Effective Altruism as an Ethical Lens on Research Priorities.

Effective altruism is an ethical framework for identifying the greatest potential benefits from investments. Here, we apply effective altruism concepts to maximize research benefits through identification of priority stakeholders, pathosystems, and research questions and technologies. Priority stakeholders for research benefits may include smallholder farmers who have not yet attained the minimal standards set out by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals; these farmers would often have the most to gain from better crop disease management, if their management problems are tractable. In wildlands, prioritization has been based on the risk of extirpating keystone species, protecting ecosystem services, and preserving wild resources of importance to vulnerable people. Pathosystems may be prioritized based on yield and quality loss, and also factors such as whether other researchers would be unlikely to replace the research efforts if efforts were withdrawn, such as in the case of orphan crops and orphan pathosystems. Research products that help build sustainable and resilient systems can be particularly beneficial. The "value of information" from research can be evaluated in epidemic networks and landscapes, to identify priority locations for both benefits to individuals and to constrain regional epidemics. As decision-making becomes more consolidated and more networked in digital agricultural systems, the range of ethical considerations expands. Low-likelihood but high-damage scenarios such as generalist doomsday pathogens may be research priorities because of the extreme potential cost. Regional microbiomes constitute a commons, and avoiding the "tragedy of the microbiome commons" may depend on shifting research products from "common pool goods" to "public goods" or other categories. We provide suggestions for how individual researchers and funders may make altruism-driven research more effective.[Formula: see text] Copyright © 2020 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY 4.0 International license.

Screening Eucalyptus cloeziana and E. argophloia Populations for Resistance to Puccinia psidii.

Disease screening to determine the threat Puccinia psidii poses to plantation and native eucalypts in Australia was undertaken in half-sib families of two contrasting eucalypt species, Eucalyptus cloeziana and E. argophloia. Artificial inoculation with a single-lesion isolate of P. psidii was used to screen these species for resistance to the biotype of P. psidii established in Australia. The objective was to characterize resistance to P. psidii within these two distinct species: E. argophloia, a vulnerable species with a narrow distribution, and E. cloeziana, a species with a broad and extensive distribution in Queensland. Results for E. cloeziana indicate that inland provenances are more resistant to P. psidii infection than provenances from coastal regions. Heritability estimates for the two assessment systems used (resistance on a 1-to-5 ordinal scale verses resistance on a 0-to-1 binomial scale) were low to high (0.24 to 0.63) for E. argophloia and moderate to high (0.4 to 0.91) for E. cloeziana, indicating a significant level of additive genetic variance for rust resistance within the populations. This study demonstrates the potential to select resistant families within the tested populations and indicates that P. psidii could detrimentally affect these species in native forests, nurseries, and plantations.

Laser myringoplasty for tympanic membrane atelectasis.

OBJECTIVE: To review our experience with laser myringoplasty using a potassium-titanyl-phosphate (KTP) laser for pars tensa atelectasis. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective review. METHODS: A pulsed diode KTP laser (532 nm) was used to tighten the tympanic membrane after lysis of middle ear adhesions through a myringotomy. A tympanostomy tube was then placed. Operative reports and clinic notes were reviewed. RESULTS: We reviewed 34 procedures performed on 31 ears in 29 patients. The average time of follow-up was 10.5 months with a range of 1 to 30 months. Seventeen of 34 tubes (50%) extruded during the follow-up period. Eleven cases had follow-up with the tube extruded and TM intact. Two (18%) of those had progression of atelectasis. Two (6%) cases had operative perforations and both healed spontaneously. CONCLUSION: Laser myringoplasty using a KTP laser for pars tensa atelectasis appears to be beneficial in selected patients. Patients should be followed closely for early tube extrusion and recurrent disease.

Parathyroid hormone-related peptide as a cause of hypercalcemia in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck: a case presentation and subject review.

BACKGROUND: Serum levels of parathyroid hormone-related peptide (PTHrP) can be elevated with malignancy and cause hypercalcemia, which has been associated with a poor prognosis. METHODS: We present a case of supraglottic squamous cell carcinoma with elevated serum PTHrP and hypercalcemia. The patient was acutely managed with intravenous fluids, furosemide, and zoledronic acid and then underwent a total laryngectomy and modified radical neck dissection. RESULTS.: The patient remains disease free and normocalcemic. CONCLUSION: Curative treatment for patients with head and neck cancer should not be withheld solely on the basis of humoral hypecalcemia of malignancy.

Surgery for duodenal ulcer. A study relating indications to the results of surgery.

The present study correlates the indications for operation in 215 patients with duodenal ulcer disease with the results of operative management. The majority of patients had conservative surgery utilizing truncal vagotomy and pyloroplasty or gastrojejunostomy. None of the 194 patients operated on electively died and four patients died after emergency operations, for an overall operative mortality in the entire series of 1.8 per cent. The incidence of recurrent ulcer symptoms in all patients was 10 per cent. We could demonstrate only a modest correlation between indications for operation and long-term results of conservative surgical management; the indication for surgery, whether that of chronic (intractability, stenosis) or more acute (hemorrhage, perforation) ulcer disease is only moderately reliable as a predictor of long-term results. In this series of patients, those with obstructing duodenal ulcers (pyloric stenosis) had the best long-term results after conservative surgical management.