Could gonadal and adrenal androgen deficiencies contribute to the depressive symptoms in men with systolic heart failure?

Background: Testosterone (TT) and dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEAS) are neurosteroids and their deficiencies constitute the hormone risk factors promoting the development of depression in elderly otherwise healthy men. We investigated the link between hypogonadism and depression in accordance with age and concomitant diseases in men with systolic HF using the novel scale previously dedicated for elderly population.

Methods: We analysed the prevalence of depression and severity of depressive symptoms in population of 226 men with systolic HF (40–80 years) compared to 379 healthy peers. The severity of depression was assessed using the Polish long version of Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS).

Results: In men aged 40–59 years the severity of depressive symptoms was greater in NYHA classes III–IV compared to NYHA classes I–II and reference group. In men aged 60–80 years depressive symptoms were more severe in NYHA class III-IV compared to controls (all p?≤?0.001). In multivariate logistic regression model in men aged 40–59 years advanced NYHA class was associated with higher prevalence of mild depression (OR?=?2.14, 95%CI: 1.07–4.29) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with higher prevalence of severe depression (OR?=?69.1, 95%CI: 2.11–2264.3). In men aged 60–80 years advanced NYHA class and TT deficiency were related to higher prevalence of mild depression (respectively: OR?=?2.9, 95%CI: 1.3–6.4; OR?=?3.6, 95%CI: 1.2–10.63).

Conclusion: TT deficiency, COPD and advanced NYHA class were associated with higher prevalence of depression in men with systolic HF.     

Open spaces for dialogue promoting mental health as a social work education methodology

ABSTRACT

The authors discuss service user involvement as a key approach regarding training of social workers. In many European Union countries this is a stable practice with a lengthy tradition in research and application. However, in Poland it is almost entirely absent and marginalized. This article presents the results of a participatory action research project conducted at the Institute of Sociology of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, the objective of which was to identify and critically analyze the key substantive and formal aspects of training of social workers with the participation of individuals with experience of mental illness. This research project adopted an open approach to cognizing reality based on qualitative co-participatory methods. In the conclusion, the authors emphasize that the fundamental criterion for the success of this particular form of training is voluntary and differentiated participation of students—both in the role of people sharing their own experience and as learners—as well as shaping a culture of open dialogue, educational alliances of recognition and recovery, the foundation of which is axiological experience.     

Recruitment and Retention of Latinos in Social Work Education: Building on Students’ Community Cultural Wealth

Spanish-speaking and culturally sensitive social workers are in high demand throughout the country to work with Latino clients. Latinos currently represent about 11% of active social workers, limiting the capacity of social work to effectively address the needs of the Latino population. Despite this shortage, little attention has been paid to the recruitment and retention of Latinos in social work. This article presents a case study that examines a BSW program accredited by the Council on Social Work Education, at a bilingual, private college where 90% of students self-identify as Latinos. It details how the BSW program builds on the students’ community cultural wealth to ensure continued recruitment and retention of Latino students. Implications for social work education are discussed.     

Some characterizations of discrete distributions based on weak records

Let X ₁, X ₂,... be iid random variables (rv's) with the support on nonnegative integers and let (W _n , n≥0) denote the corresponding sequence of weak record values. We obtain new characterization of geometric and some other discrete distributions based on different forms of partial independence of rv's W _n and W _n+r —W _n for some fixed n≥0 and r≥1. We also prove that rv's W ₀ and W _n+1 —W _n have identical distribution if and only if (iff) the underlying distribution is geometric.     

From cultural knowledge to intercultural communicative competence: changing perspectives on the role of culture in foreign language teaching

Approaches to the concept of culture and teaching cultural competence in a foreign language classroom have been changing over the last decades. The paper summarises, compares, contrasts and evaluates four major approaches to teaching cultural competence in foreign language teaching, that is, knowledge-based approach, contrastive approach, Communicative Language Teaching and intercultural communicative competence approach.     

Impoverished Clientele and Influential Institutions: Perspectives on Neighborhood Poverty near Harvard Yard

The role of institutions in the social reproduction of the economic status quo is not a new discovery in sociological literature. However, this literature rarely highlights how the catalysts of poverty are transparent in public institutions like schools, social services, police, or renowned universities such as Harvard. Drawing upon historical archival research, decennial census information, and ethnographic studies from the 1990s and early 2000s in Cambridge, Massachusetts we contribute to the discussions about urban poverty. We argue that there are structural factors other than the widely discussed spread of socio-geopolitical isolation or racial dynamics that prevent poor residents from bridging social distances and experiencing upward mobility. Those dynamics are specifically visible in cases such as Cambridge where the consequences of economic shifts and racial dynamics were not as dire as in other cities, but the exclusionary practices are still present. We implicate systematic ‘exclusionary closure,’ as defined by Max Weber and employed by Loïc Wacquant, operating in influential institutions. Following Wacquant’s lead, we argue that institutional practices and policies have played a large role in creating and maintaining urban marginality and pockets of poverty in Cambridge. Institutions like these, considered foundational to social and intellectual advancement, may be key players in the perpetuation of urban poverty.     

An extension of the multivariate Chebyshev's inequality to a random vector with a singular covariance matrix

ABSTRACT

We extend Chebyshev's inequality to a random vector with a singular covariance matrix. Then we consider the case of a multivariate normal distribution for this generalization.     

Traits of Leaders of Rural Non-governmental Organisations as Predictors of Collaboration Between NGOs and Rural Gmina Offices: Voices from Central Poland

Collaboration between non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and public institutions, in accordance with the new public governance model, may contribute to actions by such organisations on behalf of both the co-production and co-construction of social services. The aim of this article is to assess the role of selected traits of NGO leaders in determining the chances of collaboration between NGOs and rural gmina offices in central, post-socialist Poland. The authors present the results of studies on selected subjective determinants of such collaboration, in which 104 leaders of NGOs from 29 rural gminas participated. Five independent research tools were implemented. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess the role of selected traits of NGO leaders in determining the potential for collaboration between NGOs and rural gmina offices. The final model indicates that the potential for collaboration between an NGO and a rural gmina office increases alongside higher levels of education, social competences and locus of control and decreased control ideology among NGO leaders. On this basis, the authors formulate practical conclusions concerning the education of leaders of rural NGOs in post-socialist Poland.

     

Foreign Women and Toilets

This article considers representations of migrant women who work as domestic help and probes the abjecting logic of cleaning practices vis-à-vis current issues of legality, illegality, immigration, transcultural difference, and rage. I survey diverse media depictions of foreign women and cleaning scenes in transnational settings: Fear and Trembling (2003), Maid in America (2004), The Ukrainian Cleaning Lady (2002 The Ukrainian Cleaning Lady (Pani Z Ukrainy) (documentary) (2002) Pawe? ?oziński (dir.), Poland [Google Scholar]), Dirt (2003 Dirt (film) (2003) Nancy Savoca (dir.), USA [Google Scholar]), and Friends with Money (2006). I examine the formation and apprehension of female “foreign” subjectivity in relation to cleaning for others, in relation to dirt. The visual analysis discusses ways in which removing other people's dirt by an immigrant, migrant, or a guest worker intertwines with gendered and racialized processes of social abjection. Privileging images of toilets and expressions of rage, my analysis inquires into a conceptual correspondence between garbage and the cultural renditions of foreign others; into ways in which the concept of “dirt” gets transposed onto the cleaners suggesting that those who clean dirt are themselves disposable bodies, only useful and tolerable as long as they cohere the messy lives of “legitimate” and properly “clean” natives.