The mind is the tabernacle of the consciousness soul: A journey visiting the roles of consciousness, communication, education, and technology in human and curriculum development by integrating Dewey, Gebser, and Steiner: Past, present, future

This descriptive philosophical study examines 355+ question seeds of thought and discourse on consciousness, communication, education, and technology, much in the contexts of philosophical structures of human beings from 4,000,000 B.C. hominid man to the future of humankind and genetic enhancement. Curriculum and consciousness discussion of American John Dewey (1859–1952), Polish-born Jean Gebser (1905–1975), and Austrian-born Rudolf Steiner (1865–1920) is interwoven, finding commonalities of these philosophers and that of Daniel J. K. Bardy. Language being developed only 50,000 years ago is the defining point for Homo sapiens as the tool of linguistic communication, mutated forward much like the protrusion development of the jaw line of the species to accommodate for articulation and pronunciation development. The first of four cornerstone movements in the dissertation includes finding that the truth of Rudolf Steiner\u27s Waldorf curriculum is embedded in the magical and mythical consciousness underpinnings laid out by Jean Gebser. Cornerstone number two is philosopher and rhetorician John Dewey\u27s synonymous use of education and communication and the constant battle of dualities of the current mental rational consciousness. Alison Biskup\u27s and Helen Keller\u27s mind matrixes and their connections to language learning and communication processes of hominid man are cornerstone number three. Cornerstone number four is the inter-informational level of communication and our own intrapersonal awareness that communication and education is the coming together of three layers: (a) the five stages of human consciousness—archaic, magical mythical, mental rational, and arational/integral; (b) the eight levels of communication—interpersonal, interpersonal, triad, small group, large group, one-to-many/many-to-one, global, and inter-informational; (c) the six variables of the communication process—sender, message, channel (through the six senses of taste, touch, hearing, vision, olfactory, intuit), receiver, feedback, and noise (physical/external, internal, semantic, and ethnocentric). Branching from the fourth cornerstone is a discussion on technostress and human consciousness relating real-time events to mediated communication, which manipulates real time, thus tricking our consciousness into stress and anxiety periods while waiting for the magic of technology to solve the problem

Spurious hyperphosphatemia in a patient with alteplase-locked central venous catheter

Alteplase has been shown to be effective in preventing central venous access clotting in patients on hemodialysis. Because of a high phosphorus content in its excipient, it can inadvertently contaminate blood samples, leading the physician in care of the patient to erroneously increase dialysis time or change diet in order to control the pseudo-hyperphosphatemi

Diagnostic value of soluble CD14 subtype (sCD14-ST) presepsin for the postmortem diagnosis of sepsis-related fatalities

The first aim of this study was to assess the diagnostic performance of presepsin (sCD14-ST) in postmortem serum from femoral blood compared to procalcitonin (PCT) to detect sepsis-related fatalities. The second aim was to compare sCD14-ST levels found in postmortem serum to the values in pericardial fluid to investigate the usefulness of the latter as an alternative biological fluid. Two study groups were formed, a sepsis-related fatalities group and a control group. Radiology (unenhanced CT scans and postmortem angiographies), autopsies, histology, neuropathology, and toxicology as well as other postmortem biochemistry investigations were performed in all cases. Microbiological investigations on right cardiac blood were carried out exclusively in septic cases. The results of this study indicated that postmortem serum PCT and sCD14-ST levels, individually considered, allowed septic cases to be identified. Even though increases in both PCT and sCD14-ST concentrations were observed in the control cases, coherent PCT and sCD14-ST results in cases with suspected sepsis allowed the diagnosis to be confirmed. Conversely, no relevant correlation was identified between postmortem serum and pericardial fluid sCD14-ST levels in either the septic or control group

Diagnostic value of lipopolysaccharide-binding protein and procalcitonin for sepsis diagnosis in forensic pathology

The aims of this study were twofold. The first was to investigate the diagnostic performance of two biochemical markers, procalcitonin (PCT) and lipopolysaccharide-binding protein (LBP), considering each individually and then combined, for the postmortem diagnosis of sepsis. We also tested the usefulness of pericardial fluid for postmortem LBP determination. Two study groups were formed, a sepsis-related fatalities group of 12 cases and a control group of 30 cases. Postmortem native CT scans, autopsy, histology, neuropathology, and toxicology as well as other postmortem biochemical investigations were performed in all cases. Microbiological investigations were also carried out in the septic group. Postmortem serum PCT and LBP levels differed between the two groups. Both biomarkers, individually considered, allowed septic states to be diagnosed, whereas increases in both postmortem serum PCT and LBP levels were only observed in cases of sepsis. Similarly, normal PCT and LBP values in postmortem serum were identified only in non-septic cases. Pericardial fluid LBP levels do not correlate with the presence of underlying septic states. No relationship was observed between postmortem serum and pericardial fluid LBP levels in either septic or non-septic groups, or between pericardial fluid PCT and LBP level

Assessment of adult formulas for glomerular filtration rate estimation in children

Background: Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) is an important diagnostic instrument in clinical practice. The National Kidney Foundation-Kidney Disease Quality Initiative (NKF-KDOQI) guidelines do not recommend using formulas developed for adults to estimate GFR in children; however, studies confirming these recommendations are scarce. The aim of our study was to evaluate the accuracy of the new Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI) formula, the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) formula, and the Cockcroft-Gault formula in children with various stages of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Methods: A total of 550 inulin clearance (iGFR) measurements for 391 children were analyzed. The cohort was divided into three groups: group 1, with iGFR >90ml/min/1.73m2; group 2, with iGFR between 60 and 90 ml/min/1.73m2; group 3, with iGFR of <60 ml/min/1.73m2. Results: All formulas overestimate iGFR with a significant bias (p < 0.001), present poor accuracies, and have poor Spearman correlations. For an accuracy of 10%, only 11, 6, and 27% of the eGFRs are accurate when using the MDRD, CKD-EPI, and Cockcroft-Gault formulas, respectively. For an accuracy of 30%, these formulas do not reach the NKF-KDOQI guidelines for validation, with only 25, 20, and 70% of the eGFRs, respectively, being accurate. Conclusions: Based on our results, the performances of all of these formulas are unreliable for eGFR in children across all CKD stages and cannot therefore be applied in the pediatric population grou

Is the formula of Traub still up to date in antemortem blood glucose level estimation?

According to the hypothesis of Traub, also known as the ‘formula of Traub', postmortem values of glucose and lactate found in the cerebrospinal fluid or vitreous humor are considered indicators of antemortem blood glucose levels. However, because the lactate concentration increases in the vitreous and cerebrospinal fluid after death, some authors postulated that using the sum value to estimate antemortem blood glucose levels could lead to an overestimation of the cases of glucose metabolic disorders with fatal outcomes, such as diabetic ketoacidosis. The aim of our study, performed on 470 consecutive forensic cases, was to ascertain the advantages of the sum value to estimate antemortem blood glucose concentrations and, consequently, to rule out fatal diabetic ketoacidosis as the cause of death. Other biochemical parameters, such as blood 3-beta-hydroxybutyrate, acetoacetate, acetone, glycated haemoglobin and urine glucose levels, were also determined. In addition, postmortem native CT scan, autopsy, histology, neuropathology and toxicology were performed to confirm diabetic ketoacidosis as the cause of death. According to our results, the sum value does not add any further information for the estimation of antemortem blood glucose concentration. The vitreous glucose concentration appears to be the most reliable marker to estimate antemortem hyperglycaemia and, along with the determination of other biochemical markers (such as blood acetone and 3-beta-hydroxybutyrate, urine glucose and glycated haemoglobin), to confirm diabetic ketoacidosis as the cause of deat

Dosage de la cystatine C dans l'évaluation de la fonction rénale

Le dosage de la cystatine C aide à pondérer et à mieux estimer la fonction rénale dans certaines situations. Cette mesure n’est pas une analyse de routine. Dans certaines situations (poids extrêmes, médicaments à faible intervalle thérapeutique, …), elle peut apporter un avantage par rapport à l’usage de la seule créatinine