Background: Ethical and legal issues are increasingly being reported by health caregivers; however, little is known about the nature of these issues in geriatric care. These issues can improve work and care conditions in healthcare, and consequently, the health and welfare of older people. Aim: This literature review aims to identify research focusing on ethical and legal issues in geriatric care, in order to give nurses and other health care workers an overview of existing grievances and possible solutions to take (...) care of old patients in a both ethical and legally correct way. Methods: Using a systematic approach based on Aveyard, a search of the PubMed, CINAHL, and Ethicshare databases was conducted to find out the articles published on ethical and legal issues in geriatric care. Ethical considerations: The approval for the study was obtained from UMIT-The Health and Life Sciences University, Austria. Results: Only 50 articles were included for systematic analysis reporting ethical and legal issues in the geriatric care. The results presented in this article showed that the main ethical issues were related to the older people’s autonomy, respect for their needs, wishes and values, and respect for their decision-making. The main legal issues were related to patients’ rights, advance directives, elderly rights, treatment nutrition dilemma, and autonomy. Conclusion: Further education for professional caregivers, elderly people, and their families is needed on following topics: care planning, directive and living wills, and caregiver-family member relationships to guide and support the elderly people within their decision-making processes and during the end-of-life care. (shrink)

The main aim of the present research is to analyze the predictive value of individual characteristics such as online self-efficacy, adaptability to uncertainty, and sources of stress during online learning on learning engagement. We also aimed to highlight if these relationships could be mediated by the online self-regulated learning strategies, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants were 529 university students and the design was cross-sectional. The results showed significant associations of the sources of stress in online learning with self-efficacy, leaning (...) engagement and self-regulated learning strategies. Self-regulated strategies—task strategies and goal setting represent mediators of stressors perceived by the students under the conditions of the sudden shift to online activity and online learning engagement. The most relevant self-regulation strategies seemed to be goal setting and task strategies, which confirm the need for a clear structure of learning in the context of online activities. The implications of this study reside in the increased awareness regarding how learning engagement in online learning can be predicted by individual characteristics. (shrink)

Background The ethical governance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in health care and public health continues to be an urgent issue for attention in policy, research, and practice. In this paper we report on central themes related to challenges and strategies for promoting ethics in research involving AI in global health, arising from the Global Forum on Bioethics in Research (GFBR), held in Cape Town, South Africa in November 2022. Methods The GFBR is an annual meeting organized by the World Health (...) Organization and supported by the Wellcome Trust, the US National Institutes of Health, the UK Medical Research Council (MRC) and the South African MRC. The forum aims to bring together ethicists, researchers, policymakers, research ethics committee members and other actors to engage with challenges and opportunities specifically related to research ethics. In 2022 the focus of the GFBR was “Ethics of AI in Global Health Research”. The forum consisted of 6 case study presentations, 16 governance presentations, and a series of small group and large group discussions. A total of 87 participants attended the forum from 31 countries around the world, representing disciplines of bioethics, AI, health policy, health professional practice, research funding, and bioinformatics. In this paper, we highlight central insights arising from GFBR 2022. Results We describe the significance of four thematic insights arising from the forum: (1) Appropriateness of building AI, (2) Transferability of AI systems, (3) Accountability for AI decision-making and outcomes, and (4) Individual consent. We then describe eight recommendations for governance leaders to enhance the ethical governance of AI in global health research, addressing issues such as AI impact assessments, environmental values, and fair partnerships. Conclusions The 2022 Global Forum on Bioethics in Research illustrated several innovations in ethical governance of AI for global health research, as well as several areas in need of urgent attention internationally. This summary is intended to inform international and domestic efforts to strengthen research ethics and support the evolution of governance leadership to meet the demands of AI in global health research. (shrink)

The development of neuropsychological assessment methods using virtual reality (VR) is a valid and promising option for the detection of cognitive impairment in the older people, focusing on activities composed of tasks of multiple demands. This study verified the association of age, schooling, and general cognitive status on the performance of neurologically healthy older adults in ECO-VR, a virtual reality task of multiple demands for neuropsychological assessment. A total of 111 older adults answered a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Mini Mental State (...) Examination, the Vocabulary subtest of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Adults (third edition), and the ECO-VR. Correlation analyses, multiple linear regression, and comparisons between groups (effects by age and schooling groups) were used to evaluate the results. The ECO-VR total score was significantly associated with age, years of education, MMSE, and Vocabulary subtest. The linear regression models identified that age was the main predictor for total score and rule breaking of ECO-VR. According to the univariate analysis, it was identified the main effect of age group and schooling group in the total ECO-VR score, but there was no interaction effect. The results are discussed in order to understand the role of sociodemographic characteristics in the performance of older adults in a virtual reality task of multiple demands. It was also verified the possibility use of virtual reality for neuropsychological assessment of older adults. (shrink)

Reduced self-awareness is a well-known phenomenon investigated in patients with vascular disease; however, its impact on neuropsychological functions remains to be clarified. Importantly, selective vascular lesions provide an opportunity to investigate the key neuropsychological features of reduced self-awareness in neurocognitive disorders. Because of its rarity, we present an unusual case of a woman affected by a combined polar and paramedian bilateral thalamic infarction. The patient underwent an extensive neuropsychological evaluation to assess cognitive, behavioral, and functional domains, with a focus on (...) executive functions. She was assessed clinically in the acute phase and after 6 months from the stroke, both clinically and by magnetic resonance imaging. The patient developed a cognitive impairment, characterised by prevalent executive dysfunction associated with reduced self-awareness and mood changes, in terms of apathy and depression. Such condition persisted after 6 months. In May 2020, the patient underwent the serology test in chemiluminescence to detect IgG antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. The result of the quantitative test highlighted a high probability of previous contact with the virus. We suggest that reduced self-awareness related to executive dysfunction and behavioral changes may be due to combined polar and paramedian bilateral thalamic lesion. Metacognitive–executive dysfunction affecting the instrumental abilities of everyday life might make people less able to take appropriate precautions, facilitating the risk of SARS-CoV-2 contagion. (shrink)

Society is the ensemble/the whole of the relations with the others, it is their form based on the natural needs : the perpetuation of the species, the playful expression, the language, the thinking, the communication, the inter-subjectivity report. In the evolution of psychology of human development, sport contributes to the improvement of the body in relation to the environment; of the cognitive, moral development of language, that of complex skills, sensory integrations, games with body schematics, which mobilize self-awareness and structure (...) through learning and experience. Thus, social and communication behaviours generate a mutually advantageous social repertoire. (shrink)

Resumen: Dada la multiplicidad de planos que acompañan a las observaciones de la actual pandemia, importa identificar aquellas que alcanzan una mayor resonancia. Así, observamos cómo los ciudadanos y los agentes de decisión han incrementado sus demandas de informaciones validadas por medio de la aplicación de la racionalidad, los métodos y los procedimientos de la ciencia de manera exponencial. En este trabajo desarrollamos en forma sintética un conjunto seleccionado de lineamientos sobre cómo se aborda la actual pandemia desde las ciencias (...) sociales sistémicas, para luego exponer algunas de sus propuestas respecto a las condiciones, a nivel organizacional, las cuales podrían permitir alcanzar los niveles de diálogo y cooperación requeridos para enfrentar la pandemia actual.: Given the multiplicity of perspectives that accompany the observation of the current pandemic, becomes relevant to identify those that achieve the greatest resonance. Thus, it is observed how citizens and decision makers have increased their demands for valid information by applying rationality, methods, and procedures of science in an exponential manner. In this paper we develop a synthetic set of selected guidelines on how the current pandemic is approached from systemic social sciences, and then present some of their proposals regarding the conditions, at the organizational level, which could enable the achievement of the levels of dialogue and cooperation required to address the current pandemic. (shrink)

For families all over the world, going through a pandemic has presented a number of challenges. In particular, social distancing measures involving the closure of schools and day care centers, as well as increasing work hours at home, made parents face very demanding situations. However, we know little about whether parents’ burnout levels are influenced by the age of their children. This study sought to determine whether levels of parental burnout are higher in families with at least one child under (...) the age of four than in families with older children. The second goal was to explore whether having children under 4 years of age moderates the relationship between parental cooperation and PB. A cross-sectional study was conducted with a sample of 651 participants since May 18th until August 27th, 2020. The main results showed that child age is a predictor of PB. Besides, having a child aged 0–4 years old moderates the relationship between parental cooperation and PB. Finally, it was found that in cases where there was at least one child under 4 years of age in the family, with one of the partners who worked remotely, the respondent’s PB rose by 7.9 points. The implications of these results with respect to the consideration of children’s ages in the different parental scenarios were discussed. (shrink)

This study examines the impact of government divestiture on corporate environmental investment (EI) and investigates how regional development moderates this relationship. Using a sample of Chinese listed firms from 2012 to 2022, we employ a fixed-effect model to analyze the data. Our findings reveal a negative effect of government divestiture on EI. Furthermore, we observe that regional development mitigates this negative impact, indicating that firms operating in developed environments are more inclined to prioritize environmental concerns, likely due to increased stakeholder (...) monitoring. To address concerns regarding endogeneity, we utilize propensity score matching (PSM), Heckman tests, and the generalized method of moments (GMM). Overall, our results carry significant policy implications, particularly regarding the environmental consequences of privatization in emerging markets like China. (shrink)

ObjectiveTo assess the impact of the closure of group-based cardiac rehabilitation training during the first COVID-19 lockdown in spring 2020 on patients’ physical activity, cardiorespiratory fitness, and cardiovascular risk, and to describe the patient experience of lockdown and home-based exercise training during lockdown.DesignMixed methods study. Prospectively collected post-lockdown measurements were compared to pre-lockdown medical record data. Quantitative measurements were supplemented with qualitative interviews about the patient experience during lockdown.SettingOutpatient CR centre in Salzburg, Austria.ParticipantsTwenty-seven patients [six female, mean age 69 years] (...) who attended weekly CR training sessions until the first COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020.Outcome MeasureQuantitative: exercise capacity, cardiovascular risk. Qualitative: individual semi-structured interviews.ResultsExercise capacity had significantly reduced from pre- to post-lockdown: mean power in maximal ergometry 165 vs. 151, p < 0.001; submaximal ergometer training 99 vs. 97, p = 0.038. There was no significant difference in Framingham risk score and other cardiovascular risk factors. Qualitative data showed that almost all patients had kept physically active during lockdown, but 17 said they had been unable to maintain their exercise levels, and 15 felt their cardiorespiratory fitness had deteriorated. Many patients missed the weekly CR training and the motivation and sense of community from training together with others. Several patients stated that without professional supervision they had felt less confident to carry out home-based exercise training at high intensity.ConclusionThis study highlights the importance of group-based supervised exercise training for patients who engage well in such a setting, and the detrimental impact of disruption to this type of CR service on physical activity levels and exercise capacity. Additionally, learning from the COVID-19 pandemic may inform the development and implementation of remote CR modalities going forward. (shrink)

The study investigates the effects of ESG washing on banks' reputational exposure. We define ESG washing as a disparity between a bank's environmental and social disclosure level and the practical implementation of the relative measures. The analysis involves an international sample of 120 banks operating across 35 countries from 2014 to 2020. The results evidence a different effect based on the pillar considered: the higher the inconsistency on environmental issues, the higher a bank's reputational exposure. Conversely, higher levels of disclosure (...) compared to performance on social issues appear to reduce reputational exposure. In addition, citizen movements and the country's legal system play a significant role in amplifying or mitigating a bank's reputational exposure. Our findings offer insight into the phenomenon of ESG washing in the banking industry, supporting the need for more verified information across countries and all economic sectors. (shrink)

Precision medicine (PM) and genomics are increasingly scrutinized through the lens of health inequities. This is a welcome development for a field that, while concerned with health-related differen...

Emotional stimuli (e.g. words, images) are often remembered better than neutral stimuli. However, little is known about how memory is affected by an environmentally induced emotional state (without any overtly emotional occurrences) – the focus of this study. Participants were randomly assigned to discovery (n = 305) and replication (n = 306) subsamples and viewed a desktop virtual environment before rating their emotions and completing objective (i.e. item, temporal-order, duration) and subjective (e.g. vividness, sensory detail, coherence) memory measures. In both (...) samples, a Partial Least Squares Correlation analysis showed that an emotional state characterised by high negative emotion (i.e. threat, fear, anxiety) and arousal was reliably associated with better memory in both objective (i.e. item) and subjective (i.e. vividness and sensory detail) domains. No reliable associations were observed for any temporal memory measures (objective or subjective). Thus, an environmentally induced state of negative emotion corresponds with enhanced memory for indices of episodic memory pertaining to “what” happened, but not necessarily “when” it happened. (shrink)

The changes and general alarm of the current COVID-19 pandemic have amplified the sense of precariousness and vulnerability for family members who, in addition to the emotional trauma of the cancer diagnosis, add the distress and fear of the risks associated with infection. The primary objectives of the present study were to investigate the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the parents of pediatric cancer patients, and the level of stress, anxiety, and the child’s quality of life perceived by (...) the parents during the COVID-19 epidemic. The parents of 45 consecutive children with solid and hematological tumors were enrolled. Four questionnaires were administered to the parents at the beginning of the pandemic lockdown. A 75% of parents exhibited remarkable levels of anxiety, with 60 subjects in state scale and 45 subjects in trait scale having scores that reached and exceeded the STAI-Y cut off. The bivariate matrix of correlation found a significant positive correlation between the IES-R and PSS scores. There was a positive correlation between the PSS and PedsQL scale and a negative correlation between IES-R and STAI-Y. The results confirm that parents of pediatric cancer patients have a high psychological risk for post-traumatic symptoms, high stress levels, and the presence of clinically significant levels of anxiety. (shrink)

Propósito: la adecuación del esfuerzo terapéutico es una decisión clínica basada en la evidencia que pretende evitar la futilidad médica. Se han señalado diferentes factores que pueden influir en esta toma de decisiones los cuales se relacionan con el paciente, el profesional médico que toma de las decisiones, barreras del sistema, cultura y economía, entre otros. El presente estudio pretende identificar aquellos factores que influyen en los médicos especialistas que laboran en la institución referente del cáncer en Colombia, a fin (...) de planear acciones que mejoren el abordaje de la toma de decisiones con respecto a la adecuación del esfuerzo terapéutico en pacientes con cáncer. Metodología: diseño cualitativo basado en 13 entrevistas en profundidad a médicos especialistas del Instituto Nacional de Cancerología de Colombia. Resultados: participaron 3 mujeres y 10 hombres, con un promedio de edad de 36 años, 7 pertenecientes a la especialidad de oncología de adultos, 2 a oncohematología pediátrica, 1 a cuidados intensivos de adultos y 3 a cuidados intensivos pediátricos. Los factores hallados se agruparon en cuatro categorías: 1) conocimiento, 2) aspectos relacionados con la toma de decisiones, 3) quién decide, 4) tipo de decisión que se toma; a su vez, estas categorías se agruparon en temas que hacen alusión a los factores que influyen en la toma de decisiones de los especialistas para adecuar los esfuerzos terapéuticos. Conclusión: la adecuación de los esfuerzos terapéuticos es importante para evitar procedimientos médicos fútiles que prolonguen el sufrimiento. Se evidenciaron algunos factores que influyen en la toma de decisiones de los especialistas: falta de preparación de los profesionales de salud en el tema de toma de decisiones al final de la vida, uso reducido de escalas que permitan mejorar la información del pronóstico y desconocimiento sobre voluntades anticipadas; estos son algunos de aquellos factores que deben fortalecerse para generar acciones que mejoren el abordaje de esta temática. (shrink)

INDICE -/- Note biografiche Introduzione, di Riccardo Faucci -/- Parte I - Da Verri a Toniolo 1. Jeremy Bentham: Contemporary Interpretations, di M.D.A. Freeman 2. Su Helvétius, Beccaria e Bentham, di Letizia Gianformaggio 3. L'etica utilitaristica di Pietro Veti, di Vincenzo Polignano 4. ll liberismo interventista di Vincenzo Emanuele Sergio, di Anna Li Donni 5. Il concetto di " felicità pubblica, nella << Genesi del diritto penale » di Romagnosi, e il rapporto Romagnosi-Bentham, di Robertino Ghiringhelli 6. « La più (...) grande felicità per il maggior numero » all'Accademia dei Georgofili ( 18)0-1850), di Gabriella Gioli 7. Una nota su Manzoni critico dell'utilitarismo, di Maurizio Mori 8. Sul concetto di utile in Francesco Ferrara e in Maffeo Pantaleoni, di Daniela Parisi Acquaviva 9. Sul pensiero sociale cristiano di fronte all'edonismo, di Luciano Avagliano 10. Giuseppe Toniolo e il recupero cattolico dell'utile e del valore, di Anna Camaiti -/- Parte II Aspetti di storia del pensiero economico nell’età classica -/- 1. La filosofia economica di Thomas Hobbes, di Marco Bertozzi 2. Ordinamento del sapere, modelli metodologici ed economia politica in Adam Smith, di Sergio Cremaschi 3. Elementi classici nel pensiero di Adam Smith: giurisprudenza romana e morale stoica, di Gloria Vivenza 4. Il “lusso” negli economisti italiani del Settecento, di Cosimo Perrotta 5. Prezzi naturali, prezzi di mercato e legge degli sbocchi nel dibattito fra Malthus e Ricardo, di Lilia Costabile 6. Marx e la moneta, di Roberto Petrini -/- . (shrink)

Over the last decade, research in semantics and pragmatics has started to increasingly incorporate new experimental methods from cognitive psychology. That this empirical stance on utterance interpretation has now reached maturity is revealed by two unmistakable symptoms: an increased reflection on the contextual methods used to elicit experimental data, and a continuous expansion of the linguistic phenomena and themes being investigated through these methods. The articles gathered in this volume testify to this very recent evolution of the field: a first (...) set of papers questions the interpretation or interpretability of data collected in non-naturalistic settings, while a second set reflects the extension of experimental methods to new topics. The volume offers an up-to-date overview of contemporary issues arising within the thriving field of Empirical Pragmatics. (shrink)

This article contributes to the debate about the role of affect in transformative change towards gender equality, by comparing the building of affect in two recently founded women’s networks in Italian and Dutch universities. By conceptualizing networking as a social and cultural practice that organizes a collective body through the building of affect between specific groups of organizational stakeholders, we reveal the emotional, dynamic and context-dependent character of transformative change. We found that similar women’s networks build affect with organizational stakeholders (...) in different ways, shaping boundaries of different collective bodies through emotions and adapting to the cultural meaning attributed to earlier actions. By bridging bottom-up and top-down approaches to gender equality and tailoring the building of affect to the local context they potentially contribute to transformational change towards gender equality. (shrink)

El presente artículo aborda la estrategia escritural de Daniela Catrileo. Se propone revisar la elaboración del concepto de piñen examinando la relación entre lenguaje y colonialidad, para, de ese modo, subrayar el potencial político y reivindicativo que comporta en la novela del mismo nombre, Piñen (2019). Dicha hipótesis articulará el ejercicio de lectura aquí propuesto, atendiendo principalmente las estrategias narrativas empleadas –servirse de un polilingüismo que rompe estructuras gramaticales– para descentrar el lenguaje de su determinismo colonial. Así, interpretamos dicha (...) estrategia escritural en consonancia con las potencias micropolíticas y descolonizadoras del arte descritas por Suely Rolnik y, en consecuencia, apostando por la posibilidad de diagramar un devenir minoritario que dispute los imaginarios del inconsciente colonial-capital. (shrink)

Since its emergence, the novel coronavirus disease of 2019 has had enormous physical, social, and psychological impacts worldwide. The aim of this article was to identify elements of our knowledge on asbestos exposure and malignant mesothelioma that can provide insight into the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and be used to develop adequate interventions. Although the etiology of Covid-19 and MM differs, their psychological impacts have common characteristics: in both diseases, there is a feeling of being exposed through aerial (...) contagion to an “invisible killer” without boundaries that can strike even the strongest individuals. In both cases, affected persons can experience personality dysfunction, anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic symptoms; helplessness, hopelessness, and projection of destructive thoughts onto external forces often emerge, while defense mechanisms such as denial, splitting, repression, and reduced emotional expression are used by individuals to contain their overwhelming anxieties. We believe that in both diseases, an integrated multidimensional intervention offered by hospitals and other public health services is the most effective approach to alleviating patients’ and caregivers’ psychological distress. In particular, we emphasize that in the context of both MM and COVID-19, Brief Psychoanalytic Group therapy can help patients and caregivers attribute meaning to the significant changes in their lives related to the experience of the disease and identify adaptive strategies and more realistic relational modalities to deal with what has happened to them. We also highlight the importance of developing a surveillance system that includes individual anamnestic evaluation of occupational risk factors for COVID-19 disease. (shrink)

Ethological theories usually attribute semantic content to animal signals. To account for this fact, many biologists and philosophers appeal to some version of teleosemantics. However, this picture has recently came under attack: while mainstream teleosemantics assumes that representational systems must cooperate, some biologists and philosophers argue that in certain cases signaling can evolve within systems lacking common interest. In this paper I defend the standard view from this objection.

The indeterminacy problem is one of the most prominent objections against naturalistic theories of content. In this essay I present this difficulty and argue that extant accounts are unable to solve it. Then, I develop a particular version of teleosemantics, which I call ’explanation-based teleosemantics’, and show how this outstanding problem can be addressed within the framework of a powerful naturalistic theory.

Recent research on bacteria and other microorganisms has provided interesting insights into the nature of life, cooperation, evolution, individuality or species. In this paper, I focus on the capacity of bacteria to produce molecules that are usually classified as ’signals’ and I defend two claims. First, I argue that certain interactions between bacteria should actually qualify as genuine forms of communication. Second, I use this case study to revise our general theories of signaling. Among other things, I argue that a (...) plausible requirement for a state to qualify as a signal is that it is a minimal cause. (shrink)