bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Diagnostic value of Video Electroencephalography combined with Magnetic Resonance Imaging-diffusion tensor imaging in epilepsy
Authors: Wang Lan , Fang Min , Zhu Bing , Wang Xiaoling , Li Xiang
Published: February 2024

Objective: To explore the diagnostic value of video electroencephalography (VEEG) combined with magnetic resonance imaging diffusion tensor imaging (MRI-DTI) in epilepsy.

Methods: In this retrospective observational study, clinical data of 60 patients who underwent both VEEG and MRI examinations at the Neurosurgery Department of Quzhou People’s Hospital from December 2020 to March 2023 were retrospectively reviewed, and a total of 55 patients were finally included. We evaluated the diagnostic value of combining VEEG and MRI to determine seizure type, location of epileptic focus, and structural abnormalities of brain tissue, using surgical and pathological results as the gold standard.

Results: The accuracy of the combined approach for determining the seizure type was 98.18%, which was higher than the accuracy of MRI (85.45%, P<0.05) or VEEG (81.82%, P<0.05) alone. The accuracy of joint examination for lesion location was 100.00%, which was higher than those of MRI (85.45%, P<0.05) or VEEG (83.64%, P<0.05) alone. Similar abnormal brain tissue structure detection rates was found for both MRI and VEEG (P>0.05).

Conclusions: The application of MRI-DTI combined with VEEG to diagnose patients with epilepsy allows for the identification of abnormal structural changes in brain and the location of lesions. Combining both approaches can improve the diagnostic accuracy of each technique alone and provide a reference for the formulation and adjustment of disease management plans.

doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.40.4.8858

How to cite this: Wang L, Fang M, Zhu B, Wang X, Li X. Diagnostic value of Video Electroencephalography combined with Magnetic Resonance Imaging-diffusion tensor imaging in epilepsy. Pak J Med Sci. 2024;40(4):595-600. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.40.4.8858

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
The impact of depression, stress, and self-esteem on quality of life among older adults in South Korea
Authors: Lee Hwan Ho , Park Hye Jin , Kim Yu Ra , Choi Jongsoon , Lee Sung Hee , Kang Hee Jae
Published: February 2024

Background & Objective: Aging is a global trend, and Korea is also entering an aging society, which threatens the mental health of the elderly due to isolation, etc. In line with the growing domestic and international interest in elderly issues, this study aimed to identify the effects of depression, stress and self-esteem on the lives of the elderly in South Korea and to provide basic data for welfare measures.

Methods: Depression, stress, self-esteem, and quality of life were measured in 104 South Korean seniors (32 men, 72 women, average age 72.94 years old). Differences between groups according to gender and residence type were confirmed.

Results: There were no significant differences in stress among the elderly by place of residence, but there were significant differences in quality of life, depression, and self-esteem. Quality of life and self-esteem were higher in private housing than in public housing, and depression was higher in public housing than in private housing. In addition, lower depression and higher self-esteem were correlated with higher quality of life among the elderly.

Conclusion: With the global trend of an aging society, it is essential to continue to pay attention to assist the lives of elderly and provide them with practical support and policies. The quality of life of the elderly requires continuous attention and efforts to support and policies for mental health and economic support.

doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.40.4.8912

How to cite this: Park HJ, Kim YR, Choi J, Lee SH, Kang HJ, Lee HH. The impact of depression, stress, and self-esteem on quality of life among older adults in South Korea. Pak J Med Sci. 2024;40(4):601-605. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.40.4.8912

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Psychopathological symptoms in fibromyalgia and their associations with resistance to pharmacotherapy with SNRI
Authors: Krupa Anna Julia , Chrobak Adrian Andrzej , Sołtys Zbigniew , Korkosz Mariusz , Nowakowski Jaroslaw , Dudek Dominika , Siwek Marcin
Published: February 2024

Cel pracy

Wstęp: Fibromialgia (FM) często współwystępuje z zaburzeniami psychicznymi. Ponadto, kilka badan wskazuje, że zaburzenia psychiczne mogą być związane z nasileniem i wpływem FM. Celem naszej pracy było po pierwsze: ocenić różne wymiary objawów psychopatologicznych wśród pacjentów z FM i po drugie: zbadać zależności pomiędzy psychopatologią a odpowiedzią na leczenie inhibitorami wychwytu zwrotnego serotoniny i noradrenaliny (serotonin and noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors - SNRI).

Metoda

Metoda: Niniejsze badanie przekrojowe przeprowadzono pomiędzy grudniem 2020 i listopadem 2022. Oporność na SNRI zdefiniowano jako <30% redukcję bólu po ≥8 tygodniach leczenia. Włączono 30 pacjentów z FM odpowiadających na SNRI (FM T[+]), 32 pacjentów nieodpowiadających na SNRI (FM T[-]) i 30 zdrowych ochotników. Uczestnicy byli badani przez lekarzy i wypełniali narzędzia samooceny mierzące poziom depresji (Krótki Inwentarz Symptomatologii Depresji, Szpitalna Skala Lęku i Depresji), lęku (inwentarz Stanu i Cechy Lęku), anhedonii (Skala Przyjemności Snatih’a-Hamiltona), dwubiegunowości (Kwestionariusz Zaburzeń Nastroju, Skala Hipomanii) i dysocjacji (Skala Doświadczeń Dysocjacyjnych - wersja poprawiona). Aby ocenić związki zmiennych psychopatologicznych i odpowiedzi na SNRI przeprowadzono analizy ANOVA i serię prostych regresji logistycznych.

Wyniki

Wyniki: FM T[-] vs. FM T[+] ujawniali wyższy poziom depresji, cechy i stanu lęku, anhedonii i wyższe proporcje wyników wskazujących na obecność zaburzeń lękowych. Większe nasilenie depresji, lęku i anhedonii były predyktorami oporności na SNRI.

Wnioski

Wnioski: Modyfikowalne objawy psychopatologiczne różnią pacjentów FM T[+] vs. FM[-] i są predyktorami oporności na SNRI. Ocena psychologiczna powinna być częścią standardowej opieki nad osobami z FM.
Osteomielitis, periimplantitis y fractura vertical radicular mandibular en paciente con fibromialgia: reporte de caso
Authors: Simancas Escorcia Victor , Camargo-Coronell Kenny , Villar-Salinas Wilson , Diaz-Caballero Antonio
Published: February 2024

Introducción: La osteomielitis mandibular es considerada un proceso patologico poco frecuente. La mayor parte de los casos presentados involucran pacientes con osteoradionecrosis y aquellos pacientes con ingesta de algunos medicamentos antiresortivos. El objetivo de este reporte es informar un caso inusual de paciente con osteomielitis, periimplantitis y fractura vertical radicular con antecedentes de fibromialgia. Presentación del caso: paciente femenina de 70 años de edad, no fumadora ni consumidora de alcohol, que acude con dolor postero-inferior izquierdo de un año de evolución. Presentó una profundidad de sondeo mayor de 12 mm en órgano dental (O.D) # 37, sangrado a la palpación, dolor y movilidad grado II. A nivel del O.D # 36 fue notoria la exposición clínica del tercio superior del implante dental, sin movilidad, con profundidad de 4 mm. El tratamiento consistió en una exodoncia atraumática del O.D 37, donde se identificó una fractura radicular vertical. Discusión:  En la zona de intervención quirúrgica se utilizó un injerto óseo acompañado de una detoxificación con tetraciclina. La terapia instaurada redujo ostensiblemente la morbilidad del implante dental implicado y regeneración de la zona intervenida.
Las aristas subjetivas de la historia
Authors: Gómez López Arley
Published: February 2024

La vida y obra de los personajes de la historia de la ciencia puede ser analizada por los historiadores a través de un prisma formado por artistas subjetivas que corresponden a sus propios pensamientos, percepción e imaginación, lo que conduce a que con frecuencia resultan imágenes distorsionadas que dan origen a mitos. El presente artículo invita al lector a reflexionar sobre las imágenes plasmadas por los historiadores, acerca de algunos protagonistas de la ciencia y de su entorno.
Algunos aspectos relacionados con José Celestino Mutis y la medicina
Authors: Palacios Sánchez Leonardo
Published: February 2024

José Celestino Mutis mostró muy diversos intereses a lo largo de su vida, y se desempeñó en múltiples áreas del conocimiento: matemáticas, mineralogía, astronomía, zoología; sin embargo, la botánica es la más conocida. Mutis fue, ante todo, un médico, con conocimientos profundos y actualizados, formado en la Universidad de Sevilla y en el Colegio Real de Cirugía de Cádiz. Llegó al Nuevo Reino de Granada como médico personal del virrey Pedro Messía de la Cerda, y durante los 47 años que permaneció allí, ejerció siempre su profesión. Se interesó intensamente en el estudio de las quinas, dejando como única obra publicada El Arcano de la quina. Asesoró en materia de salud pública a diferentes virreyes, contribuyendo en variados aspectos, particularmente, en la inoculación como mecanismo preventivo de la viruela. Jugó un papel decisivo en la reapertura de la Facultad de Medicina del Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Señora del Rosario. Algunos de esos logros han hecho que reciba justamente el apelativo de “Padre de la Medicina en Colombia”.
Bioquímica en la vida diaria: el equilibrio químico y la función transportadora de la hemoglobina
Authors: Orfa Rojas María , Echeverría Palacio Carlos Mario , Ramírez Grueso Raúl , Coba Torres Kelly
Published: February 2024

La hemoglobina es una proteína sanguínea que puede transportar oxígeno, un gas insoluble en medio acuoso, llevándolo a las diferentes partes del organismo en donde es requerido para su buen funcionamiento, así como productos metabólicos como el CO2 y el hidrógeno, para su excreción. Estos procesos se ven condicionados por factores como el pH, la concentración de BPG, las presiones parciales de O2 y CO2, la cooperatividad de la unión entre la hemoglobina y esos compuestos y los cambios conformacionales que la hemoglobina debe sufrir para captar y soltar eficientemente estas moléculas en el sitio del organismo donde son requeridos. Cambios abruptos en la presión atmosférica ligados a la altura, y la exposición a altas concentraciones de otros gases afines a la hemoglobina como el monóxido de carbono, presente en vehículos o recintos cerrados, pueden comprometer el funcionamiento normal del organismo precisamente porque causan efectos sobre esa función transportadora de la hemoglobina. En este escrito, se explicarán fenómenos de la vida diaria relacionados con el transporte de gases por la hemoglobina, como una demostración de que los conocimientos bioquímicos comienzan a ser útiles desde ahora para entender situaciones cotidianas y a dejarnos la expectativa de su valor para entender muchos de los problemas de salud que tendremos en nuestras manos.
La salud y la promoción de la salud: una aproximación a su desarrollo histórico y social
Authors: Mogollón Pérez Amparo Susana
Published: February 2024

Dado que el concepto de salud-enfermedad puede ser abordado desde diversas perspectivas teóricas, en este apartado se presentan de manera sucinta los principales enfoques que se han desarrollado en torno a éste, con la intención de identificar sus alcances. Se busca evidenciar las perspectivas conceptuales de la salud y la promoción de la salud, como un hecho histórico circunscrito y afectado por una realidad social, y en esa medida constructoras no sólo de un saber, sino también de una práctica institucional, que determina los diferentes movimientos desde los cuales las comunidades se dirigen hacia modos de entender y manejar su salud, lo cual no quiere decir que los individuos y colectivos, como seres históricos y activos, no ejerzan de manera autónoma sus propias convicciones y decisiones frente al curso de su vida.
Second UK conviction for FGM
Authors: Albert Juliet
Published: February 2024

Juliet Albert explores what the second UK conviction against female genital mutilation means for midwives, and the legislation surrounding this issue
Nausea and vomiting in pregnancy
Authors: Winter George F
Published: February 2024

George F Winter discusses the latest research into the common pregnancy condition often referred to as ‘morning sickness’
The influence of ethnicity on assessments and academic progression in a midwifery degree
Authors: Gnanapragasam Shauna
Published: February 2024

Background/Aims

Midwifery degrees require students to study for 3 years, during which they are assessed both academically and in practice placements. This study's aim was to explore year-by-year associations between assessment grades and students' ethnicity as they progressed through their degree.

Methods

Retrospective data collected at a single university in the UK were analysed using descriptive statistics. The cohort and variables were stratified by student ethnicity, year of study and assessment grades given for academic work and placement practice assessments.

Results

While Black, Asian and minority ethnic students started with lower practice assessment grades in year 1, this improved such that there was no difference in attainment by year 3. In contrast, university academic grades were consistently lower for Black, Asian and minority ethnic versus White students, and this pattern did not change throughout the degree programme.

Conclusions

The likely factor in lower final degree outcomes among Black, Asian and minority ethnic students is not from practice assessments but academic performance. Targeted interventions that recognise different learning styles and educational experiences in the university environment may address and improve this inequality in attainment.
Postpartum depression: combining a mobile application with recititations from the Holy Quran in Indonesia
Authors: Latifah Lutfatul , Anggraeni Mekar Dwi , Choiruna Hasby Pri
Published: February 2024

Background/Aims

The incidence of postpartum depression in Indonesia is greater than the global average, and has detrimental effects on mothers, families, society and the country. Mobile applications are widely used to treat postpartum depression, but combining this with readings from the Holy Quran is uncommon in Indonesia. This study aimed to investigate the effect of combining mobile applications with the Holy Quran on postpartum depression symptoms.

Methods

A randomised controlled pre-post-test time series was conducted from June to December 2020, involving 128 pregnant women in their third trimester. The ‘app’ group (64 participants) received the intervention until 2 months postpartum, while the control group (64 participants) received no intervention. The Edinburgh postpartum depression scale, state-trait anxiety inventor, and the Rosenberg self-esteem scale were used to gather data.

Results

Postpartum depression scores in the app group were significantly lower than in the control group. There were no differences in the anxiety or self-esteem scores between the app and control groups. The proportion of depression scores of 10 and above decreased by 25% in the app group and 7.8% in the control group.

Conclusions

Use of a mobile application in combination with the Holy Quran voice may help reduce postpartum depressive symptoms in Indonesia. Maternity nurses and midwives may wish to recommend use of this app to the women they care for, if appropriate.
E-cigarette use A look at how school nurses can address this growing trend
Authors: Gibson Katie Jane
Published: February 2024

Over recent years, the prevalence of teenage vaping in the UK has significantly increased. ( NHS Digital, 2022 ), making this a key area of concern for school nurses. This paper will examine the attitudes of adolescents toward vaping and their reasons for doing so. It will also consider the current ways in which adolescent vaping is addressed in education and by school nurses. Further approaches and recommendations which may enhance school nursing practice will also be considered.
Factors that can affect students' wellbeing – A quantitative retrospective study
Authors: Wilhsson Marie , Johansson Linda , Bäckström Ann-Sofie
Published: February 2024

In Sweden, the role of the school nurse is to promote students' health and wellbeing and also to prevent illness. Wellbeing can involve creating good relationships but also includes feelings of participation and a meaningful existence. During a health dialogue the school nurse can discover students who experience mental illness, and factors that can affect students' wellbeing. The purpose of the study was to investigate factors that may affect students' wellbeing. A quantitative method with a retrospective longitudinal approach was applied. The study was conducted using collected data based on health questions posed to students in the first year of high school's health visit during the 2013/14–2018/19 school years. The results show differences between girls' and boys' wellbeing based on their answers to health issues. Factors that may affect students' wellbeing can pose a risk of mental illness. Mental illness is increasing in students and the increased demands at school may be the cause.
Peer support for chronically ill students in the classroom
Authors: Thornton Stephanie
Published: February 2024

Chronically ill and disabled students can face a lot of difficulties in mainstream school settings, not least bullying by their peers. Stephanie Thornton provides some advice to help make the classroom a better environment by building insight and empathy in children and young people.
A renewed focus on school nursing
Authors: Sutton Sallyann
Published: February 2024

Sallyann Sutton shares the Chief Nursing Officer's recent announcement on school nursing and discusses the importance of clearly articulating the role and changes to practice.
Spiritual care models of patients living with cancer in Taiwan
Authors: Tseng Ling-Chun , Ku Ya-Lie , Lee Chun-Hsiang , Tu Chin Tang
Published: February 2024

Background:

Psychological, social and spiritual needs are often unmet during the care of patients with cancer in Taiwan.

Aim:

The purpose of this study was to confirm the spiritual care models including the spiritual distress symptoms (SDS), spiritual distress symptoms interventions (SDSI), and spiritual distress outcomes criteria (SDOC) of patients with cancer in the initial, relapse and terminal stages.

Method:

This cross-sectional survey collected data from 150 professional nurses about their perceptions of the SDS, SDSI and SDOC for patients with cancer.

Results:

The significant total effects of SDS on SDOC by SDSI of the patients with cancer in the initial, relapse and terminal stages were found. Additionally, the direct effects of SDS on SDOC by SDSI of the patients with cancer from the initial, relapse to terminal stage were gradually enhanced.

Conclusions:

The relationship between spiritual distress symptoms, interventions and outcomes was significantly higher from the initial to relapse state until at the end of life, based on the perceptions of 150 professional nurses.
Sweden Turns Inward
Authors: Wirtén Per
Published: February 2024

ABSTRACT: I have only gloomy news from Sweden. Gang wars. Burnings of Qurans wrapped in bacon. Ballooning wealth inequality. My country has long been regarded as the homeland of the “middle way” between capitalism and socialism. Such a view is no longer tenable. Maybe it never was. In fact, Sweden is a country of extremes.
Marvel World
Authors: Adler-Bell Sam
Published: February 2024

ABSTRACT: As a kid, my favorite superhero was Batman. For me, superheroes are all about their origin story—not necessarily how they got their superpowers (Batman, after all, doesn’t have any), but why they’re driven to super-heroism. And Batman’s origin story is great: billionaire Bruce Wayne uses the financial bequest of his murdered parents to become strong enough to save them; only he can’t do that, because they’re already dead. So he spends his time compulsively regenerating the traumatic situation of their passing, inviting villainy and menace into his life, where it endangers whomever he loves. Batman is stuck in a loop, ever recreating the conditions for his primal failure, so that he may fail again. Freudians call this a “repetition compulsion.” We might just call it misery; the only love he knows is failure.
AMLO’s Final Act
Authors: Beck Humberto , Iber Patrick
Published: February 2024

ABSTRACT: During his five years in office, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the president of Mexico, has rarely left the country. But in September 2023, AMLO, as he is commonly known, made a trip to Colombia and Chile, Latin American countries that are also currently governed by the left. In Colombia, AMLO met with President Gustavo Petro and participated in the Latin American and Caribbean Conference on Drugs, where Petro called for an end to the failed strategy of “viewing drugs as a military problem and not as a health problem for society.” AMLO said that preserving family unity and combating poverty are essential to that fight.
We Are Already Defying the Supreme Court
Authors: Doerfler Ryan , Moyn Samuel
Published: February 2024

ABSTRACT: The idea of disregarding the U.S. Supreme Court—simply ignoring its decisions—has become a flash point. “Americans will not tolerate defiance of the institution and the rule of law,” remarked one conservative law professor, irate about the possibility that President Joe Biden or other political officials might engage in such behavior. Who has defied the Supreme Court in the past? If leading examples include Andrew Jackson the ethnic cleansing populist or George Wallace the Southern segregationist, the answer has to be: no one good.
Out of the Ruins
Authors: Lewis Natasha
Published: February 2024

ABSTRACT: When we planned this issue’s special section on the global left, we had no idea that we would be confronted with a devastating crisis in the Middle East, one that has had major ripple effects on politics around the world. The war Israel launched in Gaza after Hamas’s brutal attack on October 7 has created new divides and exacerbated old tensions. A growing peace movement is calling for an end to Israel’s bombardment and ground invasion, which has killed over 23,000 people in Gaza, 40 percent of them children, and displaced almost 2 million more, many of whom are on the edge of starvation. In many countries, protesters have taken to the streets to call for an end to the killing, and politicians have been pushed to respond.
Left Is Not Woke by Susan Neiman, and: After Black Lives Matter: Policing and Anti-Capitalist Struggle by Cedric Johnson (review)
Authors: Linfield Susie
Published: February 2024

ABSTRACT: In Left Is Not Woke , the moral philosopher Susan Neiman attempts a sorely needed intervention against the woke left in the hope of rescuing it from its addiction to identity politics in their most reduc tive form. Neiman is the author of, among other acclaimed works, Learning from the Germans , an account of how a country can come to terms with its barbaric past. Her new book will hopefully be read by those whom it critiques. It is also a missed opportunity. Neiman is an American who directs the Einstein Forum in Potsdam; she has lived in Germany for many years (and has written about the experience of being a Jew in Germany). Despite its essen tial insights, her book illustrates the great intellectual gap between the left in the United States and Europe—in ways that, frankly, left me profoundly dispirited. And it illustrates the intellectual abstraction that bedevils parts of the left.
Terrorism Investigations on Campus and the New McCarthyism
Authors: O’Rourke Anthony , Said Wadie E.
Published: February 2024

ABSTRACT: In the 1960s, the FBI’s counterintelligence program (COINTELPRO) routinely infiltrated campus antiwar and civil rights groups, investigating thousands of students with the aim of discrediting their activism and destroying their career prospects. After a Senate committee led by Frank Church exposed this practice, the FBI disavowed it and applied a heightened standard for initiating investigations at universities. There is reason to believe, however, that federal law enforcement is facing pressure to relax its self-restraint and investigate pro-Palestinian student activists using a tool not at its disposal in the heyday of COINTELPRO: a nebulous federal statute that imposes prison sentences of up to twenty years for providing “material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization.” This statute criminalizes public advocacy that is done under the direction of or in coordination with foreign terrorist groups. There are few legal constraints, however, that would prevent a motivated FBI from using pro-Palestinian speech as grounds for investigating students who have no connection to such a group.
Freedom’s Dominion: A Saga of White Resistance to Federal Power by Jefferson Cowie (review)
Authors: Pineda Erin R.
Published: February 2024

ABSTRACT: Last summer, Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville stirred controversy by insist ing that white nationalists were not racists but simply loyal American citizens like any other. In an interview on Alabama public radio about his opposition to the Pentagon’s personnel policies, among them efforts to prevent white supremacists from serving in the armed forces, Tuberville claimed that the people the Biden administration maligned as “white nationalists” were simply “Americans” who “don’t believe in [Biden’s] agenda.” Designating them as unfit for service, he argued, is a form of federal overreach—intruding in matters of identity and conscience over which the federal government has no rightful authority, and sowing weakness and division in the “strong, hard-nosed, killing machine” that is the U.S. military. “We cannot start putting rules in there for one type, one group and make different factions in the military,” he said, “because that is the most important institution in the United States of America.” Despite the efforts of his staff to convey that he had simply been misunderstood, Tuberville doubled down in a later interview: targeting white nationalists was part of a partisan, un-American agenda—an agenda that threatened to drive “most white people in this country out of the military.”
Raymond Williams’s Resources for Hope
Authors: Britton-Purdy Jedediah
Published: February 2024

ABSTRACT: All sorts of people had come to the Welsh countryside to spend the day talking about the history of labor radicalism: miners, organizers, researchers, politicians. But the star attraction was missing. Raymond Williams, the Cambridge scholar and socialist beacon, had agreed by letter to speak; rumor was that he would be arriving in a big car. Then, as a runner returned from the parking area to report the distressing news that no big car had arrived, a tall, craggy-featured man rose from the audience and made his way to the stage. He had been there all day, listening, watching, content among his people, not making a point of himself. There was no need to make a point; everyone in that world knew his name. It was not a merely local fame. Zadie Smith recalls that when she was an undergraduate at Cambridge in the 1990s, Williams sat beside Michel Foucault and Roland Barthes in the pantheon of social and literary theorists. He was Stuart Hall’s friend and collaborator, E.P. Thompson’s ally and sparring partner, Terry Eagleton’s teacher, and often worked side by side with Perry Anderson. When he died in 1988, Robin Blackburn wrote in the New Left Review that Williams was the “most authoritative, consistent, and radical voice” of the British left.
Poland After Law and Justice
Authors: Ryzak Cyryl
Published: February 2024

ABSTRACT: After eight years of hardline national-Catholic rule, the Law and Justice Party (PiS) has been deprived of the opportunity to continue governing Poland. It squandered the goodwill its popular program of family benefits had built with harsh anti-abortion measures enabled by its controversial takeover of the Constitutional tribunal. Its defeat in the October elections was welcomed with euphoria by the big-tent anti-PiS camp, and with relief by those victimized by its authoritarian-conservative methods of governance, including LGBTQ people.
Another Defeat for Turkey’s Opposition
Authors: Salinas Nikki
Published: February 2024

ABSTRACT: In May, Turkey re-elected President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. His Justice and Development Party (AKP) has become increasingly authoritarian over his twenty years in power. In the run-up to the election, there was some hope a united front could unseat the president. But political divisions, along with significant state repression, resulted in yet another defeat for the opposition.
Labour Under New Management
Authors: Stafford James
Published: February 2024

ABSTRACT: In the next British general election, due to happen within the year, the Labour Party is set to sweep into power after fourteen years in opposition. Its two major rivals, the Conservative Party and the Scottish National Party (SNP), have imploded in scandal and division. The financial meltdown unleashed by the forty-nine-day tenure of former Prime Minister Liz Truss propelled Labour to a commanding position in national opinion polls, one that her successor, Rishi Sunak, has been unable to dent at the time of writing. A police investigation into misappropriation of donations and the resignation of First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon have undermined the SNP at a moment when the pandemic, war, and Conservative vulnerability have made the case for independence seem far less pressing than it did a decade ago. Local council and by-election results from the rural shires of Yorkshire to the satellite towns of Glasgow suggest that Labour is advancing on all fronts.
Sahra Wagenknecht Divides the German Left
Authors: Stokes Lauren
Published: February 2024

ABSTRACT: When the German MP Sahra Wagenknecht took the microphone at a press conference in October to explain why she was leaving Die Linke (the Left), she said she had to launch a new party because without dramatic change, “in ten years we will no longer recognize our country.” Her new party, the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance—For Reason and Justice, aims to resolve Germany’s existential crisis.
German Jewish Soldiers and the Celebration of Yom Kippur in Wartime: Patriotic Images and Jewish Aspirations
Authors: Feige Edgar L. , Moskoff William Velvel
Published: February 2024

Abstract: One of the enduring themes in German Jewish history has been the deep-seated desire of Jews to be fully accepted as equals by other Germans, including the right to worship freely. Their conscription and voluntary service in the military during both the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871) and World War I (1914–1918), provided an opportunity for Jews to demonstrate their fealty to the nation. Moreover, their requests for Jewish military chaplains were granted, enabling them to celebrate their traditional High Holy Days services. This article tells the story of Jewish religious worship on Yom Kippur during both wars as depicted by German artists. We examine contemporaneous accounts of the scenes depicted, and find that while some were accurate with respect to venue and mood, the most popular images of throngs of Jewish soldiers worshiping on open-air battlefields were fictionalized images of events that never took place. These pictorial images, exaggerated, romanticized, and idealized, portrayed Jews as patriotic Germans, fully engaged with the wartime goals of the German government while practicing their unique forms of worship. German Jews and Jews throughout the diaspora clung to these images which became widely available on postcards, lithographs, and cloth wall hangings. They continued to be proudly displayed in Jewish homes as symbols of Jewish patriotism, until the end of World War I when blatant antisemitism falsely blamed the Jews for Germany’s defeat.
Nation versus State: A Comparative Inquiry into A. D. Gordon’s and Hannah Arendt’s Social and Political Thought and Their Views of the Jewish State
Authors: Shamis Asaf J.
Published: February 2024

Abstract: The paper offers a first comparison and critical review of the social and political theories of German-Jewish political thinker Hannah Arendt and Russian-born Zionist thinker Aaron David (A. D.) Gordon. Bringing these two thinkers into conversation sheds light on their distinctive human ontologies and competing theories of labor that led them, in turn, to critically assess modern politics. Subsequently, the analysis identifies the two thinkers’ opposing conceptual trajectories as underpinning their competing perspectives on the Jewish state. Whereas Arendt’s commitment to upholding neutral political spaces led her to call for safeguarding the state from the Jewish nation, Gordon’s view of nations as corporeal-organic entities led him to advocate securing the Jewish nation from statist institutions. In broader terms, the analysis seeks to add to the burgeoning literature in recent years that revisits the theoretical and ideological parameters conventionally understood as underlying the historical debate about the Jewish state. The analysis shows that whereas Gordon, as a Zionist thinker, set forth an antistatist doctrine, the non-Zionist Arendt assigned a key role to the state in securing Jewish national self-determination.
Dissidence of a Communist Yiddish Writer: The Soviet Life and Fate of Chaim Gildin
Authors: Estraikh Gennady
Published: February 2024

Abstract: The article focuses on the rise and demise of Chaim Gildin (1883/4–1943), one of the most vociferous Soviet Yiddish writers, a pioneer of proletarian poetry and prose. It is also aimed at providing a broader perspective on the perilous Soviet Yiddish literary terrain, especially during the Stalinist repressions. In 1936, Gildin lost his Communist Party membership but was spared from arrest. Nevertheless, the secret police came after him in 1940, generally considered as a “quiet year.” His attempts to organize a collective protest—to compel the authorities to reverse the process of closing down Yiddish institutions—might have played a fatal role in his fate. It seems that Yiddish writers of proletarian persuasion generally tended to be more prone to activism than their former “bourgeois” counterparts, and this—rather than their writings—made them more vulnerable during the purges aimed to make the population fully obedient. Although Gildin’s secret police file is full of diligently collected information about his “harmful” prose and poetry, his oeuvre clearly played a secondary role in the decision to prosecute him. It seems that this was the pattern for the entire period of Stalinist repressions: while Yiddish literati were not prosecuted specifically for literary motives, investigators would pay much attention to their writings, whose ideological “defects” helped them to make the indictment look more convincing.
The American Jewish Community and the Bosnian War
Authors: Karčić Hamza
Published: February 2024

Abstract: The purpose of this article is to analyze the contribution of the American Jewish community to ending the Bosnian War. In the literature on the American response to the 1992–1995 war, the community’s advocacy for Bosnia has been neglected. This article will argue that the American Jewish community worked toward four objectives: (i) closure of death camps in Bosnia, (ii) providing humanitarian assistance, (iii) advocating for the setting up of a war crimes tribunal and (iv) urging for the UN-imposed embargo to be lifted. The sympathy and support of the American Jewish community for Bosnia and Bosniak Muslims during the 1990s is a a fascinating but understudied aspect of the American response to genocide in Europe at the close of the twentieth century.
Dreadful Noise: Jean-Claude Pecker on Loss, Remembrance, and Silence
Authors: Raizen Esther
Published: February 2024

Abstract: French astrophysicist Jean-Claude Pecker, who passed away in early 2020, left behind a rich body of work that reflects his active engagement with areas beyond the scientific, among them the visual arts, social activism, and poetry. This paper follows Pecker as he grapples with the loss of his parents in the Holocaust and articulates the impact of this loss on his life and work. My discussion draws primarily on Pecker’s poetry collections Galets poétiques and Lamento 1944–1994 , with occasional references to other writings, among them a provisional draft of the opening chapter from Pecker’s memoir and letters recounting his family history. Allusions to Pecker’s Jewish heritage are absent from the poetry collections yet are prominently present in other writings in the context of antisemitism as the core of his “feeling Jewish” on the one hand and the rejection of Judaism among all other religions on the other. Reflecting on the violence that afflicted his life during the war years and admitting his deep pessimism regarding the future of both humanity and the environment, the elderly Pecker conveys in his writings a sense of diminished agency both in his own life and in that of the sun, the celestial body broadly considered a mainstay of his scientific work. Contextualizing Pecker among his peers, I suggest that while the themes of deportation and death figure centrally in the poems, Pecker is less in conversation with Holocaust poetry or poets and more in dialogue with a group of French artist-friends, united in the knowledge of nature’s timeless beauty and in the recognition of the presence within humanity of love, friendship, and the unlimited capacity for inflicting harm and great pain.
Challenging key certainties in communication through Elleström’s medium-centred1 model of communication: ‘Transfer’ and ‘medium’
Authors: Timplalexi Eleni
Published: February 2024

Communication has long been seen as an exchange of information, messages and/or meaning. According to Elleström’s medium-centred model of communication, communication is a process where cognitive imports from producer’s mind(s) are transferred to perceiver’s mind(s) through an intermediate stage/media product. It is here argued that, despite the fact that the latter model phenomenally adheres to the Saussurean ‘speech circuit’ paradigm, it also hints towards a reconsideration of the basics of communication. Through critically addressing the constants in the medium-centred model, and adopting as a point of entry that of the media product, most communication constants are challenged, while new aporias emerge. Gibson’s ecology of perception (2015) and Féral’s theatricality of the gaze (2002) are introduced as catalysts in a discussion that attempts to systematize such considerable implications, addressing potential overlaps between perception, communication and mediation.
Your journey to Prada Marfa, McDonald Observatory and Santa Elena Canyon: Probes for a hot planet, dark skies and cool gaze
Authors: Vacker Barry
Published: February 2024

This article takes readers on a brief journey through the remote regions of far west Texas, site of the Greater Big Bend International Dark Sky Reserve, the largest dark sky reserve in the world. Spanning 15,000 square miles, the reserve is home to The University of Texas at Austin McDonald Observatory and Big Bend National Park, along with many other natural areas and art installations. This article uses Prada Marfa, McDonald Observatory and Santa Elena Canyon as probes for a hot planet under dark skies, while also deploying a cool gaze into the Milky Way. In so doing, cool media takes on a profound new meaning for our shared destiny on a tiny planet, getting ever hotter as it hurtles through the vast universe.
‘It’s Still a Language If No One Understands It’, ‘The Early Adapter’ and four meme images from Data Mind: Prose Poems
Authors: Fuhrman Joanna
Published: February 2024

These poetry selections and poetic memes are from Data Mind (Curbstone/Northwestern University Press, forthcoming 2024). They explore the experience of living in the digital age as a non-digital native and the tension between what was envisioned for the internet and what it has become.
The Things We Make: The Unknown History of Invention from Cathedrals to Soda Cans, Bill Hammack (2023)
Authors: Clements Joshua
Published: February 2024

Review of: The Things We Make: The Unknown History of Invention from Cathedrals to Soda Cans, Bill Hammack (2023)

Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks, 251 pp.,

ISBN 978-1-72821-574-4, h/bk, $26.99
Coming back from the dead: Finding justice for Joxi – An interview with Pilar Zabala Antano
Authors: Aguado Txetxu , Martín Annabel
Published: February 2024

‘Coming back from the dead: Finding justice for Joxi’ is an in-depth interview with Pilar Zabala Artano, a sibling of Joxi Zabala who was brutally tortured and murdered by the Grupos Antiterroristas de Liberación (GAL) in 1983. The conversation focuses on her brother as she addresses human rights abuses and the use of torture by the Spanish state. Pilar Zabala also discusses her own personal journey of recovery through restorative justice practices, her human rights advocacy, and her vision of making historical memory a centerpiece of democracy for Basque and Spanish societies.
The power of life stories in peace-making and on the path to restoration: An interview with Iñaki García Arrizabalaga and Maixabel Lasa
Authors: Rodríguez María Pilar
Published: February 2024

This piece offers two brief interviews with Iñaki García Arrizabalaga and Maixabel Lasa, two victims of terrorism who suffered the murder of their father and husband respectively. They are two people of exceptional human quality, who far from feeding any hatred or desire for revenge, have done extraordinary work on a personal and social level to contribute to the pacification of Basque society. In addition to their pedagogical work through talks and meetings in various educational and cultural institutions, they have participated in restorative encounters with terrorist perpetrators. In addition, both have participated in different peace organizations in the Basque Country. After a brief introduction on the importance of life history as a qualitative research method, some fragments of the interviews conducted are offered. The responses include reflections on the social impact of the film Maixabel (Bollain 2021) which portrays episodes in the life of Maixabel Lasa.
Recovering the offender for society
Authors: Etxebarria Xabier
Published: February 2024

In October 2011, the terrorist organization Euskadi ta Askatasuna (ETA) announced a definitive cease fire. Just a few months prior, restorative justice experiences had started between imprisoned former ETA members and victims of terrorism along with coexistence workshops in the Nanclares prison, events geared towards trying to heal wounds in the aftermath of political violence. Although these are mainly private and personal experiences, with emotional effects in the participants in the encounters, they may also facilitate projects of wider social reconciliation. This article points out the lessons we have learned during these experiences as far as ex-ETA militants are concerned and the potential of these restorative justice practices for active responsibility, individual healing and reintegration in the community.
Curating and the Legacies of Colonialism in Contemporary Iberia, Carlos Garrido Castellano and Bruno Leitão (eds) (2022)
Authors: Prinzleve Jonas
Published: February 2024

Review of: Curating and the Legacies of Colonialism in Contemporary Iberia, Carlos Garrido Castellano and Bruno Leitão (eds) (2022)

Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 304 pp.,

ISBN 978-1-78683-873-5, h/bk, £65.00

ISBN 978-1-78683-874-2, e-book pdf, £65.00

ISBN 978-1-78683-875-9, e-book epub, £65.00
De Plutón a Orfeo: Los campos de concentración en el teatro español contemporáneo (1944–2015), Antonia Amo Sánchez (2020)
Authors: Kelly Deirdre
Published: February 2024

Review of: De Plutón a Orfeo: Los campos de concentración en el teatro español contemporáneo (1944–2015), Antonia Amo Sánchez (2020)

Bilbao: Artezblai, 255 pp.,

ISBN 978-8-41208-052-0, p/bk, €26.00
Editorial
Authors: Turina Romana , Dooley Kath
Published: February 2024

Over the last decade developments in virtual reality (VR) technologies have given rise to a new wave of immersive storytelling experiences that have captivated audiences at film festivals, in galleries, through online platforms and various other venues. In response, scholarly research into narrative-based VR has sought to understand the affordances, artistic qualities and immersive nature of this medium. Within this array of analysis and reflection, traditional screenwriting concerns such as narrative structure, plot devices and character development have been discussed alongside notions of immersion, embodiment and user experience design. Accordingly, notions of ‘script development’ have expanded to encompass processes gathered under terms like ‘conceptualization’, ‘prototyping’ and ‘narrative design’, which assume specific connotations in relation to various disciplinary approaches. This Special Issue explores the technologies, practices and paradigms that VR storytelling implements, with particular attention given to the differing terminology across disciplines that resonates, repurposes or redefines conceptual understandings belonging to earlier media, and specifically, to screenwriting for film.
Prototyping first-person viewer positions for VR narratives with storyboards and pilot productions
Authors: Vindenes Joakim , Nyre Lars
Published: February 2024

In this article, we present two related approaches to scripting or prototyping VR narratives. We tested storyboarding and pilot production techniques with 40 students over two years, and they were tasked with creating documentary VR narratives characterized by embodied moods and experiences. The aim was to help students tailor a strong first-person viewer relationship with the virtual environment utilizing the ways the body can be centred in story worlds. In particular, the article deals with character positioning and point of view-writing in the first-person, drawing on insights from human–computer interaction (HCI) and postphenomenology. There is an ongoing exploration of new experimental approaches to story world production for immersive media, and prototyping processes from fields such as HCI are becoming increasingly relevant for screenwriters. We provide analyses of how storyboards and pilot productions can situate the user in relation to the virtual environment. Based on the analyses, we evaluate the use value of such prototyping for students and practitioners who need to make first-person viewer positions for VR narratives, and we compare our approach with similar pedagogical projects as represented in the literature.