Biblical Theology of Life in the New Testament

This publication deals with A Biblical Theology of Life based on the New Testament. It forms the second of a two volume publication on A Biblical Theology of Life. These two volumes trace the concept of life throughout Protestant canon, working with the final form of the biblical books in Hebrew (vol. 5) and Greek (vol. 6) Scripture. This is done by providing the reader with a book-by-book overview of this concept. This book concludes with a final chapter synthesising the findings of the respective investigations of the Old and New Testament corpora in order to provide a summative theological perspective of the development of the concept through Scripture. It is clear that life forms a central and continuous theme throughout the Biblical text. The theme begins with the living God that creates life, but is shortly followed by death that threatens life. Despite this threat, God sustains life and awakens life from death. The text concludes with the consummation depicting eternal life in the new heaven and earth. The biblical theological approach that has been taken entails a thematic approach as it investigates the concept of life, with contextual foci on what individual books of Scripture teach about life, joined diachronically with an investigation of the progressive use of the concept of life in Scripture, while providing a theology of Scripture as a whole investigating the concept of life in all sixty-six books of the Protestant canon

Biblical Theology of Life in the New Testament

This publication deals with A Biblical Theology of Life based on the New Testament. It forms the second of a two volume publication on A Biblical Theology of Life. These two volumes trace the concept of life throughout Protestant canon, working with the final form of the biblical books in Hebrew (vol. 5) and Greek (vol. 6) Scripture. This is done by providing the reader with a book-by-book overview of this concept. This book concludes with a final chapter synthesising the findings of the respective investigations of the Old and New Testament corpora in order to provide a summative theological perspective of the development of the concept through Scripture. It is clear that life forms a central and continuous theme throughout the Biblical text. The theme begins with the living God that creates life, but is shortly followed by death that threatens life. Despite this threat, God sustains life and awakens life from death. The text concludes with the consummation depicting eternal life in the new heaven and earth. The biblical theological approach that has been taken entails a thematic approach as it investigates the concept of life, with contextual foci on what individual books of Scripture teach about life, joined diachronically with an investigation of the progressive use of the concept of life in Scripture, while providing a theology of Scripture as a whole investigating the concept of life in all sixty-six books of the Protestant canon

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

Funder: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100013347Funder: Flemish Society for Critical Care NursesAbstract: Purpose: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are particularly susceptible to developing pressure injuries. Epidemiologic data is however unavailable. We aimed to provide an international picture of the extent of pressure injuries and factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries in adult ICU patients. Methods: International 1-day point-prevalence study; follow-up for outcome assessment until hospital discharge (maximum 12 weeks). Factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injury and hospital mortality were assessed by generalised linear mixed-effects regression analysis. Results: Data from 13,254 patients in 1117 ICUs (90 countries) revealed 6747 pressure injuries; 3997 (59.2%) were ICU-acquired. Overall prevalence was 26.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 25.9–27.3). ICU-acquired prevalence was 16.2% (95% CI 15.6–16.8). Sacrum (37%) and heels (19.5%) were most affected. Factors independently associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries were older age, male sex, being underweight, emergency surgery, higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, Braden score 3 days, comorbidities (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immunodeficiency), organ support (renal replacement, mechanical ventilation on ICU admission), and being in a low or lower-middle income-economy. Gradually increasing associations with mortality were identified for increasing severity of pressure injury: stage I (odds ratio [OR] 1.5; 95% CI 1.2–1.8), stage II (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.4–1.9), and stage III or worse (OR 2.8; 95% CI 2.3–3.3). Conclusion: Pressure injuries are common in adult ICU patients. ICU-acquired pressure injuries are associated with mainly intrinsic factors and mortality. Optimal care standards, increased awareness, appropriate resource allocation, and further research into optimal prevention are pivotal to tackle this important patient safety threat

Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

Funder: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100013347Funder: Flemish Society for Critical Care NursesAbstract: Purpose: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are particularly susceptible to developing pressure injuries. Epidemiologic data is however unavailable. We aimed to provide an international picture of the extent of pressure injuries and factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries in adult ICU patients. Methods: International 1-day point-prevalence study; follow-up for outcome assessment until hospital discharge (maximum 12 weeks). Factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injury and hospital mortality were assessed by generalised linear mixed-effects regression analysis. Results: Data from 13,254 patients in 1117 ICUs (90 countries) revealed 6747 pressure injuries; 3997 (59.2%) were ICU-acquired. Overall prevalence was 26.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 25.9–27.3). ICU-acquired prevalence was 16.2% (95% CI 15.6–16.8). Sacrum (37%) and heels (19.5%) were most affected. Factors independently associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries were older age, male sex, being underweight, emergency surgery, higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, Braden score 3 days, comorbidities (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immunodeficiency), organ support (renal replacement, mechanical ventilation on ICU admission), and being in a low or lower-middle income-economy. Gradually increasing associations with mortality were identified for increasing severity of pressure injury: stage I (odds ratio [OR] 1.5; 95% CI 1.2–1.8), stage II (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.4–1.9), and stage III or worse (OR 2.8; 95% CI 2.3–3.3). Conclusion: Pressure injuries are common in adult ICU patients. ICU-acquired pressure injuries are associated with mainly intrinsic factors and mortality. Optimal care standards, increased awareness, appropriate resource allocation, and further research into optimal prevention are pivotal to tackle this important patient safety threat

Correction to: Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake

Die Christelike hoop – ’n Bybelse eskatologiese belydenis? Deel 1: Bybelse getuienis − ’n verhaal van hoop?

Hierdie artikel is die eerste van twee artikels om die vraag te beantwoord of die gebruik van die bybelse hoop beskou kan word as die primêre belydenis om die bybelse eskatologiese boodskap van Christelike hoop te verduidelik. Dit is nie slegs ’n bybelse belydenis nie, maar beïnvloed ook reformatoriese teologiese nadenke oor die saak van eskatologiese hoop op subtiele wyse. Indien dit aangetoon kan word, moet die teologiese klem in die reformatoriese belydenis vir ’n Christen se hede en toekoms daarvolgens beskryf word. In die bespreking van eskatologiese hoop volgens tipies bybelse gebruike, kom ’n basiese vraag na vore: Wat is die wesenlike eindbestemming van die Christen? Is dit die geskape wêreld in God of God in die geskape wêreld? Terwyl die bybelse begrip hoop semanties en eksegeties nagespeur word, kom die verhouding tussen God en sy verganklike skepping, soos ons dit ken, op ’n nuwe wyse ter sprake. ’n Tipiese kenmerk van die huidige Westerse beskawing, oor die algemeen beskou, is die onverbiddelike strewe na ontwikkeling ongeag die koste. Dit geskied egter nie vir Christene sonder die belydenis van hoop nie. Selfs teologiese publikasies oorbeklemtoon die hede deur die beslissende betekenis van God se toekoms vir sy eie te relativeer. Die eksegetiese vertrekpunt van hierdie artikel is die verstaan van die Christelike eskatologiese hoop volgens Romeine 5:1−5. Met so ’n kragtige Pauliniese vertrekpunt word die tendense van eskatologiese hoop volgens die Ou en Nuwe Testament nagegaan om aan die navorser ’n bybelse basis te voorsien waarop die teologiese bespreking kan voortbou. The Christian hope – a biblical eschatological confession? Part 1: Biblical witness − a narrative of hope? This is the first of two related articles to answer the question whether the usage of biblical hope can be regarded as the ultimate confession in explaining the biblical eschatological message of Christian hope. It is not only a biblical confession, but it also subtly influences the theological reformational reflection on the issue of eschatological hope. If proven the case, a correction of theological emphasis is necessary to bring the present and hereafter in biblical and theological perspective. In this discussion of eschatological hope in its typical biblical description, the fundamental question to be answered is: What is the ultimate port of destination? Is it the world in God or God in the world? Exploring the biblical concept of hope semantically and exegetically, according to the Old and New Testaments, pushes the relationship between God and his perishable creation, as we know it, to the foreground, but not without the fundamental confession of hope. In general, the typical recent characteristic trend in Western civilisation is the ruthless striving towards development – whatever the cost may be. Even theological publications reflect the overestimation and the exclusiveness of the present by relativising the importance of God’s biblical and theological future for humankind. The exegetical point of departure is the understanding of Paul’s decisive accentuating of the eschatological hope in the argumentative narrative according to Romans 5:1−5. With such a powerful framework of thought the tendencies of eschatological hope, according to the Old and New Testaments, are investigated to provide the researcher with a biblical basis to be further explored in theological reflections

Die identiteitsgerigte boodskap van 1 Johannes: Hermeneutiese samehang van teks, situasie en teologie

The identity directed message of 1 John: Hermeneutical cohesion of text, situation and theology. A fairly recent stimulating and creative article by Judith Lieu on the hermeneutics of 1 John has prompted the Johannine researchers to react. She analyses 1 John from the viewpoint of a rhetorical reading of the text to exclusively provide the hermeneutical meaning of the text. Her article has merits to stimulate Johannine researchers to react, which did not happen. It is the purpose of this contribution to test her hermeneutical conclusions and rather to propose a multidimensional exegetical approach to unlock the meaning of 1 John. A rhetorical reading is to be combined with a projected reconstruction of the socio-historical situation of the first historical readers as well as an exegetical analysis of the theological content to obtain a balanced hermeneutical result, considering the theological message of 1 John. The presentation of the theological content focuses on the Christian identity of the historically intended believing readers