Treatment of Patients with Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma using Stem Cell Differentiation Stage Factors

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) represents the third leading cause of cancer-related death. Because HCC is multicentric with time, excluding the few transplanted patients, sooner or later it becomes untreatable with loco-regional therapies and, until some years ago, it was not responsive to systemic therapies. In 2005 a randomized trial indicated the efficacy of a product containing stem cell differentiation stage factors (SCDSF) taken from zebrafish embryos during the stage in which the totipotent stem cells are differentiating into the pluripotent adult stem cells. In such a trial the patients, with “intermediate” and “advanced” HCC according to Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer/American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (BCLC/AASLD) guidelines, presented benefit in terms of performance status and objective tumoral response, with some cases (2.4%) of complete response, that is, sustained disappearance of the neoplastic areas or blood supply therein, accompanied by normalization of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) levels (complete response [CR]). A second study reporting the experience of a tertiary referral center on patients with “advanced” stage confirmed the possibility to obtain CR. Out of 38 patients, 5 presented a sustained CR (13.1%). Improvement on PS was obtained in 17 patients (34.6%). No side effects occurred.     

A Stronger Doctrine of Double Effect

Many believe that intended harms are more difficult to justify than are harms that result as a foreseen side effect of one's conduct. We describe cases of harming in which the harm is not intended, yet the harmful act nevertheless runs afoul of the intuitive moral constraint that governs intended harms. We note that these cases provide new and improved counterexamples to the so-called Simple View, according to which intentionally phi-ing requires intending to phi. We then give a new theory of the moral relevance of intention. This theory yields the traditional constraint on intending harm as a special case, along with several stronger demands.     

Problematic donation procedures vs. futuristic research and treatment applications: A dichotomous social representation of stem cells in Italy

IntroductionCurrently, stem cells (SC) are one of the most studied issues of medical research as well as a widespread, complex, socially and ethically relevant issue.ObjectiveThe general aim of the present study is to explore how social representations (SR) of SC is different for people more or less willing to donate SC, also comparing bone marrow SC (BMSC) donation and umbilical cord blood SC (UCBSC) donation.MethodA paper-and-pencil survey was administrated to 78 Italian respondents. A structural analysis of SC-SRs (prototypical and co-occurrence analysis) was conducted comparing people with a high/low intention to donate UCBSC/BMSC.ResultsSimilarly to other bioethically relevant issues, SR of SC seems to be ambivalent and dichotomously organized, with the donation procedure been a barrier.ConclusionThese results are in line with studies finding two sets of dichotomies: on the one hand, a gift-of-life/replacement-of-body-parts dichotomy coexisting within people's SR of organ donation; on the other hand, a help/pain and needle dichotomy within blood donation's SR. Directions for future research are suggested.     

诱导多能干细胞技术的生命伦理分析

诱导多能干细胞(induced pluripotent stem cells,iPSCs)是通过向分化的体细胞转入特定的外源转录因子进行重编程,从而获得具有自我更新能力和多能性的细胞.iPSCs具有形成体内所有细胞类型的潜能,尤其是能以患者自身体细胞制备iPSCs,可用于特定疾病的治疗,规避了异体移植引发的免疫排斥风险以及伦理和法律冲突等问题,在基础研究和临床应用都有广阔的应用前景.目前,在重编程体细胞为iPSCs的过程中,由于细胞来源不同,所采用的基因组合以及转基因方式各不相同,获得的iPSCs具有潜在的致癌性等安全隐患,导致iPSCs的临床应用面临新的生命伦理挑战.     

The Simple Copy Task: Detecting Higher Order Visual Processing Deficits in Schizophrenia,Dementia, and Movement Disorder Groups

The Simple Copy Task (SCT) is a figure copying test with inherent appeal due to its short administration time, graded task difficulty, varied stimuli, and potential to eliminate floor effects. Despite this, there is a lack of data regarding its construct validity and diagnostic utility. The present study compared SCT performance of schizophrenia (n = 29), dementia (n = 64), and movement disorder (n = 12) groups with that of unmatched healthy control participants (n = 49). Movement disorder patients committed a high degree of misplacement errors, whereas dementia patients tended to omit items, add extraneous detail, and perseverate. The schizophrenia group was most similar to the dementia group in their performance on the SCT, committing primarily omission and perseveration errors. The SCT was most closely related to the Rey Complex Figure Task (r = 0.68, p < .01) and the Block Design Task (r = 0.62, p < .01). Age (r = ?0.14, p < .01) and education (r = 0.35, p < .01) effects were present; however, there was no impact of gender and handedness. Taken together, these findings provide support for the utility of the task and directions for clinical interpretation.     

Is there any evidence of historical slowing of reaction time? No,unless we compare apples and oranges

In this paper, we reconsider a tendency of historical slowing of simple reactions to visual stimuli declared by Woodley et al. (in press). We begin by reconstructing a pendulum similar to that used by Galton and question whether such an instrument could indeed be appropriate for purposes of RT measurement. Next, we screened the other studies used in Woodley's meta-analysis and note the important properties of these studies that make the RTs that they report incomparable to each other. We claim that there is no evidence of the trend of historical increase in RT after these differences between studies are taken into account. Overall, we conclude that any cross-study comparison of RTs is uninformative and cannot provide any evidence for speculating on the topic of historical change in intelligence.     

干细胞技术与肝硬化:共性与个性的新实践

干细胞横向分化(transdifferentiation)的能力,在肝脏再生过程中发挥作用,随着对干细胞的深入研究,干细胞技术为终末期肝病的治疗提供了新思路。本文对干细胞加以分类并综述了各种干细胞研究进展,对干细胞在肝脏疾病细胞治疗上的应用及前景作了总结和展望。     

Fabricated Humans? Human Genetics,Ethics and the Christian Wisdom Tradition1

Abstract: This article highlights the key social issues associated with genetic screening and testing. It identifies an uneasy combination of a cultural drive towards perfection alongside heightened perception of a risk society. Awareness of risk is particularly in evidence in clinical genetics, but is surprisingly silent in public discourse about stem cell research, which has tended to flounder through its unilateral focus on the status of the early embryo. This article concentrates on current practice, such as the use of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, and offers a critical analysis of current debates about ethical issues. It argues that Christian ethics can contribute positively to the debate by drawing on the tradition of prudence or practical wisdom, which goes beyond the secular alternatives of both the consequential analysis of risk and benefit and the precautionary principle.     

人类干细胞之伦理原则与监管政策（上）

本文分两大部分。第一部分从干细胞的功能、来源与社会争议性3种角度划分了人类干细胞的种类,并讨论与人类干细胞研究及临床应用相关的9条伦理原则,特别强调了西方国家对胚胎捐赠在知情同意方面的伦理耍求。第二部分讨论了制定监管人类干细胞研究的3个原则,并简单地介绍了在英美各国监管的情况,其中较详细地评论了英国的种种立法过程、设立的法定机构和执行的种种政策与机制,作为在我国讨论类似政策参考之用。     

生殖性复制与医疗性复制之伦理区分

目前,各国政府和学术界对生殖性复制持否定态度是一致的,但对医疗性复制却存在激烈的争论。争论主要涉及人类胚胎的来源、胚胎的地位,以及胚胎干细胞成果应用的可接受性。