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This paper documents and discusses the creation of a performance (dance and song) by 12 sanitation workers in Nepal working with artists Alice Fox (UK) and Ashmina Ranjit (Nepal). This creative work was one element within an international, interdisciplinary research programme that explored shit flow, wastewater and marginality in five rapidly developing off-grid towns. Performed at the Lumbini Peace Park as part of the 2022 Women of the World Festival, an important objective of the work was raising awareness of issues affecting sanitation workers, who are among the most precarious workers in the world. Using photos and artist commentary, 'we' (geographers and artists) show how the performance (un)seen (un)clean opened a creative space through which to engage and circulate the lived experiences of workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

However, case reports of NMDA receptor antibody encephalitis occurring in the context of infection with I Haemophilus influenzae i , human herpesvirus 6, mumps virus, I Enterovirus i , I Mycoplasma pneumoniae i and Japanese encephalitis virus have been reported [[3]], but the most robust association is with herpes simplex encephalitis, which one study found to be followed within a year by NMDA receptor antibody encephalitis in 18% of individuals [[5]]. The other potential effect is that the restrictions instituted by many countries could have suppressed the circulation of other infectious agents that may trigger NMDA receptor antibody encephalitis. Dear Sirs, I N i -methyl d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antibody encephalitis, since its description in 2007, has emerged as one of the most common causes of encephalitis among young people in the developed world [[1]]. Most importantly, there are limitations in this study's face validity in that it measured antibody results rather than actual diagnoses of NMDA receptor antibody encephalitis. [Extracted from the article]

In this paper, we show how mobile drawing methodologies can bring the dynamic, relational and non-representational qualities of landscape encounters to the foreground. The research paper discusses a mobile drawing project that took place in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. The project entitled 'Taxi Guff-Gaff' invited participants to undertake a collaborative drawing and conversational journey. Mobile drawing together on a bumpy taxi journey required artist participants to move together and literally 'pay attention to the moment at hand'. In so doing it produced imagery that foregrounds the inherent dynamic quality of all our landscape encounters. We propose that mobile drawing offers an immersive way to relate to the urban landscape and each other and can open up spaces of landscape research that centre on speculative forms of thinking, being, drawing and conversation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The purpose of this study was to characterize the physiological demands of a riding session comprising different types of recreational horse riding in females. Methods: Sixteen female recreational riders (aged 17 to 54 years) completed an incremental cycle ergometer exercise test to determine peak oxygen consumption (VO2peak) and a 45-minute riding session based upon a British Horse Society Stage 2 riding lesson (including walking, trotting, cantering and work without stirrups). Oxygen consumption (VO2), from which metabolic equivalent (MET) and energy expenditure values were derived, was measured throughout. Results: The mean VO2 requirement for trotting/cantering (18.4 ± 5.1 ml·kg-1·min-1; 52 ± 12% VO2peak; 5.3 ± 1.1 METs) was similar to walking/trotting (17.4 ± 5.1 ml·kg-1·min-1; 48 ± 13% VO2peak; 5.0 ± 1.5 METs) and significantly higher than for work without stirrups (14.2 ± 2.9 ml·kg-1·min-1; 41 ± 12% VO2peak; 4.2 ± 0.8 METs) (P = .001). Conclusions: The oxygen cost of different activities typically performed in a recreational horse riding session meets the criteria for moderate intensity exercise (3-6 METs) in females, and trotting combined with cantering imposes the highest metabolic demand. Regular riding could contribute to the achievement of the public health recommendations for physical activity in this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relational values are values of desirable relationships between people and nature and among people (through nature). We report on the approach to capture relational values of nature's contributions to people in the regional assessment for Europe and Central Asia of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). We present a framework considering indicators along four relational value dimensions about people's relationships with nature: security and sovereignty; health; equity and justice; and heritage, social identity and stewardship. The framework has been operationalized for three nature's contributions to people (NCP): regulation of freshwater quality and quantity, food and feed, and physical and psychological experiences derived from nature. We identify ways to empirically assess relational values of nature's contributions to people at regional and continental scales with social-ecological indicators and proxies, ranging from biophysical indicators to indicators that intersect socio-economic with biophysical data. We conclude that many of the identified indicators can be considered as useful proxies of relational values in a quantitative way. The analysis shows that relational values are essential to consider at the science-policy interface as they are an important set of values that people hold about nature and that go beyond instrumental relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of regular participation in physical activity in youth has seen attention turn to the role of lifestyle sports. Existing research on lifestyle sports lacks consideration of young people's use of green spaces and the approaches of managers to conflicts in these spaces. Young people's experiences of leisure are closely tied to those who oversee their use of leisure spaces and this paper is a rare example of research that draws upon qualitative methods from 40 mountain biking participants and 9 managers to explore both perspectives. Findings reveal young people seek opportunities for autonomy in green spaces through mountain biking but contest normative management practices. Managers recognized the benefits of engaging young people in mountain biking and discussed experimenting with various strategies to accommodate their practices. The paper therefore discusses the importance of moving beyond constructions of young people's participation in lifestyle sports as transgressive and troublesome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relational values are values of desirable relationships between people and nature and among people (through nature). We report on the approach to capture relational values of nature's contributions to people in the regional assessment for Europe and Central Asia of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). We present a framework considering indicators along four relational value dimensions about people's relationships with nature: security and sovereignty; health; equity and justice; and heritage, social identity and stewardship. The framework has been operationalized for three nature's contributions to people (NCP): regulation of freshwater quality and quantity, food and feed, and physical and psychological experiences derived from nature. We identify ways to empirically assess relational values of nature's contributions to people at regional and continental scales with social-ecological indicators and proxies, ranging from biophysical indicators to indicators that intersect socio-economic with biophysical data. We conclude that many of the identified indicators can be considered as useful proxies of relational values in a quantitative way. The analysis shows that relational values are essential to consider at the science-policy interface as they are an important set of values that people hold about nature and that go beyond instrumental relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

people (through nature). We report on the approach to capture relational values of nature's contributions to people in the regional assessment for Europe and Central Asia of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). We present a framework considering indicators along four relational value dimensions about people's relationships with nature: security and sovereignty; health; equity and justice; and heritage, social identity and stewardship. The framework has been operationalized for three nature's contributions to people (NCP): regulation of freshwater quality and quantity, food and feed, and physical and psychological experiences derived from nature. We identify ways to empirically assess relational values of nature's contributions to people at regional and continental scales with social-ecological indicators and proxies, ranging from biophysical indicators to indicators that intersect socio-economic with biophysical data. We conclude that many of the identified indicators can be considered as useful proxies of relational values in a quantitative way. The analysis shows that relational values are essential to consider at the science-policy interface as they are an important set of values that people hold about nature and that go beyond instrumental relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessments of the value of nature (e.g., TEEB. The economics of ecosystems and biodiversity: ecological and economic foundations, London, 2010) have tended to focus on the instrumental values of ecosystem services. However, recent academic and policy debate have highlighted a wider range of values (e.g., relational and intrinsic values), valuation methods (e.g., socio-cultural methods), and worldviews [e.g., indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) systems]. To account for these new perspectives, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) has developed the concept of 'Nature's contributions to people' (NCP), which aims to be a more inclusive approach to understanding and accounting for the diversity of values held by different stakeholders. In this paper, we aim to critically appraise the merits of the IPBES conceptual framework by reviewing of the findings the IPBES Europe and Central Asia (ECA) assessment. Our objectives are: (1) To review and assess the instrumental and relational values of NCP in Europe and Central Asia? (2) To consider what additional insights into the value of NCP are gained through the inclusion of socio-cultural valuations and ILK? Our analysis demonstrates that the ECA assessment captures a wide range of instrumental and relational values of NCP; however, we acknowledge variation in the availability of this value evidence. We also highlight new insights that can be uncovered through the adoptions of socio-cultural valuation methods and analysis of ILK knowledge. We conclude that the NCP paradigm, with its focus on instrumental and relational values, treats values more holistically than previous assessments such as TEEB (2010). For example, by giving a 'voice' to ILK holders, we demonstrated new types of NCP such as carrion removal, along with evidence of relational values including sense of place, identity, symbolic values and sacredness. While the ECA assessments may be defined as an example of a 'Multiple evidence base' approach to valuation of ecosystem assessments, the ECA assessment fails to demonstrate how to incorporate this wider range of values in decision-making processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article draws on learning from the YOUR World Research project in Ethiopia and Nepal, which uses the socioecological Change-scape framework to understand how participants in research need to be understood within a landscape of changing institutional, environmental, and political contexts. The article explores whether trustful relationships, ownership, and commitment can bring about more effective societal change through research. Through group discussion and reflective perspectives, the authors draw out possible indicators of successful partnership from the different contexts in which YOUR World Research was working. These include histories of interpersonal relationships; shared vision and motivations; building ownership; shared platforms and spaces for dialogue; and flexibility to respond to shocks and changes in context. The article suggests that whilst being realistic about the power and politics of partnership, there are mechanisms in partnership models that can help support high-quality rigorous research whilst creating impact at local, national, and international levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published in 2005, the United Nations Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) stressed that influencing governments, businesses and communities to address the supra-national challenge of limiting biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation requires a fuller understanding of the range of values and benefits people derive from ecosystems, including tourism. The MA was informed by, and has shaped, several conceptually and methodologically distinctive sub-global assessments (SGAs) of ecosystem services. Through content analysis, this paper is the first detailed examination of how tourism features in 14 extant SGAs identified in a database held by a major supra-national environmental organization. Although the SGAs should have incorporated the widest range of specialist subject expertise, tourism scholars played only peripheral roles in producing them even for territories where tourism is a significant land use. The SGAs examined did not benefit from the extensive body of knowledge relating to sustainable tourism. Limited portrayals of tourism restrict the capacity of SGAs in their current format as management solutions. It is also contradictory to the ethos, principles and purpose of ecosystem assessments. With the ecosystem services perspective set to become more important to policy and decision making, the paper argues for greater incorporation of recent progress in sustainable tourism in ecosystem assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lifestyle and informal sports have been recognised by policy makers as offering opportunities to increase participation in physical activity, particularly amongst hard to reach groups. Lifestyle sports are, however, double edged in their potential to achieve these goals. Their playful and non-traditional features may attract new participants less interested in traditional sports but the very liquidity of these activities may mean that the engagement of participants is fragmented and not sustained beyond a particular period in their lives. This article presents the perspective of mountain biking user-managers; those involved in the delivery, clubs and communities of mountain bikers across the United Kingdom. Findings suggest that whilst lifestyle sport communities are dependent on the work of formalised clubs to gain access to the funding and resources they need to sustain their activities, core participants will not always want to have to liaise or become involved formally within a club structure. In addition, clubs will not succeed in delivering sustained activities in line with sport policy to increase and maintain participation by relying on individual grants and without the support of an active informal user community. Accounts highlight the importance of engaging informal user communities with a sense of ownership such as locals to ensure new participants are integrated and the community is able to replenish. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Journal of Planning Education & Research is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Leisure Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The Young Women’s Group in Manchester is a ‘young women’s peer health project, run by and for young lesbian and bisexual women’, which runs an allotment as one of its activities. At a time when interest in allotments and gardening appears to be on the increase, the existence of yet another community allotment may seem unremarkable. Yet we suggest that this queer allotment poses challenges for conventional theorisations of allotments, as well as for understandings of public and private. In this article we explore how the allotment project might be understood to be intensely engaged in ‘growing intimate publics’, or what we term ‘privatepublics’. These are paradoxical intimacies, privatepublic spaces which are not necessarily made possible in the usual private sphere of domestic homes. Here we focus on the work involved in materialising the allotment, which we understand as a queer privatepublic ‘natureculture’ (Haraway, 2008) which appears as an ‘everyday utopia’ (Cooper, 2014). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses narrative accounts of private gardens in Britain from the Mass-Observation Archive (MO) to explore ideas of landscape, privacy and attachment that emerge from daily practices and routines in these ordinary domestic spaces. We argue for the domestic garden as a vernacular or ordinary landscape that displays tensions between the private and the public nature of home within ambivalent emotional responses. Extended personal narratives offer privileged access to a site of intense engagement and carefully guarded privacy, yet with varying levels of attachment. The garden is a space well described in Britain in its public form but less well known as a private, everyday landscape. In this way a cultural landscape study becomes a contemporary critical geography of an ordinary space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Planning Education & Research is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In many sports, but especially professional soccer in the UK, clubs have recently relocated to new stadiums so as to meet new health and safety requirements and also develop new opportunities for income generation. The process of stadium relocation involves the emergence of new spaces that have implications for the power relations between stadium owners, managers and sport supporters. Existing studies provide a limited understanding of the changing nature of power relations in new stadiums. This paper reveals the power modalities and resources involved in the constantly changing new stadium spaces. A case study of Arsenal Football Club in London and the process of ‘Arsenalisation’ in the club's new stadium reveals how material and virtual spaces are used by supporters to resist, confirm and negotiate the resources and practices of stadium managers seeking to control their activities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Through a theoretical and empirical consideration of gift exchange we argue in this paper that those with legal interests in land have constructed property relations around a claim of reciprocity with nature. This has been used to legitimate the ways in which they have deployed their property power to exclude others, thus seeking to retain their dominion over both humans and nonhumans. In so doing, however, people with such interests have failed to understand the dynamic of gift relationships, with their inherent inculcation of subject and other, to the point where the exercise of power becomes contingent on the continued hegemony of property relations. Using the politics of recreational access to inland waters in England and Wales, we show that power--over both humans and nonhumans--is temporary and conditional in ways that are not fully theorised in most contemporary debates about property rights and their deployment on nonhuman subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recent development in corpus linguistics has been the integration of critical discourse methodologies, which allow in-depth contextual and qualitative analyses, with corpus linguistic methodologies, which allow broader quantitative analyses. Our study is a contribution to this approach. We present the methods used in a study of vocabulary pertaining to the environment, undertaken as part of the UK National Ecosystem Assessment. A clear and replicable methodology was developed and applied to three custom-built specialised web corpora and a reference web corpus; automatic analysis of collocations found using the Sketch Engine was complemented by manual analysis; and a small-scale replicability check was carried out to ensure that investigator divergence was minimal. We outline the approach and some of the key findings, and we also suggest areas for further refinement/investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent reports of autoantibodies that bind to neuronal surface receptors or synaptic proteins have defined treatable forms of autoimmune encephalitis. Despite these developments, many cases of encephalitis remain unexplained. We have previously described a basal ganglia encephalitis with dominant movement and psychiatric disease, and proposed an autoimmune aetiology. Given the role of dopamine and dopamine receptors in the control of movement and behaviour, we hypothesized that patients with basal ganglia encephalitis and other putative autoimmune basal ganglia disorders harboured serum autoantibodies against important dopamine surface proteins. Basal ganglia encephalitis sera immunolabelled live surface cultured neurons that have high expression of dopamine surface proteins. To detect autoantibodies, we performed flow cytometry cell-based assays using human embryonic kidney cells to express surface antigens. Twelve of 17 children (aged 0.4–15 years, nine males) with basal ganglia encephalitis had elevated immunoglobulin G to extracellular dopamine-2 receptor, compared with 0/67 controls. Immunofluorescence on wild-type mouse brain showed that basal ganglia encephalitis sera immunolabelled microtubule-associated protein 2-positive neurons in striatum and also in cultured striatal neurons, whereas the immunolabelling was significantly decreased in dopamine-2 receptor knock-out brains. Immunocytochemistry confirmed that immunoreactivity localized to the surface of dopamine-2 receptor-transfected cells. Immunoabsorption of basal ganglia encephalitis sera on dopamine-2 receptor-transfected human embryonic kidney cells decreased immunolabelling of dopamine-2 receptor-transfected human embryonic kidney cells, neurons and wild-type mouse brain. Using a similar flow cytometry cell-based assay, we found no elevated immunoglobulin G binding to dopamine 1, 3 or 5 receptor, dopamine transporter or N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor. The 12 dopamine-2 receptor antibody-positive patients with encephalitis had movement disorders characterized by parkinsonism, dystonia and chorea. In addition, the patients had psychiatric disturbance with emotional lability, attention deficit and psychosis. Brain magnetic resonance imaging showed lesions localized to the basal ganglia in 50% of the patients. Elevated dopamine-2 receptor immunoglobulin G was also found in 10/30 patients with Sydenham’s chorea, 0/22 patients with paediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infection and 4/44 patients with Tourette’s syndrome. No dopamine-1 receptor immunoglobulin G was detected in any disease or control groups. We conclude that assessment of dopamine-2 receptor antibodies can help define autoimmune movement and psychiatric disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A consideration of occupation and space is outlined to advance nonrepresentational thinking about human-landscape relations. Empirical findings are presented from a research project based on data from the Mass Observation Archive relevant to gardens and gardening. These data are analysed to explore how 'ordinary' people (who have contributed to this Archive) express and experience issues concerning their home gardens. Our analysis suggests four distinct modes of occupation relevant to the ways in which these lay writers describe their garden and gardening experiences and activities. The naturalistic mode is occupied with the garden as expressive of 'nature'; the nostalgic mode is occupied with memory and self-reflection; the pragmatic mode concerns tasks/activities that constitute the routine practices of gardening; and the mimetic mode is occupied with the interpersonal dynamics and processes of human social activity. The analysis is situated in the theoretical context of some recent developments in nonrepresentational theory. We suggest that our approach and data are compatible with the process-orientation of nonrepresentational thinkers, and that-contrary to certain objectivist tendencies within nonrepresentational theorising-this approach does not need to neglect the importance of issues of subjectivity and experience, and the relevance of textual data. We aim to lend empirical substance to recent theoretical and philosophical discussions on space, and speculations about why the home garden appears to be so important to many people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have been described in neuropsychiatric syndromes associated with streptococcal infections. It is proposed that antibodies raised against streptococcal proteins cross-react with neuronal proteins (antigens) in the brain, particularly in the basal ganglia, which is a brain region implicated in OCD pathogenesis.Aims: To test the hypothesis that post-streptococcal autoimmunity, directed against neuronal antigens, may contribute to the pathogenesis of OCD in adults.Method: Ninety-six participants with OCD were tested for the presence of anti-streptolysin-O titres (ASOT) and the presence of anti-basal ganglia antibodies (ABGA) in a cross-sectional study. The ABGA were tested for with western blots using three recombinant antigens; aldolase C, enolase and pyruvate kinase. The findings were compared with those in a control group of individuals with depression (n = 33) and schizophrenia (n = 17).Results: Positivity for ABGA was observed in 19/96 (19.8%) participants with OCD compared with 2/50 (4%) of controls (Fisher's exact test P = 0.012). The majority of positive OCD sera (13/19) had antibodies against the enolase antigen. No clinical variables were associated with ABGA positivity. Positivity for ASOT was not associated with ABGA positivity nor found at an increased incidence in participants with OCD compared with controls.Conclusions: These findings support the hypothesis that central nervous system autoimmunity may have an aetiological role in some adults with OCD. Further study is required to examine whether the antibodies concerned are pathogenic and whether exposure to streptococcal infection in vulnerable individuals is a risk factor for the development of OCD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the politics of recreational access to the natural environment has long been associated with walking, there is growing recognition that other forms of access can, in political terms, be more problematic. One such case is recreational access to inland waters in England and Wales, which has long been dominated by the oppositional politics of anglers and canoeists. Recognising the limitations of conventional evidence-based approaches to policy-making, this paper offers a phenomenological perspective on the politics of water related recreation, suggesting that approaches to the ‘solution’ of access problems may be found by understanding better the lifeworlds of those involved in the debates. This is illustrated by reference to a recent official inquiry into access along inland waters in Wales. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the connection between the public and gardening to understand everyday spaces and academic practice. It offers information on the Mass Observation Archive (MOA) which is designed to analyze the domestic garden with home, nature and the environment. It cites the Imagining the Garden exhibition at the Jubilee Library Brighton in England on June 25 to 30, 2007 where it displayed cards, posters and feedback from permaculture on how to improve the garden for public exhibition.

Previous research into education and student geographies has usually focussed on either compulsory schooling or university education. This paper, using London as a case study, is an innovative attempt to understand the geographies of non-compulsory, non-university education ('further education', FE) which plays a crucial role in a world city labour market that requires a wide range of skills. Original analysis is provided using findings from a questionnaire, interviews with students and senior college managers and the analysis of individual student records, the Individualised Student Record (ISR) and Pupil-Level School Census (PLASC). The education geography of 16-19 year olds in FE involves selection by institutions alongside choice by learners resulting in complex patterns of social segregation and travel to learn. The division between post 16 colleges and sixth forms attached to schools is crucial with the latter, wherever they are located, taking a less deprived section of the cohort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Social & Cultural Geography is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Antineuronal antibodies (ANAs) have been implicated in the pathophysiology of postinfectious movement disorders, such as Sydenham's chorea. However, their relevance in other movement disorders-in the absence of infectious triggers-remains much disputed. We sought to assess the frequency of ANAs in idiopathic Parkinson's disease (IPD) and to explore whether a specific phenotype is associated with the presence of ANAs. For this purpose, we recruited 76 IPD patients, 9 patients with genetic parkinsonism, and 10 with one of the parkinson-plus syndromes. They were all subjected to a comprehensive clinical review. In addition, 50 patients with non-extrapyramidal neurological disease and 30 healthy blood donors served as control populations. Blood samples were tested for the presence of ANAs with Western blotting, using recombinant proteins of the three putative antigens (aldolase C, neuron-specific enolase, and pyruvate kinase M1). We found these antibodies in 11.8% of the 76 IPD patients, which differed significantly from healthy controls (0%, P = 0.043), but nonsignificantly from patients with genetic parkinsonism (11.1%), with a parkinson-plus syndrome (10%), or from neurological disease controls (4%). With respect to relevant disease characteristics, IPD patients with or without ANAs were indistinguishable, except for atypical disease features (mainly early falls or freezing and marked Pisa syndrome), which were more frequent in the ANA-positive IPD group. We conclude that ANAs do not play a role in the majority of patients with IPD, but might be relevant in the pathogenesis of IPD with atypical features. © 2008 Movement Disorder Society [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (GTS) spectrum includes psychiatric comorbidities, mainly obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The role of environmental factors, e.g., antineuronal antibodies (ANeA), remains unclear. We compared the clinical features of ANeA-positive and ANeA-negative patients in 53 children and 75 adults with GTS. All diagnoses were made according to DSM-IV-TR criteria. A positive ANeA Western immunoblot showed bands for at least 1 of 3 reported striatal antigens (40, 45, and 60 kDa). Twelve children (23%) and 18 adults (25%) with GTS were ANeA-positive. Disease duration, tic phenomenology and severity, frequency of echo/pali/coprophenomena, self-injurious and aggressive behavior, or frequency of OCD comorbidity did not significantly differ between ANeA-positive and negative patients. Similar findings were obtained analyzing separately the three different antibody reactivities. A comorbid diagnosis of ADHD was significantly less frequent in GTS patients positive for the anti-60 kDa antibody only. Using a multivariate logistic regression model, adjusting for age, gender, and age at disease onset, a comorbid diagnosis of ADHD remained inversely associated with anti-60 kDa antibodies (odds ratio = 0.14; P = 0.002; 95% confidence interval 0.04-0.49). ANeA status does not differentiate a specific phenotype of GTS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses recreational conflict between anglers and boaters in England. While recognizing that interpersonal conflicts between individual anglers and boaters exist much as they do in other countries, the article argues that the position in England is mediated through complex land and property rights that position the stakeholders asymmetrically, as legal rights holders (anglers) and moral rights claimants (boaters). Under this scenario, negotiated attempts to increase access for boaters are interpreted not primarily as a means of addressing the asymmetry, but as a mechanism for underwriting the dominant property power of the anglers. Using data collected from focus groups involving stakeholders, the article suggests that in cases where recreational access to natural resources is mediated through sociopolitical institutions such as law, weaker stakeholders have very limited options in terms of the legal or social mechanisms through which he can pursue or assert their claims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article assesses the importance and clinical usefulness of antibasal ganglia antibodies (ABGAs). ABGAs as a diagnostic marker are useful because they support the clinical diagnosis of Sydenham's chorea and post-streptococcal acute disseminated encephalomyelitis. A brief discussion on how ABGA-associated disorders should be treated and the clinicopathological spectrum of the disorders associated with ABGAs is provided.

Background: Obsessions and compulsions may occur in the post-streptococcal disorders Sydenham's chorea and paediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcus (PANDAS). The proposed mediators are anti-basal ganglia antibodies (ABGA).Aims: We tested the hypothesis that post-streptococcal autoimmunity may have a role in'idiopathic'obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).Method: We examined 50 children with OCD for ABGA using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and western immunoblotting. The findings were compared with paediatric autoimmune (n=50), neurological (n=100) and streptococcal (n=40) controls.Results: The mean ABGA binding on ABGA binding on ELISA was elevated in the patient cohort compared with all control groups (P<0.005 in all comparisons). Western immunoblotting revealed positive antibody binding (as seen in Sydenham's chorea) in 42% of the patient cohort compared with 2-10% of control groups (P<0.001 in all comparisons).Conclusions: Our findings support the hypothesis that central nervous system autoimmunity may have a role in a significant subgroup of cases of OCD. Further study is required to examine whether the antibodies concerned are pathogenic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The onset of tics in adulthood is rare and, unlike the childhood variety, there is commonly a secondary environmental cause. We present four cases (1 man, 3 women) with an adult onset tic disorder (mean age of onset, 36 years; range, 27-42 years) associated with the presence of serum antibasal ganglia antibodies (ABGA). One patient had motor tics and unusual motor stereotypies, 2 had multiple motor and vocal tics, and the remaining patient had motor tics only. Concomitant psychiatric disturbance was noted in 3 cases. In 2 cases, there was a close temporal relationship between upper respiratory tract infection and the subsequent onset of tics. Imaging was possible in three cases and was normal in two but revealed a lesion involving the right caudate and lentiform nuclei in the other. We suggest that there might be a causal relationship between ABGA and the clinical syndrome in these cases and that ABGA should be considered as a possible etiology for adult-onset tics. © 2004 Movement Disorder Society [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hypermetabolic lesions of the striatum are rare. They usually involve autoimmunity and are associated with choreatic disorders such as Sydenham chorea, lupus, and the antiphospholipid antibody syndrome. A 48-year-old woman was initially seen with a 1-year history of progressive changes in personality and attention. There were minor associated involuntary movements. Negative routine investigation results, including regular autoimmune serologies and magnetic resonance imaging, led to the diagnosis of a frontal dementia. Positron emission tomographic results demonstrated hypermetabolism in the left striatum. Western blot technique results demonstrated plasma antistriatal antibodies. Treatment with corticosteroids induced a resolution of her attentional deficits and a return of her personality to its premorbid state. The repeated positron emission tomographic scan results were near normal, and the titer of antistriatal antibodies was significantly reduced.Autoimmune striatal dysfunction can initially appear with a clinical picture suggestive of a degenerative dementia. Recognition of the underlying etiology and treatment was possible because of abnormalities uncovered on positron emission tomographic images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Talks about topics discussed during the annual conference of the Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers in London, England. Recent developments in tourism and leisure; Explanation concerning the term creative tourism; Views related to critical reappraisal of tourism and sustainability.

Global cities, such as London, are viewed as distinctive in terms of their role in the increasingly globalized economy. There has been considerable academic debate over the nature of global city labour markets and how these can be explained in relation to global city functions. New empirical evidence is presented for the tourism labour market in London and the UK. The pay, conditions and social characteristics of tourism workers in London are examined, and they appear distinctive in terms of their full-time, gender (male), student, ethnicity and migrant characteristics. An explanation is developed that explores the interactions between the global city role of London and other scaled geographical processes that originate, especially at the national level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth in the provision of gardens has been an important feature of housing in the UK during the 20th century, and yet the significance of the humble domestic garden has been neglected in studies of housing and home. This paper examines the role of the garden in the meaning of home, and draws on theoretical discussions of nature, environmental risk and social uncertainty in late modernity. Secondary empirical data is used to investigate the changing uses of gardens and practices of gardening. A survey of garden owners provides primary empirical data to examine meanings of gardens and personal experiences of nature. The paper concludes that the garden is an important site for privacy, sociability and sensual connections to nature, and these activities can be understood as negotiations and practices to address the social and environmental paradoxes of late modern life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we seek to engage with contemporary environmental debates concerning human--nature relations at the everyday level. Our focus is on the domestic or home garden, which we argue is a significant locale for understanding human--nature relations. Secondary empirical data illustrate the growth of gardening and its connections to changes in housing tenure, consumption patterns and the 'commodification of nature' by the garden industry. Primary empirical data on the meanings of home and garden (and gardening activities) are utilised to understand the relations between human agency and contemporary human--nature relations. The findings suggest that a variety of social and economic processes encourage utilitarian and consumerist orderings of nature in gardens. But the meanings of gardens are also structured by personal practices, often reflecting relationships with family and friends, that produce complex and personalised connections with nature that illustrate the ambiguity of human--nature relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using London as an example this paper demonstrates that the idea of tourism as ‘pleasure and recreation’ is wholly inadequate for an understanding of the published evidence on tourism in major cities. In the UK this results directly from the definition adopted by the main statistical sources such that tourists become travellers, irrespective of purpose, who stay overnight at their destination. In so doing the paper highlights two areas for future research, the growing trend in short-distance tourism and the increasing importance of visiting friends and relatives. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]