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Notes: This article examines factors that predict perceptions of risk associated with global climate change. The research focuses on the perceptions of those associated with climate change policy making in the prairie region of Canada. The data are from an online survey (n= 851) of those policy actors. The analysis integrates several dominant approaches to the study of risk perception: psychometric approaches that examine the effects of cognitive structure; demographic assessments that examine, for example, differences in perception based on gender or family status; and political approaches that suggest that one's position in the policy process may affect his or her perceived risk. Attitudes toward climate change are to a degree predicted by all of these factors, but only when indirect effects are observed. Sociodemographic characteristics have little direct effect on perceived risk, but do affect general beliefs that affect risk perceptions. Perceived risk is related more strongly to these general beliefs or world views than to more specific beliefs about the effects of climate change on weather patterns. Position within the policy process also contributes to our understanding of perceptions, with industry and governmental actors demonstrating similar attitudes, which contrast with environmental groups and university researchers.

Notes: We present an adaptation of the full multigrid algorithm in DC resistivity modelling in an effort to increase its accuracy. There is a great difficulty with conventional multigrid solvers in representing the physics of an arbitrary distribution of electrical conductivity on a very coarse grid. In general, conventional rectangular finite-difference or 5-point approximations of Poisson's equation cannot represent, at a coarse grid level, the effective anisotropy on a coarse scale which results from fine structure in the model. An exception to this generalization occurs when the principal axes of structural anisotropy are aligned with the coordinate axis. Additional and similarly generated problems arise when a coarse cell is obliged to represent fine structure containing very high conductivity contrasts. We have developed an adaptation of the usual resistive-network representation of the continuum, which avoids some of these problems, and have compared it with the traditional resistive network currently used. The network adaptation consists of replacing the usual 5-point Laplacian operator stencil used on the finite-difference grid with a 9-point stencil, and the conductivity scalar with a 6-parameter conductivity parametrization. This parametrization permits representation of arbitrarily orientated anisotropy as well as more complex behaviour related to high conductivity contrasts. The importance of multigrid solvers does not lie in their speed at forward modelling (which is comparable with other methods), but rather in their potential for inverse modelling. Inverse solvers which proceed by refinement of an initially very coarse solution can, in principle, take time only linearly proportional to the number of gridpoints in the final desired model.

Notes: Intermittent hypoxia (IH) during sleep, a hallmark of sleep apnea, is associated with neurobehavioral impairments, regional neurodegeneration and increased oxidative stress and inflammation in rodents. Platelet-activating factor (PAF) is an important mediator of both normal neural plasticity and brain injury. We report that mice deficient in the cell surface receptor for PAF (PAFR–/–), a bioactive mediator of oxidative stress and inflammation, are protected from the spatial reference learning deficits associated with IH. Furthermore, PAFR–/– exhibit attenuated elevations in inflammatory signaling (cyclo-oxygenase-2 and inducible nitric oxide synthase activities), degradation of the ubiquitin–proteasome pathway and apoptosis observed in wild-type littermates (PAFR+/+) exposed to IH. Collectively, these findings indicate that inflammatory signaling and neurobehavioral impairments induced by IH are mediated through PAF receptors.

Notes: In two experimental sessions, we assessed early- and late-onset acoustic startle eyeblink modulation and subjective ratings of emotional pictures by nondepressed participants and by unipolar depressed participants. Depressed participants were assessed before and after treatment with the antidepressant medication Bupropion SR. Both depressed and nondepressed participants exhibited arousal-dependent startle modulation to early probes occurring 300 ms after picture onset. Nondepressed participants demonstrated the expected valence-dependent startle modulation to late probes (3,500–4,500 ms post-onset). In contrast, the late-probe blink magnitudes of depressed patients were unrelated to picture valence. This pattern of group differences was not moderated by treatment. There were no between-group differences in self-report ratings to pictures. These results suggest that depression may be characterized by anomalous responses to affective stimuli and that startle modulation can be a more sensitive index of affective response deficits linked to depression than self-report measures.

Notes: Objective  To assess the efficacy and safety of duloxetine in women with stress urinary incontinence.Design  Randomised double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial.Setting  Fort-six centres in seven European countries and Canada.Population  Four hundred and ninety-four women aged 24–83 years identified as having predominant symptoms of stress urinary incontinence using a clinical algorithm that was 100% predictive of urodynamic stress urinary incontinence in a subgroup of 34 women.Methods  The case definition included a predominant symptom of stress urinary incontinence with a weekly incontinence episode frequency ≥7, the absence of predominant symptoms of urge incontinence, normal diurnal and nocturnal frequencies, a bladder capacity ≥400 mL and both a positive cough stress test and positive stress pad test. Subjects completed two urinary diaries prior to randomisation and three diaries during the active treatment phase of the study, each completed during the week prior to monthly visits. Subjects also completed quality of life questionnaires at each visit. Safety was assessed by the evaluation of treatment-emergent adverse events, discontinuation of treatment because of adverse events, serious adverse events, vital sign measurements, electrocardiograms (ECG) and clinical laboratory tests.Intervention  After a two-week placebo lead-in, women received placebo or duloxetine 40 mg BD for 12 weeks.Main outcome measures  The percentage decrease in incontinence episode frequency and the change in the Incontinence Quality of Life (I-QOL) questionnaire total score were prespecified as co-primary outcome variables in the protocol.Results  Incontinence episode frequency decreased significantly with duloxetine compared with placebo (median decrease of 50%vs 29%; P= 0.002) with comparable improvements in the more severely incontinent subgroup (those experiencing at least 14 incontinence episodes per week at baseline; 56%vs 27% decreases; P 〈 0.001). The primary analysis of I-QOL scores did not reveal a significant difference between treatment groups, due primarily to the carrying forward of low scores from patients who discontinued treatment very early due to duloxetine-associated adverse events. The increase in I-QOL scores was significantly greater for duloxetine than for placebo at each of the three postrandomisation visits after 4, 8, and 12 weeks of treatment. Discontinuation rates for adverse events were higher for duloxetine (22%vs 5%; P 〈 0.001) with nausea being the most common reason for discontinuation (5.3%). Nausea tended to be mild to moderate, not progressive, and transient.Conclusions  The findings support duloxetine as a potential treatment for women with stress urinary incontinence.

Notes: Many systemic diseases can mimic periodontitis or gingivitis. These include many immunologic, infectious, neoplastic and metabolic disorders. In comparison with periodontitis and gingivitis, these disorders are considerably less common. However, since their diagnosis and management differ, a high index of suspicion is frequently needed when confronted a patient presenting with gingival or periodontal disease. This chapter has reviewed a number of systemic conditions that may mimic clinically both gingivitis and chronic periodontitis and has focused on the features that may assist the clinician in making the diagnosis and providing specific therapies.