#HotForBots: Sex, the non-human and digitally mediated spaces of intimate encounter

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 1115-1133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Cockayne ◽  
Agnieszka Leszczynski ◽  
Matthew Zook
Keyword(s):  
Human Subjects ◽  
Spatial Effects ◽  
Object Choice ◽  
Human Object ◽  
Intimate Relations ◽  
Intimate Encounters ◽  
Selection Of

Contemporary practices of sex and intimacy are increasingly digitally mediated. In this paper, we identify two distinctly spatial effects of these mediations. First, the digital extends the spaces of sex/uality beyond the immediately proximate, simultaneously expanding the potential for non-human object choice in intimate encounters. Second, the digital intensifies the experiential fidelity of intimate encounters by folding the remote into the spatially immediate, such that non-proximate intimate relations with human subjects as well as non-human objects may feel more proximate. We articulate these effects by building on and contributing to developments in the geographies of encounter, which allows us to bring together theories and conceptual framings of intimacy, digitality and sexuality in a uniquely spatial register. These effects of extension and intensification resonate in a selection of empirical examples of digitally mediated sex/uality that we place along continuums of more-and-less human and more-and-less proximate. These continuums comprise the conceptual axes of a heuristic framework that we advance to both (i) capture particular points at which configurations of spaces, practices and subject/object choices of sex crystallize given conditions of pervasive digital mediation, and (ii) provoke further interrogations of the multiple ways in which sex, sexuality and intimacy are recast by the digital.

HEART PUMP AND OXYGENATOR

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1957 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 1124-1128
Author(s):  
W. T. Mustard
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Artificial Heart ◽  
Heart Surgery ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Open Heart Surgery ◽  
World War ◽  
Heart Pump ◽  
The World ◽  
Cardiac Bypass ◽  
Selection Of

THIS PAPER is a general review of the development of the artificial heart-lung to facilitate open-heart surgery. At the close of World War II many centers began investigating the possibility of total cardiac bypass. Oven the past decade, pump oxygenerators of various types have become popular and recent clinical successes throughout the world have given further impetus to the study of problems posed by the artificial heart-lung apparatus. The subject divides itself into three separate parts, the first two being concerned with the maintenance of life in an experimental animal during a total cardiac bypass. One must take all the blood from the animal and return it to the animal by means of a pump. Secondly, one must oxygenate the blood before returning it. The third part of the problem confronting the surgeon is the selection of cases and correction of defects in human subjects. The pumping mechanism must duplicate as nearly as possible the action of the chambers of the heart. Pumping action must be smooth so as to prevent hemolysis and to avoid turbulence with thrombosis. It is not difficult to construct a pump with which hemolysis can be kept to relatively negligible amounts. Most of the pumps in use throughout the world give an hemolysis of less than 50 mg of hemoglobin per 100 ml of blood, which is perfectly safe. Turbulence with thrombosis can be overcome by removing valves inside the stream and placing valves outside of, rather than within the stream of blood. Furthermore, heparinization of the blood lessens the tendency to thrombosis.

Clinical Trials

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver A Cornely ◽  
Cara Lange
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Trials ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Scientific Validity ◽  
Vaccine Trials ◽  
Scientific Principles ◽  
Design Selection ◽  
Systemic Symptoms ◽  
Selection Of

Clinical trials (a.k.a. clinical studies) in vaccinology are investigations with humans to assess the immunogenicity, reactogenicity i.e., the expected local or systemic symptoms of the desired immune response, safety and/or efficacy or effectiveness of vaccines. Such investigations must be designed, conducted, and analysed based on scientific principles to get sound answers to specific questions stated in the trial plan. Since Clinical Trials involve human subjects, highest ethical standards need to be applied. In addition, national laws, licensing regulations and international standards, for example Declaration of Helsinki, regulate the procedures and conduct of clinical trials. Vaccine trials can be classified by development phase (phase I-III before licensure; phase IV post-licensure); by purpose; or role of the investigator. The study protocol covers design, selection of study subjects, selection of endpoints, methods to minimize bias, conduct of the study and analysis plan, all aimed at answering the study question with best possible internal scientific validity.

scholarly journals Ethical issues of randomized controlled trials

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jyotirmoy Sarker
Keyword(s):  
Randomized Controlled Trials ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Research Result ◽  
Controlled Trials ◽  
Medical Interventions ◽  
Randomized Controlled ◽  
Institutional Review ◽  
Human Participants ◽  
Selection Of

Clinical trials involve the application of different medical interventions on human participants. Randomized controlled trials involve different groups of human subjects undergoing different clinical interventions. This process ensures bias free subject allocation which leads to a way to statistically establish the research result. Strict ethical guidance is necessary from selection of participants to the analysis of trial results. Without proper guidance the trial participants would be subjected to unethical experiments. Before starting the randomized controlled trials the investigators must meet all ethics issues. The institutional review board (IRB) must check whether all ethical demands are met or not before permitting the research. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bioethics.v5i1.18441 Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2014 Vol.5(1): 1-4

Power, Knowledge, and the Epistemic Contract on Age: The Case of Colonial India

2020 ◽  
Vol 125 (2) ◽  
pp. 407-417
Author(s):  
Ishita Pande
Keyword(s):  
Human Subjects ◽  
Chronological Age ◽  
Legal Capacity ◽  
Colonial India ◽  
Age Of Consent ◽  
High Courts ◽  
Scientific Analysis ◽  
History Of ◽  
Intimate Relations ◽  
Social Scientific

Abstract This article scrutinizes the implementation of age-of-consent legislation in high courts across colonial India to foreground some of its quirky and unstudied effects, and to consider alternative juridical notions of consent conceptualized without the logic of chronological age. Breaking open the naturalized relationship between age and consent, it shows that the use of age standards to measure all humans can be traced to the history of liberal law and its colonial career, just as the standard measures of age are tied to its forensic technologies and rules of evidence. By drawing attention to the provincial—or liberal juridical—roots of age as a measure of legal capacity, this article questions the use of age as a way of accounting for human subjects, and for governing intimate relations, that is meaningful, necessary, or desirable in all historical contexts. Suggesting that a juridical understanding of age continues to circumscribe social-scientific analysis, this article calls for a more explicit, as well as a more cautious and reflexive, use of age as a category of analysis in writing histories for South Asia, and elsewhere.

scholarly journals LGBT ‘Communities’ and the (Self-)regulation and Shaping of Intimacy

2020 ◽  
pp. 136078042097403
Author(s):  
Eleanor Formby
Keyword(s):  
Hate Crime ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Arts And Humanities ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Lgbt Community ◽  
Intimate Relations ◽  
Lgbt People ◽  
Self Protection ◽  
Intimate Encounters

This article draws on UK research with over 600 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans (LGBT+) people, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (grant AH/J011894/1), which explored understandings and experiences of LGBT ‘community’. I examine the ways in which intimacy is regulated and shaped by and within social interaction, which was apparent in three main ways. First, the research identified how for some people the very concept of ‘LGBT community’ was linked to intimacy. Second, there was strong evidence to suggest that some LGBT+ people self-regulate their practices of intimacy (such as holding hands or kissing in public) so as not to be recognised as enacting a same-gender relationship. This was understood as a form of self-protection or hate crime prevention, though degrees of habit and professed concern for other people’s feelings were also contributing factors. Third, experiences of intimate relations were shaped by intersectional dynamics, particularly relating to various forms of discrimination, including ageism, biphobia, classism, (dis)ableism, racism, and transphobia from and among LGBT+ people. Whilst LGBT ‘communities’ were thought to enable opportunities to seek sexual and/or intimate encounters, this is not without its complexities. Although there have been improvements in relation to legislation and wider social attitudes, there is, for some, persistent apprehension and self-regulation which, whether necessary or not, are significant. LGBT+ people’s experiences thus suggest that intimacy can be shaped by multiple inequalities both within and without LGBT ‘communities’.

Transoral Electromyographic Recordings in Botulinum Toxin—Injected Rat Larynges

1997 ◽  
Vol 106 (11) ◽  
pp. 956-964 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katsuhide Inagi ◽  
Charles N. Ford ◽  
Arthur A. Rodriquez ◽  
Dennis M. Heisey
Keyword(s):  
Botulinum Toxin ◽  
Muscle Function ◽  
Vocal Fold ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Botulinum Toxin Injection ◽  
Objective Assessment ◽  
Spasmodic Dysphonia ◽  
Treatment Regimens ◽  
Botulinum Toxin Injections ◽  
Selection Of

Objective assessment of muscle function following botulinum toxin injections in laryngeal muscles is difficult in human subjects. We developed a rat laryngeal model for the study of botulinum toxin injection. A new laryngoscopic technique has made it possible to observe the rat larynx endoscopically and to obtain electromyographic measurements during and after injection of toxin. The electromyographic interference pattern, fibrillation potentials, and vocal fold movement were used for analyzing dose and volume effects of injected toxin. We conclude that the lowest dosage able to produce the maximal duration of functional laryngeal impairment is 0.07 U in a volume of 0.4 μL. This model will enable us to obtain physiologic and histologic parameters that can be used to assess the selection of optimal treatment regimens with botulinum toxin for the treatment of patients with spasmodic dysphonia.

Effects of Feature-selective and Spatial Attention at Different Stages of Visual Processing

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 238-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Søren K. Andersen ◽  
Sandra Fuchs ◽  
Matthias M. Müller
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Attentional Selection ◽  
Coherent Motion ◽  
False Alarms ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Trial Participants ◽  
Selection Of

We investigated mechanisms of concurrent attentional selection of location and color using electrophysiological measures in human subjects. Two completely overlapping random dot kinematograms (RDKs) of two different colors were presented on either side of a central fixation cross. On each trial, participants attended one of these four RDKs, defined by its specific combination of color and location, in order to detect coherent motion targets. Sustained attentional selection while monitoring for targets was measured by means of steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) elicited by the frequency-tagged RDKs. Attentional selection of transient targets and distractors was assessed by behavioral responses and by recording event-related potentials to these stimuli. Spatial attention and attention to color had independent and largely additive effects on the amplitudes of SSVEPs elicited in early visual areas. In contrast, behavioral false alarms and feature-selective modulation of P3 amplitudes to targets and distractors were limited to the attended location. These results suggest that feature-selective attention produces an early, global facilitation of stimuli having the attended feature throughout the visual field, whereas the discrimination of target events takes place at a later stage of processing that is only applied to stimuli at the attended position.

scholarly journals Candidate Glaucoma Biomarkers: From Proteins to Metabolites, and the Pitfalls to Clinical Applications

Biology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 763
Author(s):  
Andrés Fernández-Vega Cueto ◽  
Lydia Álvarez ◽  
Montserrat García ◽  
Ana Álvarez-Barrios ◽  
Enol Artime ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Absolute Quantification ◽  
Integrative Approach ◽  
Complex Data ◽  
Retinal Ganglion ◽  
Bodily Fluids ◽  
Retinal Ganglion Cell Death ◽  
Ganglion Cell Death ◽  
Selection Of

Glaucoma is an insidious group of eye diseases causing degeneration of the optic nerve, progressive loss of vision, and irreversible blindness. The number of people affected by glaucoma is estimated at 80 million in 2021, with 3.5% prevalence in people aged 40–80. The main biomarker and risk factor for the onset and progression of glaucoma is the elevation of intraocular pressure. However, when glaucoma is diagnosed, the level of retinal ganglion cell death usually amounts to 30–40%; hence, the urgent need for its early diagnosis. Molecular biomarkers of glaucoma, from proteins to metabolites, may be helpful as indicators of pathogenic processes observed during the disease’s onset. The discovery of human glaucoma biomarkers is hampered by major limitations, including whether medications are influencing the expression of molecules in bodily fluids, or whether tests to validate glaucoma biomarker candidates should include human subjects with different types and stages of the disease, as well as patients with other ocular and neurodegenerative diseases. Moreover, the proper selection of the biofluid or tissue, as well as the analytical platform, should be mandatory. In this review, we have summarized current knowledge concerning proteomics- and metabolomics-based glaucoma biomarkers, with specificity to human eye tissue and fluid, as well the analytical approach and the main results obtained. The complex data published to date, which include at least 458 different molecules altered in human glaucoma, merit a new, integrative approach allowing for future diagnostic tests based on the absolute quantification of local and/or systemic biomarkers of glaucoma.

scholarly journals The Neural Consequences of Attentional Prioritization of Internal Representations in Visual Working Memory

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammet I. Sahan ◽  
Andrew D. Sheldon ◽  
Bradley R. Postle
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Visual Target ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Occipital Cortex ◽  
Neural Representation ◽  
Stimulus Category ◽  
Object Based ◽  
Stimulus Offset ◽  
Selection Of

AbstractAlthough humans can hold multiple items in mind simultaneously, the contents of working memory (WM) can be selectively prioritized to effectively guide behavior in response to rapidly changing exigencies in the environment. Neural evidence for this is seen in studies of dual serial retrocuing of two items held concurrently in visual WM, in which evidence in occipital cortex for the active neural representation of the cued item increases, and evidence for the uncued item decreases, often to levels indistinguishable from empirical baseline. Although this pattern is reminiscent of the effects of selective attention on visual perception, the extent to which more subtle principles of visual attention may also apply to visual working memory remains uncertain. In the present study we explored whether the well-characterized “same-object” benefit in visual target detection, attributed to object-based attention (e.g., Duncan, 1984; Egly, Driver, & Rafal, 1994), may also be observed for information held in visual WM. fMRI data were collected while human subjects (male and female) performed a multi-step serial retrocuing task in which they first viewed two two-dimensional sample stimuli comprised of colored moving dots. After stimulus offset, an initialrelevance cuethen indicated whether both dimensions of only the first or only the second object, or only the color or only the direction-of-motion of both objects, would be relevant for the remainder of the trial, which then proceeded with the standard dual serial retrocuing procedure. Thus, on “object-relevant” trials, the ensuingpriority cuesprompted the selection of one from among two features (“color” or “direction”) bound to the same object, whereas on “feature-relevant” trials thepriority cuesprompted the selection of one from among two features each belonging to a different object. Results of analyses with multivariate inverted encoding models (IEM) revealed a same-object benefit on object-relevant trials: Whereas, on feature-relevant trials, the firstpriority cuetriggered a strengthening of the neural representation of the cued feature and a concomitant weakening-to-baseline of the uncued feature; on object-relevant trials the cued item remained active but did not increase in strength, and the uncued item weakened, but remained significantly elevated throughout the delay period. Of additional interest, on both types of trials the secondpriority cueprompted an active recoding of the uncued item into a different neural representation, perhaps to minimize its ability to interfere with recall of the cued item. Finally, although stimulus-specific representation in parietal and frontal cortex was weak and uneven, these regions closely tracked the higher-order information of which stimulus category was relevant for behavior at all points during the trial, indicating an important role in controlling the prioritization of information in visual working memory.

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