICER I/II messenger RNA revealed that the levels of both transcripts were higher in gsp(+) than in gsp(-) tumors (CREB/glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) mean optical density +/- SE, 2.34 +/- 0.36 in gsp(+) vs. 0.99 +/- 0.22 in gsp(-), P = 0.003; ICER I/GAPDH, 0.53 +/- 0.15 in gsp(+) vs. 0.14 +/- 0.07 in gsp(-), P = 0.01; ICER II/GAPDH, 1.5 +/- 0.21 in gsp(+) vs. 0.83 +/- 0.13 in gsp(-), P = 0.01), although a few cases in both groups did not display this pattern of expression. Moreover, no positive correlation between the levels of CREB and ICER transcripts was observed, suggesting the possible presence of alterations in the mechanisms by which cAMP signaling directs the expression of CREB and/or ICER genes. Our results indicate a complex pattern of expression of nuclear transcription factors that mediate cAMP action in both gsp(+) and gsp(-) tumors, suggesting that, beside Gsalpha gene mutations, different and partially unknown molecular events may contribute to the pathogenesis of these tumors

Expression of cAMP-responsive element binding protein and inducible cAMP early repressor in hyperfunctioning thyroid adenomas.

OBJECTIVE: The pathogenesis of thyroid hyperfunctioning adenomas is still only partially understood and controversy exists about the frequency of gain-of-function mutations of the TSH receptor or G(s)alpha gene, which activate the cAMP pathway. The nuclear transcription factors cAMP-responsive element binding protein (CREB) and inducible cAMP early repressor (ICER) are among the final targets of this signalling cascade. DESIGN: In our study we focused on the expression of CREB and ICER genes in the nodular as well as in the extranodular tissue of hyperfunctioning tumours of the thyroid. METHODS: RT-PCR and Western blot analysis were performed in a series of 14 patients. The presence of an activating mutation of the TSH receptor or of the G(s)alpha gene was ascertained by direct sequencing. RESULTS: The levels of CREB transcripts did not significantly differ in the adenomas and in the normal tissues (CREB/GAPDH, mean optical density+/-s.e.: 0.98+/-0.18 vs 0.88+/-0.27 respectively, P = not significant (N.S.)), although case-to-case variability was observed. The absence of a significant difference between the adenoma and the surrounding normal tissue was maintained after dividing the patients into two groups, according to TSH receptor status. Accordingly, no significant difference in the levels of CREB protein (total and Ser(133)-phosphorylated) was observed between the nodular and the extranodular tissue. In addition, no difference was found in the levels of ICER transcripts (ICER/GAPDH, mean optical density+/-s.e.: 0.52+/-0.11, nodule vs 0.36+/-0.11, normal thyroid, P=N.S.), independently of the TSH receptor gene status (i.e. wild-type or mutated). CONCLUSIONS: Our results support the recent hypothesis that the activation of the cAMP pathway in hyperfunctioning adenomas of the thyroid might be counteracted by opposite events and suggest that complex molecular mechanisms might take part in the pathogenesis of hyperfunctioning tumours