Objective 

To investigate the growth of interest, if any, in complementary or alternative

medicine by the professional scientific community from the number of MEDLINE-listed and
clinical trial–type articles for January 1, 1966, through December 31, 1996.

Methods  Systematic literature searches of the MEDLINE database, using the expanded
terms "alternative medicine," "traditional medicine," "acupuncture," "homeopathy," and
"chiropractic," were conducted in January 1998 to evaluate the number of all articles. The
number of clinical trial–type articles on the above was obtained by conducting searches for
those indexed as 1 or more of the following publication types: clinical trial; clinical trial
phase 1, 2, 3, or 4; controlled clinical trial; meta-analysis; randomized controlled trial; and
limited to "human" trials only.

Results  Articles indexed as alternative medicine formed a small proportion (0.4%) of the
total number of MEDLINE-listed articles throughout the period studied. From 1966 through
1996, the total number of articles listed in MEDLINE rose significantly to a peak of 400,000
additions per annum in 1996 (r=0.97; P<.001). By contrast, the number of articles indexed
under alternative medicine rose progressively only from 1972 through 1986 and since then
has been relatively stable at around 1500 additions per annum. For this period, the
proportion of clinical trial–type alternative medicine articles was low (mean, 2.1% per
annum) but increased significantly from 1987 through 1996, reaching around 10% of the
total in 1996 (r=0.79; P<.001). Patterns of growth in the number of publications for
individual therapies have varied during the period studied, and clinical trial–type articles
form only a small part of any increase.

Conclusions  Interest in and awareness of complementary medicine among orthodox health

care professionals has increased in the past 30 years. The increase in the number and
proportion of reports of clinical trials indicates an increasing level of original research activity
in complementary medicine and suggests a trend toward an evidence-based approach in this
discipline. The cumulative number of clinical trial–type articles is small, however, and more
high-quality original research in complementary medicine is required.

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–

In the process of studying religions, we often overlook the secular aspects of religious
organizations. This paper examines the basic flows of money in different spiritual organizations,
and attempts to correlate the types of income with the structure of the priestly hierarchy. This
analysis is by no means comprehensive. In the end, more questions are raised than are
answered.–––\

abstract

This paper attempts to describe the religious and civil religious discourse used by
presidents during their inaugural addresses and State of the Union speeches, overlooked
in the literature. This deductive, plausibility probe categorizes different words into
different categories. It begins by offering definitions of religion and civil religion,
separating interested words into either religious or civil religious categories, and then
further attempts to subcategorize relevant words into groups that may explain a possible
usage for their choice in the speech. From these subcategories, possible hypotheses were
 developed for future research. From the study, results show that religious and civil
religious discourse is used for several purposes (ties to history, links to a common
heritage, creating a common belief, policy objectives). This paper also presents
limitations with the study and directions for future research into political discourse
regarding religious and civil religious usage.

Abstract: Muslims have lived in America for centuries and their numbers are increasing like
those of any other ethnic or religious group living in America. There is a growing awareness
among mental health professionals of how to deal with mental health issues of the American
minorities but little, if any, research is available on American Muslims. American living presents
unique challenges to the Muslims who stick to their Islamic faith. The nature of Islamic faith and
the concept of mental health in Islam are presented in this paper as well as the stressors that lead
to mental health problems among the American Muslims. The article also covers the response of
American Muslim communities to such challenges and the prescriptions given in Islam for
positive mental health. Recommendations are outlined in the hope of initiating relevant research
that would address the psychological needs of this largely neglected American Muslim minority.
- kluweronline.com/issn/0022-4197

South African Journal of Philosophy > Vol 19, No 3 (2000) > Louw
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Oor die moontlikheid van interreligieuse kommunikasie. (On the possibility of

interreligious communication).

Dirk J. Louw

Abstract

Do adherents of different religious traditions communicate and, if so, how? What enables them
to do so? What is interreligious “communication”? These issues are ad dressed with reference to
Wilfred Cantwell Smith's hermeneutical
rule (echoed by Raimundo Panikkar), and to inter alia Paul Knitter, Martin Heidegger, Hans-
Georg Gadamer, David Tracy, and John Dunne. Four responses to the question as to what (if any
thing) permits interreligious communication are criticised. According to a fifth response, on
which the author elaborates, interreligious communication is not – as the objectivist claims –
possible because members of different religious traditions speak the very same (univocal)
language, or – as the relativist claims – impossible because they speak radically different
(equivocal) languages. Adherents of different religions communicate, if at all, by means of an
analogical language. This language is the product of persistent efforts to understand the
religion/faith of the other as he or she understands it. Paradoxically, the language that permits
inter religious communication is thus the product of such communication. Without thereby
reverting to objectivism or an essentialist view of religion, the author identifies five “less
unstable” similarities between religions. These and other “less un stable” similarities might assist
believers in their efforts to under stand the religious othe

ackground:

Increased intake of sugar-sweetened beverages and fruit juice has been associated with
overweight in children.

Objective:

This study prospectively assessed beverage consumption patterns and their relationship with
weight status in a cohort of children born at different risk for obesity.

Methods and Procedures:

Participants were children born at low risk (n = 27) or high risk (n = 22) for obesity based on
maternal prepregnancy BMI (kg/m2). Daily beverage consumption was generated from 3-day
food records from children aged 3–6 years and coded into seven beverage categories (milk, fruit
juice, fruit drinks, caloric and noncaloric soda, soft drinks including and excluding fruit juice).
Child anthropometric measures were assessed yearly.

Results:

High-risk children consumed a greater percentage of daily calories from beverages at age 3,
more fruit juice at ages 3 and 4, more soft drinks (including fruit juice) at ages 3–5, and more
soda at age 6 compared to low-risk children. Longitudinal analyses showed that a greater 3-year
increase in soda intake was associated with an increased change in waist circumference, whereas
a greater increase in milk intake was associated with a reduced change in waist circumference.
There was no significant association between change in intake from any of the beverage
categories and change in BMI z-score across analyses.

Discussion:
 

Children's familial predisposition to obesity may differentially affect their beverage consumption
patterns. Future research should examine the extent to which dietary factors may play a role in
pediatric body fat deposition over time.

Abstract

The “tradability revolution” in services has led to a dramatic expansion of offshore outsourcing
of services, allowing firms to take advantage of lower production costs in foreign countries.
However, production costs alone cannot explain the location determinants of offshore
outsourcing of services. In this paper, we argue that minimizing transaction costs is also an
important determinant of the location of offshore outsourcing of services. We empirically
analyze characteristics of services and characteristics of foreign countries that may impact on
transaction costs in an outsourcing relationship and hence determine where services will be
outsourced offshore. We derive measures of service characteristics – routineness, complexity and
interactiveness – based on the tasks required to provide them. Further, we posit that there are
interaction effects between service and country characteristics. Using Bureau of Economic
Analysis data on US service outsourcing across 11 types of services to 31 countries between
1992 and 2005, we find that: (1) services that are more routine, less complex or less interactive
are outsourced more to foreign countries; (2) services are outsourced more to countries with
higher institutional quality and greater cultural proximity; (3) non-routine, complex and
interactive services are outsourced relatively more to countries with a better institutional quality.

Abstract (provisional)

Background

Surprisal analysis is a thermodynamic-like molecular level approach that identifies biological

constraints that prevents the entropy from reaching its maximum. To examine the significance of
altered gene expression levels in tumorigenesis we apply surprisal analysis to the WI-38 model
through its precancerous states. The constraints identified by the analysis are transcription
patterns underlying the process of transformation. Each pattern highlights the role of a group of
genes that act coherently to define a transformed phenotype.

Results

We identify a major transcription pattern that represents a contraction of signaling networks

accompanied by induction of cellular proliferation and protein metabolism, which is essential for
full transformation. In addition, a more minor, "tumor signature" transcription pattern completes
the transformation process. The variation with time of the importance of each transcription
pattern is determined. Midway through the transformation, at the stage when cells switch from
slow to fast growth rate, the major transcription pattern undergoes a total inversion of its weight
while the more minor pattern does not contribute before that stage.

Conclusions

A similar network reorganization occurs in two very different cellular transformation models:
WI-38 and the cervical cancer HF1 models. Our results suggest that despite differences in a list
of transcripts expressed in different cancer models the rationale of the network reorganization
remains essentially the same.

Abstract

Background

The incorporation of genomic coefficients into the numerator relationship matrix allows
estimation of breeding values using all phenotypic, pedigree and genomic information
simultaneously. In such a single-step procedure, genomic and pedigree-based relationships have
to be compatible. As there are many options to create genomic relationships, there is a question
of which is optimal and what the effects of deviations from optimality are.

Methods

Data of litter size (total number born per litter) for 338,346 sows were analyzed. Illumina
PorcineSNP60 BeadChip genotypes were available for 1,989. Analyses were carried out with the
complete data set and with a subset of genotyped animals and three generations pedigree (5,090
animals). A single-trait animal model was used to estimate variance components and breeding
values. Genomic relationship matrices were constructed using allele frequencies equal to 0.5
(G05), equal to the average minor allele frequency (GMF), or equal to observed frequencies
(GOF). A genomic matrix considering random ascertainment of allele frequencies was also used
(GOF*). A normalized matrix (GN) was obtained to have average diagonal coefficients equal to
1. The genomic matrices were combined with the numerator relationship matrix creating H
matrices.

Results

In G05 and GMF, both diagonal and off-diagonal elements were on average greater than the
pedigree-based coefficients. In GOF and GOF*, the average diagonal elements were smaller
than pedigree-based coefficients. The mean of off-diagonal coefficients was zero in GOF and
GOF*. Choices of G with average diagonal coefficients different from 1 led to greater estimates
of additive variance in the smaller data set. The correlation between EBV and genomic EBV (n =
1,989) were: 0.79 using G05, 0.79 using GMF, 0.78 using GOF, 0.79 using GOF*, and 0.78
using GN. Accuracies calculated by inversion increased with all genomic matrices. The
accuracies of genomic-assisted EBV were inflated in all cases except when GN was used.

Conclusions
Parameter estimates may be biased if the genomic relationship coefficients are in a different
scale than pedigree-based coefficients. A reasonable scaling may be obtained by using observed
allele frequencies and re-scaling the genomic relationship matrix to obtain average diagonal
elements of 1.