ABSTRACT
The term 'bioethics' is commonly associated with debates prompted by innovations in medical technology, yet the issues raised by bioethics are not that new. They concern the extent to which medicine and social morality exist in harmony or opposition--issues routinely addressed in the social history of medicine. This paper will argue that historical thinking, understood broadly, has a significant role to play in understanding relations between medicine and social morality, and therefore in contemporary bioethics. It explores past and present uses of metaphor and analogy in shaping perceptions of scientific innovation, and argues for the validity of apparently anachronistic thinking in our judgments of the past. The aims of this paper are ultimately pedagogical: to enable students to look at media reports about developments in medicine and biotechnology in order to problematise what are presented as the self-evident terms of current debate.
Subject(s)
Bioethics/history , Metaphor , Philosophy, Medical , History of Medicine , History, 19th Century , History, 20th Century , History, 21st Century , HumansSubject(s)
Gene Transfer Techniques/trends , Genetic Therapy/methods , Genetic Vectors/administration & dosage , Genetic Vectors/adverse effects , Animals , Biolistics , Blood Pressure , Clinical Trials as Topic , Coronary Artery Disease/genetics , Coronary Artery Disease/therapy , DNA/administration & dosage , DNA/genetics , Electroporation , Gene Expression , Genetic Therapy/trends , Genetic Vectors/genetics , Hemophilia A/genetics , Hemophilia A/therapy , Humans , Injections, Intra-Arterial , Melanoma/genetics , Melanoma/therapy , Microinjections , Muscular Dystrophies/genetics , Muscular Dystrophies/therapy , Organ Specificity , Plasmids/administration & dosage , Plasmids/genetics , RNA/administration & dosage , RNA/genetics , Time Factors , Transfection , Transgenes/genetics , Viruses/genetics , Viruses/pathogenicitySubject(s)
DNA Repair/genetics , Gene Targeting/methods , Genetic Diseases, Inborn/genetics , Genetic Diseases, Inborn/therapy , Genetic Therapy/methods , Mutation/genetics , Animals , Cell Line , DNA/chemistry , DNA/genetics , DNA/metabolism , DNA Repair/drug effects , Dependovirus/genetics , Genetic Therapy/trends , Humans , Mice , Oligonucleotides/chemistry , Oligonucleotides/genetics , Oligonucleotides/metabolism , Oligonucleotides/pharmacology , Point Mutation/genetics , Recombination, Genetic/drug effects , Recombination, Genetic/genetics , Sequence Homology, Nucleic AcidSubject(s)
Genome, Bacterial , Sequence Analysis, DNA , Streptococcus pneumoniae/genetics , Streptococcus pneumoniae/pathogenicity , Carbohydrate Metabolism , DNA Transposable Elements , Drug Resistance, Microbial , Genes, Bacterial , Recombination, Genetic , Streptococcus pneumoniae/drug effects , Streptococcus pneumoniae/enzymology , VirulenceSubject(s)
Dementia , Disease Models, Animal , Drosophila , Neurodegenerative Diseases , Neurons/ultrastructure , tau Proteins/metabolism , Aging , Alzheimer Disease/metabolism , Alzheimer Disease/pathology , Animals , Animals, Genetically Modified , Brain/metabolism , Brain/pathology , Dementia/metabolism , Dementia/pathology , Drosophila/genetics , Humans , Mutation , Nerve Degeneration , Neurodegenerative Diseases/metabolism , Neurodegenerative Diseases/pathology , Neurofibrillary Tangles/ultrastructure , Neurons/metabolism , tau Proteins/geneticsSubject(s)
Erythromycin/biosynthesis , Escherichia coli/genetics , Genetic Engineering , Multienzyme Complexes/biosynthesis , Pantetheine/analogs & derivatives , Acyl Coenzyme A/genetics , Acyl Coenzyme A/metabolism , Bacillus subtilis/genetics , Erythromycin/analogs & derivatives , Escherichia coli/enzymology , Multienzyme Complexes/genetics , Multienzyme Complexes/metabolism , Pantetheine/metabolism , Patents as Topic , Protein Engineering , Recombinant Proteins/biosynthesis , Recombinant Proteins/metabolism , Saccharopolyspora/enzymology , Saccharopolyspora/geneticsSubject(s)
Conservation of Natural Resources , Ecosystem , Oxygen , Water Pollution, Chemical , Agriculture , Animals , Fertilizers , United StatesABSTRACT
Clinicians may soon be able to mount a multipronged attack against cholesterol, the artery-clogging lipid whose buildup in the body is a major contributor to heart attacks and other cardiovascular diseases. In work reported on page 1524, a team has pinpointed a biological master switch in mice that controls three pathways that work together to both rid the body of excess cholesterol and prevent its absorption from the intestine. The work suggests a new mechanism for reducing cholesterol, for example, with drugs that turn up the activity of the master switch, a protein known as the retinoid X receptor.
Subject(s)
ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters/metabolism , Cholesterol/metabolism , Glycoproteins/metabolism , Intestinal Mucosa/metabolism , Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear , Receptors, Retinoic Acid/metabolism , Transcription Factors/metabolism , ATP Binding Cassette Transporter 1 , Animals , Bile Acids and Salts , Biological Transport/drug effects , Cholesterol, Dietary/administration & dosage , DNA-Binding Proteins/metabolism , Humans , Intestinal Absorption/drug effects , Intestines/drug effects , Liver/metabolism , Liver X Receptors , Macrophages/metabolism , Mice , Orphan Nuclear Receptors , Receptors, Thyroid Hormone/metabolism , Retinoid X ReceptorsABSTRACT
Researchers are uncovering disturbing evidence that scientists and tourists are infecting wild primates with human pathogens. In response, ape specialists, including the American Society of Primatologists, are now calling for stricter health standards for researchers and tourists. They are also urging researchers to learn how to diagnose disease in their study animals.
Subject(s)
Ape Diseases/transmission , Communicable Diseases/veterinary , Gorilla gorilla , Parasitic Diseases, Animal/transmission , Primate Diseases/transmission , Africa/epidemiology , Animals , Ape Diseases/epidemiology , Communicable Diseases/epidemiology , Communicable Diseases/transmission , Humans , Parasitic Diseases, Animal/epidemiology , Primate Diseases/epidemiology , Primates , Research Personnel , TravelABSTRACT
A group of drugs called statins that are used by millions to head off heart disease seem not only to prevent fractures, but they may also trigger significant bone regrowth, according to four studies reported in the 28 June issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association and the 24 June issue of The Lancet. And another promising treatment, a recombinant fragment of human parathyroid hormone called rhPTH, is even closer to the clinic: Two clinical trials reported at meetings in the past 2 weeks show that the compound builds bone and lowers the risk of fracture by more than half. These findings could be good news for the millions of people worldwide who suffer from osteoporosis.
Subject(s)
Anticholesteremic Agents/therapeutic use , Bone Density/drug effects , Osteoporosis/drug therapy , Parathyroid Hormone/therapeutic use , Animals , Anticholesteremic Agents/pharmacology , Female , Fractures, Bone/prevention & control , Humans , Male , Osteoblasts/drug effects , Osteoclasts/drug effects , Osteogenesis/drug effects , Parathyroid Hormone/pharmacology , Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic , Recombinant Proteins/pharmacology , Recombinant Proteins/therapeutic useSubject(s)
Animal Husbandry , Anti-Bacterial Agents/pharmacology , Bacteria/drug effects , Bacterial Infections/microbiology , Drug Resistance, Microbial , Meat/microbiology , Animals , Anti-Bacterial Agents/therapeutic use , Bacteria/genetics , Bacterial Infections/epidemiology , Bacterial Infections/veterinary , Campylobacter/drug effects , DNA Transposable Elements , Disease Outbreaks , Enterococcus/drug effects , Enterococcus/genetics , Europe , Humans , R Factors , Salmonella Infections/drug therapy , Salmonella Infections/microbiology , Salmonella Infections, Animal/microbiology , Salmonella typhimurium/drug effects , Swine , Swine Diseases/microbiology , United States , United States Food and Drug AdministrationSubject(s)
Bacterial Toxins , Crops, Agricultural/genetics , Genetic Engineering , Pest Control, Biological , Zea mays/genetics , Bacillus thuringiensis Toxins , Bacterial Proteins/genetics , Biotechnology , Endotoxins/genetics , Hemolysin Proteins , Plants, Genetically Modified , United States , United States Environmental Protection AgencyABSTRACT
Researchers at the Darwin Research Station are attempting to put the pieces back together after a festering dispute over fishing quotas turned violent between 13 and 17 November. The fuse that set off the most recent conflagration was an annual 50-ton limit on spiny lobsters that local fishers reached barely halfway into the 4-month season. Unruly bands of fishers laid siege to the station and the park service, blocked roads and offices, tore down the island's telephone antenna, and destroyed research records.
