Background The expressions of a “wish to hasten death” or “wish to die” raise ethical concerns and challenges. These expressions are related to ethical principles intertwined within the field of medical ethics, particularly in end-of-life care. Although some reviews were conducted about this topic, none of them provides an in-depth analysis of the meanings behind the “wish to hasten death/die” based specifically on the ethical principles of autonomy, dignity, and vulnerability. The aim of this review is to understand if and (...) how the meanings behind the “wish to hasten death/die” relate to and are interpreted in light of ethical principles in palliative care. Methods We conducted a meta-ethnographic review according to the PRISMA guidelines and aligned with Noblit and Hare’s framework. Searches were performed in three databases, Web of Science, PubMed, CINAHL, with no time restrictions. Original qualitative studies exploring the meanings given by patients, family caregivers and healthcare professionals in any context of palliative and end-of-life care were included. A narrative synthesis was undertaken. PROSPERO registration CRD42023360330. Results Out of 893 retrieved articles, 26 were included in the analysis, accounting for the meanings of a total of 2,398 participants. Several factors and meanings associated with the “wish to hasten death” and/or “wish to die” were identified and are mainly of a psychosocial and spiritual nature. The ethical principles of autonomy and dignity were the ones mostly associated with the “wish to hasten death”. Ethical principles were essentially inferred from the content of included articles, although not explicitly stated as bioethical principles. Conclusions This meta-ethnographic review shows a reduced number of qualitative studies on the “wish to hasten death” and/or “wish to die” explicitly stating ethical principles. This suggests a lack of bioethical reflection and reasoning in the empirical end-of-life literature and a lack of embedded ethics in clinical practice. There is a need for healthcare professionals to address these topics compassionately and ethically, taking into account the unique perspectives of patients and family members. More qualitative studies on the meanings behind a wish to hasten death, their ethical contours, ethical reasoning, and implications for clinical practice are needed. (shrink)

ALBOM, Mitchell David. The First Phone Call from Heaven – a novel. New York: Harper Collins Books, 2014. 324p.

IntroductionTranscranial magnetic stimulation is a consolidated procedure for the treatment of depression, with several meta-analyses demonstrating its efficacy. Theta-burst stimulation is a modification of TMS with similar efficacy and shorter session duration. The geriatric population has many comorbidities and a high prevalence of depression, but few clinical trials are conducted specifically for this age group. TBS could be an option in this population, offering the advantages of few side effects and no pharmacological interactions. Therefore, our aim is to investigate the (...) efficacy of TBS in geriatric depression.Clinical trial registration[https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/], identifier [NCT04842929]. (shrink)

Here a wide distribution of meiotic machinery is shown, indicating the occurrence of sexual processes in all major eukaryotic groups, without exceptions, including the putative “asexuals.” Meiotic machinery has evolved from archaeal DNA repair machinery by means of ancestral gene duplications. Sex is very conserved and widespread in eukaryotes, even though its evolutionary importance is still a matter of debate. The main processes in sex are plasmogamy, followed by karyogamy and meiosis. Meiosis is fundamentally a chromosomal process, which implies recombination (...) and ploidy reduction. Several eukaryotic lineages are proposed to be asexual because their sexual processes are never observed, but presumed asexuality correlates with lack of study. The authors stress the complete lack of meiotic proteins in nucleomorphs and their almost complete loss in the fungus Malassezia. Inversely, complete sets of meiotic proteins are present in fungal groups Glomeromycotina, Trichophyton, and Cryptococcus. Endosymbiont Perkinsela and endoparasitic Microsporidia also present meiotic proteins. (shrink)

The distribution pattern of the meiotic machinery in known eukaryotes is most parsimoniously explained by the hypothesis that all eukaryotes are ancestrally sexual. However, this assumption is questioned by preliminary results, in culture conditions. These suggested that Acanthamoeba, an organism considered to be largely asexual, constitutively expresses meiosis genes nevertheless—at least in the lab. This apparent disconnect between the “meiosis toolkit” and sexual processes in Acanthamoeba led to the conclusion that the eukaryotic ancestor is asexual. In this review, the “meiosis (...) toolkit” is rigorously defended, drawing on numerous research articles. Additionally, the claim of constitutive meiotic gene expression is probed in Acanthamoeba via the same transcriptomics data. The results show that the expression of the meiotic machinery is not constitutive in Acanthamoeba as claimed before. Furthermore, it is argued that this would have no implications for understanding the nature of the eukaryotic ancestor, regardless of the result. (shrink)

Ambiguity in the Western Mind, edited with an Introduction by Craig J. N. de Paulo, Senior Editor, et al. New York: Peter Lang Publishers, 2005. Details: Preface by Joseph Margolis and distinguished contributors include John D. Caputo, Camille Paglia, Jaroslav Pelikan, Roland Teske, S.J. et al.

Augustinian Just War Theory and the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq: Confessions, Contentions and the Lust for Power,edited by Craig J. N. de Paulo, Senior Editor, et al. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2011. Details: A work concerning Augustine’s influence on Christian just war theory and the rhetoric of just war theorists from two symposia in addition to an Augustinian critique of the wars. Preface by Most Rev. Sean Cardinal O’ Malley, O.F.M. Cap., Archbishop of Boston. Foreword by Roland (...) J. Teske, S.J. Chapter One is a brief history of Augustine’s influence on the theory. Chapter Two includes a transcript of a symposium on the topic that includes the following distinguished contributors: Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., John D. Caputo, Most Rev. Edwin Cardinal O’Brien, Ambassador Thomas Melady, Col. Jack Jacobs, Dr. Joseph Hagan. Chapter Three includes a transcript of a colloquium on the topic that includes the following distinguished scholars and contributors: Joseph Margolis, Frederick Van Fleteren, Brian Kane, et al. (Advance Praise by James J. O’Donnell and Arthur Waldron.). (shrink)

Confessions of Love: The Ambiguities of Greek Eros and Latin Caritas, edited by Craig J. N. de Paulo, Senior Editor, et al. American University Studies Series, vol. 7: Theology and Religion. New York: Peter Lang Publishers, 2011. Details: Collection of scholarly essays on love. Distinguished contributors include Roland Teske, S.J., Phillip Cary, Leonid Rudntyzky, Bernhardt Blumenthal, et al.

The Influence of Augustine on Heidegger: The Emergence of an Augustinian Phenomenology, edited with an Introduction by Craig J. N. de Paulo Lewiston, NY: The Edwin Mellen Press, 2006. Details: Preface by John Macquarrie and distinguished contributors include Robert Dodaro, O.S.A., Peg Birmingham, Theodore Kisiel, Daniel Dahlstrom, George Pattison, James K. A. Smith, Wayne Hankey and Matthias Fritsch. (Advance Praise by James J. O’Donnell, Jaroslav Pelikan and Joseph Margolis and reviewed in the American Catholic Philosophy Quarterly, vol. 82, Spring (...) 2008, issue no. 2, in article form.) Bishop de Paulo is the founder of "Augustinian phenomenology," a field within phenomenology that merges the Christian existential thought of Augustine with the methodology of Martin Heidegger. (shrink)

An anthology of writings from Plato and Aristotle, including an introductory essay on the history of ancient Greek philosophy and Greek Glossary.

El artículo estudia la teoría de la guerra justa, en san Agustín, considerándolo como el fundador de esta teoría, ya que fue el primero en articular los criterios perennes dentro del marco de "ethos" cristiano del amor e igualdad como seres humanos creados a imagen y semejanza del Creador. Trata también del influjo de Agustín en el desarrollo de esta teoría de la guerra justa.

El artículo trata sobre el 'reavivamiento hermeneútico' de Agustín, es decir, acerca de la significación filosófica que tiene el influjo histórico y metodológico de san Agustín sobre la obra de Martin Heidegger "Sein und Zeit", y cómo esto se ha vuelto más evidente con las aportaciones de fenomenólogos y patrólogos, especialmente a partir de 1993.

By tracing some of the historical and hermeneutical influences of Augustine on Martin Heidegger and his 1927 magnum opus, this article argues that Being and Time has an “Augustinian constitution.” While Heidegger’s philosophical terms are in a certain sense original, many of them have their conceptual origins in Augustine’s Christian thought and in his philosophizing from experience. The article systematically revisits all of Heidegger’s citations of Augustine, which reveals not only the rhetorical influence of Augustine on the organization of Being (...) and Time, but also the fact that the conceptual inspiration of the work and the development of its philosophicalterms are significantly indebted to Augustine. Further, an original synthesis of Heidegger’s methodology with Augustine’s thought on restlessness and conversion is developed in order to demonstrate the philosophical compatibility between Heidegger and Augustine. This synthesis results in what the author considers the foundations for an Augustinian phenomenology. (shrink)

Traveling-wave solutions of the standard and compound form of Korteweg–de Vries–Burgers equations are found using factorizations of the corresponding reduced ordinary differential equations. The procedure leads to solutions of Bernoulli equations of non-linearity 3/2 and 2 (Riccati), respectively. Introducing the initial conditions through an imaginary phase in the traveling coordinate, we obtain all the solutions previously reported, some of them being corrected here, and showing, at the same time, the presence of interesting details of these solitary waves that have been (...) overlooked before this investigation. (shrink)

BackgroundBoth reducing sitting and increasing physical exercise promote health but exercising more does not necessarily reduce sitting time. One reason for this non-dependency may be that different aspects of exercise motivation are differently related to sitting time. Identifying the type of exercise motivation that would also be associated with sitting time can help to reduce sitting indirectly through increased exercise, thus bringing greater benefits.MethodsThe present study explored the association between quality of motivations toward physical activity with physical activity and sitting (...) time in a total of 373 adults. The short version of international physical activity questionnaire was used for measuring physical activity and sitting time. Reasons for exercising regularly were measured with the Self-Regulated Questionnaire–Exercise, including four regulation subscales to assess regulation styles. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the four subscales of SRQ-E with the data obtained using AMOS v.23. Then, structural equation model with maximum likelihood estimates was used to test the hypothesized model.ResultsThe results indicated that only intrinsic motivation, but not identified, introjected or external motivation, toward physical activity predicted both physical activity and sitting time. Higher intrinsic motivation toward physical activity was associated with both higher physical activity and lower sitting time. In addition, physical activity was a mediator for lower sitting time when the source was intrinsic motivation.ConclusionPrevious studies have shown low between and within participant correlation between sitting time and physical activity, and interventions have generally failed to both increase physical activity while decreasing sitting time. The present cross-sectional results suggest that targeting increased physical activity by increased intrinsic motivation has the potential to both increase physical activity and decrease sitting time. (shrink)

Con el objetivo de estudiar algunos problemas de ética relacionados con situaciones clínicas que involucran a la familia, se presenta una revisión sistemática de este término para entenderla y definirla. Concebida como un cuerpo orgánico en su constitución, estructura y organización, en el presente artículo se analizan las variadas circunstancias en las que existe una relación entre la ética clínica y la familia, principalmente haciendo énfasis a la diferencia entre la autonomía individual y la autoridad familiar.

O lugar próprio no espaço impróprio: o negro, o judeu e o comum Resumo: No pós-guerra, uma série de intelectuais que residiam na França, alguns deles, como exilados ou expatriados, travaram um intenso debate a respeito das condições do negro e do judeu. Jean-Paul Sartre formulou uma das questões centrais desse debate: haveria uma essência da negritude ou do judaísmo? Para Frantz Fanon, Maurice Blanchot, Jacques Derrida e Edmond Jabès, a negritude e o judaísmo podem ser compreendidos a (...) partir das experiências do exílio e da expatriação. Esse artigo pretende reconstruir esse debate e analisar a importância do não-pertencimento para as concepções de comunidade e comum desenvolvidas por Jean-Luc Nancy, Giorgio Agamben e Jacques Rancière. Palavras-chave: Negro. Judeu. Expatriação. Não-pertencimento. Comum. El lugar propio en el espacio impropio: el negro, el judío y el común Resumen: En la pos-guerra, una serie de intelectuales que vivían en Francia, algunos de ellos, como exilados o expatriados, trabaran un intenso debate a respecto de las condiciones del negro y del judío. Jean-Paul Sartre formuló una de las preguntas centrales de ese debate: ¿habría una esencia da negritud o de judaísmo? Para Frantz Fanon, Maurice Blanchot, Jacques Derrida y Edmond Jabès, la negritud y el judaísmo pueden ser comprendidos a partir de las experiencias de exilio y de la expatriación. Ese artículo pretende reconstruir ese debate y analizar la importancia del no-pertenencia a las conceptos de comunidad y común desarrolladas por Jean-Luc Nancy, Giorgio Agamben y Jacques Rancière. Palabras-clave: Negro. Judío. Expatriación. No-pertenencia. Común. The proper place in the improper space: the black, the jewish and the common: In the postwar period, a number of intellectuals residing in France, some of them as exiles or expats, the intellectuals engaged in an intense debate about the conditions of the black and the jewish. Jean-Paul Sartre formulated one of the key questions of this debate: Is there an essence of blackness or judaism? For Frantz Fanon, Maurice Blanchot, Jacques Derrida, and Edmond Jabès, blackness and judaism can be understood from the experiences of exile and expatriation. This article aims to reconstruct this debate and analyze the importance of non-belonging to the conceptions of community and common developed by Jean-Luc Nancy, Giorgio Agamben, and Jacques Rancière. Keywords: Black. Jewish. Expatriation. Non-belonging. Common. Data de registro: 11/12/2019 Data de aceite: 26/08/2020. (shrink)

Review of Kim, Jaegwon. Philosophy of Mind.

O grupo de escritos chamados Cartas Católicas, junto à chamada Carta aos Hebreus apresenta-se como um testemunho extra-paulino do Cristianismo primitivo. De fato, é o conjunto dos textos narrativos (Evangelhos e Atos) e do Corpus Paulinum (conjunto dos escritos atribuídos a Paulo) que são mais marcantes na compreensão do Evento Jesus Cristo e sua vivência e compreensão no primeiro século. Com frequência, se esquece que o Cristianismo é um fenômeno histórico e social plural. Uma pequena introdução a este tempo (...) histórico e à sua temática é sempre oportuna para compreender as raízes da Igreja. (shrink)

Automatized scalable healthcare support solutions allow real-time 24/7 health monitoring of patients, prioritizing medical treatment according to health conditions, reducing medical appointments in clinics and hospitals, and enabling easy exchange of information among healthcare professionals. With recent health safety guidelines due to the COVID-19 pandemic, protecting the elderly has become imperative. However, state-of-the-art health wearable device platforms present limitations in hardware, parameter estimation algorithms, and software architecture. This paper proposes a complete framework for health systems composed of multi-sensor wearable health (...) devices, high-resolution parameter estimation, and real-time monitoring applications. The framework is appropriate for real-time monitoring of elderly patients' health without physical contact with healthcare professionals, maintaining safety standards. The hardware includes sensors for monitoring steps, pulse oximetry, heart rate, and temperature using low-power wireless communication. In terms of parameter estimation, the embedded circuit uses high-resolution signal processing algorithms that result in an improved measure of the HR. The proposed high-resolution signal processing-based approach outperforms state-of-the-art HR estimation measurements using the photoplethysmography sensor. (shrink)

Review of Canhada, J. M. (2023). Le discours et l’histoire: la philosophie au Brésil au dix-neuvième siècle. (F. Brandi, Trans.). Paris: Harmattan.

RESUMO: A presente investigação questiona a essência teo-lógica dos futuros contingentes. Para o efeito, analisa-se, primeiramente, a argumentação segundo a qual, sob certas condições lógicas, teológicas, ontológicas e cosmológicas antinecessitantes, detetadas por G. W. Leibniz, a abertura contingente do futuro parece ser compatível com o regime das "verdades contingentes pré-determinadas", regime enquadrado teologicamente pelo princípio do "futuro melhor" ou do "único futuro verdadeiro". No entanto, os futuros contingentes incitam, com e contra Aristóteles, ao desenvolvimento de uma lógica temporal e plurivalente, (...) ao modo de J. Łukasiewicz ou A. Prior. Essa lógica garante a abertura do futuro sem o oneroso custo metafísico da adesão a uma teo-lógica omnideterminante. A crítica do determinismo lógico, daí resultante, afigura-se mais coadunável com as condições pós-metafísicas inerentes à episteme agnósticacontemporânea, mas, nesse caso, a abertura do futuro implicaria uma profunda redefinição das próprias ideias e funções de "Deus", "matéria", "história" e "verdade". ABSTRACT: This paper investigates the theological essence of contingent futures. First, it analyses the argument according to which, under certain logical, theological, ontological, and cosmological conditions detected by Leibniz, the contingent openness of the future may be compatible with the regime of "pre- determined contingent truths", theologically grounded in the principle of an "optimal future" or a "single true future". However, the examination of contingent futures has also fostered, both for and against Aristotle's position, the development of a many-valued and temporal logic as proposed by J. Łukasiewicz or A. Prior. This logic safeguards the openness of future without the metaphysically expensive cost of adhering to an all-determining theo-logic. It hence follows that the critique of logical determinism seems to be more appropriate to express the post-metaphysical conditions of our present agnostic mentality. In this case, however, the openness of the future would entail a profound redefinition of the very ideas and functions of "God", "matter", "history", and "truth". (shrink)

A presente investigação questiona a essência teo-lógica dos futuros contingentes. Para o efeito, analisa-se, primeiramente, a argumentação segundo a qual, sob certas con­dições lógicas, teológicas, ontológicas e cosmológicas anti-necessitantes, detetadas por G. W. Leibniz (conciliando a posição de St. Agostinho com a de L. Molina e W. Ockham), a abertura contingente do futuro parece ser compatível com o regime das “verdades contingentes pré-determinadas”, regime enquadrado teologicamente pelo princípio do “futuro melhor” ou do “único futuro verdadeiro”. No entanto, os futuros contingentes (...) incitam, com e contra Aristóteles, ao desenvolvimento de uma lógica temporal e plurivalente, ao modo de J. Łukasiewicz ou A. Prior. Esta lógica garante a abertura do futuro sem o oneroso custo metafísico da adesão a uma teo-lógica omni-determinante. A crítica do determinismo lógico, daí resultante, afigura-se mais coadunável com as condições pós-metafísicas ine­rentes à episteme agnóstica contemporânea, mas, nesse caso, a abertura do futuro impli­caria uma profunda redefinição das próprias ideias e funções de “Deus”, “matéria”, “história” e “verdade”. (shrink)