¿Cuando un ser humano comienza a ser persona? / When a human being begins to be person?

Después de manifestar la relevancia del tema, se exponen algunos textos de la OPS sobre el mismo, se distinguen varios paradigmas sobre el ser humano y las ideas generales del pensamiento complejo que se relacionan con el tema, las pruebas de la existencia del espíritu como elemento diferenciador o unificador en las definiciones de ser humano y persona, y varios argumentos, con los que se puede concluir cuándo comienza a existir el espíritu en el ser humano. También se propone una referencia, para que la toma de decisiones sobre seres humanos sea ética. El artículo refleja algunas ideas expuestas en el libro Ser humano y persona, editado en el año 2003 por la Universidad de La Sabana y el Celam

Role of adrenal in establishment and development of conceptus in unilaterally ovariectomized mated rats.

The model of unilateral ovariectomy induced ovarian compensatory hypertrophy in mated bilaterally adrenalectomized rats was used to assess the role of adrenal in conceptus development. Replacement dose of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHA) or corticosterone (Comp. B) from day 2-14 post coitum was given with or without ip injections of estrogen (E, on day 2) and progesterone (P, on day 3 or 3-9). Replacement of adrenal hormones failed to support ipsilateral uterine horn (IP) pregnancy. But injections of E2 and P support IH pregnancy in variable percentages (about 38-75%) of rats depending on the type of adrenal steroids and single or multiple doses of P. Contralateral horn (CH) pregnancy developed under any of these conditions. Adrenalectomy induced reduction of fetal weight and pregnancy index (No. of fetus divided by No. of implantation sites), were not significantly improved by adrenal hormone replacement, except pregnancy index of those animals which received Comp. B and P. Adrenalectomy inhibited compensatory increase of contralateral corpus luteum (CL) volume and ovarian delta 5(3)beta-hydroxy steroid dehydrogenase (delta 5(3)beta-HSD) activity. Replacement of DHA or Comp. B induced these compensatory changes. Comp. B and P appears to be a better combination in establishment of IH pregnancy, pregnancy index maintenance and stimulation of ovarian compensatory changes. Results suggest that adrenocorticoids were not obligatory for conceptus development but were important for efficient action of ovarian steroids in establishment and maintenance of pregnancy. Relationship between nutrition or pituitary gonadotropins and adrenal steroids, having relevance to conceptus development has been discussed.

Ontogeny of ookinete of Plasmodium berghei (NK 65): a scanning electron microscopic study.

The ontogeny of ookinete of Plasmodium berghei (NK 65) was studied in vector Anopheles stephensi fed on infected Mastomys natalensis. The round zygote transformed into an ookinete after passing through following stages-1 gram-seed shaped zygote, 2 comma-shaped stage, 3 semilunar and 4 banana shaped ookinete. Each fully formed ookinete had a 'Conule' at the anterior end of the body. In some ookinetes under SEM a depression was observed in the posterior half of the body. The function of the depression was not known.