The case of vegetovascular dystonia: inventing the most common Soviet disease

ABSTRACT

The paper considers the case of vegetovascular dystonia, one of the most typical and common “Soviet” diseases. This syndrome emerged in Soviet medicine after World War II, and very quickly become a popular diagnosis among physicians. The author describes how the construct of vegetovascular dystonia was formed and developed, what changes it underwent, and what affected those changes. The concept and history of vegetovascular dystonia can provide an understanding of Soviet medicine and health science in general.     

The dual network structure of organizational problem solving: A case study on open source software development

We reconstruct the dual network structure generated by the association between 72 contributors and 737 software bugs engaged during a full development cycle of the free/open source software project Epiphany. Estimates of structural parameters of Exponential Random Graph Models for two-mode networks reveal the structural logics shaping activities of collaborative problem solving. After controlling for contributor-specific and software bug-specific characteristics, we find that contributors (“problem solvers”) tend to distribute their activity over multiple software bugs. At the same time, however, we find that software bugs (“problems”) tend not to share multiple contributors. This dual tendency toward de-specialization and exclusivity is sustained by specific local network dependencies revealed by our analysis which also suggests possible organizational mechanisms that may be underlying the puzzling macro-structural regularities frequently observed, but rarely explained, in the production of open source software. By combining these mechanisms with the influence of contributors characterized by different levels of involvement in the project, we provide micro-level evidence of structural interdependence between “core” and “peripheral” members identified exclusively on the basis of their individual level of contribution to the project.     

Aging and sexual health: getting to the problem

Erectile dysfunction (ED) is one of the most common disorders in male and is often associated with other age-related comorbidities. The aging process affects the structural organization and function of penile erectile components such as smooth muscle cell and vascular architecture. These modifications affect penile hemodynamics by impairing cavernosal smooth muscle cell relaxation, reducing penile elasticity, compliance and promoting fibrosis. This review aims to identify the mechanisms of ED in the penile aging process in experimental and clinical data. It also highlights areas that are in need of more research. The search strategies yielded total records screened from PubMed. Clarification of the molecular mechanisms that accompanies corpus cavernosum aging and aging-associated ED will aid new perspectives in the development of novel mechanism-based therapeutic approaches. Age is not a limiting factor for ED medical management, and it is never too late to treat. Hypogonadism should be managed regardless of age, and synergistic effects have been found during testosterone (T) replacement therapy when used along with oral phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE-5) inhibitors. Therefore, the clinical management of ED related to aging can be done by therapeutic interventions that include PDE-5 inhibitors, and other pharmacological treatments.     

Evaluation of what parents know about their children's drug use and how they perceive the most common family risk factors

Research on family risk factors for addictive behaviors in young people has not paid a great deal of attention to parents' knowledge of their children's addictive behaviors and of the family risk factors that affect such behaviors. The aim of this work is to compare knowledge about these two aspects in two groups of parents that differ regarding their children's declared drug use. The research was carried out with a sample of 309 schoolchildren and their families, divided into two groups: one of 154 families with children defined as non-Drug Users and another of 155 families with children defined as Drug Users. The results show that parents with children who consume drugs tend to strongly underestimate their children's use. Moreover, they overestimate the control they exercise over them and appear to be more familiarized with the use of drugs, if we compare them with parents of non-Drug Users. It is suggested that these results may be relevant for the planning of strategies that increase motivation in families with drug-risk children to participate in prevention programs.     

Humanitarian work psychology: The contributions of organizational psychology to poverty reduction

Achieving the MDG goal of reducing world poverty by 50% by 2015 requires the cooperative effort of many disciplines. To date the discipline of organizational psychology has not played as significant a role as it might in this endeavor. With the recent establishment of the Global Task Force for Humanitarian Work Psychology, this discipline signaled its commitment to the global effort. Organizational psychology offers to bring its expertise to poverty reduction: its ability to assess needs and capacity, develop partnerships with stakeholders, bring about and manage change, and systematically review, evaluate, monitor and revise high level mandates, policy development, program implementation and consultation on personnel issues. Its successes as practitioners-scientists in private enterprise will enhance its credibility for success in the public sphere. The article reviews the research and practice of some of the organizational psychologists presently engaged in poverty reduction and how humanitarian work psychology might enhance the efforts of anti-poverty organizations.     

From maximum security to secure treatment: organizational constraints

This study focuses on an organization at the interface of the criminal justice and mental health systems. The institution examined was a maximum security mental hospital, primarily for incompetent felony defendants, as it was attempting to change from a custodial to a treatment orientation. Interest centered on whether structural factors in this type of organization place significant constraints on the ability of the organization to change in the intended direction. Data were collected at five points in time over a two-year period to test the impact of three substantial modifications in the organizational setting on the level of treatment. The latter was measured by patient/inmate responses on Prisonization and Favorableness Scales. Supporting the research hypotheses, there were some initial fluctuations in scle scores, but during the two periods of organizational stability no significant changes in either scale were evident. These findings are discussed in the context of technological constraints facing organizations, especially those providing mental health services in the criminal justice system, with the dual goals of custody and treatment.     

International migration data: their problems and usefulness in Venezuela

During the 1940s and 1950s Venezuela was an important destination for migrants from Southern Europe, a flow that disappeared almost entirely during the 1960s, to be replaced by border movements and the largely illegal migration of Colombians. The oil boom of the 1970s saw an increase of the latter, which may have subsided during the 1980s due to the more difficult economic conditions that have also led to significant emigration levels of Venezuelans and former immigrants. Methods of data collection systems that provide information on migrants include the National Population and Housing Census, the National Household Survey, migration surveys, arrival and departure statistics, registration systems operated by the Direccion General Sectorial de identificacion y Control de Extranjeros, the 1980 regularization drive, statistics gathered by the Ministry of Labor, and vital and civil registration statistics. The lack of effective coordination among the different government agencies gathering information and the administrative nature of the data collected give rise to problems of comparability. Mechanisms to publish and disseminate the data available are not well developed, so that researchers often have no access to potentially useful sources of information. Problems of timeliness in the publication of the most widely used information are also present, as is the large gap existing in data pertaining to emigration, be it of Venezuelan nationals or of immigrants leaving the country.     

The relationship between Web site design and organizational responsiveness to stakeholders

The Internet and World Wide Web are emerging as important public relations tools for both profit and non-profit organizations. Little evidence exists, however, about the extent to which new technologies help organizations build relationships with publics. This article examines the relationship between Web site design and organizational responsiveness to stakeholder information needs. Two organizational types with differing levels of resource dependency (general environmental activist and watchdog groups) are examined. Our analysis assesses each organizational type’s general dialogic capacity as well as the responsiveness of the organizations to requests for information.     

Ingesting the organization: The embodiment of organizational food rituals

This exploratory paper asks: ‘how do organizational food and drink rituals shape, reflect or create organizational culture?’ Adopting an embodied approach based on Merleau-Ponty's [1945. Phenomenology of Perception. Translated by C. Smith, 2003. London: Penguin. New York: Routledge] phenomenological work, this paper explores the significance of food-based rituals. Data were collected from different organizations using mixed methods and an embodied, reflexive approach – which is relatively novel in organizational research. Embodied experiences are potent, and this paper proposes that workplace food and drink rituals can powerfully influence perceptions of organizational culture. The unique contribution is in showing how embodied organizational rituals create and sustain organizational culture by using the pre-reflective moment of food ingestion to shape cognitive reconstructions of organizational culture. However, food rituals can be controlled and shaped by the organization to specifically influence employee perceptions of organizational culture. Control of food rituals can be perceived as a deliberate effort to create a constructive culture and encourage reciprocity through employee loyalty and effort.     

Getting it together: Social and institutional obstacles to getting off the streets

Avoiding macrostructural or individualistic explanations as to why homeless individuals cannot get off the streets, this paper examines the social structure of street life as it impinges on a sample of homeless persons' chances of obtaining nonshelter housing. Specifically, by interviewing 42 homeless individuals about a housing grant offered by New York State and the possibility of obtaining shared housing arrangements with such a grant, this study documents possible ways in which the social relations homeless people have with institutions and each other may dash potential efforts to obtain nonshelter housing. The research finds that distrust of the homeless among landlords and a high level of contingency with respect to welfare cases interact with distrustful personal relations among the sample of homeless themselves to reduce the likelihood of successful utilization of the housing grant. Due to sample limitations, findings from this study cannot be generalized to all homeless; nonetheless they offer insight into a dynamic which may be similar to those at work among other homeless sub-populations as well. An earlier version of this paper was presented at a regular session of the American Sociological Association Annual Meeting on August 9, 1994.     

The body without organs: nonorganizational desire in organizational life

In an attempt to challenge the status of the organizational, this paper proposes a ‘nonorganizational’ turn towards embodiment and desire. Introducing and critically discussing Deleuze and Guattari's () notion of the ‘body without organs’ (BwO), it argues that this may improve organization theory's opportunities to think about the forces of embodied desire that disrupt, undermine and escape organization, upset the homogeneity of organizational life, and overpower organizations to such an extent that they cease to be organizations. Rather than adding more ‘organization’ to ‘organizational life’, this may be a way to put more ‘life’ into it. And rather than deeming organization more powerful, this may be a way to recognize its limitations and fragility.