878 resultados para Suffering.
Resumo:
La autora parte de la concepción de Alfredo Pareja sobre el acto de escribir (sostiene que a través de sus personajes logró dar vida a sus ideas y proyectos políticos), y afirma que un ejemplo cabal de ella es la construcción de la mulata Baldomera. Reflexiona entonces sobre el autor, a partir de su biografía y de la creación de sus personajes. Baldomera sería una metáfora de la mujer de la época, ubicada entre la sujeción y la búsqueda de una autonomía, en este proceso ella se rebela, no contra los hombres, sino fundamentalmente contra su cuerpo, contra sí misma, evidenciando la doble moral de la mentalidad patriarcal, que persigue la sumisión de la mujer por medio de la violencia. Entonces, "¿qué representa Baldomera? Es un cuerpo roto, escindido, marcado y sufriente. Una muestra de la obscenidad de la miseria".
Destierro y redención: el «síndrome de Adán y Eva» en La belleza del mundo de Héctor Tizón (Crítica)
Resumo:
En este ensayo, el autor plantea un diálogo entre la novela La belleza del mundo, de Héctor Tizón, y los arquetipos bíblicos de Adán y Eva, la pérdida del paraíso y el destierro, y el retorno al Edén. A partir de la traición primigenia de la esposa del protagonista, se inicia la integración a un tiempo cíclico e infinito –el del exilio. En el destierro, el protagonista está marcado por su afán de anular la temporalidad real y, a la vez, su propia identidad, intenta forzosamente olvidar la propia historia, lo cual lo conduce a una crisis de identidad. Al cabo de un largo recorrido, se plantea la necesidad de incorporar los acontecimientos de la vida a un tiempo mítico que regenere y perpetúe todas las acciones, y en el cual se busque el sufrimiento para alcanzar la salvación. El autor evidencia paralelismos diversos del texto con la doctrina cristiana: el protagonista comprende que para regresar a su propio centro debe perdonar. Y eso solo es posible regresando, enfrentando su pasado: el tiempo de redención es un regreso, pero el mismo-nuevo sitio no vuelve a ser jamás el paraíso.
Resumo:
El autor entrevista al narrador guayaquileño Jorge Velasco Mackenzie, quien responde sobre su oficio de escritor. Velasco sostiene que sufre con sus personajes y agoniza cuando estos mueren. Mira a Tatuaje de náufragos como un homenaje a un bar generacional, a una época y una forma de ser artista que ya no existen más, sería la autopsia de una generación y de la ciudad. Velasco sostiene que el poeta Fernando Nieto no solo fue un animador de la bohemia del Montreal, el fundador de Sicoseo, sino un hombre que sabía mucho, y un hombre generoso en lo personal, admira la posición de Nieto frente al mundo, frente a la literatura. En los escritos de Velasco siempre está Guayaquil, porque es el lugar donde nació y es el único donde puede vivir. Podría decirse que escribir sobre Guayaquil es su proyecto estético. Considera al Montreal como un lugar vivo, abierto, con sus personajes y su rocola antigua, lo evocó así toda su vida y a lo largo del libro intentó devolverle ese esplendor.
Resumo:
La autora reflexiona sobre el relato “Ella”, del uruguayo Juan Carlos Onetti, y sobre otras representaciones de la muerte de Eva Perón, escritas por Jorge Luis Borges, David Viñas y Néstor Perlongher. Afirma que en la Argentina de Perón ya confluían realidad y ficción, y que las múltiples biografías de Eva serían “un duelo de versiones narrativas entre la ficción y la historia o, si se prefiere, una metáfora de la historia”. Rosano plantea que, en los textos revisados, es la realidad la que adopta contornos fantasmagóricos, disparados por motivos diversos: la descomposición y el tópico del mal olor, la impostura del cuerpo embalsamado y del mandatario, el entrelazamiento entre lo político y lo sexual en la escena del velorio, la imagen de Eva, “una diosa que muestra sus encajes de novia de suburbio” pero también una siniestra y doliente “zombi escarlata”. Señala, finalmente, que los textos muestran a los fieles, esos “miles de necrófilos murmurantes y enlutados”, sometidos a la potencia del mito.
Resumo:
Steven Blockmans characterises the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to the EU as “a marvellous honour and a much-needed boost" for an integration project that is suffering grave economic difficulties and considerable social unrest, but he regrets that the growing role of the EU to act as a peacemaker beyond its geographical borders was not acknowledged in the award announcement.
Resumo:
The effects of the 2003 European heat wave have highlighted the need for society to prepare itself for and cope more effectively with heat waves. This is particularly important in the context of predicted climate change and the likelihood of more frequent extreme climate events; to date, heat as a natural hazard has been largely ignored. In order to develop better coping strategies, this report explores the factors that shape the social impacts of heat waves, and sets out a programme of research to address the considerable knowledge gaps in this area. Heat waves, or periods of anomalous warmth, do not affect everyone; it is the vulnerable individuals or sectors of society who will most experience their effects. The main factors of vulnerability are being elderly, living alone, having a pre-existing disease, being immobile or suffering from mental illness and being economically disadvantaged. The synergistic effects of such factors may prove fatal for some. Heat waves have discernible impacts on society including a rise in mortality, an increased strain on infrastructure (power, water and transport) and a possible rise in social disturbance. Wider impacts may include effects on the retail industry, ecosystem services and tourism. Adapting to more frequent heat waves should include soft engineering options and, where possible, avoid the widespread use of air conditioning which could prove unsustainable in energy terms. Strategies for coping with heat include changing the way in which urban areas are developed or re-developed, and setting up heat watch warning systems based around weather and seasonal climate forecasting and intervention strategies. Although heat waves have discernible effects on society, much remains unknown about their wider social impacts, diffuse health issues and how to manage them.
Resumo:
In Central Brazil, the long-term sustainability of beef cattle systems is under threat over vast tracts of farming areas, as more than half of the 50 million hectares of sown pastures are suffering from degradation. Overgrazing practised to maintain high stocking rates is regarded as one of the main causes. High stocking rates are deliberate and crucial decisions taken by the farmers, which appear paradoxical, even irrational given the state of knowledge regarding the consequences of overgrazing. The phenomenon however appears inextricably linked with the objectives that farmers hold. In this research those objectives were elicited first and from their ranking two, ‘asset value of cattle (representing cattle ownership)' and ‘present value of economic returns', were chosen to develop an original bi-criteria Compromise Programming model to test various hypotheses postulated to explain the overgrazing behaviour. As part of the model a pasture productivity index is derived to estimate the pasture recovery cost. Different scenarios based on farmers' attitudes towards overgrazing, pasture costs and capital availability were analysed. The results of the model runs show that benefits from holding more cattle can outweigh the increased pasture recovery and maintenance costs. This result undermines the hypothesis that farmers practise overgrazing because they are unaware or uncaring about overgrazing costs. An appropriate approach to the problem of pasture degradation requires information on the economics, and its interplay with farmers' objectives, for a wide range of pasture recovery and maintenance methods. Seen within the context of farmers' objectives, some level of overgrazing appears rational. Advocacy of the simple ‘no overgrazing' rule is an insufficient strategy to maintain the long-term sustainability of the beef production systems in Central Brazil.
Resumo:
In Central Brazil, the long-term, sustainability of beef cattle systems is under threat over vast tracts of farming areas, as more than half of the 50 million hectares of sown pastures are suffering from. degradation. Overgrazing practised to maintain high stocking rates is regarded as one of the main causes. High stocking rates are deliberate and crucial decisions taken by the farmers, which appear paradoxical, even irrational given the state of knowledge regarding the consequences of overgrazing. The phenomenon however appears inextricably linked with the objectives that farmers hold. In this research those objectives were elicited first and from their ranking two, 'asset value of cattle (representing cattle ownership and 'present value of economic returns', were chosen to develop an original bi-criteria Compromise Programming model to test various hypotheses postulated to explain the overgrazing behaviour. As part of the model a pasture productivity index is derived to estimate the pasture recovery cost. Different scenarios based on farmers' attitudes towards overgrazing, pasture costs and capital availability were analysed. The results of the model runs show that benefits from holding more cattle can outweigh the increased pasture recovery and maintenance costs. This result undermines the hypothesis that farmers practise overgrazing because they are unaware or uncaring caring about overgrazing costs. An appropriate approach to the problem of pasture degradation requires information on the economics,and its interplay with farmers' objectives, for a wide range of pasture recovery and maintenance methods. Seen within the context of farmers' objectives, some level of overgrazing appears rational. Advocacy of the simple 'no overgrazing' rule is an insufficient strategy to maintain the long-term sustainability of the beef production systems in Central Brazil. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Resumo:
The issue of the sustainable development of rural economies in England has recently received considerable attention. This is because many of the poorest areas in the country are rural, often of high environmental quality, but suffering from high unemployment and a lack of services and facilities. The rapid decline in agricultural incomes and in-migration of affluent urban workers since 1990 has exacerbated economic inequality in such areas. A number of factors have the potential to drive rural development and this paper applies, and considers, the feasibility of a method from the USA for combining economic and environmental variables in a regional growth model to examine the hypothesis that environmental quality is an important determinant of sustainable rural development in England. The model output suggests that, although environmental quality does play a role in sustainable rural development in England there are other, more important, factors driving development. These include business and communications infra-structure, the degree and opportunities for commuting and underlying employment prospects. The robustness and limitations of the method for combining economic and environmental variables is discussed in relation to the spatial interrelatedness of Local Authority Districts in England, and conclusions are drawn about areas for refinement and improvement of the method.
Resumo:
Recently, various approaches have been suggested for dose escalation studies based on observations of both undesirable events and evidence of therapeutic benefit. This article concerns a Bayesian approach to dose escalation that requires the user to make numerous design decisions relating to the number of doses to make available, the choice of the prior distribution, the imposition of safety constraints and stopping rules, and the criteria by which the design is to be optimized. Results are presented of a substantial simulation study conducted to investigate the influence of some of these factors on the safety and the accuracy of the procedure with a view toward providing general guidance for investigators conducting such studies. The Bayesian procedures evaluated use logistic regression to model the two responses, which are both assumed to be binary. The simulation study is based on features of a recently completed study of a compound with potential benefit to patients suffering from inflammatory diseases of the lung.
Resumo:
The conventional method for assessing acute oral toxicity (OECD Test Guideline 401) was designed to identify the median lethal dose (LD50), using the death of animals as an endpoint. Introduced as an alternative method (OECD Test Guideline 420), the Fixed Dose Procedure (FDP) relies on the observation of clear signs of toxicity, uses fewer animals and causes less suffering. More recently, the Acute Toxic Class method and the Up-and-Down Procedure have also been adopted as OECD test guidelines. Both of these methods also use fewer animals than the conventional method, although they still use death as an endpoint. Each of the three new methods incorporates a sequential dosing procedure, which results in increased efficiency. In 1999, with a view to replacing OECD Test Guideline 401, the OECD requested that the three new test guidelines be updated. This was to bring them in line with the regulatory needs of all OECD Member Countries, provide further reductions in the number of animals used, and introduce refinements to reduce the pain and distress experienced by the animals. This paper describes a statistical modelling approach for the evaluation of acute oral toxicity tests, by using the revised FDP for illustration. Opportunities for further design improvements are discussed.
Resumo:
The conventional method for the assessment of acute dermal toxicity (OECD Test Guideline 402, 1987) uses death of animals as an endpoint to identify the median lethal dose (LD50). A new OECD Testing Guideline called the dermal fixed dose procedure (dermal FDP) is being prepared to provide an alternative to Test Guideline 402. In contrast to Test Guideline 402, the dermal FDP does not provide a point estimate of the LD50, but aims to identify that dose of the substance under investigation that causes clear signs of nonlethal toxicity. This is then used to assign classification according to the new Globally Harmonised System of Classification and Labelling scheme (GHS). The dermal FDP has been validated using statistical modelling rather than by in vivo testing. The statistical modelling approach enables calculation of the probability of each GHS classification and the expected numbers of deaths and animals used in the test for imaginary substances with a range of LD50 values and dose-response curve slopes. This paper describes the dermal FDP and reports the results from the statistical evaluation. It is shown that the procedure will be completed with considerably less death and suffering than guideline 402, and will classify substances either in the same or a more stringent GHS class than that assigned on the basis of the LD50 value.
Statistical evaluation of the fixed concentration procedure for acute inhalation toxicity assessment
Resumo:
The conventional method for the assessment of acute inhalation toxicity (OECD Test Guideline 403, 1981) uses death of animals as an endpoint to identify the median lethal concentration (LC50). A new OECD Testing Guideline called the Fixed Concentration Procedure (FCP) is being prepared to provide an alternative to Test Guideline 403. Unlike Test Guideline 403, the FCP does not provide a point estimate of the LC50, but aims to identify an airborne exposure level that causes clear signs of nonlethal toxicity. This is then used to assign classification according to the new Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling scheme (GHS). The FCP has been validated using statistical simulation rather than byin vivo testing. The statistical simulation approach predicts the GHS classification outcome and the numbers of deaths and animals used in the test for imaginary substances with a range of LC50 values and dose response curve slopes. This paper describes the FCP and reports the results from the statistical simulation study assessing its properties. It is shown that the procedure will be completed with considerably less death and suffering than Test Guideline 403, and will classify substances either in the same or a more stringent GHS class than that assigned on the basis of the LC50 value.
Resumo:
The fixed-dose procedure (FDP) was introduced as OECD Test Guideline 420 in 1992, as an alternative to the conventional median lethal dose (LD50) test for the assessment of acute oral toxicity (OECD Test Guideline 401). The FDP uses fewer animals and causes less suffering than the conventional test, while providing information on the acute toxicity to allow substances to be ranked according to the EU hazard classification system. Recently the FDP has been revised, with the aim of providing further reductions and refinements, and classification according to the criteria of the Globally Harmonized Hazard Classification and Labelling scheme (GHS). This paper describes the revised FDP and analyses its properties, as determined by a statistical modelling approach. The analysis shows that the revised FDP classifies substances for acute oral toxicity generally in the same, or a more stringent, hazard class as that based on the LD50 value, according to either the GHS or the EU classification scheme. The likelihood of achieving the same classification is greatest for substances with a steep dose-response curve and median toxic dose (TD50) close to the LD50. The revised FDP usually requires five or six animals with two or fewer dying as a result of treatment in most cases.
Resumo:
Observation of adverse drug reactions during drug development can cause closure of the whole programme. However, if association between the genotype and the risk of an adverse event is discovered, then it might suffice to exclude patients of certain genotypes from future recruitment. Various sequential and non-sequential procedures are available to identify an association between the whole genome, or at least a portion of it, and the incidence of adverse events. In this paper we start with a suspected association between the genotype and the risk of an adverse event and suppose that the genetic subgroups with elevated risk can be identified. Our focus is determination of whether the patients identified as being at risk should be excluded from further studies of the drug. We propose using a utility function to? determine the appropriate action, taking into account the relative costs of suffering an adverse reaction and of failing to alleviate the patient's disease. Two illustrative examples are presented, one comparing patients who suffer from an adverse event with contemporary patients who do not, and the other making use of a reference control group. We also illustrate two classification methods, LASSO and CART, for identifying patients at risk, but we stress that any appropriate classification method could be used in conjunction with the proposed utility function. Our emphasis is on determining the action to take rather than on providing definitive evidence of an association. Copyright (C) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.