Ethics and science in brazilian legal discourse

The Brazilian Constitution of 1988 declares Brazil as a Democratic State of Law. This formally democratic legal status has been facing difficulties when it comes to its material implementation. Brazilian legal procedures are still greatly influenced by the catholic heritage from Portugal in the times of colonization, translated in the present times into a strong moral set of dogmas that still reflects upon the legal production and interpretation in the country. Recently in Brazil, a debate brought to the Supremo Tribunal Federal, the Brazilian Federal Supreme Court, has evidenced the struggle between Ethics and Morality in the country’s legal scenario. The focus of the discussion was the possibility of abortion of anencephalic fetuses (in Brazil, abortion in considered a crime against life). In order to properly ground its decision, the Court invited scientists, doctors, members of feminist movements and representatives of certain religions to a public dialogue, in which both scientific-technical and purely moral-religious arguments were presented. Although these procedures encouraged and promoted a democratic and pluralistic legal debate, it seems like the crucial point of the discussion were not taken into account: the scientific character of Law. This is the object of the present manuscript: in order to ensure an intersubjective construction and application of Law, this must be perceived as an Applied Social Science and judges, lawyers, legislators and all other legal actors must proceed in a scientific way. To illustrate the theme, the specific case of abortion of anencephalic fetuses will be mentioned through the text

The Impacts of Income Transfer Programs on Income Distribution and Poverty in Brazil: An Integrated Microsimulation and Computable General Equilibrium Analysis

A persistent and very high-income inequality is a well known feature of the Brazilian economy. However, from 2001 to 2005 the Gini index presented an unprecedented fall of 4.6 percent combined with significant poverty reduction. Previous studies using partial equilibrium analysis have pointed out the importance of federal government transfer programs in this inequality reduction. The aim of this research is to evaluate the efficiency of the two most important cash transfer programs, “Bolsa Família” and “BPC”, in achieving their purpose of alleviating poverty and reducing the inequality in Brazil’s income distribution using an integrated modeling approach, the CGE-MS model. The simulation results confirm the importance of these programs in reducing inequality from 2003 to 2005. However, the effect on poverty alleviation was not strong. Finally, the methodological approach allows the identification of some important economic facts that were not presented in previous analyses, such as the issue of taxation structure that finances these policies.Computable general equilibrium model, microsimulation model, income distribution, cash transfer program, fiscal policy, Brazil

Pressions sélectives et nouveautés évolutives : une hypothèse pour comprendre certains aspects des fluctuations à long terme des poissons pélagiques côtiers

L'extinction de certains stocks pélagiques côtiers marins durant des périodes dépassant très largement la durée du cycle de vie des espèces, suivies parfois d'une réapparition brutale et en grande abondance de l'espèce, est observée. Les travaux menés en écologie marine et terrestre ainsi qu'en biologie évolutive permettent de mieux comprendre les raisons biologiques du maintien et de la récupération des biomasses amoindries. La sévérité de la compétition interspécifique pour l'espèce qui connaît un faible niveau d'abondance est rappelée. Les conséquences possibles de fortes pressions sélectives sur la dynamique des populations ainsi que le fort potentiel adaptif des espèces pélagiques sont soulignés. Enfin l'aptitude d'une espèce à exprimer une nouveauté évolutive lorsqu'elle est devenue rare dans le milieu est envisagée. Ainsi, nous admettons comme hypothèse que les longues périodes d'extinction au caractère attractif sont le fruit de pressions sélectives fortes et du moindre impact des fluctuations climatique

Epicardial Adiposity in Relation to Metabolic Abnormality, Circulating Adipocyte FABP, and Preserved Ejection Fraction Heart Failure

Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) as a source of pro-inflammatory cytokines tightly linked to metabolic abnormalities. Data regarding the associations of EAT with adipocyte fatty acid-binding protein (A-FABP), a cytokine implicated in the cardiometabolic syndrome, might play an important part in mediating the association between EAT and cardiac structure/function in preserved ejection fraction heart failure (HFpEF). We conducted a prospective cohort study comprising 252 prospectively enrolled study participants classified as healthy (n = 40), high-risk (n = 161), or HFpEF (n = 51). EAT was assessed using echocardiography and compared between the three groups and related to A-FABP, cardiac structural/functional assessment utilizing myocardial deformations (strain/strain rates) and HF outcomes. EAT thickness was highest in participants with HFpEF (9.7 ± 1.7 mm) and those at high-risk (8.2 ± 1.5 mm) and lowest in healthy controls (6.4 ± 1.9 mm, p \u3c 0.001). Higher EAT correlated with the presence of cardiometabolic syndrome, diabetes and renal insufficiency independent of BMI and waist circumference (pinteraction for all \u3e 0.1), and was associated with reduced LV global longitudinal strain (GLS) and LV mass-independent systolic/diastolic strain rates (SRs/SRe) (all p \u3c 0.05). Higher A-FABP levels were associated with greater EAT thickness (pinteraction \u3e 0.1). Importantly, in the combined control cohort, A-FABP levels mediated the association between EAT and new onset HF. Excessive EAT is independently associated with the metabolic syndrome, renal insufficiency, and higher A-FABP levels. The association between EAT and new onset HF is mediated by A-FABP, suggesting a metabolic link between EAT and HF. Keywords: adipocyte fatty acid-binding protein (A-FABP); epicardial adipose tissue (EAT); heart failure (HF); metabolic syndrome; preserved ejection fraction heart failure (HFpEF); pro-inflammatory cytokines; strain; strain rate

Incremental prognostic value of coronary computed tomography angiography over coronary calcium scoring for major adverse cardiac events in elderly asymptomatic individuals

Aims: Coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) and coronary artery calcium score (CACS) have prognostic value for coronary artery disease (CAD) events beyond traditional risk assessment. Age is a risk factor with very high weight and little is known regarding the incremental value of CCTA over CAC for predicting cardiac events in older adults. Methods and results: Of 27 125 individuals undergoing CCTA, a total of 3145 asymptomatic adults were identified. This study sample was categorized according to tertiles of age (cut-off points: 52 and 62 years). CAD severity was classified as 0, 1-49, and ≥50% maximal stenosis in CCTA, and further categorized according to number of vessels ≥50% stenosis. The Framingham 10-year risk score (FRS) and CACS were employed as major covariates. Major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) were defined as a composite of all-cause death or non-fatal MI. During a median follow-up of 26 months (interquartile range: 18-41 months), 59 (1.9%) MACE occurred. For patients in the top age tertile, CCTA improved discrimination beyond a model included FRS and CACS (C-statistic: 0.75 vs. 0.70, P-value = 0.015). Likewise, the addition of CCTA improved category-free net reclassification (cNRI) of MACE in patients within the highest age tertile (e.g. cNRI = 0.75; proportion of events/non-events reclassified were 50 and 25%, respectively; P-value \u3c0.05, all). CCTA displayed no incremental benefit beyond FRS and CACS for prediction of MACE in the lower age tertiles. Conclusion: CCTA provides added prognostic value beyond cardiac risk factors and CACS for the prediction of MACE in asymptomatic older adults

Policy Advocacy and the Performance of Muslim American Identity

In much of the political science literature, lobbying is conceptualized as a strategic attempt to influence policy. Policy actors are seen as independent agents competing to achieve policy outcomes that closely resemble their preferences. This understanding of policymaking has acquired a taken-for-granted nature and is therefore seldom questioned. The discourse of policy advocacy as a bargaining process has becomes, in part, a constraining discourse, leading academic inquiry to focus on questions of tactics and policy outcomes and ignore questions of how the policy process itself shapes and influences actors\u27 identities and behavior. Understood in purely strategic terms, Muslim American foreign policy advocacy post- 9/11 seems puzzling, since it appears to confirm the perception of Muslims as outsiders concerned not with American interests, but with those of other nations. This work argues that in order to explain why Muslim American organizations continue, and in some cases intensify, their lobbying on U.S. foreign policy, we must problematize the way lobbying and policy engagement have been traditionally theorized. Rethinking policymaking as a number of acts through which actors perform and communicate a particular identity can have important implications for our understanding of the policymaking process and the role interest groups play in that process. I will present an in-depth case study of the two existing Muslim American interest groups, the Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), focusing in particular on their post-9/11 foreign policy advocacy. The primary goal of this paper is to analyze how CAIR and MPAC are (re)presenting Muslim American identity through the various policy acts in which they engage. I argue that examining these acts will help us better understand how, and what kind of, Muslim American identity is being performed. Methodologically, this paper relies on a critical discourse analysis approach. Consequently, the data sources examined and used to illustrate this argument are the policy discourse produced by these organizations, which include policy reports and recommendations, public statements, action alerts, op-eds, and qualitative interviews

Girl on the Via Flaminia

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston Universit

Excessive interatrial adiposity is associated with left atrial remodeling, augmented contractile performance in asymptomatic population

PURPOSE: Pericardial adipose tissue had been shown to exert local effects on adjacent cardiac structures. Data regarding the mechanistic link between such measures and left atrial (LA) structural/functional remodeling, a clinical hallmark of early stage heart failure (HF) and atrial fibrillation (AF) incidence, in asymptomatic population remain largely unexplored. METHODS: This retrospective analysis includes 356 subjects free from significant valvular disorders, atrial fibrillation, or clinical HF. Regional adipose tissue including pericardial and periaortic fat volumes, interatrial septal (IAS), and left atrioventricular groove (AVG) fat thickness were all measured by multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) (Aquarius 3D Workstation, TeraRecon, San Mateo, CA, USA). We measured LA volumes, booster performance, reservoir capacity as well as conduit function, and analyzed their association with adiposity measures. RESULTS: All four adiposity measures were positively associated with greater LA volumes (all P \u3c 0.05), while IAS and AVG fat were also related to larger LA kinetic energy and worse reservoir capacity (both P \u3c 0.01). In multivariate models, IAS fat thickness remained independently associated with larger LA volumes, increased LA kinetic energy and ejection force (β-coef: 0.17 & 0.15, both P \u3c 0.05), and impaired LA reservoir and conduit function (β-coef: -0.20 & -0.12, both P \u3c 0.05) after adjusting for clinical variables. CONCLUSION: Accumulated visceral adiposity, especially interatrial fat depots, was associated with certain LA structural/functional remodeling characterized by impaired LA reservoir and conduit function though augmented kinetic energy and ejection performance. Our data suggested that interatrial fat burden may be associated with certain detrimental LA functions with compensatory LA adaptation in an asymptomatic population