Classic Studies on the Potential of Stem Cell Neuroregeneration

The 1990s and 2000s were the beginning of an exciting time period for developmental neuroscience and neural stem cell research. By better understanding brain plasticity and the birth of new neurons in the adult brain, contrary to established dogma, hope for therapy from devastating neurological diseases was generated. The potential for stem cells to provide functional recovery in humans remains to be further tested and to further move into the clinical trial realm. The future certainly has great promise on stem cells to assist in alleviation of difficult-to-treat neurologic disorders. This article reviews classic studies of the 1990s and 2000s that paved the way for the advances of today, which can in turn lead to tomorrow’s therapies.     

20世纪60～90年代爱国卫生运动初探

20世纪60～90年代的爱国卫生运动尽管在"文化大革命"时期不同程度地受到"左"倾思想的干扰,但仍持续发展,特别是党的十一届三中全会以后,随着经济的发展和社会的进步,其内容更加丰富,已成为社会主义现代化建设事业的重要组成部分.爱国卫生运动的历史告诉我们党和国家对爱国卫生运动的重视和领导是我国卫生防疫事业取得不断胜利的根本保证;教育、动员和组织人民群众参加爱国卫生运动是我国独具特色的卫生防疫事业的有效工作方式;爱国卫生运动与其他工作相结合、突击性与经常性相结合、治本与治标相结合是推动卫生防疫事业发展的重要方法.     

Tooth wear in two ancient populations of the Khazar Kaganat region in the Ukraine

Tooth wear is a common phenomenon in archaeological material. It has been related to the abrasiveness of diet and to the tribological attrition of teeth of individuals. Numerous investigations have been carried out in north and middle American samples as well as African anthropological material. Not much is known about tooth wear in European cultures. Eleven skulls from Chervona Gusarovka, and 14 skulls from the Upper Saltov sites of the Khazar Kaganat region (8th–10th centuries AD) in eastern Ukraine, with different diets were examined. A total of 208 teeth were studied for tooth wear, caries prevalence and periodontal status. Abrasion grades were determined according to a standardised classification and statistically evaluated. Periodontal status was measured using the distance between the enamel‐cementum junction and alveolar crest and the gingival attachment level respectively. Tooth wear was significantly different (P < 0.01) between the two populations. A low caries prevalence of 4.2% in the Chervona Gusarovka population and 1.7% in the Upper Saltov population was found. Significantly more alveolar crest bone resorption on the lingual side was found in the premolars and anterior teeth of the Chervona Gusarovka population. No significant differences were found regarding gingival attachment levels and gingival recession. It is concluded that the content and mode of food preparation influenced tooth wear, as reflected by the prevalence of dental caries and periodontal diseases in these ancient populations. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

FROM COERCIVE POLICIES TO VOLUNTARY INITIATIVES

During the twentieth century Danish policies to prevent venereal diseases (VD) were characterized by coercive measures targeting all citizens and formulated in a gender neutral language. Voluntary individual initiatives were only during the 1970s and 1980s accepted as the best means to curb these diseases. This paper analyses debates in the Danish parliament on legislation between 1906 and 1988 to prevent VD, exploring when and why provisions shifted from coercive policies to voluntary initiatives. It considers the possible impact of accepted norms for sexual behaviour as well as of the increasingly influential medical profession. It discusses to what extent VD legislation complied with core elements of emerging and later changing welfare state policies and charts the position of political parties with regard to legislation on VD.     

Towards a nuanced understanding of health‐supportive place using composite research methods

Chronic non‐communicable diseases comprise a major challenge for health in contemporary Australia and across the globe and, while various factors are at play, personal choices in behaviour and lifestyle are significant. The physical make‐up and ongoing management of the places where we live positively and negatively influences these lifestyle choices and subsequent health outcomes. However, responses—in research, policy, built environment design, construction, and management—frequently fail to recognise the intricacies of this people‐place‐behaviour nexus largely because those responses are highly focused and empirical. Rather, the health‐supportive environments needed to address the current chronic disease epidemic also require additional—networked, nuanced, and intuitive—understandings. Responding to that need, the study described in this paper took a comprehensive view of what constitutes a health‐supportive built environment. We detail the composite methods employed—built environment audits, interviews, and focus groups—all of which are available for use by others in similar situations. Then, using two case study examples, we reflect upon how our methodology revealed otherwise hidden aspects of the extent to which the study sites supported or hindered health‐supportive behaviours and responses. These results suggest intervention actions for policy makers and practitioners that will help them respond to the complex needs of communities in creating a health‐supportive environment.     

1959年全国急性传染病学术会议的历史考察

1959年5月,为适应防疫的需要并迎接新中国成立10周年,中华人民共和国卫生部、中国人民解放军总后勤部卫生部和中华医学会在北京联合召开了全国急性传染病学术会议。会议贯彻中西医结合的卫生工作方针,结合时代发展需要,交流并总结了新中国成立以来医学界在防治急性传染病方面取得的成功经验,制定了8种急性传染病防治方案,对此后的传染病防治和研究起到了重要的推动作用。此次会议既为当代中国防疫史增添了浓墨重彩的一笔,同时也在我国医学发展史上具有重要意义。     

Electoral Behavior in the Russian Far East, 1995-2000: Contextual and Compositional Effects

A group of political scientists specializing in Russia's post-Soviet electoral behavior explores the question of whether genuinely regional effects of voting behavior can be discerned (and at what scale) by controlling for variations in compositional characteristics measured by aggregate social and economic data. The paper seeks to identify situations in which contextual effects may be operating, using a scale of analysis that is intermediate between regional (oblast)-level case studies and nationwide surveys—that of the Russian Far East macroregion. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: H10, O50, Z10. 4 tables, 40 references, 1 appendix.     

Egas Moniz and the Origins of Psychosurgery: A Review Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of Moniz's Nobel Prize

Modern psychosurgery began in 1936 with the work of the Portuguese neurologist, Egas Moniz, who attempted to treat the symptoms of mental illness by severing neural tracts in the frontal lobes. This procedure eventually became widespread and applied to thousands of institutionalized, psychotic patients in the United States and other countries. Despite serious side effects associated with psychosurgery, the apparent importance and validity of the treatment was recognized in 1949 when Moniz received the Nobel Prize for his innovation. Psychosurgery was largely replaced by anti-psychotic drugs in the mid-1950s, and the procedure and its practitioners rapidly fell into disrepute. This article reviews Moniz's career, the factors that led up to his first clinical trials of frontal lobe surgery, and the circumstances that allowed psychosurgery to flourish in the 1940s, eventually leading to Moniz's Nobel Prize.     

The Earliest Case of Spondylocarpotarsal Synostosis Syndrome (Roman Age—2nd Century ad)

Spondylocarpotarsal synostosis syndrome (SCT) is a rare genetic disease. It was described for the first time during the 1970s. The most relevant pathognomonic skeletal changes are vertebral malsegmentation and the fusion of the carpal and tarsal bones. This last implication can be absent in some cases. We have investigated a case of SCT in a female of about 40–45 years of age, dated to the 2nd century ad . This discovery is important for two reasons: first, SCT is not a recent disease but rather one with a very long history; second, the clinical picture of the skeletal changes (malsegmentation of some elements of the spine, fusion of carpal bones) seems not to have varied in the last 2000 years. Furthermore, the age of the Roman female shows medium–long survival in patients suffering from SCT, even in the absence of medical treatment. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.