Mission Barrio Adentro: Venezuela\u27s Virus

This thesis uses the historical and structural characteristics of the Venezuelan-Cuban healthcare program, Mission Barrio Adentro, to identify areas of resource mismanagement and how such abuses of government capital has negatively affected the Venezuelan medical system as well as the Cuban healthcare professionals involved. Hugo Chávez and Fidel Castro’s healthcare diplomacy under Mission Barrio Adentro, which trades Cuban doctors for oil, has failed to provide adequate medical services to the Venezuelan citizens. Despite the drop in oil prices, the Venezuelan government has continued to funnel money into Mission Barrio Adentro using PDVSA revenues. Such reliance on oil wealth and the continuation of increased social funding in the face of economic hardship has contributed to the near collapse of the current Venezuelan medical system. The elimination of Chávez’s overly politicized policies and the development of management structures to promote transparency around government expenditures will aid in creating more efficient and beneficial social programs for the Venezuelan people

The Impossible Situation? Impasse as Psychotherapeutic Paralysis, Possibility, and Progress

Psychotherapeutic impasse has long been understood in the clinical literature as treatment stagnation and even failure, both from one-person and two-person psychodynamic perspectives. However, there is a dearth of empirical research that delves deeper to understand this complex and rich phenomenon. Using semi-structured interviews with nine psychodynamic therapists speaking about individual adult patients, this study examined experiences of impasse to better understand treatments that become embroiled in a kind of paralysis. Qualitative analyses revealed dyads where patients were conceptualized as struggling chronically with negative feelings about themselves and others, and who experienced traumatic personal histories. Impasse in and of itself was often felt as a confusing, overwhelming presence for therapists, which made it difficult at times for them to find their psychotherapeutic footing. Results also indicated that significant progress was made in each treatment, with strong therapeutic bonds forged; and that impasse is a complex and varied experience that is not useful nor accurate to simply reduce to stagnation and failure. While it is critical to understand the limitations of psychotherapy to improve theory and technique with suffering patients in challenging treatments, a wholesale negative conceptualization of impasse unintentionally robs clinicians of a deeper appreciation for the complexity of the psychotherapeutic process contained within this phenomenon. It also threatens to obfuscate myriad positive outcomes and future potential that exists or might come to exist in these treatments

Innovazioni morfologiche nello sheng: uno studio di caso sulla varietà del rap a Nairobi

La presente ricerca si propone di approfondire lo studio dello sheng, una varietà urbana giovanile sviluppatasi alcuni decenni fa nelle periferie di Nairobi e caratterizzata da tratti sintattici e morfologici della lingua swahili e innesti lessicali dall’inglese e da altre lingue presenti sul territorio. Questa varietà sembra conferire ai giovani un’identità al di là dell’etnia, supera i confini sociali per unire chi la parla delineando, al tempo stesso, nuovi confini, volti ad escludere coloro che non sono in grado di comprenderla. L’obiettivo di questo progetto è quello di cercare di descrivere le caratteristiche lessicali e morfosintattiche dello sheng che lo contraddistinguono rispetto alle altre lingue presenti sul territorio e che ne fanno una varietà con particolari connotazioni sul piano comunicativo e di espressione dell’identità individuale e collettiva.The present Ph.D. project aims at investigating some of the linguistic traits of Sheng, a urban youth language that emerged from the highly complex sociolinguistic situation of the suburban areas of Nairobi. Sheng is an acronym for Swahili-English slang; its syntax and its morphology share a number of traits with the syntax and morphology of Swahili, whereas a lot of its vocabulary comes from the other (either autochthonous or exogenous) languages spoken in Kenya. Sheng is considered a youth identity marker, especially among young people. By establishing new boundaries and excluding those who cannot display a certain competence of this language, Sheng is reshaping the linguistic map of Nairobi. This Ph.D. project aims to describe the lexical and the morphosyntactic features of Sheng and to compare it with other languages in Kenya, in order to isolate the main linguistic traits tied to the expression of individual and group identity

A clay-shoveler's fracture with renal transplantation and osteoporosis: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Clay-shoveler's fracture is a rare cervicodorsal spinous process fracture and there is little information regarding the prognosis of patients with this condition in conjunction with osteoporosis and corticosteroid use.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 39-year-old man was admitted to our institution with a 6-month history of cervicodorsal pain prior to admission. The patient had previously undergone renal transplantation and was on corticosteroids, and had developed osteoporosis. We treated him with a cervical collar, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents and alendronate. The patient was advised against performing weight-bearing activities for 6 months.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Clay-shoveler's fracture with osteoporosis and corticosteroid use presented by fracture of the cervicodorsal aspect of the spinous processes may be successfully treated with a collar, alendronate and long-term rest.</p

Gastric Emphysema: An Etiologic Classification

I Gas within the wall of the stomach is a rare radiologic finding. The stomach has been the least often reported site of intramural gas in the hollow viscera. Based on etiology, gas in the wall of the stomach can be classified as either gastric emphysema or emphysematous gastritis. Gastric emphysema may be classified into traumatic, pulmonary or obstructive types depending upon the mechanism and pathogenesis. Three cases of gastric emphysema, each of different etiology, are presented to emphasize the subclassification of gastric emphysema. The clinical and prognostic significance of this classification is emphasized.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72543/1/j.1440-1673.1984.tb02363.x.pd

The Harms of Willful Ignorance: Maternal Healthcare Providers’ Insight on Racial Disparities

Black women in the United States die in pregnancy and childbirth at alarmingly high rates. According to The Center for Disease Control, black women are two to three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women. The black-white racial disparity is even greater in New York City, and The NYC Department of Health has found that black mothers in NYC still face higher rates of harm even when accounting for risk factors like educational attainment, obesity, and neighborhood poverty level. Drawing on 18 interviews with NYC-based Obstetricians, Labor and Delivery Nurses, and Midwives, this study examines how the providers who care for women in pregnancy and in childbirth make sense of and define the problem of racial disparities in maternal and infant mortality and morbidity. Building on the Theory of Racial Ignorance and the concept of Colorblind Racism, this study finds that women’s healthcare providers victim-blame and claim ignorance while offering racialized explanations for racial differences in outcomes. It is clear that if educational attainment and socioeconomic status do not explain this disparity, it is acutely a racial disparity, and therefore should be of great interest to sociologists and other social scientists who seek to understand how race can deeply affect people’s health

Family ties: visual lineage in queer art

This thesis presents a comparative analysis of the lives and work of three queer American photographers whose community portraiture has paved the way for advanced visibility of racial and sexual minorities. Sparked by the aesthetic similarities of early 20th century photographer Carl Van Vechten and contemporary artist Catherine Opie, my research has revealed multilayered connections in the role that community has played in the life and work of each artist and connects their legacy to emerging contemporary artist Amos Mac. Utilizing the art historical method of iconology to examine formal visual similarities, biography, historical and political climate, place, and community are equally integral in understanding the significance of bringing these artists into constellation with one another. This thesis unveils the extent to which, through careful manipulation of art historical convention and utilization of pre-existing community and exhibitionary structures, these artists have fostered visibility of the "other," and served as a change agents within each historical moment