Vertimas kaip metafora, vertėjas kaip antropologas

The presence/absence of the notion of “inner language” in different cultures creates a watershed between various cultures as far as the notion of “translation” is concerned. Intersemiosity is seen, accordingly, as inner or outer process to interlingual translation. This gap is reflected in the metaphors attached to translation. By analysing them, the author gets a picture of the cultural roots of the view of translation in each culture. Anthropology can be a precious ally in the reciprocal definition of “translation” and “culture”. A new trope for translation is suggested: metaphor.Kalbant apie sąvoką „vertimas“ labai svarbi sąvoka „vidinė kalba“. Jos buvimas ar nebuvimas skirtingose kultūrose sukuria atskirtį verčiant įvairioms kultūroms atstovaujančius tekstus. Atitinkamai tarpsemiotiškumas vertinamas kaip vidinis ar išorinis tarpkalbinio vertimo procesas. Šis atotrūkis atsispindi vertimo metaforose. Jas analizuodamas straipsnio autorius daro išvadą, kad požiūris į vertimą kiekvienoje kultūroje grindžiamas toje kultūroje egzistuojančiais sąvokos „vertimas“ stereotipais. Antropologija gali būti vertinga sąjungininkė abipusiškai apibrėžiant „vertimą“ ir „kultūrą“. Siūlomas naujas vertimo tropas – metafora

Jakobson: Translation as imputed similarity

Jakobson, in his essays, has tried to insert Peirce’s typology of signs (icon, index, symbol) in his own binary logic, in which every feature of a text may be considered or dismissed either with a 0 or with a 1 (absent, present). In so doing, he used the features “similarity versus contiguity” and “imputed versus factual”, and discovered that the notion of “imputed similarity” was not covered by Peirce’s triad. Hence the search for it. In this article, whose ideological basis and quotations are mostly from Jakobson’s essays, the author tries to show that the notion of “translation” may be the missing link. Starting from Peirce’s main triad, and its initial incomprehension among Western scholars influenced by Saussure, the interpretant is then viewed as the subjective, affective component of sign and its interpretation. Syntax, considered in Peircean and Jakobsonian terms, is iconic. The evolution of meaning, characterizing all communication, is possible thanks to construction and thanks to metaphoric and metonymic connections. In the last part of the article, cultural implications of communication — and translation — are considered

Genetic effects of tissue-specific enhancers in schizophrenia and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Most human conditions develop in genetically susceptible individuals from the interaction with environmental risk factors. These complex disorders result from the summation of effects from multiple genetic risk loci. Genome-wide association studies (GWASes) measure the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with traits or conditions, and allow the creation of individualised polygenic risk scores. However, these explain only a small portion of a condition’s genetic heritability. Further, there is evidence that schizophrenia GWAS signals are enriched within genomic regulatory blocks, which are clusters of conserved non-coding elements that span key developmental loci and function as long-range enhancers activating transcription of target developmental genes. This suggests that enhancer-based annotations might be useful to refine polygenic signals for schizophrenia. In this work, I aimed to increase the amount of variance explained by PRS for schizophrenia, and a comparison condition hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, using tissue-specific regulatory enhancer-promoter annotations. To do so, I developed neural- and cardiac-specific enhancer lists, which I tested for enrichment, respectively, in schizophrenia and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) heritability. I found that neural-specific enhancers are highly enriched in schizophrenia heritability -- especially when overlapping genomic regulatory blocks. Then I created partitioned polygenic risk scores for enhancer-based and non-enhancer-based SNPs, where enhancer-based SNPs are prioritised. I further compared the amount of adjusted heritability for both conditions explained by original GWAS vs partitioned polygenic risk scores, and found up to a 6.5% increase in the Coefficient of Determination for schizophrenia, and similar amounts for HCM -- however, this was not statistically significant. The increasing trend was specific for brain-expressed enhancers in schizophrenia, while it was widespread for HCM. Finally, I considered whether neural-specific enhancer-based partitions might be better modelled in GWAS using nonadditive effects, however my results were inconclusive due to small sample sizes.Open Acces

Attention, inhibition and food: a neuroscientific investigation of eating disorders and obesity

Eating disorders (ED, i.e. anorexia nervosa, bulimia and binge eating) and obesity have been linked to attentional biases for and altered inhibition of responses to food stimuli. However, these two groups of patients have rarely been investigated together in the same studies. The goal of this study is to fill this gap in the literature by investigating subliminal visual processing of food stimuli and response inhibition in both ED patients and overweight/obese participants. Seventy-four participants (25 ED patients, 24 overweight and obese, and 25 healthy controls) were enrolled in this study. Subliminal processing of food and non-food stimuli was measured with a breaking continuous flash suppression (bCFS) task, while impulsivity was measured with a Go/No-Go task. Among participants with ED symptoms, higher BMI predicted faster awareness in the bCFS task, especially of food images compared to non-food images, and shorter RTs to food Go cues in the Go/No-Go task. Altered subliminal processing of and heightened attention for food stimuli was found in patients who suffered from both dysfunctional eating habits and obesity. These results demonstrate the need to also include obese participants in future studies on processing biases in ED patients, to better understand attentional biases for food.Obesity has been linked to low performance in the attention and impulsivity domains. Obese individuals, compared with healthy-weight participants, exhibit increased attentional bias to food cues. Notably, the prefrontal cortex plays a central role in cognitive control over food choices and is less active in obese individuals. By using direct current stimulation (tDCS), the study investigated the role of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPCF) in subliminal visual processing of, and in the inhibition of responses to food pictures, in individuals with healthy vs. obese body mass index (BMI). Obese individuals were expected to show a subliminal food bias and reduced inhibition. Moreover, modulation of the dlPFC by tDCS was expected to impact on this pattern. In a within-subject design, fifty-three participants with a BMI ranging from 17 to 34 received in separate sessions, anodal, cathodal, or sham tDCS over the right dlPCF. Subliminal processing was measured with a breaking Continuous Flash Suppression task (bCFS), and inhibition was assessed with a Go/No-Go task. In both tasks, food-related and unrelated pictures were presented. Data were analyzed using Linear Mixed Models (LMMs). In the bCFS task, a higher BMI led to longer detection times for both food and nonfood pictures [p = 0.02]. In the Go/No-Go task, higher BMI led to slower responses in food Go trials [p = 0.02]. Anodal stimulation resulted in shorter detection times in the bCFS task in all participants [p < 0.001], but especially in those with higher BMI [p = 0.01]. Cathodal stimulation did not interact with participants\u2019 BMI in neither the bCFS nor the Go/No-go tasks. The results indicates that an attentional bias for food is not present at a subliminal level of processing, and that it might be present only at a late stage of attentive processing. The study also revealed that obesity might be associated with a generally increased threshold of perceptual awareness. This association has never been reported before. Moreover, these findings indicate that anodal stimulation improves attentional performance of all participants, especially in those with higher BMIs, and particularly at a subliminal level. This is in accordance with the evidence of reduced dlPFC activity in obesity and, more generally, in eating disorders.Food is a salient stimulus and as such it is preferentially attended. From early stages of stimulus processing, obesity and eating disorders influence attention and inhibition towards food. Subliminal processing of food is also altered in individuals with a high BMI and ED symptoms, and a higher BMI has been linked to a higher threshold for visual awareness. In this study we explore the neural correlates of suppression and inhibition of food and non-food stimuli. Fifty-three participants completed a breaking Continuous Flash Suppression (bCFS) task and a Go/No-Go task with food and non-food stimuli. We collected whole-brain structural magnetic resonance images and used voxel-based morphometry to measure grey matter (GM) density. We find that higher GM density in visual (left calcarine and occipital cortex) and reward areas (bilateral caudate nuclei) is associated with longer suppression times in the bCFS task, while higher GM density in control areas is associated to shorter suppression times in the bCFS task (left frontal gyrus) and faster reaction times in the Go/No-Go task (left frontal pole). Higher hypothalamic and lower postcentral cortex GM density are associated with higher Body Mass Index and more severe self-reported eating disorder symptoms. Moreover, some areas in the reward and control circuit (left orbitofrontal cortex, left insula, right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, bilateral temporal areas) are differentially correlated to suppression times in participants with a high BMI. In conclusion, the reward and control circuits are involved in subliminal processing, and altered suppression times are associated with morphological alterations of these regions

Nudging lifestyles for better health outcomes: crowdsourced data and persuasive technologies for behavioural change

For at least three decades, a Tsunami of preventable poor health has continued to threaten the future prosperity of our nations. Despite its effective destructive power, our collective predictive and preventive capacity remains remarkably under-developed This Tsunami is almost entirely mediated through the passive and unintended consequences of modernisation. The malignant spread of obesity in genetically stable populations dictates that gene disposition is not a significant contributor as populations, crowds or cohorts are all incapable of experiencing a new shipment of genes in only 2-3 decades. The authors elaborate on why a supply-side approach: advancing health care delivery cannot be expected to impact health outcomes effectively. Better care sets the stage for more care yet remains largely impotent in returning individuals to disease-free states. The authors urge an expedited paradigmatic shift in policy selection criterion towards using data intensive crowd-based evidence integrating insights from system thinking, networks and nudging. Collectively these will support emerging potentialities of ICT used in proactive policy modelling. Against this background the authors proposes a solution that stated in a most compact form consists of: the provision of mundane yet high yield data through light instrumentation of crowds enabling participative sensing, real time living epidemiology separating the per unit co-occurrences which are health promoting from those which are not, nudging through persuasive technologies, serious gaming to sustain individual health behaviour change and intuitive visualisation with reliable simulation to evaluate and direct public health investments and policies in evidence-based waysJRC.DDG.J.4-Information Societ

Medical students' attitudes towards psychiatry improve following psychiatry clinical placements: the ATPP study

Purpose In previous research, personality and exposure to psychiatry were independently shown to shape medical students attitudes towards psychiatry (ATP). This paper aims to investigate the role of psychiatry placements and personality types on medical student attitudes towards psychiatry (ATP). Design/methodology/approach All medical students from four consecutive years at Cambridge University, UK were invited to take part in an online questionnaire including the ATP-30 Questionnaire and The Big Five Factor personality Inventory (BFI). Findings Students who had completed their psychiatry placement had more positive ATP than students who had not (t = −3.24, adjusted p = 0.004). However, this was not reflected in an increased self-reported likelihood of choosing psychiatry as a career (t = 0.28, adjusted p = 0.78). Higher agreeable personality scores were associated with both a higher willingness to take up psychiatry as a career (linear model estimate 0.06; p = 0.03), and more positive ATP (linear model estimate 0.14; p &lt; 0.0001). Originality/value This work seems to confirm that exposure to psychiatry improves attitudes towards psychiatry. Agreeable personality traits were also associated with a higher willingness to take up psychiatry postgraduate training. These findings might help shape future campaigns to improve the profile of psychiatry training. Future research on this topic is needed to address whether improved ATP among medical students can longitudinally improve recruitment into post-graduate psychiatry training. </jats:sec

A cross-sectional MR study of body fat volumes and distribution in chronic schizophrenia

People with schizophrenia show higher risk for abdominal obesity than the general population, which could contribute to excess mortality. However, it is unclear whether this is driven by alterations in abdominal fat partitioning. Here, we test the hypothesis that individuals with schizophrenia show a higher proportion of visceral to total body fat measured using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We recruited 38 participants with schizophrenia and 38 healthy controls matched on age, sex, ethnicity and body mass index. We found no significant differences in body fat distribution between groups, suggesting that increased abdominal obesity in schizophrenia is not associated with altered fat distribution

A cross-sectional MR study of body fat volumes and distribution in chronic schizophrenia

People with schizophrenia show higher risk for abdominal obesity than the general population, which could contribute to excess mortality. However, it is unclear whether this is driven by alterations in abdominal fat partitioning. Here, we test the hypothesis that individuals with schizophrenia show a higher proportion of visceral to total body fat measured using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We recruited 38 participants with schizophrenia and 38 healthy controls matched on age, sex, ethnicity and body mass index. We found no significant differences in body fat distribution between groups, suggesting that increased abdominal obesity in schizophrenia is not associated with altered fat distribution

The Influence of Personality, Resilience, and Alexithymia on Mental Health During COVID-19 Pandemic.

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries worldwide have put lockdowns in place to prevent the virus from spreading. Evidence shows that lockdown measures can affect mental health; it is, therefore, important to identify the psychological characteristics making individuals more vulnerable. The present study aimed, first, to identify, through a cluster analysis, the psychological attributes that characterize individuals with similar psychological responses to the COVID-19 home confinement; second, to investigate whether different psychological characteristics, such as personality traits, alexithymia, and resilience, specifically influence anxiety, stress, and depression, depending on the scope of the confinement. We analyzed data from 393 participants who completed an online survey on their experiences during two different phases of the Italian lockdown, characterized by more or less strict measures of confinement. Two clusters were identified which included participants reporting a better (+ER) and worse (-ER) emotional response to the lockdown, respectively. Individuals in the -ER group showed lower emotional stability, resilience, and higher alexithymia. Moreover, even if lifting part of the restrictions decreased psychological distress among all participants, a reduction in perceived stress was observed only among individuals with high resilience. Finally, personality traits, alexithymia, and resilience differently affected depression, anxiety, and stress. Our results suggest that different psychological interventions should be planned depending on the context: mental health professionals should focus on enhancing the individuals' coping strategies to alleviate stress in emergencies, while long-term intervention aiming at alleviating anxiety and depressive symptoms should focus on alexithymic tendencies and personality constructs

Public Procurement for the Promotion of R&D and Innovation in ICT

This report discusses the findings of a study carried out by JRC-IPTS which aimed to assess the status of public technology procurement in the EU member states in terms of size, evolution, drivers and barriers. As the study was exploratory, it cannot be claimed that the results are conclusive. However, they have clarified several important points which are worth considering in the policy-formulation process. The public sector has the potential to positively influence innovation and R&D through public procurement. It provides a sufficient and stable demand for innovative products, thereby reducing the risks associated with innovation for suppliers. It also acts as the main or first user of new products or services. Thus, public procurement can be most influential in the early stages of the life-cycle of a product, promoting emerging industries.JRC.J.4-Information Societ