Within your rights: Dissociating wrongness and permissibility in moral judgement.

Are we ever morally permitted to do what is morally wrong? It seems intuitive that we are, but evidence for dissociations among judgement of permissibility and wrongness is relatively scarce. Across four experiments (N = 1438), we show that people judge that some behaviours can be morally wrong and permissible. The dissociations arise because these judgements track different morally relevant aspects of everyday moral encounters. Judgements of individual rights predicted permissibility but not wrongness, while character assessment predicted wrongness but not permissibility. These findings suggest a picture in which moral evaluation is granular enough to express reasoning about different types of normative considerations, notably the possibility that people can exercise their rights in morally problematic ways.

Purity is linked to cooperation but not necessarily through self-control.

Fitouchi et al. claim that seemingly victimless pleasures and nonproductive activities are moralized because they alter self-control. Their account predicts that: (1) victimless excesses are negatively moralized because they diminish self-control, and (2) restrained behaviors are positively moralized because they enhance self-control. Several examples run contrary to these predictions and call into question the general relationship between self-control and cooperation.

Compassion and decision fatigue among healthcare workers during COVID-19 pandemic in a Colombian sample.

Being compassionate and empathic while making rational decisions is expected from healthcare workers across different contexts. But the daily challenges that these workers face, aggravated by the recent COVID-19 crisis, can give rise to compassion and decision fatigue, which affects not only their ability to meet these expectations but has a significant negative impact on their wellbeing. Hence, it is vital to identify factors associated to their exhaustion. Here, we sought to describe levels of compassion and decision fatigue during the pandemic, and to identify factors related to these forms of exhaustion. We collected data using self-reported questionnaires to measure compassion fatigue, decision fatigue, and grit in five intervals from April to November, 2020 (N = 856). Our results showed a negative correlation between grit and compassion and decision fatigue. We also found that under the circumstances studied grit tends to be higher in technicians, nurses, other professionals (psychologists, social workers), and workers at the Emergency Room (ER), and lower in general practitioners. Compassion fatigue tend to be higher for technicians, whereas decision fatigue was lower for specialists, general practitioners, and technicians, and higher for those working at private hospitals.

Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease. An unusual disease

Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease is self-limited, has a good prognosis, is diagnosed histopathologically, is more common on the Asian continent, in women and in those under the age of 40, and is usually diagnosed by exclusion. We present the case of a 20-year-old male patient with no significant medical history who consulted due to persistent fever, enlarged lymph nodes, gastrointestinal symptoms and weight loss. He debuted with pancytopenia, elevated acute phase reactants and altered liver function, and underwent an excisional lymph node biopsy, whose findings were compatible with Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease. He was treated symptomatically with NSAIDs and was followed up one month after discharge, at which time there was no evidence of recurrent fever or other additional symptoms. (Acta Med Colomb 2022; 47. DOI:https://doi.org/10.36104/amc.2022.2553).

La enfermedad de Kikuchi Fujimoto es autolimitada, de buen pronóstico, de diagnóstico histo-patológico, cuya incidencia es mayor en el continente asiático en mujeres, en menores de 40 años y usualmente es un diagnóstico de exclusión. Presentamos el caso de un paciente masculino de 20 años sin antecedentes patológicos, quien consultó por fiebre persistente, adenopatías, síntomas gastrointestinales y pérdida de peso; debutó con pancitopenia, aumento de reactantes de fase aguda, alteración de función hepática y en quien se le practicó biopsia excisional de ganglio, la cual evidenció hallazgos compatibles con la enfermedad de Kikuchi Fujimoto. Se hace manejo sintomático con AINES y se realiza control al mes de egreso, donde no hay evidencia de recurrencia de picos febriles u otros síntomas adicionales. (Acta Med Colomb 2022; 47. DOI:https://doi.org/10.36104/amc.2022.2553).

Situational factors shape moral judgements in the trolley dilemma in Eastern, Southern and Western countries in a culturally diverse sample.

The study of moral judgements often centres on moral dilemmas in which options consistent with deontological perspectives (that is, emphasizing rules, individual rights and duties) are in conflict with options consistent with utilitarian judgements (that is, following the greater good based on consequences). Greene et al. (2009) showed that psychological and situational factors (for example, the intent of the agent or the presence of physical contact between the agent and the victim) can play an important role in moral dilemma judgements (for example, the trolley problem). Our knowledge is limited concerning both the universality of these effects outside the United States and the impact of culture on the situational and psychological factors affecting moral judgements. Thus, we empirically tested the universality of the effects of intent and personal force on moral dilemma judgements by replicating the experiments of Greene et al. in 45 countries from all inhabited continents. We found that personal force and its interaction with intention exert influence on moral judgements in the US and Western cultural clusters, replicating and expanding the original findings. Moreover, the personal force effect was present in all cultural clusters, suggesting it is culturally universal. The evidence for the cultural universality of the interaction effect was inconclusive in the Eastern and Southern cultural clusters (depending on exclusion criteria). We found no strong association between collectivism/individualism and moral dilemma judgements.

Descripción de características demográficas y clínicas de una cohorte pacientes fallecidos por infección respiratoria aguda en Colombia durante los años 2009 a 2013 / Description of demographic and clinical characteristics of a cohort of patients with mortality due to acute respiratory infection in Colombia during the years 2009 to 2013

Objetivo: Describir las características clínicas, demográficas, aislamientos virales y hallazgos de histopatología de individuos que fallecieron por Infección Respiratoria Aguda (IRA) y que fueron notificados al Instituto Nacional de Salud (INS) entre los años 2009 y 2013. Métodos: Estudio observacional, descriptivo, retrospectivo, basado en la revisión de fichas epidemiológicas y reportes de estudios de virología e histopatología de muestras respiratorias de individuos fallecidos con diagnóstico de IRA. Resultados: De 1604 personas fallecidas se encontró que, 55% fueron hombres, 46,5% de los individuos tenía entre 20 y 59 años. La RT-PCR fue positiva en 18,3% de los casos, los virus más frecuentes fueron: influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 13,9%, A(H3N3) 1,9% e influenza B 0,5%. La letalidad de IRA fue mayor en los individuos que recibieron antiviral o antibiótico OR 2,80 (IC 95% 2,29 - 3,43) y 3,19 (IC 95% 2,63 - 3,86), respectivamente. Conclusión: El virus influenza A(H1N1) pdm09 fue el principal agente identificado en los casos fatales de IRA confirmada por laboratorio durante los años 2009 a 2013, con mayor letalidad en individuos entre 20 y 59 años; 64,7% de los casos fatales presentaron neumonitis. Se debe aclarar si el inicio de antivirales afecta el pronóstico en los casos graves de IRA.

Objective: To describe the clinical, demographic, viral isolates and histopathology findings of individuals who died of acute respiratory infection (ARI) and were reported to the National Institute of Health during the years 2009-2013. Methods: Observational, descriptive, retrospective study based on the review of epidemiological records and virology and histopathology reports of respiratory samples from deceased individuals diagnosed with ARI, that were received at the Colombian National Institute Health's Virology Group. Results: 1604 deaths, 55% were men, 46.5% of subjects were between 20 and 59 years, 13,5% received oseltamivir. RT-PCR was positive in 18,3% of cases, the most common viruses were: influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 13,9%, A(H3N3) 1.9% and influenza B 0,5 %. The lethality of ARI was higher in individuals who received antiviral or antibiotic OR 2,80 (95% CI 2,29 - 3,43) and 3.19 (95% CI 2,63 - 3,86), respectively. Conclusion: Influenza A (H1N1) pdm09 virus was the main agent identified in fatal cases of laboratory-confirmed ARI during the years 2009 to 2013, with the highest lethality in individuals between 20 and 59 years; 64.7% of fatal cases had pneumonitis. It must be clarified if the initiation of antivirals affects the prognosis in severe cases of ARI.