Sex differences in young gymnasts' postural steadiness

The present study examined the differences between male and female gymnasts in bipedal standing position, back standing scale, and stork standing scale testing. 29 young gymnasts (13 boys, 16 girls; ages 12 to 15 years) participated. A portable posturographic digital platform was used to record foot pressure (Foot Checker, Comex SA). Barefoot sole area (cm2), maximal pressure (kPa), center of foot pressure (CoP), sway area (mm2), and CoP linear distance displacement (mm) were analyzed in an integrated software module (Foot Checker, Version 4.0). The intra-class correlation coefficient and the coefficient of variation supported the reliability of the measurements. Results indicated no differences between boys and girls on height, weight, and Body Mass Index. Differences indicated better performance by girls compared to boys in back standing and stork standing.     

Pleasure in Epicurean and Christian Orthodox conceptions of happiness

The essay examines the central role that pleasure plays in a wide range of conceptualisations of happiness or ‘good life’, from Epicurean hedonism, to Christian asceticism, to contemporary cases of pastoral and philosophical counselling. Despite the apparent moral chasm between hedonists and ascetics, a look at the practices promoted by Epicurus and the Christian monastic fathers reveals striking similarities. The reason is that, at a fundamental level, both parties agree that one should reject the vulgar pleasures that society glorifies, and develop a refined attitude that seeks the appropriate and natural pleasures, while ignoring the harmful or unnecessary ones. And such an attitude can only be acquired through moral training, either by philosophical instruction and reflection, or by pastoral counselling. We highlight some important parallels regarding the connection between pleasure and happiness, as conceived by Epicureans and monastic fathers of the Eastern Orthodox Church. We begin by discussing elements of Epicureanism that can also be found in its rival philosophical schools and Christianity, mainly the emphasis on forming the right conception of happiness and acting in accordance with it. We then examine the connection between morality and happiness in the Christian Orthodox monasticism. We argue that Christian ascetic ethics not only condone some types of pleasures, but in fact require them as elements of happiness in this life that play an instrumental role for the Christian soteriological dogma. The argument has wider philosophical significance because it shows that pleasure is indeed a fundamental conceptual ingredient of happiness across different normative ethical contexts.     

Cognitive deficits presenting as psychiatric symptoms in a patient with Moyamoya disease

The case of a middle-aged man who had intraventricular hemorrhages secondary to Moyamoya disease (MMD), and initially, presented with psychiatric symptoms which did not respond to treatment is described. Neuropsychological assessment showed underlying significant cognitive deficits, mostly of complex attention and speed of information processing, visuospatial and constructional abilities, verbal and nonverbal memory, and executive functions. These deficits remained stable or slightly improved in follow-up assessments. Cognitive dysfunction should be suspected in case of psychiatric or psychiatric-related symptoms in MMD patients. This case study in Greece highlights the range of preserved and impaired cognitive functions in adult MMD by means of repeated neuropsychological evaluations in which a broad range of cognitive abilities were assessed.     

Ethical Research in Delirium: Arguments for Including Decisionally Incapacitated Subjects

Here we describe how more important findings were obtained in a delirium study by using an informal assessment of mental capacity, and, in those who lacked capacity, obtaining consent later when or if capacity returned or a proxy was found. From a total of 233 patients 23 patients lacked capacity as judged by our informal capacity judgment and 210 did not. Of those who lacked capacity, 13 agreed to enter in the study. Six of them regained capacity later. When these 13 participants were excluded from analysis, significant findings were no longer evident. These results show that by the inclusion of subjects who lacked capacity the results of analyses of the condition from whish they suffer are altered. We suggest that this approach to the study of delirium is more ethical than the usual system of strict exclusion of people who lack capacity to give consent and for whom assent is not available.     

Sense of Coherence (SOC) in Christian Orthodox Monks and Nuns in Greece

This paper aims to investigate the stress management skills of Christian Orthodox monks and nuns, as measured by Antonovsky’s scale sense of coherence (SOC). A case–control study was designed to test the hypotheses whether monks and nuns have higher SOC than secular people. The study population consisted of 193 individuals, 96 monks and nuns (study group) and 97 secular men and women (control group). SOC score was higher in monks and nuns as compared to the secular population (p = 0.002), men as compared to women (p = 0.012) and persons of older age (p = 0.004) as compared to younger individuals.     

Williams and Rawls in Philadelphia

Res Publica - In A Theory of Justice John Rawls proposes that the two principles of justice should be realized through a four-stage sequence of institutional action that starts with a constitution...     

Formalizing Happiness

The level of happiness of an individual who accepts the consequences of authoritative policy decisions is a clearly different concept from the utility that is delivered to the same individual by these policies and it depends on the whole range of elements that compose the political environment. This paper proposes a formal notion of happiness that is neither identical nor detached from the notion of utility. Our analysis focuses on how the introduction of new policies or new decision rules in the awareness of the society might influence the individual and the social level of happiness and, thereafter, the optimal policy choices of an ideology oriented authority. The main result indicates that a change in the policy (or decision rule) awareness on behalf of the society might lead to a direct alteration of the authority’s implemented policy. That is, if the society becomes aware of a "better" policy (in social terms) than the one implemented today, then the authority might need to implement something "better" for the citizens, even if this "better" policy assigns a lower utility level to the authority.     

Instrumental help-seeking as a function of normative performance goal orientations: A “catastrophe”

Research on achievement goal theory has suggested significant links between goal adoption and help-seeking behaviors. The present study investigates the effects of actual achievement and emotions on help-seeking behavior under conditions of normative and non-normative performance approach goals. Data were collected from 120 university students who were tested individually in a number of tasks with the aid of a specialized software. A cusp catastrophe model was tested, which significantly predicted help-seeking as a function of student’s affective experience during the normative goal condition only. The emotions of anger, sadness and surprise acted as bifurcation factors, while achievement on the task acted as the asymmetry variable. Findings were not replicated in the non-normative goal condition with the linear model fitting the data best in the absence of normative evaluations. It is concluded that the cusp catastrophe model provides a better understanding of help-seeking behavior during achievement pursuits when the possibility of failure is imminent.     

Validity study of the Moral Judgment Test in Physical Education: development and preliminary validation

Teaching ethical behavior is an aspect of physical education. The purpose of the study was to present the construction and to estimate validity of a test which assesses physical education students' moral judgment, the Moral Judgment Test in Physical Education. The sample comprised 281 male and female participants (95 in Grades 7 to 9, 92 in Grades 10 to 12, and 94 university students), who completed Lind's Moral Judgment Test and the Moral Judgment Test-PE version. The validity of the latter was assessed using four criteria of Lind's moral theory. Analysis indicated that the Moral Judgment Test-PE had adequate construct validity and correlated positively, although relatively weakly, with the original test, so the new version has sufficient construct validity to be used in physical education.