This study examined whether having attended a public, private or religious affiliated grade and/or high school influenced a college student’s ethical decision making process. We also examined whether having taken an ethics course in college influences a student’s ethical decision making process. Our sample included 508 accounting students (237 men and 271 women) from Albania, Ecuador, Ireland and the United States. Our analyses indicated no differences in ethical decision making that associated with either grade-or-high-school education. While our data showed no (...) difference in the reported attitudes between students from Ecuador and the United States after controlling for social desirability response bias, we found significant differences between the attitudes students from the United States and students from both Albania and Ireland. While gender was also significant for six of our seven scenarios, social desirability response bias was significant in all of our scenarios. (shrink)

The clinical relevance of whole-exome sequencing is unquestionable. In the prenatal setting, the standard testing process of reflexing from karyotype to microarray to single-gene disorders may take several weeks, leaving a family in prolonged turmoil and often without answers in time to make a decision about the pregnancy. WES provides a powerful amount of data more quickly and with a higher yield of diagnostic results, allowing a timelier plan for medical management and decision-making. However, while results that pertain specifically to (...) the testing indication can be isolated, the potential for incidental findings or results that are unrelated to the original testing indication is significant. In 2013, ACMG published recommendations for reporting incidental or secondary findings, providing a list of 57 clinically actionable genes for which reporting should be obligatory. These recommendations were updated in 2015 to include the option to opt out of receiving all secondary findings. The list includes childhood-onset conditions, for which medical management would be immediately impacted. However, the list also includes adult-onset conditions such as hereditary breast and ovarian cancer and Lynch syndrome. Historically, decisions regarding genetic testing for these conditions have been left up to the individual until they reach the age of consent. While the 2015 recommendations are an improvement over the 2013 recommendations insofar as they allow an option to opt out of receiving secondary findings, the recommendations continue to have potentially troubling ethical consequences. (shrink)