93,574 research outputs found
Ethics in Geosciences
No full textDear Colleagues,
What is geoethics? Let us start from the definition of the key terms which make up the word: ethics is a system of moral principles and is defined as the rules of conduct recognized with respect to a particular class of human actions or a particular group or culture. “Geo-logy” means “rational reasoning/discourse on the Earth”, or more simply “study of the Earth”.
“Nature” is the object of interest in the history of geology. It is defined as the foundation of existence, in its physical and biological settings, or as a set of characters in a certain region still not changed by “Civilization”.
Integrating these three essential concepts, it is almost automatic to see clearly how deep and innate the link between geology and ethics is, and how it is important to develop something more than a naturally ethical behavior in practice, with the goal of recognizing and reaching strategically ethical objectives on a global scale—first of all, survival itself and a harmonious relationship between human beings and nature.
So, the proposed collection aims to provide a contribution to the scientific field of geoethics, a growing field that is extremely rich in new perspectives. In parallel, the future of our planet appears to be deeply linked to geoethics. The extraordinary interest in this new field of research, with a strong appeal to translate the results of these reflections into action, testifies the social need of this innovative discipline born from the intersection between philosophy, geography, sociology, and geology.
Through this collection, we would like to contribute to the geoethics debate in order to achieve a concrete discussion on risk prevention through the presentation of case studies and theoretical approaches. Special attention will be devoted to unconventional ways of interpreting the role of geoscientists in referring to ethics (after all, that is the core concept in everyone’s life), starting from ideas, experiences, and results achieved by the geoethics research community, but also from the dialogue between scholars of human, natural, and social sciences to face the great challenges related to global change
Prognostic markers and putative therapeutic targets for hepatocellular carcinoma.
No full textMol Aspects Med. 2010 Apr;31(2):179-93. Epub 2010 Feb 20.
Prognostic markers and putative therapeutic targets for hepatocellular carcinoma.
Frau M, Biasi F, Feo F, Pascale RM.
Source
Department of Biomedical Sciences, Division of Experimental Pathology and Oncology, University of Sassari, 07100 Sassari, Italy.
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most frequent human cancer and a fatal disease. Therapies with pharmacological agents do not improve the prognosis of patients with unresectable HCC. This emphasizes the need to identify new targets for early diagnosis, chemoprevention, and treatment of the disease. Available evidence indicates that clinical outcome of HCC could reflect the genetic predisposition to cancer development and progression. Numerous loci controlling HCC progression have been identified in rodents. In this review, we describe results of recent studies on effector mechanisms of susceptibility/resistance genes, responsible for HCC progression, aimed at identifying new putative prognostic markers and therapeutic targets of this tumor. Highest c-myc amplification and overexpression, alterations of iNOS crosstalk with IKK/NF-kB and RAS/ERK signaling, ubiquitination of ERK and cell cycle inhibitors, and deregulation of FOXM1 and cell cycle key genes occur in rapidly progressing dysplastic nodules and HCC, induced in genetic susceptible rat strains, compared to the lesions of resistant rats. Notably, alterations of these mechanisms in human HCC subtypes with poorer or better prognosis, are similar to those present in genetically susceptible and resistant rats, respectively, and function as prognostic markers and therapeutic targets. Attempts to cure advanced HCC by molecular therapy directed against specific targets led to modest survival benefit. Thus, efforts are necessary to identify and test, in pre-clinical and clinical studies, new therapeutic targets for combined molecular treatments of HCC. They may take advantage from the comparative analysis of signal transduction in HCCs differently prone to progress, in rats and humans
Pascale Drouet, Love’s Labour’s Lost
No full textWith its concise historical contextualizing and its pertinent approaches to analysis, Pascale Drouet’s recent publication provides the oft-overlooked play the critical acknowledgment it greatly deserves. It is especially designed for francophone students of Shakespeare, bringing together some of the most artfully-couched and enlightening insights from other prominent critical works, continental and other. In “Repères,” the author makes use of those biographical and historical elements that sh..
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