El dilema deontológico de la ciencia

Desde la antigüedad se reconoce la tensión y hasta oposición existente a veces entre las ciencias y las humanidades, o más generalmente entre la búsqueda del saber y el ideal de la vida buena. En terminología más técnica aunque pedante podría hablarse de antinomia entre el orden epistemológico y el orden estético. O de conflicto entre razón y entendimiento por un lado y sensibilidad y sentimiento por otro. También de la dificultad de reconciliar la objetividad con la subjetividad. En fin, hay muchas maneras de describir o nombrar las distintas facetas de una oposición que en el fondo es única e iniciática, y por tanto sin duda antiquísima, pero que en virtud de los rápidos progresos científico-técnicos de tiempos recientes frente al relativo estancamiento de la sensibilidad, la moral y el derecho ha originado graves problemas contemporáneos como los suscitados, por ejemplo, por ciertas aplicaciones de la física nuclear y de la ingeniería genética. (Párrafo extraído del texto a modo de resumen)Departamento de Filosofí

Climate migration: what the research shows is very different from the alarmist headlines

Predictions of mass climate migration make for attention-grabbing headlines. For more than two decades, commentators have predicted "waves" and "rising tides" of people forced to move by climate change. Recently, a think-tank report warned the climate crisis could displace 1.2 billion people by 2050. Some commentators now even argue that, as the New York Times noted in a recent headline "The Great Climate Migration Has Begun", and that the climate refugees we've been warned about are, in fact, already here. These alarming statements are often well-intentioned. Their aim is to raise awareness of the plight of people vulnerable to climate change and motivate humanitarian action on their behalf. But such headlines aren't always accurate - and rarely achieve their intended effect. Our main concern is that alarming headlines about mass climate migrations risk leading to more walls, not fewer. Indeed, many on the right and far right are now setting aside their climate denialism and linking climate action to ideas of territory and ethnic purity. In this context of growing climate nationalism, even the most well-intentioned narratives risk feeding fear-based stories of invasion when they present climate migration as unprecedented and massive, urgent and destabilising. The risk is only made worse when headlines point to racialised populations from the global south as on their way to the European Union, the US or Australia: places already in the grips of moral panics about migration

Interleukin-7, a New Cytokine Targeting the Mouse Hypothalamic Arcuate Nucleus: Role in Body Weight and Food Intake Regulation

Body weight is controlled through peripheral (white adipose tissue) and central (mainly hypothalamus) mechanisms. We have recently obtained evidence that overexpression of interleukin (IL)-7, a critical cytokine involved in lymphopoiesis, can protect against the development of diet-induced obesity in mice. Here we assessed whether IL-7 mediated its effects by modulating hypothalamic function. Acute subcutaneous injection of IL-7 prevented monosodium glutamate-induced obesity, this being correlated with partial protection against cell death in the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus (ARC). Moreover, we showed that IL-7 activated hypothalamic areas involved in regulation of feeding behavior, as indicated by induction of the activation marker c-Fos in neural cells located in the ventromedial part of the ARC and by inhibition of food intake after fasting. Both chains of the IL-7 receptor (IL-7Rα and γc) were expressed in the ARC and IL-7 injection induced STAT-3 phosphorylation in this area. Finally, we established that IL-7 modulated the expression of neuropeptides that tune food intake, with a stimulatory effect on the expression of pro-opiomelanocortin and an inhibitory effect on agouti-related peptide expression in accordance with IL-7 promoting anorectic effects. These results suggest that the immunomodulatory cytokine IL-7 plays an important and unappreciated role in hypothalamic body weight regulation

Feeding Our Immune System: Impact on Metabolism

Endogenous intestinal microflora and environmental factors, such as diet, play a central role in immune homeostasis and reactivity. In addition, microflora and diet both influence body weight and insulin-resistance, notably through an action on adipose cells. Moreover, it is known since a long time that any disturbance in metabolism, like obesity, is associated with immune alteration, for example, inflammation. The purpose of this review is to provide an update on how nutrients-derived factors (mostly focusing on fatty acids and glucose) impact the innate and acquired immune systems, including the gut immune system and its associated bacterial flora. We will try to show the reader how the highly energy-demanding immune cells use glucose as a main source of fuel in a way similar to that of insulin-responsive adipose tissue and how Toll-like receptors (TLRs) of the innate immune system, which are found on immune cells, intestinal cells, and adipocytes, are presently viewed as essential actors in the complex balance ensuring bodily immune and metabolic health. Understanding more about these links will surely help to study and understand in a more fundamental way the common observation that eating healthy will keep you and your immune system healthy

Correction: Why Psychologists Should by Default Use Welch’s 't'-test Instead of Student’s 't'-test

This article details a correction to: Delacre, M., Lakens, D., & Leys, C. (2017). Why Psychologists Should by Default Use Welch’s 't'-test Instead of Student’s t-test. 'International Review of Social Psychology', 30(1), 92–101. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/irsp.82

Rituximab Efficacy during a Refractory Polyarteritis Nodosa Flare

Polyarteritis nodosa (PAN) is a systemic vasculitis whose severe forms are treated with glucocorticoids and cyclophosphamide. Refractory patients are exposed to many complications, notably accelerated atherosclerosis. We report a case report of 71-year-old man followed for polyarteritis nodosa refractory to glucocorticoids and cyclosphosphamide. Systemic vasculitis relapses are followed to accelerated atherosclerosis: severe ischemic lesions led to amputation of lower limbs. Remission of refractory PAN is obtained with rituximab. Disappearance of biological inflammatory is allowed to regression of ischemic lesions in upper limbs. In this situation, we recommend a systematic vascular work-up for patients suffered from refractory vasculitis. On the other hand, therapeutic trials are needed to determine the real efficacy and place of rituximab in the treatment of polyarteritis nodosa

Public health surveillance after the 2010 Haiti earthquake: the experience of Médecins Sans Frontières

Background In January 2010, Haiti was struck by a powerful earthquake, killing and wounding hundreds of thousands and leaving millions homeless. In order to better understand the severity of the crisis, and to provide early warning of epidemics or deteriorations in the health status of the population, Médecins Sans Frontières established surveillance for infections of epidemic potential and for death rates and malnutrition prevalence. Methods Trends in infections of epidemic potential were detected through passive surveillance at health facilities serving as sentinel sites. Active community surveillance of death rates and malnutrition prevalence was established through weekly home visits. Results There were 102,054 consultations at the 15 reporting sites during the 26 week period of operation. Acute respiratory infections, acute watery diarrhoea and malaria/fever of unknown origin accounted for the majority of proportional morbidity among the diseases under surveillance. Several alerts were triggered through the detection of immediately notifiable diseases and increasing trends in some conditions. Crude and under-5 death rates, and acute malnutrition prevalence, were below emergency thresholds. Conclusion Disease surveillance after disasters should include an alert and response component, requiring investment of resources in informal networks that improve sensitivity to alerts as well as on the more common systems of data collection, compilation and analysis. Information sharing between partners is necessary to strengthen early warning systems. Community-based surveillance of mortality and malnutrition is feasible but requires careful implementation and validation

What Drives False Memories in Psychopathology? A Case for Associative Activation

In clinical and court settings, it is imperative to know whether posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression may make people susceptible to false memories. We conducted a review of the literature on false memory effects in participants with PTSD, a history of trauma, or depression. When emotional associative material was presented to these groups, their levels of false memory were raised relative to those in relevant comparison groups. This difference did not consistently emerge when neutral or nonassociative material was presented. Our conclusion is supported by a quantitative comparison of effect sizes between studies using emotional associative or neutral, nonassociative material. Our review suggests that individuals with PTSD, a history of trauma, or depression are at risk for producing false memories when they are exposed to information that is related to their knowledge base