The metaphysics of evolution.

PubMed

Dupré, John

2017-10-06

This paper briefly describes process metaphysics, and argues that it is better suited for describing life than the more standard thing, or substance, metaphysics. It then explores the implications of process metaphysics for conceptualizing evolution. After explaining what it is for an organism to be a process, the paper takes up the Hull/Ghiselin thesis of species as individuals and explores the conditions under which a species or lineage could constitute an individual process. It is argued that only sexual species satisfy these conditions, and that within sexual species the degree of organization varies. This, in turn, has important implications for species' evolvability. One important moral is that evolution will work differently in different biological domains.

The metaphysics of evolution

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

This paper briefly describes process metaphysics, and argues that it is better suited for describing life than the more standard thing, or substance, metaphysics. It then explores the implications of process metaphysics for conceptualizing evolution. After explaining what it is for an organism to be a process, the paper takes up the Hull/Ghiselin thesis of species as individuals and explores the conditions under which a species or lineage could constitute an individual process. It is argued that only sexual species satisfy these conditions, and that within sexual species the degree of organization varies. This, in turn, has important implications for species' evolvability. One important moral is that evolution will work differently in different biological domains. PMID:28839921

Transhumanism, metaphysics, and the posthuman god.

PubMed

Bishop, Jeffrey P

2010-12-01

After describing Heidegger's critique of metaphysics as ontotheology, I unpack the metaphysical assumptions of several transhumanist philosophers. I claim that they deploy an ontology of power and that they also deploy a kind of theology, as Heidegger meant it. I also describe the way in which this metaphysics begets its own politics and ethics. In order to transcend the human condition, they must transgress the human.

The many Metaphysics within Physics. Essay review of 'The Metaphysics within Physics' by Tim Maudlin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suárez, Mauricio

Tim Maudlin's new book The Metaphysics within Physics (Oxford University Press, 2007) collects six essays by one of the most thoughtful and original minds working in the philosophy of physics nowadays. Some had previously circulated informally for years. For example, Chapter 1 ('A Modest Proposal Concerning Laws, Counterfactuals and Explanations') is as old as my own philosophical career-I recall reading a draft in the early 1990s. The mere publication of such a long-awaited collection is therefore already good news. In addition, the degree of coherence and the lack of redundancy are greater than one would expect from a collection of disparate essays written at diverse times and with a range of different targets. The whole book can be understood coherently as an extended argument in favor of a particular 'physics-based' methodology for inquiry in metaphysics. This methodology recommends a detailed and thorough analysis of current physics as a benchmark for any thesis, dispute or argument in metaphysics. It follows that proper metaphysical inquiry must be suitably informed not just about the current state of play in analytical metaphysics but also about the current state of development of the relevant part of present day physics.

Quantum entanglement and a metaphysics of relations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Esfeld, Michael

This paper argues for a metaphysics of relations based on a characterization of quantum entanglement in terms of non-separability, thereby regarding entanglement as a sort of holism. By contrast to a radical metaphysics of relations, the position set out in this paper recognizes things that stand in the relations, but claims that, as far as the relations are concerned, there is no need for these things to have qualitative intrinsic properties underlying the relations. This position thus opposes a metaphysics of individual things that are characterized by intrinsic properties. A principal problem of the latter position is that it seems that we cannot gain any knowledge of these properties insofar as they are intrinsic. Against this background, the rationale behind a metaphysics of relations is to avoid a gap between epistemology and metaphysics.

Natural history of rhizomelic chondrodysplasia punctata.

PubMed

White, Amy L; Modaff, Peggy; Holland-Morris, Francesca; Pauli, Richard M

2003-05-01

Rhizomelic chondrodysplasia punctata (RCP) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder with many associated medical complications. Prior to this study, natural history information about RCP was limited and based on experiences with small populations of affected individuals. We delineate the natural history of RCP through systematic analysis of 35 previously unreported individuals (as well as review of 62 literature cases with respect to survival and cause of death). Survival, growth, and developmental expectations and medical needs are summarized based upon experience with this population. Survival is greater among this population than previously reported, with 90% surviving up to 1 year and 50% surviving up to 6 years. Cause of death is most often respiratory problem. All infants with RCP have joint contractures, bilateral cataracts, and severe growth and psychomotor delays. Recommendations for health supervision of children with RCP and for parental counseling are presented. Copyright 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Observability, Visualizability and the Question of Metaphysical Neutrality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wolff, Johanna

2015-09-01

Theories in fundamental physics are unlikely to be ontologically neutral, yet they may nonetheless fail to offer decisive empirical support for or against particular metaphysical positions. I illustrate this point by close examination of a particular objection raised by Wolfgang Pauli against Hermann Weyl. The exchange reveals that both parties to the dispute appeal to broader epistemological principles to defend their preferred metaphysical starting points. I suggest that this should make us hesitant to assume that in deriving metaphysical conclusions from physical theories we place our metaphysical theories on a purely empirical foundation. The metaphysics within a particular physical theory may well be the result of a priori assumptions in the background, not particular empirical findings.

A chondrodysplasia family produced by mutations in the diastrophic dysplasia sulfate transporter gene: Genotype/phenotype correlations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Superti-Furga, A.; Steinmann, B.; Gitzelmann, R.

1996-05-03

Achondrogenesis type 1B (ACG-1B), atelosteogenesis type 2 (AO-2), and diastrophic dysplasia (DTD) are recessively inherited chondrodysplasia of decreasing severity caused by mutations in the diastrophic dysplasia sulfate transporter (DTDST) gene on chromosome 5. In these conditions, sulfate transport across the cell membrane is impaired which results in insufficient sulfation of cartilage proteoglycans and thus in an abnormally low sulfate content of cartilage. The severity of the phenotype correlates well with the predicted effect of the underlying DTDST mutations: homozygosity or compound heterozygosity for stop codons or transmembrane domain substitutions mostly result in achondrogenesis type 1B, while other structural or regulatorymore » mutations usually result in one of the less severe phenotypes. The chondrodysplasia arising at the DTDST locus constitute a bone dysplasia family with recessive inheritance. 28 refs., 2 tabs.« less

Canine chondrodysplasia caused by a truncating mutation in collagen-binding integrin alpha subunit 10.

PubMed

Kyöstilä, Kaisa; Lappalainen, Anu K; Lohi, Hannes

2013-01-01

The skeletal dysplasias are disorders of the bone and cartilage tissues. Similarly to humans, several dog breeds have been reported to suffer from different types of genetic skeletal disorders. We have studied the molecular genetic background of an autosomal recessive chondrodysplasia that affects the Norwegian Elkhound and Karelian Bear Dog breeds. The affected dogs suffer from disproportionate short stature dwarfism of varying severity. Through a genome-wide approach, we mapped the chondrodysplasia locus to a 2-Mb region on canine chromosome 17 in nine affected and nine healthy Elkhounds (praw = 7.42×10(-6), pgenome-wide = 0.013). The associated locus contained a promising candidate gene, cartilage specific integrin alpha 10 (ITGA10), and mutation screening of its 30 exons revealed a nonsense mutation in exon 16 (c.2083C>T; p.Arg695*) that segregated fully with the disease in both breeds (p = 2.5×10(-23)). A 24% mutation carrier frequency was indicated in NEs and an 8% frequency in KBDs. The ITGA10 gene product, integrin receptor α10-subunit combines into a collagen-binding α10β1 integrin receptor, which is expressed in cartilage chondrocytes and mediates chondrocyte-matrix interactions during endochondral ossification. As a consequence of the nonsense mutation, the α10-protein was not detected in the affected cartilage tissue. The canine phenotype highlights the importance of the α10β1 integrin in bone growth, and the large animal model could be utilized to further delineate its specific functions. Finally, this study revealed a candidate gene for human chondrodysplasias and enabled the development of a genetic test for breeding purposes to eradicate the disease from the two dog breeds.

Dewey's Naturalistic Metaphysics: Expostulations and Replies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Friedman, Randy L.

2011-01-01

Critics of Dewey's metaphysics point to his dismissal of any philosophy which locates ideals in a realm beyond experience. However, Dewey's sustained critique of dualistic philosophies is but a first step in his reconstruction and recovery of the function of the metaphysical. Detaching the discussion of values from inquiry, whether scientific,…

The Role of Metaphysical Naturalism in Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mahner, Martin

2012-10-01

This paper defends the view that metaphysical naturalism is a constitutive ontological principle of science in that the general empirical methods of science, such as observation, measurement and experiment, and thus the very production of empirical evidence, presuppose a no-supernature principle. It examines the consequences of metaphysical naturalism for the testability of supernatural claims, and it argues that explanations involving supernatural entities are pseudo-explanatory due to the many semantic and ontological problems of supernatural concepts. The paper also addresses the controversy about metaphysical versus methodological naturalism.

Exploratory Bifactor Analysis of the WJ-III Cognitive in Adulthood via the Schmid-Leiman Procedure

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dombrowski, Stefan C.

2014-01-01

The Woodcock-Johnson-III cognitive in the adult time period (age 20 to 90 plus) was analyzed using exploratory bifactor analysis via the Schmid-Leiman orthogonalization procedure. The results of this study suggested possible overfactoring, a different factor structure from that posited in the Technical Manual and a lack of invariance across both…

A proper metaphysics for cognitive performance.

PubMed

Van Orden, Guy C; Moreno, Miguel A; Holden, John G

2003-01-01

The general failure to individuate component causes in cognitive performance suggests the need for an alternative metaphysics. The metaphysics of control hierarchy theory accommodates the fact of self-organization in nature and the possibility that intentional actions are self-organized. One key assumption is that interactions among processes dominate their intrinsic dynamics. Scaling relations in response time variability motivate this assumption in cognitive performance.

Colonic perforation in the first few hours of life associated with rhizomelic chondrodysplasia punctata.

PubMed

Fairbanks, Timothy; Emil, Sherif

2005-08-01

Rhizomelic chondrodysplasia punctata (RCP), a rare autosomal recessive disease characterized by a disorder of peroxisome metabolism, has been shown to affect multiple organ systems. A neonate presenting with a colonic perforation in the first few hours of life was subsequently diagnosed with RCP. A literature search revealed no previous reports of intestinal perforation associated with RCP. Intestinal perforation should be added to the list of medical complications associated with RCP.

On Darwin's 'metaphysical notebooks'. II: "Metaphysics" and final cause.

PubMed

Calabi, L

2001-01-01

The first part of this paper was published in Rivista di Biologia/Biology Forum 94 (2001). In the second part below an examination is made of the meaning of the term Metaphysics in some passages of the Darwinian Notebooks for the years 1836-1844. Metaphysics no longer defines a field of philosophical enquiries mainly concerning the being and the essence after the manner of Aristotle; it now refers to a kind of philosophy of mind after the manner of J. Locke's criticism of the Hypokeimenon. However Aristotle's Metaphysics also encompasses a treatment of the idea of causes, and of final cause particularly, in the explanation of events, and in the explanation of natural phenomena especially. The criticism of the idea of final cause in the interpretation of the world of life is one of Darwin's foundational acts in his early years. When conceiving his Système du monde, in the last years of the XVIII Century, Laplace could think that God is a hypothesis not really needed by science, as we are told. For the knowledge of organic nature to attain the status of science, it remained to be shown that since--certain of the exemplariness of Newton's Principles as much as cautious before the mystery of life--did not need the hypothesis of final ends in order to understand and explain the productions of the living nature: not only in the form of that final cause (the First Cause, the Vera Causa) in which Natural Theology still rested, but also in the form of nature's inner finality which still moulded Whewell's Kantian philosophy. Such demonstration is a very important subject in Darwin's early enquiries, where he criticises finalism as a projection of self-conceiving Man, likely inherited from a knowing of causality in nuce to be found also in animals.

Chondrodysplasia punctata associated with maternal autoimmune diseases: expanding the spectrum from systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) to mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD) and scleroderma report of eight cases.

PubMed

Chitayat, David; Keating, Sarah; Zand, Dina J; Costa, Teresa; Zackai, Elaine H; Silverman, Earl; Tiller, George; Unger, Sheila; Miller, Stephen; Kingdom, John; Toi, Ants; Curry, Cynthia J R

2008-12-01

Chondrodysplasia punctata (CDP) is etiologically a heterogeneous condition and has been associated with single gene disorders, chromosome abnormalities and teratogenic exposures. The first publication of the association between CDP and maternal autoimmune connective tissue disorder was by Curry et al. 1993]. Chondrodysplasia punctata associated with maternal collagen vascular disease. A new etiology? Presented at the David W. Smith Workshop on Morphogenesis and Malformations, Mont Tremblant, Quebec, August 1993] and subsequently, other cases have been reported. We report on eight cases of maternal collagen vascular disease associated with fetal CDP and included the cases reported by Curry et al. 1993. Chondrodysplasia punctata associated with maternal collagen vascular disease. A new etiology? Presented at the David W. Smith Workshop on Morphogenesis and Malformations, Mont Tremblant, Quebec, August 1993] and Costa et al. [1993]. Maternal systemic lupus erythematosis (SLE) and chondrodysplasia punctata in two infants. Coincidence or association? 1st Meeting of Bone Dysplasia Society, Chicago, June 1993] which were reported in an abstract form. We suggest that maternal autoimmune diseases should be part of the differential diagnosis and investigation in newborns/fetuses with CDP. Thus, in addition to cardiac evaluation, fetuses/newborn to mothers with autoimmune diseases should have fetal ultrasound/newborn examination and if indicated, X-rays, looking for absent/hypoplastic nasal bone, brachydactyly, shortened long bones and epiphyseal stippling. Copyright (c) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Beyond the realism debate: The metaphysics of 'racial' distinctions.

PubMed

Lemeire, Olivier

2016-10-01

The current metaphysical race debate is very much focused on the realism question whether races exist. In this paper I argue against the importance of this question. Philosophers, biologists and anthropologists expect that answering this question will tell them something substantive about the metaphysics of racial classifications, and will help them to decide whether it is justified to use racial categories in scientific research and public policy. I argue that there are two reasons why these expectations are not fulfilled. First of all, the realism question about race leads to a very broad philosophical debate about the semantics of general terms and the criteria for real kinds, rather than to a debate about the metaphysics of racial categories specifically. Secondly, there is a type of race realism that is so toothless that it is almost completely uninformative about the metaphysics of race. In response to these worries, I argue that the metaphysical race debate should rather be focused on the question in what way and to what extent 'racial' distinctions can ground the epistemic practices of various scientific disciplines. I spell out what I mean by this, and go on to demonstrate that trying to answer this question leads to a more fruitful metaphysical debate. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Sublethal microcephalic chondrodysplasia. Taybi-Linder syndrome, primordial microcephalic nanism types I and III].

PubMed

Maroteaux, P; Badoual, J

1990-02-01

The authors describe a case of microcephalic dwarfism observed in a newborn until 10 months of age and discuss the diagnostic challenge. They show that the Taybi-Linder syndrome and the primordial dwarfism type I and type III of Majewski are an identical recessive autosomal entity. The radiological evolution explains the initial separation of type I and type III. Because of the skeletal lesions, lacking in the Seckel syndrome, the name of sublethal microcephalic chondrodysplasia is proposed for this disease.

On neuropsychoanalytic metaphysics.

PubMed

Talvitie, Vesa; Ihanus, Juhani

2011-12-01

Neuropsychoanalysis focuses on the neural counterparts of psychoanalytically interesting phenomena and has left the difference in the metaphysical presuppositions between neuroscience and psychoanalysis unexamined. The authors analyse the logical possibilities concerning the relation between the brain and the mental unconscious in terms of the serial, parallel, epiphenomenalist and Kantian conceptions, and conclude that none of them provides a satisfactory ground for neuropsychoanalysis. As far as psychoanalytic explanations refer to the mental unconscious, they cannot be verified with the help of neuroscience. Neither is it possible to form a picture of how a neuro-viewpoint might be of help for psychoanalytic theorizing. Neuropsychoanalysis has occasionally been seen as a reductionist affair, but the authors suggest that neuropsychoanalysts themselves lean on the hybrid conception, which combines neuroscientific and psychoanalytic viewpoints. The authors state arguments in favour of the interfield conception of neuropsychoanalysis that takes seriously the metaphysical tensions between neuroscience and psychoanalysis. Copyright © 2011 Institute of Psychoanalysis.

The abundant world: Paul Feyerabend's metaphysics of science.

PubMed

Brown, Matthew J

2016-06-01

The goal of this paper is to provide an interpretation of Feyerabend's metaphysics of science as found in late works like Conquest of Abundance and Tyranny of Science. Feyerabend's late metaphysics consists of an attempt to criticize and provide a systematic alternative to traditional scientific realism, a package of views he sometimes referred to as "scientific materialism." Scientific materialism is objectionable not only on metaphysical grounds, nor because it provides a poor ground for understanding science, but because it implies problematic claims about the epistemic and cultural authority of science, claims incompatible with situating science properly in democratic societies. I show how Feyerabend's metaphysical view, which I call "the abundant world" or "abundant realism," constitute a sophisticated and challenging form of ontological pluralism that makes interesting connections with contemporary philosophy of science and issues of the political and policy role of science in a democratic society. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Metaphysics and medical ethics: a reply.

PubMed Central

Gillett, G

1994-01-01

The total longitudinal form view of human beings is a metaphysical view which aims to locate our moral judgements about human embryos in a broader set of attitudes and characterisations. On this basis it has explanatory power and a real function in that it grounds our ethical discussion of embryos in other discourses. Contra Leavitt, this grounding suggests a broader criterion of relevance for metaphysical discussion than asking 'what comes out of' such a discussion for a particular ethical dilemma. PMID:8035442

The tragic and the metaphysical in philosophy and psychoanalysis.

PubMed

Stolorow, Robert D; Atwood, George E

2013-06-01

This article elaborates a claim, first introduced by Wilhelm Dilthey, that metaphysics represents an illusory flight from the tragedy of human finitude. Metaphysics, of which psychoanalytic metapsychologies are a form, transforms the unbearable fragility and transience of all things human into an enduring, permanent, changeless reality, an illusory world of eternal truths. Three "clinical cases" illustrate this thesis in the work and lives of a philosopher and two psychoanalytic theorists: Friedrich Nietzsche and his metaphysical doctrine of the eternal return of the same, Sigmund Freud and his dual instinct theory, and Heinz Kohut and his theoretical language of the self. It is contended that the best safeguard against the pitfalls of metaphysical illusion lies in a shared commitment to reflection on the constitutive contexts of all our theoretical ideas.

Greene's Dialectics of Freedom and Dewey's Naturalistic Existential Metaphysics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garrison, James W.

1990-01-01

This article attempts to develop the Deweyan naturalistic existential metaphysics which underlies Maxine Greene's diverse dialectics. Also included are reflections on the implications of the dialectic of freedom and Dewey's metaphysics for education and the arts. (IAH)

Fall and Rise of Aristotelian Metaphysics in the Philosophy of Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lamont, John

2009-01-01

The paper examines the fortunes of Aristotelian metaphysics in science and the philosophy of science. It considers the Enlightenment claim that such a metaphysics is fundamentally unscientific, and that its abandonment was essential to the scientific revolution. The history of the scientific revolution and the metaphysical debates involved in it…

The Interdependence of Pedagogy, Learning Theory, Morality and Metaphysics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blunden, Ralph

1997-01-01

Explores the incompatibility between constructivist theories of learning and realist metaphysics (belief that knowledge and skills exist in mind-independent workplace practices). Shows how this results in conflict between constructivist teaching approaches and the transmission or banking mode favored by realist metaphysics. (SK)

Metaphyseal osteopathy in a British Shorthair cat.

PubMed

Adagra, Carl; Spielman, Derek; Adagra, Angela; Foster, Darren J

2015-04-01

Metaphyseal osteopathy, otherwise known as hypertrophic osteodystrophy, is a disease that causes pyrexia and lethargy accompanied by pain in the thoracic and pelvic limbs of rapidly growing large-breed dogs. While metaphyseal osteopathy has been descibed in association with slipped capital femoral epiphysis in cats, it has not previously been reported as a cause of limb pain and pyrexia in this species. A 7-month-old British Shorthair cat presented with a 1 month history of pyrexia, lethargy and pain in all limbs. Investigation included radiographs of the limbs and chest, abdominal ultrasound, serum biochemical analysis, haematology, bone biopsy, joint fluid aspiration and cytology. Findings were consistent with a diagnosis of metaphyseal osteopathy. The cat's clinical signs resolved following the administration of prednisolone. Symptoms recurred 1 month after the cessation of prednisolone therapy, but resolved when administration was resumed. © ISFM and AAFP 2014.

Mechanisms, determination and the metaphysics of neuroscience.

PubMed

Soom, Patrice

2012-09-01

In this paper, I evaluate recently defended mechanistic accounts of the unity of neuroscience from a metaphysical point of view. Considering the mechanistic framework in general (Sections 2 and 3), I argue that explanations of this kind are essentially reductive (Section 4). The reductive character of mechanistic explanations provides a sufficiency criterion, according to which the mechanism underlying a certain phenomenon is sufficient for the latter. Thus, the concept of supervenience can be used in order to describe the relation between mechanisms and phenomena (Section 5). Against this background, I show that the mechanistic framework is subject to the causal exclusion problem and faces the classical metaphysical options when it comes to the relations obtaining between different levels of mechanisms (Section 6). Finally, an attempt to improve the metaphysics of mechanisms is made (Section 7) and further difficulties are pointed out (Section 8). Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Determination of death: Metaphysical and biomedical discourse.

PubMed

Jakušovaitė, Irayda; Luneckaitė, Žydrunė; Peičius, Eimantas; Bagdonaitė, Živilė; Riklikienė, Olga; Stankevičius, Edgaras

2016-01-01

The prominence of biomedical criteria relying on brain death reduces the impact of metaphysical, anthropological, psychosocial, cultural, religious, and legal aspects disclosing the real value and essence of human life. The aim of this literature review is to discuss metaphysical and biomedical approaches toward death and their complimentary relationship in the determination of death. A critical appraisal of theoretical and scientific evidence and legal documents supported analytical discourse. In the metaphysical discourse of death, two main questions about what human death is and how to determine the fact of death clearly separate the ontological and epistemological aspects of death. During the 20th century, various understandings of human death distinguished two different approaches toward the human: the human is a subject of activities or a subject of the human being. Extinction of the difference between the entities and the being, emphasized as rational-logical instrumentation, is not sufficient to understand death thoroughly. Biological criteria of death are associated with biological features and irreversible loss of certain cognitive capabilities. Debating on the question "Does a brain death mean death of a human being?" two approaches are considering: the body-centrist and the mind-centrist. By bridging those two alternatives human death appears not only as biomedical, but also as metaphysical phenomenon. It was summarized that a predominance of clinical criteria for determination of death in practice leads to medicalization of death and limits the holistic perspective toward individual's death. Therefore, the balance of metaphysical and biomedical approaches toward death and its determination would decrease the medicalization of the concept of death. Copyright © 2016 The Lithuanian University of Health Sciences. Production and hosting by Elsevier Urban & Partner Sp. z o.o. All rights reserved.

Fall and Rise of Aristotelian Metaphysics in the Philosophy of Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lamont, John

2009-06-01

The paper examines the fortunes of Aristotelian metaphysics in science and the philosophy of science. It considers the Enlightenment claim that such a metaphysics is fundamentally unscientific, and that its abandonment was essential to the scientific revolution. The history of the scientific revolution and the metaphysical debates involved in it is examined, and it is argued that the eclipse of Aristotelian views was neither complete, nor merited. The evolution of Humeian and positivist accounts of science is described, and it is shown how the severe problems with these accounts, together with a revival of Aristotelian concepts in philosophy, have led to the rebirth of broadly Aristotelian accounts of the metaphysics underlying science.

Newton's Metaphysics of Space as God's Emanative Effect

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jacquette, Dale

2014-09-01

In several of his writings, Isaac Newton proposed that physical space is God's "emanative effect" or "sensorium," revealing something interesting about the metaphysics underlying his mathematical physics. Newton's conjectures depart from Plato and Aristotle's metaphysics of space and from classical and Cambridge Neoplatonism. Present-day philosophical concepts of supervenience clarify Newton's ideas about space and offer a portrait of Newton not only as a mathematical physicist but an independent-minded rationalist philosopher.

Metaphysics and medical education: taking holism seriously.

PubMed

Wilson, Bruce

2013-06-01

Medical education is now suffused with concepts that have their source outside the traditional scientific and medical disciplines: concepts such as holism, connectedness and reflective practice. Teaching of these, and other problematic concepts such as medical uncertainty and error, has been defined more by the challenge they pose to the standard model rather than being informed by a strong positive understanding. This challenge typically involves a critical engagement with the idea of objectivity, which is rarely acknowledged as an inherently metaphysical critique. Consequently, these ideas prove to be difficult to teach well. I suggest that the lack of an integrating, positive narrative is the reason for teaching difficulty, and propose that what is needed is an explicit commitment to teach the metaphysics of medicine, with the concept of holism being the fulcrum on which the remaining concepts turn. An acknowledged metaphysical narrative will encompass the scientific realism that medical students typically bring to their tertiary education, and at the same time enable a bigger picture to be drawn that puts the newer and more problematic concepts into context. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Gould on species, metaphysics and macroevolution: A critical appraisal.

PubMed

Boucher, Sandy C

2017-04-01

Stephen Jay Gould's views on the ontology of species were an important plank of his revisionist program in evolutionary theory. In this paper I cast a critical eye over those views. I focus on three central aspects of Gould's views on species: the relation between the Darwinian and the metaphysical notions of individuality, the relation between the ontology of species and macroevolution, and the issue of contextualism and conventionalism about the metaphysics of species. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The metaphysical basis of a liberal organ procurement policy.

PubMed

Hershenov, David B; Delaney, James J

2010-08-01

There remains a need to properly analyze the metaphysical assumptions underlying two organ procurement policies: presumed consent and organ sales. Our contention is that if one correctly understands the metaphysics of both the human body and material property, then it will turn out that while organ sales are illiberal, presumed consent is not. What we mean by illiberal includes violating rights of bodily integrity, property, or autonomy, as well as arguing for or against a policy in a manner that runs afoul of Rawlsian public reason.

Exome sequencing for the differential diagnosis of ciliary chondrodysplasias: Example of a WDR35 mutation case and review of the literature.

PubMed

Antony, Dinu; Nampoory, Narayanan; Bacchelli, Chiara; Melhem, Motasem; Wu, Kaman; James, Chela T; Beales, Philip L; Hubank, Mike; Thomas, Daisy; Mashankar, Anant; Behbehani, Kazem; Schmidts, Miriam; Alsmadi, Osama

2017-12-01

Exome sequencing is becoming widely popular and affordable, making it one of the most desirable methods for the identification of rare genetic variants for clinical diagnosis. Here, we report the clinical application of whole exome sequencing for the ultimate diagnosis of a ciliary chondrodysplasia case presented with an initial clinical diagnosis of Asphyxiating Thoracic Dystrophy (ATD, Jeune Syndrome). We have identified a novel homozygous missense mutation in WDR35 (c.206G > A), a gene previously associated with Sensenbrenner Syndrome, Ellis-van Creveld syndrome and Short-rib polydactyly syndrome type V. The genetic findings in this family led to the re-evaluation of the initial diagnosis and a differential diagnosis of Sensenbrenner Syndrome was made after cautious re-examination of the patient. Cell culture studies revealed normal subcellular localization of the mutant WDR35 protein in comparison to wildtype protein, pointing towards impaired protein-protein interaction and/or altered cell signaling pathways as a consequence of the mutated allele. This research study highlights the importance of including pathogenic variant identification in the diagnosis pipeline of ciliary chondrodysplasias, especially for clinically not fully defined phenotypes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Towards a Metaphysics of Complexity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Robinson, Keith

2005-01-01

In this paper, I combine aspects of process philosophy and elements from philosophies of difference in order to give some indication of how we might begin to construct a metaphysics of contemporary science. I will focus on the work of Whitehead and Deleuze as representatives of each respective tradition and try to show how their work can be…

The complexity of non-Schmid behavior in the CuZnAl shape memory alloy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alkan, S.; Ojha, A.; Sehitoglu, H.

2018-05-01

The paper addresses one of the most important yet overlooked phenomenon in shape memory research- the plastic slip response. We show that the slip response is highly crystal orientation dependent and we demonstrate the precise reasons behind such complex response. The fractional dislocations on <111> {112} or <111> {011} systems can be activated depending on the sample orientation and solutions are derived for the variations in disregistries and dislocation core spreadings. This leads to the calculation of critical resolved shear stress in close agreement with experimental trends. The results show considerable dependence of the flow behavior on the non-Schmid stress components and the proposed yield criterion captures the role of stress tensor components.

Classical metaphyseal lesions thought to be pathognomonic of child abuse are often artifacts or indicative of metabolic bone disease.

PubMed

Miller, Marvin; Mirkin, L David

2018-06-01

The objective of the present study was to review the histopathology in the original articles by authors Kleinman and Marks that described the specificity of the classical metaphyseal lesion for child abuse and to determine if there were any oversights in the authors' analysis. We reviewed the histopathology of the original studies that equated the classical metaphyseal lesion with child abuse. We compared this with the histopathology of metaphyseal fractures caused by known accidental, severe trauma in children and reviewed the histopathology of artifacts that can sometimes be produced in bone histology preparations. Acute classical metaphyseal lesions showed no hemorrhage, and the chronic classical metaphyseal showed islands of cartilage proliferation at the metaphyses and growth plate, findings consistent with rickets and other metabolic bone disorders. Some of the acute metaphyseal lesions were consistent with artifacts. We believe the original studies that equate the classical metaphyseal lesion with child abuse are flawed. The most compelling observation that challenges the histopathology of the classical metaphyseal lesion as being a fracture is the absence of hemorrhage in the acute classical metaphyseal lesion. We hypothesize that some of the classical metaphyseal lesions were artifacts or represent metabolic bone disorders that were not considered and that these two non-traumatic explanations may have been the basis of the abnormal bone findings. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Stylistics and the Metaphysics of Poetry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anderson, Neil

2007-01-01

In order to better understand the worth of aesthetic experience in encountering poetry, fresh perspectives are helpful. This paper introduces the reader to modern stylistics: that is linguistic examinations of "the speaker's meaning" in literature and notes such "scientific" approaches to poetry do find common metaphysical ground with leading…

Endoplasmic reticulum stress in chondrodysplasias caused by mutations in collagen types II and X.

PubMed

Gawron, Katarzyna

2016-11-01

The endoplasmic reticulum is primarily recognized as the site of synthesis and folding of secreted, membrane-bound, and some organelle-targeted proteins. An imbalance between the load of unfolded proteins and the processing capacity in endoplasmic reticulum leads to the accumulation of unfolded or misfolded proteins and endoplasmic reticulum stress, which is a hallmark of a number of storage diseases, including neurodegenerative diseases, a number of metabolic diseases, and cancer. Moreover, its contribution as a novel mechanistic paradigm in genetic skeletal diseases associated with abnormalities of the growth plates and dwarfism is considered. In this review, I discuss the mechanistic significance of endoplasmic reticulum stress, abnormal folding, and intracellular retention of mutant collagen types II and X in certain variants of skeletal chondrodysplasia.

Natural kinds in evolution and systematics: metaphysical and epistemological considerations.

PubMed

Brigandt, Ingo

2009-06-01

Despite the traditional focus on metaphysical issues in discussions of natural kinds in biology, epistemological considerations are at least as important. By revisiting the debate as to whether taxa are kinds or individuals, I argue that both accounts are metaphysically compatible, but that one or the other approach can be pragmatically preferable depending on the epistemic context. Recent objections against construing species as homeostatic property cluster kinds are also addressed. The second part of the paper broadens the perspective by considering homologues as another example of natural kinds, comparing them with analogues as functionally defined kinds. Given that there are various types of natural kinds, I discuss the different theoretical purposes served by diverse kind concepts, suggesting that there is no clear-cut distinction between natural kinds and other kinds, such as functional kinds. Rather than attempting to offer a unique metaphysical account of 'natural' kind, a more fruitful approach consists in the epistemological study of how different natural kind concepts are employed in scientific reasoning.

Mind, medicine, and metaphysics: reflections on the reclamation of the human spirit.

PubMed

Penn, Michael L; Wilson, Lindsay

2003-01-01

Following the publication of such works as Auguste Comte's Cour de Philosophie Positive (1830-1842), in which he argued the inherent immaturity of metaphysical discourse, metaphysics, for Western intellectuals--and especially for Western intellectuals committed to science--has largely been abandoned. In recent years, however, we have seen renewed interest in metaphysics among some researchers and clinicians, due, in part, to increasing attempts to integrate diverse fields of study into some unified and coherent understanding of human life. For many psychologists and psychiatrists, this renewed interest is accompanied by an implicit, and sometimes explicit, re-embrace of the notion of the "human spirit." In this paper we explore some of the processes animating this movement and some of the clinical implications that flow from it.

Ulnar metaphyseal osteochondrosis in seven captive bred cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus).

PubMed

Allan, Graeme; Portas, Timothy; Bryant, Benn; Howlett, Rolfe; Blyde, David

2008-01-01

Distal ulna metaphyseal osteochondrosis was identified in seven captive bred cheetahs raised in Australia between 1984 and 2005. The disorder was characterized by bilateral carpal valgus conformation. In the metaphyseal region of the distal ulnae, an osteolucent defect that appeared as a proximal extension of the lucent physis was identified radiographically between 6 and 10 months of age. Ulna ostectomy was done to correct the angular limb deformity. Histologically, changes were identified in the osteolucent lesion that resembled osteochondrosis. We propose that the condition is probably familial and/or dietary in origin.

Audism: Exploring the Metaphysics of Oppression

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bauman, H-Dirksen L.

2004-01-01

This article traces the development of the concept of "audism" from its inception in the mid-1970s by exploring three distinct dimensions of oppression: individual, institutional, and metaphysical. Although the first two aspects of audism have been identified, there is a deeply rooted belief system regarding language and human identity that is yet…

Adrenal steroid hormones and metaphyseal bone in children.

PubMed

Remer, Thomas; Boye, Kai R; Hartmann, Michaela F; Neu, Christina; Schoenau, Eckhard; Manz, Friedrich; Wudy, Stefan A

2004-01-01

The responses of metaphyseal bone tissue to physiological variations of endogenous adrenal steroid hormones during childhood are unclear. Therefore, we studied potential hormonal influences in children before the appearance of pubic hair (onset of pubarche). Excretions of major glucocorticoid metabolites (C21), cortisol, sum of adrenarchal dehydroepiandrosterone and its immediate 16-hydroxylated metabolites (DHEA&M), and 5-androstene-3beta,17beta-diol (hermaphrodiol) were analyzed in a cross-sectional study in 24-hour urine samples of 109 healthy boys and girls, aged 6-13 years, using steroid profiling by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Total and trabecular volumetric bone mineral densities, bone mineral content (BMC) and bone strength strain index were determined with peripheral quantitative computed tomography at the distal forearm. In multiple regression analyses significant associations with the metaphyseal radius were seen for grip force, age, or BMI depending on gender and bone variable analyzed. DHEA&M did not contribute to the explanation of the variance of any bone variable. However, hermaphrodiol positively explained a significant part of variation of bone mineral densities, and BMC (p < 0.01) in girls. Significantly negative associations with all bone variables were seen in boys for cortisol. The steroid hormones, cortisol and hermaphrodiol, in their physiological ranges, but not the adrenarche marker DHEA&M, appear to associate with metaphyseal bone in a sex-dependent manner during childhood. Copyright (c) 2004 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Metaphysical Underdetermination and Logical Determination: the Case of Quantum Mechanics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arenhart, Jonas R. B.

2014-03-01

The `underdetermination of metaphysics by the physics' is the thesis that our best scientific theories do not uniquely determine their ontologies. Non-relativistic quantum mechanics is famously thought to exemplify this kind of underdetermination: it may be seen as compatible with both an ontology of individual objects and with an ontology of non-individual objects. A possible way out of the dilema thus created consists in adopting some version of Ontic Structural Realism (OSR), a view according to which the metaphysically relevant aspect of the theory is its structure, not the nature of the objects dealt with. According to OSR, particular objects may be dispensed with (eliminated or re-conceptualized) in favor of the structure of the theory. In this paper we shall argue that the underdetermination of metaphysics by the physics is a consequence of a too strict naturalism in ontology. As a result, when a mitigated ontological naturalism is taken into account, underdetermination does not appear to have such dark consequences for object-oriented ontologies in quantum mechanics.

Johann Christoph Sturm's universal mathematics and metaphysics (German Title: Universalmathematik und Metaphysik bei Johann Christoph Sturm)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leinsle, Ulrich G.

In order to understand Sturm's concept of a universal mathematics as a replacement or complement of metaphysics, one first has to examine the evolution of the idea of a mathesis universalis up to Sturm, and his concept of metaphysics. According to the understanding of those times, natural theology belongs to metaphysics. The last section is concerned with Sturm's statements on the existence of God and his assessments for a physico-theology.

Psychotherapy: What's Metaphysical Got to Do With It?

PubMed

Sansone, Randy A; Sansone, Lori A

2009-12-01

Clinicians have a number of treatment options for dealing with the emotional ills of patients, including psychoeducation, psychotherapy, and pharmacotherapy. However, after years of experience in the clinical field, we have recognized that these treatment options may not be sufficient to adequately address the problems of some patients. We have found that adding a metaphysical/spiritual component may be helpful, particularly for those patients with histories of childhood trauma. In this edition of The Interface, we discuss four metaphysical techniques for facilitating patient healing-1) refocusing on the present, 2) reframing adversity, 3) practicing surrender, and 4) meditation. These approaches can be mutually integrated and compliment a psychological treatment in either the psychiatric or primary care setting, regardless of whether or not the patient has formal religious beliefs.

The metaphysical lessons of synthetic biology and neuroscience.

PubMed

Baertschi, Bernard

2015-01-01

In this paper, I examine some important metaphysical lessons that are often presented as derived from two new scientific disciplines: synthetic biology and neuroscience. I analyse four of them: the nature of life, the existence of a soul (the mind-body problem), personhood, and free will. Many caveats are in order, and each 'advance' or each case should be assessed for itself. I conclude that a main lesson can nevertheless be learned: in conjunction with modern science, neuroscience and synthetic biology allow us to enrich old metaphysical debates, to deepen and even renew them. In particular, it becomes less and less plausible to consider life, mind, person, and agency as non-natural or non-physical entities. Copyright © 2015 Académie des sciences. Published by Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.

Metaphyseal osteopathy in three Australian Kelpie siblings.

PubMed

Greenwell, C M; Brain, P H; Dunn, A L

2014-04-01

Metaphyseal osteopathy (MO) was diagnosed in three Australian Kelpie puppies that were presented for veterinary assessment of lameness. The three puppies were siblings. Each was from a different litter by the same breeding pair. The puppy in case one was seen by the authors, and the puppies in cases two and three were patients at other veterinary hospitals. However, the medical records and radiographs were examined and reviewed for this report. Radiographic investigation of the lameness revealed pathognomonic appearance of MO affecting the metaphyseal region of the long bones in all three puppies. The diagnosis was confirmed on histopathology in one patient. MO is considered a disease of large and giant-breed dogs, being rarely reported in non-large-breed dogs, and has not been reported in the Australian Kelpie, which is considered a medium-breed dog. This case series suggests a previously unreported breed predisposition to MO in the Australian Kelpie. © 2014 Australian Veterinary Association.

Foucauldian diagnostics: space, time, and the metaphysics of medicine.

PubMed

Bishop, Jeffrey P

2009-08-01

This essay places Foucault's work into a philosophical context, recognizing that Foucault is difficult to place and demonstrates that Foucault remains in the Kantian tradition of philosophy, even if he sits at the margins of that tradition. For Kant, the forms of intuition-space and time-are the a priori conditions of the possibility of human experience and knowledge. For Foucault, the a priori conditions are political space and historical time. Foucault sees political space as central to understanding both the subject and objects of medicine, psychiatry, and the social sciences. Through this analysis one can see that medicine's metaphysics is a metaphysics of efficient causation, where medicine's objects are subjected to mechanisms of efficient control.

[The mark of envy: metaphysics and embryology according to Descartes].

PubMed

Gaudemard, Lynda

2012-01-01

This paper explores the interaction between medicine and metaphysics in modern natural philosophy and especially in Descartes' philosophy. I argue that Descartes hypothetical account of birthmarks in connection with his embryology provides an argumentative proof of the metaphysical necessity of a substantial union between mind and body, which however does not threaten his doctrine of the real distinction between these two substances. It would appear that his argument relies on a temporal conception of alethic modalities and provides a new answer to Henricus Regius who in 1641 claimed that, for Descartes, the human being is an ensper accidens.

Defining human death: an intersection of bioethics and metaphysics.

PubMed

Manninen, Bertha Alvarez

2009-01-01

For many years now, bioethicists, physicians, and others in the medical field have disagreed concerning how to best define human death. Different theories range from the Harvard Criteria of Brain Death, which defines death as the cessation of all brain activity, to the Cognitive Criteria, which is based on the loss of almost all core mental properties, e.g., memory, self-consciousness, moral agency, and the capacity for reason. A middle ground is the Irreversibility Standard, which defines death as occurring when the capacity for consciousness is forever lost. Given all these different theories, how can we begin to approach solving the issue of how to define death? I propose that a necessary starting point is discussing an even more fundamental question that properly belongs in the philosophical field of metaphysics: we must first address the issue of diachronic identity over time, and the persistence conditions of personal identity. In this paper, I illustrate the interdependent relationship between this metaphysical question and questions concerning the definition of death. I also illustrate how it is necessary to antecedently attend to the metaphysical issue of defining death before addressing certain issues in medical ethics, e.g., whether it is morally permissible to euthanize patients in persistent vegetative states or procure organs from anencephalic infants.

Skull Base and Cervical Spine Involvement in Jansen Syndrome: Case Report.

PubMed

Khan, Rabia; Oakes, Peter; Fisahn, Christian; Burgess, Brittni; Kirkpatrick, Kristina M; Oskouian, Rod J; Tubbs, R Shane; Blount, Jeffrey P

2017-01-01

Metaphyseal chondrodysplasia, Jansen type (JMD), is a rare form of endochondral ossification resulting in short limbs and dwarfism. A child presented with JMD and was found to have involvement of the cervical spine. Conservative treatment was given to the patient who at the long-term follow-up continues to have no neurological findings or cervical spine instability. To our knowledge, this case represents the first report of involvement of the superior cervical spine in a patient with JMD. Clinicians should be aware of this potential albeit rare finding. © 2017 S. Karger AG, Basel.

The Role of Metaphysical Naturalism in Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mahner, Martin

2012-01-01

This paper defends the view that metaphysical naturalism is a constitutive ontological principle of science in that the general empirical methods of science, such as observation, measurement and experiment, and thus the very production of empirical evidence, presuppose a no-supernature principle. It examines the consequences of metaphysical…

Conscience claims, metaphysics, and avoiding an LGBT eugenic.

PubMed

Brummett, Abram

2018-06-01

Novel assisted reproductive technologies (ART) are poised to present our society with strange new ethical questions, such as whether lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) couples should be allowed to produce children biologically related to both parents, or whether trans-women who want to experience childbirth should be allowed to receive uterine transplants. Clinicians opposed to offering such technologies to LGBT couples on moral grounds are likely to seek legal shelter through the conscience clauses enshrined in U.S. law. This paper begins by briefly discussing some novel ART on the horizon and noting that it is unclear whether current conscience clauses will permit fertility clinics to deny such services to LGBT individuals. A compromise approach to conscience is any view that sees the value of respecting conscience claims within limits. I describe and critique the constraints proposed in the recent work of Wicclair, NeJaime and Siegel as ultimately begging the question. My purpose is to strengthen their arguments by suggesting that in the controversial situations that elicit claims of conscience, bioethicists should engage with the metaphysical claims in play. I argue that conscience claims against LGBT individuals ought to be constrained because the underlying metaphysic-that God has decreed the LGBT lifestyle to be sinful-is highly implausible from the perspective of a naturalized metaphysic, which ought to be the lens through which we evaluate conscience claims. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Predictive Power of Distal Radial Metaphyseal Tenderness for Diagnosing Occult Fracture.

PubMed

Glickel, Steven Z; Hinojosa, Lauren; Eden, Claire M; Balutis, Elaine; Barron, O Alton; Catalano, Louis W

2017-10-01

To correlate the physical examination finding of distal radial metaphyseal tenderness with plain radiographic and magnetic resonance imaging after acute wrist injury to diagnose occult distal radius fractures. We hypothesized that persistent distal radial metaphyseal tenderness 2 weeks after acute injuries is predictive of an occult fracture. Twenty-nine adult patients presented, after acute trauma, with distal radial metaphyseal tenderness and initial plain radiographs and/or fluoroscopic images that did not show a distal radius fracture. Patients were reevaluated clinically and radiographically at approximately 2 weeks after initial presentation. Patients with persistent distal radial tenderness and negative radiographs underwent magnetic resonance imaging to definitively diagnose an occult distal radius fracture. We calculated the sensitivity and positive predictive value for persistent distal radial metaphyseal tenderness using a 95% confidence interval and standard formulas. Both radiographs and magnetic resonance imaging were used as our endpoint diagnosis for a distal radius fracture. We diagnosed 28 occult distal radius fractures, 8 by follow-up radiograph and 20 by magnetic resonance imaging. The positive predictive value for patients who completed the protocol was 96%. One patient who did not have an occult distal radius fracture had a fracture of the ulnar styloid. Tenderness of the distal radial metaphysis after wrist injury is strongly suggestive of a distal radius fracture despite both normal plain radiographs and fluoroscopic images. Diagnostic III. Copyright © 2017 American Society for Surgery of the Hand. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Metaphysical Beliefs as Predictors of Death Anxiety.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Naidu, R. K.; Sinha, Ambalika

1992-01-01

Investigated impact of four metaphysical beliefs (existence of God, attributes of God, afterlife, consequences of suffering) on death anxiety. Householders (n=120), one-half of whom lived in high exposure to death sight areas, responded to pictures depicting death and nondeath scenes to measure death anxiety. Subjects from low exposure areas…

The metaphysics of quantum mechanics: Modal interpretations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gluck, Stuart Murray

2004-11-01

This dissertation begins with the argument that a preferred way of doing metaphysics is through philosophy of physics. An understanding of quantum physics is vital to answering questions such as: What counts as an individual object in physical ontology? Is the universe fundamentally indeterministic? Are indiscernibles identical? This study explores how the various modal interpretations of quantum mechanics answer these sorts of questions; modal accounts are one of the two classes of interpretations along with so-called collapse accounts. This study suggests a new alternative within the class of modal views that yields a more plausible ontology, one in which the Principle of the Identity of Indisceribles is necessarily true. Next, it shows that modal interpretations can consistently deny that the universe must be fundamentally indeterministic so long as they accept certain other metaphysical commitments: either a perfect initial distribution of states in the universe or some form of primitive dispositional properties. Finally, the study sketches out a future research project for modal interpretations based on developing quantified quantum logic.

A systematic review of current osteoporotic metaphyseal fracture animal models.

PubMed

Wong, R M Y; Choy, M H V; Li, M C M; Leung, K-S; K-H Chow, S; Cheung, W-H; Cheng, J C Y

2018-01-01

The treatment of osteoporotic fractures is a major challenge, and the enhancement of healing is critical as a major goal in modern fracture management. Most osteoporotic fractures occur at the metaphyseal bone region but few models exist and the healing is still poorly understood. A systematic review was conducted to identify and analyse the appropriateness of current osteoporotic metaphyseal fracture animal models. A literature search was performed on the Pubmed, Embase, and Web of Science databases, and relevant articles were selected. A total of 19 studies were included. Information on the animal, induction of osteoporosis, fracture technique, site and fixation, healing results, and utility of the model were extracted. Fracture techniques included drill hole defects (3 of 19), bone defects (3 of 19), partial osteotomy (1 of 19), and complete osteotomies (12 of 19). Drill hole models and incomplete osteotomy models are easy to perform and allow the study of therapeutic agents but do not represent the usual clinical setting. Additionally, biomaterials can be filled into drill hole defects for analysis. Complete osteotomy models are most commonly used and are best suited for the investigation of therapeutic drugs or noninvasive interventions. The metaphyseal defect models allow the study of biomaterials, which are associated with complex and comminuted osteoporotic fractures. For a clinically relevant model, we propose that an animal model should satisfy the following criteria to study osteoporotic fracture healing: 1) induction of osteoporosis, 2) complete osteotomy or defect at the metaphysis unilaterally, and 3) internal fixation. Cite this article : R. M. Y. Wong, M. H. V. Choy, M. C. M. Li, K-S. Leung, S. K-H. Chow, W-H. Cheung, J. C. Y. Cheng. A systematic review of current osteoporotic metaphyseal fracture animal models. Bone Joint Res 2018;7:6-11. DOI: 10.1302/2046-3758.71.BJR-2016-0334.R2. © 2018 Wong et al.

Beware of mereologists bearing gifts: prolegomena to a medical metaphysics.

PubMed

Khushf, George

2013-10-01

This essay considers implications of formal mereologies and ontologies for medical metaphysics. Edward Fried's extensional mereological account of the human body is taken as representative of a prominent strand in analytic metaphysics that has close affinities with medical positivism. I show why such accounts fail. First, I consider how Fried attempts to make sense of the medical case of Barney Clark, the first recipient of an artificial heart, and show that his analytic metaphysical categories do not have the right kind of fit with the case. A proper medical metaphysic should involve a richer two way dialogue with medicine, and it should not just "apply" formal accounts worked out in other settings. Second, I argue that any effort to account for real wholes with extensional mereological sums requires all sorts of ad hoc, supplementary mechanisms that do the real work, and the full repertoire of these mechanisms involves inconsistencies and semantic shifts. Finally, I consider an alternative strand of work on non-extensional whole/part relations that is closer to medicine and that can deepen reflection on some core problems in bioethics, for example, associated with the determination of death when an organism ceases to function as a whole. In addition to the utility such formal ontologies have for addressing traditional problems such as the determination of death, philosophers of medicine should appreciate the increasingly influential role such formal tools are playing in the development of data system ontologies. Assumptions integral to these ontologies have far reaching implications for the way future research and practice in medicine will be conducted, and much greater critical reflection is needed on the full range of issues associated with the development and use of such medical ontologies.

The metaphysical club at the Johns Hopkins University (1879-1885).

PubMed

Behrens, Peter J

2005-11-01

Of the earliest American universities, The Johns Hopkins in Baltimore holds a unique position for psychology. At Hopkins, many of America's first psychologists received their graduate training. Of special interest is the Hopkins Metaphysical Club, organized in 1879 by Charles Sanders Peirce. It provided a forum for research and scholarship by faculty and students. Papers related to topics of the "new" psychology began to appear in 1883, about the time G. Stanley Hall was given a 3-year appointment at Hopkins. When Peirce departed Hopkins in 1885, Hall was free to develop psychology in his image and disbanded the club. Nevertheless, the Metaphysical Club played an important role in the emergence of American scientific psychology.

Clinical and molecular diagnosis of a cartilage-hair hypoplasia with IGF-1 deficiency.

PubMed

Castilla-Cortázar, Inma; Rodríguez De Ita, Julieta; Martín-Estal, Irene; Castorena, Fabiola; Aguirre, Gabriel A; García de la Garza, Rocío; Elizondo, Martha I

2017-02-01

Cartilage-hair hypoplasia syndrome (CHH) is a rare autosomal recessive condition characterized by metaphyseal chondrodysplasia and characteristic hair, together with a myriad of other symptoms, being most common immunodeficiency and gastrointestinal complications. A 15-year-old Mexican male initially diagnosed with Hirschsprung disease and posterior immunodeficiency, presents to our department for genetic and complementary evaluation for suspected CHH. Physical, biochemical, and genetic studies confirmed CHH together with IGF-1 deficiency. For this reason, we propose IGF-1 replacement therapy for its well-known actions on hematopoiesis, immune function and maturation, and metabolism. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Metaphyseal osteopathy-like disease in two sibling kittens.

PubMed

Pantaleo, Valeria; D'Ettorre, Paolo; Caldin, Marco; Vezzoni, Aldo

2016-01-01

This report describes the diagnosis and treatment of a growth plate disturbance resembling canine metaphyseal osteopathy in two, two-month-old, sibling, intact, female Domestic Shorthair cats. Clinical signs and radiographic lesions resolved spontaneously after three months. Follow-up examination at six months of age showed complete recovery and no radiographic abnormalities.

Development and Verification of Novel Porous Titanium Metaphyseal Cones for Revision Total Knee Arthroplasty.

PubMed

Faizan, Ahmad; Bhowmik-Stoker, Manoshi; Alipit, Vincent; Kirk, Amanda E; Krebs, Viktor E; Harwin, Steven F; Meneghini, R Michael

2017-06-01

Porous metaphyseal cones are widely used in revision knee arthroplasty. A new system of porous titanium metaphyseal cones has been designed based on the femoral and tibial morphology derived from a computed tomography-based anatomical database. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the initial mechanical stability of the new porous titanium revision cone system by measuring the micromotion under physiologic loading compared with a widely-used existing porous tantalum metaphyseal cone system. The new cones were designed to precisely fit the femoral and tibial anatomy, and 3D printing technology was used to manufacture these porous titanium cones. The stability of the new titanium cones and the widely-used tantalum cones were compared under physiologic loading conditions in bench top test model. The stability of the new titanium cones was either equivalent or better than the tantalum cones. The new titanium femoral cone construct had significantly less micromotion compared with the traditional femoral cone construct in 5 of the 12 directions measured (P < .05), whereas no statistical difference was found in 7 directions. The new porous titanium metaphyseal tibial cones demonstrated less micromotion in medial varus/valgus (P = .004) and posterior compressive micromotion (P = .002) compared with the traditional porous tantalum system. The findings of this biomechanical study demonstrate satisfactory mechanical stability of an anatomical-based porous titanium metaphyseal cone system for femoral and tibial bone loss as measured by micromotion under physiologic loading. The new cone design, in combination with instrumentation that facilitates surgical efficiency, is encouraging. Long-term clinical follow-up is warranted. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Metaphysical accounts of the zygote as a person and the veto power of facts.

PubMed

Bole, T J

1989-12-01

That the soul of a human person is infused at conception is a metaphysical claim. But given its traditional articulation, it has the empirical consequence that the zygote must have a substantial continuity with the adult person, a continuity which is already determined at conception. This empirical consequence is contradicted by the fact that the zygote may become a hydatidiform mole, or several persons. The metaphysical claim is falsified by the facts.

The will: from metaphysical freedom to normative functionalism.

PubMed

Felthous, Alan R

2008-01-01

Free will is regarded by some as the most and by others as the least relevant concept for criminal responsibility. Contributions from religious and philosophical thinkers over the classical and medieval Christian eras demonstrate that, despite the passionate and historically consequential debates over the meaning of "freedom," the unifying theme that joined the will with the intellect remained persistent and pervasive. Leading historical jurists in England eventually dropped the descriptor "free," but retained the central importance of the will to criminal responsibility and emphasized its dependence on the intellect to function properly. Modern rationalist philosophers denied the will's metaphysical freedom, but not its existence. Today the neurosciences reveal more and more about how the will functions, even as lawyers and psychiatrists hesitate to utter the word. In properly avoiding metaphysical freedom within forensic inquiry and discourse, it is a grave conceptual mistake to overlook the will itself. Once greater conceptual clarity on the empirical nature of the will is achieved and accepted, the law itself could rediscover the core mental faculty behind human agency, the will.

Phenotypic expressions of a Gly154Arg mutation in type II collagen in two unrelated patients with spondyloepimetaphyseal dysplasia (SEMD)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kaitila, I.; Marttinen, E.; Koerkkoe, J.

1996-05-03

Type II collagenopathies consist of chondrodysplasia ranging from lethal to mild in severity. A large number of mutations has been found in the COL2A1 gene. Glycine substitutions have been the most common types of mutation. Genotype-phenotype correlations in type II collagenopathies have not been established, partly because of insufficient clinical and radiographic description of the patients. We found a glycine-to-arginine substitution at position 154 in type II collagen in two unrelated isolated propositi with spondyloepimetaphyseal dysplasia and provide a comparative clinical and radiographic analysis from birth to young adulthood for this condition. The clinical phenotype was disproportionate short stature withmore » varus/valgus deformities of the lower limbs requiring corrective osteotomies, and lumbar lordosis. The skeletal radiographs showed an evolution from short tubular bones, delayed epiphyseal development, and mild vertebral involvement to severe metaphyseal dysplasia with dappling irregularities, and hip {open_quotes}dysplasia.{close_quotes} The metaphyseal abnormalities disappeared by adulthood. 27 refs., 11 figs., 1 tab.« less

Ontological engineering versus metaphysics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tataj, Emanuel; Tomanek, Roman; Mulawka, Jan

2011-10-01

It has been recognized that ontologies are a semantic version of world wide web and can be found in knowledge-based systems. A recent time survey of this field also suggest that practical artificial intelligence systems may be motivated by this research. Especially strong artificial intelligence as well as concept of homo computer can also benefit from their use. The main objective of this contribution is to present and review already created ontologies and identify the main advantages which derive such approach for knowledge management systems. We would like to present what ontological engineering borrows from metaphysics and what a feedback it can provide to natural language processing, simulations and modelling. The potential topics of further development from philosophical point of view is also underlined.

Typology reconfigured: from the metaphysics of essentialism to the epistemology of representation.

PubMed

Love, Alan C

2009-06-01

The goal of this paper is to encourage a reconfiguration of the discussion about typology in biology away from the metaphysics of essentialism and toward the epistemology of classifying natural phenomena for the purposes of empirical inquiry. First, I briefly review arguments concerning 'typological thinking', essentialism, species, and natural kinds, highlighting their predominantly metaphysical nature. Second, I use a distinction between the aims, strategies, and tactics of science to suggest how a shift from metaphysics to epistemology might be accomplished. Typological thinking can be understood as a scientific tactic that involves representing natural phenomena using idealizations and approximations, which facilitates explanation, investigation, and theorizing via abstraction and generalization. Third, a variety of typologies from different areas of biology are introduced to emphasize the diversity of this representational reasoning. One particular example is used to examine how there can be epistemological conflict between typology and evolutionary analysis. This demonstrates that alternative strategies of typological thinking arise due to the divergent explanatory goals of researchers working in different disciplines with disparate methodologies. I conclude with several research questions that emerge from an epistemological reconfiguration of typology.

Severe X-linked chondrodysplasia punctata in nine new female fetuses.

PubMed

Lefebvre, Mathilde; Dufernez, Fabienne; Bruel, Ange-Line; Gonzales, Marie; Aral, Bernard; Saint-Onge, Judith; Gigot, Nadège; Desir, Julie; Daelemans, Caroline; Jossic, Frédérique; Schmitt, Sébastien; Mangione, Raphaele; Pelluard, Fanny; Vincent-Delorme, Catherine; Labaune, Jean-Marc; Bigi, Nicole; D'Olne, Dominique; Delezoide, Anne-Lise; Toutain, Annick; Blesson, Sophie; Cormier-Daire, Valérie; Thevenon, Julien; El Chehadeh, Salima; Masurel-Paulet, Alice; Joyé, Nicole; Vibert-Guigue, Claude; Rigonnot, Luc; Rousseau, Thierry; Vabres, Pierre; Hervé, Philippe; Lamazière, Antonin; Rivière, Jean-Baptiste; Faivre, Laurence; Laurent, Nicole; Thauvin-Robinet, Christel

2015-07-01

Conradi-Hünermann-Happle [X-linked dominant chondrodysplasia punctata 2 (CDPX2)] syndrome is a rare X-linked dominant skeletal dysplasia usually lethal in men while affected women show wide clinical heterogeneity. Different EBP mutations have been reported. Severe female cases have rarely been reported, with only six antenatal presentations. To better characterize the phenotype in female fetuses, we included nine antenatally diagnosed cases of women with EBP mutations. All cases were de novo except for two fetuses with an affected mother and one case of germinal mosaicism. The mean age at diagnosis was 22 weeks of gestation. The ultrasound features mainly included bone abnormalities: shortening (8/9 cases) and bowing of the long bones (5/9), punctuate epiphysis (7/9) and an irregular aspect of the spine (5/9). Postnatal X-rays and examination showed ichthyosis (8/9) and epiphyseal stippling (9/9), with frequent asymmetric short and bowed long bones. The X-inactivation pattern of the familial case revealed skewed X-inactivation in the mildly symptomatic mother and random X-inactivation in the severe fetal case. Differently affected skin samples of the same fetus revealed different patterns of X-inactivation. Prenatal detection of asymmetric shortening and bowing of the long bones and cartilage stippling should raise the possibility of CPDX2 in female fetuses, especially because the majority of such cases involve de novo mutations. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Probing the Limits of Reality: The Metaphysics in Science Fiction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taylor, John L.

2003-01-01

Addresses metaphysical questions concerning the ultimate structure of reality and discusses scientific nature. Suggests that the world cannot afford to neglect the role of conceptual analysis in thinking critically about the possibilities that science fiction claims to describe. (Author/KHR)

Indentation Schmid factor and orientation dependence of nanoindentation pop-in behavior of NiAl single crystals

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Li, Tianlei; Gao, Yanfei; Bei, Hongbin

2011-01-01

Instrumented nanoindentation techniques have been widely used to characterize the small-scale mechanical behavior of materials. The elastic-plastic transition during nanoindentation is often indicated by a sudden displacement burst (pop-in) in the measured load-displacement curve. In defect-free single crystals, the pop-in is believed to be the result of homogeneous dislocation nucleation because the maximum shear stress corresponding to the pop-in load approaches the theoretical strength of the materials and because the statistical distribution of pop-in stresses is consistent with what is expected for a thermally activated process of homogeneous dislocation nucleation. This paper investigates whether this process is affected by crystallographymore » and stress components other than the resolved shear stress. A Stroh formalism coupled with the two-dimensional Fourier transformation is used to derive the analytical stress fields in elastically anisotropic solids under Hertzian contact, which allows the determination of an indentation Schmid factor, namely, the ratio of maximum resolved shear stress to the maximum contact pressure. Nanoindentation tests were conducted on B2-structured NiAl single crystals with different surface normal directions. This material was chosen because it deforms at room temperature by {110}<001> slip and thus avoids the complexity of partial dislocation nucleation. Good agreement is obtained between the experimental data and the theoretically predicted orientation dependence of pop-in loads based on the indentation Schmid factor. Pop-in load is lowest for indentation directions close to <111> and highest for those close to <001>. In nanoindentation, since the stress component normal to the slip plane is typically comparable in magnitude to the resolved shear stress, we find that the pressure sensitivity of homogeneous dislocation nucleation cannot be determined from pop-in tests. Our statistical measurements generally confirm the

Being qua becoming: Aristotle's "Metaphysics", quantum physics, and Process Philosophy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, David Kelley

In Aristotle's First Philosophy, science and philosophy were partners, but with the rise of empiricism, went their separate ways. Metaphysics combined the rational and irrational (i.e. final cause/unmoved mover) elements of existence to equate being with substance, postulating prime matter as pure potential that was actuated by form to create everything. Modern science reveres pure reason and postulates its theory of being by a rigorous scientific methodology. The Standard Model defines matter as energy formed into fundamental particles via forces contained in fields. Science has proved Aristotle's universe wrong in many ways, but as physics delves deeper into the quantum world, empiricism is reaching its limits concerning fundamental questions of existence. To achieve its avowed mission of explaining existence completely, physics must reunite with philosophy in a metascience modeled on the First Philosophy of Aristotle. One theory of being that integrates quantum physics and metaphysics is Process Philosophy.

Patients' substantialization of disease, the hybrid symptom and metaphysical care.

PubMed

Pârvan, Alexandra

2015-06-01

In the context of current scholarship concerned with facilitating integration between the biomedical and the patient-centred models of care, the article suggests that disease brings about an ontological disruption in patients, which is not directly addressed in either model, and may interfere with treatment and therapy outcomes if not met with a type of care termed here as 'metaphysical'. The receipt of diagnosis and medical care can give patients the sense that they are ontologically diminished, or less of a human, and along with physicians' approaches to and discourses about disease, may prompt them to seek ontological restoration or security in the same way as psychologically traumatized patients sometimes do: by treating the disease and/or the experience of harm associated with it as a thing that exists per se. I call this 'substantialization' of disease (or harm) and draw on Augustine's theory of non-substantial deficiencies (physiological and moral) and on Plato's and Plotinus's different takes on such defects in order to discuss what substantialization can do for patients. Based on literature that examines patients' ways of talking about and living with their disease, I speculate that substantialization can generate a 'hybrid symptom', consisting in patterns of exercising agency which may predispose to non-adherence. Ways in which physicians could provide metaphysical care are proposed, along with an understanding of chronic patients as hybrid ontological and agentic units, which draws on theories of enactive cognition. I opine that metaphysical care may facilitate integration between the depersonalized and personalized models of care. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Metaphysics of the principle of least action

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Terekhovich, Vladislav

2018-05-01

Despite the importance of the variational principles of physics, there have been relatively few attempts to consider them for a realistic framework. In addition to the old teleological question, this paper continues the recent discussion regarding the modal involvement of the principle of least action and its relations with the Humean view of the laws of nature. The reality of possible paths in the principle of least action is examined from the perspectives of the contemporary metaphysics of modality and Leibniz's concept of essences or possibles striving for existence. I elaborate a modal interpretation of the principle of least action that replaces a classical representation of a system's motion along a single history in the actual modality by simultaneous motions along an infinite set of all possible histories in the possible modality. This model is based on an intuition that deep ontological connections exist between the possible paths in the principle of least action and possible quantum histories in the Feynman path integral. I interpret the action as a physical measure of the essence of every possible history. Therefore only one actual history has the highest degree of the essence and minimal action. To address the issue of necessity, I assume that the principle of least action has a general physical necessity and lies between the laws of motion with a limited physical necessity and certain laws with a metaphysical necessity.

Neutral Sphingomyelinase (SMPD3) Deficiency Causes a Novel Form of Chondrodysplasia and Dwarfism That Is Rescued by Col2A1-Driven smpd3 Transgene Expression

PubMed Central

Stoffel, Wilhelm; Jenke, Britta; Holz, Barbara; Binczek, Erika; Günter, Robert Heinz; Knifka, Jutta; Koebke, Jürgen; Niehoff, Anja

2007-01-01

Neutral sphingomyelinase SMPD3 (nSMase2), a sphingomyelin phosphodiesterase, resides in the Golgi apparatus and is ubiquitously expressed. Gene ablation of smpd3 causes a generalized prolongation of the cell cycle that leads to late embryonic and juvenile hypoplasia because of the SMPD3 deficiency in hypothalamic neurosecretory neurons. We show here that this novel form of combined pituitary hormone deficiency is characterized by the perturbation of the hypothalamus-pituitary growth axis, associated with retarded chondrocyte development and enchondral ossification in the epiphyseal growth plate. To study the contribution by combined pituitary hormone deficiency and by the local SMPD3 deficiency in the epiphyseal growth plate to the skeletal phenotype, we introduced the full-length smpd3 cDNA transgene under the control of the chondrocyte-specific promoter Col2a1. A complete rescue of the smpd3−/− mouse from severe short-limbed skeletal dysplasia was achieved. The smpd3−/− mouse shares its dwarf and chondrodysplasia phenotype with the most common form of human achondrodysplasia, linked to the fibroblast-growth-factor receptor 3 locus, not linked to deficits in the hypothalamic-pituitary epiphyseal growth plate axis. The rescue of smpd3 in vivo has implications for future research into dwarfism and, particularly, growth and development of the skeletal system and for current screening and future treatment of combined dwarfism and chondrodysplasia. PMID:17591962

Neutral sphingomyelinase (SMPD3) deficiency causes a novel form of chondrodysplasia and dwarfism that is rescued by Col2A1-driven smpd3 transgene expression.

PubMed

Stoffel, Wilhelm; Jenke, Britta; Holz, Barbara; Binczek, Erika; Günter, Robert Heinz; Knifka, Jutta; Koebke, Jürgen; Niehoff, Anja

2007-07-01

Neutral sphingomyelinase SMPD3 (nSMase2), a sphingomyelin phosphodiesterase, resides in the Golgi apparatus and is ubiquitously expressed. Gene ablation of smpd3 causes a generalized prolongation of the cell cycle that leads to late embryonic and juvenile hypoplasia because of the SMPD3 deficiency in hypothalamic neurosecretory neurons. We show here that this novel form of combined pituitary hormone deficiency is characterized by the perturbation of the hypothalamus-pituitary growth axis, associated with retarded chondrocyte development and enchondral ossification in the epiphyseal growth plate. To study the contribution by combined pituitary hormone deficiency and by the local SMPD3 deficiency in the epiphyseal growth plate to the skeletal phenotype, we introduced the full-length smpd3 cDNA transgene under the control of the chondrocyte-specific promoter Col2a1. A complete rescue of the smpd3(-/-) mouse from severe short-limbed skeletal dysplasia was achieved. The smpd3(-/-) mouse shares its dwarf and chondrodysplasia phenotype with the most common form of human achondrodysplasia, linked to the fibroblast-growth-factor receptor 3 locus, not linked to deficits in the hypothalamic-pituitary epiphyseal growth plate axis. The rescue of smpd3 in vivo has implications for future research into dwarfism and, particularly, growth and development of the skeletal system and for current screening and future treatment of combined dwarfism and chondrodysplasia.

Progressive joint limitations as the first alarming signs in a boy with short - limbed dwarfism: A case report.

PubMed

Al Kaissi, Ali; Klaushofer, Klaus; Grill, Franz

2008-08-19

Contracture is a condition of abnormal shortening or shrinkage of a muscle, and or a tendon often with persistent flexion or distortion at a joint. Careful documentation of the kind of contractures encountered in different paediatric disorders is important in distinguishing a specific subtype. Achondroplasia has been considered as the most common short-limbed dwarfism syndrome, but there are a variety of other syndromes within this category, and other types of limb shortening. We report on a 5-year-old boy of Austrian origin who manifests progressive joint limitations in connection with a dysplastic form of short-limbed dwarfism namely chondrodysplasia punctata-tibial-metacarpal-type. Progressive joint limitations of maximal intensity over the hip, and the ankle joints were the main presenting features. Osteochondrodysplasias involve abnormal bone or cartilage growth leading to skeletal maldevelopment, often short-limbed dwarfism. Diagnosis is by physical examination, radiographic documentation, and, in some cases, genetic testing. In patients with chondrodysplasia punctata, early life radiographic examination is fundamental, since resolution of the punctate calcifications leaving abnormal epiphyses and flared and irregular metaphyses after age one to three years seems to be characteristic.

Progressive joint limitations as the first alarming signs in a boy with short – limbed dwarfism: A case report

PubMed Central

Al Kaissi, Ali; Klaushofer, Klaus; Grill, Franz

2008-01-01

Introduction Contracture is a condition of abnormal shortening or shrinkage of a muscle, and or a tendon often with persistent flexion or distortion at a joint. Careful documentation of the kind of contractures encountered in different paediatric disorders is important in distinguishing a specific subtype. Achondroplasia has been considered as the most common short-limbed dwarfism syndrome, but there are a variety of other syndromes within this category, and other types of limb shortening. Case presentation We report on a 5-year-old boy of Austrian origin who manifests progressive joint limitations in connection with a dysplastic form of short-limbed dwarfism namely chondrodysplasia punctata-tibial-metacarpal-type. Progressive joint limitations of maximal intensity over the hip, and the ankle joints were the main presenting features. Conclusion Osteochondrodysplasias involve abnormal bone or cartilage growth leading to skeletal maldevelopment, often short-limbed dwarfism. Diagnosis is by physical examination, radiographic documentation, and, in some cases, genetic testing. In patients with chondrodysplasia punctata, early life radiographic examination is fundamental, since resolution of the punctate calcifications leaving abnormal epiphyses and flared and irregular metaphyses after age one to three years seems to be characteristic. PMID:18713450

Reality, locality and all that: "experimental metaphysics" and the quantum foundations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cavalcanti, Eric G.

2008-10-01

In recent decades there has been a resurge of interest in the foundations of quantum theory, partly motivated by new experimental techniques, partly by the emerging field of quantum information science. Old questions, asked since the seminal article by Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen (EPR), are being revisited. The work of John Bell has changed the direction of investigation by recognising that those fundamental philosophical questions can have, after all, input from experiment. Abner Shimony has aptly termed this new field of enquiry "experimental metaphysics". The objective of this Thesis is to contribute to that body of research, by formalising old concepts, proposing new ones, and finding new results in well-studied areas. Without losing from sight that the appeal of experimental metaphysics comes from the adjective, every major result is followed by clear experimental proposals for quantum-atom optical setups.

Modes of Learning: Whitehead's Metaphysics and the Stages of Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Allan, George

2012-01-01

Educators are familiar with Alfred North Whitehead's three stages of education: romance, precision, and generalization. Philosophers are familiar with his metaphysical theories about the primacy of temporal processes. In "Modes of Learning," George Allan brings these two sides of Whitehead's thought together for the first time in a book…

Pyle metaphyseal dysplasia in an African child: Case report and review of the literature.

PubMed

Wonkam, A; Makubalo, N; Roberts, T; Chetty, M

2016-05-25

Pyle disease (OMIM 265900), also known as metaphyseal dysplasia, is a rare autosomal recessive disorder with no known gene mutation. We report a case of Pyle disease in a 7-year-old African boy of mixed ancestry who presented with finger and wrist fractures following minor trauma. The radiological findings revealed abnormally broad metaphyses of the tubular bones, known as Erlenmeyer-flask bone deformity, and mild cranial sclerosis, both hallmarks of the condition. We report the first case in a patient with African ancestry, which could help in the gene discovery of this rare autosomal recessive skeletal dysplasia with unknown mutations.

Lower Trabecular Volumetric BMD at Metaphyseal Regions of Weight-Bearing Bones is Associated With Prior Fracture in Young Girls

PubMed Central

Farr, Joshua N; Tomás, Rita; Chen, Zhao; Lisse, Jeffrey R; Lohman, Timothy G; Going, Scott B

2011-01-01

Understanding the etiology of skeletal fragility during growth is critical for the development of treatments and prevention strategies aimed at reducing the burden of childhood fractures. Thus we evaluated the relationship between prior fracture and bone parameters in young girls. Data from 465 girls aged 8 to 13 years from the Jump-In: Building Better Bones study were analyzed. Bone parameters were assessed at metaphyseal and diaphyseal sites of the nondominant femur and tibia using peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT). Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) was used to assess femur, tibia, lumbar spine, and total body less head bone mineral content. Binary logistic regression was used to evaluate the relationship between prior fracture and bone parameters, controlling for maturity, body mass, leg length, ethnicity, and physical activity. Associations between prior fracture and all DXA and pQCT bone parameters at diaphyseal sites were nonsignificant. In contrast, lower trabecular volumetric BMD (vBMD) at distal metaphyseal sites of the femur and tibia was significantly associated with prior fracture. After adjustment for covariates, every SD decrease in trabecular vBMD at metaphyseal sites of the distal femur and tibia was associated with 1.4 (1.1–1.9) and 1.3 (1.0–1.7) times higher fracture prevalence, respectively. Prior fracture was not associated with metaphyseal bone size (ie, periosteal circumference). In conclusion, fractures in girls are associated with lower trabecular vBMD, but not bone size, at metaphyseal sites of the femur and tibia. Lower trabecular vBMD at metaphyseal sites of long bones may be an early marker of skeletal fragility in girls. © 2011 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research. PMID:20721933

Lower trabecular volumetric BMD at metaphyseal regions of weight-bearing bones is associated with prior fracture in young girls.

PubMed

Farr, Joshua N; Tomás, Rita; Chen, Zhao; Lisse, Jeffrey R; Lohman, Timothy G; Going, Scott B

2011-02-01

Understanding the etiology of skeletal fragility during growth is critical for the development of treatments and prevention strategies aimed at reducing the burden of childhood fractures. Thus we evaluated the relationship between prior fracture and bone parameters in young girls. Data from 465 girls aged 8 to 13 years from the Jump-In: Building Better Bones study were analyzed. Bone parameters were assessed at metaphyseal and diaphyseal sites of the nondominant femur and tibia using peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT). Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) was used to assess femur, tibia, lumbar spine, and total body less head bone mineral content. Binary logistic regression was used to evaluate the relationship between prior fracture and bone parameters, controlling for maturity, body mass, leg length, ethnicity, and physical activity. Associations between prior fracture and all DXA and pQCT bone parameters at diaphyseal sites were nonsignificant. In contrast, lower trabecular volumetric BMD (vBMD) at distal metaphyseal sites of the femur and tibia was significantly associated with prior fracture. After adjustment for covariates, every SD decrease in trabecular vBMD at metaphyseal sites of the distal femur and tibia was associated with 1.4 (1.1-1.9) and 1.3 (1.0-1.7) times higher fracture prevalence, respectively. Prior fracture was not associated with metaphyseal bone size (ie, periosteal circumference). In conclusion, fractures in girls are associated with lower trabecular vBMD, but not bone size, at metaphyseal sites of the femur and tibia. Lower trabecular vBMD at metaphyseal sites of long bones may be an early marker of skeletal fragility in girls. Copyright © 2011 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.

Abortion, metaphysics and morality: a review of Francis Beckwith's defending life: a moral and legal case against abortion choice.

PubMed

Nobis, Nathan

2011-06-01

In Defending Life: A Moral and Legal Case Against Abortion Choice (2007) and an earlier article in this journal, "Defending Abortion Philosophically"(2006), Francis Beckwith argues that fetuses are, from conception, prima facie wrong to kill. His arguments are based on what he calls a "metaphysics of the human person" known as "The Substance View." I argue that Beckwith's metaphysics does not support his abortion ethic: Moral, not metaphysical, claims that are part of this Substance View are the foundation of the argument, and Beckwith inadequately defends these moral claims. Thus, Beckwith's arguments do not provide strong support for what he calls the "pro-life" view of abortion.

Dwarfism in Alaskan malamutes: a disease resembling metaphyseal dysplasia in human beings.

PubMed Central

Sande, R. D.; Alexander, J. E.; Spencer, G. R.; Padgett, G. A.; Davis, W. C.

1982-01-01

In a study of 300 Alaskan Malamutes, dwarfism was shown to be an autosomal recessive inherited disease with complete penetrance that resulted in disturbed endochondral bone formation. Osseous growth disturbance was manifest at the metaphyses of tubular bones. Clinical and radiographic changes were very similar to those of rickets, although appositional bone formation rates were normal. Serum calcium, phosphorus, and alkaline phosphatase were within normal limits. Urinary excretion of calcium, phosphate, and amino acids were normal. Excess matrix was formed in the zone of cartilage cell proliferation, and the matrix persisted in the growth plate. Normal stresses resulted in microfractures in the metaphyses with subsequent interference of vascular penetration into the zone of degenerated cartilage cells. Images Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 7 Figure 8 PMID:7065114

[Change on the rate of children's finger metaphysics in the non-Kaschin-Beck disease areas of China].

PubMed

Gao, Mei; Liu, Yunqi; Zhou, Lingwang; Liu, Hui; Deng, Qing; Song, Jiucheng; Yu, Jun

2014-11-01

36 non-Kaschin-Beck disease villages in five provinces including Jilin, Liaoning, Shaanxi, Shanxi and Inner Mongolia in the severe endemic areas of Kaschin-Beck disease (KBD) were selected. The aim of this project was to provide the basis showing these KBD villages had already eliminated the KBD. Fully digital versatile X-ray radiography systems(DR) was used to shoot children's right hand X-ray, in accordance with the "Kashin-Beck Disease Diagnosis Standard" (WS/T 207-2010) for diagnosis. Results indicated that children showing metaphyseal changes only appeared in 13 of the 36 villages, where the rate of change on metaphyseal was less than or equal to three percent. When KBD had been eliminated in a village, the rate of change on aged 7 to 12 children's metaphyseal would have been less than three percent.

Interpretations of Probability in Quantum Mechanics: A Case of "Experimental Metaphysics"

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hellman, Geoffrey

After reviewing paradigmatic cases of "experimental metaphysics" basing inferences against local realism and determinism on experimental tests of Bells theorem (and successors), we concentrate on clarifying the meaning and status of "objective probability" in quantum mechanics. The terms "objective" and "subjective" are found ambiguous and inadequate, masking crucial differences turning on the question of what the numerical values of probability functions measure vs. the question of the nature of the "events" on which such functions are defined. This leads naturally to a 2×2 matrix of types of interpretations, which are then illustrated with salient examples. (Of independent interest are the splitting of "Copenhagen interpretation" into "objective" and "subjective" varieties in one of the dimensions and the splitting of Bohmian hidden variables from (other) modal interpretations along that same dimension.) It is then explained why Everett interpretations are difficult to categorize in these terms. Finally, we argue that Bohmian mechanics does not seriously threaten the experimental-metaphysical case for ultimate randomness and purely physical probabilities.

[The metaphysical dimension of animal ethics].

PubMed

Walz, Norbert

2008-01-01

Utilitarian ethics recognises animals as moral objects, but it does not attribute an absolute value to human or non-human individuals. Animal ethics according to Regan defines the non-human individual as an inherent value, but concedes that humans should be given precedence over animals if a situation involves a decision between life and death. Such life and death decisions relate to the fundamental structures of biological nature. To individuals these fundamental structures (the paradox of life and death) will necessarily appear absurd. The metaphysical dimension of animal ethics tries to shed light on the connections between life and death, body and mind that underly ethical discussions and searches for alternatives to the natural organisation of life.

Management of Distal Tibial Metaphyseal Bone Defects With an Intramedullary Nitinol Scaffold: A Novel Technique.

PubMed

Ford, Samuel E; Ellington, J Kent

2017-08-01

Difficult problems that are faced when reconstructing severe pilon fractures include filling metaphyseal defects and supporting an impacted, multifragmented articular surface. Supplements to plate fixation currently available in a surgeon's armamentarium include cancellous bone autograft, structural bone allograft, demineralized bone matrix, and calcium-based cements. Cancellous autograft possesses limited inherent mechanical stability and is associated with graft site morbidity. Structural allografts incorporate inconsistently and are plagued by late resorption. Demineralized bone matrix also lacks inherent structural stability. Calcium phosphate cements are not rigidly fixed to bone unless fixation is applied from cortical bone or through a plate, which must be taken into consideration when planning fixation. The Conventus DRS (Conventus Orthopaedics, Maple Grove, MN) implant is an expandable nitinol scaffold that takes advantage of the elasticity and shape memory of nitinol alloy. Once deployed and locked, it serves as a stable intramedullary base for fragment-specific periarticular fracture fixation, even in the face of metaphyseal bone loss. Two cases of successful implant use are presented. In both cases, the implant is used to fill a metaphyseal void and provide stable articular support to the distal tibial plafond. Therapeutic Level V: Case Report, Expert Opinion.

Reduced chondrocyte proliferation and chondrodysplasia in mice lacking the integrin-linked kinase in chondrocytes.

PubMed

Terpstra, Leonieke; Prud'homme, Josée; Arabian, Alice; Takeda, Shu; Karsenty, Gérard; Dedhar, Shoukat; St-Arnaud, René

2003-07-07

Chondrocyte proliferation and differentiation requires their attachment to the collagen type II-rich matrix of developing bone. This interaction is mediated by integrins and their cytoplasmic effectors, such as the integrin-linked kinase (ILK). To elucidate the molecular mechanisms whereby integrins control these processes, we have specifically inactivated the ILK gene in growth plate chondrocytes using the Cre-lox methodology. Mice carrying an ILK allele flanked by loxP sites (ILK-fl) were crossed to transgenic mice expressing the Cre recombinase under the control of the collagen type II promoter. Inactivation of both copies of the ILK-fl allele lead to a chondrodysplasia characterized by a disorganized growth plate and to dwarfism. Expression of chondrocyte differentiation markers such as collagen type II, collagen type X, Indian hedgehog and the PTH-PTHrP receptor was normal in ILK-deficient growth plates. In contrast, chondrocyte proliferation, assessed by BrdU or proliferating cell nuclear antigen labeling, was markedly reduced in the mutant growth plates. Cell-based assays showed that integrin-mediated adhesion of primary cultures of chondrocytes from mutant animals to collagen type II was impaired. ILK inactivation in chondrocytes resulted in reduced cyclin D1 expression, and this most likely explains the defect in chondrocyte proliferation observed when ILK is inactivated in growth plate cells.

Leibniz on the metaphysical foundation of physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Temple, Daniel R.

This thesis examines how and why Leibniz felt that physics must be grounded in metaphysics. I argue that one of the strongest motivation Leibniz had for attempting to ground physics in metaphysics was his concern over the problem of induction. Even in his early writings, Leibniz was well aware of the problem of induction and how this problem threatened the very possibility of physics. Both his early and later theories of truth are geared towards solving this deep problem in the philosophy of science. In his early theory of truth, all truths are ultimately grounded in (but not necessarily reducible to) an identity. Hence, all truths are ultimately based in logic. Consequently, the problem of induction is seemingly solved since everything that happens, happens with the force of logical necessity. Unfortunately, this theory is incompatible with Leibniz's theory of possible worlds and hence, jeopardizes the liberty of God. In Leibniz's later theory of truth, Leibniz tries to overcome this weakness by acknowledging truths that are grounded in the free but moral necessity of God's actions. Since God's benevolence is responsible for the actualization of this world, then this world must possess rational laws. Furthermore, since God's rationality ensures that everything obeys the principle of sufficient reason, then we can use this principle to determine the fundamental laws of the universe. Leibniz himself attempts to derive these laws using this principle. Kant attempted to continue this work of securing the possibility of science, and the problems he encountered helped to shape his critical philosophy. So I conclude by a comparative analysis of Leibniz and Kant on the foundations of physics.

Audism: exploring the metaphysics of oppression.

PubMed

Bauman, H-Dirksen L

2004-01-01

This article traces the development of the concept of "audism" from its inception in the mid-1970s by exploring three distinct dimensions of oppression: individual, institutional, and metaphysical. Although the first two aspects of audism have been identified, there is a deeply rooted belief system regarding language and human identity that is yet to be explored within the context of audism. This article attempts to expose how our particular historical and philosophical constructions of language and being have created what French philosopher Jacques Derrida calls phonocentrism. Although Derrida does not discuss audism, his deconstruction of the Western notion of language provides a lens through which we can better see the orientation that has provided fertile ground out of which individual and institutional audism has flourished.

Delayed-Choice Experiments and the Metaphysics of Entanglement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Egg, Matthias

2013-09-01

Delayed-choice experiments in quantum mechanics are often taken to undermine a realistic interpretation of the quantum state. More specifically, Healey has recently argued that the phenomenon of delayed-choice entanglement swapping is incompatible with the view that entanglement is a physical relation between quantum systems. This paper argues against these claims. It first reviews two paradigmatic delayed-choice experiments and analyzes their metaphysical implications. It then applies the results of this analysis to the case of entanglement swapping, showing that such experiments pose no threat to realism about entanglement.

The Value Question in Metaphysics

PubMed Central

Kahane, Guy

2012-01-01

Much seems to be at stake in metaphysical questions about, for example, God, free will or morality. One thing that could be at stake is the value of the universe we inhabit—how good or bad it is. We can think of competing philosophical positions as describing possibilities, ways the world might turn out to be, and to which value can be assigned. When, for example, people hope that God exists, or fear that we do not possess free will, they express attitudes towards these possibilities, attitudes that presuppose answers to questions about their comparative value. My aim in this paper is to distinguish these evaluative questions from related questions with which they can be confused, to identify structural constraints on their proper pursuit, and to address objections to their very coherence. Answers to such evaluative questions offer one measure of the importance of philosophical disputes. PMID:23024399

The Value Question in Metaphysics.

PubMed

Kahane, Guy

2012-07-01

Much seems to be at stake in metaphysical questions about, for example, God, free will or morality. One thing that could be at stake is the value of the universe we inhabit-how good or bad it is. We can think of competing philosophical positions as describing possibilities, ways the world might turn out to be, and to which value can be assigned. When, for example, people hope that God exists, or fear that we do not possess free will, they express attitudes towards these possibilities, attitudes that presuppose answers to questions about their comparative value. My aim in this paper is to distinguish these evaluative questions from related questions with which they can be confused, to identify structural constraints on their proper pursuit, and to address objections to their very coherence. Answers to such evaluative questions offer one measure of the importance of philosophical disputes.

Do estrogen and alendronate improve metaphyseal fracture healing when applied as osteoporosis prophylaxis?

PubMed

Kolios, Leila; Hoerster, Ann Kristin; Sehmisch, Stephan; Malcherek, Marie Christin; Rack, Thomas; Tezval, Mohammed; Seidlova-Wuttke, Dana; Wuttke, Wolfgang; Stuermer, Klaus Michael; Stuermer, Ewa Klara

2010-01-01

Osteoporosis is accompanied by predominantly metaphyseal fractures with a delayed and qualitatively reduced healing process. This study addressed the question of whether fracture healing in the context of osteoporosis prophylaxis is improved with estrogen (E) or alendronate (ALN). Thirty-six ovariectomized and 12 sham-operated 12-week-old rats received soy-free (osteoporotic C, sham), E-, or ALN- supplemented diets. After 10 weeks, a metaphyseal tibia osteotomy and standardized T-plate fixation were performed. After a 5-week healing process, the fracture callus was evaluated qualitatively by biomechanical bending test and quantitatively in microradiographic sections. The time course of callus formation was examined using fluorochrome-labeled histological sections. Administration of E improved the biomechanical properties of callus (stiffness [N/mm]: sham: 110.2 + or - 76.07, C: 41.28 + or - 33.70, E: 85.72 + or - 47.24, ALN: 72.07 + or - 34.68). The resistance to microfracturing seen in E-treated animals was significantly enhanced and even superior to sham (yield load [N] sham: 27.44 + or - 9.72, C: 21.04 + or - 12.47, E: 42.85 + or - 13.74(Delta), ALN: 25.28 + or - 6.4(.)) (* P < 0.05 vs. sham group, (Delta) P < 0.05 vs. C group, (*) P < 0.05 vs. E group). Trabecular bone in particular was improved, indicating the presence of physiological endosteal bridging (Tr.Dn [%] sham: 10.53 + or - 18.9, C: 1.01 + or - 0.14, E: 24.13 + or - 34.09(Delta), ALN: 3.99 + or - 8.3(.)). ALN did not help bone healing, as shown by mechanical tests. Compared to the C group, statistically, ALN did not show worse properties. The induction of callus formation under ALN treatment was slightly delayed (Tt.Cl [mm(2)] sham: 3.68 + or - 0.66, C: 3.44 + or - 0.42, E: 3.69 + or - 0.58, ALN: 3.06 + or - 0.56). Osteoporotic metaphyseal fracture healing was qualitatively and quantitatively improved by E prophylaxis. The process of fracture healing occurred nearly physiologically (shamlike

Different methods and metaphysics in early molecular genetics--a case of disparity of research?

PubMed

Deichmann, Ute

2008-01-01

The encounter between two fundamentally different approaches in seminal research in molecular biology--the problems, aims, methods and metaphysics--is delineated and analyzed. They are exemplified by the microbiologist Oswald T. Avery who, in line with the reductionist mechanistic metaphysics of Jacques Loeb, attempted to explain basic life phenomena through chemistry; and the theoretical physicist Max Delbrück who, influenced by Bohr's antimechanistic views, preferred to explain these phenomena without chemistry. Avery's and Delbrück's most important studies took place concurrently. Thus analysis of their contrasting approaches lends itself to examination of the Weltanschauungen view concerning the role of fundamental (metaphysical) assumptions in scientific change, that is, the view that empirical research cannot be neutral in regard to the worldviews of the researchers. This study shows that the initial ostensible disparity (non-integratibility) of the two approaches lasted for just a short time. Ironically it was a student of Delbrück's school, James Watson, who (with Crick) proposed a chemical model, the DNA double helix, as a solution to Delbrück's problem. The structure of DNA has not been seriously challenged over the past half century Moreover, Watson's and Crick's work did not call into question the validity of Delbrück's research, but opened it up to entirely new approaches. The case of Avery and Delbrück demonstrates that after initial obstacles were overcome the different fundamental attitudes and the resulting research practices were capable of integration.

Semantics and metaphysics in informatics: toward an ontology of tasks.

PubMed

Figdor, Carrie

2011-04-01

This article clarifies three principles that should guide the development of any cognitive ontology. First, that an adequate cognitive ontology depends essentially on an adequate task ontology; second, that the goal of developing a cognitive ontology is independent of the goal of finding neural implementations of the processes referred to in the ontology; and third, that cognitive ontologies are neutral regarding the metaphysical relationship between cognitive and neural processes. Copyright © 2011 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Probing the limits of reality: the metaphysics in science fiction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taylor, John L.

2003-01-01

Science fiction provides a genre in which metaphysical questions concerning the ultimate structure of reality regularly arise. In addressing these questions, contemporary scientists tend to assume that the questions are of a scientific nature and should be handled solely by reference to our best theories. In this paper, it is argued that we cannot afford to neglect the role of conceptual analysis - a distinctively philosophical task - in thinking critically about the possibilities that science fiction claims to describe.

Let's keep metaphysics out of medical ethics: a critique of Poplawski and Gillett.

PubMed Central

Leavitt, F J

1992-01-01

I argue that the concept of 'longitudinal form', which Poplawski and Gillett have introduced into ethical discussions about embryos and gametes, involves too many metaphysical subtleties to be a useful aid to making moral decisions. I conclude by suggesting a criterion for relevance in medical ethics. PMID:1460650

Hughlings Jackson and the "doctrine of concomitance": mind-brain theorising between metaphysics and the clinic.

PubMed

Chirimuuta, M

2017-09-11

John Hughlings Jackson (1835-1911) is a major figure at the origins of neurology and neuroscience in Britain. Alongside his contributions to clinical medicine, he left a large corpus of writing on localisation of function in the nervous system and other theoretical topics. In this paper I focus on Jackson's "doctrine of concomitance"-his parallelist theory of the mind-brain relationship. I argue that the doctrine can be given both an ontological and a causal interpretation, and that the causal aspect of the doctrine is especially significant for Jackson and his contemporaries. I interpret Jackson's engagement with the metaphysics of mind as an instance of what I call meta-science-the deployment by scientists of metaphysical positions and arguments which help streamline empirical investigations by bracketing off unanswerable questions and focussing attention on matters amenable to the current tools of experimental research.

Severe Extracellular Matrix Abnormalities and Chondrodysplasia in Mice Lacking Collagen Prolyl 4-Hydroxylase Isoenzyme II in Combination with a Reduced Amount of Isoenzyme I.

PubMed

Aro, Ellinoora; Salo, Antti M; Khatri, Richa; Finnilä, Mikko; Miinalainen, Ilkka; Sormunen, Raija; Pakkanen, Outi; Holster, Tiina; Soininen, Raija; Prein, Carina; Clausen-Schaumann, Hauke; Aszódi, Attila; Tuukkanen, Juha; Kivirikko, Kari I; Schipani, Ernestina; Myllyharju, Johanna

2015-07-03

Collagen prolyl 4-hydroxylases (C-P4H-I, C-P4H-II, and C-P4H-III) catalyze formation of 4-hydroxyproline residues required to form triple-helical collagen molecules. Vertebrate C-P4Hs are α2β2 tetramers differing in their catalytic α subunits. C-P4H-I is the major isoenzyme in most cells, and inactivation of its catalytic subunit (P4ha1(-/-)) leads to embryonic lethality in mouse, whereas P4ha1(+/-) mice have no abnormalities. To study the role of C-P4H-II, which predominates in chondrocytes, we generated P4ha2(-/-) mice. Surprisingly, they had no apparent phenotypic abnormalities. To assess possible functional complementarity, we established P4ha1(+/-);P4ha2(-/-) mice. They were smaller than their littermates, had moderate chondrodysplasia, and developed kyphosis. A transient inner cell death phenotype was detected in their developing growth plates. The columnar arrangement of proliferative chondrocytes was impaired, the amount of 4-hydroxyproline and the Tm of collagen II were reduced, and the extracellular matrix was softer in the growth plates of newborn P4ha1(+/-);P4ha2(-/-) mice. No signs of uncompensated ER stress were detected in the mutant growth plate chondrocytes. Some of these defects were also found in P4ha2(-/-) mice, although in a much milder form. Our data show that C-P4H-I can to a large extent compensate for the lack of C-P4H-II in proper endochondral bone development, but their combined partial and complete inactivation, respectively, leads to biomechanically impaired extracellular matrix, moderate chondrodysplasia, and kyphosis. Our mouse data suggest that inactivating mutations in human P4HA2 are not likely to lead to skeletal disorders, and a simultaneous decrease in P4HA1 function would most probably be required to generate such a disease phenotype. © 2015 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

Severe Extracellular Matrix Abnormalities and Chondrodysplasia in Mice Lacking Collagen Prolyl 4-Hydroxylase Isoenzyme II in Combination with a Reduced Amount of Isoenzyme I*

PubMed Central

Aro, Ellinoora; Salo, Antti M.; Khatri, Richa; Finnilä, Mikko; Miinalainen, Ilkka; Sormunen, Raija; Pakkanen, Outi; Holster, Tiina; Soininen, Raija; Prein, Carina; Clausen-Schaumann, Hauke; Aszódi, Attila; Tuukkanen, Juha; Kivirikko, Kari I.; Schipani, Ernestina; Myllyharju, Johanna

2015-01-01

Collagen prolyl 4-hydroxylases (C-P4H-I, C-P4H-II, and C-P4H-III) catalyze formation of 4-hydroxyproline residues required to form triple-helical collagen molecules. Vertebrate C-P4Hs are α2β2 tetramers differing in their catalytic α subunits. C-P4H-I is the major isoenzyme in most cells, and inactivation of its catalytic subunit (P4ha1−/−) leads to embryonic lethality in mouse, whereas P4ha1+/− mice have no abnormalities. To study the role of C-P4H-II, which predominates in chondrocytes, we generated P4ha2−/− mice. Surprisingly, they had no apparent phenotypic abnormalities. To assess possible functional complementarity, we established P4ha1+/−;P4ha2−/− mice. They were smaller than their littermates, had moderate chondrodysplasia, and developed kyphosis. A transient inner cell death phenotype was detected in their developing growth plates. The columnar arrangement of proliferative chondrocytes was impaired, the amount of 4-hydroxyproline and the Tm of collagen II were reduced, and the extracellular matrix was softer in the growth plates of newborn P4ha1+/−;P4ha2−/− mice. No signs of uncompensated ER stress were detected in the mutant growth plate chondrocytes. Some of these defects were also found in P4ha2−/− mice, although in a much milder form. Our data show that C-P4H-I can to a large extent compensate for the lack of C-P4H-II in proper endochondral bone development, but their combined partial and complete inactivation, respectively, leads to biomechanically impaired extracellular matrix, moderate chondrodysplasia, and kyphosis. Our mouse data suggest that inactivating mutations in human P4HA2 are not likely to lead to skeletal disorders, and a simultaneous decrease in P4HA1 function would most probably be required to generate such a disease phenotype. PMID:26001784

The Problem of Absolute Knowledge. Metaphysics as Intellectual Intuition in Classic Modern European Philosophy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Torubarova, Tatyana V.

2016-01-01

Classic modern European philosophy explicate, reflect; leaving own history in fundamental metaphysical position, where the existence is understood as conscience. This position is representative in the process of historic development, transition of philosophical thought from R. Dekart to G. Hegel. It appears exactly the field of key metaphysical…

The toothless osteopetrotic rat has a normal vitamin D-binding protein-macrophage activating factor (DBP-MAF) cascade and chondrodysplasia resistant to treatments with colony stimulating factor-1 (CSF-1) and/or DBP-MAF.

PubMed

Odgren, P R; Popoff, S N; Safadi, F F; MacKay, C A; Mason-Savas, A; Seifert, M F; Marks, S C

1999-08-01

The osteopetrotic rat mutation toothless (tl) is characterized by little or no bone resorption, few osteoclasts and macrophages, and chondrodysplasia at the growth plates. Short-term treatment of tl rats with colony-stimulating factor-1 (CSF-1) has been shown to increase the number of osteoclasts and macrophages, producing dramatic resolution of skeletal sclerosis at some, but not all, sites. Defects in production of vitamin D-binding protein-macrophage activating factor (DBP-MAF) have been identified in two other independent osteopetrotic mutations of the rat (op and ia), and two in the mouse (op and mi), in which macrophages and osteoclasts can be activated by the administration of exogenous DBP-MAF. The present studies were undertaken to examine the histology and residual growth defects in tl rats following longer CSF-1 treatments, to investigate the possibility that exogenous DBP-MAF might act synergistically with CSF-1 to improve the tl phenotype, and to assess the integrity of the endogenous DBP-MAF pathway in this mutation. CSF-1 treatment-with or without DBP-MAF-induced resorption of metaphyseal bone to the growth plate on the marrow side, improved slightly but did not normalize long bone growth, and caused no improvement in the abnormal histology of the growth plate. Injections of lysophosphatidylcholine (lyso-Pc) to prime macrophage activation via the DBP-MAF pathway raised superoxide production to similar levels in peritoneal macrophages from both normal and mutant animals, indicating no defect in the DBP-MAF pathway in tl rats. Interestingly, pretreatments with CSF-1 alone also increased superoxide production, although the mechanism for this remains unknown. In summary, we find that, unlike other osteopetrotic mutations investigated to date, the DBP-MAF pathway does not appear to be defective in the tl rat; that additional DBP-MAF does not augment the beneficial skeletal effects seen with CSF-1 alone; and that the growth plate chondrodystrophy seen in

Differences of bone healing in metaphyseal defect fractures between osteoporotic and physiological bone in rats.

PubMed

Thormann, Ulrich; El Khawassna, Thaqif; Ray, Seemun; Duerselen, Lutz; Kampschulte, Marian; Lips, Katrin; von Dewitz, Helena; Heinemann, Sascha; Heiss, Christian; Szalay, Gabor; Langheinrich, Alexander C; Ignatius, Anita; Schnettler, Reinhard; Alt, Volker

2014-03-01

Discrepancies in bone healing between osteoporotic and non-osteoporotic bone remain uncertain. The focus of the current work is to evaluate potential healing discrepancies in a metaphyseal defect model in rat femora. Female Sprague-Dawley rats were either ovariectomized (OVX, n=14) and combined with a calcium-, phosphorus- and vitamin D3-, soy- and phytoestrogen-free diet or received SHAM operation with standard diet rat (SHAM, n=14). Three months post-ovariectomy, DEXA measurement showed a reduction of bone mineral density reflecting an osteoporotic bone status in OVX rats. Rats then underwent a 3 mm wedge-shaped osteotomy at the distal metaphyseal area of the left femur stabilized with a T-shaped mini-plate and allowed to heal for 6 weeks. Biomechanical competence by means of a non-destructive three-point bending test showed significant lower flexural rigidity in the OVX rats at 3 mm lever span compared to SHAM animals (p=0.048) but no differences at 10 mm lever span. Microcomputer tomography (μCT) showed bridging cortices and consolidation of the defect in both groups, however, no measurable differences were found in either total ossified tissue or vascular volume fraction. Furthermore, histology showed healing discrepancies that were characterized by cartilaginous remnant and more unmineralized tissue presence in the OVX rats compared to more mature consolidation appearance in the SHAM group. In summary, bone defect healing in metaphyseal bone slightly differs between osteoporotic and non-osteoporotic bone in the current 3 mm defect model in both 3mm lever span biomechanical testing and histology. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The metaphysical art of Giorgio de Chirico. Migraine or epilepsy?

PubMed

Blanke, Olaf; Landis, Theodor

2003-01-01

It has been suggested that the great Italian painter Giorgio de Chirico (1888-1978), who developed the unique style of 'metaphysical art', suffered from migraine and used some of his morbid manifestations as a source of inspiration for his paintings. Yet, whereas many of the symptoms that de Chirico described are rare in migraine, they are frequently encountered in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy. Here we rediscuss de Chirico's symptoms critically and suggest that, if his symptoms were of neurological origin, they rather relate to temporal lobe epilepsy than migraine. Copyright 2003 S. Karger AG, Basel

Rejecting medical humanism: medical humanities and the metaphysics of medicine.

PubMed

Bishop, Jeffrey P

2008-03-01

The call for a narrative medicine has been touted as the cure-all for an increasingly mechanical medicine. It has been claimed that the humanities might create more empathic, reflective, professional and trustworthy doctors. In other words, we can once again humanise medicine through the addition of humanities. In this essay, I explore how the humanities, particularly narrative medicine, appeals to the metaphysical commitments of the medical institution in order to find its justification, and in so doing, perpetuates a dualism of humanity that would have humanism as the counterpoint to the biopsychosociologisms of our day.

Infanticide for handicapped infants: sometimes it's a metaphysical dispute.

PubMed Central

Long, T A

1988-01-01

Since 1973 the practice of infanticide for some severely handicapped newborns has been receiving more open discussion and defence in the literature on medical ethics. A recent and important argument for the permissibility of infanticide relies crucially on a particular concept of personhood that excludes the theological. This paper attempts to show that the dispute between the proponents of infanticide and their religious opponents cannot be resolved because one side's perspective on the infant is shaped by a metaphysics that is emphatically rejected by the other. In such a situation philosophical argument is powerless to bring about a resolution because there can be no refutation of one side by the other. PMID:2969052

Bone Graft Substitute Provides Metaphyseal Fixation for a Stemless Humeral Implant.

PubMed

Kim, Myung-Sun; Kovacevic, David; Milks, Ryan A; Jun, Bong-Jae; Rodriguez, Eric; DeLozier, Katherine R; Derwin, Kathleen A; Iannotti, Joseph P

2015-07-01

Stemless humeral fixation has become an alternative to traditional total shoulder arthroplasty, but metaphyseal fixation may be compromised by the quality of the trabecular bone that diminishes with age and disease, and augmentation of the fixation may be desirable. The authors hypothesized that a bone graft substitute (BGS) could achieve initial fixation comparable to polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) bone cement. Fifteen fresh-frozen human male humerii were randomly implanted using a stemless humeral prosthesis, and metaphyseal fixation was augmented with either high-viscosity PMMA bone cement (PMMA group) or a magnesium-based injectable BGS (OsteoCrete; Bone Solutions Inc, Dallas, Texas) (OC group). Both groups were compared with a control group with no augmentation. Initial stiffness, failure load, failure displacement, failure cycle, and total work were compared among groups. The PMMA and OC groups showed markedly higher failure loads, failure displacements, and failure cycles than the control group (P<.01). There were no statistically significant differences in initial stiffness, failure load, failure displacement, failure cycle, or total work between the PMMA and OC groups. The biomechanical properties of magnesium-based BGS fixation compared favorably with PMMA bone cement in the fixation of stemless humeral prostheses and may provide sufficient initial fixation for this clinical application. Future work will investigate the long-term remodeling characteristics and bone quality at the prosthetic-bone interface in an in vivo model to evaluate the clinical efficacy of this approach. Copyright 2015, SLACK Incorporated.

Low dose PTH improves metaphyseal bone healing more when muscles are paralyzed.

PubMed

Sandberg, Olof; Macias, Brandon R; Aspenberg, Per

2014-06-01

Stimulation of bone formation by PTH is related to mechanosensitivity. The response to PTH treatment in intact bone could therefore be blunted by unloading. We studied the effects of mechanical loading on the response to PTH treatment in bone healing. Most fractures occur in the metaphyses, therefor we used a model for metaphyseal bone injury. One hind leg of 20 male SD rats was unloaded via intramuscular botulinum toxin injections. Two weeks later, the proximal unloaded tibia had lost 78% of its trabecular contents. At this time-point, the rats received bilateral proximal tibiae screw implants. Ten of the 20 rats were given daily injections of 5 μg/kg PTH (1-34). After two weeks of healing, screw fixation was measured by pull-out, and microCT of the distal femur cancellous compartment was performed. Pull-out force provided an estimate for cancellous bone formation after trauma. PTH more than doubled the pull-out force in the unloaded limbs (from 14 to 30 N), but increased it by less than half in the loaded ones (from 30 to 44 N). In relative terms, PTH had a stronger effect on pull-out force in unloaded bone than in loaded bone (p=0.03). The results suggest that PTH treatment for stimulation of bone healing does not require simultaneous mechanical stimulation. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The mind electric: Challenges to clinical categories from a person-centred perspective and the possibilities of metaphysics and art for clinician, patient, and treatment.

PubMed

Pârvan, Alexandra

2018-06-21

The paper proposes that frameworks typical to metaphysics and art could be used in clinical treatment in somatic and psychiatric contexts to ensure improved care. The concept of the "body electric" of somatic patients which I introduced in previous work is developed further and paired with the "mind electric" of psychiatric patients. Both are defined as a patient's personally generated metaphysical possibility of being healthy-within-illness which is experientially actualized. Both concepts are used here to explore the alternative and the serious challenges to treatment approaches focused on clinical categories, disease, provision, and promotion of standardized or "black-box" therapies. An argument against the idea implied by the hope for such mass treatments and corresponding overreliance on science, namely, that health comes from fixing and regularizing, is developed based on cultural history and the evidenced fact that personally assumed health, just like art and metaphysics, is transgressive of scientific data, and accommodates the untrue, the impossible or the irregular as actual and normal. Because normality is created only with the help of disorder and from within it for chronic patients, clinicians should offer them the metaphysical care they need to produce and actualize their possibility of irregular normality or their body/mind electric. Better treatments can only be provided when scientific advances will be matched with advances in the humanistic competence of clinicians. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Dmp1-deficient Mice Display Severe Defects in Cartilage Formation Responsible for a Chondrodysplasia-like Phenotype*

PubMed Central

Ye, Ling; Mishina, Yuji; Chen, Di; Huang, Haiyang; Dallas, Sarah L.; Dallas, Mark R.; Sivakumar, Pitchumani; Kunieda, Tetsuo; Tsutsui, Takeo W.; Boskey, Adele; Bonewald, Lynda F.; Feng, Jian Q.

2009-01-01

Understanding the molecular mechanisms by which cartilage formation is regulated is essential toward understanding the physiology of both embryonic bone development and postnatal bone growth. Although much is known about growth factor signaling in cartilage formation, the regulatory role of noncollagenous matrix proteins in this process are still largely unknown. In the present studies, we present evidence for a critical role of DMP1 (dentin matrix protein 1) in postnatal chondrogenesis. The Dmp1 gene was originally identified from a rat incisor cDNA library and has been shown to play an important role in late stage dentinogenesis. Whereas no apparent abnormalities were observed in prenatal bone development, Dmp1-deficient (Dmp1−/−) mice unexpectedly develop a severe defect in cartilage formation during postnatal chondrogenesis. Vertebrae and long bones in Dmp1-deficient (Dmp1−/−) mice are shorter and wider with delayed and malformed secondary ossification centers and an irregular and highly expanded growth plate, results of both a highly expanded proliferation and a highly expanded hypertrophic zone creating a phenotype resembling dwarfism with chondrodysplasia. This phenotype appears to be due to increased cell proliferation in the proliferating zone and reduced apoptosis in the hypertrophic zone. In addition, blood vessel invasion is impaired in the epiphyses of Dmp1−/− mice. These findings show that DMP1 is essential for normal postnatal chondrogenesis and subsequent osteogenesis. PMID:15590631

Identification of biallelic EXTL3 mutations in a novel type of spondylo-epi-metaphyseal dysplasia.

PubMed

Guo, Long; Elcioglu, Nursel H; Mizumoto, Shuji; Wang, Zheng; Noyan, Bilge; Albayrak, Hatice M; Yamada, Shuhei; Matsumoto, Naomichi; Miyake, Noriko; Nishimura, Gen; Ikegawa, Shiro

2017-08-01

Spondylo-epi-metaphyseal dysplasia (SEMD) is a group of inherited skeletal diseases characterized by the anomalies in spine, epiphyses and metaphyses. SEMD is highly heterogeneous and >20 distinct entities have been identified. Here we describe a novel type of SEMD in two unrelated Turkish patients who presented with severe platyspondyly, kyphoscoliosis, pelvic distortion, constriction of the proximal femora and brachydactyly. Although these phenotypes overlap considerably with some known SEMDs, they had a novel causal gene, exostosin-like glycosyltransferase 3 (EXTL3), that encodes a glycosyltransferase involved in the synthesis of heparin and heparan sulfate. The EXTL3 mutation identified in the patients was a homozygous missense mutation (c.953C>T) that caused a substitution in a highly conserved amino acid (p.P318L). The enzyme activity of the mutant EXTL3 protein was significantly decreased compared to the wild-type protein. Both patients had spinal cord compression at the cranio-vertebral junction and multiple liver cysts since early infancy. One of the patients showed severe immunodeficiency, which is considered non-fortuitous association. Our findings would help define a novel type of SEMD caused by EXTL3 mutations.

Heterologous embryo transfer: Magisterial answers and metaphysical questions.

PubMed

Accad, Michel

2014-02-01

The debate regarding the morality of heterologous embryo transfer (HET) as a solution for the fate of cryopreserved embryos remains active. This paper endeavors to show that the magisterial instructions on bioethical issues can only lead to the conclusion that HET is always morally illicit. I begin by showing that the text of Dignitas personae recognizes HET as a procedure accomplishing a procreative function, and I indicate that it is through gestation that this procreative function occurs. I further show that the previous Instruction, Donum vitae, implicitly points to an ontological or spiritual consideration at play during gestation. This consideration is likely related to the procreative function identified in Dignitas personae. Finally, I place these two textual arguments in the context of the debate concerning HET and conclude that metaphysical questions must be clarified in order for the immorality of HET to be understood from a suitable anthropological perspective and gain more widespread acceptance.

Heterologous embryo transfer: Magisterial answers and metaphysical questions

PubMed Central

Accad, Michel

2014-01-01

The debate regarding the morality of heterologous embryo transfer (HET) as a solution for the fate of cryopreserved embryos remains active. This paper endeavors to show that the magisterial instructions on bioethical issues can only lead to the conclusion that HET is always morally illicit. I begin by showing that the text of Dignitas personae recognizes HET as a procedure accomplishing a procreative function, and I indicate that it is through gestation that this procreative function occurs. I further show that the previous Instruction, Donum vitae, implicitly points to an ontological or spiritual consideration at play during gestation. This consideration is likely related to the procreative function identified in Dignitas personae. Finally, I place these two textual arguments in the context of the debate concerning HET and conclude that metaphysical questions must be clarified in order for the immorality of HET to be understood from a suitable anthropological perspective and gain more widespread acceptance. PMID:24899737

On Some Troubles with the Metaphysics of Fermionic Compositions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bigaj, Tomasz

2016-09-01

In this paper I discuss some metaphysical consequences of an unorthodox approach to the problem of the identity and individuality of "indistinguishable" quantum particles. This approach is based on the assumption that the only admissible way of individuating separate components of a given system is with the help of the permutation-invariant qualitative properties of the total system. Such a method of individuation, when applied to fermionic compositions occupying so-called GMW-nonentangled states, yields highly implausible consequences regarding the number of distinct components of a given composite system. I specify the problem (which I call the problem of fermionic inflation) in detail, and I consider several strategies of solving it. The preferred solution of the problem is based on the premise that spatial location should play a privileged role in identifying and making reference to quantum-mechanical systems.

Comparing return to sport activities after short metaphyseal femoral arthroplasty with resurfacing and big femoral head arthroplasties.

PubMed

Karampinas, Panagiotis K; Papadelis, Eustratios G; Vlamis, John A; Basiliadis, Hlias; Pneumaticos, Spiros G

2017-07-01

Young patients feel that maintaining sport activities after total hip arthroplasty constitutes an important part of their quality of life. The majority of hip surgeons allow patients to return to low-impact activities, but significant caution is advised to taking part in high-impact activities. The purpose of this study is to compare and evaluate the post-operative return to daily living habits and sport activities following short-metaphyseal hip and high functional total hip arthroplasties (resurfacing and big femoral head arthroplasties). In a study design, 48 patients (55 hips) were enrolled in three different comparative groups, one with the short-metaphyseal arthroplasties, a second with high functional resurfacing arthroplasties and a third of big femoral head arthroplasties. Each patient experienced a clinical examination and evaluated with Harris Hip Score, WOMAC, Sf-36, UCLA activity score, satisfaction VAS, anteroposterior and lateral X-rays of the hip and were followed in an outpatient setting for 2 years. Statistical analysis revealed no notable differences between the three groups regarding their demographic data however significant differences have been found between preoperative and postoperative clinical scores of each group. Also, we fail to reveal any significant differences when comparing data of all three groups at the final 2 years postoperative control regarding their clinical scores. The overall outcome of all three groups was similar, all the patients were satisfied and returned to previous level of sport activities. Short metaphyseal hip arthroplasties in young patients intending to return to previous and even high impact sport activities, similar to high functional resurfacing, big femoral head arthroplasties. Short stems with hard on hard bearing surfaces might become an alternative to standard stems and hip resurfacing.

[Treatment of metaphyseal fractures of shin bones by the method of blocking osteosynthesis].

PubMed

Neverov, V A; Khromov, A A; Cherniaev, S N; Egorov, K S; Shebarshov, A L

2008-01-01

The proposed method of reposition and polyaxial stabilization of fragments for intramedullary meallosynthesis of fractures of long tubular bones allows blocking osteosynthesis to be successfully used in treatment of complex metaphyseal fractures of shin bones. It results in strong fixation of the fragments, makes it possible to successfully eliminate residual deformities after introduction of the nail and to avoid the development of them in future under the influence of loading. The method provides early functioning of the interfacing joints, early axial loading, shorter period of disability, the absence of external immobilization.

Metaphysical and ethical perspectives on creating animal-human chimeras.

PubMed

Eberl, Jason T; Ballard, Rebecca A

2009-10-01

This paper addresses several questions related to the nature, production, and use of animal-human (a-h) chimeras. At the heart of the issue is whether certain types of a-h chimeras should be brought into existence, and, if they are, how we should treat such creatures. In our current research environment, we recognize a dichotomy between research involving nonhuman animal subjects and research involving human subjects, and the classification of a research protocol into one of these categories will trigger different ethical standards as to the moral permissibility of the research in question. Are a-h chimeras entitled to the more restrictive and protective ethical standards applied to human research subjects? We elucidate an Aristotelian-Thomistic metaphysical framework in which to argue how such chimeras ought to be defined ontologically. We then examine when the creation of, and experimentation upon, certain types of a-h chimeras may be morally permissible.

Locking plate fixation in distal metaphyseal tibial fractures: series of 79 patients.

PubMed

Gupta, Rakesh K; Rohilla, Rajesh Kumar; Sangwan, Kapil; Singh, Vijendra; Walia, Saurav

2010-12-01

Open reduction and internal fixation in distal tibial fractures jeopardises fracture fragment vascularity and often results in soft tissue complications. Minimally invasive osteosynthesis, if possible, offers the best possible option as it permits adequate fixation in a biological manner. Seventy-nine consecutive adult patients with distal tibial fractures, including one patient with a bilateral fracture of the distal tibia, treated with locking plates, were retrospectively reviewed. The 4.5-mm limited-contact locking compression plate (LC-LCP) was used in 33 fractures, the metaphyseal LCP in 27 fractures and the distal medial tibial LCP in the remaining 20 fractures. Fibula fixation was performed in the majority of comminuted fractures (n = 41) to maintain the second column of the ankle so as to achieve indirect reduction and to prevent collapse of the fracture. There were two cases of delayed wound breakdown in fractures fixed with the 4.5-mm LC-LCP. Five patients required primary bone grafting and three patients required secondary bone grafting. All cases of delayed union (n = 7) and nonunion (n = 3) were observed in cases where plates were used in bridge mode. Minimally invasive plate osteosynthesis (MIPO) with LCP was observed to be a reliable method of stabilisation for these fractures. Peri-operative docking of fracture ends may be a good option in severely impacted fractures with gap. The precontoured distal medial tibial LCP was observed to be a better tolerated implant in comparison to the 4.5-mm LC-LCP or metaphyseal LCP with respect to complications of soft tissues, bone healing and functional outcome, though its contour needs to be modified.

Expression of a partially deleted gene of human type II procollagen (COL2A1) in transgenic mice produces a chondrodysplasia

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Vandenberg, P.; Khillan, J.S.; Prockop, D.J.

A minigene version of the human gene for type II procollagen (COL2AI) was prepared that lacked a large central region containing 12 of the 52 exons and therefore 291 of the 1523 codons of the gene. The construct was modeled after sporadic in-frame deletions of collagen genes that cause synthesis of shortened pro{alpha} chains that associate with normal pro{alpha} chains and thereby cause degradation of the shortened and normal pro{alpha} chains through a process called procollagen suicide. The gene construct was used to prepare five lines of transgenic mice expressing the minigene. A large proportion of the mice expressing themore » minigene developed a phenotype of a chondrodysplasia with dwarfism, short and thick limbs, a short snout, a cranial bulge, a cleft palate, and delayed mineralization of bone. A number of mice died shortly after birth. Microscopic examination of cartilage revealed decreased density and organization of collagen fibrils. In cultured chondrocytes from the transgenic mice, the minigene was expressed as shortened pro{alpha}1(II) chains that were disulfide-linked to normal mouse pro{alpha}1(II) chains. Therefore, the phenotype is probably explained by depletion of the endogenous mouse type II procollagen through the phenomenon of procollagen suicide.« less

Spreading disease: a controversy concerning the metaphysics of disease.

PubMed

D'Amico, R

1998-01-01

This article concerns the metaphysics of disease. Is disease a fixed feature of the world or a social value or preference? I argue that disease is not a value-laden concept and thus debates concerning it differ fundamentally from debates concerning health, harm, or suffering where evaluative judgements are central. I show how the so-called social constructionist view of disease has been motivated both by ethical concerns with medical practices and general theoretical doubts about scientific naturalism. If I can show that ethical concerns about medical treatment can be answered without adopting social constructionism, that leaves only the broader theoretical question of naturalism. I cannot completely answer those theoretical doubts, but I show that the theoretical motivation is less convincing when it is separated from the moral challenge often accompanying it. I conclude that a convincing defense of the non-naturalistic conception of disease is rarely attempted and proves more difficult and counter-intuitive than its proponents assume.

[Early diagnosis, variety of outcomes and prognosis of juvenile schizophrenia with over-value disorders of the "metaphysical intoxication" type onset (results of a late follow-up study)].

PubMed

Tsutsul'kovskaia, M Ia; Izvol'skiĭ, S A; Bol'zho, A G; Kopeĭko, G I

1986-01-01

On the basis of follow-up findings about juvenile schizophrenia first expressed in superworship manifestations according to the type of metaphysical intoxication (98 observations), the authors established that most frequently these cases were characterized by a torpid course of the disease in the framework of slowly progressing juvenile schizophrenia. There was a high rate of favourable outcomes at the level of "clinical recovery" (in 42.5%). Favourable prognostic signs were as follows: the complete nature of the clinical picture of the syndrome, its similarity to pubertal crisis manifestations, the absence in its structure of other positive disturbances and a number of specific features of the premorbid picture. The authors determined the pattern of correlation between the typological characteristics of the state of juvenile metaphysical intoxication and the outcome of the disease, peculiarities of manifestations of this phenomenon at the initial stage of psychotic forms of juvenile schizophrenia, as well as distinctive features of superworship formations according to the type of juvenile metaphysical intoxication observed in the framework of pubertal decompensation in schizoid psychopathies.

On Darwin's 'metaphysical notebooks'. I: teleology and the project of a theory.

PubMed

Calabi, L

2001-01-01

Huxley's essay On the Reception of the 'Origin of Species' brings us close to the issue of cause and of why- and how-questions in the understanding of the living world. The present contribution, which is divided into two parts, reviews the problem of Teleology as conceived by Huxley and re-examines Darwin as the author who revealed the existence of a 'foundations problem' in the explanation of an entire realm of nature, i.e., the problem of explaining such realm in terms of its own, specific legality, or iuxta sua propria principia. In the first part the enquiry is mainly focused on the secularization of natural history after Paley; in the second part it is mainly focused on the desubjectivization of the inquiry into natural history after Erasmus Darwin and Lamarck. The second part will be published in the next issue of Rivista di Biologia/Biology Forum. In the first part below an analysis is made of Notebooks M and N. The author disputes the correctness of conceiving them only as the works where Darwin envisages the 'metaphysical' themes later to become the subject of The Expression of the Emotions. He suggests to conceive of them also as the works where Darwin defines the terms of the general project of his own, peculiar evolutionary theory. The author then outlines the intellectual progress of Darwin from the inosculation to the transmutation hypotheses. Darwin's reading of Malthus appears to be analytically decisive, because it offers him the vintage point to attack the metaphysical and theological citadels on the morphological side. Darwin is thus able to re-consider Erasmus' comprehensive zoonomic project, by displacing it, however, from the old idea of the scala naturae to the new one of the "coral of life", and by emphasising the distinction between "the fittest" and "the best" vs. the tradition of Natural Theology.

Pragmatism, metaphysics, and bioethics: beyond a theory of moral deliberation.

PubMed

Pamental, Matthew

2013-12-01

Pragmatism has been understood by bioethicists as yet another rival in the "methods wars," as yet another theory of moral deliberation. This has led to criticism of pragmatic bioethics as both theoretically and practically inadequate. Pragmatists' responses to these objections have focused mainly on misunderstandings of pragmatism's epistemology. These responses are insufficient. Pragmatism's commitment to radical empiricism gives it theoretical resources unappreciated by critics and defenders alike. Radical empiricism, unlike its more traditional ancestors, undercuts the gaps between theory and practice, and subjective and objective accounts of experience, and in so doing provides the metaphysical and epistemological basis for a thoroughgoing empirical naturalism in ethics. Pragmatism's strength as an approach to moral problems thus emerges as a result of a much wider array of resources than contemporary interpreters have acknowledged, which makes it a richer, deeper framework for understanding moral deliberation in general and bioethical decision making in particular.

Beyond positivism: a metaphysical basis for clinical practice?

PubMed

Herman, J

1992-09-01

Medicine does not have its own unified body of scientific knowledge. Instead, physicians who are oriented to research make sporadic incursions into the basic sciences such as genetics, biochemistry, immunology, epidemiology, physiology, pharmacology and so on. These latter, taken together, comprise biomedicine which is said to have adopted the positivist epistemology or the Cartesian/Newtonian one that regards the scientist as an uninvolved observer of nature. In effect, medical science has come to rest on a theory of knowledge which links meaning to probability and considers prediction as the scientist's chief task. Like its predecessor, the probability theory of meaning rejects metaphysical speculation and remains connected to observations made, directly or indirectly, by means of the five senses. Despite some brilliant successes touching on relatively uncommon disorders, biomedicine cannot explain most day-to-day clinical activity. An understanding of what transpires between patient and doctor, of its diagnostic potential and therapeutic weight requires hermeneutic, or phenomenological, inquiry which brings about changes in both parties to it. Such a science, as ontological speculation has been called, cannot be deciphered by an epistemology couched in the imagery of physics and chemistry.

Pullout strength of monocortical and bicortical screws in metaphyseal and diaphyseal regions of the canine humerus.

PubMed

Vaughn, Denty Paul; Syrcle, Jason Alan; Ball, John E; Elder, Steven H; Gambino, Jennifer Michele; Griffin, Russell L; McLaughlin, Ronald M

2016-11-23

Monocortical screws are commonly employed in locking plate fixation, but specific recommendations for their placement are lacking and use of short monocortical screws in metaphyseal bone may be contraindicated. Objectives of this study were to evaluate axial pullout strength of two different lengths of monocortical screws placed in various regions of the canine humerus compared to bicortical screws, and to derive cortical thickness and bone density values for those regions using quantitative computed tomography analysis (QCT). The QCT analysis was performed on 36 cadaveric canine humeri for six regions of interest (ROI). A bicortical, short monocortical, or 50% transcortical 3.5 mm screw was implanted in each ROI and axial pullout testing was performed. Bicortical screws were stronger than monocortical screws in all ROI except the lateral epicondylar crest. Short monocortical metaphyseal screws were weaker than those placed in other regions. The 50% transcortical screws were stronger than the short monocortical screws in the condyle. A linear relationship between screw length and pullout strength was observed. Cortical thickness and bone density measurements were obtained from multiple regions of the canine humerus using QCT. Use of short monocortical screws may contribute to failure of locking plate fixation of humeral fractures, especially when placed in the condyle. When bicortical screw placement is not possible, maximizing monocortical screw length may optimize fixation stability for distal humeral fractures.

Four queries concerning the metaphysics of early human embryogenesis.

PubMed

Howsepian, A A

2008-04-01

In this essay, I attempt to provide answers to the following four queries concerning the metaphysics of early human embryogenesis. (1) Following its first cellular fission, is it coherent to claim that one and only one of two "blastomeric" twins of a human zygote is identical with that zygote? (2) Following the fusion of two human pre-embryos, is it coherent to claim that one and only one pre-fusion pre-embryo is identical with that postfusion pre-embryo? (3) Does a live human being come into existence only when its brain comes into existence? (4) At implantation, does a pre-embryo become a mere part of its mother? I argue that either if things have quidditative properties or if criterialism is false, then queries (1) and (2) can be answered in the affirmative; that in light of recent developments in theories of human death and in light of a more "functional" theory of brains, query (3) can be answered in the negative; and that plausible mereological principles require a negative answer to query (4).

Fundamental awareness: A framework for integrating science, philosophy and metaphysics.

PubMed

Theise, Neil D; Kafatos, Menas C

2016-01-01

The ontologic framework of Fundamental Awareness proposed here assumes that non-dual Awareness is foundational to the universe, not arising from the interactions or structures of higher level phenomena. The framework allows comparison and integration of views from the three investigative domains concerned with understanding the nature of consciousness: science, philosophy, and metaphysics. In this framework, Awareness is the underlying reality, not reducible to anything else. Awareness and existence are the same. As such, the universe is non-material, self-organizing throughout, a holarchy of complementary, process driven, recursive interactions. The universe is both its own first observer and subject. Considering the world to be non-material and comprised, a priori, of Awareness is to privilege information over materiality, action over agency and to understand that qualia are not a "hard problem," but the foundational elements of all existence. These views fully reflect main stream Western philosophical traditions, insights from culturally diverse contemplative and mystical traditions, and are in keeping with current scientific thinking, expressible mathematically.

Minimizing the complications of intramedullary nailing for distal third tibial shaft and metaphyseal fractures

PubMed Central

Yaligod, Vishwanath; Rudrappa, Girish H.; Nagendra, Srinivas; Shivanna, Umesh M.

2013-01-01

Background The complications of intramedullary nailing of distal third tibial shaft and metaphyseal fractures have a direct impact on ankle and hind foot function. Methods We retrospectively evaluated 28 patients. Unreamed nail was negotiated across the well reduced fracture till subchondral bone and fixed with 2 to 3 distal locking screws in different planes. Results Fracture union rate was 85%. Three out of 28 patients had malalignment. Mean ankle, hindfoot functional score was 85. Conclusion Complications can be minimized by impacting the unreamed nail till the subchondral bone while maintaining the fracture well reduced and by using multiple distal locking screws in different planes. PMID:24719527

Does metaphyseal cement augmentation in fracture management influence the adjacent subchondral bone and joint cartilage?: an in vivo study in sheep stifle joints.

PubMed

Goetzen, Michael; Hofmann-Fliri, Ladina; Arens, Daniel; Zeiter, Stephan; Stadelmann, Vincent; Nehrbass, Dirk; Richards, R Geoff; Blauth, Michael

2015-01-01

Augmentation of implants with polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) bone cement in osteoporotic fractures is a promising approach to increase implant purchase. Side effects of PMMA for the metaphyseal bone, particularly for the adjacent subchondral bone plate and joint cartilage, have not yet been studied. The following experimental study investigates whether subchondral PMMA injection compromises the homeostasis of the subchondral bone and/or the joint cartilage.Ten mature sheep were used to simulate subchondral PMMA injection. Follow-ups of 2 (4 animals) and 4 (6 animals) months were chosen to investigate possible cartilage damage and subchondral plate alterations in the knee. Evaluation was completed by means of high-resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography (HRpQCT) imaging, histopathological osteoarthritis scoring, and determination of glycosaminoglycan content in the joint cartilage. Results were compared with the untreated contralateral knee and statistically analyzed using nonparametric tests.Evaluation of the histological osteoarthritis score revealed no obvious cartilage damage for the treated knee; median histological score after 2 months 0 (range 4), after 4 months 1 (range 5). There was no significant difference when compared with the untreated control site after 2 and 4 months (P = 0.23 and 0.76, respectively). HRpQCT imaging showed no damage to the metaphyseal trabeculae. Glycosaminoglycan measurements of the treated joint cartilage after 4 months revealed no significant difference compared with the untreated cartilage (P = 0.24).The findings of this study support initial clinical observation that PMMA implant augmentation of metaphyseal fractures appears to be a safe procedure for fixation without harming the subchondral bone plate and adjacent joint cartilage.

Method and metaphysics in Clements's and Gleason's ecological explanations.

PubMed

Eliot, Christopher

2007-03-01

To generate explanatory theory, ecologists must wrestle with how to represent the extremely many, diverse causes behind phenomena in their domain. Early twentieth-century plant ecologists Frederic E. Clements and Henry A. Gleason provide a textbook example of different approaches to explaining vegetation, with Clements allegedly committed, despite abundant exceptions, to a law of vegetation, and Gleason denying the law in favor of less organized phenomena. However, examining Clements's approach to explanation reveals him not to be expressing a law, and instead to be developing an explanatory structure without laws, capable of progressively integrating causal complexity. Moreover, Clements and Gleason largely agree on the causes of vegetation; but, since causal understanding here underdetermines representation, they differ on how to integrate recognized causes into general theory--that is, in their methodologies. Observers of the case may have mistakenly assumed that scientific representation across the disciplines typically aims at laws like Newton's, and that representations always reveal scientists' metaphysical commitments. Ironically, in the present case, this assumption seems to have been made even by observers who regard Clements as nai ve for his alleged commitment to an ecological law.

Fundamental awareness: A framework for integrating science, philosophy and metaphysics

PubMed Central

Theise, Neil D.; Kafatos, Menas C.

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT The ontologic framework of Fundamental Awareness proposed here assumes that non-dual Awareness is foundational to the universe, not arising from the interactions or structures of higher level phenomena. The framework allows comparison and integration of views from the three investigative domains concerned with understanding the nature of consciousness: science, philosophy, and metaphysics. In this framework, Awareness is the underlying reality, not reducible to anything else. Awareness and existence are the same. As such, the universe is non-material, self-organizing throughout, a holarchy of complementary, process driven, recursive interactions. The universe is both its own first observer and subject. Considering the world to be non-material and comprised, a priori, of Awareness is to privilege information over materiality, action over agency and to understand that qualia are not a “hard problem,” but the foundational elements of all existence. These views fully reflect main stream Western philosophical traditions, insights from culturally diverse contemplative and mystical traditions, and are in keeping with current scientific thinking, expressible mathematically. PMID:27489576

The problem of contextuality and the impossibility of experimental metaphysics thereof

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hermens, Ronnie

Recently a new impulse has been given to the experimental investigation of contextuality. In this paper we show that for a widely used definition of contextuality there can be no decisive experiment on the existence of contextuality. To this end, we give a clear presentation of the hidden variable models due to Meyer, Kent and Clifton (MKC), which would supposedly nullify the Kochen-Specker theorem. Although we disagree with this last statement, the models do play a significant role in the discussion on the meaning of contextuality. In fact, we introduce a specific MKC-model of which we show that it is non-contextual and completely in agreement with quantum mechanical predictions. We also investigate the possibility of other definitions of non-contextuality-with an emphasis on operational definitions-and argue that any useful definition relies on the specification of a theoretical framework. It is therefore concluded that no experimental test can yield any conclusions about contextuality on a metaphysical level.

Dose to the metaphyseal growth complexes in children undergoing /sup 99m/Tc-EHDP bone scans

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Thomas, S.R.; Gelfand, M.J.; Kerelakes, J.G.

1978-01-01

The spatial and temporal distribution of radionuclides in children may differ greatly from that accepted for adults. Following injection of a bone-seeking agent (/sup 99m/Tc-EHDP), radioactivity in the metaphyseal growth complexes of the distal femur and proximal tibia was quantitated in a series of children 4 to 16 years of age, using a gamma camera/computer system. The dose to the growth plate was found to range from 0.8 to 4.7 rads when adjusted to an administered activity of 200 ..mu..ci/kg, compared to approximately 0.6 rad to the adult skeleton for a corresponding study.

The classic metaphyseal lesion and traumatic injury.

PubMed

Thackeray, Jonathan D; Wannemacher, Jacob; Adler, Brent H; Lindberg, Daniel M

2016-07-01

It is widely accepted that the classic metaphyseal lesion (CML) is a traumatic lesion, strongly associated with abuse in infants. Nevertheless, various non-traumatic origins for CMLs continue to be suggested in medical and legal settings. No studies to date systematically describe the association of CMLs with other traumatic injuries. The primary objective of this study is to examine the association of CMLs with other traumatic injuries in a large data set of children evaluated for physical abuse. This was a retrospectively planned secondary analysis of data from a prospective, observational study of children <120 months of age who underwent evaluation by a child abuse physician. For this secondary analysis, we identified all children ≤12 months of age with an identified CML and determined the number and type of additional injuries identified. Descriptive analysis was used to report frequency of additional traumatic injuries. Among 2,890 subjects, 119 (4.1%) were identified as having a CML. Of these, 100 (84.0%) had at least one additional (non-CML) fracture. Thirty-three (27.7%) had traumatic brain injury. Nearly half (43.7%) of children had cutaneous injuries. Oropharyngeal injuries were found in 12 (10.1%) children. Abdominal/thoracic injuries were also found in 12 (10.1%) children. In all, 95.8% of children with a CML had at least one additional injury; one in four children had three or more categories of injury. CMLs identified in young children are strongly associated with traumatic injuries. Identification of a CML in a young child should prompt a thorough evaluation for physical abuse.

Overcoming O: Dewey and the Problem of Bion's Metaphysics.

PubMed

Soffer-Dudek, Nir

2015-10-01

Bion guides us to eschew memory, desire, and understanding in order to become one with O-the ultimate reality of the analytic moment. However, his directions are valid only to the extent that such a meta-reality actually exists. Otherwise there is nothing to unite with and no reason to shun memory or desire. The present work inquires whether we may provide Bion's technique with a less speculative philosophy, specifically Dewey's pragmatist theory of aesthetics. It begins with reviewing the similarities between the two writers' methods, highlighting their shared emphasis on openness to the unknown. Yet listening to their intonations reveals that they actually convey opposite ideas as to what this "unknown" may be. Whereas Dewey sanguinely portrays the possibilities of the "yet-unknown," Bion emphasizes the dread of our inescapable encounter with the unknowable. This dread is embodied in his concept of O. Thus, rather than being merely a metaphysical speculation, O communicates Bion's conviction that fear forms the core of our existence. Banishing O from the counseling room may indeed aid his method in becoming accessible to a wider audience; at the same time, however, doing so might also deprive it of the very context that gives it meaning. © 2015 by the American Psychoanalytic Association.

Recognizing anterior metaphyseal femoral bone loss during uncemented total hip arthroplasty: the skylight sign.

PubMed

Harwin, Steven F

2007-03-01

During preparation for uncemented femoral arthroplasty, a phenomenon has been observed that indicates thinning of anterior metaphyseal bone to a critical level. Light can be seen from within the canal passing through the anterior cortex. This skylight sign alerts the surgeon that a cortical defect or fracture can occur on reaming, broaching, or component insertion. In 420 consecutive arthroplasties, a skylight sign was noted in 97 (23%) hips. In 5 of those hips an oval cortical defect was created and in 3 hips a fracture occurred during broaching or insertion. Loosening developed in 1 hip with fracture. No fractures or defects occurred in hips without a skylight sign. If a skylight sign is present, the femur is at risk and preventive measures should be taken.

* Composite Biomaterial as a Carrier for Bone-Active Substances for Metaphyseal Tibial Bone Defect Reconstruction in Rats.

PubMed

Horstmann, Peter Frederik; Raina, Deepak Bushan; Isaksson, Hanna; Hettwer, Werner; Lidgren, Lars; Petersen, Michael Mørk; Tägil, Magnus

2017-12-01

Restoring lost bone is a major challenge in orthopedic surgery. Currently available treatment strategies have shortcomings, such as risk of infection, nonunion, and excessive resorption. Our primary aim was to study if a commercially available gentamicin-containing composite calcium sulfate/hydroxyapatite biomaterial (GBM) could serve as a carrier for local delivery of bone morphogenic protein-2 (BMP-2) and zoledronic acid (ZA) in a tibia defect model in rats. Empty and allograft-filled defects were used as controls. A 3 × 4-mm metaphyseal bone defect was created in the proximal tibia, and the rats were grouped according to defect filling: (1) Empty, (2) Allograft, (3) GBM, (4) GBM + ZA, and (5) GBM + ZA + BMP-2. In vivo microcomputed tomography (micro-CT) images at 4 weeks showed significantly higher mineralized tissue volume (MV) in the intramedullary defect region and the neocortical/callus region in all GBM-treated groups. After euthanization at 8 weeks, ex vivo micro-CT showed that addition of ZA (GBM + ZA) and BMP-2 (GBM + ZA + BMP-2) mainly increased the neocortical and callus formation, with the highest MV in the combined ZA and BMP-2-treated group. Qualitative histological analysis, verifying the increased neocortical/callus thickness and finding of trabecular bone in all GBM-treated groups, supported that the differences in MV measured with micro-CT in fact represented bone tissue. In conclusion, GBM can serve as a carrier for ZA and BMP-2 leading to increased MV in the neocortex and callus of a metaphyseal bone defect in rats.

Interpretations of Probability in Quantum Mechanics: A Case of ``Experimental Metaphysics''

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hellman, Geoffrey

After reviewing paradigmatic cases of “experimental metaphysics” basing inferences against local realism and determinism on experimental tests of Bells theorem (and successors), we concentrate on clarifying the meaning and status of “objective probability” in quantum mechanics. The terms “objective” and “subjective” are found ambiguous and inadequate, masking crucial differences turning on the question of what the numerical values of probability functions measure vs. the question of the nature of the “events” on which such functions are defined. This leads naturally to a 2×2 matrix of types of interpretations, which are then illustrated with salient examples. (Of independent interest are the splitting of “Copenhagen interpretation” into “objective” and “subjective” varieties in one of the dimensions and the splitting of Bohmian hidden variables from (other) modal interpretations along that same dimension.) It is then explained why Everett interpretations are difficult to categorize in these terms. Finally, we argue that Bohmian mechanics does not seriously threaten the experimental-metaphysical case for ultimate randomness and purely physical probabilities.

Serum levels of innate immunity cytokines are elevated in dogs with metaphyseal osteopathy (hypertrophic osteodytrophy) during active disease and remission.

PubMed

Safra, Noa; Hitchens, Peta L; Maverakis, Emanual; Mitra, Anupam; Korff, Courtney; Johnson, Eric; Kol, Amir; Bannasch, Michael J; Pedersen, Niels C; Bannasch, Danika L

2016-10-15

Metaphyseal osteopathy (MO) (hypertrophic osteodystrophy) is a developmental disorder of unexplained etiology affecting dogs during rapid growth. Affected dogs experience relapsing episodes of lytic/sclerotic metaphyseal lesions and systemic inflammation. MO is rare in the general dog population; however, some breeds (Weimaraner, Great Dane and Irish Setter) have a much higher incidence, supporting a hereditary etiology. Autoinflammatory childhood disorders of parallel presentation such as chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis (CRMO), and deficiency of interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (DIRA), involve impaired innate immunity pathways and aberrant cytokine production. Given the similarities between these diseases, we hypothesize that MO is an autoinflammatory disease mediated by cytokines involved in innate immunity. To characterize immune dysregulation in MO dogs we measured serum levels of inflammatory markers in 26 MO and 102 control dogs. MO dogs had significantly higher levels (pg/ml) of serum Interleukin-1beta (IL-1β), IL-18, IL-6, Granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), C-X-C motif chemokine 10 (CXCL10), tumor necrosis factor (TNF), and IL-10. Notably, recovered MO dogs were not different from dogs during active MO disease, providing a suggestive mechanism for disease predisposition. This is the first documentation of elevated immune markers in MO dogs, uncovering an immune profile similar to comparable autoinflammatory disorders in children. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Chance: from metaphysical principle to explanatory concept. The idea of uncertainty in a natural history of knowledge.

PubMed

Morizot, Baptiste

2012-09-01

The term "chance" has been given varied and different meanings in the history of occidental thought, carrying metaphysical connotations and controversial power. Despite the obscurity implied by this polysemy, this term is still frequently used without undergoing the conceptual clarifications that could locate its precise meaning and its original function in a theory. Here I propose a brief genealogical draft of this term and of its conceptual forms, from Aristotle to Darwin, to demonstrate the necessity of specifying what function it is fulfilling in each precise theoretical framework, in order not to be overwhelmed by the wide spectrum of the word. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Arnold Chiari Malformation With Sponastrime (Spondylar and Nasal Changes, With Striations of the Metaphyses) Dysplasia: A Case Report.

PubMed

Jeong, Je Hoon; Lee, A Leum; Cho, Sung Yoon; Jin, Dong Kyu; Im, Soo-Bin

2016-05-01

SPOndylar and NAsal changes, with STRIations of the Metaphyses (SPONASTRIME) dysplasia (SD) is a dwarfing autosomal recessive syndrome, characterized by a variety of clinical and radiographic features, which form the basis for diagnosis. We describe the presentation of an Arnold Chiari malformation in a patient with a clinical diagnosis of SD. The malformation was successfully treated by decompression of the foramen magnum and elevation of the cerebellum, with complete resolution of pain.We report a rare case of Arnold Chiari malformation in a patient presenting with clinical and radiographic features strongly suggestive of SD and be successfully treated.

Visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue express and secrete functional alpha2hsglycoprotein (fetuin a) especially in obesity.

PubMed

Pérez-Sotelo, Diego; Roca-Rivada, Arturo; Larrosa-García, María; Castelao, Cecilia; Baamonde, Iván; Baltar, Javier; Crujeiras, Ana Belen; Seoane, Luisa María; Casanueva, Felipe F; Pardo, María

2017-02-01

The secretion of the hepatokine alpha-2-Heremans-Schmid glycoprotein/Fetuin A, implicated in pathological processes including systemic insulin resistance, by adipose tissue has been recently described. Thus, we have recently identified its presence in white adipose tissue secretomes by mass spectrometry. However, the secretion pattern and function of adipose-derived alpha-2-Heremans-Schmid glycoprotein are poorly understood. The aim of this study is to evaluate the expression and secretion of total and active phosphorylated alpha-2-Heremans-Schmid glycoprotein by adipose tissue from visceral and subcutaneous localizations in animals at different physiological and nutritional status including anorexia and obesity. Alpha-2-Heremans-Schmid glycoprotein expression and secretion in visceral adipose tissue and subcutaneous adipose tissue explants from animals under fasting and exercise training, at pathological situations such as anorexia and obesity, and from human obese individuals were assayed by immunoblotting, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. We reveal that visceral adipose tissue expresses and secretes more alpha-2-Heremans-Schmid glycoprotein than subcutaneous adipose tissue, and that this secretion is diminished after fasting and exercise training. Visceral adipose tissue from anorectic animals showed reduced alpha-2-Heremans-Schmid glycoprotein secretion; on the contrary, alpha-2-Heremans-Schmid glycoprotein is over-secreted by visceral adipose tissue in the occurrence of obesity. While secretion of active-PhophoSer321α2HSG by visceral adipose tissue is independent of body mass index, we found that the fraction of active-alpha-2-Heremans-Schmid glycoprotein secreted by subcutaneous adipose tissue increments significantly in situations of obesity. Functional studies show that the inhibition of adipose-derived alpha-2-Heremans-Schmid glycoprotein increases insulin sensitivity in differentiated adipocytes. In

Stress and human spirituality 2000: at the cross roads of physics and metaphysics.

PubMed

Seaward, B L

2000-12-01

Although stress is defined as a perceived threat, the implications of stress go well beyond physical well-being. In the words of Carl Jung, "Every crisis is a spiritual crisis." Western science, so strongly influenced by the Cartesian Principle of Reductionism, has ignored the essence and significance of human spirituality in the health and healing process. Holistic healing honors the integration, balance, and harmony of mind, body, spirit, and emotions, where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Stress (unresolved issues of anger and fear) chokes the human spirit, the life force of human energy, which ultimately affects the physical body. From the perspectives of both physics and metaphysics, stress is a disruption in the state of coherence between the layers of consciousness in the human energy field. The emerging paradigm of health reunites mind, body, and spirit, and considers health as a function of coherence among the energy levels of these components.

Cartilage-hair hypoplasia with normal height in childhood-4 patients with a unique genotype.

PubMed

Klemetti, P; Valta, H; Kostjukovits, S; Taskinen, M; Toiviainen-Salo, S; Mäkitie, O

2017-08-01

The manifestations of cartilage-hair hypoplasia (CHH), a metaphyseal chondrodysplasia caused by RMRP mutations, include short stature, hypoplastic hair, immunodeficiency and increased risk of malignancies. Clinical features show significant variability. We report a patient with normal height until age 12.5 years (-1.6 SDS at 11 years) who was diagnosed with CHH at 14 years. RMRP sequencing revealed compound heterozygosity for g.70A>G mutation and a 10-nucleotide duplication at position -13 (TACTCTGTGA). Through the Finnish Skeletal Dysplasia Register, we identified 3 additional patients with identical genotype. Two of them also showed unusually mild growth failure (height SDS -1.6 at 14 years and -3.0 at 12 years, respectively). Three of the 4 patients suffered from recurrent infections; 1 developed progressive bronchiectasis and another died from aggressive lymphoma. Our findings expand the phenotypic variability in CHH to include normal childhood height. The milder growth retardation related to this particular genotype was not associated with less severe extra-skeletal manifestations, emphasizing the need for careful follow-up also in CHH patients with mild-skeletal manifestations. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Reverse shoulder arthroplasty with a cementless short metaphyseal humeral implant without a stem: clinical and radiologic outcomes in prospective 2- to 7-year follow-up study.

PubMed

Levy, Ofer; Narvani, Ali; Hous, Nir; Abraham, Ruben; Relwani, Jai; Pradhan, Riten; Bruguera, Juan; Sforza, Giuseppe; Atoun, Ehud

2016-08-01

Reverse shoulder prostheses are increasingly used in recent years for treatment of glenohumeral arthropathy with deficient rotator cuff. Bone preservation is becoming a major goal in shoulder replacement surgery. Metaphyseal humeral components without a stem were developed to minimize bone resection and preserve bone. This study evaluated the clinical and radiologic outcomes at 2 to 7 years using a novel short metaphyseal reverse total shoulder arthroplasty (rTSA) prosthesis without a diaphyseal stem. Between 2005 and 2010, 102 consecutive patients underwent rTSA with this implant, and 98 (20 men, 78 women) were available for follow-up. Mean age was 74.4 years (range, 38-93 years). Indications were cuff tear arthropathy, 65; fracture sequelae, 12; rheumatoid arthritis, 13; failed rotator cuff repair, 3; cuff deficiency with loosening of anatomic prosthesis, 3; and acute trauma, 2; with 17 of these as revisions. Patients' satisfaction (Subjective Shoulder Value) improved from 8 of 100 to 85 of 100. The Constant score improved from 14 to 59 (age- and sex-adjusted, 86; P < .0001). Range of motion improved from 47° to 129° in elevation, 10° to 51° in external rotation, and 21° to 65° in internal rotation. Radiographic analysis showed no lucencies, subsidence, or stress shielding around the humeral or glenoid components. Glenoid notching was found in 21 patients (18 grade 1-2; 3 grade 3). The short metaphyseal rTSA design without a diaphyseal stem shows encouraging short- to midterm results, with excellent pain relief and shoulder function, restoration of good active range of motion, and high patient satisfaction scores. The design of this implant seems to result in improved rotational movements, low incidence of glenoid notching, and no implant loosening, subsidence, or stress shielding. Copyright © 2016 Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery Board of Trustees. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[Critical Review of Gender Ideology in the Light of Metaphysical Realism].

PubMed

Burguete Miguel, Enrique Eduardo

2018-01-01

The implementing of gender ideology in the imaginary of current welfare-state societies owes much to a long process in the history of thought, which has culminated in an accommodation of post-feminist discourse. This paper sets out the epistemological principles that are present in gender ideology, as a response to both its recent and more-remote antecedents. It is furthermore framed by an urge for emancipation that began with medieval scholasticism, the latest manifestation of which lies in the post-structuralist deconstructionism that outlines the concept of queer. This concept has dissociated the categories of sex and gender to the point of making them irrelevant for the determination of sexual identity, leaving the latter susceptible to being infinitely de- and reconstructed. This article also reviews the liberal-hedonistic context of the new postmodern setting, while showing how the concepts of ″a subjective feeling of happiness″ and ″a life fulfilled″ do not express similar content. The paper goes on to challenge the theory of gender from the perspective of metaphysic realism; stressing that the human being only appears as a real person via the possibility of anticipating another's contemplation, thereby cancelling out the abstraction of pure subjectivity. It finally offers its conclusions, with certain substantive recommendations in the field of education.

On problems in defining abstract and metaphysical concepts--emergence of a new model.

PubMed

Nahod, Bruno; Nahod, Perina Vukša

2014-12-01

Basic anthropological terminology is the first project covering terms from the domain of the social sciences under the Croatian Special Field Terminology program (Struna). Problems that have been sporadically noticed or whose existence could have been presumed during the processing of terms mainly from technical fields and sciences have finally emerged in "anthropology". The principles of the General Theory of Terminology (GTT), which are followed in Struna, were put to a truly exacting test, and sometimes stretched beyond their limits when applied to concepts that do not necessarily have references in the physical world; namely, abstract and metaphysical concepts. We are currently developing a new terminographical model based on Idealized Cognitive Models (ICM), which will hopefully ensure a better cross-filed implementation of various types of concepts and their relations. The goal of this paper is to introduce the theoretical bases of our model. Additionally, we will present a pilot study of the series of experiments in which we are trying to investigate the nature of conceptual categorization in special languages and its proposed difference form categorization in general language.

Filling Open Screw Holes in the Area of Metaphyseal Comminution Does Not Affect Fatigue Life of the Synthes Variable Angle Distal Femoral Locking Plate in the AO/OTA 33-A3 Fracture Model.

PubMed

Grau, Luis; Collon, Kevin; Alhandi, Ali; Kaimrajh, David; Varon, Maria; Latta, Loren; Vilella, Fernando

2018-06-01

The aim of this study is to evaluate the biomechanical effect of filling locking variable angle (VA) screw holes at the area of metaphyseal fracture comminution in a Sawbones® (Sawbones USA, Vashon, Washington) model (AO/OTA 33A-3 fracture) using a Synthes VA locking compression plate (LCP) (Depuy Synthes, Warsaw, Indiana). Seven Sawbones® femur models had a Synthes VA-LCP placed as indicated by the manufacturers technique. A 4cm osteotomy was then created to simulate an AO/OTA 33-A3 femoral fracture pattern with metaphyseal comminution. The control group consisted of four constructs in which the open screw holes at the area of comminution were left unfilled; the experimental group consisted of three constructs in which the VA screw holes were filled with locking screws. One of the control constructs was statically loaded to failure at a rate of 5mm/min. A value equal to 75% of the ultimate load to failure was used as the loading force for fatigue testing of 250,000 cycles at 3Hz. Cycles to failure was recorded for each construct and averages were compared between groups. The average number of cycles to failure in the control and experimental groups were 37524±8187 and 43304±23835, respectively (p=0.72). No significant difference was observed with respect to cycles to failure or mechanism of failure between groups. In all constructs in both the control and experimental groups, plate failure reproducibly occurred with cracks through the variable angle holes in the area of bridged comminution. The Synthes VA-LCP in a simulated AO/OTA 33-A3 comminuted metaphyseal femoral fracture fails in a reproducible manner at the area of comminution through the "honeycomb" VA screw holes. Filling open VA screw holes at the site of comminution with locking screws does not increase fatigue life of the Synthes VA-LCP in a simulated AO/OTA 33-A3 distal femoral fracture. Further studies are necessary to determine whether use of this particular plate is contraindicated when bridging

[Epilepsy from a metaphysical perspective: an interpretation of the biblical story of the epileptic boy and Raphael's Transfiguration].

PubMed

Janz, D

1994-01-01

Raphael's last painting reveals, in the upper half of the picture, Christ's transfiguration on Mount Tabor and, in the lower half, the young boy's epileptic seizure at the foot of the mountain in the presence of the other disciples. Raphael depicts both events, which are told in succession in the Gospels, as if they took place at the same time. By synchronizing both scenes, Raphael demonstrated a significant correspondence between Christ and the epileptic boy which reveals the epileptic seizure as a symbolic representation of a transcendental event. This metaphysical aspect of epilepsy depicted by Raphael can also be found in the corresponding biblical passages. In the Gospels, the metamorphosis caused by the epileptic seizure is used as a simile for Christ's transfiguration through suffering, death and resurrection.

Terrorists: analogies and differences with mental diseases. A phenomenological-metaphysical perspective.

PubMed

Fisogni, Primavera

2010-01-01

Are islamic terrorists insane? International scholars generally concede that Al Qaeda members are not mentally ill. But, until now, there has not been a shared consensus and a strong argument that can prove it. This paper intends to throw light on the specific dehumanization of terrorists and to show that they are always responsible for their acts, unlike those who are affected by mental diseases. The members of Al Qaeda deny the world of life and take the distance from its sense and value: in their perspective only subversive action makes sense. However they always maintain a transcendent relation with the world (I-you; I-it). Persons with serious mental diseases have generally lost the sense of their self and the transcendence with the world. Terrorists and people with mental illness share a common separation from the world of life: one is voluntary, the other is the consequence of a number of factors (biological, social, etc.). Terrorists and psychotics have nevertheless something in common: the deprivation of the self. A loss of being that--I argue--is at the origin of the ordinariness of terrorists and the experience of void in psychotics. Two symptoms that reveal the condition of an intimate dryness, from a phenomenological and a metaphysical point of view as a consequence of a distorted relation with the world of life. I shall discuss how ordinariness is strictly related with the blurring definition of terrorism.

Brachial Plexus Injury in a 6-Year-Old Boy with 100% Displaced Proximal Humeral Metaphyseal Fracture: A Case Presentation.

PubMed

Jovanovich, Elizabeth Nora; Howard, James F

2017-12-01

Posttraumatic brachial plexopathies can occur following displaced proximal humeral fractures, causing profound functional deficits. Described here is an unusual case of a displaced proximal humeral metaphyseal fracture in a young child. The patient underwent closed reduction and serial casting, but hand weakness and forearm sensory loss persisted. Needle electromyography localized the injury to the mid/proximal arm near the fracture site, resulting in damage to the posterior and medial cords of the brachial plexus with profound involvement of the radial, ulnar, and median nerves and sparing of the axillary nerve. After months of occupational therapy, hand strength improved, with a nearly full return of function. V. Copyright © 2017 American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Heidegger, environmental ethics, and the metaphysics of nature: inhabiting the earth in a technological age

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Foltz, B.V.

1985-01-01

Previous studies of philosophical problems concerning the human disruption and destruction of the natural environment have tended to presuppose (a) that the problems themselves are adequately defined by the natural sciences, and (b) that the proper philosophical approach is by means of an ethics that restricts itself to determining the character and limits of moral obligation. This dissertation (a) argues that modern natural science, which is expected to define the problem of an environmental crisis, itself employs a concept of nature, derived from the metaphysical tradition, that is generative of the very problems to be resolved; (b) develops, on themore » basis of Heidegger's rethinking of the traditional question of being, a more adequate understanding of nature; and (c) shows that the resolution of these problems can best be accomplished by means of a more broadly conceived ethics that closes the breach between theory and praxis by articulating an appropriate manner of comportment toward entities as a whole (and not soley human, nor even sentient, entities) which displays an integration of thought and action, and which Heidegger calls inhabitation or dwelling.« less

Morphological assessment of bone mineralization in tibial metaphyses of ascorbic acid-deficient ODS rats.

PubMed

Hasegawa, Tomoka; Li, Minqi; Hara, Kuniko; Sasaki, Muneteru; Tabata, Chihiro; de Freitas, Paulo Henrique Luiz; Hongo, Hiromi; Suzuki, Reiko; Kobayashi, Masatoshi; Inoue, Kiichiro; Yamamoto, Tsuneyuki; Oohata, Noboru; Oda, Kimimitsu; Akiyama, Yasuhiro; Amizuka, Norio

2011-08-01

Osteogenic disorder shionogi (ODS) rats carry a hereditary defect in ascorbic acid synthesis, mimicking human scurvy when fed with an ascorbic acid-deficient (aa-def) diet. As aa-def ODS rats were shown to feature disordered bone formation, we have examined the bone mineralization in this rat model. A fibrous tissue layer surrounding the trabeculae of tibial metaphyses was found in aa-def ODS rats, and this layer showed intense alkaline phosphatase activity and proliferating cell nuclear antigen-immunopositivity. Many osteoblasts detached from the bone surfaces and were characterized by round-shaped rough endoplasmic reticulum (rER), suggesting accumulation of malformed collagen inside the rER. Accordingly, fine, fragile fibrillar collagenous structures without evident striation were found in aa-def bones, which may result from misassembling of the triple helices of collagenous α-chains. Despite a marked reduction in bone formation, ascorbic acid deprivation seemed to have no effect on mineralization: while reduced in number, normal matrix vesicles and mineralized nodules could be seen in aa-def bones. Fine needle-like mineral crystals extended from these mineralized nodules, and were apparently bound to collagenous fibrillar structures. In summary, collagen mineralization seems unaffected by ascorbic acid deficiency in spite of the fine, fragile collagenous fibrils identified in the bones of our animal model.

The uncertain foundation of neo-Darwinism: metaphysical and epistemological pluralism in the evolutionary synthesis.

PubMed

Delisle, Richard G

2009-06-01

The Evolutionary Synthesis is often seen as a unification process in evolutionary biology, one which provided this research area with a solid common theoretical foundation. As such, neo-Darwinism is believed to constitute from this time onward a single, coherent, and unified movement offering research guidelines for investigations. While this may be true if evolutionary biology is solely understood as centred around evolutionary mechanisms, an entirely different picture emerges once other aspects of the founding neo-Darwinists' views are taken into consideration, aspects potentially relevant to the elaboration of an evolutionary worldview: the tree of life, the ontological distinctions of the main cosmic entities (inert matter, biological organisms, mind), the inherent properties of self-organizing matter, evolutionary ethics, and so on. Profound tensions and inconsistencies are immediately revealed in the neo-Darwinian movement once this broader perspective is adopted. This pluralism is such that it is possible to identify at least three distinct and quasi-incommensurable epistemological/metaphysical frameworks as providing a proper foundation for neo-Darwinism. The analysis of the views of Theodosius Dobzhansky, Bernhard Rensch, and Ernst Mayr will illustrate this untenable pluralism, one which requires us to conceive of the neo-Darwinian research agenda as being conducted in more than one research programme or research tradition at the same time.

Outcomes for a large metaphyseal volume hemiarthroplasty in complex fractures of the proximal humerus.

PubMed

White, Jonathan J E; Soothill, John R; Morgan, Marie; Clark, David I; Espag, Marius P; Tambe, Amol A

2017-03-01

A large metaphyseal volume shoulder hemiarthroplasty has been in use within our department since 2008; however, no clinical outcome data are available for this prosthesis apart from the designer surgeon series. During a 5-year period, data were collected for 40 patients (30 women, 10 men) treated consecutively with the Zimmer Anatomical Shoulder Fracture hemiarthroplasty system (Zimmer, Warsaw, IN, USA). The final analysis included 26 patients. The median age was 79 years (range, 58-91 years), and the median follow-up was 3.7 years (range, 2.0-5.8 years). The median Constant Score was 34 points (range, 16-70 points), and the median Oxford Shoulder Score was 27 points (range, 5-46 points). The greater tuberosity healed satisfactorily in 12 patients. Resorption of the greater tuberosity was seen radiologically in 18 patients. The presence of resorption had no significant effect on the Constant Score (P = .264) or the Oxford Shoulder Score (P = .469). Three patients (12%) required revision. This is the first report from a nondesigner center for outcomes for this prosthesis to date. The results demonstrate reduced functional performance compared with the designer series. Copyright © 2017 Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery Board of Trustees. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Alpha-2 Heremans Schmid Glycoprotein (AHSG) Modulates Signaling Pathways in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Cell Line SQ20B

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Thompson, Pamela D.; Sakwe, Amos; Koumangoye, Rainelli

2014-02-15

This study was performed to identify the potential role of Alpha-2 Heremans Schmid Glycoprotein (AHSG) in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC) tumorigenesis using an HNSCC cell line model. HNSCC cell lines are unique among cancer cell lines, in that they produce endogenous AHSG and do not rely, solely, on AHSG derived from serum. To produce our model, we performed a stable transfection to down-regulate AHSG in the HNSCC cell line SQ20B, resulting in three SQ20B sublines, AH50 with 50% AHSG production, AH20 with 20% AHSG production and EV which is the empty vector control expressing wild-type levels ofmore » AHSG. Utilizing these sublines, we examined the effect of AHSG depletion on cellular adhesion, proliferation, migration and invasion in a serum-free environment. We demonstrated that sublines EV and AH50 adhered to plastic and laminin significantly faster than the AH20 cell line, supporting the previously reported role of exogenous AHSG in cell adhesion. As for proliferative potential, EV had the greatest amount of proliferation with AH50 proliferation significantly diminished. AH20 cells did not proliferate at all. Depletion of AHSG also diminished cellular migration and invasion. TGF-β was examined to determine whether levels of the TGF-β binding AHSG influenced the effect of TGF-β on cell signaling and proliferation. Whereas higher levels of AHSG blunted TGF-β influenced SMAD and ERK signaling, it did not clearly affect proliferation, suggesting that AHSG influences on adhesion, proliferation, invasion and migration are primarily due to its role in adhesion and cell spreading. The previously reported role of AHSG in potentiating metastasis via protecting MMP-9 from autolysis was also supported in this cell line based model system of endogenous AHSG production in HNSCC. Together, these data show that endogenously produced AHSG in an HNSCC cell line, promotes in vitro cellular properties identified as having a role in tumorigenesis. Highlights: �

A prospective, randomised trial comparing closed intramedullary nailing with percutaneous plating in the treatment of distal metaphyseal fractures of the tibia.

PubMed

Guo, J J; Tang, N; Yang, H L; Tang, T S

2010-07-01

We compared the outcome of closed intramedullary nailing with minimally invasive plate osteosynthesis using a percutaneous locked compression plate in patients with a distal metaphyseal fracture in a prospective study. A total of 85 patients were randomised to operative stabilisation either by a closed intramedullary nail (44) or by minimally invasive osteosynthesis with a compression plate (41). Pre-operative variables included the patients' age and the side and pattern of the fracture. Peri-operative variables were the operating time and the radiation time. Postoperative variables were wound problems, the time to union of the fracture, the functional American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle surgery score and removal of hardware. We found no significant difference in the pre-operative variables or in the time to union in the two groups. However, the mean radiation time and operating time were significantly longer in the locked compression plate group (3.0 vs 2.12 minutes, p < 0.001, and 97.9 vs 81.2 minutes, p < 0.001, respectively).After one year, all the fractures had united. Patients who had intramedullary nailing had a higher mean pain score (40 = no pain, 0 = severe pain), [corrected] but better function, alignment and total American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle surgery scores, although the differences were not statistically significant (p = 0.234, p = 0.157, p = 0.897, p = 0.177 respectively). Three (6.8%) patients in the intramedullary nailing group and six (14.6%) in the locked compression plate group showed delayed wound healing, and 37 (84.1%) in the former group and 38 (92.7%) in the latter group expressed a wish to have the implant removed. We conclude that both closed intramedullary nailing and a percutaneous locked compression plate can be used safely to treat Orthopaedic Trauma Association type-43A distal metaphyseal fractures of the tibia. However, closed intramedullary nailing has the advantage of a shorter operating and radiation time and easier removal

Beyond the metaphysical: health-promoting existential mechanisms and their impact on the health status of clients.

PubMed

Whitehead, Dean

2003-09-01

This paper aims to conceptualize the issues that surround the notion of existential health. It also seeks to establish the impact that existential issues have upon the health of the individual client and how these might explicitly be applied in clinical practice settings. The ability of clients to draw upon their own existential resources as a fundamental part of their health care experience often goes unrecognized in nursing. Whilst existential mechanisms may be theoretically recognized, as a valid aspect of an individual's unique and personal identity, they are not an established part of the health care activity of nurses. Entrenched biomedical frameworks of care delivery and the interchangeable use of metaphysical health states with existential health states in the established literature present particular dilemmas for the acknowledgement of existential health in clients. A review of the literature has been conducted. This account argues that the failure to recognize and assess a client's existential health status represents a major omission on the part of the clinical nurse. These nurses are, in effect, denying their clients the right to exercise and mobilize an important and valuable health resource.

Absence of rickets in infants with fatal abusive head trauma and classic metaphyseal lesions.

PubMed

Perez-Rossello, Jeannette M; McDonald, Anna G; Rosenberg, Andrew E; Tsai, Andy; Kleinman, Paul K

2015-06-01

To determine if rickets is present in cases of infant homicide with classic metaphyseal lesions (CMLs) and other skeletal injuries. This study was exempt from the institutional human subjects board review because all infants were deceased. An archival review (1984-2012) was performed of the radiologic and histopathologic findings of 46 consecutive infant fatalities referred from the state medical examiner's office for the evaluation of possible child abuse. Thirty infants with distal femoral histologic material were identified. Additional inclusion criteria were as follows: (a) The medical examiner determined that the infant had sustained a head injury and that the manner of death was a homicide, (b) at least one CML was evident at skeletal survey, (c) CMLs were confirmed at autopsy, and (d) non-CML fractures were also present. Nine infants (mean age, 3.9 months; age range, 1-9 months) were identified. Two pediatric radiologists independently reviewed the skeletal surveys for rachitic changes at the wrists and knees. A bone and soft tissue pathologist reviewed the distal femoral histologic slices for rickets. There were no radiographic or pathologic features of rickets in the cohort. The findings provide no support for the view that the CML is due to rickets. Rather, they strengthen a robust literature that states that the CML is a traumatic injury commonly encountered in physically abused infants. RSNA, 2015

The metaphysics of D-CTCs: On the underlying assumptions of Deutsch's quantum solution to the paradoxes of time travel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dunlap, Lucas

2016-11-01

I argue that Deutsch's model for the behavior of systems traveling around closed timelike curves (CTCs) relies implicitly on a substantive metaphysical assumption. Deutsch is employing a version of quantum theory with a significantly supplemented ontology of parallel existent worlds, which differ in kind from the many worlds of the Everett interpretation. Standard Everett does not support the existence of multiple identical copies of the world, which the D-CTC model requires. This has been obscured because he often refers to the branching structure of Everett as a "multiverse", and describes quantum interference by reference to parallel interacting definite worlds. But he admits that this is only an approximation to Everett. The D-CTC model, however, relies crucially on the existence of a multiverse of parallel interacting worlds. Since his model is supplemented by structures that go significantly beyond quantum theory, and play an ineliminable role in its predictions and explanations, it does not represent a quantum solution to the paradoxes of time travel.

[Prolonged states of virtual recovery after atypical pubertal schizophrenic episodes with over-valuation disorders of the "metaphysical intoxication" type].

PubMed

Bil'zho, A G

1986-01-01

Using clinical and follow-up methods of investigation the authors studied a number of patients with juvenile slowly progressive schizophrenia in whom the disease picture in youth was characterized by over-worship disturbances of the "metaphysical intoxication" type which were attended by marked social and occupational disadaptation. A group of patients (n = 25) was identified with a state of practical cure after youth. Three most characteristic patterns of personality changes in these patients were described. The dominant role in their structure was played by manifestations of delay of mental maturation and the syndrome of psychic juvenilism of a dissociated nature. A certain relationship was found between the level and nature of the patients' occupational adaptation and the type of their personality changes. The question is discussed about the determination of the disease stage in such cases. The authors consider them as recovery states with some personality changes which can be ascribed to residual schizophrenia.

Revision Total Knee Arthroplasty with Metaphyseal Sleeves without Stem: Short-Term Results

PubMed Central

Stefani, Giacomo; Mattiuzzo, Valerio; Prestini, Greta

2017-01-01

Purpose  The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of revision total knee arthroplasty (TKA) with cementless metaphyseal sleeves without stems either in the femoral or tibial side or in both. Methods  In this retrospective study, 51 patients (51 knees) operated in the period 2010 to 2015 met the above-mentioned criteria and were invited to a medical examination including X-rays. Forty-six were available for the study. Mean follow-up was 37 months. Knee Society score (KSS) (objective knee score), Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) score, and range of motion (ROM) were used as outcome scores and compared with baseline values. X-rays were also examined and compared with postoperative exams to evaluate the presence of loosening, radiolucent lines, and bone ingrowth. Satisfaction of the patients was also investigated using a linear scale from 1 to 10. Results  KSS improved from 39 to 77 ( p  < 0.01); WOMAC score improved from 76 to 41 ( p  < 0.01). Twenty-four (52%) patients were satisfied, 15 (32%) were partially satisfied, and 7 (16%) were unsatisfied. ROM improved from 93 to 96 degrees (nonsignificant difference). X-rays showed no loosening of the implants, radiolucent lines in 4 patients (3 of them were asymptomatic) and bone ingrowth in 43 out of 46 patients. Conclusion  In this short-term retrospective study, the use of sleeves without stem was a safe and effective procedure in revision TKA. We found a significant improvement in clinical results compared with baseline values and no signs of implant loosening. Level of Evidence  Level IV, therapeutic case series. PMID:29270557

Philosophy for Children Meets the Art of Living: A Holistic Approach to an Education for Life

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

D'Olimpio, Laura; Teschers, Christoph

2016-01-01

This article explores the meeting of two approaches towards philosophy and education: the philosophy for children (P4C) approach advocated by Lipman and others, and Schmid's (2000a) philosophical concept of" Lebenskunst" (the art of living). Schmid explores the concept of the beautiful or good life by asking what is necessary for each…

Crystal plasticity investigation of the microstructural factors influencing dislocation channeling in a model irradiated bcc material

DOE PAGES

Patra, Anirban; McDowell, David L.

2016-03-25

We use a continuum crystal plasticity framework to study the effect of microstructure and mesoscopic factors on dislocation channeling and flow localization in an irradiated model bcc alloy. For simulated dislocation channeling characteristics we correlate the dislocation and defect densities in the substructure, local Schmid factor, and stress triaxiality, in terms of their temporal and spatial evolution. A metric is introduced to assess the propensity for localization and is correlated to the grain-level Schmid factor. We also found that localization generally takes place in grains with a local Schmid factor in the range 0.42 or higher. Surface slip step heightsmore » are computed at free surfaces and compared to relevant experiments.« less

The effects of prostaglandin E2 in growing rats - Increased metaphyseal hard tissue and cortico-endosteal bone formation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jee, W. S. S.; Ueno, K.; Deng, Y. P.; Woodbury, D. M.

1985-01-01

The role of in vivo prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) in bone formation is investigated. Twenty-five male Sprague-Dawley rats weighing between 223-267 g were injected subcutaneously with 0.3, 1.0, 3.0, and 6.0 mg of PGE2-kg daily for 21 days. The processing of the tibiae for observation is described. Radiographs and histomorphometric analyses are also utilized to study bone formation. Body weight, weights of soft tissues and bones morphometry are evaluated. It is observed that PGE2 depressed longitudinal bone growth, increased growth cartilage thickness, decreased degenerative cartilage cell size and cartilage cell production, and significantly increased proximal tibial metaphyseal hard tissue mass. The data reveal that periosteal bone formation is slowed down at higher doses of PGE2 and endosteal bone formation is slightly depressed less than 10 days post injection; however, here is a late increase (10 days after post injection) in endosteal bone formation and in the formation of trabecular bone in the marrow cavity of the tibial shaft. It is noted that the effects of PGE2 on bone formation are similar to the responses of weaning rats to PGE2.

The Voluntary Nature of Decision-Making in Addiction: Static Metaphysical Views Versus Epistemologically Dynamic Views.

PubMed

Racine, Eric; Rousseau-Lesage, Simon

2017-06-01

The degree of autonomy present in the choices made by individuals with an addiction, notably in the context of research, is unclear and debated. Some have argued that addiction, as it is commonly understood, prevents people from having sufficient decision-making capacity or self-control to engage in choices involving substances to which they have an addiction. Others have criticized this position for being too radical and have counter-argued in favour of the full autonomy of people with an addiction. Aligning ourselves with middle-ground positions between these two extremes, we flesh out an account of voluntary action that makes room for finer-grained analyses than the proposed all-or-nothing stances, which rely on a rather static metaphysical understanding of the nature of the voluntariness of action. In contrast, a dynamic concept of voluntary action better accounts for varying levels of voluntariness of the person with an addiction which takes into consideration internal (e.g. cravings) and external (e.g. perceptions of degrees of freedom related to different options) determinants of choice. Accordingly, like other components of autonomous choices such as level of information, voluntariness can fluctuate. Therefore, there are important implications for research and clinical ethics in matters of consent, recruitment, and therapeutic approaches. Overall, our proposal is inspired by a pragmatist understanding of voluntary action, notably with respect to how voluntariness is both informed by actions and experiences that shape one's view of the world. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Anterior total hip arthroplasty using a metaphyseal bone-sparing stem: component alignment and early complications.

PubMed

Ahmed, Mohammed M; Otto, Thomas J; Moed, Berton R

2016-04-22

Limited-incision total hip arthroplasty (THA) preserves hip abductors, posterior capsule, and external rotators potentially diminishing dislocation risk. However, potential complications also exist, such as component malposition. Specific implants have been manufactured that enhance compatibility with this technique, while preserving metaphyseal bone; however, little data exists documenting early complications and component position. The purpose was to evaluate primary THA using a curved, bone-sparing stem inserted through the anterior approach with respect to component alignment and early complications. In a retrospective analysis of 108 cases, the surgical technique was outlined and the occurrence of intraoperative fractures, postoperative dislocations, infection, and limb length inequality was determined. Femoral stem and acetabular cup alignment was quantified using the initial postoperative radiographs. Patient follow-up averaged 12.9 (range 2 to 36) months. There were eight (7.4 %) complications requiring revision surgery in three (2.8 %) patients with three (2.8 %) infections and three (2.8 %) dislocations. Intraoperative complications included one calcar fracture above the lesser trochanter. Leg length inequality >5 mm was present in three (2.8 %) patients. Radiographic analysis showed that femoral neutral alignment was achieved in 95 hips (88.0 %). All femoral stems demonstrated satisfactory fit and fill and no evidence of subsidence, osteolysis, or loosening. An average abduction angle of 44.8° (± 5.3) and average cup anteversion of 16.2° (± 4.2) were also noted. Although the technique with this implant and approach is promising, it does not appear to offer important advantages over standard techniques. However, the findings merit further, long-term study.

Relatively High Complication and Revision Rates of the Mayo® Metaphysical Conservative Femoral Stem in Young Patients.

PubMed

Rutenberg, Tal Frenkel; Warshevski, Yaniv; Gold, Aviram; Shasha, Nadav; Snir, Nimrod; Chechik, Ofir; Dolkart, Oleg; Eilig, Dynai; Herman, Amir; Rath, Ehud; Kramer, Moti; Drexler, Michael

2018-05-08

The Mayo metaphysical conservative femoral stem (Zimmer, Warsaw, Indiana) is a wedge-shaped implant designed to transfer loads proximally, reduce femoral destruction, and enable the preservation of bone stock in the proximal femur. Thus, it is a potentially preferred prosthesis for active, non-elderly patients who may require additional future surgeries. This retrospective case study analyzed the outcomes of consecutive patients who underwent total hip replacements with this stem between May 2001 and February 2013. All patients underwent clinical assessment, radiological evaluation for the presence and development of radiolucent lines, and functional assessment (numerical analog scale, Harris hip score, and Short Form-12 questionnaire). Ninety-five hips (79 patients) were available for analysis. The patients' mean age was 43 years (range, 18-64 years), and the mean follow-up was 97 months (range, 26.9-166 months). The postoperative clinical assessments and functional assessments revealed significant improvements. Sixteen patients (20.3%) had 18 orthopedic complications, the most common of which were an intraoperative femoral fracture and implant dislocation requiring revision surgeries in 10 hips (10.5%). Radiological analysis revealed evidence of femoral remodeling in 64 (67.4%) implants, spot welds (neocortex) in 35 (36.8%), and osteolysis in 3 (3.2%). These results suggest that the conservative hip femoral implant has an unacceptable complication rate for non-elderly patients. [Orthopedics. 201x; xx(x):xx-xx.]. Copyright 2018, SLACK Incorporated.

The Possibility of a New Metaphysics for Quantum Mechanics from Meinong's Theory of Objects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Graffigna, Matías

According to de Ronde it was Bohr's interpretation of Quantum Mechanics (QM) which closed the possibility of understanding physical reality beyond the realm of the actual, so establishing the Orthodox Line of Research. In this sense, it is not the task of any physical theory to look beyond the language and metaphysics supposed by classical physics, in order to account for what QM describes. If one wishes to maintain a realist position (though not nave) regarding physical theories, one seems then to be trapped by an array of concepts that do not allow to understand the main principles involved in the most successful physical theory thus far, mainly: the quantum postulate, the principle of indetermination and the superposition principle. If de Ronde is right in proposing QM can only be completed as a physical theory by the introduction of `new concepts' that admit as real a domain beyond actuality, then a new ontology that goes beyond Aristotelian and Newtonian actualism is needed. It was already in the early 20th century that misunderstood philosopher Alexius von Meinong proposed a Theory of Objects that admits a domain of being beyond existence-actuality. Member of the so called `School of Brentano', Meinong's concerns were oriented to provide an ontology of everything that can be thought of, and at the same time an intentionality theory of how objects are thought of. I wish to argue that in Meinong's theory of objects we find the rudiments of the ontology and the intentionality theory we need to account for QM's basic principles: mainly the possibility of predicating properties of non-entities, or in other words, the possibility of objectively describing a domain of what is, that is different from the domain of actual existence.

Studies in Statistical Optics - Theory & Application

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-07-29

J. Tamkin Jr., T. Schmid, and E. Wolf, “Observation of the Gouy phase anomaly in astigmatic beams”, Applied Optics, 51, No. 15, 2902-2908 (2012...Rolland, K. Thompson, K. Lee, J. Tamkin Jr., T. Schmid, and E. Wolf, “Observation of the Gouy phase anomaly in astigmatic beams”, Applied Optics, 51, No...15, 2902-2908 (2012). The Gouy phase anomaly, well established for stigmatic beams, is validated here for astigmatic beams. We simulate the

Laser Damage and Effects Bibliography. Part 1. Journal Literature through 1982

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-06-15

F.; BROST , George ; SCHMID, Ansgar; KELLY, P. J. "The Role of Laser-Induced Primary Defect Formation in Optical Breakdown of NaCl" IEEE J. Quantum...Induced Damage in Optical Materials: 1980, Nat. Bur. Stands. (U.S.), Spec. ubl. 620 (Oct 81) 403-405 BRAUNLICH, Peter F.; BROST , George ; SCHMID...James; RITTER, George J. "Laser-Induced Damage in Copper Crystals" Appl. Phys. Lett. 9 (1 Oct 66) 272-273 PERESSINI, E. H. "Field Emission from Atoms in

Characteristics of dislocation structure in creep deformed lamellar tial alloy within primary regime

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cho, H. S.; Nam, Soo W.

1999-06-01

In this investigation, dislocations of a lamellar TiAl alloy are analyzed after creeping in the primary range at 800°C/200MPa in order to interpret their mobility It was found that the dislocation density in γ-laths decreased as the creep deformation proceeds within primary creep regime Schmid factor analysis suggests that the creep deformation in the early stage of the primary creep regime is controlled by the gliding of some of the initial dislocations which have a high enough Schmid factor As the creep deformation progressed, those dislocations with high Schmid factors slip preferentially to be annihilated at the α-γ interface For further continuous deformation, dislocation generation is required, and for this, α-phase is transformed to γ-phase in order to generate new dislocations A slow dislocation generation process by phase transformation of α-phase compared with the absorbing rate to sinks is responsible for the decreasing dislocation density as the creep strain increases

From the "metaphysics of the individual" to the critique of society: on the practical significance of Michel Henry's phenomenology of life.

PubMed

Staudigl, Michael

This essay explores the practical significance of Michel Henry's "material phenomenology." Commencing with an exposition of his most basic philosophical intuition, i.e., his insight that transcendental affectivity is the primordial mode of revelation of our selfhood, the essay then brings to light how this intuition also establishes our relation to both the world and others. Animated by a radical form of the phenomenological reduction, Henry's material phenomenology brackets the exterior world in a bid to reach the concrete interior transcendental experience at the base of all exteriority. The essay argues that this "counter reduction," designed as a practical orientation to the world, suspends all traditional parameters of onto(theo)logical individuation in order to rethink subjectivity in terms of its transcendental corporeality, i.e., in terms of the invisible display of "affective flesh." The development of this "metaphysics of the individual" anchors his "practical philosophy" as he developed it-under shifting accents-throughout his oeuvre. In particular, the essay brings into focus Henry's reflections on modernity, the industry of mass culture and their "barbaric" movements. The essay briefly puts these cultural and political areas of Henry's of thinking into contact with his late "theological turn," i.e., his Christological account of Life and the (inter)subjective self-realization to which it gives rise.

Migration of grain boundaries and triple junctions in high-purity aluminum during annealing after slight cold rolling

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yin, Wenhong; School of Mechanical Engineering, Shandong University of Technology, Zibo 255049; Wang, Weiguo, E-mail: wang_weiguo@vip.163.com

Grain orientations and grain boundary migrations near triple junctions in a high purity aluminum were analyzed by electron back scattered diffraction. The results indicate that there are good correlations between the Schmid factors or Taylor factors and the misorientation values of point to original point in grains near the triple junctions in a slightly deformed sample. Grains with higher Schmid factors or lower Taylor factors typically correspond to higher misorientation values near the triple junctions. In a subsequent annealing at 400 °C, both grain boundaries and triple junctions migrate, but the former leave ghost lines. During such migration, a grainmore » boundary grows from the grain with lower Schmid factor (higher Taylor factor) into the grain with higher Schmid factor (lower Taylor factor). Usually, the amount of migration of a grain boundary is considerably greater than that of a triple junction, and the grain boundary becomes more curved after migration. These observations indicate that the triple junctions have drag effects on grain boundary migration. - Highlights: • Polycrystalline aluminum with fine grains about 30 μm were used. • Off-line in situ EBSD was used to identify TJs before and after annealing. • Grains with higher SFs have higher misorientation values near TJs after deformation. • Grain boundaries grow from hard grains into soft grains during annealing. • Triple junctions have drag effects on grain boundaries migration.« less

EBSD characterization of twinning in cold-rolled CP-Ti

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Li, X., E-mail: csulixu@hotmail.com; Duan, Y.L., E-mail: 876270744@qq.com; Xu, G.F., E-mail: csuxgf66@csu.edu.cn

2013-10-15

This work presents the use of a mechanical testing system and the electron backscatter diffraction technique to study the mechanical properties and twinning systems of cold-rolled commercial purity titanium, respectively. The dependence of twinning on the matrix orientation is analyzed by the distribution map of Schmid factor. The results showed that the commercial purity titanium experienced strong strain hardening and had excellent formability during rolling. Both the (112{sup ¯}2)<112{sup ¯}3{sup ¯}> compressive twins and (101{sup ¯}2)<101{sup ¯}1{sup ¯}> tensile twins were dependent on the matrix orientation. The Schmid factor of a grain influenced the activation of a particular twinning system.more » The specific rolling deformation of commercial purity titanium controlled the number and species of twinning systems and further changed the mechanical properties. - Highlights: • CP-Ti experienced strain hardening and had excellent formability. • Twins were dependent on the matrix orientation. • Schmid factor of a grain influenced the activation of a twinning system. • Rolling deformation controlled twinning systems and mechanical properties.« less

Effects of Long-Term Daily Administration of Prostaglandin-E2 on Maintaining Elevated Proximal Tibial Metaphyseal Cancellous Bone Mass in Male Rats

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ke, Hua Zhu; Jee, Webster S. S.; Mori, Satoshi; Li, Xiao Jian; Kimmel, Donald B.

1992-01-01

The effects of long-term prostaglandin E(sub 2) (PGE(sub 2)) on cancellous bone in proximal tibial metaphysis were studied in 7 month old male Sprague-Dawley rats given daily subcutaneous injections of 0, 1, 3, and 6 mg PGE(sub 2)/kg/day and sacrificed after 60, 120, and 180 days. Histomorphometric analyses were performed on double fluorescent-labeled undecalcified bone specimens. After 60 days of treatment, PGE(sub 2) produced diffusely labeled trabecular bone area, increased trabecular bone area, eroded and labeled trabecular perimeter, mineral apposition rate, and bone formation rate at all dose levels when compared with age-matched controls. In rats given PGE(sub 2) for longer time periods (120 and 180 days), trabecular bone area, diffusely labeled trabecular bone area, labeled perimeter, mineral apposition, and bone formation rates were sustained at the elevated levels achieved earlier at 60-day treatment. The eroded perimeter continued to increase until 120 days, then plateau. The observation that continuous systemic PGE(sub 2) administration to adult male rats elevated metaphyseal cancellous bone mass to 3.5-fold of the control level within 60 days and maintained it for another 120 days indicates that the powerful skeletal anabolic effects of PGE2 can be sustained with continuous administration .

Therapeutics Targeting FGF Signaling Network in Human Diseases.

PubMed

Katoh, Masaru

2016-12-01

Fibroblast growth factor (FGF) signaling through its receptors, FGFR1, FGFR2, FGFR3, or FGFR4, regulates cell fate, angiogenesis, immunity, and metabolism. Dysregulated FGF signaling causes human diseases, such as breast cancer, chondrodysplasia, gastric cancer, lung cancer, and X-linked hypophosphatemic rickets. Recombinant FGFs are pro-FGF signaling therapeutics for tissue and/or wound repair, whereas FGF analogs and gene therapy are under development for the treatment of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and osteoarthritis. FGF traps, anti-FGF/FGFR monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), and small-molecule FGFR inhibitors are anti-FGF signaling therapeutics under development for the treatment of cancer, chondrodysplasia, and rickets. Here, I discuss the benefit-risk and cost-effectiveness issues of precision medicine targeting FGFRs, ALK, EGFR, and FLT3. FGFR-targeted therapy should be optimized for cancer treatment, focusing on genomic tests and recurrence. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Efficacy of Bone Source™ and Cementek™ in comparison with Endobon™ in critical size metaphyseal defects, using a minipig model.

PubMed

Spies, Christian K G; Schnürer, Stefan; Gotterbarm, Tobias; Breusch, Steffen J

2010-01-01

To examine and compare biocompatibility, osteocompatibility, rate of resorption, and remodelling dynamics of 2 calcium phosphate cements in comparison with a well-established hydroxyapatite ceramic. In a randomised fashion, Bone Source™, Cementek™, and Endobon™ were implanted bilaterally into the proximal metaphyseal tibiae of 35 Göttinger minipigs in a direct right vs. left intra-individual comparison. Fluorescent labelling was used. Histological and morphometric evaluations were carried out at 6, 12, and 52 weeks. All bone substitutes showed good biocompatibility, bioactivity, and osteoconductivity. Endobon™ was not degraded over the follow-up period. Cementek™ was degraded constantly and significantly over the time intervals, whereas Bone Source™ was degraded mainly from the 6 week to 12 week interval. After 52 weeks, a significant difference of residual material within the defect zone was detected between all substitutes, with the highest resorption rate for Cementek™. Bone Source™ was least degraded. Defects filled with Endobon™ were characterised by a significantly continuous bony ingrowth over the time intervals. Bone formation within the defects filled with Cementek™ and Bone Source™ showed significant peaks 12 weeks after implantation. After 52 weeks, a significant difference in the amount of new bone within the defect area was detected, with the highest levels for Endobon™, followed by Cementek™. After 1 year a restitution ad integrum could not be observed in any treatment group. The ceramic Endobon™ showed the expected response histologically. Based on its porosity it excelled in osteoconductivity. Concerning the calcium phosphate cements, a thorough osseous incorporation seemed to inhibit further degradation of both bone substitute materials.

Genetics Home Reference: rhizomelic chondrodysplasia punctata

MedlinePlus

... and in the nervous system. Within peroxisomes, the proteins produced from the PEX7 , GNPAT , and AGPS genes play roles in the formation (synthesis) of lipid molecules called plasmalogens. Plasmalogens are found ...

Materials being simultaneously ferroelectric, ferromagnetic, ferrotoroidic and ferroelastic

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmid, Hans

2001-03-01

For the simultaneous occurrence of ferroelectric, ferromagnetic, ferrotoroidic and ferroelastic properties in the same phase, certain stringent symmetry and structural requirements have to be met. Among the 122 Shubnikov point groups 31 are allowing a spontaneous polarization, 31 a spontaneous magnetization and 31 a spontaneous toroidal moment, but only 9 groups allow all three types of vector property at the same time(H. Schmid, Ferroelectrics, in press). In practice this number is further reduced to 6 groups which are permitting "weak ferromagnetism", the most probable type of ferromagnetism found in ferroelectrics with magnetic superexchange interaction nets. The additional occurrence of ferroelasticity is possible for certain prototype phase/ferroic phase pairs of point group (= "Aizu species") only. In addition, one of the mentioned 9 point groups excludes ferroelasticity and allows a co-elastic phase transition only. - The presence or absence of full or partial coupling between the named primary ferroic spontaneous quantities and the resulting possibilities of coupled or non-coupled ferroic domain switching and reorientation are also ruled by the type of species(H. Schmid, Ferroelectrics, 221, 9-17 (1999)). - Apart from a few exceptions, multiferroic phases being simultaneously ferroelectric, ferromagnetic, ferrotoroidic and ferroelastic, are so far well established in the crystal family of boracites M_3B_7O_13X only, where M stands for a bivalent 3d-transition metal ion and X for an ion of the halogens Cl, Br or I(H. Schmid, Ferroelectrics, 162, 317-338 (1994)). - A toroidal moment changes sign both under time reversal and space inversion and has the same symmetry as current density, anapole moment, velocity, etc. First experimental evidence of the presence of a spontaneous toroidal moment in boracites is suggested by phenomenological theory on the basis of measured anomalies of the linear magnetoelectric effect(D.G. Sannikov, Ferroelectrics, 219, 177 (1998

New data on Rhyacophila (Trichoptera: Rhyacophilidae) from West Malaysia and Indonesia (Lombok and Bali) with descriptions of two new species.

PubMed

Ivanov, Vladimir D; Melnitsky, Stanislav I

2013-01-01

A new species, Rhyacophila langkawia sp. n., belonging to the R. curvata Group sensu Schmid (1970) is described. The samples provide also material of the previously undescribed species cited by Schmid (1970) as R. schmidi, a nomen nudum; this species is described as R. schmidirossia sp. n., also in the R. curvata Group. Other sampled species were Rhyacophila curvata Morton, recorded for the first time from Negeri Sembilan (West Malaysia) and Lombok (Indonesia); Rhyacophila stheneboia Malicky & Prommi (Pahang and Negeri Sembilan, West Malaysia), and Rhyacophila anakbatukau Malicky, recorded for the first time from Lombok (Indonesia). Updated lists of the Rhyacophila species found in West Malaysia and Indonesia are provided.

Absolute becoming, relational becoming and the arrow of time: Some non-conventional remarks on the relationship between physics and metaphysics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dorato, Mauro

The literature on the compatibility between the time of our experience-characterized by passage or becoming-and time as is represented within spacetime theories has been affected by a persistent failure to get a clear grasp of the notion of becoming, both in its relation to an ontology of events "spread" in a four-dimensional manifold, and in relation to temporally asymmetric physical processes. In the first part of my paper I try to remedy this situation by offering what I consider a clear and faithful explication of becoming, valid independently of the particular spacetime setting in which we operate. Along the way, I will show why the metaphysical debate between the so-called "presentists" and "eternalists" is completely irrelevant to the question of becoming, as the debate itself is generated by a failure to distinguish between a tensed and a tenseless sense of "existence". After a much needed distinction between absolute and relational becoming, I then show in what sense classical (non-quantum) spacetime physics presupposes both types of becoming, for the simple reason that spacetime physics presupposes an ontology of (timelike-separated) events. As a consequence, not only does it turn out that using physics to try to provide empirical evidence for the existence of becoming amounts to putting the cart before the horses, but also that the order imposed by "the arrow of becoming" is more fundamental than any other physical arrow of time, despite the fact that becoming cannot be used to explain why entropy grows, or retarded electromagnetic radiation prevails versus advanced radiation.

[Asphyxiating thoracic dysplasia associated with hepatic ductal hypoplasia, agenesis of the corpus callosum and Dandy-Walker syndrome].

PubMed

Trabelsi, M; Hammou-Jeddi, A; Kammoun, A; Bennaceur, B; Gharbi, H A

1990-01-01

The authors report on a case of a newborn with asphyxiating thoracic dysplasia who died 36 h after birth. This chondrodysplasia was associated with hepatic ductular hypoplasia, agenesis of the corpus callosum and Dandy-Walker malformation. To our knowledge, such an association has not previously been reported in the literature.

Intramedullary nailing versus plating for extra-articular distal tibial metaphyseal fracture: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed

Xue, Xing-He; Yan, Shi-Gui; Cai, Xun-Zi; Shi, Ming-Min; Lin, Tiao

2014-04-01

With development in the techniques of reduction and fixation, there has been a controversy in comparison between intramedullary nailing (IMN) and plating for the treatment of distal tibial metaphyseal fracture (DTF). The study aimed to investigate: (1) which fixation, IMN or plating, was better in the clinical outcomes and in the complications for the treatment of DTF and (2) which modifying variables affected the comparative results between the two modalities. PubMed, EMBASE, OVID, Scopus, ISI Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, Google Scholar and specific orthopaedic journals were searched from inception to July 2013, using the search strategy of '('Fracture Fixation, Intramedullary' [MeSH]) AND ('Tibial Fractures' [MeSH]) AND (plate OR plating)'. All prospective and retrospective controlled trials comparing function, pain, bone union and complications between IMN and plating for DTF were identified. Our analysis had no limitation of the language or the publication year. The primary outcome measurements were complication rate, union time, operation time and hospital stays, while the secondary outcome measurements were functional score and pain score. Fourteen of 6620 studies with 842 patients were included. IMN was probably preferential to plating for DTF given its higher functional score (p=0.01), lower risk of infection (p=0.02) and comparable pain score (p=0.33), total complication rate (p=0.53) and time to union (p=0.86). However, plating had a lower malunion rate than IMN (p<0.0001). All the results were based on the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) evidence of moderate quality. With a satisfying alignment obtained, IMN may be preferential to plating for fixation of DTF with better function and lower risk of infection. However, IMN showed higher malunion rate for fixation of DTF. With the biases in our meta-analysis, it will ultimately require a rigorous and adequately powered randomised controlled trial (RCT) to

Dislocation nucleation from symmetric tilt grain boundaries in body-centered cubic vanadium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Shuozhi; Su, Yanqing

2018-05-01

We perform molecular dynamics (MD) simulations with two interatomic potentials to study dislocation nucleation from six symmetric tilt grain boundaries (GB) using bicrystal models in body-centered cubic vanadium. The influences of the misorientation angle are explored in the context of activated slip systems, critical resolved shear stress (CRSS), and GB energy. It is found that for four GBs, the activated slip systems are not those with the highest Schmid factor, i.e., the Schmid law breaks down. For all misorientation angles, the bicrystal is associated with a lower CRSS than their single crystalline counterparts. Moreover, the GB energy decreases in compressive loading at the yield point with respect to the undeformed configuration, in contrast to tensile loading.

Science Awareness and Science Literacy through the Basic Physics Course: Physics with a bit of Metaphysics?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rusli, Aloysius

2016-08-01

Until the 1980s, it is well known and practiced in Indonesian Basic Physics courses, to present physics by its effective technicalities: The ideally elastic spring, the pulley and moving blocks, the thermodynamics of ideal engine models, theoretical electrostatics and electrodynamics with model capacitors and inductors, wave behavior and its various superpositions, and hopefully closed with a modern physics description. A different approach was then also experimented with, using the Hobson and Moore texts, stressing the alternative aim of fostering awareness, not just mastery, of science and the scientific method. This is hypothesized to be more in line with the changed attitude of the so-called Millenials cohort who are less attentive if not interested, and are more used to multi-tasking which suits their shorter span of attention. The upside is increased awareness of science and the scientific method. The downside is that they are getting less experience of the scientific method which intensely bases itself on critical observation, analytic thinking to set up conclusions or hypotheses, and checking consistency of the hypotheses with measured data. Another aspect is recognition that the human person encompasses both the reasoning capacity and the mental- spiritual-cultural capacity. This is considered essential, as the world grows even smaller due to increased communication capacity, causing strong interactions, nonlinear effects, and showing that value systems become more challenging and challenged due to physics / science and its cosmology, which is successfully based on the scientific method. So students should be made aware of the common basis of these two capacities: the assumptions, the reasoning capacity and the consistency assumption. This shows that the limits of science are their set of basic quantifiable assumptions, and the limits of the mental-spiritual-cultural aspects of life are their set of basic metaphysical (non-quantifiable) assumptions. The

Rethinking the birthing body: Cartesian dualism and perinatal nursing.

PubMed

Goldberg, Lisa

2002-03-01

This paper highlights the pervasive influence of a Cartesian metaphysics on the medical paradigm and its profound impact on the practice of perinatal nursing in North America. Modern perinatal health care practices are founded on a Cartesian metaphysics that reduce birthing women to the status of object. Such practices deny the holistic aims of perinatal nursing. A philosophical inquiry informs the tenets of this metaphysical discussion regarding the foundations of perinatal nursing practices. Although perinatal health care is founded on a Cartesian metaphysics, an alternative paradigm of embodied practice is suggested as a way of viewing birthing women as embodied subjects. If the foundations of health care, which have been built on a Cartesian metaphysics, are not re-examined, perinatal nurses will be providing care that further reduce women to the status of object.

Genetic mapping of a locus for multiple ephiphyseal dysplasia (EDM2) to a region of chromosome 1 containing a type IX collagen gene

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Briggs, M.D.; Choi, HiChang; Warman, M.L.

1994-10-01

Multiple epiphyseal dysplasia (MED) is a dominantly inherited chondrodysplasia characterized by mild short stature and early-onset osteoarthrosis. Some forms of MED clinically resemble another chondrodysplasia phenotype, the mild form of pseudoachondroplasia (PSACH). On the basis of their clinical similarities as well as similar ultra-structural and biochemical features in cartilage from some patients, it has been proposed that MED and PSACH belong to a single bone-dysplasia family. Recently, both mild and severe PSACH as well as a form of MED have been linked to the same interval on chromosome 19, suggesting that they may be allelic disorders. Linkage studies with themore » chromosome 19 markers were carried out in a large family with MED and excluded the previously identified interval. Using this family, we have identified a MED locus on the short arm of chromosome 1, in a region containing the gene (COL9A2) that encodes the {alpha}2 chain of type IX collagen, a structural component of the cartilage extracellular matrix. 39 refs., 3 figs., 3 tabs.« less

What to say to a skeptical metaphysician: a defense manual for cognitive and behavioral scientists.

PubMed

Ross, Don; Spurrett, David

2004-10-01

A wave of recent work in metaphysics seeks to undermine the anti-reductionist, functionalist consensus of the past few decades in cognitive science and philosophy of mind. That consensus apparently legitimated a focus on what systems do, without necessarily and always requiring attention to the details of how systems are constituted. The new metaphysical challenge contends that many states and processes referred to by functionalist cognitive scientists are epiphenomenal. It further contends that the problem lies in functionalism itself, and that, to save the causal significance of mind, it is necessary to re-embrace reductionism. We argue that the prescribed return to reductionism would be disastrous for the cognitive and behavioral sciences, requiring the dismantling of most existing achievements and placing intolerable restrictions on further work. However, this argument fails to answer the metaphysical challenge on its own terms. We meet that challenge by going on to argue that the new metaphysical skepticism about functionalist cognitive science depends on reifying two distinct notions of causality (one primarily scientific, the other metaphysical), then equivocating between them. When the different notions of causality are properly distinguished, it is clear that functionalism is in no serious philosophical trouble, and that we need not choose between reducing minds or finding them causally impotent. The metaphysical challenge to functionalism relies, in particular, on a naïve and inaccurate conception of the practice of physics, and the relationship between physics and metaphysics.

Lessons from the Tao for birthing practice.

PubMed

Overman, B

1994-06-01

The metaphysics of the Tao Te Ching, as the basic structure of the universe, is used to examine birthing as creation. Lessons from the Tao regarding cultivating naturalness are drawn upon to provide suggestions for women in preparation for birthing, as well as for the nurses and midwives who attend them. Compatibility of this metaphysical view of birthing with Rogers's and Newman's nursing theories is identified, and the importance of honoring the metaphysical and spiritual aspects of birthing in nursing practice is stressed.

Salvage of tibial pilon fractures using fusion of the ankle with a 90 degrees cannulated blade-plate: a preliminary report.

PubMed

Morgan, S J; Thordarson, D B; Shepherd, L E

1999-06-01

Six patients with ankle joint destruction and delayed metaphyseal union after tibial plafond fracture were surgically treated with tibiotalar arthrodesis and metaphyseal reconstruction, using a fixed-angle cannulated blade-plate. The procedure was performed through a posterior approach in five cases and a lateral approach in one case. The subtalar joint was preserved in all cases. Metaphyseal union and a stable arthrodesis were obtained in all cases without loss of fixation and with no mechanical failure of the blade-plate. Union was obtained in an average of 26 weeks. No secondary procedures were required to obtain union. All six patients were ambulatory at last follow-up. Stable internal fixation for simultaneous tibiotalar fusion and metaphyseal reconstruction can be achieved with a cannulated blade-plate while preserving the subtalar joint in complex plafond fractures.

A DATABASE FOR TRACKING REPRODUCTIVE TOXICOGENOMIC DATA

EPA Science Inventory

A Database for Tracking Reproductive Toxicogenomic Data
Wenjun Bao, Judy Schmid, Amber Goetz, Hongzu Ren and David Dix
Reproductive Toxicology Division, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, Office of Research and Development, U.S. Environmental Pr...

SPERM RNA AMPLIFICATION FOR GENE EXPRESSION PROFILING BY DNA MICROARRAY TECHNOLOGY

EPA Science Inventory

Sperm RNA Amplification for Gene Expression Profiling by DNA Microarray Technology
Hongzu Ren, Kary E. Thompson, Judith E. Schmid and David J. Dix, Reproductive Toxicology Division, NHEERL, Office of Research and Development, US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triang...

Science, conscience, consciousness.

PubMed

Hennig, Boris

2010-01-01

Descartes' metaphysics lays the foundation for the special sciences, and the notion of consciousness ("conscientia") belongs to metaphysics rather than to psychology. I argue that as a metaphysical notion, "consciousness" refers to an epistemic version of moral conscience. As a consequence, the activity on which science is based turns out to be conscientious thought. The consciousness that makes science possible is a double awareness: the awareness of what one is thinking, of what one should be doing, and of the possibility of a gap between the two.

Murine Model of Repeated Exposures to Conspecific Trained Aggressors Simulates Features of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-07-20

associated with cardiovascular disease, including increased heart rate, elevated blood pressure, decreased heart rate variability, dyslipidemia , and...Kraemer B, Saner H, Schmid JP, Abbas CC, Begre S. Posttraumatic stress disorder and dyslipidemia : previous research and novel findings from patients with

GENE EXPRESSION PROFILING OF ACCESSIBLE SURROGATE TISSUES TO MONITOR MOLECULAR CHANGES IN INACCESSIBLE TARGET TISSUES FOLLOWING TOXICANT EXPOSURE

EPA Science Inventory

Gene Expression Profiling Of Accessible Surrogate Tissues To Monitor Molecular Changes In Inaccessible Target Tissues Following Toxicant Exposure
John C. Rockett, Chad R. Blystone, Amber K. Goetz, Rachel N. Murrell, Judith E. Schmid and David J. Dix
Reproductive Toxicology ...

RNA PROFILES OF EJACULATED HUMAN SPERMATOZOA

EPA Science Inventory

RNA Profiles of Ejaculated Human Spermatozoa

Kary E. Thompson, Wenjun Bao, Sally D. Perreault, Hongzu Ren, John C. Rockett, Judith E. Schmid, Lillian F. Strader, David J. Dix
Reproductive Toxicology Division, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory...

INHIBITION OF NEURAL CREST CELL MIGRATION BY THE WATER DISINFECTION BYPRODUCTS DICHLORO-, DIBROMO-, AND BROMOCHLORO-ACETIC ACID.

EPA Science Inventory

INHIBITION OF NEURAL CREST CELL MIGRATION BY THE WATER DISINFECTION BYPRODUCTS DICHLORO-, DIBROMO- AND BROMOCHLORO-ACETIC ACID. JE Andrews, H Nichols, J Schmid 1, and ES Hunter. Reproductive Toxicology Division, 1Research Support Division, NHEERL, USEPA, RTP, NC, USA.

...

TRANSCRIPTIONAL RESPONSES OF MOUSE EMBRYO CULTURES EXPOSED TO BROMOCHLOROACETIC ACID

EPA Science Inventory

Transcriptional responses of mouse embryo cultures exposed to bromochloroacetic acid

Edward D. Karoly?*, Judith E. Schmid* and E. Sidney Hunter III*
?Curriculum in Toxicology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina and *Reproductive Tox...

Book Review: Book review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ward, Barry

2012-05-01

In Laws and Lawmakers Marc Lange climbs off the fence regarding the metaphysics of laws, landing squarely on the non-Humean side. However, his position is interestingly distinct from the standard options: facts about the laws are not metaphysically prior to facts about subjunctives, nor are they analyzed in terms of causal powers or dispositions. Instead, the law facts are analyzed in terms of subjunctive facts. In The Law-Governed Universe John Roberts reconciles the governing intuition with Humean supervenience, a feat so remarkable it suggests we are dealing not with metaphysics, but metaphysical poetry, characterized by Dr. Johnson as that in which "the most heterogeneous ideas are yoked by violence together." These are two highly original works that stake out sophisticated and genuinely novel positions in the debate. They provide essential reading for anyone interested in laws.

Osteocraniostenosis.

PubMed Central

Verloes, A; Narcy, F; Grattagliano, B; Delezoide, A L; Guibaud, P; Schaaps, J P; Le Merrer, M; Maroteaux, P

1994-01-01

We report a multiple congenital anomalies (MCA) syndrome in three unrelated fetuses consisting of extremely thin, dense, fishbone-like diaphyses, flared metaphyses, mild micromelic dwarfism, brachydactyly, facial dysmorphism, ocular malformations (microphthalmia, aniridia), cloverleaf skull deformity, and splenic hypoplasia. Histopathological investigations showed abnormalities of the metaphyseal cartilage and adjacent diaphyseal ossification, excessive modelling of the metaphyses, and, in one case, dysplasia of the epiphyseal cartilage. We review three previously reported cases. We suggest the name osteocraniostenosis to describe this radiological and clinical disorder, pinpointing its major clinical and radiological features. Images PMID:7837254

DNA ARRAYS TO MONITOR GENE EXPRESSION IN RAT BLOOD AND UTERUS FOLLOWING 17-BETA-ESTRADIOL EXPOSURE: BIOMONITORING ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS USING SURROGATE TISSUES

EPA Science Inventory

DNA arrays to monitor gene expression in rat blood and uterus following 17-b-estradiol exposure - biomonitoring environmental effects using surrogate tissues
John C. Rockett, Robert J. Kavlock, Christy R. Lambright, Louise G. Parks, Judith E. Schmid, Vickie S. Wilson, Carmen W...

GENOMIC ANALYSIS OF SURROGATE TISSUES FOR ASSESSING ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURES AND FUTURE DISEASE STATES

EPA Science Inventory

Genomic Analysis of Surrogate Tissues for Assessing Environmental Exposures and Future Disease States

John C. Rockett, Chad R. Blystone, Amber K. Goetz, Rachel N. Murrell, Hongzu Ren, Judith E. Schmid, Jessica Stapelfeldt, Lillian F. Strader, Kary E. Thompson, Douglas B. T...

ALTERED TRANSCRIPTIONAL RESPONSES OF MOUSE EMBRYO CULTURES EXPOSED TO BISINDOLYLMALEIMIDE (BIS L)

EPA Science Inventory

Altered transcriptional responses in mouse embryos exposed to bisindolylmaleimide I (Bis I) in whole embryo culture

Edward D. Karoly?*, Judith E. Schmid*, Maria R. Blanton*and E. Sidney Hunter III*
?Curriculum in Toxicology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, ...

Genetics Home Reference: X-linked chondrodysplasia punctata 2

MedlinePlus

... Moser A, Glossmann H, Wilcox WR, Rimoin DL, Smith M, Kratz L, Kelley RI, Valle D. Mutations ... Bean LJH, Bird TD, Ledbetter N, Mefford HC, Smith RJH, Stephens K, editors. GeneReviews® [Internet]. Seattle (WA): ...

Approach to Investigating Congenital Skeletal Abnormalities in Livestock.

PubMed

Dittmer, K E; Thompson, K G

2015-09-01

Congenital skeletal abnormalities may be genetic, teratogenic, or nutritional in origin; distinguishing among these different causes is essential in the management of the disease but may be challenging. In some cases, teratogenic or nutritional causes of skeletal abnormalities may appear very similar to genetic causes. For example, chondrodysplasia associated with intrauterine zinc or manganese deficiency and mild forms of hereditary chondrodysplasia have very similar clinical features and histologic lesions. Therefore, historical data are essential in any attempt to distinguish genetic and acquired causes of skeletal lesions; as many animals as possible should be examined; and samples should be collected for future analysis, such as genetic testing. Acquired causes of defects often show substantial variation in presentation and may improve with time, while genetic causes frequently have a consistent presentation. If a disease is determined to be of genetic origin, a number of approaches may be used to detect mutations, each with advantages and disadvantages. These approaches include sequencing candidate genes, single-nucleotide polymorphism array with genomewide association studies, and exome or whole genome sequencing. Despite advances in technology and increased cost-effectiveness of these techniques, a good clinical history and description of the pathology and a reliable diagnosis are still key components of any investigation. © The Author(s) 2015.

Investigation of the factor structure of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale--Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV): exploratory and higher order factor analyses.

PubMed

Canivez, Gary L; Watkins, Marley W

2010-12-01

The present study examined the factor structure of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale--Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV; D. Wechsler, 2008a) standardization sample using exploratory factor analysis, multiple factor extraction criteria, and higher order exploratory factor analysis (J. Schmid & J. M. Leiman, 1957) not included in the WAIS-IV Technical and Interpretation Manual (D. Wechsler, 2008b). Results indicated that the WAIS-IV subtests were properly associated with the theoretically proposed first-order factors, but all but one factor-extraction criterion recommended extraction of one or two factors. Hierarchical exploratory analyses with the Schmid and Leiman procedure found that the second-order g factor accounted for large portions of total and common variance, whereas the four first-order factors accounted for small portions of total and common variance. It was concluded that the WAIS-IV provides strong measurement of general intelligence, and clinical interpretation should be primarily at that level.

Atelosteogenesis type 2.

PubMed Central

Newbury-Ecob, R

1998-01-01

Atelosteogenesis type 2 (AO2) (MIM 256050) is a neonatally lethal chondrodysplasia characterised by severe limb shortening and deficient ossification of parts of the skeleton. Other features include facial dysmorphism, cleft palate, talipes, and abducted thumbs and toes. Phenotypic overlap with non-lethal diastrophic dysplasia (DTD) suggested a common aetiology and it has recently been confirmed that both syndromes result from mutations in the DTDST (diastrophic dysplasia sulphate transporter) gene. Images PMID:9475095

Variability Of Microcystin-LR Standards Available From Commercial Vendors

EPA Science Inventory

VARIABILITY OF MICROCYSTIN-LR STANDARDS AVAILABLE FROM COMMERCIAL VENDORS II: TOXICOLOGICAL EVALUATION Donna Hill1, Neil Chernoff1, Thao Le2, Johnsie R. Lang2, Judy Schmid1 1 NHEERL, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 2 Oak Ridge Institute for Sci...

Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Western Regional Home Management-Family Economics Educators (25th, Scottsdale, Arizona, November 6-8, 1985).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berry, Ruth E., Ed.

These proceedings consist of 12 presentations, most of which are followed by responses or comments. The papers include: "Integrating Family Economics and Family Counseling" (Hogan; discussants Schnittgrund, Wilhelm); "A Test of the Deacon-Firebaugh Management Model" (Gage, Schmid); "Perceived Income Adequacy and Selected Financial Management…

GENE EXPRESSION PATTERNS OF CD-1 DAY-8 EMBRYO CULTURES EXPOSED TO BROMOCHLORO ACETIC ACID

EPA Science Inventory

Gene expression patterns of CD-1 day-8 embryo cultures exposed to bromochloro acetic acid

Edward D. Karoly?*, Judith E. Schmid* and E. Sidney Hunter III*
?Curriculum in Toxicology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina and *Reproductiv...

Nosology, ontology and promiscuous realism.

PubMed

Binney, Nicholas

2015-06-01

Medics may consider worrying about their metaphysics and ontology to be a waste of time. I will argue here that this is not the case. Promiscuous realism is a metaphysical position which holds that multiple, equally valid, classification schemes should be applied to objects (such as patients) to capture different aspects of their complex and heterogeneous nature. As medics at the bedside may need to capture different aspects of their patients' problems, they may need to use multiple classification schemes (multiple nosologies), and thus consider adopting a different metaphysics to the one commonly in use. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A Manifesto for Instructional Technology: Hyperpedagogy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dwight, Jim; Garrison, Jim

2003-01-01

Calls for digital technology in education to embrace forms of pedagogy appropriate for hypertext, challenging western metaphysics and relying on the philosophy of John Dewey to propose an alternative. The paper reviews dominant models of curriculum, especially Ralph Tyler's, revealing their concealed metaphysical assumptions; shows that the…

Research as Pedagogy: Using Experimental Data Collection as a Course Learning Tool

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beard, Virginia; Booke, Paula

2016-01-01

Integrating research in the classroom experience is recognized as potentially important in enhancing student learning (Price 2001; Schmid 1992). This article asks if student integration as research subjects augments their learning about political science. A quasi-experimental project focused on media usage, construction, and influences on the…

Geo-Based Inter-Domain Routing (GIDR) Protocol for MANETS

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-10-01

routing, and support for node mobility. Crowcroft et al. proposed Plutarch as architecture to translate address spaces and transport protocols among...Warfield, “ Plutarch : an argument for network pluralism,” ACM Computer Communication Review, vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 258–266, 2003. [6] S. Schmid, L

GENE ARRAY ANALYSIS OF THE VENTRAL PROSTATE IN RATS EXPOSED TO EITHER VINCLOZOLIN OR PROCYMIDONE

EPA Science Inventory

GENE ARRAY ANALYSIS OF THE VENTRAL PROSTATE IN RATS EXPOSED TO EITHER VINCLOZOLIN OR PROCYMIDONE. MB Rosen, VS Wilson, JE Schmid, and LE Gray Jr. US EPA, ORD, NHEERL, RTP, NC.

Vinclozolin (Vi) and procymidone (Pr) are antiandrogenic fungicides. While changes in gene expr...

A DATABASE FOR TRACKING TOXICOGENOMIC SAMPLES AND PROCEDURES WITH GENOMIC, PROTEOMIC AND METABONOMIC COMPONENTS

EPA Science Inventory

A Database for Tracking Toxicogenomic Samples and Procedures with Genomic, Proteomic and Metabonomic Components
Wenjun Bao1, Jennifer Fostel2, Michael D. Waters2, B. Alex Merrick2, Drew Ekman3, Mitchell Kostich4, Judith Schmid1, David Dix1
Office of Research and Developmen...

RNA PROFILES IN RAT AND MOUSE EPIDIDYMAL SPERMATOZOA

EPA Science Inventory

RNA PROFILES IN RAT AND MOUSE EPIDIDYMAL SPERMATOZOA
Kary E. Thompson1, Hongzu Ren1, Judith E. Schmid1 and David J. Dix1
1Reproductive Toxicology Division, NHEERL, ORD, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, RTP, NC.

Mature spermatozoa are transcriptionally inactive...

Relativities of fundamentality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McKenzie, Kerry

2017-08-01

S-dualities have been held to have radical implications for our metaphysics of fundamentality. In particular, it has been claimed that they make the fundamentality status of a physical object theory-relative in an important new way. But what physicists have had to say on the issue has not been clear or consistent, and in particular seems to be ambiguous between whether S-dualities demand an anti-realist interpretation of fundamentality talk or merely a revised realism. This paper is an attempt to bring some clarity to the matter. After showing that even antecedently familiar fundamentality claims are true only relative to a raft of metaphysical, physical, and mathematical assumptions, I argue that the relativity of fundamentality inherent in S-duality nevertheless represents something new, and that part of the reason for this is that it has both realist and anti-realist implications for fundamentality talk. I close by discussing the broader significance that S-dualities have for structuralist metaphysics and for fundamentality metaphysics more generally.

A crystallographic model for nickel base single crystal alloys

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dame, L. T.; Stouffer, D. C.

1988-01-01

The purpose of this research is to develop a tool for the mechanical analysis of nickel-base single-crystal superalloys, specifically Rene N4, used in gas turbine engine components. This objective is achieved by developing a rate-dependent anisotropic constitutive model and implementing it in a nonlinear three-dimensional finite-element code. The constitutive model is developed from metallurgical concepts utilizing a crystallographic approach. An extension of Schmid's law is combined with the Bodner-Partom equations to model the inelastic tension/compression asymmetry and orientation-dependence in octahedral slip. Schmid's law is used to approximate the inelastic response of the material in cube slip. The constitutive equations model the tensile behavior, creep response and strain-rate sensitivity of the single-crystal superalloys. Methods for deriving the material constants from standard tests are also discussed. The model is implemented in a finite-element code, and the computed and experimental results are compared for several orientations and loading conditions.

The (Even) Bolder Model: The Clinical Psychologist as Metaphysician-Scientist-Practitioner.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Donohue, William

1989-01-01

Examines the roles of metaphysics in science and psychotherapy. Examines the views of Karl Popper and Imre Lakatos. Concludes that psychotherapy involves metaphysics in the following ways: (1) problem choice; (2) research and therapy design; (3) observation statements; (4) resolving the Duhemian problem; and (5) including anomalous results in…

The Sound of Violets: The Ethnographic Potency of Poetry?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Phipps, Alison; Saunders, Lesley

2009-01-01

This paper takes the form of a dialogue between the two authors, and is in two halves, the first half discursive and propositional, and the second half exemplifying the rhetorical, epistemological and metaphysical affordances of poetry in critically scrutinising the rhetoric, epistemology and metaphysics of educational management discourse. The…

An organizing framework for wilderness values

Treesearch

John C. Bergstrom; J. Michael Bowker; H. Ken Cordell

2005-01-01

Scientists, philosophers, poets, and politicians have defined wilderness in various physical, biological, and metaphysical terms. Following a metaphysical line of thought, wilderness has been described as a subjective "idea" in the mind of the beholder (Oelschlaeger, 1991). The Wilderness Act uses many physical and biological terms to define statutory...

Correlation between age and the parameters of medial epiphysis and metaphysis of the clavicle using CT volume rendering images.

PubMed

Hua, Wei; Guang-you, Zhu; Lei, Wan; Chong-liang, Ying; Ya-hui, Wang

2014-11-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlation between age and the parameters of medial epiphysis of clavicle based on CT volume rendering (VR) images. The CT images of the medial clavicle from 795 teenagers (387 male and 408 female) between 15 and 25 years were collected in East and South China. VR images were recombined from 0.60 mm thickness slice CT images. The ratio of epiphyseal diameter/metaphyseal diameter and the ratio of epiphyseal area/metaphyseal area of two sides of medial clavicle were measured and calculated by three different examiners, the quantitative data consistency was checked by intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC). The diameter ratio of left and right side are depicted as X1 and X3, and the area ratio of left and right side as X2 and X4. Descriptive statistic analysis of the data was performed and several mathematical models were established using least square. CT images from additional 60 teenagers (30 male and 30 female) were used to verify the accuracy of the established mathematical models. ICC indicated that the measurement of epiphyseal diameter, metaphyseal diameter, the ratio of epiphyseal diameter/metaphyseal diameter, epiphyseal area, metaphyseal area and the ratio of epiphyseal area/metaphyseal area of medial clavicle in the left and right side of the three examiners was approaching 1. The 95% reference range for the mean of every examination of both genders gradually increased with age. Females' data indicated by medial epiphysis of the clavicle development were earlier than male's, especially from 15 to 21 years. The difference of medial epiphysis of the clavicle development in gender becomes smaller after 21 years. The highest accuracy of the mathematical models made clear that male's accuracy was 73.5% (±1.0 year) and 85.3% (±1.5 year), and female's was 68.6% (±1.0 year) and 82.2% (±1.5 year) respectively. The methods of data collection and analysis were reliable and feasible. Combined the high accuracy of these

Second Language Writing Development: A Research Agenda

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Polio, Charlene

2017-01-01

In 1998, Wolfe-Quintero, Inagaki & Kim published a monograph describing measures used in assessing writing development. Despite more recent research on linguistic development (e.g., Bulté & Housen 2012; Verspoor, Schmid & Xu 2012; Connor-Linton & Polio 2014), the volume is still a valuable resource and good starting point for…

Summary Reviews of Soil Stabilization Processes. Report 7. Electrical Stabilization of Fine-Grained Soils

DTIC Science & Technology

1961-10-01

Observations . . . . . . . .................. 3 Double Layer Theory ................. .... 4 The Electroosmotic Phenomenon in Soils . . . . ... 6 Helmholtz...lL PART III: EFFECTS OF ELECTROOSMOSIS . ............. .. 133 Electroosmotic Dewatering ........ ................ ... 13 Electroosmotic ... electroosmotic flow based on the theories of Helmholtz-Smoluchowski and Schmid are compared. It is apparent that the applicability of the theoretical concepts

An Exploratory Investigation of the Factor Structure of the Reynolds Intellectual Assessment Scales (RIAS)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dombrowski, Stefan C.; Watkins, Marley W.; Brogan, Michael J.

2009-01-01

This study investigated the factor structure of the Reynolds Intellectual Assessment Scales (RIAS) using rigorous exploratory factor analytic and factor extraction procedures. The results of this study indicate that the RIAS is a single factor test. Despite these results, higher order factor analysis using the Schmid-Leiman procedure indicates…

DEVELOPMENTAL TOXICITY OF PERFLUOROOCATANE SULFONATE (PFOS) IN THE RAT AND MOUSE

EPA Science Inventory

1Lau, C., 1J.M. Rogers, 1R.G. Hanson*, 1B.D. Barbee*, 1M.G. Narotsky, 1J.E. Schmid* and 2J.H. Richards*. 1Reproductive Toxicology Division, and 2Environmental Toxicology Division, NHEERL, US EPA, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Developmental toxicity of Perfluorooctane ...

Neutral sphingomyelinase (SMPD3) deficiency disrupts the Golgi secretory pathway and causes growth inhibition

PubMed Central

Stoffel, Wilhelm; Hammels, Ina; Jenke, Bitta; Binczek, Erika; Schmidt-Soltau, Inga; Brodesser, Susanne; Schauss, Astrid; Etich, Julia; Heilig, Juliane; Zaucke, Frank

2016-01-01

Systemic loss of neutral sphingomyelinase (SMPD3) in mice leads to a novel form of systemic, juvenile hypoplasia (dwarfism). SMPD3 deficiency in mainly two growth regulating cell types contributes to the phenotype, in chondrocytes of skeletal growth zones to skeletal malformation and chondrodysplasia, and in hypothalamic neurosecretory neurons to systemic hypothalamus–pituitary–somatotropic hypoplasia. The unbiased smpd3−/− mouse mutant and derived smpd3−/− primary chondrocytes were instrumental in defining the enigmatic role underlying the systemic and cell autonomous role of SMPD3 in the Golgi compartment. Here we describe the unprecedented role of SMPD3. SMPD3 deficiency disrupts homeostasis of sphingomyelin (SM), ceramide (Cer) and diacylglycerol (DAG) in the Golgi SMPD3-SMS1 (SM-synthase1) cycle. Cer and DAG, two fusogenic intermediates, modify the membrane lipid bilayer for the initiation of vesicle formation and transport. Dysproteostasis, unfolded protein response, endoplasmic reticulum stress and apoptosis perturb the Golgi secretory pathway in the smpd3−/− mouse. Secretion of extracellular matrix proteins is arrested in chondrocytes and causes skeletal malformation and chondrodysplasia. Similarly, retarded secretion of proteo-hormones in hypothalamic neurosecretory neurons leads to hypothalamus induced combined pituitary hormone deficiency. SMPD3 in the regulation of the protein vesicular secretory pathway may become a diagnostic target in the etiology of unknown forms of juvenile growth and developmental inhibition. PMID:27882938

Neutral sphingomyelinase (SMPD3) deficiency disrupts the Golgi secretory pathway and causes growth inhibition.

PubMed

Stoffel, Wilhelm; Hammels, Ina; Jenke, Bitta; Binczek, Erika; Schmidt-Soltau, Inga; Brodesser, Susanne; Schauss, Astrid; Etich, Julia; Heilig, Juliane; Zaucke, Frank

2016-11-24

Systemic loss of neutral sphingomyelinase (SMPD3) in mice leads to a novel form of systemic, juvenile hypoplasia (dwarfism). SMPD3 deficiency in mainly two growth regulating cell types contributes to the phenotype, in chondrocytes of skeletal growth zones to skeletal malformation and chondrodysplasia, and in hypothalamic neurosecretory neurons to systemic hypothalamus-pituitary-somatotropic hypoplasia. The unbiased smpd3-/- mouse mutant and derived smpd3-/- primary chondrocytes were instrumental in defining the enigmatic role underlying the systemic and cell autonomous role of SMPD3 in the Golgi compartment. Here we describe the unprecedented role of SMPD3. SMPD3 deficiency disrupts homeostasis of sphingomyelin (SM), ceramide (Cer) and diacylglycerol (DAG) in the Golgi SMPD3-SMS1 (SM-synthase1) cycle. Cer and DAG, two fusogenic intermediates, modify the membrane lipid bilayer for the initiation of vesicle formation and transport. Dysproteostasis, unfolded protein response, endoplasmic reticulum stress and apoptosis perturb the Golgi secretory pathway in the smpd3-/- mouse. Secretion of extracellular matrix proteins is arrested in chondrocytes and causes skeletal malformation and chondrodysplasia. Similarly, retarded secretion of proteo-hormones in hypothalamic neurosecretory neurons leads to hypothalamus induced combined pituitary hormone deficiency. SMPD3 in the regulation of the protein vesicular secretory pathway may become a diagnostic target in the etiology of unknown forms of juvenile growth and developmental inhibition.

Shell Nouns as Cohesive Devices in Published and ESL Student Writing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aktas, Rahime Nur; Cortes, Viviana

2008-01-01

This paper analyzes the use of a special type of unspecific noun, called "shell nouns" [Hunston, S., & Francis, G. (1999). "Pattern grammar". Amsterdam: Benjamins; Schmid, H. (2000). "English abstract nouns as conceptual shells: From corpus to cognition". Berlin: Walter de Gruyter], which are frequently used as cohesive devices, in the written…

EXPRESSION OF AHR AND ARNT MRNA IN CULTURED HUMAN ENDOMETRIAL EXPLANTS EXPOSED TO TCDD

EPA Science Inventory

Expression of AhR and ARNT mRNA in cultured human endometrial explants exposed to TCDD.

Pitt JA, Feng L, Abbott BD, Schmid J, Batt RE, Costich TG, Koury ST, Bofinger DP.

Curriculum in Toxicology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.

Endom...

Chapter 14 - Effects of spruce beetle (Dendroctonus rufipennis) outbreaks on fuels, carbon, and stand structure and composition in Utah and Western Wyoming (Project INT-EM-F-13-02)

Treesearch

Daniel S. Ott; Christopher J. Fettig; Darrell W. Ross; A. Steven. Munson

2018-01-01

Spruce beetle (Dendroctonus rufipennis) is the primary mortality agent of mature spruce species in Western North America (Jenkins and others 2014a, Schmid and Frye 1977). The species preferentially colonizes hosts with reduced defenses, including diseased trees or downed material produced by wind events, snow avalanches, and landslides, as well as...

Modeling Ability Differentiation in the Second-Order Factor Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Molenaar, Dylan; Dolan, Conor V.; van der Maas, Han L. J.

2011-01-01

In this article we present factor models to test for ability differentiation. Ability differentiation predicts that the size of IQ subtest correlations decreases as a function of the general intelligence factor. In the Schmid-Leiman decomposition of the second-order factor model, we model differentiation by introducing heteroscedastic residuals,…

Hierarchical Factoring Based On Image Analysis And Orthoblique Rotations.

PubMed

Stankov, L

1979-07-01

The procedure for hierarchical factoring suggested by Schmid and Leiman (1957) is applied within the framework of image analysis and orthoblique rotational procedures. It is shown that this approach necessarily leads to correlated higher order factors. Also, one can obtain a smaller number of factors than produced by typical hierarchical procedures.

Pediatric distal femur fixation by proximal humeral plate.

PubMed

Abdelgawad, Amr Atef; Kanlic, Enes M

2013-12-01

Distal femoral metaphyseal fractures are common injuries in children. Multiple treatment options have been described for this type of injury. For older children with distal metaphyseal fracture, there is still no optimal method of fixation. We propose that the commonly used proximal humeral plate can provide good method of fixation for this fracture in adolescents. Two children (12 and 14 years old) with distal metaphyseal femoral fracture were treated with proximal humeral plate. We describe the surgical technique and postoperative management. The two children healed with good alignment and full range of motion of the knee. No external immobilization (other than knee immobilizer for the first 2 weeks) was used. We concluded that proximal humeral plate can provide adequate fixation for teenagers with distal femoral metaphyseal fracture. It is readily available; provide multiple options for screw fixation in the distal part of the fracture and fits easily on the distal part of the femur proximal to the physis. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

[Dyssegmental dwarfism. A new case].

PubMed

Maisonneuve, J; Armand, J P; Louis, J J; Guibaud, P

1984-06-01

In a 3 1/2 month old child with micromelic dwarfism, a case of dyssegmental dwarfism is reported. This affection is characterized, on one hand, by a shortening and a squat aspect of long bones with diaphyseal curve, and on the other hand, by a trouble of vertebral segmentation associated to a variability in the size of vertebral bodies. The differential diagnosis appears adequate to differentiate the dyssegmental dwarfism from other types of neonatal chondrodysplasia, in particular from Kniest syndrome and micrognathia dwarfism.

George Eliot and Ford Madox Ford: "Philosophical Readings."

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stroud-Drinkwater, Clive

2002-01-01

Argues that some of the works of major British writers may be read as propounding simple but important views on metaphysics of the self. Contends that the work of the British Empiricists cut the ground out from under the metaphysics of Descartes, and the world subsequently came to be regarded as a flux of impressions. Reflects on the relationship…

The Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale-Short Version: Scale Reduction via Exploratory Bifactor Modeling of the Broad Anxiety Factor

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ebesutani, Chad; Reise, Steven P.; Chorpita, Bruce F.; Ale, Chelsea; Regan, Jennifer; Young, John; Higa-McMillan, Charmaine; Weisz, John R.

2012-01-01

Using a school-based (N = 1,060) and clinic-referred (N = 303) youth sample, the authors developed a 25-item shortened version of the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS) using Schmid-Leiman exploratory bifactor analysis to reduce client burden and administration time and thus improve the transportability characteristics of this…

Monistic dualism and the body electric: An ontology of disease, patient and clinician for person-centred healthcare.

PubMed

Pârvan, Alexandra

2016-08-01

Ontology is involved in medical care, because what both doctors and patients think the disease, the patient and the doctor are affects the giving and receiving of care, and hence the definition of medical care as profession. Going back to ancient philosophical views of disease as 'bounded entity' or as 'relation' (still echoed in contemporary theories and mindsets), I propose a way to think ontologically about disease that places it in necessary connection with the patient as person. Drawing on Augustine's views on disease, bodily integrity, and the human person as mind-body unit, I speak of 'monistic dualism' as the view where the unit and health of the person is continuously and personally generated by the mind's attention to and action on the body, whether the body is impaired or not. Monistic dualism is identified as the ontological position of both patients who are (or can become) healthy within illness and clinicians who are 'healthy' in their profession. It is what guides both to create what their body is in a personal state of integrity or health. This 'metaphysical body' is termed 'the body electric' in patients, and I argue that clinicians can attend properly to the diseased body by attending to patients' metaphysical body. As clinicians offer metaphysical care to themselves, employing monistic dualism to create their metaphysical body, they should not deny it to patients. Ontology cannot be part of medical care without making metaphysical care a requirement. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

MICROARRAY DATA ANALYSIS USING MULTIPLE STATISTICAL MODELS

EPA Science Inventory

Microarray Data Analysis Using Multiple Statistical Models

Wenjun Bao1, Judith E. Schmid1, Amber K. Goetz1, Ming Ouyang2, William J. Welsh2,Andrew I. Brooks3,4, ChiYi Chu3,Mitsunori Ogihara3,4, Yinhe Cheng5, David J. Dix1. 1National Health and Environmental Effects Researc...

COMPARISON OF THREE METHODS FOR COUNTING HUMAN SPERMATOZOA

EPA Science Inventory

COMPARISON OF THREE METHODS FOR COUNTING HUMAN SPERMATOZOA SC Jeffay1, LF Strader1, RA Morris1, JE Schmid1, AF Olshan2, LW Lansdell2, SD Perreault1. 1US EPA/ORD, RTP, NC; 2UNC-CH, Chapel Hill, NC.
The IDENT feature of the HTM-IVOS semen analyzer (Hamilton Thorne Research, Bev...

GENE EXPRESSION PROFILING IN TESTIS AND LIVER OF MICE TO IDENTIFY MODES OF ACTION OF CONAZOLE TOXICITIES

EPA Science Inventory

Gene Expression Profiling in Testis and Liver of Mice to Identify MODES OF ACTION OF Conazole TOXICITies

Amber K. Goetz1, Wenjun Bao2, Judith E. Schmid2, Carmen Wood2, Hongzu Ren2, Deborah S. Best2, Rachel N. Murrell1, John C. Rockett2, Michael G. Narotsky2, Douglas C. Wol...

First Language Attrition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schmid, Monika S.

2016-01-01

Language attrition research has developed in several clearly delimited phases spanning, roughly, each of the three decades between 1982 and 2012 (see Kopke & Schmid 2004 for a more detailed overview and analysis). The first phase was an era of stocktaking, with a number of symposia, collected volumes and special issues of journals. All of…

Using Buttons to Better Manage Online Presence: How One Academic Institution Harnessed the Power of Flair

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dority Baker, Marcia L.

2013-01-01

This article provides a case study of how the University of Nebraska College of Law and Schmid Law Library use "buttons" to manage Law College faculty members' and librarians' online presence. Since Google is the primary search engine used to find information, it is important that librarians and libraries assist Web site visitors in…

Computerized bone analysis of hand radiographs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pietka, Ewa; McNitt-Gray, Michael F.; Hall, Theodore R.; Huang, H. K.

1992-06-01

A computerized approach to the problem of skeletal maturity is presented. The analysis of a computed radiography (CR) hand image results in obtaining features, that can be used to assess the skeletal age of pediatric patients. It is performed on a standard left hand radiograph. First, epiphyseal regions of interest (EROI) are located. Then, within each EROI the distals, middles, and proximals are separated. This serves as a basis to locate the extremities of epiphyses and metaphyses. Next, the diameters of epiphyses and metaphyses are calculated. Finally, an epiphyseal diameter and metaphyseal diameter ratio is calculated. A pilot study indicated that these features are sensitive to the changes of the anatomical structure of a growing hand and can be used in the skeletal age assessment.

Anisotropy of nickel-base superalloy single crystals

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mackay, R. A.; Dreshfield, R. L.; Maier, R. D.

1980-01-01

The influence of orientation on the tensile and stress rupture behavior of 52 Mar-M247 single crystals was studied. Tensile tests were performed at temperatures between 23 and 1093 C; stress rupture behavior was examined between 760 and 1038 C. The mechanical behavior of the single crystals was rationalized on the basis of the Schmid factor contours for the operative slip systems and the lattice rotations which the crystals underwent during deformation. The tensile properties correlated well with the appropriate Schmid factor contours. The stress rupture lives at lower testing temperatures were greatly influenced by the lattice rotations required to produce cross slip. A unified analysis was attained for the stress rupture life data generated for the Mar-M247 single crystals at 760 and 774 C under a stress of 724 MPa and the data reported for Mar-M200 single crystals tested at 760 C under a stress of 689 MPa. Based on this analysis, the stereographic triangle was divided into several regions which were rank ordered according to stress rupture life for this temperature regime.

What is ontic structural realism?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ainsworth, Peter Mark

In recent years a doctrine known as ontic structural realism (OSR) has achieved a degree of notoriety, but many people remain confused as to what exactly the doctrine amounts. In this paper three main variants of OSR are defined and discussed: (i) OSR1, which is the view that relations are ontologically primitive but objects and properties are not; (ii) OSR2, which is the view that objects and relations are ontologically primitive but properties are not; (iii) OSR3, which is the view that properties and relations are ontologically primitive but objects are not. Proponents of OSR claim that it is a "naturalistic" metaphysics, arguing that metaphysical views that take objects and/or properties as ontologically primitive are undermined by contemporary physics. In this paper it is argued that OSR1 and OSR2 are themselves undermined by contemporary physics. On the other hand, it is also argued that considerations about the objects of quantum mechanics and general relativity do seem to suggest that we should abandon some of our "common-sense" metaphysical intuitions, and that OSR3 is one of the metaphysical views that is compatible with what these theories seem to tell us about fundamental ontology.

First Language Attrition in the Speech of Dutch-English Bilinguals: The Case of Monozygotic Twin Sisters

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mayr, Robert; Price, Sacha; Mennen, Ineke

2012-01-01

Recent years have seen a proliferation of research on attrition in L1 speech (de Leeuw, Mennen & Scobbie, in press; de Leeuw, Schmid & Mennen, 2010; Dmitrieva, Jongman & Sereno, 2010; Mennen, 2004). Adding to this line of inquiry, the present study investigates the speech of a 62-year-old bilingual monozygotic twin who emigrated to an L2-speaking…

PROFILING GENE EXPRESSION IN HUMAN H295R ADRENOCORTICAL CARCINOMA CELLS AND RAT TESTES TO IDENTIFY PATHWAYS OF TOXICITY FOR CONAZOLE FUNGICIDES

EPA Science Inventory

Profiling Gene Expression in Human H295R Adrenocortical Carcinoma Cells and Rat Testes to Identify Pathways of Toxicity for Conazole Fungicides
Ren1, H., Schmid1, J., Retief2, J., Turpaz2, Y.,Zhang3, X.,Jones3, P., Newsted3, J.,Giesy3, J., Wolf1, D.,Wood1, C., Bao1, W., Dix1, ...

Wave-particle duality? not in optical computing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Caulfield, H. John

2011-09-01

Metaphysics has only one absolute requirement: It must account for the known physics. But many metaphysics account for light and they cannot all be right. We have only one metaphysical principle that is widely accepted (Einstein's minimum simplicity rule) and it gives no one answer. Even if we could enforce it, how would we prove its validity without a (meta)3principle? People like me who work with light are never confused about whether we are dealing with a particle or a wave. I find it useful to view light in terms even broader than the usual wave-particle description. I add a third kind of wave that is not measurable but also not restricted by the physics of the measurable. I find it difficult to account for light any other way.

Unusual fan shaped ossification in a female fetus with radiological features of boomerang dysplasia

PubMed Central

Odent, S.; Loget, P.; Le Marec, B.; Delezoide, A.; Maroteaux, P.

1999-01-01

We report on a female fetus of 24 weeks whose clinical and radiological findings were compatible with boomerang dysplasia (BD). However, histopathology was unusual with a lateral fan shaped diaphyseal ossification. This has never been described either in typical atelosteogenesis I (AT-I) or in BD. The purpose of this report is to find out if this condition is a separate lethal bone dysplasia or another histological feature of the nosological group of AT-I and BD. 


Keywords: boomerang dysplasia; atelosteogenesis; lethal chondrodysplasia; lethal dwarfism PMID:10227404

Resolving arguments about the sanctity of life: a response to Long.

PubMed Central

Singer, P; Kuhse, H

1988-01-01

Thomas Long has argued that there is an irreconcilable metaphysical difference between the views of those who, like ourselves, believe that on quality-of-life grounds it is sometimes justifiable to end the life of a severely handicapped infant, and those who, like Paul Ramsey, reject this view. Because of this metaphysical difference, Long considers it impossible for our arguments to refute Ramsey's position. We disagree. PMID:2976837

Guilt-Free War: Post-Traumatic Stress and an Ethical Framework for Battlefield Decisions

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-12-01

Susan Wolf, “ Moral Obligations and Social Command,” in Metaphysics and the Good: Themes from the Philosophy of Robert Merrihew Adams, edited by...1–18. Wolf, Susan. “ Moral Obligations and Social Command.” In Metaphysics and the Good: Themes from the Philosophy of Robert Merrihew Ad- ams, edited...Analysis of Recent Studies 5 Discussion of Various Approaches to Addressing Moral Injuries 7 Recommendations 17 Conclusion 19 Abbreviations 25

Mountain pine beetles: A century of knowledge, control attempts, and impacts central to the Black Hills

Treesearch

Russell T. Graham; Lance A. Asherin; Michael A. Battaglia; Terrie Jain; Stephen A. Mata

2016-01-01

This publication chronicles the understanding, controlling, and impacts of mountain pine beetles (MPB) central to the Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming from the time they were described by Hopkins in 1902, through the presentation of data from work started by Schmid and Mata in 1985. The plots established by these two men from 1985 through 1994 were subjected to...

Secular and religious: the intrinsic doubleness of analytical psychology and the hegemony of naturalism in the social sciences.

PubMed

Main, Roderick

2013-06-01

In recent years a number of prominent social theorists, including Jürgen Habermas and Charles Taylor, have voiced concern about the hegemony of naturalistic, secular assumptions in the social sciences, and in their different ways have sought to address this by establishing greater parity between secular and religious perspectives. This paper suggests that C.G. Jung's analytical psychology, which hitherto has been largely ignored by social theory, may have something to contribute on this issue as it can be understood coherently both empirically, without reference to transcendent reality, and metaphysically, with reference to transcendent reality. It is argued that, despite his denials of any metaphysical intent, Jung does in fact engage in metaphysics and that together the empirical and metaphysical vectors of his thought result in a rich and distinctive double perspective. This dual secular and religious perspective can be seen as part of Jung's own critique of the hegemony of naturalism and secularism, which for Jung has profound social as well as clinical relevance. The concern and approach that Habermas and Taylor share with Jung on this issue may provide some grounds for increased dialogue between analytical psychology and the social sciences. © 2013, The Society of Analytical Psychology.

The Cosmology of Edgar Allan Poe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cappi, Alberto

2011-06-01

Eureka is a ``prose poem'' published in 1848, where Edgar Allan Poe presents his original cosmology. While starting from metaphysical assumptions, Poe develops an evolving Newtonian model of the Universe which has many and non casual analogies with modern cosmology. Poe was well informed about astronomical and physical discoveries, and he was influenced by both contemporary science and ancient ideas. For these reasons, Eureka is a unique synthesis of metaphysics, art and science.

International Society for the Advancement of Cytometry cell sorter biosafety standards.

PubMed

Holmes, Kevin L; Fontes, Benjamin; Hogarth, Philip; Konz, Richard; Monard, Simon; Pletcher, Charles H; Wadley, Robert B; Schmid, Ingrid; Perfetto, Stephen P

2014-05-01

Flow cytometric cell sorting of biological specimens has become prevalent in basic and clinical research laboratories. These specimens may contain known or unknown infectious agents, necessitating precautions to protect instrument operators and the environment from biohazards arising from the use of sorters. To this end the International Society of Analytical Cytology (ISAC) was proactive in establishing biosafety guidelines in 1997 (Schmid et al., Cytometry 1997;28:99-117) and subsequently published revised biosafety standards for cell sorting of unfixed samples in 2007 (Schmid et al., Cytometry Part A J Int Soc Anal Cytol 2007;71A:414-437). Since their publication, these documents have become recognized worldwide as the standard of practice and safety precautions for laboratories performing cell sorting experiments. However, the field of cytometry has progressed since 2007, and the document requires an update. The new Standards provides guidance: (1) for laboratory design for cell sorter laboratories; (2) for the creation of laboratory or instrument specific Standard Operating Procedures (SOP); and (3) on procedures for the safe operation of cell sorters, including personal protective equipment (PPE) and validation of aerosol containment. Published © 2014 Wiley Periodicals Inc.

International Society for the Advancement of Cytometry Cell Sorter Biosafety Standards

PubMed Central

Holmes, Kevin L.; Fontes, Benjamin; Hogarth, Philip; Konz, Richard; Monard, Simon; Pletcher, Charles H.; Wadley, Robert B.; Schmid, Ingrid; Perfetto, Stephen P.

2014-01-01

Flow cytometric cell sorting of biological specimens has become prevalent in basic and clinical research laboratories. These specimens may contain known or unknown infectious agents, necessitating precautions to protect instrument operators and the environment from biohazards arising from the use of sorters. To this end the International Society of Analytical Cytology (ISAC) was proactive in establishing biosafety guidelines in 1997 (Schmid et al., Cytometry 1997;28:99–117) and subsequently published revised biosafety standards for cell sorting of unfixed samples in 2007 (Schmid et al., Cytometry Part A J Int Soc Anal Cytol 2007;71A:414–437). Since their publication, these documents have become recognized worldwide as the standard of practice and safety precautions for laboratories performing cell sorting experiments. However, the field of cytometry has progressed since 2007, and the document requires an update. The new Standards provides guidance: (1) for laboratory design for cell sorter laboratories; (2) for the creation of laboratory or instrument specific Standard Operating Procedures (SOP); and (3) on procedures for the safe operation of cell sorters, including personal protective equipment (PPE) and validation of aerosol containment. PMID:24634405

Support for the Annual Meeting (30th) of the Cognitive Science Society

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-10-01

Schunn Sponsors Co-Chairs: Jennifer Wiley and Christopher Sanchez Member Abstracts Chair: Hedderik Van Rijn Awards Chair: Niels Taatgen...The winner of the 2008 Marr Prize for Best Student Paper is: Michael Frank, Evelina Fedorenko, Edward Gibson (seepage 19 of the program) Language...Stellan Ohlsson, Ute Schmid, Alex Petrov, Hedderik van Rijn, Niels Taatgen. CogSci 2008 Final Program CogSci 2008 Sponsors, Exhibitors, & Advertisers

From junior to senior: advice from the benefit of 20/20 hindsight.

PubMed

Schmid, Sandra L

2014-11-01

As the first recipient of both the Women in Cell Biology Junior and Senior Awards, I look back to identify key components that have provided the foundation for my successful research career. In retrospect, the three most important building blocks have been: identifying and pursing important problems; attracting and mentoring talented postdoctoral fellows and students; and establishing and nurturing strong collaborations. © 2014 Schmid.

Water Quality Management Studies. West Point Lake, Chattahoochee River, Alabama-Georgia.

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-08-01

Prohoacideuim Sohlit. -- Wtf* relula t im ( na n g. Senn. ----- C. sphoericam Naeg . - - 0 Cosmariuis geometricism W. & M’.. West - - - --- Cosuiarlum op. I...Cord& - 23-- rrsitigents fenestrate - - --- - Schmid. C.rectanautarls (A. Br.) C. tetrapedia (Klrch.) Nlctyosphaerfus- Fhrenbeieflui Naeg . - f5 - 24...23--- resiul1are v. inctiq Teti. - - ----- T. tgoflum ( Naeg .) Hans. -- ---- i* trio-num v. armcile (Rin.) tlet.------ Tetrsrum glabrum (Roll) *A0l

Mechanistic explanation, cognitive systems demarcation, and extended cognition.

PubMed

van Eck, Dingmar; Looren de Jong, Huib

2016-10-01

Approaches to the Internalism-Externalism controversy in the philosophy of mind often involve both (broadly) metaphysical and explanatory considerations. Whereas originally most emphasis seems to have been placed on metaphysical concerns, recently the explanation angle is getting more attention. Explanatory considerations promise to offer more neutral grounds for cognitive systems demarcation than (broadly) metaphysical ones. However, it has been argued that explanation-based approaches are incapable of determining the plausibility of internalist-based conceptions of cognition vis-à-vis externalist ones. On this perspective, improved metaphysics is the route along which to solve the Internalist-Externalist stalemate. In this paper we challenge this claim. Although we agree that explanation-orientated approaches have indeed so far failed to deliver solid means for cognitive system demarcation, we elaborate a more promising explanation-oriented framework to address this issue. We argue that the mutual manipulability account of constitutive relevance in mechanisms, extended with the criterion of 'fat-handedness', is capable of plausibly addressing the cognitive systems demarcation problem, and thus able to decide on the explanatory traction of Internalist vs. Externalist conceptions, on a case-by-case basis. Our analysis also highlights why some other recent mechanistic takes on the problem of cognitive systems demarcation have been unsuccessful. We illustrate our claims with a case on gestures and learning. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Phenocopy of warfarin syndrome in an infant born to a mother with sickle cell anemia and severe transfusional iron overload.

PubMed

Xie, Yi; Pivnick, Eniko K; Cohen, Harris L; Adams-Graves, Patricia E; Pourcyrous, Massroor; Aygun, Banu; Hankins, Jane S

2013-08-01

Neonatal chondrodysplasia punctata (CDP) is characterized by epiphyseal stippling and midfacial hypoplasia. CDP is usually inherited, but can be acquired because of maternal vitamin K deficiency. We describe an infant with CDP born to a teenager with sickle cell anemia and transfusional iron overload. The mother had severe liver fibrosis, elevated liver iron concentration (34 mg Fe/g), and coagulopathy, but no gestational use of warfarin. Fetal abnormalities were attributed to vitamin K deficiency secondary to liver dysfunction from iron toxicity. Treatment of iron overload among women with sickle cell anemia of childbearing potential is important to avoid possible CDP in newborns.

Must Metaethical Realism Make a Semantic Claim?

PubMed

Kahane, Guy

2013-02-01

Mackie drew attention to the distinct semantic and metaphysical claims made by meta ethical realists, arguing that although our evaluative discourse is cognitive and objective, there are no objective evaluative facts. This distinction, however, also opens up a reverse possibility: that our evaluative discourse is antirealist, yet objective values do exist. I suggest that this seemingly far-fetched possibility merits serious attention; realism seems com mitted to its intelligibility, and, despite appearances, it isn't incoherent, ineffable, inherently implausible or impossible to defend. I argue that reflection on this possibility should lead us to revise our understanding of the debate between realists and antirealists. It is not only that the realist's semantic claim is insufficient for realism to be true, as Mackie argued; it's not even necessary. Robust metaethical realism is best understood as making a purely metaphysical claim. It is thus not enough for antirealists to show that our discourse is antirealist. They must directly attack the realist's metaphysical claim.

Must Metaethical Realism Make a Semantic Claim?

PubMed Central

Kahane, Guy

2012-01-01

Mackie drew attention to the distinct semantic and metaphysical claims made by meta ethical realists, arguing that although our evaluative discourse is cognitive and objective, there are no objective evaluative facts. This distinction, however, also opens up a reverse possibility: that our evaluative discourse is antirealist, yet objective values do exist. I suggest that this seemingly far-fetched possibility merits serious attention; realism seems com mitted to its intelligibility, and, despite appearances, it isn’t incoherent, ineffable, inherently implausible or impossible to defend. I argue that reflection on this possibility should lead us to revise our understanding of the debate between realists and antirealists. It is not only that the realist’s semantic claim is insufficient for realism to be true, as Mackie argued; it’s not even necessary. Robust metaethical realism is best understood as making a purely metaphysical claim. It is thus not enough for antirealists to show that our discourse is antirealist. They must directly attack the realist’s metaphysical claim. PMID:23525148

Ankle fusion for definitive management of non-reconstructable pilon fractures.

PubMed

Bozic, Vladimir; Thordarson, David B; Hertz, Jennifer

2008-09-01

Highly comminuted pilon fractures, especially with a compromised soft tissue envelope, present a challenging treatment scenario. This study presents our results for patients managed with ankle fusion rather than ORIF. Fourteen patients with ankle joint incongruence after non-reconstructable tibia pilon fractures were treated with primary tibiotalar arthrodesis using a fixed-angle cannulated blade plate. Delayed metaphyseal unions due to bone defects were treated concurrently. The subtalar joint was preserved in all cases. Metaphyseal healing and stable arthrodesis was obtained in each case. There was one case of blade plate breakage in a patient who still achieved successful arthrodesis without reoperation. Union was achieved at an average of 15 weeks. No secondary procedures were required to obtain union. All 14 patients were ambulatory at last followup. Average followup was 39 weeks. Primary ankle arthrodesis can be achieved using a cannulated blade plate to address a non-reconstructable articular surface and metaphyseal bone defects in complex tibia pilon fractures.

Enzyme Polymorphism and Genetic Variability of One Colonized and Several Field Populations of Phlebotomus papatasi (Diptera: Psychodidae)

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-01-01

One Colonized and Several Field Populations of Phlebotomus papatasi (Diptera: Psychodidae) HALA A. KASSEM ,1. 2 DAVID J. FRYAUFF,1., MAGDI G, SHEHATA...were found to erations, and that selection for refractoriness to have atypical genitalia ( Kassem et al. 1988), and infection is associated with a shift... females and has been main- tained for 34 successive generations using the allndt(96) SINAI methods described by Schmid(16) Electrophoretic Techniques

Energy: Between Physics and Metaphysics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bunge, Mario

2000-01-01

The general concept of energy is somewhat unclear as long as it is confined to physics since every chapter of it defines its own particular concept of energy. The general concept can be elucidated in terms of the hypergeneral concepts of concrete things and changeability. Concludes that physicists and philosophers can learn from one another.…

Defining disability: metaphysical not political.

PubMed

Riddle, Christopher A

2013-08-01

Recent discussions surrounding the conceptualising of disability has resulted in a stalemate between British sociologists and philosophers. The stagnation of theorizing that has occurred threatens not only academic pursuits and the advancement of theoretical interpretations within the Disability Studies community, but also how we educate and advocate politically, legally, and socially. More pointedly, many activists and theorists in the UK appear to believe the British social model is the only effective means of understanding and advocating on behalf of people with disabilities. This model, largely reliant upon materialist research traditions, contends that disability is a form of social oppression and hence, is a phenomenon that should be conceptualised in social terms. Individual properties such as impairments are disregarded as they are viewed to be unimportant in the analysis of the social causes of disability. Concurrently, many bioethicists and philosophers have embraced what Tom Shakespeare has classified as an 'Interactional Approach' to disability--that "the experience of a disabled person results from the relationship between factors intrinsic to the individual, and the extrinsic factors arising from the wider context in which she finds herself". I intend to demonstrate that the benefits of the British social model are now outweighed by its burdens. I suggest, as Jerome Bickenbach has, that while it may be somewhat churlish to critique the social model in light of its political success, taken literally, it implies that people with disabilities require no additional health resources by virtue of their impairments. Despite the eloquent arguments that have preceded me by interactional theorists, none have been accepted as evidence of fallacious reasoning by British social model theorists. This article is an attempt to clarify why it is that the types of arguments British social model theorists have been offering are misguided. I suggest that the British social model, unlike an interactional approach, is unable to provide a realistic account of the experience of disability, and subsequently, unable to be properly utilized to ensure justice for people with disabilities.

Energy: Between Physics and Metaphysics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bunge, Mario

The general concept of energy is somewhat unclear as long as it is confined to physics, since every chapter of it defines its own particular concept of energy. The general concept can be elucidated in terms of the hypergeneral (philosophical) concepts of concrete thing and changeability. In this way one succeeds in crafting a minitheory that identifies energy with mutability, and that regards it, as well as its conservation, as a universal property of concrete things. The moral is that physicists and philosophers can learn from one another.

Czech contributions to searching for starting points of transculturality.

PubMed

Burda, Frantisek

2016-06-01

This study concerns with defining and classifying particular attempts to find outlines of transculturality in the Czech surroundings. It makes efforts especially to characterize the so called Hradec Králové school of transculturality, which it reduces into two dominating different streams: the socio-cultural and the metaphysical stream. The study divides the socio-cultural ways of transculturality into three central models: the nihilistic, the symbolical and the humanitarian-psychological model. The metaphysical stream is then divided into the biblically anthropological and the historically contextual model.

[The biolaw anthropological basis. A philosofical reflection of biolaw].

PubMed

Chávez-Fernández Postigo, José

2015-01-01

From a basic terminological clarification, we seek to examine briefly what can be acknowledged as the two biggest attempts of foundation in the Biolaw contemporary area, that of the Kantian tradition and that of the anthropological and metaphysical realism. Through a critical examination of the first one, we attempt to show that only from a freedom or an autonomy assumed from the anthropological and metaphysical realism, is possible to hold a Biolaw as a true impervious limit against the technological power regarding human life and human procreation.

The role of strain hardening in the transition from dislocation-mediated to frictional deformation of marbles within the Karakoram Fault Zone, NW India

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wallis, David; Lloyd, Geoffrey E.; Hansen, Lars N.

2018-02-01

The onset of frictional failure and potentially seismogenic deformation in carbonate rocks undergoing exhumation within fault zones depends on hardening processes that reduce the efficiency of aseismic dislocation-mediated deformation as temperature decreases. However, few techniques are available for quantitative analysis of dislocation slip system activity and hardening in natural tectonites. Electron backscatter diffraction maps of crystal orientations offer one such approach via determination of Schmid factors, if the palaeostress conditions can be inferred and the critical resolved shear stresses of slip systems are constrained. We analyse calcite marbles deformed in simple shear within the Karakoram Fault Zone, NW India, to quantify changes in slip system activity as the rocks cooled during exhumation. Microstructural evidence demonstrates that between ∼300 °C and 200-250 °C the dominant deformation mechanisms transitioned from dislocation-mediated flow to twinning and frictional failure. However, Schmid factor analysis, considering critical resolved shear stresses for yield of undeformed single crystals, indicates that the fraction of grains with sufficient resolved shear stress for glide apparently increased with decreasing temperature. Misorientation analysis and previous experimental data indicate that strain-dependent work hardening is responsible for this apparent inconsistency and promoted the transition from dislocation-mediated flow to frictional, and potentially seismogenic, deformation.

Orientation and temperature dependence of some mechanical properties of the single-crystal nickel-base superalloy Rene N4. 3: Tension-compression anisotropy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miner, R. V.; Gaab, T. P.; Gayda, J.; Hemker, K. J.

1985-01-01

Single crystal superalloy specimens with various crystallographic directions along their axes were tested in compression at room temperature, 650, 760, 870, and 980 deg C. These results are compared with the tensile behavior studied previously. The alloy, Rene N4, was developed for gas turbine engine blades and has the nominal composition 3.7 Al, 4.2 Ti, 4 Ta, 0.5 Nb, 6 W, 1.5 Mo 9 Cr. 7.5 Co, balance Ni, in weight percent. Slip trace analysis showed that primary cube slip occurred even at room temperature for the 111 specimens. With increasing test temperature more orientations exhibited primary cube slip, until at 870 deg C only the 100 and 011 specimens exhibited normal octahedral slip. The yield strength for octahedral slip was numerically analysed using a model proposed by Lall, Chin, and Pope to explain deviations from Schmid's Law in the yielding behavior of a single phase Gamma prime alloy, Ni3(Al, Nb). The Schmid's Law deviations in Rene N4 were found to be largely due to a tension-compression anisotropy. A second effect, which increases trength for orientations away from 001, was found to be small in Rene N4. Analysis of recently published data on the single crystal superalloy PWA 1480 yielded the same result.

Ivrea mantle wedge and arc of the Western Alps (I): Geophysical evidence for the deep structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kissling, Edi; Schmid, Stefan M.; Diehl, Tobias

2017-04-01

The construction of five crustal-scale profiles across the Western Alps and the Ivrea mantle wedge integrates up-to-date geological and geophysical information and reveals important along strike changes in the overall structure of the crust of the Western Alpine arc (Schmid et al. 2017). The 3D crustal model of the Western Alps represented by these cross sections is based on recent P-velocity local earthquake tomography that compliments the previously existing wealth of geophysical information about lithosphere structure in the region. As part of Adria mantle lithosphere exhibiting strong upward bending toward the plate boundary along the inner arc of the Western Alps, the well-known Ivrea body plays a crucial role in our tectonic model. Until recently, however, the detailed 3D geometry of this key structure was only poorly constrained. In this study we present a review of the many seismic data in the region and we document the construction of our 3D lithosphere model by principles of multidisciplinary seismic tomography. Reference: Stefan M. Schmid, Edi Kissling, Douwe J.J. van Hinsbergen, Giancarlo Molli (2017). Ivrea mantle wedge and arc of the Western Alps (2): Kinematic evolution of the Alps-Apennines orogenic system. Abstract Volume EGU 2017.

Anisotropic constitutive model for nickel base single crystal alloys: Development and finite element implementation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dame, L. T.; Stouffer, D. C.

1986-01-01

A tool for the mechanical analysis of nickel base single crystal superalloys, specifically Rene N4, used in gas turbine engine components is developed. This is achieved by a rate dependent anisotropic constitutive model implemented in a nonlinear three dimensional finite element code. The constitutive model is developed from metallurigical concepts utilizing a crystallographic approach. A non Schmid's law formulation is used to model the tension/compression asymmetry and orientation dependence in octahedral slip. Schmid's law is a good approximation to the inelastic response of the material in cube slip. The constitutive equations model the tensile behavior, creep response, and strain rate sensitivity of these alloys. Methods for deriving the material constants from standard tests are presented. The finite element implementation utilizes an initial strain method and twenty noded isoparametric solid elements. The ability to model piecewise linear load histories is included in the finite element code. The constitutive equations are accurately and economically integrated using a second order Adams-Moulton predictor-corrector method with a dynamic time incrementing procedure. Computed results from the finite element code are compared with experimental data for tensile, creep and cyclic tests at 760 deg C. The strain rate sensitivity and stress relaxation capabilities of the model are evaluated.

Deconstructing the Brain Disconnection–Brain Death Analogy and Clarifying the Rationale for the Neurological Criterion of Death

PubMed Central

Moschella, Melissa

2016-01-01

This article explains the problems with Alan Shewmon’s critique of brain death as a valid sign of human death, beginning with a critical examination of his analogy between brain death and severe spinal cord injury. The article then goes on to assess his broader argument against the necessity of the brain for adult human organismal integration, arguing that he fails to translate correctly from biological to metaphysical claims. Finally, on the basis of a deeper metaphysical analysis, I offer a revised rationale for the validity of the neurological criterion of human death. PMID:27095749

How to make a particular case for person-centred patient care: A commentary on Alexandra Parvan.

PubMed

Graham, George

2018-06-14

In recent years, a person-centred approach to patient care in cases of mental illness has been promoted as an alternative to a disease orientated approach. Alexandra Parvan's contribution to the person-centred approach serves to motivate an exploration of the approach's most apt metaphysical assumptions. I argue that a metaphysical thesis or assumption about both persons and their uniqueness is an essential element of being person-centred. I apply the assumption to issues such as the disorder/disease distinction and to the continuity of mental health and illness. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Developmental abnormalities of the occipital bone in human chondrodystrophies (achondroplasia and thanatophoric dwarfism).

PubMed

Marin-Padilla, M; Marin-Padilla, T M

1977-01-01

Specific developmental malformations have been demonstrated in the occipital bone of two chondrodysplastic disorders (achondroplasia and thanatophoric dwarfism). Analysis of these malformations indicates that the occipital bone is primary affected in these disorders. In both cases, the endochondral-derived components of the occipital bone (the basioccipital, the two lateral parts, and the planum nuchale of the squama occipitalis) have failed to grow properly and are smaller and shorter than normal. On the other hand, the planum occipitalis of the squama, which derives from intramembranous ossification, is unaffected. In addition, the nature of these abnormalities indicates that the occipital synchondroses, together with the epiphyseal plates of other bones, are primarily affected in these two chondrodysplasias. The components of the occipital bone formed between the affected synchondroses failed to grow normally. The resulting malformation of the occipital bone is undoubtedly the cause of the shortening of the posterior cerebral fossa and of the considerable narrowing of the foramen magnum often described in these chondrodysplasias. It is postulated that growth disturbances between the affected occipital bone and the unaffected central nervous system results in the inadequacy of the posterior cerebral fossa and the foramen magnum to accommodate the growing brain. Consequently, compression of the brain at the posterior cerebral fossa or the foramen magnum levels could occur and thus lead to neurologic complications such as hydrocephalus and compression of the brain stem. It is suggested that the surgical removal of the fused posterior border of the lateral parts of the occipital bone (partial nuchalectomy) for the purpose of enlarging the narrow foramen magnum may be indicated in those chondrodysplastic children who develop these types of neurologic complications.

An RNA-splicing mutation (G{sup +51VS20}) in the Type II collagen gene (COL2A1) in a family with spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tiller, G.E.; Polumbo, P.A.; Weis, M.A.

1995-02-01

Defects in type II collagen have been demonstrated in a phenotypic continuum of chondrodysplasias that includes achondrogenesis II, hypochondrogenesis, spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita (SEDC), Kniest dysplasia, and Stickler syndrome. We have determined that cartilage from a terminated fetus with an inherited form of SEDC contained both normal {alpha}1(II) collagen chains and chains that lacked amino acids 256-273 of the triple-helical domain. PCR amplification of this region of COL2A1, from genomic DNA, yielded products of normal size, while amplification of cDNA yielded a normal sized species and a shorter fragment missing exon 20. Sequence analysis of genomic DNA from the fetus revealedmore » a G{yields}T transversion at position +5 of intron 20; the affected father was also heterozygous for the mutation. Allele-specific PCR and heteroduplex analysis of a VNTR in COL2A1 independently confirmed the unaffected status of a fetus in a subsequent pregnancy. Thermodynamic calculations suggest that the mutation prevents normal splicing of exon 20 by interfering with binding of U{sub 1} small-nuclear RNA to pre-mRNA, thus leading to skipping of exon 20 in transcripts from the mutant allele. Electron micrographs of diseased cartilage showed intracellular inclusion bodies, which were stained by an antibody to {alpha}1(II) procollagen. Our findings support the hypothesis that {alpha}-chain length alterations that preserve the Gly-X-Y repeat motif of the triple helix result in partial intracellular retention of {alpha}1(II) procollagen and produce mild to moderate chondrodysplasia phenotypes. 50 refs., 6 figs., 1 tab.« less

A Nodal Domain Integration Model of Two-Dimensional Heat and Soil-Water Flow Coupled by Soil-Water Phase Change.

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-06-01

WORK UNIT ELEMENT NO. NO NO ACCESSION NO I I ICWIS 31711 11 TITLE (Include Security Classification) A Nodal Domain Integration Model of Two...t.5% Unclassified."- .-,,. PREFACE This report was prepared by Ted Hromadka, Director of Water Re- sources, Williamson and Schmid. The work was...performed for CRREL under Contract 84-M-1691 and was funded by the Directorate of Civil Works , Office of the Chief of Engineers, under Civil Works Order No

TCTEX1D2 mutations underlie Jeune asphyxiating thoracic dystrophy with impaired retrograde intraflagellar transport.

PubMed

Schmidts, Miriam; Hou, Yuqing; Cortés, Claudio R; Mans, Dorus A; Huber, Celine; Boldt, Karsten; Patel, Mitali; van Reeuwijk, Jeroen; Plaza, Jean-Marc; van Beersum, Sylvia E C; Yap, Zhi Min; Letteboer, Stef J F; Taylor, S Paige; Herridge, Warren; Johnson, Colin A; Scambler, Peter J; Ueffing, Marius; Kayserili, Hulya; Krakow, Deborah; King, Stephen M; Beales, Philip L; Al-Gazali, Lihadh; Wicking, Carol; Cormier-Daire, Valerie; Roepman, Ronald; Mitchison, Hannah M; Witman, George B

2015-06-05

The analysis of individuals with ciliary chondrodysplasias can shed light on sensitive mechanisms controlling ciliogenesis and cell signalling that are essential to embryonic development and survival. Here we identify TCTEX1D2 mutations causing Jeune asphyxiating thoracic dystrophy with partially penetrant inheritance. Loss of TCTEX1D2 impairs retrograde intraflagellar transport (IFT) in humans and the protist Chlamydomonas, accompanied by destabilization of the retrograde IFT dynein motor. We thus define TCTEX1D2 as an integral component of the evolutionarily conserved retrograde IFT machinery. In complex with several IFT dynein light chains, it is required for correct vertebrate skeletal formation but may be functionally redundant under certain conditions.

Location interval at Xp22.3 for X-linked chondrodysplasia punctata

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sheffield, L.; Hutchison, W.; Holloway, A.

1994-09-01

The literature shows that there is a gene for chondropdysplasia punctata (CDP) located at Xp22.3 from the study of chromosomal rearrangements involving Xp. It is also suspected that there are genes for short stature and mental retardation nearby. Petit has described a family of brachytelephalangic CDP that was due to a submicroscopic interstitial deletion of Xp22.3. Symmetrical (mild) CDP seems to be identical to brachytelephalangic CDP clinically, has variable features of short stature and mental retardation, and has a preponderance of affected males. We describe results using DNA probes from Xp22.3 in 10 patients with radiologically proven symmetrical CDP. Othermore » known genes in this region have a high proportion of deletions as we screened our patients for deletions in DXYS20, MIC2, PABX, DXYS159X, DXS283, DXS285, J502(PCR), DXS31, DXS43 (listed distally to proximally). No deletions were found. We have also studied a fetus with proven CDP who has a X,Y translocation (46,V,t(X;Y)(p22.3;q12)mat). This patient was deleted for all distal probes up to J502(PCR). It is not yet known where the breakpoint lies but it may be just proximal to the CDP gene. The results of the 10 symmetrical CDPs and the X;Y translocation fetus are presented with further definition of the X chromosomal breakpoint in the translocation.« less

Interrogating personhood and dementia

PubMed Central

Higgs, Paul; Gilleard, Chris

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT Objectives: To interrogate the concept of personhood and its application to care practices for people with dementia. Method: We outline the work of Tom Kitwood on personhood and relate this to conceptualisations of personhood in metaphysics and in moral philosophy. Results: The philosophical concept of personhood has a long history. The metaphysical tradition examines the necessary and sufficient qualities that make up personhood such as agency, consciousness, identity, rationality and second-order reflexivity. Alternative viewpoints treat personhood as a matter of degree rather than as a superordinate category. Within moral philosophy personhood is treated as a moral status applicable to some or to all human beings. Conclusion: In the light of the multiple meanings attached to the term in both metaphysics and moral philosophy, personhood is a relatively unhelpful concept to act as the foundation for developing models and standards of care for people with dementia. Care, we suggest, should concentrate less on ambiguous and somewhat abstract terms such as personhood and focus instead on supporting people's existing capabilities, while minimising the harmful consequences of their incapacities. PMID:26708149

The ultimate question of origins: God and the beginning of the Universe.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Craig, W. L.

Both cosmology and philosophy trace their roots to the wonder felt by the ancient Greeks as they contemplated the Universe. The ultimate question remains why the Universe exists rather than nothing. This question led Leibniz to postulate the existence of a metaphysically necessary being, which he identified as God. Leibniz's critics, however, disputed this identification, claiming that the space-time universe itself may be the metaphysically necessary being. The discovery during this century that the Universe began to exist, however, calls into question the Universe's status as metaphysically necessary, since any necessary being must be eternal in its existence. Although various cosmogonic models claiming to avert the beginning of the Universe predicted by the standard model have been and continue to be offered, no model involving an eternal universe has proved as plausible as the standard model. Unless we are to assert that the Universe simply sprang into being uncaused out of nothing, we are thus led to Leibniz's conclusion. Several objections to inferring a supernatural cause of the origin of the Universe are considered and found to be unsound.

The Ultimate Question of Origins: God and the Beginning of the Universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Craig, William Lane

1999-12-01

Both cosmology and philosophy trace their roots to the wonder felt by the ancient Greeks as they contemplated the universe. The ultimate question remains why the universe exists rather than nothing. This question led Leibniz to postulate the existence of a metaphysically necessary being, which he identified as God. Leibniz's critics, however, disputed this identification, claiming that the space-time universe itself may be the metaphysically necessary being. The discovery during this century that the universe began to exist, however, calls into question the universe's status as metaphysically necessary, since any necessary being must be eternal in its existence. Although various cosmogonic models claiming to avert the beginning of the universe predicted by the standard model have been and continue to be offered, no model involving an eternal universe has proved as plausible as the standard model. Unless we are to assert that the universe simply sprang into being uncaused out of nothing, we are thus led to Leibniz's conclusion. Several objections to inferring a supernatural cause of the origin of the universe are considered and found to be unsound.

Cosmos 1887: morphology, histochemistry, and vasculature of the growing rat tibia

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Doty, S. B.; Morey-Holton, E. R.; Durnova, G. N.; Kaplansky, A. S.

1990-01-01

Light microscopy, electron microscopy, and enzyme histochemistry were used to study the effects of spaceflight on metaphyseal and cortical bone of the rat tibia. Cortical cross-sectional area and perimeter were not altered by a 12.5-day spaceflight in 3-month-old male rats. The endosteal osteoblast population and the vasculature near the periosteal surface in flight rats compared with ground controls showed more pronounced changes in cortical bone than in metaphyseal bone. The osteoblasts demonstrated greater numbers of transitional Golgi vesicles, possibly caused by a decreased cellular metabolic energy source, but no difference in the large Golgi saccules or the cell membrane-associated alkaline phosphatase activity. The periosteal vasculature in the diaphysis of flight rats often showed lipid accumulations within the lumen of the vessels, occasional degeneration of the vascular wall, and degeneration of osteocytes adjacent to vessels containing intraluminal deposits. These changes were not found in the metaphyseal region of flight animals. The focal vascular changes may be due to ischemia of bone or a developing fragility of the vessel walls as a result of spaceflight.

Targeting the Tissue Factor-Factor VIIa Signaling Pathway to Enhance Activity of mTOR Inhibitors in the Treatment of Breast Cancer

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-09-01

Salzberg M, Ostapenko V, Illiger HJ, Behringer D, Bardy -Bouxin N, Boni J , Kong S, Cincotta M, and Moore L. Phase II study of temsirolimus (CCI-779), a ...factor interaction results in a tissue factor cytoplasmic domain- independent activation of protein synthesis, p70, and p90 S6 kinase phosphorylation. J ...The mTOR Pathway in Breast Cancer. J Mammary Gland Biol Neoplasia 2006; 11: 53-61. 23. Guba M, Yezhelyev, Eichhorn ME, Schmid G, Ischenko, Papyan A

Targeting Tissue Factor-Factor VIIa Signaling Pathway to Enhance Activity of mTOR Inhibitors in the Treatment of Breast Cancer

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-03-01

Salzberg M, Ostapenko V, Illiger HJ, Behringer D, Bardy -Bouxin N, Boni J , Kong S, Cincotta M, and Moore L. Phase II study of temsirolimus (CCI-779), a novel...interaction results in a tissue factor cytoplasmic domain- independent activation of protein synthesis, p70, and p90 S6 kinase phosphorylation. J ...mTOR Pathway in Breast Cancer. J Mammary Gland Biol Neoplasia 2006; 11: 53-61. 23. Guba M, Yezhelyev, Eichhorn ME, Schmid G, Ischenko, Papyan A

Well posedness and physical possibility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gyenis, Balazs

There is a sentiment shared among physicists that well posedness is a necessary condition for physical possibility. The arguments usually offered for well posedness have an epistemic flavor and thus they fall short of establishing the metaphysical claim that lack of well posedness implies physical impossibility. In this work we analyze the relationship of well posedness to prediction and confirmation as well as the notion of physical possibility and we devise three novel and independent argumentative strategies that may succeed where the usual epistemic arguments fail. Keywords: determinism, laws of nature, metaphysics, philosophy of physics, physical possibility, prediction, well posed problem.

Strength anomaly in B2 FeAl single crystals

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yoshimi, K.; Hanada, S.; Yoo, M.H.

1994-12-31

Strength and deformation microstructure of B2 Fe-39 and 48%Al single crystals (composition given in atomic percent), which were fully annealed to remove frozen-in vacancies, have been investigated at temperatures between room temperature and 1073K. The hardness of as-homogenized Fe-48Al is higher than that of as-homogenized Fe-39Al while after additional annealing at 698K the hardness of Fe-48Al becomes lower than that of Fe-39Al. Fe-39Al single crystals slowly cooled after homogenizing at a high temperature were deformed in compression as a function of temperature and crystal orientation. A peak of yield strength appears around 0.5T{sub m} (T{sub m} = melting temperature). Themore » orientation dependence of the critical resolved shear stress does not obey Schmid`s law even at room temperature and is quite different from that of b.c.c. metals and B2 intermetallics at low temperatures. At the peak temperature slip transition from <111>-type to <001>-type is found to occur macroscopically and microscopically, while it is observed in TEM that some of the [111] dislocations decompose into [101] and [010] on the (1096I) plane below the peak temperature. The physical sources for the positive temperature dependence of yield stress of B2 FeAl are discussed based on the obtained results.« less

Initiation and strain compatibility of connected extension twins in AZ31 magnesium alloy at high temperature

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Liu, Xiao, E-mail: liuxiao0105@163.com

2016-12-15

Uniaxial compression tests were carried out at 350 °C and a strain rate of 0.3 s{sup −1} on as-extruded AZ31 magnesium alloy samples. At a true strain of − 0.1, extension twin pairs in a grain and twin chains across adjacent grains were detected. The orientation of selected twins and their host grains were determined by electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) techniques. The Schmid factors (SFs), accommodation strains and geometric compatibility factors (m{sup ′}) were calculated. Analysis of the data indicated that the formation of twin pair and twin chain was related to the SF and m{sup ′}. Regarding to twinmore » chain across adjacent grains, accommodation strain was also involved. The selection of twin variants in twin chain was generally determined by m{sup ′}. When the twins required the operation of pyramidal slip or twinning in adjacent grain, the corresponding connected twins with a relative high m{sup ′} were selected in this adjacent grain. - Highlights: •The formation of paired twins is studied during high temperature deformation. •The initiation of twinning in twin pair and twin chain obeys the Schmid law. •The twin variants' selection in twin chain is related to the geometric compatibility factor. •The accommodation strain plays an important role on the formation of twin chain.« less

Contemporaneous Ultraviolet and Optical Observations of Direct and Raman-scattered O VI Lines in Symbiotic Stars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Birriel, Jennifer J.; Espey, Brian R.; Schulte-Ladbeck, Regina E.

2000-12-01

Symbiotic stars are binary systems consisting of a hot star, typically a white dwarf, and a cool giant companion. The wind from the cool star is ionized by the radiation from the hot star, resulting in the characteristic combination of sharp nebular emission lines and stellar molecular absorption bands in the optical spectrum. Most of the emission lines are readily identifiable with common ions. However, two strong, broad emission lines at 6825 and 7082 Å defied identification with known atoms and ions. In 1989 Schmid made the case that these long unidentified emission lines resulted from the Raman scattering of the O VI resonance photons at 1032, 1038 Å by neutral hydrogen. We present contemporaneous far-UV and optical observations of direct and Raman-scattered O VI lines for nine symbiotic stars obtained with the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (Astro-2) and various ground-based optical telescopes. The O VI emission lines are present in every instance in which the λλ6825, 7082 lines are present, in support of the Schmid Raman-scattering model. We calculate the scattering efficiencies and discuss the results in terms of the Raman-scattering model. Additionally, we measure the flux of the Fe II fluorescence line at 1776 Å, which is excited by the O VI line at 1032 Å, and calculate the first estimates of the conversion efficiencies for this process.

The roles of the analogy with natural selection in B.F. Skinner's philosophy.

PubMed

Smith, Terry L

2018-02-17

Beginning in the 1950s, B.F. Skinner made increasing reference to an analogy between operant conditioning and natural selection. This analogy is the basis of an argument that, in contrast to Skinner's other critiques of cognitive science, is neither epistemological nor pragmatic. Instead, it is based on the claim that ontogenetic adaptation is due to a special mode of causation he called "selection by consequences." He argued that this mode of causation conflicts with explanations that attribute action to an autonomous agent with reasons for acting. This argument dismisses ordinary explanations of action, and has implications not only for cognitive science but also for morals. Skinner cited the latter implications to counter objections to the application of behavior analysis to the reform of society and its institutions. Skinner's critique, however, rests upon empirical assumptions that have been criticized by other behavior analysts. Although for Skinner the major role of the analogy was to propose an empirical thesis, it also can play a metaphysical role-namely, to demonstrate the possibility of ontogenetic adaptation without reference to agents who have reasons for acting. These two roles, empirical and metaphysical, are the mirror image of the empirical and metaphysical roles of the computer analogy for cognitive science. That analogy also can be (and has been) interpreted as an empirical thesis. Its empirical implications, however, have been difficult to confirm. It also, however, has played a metaphysical role-namely, to demonstrate the possibility that a physical process could perform logical operations on states having propositional content. Neither analogy provides a well-confirmed, general answer to the question of how to explain the process of ontogenetic adaptation. But together they show there are two metaphysically coherent, but conflicting, answers to this question. Depending upon one's epistemology, the analogy with natural selection may provide a

Quantum processes: A Whiteheadian interpretation of quantum field theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bain, Jonathan

Quantum processes: A Whiteheadian interpretation of quantum field theory is an ambitious and thought-provoking exercise in physics and metaphysics, combining an erudite study of the very complex metaphysics of A.N. Whitehead with a well-informed discussion of contemporary issues in the philosophy of algebraic quantum field theory. Hättich's overall goal is to construct an interpretation of quantum field theory. He does this by translating key concepts in Whitehead's metaphysics into the language of algebraic quantum field theory. In brief, this Hättich-Whitehead (H-W, hereafter) interpretation takes "actual occasions" as the fundamental ontological entities of quantum field theory. An actual occasion is the result of two types of processes: a "transition process" in which a set of initial possibly-possessed properties for the occasion (in the form of "eternal objects") is localized to a space-time region; and a "concrescence process" in which a subset of these initial possibly-possessed properties is selected and actualized to produce the occasion. Essential to these processes is the "underlying activity", which conditions the way in which properties are initially selected and subsequently actualized. In short, under the H-W interpretation of quantum field theory, an initial set of possibly-possessed eternal objects is represented by a Boolean sublattice of the lattice of projection operators determined by a von Neumann algebra R (O) associated with a region O of Minkowski space-time, and the underlying activity is represented by a state on R (O) obtained by conditionalizing off of the vacuum state. The details associated with the H-W interpretation involve imposing constraints on these representations motivated by principles found in Whitehead's metaphysics. These details are spelled out in the three sections of the book. The first section is a summary and critique of Whitehead's metaphysics, the second section introduces the formalism of algebraic quantum field

Free will and psychiatric assessments of criminal responsibility: a parallel with informed consent.

PubMed

Meynen, Gerben

2010-11-01

In some criminal cases a forensic psychiatrist is asked to make an assessment of the state of mind of the defendant at the time of the legally relevant act. A considerable number of people seem to hold that the basis for this assessment is that free will is required for legal responsibility, and that mental disorders can compromise free will. In fact, because of the alleged relationship between the forensic assessment and free will, researchers in forensic psychiatry also consider the complicated metaphysical discussions on free will relevant to the assessment. At the same time, there is concern about the lack of advancement with respect to clarifying the nature of the forensic assessment. In this paper I argue that, even if free will is considered relevant, there may be no need for forensic researchers to engage into metaphysical discussions on free will in order to make significant progress. I will do so, drawing a parallel between the assessment of criminal responsibility on the one hand, and the medical practice of obtaining informed consent on the other. I argue that also with respect to informed consent, free will is considered relevant, or even crucial. This is the parallel. Yet, researchers on informed consent have not entered into metaphysical debates on free will. Meanwhile, research on informed consent has made significant progress. Based on the parallel with respect to free will, and the differences with respect to research, I conclude that researchers on forensic assessment may not have to engage into metaphysical discussions on free will in order to advance our understanding of this psychiatric practice.

Free will and psychiatric assessments of criminal responsibility: a parallel with informed consent

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

In some criminal cases a forensic psychiatrist is asked to make an assessment of the state of mind of the defendant at the time of the legally relevant act. A considerable number of people seem to hold that the basis for this assessment is that free will is required for legal responsibility, and that mental disorders can compromise free will. In fact, because of the alleged relationship between the forensic assessment and free will, researchers in forensic psychiatry also consider the complicated metaphysical discussions on free will relevant to the assessment. At the same time, there is concern about the lack of advancement with respect to clarifying the nature of the forensic assessment. In this paper I argue that, even if free will is considered relevant, there may be no need for forensic researchers to engage into metaphysical discussions on free will in order to make significant progress. I will do so, drawing a parallel between the assessment of criminal responsibility on the one hand, and the medical practice of obtaining informed consent on the other. I argue that also with respect to informed consent, free will is considered relevant, or even crucial. This is the parallel. Yet, researchers on informed consent have not entered into metaphysical debates on free will. Meanwhile, research on informed consent has made significant progress. Based on the parallel with respect to free will, and the differences with respect to research, I conclude that researchers on forensic assessment may not have to engage into metaphysical discussions on free will in order to advance our understanding of this psychiatric practice. PMID:20424919

A Systems Biology Strategy to Identify Molecular Mechanisms of Action and Protein Indicators of Traumatic Brain Injury

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-11-14

2 Xueping Yu,1 Bhaskar Dutta,1 Jacob D. Feala,1 Kara Schmid,2 Jitendra Dave,2 Gregory J . Tawa,1 Anders Wallqvist,1 and Jaques Reifman1* 1Department of...pathway.html), downloaded in December, 2011. KEGG, one of the largest and most widely used publicly available pathway databases, anno - tates pathways...Ansari MA, Roberts KN, Scheff SW. 2008b. A time course of contusion-induced oxidative stress and synaptic proteins in cortex in a rat model of TBI. J

Rickets or abuse? A histologic comparison of rickets and child abuse-related fractures.

PubMed

Kepron, Charis; Pollanen, Michael S

2015-03-01

The bone changes of vitamin D deficiency rickets have been invoked as an alternate explanation for child-abuse related fractures identified through medical imaging. The lack of modern histopathologic comparisons between these two entities limits the abilities of the forensic pathologist to address this differential diagnosis, both in their autopsy reports and on the witness stand. We report a comparison of the histologic appearance of the bones in a two year old child with vitamin D deficiency rickets with fractures occurring in three young children with child abuse. In the case of rickets, there was marked architectural disorganization of endochondral ossification at the costochondral junctions and growth plates of long bones. The child abuse-related fractures showed osteochondral callus at different stages of healing, either centered on a discrete fracture line or at metaphyses (e.g. classical metaphyseal lesions). In many instances, the healing fractures disrupted the line of endochondral ossification. In none of the child abuse-related fractures was there any similarity to the histologic appearance of rickets. The maturation disturbance in the growth plate that occurs in rickets is a distinctive entity that cannot be confused histologically with healing fractures, including the classical metaphyseal lesion.

African communal basis for autonomy and life choices.

PubMed

Ikuenobe, Polycarp

2017-09-05

I argue that the metaphysical capacity of autonomy is not intrinsically valuable; it is valuable only when used in relation to a community's values and instrumentally for making the proper choices that will promote one's own and the community's well-being. I use the example of the choice to take one's life by suicide to illuminate this view. I articulate a plausible African conception of personhood as a basis for the idea of relational autonomy. I argue that this conception is better understood as a social-moral thesis, and not a metaphysical thesis. A metaphysical thesis gives an account of the abstract nature of an atomic individual, his agency, and rational choice. The social-moral thesis indicates that personhood and autonomy are positive and relational to the life plans, well-being, material conditions, and the best means for achieving them that are made available and possible by harmonious living in a community. This idea of autonomy is not just having the capacity of freewill; it also involves how such freewill is used, in terms of how an individual's choices are guided by internalized communal values. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

[Role of growth hormone underproduction and support load deficit in development of muscle atrophy and osteopenia in tail-suspended rats].

PubMed

Kaplanskiĭ, A S; Durnova, G N; Ili'ina-Kakueva, E I; Loginov, V I

1999-01-01

In a 20-day experiment with tail-suspended male rats histological and histomorphometric techniques were used to study the effects of growth hormone, thyroxin, and graded support loads on the progress of atrophy in soleus and gastrocnemius m.m., tibial metaphyses spongiosis, and growth of tibiae. Daily injections of growth hormone at a dose of 0.5 mg/kg of the body mass were found to restore the longitudinal growth of tibiae and to suppress osteopenia in the spongiosis of metaphyses; however, they did not have any noteworthy effect on the muscular atrophy in the suspended rats. Support loading of the hind limbs for 2 hours a day in parallel to the treatment with growth hormone and thyroxin (0.02 mg/kg of the body mass per a day) suppressed the atrophy in soleus m. but not in gastrocnemius m. They were not able to oppose to osteoporosis in tibial metaphyses spongiosis; tibial growth was not normalized. Thyroxin did not appear to markedly influence muscle and bone atrophies; moreover, it made hypofunctioning of the thyroid more intense and, when combined with the growth hormone, masked the positive effect of the latter on the rats' bones.

Clinical and Biochemical Pitfalls in the Diagnosis of Peroxisomal Disorders.

PubMed

Klouwer, Femke C C; Huffnagel, Irene C; Ferdinandusse, Sacha; Waterham, Hans R; Wanders, Ronald J A; Engelen, Marc; Poll-The, Bwee Tien

2016-08-01

Peroxisomal disorders are a heterogeneous group of genetic metabolic disorders, caused by a defect in peroxisome biogenesis or a deficiency of a single peroxisomal enzyme. The peroxisomal disorders include the Zellweger spectrum disorders, the rhizomelic chondrodysplasia punctata spectrum disorders, X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy, and multiple single enzyme deficiencies. There are several core phenotypes caused by peroxisomal dysfunction that clinicians can recognize. The diagnosis is suggested by biochemical testing in blood and urine and confirmed by functional assays in cultured skin fibroblasts, followed by mutation analysis. This review describes the phenotype of the main peroxisomal disorders and possible pitfalls in (laboratory) diagnosis to aid clinicians in the recognition of this group of diseases. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Effects of spaceflight on trabecular bone in rats

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jee, W. S. S.; Wronski, T. J.; Morey, E. R.; Kimmel, D. B.

1983-01-01

Alterations in trabecular bone were observed in growing male Wistar rats after 18.5 days of orbital flight on the COSMOS 1129 biosatellite. Spaceflight induced a decreased mass of mineralized tissue and an increased fat content of the bone marrow in the proximal tibial and humeral metaphyses. The osteoblast population appeared to decline immediately adjacent to the growth cartilage-metaphyseal junction, but osteoclast numbers were unchanged. These results suggested that bone formation may have been inhibited during spaceflight, but resorption remained constant. With the exception of trabecular bone mass in the proximal tibia, the observed skeletal changes returned to normal during a 29-day postflight period.

"Humanitas", Metaphysics and Modern Liberal Arts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tubbs, Nigel

2014-01-01

There is a new myth of the heterogeneous that is reducing the concept of humanity to a sinful enlightenment. In this article I investigate the contribution that a renewed understanding of liberal arts education might offer for the idea of a humanist education and for the concept of humanity; and this at a time when not only the concept of humanity…

Ape metaphysics: object individuation without language.

PubMed

Mendes, Natacha; Rakoczy, Hannes; Call, Josep

2008-02-01

Developmental research suggests that whereas very young infants individuate objects purely on spatiotemporal grounds, from (at latest) around 1 year of age children are capable of individuating objects according to the kind they belong to and the properties they instantiate. As the latter ability has been found to correlate with language, some have speculated whether it might be essentially language dependent and therefore uniquely human. Existing studies with non-human primates seem to speak against this hypothesis, but fail to present conclusive evidence due to methodological shortcomings. In the present experiments we set out to test non-linguistic object individuation in three great ape species with a refined manual search methodology. Experiment 1 tested for spatiotemporal object individuation: Subjects saw 1 or 2 objects simultaneously being placed inside a box in which they could reach, and then in both conditions only found 1 object. After retrieval of the 1 object, subjects reached again significantly more often when they had seen 2 than when they had seen 1 object. Experiment 2 tested for object individuation according to property/kind information only: Subjects saw 1 object being placed inside the box, and then either found that object (expected) or an object of a different kind (unexpected). Analogously to Experiment 1, after retrieval of the 1 object, subjects reached again significantly more often in the unexpected than in the expected condition. These results thus confirm previous findings suggesting that individuating objects according to their property/kind is neither uniquely human nor essentially language dependent. It remains to be seen, however, whether this kind of object individuation requires sortal concepts as human linguistic thinkers use them, or whether some simpler form of tracking properties is sufficient.

Ape Metaphysics: Object Individuation without Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mendes, Natacha; Rakoczy, Hannes; Call, Josep

2008-01-01

Developmental research suggests that whereas very young infants individuate objects purely on spatiotemporal grounds, from (at latest) around 1 year of age children are capable of individuating objects according to the kind they belong to and the properties they instantiate. As the latter ability has been found to correlate with language, some…

Spatiotemporal Deformable Part Models for Action Detection (Open Access)

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-10-03

obtained by correlation of filter F with features of the test video volume φ(l), S(l, i, j , k) = ∑ m,n,p F (i, j , k) φ(i+m, j + n, k + p, l). (1) At...purposes notwithstanding any copyright anno - tation thereon. The views and conclusions contained herein are those of the authors and should not be...M. Marszałek, C. Schmid, and B. Rozenfeld. Learning realistic human actions from movies. In CVPR, 2008. [14] J . Liu, J . Luo, and M. Shah. Recognizing

Earth Rotation Monitoring, UT1 Determinaiton and Prediction

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-07-20

Reference Frame Astron. Astrophys. 355 398–405 [8] Coulot D, Berio P, Biancale R, Loyer S, Soudarin L and Gontier A-M 2007 Toward a direct combination of...Stamatakos N, Brockett G, Carter M S, Stetzler B and Wooden W 2009 Rapid Service/Prediction Centre contribution to 2007 IERS Annual Report pp 68–77 [25...45 57–73 [37] Thaller D, Krügel M, Rothacher M, Tesmer V, Schmid R and Angermann D 2007 Combined Earth orientation parameters based on homogeneous

The effect of nutritional rickets on bone mineral density.

PubMed

Thacher, Tom D; Fischer, Philip R; Pettifor, John M

2014-11-01

Nutritional rickets is caused by impaired mineralization of growing bone. The effect of nutritional rickets on areal bone mineral density (aBMD) has not been established. Our objective was to determine if aBMD is lower in children with active rickets than in healthy control children. We expected that the reduction in aBMD would vary between the radial and ulnar metaphyses near the growth plates and the proximal diaphyses. Case-control study. Primary care outpatient department of a teaching hospital in Jos, Nigeria. Nigerian children with radiographically-confirmed rickets were compared with a reference group of control children without rickets from the same community. Forearm bone density measurements were performed in all children with pDXA. Age, sex, and height-adjusted bone density parameters were compared between children with rickets and control subjects. A total of 264 children with active rickets (ages 13-120 months) and 660 control children (ages 11-123 months) were included. In multivariate analyses controlling for height, age, and gender, rickets was associated with a 4% greater bone area and 7% lower aBMD of the radial and ulnar metaphyses compared with controls (P < .001). The effects of rickets on the diaphyses of the radius and ulna were more pronounced with an 11% greater bone area, 21% lower aBMD, and 24% lower bone mineral apparent density than controls (P < .001). In children with rickets, aBMD values were unrelated to dairy product intake or serum calcium, phosphorus, alkaline phosphatase, or 25-hydroxyvitamin D. Metaphyseal aBMD was positively associated with radiographic severity score, attributed to bone edge detection artifact by densitometry in active rickets. Rickets results in increased bone area and reduced aBMD, which are more pronounced in the diaphyseal than in the metaphyseal regions of the radius and ulna, consistent with secondary hyperparathyroidism, generalized osteoid expansion and impaired mineralization.

SMT or TOFT? How the two main theories of carcinogenesis are made (artificially) incompatible.

PubMed

Bedessem, Baptiste; Ruphy, Stéphanie

2015-09-01

The building of a global model of carcinogenesis is one of modern biology's greatest challenges. The traditional somatic mutation theory (SMT) is now supplemented by a new approach, called the Tissue Organization Field Theory (TOFT). According to TOFT, the original source of cancer is loss of tissue organization rather than genetic mutations. In this paper, we study the argumentative strategy used by the advocates of TOFT to impose their view. In particular, we criticize their claim of incompatibility used to justify the necessity to definitively reject SMT. First, we note that since it is difficult to build a non-ambiguous experimental demonstration of the superiority of TOFT, its partisans add epistemological and metaphysical arguments to the debate. This argumentative strategy allows them to defend the necessity of a paradigm shift, with TOFT superseding SMT. To do so, they introduce a notion of incompatibility, which they actually use as the Kuhnian notion of incommensurability. To justify this so-called incompatibility between the two theories of cancer, they move the debate to a metaphysical ground by assimilating the controversy to a fundamental opposition between reductionism and organicism. We show here that this argumentative strategy is specious, because it does not demonstrate clearly that TOFT is an organicist theory. Since it shares with SMT its vocabulary, its ontology and its methodology, it appears that a claim of incompatibility based on this metaphysical plan is not fully justified in the present state of the debate. We conclude that it is more cogent to argue that the two theories are compatible, both biologically and metaphysically. We propose to consider that TOFT and SMT describe two distinct and compatible causal pathways to carcinogenesis. This view is coherent with the existence of integrative approaches, and suggests that they have a higher epistemic value than the two theories taken separately.

Effect of bisphosphonates on periprosthetic bone loss after total knee arthroplasty: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

PubMed

Shi, Mingmin; Chen, Lei; Wu, Haobo; Wang, Yangxin; Wang, Wei; Zhang, Yujie; Yan, Shigui

2018-05-30

Aseptic loosening and osteolysis are the most common indications after TKA for revision surgery. This meta-analysis which included high-quality randomized controlled trials (RCTs) aimed to analyze the effect of bisphosphonates (BPs) on maintaining periprosthetic bone mineral density (BMD) after total knee arthroplasty. PubMed, AMED, EMBASE, the Cochrane library, ISI Web of Science, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure were systematically searched, five RCTs were included and the total number of participants was 188. The weighted mean differences with 95% confidence interval were calculated to evaluate the efficacy of BPs on total BMD of knee and the BMD of different periprosthetic regions. A descriptive review was performed for BP-related adverse effects. The BPs group presented significantly higher total BMD in proximal part of the tibia than the control group at 3 and 6 months (P < 0.05), but no significant difference at 12 months (P = 0.09). The BPs group presented significantly higher BMD in the distal aspect of the femur than that in the control group at 3, 6, 12 months. The BPs group presented significantly higher periprosthetic BMD than that in the control group at 3, 6 and 12 months in tibial medial and lateral metaphyseal region, and femoral anterior, central and posterior metaphyseal region (p < 0.05), but no significant difference for tibial diaphyseal region at 3, 6, and 12 months. None of the included studies described severe or fatal adverse effects related to BPs. BPs have a short-term effect on reducing periprosthetic bone loss after total knee arthroplasty. Compared with diaphyseal region, BPs are more effective on the preservation of BMD in medial lateral metaphyseal regions of proximal tibia and in anterior, central, and posterior metaphyseal region of distal femur.

Aristotle for nursing.

PubMed

Allmark, Peter

2017-07-01

This article aims: (1) to introduce the wider philosophy of Aristotle to nurses and healthcare practitioners; (2) to show that Aristotle's philosophical system is an interdependent whole; and (3) to defend its plausibility and usefulness despite its ancient and alien origins. Aristotle's system can be set out as a hierarchy, with metaphysics at the top and methodology running throughout. Beneath metaphysics are the sciences, with theoretical, practical and productive (or craft) sciences in hierarchical order. This hierarchy does not imply that, say, metaphysics is superior to biology or nursing, but rather that metaphysics can be understood without reference to the other two but, as we shall see, not vice versa. Two themes run through Aristotelian philosophy. The first is Aristotle's method of inquiry, central to which is that our starting point is not pure empirical data, but rather current puzzles; complementing this method is a realist philosophy. The second theme is teleology, the understanding of action in the world in terms of ends, as when we say a plant grows roots to reach water and nutrients. Good health is the good functioning of the material aspect of humans; flourishing is good functioning of humans per se. The goals of nursing, which are based on health, are subsumed by the overall human goal of flourishing, and this helps us to understand and set boundaries to health care. Two examples illustrate this. The first is that mental illness is strongly within the purview of nursing and health care whereas bad decisions, such as smoking, are only marginally so. The second is ethics, where it is argued that the attempt to describe ethical decision-making as in addition to and separate from the decisions made within nursing and health care itself cannot be sustained. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Analysis of the ductility dip cracking in the nickel-base alloy 617mod

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eilers, A.; Nellesen, J.; Zielke, R.; Tillmann, W.

2017-03-01

While testing steam leading power plant components made of the nickel-base alloy A617mod at elevated temperatures (700 °C), ductility dip cracking (DDC) was observed in welding seams and their surroundings. In order to clarify the mechanism of crack formation, investigations were carried out on welded specimens made of A617mod. Interrupted tensile tests were performed on tensile specimens taken from the area of the welding seam. To simulate the conditions, the tensile tests were conducted at a temperature of 700 °C and with a low strain rate. Local strain fields at grain boundaries and inside single grains were determined at different deformation states by means of two-dimensional digital image correlation (DIC). Besides the strain fields, local hardnesses (nanoindentation), energy dispersive X-Ray spectroscopy (EDX), and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) measurements were performed. Besides information concerning the grain orientation, the EBSD measurement provides information on the coincidence site lattice (CSL) at grain boundaries as well as the Schmid factor of single grains. All results of the analysis methods mentioned above were correlated and compared to each other and related to the crack formation. Among other things, correlations between strain fields and Schmid factors were determined. The investigations show that the following influences affect the crack formation: orientation of the grain boundaries to the direction of the loading, the orientation of the grains to each other (CSL), and grain boundary sliding.

Deformation localization and dislocation channel dynamics in neutron-irradiated austenitic stainless steels

DOE PAGES

Gussev, Maxim N.; Field, Kevin G.; Busby, Jeremy T.

2015-02-24

We investigated dynamics of deformation localization and dislocation channel formation in situ in a neutron irradiated AISI 304 austenitic stainless steel and a model 304-based austenitic alloy by combining several analytical techniques including optic microscopy and laser confocal microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, electron backscatter diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. Channel formation was observed at 70% of the formal tensile yield stress for both alloys. It was shown that triple junction points do not always serve as a source of dislocation channels; at stress levels below the yield stress, channels often formed near the middle of the grain boundary. For amore » single grain, the role of elastic stiffness value (Young modulus) in the channel formation was analyzed; it was shown that in the irradiated 304 steels the initial channels appeared in soft grains with a high Schmid factor located near stiff grains with high elastic stiffness. Moreover, the spatial organization of channels in a single grain was analyzed; it was shown that secondary channels operating in the same slip plane as primary channels often appeared at the middle or at one third of the way between primary channels. The twinning nature of dislocation channels was analyzed for grains of different orientation using TEM. Finally, it was shown that in the AISI 304 steel, channels were twin-free in grains oriented close to [001] and [101] of standard unit triangle; [111]-grains and grains oriented close to Schmid factor maximum contained deformation twins.« less

A Thomistic defense of whole-brain death.

PubMed

Eberl, Jason T

2015-08-01

Michel Accad critiques the currently accepted whole-brain criterion for determining the death of a human being from a Thomistic metaphysical perspective and, in so doing, raises objections to a particular argument defending the whole-brain criterion by Patrick Lee and Germain Grisez. In this paper, I will respond to Accad's critique of the whole-brain criterion and defend its continued validity as a criterion for determining when a human being's death has occurred in accord with Thomistic metaphysical principles. I will, however, join Accad in criticizing Lee and Grisez's proposed defense of the whole-brain criterion as potentially leading to erroneous conclusions regarding the determination of human death. Lay summary: Catholic physicians and bioethicists currently debate the legally accepted clinical standard for determining when a human being has died-known as the "wholebrain criterion"-which has also been morally affirmed by the Magisterium. This paper responds to physician Michel Accad's critique of the whole-brain criterion based upon St. Thomas Aquinas's metaphysical account of human nature as a union of a rational soul and a material body. I defend the whole-brain criterion from the same Thomistic philosophical perspective, while agreeing with Accad's objection to an alternative Thomistic defense of whole-brain death by philosophers Patrick Lee and Germain Grisez.

Value of Fundamental Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burov, Alexey

Fundamental science is a hard, long-term human adventure that has required high devotion and social support, especially significant in our epoch of Mega-science. The measure of this devotion and this support expresses the real value of the fundamental science in public opinion. Why does fundamental science have value? What determines its strength and what endangers it? The dominant answer is that the value of science arises out of curiosity and is supported by the technological progress. Is this really a good, astute answer? When trying to attract public support, we talk about the ``mystery of the universe''. Why do these words sound so attractive? What is implied by and what is incompatible with them? More than two centuries ago, Immanuel Kant asserted an inseparable entanglement between ethics and metaphysics. Thus, we may ask: which metaphysics supports the value of scientific cognition, and which does not? Should we continue to neglect the dependence of value of pure science on metaphysics? If not, how can this issue be addressed in the public outreach? Is the public alienated by one or another message coming from the face of science? What does it mean to be politically correct in this sort of discussion?

The afterlife of embryonic persons: what a strange place heaven must be.

PubMed

Murphy, Timothy F

2012-12-01

Some commentators argue that conception constitutes the onset of human personhood in a metaphysical sense. This threshold is usually invoked as the basis both for protecting zygotes and embryos from exposure to risks of death in clinical research and fertility medicine and for objecting to abortion, but it also has consequences for certain religious perspectives, including Catholicism whose doctrines directly engage questions of personhood and its meanings. Since more human zygotes and embryos are lost than survive to birth, conferral of personhood on them would mean - for those believing in personal immortality - that these persons constitute the majority of people living immortally despite having had only the shortest of earthly lives. For those believing in resurrection, zygotes and embryos would also be restored to physical lives. These outcomes do not mean that conception cannot function as a metaphysical threshold of personhood, but this interpretation carries costs that others do not. For example, treating conception as a moral threshold of respect for human life in general, rather than as a metaphysical threshold of personhood, would obviate the prospect of the afterlife being populated in the main by persons who have never lived more than a few hours or days. Copyright © 2012 Reproductive Healthcare Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Paleopathological Study of Dwarfism-Related Skeletal Dysplasia in a Late Joseon Dynasty (South Korean) Population.

PubMed

Woo, Eun Jin; Lee, Won-Joon; Hu, Kyung-Seok; Hwang, Jae Joon

2015-01-01

Skeletal dysplasias related to genetic etiologies have rarely been reported for past populations. This report presents the skeletal characteristics of an individual with dwarfism-related skeletal dysplasia from South Korea. To assess abnormal deformities, morphological features, metric data, and computed tomography scans are analyzed. Differential diagnoses include achondroplasia or hypochondroplasia, chondrodysplasia, multiple epiphyseal dysplasia, thalassemia-related hemolytic anemia, and lysosomal storage disease. The diffused deformities in the upper-limb bones and several coarsened features of the craniofacial bones indicate the most likely diagnosis to have been a certain type of lysosomal storage disease. The skeletal remains of EP-III-4-No.107 from the Eunpyeong site, although incomplete and fragmented, provide important clues to the paleopathological diagnosis of skeletal dysplasias.

Dwarfism and gigantism in historical picture postcards.

PubMed Central

Enderle, A

1998-01-01

A collection of 893 historical picture postcards from 1900 to 1935, depicting dwarfs and giants, was analysed from medical and psychosocial viewpoints. In conditions such as 'bird headed dwarfism', achondroplasia, cretinism, so-called Aztecs or pinheads, Grebe chondrodysplasia, and acromegalic gigantism, the disorder could be diagnosed easily. In hypopituitary dwarfism, exact diagnosis was more difficult because of heterogeneity. The most common conditions depicted were pituitary dwarfism and achondroplasia. Most of those with gigantism had pituitary gigantism and acromegaly. Brothers and sisters or parents and their children provided evidence of mendelian inheritance of some of these disorders. The cards suggest that being put on show provided, at least in some cases, social benefits. Images Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 PMID:9764085

Paleopathological Study of Dwarfism-Related Skeletal Dysplasia in a Late Joseon Dynasty (South Korean) Population

PubMed Central

Woo, Eun Jin; Lee, Won-Joon; Hu, Kyung-Seok; Hwang, Jae Joon

2015-01-01

Skeletal dysplasias related to genetic etiologies have rarely been reported for past populations. This report presents the skeletal characteristics of an individual with dwarfism-related skeletal dysplasia from South Korea. To assess abnormal deformities, morphological features, metric data, and computed tomography scans are analyzed. Differential diagnoses include achondroplasia or hypochondroplasia, chondrodysplasia, multiple epiphyseal dysplasia, thalassemia-related hemolytic anemia, and lysosomal storage disease. The diffused deformities in the upper-limb bones and several coarsened features of the craniofacial bones indicate the most likely diagnosis to have been a certain type of lysosomal storage disease. The skeletal remains of EP-III-4-No.107 from the Eunpyeong site, although incomplete and fragmented, provide important clues to the paleopathological diagnosis of skeletal dysplasias. PMID:26488291

ACTIVE: Activity Concept Transitions in Video Event Classification (Open Access)

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-03-03

responses are listed under each event. [2] R.- E . Fan, K.-W. Chang, C.-J. Hsieh, X.-R. Wang, and C.-J. Lin. LIBLINEAR: A library for large linear...Laptev, M. Marszalek, C. Schmid, and B. Rozenfeld. Learning realistic human actions from movies. In CVPR, 2008. 1 [11] L.-J. Li, H. Su, E . P. Xing, and F...invariant keypoints. IJCV, 60(2):91–110, 2004. 1, 2 [14] P. Natarajan, S. Vitaladevuni, U. Park, S. Wu, V. Manohar, X. Zhuang, S. Tsakalidis , R. Prasad, and P

Deconstructing the Brain Disconnection-Brain Death Analogy and Clarifying the Rationale for the Neurological Criterion of Death.

PubMed

Moschella, Melissa

2016-06-01

This article explains the problems with Alan Shewmon's critique of brain death as a valid sign of human death, beginning with a critical examination of his analogy between brain death and severe spinal cord injury. The article then goes on to assess his broader argument against the necessity of the brain for adult human organismal integration, arguing that he fails to translate correctly from biological to metaphysical claims. Finally, on the basis of a deeper metaphysical analysis, I offer a revised rationale for the validity of the neurological criterion of human death. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press, on behalf of the Journal of Medicine and Philosophy Inc. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Mind over matter? I: philosophical aspects of the mind-brain problem.

PubMed

Schimmel, P

2001-08-01

To conceptualize the essence of the mind-body or mind-brain problem as one of metaphysics rather than science, and to propose a formulation of the problem in the context of current scientific knowledge and its limitations. The background and conceptual parameters of the mind-body problem are delineated, and the limitations of brain research in formulating a solution identified. The problem is reformulated and stated in terms of two propositions. These constitute a 'double aspect theory'. The problem appears to arise as a consequence of the conceptual limitations of the human mind, and hence remains essentially a metaphysical one. A 'double aspect theory' recognizes the essential unity of mind and brain, while remaining consistent with the dualism inherent in human experience.

Potential Effects of Phytoestrogen Genistein in Modulating Acute Methotrexate Chemotherapy-Induced Osteoclastogenesis and Bone Damage in Rats

PubMed Central

King, Tristan J.; Shandala, Tetyana; Lee, Alice M.; Foster, Bruce K.; Chen, Ke-Ming; Howe, Peter R.; Xian, Cory J.

2015-01-01

Chemotherapy-induced bone damage is a frequent side effect which causes diminished bone mineral density and fracture in childhood cancer sufferers and survivors. The intensified use of anti-metabolite methotrexate (MTX) and other cytotoxic drugs has led to the need for a mechanistic understanding of chemotherapy-induced bone loss and for the development of protective treatments. Using a young rat MTX-induced bone loss model, we investigated potential bone protective effects of phytoestrogen genistein. Oral gavages of genistein (20 mg/kg) were administered daily, for seven days before, five days during, and three days after five once-daily injections (sc) of MTX (0.75 mg/kg). MTX treatment reduced body weight gain and tibial metaphyseal trabecular bone volume (p < 0.001), increased osteoclast density on the trabecular bone surface (p < 0.05), and increased the bone marrow adipocyte number in lower metaphyseal bone (p < 0.001). Genistein supplementation preserved body weight gain (p < 0.05) and inhibited ex vivo osteoclast formation of bone marrow cells from MTX-treated rats (p < 0.001). However, MTX-induced changes in bone volume, trabecular architecture, metaphyseal mRNA expression of pro-osteoclastogenic cytokines, and marrow adiposity were not significantly affected by the co-administration of genistein. This study suggests that genistein may suppress MTX-induced osteoclastogenesis; however, further studies are required to examine its potential in protecting against MTX chemotherapy-induced bone damage. PMID:26258775

Just how wide should 'wide reading' be?

PubMed

Lipscomb, Martin

2015-10-01

Educationalists introduce students to literature search strategies that, with rare exceptions, focus chiefly on the location of primary research reports and systematic reviews of those reports. These sources are, however, unlikely to adequately address the normative and/or metaphysical questions that nurses frequently and legitimately interest themselves in. To meet these interests, non-research texts exploring normative and/or metaphysical topics might and perhaps should, in some situations, be deemed suitable search targets. This seems plausible and, moreover, students are encouraged to 'read widely'. Yet accepting this proposition creates significant difficulties. Specifically, if non-research scholarly sources and artistic or literary (humanities) products dealing with normative/metaphysical issues were included in what are, at present, scientifically orientated searches, it is difficult to draw boundaries around what--if anything--is to be excluded. Engaging with this issue highlights problems with qualitative scholarship's designation as 'evidence'. Thus, absurdly, if qualitative scholarship's findings are labelled evidence because they generate practice-relevant understanding/insight, then any literary or artistic artefact (e.g. a throwaway lifestyle magazine) that generates kindred understandings/insights is presumably also evidence? This conclusion is rejected and it is instead proposed that while artistic, literary, and qualitative inquiries can provide practitioners with powerful and stimulating non-evidential understanding, these sources are not evidence as commonly conceived. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A Thomistic defense of whole-brain death

PubMed Central

Eberl, Jason T.

2015-01-01

Michel Accad critiques the currently accepted whole-brain criterion for determining the death of a human being from a Thomistic metaphysical perspective and, in so doing, raises objections to a particular argument defending the whole-brain criterion by Patrick Lee and Germain Grisez. In this paper, I will respond to Accad's critique of the whole-brain criterion and defend its continued validity as a criterion for determining when a human being's death has occurred in accord with Thomistic metaphysical principles. I will, however, join Accad in criticizing Lee and Grisez's proposed defense of the whole-brain criterion as potentially leading to erroneous conclusions regarding the determination of human death. Lay summary: Catholic physicians and bioethicists currently debate the legally accepted clinical standard for determining when a human being has died—known as the “wholebrain criterion”—which has also been morally affirmed by the Magisterium. This paper responds to physician Michel Accad’s critique of the whole-brain criterion based upon St. Thomas Aquinas’s metaphysical account of human nature as a union of a rational soul and a material body. I defend the whole-brain criterion from the same Thomistic philosophical perspective, while agreeing with Accad’s objection to an alternative Thomistic defense of whole-brain death by philosophers Patrick Lee and Germain Grisez. PMID:26912933

Alps, Carpathians and Dinarides-Hellenides: about plates, micro-plates and delaminated crustal blocks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmid, Stefan

2014-05-01

Before the onset of Europe-Africa continental collision in the Dinarides-Hellenides (around 60Ma) and in the Alps and Western Carpathians (around 35 Ma), and at a large scale, the dynamics of orogenic processes in the Mediterranean Alpine chains were governed by Europe-Africa plate convergence leading to the disappearance of large parts of intervening oceanic lithosphere, i.e. the northern branch of Neotethys along the Sava-Izmir-Ankara suture and Alpine Tethys along the Valais-Magura suture (Schmid et al. 2008). In spite of this, two major problems concerning the pre-collisional stage are still poorly understood: (1) by now we only start to understand geometry, kinematics and dynamics of the along-strike changes in the polarity of subduction between Alps-Carpathians and Dinarides-Hellenides, and (2) it is not clear yet during exactly which episodes and to what extent intervening rifted continental fragments such as, for example, Iberia-Briançonnais, Tisza, Dacia, Adria-Taurides moved independently as micro-plates, and during which episodes they remained firmly attached to Europa or Africa from which they broke away. As Europe-Africa plate convergence slowed down well below 1 cm/yr at around 30 Ma ago these pre-collisional processes driven by plate convergence on a global scale gave way to more local processes of combined roll-back and crustal delamination in the Pannonian basin of the Carpathian embayment and in the Aegean (as well as in the Western Mediterranean, not discussed in this contribution). In the case of the Carpathian embayment E-directed roll back totally unrelated to Europe-Africa N-S-directed convergence, started at around 20 Ma ago, due to the presence relict oceanic lithosphere in the future Pannonian basin that remained un-subducted during collision. Due to total delamination of the crust from the eastward rolling back European mantle lithosphere the anticlockwise rotating ALCAPA crustal block, consisting of Eastern Alps and Western Carpathian

Plato's Pharmacy and Derrida's Drugstore.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mortensen, Chris

2000-01-01

In a long essay titled "Plato's Pharmacy, Jacques Derrida attacked Western metaphysics. This article undertakes to defend Western philosophy from Derrida's arguments. It is shown that Derrida's arguments are very unsatisfactory. (Author/VWL)

Measurement of Workload: Physics, Psychophysics, and Metaphysics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gopher, D.

1984-01-01

The present paper reviews the results of two experiments in which workload analysis was conducted based upon performance measures, brain evoked potentials and magnitude estimations of subjective load. The three types of measures were jointly applied to the description of the behavior of subjects in a wide battery of experimental tasks. Data analysis shows both instances of association and dissociation between types of measures. A general conceptual framework and methodological guidelines are proposed to account for these findings.

Space perception and William James's metaphysical presuppositions.

PubMed

Farrell, Martin J

2011-05-01

William James's overtly philosophical work may be more continuous with his psychological work than is sometimes thought. His Essays in Radical Empiricism can be understood as an explicit statement of the absolute presupposition that formed the basis of Jamesian psychology: that direct experience is primary and has to be taken at face value. An examination of James's theory of space perception suggests that, even in his early work, he presupposed the primacy of direct experience, and that later changes in his account of space perception can be understood as making his view more consistent with this presupposition. In his earlier view of space perception, James argued that sensations were directly experienced as spatial, though he accepted that spatial relations between sensations may be constructed by higher order thought. In his later view, however, James argued that spatial relations were just as directly experienced as sensations. The work of T. H. Green may have prompted James to recognize the full consequence of his ideas and to realize that taking experience at face value required that spatial relations be thought of as intrinsic to experience rather than the result of intellectual construction.

A metaphysical journey in a comatose state.

PubMed

Gimenez, R

1992-01-01

This paper is about the intense experience of being in the hospital in a comatose state resulting from an aneurysm with a massive brain hemorrhage and two subsequent surgeries. The event begins with a premonition of what will happen from a street name. The experience of brain surgeries, along with the fine care of the nurses, left me with a truly memorable impression. This paper describes the various feelings and strong emotions that I experienced while in a comatose state. It suggests that a patient in a comatose state can exist in a deep state of emotions close to ecstasy. The paper concludes with gratefulness to all the people who followed me step by step on this journey.

Fracture healing in osteoporotic bone.

PubMed

Cheung, Wing Hoi; Miclau, Theodore; Chow, Simon Kwoon-Ho; Yang, Frank F; Alt, Volker

2016-06-01

As the world population rises, osteoporotic fracture is an emerging global threat to the well-being of elderly patients. The process of fracture healing by intramembranous ossification or/and endochondral ossification involve many well-orchestrated events including the signaling, recruitment and differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) during the early phase; formation of a hard callus and extracellular matrix, angiogenesis and revascularization during the mid-phase; and finally callus remodeling at the late phase of fracture healing. Through clinical and animal research, many of these factors are shown to be impaired in osteoporotic bone. Animal studies related to post-menopausal estrogen deficient osteoporosis (type I) have shown healing to be prolonged with decreased levels of MSCs and decreased levels of angiogenesis. Moreover, the expression of estrogen receptor (ER) was shown to be delayed in ovariectomy-induced osteoporotic fracture. This might be related to the observed difference in mechanical sensitivity between normal and osteoporotic bones, which requires further experiments to elucidate. In mice fracture models related to senile osteoporosis (type II), it was observed that chondrocyte and osteoblast differentiation were impaired; and that transplantation of juvenile bone marrow would result in enhanced callus formation. Other factors related to angiogenesis and vasculogenesis have also been noted to be impaired in aged models, affecting the degradation of cartilaginous matrixes and vascular invasion; the result is changes in matrix composition and growth factors concentrations that ultimately impairs healing during age-related osteoporosis. Most osteoporotic related fractures occur at metaphyseal sites clinically, and reports have indicated that differences exist between diaphyseal and metaphyseal fractures. An animal model that satisfies three main criteria (metaphyseal region, plate fixation, osteoporosis) is suggested for future research for

Hydrops associated with chondrodysplasia of the fetus in a miniature Scottish Highland cow.

PubMed

Catalina Cabrera, L; McNabb, Bret R; Woods, Sarah E; Cartoceti, Andrew N; Busch, Rosie C

2016-03-01

CASE DESCRIPTION A 2-year-old primiparous miniature Scottish Highland cow with an unknown breeding date was evaluated for suspected hydrops. CLINICAL FINDINGS Transabdominal and transrectal ultrasonographic examination identified a large amount of hypoechoic fluid within an enlarged uterus; the fetus could not be identified. Presence of a severely distended uterus and concerns regarding associated health risks to the cow led to the decision to induce labor. Although fluids were expelled, parturition did not progress further over the following 48 hours. Vaginal examination revealed a partially dilated cervix and an abnormally shaped fetus that was too large to pass vaginally. TREATMENT AND OUTCOME Supportive care was provided to the cow, and a stillborn bull calf was delivered by cesarean section. Grossly evident chondrodystrophic dwarfism with hydrocephalus, compatible with so-called bulldog calf malformations, was confirmed by diagnostic imaging and histopathologic evaluation. The cow recovered from surgery uneventfully and was discharged from the hospital the following day. Genetic analysis of DNA from hair roots collected from the sire and dam confirmed both were carriers of an aggrecan-1 gene mutation (bulldog dwarfism1) previously associated with dwarfism and bulldog calf malformations in Dexter cattle. CLINICAL RELEVANCE To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of bulldog calf malformations associated with an aggrecan-1 gene mutation in miniature Scottish Highland cattle, confirming that at least 1 genetic mutation associated with this condition is found in cattle breeds other than Dexter. The findings highlighted the clinical importance of testing for known genetic diseases in breeding cattle, particularly among miniature breeds.

Diversity of Pubertal Development in Cartilage-Hair Hypoplasia; Two Illustrative Cases.

PubMed

Holopainen, Elina; Vakkilainen, Svetlana; Mäkitie, Outi

2018-08-01

Cartilage-hair hypoplasia (CHH) is a rare chondrodysplasia, including disproportionate short stature, hypoplastic hair, immunodeficiency, and increased risk of malignancies. Absent pubertal growth spurt and absent pubic hair complicate monitoring of pubertal development in these patients. Two CHH patients with delayed puberty and excessive growth failure are described. One of the girls had hypogonadotropic hypogonadism whereas the other had hyponormogonadotropic hypogonadism with no spontaneous pubertal development and slow response to estrogen therapy, both requiring permanent replacement therapy. Careful follow-up of pubertal development in individuals with CHH and other growth-restricting bone diseases is needed. In delayed pubertal development timely hormone therapy is essential to ensure maximal growth and well developed secondary sex characteristics. Copyright © 2018 North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Cartilage oligomeric matrix protein-deficient mice have normal skeletal development.

PubMed

Svensson, Liz; Aszódi, Attila; Heinegård, Dick; Hunziker, Ernst B; Reinholt, Finn P; Fässler, Reinhard; Oldberg, Ake

2002-06-01

Cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP) belongs to the thrombospondin family and is a homopentamer primarily expressed in cartilage. Mutations in the COMP gene result in the autosomal dominant chondrodysplasias pseudoachondroplasia (PSACH) and some types of multiple epiphyseal dysplasia (MED), which are characterized by mild to severe short-limb dwarfism and early-onset osteoarthritis. We have generated COMP-null mice to study the role of COMP in vivo. These mice show no anatomical, histological, or ultrastructural abnormalities and show none of the clinical signs of PSACH or MED. Northern blot analysis and immunohistochemical analysis of cartilage indicate that the lack of COMP is not compensated for by any other member of the thrombospondin family. The results also show that the phenotype in PSACH/MED cartilage disorders is not caused by the reduced amount of COMP.

Psychotherapy

PubMed Central

Sansone, Lori A.

2009-01-01

Clinicians have a number of treatment options for dealing with the emotional ills of patients, including psychoeducation, psychotherapy, and pharmacotherapy. However, after years of experience in the clinical field, we have recognized that these treatment options may not be sufficient to adequately address the problems of some patients. We have found that adding a metaphysical/spiritual component may be helpful, particularly for those patients with histories of childhood trauma. In this edition of The Interface, we discuss four metaphysical techniques for facilitating patient healing—1) refocusing on the present, 2) reframing adversity, 3) practicing surrender, and 4) meditation. These approaches can be mutually integrated and compliment a psychological treatment in either the psychiatric or primary care setting, regardless of whether or not the patient has formal religious beliefs. PMID:20104289

Fractures of the distal tibia treated with polyaxial locking plating.

PubMed

Gao, Hong; Zhang, Chang-Qing; Luo, Cong-Feng; Zhou, Zu-Bin; Zeng, Bing-Fang

2009-03-01

We evaluated the healing rate, complications, and functional outcomes in 32 adult patients with very short metaphyseal fragments in fractures of the distal tibia treated with a polyaxial locking system. The average distance from the distal extent of the fracture to the tibial plafond was 11 mm. All fractures healed and the average time to union was 14 weeks. Six patients (19%) reported occasional local disturbance over the medial malleolus. There were two cases of postoperative superficial infections and evidence of delayed wound healing. Using the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society ankle score, the average functional score was 87.3 points (of 100 total possible points). Our results show the polyaxial locking plates, which offer more fixation versatility, may be a reasonable treatment option for distal tibia fractures with very short metaphyseal segments.

Hierarchical Factor Structure of the Cognitive Assessment System: Variance Partitions from the Schmid-Leiman (1957) Procedure

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Canivez, Gary L.

2011-01-01

Orthogonal higher-order factor structure of the Cognitive Assessment System (CAS; Naglieri & Das, 1997a) for the 5-7 and 8-17 age groups in the CAS standardization sample is reported. Following the same procedure as recent studies of other prominent intelligence tests (Dombrowski, Watkins, & Brogan, 2009; Canivez, 2008; Canivez &…

75 FR 55334 - Schmid Laboratories, Inc. et al.; Withdrawal of Approval of Five New Drug Applications

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-09-10

... Laboratories, Inc., Route Jelly 46 West, Little Falls, NJ 07424 NDA 7-220 Synthetic Vitamin A Merck & Co., Inc., 770 Sumneytown (vitamin A Pike, P.O. Box 4, West Point, PA palmitate) 19486 NDA 8-595 Immolin Vaginal... East Kensington Rd., Mount Ointment Prospect, IL 60056 [[Page 55335

The Theory of Everything and the future of life

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karthik, Trishank

2004-10-01

This paper is a philosophical essay on metaphysics, in which we develop a justification for Algorithmic Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence by considering the relationship between the Theory of Everything and the future of life or physical eschatology.

Sol Invictus - Heliophilic Elements in Early Russian Space Flight Theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tolkowsky, G.

Common historiographic theory refers to the space age as an extrapolation of the Age of the Enlightenment. According to this thesis, the Copernican transformation of man's place in the universe, and the gradual divergence of science away from Judeo-Christian theology, paved the road to the application of scientific and technological methodologies to the age-old notion of space travel. As an anti-thesis to this historiographic tradition, and in particular reference to the Russian case, one can point at the influence of certain metaphysical elements alien to the Enlightenment, some of which were pagan, on the birth of the space age. At the centre of this metaphysical foundation of astronautics stands the heliophilic motif, namely - the attribution of monistic potency to the sun, and the pursuit of an anthropo-solar affinity by way of space travel.

Book Review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

French, Steven

As far as many philosophers of physics are concerned, modern metaphysics operates with a concept of 'particle' that is so hopelessly out of date that some feel it has yet to advance out of the Aristotelian era, much less that of classical physics. Some have tried to drag discussions into the modern era through consideration of identity conditions and object-hood; others by reflecting on the quantum field-theoretic context. Falkenburg brings to the discussion an expert and detailed understanding of particle physics, in both its fundamentals and its practical features. Her approach is to consider, on the one hand, how the concept of particle comes to be differentiated in a variety of contexts and, on the other, which of our metaphysical notions must be modified or given up entirely in the light of this analysis.

Eastern Thought and Movement Forms: Possible Implications for Western Sport.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Case, Bob

1984-01-01

Eastern thought and movement forms can serve as a model for Western sports. Possible implications for physical education that stem from Eastern philosophic beliefs include practical and utilitarian concerns, hidden dimensions, metaphysical concerns, competition concerns, and pedagogical concerns. (DF)

Nietzsche in Basel: Writing Reading.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, J. Hillis

1993-01-01

Explores the tight relationship between reading and writing, and discusses the implications of this central relationship for departments of English. Discusses Friedrich Nietzsche's early writings on rhetoric as challenging Western metaphysical tradition and providing a new model of writing. (HB)

Le cinema policier en France (Detective Films in France).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guerif, Francois

1984-01-01

A survey of French detective films since 1908 looks at how French and other detective novels have inspired a film genre, from the original serial through classic suspense, thriller, the crime novel, and comedy to the political and metaphysical. (MSE)

Taking Science Seriously in the Debate on Death and Organ Transplantation.

PubMed

Nair-Collins, Michael

2015-01-01

The effort to develop international guidelines for determination of death purports to start with an objective examination of the biology of death. So far, however, it is showing once again how moral and metaphysical claims about death masquerade as scientific facts.

Single crystal plastic behavior of a single-phase, face-center-cubic-structured, equiatomic FeNiCrCo alloy

DOE PAGES

Wu, Zhenggang; Gao, Y. F.; Bei, Hongbin

2015-07-25

To understand the fundamental deformation mechanisms of compositionally complex alloys, single crystals of a multi-component equiatomic FeNiCoCr alloy with face-centered cubic (FCC) structure were grown for mechanical studies. Similarly to typical FCC pure metals, slip trace analyses indicate that dislocation slips take place on (1 1 1) planes along [11¯0] directions. The critical resolved shear stress (CRSS) obeys the Schmid law at both 77 and 293 K, and tension–compression asymmetry is not observed. Although this material slips in a normal FCC manner both at 293 and 77 K, compared to typical FCC metals the CRSS’s strong temperature dependence is abnormal.

Recent Progress on Modeling Slip Deformation in Shape Memory Alloys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sehitoglu, H.; Alkan, S.

2018-03-01

This paper presents an overview of slip deformation in shape memory alloys. The performance of shape memory alloys depends on their slip resistance often quantified through the Critical Resolved Shear Stress (CRSS) or the flow stress. We highlight previous studies that identify the active slip systems and then proceed to show how non- Schmid effects can be dominant in shape memory slip behavior. The work is mostly derived from our recent studies while we highlight key earlier works on slip deformation. We finally discuss the implications of understanding the role of slip on curtailing the transformation strains and also the temperature range over which superelasticity prevails.

The Weberian Legacy of Thom Greenfield.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Samier, Eugenie

1996-01-01

Traces through Thomas Greenfield's work his use of Max Weber's interpretive social analysis, including Weber's view of the individual unit of analysis, value topologies, comparative history methods, and analytical ideal topologies. Compares Greenfield's and Weber's metaphysical assumptions, ontological perspectives, and epistemological frameworks.…

Coincidence, historical repetition, and self-knowledge: Jung, Vico, and Joyce.

PubMed

Verene, Donald Phillip

2002-07-01

Jung develops synchronicity as an a causal principle of connection by recounting various examples of meaningful coincidence from experience and by analysing various systems of divination, notably the I Ching. Philosophical theory of causality has given no significant attention to synchronicity; the events of synchronicity are regarded as chance. The Neapolitan philosopher Giambattista Vico (1668-1744) developed a doctrine of historical experience and of self-knowledge that grounds the phenomenon of synchronicity in a metaphysics. James Joyce employed Vico's conception of language and historical cycles as the basis of Joyce's final literary work, Finnegans Wake. Vico's metaphysical sense of synchronicity and Joyce's literary formulation offer a grounding of this principle in non-divinatory sources in modern Western thought, something which Jung's discussion does not provide. These philosophical and literary perspectives complement Jung's to offer an expanded context in which to recognize synchronicity and to make sense of it.

The Sense of Quality of Life and Religious Strategies of Coping with Stress in Prison Inmates.

PubMed

Talik, Elżbieta; Skowroński, Bartłomiej

2018-06-01

The aim of the presented research was to analyze differences in religious strategies of coping with stress in a group of prison inmates characterized by different levels of the sense of quality of life-general, psychophysical, psychosocial, personal, and metaphysical. The participants were 390 males, aged 19-68 years, serving sentences in prisons in Poland. The measures used were the Sense of Quality of Life Questionnaire by M. Straś-Romanowska and K. I. Pargament's RCOPE Questionnaire. As expected, individuals with a high sense of quality of life-both general and pertaining to specific dimensions-more often chose positive religious strategies, whereas participants with a low sense of quality of life more often chose negative strategies. The exception was the metaphysical aspect of the quality of life: individuals with a high intensity of this dimension more often chose some of the positive as well as negative religious strategies.

A short commentary on Aristotle's scientific legacy and his definition of the physiologist.

PubMed

Zarros, Apostolos

2014-06-01

The roots of physiology - on the basis of a systematic study of the human body's functions and their correlation to anatomy - date back to the works of Aristotle. The pupil of Plato and the tutor of Alexander the Great was a one-man university, and his contributions to the medical sciences have been immense. His surviving works highlight the first serious approach towards the rejection of metaphysical and mythological thought, and have: (i) demonstrated a deep appreciation for a systematic, non-metaphysical study of the natural world, (ii) set the foundations of comparative and human anatomy, (iii) established the first (indirect) definition of the "physiologist", and (iv) exercised a dominant influence upon the subsequent history of Hellenistic, European and Arabic Medicine. The current letter provides a short commentary on the historical account of Physiology as a scientific field and underlines the unique legacy that Aristotle has provided us with.

[Histomorphometric analysis of the bones of rats on board the Kosmos 1667 biosatellite].

PubMed

Kaplanskiĭ, A S; Durnova, G N; Sakharova, Z F; Il'ina-Kakueva, E I

1987-01-01

Bones of the rats flown on Cosmos-1667 were examined histologically and histomorphometrically. It was found that 7-day exposure to weightlessness led to osteoporosis in the spongy matter of proximal metaphyses of tibia and, although to a lesser extent, in the spongiosa of lumbar vertebrae whereas no signs of osteoporosis were seen in the spongy matter of iliac bones. Osteoporosis in the spongy matter of the above bones developed largely due to the inhibition of bone neoformation, which was indicated by a decrease in the number and activity of osteoblasts. Increased bone resorption (as shown by a greater number and activity of osteoclasts) was observed only in the spongy matter of tibial metaphyses. It is emphasized that a reduction of the number of highly active osteoblasts in spongy bones is one of the early signs of inhibition of bone neoformation and development of osteoporosis.

Exploratory Bifactor Analysis of the WJ-III Achievement at School Age via the Schmid-Leiman Orthogonalization Procedure

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dombrowski, Stefan C.

2015-01-01

The structure of academic achievement measures has been rarely investigated in the literature apart from that which appears in the instruments' technical manuals. This is concerning, given the widespread use of academic achievement instruments when making educational decisions about children. The Woodcock-Johnson III (WJ-III) Achievement for…

Does Science Presuppose Naturalism (or Anything at All)?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fishman, Yonatan I.; Boudry, Maarten

2013-05-01

Several scientists, scientific institutions, and philosophers have argued that science is committed to Methodological Naturalism (MN), the view that science, by virtue of its methods, is limited to studying `natural' phenomena and cannot consider or evaluate hypotheses that refer to supernatural entities. While they may in fact exist, gods, ghosts, spirits, and extrasensory or psi phenomena are inherently outside the domain of scientific investigation. Recently, Mahner (Sci Educ 3:357-371, 2012) has taken this position one step further, proposing the more radical view that science presupposes an a priori commitment not just to MN, but also to ontological naturalism (ON), the metaphysical thesis that supernatural entities and phenomena do not exist. Here, we argue that science presupposes neither MN nor ON and that science can indeed investigate supernatural hypotheses via standard methodological approaches used to evaluate any `non-supernatural' claim. Science, at least ideally, is committed to the pursuit of truth about the nature of reality, whatever it may be, and hence cannot exclude the existence of the supernatural a priori, be it on methodological or metaphysical grounds, without artificially limiting its scope and power. Hypotheses referring to the supernatural or paranormal should be rejected not because they violate alleged a priori methodological or metaphysical presuppositions of the scientific enterprise, but rather because they fail to satisfy basic explanatory criteria, such as explanatory power and parsimony, which are routinely considered when evaluating claims in science and everyday life. Implications of our view for science education are discussed.

Regeneration of Articular Cartilage in Lizard Knee from Resident Stem/Progenitor Cells

PubMed Central

Alibardi, Lorenzo

2015-01-01

The epiphysis of femur and tibia in the lizard Podarcis muralis can extensively regenerate after injury. The process involves the articular cartilage and metaphyseal (growth) plate after damage. The secondary ossification center present between the articular cartilage and the growth plate is replaced by cartilaginous epiphyses after about one month of regeneration at high temperature. The present study analyzes the origin of the chondrogenic cells from putative stem cells located in the growing centers of the epiphyses. The study is carried out using immunocytochemistry for the detection of 5BrdU-labeled long retaining cells and for the localization of telomerase, an enzyme that indicates stemness. The observations show that putative stem cells retaining 5BrdU and positive for telomerase are present in the superficial articular cartilage and metaphyseal growth plate located in the epiphyses. This observation suggests that these areas represent stem cell niches lasting for most of the lifetime of lizards. In healthy long bones of adult lizards, the addition of new chondrocytes from the stem cells population in the articular cartilage and the metaphyseal growth plate likely allows for slow, continuous longitudinal growth. When the knee is injured in the adult lizard, new populations of chondrocytes actively producing chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan are derived from these stem cells to allow for the formation of completely new cartilaginous epiphyses, possibly anticipating the re-formation of secondary centers in later stages. The study suggests that in this lizard species, the regenerative ability of the epiphyses is a pre-adaptation to the regeneration of the articular cartilage. PMID:26340619

Cognitive Metaphor Theory and the Metaphysics of Immediacy.

PubMed

Madsen, Mathias W

2016-05-01

One of the core tenets of cognitive metaphor theory is the claim that metaphors ground abstract knowledge in concrete, first-hand experience. In this paper, I argue that this grounding hypothesis contains some problematic conceptual ambiguities and, under many reasonable interpretations, empirical difficulties. I present evidence that there are foundational obstacles to defining a coherent and cognitively valid concept of "metaphor" and "concrete meaning," and some general problems with singling out certain domains of experience as more immediate than others. I conclude from these considerations that whatever the facts are about the comprehension of individual metaphors, the available evidence is incompatible with the notion of an underlying conceptual structure organized according to the immediacy of experience. Copyright © 2015 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Mirror neurons: Enigma of the metaphysical modular brain

PubMed Central

Acharya, Sourya; Shukla, Samarth

2012-01-01

Mirror neurons are one of the most important discoveries in the last decade of neuroscience. These are a variety of visuospatial neurons which indicate fundamentally about human social interaction. Essentially, mirror neurons respond to actions that we observe in others. The interesting part is that mirror neurons fire in the same way when we actually recreate that action ourselves. Apart from imitation, they are responsible for myriad of other sophisticated human behavior and thought processes. Defects in the mirror neuron system are being linked to disorders like autism. This review is a brief introduction to the neurons that shaped our civilization. PMID:23225972

Localizationism to neuroplasticity---the evolution of metaphysical neuroscience.

PubMed

Acharya, Sourya; Shukla, Samarth; Mahajan, S N; Diwan, S K

2012-09-01

Neuroplasticity (also referred to as brain plasticity, cortical plasticity or cortical re-mapping) is the changing of neurons, organization of their networks, and their function via new experiences. The brain consists of nerve cells or neurons and glial cells which are interconnected, and learning may happen through changing of the strength of the connections between neurons, by adding or removing connections, or by adding new cells. "Plasticity" relates to learning by adding or removing connections, or adding cells. Contrary to the traditional belief of neurolocalizationism, which states that each region of brain is dedicated for a particular type of activity, neuroplasticity has struggled a long way and has created a safe niche in the neuroscientific hall of honor. Salute to the neuroplasticians for their efforts to revolutionize the doctrine of neurology for the better understanding of the remarkable powers of brain. This article is a brief attempt to fathom the mysterious and scientific ways of neuroplasticity.

Mirror neurons: Enigma of the metaphysical modular brain.

PubMed

Acharya, Sourya; Shukla, Samarth

2012-07-01

Mirror neurons are one of the most important discoveries in the last decade of neuroscience. These are a variety of visuospatial neurons which indicate fundamentally about human social interaction. Essentially, mirror neurons respond to actions that we observe in others. The interesting part is that mirror neurons fire in the same way when we actually recreate that action ourselves. Apart from imitation, they are responsible for myriad of other sophisticated human behavior and thought processes. Defects in the mirror neuron system are being linked to disorders like autism. This review is a brief introduction to the neurons that shaped our civilization.

Cognitive Metaphor Theory and the Metaphysics of Immediacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Madsen, Mathias W.

2016-01-01

One of the core tenets of cognitive metaphor theory is the claim that metaphors ground abstract knowledge in concrete, first-hand experience. In this paper, I argue that this grounding hypothesis contains some problematic conceptual ambiguities and, under many reasonable interpretations, empirical difficulties. I present evidence that there are…

Neuroscientific Prediction and the Intrusion of Intuitive Metaphysics.

PubMed

Rose, David; Buckwalter, Wesley; Nichols, Shaun

2017-03-01

How might advanced neuroscience-in which perfect neuro-predictions are possible-interact with ordinary judgments of free will? We propose that peoples' intuitive ideas about indeterminist free will are both imported into and intrude into their representation of neuroscientific scenarios and present six experiments demonstrating intrusion and importing effects in the context of scenarios depicting perfect neuro-prediction. In light of our findings, we suggest that the intuitive commitment to indeterminist free will may be resilient in the face of scientific evidence against such free will. Copyright © 2015 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

What is a gene? From molecules to metaphysics.

PubMed

Rolston, Holmes

2006-01-01

Mendelian genes have become molecular genes, with increasing puzzlement about locating them, due to increasing complexity in genomic webworks. Genome science finds modular and conserved units of inheritance, identified as homologous genes. Such genes are cybernetic, transmitting information over generations; this too requires multi-leveled analysis, from DNA transcription to development and reproduction of the whole organism. Genes are conserved; genes are also dynamic and creative in evolutionary speciation-most remarkably producing humans capable of wondering about what genes are.

The "Spiritual Handshake": Toward a Metaphysical Sustainability Metrics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beringer, Almut

2007-01-01

Is it feasible and appropriate to develop a sustainability metrics which captures cosmological-spiritual dimensions of un/sustainability? Departing from the supposition that the crisis of unsustainability is a crisis of worldview and misguided cosmology which needs redirection on a cultural and global scale, this essay introduces the notion of a…

Star Temple: A Unique Conference Teaches Indigenous Knowledge of the Night Sky.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simonelli, Richard

1993-01-01

Describes a conference at the University of Colorado, in which scholars and traditional tribal people met to discuss indigenous star knowledge, including creation stories, the connection of stars and planets to ceremonies, and sophisticated star-based metaphysics. Includes four resources and quotes from participants. (SV)

Neoliberal Ideology and Democratic Learning. A Response to "Challenging Freedom: Neoliberalism and the Erosion of Democratic Education"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hyslop-Margison, Emery James; Ramirez, Andres

2016-01-01

In "Challenging Freedom: Neoliberalism and the Erosion of Democratic Education," the author suggests that the presumed decline of democratic learning in public schooling follows from two primary forces: (a) the metaphysical implications of Cartesian psychophysical dualism that support an ontological understanding of the self as distinct…

Call for Native Genius and Indigenous Intellectualism.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fixico, Donald L.

2000-01-01

Cultural differences in perceptions of individuality, collectivism, reality, place, time, space, mass, relationships of order, causality, and the metaphysical may explain why mainstream society has not recognized American Indians as geniuses or intellectuals. Some past and present Native geniuses are profiled. Perhaps Indian people should give…

Is Religious Education Compatible with Science Education?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mahner, Martin; Bunge, Mario

1996-01-01

Addresses the problem of the compatibility of science and religion, and its bearing on science and religious education, challenges the popular view that science and religion are compatible or complementary. Discusses differences at the doctrinal, metaphysical, methodological, and attitudinal levels. Argues that religious education should be kept…

Constructivism, Dewey, and Academic Advising

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Xyst, Kurt

2016-01-01

Many published scholars argue for constructivism as a basis for academic advising theory. However, few have discussed the commensurate ontological assumptions of constructivist thinking. Potential problems with the metaphysical view of the student in contemporary academic advising may be attributable to constructivism. John Dewey's critique of…

Grist to the Mill of Anti-Evolutionism: The Failed Strategy of Ruling the Supernatural out of Science by Philosophical Fiat

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boudry, Maarten; Blancke, Stefaan; Braeckman, Johan

2012-01-01

According to a widespread philosophical opinion, science is strictly limited to investigating natural causes and putting forth natural explanations. Lacking the tools to evaluate supernatural claims, science must remain studiously neutral on questions of metaphysics. This (self-imposed) stricture, which goes under the name of "methodological…

From Simplicism to Complexity in Leadership Identity and Preparation: Exploring the Lineage and Dark Secrets

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lumby, Jacky; English, Fenwick

2009-01-01

This article challenges the largely Western, functionalist and unitary notion of the self which underlies contemporary international approaches to educational leadership preparation. It locates an alternative concept of the self as simultaneously singular and multiple in deep-rooted and persisting mythic, religious and metaphysical thinking. The…

COMMUNICATION THEORY - A WHITEHEADIAN BASIS,

DTIC Science & Technology

An attempt is made to determine the adequacy of Whitehead’s metaphysical scheme in interpreting a recent theory of human communication . The theory...is offered by a trio of psychologists who arrive at their insights of human behavior via the study of human communication . (Author)

The Penetration of Educational Leadership Texts by Revelation and Prophecy: The Case of Stephen R. Covey.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

English, Fenwick W.

2002-01-01

Argues that the uncritical citation of Stephen R. Covey's book, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People," in educational administration texts undermines the social-scientific foundation of university-based administrator preparation. Asserts that the Covey's book is based on Mormon metaphysics, not social science. (Contains 41…

`PROBABILISTIC Knowledge' as `OBJECTIVE Knowledge' in Quantum Mechanics: Potential Immanent Powers Instead of Actual Properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ronde, Christian De

In classical physics, probabilistic or statistical knowledge has been always related to ignorance or inaccurate subjective knowledge about an actual state of affairs. This idea has been extended to quantum mechanics through a completely incoherent interpretation of the Fermi-Dirac and Bose-Einstein statistics in terms of "strange" quantum particles. This interpretation, naturalized through a widespread "way of speaking" in the physics community, contradicts Born's physical account of Ψ as a "probability wave" which provides statistical information about outcomes that, in fact, cannot be interpreted in terms of `ignorance about an actual state of affairs'. In the present paper we discuss how the metaphysics of actuality has played an essential role in limiting the possibilities of understating things differently. We propose instead a metaphysical scheme in terms of immanent powers with definite potentia which allows us to consider quantum probability in a new light, namely, as providing objective knowledge about a potential state of affairs.

Nature and grace: the paradox of Catholic ethics.

PubMed

Smith, Russell E

1995-09-01

Roman Catholic bioethics seems to be caught in a paradox. On the one hand it is committed to the natural law tradition and the power of reason to understand the structures of creation and the moral law. On the other hand there is a greater and greater appeal to Scripture and revelation. The tradition maintains that reason is capable of understanding the rational structures of reality and that ethics is properly built on metaphysics. In this way ethics, bioethics, is non-sectarian. However, the tradition also recognizes the effects of Original Sin on the will and intellect and the broad cultural changes that have affected our understanding of metaphysics. The appeal to Revelation is a corrective to many contemporary trends in ethics and bioethics. This article will examine the interplay of reason and revelation in the Church's teaching on sexuality (particularly contraception and in vitro fertilization), suffering, and death. Catholic bioethics is in the end prophetic and ecumenical and not gnostic and non-ecumenical.

Grist to the Mill of Anti-evolutionism: The Failed Strategy of Ruling the Supernatural Out of Science by Philosophical Fiat

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boudry, Maarten; Blancke, Stefaan; Braeckman, Johan

2012-08-01

According to a widespread philosophical opinion, science is strictly limited to investigating natural causes and putting forth natural explanations. Lacking the tools to evaluate supernatural claims, science must remain studiously neutral on questions of metaphysics. This (self-imposed) stricture, which goes under the name of `methodological naturalism', allows science to be divorced from metaphysical naturalism or atheism, which many people tend to associate with it. However, ruling the supernatural out of science by fiat is not only philosophically untenable, it actually provides grist to the mill of anti-evolutionism. The philosophical flaws in this conception of methodological naturalism have been gratefully exploited by advocates of intelligent design creationism to bolster their false accusations of naturalistic bias and dogmatism on the part of modern science. We argue that it promotes a misleading view of the scientific endeavor and is at odds with the foremost arguments for evolution by natural selection. Reconciling science and religion on the basis of such methodological strictures is therefore misguided.

Technology and Occupation: Past, Present, and the Next 100 Years of Theory and Practice.

PubMed

Smith, Roger O

During the first 100 years of occupational therapy, the profession developed a remarkable practice and theory base. All along, technology was an active and core component of practice, but often technology was mentioned only as an adjunct component of therapy and as if it was a specialty. This lecture proposes a new foundational theory that places technology at the heart of occupational therapy as a fundamental part of human occupation and the human experience. Moreover, this new Metaphysical Physical-Emotive Theory of Occupation pushes the occupational therapy profession and the occupational science discipline to overtly consider occupation on the level of a metaphysical-level reality. The presentation of this theory at the Centennial of the profession charges the field to test and further define the theory over the next 100 years and to leverage technology and its role in optimizing occupational performance into the future. Copyright © 2017 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

Trampoline fracture of the proximal tibial metaphysis in children may not progress into valgus: a report of seven cases and a brief review.

PubMed

Kakel, R

2012-06-01

Fracture of the proximal tibial metaphysis in children is a rare injury but notorious for carrying the risk of subsequent valgus deformity of the tibia. Trampoline-caused fracture of the proximal tibial metaphysis in children may not progress into valgus. We followed up six children who collectively sustained seven fractures of the proximal tibial metaphysis while trampolining with other heavier and/or older children. Initial and follow-up x-rays were reviewed by an orthopaedic surgeons and two radiologists. None of the patients developed valgus deformity with follow-up. Trampoline is associated with a specific type of injury to the proximal tibia when children are trampolining with other heavier children even without falling off the trampoline. This fracture is linear and complete, often non-displaced. Unlike "other" proximal tibial metaphyseal fractures, trampoline-associated proximal tibial metaphysical fracture in children is not associated with a risk of subsequent valgus deformity. Level 4. case series. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Nucleotide binding properties of bovine brain uncoating ATPase.

PubMed

Gao, B; Emoto, Y; Greene, L; Eisenberg, E

1993-04-25

Many functions of the 70-kDa heat-shock proteins (hsp70s) appear to be regulated by bound nucleotide. In this study we examined the nucleotide binding properties of purified bovine brain uncoating ATPase, one of the constitutively expressed members of the hsp70 family. We found that uncoating ATPase purified by ATP-agarose column chromatography retained one ADP molecule bound per enzyme molecule which could not be removed by extensive dialysis. Since this bound ADP exchanged rapidly with free ADP or ATP, the inability to remove the bound nucleotide was not due to slow dissociation but rather to strong binding of the nucleotide to the uncoating ATPase. In confirmation of this view, equilibrium dialysis experiments suggested that the dissociation constants for both ADP and ATP were less than 0.1 microM. Schmid et al. (Schmid, S. L., Braell, W. A., and Rothman, J. E. (1985) J. Biol. Chem 260, 10057-10062) suggested that the uncoating ATPase had two sites for bound nucleotide, one specific for ATP and one binding both ATP and ATP analogues but not ADP. In contrast, we found that enzyme with bound ADP did not bind further adenosine 5'-(beta,gamma-imino)triphosphate or dATP, nor did more than one ATP molecule bind per enzyme even in 200 microM free ATP. These results strongly suggest that the enzyme has only one binding site for nucleotide. During steady-state ATP hydrolysis, 85% of the bound nucleotide at this site was determined to be ATP and 15% ADP; this is consistent with the rate of ADP release determined in the exchange experiments noted above, where ADP release was found to be six times faster than the overall rate of ATP hydrolysis.

Acknowledging the Religious Beliefs Students Bring into the Science Classroom: Using the Bounded Nature of Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Southerland, Sherry A.; Scharmann, Lawrence C.

2013-01-01

Scientific knowledge often appears to contradict many students' religious beliefs. Indeed, the assumptions of science appear contradictory to the metaphysical claims of many religions. This conflict is most evident in discussions of biological evolution. Teachers, in attempts to limit the controversy, often avoid this topic or teach it…

The Three Planes of Language.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sampson, Gloria

1999-01-01

Currently, the language sciences place together four different forms of mental activity on one plane of language, which results in confusion. This paper presents arguments from metaphysics, hermeneutics, and semiotics to demonstrate that there are actually three planes of language (a biologically-based information processing plane, a literal…

The Constructs of Wisdom in Human Development and Consciousness.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prewitt, Vana R.

Classical and contemporary research studies were examined to develop a definition of wisdom and explore its constructs in human development and consciousness. First, wisdom was defined as an emergent characteristic of mature adults that is built upon intelligence, experience, and reflection and includes metaphysical and cognitive components.…

Witnessing Deconstruction in Education: Why Quasi-Transcendentalism Matters

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Biesta, Gert

2009-01-01

Deconstruction is often depicted as a method of critical analysis aimed at exposing unquestioned metaphysical assumptions and internal contradictions in philosophical and literary language. Starting from Derrida's contention that deconstruction is not a method and cannot be transformed into one, I make a case for a different attitude towards…

Exploring Values and Personal and Social Development: Learning through Expeditions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Allison, Peter; Von Wald, Kris

2010-01-01

Travel and overseas experiences, particularly those involving some form of outdoor education, are regarded by many young people, parents, university admissions and employers as somehow beneficial to a young person's development. Often, expedition experiences are happening at crucial times in life (the teen years) when metaphysical (rather than…

Reason, Language and Education: Philosophical Assumptions for New Curricular Orientations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Papastephanou, Marianna; Koutselini, Mary

2006-01-01

A theory of reason, language and their interconnection constitutes a research topic of epistemological, ontological and metaphysical significance. It also represents a crucial point of contention between defenders and detractors of postmodernism. Therefore, in this article we set out to discuss its stakes and search for its most accomplished…

The Border Pedagogy Revisited

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kazanjian, Christopher John

2011-01-01

Border pedagogy is a multicultural educational approach utilized in multicultural settings to help students understand their histories and experiences and how it affects their identities and cultures. The approach seeks to produce intellectuals that transcend physical and metaphysical boundaries. The goal of border pedagogy is to remove cultural…

Music Education in the Sign of Deconstruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dyndahl, Petter

2008-01-01

In this article, the aim is to address different forms of relationship between deconstruction, as coined by Jacques Derrida, and research perspectives on music education. Deconstruction represents a radical departure from Western ontology from Plato onward and its essentialistic notions of the metaphysics of presence. Instead, Derrida claims that…

On Space and Time

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Majid, Shahn; Connes, With contributions by Alain; Heller, Michael; Penrose, Roger; Polkinghorne, John; Taylor, Andrew

2008-09-01

Preface; 1. The dark universe A. N. Taylor; 2. Quantum spacetime and physical reality S. Majid; 3. Causality, quantum theory and cosmology R. Penrose; 4. On the fine structure of spacetime A. Connes; 5. Where physics meets metaphysics M. Heller; 6. The nature of time J. C. Polkinghorne; Index.

On Space and Time

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Majid, Shahn; Polkinghorne, With contributions by John; Penrose, Roger; Taylor, Andrew; Connes, Alain; Heller, Michael

2012-03-01

Preface; 1. The dark universe A. N. Taylor; 2. Quantum spacetime and physical reality S. Majid; 3. Causality, quantum theory and cosmology R. Penrose; 4. On the fine structure of spacetime A. Connes; 5. Where physics meets metaphysics M. Heller; 6. The nature of time J. C. Polkinghorne; Index.

The burning fuse model of unbecoming in time

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Norton, John D.

2015-11-01

In the burning fuse model of unbecoming in time, the future is real and the past is unreal. It is used to motivate the idea that there is something unbecoming in the present literature on the metaphysics of time: its focus is merely the assigning of a label "real."

Optimized norm-conserving Hartree-Fock pseudopotentials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walter, Eric J.; Al-Saidi, Wissam A.

2006-03-01

We report soft Hartree-Fock based pseudopotentials obtained using the optimized pseudopotential method. The spurious long range tail due to the non locality of the exchange potential is removed using a self-consistent damping mechanism as employed in exact exchange and recent Hartree-Fock pseudopotentials. The binding energies of several dimers computed using these pseudopotentials within a planewave Hartree-Fock code show good agreement with all-electron results. A. M. Rappe, K. M. Rabe, E. Kaxiras, and J. D. Joannopoulos, Phys. Rev. B 41, 1227 (1990). E. Engel, A. Höck, R. N. Schmid, R. M. Dreizler, and N. Chetty, Phys. Rev. B 64, 125111 (2001). J.R. Trail and R. J. Needs, J. Chem. Phys. 122, 014112 (2005).

Towards a scientific concept of free will as a biological trait: spontaneous actions and decision-making in invertebrates

PubMed Central

Brembs, Björn

2011-01-01

Until the advent of modern neuroscience, free will used to be a theological and a metaphysical concept, debated with little reference to brain function. Today, with ever increasing understanding of neurons, circuits and cognition, this concept has become outdated and any metaphysical account of free will is rightfully rejected. The consequence is not, however, that we become mindless automata responding predictably to external stimuli. On the contrary, accumulating evidence also from brains much smaller than ours points towards a general organization of brain function that incorporates flexible decision-making on the basis of complex computations negotiating internal and external processing. The adaptive value of such an organization consists of being unpredictable for competitors, prey or predators, as well as being able to explore the hidden resource deterministic automats would never find. At the same time, this organization allows all animals to respond efficiently with tried-and-tested behaviours to predictable and reliable stimuli. As has been the case so many times in the history of neuroscience, invertebrate model systems are spearheading these research efforts. This comparatively recent evidence indicates that one common ability of most if not all brains is to choose among different behavioural options even in the absence of differences in the environment and perform genuinely novel acts. Therefore, it seems a reasonable effort for any neurobiologist to join and support a rather illustrious list of scholars who are trying to wrestle the term ‘free will’ from its metaphysical ancestry. The goal is to arrive at a scientific concept of free will, starting from these recently discovered processes with a strong emphasis on the neurobiological mechanisms underlying them. PMID:21159679

Towards a scientific concept of free will as a biological trait: spontaneous actions and decision-making in invertebrates.

PubMed

Brembs, Björn

2011-03-22

Until the advent of modern neuroscience, free will used to be a theological and a metaphysical concept, debated with little reference to brain function. Today, with ever increasing understanding of neurons, circuits and cognition, this concept has become outdated and any metaphysical account of free will is rightfully rejected. The consequence is not, however, that we become mindless automata responding predictably to external stimuli. On the contrary, accumulating evidence also from brains much smaller than ours points towards a general organization of brain function that incorporates flexible decision-making on the basis of complex computations negotiating internal and external processing. The adaptive value of such an organization consists of being unpredictable for competitors, prey or predators, as well as being able to explore the hidden resource deterministic automats would never find. At the same time, this organization allows all animals to respond efficiently with tried-and-tested behaviours to predictable and reliable stimuli. As has been the case so many times in the history of neuroscience, invertebrate model systems are spearheading these research efforts. This comparatively recent evidence indicates that one common ability of most if not all brains is to choose among different behavioural options even in the absence of differences in the environment and perform genuinely novel acts. Therefore, it seems a reasonable effort for any neurobiologist to join and support a rather illustrious list of scholars who are trying to wrestle the term 'free will' from its metaphysical ancestry. The goal is to arrive at a scientific concept of free will, starting from these recently discovered processes with a strong emphasis on the neurobiological mechanisms underlying them.

Multidirectional volar fixed-angle plating using cancellous locking screws for distal radius fractures--evaluation of three screw configurations in an extra-articular fracture model.

PubMed

Weninger, Patrick; Dall'Ara, Enrico; Drobetz, Herwig; Nemec, Wolfgang; Figl, Markus; Redl, Heinz; Hertz, Harald; Zysset, Philippe

2011-01-01

Volar fixed-angle plating is a popular treatment for unstable distal radius fractures. Despite the availability of plating systems for treating distal radius fractures, little is known about the mechanical properties of multidirectional fixed-angle plates. The aim of this study was to compare the primary fixation stability of three possible screw configurations in a distal extra-articular fracture model using a multidirectional fixed-angle plate with metaphyseal cancellous screws distally. Eighteen Sawbones radii (Sawbones, Sweden, model# 1027) were used to simulate an extra-articular distal radius fracture according to AO/OTA 23 A3. Plates were fixed to the shaft with one non-locking screw in the oval hole and two locking screws as recommended by the manufacturer. Three groups (n = 6) were defined by screw configuration in the distal metaphyseal fragment: Group 1: distal row of screws only; Group 2: 2 rows of screws, parallel insertion; Group 3: 2 rows of screws, proximal screws inserted with 30° of inclination. Specimens underwent mechanical testing under axial compression within the elastic range and load controlled between 20 N and 200 N at a rate of 40 N/s. Axial stiffness and type of construct failure were recorded. There was no difference regarding axial stiffness between the three groups. In every specimen, failure of the Sawbone-implant-construct occurred as plastic bending of the volar titanium plate when the dorsal wedge was closed. Considering the limitations of the study, the recommendation to use two rows of screws or to place screws in the proximal metaphyseal row with inclination cannot be supported by our mechanical data.

Encyclopedia as Textbook

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pallo, Gabor

2006-01-01

Textbooks and encyclopedias represent different genres of scientific literature. Textbooks help the students to prepare for their examinations in various subjects taught at schools, such as logic, metaphysic, chemistry. In the 17th Century some Calvinist professors, mostly in Germany, thought that a universal wholeness should be taught for the…

Weird Reality, Aesthetics, and Vitality in Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oral, Sevket Benhur

2015-01-01

This paper discusses the repercussions of a new metaphysics--speculative/weird realism--for education and pedagogy. A historic shift is taking place in present-day continental philosophy, which involves an explicit and renewed call for "realism." One of the most salient features of this development is a revitalised interest in…

Shaking Religious Education: A New Look at the Literature

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kameniar, Barbara

2007-01-01

This article offers an analysis of religious education practice through the literature that informs it. It engages Derrida's critique of the "metaphysics of presence" (1982a) to develop a theoretical framework for a new look at the ways in which different approaches to religious education represent religion and racial difference. The…

Jacques Maritain's Philosophy of History and Philosophy of Education: A Relationship Secured Through Experience and Reason.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

D'Souza, Mario

1997-01-01

Jacques Maritain's philosophy of history and philosophy of education both deal with the singularity of experience and the universality of reason. The philosophy of history is subordinated to moral philosophy; the philosophy of education is subordinated to metaphysics. Although Maritain's philosophies reflect a Christian world view, they can make a…

Transformative Mixed Methods Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mertens, Donna M.

2010-01-01

Paradigms serve as metaphysical frameworks that guide researchers in the identification and clarification of their beliefs with regard to ethics, reality, knowledge, and methodology. The transformative paradigm is explained and illustrated as a framework for researchers who place a priority on social justice and the furtherance of human rights.…

Language, Empathy, Archetype: Action-Metaphors of the Transcendental in Musical Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Winter, Richard

2013-01-01

This paper proposes a theory to explain the remarkable emotional power of our response to abstract music. It reviews and rejects metaphysical arguments derived from notions of a divine spiritual realm and from absolute forms of human reason. Its conclusion is that musical experience is always essentially inter-subjective and potentially…

What Is "Human" in Human Capital Theory? Marking a Transition from Industrial to Postindustrial Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peers, Chris

2015-01-01

This article addresses educational practice as a site for the development of human capital theory. The article considers metaphysical constructions that are broadly typical of educational thought, and shows how they are amenable to economic analysis. Using different Marxist and feminist methods, it discusses pedagogy and the family as kinds of…

Heidegger and Nietzsche; the Question of Value and Nihilism in Relation to Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Irwin, Ruth

2003-01-01

This paper is a philosophical analysis of Heidegger and Nietzsche's approach to metaphysics and the associated problems of nihilism. Discusses the two philosophers offer a critique of Humanism while upholding education as the wellspring of values in society. Concludes that ethical evaluation of new forms of knowledge is crucial to human…

Encountering Complexity: Native Musics in the Curriculum.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boyea, Andrea

1999-01-01

Describes Native American musics, focusing on issues such as music and the experience of time, metaphor and metaphorical aspects, and spirituality and sounds from nature. Discusses Native American metaphysics and its reflection in the musics. States that an effective curriculum would provide a new receptivity to Native American musics. (CMK)

Sophocles' "Oedipus Rex": A Deconstructive Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Akhter, Javed; Muhammad, Khair; Naz, Naila

2015-01-01

Jacques Derrida (1930-2004) is the most prominent figure in contemporary philosophical and literary debate. He originates a trend-breaking theory of deconstruction. He opines the persistence in west European philosophical tradition of what he labels is logocentric metaphysics of presence. He argues that the different theories of philosophy, from…

The Emergence of Cosmic Education. Spotlight: Cosmic Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trudeau, Sr. Christina Marie

2002-01-01

Discusses the influence of Hindu, Moslem, and Buddhist metaphysics on Maria Montessori's own pedagogical philosophy of Cosmic Education, which she regarded as the core of all learning experiences, after her visit to India. Considers the relationship between Montessori's ideas of child development and Cosmic Education, and the effect of Indian…

The Transactional Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kastner, Ruth E.

2012-10-01

Preface; 1. Introduction: quantum peculiarities; 2. The map vs the territory; 3. The original TI: fundamentals; 4. The new possibilist TI: fundamentals; 5. Challenges, replies, and applications; 6. PTI and relativity; 7. The metaphysics of possibility; 8. PTI and 'spacetime'; 9. Epilogue: more than meets the eye; Appendixes; References; Index.

The Transactional Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kastner, Ruth E.

2017-06-01

Preface; 1. Introduction: quantum peculiarities; 2. The map vs the territory; 3. The original TI: fundamentals; 4. The new possibilist TI: fundamentals; 5. Challenges, replies, and applications; 6. PTI and relativity; 7. The metaphysics of possibility; 8. PTI and 'spacetime'; 9. Epilogue: more than meets the eye; Appendixes; References; Index.

Levinas: Ethics or Mystification?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, Alistair

2017-01-01

The metaphysical ethics of Levinas appeals to many philosophers of education because it seems to promise ethics and social justice without recourse to moral norms, "totalising" political systems or religious belief. However, the notion that the subject can be detached from its worldly being--that one can posit a primordial metaphysical…

Education, Religion, and a Sustainable Planet

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vandenberg, Donald

2008-01-01

Religious pluralism led to the colonies' separation of church and state by 1776, to Mann's campaign for common schooling, and to the complete secularization of public schools by 1900. The dependence of Western theology upon untenable Greek metaphysics justifies an explanation that the evolutionary purpose of religion was to promote personal…

What It Is and that It Is

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cannatella, Howard

2012-01-01

The title of this paper comes from Aristotle's "Metaphysics." It appropriately captures how he understood art education. In what follows, a considerable amount of the author's thinking is indebted to Plato's and Aristotle's understanding of art education as mimetic education. On first view, an art mimetic educational approach may appear worryingly…

The Art of Self-Reflection

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Villano, Matt

2006-01-01

Metaphysically speaking, the idea of self-reflection has been the subject of discussion for thousands of years. The idea carried human beings through the Renaissance, and an entire movement tied to it sparked a sociopolitical movement called the Enlightenment. In more recent times, thought leaders such as Immanuel Kant, Karl Marx, and Sigmund…

The Ethical Foundation of Critical Pedagogy in Contemporary Academia: (Self)-Reflection and Complicity in the Process of Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rabikowska, Marta

2009-01-01

In this paper an ethical approach to educational methodology is discussed in relation to the philosophies of Emanuel Levinas and Robert Cox. Cox's anti-essentialist understanding of historical materialism and Levinas' metaphysical idealism are applied to an analysis of the (self)-reflective methods required today in Higher Education in the UK,…

The Geohistorical Time Arrow: From Steno's Stratigraphic Principles to Boltzmann's Past Hypothesis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kravitz, Gadi

2014-01-01

Geologists have always embraced the time arrow in order to reconstruct the past geology of Earth, thus turning geology into a historical science. The covert assumption regarding the direction of time from past to present appears in Nicolas Steno's principles of stratigraphy. The intuitive-metaphysical nature of Steno's assumption was based on a…

An Introduction to the Medieval English: The Historical and Literary Context, Traces of Church and Philosophical Movements in the Literature

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Behtash, Esmail Zare; Toroujeni, Seyyed Morteza Hashemi; Samani, Farzane Safarzade

2017-01-01

The Transition from Greek to medieval philosophy that speculated on religion, nature, metaphysics, human being and society was rather a rough transition in the history of English literature. Although the literature content of this age reflected more religious beliefs, the love and hate relationship of medieval philosophy that was mostly based on…

Social Theory, and Music and Music Education as Praxis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Regelski, Thomas A.

2004-01-01

The idea of praxis, and thus the idea of music as praxis, is not widely known in the fields of music and music education. Nonetheless, musicians and music teachers typically take for granted as sacrosanct the noble sounding, metaphysical, even spiritual profundity of music hypothesized by mainstream aesthetic philosophies. Thus accounts of music…

The Concept of Philosophical Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boyum, Steinar

2010-01-01

Strangely, the concept of philosophical education is not much in use, at least not as a "philosophical" concept. In this essay, Steinar Boyum attempts to outline such a philosophical concept of philosophical education. Boyum uses Plato's Allegory of the Cave, Rene Descartes's life of doubt, and Immanuel Kant's criticism of metaphysics as paradigms…

Alfred North Whitehead: Plato's Lost Dialogue.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brennan, Joseph Gerard

1978-01-01

The author reminisces about a course, Philosophy 3b at Harvard, taught by Alfred North Whitehead in 1934, where Whitehead moved from meditations on Plato, Epicurus, and Descartes to his own metaphysical speculations. He also discusses other philosophers at Harvard, calling the 1930s the Silver Age of the Harvard Philosophy Department. (KC)

A Category Mistake: Why Contemporary Australian Religious Education in Catholic Schools May Be Doomed to Failure

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hyde, Brendan

2013-01-01

Assuming religious education to be the same as other subject areas of a Catholic school's curriculum by, for example, applying the outcomes based philosophy and language of other subject areas to religious education renders a category mistake. A prominent notion in the work of metaphysical philosopher Gilbert Ryle, a category mistake arises when…

Children's Gestures and the Embodied Knowledge of Geometry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Mijung; Roth, Wolff-Michael; Thom, Jennifer

2011-01-01

There is mounting research evidence that contests the metaphysical perspective of knowing as mental process detached from the physical world. Yet education, especially in its teaching and learning practices, continues to treat knowledge as something that is necessarily and solely expressed in ideal verbal form. This study is part of a funded…

Future Technoscientific Education: Atheism and Ethics in a Globalizing World

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pearce, Colin D.

2011-01-01

This article attempts to assess the claim that the unum necessarium in our time is the general dissemination of scientific knowledge because liberal civilization or the "good society" cannot be had in the presence of traditional religion and "metaphysics." The paper attempts to place this claim in the context of continuing globalization and…

Chrysalis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marsh, John

1977-01-01

In an outpouring of metaphysical anguish, Adrian Redman exhorts his companion, his own pilgrim self, and an uncompassionate society to forego the dichotomy of creativity/conformity--the necessity of absolute choice--in favor of spontaneity, freedom, and joy in the unique development of each individual from a (metaphorical) pupa to a butterfly.…

A Spinozistic Model of Moral Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dahlbeck, Johan

2017-01-01

Spinoza's claim that self-preservation is the foundation of virtue makes for the point of departure of this philosophical investigation into what a Spinozistic model of moral education might look like. It is argued that Spinoza's metaphysics places constraints on moral education insofar as an educational account would be affected by Spinoza's…

The large-scale structure of software-intensive systems

PubMed Central

Booch, Grady

2012-01-01

The computer metaphor is dominant in most discussions of neuroscience, but the semantics attached to that metaphor are often quite naive. Herein, we examine the ontology of software-intensive systems, the nature of their structure and the application of the computer metaphor to the metaphysical questions of self and causation. PMID:23386964

The 1923 Scientistic Campaign and Dao-Discourse: A Cross-Cultural Study of the Rhetoric of Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Xiao, Xiaosui

2004-01-01

In 1923 the emerging Chinese advocates for the development of science successfully launched a war against the so-called "metaphysical ghosts," who believed that science was inadequate to address the fundamental questions of human life. An important and far-reaching spiritual effect of this "holy war" was to give rise to an…

Incarnation: Radicalizing Embodiment of Mathematics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roth, Wolff-Michael

2010-01-01

As the end result of metaphysics, the Kantian and constructivist mind is not present in the world but withdrawn into the netherworld of its representations and constructions. First phenomenology then the embodied cognition research showed how there could be no cognition without the human body. There is something unsatisfying and lacking, however,…

The cyanobacterial bicarbonate transporter BicA: its physiological role and the implications of structural similarities with human SLC26 transporters.

PubMed

Price, G Dean; Howitt, Susan M

2011-04-01

The cyanobacterial Na+-dependent HCO3- transporter BicA is a member of the ubiquitous and important SulP/SLC26 family of anion transporters found in eukaryotes and prokaryotes. BicA is an important component of the cyanobacterial CO2 concentrating mechanism, an adaptation that contributes to cyanobacteria being able to achieve an estimated 25% of global primary productivity, largely in the oceans. The human SLC26 members are involved in a range of key cellular functions involving a diverse range of anion transport activities including Cl-/HCO3-, I-/HCO3-, and SO42-/HCO3- exchange; mutations in SLC26 members are known to be associated with debilitating diseases such as Pendred syndrome, chondrodysplasias, and congenital chloride diarrhoea. We have recently experimentally determined the membrane topology of BicA using the phoA-lacZ reporter system and here consider some of the extrapolated implications for topology of the human SLC26 family and the Sultr plant sulphate transporters.

Achondroplasia: Development, Pathogenesis, and Therapy

PubMed Central

Ornitz, David M.; Legeai-Mallet, Laurence

2016-01-01

Autosomal dominant mutations in Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor 3 (FGFR3) cause Achondroplasia (Ach), the most common form of dwarfism in humans, and related chondrodysplasia syndromes that include Hypochondroplasia (Hch), Severe Achondroplasia with Developmental Delay and Acanthosis Nigricans (SADDAN), and Thanatophoric dysplasia (TD). FGFR3 is expressed in chondrocytes and mature osteoblasts where it functions to regulate bone growth. Analysis of the mutations in FGFR3 revealed increased signaling through a combination of mechanisms that include stabilization of the receptor, enhanced dimerization, and enhanced tyrosine kinase activity. Paradoxically, increased FGFR3 signaling profoundly suppresses proliferation and maturation of growth plate chondrocytes resulting in decreased growth plate size, reduced trabecular bone volume, and resulting decreased bone elongation. In this review we discuss the molecular mechanisms that regulate growth plate chondrocytes, the pathogenesis of Ach, and therapeutic approaches that are being evaluated to improve endochondral bone growth in people with Ach and related conditions. PMID:27987249

Congenital joint dislocations caused by carbohydrate sulfotransferase 3 deficiency in recessive Larsen syndrome and humero-spinal dysostosis.

PubMed

Hermanns, Pia; Unger, Sheila; Rossi, Antonio; Perez-Aytes, Antonio; Cortina, Hector; Bonafé, Luisa; Boccone, Loredana; Setzu, Valeria; Dutoit, Michel; Sangiorgi, Luca; Pecora, Fabio; Reicherter, Kerstin; Nishimura, Gen; Spranger, Jürgen; Zabel, Bernhard; Superti-Furga, Andrea

2008-06-01

Deficiency of carbohydrate sulfotransferase 3 (CHST3; also known as chondroitin-6-sulfotransferase) has been reported in a single kindred so far and in association with a phenotype of severe chondrodysplasia with progressive spinal involvement. We report eight CHST3 mutations in six unrelated individuals who presented at birth with congenital joint dislocations. These patients had been given a diagnosis of either Larsen syndrome (three individuals) or humero-spinal dysostosis (three individuals), and their clinical features included congenital dislocation of the knees, elbow joint dysplasia with subluxation and limited extension, hip dysplasia or dislocation, clubfoot, short stature, and kyphoscoliosis developing in late childhood. Analysis of chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans in dermal fibroblasts showed markedly decreased 6-O-sulfation but enhanced 4-O-sulfation, confirming functional impairment of CHST3 and distinguishing them from diastrophic dysplasia sulphate transporter (DTDST)-deficient cells. These observations provide a molecular basis for recessive Larsen syndrome and indicate that recessive Larsen syndrome, humero-spinal dysostosis, and spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia Omani type form a phenotypic spectrum.

A specific collagen type II gene (COL2A1) mutation presenting as spondyloperipheral dysplasia

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zabel, B.; Hilbert, K.; Spranger, J.

1996-05-03

We report on a patient with a skeletal dysplasia characterized by short stature, spondylo-epiphyseal involvement, and brachydactyly E-like changes. This condition has been described as spondyloperipheral dysplasia and the few published cases suggest autosomal dominant inheritance with considerable clinical variability. We found our sporadic case to be due to a collagen type II defect resulting from a specific COL2A1 mutation. This mutation is the first to be located at the C-terminal outside the helical domain of COL2A1. A frameshift as consequence of a 5 bp duplication in exon 51 leads to a stop codon. The resulting truncated C-propeptide region seemsmore » to affect helix formation and produces changes of chondrocyte morphology, collagen type II fibril structure and cartilage matrix composition. Our case with its distinct phenotype adds another chondrodysplasia to the clinical spectrum of type II collagenopathies. 16 refs., 4 figs.« less

Role of FGFs/FGFRs in skeletal development and bone regeneration.

PubMed

Du, Xiaolan; Xie, Yangli; Xian, Cory J; Chen, Lin

2012-12-01

Fibroblast growth factor (FGF)/FGF (FGFR) signaling is an important pathway involved in skeletal development. Missense mutations in FGFs and FGFRs were found clinically to cause multiple congenital skeleton diseases including chondrodysplasia, craniosynostosis, syndromes with dysregulated phosphate metabolism. FGFs/FGFRs also have crucial roles in bone fracture repair and bone regeneration. Understanding the molecular mechanisms for the role of FGFs/FGFRs in the regulation of skeletal development, genetic skeletal diseases, and fracture healing will ultimately lead to better treatment of skeleton diseases caused by mutations of FGFs/FGFRs and fracture. This review summarizes the major findings on the role of FGF signaling in skeletal development, genetic skeletal diseases and bone healing, and discusses issues that remain to be resolved in applying FGF signaling-related measures to promote bone healing. This review has also provided a perspective view on future work for exploring the roles and action mechanisms of FGF signaling in skeletal development, genetic skeletal diseases, and fracture healing. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Role of FGF/FGFR signaling in skeletal development and homeostasis: learning from mouse models

PubMed Central

Su, Nan; Jin, Min; Chen, Lin

2014-01-01

Fibroblast growth factor (FGF)/fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) signaling plays essential roles in bone development and diseases. Missense mutations in FGFs and FGFRs in humans can cause various congenital bone diseases, including chondrodysplasia syndromes, craniosynostosis syndromes and syndromes with dysregulated phosphate metabolism. FGF/FGFR signaling is also an important pathway involved in the maintenance of adult bone homeostasis. Multiple kinds of mouse models, mimicking human skeleton diseases caused by missense mutations in FGFs and FGFRs, have been established by knock-in/out and transgenic technologies. These genetically modified mice provide good models for studying the role of FGF/FGFR signaling in skeleton development and homeostasis. In this review, we summarize the mouse models of FGF signaling-related skeleton diseases and recent progresses regarding the molecular mechanisms, underlying the role of FGFs/FGFRs in the regulation of bone development and homeostasis. This review also provides a perspective view on future works to explore the roles of FGF signaling in skeletal development and homeostasis. PMID:26273516

High-Dose α-Tocopherol Supplementation Does Not Induce Bone Loss in Normal Rats

PubMed Central

Kasai, Shunji; Ito, Akemi; Shindo, Kaori; Toyoshi, Tohru; Bando, Masahiro

2015-01-01

Oxidative stress affects bone turnover. Preventative effects of antioxidants such as vitamin E on reduced bone mineral density and fractures associated with aging, osteoporosis, and smoking have been examined in animals and humans. The effects of vitamin E (α-tocopherol; αT) on bone health have yielded conflicting and inconclusive results from animal studies. In this study, to determine the bone effects of αT, we investigated the in vivo effects of αT on the bone mineral density, bone mass, bone microstructure, bone resorption, and osteogenesis through peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT) measurements, micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) analyses, and bone histomorphometry of lumbar vertebrae and femurs in normal female Wistar rats fed diets containing αT in different quantities (0, 30, 120, or 600 mg/kg diet) for 8 weeks. To validate our hypotheses regarding bone changes, we examined ovariectomized rats as an osteoporosis model and control sham-operated rats in parallel. As expected, ovariectomized rats had reduced bone mineral density in lumbar vertebrae and the distal metaphyses of their femurs, reduced bone mass and deteriorated microstructure of cancellous bones in the vertebral body and distal femur metaphyses, and reduced bone mass due to resorption-dominant enhanced bone turnover in secondary cancellous bones in these sites. In comparison, αT administered to normal rats, even at the highest dose, did not induce reduced bone mineral density of lumbar vertebrae and femurs or a reduced bone mass or fragile microstructure of cancellous bones of the vertebral body and distal femur metaphyses. Instead, αT-fed rats showed a tendency for an osteogenesis-dominant bone mass increase in secondary cancellous bones in the vertebral body, in which active bone remodeling occurs. Thus, αT consumption may have beneficial effects on bone health. PMID:26147575

Quantifying Bone–relevant Activity and its Relation to Bone Strength in Girls

PubMed Central

Farr, Joshua N.; Lee, Vinson R.; Blew, Robert M.; Lohman, Timothy G.; Going, Scott B.

2011-01-01

Physical activity (PA) is critical for maximizing bone development during growth. However, there is no consensus on how well existing PA measurement tools predict bone strength. PURPOSE Compare four methods of quantifying physical activity (PA) (pedometer, 3-day physical activity recall (3DPAR), bone-specific physical activity questionnaire (BPAQ), and past year physical activity questionnaire (PYPAQ)), in young girls and evaluate their ability to predict indices of bone strength. METHODS 329 girls aged 8–13 years completed a pedometer assessment, the 3DPAR, the BPAQ, and a modified PYPAQ. Peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT) was used to assess bone strength index (BSI) at metaphyseal (4% distal femur and tibia) sites and strength-strain index (SSI) at diaphyseal (femur = 20%, tibia = 66%) sites of the non-dominant leg. Correlations and hierarchical multiple regression were used to assess relationships among PA measures and indices of bone strength. RESULTS After adjustment for maturity, correlations between PA measures and indices of bone strength were positive, although low (r = 0.01–0.20). Regression models that included covariates (maturity, body mass, leg length, and ethnicity) and PA variables showed that PYPAQ score was significantly (P < 0.05) associated with BSI and SSI at all sites and explained more variance in BSI and SSI than any other PA measure. Pedometer steps were significantly (P < 0.05) associated with metaphyseal femur and tibia BSI and 3DPAR score was significantly (P < 0.05) associated with metaphyseal femur BSI. BPAQ score was not significantly (P > 0.05) associated with BSI or SSI at any sites. CONCLUSION A modified PYPAQ that accounts for the duration, frequency, and load of PA predicted indices of bone strength better than other PA measures. PMID:20631644

Metasemantics: On the Limits of Semantic Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parent, T.

2009-01-01

METASEMANTICS is a wake-up call for semantic theory: It reveals that some semantic questions have no adequate answer. (This is meant to be the "epistemic" point that certain semantic questions cannot be "settled"--not a metaphysical point about whether there is a fact-of-the-matter.) METASEMANTICS thus checks our default "optimism" that any…

The Tacitness of Tacitus. A Methodological Approach to European Thought. No. 46.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bierschenk, Bernhard

This study measured the analysis of verbal flows by means of volume-elasticity measures and the analysis of information flow structures and their representations in the form of a metaphysical cube. A special purpose system of computer programs (PERTEX) was used to establish the language space in which the textual flow patterns occurred containing…

Ecological foundations of biodiversity: lessons from natural and managed forests of the Pacific Northwest.

Treesearch

Andrew B. Carey

1998-01-01

Fifteen years of research on old-growth and managed coniferous forests have provided sufficient understanding of biodiversity to suggest a basis for ecosystem management. First, natural old forests have a metaphysics values associated with their existence and function can never be addressed fully with the scientific method alone; we cannot recreate old growth. Second,...

Normalizing Catastrophe: Sustainability and Scientism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bonnett, Michael

2013-01-01

Making an adequate response to our deteriorating environmental situation is a matter of ever increasing urgency. It is argued that a central obstacle to achieving this is the way that scientism has become normalized in our thinking about environmental issues. This is taken to reflect on an underlying "metaphysics of mastery" that vitiates proper…

"The Social Responsibility of the Social Scientist."

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Watson, Bernard C.

Although social scientists are often adjured to become more "scientific," they might well remember a phenomenon described by Arthur Lovejoy as "metaphysical pathos" or the set of sentiments with which every theory is associated and which are congruent with the mood or deep lying sentiment of its adherents. Examples from the past include the Social…

Virtue, Reason, and the False Public Voice: Catharine Macaulay's Philosophy of Moral Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Titone, Connie

2009-01-01

Catharine Macaulay, an 18th century English historian, published her educational philosophy in "Letters on Education with Observations on Religious and Metaphysical Subjects" in 1790. The ultimate goal of her educational process, to "bring the human mind to such a height of perfection as shall induce the practice of the best morals", (Macaulay,…

Education and the Free Will Problem: A Spinozist Contribution

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dahlbeck, Johan

2017-01-01

In this Spinozist defence of the educational promotion of students' autonomy I argue for a deterministic position where freedom of will is deemed unrealistic in the metaphysical sense, but important in the sense that it is an undeniable psychological fact. The paper is structured in three parts. The first part investigates the concept of autonomy…

Shakespeare and the Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Enright, D. J.

Departing from the tendency to dwell extensively on the symbolism in Shakespeare's plays and to see the works as metaphysical formulations, studies in this book focus on his work as "plays about people"--their reactions as real people to possible situations. Four plays are examined, scene by scene: (1) "King Lear" and the Just…

Kazakh Philosophy: From Abai to Shakarim

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sydykov, Yerlan B.; Nysanbayev, Abdumalik N.; Kurmanbaev, Erbol A.

2016-01-01

The purpose of the study is to analyze the influence of Shakarim--a follower of Abai--on Kazakh philosophy, his worldview and opinion of existential issues. The specifics of the problem under consideration required taking a synthetic approach to the use of various methods in this research. A synthesis of dialectical, metaphysical, rational,…

Philosophy of Education in a Poor Historical Moment: A Personal Account

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gur-Zeev, Ilan

2011-01-01

Under the post-metaphysical sky "old" humanistic-oriented education is possible solely at the cost of its transformation into its negative, into a power that is determined to diminish human potentials for self-exaltation. Nothing less than total metamorphosis is needed to rescue the core of humanistic genesis: the quest for edifying Life and…

Consciousness in the Study of Human Life and Experience: "Higher Aspects" and Their Nature

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Witz, Klaus G.; Lee, Hyunju; Huang, Wanju

2010-01-01

This article deals with the consciousness in a person when one tries to understand her more deeply and as a whole, as is done in studies using the "Participant as Ally-Essentialist Portraiture" approach, and focuses on "higher aspects" or moral-ethical, metaphysical, social and religious ideals, values, commitments, or inspiration in a person. The…

Systematic considerations in the area of multiple chemical sensitivity.

PubMed Central

Benignus, V A

1997-01-01

Many workers who speculate about multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) have devised a large number of hypothetical constructs designed to explain the phenomena. Too often these are not logically connected to the larger body of scientific thought but instead appeal to ideas not documented in accessible literature and often appearing metaphysical in nature. PMID:9167984

The Unfriendly Agora and Secular Hypocrisy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Felderhof, Marius C.

2008-01-01

This article seeks to commend Professor Trigg on his exposure of the warped thinking and policy-making concerning religious life and its institutions in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. However, it challenges the view that the problems he has identified are best linked to deep philosophical and metaphysical positions (e.g. relativism, non-realism…

The 1923 Scientistic Campaign and Dao-Discourse: A Cross-Cultural Study of the Rhetoric of Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Xiao, Xiaosui

2004-01-01

In 1923 the emerging Chinese advocates for the development of science successfully launched a war against the so-called "metaphysical ghosts," who believed that science was inadequate to address the fundamental questions of human life. An important and far-reaching spiritual effect of this "holy war" was to give rise to an attitude of religious…

Counter-Colonial and Philosophical Claims: An Indigenous Observation of Western Philosophy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mika, Carl

2015-01-01

Providing an indigenous opinion on anything is a difficult task. To be sure, there is a multitude of possible indigenous responses to dominant Western philosophy. My aim in this paper is to assess dominant analytic Western philosophy in light of the general insistence of most indigenous authors that indigenous metaphysics is holistic, and to make…

William James's Moral Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cooper, Wesley

2003-01-01

James's moral theory, primarily as set out in "The Moral Philosopher and the Moral Life" (in his "The Will To Believe" (1897)), is presented here as having a two-level structure, an empirical or historical level where progress toward greater moral inclusiveness is central, and a metaphysical or end-of-history level--James's "kingdom of…

Ethics in Language: The Case from World Englishes.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dhillon, Pradeep A.

2003-01-01

Discusses the significance of a Wittgensteinian approach to the ethics of language for world Englishes. Focuses on the role of metaphysics in the ethics of language and on the significance of context in the moral use of language. Argues that morality lies not only in its content but also in its use. (Author/VWL)

The Debate Continues: Further Evidence of Discontinuity in Dewey's Philosophy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prawat, Richard S.

2003-01-01

Responds to a critique of a thesis that Dewey underwent a dramatic midcareer change in his philosophy and that this change drew heavily on Pierce's metaphysics, offering additional evidence to support the claim that comparison of the 1910 and 1933 versions of "How We Think" reveals a major change in Dewey's views about inductionism. New…

Thinking Resources for Educational Research Methods and Methodology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peim, Nick

2009-01-01

This paper considers the idea of a crisis in educational research. Some conventional expressions of that "crisis" are examined in terms of their assumptions about what is "proper" to educational research. The paper then affirms the role of "metaphysics" in educational research as a necessary dimension of method, as opposed to the naive assertion…

Darwinian Liberal Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arnhart, Larry

2006-01-01

Be it metaphysics, theology, or some other unifying framework, humans have long sought to determine "first principles" underlying knowledge. Larry Arnhart continues in this vein, positing a Darwinian web of genetic, cultural, and cognitive evolution to explain our social behavior in terms of human nature as governed by biology. He leaves it to us…

Is Nature Immaterial? The Possibilities for Environmental Education without an Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stables, Andrew

2007-01-01

Contemporary thinking is generally based on substance, as opposed to process, metaphysics: in other words, the belief that the world and the universe are best understood in terms of material rather than events. The environment, for example, is conceived of as substantial; nature as a web of interconnected, if often fragile entities. In this…

The Inner (and Unavoidable?) Violence of Reason: Re-Reading Heidegger via Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

d'Agnese, Vasco

2015-01-01

Since Plato, Western thought has framed knowing as a method within "some realm of what is" and a predetermined "sphere of objects". The roots and the consequences of this stance towards reason and truth were noted by Heidegger, who equates the history of Western thought with the history of metaphysics. Since Plato, truth has…

Social Darwinism, Scientific Racism, and the Metaphysics of Race.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dennis, Rutledge M.

1995-01-01

Maintains that science is often used as a justification to propose, project, and enact racist social policies. The philosophy of Social Darwinism is reviewed, and its assumptions about race and human abilities is discussed. The consequences of scientific racism for dominant groups are analyzed. (GR)

Between physics and metaphysics: structure as a boundary concept.

PubMed

Tau, Ramiro

2015-03-01

The notion of structure is found to be used in a great number of theories, scientific research programs and world views. However, its uses and definitions are as diverse as the objects of the scientific disciplines where it can be found. Without trying to recreate the structuralist aspiration from the mid XX century, which believed to have found in this notion a common transdisciplinary language, I discuss a specific aspect of this concept that could be considered a constant in different perspectives. This aspect refers to the location of the notions of structure as boundaries in the different scientific theories. With this, I try to argue that the definition or presentation of a structure configures in itself the frontier for scientific knowledge, defining at the same time implied ontological assumptions. In order to discuss this hypothesis, and taking into consideration the double origin of contemporary notions of structure -the mathematical and linguistic line-, I revise several theoretical perspectives which made explicit the relation between structures and knowledge, and their relation with the real: the arguments on physical knowledge by Eddington, structural anthropology, structural linguistics, Lacanian psychoanalysis and Piaget's genetic psychology.

Is Society Capable of Learning? Beyond a Metaphysical Foundation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Su, Ya-hui

2016-01-01

There is an assumption that any contemporary society should become a learning society to maintain stability in the face of change. Although proponents and policymakers take for granted that a society has the ability to learn, can this idea be defended? There is a problem in determining exactly what is meant by a learning society that learns. One…

Can metaphysical values protect mountain wildlands from development damage?

Treesearch

Lawrence S. Hamilton; Jeneda Benally

2015-01-01

This paper addresses the question of whether spiritual, religious or cultural values held by humans for some wild mountain areas can protect these special places from developments that impair both these values and wild nature. The answer is sometimes yes, sometimes no, and sometimes a minimization of damage. Examples of each of these scenarios are briefly given, along...

Pavlov's methodological behaviorism as a pre-Socratic contribution of the melding of the differential and experimental psychology.

PubMed

Furedy, John J

2003-11-01

The differential/experimental distinction that Cronbach specified is important because any adequate account of psychological phenomena requires the recognition of the validity of both approaches, and a meaningful melding of the two. This paper suggests that Pavlov's work in psychology, based on earlier traditions of inquiry that can be traced back to the pre-Socratics, provides a potential way of achieving this melding, although such features as systematic rather than anecdotal methods of observation need to be added. Pavlov's methodological behaviorist approach is contrasted with metaphysical behaviorism (as exemplified explicitly in Watson and Skinner, and implicitly in the computer-metaphorical, information-processing explanations employed by current "cognitive" psychology). A common feature of the metaphysical approach is that individual-differences variables like sex are essentially ignored, or relegated to ideological categories such as the treatment of sex as merely a "social construction." Examples of research both before and after the "cognitive revolution" are presented where experimental and differential methods are melded, and individual differences are treated as phenomena worthy of investigation rather than as nuisance factors that merely add to experimental error.

Some important epochs in medicine.

PubMed

Dolan, J P; Holmes, G R

1984-08-01

One of the problems in attempting to chronicle briefly the great moments in the history of medicine is that, like the healing process itself, turning points are difficult to pinpoint. There have been surprisingly few "eurekas." In addition, unlike the history of corporate bodies or institutions (such as the church and the nation state) there is no continuous record, no deliberate account. However, the lack of such systemic recording has had its advantage in excluding the element of mythology and myopic partisanship. Since we must choose some kind of framework, we have (in addition to the arbitrary division into Ancient, Medieval, Modern Renaissance, and Enlightenment periods) taken a page from the works of August Comte, the eminent 19th Century philosopher, who divided all of history into three states: theologic (fictional), metaphysical (abstract), and scientific (positivistic). The division is convenient because it not only demonstrates the timelessness and transcendence of medicine, but it also makes it obvious that the cyclic nature of medical interests continues, even today, to offer a theologic, metaphysical, and scientific approach to the problems of health care.

Evil, Child Abuse and the Caring Professions.

PubMed

Humphrey, Caroline

2015-10-01

The aim of this paper is to explore the ways in which the concept of evil has been invoked in relation to child abuse. First, the scene is set by juxtaposing professional discourses which have eschewed the concept of evil and public opinion which is affronted by the evil of child abuse. Second, I will discuss the work of some therapists in the USA whose work with perpetrators and survivors has led them to frame the causes and consequences of child abuse in terms of moral evil. Third, I will draw upon case studies of Satanic abuse and spirit possession in the UK to illustrate that some social workers and religious communities have interpreted child abuse as an outcome of or as an antidote to metaphysical evil. Finally, there is a critical appraisal of the merits of referencing moral and metaphysical evil in the discourses of caring professionals, with a suggestion that a mythical-metaphorical conception of evil could be a more flexible and fruitful resource for therapeutic work.

Some reflections on human needs, peace, transculturality and Igbo proverbs in the light of Emmanuel Edeh's African philosophy.

PubMed

Prstačić, Miroslav

2015-03-01

Within the framework of a transcultural, psychodynamic and holistic approach, Edeh's concept of Man as Mma-di (in Igbo language in Nigeria, mma-di = good that is, and mma-ndu = the beauty of Life) is presented as the nucleus of his philosophical articulation from an African metaphysical-anthropological perspective. In this context, some reflections are shown on the following topics: human creativity and peace... of mind, body and soul, as existential values and entity in bioethics; aspects of Edeh's philosophy and his work on the peace in the world; transculturality and Igbo proverbs shaped in form of Japanese Haiku poetry. These reflections emphasize the importance of induced aesthetic mental state in the subject, which derives from biological impulses but from archetypal and symbolic value of the object and continuously enter into a metaphysical experience as a form of life energy and human existential need. In this context, we discover also Edeh's philosophy as a new stimulus for further reflections and research on human life potentials, creativity, peace and Man's cosmic responsibility.

The Wolffian roots of Kant's teleology.

PubMed

van den Berg, Hein

2013-12-01

Kant's teleology as presented in the Critique of Judgment is commonly interpreted in relation to the late eighteenth-century biological research of Johann Friedrich Blumenbach. In the present paper, I show that this interpretative perspective is incomplete. Understanding Kant's views on teleology and biology requires a consideration of the teleological and biological views of Christian Wolff and his rationalist successors. By reconstructing the Wolffian roots of Kant's teleology, I identify several little known sources of Kant's views on biology. I argue that one of Kant's main contributions to eighteenth-century debates on biology consisted in demarcating biology from metaphysics. Kant rejected Wolffian views on the hierarchy of sciences, according to which propositions specifying the functions of organisms are derived from theological truths. In addition, Kant argued that organic self-organization necessitates a teleological description in order to show that self-organization does not support materialism. By demarcating biology and metaphysics, Kant made a small yet important contribution to establishing biology as a science. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Perceptual Pragmatism and the Naturalized Ontology of Color.

PubMed

Chirimuuta, Mazviita

2017-01-01

This paper considers whether there can be any such thing as a naturalized metaphysics of color-any distillation of the commitments of perceptual science with regard to color ontology. I first make some observations about the kinds of philosophical commitments that sometimes bubble to the surface in the psychology and neuroscience of color. Unsurprisingly, because of the range of opinions expressed, an ontology of color cannot simply be read off from scientists' definitions and theoretical statements. I next consider two alternative routes. First, conceptual pluralism inspired by Mark Wilson's analysis of scientific representation. I argue that these findings leave the prospects for a naturalized color ontology rather dim. Second, I outline a naturalized epistemology of perception. I ask how the correctness and informativeness of perceptual states is understood by contemporary perceptual science. I argue that the detectionist ideal of correspondence should be replaced by the pragmatic ideal of usefulness. I argue that this result has significant implications for the metaphysics of color. Copyright © 2016 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Freedom in nature

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hájíček, P.

2009-09-01

The paper starts with the proposal that the cause of the apparent insolubility of the free-will problem are several popular but strongly metaphysical notions and hypotheses. To reduce the metaphysics, some ideas are borrowed from physics. A concept of event causality is discussed. The importance of Hume’s Principle of Causality is stressed and his Principle of Causation is weakened. The key concept of the paper, the so-called relative freedom, is also suggested by physics. It is a kind of freedom that can be observed everywhere in nature. Turning to biology, incomplete knowledge is defined for all organisms. They cope with the problem by Popper’s trial and error processes. One source of their success is the relative freedom of choice from the basic option ranges: mutations, motions and neural connections. Finally, the conjecture is adopted that communicability can be used as a criterion of consciousness and free will is defined as a conscious version of relative freedom. The resulting notion is logically self-consistent and it describes an observable phenomenon that agrees with our experience.

Genesis and profanation of the other world: The interpretation of dreams.

PubMed

Drivet, Leandro

2017-12-01

This paper addresses Nietzsche's reflections on the phenomenon of dreams as a crucial precedent of Freud's Die Traumdeutung. The works of Nietzsche and Freud are scrutinized to establish and compare the most relevant aspects of their understanding of dreams. The philosophical impact of both accounts is assessed in terms of the transvaluation of religious and metaphysical values, which reveals three epistemological shifts: the replacement of Metaphysics by History/Genealogy (Nietzsche) and by Metapsychology (Freud), and the expansion of rationality beyond the limits of consciousness (Nietzsche and Freud). Both authors are shown to consider dreams as figurative expressions of a postponed desire - or, more specifically, as the imaginary fulfillment (compensation) and the evocation/awakening of desire. As captured by the phrase "Memento libidines", dreams are portrayed in both accounts as the guardians of sleep and desire. Finally, and in contrast with Assoun, a new interpretation of Thus Spoke Zarathustra is proposed, as an interpretation of the prophet's dreams reveals the presence of individual desire within the Nietzschean understanding of the phenomenon. Copyright © 2017 Institute of Psychoanalysis.

The Dilemma of Science and Morals

PubMed Central

Stent, Gunther S.

1974-01-01

The conflicts between science and morals which still continue to arise despite the apparent hegemony of atheistic scientism over traditional Judeo-Christianity in the twentieth century reflect a basic contradiction in the metaphysical foundation of Western lives. As was set forth by Machiavelli, the contradiction inherent in Western ethics is that it is based on the simultaneous belief in both objectively valid moral truths and purely relative values of communal purpose. The achievements of twentieth century science have intensified these contradictions. Modern physics has put in question the validity of its own metaphysical basis, namely the belief in Natural Law, and modern biology has been unable to come to terms with the Cartesian dualism of body and soul. By contrast, Chinese lives are comparatively free of these contradictions, being founded on the philosophies of Confucianism and Taoism, to which the concepts of objectively valid truth or Natural Law are foreign. Recent developments in Western attitudes regarding science and morals can be interpreted as a movement away from the traditional belief in absolute truths towards a Chinese relativism. PMID:4531410

Cyclic Degradation Behavior of < 001 > -Oriented Fe-Mn-Al-Ni Single Crystals in Tension

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vollmer, M.; Kriegel, M. J.; Krooß, P.; Martin, S.; Klemm, V.; Weidner, A.; Chumlyakov, Y.; Biermann, H.; Rafaja, D.; Niendorf, T.

2017-12-01

In the present study, functional fatigue behavior of a near 〈001〉-oriented Fe-Mn-Al-Ni single crystal was investigated under tensile load. An incremental strain test up to 3.5% strain and cyclic tests up to 25 cycles revealed rapid pseudoelastic degradation. Progressive microstructural degradation was studied by in situ scanning electron microscopy. The results show a partially inhibited reactivation of previously formed martensite and proceeding activation of untransformed areas in subsequent cycles. The preferentially formed martensite variants were identified by means of Schmid factor calculation and the Kurdjumov-Sachs relationship. Post mortem transmission electron microscopy investigations shed light on the prevailing degradation mechanisms. Different types of dislocations were found promoting the progressive degradation during cyclic loading.

Distinguishing Science from Philosophy: A Critical Assessment of Thomas Nagel's Recommendation for Public Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lammey, Melissa

2012-01-01

The purpose of this dissertation is to argue that while a discussion of the nature of human knowledge might be a worthy goal to pursue in public education, the science classroom is not the appropriate place for this discussion. The concern that no claims to knowledge--including scientific claims--are void of a metaphysical and epistemological…

Chiasmus as a Stylistic Device in Donne's and Vaughan's Poetry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

I'jam, Dunya Muhammad Miqdad; Fadhil, Zahraa Adnan

2016-01-01

This study investigates chiasmus as a stylistic device in ten metaphysical poems (five for John Donne and five for Henry Vaughan). It aims at showing how both, Donne and Vaughan, utilize chiasmus at the different linguistic levels as a stylistic device in their poetry. Thus, to achieve this aim, it is hypothesized that chiasmus as used by Donne…

Osteoglophonic dwarfism in two generations.

PubMed Central

Kelley, R I; Borns, P F; Nichols, D; Zackai, E H

1983-01-01

A father and son, both affected by a skeletal dysplasia with severe craniofacial deformities, are reported and compared to three previously described isolated cases of the same dwarfism. The principal features are craniosynostosis, multiple lucent metaphyseal defects, flattening and anterior beaking of the vertebral bodies, and abnormal dentition. Autosomal dominant inheritance is suggested. Images PMID:6606709

Nature, Education and Things

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rømer, Thomas Aastrup

2013-01-01

In this essay it is argued that the educational philosophy of John Dewey gains in depth and importance by being related to his philosophy of nature, his metaphysics. The result is that any experiental process is situated inside an event, an existence, a thing, and I try to interpret this "thing" as schools or major cultural events such…

Learning about Learning: A Conundrum and a Possible Resolution

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barnett, Ronald

2011-01-01

What is it to learn in the modern world? We can identify four "learning epochs" through which our understanding of learning has passed: a metaphysical view; an empirical view; an experiential view; and, currently, a "learning-amid-contestation" view. In this last and current view, learning has its place in a world in which, the more one learns,…

So, What Is the Answer? Questions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hall, Don

2005-01-01

Leaders are barraged daily by teachers, administrators, and students seeking answers to questions ranging from the simplistic to the metaphysical in their complexity. The author is sure leaders wonder at times, "How in the world can I free up enough time to answer them all?" Well, the author states that he hates to break the news, but it is…