LH supplementation in IVF: human nature, politics, and elephants in the room

Luteinizing hormone (LH) is present throughout the natural follicular phase. However, the debate is still not settled on whether LH is needed during ovarian stimulation in IVF. This commentary looks at the evolution of this debate, mentioning three elephants in the room that were ignored by the Pharma industry, professional organizations, and clinicians alike: 1. The different endocrinology between the long agonist and the antagonist protocols. 2. The fixed dose of the two most widely commercially available antagonist preparations, namely cetrorelix and ganirelix. 3. The fact that most research in this area uses population-based criteria, ignoring endocrine parameters. Individual genetics of the LH receptor gene may also serve to individualize LH needs during stimulation; however, the jury is still out regarding this approach. CONCLUSIONS: Individual endocrine and genetics parameters may shed meaningful light on the question of LH supplemental during ovarian stimulation.

It's very difficult to set the boundaries, it's human nature to want to respond: exploring health professions educators' responses to student mental health difficulties through a positioning theory lens

By virtue of their teaching role and contact with students, health professions (HP) educators are often the first point of connection for students who are experiencing mental health difficulties. Educators are increasingly expected to include some form of pastoral care in their role. Mental health-related interactions with students may have a negative emotional impact on educators, particularly when roles and expectations are not clearly defined and where boundaries are not managed effectively. Using positioning theory as a lens, this study explored how educators experienced such interactions and how this manifested in positions, storylines, and speech acts. Interviews were conducted with 27 HP educators at a faculty of medicine and health sciences. Reflexive thematic analysis using inductive coding identified themes corresponding to the nearing, weighted, ambivalent, and distancing positions participants adopted in relation to students with mental health difficulties. There was fluidity in and between positions, and more than one position could be occupied simultaneously; participants each moved through different positions in response to different relational situations. Multiple storylines informed these positions, representing how moral- and care-informed responsibility intersected with responsiveness to make certain actions possible or impossible. Normative and personal value narratives were evident in storylines, in many cases underscored by care or justice ethics. The value of positioning theory in facilitating reflective faculty development initiatives for educators engaged in these interactions is discussed.

Can human nature be saved?

This paper argues that the best interpretation of the human nature concept used in evolutionary social science (ESS) is as the human adaptive complex. This understanding of the concept enables us to make sense of the features of human nature that are described in that literature as symptomatic of traits which are part of human nature, rather than being constitutive of human nature itself. This enables this proposal to make better sense of how the human nature concept is used than other current proposals for how to understand that concept.

Anthropology and history in the early Dilthey

Dilthey frequently recognizes anthropology as a foundational science of human nature and as a cornerstone in the system of the human sciences. While much has been written about Dilthey's "philosophical anthropology," relatively little attention has been paid to his views on the emerging empirical science of anthropology. This paper examines Dilthey's relation to the new discipline by focusing on his reception of its leading German representatives. Using his book reviews, essays, and drafts for Introduction to the Human Sciences from the 1860s-70s, it highlights the influence of the new anthropology on his earliest attempts to elaborate the foundations of the Geisteswissenschaften. It argues that anthropology was a key source for some of the naturalistic features of Dilthey's philosophy, and that it pulled him in a direction contrary to the historicist hermeneutics of his teachers.

Automata, reason, and free will: Leibniz's critique of Descartes on animal and human nature

This paper argues that Leibniz's use of the concept of "automaton" to characterize the nature of souls and bodies of living beings constitutes a systematic critique of Descartes' earlier use of automata. Whereas Descartes conceived non-human animals in terms of mechanical automata, he also denied that the human rational soul can be modeled on the nature of an automaton. In contrast, Leibniz understood living things to involve both an organic body, or "natural automaton," as well as an immaterial soul, or "spiritual automaton," that spontaneously produces its own perceptions. In extending the concept of the automaton to souls, Leibniz rejected key Cartesian assumptions about animals and free will and draws on the concept of the automaton to understand a range of cognitive capacities including volition. Leibniz thus occupies a distinctive place in the history of the use of automata to understand the nature of living things.

Rereading Habermas in Times of CRISPR-cas: A Critique of and an Alternative to the Instrumentalist Interpretation of the Human Nature Argument

Habermas's argument from human nature, which speaks in favour of holding back the use of human germline editing for purposes of enhancement, has lately received criticism anew. Prominent are objections to its supposedly genetic essentialist and determinist framework, which underestimates social impacts on human development. I argue that this criticism originates from an instrumentalist reading of Habermas's argument, which wrongly focuses on empirical conditions and means-ends-relations. Drawing on Habermas's distinction of a threefold use of practical reason, I show how an alternative-the ethical-reading avoids essentialist and determinist objections by addressing an existential level of sense making. I present three reasons that speak in favour of the ethical reading and I demonstrate how it incorporates social aspects of character formation. Habermas's account therefore offers exactly what the critics claim is missing. The paper concludes with a conceptual challenge that the ethical reading has to face within Habermas's overall approach to genetic engineering.

[Distinguishing human characteristics based on hair metabolomics and proteomics: a review]

Human hair, a kind of natural fiber mainly composed of keratin and keratin-associated proteins, is a good biological sample that can be used to characterize the status of the body in a certain period of time. It is of highly importance in the detection of drugs, alcohol and stimulants because of the advantages of low cost, easy collection, easy transportation and storage. Proteomics is an emerging technology widely used in the field of life sciences to study protein expression and regulation at the holistic level. Investigating the composition and dynamic changes of hair proteins in different populations would have great potential in finding disease markers and distinguishing personal traits. In this paper, the structure and composition of hair, the changes of hair composition under psychological stress, and the research progress of hair proteomics were comprehensively reviewed. This will help using hair proteomics to identify body characteristics.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on human-nature relations in a remote nature-based tourism destination

Tourism and nature-based recreation has changed dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic. Travel restrictions caused sharp declines in visitation numbers, particularly in remote areas, such as northern Norway. In addition, the pandemic may have altered human-nature relationships by changing visitor behaviour and preferences. We studied visitor numbers and behaviour in northern Norway, based on user-generated data, in the form of photographic material that was uploaded to the popular online platform Flickr. A total of 195.200 photographs, taken by 5.247 photographers were subjected to Google’s “Cloud Vision” automatic content analysis algorithm. The resulting collection of labels that were assigned to each photograph was analysed in structural topic models, using photography date (relative to the start of the pandemic measures in Norway) and reported or estimated photographers’ nationality as explanatory variables. Our results show that nature-based recreation relating to “mountains” and “winter” became more prevalent during the pandemic, amongst both domestic and international photographers. Shifts in preferences due to the pandemic outbreak strongly depended on nationality, with domestic visitors demonstrating a wide interest in topics while international visitors maintained their preference for nature-based experiences. Among those activities that suffered the most from decline in international tourism was northern lights and cruises as indicated by the topic models. On the other hand, images depicting mountains and flora and fauna increased their prevalence during the pandemic. Domestic visitors, on the other hand, spent more time in urban settings as a result of restrictions, which results in a higher prevalence of non-nature related images. Our results underscore the need to consider the dynamic nature of human-nature relationships. The contrast in flexibility to adapt to changing conditions and travel restrictions should be incorporated in collaborative efforts of municipalities and tour operators to develop sustainable local nature-based tourism products, particularly in remote areas.

Society for the History of Psychology news and notes

Cheiron's Book Prize Committee is pleased to announce that the recipient of the 2022 Prize is Nadine Weidman, Lecturer on the History of Science at Harvard University, for her book Killer Instinct: The Popular Science of Human Nature in Twentieth-Century America. In other news from the Society for the History of Psychology, Marjorie Lorch has recently published an article on how the concept of a matched control group was initially developed in neuropsychological testing. Lorch, M. P. (2022). Defining 'normal': Methodological issues in Aphasia and intelligence research. Cortex, 153, 224-234. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Can we get human nature right?

Few questions in science are as controversial as human nature. At stake is whether our basic concepts and emotions are all learned from experience, or whether some are innate. Here, I demonstrate that reasoning about innateness is biased by the basic workings of the human mind. Psychological science suggests that newborns possess core concepts of "object" and "number." Laypeople, however, believe that newborns are devoid of such notions but that they can recognize emotions. Moreover, people presume that concepts are learned, whereas emotions (along with sensations and actions) are innate. I trace these beliefs to two tacit psychological principles: intuitive dualism and essentialism. Essentialism guides tacit reasoning about biological inheritance and suggests that innate traits reside in the body; per intuitive dualism, however, the mind seems ethereal, distinct from the body. It thus follows that, in our intuitive psychology, concepts (which people falsely consider as disembodied) must be learned, whereas emotions, sensations, and emotions (which are considered embodied) are likely innate; these predictions are in line with the experimental results. These conclusions do not speak to the question of whether concepts and emotions are innate, but they suggest caution in its scientific evaluation.

Personality types of patients with glaucoma: A systematic review of observational studies

OBJECTIVES

To synthesize recent empirical research on the association between personality and glaucoma among this sub-population.

METHODS

PubMed/MEDLINE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), EMBASE, Scopus and ScienceDirect databases were searched to identify eligible studies published between January 1950 and March 2019 in any language. The quality of included observational studies was assessed using an 11-item checklist which was recommended by Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). After using the checklist, 12 papers are included into the systematic review.

RESULTS

There are some differences on the studies about the negative personality of glaucoma patients. In spite of these differences, most included studies significantly showed that glaucoma patients tend to or do have some specific personality.

CONCLUSION

The extant research could demonstrate that glaucoma patients tend to have some negative personality in some extent. Future studies are needed to provide more convincing support to personality of glaucoma patients.

[Posfeminist and transhumanism: a historical relationship]

Gender post-feminism or ″gender ideology″ is a revolution against man that denies the existence of his human nature, and promotes a homogenized world with interchangeable roles without sexual distinction. As man has been transforming the world with technology and depending on it, he has been changing himself and we get to the point that, when faced with a machine and a human being, we opt for the machine because the human being seems imperfect to us. The transhumanist ideology as an overcoming of the human supposes the dehumanization of man. It is not that we only transform into other beings, but we could end up despising the human. Does a totally artificial world await us? The key question we have to ask ourselves is what perspective of man does transhumanism have? What are we to this ideology? Will it show the happiness of man?

[Transhumanism and law: from human nature to self-determination as the foundation of human rights]

This article analyzes the general evolution of human rights due to the influence of transhumanist ideas, which were already present in 1948. Specifically, we will consider their denial of human nature, and self-determination as the new cornerstone of the legal order. We will see how nature is no longer considered the foundation of law, and instead how the focus is now on self-determination and the possibilities of technology. Although the 1948 Declaration of Rights has not changed, the anthropological conception has been modified, and new rights have been introduced, thanks to the interpretation made by the courts. The proposal is to recover the notion of human nature and natural law, which offers a universal terrain for dialogue and inspiring keys to find the true rights of the person and the good of society.

[Transhumanism and desire: phenomenological approach]

In this article we approach to understand the presuppositions of the transhumanist current to recognize some of the fundamental and universal notes of human nature that are manifested through its proposals. From the approaches of transhumanism, the human being can be recognized as a yearning being, a being who naturally desires. Moreover, it is recognized that this desire motivates the action of man and that the person is always on the way to perfection, motivated to overcome without limits what reality offers him to fulfill his desire for fulfillment. In addition, the main proposals for human improvement sustained from transhumanism are analyzed to understand which are the desires of the heart of man that are manifested through them. The recognition of these desires can be taken as a good starting point for the dialogue between transhumanism and other currents that recognize desire as a fundamental part of a human nature. We also judge whether transhumanism can be understood as an adequate response to satisfy the deepest desires of the human heart for happiness and fulfillment, concluding that transhumanist theses are insufficient when it comes to calming the fundamental concerns of human heart.

[Human nature in the Aristotelian-Thomist tradition: a brief exposition]

The present work analyzes the classical notion of human nature. He studies this concept in Aristotle, in whom the Greek intellectual understanding of the notion of nature culminates as the later Thomistic reception of it. The main objective of this work is to provide a brief and concise introduction to the philosophy of man, which underlies in many of the authors who not only consider transhumanist thought reductive, with respect to their conception of what man is, but also they try to provide ethical solutions to take on the great opportunities that technoscience presents to today's man.

An Exploration of Characteristics and Behavioral Traits of DAISY Honorees and Nominees: A Qualitative Study

BACKGROUND

In the literature, an abundance of stories exist describing patient situations and caregiver actions, but only 2 studies were identified that outline DAISY honorees' actions and behavioral characteristics.

OBJECTIVE

This study utilized patient nomination data and DAISY honoree insight to identify and gain better understanding of the characteristics and behavioral traits of DAISY nurses.

METHODS

A grounded theory approach and purposive sample were used in this study, which was conducted in 2 phases using 2 different data sets. In phase 1, the NarrativeDx AI platform generated insights from DAISY nomination comments. In phase 2, a survey was administered to DAISY honorees collecting descriptive data that were analyzed in SPSS, whereas insights on DAISY nurses were collected via open-ended responses and analyzed using NVivo software.

RESULTS

Three themes emerged in phase 1 from DAISY nomination data: caring, knowledge/skills, and reliability. A total of 37 DAISY honorees participated in phase 2. Most participants were bachelor's degree-prepared and worked day shift in the emergency department, critical care units, or medical-surgical units; some entered leadership roles post award, and 34% cited nursing as a 2nd career. Four themes emerged from their open-ended responses: engaging in care, environment of care, dedicated to care, and competence of care. Subthemes emerged in both analyses.

CONCLUSIONS

The essence of caring was noted continuously in both nomination and honoree data. Further research aimed at discovering the characteristics and behaviors of DAISY honorees is recommended as examination of these factors may provide a deeper understanding of this exemplary group of nurses. Insights could be incorporated into training and practice programs aimed at increasing patient and nursing satisfaction.

Bias in bias recognition: People view others but not themselves as biased by preexisting beliefs and social stigmas

Biases perpetuate when people think that they are innocent whereas others are guilty of biases. We examined whether people would detect biased thinking and behavior in others but not themselves as influenced by preexisting beliefs (myside bias) and social stigmas (social biases). The results of three large studies showed that, across demographic groups, participants attributed more biases to others than to themselves, and that this self-other asymmetry was particularly salient among those who hold strong beliefs about the existence of biases (Study 1 and Study 2). The self-other asymmetry in bias recognition dissipated when participants made simultaneous predictions about others' and their own thoughts and behaviors (Study 3). People thus exhibit bias in bias recognition, and this metacognitive bias may be remedied when it is highlighted to people that we are all susceptible to biasing influences.

[The crispr / cas9 techniques applied to human genetic enhancement: a biotechnological, anthropological-philosophical and legal dialogue]

The CRISPR editing method is revolutionary. This technique opens the possibility of countless operations in the genome of living beings. However, the risks are high and, in some cases, unpredictable. Therefore, based on an anthropology that recognizes the human person with an inherent dignity that includes the body, this article intends to propose bases for a regulation capable of facing the challenge of CRISPR, especially, given the possibility of confusing its therapeutic resource with the eugenics, also before the imminent risk of unleashing unforeseen consequences such as mutations, malformations and side effects that could be devastating for human life.

Prevalence and determinants of unconscious stereotyping among primary care physicians. An analytical cross-section study

OBJECTIVES

To explore implicit stereotyping among primary healthcare (PHC) physicians and to identify determinants of physicians' stereotyping of patients based on the patients' characteristics and appearance.

METHODS

This study followed an analytical cross-sectional design conducted between October 2019 and December 2019, and included 250 primary healthcare (PHC) physicians in Aseer Region, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire, which included items concerning physicians' sociodemographic characteristics, and their attitudes toward patient characteristics and patient appearance.

RESULTS

Prevalence of stereotyping among PHC physicians was 63.6% with respect to patient characteristics and 57.6% with respect to patient appearance. Stereotyping based on patient characteristics was higher among younger participants, females, those with bachelor's degrees, those in general practitioner positions, and those with less experience in PHC.

CONCLUSION

Most PHC physicians in Aseer Region, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, are liable to implicit stereotyping based on patient characteristics (namely, gender and educational level) and patient appearance (namely, clothing). Therefore, it is recommended to train PHC physicians in cultural competency to reduce unintentional acts of discrimination toward their patients.

Neuroethics: Fostering Collaborations to Enable Neuroscientific Discovery

The NIH-funded Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies^® (BRAIN) Initiative has led to significant advances in what we know about the functions and capacities of the brain. This multifaceted and expansive effort supports a range of experimentation from cells to circuits, and its outputs promise to ease suffering from various neurological injuries, diseases, and neuropsychiatric conditions. At the midway point of the 10-year BRAIN Initiative, we pause to consider how these studies, and neuroscience research more broadly, may bear on human characteristics and moral concepts such as identity, agency, and others. This midway point also offers us an opportunity to evaluate the sociology and impacts of BRAIN Initiative-funded investigations to ensure that ethical standards of fairness and justice pervade the scientific process itself. Neuroethics inquiry provides a mechanism to invite relevant, novel expertise from the wide array of disciplines that intersect with biomedicine in neuroscience research. As the BRAIN Initiative and the broader field of neuroscience proceed, neuroethics serves as a central component of neuroscience inquiry to i) foster necessary and beneficial collaborations for responsible discovery; ii) ensure a rigorous, reproducible, and representative neuroscience research process; and iii) explore the unique nature of study of the human brain through accurate and representative models of its function and dysfunction.

[With or without COVID: a Tale on Human Vulnerability]

The crisis of COVID-19 leaves us a teaching in the form of reminiscence. We do not learn anything new from it, but it reminds us of something we knew and forgot. It shows us in a new light our vulnerability, the impossibility of protecting ourselves perfectly through prediction and control. The sciences do not predict with certainty and the technologies do not manage to have everything under control, although the former and the latter have many other and worthwhile functions. Ideologies do not see the future, no matter how much they pretend to do so. However, we are not without reliable guidance in deciding our actions. This orientation must be sought in being, not in the future. It is fidelity to our common human nature that must advise us. It is the full realization of our personal being, of our peculiar vocation, that guides us. So, the means for self-realization consists in the development of a virtuous character. The same character that has mitigated the ravages of the pandemic, given that, to some degree, it was already present in many of our fellow citizens. The same that would have alleviated the suffering even more if it had been available in more people and to a greater degree.

Microplastics in Yellow River Delta wetland: Occurrence, characteristics, human influences, and marker

Microplastics (MPs) are widespread in the environment including coastal wetlands. The influence of different types and intensities of human activities on the occurrence of MPs in coastal wetlands is still unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the distribution of MPs and the contribution of human activities in different areas of Yellow River Delta wetland. MPs were widely detected in different areas of the wetland even in the protection area with little human activities. Direct human activities resulted in more severe MPs contamination in the protection area than the tourism area. In the soil of different areas, the MPs abundances ranged from 136 to 2060 items/kg. The concentrations of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) ranged from 536 to 660 μg/kg, and the concentrations of polycarbonate (PC) ranged from 83.9 to 196 μg/kg. The MP abundances of the three areas had significant correlations with PET concentrations. These results indicate that the direct influence of human activities has much greater contribution than indirect influence. These results also suggest that PET concentration can be used as a potential marker of MPs contamination in wetland soils.

The phrenological illustrations of George Cruickshank (1792-1878): A satire on phrenology or human nature?

For a brief period in1826, George Cruickshank (1798-1878), already an established artist in political satire and book illustration, turned to phrenology. He produced one initial print (Bumpology), followed by a collection of six plates of 33 engravings, linked by an explanatory preface, under the title, Phrenological Illustrations or an Artist's View of the Craniological System of Doctors Gall and Spurzheim. It was published during what is regarded as "the phrenological craze" in Britain. The illustrations were also produced at the height of Cruickshank's staggering creative productivity. In 1873, as phrenology was making its exit from scientific credibility into history, Cruickshank's phrenological illustrations were reissued by popular demand. Yet in contrast to his other works, these illustrations have received little attention in modern scholarship. The ways and the extent to which his caricatures constitute a contribution to the history of phrenology deserve to be studied. Here they are analyzed together with his descriptions in the prefaces to both the 1826 and 1873 editions. They reveal a surprising knowledge of phrenology in relation to Spurzheim and Gall. Furthermore, their uniquely innovative features will be identified in the context of other contemporary caricatures, and the fundamental significance of Cruickshank's achievement and its impact will be evaluated.

[Genetic edition and theological ethics]

This paper tries to look forward to the incoming ethical challenges related with genetic editing. It begins with contextualizing genetic edition within the specific nature of modern technology. Afterwards it presents the contrast between natural beings and artifacts that sheds light for answering the question about the real possibility of replacing natural beings, as they are, with technologically projected living beings. In the third place, after acknowledging the scarce attention given by contemporary theology to technology, it shows the convergence of the Christian concept of creation with the respect for balance in nature, as most part of the contemporaty ecological sensibility upholds. Building on this common ground it shows that the Christian attitude towards technology is not technofobical but the integration of technology -a central element of contemporary culture- with nature, accepting the limitation of any natural being including mankind. In this way, vulnerability, as a visible consequence of this finitude, is the very attribute of human beings that makes ourselves equal and requieres recongnition of our common dignity, way over the idea of acquiring an ideal perfection through technology, even if it was accesible to all.

[Ethical analysis of the principle of health vulnerability]

The concept of vulnerability has determined multiple actions in the health field. In recent years, this concept has originated various holistic models that oscillate between considering vulnerability as a descriptive element of an accidental situation until it is considered a guiding principle of medical practice. The need to deepen this phenomenon from the point of view of moral philosophy is perceived. The moral reflection reveals an imbalance in the binomial autonomy-dependence, generating opposite solutions in decision-making. Although autonomy has so far supported much of the medical action, the dependency raises a new perspective on vulnerability, rooted in the ethics of care. This perspective allows us to overcome the consideration of vulnerability as a characteristic, an accident or a principle. Vulnerability appears as an intrinsic dimension of the human being that, far from altering its dignity or autonomy, makes it posible to demonstrate the need of others to reach their fullness.

Does medical students' personality have an impact on their intention to show empathic behavior?

Several studies have demonstrated a correlation between specific personal traits and empathy. However, it is not clear if persons with certain personality traits lack the intent to show empathic behavior or if other factors independent of their intent are affecting their empathic behavior. To answer this question, we asked 132 medical students to fill out questionnaires evaluating the General Intention to Show Empathic Behavior (GISEB) and the five personality traits measured by NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI). Additionally, we evaluated the influence of other factors, such as age, gender, curricular progress (second versus fourth year), and preferred specialization after graduation. We performed a Pearson's correlation and a regression analysis. Results indicate that the five personality traits and gender have little influence on the General Intention (GISEB), only extraversion (r = .221, 95% CI [.013-.394], p = .027), and agreeableness (r = .229, 95% CI [.021-.428], p = .022) correlated with the intention. The only predictor for General Intention (GISEB) was curricular progress (β = - .27, p < .05), showing a decrease of General Intention to Show Empathic Behavior from second to fourth year of university (U = 1203.5, p = .002). A further finding indicates that gender and personality influence the students' wish of specialization after graduation: Agreeableness (F(12, 53) = 2.376, p = .016) impacted the preferred specialization. Our study demonstrated that medical students' personality might not notably impact the intention to show empathic behavior. Further research is needed to investigate moderating effects.

The 'Disadapted' Animal: Niko Tinbergen on Human Nature and the Human Predicament

This paper explores ethologist Niko Tinbergen's path from animal to human studies in the 1960s and 1970s and his views about human nature. It argues, first, that the confluence of several factors explains why Tinbergen decided to cross the animal/human divide in the mid 1960s: his concern about what he called "the human predicament," his relations with British child psychiatrist John Bowlby, the success of ethological explanations of human behavior, and his professional and personal situation. It also argues that Tinbergen transferred his general adaptationist view of animal behavior to the realm of human biology; here, his concern about disadaptation led him to a view of human behavior that was strongly determined by the species' evolutionary past, a position that I call evolutionary determinism. These ideas can be seen in the work he carried out with his wife, Elisabeth Tinbergen, on autism. The paper concludes that Tinbergen's vision of human nature constitutes another version of what anthropologist Clifford Geertz called in 1966 the "stratigraphic" conception of the human: a view of human nature as a composite of levels in which a universal ancestral biological core is superimposed by psychological and cultural layers that represent accidental variation at best and pathological deviation at worst.

[The cause of the lucid dream or the study on the human nature]

Abstract.

Exotic species as models to understand biocultural adaptation: Challenges to mainstream views of human-nature relations

A central argument in the research on traditional knowledge, which persists in the scientific literature, is that the entrance of exotic plants in local medical systems is directly associated with acculturation. However, this logic has put an end for a long period to efforts to understand why such species have so successfully entered socio-ecological systems or even their real role in such systems. This study provides evidence that (1) in some socio-environmental contexts, exotic medicinal species usually confer greater adaptive advantages to local populations, and (2) despite their general importance, exotic species only excel in medical systems when cost-benefit ratio is favorable to them. Thus, in order to avoid the loss of knowledge about native plants and to ensure biocultural conservation, it is necessary to create strategies to amplify the advantages of these species.

Robotic Implementation of the Necessary Mechanism for the Human Characteristics Simulation: Approach from Self-Care Conceptual Modeling

The vertiginous development of robotics, as part of the Artificial Intelligence, is currently raising its potential from the point of view of care. The purpose of the present article is the robotic implementation of a logical sequence model of the phases that happen in proper care. This requires approaching the representation and formalization of knowledge about care, what and how the care is: starting with the conceptual dissertation between life, and human characteristics, and also consider this care with the aim to lay the groundwork for Robots based on care..

Limits to human enhancement: nature, disease, therapy or betterment?

BACKGROUND

New technologies facilitate the enhancement of a wide range of human dispositions, capacities, or abilities. While it is argued that we need to set limits to human enhancement, it is unclear where we should find resources to set such limits.

DISCUSSION

Traditional routes for setting limits, such as referring to nature, the therapy-enhancement distinction, and the health-disease distinction, turn out to have some shortcomings. However, upon closer scrutiny the concept of enhancement is based on vague conceptions of what is to be enhanced. Explaining why it is better to become older, stronger, and more intelligent presupposes a clear conception of goodness, which is seldom provided. In particular, the qualitative better is frequently confused with the quantitative more. We may therefore not need "external" measures for setting its limits - they are available in the concept of enhancement itself. While there may be shortcomings in traditional sources of limit setting to human enhancement, such as nature, therapy, and disease, such approaches may not be necessary. The specification-of-betterment problem inherent in the conception of human enhancement itself provides means to restrict its unwarranted proliferation. We only need to demand clear, sustainable, obtainable goals for enhancement that are based on evidence, and not on lofty speculations, hypes, analogies, or weak associations. Human enhancements that specify what will become better, and provide adequate evidence, are good and should be pursued. Others should not be accepted.

Transhumanism: How Far Is Too Far?

Transhumanism promises us freedom from the biological limitations inherent in our nature. It aims to enhance physical, emotional and cognitive capacities thus opening up new possibilities and horizons of experience. Since many transhumanist aspirations resemble those within the domain of religion, this paper compares Christian ethics to transhumanist ethics with respect to the body and the environment and offers a critique of transhumanism. Three areas of contention are discussed: the modification of our given human nature, the radical extension of our lifespans and our relationship to the natural environment. It argues that in these three areas, the underlying values being transmitted to future generations about the body and the environment are incompatible with Christian principles.

Initial examination of characteristics of patients who are high utilizers of an established primary care behavioral health consultation service

Obective: Although much has been studied regarding high-utilizing patients of medical services, no studies have been published regarding high-utilizing patients of integrated primary care behavioral health (PCBH) services. The primary purpose of the current study was to examine characteristics of high-utilizing patients of PCBH services and model adherence. The secondary purpose was to describe the process of conducting this research by clinicians in integrated care.

METHOD

Data were obtained from electronic health records retrospectively for the study's time period, 2007-2013, for the sample of all patients who met with the behavioral health consultation team during that time. Variables include demographics, diagnoses, involvement in additional services, and scores on a patient-complexity scale for a subset of patients. Chi-square analyses, t tests and logistic regression analyses were performed.

RESULTS

The results demonstrate significant associations between key demographic characteristics, use of population-based augmentation services (i.e., consulting psychiatry, care management, substance-abuse consulting), and high-utilizing status. Model adherence was maintained over time. Logistic regression analysis, controlling for high-utilizing status and number of visits, demonstrated a significant relationship between more complex diagnostic categories and behavioral health issues.

DISCUSSION

There are differences between high-utilizing patients and nonhigh-utilizing patients suggestive of increased clinical severity and appropriate use of services while maintaining PCBH model integrity. The use of the population-based augmentation services is associated with high-utilizer status, and reflects the ability of these services to target those patients who most need the clinical care. (PsycINFO Database Record

Moral Hard-Wiring and Moral Enhancement

We have argued for an urgent need for moral bioenhancement; that human moral psychology is limited in its ability to address current existential threats due to the evolutionary function of morality to maximize cooperation in small groups. We address here Powell and Buchanan's novel objection that there is an 'inclusivist anomaly': humans have the capacity to care beyond in-groups. They propose that 'exclusivist' (group-based) morality is sensitive to environmental cues that historically indicated out-group threat. When this is not present, we are inclusivist. They conclude that moral bioenhancement is unnecessary or less effective than socio-cultural interventions. We argue that Powell and Buchanan underestimate the hard-wiring features of moral psychology; their appeal to adaptively plastic, conditionally expressed responses accounts for only a fragment of our moral psychology. In addition to restrictions on our altruistic concern that their account addresses - such as racism and sexism - there are ones it is ill-suited to address: that our concern is stronger for kin and friends and for concrete individuals rather than for statistical lives; also our bias towards the near future. Hard-wired features of our moral psychology that are not clearly restrictions in altruistic concern also include reciprocity, tit-for-tat, and others. Biomedical means are not the only, and maybe not the most important, means of moral enhancement. Socio-cultural means are of great importance and there are currently no biomedical interventions for many hard-wired features. Nevertheless research is desirable because the influence of these features is greater than our critics think.

Persistence and innovation effects in genetic and environmental factors in negative emotionality during infancy: A twin study

Background

Difficult temperament in infancy is a risk factor for forms of later internalizing and externalizing psychopathology, including depression and anxiety. A better understanding of the roots of difficult temperament requires assessment of its early development with a genetically informative design. The goal of this study was to estimate genetic and environmental contributions to individual differences in infant negative emotionality, their persistence over time and their influences on stability between 5 and 18 months of age.

Method

Participants were 244 monozygotic and 394 dizygotic twin pairs (49.7% male) recruited from birth. Mothers rated their twins for negative emotionality at 5 and 18 months. Longitudinal analysis of stability and innovation between the two time points was performed in Mplus.

Results

There were substantial and similar heritability (approximately 31%) and shared environmental (57.3%) contributions to negative emotionality at both 5 and 18 months. The trait’s interindividual stability across time was both genetically- and environmentally- mediated. Evidence of innovative effects (i.e., variance at 18 months independent from variance at 5 months) indicated that negative emotionality is developmentally dynamic and affected by persistent and new genetic and environmental factors at 18 months.

Conclusions

In the first two years of life, ongoing genetic and environmental influences support temperamental negative emotionality but new genetic and environmental factors also indicate dynamic change of those factors across time. A better understanding of the source and timing of factors on temperament in early development, and role of sex, could improve efforts to prevent related psychopathology.

Theory of Animal Mind: Human Nature or Experimental Artefact?

Are animals capable of empathy, problem-solving, or even self-recognition? Much research is dedicated to answering these questions and yet few studies have considered how humans form beliefs about animal minds. Evidence suggests that our mentalising of animals is a natural consequence of Theory of Mind (ToM) capabilities. However, where beliefs regarding animal mind have been investigated, there has been slow progress in establishing the mechanism underpinning how this is achieved. Here, we consider what conclusions can be drawn regarding how people theorise about animal minds and the different conceptual and methodological issues that might limit the accuracy of conclusions currently drawn from this work. We suggest a new empirical framework for better capturing the human theory of animal mind, which in turn has significant political and social implications.

The Edge of Human? The Problem with the Posthuman as the 'Beyond'

This article asks whether enhancement can truly lead to something beyond humanity, or whether it is, itself, an inherently human act. The 'posthuman' is an uncertain proposition. What, exactly, would one be? Many commentators suggest it to be an endpoint for the use of enhancement technologies, yet few choose to codify the term outright; which frequently leads to unnecessary confusion. Characterizing and contextualizing the term, particularly its more novel uses, is therefore a valuable enterprise. The abuse of the term 'Human', especially in the context of the enhancement debate and the myriad meanings ascribed to it, could give 'posthuman' very different slants depending on one's assumptions. There are perhaps three main senses in which the term 'human' is employed: the biological, the moral, and the self-idealizing. In the first of these, 'human' is often conflated with Homo sapiens, and used interchangeably to denote species; in the second, 'human' (or 'humanity') generally refers to a community of beings which qualify as having a certain moral value; and the third, the self-idealizing sense, is more descriptive; a label denoting the qualities that make us who we are as beings, or 'what matters about those who matter'. So, what might enhancement make us? A novel species or genus of hominid? Or, perhaps, a morally more valuable being than a regular human? Of course, there's a third option: that a posthuman is a being which embodies our self-ideal more successfully than we do ourselves - one 'more human than human'. Which to choose?

Evaluation of the Functional State of Operators with Allowance for Individual Psychological Characteristics

The article deals with the features of the evaluation of changes in functional state during the professional activity of operators. We estimated the dynamics of the functional state and efficiency of operatorsunder the effect of aircraft noise and individual psychophysiological characteristics. We also investigated changes in the functional state of operators depending on their psychological characteristics. It was found that changes in the functional state of the organism in operators with high level of anxiety, low degree of extroversion and high emotional lability were more pronounced in the modeling of operator activity with exposure to aircraft noise, as evidenced by significant changes in psychophysiological parameters. After 60 minutes of noise stress, the latent period of a simple and a complex sensorimotor reaction in introverts increased by 9.1% (p < 0.05) and 8.1% (p < 0.05), respectively. In the group of subjects with high level of anxiety, there were a decrease in the general state, activity and mood by 18.9% (p < 0.01), 20.9 and 14.9% (p < 0.05), respectively, and a decrease in the accuracy of reaction to a.moving object by 3 times (p < 0.05). The latent period of simple sensorimotor reaction in emotionally labile subjects after the exercise was increased by 15% (p < 0.05), and the reaction time on a moving object was increased by 8:9% (p < 0.05) as compared with the group of emotionally stable sub- jects. Thus, the data suggest that changes in the functional state of operators depend on the level of extroversion, personal anxiety and emotional lability and do not depend on'the level of behavioral regulation, which must be taken into considerationduring the assessment of functional state.

Reactions to the President's Assassination and Changes in Philosophies of Human Nature

30 college students who had answered the Philosophies of Human Nature Scale 14 mo. earlier retook the scale, along with a questionnaire assessing reactions to the President's death. Those Ss who agreed with Kennedy's policies and who felt a “great personal loss” showed less favorable views of human nature at the time of the post-assassination testing. Those less in agreement and less concerned showed no such change. Followup testing 3 mo. after the first retesting indicated that the disillusionment with human nature was apparently a temporary one.

DOCUMENTING HUMAN NATURE: E. RICHARD SORENSON AND THE NATIONAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL FILM CENTER, 1965-1980

This article analyzes the development of the National Anthropological Film Center as an outgrowth of the Smithsonian's efforts to promote a multidisciplinary program in "urgent anthropology" during the 1960s and 1970s. It considers how film came to be seen as an ideal tool for the documentation and preservation of a wide range of human data applicable to both the behavioral and life sciences. In doing so, it argues that the intellectual and institutional climate facilitated by the Smithsonian's museum structure during this period contributed to the Center's initial establishment as well its eventual decline. Additionally, this piece speaks to the continued relevance of ethnographic film archives for future scientific investigations within and beyond the human sciences.

WILLIAM MCDOUGALL, AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGIST: A RECONSIDERATION OF NATURE-NURTURE DEBATES IN THE INTERWAR UNITED STATES

The British-born psychologist William McDougall (1871-1938) spent more than half of his academic career in the United States, holding successive positions after 1920 at Harvard and Duke universities. Scholarly studies uniformly characterize McDougall's relationship with his New World colleagues as contentious: in the standard view, McDougall's theory of innate drives clashed with the Americans' experimentation into learned habits. This essay argues instead that rising American curiosity about inborn appetites-an interest rooted in earlier pragmatic philosophy and empirically investigated by interwar scientists-explains McDougall's migration to the United States and his growing success there. A review of McDougall's intellectual and professional ties, evolving outside public controversy, highlights persistent American attention to natural agency and complicates arguments voiced by contemporaries in favor of nurture.

Measuring the Virtues and Character Traits of Rehabilitation Clients: The Adapted Inventory of Virtues and Strengths

PURPOSE

To develop the Adapted Inventory of Virtues and Strengths (AIVS), a measure of rehabilitation clients' virtues and character traits.

METHODS

Test items were devised through a multi-step procedure, and exploratory factor analysis was employed to derive the factor structure of the AIVS. Item-total correlation and internal consistency (Cronbach's α) were examined to test reliability of the AIVS.

RESULTS

AIVS subscales include Emotional Transcendence, Practical Wisdom, Integrity, Courage, and Commitment to Action. Construct validity of this measure was evaluated by correlating AIVS factors with measures of resilience, life satisfaction, and four types of well-being: physical, psychological, financial, and family and social well-being. AIVS subscales of Emotional Transcendence and Commitment to Action were moderately correlated with life satisfaction and three well-being areas, including family and social, physical, and psychological life. Most of the correlation coefficients between AIVS Practical Wisdom, Courage and Integrity factors and measures of life satisfaction and well-being fell below r = .3. However, greater correlations were found between all AIVS factors and resilience. Reliability information was examined through internal consistency (coefficient alpha) for each AIVS subscale, as well as examination of item-total correlation analysis within each subscale. Internal consistency estimates for AIVS subscales ranged from .77 to .84.

CONCLUSION

The AIVS is a reliable measure when used with the studied sample; implications for studying virtue and character strengths in rehabilitation, as well as potential for clinical use of the AIVS, are addressed.

Psychosocial Adaptation to Chronic Illness and Disability: A Virtue Based Model

PURPOSE

Psychosocial adaptation to chronic illness and disability (CID) is an area of study where a positive psychology perspective, especially the study of virtues and character strengths, can be implemented within the rehabilitation framework. A carefully developed theory to guide future interdisciplinary research is now timely.

METHODS

A traditional literature review between philosophy and rehabilitation psychology was conducted in order to develop a virtue-based psychosocial adaptation theory, merging important perspectives from the fields of rehabilitation and positive psychology.

RESULTS

The virtue-based psychosocial adaptation model (V-PAM) to CID is proposed in the present study.

CONCLUSIONS

The model involves five qualities or constructs: courage, practical wisdom, commitment to action, integrity and emotional transcendence. Each of these components of virtue contributes to an understanding of psychosocial adaptation. The present study addresses the implications and applications of V-PAM that will advance this understanding.