SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Modernization”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 343 records · Page 19Linked to original sources

PubMed1993

[Arthur Läwen--a pioneer of modern anesthetic techniques].

The development of modern local anaesthetic techniques is connected with the name of Arthur Läwen. At the turn of this century, he started his surgical training with Heinrich Braun, who had performed a lot of research with various local anaesthetic methods and who was renowned world-wide as an authority for his contributions. It is not surprising that a main topic of Läwen's research was the development of new local anaesthetic regimes. In close collaboration with the Institute of Pharmacology at the University of Leipzig, he examined new available local anaesthetic drugs and their practicability for daily use. Due to an own, new pharmacological preparation of a bicarbonated novocaine solution, paravertebral, sacral and epidural conduction blocks became a reality in clinical practice. Thus several, still valid methods in the treatment of acute or chronic pain became manageable. The further development of new techniques for the differential diagnosis of various illnesses must also be mentioned. A remarkable step towards a modern anaesthesia concept was the administration of curare for muscle relaxation in operative surgery. Another evidence of his foresight are his contributions in the development of an electrically driven apparatus to overcome respiratory failure "Läwen was in many ways a man before his time:" This appraisal by a surgeon colleague is true even today for several of his anaesthesia-related contributions, which are still part of the armamentarium of modern anaesthetic methods.

Anesthesiology↗

PubMed2006

Why did modern human populations disperse from Africa ca. 60,000 years ago? A new model.

Recent research has provided increasing support for the origins of anatomically and genetically "modern" human populations in Africa between 150,000 and 200,000 years ago, followed by a major dispersal of these populations to both Asia and Europe sometime after ca. 65,000 before present (B.P.). However, the central question of why it took these populations approximately 100,000 years to disperse from Africa to other regions of the world has never been clearly resolved. It is suggested here that the answer may lie partly in the results of recent DNA studies of present-day African populations, combined with a spate of new archaeological discoveries in Africa. Studies of both the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mismatch patterns in modern African populations and related mtDNA lineage-analysis patterns point to a major demographic expansion centered broadly within the time range from 80,000 to 60,000 B.P., probably deriving from a small geographical region of Africa. Recent archaeological discoveries in southern and eastern Africa suggest that, at approximately the same time, there was a major increase in the complexity of the technological, economic, social, and cognitive behavior of certain African groups, which could have led to a major demographic expansion of these groups in competition with other, adjacent groups. It is suggested that this complex of behavioral changes (possibly triggered by the rapid environmental changes around the transition from oxygen isotope stage 5 to stage 4) could have led not only to the expansion of the L2 and L3 mitochondrial lineages over the whole of Africa but also to the ensuing dispersal of these modern populations over most regions of Asia, Australasia, and Europe, and their replacement (with or without interbreeding) of the preceding "archaic" populations in these regions.

Africa↗

PubMed2006

Analysis of Aurignacian interstratification at the Chatelperronian-type site and implications for the behavioral modernity of Neandertals.

The Châtelperronian is a Neandertal-associated archeological culture featuring ornaments and decorated bone tools. It is often suggested that such symbolic items do not imply that Neandertals had modern cognition and stand instead for influences received from coeval, nearby early modern humans represented by the Aurignacian culture, whose precocity would be proven by stratigraphy and radiocarbon dates. The Grotte des Fées at Châtelperron (France) is the remaining case of such a potential Châtelperronian-Aurignacian contemporaneity, but reanalysis shows that its stratification is poor and unclear, the bone assemblage is carnivore-accumulated, the putative interstratified Aurignacian lens in level B4 is made up for the most part of Châtelperronian material, the upper part of the sequence is entirely disturbed, and the few Aurignacian items in levels B4-5 represent isolated intrusions into otherwise in situ Châtelperronian deposits. As elsewhere in southwestern Europe, this evidence confirms that the Aurignacian postdates the Châtelperronian and that the latter's cultural innovations are better explained as the Neandertals' independent development of behavioral modernity.

Anthropology, Physical↗

PubMed2002

Transcripts of Vp-1 homeologues are misspliced in modern wheat and ancestral species.

The maize (Zea mays) Viviparous 1 (Vp1) transcription factor has been shown previously to be a major regulator of seed development, simultaneously activating embryo maturation and repressing germination. Hexaploid bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) caryopses are characterized by relatively weak embryo dormancy and are susceptible to preharvest sprouting (PHS), a phenomenon that is phenotypically similar to the maize vp1 mutation. Analysis of Vp-1 transcript structure in wheat embryos during grain development showed that each homeologue produces cytoplasmic mRNAs of different sizes. The majority of transcripts are spliced incorrectly, contain insertions of intron sequences or deletions of coding region, and do not have the capacity to encode full-length proteins. Several VP-1-related lower molecular weight protein species were present in wheat embryo nuclei. Embryos of a closely related tetraploid species (Triticum turgidum) and ancestral diploids also contained misspliced Vp-1 transcripts that were structurally similar or identical to those found in modern hexaploid wheat, which suggests that compromised structure and expression of Vp-1 transcripts in modern wheat are inherited from ancestral species. Developing embryos from transgenic wheat grains expressing the Avena fatua Vp1 gene showed enhanced responsiveness to applied abscisic acid compared with the control. In addition, ripening ears of transgenic plants were less susceptible to PHS. Our results suggest that missplicing of wheat Vp-1 genes contributes to susceptibility to PHS in modern hexaploid wheat varieties and identifies a possible route to increase resistance to this environmentally triggered disorder.

Alternative Splicing↗

PubMed2003

Traditional medicines in modern societies: an exploration of integrationist options through East Asian experience.

Modern scientific medicine is increasingly challenged by complementary and alternative therapies. Reviewing policy options for contemporary healthcare development, the World Health Organization's first global strategy on traditional and alternative medicine, released in May 2002, advocates integration. However, experience in East Asia, the only part of the world where state of the art modern scientific facilities are commonly found alongside thriving traditional practices, reveals that medical integration can take several forms. To clarify the available policy options, this article categorizes those forms, identifying three types of integration (unification, equalization and subjugation), plus one type of non-integration (marginalization). It marks out a zone of balanced healthcare development that cuts across two of the integrationist types, and comprises non-discriminatory state treatment of separate but linked sectors of traditional and modern medicine. The article closes by exploring arguments for and against locating state policy in this zone, and holds that policy should be situated here for medical practices that can meet broadly acceptable professional standards, demonstrate an existing social demand, and generate an adequate supply of medical practitioners, possibly through some state subsidy.

Academies and Institutes↗

PubMed2001

Science against modernism: the relevance of the social theory of Michael Polanyi.

Science, as an institution, is widely taken by sociologists to exemplify the modern tendency towards vesting trust and authority in impersonal offices and procedures, rather than in embodied human individuals. Such views of science face an important challenge in the social philosophy of Michael Polanyi. His work provides important insights into the continuing role of embodied personal authority and tradition in science and, hence, in late modernity. I explicate Polanyi's relevance for social theory, through a comparison with Weber's essay 'Science as a Vocation'. An understanding of the personal dimensions of trust and authority in science suggests practical limits to the position of Giddens on the disembedding of social relations and on the scepticism and reflexivity of modernity.

History, 20th Century↗

PubMed2002

Mesmer minus magic: hypnosis and modern medicine.

The implications and effects of the French commission that passed judgment on Mesmer's work is examined in light of the pioneering role of hypnosis as the first Western conception of a psychotherapy, the ancient philosophical debate between idealism and empiricism, and the conflict in modern medicine between biotechnological emphasis on cure and the need for care as many previously terminal illnesses are converted to chronic diseases. The panel's report is interpreted as negative about the literal theory of animal magnetism but actually supportive of the potential therapeutic power of suggestion and "positive thinking." This aspect of hypnosis is described as a forerunner of modern cognitive therapies of depression and other illnesses. The panel exerted a constructive effect in applying scientific method and rigorous evaluation to hypnotic treatment, an application of Enlightenment philosophy that presaged the Flexner era in modern medicine. Both hypnosis and medicine ultimately benefited.

France↗

PubMed2005

Modernizing medical photography, part 2.

Part 1 of this paper explored the origins of process activity mapping, one of the major tools currently being used to modernize patient pathways in the National Health Service in Great Britain. Within medical photography the current notion of modernization is inextricably linked to the development of digital technology. Whilst the core principle of capturing light on a sensitive medium remains as clear and relevant as ever, the mechanisms by which the image is processed and presented to the client have changed profoundly. Part 2 shows how the principles of lean thinking and process activity mapping can be utilized to harness the advantages of digital technology to provide a modern and appropriate medical photography service in a large disparate teaching hospital.

Forecasting↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The ambivalent chaplain: negotiating structural and ideological difference on the margins of modern-day hospital medicine.

The chaplain experience in modern-day hospital medicine is largely one of marginalization. It is not, however, an experience without agency. Working within the constraints of difference, chaplains learn how to negotiate on the margins of medicine. This starts with learning the language of hospital medicine, learning to skillfully see, speak, and move in ways that minimize difference. Successes in socialization and acclimation do not, however, guarantee the chaplain a place in the hospital, where chaplains encounter both structural marginalization (resulting from inequalities in power and hierarchy) and ideological marginalization (resulting from inequalities in accepted forms of knowledge and practice). Using the theories of Michel Foucault (1973) and Byron Good (1994), I examine how chaplains negotiate structural and ideological marginality, at times embracing their connection to medicine (downplaying their connection to the institution of religion) and at other times embracing their connection to religion and religious practices. The result is an ambivalent chaplain who strategically embraces one or the other paradigm in order to survive. Using data gathered during a 12-month ethnography of chaplain interns at a university teaching hospital, this article examines the structural and ideological differences between science and religion through the modern-day practice of hospital chaplains. It both introduces readers to the modern-day chaplain, a healer largely absent in ethnography, and adds a renewed perspective to a long-standing body of literature on the relationship between structure and agency, and science and religion.

Anthropology, Cultural↗

PubMed2006

Modern psychiatry in India: the British role in establishing an Asian system, 1858-1947.

Four broad phases can be traced in the development of modern psychiatry in India. After briefly considering the outline of each of these phases this article will focus its attention on the second and third. It will be argued through tracing the trends in patient admission, treatment regimes and the organisation of the asylum system in these years that the foundations of modern psychiatry were laid in India in the period 1858 to 1947 and that the modern psychiatric system in India as it is today, although it has evolved since Independence in 1947, continues in significant ways to be shaped by the colonial period.

Colonialism↗

PubMed2006

Suicide--a challenge in modern Greenland.

The incidence of youth suicides has increased dramatically among the Inuit in Greenland since the modernization started in the 1950s. Suicides currently peak at age 15-24 Men: 400-500, Women: 100-150 per 100,000 person-years. The methods are drastic: shooting or hanging. An early peak was seen in the capital, a later peak in the rest of West Greenland, and high and increasing rates in remote East Greenland. Suicidal thoughts occur more often in young people who grew up in homes with a poor emotional environment, alcohol problems and violence. There is a definite correlation with several aspects of the modernization process but it is hard to pinpoint causal relationships. It is rather the "modernization package" that should be regarded as risk factors for suicides.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

On the co-creation of classical and modern physics.

While the concept of "classical physics" has long framed our understanding of the environment from which modern physics emerged, it has consistently been read back into a period in which the physicists concerned initially considered their work in quite other terms. This essay explores the shifting currency of the rich cultural image of the classical/ modern divide by tracing empirically different uses of "classical" within the physics community from the 1890s to 1911. A study of fin-de-siècle addresses shows that the earliest general uses of the concept proved controversial. Our present understanding of the term was in large part shaped by its incorporation (in different ways) within the emerging theories of relativity and quantum theory--where the content of "classical" physics was defined by proponents of the new. Studying the diverse ways in which Boltzmann, Larmor, Poincaré, Einstein, Minkowski, and Planck invoked the term "classical" will help clarify the critical relations between physicists' research programs and their use of worldview arguments in fashioning modern physics.

Electromagnetic Phenomena↗

PubMed1987

Socioeconomic development and the status of elderly men in Turkey: a test of modernization theory.

The aim of this study was to test the predictions of modernization theory concerning the relationship between socioeconomic development and the status of elderly men in Turkish society. Using data derived from Turkish provincial census returns for 1980 and related material, we performed a series of principal component (PC) regression analyses on the data. The results indicated that a greater proportion of elderly men were classified as "head of household" in provinces characterized by low levels of urbanization and industrialization and with high village populations. Labor force participation rates of elderly men also demonstrated a negative relationship to the modernization variables. In contrast, measures of educational and high-level employment status showed a positive relationship with these indexes. These latter variables may reflect historical processes of development and achievements gained earlier in life rather than the current status of elderly men in Turkey. Thus, the study provides strong support for the major tenets of modernization theory.

Aged↗

PubMed2001

Promoting breastfeeding in rural Gambia: combining traditional and modern knowledge.

Sub-optimal breastfeeding practices still prevail in many countries, especially in traditional rural communities. Despite high breastfeeding initiation rates and long total duration of breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding is a rare practice. In the present study, quantitative methods were used to identify current infant feeding practices in 12 rural communities in The GAMBIA: Results indicated that delayed initiation of breastfeeding, prelacteal feeding and failure to practice exclusive breastfeeding were widespread. Qualitative data further indicated that current beliefs and practices were strongly influenced by traditional beliefs and practices. These were kept very much alive by elders, both women and men, including husbands. The results also showed an unexpected support for bottle-feeding from both male and female elders who considered it part of the modernization process. A strategy for promoting early initiation of breastfeeding, feeding of colostrum and exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months in rural communities should therefore incorporate traditional beliefs and practices into modern messages on optimal breastfeeding. Traditional beliefs and practices in the study setting that could be used in this way included knowledge from the population's acquaintance with the newborns of their livestock. It also included the traditional practice of mothers taking their very young children with them when going to work in the fields. The paper suggests such a strategy by developing a matrix to establish linkages between modern and traditional knowledge on a specific practice. Such linkages facilitate the acceptance of recommendations on infant feeding by mothers in these communities. The strategy recommends an expanded target group to include elders and husbands, as the data show that these groups are highly influential in matters regarding patterns of child feeding.

Adult↗

PubMed2026

An archaic reference-free method to jointly infer Neanderthal and Denisovan introgressed segments in modern human genomes.

Admixture between populations is a common feature of human history. Admixture events introduce new genetic variation that can fuel evolution. Characterizing the significance of admixture events on the evolution of populations across various species is of great interest to evolutionary geneticists. Local Ancestry Inference (LAI) methods infer genetic ancestry of an individual at a particular chromosomal location. Certain methods specialize in detecting archaic introgression, which consists of interbreeding between modern and archaic humans like Neanderthals and Denisovans. Most current LAI methods allow the detection of a single archaic ancestry, and post-processing may distinguish between multiple waves of introgression. These methods vary in how they choose archaic or modern reference genomes for the inference. Here, we present a new HMM-based method (DAIseg), which has the advantage of simultaneously distinguishing between multiple waves of ancient and recent admixture, using only modern human reference genomes. Simulations demonstrate that DAIseg achieves higher overall performance than state-of-the-art methods. We also apply DAIseg to Papuan populations to jointly detect Denisovan and Neanderthal introgressed segments, and identify a higher number of archaic segments than previous methods. Analysis of inferred introgressed segments, shows that we can identify evidence for two Denisovan introgression events in Papuans. Overall, on top of being able to deal with both Archaic and recent admixture, DAIseg provides a more principled approach for detecting and classifying Denisovan and Neanderthal segments which will improve downstream analysis of introgressed segments to infer the impact of archaic introgression in humans.

Denisovan↗

PubMed2005

Modern mRNA proofreading and repair: clues that the last universal common ancestor possessed an RNA genome?

RNA repair has now been demonstrated to be a genuine biological process and appears to be present in all three domains of life. In this article, we consider what this might mean for the transition from an early RNA-dominated world to modern cells possessing genetically encoded proteins and DNA. There are significant gaps in our understanding of how the modern protein-DNA world could have evolved from a simpler system, and it is currently uncertain whether DNA genomes evolved once or twice. Against this backdrop, the discovery of RNA repair in modern cells is timely food for thought and brings us conceptually one step closer to understanding how RNA genomes were replaced by DNA genomes. We have examined the available literature on multisubunit RNA polymerase structure and function and conclude that a strong case can be made that the Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA) possessed a repair-competent RNA polymerase, which would have been capable of acting on an RNA genome. However, while this lends credibility to the proposal that the LUCA had an RNA genome, the alternative, that LUCA had a DNA genome, cannot be completely ruled out.

Biological Evolution↗

PubMed2000

The early history of modern birds inferred from DNA sequences of nuclear and mitochondrial ribosomal genes.

The traditional view of avian evolution places ratites and tinamous at the base of the phylogenetic tree of modern birds (Neornithes). In contrast, most recent molecular studies suggest that neognathous perching birds (Passeriformes) compose the oldest lineage of modern birds. Here, we report significant molecular support for the traditional view of neognath monophyly based on sequence analyses of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA (4.4 kb) from every modern avian order. Phylogenetic analyses further show that the ducks and gallinaceous birds are each other's closest relatives and together form the basal lineage of neognathous birds. To investigate why other molecular studies sampling fewer orders have reached different conclusions regarding neognath monophyly, we performed jackknife analyses on our mitochondrial data. Those analyses indicated taxon-sampling effects when basal galloanserine birds were included in combination with sparse taxon sampling. Our phylogenetic results suggest that the earliest neornithines were heavy-bodied, ground-dwelling, nonmarine birds. This inference, coupled with a fossil bias toward marine environments, provides a possible explanation for the large gap in the early fossil record of birds.

Animals↗

PubMed2001

Effects of photostimulatory light intensity on ovarian morphology and carcass traits at sexual maturity in modern and antique egg-type pullets.

The effects of light intensity during sexual maturation on ovarian and carcass morphology at first oviposition [sexual maturity (SM)] were examined in two Single Comb White Leghorn (SCWL) strains. A modern commercial layer strain (COMM; Shaver Starcross 288) and an antique randombred control strain (ANT) were used to compare the effects of changes in laying stock on their response to varying light intensities from photostimulation (PS) until SM. Two hundred pullets from each strain were reared following COMM breeder guidelines. At 18 wk of age, 32 COMM and 32 ANT pullets were individually caged in individually lit cages and photostimulated with light intensities of 1, 5, 50, and 500 lx. Each bird was processed when it reached SM, and carcass and ovarian morphology were assessed. The ANT birds came into production 9.1 d later than the COMM birds, on average. The ANT pullets consumed 7.0% more feed per day than COMM pullets but gained at a slower rate (ANT = 12.9 g/d; COMM = 15.0 g/d). The ANT birds reached SM at a greater weight and with a smaller ovary than did COMM birds. Although the number of large yellow follicles (LYF) was similar between strains (mean = 6.72), both LYF weight and first egg weight were lower in ANT birds than in COMM birds. The COMM layer strain was more growth efficient and had a greater emphasis on ovary maintenance. Light intensity had no effect on the timing of SM or on BW at SM, indicating that all intensities used were effectively able to stimulate the sexual maturation process. However, ovary weight and number of LYF exhibited an increasing dose response to light intensity, particularly in the COMM birds. Overall, the birds photostimulated with 1 lx of light had reduced ovary development and were heavier than their counterparts exposed to 50 and 500 lx. Within the ANT strain, LYF numbers were not significantly affected by light intensities, whereas, within the COMM strain, LYF numbers were 4.88, 6.63, 7.88, and 8.13 for the 1-, 5-, 50-, and 500-lx intensity groups, respectively. Although light intensity did not affect the rate of sexual maturation, it altered ovarian morphology and carcass lipid stores. A light intensity of 1 lx was limiting to ovarian follicle formation and caused increased carcass weight compared with birds on higher light intensity treatments. The COMM birds were more negatively affected by low light intensity than were the ANT birds, indicating that light intensity may be a more critical environmental factor with modern, highly efficient SCWL strains than has previously been thought. Light intensity can affect the reproductive development and likely the associated egg production potential of modern layer stocks.

Animal Husbandry↗