Recognition of facial emotions among maltreated children with high rates of post-traumatic stress disorder

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to examine processing of facial emotions in a sample of maltreated children showing high rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Maltreatment during childhood has been associated independently with both atypical processing of emotion and the development of PTSD. However, research has provided little evidence indicating how high rates of PTSD might relate to maltreated children's processing of emotions. METHOD: Participants' reaction time and labeling of emotions were measured using a morphed facial emotion identification task. Participants included a diverse sample of maltreated children with and without PTSD and controls ranging in age from 8 to 15 years. Maltreated children had been removed from their homes and placed in state custody following experiences of maltreatment. Diagnoses of PTSD and other disorders were determined through combination of parent, child, and teacher reports. RESULTS: Maltreated children displayed faster reaction times than controls when labeling emotional facial expressions, and this result was most pronounced for fearful faces. Relative to children who were not maltreated, maltreated children both with and without PTSD showed enhanced response times when identifying fearful faces. There was no group difference in labeling of emotions when identifying different facial emotions. CONCLUSIONS: Maltreated children show heightened ability to identify fearful faces, evidenced by faster reaction times relative to controls. This association between maltreatment and atypical processing of emotion is independent of PTSD diagnosis.     

A preliminary report on the role of yoga asanas on oxidative stress in non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus

Nineteen subjects of non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) between the age group of 30–60 yrs were studied to see the effect of specific yoga asanas on fasting and postprandial blood glucose (FBG, PPG), serum malondialdehyde (MDA) and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA₁) in addition to drug treatment and diet control. The duration of diabetes ranged from 1–10 years. Patients with renal, cardiac and proliferative retinal diseases were excluded from the study. The same patients served as their own control. Subjects were called in the morning to the cardio-respiratory laboratory and were given training by a yoga expert. Yoga asanas included Suryanamskar, Tadasan, TriKonasan, Padmasan, Pranayam, Paschimottanasan, Ardhmatsyendrasan, Pavanmukthasan, Sarpasan and Shavasan. The asanas were done every day for 40 days for 30–40 min. FBG, PPG, serum MDA and HbA₁ were estimated before and after 40 days of yoga asanas regimen. Significant reduction was seen in FBG from 220 mg/dl to 162 mg/dl, PPG from 311 mg/dl to 255 mg/dl, MDA from 6 nmol/l to 3 nmol/l and HbA₁, from 8.8% to 6.4%. Subjects felt better and were relieved of their stresses and had an improvement in their day to day performance. The decrease was statistically significant (p<0.0001 for FBG and PPG, p<0.001 for MDA and for HbA₁).     

In their very own words: authors and scholarly journal publishing

This paper presents the results of a major investigation by questionnaire of author attitudes towards scholarly publishing, which was funded by the Publisher's Association. Altogether, the views of nearly 4,000 authors were obtained and this paper concerns just those thousand or so authors who accepted the invitation to write freely about their own personal feelings and experiences. Using QSR N6 textual analysis software, their comments were processed and themes extracted. While the rest of the questionnaire, which was formed of closed‐question, tick‐box type questions, clearly must have had some impact on their thinking, the authors had considerable latitude in regard to what they could say. The paper provides a unique opportunity to hear their views directly. The pressing topics turned out to be (in rough order of concern): the peer‐review system, copyright, journal prices, alternative business models for journal publishing, big deals, Elsevier, electronic publishing and digital journals.     

Revulsion and awe: charting the development of the moral economy of capitalism and its hero in the American imagination,from the protestant ethic to ecstasy of the entrepreneur

ABSTRACT

The spirit of capitalism shifted throughout the twentieth century, Boltanski and Chiapello place it sometime in the period between the 1960s and 1990s [2005, The New Spirit of Capitalism, Verso, London], for Bell it had happened by the mid-1970s and its contradictions were already apparent [1998, The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism, Basic Books, New York]. David Harvey is more specific and cites 1979 as the dawn of the new era [2005, The New Spirit of Capitalism, Verso, London]. This paper seeks to build on this scholarship of the changing spirit of capitalism and read it through the development of the heroic figure of the American imagination, through the representation of the capitalist hero. Its aim is to situate the figure of the capitalist hero in the post-crash era and ultimately to understand the seductive power of the new capitalism that enables it to thrive. My thesis is that the seductive power of the new capitalism can be understood as an oscillation between revulsion and awe, we are both morally repulsed by the venality of capitalism yet also captivated by it. Revulsion and awe are at the core of the libidinality of the new capitalism and can be seen through the representation of the heroic object of the capitalist imagination.     

包畹蓉的"戏服王国"

今年1月,日本早稻田大学演剧博物馆馆长竹本干夫专程来到上海奉贤区包畹蓉的家里,看了包先生收藏的戏服,连声赞叹,希望往后不断地相互交流和合作;4月8日,上海市邮政局的领导来到包畹蓉家里,要将他收藏的戏服拍成照片,将它印在迎接2010年上海世博会的明信片上……     

Thinking Through the Curriculum

David Leat, a researcher and teacher trainer, argues that teaching thinking can act as an important counterbalance to the more instrumental approaches which are the result of some aspects of the National Curriculum. He identifies some of the key characteristics of teaching thinking lessons and goes on to present four examples of practice. However, there are a number of barriers to change and these are identified. Seeking ways to promote change is important as currently the curriculum that pupils experience does not seem to be preparing them to be good learners. The paper concludes by suggesting that Debriefing – (pupils reflecting on and explaining what they have learned) – would be an appropriate springboard for change.