Virtues and Dying: Patient Virtues and Good Deaths

I argue that for most patients a good death involves more than contemporary medicine can or should be expected to provide and that virtues can secure goods not provided by medicine. Currently, medical care at the end of life focuses on addressing pain and suffering, supporting independent functioning and autonomy, providing aggressive care near death when desired, and preserving overall quality of life, among other aims. When bioethicists have discussed a good death, they have argued primarily for the provision of such services and for respect of patients’ autonomy. However, I argue that such circumstances are not sufficient by themselves to ensure a good death and a patient’s use of autonomy will be “guided” by her conception of a good death. In many cases, a good death requires—as a necessary if not sufficient condition—virtues as well. At least four different conceptions of a good death, I argue, exist within American society. These conceptions imply goods that go beyond what proper medical care currently does or should provide. Next, I discuss the challenges that dying patients face in our contemporary medical and social context. What types of challenges—and how one faces them—will be determined partly by one’s conception of a good death, though certain challenges seem more universal. I argue that the challenges associated with the loss of independence and increasing dependence on others and the nature of pain and suffering at the end of life are among our most prominent concerns. After discussing virtues in general and the place of emotions within them, I use this account to show how virtues can enable a person to die well, given a particular patient’s conception of a good death. Embodying virtues such as patience, gratitude, generosity, and practical wisdom can help patients become the kinds of people who can meet some of the challenges of dying. I conclude by giving a fuller depiction of one conception of a good death rooted in the Christian moral tradition

How to Quantify “Good Sleep”: A Spectral Analysis of Sleep Morphology in Healthy Adult EEG and the Role of Sleep Spindles in Aging and Neurodegeneration

23 pagesThe importance of good sleep cannot be overstated. What makes sleep “good”, productive, and beneficial are of interest to any sleep researcher. Studying morphology of sleep features can provide insight about what differentiates healthy and unhealthy sleep and create benchmarks for recognizing instances when characteristics such as aging and disease may be impacting sleep quality. The purpose of this study was to examine an N2 sleep feature termed a sleep spindle and conduct an analysis of morphology on a sample of healthy adult EEG using recently validated and created sleep spindle detection algorithm to create a baseline measurement for spindle presence. The effect of age on spindles was of particular interest and was found to be related to a decrease in spindle length. The possible reason for this effect is discussed, as well as future applications for use of this algorithm and spindle analysis

The ethical desirability of moral bioenhancement: A review of reasons

Background: The debate on the ethical aspects of moral bioenhancement focuses on the desirability of using biomedical as opposed to traditional means to achieve moral betterment. The aim of this paper is to systematically review the ethical reasons presented in the literature for and against moral bioenhancement. Discussion: A review was performed and resulted in the inclusion of 85 articles. We classified the arguments used in those articles in the following six clusters: (1) why we (don't) need moral bioenhancement, (2) it will (not) be possible to reach consensus on what moral bioenhancement should involve, (3) the feasibility of moral bioenhancement and the status of current scientific research, (4) means and processes of arriving at moral improvement matter ethically, (5) arguments related to the freedom, identity and autonomy of the individual, and (6) arguments related to social/group effects and dynamics. We discuss each argument separately, and assess the debate as a whole. First, there is little discussion on what distinguishes moral bioenhancement from treatment of pathological deficiencies in morality. Furthermore, remarkably little attention has been paid so far to the safety, risks and side-effects of moral enhancement, including the risk of identity changes. Finally, many authors overestimate the scientific as well as the practical feasibility of the interventions they discuss, rendering the debate too speculative. Summary: Based on our discussion of the arguments used in the debate on moral enhancement, and our assessment of this debate, we advocate a shift in focus. Instead of speculating about non-realistic hypothetical scenarios such as the genetic engineering of morality, or morally enhancing 'the whole of humanity', we call for a more focused debate on realistic options of biomedical treatment of moral pathologies and the concrete moral questions these treatments raise

Developmental programming of the female neuroendocrine system by steroids

Developmental programming refers to processes that occur during early life that may have long-term consequences, modulating adult health and disease. Complex diseases, such as diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease, have a high prevalence in different populations, are multifactorial, and may have a strong environmental component. The environment interacts with organisms, affecting their behaviour, morphology and physiology. This interaction may induce permanent or long-term changes, and organisms may be more susceptible to environmental factors during certain developmental stages, such as the prenatal and early postnatal periods. Several factors have been identified as responsible for inducing the reprogramming of various reproductive and nonreproductive tissues. Among them, both natural and synthetic steroids, such as endocrine disruptors, are known to have either detrimental or positive effects on organisms depending on the dose of exposure, stage of development and biological sexual background. The present review focuses on the action of steroids and endocrine disruptors as agents involved in developmental programming and on their modulation and effects on female neuroendocrine functions.Fil: Abruzzese, Giselle Adriana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Centro de Estudios Farmacológicos y Botánicos. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Centro de Estudios Farmacológicos y Botánicos; ArgentinaFil: Crisosto, Nicolás. Facultad de Medicina de la Universidad de Chile; Chile. Clinica Las Condes; ChileFil: De Grava Kempinas, Wilma. Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho; BrasilFil: Sotomayor Zárate, Ramón. Universidad de Valparaiso; Chil

DDT, epigenetic harm, and transgenerational environmental justice

Although the environmentally harmful effects of widespread dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) use became well-known following Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962), its human health effects have more recently become clearer. A ban on the use of DDT has been in place for over 30 years, but recently DDT has been used for malaria control in areas such as Africa. Recent work shows that DDT has transgenerational effects in progeny and generations never directly exposed to DDT. These effects have health implications for individuals who are not able to have any voice in the decision to use the pesticide. The transgenerational effects of DDT are considered in light of some widely accepted ethical principles. We argue that this reframes the decision to use DDT, requiring us to incorporate new considerations, and new kinds of decision making, into the deliberative process that determines its ongoing use. Ethical considerations for intergenerational environmental justice are presented that include concern and respect for autonomy, nonmaleficence, and justice. Here, we offer a characterization of the kinds of ethical considerations that must be taken into account in any satisfactory decisions to use DDT

(The Ethics of) Teaching Science and Ethics: A Collaborative Proposal

I offer a normative argument for a collaborative approach to teaching ethical issues in the sciences. Teaching science ethics requires expertise in at least two knowledge domains—the relevant science(s) and philosophical ethics. Accomplishing the aims of ethics education, while ensuring that science ethics discussions remain grounded in the best empirical science, can generally best be done through collaboration between a scientist and an ethicist. Ethics as a discipline is in danger of being misrepresented or distorted if presented by someone who lacks appropriate disciplinary training and experience. While there are exceptions, I take philosophy to be the most appropriate disciplinary domain in which to gain training in ethics teaching. Science students, who must be prepared to engage with many science ethics issues, are poorly served if their education includes a misrepresentation of ethics or specific issues. Students are less well prepared to engage specific issues in science ethics if they lack an appreciation of the resources the discipline of ethics provides. My collaborative proposal looks at a variety of ways scientists and ethicists might collaborate in the classroom to foster good science ethics education

(The Ethics of) Teaching Science and Ethics: A Collaborative Proposal

I offer a normative argument for a collaborative approach to teaching ethical issues in the sciences. Teaching science ethics requires expertise in at least two knowledge domains—the relevant science(s) and philosophical ethics. Accomplishing the aims of ethics education, while ensuring that science ethics discussions remain grounded in the best empirical science, can generally best be done through collaboration between a scientist and an ethicist. Ethics as a discipline is in danger of being misrepresented or distorted if presented by someone who lacks appropriate disciplinary training and experience. While there are exceptions, I take philosophy to be the most appropriate disciplinary domain in which to gain training in ethics teaching. Science students, who must be prepared to engage with many science ethics issues, are poorly served if their education includes a misrepresentation of ethics or specific issues. Students are less well prepared to engage specific issues in science ethics if they lack an appreciation of the resources the discipline of ethics provides. My collaborative proposal looks at a variety of ways scientists and ethicists might collaborate in the classroom to foster good science ethics education

The Role of Psychedelics in Kesey's Life

Project files are comprised of 1 page pdf and presentation recording in mp4 format.Students in Dr. Stephen Rust’s course “Researching Oregon Writers” examined a digitized mini-archive of materials prepared during the Covid-19 crisis by the Knight Library Special Collections with the goal of better understanding how archival materials can shape and reshape our thinking about an author’s life and literary works. Items include personal correspondence between Ken Kesey and friend Ken Babbs composed while Kesey was writing One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1962), correspondence between Ursula K. Le Guin and literary agent Virginia Kidd while Le Guin was writing The Left Hand of Darkness (1969), and manuscript pages from each novel. Their posters will blend of select images from the digital mini-archive to and written elements of humanities research posters along with virtual audio presentations. We hope these poster presentations will inspire viewers to appreciate the value of archives for preserving literary and cultural history and open new perspectives into Le Guin and Kesey’s life and work. Xitali Torres, Carmen Reddick Bayley Burke, and Micah Woods are interested in how Kesey’s correspondence with Babbs can shed light on the development of particular characters in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Kesey’s relationship with the 1960s counterculture. Rose Kordahal, Elyria Kabasenche, and Jake Heinonen are researching Kesey’s correspondence and journal entries before and after the publication of Cuckoo’s Nest to explore his authorial intentions regarding the civil rights of patients in mental hospitals. Ethan Scott, Zoey Cantor, and Garret Simmer how Kesey’s personal view on conformity and freedom inform how those themes develop in his work and are particularly interested in archival materials that might shed light on his use of laughter as a metaphor for rebellion against social norms. Zoey Whittington, Jacob Smith, and Donovan Muniz hope to learn more about the impact of 1960s Sexual Revolution on Le Guin’s writing and her development of a genderless society in The Left Hand of Darkness. Lyla Balthazaar, Max Braker, and Eleanor Davis are studying Le Guin’s business correspondence with her agent Virginia Kidd to examine how they sought to position her work in the science fiction marketplace. Elliot Terner, Audra McNamee, and David Cynkin are curious to examine Le Guin’s writings about science and philosophy as well as her engagement with literary scholarship to consider how her personal beliefs and interests shaped the direction of her creative writing

DDT, epigenetic harm, and transgenerational environmental justice

Although the environmentally harmful effects of widespread dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) use became well-known following Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962), its human health effects have more recently become clearer. A ban on the use of DDT has been in place for over 30 years, but recently DDT has been used for malaria control in areas such as Africa. Recent work shows that DDT has transgenerational effects in progeny and generations never directly exposed to DDT. These effects have health implications for individuals who are not able to have any voice in the decision to use the pesticide. The transgenerational effects of DDT are considered in light of some widely accepted ethical principles. We argue that this reframes the decision to use DDT, requiring us to incorporate new considerations, and new kinds of decision making, into the deliberative process that determines its ongoing use. Ethical considerations for intergenerational environmental justice are presented that include concern and respect for autonomy, nonmaleficence, and justice. Here, we offer a characterization of the kinds of ethical considerations that must be taken into account in any satisfactory decisions to use DDT