The rise of the Marburg phoenix: Karl Vorlaender\u27s Kantian/Marxian synthesis as key in the debate over capitalism vs. economic democracy

Mainstream economics has long avoided two issues pressing on the discipline and on society: Ownership of the means of production and ethics. While Adam Smith clearly presented his Wealth of Nations as a normative adjunct to his Theory of Moral Sentiments, he left alone the question of ownership. While Karl Marx presented a detailed critique of the theory and practice of capitalism, he failed to produce an explicit ethical theory to explain why capitalism is unacceptable. In 1971 there appeared a work that would have great impact on the academic world, John Rawls\u27 A Theory of Justice. Here was a large contractarian treatise explaining what justice was. Operating as Kantian agents in an original position, people could supposedly find room for both capitalism and worker ownership in a society defined as just by Rawls. David Ellerman, whose innovative Property & Contract in Economics appeared in 1992, makes the case for economic democracy on Kantian grounds as well but with no prevarication (unlike Rawls): Only worker ownership can be ethically justified. Meanwhile Marxists, harboring no affinity for capitalism, are out in the cold without an explicit ethical system to back their views. After the horrors of Stalinism and State Socialism under the former Soviet Union, the Marxists have an amoral theory that can offer guidance in the economic realm to no one in the old Soviet Union. Rawls\u27 theory of justice is susceptible to Marxist criticism at one point in particular, though. Rawls claims that people in the original position would choose primary goods that every rational man is presumed to want : rights and liberties, powers and opportunities, income and wealth, and self-respect. Marxists claim that Marx\u27s historicist thesis can undermine the validity of choosing these goods; conceptions of rationality are determined by specific historical circumstances. Therefore, Rawls would have to show how his theory of (individualistic) rationality would not become obsolete as the old society with its idea of rationality metamorphoses into a new society with a new conception of rationality. Though Rawls cannot provide a conception of rationality that would transcend historical circumstance, Marxists are mired in the belief that they have no such conception in their heritage. But they have. If they will finally allow Karl Vorlaender the audience he deserves, they will see that Vorlaender has provided an ingenious Kantian/Marxian synthesis that explains why it is rational, on (neo)Kantian grounds, to select the communitarian values espoused by Marx. With this theory in their arsenal, Marxists can undermine Rawls\u27 theory of justice, claim an ethical (Kantian) heritage, and unite with Ellerman in ending the debate over capitalism vs. economic democracy. Only worker-ownership (a.k.a. economic democracy) will be left ethically justifiable

Bariatric surgery tourism in the COVID-19 era

Background: Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic primary and secondary health care services in Northern Ireland have observed an increase in the number of patients who have had bariatric surgery outside of the UK. This study sought to estimate the frequency of bariatric surgery tourism and to audit indications, blood monitoring and medical complications.Methods: All primary care centres within the Western Health Social Care Trust (WHSCT) were invited to document the number of patients undergoing bariatric surgery between January 1, 2017 and December 31, 2022. For one primary care centre, patients who underwent bariatric surgery were assessed against the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guideline indications for bariatric surgery. In addition, the blood monitoring of these patients was audited against the British Obesity and Metabolic Surgery Society (BOMSS) guidelines for up to two years following surgery. Medical contacts for surgical complications of bariatric surgery were recorded.Results: Thirty-five of 47 (74.5%) GP surgeries replied to the survey, representing 239,961 patients among 325,126 registrations (73.8%). In the six year study period 463 patients had reported having bariatric surgery to their GP. Women were more likely to have had bariatric surgery than men (85.1% versus 14.9%). There was a marked increase in the number of patients undergoing bariatric surgery with each year of the study (p&lt;0.0001 chi square for trend). Twenty-one of 47 patients (44.7%) evaluated in one primary care centre fulfilled NICE criteria for bariatric surgery. The level of three-month monitoring ranged from 23% (for vitamin D) to 89% (electrolytes), but decreased at two years to 9% (vitamin D) and 64% (electrolytes and liver function tests). Surgical complication prevalence from wound infections was 19% (9 of 44). Antidepressant medications were prescribed for 23 of 47 patients (48.9%).Conclusions: The WHSCT has experienced a growing population of patients availing of bariatric surgery outside of the National Health Service. In view of this and the projected increase in obesity prevalence, a specialist obesity management service is urgently required in Northern Ireland.</p

Fluorogermanium(IV) salts of graphite. A system in equilibrium with elemental fluorine

Pyrolytic graphite is not intercalated by GeF{sub 4} alone but is intercalated by GeF{sub 4}/F{sub 2} mixtures to yield, at the intercalation limit, at 20{sup o}, a first-stage material, C{sub 12}GeF{sub 5-6}, which is in equilibrium with gaseous fluorine. GERMANIUM tetrafluoride is a superior fluoride ion acceptor since it can stabilize the O{sub 2}{sup +} ion and the NF{sub 4}{sup +} ion in salts. It is this superior fluoride-ion acceptor capability which must account for our observation that pyrolytic graphite readily intercalates GeF{sub 4} in the presence of fluorine, but does not do so, even with high pressures of GeF{sub 4}, if fluorine is absent, Similar experiments, in which SiF{sub 4} was substituted for GeF{sub 4}, failed to bring about any silicon fluoride intercalation. It has long been known that GeF{sub 4} is a superior fluoride ion acceptor to SiF{sub 4} since, with SF{sub 4}, the former yields the salt (SF{sub 3}{sup +}){sub 2}GeF{sub 6}{sup 2-}, whereas the silicon analogue is not stable at ordinary temperatures and pressures (in spite of the lattice energy of the silicon analogue being slightly more favorable by virtue of the smaller size of SiF{sub 6}{sup 2-})

Dietary fibre and phytate; a balancing act. Results from 3 time points in a British Birth Cohort

An investigation was carried out to determine whether there were significant changes in the intake of dietary fibre (non-starch polysaccharide; NSP) and phytate of adult men and women in the UK from 1982 (aged 36 years) to 1999 (aged 53 years). The 1253 subjects studied were members of the Medical Research Council National Survey of Health and Development; a longitudinal study of a nationally representative cohort of births in 1946. Food intake was recorded in a 5-day diary at age 36 years in 1982, 43 years in 1989 and 53 years in 1999. The food composition database was amended with revised values for phytate. Outcome measures were mean intakes of total NSP and phytate by year, gender and food source. There were significant changes in total NSP and phytate intake over the 3 time-points. Intakes of NSP rose significantly between 1982 and 1999 for men and women but phytate intakes rose significantly only between 1989 and 1999. Cereal foods were the most important source of both NSP and phytate. Between 1989 and 1999 there was a significant increase in the contribution from pasta, rice and other grains. This study shows that an increase in dietary fibre that is in accordance with dietary guidelines would almost inevitably be accompanied by a rise in phytate. The increased dietary phytate is discussed in relation to its recognised inhibition of mineral absorption and its merits with regard to protection against some cancers and other diseases of an ageing population