People Of Middle Ages Research Articles

ПОДВИГ ЕРМАКА НА СТРАНИЦАХ «ИСТОРИИ ГОСУДАРСТВА РОССИЙСКОГО» Н. М. КАРАМЗИНА: ПОЭТИКА, КОНТЕКСТ

The article analyses the narrative structure of N. M. Karamzin’s “History of the Russian State” with the primary attention paid to the 9th volume, i. e. a part of the oeuvre which comprises the story of Ermak’s victorious campaign in Siberia. The focus is directed onto Karamzin’s contribution to the imagining of Ermak as a key-figure in the narrative of Russian colonization, historical agent who became an integral constituent part of national historical and cultural memory. The paper demonstrates that the conceptual plot of Ermak’s Siberian campaign was formed by a number of leitmotif lines and ideological notions bearing a particular importance for the author and his epoch. It was revealed in the course of the analysis that Ermak is related to the following semantic fields endowed with distinctive meaning in the context of time: Ivan the Terrible despotic authority; Novgorod (either as a “veche”-republic, a symbol of freedom, or as a commercial principality that paved the way beyond Urals); Cossacks, “new belligerent republic”, which very name linked free people of Russian late Middle Ages with Novgorodians; the Stroganov family of Ural merchants and a problem of oligarchy posed in relation with them. In Karamzin’s story on Ermak all these themes, deeply rooted in the national history, were skilfully intertwined. Dating back to the previous volumes of the “History” these leitmotifs formed a contextual milieu for the story of the conquest, and should this story be extracted out of this surrounding it would become opaque in semantic perspective and remain unread fully and comprehended improperly.

Отношение российской молодежи к СВО: роль медийного сопровождения государственной политики

The purpose of this article is to analyze the role of media support for the actions of the Russian authorities in shaping the attitude of young people to the special military operation (SMO) in Ukraine. The results of sociological surveys are analyzed regarding the level of interest and concern of young people about what is happening within the framework of the SMO, as well as their approval of the course towards a forceful solution to the conflict and the most preferable prospects for the further development of the situation. It is concluded that, compared with people of middle and older ages, young people are characterized by a more restrained attitude towards SMO. The most probable objective and situational reasons for such an attitude are indicated. Specific proposals have been formulated to optimize the information support of the SMO, designed for a youth audience.

Physical culture and sports in the life of the Russian population

Involvement of the population in physical training and sports determines the level of public health. The Russian government today has taken a firm course to involve Russians of all ages in physical culture and sports activities. However, the widespread introduction of physical culture and sports practices into the daily life of Russians requires a clear understanding of the motives and incentives of the population for systematical physical training and sports, as well as identification of the barriers to physical culture and sports activity. The article presents the results of a sociological study, the purpose of which was to identify the motives and incentives of the Russian population for systematic physical training and sports, as well as factors that hinder physical education. The analysis of the social situation in the field of physical culture and sports is based on the results of 16 focus groups conducted with various categories of population ranging from parents of children aged 3-5 to people over 60 living in various cities of Russia. It is shown that the vast majority of parents of children, adolescents, youth, people of middle and older ages have formed sufficiently stable attitudes for regular physical education. However, they are not always implemented due to a number of barriers. Among them are: high cost of sports sections, subscriptions to fitness and gyms, payment for a personal trainer; lack of specialized sports organizations, lack of necessary equipment in them; high engagement of the population in labor, educational and household activities; fears for the life and health of children, fear of great physical strain and chronic diseases; psychological barriers and stereotypes: adolescents experience embarrassment associated with the presence of unfamiliar spectators; middle-aged and older people are afraid of being judged by other people, they are afraid to look ridiculous. The results of the study can become the basis for development of measures to motivate the Russian population to systematic physical training and sports, as well as measures to overcome the barriers hindering physical culture and sports activity of Russians.

Loneliness: Age Features

This article is dedicated to analyzing the age characteristics of the distribution of loneliness in Russian society. The analysis is based on data from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS-HSE). Loneliness is examined as subjectively experiencing state that is caused by the nature of one’s social situation and individual age characteristics. It is shown that the age structure of loneliness reflects the degree and intensity of how this issue is exacerbated when one grows older. Loneliness can often be encountered by people of young and middle ages, however, it is mostly inherent to the elderly. The analyzed age structure is defined to a significant degree by the nature of changes in the social roles played at different life stages by people belonging to various social groups. The loss or inadequate replacement of previous roles, especially in an old age – which causes the severing of vital social bonds, deprives people of the interactions they are accustomed to, and develops within them a sense of uselessness – becomes one of the main causes (if not the main cause) of the exacerbation of the loneliness problem. The problematic age groups are highlighted, those people who find themselves in an unfavorable position and suffer from isolation and solitude most of all. Attention is drawn to the fact that one’s feeling of loneliness is directly connected to those health status indices that closely correlate with one’s age. Health condition does not just affect the distribution of loneliness, but also how acutely one experiences the feeling.

Great success, further progress.

The “Report of cancer incidence and mortality in China, 2010” written by the staff of National Central Cancer Registry (NCCR) of China now is published in Annals of Translational Medicine (ATM) (1). In this report the authors described the development of cancer registration in China, methods of data collection and analysis as well as quality control measures in some detail. The information on cancer incidence and mortality in China for 2010 has been presented not only by sex and age groups, but also by urban and rural areas as well as east, middle and west regions with different extent of socio-economic development in this country. The data involved in this Report are important for health leaders, decision makers of China to understand cancer burden in China as a whole and different regions as well for establishing cancer control strategy and plans, the data are also useful for readers within China and abroad who are interested in cancer status in this country. In 1982 the cancer incidence data of urban Shanghai, China for 1975 have appeared in “Cancer Incidence in Five Continents Vol. IV”. After then till 2000 cancer incidence data of Beijing, Shanghai, and several counties of China were presented in the IARC’s publications. In 2008 the National Cancer Registry Program has been set up by the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC, former Ministry of Health). Up to now 250 local cancer registries have been established as stated in this Report, covering more than 200 million people in China. A total of 145 registries with relatively high quality of cancer data are involved in this report. The great progress of cancer registration achieved in China within a relatively short period of about 30 years is deeply impressive. A few points should be mentioned. Firstly, for the accuracy of estimation of cancer burden for China as a whole, the representative and reliable estimates of sex- and age-specific cancer rates in east, middle and west regions are crucial. So the distributions of demographic, social and economic characteristics of the population covered by the cancer registries, where sex- and age-specific rates for the region are estimated, should be representative for the whole region. If say more cities and urban areas are involved in estimation of regional cancer rates, then the estimated cancer incidence rates for the region would be biased toward upwards. Secondly, rigorously and consistently supervising of cancer data reported is critical for keeping high quality of the data. Data on clinicopathological characteristics of the cases registered should be checked with the medical records of medical institutions where the cases were diagnosed and treated. In the 4th table of this report the proportion of cases with morphological verification (MV%) for pancreatic cancer was 44.40% (45.22% for males, 42.72% for females), which obviously was over-estimated. In more developed areas of China such as urban Shanghai the proportion of cases of pancreatic cancer surgically operated usually is between 20% and 25%. Due to low proportion of cases surgically operated and lack of autopsy estimated MV% for pancreatic cancer should not exceed 20% (even be lower) for the whole country. Temporal trends of cancer incidence and mortality rates are meaningful not only for evaluating effectiveness of and planning cancer control measures, but also for generating hypotheses on etiology and risk factors of cancers to be tested. With the rapid socio-economic development the cancer patterns in different regions of China now are changing remarkably, which creates favorable conditions for investigating role of environmental risk factors including life style in the change of cancer pattern. In addition to annual reports there is an urgent need to accumulate cancer incidence and mortality data collected from some typical registries which are representative for different regions of China and already have cancer data for a relatively long period. Analysis of cancer data by birth cohorts should be applied especially among people of young and middle ages, since at the beginning phase of changing cancer pattern the change in cancer incidence or mortality rates will firstly appear in people of young and middle ages, while rates in old age groups will be still unchanged or even changed in opposite direction. Congratulate the great success in cancer registration in China and expect further progress in this regard.

Retirement Arrangements and the Laity at Religious Houses in Pre-Reformation Devon

Most of us would probably think of retirement planning as a modern phenomenon; however, concerns about retirement were also very real to people of the late Middle Ages and the early modern period. They, too, sought ways to ensure that they would be able to lead reasonably comfortable lives once they had reached a point when they could no longer work. Peasant parents might sometimes strike maintenance agreements with adult children or other individuals who would be taking over their landholdings; wealthy widows might be able to rely on the income from their dower lands or the jointures arranged at the time of their marriages. Infirm members of the secular clergy could sometimes retire from their parishes with pensions. Another option for a wide range of individuals of different economic backgrounds was to obtain an annuity from or a corrody at a religious house. An annuity was an annual monetary payment, whereas a corrody was an annual allowance in kind—what Barbara Harvey has called a “bundle of privileges” or a “bundle of consumables”—providing for the food, shelter, and often clothes of the corrodian. Both annuities and corrodies could be purchased from or freely given by a monastery.

臨床脳スポーツ医学の課題と展望

We are the first to introduce the name “clinical brain sports medicine.”, Previously a “brain and sports” category had been discussed only for sports head injuries. We have therefore attempted to systematize the field for research and to develop this field.We introduced table tennis into brain rehabilitation ten years ago, and achieved good results. Table tennis is a safe and pleasant sport in which everyone makes quick progress without difficulties. It is the optimal sport for people of middle and advanced ages as well as for brain disease patients.The following three points were examined through the table tennis exercise: brain blood-flow, brain high function, and brain rehabilitation.The effect of table tennis exercise on brain blood flow was examined as follows: Six male volunteers played table tennis for 10 minutes and their brain blood flows were measured by SPECT (single photon emission computed tomography). An increase in brain blood flow was shown for four persons, no change for one, and a reduction for one. The increase areas were observed mainly on the cerebellum, brain stem, and frontal lobe.The effect of table tennis exercise on brain function was examined as follows: A “KANA Pickup test” reflecting the grade of “dotage” was performed by 2,900 players who participated in the game of table tennis, and the degree of “dotage” was analyzed. The results demonstrated that, in all age groups, the table tennis players gave many correct answers and had few degrees of “dotage” statistically compared with 256 persons who did not play table tennis.The effect of table tennis exercise on brain rehabilitation was examined as follows: Table tennis rehabilitation was introduced into the rehabilitation of 113 brain disease patients. The average period was two months. They started with easy rolling-over play, then showed gradual improvement. The treatment effect was evaluated by motor function, the degree of progress of skill, Benton visual test, Hasegawa dementia scale (HDS-R), and self-depressed scale (SDS). The results demonstrated that improvement was found by every appraisal method in many cases. It was thought that table tennis treatment had an effect not only on improvement of motor function but on improvement in a patient’s attentiveness, concentration, and endurance.For the purpose of performing brain sports medical treatment, we established the nation’s first “brain sports visitor” in June 2002, at the National Nishi Beppu Hospital. There are as many as 24 medical staffs there. I hope our “Oita project” will develop not only over Japan but also over the world.

Medievalism and Feminism

is this journal Speculum? prospective graduate student asked me. Is it some sort of radical feminist journal? I saw copies of it in Professor Soand-So's office, and I can't imagine that he would subscribe to a feminist publication.... So, what is Speculum? To understand this question, I had to remember myself at twenty-two years of age, educated but not professionalized, more familiar with as an instrument used in gynecological examinations than with Speculum, premierjournal for medievalists. Vaguely recalling my own puzzlement at first encountering a journal for medievalists called Speculum, I explained to student Latin derivation of title, importance of journal in medieval studies, and absolute absence of a connection between title of journal and anything gynecological. We chuckled a bitin female solidarity-about naivete of Speculum's founders (all male, we correctly assumed), who had chosen to title their journal with a name that resonated so strongly (and so misleadingly) for modern women. But were founders of Speculum really naive, really unaware of other meanings of their chosen title? In months since that student and I so blithely assumed their ignorance of gynecological speculum, I have begun to doubt it. The records of formation of journal in 1920s tell us only that a few other titles were considered (e.g., The Middle Ages and Mediaeval Studies) and that E. K. Rand (who, as it turned out, became first editor of journal) especially advocated choice of Speculum because it suggested to him the multitudinous mirrors in which people of Middle Ages liked to gaze at themselves and other folk.' This sounds quite innocent of any gynecological reflection. Nevertheless, it now seems possible to me that Rand and his associates knew gynecological meaning of speculum. In a rare moment for a medievalist, I have been able to conduct oral history on this point. My maternal grandfather, who in 1920s was practicing obstetrics and gynecology in New Jersey, has assured me that was in regular use at time, that his patients almost certainly knew name of this instrument, and that although most men at that time might have never seen a speculum, they probably knew of its gynecological use.2 What he remembers so clearly can be confirmed in written sources. At time that Speculum received its title, most common meaning of speculum was its medical meaning; gynecological was regularly used by physicians; and it