Ethical Considerations in the Advent of 3D Printing Technology in Healthcare

The emergence of 3D printing technology in healthcare has ushered in a new era of personalized medical solutions. However, alongside its promises, this technology also introduces several critical challenges that demand attention. This research investigates the implications of 3D printing on patient safety, intellectual property, equity, data security, informed consent, and the roles of healthcare professionals. 3D printing has opened up remarkable opportunities in the creation of medical devices, implants, and prosthetics. Nevertheless, the potential for errors during the manufacturing process poses a significant concern. Ensuring the safety and reliability of 3D-printed medical products becomes paramount, as any defects or inaccuracies could have severe consequences on patient health and well-being. The accessibility of 3D printing technology raises apprehensions regarding intellectual property rights and regulatory standards. The possibility of replicating medical devices and pharmaceuticals may lead to patent infringements and pose difficulties in enforcing regulatory compliance. Striking a balance between innovation and protection of intellectual property becomes crucial in fostering a thriving 3D printing healthcare ecosystem. While 3D printing holds to democratize healthcare by offering personalized medical solutions, it also has the potential to exacerbate existing disparities in healthcare access. The cost of 3D printing technology and related services might prove prohibitive for certain communities, thereby widening the gap in access to advanced medical treatments. Addressing these disparities and ensuring equitable access to 3D printing healthcare solutions must be a priority for healthcare policymakers and stakeholders. The integration of 3D printing in healthcare necessitates the utilization and storage of sensitive patient data. However, ethical concerns emerge around the security and privacy of this data. Any breaches or misuse of patient information could not only compromise patient confidentiality but also erode trust in healthcare systems. Implementing robust data security measures and respecting patient privacy rights are essential to maintain public trust in 3D printing healthcare applications. As 3D printing enables the production of custom medical devices and implants, obtaining informed consent from patients becomes increasingly complex. Patients must comprehend the risks, benefits, and uncertainties associated with these personalized treatments to make autonomous decisions about their healthcare. Healthcare providers must develop comprehensive strategies to ensure adequate patient education and empowerment during the informed consent process

El Consorcio para la Normalización Lingüística: «25 años haciendo latir el catalán»

El Consorci per a la Normalització Lingüística és, avui dia, una institució amb presència arreu de Catalunya. Al llarg dels anys, la seva missió ha evolucionat cap a la potenciació de la cohesió social i la difusió de la cultura del nostre país per mitjà de la llengua catalana, amb quatre eixos estratègics: afavorir la igualtat d’oportunitats a través del coneixement de la llengua, donar valor a la llengua i la cultura catalanes, potenciar la llengua com a eina de cohesió social i fer present la llengua i la cultura catalanes en tots els àmbits. Les tradicionals àrees d’actuació del Consorci per a la Normalització Lingüística —ensenyament de català per a adults, dinamització i assessorament— es concreten avui a impartir classes de català a persones adultes, fomentar l’ús de la llengua, donar a conèixer la nostra cultura i establir vincles amb entitats i associacions del territori. Aquest article resumeix la història del Consorci per a la Normalització Lingüística durant aquests 25 anys.Founded 25 years ago, the Consortium for Language Normalisation (CPNL), is the organisation that embodiesthe shared desire of the Government of Catalonia,town and city councils and other local authoritiesto promote equal opportunities through knowledge ofthe language, promoting Catalan language and culture,strengthening the language as a tool for social cohesionand ensuring the presence of Catalan languageand culture in all spheres. Today, the CPNL is aninstitution that is present all over Catalonia: it has 135local members in a structure formed by 22 centres forlanguage normalisation and 146 information points.This article summarises the history of the CPNL overthese first 25 years.El Consorcio para la Normalización Lingüística (CPNL),fundado hace 25 años, es el órgano que integra la voluntadcompartida de la Generalitat de Cataluña, losayuntamientos y otras administraciones locales parafavorecer la igualdad de oportunidades a través delconocimiento de la lengua, poner en valor la lengua yla cultura catalanas, potenciar la lengua como herramientade cohesión social y hacer presente la lengua yla cultura catalanas en todos los ámbitos. El CPNL es,en la actualidad, una institución con presencia en todaCataluña: está integrado por 135 entes locales, en unaestructura formada por 22 centros de normalizaciónlingüística y con 146 puntos de atención. Este artículoresume la historia del CPNL durante estos 25 años

Searching for transitional justice through peacekeeping: A gendered analysis

A lo largo de la historia las sociedades han tratado de alcanzar la paz mediante una de las dos formas siguientes, a través de la fuerza militar y la represión, o mediante procesos de mediación y negociación. De forma creciente, el foco se ha centrado en la mediación y la negociación, y como resultado también, en el proceso de transición más allá del conflicto. Hasta hace poco, la atención estaba en los aspectos públicos de la violencia sistemática y el sufrimiento, pero este enfoque carecía de una perspectiva de género. Este artículo evalúa el desarrollo histórico de los roles desempeñados por las mujeres en al marco de las misiones de mantenimiento de paz de las Naciones Unidas para alcanzar la justicia transicional, desde el Año Internacional de las Mujeres en 1975 hasta la introducción del gender mainstreaming como un objetivo de política pública en el año 2000. Esto demuestra que, a pesar de los mejores esfuerzos, la fijación en alcanzar la justicia de género concentrándose en los perpetradores masculinos y las víctimas femeninas, no toma en cuenta el impacto de género de los procesos y mecanismos que propone y las condiciones limitantes que esta visión impone para la participación de las mujeres. Finalmente, este artículo es un recordatorio de que al aproximarse el cuarenta aniversario del año clave de 1975, reflexionamos sobre lo que se ha alcanzado, pero también sobre las formas en que la búsqueda de justicia y empoderamiento de las mujeres aún puede ser mejoradoThroughout history societies have attempted to achieve peace in one of two ways, through militaristic strength and repression, or through the process of mediation and negotiation. Increasingly, the focus has been on mediation and negotiation, and as a result also the transition process away from conflict. Until recently, the focus was on the public aspects of systematic violence and suffering, but what this approach was lacking was a gendered perspective. This article evaluates the historic development of women’s roles within the UN peacekeeping framework to achieve transitional justice, from the International Women’s Year in 1975 to the introduction of gender mainstreaming as a policy objective in 2000. It demonstrates that despite best efforts, the fixation of achieving gender justice by concentrating on male perpetrators and female victims fails to take into account the gendered impact of their proposed processes and mechanisms and the limiting conditions it itself imposes for women’s participation. Ultimately this paper is a reminder that upon the approach of the 40-year anniversary since 1975, we reflect upon that which has been achieved but also the ways in which women’s quest for justice and empowerment can still be improve

The percentile residual life up to time t0: ordering and aging properties

Motivated by practical issues, a new stochastic order for random variables is introduced by comparing all their percentile residual life functions until a certain instant. Some interpretations of these stochastic orders are given, and various properties of them are derived. The relationships to other stochastic orders are studied, and also an application in Reliability Theory is described. Finally, we present some characterization results of the decreasing percentile residual life up to time t0 aging notion.Aging notion, Hazard rate, Mean residual life, Percentile residual life, Reliability, Stochastic ordering

Characterization of bathtub distributions via percentile residual life functions

In reliability theory and survival analysis, many set of data are generated by distributions with bathtub shaped hazard rate functions. Launer (1993) established several relations between the behaviour of the hazard rate function and the percentile residual life function. In particular, necessary conditions were given for a special type of bathtub distributions in terms of percentile residual life functions. The purpose of this paper is to complete the study initiated by Launer (1993) and to characterize (necessary and sufficient conditions) all types of bathtub distributions.Percentile residual life, Bathtub hazard rate, Aging notions,

Comparing quantile residual life functions by confidence bands

A quantile residual life function is the quantile of the remaining life of a surviving subject, as it varies with time. In this article we present a nonparametric method for constructing confidence bands for the difference of two quantile residual life functions. These bands provide evidence for two random variables ordering with respect to a quantile residual life order introduced in Franco-Pereira et al. (2010). A simulation study has been carried out in order to evaluate and illustrate the performance and the consistency of this new methodology. We also present applications to real data examples.Quantile residual life, Confidence bands

Effectiveness and security evaluation of bioresorbable vascular scaffolds for percutaneous coronary intervention in a non-selective clinical cohort of patients

Polymeric and metallic bioresorbable vascular scaffolds were considered to constitute a safe and effective alternative in coronary revascularization in humans after clinical and angiographical favorable outcomes obtained in their respective pivotal trials. Nevertheless, we consider that there was no solid scientific evidence of their behavior in different clinical scenarios outside the controlled setting of a clinical tria l. The prospective studies included in the present Doctoral Thesis were therefore designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of bioresorbable devices analyzing their behavior from the clinical, angiographic and advanced imaging perspectives

The decreasing percentile residual life aging notion

Earlier researchers have studied some aspects of the classes of distribution functions with decreasing ?-percentile residual life (DPRL(?)), 0Reliability theory, Hazard rate, Stochastic orders, Aging notions, Nonparametric estimation, Strongly uniform consistency

Percentile residual life orders

In this paper we study a family of stochastic orders of random variables defined via the comparison of their percentile residual life functions. Some interpretations of these stochastic orders are given, and various properties of them are derived. The relationships to other stochastic orders are also studied. Finally, some applications in reliability theory and finance are described