Emerging evidence suggests that DNA topology plays an instructive role in cell fate control through regulation of gene expression. Transcription produces torsional stress, and the resultant supercoiling of the DNA molecule generates an array of secondary structures. In turn, local DNA architecture is harnessed by the cell, acting within sensory feedback mechanisms to mediate transcriptional output. MYC is a potent oncogene, which is upregulated in the majority of cancers; thus numerous studies have focused on detailed understanding of its regulation. Dissection (...) of regulatory regions within the MYC promoter provided the first hint that intimate feedback between DNA topology and associated DNA remodeling proteins is critical for moderating transcription. As evidence of such regulation is also found in the context of many other genes, here we expand on the prototypical example of the MYC promoter, and also explore DNA architecture in a genome-wide context as a global mechanism of transcriptional control. Torsional stress, and supercoiling generated by transcription, shape the topology of DNA. Furthermore, the resultant secondary DNA structures and their interacting partners provide feedback to regulate gene expression. Emerging evidence suggests these mechanisms, identified through analysis of the MYC promoter, are applicable genome-wide. (shrink)

This article devotes the relevant problem, which wasn’t examined in B. Pasternak’s works- the problem of historicism. The aim of the author – ideological and artistic quests of the poet which are connected with his Christian view of history as a part of universal history and artist’s place within. The article shows the opposition between two conceptions of B. Pasternak history: politico-social and all the Christian. The evolution of poet’s works is fully connected with this opposition. In first post-revolutionary decade (...) Pasternak-pantheist perceived modern history as natural and necessary he saw historic and moral probity there. Tragic events in the country in 1930s, the arrest of his friends-artists and deepening into his Christian feelings led B. Pasternak to a rupture with modern life/reality and a change of his social-pantheistic historicism with religious-ethic one. Christian philosophy of history in mature works of the poet is inseparably connected with a theme of artist’s soul as it is a benefaction of his moral not social choice in history. The most part of religious-ethic historicism was embodied in cyclus of ‘Yuri Zhivago’s poems‘ especially in ‘Hamlet‘ that was created on an analogy Hamlet-Christ-Artist. The persona of the poetry and the novel ‘Doctor Zhivago‘ by B. Pasternak chooses fatal way predetermined to him by his father – the Lord in universal history, and he refuses to take part in "drama" of modern history. Christian historicism of the poet ends up at social-anti-historicism when the persona doesn’t participate in politico-social history and oblational shares fatal destiny given by Christ with a nation. Late works of B. Pasternak arise the theme about destinies unity – the artist and the nation, about equality of sufferings in a tragic century. It proofs, that theologically-ethic historicism peculiar to the poet relieves him of all the accusations because of his isolation of the destiny of his country and the folk, because of his anti-patriotism and anti-nationalism. Ontological optimism of the poet, his philosophy of art appeared in Christian point of time and human’s part within. (shrink)

Contemporary psychiatry is becoming more biologically oriented in the attempt to elicit a biological rationale of mental diseases. Although mental disorders comprise mostly functional abnormalities, there is a substantial overlap between neurology and psychiatry in addressing cognitive disturbances. In schizophrenia, the presence of cognitive impairment prior to the onset of psychosis and early after its manifestation suggests that some neurocognitive abnormalities precede the onset of psychosis and may represent a trait marker. These cognitive alterations may arise from functional disconnectivity, as (...) no significant brain damage has been found. In this review we aim to revise A.R. Luria’s systematic approach used in the neuropsychological evaluation of cognitive functions, which was primarily applied in patients with neurological disorders and in the cognitive evaluation in schizophrenia and other related disorders. As proposed by Luria, cognitive processes, associated with higher cortical functions, may represent functional systems that are not localized in narrow, circumscribed areas of the brain, but occur among groups of concertedly working brain structures, each of which makes its own particular contribution to the organization of the functional system. Current developments in neuroscience provide evidence of functional connectivity in the brain. Therefore, Luria’s approach may serve as a frame of reference for the analysis and interpretation of cognitive functions in general and their abnormalities in schizophrenia in particular. Having said that, modern technology, as well as experimental evidence, may help us to understand the brain better and lead us towards creating a new classification of cognitive functions. In schizophrenia research, multidisciplinary approaches must be utilized to address specific cognitive alterations. The relationships among the components of cognitive functions derived from the functional connectivity of the brain may provide an insight into cognitive machinery. (shrink)

This book analyzes unobvious relations between historical definitions of the face and its contemporary usage in popular culture and social media, like Facebook or Instagram. Bringing together a wide range of methodologies, it includes essays from manifold disciplines of the humanities such as philosophy, literary and art criticism, media and television studies, game studies, sociology and anthropology. The authors focus on both metaphorical and material meanings of the face. They grapple with crucial questions about modernity, modern and postmodern subjectivity, as (...) well as with origins of certain linguistic terms and popular, colloquial phrases based on the concept of the face. (shrink)

Our analysis in this paper unfolds on two levels: a critique of the ‘realities’ of graduate nursing education and an argument to sustain its ‘ideals’. We open for discussion an aspect of graduate nursing education dominated by instrumental reason, namely the research industry, using an internal critique approach developed by Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno of the Early Frankfurt School. As we explain, internal critique arises out of, and relies on, the mismatch between goals, or ‘ideals’, and existing realities. Thinking (...) about ‘ideals’ of the academy, we draw on Hans-Georg Gadamer's view of the university as a place to think freely, creatively, and critically. The contemporary realities of the university, on the other hand, that emphasize the market values of the research industry forcefully shape nursing academic scholarship in a particular direction. In our attempt to recognize and disrupt the forces of the research industry with its instrumental reason, we consider Judith Butler's writings on how norms operate in society. We show that our growing involvement in the research industry makes it very difficult to disentangle ourselves from that situation. The values of the research industry actually suppress the very ideals of education and scholarship that we would like to uphold. As a contra-force, the internal critique of the ‘existing realities’ in the graduate nursing education unmasks the tyranny of the research industry and makes visible the importance of sustaining the higher goals and ideals in nursing scholarship. (shrink)

En este volumen se recogen una serie de estudios, reflexiones y propuestas prácticas en torno a las nociones de violencia, justicia y libertad. Sus responsables consideran que es urgente reflexionar sobre ellas, pues nuestras acciones, nuestra respuesta o nuestra indiferencia ante la violencia o la injusticia, dependen de lo que entendamos por un Estado justo o lo que signifique para nosotros ser libre. Partiendo de diferentes tradiciones filosóficas y de autores que han abordado estas cuestiones a lo largo de la (...) historia, nos preguntamos qué relación hay actualmente entre la violencia, la justicia y la libertad: ¿es la libertad sin límites necesariamente violenta? ¿Se puede luchar por la justicia con medios violentos, sin caer en la injusticia? ¿Contribuye nuestra sociedad a la realización de un mundo más justo? (shrink)

In a time of globally changing environments and economic challenges, many institutions of higher education are attempting to reform by promoting standardization approaches. Meaning-Centered Education explores the counter-tide for an alternative vision of education, where students and instructors engage in open meaning-making processes and self-organizing educational practices. In one contributed volume, Meaning-Centered Education provides a comprehensive introduction to current scholarship and pedagogical practice on meaning-centered education. International contributors explore how modern educational scholars and practitioners all around the world are implementing (...) a comprehensive framework that supports meaning making in a classroom. This edited collection is a valuable resource for higher education faculty and scholars interested in renewing the deep purposes of higher education. (shrink)

O mundo contemporâneo é o do exílio e não o da pátria, o da errância e não o do lugar. Razão pela qual nosso tempo foi denominado de “século breve”, em que os acontecimentos e os desaparecimentos de modos de vida e valores são acelerados, não permitindo o repouso para constituição de uma memória reparadora. Exílio, expatriamento e dispersão espacial são, pois, o emblema das migrações forçadas por guerras, perseguições políticas e diferentes formas de conflito, que produzem a “nostalgia do (...) inteiramente outro” diante da “vida mutilada”. Assim, a diferença entre duas figuras: a da viagem e a da partida, a odisseia e o êxodo, uma que vive no horizonte de um retorno, outra que anseia por uma pátria que não existe mais. A viagem contemporânea para uma terra de exílio tem algo de enigmático, pois populações inteiras atravessam os mares, assombradas pelos naufrágios e pela incerteza da chegada ou do encontro de um não lugar. Herdeiro problemático de um duplo trauma – o do extermínio dos judeus europeus durante o nazismo e, simultaneamente, o da expulsão dos palestinos de sua terra com a criação do Estado de Israel – Edward Saïd, um dos mais importantes intelectuais palestinos, refletiu sobre a questão da identidade em situações de exílio e estranhamento cultural, procedendo a uma genealogia do sentimento de desorientação, desrealização e perda de si que o exílio produz. Pois se, antes, cada um de nós tem o conforto de paisagens conhecidas, o aconchego do mundo entre os seus, o país estrangeiro representa a passagem do conhecido ao desconhecido, significa o enfrentamento de um incerto acolhimento, com incompreensões, desprezo e hostilidade do lugar a que se chegou. Reunindo, assim, sua formação de scholar em literatura nos Estados Unidos e de musicólogo e pensador geopolítico, Edward Saïd refletiu sobre a construção de um Oriente pelo Ocidente, pelo medium de escritores nos quais há a personagem fantasmada do Outro. (shrink)

L’article explore les rapports entre l’espace, les publics, l’argent et le temps à travers une évolution de divers lieux de rassemblement à Saint-Pétersbourg dans les années 1990-2010. Prenant leur essor durant la période de « l’entre-deux » systèmes, les clubs émergent tels une expérience « underground », un temps continu vécu par une communauté dans un lieu régulier affranchi des impératifs de rentabilité. Durant les années 2000, les clubs subissent une marchandisation, irrégulière et décalée, qui les amène à passer à (...) une ouverture quasi-permanente en diversifiant l’offre de programmation et de consommation. Une partie des clubs, des bars, ainsi que les « time-cafés » émergeant dans les années 2010, visent dès lors à se constituer des noyaux de publics fidèles, à les maintenir longtemps sur place en soignant un « entre-soi », des sociabilités à la fois ouvertes et exclusives, protégées par certains mécanismes de sélection. Cette composante « sociabilité » l’emporte progressivement sur la composante artistique, elle suspend le principe de maximisation du profit et tend à privilégier un usage libre du temps. Cette tendance semble être reprise par certains établissements culturels d’Etat en quête de modernisation, se positionnant dès lors comme des lieux de rassemblement de proximité. (shrink)

La indignación nace como una respuesta ante una realidad que se considera injusta. Tras ella podemos reconocer una determinada concepcion de la justicia y de lo que debería ser un Estado democrático. En este libro nos asomamos a un fenómeno social que en los últimos años ha denunciado y señalado las grietas de nuestro sistema, pero no con la intención de contribuir únicamente a la crítica, tan presente y abundante en estos días, sino con el deseo de animar a la (...) regeneración de nuestra democracia. ¿En qué medida puede la actitud de los ciudadanos contribuir a una regeneración democrática? ¿Estamos dispuestos a transformar la indignación en una actitud de compromiso por la justicia? Nada cambiará externamente sin una transformación interna de nuestra actitud democrática? ¿Qué entendemos por democracia? ¿Se trata de una meta ya alcanzada o de un horizonte inalcanzable? La democracia es lo que nosotros queramos hacer de ella. La actitud de los ciudadanos es fundamental para que la democracia no degenere, pero también para que pueda haber una transformación del sistema. Para obrar moralmente no basta con cumplir la ley. No podemos depositar nuestra responsabilidad individual en el Estado, pues ¿qué ocurriría si las leyes fuesen injustas? Y por otro lado, de nada serviría vivir en un Estado perfecto, con leyes justas, si no hay ciudadanos que estén dispuestos a cumplirlar. El objetivo de esta obra colectiva es encontrar juntos caminos para que nuestra indignación se traduzca en un compromiso real por la regeneración democrática. (shrink)

In this paper, I argue that critical posthumanism is a crucial tool in nursing philosophy and scholarship. Posthumanism entails a reconsideration of what ‘human’ is and a rejection of the whole tradition founding Western life in the 2500 years of our civilization as narrated in founding texts and embodied in governments, economic formations and everyday life. Through an overview of historical periods, texts and philosophy movements, I problematize humanism, showing how it centres white, heterosexual, able‐bodied Man at the top of (...) a hierarchy of beings, and runs counter to many current aspirations in nursing and other disciplines: decolonization, antiracism, anti‐sexism and Indigenous resurgence. In nursing, the term humanism is often used colloquially to mean kind and humane; yet philosophically, humanism denotes a Western philosophical tradition whose tenets underpin much of nursing scholarship. These underpinnings of Western humanism have increasingly become problematic, especially since the 1960s motivating nurse scholars to engage with antihumanist and, recently, posthumanist theory. However, even current antihumanist nursing arguments manifest deep embeddedness in humanistic methodologies. I show both the problematic underside of humanism and critical posthumanism's usefulness as a tool to fight injustice and examine the materiality of nursing practice. In doing so, I hope to persuade readers not to be afraid of understanding and employing this critical tool in nursing research and scholarship. (shrink)

L'ouvrage présente, argumente et illustre la sémantique des possibles argumentatifs, une théorie et un modèle de fonctionnement du sens linguistique à l'interface de ses deux formes de manifestation : la signification des expressions linguistiques, en particulier des mots, et le sens discursif, produit dans et par les occurrences de parole. Cette approche, que l'auteur construit depuis une vingtaine d'années et qui a été déjà investie dans de nombreuses recherches en analyse du discours et des (inter)actions verbales, s'inscrit à la fois (...) dans la filiation des sémantiques argumentatives et dans celle des sémantiques du stéréotype, et adhère à la vision cognitiviste, expérientialiste du langage. Trois éléments polarisent dans l'ouvrage l'argumentation des apports de la théorie SPA et du modèle qu'elle habilite. Le premier pose l'hétérogénéité de la signification des mots et l'entrelacement argumentatif, d'une part, entre le noyau et l'ensemble ouvert de stéréotypes qui lui sont attachés, et, d'autre part, entre le mot et l'ensemble ouvert de ses potentialités de sens discursif. Le second concerne le potentiel du sens discursif qui déploie les significations des mots de confirmer et régénérer, ou de déconstruire et reconstruire ces significations. Le troisième est le cinétisme permanent du sens linguistique dans l'espace de rencontre des possibles argumentatifs de la signification et des déploiements discursifs de celle-ci. Le cinétisme sémantique est envisagé comme une réponse à l'injonction paradoxale du langage : contrainte du potentiel argumentatif des expressions linguistiques sur la construction du sens discursif et contrainte de celui-ci sur la (re)construction de la signification de ces expressions."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

Introduction: oh no, not another wellness trend! -- What is niksen? -- But what if the Dutch got it right? -- Why is niksen so hard? -- Niksen is good for you. Yes, it is -- Niksening up your life -- When niksen doesn't work -- Epilogue: creating nikstopia.

... explores the limitations of the transnationalist approach to feminism and questions the neoliberal emphasis on individual freedom and consumer choice as the central goals of feminist activism.... All chapters proceed from the belief in the continued usefulness of intersectionality as a valuable category of critical analysis that is particularly necessary at the time when the effects of neoliberal globalization are undermining many familiar categories of critical inquiry.

A leitura deste volume decerto trará novas luzes para o entendimento de temas diversos da pesquisa historiográfica, bem à feição da personalidade acadêmica da homenageada, cujo interesse plural percorre os caminhos da gramaticografia do português no Brasil, da linguística missionária, da política linguística, da edificação dos estudos linguísticos universitários, entre tantos outros que residem em sua obra. Uma última palavra de louvor a Cristina Altman, com os votos de que a aposentadoria não lhe iniba o ânimo para continuar contribuindo, com (...) o talento e a competência usuais, para a renovação permanente dos estudos linguístico-historiográficos brasileiros. Ricardo Cavaliere UFF. (shrink)

At the bedside, nurses are expected to be precise when they read indications on screens and on the bodies of patients and decide on the meaning of words framed by the context of acute care. In academia, although there is no incident report to fill when we misread or misrepresent complex philosophical ideas, the consequences of inaccurate reading include misplaced epistemological claims and poor scholarship. A long and broad convention of nursing phenomenological research, in its various forms, claims a philosophical (...) grounding in the ideas of Husserl, Heidegger, and other thinkers. But for nearly two decades, nurse phenomenologists' knowledge claims have been challenged by well‐informed criticisms, most notably by John Paley. At the heart of criticism lies an observation that Continental phenomenological thought is misrepresented in many nursing sources and that nursing phenomenology, both descriptive and interpretive, cannot appeal to the authority of either Husserl or Heidegger. Taking these criticisms seriously, I am asking, Is phenomenology after Paley possible? If misreading seems to be an issue, how can – or should – we read rigorously? My thinking through these questions is influenced by the ideas of Jacques Derrida. Under a condition of a play of language, of Derridian différance, when meaning is never self‐identical and never fully arrives, I suggest that one has to negotiate meanings through reading for differences. I develop this idea in relation to the methodological conventions of phenomenological nursing research and argue for a careful rereading of the whole field of phenomenological nursing research. Such rereading presupposes and necessitates interdisciplinary engagement between nursing and the humanities and interpretive social sciences. Greater familiarity with research practices of those disciplines that stress theoretical and writing rigour might make visible the limits of nursing research approaches and their quality criteria. An understanding of philosophical and theoretical works – a condition of quality scholarship – depends on our reading of both originary texts and contemporary literature from the humanities and the social sciences. This understanding, far from obliging researchers to always trace (often erroneously) their work to its philosophical roots, opens other, often more sound, methodological possibilities. (shrink)

Confronted with an unprecedented scale of human-induced environmental crisis, there is a need for new modes of theorizing that would abandon human exceptionalism and anthropocentrism and instead focus on developing environmentally ethical projects suitable for our times. In this paper, we offer an anti-anthropocentric project of an ethos for living in the Anthropocene. We develop it through revisiting the notion of sustainability in order to problematize the linear vision of human-centric futurity and the uniform ‘we’ of humanity upon which it (...) relies. We ground our analyses in posthumanism and material feminism, using works by posthumanist and material feminist thinkers such as Stacy Alaimo, Rosi Braidotti, Donna Haraway and Jane Bennett, among others. In dialogue with them, we offer the concept of posthuman sustainability that decenters the human, re-positions it in its ecosystem and, while remaining attentive to difference, fosters the thriving of all instances of life. (shrink)

The official patriotic narrative that emerged in the USSR during the Stalin period shows the continuity of imperial models that served to constitute "love of the fatherland". This article presents several concepts about the formation of imperial patriotism prevalent in the course of history; it identifies tendencies of interaction between cultural tradition and foreign models. It also shows the principal possibility of combining patriotism with other forms of unifying and mobilizing discourses. The official patriotic discourse of the Stalin era is (...) analyzed as an eclectic ideological construct that, to a large extent, relied on the tradition of imperial patriotic education. The constants distinguishing Russian - Soviet patriotism include the representation of Russia 's imperial past, viewing the question of a multi-national state through the paradigm of the empire's "civilizing mission", and patriotism as an integral part of public political education. Some of the elements fundamental for Soviet "love of the fatherland" are preserved in modern Russian patriotism as for instance in the form of " Soviet " nostalgia or representations of militant "statehood". (shrink)

Este artículo pretende clarificar la relación entre los aspectos sensoriales de la percepción y el aspecto "demostrativo" sobre el que han llamado la atención autores como Evans y McDowell. Tras introducir un análisis husserliano en espíritu de los modos de presentación demostrativo-perceptuales, y con base en una versión de la teoría de los datos sensoriales -sin los defectos que la han hecho impopular recientemente entre los filósofos- se proponen correspondencias entre la "fase sensorial" y la "fase demostrativo-conceptual" de la percepción, (...) caracterizadas, respectivamente por su contenido no conceptual y conceptual. El punto crucial de la relación entre ambos se explica entonces apelando a cierta operación sintética. Finalmente, se intenta mostrar que esta propuesta es más satisfactoria que la propuesta alternativa existente, debida a John Campbell. /// This paper aims at clarifying the relationship between the sensory aspects and the "demonstrative" aspect of perception that has attracted the interest of philosophers like Evans and McDowell. On the basis of a broadly Husserlian analysis of perceptual demonstrative modes of presentation, on the one hand and, a recent version of the sense-data theory of perception on the other -without the drawbacks that have tended to render that theory impopular among philosophers- correspondences between the "sensory phase" and the "demonstrative and conceptual phase" of perception are proposed, once those "phases" have been characterized, respectively, by non-conceptual and conceptual contents. The key point of the relationship between these is then explained by appealing to a certain synthetic operation. Finally, an attempt is made to show that this is a more satisfactory proposal than the alternative by John Campbell. (shrink)

Katarzyna Gurczyńska-Sady, Człowiek jako słowo i ciało. W poszukiwaniu nowej koncepcji podmiotu, Kraków: Universitas, 2014.

Using the two cases of the Icelandic Health Sector Database and Russian initiatives in biobanking, the article criticizes the view of narratives and imaginaries as a sufficient and unproblematic means of shaping public understanding of genetics and justifying population-wide projects. Narrative representations of national biobanking engage particular imaginaries that are not bound by the universal normative framework of human rights, promote affective thinking, distract the public from recognizing and discussing tangible ethical and socioeconomic issues, and harm trust in science and (...) technology. In the Icelandic case, the presentation of the project in association with national imaginaries concealed its market identity and could lead to the commodification of biodata. In the Russian case, framing in terms of "genetic sovereignty" and "civilizational code" offers pretexts for state securitization. Adherence to normative framework of human rights and public discussion of genetics in an argumentative and factual mode can counter these trends. (shrink)

This article offers an anthropological perspective on autism, a condition at once neurological and social, which complements existing psychological accounts of the disorder, expanding the scope of inquiry from the interpersonal domain, in which autism has been predominantly examined, to the socio-cultural one. Persons with autism need to be viewed not only as individuals in relation to other individuals, but as members of social groups and communities who act, displaying both social competencies and difficulties, in relation to socially and culturally (...) ordered expectations of behavior. The article articulates a socio-cultural approach to perspective-taking in autism in three social domains: participating in conversational turn-taking and sequences; formulating situational scenarios; and interpreting socio-cultural meanings of indexical forms and behavior. Providing ethnographic data on the everyday lives of high-functioning children with autism and Asperger syndrome, the article outlines a cline of competence across the three domains, from most success in conversational turn-taking to least in inferring indexical meanings. Implications of these abilities and limitations are considered for theoretical approaches to society and culture, illuminating how members of social groups are at once shaped by, and are agents of, social life and cultural understanding. (shrink)

Since the beginning of signed language research, the linguistic units have been divided into conventional, standard and fixed signs, all of which were considered as the core of the language, and iconic and productive signs, put at the edge of language. In the present paper, we will review different models proposed by signed language researchers over the years to describe the signed lexicon, showing how to overcome the hierarchical division between standard and productive lexicon. Drawing from the semiotic insights of (...) Peirce we proposed to look at signs as a triadic construction built on symbolic, iconic, and indexical features. In our model, the different iconic, symbolic, and indexical features of signs are seen as the three sides of the same triangle, detectable in the single linguistic sign. The key aspect is that the dominance of the feature will determine the different use of the linguistic unit, as we will show with examples from different discourse types. (shrink)

The paper analyses and evaluates the linguistic policy of the Court of Justice of the European Union against the background of other multilingual courts and in the light of theories of legal interpretation. Multilingualism has a direct impact upon legal interpretation at the Court, displacing traditional approaches with a hermeneutic paradigm. It also creates challenges to the acceptance of the Court’s case-law in the Member States, which seem to have been adequately tackled by the Court’s idiosyncratic translation policy.

BackgroundCurrent preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) technologies enable embryo genotyping across the whole genome. This has led to the development of polygenic risk scoring of human embryos (PGT-P). Recent implementation of PGT-P, including screening for intelligence, has been extensively covered by media reports, raising major controversy. Considering the increasing demand for assisted reproduction, we evaluated how information about PGT-P is communicated in press media and explored the diversity of ethical themes present in the public debate.MethodsLexisNexis Academic database and Google News were (...) searched to identify articles about polygenic embryo screening. This led to 535 news articles. 59 original articles met the inclusion criteria. Inductive content analysis was used to analyse these articles.Results8.8% of articles gave embryo polygenic scoring a positive portrayal, while 36.8% expressed a negative attitude. 54.4% were neutral, mostly highlighting limited practical value of the technology in in vitro fertilization settings. We identified five main ethical themes that are also present in academic literature and the broader debate on reproductive technologies: a slippery slope towards designer babies, well-being of the child and parents, impact on society, deliberate choice and societal readiness.ConclusionsImplementation of embryo polygenic profiling engenders a need for specific recommendations. Current media analysis discloses important ethical themes to consider when creating future guidelines for PGT-P. (shrink)

While the implementation of digital technology in psychiatry appears promising, there is an urgent need to address the implications of the absence of ethical design in the early development of such technologies. Some authors have noted the gap between technology development and ethical analysis and have called for an upstream examination of the ethical issues raised by digital technologies. In this paper, we address this suggestion, particularly in relation to digital healthcare technologies for patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. The introduction (...) of digital technologies in psychiatry offers a broad spectrum of diagnostic and treatment options tailored to the health needs and goals of patients’ care. These technologies include wearable devices, smartphone applications for high-immersive virtual realities, smart homes, telepsychiatry and messaging systems for patients in rural areas. The availability of these technologies could increase access to mental health services and improve the diagnostics of mental disorders.Additional Instruction AbstractIn this descriptive review, we systematize ethical concerns about digital technologies for mental health with a particular focus on individuals suffering from schizophrenia. There are many unsolved dilemmas and conflicts of interest in the implementation of these technologies, such as (1) the lack of evidence on efficacy and impact on self-perception; (2) the lack of clear standards for the safety of their daily implementation; (3) unclear roles of technology and a shift in the responsibilities of all parties; (4) no guarantee of data confidentiality; and (5) the lack of a user-centered design that meets the particular needs of patients with schizophrenia. mHealth can improve care in psychiatry and make mental healthcare services more efficient and personalized while destigmatizing mental health disorders. To ensure that these technologies will benefit people with mental health disorders, we need to heighten sensitivity to ethical issues among mental healthcare specialists, health policy makers, software developers, patients themselves and their proxies. Additionally, we need to develop frameworks for furthering sustainable development in the digital technologies industry and for the responsible usage of such technologies for patients with schizophrenia in the clinical setting. We suggest that digital technology in psychiatry, particularly for schizophrenia and other serious mental health disorders, should be integrated into treatment with professional supervision rather than as a self-treatment tool. (shrink)

The Ukrainian–Russian conflict of 2013–2017 is characterized as ‘hybrid’ warfare, with a crucial role of informational component. Using ideological discourse analytic tools, this article demonstrates how two prominent Russian TV channels shaped the persuasive message, creating strong unity and mobilizing a high level of support among the national audience. Based on legitimation and de-legitimation patterns, Channel One and Russia-1 built ideologically polarized opposition between ‘Our’ and ‘Their’ sides of the conflict. The wide range of editorializing tools, socio-cultural and historical Soviet-time (...) constructs, and references to gay culture served to promote one group and to debase the opposition. Close institutional ties between government and media in Russia sustain multiplicity and intertextuality of ‘general line’, thus eliminating discordant interpretations. The article shows strong evidence that the analyzed TV news programs present a typical illustration of ideological discourse, exploited by the Russian government in order to achieve its political goals. (shrink)