The concept of quality of life is the basis for a new paradigm of clinical medicine. Its assessment is considered to be an important instrument in determining disease severity and effectiveness of different treatment modalities. Our studies are devoted to the problem of diabetes complications especially anemia in patients with diabetic kidney disease. Anemia in subjects with diabetic nephropathy may result from various pathogenic factors including erythropoietin deficiency, iron deficiency, vitamin B12 and/or folate deficiencies, the effects of proinflammatory cytokines etc. (...) Diabetic patients with anemia are at increased risk of cardiovascular accidents and death. The aim of this study was to assess the influence of anemia on the quality of life of patients with early stages of diabetic nephropathy. We investigated 127 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and early diabetic nephropathy. Anemia was defined according to the World Health Organization criteria. Anemic patients were divided into three groups according to the stage of chronic kidney disease. Patients’ quality of life was assessed with SF-36 health survey. Anemic patients had lower scores of physical role functioning and emotional role functioning as compared to the patients with normal hemoglobin level, irrespective of the stage of chronic kidney disease. Patients with anemia and chronic kidney disease stage 3 had lower scores of general health perceptions, physical functioning, bodily pain, vitality and mental health than patients in the non-anemic group. Social role functioning was similar in anemic and non-anemic patients. The possible mechanisms and implications of the above mentioned findings are discussed with a medical and humanitarian perspective. The directions of further studies are proposed. (shrink)

ObjectivesAs the largest cohort of healthcare workers and nurses can practice as psychotherapists to integrate the psychotherapeutic interventions as part of routine care. The present study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of supportive psychotherapy on patients who had been scheduled to undergo a fiberoptic bronchoscopy procedure.MethodsThis study retrospectively analyzed 92 patients who underwent FOB, which was divided into the SPT group and usual-care group based on whether patients were given SPT interventions or not. The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and Hospital Anxiety (...) and Depression Scale were used to determine the severity of depression and anxiety, as well as the 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey questionnaire to evaluate the health-related quality of life. Moreover, the patients' satisfaction was assessed based on the Likert 5-Point Scale.ResultsThe baseline status of anxiety, depression, and HRQoL in patients was similar in the SPT group and the usual-care group with no significant difference. Both PHQ-9 score and HADS-D score in the SPT group after intervention were lower than that in the usual-care group, accompanied by the deceased HADS-A subscale. Moreover, the improved HRQoL was found in the patients undergoing FOB after SPT interventions as compared to those receiving conventional nursing care using the SF-36 score. Additionally, the patient satisfaction in the SPT group was higher than in the usual-care group.ConclusionsThe study demonstrated that anxiety and depression, as negative emotions, can be reduced by supportive psychotherapy in patients receiving FOB with improved mental health and satisfaction with nursing care. (shrink)

Medical, scientific and societal progress has been such that, in a universalist humanist perspective such as the WHO’s, it has become an ethical imperative for the primary endpoints in evidence based health care research to be expressed in e.g. Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs). The classical endpoints of discrete health‐related functions and duration of survival are increasingly perceived as unacceptably reductionistic. The major problem in ‘felicitometrics’ is the measurement of the ‘quality’ term in QALYs. That the mental, physical and social (...) domains, each containing many dimensions and items, all contribute to QOL is uncontroversial. What is controversial, is the weight of the different dimensions in overall QOL. It has been shown to be very different between different patient populations. In human individuals, assuredly complex systems, the many dimensions and items of QOL observably interact, probably sometimes also in chaotic ways. In these conditions, the weights of isolated items in individuals become for all practical purposes meaningless. Therefore, the much used multi‐item questionnaires at best describe, but do not evaluate QOL, neither in individuals, nor in populations. For example, allergic patients treated with cetirizine scored better than those a placebo on all dimensions of the SF‐36, a standard QOL questionnaire. Here there is no serious doubt that the treatment improved QOL, because it is highly unlikely that any important dimension on which the patient groups would have scored otherwise is missing in the SF‐36. However, whether piracetam treatment of acute stroke, which improved the surrogate endpoints neurological and functional scores, also improved QOL is plausible, but will be proven only when comprehensive QOL measurement will have been done. And suppose in randomised populations of end‐stage metastatic solid cancer patients, one would compare palliative last‐line chemotherapy with only palliative care, and one would, as can be expected, find no significant differences in average survival, and chemotherapy superior for the mental domain, but inferior for the physical comfort domain: we would not know which treatment, on aggregate, would be the better. The problem is that QOL is an individual and emergent construct, the resultant of a great many intractions, and of a different order than its contributing components. Overall QOL can therefore best be captured only as the Gestalt of a global self‐assessment. Just as people in everyday life, while acting under uncertainty, make global assessments all the time, so they can seriously answer the serious question: ‘How have you been?’ A solemn, practical, non peer‐relativistic, non‐cultural, experiential, and well tolerated way to obtain such responses is Anamnestic Comparative Self Assessment (ACSA), in which the subjects' memories of the best and the worst times in their life experience define their individual scale of QOL. ACSA is thus both exquisitely idiosyncratic, and yet can in a universalist humanistic perspective be considered generic. Using both a multi‐item questionnaire and a global assessment allows by one logistic regression, to estimate the weights of the dimensions and items in populations, and thus identify those whose improvement would most contribute to the QOL of the greatest number. A combined approach to measurement of QOL is necessary to maximise the utility of QOL interventions. (shrink)

Objective: We aimed to analyze the characteristics and psychological mechanism of depressive symptoms in elderly patients with alcohol dependence under the COVID-19 epidemic and to observe the effect of acupuncture combined with emotional therapy of Chinese medicine treatment on depressive symptoms in elderly patients with alcohol dependence.Methods: Sixty patients were randomly divided into two groups. One group was treated by a set of emotional therapy of Chinese medicine treatment for 12 weeks. One group was treated by a set of acupuncture (...) combined with emotional therapy of Chinese medicine treatment for 12 weeks. We compared the curative effect between the control group and the treatment group, the mean alcohol consumption, the SF-36 scores before and after treatment, and the scores of Hamilton Depression Scale before and after treatment of 3, 6, and 9 weeks.Results: Based on the cognitive behavior model, the characteristics and psychological mechanism of depression in elderly patients with alcohol dependence under the COVID-19 epidemic situation were summarized. The total effective rate of the control group was 60%, and that of the treatment group was 100%. After 12 weeks of treatment, there were significant differences in PF, RF, physical pain, general health status, energy, and mental health between the treatment group and the control group. Before and after treatment, there were significant differences in PF, RF, physical pain, general health, energy, emotional function, and mental health of the treatment group. The PF, energy, and mental health of the control group were significantly different before and after treatment. There was no significant difference between the treatment group and the control group in the scores of Hamilton Depression Scale before treatment. There was significant difference between the treatment group and the control group in the scores of Hamilton Depression Scale at 3, 6, and 9 weeks after treatment.Conclusion: Attention, cognition, emotion, behavior, and physical response reinforce each other, creating a vicious cycle that reinforces and sustains the depressive symptoms of elderly alcohol dependence under the COVID-19 epidemic, and acupuncture combined with emotional therapy of Chinese medicine treatment for improving the depressive symptoms of elderly alcohol dependence during the epidemic period of COVID-19 has a brilliant therapeutic effect. (shrink)

Following Bernheim,1 we examine aspects of 'felicitometrics,'2 the measurement of the 'quality' term in Quality of Life (QOL). Bernheim argued that overall QOL is best captured as the Gestalt3 of a global self-assessment and suggested that the Anamnestic Comparative Self Assessment (ACSA) approach, in which subjects' memories of the best and worst times of their lives are used to anchor a Visual Analog Scale (VAS), provided a serious answer to the serious question, 'How have you been?' Bernheim compares and contrasts (...) the ACSA to multi-item questionnaire QOL instruments, such as the SF-36, concluding that the ACSA has a number of advantages. His discussion assumes that the use of QOL outcomes in clinical trials is both relevant and appropriate. In the present paper, we document the reasonableness of this latter assumption,4 contribute to the characterization of the similarities and differences between multi-item and individualized QOL instruments, and point to some other individualized instruments that may be used in clinical trial contexts. These 'other individualized instruments' differ from the ACSA in fundamental ways; but they are individualized in that the subject defines those areas in his/her life that are most important, and these may vary from subject-to-subject. (shrink)

Rare neuromuscular diseases are a group of pathologies characterized by a progressive loss of muscular strength, atrophy, fatigue, and other muscle-related symptoms, which affect quality of life levels. The low prevalence, high geographical dispersion and disability of these individuals involve difficulties in accessing health and social care services. Teleassistance is presented as a useful tool to perform psychosocial interventions in these situations. The main aim of this research is to assess the effects of a teleassistance psychosocial program on the QoL (...) levels of people with RNMDs who have different levels of disability. A sample of 73 participants was divided into an experimental group, which participated in the intervention, and a control wait list group. QoL was evaluated through the SIP and the SF-36, and disability through the WHO-DAS II. The participants with a moderate to severe level of disability were those who most benefited from the intervention. The results also revealed that the psychosocial teleassistance program was suitable to improve physical and psychosocial aspects of people suffering from a rare neuromuscular disease with a moderate level of disability, but just psychosocial aspects in those with a severe level of disability. (shrink)

Due to advances in medicine, a malignant neoplasm is a chronic disease that can be treated for a lot of patients for many years. It may lead to profound changes in everyday life and may induce fear of life. The ability to adjust to a new situation may depend on temperamental traits and stress coping strategies. The research presented in this paper explores the relationships between quality of life, PTSD symptoms, temperamental traits, and stress coping in a sample of patients (...) diagnosed with cancer. One hundred and twenty nine participants aged 24–81 years, 69 females diagnosed with breast cancer and 60 males diagnosed with lung cancer completed Formal Characteristics of Behavior – Temperament Inventory, Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations, PTSD Inventory, and Quality of life SF-36 questionnaire. Higher level of emotional reactivity and higher level of perseveration was associated with lower emotional quality of life. Higher level of emotion oriented-coping and higher level of avoidant-distracted coping was associated with higher level of PTSD symptoms. Emotion-oriented coping and avoidant-distracted coping are ineffective in dealing with stress in the case of patients diagnosed with cancer, because they are associated with a higher level of PTSD symptoms. The significance of temperamental traits for quality of life in the situation of the patients is marginal. Control of specific factors concerned with current health and treatment status is needed the future research. (shrink)

BackgroundHealth-related quality of life is known to be impaired in individuals with coronary artery disease, especially in those after a recent acute coronary syndrome. Heart failure is a common burden in this population that significantly contributes to worsening HRQoL. To accurately measure the level of HRQoL in individuals with CAD after ACS, disease-specific scales, such as the Minnesota living with heart failure questionnaire, are recommended. Nevertheless, to date, there has not been a study that would comprehensively evaluate the psychometric properties (...) of the MLHFQ in a large sample of individuals with CAD after ACS. The debate regarding the internal structure of MLHFQ is also still present. Hence, this study aimed to translate the MLHFQ and evaluate its internal structure, reliability/precision, and validity in individuals with CAD following ACS in Lithuania.MethodsIn the cross-sectional study, 1,083 participants were evaluated for sociodemographic and clinical characteristics. HRQoL was measured using the MLHFQ and the Short Form-36 health survey. In addition, exercise capacity was also evaluated in the study patients, using a standardized computer-driven bicycle ergometer.ResultsThe internal consistency of the MLHFQ subscales was found to be good. Confirmatory factor analysis provided the support for the three-factor model of the MLHFQ and showed acceptable fit [comparative fit indices = 0.894; goodness-of-fit = 0.898; non-normal fit index = 0.879, and root mean square error of approximation = 0.073]. Regarding convergent evidence, significant associations were found between the MLHFQ domains and the SF-36 domains and EC.ConclusionThe current study completed cultural validation and provided further information on the psychometric characteristics of the MLHFQ in Lithuania, suggesting MLHFQ as a valid and reliable instrument to measure HRQoL. The Lithuanian version of MLHFQ is best described by a three-factor solution, measuring physical, social, and emotional dimensions of HRQoL among individuals with CAD following ACS. (shrink)

O presente estudo teve como objetivo verificar a relação entre o estado nutricional e a autopercepção de saúde de professores que atuam em escolas da rede pública em um município da região norte do PR/Brasil. O estudo foi de natureza aplicada, analítica e transversal.O estado nutricional foi avaliado pelo índice de massa corporal e a obesidade abdominal pela circunferência da cintura. O Medical Outcomes Short-Form Health Survey-SF-36 determinou a autopercepção de saúde e o Beck Depression Inventory -BDI,a saúde mental. Participaram (...) do estudo 100 professores, desses 60% estavam acima do peso e 66% apresentaram obesidade abdominal. O domínio de SF – 36 que apresentou menor escore foi vitalidade (65,55) e estado geral de saúde (70,02), os domínios com maiores escores foram capacidade funcional (83,00) e aspectos sociais (78,50). Pode-se constatar que os educadores necessitam de estratégias e programas voltados para a promoção da saúde no local de trabalho. (shrink)

Under other circumstances, I would have written an academic paper rehearsing the arguments for and against legalization of physician-assisted suicide: autonomy and the avoidance of pain and suffering on the pro side, the wrongness of killing, the integrity of the medical profession, and the risk of abuse, the “slippery slope,” on the con side. I’ve always supported the pro side. What this paper is, however, is a highly personal account of the challenges to my thinking about right-to-die issues. In November (...) 2008, my husband suffered a C2/C3 spinal cord injury in a bicycle collision, leaving him ventilator-dependent, almost completely paralyzed, and in the hospital—but fully alert and profoundly self-reflective. What if he wanted to die? This paper draws from two multimedia presentations—file:///Users/margaretbattin/Documents/BROOKE’S%20ACCIDENT/The%20Salt%20Lake%20Tribune %20%7C%20Multimedia:%20Metamorphosis.webarchive and file:///Users/margaretbattin/Documents/BROOKE’S%20ACCIDENT/The%20Salt%20Lake%20Tribune%20%7C%20Multi media:%20Learning%20to%20live%20again.webarchive—and personal material concerning quality of life (he’d rank at the bottom on the SF-36 and similar scales) and concerning autonomy (his own accounts, verbatim). This is a detailed portrait of a man whose life involves extraordinary suffering but also luminous experience some of the time. It only makes the question harder: What if he wanted to die? (shrink)

Brief submaximal actions are important for wide range of functional movements. Until now, rate of force development and relaxation scaling factor have been used for neuromuscular assessment using 100–120 isometric pulses which requires a high level of attention from the participant and may be influenced by physiological and/or psychological fatigue. All previous studies have been conducted on a smaller number of participants which calls into question the eligibility of some of the outcome measures reported to date. Our aims were: to (...) find the smallest number of rapid isometric force pulses at different force amplitudes is still valid and reliable for RFD-SF slope and RFR-SF slope calculation, to introduce a new outcome measure – theoretical peak of rate of force development/relaxation and to investigate differences and associations between kRFD–SF and kRFR–SF. A cross-sectional study was conducted on a group of young healthy participants; 40 in the reliability study and 336 in the comparison/association study. We investigated the smallest number of rapid isometric pulses for knee extensors that still provides excellent reliability of the calculated kRFD–SF and kRFR–SF. Our results showed excellent reliability of the reduced protocol when 36 pulses were used for the calculations of kRFD–SF and kRFR–SF. We confirmed the negligibility of the y-intercepts and confirmed the reliability of the newly introduced TPRFD and TPRFR. Large negative associations were found between kRFD–SF and kRFR–SF, while comparison of the absolute values showed a significantly higher kRFD–SF compared to kRFR–SF. The advantage of the reduced protocol is the shorter assessment time and the reduction of possible influence of fatigue. In addition, the introduction of TPRFD and TPRFR as an outcome measure provides valuable information about the participant’s maximal theoretical RFD/RFR capacity. This can be useful for the assessment of maximal capacity in people with various impairments or pain problems. (shrink)

Books Reviewed in this Article: Transforming Bible Study. By Walter Wink. Pp.175, London, SCM Press, 1981, £3.50. Isaiah 1–39. By R.E. Clements. Pp.xvi. 301, London, Marshall, Morgan and Scott, 1980, £3.95. Isaiah 40–66. By R.N. Whybray. Pp.301, London, Marshall, Morgan and Scott, 1975, Reprinted 1981, £3.95. Die Gestalt Jesu in den synoptischen Evangelien. By Heinrich Kahlefeld. Pp.264, Frankfurt, Verlag Josef Knecht, 1981, no price given. Following Jesus: Discipleship in the Gospel of Mark. By Ernest Best. Pp.283, Sheffield, JSOT Press, 1981, (...) £15.00, £5.95. The Origin of Paul's Gospel. By Seyoon Kim. Pp.xii, 391, Tübingen, J.C.B. Mohr, 1981, 78 DM. An die Römer. By Ernst Käsemann. Pp.xvi, 411, Tübingen, J.C.B. Mohr, 1980, 48 DM. Les Récits de Resurrection des Morts dans le Nouveau Testament. By Gerard Rochais. Pp.xv, 252, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1981, £15.00. Prêtres Anciens, Prétre Nouveau selon le Nouveau Testament. By Albert Vanhoye. Pp.366, Paris Editions du Seuil, 1980, no price given. Woman in the World of Jesus. By Evelyn and Frank Stagg. Pp.292, Edinburgh, The St Andrew Press, 1981, no price given. Jesus, Man and the Church. By Karl Rahner. Pp.260, London, Darton Longman & Todd, 1981, £14.50. Jesus Lord and Savior: A Theopathic Christology and Soteriology. By William M. Thompson. Pp.ix, 287, Leominster, Fowler Wright, 1981, £7.45. God and World in Schleiermacher's ‘Dialektik’ and ‘Glaubenslehre’. Criticism and the Methodology of Dogmatics. By John E. Thiel. Pp.xiv, 239, Bern, Frankfurt and Las Vegas, Peter Lang, 1981, SF 49.50. Ministry: A Case for Change. By Edward Schillebeeckx. Pp.ix, 165, London, SCM Press, 1981, £4.95. The Sacraments: Readings in Contemporary Sacramental Theology. Edited by Michael J. Taylor. Pp.274, New York, Alba House, 1981, $7.95. Believing in the Church: The Corporate Nature of Faith. A Report by the Doctrine Commission of the Church of England. Pp.ix, 310, London, SPCK, 1981, £8.50. Confessing the Faith in the Church of England Today. By R.T. Beckwith. Pp.36, Oxford, La timer House, 1981, £1.00. A Kind of Noah's Ark? The Anglican Commitment to Comprehensiveness. By J.I. Packer. Pp.39, Oxford, Latimer House, 1981, £1.00. Reasonable Belief: A Survey of the Christian Faith. By Anthony Hanson and Richard Hanson. Pp.xii, 283, Oxford University Press, 1981, £8.50. Doctrine in the Church of England. The 1938 Report with a new introduction by G.W.H. Lampe. Pp.lx, 242, London, SPCK, 1982, £8.50. The Divine Right of the Papacy in Recent Ecumenical Theology. By J. Michael Miller. Pp.xvi, 322, Rome, Università Gregoriana Editrice, 1980, 18,000 Lire. Der heilige Geist in der Theologie von Heribert Mühlen: Versucheiner Darstellung und Würdigung. By John B. Banawiratma. Pp.ix, 310, Frankfurt and Bern: Peter D. Lang, 1981, SFr. 60.00. Standing Before God: Studies on Prayer in Scriptures and Tradition with Essays in Honor of John M. Oesterreicher. Edited by Asher Frinkel and Lawrence Frizzell. Pp.410, New York, Ktav Publishing House, 1981, $29.50. Judaism and Healing. By J. David Bleich. Pp.xiii, 199, New York, Ktav, 1981, $15.00. The Diversity of Moral Thinking. By Neil Cooper. Pp.x, 303, Oxford, Clarendon Press: Oxford University Press, 1981, £15.00. L'Homme: Sujet ou Objet? By Jacques Croteau. Pp.260, Montreal, Bellarmin: Tournai, Desclée et Cie, 1981, $15.00. The Texture of Knowledge: An Essay on Religion and Science. By James W. Jones. Pp.97, Washington, University Press of America, 1981, no price given. Cosmos and Creator. By Stanley L. Jaki. Pp.xii, 168, Edinburgh, Scottish Academic Press, 1980, £6.75. Dante, Philomythes and Philosopher: Man in the Cosmos. By Patrick Boyde. Pp.vii, 408, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1981, £30.00. Dissidence et Philosophie au Mayen Âge. By E.L. Fortin. Pp.201, Montreal, Bellarmin, 1981, $12.00. The Philosophy of John Norris of Bemerton. By Richard Acworth. Pp.x, 388, Hildesheim, Georg Olms, 1979, 74 DM. Philosophy and Ideology in Hume's Political Thought. By David Miller. Pp.xii, 218, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1981, £15.00. Hegelianism. By John Edward Toews. Pp.x, 450, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1980, £25.00. One Hundred Years of Thomism. Edited by V.B. Brezik. Pp.210, Houston, Centre for Thomistic Studies, 1981, no price given. Gramsci's Political Thought: Hegemony, Consciousness and the Revolutionary Process. By J.V. Femia. Pp.xiii, 303, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1981, £17.50. Greek and Roman Slavery. By Thomas Wiedemann. Pp.xvi, 284, London, Croom Helm, 1981, £10.95, £5.95. Prophecy and Millenarianism. Essays in Honour of Marjorie Reeves. Edited by Ann Williams. Pp.x, 355, London, Longman, 1980, £25.00. Of Prelates and Princes: A Study of the Economic and Social Position of the Tudor Episcopate. By Felicity Heal. Pp.xv, 353, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1980, £17.50. Radical Religious Movements in Early Modern Europe. By Michael Mullett. Pp.xxiv, 193, London, George Allen & Unwin, 1980, £10.50. The Jesuits. By J.C.H. Aveling. Pp.390, London, Blond and Briggs, 1981, £16.95. The Beginnings of Ideology. By Donald R. Kelley. Pp.xv, 351, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1981, £24.00. Utopia and the Ideal Society: A Study of English Utopian Writing 1516–1700. By J.C. Davis. Pp.x, 427, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1981, £25.00. Eastern Politics of the Vatican 1917–1979. By Hansjakob Stehle. Pp.466, Athens, Ohio University Press, 1981, £16.20, £8.10. Structuralism or Criticism? By Geoffrey Strickland. Pp.viii, 209, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1981, £17.50. The Call of God: The Theme of Vocation in the Poetry of Donne and Herbert. By Robert B. Shaw. Pp.xiii, 123, Cambridge, Mass., Cowley Publications, 1981, $5.00. John and Charles Wesley: Selected Prayers, Hymns, Journal Notes, Sermons, Letters and Treatises. Edited by Frank Whaling. Pp.xx, 412, London, SPCK, 1981, £8.95. The Trickster in West Africa: A Study of Mythic Irony and Sacred Delight. By Robert D. Pelton. Pp.312, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1980, £15.00. (shrink)

As we enter the 21st century, we do well to consider the values implicit in science fiction, the principal arena of future speculation in popular culture. This study explored whether consumption of science fiction (SF) is correlated with distinctive socio-ethical views. SF tends to advocate the extension of value and rights to all forms of intelligence, regardless of physical form; enthusiasm for technology; and social and economic libertarianism. This suggests that consumers with these socio-ethical views would be attracted to the (...) SF genre, and that amount of SF consumption would be correlated with adoption of these views. -/- Groups of respondents involved in medical ethical and environmental issues were surveyed in 1992 (N=278). SF consumption was found, at first-order correlation and controlling for covariates, to be associated with: greater support for extending rights to animal and machine intelligence; greater enthusiasm for technology, and rejection of limits to human endeavors; and greater social libertarianism. SF consumption was not associated with specific views on the cognitively and physically disabled; support for abortion rights; or economic libertarianism. (shrink)

This article draws on Donna Haraway’s call for feminist speculative fabulation as an approach to qualitative research methodologies and writing praxis in schools. The first section of the article outlines how I conceptualize speculative thought, through different philosophers and theorists, and provides a brief literature review of speculative fiction used in secondary English curricula. The article then focuses on an in school creative writing project with grade 9 English students. In the student examples that I attend to, speculative fabulations and (...) situated feminisms are entangled, rendered complex, and in tension. In the final section, I discuss the Whiteness of mainstream speculative fiction and argue that speculative fabulation must be accountable to situated feminisms in how we read, write, and conduct research. (shrink)

Gedankenübertragung. Gegenübertragung. Thought-transference and counter-transference have rarely been considered together. One is a key instrument in much contemporary psychoanalytic practice and the other simply occultism. This essay traces the striking parallels in Sigmund Freud's interests in both. Its tale is the uncanny narrative of his essay ‘Psychoanalysis and Telepathy’. The story starts from Freud's engagements with Sándor Ferenczi and Carl Jung to speculate that his unpublished paper may be the article on counter-transference he promised but never wrote. The repressed returns (...) in the history and practice of psychoanalysis — and in Shoshana Felman's uncanny reading effect. (shrink)

이 글의 시발점은 해러웨이에게 ‘사이보그 페미니즘’의 상상력을 제공했던, 70년대 페미니스트 SF에 대한 관심이었다. ‘소년들의 과학적 오락물’이라는 게토에서 출발한 SF가 페미니스트 문학의 대안적 서사 전략, 새로운 페미니스트 정치학의 단초가 되기까지, 여성작가들은 장르적 관습에 부응하여 글을 쓰고 또 그것을 변형하면서 활용해 왔다. 이 글은 70년대 그가 사실은 앨리스 셸던(Alice B. Sheldon)이라는 중년여성이었다는 사실이 밝혀지기 전까지, ‘남성적 스타일’로 사랑받았던 ‘제임스 팁트리 주니어(James Tiptree, Jr.)’를 읽어 보려고 한다. 팁트리 주니어는 지금 페미니스트 SF의 대표작가 중 하나다.BR ‘남성적 스타일’과 ‘페미니스트 SF’라는 평가 사이에 놓인 팁트리 주니어의 (...) SF를 읽으면서, 먼저 장르적 글쓰기와 젠더의 관계에 대해, 글을 쓰는 몸의 성(sex)과 쓰여진 텍스트 스타일에 대한 젠더적 평가 사이의 관계에 대해 생각해 보려고 한다. 이것은 팁트리의 글쓰기 양식(style)에 대한 분석이자, 그의 SF가 보여준 세계관과 페미니스트 상상력에 대한 분석이기도 하다. 또한 조금 뒤늦게 앨리스 셸던의 또 다른 분신으로 등장한 라쿠나 셸던(Raccoona Sheldon)의 SF를 팁트리 주니어의 것과 비교하면서, 젠더 정체성의 경계에 대해, 그리고 글쓰기를 통한 ‘젠더하기(performing gender)’에 대해 살펴 볼 것이다. 이를 통해, 팁트리의 SF는 해러웨이가 주장하는 ‘사이보그 글쓰기’의 한 사례가 될 수 있다는 사실이 드러날 것이다. 해러웨이에게 SF는 정치적 의미와 지향을 담은 글쓰기로, 미래를 향하지만 지금을 성찰하는 도구로 이해된다. 그녀는 페미니스트 SF를 위계적 이분법을 교란하고 정체성의 경계를 문제 삼는 새로운 페미니스트 정치학의 ‘사이보그 테크놀로지’로 받아들인다. 팁트리의 글쓰기는 자연과 문화의 관계를 재설정하고 ‘자연의 재발명’을 상상한다는 점에서, 그리고 또 주체와 타자 사이의 경계를 물으며 이분법적 질서를 교란한다는 점에서, 해러웨이가 말하는 사이보그 글쓰기의 실천으로 읽을 수 있다. (shrink)

Les utopies se situent souvent dans des futurs où le handicap et la maladie n’existent plus. À rebours de ces rêves d’éradication, les SF crip spéculent sur les manières dont les vies handies permettent d’imaginer d’autres mondes. Ni des métaphores, ni des idéaux, ni des super-pouvoirs ou des vies improbables, les expériences crip deviennent des occasions de penser nos rapports à la terre, au corps et aux technologies qui les traversent.

This article draws on Donna Haraway’s call for feminist speculative fabulation as an approach to qualitative research methodologies and writing praxis in schools. The first section of the article outlines how I conceptualize speculative thought, through different philosophers and theorists, and provides a brief literature review of speculative fiction used in secondary English curricula. The article then focuses on an in school creative writing project with grade 9 English students. In the student examples that I attend to, speculative fabulations and (...) situated feminisms are entangled, rendered complex, and in tension. In the final section, I discuss the Whiteness of mainstream speculative fiction and argue that speculative fabulation must be accountable to situated feminisms in how we read, write, and conduct research. (shrink)

When I first held a copy of Isabelle Stengers’s passionate book, a big tome that tangles with a truly speculative philosopher, one we were both in love with, I misread the actual title, Penser avec Whitehead, as Pensez avec Whitehead! My French is better than that, but I fear my character is not. I saw an imperative rather than a situated practice of thinking-with. Horrified but laughing, in a characteristic act of friendship, with earth-rooted and precise abstractions, Stengers lured me (...) to think with her beyond the catastrophes of my always-ready-to-hand self-certainties and ideologies. She has taught me—taught us—to recognize the killing trap of believing that we have nothing but infernal choices, each of which... (shrink)

Serial issues closely marry the major anthropological questions that a society asks itself… or is about to ask itself; here unfolds “the infinite possibility of possibilities”, and we will see that the theme of the extended human gradually increases in power, often from the angle of a transhumanism gone mad. Anchoring the theme of technological increase in the sexual imagination makes it possible to immediately focus on the intimate fantasy of each reader/viewer; this “situated” motif also singles out the subject, (...) who is nevertheless doomed to the stereotypy of the gender product, post-fordist but necessarily subject to identifiable patterns. The dissensus between the obscure desirability of the process and the horror of the underlying ideologies will therefore form the framework of this statement; the dystopian colouring in fact affects the essence of the device, but without the absence of a form of shameful fascination for this technological, or even epistemocratic, « immortality » that science seems to promise—to the wealthiest in any case. (shrink)

We study the logical relationship of various forms of induction, as well as quantification operators in applicative theories. In both cases the introduced notion of $\hbox{\sf N}$ -strictness allows us to obtain the appropriate results.