(Re)Moralizing the suicide debate

Contemporary approaches to the study of suicide tend to examine suicide as a medical or public health problem rather than a moral problem, avoiding the kinds of judgements that have historically characterised discussions of the phenomenon. But morality entails more than judgement about action or behaviour, and our understanding of suicide can be enhanced by attending to its cultural, social, and linguistic connotations. In this work, I offer a theoretical reconstruction of suicide as a form of moral experience that delineates five distinct, yet interrelated domains of understanding – the temporal, the relational, the existential, the ontological, and the linguistic. Attention to each of these domains, I argue, not only enriches our understanding of the moral realm, but provides a heuristic for examining the moral traditions and practices which constitute contemporary understandings of suicide. Keywords: Suicide; philosophy; social values; humanitie

A Digital Repository and Execution Platform for Interactive Scholarly Publications in Neuroscience

The CARMEN Virtual Laboratory (VL) is a cloud-based platform which allows neuroscientists to store, share, develop, execute, reproduce and publicise their work. This paper describes new functionality in the CARMEN VL: an interactive publications repository. This new facility allows users to link data and software to publications. This enables other users to examine data and software associated with the publication and execute the associated software within the VL using the same data as the authors used in the publication. The cloud-based architecture and SaaS (Software as a Service) framework allows vast data sets to be uploaded and analysed using software services. Thus, this new interactive publications facility allows others to build on research results through reuse. This aligns with recent developments by funding agencies, institutions, and publishers with a move to open access research. Open access provides reproducibility and verification of research resources and results. Publications and their associated data and software will be assured of long-term preservation and curation in the repository. Further, analysing research data and the evaluations described in publications frequently requires a number of execution stages many of which are iterative. The VL provides a scientific workflow environment to combine software services into a processing tree. These workflows can also be associated with publications and executed by users. The VL also provides a secure environment where users can decide the access rights for each resource to ensure copyright and privacy restrictions are met

Ancient Nursery Area for the Extinct Giant Shark Megalodon from the Miocene of Panama

BACKGROUND: As we know from modern species, nursery areas are essential shark habitats for vulnerable young. Nurseries are typically highly productive, shallow-water habitats that are characterized by the presence of juveniles and neonates. It has been suggested that in these areas, sharks can find ample food resources and protection from predators. Based on the fossil record, we know that the extinct Carcharocles megalodon was the biggest shark that ever lived. Previous proposed paleo-nursery areas for this species were based on the anecdotal presence of juvenile fossil teeth accompanied by fossil marine mammals. We now present the first definitive evidence of ancient nurseries for C. megalodon from the late Miocene of Panama, about 10 million years ago. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We collected and measured fossil shark teeth of C. megalodon, within the highly productive, shallow marine Gatun Formation from the Miocene of Panama. Surprisingly, and in contrast to other fossil accumulations, the majority of the teeth from Gatun are very small. Here we compare the tooth sizes from the Gatun with specimens from different, but analogous localities. In addition we calculate the total length of the individuals found in Gatun. These comparisons and estimates suggest that the small size of Gatun's C. megalodon is neither related to a small population of this species nor the tooth position within the jaw. Thus, the individuals from Gatun were mostly juveniles and neonates, with estimated body lengths between 2 and 10.5 meters. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We propose that the Miocene Gatun Formation represents the first documented paleo-nursery area for C. megalodon from the Neotropics, and one of the few recorded in the fossil record for an extinct selachian. We therefore show that sharks have used nursery areas at least for 10 millions of years as an adaptive strategy during their life histories

Fluids and barriers of the CNS establish immune privilege by confining immune surveillance to a two-walled castle moat surrounding the CNS castle

Neuronal activity within the central nervous system (CNS) strictly depends on homeostasis and therefore does not tolerate uncontrolled entry of blood components. It has been generally believed that under normal conditions, the endothelial blood-brain barrier (BBB) and the epithelial blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier (BCSFB) prevent immune cell entry into the CNS. This view has recently changed when it was realized that activated T cells are able to breach the BBB and the BCSFB to perform immune surveillance of the CNS. Here we propose that the immune privilege of the CNS is established by the specific morphological architecture of its borders resembling that of a medieval castle. The BBB and the BCSFB serve as the outer walls of the castle, which can be breached by activated immune cells serving as messengers for outside dangers. Having crossed the BBB or the BCSFB they reach the castle moat, namely the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)-drained leptomeningeal and perivascular spaces of the CNS. Next to the CNS parenchyma, the castle moat is bordered by a second wall, the glia limitans, composed of astrocytic foot processes and a parenchymal basement membrane. Inside the castle, that is the CNS parenchyma proper, the royal family of sensitive neurons resides with their servants, the glial cells. Within the CSF-drained castle moat, macrophages serve as guards collecting all the information from within the castle, which they can present to the immune-surveying T cells. If in their communication with the castle moat macrophages, T cells recognize their specific antigen and see that the royal family is in danger, they will become activated and by opening doors in the outer wall of the castle allow the entry of additional immune cells into the castle moat. From there, immune cells may breach the inner castle wall with the aim to defend the castle inhabitants by eliminating the invading enemy. If the immune response by unknown mechanisms turns against self, that is the castle inhabitants, this may allow for continuous entry of immune cells into the castle and lead to the death of the castle inhabitants, and finally members of the royal family, the neurons. This review will summarize the molecular traffic signals known to allow immune cells to breach the outer and inner walls of the CNS castle moat and will highlight the importance of the CSF-drained castle moat in maintaining immune surveillance and in mounting immune responses in the CNS

Technical and Comparative Aspects of Brain Glycogen Metabolism.

It has been known for over 50 years that brain has significant glycogen stores, but the physiological function of this energy reserve remains uncertain. This uncertainty stems in part from several technical challenges inherent in the study of brain glycogen metabolism, and may also stem from some conceptual limitations. Factors presenting technical challenges include low glycogen content in brain, non-homogenous labeling of glycogen by radiotracers, rapid glycogenolysis during postmortem tissue handling, and effects of the stress response on brain glycogen turnover. Here, we briefly review aspects of glycogen structure and metabolism that bear on these technical challenges, and discuss ways these can be overcome. We also highlight physiological aspects of glycogen metabolism that limit the conditions under which glycogen metabolism can be useful or advantageous over glucose metabolism. Comparisons with glycogen metabolism in skeletal muscle provide an additional perspective on potential functions of glycogen in brain

Prader-Willi syndrome: A primer for clinicians

The advent of sensitive genetic testing modalities for the diagnosis of Prader-Willi syndrome has helped to define not only the phenotypic features of the syndrome associated with the various genotypes but also to anticipate clinical and psychological problems that occur at each stage during the life span. With advances in hormone replacement therapy, particularly growth hormone children born in circumstances where therapy is available are expected to have an improved quality of life as compared to those born prior to growth hormone

The impact of single gene and chromosomal disorders on hospital admissions in an adult population

Although the role of single gene and chromosomal disorders in pediatric illness has been recognized since the 1970s, there are few data describing the impact of these often severe disorders on the health of the adult population. In this study, we present population data describing the impact of single gene and chromosomal disorders on hospital admissions of patients aged 20 years and over in Western Australia between 2000 and 2006. The number, length, and cost of admissions were investigated and compared between disease categories and age groups and to hospital admissions for any reason. In total, 73,211 admissions and 8,032 patients were included in the study. The most costly disorders were cystic kidney disease, α-1 anti-trypsin deficiency, hemochromatosis, von Willebrand disease, and cystic fibrosis. Overall, patients with single gene and chromosomal disorders represented 0.5% of the patient population and were responsible for 1.9% of admissions and 1.5% of hospital costs. These data will enable informed provision of health care services for adults with single gene and chromosomal disorders in Australia