Roots of the Western Self: Dualist and Monist Philosophies of Personal Identity

Personal identity has rec ently appeared in the agenda of social sciences and humanities in a variety of ways There is a huge and expanding body of literature on identity and identity studies has gained significant importance in the social sciences and humanities across the globe This article aims to trace back the history of theories on Western personal identity from an interdisciplinary angle Defining identity raises many questions and invites different disciplines ranging from hermeneutics philosophy sociology psychology psychoanalysis linguistics anthropology and many more Answering questions about the nature of the self and the relationship between a person and her body led this article to trace back two lines of thought a dualist view that sees identity in terms of soul and body dichotomy and a monist view that focuses on the body as a defining element of identity The enormous philosophical interest in the idea of personal identity is due to concerns with the nature of personal identity throughout time and the relationship if any between personal identity and bodily identit

Clinical characteristics and outcomes of critically ill COVID-19 patients in Sfax, Tunisia

Background Africa, like the rest of the world, has been impacted by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. However, only a few studies covering this subject in Africa have been published. Methods We conducted a retrospective study of critically ill adult COVID-19 patients—all of whom had a confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection—admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of Habib Bourguiba University Hospital (Sfax, Tunisia). Results A total of 96 patients were admitted into our ICU for respiratory distress due to COVID-19 infection. Mean age was 62.4±12.8 years and median age was 64 years. Mean arterial oxygen tension (PaO2)/fractional inspired oxygen (FiO2) ratio was 105±60 and ≤300 in all cases but one. Oxygen support was required for all patients (100%) and invasive mechanical ventilation for 38 (40%). Prone positioning was applied in 67 patients (70%). Within the study period, 47 of the 96 patients died (49%). Multivariate analysis showed that the factors associated with poor outcome were the development of acute renal failure (odds ratio [OR], 6.7; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.75–25.9), the use of mechanical ventilation (OR, 5.8; 95% CI, 1.54–22.0), and serum cholinesterase (SChE) activity lower than 5,000 UI/L (OR, 5.0; 95% CI, 1.34–19). Conclusions In this retrospective cohort study of critically ill patients admitted to the ICU in Sfax, Tunisia, for acute respiratory failure following COVID-19 infection, the mortality rate was high. The development of acute renal failure, the use of mechanical ventilation, and SChE activity lower than 5,000 UI/L were associated with a poor outcome

Opetusvideot lapsen nenämahaletkun laitosta ja kanyloinnin avustamisesta

Tämän tuotokseen painottuvan opinnäytetyön tarkoituksena oli tehdä kaksi opetusvideota Tampereen ammattikorkeakoululle virtuaaliseen oppimisympäristöön. Videot tulevat toisen vuoden sairaanhoitajaopiskelijoiden käyttöön lasten ja nuorten hoitotyön perusopintojen opetusmateriaaliksi ennen orientoivan harjoittelun tunteja. Opinnäytetyön tavoitteena oli tuottaa laadukasta ja teoriaan pohjautuvaa opetusmateriaalia videon muodossa lapsen nenämahaletkun laitosta imeväisikäiselle ja perifeerisen kanyloinnin avustamisesta kouluikäiselle sekä verinäytteen otosta kanyloinnin yhteydessä. Tavoitteena oli tuottaa tietoa myös lapsen ja perheen hyvästä ohjaamisesta ja valmistamisesta edellä mainittuihin toimenpiteisiin. Lapsen ja perheen valmistaminen toimenpiteisiin on erittäin tärkeä osa sairaanhoitajan työtä. Lapsi tulisi valmistella kanylointiin ja nenämahaletkun laittoon ikätason vaatimalla tavalla. Ensimmäisessä opetusvideossa käsitellään nenämahaletkun laittamista imeväisikäiselle lapselle ja lapsen valmistelua tilanteeseen. Videolla lapsi kapaloidaan ennen toimenpidettä ja toimenpiteen aikana avustava hoitaja tarjoaa vauvalle tuttia ja sokerivettä sekä puhuu rauhoittavalla äänellä. Videolla kerrotaan myös, mitä vanhempien tulee huomioida, kun omalla lapsella on nenämahaletku. Imeväisikäisen lapsen kohdalla lasta tulee valmistaa rauhoittamalla tilanne ja omilla eleillä sekä liikkeillä luoda turvallisuuden tunnetta tilanteeseen. Toisessa videossa valmistellaan kouluikäinen lapsi ja hänen vanhempansa kanylointiin. Lapsen kanssa käydään toimenpide läpi leikin kautta pehmolelua apuna käyttäen. Kouluikäisen lapsen kohdalla valmistaminen toimenpiteeseen taas tulee toteuttaa käymällä tulevan tapahtuman kulku ja toimenpiteessä käytettävät tarvikkeet läpi yhdessä lapsen kanssa. Leikki on hyvä apukeino kouluikäisen valmistamisessa. Esimerkiksi pehmoleluja ja kirjoja voidaan käyttää valmistamisen apuvälineenä. Näin lapsi pystyy käsittelemään asiaa oman ikätasonsa mukaan leikin kautta. Sairaanhoitajan tulisi aina ennen toimenpidettä ehtiä huomioimaan lapsi ja perhe kokonaisuutena. Näin pystytään luomaan vuorovaikutuksellinen luottamussuhde, eivätkä asiat jää epäselviksi lapselle ja perheelle. Kehittämisehdotuksena opinnäytetyölle on selvittää, kuinka hyödyllisiä opetusvideot ovat olleet orientoivaan harjoitteluun valmistautuessa. Jatkossa voisi kuvata myös opetusvideot nenämahaletkun laitosta ja kanyloinnin avustamisesta eri ikäryhmille, kuten leikki-ikäisille.The purpose of this study is to make two educational videos to the virtual teaching environment of Tampere University of Applied Sciences. The videos are aimed for second year nursing students before their clinical training. The objective of this study was to produce high-quality theory-based educational videos. The videos are about inserting a nasogastric tube for an infant, assisting with peripheral cannulation and taking blood examples with a cannula during the cannulation of a school-aged child. Another objective of this study was to yield information about guiding and preparing a child and his family for the above-mentioned procedures. Guiding and preparing a child and parents is a very important part of a nurse’s work. For inserting nasogastric tube or peripheral cannula a child should be prepared based on his age group. An infant should be prepared by calming down the environment and also handling the child peacefully and with determined manners, e.g. the baby can be swaddled. A school-aged child should be prepared for the procedure by talking with him about it. A good way to prepare a school-aged child for a procedure is go through it by means of a play. The first educational video deals with inserting a nasogastric tube for an infant and to preparing the child and the parents for it. The second video deals with inserting a peripheral cannula and taking blood examples during the cannulation of a school-aged child. A development proposal for this bachelor’s thesis is to find out how useful the educational videos have been when preparing for the clinical training. In the future similar videos with the chosen themes could be made for different age groups

Designing of new proposed technique for the multi-attribute choice problems: Application to the selection of renewable energy technologies in the Tunisian Electricity and Gas Society case study

The economic importance of the selection of alternative energies in the national scenario tends to be maintained with the optimistic forecast of an increase in production for the years to come in Tunisia. The problem of choosing multiple attributes for the selection of renewable energies is a set of concepts whose purpose is to help the user in a decision-making process. This help provided to the user is designed to be the most online with his preferences. The objective of this study is to answer the following question: How to decide to determine the optimal alternative energies from a large set of available outcomes for this case study according to the decision maker’s preferences? The purpose of this article was to solve multi-attribute choice problems by simultaneously using the choice to essentially define comparative superiority, inferiority, and the flow of non-inferiority as indicators of goodness/poverty evidence. We have developed a new method called Multi-Attribute Superiority, Inferiority and Non-Inferiority Selection Approach (MASINISA) based on the successive elimination Multi-Attribute Decision Making (MADM) to solve the selection of renewable energies in a certain environment: the case of the STEG Company in Tunisia. We can ascertain that the renewable energy technologies belonging to the screened set produced by the proposed MASINISA version were all judged admissible by the experts of the STEG

Impact of prone position on outcomes of COVID-19 patients with spontaneous breathing

International audienceBackground: In this study, we explored whether early application of the prone position (PP) can improve severe hypoxemia and respiratory failure in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients with spontaneous breathing.Methods: This is a prospective observational study of severe, critically ill adult COVID-19 patients admitted to the intensive care unit. All vital parameters were recorded in real time for all patients. Moreover, the results of chest computed tomography (CT), when available, were analyzed.Results: PP was applied in 21 patients who were breathing spontaneously. The application of PP was associated with a significant increase in oxygen saturation measured by pulse oximetry (SpO2) from 82%±12% to 96%±3% (P0.05 for both).Conclusions: Our study confirmed that the early application of PP can improve hypoxemia and tachypnea in COVID-19 patients with spontaneous breathing. Randomized controlled trials are needed to confirm the beneficial effects of PP in COVID-19 patients with spontaneous breathing