Across the Martian Frontier? Thoughts on Planet B,a Martian Safety Valve,and the Earth as Our Body

Even though we are on the precipice of a “bad Anthropocene,” humankind should not colonize Mars. Mars is often depicted as our “Planet B”—an evacuation plan for Earth. But in this time of ecological crisis, theologian Sallie McFague suggests that we think of the Earth as God’s body and take our obligation to care for our common home seriously. Likewise, in contrast to calls for colonization, I contend that two American historical anecdotes—the safety valve theory and the Yellowstone—illustrate why humanity should think less about becoming Martians and instead find meaning and purpose in remaining Earthlings.     

Once More Unto the Breach: Type B Physicalism,Phenomenal Concepts,and the Epistemic Gap

Type B, or a posteriori, physicalism is the view that phenomenal-physical identity statements can be necessarily true, even though they cannot be known a priori—and that the key to understanding their status is to understand the special features of our phenomenal concepts, those concepts of our experiential states acquired through introspection. This view was once regarded as a promising response to anti-physicalist arguments that maintain that an epistemic gap between phenomenal and physical concepts entails that phenomenal and physical properties are distinct. More recently, however, many physicalists have lost confidence in the view, and have proposed less promising defences of physicalism—or have become outright sceptical about its prospects. I argue here that these physicalists have underestimated the resources of Type B physicalism and are thereby retreating too quickly—or fighting battles that have already been won.     

慢性乙型肝炎患者外周血中睾酮的变化及其意义

测定65例慢性乙型肝炎患者和35例健康者血清睾酮水平,并分别检测血清丙氨酸氨基转移酶（alanine aminotransferase,ALT）、谷氨酸氨基转移酶（aspartate aminotransferase,AST）、γ-谷氨酰基转肽酶（gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase,GOT）、血清总胆红素（total bilirubin,TBIL）、碱性磷酸酶（alkaline phosphatase,ALP）、免疫球蛋白IgG、IgM、IgA,荧光定量PCR检测外周血HBV DNA水平。慢性乙型肝炎患者血清睾酮水平显著高于正常对照组,HBeAg阳性患者较HBeAg阴性患者升高明显,但差别无显著意义。慢性乙型肝炎患者肝功血清学指标ALT、AST、TBIL、GGT、ALP及IgG水平显著高于正常人,但乙肝患者睾酮水平与ALT等生化指标及HBV DNA水平无明显相关性,与免疫球蛋白IgG呈中等负相关。因而可以看出慢性乙型肝炎患者血清睾酮水平显著高于正常人,睾酮水平升高可作为慢性乙型肝炎的易感因素之一。     

干扰素治疗慢性乙型肝炎临床评价

干扰素治疗慢性乙型肝炎已有20多年历史,由于其抑制病毒复制和强大的免疫调节作用,以及具有疗程确定,不引起病毒变异耐药,显效后疗效持久的特点,是慢性乙型肝炎抗病毒治疗的首选药物之一。多项试验证明聚乙二醇化干扰素治疗慢性乙型肝炎的疗效优于普通干扰素和核苷类似物。本文就有关干扰素单用、联合核苷类似物和序贯疗法治疗慢性乙型肝炎的临床研究和HBV基因型对干扰素疗效的影响做简要综述。     

A threshold theory of the humor response

The humor response has long been considered mysterious, and it is given relatively little attention in modern experimental psychology, in spite of the fact that numerous studies suggest that it has substantial benefits for mood and health. Existing theories of humor fail to account for some of the most basic humor phenomena. On most occasions when a humor response occurs, certain verbal or visual stimuli (the "setup" stimuli, which function as an establishing operation) must precede a critical stimulus (such as a "punch line" or the final panel or critical feature of a cartoon), which then occasions a sudden "revelation" or "understanding"; this revelation is often accompanied by the humor response. We suggest that the setup stimuli increase the strength of the revelatory response to a point just below the threshold of awareness and that the critical stimulus, properly designed and timed, edges the revelatory response to a point just above threshold. We also suggest that it is this threshold phenomenon that produces most instances of the humor response. We discuss these issues in the context of some notable humor of Carl Rogers and B. F. Skinner.     

乙肝病毒感染儿童面临的社会伦理学问题

我国是乙型病毒性肝炎高发区,母婴传播感染是一条极其重要且不易阻断的感染途径,由母婴传播导致的儿童乙肝病毒感染问题,不仅仅是现阶段我国严重的公共卫生问题,同时也是严重的社会伦理问题。HBV感染儿童在成长过程中所面临的社会歧视和自身权利保障是每一个患儿家庭迫切关心的,也是社会伦理学工作者的研究范畴。     

Parental stress, coping styles, and social supports in chinese families with hepatitis-b-carrying children

The purpose of the study was to examine the hypothesis that parents’ psychological well-being can be affected by a child’s illness and their social situations. In this study, we discuss the roles of coping, social support and situational context related to stress. These factors cannot only affect stress levels but can also influence whether the individual adopts a certain type of coping style for stressful events. Parental stress, coping styles and social support were compared between groups of parents of Hepatitis B virus (HBV) carrier children or healthy children. Results showed that parents of affected children were significantly more stressed and psychologically at risk, and tended to mobilize personal resources and to rely more on themselves to solve stressful life events. They also sought help from social resources more often than did parents of healthy children. Parents of healthy children had a higher number of close friends and relatives available to them. Ninety Chinese parents and their HBV or healthy children participated in this study. These families were all living in the city of Guangzhou, China.     

B. F. Skinner and G. H. Mead: on biological science and social science.

Skinner's contributions to psychology provide a unique bridge between psychology conceptualized as a biological science and psychology conceptualized as a social science. Skinner focused on behavior as a naturally occurring biological phenomenon of interest in its own right, functionally related to surrounding events and, in particular (like phylogenesis), subject to selection by its consequences. This essentially biological orientation was further enhanced by Skinner's emphasis on the empirical foundations provided by laboratory-based experimental analyses of behavior, often with nonhuman subjects. Skinner's theoretical writings, however, also have affinity with the traditions of constructionist social science. The verbal behavior of humans is said to be subject, like other behavior, to functional analyses in terms of its environment, in this case its social context. Verbal behavior in turn makes it possible for us to relate to private events, a process that ultimately allows for the development of consciousness, which is thus said to be a social product. Such ideas make contact with aspects of G. H. Mead's social behaviorism and, perhaps of more contemporary impact in psychology, L. Vygotsky's general genetic law of cultural development. Failure to articulate both the biological and the social science aspects of Skinner's theoretical approach to psychology does a disservice to his unique contribution to a discipline that remains fragmented between two intellectual traditions.     

Personality,age, and fluid intelligence

A total of 383 participants (aged 19 to 66 years) completed the Raven's Progressive Matrices, the Myers‐Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), the Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation‐Behavior (FIRO‐B), and the California Psychological Inventory‐434 (CPI‐434). Results showed that IQ was positively correlated with perceiving (MBTI), control (FIRO‐B), intellectual efficiency (CPI‐434), achievement via independence (CPI‐434), and negatively correlated with sensing (MBTI), internality (CPI‐434) and norm‐favouring (CPI‐434), supporting the majority of the hypotheses. Participants' age was correlated with many measures, particularly intelligence and accounted for a third of the variance in IQ scores. Limitations are considered.     

NF-κB圈套寡脱氧核苷酸联合紫杉醇对肺癌细胞增殖凋亡的影响

探讨NF-κB圈套寡脱氧核苷酸(NF-κB decoy ODN)联合紫杉醇对肺癌细胞增殖凋亡的影响。培养人肺癌细胞A549:(1)脂质体瞬时转染细胞;(2)MTT试验观察细胞生长曲线;(3)流式细胞术检测细胞凋亡率。NF-κB decoyODN使细胞生长受到抑制,NF-κBdecoy ODN联合紫杉醇使细胞凋亡增加。NF-κB decoy ODN联合紫杉醇可增强对肺癌细胞增殖的抑制及凋亡的诱导。