BackgroundHuman embryonic stem cells as a source for the development of advanced therapy medicinal products are considered for treatment of Parkinson’s disease. Research has shown promising results and opened an avenue of great importance for patients who currently lack a disease modifying therapy. The use of hESC has given rise to moral concerns and been the focus of often heated debates on the moral status of human embryos. Approval for marketing is still pending.ObjectiveTo Investigate the perspectives and concerns of patients (...) with PD, patients being the directly concerned stakeholders in the ethical discussion.MethodsQualitative semi-structured interviews related to this new therapy in seventeen patients from two Swedish cities.ResultsThe participants expressed various interests related to the use of human embryos for development of medicinal therapies; however, overall, they were positive towards the use of hESC for treatment of PD. It was deemed important that the donating woman or couple made the choice to donate embryos voluntarily. Furthermore, there were concerns that the industry does not always prioritise the patient over profit; thus, transparency was seen as important. (shrink)

BackgroundNew disease-modifying ways to treat Parkinson’s disease (PD) may soon become a reality with intracerebral transplantation of cell products produced from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). The aim of this study was to assess what factors influence preferences of patients with PD regarding stem-cell based therapies to treat PD in the future.MethodsPatients with PD were invited to complete a web-based discrete choice experiment to assess the importance of the following attributes: (i) type of treatment, (ii) aim of treatment, (iii) available (...) knowledge of the different types of treatments, (iv) effect on symptoms, and (v) risk for severe side effects. Latent class conditional logistic regression models were used to determine preference estimates and heterogeneity in respondents’ preferences.ResultsA substantial difference in respondents’ preferences was observed in three latent preference patterns (classes). “Effect on symptoms” was the most important attribute in class 1, closely followed by “type of treatment,” with medications as preferred to other treatment alternatives. Effect on symptoms was also the most important attribute in class 2, with treatment with hESCs preferred over other treatment alternatives. Likewise for class 3, that mainly focused on “type of treatment” in the decision-making. Respondents’ class membership was influenced by their experience in treatment, side effects, and advanced treatment therapy as well as religious beliefs.ConclusionsMost of the respondents would accept a treatment with products emanating from hESCs, regardless of views on the moral status of embryos. Preferences of patients with PD may provide guidance in clinical decision-making regarding treatments deriving from stem cells. (shrink)

Adam Smith's religion drove his prescriptions for a virtuous humanity and a free and flourishing society. Jan Van Vliet examines how the practical implications of these strike a common chord with Scripture.

ABSTRACT:The ethics of high frequency trading are obscure, due in part to the complexity of the practice. This article contributes to the existing literature of ethics in financial markets by examining a recent trend in regulation in high frequency trading, the prohibition of deception. We argue that in the financial markets almost any regulation, other than the most basic, tends to create a moral hazard and increase information asymmetry. Since the market’s job is, at least in part, price discovery, we (...) argue that simplicity of regulation and restraint in regulation are virtues to a greater extent than in other areas of finance. This article proposes criteria for determining which high-frequency trading strategies should be regulated. (shrink)

L'anthropologie de l'art est une discipline relativement récente, qui naît au carrefour de plusieurs sciences humaines à la fin du XIXe siècle et qui se développe au XXe siècle jusqu'à connaître sa floraison actuelle. On entend par ce terme les études qui traitent de l'art par le prisme de la diversité des cultures, donc constamment tourné vers d'autres formes telles que le langage, le rituel, la technique et la science avec lesquelles il interagit. Cet ouvrage aborde des œuvres qui ont (...) un caractère esthétique, mais également une signification culturelle et des fonctions techniques, cognitives, sociales et politiques diverses. Au travers d'un panorama qui ne se prétend pas exhaustif, ce sont les conditions de son émergence que nous voudrions analyser ici avec les figures pionnières qui ont accompagné son avènement et le déploiement qu'en offrent quelques-unes des principales figures plus contemporaines pour mieux en saisir la diversité et la richesse"--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

This article responds to Srinivas Aravamudan's call to revisit the notion of the trace from the standpoint of the Anthropocene. A Derridean understanding of the trace shows how postcolonial difference challenges the humanist distinction between human and nature by questioning the distinction between life and death that is central to metaphysics. This discussion thus reframes the prospect of extinction signaled by the Anthropocene by means of a return to a Marxist, feminist, psychoanalytic and deconstructive trajectory within postcolonial thought.

The paper reviews Cassirer's recent reception in France and takes two international meetings in Rennes and Paris as an opportunity to determine current research interests in this area. A striking feature of French concern is the stress on art historical contextualization of Cassirer's thought (Riegl, Wolfflin, Panofsky).

The comparison of Ernst Cassirer’s philosophy of symbolic forms and Levi-Strauss’ structural anthropology requires a clarification of their definitions of morphology, transformation and translatability. We will expose the morphological field where Cassirer’s aesthetics emerges in relation to Goethe, who represents an important source for Levi-Strauss as well. Defining the concept of transformation is supposed to follow his modifications of the key ideas of the German poet and biologist, by taking account of the new point of view provided by the theory (...) of groups of transformation which the mathematician Felix Klein developed in the »circle of Erlangen «. Then we will show how Edgar Wind, a brilliant student of Cassirer, invents a kind of morphological aesthetics to provide art history with a methodology, and we will give some examples for the application of the concept of building series of pictures in the field of art history. We will examine the global function of the tables of Aby Warburg’s Atlas Mnemosyne, Erwin Panofsky’s wellknown iconological interpretation of Durer’s Melencolia I and then, by contrast, the creation of a virtual series of masks through an imaginative variation which Levi-Strauss creates to give sense to a particular Ameridian mask found during his investigations. Finally, we will investigate the problems appearing by the definition of transformation as translatability in both Cassirer’s and Levi-Strauss’ semiologies. We will ask for their uses of the model of translation in linguistics to compare different forms of structural homologies. (shrink)

This article examined the role of biblical interpretation amid the world’s water crisis. It aimed to make biblical texts accessible to non-specialist readers by using several methods of interpretation. The methods used were a combination of biblical interpretation, revisionist ecological hermeneutics and empirical research in the form of interviews with young adults in the Anglican Church in South Africa. This combination was applied to the role of water in Ezekiel 47. It showed that while traditional biblical interpretation is important for (...) understanding the biblical context, revisionist ecological hermeneutics can help in understanding the ecological aspect of the text. This combination fitted the interview results, in which interviewees shared how learning about ecological aspects helped to make the Bible more relevant in today’s ecological crisis. A deeper biblical understanding, a combination of traditional interpretation and ecological hermeneutics, could lead to more awareness and responsibility among Christians to care for creation. This form of hermeneutics could be applied to other Bible texts to grow awareness. Contribution: Interviewees argued that there is a lack of awareness in their environments about the causes and consequences of the ecological crisis. One of the main consequences of this crisis is related to water, with floods and droughts already becoming more severe. While this is often overlooked, the Bible could be of use in the water crisis in today’s world. This article has made a beginning in showing how biblical interpretation can effectively create climate awareness among churchgoers by speaking to their spirituality. (shrink)

All of finance is now automated, most notably high frequency trading. This paper examines the ethical implications of this fact. As automation is an interdisciplinary endeavor, we argue that the interfaces between the respective disciplines can lead to conflicting ethical perspectives; we also argue that existing disciplinary standards do not pay enough attention to the ethical problems automation generates. Conflicting perspectives undermine the protection those who rely on trading should have. Ethics in finance can be expanded to include organizational and (...) industry-wide responsibilities to external market participants and society. As a starting point, quality management techniques can provide a foundation for a new cross-disciplinary ethical standard in the age of automation. (shrink)

An increasing number of transcription factors both from prokaryotic and eukaryotic sources are found to bend the DNA upon binding to their recognition site. Bending can easily be detected by the anomalous electrophoretic behaviour of the DNA‐protein complex or by increased cyclization of DNA fragments containing the protein‐induced bend. Induction of DNA bending by transcription factors could regulate transcription in various ways. Bending may bring distantly bound transcription factors closer together by facilitating DNA‐looping or it could mediate the interaction between (...) transcription factors and the general transcription machinery by formation of large nucleoprotein structures in which the DNA is wrapped around the protein complex. Alternatively, the energy stored in a protein‐induced bend could be used to favour formation of an open transcription complex or to dissociate the RNA polymerase in the transition from initiation to elongation. Modification of the bend angles and bending centers, caused by homodimerization or heterodimerization of transcription factors, may well turn out to be an important way to enlarge the range of interactions required for regulation of gene expression. (shrink)

Die Festschrift Gnostica et Manichaica ehrt den am 13. Juli 1952 geborenen Religionshistoriker, Turkologen, Iranisten und Wissenschaftsgeschichtler Alois van Tongerloo. Sein vielseitiges und vielgestaltiges Wirken spiegelt sich in den 19 Beitragen von Kollegen, Freunden und Schulern, die so unterschiedliche Felder wie Religionsgeschichte, Manichaologie, Kirchengeschichte, Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Turkologie, Sinologie und Iranistik abdecken.Aus dem Inhalt : L. Cirillo, Mani: Apostle of Jesus Christ and Paraclete, in the Manichean primitive tradition and in the criticism of St. AugustinePaul Mirecki, Manichaeism, scribal magic and Papyrus Kellis (...) 35Zekine Ozertural, Uber eine orthographische Besonderheit der manichaisch-uigurischen TexteAntonio Panaino, The three Magi, the Stone of Christ and the Christian origin of the Mazdeam fire cultRomolo Perrotta, Wie entsteht eine "Haresie"? Eine phanomenologische PerspektiveCardinal Julien Ries, Le Manicheisme - une religion dualiste, gnostique et syncretisteJurgen Tubach, Die manichaische Hierarchie: die Zahlen 12, 72 und 360Roland van Vliet, Adoptianismus in der manichaischen Christologi. (shrink)

The process of giving greater credence to the codices has been constant in editions of Apuleius from the last century to the present day. Accordingly, the following suggestions are proposed. I et statim miser ut cum ilia adquieui, ab unico congressu annosam ac pestilentem con contraho. And at the very moment when I—wretch that I am!—lay with her, from that one relationship, I contracted this interminable and miserable condition. condicionem contraho scripsi: con contraho Fø: coniunctionem c. Chodaczek: consuetudinem c. van (...) der Vliet: contagionem c. Lütjohann: cladem c. Helm: luem c. Heinsius: contraho adfectionem Novák con dittographiam putans, cf. 8.14.1 : noxam ante annosam Giarratano, post annosam Birt In this case, where a word is obviously missing and the mysterious con appears, there are two general possibilities for correcting the text: con may be taken as a dittograph for contraho or considered to be part of the missing word. Another approach would be to interpret contraho differently: the verb can apply to a disease , harm or misfortune , a custom or marriage . The solutions offered by van der Vliet, in particular, and Novák are reasonable: other commentators have been led astray by the sentence I have quoted, assuming that what is missing is something like ‘harm', ‘misfortune’. (shrink)

Keuze van artikelen uit het werk van de Vlaamse filosoof over wetenschap, milieu, en medische en biologische ethiek.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in (...) the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. (shrink)