Happy the elephant is intelligent, social, and self-aware--and considered a thing in the eye of the law. Led by lawyer Steven M. Wise, the Nonhuman Rights Project has filed cases on behalf of captive nonhuman animals like Happy since 2013, arguing that their autonomy entitles them to certain legal rights. In Thing: Inside the Struggle for Animal Personhood, comic artists Sam Machado and Cynthia Sousa Machado bring together Wise's groundbreaking work and their own illustrations in the first graphic (...) nonfiction book about the animal personhood movement. Beginning with Happy's story and the central ideas behind animal rights, Thing then turns to the scientists that are revolutionizing our understanding of the minds of such nonhuman animals as great apes, elephants, dolphins, and whales. Combining legal and social history, innovative science, and illustrated storytelling, Thing presents a visionary new way of relating to the nonhuman world. (shrink)

Pedro Álvarez (Cuba) y Rafael Trelles (Puerto Rico) son dos importantes exponentes de la plástica contemporánea en el Caribe hispano que encontraron en dos hitos artísticos del siglo xix una vía para cuestionar las fórmulas fijadas por la Historia y el Arte. Ambos, a partir de la reapropiación de la obra de Víctor Patricio Landaluze y Francisco Oller, respectivamente, reflexionan sobre las complejas circunstancias de sus islas. Mediante el estudio del pasado ambos se preocupan comprometidamente por el sentido de su (...) historia patria, por la (re) actualización de su tradición artística o las funciones del intelectual en la configuración de sus contextos nacionales. La fragmentación y el collage resultan métodos constructivos eficaces que utilizan ambos artistas para descontextualizar los múltiples signos culturales de sus referentes de partida y readecuar sus múltiples significados en la nueva obra, y en el nuevo contexto. Sin embargo, a pesar de las semejanzas se advierten igualmente diferencias de intención, de acuerdo a las respectivas realidades nacionales. (shrink)

Resumo No Manifesto surrealista, de 1924, Breton explicita o produto da atividade surrealista como uma “luz de imagem”, gerado pela aproximação involuntária de duas realidades distantes. Essa estrutura dupla da imagem surrealista tem um caráter disruptivo, que rompe com a nossa percepção da realidade cotidiana. Com isso, abre-se a possibilidade de um espaço para a crítica social e histórica, bem como para uma intervenção estético-política justamente em uma sociedade na qual as formas tradicionais de crítica parecem estar neutralizadas. Essa experiência (...) surrealista e esse espaço aberto por ela Walter Benjamin caracteriza respectivamente com a fórmula “iluminação profana” e “espaço de imagem”. Ambos apresentam uma grande semelhança com alguns pontos e consequências, em seus conceitos, tanto de “imagem do pensamento”, como de “imagem dialética”, sobretudo na medida em que esses conceitos também são formulados em meio à crise cultural da sociedade europeia, nos 1920, e buscam uma saída revolucionária para a mesma. Trata-se de investigar aqui, por meio de uma análise comparativa dessas concepções de imagem, até onde vai a influência e a relevância do surrealismo para o pensamento figurativo-dialético de Benjamin e para sua compreensão da história.In the Surrealistic manifest from 1924, Andre Breton explains the product of surrealistic action as a “light of image” resulting from an arbitrary approach of two distant realities. This double structure of surrealistic image has a disrupting character that breaks our common perception of reality. Thus can open a space for social and historical criticism as well as for an aesthetical-political intervention in a society where traditional forms of criticism seem to be neutralized. Walter Benjamin defines this surrealistic experience and its opened space respectively with the expressions “profane illumination” and “image space”. Both have similarities with Benjamin’s ideas of “thought image” and “dialectical image”, especially because they were elaborated amidst the cultural european crisis in the 1920ies looking to find a revolutionary way out of it. Through a comparative analysis of these notions of image, this paper proposes to investigate the influence and the relevance of surrealism for Benjamin’s dialectical-figural way of thinking and his comprehension of history. (shrink)

Background Moral resilience is the integrity and emotional strength to remain buoyant and achieve moral growth amid distressing situations. Evidence is still emerging on how to best cultivate moral resilience. Few studies have examined the predictive relationship of workplace well-being and of organizational factors with moral resilience. Research aims The aims are to examine associations of workplace well-being (i.e., compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress) and moral resilience, and to examine associations of workplace factors (i.e., authentic leadership and perceived (...) congruence of organizational mission and behaviors) and moral resilience. Research design This study uses a cross-sectional design. Participants and research context: Nurses practicing in a hospital in the United States were surveyed using validated instruments (N = 147). Individual factors were measured using demographics and the Professional Quality of Life Scale. Organizational factors were measured using the Authentic Leadership Questionnaire and a single item measuring organizational mission/behavior congruence. Moral resilience was measured using the Rushton Moral Resilience Scale. Ethical considerations The study was approved by an institutional review board. Findings Resilience was noted to have significant small correlations with burnout, secondary traumatic stress, compassion satisfaction, and organizational mission/behavior congruence. Burnout and secondary traumatic stress predicted less resilience, whereas compassion satisfaction and perceived congruence between organizational mission and behaviors predicted higher resilience. Discussion Burnout and secondary traumatic stress, increasingly experienced by nurses and other health professionals, have negative effects on moral resilience. Compassion satisfaction can increase resilience, which is especially important in nursing. Organizational practices promoting integrity and confidence can have positive effects on resilience. Conclusions Continued work to confront workplace well-being issues, especially burnout, is needed as a way of increasing moral resilience. Studies of organizational and work environment factors to bolster resilience are likewise needed to assist organizational leaders in devising the best strategies. (shrink)

Although it is commonly believed that the concept of brain death was developed to benefit organ transplants, it evolved independently. Transplantation owed its development to advances in surgery and immunosuppressive treatment; BD owed its origin to the development of intensive care. The first autotransplant was achieved in the early 1900s, when studies of increased intracranial pressure causing respiratory arrest with preserved heartbeat were reported. Between 1902 and 1950, the BD concept was supported by the discovery of EEG, Crile’s definition of (...) death, the use of EEG to demonstrate abolition of brain potentials after ischaemia, and Crafoord’s statement that death was due to cessation of blood flow. Transplantation saw the first xenotransplant in humans and the first unsuccessful kidney transplant from a cadaver. In the 1950s, circulatory arrest in coma was identified by angiography, and the death of the nervous system and coma dépassé were described. Murray performed the first successful kidney transplant. In the 1960s, the BD concept and organ transplants were instantly linked when the first kidney transplant using a brain-dead donor was performed; Schwab proposed to use EEG in BD; the Harvard Committee report and the Sydney Declaration appeared; the first successful kidney, lung and pancreas transplants using cadaveric donors were achieved; Barnard performed the first human heart transplant. This historical review demonstrates that the BD concept and organ transplantation arose separately and advanced in parallel, and only began to progress together in the late 1960s. Therefore, the BD concept did not evolve to benefit transplantation. (shrink)

Em A intuição do instante (1932) e A dialética da duração (1936), a problematização a respeito do tempo levantada por Bachelard, a partir das teses bergsonianas da duração, deixa de ser uma simples reinterpretação do conceito de tempo e passa a se encaminhar aos poucos para uma ruptura evidente com o bergsonismo. Neste artigo, trataremos dessa ruptura via a interpretação psicológica da duração feita por Bachelard, fato esse que automaticamente estabelece um contraponto com o psicologismo temporal bergsoniano, sobretudo em A (...) dialética da duração, onde ele irá forjar seu entendimento de consciência temporal e, por consequência, de memória. Ao estabelecer tal crítica Bachelard filia sua ideia de tempo psicológico às noções de ato de consciência e atenção que, por sua vez, estão circunscritas à razão que ordena os instantes descontínuos, sejam eles eficazes e ricos ou ineficazes e pobres. Mostraremos de que maneira isso ocorre e é desenvolvido em sua filosofia a partir de três passos decisivos: 1) uma interpretação de memória apoiada nas teses sobre a conduta do psicólogo Pierre Janet (contra a imediaticidade); 2) por meio de uma evidenciação do dinamismo e liberdade presentes na psyché e na própria memória a partir da valorização da ideia de intervalos imanentes às estruturas da consciência (descontinuidade); 3) uma interpretação de memória como espera (possibilidade). (shrink)

La física durante la segunda mitad del siglo XIX experimentó una silenciosa pero profunda revisión de sus fundamentos. A pesar de su importancia para los desarrollos posteriores de la física, los estudios históricos y filosóficos sobre dicho periodo son escasos comparados con aquellos de principios del siglo XX. Este trabajo reconstruye algunos aspectos de la física de este periodo usando dos herramientas conceptuales: espacios controversiales de Oscar Nudler y estilo de razonamiento científico de Ian Hacking. El objetivo es mostrar los (...) elementos que produjeron el desbloqueo conceptual de la controversia sobre el determinismo durante la segunda mitad del siglo XIX y principios del siglo XX. (shrink)

O presente artigo tem como meta demonstrar de que maneira Gaston Bachelard constrói sua reflexão sobre o tempo em suas obras década de 30 que versam sobre o Instante e a Duração, partindo de uma releitura da perspectiva filosófica bergsoniana da continuidade da duração. Estabeleceremos nosso ponto de vista por meio de uma análise dos respectivos métodos de investigação de cada autor, Dialético em Bachelard e Intuitivo em Bergson. Consequentemente, tentaremos deixar manifesto de que modo cada método ampara e estabelece (...) a base filosófica da qual emana as reflexões sobre o tempo de cada autor, antagônicas, por sinal, e que podem ser resumidas pela seguinte dicotomia conceitual: continuidade x descontinuidade. Em um último esforço de síntese, esboçaremos os motivos que tornam a perspectiva bachelardiana dinamiza e pluraliza a pesquisa bergsoniana desenvolvida a respeito do mesmo fenômeno. (shrink)

The famous Montesquieu’s catachresis wherein judges should be no more than the “mouth that pronounces the words of the law” is actually facing a crisis. I. e. Law has lost its unifying principle, its centre wherein its practices could search for foundation and legitimacy. Therefore, as a decentered reality, I believe Law should get a poststructuralist approach, appropriate for a decentered structure. That is why the aim of my research is to link Law to the poststructuralist theoretical reference of the (...) theory of discourse, as developed in the works of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe. Anyway, as Laclau and Mouffe’s theoretical works are concentrated on the ontological level, I need to link their ontological reflections and Law manifestations on ontic level, the level of judicial practices. For that, I will use the support of the jurisprudence of Ronald Dworkin. However, as dworkinian theory is situated in a very different philosophical background, when compared to Laclau and Mouffe’s theory of discourse, it will be necessary to rearrange some features of his jurisprudence to make it fits on a different comprehension of Law and its integrity. Especially considering integrity as hegemonic integrity, understanding the principles of justice as promises of justice and substituting judge Hercules for a new mythological character that, instead of searching one right answer in a seamless web, is herself who seams that web: Judge Penelope. (shrink)

À l’adolescence, le mouvement de désaffiliation peut constituer un élément structurant de l’évolution subjective et la transformation identitaire qui s’ensuit une maturation vers l’âge adulte. Toutefois, dans beaucoup de ces cas de bascule identitaire, la désaffiliation se fait de manière abrupte, secrète, dans un refus total des valeurs des parents et des parents eux-mêmes. Les facteurs qui aboutissent à la désaffiliation familiale sont multiples : fragilité de la construction du moi, défaillances des structures sociales et du fonctionnement familial, primauté de (...) valeurs de performance et de rapidité au détriment des liens. À partir d’une situation clinique de couple recomposé, l’auteur essaye d’analyser les effets des facteurs familiaux, incluant les diverses alliances inconscientes, qui contribuent à une transformation identitaire marquée chez un des enfants. Celle-ci, tournée vers la religion et l’idéologie, s'assoit sur une base de revalorisation narcissique et un chaos de la transmission. (shrink)

À l’adolescence, le mouvement de désaffiliation peut constituer un élément structurant de l’évolution subjective et la transformation identitaire qui s’ensuit une maturation vers l’âge adulte. Toutefois, dans beaucoup de ces cas de bascule identitaire, la désaffiliation se fait de manière abrupte, secrète, dans un refus total des valeurs des parents et des parents eux-mêmes. Les facteurs qui aboutissent à la désaffiliation familiale sont multiples : fragilité de la construction du moi, défaillances des structures sociales et du fonctionnement familial, primauté de (...) valeurs de performance et de rapidité au détriment des liens. À partir d’une situation clinique de couple recomposé, l’auteur essaye d’analyser les effets des facteurs familiaux, incluant les diverses alliances inconscientes, qui contribuent à une transformation identitaire marquée chez un des enfants. Celle-ci, tournée vers la religion et l’idéologie, s'assoit sur une base de revalorisation narcissique et un chaos de la transmission. (shrink)

A natural extension of Natural Deduction was defined by Schroder-Heister where not only formulas but also rules could be used as hypotheses and hence discharged. It was shown that this extension allows the definition of higher-level introduction and elimination schemes and that the set $\{ \vee, \wedge, \rightarrow, \bot \}$ of intuitionist sentential operators forms a {\it complete} set of operators modulo the higher level introduction and elimination schemes, i.e., that any operator whose introduction and elimination rules are instances of (...) the higher-level schemes can be defined in terms of $\{ \vee, \wedge, \rightarrow, \bot \}$.The aim of the present work is to extend the well-known connections between Proof Theory and Category Theory to higher-level Natural Deduction. To be precise, we will show how an adjointness between cartesian closed categories with finite coproducts can be associated, in a systematic way, with any operator $\phi$ defined by the higher-level schemes. The objects in the categories will be rules instead of formulas. (shrink)

Kerridge et al recently published a paper in the journal about organ transplantation and the diagnosis of death.1 Although I appreciate the authors’ efforts to present their arguments about such a controversial issue, I found some inconsistencies in this article that I would like to discussWhen Kerridge and his collaborators discussed the origins of the concept of brain death, they emphasised that after the report of the medical consultants on the diagnosis of death to the US President’s Commission was published (...) in 1981,2 clinicians equated the concept of BD with brainstem death. In fact, the brainstem criterion was first proposed by Mohandas and Chou in Minnesota, in 1971.3 The Minnesota criteria inspired the UK code, which was mainly adopted in UK commonwealth countries.4 This view was afterwards powerfully defended by Christopher Pallis.5 After the US President’s Commission report,2 a lot of countries, and most US states, accepted the whole brain, and not the brainstem, criterion.6Regarding the “dead donor rule”, with the advent of transplant surgery, interest in definitions and diagnosis of death based on brain formulations really acquired a new urgency. None the less, it is important to point out that the concept of BD as death of the individual, did not appear to benefit organ transplantation, but was a consequence of the development of intensive care. As Pallis emphasised, if organ transplant techniques had never been developed, intensive care procedures would have provided the possibility of supplying life support to those cases with destroyed brains and preserved heart function, and physicians would need to face the clinical syndrome called BD.5 When French neurophysiologists and neurologists described the death of the nervous system and coma dépassé, organ transplant techniques were only in the very early stages of development. …. (shrink)

On 5 August 1968, publication of the Harvard Committee’s report on the subject of “irreversible coma” established a standard for diagnosing death on neurological grounds. On the same day, the 22nd World Medical Assembly met in Sydney, Australia, and announced the Declaration of Sydney, a pronouncement on death, which is less often quoted because it was overshadowed by the impact of the Harvard Report. To put those events into present-day perspective, the authors reviewed all papers published on this subject and (...) the World Medical Association web page and documents, and corresponded with Dr A G Romualdez, the son of Dr A Z Romualdez. There was vast neurological expertise among some of the Harvard Committee members, leading to a comprehensible and practical clinical description of the brain death syndrome and the way to diagnose it. This landmark account had a global medical and social impact on the issue of human death, which simultaneously lessened reception of the Declaration of Sydney. Nonetheless, the Declaration of Sydney faced the main conceptual and philosophical issues on human death in a bold and forthright manner. This statement differentiated the meaning of death at the cellular and tissue levels from the death of the person. This was a pioneering view on the discussion of human death, published as early as in 1968, that should be recognised by current and future generations. (shrink)

O objetivo deste trabalho é investigar a natureza ontológica e epistemológica do conceito de informação, focalizando inicialmente a Filosofia e Ética da Informação (EI), propostas por Floridi (1999; 2002; 2004; 2011; 2016), cujo fundamento teórico servirá de suporte para reflexões acerca da inteligência artificial generativa (IAGen), mais especificamente, o ChatGPT. O conceito de informação será abordado a partir de três vertentes na perspectiva filosófico-interdisciplinar: (1) realismo informacional, (2) ecologia informacional e (3) semântica informacional, segundo Gonzalez, Nascimento & Haselager (2004). A (...) partir dessa abordagem, direcionamos nosso estudo para propostas de Floridi (2004), indicando os seus possíveis problemas. Procuraremos entender a Filosofia da Informação, a partir da perspectiva da Ética da Informação (EI), analisando como a EI pode contribuir para reflexões acerca do uso de IA generativa. Problematizamos a EI a fim de construir uma ponte com a Ética Intercultural da Informação (EII) proposta por Capurro (2010). (shrink)

Vir a ser cidadão: Educação, Política e Psicologia do Desenvolvimento Resumo: Considerando a tese honnethiana de que, hodiernamente, há um desenlace entre Educação e Política, e afirmando um forte nexo entre essas áreas no pensamento de Jean-Jacques Rousseau, neste trabalho, apresentamos alguns aspectos de como, para este, é possível que o ser humano, como membro da espécie, venha a ser cidadão. Em seguida, contando com a crítica de Nussbaum sobre como muitas propostas educacionais não explicitam uma psicologia do desenvolvimento, aventamos (...) uma vinculação entre Educação, Política e ideias psicológicas em Rousseau. Adiante, trazemos elementos da pesquisa psicogenética de Jean Piaget, propondo que esse tipo de pesquisa permite um fortalecimento do nexo entre as áreas da Educação, Política e, agora, Psicologia do Desenvolvimento, contribuindo para a discussão ainda atual acerca do vir a ser cidadão. Palavras-chave: Cidadão; Desenvolvimento; Formação; Rousseau; Piaget. Becoming a citizen: Education, Politics and Developmental Psychology Abstract: Considering the Honnethian thesis that there is today a disconnexion between Education and Politics, and asserting a strong link between these fields in the thought of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, in this work we present some aspects of how, for him, it is possible for a human, as a member of the species, to become a citizen. Then, relying on Nussbaum's critique of the fact that many educational proposals do not make developmental psychology explicit, we suggest a link between Education, Politics and psychological ideas in Rousseau. Ahead, we bring elements of Jean Piaget's psychogenetic research, proposing that this type of research allows a strengthening of the nexus between the fields of Education, Politics and, now, Developmental Psychology, contributing to the still current discussion about becoming a citizen. Keywords: Citizen; Development; Formation; Rousseau; Piaget. Devenir citoyen: Éducation, Politique et Psychologie du développement Résumé: Considérant la thèse honnéthienne selon laquelle, aujourd'hui, il y a une déconnexion entre éducation et politique, et affirmant un lien fort entre ces domaines dans la pensée de Jean-Jacques Rousseau, nous présentons dans cette étude certains aspects de la façon dont, pour lui, il est possible pour l’être humain, en tant que membre de l'espèce, devenir citoyen. Puis, en nous appuyant sur la critique de Nussbaum sur le nombre de propositions éducatives qui ne rendrent pas explicite une psychologie du développement, nous avons suggéré un lien entre l'éducation, la politique et les idées psychologiques chez Rousseau. En avant, nous apportons des éléments de la recherche psychogénétique de Jean Piaget, en proposant que ce type de recherche permette un renforcement du lien entre les domaines de l'éducation, de la politique et, maintenant, de la psychologie du développement, contribuant à la discussion encore actuelle sur le devenir citoyen. Mots-clés: Citoyen ; Développement ; Formation ; Rousseau ; Piaget. Data de registro: 25/02/2021 Data de aceite: 19/01/2022. (shrink)

Resumo: Este estudo objetiva analisar as perspectivas de futuros professores em relação às práticas pedagógicas necessárias para a inclusão de alunos com deficiência, assim como a possibilidade de construí-las no cotidiano escolar. Para participar da pesquisa, foram selecionadas dezesseis futuras professoras que estão cursando os últimos semestres do curso de Pedagogia e já atuam como estagiárias na Educação Básica. A pesquisa se fundamenta na abordagem qualitativa e utilizou as narrativas como instrumento da coleta de dados. A partir do processo de (...) análise textual discursiva, identificaram-se três dimensões, com base nas temáticas utilizadas nesse estudo: Educação Inclusiva; Práticas Pedagógicas Inclusivas; Experiência. Os resultados do estudo indicam as experiências das professoras como novas e significativas e que o elemento principal para a transformação da educação inclusiva passa pela necessidade de formação, estudos e trocas de experiências e de constante construção teórico-prática, que se faz mister no processo inclusivo. Palavras-chave: Educação Superior; Educação Inclusiva; Formação de Professores; Práticas Pedagógicas. The perspectives of Inclusive Education in the Education course: narratives of beginning teachers Abstract: This study aims to analyze the perspectives of future teachers in relation to the pedagogical practices necessary for the inclusion of students with disabilities, as well as the possibility of building them in the school routine. In order to participate in the research, sixteen future teachers who are attending the last semesters of the Education course and already work as interns in Basic Education were selected. The research is based on a qualitative approach and it uses narratives as an instrument for data collection. From the discursive textual analysis process, three dimensions were identified, based on the themes used in this study: Inclusive Education; Inclusive Pedagogical Practices; Experience. The results of the study indicate the experiences of the teachers as new and significant, and that the main element for the transformation of inclusive education involves the need for training, studies and exchanges of experiences as well as constant theoretical-practical construction, which is essential in the inclusive process. Keywords: Higher Education; Inclusive Education; Teacher Training; Pedagogical Practices. Las perspectivas de la Educación Inclusiva en el curso de Pedagogía: narrativas de profesores principiantes Resumen: Este estudio tiene por objetivo analizar las perspectivas de futuros profesores con relación a las prácticas pedagógicas necesarias para la inclusión de alumnos con discapacidad, así como la posibilidad de construirlas en el cotidiano escolar. Para participar de la pesquisa, fueron seleccionadas dieciséis futuras profesoras que están cursando los últimos semestres del curso de Pedagogía y ya actúan como pasantes en la Educación Básica. La investigación se fundamenta en un enfoque cualitativo y utilizó las narrativas como instrumento de recogida de dados. A partir del proceso de análisis textual discursivo, fueron identificados tres dimensiones, con base en las temáticas utilizadas en este estudio: Educación Inclusiva; Prácticas Pedagógicas Inclusivas; Experiencia. Los resultados del estudio indican las experiencias de las profesoras como nuevas y significativas y que el elemento principal para la transformación de la educación inclusiva pasa por la necesidad de formación, estudios y cambios de experiencias además de constante construcción teórico-práctica, que es esencial en el proceso inclusivo. Palabras clave: Educación Universitaria; Educación Inclusiva; Formación de Profesores; Prácticas Pedagógicas. Data de registro: 14/04/2021 Data de aceite: 19/01/2022. (shrink)

Conteúdo - A realidade Social como Realidade Historicamente "Instituída". O Direito como Realidade Social; Para uma noção de Direito; Grandes linhas estruturais do Sistema Jurídico; A Tuela do Direito e a Garantia dos Direitos; Fontes de Direito e Vigência das Normas; Interpretação e Integração da lei; A Aplicação da Lei no Tempo e no Espaço; O Direito e as Ciências Sociais; Prolegómenos do Discurso Legitimador; A Ciência Jurídica.

v. 1. Livros e capítulos de livros -- v. 2. Artigos de periódicos -- v. 3. Eventos -- v. 4. Resenhas.

Este trabalho tem por objetivo refletir sobre a relação entre a tese da mente estendida e do papel do corpo no uso das estratégias de aprendizagem. Nas discussões, tecemos algumas possíveis interseções entre a teoria das estratégias de aprendizagem com a tese da mente estendida de Andy Clark e David Chalmers e o papel do corpo. Em um primeiro momento, apresentamos a teoria das estratégias de aprendizagem. Em seguida, fizemos uma breve exposição da teoria da mente estendida. De modo subsequente, (...) refletimos sobre as possíveis aproximações entre o conceito de estratégias de aprendizagem e a tese da mente estendida e refletimos sobre o papel do corpo no uso de estratégias de aprendizagem. Por último, apresentamos as considerações finais como um esboço de possíveis contribuições da interseção entre as teorias e deixamos apontamentos para estudos futuros. (shrink)

Child mortality (the mortality of children less than five years old) declined considerably in the developing world in the 1990s, but infant mortality declined less. The reductions in neonatal mortality were not impressive and, as a consequence, there is an increasing percentage of infant deaths in the neonatal period. Any further reduction in child mortality, therefore, requires an understanding of the determinants of neonatal mortality. 209,628 birth and 2581 neonatal death records for the 1998 birth cohort from the city of (...) São Paulo, Brazil, were probabilistically matched. Data were from SINASC and SIM, Information Systems on Live Births and Deaths of Brazil. Logistic regression was used to find the association between neonatal mortality and the following risk factors: birth weight, gestational age, Apgar scores at 1 and 5 minutes, delivery mode, plurality, sex, maternal education, maternal age, number of prior losses, prenatal care, race, parity and community development. Infants of older mothers were less likely to die in the neonatal period. Caesarean delivery was not found to be associated with neonatal mortality. Low birth weight, pre-term birth and low Apgar scores were associated with neonatal death. Having a mother who lives in the highest developed community decreased the odds of neonatal death, suggesting that factors not measured in this study are behind such association. This result may also indicate that other factors over and above biological and more proximate factors could affect neonatal death. (shrink)

Kerridge et al recently published a paper in the journal about organ transplantation and the diagnosis of death.1 Although I appreciate the authors’ efforts to present their arguments about such a controversial issue, I found some inconsistencies in this article that I would like to discussWhen Kerridge and his collaborators discussed the origins of the concept of brain death , they emphasised that after the report of the medical consultants on the diagnosis of death to the US President’s Commission was (...) published in 1981,2 clinicians equated the concept of BD with brainstem death. In fact, the brainstem criterion was first proposed by Mohandas and Chou in Minnesota, in 1971.3 The Minnesota criteria inspired the UK code, which was mainly adopted in UK commonwealth countries.4 This view was afterwards powerfully defended by Christopher Pallis.5 After the US President’s Commission report,2 a lot of countries, and most US states, accepted the whole brain, and not the brainstem, criterion.6Regarding the “dead donor rule”, with the advent of transplant surgery, interest in definitions and diagnosis of death based on brain formulations really acquired a new urgency. None the less, it is important to point out that the concept of BD as death of the individual, did not appear to benefit organ transplantation, but was a consequence of the development of intensive care. As Pallis emphasised, if organ transplant techniques had never been developed, intensive care procedures would have provided the possibility of supplying life support to those cases with destroyed brains and preserved heart function, and physicians would need to face the clinical syndrome called BD.5 When French neurophysiologists and neurologists described the death of the nervous system and coma dépassé, organ transplant techniques were only in the very early stages of development. …. (shrink)

Cualquier propuesta de alternativa a la democracia representativa, sea para mejorarla, sea para sustituirla por otro tipo de forma política, debería de tomar en cuenta dos tipos de restricciones para que la alternativa en cuestión tenga mayores probabilidades de éxito. Al primer grupo de restricciones los llamaremos factores limitantes de la conducta humana, mientras que al segundo grupo los llamaremos funciones impropias de esa forma política, es decir, las funciones que no debería tener. Tanto los factores limitantes de la conducta (...) humana como las funciones impropias de una forma política son restricciones sobre lo que realmente, es decir, no utópicamente, podríamos hacer para mejorar a la democracia y en general a la gobernabilidad de las sociedades. Esas restricciones, que a continuación señalaré, constituyen los argumentos que me llevan a plantear la siguiente tesis: la democracia representativa puede y debe ser mejorada al reducir su alcance económico, político y social, pero continúa siendo una mejor opción de gobierno que cualquier alternativa, incluyendo la demarquía. (shrink)