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It is suggested in this paper that alexithymia may be a graded behavioral characteristic in much the same way as psychological dimensions are. Under this assumption every person would possess an alexithymic score, however low it could be, and the basis for distinguishing between diagnostic groups would thence be quantitative rather than qualitative. The measurement of alexithymia in any given individual poses two main problems: the nature of the underlying phenomenon and the instruments that should be used for its depiction. Whether alexithymia is a trait, a state, or both cannot be answered confidently at present. On the other hand, its quantitative assessment depends upon an interaction between phenomenon, observer and situation. Some data bearing on the application of the Beth Israel Alexithymic and Psychosomatic Questionnaire by informed and uninformed interviewers suggest the need for reliability studies of this instrument. Also advanced is the possibility that some aspects of the syndrome (reflected differently in the questionnaire items) might be easier to detect or more amenable to quantitative assessment, thus suggesting that some weighting of items is needed in order to obtain a total alexithymia score.

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Reviewing fundamental aspects of bioethics and outlining the work of the Bioethics Program of the Pan American Health Organization, this paper draws attention to the work of a forgotten pioneer-Fritz Jahr-who coined the term bioethics in 1927 and anticipated many of the arguments and discussions now current in biological research involving animals

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Distinguiendo entre gobierno y gobernabilidad de la institución universitaria, este artículo identifica como principales desafíos para una recta gerencia la heterogeneidad de las instituciones y la diversidad de sus audiencias internas y externas. Describiendo las tareas más importantes de la autoridad universitaria con relación al origen, fundamentación, distribución y delegación del poder legítimo, se propone una descripción breve de modelos de gestión: autoritario, participativo, empresarial, demagógico/amorfo, conflictual/feudal, sin que esta enumeración agote las posibilidades de clasificación. La experiencia señala que, a menudo, se habla laxamente de modelos de gestión y que la confusión entre los planos estratégico y táctico de la gerencia suele ser frecuente.

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