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Oral and maxillofacial trauma is influenced by various factors, including regional characteristics and social background. Due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, a state of emergency was declared in Japan in March 2020. In this study, we aimed to examine the dynamics of patients with oral and maxillofacial trauma over a 12-years period using interrupted time-series (ITS) analysis. Patients were examined at the Shimane University Hospital, Maxillofacial Trauma Center from April 2012 to April 2023. In addition to general patient characteristics, data regarding the type of trauma and its treatment were obtained from 1203 patients (770 men and 433 women). Group comparisons showed significant differences in age, trauma status, method of treatment, referral source, route, and injury occasion. ITS analysis indicated significant changes in combined nasal fractures, non-invasive reduction, and sports injuries (P < 0.05), suggesting COVID-19 significantly impacted oral and maxillofacial trauma dynamics. A pandemic of an infectious disease may decrease the number of minor trauma cases but increase the number of injuries from outdoor activities, resulting in no overall change in the dynamics of the number of trauma patients. Medical systems for oral and maxillofacial trauma should be in place at all times, independent of infectious disease pandemics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We provide a first principles derivation of the supersymmetric Casimir energy of N = 1 SCFTs in four dimensions using the supercharge algebra on general conformal supergravity backgrounds that admit Killing spinors. The superconformal Ward identities imply that there exists a continuous family of conserved R-currents on supersymmetric backgrounds, as well as a continuous family of conserved currents for each conformal Killing vector. These continuous families interpolate between the consistent and covariant R-current and energy-momentum tensor. The resulting Casimir energy, therefore, depends on two continuous parameters corresponding to the choice of conserved currents used to define the energy and R-charge. This ambiguity is in addition to any possible scheme dependence due to local terms in the effective action. As an application, we evaluate the general expression for the supersymmetric Casimir energy we obtain on a family of backgrounds with the cylinder topology ℝ × S3 and admitting a single Majorana supercharge. Our result is a direct consequence of the supersymmetry algebra, yet it resembles more known expressions for the non-supersymmetric Casimir energy on such backgrounds and differs from the supersymmetric Casimir energy obtained from the zero temperature limit of supersymmetric partition functions. We defer a thorough analysis of the relation between these results to future work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unequal access to university and the decision processes that give rise to it are important factors in the accumulation of educational inequalities. In this paper, we investigate a specific aspect of such decision processes by focusing on those students who change their original plans to start a (nontertiary) vocational education and decide to pursue a tertiary degree instead. In doing so, we find that more than one-fifth of the students in our sample who originally planned to pursue a vocational education change their original decision in this way. Moreover, while students from a more advantaged background are more likely to go to university in the first place, those among them that initially opted for a vocational education are also more likely to change their decision and go to university instead. We also find that parental preferences for tertiary education play an important role in the process of changing one's mind, even for adult children. Moreover, we find that differential parental preferences contribute to both the emergence of social background effects and—as a result—the perpetuation of educational inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Adjuvant chemotherapy is recommended following colorectal cancer resection based on risk of recurrence. In older patients, treatment decisions should consider recurrence rates and tolerability, as well as functional prognosis, residual disease, and social factors. This study aims to investigate factors, including social background, influencing implementation of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy in older patients undergoing curative resection for colorectal cancer. Methods: This multi-institutional prospective cohort study included 15 institutions belonging to the Hiroshima Surgical study group for Clinical Oncology. We analyzed 159 older patients aged ≥ 80 years, who underwent curative resection for stage III colorectal cancer between December 2013 and June 2018, as sub-analysis of the HiSCO-04 study. Results: In total, 62 (39.0%) patients underwent postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy. Four factors were significantly associated with its implementation: performance status < 2, Charlson Comorbidity Index < 2, prognostic nutritional index ≥ 40, and presence of a spouse or siblings as lifestyle supporters. No significant difference was found in the backgrounds between complete and incomplete postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy patients. Conclusion: Performance status, Charlson Comorbidity Index, nutritional status, and presence of a spouse or siblings as lifestyle supporters are possible factors influencing the implementation of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy in older patients. To select appropriate treatment options, including postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy, it is essential to consider physical condition and comorbidities of older patients, thoroughly explain the situation to their families, and establish a support system to enhance understanding of the available treatment options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The co-occurrence of gambling disorder (GD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been widely reported. In this study, we aimed to investigate the social background, clinical characteristics, and clinical course of initial-visit GD patients with and without ADHD in a Japanese psychiatric hospital. We recruited 40 initial-visit GD patients and collected comprehensive information by self-report questionnaires, direct interviews, and medical records. 27.5% of the GD patients had comorbid ADHD. Compared to the GD patients without ADHD, those with ADHD had significantly higher comorbidity rates of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), lower rates of marriage, slightly less years of education and marginally lower employment rates. On the other hand, the GD patients with ADHD showed higher treatment retention rates and participation rates in the mutual support group. Despite presenting with disadvantageous characteristics, GD patients with ADHD exhibited a more favourable clinical course. Therefore, clinicians should be mindful of the possibility of ADHD comorbidity and the potential for better clinical outcomes among GD patients with ADHD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite a robust body of literature about the choice of students' first postsecondary institution, we have little insight regarding transfer from four-year colleges and universities across socioeconomic groups. In this study, we argue that when entry to selective colleges reaches a heightened level of competitiveness, transfer may be employed by students from advantaged social backgrounds as an adaptive strategy to gain access. Using multinomial logistic regression, this study draws on data from BPS:04/09 to uncover whether transfer functions as a mechanism of adaptation that exacerbates class inequalities in higher education. We found that students from higher-socioeconomic quartiles who first enrolled in a selective institution are most likely to engage in lateral transfer, but mainly to another college even more prestigious. This study provides evidence of the role of college transfer in exacerbating class inequalities in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Family practice is an important setting for health promotion and prevention in Germany. However, there is a research gap regarding the involvement of nonmedical practice staff in health promotion. Therefore, our aim is to gain an indepth understanding of the role health care assistants (HCAs) can play regarding health promotion in family practice. Methods: We conducted 21 qualitative semi-structured interviews via telephone with 14 physicians and 7 HCAs, inquiring both professional groups about the role of HCAs concerning health promotion in their practice. The interviews were evaluated separately for both professions using thematic analysis. Results: In addition to organizational tasks such as making an appointment and communicating with physicians, HCAsmainly take on a key function as the first contact person in all practices: They recognize preventive needs, select eligible patients early at the reception and actively address them about preventive services. In some practices, HCAs carry out health-promoting measures such as training courses. However, with regard to further delegation of tasks, physicians in particular expressed concerns as they did not want to overburden HCAs. Conclusions: HCAs often take on organizational activities with regard to health promotion in family practice, but due to their function in the practice structure, they can also shape the practice as a health-promoting setting for patients. In addition, HCAs navigate patients with regard to preventive and health-promoting services. In accordance with their key role as initial contact, it should be worked out together with HCAs how health promotion can be addressed in a structured way at first contact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This memoire covers my life history starting with my family's background and their immigration to the US. It continues with my childhood, my early education, and my introduction to science. It then covers my professional research career including a variety of institutions and areas of physics ending ultimately in solar physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantitative abilities are well described in many species and in diverse life situations, including in the adult domestic cat. However, such abilities have been much less studied during ontogeny. In the present study we examined spontaneous quantity discrimination by pre-weaning age kittens in two-way food choice experiments. In Experiment 1, 26 kittens performed 12 trials with different ratios between the number of same-size food items. In Experiment 2, 24 other kittens performed eight trials with different ratios between the size of two food items. We found, in general, that the kittens discriminated between the different amounts of food and spontaneously chose the larger one, but that their choice was influenced by the ratio of difference. The kittens in Experiment 1 chose the larger number of same-size food items if the ratio was smaller than 0.4 and in Experiment 2 they chose the larger pieces of food if the ratio between the items was smaller than 0.5. Because the kittens' choice was not influenced by the absolute number of food items or the numerical difference between them in Experiment 1, it suggests that their cognitive performance relied on an analog magnitude system rather than on an object file system during the quantity discrimination tasks. We discuss our results considering the ecological and social background of cats and compare it with the performance of previously studied species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study spin-2 fluctuations around an infinite family of warped backgrounds of the form AdS2 × S2 × T4 × S1 × I ρ in the type IIB theory, which possesses N = 4 supersymmetry. We find that there exists a special set of solutions which is independent of the background data; the minimal universal class. This particular class of solutions corresponds to operators with scaling dimension ∆ = ℓ + 1, with ℓ being the quantum number of the angular-momentum on the S2. Using the mode solutions of these spin-2 states, we compute the central charge of the dual field theories. We comment on the relation of our results to the seed AdS3× S2× T4× I ρ backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the relationship between an individual learner's background, social network position, and interaction within a Massively Open Online Course (MOOC). Prior research has largely focused on the effects of background and social network position on quantitative features of interaction. This research considered qualitative features such as cognitive engagement level and sentiment polarity in interaction and the extent to which each of these factors influences interaction. We used a survey to collect demographic background information of MOOC users and then used social network analysis to examine the social network position of each MOOC user. We also used content analysis to evaluate the interaction on MOOC discussion forums. Background and social network positions were found to be associated with interaction differently within certain subgroups. The top and bottom 20% of learners who actively connected in social networks tended to engage in constructive cognitive activities, rather than active or interactive ones. The top 20% of threads showed a positive contribution of social network position diversity to interaction. Thread level diversity did not significantly impact the interaction level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since investigation of the timing of the skeletal traits among the acetabula of different populations is lacking, this study aims to evaluate the relevance of geographical origin in the acetabulum aging process and in the usability of the SanMillán-Rissech aging method. The acetabula of 826 European North Americans derived from the Bass Collection (USA) have been analyzed and compared with 611 Portuguese acetabula from the Luis Lopes Collection (Portugal) applying the most updated acetabular age estimation technique (2017). After evaluating and comparing the acetabular aging rates between both populations by Mann–Whitney U tests, the inaccuracy values (bias and absolute error) were analyzed and compared using population-specific reference samples and using references differing in geographical origin by Wilcoxon tests. In general terms, the North Americans age faster than the Portuguese, especially the females, reaching the consecutive acetabular stages at younger ages. Regarding the SanMillán-Rissech method accuracy, using population-specific reference samples produces, as a general rule, better outcomes. In addition, an exhaustive meta-analysis of inaccuracy values has demonstrated that this method provides better estimation values than pubic symphysis and auricular surfaces regardless of the geographic coherence of the reference sample. These inter-population skeletal differences are derived from different factors than age, highlighting the impact of both biological and social background on age estimation. A thorough analysis of the skeletal age-based timing becomes essential to understanding, deciphering and being able to minimize bias and potential inaccuracy or even counteract them when applying the age estimation methods to different populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender segregation in fields of study represents an important explanation for gender inequalities in the labor market, such as the gender wage gap. Research shows that horizontal gender segregation in higher education persists for a variety of reasons, including women's greater communal goals and men's greater motivation to earn high incomes. Yet with the male breadwinner model in decline, a key question is whether women's motivation to earn high incomes might contribute to increasing women's participation in female-atypical fields of study. Using data from the German Student Survey over a period of 30 years, our findings show that the proportion of women enrolled in female-atypical fields of study increased from 1984 to 2015. Moreover, women's motivation to earn high incomes mediates the effect of time on enrollment in female-atypical fields of study. Their motivation to earn high incomes might thus be a factor contributing to the disruption of gender segregation in fields of study over time. Furthermore, contrary to expectations, the motivation to earn high incomes as a driving force for women to opt for gender-atypical fields of study is not stratified by social background. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Problem behaviors have often been associated with poor learning in preschool children. However, most of these studies have mainly been situated in Western contexts. The current study, based on a single case study of a Malaysian preschool, explores the link between problem behaviors and early literacy skills of preschool children aged between 4 and 5 from a non-Western context. Fifty-two boys and forty girls were recruited for the study. The Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) was used to assess children's problem behaviors via teacher reports. Literacy skills were obtained through pupil progress reports. Family background and home literacy environment information were provided by the primary caregivers using a survey instrument. Findings indicated that only attentional difficulties were associated with early learning in young children. Other problem behaviors such as emotional, conduct and peer problems did not predict early literacy skills. This study added new knowledge to the discourse used in a non-Western context. The findings bear important practical implications for optimizing the early learning experiences of preschoolers. Educators should consider children's specific behavioral challenges and formulate early interventions such as Social Emotional Learning (SEL) programs to be integrated into preschool programs. More importantly, policies should make developing good attentional skills a priority in the early years programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We compute a large collection of string worldsheet correlators describing light probes interacting with heavy black hole microstates. The heavy states consist of NS5 branes carrying momentum and/or fundamental string charge. In the fivebrane decoupling limit, worldsheet string theory on a family of such backgrounds is given by exactly solvable null-gauged WZW models. We construct physical vertex operators in these cosets, including all massless fluctuations. We compute a large class of novel heavy-light-light-heavy correlators in the AdS3 limit, where the light operators include those dual to chiral primaries of the holographically dual CFT. We compare a subset of these correlators to the holographic CFT at the symmetric product orbifold point, and find precise agreement in all cases, including for light operators in twisted sectors of the orbifold CFT. The agreement is highly non-trivial, and includes amplitudes that describe the analogue of Hawking radiation for these microstates. We further derive a formula for worldsheet correlators consisting of n light insertions on these backgrounds, and discuss which subset of these correlators are likely to be protected. As a test, we compute a heavy-light five-point function, obtaining precisely the same result both from the worldsheet and the symmetric orbifold CFT. This paper is a companion to and extension of [1]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Adjuvant chemotherapy is recommended following colorectal cancer resection based on risk of recurrence. In older patients, treatment decisions should consider recurrence rates and tolerability, as well as functional prognosis, residual disease, and social factors. This study aims to investigate factors, including social background, influencing implementation of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy in older patients undergoing curative resection for colorectal cancer. Methods: This multi-institutional prospective cohort study included 15 institutions belonging to the Hiroshima Surgical study group for Clinical Oncology. We analyzed 159 older patients aged ≥ 80 years, who underwent curative resection for stage III colorectal cancer between December 2013 and June 2018, as sub-analysis of the HiSCO-04 study. Results: In total, 62 (39.0%) patients underwent postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy. Four factors were significantly associated with its implementation: performance status < 2, Charlson Comorbidity Index < 2, prognostic nutritional index ≥ 40, and presence of a spouse or siblings as lifestyle supporters. No significant difference was found in the backgrounds between complete and incomplete postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy patients. Conclusion: Performance status, Charlson Comorbidity Index, nutritional status, and presence of a spouse or siblings as lifestyle supporters are possible factors influencing the implementation of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy in older patients. To select appropriate treatment options, including postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy, it is essential to consider physical condition and comorbidities of older patients, thoroughly explain the situation to their families, and establish a support system to enhance understanding of the available treatment options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online medical consultation can significantly improve the efficiency of primary health care. Recently, many online medical question–answer services have been developed that connect the patients with relevant medical consultants based on their questions. Considering the linguistic variety in their question, social background identification of patients can improve the referral system by selecting a medical consultant with a similar social origin for efficient communication. This paper has proposed a novel fine-tuning strategy for the pre-trained transformers to identify the social origin of text authors. When fused with the existing adapter model, the proposed methods achieve an overall accuracy of 53.96% for the Arabic dialect identification task on the Nuanced Arabic Dialect Identification (NADI) dataset. The overall accuracy is 0.54% higher than the previous best for the same dataset, which establishes the utility of custom fine-tuning strategies for pre-trained transformer models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many previous studies have shown that skilled and educated women have fewer children. By comparing twins and close siblings in Swedish register data, we show that the negative association between human capital and fertility mostly reflects family background factors. For males, human capital measures are unrelated to fertility in the overall population, but this again masks the influence of family background factors as high-skilled males tend to have more children than their less-skilled twins or siblings. Hence, family background factors have a strong negative impact on the overall association between human capital measures and fertility for both women and men. Non-cognitive abilities deviate from these patterns—these abilities remain strongly complementary to fertility both within and across families. Our results can be reconciled with a stylized model where family-specific preferences for fertility are shared across generations and shape investments in skills and traits when children are young. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An individual may self-identify as Jewish based on ethnicity, culture, family background, peoplehood, nationality, race, community, ethical and moral life, intellectual curiosity, pursuit of justice, history, caring about Israel, or religion. The Pew Research Center's 2013 report "A Portrait of Jewish Americans" does not take the respondent's self-identification as Jewish American at face value. Most respondents who self-identify as Jewish for non-religious reasons are relabeled in the report as "not Jewish," and are excluded from most tables and discussions in the report. We examine the responses from all respondents to questions on religious attitudes and non-religious attitudes. We specifically compare the distributions of responses for those labeled as "Jewish" and those labeled as "not Jewish." There is not much difference in distributions between these two levels for non-religious questions. Half the respondents claim a denomination of Orthodox, Conservative, or Reform. For questions on religious attitudes, we see differences in response distributions among those three denominations; the other half of the respondents (from less populous denominations or with no denomination) are almost indistinguishable. For questions on non-religious attitudes, none of the denominations are distinguishable from each other or from respondents who do not claim a denomination. We suggest that an additional measure of contemporary Jewish identity, for example a consistently defined measure of Jewish engagement, be included in all studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Individuals with social anxiety disorder (SAD) report interpreting social events negatively regardless of valence. Fear of causing discomfort to others and intolerance of uncertainty (IU) are associated with negative interpretations of positive social situations. However, no studies have examined whether these negative interpretations change over CBT for SAD, nor predictors of such changes. This study examined if: negative interpretations of positive social events improve during CBT for SAD; these negative interpretations correlate with social anxiety symptom severity, fear of causing discomfort to others, and IU at the start of treatment; and fear of causing discomfort to others, IU and its subfactors at the start of treatment predict changes in these negative interpretations over treatment. Methods: Eighty-five treatment-seeking DSM diagnosed individuals with primary SAD completed measures of the tendency to interpret positive events negatively pre-post CBT, and IU and fears of causing discomfort to others at pre-treatment. Results: Results demonstrated significant pre-post decreases after CBT for SAD in negative interpretations of positive social events. All measures were significantly correlated with each other. None of the pre-treatment variables significantly predicted decreases in negative interpretations of positive social events over treatment. Conclusions: CBT may be effective in reducing these negative interpretations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the results of qualitative research on the lived experience of managers related to critical moments of practice that arise due to behavioral patterns acquired during childhood that are incompatible with their own mindsets. The research is based on interpretive phenomenological analysis and is enriched at the interpretive level with existential hermeneutic phenomenology perspectives. The article concludes that both childhood experience and adopted parental behavioral patterns that are not in accordance with their own mindset can lead to serious issues in managers' career development. These are typically dysfunctional interpersonal relationships, feelings of failure, and disrupted management activities and processes that affect career plans and personal life. The novelty of our approach lies in the fact that a phenomenological approach can be used not only to analyze traumatic childhood experiences and events, but also to reveal how a common family background can shape future business practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on uncovering social inequality in non-curricular activities (NCAs) and looking at the impact these have on young people's school performance. Based on research conducted in Barcelona with 2,156 10th-graders, the authors investigate the association of participation in NCAs with academic outcomes in the context of social stratification. Their analysis of the data show how the choice of NCAs differs according to gender, immigrant background and family education level. Their findings also indicate that NCAs have an impact on academic performance, and that this effect is amplified when the family educational level variable is introduced. The largest impact of these activities occurs among students whose parents' highest level of education is compulsory education. If students in this social group do not participate in any of the NCAs, their grade point average is associated with the worst performance among young people in Barcelona. On the other hand, if they take part in sports or artistic activities at school, their grade point average is the highest in their social group. The article concludes with some recommendations for socio-political and educational intervention, at the level of schools and the educational community as well as at the policymaking level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What does the analysis of school support practices during lockdown in France tell us about the fabrication of educational inequalities? The question of parental monitoring of schoolwork has long been absent from French sociology of education. Based on French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu's concept of cultural assimilation, the traditional assumption was that family socialisation operates in an "osmotic" way and that studying parents' concrete, voluntary and explicit practices to support their children's schoolwork would not yield much new information. This research note takes the opposite view and demonstrates, on the basis of a survey using a questionnaire (n = 31,764) supplemented by a series of interviews (n = 18) conducted in France during the spring 2020 lockdown, that there are strong differences depending on social background. The early results of this survey suggest in particular that limiting explanations for social inequalities in homeschooling to a digital divide is too simple. The pedagogical dimensions of social inequalities in children's educational achievements must also be taken into account. The author introduces French theories about the "relationship to knowledge" (les théories du rapport au savoir) as a suitable theoretical approach to investigating this dimension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We tested the causality between education and smoking using the natural experiment of discordant twin pairs allowing to optimally control for background genetic and childhood social factors. Data from 18 cohorts including 10,527 monozygotic (MZ) and same-sex dizygotic (DZ) twin pairs discordant for education and smoking were analyzed by linear fixed effects regression models. Within twin pairs, education levels were lower among the currently smoking than among the never smoking co-twins and this education difference was larger within DZ than MZ pairs. Similarly, education levels were higher among former smoking than among currently smoking co-twins, and this difference was larger within DZ pairs. Our results support the hypothesis of a causal effect of education on both current smoking status and smoking cessation. However, the even greater intra-pair differences within DZ pairs, who share only 50% of their segregating genes, provide evidence that shared genetic factors also contribute to these associations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We proceed to investigate the non-Abelian T-duality of A d S 2 , A d S 2 × S 1 and A d S 3 physical backgrounds, as well as the metric of the analytic continuation of A d S 2 from the point of view of Poisson-Lie (PL) T-duality. To this end, we reconstruct these metrics of the AdS families as backgrounds of non-linear σ -models on two- and three-dimensional Lie groups. By considering the Killing vectors of these metrics and by taking into account the fact that the subgroups of isometry Lie group of the metrics can be taken as one of the subgroups of the Drinfeld double (with Abelian duals) we look up the PL T-duality. To construct the dualizable metrics by the PL T-duality we find all subalgebras of Killing vectors that generate subgroup of isometries which acts freely and transitively on the manifolds defined by aforementioned AdS families. We then obtain the dual backgrounds for these families of AdS in such a way that we apply the usual rules of PL T-duality without further corrections. We have also investigated the conformal invariance conditions of the original backgrounds (AdS families) and their dual counterparts. Finally, by using the T-duality rules proposed by Kaloper and Meissner (KM) we calculate the Abelian T-duals of BTZ black hole up to two-loop by dualizing on the coordinates φ and t. When the dualizing is implemented by the shift of direction φ , we show that the horizons and singularity of the dual spacetime are the same as in charged black string derived by Horne and Horowitz without α ′ -corrections, whereas in dualizing on the coordinate t we find a new three-dimensional black string whose structure and asymptotic nature are clearly determined. For this case, we show that the T-duality transformation changes the asymptotic behavior from A d S 3 to flat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the role of private entrepreneurs in China's state-sponsored poverty alleviation campaign. Focusing on the Guangcai Program (guangcai shiye), which was initiated in the early 1990s and rejuvenated in the Xi's era, the article explores private entrepreneurs' different motivations, resources and strategies to participate in the campaign as well as the state's counter-measures. Based on field observations and surveys in Shandong for three years, the article demonstrates that the variety among China's new rich, particularly in terms of business scale, family background, and political connection, has largely forged the approach entrepreneurs participate in the program and its divergent ultimate effects. It also shows that the Chinese state can timely adapt its tactics, according to the local environment and features of entrepreneurs, to mobilize all potential resources into the campaign. The findings of this article have great implications for understanding the success of China's recent poverty alleviation campaign and the complexity of state-business relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The socioeconomic gap in participation at university is an enduring policy issue in South Korea, as in many other countries. However, less attention has been paid to the socioeconomic gap in the outcomes from tertiary education. This paper addresses this gap in the literature, using the Korean Education and Employment Panel (KEEP) data to investigate the extent to which the wages of Korean graduates who attended similar higher education institutions vary by socioeconomic background. The results show that a degree appears to largely level the playing field, in terms of earnings, between male graduates from poor and rich backgrounds. For females, by contrast, family background is still a strong predictor of earnings, even after allowing for institution attended and discipline of degree. Further, the wage premium for 2-year and 4-year college degrees also varies by family background. Four-year college degrees, contrary to popular belief, do not always attract a higher wage premium than 2-year college degrees, particularly for men from poorer family backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Animals can reduce their uncertainty of predation risk by gathering new information via exploration behaviour. However, a decision to explore may also be costly due to increased predator exposure. Here, we found contextual effects of predation risk on the exploratory activity of Trinidadian guppies Poecilia reticulata in a novel environment. First, guppies were exposed to a 3-day period of either high or low background predation risk in the form of repeated exposure to either injured conspecific cues (i.e. alarm cues) or control water, respectively. A day later, guppies were moved into a testing arena with limited visual information due to structural barriers and were then presented with an acute chemical stimulus, either alarm cues (a known and reliable indicator of risk), a novel odour (an ambiguous cue), or control water. In the presence of control water, guppies from high and low background risk showed a similar willingness to explore the arena. However, high-risk individuals significantly reduced their spatial evenness, although not their movement latency, in the presence of both the alarm and novel cues. When these high-risk individuals were a member of a shoal, they became willing to explore the environment more evenly in the presence of alarm cues while remaining cautious toward the novel cue, indicating an effect of the greater uncertainty associated with the novel cue. In contrast, low-risk guppies showed a willingness to explore the arena regardless of acute threat or social context. Such contextual effects of background risk and social context highlight the complexity of exploratory decisions when uncertain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study provides comparable lower-bound estimates of inequality of opportunity for tertiary education (EIOp) for 31 countries in Europe, by using the two EU-SILC waves for which information on family background is available (2005 and 2011). The results reveal an important degree of heterogeneity, with Northern European countries showing low levels of inequality of opportunity and Mediterranean and Eastern European countries characterized by significant degrees of unfair educational inequalities. Parental education and occupation are the most relevant circumstances in the great majority of the countries considered. This study also exploits the two point-in-time observations available and analyses the relationship between some country-specific characteristics and inequality of opportunity in tertiary education. The analysis documents a negative association between EIOp and real GDP per capita, possibly indicating that higher equality of opportunity in tertiary education and economic growth are complementary objectives. Two results emerge as especially robust: in all the specifications we find a positive association between EIOp and the students/teacher ratio, and a negative one between EIOp and public spending in tertiary education. While we do not claim that such correlations should be interpreted causally, we think that they might indicate a meaningful underlying relationship between equality of opportunity in tertiary education and the availability of financial and non-financial resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Well-being of the Indian elderly is presently a concern in the urban Indian society due to the gradual decline in the capacity of the family to serve as care-givers for their elderly members. Holistic improvement in the lives of the Indian elderly requires an understanding of the varied aspects which they perceive to influence their lives. The concept of perceived Quality of life (QoL) deals with an individual's assessment of varied aspects influencing their well-being. Considering the role of social and economic backgrounds on the perception of QoL, this paper identifies the factors which the Indian elderly from varied backgrounds associate with their perceived QoL. Using interviews with 83 elderly residents of Kolkata, India, this paper identifies 58 factors for eight broad domains, which influence the perceived QoL of Indian elderly. The findings from the present research will help in the formulation of an index for measuring QoL, which can subsequently facilitate the preparation of policy guidelines for the improvement of QoL of elderly, especially the QoL of Indian elderly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grit has been identified as a very important non-cognitive skill that is positively related to educational achievements and labor market success. Recently, it has also been found to be malleable through interventions in primary schools. Yet, little is still known about its development in early childhood and the influence of family background. We present an experiment with 429 children, aged 3–6 years. We measure the level of grit as children's perseverance in a real effort task and their willingness to challenge themselves successfully with another, more difficult task. Based on a principal component analysis, we find that grit increases strongly with age. Parents' assessment of their child's grit is correlated with the actual behavior of their child. Education of parents plays a role for perseverance. Yet, children's level of patience is unrelated to their level of grit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The CoolAdvantage family of CoolSculpting applicators reduces skin tension and increases tissue contact compared with the previous CoolCore system. We assessed the impact of transitioning from CoolCore to CoolAdvantage in routine practice. Methods: This was a retrospective, single-center analysis of consecutive cryolipolysis treatments conducted using the CoolSculpting procedure. Between January 2012 and January 2017, these were based on the CoolCore system; between January 2017 and July 2019, treatments used CoolAdvantage. Results: A total of 253 patients were included (n = 196 female [77.5%]). Of these, 111 received treatment with CoolCore (130 treatment areas; 338 cycles) and 151 with CoolAdvantage (248 treatment areas; 723 cycles). With CoolCore, all treatments were to the abdomen (262 cycles) or flanks (76 cycles); with CoolAdvantage, treatments were to the abdomen (231 cycles), flanks (227 cycles), and many other areas, including the inner thighs (78 cycles), outer thighs (68 cycles), and back (30 cycles). The number of body areas treated per visit was higher with CoolAdvantage versus CoolCore (1.59 ± 1.01 vs 1.14 ± 0.34, respectively; p < 0.0001), as was the mean number of treatment cycles per visit (4.63 ± 4.30 vs 2.96 ± 1.34; p < 0.0001). There were only two significant complications: one paradoxical adipose hyperplasia (with CoolCore) and one loss of sensation (with CoolAdvantage). Conclusions: Transitioning to the new CoolAdvantage applicator family had no impact on safety and led to greater versatility and increased numbers of cycles per treatment. Level of evidence: Level IV, therapeutic study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While providing equal opportunities to all members of society independent of an individual's socio-economic background is a major objective of German policy makers, educational opportunities of children with a non-academic family background are still unequally obstructed. When analysing the labour market implications of this disadvantage, social capital as an additional source of inequality often lacks attention. Drawing on the instrumental value of rather loose contacts (i.e. weak ties) on the labour market as revealed by Granovetter (Getting a job. A study of contacts and careers, The University of Chicago Press, Cambridge, 1974), this paper goes beyond the human capital approach and includes a measure of instrumental social capital in the form of weak-tie career support in the earnings function. Applying an Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition and quantile regressions, we find a significant average wage gap between those with and without an academic family background. A large part can be explained by deficits that those from less educated families incur with respect to human and instrumental social capital: Lower educational attainment accounts for more than half of the wage gap between the two groups while fewer career support explains around five percent of the differential. Additionally, a non-academic family background is associated with a significant deficit in returns to their instrumental social capital along the wage distribution. The findings therefore suggest that inequalities of opportunity on the German labour market occur beyond the education system, as not only the quantity but also the quality of career supporting networks of those from a non-academic family are inferior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Social Media (SoMe) is becoming increasingly used in the medical community, and its use has been related with academic productivity. However, utilization of SoMe in the European neurosurgical community has not been assessed systematically. Methods: An online search was undertaken to discover SoMe accounts of (1) national and related neurosurgical societies listed on the EANS website, (2) neurosurgical journals present on EANS website, (3) neurosurgery centers within EANS member countries, as listed on their website. SoMe accounts of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram were searched for journals and societies, and Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for neurosurgery departments. The number of likes/followers/subscribers was recorded. Results: Five (31%) neurosurgery journals had a SoMe presence. The highest number of followers, likes, and tweets was found for JNNP, and Journal of Neurological Surgery Part B had the most subscribers and video views. SoMe usage was identified for 11 national (28.2%) and 2 multi-national neurosurgical societies. From these, the French Society of Neurosurgery had the largest number of Facebook followers (> 2800) and Likes (> 2700), the Society of British Neurological Surgeons had the largest number of Twitter followers (> 2850), whereas EANS overall had the most followers on Twitter > 5100 and Facebook > 5450. A total of 87 SoMe neurosurgery center accounts were found on either Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, for 64 of 1000 centers (6.4%) in 22 of 40 different countries (55%). Of these 67% (n = 43/64) arose from 6 countries (England, Germany, Italy, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine). There were more Facebook accounts (n = 42) than Instagram accounts (n = 23) or Twitter accounts (n = 22). Conclusion: SoMe use amongst neurosurgical societies and departments in Europe is very limited. From our perspective, explanations are lacking for the correlated numbers to the market shares of SoMe in the respective countries. Further research, including a survey, to follow up on this important topic should be undertaken among EANS members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the course of his lengthy career, Dorfman (1942) has pursued a transnational intellectual path, participating in Spanish American social criticism, cultural analysis, and literature while also becoming increasingly a part of English-language U.S. culture. Until well into middle age, he refrained from discussing his Jewish family background and current identity, attempting to remain within an ethnically unmarked tradition of progressive social thought. In the latter part of the 1990s he grew more forthcoming on these topics and his work and person began to circulate in intellectual venues marked as Jewish. While Dorfman's ability to move in and out of diverse cultural spaces is impressive, it has not been unlimited. As the author observes, his plan to end his exile and reintegrate himself into Chilean cultural life following the end of the military dictatorship in 1990 met with frustration. Though he maintains a residence in Chile and visits the country, Dorfman's English-language career has continued to outpace the more limited success of his recent work in Spanish American countries. Dorfman has only inserted himself into Jewish intellectual life to a modest extent, apparently by choice, since his custom is to discuss matters of which he possesses significant knowledge, particularly expertise gained through first-hand experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theories of sexual identity development recognize the initiation of sexual experience with same-sex partners (SESSP) to be a significant event in the coming-out process, yet the research literature lacks a population-based description of its timing and variation across population subgroups. Using data from the 2011–2017 National Survey of Family Growth and guided by the life course paradigm, we explored the timing and correlates of first SESSP among individuals (1425 women; 545 men) who identified as lesbian (n = 307), gay (n = 285), or bisexual (n = 1378) (LGB). Descriptive findings revealed that the median age at first SESSP was about 19 years for lesbian women and gay men and one to two years later for bisexual women and men. Notably, initiation of SESSP occurred over a wide age range, particularly among bisexual men. Multivariable results indicated that the probability of first SESSP did not vary by demographic characteristics or family background among men. Among women, nativity status, family stability, and independent living were associated with probability of first SESSP. Coital experience predicted timing among both women and men. Tests for statistical interactions suggested that age at first SESSP was contingent on mother's education (women), sexual identity (men), family stability (men), and birth cohort (women and men). Our findings highlight the complicated nature of LGB sexual experiences, and we end with a call for greater effort to ensure that LGB individuals are represented in national surveys designed to provide data on sexual and reproductive health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New methods of securing the distribution of audio content have been widely deployed in the last twenty years. Their impact on perceptive quality has, however, only been seldomly the subject of recent extensive research. We review digital speech watermarking state of the art and provide subjective testing of watermarked speech samples. Latest speech watermarking techniques are listed, with their specifics and potential for further development. Their current and possible applications are evaluated. Open-source software designed to embed watermarking patterns in audio files is used to produce a set of samples that satisfies the requirements of modern speech-quality subjective assessments. The patchwork algorithm that is coded in the application is mainly considered in this analysis. Different watermark robustness levels are used, which allow determining the threshold of detection to human listeners. The subjective listening tests are conducted following ITU-T P.800 Recommendation, which precisely defines the conditions and requirements for subjective testing. Further analysis tries to determine the effects of noise and various disturbances on watermarked speech's perceived quality. A threshold of intelligibility is estimated to allow further openings on speech compression techniques with watermarking. The impact of language or social background is evaluated through an additional experiment involving two groups of listeners. Results show significant robustness of the watermarking implementation, retaining both a reasonable net subjective audio quality and security attributes, despite mild levels of distortion and noise. Extended experiments with Chinese listeners open the door to formulate a hypothesis on perception variations with geographical and social backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting from the seminal experience of James Prescott Joule, this paper aims to debate the possibility of "making" science outside universities and academies. Joule himself studied as an autodidact and did not make his own discoveries while following an academic path; on the contrary, at first, the associations and academic societies of the time tended not to recognize his works officially. All of this happened throughout the nineteenth century during the period of the first relevant tendency to science popularization. For example, looking at the second half of the England of the 1800s, we can refer to Michael Faraday's open lessons for children like The Chemical History of a Candle. Following this perspective from a historical view, this paper explores the Italian attempts to communicate science—from the '50s to the '70s—to a larger public via television and other media, also considering the political and social backgrounds behind this choice. In particular, this paper also deals with Lucio Lombardo Radice's work on TV programs and writings in social-political journals and daily newspapers, as a mathematician and pedagogist engaged on the importance of what he specifically called "Scientific mediation", as a "method" to teach and popularize science to a larger public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Social anxiety (SA) is characterized by marked difficulties in forming and maintaining social relationships. Several theoretical perspectives suggest that individuals with social anxiety tend to prioritize social rank goals. As such, the socially anxious view the world in hierarchical rather than cooperative terms. Methods: One hundred and eleven participants were assigned to one of three subgroups based on SA severity and depressed mood. The resulting subgroups consisted of participants with elevated levels of SA, with and without depressed mood (n = 46 and n = 24, respectively) as well as non-anxious participants (n = 41). By using an asymmetrical Ultimatum Game (UG) in which participants' identities were concealed, we sought to investigate how SA levels modulate behavioural responses to unfair treatment and to subsequent fairness considerations. Results: Overall, SA was associated with higher rejection rates of unfair splits, which suggests that participants with elevated SA prioritize fairness over financial maximization. Our findings also show that SA was associated with a tendency toward costly punishment, that is, both SA subgroups engaged in more punitive actions in spite of financial loss. Conclusion: Taken together, our findings show that given the chance, individuals with elevated SA can resort to active punishment instead than acting submissively in asymmetric interactions, in partial disagreement with theoretical models of SA. We further advance that social rank threats are important drivers of punitive actions in SA. Empirical and practical implications, as well as interpretative caveats, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Social risk factors (SRFs) such as minority race-and-ethnicity or low income are associated with quality-of-care, health, and healthcare outcomes. Organizations might prioritize improving care for easier-to-treat groups over those with SRFs, but measuring, reporting, and further incentivizing quality-of-care for SRF groups may improve their care. Objective: To develop, as a proof-of-concept, a Health Equity Summary Score (HESS): a succinct, easy-to-understand score that could be used to promote high-quality care to those with SRFs in Medicare Advantage (MA) health plans, which provide care for almost twenty million older and disabled Americans and collect extensive quality measure and SRF data. Design: We estimated, standardized, and combined performance scores for two sets of quality measures for enrollees in 2013–2016 MA health plans, considering both current levels of care, within-plan improvement, and nationally benchmarked improvement for those with SRFs (specifically, racial-and-ethnic minority status and dual-eligibility for Medicare and Medicaid). Participants: All MA plans with publicly reported quality scores and 500 or more 2016 enrollees. Main Measures: Publicly reported clinical quality and patient experience measures. Key Results: Almost 90% of plans measured for MA Star Ratings received a HESS; plans serving few patients with SRFs were excluded. The summary score was moderately positively correlated with publicly reported overall Star Ratings (r = 0.66–0.67). High-scoring plans typically had sizable enrollment of both racial-and-ethnic minorities (38–42%) and dually eligible beneficiaries (29–38%). Conclusions: We demonstrated the feasibility of developing and estimating a HESS that is intended to promote and incentivize excellent care for racial-and-ethnic minorities and dually eligible MA enrollees. The HESS measures SRF-specific performance and does not simply duplicate overall plan Star Ratings. It also identifies plans that provide excellent care to large numbers of those with SRFs. Our methodology could be extended to other SRFs, quality measures, and settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We employ a non-compact gauging of four-dimensional maximal supergravity to construct a two-parameter family of AdS4 J-fold solutions preserving N = 2 supersymmetry. All solutions preserve u (1) × u (1) global symmetry and in special limits we recover the previously known su (2) × u (1) invariant N = 2 and su (2) × su (2) invariant N = 4 J-fold solutions. This family of AdS4 backgrounds can be uplifted to type IIB string theory and is holographically dual to the conformal manifold of a class of three-dimensional S-fold SCFTs obtained from the N = 4 T [U(N)] theory of Gaiotto-Witten. We find the spectrum of supergravity excitations of the AdS4 solutions and use it to study how the operator spectrum of the three-dimensional SCFT depends on the exactly marginal couplings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Social anxiety is associated with increased and decreased alcohol use. Alcohol expectancies may help explain these inconsistencies. For example, a fear of losing control in front of others could motivate avoidance of alcohol. Similarly, cognitive models propose that individuals with elevated social anxiety believe they are at risk of behaving inappropriately and embarrassing themselves, indicating that beliefs about losing control over one's behaviour may be involved in social anxiety. This experiment aimed to manipulate negative alcohol expectancies about losing control to assess their impact on symptoms and processes associated with social anxiety. Methods: Ninety-three undergraduate participants (i.e., non-clinical sample) were randomly assigned to an alcohol, placebo, or control condition and were 'informed' that alcohol makes people lose control over their actions/speech. They then completed a 'getting to know you' task. Results: Participants in the placebo and alcohol (versus control) conditions experienced greater anxiety before and during the task and engaged in more post-event processing 24 h later. However, the physiological effects of alcohol influenced results: participants in the alcohol (versus placebo) condition experienced lower anticipatory anxiety, perceived themselves as making a better first impression, and demonstrated a lower reliance on safety behaviour. Conclusions: Although this experiment used a non-clinical sample, beliefs about losing control may be important to consider when conceptualizing social anxiety and treating associated symptoms from a cognitive-behavioural framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the Panel of Social Inequalities in Catalonia, Spain (PaD 2001–2012), this article investigates the relationship between perceptions of economic conditions and subjective well-being in times of prosperity and economic crisis. It also analyses how this relationship plays out across different social backgrounds. Periods of economic crisis and prosperity serve as a proxy for objective macroeconomic conditions. The Spanish region of Catalonia is a relevant setting because it faced one of the highest increases in inequality and unemployment in Europe as a result of the 2008 Economic Crisis. Our results show that perceived economic conditions matter beyond objective micro and macroeconomic realm and become a strong determinant of subjective well-being during a crisis, particularly for the middle class. However, contrary to our initial expectations, our results also show the existence of a close correlation between perceptions of economic conditions and subjective well-being for low social background individuals in times of economic prosperity, and an even stronger relationship in times of economic crisis. The article stipulates several potential explanations for these results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women's life courses underwent substantial changes in the family and work domains in the second half of the twentieth century. The associated fundamental changes in opportunity structures and values challenged the importance of families of origin for individual life courses, but two research strands suggest enduring within-family reproduction of women's family behavior and work outcomes. We revisit this issue by studying two complementary types of intergenerational associations in women's combined work-family trajectories. On the one hand, we examine similarities across mothers' and daughters' work-family trajectories to address the direct within-family reproduction of female life courses (intergenerational persistence). On the other hand, we examine systematic associations between work-family trajectories that are typical in each generation to address intergenerational interdependencies beyond direct reproduction that account for individual and societal constrains and opportunities that each generation faced (intergenerational correspondence). We use a within-dyad approach to sequence analysis and examine combined work-family trajectories between ages 18 and 35 of two generations of women, born in 1930-1949 and in 1958-1981, within the same family drawn from the German Socio-Economic Panel. Overall, we find evidence of small but nontrivial persistence in work-family trajectories across generations that is partly attributed to within-family mechanisms of reproduction. In addition, we find correspondence across typical trajectory patterns of each generation, without daughters necessarily resembling their mothers' trajectories. The strength of the intergenerational associations varies by social background. Our research improves and broadens our understanding of the reproduction of female life courses across generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals reject economic inequality if they believe it to result from unequal opportunities. This paper argues income gaps between groups determined at birth, based on sex, race, or family background, can serve people as an indication of unequal opportunities. Findings from a survey experiment show Americans underestimate these gaps. When confronted with accurate information, participants correct their perceptions and adjust redistributive preferences. A follow-up survey finds these effects to last for over one year. In sum, this paper contributes to political economy scholarship that links individual preferences to objective characteristics of the income distribution. Focusing on income gaps offers new ways to explore the political consequences of structural economic change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Roemer's equality of opportunity (EOp) theory is increasingly used as the framework for assessing the link between public policies and social justice. Most studies focus on a single (monetary) wellbeing indicator and take individual efforts as being randomly distributed. However, recent development theories have uniformly advocated the use of a multidimensional wellbeing measure and the importance of individual responsibility. We propose a theoretical framework and a modelling tool to include these aspects in an assessment of the connection between public policies and inequality of opportunity for wellbeing within a Romerian setting. Using Bolivian data, we demonstrate the empirical usefulness of our framework and find that Bolivian social programmes are strongly associated with the reduction of unfair inequalities arising from ethnicity and family background, although their levels are far away from being optimal. We highlight the role of effort in this connection and show that it is a fundamental mediating factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors present a brief history of research on religious and spiritual struggles and of the development of the typology and measurement of such struggles by means of the Religious and Spiritual Struggles Scale (Exline et al. 2014). Following a terminological clarification of the terms "religiousness" and "spirituality," which are often used interchangeably, an overview of the current state of research in the field of religious and spiritual conflicts is given based on fundamental contributions, especially by one of the main pioneers in this field, the American psychologist Julie Juola Exline. Research so far has most extensively focused on American samples, but scholars have recently begun to explore various other cultural and social backgrounds as it cannot be assumed that results from one society can be readily transferred to others, such as more secular societies. The article concludes with a discussion of the findings and a description of future research needs, especially for the European context where a lack of data is still evident. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Small children are expected to be abstinent from alcohol, and children's hair is frequently used as the blank matrix for calibration of the alcohol consumption marker ethyl glucuronide (EtG). The basal EtG concentrations of total abstainers were described to be 0.3–2.1 pg/mg (Pirro et al. 2013). It is examined whether this assumption is valid for children from families with addiction background. Methods: In a social support system for families with drug and/or alcohol addicted parents, 161 hair samples from 126 children (age 1–14 years, hair segment 0–3 cm) were analyzed for EtG by a validated LC-MS/MS method (LOD 0.56 pg/mg, LLOQ 2.3 pg/mg). For comparison, ethyl palmitate (EtPa) was measured and hair samples from parents were included. EtG ≥ 3 pg/mg was considered as an alarming result for children. Results and discussion: EtG concentrations between 3.0 and 42.6 pg/mg (mean 9.55 pg/mg, median 6.40 pg/mg) were measured for 25 samples (15.5%, age 22 × 1–5 years, 3 × 9–11 years). Elevated EtPa (0.15–0.46 ng/mg) was found in 6 samples and cocaethylene (0.02–0.07 ng/mg) was detected in 5 samples with high cocaine findings. Hair results of one or both parents indicated drug abuse in 12 from 14 cases (85.7%) if both parents were tested. Conclusion: Although accidental or voluntary intake of alcoholic beverages cannot be excluded, the external contamination of children's hair by EtG-containing wine and sweat or urine of the alcohol abusing parents is assumed to be the most probable explanation for the positive EtG results in hair of 1–5-year-old children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Good outcome of schizophrenia has several meanings and most of these meanings carry both positive and negative undertones depending on perspective. Currently, a person's subjective sense that illness has been partly overcome and that life is meaningful has come to be viewed as the most valid signpost of a good outcome. A review of the literature shows that women have certain advantages over men in that their illness starts at a later age and that their symptoms respond more quickly and more completely to available treatments. These advantages serve women well at the outset of illness but benefits appear to dissipate over time. Gender differences in outcome thus vary depending on the age of the patient. They also vary with the social and cultural background of the study population. Neither sex, therefore, has a monopoly on good outcome. The hope is that studying gender differences will uncover critical elements of good outcome that lead to interventions that will benefit both women and men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]