Characterization of potential oocyte donors in Sweden.
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BACKGROUND: Oocyte donation has been permitted by Swedish legislation since January 2003. While donors are anonymous to the receiving couple, offspring have the legal right to receive identifying information about the donor when they reach adult age. Our aim was to investigate factors of potential importance for women's willingness to donate oocytes. METHOD: A questionnaire regarding attitudes towards oocyte donation was sent to a randomized sample of 1000 women aged 25-35 years (73% response). RESULTS: Seventeen percent would consider donating oocytes, whereas 39% opposed this, and 44% were doubtful. Potential donors were less likely to have children of their own and thought the genetic link was of less importance. Potential donors would feel happy about helping a childless couple, and 38% would be glad to be contacted by the offspring. Factors that would increase women's willingness to donate were being able to talk to experienced donors, proximity to the clinic and availability of counselling. CONCLUSION: The results indicate considerable interest in donating oocytes among a subset of women in Sweden. Potential donors associated donation with altruistic motives. The issue of offspring's right to know about their origin appears to be complicated. This suggests that information about the consequences of donation is of great importance. (+info)
Medical care for interned enemy aliens: a role for the US Public Health Service in World War II.
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During World War II, the US Public Health Service (USPHS) administered health care to 19 000 enemy aliens and Axis merchant seamen interned by the Justice Department through its branch, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). The Geneva Prisoners of War Convention of 1929, which the United States applied to civilian internees, provided guidelines for belligerent nations regarding humanitarian treatment of prisoners of war, including for their health. The INS forged an agreement with the USPHS to meet these guidelines for the German, Italian, and Japanese internees and, in some cases, their families. Chronic shortages and crowded camps continuously challenged USPHS administrators. Nevertheless, the USPHS offered universal access to care and provided treatment often exceeding care received by many American citizens. (+info)
Mothers' motivations to participate in a pregnancy health survey.
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An important question in interpreting epidemiologic data is why some persons agree to participate in a health survey while others do not. Information about why people agree to interview or answer a questionnaire could help researchers to devise procedures for a health survey and to chose information to be communicated in the interview or questionnaire so as to increase subjects' participation. The authors interviewed 180 mothers who gave birth to a child with a birth defect and 198 mothers whose children were born without a birth defect. The interviews were part of two case-control studies to determine risk factors for selected birth defects. In the course of the interviews, each mother was asked why she agreed to be interviewed, and whether anything about the survey procedures that were followed could be improved. Among both the case mothers and the control mothers the most common reason for agreeing to be interviewed was humanitarian, expressed as "to help others" or "to prevent what happened to my baby from happening to babies in the future." Case mothers, more frequently than control mothers, gave as their reason for participating either to help themselves, their child, their family, or to further scientific understanding. Emphasizing these as benefits of participation to those who are survey subjects at the time of the initial contact could increase the proportion who agree to respond. (+info)
Kin discrimination and the benefit of helping in cooperatively breeding vertebrates.
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In many cooperatively breeding vertebrates, a dominant breeding pair is assisted in offspring care by nonbreeding helpers. A leading explanation for this altruistic behavior is Hamilton's idea that helpers gain indirect fitness benefits by rearing relatives (kin selection). Many studies have shown that helpers typically provide care for relatives, but relatively few have shown that helpers provide closer kin with preferential care (kin discrimination), fueling the suggestion that kin selection only poorly accounts for the evolution of cooperative breeding in vertebrates. We used meta-analysis to show that (i) individuals consistently discriminate between kin, and (ii) stronger discrimination occurs in species where the benefits of helping are greater. These results suggest a general role for kin selection and that the relative importance of kin selection varies across species, as predicted by Hamilton's rule. (+info)
International surgery: definition, principles and Canadian practice.
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This article is dedicated to the Canadian international surgeon, Norman Bethune (1890-1939). International surgery is defined as a humanitarian branch of medicine concerned with the treatment of bodily injuries or disorders by incision or manipulations, emphasizing cooperation and understanding among nations and involving education, research, development and advocacy. In this article I review the colonial past, the dark ages following the Declaration of Alma-Ata, the progress made and the present challenges in international surgery. I present a definition of international surgery that recognizes the current era of surgical humanitarianism, validates a global understanding of surgical issues and promotes cooperation among nations. Included are the principles of international surgery: education, research, infrastructure development and advocacy. International surgical projects are classified according to type (clinical, relief, developmental) and integration strategy (vertical or horizontal). Also reviewed are the Canadian practice of international surgery by nongovernmental, professional and academic organizations and the requirements of international and Canadian funding agencies, the development concepts basic to all projects, including results-based management and the cross-cutting themes of gender equity, environmental protection and human safety. I recommend formalizing international surgery into a discipline as a means of promoting surgical care in low-income countries. If international surgery is to be sustained in Canada, infrastructure and support from Canadian surgeons is particularly important. An understanding of the history, definition and classification of international surgery should promote surgical care in low-income countries. (+info)
The development of cooperative relationships: an experiment.
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Pairs of individuals frequently face situations in which they could do well if they cooperated, but each risks being exploited. The Prisoner's Dilemma is widely used for investigating such scenarios, but it is framed in terms of cooperating and defecting, whereas in reality cooperation is rarely "all or nothing". Recent models allowing for variable investment in cooperation indicated the success of a strategy of "raising-the-stakes" (RTS), which invests minimally at first and then increases its investment if its partner matches it. We tested whether this strategy was adopted by subjects participating in an experiment in which they could choose how much money to give to a partner, reciprocity being encouraged by doubling donations. Subjects did increase their donations over successive rounds, both when playing against a stooge who reciprocated with the same investment, and when playing with a partner who was free to choose their investment. Subjects showed a strong tendency to match variations in their partner's investments. Cooperation was therefore achieved through a combination of initial escalation (RTS strategy) and quantitative responsiveness ("give-as-good-as-you-get" strategy). Although initial offers were higher than predicted, our results were broadly consistent with theoretical expectations. (+info)
Research ethics committees and paternalism.
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In this paper the authors argue that research ethics committees (RECs) should not be paternalistic by rejecting research that poses risk to people competent to decide for themselves. However it is important they help to ensure valid consent is sought from potential recruits and protect vulnerable people who cannot look after their own best interests. The authors first describe the tragic deaths of Jesse Gelsinger and Ellen Roche. They then discuss the following claims to support their case: (1) competent individuals are epistemologically and ethically in the best position to say which risks are reasonable for them, so RECs should be no more restrictive than the "normal" constraints on people taking risks with themselves; (2) RECs do not judge individual competence (that is for researchers and psychiatrists); (3) individual liberty is mostly limited by what serves the public interest, and RECs do not determine public interest; (4) RECs may have a paternalistic role in preventing exploitation of competent people vulnerable to the use of incentives, and in protecting the interests of incompetent people; however, (5) the moral and political authority of RECs has not been established in this respect. (+info)
Nondirected living kidney donation. Is Australia ready?
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BACKGROUND: The Renal Transplant Advisory Committee has recently approved nondirected kidney donation. If ratified at state level, it will allow volunteers to anonymously donate a kidney to any patient on the transplant waiting list. General practitioners, as well as more specialised services, may be approached by patients wishing to make such donations. OBJECTIVE: This article summarises the scant literature on nondirected donation. DISCUSSION: Contrary to commonly held beliefs, this type of donor may not necessarily exhibit psychopathology, and this form of donation may raise fewer ethical concerns than are raised by living related donors. (+info)