Latin American convergence and divergence towards the mortality profiles of developed countries

It is uncertain whether Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) countries are approaching a single mortality regime. Over the last three decades, LAC has experienced major public health interventions and the highest number of homicides in the world. However, these interventions and homicide rates are not evenly shared across countries. This study documents trends in life expectancy and lifespan variability for 20 LAC countries, 2000–14. By extending a previous method, we decompose differences in lifespan variability between LAC and a developed world benchmark into cause-specific effects. For both sexes, dispersion of amenable diseases through the age span makes the largest contribution to the gap between LAC and the benchmark. Additionally, for males, the concentration of homicides, accidents, and suicides in mid-life further impedes mortality convergence. Great disparity exists in the region: while some countries are rapidly approaching the developed regime, others remain far behind and suffer a clear disadvantage in population health.     

Squashed dreams and rare breeds: ableism and the arbiters of life and death

The week beginning 29 June 2015 is not just historic for the closure of the Independent Living Fund in the United Kingdom, but for me was the week they decided that my life is not worth investing in; they being NHS England, NICE and, with them, the Department of Health. They chose not to support the enzyme replacement therapy that has been not only keeping me alive, but giving me a quality of life – enabling me to return to finish my Disability Studies PhD exploring how Christian leaders explain disability, where ethics have become the main topic, and to rebuild my career – or so I thought.     

Caring for families experiencing stillbirth: Evidence-based guidance for maternity care providers

BackgroundEvidence-based guidance is needed to inform care provided to mothers and families who experience stillbirth. This paper focuses upon how meaningful and culturally appropriate care can be provided to mothers and families from when they are informed that their baby will be stillborn to many years after the experience. Avoidable suffering may be occurring in the clinical setting.AimsTo promote and inform meaningful and culturally appropriate evidence-informed practice amongst maternity care providers caring for mothers and families who experience stillbirth.MethodsA comprehensive systematic review was conducted which primarily synthesised relevant qualitative research studies. An expert advisory group comprised of stillbirth researchers, clinicians, and parents who have experienced stillbirth provided guidance for the review and the development of implications for practice.FindingsGrieving parents want staff to demonstrate sensitivity and empathy, validate their emotions, provide clear, information, and be aware that the timing of information may be distressing. Parents want support and guidance when making decisions about seeing and holding their baby. Sensitivity, respect, collaboration, and information are essential throughout the experience of stillbirth. Culturally appropriate care is important and may require staff to accommodate different cultural practices.ConclusionThe findings of the review and expert consensus inform the provision of meaningful and culturally appropriate care for mothers and families that have experienced stillbirth. Evidence informed implications for practice are provided to guide the actions, communication, and behaviours of maternity care providers.     

The relationship between lifetime health trajectories and socioeconomic attainment in middle age

A large literature demonstrates the direct and indirect influence of health on socioeconomic attainment, and reveals the ways in which health and socioeconomic background simultaneously and dynamically affect opportunities for attainment and mobility. Despite an increasing understanding of the effects of health on social processes, research to date remains limited in its conceptualization and measurement of the temporal dimensions of health, especially in the presence of socioeconomic circumstances that covary with health over time. Guided by life course theory, we use data from the British National Child Development Study, an ongoing panel study of a cohort born in 1958, to examine the association between lifetime health trajectories and socioeconomic attainment in middle age. We apply finite mixture modeling to identify distinct trajectories of health that simultaneously account for timing, duration and stability. Moreover, we employ propensity score weighting models to account for the presence of time-varying socioeconomic factors in estimating the impact of health trajectories. We find that, when poor health is limited to the childhood years, the disadvantage in socioeconomic attainment relative to being continuously healthy is either insignificant or largely explained by time-varying socioeconomic confounders. The socioeconomic impact of continuously deteriorating health over the life course is more persistent, however. Our results suggest that accounting for the timing, duration and stability of poor health throughout both childhood and adulthood is important for understanding how health works to produce social stratification. In addition, the findings highlight the importance of distinguishing between confounding and mediating effects of time-varying socioeconomic circumstances.     

Inference and optimal design of multiple constant-stress testing for generalized half-normal distribution under type-II progressive censoring

The generalized half-normal (GHN) distribution and progressive type-II censoring are considered in this article for studying some statistical inferences of constant-stress accelerated life testing. The EM algorithm is considered to calculate the maximum likelihood estimates. Fisher information matrix is formed depending on the missing information law and it is utilized for structuring the asymptomatic confidence intervals. Further, interval estimation is discussed through bootstrap intervals. The Tierney and Kadane method, importance sampling procedure and Metropolis-Hastings algorithm are utilized to compute Bayesian estimates. Furthermore, predictive estimates for censored data and the related prediction intervals are obtained. We consider three optimality criteria to find out the optimal stress level. A real data set is used to illustrate the importance of GHN distribution as an alternative lifetime model for well-known distributions. Finally, a simulation study is provided with discussion.     

精神回溯与意象精研的本质书写--林雪诗歌评论

林雪是当代汉语诗歌的重要诗人，她“在心为志，发言为诗”，诗风大气沉郁。她近期的诗歌，情怀与思辨相互倚重、酵化，介入生活与提炼心性同步发力，题材多样，手法多变，情感收放自如，气韵放达从容。她对现实的观照，对时空的架构，对存在的开掘，都呈现出一种新的气象。她自觉地从先期女性主义诗写中觉醒，到如今的清澈中隐显尘世的味蕾，对生活细节和感念触觉的精妙镂刻，以及对世道人心的专注和细致打量。     

哲学家的私人生活与其哲学的解读

在哲学史研究中，对哲学家之哲学的解读与其私人生活的考察之间是否存在本质性的关联，是一个颇为耐人寻味却又不易回答的问题。而且，正像对“哲学”这一概念的本质主义理解是不可能的一样，这个问题也不存在一个本质主义的解答。不过，借助两种哲学类型的区分以及哲学史研究过程的三阶段划分，我们能够相对具体而又深入地来分析和讨论这一问题。     

孤独个体与向死而生——多元文化社会中《凡人》的身份认同

美国犹太裔作家菲利普·罗斯的《凡人》讲述了一个关于失去与孤独、疾病与死亡的故事。主人公作为一个犹太裔美国人,因其身份的特殊性与美国主流文化格格不入,显得格外孤独与痛苦,这种孤独个体的特性也贯穿了其一生。与此同时,在他的一生中无时无刻不在与疾病和死亡作斗争,体现了向死而生的特点,即在绝望中蕴含着希望。在美国多元文化社会中,主人公追寻的身份认同正是当代美国人普遍的生存状况,表现了普遍的生存困境。     

自杀和生命的意义——来自脑科学研究的解读

生命本身是一个随机事件，并不具有高尚的意义。进化的结果使人类可通过工作、家庭和人际关系等给予自己的生命以意义感。当我们的生活方式使脑内奖赏系统获得刺激，就会带来生命具有意义的感受，这种感受给人带来更好的生存机会。生存的欲望是一切生物体最具特征的属性，一些精神疾病患者缺乏这种欲望。自杀主要发生于精神疾病患者，它并非是基于自由意志的行为。抗精神病治疗和适当的社会交往可以预防自杀。由于不同个体有着不同的大脑，人们的生活方式就应该去适应各自大脑的特征。只要人们的生活方式不对他人造成过多的伤害，政府就应该允许和保护人们自由地按照各自的方式生活。     

《1844年经济学哲学手稿》与《神圣家族》中的生活思想

《1844年经济学哲学手稿》和《神圣家族》都是马克思主义创始人早期思想的代表性著作，二者都把“生活”作为重要概念进行论述。从作为经济学哲学概念到作为社会批判概念，马克思主义创始人对“生活”的认识经历了从对物质生产活动的重视到对无产阶级普遍贫困生活的揭露，从分析“生产生活”的异化到对“非人性”生活的批判，从“生活的手段”到消灭“非人性的生活条件”的思想历程。人类的历史是人类生活发展的历史。解决人的美好生活如何实现的问题，在马克思恩格斯的生活思想中居于核心地位，这对当今中国具有重要的理论指导价值。中国特色社会主义进入新时代，从开启一种全新文明的生活形态的高度来理解新时代的美好生活，才能准确把握我国社会主要矛盾变化的深刻意义。