Epictetus, Stoicism, and Slavery

Epictetus was an ex-slave and a leading Stoic philosopher in the Roman Empire during the second-century. His devoted student, Arrian, recorded Epictetus’ lectures and conversations in eight books titled Discourses, of which only four are extant. As an exslave and teacher, one expects to see him deal with the topic of slavery and freedom in great detail. However, few scholars have researched the relationship of Epictetus’ personal life and his views on slavery. In order to understand Epictetus’ perspective, it is essential to understand the political culture of his day and the social views on slavery. During his early years, Epictetus lived in Rome and was Epaphroditus’ slave. Epaphroditus was an abusive master, who served Nero as an administrative secretary. Around the same period, Seneca was a tutor and advisor to Nero. He was a Stoic philosopher, who counseled Nero on political issues and advocated the practice of clemency. In the mid to late first-century, Seneca spoke for a fair and kind treatment of slaves. He held a powerful position not only as an advisor to Nero, but also as a senator. While he promoted the humane treatment of slaves, he did not actively work to abolish slavery. Epaphroditus and Seneca both had profound influences in the way Epictetus viewed slaves and ex-slaves, relationships of former slaves and masters, and the meaning of freedom. As a philosopher and teacher, Epictetus’ views influenced his students and other scholars. Many of his students were aristocratic young men, who pursued political careers after completing their education with Epictetus. Even after his death, other scholars continued to study his Stoic philosophy. Marcus Aurelius was one such scholar, who was known as the philosopher emperor. He often quoted Epictetus and used his teachings as a guideline for his own life. As an emperor, he was in a position to change the laws for treatment of slaves and the institution of slavery. While he instituted laws to protect the slaves from extreme abuses by their masters, he also implemented stricter laws against runaway slaves. Neither Stoic philosophy nor its philosophers actively sought to eradicate slavery, but certain individuals saw slavery as a negative impact to their society. Even though Seneca and Marcus Aurelius shared the same philosophy as Epictetus, they came from the top echelon of the social order. Due to their social status, their opinions of slavery differ from those of Epictetus, an ex-slave

Nine challenges in modelling the emergence of novel pathogens.

Studying the emergence of novel infectious agents involves many processes spanning host species, spatial scales, and scientific disciplines. Mathematical models play an essential role in combining insights from these investigations and drawing robust inferences from field and experimental data. We describe nine challenges in modelling the emergence of novel pathogens, emphasizing the interface between models and data.We acknowledge support from the Research and Policy for Infectious Disease Dynamics (RAPIDD) programme of the Science and Technology Directory, Department of Homeland Security, and Fogarty International Center, National Institutes of Health. JLS was also supported by the National Science Foundation (EF-0928987 and OCE-1335657) and the De Logi Chair in Biological Sciences. SF was supported by a UK Medical Research Council Career Development Award in Biostatistics. SR was supported by: Wellcome Trust Project Award 093488/Z/10/Z; R01 TW008246-01 from Fogarty International Centre; and The Medical Research Council (UK, Project Grant MR/J008761/1). JLNW was also supported by the Alborada Trust and the European Union FP7 project ANTIGONE (contract number 278976).This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.epidem.2014.09.00

Measuring consumers’ knowledge of the environmental impact of foods

Our daily food choices have a huge impact on the environment. However, most consumers are not aware of the environmental impact of food production and consumption. Since there is no valid and reliable measure of knowledge regarding food's environmental impact, a 16-item multiple-choice knowledge questionnaire was developed. An example item reads: “Which of the following meals is the most climate friendly?” – Organic beef burger, Organic salmon burger, Quinoa burger, Do not know. The knowledge questionnaire was tested in a Swiss and German consumer sample (total N = 1810) and meets standard psychometric criteria. It showed good internal consistency across the adult samples. Validity was supported by small to medium-sized positive correlations with constructs of environmental (e.g., environmental apathy) and food (e.g., perceived environmentally friendly food purchasing behavior) attitudes. By using a food buffet made of replica food items, it was shown that consumers with higher knowledge scores are better able to compose lunch menus with a lower environmental footprint. The new scale will help to identify potential areas of misconceptions in people's understanding of the environmental friendliness of foods and in what respect a lack of knowledge poses a barrier to behavioral change. It also enables research into the efficacy of educational measures such as campaigns and decision aids for sustainable food consumption

An assessment of mental health policy in Ghana, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Approximately half of the countries in the African Region had a mental health policy by 2005, but little is known about quality of mental health policies in Africa and globally. This paper reports the results of an assessment of the mental health policies of Ghana, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The WHO Mental Health Policy Checklist was used to evaluate the most current mental health policy in each country. Assessments were completed and reviewed by a specially constituted national committee as well as an independent WHO team. Results of each country evaluation were discussed until consensus was reached.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>All four policies received a high level mandate. Each policy addressed community-based services, the integration of mental health into general health care, promotion of mental health and rehabilitation. Prevention was addressed in the South African and Ugandan policies only. Use of evidence for policy development varied considerably. Consultations were mainly held with the mental health sector. Only the Zambian policy presented a clear vision, while three of four countries spelt out values and principles, the need to establish a coordinating body for mental health, and to protect the human rights of people with mental health problems. None included all the basic elements of a policy, nor specified sources and levels of funding for implementation. Deinstitutionalisation and the provision of essential psychotropic medicines were insufficiently addressed. Advocacy, empowerment of users and families and intersectoral collaboration were inadequately addressed. Only Uganda sufficiently outlined a mental health information system, research and evaluation, while only Ghana comprehensively addressed human resources and training requirements. No country had an accompanying strategic mental health plan to allow the development and implementation of concrete strategies and activities.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Six gaps which could impact on the policies' effect on countries' mental health systems were: lack of internal consistency of structure and content of policies, superficiality of key international concepts, lack of evidence on which to base policy directions, inadequate political support, poor integration of mental health policies within the overall national policy and legislative framework, and lack of financial specificity. Three strategies to address these concerns emerged, namely strengthening capacity of key stakeholders in public (mental) health and policy development, creation of a culture of inclusive and dynamic policy development, and coordinated action to optimize use of available resources.</p

Motor Cortex Representation of the Upper-Limb in Individuals Born without a Hand

The body schema is an action-related representation of the body that arises from activity in a network of multiple brain areas. While it was initially thought that the body schema developed with experience, the existence of phantom limbs in individuals born without a limb (amelics) led to the suggestion that it was innate. The problem with this idea, however, is that the vast majority of amelics do not report the presence of a phantom limb. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) applied over the primary motor cortex (M1) of traumatic amputees can evoke movement sensations in the phantom, suggesting that traumatic amputation does not delete movement representations of the missing hand. Given this, we asked whether the absence of a phantom limb in the majority of amelics means that the motor cortex does not contain a cortical representation of the missing limb, or whether it is present but has been deactivated by the lack of sensorimotor experience. In four upper-limb amelic subjects we directly stimulated the arm/hand region of M1 to see 1) whether we could evoke phantom sensations, and 2) whether muscle representations in the two cortices were organised asymmetrically. TMS applied over the motor cortex contralateral to the missing limb evoked contractions in stump muscles but did not evoke phantom movement sensations. The location and extent of muscle maps varied between hemispheres but did not reveal any systematic asymmetries. In contrast, forearm muscle thresholds were always higher for the missing limb side. We suggest that phantom movement sensations reported by some upper limb amelics are mostly driven by vision and not by the persistence of motor commands to the missing limb within the sensorimotor cortex. We propose that prewired movement representations of a limb need the experience of movement to be expressed within the primary motor cortex

Dietary omega-3 fatty acids aid in the modulation of inflammation and metabolic health

This article focuses on the role of omega-3 fatty acids as precursors for lipid signaling molecules known as oxylipins. Although omega-3 fatty acids are beneficial in autoimmune disorders, inflammatory diseases and heart disease, they are generally underrepresented in the American diet. A literature review confirms that the consumption of omega-3 fatty acids - whether in food sources such as walnuts, flax seeds and fatty fish (including salmon and sardines), or in supplements - is associated with decreased morbidity and mortality. This growing body of evidence, including the results of a recent study of patients with kidney disease, highlights the need to measure omega-3 fatty acids and their oxylipin products as markers of metabolic health and biomarkers of disease. In addition, there is substantial evidence of the need to increase the omega-3 fatty acid content of American diets to optimize metabolic health