Feeling safe together vs. longing for touch. Affective, multisensorial contact in inclusive intra-active virtual/physical dance during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This article explores how feelings of safety were experienced through inclusive virtual/physical dance in relation to experiences of touch during the COVID-19 pandemic in Finland. The following are the measures I took to achieve the aim of this study. First, I introduce the context through previous studies and an example from the ethnographic material I gained from the inclusive X-Dance festival organized in June 2021 in Finland. Second, I explore how inclusive virtual/physical dance might help us experience feelings of safety through multisensorial experiences of touch related to communality when responding to wellbeing challenges caused by isolation. Using Laura U. Mark's theory about haptic looking and Karen Barad's term intra-action, I discuss different possibilities to approach touch as a feeling sense, as affective multisensorial contact, and through relations between different materialities. Third, I contrast these ideas with sensations of longing for the physical touch that virtual/physical dancing evokes. These experiences of longing invite me to reflect on the ambivalence about feelings of safety related to intentions to restore experiences of touch and communality through digitality. I introduce two examples from my interviews with dancers during the pandemic to discuss these ambivalences. I reflect on these interviews through Magdalena Górska's theory about corpo-materiality and corpo-affectivity. I contribute to discussions on feelings of safety by showing that multi-sensorial experiences and anti-normative understandings of body and touch enabled by the non-verbal language of dance may help us to contribute toward more inclusiveness in society, allowing us to generate holistic experiences of safety, which is another critical aim for post-pandemic times.

Ver para pensar: la construcción visual de las enfermedades “raras” / Seeing is thinking: the visual construction of rare diseases

A partir del concepto de dominios escópicos se estudian las visualidades hegemó-nicas (científica y social) que han intervenido en la construcción de la categoría “enfermedades raras”. Para ello se han investigado, entre 1940 y 2015, los tratados médicos por su papel en la creación del concepto icónico de enfermedad y su transmisión mediante su uso pedagógico y la prensa diaria, por la difusión social de las imágenes generadas. Entre los siete mil problemas de salud integrantes de la categoría se han seleccionado el Síndrome de Turner y las Enfermedades de Depósito Lisosomal. Metodológicamente se han adaptado las bases del análisis de contenidos con formulación de criterios de inclusión y exclusión a la investigación histórica, creación de corpus, de libro y hojas de códigos, su aplicación y análisis cuantitativo y cualitativo. El Síndrome de Turner se ha hallado en los tratados médicos entre 1952 y 2009, analizando el mecanismo de construcción icónica a través de la selección de mujeres repre-sentativas de la entidad, generando así una estereotipación, estigmatización e infantilización con consecuencias en la práctica médica, el entorno social y las propias pacientes. En la prensa diaria se han encontrado imágenes de enfermedades de depósito lisosomal entre 1982 y 2015, con una relevancia mediada por el valor noticiable de la proximidad y dos representaciones principales (la de las madres —como reivindicadoras de los derechos de sus hijos a la asisten-cia y el tratamiento— y la de los niños afectados como motivadores de campañas solidarias para recaudar fondos para ensayos clínicos de fármacos experimentales) condicionadas por coyunturas históricas como los recortes en las ayudas a la dependencia (AU)

Magnetic alginate microspheres detected by MRI fabricated using microfluidic technique and release behavior of encapsulated dual drugs.

Alginate microspheres loaded with superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIO NPs) have been fabricated by a T-junction microfluidic device combined with an external ionic crosslinking. The obtained microspheres possess excellent visuality under magnetic resonance due to the presence of only 0.6 mg/mL SPIO NPs. The microspheres also show uniform size with narrow distribution and regular spherical shape characterized by optic microscope and environmental scanning electron microscope. Furthermore, dual drugs (5-fluorouracil and doxorubicin hydrochloride) have been loaded within the microspheres. The release behavior of dual drugs from the microspheres show typical sustained release profiles. As a novel embolic agent, such microspheres in blood vessels can be tracked by magnetic resonance scanner. Thus, the integration of embolotherapy, chemotherapy, and postoperative diagnosis can be realized.