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“The piano that no longer plays”—The impact ofintersecting traumas on narrative identity in HertaMüller's novel Atemschaukel
No full textIn this article, I analyze the intersecting traumas that appear in Herta Müller's novel Atemschaukel (2008), and their effect on the main character's narrative identity, through the perspective of feminist trauma studies and narrative hermeneutics. I argue that Atemschaukel describes three intersecting traumas: hunger in the Gulag, extreme minority stress, and lifelong homesickness. Those traumas have several effects on the narrative identity of the main character: isolation from the world, lack of belief in a better future, and inability to see possibilities for change. The combination of feminist trauma studies and narrative hermeneutics will generate new understanding of the effects of intersecting traumas and the ethical potential of traumatic narratives.</p
Mucosal-associated invariant T cell alterations during the development of human type 1 diabetes
No full textAims/hypothesis Mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells are innate-like T cells that recognise derivatives of bacterial riboflavin metabolites presented by MHC-Ib-related protein 1 (MR1) molecules and are important effector cells for mucosal immunity. Their development can be influenced by the intestinal microbiome. Since the development of type 1 diabetes has been associated with changes in the gut microbiome, this can be hypothesised to lead to alterations in circulating MAIT cells. Accordingly, peripheral blood MAIT cell alterations have been reported previously in patients with type 1 diabetes. However, a comprehensive analysis of the frequency and phenotype of circulating MAIT cells at different stages of type 1 diabetes progression is currently lacking.Methods We analysed the frequency, phenotype and functionality of peripheral blood MAIT cells, as well as gamma delta T cells, invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells and natural killer (NK) cells with flow cytometry in a cross-sectional paediatric cohort (aged 2-15) consisting of 51 children with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes, 27 autoantibody-positive (AAb(+)) at-risk children, and 113 healthy control children of similar age and HLA class II background. The frequency of MAIT cells was also assessed in a separate cross-sectional adult cohort (aged 19-39) of 33 adults with established type 1 diabetes and 37 healthy individuals of similar age.Results Children with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes displayed a proportional increase of CD8(-)CD27(-)MAIT cells compared with healthy control children (median 4.6% vs 3.1% of MAIT cells, respectively, p = 0.004), which was associated with reduced expression of C-C chemokine receptor (CCR)5 (median 90.0% vs 94.3% of MAIT cells, p = 0.02) and beta 7 integrin (median 73.5% vs 81.7% of MAIT cells, p = 0.004), as well as decreased production of IFN-gamma (median 57.1% vs 69.3% of MAIT cells, p = 0.04) by the MAIT cells. The frequency of MAIT cells was also decreased in AAb(+)children who later progressed to type 1 diabetes compared with healthy control children (median 0.44% vs 0.96% of CD3(+)T cells, p = 0.04), as well as in adult patients with a short duration of type 1 diabetes (less than 6 years after diagnosis) compared with control individuals (median 0.87% vs 2.19% of CD3(+)T cells, p = 0.007). No alterations in gamma delta T cell, iNKT cell or NK cell frequencies were observed in children with type 1 diabetes or in AAb(+) children, with the exception of an increased frequency of IL-17A(+)gamma delta T cells in children with newly diagnosed diabetes compared with healthy control children (median 1.58% vs 1.09% of gamma delta T cells, p = 0.002).Conclusions/interpretation Changes in the frequency and phenotype of circulating MAIT cells were detectable before, at the onset and after diagnosis of type 1 diabetes in cross-sectional cohorts. Our results suggest a possible temporal association between peripheral blood MAIT cell alterations and the clinical onset of type 1 diabetes
Futures participation as anticipatory practice — what do futures workshops do?
No full text Futures workshop is a participatory futures research method for producing views on futures and facilitating transformation and empowerment. Since different workshop methods are generally considered to have many advantages, they are widely used in various futures contexts. However, there is little knowledge on how futures participation entails empowerment for thinking and acting on futures. This paper studies participants’ futures thinking and action in relation to their workshop experience. As psychological constructs for engaging with futures, the concepts of human agency and futures consciousness are used for the analysis. The study examines two futures workshops organized in Finland for farmers and stakeholders in the agricultural sector using the futures consciousness scale pre-post survey, an open-ended follow-up survey, and thematic interviews. The results of the study show that although there was no statistically significant change in futures consciousness, the workshop experience is absorbed into participants’ daily reality, provoking their uses of futures. By analyzing quantitative and qualitative data, it is thus concluded that the ways in which futures participation empowers futures thinking and action are not, and should not be held, evident. Therefore, it is proposed that regarding their empowerment assumptions, participatory futures methods should perform deeper self-consideration as anticipatory practice.</p
Kirja-arvio: Kirjoitettu kevät 1918. Andreas McKeough: Koettu ja kerrottu sota. Tutkimus vuoden 1918 sodan kerronnallisesta käsittelystä omaelämäkerrallisissa teksteissä. 2017. ISBN: 978-952-5976-51-9.
No full textFatigue and health-related quality of life depend on the disability status and clinical course in RRMS
No full textBackground: Fatigue is a prominent and disabling symptom of multiple sclerosis (MS), impairing quality of life. The disease course of relapsing remitting MS (RRMS) is individual. Objectives: We aimed to study the effects of demographic and clinical characteristics, as well as lifestyle risk factors on experienced fatigue and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among RRMS patients, comparing benign and severe disease types.Methods: Altogether 198 Finnish RRMS patients were recruited for this real-life cross-sectional study. Self-reported questionnaires were used to evaluate fatigue and HRQoL by using Fatigue Scale for Motor and Cognitive Functions and 15D health-related quality of life questionnaires. Patients were categorized into sub-groups based on the current disability status measured by the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) cut-off value of 4.5, and by retrospective clinical course divided into benign and aggressive RRMS.Results: All in all, 73% of the RRMS patients suffered from fatigue. Lower HRQoL had a strong correlation with more prominent fatigue (r =-0.719). Higher EDSS was associated with more prominent fatigue and lower HRQoL in the whole RRMS cohort. Older age at the disease onset was associated with more prominent fatigue and decreased HRQoL in the groups of aggressive RRMS and EDSS > 4.5. In the groups of EDSS & LE; 4.5 and benign RRMS, a higher number of used disease-modifying treatments (DMTs) was associated with more pronounced fatigue and reduced HRQoL. In addition, higher BMI was associated with lower HRQoL in patients with benign RRMS. Side effects (45 %) and lack of efficacy (26 %) were the most common reasons for discontinuing a DMT. Cessation due to side effects was the only reason that was significantly associated with more prominent fatigue and lower HRQoL. Use of nicotine products, gender, or disease duration were not associated with fatigue or HRQoL.Conclusions: Individuals with severe RRMS and higher EDSS scores are more prone to experience fatigue and lower HRQoL. In addition, fatigue and lower HRQoL are more commonly observed among RRMS patients with older age at disease onset and in those with multiple DMT switches.</p
The heterogeneity of attenuated and brief limited psychotic symptoms: association of contents with age, sex, country, religion, comorbidities, and functioning
No full textIntroduction: The Attenuated Psychosis Symptoms (APS) syndrome mostly represents the ultra-high-risk state of psychosis but, as does the Brief Intermittent Psychotic Symptoms (BIPS) syndrome, shows a large variance in conversion rates. This may be due to the heterogeneity of APS/BIPS that may be related to the effects of culture, sex, age, and other psychiatric morbidities. Thus, we investigated the different thematic contents of APS and their association with sex, age, country, religion, comorbidity, and functioning to gain a better understanding of the psychosis-risk syndrome.Method: A sample of 232 clinical high-risk subjects according to the ultra-high risk and basic symptom criteria was recruited as part of a European study conducted in Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and Finland. Case vignettes, originally used for supervision of inclusion criteria, were investigated for APS/BIPS contents, which were compared for sex, age, country, religion, functioning, and comorbidities using chi-squared tests and regression analyses.Result: We extracted 109 different contents, mainly of APS (96.8%): 63 delusional, 29 hallucinatory, and 17 speech-disorganized contents. Only 20 contents (18.3%) were present in at least 5% of the sample, with paranoid and referential ideas being the most frequent. Thirty-one (28.5%) contents, in particular, bizarre ideas and perceptual abnormalities, demonstrated an association with age, country, comorbidity, or functioning, with regression models of country and obsessive-compulsive disorders explaining most of the variance: 55.8 and 38.3%, respectively. Contents did not differ between religious groups.Conclusion: Psychosis-risk patients report a wide range of different contents of APS/BIPS, underlining the psychopathological heterogeneity of this group but also revealing a potential core set of contents. Compared to earlier reports on North-American samples, our maximum prevalence rates of contents were considerably lower; this likely being related to a stricter rating of APS/BIPS and cultural influences, in particular, higher schizotypy reported in North-America. The various associations of some APS/BIPS contents with country, age, comorbidities, and functioning might moderate their clinical severity and, consequently, the related risk for psychosis and/or persistent functional disability.</p
Empivä kumppani - Suomi, Nato ja kriisinhallinta 1994-1997
No full textTämä artikkeli tarkastelee Suomen Nato-politiikan varhaisia vaiheita vuosina 1994–1997. Miten syntyi rauhankumppanuuteen (Partnership for Peace, PfP) pohjautuva Nato-ratkaisu? Millainen yhteistyökumppani Suomi oli? Artikkelin keskeistä aineistoa ovat ulkoasiainministeriön arkisto, Kansallisarkistossa säilytettävät presidentti Mauno Koiviston ja presidentti Martti Ahtisaaren yksityisarkistot sekä tasavallan presidentin kanslian arkisto. Artikkeli osoittaa, ettei Suomen hakeutuminen yhteistyöhön Naton kanssa ollut mutkatonta. Se herätti suomalaisessa keskustelussa jännitteitä, jotka poliittisen johdon ja virkamiesten oli otettava huomioon. Alkuvaiheessa Suomen profiili Nato-yhteistyössä pysyi matalana, mutta Bosnian sota muodostui käännekohdaksi. Naton johtamaa Bosnia-Hertsegovinan kriisinhallintaoperaatiota pidettiin koetinkivenä yhteistyöhön pohjautuvalle turvallisuusjärjestykselle, johon myös Venäjä haluttiin sitouttaa. Suomi suhtautui operaatioon kuitenkin varovaisesti. Tämä loi Suomesta kuvaa hieman haluttomana yhteistyökumppanina, jolle osallistuminen kriisinhallintaan oli hankalampaa kuin muille sotilaallisesti liittoutumattomille maille.</p
Dry Reforming of Methane over Rare-Earth Metal Oxide Ni-M-Al (M = Ce, La) Catalysts
No full text Dry reforming of methane (DRM) was investigated using Ni–M oxide catalysts prepared by solution combustion synthesis (SCS) and compared with Ni/α-Al2O3 synthesized by impregnation. According to X-ray diffraction, fresh oxide Ni–La and Ni–Ce catalysts displayed low crystallinity, which was improved after DRM, accompanied by the appearance of metallic Ni. Ni–Ce–Al and Ni–La–Al catalysts formed, respectively, CeAlO3 and LaAlO3 phases during the reaction. For studied catalysts featuring low surface areas ranging from 3 to 12 m2/g, the average metal particle sizes were 12–32 nm according to transmission electron microscopy, with the particles growing larger with time-on-stream (TOS) apart from Ni–α-Al2O3. DRM tests were conducted for different TOSs, demonstrating that the highest CH4 transformation rate was concomitant with the highest deactivation rate during 30 min of time-on-stream. The most stable performance in temperature stability experiments was demonstrated by the Ni–Ce–Al catalyst, for which, similar to other catalysts, the H2/CO ratio remained close to unity. In long-term stability tests, the Ni–Ce–Al catalyst displayed a 3.1-fold higher turnover frequency (TOF) compared with Ni–α-Al2O3, with no significant deactivation. The TOF values were comparable to the literature, highlighting the potential of SCS as an alternative approach for synthesis of DRM catalysts.</p