Circadian rhythm abnormalities in bipolar disorder have led to a search for genetic abnormalities in circadian "clock genes" associated with BD. However, no significant clock gene findings have emerged from genome-wide association studies. At least three factors could account for this discrepancy: complex traits are polygenic, the organization of the clock is more complex than previously recognized, and/or genetic risk for BD may be shared across multiple illnesses. To investigate these issues, we considered the clock gene network at three levels: (...) essential "core" clock genes, upstream circadian clock modulators, and downstream clock controlled genes. Using relaxed thresholds for GWAS statistical significance, we determined the rates of clock vs. control genetic associations with BD, and four additional illnesses that share clinical features and/or genetic risk with BD. Then we compared the results to a set of lithium-responsive genes. Associations with BD-spectrum illnesses and lithium-responsiveness were both enriched among core clock genes but not among upstream clock modulators. Associations with BD-spectrum illnesses and lithium-responsiveness were also enriched among pervasively rhythmic clock-controlled genes but not among genes that were less pervasively rhythmic or non-rhythmic. Our analysis reveals previously unrecognized associations between clock genes and BD-spectrum illnesses, partly reconciling previously discordant results from past GWAS and candidate gene studies. (shrink)

Rare copy number variants have a prominent role in the aetiology of schizophrenia and other neuropsychiatric disorders. Substantial risk for schizophrenia is conferred by large CNVs at several loci, including microdeletions at 1q21.1, 3q29, 15q13.3 and 22q11.2 and microduplication at 16p11.2. However, these CNVs collectively account for a small fraction of cases, and the relevant genes and neurobiological mechanisms are not well understood. Here we performed a large two-stage genome-wide scan of rare CNVs and report the significant association of copy (...) number gains at chromosome 7q36.3 with schizophrenia. Microduplications with variable breakpoints occurred within a 362-kilobase region and were detected in 29 of 8,290 patients versus 2 of 7,431 controls in the combined sample. All duplications overlapped or were located within 89 kilobases upstream of the vasoactive intestinal peptide receptor gene VIPR2. VIPR2 transcription and cyclic-AMP signalling were significantly increased in cultured lymphocytes from patients with microduplications of 7q36.3. These findings implicate altered vasoactive intestinal peptide signalling in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia and indicate the VPAC2 receptor as a potential target for the development of new antipsychotic drugs. © 2011 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved. (shrink)

Bruder im Geiste - Heidegger trifft Holderlin" erzahlt auf unterhaltsame Weise von einem Philosophen, der sich seinen Dichter nahm. Martin Heidegger, nach wie vor einer der Umstrittenen hierzulande, erklart Holderlin zum "Dichter der Dichter". Dies ist nicht im Sinne einer Rangfolge gemeint, sondern zeichnet die Hellsichtigkeit eines Dichters aus, der sich ins Freie vorwagt. Was er dort schaut und empfangt, kommt auch dem Denker zu, der dafur andere, weniger poetische Worte finden muss. Der Dichter spricht die Sache des Denkers an, (...) der Denker versucht der Sprache des Dichters auf den Grund zu gehen. Beide muhen sich im Sinne eines Auftrags, der vor unvordenklichen Zeiten ergangen sein muss und der uber den irdischen Geschaftsbetrieb hinausweist. Holderlin hat diesen Auftrag als Dichter wahrgenommen; Heidegger ist ihm als Denker nachgekommen, der die Vielfalt des Seienden zurucklasst, um zum Sein aufzubrechen. (shrink)

An evidence-based approach to crime and justice policy can go a long way toward ensuring that the best available research is considered in decisions that bear on the public good. However, the term "evidence-based" is characterized by a great deal of rhetoric. Indeed, there remains a marked disjuncture between calls for "evidence-based" policy and an understanding of what it means for policy to be "evidence-based." The calls for evidence-based policy nonetheless provide a powerful foundation for propelling a movement toward bringing (...) about rational, cost-effective, and humane policies for the betterment of society. This handbook showcases the state of research on evidence-based crime and justice policy and the challenges that impede its creation and use. The volume has three core objectives: to promote new and productive ways to think about evidence-based policy; to demonstrate how research can contribute to and guide evidence-based policy in juvenile justice, criminal justice, and alternatives to system responses; and to identify strategies that can increase reliance on evidence-based policy. To meet these objectives, each chapter is guided by several central questions: What do we know about evidence-based policy and practice in crime and justice? How can we improve knowledge of evidence-based policy and practice? How can we promote more use of evidence-based policy and practice? Taken as a whole, the volume emphasizes the critical need for policies that are grounded in high-quality research, that address critical research gaps, and that fully acknowledge the limitations of what extant research can do to inform policy decisions. (shrink)

The Aristophanic relevance of IG ii2 2343, a late fifth or early fourth century cult table; of Heracles, listing a priest and fifteen thiasotai, was first argued by Sterling Dow. Dow's summary of the communication which he presented to the Archaeological Institute of America is brief and a number of his conclusions may be too confident, but something of substance appears to remain.

This contribution explores how Forrester’s work on cases has opened up an arena that might be called ‘the medical case as a travelling genre’. Although usually focused on the course of disease in an individual patient and authored mostly by one medical author, medical case histories have a social dimension: Once published, they often circulate in networks of scholars. Moreover, scholars of the history of literature have shown that numerous medical cases seem to travel easily beyond the context of medical (...) science into the realm of popular literature and journalism. After tracing the idea of cases travelling in Forrester’s Thinking in Cases, I discuss several contributions by authors who, in the wake of interdisciplinary research on cases in the past two decades, have dealt in different ways with this idea. In the third section, I present my own research on a case of self-crucifixion that was widely discussed in 19th-century Europe. I suggest that understanding the case as a ‘traveling genre’ – an expression borrowed from literary genre theory – highlights the role of readers and publication formats as constitutive for cases, and enables us to see more clearly what cases do for scientists and writers who work with them. (shrink)

En este segundo documento nos ocupamos del aborto realizado por motivos terapéuticos o, dicho más brevemente, del aborto terapéutico. En la Argentina, el aborto plantea serios desafíos para la salud pública, ya que, pese a estar prohibido, se practica de forma clandestina y, muchas veces, insegura, poniendo en riesgo la vida y la salud de las mujeres. Por esta razón, creemos que la sociedad y el Estado deben debatir este problema y encontrar soluciones que resguarden los derechos de las mujeres. (...) El artículo 86, inciso 1, del Código Penal argentino expresamente despenaliza el aborto cuando corre peligro la vida o la salud de la mujer. En estos casos, se habla de aborto terapéutico. Esta disposición legal no suele aplicarse ni por los médicos ni por los profesionales que trabajan en la justicia, ya sea por desconocimiento o por razones ideológicas. Más aún, en muchos casos, las interpretaciones del Código Penal se apartan de su letra y restringen arbitrariamente su aplicación. Por estas razones, nos parece importante analizar este problema y proveer información sobre los aspectos legales y éticos involucrados en el aborto terapéutico en la Argentina. Este documento comienza con el relato de un caso hipotético, elaborado a partir de experiencias reales, con el objetivo de acercar al público a una situación concreta. Intercaladas en el cuerpo del relato, se desarrollan algunas reflexiones acerca de las implicaciones médicas, éticas y legales del caso. A continuación, se presenta un apartado referido al marco legal en el que se deben encuadrar los casos de aborto no punible. El documento sigue con una serie de breves recomendaciones destinadas tanto a los profesionales que trabajan en el sistema judicial como a los profesionales de la salud. Por último, se incluye un apéndice que contiene los principios que rigen la interpretación en materia penal y el glosario médico y legal, donde se pueden buscar las palabras resaltadas a lo largo del documento. (shrink)

This article explores the relationship between medicine’s history and its digital present through the lens of the physician-patient relationship. Today the rhetoric surrounding the introduction of new technologies into medicine tends to emphasize that technologies are disturbing relationships, and that the doctor-patient bond reflects a more ‘human’ era of medicine that should be preserved. Using historical studies of pre-modern and modern Western European medicine, this article shows that patient-physician relationships have always been shaped by material cultures. We discuss three activities (...) – recording, examining, and treating – in the light of their historical antecedents, and suggest that the notion of ‘human medicine’ is ever-changing: it consists of social attributions of skills to physicians that played out very differently over the course of history. (shrink)

Organizational leaders are eager to unlock the creative potential of followers. Yet, there is growing evidence that creativity can also have a dark side within organizations. Building on research linking creativity and unethical behavior, we develop the construct of creative unethicality—behavior that is both unethical and novel. We draw on social exchange theory to develop a model that identifies both why and when creative unethicality emerges within organizations. Specifically, we investigate the exchange dynamics through which creative support provided by empowering (...) leaders facilitates creative unethicality under conditions of high performance pressure. Across two multi-wave, multi-source field studies with employee-coworker and leader-subordinate dyads and an experimental study with a novel unethicality measure in a business simulation, we find convergent support for our theoretical model. These findings have important theoretical and practical implications for fostering creativity in organizations without simultaneously facilitating creative unethicality. (shrink)

Otto A. Böhmer erzählt von Leben und Werk des Sören Kierkegaard (1813–1855), der, wie Ernst Bloch einmal anmerkte, einer „der größten Witzemacher im hohen Stil war, die es gegeben hat“. Wer sich heute, aus welchen Gründen auch immer, nicht mehr auf Kierkegaards christliche Grundüberzeugung einlassen möchte, kann dennoch von ihm lernen – denn die Kunst der Selbstfindung hat er auf ein Niveau gebracht, das von heutigen Sinnsuchern kaum mehr erreicht wird. Selbsterfahrung bedeutet für Kierkegaard eine erst behutsame, dann unnachgiebige Seelenerkundung, (...) die sich als vertrauensbildende Maßnahme erweist und zu bewähren hat. Das Ich, das aus dieser Selbsterfahrung hervorgeht, ist demütig und stolz zugleich. es schaut zum Himmel auf und steht mit beiden Beinen auf der Erde. (shrink)

We consider the astrophysical and cosmological implications of the existence of a minimum density and mass due to the presence of the cosmological constant. If there is a minimum length in nature, then there is an absolute minimum mass corresponding to a hypothetical particle with radius of the order of the Planck length. On the other hand, quantum mechanical considerations suggest a different minimum mass. These particles associated with the dark energy can be interpreted as the “quanta” of the cosmological (...) constant. We study the possibility that these particles can form stable stellar-type configurations through gravitational condensation, and their Jeans and Chandrasekhar masses are estimated. From the requirement of the energetic stability of the minimum density configuration on a macroscopic scale one obtains a mass of the order of 1055 g, of the same order of magnitude as the mass of the universe. This mass can also be interpreted as the Jeans mass of the dark energy fluid. Furthermore we present a representation of the cosmological constant and of the total mass of the universe in terms of ‘classical’ fundamental constants. (shrink)

US livestock agriculture hasdeveloped and intensified according to a strictproductionist model that emphasizes industrialefficiency. Sustainability problems associatedwith this model have become increasinglyevident and more contested. Traditionalapproaches to promoting sustainable agriculturehave emphasized education and outreach toencourage on-farm adoption of alternativeproduction systems. Such efforts build on anunderlying assumption that farmers areempowered to make decisions regarding theorganization and management of theiroperations. However, as vertical coordinationin agriculture continues, especially in theanimal agriculture sectors, this assumptionbecomes less valid. This paper examines how thechanging industrial structure in (...) four USlivestock sectors (poultry, hogs, beef, anddairy) affects possibilities in each forpromoting more sustainable productionpractices. Comparisons between the sectors arebased on the relative ability to employ anintensive pasture or alternative (deep-bedded)housing system, which are widely seen assustainable livestock alternatives. While thehighly integrated poultry sector appearsimpregnable to traditional sustainableagriculture approaches, the cow-calf sub-sectorof the beef industry, non-feedlot dairyoperations, and small parts of the hogindustry, especially in the Midwest, stillretain some potential for effectively targetingthe farmer. Building on the presentation ofbarriers and opportunities in the fourlivestock sectors, the paper concludes byevaluating several structurally-orientedapproaches to promoting a more sustainablelivestock agriculture that should complementmore traditional approaches. They includedeveloping alternative coordinated networks inlivestock agriculture, pressing integrators topermit more sustainable production practices,and working for legislation that shifts moredecision-making within integrated systemstowards growers. (shrink)

We propose a new point of view for interpreting Newton’s and Einstein’s theories of gravity. By taking inspiration from Continuum Mechanics and its treatment of anisotropies, we formulate new gravitational actions for modified theories of gravity. These models are simple and natural generalisations with many interesting properties. Above all, their precise form can, in principle, be determined experimentally.

En este trabajo confrontamos la posición de Bulygin acerca de las normas con la del escéptico semántico y la del incorporacionista. entendemos a ambas figuras como expresiones -matizadas- de dos enfoques generales respecto del comportamiento en base a reglas: a) el que no ve en este más que "decisiones arbitrarias", meras reacciones o hábitos de conducta, y b) el que asimila la explicación de lo normativo con el ajuste a reglas o principios. Ahora bien, la noción general de Bulygin que (...) concibe a las normas como proposiciones o entidades conceptuales, parece -paradójicamente- rozar el escepticismo cuando se enfrenta a la imposibilidad de listar en forma completa las excepciones implícitas en la formulación de una regla. Proponemos una concepción alternativa basada en la noción de que el significado se muestra en el "uso", entendido este como el dominio de una técnica que constituye una "práctica social", en la cual reside un tipo de corrección práctica que no depende de justificaciones explícitas, sino de un trasfondo no expreso que hace irreductible a una teoría la aplicación de normas jurídicas. We contrast Bulygin's position on rules against that of the semantic skeptic and the inclusionist. We understand these two positions as in some sense expressing two general approaches on behavior according to rules: a) the first one stating that ruled behavior is no more than "arbitrary decisions," mere reactions or behavioral habits, and b) the second one explaining everything normative as actions adjusted to rules or principles. Bulygin's general notion according to which rules are propositions or conceptual entities paradoxically seems to be close to a skeptic position when facing the impossibility of completely listing implicit exceptions when formulating a rule. We propose an alternative conception based on the notion that meaning is shown in use, understanding by "use" the mastering of a technique that constitutes a social practice, in which resides a sort of correction practice. This correction does not depend on explicit justifications but on an unexpressed background which makes impossible a theory of legal application of rules. (shrink)

Classical arguments about the legitimate use of force have profoundly shaped the norms and institutions of contemporary international society. But what specific lessons can we learn from the classical European philosophers and jurists when thinking about humanitarian intervention, preventive self-defense or international trusteeship today? The contributors to this volume take seriously the admonition of contextualist scholars not to uproot classical thinkers' arguments from their social, political and intellectual environment. Nevertheless, this collection demonstrates that contemporary students, scholars and policymakers can still (...) learn a great deal from the questions raised by classical European thinkers, the problems they highlighted, and even the problematic character of some of the solutions they offered. The aim of this volume is to open up current assumptions about military intervention, and to explore the possibility of reconceptualizing and reappraising contemporary approaches. (shrink)

Early work in child psychology -- Phenomenology, gestalt theory, and psychoanalysis -- Syncretic sociability and the birth of the self -- Contemporary research in psychology and phenomenology -- Exploration and learning -- Culture, development, and gender -- Conclusion: an incomparable childhood.

This paper considers phenomenological descriptions of health in Gadamer, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, and Svenaeus. In these phenomenologies of health, health is understood as a tacit, background state that permits not only normal functioning but also philosophical reflection. Nietzsche’s model of health as a state of intensity that is intimately connected to illness and suffering is then offered as a rejoinder. Nietzsche’s model includes a more complex view of suffering and pain as integrally tied to health, and its language opens up the (...) possibility of many ‘healths,’ providing important theoretical support to phenomenological accounts of the diversity and complexity of health and illness. (shrink)

Acknowledgments. The seed of this book began with a session on “food and everyday life” which took place at the 2010 Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy con- ference in Montreal, Canada. I thus wish to acknowledge and ...

What is honor? Has its meaning changed since ancient times? Is it an outmoded notion? Does it still have the power to direct our behavior? In this provocative book Alexander Welsh considers the history and meaning of honor and dismisses the idea that we live in a post-honor culture. He notes that we have words other than _honor_, such as _respect_, _self-respect_, and personal _identity_, that show we do indeed care deeply about honor. Honor, he argues, is a continuing (...) process of respect that motivates or constrains members of a peer group. Honor’s dictates function as moral imperatives. Surprisingly, little systematic study of the history of honor in Western culture has been attempted. Offering a welcome remedy, Welsh provides a genealogy of approaches to the subject, mining some of the most influential texts of the Western tradition. He rereads with fascinating results the works of Aristotle, Cicero, Shakespeare, Mandeville, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Kant, Adam Smith, and others. With a sharp focus on the intersection of honor and ethics in both literature and philosophy, Welsh invites new and constructive debate on a topic of vital interest. (shrink)

Until the 1970s, models of early infancy tended to depict the young child as internally preoccupied and incapable of processing visual-tactile data from the external world. Meltzoff and Moore's groundbreaking studies of neonatal imitation disprove this characterization of early life: They suggest that the infant is cognizant of its external environment and is able to control its own body. Taking up these experiments, theorists argue that neonatal imitation provides an empirical justification for the existence of an innate ability to engage (...) in social communication. Since later imitation is taken as a benchmark for self- and other-awareness, theorists claim that a proto- or primitive self must exist in the infant. This paper takes up the issue of whether or not neonatal imitation does provide us with a ground to argue against developmental accounts that consider self-awareness to be a later acquisition. I argue that the enthusiasm over neonatal imitation is premature. Psychological studies that claim to prove neonatal imitation do not provide sufficient grounds for dismissing alternate philosophical and psychological theories about the self as being a post-birth "event" rather than an intrinsic condition. Therefore, I argue that there is no compelling reason to suppose that we come to the world with a primitive sense of self- or other-awareness. (shrink)