scholarly journals Conceptual Clarity in Clinical Bioethical Analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Clint Parker
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Analysis ◽  
Complex Disease ◽  
Mutual Understanding ◽  
Clinical Bioethics ◽  
Essential Nature ◽  
Disease States ◽  
Conceptual Clarity ◽  
Killing And Letting Die ◽  
Clinical Questions ◽  
Nature Of Medicine

Abstract Conceptual clarity is essential when engaging in dialogue to avoid unnecessary disagreement and to promote mutual understanding. In this issue devoted to clinical bioethics, the authors exemplify the virtue of careful conceptual analysis as they explore complex clinical questions regarding the essential nature of medicine, the boundaries of killing and letting die, the meaning of irreversibility in definitions of death, the argument for a right to try experimental medications, the ethical borders in complex medical billing, and the definition and modeling of complex disease states.

scholarly journals Asymmetries in mutual understanding: People with low status, power, and self-esteem understand better than they are understood

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanaz Talaifar ◽  
Michael Buhrmester ◽  
Ozlem Ayduk ◽  
william swann
Keyword(s):  
Low Power ◽  
Conceptual Analysis ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Mutual Understanding ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Better Than

NOW PUBLISHED: https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691620958003. All too often, people who develop exceptionally astute insights into others remain mysterious to these others. Evidence for such asymmetric understanding comes from several independent domains. Striking asymmetries occur among those who differ in status and power, such that low status, low power individuals understand more than they are understood. We show that this effect extends to people who merely perceive that they have low status: individuals with low self-esteem. Whereas people with low self-esteem display insight into people with high self-esteem, their high self-esteem counterparts fail to reciprocate. Conceptual analysis suggests that asymmetries in mutual understanding may be reduced by addressing deficits in information and motivation among perceivers. Nevertheless, evidence from several interventions were unsuccessful, indicating that the path to symmetric understanding is a steep and thorny one. Further research is needed to develop strategies for fostering understanding of those who are most misunderstood: people with low self-esteem, low status, and low power.

scholarly journals Sexual Interaction in Digital Contexts and Its Implications for Sexual Health: A Conceptual Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Döring ◽  
Nicole Krämer ◽  
Veronika Mikhailova ◽  
Matthias Brand ◽  
Tillmann H. C. Krüger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Health ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
Conceptual Analysis ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Sexual Interaction ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Conceptual Clarity ◽  
Sexual Encounters

Based on its prevalence, there is an urgent need to better understand the mechanisms, opportunities and risks of sexual interaction in digital contexts (SIDC) that are related with sexual arousal. While there is a growing body of literature on SIDC, there is also a lack of conceptual clarity and classification. Therefore, based on a conceptual analysis, we propose to distinguish between sexual interaction (1) through, (2) via, and (3) with digital technologies. (1) Sexual interactions through digital technologies are face-to-face sexual interactions that (a) have been started digitally (e.g., people initiating face-to-face sexual encounters through adult dating apps) or (b) are accompanied by digital technology (e.g., couples augmenting their face-to-face sexual encounters through filming themselves during the act and publishing the amateur pornography online). (2) Sexual interactions via digital technology are technology-mediated interpersonal sexual interactions (e.g., via text chat: cybersex; via smartphone: sexting; via webcam: webcam sex/camming). (3) Sexual interactions with digital technology occur when the technology itself has the role of an interaction partner (e.g., sexual interaction with a sex robot or with a media persona in pornography). The three types of SIDC and their respective subtypes are explained and backed up with empirical studies that are grouped according to two major mediators: consent and commerce. Regarding the causes and consequences of the three types of SIDC we suggest a classification that entails biological, psychological, social, economic, and technological factors. Regarding implications of SIDC we suggest to focus on both opportunities and risks for sexual health. The proposed conceptual framework of SIDC is meant to inform future research.

Geriatric medicine

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Complex Disease ◽  
Geriatric Medicine ◽  
Complex Interventions ◽  
Screening Tools ◽  
Fluctuating Course ◽  
Multiple Causation ◽  
Clinical Questions ◽  
Geriatric Team

Geriatric medicine is a complex specialty often complicated by factors such as multiple causation, chronic fluctuating course, and attendant functional and social factors. Such complex aetiology mandates multifactorial assessments and multifactorial interventions. Not all older people need the skills of a specialist geriatric team, but appropriate skills must either be embedded within systems managing older people, or else effective screening tools developed that enable non-specialists to recognize patients who benefit from more specialist assessment. Older people, as a group, face the greatest burden of disease and stand to benefit most from quality research—yet there is less of it. Determining the effect of complex interventions on heterogeneous populations afflicted by complex disease is inherently difficult and is made more so by high fatality, difficult follow-up, and cognitive impairment. Such patients are routinely excluded from trials that seek answers to simpler—but less common and less important—clinical questions.

scholarly journals Meanings and Interpretations of Spirituality in Nursing and Health

Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nasreen Lalani
Keyword(s):  
Spiritual Care ◽  
Spiritual Growth ◽  
Conceptual Analysis ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Belief Systems ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Personal Construct ◽  
Spiritual Experiences ◽  
Conceptual Clarity

Numerous spirituality models and tools have been developed in health education and research, but a gap still exists around the conceptual clarity and articulation of spirituality among nurses and healthcare providers. Nurses and healthcare providers still find it difficult to interpret and apply the concepts of spirituality in their practice settings. This paper provides a concept analysis of spirituality using the Walker and Avant method of conceptual analysis. Several databases including conceptual and empirical literature from various disciplines have been used. The defining attributes of spirituality included spirituality and religion as a separable or mutual construct, spirituality as a personal construct, wholeness and integration, meaning making and purpose, sense of connectedness and relationship, transcendence, inner source of power, energy, and strength. Major antecedents of spirituality found were faith, personal values, and belief systems, and life adversities. Consequences of spirituality included personal/spiritual growth and wellbeing, resilience, and religiousness. Spirituality is a unique and personal human experience, an individualised journey characterised by multiple experiential accounts such as meaning making, purpose, connectedness, wholeness and integration, energy, and transcendence. Spiritual experiences are often difficult to examine and measure using scientific tools and empirical language. Healthcare providers need to fully understand and apply spirituality and spiritual care aspects to provide holistic person-centred care.

Transcatheter tricuspid valve repair/replacement

2021 ◽  
pp. 361-376
Author(s):  
Rebecca T. Hahn
Keyword(s):  
Tricuspid Valve ◽  
High Mortality ◽  
Tricuspid Regurgitation ◽  
Complex Disease ◽  
Disease Process ◽  
Tricuspid Valve Repair ◽  
Disease States ◽  
Functional Tricuspid Regurgitation ◽  
High Prevalence ◽  
The Impact

Given the high prevalence of significant functional tricuspid regurgitation (TR) in a number of disease states, as well as the impact of TR on mortality, interest has grown in refining the diagnosis and treatment, with hopes of improving outcomes. Surgical intervention has been associated with high mortality and limited improvement in mortality resulting in a need for less invasive alternatives. The current chapter reviews the new percutaneous options for treatment of TR by looking at the pertinent surgical literature, reviewing the relevant anatomic, discussing the strengths and pitfalls of imaging this complex disease process and finally reviewing important device design that may influence device choice.

scholarly journals Pharmacogenomic Biomarkers

2002 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 63-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra C. Kirkwood ◽  
Richard D. Hockett
Keyword(s):  
Complex Disease ◽  
Retrospective Studies ◽  
Molecular Classification ◽  
Great Promise ◽  
Widespread Application ◽  
Response Efficacy ◽  
Genetic Biomarkers ◽  
Disease States ◽  
Genetic Biomarker

Pharmacogenomic biomarkers hold great promise for the future of medicine and have been touted as a means to personalize prescriptions. Genetic biomarkers for disease susceptibility including both Mendelian and complex disease promise to result in improved understanding of the pathophysiology of disease, identification of new potential therapeutic targets, and improved molecular classification of disease. However essential to fulfilling the promise of individualized therapeutic intervention is the identification of drug activity biomarkers that stratify individuals based on likely response to a particular therapeutic, both positive response, efficacy, and negative response, development of side effect or toxicity. Prior to the widespread clinical application of a genetic biomarker multiple scientific studies must be completed to identify the genetic variants and delineate their functional significance in the pathophysiology of a carefully defined phenotype. The applicability of the genetic biomarker in the human population must then be verified through both retrospective studies utilizing stored or clinical trial samples, and through clinical trials prospectively stratifying patients based on the biomarker. The risk conferred by the polymorphism and the applicability in the general population must be clearly understood. Thus, the development and widespread application of a pharmacogenomic biomarker is an involved process and for most disease states we are just at the beginning of the journey towards individualized therapy and improved clinical outcome.

A Molecular Imaging Primer: Modalities, Imaging Agents, and Applications

2012 ◽  
Vol 92 (2) ◽  
pp. 897-965 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle L. James ◽  
Sanjiv S. Gambhir
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Imaging ◽  
Small Molecules ◽  
Cell Tracking ◽  
Imaging Techniques ◽  
Imaging Agents ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Biochemical Processes ◽  
Disease States ◽  
Molecular Imaging Agents ◽  
Clinical Questions

Molecular imaging is revolutionizing the way we study the inner workings of the human body, diagnose diseases, approach drug design, and assess therapies. The field as a whole is making possible the visualization of complex biochemical processes involved in normal physiology and disease states, in real time, in living cells, tissues, and intact subjects. In this review, we focus specifically on molecular imaging of intact living subjects. We provide a basic primer for those who are new to molecular imaging, and a resource for those involved in the field. We begin by describing classical molecular imaging techniques together with their key strengths and limitations, after which we introduce some of the latest emerging imaging modalities. We provide an overview of the main classes of molecular imaging agents (i.e., small molecules, peptides, aptamers, engineered proteins, and nanoparticles) and cite examples of how molecular imaging is being applied in oncology, neuroscience, cardiology, gene therapy, cell tracking, and theranostics (therapy combined with diagnostics). A step-by-step guide to answering biological and/or clinical questions using the tools of molecular imaging is also provided. We conclude by discussing the grand challenges of the field, its future directions, and enormous potential for further impacting how we approach research and medicine.

Concepts and effects: ordering and practice in foresight

foresight ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcus Bussey
Keyword(s):  
First Principles ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Conceptual Analysis ◽  
Social Goal ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Conceptual Clarity ◽  
The World ◽  
Personal Resilience ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – This article seeks to reflect on the role of key concepts in foresight and futures work. The goal is to explore a set of concepts and link them to the effects they have in the world of foresight practice. It is argued that concepts order foresight practice and that though each foresight context and practitioner is unique, concepts bring a sense of order and coherence to foresight work and futures thinking. This reflection is placed in the context of a set of first principles the author acknowledges as his starting place for futures thinking and foresight practice. Design/methodology/approach – The paper takes the form of conceptual analysis. Findings – Concepts have effects and these can be assessed based on their ability to increase social and personal resilience in contexts characterised by change, complexity and uncertainty. Research limitations/implications – Foresight practitioners clarify their own values and ethics through reflection on the concepts they use and the processes they deploy when working with clients. Practical implications – More reflective foresight practice; greater conceptual clarity when reflecting on and communicating/teaching foresight and futures thinking. Originality/value – This paper offers a basis for orienting foresight work towards the broader social goal of resilience through a deepened appreciation of how concepts inform process and structure meaning.

scholarly journals Reproducible analysis of disease space via principal components using the novel R package syndRomics

eLife ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abel Torres-Espín ◽  
Austin Chou ◽  
J Russell Huie ◽  
Nikos Kyritsis ◽  
Pavan S Upadhyayula ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Complex Disease ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
R Package ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Underlying Disease ◽  
Primary Outcome Measure ◽  
Biomedical Data ◽  
Disease States ◽  
Reproducible Analysis ◽  
Main Components

Biomedical data are usually analyzed at the univariate level, focused on a single primary outcome measure to provide insight into systems biology, complex disease states, and precision medicine opportunities. More broadly, these complex biological and disease states can be detected as common factors emerging from the relationships among measured variables using multivariate approaches. ‘Syndromics’ refers to an analytical framework for measuring disease states using principal component analysis and related multivariate statistics as primary tools for extracting underlying disease patterns. A key part of the syndromic workflow is the interpretation, the visualization, and the study of robustness of the main components that characterize the disease space. We present a new software package, syndRomics, an open-source R package with utility for component visualization, interpretation, and stability for syndromic analysis. We document the implementation of syndRomics and illustrate the use of the package in case studies of neurological trauma data.

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