The omniscient speaker puzzle

The epistemicist theory aims to explain ignorance due to vagueness by semantic plasticity: the shiftiness of intensions across close possible worlds resulting from shiftiness in usage. This explanation is challenged by the Omniscient Speaker Puzzle (Sennet in Philos Stud 161(2):273–285, 2012). Suppose that an omniscient speaker, Barney, who knows all the facts about usage and how these facts determine the intensions of expressions, cooks up a scheme to stabilise the intension of a normally semantically plastic term like ‘rich’. It seems that ‘rich’ would display all the phenomena associated with vagueness without being semantically plastic, thus making the epistemicist explanation of ignorance due to vagueness insufficient. In this paper, I present a few choice points for epistemicism that arise as a result of the puzzle

Shifty semantics and slippery slopes: essays on semantic plasticity and the epistemic theory of vagueness

Our words have meaning. What meanings they possess is determined by meaning-fixing factors, e.g. usage. Large changes in the meaning-fixing facts produce large shifts in meaning. It’s natural to conjecture that even the tiniest changes in usage produce tiny shifts in meaning - after all, any large change can be broken down into a series of small changes. This conjecture is known as semantic plasticity. Semantic plasticity is the central component of the epistemicist theory of vagueness. Furthermore, several puzzling consequences of semantic plasticity have recently been identified. This thesis is the first sustained examination of semantic plasticity that articulates its motivation, refines its characterization, and answers this battery of recent puzzles. This work is essential if Williamsonian epistemicism (Williamson 1994) is to be tenable. But everyone needs to square the arguments for semantic plasticity with the puzzles it engenders, and so the work has wide relevance. The aim of the thesis is threefold. Firstly, it sums up and clears up the debate engendered by the publication of 'Vagueness' in 1994. Secondly, it refines the epistemicist account in the areas that were shown to be lacking in the literature. Thirdly, it answers some recent puzzles generated by semantic plasticity. The first chapter sums up the debate about epistemicism and semantic plasticity over the last 30 years. Later chapters are divided into three parts. Part I defends and refines epistemicist metasemantics, including the metasemantics of moral terms. Part II develops the technical details of the theory, providing an account of the definiteness operator, a model for ignorance due to semantic plasticity (and other factors) and an account of the restrictions on metalinguistic vocabulary like ‘truth’ imposed by epistemicism. Part III presents an account of metalinguistic comparatives using some elements of the epistemicist machinery, and answers a recent puzzle generated by semantic plasticity

Wstępne próby konstrukcji bibliotek peptydowych jako narzędzia w diagnostyce nowotworów złośliwych tarczycy

Introduction: Cancer of thyroid gland is the most common malignancy of the endocrine system. The treatment improvement could be achieved by early diagnosis. The aim of the study was to identify cancer specific antigenes with use of peptide libraries. Material and methods: The material from 6 patients with thyroid cancer (4 with papillary cancer, 1 with follicular cancer and 1 with oxyphilic tumor) were analyzed. It was performed with use of lipophylic peptide libraries by direct comparison of staining of specimens prepared from normal and malignant tissue. Results: Preliminary results confirm practical value of peptide libraries in early diagnostics of thyroid cancer. Conclusions: It is important to optimize construction of peptide libraries by using different staining agents hydrolyzed by proteases.Wstęp: Nowotwory złośliwe tarczycy należą do najczęstszych nowotworów złośliwych układu endokrynnego. Poprawa wyników leczenia wiąże się z postępem wczesnej diagnostyki raka. Celem niniejszych badań jest poszukiwanie wskaźników nowotworowych za pomocą bibliotek peptydowych umieszczonych na podłożu z bibuły. Materiał i metody: Analizie poddano tkanki pobrane od 6 pacjentów: 4 z rakiem brodawkowatym tarczycy, 1 z nowotworem pęcherzykowym oraz 1 pacjenta z rakiem oksyfilnym. Badania wykonywano z wykorzystaniem bibliotek peptydowych lipofilowych, porównując tkankę zdrową i chorą oraz oceniając zmianę zabarwienia w poszczególnych bibliotekach. Wyniki: Wstępne wyniki wskazują, że biblioteki peptydowe można zastosować w diagnostyce nowotworów tarczycy. Wnioski: Niezbędna jest optymalizacja budowy bibliotek peptydowych, gdzie konieczne jest zastosowanie innego barwnika hydrolizowanego przez proteazy

Clinical significance of oxidation and acetylation genetic polymorphism in patients with hyperthyreosis

Introduction: The relationship between genetically determined polymorphic oxidation and acetylation and susceptibility to some disease was aroused much interest. The aim of our study was to evaluate whether patients with hyperthyreosis differ from healthy persons in their ability to oxidize sparteine and acetylate sulphadimidine as model drugs. Oxidation and acetylation were estimated in 48 patients with hiperthyreosis. Material and methods: The control group consisted of 160 healthy volunteers for comparison of oxidation phenotype and 60 healthy volunteers for comparison of acetylation phenotype. The phenotyping of oxidation revealed two distinct populations among 40 patients with hyperthyreosis: 38 persons (95%) were extensive metabolizers (EM) of sparteine and 2 persons (5%) was poor metabolizers (PM). In 160 healthy persons (91.2%) were EM and 14 persons (8.8%) were PM. The difference between frequency distribution of PM and EM in healthy persons and in patients with hyperthyreosis was not statistically significant. Results: The phenotyping of acetylation showed among 48 patients with hyperthyreosis 8 persons (13%) were rapid acetylators (RA) and 40 persons (87%) were slow acetylators (SA). In 60 healthy volunteers the phenotype of rapid acetylation was observed in 31 persons (51%) and slow acetylation in 29 persons (49%). Relative risk (odds ratio) of development of thyroid diseases was 5.34 times higher for SA in comparison to RA. The prevalence of SA among patients with hyperthyreosis in comparison to healthy volunteers was statistically significant (p < 0.0002). Conclusions: The results of our study may suggest that slow acetylation phenotype is associated with increased risk of the development of hyperthyreosis.Wstęp: Badania nad udziałem czynników genetycznych w powstawaniu niektórych chorób prowadzi się w coraz szerszym zakresie. Celem pracy było stwierdzenie, czy między grupą chorych na nadczynność tarczycy a grupą kontrolną zdrowych ochotników istnieje różnica w zdolności utleniania sparteiny i acetylacji sulfadimidyny jako leków modelowych. Materiał i metody: Badaniami objęto 268 osób. W tej grupie 48 osób było chorych na nadczynność tarczycy. Grupę kontrolną dla fenotypu oksydacji stanowiło 160 zdrowych ochotników, natomiast dla fenotypu acetylacji 60 osób zdrowych. Wyniki: Wśród 40 chorych z nadczynnością tarczycy stwierdzono 38 (95%) ekstensywnych metabolizerów (EM, extensive metabolizers) i 2 (5%) słabych metabolizerów (PM, poor metabolizers) sparteiny. W grupie kontrolnej 160 ochotników, 146 (91,2%) okazało się EM, a 14 (8,8%) - PM. Niewielka przewaga częstości występowania PM wśród pacjentów z nadczynnością tarczycy w porównaniu z grupą osób zdrowych nie była statystycznie istotna. Wśród 48 chorych na nadczynność tarczycy wyróżniono 13% szybkich acetylatorów (RA, rapid acetylators) (8 osób) i 87% wolnych acetylatorów (SA, slow acetylators) (40 osób). Natomiast u 60 zdrowych ochotników stwierdzono 51% RA (31 osób) i 49% SA (29 osób). Odsetek szybkich i wolnych acetylatorów w grupie chorych z nadczynnością tarczycy różnił się w sposób statystycznie istotny w porównaniu z odsetkiem w grupie osób zdrowych (p < 0,0002). Względne ryzyko zachorowania na nadczynność tarczycy, wyrażone za pomocą proporcji szans (OR, odds ratio), jest ponad 5 razy większe dla wolnych niż dla szybkich acetylatorów. Wnioski: Wyniki niniejszych badań mogą sugerować, że osoby z fenotypem wolnej acetylacji są predysponowane do zapadalności na nadczynność tarczycy

The phenomenon of multiculturalism : the case of Poland

One of the most important global processes nowadays is migration. Its result is, inter alia, the deepening multiculturalism. It can take the form of a social phenomenon, political project or society. In this article we have focused on multiculturalism as a social phenomenon. It means the presence of different cultures with an ethnic background of their diversity in a specific social space and historical moment. They exist together and accept the mutually distinct ethnic (cultural) difference. The origins of the phenomenon of multiculturalism go back to ancient times, although then the phenomenon did not have a scientific framework of analysis. Such ones appeared in the 70s and 80s of the twentieth century. An example of a society in which multiculturalism is present is modern Poland

Medical Links between Lower Silesia and Poznań and Greater Poland in Nineteenth Century

Wielowiekowe tradycje i powiązania pomiędzy Wrocławiem a Wielkopolską mają swoją dokumentację. Więzi te nasiliły się zwłaszcza w XIX stuleciu. Szczególną rolę w ich ożywieniu odegrał J.E. Purkynie. W najpłodniejszym okresie swego życia był on kierownikiem Zakładu Fizjologii na ówczesnym Wydziale Lekarskim Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego (1825-1850). W monumentalnym dziele Opera omnia, w tomie szóstym zwanym wrocławskim, Polak Bogusław Palicki figuruje jako autor rozprawy doktorskiej p.t. De musculari cordis structura. Purkynie współpracował też z „Poznańskim Tygodnikiem Literackim” i przebywał wielokrotnie w Poznaniu i Lesznie.Long cultural traditions of contacts between Wroclaw and Great Poland have been documented. Those contacts were especially intense in the 19th century. J.E. Purkynje played a prominent role in the revival of those links. In the most creative period of his life (1825-1850) he was the Head of Physiology Department at Wroclaw University. In the monumental work Opera Omnia, in the sixth volume, the so-called Wrocław volume, a Pole — Bogusław Palicki is noted as the author of doctor s dissertation De musculari cordis structura (Of the Muscular Structure of the Heart). Purkynje co-operated with “Poznański Tygodnik Literacki” (Poznań Literary Weekly) and stayed in Poznań and Leszno many times

Drug policy in Portugal: the benefits of decriminalizing drug use.

Drug Policy in Portugal is a lucid, penetrating and timely study about the impact of drug decriminalization on people’s health and public security

Barogenic rupture of esophagus (Boerhaave syndrome) as diagnostic and therapeutic challenge requiring rapid and effective interdisciplinary cooperation – case report

We describe a 47-year-old male who was admitted to our centre from a local emergency unit with septic shock due to suspected Boerhaave syndrome. After the diagnosis was confirmed, the patient underwent emergency surgery. Postoperatively, the patient had symptoms of acute alcoholic delirium, and developed an oesophagomediastinal fistula as the most serious local complication. Successful conservative treatment enabled complete healing of the fistula, leading to patient recovery. No late complications like oesophageal stenosis were found at 6 months from discharge