4 research outputs found
Cultural Differences in Interpreter-Mediated Medical Encounters in Complex Humanitarian Settings
Interpreters and mediators working in complex humanitarian settings are faced with new challenges, both linguistic and non-linguistic. As part of on-going research, this chapter reports on cultural differences in interpreting major variables in interpreter-mediated medical encounters in complex humanitarian scenarios. The author will address the importance of cultural issues in humanitarian interpreting, based on the assumption that differences in culture can be a serious barrier to effective humanitarian communication. The author focuses on the interpreters and cultural mediators working for the Italian NGO Emergency ONG Onlus, which provides medical assistance to migrant communities in Southern Italy at its Castel Volturno clinic. The aim is to highlight the importance of a shared culture between interpreters/mediators and their clients and adequately deal with existing cultural differences in order to enact a so-called “cultural compromise” between migrant patients and health professionals with the goal to facilitate prevention, health promotion and education, and treatment
QSAR Modeling: Where Have You Been? Where Are You Going To?
Quantitative structure 12activity relationship modeling
is one of the major computational tools employed in medicinal
chemistry. However, throughout its entire history it has drawn
both praise and criticism concerning its reliability, limitations,
successes, and failures. In this paper, we discuss (i) the
development and evolution of QSAR; (ii) the current trends,
unsolved problems, and pressing challenges; and (iii) several
novel and emerging applications of QSAR modeling. Throughout
this discussion, we provide guidelines for QSAR development,
validation, and application, which are summarized in best
practices for building rigorously validated and externally
predictive QSAR models. We hope that this Perspective will
help communications between computational and experimental
chemists toward collaborative development and use of QSAR
models. We also believe that the guidelines presented here will help journal editors and reviewers apply more stringent
scientific standards to manuscripts reporting new QSAR studies, as well as encourage the use of high quality, validated
QSARs for regulatory decision making