Safety and epistemic luck

There is some consensus that for S to know that p, it cannot be merely a matter of luck that S’s belief that p is true. This consideration has led Duncan Pritchard and others to propose a safety condition on knowledge. In this paper, we argue that the safety condition is not a proper formulation of the intuition that knowledge excludes luck. We suggest an alternative proposal in the same spirit as safety, and find it lacking as well.     

“医药分业”改革的经济学分析

目前,我国药品监督管理机构正在推行“渐进式的医药分业”政策,目标是将药品价格总体下降26%～30%,将每年469亿元～547亿元的药品毛利化作医疗服务收费标准的调整幅度,以后医疗服务收费标准按物价指数逐年调整。但在现有条件下执行这一政策,表面上医疗机构是直接的利益受损者,但事实上广大的药品消费者或支付者将为之埋单而成为利益受损者,药品生产者和流通渠道才是这一政策的真正受益者,政府也将面临提高医疗服务收费标准或增加医疗机构补偿的两难抉择。     

三维适形放疗治疗晚期腹部恶性肿瘤的临床受益和毒副反应

为观察三维适形放疗治疗晚期腹部恶性肿瘤的临床受益情况和毒副反应。对38例晚期腹部恶性肿瘤患者进行三维适形放疗,疗中和疗后进行临床受益情况和毒副反应的观察和评价。结果临床受益情况：有效为28．9％,稳定为42．1％,疼痛缓解率为28．9％;毒副反应主要为骨髓抑制、胃肠道反应、生化指标改变,除少数病例出现Ⅳ度生化指标改变外,其余均在Ⅲ度以下。结论三维适形放疗可以提高晚期腹部恶性肿瘤患者的生存质量,毒副反应轻微,是一种有效的姑息治疗手段。     

Nanotoxicology and Ethical Conditions for Informed Consent

While their strength, electrical, optical, or magnetic properties are expected to contribute a trillion dollars in global commerce before 2015, nanomaterials also appear to pose threats to human health and safety. Nanotoxicology is the study of these threats. Do nanomaterial benefits exceed their risks? Should all nanomaterials be regulated? Currently nanotoxicologists cannot help answer these questions because too little is known about nanomaterials, because their properties differ from those of bulk materials having the same chemical composition, and because they differ so widely in their applications. Instead, this paper answers a preliminary ethical question: What nanotech policies are likely to contribute to society’s ability to give or withhold free informed consent to the potential risks associated with production and use of nanomaterials? This paper argues that at least four current policies appear to jeopardize the risk-disclosure condition that is required for informed consent. These are the funding problem, the conflict-of-interest problem, the labeling problem, and the extrapolation problem. Apart from future decisions on how to ethically make, use, and regulate nanomaterials, this paper argues that, at a minimum, these four policies must be modified. Government must spend greater monies on nanotoxicology; ensure independent nanotoxicology research; label consumer products containing nanomaterials; and avoid assuming that nanotoxicological properties are based merely on mass and chemical composition. Otherwise free informed consent to these new technologies and materials may be jeopardized.     

The effects of safety-seeking behavior and guided threat reappraisal on fear reduction during exposure: an experimental investigation

We examined the effects of safety-seeking behavior and guided threat focus and reappraisal on fear reduction during exposure. Participants (N=46) displaying marked claustrophobic fear were randomized to one of three 30-min exposure conditions: (a) guided threat focus and reappraisal; (b) safety-behavior utilization; or (c) exposure only control. Tripartite outcome assessments during a behavioral approach test, along with measures of suffocation and restriction fears were obtained at pre- and post-treatment, and at a 2-week follow-up. Treatment process measures were collected throughout treatment and consisted of indices of fear activation; within and between-trial fear habituation; and suffocation and entrapment expectancies. Measures of safety behavior utilization and attentional focus were also collected to assess the integrity of the experimental manipulations. Consistent with prediction, those encouraged to utilize safety-behaviors during exposure showed significantly more fear at post-treatment and follow-up relative to those encouraged to focus and reevaluate their core threat(s) during exposure. Moreover, growth curve analyses of treatment process data analyses revealed that safety-behavior utilization exerted a detrimental effect on between-trial habituation; whereas guided threat reappraisal enhanced between-trial habituation.