IN BETWEEN REALMS: THE SEARCH FOR FEMININE SELFHOOD IN THE ESSAIS OF MONTAIGNE

My purpose is to explore factors of the Renaissance that determined women’s selfhood in Montaigne’s Essais. I argue that the shift into modernity is responsible for the loss of women’s autonomy as well as the anxiety experienced by men regarding their power as well as their potential. Montaigne and Renaissance discourse defines women only by their bodies (sexual organs) and I explore the elements that established biological essentialism. This paper exemplifies comparative literature in the sense that it combines literature, theory, and art for the purpose of creating a well-researched examination of the root causes for why women were villainized and oppressed in the Renaissance era. I utilize feminist theory to discuss embodiment, which my argument defines as women being inseparable to their biological roles and the loss of their economic autonomy by way of them losing their property rights. Another aspect of embodiment in which I use is the loss of women midwives to male physicians, which calls for men to establish women’s reproductive rights, furthermore, trap them inside the narrow male definition of woman. Paradoxically, women are embodied due to sexist power dynamics, but feared for their possible demonic powers. The fear of witchcraft in women is due to men’s fear of castration and the tension that women will take away men’s power. Art theory from the Renaissance integrates cultural attitudes towards women’s bodies on a vast scale. This research paper is an exercise to examine the history of women’s selfhood

Postpartum Depression and Birth Experience in Russia

Background. In European countries, postpartum depression (PPD) occurs in 13-19% of women. The statistics indicate that postpartum depressive disorders affect up to 300,000 women in Russia annually. There is still an extremely acute lack of psychological comfort provided to women during labor in Russia. Objective. To our knowledge, ours is the first study that examines the association between childbirth experience and the risk of PPD in Russia. Design. We collected data from 190 Russian-speaking mothers, ages 19 to 46, (M = 32 +/- 4.3) two months after their delivery. Results. Birth satisfaction and physical well-being two months after delivery were significantly inversely associated with PPD. Birth satisfaction negatively correlated with the perceived severity and unpredictability of labor, and positively correlated with physical well-being two months after delivery. The presence of a partner and a personal midwife or doula at birth was associated with higher birth satisfaction. Conclusion. Our results emphasize the significance of childbirth satisfaction in the context of PPD and suggest the importance of individual professional support during labor.Peer reviewe

Pervin spaces and Frith frames: bitopological aspects and completion

A Pervin space is a set equipped with a bounded sublattice of its powerset, while its pointfree version, called Frith frame, consists of a frame equipped with a generating bounded sublattice. It is known that the dual adjunction between topological spaces and frames extends to a dual adjunction between Pervin spaces and Frith frames, and that the latter may be seen as representatives of certain quasi-uniform structures. As such, they have an underlying bitopological structure and inherit a natural notion of completion. In this paper we start by exploring the bitopological nature of Pervin spaces and of Frith frames, proving some categorical equivalences involving zero-dimensional structures. We then provide a conceptual proof of a duality between the categories of $T_0$ complete Pervin spaces and of complete Frith frames. This enables us to interpret several Stone-type dualities as a restriction of the dual adjunction between Pervin spaces and Frith frames along full subcategory embeddings. Finally, we provide analogues of Banaschewski and Pultr's characterizations of sober and $T_D$ topological spaces in the setting of Pervin spaces and of Frith frames, highlighting the parallelism between the two notions.Comment: 25 page

Associations between prenatal and early life stress and physical and mental health outcomes in prospective pregnancy and birth cohorts of children, adolescents and older adults : the role of epigenetics and genetics

Maternal depression and anxiety during pregnancy may present risks for the developing fetus and offspring lifelong physical and mental health. Exposure to postnatal early life stress (ELS) has also been extensively associated with health problems decades later. According to the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) hypothesis, environmental factors during pregnancy and early childhood may compromise the development of tissue, organs and systems, such as hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. While the underlying biological mechanisms are not fully understood, epigenetic alterations and genetic vulnerability are the promising biomarkers, which have been suggested to mediate the association of antenatal and early adversity with physical and mental health later in life. The aim of this work was to examine whether exposure to maternal antenatal depression and anxiety was associated with polyepigenetic modifications in their children reflected by the polyepigenetic biomarkers of child’s epigenetic gestational age (GA) and glucocorticoid (GC) exposure score. Additionally, it explored whether these modifications were associated with and mediated the effects of antenatal exposures on child mental health outcomes and whether the associations were moderated by child’s sex. As epigenetic processes undergo age-related changes, the next aim was to study whether epigenetic modifications reflected by the polyepigenetic biomarker of epigenetic clock were associated with physical growth, neuroendocrine functioning, cognition and mental health in adolescents. Finally, this thesis also examined whether genetic variants in FKBP5, the gene that plays a role in the HPA-axis regulation, interacted with exposure to ELS in prediction of type 2 diabetes (T2D), cardiovascular disease (CVD), and quantitative glycemic traits in older adults. The participants for the studies come from three prospective cohorts. Studies I and II capitalize on the Prediction and Prevention of Preeclampsia and Intrauterine Growth Restriction (PREDO) birth cohort. We had full information on genome-wide methylation and genotype from 817 fetal umbilical cord blood samples. In Study I, 694 mothers provided information on their history of depression diagnosed before pregnancy, 581 completed the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) throughout pregnancy, and 407 completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) at child’s mean age 3.7 years. DNA methylation (DNAm) GA of fetal cord blood DNA was based on the methylation profile of 148 selected CpG sites. Polyepigenetic biomarker of child’s epigenetic GA was calculated as the arithmetic difference between DNAm GA and chronological GA and adjusted for chronological GA. In Study II, we had information on child diagnoses of mental and behavioral disorders and the number of days the child had been receiving in- or outpatient treatment for these disorders as the primary diagnosis from birth to age 7.1-10.7 years (n=814). Mothers (n=583) reported depressive and anxiety symptoms during pregnancy, using CES-D and State Anxiety Inventory (STAI), respectively. A weighted cross-tissue polyepigenetic GC exposure score was calculated based on the methylation profile of 24 CpGs. Study III was based on the Glycyrrhizin in Licorice (Glaku) cohort. We had information available on DNA samples, physical growth and pubertal development, cognitive abilities, psychiatric problems assessed by mothers with CBCL questionnaire, and saliva samples to estimate cortisol levels for a subsample adolescents at the mean age of 12.3 (n=239). DNAm age was estimated using the Horvath age estimation algorithm. The polyepigenetic biomarker of epigenetic clock was calculated as the unstandardized residual from a linear regression of DNAm age on chronological age and six cell count types. For Study IV, a total of 1,728 Helsinki Birth Cohort Study (HBCS) participants born from 1934 to 1944 were genotyped for FKBP5 SNPs (rs1360780, rs9394309, rs9470080) and were administered a 2-hour (75 g) oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) and a questionnaire on physician-diagnosed and medication use for chronic diseases at a mean age of 61.5 years. Of them, 273 were exposed to ELS defined as separation from biological parents at a mean age of 4.7 years due to evacuations during World War II. In Study I we found that lower child’s epigenetic GA at birth was significantly associated with maternal history of depression diagnosed before pregnancy and higher antenatal depressive symptoms. It also prospectively predicted child’s total and internalizing problems in early childhood, partially mediating the association of maternal antenatal depression with child internalizing problems, although only in boys. It may signal about their developmental vulnerability to maternal depression during pregnancy (Study I). In Study II we show that while polyepigenetic GC exposure score at birth was not predictive of higher risk for any mental and behavioral disorder in childhood, lower score was associated with more days spent in in- or outpatient treatment for any mental and behavioral disorder as the primary diagnosis. This finding may contribute to better understanding and identification of children at risk for more severe mental and behavioral disorders already at birth (Study II). Next, we demonstrate that adolescents with epigenetic clock age acceleration (AA) displayed more advanced physical growth and development, had higher salivary cortisol upon awakening and higher odds for displaying borderline clinically significant internalizing problems, which may index risk of earlier aging and age-related diseases (Study III). Finally, Study IV revealed that three selected FKBP5 polymorphisms moderated the association of ELS on insulin and glucose values at fasting state and/or during an OGTT in late adulthood, supporting the role of gene-environment interaction and HPA axis dysregulation in the development of metabolic disorders. These study findings provide valuable insights on how the polyepigenetic biomarkers of antenatal adverse exposures and aging and biomarkers of genetic vulnerability in combination with the information about ELS might contribute to early identification of individuals at risk for complex mental and physical disorders enabling timely targeted preventive and therapeutic interventions.Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD)-hypoteesin mukaan raskaudenaikaiset ja varhaislapsuuden ympäristötekijät voivat vaikuttaa kudosten, elinten ja elimistön säätelyjärjestelmien, kuten hypotalamus-aivolisäke-lisämunuainen -akseli (HPAA) toimintaan pitkälläkin aikajänteellä. Esimerkiksi raskaudenaikainen masennus ja ahdistus voivat haitata sikiön kehittymistä ja lisätä terveysongelmien riskiä syntymän jälkeen. Myös varhaislapsuuden stressi voi lisätä terveysongelmien riskiä. Epigeneettiset muutokset ja geneettinen vaihtelu ovat lupaavia biomarkkereita, joiden on ehdotettu välittävän ja muokkaavan sikiöaikaisten ja varhaislapsuuden ympäristövaikutusten yhteyksiä fyysiseen ja henkiseen terveyteen myöhemmässä elämässä. Tämän työn tarkoituksena oli tutkia, liittyykö altistuminen raskaudenaikaiselle masennukselle ja ahdistukselle kahteen lapsen epigeneettiseen biomarkkeriin: epigeneettiseen gestaatioikään ja glukokortikoidialtistuksesta kertovaan epigeneettiseen indikaattoriin. Lisäksi työssä selvitettiin, välittyikö raskaudenaikaisten altisteiden vaikutus lasten mielenterveyteen näiden biomarkkereiden kautta. Seuraavana tavoitteena oli tutkia kolmannen epigeneettisen biomarkkerin, epigeneettisen kellon, yhteyksiä fyysiseen kasvuun, neuroendokriinisiin vasteisiin, kognitiivisiin kykyihin ja mielenterveyteen murrosikäisillä. Lopuksi tässä opinnäytetyössä tutkittiin myös HPAA säätelyssä olennaisen FKBP5 geenin varianttien ja varhaisen stressin yhteisvaikutusta insuliini- ja glukoositasoihin sekä tyypin 2 diabetekseen ja sydän- ja verisuonitauteihin myöhäisessä aikuisuudessa. Tutkimuksiin osallistujat tulevat kolmesta prospektiivisesta kohortista. Osatutkimukset I ja II hyödynsivät PREDO syntymäkohortin aineistoa. Tähän kuuluu genominlaajuinen metylaatio- ja genomiaineisto 817:sta napaverinäytteestä. Osatutkimuksessa I, 694:ltä äidiltä oli lisäksi tieto masennusdiagnoosista ennen raskautta, 581 täytti CES-D masennusoirekyselyn raskauden aikana ja 407 täytti CBCL-kyselyn lapsen käyttäytymis- ja tunneongelmista kun lapset olivat keskimäärin 3.7 -vuotiaita. Epigeneettinen gestaatioikä eli määriteltiin 148 napaveren DNA:n metylaatiokohdan (CpG) perusteella. Tutkimuksessa II aineistona oli lasten mielenterveys- ja käyttäytymishäiriöiden diagnoosit sekä niiden päivien lukumäärästä, jolloin lapsi oli ollut näiden sairauksien takia avo- tai sairaalahoidossa syntymästä 7.1 - 10.7 vuoden ikään saakka (n = 814). Äidit raportoivat myös raskaudenaikaisen masennusoireensa CES-D kyselyllä ahdistuksensa STAI kyselyllä (n = 583). Glukokortikoidialtistuksesta kertova epigeneettinen biomarkkeri laskettiin 24 CpG:n metylaatioprofiilin perusteella. Tutkimus III perustui Glaku -kohortin aineistoon. Aineistona oli DNA-näytteet, fyysinen kasvu ja murrosiän kehitys, kognitiiviset kyvyt, CBCL-kyselylomakkeella raportoidut käyttäytymis- ja tunneongelmat ja sylkinäytteistä määritetty kortisolipitoisuus keskimäärin 12.3 -vuoden iässä (n = 239). Epigeneettinen ikä arvioitiin Horvathin algoritmilla. Tutkimuksessa IV määritettiin FKBP5 geenin variantit (rs1360780, rs9394309, rs9470080) n=1728 HBCS -tutkimukseen osallistuneelta vuosina 1934–1944 syntyneeltä. Heille tehtiin myös 2-tunnin (75 g) sokerirasitustesti ja he raportoivat lääkärin diagnosoimista kroonisista sairauksista ja lääkkeidenkäytöstä keskimäärin 61.5 vuoden iässä. Tutkittavista 273 oli altistunut varhaiselle stressille, joka märiteltiin eroksi biologisista vanhemmista 2. maailmansodan aikana tapahtuneen evakuoinnin (sotalapsi) vuoksi keskimäärin 4.7 vuoden iässä. Tutkimuksessa I havaitsimme, että matalampi lapsen epigeneettinen gestaatioikä, suhteessa kronologiseen gestaatioikään syntymähetkellä liittyi ennen raskautta diagnosoituun äidin masennukseen ja raskausaikaisiin masennusoireisiin. Se ennusti myös lapsen käyttäytymis- ja tunneongelmia varhaislapsuudessa sekä välitti osittain äidin masennuksen yhteyttä lapsen tunneongelmiin, erityisesti pojilla. Tutkimuksessa II osoitimme, että glukokortikoidialtistuksesta kertovan epigeneettisen indikaattorin matalmpi taso liittyi lapsen mielenterveyden ja käyttäytymishäiriön vuoksi sairaalassa tai avohoidossa vietetyn hoitojakson pituuteen. Tutkimuksessa III osoitimme, että korkeampi epigeneettinen ikä suhteessa kronologiseen ikään, oli yhteydessä fyysiseen kasvuun ja kehitykseen, korkeampiin syljen kortisolitasoihin heräämisen jälkeen ja lievien internalisoivien ongelmien korkeampaan riskiin. Lopulta Tutkimuksessa IV osoitimme, että kolme FKBP5-varianttia muokkasi varhaislapsuuden stressikokemuksen yhteyttä korkeampiin paaston- ja/tai sokerirasituksen jälkeisiin insuliini- ja glukoosiarvoihin myöhäisessä aikuisiässä. Nämä tutkimustulokset antavat arvokasta tietoa siitä, kuinka raskauden- tai lapsuuden aikaisten altistusten tai ikääntymisen epigeneettiset biomarkkerit ja geneettiset biomarkkerit yhdessä varhaista stressiä kuvaavan tiedon kanssa voivat auttaa tunnistamaan ajoissa ne henkilöt, joilla on kohonnut riski mielenterveyden ongelmille tai fyysisille sairauksille. Tunnistaminen mahdollistaa ennaltaehkäisevien toimenpiteiden kohdentamisen oikea-aikaisesti jopa vuosikymmeniä ennen oireiden ilmaantumista

Pointfree bispaces and pointfree bisubspaces

This thesis is concerned with the study of pointfree bispaces, and in particular with the pointfree notion of inclusion of bisubspaces. We mostly work in the context of d-frames. We study quotients of d-frames as pointfree analogues of the topological notion of bisubspace. We show that for every d-frame L there is a d-frame A(L) such that it plays the role of the assembly of a frame, in the sense that it has the analogue of the universal property of the assembly and that its spectrum is a bitopological version of the Skula space of the bispace dpt(L), the spectrum of L. Furthermore, we show that this bitopological version of the Skula space of dpt(L) is the coarsest topology in which the d-sober bisubspaces of dpt(L) are closed. We also show that there are two free constructions in the category of d-frames Act(L) and A_(L), such that they represent two variations of the bitopological version of the Skula topology. In particular, we show that in dpt(Act) the positive closed sets are exactly those d-sober subspaces of dpt(L) that are spectra of quotients coming from an increase in the con component, and that the negative closed ones are those that come from increases in the tot component. For dpt(A_(L)), we show that the positive closed sets are exactly those bisubspaces of dpt(L) that are spectra of quotients coming from a quotient of L+, and that the negative closed sets come in the same way from quotients of

Exploring the climatic potential of Somo's Surf Spot for tourist destination management

Surfing is one of the most popular activities in coastal tourism resorts. However, the sport depends strongly on the met-ocean weather conditions, particularly on the surface wind-generated waves that reach the coast. This study provides examples of how users? needs and user perspectives are considered by climate data specialists to develop needed, highly useful information addressing human and social needs. In this vein, the climate analysis of such data can provide input on the expected length of a surfing season, according to the surfer?s level of expertise. In addition, other water sports, such as SUP Wave and windsurfing, among others, might be indicated when surfing conditions are not optimal. Finally, the safety of surfers and other tourists who venture into the sea is also dependent on those conditions. We collaborated with the surfing community to define a series of indices for quantifying surfing days (SD), surfing days stratified by surfers? skills (SDS), alternate offers (AOs), and surfers? and swimmers? safety (SuS and SwS). These are of general applications but require wind and wave data at a very fine scale as the input. To illustrate the potential of our indices, we applied them to the Somo beach (Cantabria, Spain). We downscaled a global wave hindcast dataset covering a 30-year period to a spatial resolution of 100 m to obtain wave-surfing information at Somo?s surf spot. The results confirmed Somo?s status as a year-round surf spot, with SD values of 229.5 days/year and monthly values between 22 days/month and 16 days/month. SDS showed different seasonal peaks according to the surfers? skills. Beginners? conditions occurred more often in the summer (18.1 days/month in July), intermediate surfers? conditions appeared in the transitional seasons (14.1 days/month in April), and advanced and big-wave riders in the winter (15.1 days/month in January and 0.7 days/month, respectively). The AO index identified the SUP wave values of 216 days/year. Wind water sports presented values of 141.6 days/year; conversely, SUP sports were possible on only 7.4 days/year. SuS and SwS identified different seasonal hazard values, decreasing from the winter, autumn, and spring to minimum values in the summer.This research is within the INDECIS project (INDECIS is part of ERA4CS, an ERA-NET initiated by JPI Climate and funded by FORMAS (SE), DLR (DE), BMWFW (AT), IFD (DK), MINECO (ES), and ANR (FR) with co-funding by the European Union Grant 690462). This article publication was possible with the support of the Secretaria d’Universitats i Recerca del Departament d’Empresa i Coneixement de la Generalitat de Catalunya, the European Union (UE), and the European Social Fund (ESF) (Doctoral Research Grant 2021FI_B2 00147—Formació personal investigador novell)

Parental burnout, depression and emotional development of the preschoolers

IntroductionParental burnout is becoming more and more prevalent in the world, mainly incultures with high demands towards parents. Parental burnout is distinctive from depression and might have its unique influence on child development, which isunder current international research. This work contributes to the understanding of parental burnout, maternal depression and child emotional development(specifically emotion comprehension) interrelations. Additionally, we explored whether there are differences in the effects of parental burnout and depressionon boys and girls.MethodsTo analyse the emotional development of the preschoolers, the Russian version of the Test of Emotional Comprehension (TEC) was used. We used the Russian version of the Parental Burnout Inventory (PBI) to analyse the level of PB and the Russian version of Beck depression Inventory (BDI) to assess participants’ depression level.ResultsParental burnout positively correlates with child emotional comprehension skills, specifically understanding of external causes (B = 0.20, CI: 0.03; 0.37) and mental causes of emotions (B = 0.22, CI: 0.05; 0.40). This effect is gender dependent and is significantlyhigher for girls (B = 0.54, CI: 0.09; 0.98). The effect of maternal depression on emotion comprehension skills is also gender dependent: total scores on emotioncomprehension tasks are significantly higher for daughters of mothers with depression (B = 0.59, CI: 0.001; 1.18).DiscussionMaternal depression and parental burnout might provoke development of extra sensitivity and self-regulation strategies in girls