There are a number of obstacles to increasing the supply of cadaveric organs for transplantation. These include reluctance on the part of relatives to agree to the so called harvesting of organs from their deceased relative, and the unwillingness of some doctors to approach grieving families and ask consent for this harvesting to take place. In this paper I will focus on the altruistic act of asking that the latter entails, and will argue that failure to acknowledge the personal cost of this act to physicians is having an adverse impact on the supply of organs. I will draw analogies with the almost equally neglected altruistic act of undertaking anatomy dissection and all of the related breaking of societal taboos. I will examine the language used in discussions about increasing organ supply and conclude that the terms cadaveric and harvest are unhelpful in gaining public confidence. A process and vocabulary that openly acknowledges and validates the altruistic acts demanded of all the human beings involved--donors, recipients, their respective relatives, and the health professionals who mediate between them--is needed if the supply of organs is to be increased. (+info)
Views on sexuality in croatian medieval sources.
(2/19)
We analyzed attitudes towards sexuality during the medieval period in Croatia. For that purpose we investigated numerous medical and literary texts, statutes, and specific natural philosophical work entitled "Lucidar". Contrary to medical books, which had a low impact on the broader community, literary texts were important in spreading messages on sexuality, as well as in shaping medieval mentality and creating sexual taboos. Consequently, a specific perspective and culture influenced rules and practices for community protection, as well as various levels of social systems. Within the three large groups of sources, we selected those typical both in their content (ideas) and forms, and representative in shaping attitudes toward sexuality on our territory. The first group of sources (examples from literary genres) were identified as an important vehicle in transferring messages of morality, moral obligation and sexuality in general. Deeply rooted in Christianity they became a pattern according to which the way of life and value were measured, a specific view toward sexuality was shaped, and notions of stigma and taboo articulated. (+info)
Postpartum practices of puerperal women and their influencing factors in three regions of Hubei, China.
(3/19)
BACKGROUND: 'Sitting month' is a Chinese tradition for women's postpartum custom. The present study aims to explore the postpartum dietary and health practices of puerperal women and identify their influential factors in three selected regions of Hubei, China. METHODS: A cross-sectional retrospective study was conducted in the selected urban, suburban and rural areas in the province of Hubei from 1 March to 30 May 2003. A total of 2100 women who had given birth to full-term singleton infants in the past two years were selected as the participants. Data regarding postpartum practices and potentially related factors were collected through questionnaire by trained investigators. RESULTS: During the puerperium, 18% of the participants never ate vegetables, 78.8% never ate fruit and 75.7% never drank milk. Behaviour taboos such as no bathing, no hair washing or teeth brushing were still popular among the participants. About half of the women didn't get out of the bed two days after giving birth. The average time they stayed in bed during this period was 18.0 h. One third of them didn't have any outdoor activities in that time periods. The educational background of both women and their spouses, location of their residence, family income, postnatal visit, nutrition and health care educational courses were found to be the influencing factors of women's postpartum practices. CONCLUSION: Traditional postpartum dietary and health behaviours were still popular among women in Hubei. Identifying the factors associated with traditional postpartum practices is critical to develop better targeting health education programs. Updated Information regarding postpartum dietary and health practices should be disseminated to women. (+info)
Justifying surgery's last taboo: the ethics of face transplants.
(4/19)
Should face transplants be undertaken? This article examines the ethical problems involved from the perspective of the recipient, looking particularly at the question of identity, the donor and the donor's family, and the disfigured community and society more generally. Concern is expressed that full face transplants are going ahead. (+info)
Taboo thoughts and doubt/checking: a refinement of the factor structure for obsessive-compulsive disorder symptoms.
(5/19)
The purpose of this report was to improve upon earlier factor analyses of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptom categories by minimizing the heterogeneity in the aggressive obsessions category. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted on data from 293 adults with primary OCD. The resulting five factors (Symmetry/Ordering, Hoarding, Doubt/Checking, Contamination/Cleaning, and Taboo Thoughts) are phenomenologically more homogeneous than prior category-based factors and are consistent with those derived in previous item-level analyses. (+info)
Sacred bounds on rational resolution of violent political conflict.
(6/19)
We report a series of experiments carried out with Palestinian and Israeli participants showing that violent opposition to compromise over issues considered sacred is (i) increased by offering material incentives to compromise but (ii) decreased when the adversary makes symbolic compromises over their own sacred values. These results demonstrate some of the unique properties of reasoning and decision-making over sacred values. We show that the use of material incentives to promote the peaceful resolution of political and cultural conflicts may backfire when adversaries treat contested issues as sacred values. (+info)