Just Reading? How Gender-Fair Language Triggers Readers' Use of Gender-Fair Forms

Gender-fair language, that is, referring to men and women with symmetrical linguistic forms, has been found to promote gender equality, but it is largely unknown which factors help make gender-fair forms more common in everyday life. Two studies examined whether speakers of German used more gender-fair forms after reading a text with gender-fair wording (vs. masculine generics vs. no personal nouns vs. another topic). Both studies showed consistently that women used more gender-fair forms after reading the gender-fair text than the other texts, whereas men did not. Men employed more gender-fair forms only after being made aware of these forms (Study 2). To conclude, merely reading gender-fair texts enhances women’s inclination to use gender-fair language, whereas men need to be made aware of this type of language use. Both studies highlight the importance of using gender-fair language frequently and consistently in everyday life.

Neural circuits of emotion regulation: a comparison of mindfulness-based and cognitive reappraisal strategies

Dealing with one's emotions is a core skill in everyday life. Effective cognitive control strategies have been shown to be neurobiologically represented in prefrontal structures regulating limbic regions. In addition to cognitive strategies, mindfulness-associated methods are increasingly applied in psychotherapy. We compared the neurobiological mechanisms of these two strategies, i.e. cognitive reappraisal and mindfulness, during both the cued expectation and perception of negative and potentially negative emotional pictures. Fifty-three healthy participants were examined with functional magnetic resonance imaging (47 participants included in analysis). Twenty-four subjects applied mindfulness, 23 used cognitive reappraisal. On the neurofunctional level, both strategies were associated with comparable activity of the medial prefrontal cortex and the amygdala. When expecting negative versus neutral stimuli, the mindfulness group showed stronger activations in ventro- and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, supramarginal gyrus as well as in the left insula. During the perception of negative versus neutral stimuli, the two groups only differed in an increased activity in the caudate in the cognitive group. Altogether, both strategies recruited overlapping brain regions known to be involved in emotion regulation. This result suggests that common neural circuits are involved in the emotion regulation by mindfulness-based and cognitive reappraisal strategies. Identifying differential activations being associated with the two strategies in this study might be one step towards a better understanding of differential mechanisms of change underlying frequently used psychotherapeutic interventions.

Doing House and Neighbourhood

The paper will focus on basic ways of communication between the actors in the house and home and their direct social environments (esp. neighbourhood) during the early modern period. Such ways of communication were established in and through work relations, sociability, social control and certain liminal rites. So far underestimated, the neighbourhood was both helpful and inevitable to keep house and household running. A typical aspect of the practice of communication was the importance of repetitive performative events in everyday life. In order to establish and maintain social relations, the honour of the ‘house’ as such and fundamental roles like housefather and housemother had to be performed under the eyes of neighbours and other actors. Thus, empirical evidence reveals the house and home as a specific kind of stage. In contrast to the outdated concept of ‘das ganze Haus’ (the whole house) by Otto Brunner and also a reduced socioeconomic understanding of household, the openness of the house proves to be a highly relevant feature of early modern society. This openness refers to accessibility, visibility and control. The paper will explain the proposed concept and analyse concrete examples from work and wedding.

Widows may have fewer social and financial problems than in the past (Interview von Shereen Lehman mit Prof. Pasqualina Perrig-Chiello zu finanziellen und sozialen Problemen von Verwitweten)

(Reuters Health) – - A new Swiss study says that widows and widowers still mourn their spouses as much as ever, but compared to 35 years ago, everyday life is easier, especially for women. Widows, at least in Switzerland, have fewer financial troubles and more social connections than their counterparts in 1979, but widowers still complain of loneliness, researchers found.

Long-term outcome after arterial ischemic stroke in children and young adults.

OBJECTIVE To compare long-term outcome of children and young adults with arterial ischemic stroke (AIS) from 2 large registries. METHODS Prospective cohort study comparing functional and psychosocial long-term outcome (≥2 years after AIS) in patients who had AIS during childhood (1 month-16 years) or young adulthood (16.1-45 years) between January 2000 and December 2008, who consented to follow-up. Data of children were collected prospectively in the Swiss Neuropediatric Stroke Registry, young adults in the Bernese stroke database. RESULTS Follow-up information was available in 95/116 children and 154/187 young adults. Median follow-up of survivors was 6.9 years (interquartile range 4.7-9.4) and did not differ between the groups (p = 0.122). Long-term functional outcome was similar (p = 0.896): 53 (56%) children and 84 (55%) young adults had a favorable outcome (modified Rankin Scale 0-1). Mortality in children was 14% (13/95) and in young adults 7% (11/154) (p = 0.121) and recurrence rate did not differ (p = 0.759). Overall psychosocial impairment and quality of life did not differ, except for more behavioral problems among children (13% vs 5%, p = 0.040) and more frequent reports of an impact of AIS on everyday life among adults (27% vs 64%, p < 0.001). In a multivariate regression analysis, low Pediatric NIH Stroke Scale/NIH Stroke Scale score was the most important predictor of favorable outcome (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION There were no major differences in long-term outcome after AIS in children and young adults for mortality, disability, quality of life, psychological, or social variables.

Development and Evaluation of a New Tablet Computer Application for the Therapy of Brain-Injured Patients with Aphasia

Introduction Language is the most important mean of communication and plays a central role in our everyday life. Brain damage (e.g. stroke) can lead to acquired disorders of lan- guage affecting the four linguistic modalities (i.e. reading, writing, speech production and comprehension) in different combinations and levels of severity. Every year, more than 5000 people (Aphasie Suisse) are affected by aphasia in Switzerland alone. Since aphasia is highly individual, the level of difficulty and the content of tasks have to be adapted continuously by the speech therapists. Computer-based assignments allow patients to train independently at home and thus increasing the frequency of ther- apy. Recent developments in tablet computers have opened new opportunities to use these devices for rehabilitation purposes. Especially older people, who have no prior experience with computers, can benefit from the new technologies. Methods The aim of this project was to develop an application that enables patients to train language related tasks autonomously and, on the other hand, allows speech therapists to assign exercises to the patients and to track their results online. Seven categories with various types of assignments were implemented. The application has two parts which are separated by a user management system into a patient interface and a therapist interface. Both interfaces were evaluated using the SUS (Subject Usability Scale). The patient interface was tested by 15 healthy controls and 5 patients. For the patients, we also collected tracking data for further analysis. The therapist interface was evaluated by 5 speech therapists. Results The SUS score are xpatients = 98 and xhealthy = 92.7 (median = 95, SD = 7, 95% CI [88.8, 96.6]) in case of the patient interface and xtherapists = 68 in case of the therapist interface. Conclusion Both, the patients and the healthy subjects, attested high SUS scores to the patient interface. These scores are considered as "best imaginable". The therapist interface got a lower SUS score compared to the patient interface, but is still considered as "good" and "usable". The user tracking system and the interviews revealed that there is room for improvements and inspired new ideas for future versions.

Mobile Temporalities: Place, Ruination and the Dialectics of Time

In this chapter I explore the ambiguous, contradictory and often transient ways the past enters into our lives. I shed light on the interplay of mobility and temporality in the lifeworlds of two Somalis who left Mogadishu with the outbreak of the war in the 1990s. Looking into the ways they actively make sense of this crucial ‘memory-place’ (Ricoeur 2004), a place that that has been turned into a landscape of ruins and rubble, alternative understandings of memory and temporality will emerge. Instead of producing a continuum between here and there, and now and then, the stories and photographs discussed in this chapter form dialectical images – images that refuse to be woven into a coherent picture of the past. By emphasising the dialectical ways these two individuals make sense of Mogadishu’s past and presence, I am following Walter Benjamin’s cue to rethink deeply modern analytical categories such as history, memory and temporality by highlighting the brief, fragmented moments of their appearance in everyday life.

A Country Big Enough to Disappear in

Essay on the work of documentary photographer Katrin Koenning and a meditation on the interplay of memory, place and self in everyday life.

Konsum und Kontrolle : wie Vitamin C zu einem Allheilmittel werden konnte

Künstliches Vitamin C ist heute ein Massenprodukt. Dass sich Ascorbinsäure seit ihrer Erfindung 1933 zu einem alltäglichen Konsumgut mausern konnte, ist weniger durch ihr medizinisches Potential zu erklären, sondern verdankt sich vielmehr einem dynamischen Zusammenspiel von Produktion, Vermarktung und Gesundheitspolitik. Der Beitrag fokussiert insbesondere auf die komplexen Interaktionen zwischen Gesundheitskonzepten, diagnostischen Instrumenten und ärztlichem Blick. Dabei scheinen nicht nur die Differenzen zwischen „rein naturwissenschaftlichen“ und „ärztlich-biologischen“ Standpunkten auf, sondern es zeigt sich auch, dass Nahrungsbestandteile immer auch gesundheitspolitisch und ethisch aufgeladen sind.

Alternative nighttime nutrition regimens in glycogen storage disease type I: a controlled crossover study

BACKGROUND Traditional approaches for nighttime glycemic control in glycogen storage disease type I (GSDI) include continuous tube feeding, or ingestion of uncooked corn starch (CS) at bedtime. A modified corn starch (MCS) has been shown to prolong euglycemia in some patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether stable nighttime glucose control can be achieved with other types of slowly digested carbohydrates in adult GSDI patients. METHODS In this cross-over study, nocturnal glucose control and fasting times were assessed with three different nocturnal nutrition regimens in five patients, using continuous glucose monitoring (CGMS) in an outpatient everyday life setting. For each patient, continuous glucose profiles were measured after ingestion of (1) CS, (2) MCS or (3) a pasta meal at bedtime, during 5 to 6 consecutive nights for each regimen. RESULTS Stable nocturnal glucose control was achieved for all patients with a pasta meal, with a mean duration of glycemia >3.5 mmol/l of 7.6 h (range 5.7-10.8), and >4 mmol/l of 7 h (5.2-9.2), similar to CS and MCS. Fasting glucose before breakfast on workdays (after 7.1 ± 0.8 h) was not significantly different between the three interventions (CS 4.1 ± 0.5 mmol/l, MCS 4.6 ± 0.7 mmol/l, pasta 4.3 ± 0.9 mmol/l). During prolonged fasting on weekends, longer duration of normoglycemia was achieved with CS or MCS than with pasta. CONCLUSION Consumption of cooked pasta is a suitable and more palatable alternative to uncooked corn starch to achieve nighttime glucose control in adult patients with GSDI.

The Face of Power

Objective: In humans and other animals, open, expansive postures (compared to contracted postures) are evolutionary developed expressions of power and have been shown to cause neuroendocrine and behavioral changes (Carney, Cuddy, & Yap, 2010). In the present study we aimed to investigate whether power postures have a bearing on the participant’s facial appearance and whether others are able to distinguish faces after “high power posing” from faces after “low power posing”. Methods: 16 models were photographed 4-5 minutes after having adopted high and low power postures. Two different high power and two different low power postures were held for 2 minutes each. Power-posing sessions were performed on two consecutive days. High and low power photographs of each model were paired and an independent sample of 100 participants were asked to pick the more dominant and the more likeable face of each pair. Results: Photographs that were taken after adopting high power postures were chosen significantly more often as being more dominant looking. There was no preference when asked to choose the more likeable photograph (chance level). A further independent sample rated each photograph for head tilt, making it unlikely that dominance ratings were caused merely by the posture of the head. Consistently, facial width-to-height ratio did not differ between faces after high and low power posing. Conclusions: Postures associated with high power affect facial appearance, leading to a more dominant looking face. This finding may have implications for everyday life, for instance when a dominant appearance is needed.

The illness experiences of patients and their family members living with congestive heart failure

Purpose. To investigate and understand the illness experiences of patients and their family members living with congestive heart failure (CHF). ^ Design. Focused ethnographic design. ^ Setting. One outpatient cardiology clinic, two outpatient heart failure clinics, and informants' homes in a large metropolitan city located in southeast Texas. ^ Sample. A purposeful sampling technique was used to select a sample of 28 informants. The following somewhat overlapping, sampling strategies were used to implement the purposeful method: criterion; typical case; operational construct; maximum variation; atypical case; opportunistic; and confirming and disconfirming case sampling. ^ Methods. Naturalistic inquiry consisted of data collected from observations, participant observations, and interviews. Open-ended semi-structured illness narrative interviews included questions designed to elicit informant's explanatory models of the illness, which served as a synthesizing framework for the analysis. A thematic analysis process was conducted through domain analysis and construction of data into themes and sub-themes. Credibility was enhanced through informant verification and a process of peer debriefing. ^ Findings. Thematic analysis revealed that patients and their family members living with CHF experience a process of disruption, incoherence, and reconciling. Reconciling emerged as the salient experience described by informants. Sub-themes of reconciling that emerged from the analysis included: struggling; participating in partnerships; finding purpose and meaning in the illness experience; and surrendering. ^ Conclusions. Understanding the experiences described in this study allows for a better understanding of living with CHF in everyday life. Findings from this study suggest that the experience of living with CHF entails more than the medical story can tell. It is important for nurses and other providers to understand the experiences of this population in order to develop appropriate treatment plans in a successful practitioner-patient partnership. ^

Armando Tejada Gómez: sentido americanista y social de la poesía

La poesía de Armando Tejada Gómez (1929-1992) se destaca con perfiles nítidos en el desarrollo de las letras mendocínas correspondiente a la segunda mitad del siglo XX y constituye una faceta más de un interesante movimiento cultural no exclusivamente literario, que se conoce como la Generación del '50. En el presente artículos se analizan las fuerzas que juegan en el campo intelectual de mediados del siglo XX: el viraje a lo popular con la incorporación del coloquialismo y la asunción de los ritmos de la canción popular, la temática ciudadana, la preocupación social y el sentido americanista. Esta nueva estética, que ha recibido las denominaciones de realismo romántico (Freidemberg), de poesía existencial (César Fernández Moreno), de neohumanismo (José Isaacson), presenta además como rasgo saliente una gran libertad interior y exterior. Todas estas características se ponen de manifiesto en la poesía de Tejada Gómez. A ello hay que sumar también la libertad en el manejo de las convenciones literarias, la borradura de límites entre los géneros, por ejemplo, lírico y dramático, o la incorporación de las denominadas "formas populares" al registro de la lírica mal llamada "culta". En cuanto a la libertad métrica de la que también hace gala, viene a ser apenas una consecuencia técnica de aquella libertad de fondo ya aludida, que asume como objeto poético aun la trivialidad de lo cotidiano.

La estética de lo bello y la exaltación de la cultura popular

Alegato en favor del concepto clásico de belleza y en contra de la concepción postmodernista de que todo puede ser arte y todos artistas. Se trata de rescatar la concepción de estética contenida en las obras de la Escuela de Frankfurt, especialmente de Theodor W. Adorno y Herbert Marcuse: el arte como lealtad a la promesa de felicidad. Se rescata la función crítica y anticipativa del gran arte y se pone en cuestión el carácter presumiblemente progresista y democrático del arte contemporáneo. Las élites actuales, legitimadas democráticamente, comparten las mismas inclinaciones estéticas de las masas, pero ejerciendo una función manipulativa en la configuración de la vida cotidiana.

Preeminencia de la planificación : las prácticas de escritura en educación

Prácticas de escritura variada y sobreabundante que forman parte de la vida cotidiana de los docentes en las escuelas. Algunas con una existencia efímera y otras perdurables. Sin embargo, ¿podemos considerar a todas estas prácticas de escritura como escritura pedagógica? ¿Qué tipos o géneros de escritura podríamos tipificar o caracterizar en el campo educativo y la cotidianidad de los docentes? ¿Cuáles son los procesos de institucionalización de las distintas prácticas de escritura, a qué tradiciones aluden, en qué contextos históricos emergen y bajo qué circunstancias se priorizan?