What’s so bad about scientism?

In their attempt to defend philosophy from accusations of uselessness made by prominent scientists, such as Stephen Hawking, some philosophers respond with the charge of ‘scientism.’ This charge makes endorsing a scientistic stance, a mistake by definition. For this reason, it begs the question against these critics of philosophy, or anyone who is inclined to endorse a scientistic stance, and turns the scientism debate into a verbal dispute. In this paper, I propose a different definition of scientism, and thus a new way of looking at the scientism debate. Those philosophers who seek to defend philosophy against accusations of uselessness would do philosophy a much better service, I submit, if they were to engage with the definition of scientism put forth in this paper, rather than simply make it analytic that scientism is a mistake

Outcomes in culture positive and culture negative ascitic fluid infection in patients with viral cirrhosis: cohort study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Ascitic fluid infection (AFI) in cirrhotic patients has a high morbidity and mortality. It has two variants namely, spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) and culture negative neutrocytic ascites (CNNA). The aim of this study was to determine the outcome in cirrhotic patients with culture positive (SBP) and culture negative neutrocytic ascites.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We analyzed 675 consecutive hepatitis B and/or C related cirrhosis patients with ascites admitted in our hospital from November 2005 to December 2007. Of these, 187 patients had AFI; clinical and laboratory parameters of these patients including causes of cirrhosis, Child Turcotte Pugh (CTP) score were recorded.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Out of 187 patients with AFI, 44 (23.5%) had SBP while 143 (76.4%) had CNNA. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection was the most common cause of cirrhosis in 139 (74.3%) patients. Patients with SBP had high CTP score as compared to CNNA (12.52 ± 1.45 vs. 11.44 ± 1.66); p < 0.001. Platelets count was low in patients with SBP (101 ± 53 × 10⁹/L) as compared to CNNA (132 ± 91 × 10⁹/L), p = 0.005. We found a high creatinine (mg/dl) (1.95 ± 1.0 vs. 1.44 ± 0.85), (p = 0.003) and high prothrombin time (PT) in seconds (24.8 ± 6.6 vs. 22.4 ± 7.2) (p = 0.04) in SBP as compared to CNNA. More patients with SBP (14/44; 31.8%) had blood culture positivity as compare to CNNA (14/143; 9.8%), p = 0.002. Escherichia. Coli was the commonest organism in blood culture in 15/28 (53.5%) patients. SBP group had a higher mortality (11/44; 25%) as compared to CNNA (12/143; 8.4%), p = 0.003. On multiple logistic regression analysis, creatinine >1.1 mg/dl and positive blood culture were the independent predictors of mortality in patients with SBP.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Patients with SBP have a higher mortality than CNNA. Independent predictors of mortality in SBP are raised serum creatinine and a positive blood culture.</p

Healthcare workers' attitudes towards working during pandemic influenza: A multi method study

Background: Healthcare workers (HCWs) will be key players in any response to pandemic influenza, and will be in the front line of exposure to infection. Responding effectively to a pandemic relies on the majority of medical, nursing, laboratory and hotel services staff continuing to work normally. Planning assumes that during a pandemic normal healthcare service levels will be provided, although it anticipates that as caseloads increase only essential care will be provided. The ability of the NHS to provide expected service levels is entirely dependent upon HCWs continuing to work as normal. Methods/design: This study is designed as a two-phase multi-method study, incorporating focus groups and a questionnaire survey. In phase one, qualitative methods will be used to collect the views of a purposive sample of HCWs, to determine the range of factors associated with their responses to the prospect of working through pandemic influenza. In phase two, the findings from the focus groups, combined with the available literature, will be used to inform the design of a survey to determine the generalisability of these factors, enabling the estimation of the likely proportion of HCWs affected by each factor, and how likely it is that they would be willing and/or able to continue to work during an influenza pandemic. Discussion: There are potentially greater than normal health risks for some healthcare workers working during a pandemic, and these workers may be concerned about infecting family members/ friends. HCWs will be as liable as other workers to care for sick family members and friends. It is vital to have information about how motivated HCWs will be to continue to work during such a crisis, and what factors might influence their decision to work/not to work. Through the identification and subsequent management of these factors it may be possible to implement strategies that will alleviate the concerns and fears of HCWs and remove potential barriers to working

On the Ethics of Trade Credit: Understanding Good Payment Practice in the Supply Chain

In spite of its commercial importance and signs of clear concern in public policy arenas, trade credit has not been subjected to systematic, extended analysis in the business ethics literature, even where suppliers as a stakeholder group have been considered. This paper makes the case for serious consideration of the ethics of trade credit and explores the issues surrounding slow payment of debts. It discusses trade debt as a kind of promise, but— noting that not all promises are good ones—goes on to develop an analysis of the ethics of trade credit grounded in an understanding of its fundamental purpose. Making a distinction between ‘‘operating’’ trade credit and ‘‘financial’’ trade credit, the paper provides an account of the maximum period for which it is appropriate for one company to delay payment to another from which it has purchased goods or services. The concern of commentators and policy makers that companies should not take too long to pay their debts is affirmed, but the understanding of what timely payment means is significantly finessed, with one conclusion being that, if debts have not already been settled according to acceptable standard terms of trade, cash should pass quickly back along the supply chain once the customer in the final product market has paid. The analysis has implications not only for companies that take credit but also for external parties that seek to rate companies or set regulations according to speed of payment—an approach that is shown to be misleadingly simplistic, albeit well intentioned. A corresponding important responsibility for suppliers, not to extend excessive credit (and thus act as a quasi-bank), also follows from the analysis developed. Having provided a novel analysis of an important business problem, the paper then discusses some of the related practical issues and makes suggestions for further research

Niveles séricos de Lp(a) y su comportamiento en el estado Zulia: 10 años de investigación

La Lipoprote&iacute;na Lp(a) es considerada uno de los factores de riesgo independientes m&aacute;s importantes para el desarrollo de las enfermedades cardiovasculares. La mayor&iacute;a de los estudios prospectivos realizados hasta la fecha han demostrado que la Lp(a) es un predictor &uacute;til del desarrollo de la enfermedad arterial coronaria y en consecuencia, del infarto de miocardio. Los primeros estudios realizados en Venezuela sobre la Lp(a) han sido llevados a cabo en el Estado Zulia y es durante estos 10 a&ntilde;os de investigaci&oacute;n que se ha logrado profundizar en el comportamiento epidemiol&oacute;gico de esta lipoprote&iacute;na, comprobando que existen diferentes factores que pueden alterar la concentraci&oacute;n de Lp(a) m&aacute;s all&aacute; de lo que frecuentemente se documenta en la mayor&iacute;a de los estudios publicados hasta la fecha, donde se recalca que la concentraci&oacute;n s&eacute;rica de esta lipoprote&iacute;na est&aacute; en su mayor parte gen&eacute;ticamente determinada. En nuestra poblaci&oacute;n, factores como el grado de actividad f&iacute;sica, la raza, ciertos antecedentes familiares en ni&ntilde;os y adolescentes, y la deprivaci&oacute;n estrog&eacute;nica est&aacute;n probablemente involucrados en la modificaci&oacute;n de los niveles s&eacute;ricos de Lp(a).Lipoprotein Lp(a) is considered one of the most important independent risk factors for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Most prospective studies to date have shown that Lp(a) is a useful predictor for the development of coronary artery disease and as result myocardial infarction. Early studies in Venezuela on the Lp(a) have been conducted in the state of Zulia and it is during these years of research that has been made to deep the epidemiological behavior of this lipoprotein, checking that there are different factors that can affect the Lp (a) concentration beyond what is often documented in most published studies, which stresses that the serum concentration of this lipoprotein is largely genetically determined. In our population, factors such as levels of physical activity, race, family history in children and adolescents, and estrogen deprivation has been involved in a significant change in serum levels of Lp (a)

Therapeutic angiogenesis following intramuscular gene transfer of vascular endothelial growth factor 121 in a dog model of hindlimb ischemia

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), an endothelial cell-specific mitogen, has been shown to promote therapeutic angiogenesis in animal models of critical limb ischemia. Ischemic skeletal muscle is advantageous for taking up and expressing foreign genes transferred as naked plasmid DNA. Accordingly, we investigated the hypothesis that intramuscular administration of naked plasmid DNA encoding the 121-amino acid isoform of VEGF could augment collateral development and tissue perfusion in a dog hindlimb ischemia model. Unilateral hindlimb ischemia was surgically induced in Beagle dogs. Ten days later, animals received intramuscular injections of pVEGF121 plasmid directly in the ischemic muscles. Angiogenic effects were evaluated by angiography, calf blood pressure ratio and vasomotor reserve analyses. Thirty days after gene transfer, angiographically recognizable collateral vessels were increased in pVEGF121-treated animals compared with controls. Improvement in perfusion to the ischemic limb was documented by a significantly higher calf blood pressure ratio for pVEGF121 (0.79 \ub1 0.05) versus controls (0.56 \ub1 0.14, P&lt;0.01). Vasomotor reserve assay suggested amelioration in blood availability at the microcirculation level in pVEGF121-treated animals. Hematological variables showed no significant modification due to the treatment. Our results suggest that intramuscular gene transfer of VEGF121 may promote therapeutic angiogenesis in critical limb vascular insufficiency