Synchrnoic consciousness from a neurological point of view: the philosophical foundations for neuroethics

Daniel Kolak’s theory of synchronic consciousness according to which the entire range of dissociative phenomena, from pathologies such as MPD and schizophrenia to normal dream states, are best explained in terms of consciousness becoming simultaneously identified as many selves, has revolutionary therapeutic implications for neurology and psychiatry. All these selves, according to Kolak—even the purely imaginary ones that exist as such only in our dreams—are not just conscious but also self-conscious, with beliefs, intentions, living lives informed by memories (confabulatory, in the case of the fictional ones) and personal histories. Kolak’s derivation of psychiatrically relevant aspects of his theory—a neurological rendition of a Kantian transcendental argument—can be given a straightforward neurological, and therefore open to scientific scrutiny, interpretation that would then more easily lend itself to the clinical setting in which these perplexing phenomena, along with their purveyors, must live and cope. This will be the main focus of this paper.     

Cognitive Reliability of the Sense of Touch Confronted with the Thinning Effect

The dependence of the cognitive function of the sense of touch of the area sensorium was investigated by means of the thinning illusion produced by rotating the cylindrical rod between the thumb and the forefinger. The genetic phases of this illusion were traced from sensations to perceptions and to meaningful cognition converting the rod's objective convexity into an apparent concavity, running seemingly around the rod. Adult subjects (N = 52) experimentally checked all variables on their optimum degree for producing this illusion, which showed an effective way for using illusions for a thorough investigation of mental synthetic processes.     

血尿酸水平与脑梗死及其各指标的相关性分析

研究血尿酸(UA)与脑梗死发病与预后的相关性.本试验选择2008年5月至2009年3月中国医科大学附属一院神经内科就诊的脑梗死患者为病例组,同期中国医科大学附属一院门诊体检者70例为对照组,均进行血尿酸(SUA)、总胆固醇(TC)、甘油三酯(TG)、低密度脂蛋白(LDL-C)、高密度脂蛋白(HDL-C)、空腹血糖(FBG)、纤维蛋白原(Fg)及C反应蛋白(hs-CRP)及血压的测定.比较病例组与对照组的相关指标的变化,并比较高尿酸与非高尿酸组的梗死例数与严重程度、生化指标等的变化.脑梗死组SUA水平明显高于对照组(P＜0.05);HUA组的患病率也显著高于非HUA组(P＜0.05);大梗死灶组UA值高于小梗死灶组(P＜0.05),中梗死灶组UA值高于小梗死灶组(P＜0.05).重度损伤组UA值大于轻度组(P＜0.05);中度损伤组UA值大于轻度组(P＜0.05).HUA组的SBP、DBP、TC、TG、LDL-C、FBG及hs-CRP各值高于非HUA组,HDL-CD低于非HUA,差异有统计学意义(P＜0.05).     

PATERNITY BETWEEN LAW AND BIOLOGY: THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE ISLAMIC LAW OF PATERNITY IN THE WAKE OF DNA TESTING

Abstract: The discovery of DNA paternity tests has stirred a debate concerning the definition of paternity and whether the grounds for such a definition are legal or biological. According to the classical rules of Islamic law, paternity is established and negated on the basis of a valid marriage. Modern biomedical technology raises the question of whether paternity tests can be the sole basis for paternity, even independently of marriage. Although on the surface this technology seems to challenge the authority of Islamic law in this area, the paper argues that classical Islamic rulings pertaining to paternity issues continue to hold higher authority even in cases of conflict with modern technology‐based alternatives. Through closer analysis, the paper traces the emergence of a differentiation in the function of DNA tests between identity and paternity verification. While the former is accepted without reservation, the latter is approved only when it does not violate the rulings of Islamic law.     

Culture and Japanese Citizen Influence on the Transboundary Air Pollution Issue in Northeast Asia

This paper outlines a general approach for analyzing the role of culture in international environmental policymaking. It draws on work in anthropology and foreign policy analysis. The first step is to view culture as a “toolkit of environmental ideas.” The second step, relative to a given research topic, is to delimit broad definitions of culture to more workable forms. Three forms are offered (following Hudson, 1997a): culture as organization of environmental meaning, as shared value preferences in environmental matters, and as templates for environmental action. The third step is to answer three basic questions relative to the specific definition of culture used: (a) Who draws what environmentally related ideas from the ideas toolkit? (b) How are these ideas used in the political arena? (c) How do these ideas, originally drawn upon for political purposes, change and in turn lead to changes in the set of environmentally related ideas in the culture? Ideas, once they have entered the political arena, are assumed to be embodied in a “discourse.” The terminology of discourse (and the body of theory built up around it) is used as a vehicle for examining the role of culture in international environmental policymaking. A practical application of this approach is presented in relation to the role of culture in the Japanese public's influence in Japan on policymaking on the northeast Asian transboundary air pollution issue.     

消化性溃疡发病机理和治疗新理念

消化性溃疡的发病机理十分复杂,自从发现幽门螺杆菌(Helicobacterpylori,下称Hp)以来,人们对Hp发病机理的认识和治疗策略上都发生了根本性变化,为了阐明消化性溃疡的发病机理和治疗新理念,本文从以下几个问题进行讨论:(1)"溃疡愈合"和"溃疡治愈"与溃疡愈合质量关系;(2)Hp发现是消化性溃疡病因学和治疗学上的一场革命,根除Hp才能降低或预防溃疡复发;(3)保护胃及十二指肠黏膜屏障是治疗消化性溃疡最基本的手段;(4)消化性溃疡治疗新策略应该是:保护胃黏膜;抑制胃酸;根除Hp。希望对读者在对消化性溃疡发病机理的认识和治疗原则上有所指导。     

The minimal self hypothesis

For millennia self has been conjectured to be necessary for consciousness. But scant empirical evidence has been adduced to support this hypothesis. Inconsistent explications of “self” and failure to design apt experiments have impeded progress. Advocates of phenomenological psychiatry, however, have helped explicate “self,” and employed it to explain some psychopathological symptoms. In those studies, “self” is understood in a minimalist sense, sheer “for-me-ness.” Unfortunately, explication of the “minimal self” (MS) has relied on conceptual analysis, and applications to psychopathology have been hermeneutic, allowing for many degrees of interpretive latitude. The result is that MS’s current scientific status is analogous to that of the “atom,” at the time when “atom” was just beginning to undergo transformation from a philosophical to a scientific concept. Fortunately, there is now an opportunity to promote a similar transformation for “MS.” Discovery of the brain’s Default Mode Network (DMN) opened the door to neuroimaging investigations of self. Taking the DMN and other forms of intrinsic activity as a starting point, an empirical foothold can be established, one that spurs experimental research and that enables extension of research into multiple phenomena. New experimental protocols that posit “MS” can help explain phenomena hitherto not thought to be related to self, thereby hastening development of a mature science of self. In particular, targeting phenomena wherein consciousness is lost and recovered, as in some cases of Unresponsive Wakefulness Syndrome (UWS), allow for design of neuroimaging probes that enable detection of MS during non-conscious states. These probes, as well as other experimental protocols applied to NREM Sleep, General Anesthesia (GA), and the waking state, provide some evidence to suggest that not only can self and consciousness dissociate, MS might be a necessary precondition for conscious experience. Finally, these findings have implications for the science of consciousness: it has been suggested that “levels of consciousness” (LoC) is not a legitimate concept for the science of consciousness. But because we have the conceptual and methodological tools with which to refine investigations of MS, we have the means to identify a possible foundation—a bifurcation point—for consciousness, as well as the means by which to measure degrees of distance from that foundation. These neuroimaging investigations of MS position us to better assess whether LoC has a role to play in a mature science of consciousness.