Background Visual atypicalities in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are a well documented phenomenon, beginning as early as 2–6 months of age and manifesting in a significantly decreased attention to the eyes, direct gaze and socially salient information. Early emerging neurobiological deficits in perceiving social stimuli as rewarding or its active avoidance due to the anxiety it entails have been widely purported as potential reasons for this atypicality. Parallel research evidence also points to the significant benefits of animal presence for reducing (...) social anxiety and enhancing social interaction in children with autism. While atypicality in social attention in ASD has been widely substantiated, whether this atypicality persists equally across species types or is confined to humans has not been a key focus of research insofar. Methods We attempted a comprehensive examination of the differences in visual attention to static images of human and animal faces (40 images; 20 human faces and 20 animal faces) among children with ASD using an eye tracking paradigm. 44 children (ASD n = 21; TD n = 23) participated in the study (10,362 valid observations) across five regions of interest (left eye, right eye, eye region, face and screen). Results Results obtained revealed significantly greater social attention across human and animal stimuli in typical controls when compared to children with ASD. However in children with ASD, a significantly greater attention allocation was seen to animal faces and eye region and lesser attention to the animal mouth when compared to human faces, indicative of a clear attentional preference to socially salient regions of animal stimuli. The positive attentional bias toward animals was also seen in terms of a significantly greater visual attention to direct gaze in animal images. Conclusion Our results suggest the possibility that atypicalities in social attention in ASD may not be uniform across species. It adds to the current neural and biomarker evidence base of the potentially greater social reward processing and lesser social anxiety underlying animal stimuli as compared to human stimuli in children with ASD. (shrink)

Dog ownership is believed to benefit owner wellbeing but, contrary to popular belief, there is limited evidence to suggest that simply owning a dog is associated with improved mental health. This mixed-methods study investigates whether dog owners with stronger relationships with their dogs experience better mental health. Participants completed an online survey. Owners’ health was measured using the validated PROMIS questions regarding depression, anxiety, emotional support, and companionship. The dog–owner relationship was measured using the validated MDORS scale, which has three (...) subscales: interaction, emotional closeness, and perceived costs. Univariable and multivariable linear regression analyses were conducted, adjusting for confounding factors. Additionally, positive and negative impacts of dog ownership on mental wellbeing were coded from open questions using thematic analysis. A stronger dog–owner relationship was associated with greater feelings of emotional support and companionship but poorer mental health in terms of anxiety or depression. However, the perceived costs subscale was consistently associated with better mental health outcomes. Direction of causality cannot be inferred as people with poor mental health may acquire dogs to help relieve symptoms, which qualitative analysis supported. Key themes included positive impacts on owner wellbeing and happiness through providing purpose, companionship and self-acceptance, pleasure and distraction, as well as lessening emotional pain and suffering and reducing risk behaviors. However, negative impacts of a strong relationship include anticipatory grief over loss of the dog, and concerns regarding the burden of responsibility and ability to meet dog’s needs. Perceived ability to adequately meet dog’s needs promoted personal growth and positive relationships with others, whereas perceived inability led to feelings of guilt, or anger/frustration, and reduced autonomy and sense of environmental mastery. Dog ownership contributes to both hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing in multiple ways, including supporting owners through periods of poor mental health and providing purpose. However, the burden of responsibility and owner and dog characteristics can create challenges, and owners may benefit from support in caring for their dogs and reducing problematic behaviors. (shrink)

Este estudo aprofunda o sentido da experiência relatada por Marguerite Porete, mistica medieval, condenada como herética e queimada em 1310, acusada de ultrapassar e transcender as Escrituras, errar nos artigos da fé e dossacramentos e dizer palavras contrárias e prejudiciais. No entanto, ela traz uma contribuição importante para o pensamento filosófico-teológico e literário, na medida em que levanta questões e articula respostas sobre o problema da inacessibilidade do transcendente. O aniquilamento é o seu tema, perigoso para um tempo em (...) que o ideal era a salvação de si próprio, perigoso também parao tempo atual, fundado no humanismo e, nessa medida, detido no eu. (shrink)

Hamaker's conjecture κομâ (for τολμâ,sic) at Lysias 16.18 was adopted by Rauchenstein in his influential edition of 1869 and soon given powerful endorsement by Jebb and by Shuckburgh. Successive later editors and commentators have seen no reason to demur: Thalheim, Adams, Hude, Gernet and Bizos, Lamb, and finally Edwards and Usher all adopt κομâ, and, where they comment, unanimously cite Aristophanic parallels (especiallyEq.580) in support of a connection between longhaired affectation and ‘oligarchic’ affiliations; some also adduce the expression ảπ’ὂΨεως in (...) justification. But this is an egregious instance of unwarranted tampering with a sound text. τóλμα is a quality conspicuously displayed by Mantitheus, on his own account of his character, words, and actions. (shrink)

ABSTRACT This text reflects on the representativeness of the kinky hair (or afro-textured hair) as an element of racial belonging in children’s literature, based on the book Hair Love, by the African American director, producer, and writer Matthew A. Cherry. To do so, it investigates how the illustrations by Vashti Harrison, also an African American, align with the text to express a vision of black individuals and of their family without usual stereotypes. Drawing on bell hooks’ notion of love, this (...) analysis undertakes a reading that runs through both thematic and structural aspects of the narrative, hypothesizing that the book, without making direct allusions, serves as a counter-discourse to the racism that originated during slavery, the effects of which can still be felt today. From a theoretical perspective, in addition to hooks, this reading is grounded on a conceptual framework guided by the studies of Eliane Debus, Grada Kilomba and Nilma Lina Gomes. (shrink)

Resumo Neste artigo, pretendemos abordar o pensamento de duas mulheres por meio dos conceitos de aniquilamento, que encontramos em Le mirouer des simples ames de Marguerite Porete, e descriação que aparece em Pensateur et grace de Simone Weil. Também usaremos a obra de Weil La connaisance surnaturelle composta pelos Cahiers d’Amérique e Notes ècrites à Londres, onde ela faz referência ao livro de Marguerite Porete. Deste modo, apresentaremos, num primeiro momento, a mística de Marguerite Porete, focando no (...) conceito de aniquilamento. Depois, num segundo momento, mostraremos um pouco da mística de Simone Weil por meio do conceito de descriação. A partir deste segundo momento, já iremos traçando alguns paralelos para mostrar a semelhança entre a mística das duas pensadoras que se refletirá no terceiro momento deste artigo, onde apresentaremos Weil como leitura de Le mirouer des simples ames.In this article we intend to approach the thought of two French philosophers through two concepts: annihilation, found in the Le mirouer des simples ames of Marguerite Porete, and decreation, which appears in the Pensateur et grace of Simone Weil. We will also refer to Weil’s La connaisance surnaturelle, composed of the Cahiers d’Amérique and Notes ècrites à Londres, where she refers to Marguerite Porete’s book. First we present the mysticism of Marguerite Porete, focusing on the concept of annihilation. Next we discuss the mysticism of Simone Weil through the concept of decreation. We then draw some parallels to show the similarity between the mysticism of the two thinkers, and discuss Weil as a reader of Le mirouer des simples ames. (shrink)

Montaigne faz um ataque pirrônico ao conceito acadêmico de verossimilhança ou probabilidade na Apologia de Raymond Sebond. O ataque é paradoxal porque Montaigne parece seguir o verossímil na própria Apologia e em diversos outros ensaios. Para resolver este problema exegético proponho uma dupla restrição do escopo do ataque à verossimilhança. Por um lado, mostro que o ataque visa mais a leitura epistêmica da verossimilhança proposta por Filo de Larissa do que ao conceito original de ordem exclusivamente prática de Carnéades. Por (...) outro, situo-o em um contexto político-religioso bem específico. O ataque pirrônico à verossimilhança é a estratégia oferecida por Montaigne à rainha católica de Navarra e irmã do rei da França, Marguerite de Valois, para eventual uso nas polêmicas religiosas em sua corte majoritariamente protestante de Nérac. Esta contextualização soluciona também outros problemas exegéticos da Apologia, como o da defesa paradoxal de Sebond, a inconsistência aparente entre as respostas de Montaigne às duas objeções feitas ao livro de Sebond, e o problema do fideísmo. In the Apology for Raymond Sebond, Montaigne launches a Pyrrhonian attack on Academic probability. However, Montaigne does follow probability in the Apology and other essays. In order to solve this exegetical problem I propose a double restriction of the attack. On the one hand, I show that it aims at Philo of Larissa's epistemic interpretation of the doctrine rather than at Carneades' original practical conception. On the other hand, I place the attack on a very specific historical context. Montaigne's Pyrrhonian attack on probability is a polemical strategy offered to Marguerite de Valois, the sister of the catholic king of France and wife of the protestant leader Henri de Navarre, to be used in the religious controversies in her predominant protestant court at Nérac. This context also solves other exegetical problems of the Apology such as Montaigne's paradoxical defense of Sebond, the apparent contradiction between the replies to the two objections to Sebond's book addressed by Montaigne, and the problem of fideism. (shrink)

This study investigated patient preferences for various types of physician persuasion strategies. Four types of persuasion strategies were utilized which involved combination of high and low levels of affectivity and information. In addition, patient variables, receiver apprehension and health beliefs were introduced to predict preference choices by patients. Results indicated that patients are influenced in their decision-making (preferences) by the type of persuasive strategy employed. Further, patients with different characteristics and predispositions prefer different persuasive strategies. The results of this study (...) suggest that the success of physician persuasiveness is dependent upon the type of strategy used and the type of patient being persuaded. (shrink)

This is an authentic record of an unauthentic paper.

(2013). A review of “Smith, Nicholas J. J., Logic: The Laws of Truth. Australasian Journal of Philosophy: Vol. 91, No. 3, pp. 629-629. doi: 10.1080/00048402.2013.794849.

One of the central issue of developmental biology concerns the molecular mechanisms whereby a multipotent cell gives rise to distinct differentiated progeny. Differences between specialised cell types reflect variations in their patterns of gene expression. The regulation of transcription initiation is an important control point for gene expression and it is, therefore, not surprising that transcription factors play a pivotal role in mammalian development and differentiation.Haemopoiesis offers a uniquely tractable system for the study of lineage commitment and differentiation. The importance (...) of transcription factor in the normal regulation of haemopoiesis is underlined by the frequency with which transcription factors are targeted by leukaemogenic mutations. Studies of the function and regulation of haemopoietic transcription factors, especially those expressed in lineage‐restricted patterns, should greatly increase our understanding of the molecular control of haemopoiesis. In this review we have focused on insights provided by recent studies of the GATA and SCL proteins. (shrink)