Early 1990s Research Articles

In Defense of Imagination: Canadian Youth Culture and the Dungeons & Dragons Panic in Canada, 1980–1995

Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), the iconic tabletop role-playing game released in 1974, sparked controversy from its early inception. This article examines the emergence of moral panic around D&D, particularly in the United States and Canada during the early 1980s. It explores how concerned groups, such as Bothered Against Dungeons & Dragons, portrayed the game as a corrupting influence on American youth. Focusing on the spread of panic into Canada, this article investigates the role of American media in shaping Canadian perceptions. This study highlights questions about transnational cultural influence and the impact of media on societal norms. Was the moral panic primarily a result of American cultural influence, or was there tangible evidence linking D&D to real-world violence in Canada? Through analysis of media representation and cultural discourse, this article seeks to shed light on these complex dynamics and to highlight moments of youth resistance to narratives of moral panic.

Body schema and body image as internal representations of the body, and their disorders. An historical review.

Since the early 1900s, the terms body schema and body image denoted the internal representations of the body. Bonnier's (1905, Revue Neurologique, 13, 605) schema is a conscious spatial representation of the size, shape, and position of the body, and of body parts, whose dysfunction brings about aschématia, and hypo-, hyper-, and paraschématia. The two schemata of Head and Holmes (1911, Brain, 34, 102) are an unconscious plastic postural schema, for the maintenance of posture and balance and for the coding of the position of body parts, and a conscious superficial schema, for the localisation of somatosensory stimuli. Pick's (1922, Psychologische Forschung, 1, 303) body schema refers to a structural description of the body, including the position of body parts and their spatial relationships, defective in autotopagnosia. Schilder's (1935, The image and appearance of the human body) body image is a comprehensive construct, covering physiological, evolutional, neurological and neuropsychological, psychiatric and sociological aspects. Lhermitte's (1939, L'image de notre corps) image, based on the views of the abovementioned authors, is defective in bodily neuropsychological disorders. The two terms have been used interchangeably, to denote (hemi-)asomatognosia, anosognosia, autotopagnosia, depersonalisation, personal neglect, phantom and supernumerary limbs, somatoparaphrenia. Their properties have been summarized with general dichotomies: schema for action in space ("where" system), image for perception ("what" system), after primary sensory processing. While schema and image fractionated into multiple representations of aspects of the body, the two terms are still used to refer to some of these representations, and to their disorders.

Amitotic Cell Division, Malignancy, and Resistance to Anticancer Agents: A Tribute to Drs. Walen and Rajaraman.

Cell division is crucial for the survival of living organisms. Human cells undergo three types of cell division: mitosis, meiosis, and amitosis. The former two types occur in somatic cells and germ cells, respectively. Amitosis involves nuclear budding and occurs in cells that exhibit abnormal nuclear morphology (e.g., polyploidy) with increased cell size. In the early 2000s, Kirsten Walen and Rengaswami Rajaraman and his associates independently reported that polyploid human cells are capable of producing progeny via amitotic cell division, and that a subset of emerging daughter cells proliferate rapidly, exhibit stem cell-like properties, and can contribute to tumorigenesis. Polyploid cells that arise in solid tumors/tumor-derived cell lines are referred to as polyploid giant cancer cells (PGCCs) and are known to contribute to therapy resistance and disease recurrence following anticancer treatment. This commentary provides an update on some of these intriguing discoveries as a tribute to Drs. Walen and Rajaraman.

Preserving insulin function in diabetes: a case report

BackgroundThis case report explores the long-term dynamics of insulin secretion and glycemic control in two patients with diabetes mellitus type 2 over 20 years. The observations underscore the impact of lifestyle interventions, including weight loss and calorie restriction, on insulin secretion patterns and glucose levels during 75 g oral glucose tolerance tests. Additionally, the role of hemoglobin A1c fluctuations, influenced by various factors such as body weight, exercise, and pharmacological interventions, is investigated.Case presentationCase 1 involves a Japanese woman now in her late 70s who successfully maintained her hemoglobin A1c below 7% for over two decades through sustained weight loss and lifestyle changes. Despite a gradual decline in the homeostasis model assessment of β cell function, the patient exhibited remarkable preservation of insulin secretion patterns over the 20-year follow-up. In case 2, a Japanese woman, now in her early 70s, experienced an improvement in hemoglobin A1c to 6.3% after a period of calorie limitation due to a wrist fracture in 2018. This incident seemed to trigger a temporary rescue of pancreatic β cell function, emphasizing the dynamic nature of insulin secretion. Both cases highlight the potential for pancreatic β cell rescue and underscore the persistence of insulin secretion over the 20-year follow-up. Additionally, we have briefly discussed three additional cases with follow-ups ranging from 10 to 17 years, demonstrating similar trends in glucose and insulin ratios.ConclusionsLong-term lifestyle interventions, such as weight loss and calorie restriction, can preserve pancreatic β cell function and maintain glycemic control in type 2 diabetes patients over 20 years. Two patients showed stable or improved insulin secretion and favorable hemoglobin A1c levels, challenging the traditional view of irreversible β cell decline. The findings highlight the importance of personalized, nonpharmacological approaches, suggesting that sustained lifestyle changes can significantly impact diabetes management and potentially rescue β cell function.

The Global Burden of HIV and Progress toward the 2030 UNAIDS Targets: A Comprehensive Review

The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) epidemic, since its emergence in the early 1980s, claimed millions of lives and remained a significant global public health challenge. As of 2023, approximately 38.4 million people were living with HIV, with Sub-Saharan Africa and key populations disproportionately affected. In response, the international community had set ambitious targets to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030, encapsulated in the UNAIDS 95-95-95 goals. This comprehensive review, conducted through a synthesis of current literature and global data, assessed the global burden of HIV, the progress made toward achieving these targets, and the challenges that threatened this progress. The review also explored opportunities and innovations, including advances in HIV prevention, integration of services, community-led approaches, digital health technologies, and innovative financing models. Addressing the identified challenges and leveraging these innovations were crucial to achieving the 2030 targets. The article concluded that while substantial progress has been made, a renewed commitment to equity and human rights is essential for ending the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat by 2030. Keywords: HIV epidemic, UNAIDS 2030 targets, Global health, Antiretroviral therapy (ART), Prevention and innovation.

The geography of European financial centers: 1993–2020

This paper examines the dynamics of employment in the financial sector in the European Union and the United Kingdom since the early 1990s. Using the EU Labor Force Survey at the national (NUTS0), regional (NUTS1), and subregional (NUTS2) levels, we document several stylized facts about the evolution of financial centers. Despite the global financial and sovereign debt crises, the total number of workers in the financial sector has increased from less than 5 million in 1993 to more than 6.5 million in 2020. At the same time, however, the share of employees in the financial sector has decreased from 3.5% to 2.8%. We find large regional differences in the degree of financial specialization, with Luxembourg at the top end (11% of their total workforce), followed by Ireland and the United Kingdom (4%), then France, Germany or Italy (around 3%). We also explore the dynamics of concentration. The main conclusion is that the degree of concentration depends on the scale of measurement employed. We show a contrasting concentration trend: centripetal at the national level and centrifugal at lower levels (regional or sub-regional). Furthermore, newer financial centers showed faster growth. JEL codes: E44, G2, R1

Enhanced retention of hydrophobic pesticides in subsurface soils using organic amendments

The rapid global population growth since the early 2000s has significantly increased the demand for agricultural products, leading to widespread pesticide use, particularly organophosphorus pesticides (OPPs). This extensive application poses severe environmental risks by contaminating air, soil, and water resources. To protect groundwater quality, it is crucial to understand the transport and fate of these pesticides in soil and sediment. This study investigates the effects of hydrochars and biochars derived from sugar beet shreds (SBS) and Miscanthus×giganteus (MIS) on the retardation and biodegradation of OPPs in alluvial Danube sandy soil. The research is novel in its approach, isolating native OPP-degrading bacteria from natural alluvial sandy soil, inoculating them onto chars, and reapplying these bioaugmented chars to the same soil to enhance biodegradation and reduce pesticide leaching. The amendment of chars with immobilized Bacillus megaterium BD5 significantly increased bacterial abundance and activity. Metabarcoding of the 16S rRNA gene revealed a dominance of Proteobacteria (48.0–84.8 %) and Firmicutes (8.3–35.6 %). Transport modeling showed retardation coefficients (Rd) for OPPs ranging from 10 to 350, with biodegradation rates varying between 0.05 % and 75 %, indicating a positive correlation between retardation and biodegradation. The detection of biodegradation byproducts, including derivatives of phosphin, pyridine, and pyrazole, in the column leachate confirmed that biodegradation had occurred. Additionally, principal component analysis (PCA) revealed positive correlations among retardation, biodegradation, specific surface area (SSA), aldehyde/ketone groups, and bacterial count. These findings demonstrate the potential of biochar and hydrochar amendments to enhance OPP immobilization in contaminated soils, thereby reducing their leaching into groundwater. This study offers a comprehensive approach to the remediation of pesticide-contaminated soils, advancing both our fundamental understanding and the practical applications of environmental remediation techniques.

A Sister Species for the Blue Crab, Callinectes sapidus? A Tale Revealed by Mitochondrial DNA.

The Atlantic blue crab, Callinectes sapidus, is acknowledged as one of the worst invasive alien species in the Mediterranean, impacting biodiversity and human activities. Native to the western Atlantic, it has expanded to European coastal waters since the early 1900s. Despite its ecological and commercial importance, genetic research on this species is limited. Here we show a comprehensive investigation of the genetic variation and evolutionary history in Callinectes sapidus using 667 mitochondrial COI gene sequences. Our dataset encompasses 36 newly generated sequences from previously understudied Mediterranean sites and 631 from worldwide locations obtained from the GenBank public database. Our findings reveal two distinct, but closely related, genetic groups within the species' distribution range, suggesting the occurrence of a potential species complex. Furthermore, in the Mediterranean, low levels of genetic variability were observed except for substantial haplotypic differentiation in Turkish samples. This study depicts the global genetic diversity and evolutionary patterns of Callinectes sapidus, offering new insights into the taxonomic status of the species.

Anthropogenic and climatic impacts on historic sediment, carbon, and phosphorus accumulation rates using 210Pbex and 137Cs in a sub-watershed linked to Zarivar Lake, Iran

To estimate a watershed’s response to climate change, it is crucial to understand how human activities and climatic extremes have interacted over time. Over the last century, the Zarivar Lake watershed, Iran, has been subjected to various anthropogenic activates, including deforestation and inappropriate land-management practices alongside the implementation of conservation measures like check dams. To understand the effects of these changes on the magnitude of sediment, organic carbon (OC), and phosphorus supplies in a small sub-watershed connected to the lake over the last century, a lake sediment core was dated using 210Pbex and 137Cs as geochronometers. The average mass accumulation rate (MAR), organic carbon accumulation rates (OCAR), and particulate phosphorus accumulation rates (PPAR) of the sediment core were determined to be 6498 ± 2475, 205 ± 85, and 8.9 ± 3.3 g m−2 year−1, respectively. Between the late 1970s and early 1980s, accumulation rates were significantly higher than their averages at 7940 ± 3120, 220 ± 60, and 12.0 ± 2.8 g m−2 year−1 respectively. During this period, the watershed underwent extensive deforestation (12%) on steep slopes, coinciding with higher mean annual precipitations (more than double). Conversely, after 2009, when check dams were installed in the sub-watershed, the sediment load to the lake became negligible. The results of this research indicate that anthropogenic activities had a pronounced effect on MAR, OCAR, and PPAR, causing them to fluctuate from negligible amounts to values twice the averages over the last century, amplified by climatic factors. These results imply that implementing climate-smart watershed management strategies, such as constructing additional check dams and terraces, reinforcing restrictions on deforestation, and minimum tillage practices, can facilitate protection of lacustrine ecosystems under accelerating climate change conditions.Graphical

Résister pour mieux savourer : forme de vie hors norme d’un fast-food de Las Vegas

Since the early 2000s, post-structural semiotics of the Greimasian tradition have gained considerable strength in the analysis of social practices. The objective of this contribution is to present and implement these new tools and proposals from contemporary semiotics through a case study: the analysis of the customer experience of a Las Vegas fast-food restaurant, where junk food and other nonconformist practices are set up as a system. The analysis will focus on both the activities performed in the restaurant and the intimate experience of food intake. Semiotics of practices, narrative semiotics, and tensive semiotics will be applied to this end, as well as to postulate that the customers of the restaurant unwillingly come to manifest an insolent and individualistic form of life. More generally, this article aims to show how contemporary post-Greimasian semiotics can serve as a methodological framework for the analysis of social practices of any kind.

APLICAÇÕES ESTÉTICAS DE PORCELANA NA ODONTOLOGIA CONTEMPORÂNEA – REVISÃO SISTEMÁTICA

Since the early 1800s, porcelain and ceramic materials have been used in the production of aesthetic dental restorations. Advances in dental ceramic technology and adhesive systems have made porcelain veneers a highly sought after aesthetic option. Thus, this work aims to review the literature, with the aim of discussing the use of porcelain veneers in modern dentistry, emphasizing their advantages, disadvantages, indications and limitations. The databases used were PubMed, SciELO, Google Scholar where a total of 21 articles published in the last 10 years were selected. The findings revealed that this technique has several indications and advantages, among its benefits are the minimal compromise of tooth wear during the tooth preparation phase and the achievement of harmony in the patient's smile, in addition to longevity. Its contraindications and disadvantages include, in some cases, detachments and fractures, among others.

APLICAÇÕES ESTÉTICAS DE PORCELANA NA ODONTOLOGIA CONTEMPORÂNEA – REVISÃO SISTEMÁTICA

Since the early 1800s, porcelain and ceramic materials have been used in the production of aesthetic dental restorations. Advances in dental ceramic technology and adhesive systems have made porcelain veneers a highly sought after aesthetic option. Thus, this work aims to review the literature, with the aim of discussing the use of porcelain veneers in modern dentistry, emphasizing their advantages, disadvantages, indications and limitations. The databases used were PubMed, SciELO, Google Scholar where a total of 21 articles published in the last 10 years were selected. The findings revealed that this technique has several indications and advantages, among its benefits are the minimal compromise of tooth wear during the tooth preparation phase and the achievement of harmony in the patient's smile, in addition to longevity. Its contraindications and disadvantages include, in some cases, detachments and fractures, among others.

El jefe político: genre crossover and thematic originality in a restored French film

ABSTRACT In 2021, the restoration of the long-lost French film El jefe político (‘The Political Boss’, released as La Réponse du destin in France) was finally completed. Directed by André Hugon between 1924 and 1925 and based on the homonymous novel by the Spanish writer José María Carretero, alias ‘El Caballero Audaz’ (‘The Audacious Gentleman’), it is a most remarkable melodrama set against the backdrop of the turbulent political climate that prevailed in Spain in the early 1920s. Its revival has meant rescuing two subjects from oblivion: André Hugon, a French filmmaker with one of the most prolific careers who directed more than 80 films between the 1910s and 1950s; and the film itself, a stark portrait of an upstart embroiled in political corruption. The author aims to analyse El jefe político as a film in which the most representative genres of the French commercial cinema of the time come together. This analysis will demonstrate Hugon’s personal approach to these genres as well as his originality when adapting Carretero’s novel, to which he adds two striking themes: an epidemic outbreak and the socio-political struggle to introduce the eight-hour working day.

Why Larp?! A Synthesis Paper on Live Action Roleplay in Relation to HCI Research and Practice

Live action roleplay (larp) has a wide range of applications, and can be relevant in relation to HCI. While there has been research about larp in relation to topics such as embodied interaction, playfulness and futuring published in HCI venues since the early 2000s, there is not yet a compilation of this knowledge. In this paper, we synthesise knowledge about larp and larp-adjacent work within the domain of HCI. We present a practitioner overview from an expert group of larp researchers, the results of a literature review, and highlight particular larp research exemplars which all work together to showcase the diverse set of ways that larp can be utilised in relation to HCI topics and research. This paper identifies the need for further discussions toward establishing best practices for utilising larp in relation to HCI research, as well as advocating for increased engagement with larps outside academia.

Application of Medical Implants for Public Health Monitoring and Treatment

The World Health Organisation (WHO) reports that diabetes affects roughly 180 million people worldwide and that cardiovascular illnesses account for nearly 30% of all fatalities worldwide. Applications involving radio frequency (RF) or microwave technology are crucial to medical diagnosis and illness prevention. The most recent developments in the field of implantable medical devices (IMDs), such as biomedical telemetry, allow biosignals to be monitored remotely via wireless communication technology. Providing correct information to the external monitoring station is the primary function of the health maintenance monitoring scheme. Because wireless communication lessens the invasiveness of electromagnetic (EM) medical equipment, it is extremely helpful in improving patient comfort during treatment. The first swallowable pills with sensing capabilities and the introduction of pacemakers in the early 1960s both demonstrated the significance of implantable medical devices (IMDs), which enable disease monitoring and therapy. Using IMDs with wireless connection has allowed for the monitoring of both system performance and patient status. IMDs have been widely employed in healthcare systems to gather real-time signals from biosensors or preprocessed physiological bio-signals for early disease identification, improving treatment quality and promoting healthy living.

Introduction to the magnetotellurics special issue of exploration geophysics

The geophysical technique of magnetotellurics (MT) was first described in 1953 and the associated technique of geomagnetic depth sounding (GDS) in 1959. Both methodologies have had a long history in Australia both for academic research and resource exploration. Since the early 1990s with advances in digital data storage, 2D inversion codes and 3D inversion codes from the 2010s, there has been a rapid increase in the number of MT surveys across Australia. Regional MT programs around Australia and since 2013 the Australian Lithospheric Architecture Magnetotelluric Project (AusLAMP) have steadily mapped the 3D resistivity of the Australian continent. To complement the regional AusLAMP MT sites numerous additional transects, and broadband MT grids have been deployed providing remarkable new insights into the tectonic evolution of the Australian lithosphere and provide the link to crustal mineral resources. In this special edition, ten papers explore different aspects of MT research in Australia over the last decade.

“An Era More than Bleak”

AbstractFerenc Farkas, a remarkable twentieth-century Hungarian composer, was one of the most influential professors of composition throughout the history of the Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest. A less known chapter of his life is his involvement in the ethnicist and anti-Semitic political movements of Hungary, during the late 1930s and early 1940s. In 1940, he was among three musicians who elaborated a proposal to establish, in line with the rise of corporatism, a Hungarian Music Chamber. One of the main aims of the new organization would have been a total exclusion of Jewish musicians from all branches of Hungarian musical culture. The Chamber was never actually founded. In 1941, Farkas left Budapest for the Transylvanian city Kolozsvár (Cluj), where he was appointed professor of composition at the Conservatory. One of his first students was György Ligeti, a native Transylvanian, born into a Hungarian family suffering under the anti-Semitic legislation of the Hungarian state. As Ligeti recollected, Farkas “wanted to teach me everything he had learned from his teacher Ottorino Respighi.” Based on archival sources, this study offers new insights into the personal and professional connection between Ligeti and Farkas during the 1940s, and also follows Farkas's post-war path from relative isolation and marginalization to the elite of state socialist music culture.

Timber Industry, Cosmopolitics, and Ontology of Trees in Peruvian Amazon

Since they were first contacted in the early 1960s, the Yaminawa people of Comunidad Nativa de Raya (Mapuya River, Peruvian Amazon) have been involved in the timber exploitation industry. Over the following decades, most of the Raya men were recruited to locate, cut, and transport valuable timber resources in the forest and even to become minor bosses within the habilitación system. This seems, in some way, contradictory with their sociocosmology that shares perspectival features with those of other Amerindians. Certain animals and plants have agency, desires, and habits analogous to humans and play a central role in the process of the social fabrication of persons. I focus here on some species of large trees and their ontology. Their relationship with human beings should be characterized as ambivalent. On the one hand, they have an intense predatory agency; on the other, they are the source of shamanic power. On the basis of this conception of the vegetal world, I explore the transformation of ideas about the agency of trees in recent decades, which occurred in interaction with the cosmology of the regional society, and enquire about how the Yaminawa people articulate the existence of these predatory human-like tree entities with their, also predatory, involvement in the timber industry.

How We Solved the Shortage of Cardiothoracic Surgeons: Train More or Work Longer

BackgroundIn the early 2000s, a significant shortage of cardiothoracic surgeons was predicted. We sought to evaluate our specialty’s progress and to update the predicted needs of cardiothoracic surgeons in the coming decades. MethodsTo assess the supply of cardiothoracic surgeons, the evolution of cardiothoracic surgery training was reviewed. The cardiothoracic surgery workforce and future supply and demand were obtained from the National Center for Health Workforce Analysis. Based on these data, predictions from the early 2000s were compared with the current status, and future supply of cardiothoracic surgeons was modeled. ResultsThe number of cardiothoracic surgery trainees increased from 230 in 2008-2009 to 519 in 2022-2023. In 2022-2023, 174 trainees underwent the American Board of Thoracic Surgery Certification Exam, with 129 certificates awarded. From 2005 to 2021, the total number of practicing cardiothoracic surgeons in the United States increased from 4000 to 5200, which contradicts all projections from the early 2000s. The average attrition of 31 cardiothoracic surgeons per year was significantly less than predictive models from the early 2000s. Predictive models project a need of 7000 cardiothoracic surgeons by 2050, which can be met if we continue to fill our available training spots with 173 graduates per year. ConclusionsThe predicted shortage of cardiothoracic surgeons by midcentury has been overcome by training more cardiothoracic surgeons as well as by a reduction in cardiothoracic surgeon attrition. Future increasing demand can be met by filling our available training positions. Continual assessment of cardiothoracic surgeon supply and demand will help achieve the optimal number of cardiothoracic surgery training positions.

The Main Directions of Agricultural Development of Khakassia in the 1920s – early 1940s.

The Main Directions of Agricultural Development of Khakassia in the 1920s – early 1940s.