The sound of barking dogs: violence and terror among Salvadoran families in the postwar

This article examines the transgenerational transmission of trauma among campensino living in a rural, repopulated community in El Salvador. Research with Holocaust survivors and their children has shown that traumatic symptoms can be transmitted to children who did not directly experience the Holocaust. The mechanisms by which this transgenerational transmission occurs have not been fully explored and require an expansion of medical and anthropological conceptualizations of posttraumatic illness. Through their reactions to and interpretations of everyday events, campesino parents who lived in the guerrilla camps explicitly transmit trauma to children who did not experience the recent civil war. Illness narratives by sufferers of nervios transmit trauma and point to the basic immorality of the war, an immorality that continues today. In addition, the symptoms of nervios constitute a mechanism by which trauma is implicitly transmitted. Symptoms of nervios point to what generally is not and, indeed, cannot be voiced: the destruction of primary relationships in the family and unresolved grief and helplessness, which, through the responses of family members to the sufferer, are reproduced and reenacted in the present family context.     

Measuring Exposure in Hurricane Katrina: A Meta-Analysis and an Integrative Data Analysis

To date there is no consensus on the operationalization of exposure severity in the study of the impact of natural disasters. This is problematic because incomplete and inconsistent measurement of exposure limits the internal and external validity of disaster studies. The current paper examined the predictive validity of severity measures in two interrelated studies of Hurricane Katrina survivors. First, in a meta-analysis of eight studies that measured both exposure severity and posttraumatic stress, the effect size was estimated to be r = .266. The moderating effects of sample and study characteristics were examined and we found that minority status and number of stressors assessed were significant moderators. Second, in an integrative data analysis of five independent samples of Hurricane Katrina survivors, the impact of specific disaster-related stressors on mental health was compared. Threat to physical integrity of self and others were found to have the strongest association with posttraumatic stress (PTS) and general psychological distress (GPD). The lack of basic necessities, such as food, water, and medical care, and loss of pet were also found to be strongly associated with both PTS and GPD. The results from the two studies are integrated and their implication for disaster research and relief are discussed.     

Transnational childhood and adolescence: mobilizing Sahrawi identity and politics across time and space

This paper proposes the importance of examining not only how and when diasporas are mobilized by political brokers, but also which members of diasporic populations are strategically engaged both according to their own characteristics (including their age) and the nature of their diasporic hosting context. It explores how Sahrawi refugee children and youth in the Algeria-based Sahrawi refugee camps, Cuba, Syria and in Spain have been mobilized by their political representatives (Polisario), asking why particular cohorts of youth have been actively encouraged to promote and protect ‘the Sahrawi cause’, while other members of the diaspora have not. Drawing on a framework that facilitates comparison both within and across cases, the paper argues that a combination of factors influence the extent to which the Polisario is able and interested in activating the support of Sahrawi children and youth, including the characteristics of the students themselves, their position within the respective host contexts, and the space and resources available to the Polisario/SADR in each location.     

Epidemiological assessment of the health and nutrition of Ethiopian refugees in emergency camps in Sudan, 1985.

The findings from epidemiological data that were collected from emergency camps for Ethiopian refugees during a mass influx of refugees into Eastern Sudan in 1985 are presented. An overall mortality of 8.9 per 10,000 a day was recorded during February 1985, and in children under 5 years of age the rate was 22 per 10,000 a day. The estimated prevalence of malnutrition (calculated as less than 80% of the reference weight for height) ranged from 32% to 52% among children of preschool age. The principal causes of morbidity and mortality were measles, diarrhoea and dysentery, respiratory infections, and malaria. The findings suggest that malnutrition and disease increased in these refugees after they arrived in the camps. Epidemiological assessment is essential to help to maintain the health and nutrition of refugees in emergency camps.     

Factors that mitigate war-induced anxiety and mental distress

The effects of war-induced anxiety and mental distress on individuals and groups can either be mitigated or exacerbated by 'humanitarian action'. This paper focuses on two key factors that protect the mental well-being of war-affected populations: organized displacement or assisted relocation; and coordinated humanitarian aid operations that are responsive to local needs. Qualitative data from two internally displaced person (IDP) camps in Eritrea are presented. Analysis of these data serves to substantiate and refine a working hypothesis: that social support of the right type, provided at the right time and level, can mitigate the worst effects of war and displacement on victims/survivors. An integrated model of psychosocial transition is suggested. The implications of this approach for humanitarian policy and practice are discussed in the wider context of current debates and lamentations of the 'humanitarian idea'.     

Psychological Sequelae of the Station Nightclub Fire: Comparing Survivors with and without Physical Injuries Using a Mixed-Methods Analysis

Background

Surveying survivors from a large fire provides an opportunity to explore the impact of emotional trauma on psychological outcomes.

Methods

This is a cross-sectional survey of survivors of The Station Fire. Primary outcomes were post-traumatic stress (Impact of Event Scale – Revised) and depressive (Beck Depression Inventory) symptoms. Linear regression was used to examine differences in symptom profiles between those with and without physical injuries. The free-response section of the survey was analyzed qualitatively to compare psychological sequelae of survivors with and without physical injuries.

Results

104 participants completed the study survey; 47% experienced a burn injury. There was a 42% to 72% response rate range. The mean age of respondents was 32 years, 62% were male, and 47% experienced a physical injury. No significant relationships were found between physical injury and depressive or post-traumatic stress symptom profiles. In the qualitative analysis, the emotional trauma that survivors experienced was a major, common theme regardless of physical injury. Survivors without physical injuries were more likely to experience survivor guilt, helplessness, self-blame, and bitterness. Despite the post-fire challenges described, most survivors wrote about themes of recovery and renewal.

Conclusions

All survivors of this large fire experienced significant psychological sequelae. These findings reinforce the importance of mental health care for all survivors and suggest a need to understand factors influencing positive outcomes.     

Dream content: Reflections of the emotional and psychological states of earthquake survivors.

This study investigated dream narratives as reflections of the emotional and psychological states of earthquake survivors. Dreams and dreams imagery have reportedly been affected by the emotional and psychological trauma that the dreamer goes through. Dream narratives and dream content ratings used in earlier studies were utilized in this study. Narratives and content ratings were obtained from a sample of 27 volunteer survivors of the October 8, 2005 earthquake in Pakistan (Azad Kashmir area) and 27 volunteer controls from similar demographics. Three independent raters judged the dream narratives and dream content ratings. The judges rating were highly congruent (86.05). Findings revealed that the survivor group had more vivid, unpleasant, horrifying, and hostile dreams compared with the control group. However, there were no significant gender differences. The data suggest that a closer study of dreams can be used to understand the underlying trauma for effective interventions. In addition, interesting emergence of recurrent dreams was seen, which will be independently studied in future. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Unintended pregnancy and women's psychological well-being in Indonesia

Few studies have examined the impact of unintended pregnancy on women in developing countries. This paper examines the impact of unintended pregnancy on Indonesian women's psychological well-being. It is hypothesized that experiencing unintended pregnancy is associated with lower psychological well-being and that use of family planning and small family size are associated with higher levels of psychological well-being. Data are drawn from a 1996 survey of 796 women aged 15-49 from two Indonesian provinces, Lampung and South Sumatra. This article focuses on the 71% of women (n=562) who answered all 41 survey items related to psychological well-being. In cluster analysis, women grouped into three clusters, differentiated by their scores on four scales of well-being established through factor analysis (general negative feelings, satisfaction with relationships, satisfaction with economic/family/personal conditions, and negative feelings regarding domestic issues). Women in cluster 3 were characterized mainly by their high level of psychological well-being. Women in cluster 1 had the lowest level of well-being, and women in cluster 2 were in the middle. Multinomial logistic regression was used to assess jointly the effect of unintended pregnancy, contraceptive use, number of children and other factors on a woman's level of psychological well-being. Unintended pregnancy was associated with lower levels of psychological well-being and contraceptive use was associated with higher levels of psychological well-being, while number of children was not associated with level of well-being. Women who had experienced an unintended pregnancy were less likely to be in the high psychosocial well-being cluster versus both the medium and low clusters. In addition, women using contraception were more likely to be classified in the high than in the low or medium well-being clusters.     

The Sequelae of Acute Purulent Meningitis in Childhood

Of a series of 122 children suffering from acute purulent meningitis at the Children''s Hospital, Winnipeg, in the years 1952-56, 12 (9.8%) succumbed, all deaths occurring in those 12 months of age or less. Fortyone of the survivors were re-studied 2.5 to 7.5 years after their acute illness to assess the nature and incidence of sequelae, the relationship of sequelae to the severity of the acute illness, and the correlation between the various methods of identifying sequelae. Five children exhibited psychiatric evidence of organic brain damage; seven, neurological abnormality; 11, electroencephalographic abnormality. Three had defective intelligence and nine psychological test evidence of organic brain damage. Children with sequelae tended to have several abnormal test results, the total number with neuropsychiatric and/or psychological sequelae being 11 (26%). There was a positive correlation between the severity of the acute illness and the presence of neuropsychiatric sequelae; also between neuropsychiatric sequelae, defective intelligence and psychological evidence of brain damage. No correlation existed between the electroencephalographic abnormality and neuropsychiatric defect.     

The psychological outcome of constitutional delay of growth and puberty

Does being of short stature (SS) matter? Growth studies are important because endocrinologists need to be able to give not only diagnostic but also prognostic indication to those of SS, and give advice for or against treatment. Studies on body height may give significant insight into the behavioural-hypothalamic-pituitary axis underlying the surface effect on social behaviour. This research presents adult follow-up studies of 49 males who attended at a growth clinic as children and who were diagnosed as having the condition of maturational delay short stature (MDSS). From the psychological perspective, the elements of diagnosis and prognosis, attitudinal influences both social and individual, treatment, and psychological issues which could have bearing on SS are drawn together. Where there is a poor psychosocial outcome finding, the MDSS patients seem to be more like those with growth hormone (GH) deficiency. With GH deficiency (GHD), a poor psychosocial outcome of SS has been demonstrated with greater certainty. The current situation is that there remains divergence between previous SS outcome studies. Differing research SS psychosocial outcomes are analysed and a methodological explanation of past divergent outcomes is presented, being: (1) differences in sensitivity between psychological assessment tools; (2) Invalidation by confounding the psychological with sociological outcomes, and (3) confounding of results by failure to control for psychological states. An innovative new approach of changing the methodology of past SS research from the biological to the psychological perspective is employed: previous SS research has appointed height status as the independent variable, with psychosocial outcome as the dependent variable. The innovative approach in this research is to reverse that order and psychological status has been made the independent variable for both the MDSS and for a predetermined psychologically and physically healthy (PPH) comparison group of males. The results of the follow-up studies in this research indicate that there is an association between psychological distress and attained height which supports other studies where the findings indicate a poor psychological outcome associated with SS. It can therefore be concluded that the psychological status of children should be determined when they attend a growth clinic with concerns of SS.     

Lung Resection for Tuberculosis in Children

At the Nova Scotia Sanatorium from 1944 to 1959 lung resection for tuberculosis was carried out in 1257 instances. Of these, 44 operations were performed on 41 children from 5 to 15 years of age. Two patients had bilateral surgery, and in two others a second homolateral resection was necessary. Twenty-five per cent of the operations were done for the “middle lobe syndrome”, the remainder for the reinfection type of tuberculosis. Two children died, one in the early postoperative period, of pulmonary edema, and the other six years after a second homolateral resection for progression of her tuberculous disease. Complications occurred in 20% of cases, of which 18% were early and reversible. Thirty-eight of the survivors have fully recovered and the other has improved.Pulmonary resection is required infrequently in children with tuberculosis. When it is indicated, the results are excellent. These young patients withstand major thoracic surgery extremely well.     

Long live structural biology

Two camps continue to evolve in the field of structural biology--a 'systems-oriented' camp, which studies proteins or complexes carefully one system at a time, and a 'discovery-oriented' one, which studies proteins of entire families, pathways or genomes. The end goals of both camps are the same: to decipher the atomic-resolution structures and mechanisms of biological macromolecules and understand them in the context of the living cell.     

Searching for Survivors through Random Human-Body Movement Outdoors by Continuous-Wave Radar Array

It is a major challenge to search for survivors after chemical or nuclear leakage or explosions. At present, biological radar can be used to achieve this goal by detecting the survivor’s respiration signal. However, owing to the random posture of an injured person at a rescue site, the radar wave may directly irradiate the person’s head or feet, in which it is difficult to detect the respiration signal. This paper describes a multichannel-based antenna array technology, which forms an omnidirectional detection system via 24-GHz Doppler biological radar, to address the random positioning relative to the antenna of an object to be detected. Furthermore, since the survivors often have random body movement such as struggling and twitching, the slight movements of the body caused by breathing are obscured by these movements. Therefore, a method is proposed to identify random human-body movement by utilizing multichannel information to calculate the background variance of the environment in combination with a constant-false-alarm-rate detector. The conducted outdoor experiments indicate that the system can realize the omnidirectional detection of random human-body movement and distinguish body movement from environmental interference such as movement of leaves and grass. The methods proposed in this paper will be a promising way to search for survivors outdoors.     

Childproof caps open Pandora's box

This fall Ontario braced for possible strikes by public servants and teachers. A year earlier, the province''s physicians were preparing their own job action. Walkouts by physicians, which have not been uncommon since the introduction of medicare, create two camps. In one are physicians who say legal job actions are ethical and often improve health care for patients. In the other are some doctors and ethicists who question whether doctors have an ethical right to withdraw services, even if it is legal to do so. Nicole Baer interviewed members of both camps.     

US Coast Guard collision at sea

The collision between the USCGC Cuyahoga and the motor vessel Santa Cruz II resulted in psychological distress among the Coast Guard crewmen. The US Navy Special Psychiatric Rapid Intervention Team (SPRINT) was activated to provide mental health services to the Coast Guard survivors and others who had been affected by the disaster. The psychiatric records of the 18 survivors were examined and summarized, and combined with anecdotal comments made by SPRINT members. The most prominent psychological reactions among the survivors were shock, anger, sadness, and guilt. Spouses of the survivors dealt with bereavement and strove to understand their husbands' reactions. Variables identified by the SPRINT as being important to their success were communication with and support from the training center command, assurances of confidentiality to the survivors, and commencement of their work almost immediately following the collision.     

Early puberty in adopted children

Early puberty is frequently observed in adopted children. In various studies, early puberty has been associated with decreased final height. In Europe, studies were undertaken to treat early puberty in adopted children with GnRH agonist. This article reviews the current understanding of early puberty in adopted children, including prevalence, background and treatment options. Data from the European studies are briefly described. Besides auxological aspects, psychological items are addressed as well. Studies on the psychological effect of early puberty in adopted children are reported. Future issues include further study in the mechanism of early puberty in adopted children, evaluation of final height results of the growth studies and quality of life assessments in this specific group of children.     

The Politics of Governance and Urban Marginality: A Camp Studies Perspective

ABSTRACT

Designed to provide temporary shelter to the displaced, in protracted refugee situations camps become places of long-term residency and undergo processes of urban change. The complex realities of protracted encampment challenge the dichotomy between the city (as a norm) and the camp (as an exception) that underpins dominant theoretical models of refugee camps. Instead, the theoretical lens of urban margins allows us to circumvent this binary and analyse the camps from the perspective of their relation to the city and the state. Rather than a specific location, this article approaches urban marginality as a condition produced by unequal power relations behind the enforcement of a particular urban order. Based on two years of ethnographic fieldwork, it draws on the case of Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank. Unlike the majority of studies on Palestinian camps that focus either on top-down politics of exclusion or political agency of camp residents, the article examines how different actors, interests and modes of exercising power (both formal and informal) intersect in camp space and produce, as well as resist and subvert, the condition of urban marginality.     

Dermatophytosis among children of Fulani/Hausa herdsmen living in southeastern Nigeria

BackgroundDermatophytic infections are a worldwide public health problem. In Nigeria, children of nomadic herdsmen are thought to be more at risk because of their early and continuous exposure to different kinds of animals. However, little is known about the level of infection in these children in southeastern Nigeria or elsewhere within the West African sub-region.ObjectiveThis study investigated dermatophytic infections among children of nomadic herdsmen living in isolated camps in southeastern Nigeria from October 2008 to May 2009.Methods390 children aged between 4 and 17 years with clinically suggestive lesions were sampled. Isolates were identified by microscopy, culture or both. Biochemical tests and sequencing of the ITS2 region of the ribosomal DNA were used to identify isolates with atypical morphology.Results162 children were confirmed to be infected. Ten different species of dermatophytes were recovered with Trichophyton mentagrophytes showing the highest incidence. There was a significant difference (P < 0.05) in the frequency of isolates recovered among the different age groups screened. No significant (P > 0.05) observations were found according to gender or location of the two camps investigated.ConclusionThis study suggests that tinea capitis is the predominant clinical type of dermatophytosis among children exposed to different kinds of animals based on parental nomadic lifestyle. It also dominated in children with mixed infections in different anatomical sites. The high prevalence of 41.25% suggests that animal to child transmission may be very common.     

Should I stay or should I go? Why Roma migrants leave or remain in nomad camps

Drawing on fieldwork conducted among Roma living in Turin (Northern Italy), this paper analyses the processes surrounding the exit routes taken by Roma out of nomad camps. Starting with the overview of national policy to face the disadvantaged housing situation, it explores the agency and the active strategy of Roma in the improvement of their disadvantaged living condition. Housing careers are the centre of the analysis in a comparative perspective: those of Roma leaving informal slums are compared with those of Roma leaving municipality camps. The article focuses on different factors and social mechanisms that explain different pathways, in the frame of constraints and opportunities. Individual preferences and resources, as well as institutional and structural constrains are part of the explanation. The results show the complexity of the universe of preferences and opportunities, stressing advantages and weaknesses of governmental policy and other external constraints in the decision-making processes.