From the Obligation of Birth to the Obligation of Care: Esposito’s Biophilosophy and Recalcati’s ‘New Symptoms’

This essay addresses the controversial status of subjectivity in Esposito’s affirmative biopolitics and articulates it using Recalcati’s psychoanalytical theory, with the aim of promoting a non-vitalistic affirmative biopolitics. In biopolitical theory in general, and in Esposito’s especially, subjectivity has a problematic status: while life precedes intersubjectivity, it is not clear whether subjectivity is regarded as a consequence or as the precondition of intersubjectivity (and thus of life). Esposito acknowledges such an aporia, the subjectum suppositum, but fails to recognise it in his own reasoning, ultimately envisioning a powerful interpretative and transformative paradigm—affirmative biopolitics—whilst leaving at its core a life-less subject. In this essay, I read Esposito’s affirmative biopolitics through Recalcati’s clinical approach to the ‘new symptoms’, with the aim of envisioning a subjectivity compatible with the ontogenetic primacy of life posited by biopolitical theory. Ultimately, the aim of this article is to suggest that an affirmative biopolitics, grounded on the promotion of neither a pre-subjective bare life, nor of a lifeless subject, but of a fully subjective life, a living subject is possible

Recovery of dialysis patients with COVID-19 : health outcomes 3 months after diagnosis in ERACODA

Background. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related short-term mortality is high in dialysis patients, but longer-term outcomes are largely unknown. We therefore assessed patient recovery in a large cohort of dialysis patients 3 months after their COVID-19 diagnosis. Methods. We analyzed data on dialysis patients diagnosed with COVID-19 from 1 February 2020 to 31 March 2021 from the European Renal Association COVID-19 Database (ERACODA). The outcomes studied were patient survival, residence and functional and mental health status (estimated by their treating physician) 3 months after COVID-19 diagnosis. Complete follow-up data were available for 854 surviving patients. Patient characteristics associated with recovery were analyzed using logistic regression. Results. In 2449 hemodialysis patients (mean ± SD age 67.5 ± 14.4 years, 62% male), survival probabilities at 3 months after COVID-19 diagnosis were 90% for nonhospitalized patients (n = 1087), 73% for patients admitted to the hospital but not to an intensive care unit (ICU) (n = 1165) and 40% for those admitted to an ICU (n = 197). Patient survival hardly decreased between 28 days and 3 months after COVID-19 diagnosis. At 3 months, 87% functioned at their pre-existent functional and 94% at their pre-existent mental level. Only few of the surviving patients were still admitted to the hospital (0.8-6.3%) or a nursing home (∼5%). A higher age and frailty score at presentation and ICU admission were associated with worse functional outcome. Conclusions. Mortality between 28 days and 3 months after COVID-19 diagnosis was low and the majority of patients who survived COVID-19 recovered to their pre-existent functional and mental health level at 3 months after diagnosis

An innovative subdivision-ICP registration method for tool-path correction applied to deformed aircraft parts machining

A new and fast registration algorithm has been proposed to update the tool-path of a deburring robot, intended to machining composite workpieces under gravity and clamping deformations. A Subdivision Iterative Closest Point algorithm, which considers different parts of the contour with respect to curvature, allows to obtain far better results than classical methods, without complicated assumptions or computations. The procedure has shown to be effective for porthole and nose-cone deburring. Experimental tests conducted on robotic milling workcell demonstrated the efficiency of the registration method

The Clinical Frailty Scale as a triage tool for ICU admission of dialysis patients with COVID-19: an ERACODA analysis

BACKGROUND: Several guidelines recommend using the Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) for triage of critically ill coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. This study evaluates the impact of CFS on intensive care unit (ICU) admission rate and hospital and ICU mortality rates in hospitalized dialysis patients with COVID-19. METHODS: We analysed data of dialysis patients diagnosed with COVID-19 from the European Renal Association COVID-19 Database. The primary outcome was ICU admission rate and secondary outcomes were hospital and ICU mortality until 3 months after COVID-19 diagnosis. Cox regression analyses were performed to assess associations between CFS and outcomes. RESULTS: A total of 1501 dialysis patients were hospitalized due to COVID-19, of whom 219 (15%) were admitted to an ICU. The ICU admission rate was lowest (5%) in patients >75 years of age with a CFS of 7-9 and highest (27%) in patients 65-75 years of age with a CFS of 5. A CFS of 7-9 was associated with a lower ICU admission rate than a CFS of 1-3 [relative risk 0.49 (95% confidence interval 0.27-0.87)]. Overall, mortality at 3 months was 34% in hospitalized patients, 65% in ICU-admitted patients and highest in patients >75 years of age with a CFS of 7-9 (69%). Only 9% of patients with a CFS ≥6 survived after ICU admission. After adjustment for age and sex, each CFS category ≥4 was associated with higher hospital and ICU mortality compared with a CFS of 1-3. CONCLUSIONS: Frail dialysis patients with COVID-19 were less frequently admitted to the ICU. Large differences in mortality rates between fit and frail patients suggest that the CFS may be a useful complementary triage tool for ICU admission in dialysis patients with COVID-19

Rewilding Marxism: a manifesto for textual praxis

A spectre is haunting academic globalisation – the spectre of Marxist theory