What Does Desert Cost?

Desert plays a relatively minor role in philosophical discussions on distributive justice, whereas it plays a central role in philosophical discussions on retributive justice. At the same time, theorists of justice argue that separating both spheres is to some extent artificial. Quite a few political philosophers have claimed that this asymmetry of desert needs to be defended, and some have offered defenses. I critically evaluate the last defense of the asymmetry that has not been challenged so far: Moriarty’s argument that an asymmetry in the costs of requiting desert between both spheres of justice (partially) vindicates the asymmetry of desert. It is my contention that his defense ultimately fails. The reason is that he does not specify a fairness threshold that systems setting out to reward desert need to live up to

Discussing Why Some Things Should Not Be for Sale

In Why Some Things Should Not Be For Sale, Debra Satz (2010) argues that four considerations should guide moral reflection on markets: does a market involve weak agency, extreme vulnerability, extremely harmful outcomes to individuals, or extremely harmful outcomes to society? If the answer is yes to one or more of these questions, a market could very well be noxious. In this paper, I assess to what extent Satz’ framework can indeed be used to discuss the moral status of markets. I claim that (1) it would be desirable to have a criterion that tells us when weak agency and extreme vulnerability make a market noxious; (2) it is unproductive to discuss the moral status of a theoretical market without first thinking about a regulatory framework for this market; and (3) it is paramount to consider all empirical evidence available on markets because they might turn out very differently in reality from how they look on paper

Frailty is associated with in-hospital mortality in older hospitalised COVID-19 patients in the Netherlands:the COVID-OLD study

BACKGROUND: During the first wave of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, older patients had an increased risk of hospitalisation and death. Reports on the association of frailty with poor outcome have been conflicting. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to investigate the independent association between frailty and in-hospital mortality in older hospitalised COVID-19 patients in the Netherlands. METHODS: This was a multicentre retrospective cohort study in 15 hospitals in the Netherlands, including all patients aged ≥70 years, who were hospitalised with clinically confirmed COVID-19 between February and May 2020. Data were collected on demographics, co-morbidity, disease severity and Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS). Primary outcome was in-hospital mortality. RESULTS: A total of 1,376 patients were included (median age 78 years (interquartile range 74-84), 60% male). In total, 499 (38%) patients died during hospital admission. Parameters indicating presence of frailty (CFS 6-9) were associated with more co-morbidities, shorter symptom duration upon presentation (median 4 versus 7 days), lower oxygen demand and lower levels of C-reactive protein. In multivariable analyses, the CFS was independently associated with in-hospital mortality: compared with patients with CFS 1-3, patients with CFS 4-5 had a two times higher risk (odds ratio (OR) 2.0 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.3-3.0)) and patients with CFS 6-9 had a three times higher risk of in-hospital mortality (OR 2.8 (95% CI 1.8-4.3)). CONCLUSIONS: The in-hospital mortality of older hospitalised COVID-19 patients in the Netherlands was 38%. Frailty was independently associated with higher in-hospital mortality, even though COVID-19 patients with frailty presented earlier to the hospital with less severe symptoms

Mutations in SELENBP1, encoding a novel human methanethiol oxidase, cause extraoral halitosis

Selenium-binding protein 1 (SELENBP1) has been associated with several cancers, although its exact role is unknown. We show that SELENBP1 is a methanethiol oxidase (MTO), related to the MTO in methylotrophic bacteria, that converts methanethiol to H2O2, formaldehyde, and H2S, an activity not previously known to exist in humans. We identified mutations in SELENBP1 in five patients with cabbage-like breath odor. The malodor was attributable to high levels of methanethiol and dimethylsulfide, the main odorous compounds in their breath. Elevated urinary excretion of dimethylsulfoxide was associated with MTO deficiency. Patient fibroblasts had low SELENBP1 protein levels and were deficient in MTO enzymatic activity; these effects were reversed by lentivirus-mediated expression of wild-type SELENBP1. Selenbp1-knockout mice showed biochemical characteristics similar to those in humans. Our data reveal a potentially frequent inborn error of metabolism that results from MTO deficiency and leads to a malodor syndrome.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio