In this book, Allen Wood investigates Kant's conception of ethical theory, using it to develop a viable approach to the rights and moral duties of human beings. By remaining closer to Kant's own view ...of the aims of ethics, Wood's understanding of Kantian ethics differs from the received 'constructivist' interpretation, especially on such matters as the ground and function of ethical principles, the nature of ethical reasoning and autonomy as the ground of ethics. Wood does not hesitate to criticize and modify Kant's conclusions when they seem inconsistent with his basic principles or fail to make the best use of the resources Kantian principles make available. Of special interest are the book's treatment of such topics as freedom of the will, the state's role in securing economic justice, sexual morality, the justification of punishment, and the prohibition on lying.
Some scholars add authors to their research papers or grant proposals even when those individuals contribute nothing to the research effort. Some journal editors coerce authors to add citations that ...are not pertinent to their work and some authors pad their reference lists with superfluous citations. How prevalent are these types of manipulation, why do scholars stoop to such practices, and who among us is most susceptible to such ethical lapses? This study builds a framework around how intense competition for limited journal space and research funding can encourage manipulation and then uses that framework to develop hypotheses about who manipulates and why they do so. We test those hypotheses using data from over 12,000 responses to a series of surveys sent to more than 110,000 scholars from eighteen different disciplines spread across science, engineering, social science, business, and health care. We find widespread misattribution in publications and in research proposals with significant variation by academic rank, discipline, sex, publication history, co-authors, etc. Even though the majority of scholars disapprove of such tactics, many feel pressured to make such additions while others suggest that it is just the way the game is played. The findings suggest that certain changes in the review process might help to stem this ethical decline, but progress could be slow.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
QTL mapping in humans and rats has identified hundreds of blood-pressure-related phenotypes and genomic regions; the next daunting task is gene identification and validation. The development of novel ...rat model systems that mimic many elements of the human disease, coupled with advances in the genomic and informatic infrastructure for rats, promise to revolutionize the hunt for genes that determine susceptibility to hypertension. Furthermore, methods are evolving that should enable the identification of candidate genes in human populations. Together with the computational reconstruction of regulatory networks, these methods provide opportunities to significantly advance our understanding of the underlying aetiology of hypertension.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Summary Epilepsy is a chronic disease experienced by millions and a cause of substantial morbidity and mortality. This review summarizes prevalence and incidence studies of epilepsy that provided a ...clear definition of epilepsy and could be age-adjusted: requirements if comparisons across studies are to be made. Although few exceptions, age-adjusted prevalence estimates from record-based studies (2.7–17.6 per 1000), are lower than those from door-to-door surveys (2.2–41.0 per 1000). Age-adjusted incidence ranged from 16 to 51 per 100,000, with one exception in Chile, where incidence was 111 per 100,000. Variation in reported prevalence and incidence may be related to factors such as access to health care, regional environmental exposures, or socioeconomic status. A higher proportion of epilepsy characterized by generalized seizures was reported in most prevalence studies. Epilepsy characterized by partial seizures accounted for 20–66% of incident epilepsies. Virtually all prevalence and incidence studies report a preponderance of seizures of unknown cause. Additional prevalence studies are needed in regions where data does not exist, and additional incidence studies in all regions. Interpretation of differences in prevalence and incidence will require understanding of the role of cultural, social and economic factors influencing epilepsy and its care.
Skin is our primary interface with the environment, and T cells are crucial for orchestrating host immune responses against pathogenic microorganisms at this site. Effective skin immune responses ...require the generation of antigen-specific effector T cells, which home to cutaneous sites of injury or infection. Long-lasting immunity against future immune challenges is mediated by memory T cells. Among the memory T cells found in skin are both recirculating cells that transit between skin and blood and tissue-resident memory T (T
) cells, which remain in skin for long periods of time and mediate durable protective immunity. These T
cells also appear to drive many inflammatory diseases of skin. Here, we consider how a better understanding of cutaneous T cell responses can aid in the development of effective new therapies for immune-mediated cutaneous diseases.
Reaction Mechanism Generator (RMG) constructs kinetic models composed of elementary chemical reaction steps using a general understanding of how molecules react. Species thermochemistry is estimated ...through Benson group additivity and reaction rate coefficients are estimated using a database of known rate rules and reaction templates. At its core, RMG relies on two fundamental data structures: graphs and trees. Graphs are used to represent chemical structures, and trees are used to represent thermodynamic and kinetic data. Models are generated using a rate-based algorithm which excludes species from the model based on reaction fluxes. RMG can generate reaction mechanisms for species involving carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, sulfur, and nitrogen. It also has capabilities for estimating transport and solvation properties, and it automatically computes pressure-dependent rate coefficients and identifies chemically-activated reaction paths. RMG is an object-oriented program written in Python, which provides a stable, robust programming architecture for developing an extensible and modular code base with a large suite of unit tests. Computationally intensive functions are cythonized for speed improvements.
Program title: RMG
Catalogue identifier: AEZW_v1_0
Program summary URL:http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/AEZW_v1_0.html
Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen’s University, Belfast, N. Ireland
Licensing provisions: MIT/X11 License
No. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 958681
No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 9495441
Distribution format: tar.gz
Programming language: Python.
Computer: Windows, Ubuntu, and Mac OS computers with relevant compilers.
Operating system: Unix/Linux/Windows.
RAM: 1 GB minimum, 16 GB or more for larger simulations
Classification: 16.12.
External routines: RDKit, Open Babel, DASSL, DASPK, DQED, NumPy, SciPy
Nature of problem: Automatic generation of chemical kinetic mechanisms for molecules containing C, H, O, S, and N.
Solution method: Rate-based algorithm adds most important species and reactions to a model, with rate constants derived from rate rules and other parameters estimated via group additivity methods.
Additional comments: The RMG software package also includes CanTherm, a tool for computing the thermodynamic properties of chemical species and both high-pressure-limit and pressure-dependent rate coefficients for chemical reactions using results from quantum chemical calculations. CanTherm is compatible with a variety of ab initio quantum chemistry software programs, including but not limited to Gaussian, MOPAC, QChem, and MOLPRO.
Running time: From 30 s for the simplest molecules, to up to several weeks, depending on the size of the molecule and the conditions of the reaction system chosen.
Salt in Health and Disease — A Delicate Balance Kotchen, Theodore A; Cowley, Allen W; Frohlich, Edward D
The New England journal of medicine,
03/2013, Letnik:
368, Številka:
13
Journal Article
Recenzirano
This review provides an overview of our current understanding of the relation of salt consumption to hypertension and cardiovascular disease.
The fact that salt (sodium chloride) is essential for ...life has been recognized for millennia. Historically, the exchange value of salt played an important role in establishing trade routes, securing alliances, and provoking revolutions. Homer referred to salt as a divine substance, and Plato described it as especially dear to the gods. Salt has been associated with sexual potency, fertility, and immortality.
In sodium-deficient states, salt consumption is driven by salt appetite — an innate and motivated behavioral response that drives a human or animal to seek and ingest salt-containing foods and fluids.
1
However, under usual circumstances, the ambient salt . . .
Regulatory programs that control the function of stem cells are active in cancer and confer properties that promote progression and therapy resistance. However, the impact of a stem cell-like tumor ...phenotype (“stemness”) on the immunological properties of cancer has not been systematically explored. Using gene-expression–based metrics, we evaluated the association of stemness with immune cell infiltration and genomic, transcriptomic, and clinical parameters across 21 solid cancers. We found pervasive negative associations between cancer stemness and anticancer immunity. This occurred despite high stemness cancers exhibiting increased mutation load, cancer-testis antigen expression, and intratumoral heterogeneity. Stemness was also strongly associated with cell-intrinsic suppression of endogenous retroviruses and type I IFN signaling, and increased expression of multiple therapeutically accessible immunosuppressive pathways. Thus, stemness is not only a fundamental process in cancer progression but may provide a mechanistic link between antigenicity, intratumoral heterogeneity, and immune suppression across cancers.
Coercive Citation in Academic Publishing Wilhite, Allen W.; Fong, Eric A.
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
02/2012, Letnik:
335, Številka:
6068
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Many journal editors appear to strategically target authors and papers to pressure them into citing the editors' journals.
Despite their shortcomings (
1
–
4
), impact factors continue to be a ...primary means by which academics “quantify the quality of science” (
5
). One side effect of impact factors is the incentive they create for editors to coerce authors to add citations to their journal. Coercive self-citation does not refer to the normal citation directions, given during a peer-review process, meant to improve a paper. Coercive self-citation refers to requests that (i) give no indication that the manuscript was lacking in attribution; (ii) make no suggestion as to specific articles, authors, or a body of work requiring review; and (iii) only guide authors to add citations from the editor's journal. This quote from an editor as a condition for publication highlights the problem: “you cite
Leukemia
once in 42 references. Consequently, we kindly ask you to add references of articles published in
Leukemia
to your present article” (
6
). Gentler language may be used, but the message is clear: Add citations or risk rejection.
An examination of over 100 Covid-19 studies reveals that many relied on false assumptions that over-estimated the benefits and under-estimated the costs of lockdown. The most recent research has ...shown that lockdowns have had, at best, a marginal effect on the number of Covid-19 deaths. Generally speaking, the ineffectiveness stemmed from individual changes in behavior: either non-compliance or behavior that mimicked lockdowns. The limited effectiveness of lockdowns explains why, after more than one year, the unconditional cumulative Covid-19 deaths per million is not negatively correlated with the stringency of lockdown across countries. Using a method proposed by Professor Bryan Caplan along with estimates of lockdown benefits based on the econometric evidence, I calculate a number of cost/benefit ratios of lockdowns in terms of life-years saved. Using a mid-point estimate for costs and benefits, the reasonable estimate for Canada is a cost/benefit ratio of 141. It is possible that lockdown will go down as one of the greatest peacetime policy failures in modern history.
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