Book review: The philosophical foundations of modernmedicine

Keekok Lee explores the philosophical foundation of modern medicine, a link often ignored if not denied in the literature. Lee argues that this relationship explains why modern medicine possesses the characteristics it does. Nathan Emmerich finds the work to somewhat confused and more of a study of the philosophical foundations of biomedical science

Generic Ethics Principles in Social Science Research

The written output of a series of three symposia held in the spring of 2013 on the topic of Generic Ethics Principles in Social Science Research. The format for each symposium was the same: a main speaker introduced a paper that had been circulated in advance and this was followed by two formal discussants and then participation from the floor. Discussion in groups took place in the afternoon and there was then a brief plenary session. The stimulus paper from each event is reproduced in this publication along with papers from discussants and a summary of each discussion

Ionic logic with highly asymmetric nanofluidic memristive switches

While most neuromorphic systems are based on nanoscale electronic devices, nature relies on ions for energy-efficient information processing. Therefore, finding memristive nanofluidic devices is a milestone toward realizing electrolytic computers mimicking the brain down to its basic principles of operations. Here, we present a nanofluidic device designed for circuit scale in-memory processing that combines single-digit nanometric confinement and large entrance asymmetry. Our fabrication process is scalable while the device operates at the second timescale with a twenty-fold conductance ratio. It displays a switching threshold due to the dynamics of an extended space charge. The combination of these features permits assembling logic circuits composed of two interactive nanofluidic devices and an ohmic resistor. These results open the way to design multi-component ionic machinery, such as nanofluidic neural networks, and implementing brain-inspired ionic computations

Caring for quality of care: symbolic violence and the bureaucracies of audit.

BACKGROUND: This article considers the moral notion of care in the context of Quality of Care discourses. Whilst care has clear normative implications for the delivery of health care it is less clear how Quality of Care, something that is centrally involved in the governance of UK health care, relates to practice. DISCUSSION: This paper presents a social and ethical analysis of Quality of Care in the light of the moral notion of care and Bourdieu's conception of symbolic violence. We argue that Quality of Care bureaucracies show significant potential for symbolic violence or the domination of practice and health care professionals. This generates problematic, and unintended, consequences that can displace the goals of practice. SUMMARY: Quality of Care bureaucracies may have unintended consequences for the practice of health care. Consistent with feminist conceptions of care, Quality of Care 'audits' should be reconfigured so as to offer a more nuanced and responsive form of evaluation

Clinical Use and Therapeutic Potential of IVIG/SCIG, Plasma-Derived IgA or IgM, and Other Alternative Immunoglobulin Preparations

Intravenous and subcutaneous immunoglobulin preparations, consisting of IgG class antibodies, are increasingly used to treat a broad range of pathological conditions, including humoral immune deficiencies, as well as acute and chronic inflammatory or autoimmune disorders. A plethora of Fab- or Fc-mediated immune regulatory mechanisms has been described that might act separately or in concert, depending on pathogenesis or stage of clinical condition. Attempts have been undertaken to improve the efficacy of polyclonal IgG preparations, including the identification of relevant subfractions, mild chemical modification of molecules, or modification of carbohydrate side chains. Furthermore, plasma-derived IgA or IgM preparations may exhibit characteristics that might be exploited therapeutically. The need for improved treatment strategies without increase in plasma demand is a goal and might be achieved by more optimal use of plasma-derived proteins, including the IgA and the IgM fractions. This article provides an overview on the current knowledge and future strategies to improve the efficacy of regular IgG preparations and discusses the potential of human plasma-derived IgA, IgM, and preparations composed of mixtures of IgG, IgA, and IgM

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements