Violent video games and morality: a meta-ethical approach

This paper considers what it is about violent video games that leads one reasonably minded person to declare "That is immoral" while another denies it. Three interpretations of video game content a re discussed: reductionist, narrow, and broad. It is argued that a broad interpretation is required for a moral objection to be justified. It is further argued that understanding the meaning of moral utterances – like "x is immoral" – is important to an understanding of why there is a lack of moral consensus when it comes to the content of violent video games. Constructive ecumenical expressivism is presented as a means of explaining what it is that we are doing when we make moral pronouncements and why, when it comes to video game content, differing moral attitudes abound. Constructive ecumenical expressivism is also presented as a means of illuminating what would be required for moral consensus to be achieved

The impact of signal-to-noise ratio, diffusion-weighted directions and image resolution in cardiac diffusion tensor imaging - insights from the ex-vivo rat heart

Background: Cardiac diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is limited by scan time and signal-to-noise (SNR) restrictions. This invariably leads to a trade-off between the number of averages, diffusion-weighted directions (ND), and image resolution. Systematic evaluation of these parameters is therefore important for adoption of cardiac DTI in clinical routine where time is a key constraint. Methods: High quality reference DTI data were acquired in five ex-vivo rat hearts. We then retrospectively set 2 ≤ SNR ≤ 97, 7 ≤ ND ≤ 61, varied the voxel volume by up to 192-fold and investigated the impact on the accuracy and precision of commonly derived parameters. Results: For maximal scan efficiency, the accuracy and precision of the mean diffusivity is optimised when SNR is maximised at the expense of ND. With typical parameter settings used clinically, we estimate that fractional anisotropy may be overestimated by up to 13% with an uncertainty of ±30%, while the precision of the sheetlet angles may be as poor as ±31°. Although the helix angle has better precision of ±14°, the transmural range of helix angles may be under-estimated by up to 30° in apical and basal slices, due to partial volume and tapering myocardial geometry. Conclusions: These findings inform a baseline of understanding upon which further issues inherent to in-vivo cardiac DTI, such as motion, strain and perfusion, can be considered. Furthermore, the reported bias and reproducibility provides a context in which to assess cardiac DTI biomarkers

Use of SMS texts for facilitating access to online alcohol interventions: a feasibility study

A41 Use of SMS texts for facilitating access to online alcohol interventions: a feasibility study In: Addiction Science & Clinical Practice 2017, 12(Suppl 1): A4

Proceedings of the 13th annual conference of INEBRIA

CITATION: Watson, R., et al. 2016. Proceedings of the 13th annual conference of INEBRIA. Addiction Science & Clinical Practice, 11:13, doi:10.1186/s13722-016-0062-9.The original publication is available at https://ascpjournal.biomedcentral.comENGLISH SUMMARY : Meeting abstracts.https://ascpjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13722-016-0062-9Publisher's versio

Low Tidal Volume Ventilation Is Associated with Reduced Mortality in HIV-infected Patients with Acute Lung Injury

BACKGROUND: Respiratory failure remains the leading indication for intensive care unit admission and a leading cause of death for HIV-infected patients in spite of overall improvements in ICU mortality. It is unclear if these improvements are due to combination antiretroviral therapy, low tidal-volume ventilation for acute lung injury, or both. OBJECTIVES: Our aims were to identify therapies and clinical factors associated with mortality in acute lung injury among HIV-infected patients with respiratory failure in the period 1996–2004. A secondary aim was to compare mortality before and after introduction of a low tidal-volume ventilation protocol in 2000. METHODS: We performed a retrospective cohort study of 148 consecutive HIV-infected adults admitted to the ICU at San Francisco General Hospital with acute lung injury requiring mechanical ventilation. We abstracted demographic and clinical information, including data on mechanical ventilation, from medical records, and performed multivariate analysis using logistic regression. RESULTS: In-hospital mortality was similar before and after introduction of a low tidal-volume ventilation protocol, although the study was not powered to exclude a clinically significant difference (Risk Difference −5.4%, 95% Confidence Interval −21% to 11%, p=0.51). Combination antiretroviral therapy was not clearly associated with mortality, except in patients with Pneumocystis pneumonia. Among all those with acute lung injury, lower tidal volume was associated with decreased mortality (Adjusted Odds Ratio 0.76 per 1 mL/kg decrease, 95% Confidence Interval 0.58 − 0.99, p=0.043), after controlling for Pneumocystis pneumonia, serum albumin, illness severity, gas-exchange impairment, and plateau pressure. CONCLUSIONS: Lower tidal volume ventilation was independently associated with reduced mortality in HIV-infected patients with acute lung injury and respiratory failure