Constructing robust selves after brain injury: positive identity work among members of a female self-help group

Despite common experiences of identity damage, decline, and deterioration, many brain injury survivors succeed in reconstructing robust identities in the wake of injury. Yet, while this accomplishment greatly benefits survivors’ quality of life, little is known about how positive identity work might be facilitated or enhanced in therapeutic institutions. Drawing on data from a women’s self-help group, we argue that an egalitarian, reflective, strength-focused, and gender-segregated environment can provide female ABI (acquired brain injury) survivors with a fertile scene for identity enhancement and offer unique opportunities for collective identity development. Sociolinguistic interactional analysis revealed four types of positive identity work undertaken within the group: constructing competent selves; tempering the threat of loss and impairment; resisting infantilisation and delegitimisation; and asserting a collective gender identity. This identity work was facilitated by specific programme attributes and activities and contributed to the global project of decentring disability and destigmatising impairments and losses. We call for increased attention to identity issues in brain injury rehabilitation and argue that gender-segregated programming can provide a unique space for female survivors to construct empowering individual and collective identities after injury.     

The theory of Rational Addiction

The Theory of Rational Addictions, by Gary Becker & Kevin Murphy (1988), was a rational choice model that became a standard tool for economists modeling addictive behavior. The approach differs from other theories of addiction by modeling addictive behavior as the gradual implementation of a rational, forward‐looking plan, where consumption at any point in time is partly motivated by the immediate payoff of consumption and partly by the effects this consumption has on the individual in the future. This makes addictive behavior a subset of rational behavior, requiring no more specific government policies or attention than any other consumption choice. Later work by economists extended the theory in different ways, allowing it to match an increasing number of consumption patterns, and searched for ways to test the forward‐looking assumption in different types of market data. While the work was successful as a contribution to rational choice theory, with possible statistical applications, there are several reasons to dismiss its usefulness as an explanation of real‐world addictive behavior and its ability to assess the welfare effects of addictions.     

Patient preferences and predicted relative uptake for targeted therapies in metastatic colorectal cancer: a discrete choice experiment

Abstract

Objective

Ras wild-type metastatic colorectal cancers (mCRC) may be treated with anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) or anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) agents. We aim to estimate patients’ preferences for mCRC treatment and relative importance of cost, efficacy improvement, avoidance of side effects and therapy convenience, and relative uptake between profiles that resemble Bevacizumab (anti-VEGF) and Cetuximab (anti-EGFR), two commonly prescribed mCRC targeted therapies.     

For better or worse? Investigating the validity of best–worst discrete choice experiments in health

Discrete choice experiments (DCEs) are frequently used in health economics to measure preferences for nonmarket goods. Best–worst discrete choice experiment (BWDCE) has been proposed as a variant of the traditional “pick the best” approach. BWDCE, where participants choose the best and worst options, is argued to generate more precise preference estimates because of the additional information collected. However, the validity of the approach relies on two necessary conditions: (a) best and worst decisions provide similar information about preferences and (b) asking individuals to answer more than one choice question per task does not reduce data quality. Whether these conditions hold in empirical applications remains under researched. This is the first study to compare participants' choices across three experimental conditions: (a) BEST choices only, (b) WORST choices only, and (c) BEST and WORST choices (BWDCE). We find responses to worst choices are noisier. Implied preferences from the best only and worst only choices are qualitatively different, leading to different WTP values. Responses to BWDCE tasks have lower consistency, and respondents are more likely to use simplifying decision heuristics. We urge caution in using BWDCE as an alternative to the traditional “pick the best” DCE.     

2004年和2005年鲁东大学女教职工妇科查体结果分析

目的通过2004年和2005年本校女教职工妇科查体结果的分析，发现女教职工中未被识别的疾病与致病因子，从而达到防病、治病的目的。通过两年查体结果的分析比较，进一步说明高校女教职工定期进行妇科查体的必要性。方法收集、整理2004年和2005年两年的妇科查体结果，并对不同年龄组的患病率进行分析、比较，查找原因。结果两年的查体结果表明，2005年各年龄段妇科疾病的发病率明显较2004年低，经卡方比较，差异有显著性。结论对女教职工实施定期的妇科查体，对及旱发现妇科疾病、及时进行适当的治疗、保障女教职工的身体健康起了重要作用。     

Traditional Chinese Medicine Compound Mianbu Mixfang Is Effective in Treating Immunological Infertility: a Female Mice

Key words:anTraditional Chinese Medicine has been used to treat various diseases in Chinathousands of years before the introduction of Western Medicine and practices.Inrecent years it has also been used to treat the immunological infertility caused byAs A…     

Fos Expression in the Rat Brain Following Vaginal-Cervical Stimulation by Mating and Manual Probing

Vaginal-cervical stimulation (VCS), provided by mating or manual probing, induces many reproductive behavioral and endocrine changes in female rats. These changes include an increase in lordosis duration, heat termination and pseudopregnancy. Electro-physiological and [¹⁴C]2-deoxy-D-glucose studies collectively show that neurons in the medial preoptic area, ventromedial hypothalamus and midbrain central gray respond to manual VCS. In the present study we immunocytochemically labeled brain sections for Fos, the protein product of the immediate early gene c-fos, to detect VCS-responsive neurons in hormone-primed animals receiving VCS by mating or manual probing. In Experiment 1, females receiving mounts and intromissions were compared to: 1) vaginally-masked females receiving mounts but no VCS, 2) females exposed to an intact anesthetized male or 3) females not exposed to males or the testing arena. Those animals receiving VCS showed a dramatic increase in the number of Fos-immunoreactive cells in the medial preoptic area, posterodorsal portion of the medial amygdala and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, as well as the dorsomedial hypothalamus, ventromedial hypothalamus and midbrain central gray. These effects of VCS were confirmed in Experiment 2 in animals receiving manual vaginal-cervical probing. These findings extend previous electrophysiological and [¹⁴C]2-deoxy-D-glucose studies by providing evidence that additional brain areas respond to VCS by mating, as well as manual probing.     

胆道镜应用对肝胆胰术式选择的影响

目的 探讨分析胆道镜检查在肝胆胰疾患术式选择中的价值。方法 回顾分析1994～2004年收集术中或联合术后应用胆道镜治疗肝胆胰疾患2276例临床资料，进行分析及总结。结果 1966例肝胆管胆石患者胆道残留结石率从34．5％降至9．6％；82例术中胆道镜发现合并胆管狭窄，其中45例肝胆管膜状狭窄者在胆道镜指导下实施了有效扩张治疗；胆总管下段梗阻患者中224例肿瘤依据形态学检查，结合术中扪诊及活检组织学检查得到确诊，并采取了相应的手术方式。结论 胆道镜的应用有利于肝胆胰疾患术式的选择，可使一些较为复杂的胆道手术变得简单易行；对术前未能确诊的病变可以达到明确诊断并指导选择合理的术式。