The Palliation of Dying: A Heideggerian Analysis of the “Technologization” of Death

The modern West has vigorously sought to overcome death, or at the very least minimize the suffering that it entails. Whereas the former has been predominantly pursued through modern scientific medicine, the minimization of the adversity of death and dying has been sought through ‘death technologies’. This technologization of death is analyzed in light of Martin Heidegger’s phenomenological philosophy. The analysis begins with an outline of the fundamental tenets of Heidegger’s ‘philosophy of Being’. In turn, his philosophical framework is utilized to highlight the manner in which the technologization of dying serves to conceal the central existential questions about being and finitude that dying gives rise to. The paper concludes with a discussion of how Heidegger’s work can inspire a more authentic stance toward dying. Leo Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilych is referred to in order to illustrate Heidegger’s construal of this existential struggle toward dying. Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology, Volume 5, Edition 1 April 200

Odd length: odd diagrams and descent classes

We define and study odd analogues of classical geometric and combinatorial objects associated to permutations, namely odd Schubert varieties, odd diagrams, and odd inversion sets. We show that there is a bijection between odd inversion sets of permutations and acyclic orientations of the Turán graph, that the dimension of the odd Schubert variety associated to a permutation is the odd length of the permutation, and give several necessary conditions for a subset of [ n ] × [ n ] to be the odd diagram of a permutation. We also study the sign-twisted generating function of the odd length over descent classes of the symmetric groups

Dysregulation of Iron Metabolism in X-Adrenoleukodystrophy

X-Adrenoleukodystrophy (X-ALD), a rare neurodegenerative disease, is an intricate peroxisomal disorder caused by the inactivation of the ABCD1 gene. As a result, the encoded protein ALDP, an ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter located in the peroxisomal membrane, impairs the peroxisomal beta-oxidation of very long chain fatty acids (VLCFAs). This allows further elongation of VLCFAs resulting in the hyperaccumulation of VLCFAs in plasma and tissues. Oxidative stress due to excess VLCFAs appears early in the neurodegenerative cascade of X-ALD. It has been hypothesized that the oxidative stress induced by VLCFAs is associated with the disruption of iron-sulfur clusters. Iron-sulfur clusters are indicators of cellular iron status. Thus, we predicted human fibroblast cells with the ABCD1 gene defect would differentially express genes encoding proteins involved in iron import and export in comparison to control fibroblasts. Based on our transcriptional and post-transcriptional in-vitro studies on the relative mRNA and protein expression related to iron metabolic functions, we have characterized distinct differences in iron metabolism of patients with X-ALD

PI3kinases in diabetes mellitus and its related complications

Recent studies have shown that phosphoinositide 3-kinases (PI3Ks) have become the target of many pharmacological treatments, both in clinical trials and in clinical practice. PI3Ks play an important role in glucose regulation, and this suggests their possible involvement in the onset of diabetes mellitus. In this review, we gather our knowledge regarding the effects of PI3K isoforms on glucose regulation in several organs and on the most clinically-relevant complications of diabetes mellitus, such as cardiomyopathy, vasculopathy, nephropathy, and neurological disease. For instance, PI3K α has been proven to be protective against diabetes-induced heart failure, while PI3K γ inhibition is protective against the disease onset. In vessels, PI3K γ can generate oxidative stress, while PI3K β inhibition is anti-thrombotic. Finally, we describe the role of PI3Ks in Alzheimer’s disease and ADHD, discussing the relevance for diabetic patients. Given the high prevalence of diabetes mellitus, the multiple effects here described should be taken into account for the development and validation of drugs acting on PI3Ks