The Role of Metabolism in the Estrogenic Activity of Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals

Exposure to several natural and synthetic chemicals can disrupt the endocrine system and thus present a threat to human health. In vivo, such chemicals can be metabolized, which can change the endocrine activity of the parent chemical. Metabolism is usually considered to be a detoxification process, as it generally appears to reduce the estrogenic activity of a chemical and accelerate its elimination from the body. This is seen for bisphenol A (BPA), a known agonist of the estrogen receptor, whereby BPA glucuronide has no effects on this receptor. In contrast, numerous metabolites that show significantly greater estrogenic activities from their parent chemicals have been described in the literature. An example is the ipso metabolite of BPA, 4-methyl-2,4-bis(p-hydroxyphenyl)pent-1-ene, which shows >100-fold estrogenic activity compared to BPA. Consideration of metabolic pathways in in vitro models is therefore of great importance for reliable analysis and correct in vitro to in vivo correlations. The inclusion of metabolic aspects in these assays will reduce false-positive data for chemicals that are detoxified in vivo and false-negative data for proestrogens. Different approaches for this incorporation of metabolic systems for determination of estrogenic activities are already in use and are described in the present chapter

Uz temu - RELIGIJA U POSTKOMUNISTIČKOM DRUŠTVU

Ovaj tematski broj Društvenih istraživanja posvećen je svagda aktualnim pitanjima religije i religioznosti i njihovih relevantnih socio-kulturnih promjena u društvima u tranziciji (postsocijalizmu). Pod pojmom "postsocijalizam" pomišlja se društvena zbilja, društvene promjene i procesi što se događaju poslije ekonomskog i političkog raspada onog povijesno-društvenog realiteta koji se zvao "realni" ili pak "samoupravni" socijalizam u zemljama Istočne Europe i u bivšoj Jugoslaviji

Politics, Democracy and Ethics

The concepts democracy and ethics, the phenomena they signify, and their mutual relations - which, as universal human phenomena, possess a permanent reality, and particularly hic et nunc, in the conditions of transition, ‘juvenile’ democracy (and a weak democratic tradition) - belong to a wider conceptual and historical context. The wider categorical and real framework, within which the above mentioned relations take place (or not), is politics

The Sociology of Religion as a Sub-discipline of Sociology

Marksistička sociologija i teorija religije u Jugoslaviji nije odvojena i nepovezana sa strujanjima u marksističkoj teoriji religije u svijetu. Osnovna značajka suvremenog otvorenog marksizma prema fenomenu religije, jest problematiziranje stavova dogmatskog marksizma koji su važili kao nesumljive i neupitne »istine«. Dogmatska marksistička misao držala je sadržaj religije skupom zabluda, predrasuda i praznovjernih besmislica, reliktom neprosvjećene i zaostale prošlosti. U otvorenom marksističkom pristupu koji izvore religije vidi i u onto-antropološkoj određenosti čovjeka kao konačnog, deficijentnog bića, s potrebom za smislom i cjelinom, religiji se bez obzira na svjetonazorne i ostale razlike koje ostaju, u duhu tolerancije i pluralizma, priznaje dignitet ljudskog odnosa spram svijeta što ima svoj humani i moralni značaj. Takva je teorijsko-praktična koncepcija, uz Blochovu »toplu struju« u marksizmu, uz talijanske marksiste (Gramsci, Togliatti), i koncepcija i pristup religiji i dijalogu s vjernicima većine suvremenih jugoslavenskih marksističkih (i postmarksističkih) teoretičara i istraživača religije (Ćimić, Kerševan, Roter, Vrcan i drugi).Marxist sociology and the theory of religion in Yugoslavia has not been separated from and unrelated to the trends in Marxist theory worldwide. The main feature of contemporary Marxism open towards the phenomenon of religion is the problematization of the attitudes of dogmatic Marxism regarded as indubitable and unquestionable »truths«. Dogmatic Marxist thought considered the subject--matter of religion to be a series of delusions, prejudices and superstitious nonsense, a relict of unenlightened and backward history. In an open Marxist approach viewing the origins of religion through an onto-anthropological determination of man as a finite, deficient being, with a need for meaning and wholeness, religion has been acknowledged, on behalf of the spirit of tolerance and pluralism, the dignity of a humane attitude towards the world, this having a humane and moral significance, regardless of the differences in viewpoint and other, still remaining differences. Such a theoretical-practical concept, together with Bloch\u27s »warm current« in Marxism and the Italian Marxists (Gramsci, Togliatti), is the concept and the approach towards religion and towards the dialogue with believers adopted by the majority of contemporary Yugoslav Marxist and Post-Marxist theoreticians and researchers of religion (Ćimić, Kerševan, Roter, Vrcan and others)

TOLERANZ ALS NOTWENDIGE VORAUSSETZUNG FUR MENSCHLICHE GEMEINSCHAFT UND MENSCHENWURDE

Uovom tekstu nastojali smo izvesti tezu o toleranciji (trpeljivosti) i uvažavanju nekih ljudskih spekulativnih i praktičnih različitosti kao nužnom uvjetu i sastavnici doista ljudskoga zajedništva (societas), a koje kao takvo omogućuje i temeljno ljudsko dostojanstvo svojih pripadnika - pojedinaca i raznih socio-kulturnih skupina. No, valja ovdje naglasiti da ni tolerancija ne može biti neograničena. Neke izravne nehumane postupke i shvaćanja što ugrožavaju osnovna prava i slobodu drugih ne samo da se ne može tolerirati, već im se u ime elementarne ljudskosti treba suprotstaviti. Radi navedene nakane, prvo su određeni i razloženi u naslovu spomenuti pojmovi: zajedništvo, dostojanstvo i tolerancija, da bi se zatim pokazala i njihova naznačena relacija. Na kraju, ovaj tekst se zauzima za dijalog (dia-logos) kao daljnji stupanj uljuđenosti i odnos među ljudima u uvjetima neizbježne multikulturalnosti, osobito naših prostora.In this text we have tried to develop a thesis signifying that tolerance and respect of certain human speculative and practical differences is a necessity and constituent part of the truly human togetherness societas, which as such enables the fundamental human dignity of its members - individuals and various socio-cultural groups. However, it should be stressed that even tolerance cannot be limitless. Not only can we not tolerate some outwardly inhuman modes of behavior and viewpoints threatening the basic rights and freedoms of others, but we have to, in the name of elementary humanness, stand up against them. Having in mind this intention, the author first defines and expounds the terms mentioned in the title: togetherness, dignity and tolerance, in order to then demonstrate their designated relations. Finally, this text supports dialogue dia-logos as a further degree of civilized interaction amongst people in circumstances of inimitable multiculturality, especially in this part of the world.Der Verfasser dieses Textes bemi.iht sich um den Nachweis der These, da~ Toleranz sowie die Respektierung bestimmter spekulativer und praktischer Unterschiede zwischen den Menschen notwendig sind als Voraussetzung und Bestandteil einer wirklich menschlichen societas, welche erst eine elementare Menschenwi.irde al/er ihrer Mitglieder - sowohl der Individuel/en __als auch der Mitglieder diverser sozio-kultureller Gruppen - m6g- !ich macht. Es murš hier aber betont werden, da~ auch Toleranz ihre Grenzen hat. Inhumane Verfahrensweisen und Auffassungen, die die menschlichen Grundrechte und Freiheiten unmittelbar gefahrden, k6nnen nicht nur nicht toleriert, sondern mi.issen im Namen elementarer Menschlichkeit auch angefochten werden. Zum Ziel seines intendierten Nachweises bestimmt und erlautert der Verfasser zunaehst die in der Oberschrift angefOhrten Begriffe Gemeinschaft, Wi.irde und Toleranz, um sodann ihre angedeuteten Relationen aufzuzeigen. Der Text befOrwortet schliefšlich den Dialog - dia-logos - als weitere Stufe der Kultiviertheit und zwischenmenschlichen Beziehungen in den Verhaltnissen unausweichlicher Multikulturalitat vor allem des sudosteuropaisehen Raums

IMMANUEL KANT\u27S PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION

Kantova filozofija religije nerazdvojno je povezana s njegovim ontognoseologijskim i etičkim shvaćanjima. Autor prikazuje njegovo shvaćanje religije u granicama praktičnoga uma kao i njegov teorijski agnosticizam. O transcendentnome, o Bogu, besmrtnosti duše možemo imati samo neke ideje i uvjerenja, one su samo ideje praktičnog uma, ali ne i teorijsko znanje. Autor pokazuje kako nepostojanja kritičke svijesti o mogućnosti umne spoznaje vodi u različite vrste dogmatizma.Kant\u27s philosophy of religion is inseparably linked with his ontognoseological and ethic concepts. The author explains his concept of religion within the limits of the practical reason as well as his theoretical agnosticism. We can only have certain ideas and beliefs about the transcedental, God, immortality of the soul - they are solely the notion of the practical reason - but we cannot have any theoretical knowledge. The author shows how the absence of critical awareness about the possibility of rational cognition leads to various kinds of dogmatism

The Metatheoretic View of the Science of the Society

Contemporary science, especially the social and the humanistic, needs to examine the existing theoretic and methodological structure, paradigms and principles by means of a special self-reflection and self-analysis, and thus enable its further development. This is the basic task and sense of the scientific (and therefore sociological) metatheory (Ritzer, 1997). Every real social theory as theoria (rational observation of the essence of the phenomena) also contains a super-experiential (surexperimental), philosophical remnant, since it cannot be completely checked empirically. These are the general premises and understandings of the nature and the essence of the society, man and history, which are the starting point of all the relevant theories of society - axiomatic, conceptual, empirical and paradigmatic (Afric, 1989) and other (Čaldarović, 1990). This theoretic link of the science of the society with the social philosophy, the philosophy of history and philosophical anthropology has its methodological repercussions. They manifest themselves primarily in the need of proper use and transcendental method, as well as the other general methods of thinking, in sociology and about it, if it wants to be a general and global science of society with a permanent humanistic topicality and dignity and not just a limited, fragmentary, empirical, theoretically unorganised and ephemeral sociography