Clinical Risk Factors Associated with Anti-Epileptic Drug Responsiveness in Canine Epilepsy

The nature and occurrence of remission, and conversely, pharmacoresistance following epilepsy treatment is still not fully understood in human or veterinary medicine. As such, predicting which patients will have good or poor treatment outcomes is imprecise, impeding patient management. In the present study, we use a naturally occurring animal model of pharmacoresistant epilepsy to investigate clinical risk factors associated with treatment outcome. Dogs with idiopathic epilepsy, for which no underlying cause was identified, were treated at a canine epilepsy clinic and monitored following discharge from a small animal referral hospital. Clinical data was gained via standardised owner questionnaires and longitudinal follow up data was gained via telephone interview with the dogs’ owners. At follow up, 14% of treated dogs were in seizure-free remission. Dogs that did not achieve remission were more likely to be male, and to have previously experienced cluster seizures. Seizure frequency or the total number of seizures prior to treatment were not significant predictors of pharmacoresistance, demonstrating that seizure density, that is, the temporal pattern of seizure activity, is a more influential predictor of pharmacoresistance. These results are in line with clinical studies of human epilepsy, and experimental rodent models of epilepsy, that patients experiencing episodes of high seizure density (cluster seizures), not just a high seizure frequency pre-treatment, are at an increased risk of drug-refractoriness. These data provide further evidence that the dog could be a useful naturally occurring epilepsy model in the study of pharmacoresistant epilepsy

Packages of Care for Epilepsy in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

In the second in a series of six articles on packages of care for mental health disorders in low- and middle-income countries, Caroline Mbuba and Charles Newton discuss treatment for epilepsy

El prejuicio y la palabra: los derechos a la libre expresión y a la no discriminación en contraste

El primer artículo, a cargo de Jesús Rodríguez Zepeda, se titula “El peso de las palabras: libre expresión, no discriminación y discursos de odio”. En éste, se busca acreditar una respuesta intelectual de largo aliento, propia de la filosofía política, para el dilema que plantea el encuentro, no siempre pacífico, entre los derechos humanos de libre expresión y no discriminación. En el segundo artículo, titulado “Discurso de odio: los márgenes de la libertad de expresión y la democracia”, presentado por Artículo 19 México y Centroamérica ... se provee una guía para identificar el “discurso de odio” y la forma de enfrentarlo, a la vez que se protege la libertad de expresión y el derecho a la igualdad. En tercer lugar, se presenta “La libertad de expresión ilimitada lleva al poder a los autócratas”, de Gustavo Ariel Kaufman. ... En la cuarta colaboración, “Los límites de la libertad de expresión frente a la no discriminación: una revisión de los criterios de la Suprema Corte en el caso de conceptos peyorativos”, de Juan Antonio Cruz Parcero, se analiza la polémica resolución de la Primera Sala de la SCJN en el amparo directo en revisión 2806/2012 conocido como “conceptos peyorativos”. En el quinto estudio, “Libre expresión, universidad pública y mundo digital: reflexiones a propósito de los casos de Nicolás Alvarado y Marcelino Perelló”, escrito al alimón por Pedro Salazar Ugarte y Mayra Ortiz Ocaña, se examinan las posibles colisiones de los derechos a la libertad de expresión y no discriminación ... En la sexta colaboración, “Libertad de expresión y no discriminación”, de José Woldenberg, se analiza una serie de episodios históricos en relación con la libertad de expresión y la discriminación en México. El séptimo artículo, escrito por Raúl Trejo Delarbre, se titula “Cuando el combate a la discriminación es coartada del pensamiento único. ... juzgar comportamientos presuntamente intolerantes sin tomar en cuenta el derecho a la expresión en el espacio público. “¿Qué hay en un nombre? Creencias, prejuicios y discriminación”, de Marta Lamas, es el octavo estudio presentado. ... el dilema de las palabras que nombran a las mujeres que se dedican al comercio sexual. El noveno artículo, “Subordinación y silencio: sobre la libertad de expresión y la igualdad de las mujeres”, de Amneris Chaparro, ... la desigualdad de género es una condición estructural que permea todas las dimensiones de la vida social y dicta la forma en que se articulan las asimetrías de poder entre hombres y mujeres. El décimo artículo, “¿Apropiación indebida? Una exploración de los límites de la apropiación y la resignificación de palabras tenidas por discriminatorias”, ... Undécimo en la lista, Luis González Placencia presenta el artículo “Ni censura, ni derecho al insulto: a propósito del conflicto (aparente) entre libertad de expresión y no discriminación”. El duodécimo estudio se titula “La representación de la otredad en la ficción televisiva mexicana: entre la discriminación y la inhibición de los derechos ciudadanos”, a cargo de Darwin Franco Migues y Guillermo Orozco Gómez. El libro se cierra con un ensayo histórico-crítico y jurídico: “La iliteracidad democrática mexicana”, de Carlos Pérez Vázquez.Coordinadores: Jesús Rodríguez Zepeda & Teresa González Luna Corvera; coordinación editorial y diseño: Génesis Ruiz Cota; cuidado de la edición Armando Rodríguez Briseño

Recommendations for Enhancing Psychosocial Support of NICU Parents through Staff Education and Support

Providing psychosocial support to parents whose infants are hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) can improve parents’ functioning as well as their relationships with their babies. Yet, few NICUs offer staff education that teaches optimal methods of communication with parents in distress. Limited staff education in how to best provide psychosocial support to families is one factor that may render those who work in the NICU at risk for burnout, compassion fatigue and secondary traumatic stress syndrome. Staff who develop burnout may have further reduced ability to provide effective support to parents and babies. Recommendations for providing NICU staff with education and support are discussed. The goal is to deliver care that exemplifies the belief that providing psychosocial care and support to the family is equal in importance to providing medical care and developmental support to the baby

Induced polarization applied to biogeophysics: recent advances and future prospects

This paper provides an update on the fast‐evolving field of the induced polarization method applied to biogeophysics. It emphasizes recent advances in the understanding of the induced polarization signals stemming from biological materials and their activity, points out new developments and applications, and identifies existing knowledge gaps. The focus of this review is on the application of induced polarization to study living organisms: soil microorganisms and plants (both roots and stems). We first discuss observed links between the induced polarization signal and microbial cell structure, activity and biofilm formation. We provide an up‐to‐date conceptual model of the electrical behaviour of the microbial cells and biofilms under the influence of an external electrical field. We also review the latest biogeophysical studies, including work on hydrocarbon biodegradation, contaminant sequestration, soil strengthening and peatland characterization. We then elaborate on the induced polarization signature of the plant‐root zone, relying on a conceptual model for the generation of biogeophysical signals from a plant‐root cell. First laboratory experiments show that single roots and root system are highly polarizable. They also present encouraging results for imaging root systems embedded in a medium, and gaining information on the mass density distribution, the structure or the physiological characteristics of root systems. In addition, we highlight the application of induced polarization to characterize wood and tree structures through tomography of the stem. Finally, we discuss up‐ and down‐scaling between laboratory and field studies, as well as joint interpretation of induced polarization and other environmental data. We emphasize the need for intermediate‐scale studies and the benefits of using induced polarization as a time‐lapse monitoring method. We conclude with the promising integration of induced polarization in interdisciplinary mechanistic models to better understand and quantify subsurface biogeochemical processes

Face Work in Spanish Language Service Encounters between Native and Nonnative Speakers in the United States

Linguistic politeness plays an important role in the opinions people form of one another, especially when it offers one of the few clues an individual may have of his or her interlocutor’s disposition, as is the case in anonymous, first-time service encounters. Face is a fundamental con- cept in politeness theory. To borrow a summary from Callahan (2011): Positive face refers to the desire to be liked and appreciated, while negative face refers to the desire to be unimpeded (Brown and Levinson 1987). Positive and negative face are often characterized as corresponding to the dichotomies of involvement vs. independ- ence, intimacy vs. distance, and solidarity vs. deference (Scollon and Scollon 2001). An action or utterance that goes against one’s need for appreciation, in the case of positive face, or autonomy, in the case of negative face, is said to constitute a face-threatening act, or FTA (Brown and Levinson 1987). [...] Speech acts as well as non-linguistic actions that attend to the addressee’s as well as the speaker’s own face, both positive and negative, are described as face work.1 Face work attenuates, or mitigates, the force of face-threatening acts. (28