Physiological Theory Research Articles

The Widowhood Effect: Explaining the Adverse Outcomes After Spousal Loss Using Physiological Stress Theories, Marital Quality, and Attachment

The loss of a loved one is one of the most ubiquitous life experiences. There have been multiple reviews that have found adverse health outcomes for individuals experiencing spousal loss, particularly the widowhood effect that characterizes an increased risk of mortality after loss. However, there is a lack of clarity on the relationship between physiological stress and the widowhood effect. This commentary uses the literature on stress, marital quality, and attachment to explain the widowhood effect and other adverse physical health outcomes. We discuss three points: (1) the chronic nature of stress may be the source of adverse outcomes, (2) the quality and quantity of available resources may moderate the effects of stress, and (3) the level and style of attachment may explain why these outcomes may persist many years after spousal loss.

Arsenic, Familicide, and Female Physiology in Nineteenth-Century America.

Sarah Jane Whiteling was accused of fatally poisoning her husband and two children in Philadelphia in 1888. The case prompted public outrage over the appearance that Ms. Whiteling's motive was to collect life insurance. It was evident, however, that she was disturbed, raising a question of culpability. Dr. Alice Bennett, the first female physician in charge of an asylum, provided the defense with expert testimony on the defendant's mental state. Dr. Bennett, who had little forensic but much clinical experience, proposed a physiological theory of insanity among women with reproduction-related derangements. At that time, cultural ideas about "female poisoners" colored popular and journalistic perceptions of Ms. Whiteling. Familicide was considered unconscionable because a mother's duty was to nurture and protect her family. When Ms. Whiteling was convicted and sentenced to death, Dr. Bennett undertook a campaign for commutation. Her unsuccessful efforts to reduce culpability were followed by Ms. Whiteling's hanging in 1889, the first execution of a woman in Philadelphia since colonial times. This article recounts the Whiteling case, Dr. Bennett's involvement in it, and how it relates to what is known about familicide. It is argued here that Dr. Bennett was a pioneer in applying medical expert testimony to effect individualized mitigation.

Subject-based dipole selection for decoding motor imagery tasks

In the BCI rehabilitation system, the decoding of motor imagery tasks (MI-tasks) with dipoles in the source domain has gradually become a new research focus. For complex multiclass MI-tasks, the number of activated dipoles is large, and the activation area, activation time and intensity are also different for different subjects. The means by which to identify fewer subject-based dipoles is very important. There exist two main methods of dipole selection: one method is based on the physiological functional partition theory, and the other method is based on human experience. However, the number of dipoles that are selected by the two methods is still large and contains information redundancy, and the selected dipoles are the same in both number and position for different subjects, which is not necessarily ideal for distinguishing different MI-tasks. In this paper, the data-driven method is used to preliminarily select fully activated dipoles with large amplitudes; the obtained dipoles are refined by using continuous wavelet transform (CWT) to best reflect the differences among the multiclass MI-tasks, thereby yielding a subject-based dipole selection method, which is named PRDS. PRDS is further used to decode multiclass MI-tasks in which some representative dipoles are found, and their wavelet coefficient power is calculated and input to one-vs.-one common spatial pattern (OVO-CSP) for feature extraction, and the features are classified by the support vector machine. We denote this decoding method as D-CWTCSP, which enhances the spatial resolution and also makes full use of the time-frequency-spatial domain information. Experiments are carried out using a public dataset with nine subjects and four classes of MI-tasks, and the proposed D-CWTCSP is compared with the relevant methods in sensor space and brain-source space in terms of the decoding accuracy, standard deviation, recall rate and kappa value. The experimental results show that D-CWTCSP reaches an average decoding accuracy of 82.66% among the nine subjects, which generates 8–20% improvement over other methods, thus reflecting its great superiority in decoding accuracy.

Application of Arterial Pulse Waveform for Diagnosis and Treatment of Chronic Diseases

BackgroundPulse wave is the vibration generated by the heart pulsating ejection along the elastic duct of the artery. It is affected by many factors such as the heart itself, the elasticity of the blood vessel wall and the viscosity of the blood. The main wave of the pulse wave is composed of a rising branch and a descending branch, and the descending branch contains a dicrotic wave. The left ventricle contracts and ejects blood, the aorta dilates, the blood pressure rises, and the ascending branch is formed. Ejection velocity slows down, blood pressure drops, forming the descending branch; The left ventricle dilates, the aortic valve closes, blood flows back and rebounds after impacting aortic valve, forming a repulse. The changes of pulse wave shape can indicate many physiological and pathological phenomena.MethodsEleven patients with chronic disease (mainly with abnormalities of sugar, lipid and pressure) and 8 healthy subjects were selected. The pulse wave was measured at rest and then individualized precise exercise was developed according to the results of each person's cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET). The program allowed the subjects to perform a single individualized precise exercise, measured the pulse wave again, recorded the pulse wave at 5, 15, 30, and 40 minutes after exercise. Then re‐mapped, calculated the feature points. The differences of pulse wave between patients with chronic disease and healthy people at rest and after exercise were compared, and the changes of pulse wave between patients and healthy people before and after exercise was summarized respectively.ResultsUnder resting state, healthy people had obvious dicrotic waves, while patients with chronic diseases had no obvious or no dicrotic waves. After exercise, the main wave peak of healthy people became higher, the waveform became narrower, and the dicrotic waves deepened; Similarly, the main wave peak of the patients became higher, the waveform became narrower, and most importantly, the dicrotic waves occurred which not had appeared at rest, or unconspicuous dicrotic waves turned obvious.ConclusionUnder the guidance of new theory of holistic integrative physiology and medicine, the sugar, lipid or pressure abnormalities are caused by abnormal supply and demand of oxygen, energy substances and metabolites in life regulation. We treat abnormal sugar, fat and pressure as one kind of disease for the first time. A single individualized precise exercise can significantly change the pulse wave of patients with chronic diseases, suggesting that pulse waves have a certain significance in the effective diagnosis and treatment of chronic diseases. We will expand the sample size to further explore the effectiveness of individualized precision exercise in strengthening control of chronic diseases in the aspect of pulse wave.Support or Funding InformationNational Natural Science Foundation of China (81470204);Fuwai Hospital, National Cardiovascular Institute of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (2012‐YJR02);Research on Clinical Characteristics of the Capital (Z141107002514084);Research and Outcome Promotion of Clinical Characteristics in the Capital (Project No. Z161100000516127)

Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing under the Guidance of New Theory of Holistic Integrative Physiology and Medicine (HIPM)

BackgroundCardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET), is guided by holism, a comprehensive evaluation of the overall functional status of the subject's gender, age, body mass, resting lung function, daily activities, etc. It gives specific load power, makes subjects do maximum limitation movement on exercise load equipment, closely monitors the exercise ECG, blood pressure, oxygen saturation and other cycle indicators during the exercise, and measures the gas exchange index such as the oxygen uptake and carbon dioxide output, to reflect the functional status of multiple system organs such as circulation, respiration, and metabolism.METHODSHuman beings are an inseparable whole. The systems and organs such as breathing, circulation and metabolism are interrelated and mutually influential. The O2 and CO2 produced by each inhalation and exhalation are exchanged in the lungs to form the up‐down “W” waveform information, which enters the pulmonary veins, the left atrium, and the left ventricle with the blood of the pulmonary capillaries, and reaches the arterial system through non‐100% cardiac ejection. It acts on peripheral chemoreceptors to switch respiration and acts on the central chemoreceptor after about 30 seconds to maintain the stability of the breath. The regulation of respiration requires the participation of circulation. The substances in the circulating blood (nutrients, metabolites, etc.) and hemodynamic indicators affect the breathing. Similarly, the gas signal molecules generated by respiration also affect certain circulation indicators such as strokes, output, heart rate, blood pressure, autonomic variability, and thus affect circulation. On this basis, digestion and absorption, urinary excretion, neurohumoral, skin, metabolism, and even mental and psychological factors are involved in the integration of the body, so that the whole person is in a dynamic balance.RESULTSCPET is to put the subject under extreme exercise state. At this time, the whole body is in a state of stress. The whole system and organs cooperate to maintain the metabolism of the body, which is actually to meet the needs of the cells for O2 and energy substances. When there is a lesion in the heart, lungs or other organs and systems, the O2 and energy substances required for the exercise muscle cells cannot be supplied in time, and the subject exhibits a decrease in exercise endurance. According to the electrocardiogram, gas exchange, and blood flow during CPET, we can comprehensively assess the subject's overall functional status and the degree of grading function limitation, and provide a basis for clinical decision‐making.CONCLUSIONCPET is an example for a human HIPM. CPET is the only method for objective, quantitative and accurate assessment of the overall functional status of human. It has important for disease prevention, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis. Only be guidanced by HIPM, we can correctly use CPET and interpret the data.Support or Funding InformationNational Natural Science Foundation of China (81470204);Fuwai Hospital, National Cardiovascular Institute of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (2012‐YJR02);Research on Clinical Characteristics of the Capital (Z141107002514084);Research and Outcome Promotion of Clinical Characteristics in the Capital (Project No. Z161100000516127)

The New Theory of Holistic Integrative Physiology (HIP)

BACKGROUNDThe modern systemic physiology, based on limit‐understand functional classification, has significant limitation and one‐sidedness. Human being is organic; we approach to set new theory for mechanism of functional control and regulation of all systems.METHODSWe use new theory of holistic integrative physiology and medicine to explain the mechanism of control and regulation of respiration, circulation, metabolism and all systems together.RESULTS1. Idea for respiration: The up‐down “W” waveform information of arterial blood gas (ABG) is core signal to control and regulate breathing, in addition to the mean level of ABG participate in it. In order to control and regulate breathing, we must integrate all systems together. The new theory will help to explain some unanswered questions in physiology and medicine which based on functional classification, for example: fetal does not breathing; how first breath generates; how respiratory rhythm and frequency generates, etc. 2. Idea for circulation: The main purpose of circulation is to maintain a stable metabolism of cells, i.e. transport oxygen (from lung) and nutrients (from gastrointestinal tract) to cells, and return carbon dioxide and metabolic products back for elimination. Based on this goal, all respiration and gastrointestinal digestion, absorption, urinary excretion, etc. are integrative together for regulation to maintain the supply‐demand balance at any metabolic statuses. So that, we can explain many existing problems and questions, for example: why and how the foramen ovale closed after birth; mechanism of Cheyne‐Stokes respiration; blood flow redistribution during exercise; variability of systolic blood pressure, heart rate and autonomic tone. (see The Published Structure Graph wih permission in Chinese for the Theory of HIP. Sun, XG. CJAP,2015,31(4):289–384). 3. There are “Y” type core axes for all functions of human life: The first one is the common goal of respiration and circulation to transport oxygen and carbon dioxide for cells, and the second one is the goal of gastrointestinal tract and circulation to transport energy material and metabolic product for cells (see The Published Structure Graph in Chinese for the Theory of HIP. Sun, XG. CJAP,2015,31(4):289–384). The “Y” core axes work together to maintain stable metabolism of cells. The neurohumoral regulation is holistically integrated and unified for all functions in human body. We simplified explain the mechanism of neurohumoral control and regulation life (respiration and circulation) as the example pattern of sound system.CONCLUSIONHolistic Integrative Physiology explains the mechanism of control and regulation of life, which integrates respiration, circulation, nerves, metabolism, exercise, sleep and digestion, absorption and elimination and etc. all systems together. It is linking all life styles of sleeping, waking, resting, exercise, drinking, eating, fasting, urinating, defecating, and etc. everything altogether.Support or Funding InformationNational Natural Science Foundation of China (81470204); Fuwai Hospital, National Cardiovascular Institute of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (2012‐YJR02); Research on Clinical Characteristics of the Capital (Z141107002514084); Research and Outcome Promotion of Clinical Characteristics in the Capital (Project No. Z161100000516127)Figure 1

ЗАДАЧНЫЙ ПОДХОД В ИСКУССТВЕННОМ ИНТЕЛЛЕКТЕ

The paper considers the task approach to artificial intelligence. It is shown that, on the one hand, it generalizes such approaches as the agent-based approach and general artificial intelligence, and, on the other hand, accurately reflects the cognitive processes and purposeful behavior described in the physiological theory of functional brain systems.

The response of fine root morphological and physiological traits to added nitrogen in Schrenk's spruce (Picea schrenkiana) of the Tianshan mountains, China.

Fine roots are essential for water and nutrient uptake in plants, but little is known about the variation in fine root traits and the underlying mechanisms that drive it. Understanding the responses of fine root function traits to changing environmental conditions and the role of fine root traits as drivers of forest ecosystem processes are critical for informing physiological and ecological theory as well as ecosystem management. We measured morphological and physiological traits of fine roots from six soil layers and three diameter classes in Schrenk’s spruce (Picea shrenkiana) forests of the Tianshan mountains, China. We found significant effects of nitrogen addition on these morphological and physiological traits, which varied by soil layer and root diameter. Specifically, specific root length (SRL) was higher in medium N addition group (N2) than in control group (N0). Specific root area (SRA) was higher in the control group (N0) than fertilized groups (N1, N2 and N3). Root tissue density (RTD) was higher in low N addition group (N1) than in the other group. Root dry matter content had no significant difference among four treatment groups. SRL, SRA, and RTD of fine roots in different diameter classes were all significantly different between high N addition (N3) and the control (N0) groups. The physiological characteristics of fine roots showed that soluble sugar (SS), fine root vitality (FRV), and tissue water content (TWC) in different soil layers were higher in the control group than in the fertilized groups. While soluble protein (SP), malondialdehyde (MDA) and free proline (FP) were lower in the control group (N0) than in the fertilized groups. In addition, SS, FRV, SP, TWC, FP, and MDA in all N addition treatments groups were significantly different from the control group. Fine root morphological traits were closely related to physiological traits, and added nitrogen inputs change these correlations. Our study confirms that nitrogen addition has specific effects on the morphological and physiological traits of fine roots of Schrenk’s spruce, and the effects of N addition vary according to the amount added.

Rethinking Romanticism with Spinoza: Encounter and Individuation in Novalis, Ritter, and Baader

Reconstructing the theories of encounter and individuation among Novalis and his contemporaries affiliated with the Freiberg Mining Academy, this article reconsiders German Romanticism through a Spinozan materialist tradition. Countering the reception of Novalis as a poet and an idealist philosopher of subjectivity belonging to Jena Romanticism, I advance an alternative constellation of his interlocutors that comprises an intellectual tendency around 1800, herein referred to as Freiberg Romanticism. This tradition is characterized by a materialist approach to the questions on forms of life, complexity, and power in the processes of emergence and becoming. In their respective theories of individuation, I show how Novalis, Johann Ritter, and Franz Baader share Spinoza’s materialist ontology of immanence and transindividuality offered in recent interpretations of Spinoza in continental philosophy. In his engagement with Ritter’s theory of Galvanism, Novalis develops a Spinozan logic of integration of individuals in nature. In his appropriation of Baader’s theory of elementary physiology, Novalis articulates the immanent causality in the determination of individuals. Interrogating Novalis’s, Ritter’s, and Baader’s respective epistemo-ontologies through Spinoza’s thought, this article demarcates the limits of Freiberg Romanticism and its potential lapses into animism and vitalism. While Spinoza contributes a strong concept of substance to Freiberg Romanticism, regulating and problematizing the equivocations of Novalis and his contemporaries, Novalis contributes to the Spinozan tradition a strong concept of encounter.

Pacing in vasovagal syncope: A physiological paradox?

The physiological principles underlying pacemaker treatment in patients with vasovagal syncope have never been reviewed. Current knowledge suggests that pacing the right heart is unlikely to correct blood pressure during a vasovagal reaction. In adults, the reason for this is that stroke volume is dictated by central blood volume contained in the cardiopulmonary vessels within the chest (ie, left ventricular preload). Preceding posture-triggered vasovagal syncope, there is a significant fall in central blood volume and therefore in stroke volume and cardiac output long before the onset of bradycardia. This explains why high rate cardiac pacing does not improve cardiac output or blood pressure during presyncope. Contradictory results between physiological theory and trial evidence underlying pacemaker treatment at present cannot be explained. Placebo effects during pacing for vasovagal syncope should be considered. More work is needed to solve the dilemma.

Poetry, Media, and the Material Body: Autopoetics in Nineteenth-Century Britain. Ashley Miller. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018. Pp. v+197.

<i>Poetry, Media, and the Material Body: Autopoetics in Nineteenth-Century Britain</i>. Ashley Miller. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018. Pp. v+197.

Gating and the Need for Sleep: Dissociable Effects of Adenosine A1 and A2A Receptors.

Roughly one-third of the human lifetime is spent in sleep, yet the reason for sleep remains unclear. Understanding the physiologic function of sleep is crucial toward establishing optimal health. Several proposed concepts address different aspects of sleep physiology, including humoral and circuit-based theories of sleep-wake regulation, the homeostatic two-process model of sleep regulation, the theory of sleep as a state of adaptive inactivity, and observations that arousal state and sleep homeostasis can be dissociated in pathologic disorders. Currently, there is no model that places the regulation of arousal and sleep homeostasis in a unified conceptual framework. Adenosine is well known as a somnogenic substance that affects normal sleep-wake patterns through several mechanisms in various brain locations via A1 or A2A receptors (A1Rs or A2ARs). Many cells and processes appear to play a role in modulating the extracellular concentration of adenosine at neuronal A1R or A2AR sites. Emerging evidence suggests that A1Rs and A2ARs have different roles in the regulation of sleep. In this review, we propose a model in which A2ARs allow the brain to sleep, i.e., these receptors provide sleep gating, whereas A1Rs modulate the function of sleep, i.e., these receptors are essential for the expression and resolution of sleep need. In this model, sleep is considered a brain state established in the absence of arousing inputs.

Strong photosynthetic acclimation and enhanced water‐use efficiency in grassland functional groups persist over 21 years of CO2 enrichment, independent of nitrogen supply

Uncertainty about long-term leaf-level responses to atmospheric CO2 rise is a major knowledge gap that exists because of limited empirical data. Thus, it remains unclear how responses of leaf gas exchange to elevated CO2 (eCO2 ) vary among plant species and functional groups, or across different levels of nutrient supply, and whether they persist over time for long-lived perennials. Here, we report the effects of eCO2 on rates of net photosynthesis and stomatal conductance in 14 perennial grassland species from four functional groups over two decades in a Minnesota Free-Air CO2 Enrichment experiment, BioCON. Monocultures of species belonging to C3 grasses, C4 grasses, forbs, and legumes were exposed to two levels of CO2 and nitrogen supply in factorial combinations over 21years. eCO2 increased photosynthesis by 12.9% on average in C3 species, substantially less than model predictions of instantaneous responses based on physiological theory and results of other studies, even those spanning multiple years. Acclimation of photosynthesis to eCO2 was observed beginning in the first year and did not strengthen through time. Yet, contrary to expectations, the response of photosynthesis to eCO2 was not enhanced by increased nitrogen supply. Differences in responses among herbaceous plant functional groups were modest, with legumes responding the most and C4 grasses the least as expected, but did not further diverge over time. Leaf-level water-use efficiency increased by 50% under eCO2 primarily because of reduced stomatal conductance. Our results imply that enhanced nitrogen supply will not necessarily diminish photosynthetic acclimation to eCO2 in nitrogen-limited systems, and that significant and consistent declines in stomatal conductance and increases in water-use efficiency under eCO2 may allow plants to better withstand drought.

An ayurvedic review on Autism in children

Autism is a complex development disability appearing in infancy or early childhood which has been increased in its prevalence and incidence since the last two decades. Western medicine and research have seemingly stalled in respect to the management of autism however early intervention and behavioral therapies have shown improvement to some extent. Ayurveda understands the nature of human brain in a completely different manner from modern day's psychiatric and physiological theories. Autism has close similarity to the features that of Unmada (insanity) described in Ayurveda. The condition may be due to the result of Khavaigunya (disarrangements) of Srotas (channels) which nurtures Manas (mind) as consequences of many Agantuja (epigenetic toxic insults &amp; postnatal environmental factor) and Sahaja (genetic) factors. Among the various type of treatment modalities, Yuktivyapashraya Chikitsa (Rational therapy) plays a vital role in managing the symptoms of Autism in children. However, the preventive measures are more appreciated than the treatment protocols.

Distillation of crop models to learn plant physiology theories using machine learning.

Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) can not only classify images but can also generate key features, e.g., the Google neural network that learned to identify cats by simply watching YouTube videos, for the classification. In this paper, crop models are distilled by CNN to evaluate the ability of deep learning to identify the plant physiology knowledge behind such crop models simply by learning. Due to difficulty in collecting big data on crop growth, a crop model was used to generate datasets. The generated datasets were fed into CNN for distillation of the crop model. The models trained by CNN were evaluated by the visualization of saliency maps. In this study, three saliency maps were calculated using all datasets (case 1) and using datasets with spikelet sterility due to either high temperature at anthesis (case 2) or cool summer damage (case 3). The results of case 1 indicated that CNN determined the developmental index of paddy rice, which was implemented in the crop model, simply by learning. Moreover, CNN identified the important individual environmental factors affecting the grain yield. Although CNN had no prior knowledge of spikelet sterility, cases 2 and 3 indicated that CNN realized about paddy rice becoming sensitive to daily mean and maximum temperatures during specific periods. Such deep learning approaches can be used to accelerate the understanding of crop models and make the models more portable. Moreover, the results indicated that CNN can be used to develop new plant physiology theories simply by learning.

Investigation and Analysis on Sports Fatigue of Tennis Specialized Class Students in Wuhan Institute of Physical Education

Since the 1980s, many scholars have studied fatigue from physiological and biochemical aspects. Exercise fatigue is a physiological phenomenon caused by exercise stimulation. It reflects the tolerance of the body to exercise stimulation. It is a positive process for the body to regulate its own activities and has an alarming effect on the body's activities. Because of its appearance, it can reduce the intensity of exercise, or even stop the movement, in order to prevent excessive consumption of substances in the body and damage to the body function. The high intensity and high load of modern tennis training and competition will inevitably lead to sports fatigue. Energy consumption and lactic acid accumulation in muscle and blood are the main causes of tennis players' fatigue. How to eliminate fatigue quickly is the prerequisite for athletes to adapt to high-intensity training and competition. Starting from the characteristics and main diagnostic methods of tennis sport fatigue, combining with the principles of sport fatigue recovery, this paper will provide constructive suggestions for tennis athletes sport fatigue physical recovery by using the methods of pedagogy, nutrition, psychology, medicine and biology. Fatigue judgment and recovery is an important part of modern sports, and also an important factor affecting training effect and competition results. Aiming at the characteristics of athletic tennis players' fatigue, this paper investigates and analyses the sports fatigue and recovery of tennis players in the special tennis class of Wuhan Institute of Physical Education by using the methods of literature, expert interview, questionnaire and mathematical statistics. By using the theory of sports physiology, the mechanism, diagnosis and recovery methods of exercise physiology were discussed preliminarily. In order to improve tennis players' performance, improve the quality of training and grasp the law of training.

Near-death experiences in medicine

Near-death experiences (NDEs) have been a source of controversy within academia and the public. NDEs occur in 10% to 20% of patients who have come close to death and consist of vivid, subjective experiences that occur during life-threatening emergencies. Specifically, NDEs include out-of-body experiences, pleasant feelings, seeing deceased relatives, a life review, or a conscious return into the body. Although alternate psychological and physiological theories have been proposed, several methodological and neuroscientific limitations prevent their verification. Despite these limitations, counselors trained with NDE literature reduced suicidal thoughts, bereavement, and posttraumatic stress disorder among their patient populations. In addition, patients who have experienced an NDE showed significant transformation in their spiritual and emotional lives, with many stating a renewed sense of meaning, existential awareness, and mystical experiences. Family and friends of patients who have experienced an NDE also report increased comfort, hope, and inspiration. Overall, NDEs have positively impacted the medical profession and physician-patient interactions and represent a growing paradigm shift beyond the naturalistic interpretations of science and medicine.

Reading, Sighing, and Tuning in George Herbert's Temple

This essay places George Herbert's poetic invocations of sighs and groans in the context of early modern physiology and musical theory. While scholars have been interested in musical themes and medical discourses in The Temple, few have considered the merging of these or its implications for the experience of reading the poems aloud. By delineating the spirit-based physiology on which Herbert's musical and medical "tunings" rely, Clarissa Chenovick draws attention to the spiritual efficacy Herbert attributes to bodily expressions of penitence (especially sighs and groans), and to the ways he carefully designs poems like "Sighs and Grones" to elicit these expressions from the reader. These insights have significant implications for our understanding of Herbert's poetic project and for the role of voiced poetry in seventeenth-century English devotional practice. In "Voicing Text 1500–1700," ed. Jennifer Richards and Richard Wistreich, special issue, http://muse.jhu.edu/resolve/66.

ЖАНРОВІ ОСОБЛИВОСТІ ТА МОТИВИ РОМАНУ «БІГУНИ» ОЛЬГИ ТОКАРЧУК

In this article was considered genre specifics and motives of the novel “Bieguni” (“Flights”) by polish writer Olga Tokarczuk. On the example of the novel was determined the main genre specifics of postmodern novel-travelogue, where was raised the main issues of present days – life and death, physical and spiritual, workaday and philosophical. “Bieguni” is the novel about modern people, which looking for their goal, situated in a constantly movement just not to come to the Antichrist`s hands. The airports and hotels aren`t only a shelter, it`s a real home, what underline motive of travel in the novel. Representing home in a different ways, the writer consider the human body as a shelter for two components – spiritual and material. The body that was created by God is physical “home” for self-awareness. Herewith the writer doesn`t reject physiological theory of body beginning and consider it as a product of completing, finishing and the signification of human`s death. Address to Biblical, religious, mythological, bibliographic and oniric motives again and again underline anti-utopy world with his own canons and decrees, what doesn`t submit to logical, grounded explanation, but have philosophical elucidation. “Bieguni” it`s a binding of stories, feelings and laws. The main characters of the composition are different aged, nationality and different time period people, but united by just one important thing – searching of sense of life, that is different for everyone of them. Variety of characters, story of everyone`s life, text`s fragmentation give to the reader experience of personal meeting with every literature character. The hidden drama, that attendanted in everyone of them create the aureole of mystique, mysteriousness and feeling of temporarily proximity, that`s the main feeling of traveler. The leitmotif of the novel unite fragments into the one full picture, where we can see the main thesis of the novel: “Movement is a life, life is a travel”, because at the travel we can see a human`s wish to find the salvation out of routine problems, social duties and conditionalities. Characteristic for the novel using of philosophical and Biblical motives and also application to the history and author`s experience are non-textual survey of art of Olga Tokarczuk and her own morally-pscychological skills.

Impact of class attendance on academic performance in the subject of physiology

Background: High attendance is an essential requirement in professional courses such as medicine for good understanding and thorough grasp over the subjects. It is a common perception that missing classes frequently results in poor academic performances. Aims and Objectives: The aim of the study was to find out the effect of class attendance on student’s academic performance in our setting among 1st year medical students in the subject of physiology. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study was conducted in the Department of Physiology, Government Medical College Srinagar from October 2018 to December 2018. 146 1st-year M.B.B.S. students who had attended physiology theory lectures and practical classes and appeared in the final exams in batch 2016–2017 were selected for this study. Records of attendance and academic performance were obtained. Statistical analysis was performed using Pearson correlation analysis. Results: Results revealed a positive and significant correlation between class attendance and academic performance in both theory and practical. The relationship between performance in practical and attendance was highly significant which shows that attending practical classes is essential for acquiring skills. Conclusion: This study has found a positive relationship between class attendance and academic performance of the students both in theory and practicals in the subject of physiology suggesting that high attendance is crucial for learning in medicine.