Dietetics in ancient Greek philosophy: Plato's concepts of healthy diet.
(17/220)
Plato (5th-4th century BC), one of the most important philosophers of Greek antiquity, left a valuable spiritual heritage, compiled in his famous dialogues. His teachings extend to almost every single field of human knowledge. Among other philosophical concepts, Plato's works are imbued with the fundamental principle of moderation. This spirit is characteristically evident in his references to human diet. According to the philosopher, a moderate and thus a healthy diet, consists of cereals, legumes, fruits, milk, honey and fish. However, meat, confectionery and wine should be consumed only in moderate quantities. Excesses in food lead to ailments and therefore should be avoided. Plato considers physicians responsible for the regulation of human diet, for medicine is a science and not merely an art as in the case of cookery. The dietary pattern presented in Platonic dialogues shares many common components with the highly-reputed Mediterranean diet. As a whole, Plato's writings represent a valuable source for the study of the nutritional customs during the classical period of ancient Greece. (+info)
Quality of life: the continent ileostomy.
(18/220)
Ten patients are presented in whom a continent ileostomy (internal ileal reservoir or Kock Pouch) was constructed. The series is unique in that it includes the first such ileostomy successfully constructed in this country. The other 9 patients, for a variety of reasons, sought conversion from a standard ileostomy with an external appliance, to a continent ileostomy. Eight of 9 were successfully converted. Subsequent loss of continence has occurred in 2 of the patients due to reduction or intususception of the nipple valve. In one of the two, a satisfactory level of continence appears related to adequate pouch size. The second patient is seriously inconvenienced by a varying level of continence in part related to slow development of pouch size. Seven of the 10 attest to a dramatic improvement in life style, and illustrate the high level of patient satisfaction with a continent ileostomy. (+info)
Reversibility and death: a reply to David J.(19/220)
Medical ethics: a brief response to Seedhouse.
(20/220)
Medical ethics is that branch of applied philosophy which considers issues of values raised by medical practice, and should not be equated with 'principlism'. Clarification of facts/values distinctions is an important part of this work. The notion that medical philosophy can flourish in the hands of medical 'generalists' without specialist philosophers, is misguided. Both must work together to promote right reason and right action in medical education and practice. (+info)
A Marxian interpretation of the growth and development of coronary care technology.
(21/220)
Cost containment efforts will fail if they continue to ignore the structural relationships between health care costs and private profit in capitalist society. The recent history of coronary care shows that apparent irrationalities of health policy make sense from the standpoint of capitalist profit structure. Coronary care units (CCUs) gained wide acceptance, despite high costs. Studies of CCU effectiveness, using random controlled trials and epidemiologic techniques, do not show a consistent advantage of CCUs over non-intensive ward care or simple rest at home. From a Marxian perspective, the proliferation of CCUs and similar innovations is a complex historical process that includes initiatives by industrial corporations, cooperation by clinical investigators at academic medical centers, support by private philanthropies linked to corporate interests, intervention by state agencies, and changes in the health care labor force. Cost-effective methodology obscures the profit motive as a basic source of high costs and ineffective practices. Health-policy alternatives curtailing corporate involvement in medicine would reduce costs by restricting profit. (+info)
From the philosophy auditorium to the neurophysiology laboratory and back: from Bergson to Damasio.
(22/220)
Henri Bergson (1859-1941) was probably the most influential French philosopher at the turn of the twentieth century. In 1927 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. Far beyond the restricted academic philosophical milieu, the impact of his thinking reached personalities as diverse as Claude Debussy, Marcel Proust, George Bemard Shaw, and the impressionists. His essay The Laughter (Le Rire) is one of the most profound and original ever written on the sense of humor. Bergson's opinions, with their emphasis on life, instinct and intuition, represented a deviation from the rationalist mainstream of western philosophical tradition. In some circles he was received with skepticism and irony, as in Bertrand Russel's History of Western Philosophy. Today, unbiased by theoretical "bergsonism," neurophysiologic research--as undertaken mainly by Antonio Damasio's team at Iowa University--confirms many of his hypotheses and elucidates their mechanisms. In this new light, intuition and "recognition by the body" should not be seen as the personal fantasy of an original thinker but as fundamental cognitive tools. (+info)
Influence of unrecognized molecular heterogeneity on randomized clinical trials.
(23/220)
PURPOSE: In solid tumor oncology, decisions regarding treatment and eligibility for trials are governed by histologic diagnosis. Despite this reliance on histology and the assumption that histology defines the disease, underlying molecular heterogeneity likely differentiates among patients' outcomes. PATIENTS AND METHODS: To illustrate how unrecognized molecular heterogeneity might obscure a truly effective new therapy for cancer, we analyzed the planning assumptions and results of a hypothetical randomized controlled trial of chemoradiotherapy for a cancer found to be drug sensitive in preliminary phase II studies. RESULTS: Randomized controlled trials of effective cancer therapies can be falsely negative if therapeutic benefit is overestimated during study design because of enrichment of phase II trials for treatment-sensitive subtypes, a beneficial effect in responding patients is diluted by large numbers of nonresponding patients, or a beneficial effect in responders is reversed by a negative effect in nonresponders. CONCLUSION: Molecular heterogeneity, if it confers different risks to patients and is unaccounted for in the design of a randomized study, can result in a clinical trial that is underpowered and fails to detect a truly effective new therapy for cancer. (+info)
Equitable considerations in balancing the energy equation.
(24/220)
Decisions concerning how we balance energy supply and demand should not be made by quantitative cost-benefit analyses alone. The distributions of costs and benefits among individuals, groups of individuals, nations, and generations raise questions of equity that need to be addressed forthrightly. Doing so can help rather than impede the decision-making process. (+info)