The blood feud in Waziristan

Water puppetry has become an iconic representation of Vietnam, and Hanoi's Th?ng Long Water Puppet Theatre is flourishing as part of the international tourist package. This article documents the radical modification in this theatre's performance themes in 2013 – from traditional to explicitly ethnicised – and subsequent reversion the following year. In exploring the possible role of state propaganda in these changes, and the government's mechanisms of influence over water puppetry, the politics of representation within Vietnam's art and performance sector are exposed.     

Corporate power in Australian policy making: The case of unfair contract laws

There is increasing concern about the impact of corporate power on Australian policy making. This article examines the dynamics of corporate influence by examining the battle between big business and small business over “unfair contract” laws. It explores whether big business exerted disproportionate power, and if it did whether it was structural, ideational, or instrumental power. It finds that while recent scholarship has been focused on structural and ideational sources of power, there is strong evidence of a narrowly conceived instrumental power exerting considerable influence within both of the major parties. Further, it concludes this form of instrumental power presents the most serious threat to democratic policy making.     

Stewardship and health systems strengthening: An overview

The World Health Organization (WHO) introduced the concept of stewardship to clarify the practical components of governance in the health sector. For the WHO, stewardship concentrated on how government actors take responsibility for the health system and the wellbeing of the population, fulfill health system functions, assure equity, and coordinate interaction with government and society. This article overviews the contents of this special issue, which offers examples of how health stewards in a variety of countries have addressed issues of health security, primary care expansion, family planning, and quality of care. The contributors' articles draw lessons for policy, programs, and management useful for practitioners and scholars. Our overview identifies several themes emerging from the articles: the foundational role of legal frameworks for effective stewardship, the importance of institutional arrangements as enablers, the influence of regional and global entities on national stewardship, the connection between credible decision‐making structures and stewardship, and pathways to sustainable financing and domestic resource mobilization. The discussion concludes with highlighting several gaps in knowledge and practice related to health stewardship.     

Cone‐beam Computed Tomography for Analyzing Variations in Inferior Alveolar Canal Location in Adults in Relation to Age and Sex*

Abstract: Previous studies have indicated that the relative position of the inferior alveolar canal and its mental and mandibular foramina in adults vary with age and show sexual dimorphism. Conceivably, these purported differences could be of forensic value for determining identity of human remains. This study was designed to determine the influence of age and sex on the relative position of inferior alveolar canal and its foramina in cone‐beam computed tomography (CBCT) studies of adults. Existing CBCT studies of the maxillofacial region from dentate adult patients selected at random and ranging in age from 18 to 80 years (110 women and 55 men) were acquired, and the location of the inferior alveolar canal was assessed at three points: the mandibular foramen in axial view, the inferior alveolar canal in coronal view, and the mental foramen in coronal view. Measurements were also expressed for the mental foramen as the percentile position from the nearest superior bony crest to the inferior border; corresponding position of the mandibular foramen from the anterior to the posterior border of the mandibular ramus; and for the inferior alveolar canal at the level of first permanent molar from the nearest buccal bony surface to the lingual surface and from the superior alveolar crest to the inferior border. Regression analyses were performed on the variables with regard to the effects of age and sex. Most analyses resulted in no statistical significance (p < 0.05). A few of the sex‐specific traits demonstrated near‐statistically significant effects; however, these characterizations generally resulted in a 1% or less change per age decade. Overall, the results demonstrated that the relative location of the inferior alveolar canal and associated foramina in adults remain fairly constant without regard to age and sex.     

Pubertal Development Moderates the Importance of Environmental Influences on Depressive Symptoms in Adolescent Girls and Boys

Prevalence differences in depressive symptoms between the sexes typically emerge in adolescence, with symptoms more prevalent among girls. Some evidence suggests that variation in onset and progression of puberty might contribute to these differences. This study used a genetically informative, longitudinal (assessed at ages 12, 14, and 17) sample of Finnish adolescent twins (N = 1214, 51.6% female) to test whether etiological influences on depressive symptoms differ as a function of pubertal status. These tests were conducted separately by sex, and explored longitudinal relationships. Results indicated that pubertal development moderates environmental influences on depressive symptoms. These factors are more important on age 14 depressive symptoms among more developed girls relative to their less developed peers, but decrease in influence on age 17 depressive symptoms. The same effects are observed in boys, but are delayed, paralleling the delay in pubertal development in boys compared to girls. Thus, the importance of environmental influences on depressive symptoms during adolescence changes as a function of pubertal development, and the timing of this effect differs across the sexes.