The Ethics Of Clinical Research - 1281 Words

A 35-year-old man named Paul, who has a supportive wife and two adventurous kids, has been diagnosed with a very severe case of bone cancer for 1 year now. Since this type of cancer is so severe, chemotherapy is starting to not work as well. Paul’s oncologist unfortunately had to suggest a final option for Paul to try which was a clinical research trial. Clinical research trials are experimental studies that deem whether or not a medical drug, treatment, surgery, or device is safe and beneficial for humans to use (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute). As explained in Marcia Angell’s Article, â€Å"The Ethics of Clinical Research in the Third World†, the Declaration of Helsinki of the World Health Organization (WHO) provides a guideline†¦show more content†¦This temptation happens when the research question, such as a cure for cancer, is extremely important and the answer could save lives. If the investigators cared more about the scientific or medi cal advancement than the well-being of their participants, they would cross a line that prohibits treating human subjects as a means to an end. When this line is crossed, there is little left to protect patients from a callous disregard of their welfare for the sake of research goals. Informed consent would not matter because of the unbalanced relationship between the knowledge and authority among the researcher and the subject. Approval by an institutional board, although it is important, can be subject to change in its responsiveness to patients’ interests when they conflict with the welfares of the researchers. Going back to Paul’s case, he agrees to enter a clinical trial which was suggested by his oncologist. The study, that Paul has agreed to enter, has claimed that this research team has created a new drug that may be on its way to cure cancer. Obviously to a father and husband, this trial looks very appealing. However, the researchers knowingly form two groups that will compare two treatments. What Paul doesn’t know, is that one of the treatments is better than the other. One group will receive this new drug and the other group will receive a placebo. Comparing this new treatment

Background Explanation Of Epigenetics By Conrad Waddington

DNA than the their less depressed counterparts (Reiche, Vargas Nunes, Kaminami Morimoto, 2004). Background Explanation of Epigenetics Epigenetics What is epigenetics? Epigenetics is a term that was coined by Conrad Waddington that describes the heritable changes in the cellular phenotypes that are observed independently of alterations that occurs in the DNA sequence (Dawson Kouzarides, 2012). He proposed that there was a link between development and genetics, which is where the field of epigenetics came from. The word epigenetics itself was derived from a Greek word epigenesist. Epigenesist is the theory of development that proposed the early embryo was undifferentiated. The broad meaning of epigenetics would be defined as the unfolding of the genetic program for development. However, Waddington’s definition of epigenetics was not much different than that of embryology (Holliday, 2006). Over time the definition of epigenetics has evolved into the study of heritable changes in gene expression that occurs independently of the changed in the primary DNA sequence (Sharma, Kelly, Jones, 2010). Ernst Hadorn, another scien tist that became important in the study of epigenetics for his research with Drosophila, and the discovery of the imaginal discs. These discs were completely undifferentiated cells that existed during development. Hadorn later went on to determine that each of these imaginal disc developed into symmetrical parts of the adult structure. This led Hadorn andShow MoreRelatedNature vs. Nurture Shown in Family Addiction3111 Words   |  12 Pagessurrounding the explanation of John’s outcome have been debated for centuries by ordinary people, philosophers, geneticists and psychologists. With recent advancements, a second genome has been recognized and established as the â€Å"epigenome,† which is directly influenced by the outside environment (Francis). While extreme positions still exist within the nature vs. nurture debate, most scientists now agree that a combination of the two determines ones outcome; with the burgeoning field of epigenetics, however

Horses - Edwin Muir free essay sample

Edwin Muir was born on the remote Orkney Islands to the north of Scotland in 1887. * His father was a tenant farmer but he lost his land when Muir was fourteen. * Muir then moved with his family to Glasgow in 1901, where he remained for 18 years. The family lived in a poor part of the city. * During the early 1920s Muir travelled in Europe. * Muir wrote poetry and plays and earned his living as an editor, translator and literary critic. * He poetry is personal and often dreamlike. The poem ‘The Horses’ describes a future way of life that will be like the simple farming life of the past. * This way of life will be like how it used to be in the Garden of Eden. There will be no industry or technology. Man will once again be close to nature and animals. * The roots of this poem lie in Muir’s experience of life. * His life as a boy on a remote island was sheltered compared to the disorder and uproar of life in Glasgow. * In Glasgow first his father, then his two brothers, and then his mother died in the space of a few years. His life as a young man in Glasgow was a depressing experience for him, involving a succession of unpleasant jobs. * Thus he began to imagine and long for a more innocent way of life, close to the earth like in his childhood. * The horror of twentieth century world wars also influenced the poem. * Like many writers of the twentieth century Muir thought a future war might wipe out the world as we know it. * The central idea in the poem is that people ought to live a life of hard work close to the earth. * The ideas in the poem are somewhat like the strict ideas of Calvin. Calvinism is a religion that proposes a life of strict innocence based on hard work, closeness to the soil and avoidance of pleasure. * Calvin’s ideas were central to the Presbytarian religion that Muir grew up in. * In this religion only a small portion of people would get in to heaven after God angrily destroys the world. * Muir seems to think the good people are those who live close to the earth. * Muir creates a speaker or narrator from the future who describes recent history. The descriptions of events at sea suggest he is on an island, similar to where Muir grew up. * The poem is futuristic. The speaker is like a survivor describing the new, recovered earth after a Third World War. * It is a dream-like poem that contains farming imagery straight from the poet’s childhood on the farm in the Orkney Islands. * The poem refers to mysterious horses that come to help humans rebuild their life. * These horses represent a new world. * At the end of the bible, in the Book of Revelations, four horses were a signal for the end of the world. * In this poem, Muir imagines one world has ended and a new one has begun. * The horses that ended the world in the bible, return to help build the new world, a world close to nature. Summary * The speaker or narrator refers to a seven-day war and to the arrival of the magical horses. They are like horses from mythology. * The speaker says the community had decided to remain silent about the past and move on. * He describes the first few days of the war when they lived in shock and fear. They were afraid of the sound of their own breathing. * The speaker mentions a few details of the war. * Their radios stopped working on the second day. * A warship full of dead bodies passed northwards on the third day. * On the sixth day an airplane fell into the sea. After the war radios everywhere remained silent * Soon it became clear people never again wanted to hear the radios. * If the radios ever start to broadcast again people will ignore them because they represent the bad old days of war that killed children instantly. * The survivors do not want to go back to a world where entire nations were wiped out in one stroke. * The memory of that sad fact astounds them. * They ignore their disused tractors. In the light of dusk the tractors look like damp sea-monsters. * The community of survivors have decided to let the tractors rot into the clay. Immediately after the war, they began to farm using oxen or cattle to pull the ploughs. This is the old way of farming described in the bible. * The speaker then describes the magical and mysterious arrival of the horses one evening. * At first they made a frightening noise like drums or thunder as they approached. * The speaker remembers the dramatic moment he saw the heads of the approaching horses. * He recalls how they had got rid of horses and replaced them with tractors in the old world. * The arrival of the horses was like the arrival of magical steeds from a story about knights. At first the people were afraid of the horses. * But the horses waited, determined and shy. * People began to realise the horses had been sent to them. The horses had been sent by God’s command to find them. * It appears the horses had a mission to restore the relationship of man and horse from ancient times. * At first the people had no thought of using the horses for their work. * The group of horses contained six young horses that looked as if they had come from the Garden of Eden. * They were mysteriously dropped into the broken world to help the survivors rebuild the new world. Since that moment the horses have helped the community of survivors with the heavy farm work. * The speaker says the people are touched by the free choice of the horses to serve them at work. * Life has changed. The arrival of the horses marked the beginning of the new world. Themes The Return To A Simple And Innocent Way Of Life Muir imagines that the real world is so evil that it will destroy itself. Mass media control the world we live in. Radio represents this fact. Our world has turned from nature to machinery. Tractors represent this. The speaker sees tractors as monsters from the sea. He imagines a world war that will get rid of this way of life. Such a war will wipe out entire nations. Then he dreams about the survivors returning to nature and innocence: ‘We have gone back far past our father’s land’. He suggests the survivors would never again allow inventions to take over their lives. Horses will take over from tractors. He suggests humans have an ancient natural bond with horses: ‘that long-lost archaic companionship’. A new beginning will establish a world like it used to be in the bible. The horses are said to be straight out of their own Eden. A happy rural society will form. It will be dedicated to work. He doesn’t speak of pleasure but of simple farm work. He suggests that humans will be happy only when working close to the earth. War The poem paints a frightening picture of war. Fear dominates people’s emotions. Radios go quiet. Radios were the only type of mass media in the middle of the twentieth century. But the idea of a million homes with radios standing silent creates a horrible feeling of emptiness in the homes. We presume the people are silenced too, by death. A warship passes with dead bodies. A plane crashes into the sea. The suggestion that war swallowed children ‘quick’ or alive shows the frightening savagery of war. The poet describes whole nations massacred by war. It is like a nuclear war. The people lie dead, locked in sorrow at how they died. The poet suggests that the existence of machines and fast progress caused this war. He thinks that by replacing horses with tractors people lost touch with nature and evil gradually took over. Style * Repetition  Muir uses a series of words to show the alarming noise the approaching horses made: ‘tapping’, ‘drumming’ and ‘thunder’. Notice how the words build up to a climax. Imagery  Muir uses a gruesome image of war: ‘dead bodies piled on deck’. He uses primitive images such as oxen pulling ploughs. * Symbol  The tractors are symbols of industry and technology which destroyed the previous world. * Metaphor  The old world is compared to an monster that ‘that swallowed its children quick at one great gulp’. * Personification  By using the word ‘dumb’ Muir personifies the radios. He also personifies them by saying that they stand. This portrays the radios as evil beings waiting to resume control over people’s lives. * Simile  Muir compares the disused tractors to ‘dank sea-monsters’.

Water and Aquatic Habitats free essay sample

It affects terrestrial habitats more than aquatic ones as the range in temperature is much wider in terrestrial habitats. Temperature variations result in both hot and cold climates. The temperatures of temperate terrestrial habitats have markedly seasonal variations with temperatures below 00C in winter and above 200C in summer. Aquatic habitats experience a vertical variation in temperature with a drop in temperature as the depth increases. In tropical marine waters, the temperature at the surface is about 300C while at a depth of 1500 m the temperature is 40C. Organisms differ in their ability to tolerate variations in temperature. Generally, each organism has its optimum temperature at which it can maintain itself. Poikilothermic animals (cold-blooded) become inactive when the temperature falls to about 60C or rises above 400C. If unfavourable temperatures are seasonal or persist for ling periods, these animals tend to aestivate. Homoiothermic animals (warm-blooded) are able to adapt to temperature changes by maintaining a constant body temperature. We will write a custom essay sample on Water and Aquatic Habitats or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page In plants, the rate of photosynthesis and transpiration are affected by temperature. Rainfall Rainfall is another climatic factor that affects mainly terrestrial habitats. Droughts and floods are determined by the amount of rainfall and these can cause the destruction of vegetation covers and as a consequence, community. Rainfall affects the distribution of any kind of vegetation. An annual rainfall of 1600 mm yields an equatorial forest. Rainfall is essential to maintaining the life of freshwater habitats. Lack of rainfall causes drying up of ponds, lakes and streams and consequently death to organisms living there. Plants found living in areas that are aquatic are known as hydrophytes and have adaptations for living in these areas e. g. water lily. Plants found in dry, arid areas are called xerophytes and possess certain adaptations for living there such as stems modified to store water, leaves reduced to spines, sunken stomata and hairy leaves, e. g cactus. Light Light is needed for photosynthesis to take place. It also affects animals in various ways. Some animals like the earthworm, woodlice and bats shy away from light while others are active by day. Exposure to ultraviolet rays enables man to make Vitamin D. Migration of birds is as a result of seasonal shortening of daylight. Hibernation of mammals and changing of coat colour is also regulated by light. Aquatic animals prefer darker waters during the day and ascend to the surface when light intensity is reduced. Flowering of plants also depends on light. pH This determines the acidity or alkalinity of the water in aquatic habitats or the soil in terrestrial habitats. The pH tends to be neutral at a value of 7 and increases if alkaline contents are abundant. Organisms are affected by the pH of their environment. Fresh water mollusks tend to be deficient on waters with a pH less than 6. Wind Winds carry water currents and waves and also rain-bearing clouds.