Objects of humour: the puppet as comic performer

Many of the studies that explore the fascination audiences have with puppets have focused largely on the relationship between the operator and the object and the illusion engendered through performance. Those that attend to the issue of humour, such as Dina and Joel Sherzer’s Humour and Comedy in Puppetry in 1987, tend to address generic comic components of specific puppet practices, and only minimally engage with the more fundamental concerns about how the object may be viewed humorously by audiences. This article intends to bridge this gap in scholarship by exploring the similarities between spectatorship and humour in relation to puppet practices. Drawing links between the incongruities inherent within puppet forms, particularly those revealed through the juxtaposition of object and human operator, and theories of humour, I argue that there is amusement to be found in seeing the inanimate animated, which is similar to the pleasure found in incongruous humour. While not all puppets are used for comic purposes, my argument suggests that the fundamental collaboration required for an audience to appreciate a puppet performance lends the form a particular comic specialism which may help explain why, historically, puppets appear to thrive in comic contexts

Planck pre-launch status : The Planck mission

Peer reviewe

An uncommon complication of a common clinical scenario: exploring reexpansion pulmonary edema with a case report and literature review

Reexpansion pulmonary edema (RPE) is a rare complication that can occur after rapid reinflation of the lung following thoracentesis of a pleural effusion or chest tube drainage of pneumothorax. The severity in clinical presentation can be widely varied from radiographic changes only to rapidly progressive respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation. The quick nature of onset and potential for serious decline in a previously stable patient makes it important to prepare, recognize, diagnose, and appropriately manage patients who develop RPE. The standard treatment for RPE consists of supportive care, and there are certain measures that may be taken to reduce the risk, including limiting the amount drained and avoiding excessive negative pleural pressure. Exactly how to prevent RPE remains unclear, however, and varying recommendations exist. This is a case report of RPE after thoracentesis for a pleural effusion and a brief review of literature to date, including potential preventative strategies

Explaining the link between access-to-care factors and health care resource utilization among individuals with COPD

Minchul Kim,1 Jinma Ren,1 William Tillis,2,3 Carl V Asche,1,4 Inkyu K Kim,5 Carmen S Kirkness1 1Department of Internal Medicine, Center for Outcomes Research, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria, 2OSF St Francis Medical Center, 3Department of Internal Medicine, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria, Peoria, 4Department of Pharmacy Systems, Outcomes and Policy, University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy, Chicago, IL, 5Battelle Memorial Institute, Atlanta, GA, USA Background: Limited accessibility to health care may be a barrier to obtaining good care. Few studies have investigated the association between access-to-care factors and COPD hospitalizations. The objective of this study is to estimate the association between access-to-care factors and health care utilization including hospital/emergency department (ED) visits and primary care physician (PCP) office visits among adults with COPD utilizing a nationally representative survey data. Methods: We conducted a pooled cross-sectional analysis based upon a bivariate probit model, utilizing datasets from the 2011–2012 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System linked with the 2014 Area Health Resource Files among adults with COPD. Dichotomous outcomes were hospital/ED visits and PCP office visits. Key covariates were county-level access-to-care factors, including the population-weighted numbers of pulmonary care specialists, PCPs, hospitals, rural health centers, and federally qualified health centers. Results: Among a total of 9,332 observations, proportions of hospital/ED visits and PCP office visits were 16.2% and 44.2%, respectively. Results demonstrated that access-to-care factors were closely associated with hospital/ED visits. An additional pulmonary care specialist per 100,000 persons serves to reduce the likelihood of a hospital/ED visit by 0.4 percentage points (pp) (P=0.028). In contrast, an additional hospital per 100,000 persons increases the likelihood of hospital/ED visit by 0.8 pp (P=0.008). However, safety net facilities were not related to hospital utilizations. PCP office visits were not related to access-to-care factors. Conclusion: Pulmonary care specialist availability was a key factor in reducing hospital utilization among adults with COPD. The findings of our study implied that an increase in the availability of pulmonary care specialists may reduce hospital utilizations in counties with little or no access to pulmonary care specialists and that since availability of hospitals increases hospital utilization, directing patients with COPD to pulmonary care specialists may decrease hospital utilizations. Keywords: pulmonary specialist, COPD, hospital utilizatio

Explaining the link between access-to-care factors and health care resource utilization among individuals with COPD

BACKGROUND: Limited accessibility to health care may be a barrier to obtaining good care. Few studies have investigated the association between access-to-care factors and COPD hospitalizations. The objective of this study is to estimate the association between access-to-care factors and health care utilization including hospital/emergency department (ED) visits and primary care physician (PCP) office visits among adults with COPD utilizing a nationally representative survey data. METHODS: We conducted a pooled cross-sectional analysis based upon a bivariate probit model, utilizing datasets from the 2011-2012 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System linked with the 2014 Area Health Resource Files among adults with COPD. Dichotomous outcomes were hospital/ED visits and PCP office visits. Key covariates were county-level access-to-care factors, including the population-weighted numbers of pulmonary care specialists, PCPs, hospitals, rural health centers, and federally qualified health centers. RESULTS: Among a total of 9,332 observations, proportions of hospital/ED visits and PCP office visits were 16.2% and 44.2%, respectively. Results demonstrated that access-to-care factors were closely associated with hospital/ED visits. An additional pulmonary care specialist per 100,000 persons serves to reduce the likelihood of a hospital/ED visit by 0.4 percentage points (pp) (P=0.028). In contrast, an additional hospital per 100,000 persons increases the likelihood of hospital/ED visit by 0.8 pp (P=0.008). However, safety net facilities were not related to hospital utilizations. PCP office visits were not related to access-to-care factors. CONCLUSION: Pulmonary care specialist availability was a key factor in reducing hospital utilization among adults with COPD. The findings of our study implied that an increase in the availability of pulmonary care specialists may reduce hospital utilizations in counties with little or no access to pulmonary care specialists and that since availability of hospitals increases hospital utilization, directing patients with COPD to pulmonary care specialists may decrease hospital utilizations

sj-pdf-1-vet-10.1177_03009858231186391 – Supplemental material for Proliferative strongyloidiasis in a colony of colubrid snakes

Supplemental material, sj-pdf-1-vet-10.1177_03009858231186391 for Proliferative strongyloidiasis in a colony of colubrid snakes by Erin A. Graham, Eric W. Los Kamp, Nina M. Thompson, Steven B. Tillis, April L. Childress, James F.X. Wellehan, Heather D.S. Walden and Robert J. Ossiboff in Veterinary Pathology</p