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This state of the art paper has been developed through EuroPrevall, a European multicentre research project funded by the European Union which aims to improve quality of life for food allergic individuals. Food allergy (whether clinically diagnosed or self-perceived) represents a major health issue in Western societies and may have a considerably greater impact on society than was previously believed. However, the social impact of food allergy has never been systematically investigated using validated instruments. Combining the information from studies on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) with epidemiological data on prevalence will ultimately give some indication of the magnitude of the social impact of food allergy in Europe. HRQoL can be assessed with disease-specific questionnaires, which are being developed in EuroPrevall. These instruments will be used to identify HRQoL problems associated with food allergy, and to assess the effectiveness of interventions and to guide the development of regulatory policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes its cue from recent work in nonhuman geographies that has sought to think about the relationship between the human and nonhuman topologically. While nonhuman geographies have well-developed analyses of the topologies of regions and networks, recent work is supplementing these with other topological understandings. Yet, this work can be taken further. To this end, this paper explores the relationship between the human and nonhuman, through a discussion of animals, affects and psychic space. It offers a topological reading of two of Freud's case studies: Emmy von N. and the Wolfman. The paper highlights the twists and turns of affect and psychic space in these cases. It shows that the difference between the human and the nonhuman can be radically uncertain at the very same time that human distinctiveness is being given certain forms. Using the topological figure of the Möbius strip, this paper shows that, while animals and humans might appear on the same topological surface, distinctions between them are not collapsed or fused or flattened. This has implications for how humans are understood to be entangled in nonhuman worlds; entanglements that, it is argued, are always filtered through the beastly mind. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses research conducted on the relationship between social sciences and ecology. By examining technical papers, much is revealed about the development of common analytical methods as well as the role of humans in applied ecology. Topics evaluated include the ways in which ecologists navigate knowledge as a source of power and bias, as well as how they choose to adopt an empiricist or rationalist logic. Anthropogenic factors that are driving ecological change are discussed, and the subjectivity of environmental management is examined through the lens of Great Britain's Biodiversity Action Plan.

This paper examines the socio-natural relations inherent in the commodification of carbon reductions as they are generated in energy-based carbon offset project activities, and abstracted to wider market systems. The ability to commodify carbon reductions takes place through a socionatural-technical complex that is defined by the material nature of technology's interaction with the atmosphere, local social processes and the evolving governing systems of carbon markets. Carbon is not unproblematically commodified: some projects and technologies allow a more cooperative commodification than others. The examples of a hydroelectricity plant and an improved cookstove project in Honduras are used as empirical case studies to illustrate the difficulties and opportunities associated with the relational aspects of carbon commodification. Drawing upon select literatures from post-structural thought to complement the principal lens of a more structural, materiality of nature analysis, the paper also outlines the reasons why carbon offset reform is needed if offsets are to more progressively engage debates about climate mitigation and North-South development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social psychology and social network research are both centrally concerned with human sociality. Despite some historically significant interactions between the two, these areas of investigation have not been usefully deployed together in recent research endeavours. The present paper attempts to bring out some points of both theoretical and methodological contentions, to characterize the gap between them, to traverse briefly the trajectories of their historical development, and to provide some concrete instances of these differences. Intellectual resources available to Asian social psychology are reviewed, which may help bridge the gap between the two areas of research. We conclude by calling for a greater integration of social psychology and social network perspectives in future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For all its vitality political ecology often appears to be a project in which work by Anglo-Americans in particular, if it is not privileged, certainly predominates. This trend reflects wider language and intellectual tendencies in human geography and the social sciences that distort the development of the field by downplaying or obscuring the contributions of many non-Anglo-Americans and by naturalizing Anglo-American assumptions at the heart of research. The latter in turn determine what constitutes 'good' work - even as there is no single definition of political ecology. Arguing against this tendency, this paper draws on postcolonial thinking to emphasize the need to reassess and reorient the field as 'other' political ecologies are feasible and desirable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Aim The aim of the study was to develop an ecologically valid synthesis of the evidence underpinning interventions for children with speech, language, and communication needs ( SLCN), integrating a range of different data sources. Method Three sources of information were integrated: the Cochrane Review of interventions for children with primary speech and language delays/disorder; current practice from an online survey of 534 speech and language therapists and other professionals working with children with SLCN; and parent reports of preferred outcomes. Evidence was ranked as strong, moderate, or indicative. Results Of the 58 interventions identified, three (5%) were found to have a strong level of evidence, 32 (56%) had moderate evidence, and 23 (39%) had indicative evidence. Five were universal interventions, the remainder targeted and universal. The integrated findings were then turned into an online interactive database, which is moderated and updated at regular intervals. Interpretation There are a number of interventions that have a moderate or strong level of evidence underpinning them but they tend not to be those used by practitioners who often favour well-established familiar programmes even if they have only indicative evidence. There is a degree of complementarity between professional and parent views about outcomes, albeit with different emphases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the extant literature on marriage and migration with reference to the South Asian populations in Britain (Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi). It will focus specifically on debates surrounding the practice of arranged marriages, their purpose, value and status in Britain. It will identify a gap in the literature when it comes to theorising and revealing the contemporary lived experience of arranged marriage among South Asians in Britain through lenses other than that of forced marriage. The article will begin by discussing the different ways in which arranged marriages have been defined. Central to this discussion will be an examination of how arranged marriages, as they are practised by the South Asian diaspora, are viewed as opposed to western notions of marriage. It will make a case for a renewed understanding of the institution of arranged marriage, one which gives due recognition to the affective register of such practices. It will conclude by calling for human geography research to attend to how contemporary British South Asians 'do' an arranged marriage, in order to see the ways in which this practice has been translated and reworked to suit individual aspiration and new (trans)national contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study proposes a model of using the Multicultural Family Support Centers and adjustment among foreign brides and their interethnicand interracial families in South Korea based on the narratives of 10 foreign brides married to Korean men and 11 service providers who directly interact with these women and their families. The results illustrate how programs offered through Multicultural Family Support Centers serve as a bridge for these families to pass through mistrust and conflict to reach a point of intimacy and unity as a family. Recommendations for the Multicultural Family Support Centers are made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. With its focus on civic engagement, market-based tools, and public-private partnerships, the model of civic environmentalism has been successful in dealing with small, localized problems. Yet, a serious investigation of its use to deal with large-scale, complex problems has not been undertaken. This article expands on the original model and applies it to the problem of the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. Methods. An exploratory case-study framework is used to analyze the usefulness of this second-generation model of environmental policy. Archival data sources, in the form of media reports, congressional hearings, case histories, and organizational websites, were used to develop the case study. Results. The case study demonstrated that polycentric governance, local-level participation, civic leadership, and voluntary, incentive-based programs were integral components of the model of civic environmentalism. However, in the case of the Gulf of Mexico's dead zone, the model's success is limited by spatial, budgetary, and temporal factors, as well as a lack of issue salience and minimal negative impacts on fishery resources. Conclusions. In the end analysis, civic environmentalism faces significant barriers when applied to large-scale, complex environmental problems such as the Gulf of Mexico's dead zone. In this case, the Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Task Force will continue to have difficulties in generating a more successful implementation plan unless it broadens its base of support, develops the social capacity of its stakeholders, and resolves the debate over the science behind its action plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focusing on human biogeography as a research endeavour may make sense to biogeographers, but in the academic world generally this particular scholarly niche has long been filled by other rival disciplines such as sociology, human ecology, geography, anthropology and archaeology. It may be true that having so many ways of looking at ourselves as a species is a good thing, but it can also be argued that this academic fragmentation of effort has often nurtured the commonplace view that we as a species are ‘above’ or ‘not part of’ what plain folks call the ‘natural world’. Here I review the historical and basic intellectual ingredients of what might be (but often isn't) called human biogeography. I offer a case study drawn from my research work on the Sepik coast of Papua New Guinea. This research illustrates how adopting an explicitly biogeographical approach to human diversity can lead to unexpected insights into the character and history of human settlement in this part of the world. One benefit of having a field with this explicit orientation might be that the conservation of biodiversity would make more sense to more people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kopp M, Holzner B, Meraner V, Sperner-Unterweger B, Kemmler G, Nguyen-Van-Tam DP, Nachbaur D. Quality of life in adult hematopoietic cell transplant patients at least 5 yr after treatment: a comparison with healthy controls.Eur J Haematol 2005: 74: 304–308.© Blackwell Munksgaard 2005.Background and objective: As long-term survivors of hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) become more numerous, studies addressing the issue of long-term follow-up are necessary. In this study, we report on the quality of life (QOL) of HCT-patients, who were alive at least at 5 yr after transplantation in comparison to an age- and sex-matched sample of healthy controls assessed in the same time-period and the same geographical region.Design and methods: The European Group of Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC)-QOL Questionnaire (EORTC-QLQ C30) was sent by post to 39 HCT-survivors. Thirty-four patients answered the questionnaire. Patients were compared with 68 healthy controls from the same geographical region. Patients and controls completed the EORTC in the same time period.Results: Mann–WhitneyU-tests identified significantly lower QOL on the dimensions of physical and social functioning and on the financial impact symptom scale.Conclusions: Patients who had survived their HCT for more than 5 yr did generally well in terms of global QOL. This is consistent with Kisset al.(J Clin Oncol2002;20:2334–2343), who found that chronic myeloid leukemia patients who were alive at least 10 yr after HCT report lower physical functioning in comparison to healthy controls. Problems in the areas of social functioning and financial difficulty can possibly be addressed by intensive rehabilitation processes integrating patients, family members and significant others. Interdisciplinary (medical, psychological and social) treatment of patients should not come to an end after the acute phase of the illness but should continue during check-ups following transplantation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information on quality of life in inflammatory bowel disease is limited. Despite the clear importance of this topic to patients, quality of life measurement is seldom undertaken in day-to-day management of patients or included in clinical trials. Although previous reviews have dealt with quality of life, the area of psychosocial functioning has not been specifically addressed.The aim of this study was to review the psychosocial factors affecting quality of life in patients with inflammatory bowel disease, using an electronic search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL and psycINFO. Of the 751 articles identified by the search, 107 were considered relevant and included in the review.A number of psychosocial factors appear to be important, including gender, socioeconomic status, ethnicity and perceived stress. To improve the quality of life in patients with inflammatory bowel disease, clinicians’ attention needs to be drawn towards this subject, with an awareness of those patient groups more vulnerable to impaired quality of life. These identified variables also represent important factors, which should be adjusted for when conducting research into quality of life in these patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An editorial is presented which addresses the authors' views about the potential expansion of access to medicinal cannabis (medical marijuana) as a means of reducing opioid overdose deaths in the U.S. and Canada. According to the article, ecological studies do not show that medical cannabis use directly reduces opioid use. Increased access to methadone- and buprenorphine-assisted treatments for opioid dependence is assessed.