The editors planned the appearance of this article to coincide with the seventy-fifth birthday of the author, which was to have been marked in December. The issue had already been approved for publication when the sad news came of the sudden death of Aleksandr Fedorovich Shishkin, prominent Soviet philosopher, member of the editorial board of our journal, a remarkable human being, our comrade and friend.

The concept of quality of life is the basis for a new paradigm of clinical medicine. Its assessment is considered to be an important instrument in determining disease severity and effectiveness of different treatment modalities. Our studies are devoted to the problem of diabetes complications especially anemia in patients with diabetic kidney disease. Anemia in subjects with diabetic nephropathy may result from various pathogenic factors including erythropoietin deficiency, iron deficiency, vitamin B12 and/or folate deficiencies, the effects of proinflammatory cytokines etc. (...) Diabetic patients with anemia are at increased risk of cardiovascular accidents and death. The aim of this study was to assess the influence of anemia on the quality of life of patients with early stages of diabetic nephropathy. We investigated 127 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and early diabetic nephropathy. Anemia was defined according to the World Health Organization criteria. Anemic patients were divided into three groups according to the stage of chronic kidney disease. Patients’ quality of life was assessed with SF-36 health survey. Anemic patients had lower scores of physical role functioning and emotional role functioning as compared to the patients with normal hemoglobin level, irrespective of the stage of chronic kidney disease. Patients with anemia and chronic kidney disease stage 3 had lower scores of general health perceptions, physical functioning, bodily pain, vitality and mental health than patients in the non-anemic group. Social role functioning was similar in anemic and non-anemic patients. The possible mechanisms and implications of the above mentioned findings are discussed with a medical and humanitarian perspective. The directions of further studies are proposed. (shrink)

From the editors of Voprosy filosofii: December 23, 1972, marked the seventieth birthday of A. F. Shishkin, leading Soviet philosopher, major specialist in the field of ethics, one of the oldest and at the same time most active members of the editorial board of our journal. The editors sincerely congratulate Aleksandr Fedorovich on this anniversary and wish him further successes in his work, firm health, and long years of life.

Participants in conferences organized by the editors of our journal have repeatedly expressed the desire that questions pertaining to the ethics of the scientist be examined in its pages.

As in Marx's and Lenin's time, bourgeois critics of Marxism are accusing Marxists of denying ethics in principle. Some of them say that Marxist economic theory entirely rules out any element of free choice of actions and ethical judgment. Others say that Marx's economic analysis includes a moral indictment of capitalism as an unjust society, but that this means no more than that the ethical element in Marxism is entirely pushed aside by economic analysis and plays no independent role. In (...) the opinion of these critics, Marxism merely reduces such questions as what man should do, and what the ethical norms of his life are, to acceptance of the justice and moral rightness of whatever emerges in history as economic necessity. In other words, Marxism allegedly "makes a virtue of necessity" where ethics is concerned, and demands of human beings nothing more than adaptation to what is or to what will be. In either case, according to that interpretation of Marxism, people must accept without qualification that which corresponds to historical necessity. Free choice, reason, and human conscience can play no role. (shrink)

This problem was not the subject of any single book or article of Lenin's. However, in his writings , Lenin often had to deal with this problem and to elucidate significant aspects of it. We believe it necessary, to the degree that is possible within the confines of an article, to examine Lenin's major postulates with respect to this problem, bearing in mind not only the constant need to study this great heritage but also the fact that Lenin's postulates on (...) cognition and evaluation are of current importance in connection with present discussions on questions closely related to this. (shrink)