Modern Medical Ethics and the Legacy of Hippocrates

The most enduring guideline for medical ethics in the history of medicine is the Hippocratic Oath. Four of the six core values currently recognized in medical ethics (beneficence, non-maleficence, justice, and confidentiality), are in accordance with ideas codified in the Hippocratic Oath or in the Hippocrates work, in general. With the passing of the years, however, new ethics created by the society added new values, such as autonomy and respect, to values proposed by Hippocrates. On the other hand, certain social ethics, predominating in various countries, are in marked contrast to Hippocratic principles. The most significant of them are the issues of aid in suicide and of abortion. Regardless the rules of conduct prevailing in a given society, the primary task of a physician is to provide competent medical care, with compassion and respect for human dignity and rights, a principle in accordance with the Hippocratic motto “επ’ ωφελείη καμνόντων” ("for the benefit of patients")

Hippocrates and the essence of evidence based medicine

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Serial serum procalcitonin changes in the prognosis of acute stroke

Inflammatory response is a principal early component in the pathophysiology of stroke [1]. Serum procalcitonin (PCT)-a marker of septicemia and infection severity [2]-has also been proposed as an indicator of systemic inflammatory response in noninfectious situations [3,4]. As no data exist thus far on PCT in stroke, this study aimed to evaluate serum PCT changes in the acute stroke setting, and to correlate them with clinical and laboratory parameters and patient\u27s outcome

Thymoma with immunodeficiency (Good\u27s syndrome): Review of the literature apropos three cases

Good\u27s syndrome is the association of thymoma with immunodeficiency, characterized by hypogammaglobulinaemia, depleted B-cells, diminished T-cells and inversion of the CD4/CD8 ratio. The initial clinical presentation is either with a mass lesion-thymoma that is usually benign, or with recurrent infections due to immunodeficiency. Thymectomy usually favourably affects associated conditions, such as pure red cell aplasia, but does not improve hypogammaglobulinaemia, thus the patient remains dependent on intravenous immune globulin and prone to infections. Infections usually affect the respiratory and/or the gastrointestinal tract. Common respiratory, opportunistic, and eventually life-threatening infections may occur. Moreover, patients with Good\u27s syndrome may present other haematological conditions. We report 3 cases with long follow-up, sharing some common manifestations of the syndrome, but also showing unique features. The principal features of this rare syndrome are further discusse