Progression of Nigrostriatal Denervation in Cerebellar Multiple System Atrophy: A Prospective Study

Background and Objectives:Nigro-striatal dopaminergic denervation (NSDD) remains poorly characterized in cerebellar multiple system atrophy (MSA-C). We aimed to study NSDD progression in MSA-C and evaluate the capacity for [123I]-FP-CIT-SPECT and parkinsonism to differentiate MSA-C from idiopathic late-onset cerebellar ataxia (ILOCA).Material and methods:We included 85 patients successively referred for sporadic late-onset cerebellar ataxia (SLOCA). Every six months, SARA, UPDRS-III and SDFS scores were measured, and MSA-C diagnostic criteria were searched for. Striatal/occipital dopaminergic binding ratio was evaluated every year with [123I]-FP-CIT-scintigraphy.Results:After a mean follow-up of 33.8 months, 33 patients had probable MSA-C, 8 possible MSA-C and 44 ILOCA. SARA and UPDRS-III scores worsened faster in the probable MSA-C group (p<0.01) compared to the ILOCA group. Baseline striatal/occipital ratio was lower (2.3 vs 2.97; p<0.01) and more decreasing among probable MSA-C patients (p<0.01). Weighting dysautonomia and parkinsonism and/or NSDD as additional and principal criterion, respectively, in the possible MSA-C diagnostic criteria slightly improved their specificity (81.6% vs 76.9%) and sensitivity (77.8% vs 72.2%) to predict a final diagnosis of probable MSA-C.Conclusions:Rapid symptoms worsening and NSDD existence and progression predict MSA-C among SLOCA patients. Parkinsonism, NSDD and dysautonomia should be considered equivalent for possible MSA-C diagnosis.

In praise of Table 1: The importance of making better use of descriptive statistics

As data analytic methods in the managerial sciences become more sophisticated, the gap between the descriptive data typically presented in Table 1 and the analyses used to test the principal hypotheses advanced has become increasingly large. This contributes to several problems including: (1) the increasing likelihood that analyses presented in published research will be performed and/or interpreted incorrectly, (2) an increasing reliance on statistical significance as the principal criterion for evaluating results, and (3) the increasing difficulty of describing our research and explaining our findings to non-specialists. A set of simple methods for assessing whether hypotheses about interventions, moderator relationships and mediation, are plausible that are based on the simplest possible examination of descriptive statistics are proposed.

Perceptual integration and the composite face effect

The composite face paradigm is widely used to investigate holistic perception of faces. In the paradigm, parts from different faces (usually the top and bottom halves) are recombined. The principal criterion for holistic perception is that responses involving the component parts of composites in which the parts are aligned into a face-like configuration are disrupted compared with the same parts in a misaligned (not face-like) format. This is often taken as evidence that seeing a whole face in the aligned condition interferes with perceiving its separate parts, but the extent to which the effect is perceptually driven remains unclear. We used salient perceptual categories of gender (male or female) and race (Asian or Caucasian appearance) to create composite stimuli from parts of faces that varied orthogonally on these characteristics. In Experiment 1, participants categorised the gender of the parts of aligned composite and misaligned images created from parts with the same (congruent) or different (incongruent) gender and the same (congruent) or different (incongruent) race. In Experiment 2, the same stimuli were used but the task changed to categorising race. In both experiments, there was a strong influence of the task-relevant manipulation on the composite effect, with slower responses to aligned stimuli with incongruent gender in Experiment 1 and incongruent race in Experiment 2. In contrast, the task-irrelevant variable (race in Experiment 1, gender in Experiment 2) did not exert much influence on the composite effect in either experiment. These findings show that although holistic integration of salient visual properties makes a strong contribution to the composite face effect, it clearly also involves targeted processing of an attended visual characteristic.

Moral Sensibilities, Emotions, and the Law: Extralegal Considerations in Tang Literary Judgments on Spousal Relationships

Literary judgments (pan 判) were highly stylized prose pieces from the Tang dynasty written in response to legal and administrative controversies. The ability to compose judgments was the principal criterion by which candidates were selected for offices in the Tang bureaucracy. In this article, judgments written for cases that involved disputes between (prospective) spouses and their families are examined, with a focus on the use of extralegal considerations to resolve sensitive domestic conflicts. By analyzing select hypothetical judgments from Bai Juyi’s literary collection and three other judgments on family law cases (from a Dunhuang manuscript, a Tang miscellany, and the Song compendium Wenyuan yinghua 文苑英華), we may see how literary language and allusions played a role in eliciting the moral sensibilities and emotions of readers. For these cases, this strategy was more effective than arguments based on formal legal sources alone.

Dobre słowo jako tekst magiczny. Życzenie — pozdrowienie — błogosławieństwo

Good words as a magical text: Wishes, greetings, blessingsThe article is devoted to cultural patterns of creating favourable reality by means of magic words and gestures. The analysis of cognitive settings of wishing scenarios is focused on the semantic memory of symbols referring to a myth and reactivated in the ritual of blessing or expressing good wishes, lexical items etymological meaning and connotation and axiology — the principal criterion of selection which explains the use of traditional patterns and modifications of the code. The author explores the semantic core of wishing rituals preserved in stereotypical patterns of cultural memory and examines their linguistic manifestations.

The Alliance For or Against Progress? US–Brazilian Financial Relations in the Early 1960s

This paper analyses the role played by US economic assistance during the administrations of Jânio Quadros and João Goulart in Brazil (1961–4). It focuses on the negotiation and implementation of financial agreements associated with the Alliance for Progress, President Kennedy's aid programme for Latin America. It demonstrates that the Alliance had a positive impact during Quadros' administration, providing substantial resources to the country and placing economic growth ahead of economic stabilisation as the principal criterion for aid. Circumstances changed, however, when João Goulart became president, resulting in serious funding constraints. The paper suggests that the main reason for this was political, specifically regarding Washington's perception of Goulart's links with communist groups.

Notes on the Origins of Meritocracy in American Schooling

In The Big Test Nicholas Lemann argues provocatively that the seemingly benign use of academic merit as a principal criterion for admission to selective American colleges has had perverse effects. Selection devices like SAT scores may have given a previously under-advantaged group an admissions advantage, but that advantage cannot be fairly characterized as helping to equalize educational opportunity. Those who cannot play the academic merit game fall behind. Opportunity for all is thus not really broadened.

Immoral Risks: A Deontological Critique of Nuclear Deterrence

I. Beyond UtilitarianismIn the summer of 1982, I published an article called “Missiles and Morals,” in which I argued on utilitarian grounds that nuclear deterrence in its present form is not morally justifiable. The argument of “Missiles and Morals” compared the most likely sort of nuclear war to develop under nuclear deterrence (DET) with the most likely sort of nuclear war to develop under American unilateral nuclear disaramament (UND). For a variety of reasons, I claimed diat the number of casualties in a two-sided nuclear war developing under DET would be at least fifteen times greater than the number of casualties in a one-sided nuclear attack developing under UND. If one assumes that human lives lost or saved is the principal criterion by which nuclear weapons policies should be measured, it follows that DET is morally superior to UND on utilitarian grounds only if the chance of a two-sided nuclear war under DET is more than fifteen times less dian the chance of a one-sided nuclear attack under UND. Since I did not believe that the chance of nuclear war under deterrence is fifteen times less than the chance of nuclear war under unilateral nuclear disarmament, I inferred diat utilitaranism failed to justify DET. Indeed, on utilitarian grounds, DET stood condemned.

Proof, Science, and the Practice of Medicine

We read with surprise and considerable alarm Dr Crook's editorial concerning the role of scientific proof in medical practice. Unfortunately, he appears to confound the admittedly problematic philosophical construct of "proof" with the basic tenets of the scientific method. It is one thing to argue that scientific proof is difficult to define, but quite another to then conclude that opinion, even enlightened and informed opinion, is preferable to hard evidence as the principal criterion for assessing the efficacy of medical treatment.