PHILOSOPHY AS MEDIATION BETWEEN RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS, INSIGHTS FROM JÜRGEN HABERMAS

The task of this paper is to show how philosophy can mediate in the conflict of religious traditions, using the insights of Jürgen Habermas in his acceptance speech on the occasion of the award of the Karl Jaspers Prize of the Town and University of Heidelberg on 26 September 1994, “The Conflict of Beliefs, Karl Jaspers on the Clash of Cultures.” Habermas may not have addressed the problem directly, but his insights provide meaningful hints in the conduct of inter-faith dialogues of religious communities

Ethics of Buddhism

In this lecture, Dr. Manny Dy discusses the ethics of buddhism. Speaker: Dr. Manuel B. Dy, Jr. finished his AB Philosophy and MA Philosophy at the Ateneo de Manila University, his PhD Philosophy at the University of Sto. Tomas, and attended post-doctoral studies at the Catholic University of America. He has taught various philosophy subjects for the past 52 years at the Loyola Schools. He is currently a consultant of the DepEd K to 12 Edukasyon sa Pagpakatao, a member of CHED Technical Committee on Philosophy, Philippine Academy of Philosophical Research, Philosophical Association of the Philippines, Philosophy Circle, and Philosophical Association of the Visayas and Mindanao. He served for several years as Board Adviser for Asia of the Council for Research on Values and Philosophy, Washington D.C. He teaches Business Ethics at the Graduate School of Business.https://archium.ateneo.edu/magisterial-lectures/1003/thumbnail.jp

Confucian Ethics in Modern Society: Appropriating Confucianism in Contemporary Discourses

The task of this paper is to show the relevance of Confucian ethics to modern society. We now live in a global society, characterized by the development of technology, market economy, the rise of democratic forms of society, and instant communication overcoming the limitations of space and time. Yet the same globalization has brought forth a widening gap of the rich and the poor, the degradation of nature, the migration of peoples away from their families, a consumerist society, and the subjugation of the individual and the state to the world order. While we cannot avoid the globalization process, we can address specific issues arising from the process. This paper will limit itself then to issues pertaining to the family, the state, nature, and to the cosmos (cosmopolitanism)

Husserl’s Phenomenological Method

In this lecture, Dr. Manny Dy discusses Husserl\u27s Phenomenological Method. Speaker: Dr. Manuel B. Dy, Jr. finished his AB Philosophy and MA Philosophy at the Ateneo de Manila University, his PhD Philosophy at the University of Sto. Tomas, and attended post-doctoral studies at the Catholic University of America. He has taught various philosophy subjects for the past 52 years at the Loyola Schools. He is currently a consultant of the DepEd K to 12 Edukasyon sa Pagpakatao, a member of CHED Technical Committee on Philosophy, Philippine Academy of Philosophical Research, Philosophical Association of the Philippines, Philosophy Circle, and Philosophical Association of the Visayas and Mindanao. He served for several years as Board Adviser for Asia of the Council for Research on Values and Philosophy, Washington D.C. He teaches Business Ethics at the Graduate School of Business.https://archium.ateneo.edu/magisterial-lectures/1000/thumbnail.jp

The Confucian Golden Rule, Origin and Prospect

The task of the paper is to trace the development of the Confucian Golden Rule from its beginnings in the Analects, The Book of Mencius, The Doctrine of the Mean, The Great Learning, to the Neo-Confucianism of Chu Hsi, Wang Yang-ming, and Tai Chen. With this development, the Confucian Golden Rule can be shown to be in dialogue with Buddhism and Hinduism in the notion of ahimsa developed by Mahatma Gandhi. The prospect of the Confucian Rule lies in its movement from a hierarchical ethics to a cosmopolitan ethics already foreshadowed in the The Great Learning and proposed by the Eco-Ethica philosophy of the lateTomonobu Imamichi

Phosphorylation of AIB1 at Mitosis Is Regulated by CDK1/CYCLIN B

Although the AIB1 oncogene has an important role during the early phase of the cell cycle as a coactivator of E2F1, little is known about its function during mitosis.Mitotic cells isolated by nocodazole treatment as well as by shake-off revealed a post-translational modification occurring in AIB1 specifically during mitosis. This modification was sensitive to the treatment with phosphatase, suggesting its modification by phosphorylation. Using specific inhibitors and in vitro kinase assays we demonstrate that AIB1 is phosphorylated on Ser728 and Ser867 by Cdk1/cyclin B at the onset of mitosis and remains phosphorylated until exit from M phase. Differences in the sensitivity to phosphatase inhibitors suggest that PP1 mediates dephosphorylation of AIB1 at the end of mitosis. The phosphorylation of AIB1 during mitosis was not associated with ubiquitylation or degradation, as confirmed by western blotting and flow cytometry analysis. In addition, luciferase reporter assays showed that this phosphorylation did not alter the transcriptional properties of AIB1. Importantly, fluorescence microscopy and sub-cellular fractionation showed that AIB1 phosphorylation correlated with the exclusion from the condensed chromatin, thus preventing access to the promoters of AIB1-dependent genes. Phospho-specific antibodies developed against Ser728 further demonstrated the presence of phosphorylated AIB1 only in mitotic cells where it was localized preferentially in the periphery of the cell.Collectively, our results describe a new mechanism for the regulation of AIB1 during mitosis, whereby phosphorylation of AIB1 by Cdk1 correlates with the subcellular redistribution of AIB1 from a chromatin-associated state in interphase to a more peripheral localization during mitosis. At the exit of mitosis, AIB1 is dephosphorylated, presumably by PP1. This exclusion from chromatin during mitosis may represent a mechanism for governing the transcriptional activity of AIB1

Altered Antioxidant-Oxidant Status in the Aqueous Humor and Peripheral Blood of Patients with Retinitis Pigmentosa

Retinitis Pigmentosa is a common form of hereditary retinal degeneration constituting the largest Mendelian genetic cause of blindness in the developed world. It has been widely suggested that oxidative stress possibly contributes to its pathogenesis. We measured the levels of total antioxidant capacity, free nitrotyrosine, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) formation, extracellular superoxide dismutase (SOD3) activity, protein, metabolites of the nitric oxide/cyclic GMP pathway, heme oxygenase-I and inducible nitric oxide synthase expression in aqueous humor or/and peripheral blood from fifty-six patients with retinitis pigmentosa and sixty subjects without systemic or ocular oxidative stress-related disease. Multivariate analysis of covariance revealed that retinitis pigmentosa alters ocular antioxidant defence machinery and the redox status in blood. Patients with retinitis pigmentosa present low total antioxidant capacity including reduced SOD3 activity and protein concentration in aqueous humor. Patients also show reduced SOD3 activity, increased TBARS formation and upregulation of the nitric oxide/cyclic GMP pathway in peripheral blood. Together these findings confirmed the hypothesis that patients with retinitis pigmentosa present reduced ocular antioxidant status. Moreover, these patients show changes in some oxidative-nitrosative markers in the peripheral blood. Further studies are needed to clarify the relationship between these peripheral markers and retinitis pigmentosa

Discovery of anaerobic lithoheterotrophic haloarchaea, ubiquitous in hypersaline habitats

Hypersaline anoxic habitats harbour numerous novel uncultured archaea whose metabolic and ecological roles remain to be elucidated. Until recently, it was believed that energy generation via dissimilatory reduction of sulfur compounds is not functional at salt saturation conditions. Recent discovery of the strictly anaerobic acetotrophic Halanaeroarchaeum compels to change both this assumption and the traditional view on haloarchaea as aerobic heterotrophs. Here we report on isolation and characterization of a novel group of strictly anaerobic lithoheterotrophic haloarchaea, which we propose to classify as a new genus Halodesulfurarchaeum. Members of this previously unknown physiological group are capable of utilising formate or hydrogen as electron donors and elemental sulfur, thiosulfate or dimethylsulfoxide as electron acceptors. Using genome-wide proteomic analysis we have detected the full set of enzymes required for anaerobic respiration and analysed their substrate-specific expression. Such advanced metabolic plasticity and type of respiration, never seen before in haloarchaea, empower the wide distribution of Halodesulfurarchaeum in hypersaline inland lakes, solar salterns, lagoons and deep submarine anoxic brines. The discovery of this novel functional group of sulfur-respiring haloarchaea strengthens the evidence of their possible role in biogeochemical sulfur cycling linked to the terminal anaerobic carbon mineralisation in so far overlooked hypersaline anoxic habitats.</p

Positioning the principles of precision medicine in care pathways for allergic rhinitis and chronic rhinosinusitis - A EUFOREA-ARIA-EPOS-AIRWAYS ICP statement.

Precision medicine (PM) is increasingly recognized as the way forward for optimizing patient care. Introduced in the field of oncology, it is now considered of major interest in other medical domains like allergy and chronic airway diseases, which face an urgent need to improve the level of disease control, enhance patient satisfaction and increase effectiveness of preventive interventions. The combination of personalized care, prediction of treatment success, prevention of disease and patient participation in the elaboration of the treatment plan is expected to substantially improve the therapeutic approach for individuals suffering from chronic disabling conditions. Given the emerging data on the impact of patient stratification on treatment outcomes, European and American regulatory bodies support the principles of PM and its potential advantage over current treatment strategies. The aim of the current document was to propose a consensus on the position and gradual implementation of the principles of PM within existing adult treatment algorithms for allergic rhinitis (AR) and chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). At the time of diagnosis, prediction of success of the initiated treatment and patient participation in the decision of the treatment plan can be implemented. The second-level approach ideally involves strategies to prevent progression of disease, in addition to prediction of success of therapy, and patient participation in the long-term therapeutic strategy. Endotype-driven treatment is part of a personalized approach and should be positioned at the tertiary level of care, given the efforts needed for its implementation and the high cost of molecular diagnosis and biological treatment