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PubMed1994

[Population policy: the legacy of Greek thought].

The author "explains that the Greek philosophy and scientific thought developed elements of what is known today as population policies. These include roles and gender relationships, the population volume, the family, sexuality, birth control, eugenics, abortion and [quality of life]....The first part of the article reviews issues on family and women's roles. The second part is related to aspects associated with sexuality and...population policy." (SUMMARY IN ENG)

Behavior↗

PubMed2001

[The Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (National Research Council - C. N. R.) and the Italian medicine during fascism].

The foundation of C. N. R. in 1923 created in Italy a new public system of research, different from the university one. During fascism, the contribution of C. N. R. to the development of medical research in Italy was very poor. This was mainly due to insufficient means: structures and money. Moreover, the scientists who carried on medical research within the C. N. R. were the same who already held strong university positions, which mean a complete dependence on the academic system. The ideology of fascism also contribute to the weakness of the Italian medical research promoted by the C. N. R.. According to fascist view, science, and for its nature and aims above all medicine, had to addressed to technical, practical, or much better, social achievements. Consequently, the policy of medical research at the C.N.R. was to improve social or political medicine, mainly hygiene. This was in harmony with the demographic policy, which means the policy of reinforcement of "Italian race", and positive eugenics that fascism tried to pursue.

Government Agencies↗

PubMed2001

[Human castration: historical notes].

Human castration has been performed from early times for different reasons: to punish and revenge, to display one's religious fanaticism, to protect or to control women, for eunuchs' trade, for therapeutical purposes. In early modern times men were castrated to obtain sopranos voices, or for eugenic or racial reasons. Nowadays chemical castration is used as a therapeutic treatment or as a way to punish rape and other criminal behaviours. Castration is surgical or chemical act that may obviously cause serious physical and psychological consequences.

History, Ancient↗

PubMed2002

[Philosophy of medicine in 2000].

In 2000 there is a prevalence of iatrosophistry above iatrophilosophy and philosophy of medicine. The reason of medicine as the religious duty of charity or secular philanthropy has been undergoing a crisis. Various forms of situation ethics has been replacing mortality. Medicine has been increasingly occupied by the neocapitalistic law of value. Illness now has an auction value. Suffering is a kind of debt, liable to insurance, to re-buy or to sell. The patient is utmost interest to pharmaceutical concerns and health factories. Health, formerly nationalized and now becomes privatized. The government, the state, feel released from the social contract, and throws the responsibility upon the private person and the insufficient charity of the poor community. The man is treated as a biological engine, equipped with a psychical computer super structure. The spirit is pushed to the background. An increase of paramedical and often really magic procedures, such as was never before, can be observed. Medicine now, is a team-work. The doctor and the pharmacist has lost his paternal and feudal position. The split between the clinical sciences and the basic research sciences is nearly complete. The flood of medical publications becomes more and more intensive. We note a paradigm changing from "remedy" to "treatment", and from "symptom" to "problem". Medical practice differs when addressed to the rich or the poor, the curable, the incurable and superfluous one. There are signs of a recurrence to anthropopolitic and eugenic methods, or various forms of euthanasia. Medicine is only pushing away suffering and death. In this sense everyone is virtually incurable. Who is alive has the right to live. Mortality exists independently of different people's outlook, but is hardly accepted by scientists. Morality is of categorical value, totally different from ethics and inaccessible by scientific methods. Hence difficulties.

History, 20th Century↗

PubMed2002

[Christian responsibility and experimental medicine. Experiments with and on humans, experiments on animals].

The Jewish-Christian convictions that man was created as the image of God founded the "ethics of unavailability" which contrast with the utilitarian "ethics of interests." As man s nature is imperfect according to biblical understanding, those responsible in the field of experimental medicine should counteract all tendencies in society which promote an utopian definition of health and an eugenic mentality (idea of the "perfection of mankind"). Consequently, scientists must reflect their own image of man and the effects of their actions on this image. The goals of experimental medicine must also be examined under the aspect of fairness: do they only benefit a minority in the rich industrial nations? As in research on humans, the ethical evaluation of animal experiments must consider the question of the underlying image of humanity and the responsibility of mankind connected to it. Because of changes in society's values, the validity of traditional anthropocentrism is increasingly questioned. However, this does not affect the view of the special position of man as the bearer of responsibility. Even though there are different biblical statements on the relationship between man and animal, the Christian maxim to minimise violence towards animals can be derived from them. In the case of animal experiments this means: experiments which cause the animals severe suffering must be avoided by waiving the potential gain of knowledge from them. In general: in an ethical discussion on medical experiments using humans or animals, the public must be informed completely and involved effectively. A moratorium must be possible before plans become facts. Thinking about ethical problems in the area of experimental medicine should not be separated from the far-reaching questions about changes in our lifestyle and consumer behaviour.

Animal Welfare↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Pancreatic islet amyloid in type 2 diabetes mellitus: a clinical and historical review.

In 1901 Eugene L. Opie, MD, a Dean of Washington University School of Medicine (Figure 1) described the histologic presence of amyloid within the pancreatic islets of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Although amyloid is present in at least 70 percent of type 2 diabetic patients, the subject has not been clinically emphasized. This paper reviews the history of Opie's discovery and current clinical implications of islet amyloid.

Amyloid↗

PubMed1992

[Conceptual vs. indexical symptomatologies of schizophrenia].

We discussed the difference of conceptual and indexical symptomatologies of schizophrenia through critics upon the theory of Eugen Bleuler, the diagnostic schema of Kurt Schneider and several recent theories of negative symptoms of schizophrenia. The notion of the group of schizophrenia of Bleuler, which is a descriptive expression of the phenomenon originally grasped in the inter-human relationships, is of conceptual value but confusing when used indexically for the definition of the illness. In the diagnostic concept of Schizophrenia by Schneider, although he explicitly sought for indexical value without any conceptual prejudice, Jaspers' notion of the psychoses defined by understandability is implicitly included. Schizophrenia is regarded as a form of psychosis which is, following Jaspers, a synonym of madness. Since then, the value of Schneider's 1st rank symptoms has been generally acknowledged and they have contributed to the development of operational diagnostic criteria of schizophrenia. However, the general neglect of unproductive symptoms has caused a new stream of operational symptomatology, namely negative symptoms. This stream includes not only biological researches but also ideological investigations of the essential disturbance of schizophrenia, which have been totally ignored in the operational symptomatology. The discussion of negative symptoms of schizophrenia is complexed because it contains both indexical and conceptual symptomatologies: this very complexity also contains the possibility of the integration of these two apparently distant methods.

Humans↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Prodromic aspects of schizophrenia].

The prodroms in schizophrenia have been discussed even before Eugene Bleuler's definition of this group of psychosis. In the last years, the psychiatrists have been interested in this subject again. In this article the author presents a historical review of the scientific literature about this clinical problem in order to improve our understanding of this difficult issue.

Humans↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Schizophrenia and eating disorders].

The comorbidity of schizophrenia and eating disorders is understudied. In the early nineteenth century, Eugen Bleuler has reported cases of schizophrenia with eating disorders that were related to delusional ideas. Potomania, merycism and pica have often been described in schizophrenic patients. Schizophrenic patients with eating disorders usually do not meet all criteria for typical eating disorders and are therefore classified as "eating disorders not otherwise specified" (EDNOS). It may even be difficult to recognize schizophrenia in patients with eating disorders associated to delusional ideas and distorted cognitions related to food or body perception. In any case, the diagnosis of schizophrenia should preferably be made and is only valid after renutrition is achieved. The prevalence of schizophrenia in samples of patients with eating disorders is generally below 10% but reaches 35% in males, the most frequent form being hebephrenia. Cognitive behavioural therapies for eating disorders need to be adapted in cases of comorbid schizophrenia. The new antipsychotic medications seem helpful in patients with eating disorders with or without schizophrenia. They reduce anxiety towards eating and bring in better adherence to treatments.

Antipsychotic Agents↗

PubMed2003

Ethical considerations of applications of preimplantation genetic diagnosis in the United States.

Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) was developed to offer diagnosis of genetic disorders prior to initiation of a pregnancy, whereas previously such disorders would be diagnosed at amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling after a pregnancy had already been undertaken. Such application of this technology is not controversial. But PGD has been used to not only diagnose genetic disorders but also to select for certain other characteristics, and this use of the technique is much more controversial. A case is presented in which PGD was used not only to select against a genetic disorder, but to select for a certain HLA type which matched an affected sibling. The new child's cord blood was transplanted into his affected sister, who subsequently was found to be free of disease. The ethics of "having a child to save a child" are explored, and possible other uses of PGD that lead to eugenic outcomes are considered. The lack of regulation of this technology in the US is contrasted with existing legislation in other countries, and the need for national and international consensus regarding appropriate uses of PGD is emphasized.

Bone Marrow Transplantation↗

PubMed2002

Contested conceptions: PKU in the postwar discourse on reproduction.

This essay uses the case of PKU as a portal through which to view shifting and contested views about genetics and reproductive behavior. In the early 1960s, the development of an effective therapy for PKU converged with the development of a test that could reliably detect the condition in newborns. As a result, infants born with the condition were enabled to reach adulthood and reproduce. However, by the early 1980s, a "second-generation" effect of screening was manifest, whereby many infants born to women who had been salvaged by screening were themselves severely damaged. In the 1940s, Lionel Penrose employed the case of PKU to demonstrate what was wrong with eugenics. Twenty years later, it would be used to illustrate why controls on reproduction were needed.

Female↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[The examination of men's wits by Juan Huarte de San Juan, and the dawn of the neurobiology of intelligence in the Spanish renaissance].

INTRODUCTION: The Spanish renaissance doctor Juan Huarte de San Juan (1529-1588) was the author of a unique and immortal work, The Examination of Men's Wits, the edition princeps of which was printed in Baeza in 1575. Since then it has been reprinted at least 80 times and translated into seven languages, which makes it the most influential Spanish contribution to medicine ever published. DEVELOPMENT: In this paper we review the unjustly little-known figure of Huarte as the founder of Neuropsychology, and we also analyse his works from a historical and neuroscientific point of view. Huarte's writings deal with the problem of the organic relations between the brain and understanding, and accept the possible influences exerted by temper on the will within the field of the Neurobiology of Intelligence. Thus, over four centuries ago Huarte became the founder of Differential or Physiological Psychology, Neuropsychology, Eugenics and Career Guidance. CONCLUSIONS: Huarte's work not only played a fundamental role in the history and development of the body of neuroscientific knowledge, but has also been a clear (although not always cited) influence on scientists, philosophers and men of letters such as Alarcón, Bacon, Cabanis, Cervantes (whose Don Quixote was inspired by him), Charron, Chomsky, Gall, Goethe, Hume, Kant, Kretchmer, Lessing, Lope de Vega, Montaigne, Montesquieu, Nietzsche, Quevedo, Rousseau, Schopenhauer, Thomasius, Tirso de Molina and Ziegler. In the middle of the 16th century, Huarte and his Examination of Men's Wits, together with the works of the naturalist philosophers Gómez Pereira (Antoniana Margarita, 1554) and Miguel Sabuco (New Philosophy, 1587), constituted the prestigious triumvirate of Spanish Renaissance scholars who, for the first time in history, contemplated the workings of the brain from a point of view that had more to do with science than the supernatural.

Books↗

PubMed2004

[Hansen's disease-associated disabilities in sanatoria residents. A study of the actual situation in three sanatoria located in the Setouchi area].

PURPOSE: Clarification of details of Hansen's disease in Japan is important for obtaining an adequate understanding of the present circumstances regarding control and for formulation of specific suggestions for future measures. The average age of residents in national Hansen's disease sanatoria reached 74.9 in May 2002 and most of these suffer from serious disabilities caused by the disease. In order to implement measures facilitating their return to society or secure living in sanatoria, a proper understanding of the residents' physical situation is essential. Therefore, the present study was conducted of residents suffering from Hansen's disease in Japan. METHOD: A direct interview was conducted with all 1282 residents of three sanatoria, located in the Setouchi area: Nagashima-aiseien, Oku-komyoen, and Oshima-seishoen. An investigator visited the rooms of the residents, interviewed them using a questionnaire, which consisted of about 100 items including the OPCS scale, and filled out an answer form. The reply rate was 64%. RESULTS: The average age of the residents was found to be 72.8 years, their average age when they entered the sanatoria was 26.0 years, and the average period of residence was 52.4 years. The damage they suffer as a result of the isolation policy is physical, mental, economical and social. That is to say, their entire life is harmed as a direct result of the Leprosy Prevention Law or the Eugenic Protection Law with discrimination in society and negative effects on their families. Their physical condition features serious disabilities in the use of fingers, as well as in walking and seeing caused by peripheral nerve damage. Such disabilities are related to their age and period of residence, and in addition, these in use of their fingers are related to the work which residents were forced to do in sanatoria. The results indicate that patients' physical condition is related to their age, how long they have had the disease and their work in sanatoria. CONCLUSION: It is clear that previous Hansen's disease control in Japan has caused a great deal of harm, from which it is very difficult to recover so that residents have to live with serious problems. In order to implement measures allowing their return to society or more secure life at sanatoria, sufficient care is needed to treat progressive disabilities caused by ageing and prevent deterioration caused by peripheral nerve damage.

Aged↗

PubMed1997

[The prospective study of the influence of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection of pregnant women to fetus].

Screening of CMV infection in 450 pregnant women in Shenyang was carried on by ELISA and PCR methods, and CMV infection was detected in 100 of their infants prospectively. The results were 97.11% of pregnant women with past infection, 0.89% with primary infection, 11.11% with recurrent infection, only 2% were susceptible. From 450 pregnant women, there were 3 infants with congenital defects and 3 abortions in active infective group, who were positive for IgM antibody, CMV DNA were positive in heparin peripheral blood, cervical secretion, placenta or amnionic fluid. The fetal infection rate and congenital defect rate in infective group were higher than that in inactive control group. Within 100 maternal-infant pair group, congenitally infected infants were 1.43 times higher in infective group than that in control group (RR = 1.43). Two infants with mental retardations (MDI<70) were born in infective group, but none in control group. In our study, primary infection of early pregnancy was most harmful to fetus, the intrauterine transmission rate was 33.3%. Among nine infected infants born from the infective group, two infants were with CID, and seven were symptomless. CMV screening is important for pregnant women in view of eugenic. When active CMV infection is found in early pregnancy, termination of pregnancy is better considered while CMV detection of amniotic fluid is also positive.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

[Professor Juozas Blazys--psychiatrist, academic and public figure].

Juozas Blazys (1890-1939)--the first chief of the Department of Nerve and Psychiatric Illnesses and Vice Rector of Lithuanian Vytautas Magnus University in the interwar period. In 2004 we commemorated the 65th anniversary of his death. He was a highly prominent personality of enormous erudition and productive scientist. He wrote a coursebook "Introduction to psychiatry", monograph-study "Tolerance, as a basis of culture", published around 100 articles in "Medicina" and various journals of that period. His ideas about psychiatry are relevant nowadays too. Professor was interested in the causes of psychosis origin, analyzed alcoholic, somatogenic psychosis, was interested and working in the fields of forensic psychiatry, military expertise, heredity and is contradictory evaluated in the field of eugenics till now. Juozas Blazys was born in Siauliai. In 1914 he graduated Petersburg Academy of Military Medicine, worked at the various hospitals of Russian military. In 1918 he returned to Lithuania and started to work at the psychiatric hospital in Taurage at first as a chief of department, and later as director, at the same time working as a physician of Taurage district. In 1920-1921 Juozas Blazys lectured the course of psychiatry at Higher Courses of Study in Kaunas. In 1924, after the establishment of the University of Kaunas, he was elected as a chief of the department of Nerve and Psychiatric Illnesses. In 1935 he was granted the degree of professor, in 1938--appointed as Vice Rector of Vytautas Magnus University. He had been developing educative activities: wrote articles on psycho hygiene, negative impact of alcohol, smoking and prostitution on heredity, cared about the improvement of Lithuanian genotype.

History, 19th Century↗

PubMed2005

Reprogenetics and pharmacogenetics: in whose best interests?

Reprogenetics involves embryonic pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, provoking controversy over the creation of saviour siblings, eugenics and genetic enhancement. It will soon ascertain pharmacogenetic susceptibilities. Pharmacogenetics impacts upon public health initiatives underpinned by resource allocation constraints in that genetic epidemiological studies assist in administering health care resources and public health strategies. Knowing how likely sections of the population are to develop specific medical conditions so that lifestyle and environmental factors influencing these conditions can be targeted has the potential to save public money and improve public health. Aligning population groups with genetic susceptibilities with specific medications would enable cost-effective prescribing. Reprogenetics and pharmacogenetics also possess great commercial potential for nation states and biotechnology companies. Hence ethical legal safeguards for members of the public whose reproductive or genetic tissue is a research or health care resource are essential. Both legal measures such as informed consent and mechanisms for including the public in policy decisions over reprogenetics and pharmacogenetics must be rethought to ensure that they provide protection rather than function as rubber stamps which preclude deeper inquiry into justifications of projects.

Genetic Research↗

PubMed2005

Wüsteria.

The last two decades have seen considerable efforts directed towards making electronic health records interoperable through improvements in medical ontologies, terminologies and coding systems. Unfortunately, these efforts have been hampered by a number of influential ideas inherited from the work of Eugen Wüster, the father of terminology standardization and the founder of ISO TC 37. We here survey Wüster's ideas - which see terminology work as being focused on the classification of concepts in people's minds - and we argue that they serve still as the basis for a series of influential confusions. We argue further that an ontology based unambiguously, not on concepts, but on the classification of entities in reality can, by removing these confusions, make a vital contribution to ensuring the interoperability of coding systems and healthcare records in the future.

Computer Systems↗

PubMed2005

[Geneticists in the service of war? The German Research Foundation, the Reich Research Council, and policy changes in research on heredity].

Historical research has hitherto focused on the specific contribution of human genetics research to National Socialist racial hygiene. During the Third Reich this field had a key position and received very substantial financial support from the government. However, this state sponsorship during the Nazi period was not constant, as documents from the most important public funding organizations for academic research in Germany, the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) and the Reich Research Council (Reichsforschungsrat) show. Human genetics saw a reduction in sponsorship as the government shifted its spending towards preparations for the war. Accordingly, many human geneticists and racial hygienists were unable to continue their research or were forced to change the focus of their work. It is also important to note that much of the available funds were concentrated on the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Anthropology, Human Heredity and Eugenics. This essay analyzes the institutional context of science policy as well as the dynamics between the science of human heredity and Nazi politics during the war.

Biomedical Research↗