Should we be thinking about sex robots?

The chapter introduces the edited collection Robot Sex: Social and Ethical Implications. It proposes a definition of the term 'sex robot' and examines some current prototype models. It also considers the three main ethical questions one can ask about sex robots: (i) do they benefit/harm the user? (ii) do they benefit/harm society? or (iii) do they benefit/harm the robot

Shared decision making and antibiotic benefit-harm conversations: an observational study of consultations between general practitioners and patients with acute respiratory infections

Abstract Background Little research has examined whether shared decision making (SDM) occurs in consultations for acute respiratory infections (ARIs), including what, and how, antibiotic benefits and harms are discussed. We aimed to analyse the extent and nature of SDM in consultations between GPs and patients with ARIs, and explore communication with and without the use of patient decision aids. Methods This was an observational study in Australian general practices, nested within a cluster randomised trial of decision aids (for acute otitis media [AOM], sore throat, acute bronchitis) designed for general practitioners (GPs) to use with patients, compared with usual care (no decision aids). Audio-recordings of consultations of a convenience sample of consenting patients seeing a GP for an ARI were independently analysed by two raters using the OPTION-12 (observing patient involvement in decision making) scale (maximum score of 100) and 5 items (about communicating evidence) from the Assessing Communication about Evidence and Patient Preferences (ACEPP) tool (maximum score of 5). Patients also self-completed a questionnaire post-consultation that contained items from CollaboRATE-5 (perceptions of involvement in the decision-making process), a decisional conflict scale, and a decision self-efficacy scale. Descriptive statistics were calculated for each measure. Results Thirty-six consultations, involving 13 GPs, were recorded (20 for bronchitis, 10 sore throat, 6 AOM). The mean (SD) total OPTION-12 score was 29.4 (12.5; range 4–54), with item 12 (need to review decision) the highest (mean = 3) and item 10 (eliciting patients’ preferred level of decision-making involvement) the lowest (mean = 0.1). The mean (SD) total ACEPP score was 2 (1.6), with the item about discussing benefits scoring highest. In consultations where a decision aid was used (15, 42%), compared to the 21 usual care consultations, mean observer-assessed SDM scores (OPTION-12, ACEPP scores) were higher and antibiotic harms mentioned in all (compared to only 1) consultations. Patients generally reported high decision involvement and self-efficacy, and low decisional conflict. Conclusions The extent of observer-assessed SDM between GPs and patients with ARIs was generally low. Balanced discussion of antibiotic benefits and harms occurred more often when decision aids were used

Beliefs about medicines and non-adherence in patients with stroke, diabetes mellitus and rheumatoid arthritis: a cross-sectional study in China

OBJECTIVES: To investigate beliefs about medicines and their association with medicine adherence in patients with chronic diseases in China. DESIGN: A cross-sectional questionnaire-based study SETTING: Two large urban hospitals in Hefei and Tianjin, China PARTICIPANTS: Hospital inpatients (313 stroke patients) and outpatients (315 diabetic patients and 339 rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients) were recruited between January 2014 and September 2014. OUTCOME MEASURES: The Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire (BMQ), assessing patients' beliefs about the specific medicine (Specific-Necessity and Specific-Concerns) prescribed for their conditions (stroke/diabetes/RA) and more general background beliefs about pharmaceuticals as a class of treatment (BMQ-General Benefit, Harm and Overuse); the Perceived Sensitivity to Medicines scale (PSM) assessed patients' beliefs about how sensitive they were to the effects of medicines and the Medication Adherence Report Scale. The association between non-adherence and beliefs about medicines was assessed using a logistic regression model. RESULTS: Patients with diabetes mellitus had a stronger perceived need for treatment (mean (SD) Specific-Necessity score, 3.75 (0.40)) than patients with stroke (3.69 (0.53)) and RA (3.66 (0.44)) (p=0.049). Moderate correlations were observed between Specific-Concerns and General-Overuse, General-Harm and PSM (Pearson correlation coefficients, 0.39, 0.49 and 0.49, respectively, p<0.01). Three hundred and eleven patients were non-adherent to their medicine (159 (51.0%) in the stroke group, 60 (26.7%) in the diabetes mellitus group and 62 (19.8%) in the RA group, p<0.01). Across the whole sample, after adjusting for demographic characteristics, non-adherence was associated with patients who had higher concerns about their medicines (OR, 1.35, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.71) and patients who believed that they were personally sensitive to the effects of medications (OR 1.44, 95% CI 1.16 to 1.85). CONCLUSION: The BMQ is a useful tool to identify patients at risk of non-adherence. In the future, adherence intervention studies may use the BMQ to screen for patients who are at risk of non-adherence and to map interventional support

A Neurobiologically Motivated Analysis of Distributional Semantic Models

The pervasive use of distributional semantic models or word embeddings in a variety of research fields is due to their remarkable ability to represent the meanings of words for both practical application and cognitive modeling. However, little has been known about what kind of information is encoded in text-based word vectors. This lack of understanding is particularly problematic when word vectors are regarded as a model of semantic representation for abstract concepts. This paper attempts to reveal the internal information of distributional word vectors by the analysis using Binder et al.'s (2016) brain-based vectors, explicitly structured conceptual representations based on neurobiologically motivated attributes. In the analysis, the mapping from text-based vectors to brain-based vectors is trained and prediction performance is evaluated by comparing the estimated and original brain-based vectors. The analysis demonstrates that social and cognitive information is better encoded in text-based word vectors, but emotional information is not. This result is discussed in terms of embodied theories for abstract concepts.Comment: submitted to CogSci 201

Potentially harmful advantage to athletes: a putative connection between UGT2B17 gene deletion polymorphism and renal disorders with prolonged use of anabolic androgenic steroids

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: With prolonged use of anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS), occasional incidents of renal disorders have been observed. Independently, it has also been established that there are considerable inter-individual and inter-ethnic differences, in particular with reference to the uridine diphosphate-glucuronosyltransferase 2B17 (UGT2B17) gene, in metabolising these compounds. This report postulates the association of deletion polymorphism in the UGT2B17 gene with the occurrence of renal disorders on chronic exposure to AAS. PRESENTATION OF THE HYPOTHESIS: The major deactivation and elimination pathway of AASs is through glucuronide conjugation, chiefly catalyzed by the UGT2B17 enzyme, followed by excretion in urine. Excretion of steroids is affected in individuals with a deletion mutation in the UGT2B17 gene. We hypothesize that UGT2B17 deficient individuals are more vulnerable to developing renal disorders with prolonged use of AAS owing to increases in body mass index and possible direct toxic effects of steroids on the kidneys. Elevated serum levels of biologically active steroids due to inadequate elimination can lead to prolonged muscle build up. An increase in body mass index may cause renal injuries due to sustained elevated glomerular pressure and flow rate. TESTING THE HYPOTHESIS: In the absence of controlled clinical trials in humans, observational studies can be carried out. Real time PCR with allelic discrimination should be employed to examine the prevalence of different UGT2B17 genotypes in patients with impaired renal function and AAS abuse. In individuals with the UGT2B17 deletion polymorphism, blood tests, biofluid analyses, urinalysis, and hair analyses following the administration of an anabolic steroid can be used to determine the fate of the substance once in the body. IMPLICATIONS OF THE HYPOTHESIS: If the hypothesis is upheld, anabolic steroid users with a deletion mutation in the UGT2B17 gene may be exposed to an increased risk of developing renal disorders. In the current detecting - sanctioning anti-doping system, athletes motivated by the potential to evade detection owing to their unique genetic make-up could subject themselves to a serious health consequence. More research on AAS metabolism in the presence of UGT2B17 gene deletion is required. Benefit - harm evaluations in therapeutic use of anabolic steroids should also consider this potential link between UGT2B17 gene deletion polymorphism and renal disorders

Keindahan Dan Ornamentasi Dalam Perspektif Arsitektur Islam

This study discusses about the Islamic view from al-Quran and al-Hadith about beauty and its application in the form of architectural ornamentation of the building. This is done to obtain the basic philosophical as well as corridors for the implementation of the beauty in the building, as well as to restore the function of ornamentation itself. Of this study obtained an understanding that displayed beauty should still consider the values of Islam, namely the value of the benefit, harm avoidance, tauhid, cleanliness, and so forth. Between the harm to be avoided in the ornamentation of the mosque is a tendency to exaggerate (mubadzir), depiction of animate beings, disturbance of concentration, intention to brag, luxury, causing difficulty in maintaining cleanliness in the future, and so forth. The expression of beauty can also be done through simplicity, moderation, harmony with nature, concern for human needs and society, and conformity with the rules set by God Almighty and His Messenger

Evaluating predictive pharmacogenetic signatures of adverse events in colorectal cancer patients treated with fluoropyrimidines

The potential clinical utility of genetic markers associated with response to fluoropyrimidine treatment in colorectal cancer patients remains controversial despite extensive study. Our aim was to test the clinical validity of both novel and previously identified markers of adverse events in a broad clinical setting. We have conducted an observational pharmacogenetic study of early adverse events in a cohort study of 254 colorectal cancer patients treated with 5-fluorouracil or capecitabine. Sixteen variants of nine key folate (pharmacodynamic) and drug metabolising (pharmacokinetic) enzymes have been analysed as individual markers and/or signatures of markers. We found a significant association between TYMP S471L (rs11479) and early dose modifications and/or severe adverse events (adjusted OR = 2.02 [1.03; 4.00], p = 0.042, adjusted OR = 2.70 [1.23; 5.92], p = 0.01 respectively). There was also a significant association between these phenotypes and a signature of DPYD mutations (Adjusted OR = 3.96 [1.17; 13.33], p = 0.03, adjusted OR = 6.76 [1.99; 22.96], p = 0.002 respectively). We did not identify any significant associations between the individual candidate pharmacodynamic markers and toxicity. If a predictive test for early adverse events analysed the TYMP and DPYD variants as a signature, the sensitivity would be 45.5 %, with a positive predictive value of just 33.9 % and thus poor clinical validity. Most studies to date have been under-powered to consider multiple pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic variants simultaneously but this and similar individualised data sets could be pooled in meta-analyses to resolve uncertainties about the potential clinical utility of these markers

A Moral Framework for Understanding of Fair ML through Economic Models of Equality of Opportunity

We map the recently proposed notions of algorithmic fairness to economic models of Equality of opportunity (EOP)---an extensively studied ideal of fairness in political philosophy. We formally show that through our conceptual mapping, many existing definition of algorithmic fairness, such as predictive value parity and equality of odds, can be interpreted as special cases of EOP. In this respect, our work serves as a unifying moral framework for understanding existing notions of algorithmic fairness. Most importantly, this framework allows us to explicitly spell out the moral assumptions underlying each notion of fairness, and interpret recent fairness impossibility results in a new light. Last but not least and inspired by luck egalitarian models of EOP, we propose a new family of measures for algorithmic fairness. We illustrate our proposal empirically and show that employing a measure of algorithmic (un)fairness when its underlying moral assumptions are not satisfied, can have devastating consequences for the disadvantaged group's welfare

Environmental ethics

Reynolds highlights three dimensions of environmental ethics – normative, philosophical and political – in the context of a long-standing controversial development initiative for dam constructions in the Narmada river valley in India. In discussing these three dimensions, he promotes the importance of environmental ethics in fostering responsible development intervention. A version of this reading can be found in Environment, Development and Sustainability in the 21st Century: Perspectives and cases from around the world, edited by Gordon Wilson, Pam Furniss and Richard Kimbowa (2009), published by the Open University and Oxford University Press, for which the reading was originally commissioned