Governments and international agencies need to embrace quality regulation of pharmaceuticals as well as contingency plans.

The emergence of H1N1 in 2009 shows that it is a mistake to regard the scenario of having to implement pandemic plans as merely hypothetical. This recent experience provides an opportunity to inquire into the current state of pandemic preparedness plans with regard to their ethical adequacy. One aspect that ...

This paper aims to highlight three ethical considerations related to influenza pandemic planning and response: ethical allocation of scarce resources; obligations and duties of healthcare workers to treat patients, and the balance between conflicting individual and community interests. Among these, perhaps the most challenging question facing bioethics is how to ...

The XVIIIth World Congress of Psychiatric Genetics, sponsored by The International Society of Psychiatric Genetics took place in Athens, Greece on October 3-7, 2010. Approximately 950 participants gathered to discuss the latest findings in this rapidly advancing field. The following report was written by junior travel awardees, as well as ...

The 23rd annual Barrels meeting was held on the University of California, San Diego campus and highlighted the latest advances in the whisker-to-barrel pathway and beyond. The annual meeting brought together investigators from a dozen countries to present their data in posters and short talks. The meeting focused on several ...

This is a synopsis of the main research and clinical findings presented at the British Association of Dermatologists meeting held during 6-8 July 2010 in Manchester, U.K. The conference highlighted the biological, epidemiological and therapeutic advances that have been made recently in the field of dermatology. This synopsis is a ...

The 18th United European Gastroenterology Week (UEGW), held in Barcelona in October 2010, marked a return to the traditional "stand-alone" UEGW meeting after the previous year's combined congress format of GASTRO 2009. Various abstracts on endoscopic subjects were presented, providing a unique opportunity for those interested in gastrointestinal endoscopy to ...

The 2010 Triennial Growth Symposium was held immediately before the Joint Annual Meeting of the American Dairy Science Association, Poultry Science Association, Asociación Mexicana de Producción Animal, Canadian Society of Animal Science, Western Section American Society of Animal Science, and American Society of Animal Science in Denver, Colorado, in July ...

Advance directive law may compromise the clinical effectiveness of advance directives. To identify unintended legal consequences of advance directive law that may prevent patients from communicating end-of-life preferences. Advance directive legal statutes for all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia and English-language searches of LexisNexis, Westlaw, and MEDLINE ...

This special anniversary issue of European Radiology illustrates the wide range of topics which this journal now covers and charts some of the key recent advances in radiology over the last two decades. It includes several review articles in which each author considers some recent groundbreaking papers published in this ...

Klaus Ruckpaul was the leader of cytochrome P450 research in the "East" Germany when the world was politically divided into "East" and "West". Under strong political pressure during the "Cold War", the communication between the scientists in the "East" countries with those in the "West" countries was badly restricted. He ...

The IAEA held the International Conference on Advances in Radiation Oncology (ICARO) in Vienna on 27-29 April 2009. The Conference dealt with the issues and requirements posed by the transition from conventional radiotherapy to advanced modern technologies, including staffing, training, treatment planning and delivery, quality assurance (QA) and the optimal ...

The American Society of Emergency Radiology 2010 Annual Scientific Meeting and Postgraduate Course encompassed a wide range of topics: traumatic and non-traumatic emergencies, radiation dose management, technical innovations and advancements, emergency preparedness, mass casualties, military radiology, and teleradiology. This article highlights the scientific and educational abstracts presented at the meeting ...

This article presents the new German law on advance directives from 1 September 2009. The history of the parliamentary process of this law is described, the present regulations are explained, their relevance for medical practice discussed and shortcomings are identified. Finally, the new law is compared with other regulations in ...

The European Respiratory Society Congress, held in Barcelona, included topics covering new therapeutic developments in the field of respiratory health and disease. This conference report highlights selected presentations on therapies targeting inflammatory cells, with a focus on therapeutic agents for asthma and COPD. This report also includes a discussion of ...

This paper presents a brief overview of the legal theoretical problems that arise in connection with the societal ambition of protecting vulnerable groups. One of the central difficulties in legislation with proactive and therapeutic ambitions arises from the link between law and philosophy of science, i.e., the relationship between facts ...

Therapeutic jurisprudence may have its major role within law practice, but analysis of the law from a therapeutic perspective is a task that should not be neglected; how a piece of legislation is designed and formulated certainly influences the therapeutic outcome of a legal process. This article uses sex legislation ...

The 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, held in Boston, included topics covering new therapeutic research. This conference report highlights selected presentations on (S)-adenosylhomocysteine (AHCY) inhibitors for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, 2,4-diphenyl-1H-imidazole analogs as cannabinoid CB2 agonists for the treatment of pain, checkpoint kinase 1 (Chk1) and ...

BIT's 1st Annual World Congress of Immunodiseases and Therapeutics was held in Beijing, China, on 15-17 May 2010. The meeting provided a venue for a wide spectrum of researchers in the basic sciences and clinical areas to present and share their data and ideas. The pervading theme of the meeting ...

The 46th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, held in Chicago, included topics covering new therapeutic developments in the field of oncology. This conference report highlights selected presentations on novel therapies for cancers including glioblastoma, breast cancer, myeloma, NSCLC and solid tumors. Investigational drugs discussed include rindopepimut ...

ABSTRACT The importance of developing a therapeutic relationship by meeting advanced disease patients where they are in the trajectory of their illness is described with a case and commentary.

The 111th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, held in Atlanta, included topics covering disclosures of new data in the field of pharmacokinetics and drug interactions. This conference report highlights selected presentations on pharmacokinetic studies of several investigational drugs, including evatanepag (Pfizer Inc), AEG-33773 (Aegera ...

The American Chemical Society 239th National Meeting, held in San Francisco, included topics covering developments related to the chemical optimization of therapeutics. This conference report highlights selected presentations on agents under investigation for the treatment of neurological disorders, malaria, HBV and diabetes. Investigational drugs discussed include PF-4888086, PF-4778574 and SAM-531 ...

The JPMorgan Healthcare Conference, held in San Francisco, included presentations by various pharmaceutical companies summarizing their achievements in 2009 and expectations for 2010. This conference report highlights presentations from Exelixis Inc and Nektar Therapeutics. Investigational drugs from Exelixis, including XL-184 (in collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co), XL-147 and XL-765 (both ...

The American Society for Apheresis (ASFA) Apheresis Applications Committee is charged with a review and categorization of indications for therapeutic apheresis. Beginning with the 2007 ASFA Special Issue (fourth edition), the subcommittee has incorporated systematic review and evidence-based approach in the grading and categorization of indications. This Fifth ASFA Special ...

There is a growing body of evidence to support the use of rigid indirect laryngoscopy or 'video' laryngoscopy for tracheal intubation. We summarise some of the key issues, comparing rigid indirect laryngoscopy with direct conventional laryngoscopy.

The creation of 'saviour siblings' is one of the most controversial uses of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). This paper outlines and invites ethical discussion of an extension of this technology, namely, the creation of 'saviour embryos' to serve as a source of stem cells to be used in potentially life-saving ...

The Novel Small Molecule Therapeutics session of the American Chemical Society 238th National Meeting and Exposition, held in Washington DC, included topics covering new therapeutic developments in CNS, anti-infective, cardiovascular and anti-inflammatory applications. This conference report highlights selected presentations on PAR2 (protease-activated receptor 2) antagonists, adenosine and P2Y receptor agonists ...

The spiraling cost of cancer care, in particular the cost of cancer therapeutics that achieve only marginal benefits, is under increasing scrutiny. Although health-care professionals avoid putting a value on a life, our limited resources require that society address what counts as a benefit, the extent to which cost should ...

It is the thesis of this paper that most therapeutic trials are inadequately formulated, and this from the earliest stages of their conception. Their inadequacy is basic, in that the trials may be aimed at the solution of one or other of two radically different kinds of problem; the resulting ...

This article summarizes the results of a number of new clinical trials, registries and meta-analyses in the field of cardiovascular medicine. Key presentations made at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology (ACC), held in Chicago, IL, USA from 29 March till first April 2008 are reported. The ...

A multi-stakeholder symposium at the third annual Canadian Therapeutics Congress (May 2006) discussed the nature of pragmatic studies, and helped to further define their role in the drug regulatory system, formulary access decisions and in clinical practice. The symposium panel appeared to have agreed that pragmatic studies were beneficial, but ...

In this paper, I will attempt a cross-fertilization between some ideas of the Danish professor of ethics and philosophy of religion, K.E. Løgstrup and some of the therapeutic ideas of Sandor Ferenczi. I will especially discuss the phenomenon of trust, and the response it awakens in the person to whom ...

The conference highlighted the progress made in understanding recent biological, epidemiological and therapeutic advances in dermatology. Here we provide a synopsis of the main research and clinical findings presented at the meeting of the British Association of Dermatologists (BAD) held during 5-8 July 2005, in Glasgow, U.K., drawing attention to ...

The International Cytokine Society Conference 2005 was held in Seoul, Korea, October 27-31, 2005. This meeting provided the attendants an excellent forum to discuss recent advances in the biology of cytokines, chemokines, their receptors, and the receptors for innate immunity, with particular emphasis on the possibility of interfering with these ...

The 34th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Immunology was held in Berlin on 24 - 27 September 2003. This meeting, organised for the first time in cooperation with the Polish Society for Experimental and Clinical Immunology, gathered 1200 participants, mostly from central Europe. The programme comprised > 30 ...

The 32nd Annual Meeting of German Society of Immunology (DGfi) was held in Dresden on 26 - 29 September 2001. The philosophy of the meeting was 'to throw some light on the progress that had been made in transferring basic immunological research into clinical application'. More than 500 abstracts were ...

The national Croatian improved diagnostic and therapeutic guidelines for premalignant lesions of the uterine cervix are presented: for atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS), for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN I, CIN II CIN III) and for microcarcinoma (FIGO grade Ia1). Separately are presented the guidelines for abnormal glandular epithelium: ...

The historical tradition of psychoanalysis as the therapeutic science of interpersonal processes is traced back to its roots in Freud and discussed in its therapeutic and philosophical implications. The Berlin School of Dynamic Psychiatry enlarges the interpersonal principle with the therapeutic concept of group dynamics, identity and of social energy, ...

This article is a report on a symposium sponsored by the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics presented at the joint meeting of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, June 4-8, Boston, Massachusetts. The presentations focused on the ...

This year's edition of the biennial meeting Conquering Airways Inflammation in the 21(st) Century was held September 11-13, 2000, in London. The meeting was devoted to understanding basic mechanisms of airway inflammation, the assessment of the therapeutic impact of existing treatments and the clinical potential of novel therapeutic targets, now ...

Non-therapeutic ventilation of potential organ donors would increase the supply of kidneys for transplantation. There are no major ethical objections to it. The means of permitting it are forbidden by laws with an ethical basis. A law permitting it would need an ethical basis. Introducing a third legal method of ...

Versions of the following papers were presented at the panel "Psychoanalytic Classics Revisited: Hans Loewald's "On the Therapeutic Action of Psychoanalysis' " (Gerald I. Fogel, chair) at the meetings of the American Psychoanalytic Association, December 1993. As a tribute to Loewald's lifetime of achievement, and in belated recognition of his ...

The 58 posters exhibited at the 1985 Annual General Meeting of the British Society for Rheumatology have been analysed for 13 variables considered important in the construction of a good poster. In particular the attributes of information, simplicity and visual attractiveness were studied. The time spent by viewers was also ...

Proceedings of the Third Smith, Kline & French Research Symposium on New Horizons in Therapeutics, held in Philadelphia in 1985

A search of the literature on the psychiatric aspects of abortion revealed poor study design, a lack of clear criteria for decisions for or against abortion, poor definition of psychologic symptoms experienced by patients, absence of control groups in clinical studies, and indecisiveness and uncritical attitudes in writers from various ...

The author addresses the ethics of psychotherapy in terms of the interface between science and ethics, the goals of treatment, the therapeutic relationship, and special issues of confidentiality and therapist-patient sex. He considers the problems of multiple therapeutic modalities, dual allegiance of the therapist, the therapeutic use (and abuse) of ...

Sarah Tyson Rorer has been called the first American dietitian. Relatively little is known about her, and some things that have been published are inaccurate. Mrs. Rorer taught both lay and professional people through all the media available in her day. Her many pioneering activities in the late nineteenth century ...

Among patients seeking abortion are a group who request concurrent sterilization. This study compared three combinations of abortion and sterilization techniques. Suction termination with laparoscopic tubal ligation appears to be the combination of choice, for the mean hospital stay of patients undergoing this procedure was two days and the operative ...

Surveys conducted after therapeutic abortion were used to evaluate contraceptive use, to assess early physical and emotional effects and to provide feedback to the hospital nurses on their counselling role. The follow-up rate was only 53%. Of those who cooperated 82.9% were using effective contraception three months after abortion. Subjective ...