Introduction
The current study presents a thorough investigation of the attitudes and emotions expressed by the spouses and girlfriends of sports fans within the context of their long-term ...relationships. Its primary objective is to explore the potential ramifications that surface when individuals become deeply invested in a competitive sport, demonstrating intense emotional connections, broad knowledge, unwavering loyalty, and active engagement in fan-related activities.
Methods
The research methodology applied in this study involved conducting semi-structured interviews with a sample of twelve spouses and girlfriends of fans.
Results
The principal findings elucidate four distinct themes that shed light on the intersection of fandom and romantic relationships. These themes include: “that’s what I signed up for”; “fandom as a gendered activity”; “the good, the bad, and the ugly”; and “sports fandom as an addiction.”
Discussion
The study concludes by highlighting the crucial cultural context at work. The social criticism expressed by the interviewees toward non-traditional gender behaviors displayed by their partners serves as a cautionary message. These criticisms aim to preserve and uphold male dominance in sports, thereby reinforcing the notion of their unquestioned supremacy. Consequently, we argue that, within this context, latent aggressive behavior in men is perceived as a strategy to maintain their monopolistic control over sports domains.
We present a framework for investigating the response of conformally invariant confined 1 + 1-dimensional systems to a quantum quench. While conformal invariance is generally destroyed in a global ...quantum quench, systems that can be described as or mapped to integrable deformations of a CFT may present special instances where a conformal field theory-based analysis could provide useful insight into the non-equilibrium dynamics. We investigate this possibility by considering a quench analogous to that of the quantum Newton's Cradle experiment (Kinoshita et al 2006 Nature 440 900) and demonstrating qualitative agreement between observables derived in the CFT framework and those of the experimental system. We propose that this agreement may be a feature of the proximity of the experimental system to an integrable deformation of a c = 1 CFT.
Primer on FGF3 Hutchings, Carmel; Sela-Donenfeld, Dalit
Differentiation (London),
09/2023
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Though initially discovered as a proto-oncogene in virally induced mouse mammary tumors, FGF3 is primarily active in prenatal stages, where it is found at various sites at specific times. FGF3 is ...crucial during development, as its roles include tail formation, inner ear development and hindbrain induction and patterning. FGF3 expression and function are highly conserved in vertebrates, while it also interacts with other FGFs in various developmental processes. Intriguingly, while it is classified as a classical paracrine signaling factor, murine FGF3 was uniquely found to also act in an intracrine manner, depending on alternative translation initiation sites. Corresponding with its conserved role in inner ear morphogenesis, mutations in FGF3 in humans are associated with LAMM syndrome, a disorder that include hearing loss and inner ear malformations. While recent studies indicate of some FGF3 presence in post-natal stages, emerging evidences of its upregulation in various human tumors and cariogenic processes in mouse models, highlights the importance of its close regulation in adult tissues. Altogether, the broad and dynamic expression pattern and regulation of FGF3 in embryonic and adult tissues together with its link to congenital malformations and cancer, calls for further discoveries of its diverse roles in health and disease.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder affecting approximately 3% of school-age children. The core symptoms are deficits in social communication and restricted and repetitive ...patterns of behavior. Associated problems in cognition, language, behavior, sleep and mood are prevalent. Currently, no established pharmacological treatment exists for core ASD symptoms. Risperidone and aripiprazole are used to manage associated irritability, but their effectiveness is limited and adverse events are common.
This mini-review summarizes existing scientific literature and ongoing clinical trials concerning cannabinoid treatment for ASD. Uncontrolled case series have documented improvements in both core ASD symptoms and related behavioral challenges in children treated with cannabis extracts rich in cannabidiol (CBD). Placebo-controlled studies involving CBD-rich cannabis extracts and/or pure CBD in children with ASD have demonstrated mixed efficacy results. A similar outcome was observed in a placebo-controlled study of pure CBD addressing social avoidance in Fragile X syndrome. Importantly, these studies have shown relatively high safety and tolerability.
While current clinical data suggest the potential of CBD and CBD-rich cannabis extract in managing core and behavioral deficits in ASD, it is prudent to await the results of ongoing placebo-controlled trials before considering CBD treatment for ASD.
The present study is a first attempt to understand the phenomenon of fandom from the perspective of fans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The need for special consideration of ...this population stems from the conditions-(e.g. light or loud noise) typical in football stadiums that might highlight their difficulties and trigger negative reactions. For this purpose, we identified and interviewed nine football fans, all of whom suffer from PTSD. The analysis of the interviews suggested three main themes: benefits of football fandom for individuals with PTSD, a change in fandom practices caused by the development of the disorder and its diagnosis, and participants' coping strategies. Finally, suggestions for further research are discussed.
Both as producers and consumers women are more likely than men to engage with complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and ‘New Age’ holistic spiritualities. We conducted a literature review of ...sociological and anthropological articles, with the aim of studying why women in particular use and practice these alternatives, and whether using them presents an opportunity to challenge the conventional gender order and unequal power relations. A systematic search of nine databases, complemented by an informal search resulted in the identification of 114 articles, of which 27 were included in the review. The search period was limited to 2000–2013. Thematic analysis of the literature indicated three major trends: women draw on traditional female resources and perceived ‘feminine’ characteristics; the realm of CAM and holistic spirituality challenges power relations and gender inequalities in healthcare, wellbeing, and employment, and may serve as an emancipating, empowering alternative; however, factors such as lack of political support, legitimacy, and a solid institutional base for the field of CAM and holistic spirituality, and its use by predominantly white middle- and upper-class women, work against significant change in the realm of healthcare and limit gendered social change. We suggest that the empowerment women experience is a form of feminine strength and personal empowerment that stems from power-from-within, which is not directed toward resistance. The literature review reveals some lacunae in the literature that call for future gendered research: the lack of quantitative studies, of data concerning the financial success of CAM practitioners, of studies linking CAM with a feminist-oriented analysis of the medical world, of understanding gender perceptions in the holistic milieu and CAM, and of studies conducted from an intersectionality perspective.
•Women are prominent in the field of complementary medicine and holistic spirituality.•A review of the literature focusing on explanations of the greater prominence of women.•Women experience personal empowerment that stems from power-from-within.•Certain factors hamper significant change in the healthcare realm and limit gendered social change.•Lacunae in the literature that call for future research are presented.
Despite the absence of formal entry barriers, Italy is lagging behind the majority of the developed countries in the share of young individuals with tertiary education. Exploiting the administrative ...data of a large public Italian institution, we analyze student academic careers across recent matriculation cohorts. We propose a flexible discrete-time competing risks estimation that allows overcoming some major limitations of conventional competing risks models. We find that student pathways vary tremendously across prior schooling profiles: for example, the within 4-year dropout probability ranges between 10% and 77%. We observe improvements over time in retention and time-to-degree, and by decomposing changes into components related to the composition of the enrolled population, the choice of the field of study and ‘individual behavior’ after enrolment, we find that the latter plays a major role. However, the improvement is limited in size and does not interest students from the vocational track. Since this progress is not accompanied by an increase in the share of students making the transition from high school to university, altogether our results call for great concern over the inclusiveness and effectiveness of the Italian university system.
•Despite formal openness of the educational system, Italy has a very low share of young individuals with tertiary education.•We find huge differences in student pathways across prior schooling but overall improvement in retention and time-to-degree · Compositional effects exist but are not the major driver of the changes.•. Differently from the others, students from the vocational track do not experience a reduction in the dropout risk•The evidence is that the Italian university system is becoming more effective but not more inclusive.
Urban renewal is one of the main motivations of city regeneration. Urban renewal strategies mainly relate to demolishing old buildings and redeveloping new buildings instead, improving buildings and ...deteriorated areas, infilling new buildings within existing urban fabric, integrating new communities into old and rolling-down areas, and so on. In parallel to this situation, the modern world is in the wake of the 4th Industrial Revolution, which is characterized by a merger of physical and digital spaces and is consequently affecting cities and their quality of life. Therefore, urban regeneration must take into consideration these digital innovations and harness the emerging technological changes into new development of urban renewal processes and decision-making approaches. This editorial introduces the topic of digital urban regeneration, by discussing possible methodologies and decision-making approaches and presents the thematic issue on “embedding digital technologies into urban renewal processes and development.”
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