Philosophical Issues From Kripke's 'Semantical Considerations on Modal Logic'

In ‘Semantical Considerations on Modal Logic’, Kripke articulates his project in the discourse of “possible worlds”. There has been much philosophical discussion of whether endorsement of the Kripke semantics brings ontological commitment to possible worlds. However, that discussion is less than satisfactory because it has been conducted without the necessary investigation of the surrounding philosophical issues that are raised by the Kripke semantics. My aim in this paper is to map out the surrounding territory and to commence that investigation. Among the surrounding issues, and my attitudes to them, are these: (1) the potential of the standard distinction between pure and impure versions of the semantic theory has been under-exploited; (2) there has been under-estimation of what is achieved by the pure semantic theory alone; (3) there is a methodological imperative to co-ordinate a clear conception of the purposes of the impure theory with an equally clear conception of the content the theory; (4) there is a need to support by argument claims about how such a semantic theory, even in an impure state, can fund explanations in the theory of meaning and metaphysics; (5) greater attention needs to be paid to the crucial advance that Kripke makes on the precursors of possible-worlds semantics proper (e.g. Carnap 1947) in clearly distinguishing variation across the worlds within a model of modal space from variation across such models and, finally, (6) the normative nature of the concept of applicability, of the pure semantic theory, is both of crucial importance and largely ignored

<i>Clitoria ternatea</i> L. flower extract inhibits α-amylase during <i>in vitro </i>starch digestion

This study aimed to investigate the inhibitory effect of Clitoria ternatea flower against α-amylase during simulated in vitro wheat starch digestion. The dark-blue tropical flower is used as a food colorant but its ability to modulate starch digestion has not been tested before. The aqueous extract of the flower containing anthocyanins was a competitive inhibitor against α-amylase with an IC50 value (concentration of inhibitor required to reduce the enzyme activity by half) and inhibition constant, Ki, of 0.91 mg/mL and 0.75 mg/mL,respectively. Subjecting the extract to pasteurisation (72oC for 15 s) and boiling (for 30 min) it significantly (P&lt;0.05) decreased the anthocyanin content as determined by a pH-shift method, although the light absorbance profile of the extract remained virtually unchanged, suggesting that the equilibrium mixture of anthocyanin species was unaffected. The thermal degradation of the anthocyanins explained the partial loss of inhibition activity of the extract, as indicated by the decrease in Michaelis-Menten constant, Km, from 14.8 mg/mL in thesystems with unheated extract to 11.3 and 6.1 mg/mL in pasteurised and boiled extracts, respectively. The thermal treatments, however, did not change the type (competitive) of inhibition. The results from this work demonstrated the potential of C. ternatea flower extract in inhibiting α-amylase during starch digestion, which might lead to development of functional food/drink for controlling postprandial blood glucose level

Bootstrap Interval Estimation of Reliability via Coefficient Omega

Three different bootstrap confidence intervals (CIs) for coefficient omega were investigated. The CIs were assessed through a simulation study with conditions not previously investigated. All methods performed well; however, the normal theory bootstrap (NTB) CI had the best performance because it had more consistent acceptable coverage under the simulation conditions investigated

Do possible worlds compromise God’s beauty? A reply to Mark Ian Thomas Robson

In a recent article Mark Ian Thomas Robson argues that there is a clear contradiction between the view that possible worlds are a part of God's nature and the theologically pivotal, but philosophically neglected, claim that God is perfectly beautiful. In this article I show that Robson's argument depends on several key assumptions that he fails to justify and as such that there is reason to doubt the soundness of his argument. I also demonstrate that if Robson's argument were sound then this would be a problem for all classical theists and not just those who hold the possible worlds view

Apolipoprotein L1 gene variants associate with prevalent kidney but not prevalent cardiovascular disease in the Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial.

Apolipoprotein L1 gene (APOL1) G1 and G2 coding variants are strongly associated with chronic kidney disease (CKD) in African Americans (AAs). Here APOL1 association was tested with baseline estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), urine albumin:creatinine ratio (UACR), and prevalent cardiovascular disease (CVD) in 2571 AAs from the Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial (SPRINT), a trial assessing effects of systolic blood pressure reduction on renal and CVD outcomes. Logistic regression models that adjusted for potentially important confounders tested for association between APOL1 risk variants and baseline clinical CVD (myocardial infarction, coronary, or carotid artery revascularization) and CKD (eGFR under 60 ml/min per 1.73 m(2) and/or UACR over 30 mg/g). AA SPRINT participants were 45.3% female with a mean (median) age of 64.3 (63) years, mean arterial pressure 100.7 (100) mm Hg, eGFR 76.3 (77.1) ml/min per 1.73 m(2), and UACR 49.9 (9.2) mg/g, and 8.2% had clinical CVD. APOL1 (recessive inheritance) was positively associated with CKD (odds ratio 1.37, 95% confidence interval 1.08-1.73) and log UACR estimated slope (β) 0.33) and negatively associated with eGFR (β -3.58), all significant. APOL1 risk variants were not significantly associated with prevalent CVD (1.02, 0.82-1.27). Thus, SPRINT data show that APOL1 risk variants are associated with mild CKD but not with prevalent CVD in AAs with a UACR under 1000 mg/g

Phosphorylated neurofilament H (pNF-H) as a potential diagnostic marker for neurological disorders in horses

The current study aimed at the investigating the potential use of phosphorylated neurofilament H (pNF-H) as a diagnostic biomarker for neurologic disorders in the horse. Paired serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples (n = 88) and serum only (n = 30) were obtained from horses diagnosed with neurologic disorders and clinically healthy horses as control. The neurologic horses consisted of equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM) (38 cases) and cervical vertebral malformation (CVM) (23 cases). Levels of pNF-H were determined using an ELISA. The correlation between CSF and serum concentrations of pNF-H was evaluated using Spearman's Rank test and the significance of the difference among the groups was assessed using a nonparametric test. Horses had higher pNF-H levels in the CSF than serum. Horses afflicted with EPM had significantly higher serum pNF-H levels in comparison to controls or CVM cases. The correlation between CSF and serum pNF-H levels was poor in both the whole study population and among subgroups of horses included in the study. There was significant association between the likelihood of EPM and the concentrations of pNF-H in either the serum or CSF. These data suggest that pNF-H could be detected in serum and CSF samples from neurologic and control horses. This study demonstrated that pNF-H levels in serum and CSF have the potential to provide objective information to help in the early diagnosis of horses afflicted with neurologic disorders

Oral mucosal injury caused by mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitors: emerging perspectives on pathobiology and impact on clinical practice.

In recent years oral mucosal injury has been increasingly recognized as an important toxicity associated with mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitors, including in patients with breast cancer who are receiving everolimus. This review addresses the state-of-the-science regarding mTOR inhibitor-associated stomatitis (mIAS), and delineates its clinical characteristics and management. Given the clinically impactful pain associated with mIAS, this review also specifically highlights new research focusing on the study of the molecular basis of pain. The incidence of mIAS varies widely (2-78%). As reported across multiple mTOR inhibitor clinical trials, grade 3/4 toxicity occurs in up to 9% of patients. Managing mTOR-associated oral lesions with topical oral, intralesional, and/or systemic steroids can be beneficial, in contrast to the lack of evidence supporting steroid treatment of oral mucositis caused by high-dose chemotherapy or radiation. However, steroid management is not uniformly efficacious in all patients receiving mTOR inhibitors. Furthermore, technology does not presently exist to permit clinicians to predict a priori which of their patients will develop these lesions. There thus remains a strategic need to define the pathobiology of mIAS, the molecular basis of pain, and risk prediction relative to development of the clinical lesion. This knowledge could lead to novel future interventions designed to more effectively prevent mIAS and improve pain management if clinically significant mIAS lesions develop

Advanced Modalizing De Dicto and De Re

Lewis’ (1968, 1986) analysis of modality faces a problem in that it appears to confer unintended truth values to certain modal claims about the pluriverse: e.g. ‘It is possible that there are many worlds’ is false when we expect truth. This is the problem of advanced modalizing. Divers (1999, 2002) presents a principled solution to this problem by treating modal modifiers as semantically redundant in some such cases. However, this semantic move does not deal adequately with advanced de re modal claims. Here, we motivate and detail a comprehensive semantics (a la Lewis 1968) for advanced modalizing de dicto and de re. The generalized semantic feature of the initial solution is not redundancy but absence from counterpart-theoretic translations of world-constrictions