Jewish and non-Jewish club leaders in Jewish community centers

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston Universit

Ethics Shock: Technology, Life Styles and Future Practice

During the past ten years a new movement has developed in the United States which has taken as its major emphasis the study of the future. The futureologists led by Kahn, Weiner, and Theobald, have projected a number of alternatives for the United States. The value of this movement has been: 1) to alert the country to the fact that change is occurring at an extremely rapid pace; 2) to provide a transdisciplinary view, not only utilizing projections from various disciplines, but illustrating the multiplier effect that the combination of developments from many disciplines may have on our society; and 3) to illustrate that we can, if we wish, and if we act soon enough, influence the change. The purpose of this paper is to examine selected changes from the vast visions of possible change, most likely to have impacts on society which will have to be taken into account by social work. How will these changes influence our profession? And, what techniques and approaches will our profession have to construct in order to deal with the changes taking place? If we do not prepare, we too will find ourselves in shock - reacting on the spur of the moment, reeling without plan, purpose, professional means or goals to guide us. Weightless, we will drift, seeking a role in a society which needs help, but in which we make no impact. Clearly this would constitute failure to meet our professional responsibilities. We shall conclude by examining the potential of the ethical code of the profession as a source of guidance in dealing with these dilemmas and questions. In evaluating the code we shall consider the extent to which it meets the standards set in other areas for achieving a cognitive base for action. We shall propose that steps be taken to make it more scientific

Ethics Shock: Technology, Life Styles and Future Practice

During the past ten years a new movement has developed in the United States which has taken as its major emphasis the study of the future. The futureologists led by Kahn, Weiner, and Theobald, have projected a number of alternatives for the United States. The value of this movement has been: 1) to alert the country to the fact that change is occurring at an extremely rapid pace; 2) to provide a transdisciplinary view, not only utilizing projections from various disciplines, but illustrating the multiplier effect that the combination of developments from many disciplines may have on our society; and 3) to illustrate that we can, if we wish, and if we act soon enough, influence the change. The purpose of this paper is to examine selected changes from the vast visions of possible change, most likely to have impacts on society which will have to be taken into account by social work. How will these changes influence our profession? And, what techniques and approaches will our profession have to construct in order to deal with the changes taking place? If we do not prepare, we too will find ourselves in shock - reacting on the spur of the moment, reeling without plan, purpose, professional means or goals to guide us. Weightless, we will drift, seeking a role in a society which needs help, but in which we make no impact. Clearly this would constitute failure to meet our professional responsibilities. We shall conclude by examining the potential of the ethical code of the profession as a source of guidance in dealing with these dilemmas and questions. In evaluating the code we shall consider the extent to which it meets the standards set in other areas for achieving a cognitive base for action. We shall propose that steps be taken to make it more scientific

Multicenter phase II trial of accelerated cisplatin and high-dose epirubicin followed by surgery or radiotherapy in patients with stage IIIa non-small-cell lung cancer with mediastinal lymph node involvement (N2-disease)

To assess the therapeutic activity of accelerated cisplatin and high-dose epirubicin with erythropoietin and G-CSF support as induction therapy for patients with stage IIIa-N2 non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Patients with stage IIIa-N2 NSCLC were enrolled in a phase II trial. They received cisplatin 60 mg m−2 and epirubicin 135 mg m−2 every 2 weeks for three courses combined with erythropoietin and G-CSF. Depending on results of clinical response to induction therapy and restaging, patients were treated with surgery or radiotherapy. In total, 61 patients entered from March 2001 to April 2004. During 169 courses of induction chemotherapy, National Cancer Institute of Canada (NCI-C) grade III/IV leucocytopenia was reported in 35 courses (20.7%), NCI-C grade III/IV thrombocytopenia in 26 courses (15.4%) and NCI-C grade III/IV anaemia in six courses (3.6%). Main cause of cisplatin dose reduction was nephrotoxicity (12 courses). Most patients received three courses. There were no chemotherapy-related deaths. Three patients were not evaluable for clinical response. Twenty-eight patients had a partial response (48.3%, 95% CI: 36–61.1%), 24 stable disease and six progressive disease. After induction therapy, 30 patients underwent surgery; complete resection was achieved in 19 procedures (31.1%). Radical radiotherapy was delivered to 25 patients (41%). Six patients were considered unfit for further treatment. Median survival for all patients was 18 months. Response rate of accelerated cisplatin and high-dose epirubicin as induction chemotherapy for stage IIIa-N2 NSCLC patients is not different from more commonly used cisplatin-based regimen

Mesenchymal stromal cells’ therapy for polyglutamine disorders: where do we stand and where should we go?

Polyglutamine (polyQ) diseases are a group of inherited neurodegenerative disorders caused by the expansion of the cytosine-adenine-guanine (CAG) repeat. This mutation encodes extended glutamine (Q) tract in the disease protein, resulting in the alteration of its conformation/physiological role and in the formation of toxic fragments/aggregates of the protein. This group of heterogeneous disorders shares common molecular mechanisms, which opens the possibility to develop a pan therapeutic approach. Vast efforts have been made to develop strategies to alleviate disease symptoms. Nonetheless, there is still no therapy that can cure or effectively delay disease progression of any of these disorders. Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) are promising tools for the treatment of polyQ disorders, promoting protection, tissue regeneration, and/or modulation of the immune system in animal models. Accordingly, data collected from clinical trials have so far demonstrated that transplantation of MSC is safe and delays the progression of some polyQ disorders for some time. However, to achieve sustained phenotypic amelioration in clinics, several treatments may be necessary. Therefore, efforts to develop new strategies to improve MSC's therapeutic outcomes have been emerging. In this review article, we discuss the current treatments and strategies used to reduce polyQ symptoms and major pre-clinical and clinical achievements obtained with MSC transplantation as well as remaining flaws that need to be overcome. The requirement to cross the blood-brain-barrier (BBB), together with a short rate of cell engraftment in the lesioned area and low survival of MSC in a pathophysiological context upon transplantation may contribute to the transient therapeutic effects. We also review methods like pre-conditioning or genetic engineering of MSC that can be used to increase MSC survival in vivo, cellular-free approaches-i.e., MSC-conditioned medium (CM) or MSC-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) as a way of possibly replacing the use of MSC and methods required to standardize the potential of MSC/MSC-derived products. These are fundamental questions that need to be addressed to obtain maximum MSC performance in polyQ diseases and therefore increase clinical benefits.Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology: SFRH/BD/148877/2019; CENTRO01-0145-FEDER-000008 CENTRO-01-0145FEDER-022095 POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016719 POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029716 POCI01-0145-FEDER-016807 POCI-01-0145-FEDER016390 UID4950/2020 CENTRO-01-0145-FEDER-022118info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Administration In The Human Services

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