The review system on research with human participants in the Netherlands is characterised as a decentralised controlled and integrated peer review system. It consists of an independent governmental body, the Central Committee on Research Involving Human Subjects (or Central Committee), which regulates the review of research proposals by accredited Medical Research Ethics Committees (MRECs). The legal basis was founded in 1999 with the Medical Research Involving Human Subjects Act. The review system is a decentralised arrangement since most research proposal are (...) reviewed by the 30 accredited MRECs in the country. It is a controlled system in which the Central Committee is responsible for the accreditation and oversight of the MRECs and can make legally binding directives for these committees. The assessment of research proposals is an integrated peer review process in which all documents of the research file are reviewed by experts in one committee only. A small number of research proposals are assessed by the Central Committee and not by accredited MRECs. These proposals are on specific research categories such as gene therapy, cell therapy and embryo research. The review of research with surplus human embryos is regulated separately in the Embryos Act. The Central Committee provides support to the accredited MRECs and to researchers and sponsors. It is currently developing an internet portal to reduce the bureaucracy and make the review process more efficient and transparent. The Central Committee stimulates confidence on medical research in society by providing a public trial registry with core data on reviewed research proposals. (shrink)

As Ricœur scholars know, the literature by and on Ricœur is vast. Material written by Ricœur that is not collected in published volumes is often difficult to locate, and even in the published volumes it is frequently a challenge to locate where Ricœur discusses a particular topic. Given the amount of his work it can be a challenge too to determine changes in his analyses over the life of his corpus. And locating secondary literature on Ricœur can be equally problematic. (...) In response, we have been working to establish a model for how Ricœur’s corpus might be digitized so that the issues of access, keyword location, and pattern might all be addressed. To develop the model, we are starting with Ricœur’s primary texts in English and plan to expand over time to other languages and to the secondary literature on Ricœur. In the present article we discuss our model and its five steps: digital access; copyright; text preparation for digital searches and analysis; examples of digital searches and analyses; and an archive portal interface that allows users to query based on an extensible set of search variables without needing to know or access the underlying search logic. We also invite interested researchers to help assist the development of this digitization project. (shrink)

BioPortal is a Web portal that provides access to a library of biomedical ontologies and terminologies developed in OWL, RDF(S), OBO format, Protégé frames, and Rich Release Format. BioPortal functionality, driven by a service-oriented architecture, includes the ability to browse, search and visualize ontologies (Figure 1). The Web interface also facilitates community-based participation in the evaluation and evolution of ontology content.

During the set-up phase of an international study of genetic influences on outcomes from sepsis, we aimed to characterise potential differences in ethics approval processes and outcomes in participating European countries. Between 2005 and 2007 of the FP6-funded international Genetics Of Sepsis and Septic Shock project, we asked national coordinators to complete a structured survey of research ethic committee approval structures and processes in their countries, and linked these data to outcomes. Survey findings were reconfirmed or modified in 2017. Eighteen (...) countries participated in the study, recruiting 2257 patients from 160 ICUs. National practices differed widely in terms of composition of RECs, procedures and duration of the ethics approval process. Eight countries used a single centralised process for approval, seven required approval by an ethics committee in each participating hospital, and three required both. Outcomes of the application process differed widely between countries because of differences in national legislation, and differed within countries because of interpretation of the ethics of conducting research in patients lacking capacity. The RECs in four countries had no lay representation. The median time from submission to final decision was 1.5 months; in nine approval was received within 1 month; six took over 6 months, and in one 24 months; had all countries been able to match the most efficient approvals processes, an additional 74 months of country or institution-level recruitment would have been available. In three countries, rejection of the application by some local RECs resulted in loss of centres; and one country rejected the application outright. The potential benefits of the single application portal offered by the European Clinical Trials Regulation will not be realised without harmonisation of research ethics committee practices as well as national legislation. (shrink)

Rita Bottino,1 Santosh Nagaraju,2 Vikas Satyananda,2 Hidetaka Hara,2 Martin Wijkstrom,2 Massimo Trucco,1 David KC Cooper2 1Institute of Cellular Therapeutics, Allegheny Health Network, 2Thomas E Starzl Transplantation Institute, Department of Surgery, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA: Diabetes mellitus is increasing worldwide. Type 1 diabetes can be treated successfully by islet allotransplantation, the results of which are steadily improving. However, the number of islets that can be obtained from deceased human donors will never be sufficient to cure more than a very (...) small percentage of patients who might benefit from transplantation. Although there are some differences in glucose metabolism between pigs and humans, the use of pigs could provide an unlimited supply of islets, and the insulin produced would undoubtedly control glucose levels. Transplantation of islets into the portal vein results in islets residing in the liver; however, an early inflammatory response and rejection remain problematic, even when the recipient is receiving immunosuppressive therapy. In the long term, immunosuppressive drugs may exhibit toxicities to patients and specifically harm the islet cells. In contrast, encapsulation techniques provide islets with a physical barrier that prevents antibodies binding to the islet graft while still allowing insulin to be released into the recipient's circulation; in theory, patients receiving encapsulated grafts might not require exogenous immunosuppressive therapy. Nonhuman primates with encapsulated pig islet transplants have remained insulin-independent for several weeks, but long-term efficacy remains uncertain. Furthermore, techniques are now available to knock out genes from the pig and/or insert human genes, thus rendering the antigenic structure of pigs closer to that of humans, and providing protection from the human immune response. Islet transplantation from genetically engineered pigs has been followed by insulin independence in a small number of nonhuman primates for greater than 1 year. Neonatal islets have some advantages over adult islets in that they are easier to isolate and culture, and have the ability to proliferate during the first few months after transplantation. In 2009, the International Xenotransplantation Association set up a group to encourage and advise on clinical trials of pig islet xenotransplantation; this group's guidelines are discussed. Clinical trials of encapsulated pig islets are already under way. Keywords: diabetes, islets, pancreatic, pig, xenotransplantation. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Ethics without Principles: Another Possible Ethics—Perspectives from Latin America by Roy H. May JrRamon LuzarragaEthics without Principles: Another Possible Ethics—Perspectives from Latin America Roy H. May Jr. EUGENE, OR: PICKWICK PUBLICATIONS, 2015. 80 PP. $16.00Roy May presents a collection of five essays that critique deontological ethics. He argues that deontology stands outside sociocultural and historical contexts, ignoring concrete human differences and the local histories of diverse human cultures. (...) Therefore, it is a false universal, an otherworldly, legalistic, and ideologically hegemonic construct. Consequently, it provides no space for diverse Latin American experiences and contexts. Such ethics do not liberate marginalized groups precisely because they do not take their concrete lived experiences and contexts into account. May proposes instead a nominalist, contextual, postmodern ethics. He traces the history of this ethic from Ockham, through its development in classical and modern Protestant thought, and finally Latin American liberation theology, Protestant and Catholic. It is a program to generate a dialogue over moral conduct and its significance for human [End Page 215] relationships and the concrete situations and conditions of daily life lived in diverse ways while modeled after the example of Jesus Christ.In the first essay, May proposes a contextual ethic where the lived context of human moral agents includes a reliance on moral experience and wisdom for clues to the best course of moral action. Engaging Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Paul Lehman, and Latin American contextual ethicists, he rejects the idea that formal principles undergird Christian behavior. Contextual ethics is instead based on an obedient response to God's activity in the world, resulting in love of neighbor, building human life, seeking God's will in history, following Jesus's concrete moral example practiced in history, and participating in a Christian community that seeks the Kingdom of God. In the second essay, May sketches a method for an ethics of liberation, arguing how the analysis of concrete situations by moral agents could produce concrete norms of conduct. An ethics of alterity results, where marginalized people are freed from oppression and opened to horizons of new life. The third essay argues that a contextualist ethic must be Christomorphic instead of Christocentric. People practice "creative loyalty" to Jesus's example by engaging the other and his or her needs within one's particular context (34). This activity imitates but does not replicate how Jesus treated people in his context. In the fourth essay, May argues how a contextual ethic enables its practitioners to engage in "moral interrogations" of concrete life experiences and actions from which wisdom is gained (51). He calls for an intercultural ethics whereby diverse peoples in their respective contexts engage in mutual learning and respectful dialogue. The last essay speaks to the result of this dialogue: a polyphonic global discussion among people faithful to God and open to new life.May's exposition of contextual ethics is an excellent summary for people seeking to understand its origins, history, and ideas. Unfortunately, his criticism of deontological ethics causes him to miss a rich vein of thought. Those medieval scholastics who believed in universals knew well that such universals instantiated themselves in a myriad of ways. Lived, concrete, historical experiences serve as portals to the universal norm, which is not so much a bland uniform abstraction as a mosaic where diverse human experiences combine to help us realize that such norms exist. The mistake is made when one thinks her piece of the mosaic is the entire mosaic, which makes deontological ethics vulnerable to the problems May wants to avoid. Moreover, contextual ethics could defeat the intercultural dialogue he seeks precisely because the lack of an agreed objective measure leads to human power struggles over defining the terms of any ethical discussion. [End Page 216]Ramon LuzarragaBenedictine University at MesaCopyright © 2017 Society of Christian Ethics... (shrink)

This article analyzes the legal-philosophical situation of Artificial Intelligence and the intelligent robot on being a subject of Law to be considered a creative person or author. The contradiction involved in allowing an object to present the legal duality of being protected as an object that it is and at the same time being considered a subject by the resulting work is analyzed, an impairment or vulgarization for the subject of Law as a moral subject when proposing the fictio legis (...) de a moral object, which is not conceivable. Instead, an alternative to such an aporia is proposed, more fictitious than real. (shrink)

يتناول محمد حيان السمّان في كتابه في "تدبير القداسة: الحجابة والحجاب - أدب الدخول على السلطان في التراث العربي الإسلامي"، الصادر عن المركز العربي للأبحاث ودراسة السياسات، العلاقة بين السلطة السياسية والمجتمع في السياق العربي - الإسلامي، من خلال موضوع الحجابة والسلطان المحتجِب عن رعيته، والوقائع المتصلة بالقدوم على أصحاب السلطة من خلفاء وملوك وسلاطين ووزراء وغيرهم، وانتظار الإذن بلقائهم. يتألف الكتاب (407 صفحات بالقطع الوسط، موثقًا ومفهرسًا) من مدخل، وقسمين فيهما عشرة فصول. في المدخل، تأسيس وإضاءة، يعالج المؤلف مسألة (...) الحجابة والحاجب من حيث اللغة والاصطلاح، ومسألة الحجابة عند ابن خلدون من منطلق الحضارة الداعية إلى انتحال الألقاب وتمييزها، ومسألة الاستئذان الشرعي والحجابة والفرق بينهما. (shrink)

First published in 1962, Freedom and History expresses a deep concern about freedom and the way it is imperilled by misunderstandings. Professor Lewis examines works of T.H. Green and compares Green with Locke and Rousseau.

The development of transplantation technology increasingly places before society a multitude of diverse, complex ethical and legal problems. The subject is the more complex because of the various divergent interests involved. There are the interests of the donor of organs, who has a right to protection of his legal position, and those of the patient in need of an often lifesaving organ. There are also the interests of the donor’s relatives, after his death, and those of the transplantation surgeons. The (...) international dimension of transplantation technology makes the picture even more complicated. Though this article is devoted to the European situation, the problems are similar all over the world. (shrink)

For parents wanting their children to get a head start in reading, it can be a challenge to find something that will maintain their attention. Now, learning to read can become a fun and enter- taining thing to do with the help of an extraordinary cat. Join Cleo-cat-tra as she brings reading to life in the charming picture book Rhymes and Times with Cleo-cat-tra by Lucy T. Geringer and illustrated by Bernardita Cox Kollock. Rhymes and Times of Cleo-cat-tra is a (...) picture book about a special cat named Cleo-cat-tra. She is not an ordinary cat, as she cleverly rhymes about animals, people, and things she encounters inside and outside her house. The rhymes are silly which make learning a fun and creative pro- cess for kids and for parents to share. This delightful story makes use of colorful illustrations to heighten a child's imagination. Its simple text and brief sentences make reading easy for the early reader. It is also a great book for children who are learning English and can be enjoyed both at home and in school through lively interactive discussions between students and teachers. It is a book for all ages. (shrink)

Collected lectures of the author on Sufism and Islamic philosophy.

Collection of author's lectures on Sufism and Islamic philosophy.

Este trabajo tiene como objetivo fundamentar la necesidad de la promoción y educación para la salud en la prevención de las infecciones respiratorias agudas. Se realizó una revisión bibliográfica de los últimos diez años que incluyó 53 artículos publicados en bases de datos biomédicas. Se concluye que las acciones educativas propuestas para la promoción y prevención las infecciones respiratorias agudas permitirán una labor educativa, para intervenir en la población con el fin de formar o modificar el estilo de vida y (...) prevenir la aparición de estas enfermedades, basado en la educación, a la vez que se le transfiere al individuo la responsabilidad de su propia salud. The objective of this work was to establish the need for health promotion and education in the prevention of acute respiratory infections. A literature review of the last ten years was made, which included 53 articles published in biomedical databases. It is concluded that the educational actions proposed for the promotion and prevention of acute respiratory infections will allow an educational task, to intervene in the population in order to form or modify the lifestyle and prevent the appearance of these diseases, based on education, transferring responsibility for their own health to the individual. (shrink)