Kamm considers the possibility that Tolstoy's 'The Death of Ivan Ilych' reveals how we can have some control over our deaths by how we choose to live. Kamm considers several characteristics of Ivan's ...death and dying process and sees whether their presence could vary with how we live.
This article begins by comparing terror and death and then focuses on whether killing combatants and noncombatants as a mere means to create terror, that is in turn a means to winning a war, is ever ...permissible. The role of intentions and alternative acts one might have done is examined in this regard. The second part of the article begins by criticizing a standard justification for causing collateral (side effect) deaths in war and offers an alternative justification that makes use of the idea of group liability.
Dystonia is a movement disorder involving sustained muscle contractions and abnormal posturing with a strong hereditary predisposition and without a distinct neuropathology. In this study the TOR1A ...(DYT1) gene was screened for mutations in cases of early onset dystonia and early onset parkinsonism (EOP), which frequently presents with dystonic symptoms. In a screen of 40 patients, we identified three variations, none of which occurred in EOP patients. Two infrequent intronic single base pair (bp) changes of unknown consequences were found in a dystonia patient and the mother of an EOP patient. An 18-bp deletion (Phe323_Tyr328del) in the TOR1A gene was found in a patient with early onset dystonia and myoclonic features. This deletion would remove 6 amino acids close to the carboxy terminus, including a putative phosphorylation site of torsinA. This 18-bp deletion is the first additional mutation, beyond the GAG-deletion (Glu302/303del), to be found in the TOR1A gene, and is associated with a distinct type of early onset dystonia.
Kamm examines the whole brain death criterion (WBC), which is currently the accepted criterion for declaring death in many countries. He suggests that the WBC's supporters would allow that concerted ...functioning that is supported in part artificially can constitute life and so spontaneity is less important than they seem to think.
Kamm presents three four-step arguments for the permissibility of physician-assisted suicide (PAS), examining various objections to them. It is considered whether the objections show PAS to be wrong, ...and, if so, whether the use or morphine for pain relief when certain death will result should be ruled out.
To evaluate the efficacy of adalimumab in the healing of draining fistulas in patients with active Crohn's disease (CD).
A phase III, multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo controlled study ...with an open-label extension was conducted in 92 sites.
A subgroup of adults with moderate to severely active CD (CD activity index 220-450) for >or=4 months who had draining fistulas at baseline.
All patients received initial open-label adalimumab induction therapy (80 mg/40 mg at weeks 0/2). At week 4, all patients were randomly assigned to receive double-blind placebo or adalimumab 40 mg every other week or weekly to week 56 (irrespective of fistula status). Patients completing week 56 of therapy were then eligible to enroll in an open-label extension.
Complete fistula healing/closure (assessed at every visit) was defined as no drainage, either spontaneous or with gentle compression.
Of 854 patients enrolled, 117 had draining fistulas at both screening and baseline (70 randomly assigned to adalimumab and 47 to placebo). The mean number of draining fistulas per day was significantly decreased in adalimumab-treated patients compared with placebo-treated patients during the double-blind treatment period. Of all patients with healed fistulas at week 56 (both adalimumab and placebo groups), 90% (28/31) maintained healing following 1 year of open-label adalimumab therapy (observed analysis).
In patients with active CD, adalimumab therapy was more effective than placebo for inducing fistula healing. Complete fistula healing was sustained for up to 2 years by most patients in an open-label extension trial.
Kamm examines whether the methods and results of cognitive psychology are relevant to the questions philosophers ask about the form and validity of a moral theory and the methods used in doing moral ...philosophy. The methods and claims put forth by psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky are considered, with a focus on their development of prospect theory.
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