This paper reflects on the presumption that there are distinct ethical differences between the supposedly 'Anglo-Saxon liberal' and 'Latin (Southern European) paternalist' ethical traditions. The predominance of the bioethical paradigm (principalism) is measured by a comparative analysis of regional moral opinion reflected in nation-state health laws. By looking at the ...

We find much of interest, and little to disagree with, in the commentaries on our article. We take issue only with the suggestion that our article was provocative and submit that the attempt to understand the use of stimulants as smart pills does not imply an endorsement of the practice. ...

In Oscar Wilde's two volumes of fairy tales, "The Happy Prince" and Other Tales (1888) and A House of Pomegranates (1891), many central characters meet with premature death or physical disfigurement after learning a bourgeois moral lesson. In an attempt to explain this unconventional phenomenon in the fairy tale tradition, ...

The synthesis and biological annotation of small molecules from underexplored chemical space will play a central role in the development of drugs for challenging targets currently being identified in frontier areas of biological research such as human genetics.

Chemical biology is now able to discover molecules that manipulate virtually any biological target or process. It remains a grand challenge to leverage these molecules into useful probes that can be used to address unsolved problems in biology.

Post-transcriptional RNA modifications can be dynamic and might have functions beyond fine-tuning the structure and function of RNA. Understanding these RNA modification pathways and their functions may allow researchers to identify new layers of gene regulation at the RNA level.

In the postsequencing era, chemical biology is uniquely situated to investigate genomic DNA alterations arising through epigenetic modifications, genetic rearrangements or active mutation. These transformations significantly expand nature's diversity and may profoundly alter our view of DNA's coding potential.

Fetal surgery has been practised for some decades now. However, it remains a highly complex area, both medically and ethically. This paper shows how the routine use of ultrasound has been a catalyst for fetal surgery, in creating new needs and new incentives for intervention. Some of the needs met ...

Now in its third year, the Biotech Outsourcing Strategies (BOS) meeting organized by Bio2Business took place at the Søhuset Conference Centre in Hørsholm, Copenhagen. The focus of this year's event was the demanding and challenging area of chemistry, manufacturing and controls (CMC), and the meeting provided ample opportunity for lively ...

This review is one of a series of articles reflecting the sections of the Code of Ethics of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand. The physician-patient relationship has been subjected to numerous stressors over the past several decades. This report reviews historical elements of the relationship and discusses ...

Primarily, this is a Sankofan socio-ethical analysis of the moral foundation of the Tuskegee University National Bioethics Center's decade of operation. The first section of the study will do the following: a) a Sankofan socio-ethical analysis of the Center's raison d'être; and b) definitions of ethical terms and the social ...

Toxinology in Brazil developed specially during the 19th and 20th centuries. A very brief description of the main contributions made by pioneer toxinologists is presented here in an attempt to give an idea of the evolution of toxinology in our country, from its first steps until the XVI World Congress ...

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 looks to the states to implement its insurance regulatory reforms and exchanges, retaining for the national government what could be construed as merely a backup role. The law offers federal support to the states, along with opportunities to act creatively to ...

Many radiologists find it challenging to distinguish between the different interstitial idiopathic pneumonias (IIPs). The British Thoracic Society guidelines on interstitial lung disease (2008) recommend the formation of multidisciplinary meetings, with diagnoses made by combined radiological, pathological, and clinical findings. This review focuses on understanding typical and atypical radiological features ...

The use of arthroscopic technology to address pathologic conditions of the hip joint has become a topic of growing interest in the orthopedic community. Addressing femoroacetabular impingement through this method has generated additional attention. As surgical options evolve, rehabilitation protocols must meet the challenge of providing a safe avenue of ...

The International Network for Pediatric Hemophilia (INPH) comprises a group of physicians committed to the unique care of and challenges facing pediatric hemophilia patients. By collaborating on an international level, extensive experience can be shared on current practice, new trends can be discussed and scientifically valid studies can be developed ...

The Spring Meeting Dermatology in Central Europe: Proud Past and Challenging Future of the Austrian Society of Dermatology and Venereology, celebrating its 120th anniversary with many European leaders in dermatology, was held on February 26, 2010 in the Great Lecture Hall of the Vienna Old University in Vienna. The Austrian ...

Often faced with ethical challenges that may appear extraordinary, military social workers comprise a distinctive subgroup of the social work profession. From the unique paradigms in which they practice their craft, obvious questions about how military social workers address the ethical challenges inherent to their wartime mission arise. Using a ...

Since the foundation of the International Society of Orthopaedic Centers in 2006, the group has continued to grow, with currently 11 members worldwide. During the 2008 annual meeting, the bylaws and mission of the group were approved as well as the acceptance of two additional members. Strict inclusion criteria were ...

This article proposes a new theoretical framework for analyzing complex inpatient hospital discharge dilemmas. Each component of the framework is defined, illustrated with a hypothetical case, and discussed from legal,ethical and practical problem solving viewpoints. Patients who lack reasonable and safe discharge plans invariably challenge existing interpretations of autonomy, capacity, ...

BACKGROUND: Deep brain stimulation is an approved and effective neurosurgical intervention for motor disorders such as PD and ET. Deep brain stimulation may also be effective in treating a number of psychiatric disorders, including treatment refractory depression and OCD. Although DBS is a widely accepted therapy in motor disorders, it ...

Results from our annual questionnaire asking about the challenges you face in your job and career put the sagging economy at the forefront. But you emphasized that you also must contend with myriad other issues--and offer commentary on topics ranging from physician recruitment to ethics to quality in health care.

Cognitive enhancement takes many and diverse forms. Various methods of cognitive enhancement have implications for the near future. At the same time, these technologies raise a range of ethical issues. For example, they interact with notions of authenticity, the good life, and the role of medicine in our lives. Present ...

This Nano Focus article reviews recent developments in nanofabrication based on invited talks given at the "Chemical Methods of Nanofabrication" symposium, which was organized by the authors and presented at the 237th ACS National Meeting and Exhibition as one of seven symposia within the meeting theme, "Nanoscience: Challenges for the ...

The growth of the elderly population presents numerous challenges to the practicing otolaryngologist. This commentary reviews some of the issues that come up in dealing with geriatric patients, reiterates some classic ethical principles, and looks to some philosophers who have addressed relevant issues over the past centuries. It is based ...

In April 2009 I was honoured to be asked to present the Emil Becker Lecture at the 35 (th) annual meeting of the German-Swiss-Austrian Society for Neuropaediatrics (Gesellschaft für Neuropädiatrie). Focusing on my interest and involvement as a clinician and researcher in cerebral palsy, I took the opportunity to look ...

To promote ethical practices, healthcare managers must understand the ethical challenges encountered by key stakeholders. To characterize ethical challenges in Veterans Administration (VA) facilities from the perspectives of managers, clinicians, patients, and ethics consultants. We conducted focus groups with patients (n = 32) and managers (n = 38); semi-structured interviews ...

The Tenth Meeting of the German Society for Research on DNA Repair was held in Berlin in September 2008. Invited presentations by Yosef Shiloh, Stanton L. Gerson, Sacha Beneke, Patrick Concannon, Jochen Dahm-Daphi, Thilo Dörk, Friedrike Eckardt-Schupp, Bernd Epe, Ian Hickson, Ulrich Hübscher, Penny Jeggo, Malik Lutzmann, Christof Niehrs, Primo ...

Poster presented at the 5th International Conference of Animal Health Information Specialists, 4-7 July 2005, Onderstepoort, South Africa

AIMS: To discuss some of the challenges of conceptualising spirituality and religion for healthcare practice. BACKGROUND: With the growing interest in spirituality in healthcare, has come the inevitable task of trying to conceptualise spirituality, a daunting task given the amorphous nature of spirituality, the changing understandings of spirituality among individuals ...

This essay discusses engineering ethics in Puerto Rico by examining the impact of the Colegio de Ingenieros y Agrimensores de Puerto Rico (CIAPR) and by outlining the constellation of problems and issues identified in workshops and retreats held with Puerto Rican engineers. Three cases developed and discussed in these workshops ...

The development of second-generation biofuels--those that do not rely on grain crops as inputs--will require a diverse set of feedstocks that can be grown sustainably and processed cost-effectively. Here we review the outlook and challenges for meeting hoped-for production targets for such biofuels in the United States.

Ethical problems encountered by foundation officers in their evaluation-related work were identified via an email survey of a sample of Council on Foundations member organizations. Of the respondents who had worked with evaluators, one-third indicated that they had faced ethical challenges. Most challenges fell into one of four categories: Evaluation ...

Over 420 delegates participated in this, the fourth of a biennial series of scientific meetings, drawing from 30 or more nations and encompassing the specialties of infectious diseases, clinical microbiology, pulmonary and general medicine and Industry inter alia. The 2007 Forum was chaired by Professors Antoni Torres Marti, Giuliana Gialdroni ...

This article attempts to summarize the ethics of nutritional support at the end of life. Although ethics are timeless, they have to be applied or adapted to new situations arising from our ability to prolong life by the application of relatively new nutritional treatments. The application of the law, and ...

To pay tribute to the Founders of Acta Cytologica, this Golden Anniversary symposium on nongynecologic cytology revives the written symposium style of the 1950s. Participants from countries throughout the world were asked how new technologies are currently applied in their laboratories and whether future advances and challenges can be predicted. ...

26th EARSeL Symposium - New developments and challenges in remote sensing

Biobanks are a challenge and topic for governance. Today, biobanks are identified as a biomedical scientific/infrastructural development that warrants a political/legal/ethical reaction with the goal to integrate biobanks into the preexisting fabric of regulation, medicine, law and society. Biobank governance is always a response to sociocultural challenges and requires the ...

Male contraception has been limited to use of the condom and vasectomy. The challenge of developing a new male contraceptive has loomed as a goal in the field of andrology for many years. In 2006, at the most recent, 10th Summit Meeting on Hormonal Male Contraception in New York, a ...

Abstracts of content of various clinics (workshops) during the SAVE conference. Included: "VE-VA Challenges Met; Challenges Faced" by L. D. Miles, Miles Associates, moderated by R. Glenn Woodward, Abbott Laboratories.

This essay reflects on one dimension of the challenge of being a queer ethicist. Can we have norms/values without liberal assumptions that might undo the important contributions of queer theory? The reemergence of appeals to "citizenship" in lbgt and queer debates serves as illustrations of this question. Reading Weeks's Invented ...

The growth of evidence-based medicine (EBM) raises a number of ethical issues that have too often been overlooked. These include issues that arise when clinicians make judgments under uncertainty, new challenges for the clinician-patient relationship, new duties for institutional review boards, issues in physician autonomy and reimbursement, and challenges for ...

On 1 September 2004 the Delhi High Court dismissed litigation seeking to quash a law making homosexual acts a punishable offence. Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code dates back to the 1860s, during the period of British colonialism. Two NGOs, one of which was an AIDS organization involved in ...

In October 2003, the Attorney General of the Government of Israel published guidelines allowing posthumous sperm retrieval for the purpose of later insemination or IVF by the surviving female partner. This paper presents an ethical and psycho-social critique of the guidelines, which challenges their basic premise that personal autonomy over-rides ...

This is a personal, point-of-view article that speaks to the daunting task of living well when one is old, with a particular focus on a woman in our society. Issues of both loss and challenge are addressed. The article concludes that how a woman leads her entire life will either ...

Dramatic advances in neuroscience have created fast-rising expectations for improvements in the health and well-being of people around the world. But fulfilling this promise is proving to be neither quick nor easy, and not for scientific reasons alone. Alan Leshner urges that neuroscientists not only address the significant challenges of ...

While American Catholics stand out as some of the few voices of cultural opposition to the eugenics movement in the United States, Catholics and eugenicists actively engaged in conversational exchanges during the late 1920s. In association with the Committee on Cooperation with Clergymen of the American Eugenics Society, John A. ...

SARS is a devastating disease that caused widespread morbidity and mortality, as well as tremendous fear and uncertainty across the global village. There are numerous challenging medical aspects of this disease. Methods required to control it also raised significant ethical challenges for decision-markers both in real time, and for the ...

Rapid advancements in information technology and telecommunications (ITT) offer exciting opportunities for neuropsychology. However, guidelines and recommendations for identifying and negotiating ethical challenges have not kept pace with the expansion of ITT. Because many neuropsychologists evaluate and/or treat individuals with cognitive, emotional, and/or physical limitations, neuropsychologists have a responsibility to ...

Having first been proposed over a decade ago to harmonize European patent law for the benefit of Europe's fledgling biotechnology industry, the Biotechnology Patent Directive underwent a somewhat tortured introduction to adolescence when its adoption was challenged by a legal annulment action from the Governments of the Netherlands, Italy and ...