Praxeological Enactivism vs. Radical Enactivism: Reply to Hutto.

In his recent paper "Getting Real About Pretense: A Radical Enactivist Proposal", Daniel Hutto raises several objections against our so-called praxeological enactivist account of pretense (Weichold & Rucinska 2022). He argues that one should, instead, adopt his radical enactivist explanation of pretend play. In this short reply, we defend our praxeological enactivist account against his objections, and argue that it has crucial advantages over his radical enactivist alternative.

Enacting Metaphors in Systemic Collaborative Therapy.

What makes metaphors good therapeutic tools? In this paper, we provide an answer to this question by analyzing how metaphors work in systemic collaborative therapeutic practices. We look at the recent embodied, enactive and ecological proposals to metaphors, and provide our own, dialogical-enactive account, whereby metaphors are tools for enacting change in therapeutic dialogs. We highlight the role of enacting metaphors in therapy, which is concerned with how one uses the metaphors in shared process of communication. Our answer is that metaphors serve as good tools for connecting to action words, through which the client's embodiment and agency can be explored. To illustrate our view, we analyze two examples of enacting metaphors in therapeutic engagements with adolescents. Our enactive proposal to metaphors is different from others as it does not rely on engaging in explicit performances but stays within a linguistic dialog. We take metaphoric engagement as an act of participatory sense-making, unfolding in the interaction. This insight stems from enactive ways of thinking about language as a process accomplished by embodied agents in interaction, and seeing talking also as a form of doing.

Embodied Imagination and Metaphor Use in Autism Spectrum Disorder.

This paper discusses different frameworks for understanding imagination and metaphor in the context of research on the imaginative skills of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In contrast to a standard linguistic framework, it advances an embodied and enactive account of imagination and metaphor. The paper describes a case study from a systemic therapeutic session with a child with ASD that makes use of metaphors. It concludes by outlining some theoretical insights into the imaginative skills of children with ASD that follow from taking the embodied-enactive perspective and proposes suggestions for interactive interventions to further enhance imaginative skills and metaphor understanding in children with ASD.

From Wide Cognition to Mechanisms: A Silent Revolution.

In this paper, we argue that several recent 'wide' perspectives on cognition (embodied, embedded, extended, enactive, and distributed) are only partially relevant to the study of cognition. While these wide accounts override traditional methodological individualism, the study of cognition has already progressed beyond these proposed perspectives toward building integrated explanations of the mechanisms involved, including not only internal submechanisms but also interactions with others, groups, cognitive artifacts, and their environment. Wide perspectives are essentially research heuristics for building mechanistic explanations. The claim is substantiated with reference to recent developments in the study of "mindreading" and debates on emotions. We argue that the current practice in cognitive (neuro)science has undergone, in effect, a silent mechanistic revolution, and has turned from initial binary oppositions and abstract proposals toward the integration of wide perspectives with the rest of the cognitive (neuro)sciences.

The evaluation of the postoperative course in patients operated due to abdominal aortic aneurysm as urgent or elective procedure.

INTRODUCTION: The patients with the aortic abdominal aneurysm of 55mm in diameter are qualified for surgery. There is open repair (OR) by means of the vascular prosthesis implantation or the less invasive endovascular method by means of the stent graft implantation through femoral arteries incision (EndovascularAorticRepair - EVAR). The aim of the study was the evaluation of the postoperative course in patients operated due to the aortic abdominal aneurysm and the evaluation of the impact of the surgical method on the short-time results. MATERIAL AND METHODS: 124 patients operated due to the abdominal aortic aneurysm in Dept of Surgery of 4th Military Hospital in Wroclaw in 2014 were enrolled into the study: 53 patients with OR, 53 patients with EVAR, and 19 patients with a ruptured aneurysm. RESULTS: Mortality was 0% in EVAR and 6% in OR and 39% in a ruptured aneurysm. Time of hospital stay was 5.8 days in EVAR vs 10 days in OR. The stay in ICU was 0% in EVAR vs 13% in OR. Blood transfusion was 9.4% in EVAR vs 66% in OR. Time of postoperative analgesia was 27 h in EVAR vs 76.8 h in OR. Cardio-respiratory decompensation was 1.9% in EVAR vs 7.6% in OR. Renal insufficiency was 2% in EVAR vs 9% in OR. The lower rate of organ complications was in EVAR. The ruptured aneurysm presented the most complicated postoperative course: hospital stay of 11.4 days, ICU stay of 78%, blood transfusion of 100%, painkillers of 136 hours, cardio-respiratory decompensation of 81% and renal insufficiency of 69%. CONCLUSIONS: The method of treatment, the conditions of the admission and the type of surgery influenced the postoperative course. The elective EVAR patients presented both the 0% of mortality and the lightest postoperative course. The ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms operated as an emergency had the most complicated postoperative course.

Enactive account of pretend play and its application to therapy.

This paper informs therapeutic practices that use play, by providing a non-standard philosophical account of pretense: the enactive account of pretend play (EAPP). The EAPP holds that pretend play activity need not invoke mental representational mechanisms; instead, it focuses on interaction and the role of affordances in shaping pretend play activity. One advantage of this re-characterization of pretense is that it may help us better understand the role of shared meanings and interacting in systemic therapies, which use playing to enhance dialog in therapy rather than to uncover hidden meanings. We conclude with bringing together findings from therapeutic practice and philosophical considerations.

Laparoscopic treatment of abdominal hernia - 5 years of experience.

UNLABELLED: Laparoscopic surgery has become a well approved method of abdominal hernias treatment in recent years. Due to the advancement of laparoscopy and the use of improved synthetic materials laparoscopic surgery is characterized not only by low complication but also by a short period of recovery after surgery. The aim of the study was a retrospective analysis of the results of laparoscopic abdominal hernia surgeries (IPOM). MATERIAL AND METHODS: Between year 2007 and 2012, 65 patients aged between 29 to 76 underwent laproscopic abdominal hernia surgeries due to either primary or postoperative abdominal hernias. All patients were examined in perioperative period, after 12 and 24 months after surgery in search of complications, pain and reccurence. Recovery period was also estimated. RESULTS: In most cases postoperative pain was estimated from 1 to 4 on VAS scale. The most frequent complications were seromas that occured in 3 patients. The other complications were pneumothorax, wound hematoma and wound infection that occured once each. One patient required reoperation due to wound hematoma. Chronic postoperative pain was diagnosed in 3 patients and 4 recurrences were stated. CONCLUSIONS: Laparoscopic therapy of abdominal hernias is a safe operative method characterized by low recurrence and complication rates as well as short hospital stay and quick recovery. This technique is restricted by high material costs and the lack of full refund for the procedure.

[Modern topical hemostatic agents - a breakthrough in vascular surgery]. / Nowoczesne preparaty o miejscowym dzialaniu hemostatycznym - przelom w chirurgii naczyniowej.

OBJECTIVES: The authors present the impact of the topical hemostatic agents (PerClot®, Fibrillar®, and Surgiflo®) in both primary arterial anastomoses, and anastomoses with synthetic prostheses. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In 2012, in the Department of Vascular Surgery in Wroclaw, the topical hemostatic dressings were successfully applied to 106 patients (Fibrillar® - 65, PerClot® - 26, and Surgiflo® - 15) in case of difficulties to stop bleeding. RESULTS: The topical hemostatic agents appear both to reduce blood loss and to shorten the operation time in 95% of cases. CONCLUSIONS: The decrease both in blood loss and operation time can lead to the patient safety improvement.