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- Munthe, Christian, 1962, et al.
(författare)
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The Return of Lombroso? Ethical Aspects of (Visions of) Preventive Forensic Screening
- 2015
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Ingår i: Public Health Ethics. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 1754-9973 .- 1754-9981. ; 8:3, s. 270-283
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The vision of legendary criminologist Cesare Lombroso to use scientific theories of individual causes of crime as a basis for screening and prevention programmes targeting individuals at risk for future criminal behaviour has resurfaced, following advances in genetics, neuroscience and psychiatric epidemiology. This article analyses this idea and maps its ethical implications from a public health ethical standpoint. Twenty-seven variants of the new Lombrosian vision of forensic screening and prevention are distinguished, and some scientific and technical limitations are noted. Some lures, biases and structural factors, making the application of the Lombrosian idea likely in spite of weak evidence are pointed out and noted as a specific type of ethical aspect. Many classic and complex ethical challenges for health screening programmes are shown to apply to the identified variants and the choice between them, albeit with peculiar and often provoking variations. These variations are shown to actualize an underlying theoretical conundrum in need of further study, pertaining to the relationship between public health ethics and the ethics and values of criminal law policy.
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- Munthe, Christian, 1962
(författare)
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A New Ethical Landscape of Prenatal Testing: Individualizing Choice to Serve Autonomy and Promote Public Health: A Radical Proposal
- 2015
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Ingår i: Bioethics. - : Wiley. - 0269-9702 .- 1467-8519. ; 29:1, s. 36-45
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A new landscape of prenatal testing (PNT) is presently developing, including new techniques for risk-reducing, non-invasive sampling of foetal DNA and drastically enhanced possibilities of what may be rapidly and precisely analysed, surrounded by a growing commercial genetic testing industry and a general trend of individualization in healthcare policies. This article applies a set of established ethical notions from past debates on PNT for analysing PNT screening-programmes in this new situation. While some basic challenges of PNT stay untouched, the new development supports a radical individualization of how PNT screening is organized. This reformation is, at the same time, difficult to reconcile with responsible spending of resources in a publicly funded healthcare context. Thus, while the ethical imperative of individualization holds and applies to PNT, the new landscape of PNT provides reasons to start rolling back the type of mass-screening programmes currently established in many countries. Instead, more limited offers are suggested, based on considerations of severity of conditions and optimized to simultaneously serve reproductive autonomy and public health within an acceptable frame of priorities. The new landscape of PNT furthermore underscores the ethical importance of supporting and including people with disabilities. For the very same reason, no ban on what may be analysed using PNT in the new landscape should be applied, although private offers must, of course, conform to strict requirements of respecting reproductive autonomy and what that means in terms of counselling.
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- Jing, Yujia, 1985
(författare)
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Hyperthermia-responsive liposomal systems
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Abstract Sophisticated liposomal systems are emerging at an increasing rate to meet the demands for multifunctional drug carriers in chemotherapies in combined with hyperthermia. For example, liposomal drug carriers for temperature-controlled drug release under hyperthermic conditions have recently been tested in clinical trials. More advanced designs of liposomes are expected to release encapsulated contents and activate hidden surface-functions in response to heat stimulus. Towards this aim, the present thesis is focused on formulating asymmetric lipid systems that can preserve functional moieties, and reactivate the targeted function as well as release the encapsulated compounds upon local heating. The design of the asymmetric liposomal systems utilizes the heat-activated transmembrane lipid diffusion during gel to liquid-crystalline phase transitions of the lipid membranes.Rational design of advanced liposomal drug-delivery systems will require understanding of the physicochemical properties of lipid membranes under, e.g., hyperthermic conditions. Here, supported lipid membranes on planar solid surfaces were used for model studies of lipid composition yielding a gel to liquid crystalline phase-transition temperature in the range 40 – 45 °C. It was found that the liposome-to-membrane formation process is not only size-dependent but also governed by temperature. Two methods of preparing supported asymmetric lipid membranes were investigated. As a proof-of-concept, the upper leaflets were either replaced or chemically transformed by enzymatic hydrolysis. The processes were monitored using surface sensitive techniques such as quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D) and dual polarization interferometry (DPI). The asymmetric structures were stable at a room temperature, while lipid flip-flop was induced upon increasing of the temperature. Transmembrane lipid exchange in the asymmetric structure under hyperthermic conditions was demonstrated by detecting, through streptavidin binding, biotinylated lipids appearing at the top leaflet which were first located in the lower leaflet. The protocols developed for the supported lipid systems were adapted for the preparation of asymmetric liposomes. Biotinylated asymmetric liposomes were used as a model system to demonstrate the principle of heat-activated targeting of asymmetric liposomes to streptavidin-coated surfaces. More biologically relevant interaction was utilized to replace the biotin-streptavidin function, where asymmetric cationic liposomes were binding to anionic supported membrane immobilized surfaces upon heating. The described strategies for assembly of asymmetric supported membranes provide a guide to the development of multifunctional drug carriers. The protocols used in experiments with supported membranes were readily adapted to the preparation of asymmetric liposomes. The ongoing study tests the asymmetric liposomes in vitro, which is designed to demonstrate hyperthermia treatment can enhance accumulation of liposomes in FaDu cells, and at the same time activate release of the encapsulated components. The results of in vitro tests can be used to analyze the feasibility of utilizing the asymmetric liposomes as a platform in vivo to explore further improvement in their functions upon microwave hyperthermia.
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- Andersson, Sören, 1957-, et al.
(författare)
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CHIMERIC MOMP ANTIGEN
- 2015
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Patent (populärvet., debatt m.m.)
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- Gillman, Anna, et al.
(författare)
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Oseltamivir-Resistant Influenza A (H1N1) Virus Strain with an H274Y Mutation in Neuraminidase Persists without Drug Pressure in Infected Mallards
- 2015
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Ingår i: Applied and Environmental Microbiology. - : American Society for Microbiology. - 0099-2240 .- 1098-5336. ; 81:7, s. 2378-2383
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Influenza A virus (IAV) has its natural reservoir in wild waterfowl and emerging human IAVs often contain gene segments from avian viruses. The active drug metabolite of oseltamivir (oseltamivir carboxylate (OC)), stockpiled as Tamiflu® for influenza pandemic preparedness, is not removed by conventional sewage treatment and has been detected in river water. There, it may there exert evolutionary pressure on avian IAV in waterfowl, resulting in development of resistant viral variants. A resistant avian IAV can circulate among wild birds only if resistance does not restrict viral fitness and if the resistant virus can persist without continuous drug pressure. In this in vivo Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) study we tested if an OC-resistant avian IAV strain (A(H1N1)/NA-H274Y) could retain resistance while drug pressure was gradually removed. Successively infected Mallards were exposed to decreasing levels of OC, and fecal samples were analyzed for neuraminidase sequence and phenotypic resistance. No reversion to wild-type virus was observed during the experiment, which included 17 days of viral transmission in 10 ducks exposed to OC concentrations below resistance induction levels. We conclude that resistance in avian IAV, induced by OC exposure of the natural host, can persist in absence of the drug. Thus, there is a risk that human pathogenic IAVs that evolve from IAVs circulating among wild birds may contain resistance mutations. An oseltamivir resistant pandemic IAV would be a substantial public health threat. Therefore, our observations underscore the need for prudent oseltamivir use, upgraded sewage treatment and resistance surveillance of IAV in wild birds.
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- Checinska, Aleksandra, et al.
(författare)
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Microbiomes of the dust particles collected from the International Space Station and Spacecraft Assembly Facilities
- 2015
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Ingår i: Microbiome. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2049-2618. ; 3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background - The International Space Station (ISS) is a unique built environment due to the effects of microgravity, space radiation, elevated carbon dioxide levels, and especially continuous human habitation. Understanding the composition of the ISS microbial community will facilitate further development of safety and maintenance practices. The primary goal of this study was to characterize the viable microbiome of the ISS-built environment. A second objective was to determine if the built environments of Earth-based cleanrooms associated with space exploration are an appropriate model of the ISS environment. Results - Samples collected from the ISS and two cleanrooms at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL, Pasadena, CA) were analyzed by traditional cultivation, adenosine triphosphate (ATP), and propidium monoazide–quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PMA-qPCR) assays to estimate viable microbial populations. The 16S rRNA gene Illumina iTag sequencing was used to elucidate microbial diversity and explore differences between ISS and cleanroom microbiomes. Statistical analyses showed that members of the phyla Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, and Proteobacteria were dominant in the samples examined but varied in abundance. Actinobacteria were predominant in the ISS samples whereas Proteobacteria, least abundant in the ISS, dominated in the cleanroom samples. The viable bacterial populations seen by PMA treatment were greatly decreased. However, the treatment did not appear to have an effect on the bacterial composition (diversity) associated with each sampling site. Conclusions - The results of this study provide strong evidence that specific human skin-associated microorganisms make a substantial contribution to the ISS microbiome, which is not the case in Earth-based cleanrooms. For example, Corynebacterium and Propionibacterium (Actinobacteria) but not Staphylococcus (Firmicutes) species are dominant on the ISS in terms of viable and total bacterial community composition. The results obtained will facilitate future studies to determine how stable the ISS environment is over time. The present results also demonstrate the value of measuring viable cell diversity and population size at any sampling site. This information can be used to identify sites that can be targeted for more stringent cleaning. Finally, the results will allow comparisons with other built sites and facilitate future improvements on the ISS that will ensure astronaut health.
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- Munthe, Christian, 1962
(författare)
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Precaution, bioethics and normative justification
- 2015
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Ingår i: Monash Bioethics Review. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1321-2753 .- 1836-6716. ; 33:2, s. 219-225
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Recension (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Daniel Steel’s new book on the precautionary principle illustrates the need to work ahead to fuse perspectives of epistemology and philosophy of science with those of ethics to accomplish progress in the debate on the proper role of precaution in a broad selection of bioethical areas. Steel advances the territory greatly with regard to conceptual clarity and epistemology, but from a bioethics standpoint he is mistaken in discounting the need for ethical underpinnings of a sound theory of the precautionary principle.
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