Fast and effective detection of the causative agent of malaria in humans, protozoan Plasmodium parasites, is of crucial importance for increasing the effectiveness of treatment and to control a devastating disease that affects millions of people living in endemic areas. The microscopic examination of Giemsa‐stained blood films still remains the gold‐standard in Plasmodium detection today. However, there is a high demand for alternative diagnostic methods that are simple, fast, highly sensitive, ideally do not rely on blood‐drawing and can potentially be (...) conducted by the patients themselves. Here, the history of Plasmodium detection is discussed, and advantages and disadvantages of diagnostic methods that are currently being applied are assessed. (shrink)

Graphical AbstractVarious diagnostic methods are available to detect the six human pathogenic Plasmodium species that replicate within host erythrocytes and cause different types of malaria. Every currently available diagnostic method has distinct advantages and disadvantages. There is still a high demand for simple, fast, and highly sensitive alternative diagnostic methods that ideally do not rely on blood drawing and might be applied by the patient at home. In article number 1900138, Brian Gitta and Nicole Kilian discuss the history of (...) Plasmodium detection and assess advantages and disadvantages of diagnostic methods that are currently being applied. (shrink)

I discuss a remark made by Gitta Sereny about Treblinka Kommandant Franz Stangl that questions the role and scope of moral authority, viz. “I don’t know now at which point one human being can make the moral decision for another that he should have the courage to risk death.” I provide an illustrative elaboration from her remark of a role for moral authority and a limit on its scope. First, I use the idea of supererogation to introduce the idea (...) and role of moral authority. Second,I argue that there is a parallel understanding of Sereny’s remark that shows moral authority operative in a similar role in Stangl’s case. Third, I make four refinements to what she has expressed about Stangl, each of which further illuminates the nature of moral authority. Finally, I address objections and consider the implications of my account. (shrink)

M. Scott Peck's proposed "evil" subtype of narcissistic personality disorder is distinguished from psychopathy by the use of self-deception to keep the emotional consequences of his or her crimes out of conscious awareness. A true psychopath, who does not have a conscience and does not accept morality, has no need of self-deception. Group evil, in Peck's analysis, is related to, and has much in common with, individual evil, including self-deception. There are many models of self-deception, but Davidson's model seems directly (...) relevant to the psychology of evil as described by Peck. This is illustrated with examples from personal experience, Gitta Sereny's biography of Albert Speer and Alexander Solzhenitsyn's account of the Soviet Gulag. (shrink)

This book, based on the prestigious Oxford Amnesty Lecture series, focuses on human rights abuses, and the ways in which they are interpreted. The collection includes contributions by Tzvetan Todorov, Michael Ignatieff, Peter Singer, Gitta Sereny, Susan Sontag, and Eva Hoffman, with commentaries on their essays by Niall Fergusson, Timothy Garton Ash, John Broome, Hermione Lee and others.

This book, based on the prestigious Oxford Amnesty Lecture series, focuses on human rights abuses, and the ways in which they are interpreted. The collection includes contributions by Tzvetan Todorov, Michael Ignatieff, Peter Singer, Gitta Sereny, Susan Sontag, and Eva Hoffman, with commentaries on their essays by Niall Fergusson, Timothy Garton Ash, John Broome, Hermione Lee and others.