Knowledge and participation. Moving towards scientific citizenship

The scientific and technological progress of the first modernity developed through the centralization of intel- ligence, power and risk control, which was concentrated in technical structures comprising technicians, special- ist, decision makers. One of the challenges of the modern knowledge society is the development of more appropriate forms of democratic participation to incorporate scientific innovation and technology through an expansion of citizenship rights

Samples and data accessibility in research biobanks. An explorative survey

Biobanks, which contain human biological samples and/or data, provide a crucial contribution to the progress of biomedical research. However, the effective and efficient use of biobank resources depends on their accessibility. In fact, making bio-resources promptly accessible to everybody may increase the benefits for society. Furthermore, optimizing their use and ensuring their quality will promote scientific creativity and, in general, contribute to the progress of bio-medical research. Although this has become a rather common belief, several laboratories are still secretive and continue to withhold samples and data. In this study, we conducted a questionnairebased survey in order to investigate sample and data accessibility in research biobanks operating all over the world. The survey involved a total of 46 biobanks. Most of them gave permission to access their samples (95.7%) and data (85.4%), but free and unconditioned accessibility seemed not to be common practice. The analysis of the guidelines regarding the accessibility to resources of the biobanks that responded to the survey highlights three issues: (i) the request for applicants to explain what they would like to do with the resources requested; (ii) the role of funding, public or private, in the establishment of fruitful collaborations between biobanks and research labs; (iii) the request of co-authorship in order to give access to their data. These results suggest that economic and academic aspects are involved in determining the extent of sample and data sharing stored in biobanks. As a second step of this study, we investigated the reasons behind the high diversity of requirements to access biobank resources. The analysis of informative answers suggested that the different modalities of resource accessibility seem to be largely influenced by both social context and legislation of the countries where the biobanks operate

Food taboos during pregnancy: meta-analysis on cross cultural differences suggests specific, diet-related pressures on childbirth among agriculturalists

Pregnancy is the most delicate stage of human life history as well as a common target of food taboos across cultures. Despite puzzling evidence that many pregnant women across the world reduce their intake of nutritious foods to accomplish cultural norms, no study has provided statistical analysis of cross-cultural variation in food taboos during pregnancy. Moreover, antenatal practices among forager and agriculturalists have never been compared, despite subsistence mode being known to affect staple foods and lifestyle directly. This gap hinders to us from understanding the overall threats attributed to pregnancy, and their perceived nutritional causes around the world. The present study constitutes the first cross-cultural meta-analysis on food taboos during pregnancy. We examined thirty-two articles on dietary antenatal restrictions among agricultural and non-agricultural societies, in order to: (i) identify cross-culturally targeted animal, plant and miscellaneous foods; (ii) define major clusters of taboo focus; (iii) test the hypothesis that food types and clusters of focus distribute differently between agricultural and non-agricultural taboos; and (iv) test the hypothesis that food types distribute differently across the clusters of taboo focus. All data were analysed in SPSS and RStudio using chi-squared tests and Fisher's exact tests. We detected a gradient in taboo focus that ranged from no direct physiological interest to the fear of varied physiological complications to a very specific concern over increased birth weight and difficult delivery. Non-agricultural taboos were more likely to target non-domesticated animal foods and to be justified by concerns not directly linked to the physiological sphere, whereas agricultural taboos tended to targed more cultivated and processed products and showed a stronger association with concerns over increased birth weight. Despite some methodological discrepancies in the existing literature on food taboos during pregnancy, our results illustrate that such cultural traits are useful for detecting perception of biological pressures on reproduction across cultures. Indeed, the widespread concern over birth weight and carbohydrate rich foods overlaps with clinical evidence that obstructed labor is a major threat to maternal life in Africa, Asia and Eurasia. Furthermore, asymmetry in the frequency of such concern across subsistence modes aligns with the evolutionary perspective that agriculture may have exacerbated delivery complications. This study highlights the need for the improved understanding of dietary behaviors during pregnancy across the world, addressing the role of obstructed labor as a key point of convergence between clinical, evolutionary and cultural issues in human behavior

an explorative survey

Biobanks, which contain human biological samples and/or data, provide a crucial contribution to the progress of biomedical research. However, the effective and efficient use of biobank resources depends on their accessibility. In fact, making bio-resources promptly accessible to everybody may increase the benefits for society. Furthermore, optimizing their use and ensuring their quality will promote scientific creativity and, in general, contribute to the progress of bio-medical research. Although this has become a rather common belief, several laboratories are still secretive and continue to withhold samples and data. In this study, we conducted a questionnaire-based survey in order to investigate sample and data accessibility in research biobanks operating all over the world. The survey involved a total of 46 biobanks. Most of them gave permission to access their samples (95.7%) and data (85.4%), but free and unconditioned accessibility seemed not to be common practice. The analysis of the guidelines regarding the accessibility to resources of the biobanks that responded to the survey highlights three issues: (i) the request for applicants to explain what they would like to do with the resources requested; (ii) the role of funding, public or private, in the establishment of fruitful collaborations between biobanks and research labs; (iii) the request of co-authorship in order to give access to their data. These results suggest that economic and academic aspects are involved in determining the extent of sample and data sharing stored in biobanks. As a second step of this study, we investigated the reasons behind the high diversity of requirements to access biobank resources. The analysis of informative answers suggested that the different modalities of resource accessibility seem to be largely influenced by both social context and legislation of the countries where the biobanks operate

Open data, Science and Society: launching Oasis, the flagship initiative of the Istituto Italiano di Antropologia

The Open Data philosophy has gained considerable momentum in recent years, both in society and the scientific community. The accessibility via web of open data from the public sector has remarkably increased in the last decade, although there are substantial differences among nations (http://datacatalogs.org/). The expectation of many citizens, organizations and pressure groups (the so called “open government” movement) is that the free release of data from public administrations may help increase government transparency and accountability

L'equità: tra progresso scientifico e cultura della democrazia

Una comprensione meno ideologica della società contemporanea e del benessere individuale non può in altre parole prescindere dal con-siderare il ruolo non predefinito del capitale sociale nel quale si con-densano elementi come la legge, il sistema scolastico, la ricerca scientifica

Bioetica

In questi ultimi decenni, la ricerca biologica e medica ha fortemente contribuito a modificare il quadro di riferimento dell'etica umana. Una crescente quantità di conoscenze ci consente non solo di osservare i meccanismi di funzionamento della materia vivente ma di intervenire su di essa e di spiegare in termini scientifici alcune questioni fondamentali dell'esistenza. Questi cambiamenti hanno interessato l'inizio, il destino biologico e la fine della vita individuale: dalla fecondazione artificiale alla possibilità di conoscere in anticipo alcune anomalie genetiche nonché di intervenire direttamente sul genoma di un individuo attraverso interventi di terapia genica e no alla possibilità di creare stati intermedi tra la vita e la morte o di mantenere in vita artificialmente un essere umano. Queste nuove possibilità diagnostiche e terapeutiche comportano implicazioni teoriche e pratiche talmente nuove da sollevare problemi etici delicati che impongono una riflessione di natura filosofica su alcuni concetti fondamentali come: esistenza, identità, proprietà, casualità che fanno riemergere una nuova s da tra fede e ragione, analoga a quella che ha segnatola nascita della scienza moderna.In recent decades, the biological and medical research has greatly helped transform the framework of ethics. New knowledge allow us not only to observe the workings of living matter but to act on it and to scientifically explain some fundamental questions of existence

La bioetica tra responsabilità e restaurazione

La possibilità di controllare la propria evoluzione per preservare l’integrità della specie o per perfezionarla, è una prospettiva che si scontra con secoli di storia delle idee (religiose e non). La nascita della bioetica e il suo rapidissimo sviluppo non sono pertanto dissociabili da questo rimescolamento di acquisizioni scientifiche, culture politiche, soggetti sociali che richiede la formulazione di una nuova moralità adeguata alle sfide e ai cambiamenti prodotti