In the mammalian brain dopamine systems play a central role in the control of movement, hormone release, emotional balance and reward. Alteration of dopaminergic neurotransmission is involved in Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders, as well as in some psychotic syndromes. This review summarises recent findings, which shed some light on signals and cellular interactions involved in the specification and maturation of the dopaminergic function during neurogenesis. In particular we will focus on three major issues: (1) the differentiation of dopaminergic (...) neurones triggered by direct contact with the midbrain floor plate cells through the action of sonic hedgehog; (2) the neurotrophic factors acting on dopaminergic neurones; and (3) the role of target striatal cells on the survival and the axonal growth of developing or grafted dopaminergic neurones. (shrink)

The extracellular‐signal regulated kinases 1/2 (ERK or ERKs) are involved in the regulation of important neuronal functions, including neuronal plasticity in normal and pathological conditions. We present findings that support the notion that the kinetics and localization of ERK are intrinsically linked, in that the duration of ERK activation dictates its subcellular compartmentalization and/or trafficking. The latter, in turn, dictates whether ERK‐expressing cells would enter a program of cell death, survival or differentiation. We summarize experimental data showing that chronic activation (...) of ERK plays a role in the mechanisms that trigger neurodegeneration. We also discuss how MKPs, members of the subclass of dual specificity phosphatases, might be the link between ERK kinetics and its subcellular localization. BioEssays 25:1085–1095, 2003. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

This paper examines the ontological fragility from the perspective of the metaphysics of creation as interpreted by Jean Ladrière, in view of some contemporary philosophical developments concerning the status of the ontological ground of being and the concept of event. Starting with some clarifications about the meaning of the term “fragility”, it then shows that ontological fragility as a structural property of the created being is related to the fact that it does not coincide with the source of its being. (...) This means that the creating being does not have the capacity to secure its own being from the recurring possibility of its nonexistence. The created being is the one that is looking for its fulfillment in a definitive secure home. (shrink)

Louis Perron Le discours cosmologique actuel permet-il d’affirmer le caractère théophanique du cosmos, au sens où celui-ci pourrait être considéré comme le lieu de la manifestation visible et immédiate de Dieu? Plus généralement : est-il en mesure d’ouvrir un chemin vers la foi? Contrairement à un discours récurrent, l’auteur, s’appuyant sur l’oeuvre de Jean Ladrière, défend la thèse qu’il n’existe pas de voie royale conduisant de la science à la foi. Celle-ci peut cependant recueillir l’image scientifique du monde et lui (...) conférer une signification propre, moyennant un parcours herméneutique s’appuyant sur l’articulation des différents registres de sens et dont la médiation philosophique constitue le passage obligé. (shrink)

The purpose of this text is to tell the story of the implementation of the _Act Respecting End-of-Life Care,_ referred to hereafter as _Law 2_ (Gouvernement du Québec, 2014) with an emphasis on the ambiguous role of ethics in the Interdisciplinary Support Groups (ISGs), created by Quebec's _Ministère de la santé et des services sociaux_ (MSSS). As established, ISGs provide “clinical, administrative and ethical support to health care professionals responding to a request for Medical aid in dying (MAiD)” (Gouvernement du (...) Québec, 2015). It is suggested that their composition includes the participation of a person with an expertise in ethics. These ISGs represent an important innovation for stakeholders involved in MAiD. To date, no scientific research has specifically addressed ISGs and little research has been conducted in other jurisdictions on the roles, operations and practices of MAiD support structures, especially the implication of ethics. Several ISGs have certainly developed promising practices that could benefit all stakeholders in the wider field of ethics and end of life. We will explore the development of ISGs in Quebec as a support structure for MAiD by highlighting the role that ethics has played (and should play) in these morally and humanly challenging situations. (shrink)

This paper focuses on the specific topic of oniric and prophetic praenotio, which Pomponazzi discussed in his main works. Pomponazzi aims at proving that dreams and prophecies are not inspired by Christian God, angels or demons, but are natural phaenomena, depending on divine, impersonal providence (fatum), which guarantees through astral movement the eternal preservation of human species.

PERRON A and HOLMES D. Nursing Inquiry 2011; 18: 191–204Constructing mentally ill inmates: nurses’ discursive practices in correctionsThe concepts of discourse, subjectivity and power allow for innovative explorations in nursing research. Discourse take many different forms and may be maintained, transmitted, even imposed, in various ways. Nursing practice makes possible many discursive spaces where discourses intersect. Using a Foucauldian perspective, were explored the ways in which forensic psychiatric nurses construct the subjectivity of mentally ill inmates. Progress notes and individual interviews (...) constitute discursive spaces within which nurses construct patients’ subjectivities. Progress notes provide a written (and permanent) form of discourse, while interviews set the space for a more fluid and contextual form of discourse. We identified five types of subjectivities – the (in)visible patient, the patient as risk, the deviant patient, the disturbed patient and the disciplined patient. These subjectivities were rooted in various types of discourses circulating in the selected setting. Despite the multiple discursive dimensions of forensic psychiatric nursing, progress notes remain the main formal source of information regarding nursing care even though it is not representative of the care provided nor is it representative of nurses’ complex discursive practices in corrections. (shrink)

The debate surrounding the issue of collective moral responsibility is often steeped in metaphysical issues of agency and personhood. I suggest that we can approach the metaphysical problems surrounding the issue of collective responsibility in a roundabout manner. My approach is reminiscent of that taken by P.F. Strawson in "Freedom and Resentment" (1968). Strawson argues that the participant reactive attitudes - attitudes like resentment, gratitude, forgiveness and so on - provide the justification for holding individuals morally responsible. I argue that (...) the framework of the reactive attitudes extends to collectives and provides the justification for holding collectives morally responsible. (shrink)

An eighth grade student from Oregon delves into the meaning of art.

Inner speech has been shown to vary in form along several dimensions. Along condensation, condensed inner speech forms have been described, that are supposed to be deprived of acoustic, phonological and even syntactic qualities. Expanded forms, on the other extreme, display articulatory and auditory properties. Along dialogality, inner speech can be monologal, when we engage in internal soliloquy, or dialogal, when we recall past conversations or imagine future dialogs involving our own voice as well as that of others addressing us. (...) Along intentionality, it can be intentional (when we deliberately rehearse material in short-term memory) or it can arise unintentionally (during mind wandering). We introduce the ConDialInt model, a neurocognitive predictive control model of inner speech that accounts for its varieties along these three dimensions. ConDialInt spells out the condensation dimension by including inhibitory control at the conceptualization, formulation or articulatory planning stage. It accounts for dialogality, by assuming internal model adaptations and by speculating on neural processes underlying perspective switching. It explains the differences between intentional and spontaneous varieties in terms of monitoring. We present an fMRI study in which we probed varieties of inner speech along dialogality and intentionality, to examine the validity of the neuroanatomical correlates posited in ConDialInt. Condensation was also informally tackled. Our data support the hypothesis that expanded inner speech recruits speech production processes down to articulatory planning, resulting in a predicted signal, the inner voice, with auditory qualities. Along dialogality, covertly using an avatar’s voice resulted in the activation of right hemisphere homologs of the regions involved in internal own-voice soliloquy and in reduced cerebellar activation, consistent with internal model adaptation. Switching from first-person to third-person perspective resulted in activations in precuneus and parietal lobules. Along intentionality, compared with intentional inner speech, mind wandering with inner speech episodes was associated with greater bilateral inferior frontal activation and decreased activation in left temporal regions. This is consistent with the reported subjective evanescence and presumably reflects condensation processes. Our results provide neuroanatomical evidence compatible with predictive control and in favor of the assumptions made in the ConDialInt model. (shrink)

RACINE L and PERRON A.Nursing Inquiry2012;19: 190–201 Unmasking the predicament of cultural voyeurism: a postcolonial analysis of international nursing placementsThe growing interest in international nursing placements cannot be left unnoticed. After 11 years into this twenty‐first century, violations of human rights and freedom of speech, environmental disasters, and armed conflicts still create dire living conditions for men and women around the world. Nurses have an ethical duty to address issues of social justice and global health as a means to fulfil (...) nursing’s social mandate. However, international placements raise some concerns. Drawing on the works of postcolonial theorists in nursing and social sciences, we examine the risk of replicating colonialist practices and discourses of health in international clinical placements. Referring to Bakhtin’s notions of dialogism and unfinalizability, we envision a culturally safe nursing practice arising from dialogical encounters between the Self as an Other and with the Other as an Other. We suggest that exploring the intricacies of cultural and race relations in everyday nursing practice are the premises upon which nurses can understand the broader historic, racial, gendered, political and economic contexts of global health issues. Finally, we make suggestions for developing culturally safe learning opportunities at the international level without minimizing the impact of dialogical cultural encounters occurring at the local and community levels. (shrink)

There are those who would argue that, recently, the profession of nursing has made a radical shift, while others believe that a schism has been created among both scholars and clinicians as a result of the emerging dominance of the evidence‐based nursing movement. This paper offers a philosophical critique of this movement using Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari’s concept of schizoanalysis. As a conclusion, the authors posit that nursing professionals maintain a stance of academic freedom of thought and scientific integrity (...) through the acceptance of multiplicity, diversity, and polyvocality, and by challenging with politically charged concepts the totalizing perspectives that often spread through the profession/discipline of nursing. (shrink)

Change is inevitable, and increasingly rapid and continuous in healthcare as organizations strive to adapt, improve and innovate. Organizational change challenges healthcare providers because it restructures how and when patient care delivery is provided, changing ways in which nurses must carry out their work. The aim of this doctoral study was to explore frontline nurses’ experiences of living with rapid and continuous organizational change. A critical hermeneutic approach was utilized. Participants described feeling voiceless, powerless and apolitical amidst rapid and continuous (...) organizational changes which fuelled apathy, cynicism and disengagement from the organization. However, critical analysis of the data showed that nurses actively engaged with power, voice and politics through resistant and transgressive behaviours in micro‐ethical moments of practice. There is a need to reconceptualize the concepts of voice, power and politics in nursing as there is dissonance between nurses’ beliefs about these concepts and what they are enacting in practice. Recognizing their enactment of power, voice and political agency at the micro‐level may empower nurses. Empowerment would mitigate the high levels of reports of powerlessness experienced in practice during organizational changes. (shrink)

When restricted to proving $\Sigma _{i}^{q}$ formulas, the quantified propositional proof system $G_{i}^{\ast}$ is closely related to the $\Sigma _{i}^{b}$ theorems of Buss's theory $S_{2}^{i}$ . Namely, $G_{i}^{\ast}$ has polynomial-size proofs of the translations of theorems of $S_{2}^{i}$ , and $S_{2}^{i}$ proves that $G_{i}^{\ast}$ is sound. However, little is known about $G_{i}^{\ast}$ when proving more complex formulas. In this paper, we prove a witnessing theorem for $G_{i}^{\ast}$ similar in style to the KPT witnessing theorem for $T_{2}^{i}$ . This witnessing theorem (...) is then used to show that $S_{2}^{i}$ proves $G_{i}^{\ast}$ is sound with respect to $\Sigma _{i+1}^{q}$ formulas. Note that unless the polynomial-time hierarchy collapses $S_{2}^{i}$ is the weakest theory in the s₂ hierarchy for which this is true. The witnessing theorem is also used to show that $G_{i}^{\ast}$ is p-equivalent to a quantified version of extended-Frege for prenex formulas. This is followed by a proof that Gi p-simulates $G_{i+1}^{\ast}$ with respect to all quantified propositional formulas. We finish by proving that S₂ can be axiomatized by $S_{2}^{1}$ plus axioms stating that the cut-free version of $G_{0}^{\ast}$ is sound. All together this shows that connection between $G_{i}^{\ast}$ and $S_{2}^{i}$ does not extend to more complex formulas. (shrink)

The concept of citizenship is becoming more and more prominent in specific fields, such as psychiatry/mental health, where it is constituted as a solution to the issues of exclusion, discrimination, and poverty often endured by the mentally ill. We argue that such discourse of citizenship represents a break in the history of psychiatry and constitutes a powerful strategy to counter the effects of equally powerful psychiatric labelling. However, we call into question the emancipatory promise of a citizenship agenda. Foucault's concept (...) of governmentality is helpful in understanding the production of the citizen subject, its location within the 'art of government', as well as the ethical and political implications of citizenship in the context of mental health. (shrink)

La relación entre filosofía y teatro ocupa un lugar interesante y no siempre explorado en la filosofía de Gilles Deleuze. En el presente artículo exponemos la noción de teatro tal como aparece en la obra del autor vinculada al problema de una nueva imagen del pensamiento. Consideramos que el uso metodológico del teatro se encuentra diseminado a lo largo de todo su itinerario filosófico. Lo teatral funciona como una matriz de análisis que permite distinguir las fuerzas que dramatizan un concepto, (...) y esto se inscribe en el marco de una crítica a la representación en la filosofía de Deleuze. (shrink)

The idea of agency has long been used in the nursing literature in the study of nurses' roles regarding the patients they take care of, but it has not often been used to study its relationship with nurses themselves and their status in the healthcare system. The purpose of this article is to analyze how the idea of agency is used in nursing research to better understand how we might advance our thinking around nurses' agency to shape nursing and healthcare (...) with an emancipatory intent. Based on the results of a literature review focused on the study of conceptions, treatments, and applications of the concept of agency in nursing, we present a critical discussion to reflect on the need to consistently define the idea of nurses' agency, to guide research concerned with this topic in theoretical frameworks with emancipatory and social change tenets, and to make a call to develop the idea of agency as a central one to rework nurses' relationship with themselves. The idea of agency provides a valuable analytical framework for the study of a wide range of issues around nurses' status in healthcare organizations and in the healthcare system while offering a means for nurses' emancipation. (shrink)

In everyday discourse and in the context of social scientific research we often attribute intentional states to groups. Contemporary approaches to group intentionality have either dismissed these attributions as metaphorical or provided an analysis of our attributions in terms of the intentional states of individuals in the group.Insection1, the author argues that these approaches are problematic. In sections 2 and 3, the author defends the view that certain groups are literally intentional agents. In section 4, the author argues that there (...) are significant reasons for social scientists and philosophers of social science to acknowledge the adequacy of macro-level explanations that involve the attribution of intentional states to groups. In section 5, the author considers and responds to some criticisms of the thesis she defends. (shrink)

"Teaching after all is about knowing children well" -- from A Letter to Teachers "Perrone has given us a gift, a book worth reading over many times, an important reflection on his many years of close observation of schools and school people, parents, teachers, children, and their communities." -- Deborah W. Meier, principal, Central Park East Secondary School Simple, elegant and full of common sense, these reflections on the art of teaching address the deepest concerns teachers have for their (...) work with children and young people. (shrink)

This article provides the first complete edition of the eighteen quodlibetal questions ascribed to Adenulf of Anagni (†1289) with an introductory study concerning the life and works of this author. Although the analysis of the texts reveals a strong dependence of Adenulf on the Summa Halensis, Thomas Aquinas and Gerard of Abbeville and a modest degree of originality, these questions represent an important source for the rising Thomism and the reception of the most prominent 13th-century figures.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of an intervention on the understanding and use of DNR orders by physicians; to assess the impact of understanding the importance of involving competent patients in DNR decisions. Design: Prospective clinical interventional study. Setting: Internal medicine department (70 beds) of the hospital of La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. Participants: Nine junior physicians in postgraduate training. Intervention: Information on the ethics of DNR and implementation of new DNR orders. Measurements and main results: Accurate understanding, interpretation, and use of (...) DNR orders, especially with respect to the patients’ involvement in the decision were measured. Junior doctors writing DNR orders had an extremely poor understanding of what DNR orders mean. The correct understanding of the definition of a DNR order increased from 31 to 93% (p<0.01) after the intervention and the patients’ involvement went from 17% to 48% (p<0.01). Physicians estimated that 75% of their DNR patients were mentally competent at the time of the decision. Conclusion: An intervention aimed at explaining the ethical principles and the definition of DNR orders improves understanding of them, and their implementation, as well as patient participation. Specific efforts are needed to increase the involvement of mentally competent patients in the decision. (shrink)

Objective:To evaluate the effect of an intervention on the understanding and use of DNR orders by physicians; to assess the impact of understanding the importance of involving competent patients in DNR decisions.Design:Prospective clinical interventional study.Setting:Internal medicine department (70 beds) of the hospital of La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland.Participants:Nine junior physicians in postgraduate training.Intervention:Information on the ethics of DNR and implementation of new DNR orders.Measurements and main results:Accurate understanding, interpretation, and use of DNR orders, especially with respect to the patients’ involvement in the (...) decision were measured. Junior doctors writing DNR orders had an extremely poor understanding of what DNR orders mean. The correct understanding of the definition of a DNR order increased from 31 to 93% (p<0.01) after the intervention and the patients’ involvement went from 17% to 48% (p<0.01). Physicians estimated that 75% of their DNR patients were mentally competent at the time of the decision.Conclusion:An intervention aimed at explaining the ethical principles and the definition of DNR orders improves understanding of them, and their implementation, as well as patient participation. Specific efforts are needed to increase the involvement of mentally competent patients in the decision. (shrink)