A study of China-North Korea relations in the post-Cold War realm

While complex and turbulent, the China-North Korea relationship has grown stronger during the post-Cold War era, with China emerging as a global power that has replaced the former Soviet Union as North Korea's primary defense treaty ally, economic and political supporter, and provider of geopolitical cover on the international stage. This study examines the evolution of ties between Beijing and Pyongyang over the more than three-decade span since 1990, a period marked by North Korea's emergence as a nuclear armed nation, and shaped by fast evolving developments on the East Asian geopolitical landscape, where China and the United States find themselves locked in increasingly militarized competition amid uncertainty over the true extent to which Beijing and Pyongyang are working together as strategic partners against America and its allies. While Beijing relies on North Korea as a buffer between mainland China and U.S. forces in the region, and benefits from nearly unfettered access to North Korean natural resources, Chinese leaders are seen to be frustrated by the rogue behavior of the ruling Kim regime in Pyongyang. For its own part, the regime has a history of harboring deep paranoia toward the prospect of being controlled by China, even as its survival depends on Beijing's support. All the while, the question of whether successive U.S. administrations have erred since the early-1990s in assuming that Beijing could be relied upon as a partner in efforts to contain the Kim regime and rid North Korea of nuclear weapons, looms in the backdrop of contemporary dynamics that find Pyongyang playing a crucially consequential role in a rising new Cold War between China and the United States

The Commodification of the Table: The Journey Toward the Forgotten Body and Blood of Jesus

Bread and wine are metaphors for the broken body and spilled blood of Jesus the Christ. Jesus himself stated that these two metaphors are to represent his sacrifice for humans, yet these metaphors have lost much of their importance in present-day Christianity. Pentecostal churches specifically seem to have forgotten what the bread and wine symbolize. Due to cultural influences, these churches no longer place emphasis on celebrating what they call Communion. Many Pentecostal Christians today attend a service that is convenient, efficient, and that meets all their spiritual needs at one stop—like a Super Walmart of Worship due to the cultural influences of commodification, McDonaldization, and consumerism. This shift in the way many Pentecostal churches operate has caused them to celebrate or remember Jesus’ sacrifice less frequently, and the metaphors of the bread and wine lose the strength of meaning in Christian lives. This dissertation consists of six sections. Section 1 defines the problems commodification, McDonaldization, and consumerism have caused in the Church and traces the Church’s roaming to the point of having (or it has) nearly lost sight of the meaning of the sacraments. Section 2 identifies multiple metaphors and proposes an alternative solution to the problem in Pentecostal churches. Section 3 provides possible ways to remember the importance of the symbols of bread and wine. Section 4 provides a description of the Artifact intended to help churches remember what Jesus has done for them. The Artifact is a nonfiction book in the form of a lectionary. Section 5 contains the Artifact Specification, describing the intended self-publishing of the lectionary. Section 6 is the postscript to the work described above. The appendix to this written statement is the lectionary itself entitled Table Liturgy, which is based upon the 2019 church year

A qualitative perspective on multiple health behaviour change: views of smoking cessation advisors who promote physical activity

There are mixed views on whether smoking cessation advisors should focus only on quitting smoking or also promote simultaneous health behaviour changes (e.g. diet, physical activity), but no studies have qualitatively examined the views and vicarious experiences of such health professionals. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 trained smoking cessation advisors who promote physical activity to their clients. The data were categorised into themes using thematic analysis supported by qualitative data analysis software. We report themes that were related to why advisors promote multiple health behaviour change and issues in timing. Physical activity could be promoted as a cessation aid and also as part of a holistic lifestyle change consistent with a non-smoker identity, thereby increasing feelings of control and addressing fear of weight gain. Multiple changes were promoted pre-quit, simultaneously and post-quit, and advisors asserted that it is important to focus on the needs and capabilities of individual clients when deciding how to time multiple changes. Also, suggesting that PA was a useful and easily performed cessation aid rather than a new behaviour (i.e. structured exercise that may seem irrelevant) may help some clients to avoid a sense of overload

Implementing Pasteur's vision for rabies elimination: the evidence base and the needed policy actions

It has been 129 years since Louis Pasteur's experimental protocol saved the life of a child mauled by a rabid dog, despite incomplete understanding of the etiology or mechanisms by which the miracle cure worked (1). The disease has since been well understood, and highly effective vaccines are available, yet Pasteur's vision for ridding the world of rabies has not been realized. Rabies remains a threat to half the world's population and kills more than 69,000 people each year, most of them children (2). We discuss the basis for this neglect and present evidence supporting the feasibility of eliminating canine-mediated rabies and the required policy actions

Critically ill obstetric and gynaecological patients in the intensive care unit

Objectives: To document mortality among critically ill obstetric and gynaecological patients requiring intensive care unit (ICU) admission and to investigate whether any poor prognostic features could allow for earlier and more aggressive intervention. Study design: A retrospective study of all obstetric apd gynaecological patients admitted to the lCU of Johannesburg Hospital between 1985 and 1996. Sixty-one patients were analysed both as a group and as two subgroups - those with incomplete abortions and those with other pregnancy-related diagnoses. Results: Derangements in platelet counts, serum creatinine levels and prothrombin international normalised ratio (INR) were present in all patients on the day of admission to hospital In the group with incomplete abortions absolute levels of these parameters may be used to identify those patients with a worse outcome. The mortality rate was 38%. Conclusion: Early lCU admission and aggressive surgical intervention are strongly recommended in patients with septic incomplete abortions presenting with more than a single organ dysfunction.S Afr Med J 2000; 900 1140-114

School Improvement Episode 39: Focusing on the priorities

How have things changed for schools over the last two years of the pandemic, and what are the improvement priorities now for teachers, principals and communities on the ground

Exercise interventions for smoking cessation

Background: Taking regular exercise may help people give up smoking by moderating nicotine withdrawal and cravings, and by helping to manage weight gain.  Objectives: To determine whether exercise-based interventions alone, or combined with a smoking cessation programme, are more effective than a smoking cessation intervention alone.  Search methods: We searched the Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Group Specialized Register in April 2014, and searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, and CINAHL Plus in May 2014.  Selection criteria: We included randomized trials which compared an exercise programme alone, or an exercise programme as an adjunct to a cessation programme, with a cessation programme (which we considered the control in this review). Studies were required to recruit smokers or recent quitters and have a follow-up of six months or more. Studies that did not meet the full inclusion criteria because they only assessed the acute effects of exercise on smoking behaviour, or because the outcome was smoking reduction, are summarised but not formally included.  Data collection and analysis: We extracted data on study characteristics and smoking outcomes. Because of differences between studies in the characteristics of the interventions used we summarized the results narratively, making no attempt at meta-analysis. We assessed risk of selection and attrition bias using standard methodological procedures expected by The Cochrane Collaboration.  Main results: We identified 20 trials with a total of 5,870 participants. The largest study was an internet trial with 2,318 participants, and eight trials had fewer than 30 people in each treatment arm. Studies varied in the timing and intensity of the smoking cessation and exercise programmes offered. Only one included study was judged to be at low risk of bias across all domains assessed. Four studies showed significantly higher abstinence rates in a physically active group versus a control group at end of treatment. One of these studies also showed a significant benefit for exercise versus control on abstinence at the three-month follow-up and a benefit for exercise of borderline significance (p = 0.05) at the 12-month follow-up. Another study reported significantly higher abstinence rates at six month follow-up for a combined exercise and smoking cessation programme compared with brief smoking cessation advice. One study showed significantly higher abstinence rates for the exercise group versus a control group at the three-month follow-up but not at the end of treatment or 12-month follow-up. The other studies showed no significant effect for exercise on abstinence.  Authors' conclusion: Only two of the 20 trials offered evidence for exercise aiding smoking cessation in the long term. All the other trials were too small to reliably exclude an effect of intervention, or included an exercise intervention which may not have been sufficiently intense to achieve the desired level of exercise. Trials are needed with larger sample sizes, sufficiently intense interventions in terms of both exercise intensity and intensity of support being provided, equal contact control conditions, and measures of exercise adherence and change in physical activity in both exercise and comparison groups

Exercise interventions for smoking cessation

Background: Taking regular exercise may help people give up smoking by moderating nicotine withdrawal and cravings, and by helping to manage weight gain. Objectives: To determine whether exercise-based interventions alone or combined with a smoking cessation programme are more effective than a smoking cessation intervention alone. Search strategy: In July 2008, we searched the Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Group Specialized Register for studies including the terms 'exercise' or 'physical activity'. We also searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Dissertation Abstracts and CINAHL. Selection criteria: We included randomized trials which compared an exercise programme alone, or an exercise programme as an adjunct to a cessation programme, with a cessation programme, recruiting smokers or recent quitters, and with a follow up of six months or more. Data collection and analysis: We extracted data on study characteristics and smoking outcomes. Because of differences in studies we summarized the results narratively, making no attempt at meta-analysis. Main results: We identified 13 trials, six of which had fewer than 25 people in each treatment arm. They varied in the timing and intensity of the smoking cessation and exercise programmes. Three studies showed significantly higher abstinence rates in a physically active group versus a control group at end of treatment. One of these studies also showed a significant benefit for exercise versus control on abstinence at the three-month follow up and a benefit for exercise of borderline significance (P = 0.05) at the 12-month follow up. One study showed significantly higher abstinence rates for the exercise group versus a control group at the three-month follow up but not at the end of treatment or 12-month follow up. The other studies showed no significant effect for exercise on abstinence. Authors' conclusions: Only one of the 13 trials offered evidence for exercise aiding smoking cessation at a 12-month follow up. All the other trials were too small to exclude reliably an effect of intervention, or included an exercise intervention which was insufficiently intense to achieve the desired level of exercise. Trials are needed with larger sample sizes, sufficiently intense interventions, equal contact control conditions, measures of exercise adherence and change in physical activity in both exercise and comparison groups