Recent ethics literature suggests that issues involved in non-heart-beating organ procurement are both highly charged and rather urgent. Some fear that NHB is a public relations disaster waiting to happen or that it will create a backlash against organ donation. The purpose of the study described below was to assess ethics committees' current level of involvement in and readiness for addressing the difficult issues that NHB organ retrieval raises—either proactively through policy development or concurrently through ethics consultation.

Recent ethics literature suggests that issues involved in non-heart-beating organ procurement are both highly charged and rather urgent. Some fear that NHB is a public relations disaster waiting to happen or that it will create a backlash against organ donation. The purpose of the study described below was to assess ethics committees' current level of involvement in and readiness for addressing the difficult issues that NHB organ retrieval raises—either proactively through policy development or concurrently through ethics consultation.

Although a low genetic barrier is said to separate humans from apes, Homo sapiens is characterized by striking developmental and anatomical particularities. On the one hand, humans have a very extended life history (retardation). On the other hand, human anatomy shows many instances of both neoteny and hypermorphosis.In 1918, Bolk proposed his ''retardation theory'' that links both aspects of the human condition. We show in this paper that his theory becomes surprisingly powerful when Bolk''s retardation principle is applied to generalized (...) developmental gradients (such as the cephalocaudal gradient that dominates overall ontogeny). In this way, the main particularities of the human body (extended life history; long limbs, and very long legs; very low brachial and crural indices; highly developed pollex and hallux; reduced prognathism; advanced telencephalization etc.) can be reduced to a single developmental matrix. (shrink)

As we move toward the creation of a networked health information environment, the potential of privacy intrusions increases, with potentially devastating impact on quality and access to healthcare. This paper describes the risks we face and proposes a framework to minimize those risks. In particular, it proposes nine principles to protect privacy in an information age.

The authors of this article examine how Giordano Bruno rewrites the classical myth of Diane and Actaeon in the Eroici furori . The starting point for this study is the Argomento del Nolano where the philosopher explains his ideas regarding the importance of love poetry and allegory for the illustration of philosophical concepts. In the next section the authors concentrate on the sonnet «Alle selve i mastini e i veltri slaccia» . This is the first passage in the Furori where (...) Bruno connects Actaeon’s hunt and his encounter with the goddess Diana to the philosophical hunt of knowledge. The authors explain the meaning of the mythological imagery evoked in this sonnet by relating the poem to other parts of the Furori . An analysis of the notion of furor , which is the subject of dialogue three , allows the authors to identify Actaeon as a model for the eroico furioso . The prose comment following the sonnet «Alle selve i mastini e i veltri slaccia» offers essential information on the reinterpretation of the literary motifs which have been linked to the myth of Actaeon since Antiquity. Bruno presents these motifs as components of the philosophical hunt, which the frenzied hero needs to undertake in order to contemplate the truth . In the last section the authors take a closer look at the second and the third allusion to the hunting myth , which illustrate the further stages of Actaeon’s epistemological journey. (shrink)

An atavism is the ..reappearance of a lost character (morphology or behaviour) typical of remote ancestors and not seen in the parents or recent ancestors of the organisms displaying the atavistic character (Hall, 1984). In humans, hypertrichosis (extensive body hair), the presence of a tail and supernumerary nipples are often quoted as examples (Hall, 1995). However, Louis Bolk (1866–1930) explained these phenomena in another way. He considered human morphology as an unspecialized expression of the mammalian developmental pattern. The latter also (...) encompasses potentialities for unilateral or propulsive development pathways (specializations) that usually remain latent in humans, but can become expressed in other species. According to Bolk, the appearance of so-called atavisms in humans results from the occasional expression of these latencies in Homo sapiens; they do not recapitulate ancestral conditions. (shrink)

Si indagano le ragioni letterarie che motivarono l’interesse di Leopardi per due opere di Francesco Maria Zanotti : i tre dialoghi Della forza de’ corpi che chiamano viva , scritti "per ingannare il tempo", e la satira antilockiana Della forza attrattiva delle idee . L’analisi viene incentrata sulle strategie paratestuali, retoriche e poetiche sfruttate abbondantemente da Zanotti in questi testi che tutti e due esulano dalla comunicazione scientifica canonica. La presa in considerazione di questi procedimenti risulta indispensabile per capire meglio (...) il messaggio filosofico di Zanotti, nonché per circoscrivere l’influsso degli scritti zanottiani sull’opera di Leopardi. (shrink)