Our study reports, describes, and quantifies some preventive laybehaviors during an international public health crisis. Thosereactions have implications in terms of public health policybecause they consist of uncontrolled use of drugs outside of theiroriginal purpose. Consequently we advocate the use of real timedrug sales monitoring for instantaneous evaluation of populationbehavior during a global public health crisis
What is the difference between the conclusion and the discussion?
itis crucial for public health decision makers to understand how andwhen populations resort to self-medication in order to design moreefficient public health campaigns in times of public health crisis.
Yes!
Combined with misinformation and distrust forofficial recommendations, it may lead, in time of public healthcrisis, to dramatic consequence
While I completely agree, you can't say it's without reason...
ur approach has some limitations: (i) Pharmacy sales are onlya proxy for self-medication since we cannot quantify practices suchas traditional medicines, internet drug sales, etc... (ii) The act ofpurchasing a drug does not imply that it has been consumed. It ispossible that purchased drugs have been stockpiled in order to beavailable in case of a real threat. The strict regulation surrounding
Limitations and things to consider that may skew the data
esultsraise questions about behaviors that could be adopted in thecontext of a public health crisis
This all feels too applicable to our current situation...
thyroid dysfunction
My mom has this :(
The two main peaks of nutritionalcomplement and homeopathic remedies sales occurred on the18thand 24thof March, respectively, when a large-scaleradioactive discharge was confirmed and just prior to the arrivalof the radioactive cloud over France. The sequence of events,causing increasing concern, could explain the trend of purchase ofdifferent categories of products, which could be perceived ofincremental efficiency: first iodine-based nutritional complements,then iodine-based homeopathic remedies, and finally KI pills
How they explained the data
The Fukushima crisis was a good model to study the public’sreaction to a major public health crisis. Whether the risk was realor not, we show that a part of the population chose to ignoreofficial recommendations, seeking protection with what theyperceived as preventive drugs.
How they interpreted their results
timing of the purchases, we computed cross-correlations between the different sales time-series displaying anincrease between February and April 2011 (all categories exceptiodine-based antiseptics). The cross-correlograms (Fig. 3) showthat nutritional complements were purchased first, then homeo-pathic remedies sales peaked one day later, followed two days laterby a peak of KI pills sales. No regional patterns were evidenced in
More on how they attained the results that they did
Comparisons between sales in 2010 and2011 are given in Table 1. In particular, we notice a 144%increase of iodine-based nutritional complement sales in March2011, but the largest sales increase concerns iodine-basedhomeopathic remedies, with a threefold increase compared toMarch 2010.
What they found (cont.)
ntiseptics (prescribed or not) do not cross the threshold in2011, while iodine-based homeopathic remedies cross it during 22days for all sales and 7 days for prescribed sales. Lastly, nutritionalcomplements cross it during 19 days for all type of sales. Prescribednutritional complements also slightly cross the threshold in 2011but a few days prior to the Fukushima crisis. Sales of KI pills werealmost nil outside of the Fukushima period making the CUSUMcomputation irrelevant
What they found
negative binomial
fancy
CUSUM algorithm
Oh, it's an algorithm.
a stratification to improve representa-tiveness is performed on sales revenue (6 levels for global revenueand 4 levels per type of sales: prescribed drugs, OTC, and othertype of sales), localization (5 geographic areas) and sales area (5types, from rural to densely urban). Each stratum has a minimumof 30 pharmacies or is merged with neighboring strata. Samplingrates per strata are computed with the Neyman optimal allocationalgorithm [11]. Extrapolations from the sample have beenvalidated with data from drug manufacturers who distribute theirproducts directly (and only) to pharmacies.
Flashbacks to statistics class; oh no! This is way over my head. I haven't taken any math in three years.
Our study focuses on sales of the previously described drugs, ontheir timing, and on correlations with the timing of events thatmay have impacted those sales. Implications in terms of publichealth campaigns are discussed.Materials and MethodsWe studied the changes in pharmaceutical sales of iodine-baseddrugs in France through a stratified random sample of 3004pharmaci
How they conducted the study: stratified random sample. Is this what CUSUM means??
Conclusion
THIS ARTICLE IS SO SHORT. Literary journals average between 20-30 pages in length!
Chernobyl
I am very familiar with this (I know everyone is, but I've always found it fascinating).
Our study focuses on sales of the previously described drugs, ontheir timing, and on correlations with the timing of events thatmay have impacted those sales. Implications in terms of publichealth campaigns are discussed.
This is what they are studying
but on a very small scale
If it's on such a small scale, how can they be sure this is relevant to the purpose of their study?
CUSUM
What method is this???
we studied the sales of iodine-based products in France before, during and after the crisis
How they did it
, to examine the effects of public health crisis on lay behaviors leading topharmaceuticals purchase
Rationale
lay
What does "lay" mean? According to Google: an individual without training, the common person
whoso
whomever (passive verb tenses emphasizes the sleepy nature of the lotus-eaters and the men who will want to join them).
pilot-stars
Stars were used by mariners as navigation tools. The crew's eyes growing dim from "gazing on the pilot-stars" expresses their exhaustion from travelling at sea. This also suggests a loss of religious faith: the men are weary of looking towards the heavens for guidance.
The mild-eyed melancholy Lotos-eaters came.
Supporting the theory that the Lotos Eaters represent substance abuse, Stevenson writes in her article "The Shade of Homer Exorcises the Ghost of De Quincey: Tennyson's 'The Lotos-Eaters'" that "About four years before Alfred Tennyson began his version of the lotos-eaters, his father, George Clayton Tennyson, began taking opium... to relieve an 'oppression of the chest.'" She goes on to explain that "during the nineteenth century, opium was thought to alleviate the symptoms of a variety of diseases, including epilepsy--an ailment which may have troubled three generations of the Tennyson family." Stevenson, Catherine B. "The Shade of Homer Exorcises the Ghost of De Quincey: Tennyson's 'The Lotos-Eaters.'" Browning Institute Studies, vol 10, 1982, pp. 119-120. JSTOR, https://www-jstor-org.pitt.idm.oclc.org/stable/25057724?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=alfred&searchText=lord&searchText=tennyson&searchText=lotus&searchText=eaters&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dalfred%2Blord%2Btennyson%2Blotus%2Beaters&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_expensive%2Fcontrol&refreqid=search%3Ad4e2c53c37be1367c426b80672cb70ca&seq=4#metadata_info_tab_contents.
Breathing like one that hath a weary dream.Full-faced above the valley stood the moon;And like a downward smoke, the slender streamAlong the cliff to fall and pause and fall did seem.A land of streams! some, like a downward smoke,Slow-dropping veils of thinnest lawn, did go;And some thro' wavering lights and shadows broke,Rolling a slumbrous sheet of foam below.They saw the gleaming river seaward flowFrom the inner land: far off, three mountain-tops,Three silent pinnacles of aged snow,Stood sunset-flush'd: and, dew'd with showery drops,Up-clomb the shadowy pine above the woven copse.
Tennyson's gorgeously crafted landscapes reveal strong connections to states of mind. Rosenberg writes that "[a]mong Tennyson's finest achievements are his mythical landscapes that symbolize states of human consciousness. The dreamlike quality of his vision, combined with his ability to see at close range 'with perpetual clarity and detail' rendered his dreams more vivid than our realities." Rosenberg, John D. "Tennyson and the Landscape of Consciousness." Victorian Poetry, vol 12, 1974, pp. 303. JSTOR, https://www-jstor-org.pitt.idm.oclc.org/stable/40001695?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=alfred&searchText=lord&searchText=tennyson&searchText=lotos&searchText=eaters&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dalfred%2Blord%2Btennyson%2Blotos%2Beaters%26amp%3Bacc%3Don%26amp%3Bwc%3Don%26amp%3Bfc%3Doff%26amp%3Bgroup%3Dnone&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_expensive%2Fcontrol&refreqid=search%3A6ddcadbcaf42df6632128bf5b221696c&seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents.
2
This stanza contains an obvious connection between sleep and death. The sailors long for rest, and they are too weary to cross the sea, which is a common symbol for the passage to the afterlife. Tennyson also struggled with suicidal thoughts (see Tennyson's "The Two Voices," which contains a philosophical debate between a man and his suicidal thoughts, highlighting conventional arguments both for and against suicide). https://americanliterature.com/author/alfred-lord-tennyson/poem/the-two-voices
keel
Found underneath the boat, providing the ship with balance and stability.
"THE LOTOS EATERS"
Resources for further reading:
Hypothes.is
They
Odysseus's crew members. NB: note the shift in speakers. The poem opens with Odysseus speaking, who is the leader of these men. One of Odysseus's crew speaks out in defiance of his captain, saying "We will return no more." The rest of his crew agree (this differs slightly from Homer's Odyssey, which describes that only some of the crew members ate of the lotus flower) and they all sing in unison. The crew members are the speakers of the entire Chorus Song, which constitutes the rest of the poem. Odysseus, the hero himself, hardly gets two lines of dialogue while his inferiors speak throughout the text.
8
"The Lotos-Eaters" was originally published in 1833, but this text is the extensively revised 1842 version. Unfortunately, I am struggling to find the original text so I can conduct a proper comparison. I can say, definitively, that this final stanza was added to the 1842 version, as it did not exist in the 1833 edition of the poem. This was likely added after the death of his beloved friend, Arthur Hallam, whose passing significantly impacted the tone and content of Tennyson's works. An anthology and biography of the life and works of Alfred Lord Tennyson described Hallam's sudden death in 1833 as a "devastating bereavement" that served as "the inspiration for what is perhaps Tennyson's greatest poem In Memoriam, published in 1850 and leading to [his] laureateship" (Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson. The Works of Alfred Lord Tennyson: with an Introduction and Bibliography. Wordsworth, 1994.)
swoon
faint; to faint due to the swelling of emotion
he
Odysseus
They
Odysseus's crew members. NB: note the shift in speakers. The poem opens with Odysseus speaking, who is the leader of these men. One of Odysseus's crew speaks out in defiance of his captain, saying "We will return no more." The rest of his crew agree (this differs slightly from Homer's Odyssey, which describes that only some of the crew members ate of the lotus flower) and they all sing in unison. The crew members are the speakers of the entire Chorus Song, which constitutes the rest of the poem. Odysseus, the hero himself, hardly gets two lines of dialogue while his inferiors speak throughout the text.
he
Odysseus
8
"The Lotos-Eaters" was originally published in 1833, but this text is the extensively revised 1842 version. Unfortunately, I am struggling to find the original text so I can conduct a proper comparison. I can say, definitively, that this final stanza was added to the 1842 version, as it did not exist in the 1833 edition of the poem. This was likely added after the death of his beloved friend, Arthur Hallam, whose passing significantly impacted the tone and content of Tennyson's works. An anthology and biography of the life and works of Alfred Lord Tennyson described Hallam's sudden death in 1833 as a "devastating bereavement" that served as "the inspiration for what is perhaps Tennyson's greatest poem In Memoriam, published in 1850 and leading to [his] laureateship" (Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson. The Works of Alfred Lord Tennyson: with an Introduction and Bibliography. Wordsworth, 1994.)
asphodel
a type of slender plant with flowers protruding from a single stalk.
Elysian
ethereal; divine
smile in secret, looking over wasted lands,
The Greek gods were not always benevolent. They were very flawed and acted almost human, displaying very petty behavior. The gods often looked to humans for entertainment. The suggestion that the gods delight in the suffering of mankind paints a sinister and sadistic portrait of the divine.
bolts are hurl'd
Referring to Zeus, the Greek god of lightning. Zeus was also the most important of all the Greek gods and goddesses.
motion
travel
acanthus-wreath
acanthus leaves are commonly used as decoration, especially in Roman architecture.
heaven dark and holy
referring to the night sky; "heaven" carries an obvious religious connotation, yet it is described as "dark and holy," almost as if it has abandoned Odysseus and his crew. It paints God as a distant, ominous figure.
still
always
dropt
dropped; droopy eyelids
moly
an herb believed to have magical properties; in book 10 of Homer's Odyssey, Odysseus uses moly to escape the seductress Circe.
amaranth
a type of grain
Trouble on trouble, pain on pain,Long labour unto aged breath,
The repetition of "trouble" and "pain" connects with the use of the word "breath" in the following line; the words pile up as they are breathed out. See Tennyson's poem "Ulysses," which describes Odysseus's life as an old man after returning to Ithaca. The repetition here parallels line 24 of Ulysses: "As tho' to breathe were life! Life piled on life"
little isle
Ithaca, Odysseus's home
Before them of the ten-years' war in Troy,
The Trojan War ends at the beginning of The Odyssey. Odysseus and his men have already been away from their homes for ten years while they participated in the war.
we should come like ghosts to trouble joy
The crew attempts to justify their selfish desires to abandon their families and remain on the island by suggesting that their wives and sons are better off without them. The crew believes that their families have already adapted to life without them (by this point in Homer's Odyssey, the men have been gone for many years, although it is difficult to definitively say how many during book 9).
Our sons inherit us
Their sons have already replaced them as the leaders of their respective households.
our looks are strange
age
hearths
The fireplace; the center of the home, providing warmth, fellowship, and comfort.
old faces of our infancy
"old faces of our infancy" refers to the people (now dead) these men had known during their childhoods. The juxtaposition of "old" and "infancy" reflects the connection between birth and death. These lines contain a lifetime; a painted picture of the circle of life. These lines are significant as they further suggest the passage of time and the crew's intention of remaining on the island for the rest of their natural lives.
wo handfuls of white dust, shut in an urn of brass!
cremation
Heap'd over with a mound of grass
burial
Eating the Lotos day by day
again, repetition emphasizes the passage of time
To dream and dream
repetition emphasizes time passing
dumb
unable to speak
Lo!
an interjection, meaning "hark:" an order from the speaker to take notice.
balm
a soothing ointment, "holy balm" serves as a metaphor for the restorative properties of sleep or rest.
poppy
a type of colorful flower
thro'
abbreviated "through"
that enchanted stem
the lotus flower
galingale
"galingale" (alternate spelling, "galingal"), a type of grass-like plant, often used in perfumes due to its aromatic properties.
vale
"valley"
adown
down; low
Up-clomb
"Up climbed the shadowy pine"
copse
"corpse," alternate spelling (archaic).
Casey Fortuna Casey Fortuna
cjf72
hanged herself, in her maniacal aggression, from a stout oak tree.
The story opens and closes a conversation about divorce with a hint of suicide, revealing that there is more lurking beneath the surface that the carefree Mark wishes to let on. He wants to appear cool, collected. He acts like it's no big deal. It's all a joke. But his rage speaks volumes.
At least they didn’t have a baby. Christ
Irony: Christ was a child born to bring salvation to the world, but a baby would damn the family to even more internal destruction.
dialogue bubble.
The image of the aggressive dog is so exaggerated that it is described as "cartoonish." Comparing the dog's desperate breath to a "dialogue bubble" shows that the dog is trying to tell us something. She is so desperate to convey her message that she is willing to hang herself.
The Bulldog embodies the rage that exists within the broken home: the constant bickering, the lack of attention, the lack of empathy for one another. The boy and the dog are both caught in the middle of their respective custody battles. Mark threatens the dog with violence, but it is only an empty threat ("I wish my mom would die sometimes"). The rusty hatchet is "corrupted" by the corrosion that comes with long exposure to the elements. Mark and the bulldog are both corrupted by the rage they feel toward the family. At the end, Mark laughs, pretending that nothing is wrong. The dog goes mad with fury in response to his taunting.
I used to be a nurse
Inversion of caretaker roles
Breast cancer. Breasts represent femininity and motherhood. It is described as a "weight," a burden, but one that is worthwhile. One scene describes her mother mother preparing to go to work: another display of femininity.
intersections
Intersections of memory
Allegiance. “Here,” the nurse says. She snaps the cap on the marker and hands it to me.
The two women form an allegiance
“There’s only so much anyone can do,”
Acceptance of loss
and I have to let go
Death, loss
“What are you afraid to say?”
What is she afraid to say?
splice” and “cut.” I’ll write “fragment
Almost surgical
cjf72
Casey Fortuna
The Muses are turned gossips; they have lost The buskin'd step, and clear high-sounding phrase, Language of gods. Come, then, domestic Muse,
Here are my initial impressions of the poem which, scattered as they may seem, will be developed further before class. The poem exaggerates the toils of domestic life, particularly condemning the chore of washing clothes. Something that is so seemingly mundane is directly compared to images of torture, more specifically, martyrdom. Marriage is described as a "yoke" and the hearth, the center of the home, is "reeking." Guests are unwelcomed. Meals, an act of daily fellowship, a communion, a bond, are described as "silent" and "anxious." Women are compared to the Muses (the metaphorical spirits of creativity that allow poets to speak the language of the gods), but have been reduced to gossip and menial labor. Barbauld mentions the dread of a rainy washing day, which interestingly enough, conveys two literary images of cleansing. After describing the day to day suffering of women, the second stanza shifts to a description of childhood wonder: hot air balloons, bubbles, and the magic of the written word (see the final line along with Barbauld's description of "thrilling tale[s]"). The innocent mind cannot understand the oppression of the adult women who surround her (who are described as ethereal protectors). Instead, she turns her mind to things children understand.