BackgroundProphylactic Bilateral Salpingo-Oophorectomy reduces the risk of developing ovarian cancer. However, the psychological mechanisms that may affect post-surgery Quality of Life among patients who underwent PBSO are still largely unknown. Thus, this study aimed at exploring the direct and indirect associations of satisfaction with medical communication and cancer anxiety on post-surgery QoL among women at high risk of developing ovarian cancer.MethodFifty-nine women who underwent PBSO took part in this cross-sectional study, filling out a sociodemographic and clinical questionnaire, a battery of (...) validated psychological measures and an ad hoc developed scale for the assessment of cancer anxiety. We first examined the correlations among all variables of interest, and then tested if cancer anxiety mediated the association between satisfaction with medical communication and post-surgery psychological QoL, controlling both for time from surgery and education.ResultsPost-surgery psychological QoL was unrelated from any sociodemographic or clinical variable. Cancer anxiety had a significant direct negative effect on psychological QoL, while satisfaction with medical communication had a significant positive direct effect on it. Finally, cancer anxiety significantly mediated the association between satisfaction with medical communication and post-surgery psychological QoL.DiscussionResults suggest that post-surgery psychological QoL of patients who underwent PBSO may be increased with interventions, delivered in a genetic counselling setting, targeting quality of medical communication and cancer anxiety. (shrink)

A paradigm shift in public health and medicine has broadened the field from a singular focus on the ill effects of negative states and psychopathology to an expanded view that examines protective psychological assets that may promote improved physical health and longevity. We summarize recent evidence of the link between psychological well-being and physical health, with particular attention to outcomes of mortality and chronic disease incidence and progression. Within this evolving discipline there remain controversies and lessons to be learned. We (...) discuss measurement-related challenges, concerns about the quality of the evidence, and other shortcomings in the field, along with a brief discussion of hypothesized biobehavioral mechanisms involved. Finally, we suggest next steps to move the field forward. (shrink)

This reply addresses observations of Drs. Larsen, Kruse, and Sweeny, and Scherer in their reviews of our published work on the link between positive psychological assets and outcomes of physical health. Inspired by Obama’s Precision Medicine Initiative we argue that the interplay between the emotion spectrum and health is likely a complex and heterogeneous amalgam of known and yet unidentified elements melding at the individual level. When exploring the emotion–health link, researchers are challenged to grapple with complex system models by (...) considering multiple hierarchies of information that span individual-level factors, genetic blueprints, and cultural and environmental context. Research is needed to more fully elucidate the mechanism through which emotion influences health, with careful consideration of differences across race/ethnicity, culture, and context. (shrink)

El texto retoma nueve conceptos elaborados en el pensamiento político de Spinoza que, antes que los derechos humanos, formarían parte de una construcción sistemática de los derechos civiles, con vistas a la realización de uná verdadera democracia liberal.

The concept of “health”, in Nietzsche’s philosophy, is not opposed to that of disease but incorporates it within itself. The paper aims to show how being in “good health” has, according to Nietzsche, a physiological significance that is intimately connected to aesthetics. Richard Wagner’s music is the iconic example of how rhythm from medicine can become poison and lead a body to décadence. Even in some patients with neurological diseases, musical rhythm can function as medicine, which does not work equally (...) for everyone but according to individual, embodied laws. (shrink)

Giordano Bruno.--La cena de le ceneri.--De la causa, principio e uno.--De l'infinito, universi e mondi.--Spaccio de la bestia trionfante.--De gli eroici furori.--Accusa e condanna di Bruno.--Nota bibliografica (p. 313-315).

O složenoj koncepciji kategorije »vremena« u Šopovu djelu, napose u njegovoj kozmičkoj fazi, napisane su važne i temeljne rasprave. Ovaj prilog istražuje prozu Nikole Šopa koja prethodi kozmičkoj fazi, kako bi se rekonstruirao razvitak koji je pjesnika doveo do toga da se udalji od »zemaljskog vremena« i da zasnuje »kozmičko vrijeme«. Sat kao konkretan instrument za mjerenje, toliko prisutan kao diskretni protagonist na stranicama Šopovih djela, čini vodeću nit ove analize. To je onaj »zemaljski sat« kojega se pjesnik, dospjevši u (...) svemir, želi osloboditi, ne znajući što činiti s njime: » nekome u džepu skriven kuca zemaljski sat. / Netko ga krije. / Netko još mjeri po starinski. / Tko je, da je, što će mu ta sprava« . Ali to je i sat koji još od prvih pjesama u prozi gubi značajke običnog predmeta da bi bio obdaren metafizičkim svojstvima. (shrink)

Riassunto: In letteratura è nota la tendenza delle persone a punire i comportamenti sleali, anche nel caso in cui tali comportamenti non li riguardino direttamente, e tale punizione possa implicare un costo personale. Sono stati individuati differenti comportamenti di punizione: la punizione altruistica, la punizione di comportamenti sleali ; l’altruismo parrocchiale, la tendenza attraverso la punizione a proteggere e favorire, anche senza alcun guadagno personale, i membri del proprio gruppo a scapito di quelli di altri gruppi, e la punizione antisociale, (...) la punizione a proprio costo di comportamenti di tipo leale, cooperativo. Recentemente l’interesse scientifico nell’ambito delle neuroscienze si è orientato sui processi neuronali coinvolti nei comportamenti di cooperazione e punizione modulati dai propri o differenti contesti di appartenenza di gruppo. Studi recenti hanno indagato non soltanto le differenze comportamentali, ma anche i correlati neurali sottostanti i processi di punizione di comportamenti sleali, che possono violare la cooperazione nei diversi contesti di gruppo. Studi comportamentali mostrano come la punizione di un comportamento sleale si verifichi in differenti contesti di gruppo. Recenti ricerche relative ai correlati neurali evidenziano, durante questo tipo di comportamento, il reclutamento delle aree del reward, del sistema della gratificazione. Esso, quindi, potrebbe rivestire un ruolo centrale nella motivazione e gratificazione della punizione di un comportamento sleale. Parole chiave: Punizione altruistica; Altruismo parrocchiale; Punizione antisociale; Contesti Ingroup e Outgroup; fMRI Punishment and Cooperation in Ingroup and Outgroup Context: The tendency of people to punish unfair behavior, even when this behavior does not directly affect them, or the punishment implies a personal cost, has been reported in the literature. Different types of punishment have been identified: altruistic punishment, the punishment of unfair behaviour; parochial altruism, the tendency to use punishment to protect and favor members of one’s group at the expense of members of other groups, even when it involves no personal gain; and anti-social punishment, punishment of loyal or cooperative behaviors which entails a personal cost. Recently, research in neuroscience has focused on how neuronal processes involved in cooperation and punishment behaviors may be modulated across different personal and group membership contexts. Recent studies have investigated not only behavioral differences, but also the neural correlates of punishing unfair behaviors, which may violate the principle of cooperation in certain group contexts. Behavioral studies show how the punishment of unfair behavior occurs in different group settings. Recent research into the neural correlates of punishment shows the recruitment of the reward areas and the gratification system, suggesting these play a central role in motivation and gratification for punishment of unfair behavior. Keywords: Altruistic Punishment; Parochial Altruism; Antisocial Punishment; Ingroup and Outgroup Settings; fMRI. (shrink)

The new normal has made social distancing a new way of experiencing sociality. Social neuroscience has for a long time been concerned with studying the beneficial effects of social relationships, of physical contact. It is known that physical contact activates neurophysiological processes that reduce the perception of discomfort and even physical pain. So in the absence of physical contact, our social brain may be modulated differently when we are with others. But what could be the long-term effects of this normality? (...) This mini-review focuses on highlighting with the support of social neuroscience evidence such as isolation, distancing can affect people’s health. (shrink)

Simona Giordano investigates the moral concerns raised by current clinical options available for transgender and gender diverse children and adolescents. From the time young children express gender incongruent preferences and attitudes, up to the time in which older adolescents might apply for medical or surgical treatment, moral questions are likely to be asked: should children be enabled to express themselves freely inside and outside the domestic environment? What are the implications of the choices that parents might make early on? (...) How should clinicians respond to distress around sexual anatomy? Is it ethical to suspend pubertal development? What level of evidence should we seek for medications to be used in paediatric care? What are the risks and benefits of various forms of hormonal treatment? Is it ethical to defer surgical interventions till adulthood? Giordano provides a detailed ethical analysis of these and many other questions that are likely to arise at various stages of a person's life and proposes a moral formula to answer these questions, as well as others, that are likely to arise in a fast-changing landscape. Children and Gender combines a detailed ethical analysis with an accurate clinical description of gender development and available clinical pathways. (shrink)

Bd. 1. Das Aschermittwochsmahl. 1904.--Bd. 2. Die Vertreibung der triumphierenden Bestie. 2. Aufl. 1904.--Bd. 3. Zwiegespräche vom unendlichen all und den Welten. 2. Aufl. 1904.--Bd. 4. Von Anfangsgrund, und dem Einem. 1906.--Bd. 5. Eroici furori (Zwiegespräche vom Helden und Schwärmer) 2. Aufl. 1907.--Bd. 6. Kabbala. Kyllenischer Esel. Reden. Inquisitionsakten. 1909.

Transgender children who are not treated for their condition are at high risk of violence and suicide. As a matter of survival, many are willing to take whatever help is available, even if this is offered by illegal sources, and this often traps them into the juvenile criminal system and exposes them to various threats. Endocrinology offers a revolutionary instrument to help children /adolescents with gender identity disorder: suspension of puberty. Suspension of puberty raises many ethical issues, and experts dissent (...) as to when treatment should be commenced and how children should be followed up. This paper argues that suspension of puberty is not only not unethical: if it is likely to improve the child’s quality of life and even save his or her life, then it is indeed unethical to defer treatment. (shrink)

Even the most scientifically reductionist view of the individual reveals that we are complex systems nested within complex systems. These interactions within and among systems are based and depend on numerous variables of our environment. If we define ethics as a system of moral decision making, then it becomes clear that these decisions ultimately affect the situation of managing our activities and relationships with others in our environment. Given that ecology literally means “a study or system of wisdom and reasoning (...) about the interrelation of organisms in their environment or place of inhabitance,” Owen Flanagan's description of ethics as “human ecology” takes on considerable relevance and importance. (shrink)

A demographic revolution is taking place in Europe and worldwide. According to World Health Organization estimates, the number of people aged 60 and over is growing faster than any other age group. This change in the population structure affects disease patterns and is deemed to cause an increase in the demands on healthcare systems. This raises concerns about the ethics of healthcare delivery . What criteria should direct healthcare distribution? Is it right to meet the demands of an ageing population, (...) to the detriment of the younger strata of population? a. (shrink)

This vibrant bilingual edition, annotated by celebrated Bruno scholar Ingrid D. Rowland, features the text in its original Italian alongside an elegant, accurate English translation.