High-risk Society Research Articles

Prevalence of Neurovascular Microemboli After Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement

BackgroundNeurolotic sequelae after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) can cause significant morbidity and mortality. Transcranial Doppler (TCD) imaging can show real-time high intensity transient signals (HITS), which reflect active microembolization. Although it is well known that intraprocedural microembolism occurs, it is not known if this embolic phenomenon continues in the postprocedural period. We investigated whether microemboli occur post-TAVR and whether we could determine any clinical, procedural, or echocardiographic predictors. MethodsWe evaluated HITS in 51 consecutive patients undergoing unprotected TAVR with low-, intermediate-, or high-risk Society of Thoracic Surgeons score. Patients were excluded if they did not have temporal windows for insonation of the middle cerebral artery or if they were not willing to participate. Primary outcomes of HITS 24 hours post-TAVR were observed using a Philips iU22 TCD. TCD was performed at 3 time points (pre-, peri-, and post-TAVR) for each patient, before, during, and 24 hours postprocedure. ResultsWhile no HITS were detected in any of the patients preoperatively, all patients had HITS during the procedure. Interestingly, 56.8% had HITS 24 hours post-TAVR. One patient with HITS post-TAVR had a stroke 48 hours after TAVR. ConclusionWe observed a high prevalence of microemboli 24 hours post-TAVR. None of the predictors for intraprocedural microembolism seemed to play an important role for post-TAVR microemboli.

The Model, Dilemma and Outlet of Resilience Governance of Grassroots Community from the Perspective of Risk Society

During the period of social governance transformation, China and even the world have entered a high-risk stage. In such a risk community, the community, as the basic unit of social organism, is a key link and important support for stabilizing social order and improving social governance in the face of sudden major risk events. From the perspective of community resilience, it not only undertakes the interdisciplinary mission of Community Governance, but also broadens the resilient governance pattern of combining hardness and flexibility in the community. However, the current community risk prevention and control in China also exposes the shortcomings and problems in the resilience governance of grassroots communities in terms of process resilience, structural resilience, psychological resilience, and technological resilience. In view of this, in the new risk society of the post pandemic era, it is necessary to enhance the diversification of community resilience governance entities, strengthen emergency management mechanisms, cultivate citizens' awareness and ability to respond to risks, accelerate the construction of smart communities, and gradually achieve normal and good governance of communities in high-risk societies.

Research on the Trend of Global Fiscal and Tax Policies Under the Pandemic and its Enlightenments for China

In recent years, major uncertain events have occurred frequently all over the world. In particular, the outbreak of COVID-19 in early 2020 has posed a great threat to the health and economic aspects of human society. The pandemic has a wide range of influence, strong infectivity, and long duration, even today, the virus is still spreading and mutating all over the world. Governments of all infected countries have introduced pandemic response plans at the very early beginning to minimize the loss of the pandemic as much as possible. Fiscal and tax policies, as an integral part of those plans, play an irreplaceable role in the counter cyclical regulation of macro-economy and the behavioral impact of microeconomic subjects. The impact of the pandemic on mankind is profound. Even if the pandemic has passed, we are still in a high-risk society. For a long time in the future, this high degree of uncertainty will always accompany mankind. In this paper, the fiscal and tax policies of various countries to deal with the pandemic are divided into fiscal subsidies and preferential tax, combined with the policies implemented by various countries, which made a comparative analysis. As the country that first discovered and reported to the World Health Organization, China has been the most severely and long-term hit in the face of this major crisis. Therefore, based on summarizing the experience of related policies in various countries, this paper analyzes the role of fiscal and tax policies from the three stages of outbreak, stability, and recovery of the epidemic through bibliometric analysis, content analysis of relevant literature, proposed that the Chinese government should make a transition from short-term emergency policy to long-term stimulus policy, adjust the tax structure, increase taxes, promote international tax cooperation and coordination, and improve the emergency fiscal and tax system to deal with the crisis and help China's economy get back on track. Through combing the tax practice experience of various countries, this paper believes that in the post epidemic era, the global economic level of fiscal stimulus will not decline on a large scale. At the same time, this paper provides its own recommendations and solutions that is structural tax cuts will become a trend for countries to deal with the crisis. However, in view of the increasing fiscal pressure, the total tax reduction will not become the mainstream, and put forward corresponding suggestions and solutions on how to better use fiscal and tax policies in China to cope with the challenges brought by the great changes in economic diplomacy and the natural environment.

The Optimization of Emergency Logistics Based on Quantitative Risk Measurement

High-risk societies are uncertain, ambiguous and unpredictable. Risk fluctuations are prone to the intertwining and overlapping of various accident hazards and safety risks. China is prone to the interweaving and overlapping of various accident hazards and safety risks, which leads to an increase in the number of factors affecting public safety as well [1]. Therefore, this paper will quantify specific ranking indicators in terms of frequency of hazards, degree of hazards and vulnerability to different hazards. The ranking is based on the quantified results in red, yellow and green and the hazard risk level is calculated according to the risk formula. This study will take the Chengdu-Chongqing region as an example and optimise the storage of materials in the emergency logistics base in order to maximise the precise and rapid supply of materials to the main demand points. The efficiency of emergency material deployment will be further improved and emergency materials will be well secured.

Patterns of inheritance and diagnostic features of spinal muscular atrophy, in areas with high rates of consanguineous marriages.

Objective: To explore the diagnostic features and inheritance patterns of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in children at three tertiary care public hospitals. Study Design: Retrospective study. Setting: HITEC Institute of Medical Sciences Taxila Cantt. Period: January 2022 to March 2022. Material & Methods: A retrospective review of the medical records of the past ten years from January 2011 to December 2020 of three tertiary care public hospitals was conducted. Socio-demographic characteristics, consanguinity, and diagnostic features (including genetic investigation) were also considered. Results: A total of 70 children were diagnosed with SMA during the research study period and the most prevalent variation found among them was Werdnig Hoffmanver illness (SMA type I), affecting 40-57 percent of the children. The study found that 67 percent of the research group showed a high level of paternal consanguinity. The deletion of a gene, survival motor neuron (SMN1) was discovered in 21 (88%) genetically tested children out of 24, while 17 (71%) genetically studied patients were found to be positive for the deletion of specific apoptotic proteins called neuronal apoptosis inhibitory proteins (NAIP). Conclusion: In our study, SMA type 1 is the most prevalent. This piece of literature emphasizes the importance of antenatal detection and the need to increase awareness among high-risk societies with prevalent consanguineous marriages like Pakistan to lessen the disease load.

Disaster assessment using computer vision and satellite imagery: Applications in detecting water-related building damages

The increasing frequency and severity of water-related disasters such as floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, and tsunamis in low- and middle-income countries exemplify the uneven effects of global climate change. The vulnerability of high-risk societies to natural disasters has continued to increase. To develop an effective and efficient adaptation strategy, local damage assessments must be timely, exhaustive, and accurate. We propose a novel deep-learning-based solution that uses pairs of pre- and post-disaster satellite images to identify water-related disaster-affected regions. The model extracts features of pre- and post-disaster images and uses the feature difference with them to predict damage in the pair. We demonstrate that the model can successfully identify local destruction using less granular and less complex ground-truth data than those used by previous segmentation models. When tested with various water-related disasters, our detection model reported an accuracy of 85.9% in spotting areas with damaged buildings. It also achieved a reliable performance of 80.3% in out-of-domain settings. Our deep learning-based damage assessment model can help direct resources to areas most vulnerable to climate disasters, reducing their impacts while promoting adaptive capacities for climate-resilient development in the most vulnerable regions.

Recurrence Rate of Trigeminal Neuralgia With the Use of Percutaneous Stereotactic Continuous Radiofrequency Ablation at 80°C for 90 Seconds: A Single-Center Study.

IntroductionWith recent development in the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia (TN), percutaneous stereotactic rhizotomy is being widely used as an interventional technique. The purpose of this study was to find the recurrence rate of TN in patients who were treated with stereotactic rhizotomy at 80°C for 90 seconds, in a tertiary care set up in a developing country.MethodologyA retrospective cohort study was conducted at Shifa International Hospital, Islamabad, Pakistan from September 2016 to August 31, 2021. A total of 57 patients (19 males and 38 females) aged 27-90 years old, whose MRI of the brain had ruled out organic or structural pathologies, and who fulfilled the International Classification of Headache Disorders, 3rd edition for TN were recruited for the study. Of these patients, 51 underwent radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of the trigeminal ganglion (one or more branches of the trigeminal nerve (cranial nerve V (CN V)) in the operation theater. Patients having concomitant comorbid conditions like brain tumors, vascular pathologies, or coagulopathies, those who had previously undergone trigeminal ganglion neurolysis with either alcohol or phenol, who were lost to follow-up before the completion of the six months or had not visited back after the procedure, and those on oral anticoagulants and the ones declared high risk or American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) 3 and above for general anesthesia were excluded. Ethical approval was obtained and data were collected from the medical records department. The pain was recorded using the Numeric Rating Scale and recurrence was recorded from the follow-up visits of the patient over at least 12 months.ResultsOut of 51 patients, three patients who underwent RFA reported recurrence of the same problem for which they had initially reported to the pain clinic and were treated again with RFA. Five patients came back with the neuralgia of a different but contiguous branch of the same Gasserian ganglion opted for the RFA and were treated with no subsequent recurrences. The initial pain relief rate was 84.31%. At the end of the five-year study period, 16 patients reported variable degrees of sensory deficit, and two patients experienced non-debilitating unilateral reversible motor weakness of the jaw. One patient experienced keratitis due to unintentional loss of corneal reflex and subsequent ipsilateral loss of vision.ConclusionRFA is one of the leading treatment options for TN, with lower recurrence at higher temperatures of the radiofrequency electrode, at the cost of more significant sensory and motor deficits.

COVID-19 smart surveillance: Examination of Knowledge of Apps and mobile thermometer detectors (MTDs) in a high-risk society.

Technological innovations gained momentum and supported COVID-19 intelligence surveillance among high-risk populations globally. We examined technology surveillance using mobile thermometer detectors (MTDs), knowledge of App, and self-efficacy as a means of sensing body temperature as a measure of COVID-19 risk mitigation. In a cross-sectional survey, we explored COVID-19 risk mitigation, mobile temperature detectable by network syndromic surveillance mobility, detachable from clinicians, and laboratory diagnoses to elucidate the magnitude of community monitoring. In a cross-sectional survey, we create in-depth comprehension of risk mitigation, mobile temperature Thermometer detector, and other variables for surveillance and monitoring among 850 university students and healthcare workers. An applied structural equation model was adopted for analysis with Amos v.24. We established that mobile usability knowledge of APP could effectively aid in COVID-19 intelligence risk mitigation. Moreover, both self-efficacy and mobile temperature positively strengthened data visualization for public health decision-making. The algorithms utilize a validated point-of-center test to ascertain the HealthCode scanning system for a positive or negative COVID-19 notification. The MTD is an alternative personal self-testing procedure used to verify temperature rates based on previous SARS-CoV-2 and future mobility digital health. Personal self-care of MTD mobility and knowledge of mHealth apps can specifically manage COVID-19 mitigation in high or low terrestrial areas. We found mobile usability, mobile self-efficacy, and app knowledge were statistically significant to COVID-19 mitigation. Additionally, interaction strengthened the positive relationship between self-efficacy and COVID-19. Data aggregation is entrusted with government database agencies, using natural language processing and machine learning mechanisms to validate and analyze. The study shows that temperature thermometer detectors, mobile usability, and knowledge of App enhanced COVID-19 risk mitigation in a high or low-risk environment. The standardizing dataset is necessary to ensure privacy and security preservation of data ethics.

Evaluation of emergency management capability of urban community based on entropy weight and multi-layer fuzzy

At present, various public emergencies occur frequently around the world, and the world has entered the stage of a “high-risk society”. Urban community as the carrier of all kinds of public emergencies, its role has become increasingly prominent and become the focus of the current research, but in the urban community emergency management capacity evaluation system, the related studies are still less. To more effectively identify the key internal and external factors that affect the emergency management ability of the urban community, and evaluate scientifically and effectively, on the basis of the existing studies, the evaluation index system of community emergency management capability was established according to the emergency management cycle theory. In view of the complexity and fuzziness of the emergency management capability of the urban community, a multi-layer fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model based on entropy weight was established, and the emergency management capability evaluation of community was carried out under the background of the public emergency event of COVID-19 epidemic. The results show that the evaluation results and improvement suggestions of the multi-layer fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model based on entropy weight are consistent with the actual situation, indicating that the index system and the selected method are reasonable and effective. This study provides a new decision-making idea and method for the evaluation of urban community emergency management capability, and has high application value.

Explanatory Model of Voluntary Childlessness among Iranian Couples in Tehran: A Grounded Theory Approach.

Background:Global and Iranian statistics indicate a rise in the newly emerging phenomenon of voluntary childlessness as a permanent status among couples. Childlessness is one of the main challenges of modern society. In Iran, studies on the process of voluntary permanent childlessness are scarce. The present study aimed to investigate the causes and underlying factors of voluntary childlessness and to provide an explanatory model of this phenomenon among Iranian couples. Methods:The present qualitative study was conducted using the grounded theory approach proposed by Strauss and Corbin. Married couples from Tehran (Iran) with no infertility problems who chose to be permanently childless were invited to take part in this research. Theoretical saturation was reached after 33 semi-structured in-depth interviews. Results:Based on the results, the causal conditions of childlessness included the high-risk society and adverse experiences. Contextual and intervening conditions included social problems, social support, transitional society, natural resources, social presence of women, and marriage age. The strategies and interactions observed in childless couples included the suppression of feelings, conflicts, rationality, and malingering. The core phenomenon was individualism. Conclusion:Increased social problems and reduced social support endanger a society in transition toward modernity. Individualists resort to permanent childlessness by suppressing parental feelings, overcoming doubts about childbearing, and becoming nonchalant by running away from child-rearing responsibilities. Such people may resort to child adoption or to have pets in order to cope with loneliness.

중용(中庸)의 생명의식과 상황윤리(狀況倫理)에 대한 연구 - 『중용(中庸)』과 『맹자(孟子)』를 중심으로 -

본고는 일상에서 마주치는 狀況倫理와 "中庸"의 생명의식을 『中庸』과 『孟子』를 통하여 구명하는 것을 연구목적으로 한다. 유가의 狀況倫理라고 할 수 있는 조화롭고 적합한 時中과 權道의 윤리적 판단은 무엇과도 바꿀 수 없는 생명의 귀중하고 존엄함을 깊게 인식하고, 도덕과 윤리 그리고 규범원리에 대한 올바른 이해에서 비롯된다고 생각한다. 이러한 올바른 인식의 과정에서 "中庸의 생명의식"에 대한 개념의 이해도 자연스럽게 도출될 수 있을 것이다. 이 연구는 中庸의 도덕원칙을 기반으로 하는 상황윤리로서의 時中과 權道의 현시적 재해석을 통하여 신속하고 윤리적인 상황판단이 숨 가쁘게 변화하는 고 위험 사회에서 서로가 조화롭고 안전한 사회를 만드는데 합당한 사회윤리로서 기여할 수 있다는 학문적 성과를 연구의 목표로 한다. The purpose of this paper is to identify life consciousness of ‘middle way’ and situation ethics that we encounter in daily life through 『Chung Yong』 and 『Mencius』. The ethical judgment of harmonious and suitable expediency and mean that can be said to be the situation ethics of Confucianism is thought to derive from a deep awareness of preciousness and dignity of life that can not be changed with anything and a proper understanding of morality, ethics, and normative principles. In the process of this right awareness, an understanding of the concept of ‘life consciousness of middle way’ can be derived naturally. This study aims at academic achievement that rapid and ethical circumstantial judgement can contribute to making a harmonious and safe society in a high-risk society that changes breathtakingly as appropriate social ethics through the explicit reinterpretation of expediency and mean as situation ethics based on moral principles of ChungYong.

Early Clinical Outcomes After Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement Using a Novel Self-Expanding Bioprosthesis in Patients With Severe Aortic Stenosis Who Are Suboptimal for Surgery: Results of the Evolut R U.S. Study

ObjectivesThis study sought to evaluate this transcatheter aortic valve (TAV) bioprosthesis in patients who are poorly suitable for surgical aortic valve (AV) replacement. BackgroundA novel self-expandable TAV bioprosthesis was designed to provide a low-profile delivery system, conformable annular sealing, and the ability to resheath and reposition during deployment. MethodsThe Evolut R U.S. study included 241 patients with severe aortic stenosis who were deemed to be at least high risk for surgery treated at 23 clinical sites in the United States. Clinical outcomes at 30 days were evaluated using Valve Academic Research Consortium-2 criteria. An independent echocardiography laboratory was used to evaluate hemodynamic outcomes. ResultsPatients were elderly (83.3 ± 7.2 years of age) and had high surgical risk (Society of Thoracic Surgeons predicted risk of mortality of 7.4 ± 3.4%). The majority of patients (89.5%) were treated by iliofemoral access. Resheathing or recapturing was performed in 22.6% of patients; more than 1 valve was required in 3 patients (1.3%). The 30-day outcomes included all-cause mortality (2.5%), disabling stroke (3.3%), major vascular complications (7.5%), life-threatening or disabling bleeding (7.1%), and new permanent pacemaker (16.4%). AV hemodynamics were markedly improved at 30 days: the mean AV gradient was reduced from 48.2 ± 13.0 mm Hg to 7.8 ± 3.1 mm Hg (p < 0.001) and AV area increased from 0.6 ± 0.2 cm2 to 1.9 ± 0.5 cm2 (p < 0.001). Moderate residual paravalvular leak was identified in 5.3% of patients. ConclusionsWe conclude that this novel self-expanding TAV bioprosthesis is safe and effective for the treatment of patients with severe aortic stenosis who are suboptimal for surgery. (Medtronic CoreValve Evolut R U.S. Clinical Study; NCT02207569).

Hollywood heroes in high tech risk societies: modern fairy tales and emerging technologies

Science, research and emerging technologies often play a key role in many modern action movies. In this contribution we suggest to use genre analysis of folk narratives as an innovative and useful tool for understanding science and technology in action movies. In this contribution we outline our approach using illustrative examples and detail how understanding action movies as modern fairy tales can benefit the study of science, research and technology in popular culture.

Malignant Growth: A Review of Financialisation in Crisis, Edited by Costas Lapavitsas, and The Restructuring of Capitalism in Our Time, by William K. Tabb

MALIGNANT GROWTH: A REVIEW OF FINANCIALISATION IN CRISIS, EDITED BY COSTAS LAPAVITSAS, AND THE RESTRUCTURING OF CAPITALISM IN OUR TIME, BY WILLIAM K. TABBFinancialisation in Crisis, edited by Costas Lapavitsas, Leiden and Boston, Brill, 2012, xvi + 258 pp. + index, US$136.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-9-004-20107-1The Restructuring of Capitalism in Our Time, by William K. Tabb, New York, Columbia University Press, 2012, viii + 313 pp. + index, US$40.00 (cloth), ISBN 918-0-231-15842-8Bearing in mind that more than 40 percent of US corporate profits come from a financial whose profits have been bloated by leveraged carry trading, the scope trouble is considerable. We have a system overloaded with debt in the household and public sectors and stretched by financial imbalances. Yet many in the markets are saying, as with technology in 1999, that this time it is different. Encouraged by the relentless optimism of the great helmsman at the Federal Reserve they are convinced we shall all muddle through.I agree that finance is more sophisticated than ever before, as Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve, often reminds us, but I am pretty sure that the principles on which the financial system operates remain broadly intact. Whether it happens in August is anyone's guess, but something nasty is certainly around the corner. (Plender 2004)It is a measure of our overly financial times that people can recall the day Lehman collapsed as a previous generation remembers the moment when an American president was assassinated in Dallas. (Das 2013)The literature of financialization is vast and expanding exponentially. The term itself is of relatively recent vintage and seems to have emerged at some point during the mid-1990s. Kevin Phillips' Boiling Point (1993) appears to have featured the first use of the term, and a year later his Arrogant Capital (1994) railed against the capture of the US political process by the financial and the consequential doom that this spelled the US, with a chapter devoted specifically to financialization (Phillips 1993, 1994). At around the same time, Giovanni Arrighi employed the term in his discussion of historical phases of hegemony (Arrighi 1994). Two years later, Business Week economics editor Michael Mandel1 effectively combined the observations of Phillips with those of sociologists Ulrich Beck (1992) and Anthony Giddens (1991) when he wrote,We are seeing the financialization of the American economy . . . The combination of high uncertainty and unrestricted competition is reducing the difference between the real economy of factories and offices on the one hand, and the financial markets on the other. The rules governing Wall Street now apply to the entire economy.The implication: In the high-risk society, workers, businesses, and countries must start thinking like investors in the financial markets, where the only way to consistently achieve success is to accept risk. (Mandel 1996, 8)2Since then, there been an ever-increasing number of publications purporting to handle financialization, whether primarily from a business perspective (Luttwak 1999) or, more broadly, as a cultural phenomenon (Martin 2002). A predominant theme of all these, as suggested especially by Luttwak, is a universalized speed-up, as financialization insinuates an orientation toward accounting and risk management into all domains of life (Martin 2002, 43). Costas Lapavitsas similarly identifies its pervasive cultural ramifications, as financialization has allowed the ethics, morality and mindset of finance to penetrate social and individual life (2012, 17). Indeed he goes so far as to say that financialization stands for increasing autonomy of the financial sector (50).3Financialisation in Crisis (Lapavitsas 2012) is among the many products of the Research on Money and Finance (RMF), an international network of researchers whose collaborative efforts have generated a substantial amount of output in a relatively short time. …

The role of trust in enhancing Internet use in a high-risk society

Purpose– This paper aims to determine the key trust antecedents that influence Internet users’ trust level toward Internet service providers (ISPs) in a high-risk society. It also investigates trust-building process, major causes of its violation, their potential implications and restoration.Design/methodology/approach– A mixed-method approach was used in collecting data in Kenya in 2014 by using questionnaire and interview techniques. The former was administered to 250 (with 81 per cent response rate) randomly selected Internet users at Kenyatta University while the latter focused on key decision-makers from four randomly selected ISPs in Nairobi.Findings– The results show that Internet users’ perceptions of ISPs’ ability to be trusted in Kenya depend more on their competence in terms of service delivery (ability) and desire to protect users (benevolence) than upholding acceptable standards (integrity). The results also indicate a lack of trust manifested in poor communication and greed for profit among ISPs as major causes of trust violation.Originality/value– This paper proposes two frameworks that can enhance Internet use by providing a better understanding of trust in a high-risk society.

Resilience and Criminal Justice: Unsafe at Low Altitude

Resilience is increasingly featuring in crime and justice policy discussions. It appears in the fusion of military, security and criminal justice. It offers an alignment by which individual actors are to be adaptive to the uncertain conditions of high risk societies. This article unpacks the application of resilience to criminal justice to reveal at least one negative implication: by placing the focus on self-directed change resilient subjects have limited transformative power. The concept of resilience involves discounting a longer view that challenges the dominant social institutions and orders of neoliberalism. In contrast, we propose the dignified subject and the re-assertion of the discounted institutional context at a level above the individual and community. This analysis supports renewing the transformative agenda of a critical criminology.

The Peasant Poor and Images of Poverty: Finnish Proverbs as Discursive Representations of Cultural Knowledge

This article examines the core idea of poverty proverbs as hints of cultural knowledge in old Finnish rural countryside. Until World War II, most of the Finns lived in a high-risk society with only few institutions to guarantee their safety and well-being. The continuous threat of absolute poverty was evi- dent for the majority of the Finns. The basis of this research is 204 proverbs that contain the words poor, poverty, pity or unfortunate. The proverbs analyzed and classified here were collected in the Folklore Archives of the Finnish Literature Society between the years 1885 and 1950. The ideational level of the proverbs in the context of social history is crucial in revealing the schematic structure that people use to communicate about rural poverty. Throughout the nineteenth and well into the twentieth century, the majority of the population in Finland remained agrarian and poor. By World War II, more than half of the Finns still lived in rural areas and most of them earned their living primarily from agriculture and forestry. Urbanization proceeded rapidly from the 1960s onwards. This paper focuses on the idea of the cultural knowledge and shared understanding that ordinary people, 'folk', had of the concepts and ideas concerning the rural-based poverty in Finland at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries. The basis of this article is a corpus of 204 Finnish proverbs that contain the words poor, poverty, pity or unfortunate; of these, 54 have been selected as examples of a certain theme of cultural knowledge. 1 Some of the proverbs were explained by the informants. Therefore, I also carefully scrutinized every explanation provided by the in- formants for any given proverb text, if such was available. The article does not explore what is distinctive about Finnish proverbs but rather, how semiliterate poor peasants, the majority of the Finns in the relatively recent past, described their universe of experience from the point of view of living standards. The

Atypical Antipsychotic Drugs, Schizophrenia, and Metabolic Syndrome in Non–Euro-American Societies

There has been an increase in the European and North American schizophrenia literature discussing the high prevalence of metabolic syndrome induced by atypical antipsychotic agents. The aim of this article was to review available data on metabolic syndrome induced by atypical antipsychotic agents in patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorders selected from societies different from European and North American ones (termed non-Euro-American societies [NEAS]). A review of the literature published via MedLine between 1975 and July 2011 was consulted. Terms used for the search were "glucose intolerance, metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, weight gain, dyslipidemia" in association with "atypical antipsychotic drugs, second generation antipsychotics, risperidone, olanzapine, aripiprazole, ziprasidone, quetiapine, clozapine, zotepine, perospirone, paliperidone, iloperidone, asenapine, amisulpride, lurasidone." Prospective studies selecting patients from NEAS show that olanzapine poses the highest metabolic syndrome incidence. Clozapine poses the highest prevalence of this syndrome. In NEAS, the prevalence of this syndrome ranges from 14.7% to 69.3%. The incidence could be considered as 20% (according to the International Diabetes Federation criteria) after 1 year of treatment with an atypical antipsychotic drug. Female sex, older age, and high body mass index seem to be the most frequent risk factor mentioned. A possible stratification of the risk of metabolic syndrome in patients with schizophrenia receiving atypical antipsychotic drugs is as follows: Minimal-risk societies are constituted by societies living in Eastern Asian countries, whereas intermediate-risk societies are constituted by societies living in Western Asia and South America, and high-risk societies are societies living in Australia. The metabolic syndrome development profile in patients with schizophrenia receiving atypical antipsychotic drugs in NEAS seems to be comparable to that in European and North American societies, especially when, among NEAS, high-risk societies are concerned. Comparative controlled studies are needed for a better comprehension of this adverse drug effect between both types of societies.

318 高リスク社会と技術倫理大規模自然災害による影響と防災・減災の観点(GS リスク・技術リスクと倫理)

318 高リスク社会と技術倫理大規模自然災害による影響と防災・減災の観点(GS リスク・技術リスクと倫理)

Socio-cultural characteristics of high versus low risk societies regarding road traffic safety

In this study, 15 Western European countries were compared for two periods, 1989–1991, and 1997–1999. The aim was to better understand the relation between different socio-cultural factors, regulations related to traffic safety, and fatal traffic deaths. The question is also posed whether such factors are functional in the search for a safety typology aimed to characterize nations with regard to safety. Despite increased similarity regarding traffic regulation, the differences regarding fatal deaths in motor vehicle road accidents remain among the countries studied. The only studied factor that has changed its relation to motor traffic accidents during the two periods is number of cars which has lost its importance. The conclusion of the study is that type of religion and wealth of the country seem to be the most important factors. Type of religion in the country seems to have an impact on values related to safety. Being a Catholic country or not seems to be as important as being a wealthy country or not. Being a non-wealthy Catholic country leads to more traffic accidents than being a wealthy Catholic country. Being a wealthy Catholic country, however, does seem to lead to more traffic accidents than being a similar wealthy but non-Catholic country. A safety typology with three to five categories is found. The most outspoken categories are Catholic, Protestant and Mixed. The five categories should be Non-wealthy Catholic, Wealthy Catholic, Anglo-Saxon, Safe Protestant and Continental Protestant. The typology have similarities to typologies which have been developed in welfare research.