Psychological analysis of women’s experiences of late pregnancy termination for fetal anomaly

AIM: The aim of this study was to conduct a psychological analysis and summarize information on womens experiences of late pregnancy termination for fetal anomaly. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study included 105 patients aged 19 to 43 years who experienced late pregnancy termination for fetal anomaly after 22 weeks of gestation and who received psychological support during their stay in the maternity hospital. The method of data collection involved structured clinical interview with subsequent analysis and summarizing the information received. The data obtained were compared with the literature, thus leading to a conclusion about long-term psychological consequences after late pregnancy termination. RESULTS: The general psychological patterns of womens experiencing of several consequential steps of late pregnancy termination were revealed: during the primary diagnosis, in the decision-making process, during the feticide procedure, during delivery, and in the postpartum period. The tasks of psychological support were formulated; the types of reasons for termination decision were described; the key influence of the psychological status of the fetus on the subjective character of experience was determined. The analysis of foreign issues was made and faraway traumatic consequences of late pregnancy termination for the woman and her family were depicted. CONCLUSIONS: Late pregnancy termination is a traumatic choice for a woman and her family and it has medical, psychological, ethical and legal contexts. Psychological maintenance can optimize the patients contact with the medical staff during her stay in the maternity hospital. Psychologically conceived experience ensure a constructive attitude towards the future pregnancy and its positive conditions.

Qualities Unbound

Physics explains why things do what they do by identifying their powers, abstracting from things’ qualitative natures. The silence of physics on the qualitative nature of things does not mean that physics eschews qualities thereby marginalizing qualities of conscious experiences along with all the rest. Accepting that properties, including the properties of quarks and leptons, are empowering qualities opens the way to the possibility of understanding of how conscious experiences might comport with the universe as characterized by physics. The distinctively private, subjective character of conscious experiences—and the ‘first-’ versus ‘third-person perspectives’—are taken to be expressions of the difference between an agent’s being in a given state and someone’s observing the agent’s being in that state.

Learning to Classify the Consumer Confidence Indicator (in Portugal)

The literature paid some attention, some time ago, to the relationship that, supposedly, should exist between the level of consumer confidence and the unemployment rate. This relationship is interesting, both from a scientific point of view, given the inherently subjective character of that level of confidence, but also from the point of view of economic policy, given the importance of the unemployment rate. In this article, that relationship is revisited, using learning models, namely regression and classification trees. Using, for example, the case of Portugal, the unemployment rate presents itself as an adequate classifier of the consumer confidence level. The use of classification trees shows that the separation between low and high values of the consumer confidence indicator is made from an adequate threshold value of the unemployment rate. The use of regression trees shows that the levels of consumer confidence are inversely related to the levels of the unemployment rate. In terms of policy lessons, this confirms that, in the face of economic crises, such as the one we are experiencing, in which confidence levels tend to fall and the unemployment rate increases, the relationship between these two variables cannot be ignored.

Elucidating the Conceivability Argument

It shall be examined how anti-physicalist arguments give rise to the tension between those aspects of our everyday life (with focus on phenomenality) and the thesis of physicalism. The debate over the subjective character of consciousness, or as it is sometimes called: “the hard problem of consciousness” (CHALMERS, 1996), is considered to be the greatest challenge to physicalism. Many philosophers posit this as a matter that cannot be solved, regardless of scientific progress, for it is beyond the scope of what science can find out about the world. If they are correct, the consequence is that the idea of physicalism itself fails. The paper is divided in two parts. For the first part we will deal with Chalmers’ version of the conceivability argument as well as the semantic apparatus of the two-dimensional framework required to make the appropriate link between conceivability and possibility. At the end of this we shall take a look at Kripke’s version of the conceivability argument against physicalism.

O Panorama Moral e Social no Fazer Docente em Campo Grande-MS e suas Escolhas Éticas: Dilemas e Implicações

Resumo Este trabalho discute os problemas éticos cuja contextualização abrange as vivências de seus autores, em suas práticas pedagógicas, mais especificamente, os contextos escolares de escolas públicas, nos quais se colocam diariamente os professores, diante do número crescente de profissionais da educação que se ausentam do trabalho amparados em atestados médicos ou laudos psiquiátricos, em razão de adoecimento no trabalho docente, em seu contexto escolar. O objetivo geral foi analisar os problemas éticos enfrentados por professores da rede de educação básica pública, bem como suas consequências para professores e para a educação como um todo. Como hipótese de tal projeto se supõe que o professor não está preparado para gerenciar os conflitos éticos decorrentes da sua prática docente. A metodologia utilizada foi da pesquisa qualitativa em educação sobre a observação sistemática da participação dos professores em palestras utilizadas como oficinas para a Rede Municipal de Ensino de Campo Grande, MS em maio de 2019, nas quais foram aplicados questionários sobre os problemas éticos com os que eles têm se defrontado. Os resultados foram coletados a partir das respostas aos questionários. As análises das respostas obtidas nessa abordagem permitiram alcançar percepções, impressões e intuições fundamentais para a conclusão de caráter subjetivo. Palavras-chave: Dificuldades Docentes. Problemas Escolares. Prática Pedagógica. Eticidade. AbstractThis work discusses on the ethical problems whose contextualization encompasses the experiences of their authors, in their pedagogical practices, more specifically, the public schools contexts, in which teachers are placed daily, in view of the growing number of education professionals who are absent from education. work supported by medical certificates or psychiatric reports, due to illness in the teaching work, in their school context. The general objective was to analyze the ethical problems faced by teachers in the public basic education network, as well as their consequences for teachers and for education as a whole. As a hypothesis of such a project, it is assumed that the teacher is not prepared to manage the ethical conflicts arising from his or her teaching practice. The methodology used was qualitative research in education on the systematic observation of the teachers’ participation in lectures used as workshops for the Municipal Education Network of Campo Grande, MS in May 2019, in which questionnaires about ethical problems were applied with them which they have been facing. Results were collected from the responses to the questionnaires. The analysis of the responses obtained in this approach allowed to reach fundamental perceptions, impressions and intuitions for the conclusion of a subjective character. Keywords: Teacher’s Difficulties. School Problems. Pedagogical Practice. Ethics.

Subjective Character as the Origo a Quo of Phenomenal Consciousness

This article contributes to the debate on self-consciousness, inner awareness, and subjective character. Philosophers puzzle over whether subjective character has a monadic or a relational form. But the present article deploys formal ontology to show that this is a false dichotomy. From this vantage, a common objection to non-relational views is deflated. The common objection is that one-level, non-relational views are either unexplanatory or smuggle in resources from higher-order and/or relational views. The author uses an argument from formal ontology to suggest that such objections stem from a category error. The result is that first-order non-relational views need not lapse into higher order or relational views – subjective character can be a structured and intrinsic feature involved in the ontological constitution of mental acts. Ultimately, the author emphasizes the need to conceive of subjective character as the source of intentionality, and not the result of a prior intentional relation.

Exhaled breath condensate: a potential tool to evaluate the relationship between inflammation and dyspnea in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a respiratory disease with high prevalence. Many factors contribute to its development, and probably that leads to its various clinical pictures. Inflammation is the mechanism responsible for the structural alterations in the lungs. Despite its heterogeneity, there are a couple of primary symptoms characterizing it, which are chronic and productive cough and dyspnea. The understanding of dyspnea in COPD is based on theories deriving from the interaction of a network formed between the cardiorespiratory and the neuromuscular system and their receptors. Many factors contribute to its occurrence, making it complex and giving it a very subjective character for a person to perceive. Various methods are used to study COPD. Non-invasive ones seem to attract attention nowadays. One of them is the exhaled breath condensate. It is a biofluid with rich content, which can capture a picture of the pathological processes happening in the lungs. Its study has shown that some markers of inflammation and oxidative stress, such as 8-isoprostane and H2O2, are elevated and able to connect dyspnea and inflammation. Additionally, they seem to provide information of the ongoing inflammatory process in the lungs as well as a picture of the severity of the symptoms. This evidence may enhance the association of dyspnea with dysfunctional breathing. Despite these interesting findings, further research is necessary both in dyspnea and inflammation in COPD to clarify their mechanisms and connective pathways. The utility of non-invasive techniques such as the exhaled breath condensate could be of significant help, but its establishment in the medical field requires extra studies.

Development of a Methodology for Assessing the Technical Level of Cultural Heritage Objects in Construction

Cultural objects (building and construction) that are considered as the most valuable segment of real estate in terms of historical heritage usually evaluated only by monetary aspects. Not concreteness of the approaches to the determination of the historical heritage objects leads to the fact that its original value often remains unread, the assessment has subjective character, reflects the values of certain time frame and place. Therefore, for the purpose of determination of value of the historical heritage objects, there is need for the creation of the unified classification system of their assessment. Thus, this research is considered to be very relevant. The paper investigates intangible factors that affect the evaluation of cultural heritage objects in construction. In the work a system of value indicators, which take into account not only tangible indicators but also the intangible value of cultural heritage objects, has been developed. Developed indicators system makes it possible to evaluate the historical and cultural value of real estate objects quite objectively on the contrary to common methods which deal only with monetary aspects of market price of such objects. A methodology for a comprehensive evaluation of cultural heritage objects has been formed as well. This methodology is based on both the traditional comparative approach and the system of value indicators. As a result, suggested integrated approach has been proven to provide fair evaluation of both the tangible and intangible characteristics and improve the quality of cultural heritage objects assessment process. Doi: 10.28991/cej-2021-03091680 Full Text: PDF

The free associative experiment as a psycholinguistic investigation method of the trans lation process: A theoretical insight

This paper deals with the psycholinguistic methods of investigation of the cognitive process of text reception and the process of translation – the free associative experiment. The psycholinguistic experiment can be seen as a complex investigation method. The application of the psycholinguistic experiment is thus to be embedded in the translational experiment in the aspect of the polyvariety of translation: Two German translations of the novel The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov and the novel Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak are to be analyzed in the frames of the psycholinguistic experiment. The source of the polyvariability of translation is the subjective character of the interpretation of meaning, which is based on probabilistic processes and associative mean-ings. Emotions play an important role here. The empirical data obtained will be used for didactic purposes in the training of prospective translators.

Clinical evaluation of manual stress testing, stress ultrasound and 3D stress MRI in chronic mechanical ankle instability

Background Chronic ankle instability (CAI) arises from the two etiological factors of functional (FAI) and mechanical ankle instability (MAI). To distinguish the contributions of the two etiologies, it is necessary to quantitively assess functional and mechanical deficits. Validated and reproducible assessment of mechanical instability remains a challenge in current research and practice. Physical examination, stress sonography and a novel 3D stress MRI have been used, while stress radiography has been called into question and arthrometry is limited to research purposes. The interaction of these primarily mechanical measurements with the functional and subjective components of CAI are subject to debate. The aim of this study was the evaluation of the clinical and biomechanical preferences of the three different methods in the diagnosis of MAI. Methods In this cross-sectional diagnostic study, we compared three different diagnostic approaches to mechanical ankle instability: (1) manual stress testing (anterior drawer test [ADT] and talar tilt test [TTT]), (2) stress sonography and (3) 3D stress MRI (3SAM) The latter includes quantification of 3D cartilage contact area (CCA) in plantarflexion-supination compared to neutral-null position. We applied these measurements to a cohort of patients suffering from chronic mechanical ankle instability (n = 25) to a matched cohort of healthy controls (n = 25). Perceived instability was assessed using the Cumberland Ankle Instability Tool (CAIT) and Forgotten Joint Score (FJS). Functional deficits were measured using postural sway and the y-Balance test. Results Significant differences between the two groups (single-factor “group” ANOVA, p < 0.05) were found in all of the mechanical assessments with strong effect sizes. Spearman’s correlations were strong for CAIT and manual stress testing (TTT rho = − 0.83, ADT rho = − 0.81), 3D stress MRI (rho = − 0.53) and stress sonography (TTT rho = − 0.48, ADT rho = − 0.44). Furthermore, the correlation between manual stress testing and CCA in the fibulotalar articulation (CCAFT) was strong (rho = 0.54) and the correlations to stress sonography were moderate (ADT rho = 0.47 and TTT rho = 0.43). The calculation of cutoff values revealed a distance of > 5.4 mm increase in ligament length during stress sonography (sensitivity 0.92, specificity 0.6) and > 43% loss of articulating surface in the fibulotalar joint (CCAFT in supination-plantarflexion using 3SAM, sensitivity 0.71, specificity 0.8) as potential cutoff values for diagnosing MAI. Conclusions Manual stress testing showed to be a valuable method of identifying mechanical ankle instability. However, due to is subjective character it may overvalue patient-reported instability as a factor which explains the high correlation to the CAIT-score, but this may also reduce its value in diagnosing the isolated mechanical quality of the joint. Thus, there is a persisting need for objective and reproducible alternatives focusing on MAI. According to our results, 3D stress MRI and stress sonography represent valuable alternatives and may be used to quantitively assess mechanical ankle instability in research and practice. Trial registration German Registry of Clinical Trials # DRKS00016356, registered on 05/11/2019.