Forst on Reciprocity of Reasons: a Critique

According to Rainer Forst, (i) moral and political claims must meet a requirement of reciprocal and general acceptability (RGA) while (ii) we are under a duty in engaged discursive practice to justify such claims to others, or be able to do so, on grounds that meet RGA. The paper critically engages this view. I argue that Forst builds a key component of RGA, i.e., reciprocity of reasons, on an idea of the reasonable that undermines both (i) and (ii): if RGA builds on this idea, RGA is viciously regressive and a duty of justification to meet RGA fails to be agent transparent. This negative result opens the door for alternative conceptions of reciprocity and generality. I then suggest that a more promising conception of reciprocity and generality needs to build on an idea of the reasonable that helps to reconcile the emancipatory or protective aspirations of reciprocal and general justification with its egalitarian commitments. But this requires to downgrade RGA in the order of justification and to determine on prior, substantive grounds what level of discursive influence in reciprocal and general justification relevant agents ought to have

On the Right to Justification and Discursive Respect

Rainer Forst’s constructivism argues that a right to justification provides a reasonably non-rejectable foundation of justice. With an exemplary focus on his attempt to ground human rights, I argue that this right cannot provide such a foundation. To accord to others such a right is to include them in the scope of discursive respect. But it is reasonably contested whether we should accord to others equal discursive respect. It follows that Forst’s constructivism cannot ground human rights, or justice, categorically. At best, it can ground them hypothetically. This opens the door wide for ethical foundations of human rights

Cardiovascular Benefits of GLP-1-BasedTherapies in Patients with Diabetes Mellitus Type 2: Effects on Endothelial and Vascular Dysfunction beyond Glycemic Control

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a progressive multisystemic disease accompanied by vascular dysfunction and a tremendous increase in cardiovascular mortality. Numerous adipose-tissue-derived factors and beta cell dysfunction contribute to the increased cardiovascular risk in patients with T2DM. Nowadays, numerous pharmacological interventions are available to lower blood glucose levels in patients with type 2 diabetes. Beside more or less comparable glucose lowering efficacy, some of them have shown limited or probably even unfavorable effects on the cardiovascular system and overall mortality. Recently, incretin-based therapies (GLP-1 receptor agonists and DPP-IV inhibitors) have been introduced in the treatment of T2DM. Beside the effects of GLP-1 on insulin secretion, glucagon secretion, and gastrointestinal motility, recent studies suggested a couple of direct cardiovascular effects of GLP-1-based therapies. The goal of this paper is to provide an overview about the current knowledge of direct GLP-1 effects on endothelial and vascular function and potential consequences on the cardiovascular outcome in patients with T2DM treated with GLP-1 receptor agonists or DPP-IV inhibitors

Dual Class Share Structure and Innovation

We find a positive association between disproportionate insider control and patent output, quality, creativity, and the efficient use of R&D in innovation. Managers of firms characterized by disproportionate control also take more personal innovative risk by filing their own patents. By controlling for standard entrenchment measures, we also find that insider entrenchment due to superior voting rights is distinct from entrenchment derived from standard antitakeover measures. Disproportionate insider control fosters innovation more than other forms of entrenchment. Positive effects are confined, however, to financially constrained firms and dissipate within ten years following the IPO. Dual class firms with financial constraints prefer to issue debt and are more likely to issue debt after collateralizing their patent portfolio. Our results, which control for self-selection bias by using a sample of dual and single class firms matched on their innovativeness pre-IPO, therefore support the recent call for sunset provisions on dual class shares

On Robust Discursive Equality

This paper explores the idea of robust discursive equality on which respect-based conceptions of justificatory reciprocity often draw. I distinguish between formal and substantive discursive equality and argue that if justificatory reciprocity requires that people be accorded formally equal discursive standing, robust discursive equality should not be construed as requiring standing that is equal substantively, or in terms of its discursive purchase. Still, robust discursive equality is purchase sensitive: it does not obtain when discursive standing is impermissibly unequal in purchase. I then showcase different candidate conceptions of purchase justice, and draw conclusions about the substantive commitments of justificatory reciprocity

High-resolution correlation of coastal cliff sections in the Lagos- Portimao Formation (Lower - Middle Miocene, central Algarve, Portugal)

This paper describes a high-resolution stratigraphic correlation scheme for the early to middle Miocene Lagos-Portimão Formation of central Algarve, southern Portugal. The Lagos Portimão-Formation of central Algarve is a 60 m thick package of horizontally bedded siliciclastics and carbonates. The bryozoan and mollusc dominated biofacies is typical of a shallow marine, warm-temperate climatic environment. We define four stratigraphic marker beds based on biofacies, lithology, and gamma-ray signatures. Marker bed 1 is a reddish shell bed composed predominantly of bivalve shells in various stages of fragmentation. Marker bed 2 is a fossiliferous sandstone / sandy rudstone characterized by bryozoan masses. Marker bed 3 is also a fossiliferous sandstone with abundant larger foraminifers and foliate bryozoans. Marker bed 4 is composed of three distinct layers; two fossiliferous sandstones with an intercalated shell bed. The upper sandstone unit displays thickets of the bryozoan Celleporaria palmate associated with the coral Culizia parasitica. This stratigraphic framework allows to correlate isolated outcrops within the stratigraphic context of the Lagos-Portimão Formation and to establish high resolution chronostratigraphic Sr-isotopic dating

Distinct Mitochondrial Pathologies Caused by Mutations of the Proximal Tubular Enzymes EHHADH and GATM

The mitochondria of the proximal tubule are essential for providing energy in this nephron segment, whose ATP generation is almost exclusively oxygen dependent. In addition, mitochondria are involved in a variety of metabolic processes and complex signaling networks. Proximal tubular mitochondrial dysfunction can therefore affect renal function in very different ways. Two autosomal dominantly inherited forms of renal Fanconi syndrome illustrate how multifaceted mitochondrial pathology can be: Mutation of EHHADH, an enzyme in fatty acid metabolism, results in decreased ATP synthesis and a consecutive transport defect. In contrast, mutations of GATM, an enzyme in the creatine biosynthetic pathway, leave ATP synthesis unaffected but do lead to mitochondrial protein aggregates, inflammasome activation, and renal fibrosis with progressive renal failure. In this review article, the distinct pathophysiological mechanisms of these two diseases are presented, which are examples of the spectrum of proximal tubular mitochondrial diseases