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A foundational assumption of social theory is that things change: structures, institutions, organisations, groups, cultures, and selves all are contingent and subject to transformation. Herein, this malleable foundation is termed transformativity, drawing attention to a specific conceptualisation of change, which predominates and displaces other accounts of change, elaborated via a typology of change that positions transformation between reconfiguration and metamorphosis. Transformativity posits society as contingent, open to reconstruction, but assuming that change acts upon a substrate, which is continuous; altered, yet retaining identity through time. Transformativity is situated culturally by tracing historical conceptions of change from ancient to modern. Next, Turner's liminality, Foucault's power relations, and Butler's performativity are analysed in depth as influential contemporary models of transformativity. Furthermore, transformativist thinking animates governmentality, neo-liberal capitalism, technological thinking, and cultures of self-work. In particular, transformativity intersects with contemporary ideas of 'experience', incorporating notions of contingency and change into modern experimentalism. While transformativity facilitates critique and social change, this implies a gradualist model of slow purification and refinement, which may be inadequate to deal with contemporary challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Barry Turner's 1978 Man-made Disasters and Charles Perrow's 1984 Normal Accidents were seminal books but a detailed comparison has yet to be undertaken. Doing so is important to establish content and priority of key ideas underpinning contemporary safety science. Turner's research found socio-technical and systemic patterns that meant that major organisational disasters could be foreseen and were preventable. Perrow's macro-structuralist industry focus was on technologically deterministic but unpredictable and unpreventable "system" accidents, particularly rare catastrophes. Andrew Hopkins and Nick Pidgeon respectively suggested that some prominent writers who wrote after Turner may not have been aware of, or did not properly acknowledge, Turner's work. Using a methodology involving systematic reading and historical, biographical and thematic theory analysis, a detailed review of Turner's and Perrow's backgrounds and publications sheds new light on Turner's priority and accomplishment, highlighting substantial similarities as well as clear differences. Normal Accidents did not cite Turner in 1984 or when republished with major additions in 1999. Turner became better known after a 1997 second edition of Man-made Disasters but under-acknowledgment issues by Perrow and others continued. Ethical citation and potential reasons for under-acknowledgment are discussed together with lessons applicable more broadly. It is concluded that Turner's foundational importance for safety science should be better recognised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

In the summer of 2020, International Relations (IR) scholars rushed to respond to the national and global irruptions of support for Black Lives Matter. But the relationship of 'domestic' racism in the United States to foreign policy and IR is long standing in the field, and non-marginal at that: in 1960, Hans Morgenthau provided a clear analysis of such connections in light of Brown vs. Board of Education. The 'post' in postcolonial acts as an intellectual provocation: in the aftermath of an event, how might we rethink received traditions of inquiry that prove ill equipped to explain and evaluate the event itself? The explanatory value of the 'post' lies in both exposing the disciplinary conventions of absence and retrieving obfuscated presences that provide alternative modes of inquiry. Picking up on Morgenthau's lost intervention, I provide a contribution to what might be called post-Black Lives Matter (BLM) IR. I weave an intellectual archeology of the long-standing intimacy of republicanism and imperialism via the racialized concept of the 'frontier'. I bring together the arguments and narratives of four authors who are progenitors of and/or mainstream scholars in the field: William Francis Allen, Frederick Jackson Turner, Morgenthau, and Merze Tate. I claim that this archeology of the 'frontier' might help us to grapple responsibly and incisively with IR post-BLM. Républicanisme et impérialisme à la frontière : une archéologie des relations internationales post-Black Lives Matter [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

This contribution carries out a spatial analysis of the short stories and poems collected in Giovanna Capone’s In My Neighborhood (2014), with a twofold aim: exploring the significance of physical and metaphorical liminalities in the development of Capone’s poetics and, on a more theoretical level, outlining an alternative paradigm, based on the concepts of liminality and communitas, to read Capone’s poetry, as well as other contemporary Italian-American literary texts. I identify four sites of liminality in Capone’s work and delve into their relationship with the narrative voice and the role they play in its evolution. This essay reflects on Giovanna Capone’s Bildung and her identity as a queer Italian-American author by re-reading the four spaces described in In My Neighborhood through the lens of Victor Turner’s theory of liminality and Roberto Esposito’s notion of communitas. Esposito’s development of the concept allows for an alternative interpretation of the community of Italian American queer subjectivities created by Capone in the Southwest. Finally, the connection of such community with Gloria Anzaldúa’s formulation of Borderland and ‘mestiza consciousness’ is highlighted as a theoretical counternarrative to the identification of the ethnic queer self as a member of a community defined by borders. more...

This essay arises from research carried out between the summer of 2018 and the spring of 2020 among pilgrims who had participated in the Camino de Santiago in north-western Spain and St Patrick's Purgatory, on Lough Derg in the northwest of Ireland. Research focused on embodied experience in relation to pilgrim motivation, groundedness and the enduring power of sacred travel as ritual. Convergent considerations about psychology, theology and pilgrimage studies clarified perspective on descriptions and definitions of pilgrimage in contemporary literature. Long-standing questions about journey vs. destination are subsumed into a description of pilgrimage which emphasizes larger process. Interconnected elements of this process are a most significant part of the enduring appeal of contemporary Western pilgrimage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

This contribution carries out a spatial analysis of the short stories and poems collected in Giovanna Capone's In My Neighborhood (2014), with a twofold aim: exploring the significance of physical and metaphorical liminalities in the development of Capone's poetics and, on a more theoretical level, outlining an alternative paradigm, based on the concepts of liminality and communitas, to read Capone's poetry, as well as other contemporary Italian-American literary texts. I identify four sites of liminality in Capone's work and delve into their relationship with the narrative voice and the role they play in its evolution. This essay reflects on Giovanna Capone's Bildung and her identity as a queer Italian-American author by rereading the four spaces described in In My Neighborhood through the lens of Victor Turner's theory of liminality and Roberto Esposito's notion of communitas. Esposito's development of the concept allows for an alternative interpretation of the community of Italian American queer subjectivities created by Capone in the Southwest. Finally, the connection of such community with Gloria Anzaldúa's formulation of Borderland and 'mestiza consciousness' is highlighted as a theoretical counternarrative to the identification of the ethnic queer self as a member of a community defined by borders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Barry Turner’s 1978 Man-made Disasters and Charles Perrow’s 1984 Normal Accidents were seminal books but a detailed comparison has yet to be undertaken. Doing so is important to establish content and priority of key ideas underpinning contemporary safety science. Turner’s research found socio-technical and systemic patterns that meant that major organisational disasters could be foreseen and were preventable. Perrow’s macro-structuralist industry focus was on technologically deterministic but unpredictable and unpreventable “system” accidents, particularly rare catastrophes. Andrew Hopkins and Nick Pidgeon respectively suggested that some prominent writers who wrote after Turner may not have been aware of, or did not properly acknowledge, Turner’s work. Using a methodology involving systematic reading and historical, biographical and thematic theory analysis, a detailed review of Turner’s and Perrow’s backgrounds and publications sheds new light on Turner’s priority and accomplishment, highlighting substantial similarities as well as clear differences. Normal Accidents did not cite Turner in 1984 or when republished with major additions in 1999. Turner became better known after a 1997 second edition of Man-made Disasters but under-acknowledgment issues by Perrow and others continued. Ethical citation and potential reasons for under-acknowledgment are discussed together with lessons applicable more broadly. It is concluded that Turner’s foundational importance for safety science should be better recognised. more...

Background: The GenTAC (Genetically Triggered Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm and Cardiovascular Conditions) Registry enrolled patients with genetic aortopathies between 2007 and 2016.ld>Objectives: The purpose of this study was to compare age distribution and probability of elective surgery for proximal aortic aneurysm, any dissection surgery, and cardiovascular mortality among aortopathy etiologies.Methods: The GenTAC study had a retrospective/prospective design. Participants with bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) with aneurysm (n = 879), Marfan syndrome (MFS) (n = 861), nonsyndromic heritable thoracic aortic disease (nsHTAD) (n = 378), Turner syndrome (TS) (n = 298), vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (vEDS) (n = 149), and Loeys-Dietz syndrome (LDS) (n = 121) were analyzed.Results: The 25% probability of elective proximal aortic aneurysm surgery was 30 years for LDS (95% CI: 18-37 years), followed by MFS (34 years; 95% CI: 32-36 years), nsHTAD (52 years; 95% CI: 48-56 years), and BAV (55 years; 95% CI: 53-58 years). Any dissection surgery 25% probability was highest in LDS (38 years; 95% CI: 33-53 years) followed by MFS (51 years; 95% CI: 46-57 years) and nsHTAD (54 years; 95% CI: 51-61 years). BAV experienced the largest relative frequency of elective surgery to any dissection surgery (254/33 = 7.7), compared with MFS (273/112 = 2.4), LDS (35/16 = 2.2), or nsHTAD (82/76 = 1.1). With MFS as the reference population, risk of any dissection surgery or cardiovascular mortality was lowest in BAV patients (HR: 0.13; 95% CI: 0.08-0.18; HR: 0.13; 95%: CI: 0.06-0.27, respectively). The greatest risk of mortality was seen in patients with vEDS.Conclusions: Marfan and LDS cohorts demonstrate age and event profiles congruent with the current understanding of syndromic aortopathies. BAV events weigh toward elective replacement with relatively few dissection surgeries. Nonsyndromic HTAD patients experience near equal probability of dissection vs prophylactic surgery, possibly because of failure of early diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Background: The most common presentation of disorders of sex development (DSD) is in the neonatal period when a baby is born with atypical ("ambiguous") genitalia, making it unclear whether the child is a boy or a girl. This study aims to provide an overview of the DSD spectrum, seen in Faiha Specialized Diabetes, Endocrine and Metabolism Center (FDEMC), Basrah, southern area of Iraq., Methods: A retrospective study on patients with DSD was referred to FDEMC, a tertiary center in Basrah, between January 2009 and December 2023., Results: Out of the total 150 studied patients, individuals above 15 years old comprised the majority. Sex chromosomal DSD made up 37.3% of the cases, while 46, XY DSD comprised 34.7%, and 46, XX DSD accounted for 28% of the total., Conclusion: Many patients with DSD in Basrah were diagnosed late, beyond infancy. Increasing awareness among healthcare providers and families is essential for early diagnosis during infancy., Competing Interests: Human subjects: Consent was obtained or waived by all participants in this study. The Ethical Committee of Faiha Specialized Diabetes, Endocrine and Metabolism Center (FDEMC) in Basrah, Iraq issued approval #56/35/36. This study is also in accordance with the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Animal subjects: All authors have confirmed that this study did not involve animal subjects or tissue. Conflicts of interest: In compliance with the ICMJE uniform disclosure form, all authors declare the following: Payment/services info: All authors have declared that no financial support was received from any organization for the submitted work. Financial relationships: All authors have declared that they have no financial relationships at present or within the previous three years with any organizations that might have an interest in the submitted work. Other relationships: All authors have declared that there are no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work., (Copyright © 2024, Al-Sahar et al.) more...

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Transformative tourism has become a key research topic, with Turner's anthropological liminality and Mezirow's educational transformative learning theory being central frameworks. This essay clarifies these approaches, analyzing their strengths, limitations, and interplay to enhance transformation-focused tourism research. It emphasizes interdisciplinary methods, proposing theoretical expansions that explore the breadth of transformation and its practical applications. By comprehensively articulating these frameworks, this paper aims to guide their effective integration in tourism studies. This work deepens the understanding of transformative processes in tourism, contributing significantly to the field's epistemic progression. • Documents the intersection of liminality and transformative learning in tourism • Questions what tourists are hoping to achieve through transformation • Considers dark transformation in liminality and transformative learning • Discusses the structure of individual and collective transformation in tourism • Advances how scholars might leverage such theories in tourism research [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Parsonage-Turner syndrome (PTS) is a rare neurological condition characterized by acute shoulder pain and novel neuromuscular weakness in the distribution of the brachial plexus. We present a case report highlighting the difficulties in the diagnosis and management of this condition. A multidisciplinary approach is often required to control this unique type of pain, consisting of neuropathic medications, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to control neuromuscular pain, and modalities provided by experienced physical therapists. Finally, a comprehensive, structured rehabilitation program focusing on the range of motion, neuromuscular re-education, and strengthening is imperative to regain function, reduce symptoms, and improve recovery., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright © 2023, Malik et al.) more...

Turner综合征（Turner syndrome, TS）被称为先天性卵巢发育不良，因一条 Ｘ染色体缺乏或 结构异常所致，具有特殊的躯体特征（如颈蹼、后发际线低、生长发育迟缓等），亦可存在多个系统发育 畸形。45，Ｘ是 ＴＳ患儿典型的核型表现，少部分患儿存在 Ｙ染色体或 Ｙ染色体源性物质，而这些物质 的存在显著增加了 Turner 综合征患儿患恶性肿瘤的概率。本文结合文献报道 １例 Turner综合征的 诊治。 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...