Marinella and her interlocutors: hot blood,hot words,hot deeds

In the treatise called La nobiltà et l’eccellenza delle donne co’ diffetti et mancamenti de gli uomini (The nobility and Excellence of women, and the Defects and Vices of Men) (1601) Lucrezia Marinella claims that women are superior to men. She argues that men are excessively hot, and that heat in a high degree is detrimental to the intellectual and moral capacities of a person. The aim of this paper is to set out Marinella’s views on temperature differences in the bodies of men and women and the effects of bodily constitution on the capacities necessary for political deliberation and rule. I situate Marinella’s argument in the context of an ongoing debate about physiological differences between the sexes, begun in antiquity and extending into the Renaissance. That debate is important for several reasons: (i) as part of a broader discussion of the nature and worth of women, (ii) as determining influential interpretations of ancient authorities on matters of physiology, and (iii) as anticipating later discussions of the relation between the sexed body and political roles. This paper considers Marinella in dialogue with a number of interlocutors, elements of whose work can be found in her own: Aristotle, Mario Equicola, Galeazzo Flavio Capra, Ludovico Domenichi and Torquato Tasso.     

Inpatient tube weaning in children with long‐term feeding tube dependency: A retrospective analysis

This study investigates the outcome of an intervention program to establish oral feeding after prolonged tube feeding in children. The intervention is based on supervised reduction of enteral formula within a few days supported by a 3‐week program of speech therapy, occupational therapy, psychoanalytically based eating therapy, physical therapy, psychodynamic coaching, and nutritional counseling of the infant and his or her parents. Two hundred twenty‐one cases were included in this study. All patients had been severely ill or were handicapped and had been exclusively fed by tube for most of their lives. The major outcome variable was complete discontinuation of tube feeding with sufficient oral feeding after treatment, defined as the child's ability to sustain stable body weight by self‐motivated oral feeding. Two hundred three patients (92%) were completely fed orally after treatment. Tube feeding was discontinued completely within 8 days in mean, and mean in‐patient treatment time was 21.6 days. The current method can be used by a trained and experienced team to wean tube‐dependent children from prolonged tube feeding. Tube weaning should be addressed from the beginning of tube feeding in all children who are expected to restore oral feeding after the phase of nutritional stabilization. Since successful programs are rare, we were motivated to present our results of this elaborate program in this article.     

DEGRÉ DE CONTACT ET STRESS ACCULTURATIF DANS LE PROCESSUS D'ADAPTATION DES RÉFUGIÉS AFRICAINS

This study examines some aspects of the adaptive process of African refugees taking up residence in Quebec city, a rather culturally homogenous area. Considering that acculturative stress and degree of contact and participation with the host society are strong indicators of one's adjustment to a new culture, the main hypothesis is that the more contact and participation one establishes with the host society, the less acculturative stress he will report. Out of 62 subjects who voluntarily accepted to participate in the study, 57 were retained for analysis. Results reveal no significant relationship between stress and contact. Multiple regression analyses used to determine the significant predictor variables indicate that age and length of stay explain 19.5% of the total variance for stress while length of stay, sex and adaptive options explain 44% of the total variance for contact. These results tend to demonstrate that, for African refugees, degree of contact is a better indicator of adaptation than stress.     

Timing conditions and the magnitude of gender differences on the Mental Rotations Test

In two experiments, we examined the effect of timing conditions on the magnitude of gender differences in performance on the Mental Rotations Test (MRT). In Experiment 1, each of 196 females and 119 males was administered the MRT via a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation in one of five timing conditions (15, 20, 25, 30, and 40 sec). The participants were exposed to each MRT item for the period specified in the assigned timing condition. Experiment 2 was conducted to address flaws found in Experiment 1. Accordingly, each of 105 females and 105 males was individually administered the task in one of three timing conditions (15 sec, 25 sec, or unlimited duration). The results of both experiments showed that the magnitude of gender differences was similar across timing conditions when a conventional scoring method was used. An analysis of guessing behavior generally indicated that men tend to show little effect of timing conditions, whereas women's propensity to guess increases when they are given more time to respond. In general, the results supported an interpretation of gender differences on the MRT that relies on the joint operation of performance factors and level of spatial ability.     

Psychotherapists' efforts to increase awareness of social privilege

Understanding the role of privilege in systemic oppression positions psychotherapists to engage in culturally oriented practice. Twenty-five practising psychotherapists were asked: ‘How can psychotherapists increase their awareness of social privilege?’ Participants sorted 68 unique responses into six concepts. The concepts included: make yourself uncomfortable; embrace humility; learn from the community; involvement in social action; seek critical knowledge; and find like-minded others in the profession. Recommendations for student training are offered.     

Patterns of motor disability in very preterm children

Motor development in very preterm children differs in several important ways from that of children born at full term. Variability is common, although the anatomic and physiologic bases for that variability are often poorly understood. Motor patterns over the first postnatal year may depend on behaviours learned during often long periods of neonatal intensive care. The normal pattern of development may be modified by disturbances of brain function caused both by the interruption of normal brain maturation ex-utero and the superimposition of focal brain injuries following very preterm birth. Abnormal patterns of development over the first year may evolve into clear neuromotor patterns of cerebral palsy or resolve, as "transient dystonias." Cerebral palsy is associated with identified patterns of brain injury secondary to ischaemic or haemorrhagic lesions, perhaps modified by activation of inflammatory cytokines. Cerebral palsy rates have not fallen as might be expected over the past 10 years as survival has improved, perhaps because of increasing survival at low gestations, which is associated with the highest prevalence of cerebral palsy. Children who escape cerebral palsy are also at risk of motor impairments during the school years. The relationship of these impairments to perinatal factors or to neurological progress over the first postnatal year is debated. Neuromotor abnormalities are the most frequent of the "hidden disabilities" among ex-preterm children and are thus frequently associated with poorer cognitive ability and attention deficit disorders. Interventions to prevent cerebral palsy or to reduce these late disabilities in very preterm children are needed.     

Reliability of laterality effects in a dichotic listening task with nonverbal material

The present study examined the reliability of a dichotic listening task using nonverbal stimuli. Twenty undergraduate students (all right-handed native English speakers) had to report whether they had heard a target emotion. The task used English words (bower, dower, power, tower) pronounced with an angry, happy, neutral, or sad emotional tone. Results showed a relatively high level of test-retest reliability for the laterality effect. In addition, a significant gender by ear of presentation interaction was obtained. The interaction reflected the fact that a strong left ear advantage was found in females but not in males. The findings indicate that the task used here should be considered a reliable means to assess the lateralization of emotions. Issues concerning the relation between gender and laterality are addressed in the discussion.