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Debates concerning the reliability and validity of operationalized criteria and diagnostic tools have surrounded the issue of schizophrenia diagnosis and clinical decision-making related to the disorder. The notion of the praecox feeling (PF) has played a prominent role in the discussions as an example of the possibility of a rapid and potentially valid diagnosis based solely on “intuition” or a peculiar emotional experience or impression arising in a physician during an interaction with a patient with schizophrenia. In this paper, we argue that PF is enabled by the (phenomenologically understood) intercorporeal dimension of the clinical encounter. Intercorporeality in this sense denotes intertwinement between embodied expressions that may lead to feelings of connection but also, as in the case of PF, of disconnection and strangeness—the experience of alienness. Following Waldenfels, alienness ranges from the average social encounter to more extreme and peculiar forms—such as PF. To prove our point, we analyze the metaphors used by physicians in various cultural contexts (the United States, the United Kingdom, and Poland) to express the apparently ineffable experience of the PF. We focus on two dominant metaphors of distance: the first expressing spatial distance by referring to an “object in-between” the physician and the patient and the second expressing mental distance by referring to the “other-worldliness” of the patient. We interpret the object in-between metaphors as reflecting the sense of separateness and the other-worldliness metaphors as reflecting the sense of strangeness, with both meanings unified in the notion of “close remoteness.” Such unsettling but speculation-provoking feeling of close remoteness may be rendered by the concept of “the eerie” (Mark Fisher). We conclude that metaphor and phenomenological analysis facilitate an understanding of the experiential profile of PF in the clinical encounter, outlining relevant clinical implications.

With the widespread use of masks in the COVID-19 pandemic, it is crucial to understand how emotion recognition is affected by partial face covering. Since individuals with autism spectrum condition often tend to look at the lower half of the face, they are likely to be particularly restricted in emotion recognition by people wearing masks, since they are now forced to look at the upper half of the face. This study compared the recognition of basic and complex emotions in individuals with and without autism spectrum condition, when faces were presented uncovered, with face masks, or with sunglasses. We also used eye tracking to examine group differences in gaze patterns during emotion recognition. Individuals with autism spectrum condition were less accurate at recognizing emotions in all three conditions. Averaged across the three stimulus types, individuals with autism spectrum condition had greater difficulty recognizing anger, fear, pride, and embarrassment than control group. There was no group difference in emotion recognition between the three conditions. However, compared to individuals without autism spectrum condition, there was no evidence of either gaze avoidance or preference for the mouth region. Our results suggest that emotion recognition is reduced in individuals with autism spectrum condition, but this is not due to differences in gaze patterns.

PurposeTo investigate the antimicrobial effect of cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) on pathogens associated with canine bacterial keratitis.Materials and methodsPseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus pseudintermedius, and Streptococcus canis strains, which were obtained from dogs with infectious keratitis, were subjected to testing. For each species, four isolates and a reference strain were cultivated on Columbia sheep blood agar and treated with the kiNPen Vet® plasma pen from Neoplas GmbH, Greifswald, Germany. Various continuous treatment durations (0.5, 2, and 5 min) were applied, along with a 0.5-min treatment repeated four times at short intervals. These treatments were conducted at distances of 3 and 18 mm between the agar surface and the pen.ResultsCAP treatment reduced bacterial growth in all three species. The most effective treatment duration was 5 min at 3 mm distance, resulting in inhibition zones ranging from 19 to 22 mm for P. aeruginosa, 26–45 mm for S. pseudintermedius and an overall reduction of bacterial growth for Str. canis. Inhibition zones were smaller with decreasing treatment duration and larger distance. Treatment times of 30 s repeated four times and 2 min showed comparable results. Treatment with argon alone did not lead to visible reduction of bacterial growth.ConclusionArgon cold atmospheric plasma demonstrated a potent in vitro antimicrobial effect on P. aeruginosa, S. pseudintermedius and Str. canis strains with the latter showing the highest sensitivity.