Biomedical subjects
L D Castiel
Publications and source records attributed to L D Castiel.
Self care and consumer health. Do we need a public health ethics?
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[Changes in cadernos de Saude Publica] [In Process Citation]
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Apocalypse...now? Molecular epidemiology, predictive genetic tests, and social communication of genetic contents.
The author analyzes the underlying theoretical aspects in the construction of the molecular watershed of epidemiology and the concept of genetic risk, focusing on issues raised by contemporary reality: new technologies, globalization, proliferation of communications strategies, and the dilution of identity matrices. He discusses problems pertaining to the establishment of such new interdisciplinary fields as molecular epidemiology and molecular genetics. Finally, he analyzes the repercussions of the social communication of genetic content, especially as related to predictive genetic tests and cloning of animals, based on triumphal, deterministic metaphors sustaining beliefs relating to the existence and supremacy of concepts such as 'purity', 'essence', and 'unification' of rational, integrated 'I's/egos'.
Bioethics and public health.
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[Strength and will: theoretical and methodological issues from the standpoint of risk in epidemiology and HIV/AIDS prevention].
Health education related to HIV/AIDS prevention is approached from the standpoint of risk in epidemiology. The shortcomings of the outcomes of health programs, in terms of controlling the spread of the disease led the author to consider the premisses that lie behind these programs. One of them is the idea of the rationality of the "receiver" of health information. Notions related to public understanding of concepts produced by epidemiology are considered. Some limitations of epidemiological methods regarding interactive relationships in processes of being affected by AIDS are discussed. A method that deals with interactional aspects is presented.
The next millennium and epidemiology: searching for information.
On the eve of the new millennium, it has become 'natural' to admit the emergence of tendencies to perform evaluations and inventories of the past and attempts to forecast future scenarios. While recognizing the ensuing uncertainties, the current paper takes this point of view as the point of departure for proposing a discussion on the future directions and prospects of epidemiology. Based on the pertinent analyses performed by the Sussers (father and son), I approach and discuss the scope and limits of new aspects assumed by the field, especially to the extent that it has included techniques and instruments from bioinformatics and molecular biology. In the latter areas (amongst many others), the notion of information has gained enormous importance. I then proceed to analyze the conceptual origins and shifts in this notion, in addition to possible repercussions and effects on the field of biological sciences in general and their research practices in particular.
[Dr. Sackett & "Mr. Sacketeer"... Enchantment and disenchantment in the land of expertise in evidence-based medicine].
In May 2000, Prof. David L. Sackett, one of the founders of the evidence-based medicine movement (EBM), published an article in the British Medical Journal in which he renounced writing, teaching, or serving as a referee for topics related to EBM. He justified his stance based on his frustration over what he considered the harmful effects of an alleged excess of experts in this field. Sackett's position was the raw material whereby we approached aspects linked to the definition and scope of EBM as well as related critiques. We also stress the movement's various rhetorical strategies. In addition, we discuss both the notion of expertise and the role of "expert systems" and "specialized competence" in our societal milieu, developed respectively by Anthony Giddens and Zygmunt Bauman. The main focus of this commentary is to emphasize that while we are dealing with a progressive trend towards acquiring control and intelligibility vis-à-vis the objects of our research, we must consider the possibility of dimensions that cannot be reached by way of the rationalistic Western mode of thought.
On the "concreteness" of risk: from epidemiometric epistemological realism to riskological ontology--to keep the ball rolling.
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