348 research outputs found

    Why perceived size matters for agency termination

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    Agency size is generally assumed to be positively correlated with survival: the bigger an agency, the less likely it is to be terminated. Yet, recent research finds a very small effect of size on survival. The reason, we argue, is that it only addresses size in terms of overall operating budget – what this article calls objective size. By contrast, we use an interpretive historicist approach to show how perceived size – the meanings and beliefs of key actors concerning an agency's size – affects termination. Drawing on a case study of Australia's independent aid agency, AusAID, which endured a tumultuous history of cuts, reorganizations and rebirths, culminating in termination, we show how perceptions of the agency's size mattered. These findings both support and extend recent research showing that adaptation and reputation are critical to the survival of government agencies

    The antiquarian photography of Cosmo Innes

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    The article focuses on the photography of historian Cosmo Innes. The author provides a brief historical background on Innes, discusses his interest in photographing pre-Reformation Scottish churches, and contrasts his work depicting church architecture to his photographs of country mansions, including Cawdor Castle, Auldbar Castle, and Gordon Castle

    Government Statistical Agencies and the Politics of Credibility

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    Who decides how official statistics are produced? Do politicians have control or are key decisions left to statisticians in independent statistical agencies? Interviews with statisticians in Australia, Canada, Sweden, the UK and the USA were conducted to get insider perspectives on the nature of decision making in government statistical administration. While the popular adage suggests there are ‘lies, damned lies and statistics’, this research shows that official statistics in liberal democracies are far from mistruths; they are consistently insulated from direct political interference. Yet, a range of subtle pressures and tensions exist that governments and statisticians must manage. The power over statistics is distributed differently in different countries, and this book explains why. Differences in decision-making powers across countries are the result of shifting pressures politicians and statisticians face to be credible, and the different national contexts that provide distinctive institutional settings for the production of government numbers.No Full Tex

    State formation and statistics

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    Modern government is impossible without statistics. Administrative bodies maintain enormous datasets for the purposes of routine management of public programmes. Legislatures and the media often demand access to these figures as a vital information source for holding governments accountable for their actions and inactions. Some public agencies exist solely to publish ‘official statistics’, the definitive indicators of national life. Many countries conduct a population census, a key shared national experience that helps communities understand themselves and distinguish their societies from others. Meanwhile, political leaders continuously invoke statistics in their public statements and debates with opponents. Yet, while statistics are taken for granted today as a core instrument of governing, they were not always central to rulers’ exercise of authority.No Full Tex

    Sutured selves, queer connections: personal lives at the cutting edge of individualization

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    Book synopsis: The contributors to this volume provide a survey of new research and theoretical work on the topic of individualization

    Is sedation for endoscopy as safe as you think?

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    1118 Minerva Anestesiologica N November 2017 I n this issue of Minerva Anestesiologica, Brumby et al.8 report an observational pilot study assessing the incidence of failure to recover at day 1 and in subsequent days and weeks after either colonoscopy, gastroscopy, or both procedures combined in 102 patients of over the age of 18 years. Recovery was evaluated not only using physiologic endpoints but also evaluating other aspects such as nociception, emotion, activities of daily living (ADL), and cognition on the following day as well as over a 1-month follow-up period using the multidimensional Postoperative Quality of Recovery Scale (PostopQRS ). All the patients received total intravenous anesthesia with propofol alone or in combination with opioids. Some participants received midazolam or opioids in the pre-operative period. The authors have seen that incomplete recovery is common after colonoscopy, gastroscopy or both procedures. Failure to recover was mainly due to failure in nociceptive and cognitive recovery at day 1 with modest but clinically important differences in early quality of recovery between the procedures. C orrectly, the authors underline that recovery after endoscopic procedures should be defined by a multidimensional tool able to assess emotive, functional and cognitive domains. T his is particularly important because the patients must be discharged as soon as possible and should return to preoperative levels of independency in activities of daily living. Anesthesia demand for colonoscopy and gastroscopy is increasing each year and this is due to need of diagnostic or screening programs and therapeutic management of acute pathologies or neoplastic diseases. Because of the air or CO 2 insufflation for adequate distention and visualization of the gastrointestinal lumen, the endoscopic procedures are associated with significant pain and discomfort, therefore sedation is often required to improve patient tolerance and safety.1, 2 Propofol alone or combined with midazolam and opioids is commonly used for sedation although drugs as etomidate and dexmedetomidine have been introduced.3, 4 Usually, the procedures are ambulatory and the patients must be discharged soon after the endoscopy. Adverse events during sedation for endoscopy are very low and anesthetic techniques are performed to provide sedation minimizing hemodynamic changes and allowing faster emergence and patient’s discharge. Patients can return to their daily lives safely and promptly as soon as have recovered to pre-procedural baseline physical performance.5 However, optimal recovery after sedation for endoscopy is not always observed. C ommonly, a patient’s discharge is related to recovery time, adverse events and physiological parameters such as level of consciousness and stability of vital signs.6, 7 EDITORIAL I s sedation for endoscopy as safe as you think? Germano DE COS MO 1 *, Elisabetta CONGEDO 2 1Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care, Sacro Cuore Catholic University, Rome, Italy; 2Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care, Antonio Perrino Hospital, Brindisi, Italy *Corresponding author: Germano De Cosmo, Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care, Sacro Cuore Catholic University, via G. Moscati 31, 00168 Rome, Italy. E-mail: [email protected] C omment on p. 1161. Minerva Anestesiologica 2017 November;83(11):1118-20 DOI : 10.23736/S0375-9393.17.12260-1 © 2017 EDIZIONI MINERVA INERVAINERVA MEDICA O nline version at http://www.minervamedica.it COPYRIGHT© 2017 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA This document is protected by international copyright laws. No additional reproduction is authorized. It is permitted for personal use to download and save only one file and print only one copy of this Article. It is not permitted to make additional copies (either sporadically or systematically, either printed or electronic) of the Article for any purpose. It is not permitted to distribute the electronic copy of the article through online internet and/or intranet file sharing systems, electronic mailing or any other means which may allow access to the Article. The use of all or any part of the Article for any Commercial Use is not permitted. The creation of derivative works from the Article is not permitted. The production of reprints for personal or commercial use is not permitted. It is not permitted to remove, cover, overlay, obscure, block, or change any copyright notices or terms of use which the Publisher may post on the Article. It is not permitted to frame or use framing techniques to enclose any trademark, logo, or other proprietary information of the Publisher. SA FET Y OF SE DATIONATION FOR EN DOSCO PY DE COS MO V ol. 83 - No. 11 Minerva Anestesiologica 1119sedated with propofol or remifentanil.14 Allen et al. have shown that the incidence of post-procedural cognitive impairment was similar in patients randomized to light versus deep sedation. In addition, the authors have not considered pain an important risk factor for post procedural cognitive dysfunction, especially if the endoscopic procedure is diagnostic and not operative.16 S harma et al. have investigated cognitive function in 108 patients with cirrhosis undergoing endoscopy under sedation with propofol. Before and two hours after endoscopy psychometric tests have been administered to evaluate cognitive function. The authors have not found a worsening of the psychometric tests after the endoscopy.17 T hese differences can be due to several factors: the type and sensitivity of the psychometric tests used, the variation also in the healthy subjects’ performance at a few days away, the too small simple size. There is a wide confidence interval of evaluated parameters that indicates that there is a great variation of response in the various subjects, due to a small simple size.18-20 I n conclusion, thousands of endoscopic procedures are performed daily and the main question that this article raises is to understand what means recovery from a procedure: an adequate recovering goes beyond vital functions. Incomplete recovery can last up to one month and is mainly due to nociceptive and cognitive impairment that could also occur in young people undergoing minor procedures. Therefore, subsequent studies might need to investigate if and how a low impact procedure can induce cognitive impairment and the main parameters that should be assessed to consider a patient overall recovered utilizing appropriate tests that can identify the most vulnerable patients. References 1. A Allen ML. Safety of deep sedation in the endoscopy suite. Curr Opin Anaesthesiol 2017;30:501-6. 2. L Leslie K, Allen ML, Hessian EC , Peyton PJ, Kasza J, Courtney A, et al. Safety of sedation for gastrointestinal I n literature, the reported incidence of Postoperative Cognitive Dysfunction (POC D) varies from 20% to 60% between 6 weeks to 3 months after surgery and the causes of this variability are related to type of surgery, duration, patient’s age and cultural level.9 T he prevalence of POC D has primarily been studied in elderly patients undergoing cardiac surgery.10 However, its frequency should be very rare after endoscopic procedure especially in young people because stress associated to endoscopic procedures is very low as well as the increase of pro-inflammatory cytokines that play a pivotal role in cognitive dysfunction.11, 12 T he novelty of the study by Brumby et al. is that the people enrolled are young, without risk factors for postoperative cognitive dysfunction, and not undergoing major surgery. S urprisingly, a not negligible percentage of patients had a cognitive impairment not only in the early post-procedural period but until one month and perhaps for a longer time if follow-up period would be prolonged. Patients in the gastroscopy group have a lower frequency of overall recovery. We have to consider that both endoscopic procedures have affected not only cognitive function but also pain. Authors do not report if there is a correlation between POC D and the presence of pain despite they have seen that patients undergoing combined procedures had more pain over the entire 1-month follow-up period and a more cognitive impairment at day 1 than participants having only colonoscopy. However, these results should be observed with caution not only because endoscopic procedures have been considered with little impact on daily physiological activity and on cognitive and nociceptive domain but also because few studies have been performed, and only for few days.13-15 Moreover, the studies performed give different results. T heodorou et al. have demonstrated cognitive impairment up to 120 minutes after propofol/midazolam/fentanyl or nitrous oxide/sevoflurane sedation for colonoscopy.13 Instead, Moerman et al. have not found cognitive dysfunction after 15 min in colonoscopy patients COPYRIGHT© 2017 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA This document is protected by international copyright laws. No additional reproduction is authorized. It is permitted for personal use to download and save only one file and print only one copy of this Article. It is not permitted to make additional copies (either sporadically or systematically, either printed or electronic) of the Article for any purpose. It is not permitted to distribute the electronic copy of the article through online internet and/or intranet file sharing systems, electronic mailing or any other means which may allow access to the Article. The use of all or any part of the Article for any Commercial Use is not permitted. The creation of derivative works from the Article is not permitted. The production of reprints for personal or commercial use is not permitted. It is not permitted to remove, cover, overlay, obscure, block, or change any copyright notices or terms of use which the Publisher may post on the Article. It is not permitted to frame or use framing techniques to enclose any trademark, logo, or other proprietary information of the Publisher. DE COS MO SA SA FET Y OF SE DATIONATION FOR EN DOSCO PY 1120 Minerva Anestesiologica N November 2017gedo E, De Cosmo G. Cognitive Dysfunction after Surgery: An Emergent Problem. J Alzheimers Dis Parkinsonism 2017;7:1. 13. T Theodorou T, Hales P, Gillespie P, Robertson B. Total intravenous versus inhalational anaesthesia for colonoscopy: a prospective study of clinical recovery and psychomotor function. Anaesth Intensive Care 2001;29:124-36. 14. Moerman ATAT, Foubert LA , Herregods LL , Struys MM, De Wolf DJ, De Looze DA, et al. Propofol versus remifentanil for monitored anaesthesia care during colonoscopy. Eur J Anaesthesiol 2003;20:461-6. 15. Fredman B, Lahav M, Zohar E, Golod M, Paruta I, Jedeikin R. The effect of midazolam premedication on mental and psychomotor recovery in geriatric patients undergoing brief surgical procedures. Anesth Analg 1999;89:1161-6. 16. A Allen M, Leslie K, Hebbard G, Jones I, Mettho T, Maruff P. A randomized controlled trial of ligh versus deep propofol sedation for elective outpatient colonoscopy: recall, procedural condition and recovery. Can J Anesth 2015;62:1169-78. 17. S Sharma P, Singh S, Sharma BC, Kumar M, Garg H, Kumar A, et al. Propofol sedation during endoscopy in patients with cirrhosis, and utility of psychometric tests and critical flicker frequency in assessment of recovery from sedation. Endoscopy 2011;43:400-5. 18. S tark PA, Myles PS, Burke JA. Development and psychometric evaluation of a postoperative quality of recovery score: the QoR-15. Anesthesiology 2013; 118:1332-40. 19. Bowyer AJ, Royse CF. Postoperative recovery and outcomes--what are we measuring and for whom? Anaesthesia 2016;71(Suppl 1):72-7. 20. N Newman S, Wilkinson DJ, Royse CF. Assessment of early cognitive recovery after surgery using the Post-operative Quality of Recovery Scale. Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 2014;58:185-91. endoscopy in a group of university-affiliated hospitals: a prospective cohort study. Br J Anaesth 2017;118:90-9. 3. Padmanabhan U, Leslie K. Australian anaesthetists’ practice of sedation for gastrointestinal endoscopy in adult patients. Anaesth Intensive Care 2008;36:436-41. 4. Davy A, Fessler J, Fischler M, le Guen M. Dexmedetomidine and general anesthesia: a narrative literature review of its major indications for use in adults undergoing non-cardiac surgery. Minerva Anestesiol 2017 Jun 22. [Epub ahead of print] 5. L Leung FW. Trend in use of sedation for low-risk endoscopy. Looking beyond monitored anesthesis care. JAMA 2017;317:2006-7. 6. Feldman LS , Lee L, Fiore J Jr. What outcomes are important in the assessment of Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS ) pathways? Can J Anaesth 2015;62:120-30. 7. L Lee L, Tran T, Mayo NE , Carli F, Feldman LS . What does it really mean to “recover” from an operation? Surgery 2014;155:211-6. 8. Brumby AM, Heiberg J, Te C, Royse CF. Quality of recovery after gastroscopy, colonoscopy or both endoscopic procedures: an observational pilot study. Minerva Anestesiol 2017;83:1161-8. 9. R Royse CF, Andrews DT, Newman SN , Stygall J, Williams Z, Pang J, et al. The influence of propofol or desflurane on postoperative cognitive dysfunction in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery. Anaesthesia 2011;66:455-64. 10. N Newman MF, Mathew JP, Grocott HP, Mackensen GB, Monk T, Welsh-Bohmer KA, et al. Central nervous system injury associated with cardiac surgery. Lancet 2006;368:694-703. 11. De Cosmo G, Sessa F, Fiorini F, Congedo E. Effect of remifentanil and fentanyl on postoperative cognitive function and cytokines level in elderly patients undergoing major abdominal surgery. J Clin Anesth 2016;35:40-6. 12. C Canistro G, Levantesi L, Oggiano M, Sicuranza R, ConConflicts of interest.—The authors certify that there is no conflict of interest with any financial organization regarding the material discussed in the manuscript. Article first published online: July 12, 2017. - Manuscript accepted: July 5, 2017. - Manuscript received: June 27, 2017. (Cite this article as: De Cosmo G, Congedo E. Is sedation for endoscopy as safe as you think? Minerva Anestesiol 2017;83:1118-20. DOI : 10.23736/S0375-9393.17.12260-1) COPYRIGHT© 2017 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA This document is protected by international copyright laws. No additional reproduction is authorized. It is permitted for personal use to download and save only one file and print only one copy of this Article. It is not permitted to make additional copies (either sporadically or systematically, either printed or electronic) of the Article for any purpose. It is not permitted to distribute the electronic copy of the article through online internet and/or intranet file sharing systems, electronic mailing or any other means which may allow access to the Article. The use of all or any part of the Article for any Commercial Use is not permitted. The creation of derivative works from the Article is not permitted. The production of reprints for personal or commercial use is not permitted. It is not permitted to remove, cover, overlay, obscure, block, or change any copyright notices or terms of use which the Publisher may post on the Article. It is not permitted to frame or use framing techniques to enclose any trademark, logo, or other proprietary information of the Publisher

    Individualization

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    This chapter provides a summary of work on the individualization thesis and its implications for identity. It addresses the key contributions of the theorists, with particular attention to the disagreements and contradictions within and between their works. The chapter discusses the most common and most important critiques of the individualization thesis. It deals with a discussion of the significance of the individualization thesis for studies of identity. Therapy typically encourages individuals to work on themselves and to implement practices such as journaling and “autobiography.” Like Anthony Giddens, Ulrich Beck regards “basic security” as a fundamental prerequisite of modern individualization, and he sees the welfare state as a key component in this framework of ontological certainty. The individualization theorists all document the demise of tradition and community in determining and supporting behaviours, the rising dependency of individuals on institutions, and the risks and dilemmas associated with individualized biographies.No Full Tex

    How Leaders of Arm's Length Agencies Respond to External Threats: A Strategic-Performative Analysis

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    Researchers have recently shown increasing interest in how leaders of agencies respond to external threats. This article extends Katharine Dommett and Chris Skelcher’s strategic-relational analysis of agency leaders’ responses to exogenous threats. It focuses on the role of dramatic performances and impression management in agencies’ strategic responses. Interviews with senior officials in statistical agencies in Britain and Canada were used to assess the strategic-performative model. Agencies are better able to defend their functions and autonomy when they undertake effective dramatic performances to shape external stakeholders’ impressions. These findings further our understanding of the mechanisms that influence the legitimacy and autonomy of public agencies.No Full Tex

    Umberto Cosmo dantista

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    L’elaborato è dedicato alla figura del critico e dantista Umberto Cosmo. Nell’introduzione è inserita una dettagliata biografia dell’autore e in più vengono citate tutte le sue opere. Nel primo capitolo si approfondiscono tre scritti danteschi di Cosmo: La Vita di Dante, Guida a Dante e Con Dante attraverso il Seicento. Nell’ambito delle pagine dedicata a La Vita di Dante si approfondisce il dibattito, al quale partecipò il Cosmo, sulla canzone dantesca “Tre donne intorno al cor mi son venute”; della seconda opera si tratta in sintesi, dato il suo valore soprattutto divulgativo; il resto del capitolo è dedicato alla terza opera composta da quattro saggi. In essi si dibatte infatti, attraverso le parole di Cosmo e le tesi di altri critici letterari, sulla fortuna di Dante nel secolo barocco e sulla sua possibile ortodossia; come si è potuto rilevare, però, il secondo e il quarto saggio sono usati a conferma delle ipotesi utilizzate negli altri due saggi, nei quali, invece, la discussione si infittisce. E l’apporto originale di Cosmo è più ampio. L’ultimo capitolo è interamente dedicato all’opera maggiore del dantista: L’ultima ascesa, un percorso critico-letterario in tutto il Paradiso dantesco. Dallo studioso sono prese in esame due figure, entrambe fondamentali, che Dante rappresenta in due cieli paradisiaci: San Francesco e Cacciaguida. In un certo senso, in loro si riconoscono due anime del dantista, cristiano integerrimo e combattente contro il Fascismo, che lo avversò duramente. Nelle Conclusioni viene riesaminata la posizione di Cosmo all’interno della critica dantesca. This essay is dedicated to the figure of critic and Dante scholar Umberto Cosmo. A detailed biography of the author is included in the introduction, plus all his works are cited. The first chapter delves into three of Cosmo's Dante writings: La Vita di Dante, Guida a Dante and Con Dante attraverso il Seicento. Within the pages devoted to La Vita di Dante, the debate, in which Cosmo participated, on the Dantean work "Tre donne intorno al cor mi son venute" is discussed in depth; the second work is dealt with in summary, given its primarily popular value; the remainder of the chapter is devoted to the third work consisting of four essays. In them, in fact, there is a debate, through Cosmo's words and the theses of other literary critics, about Dante's fortune in the Baroque century and his possible orthodoxy; as noted, however, the second and fourth essays are used to confirm the hypotheses used in the other two essays, in which, instead, the discussion thickens. And Cosmo's original contribution is more extensive. The last chapter is entirely devoted to the Dantist's major work, L’ultima ascesa, a critical-literary journey throughout Dante's Paradise. The scholar examines two figures, both fundamental, whom Dante depicts in two heavenly heavens: St. Francis and Cacciaguida. In a sense, two souls of the Dantean, upright Christian and fighter against Fascism, which harshly opposed him, are recognized in them. In the Conclusions, Cosmo's position within Dante criticism is reviewed

    Analysis of Multiple Solvation Interactions of Methotrexate and Ammonium Based Ionic Liquids Using COSMO-RS

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    AbstractSolubility prediction of methotrexate (a pharmaceutical compound) in ammonium based ionic liquids has been investigated in this study using COSMO-RS. We examined the effect of anion and related interaction energies (misfit, H-bonding and van der Waals interaction energy) on the solubility of methotrexate (MTX) in ammonium based ionic liquids. COSMO-RS model is a physically admissible computational procedure and favorably it doesn’t need the experimental data, so these traits make COSMO-RS a superior and practicable replacement for solubility calculations in ionic liquids. Our promising results showed that the methotrexate solubility highly depends on anionic part of ionic liquids, also we found out that the H-bonding interaction energy is the most controlling interaction for ionic liquids which is pursued by misfit and van der Waals interaction energy. This work results may be significant to improve our comprehending of solute solubility interactions in ionic liquids
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