Retrospective Point Of View Research Articles

Symbiosis of Technology and Ethics: Preliminary Results of an Inquiry into the Moral Dimensions in the Use of Robotic Systems in Patient Care.

The present study aims to describe ethical and social requirements for technical and robotic systems for caregiving from the perspective of users. Users are interviewed in the ReduSys project during the development phase (prospective viewpoint) and after technology testing in the clinical setting (retrospective viewpoint). The preliminary results presented here refer to the prospective viewpoint.

Risk Factors and Outcomes for Cerebral Palsy With Hypoxic-Ischemic Brain Injury Patterns Without Documented Neonatal Encephalopathy.

Perinatal hypoxic-ischemic brain injury is a leading cause of term-born cerebral palsy, the most common lifelong physical disability. Diagnosis is commonly made in the neonatal period by the combination of neonatal encephalopathy (NE) and typical neuroimaging findings. However, children without a history of neonatal encephalopathy may present later in childhood with motor disability and neuroimaging findings consistent with perinatal hypoxic-ischemic injury. We sought to determine the prevalence of such presentations using the retrospective viewpoint of a large multiregional cerebral palsy registry. Patient cases were extracted from the Canadian Cerebral Palsy Registry with gestational age >36 weeks, an MRI pattern consistent with hypoxic-ischemic injury (HII, acute total, partial prolonged, or combined), and an absence of postnatal cause for HII. Documentation of NE was noted. Maternal-fetal risk factors, labor and delivery, neonatal course, and clinical outcome were extracted. Comparisons were performed using χ2 tests and multivariable logistic regression with multiple imputation. Propensity scores were used to assess for bias. Of the 170 children with MRI findings typical for HII, 140 (82.4%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 75.7%-87.7%) had documented NE and 29 (17.0%, 95% CI 11.7%-23.6%) did not. The group without NE had more abnormalities of amniotic fluid volume (odds ratio [OR] 15.8, 95% CI 1.2-835), had fetal growth restriction (OR 4.7, 95% CI 1.0-19.9), had less resuscitation (OR 0.03, 95% CI 0.007-0.08), had higher 5-minute Apgar scores (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.6-3.0), were less likely to have neonatal seizures (OR 0.004, 95% CI 0.00009-0.03), and did not receive therapeutic hypothermia. MRI was performed at a median 1.1 months (interquartile range [IQR] 0.67-12.8 months) for those with NE and 12.2 months (IQR 6.6-25.9) for those without (p = 0.011). Patterns of injury on MRI were seen in similar proportions. Hemiplegia was more common in those without documented NE (OR 5.1, 95% CI 1.5-16.1); rates of preserved ambulatory function were similar. Approximately one-sixth of term-born children with an eventual diagnosis of cerebral palsy and MRI findings consistent with perinatal hypoxic-ischemic brain injury do not have documented neonatal encephalopathy, which was associated with abnormalities of fetal growth and amniotic fluid volume, and a less complex neonatal course. Long-term outcomes seem comparable with their peers with encephalopathy. The absence of documented neonatal encephalopathy does not exclude perinatal hypoxic-ischemic injury, which may have occurred antenatally and must be carefully evaluated with MRI.

A Retrospective View of the Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Microenvironment: Novel Markers, Interactions, and Mechanisms of Tumor-Associated Components Using Public Single-Cell RNA-Seq Datasets.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a significant clinical challenge due to its aggressive nature and limited treatment options. In search of new treatment targets, not only single genes but also gene pairs involved in protein interactions, we explored the tumor microenvironment (TME) of TNBC from a retrospective point of view, using public single-cell RNA sequencing datasets. A High-resolution Cell type Annotation Tool, HiCAT, was used first to identify the cell type in 3-level taxonomies. Tumor cells were then identified based on the estimates of copy number variation. With the annotation results, differentially expressed genes were analyzed to find subtype-specific markers for each cell type, including tumor cells, fibroblast, and macrophage. Cell-cell interactions were also inferred for each cell type pair. Through integrative analysis, we could find unique TNBC markers not only for tumor cells but also for various TME components, including fibroblasts and macrophages. Specifically, twelve marker genes, including DSC2 and CDKN2A, were identified for TNBC tumor cells. Another key finding of our study was the interaction between the DSC2 and DSG2 genes among TNBC tumor cells, suggesting that they are more tightly aggregated with each other than those of other subtypes, including normal epithelial cells. The overexpression of DSC2 in TNBC and its prognostic power were verified by using METABRIC, a large bulk RNA-seq dataset with clinical information. These findings not only corroborate previous hypotheses but also lay the foundation for a new structural understanding of TNBC, as revealed through our single-cell analysis workflow.

Manganese matere bonds in biological systems: PDB inspection and DFT calculations.

A Protein Data Bank (PDB) survey has revealed noncovalent contacts involving Mn centres and protein residues. Their geometrical features are in line with the interaction between low electron density sites located along the Mn-O/N coordination bonds (σ-holes) and the lone pairs belonging to TYR, SER or HIS residues, known as a matere bond (MaB). Calculations at the PBE0-D3/def2-TZVP level of theory were used to investigate the strength and shed light on the physical nature of the interaction. We expect the results presented herein will be useful for those scientists working in the fields of bioinorganic chemistry, particulary in protein-metal docking, by providing new insights into transition metal⋯Lewis base interactions as well as a retrospective point of view to further understand the structural and functional implications of this key transition metal ion.

Methods for the environmental and economic assessment in early product design – a case study-based overview for wind turbines in urban areas

The assessment of environmental impacts has become an inevitable necessity for many manufacturing companies – not only from a mere retrospective viewpoint but also for product design decisions. At the same time, economic feasibility must be constantly considered throughout all product design phases. For both dimensions, many different decision-support methods exist. However, there is a lack of combined assessment methods especially in early product design phases, when product characteristics, manufacturing technologies and corresponding data are still uncertain. The paper provides an overview and qualitative evaluation of different methods for economic and ecological assessment in product design stages. Based on this, a generalized procedure for combined economic and ecological decision-making during product design is derived, highlighting possible coping mechanisms for uncertain or insufficient data. Both, the evaluation of available assessment methods as well as the derived procedure are transferred to the specific requirements of wind turbines in urban areas. As a result, open research aspects and the next steps for method development are derived.

Narrative Point of View and Romantic Irony in Melville’s “The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids”

The short fiction “The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids” is written in first-person narration as a diptych in which Melville ponders the human spiritual crisis in the industrialized world. This article explores the contradiction of the narrator’s spiritual liberation and others’ exclusion employing the narrator’s shifting experiencing and retrospective viewpoints, with the engagement of Romantic Irony. Through the dual viewpoints, the subjectivity and uncertainty of the first-person Romantic ironist manifest the uncertainty of the human spiritual crisis in industrialization. Melville questions human spirits and technology to elevate his ambiguous narration and philosophical concerns.

Narrative Point of View and Romantic Irony in Melville’s “The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids”

The short fiction “The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids” is written in first-person narration as a diptych in which Melville ponders the human spiritual crisis in the industrialized world. This article explores the contradiction of the narrator’s spiritual liberation and others’ exclusion employing the narrator’s shifting experiencing and retrospective viewpoints, with the engagement of Romantic Irony. Through the dual viewpoints, the subjectivity and uncertainty of the first-person Romantic ironist manifest the uncertainty of the human spiritual crisis in industrialization. Melville questions human spirits and technology to elevate his ambiguous narration and philosophical concerns.

Diverticulitis, surgery, evidence-based medicine, and the Steve Jobs' dots: a narrative review.

Emergency treatment of acute diverticulitis remains a hazy field. Despite a number of clinical studies, randomized controlled trials (RCTs), guidelines and surgical societies recommendations, the most critical hot topics have yet to be addressed. Literature research from 1963 until today was performed. Data regarding the principal RCTs and observational studies were summarized in descriptive tables. In particular we aimed to focus on the following topics: the role of laparoscopy, the acute care setting, the RCTs, guidelines, observational studies and classifications proposed by literature, the problem in case of a pandemic, and the importance of adapting treatment /place/surgeon conditions. In the evaluation of these points we did not try to find any prospective evolution of the concepts achievements. On the contrary we simply report the individuals strands of research from a retrospective point of view, similarly to what Steve Jobes said: "you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future". We have finally obtained what can be defined "a narrative review of the literature on diverticulitis". Not only evidence-based medicine but also the contextualization, as also the role of 'competent' surgeons, should guide to novel approach in acute diverticulitis management.

Retrospective histological evaluation of orchiectomy specimens following testicular torsion reveals a 10% incidence of reversible injury. Is it time for a change of strategy?

According to standard medical practice, immediate orchiectomy is advised in the case of a non-viable testis following testicular torsion. Because of the lack of objective criteria in the evaluation of testicular viability, the fate of the testis solely depends on the discretion and experience of the surgeon. In this study, we retrospectively reassess the management of patients with testicular torsion in our center, and we ask the question, from a retrospective point of view, of whether the decision to perform orchiectomy has always been correct. We retrospectively reviewed all cases of patients with testicular torsion who underwent surgery in our center between 2001 and 2021. All orchiectomy specimens were reevaluated and graded by an experienced pathologist using the Mikuz grading system. Immediate orchiectomy was performed in 48 of the 136 patients (35%). Five (10.4%) of the 48 orchiectomy specimens were categorized as "grade 1," and 17 (35.4%) were categorized as "grade 2." The time between the onset of symptoms and surgical exploration exceeded 12h in three of the five patients with a "grade 1" testicular injury, and in one case, it even exceeded 24h. "Grade 1" testicular injury is potentially reversible, whereas the fate of a testis with a "grade 2" testicular injury remains unknown. Whether and to what extent partial testicular tissue salvage in a "grade 2" injury is still possible remain unclear. Our results indicate that at least 10% of the testicles removed in our center could, from a retrospective point of view, have been salvaged. Our study further demonstrated that the duration of symptoms is not an absolute indicator of testicular damage and that the decision of whether orchiectomy should be performed, based simply on the subjective macroscopic image of the affected testis, is not always correct.

Dziedzictwo Lucjana Malinowskiego – krakowska szkoła dialektologiczna

HERITAGE OF LUCJAN MALINOWSKI – KRAKÓW DIALECTOLOGICAL SCHOOL
 Systematic studies in dialectology have been carried out by Kraków linguists since 150 years. They were initiated by Lucjan Malinowski in the book: Beiträge zur slavischen dialectologie. I. Ueber die Oppelnsche Mundart in Oberschlesien. (1. Heft: Laut- und Formenlehre) (1873). L. Malinowski’s best student was K. Nitsch who is called the father of Polish dialectology. Neogrammarian primacy of voice rights, which Malinowski came across in Jena, resulted in the fact that at first (until 1920s) Kraków dialectologists focused on phonetics and inflection of dialects of particular villages. Such an atomizing approach was overcome by K. Nitsch who prepared some works covering the whole Polish dialectal area. By removing the social and cultural factor from the research range, neogrammarians (including L. Malinowski) influenced the fact that the Kraków dialectological school adopted the retrospective point of view and opened to sociolinguistics and ethnolinguistics as late as in 1980s. Therefore, we can conclude that L. Malinowski’s scientific influence and his work was very lasting and very important.

ON TWO ENGLISH MODAL PREDICATES HARD TO FIND IN ENGLISH GRAMMAR BOOKS

The paper offers a summative discussion of empirical investigations into two English modal predicates: can with the perfect infinitive and must not with the perfect infinitive. Both these predicate constructions tend not to be mentioned or discussed in grammars of English; some books even forbid them. Thus, one may get an impression that they do not exist or are non-normative. The corpus studies discussed in this paper have shown the opposite, however. The analyzed modal predicates have been reported in both contemporary and historical American English, and also in British English. Moreover, they are not accidental constructions since they have been reported in numerous texts, of different levels of formality, produced by various speakers or writers. The study has also shown that can with the perfect expresses the meaning of speaker’s reasoning about a potential past situation or speaker’s certainty about the non-occurrence of a past situation. Thus can interacts with the perfect and expresses the epistemic flavor. Moreover, the meaning of speaker’s certainty results from the interaction of can with a negative context. Speaker’s certainty that an event did not take place in the past is also a meaning expressed by must not with the perfect. In addition, this modal predicate can express the meaning of a prohibition of a past event. Thus, must not with the perfect can express either the epistemic or the root modal flavor. The latter emerges as a result of modality-negation interaction. The perfect projects the event in the past, i.e. in the retrospective viewpoint. Hence, the study proposes a number of norms thanks to which these two, supposedly non-normative, modal predicates have occurred.

Ophthalmologic Care of Former Preterm and Full-Term Infants during Their Childhood and Adolescence - A Retrospective View of Their Parents.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the ophthalmologic care in childhood and adolescence of infants born preterm and full-term from the retrospective point of view of their parents. The Gutenberg Prematurity Eye Study (GPES) is a retrospective cohort study with a prospective ophthalmologic examination of persons born preterm and full-term between 1969 and 2002 (now aged 18 to 52 years), and asks their parents about the ophthalmologic care received by their children in childhood and adolescence from their retrospective perspective. Participants and their parents were grouped into those with normal gestational age (GA) ≥ 37 (control group), preterm born infants without retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) and gestational age (GA) 33 - 36 (group 2), GA 29 - 32 (group 3), GA ≤ 28 weeks (group 4), and those with ROP without treatment (group 5) and with ROP with treatment (group 6). Parents of participants were interviewed about the ophthalmic care received by their children. In total, data from 57 full-term and 131 preterm infants and their parents were included in the present study. The parents of the participants reported that ophthalmologic examination had taken place until 6 years of age in the respective groups 1 to 6 in 22/57 (38.6%), 33/58 (56.9%), 22/38 (57.9%), 3/6 (50%), 19/21 (90.5%), and 7/8 (87.5%). Overall, between 83% and 100% of parents in the different groups reported that ophthalmologic care had been adequate. A change of ophthalmologist due to dissatisfaction with treatment was reported by a total of 4/57 (7%), 9/58 (15.5%), 8/38 (21.1%), 1/6 (16.7%), 1/21 (4.8%) and 2/8 (25%) in the respective groups. The present study demonstrates adequate satisfaction and good treatment regarding ophthalmologic care of former preterm children from the parents' perspective. Especially parents of children with ROP rated the treatment positively.

THE ROLE AND IMPORTANCE OF FINANCIAL REPORTING IN COMPANY MANAGEMENT

Financial reporting is the primary public source of information that provides an opportunity to characterize the financial position of a company. Based on its data, it is possible to determine not only the reliability of the organization, but also its competitiveness, the fact that, of course, is a guarantee of successful interaction of all participants of the economic cooperation of all participants. The use of financial statements as an information base for managing a company contributes to the achievement of complexity, as well as allows interested users to inspect the object, taking into account all its external and internal financial statements. On the basis of complex analysis it is possible to find out the reasons for the achieved successes, to give an assessment of the financial position with a retrospective point of view, and also the lack of financial - economic activity, which will allow you to make a timely appointment.

A Diachronic Study on ‘Литературный Язык’ in Relation to Korean ‘Standard Language’ and ‘Literary Language’

After the establishment of diplomatic relations between Korea and Russia in the 1990s, departments of Russian studies were founded at many universities, and Russian studies research was expanded and subdivided into various fields, and the quality of research rose to a considerable level. However, the scope of research in the history of the Russian literary language field is not wide and the research results and achievements are insignificant compared to other fields of Russian studies. Nevertheless, I think that it is time to organize the research results for the next generation of academics, and as a first step, I would like to address the problem of the Korean translation of the Russian term ‘литературный язык(ЛЯ, literary language)’. This paper, which focuses on the process of the development and the historical background of the formation of the relationships “signified-signifier” of the Russian ‘ЛЯ’ and the Korean “standard language” in the aspect of the Korean translation, asserts the following: First, in the history of Russian language, “Simple Russian” of the Peter the Great period in the 18th century is the embryo of the modern linguistic concept literary language. Second, through the 18th, the early and mid-19th century, “Simple Russian” came to form the characteristics of the nation’s literary language. Third, we cannot apply the concept of literary language to any of the language types of old Russian. Fourth, the signifier for the term literary language, which appeared in the mid-19th century with the meaning “language of literature”, gradually expanded, and deviated from the signified-signifier relationship at the beginning of its formation, but the signified does not change even in the present when the first signifier is not recognized. Fifth, for the translation of the term ЛЯ, the signified of the individual language closest to the signifier of ЛЯ should be selected. The Korean equivalent of the ЛЯ is a standard language, so it is reasonable to transfer ЛЯ to a standard language. Sixth, “history” is considered from a retrospective point of view from the point of origin or roots of the present to the present. Therefore, even if the ИРЛЯ begins in the 10th century when the ЛЯ did not exist, it is reasonable to translate it into the history of the Russian standard language.

The topic of “WW2 rear” childhood in Altai literature of the second half of the 20th century (on the example of the works of Lazar’ Kokyshev, Boris Ukachin, Dibash Kainchin, etc.)

The article is based on the works of Altai writers of the second half of the XX century. (Lazar’ Kokyshev, Boris Ukachin, Shatra Shatinov, Dibash Kainchin) The author made an attempt to investigate the theme of memory and the theme of wartime childhood. The work examines the spiritual values of the generation of poets and prose writers who began their career in the 1960s ‟thaw” years. The author's field of vision includes works united by the image of a wartime childhood in the distant rear, the article attempts to fit the material under study into the context of the main trends in the Altai literary process of the indicated period. Attention is paid to autobiography and retrospective point of view, motifs of life and death, hunger and cold. In the works of some writers, a combination of artistic and journalistic principles is noted, the illumination of harsh reality through the eyes of adolescents.

On the Threshold of Editorship. Or From Collection to Oeuvre

The sole collection of verses by Jonas Mačiulis (1862–1932, pen name Maironis), the father of modern Lithuanian poetry, went through five editions in the author’s lifetime. The poet continued to improve the works of his youth until his advanced age, producing hundreds of textual variants. The first published versions of some verses, which are ranked as national classics today, cannot be considered finely crafted works by a long shot. From a retrospective point of view, one is surprised that such lengthy and tedious corrections could have yielded such nice final results, while a prospective approach might incite amazement at how the crude, primary rock of first versions could have concealed the possibility of such poetic gems. Taking a grandmotherly attitude towards his works, the author did not only polish their versification, but also applied different strategies throughout his rewriting process to use new editions to consolidate his own social and cultural position with the changeable standards of bibliographic codes over time. The problem editors of the Maironis’ posthumous editions face is that the authorial editions of his works differ in title, textual variants, and arrangement. As this article argues, both Maironis’ high standing in the Lithuanian cultural landscape and the elusive expectation of stability and comprehensiveness have discouraged editors to plunge into the dynamic nature of Maironis’ authorial manipulations up until today.

Religion as Source Domain of Metaphors in World War II Media Discourse

The article studies the English-language media discourses of the World War II period from a retrospective point of view. The aim is to identify the patterns of modeling the images of war and peace in British, American and Australian media discourses. The definition of military media discourse as an institutional form of communication is proposed, its essential characteristics are highlighted. The source of the material was the authoritative digitized archives of the UK, the USA and Australia. The material was extracted using corpus linguistics tools. The qualitative analysis was carried out within the framework of the cognitive-discourse methodology using the method of metaphorical modeling. The object of the research is the dominant metaphor used when representing the images of war and peace in the three discourses. The authors show common and specific features of the use of the religious metaphor, conditioned by cultural and extra-linguistic factors, and conclude that the religious metaphor places war and peace at different poles of the scale of values and actualizes the binary axiological opposition “good — evil”, “light — darkness”.

Space to play

British punk in the 1970s gave young women in the subculture the opportunity to play rock instruments that had previously been played by young men. They often learned to play through using reggae records, because the defined production made it easy to hear individual instruments. Much of 1970s reggae underlined Rastafarian principles regarding women’s behaviour, but these women ignored this aspect of the music and listened out for the sonic qualities of reggae. This article examines this apparent anomaly, noting a common purpose in the resistant musical activities of (especially women) punks and Rastas despite differences in culture and privilege between the two communities. New interviews by the author with Gina Birch from the Raincoats, and Tessa Pollitt from the Slits, are included to provide a retrospective viewpoint on this phenomenon.

Introduction

This edition of European Comic Art begins by adopting a retrospective viewpoint and ends with a look to the future, not entirely rosy but not wholly bleak. Our first article offers a reassessment of the relationship between Hergé’s Tintin and conservative Catholic discourses of the 1930s. We then move on to a personal recollection of a landmark moment in the legitimisation of comics in France: the Cerisy conference of 1987. In our third article, two virtuoso comics autobiographers reflect (in an email discussion that took place in 2006, here translated into English for the first time) on the loss of the searching, edgy tonality of early comics life writing in favour of something more crowd-pleasing. Finally, a young Brighton-based comics artist shares her love of the medium and her experience of solidarity among her fellow artists but has a cooler appraisal of the current political scene and the health of the comics culture in the United Kingdom.

Introduction

This edition of European Comic Art begins by adopting a retrospective viewpoint and ends with a look to the future, not entirely rosy but not wholly bleak. Our first article offers a reassessment of the relationship between Hergé’s Tintin and conservative Catholic discourses of the 1930s. We then move on to a personal recollection of a landmark moment in the legitimisation of comics in France: the Cerisy conference of 1987. In our third article, two virtuoso comics autobiographers reflect (in an email discussion that took place in 2006, here translated into English for the first time) on the loss of the searching, edgy tonality of early comics life writing in favour of something more crowd-pleasing. Finally, a young Brighton-based comics artist shares her love of the medium and her experience of solidarity among her fellow artists but has a cooler appraisal of the current political scene and the health of the comics culture in the United Kingdom.