Are Japanese and European gastric cancer the same biological entity? An immunohistochemical study.

To examine the suggested biological difference between Japanese and British gastric cancers, immunohistochemistry was used to demonstrate eight markers of biological activity in a matched series of 40 Japanese and 33 British cases. There were no differences in the proportions of Japanese and British tumours positive to epidermal growth factor, epidermal growth factor receptor, transforming growth factor alpha, cripto or p53. A significantly greater proportion of British tumours were positive to c-erbB-2 whilst a significantly greater proportion of Japanese tumours were positive to nm23. British tumours had a significantly greater mean proliferating cell nuclear antigen proliferation index than Japanese tumours. These differences could be clinically significant

Organizational Dynamics of Technology-Based Innovation: Diversifying the Research Agenda

Abstract By analyzing survey data from 1,211 firms across 14 industries in Shanghai, this study examines factors that influence information technology usage in Chinese firms applying a technology-organization-environment framework and institutional theory

Research on information systems failures and successes: status update and future directions

Information systems success and failure are among the most prominent streams in IS research. Explanations of why some IS fulfill their expectations, whereas others fail, are complex and multi-factorial. Despite the efforts to understand the underlying factors, the IS failure rate remains stubbornly high. A Panel session was held at the IFIP Working Group 8.6 conference in Bangalore in 2013 which forms the subject of this Special Issue. Its aim was to reflect on the need for new perspectives and research directions, to provide insights and further guidance for managers on factors enabling IS success and avoiding IS failure. Several key issues emerged, such as the need to study problems from multiple perspectives, to move beyond narrow considerations of the IT artifact, and to venture into underexplored organizational contexts, such as the public sector. © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York

Delayed diagnosis of intermittent mesenteroaxial volvulus of the stomach by computed tomography: a case report

10.1186/1752-1947-2-343Journal of Medical Case Reports234

The golden circle: A way of arguing and acting about technology in the London ambulance service

This paper analyses the way in which the London Ambulance Service recovered from the events of October 1992, when it implemented a computer-aided despatch system (LASCAD) that remained in service for less than two weeks. It examines the enactment of a programme of long-term organizational change, focusing on the implementation of an alternative computer system in 1996. The analysis in this paper is informed by actor-network theory, both by an early statement of this approach developed by Callon in the sociology of translation, and also by concepts and ideas from Latour’s more recent restatement of his own position. The paper examines how alternative interests emerged and were stabilized over time, in a way of arguing and acting among key players in the change programme, christened the Golden Circle. The story traces four years in the history of the London Ambulance Service, from the aftermath of October 1992 through the birth of the Golden Circle to the achievement of National Health Service (NHS) trust status. LASCAD was the beginning of the story, this is the middle, an end lies in the future, when the remaining elements of the change programme are enacted beyond the Golden Circle

Brain-based discourses and early intervention: a critical debate for health visiting

Neuroscientific discourses about early brain development and its plasticity have placed considerable importance upon parenting, emotional nurturing and attachment during the first 1001 ‘Critical Days’. This has informed a policy shift towards early intervention in the early years, and is shaping public health practice in this field particularly health visiting. This paper reviews these developments and outlines a critical debate that has been taking place amongst commentators concerned with how these brain based discourses are being applied in policy. Concerns include the policy readiness of the science, the focus upon parenting quality rather than contextual issues such as poverty, and that these developments are creating a new form of governance of families. In contrast these concerns have not been debated within health visiting raising questions about the profession’s engagement with evidence and policy

Brain science and early years policy: Hopeful ethos or ‘cruel optimism’?

Ideas that the quality of parental nurturing and attachment in the first years of a child’s life is formative, hard-wiring their brains for success or failure, are reflected in policy reports from across the political spectrum and in targeted services delivering early intervention. In this article we draw on our research into ‘Brain science and early intervention’, using reviews of key policy literature and interviews with influential advocates of early intervention and with early years practitioners, to critically assess the ramifications and implications of these claims. Rather than upholding the ‘hopeful ethos’ proffered by advocates of the progressive nature of brain science and early intervention, we show that brain claims are justifying gendered, raced and social inequalities, positioning poor mothers as architects of their children’s deprivation

On the Role of Attention in Binocular Rivalry: Electrophysiological Evidence

During binocular rivalry visual consciousness fluctuates between two dissimilar monocular images. We investigated the role of attention in this phenomenon by comparing event-related potentials (ERPs) when binocular-rivalry stimuli were attended with when they were unattended. Stimuli were dichoptic, orthogonal gratings that yielded binocular rivalry and dioptic, identically oriented gratings that yielded binocular fusion. Events were all possible orthogonal changes in orientation of one or both gratings. We had two attention conditions: In the attend-to-grating condition, participants had to report changes in perceived orientation, focussing their attention on the gratings. In the attend-to-fixation condition participants had to report changes in a central fixation target, taking attention away from the gratings. We found, surprisingly, that attending to rival gratings yielded a smaller ERP component (the N1, from 160–210 ms) than attending to the fixation target. To explain this paradoxical effect of attention, we propose that rivalry occurs in the attend-to-fixation condition (we found an ERP signature of rivalry in the form of a sustained negativity from 210–300 ms) but that the mechanism processing the stimulus changes is more adapted in the attend-to-grating condition than in the attend-to-fixation condition. This is consistent with the theory that adaptation gives rise to changes of visual consciousness during binocular rivalry

Dealing with Feelings: Characterization of Trait Alexithymia on Emotion Regulation Strategies and Cognitive-Emotional Processing

Background: Alexithymia, or "no words for feelings'', is a personality trait which is associated with difficulties in emotion recognition and regulation. It is unknown whether this deficit is due primarily to regulation, perception, or mentalizing of emotions. In order to shed light on the core deficit, we tested our subjects on a wide range of emotional tasks. We expected the high alexithymics to underperform on all tasks. Method: Two groups of healthy individuals, high and low scoring on the cognitive component of the Bermond-Vorst Alexithymia Questionnaire, completed questionnaires of emotion regulation and performed several emotion processing tasks including a micro expression recognition task, recognition of emotional prosody and semantics in spoken sentences, an emotional and identity learning task and a conflicting beliefs and emotions task (emotional mentalizing). Results: The two groups differed on the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, Berkeley Expressivity Questionnaire and Empathy Quotient. Specifically, the Emotion Regulation Quotient showed that alexithymic individuals used more suppressive and less reappraisal strategies. On the behavioral tasks, as expected, alexithymics performed worse on recognition of micro expressions and emotional mentalizing. Surprisingly, groups did not differ on tasks of emotional semantics and prosody and associative emotional-learning. Conclusion: Individuals scoring high on the cognitive component of alexithymia are more prone to suppressive emotion regulation strategies rather than reappraisal strategies. Regarding emotional information processing, alexithymia is associated with reduced performance on measures of early processing as well as higher order mentalizing. However, difficulties in the processing of emotional language were not a core deficit in our alexithymic group