Folk Art Potters of Japan: Beyond an Anthropology of Aesthetics

Folk Art Potters of Japan: Beyond an Anthropology of Aesthetics. Brian Moeran. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997.272 pp.     

Cost-effectiveness evidence of mental health prevention and promotion interventions: A systematic review of economic evaluations

BackgroundThe prevention of mental disorders and promotion of mental health and well-being are growing fields. Whether mental health promotion and prevention interventions provide value for money in children, adolescents, adults, and older adults is unclear. The aim of the current study is to update 2 existing reviews of cost-effectiveness studies in this field in order to determine whether such interventions are cost-effective.Methods and findingsElectronic databases (including MEDLINE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and EconLit through EBSCO and Embase) were searched for published cost-effectiveness studies of prevention of mental disorders and promotion of mental health and well-being from 2008 to 2020. The quality of studies was assessed using the Quality of Health Economic Studies Instrument (QHES). The protocol was registered with PROSPERO (# CRD42019127778). The primary outcomes were incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) or return on investment (ROI) ratio across all studies.A total of 65 studies met the inclusion criteria of a full economic evaluation, of which, 23 targeted children and adolescents, 35 targeted adults, while the remaining targeted older adults. A large number of studies focused on prevention of depression and/or anxiety disorders, followed by promotion of mental health and well-being and other mental disorders. Although there was high heterogeneity in terms of the design among included economic evaluations, most studies consistently found that interventions for mental health prevention and promotion were cost-effective or cost saving. The review found that targeted prevention was likely to be cost-effective compared to universal prevention. Screening plus psychological interventions (e.g., cognitive behavioural therapy [CBT]) at school were the most cost-effective interventions for prevention of mental disorders in children and adolescents, while parenting interventions and workplace interventions had good evidence in mental health promotion. There is inconclusive evidence for preventive interventions for mental disorders or mental health promotion in older adults. While studies were of general high quality, there was limited evidence available from low- and middle-income countries.The review was limited to studies where mental health was the primary outcome and may have missed general health promoting strategies that could also prevent mental disorder or promote mental health. Some ROI studies might not be included given that these studies are commonly published in grey literature rather than in the academic literature.ConclusionsOur review found a significant growth of economic evaluations in prevention of mental disorders or promotion of mental health and well-being over the last 10 years. Although several interventions for mental health prevention and promotion provide good value for money, the varied quality as well as methodologies used in economic evaluations limit the generalisability of conclusions about cost-effectiveness. However, the finding that the majority of studies especially in children, adolescents, and adults demonstrated good value for money is promising. Research on cost-effectiveness in low-middle income settings is required.Trial registrationPROSPERO registration number: CRD42019127778.

In a systematic review, Long Khanh-Dao Le and colleagues investigate the cost effectiveness of mental health interventions among children, adolescents, and adults.     

Evaluation of an oral function promotion programme for the independent elderly in Japan

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to provide an oral function promotion programme for the independent elderly and evaluate the changes in oral health status and oral function. Background: Few studies have scientifically analysed and evaluated the effectiveness of oral function promotion programmes provided for the independent elderly. Materials and methods: The subjects were independent elderly females (mean age: 74.6 ± 6.3) recruited from senior citizens’ centres in Tokyo. The intervention group (n = 79) received a 3‐month oral function promotion programme, which included facial muscle and tongue exercises and salivary gland massages. The control group (n = 62) did not receive this programme. Results: In the intervention group, the tongue coating scores decreased and the organoleptic score of oral malodour fell. The amount of food debris in the oral cavity decreased and the tongue dryness improved. Furthermore, the salivary flow rate increased. The length of time for maintaining the tongue in the forward position increased from 11.2 s to 18.7 s, and the number of times for moving the tip of the tongue in a clockwise circular motion, counter‐clockwise circular motion and side‐to‐side motion within 30 s, increased from 14.5 to 20.6, 14.5 to 20.2, and 17.2 to 23.3 respectively. The number of times for movement of the lips significantly improved from 23.0 to 28.8 and the pronunciation of words was observed to be clearer. Conclusion: An oral function promotion programme was effective in improving the oral health status and oral function of an independent elderly population.     

Quantitative evaluation of effects of the soft interventions or cleaner production in households and the hard interventions: A Social Experiment Programme in a large river basin in Japan

Efforts have been made to reduce municipal wastewater pollutant discharge and improve river water quality in the Yamato-gawa River basin since 2005, as part of a Social Experiment Programme. The Programme was the first one in Japan to disseminate soft interventions in households, measurements to reduce pollutant discharge, in a large river basin with more than two million population. The soft interventions in households are similar to cleaner production in industrial sector because they are not the wastewater treatment and changing of lifestyles. This paper presents several methods for quantification of the pollutant discharge reduction. Two hypothetical soft intervention combinations were defined, the effects of 16 soft interventions were estimated using their proliferation rates, and estimated pollutant discharge reduction was compared with changes in river water quality during the Programme events. For the first method, environmental accounting housekeeping (EAH) books were applied to estimate a 38–53% reduction in biological oxygen demand (BOD), 26–40% reduction in total nitrogen (TN), and 21–32% reduction in total phosphorus (TP). These estimation results were comparable with the field survey results of approximately 100 person population, which were conducted in the late 1980s. Soft interventions were found to be several times more cost effective than hard interventions, such as development of municipal wastewater treatment and river water purification systems. The BOD discharge reduction effects of soft interventions initiated during Programme events increased from 0.3–2.3% in 2005–2007 to 2.4–4.7% in 2007–2009. The questionnaire surveys found that participants in the Programme events in average newly implemented three or four soft interventions in addition to those already implemented at normal times.     

Cyphophthalmi: the case for promotion

The characteristic features of the Opilionid suborder Cyphophthalmi are considered, and the evidence in favour of their promotion to the rank of a separate order is discussed.     

Research Ethics: Beyond the Guidelines

There is international recognition of the need for sustainable research ethics committees to provide ethical review of human subjects research in developing countries, but many developing countries do not have such committees (often called 'IRBs'). Theoretical and practical uncertainties encountered by an IRB on the Caribbean island of Grenada offer insight into ethical review of research in developing countries. Theoretical uncertainties include questions about whether means of ensuring confidentiality and obtaining informed consent will be effective in local settings, and whether deviations from Western norms are justifiable. International guidelines are helpful in addressing these concerns, but are subject to interpretation. Guidelines are less helpful in practical areas like selecting members or chairs. They do not address what sort of procedures and paperwork will work in a developing country, or IRBs' relationships to governments that have no mandate for them. Experiences presented here show that IRBs in developing countries can sustainably adhere to international standards. Sustainability requires knowledge, personal commitment, and an official mandate to uphold international standards. Capacity building must therefore focus on educational programs to make developing country leaders knowledgeable about the value of international guidelines to their nations. Such knowledge is needed before people will become motivated to promote, implement, and uphold the guidelines. People in developing countries must help design bridges to help their nations put international standards into practice. The structure of such bridges may, of necessity, vary in different settings.     

Smart deworming collar: A novel tool for reducing Echinococcus infection in dogs

Echinococcosis is a serious zoonotic parasitic disease transmitted from canines to humans and livestock. Periodic deworming is recommended by the WHO/OIE as a highly effective measure against echinococcosis. However, manual deworming involves significant challenges, particularly in remote areas with scarce resources. The insufficient awareness delivering praziquantel (PZQ) baits for dogs leads to low compliance rate. The aim of this study was therefore to develop a novel smart collar for dogs to address these challenges. We developed a smart Internet of Things (IoT)-based deworming collar which can deliver PZQ baits for dogs automatically, regularly, quantitatively with predominant characteristics of being waterproof, anti-collision, cold-proof and long life battery. Its performance was tested in two remote locations on the Tibetan Plateau. A cross-sectional survey was conducted to evaluate the compliance of the dog owners. Further, a randomized controlled study was performed to evaluate the difference between smart-collar deworming and manual deworming. The collar’s effectiveness was further assessed on the basis of Generalized Estimation Equations (GEE). The testing and evaluation was done for 10 smart deworming collars in factory laboratory, 18 collars attached for 18 dogs in Seni district, Tibet Autonomous Region, China, and 523 collars attached for 523 dogs in Hezuo city, Gansu province, China. The anti-collision, waterproof, and coldproof proportion of the smart collars were 100.0%, 99.5%, and 100.0%, respectively. When compared to manual deworming, the dogs’ risk of infection with Echinococcus on smart-collar deworming is down to 0.182 times (95% CI: 0.049, 0.684) in Seni district and 0.355 (95%CI: 0.178, 0.706) in Hezuo city, the smart collar has a significant protective effect. The owners’ overall compliance rate to attach the smart collars for their dogs was 89%. The smart deworming collar could effectively reduce the dogs’ risk of infection with Echinococcus in dogs, significantly increase the deworming frequency and coverage and rapidly remove worm biomass in dogs. Thus, it may be a promising alternative to manual deworming, particularly in remote areas on the Tibetan Plateau.     

Beyond dominance: the importance of leverage

The dominance concept as it is currently defined and applied in animal behavior is problematic. What has been traditionally considered dominance is actually a combination of dominance in the strict sense and power based upon other sources. Rather than working within the current paradigm, I propose a conceptual revision founded upon the more inclusive concept of power. Power is a phenomenon where a dyadic relationship is asymmetrical (Simon 1953) and can be divided into two types: dominance and leverage. Dominance is power based upon the ability to use force. Leverage is power based upon a resource that cannot be taken by force. Four characteristics of power are used in sociology (base, means, amount, and scope) that facilitate both the expansion of the power concept beyond traditional dominance and the application of these theoretical ideas in empirical studies. This cross-disciplinary approach to power allows a wide range of behaviors to be considered as critical while at the same time it focuses the attention of researchers to the aspects of power that differ among dyads, classes, and species. Power is not simply a linear combination of dominance and leverage, and more research is needed before the exact nature of this relationship can be clarified. By considering dominance as one form of power, this framework fosters a more complete understanding of power dynamics and their effects on animal societies.     

Medicine and the Media: Un-health promotion: results of a survey of alcohol promotion on television

To estimate how widely and to whom alcoholic drinks are promoted 1258 television advertisements were studied over a 10 week period that included the Christmas and New Year holidays in 1986-7. A total of 156 advertisements (12%) promoted alcohol, and this percentage increased significantly over the holiday period to 17%. These advertisements were longer than those advertising other products, and just over half (56%) occupied the first position in commercial breaks. During sports programmes and between the hours of 1800 and 1900 there was an increase in the number of advertisements for alcohol, but there was no difference before and after 2100.It was found that the extent and influence of the promotion of alcohol were great and that such advertising is seen by many children and adolescents.     

Beyond malaria: The inhibition of viruses by artemisinin-type compounds

Natural products represent valuable chemical scaffolds for drug development. A recent success story in this context was artemisinin, which is not only active against malaria but also to other diseases. This raised the interest of artemisinin's potential for drug repurposing. On the present review, we give an overview on artemisinin's antiviral activity. There is good in vitro and in vivo evidence for the activity of artemisinin and its derivatives against DNA viruses of the Herpesviridae and Hepadnaviridae families such as cytomegaloviruses, human herpesvirus 6, herpes simplex viruses 1 and 2, Epstein-Barr virus and Hepatitis B virus. The evidence is weaker for Polyomaviruses and papilloma viruses. Weaker or no inhibitory activity in vitro has been reported for RNA viruses such as human immunodeficiency viruses 1 and 2, hepatitis C virus, influenza virus and others. Interestingly, the artemisinin derivative artesunate did not exert cross-resistance to ganciclovir-resistant HCMV and exerted synergistic inhibition in combination with several clinically established antiviral standard drugs. The antiviral activity of first generation artemisinin derivatives (e.g. artesunate, artemether, etc.) was enhanced by novel derivatives, including dimer and trimer molecules. First results on patients indicating activity in a subset of HCMV patients. Novel developments in the field of nanotechnology and synthetic biology to bioengineer microorganisms for artemisinin production may pave the way for novel drugs to fight viral infections with artemisinin-based drugs.     

Glycosphingolipidoses: Beyond the enzymatic defect

The glycosphingolipid lysosomal storage diseases are a group of monogenic human disorders caused by the impaired catalytic activity of enzymes responsible for glycosphingolipid catabolism. Clinical presentation of the diseases is heterogeneous, with little obvious correlation between the kind of accumulating glycosphingolipid and disease progression or pathogenesis. In this review, we discuss clinical symptoms of this group of diseases, and attempt to link disease progression and pathology with the biochemical and cellular pathways that may be potentially altered in the diseases.     

Beyond the Taboo: Imagining Incest

This article provides an overview of anthropology's 150-year discussion of the incest taboo in light of the last 30 years of feminist and psychoanalytic discoveries about the incestuous abuse of children, it invites anthropologists to explore incest ethnographically and offers three suggested ways: one biosocial, a second social relational, and a third psychoanalytic, focusing on a connection between what psychologists call dissociation and what anthropologists call trance or possession. [Key words: incest taboo, childhood sexual abuse, dissociation, trance/possession, innate avoidance mechanism]     

Beyond society: the evolution of organismality

The evolution of organismality is a social process. All organisms originated from groups of simpler units that now show high cooperation among the parts and are nearly free of conflicts. We suggest that this near-unanimous cooperation be taken as the defining trait of organisms. Consistency then requires that we accept some unconventional organisms, including some social insect colonies, some microbial groups and viruses, a few sexual partnerships and a number of mutualistic associations. Whether we call these organisms or not, a major task is to explain such cooperative entities, and our survey suggests that many of the traits commonly used to define organisms are not essential. These non-essential traits include physical contiguity, indivisibility, clonality or high relatedness, development from a single cell, short-term and long-term genetic cotransmission, germ–soma separation and membership in the same species.     

Beyond the superfamily: the lipocalin receptors

Lipocalins are characterized by multiple molecular recognition properties including the ability to bind to cell surface receptors. Receptors for a number of lipocalins have been identified. These include receptors for alpha-1-microglobulin, insecticyanin, glycodelin, retinol-binding protein, alpha-1-acid glycoprotein, beta-lactoglobulin and odorant-binding protein. The properties of these receptors are summarized and discussed.     

Effects of deworming on malnourished preschool children in India: an open-labelled, cluster-randomized trial

Background

More than a third of the world''s children are infected with intestinal nematodes. Current control approaches emphasise treatment of school age children, and there is a lack of information on the effects of deworming preschool children.

Methodology

We studied the effects on the heights and weights of 3,935 children, initially 1 to 5 years of age, of five rounds of anthelmintic treatment (400 mg albendazole) administered every 6 months over 2 years. The children lived in 50 areas, each defined by precise government boundaries as urban slums, in Lucknow, North India. All children were offered vitamin A every 6 months, and children in 25 randomly assigned slum areas also received 6-monthly albendazole. Treatments were delivered by the State Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), and height and weight were monitored at baseline and every 6 months for 24 months (trial registration number {"type":"clinical-trial","attrs":{"text":"NCT00396500","term_id":"NCT00396500"}}NCT00396500). p Value calculations are based only on the 50 area-specific mean values, as randomization was by area.

Findings

The ICDS infrastructure proved able to deliver the interventions. 95% (3,712/3,912) of those alive at the end of the study had received all five interventions and had been measured during all four follow-up surveys, and 99% (3,855/3,912) were measured at the last of these surveys. At this final follow up, the albendazole-treated arm exhibited a similar height gain but a 35 (SE 5) % greater weight gain, equivalent to an extra 1 (SE 0.15) kg over 2 years (99% CI 0.6–1.4 kg, p = 10⁻¹¹).

Conclusions

In such urban slums in the 1990s, five 6-monthly rounds of single dose anthelmintic treatment of malnourished, poor children initially aged 1–5 years results in substantial weight gain. The ICDS system could provide a sustainable, inexpensive approach to the delivery of anthelmintics or micronutrient supplements to such populations. As, however, we do not know the control parasite burden, these results are difficult to generalize.

Trial Registration

ClinicalTrials.gov {"type":"clinical-trial","attrs":{"text":"NCT00396500","term_id":"NCT00396500"}}NCT00396500