Conflict of interest from a Romanian geneticist’s perspective

This paper examines Romanian bioethics regulations for biomedical sciences, looking in particular at the genetics area as a source for conflict of interest. The analysis is focused on the organizational level, national regulations, the sources for generating conflicts of interest, and management of conflicts. Modern biotechnology and gene technology are among the key technologies of the twenty-first century. The application of gene technology for medical and pharmaceutical purposes is widely accepted by society, but the same cannot be said of the development and application of gene technology in agriculture and food processing. Because the use of a technology in the production and processing of food is regarded more sceptically than in the production of biomedical products, there can be areas of conflict in many cases when communication is undertaken about gene technology in the agro-food sector. Ethical concerns play an important factor in this, but a society’s attitude to a developing technology is an amalgam of many effects which are beyond ethics as such. This paper contains a study carried out by the author for the Romanian Association for Consumer Protection about the attitudes of consumers towards genetically modified (GM) foods. This study revealed that in Romania more than 98% of consumers did not know anything about GM foods and frequently were confused about the definitions of these terms. In conclusion, it is necessary to say that there is a low level of knowledge regarding biotechnology in Romania and this is an important reason why there is neither public acceptance of gene technology products nor is there a rejection. An earlier version of this paper was presented at an International Conference on “Conflict of Interest and its Significance in Science and Medicine” held in Warsaw, Poland on 5–6 April, 2002. Ioana Ispas, MD in Molecular Biology, is a scientific researcher and Member of the Romanian Association for Consumer Protection, NCP for FP5-Quality of life and management of living resources.     

慢性应激对大鼠行为和免疫细胞热休克蛋白70表达的影响

目的：研究慢性不确定应激对大鼠急性整体热水浴后外周血和脾脏免疫细胞热休克蛋白70（Heat shock protein 70, HSP70）表达的影响。方法：随机将大鼠分成慢性应激组和控制组（每组14只）。通过4周的慢性不确定性应激诱发实验组大鼠明显的抑郁行为,此期间控制组大鼠正常饲养。随后给予大鼠42度整体热水浴刺激,维持直肠温度41度25min。热刺激后6h,采用流式细胞仪测定大鼠外周血和脾脏免疫细胞HSP70 水平。结果：与控制组大鼠相比,慢性应激大鼠在急性热刺激后HSP70合成明显减少。控制组大鼠的所有被检测的免疫细胞热应激后HSP70合成均明显增加。相反,慢性应激大鼠仅在外周血的单核细胞和粒细胞检测到HSP70合成增加,同时升高的水平明显低于控制组大鼠。结论：慢性应激降低大鼠免疫细胞HSP70的热诱导反应,提示HSP70保护性作用减弱可能参与了慢性应激损害免疫细胞功能的生物学过程     

The Politics of Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research in South Korea: Contesting National Sociotechnical Imaginaries

To many commentators outside South Korea, the Hwang Woo Suk scandal involving human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research was just another spectacular case of misconduct in the life sciences. As such, it is generally assumed to have revealed the drawbacks of research in scientifically and ethically less-developed societies. Such thinking ignores the history, sophistication, and distinctive features of the public debate over hESC research in South Korea. Disputes over the social and ethical implications of hESC research had taken place for some time before the scandal erupted. Moreover, unlike in some other countries, where resistance to hESC research was prompted by religious conservatives, the most serious critique of the country's rapid move into the field came from progressive social movement activists—including feminists and environmentalists. These activists were, in fact, part of the non-governmental organization coalition to impose stricter social controls on biotechnology. This campaign was motivated by broader political and social concerns beyond specific biosafety or bioethical issues. The activists involved in the coalition feared that the capitalist–developmentalist drive toward biotechnology would threaten the public interest and democracy, and ultimately block South Korea's road to becoming a democratic nation founded on the values of social justice, equality, participation, and sustainability. In contesting South Korea's prevailing approaches to hESC research, they challenged, albeit unsuccessfully, the dominant ‘national sociotechnical imaginary’ that articulates the role of science and technology in relation to the future survival and well-being of the nation primarily in terms of its industrial competitiveness.     

干细胞纠缠

干细胞生物学的研究目前还处于一个“灰箱”的状态,阻止机制阐明的最大障碍之一可能是因为缺少一个行之有效且又不会改变干细胞自然属性的研究平台。这个平台的中心是要有一个像“薛定谔的猫”那样能即时报告干细胞属性的作用角色。目前,主要有两方面阻碍了干细胞研究的进一步深化,一个是干细胞如何不对称分裂,另一个是干细胞巢的结构组成。其实,在微观世界的许多研究中,如物理学中的量子论,都是因为缺少那只“薛定谔的猫”才使研究的钟摆停在原地不动。     

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.     

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.     

THE ABSTRACT SUBLIME: Life as information waiting to be rewritten

We report here on a series of interaction-intensive, interdisciplinary workshops to foster collaboration among those who teach, study, and engage with the public about scientific developments and social change—the New England Workshop on Science and Social Change. We include one line of thinking that fed into the workshops and present an analysis of how they contribute to participants developing their interest and skills in collaboration. Workshop evaluations suggest that people are moved to develop themselves as collaborators when they view an experience or training as transformative. Four R's—respect, risk, revelation, and re-engagement—point to the important conditions for interactions among researchers to be experienced as transformative. Three considerations lie behind the focus on the process side of the workshops, not the specific workshop topics: (1) how best to fill in for readers what they missed out on by not being there; (2) workshops and meetings are a ubiquitous part of the culture of science and technology studies (STS) so it is valuable to examine this aspect of our own culture with a view to promoting positive changes; and (3) in some scientific fields organized multi-person collaborative processes form a highly valorized aspect of the culture of science, so reflection on experiences of participation and collaboration in STS might inform our analyses of fields that emphasize collaboration and group processes. Indeed, the authors' own involvement in the workshops extends our own STS work on actor networks and ‘heterogeneous engineering’, that is, the mobilization of a variety of resources by diverse agents spanning different realms of social action.     

胰腺癌综合治疗面面观

在胰腺癌的综合治疗中,手术切除是清除肿瘤负荷的最有效的局部治疗方法,但其效果会受到胰腺癌恶性行为和解剖位置的限制.从“重视全面、避免关注片面”的哲学高度,科学看待手术和其他综合治疗手段的关系和意义,有助于对胰腺癌的综合治疗有一个正确的理解,也有助于临床治疗措施的制定.本文首先对胰腺癌治疗过程的若干问题进行再思考,在此基础上再认识胰腺癌的综合治疗,最后对胰腺癌诊治发展进行展望,以期有一个相对全面的解读.     

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.