Jian Zhou,* Weiqiang Ju,* Xiaopeng Yuan, Xiaofeng Zhu, Dongping Wang, Xiaoshun HeOrgan Transplant Center, First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China *These authors contributed equally to this work: Hyperosmolar nonketotic hyperglycemic coma is a serious, rare complication induced by methylprednisolone pulse therapy for acute rejection after orthotopic liver transplantation. Herein, we report an unusual case of a 58-year-old woman who experienced acute rejection at 30 months after OLT, only one case in which HNKHC resulted in (...) MP pulse therapy for acute rejection in all 913 recipients in our center. The general morbidity of HNKHC was 1.09‰ in this study. HNKHC is characterized by rapid onset, rapid progression, and a lack of specific clinical manifestations. High-dose MP management was a clear risk factor. The principle of treatment included rapid rehydration, low-dose insulin infusion, and correcting disorders of electrolytes and acidosis. In conclusion, clinicians considering MP pulse therapy after OLT should be alert to the occurrence of HNKHC. Keywords: liver transplantation, complications, hyperosmolar nonketotic hyperglycemic coma, methylprednisolone pulse therapy, principle of treatment. (shrink)

Objectives The objectives of the study are to understand the current practice of informed consent in medical research in public hospitals in Shanghai, and to share our views with other countries, especially developing countries. Methods In the study, 145 consent forms (CFs) of the selected research projects in eight public hospitals with ethics committees in Shanghai were audited, and the principle investigators (PIs) of these research projects and 40 student subjects who had participated in clinical drug tests were surveyed by (...) questionnaires. Results The CFs of medical researches in public hospitals with ethics committees in Shanghai were generally acceptable. However, there were some defects in the CFs. Although most of the surveyed PIs had correct recognition of informed consent, some processes of informed consent were not in accordance with generally accepted requirements. A large number of the PIs considered the greatest difficulty with informal consent was lack of correct recognition of subjects or legally authorised representatives on medical research. Discussion Informed consent in medical research should consider the research ethics, the background of potential subjects, the local resources and culture of medical research. In addition, special protection is needed for student subjects in informed consent as well as efforts for building and restoring the public's trust in biomedical research. Conclusion The informed consent in Shanghai's public hospitals with ethics committees was generally acceptable and the achievement of adequate informed consent is influenced by many factors. (shrink)

Responding to recent concerns about the reliability of the published literature in psychology and other disciplines, we formed the X-Phi Replicability Project to estimate the reproducibility of experimental philosophy. Drawing on a representative sample of 40 x-phi studies published between 2003 and 2015, we enlisted 20 research teams across 8 countries to conduct a high-quality replication of each study in order to compare the results to the original published findings. We found that x-phi studies – as represented in our sample (...) – successfully replicated about 70% of the time. We discuss possible reasons for this relatively high replication rate in the field of experimental philosophy and offer suggestions for best research practices going forward. (shrink)

Twenty essays based on papers delivered at the International Symposium on the Varieties of Marxism held at the VanLeer Jerusalem Foundation 16-19 June 1974 and dedicated to the memory of George Lichtheim, an eminent historian of Marxism. The overall message is that, far from being a monolithic, crystal clear explanation of the universe, Marxism continues to be a multi-faceted ideology with diverse expressions in diverse cultures, spawning a wide spectrum of "official" prophets, each sincerely convinced that he or she is (...) correct and all others are wrong. Kamenka in his contribution, while somewhat too easily chiding Marx for being too absolute in his prescriptive ethics, suggests that the varieties of Marxism stem from "ambiguities and tensions at the very heart of Marx’s thought," and that it "speaks to us, like Christianity, with many voices and in accents that are at best suggestive and at worst deliberately seductive rather than precise". Eight of the articles, including that of Kamenka, can be described as being theoretical, concerned about clarification of such questions as the methodology of Marx, the place of Engels in Marxism, Marxian Ethics, Totality in Lukacs and Adorno, Sartrean Marxism, the transformation of the concept of practice from Kant via Marx to Lukacs, and the reawakened interest in the "Asiatic Mode of Production" as a stage in the evolution towards Socialism. Ten articles discuss the manifestations of Marxism in Western Europe, Russia, Italy, Zionism, the Arab world, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Latin America, and the radical student movements of the 1960s in the United States, France, and Israel. Two other articles examine the differences and reasons for differences with Marx expressed by two major commentators, Trotsky and Mao. (shrink)

Objective: The objectives of this study are to understand the current functions, structure and operation of hospital ethics committees (HECs) in Shanghai and to facilitate their improvement. Methods: (1) A questionnaire survey, (2) interviews with secretaries and (3) on-site document reviews of HECs in Shanghai were used in the study, which surveyed 33 hospitals. Results: In Shanghai, 57.56% of the surveyed hospitals established HECs from 1998 to 2005. Most HECs used bioethical review of research involving human subjects as well as (...) bioethical review or consultation regarding medical care services and administrative decision- making. Of the surveyed HECs, 14.3% did not provide any formal bioethical training to the HECs’ members and many HECs had no standard operating procedures. Some HECs had no clear definition of what was “conflict of interest” that should be considered by the HECs, while 44.4% of the HECs did not perform continuing review. Discussion: After the issues of related national regulations, more and more hospitals established HECs in Shanghai, but the functions of HECs need to be further developed and formal training on bioethics should be provided to HEC members. To assure the independence and good performance of HECs, the conflict of interest procedure, the standard operating procedures and bioethical review should be improved. Conclusion: HECs in Shanghai had developed in the preceding 10 years and they played great roles in protecting the rights and welfare of human subjects and patients; some areas need improvement. (shrink)

A diagonal version of the strong reflection principle is introduced, along with fragments of this principle associated with arbitrary forcing classes. The relationships between the resulting principles and related principles, such as the corresponding forcing axioms and the corresponding fragments of the strong reflection principle, are analyzed, and consequences are presented. Some of these consequences are “exact” versions of diagonal stationary reflection principles of sets of ordinals. We also separate some of these diagonal strong reflection principles from related axioms.

The microstructures of cryogenically ball-milled Cu were investigated by high-resolution electron microscopy. It was found that the grain-size reduction is a dislocation-controlled continuous process which consists of the formation of small-angle grain boundaries , a gradual increase in misorientations as a result of accumulation of more dislocations and, finally, the formation of large-angle GBs. The GBs were generally curved, wavy or faceted, and heavily strained, which are typical characteristics of nanostructured materials. In addition, extrinsic dislocations were found in many GBs, (...) indicating that most are in a high-energy non-equilibrium configuration, which is consistent with observations in equal-channel angular pressing processed Cu, Ni, and Al-Mg, repetitive corrugation and straightening processed Cu and room-temperature ball-milled Cu. These results support a still-disputed concept that GBs in nanostructured metals processed by severe plastic deformation are mostly in non-equilibrium states. (shrink)

Class line is a fundamental line of the Party. To be the Communist Party is to make revolution, eradicate the bourgeoisie and promote the proletariat, stress class status, and implement the proletarian class line!