BACKGROUND

LGBTQ+ populations worldwide bear a disproportionate burden of health disparities aggravated by stigma and discrimination in healthcare. This struggle is worsened in the Philippines due to systemic barriers, outdated medical curricula, and the pervasive stigma in society, making it harder for LGBTQ+ individuals to access healthcare.

A community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach using the photovoice method was used to describe and co-construct perspectives from LGBTQ+ individuals related to healthcare access in the Philippine healthcare system. The LGBTQ+ participants who resided in Metro Manila were asked to capture photographs representing their healthcare experiences. Focused group discussions (FGD) were then utilized as a platform for collective discussions and interpretations of these photos, enabling the participants to voice their stories and views about healthcare access.

The results are represented in seven photographs, symbolizing seven key themes that are illustrative of the importance of narrating LGBTQ+ stories in healthcare, solidarity among the community for better access, the urgent need for a call to make healthcare spaces inclusive, navigation through intersecting identities, interaction between healthcare professionals and LGBTQ+ individuals, the call for systemic change to be fitted to the needs of LGBTQ+ people, and diverse healthcare challenges among transgender people.

The findings point to the strong call for systemic reforms in the Philippine healthcare system to better support the needs of LGBTQ+ people. This study highly recommends that lived experiences should be included in health practices and policies as a basis for inclusivity and equity.

Human ; Residence Characteristics ; Community

BACKGROUND

Growing old is a remarkable journey filled with diverse experiences and wisdom. It’s a time when individuals often reflect on their lives, cherish memories, and share invaluable lessons with younger generations. Understanding aging is crucial as it encompasses more than just physiological and psychological processes, to comprehend the subjective sensations of the phenomenon of “being an elderly person”.

The purpose of this study was to describe the daily lives of frail older adults living alone in Quezon City.

The study utilized a qualitative research design. The approach employed was a descriptive phenomenological study describing the fundamental nature of being an elderly. The population consisted of frail older adult people (>60 years old) assessed using the Clinical Frailty Scale and living alone in Quezon city using a purposive sampling of those who were present in their homes during the designated interview period. The study was conducted in a private, safe and secured place both agreed by the participants and the researcher through face to face interview.

Being an frail older adult in this study essentially involves balancing one’s life in a flow of motion. The older adult is balancing a number of life-altering events and a shift in their circumstances influenced by recollections from various stages of life. In the life of an older adult, all ages are harmonious and wisely expressed and developed from pleasant and lovely or less pleasant and beautiful or more stressful early life experiences that went throughout adolescence and young adulthood, middle age, and later years. Their family, children and grandchildren were their source of strength and inspiration.

This study gave light on the realities faced daily by a frail older adult. Insights gained from this study serve as an opportunity to develop or innovate appropriate support. This information is crucial for clinicians, community-based aged care providers, legislators, elderly associations, and other concerned citizens. On a local level, the government unit’s key officials or proponents for the welfare of older adults are encouraged to delve deeper and focus on the unique needs and life experiences of the elderly population.

This paper aims to show Empedocles' influence on Hippocratic medicine through the analysis of two Hippocratic writings, i.e. On Ancient Medicine(AM) and On the Nature of Man(NM). I think that the author of AM criticizes philosophical physicians or natural philosophers, especially Empedocles, that at least Empedoclean philosophy is not necessary to medicine. On the contrary, the author of NM positively receives Empedoclean position in several aspects. It is necessary to examine these two writings in order to consider Empedocles' positive and negative influences on Hippocratic Medicine. The author of AM attacks the philosophical physicians who lay down as a hypothesis for their account hot or cold or wet or dry, in other words the same one or two things as the primary cause of all diseases. But it does not seem clear what the point of his criticism is. I think that his criticism lies on the following three points: (1) Hot or cold or wet or dry is neither the important cause of disease nor the important element for therapy;(2) The cause of diseases is not the same one or two things, but myriad things; (3) hypothesis as assumption is not necessary to medicine. These three points implies the criticism against cosmology and methodology of some early Greek philosophers, in particular Empedocles. Accordingly we should notice that the author attacks physicians influenced by Empedocles especially. Then whom does attack the author of AM? Lloyd points out Philolaus as the author's opponent, since he argues that man consists of the hot(Lloyd, 1963: 124-25). But I think that Lloyd narrowed down the opponent's range excessively. For example, if a physician holds that we consist of hot, cold, dry and wet, and that these are causes of diseases, does he belong to those whom the author attacked, or not? At a glance he doesn't seem to do. Because he lays down not one or two things as the cause of diseases, but four. But strictly we should tell that he does only two. Because hot and cold are contrary, and so both can not be causes of an disease at the same time. The same account applies to dry and wet too. Therefore even if someone lays down hot, cold, dry and wet as causes of diseases, it is right to regard him as the author's opponent. Moreover if a physician explains diseases by hot or cold or dry or wet, whether these are substances or qualities, in my opinion he is the author's opponent. Thus the opponents' range can be enlarged. While the author of AM attempts to exclude Empedoclean thought from medicine, the author of NM adopts it so positively. This author rejects the monistic view about man in chapters 1 and 2, and in chapter 3 tells that man is composed of hot, cold, dry and wet. And in the subsequent chapters he argues that man's body is composed of the four humours, and associates each humour with hot, cold, dry and wet respectively. It is noticeable that the author takes the pluralistic view and thinks that elements are four in number, that he make much of hot, cold, dry and wet, and that he explains man' generation and health by the balanced mixture. This shows Empedocles' influence on the author. In addition, the author holds that man and cosmos have hot, cold, dry and wet equally, and their change in cosmos according to seasons brings the increase or decrease of humours to man's body. Here is Empedocles' theory of macrocosm-microcosm found.
Human Characteristics* ; Humans* ; Philosophy ; Seasons

Up to the present, the existing residency training in Korea, functions only as a factory to produce the heartless and increative medical technician. So, we performed the elective course in residency t raining especially about the basic medicine by the 18 residents for 5 years since since 1990 in college of medicne, Korea University. The residents who paticipate in the elective course, can have enough time to consider the nature, human and doctor and to act as a pioneer to study the basic science. Thus, we concluded that the elective course residency training about the interesting department can enables not only the increment of autonomy but also time to contact with the human nature and basic science.
Human Characteristics ; Internship and Residency* ; Korea ; Rain

The author reviewed the relationship between psychotherapy and ego growth from psychoanalytic point of view. The effect of psychotherapy represents itself in ego growth. To illustrate this claim, the author reviewed Freud's concept on the effect of psychotherapy first and the concepts discussed in literatures after Freud. The main stance of this paper is that the effect of psychotherapy manifests itself in ego growth through therapeutic relationships. The author deduced that since the major part of the therapeutic process takes place unconsciously, one is unaware of his/her ego growth. Through psychotherapy, the immature part of the personality, which stoped growing in the course of development, starts to grow. It may be the ego growth either through gaining insight or the growth derived from the therapeutic relationship with the analyst. Mental illness can be looked upon as the loss of human nature, and the remedy lies in recovering the human nature. The lost human nature is recovered when one is in a therapeutic environment, that is very much maternal in nature. Psychotherapy may result in some changes in brain physiology or neurochemistry. It may take some time to bring about anatomical changes of the brain. If this assumption is correct that psychotherapy inflicts anatomical changes of the brain for it's positive effects, it should be accomplished through a long period of working-through of the problem. Some studies on this theme of neurophysiology and anatomical research are already in process and I hope to be able to explain the processes of psychotherapy in the near future.
Brain ; Ego ; Hope ; Human Characteristics ; Neurochemistry ; Neurophysiology ; Physiology ; Psychotherapy*

Writing about advances in a field of medicine normally includes some pride about progress which one was witness to or even a participant in. The younger one is, the more enthusiastically every advance is lauded and welcomed. This is human nature and nothing to be complained about. However, when anesthesiologists, having worked and struggled in the field of pediatric anesthesia for about 40 years, look back to past advances, a more realistic, even painful picture comes to mind. There was a price which a considerable number of patients had to pay for progress, ruined health or even death. This experience of decades of practice is rarely presented in the literature but should not be forgotten when we proudly remember advances in pediatric anesthesia.
Anesthesia ; Human Characteristics ; Humans ; Wit and Humor as Topic ; Writing

Human hair, a kind of natural fiber mainly composed of keratin and keratin-associated proteins, is a good biological sample that can be used to characterize the status of the body in a certain period of time. It is of highly importance in the detection of drugs, alcohol and stimulants because of the advantages of low cost, easy collection, easy transportation and storage. Proteomics is an emerging technology widely used in the field of life sciences to study protein expression and regulation at the holistic level. Investigating the composition and dynamic changes of hair proteins in different populations would have great potential in finding disease markers and distinguishing personal traits. In this paper, the structure and composition of hair, the changes of hair composition under psychological stress, and the research progress of hair proteomics were comprehensively reviewed. This will help using hair proteomics to identify body characteristics.
Humans ; Human Characteristics ; Proteomics ; Hair/chemistry* ; Keratins/chemistry* ; Metabolomics

BACKGROUND

There is growing interest in gender differences in acute stroke worldwide. However, no known studies have been published on the differences in prognosis of hyperacute intracerebral hemorrhage between genders among Asians, particularly Filipinos.

Compare gender differences in the prognosis of hyperacute intracerebral hemorrhage in terms of baseline demographic and radiologic profile, as well as, clinical outcomes.

This is a retrospective cohort study involving a chart review of all patients diagnosed with hyperacute Intracerebral Hemorrhage admitted at a tertiary hospital from January 2021 to May 2023. Patients were grouped according to their gender and baseline demographic, radiologic and clinical outcomes were assessed and compared between two groups.

No statistical difference was found between stroke risk factors between the two groups. However, males tend to have higher percentages of intraventricular extension (29.2 %. (n=28) vs 30.6% (n=11) and increased hematoma volume compared to their female counterparts (n=39, 83% vs n=11, 68%). In addition, males had a higher number of ICU admissions (42.7% (n= 41) vs. 33.3% (n= 12) and mortality (46.9%( n=45) vs. 30.6% (n=11), though the results were not statistically significant.

In patients with hyperacute intracerebral hemorrhage, gender does not influence on its radiologic and clinical outcome.

OBJECTIVE: Several decades ago Sutich, Walsh and Wilber said, "Transpersonal psychology has taken a position of the fourth emerging force", after the first three of psychoanalytic, behavioristic and humanistic psychology. There is a basis to confirm that transpersonal psychology and transpersonal psychotherapy are the new power of psychology. Namely they pursue entire spectrums of consciousness including the spiritual domain of human consciousness which the school of psychoanalysis, behaviorism and humanistic psychology did not emphasize. Transpersonal psychology is concerned with the study of optimum psychological health and well being, including traditional areas and techniques of therapeutic concern. Added to these it an interest in facilitating growth and awareness beyond traditionally recognized levels of health and, in so doing, it emphasized the importance of modifying consciousness. In addition to optimum psychological health and well-being, these areas included subjects such as altered states of consciousness, peak experience, self-realization, transcendent of personal levels and effects of meditation and other consciousness altering techniques. The representative theory of this is the basic structures of consciousness by Wilber. His basic structures of consciousness explain the essence of human beings and contain various lines of human development. He has limited his presentation to nine of the most basic and central levels, three of which are prepersonal, personal and transpersonal realms. There are several cases with the similar standpoint of consciousness of Wilber in Zen Buddhism of the Orient. One of them is the ode to the cow seeker and the picture to the cow seeker by Zen master, Kwak-am. Kwak-am explained the process of seeking the essence of a human being with 10 pictures trying to seek lost cow which is called "ten ox herding pictures". The odes to the cow seeker are added explanation of those pictures of the cow seeker Here, this paper introduces you the metaphor of odes to the cow seeker which was compared with basic structures of consciousness and discussed with some scholar's theories of personality development. Therefore, both metaphorical meanings of odes to the cow seeker and Wilber's basic structures of consciousness are an inquiry into the nature of human beings and this inquiry also links the process of the development of transpersonal consciousness Lastly, I tried to prove that transpersonal psychology draws on the contribution of both Eastern wisdom and Western science. METHOD: In order to discuss for correlation between odes to the cow seeker and basic structures of consciousness, a method was chosen for interpreting books which are related with these subjects. Among these books, the principal books for odes to the cow seeker were "Buddhistic words seeking himself" by Sunglim, "ox herding pictures", "ten series reaching enlightenment" by Hyee-ik Lee and the manual of zen Buddhism by D. T. Suzuki. The three books were compared with "ontogenic development", "two fundamental patterns" and the spectrum of development by Wilber. RESULTS: The results of the discussion were as follows. The 1st stanza, ode of searching for the cow is corresponded to the sensory physical mind, the 2nd stanza, ode of finding cow's footprints is corresponded to the phantasmic emotional mind, the 3rd stanza, ode of seeing the cow is corresponded to the representational mind, the 4th stanza, ode of catching the cow is corresponded to the rule/role mind, the 5th stanza, ode of taming the cow is corresponded to the formal reflexive mind, the 6th stanza, ode of coming home on the cow's back is corresponded to the vision-logic mind, the 7th stanza, ode of cow gone(the seeker remains alone), is corresponded to the psychic and subtle mind which consciousness belongs to the transpersonal level. The 8th stanza, ode of the cow and the seeker disappeared is corresponded to the causal level, and the 9th stanza, ode of returning to the source is corresponded to the ultimate mind which is connected to the eighth ode and abided as the absolute spirit. Strictly speaking, the ultimate state is not one level among others, but the reality, condition or suchness of all levels. Then, the 10th stanza, ode of entering a house in the market with help-bestowing hands is a scene which the transpersonal deity is not staying in contemplative life state but illuminating toward market people naturally as the flower blooms on an old tree in Spring. CONCLUSION: Human psychology tends to change to transpersonal psychology in order to understand the essence of human nature like abnormal behavior is destructive while sound is constructive with nature. The 'transpersonal' combined with the term of 'trans' and 'personal' is a new psychology field which pursues the existence of spirituality. All creation with human beings has its spirituality moving immanently horizontally and it goes transcendentally vertically. Ode to the cow seeker tells the process how the consciousness of a person reachs out to be transpersonal beyond his boundary. The attitude of seeker after spirituality would be compared with the attitude of today's teacher. Therefore I would like to remark that psychotherapists and seekers of the essence of human-beings have to access the point of self-transcendence and also have to try to develop their self-introspection at the level of biopsychosocial-spiritual dimension in the base of psychodynamism. From birth to death, it is very hard to find a real Guru who guides us to find out the right ways of life. There's only ways to seek his own spirituality by relieving himself in the base of transpersonal movement and only a few seekers say that's the only way to find it. Besides this way, whether the way of life we take is repeated or comes to a deadlock.
Buddhism ; Consciousness* ; Flowers ; Hand ; Human Characteristics ; Human Development ; Humans ; Meditation ; Metaphor ; Parturition ; Personality Development ; Psychoanalysis ; Psychology ; Psychotherapy ; Reflex ; Spirituality