Untangling Twinning

Untangling Twinning
Author: Maureen L. Condic
Publisher: University of Notre Dame Pess
Total Pages: 212
Release: 2020-02-28
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0268107076

Scientists and philosophers have long struggled to answer the questions of when human life begins and when human life has inherent value. The phenomenon of identical (monozygotic) twinning presents a significant challenge to the view that human life and human personhood begin at conception. The fact that a single embryo can split to generate two (or more) genetically identical embryos seems to defy the notion that prior to splitting an embryo can be a single human individual. In Untangling Twinning, Maureen Condic looks at the questions raised by human twinning based on a unique synthesis of molecular developmental biology and Aristotelian philosophy. She begins with a brief historical analysis of the current scientific perspective on the embryo and proceeds to address the major philosophic and scientific concerns regarding human twinning and embryo fusion: Is the embryo one human or two (or even more)? Does the original embryo die, and if not, which of the twins is the original? Who are the parents of the twins? What do twins, chimeras, cloning, and asexual reproduction in humans mean? And what does the science of human embryology say about human ensoulment, human individuality, and human value? Condic's original approach makes a unique contribution to the discussion of human value and human individuality, and offers a clear, evidence-based resolution to questions raised by human twinning. The book is written for students and scholars of bioethics, scientists, theologians, and attorneys who are involved in questions surrounding the human embryo.

Human Embryos, Human Beings

Human Embryos, Human Beings
Author: Samuel B. Condic
Publisher: CUA Press
Total Pages: 302
Release: 2018-06-29
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0813230233

A tale of two ontologies : are humans designated or discovered?. - Ontology and embryos : on being an embryo. - Arguments from ontology : it can't be human because it contradicts, ontologically. - Arguments from potential : it can't be human because it contradicts, factually. - Arguments from observation : it could be human, but the facts suggest otherwise. - Developmental systems theory and fuzzy organisms : it's not human until we say it's human. - The postmodern connection : form, fiat, and intention. - Humans and organization : defining the hallmarks of human existence. - Some difficult cases : a practical guide for evaluation. - A contested case : altered nuclear transfer : how to evaluate entities produced by experimenters. - Metaphysics matters.

Literary Twinship from Shakespeare to the Age of Cloning

Literary Twinship from Shakespeare to the Age of Cloning
Author: Wieland Schwanebeck
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 259
Release: 2020-01-06
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1000032736

Unlike previous efforts that have only addressed literary twinship as a footnote to the doppelganger motif, this book makes a case for the complexity of literary twinship across the literary spectrum. Shortlisted for the ESSE Book Award 2022 (Literatures in the English Language), it shows how twins have been instrumental to the formation of comedies of mistaken identity, the detective genre, and dystopian science fiction. The individual chapters trace the development of the category of twinship over time, demonstrating how the twin was repeatedly (re-)invented as a cultural and pathological type when other discursive fields constituted themselves, and how its literary treatment served as the battleground for ideological disputes: by setting the stage for debates regarding kinship and reproduction, or by partaking in discussions of criminality, eugenic greatness, and ‘monstrous births’. The book addresses nearly 100 primary texts, including works of Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens, Arthur Conan Doyle, Aldous Huxley, Christopher Priest, William Shakespeare, and Zadie Smith.

Riddley Walker

Riddley Walker
Author: Russell Hoban
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2012-05-24
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1408832240

‘Walker is my name and I am the same. Riddley Walker. Walking my riddels where ever theyve took me and walking them now on this paper the same. There aint that many sir prizes in life if you take noatis of every thing. Every time will have its happenings out and every place the same. Thats why I finely come to writing all this down. Thinking on what the idear of us myt be. Thinking on that thing whats in us lorn and loan and oansome.’ Composed in an English which has never been spoken and laced with a storytelling tradition that predates the written word, RIDDLEY WALKER is the world waiting for us at the bitter end of the nuclear road. It is desolate, dangerous and harrowing, and a modern masterpiece.

SILENT RISK

SILENT RISK
Author: Jason H. Collins, MD, MSCR
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
Total Pages: 116
Release: 2013-10
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1493114638

With an estimated 8,000 deaths per year in the United States from complications of UCA, an initial goal of 50% reduction of loss is possible. To achieve this goal requires the recognition by the obstetrical community of the issue. Recent research into circadian rhythms may help explain why UCA stillbirth is an event between 2:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. Melatonin has been described as stimulating uterine contractions through the M2 receptor. Melatonin secretion from the pineal gland begins around 10:00 p.m. and peaks to 60 pg at 3:00 a.m. Serum levels decline to below 10 pg by 6:00 a.m. Uterine stimulation intensifies during maternal sleep, which can be overwhelming to a compromised fetus, especially one experiencing intermittent umbilical cord compression due to UCA. It is now time for the focus to be on screening for UCA, managing UCA prenatally, and delivery of the baby in distress defined by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists as a heart rate of 90 beats per minute for 1 minute on a recorded nonstress test. The ability of ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to visualize UCA is well documented. The 18 20 week ultrasound review should include the umbilical cord, its characteristics, and description of its placental and fetal attachment. The American Association of Ultrasound Technologists has defined these parameters for umbilical cord abnormalities: B.1.4 Abnormal insertion B.1.5 Vasa previa B.1.6 Abnormal composition B.1.7 Cysts, hematomas, and masses B.1.8 Umbilical cord thrombosis B.1.9 Coiling, collapse, knotting, and prolapse B.1.10 Umbilical cord evaluation with sonography includes the appearance, composition, location, and size of the cord Cord Events: Although many stillbirths are attributed to a cord accident, this diagnosis should be made with caution. Cord abnormalities, including a Nuchal Cord, are found in approximately 30% of normal births and may be an incidental finding. (American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology Practice Bulletin 2009) According to NICHD's recent stillbirth study, UCA is a significant cause of mortality (10%). This finding is in agreement with other international UCA studies. (Bukowski et al. 2011) These histologic criteria identify cases of cord accident as a cause of stillbirth with very high specificity. (Dilated fetal vessels, thrombosis in fetal vessels, avascular placental villi.) (Pediatr Dev Pathol 2012) Finally, defining the morbidity (injury) of cord compression, such as fetal neurologic injury or heart injury identified with umbilical cord blood troponin T levels or pulmonary injury, is the next major area of investigation.

Medical Research Ethics: Challenges in the 21st Century

Medical Research Ethics: Challenges in the 21st Century
Author: Tomas Zima
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 490
Release: 2023-01-01
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 3031126920

This book provides a current review of Medical Research Ethics on a global basis. The book contains chapters that are historically and philosophically reflective and aimed to promote a discussion about controversial and foundational aspects in the field. An elaborate group of chapters concentrates on key areas of medical research where there are core ethical issues that arise both in theory and practice: genetics, neuroscience, surgery, palliative care, diagnostics, risk and prediction, security, pandemic threats, finances, technology, and public policy.This book is suitable for use from the most basic introductory courses to the highest levels of expertise in multidisciplinary contexts. The insights and research by this group of top scholars in the field of bioethics is an indispensable read for medical students in bioethics seminars and courses as well as for philosophy of bioethics classes in departments of philosophy, nursing faculties, law schools where bioethics is linked to medical law, experts in comparative law and public health, international human rights, and is equally useful for policy planning in pharmaceutical companies.

Smellosophy

Smellosophy
Author: A. S. Barwich
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 385
Release: 2020-07-14
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0674245407

An NRC Handelsblad Book of the Year “Offers rich discussions of olfactory perception, the conscious and subconscious impacts of smell on behavior and emotion.” —Science Decades of cognition research have shown that external stimuli “spark” neural patterns in particular regions of the brain. We think of the brain as a space we can map: here it responds to faces, there it perceives a sensation. But the sense of smell—only recently attracting broader attention in neuroscience—doesn’t work this way. So what does the nose tell the brain, and how does the brain understand it? A. S. Barwich turned to experts in neuroscience, psychology, chemistry, and perfumery in an effort to understand the mechanics and meaning of odors. She discovered that scents are often fickle, and do not line up with well-defined neural regions. Upending existing theories of perception, Smellosophy offers a new model for understanding how the brain senses and processes odors. “A beguiling analysis of olfactory experience that is fast becoming a core reference work in the field.” —Irish Times “Lively, authoritative...Aims to rehabilitate smell’s neglected and marginalized status.” —Wall Street Journal “This is a special book...It teaches readers a lot about olfaction. It teaches us even more about what philosophy can be.” —Times Literary Supplement

The Nature of Human Persons

The Nature of Human Persons
Author: Jason T. Eberl
Publisher: University of Notre Dame Pess
Total Pages: 545
Release: 2020-06-25
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0268107750

Is there a shared nature common to all human beings? What essential qualities might define this nature? These questions are among the most widely discussed topics in the history of philosophy and remain subjects of perennial interest and controversy. The Nature of Human Persons offers a metaphysical investigation of the composition of the human essence. For a human being to exist, does it require an immaterial mind, a physical body, a functioning brain, a soul? Jason Eberl also considers the criterion of identity for a developing human being—that is, what is required for a human being to continue existing as a person despite undergoing physical and psychological changes over time? Eberl's investigation presents and defends a theoretical perspective from the thirteenth-century philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas. Advancing beyond descriptive historical analysis, this book places Aquinas’s account of human nature into direct comparison with several prominent contemporary theories: substance dualism, emergentism, animalism, constitutionalism, four-dimensionalism, and embodied mind theory. These theories inform various conclusions regarding when human beings first come into existence—at conception, during gestation, or after birth—and how we ought to define death for human beings. Finally, each of these viewpoints offers a distinctive rationale as to whether, and if so how, human beings may survive death. Ultimately, Eberl argues that the Thomistic account of human nature addresses the matters of human nature and survival in a much more holistic and desirable way than the other theories and offers a cohesive portrait of one’s continued existence from conception through life to death and beyond.

Life Finds a Way

Life Finds a Way
Author: Andreas Wagner
Publisher: Basic Books
Total Pages: 275
Release: 2019-06-11
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1541645359

How the principles of biological innovation can help us overcome creative challenges in art, business, and science In Life Finds a Way, biologist Andreas Wagner reveals the deep symmetry between innovation in biological evolution and human cultural creativity. Rarely is either a linear climb to perfection--instead, "progress" is typically marked by a sequence of peaks, plateaus, and pitfalls. For instance, in Picasso's forty-some iterations of Guernica, we see the same combination of small steps, incessant reshuffling, and large, almost reckless, leaps that characterize the way evolution transformed a dinosaur's grasping claw into a condor's soaring wing. By understanding these principles, we can also better realize our own creative potential to find new solutions to adversity. Ultimately, Life Finds a Way offers a new framework for the nature of creativity, enabling us to better adapt, grow, and change in art, business, or science--that is, in life.

The Routledge Handbook of the Ethics of Human Enhancement

The Routledge Handbook of the Ethics of Human Enhancement
Author: Fabrice Jotterand
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 486
Release: 2023-08-01
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1000901866

The Routledge Handbook of the Ethics of Human Enhancement provides readers with a philosophically rich and scientifically grounded analysis of human enhancement and its ethical implications. A landmark in the academic literature, the volume covers human enhancement in genetic engineering, neuroscience, synthetic biology, regenerative medicine, bioengineering, and many other fields. The Handbook includes a diverse and multifaceted collection of 30 chapters—all appearing here in print for the first time— that reveal the fundamental ethical challenges related to human enhancement. The chapters have been written by internationally recognized leaders in the field and are organized into seven parts: Historical Background and Key Concepts Human Enhancement and Human Nature Physical Enhancement Cognitive Enhancement Mood Enhancement and Moral Enhancement Human Enhancement and Medicine Legal, Social, and Political Implications The depth and topical range of the Handbook makes it an essential resource for upper-level undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows in a broad variety of disciplinary areas. Furthermore, it is an authoritative reference for basic scientists, philosophers, engineers, physicians, lawyers, and other professionals who work on the topic of human enhancement.