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PubMed1997

Aspects of human biometeorology in past, present and future.

Human biometeorology is quite an old science: during the times of Hippokrates in ancient Greece the influence of weather changes on physiological processes in the human body were considered to exist. However, not until the progress in modern statistics, physics and physiology in the course of this century provided quantitative methods did human-biometeorology become an acknowledged natural science. In the first half of this century primarily the explanation of the phenomena of reactions of the body to weather changes was the general objective. In the second half of this century quantitative descriptions of thermal interchanges between the human body and the environment by means of energy balance models of the human body have gained increasing importance. The methods of modern human biometeorology increasingly are acknowledged by workers in disciplines of potential application, such as urban or regional planners or air conditioning engineers. Human biometeorology tries to assess all atmospheric influences in its entirety, including the air pollution pattern. The discipline considers itself as branch of science which is tied closely to environmental meteorology and environmental medicine.

Body Temperature Regulation↗
PubMed2005

[The current mind-brain theories in analytical philosophy of mind and their epistemic significance for psychiatry].

This article begins with an orientational survey of the historical evolution of analytical philosophy of mind (APM) which was formulated in the last 40 years as "philosophy of mind" in the Anglo-Saxon scientific-cultural world and which, in the meantime, dominates to a great extent contemporary German philosophy. Then there follows a discussion of the currently most popular mind-brain theories in philosophy. In comparison to the more marginal dualist variants (interactionism, epiphenomenalism, parallelism), it is mainly the monistic positions of non-reductive, reductive and eliminative materialism and the materialist functionalism underlying it, which determines analytical philosophy of mind and its influence on psychopathology and psychiatry. Under the additional influence of modern brain research methods, particularly neuroimaging, it is progressively developing into a subdiscipline of neuroscience, a complex and increasingly more firmly established scientific discipline which comprises the totality of all sciences dealing with neuronal functions, including the close epistemic associations of APM and neuroimaging. This is the effective epistemic central idea determining the theory of the neuronal network which, in the form of a connectionist psychopathology, is intended to make possible a fundamentally new access to the comprehension of psychiatric forms of illness. In this respect it is evident, however, that the perception of the naturality of the mind as the fundamental thesis of APM and thus of connectionism cannot be followed through, since, up to now, neither from the phenomenality of the mind (especially the quality of senses, "Qualia") nor from intentionality of the mind (i. e. the ability to act intentionally, free from the constraint of the causality of nature and thus in self-responsible fashion) has proved it possible to reconstruct a generally accepted naturalist theory. Furthermore, it has not been possible to reformulate it in an exclusively physical, i. e. non-phenomenological concept and terminology which is, above all, free from the intentionality idiom. The consequence of this, however, is that a connectionist psychopathology can only represent a subpersonal, i. e., subhuman area and that in order to establish a personal psychopathology, naturalistic unreduced theories of experience-qualities and intentional acts of completeness are absolutely essential. The neuroscientific-connectionist paradigm of psychopathology must therefore - at least for the present - be supplement by the paradigm of a non-natural (e. g. phenomenological-hermeneutic) psychopathology. This result can only encourage the relinquishing of epistemically one-sided materialist and other monistic mind-brain theories of APM in favour of an epistemically open pragmatic interactionist dualism as the scientific position which best represents the current state of knowledge.

Humans↗
PubMed1983

Recent advances in oral mucosal research.

Major progress in investigation of the normal structure and function of the oral mucosa has been made within the last ten years and has come principally from the application of various techniques developed in basic science disciplines to specific mucosal problems. However, it is apparent that many gaps still exist in our knowledge of the oral mucosa and, although it is to be expected that different workers will have distinct views on which of these are the most significant, some basic areas for further investigation can clearly be identified. For example, little is known about epithelial control systems and their disturbance by epithelial disease processes, about the nature of the interactions occurring during development and maintenance of the oral mucosal epithelia, or about the epithelial cell surface and its role in normal function. The specific properties and behavior of the cell populations of the subepithelial connective tissues appears to be poorly understood and the existence and significance of functional changes in mucosa with age and malnutrition are uncertain. It is increasingly apparent that successful progress in such investigations involves approaches using diverse methodologies. For example, epithelial-mesenchymal interactions are likely to involve multiple mesenchymal factors acting in concert to establish and maintain epithelial form and, because of this complexity, the nature of the inductive influences is not likely to be elucidated in model systems unless individual variables can be rigidly controlled. Defining the cellular and acellular elements in mesenchyme and reconstructing a functional mesenchyme from purified components may not be a simple task, but with current methods for cultivating mucosal keratinocytes and fibroblasts, as well as for purifying various components of the ground substance, it should be possible to initiate such a program of study. Some of the most dramatic advances made over the past 5-6 years in epidermal research have come about through the utilization of newly developed biochemical investigative techniques, examples of which include the use of gene cloning to study the organization of the keratin gene family, and the use of immuno-fluorescence with monoclonal antibodies to discern when various keratin proteins appear during differentiation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Organisational and educational internal impediments of psychoanalysis: contemporary challenges.

Our psychoanalytic discipline originated, has evolved and is still located within a congregational network that blends and binds together, in an inextricable and contradictory way, the missionary mandates and commendations of a 'movement' and a 'cause' with the inherent prerogatives and functions of academic professions and sciences. In this paper the author explores the consequential past and present impedimenta of this organisational and educational syncretism, for six fundamental dimensions of action for psychoanalysis. Subsequently, the nature of a proposition is delineated, suggesting a reorganisation, local and international, to address what the author visualises as five of our most pressing contemporary challenges: a) an autonomous university educational model, freed from regressive societal-political inertias, enabling us to abandon our seclusive monasticism; b) the consolidation of an epistemological frame of reference, idiographic and nomothetically substantiated against our cumulative inductivism, which is the seedbed of our sectarianism, cross-sterilisation and pseudo-ecumenism; c) local and external educational and professional systems of accreditation and certification, independent from affiliation and membership privileges of our supraordinate ecclesia; d) social relevance and community presence, moving away from our meaningless organisational and educational cloistering; and e) a local and international functional and interdependent reorganisation, in the context of sovereignty and integrity, in contrast to our prevalently crusading and indoctrinating homogamous pathological co-dependency. The author concludes that only a harmonisation of objectives and administrative structure might loosen the talons of faith that keep us retrogressively tied to our past.

Humans↗
PubMed1997

Expanding the praxis debate: contributions to clinical inquiry.

Nursing science continues to debate the adequacy of various philosophic paradigms for their ability to forward the discipline. Nursing must embrace multiple paradigms, methodologies, and their philosophic assumptions to adequately address the complex and multifaceted human phenomena that is the focus of clinical inquiry in nursing. This article examines the differences in interpretive and critical approaches to clinical inquiry relative to praxis, expanding how praxis can be used to inform nursing practice. Differences in the nature of knowledge, goals of inquiry, and claims to praxis between the interpretive and critical traditions are discussed. Praxis, realized through clinical inquiry in both the interpretive and the critical paradigms, may contribute important pieces of the puzzle to improve the human condition. Expanding the praxis debate challenges nurses to consider the emancipatory possibilities of clinical inquiry within both interpretive and clinical paradigms.

Clinical Nursing Research↗
PubMed1993

Deterministic chaos and the sciences of complexity: psychoanalysis in the midst of a general scientific revolution.

A combination of new concepts and the enormous powers of computation now available have created the beginnings of a major new scientific revolution. It does not have to do with psychoanalysis per se, but with some basic assumptions among the sciences generally. The result is already showing in new visions of nature variously called "deterministic chaos," "nonlinear dynamics," or "sciences of complexity." For the first time it is possible to study complex systems in process, over time. This paper, especially attending to issues of separation and integration, focuses on two components of the new understandings, fractal geometry (part of the mathematics of topology) and deterministic chaos (the tendency of nonlinear systems to oscillate toward and away from absolute chaotic disorganization). In a diverse group of intellectual disciplines, it is now possible to describe systems in operation in detail, in terms of nonlinear differential equations. From these, computer models of multiple variables in interaction can be produced. In turn, this allows experimentation on the models by altering variables. At this time, psychoanalysis can only use deterministic chaos and fractals metaphorically, but in the future, especially if psychoanalysis is seen in terms of process or organismic theory, it is likely that such models can be produced.

Computer Simulation↗
PubMed1997

Nursing: the ontology of the discipline.

The purpose of this article is to contribute to clarifying the ontology of the discipline by extending existing meanings of the term nursing to propose a substantive definition. In this definition, nursing is viewed as an inherent human process of well-being, manifested by complexity and integration in human systems. The nature of this process and theoretical implications of the new nursing are presented. Nurses are invited to continue the dialogue about the meaning of the term and explore the implications of nursing, substantively defined, for their practice and science.

Health↗
PubMed1983

Forensic neuropsychology: a selective introduction.

During the last decade, neuropsychology has emerged as one of the fastest growing disciplines within clinical psychology. One of the most important roles for neuropsychologists is their contribution to the forensic sciences. The present paper reviews how lawyers may best utilize the services of clinical neuropsychologists. Suggestions are also offered to neuropsychologists on how better to meet the needs of lawyers. The following forensic science issues are discussed: the legal framework in which neuropsychologists function; contributions psychologists may make towards answering basic medicolegal questions such as the elucidation of the nature, extent, and duration of head injury sequelae; criteria for acceptable neuropsychological reports; medicolegal aspects of severe head injury, minor head injury (posttraumatic syndrome), and pseudo-head injury (malingering). There are many causes of damage to the nervous system (for example, industrial toxins and medical malpractice) that are eligible for compensation. Examples will be confined to head injury since the basic forensic science principles remain the same, whatever the etiology of such brain damage.

Craniocerebral Trauma↗
PubMed2006

The use of high-dimensional biology (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics) to understand the preterm parturition syndrome.

High-dimensional biology (HDB) refers to the simultaneous study of the genetic variants (DNA variation), transcription (messenger RNA [mRNA]), peptides and proteins, and metabolites of an organ, tissue, or an organism in health and disease. The fundamental premise is that the evolutionary complexity of biological systems renders them difficult to comprehensively understand using only a reductionist approach. Such complexity can become tractable with the use of "omics" research. This term refers to the study of entities in aggregate. The current nomenclature of "omics" sciences includes genomics for DNA variants, transcriptomics for mRNA, proteomics for proteins, and metabolomics for intermediate products of metabolism. Another discipline relevant to medicine is pharmacogenomics. The two major advances that have made HDB possible are technological breakthroughs that allow simultaneous examination of thousands of genes, transcripts, and proteins, etc., with high-throughput techniques and analytical tools to extract information. What is conventionally considered hypothesis-driven research and discovery-driven research (through "omic" methodologies) are complementary and synergistic. Here we review data which have been derived from: 1) genomics to examine predisposing factors for preterm birth; 2) transcriptomics to determine changes in mRNA in reproductive tissues associated with preterm labour and preterm prelabour rupture of membranes; 3) proteomics to identify differentially expressed proteins in amniotic fluid of women with preterm labour; and 4) metabolomics to identify the metabolic footprints of women with preterm labour likely to deliver preterm and those who will deliver at term. The complementary nature of discovery science and HDB is emphasised.

Biomarkers↗
PubMed2000

In the name of Husserl: nursing in pursuit of the things-in-themselves.

A perceived contradiction between the tenets of humanism and positivism secures phenomenology's endorsement in nursing as an alternative methodology to the natural sciences. Nursing's humanistic doctrine of valuing the individual is aligned with phenomenology in the belief that both projects investigate the subjective experiences of others. However, the belief that phenomenology opposes objectifying methods does not account for the different understandings of subjectivity that underpin various philosophic positions, such as humanism, phenomenology, hermeneutics and positivism. What is not recognised in nursing inquiry is that the same characteristics which belong to humanism and are subsequently attributed as belonging to phenomenology are grounded, philosophically, in a view that separates the person from her world. But rather than examining the premises on which phenomenology and humanism are based, nurse-phenomenologists have simply yoked them together in a mutual alliance against a common enemy--Cartesian dualism. This paper focuses on Husserl and argues that the conceptual link between nursing as a humanistic discipline and Husserlian phenomenology cannot be sustained on philosophic and methodologic grounds. Far from being mutual allies, the philosophic underpinnings of humanism and Husserlian phenomenology offer two incommensurable views on the nature of subjectivity.

Humanism↗
PubMed2006

Generalized models as a universal approach to the analysis of nonlinear dynamical systems.

We present a universal approach to the investigation of the dynamics in generalized models. In these models the processes that are taken into account are not restricted to specific functional forms. Therefore a single generalized models can describe a class of systems which share a similar structure. Despite this generality, the proposed approach allows us to study the dynamical properties of generalized models efficiently in the framework of local bifurcation theory. The approach is based on a normalization procedure that is used to identify natural parameters of the system. The Jacobian in a steady state is then derived as a function of these parameters. The analytical computation of local bifurcations using computer algebra reveals conditions for the local asymptotic stability of steady states and provides certain insights on the global dynamics of the system. The proposed approach yields a close connection between modelling and nonlinear dynamics. We illustrate the investigation of generalized models by considering examples from three different disciplines of science: a socioeconomic model of dynastic cycles in china, a model for a coupled laser system and a general ecological food web.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2006

Psychiatric expert witnesses in the new millennium.

We may anticipate changes in who is the expert in terms of gender, ethnicity, and professional discipline. We anticipate elaboration of training approaches. We foresee emergence of the "forensic tutor" role. We expect expansion of expert roles outside the courtroom. We expect demands for more constraint of expert roles, increased rigor, and empiric support. We expect vast expansion of technologic approaches to assessment and presentation. We expect evolution of ethical issues with preservation of core forensic values but changes in confidentiality, due process, and the nature of assessments. We expect extreme expansion of hard sciences in relation to understanding psychopathology.

Ethics, Medical↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The structure of medical informatics journal literature.

OBJECTIVE: Medical informatics is an emergent interdisciplinary field described as drawing upon and contributing to both the health sciences and information sciences. The authors elucidate the disciplinary nature and internal structure of the field. DESIGN: To better understand the field's disciplinary nature, the authors examine the intercitation relationships of its journal literature. To determine its internal structure, they examined its journal cocitation patterns. MEASUREMENTS: The authors used data from the Science Citation Index (SCI) and Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) to perform intercitation studies among productive journal titles, and software routines from SPSS to perform multivariate data analyses on cocitation data for proposed core journals. RESULTS: Intercitation network analysis suggests that a core literature exists, one mark of a separate discipline. Multivariate analyses of cocitation data suggest that major focus areas within the field include biomedical engineering, biomedical computing, decision support, and education. The interpretable dimensions of multidimensional scaling maps differed for the SCI and SSCI data sets. Strong links to information science literature were not found. CONCLUSION: The authors saw indications of a core literature and of several major research fronts. The field appears to be viewed differently by authors writing in journals indexed by SCI from those writing in journals indexed by SSCI, with more emphasis placed on computers and engineering versus decision making by the former and more emphasis on theory versus application (clinical practice) by the latter.

Abstracting and Indexing↗
PubMed1999

Archaeological Narratives and Other Ways of Telling.

With a few exceptions, archaeologists have been far less concerned with the form of their texts or problems of authorship than have ethnographers. Typically, archaeologies are presented in the form of narratives understood as sequential stories. Approaches to narrative analysis drawn from literary theory, philosophy, and sociology and definitions of characters, events, and plots are examined, together with particular problems these may pose for the discipline of archaeology. It is suggested that neither literary analysis nor the tendency to write and evaluate archaeological and historical narratives in terms of explanatory value takes sufficient account of the often hybrid nature and aims of these texts and the contexts in which they were produced. This argument is illustrated with particular reference to stories of the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Europe. It is argued that reconsidering archaeology's positioning across the 19th-century science-humanities divide suggests a broader approach to the idea of what constitutes a narrative which can offer fresh opportunities for useful reflexivity and experimentation in presentation. Further roles and possibilities of narrative and non-narrative ways of writing archaeologies are also considered.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1964

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH. ITS ROLE IN ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PROGRAMS.

An important part of the practice of occupational medicine is directed toward the control of the industrial, physical, chemical and biological environments which may adversely affect health. This concern with the effect of environment on health has moved out of industry and has become a major area of public health practice, as evidenced by interest in pesticides, air pollution and radioactive fallout. The discipline of occupational health is a natural resource and springboard for the development of the skills necessary to control these environmental hazards. Occupational health is supplying trained and experienced personnel in the applied technical and administrative phases. It also can provide a basis for graduate teaching and research programs in environmental health. At the University of California's School of Public Health in Berkeley, curricula are being developed for educating teachers and research personnel in the environmental health sciences.

Air Pollution↗
PubMed1983

[Biology yesterday, today and tomorrow].

Throughout the history of the biological disciplines from the 18th to the 20th centuries, there has been a succession of predominating fields of interest: morphology, physiology, genetics, biochemistry, ecology and ethology, while statistics, biometry and computer sciences were developing as powerful means of imposing rigor on research. In all sciences, there is a fundamental empiricism which has often been criticized as prescientific. However, it is unavoidable, especially in biology owing to the unusual wealth and complexity of the facts to be reported. Explaining in the natural sciences first requires the discovery of relationships between facts. Biological explanation has many levels. One of the main avenues leading to true explanation is the multidisciplinary approach, which is in reality an attempt at synthesis. Another characteristic of biological work is the equilibrium between pragmatism and idealism, usually expressed as a balance between application and theory. Both modalities are necessary because of their complementarity. The emergence of ecology demonstrates this duality in the recent past. The equilibrium between theory and application should be decided by the biologists themselves, not by the funding public agencies, although competent administrators are necessary for the welfare of researchers. Applied and theoretical research should be kept separate to a large extent, even though they remain interdependent. In biology, theoretical work has suffered considerable neglect as compared to the situation in physics and chemistry. Biology has few explanatory theories and the few it possesses have often been put forward by physicists in the field of biophysics.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Biology↗
PubMed2002

Science for the common good.

A smile comes easily to the face of Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, as he encounters visitors to his offices at the Institute. He does not, however, allow himself to be distracted from his duties for longer than it takes to nod warmly. The sense of discipline and the determination and preparedness that were instilled in him through a Jesuit course of education are apparent. He is as direct and as clear spoken in person as you've seen him on television, speaking on innumerable occasions over the past two decades about the pathology and treatment of AIDS, and more recently, delineating the public health from the national security issues precipitated by the bioterrorist events of the past year. The three office assistants who occupy his reception area have been particularly taxed in the management of Fauci's schedule since 9/11; as they pause briefly from their work to share photographs of a friend's recent wedding, Fauci is there to admonish them, semi-good-naturally, as government employees, to return to their official duties. He has been meeting with high government officials and has been courted by the media for interviews regularly since the tragedies began. Given his high profile, it is easy to forget that Fauci is, foremost, a clinical immunobiologist and physician. His dedication to science is part of his commitment to public service, also a value instilled in him by the Jesuits. Fortunately for all of us, Fauci was pursuing this combination of interests--within the venue of bioterrorism--in his official capacity at the NIAID well before the general public had awaken to the threat.

Biomedical Research↗
PubMed1993

A bibliography of monographic works on biomaterials and biocompatibility.

Organizing and accessing biomaterials-related information is problematic because of the interdisciplinary nature of the field. Relevant information appears in the literature of numerous science and technology subdisciplines and there is no one index or database that covers all of the related publications. An additional barrier to information retrieval is the lack of a thesaurus for the field. Multiple terms representing the same concepts are currently employed and it is not always readily apparent which terms to use in a literature search. As an aid for students and researchers in the discipline, the author provides an indexed bibliography of English language monographic works on biomaterials and biocompatibility published after 1973.

Biocompatible Materials↗