COMBINING DEMOCRATIC EQUALITY AND LUCK EGALITARIANISM

O conceito de responsabilidade desempenha um papel crucial no debate entre os defensores da igualdade democrática, como Rawls, e os defensores do igualitarismo da sorte, como Dworkin. Neste artigo, argumenta-se que as duas teorias podem ser associadas para alcançar uma teoria da justiça que coloca a responsabilidade pessoal no seu devido lugar. O conceito de justiça requer duas concepções diferentes. As duas teorias podem ser associadas por lidarem com diferentes problemas sobre a noção de justiça. Elas devem ser associadas porque, em primeiro lugar, o igualitarismo da sorte precisa de uma teoria de fundo da justiça, e em segundo lugar, a teoria da justiça deve fornecer uma resposta à questão da distribuicão individual justa, algo que não é esclarecido pela igualdade democrática. Cada uma das duas teorias, a igualdade democrática e o igualitarismo da sorte, resolve os problemas da outra. A teoria associada levará a uma distribuição de bens que respeita o princípio de diferença e o teste da inveja.The concept of responsibility plays a crucial part in the debate between proponents of democratic equality, like Rawls, and defenders of luck egalitarianism, such as Dworkin. In this paper it is argued that the two theories can be combined, and that they should be combined to achieve a theory of justice that puts personal responsibility in its proper place. The concept of justice requires two different conceptions. The two theories can be combined because they deal with different problems of justice. They ought to be combined because, first, luck egalitarianism needs a theory of background justice, and second, a theory of justice must supply an answer to the question of just individual allocations, something that is not provided by democratic equality. Democratic equality and luck egalitarianism solve each other’s problems. The combined theory will lead to allocations of goods that respect both the difference principle and the envy test

High-throughput method for detection and quantification of lesions on leaf scale based on trypan blue staining and digital image analysis

Background: Field-grown leafy vegetables can be damaged by biotic and abiotic factors, or mechanically damaged by farming practices. Available methods to evaluate leaf tissue damage mainly rely on colour diferentiation between healthy and damaged tissues. Alternatively, sophisticated equipment such as microscopy and hyperspectral cameras can be employed. Depending on the causal factor, colour change in the wounded area is not always induced and, by the time symptoms become visible, a plant can already be severely afected. To accurately detect and quantify damage on leaf scale, including microlesions, reliable diferentiation between healthy and damaged tissue is essential. We stained whole leaves with trypan blue dye, which traverses compromised cell membranes but is not absorbed in viable cells, followed by automated quantifcation of damage on leaf scale. Results: We present a robust, fast and sensitive method for leaf-scale visualisation, accurate automated extraction and measurement of damaged area on leaves of leafy vegetables. The image analysis pipeline we developed automatically identifes leaf area and individual stained (lesion) areas down to cell level. As proof of principle, we tested the methodology for damage detection and quantifcation on two feld-grown leafy vegetable species, spinach and Swiss chard. Conclusions: Our novel lesion quantifcation method can be used for detection of large (macro) or single-cell (micro) lesions on leaf scale, enabling quantifcation of lesions at any stage and without requiring symptoms to be in the visible spectrum. Quantifying the wounded area on leaf scale is necessary for generating prediction models for economic losses and produce shelf-life. In addition, risk assessments are based on accurate prediction of the relationship between leaf damage and infection rates by opportunistic pathogens and our method helps determine the sevn.erity of leaf damage at fne resoluti

Self-gravitating elastic bodies

Extended objects in GR are often modelled using distributional solutions of the Einstein equations with point-like sources, or as the limit of infinitesimally small "test" objects. In this note, I will consider models of finite self-gravitating extended objects, which make it possible to give a rigorous treatment of the initial value problem for (finite) extended objects.Comment: 16 pages. Based on a talk given at the 2013 WE-Heraeus seminar on "Equations of motion in relativistic gravity

Elastic Stars in General Relativity: II. Radial perturbations

We study radial perturbations of general relativistic stars with elastic matter sources. We find that these perturbations are governed by a second order differential equation which, along with the boundary conditions, defines a Sturm-Liouville type problem that determines the eigenfrequencies. Although some complications arise compared to the perfect fluid case, leading us to consider a generalisation of the standard form of the Sturm-Liouville equation, the main results of Sturm-Liouville theory remain unaltered. As an important consequence we conclude that the mass-radius curve for a one-parameter sequence of regular equilibrium models belonging to some particular equation of state can be used in the same well-known way as in the perfect fluid case, at least if the energy density and the tangential pressure of the background solutions are continuous. In particular we find that the fundamental mode frequency has a zero for the maximum mass stars of the models with solid crusts considered in Paper I of this series.Comment: 22 pages, no figures, final version accepted for publication in Class. Quantum Grav. The treatment of the junction conditions has been improve

Boganmeldelser

Intet resum

Viral Findings in Adult Hematological Patients with Neutropenia

BACKGROUND: Until recently, viral infections in patients with hematological malignancies were concerns primarily in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) recipients. During the last years, changed treatment regimens for non-transplanted patients with hematological malignancies have had potential to increase the incidence of viral infections in this group. In this study, we have prospectively investigated the prevalence of a broad range of respiratory viruses in nasopharyngeal aspirate (NPA) as well as viruses that commonly reactivate after allogeneic HSCT. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Patients with hematological malignancies and therapy induced neutropenia (n = 159) were screened regarding a broad range of common respiratory viruses in the nasopharynx and for viruses commonly detected in severely immunosuppressed patients in peripheral blood. Quantitative PCR was used for detection of viruses. A viral pathogen was detected in 35% of the patients. The detection rate was rather similar in blood (22%) and NPA (18%) with polyoma BK virus and rhinovirus as dominating pathogens in blood and NPA, respectively. Patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) (p<0.01) and patients with fever (p<0.001) were overrepresented in the virus-positive group. Furthermore, viral findings in NPA were associated with upper respiratory symptoms (URTS) (p<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Both respiratory viral infections and low titers of viruses in blood from patients with neutropenia were common. Patients with CLL and patients with fever were independently associated to these infections, and viral findings in NPA were associated to URTS indicating active infection. These findings motivate further studies on viruses' impact on this patient category and their potential role as causative agents of fever during neutropenia

No Difference in Penetrance between Truncating and Missense/Aberrant Splicing Pathogenic Variants in MLH1 and MSH2: A Prospective Lynch Syndrome Database Study

Background. Lynch syndrome is the most common genetic predisposition for hereditary cancer. Carriers of pathogenic changes in mismatch repair (MMR) genes have an increased risk of developing colorectal (CRC), endometrial, ovarian, urinary tract, prostate, and other cancers, depending on which gene is malfunctioning. In Lynch syndrome, differences in cancer incidence (penetrance) according to the gene involved have led to the stratification of cancer surveillance. By contrast, any differences in penetrance determined by the type of pathogenic variant remain unknown. Objective. To determine cumulative incidences of cancer in carriers of truncating and missense or aberrant splicing pathogenic variants of the MLH1 and MSH2 genes. Methods. Carriers of pathogenic variants of MLH1 (path_MLH1) and MSH2 (path_MSH2) genes filed in the Prospective Lynch Syndrome Database (PLSD) were categorized as truncating or missense/aberrant splicing according to the InSiGHT criteria for pathogenicity. Results. Among 5199 carriers, 1045 had missense or aberrant splicing variants, and 3930 had truncating variants. Prospective observation years for the two groups were 8205 and 34,141 years, respectively, after which there were no significant differences in incidences for cancer overall or for colorectal cancer or endometrial cancers separately. Conclusion. Truncating and missense or aberrant splicing pathogenic variants were associated with similar average cumulative incidences of cancer in carriers of path MLH1 and path_MSH2

No Difference in Penetrance between Truncating and Missense/Aberrant Splicing Pathogenic Variants in MLH1 and MSH2: A Prospective Lynch Syndrome Database Study

Background. Lynch syndrome is the most common genetic predisposition for hereditary cancer. Carriers of pathogenic changes in mismatch repair (MMR) genes have an increased risk of developing colorectal (CRC), endometrial, ovarian, urinary tract, prostate, and other cancers, depending on which gene is malfunctioning. In Lynch syndrome, differences in cancer incidence (penetrance) according to the gene involved have led to the stratification of cancer surveillance. By contrast, any differences in penetrance determined by the type of pathogenic variant remain unknown. Objective. To determine cumulative incidences of cancer in carriers of truncating and missense or aberrant splicing pathogenic variants of the MLH1 and MSH2 genes. Methods. Carriers of pathogenic variants of MLH1 (path_MLH1) and MSH2 (path_MSH2) genes filed in the Prospective Lynch Syndrome Database (PLSD) were categorized as truncating or missense/aberrant splicing according to the InSiGHT criteria for pathogenicity. Results. Among 5199 carriers, 1045 had missense or aberrant splicing variants, and 3930 had truncating variants. Prospective observation years for the two groups were 8205 and 34,141 years, respectively, after which there were no significant differences in incidences for cancer overall or for colorectal cancer or endometrial cancers separately. Conclusion. Truncating and missense or aberrant splicing pathogenic variants were associated with similar average cumulative incidences of cancer in carriers of path MLH1 and path_MSH2