Emotional stress as a trigger of falls leading to hip or pelvic fracture. Results from the ToFa study – a case-crossover study among elderly people in Stockholm, Sweden

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Sudden emotions may interfere with mechanisms for keeping balance among the elderly. The aim of this study is to analyse if emotional stress and specifically feelings of anger, sadness, worries, anxiety or stress, can trigger falls leading to hip or pelvic fracture among autonomous older people.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The study applied the case-crossover design and was based on data gathered by face to face interviews carried out in Stockholm between November 2004 and January 2006 at the emergency wards of two hospitals. Cases (n = 137) were defined as persons aged 65 and older admitted for at least one night due to a fall-related hip or pelvic fracture (ICD10: S72 or S32) and meeting a series of selection criteria. Results are presented as relative risks with 95% confidence intervals.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There was an increased risk for fall and subsequent hip or pelvic fracture for up to one hour after emotional stress. For anger there was an increased relative risk of 12.2 (95% CI 2.7–54.7), for sadness of 5.7 (95% CI 1.1–28.7), and for stress 20.6 (95% CI 4.5–93.5) compared to periods with no such feelings.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Emotional stress seems to have the potential to trigger falls and subsequent hip or pelvic fracture among autonomous older people. Further studies are needed to clarify how robust the findings are – as the number of exposed cases is small – and the mechanisms behind them – presumably balance and vision impairment in stress situation.</p

The Bible in migration politics in northern Europe

This article analyses references to the Bible in recent migration politics in Northern European countries, to understand how and why the Bible is used in the context of political discussions about refugees, migration, and Islam. It examines a number of cases, particularly on the theme of neighbourly love, to see how biblical texts and themes are brought in to support political claims about Christian identity and values. This analysis shows that the Bible continues to matter in political discourse, both taken as an inspiration for personal faith and as a way to connect with the past and with Christian values, which does not require faith. In this way, the Bible appears to survive the numerical decline of Christianity by emerging as a text of national and cultural, in addition to, religious significance. The analysis further confirms that there is a lot to gain by using the Bible as a lens to look at the current transition of Christianity from religion to culture. The concepts that are central to this shift, of identity, belief, history, nationality, heritage, and culture, all occur explicitly and implicitly in the discourse surrounding the Bible

Restoring Abraham’s Foreskin : The Significance of ἀκροβυστία for Paul’s Argument about Circumcision in Romans 4:9-12

In his discussion of Abraham’s circumcision (Romans 4:9-12), Paul uses the term ἀκροβυστία, or ‘foreskin’, six times, as a key part of his argument. Unfortunately, this term is something of a scholarly blind spot and is often taken as referring only to the absence of circumcision, or to a time before circumcision. However, given Paul’s usage of this term, as well as the metaphor of foreskin in the Hebrew Bible, ἀκροβυστία should be understood as a negative physical presence which marks those who do not belong to God’s people. Paul’s argument that Abraham was justified while ἐν ἀκροβυστίᾳ therefore specifically concerns gentiles, and does not make a point about πίστις or justification before circumcision. Moreover, awareness of the physical referent of the term shows that Paul describes Abraham’s circumcision as a sign that marks the foreskin. A consistent focus on the significance of ἀκροβυστία therefore offers an important correction to the common understanding of this crucial passage.

A cosmopolitan ideal:Paul’s declaration ‘neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, nor male and female’ in the context of first-century thought

Wat bedoelt de nieuw-testamentische auteur Paulus als hij verklaart, ‘er is geen Jood of Griek, geen slaaf of vrije, geen man en vrouw, want jullie zijn allemaal één in Christus’ (Galaten 3:28)? Hoewel veel modern lezers deze woorden begrijpen als een uitspraak over menselijke gelijkwaardigheid, laat dit onderzoek zien dat ze ideeën over een ideale of utopische gemeenschap weerspiegelen. Met deze uitspraak neemt Paulus deel aan de toenmalige culturele discussie over een dergelijke gemeenschap. De paren die Paulus in deze uitspraak bij elkaar brengt speelden alle drie een rol in voorstellingen over een ideale wereld. Deze voorstellingen werden beïnvloed door kosmopolitanisme: het filosofische idee dat alle mensen en volken tot één homogene samenleving behoren. Door Paulus’ gedachten te zien in de context van deze idealen, wordt zijn houding tegenover elk van de drie paren duidelijk, zoals die naar voren komt in zijn brieven. Zijn denken over het paar Jood-Griek moet gezien worden als een vorm van kosmopolitanisme dat gebaseerd is op de Joodse verwachting dat in de eindtijd alle volken uiteindelijk de God van Israël zullen erkennen. Paulus’ houding tegenover slaven en vrije mensen is deel van een bredere tendens om de afwezigheid van slaven te zien als kenmerkend voor een utopische gemeenschap. Het derde paar, ‘man en vrouw’, bevestigt de heersende gedachte dat het huwelijk geen plaats heeft in een ideale groep, omdat het afleidt van het gemeenschappelijk belang. Net als andere utopische denkers meende Paulus dat een ideale gemeenschap gebaseerd moest zijn op wederzijdse steun en egalitaire relaties.

Neighbours Near and Far : How a Biblical Figure is Used in Recent European Anti-Migration Politics

References to the Bible in European politics rarely are the subject of research by biblical scholars. Claims about Christianity and about themes and stories from the Bible, which have made a remarkable appearance in political discourse recently, especially in discussions of migration, have therefore gone unnoticed in our discipline. This paper wants to put this topic on the map by exploring three cases, from the Netherlands, Norway, and Germany, where politicians make an argument against accepting migrants, by appealing to neighbourly love and the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37). We ask whether the Bible appears here in its 'liberal' form, which scholars have shown to be a prevalent form of the Bible in US and UK politics, or whether we are seeing the development of a different political Bible

Paul, Imprisonment and Crisis : Crisis and its Negotiation as a Lens for Reading Philippians

COVID-19 has stimulated reflections on crisis as a catalyst for interpretation in both the present and the past. This article reads Philippians as embedded in different forms of crisis, most specifically the negotiation of Paul’s own context of crisis: his imprisonment. The bodily, social and spiritual dimensions of this liminal incarceration experience are here set out and the ways in which these influence the fulfilment of mission within the epistle are outlined