Current clinical research lacks diversity in those that participate. This lack of diversity is concerning given its importance for successful drug development. The frequency and severity of many diseases, along with the pharmacological properties of therapies, can display significant differences based on patient diversity. A clinical trial population that is more reflective of these differences will help researchers better understand the therapeutic profile of the treatment and provide generalizable knowledge to the medical community. The advent of decentralized clinical trial designs (...) is meant to help address this lack of diversity by using portable digital health technologies and virtual interactions to enhance clinical trial access and broaden participation. By leveraging these technologies, trial conduct can occur at locations other than traditional research sites. This shift in trial location may help address some of the logistical, educational, engagement, and trust barriers that have historically prevented enrollment of diverse populations. However, these types of trials still have limitations. Ethical concerns around justice, equity, and diversity will still exist with decentralized clinical trials, which could be mediated using clinical research vehicles. When utilized, this modality may enhance the scientific design and conduct of clinical trials and better follow these ethical principles. These enhancements and improved ethical direction could be accomplished through increasing community involvement, improving health literacy, supporting more diverse trial sites, creating community‐based research footholds, fostering connections with researchers, limiting technical challenges, and preventing data security issues. (shrink)

The themes of hybris, erôs and mania are interconnected in Plato’s final opus, the Laws, regarding his narrator’s construction of sexually accepted norms for his ‘second-best’, utopian society. This article examines this formulation, its psychological characteristics and philosophical underpinnings. The role and function of his social programme are considered in the context of the Laws and the hypothetical polis outlined therein. However, this particular formulation is not a new development in later Platonic thought. It is, rather, a logical extension of (...) earlier Platonic ideas, expressed in a number of previous dialogues, and brought to bear in the peculiar circumstances of the ‘second-best’ polis. This can be especially observed in relation to the Symposium and Phaedrus. Instead of regarding the construction of sexuality in the Laws as a work in isolation, these earlier ideas are here considered intertextually as part of a broader Platonic continuum. (shrink)