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PubMed1999

The blood from Auschwitz and the silence of the scholars.

The Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Anthropology, Human Genetics and Eugenics in Berlin-Dahlem was the centre of scientific racism in Nazi Germany. Its bad history culminated in a research project to analyse the molecular basis of racial differences in the susceptibility to various infectious diseases such as tuberculosis. Josef Mengele, a former postdoc of the director of the institute, Otmar von Verschuer, collected blood samples and other material in Auschwitz from families and twins of Jews and Gypsies. The blood samples were analysed by Günther Hillmann in the Berlin laboratory of Nobel Prize winner Adolf Butenandt. Butenandt had just moved to Tübingen. The project was paid for by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. Butenandt, Hillmann and von Verschuer made scientific careers in the Federal Republic. To the present day this past has not been acknowledged by the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft as part of its history.

Concentration Camps↗
PubMed2001

[Impact factor or do we have to choose between the impact factor and the Revue de Chirurgie Orthopédique?].

It is common practice to evaluate the scientific value of a candidate for a university or hospital position using the mean of the impact factors of the journals he/she has published in. This shows that the true composition and true meaning of the impact factor are not sufficiently understood. The impact factor was invented in the 60s to help librarians choose the most read journals. The impact factor provides an accurate definition of the distribution of a journal, but in no case the quality of its publications. Moreover, the impact factor has many technical limitations that are detailed in this article. This strongly limits the accuracy of the impact factor to compare between journals of different specialties. There is no correlation between the scientific value of a single author and the impact factor of the journals he/she has published in. Eugene Garfield, the inventor of the impact factor, has emphasized that it should not be used to judge the scientific value of a candidate.

Abstracting and Indexing↗
PubMed2001

The medical ethos and social responsibility in clinical medicine.

The medical profession will face many challenges in the new millennium. As medicine looks forward to advances in molecular genetics and the prospect of unprecedented understanding of the causes and cures of human disease, clinicians, scientists and bioethicists may benefit from reflection upon the origins of the medical ethos and its relevance to postmodern medicine. Past distortions of the medical ethos, such as Nazism and the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, as well as more recent experience with the ethical challenges of employer-based market driven managed care, provide important lessons as medicine contemplates the future. Racial and ethnic disparities in health status and access to care serve as a reminders that the racial doctrines that fostered the horrors of the Holocaust and the Tuskegee Syphilis Study have not been completely removed from contemporary thinking. Inequalities in health status based on race and ethnicity, as well as socioeconomic status, attest to the inescapable reality of racism in America. When viewed against a background of historical distortions and disregard for the traditional tenets of the medical ethos, persistent racial and ethnic disparities and health and the prospect of genetic engineering raise the specter of discrimination because of genotype, a postmodern version of "racist medicine" or of a "new eugenics." There is a need to balance medicine's devotion to the wellbeing of the patient and the primacy of the patient-physician relationship against with the need to meet the health care needs of society. The challenge facing the medical profession in the new millennium is to establish an equilibrium between the responsibility to assure quality health care for the individual patient while affecting societal changes to achieve "health for all."

Black People↗
PubMed2001

Mitochondrial dna damage and impaired mitochondrial function contribute to apoptosis of insulin-stimulated ethanol-exposed neuronal cells.

BACKGROUND: Ethanol inhibition of insulin signaling may contribute to impaired central nervous system development in fetal alcohol syndrome. An important consequence of ethanol inhibition of insulin signaling is increased apoptosis due to reduced levels of insulin-stimulated phosphoinositol-3-kinase activity. METHODS: We used viability assays, end-labeling, Western blot analysis, and MitoTracker (Molecular Probes, Eugene, OR) fluorescence labeling to determine whether ethanol-induced central nervous system neuronal cell death was mediated in part by increased mitochondrial (Mt) DNA damage and impaired Mt function. RESULTS: In ethanol-exposed, insulin-stimulated PNET2 central nervous system-derived human neuronal cells, reduced viability was associated with increased Mt DNA damage, reduced Mt mass (manifested by reduced Mt protein expression and MitoTracker Green fluorescent labeling), and impaired Mt function (manifested by reduced levels of 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide activity, cytochrome oxidase-Complex IV, Subunit II expression, and MitoTracker Red fluorescence). The adverse effects of ethanol on Mt function were reduced by pretreating the cells with broad-spectrum caspase inhibitors and nearly abolished by nerve growth factor stimulation, with or without concomitant treatment with global caspase inhibitors. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that ethanol-induced death of insulin-stimulated immature neuronal cells is mediated in part by impaired Mt function associated with Mt DNA damage and reduced Mt mass, and therefore it is likely to contribute to neuronal loss associated with fetal alcohol syndrome. The findings also suggest that the adverse effects of ethanol on insulin-stimulated survival and metabolic function could be overcome by stimulating with growth factors that support Mt function through insulin-independent pathways.

Apoptosis↗
PubMed1996

[How did Japanese psychiatrists receive conceptions of dementia praecox and schizophrenia?].

Before the introduction of Emil Kraepelin's system of classification of mental illness, several systems coexisted in Japanese psychiatry and the terminology of mental illness was unclear. Shŭzŏ Kuré, after his study under Kraepelin in Heidelberg, came back to Japan in 1901. The next year Kuré and Kinnosuke Miura (neurologist) founded the Japanese Society of Neurology (now, the Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology). Kuré introduced Kraepelin's system of classification. It took about a decade for most Japanese psychiatrists to accept Kraepelin's system. Only a few psychiatrists criticized Kraepelin's conception of dementia praecox. Eugen Bleuler's conception of schizophrenia was accepted with little discussion. As for translation, three different words were used for "schizophrenia". It was in 1937 that the Japanese Society of Pspychiatry and Neurology determined the Japanese equivalent of "seishin(mind)-bunretsu (splitting)-byŏ(disease)" for schizophrenia.

Dementia↗
PubMed1997

Chemical dissection and the ethics of preclinical science.

It is my contention in this paper that the bioethical landscape is closely linked to the model of health and disease with which we work, as scientists or as medical practitioners. The Human Genome Project is the logical extension of the dissection process, which has constituted the history of medical science. It is already revealing an ethical minefield which may result in harming the very people we need to serve. Adoption of more holistic models of health and disease would counter the reductionist drift into eugenics, and would place the practice of medical science more humbly within a wider context, as the servant of the patient, rather than as the sole arbiter of health and social aceptability.

Bioethics↗
PubMed1994

[Not Available].

Lots of theories about generation up to the XXVII century base themselves on the marvelous power of parents' imagination - the mother's above all - of conveying resemblance to the foetus or conditioning its shape till to the extreme monstruosity. For a long time mother's fancies explain the appearance of naevus, cravings, skin spots, hair colour, congenital deformities and so on. We can recognize one of the grounds of that idea, perhaps the most authoritative, in a biblical passage having Jacob the Patriarch as protagonist. This essay deals with history of the imaginationist theory from Jacob's episode and its following interpretation, with a particular attention for its influence on eugenic doctrines in fashion during the centuries XVI and XVII.

Fetus↗
PubMed1992

Can we measure out a life in coffee spoons?

Public policy decisions in medicine and other fields necessitate careful weighing of choices and consequences. Cost-benefit analyses have been offered as one way to facilitate such decisions. In "Quantifying the value of human life," L. Eugene Arnold asserts that mathematical models such as his offer greater clarity in making public policy decisions than is possible with the "intuitive" or "emotional" approach. In our opinion, problems associated with this quantitative analysis demonstrate a need for caution in applying such mathematical models to public policy decisions....

Clozapine↗
PubMed1992

Commentary on "Quantifying the value of human life.

... In his article, "Quantifying the value of human life for cost accounting of safeguards," L. Eugene Arnold proposes a cost-benefit analysis to address three allocation issues concerning the very expensive program of blood monitoring proposed by Sandoz at the time it placed Clozaril...on the American market.... It is important to realize that the use of seemingly value-free procedures to arrive at answers to ethically complex questions does not eliminate the values that underlie the choice of variables to be analyzed. The analyses employed by the author to three ethical questions illustrate this point very well....

Clozapine↗
PubMed2001

[Between sancticity and value of human life: in perspective of human cloning].

The more we know, the more duties and greater responsibility we have. The dynamic development of biology carries a lot of hope for the freeing of mankind from genetic diseases. But the introduction of scientific thought necessarily has to be bound with the development of technology. It is wrong when technology dictates science a direction of development; when technique comes before ethics; and when technology does not respect the essence of a human being. The uncritical introduction of eugenics, especially cloning of people and rejecting all moral arguments, recalls inglorious acts of science when the ideology of progress determined the range of problems that researchers focused on. The same ideology of progress, although originating from other sources, pushes science toward a second extreme, into utilitarianism. In the article the author wishes to substantiate the necessity for researchers to respect ethical norms. Recognition of natural laws alone does not provide science with full development if the rights of conscience are violated.

Bioethics↗
PubMed2001

Prenatal lens development in connexin43 and connexin50 double knockout mice.

PURPOSE: To determine the roles of intercellular communication in embryonic eye growth and development, mice with a targeted deletion of the Cx43 gene were examined, and mice without both Cx43 and Cx50 were generated and analyzed. METHODS: Embryonic eyes and lenses from wild-type mice, or mice deficient in Cx43, Cx50, or both Cx43 and Cx50 were collected and analyzed structurally by light and electron microscopy, immunohistochemically using connexin-specific antibodies, biochemically by Western blot analysis, and physiologically by measuring patterns of junctional communication revealed by iontophoretic injection of junction-permeable reporter molecules. RESULTS: Cx50 expression was limited to the ocular lens and was not detected in either the cornea or the retina. Cx43(-/-) embryos showed development of structurally normal lenses and eyes when examined by light and electron microscopy through embryonic day (E)18.5. In addition, Cx43(-/-) lenses synthesized four different markers of lens differentiation: MIP26, alphaA-crystallin, alphaB-crystallin, and gamma-crystallin. Double-knockout lenses were also histologically normal through E18.5 and synthesized the four lens differentiation markers. When assayed by intracellular injection with Lucifer yellow (Molecular Probes, Eugene, OR) and neurobiotin at E15.5, Cx43(-/-)/Cx50(-/-) lenses retained gap junction-mediated dye transfer between fiber cells. In contrast, dye transfer in double-knockout lenses was dramatically reduced between epithelial cells and was eliminated between epithelial cells and fibers. CONCLUSIONS: These data indicate that the unique functional properties of both Cx43 and Cx50 are not required for prenatal lens development and that connexin diversity is required for regulation of postnatal growth and homeostasis.

Animals↗
PubMed2001

Legal regulation of surrogate motherhood in Israel.

The Israeli Law on surrogate motherhood demands a preconception agreement to include payments to be made to the surrogate mother. Surrogacy arrangements with family members are forbidden. Commercial surrogacy is allowed and encouraged. The Law causes many problems. Validity of consent given by surrogate mothers is doubtful. Possible future psychological harm are ignored. There is a danger of "commodification" of children. Abusing women of low socio-economic status as breeding machines may be another outcome. No clear responsibility is imposed on the "intended parents" for an impaired child. The law ignores possibility of divorce or death of the "intended parents" before the child's birth. Splitting motherhood is another social problem that has to be dealt with. So far the sperm of the husband from the "intended parents" has to be used, but further steps may follow. It is not certain that a policy of "positive eugenics" will not develop.

Child Custody↗
PubMed2000

[Progress of pediatrical physio - pathological theory in modern TCM].

Progress was made in significance of pediatrical physio pathology in modern TCM, including the elaboration on the role of dry dampness as etiological factor in pediatrics; the elaboration of renovation of theory of fetal - toxicity from an eugenic viewpoint; the popularization of variolation and its immunological mechanism, and its verification conclusion in TCM; combination of traditional wind syndrome - like western physiopathology in cerebral - neurology.

China↗
PubMed2002

Kit positive cells in the guinea pig bladder.

PURPOSE: We describe the presence of interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC) throughout the wall of the guinea pig bladder. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Bladders obtained from male guinea pigs were prepared for immunohistochemical investigations using various primary antibodies, including the specific ICC marker c-kit (Gibco BRL, Grand Island, New York). Enzymatically dispersed cells with a branched morphology were identified as ICC using anti-c-kit. They were loaded with fluo-4acetoxymethyl (Molecular Probes, Eugene, Oregon) and studied using confocal laser scanning microscopy. RESULTS: Anti-c-kit labeling demonstrated that ICC were oriented in parallel with the smooth muscle bundles that run diagonally throughout the bladder. Double labeling with anti-smooth muscle myosin (Sigma Chemical Co., St. Louis, Missouri) revealed that ICC were located on the boundary of smooth muscle bundles. When anti-c-kit was used in combination with the general neuronal antibody protein gene product 9.5 (Ultraclone Ltd., Isle of Wight, United Kingdom) or anti-neuronal nitric oxide synthase, it was noted that there was a close association between nerves and ICC. Enzymatic dissociation of cells from tissue pieces yielded a heterogeneous population of cells containing typical spindle-shaped smooth muscle cells and branched cells resembling ICC from other preparations. The latter could be identified immunohistochemically as ICC using anti-c-kit, whereas the majority of spindle-shaped cells were not Kit positive. Branched cells responded to the application of carbachol by firing Ca2+ waves and they were often spontaneously active. CONCLUSIONS: ICC are located on the boundary of smooth muscle bundles in the guinea pig bladder. They fire Ca2+ waves in response to cholinergic stimulation and can be spontaneously active, suggesting that they could act as pacemakers or intermediaries in the transmission of nerve signals to smooth muscle cells.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

[From genetics to law, the jurist's point of view].

ONE MUST BEAR: In mind that science is not always beneficial for mankind. The primary objective of ethics must therefore be to awaken cause for concern, and a second objective should measure the stakes. Scientific texts do not always have to be adapted to scientific reality, since all progress does not necessarily require expression in terms of law. Law can be limited, with loopholes creating the well-known 'gap'. WITH GENETICS: Care must be taken in avoiding the free and wide use of genetic technology. Three principles must be applied: the refusal of eugenics, the non-use of the human body as a patrimony, and patients must give their informed consent. BIOETHICAL TEXTS: Cover the more selective applications of genetics: genetic fingerprints and the unresolved question of the status of the human body after death. Genetic diagnosis is distinctive. Genetic tests do not provide the certainty of a risk but its probability; and the results obtained also provide information on the family circle. Genetics reveal the identity of the human being. ACCORDING TO THE OVIEDO CONVENTION: (April 1997), the primary provisions concerning the ethical and legal protective measures with regard to genetics are as follows: the genetic heritage cannot be a factor of discrimination; genetic tests are qualified as predictive; the aim of interventions on the human genome can only preventive, diagnostic or therapeutic, and cannot be aimed at introducing a modification in the genome of descendants.

Bioethics↗
PubMed2002

Leprosy prevention law and healthcare professionals in Japan.

This article considers the issues surrounding leprosy, and focuses on the social stigma and mistreatment associated with the disease. In particular, the history of leprosy patients and leprosy-prevention law in Japan is examined in both a historical and social context. Matters related to infringement of human rights are also considered along with issues for nurses caring for patients with leprosy. Eugenics and its legal approval are then discussed, as is the abolition of the leprosy laws in Japan. Finally, the author argues that problems surrounding this infectious disease are not country-specific; nurses may be ignorant of the number of patients with this debilitating disease worldwide, and of the policies and laws surrounding it.

Health Personnel↗
PubMed1987

Regulations on the appointment of physicians for abortion or ligation procedures.

These Regulations are made pursuant to Article 5 of the Eugenic Protection Law, 1984. They provide the following: a) physicians must undergo an examination of their qualifications at both the local and national levels; b) those applying to perform abortions must have specialized in gynecology and obstetrics for between two and four years, depending on the grade of hospital in which they have practised; c) those applying to perform ligations must have specialized in gynecology and obstetrics, surgery, or urology for between two and four years, depending on the grade hospital in which they have practised, or have signed a contract to perform ligations with a health department; d) physicians who have been approved to perform abortions or ligations will receive a certificate, which is to be placed in a conspicuous place at work; e) a certificate is not to be issued or, if issued, revoked, when a physician's licence has been suspended, when the licence is withheld for a penalty, or when the physician has not reported case records monthly as required by law.

Abortion, Induced↗
PubMed1987

Judgment, 13 May 1987.

The Court reversed a lower court decision and held that an employer is required to pay wages to an employee who is on sick leave in order to have an abortion performed for social reasons. It rejected a distinction made by the lower court between abortions performed on eugenic grounds or because of rape and those performed for social reasons. It concluded that legislative history shows that both kinds of abortions were meant to be treated in the same way.

Abortion, Induced↗