In Defense of the Responsibility to Protect

This essay responds to Esther Reed's recent critique of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) principle in this journal. It argues that Reed fundamentally misunderstands and misrepresents R2P. Her critique of R2P would have served well as a critique of the earlier concept of humanitarian intervention had it been penned in the late 1990s. But most of the problems and dangers that Reed identifies are in reality the very problems and dangers that R2P seeks to overcome, and I suggest that it does overcome them quite successfully. R2P does not impose Western ideals on the rest of the world, weaken the legal restrictions on the use of force, or promote abusive interventionism. Rather, it offers a bold but carefully constructed framework that holds the promise of promoting the protection of vulnerable populations from mass atrocities.     

Poverty,ethnicity, and risk of obesity among low birth weight infants

The independent and joint effects of family and neighborhood poverty and ethnicity upon weight trajectories from age two to six-and-a-half were examined using data from the Infant Health and Development Program (N = 985), an early intervention program for low birth weight children and families. At age two, family poverty was associated with higher body mass index (BMI), whereas neighborhood poverty and ethnicity were not. Over time, the BMI of toddlers from poor and near poor neighborhoods increased nonlinearly, while those from nonpoor neighborhoods remained stable. BMIs of Hispanic-American toddlers increased steadily over time, unlike African-American and Anglo-American toddlers. Although initially similar, over time African-American toddlers' BMIs increased more rapidly than Anglo-American toddlers. Family and neighborhood poverty and ethnicity were associated with BMI. More work is needed on how poverty and ethnicity contribute to differences in early weight gain in conjunction with sociocultural and environmental factors in the home and community.     

Body image and personality among British men: Associations between the Big Five personality domains,drive for muscularity,and body appreciation

The present study examined associations between the Big Five personality domains and measures of men's body image. A total of 509 men from the community in London, UK, completed measures of drive for muscularity, body appreciation, the Big Five domains, and subjective social status, and provided their demographic details. The results of a hierarchical regression showed that, once the effects of participant body mass index (BMI) and subjective social status had been accounted for, men's drive for muscularity was significantly predicted by Neuroticism (β = .29). In addition, taking into account the effects of BMI and subjective social status, men's body appreciation was significantly predicted by Neuroticism (β = −.35) and Extraversion (β = .12). These findings highlight potential avenues for the development of intervention approaches based on the relationship between the Big Five personality traits and body image.     

双血供胸大肌皮瓣修补咽颈部缺损

探讨双血供胸大肌皮瓣修补咽颈部缺损的可行性。介绍应用双血供胸大肌皮瓣修补咽颈部缺损36例,窄蒂胸大肌皮瓣修补咽颈部缺损7例。结果前者愈合23例,出血3例,感染5例,咽瘘5例,皮瓣坏死无;后者愈合2例,出血1例,感染1例,咽瘘2例,皮瓣坏死1例。双血供胸大肌皮瓣修补咽颈部缺损更利于术后愈合、预防咽瘘。     

Mass Perturbation of a Body Segment: I. Effects on Segment Dynamics

Investigators often use mass perturbation of body segments as an experimental paradigm to study movement coordination. To analyze the effect of mass perturbation on small-amplitude oscillations, the authors linearize the equation of motion of a single segment moving in a vertical plane and derive the effect of added mass on the undamped eigenfrequency, the relative damping, and the low-frequency control gain of the segment. Mass addition results in a decrease in both the relative damping and the low-frequency control gain; the undamped eigenfrequency increases for mass addition between the pivot point and R₀ (where R₀ is the length of a point mass pendulum whose undamped eigenfrequency is identical to that of the unperturbed segment), decreases for mass addition beyond R₀, and remains unaffected for mass addition at R₀. For a typical lower leg + foot segment, R₀ is just proximal to the ankle joint. That location may explain the absence of an effect on oscillation frequency in studies in which mass has been added to the ankle. The authors' analysis provides a basis for a more effective application of mass perturbations in future experiments.     

Childhood anxiety associated with low BMI in women with Anorexia Nervosa

Objective

Extremely low body mass index (BMI) values are associated with increased risk for death and poor long-term prognosis in individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN). The present study explores childhood personality characteristics that could be associated with the ability to attain an extremely low BMI.

Methods

Participants were 326 women from the Genetics of Anorexia Nervosa (GAN) Study who completed the Structured Interview for Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimic Syndromes and whose mother completed the Child Behavioral Checklist and/or Revised Dimensions of Temperament Survey.

Results

Children who were described as having greater fear or anxiety by their mothers attained lower BMIs during AN (p < 0.02). Path analysis in the GAN and a validation sample, Price Foundation Anorexia Nervosa Trios Study, confirmed the relation between early childhood anxiety, caloric restriction, qualitative food item restriction, excessive exercise, and low BMI. Path analysis also confirmed a relation between childhood anxiety and caloric restriction, which mediated the relation between childhood anxiety and low BMI in the GAN sample only.

Conclusion

Fearful or anxious behavior as a child was associated with the attainment of low BMI in AN and childhood anxiety was associated with caloric restriction. Measures of anxiety and factors associated with anxiety-proneness in childhood may index children at risk for restrictive behaviors and extremely low BMIs in AN.     

Intuitive understanding of the relation between velocities and masses in simulated collisions

The participants in our experiments were asked to judge whether simulated horizontal collisions appeared to be “natural” or “unnatural”. We manipulated the implied masses and the velocity ratio of two colliding objects. Implied masses were varied through manipulations of the objects' simulated materials (Experiment 1) and sizes (Experiments 2 and 3). For each participant, we determined the interval of velocity ratios that produced “natural” responses most of the time and evaluated how this interval varied as a function of implied masses. The results revealed a fair degree of consistency between predictions of Newtonian mechanics and the participants' responses; this consistency was greater when the implied masses of the colliding objects were varied through manipulations of the simulated materials. Overall, the results support the hypothesis that the cognitive system can integrate multiple sources of stimulus information, enabling individuals to understand multidimensional mechanical events.     

Whole Body Coordination and Knee Movement Control During Five Rehabilitation Exercises

Knee rehabilitation exercises to improve motor control, target movement fluency, and displacement variability. Although knee movement in the frontal plane during exercise is routinely assessed in clinical practice, optimal knee control remains poorly understood. In this study, 29 healthy participants (height: 1.73 ± 0.11 m, mass: 73.5 ± 16.4 kg, age: 28.0 ± 6.9 years) performed 4 repetitions of 5 rehabilitation exercises while motion data were collected using the VICON PlugInGait full-body marker set. Fluency and displacement variability were calculated for multiple landmarks, including center of mass (CoM) and knee joint centers. Fluency was calculated as the inverse of the average number of times a landmark velocity in the frontal plane crossed zero. Variability was defined as the standard deviation of the frontal plane movement trajectories. CoM fluency and displacement variability were significantly different between tasks (p < .001). CoM displacement variability was consistently smallest compared to the constituent landmarks (p < .005). This was interpreted as a whole body strategy of compensatory variability constraining CoM frontal plane movement. Ipsilateral knee fluency (p < .01) and displacement variability (p < .001) differed substantially between tasks. The role of the weight-bearing knee seemed dependent on task constraints of the overall movement and balance, as well as constraints specific for knee joint stability.     

Body mass index,inflammatory biomarkers and neurocognitive impairment in HIV-infected persons

To determine the relationships among body mass index (BMI), and HIV-associated neurocognitive impairment and the potential mediating effects of inflammatory cytokines. Among the HIV-infected individuals (N = 90) included in this study, obesity was associated with slower processing speed (β = ?.229, standard error (SE) = 2.15, p = .033), compared to participants with a normal BMI, after controlling for psychosocial and HIV clinical factors. Serum concentrations of the interleukin-16 (IL-16) cytokine were significantly associated with slowed processing speed (β = ?.235, SE = 1.62, p = .033) but did not mediate the relationship between obesity and processing speed These findings suggest that obesity may contribute to cognitive processing speed deficits in HIV-infected adults. Elevated concentrations of IL-16 are also associated with slowing, though the results suggest that obesity and IL-16 may exert independent effects.     

从大众传媒看公众对安乐死态度的嬗变

安乐死问题在我国已经历了由精英话语向大众话题的转变.研究传媒的相关报道,可以看出公众对安乐死问题经过认知、态度转变到实践的历程,通过分析传媒对塑形公众观念所起的作用,可以更好地把握当代社会公众接受新生命伦理观的过程.