The SWPER index for women’s empowerment in Africa: development and validation of an index based on survey data

Background The Sustainable Development Goals strongly focus on equity. Goal 5 explicitly aims to empower all women and girls, reinforcing the need to have a reliable indicator to track progress. Our objective was to develop a novel women's empowerment indicator from widely available data sources, broadening opportunities for monitoring and research on women's empowerment. Methods We used Demographic and Health Survey data from 34 African countries, targeting currently partnered women. We identified items related to women's empowerment present in most surveys, and used principal component analysis to extract the components. We carried out a convergent validation process using coverage of three health interventions as outcomes; and an external validation process by analysing correlations with the Gender Development Index. Findings 15 items related to women's empowerment were selected. We retained three components (50% of total variation) which, after rotation, were identified as three dimensions of empowerment: attitude to violence, social independence, and decision making. All dimensions had moderate to high correlation with the Gender Development Index. Social independence was associated with higher coverage of maternal and child interventions; attitude to violence and decision making were more consistently associated with the use of modern contraception. Interpretation The index, named Survey-based Women's emPowERment index (SWPER), has potential to widen the research on women's empowerment and to give a better estimate of its effect on health interventions and outcomes. It allows within-country and between-country comparison, as well as time trend analysis, which no other survey-based index provides

Le mie sere con Lacan

Interviste con alcuni importanti psicanalisti lacaniani sui temi del linguaggioInterviews with some important lacanian psychoanalysts on language question

Future-proof and sustainable healthy diets based on current eating patterns in the Netherlands

BACKGROUND: To keep global warming 150% of baseline values) of legumes, fish and shellfish, peanuts, tree nuts, vegetables, soy foods, and soy drink. Eight food groups were within 33%-150% of the baseline diet among Dutch adults. The optimized solution complying to the lowest GHGE target (2050) lacked food diversity, and the (lacto-ovo) vegetarian and vegan optimized diets were prone to nutritional inadequacies. CONCLUSIONS: Within Dutch eating habits, satisfying optimization constraints required a shift away from beef, cheese, butter, and snacks toward plant-based foods and fish and shellfish, questioning acceptability. Satisfying 2050 food system GHGE targets will require research in consumer preferences and breakthrough innovations in food production and processing

Diet Modelling: Combining Mathematical Programming Models with Data-Driven Methods

Mathematical programming has been the principal workhorse behind most diet models since the 1940s. As a predominantly hypothesis-driven modelling paradigm, its structure is mostly defined by a priori information, i.e. expert knowledge. In this paper we consider two machine learning paradigms, and three instances thereof that could help leverage the readily available data and derive valuable insights for modelling healthier, and acceptable human diets

Tradição clínica da psiquiatria, psicanálise e práticas atuais em saúde mental

Este artigo aborda a clínica da psicose no campo da saúde mental propondo uma retomada de categorias da psiquiatria clássica pela psicanálise, especialmente o automatismo mental. Seu objetivo é demonstrar a utilidade do que pode ser considerado um programa de trabalho para o campo de tratamento da psicose na saúde mental, polarizado hoje entre o reducionismo biológico e a atenção psicossocial. A riqueza clínica dessas descrições psiquiátricas clássicas, em sua releitura pelo viés da teorização lacaniana, possibilita reconhecer o funcionamento complexo da psicose e, em particular, o trabalho do sujeito para fazer face às dificuldades impostas por essa condição. Como conclusão, o automatismo mental de Clérambault é analisado visando a demonstrar a dependência estrutural de todo sujeito em relação à linguagem e ao significante, fato primeiro do qual deriva a subjetividade como efeito.L’article discute la clinique de la psychose dans le domaine de la santé mentale proposant un repris par la psychanalyse des catégories de la psychiatrie classique tel que l’automatisme mental. Son objectif est de démontrer l’utilité de ce qu’on peut considérer un programme de travail pour le champ du traitement de la psychose dans la santé mentale, polarisé aujourd’hui entre le réductionnisme biologique et la réhabilitation psychosociale. La richesse clinique de ces descriptions psychiatriques classiques, repris par le biais de la théorie lacanienne, permet de reconnaître la complexité de la psychose et surtout le travail du sujet pour faire face aux difficultés imposées par cette condition. En conclusion, l’automatisme mentale de Clérambault est analysé pour démontrer la dépendance structurelle de tous les sujets par rapport au langage et au signifiant, fait premier duquel la subjectivité dérive comme un effet.: The paper analyzes the clinic of psychosis in the mental health field by revisiting classical psychiatry categories through psychoanalysis, especially mental automatism. This paper aims to demonstrate the usefulness of what may be considered a working plan for the clinic of psychosis, which is today polarized into biological reductionism and psychosocial care. The accuracy of these classical psychiatric descriptions, revisited through Lacan’s theory, enables the recognition of the complexity of psychosis and especially the subject’s efforts to tackle the difficulties that result from this condition. In the conclusion, we analyze Clérambault’s syndrome called “mental automatism” so as to demonstrate every subject’s structural dependency on language and on the signifier, from which the subjectivity as an effect is derived.Este texto trata de la clínica de la psicosis y propone que se retomen, a través del psicoanálisis, las categorías de la psiquiatría clásica, principalmente el automatismo mental. El objetivo es demonstrar la utilidad de este programa de trabajo para el tratamiento de la psicosis en los servicios de salud mental, hoy polarizado entre el reduccionismo biológico y la rehabilitación psicosocial. La riqueza clínica de tales descripciones clásicas, desde la teoría de Lacan, permite reconocer el funcionamiento complejo de la psicosis y el trabajo hecho por el sujeto para enfrentar las dificultades impuestas por esta condición. A modo de conclusión, se analiza el automatismo mental de Clérambault con el fin de demostrar la dependencia estructural de todo sujeto en cuanto al lenguaje y al significante, hecho que produce la subjetividad como efecto

Assessing the inclusion of seafood in the sustainable diet literature

The literature on sustainable diets is broad in its scope, and application yet is consistently supportive of a move away from animal-based diets towards more plant-based diets. The positioning of seafood within the sustainable diet literature is less clear. A literature review was conducted to examine how the environmental impacts of seafood consumption are assessed and what conclusions are being drawn about the inclusion of seafood in a sustainable diet. Seafood is an essential part of the global food system but is not adequately addressed in most of the sustainable diet literature. Aquaculture, the world's fastest growing food sector, was considered by very few papers. Seafood consumption was commonly presented as a dilemma due to the perceived trade-offs between positive health outcomes from eating seafood and concerns of overfishing. A number of studies included seafood as part of their sustainable diet scenario, or as part of a diet that had lower impacts than current consumption. Most of the indicators used were biophysical, with a strong focus on greenhouse gas emissions, and very few studies addressed biological or ecological impacts. The assessment of seafood was limited in many studies due to relevant data sets not being incorporated into the models used. Where they were used, data sources and methodological choices were often not stated thereby limiting the transparency of many studies. Both farmed and wild-capture production methods need to be integrated into research on the impacts of diets and future food scenarios to better understand and promote the benefits of sustainable diets