Contesting interpretations of An Inconvenient Truth that treat it as political jeremiad, autobiography, or science documentary, we contextualize the film within Joseph Campbell's monomyth and argue ...that its rhetorical efficacy arises in part because Al Gore's personal transformation animates the documentary footage with jeremiad advocacy. In turn, this fusion of genres enhances Gore's credibility to assess the dangers of global warming and to advise viewers how to respond to them effectively. Our reading has implications for understanding environmental discourse and for critical practice.
Objectives
We examined vocal outcomes of patients who underwent type I thyroplasty for unilateral vocal fold paralysis. Specifically, the vocal outcomes were compared between 15 patients whose ...thyroplasties were performed with silicone and 15 patients whose thyroplasties were performed with Gore-Tex.
Methods
The examined clinical characteristics did not differ significantly between the groups. The vocal outcomes were evaluated by aerodynamic and acoustic measurements.
Results
Aerodynamic examination indicated significant postoperative improvements in the maximum phonation time and mean flow rate in both groups. Shimmer was significantly improved only in the Gore-Tex group. A direct comparison between groups showed no significant difference in the degree of improvement of the vocal parameters, except for a significant improvement in the noise-to-harmonics ratio in the Gore-Tex group. The duration of surgery was significantly less in the Gore-Tex group than in the silicone group.
Conclusions
Gore-Tex thyroplasty is considered to be comparable to silicone thyroplasty in terms of postoperative vocal outcomes. Gore-Tex thyroplasty enables a less invasive procedure with a shorter surgical duration and easier adjustment of medialization due to its flexibility.
BACKGROUNDDistal forearm fractures, one of the most common fractures seen in the pediatric population, are regularly treated by closed reduction and casting. Our study investigates the effectiveness ...of Gore-Tex-lined casting in maintaining the reduction of 100% displaced distal forearm fractures compared with traditional cotton-lined casts.
METHODSWe screened all patients from February 2007 to July 2009 who presented to Childrenʼs Hospital in Birmingham, AL with a distal radius fracture. Only patients with 100% displaced distal radius fractures were eligible to be assigned to either the cotton-lined or Gore-Tex-lined cast groups. Power analysis was performed to identify an adequate patient sample size. The mean maximum change between initial post-reduction x-rays and follow-up x-rays for anterior-posterior (AP) angulation, AP displacement, lateral angulation, and lateral displacement of the radius were calculated for both cotton and Gore-Tex groups. The rate of subsequent intervention and/or unacceptable results for each group was also analyzed.
RESULTSSeven hundred and twenty-two patients were treated with distal radius fractures at our hospital with 59 patients eligible for inclusion in our study. Thirty-six of our patients were treated with cotton-lined casts, and 23 patients were treated with Gore-Tex-lined cast. The mean maximum change in AP angulation, AP displacement, lateral angulation, and lateral displacement of the radius after initial reduction was 9.2 degrees, 6.9%, 13.9 degrees, and 13.6%, respectively, for the cotton-lined cast group and 7.7 degrees, 6.1%, 14.6 degrees, and 9.6%, respectively, for the Gore-Tex-lined cast group. There were no statistical differences between the means of the 4 measurements (P=0.33, 0.69, 0.73, and 0.10, respectively). There were also no significant differences between groups for final AP and lateral angulation and displacement. Subgroup analysis showed no significant differences in all measurements between cotton and Gore-Tex groups.
CONCLUSIONGore-Tex and cotton-lined casts are equally effective in their ability to maintain the reduction of 100% displaced distal forearm fractures. Thus, Gore-Tex-lined casts can be offered to pediatric patients immediately after closed reduction of distal radius fractures of any severity.
LEVEL OF EVIDENCETherapeutic level II.
An Unforgettable, Perpetual Medical Student, 1961 Lathan, S. Robert
Proceedings - Baylor University. Medical Center,
10/1/2013, 2013-Oct, 2013-10-00, 20131001, Letnik:
26, Številka:
4
Journal Article
Reconstruction of a tracheal defect remains to be one of the biggest challenges in thoracic surgery. We present a case in which we used Gore-Tex and an external wire stent to reconstruct 7 cm of the ...trachea and obtained satisfactory outcomes. Gore-Tex appears to be a biocompatible, stable, and reversible material that can be safely used to reconstruct tracheal defects.
Augmentation rhinoplasty is a relatively common procedure in Korea. Alloplastic materials such as silicone, supramid mesh, Proplast, Mersiline, Medpor, and hydroxyapatite are frequently used for ...dorsal augmentation. Alloplastic implants have advantages, such as ready availability and no donor-site morbidity, but are associated with higher infection and extrusion rates than are autogenous materials. Although polytetrafluoroethylene (Gore-Tex) implants have recently been introduced, such implants are yet to be established as an alternative for nasal augmentation because of a lack of relevant reports.
From March 1998 to March 2007, we operated on 873 nasal dorsum augmentation patients using hard-type Gore-Tex implants. The patients were all of Korean ethnicity. There were 826 female and 47 male patients and aged ranging from 18 to 57 years (mean, 24 y). The Gore-Tex implant thicknesses were 3.1 to 4.9 mm (used in 59% of cases), 2 to 3 mm (8%), or 5 to 6 mm (33%). The Gore-Tex implants were used only for dorsal augmentation, whereas conchal or septal cartilage was used for nasal tip plasty.
Of the total of 873 patients, 257 received long-term follow-up (mean follow-up, 34 mo). Apart from 34 patients with revision, no patient reported dissatisfaction, and there were no reports of problems with nasal contour, implant migration, or resorption of the implant material. The overall complication rate was 3.8%. Of the 257 long-term follow-up patients, 34 (13.5%) required revision. Four of these patients involved minor complications that were managed conservatively, whereas 30 patients required implant removal and revision procedures. These 30 cases included irregularity, infection, deviation, unfavorable dorsum height, and apparent implant silhouette, in addition to obvious supratip deformity. A review of the literature revealed that Gore-Tex implants seemed to have a lower implant removal rate than silicone implants. However, the overall complication rates seemed to be similar when Gore-Tex and silicone implants were used for nasal dorsum augmentation in Asian patients. We found that Gore-Tex implants were effective and safe for use in primary and revision rhinoplasty in Asians. Gore-Tex implants seem to have an overall complication rate similar to that of silicone implants. Thus, Gore-Tex can be considered as an alternative material for dorsal augmentation rhinoplasty but turned out not to have definite advantages over the silicone implants.
The late Gore Vidal occupied a unique position within American letters. Born into a political family, he ran for office several times, but was consistently critical of his nation's political system ...and its leaders. A prolific writer in several genres, Vidal was also widely known - particularly in the US - on the basis of his frequent appearances in the various electronic media. This ground-breaking work examines the centrality of the theme of power throughout his writings. Political Animal: Gore Vidal on Power focuses primarily, although not exclusively, on Vidal's historical fiction. In his novels depicting American history, and those set in the ancient world, Vidal evokes a world in which deliberately propagated falsehood ('disinformation') can become established as truth. The book engages with Vidal's representations of political and religious leaders, and with his deeply ambivalent fascination with the increasingly inescapable influence of the media. It asserts that Vidal's oeuvre has a Shakespearean resonance in its persistent obsession with the question of what constitutes legitimate power and authority. *** "The most significant monograph on Vidal's archive of political and historical writing." -- Donald E. Pease Jnr, Professor of English and Comparative Literature and The Ted and Helen Geisel Third Century Professor in the Humanities, Dartmouth (Series: Investigating Power) Subject: Literary Criticism, Politics, US Studies.
...we see a surge of horror films including The Birds (1963), Jaws (1975), and lesser-known titles such as Night of the Lepus (1972) and Frogs (1972), which portray animals violently attacking ...humans, usually due to hubristic human attempts to control or otherwise interfere with the environment. Cannibalistic appetite itself (often necessary for survival in the harsh conditions of early settlement, notably Jamestown) is related to Manifest Destiny and the ceaseless consumption characteristic of the capitalist system, which has led to the decimation of the environment. The scope of the book is so ambitious that it is difficult to boil down to one core thesis, but if such a unifying argument exists, it is based around the idea, as Murphy states in the introduction, that 'the Rural Gothic is characterised by negative encounters between individuals who have permanently settled in one place, and those who are defined by their mobility and lack of permanent relationship with the environment' (p. 10).
An Inconvenient Truth (AIT) has earned AI Gore an Oscar and a share of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize and has been widely acclaimed by the mass media. However, significant errors exist in the film, owing ...to alarmism and exaggeration. As this forum does not provide for a detailed examination of these errors, this paper will focus only on the portrayal of the hydrologie cycle by AIT-precipitation and floods, soil moisture and droughts, and storminess. AIT argues that precipitation and intense rainfalls, floods, droughts, and the total number, intensity, and duration of tropical cyclones have all increased due exclusively to anthropogenically-driven climate change; indeed, AIT paints a picture of near scientific certainty with an overwhelming bias toward catastrophe scenarios. A closer look at the science, however, reveals that the data do not support these claims and that the scientific community is divided as to what the impact of anthropogenic climate change on the hydrologie cycle will be. Thus, the film gives a false impression of both the current state of climate change and that 'the science is settled'.
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