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Marxism and Christianity have both been important in the development of movements for social change world wide. Marxist theory started to appear in US sociology from the 1960s. Marxist theory had more impact through the 'Communist manifesto' than through academic sociology. This changed with the efforts of graduate students in the 1960s, and they have left a legacy that has strengthened Marxist theory in the US. There is a need to adapt theory to tackle issues raised by globalization, but Marxism is relevant while capitalism exists.

New insights into the explosion mechanisms of massive stars and the origins of certain gamma-ray bursts are provided with the discovery of the unusual supernova SN1998bw. SN1988bw is thought to be a type Ic supernova although it has high peak luminosity. Its optical spectra and light curve is well reproduced by an energetic explosion of a large star consisting mainly of carbon and oxygen. Such a supernova may be termed hypernova.

Background: Patients treated with total knee arthroplasty are at high risk for the development of venous thromboembolism postoperatively. This study compared the efficacy and safety of two common thromboprophylactic agents, enoxaparin (a low-molecular-weight heparin) and warfarin. Methods: Three hundred and forty-nine patients were included in a prospective, randomized, multicenter, open-label, parallel-group clinical trial. Treatment with enoxaparin (30 mg, administered subcutaneously twice daily) or warfarin (adjusted to an international normalized ratio of 2 to 3) was initiated during the immediate postoperative period, within eight hours after the surgery, and was continued for four to fourteen days. Venous thromboembolism was defined as deep-vein thrombosis documented by contrast venography, symptomatic deep-vein thrombosis documented by lower-extremity ultrasonography, or symptomatic pulmonary embolism confirmed by a positive lung scan or pulmonary angiography. Results: In the all-treated-patients group, eighty (45%) of the 176 warfarin-treated patients had venous thromboembolism: fifty-nine (34%) had distal deep-vein thrombosis; twenty (11%), proximal deep-vein thrombosis; and one (0.6%), pulmonary embolism. Venous thromboembolism developed in significantly fewer (p = 0.0001) enoxaparin-treated patients (forty-four of 173; 25%): forty-one (24%) had distal deep-vein thrombosis, three (2%) had proximal deep-vein thrombosis, and none had pulmonary embolism. The enoxaparin-treated patients also had a significantly lower prevalence of proximal deep-vein thrombosis (p = 0.002). The estimated odds for the development of venous thromboembolism were 2.52 times greater (95% confidence interval, 2.00 to 3.19) with warfarin than they were with enoxaparin. Major hemorrhage occurred in four warfarin-treated patients and nine enoxaparin-treated patients; with the numbers available, this difference was not significant (p = 0.17). Clinically important operative-site... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper comments on the exchange between Donald McQuarie and Mark Wardell in "The Sociological Quarterly" over the role of conceptual frameworks or paradigms in the development of theory in sociology and the social sciences. It offers some friendly criticism of these two comments and suggests that some of the less well known assumptions of Karl Marx concerning the nature of theory, history and human labor may help reunite McQuarie and Wardell. Marx was concerned with the problem of human alienation. For him, history was not that which was written in textbooks, rather, what people do when they seize the moment, make revolution and gain control over their own social institutions.

One learns much from a reading of J. Mark Thomas' article on political correctness published in the 1993 issue of the journal "The Wisconsin Sociologist," on the historical context in which he inserts the "uncivil squabble" taking place in academic as well as in public discourse. It is a wise and erudite overview of the collision between quite different knowledge processes. Thomas treats the ongoing ferment in academia and in some parts of the public sphere as "uncivil." There is, if read it right, a certain distaste for such behavior. Such disputation is seen as essential and largely necessary to the knowledge process and thence to the human project. The knowledge process benefits greatly from civility since civility means, as Alvin Gouldner put it, a sacrifice of passion in recipe for life, love and knowledge processes. It counts mightily who prevails and who is vanquished. The idea of a "civil religion" which Thomas sets is a curious idea. All religions are "uncivil" in that they call for interactionally rich community. mutual aid, decent behavior, and respect for both past and future generations.