bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Lipodystrophy and weight changes: data from the Swiss HIV Cohort Study, 2000–2006
Authors: Nguyen A , Calmy A , Schiffer V , Bernasconi E , Battegay M , Opravil M , Evison J‐M , Tarr PE , Schmid P , Perneger T , Hirschel B ,   the Swiss HIV Cohort Study
Published: February 2008

Background and Objectives

Combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) is changing, and this may affect the type and occurrence of side effects. We examined the frequency of lipodystrophy (LD) and weight changes in relation to the use of specific drugs in the Swiss HIV Cohort Study (SHCS).

Methods

In the SHCS, patients are followed twice a year and scored by the treating physician as having ‘fat accumulation’, ‘fat loss’, or neither. Treatments, and reasons for change thereof, are recorded. Our study sample included all patients treated with cART between 2003 and 2006 and, in addition, all patients who started cART between 2000 and 2003.

Results

From 2003 to 2006, the percentage of patients taking stavudine, didanosine and nelfinavir decreased, the percentage taking lopinavir, nevirapine and efavirenz remained stable, and the percentage taking atazanavir and tenofovir increased by 18.7 and 22.2%, respectively.

In life‐table Kaplan–Meier analysis, patients starting cART in 2003–2006 were less likely to develop LD than those starting cART from 2000 to 2002 (P<0.02). LD was quoted as the reason for treatment change or discontinuation for 4% of patients on cART in 2003, and for 1% of patients treated in 2006 (P for trend <0.001). In univariate and multivariate regression analysis, patients with a weight gain of ≥5 kg were more likely to take lopinavir or atazanavir than patients without such a weight gain [odds ratio (OR) 2, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.3–2.9, and OR 1.7, 95% CI 1.3–2.1, respectively].

Conclusions

LD has become less frequent in the SHCS from 2000 to 2006. A weight gain of more than 5 kg was associated with the use of atazanavir and lopinavir.
Hepatitis C virus antibody‐positive patients with HIV infection have a high risk of insulin resistance: a cross‐sectional study
Authors: Squillace N , Lapadula G , Torti C , Orlando G , Mandalia S , Nardini G , Beghetto B , Costarelli S , Guaraldi G
Published: February 2008

Objective

The aim of the study was to characterize and compare insulin resistance (IR) in hepatitis C virus (HCV)‐antibody (Ab)‐positive and HCV‐Ab‐negative patients with HIV infection.

Methods

This was a single‐centre cross‐sectional study of 1041 HIV‐infected patients (373 HCV‐Ab‐positive; 167 with detectable plasma HCV RNA). Metabolic and anthropometric assessments were performed, including measurement of IR using the homeostasis model for assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA‐IR).

Results

The prevalence of IR (i.e. a HOMA‐IR score ≥3.8) was significantly higher in HCV‐Ab‐positive than in HCV‐Ab‐negative patients (47.7 vs. 32.7%; P<0.0001). On multivariable linear regression analysis, the following variables were associated with HOMA‐IR score, expressed as an estimate of the percentage variation (Est.): high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (per 0.3 mmol/L increase: Est.–4.1; P=0.01), triglycerides (per 0.1 mmol/L increase: Est. 0.6; P<0.001), alcohol intake (Est. −12.4; P=0.002), sedentary lifestyle (Est. 14.7; P<0.001), CD4 T‐cell count in the highest quartile, i.e. ≥690 cells/μL (Est. 20.7; P=0.002), body mass index in the highest quartiles, i.e. ≥22.54 kg/m2 (Est. 30.5–44.7; P<0.001), waist‐to‐hip ratio in the highest quartile, i.e. >1 (Est. 30.2; P<0.001) and HCV‐Ab positivity (Est. 24.4; P<0.001).

Conclusions

Our data confirm that HCV‐Ab positivity is an independent risk factor for IR. Management aimed at correcting known risk factors for IR should be implemented.
A new strategy based on recombinant viruses for assessing the replication capacity of HIV‐1
Authors: Garcia‐Perez J , Perez‐Olmeda M , Sanchez‐Palomino S , Perez‐Romero P , Alcami J
Published: February 2008

Objective

In heavily pretreated patients, resistance mutations arise in both protease (PR) and reverse transcriptase (RT) sequences; however, the relative impact of PR and RT mutations on viral fitness cannot be evaluated with the majority of systems. To address this issue we have developed a model based on recombinant viruses (RVs) that allows the analysis of the replication capacity (RC) of viral populations in which PR and RT are cloned either in combination or separately.

Methods

RVs were generated for full‐length polymerase (pol) gene, PR or RT sequences from nine naïve and 14 heavily pretreated HIV‐infected patients in therapeutic failure. The relative RC was assessed by comparing luciferase activity between mutant RV and wild‐type (wt) isolates.

Results

A strong decrease (>60%) in the RC of the pol RV population was observed in the 14 heavily pretreated patients as compared with the wt RVs. The analysis of PR and RT RVs from these patients showed that the decrease in RC was mainly attributable to PR sequences in three of these 14 patients and to RT sequences in seven of these patients. In the four remaining patients, PR and RT sequences independently reduced the RC of the RVs to similar extents.

Conclusions

Different patterns of mutations in either PR or RT have a strong impact on RC in highly experienced HIV‐infected patients.
Cardiovascular risk score change in HIV‐1‐infected patients switched to an atazanavir‐based combination antiretroviral regimen
Authors: Colafigli M , Di Giambenedetto S , Bracciale L , Tamburrini E , Cauda R , De Luca A
Published: February 2008

Background

We aimed to establish whether the limited impact of atazanavir on the plasma lipid profile could translate into a reduction in the predicted cardiovascular risk in antiretroviral (ARV)‐experienced patients switching to an atazanavir‐containing regimen.

Methods

HIV‐1‐infected treatment‐experienced patients, switched to atazanavir for whatever reason and without prior major cardiovascular events, were selected and followed for at least 1 month. An individual cardiovascular risk score (10‐year risk of major cardiovascular events) based on validated events and measurable risk factors in Italian cardiovascular cohorts was calculated using software available online.

Results

A total of 197 patients were selected for inclusion in the study. After switching to atazanavir, the mean changes from pre‐switch to last available measurement were −6.5% (P<0.001) for total cholesterol, −1.7% (P=0.029) for high‐density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, −11.3% (P<0.001) for non‐HDL cholesterol and −8.6% (P<0.001) for triglycerides. The crude cardiovascular risk score was reduced from 3.43 to 3.38% (P=0.51); the analysis normalized by age showed a reduction from 3.43 to 3.14% (P<0.001). Subsets of patients with high baseline total cholesterol or triglycerides showed more marked reductions.

Conclusions

A treatment switch to atazanavir caused significant reductions in plasma lipids and a modest but significant reduction in the normalized‐for‐age cardiovascular risk score. Efforts should be made to concomitantly reduce the other preventable cardiovascular risk factors.
Alzheimer disease‐like clinical phenotype in a family with FTDP‐17 caused by a MAPT R406W mutation
Authors: Lindquist S. G. , Holm I. E. , Schwartz M. , Law I. , Stokholm J. , Batbayli M. , Waldemar G. , Nielsen J. E.
Published: February 2008

We report clinical, molecular, neuroimaging and neuropathological features of a Danish family with autosomal dominant inherited dementia, a clinical phenotype resembling Alzheimer’s disease and a pathogenic mutation (R406W) in the microtubule associated protein tau (MAPT) gene. Pre‐symptomatic and affected family members underwent multidisciplinary (clinical, molecular, neuroimaging and neuropathological) examinations. Treatment with memantine in a family member with early symptoms, based on the clinical phenotype and the lack of specific treatment, appears to stabilize the disease course and increase the glucose metabolism in cortical and subcortical areas, as determined by serial [F18]FDG‐PET scanning before and after initiation of treatment. Neuropathological examination of a second affected and mutation‐positive family member showed moderate atrophy of the temporal lobes including the hippocampi. Microscopy revealed abundant numbers of tau‐positive neurofibrillary tangles in all cortical areas and in some brainstem nuclei corresponding to a diagnosis of frontotemporal lobe degeneration on the basis of a MAPT mutation. The clinical and genetic heterogeneity of autosomal dominant inherited dementia must be taken into account in the genetic counselling and genetic testing of families with autosomal dominantly inherited dementia in general.
Panayiotopoulos syndrome: epidemiological and clinical characteristics and outcome
Authors: Durá‐Travé T. , Yoldi‐Petri M. E. , Gallinas‐Victoriano F.
Published: February 2008

The aim of this study was to analyse the epidemiological, clinical and evolutional characteristics of Panayiotopoulos syndrome (PS) in order to facilitate the diagnosis in daily clinical practice. Thirty‐seven medical records of patients diagnosed with PS were reviewed and the epidemiological and clinical features, results of complementary studies and evolutional data were collected. Mean age at diagnosis was 5.4 years. Female/male ratio was 2.1. The majority of seizures occurred during sleep (67.2%). They usually begin with autonomic manifestations or vomiting (70.1%). Ictal eye and/or cephalic deviation and progression to partial or generalized convulsions were also quite frequent. EEG showed occipital spikes in 28 patients (75.7%). Besides, 71.3% of recurrences were observed in the first 6 months after diagnosis, and 82.9% of the patients had no seizures beyond 2 years from diagnosis. One patient with an atypical development was recorded. The PS is a relatively frequent epileptic syndrome in paediatric age, especially in pre‐school children. Although its semiological sequence is fairly typical, the unspecific clinical and neurological characteristics complicate the diagnostic suspicion. Prognosis is excellent; however, it would be convenient to keep a strict evolutional follow‐up in these patients as an atypical evolution might occur.
Cerebrospinal fluid 14‐3‐3‐γ protein level in eight HIV‐negative cryptococcal meningitis adults
Authors: Chang W. N. , Lu C. H. , Huang C. R. , Chuang Y. C. , Tsai N. W. , Chen S. F. , Chang C. C. , Wang H. C.
Published: February 2008

The clinical data and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) 14‐3‐3‐γ protein detection of eight adult HIV‐negative cryptococcal meningitis (CM) cases were examined. The eight cases included six males and two females aged 35–70 years (mean = 49.8 years). The duration between the onset of CM symptoms and the first CSF study ranged from 1 to 60 days. Initial neuroimaging study was abnormal in 87.5% (7/8) of the cases. All the eight had positive initial and subsequent follow‐up CSF 14‐3‐3‐γ protein detection. The densitometric values of CSF 14‐3‐3‐γ protein were not correlated with either the CSF white blood cell counts or the therapeutic results. The therapeutic results showed that three cases died and five survived. Significant neurologic deficits were shown in 60% (3/5) of the survivors. This study revealed that HIV‐negative CM patients have elevated CSF 14‐3‐3‐γ protein levels, and that this level is not changed with a short‐term treatment.
Inflammation‐related genes and the risk of Parkinson’s disease: a multilocus approach
Authors: Infante J. , García‐Gorostiaga I. , Sánchez‐Juan P. , Sánchez‐Quintana C. , Gurpegui J. L. , Rodríguez‐Rodríguez E. , Mateo I. , Berciano J. , Combarros O.
Published: February 2008

For the first time, the multilocus approach by the set‐association method has been applied for the analysis of a cluster of five genes [tumor necrosis factor α (TNF‐α), interleukin 6 (IL‐6), IL‐8, IL‐1α and IL‐10] involved in the brain neuroinflammatory pathway in Parkinson’s disease (PD), in a well‐defined group of 197 PD patients and 173 control subjects from Spain. Set‐association analysis did not reveal an independent or an interactive effect of these inflammatory genes on the PD risk.
The Open Architecture of European Human Rights Law
Authors: Krisch Nico
Published: February 2008

The evolution of the European human rights regime is often described as the development of an integrated order with the European Convention of Human Rights as its governing ‘constitutional instrument’. It is argued that the regime is better regarded as pluralist ‐ characterised by a heterarchical relationship between its constituent parts that is ultimately defined politically and not legally. The emergence and workings of this pluralist order are traced through the interaction of the European Court of Human Rights with domestic courts in the European Union. These cases not only show conflicts over questions of ultimate supremacy but also significant convergence and harmony in practice. The analysis of the factors leading to this convergence indicates that central characteristics of pluralism – incrementalism and the openness of ultimate authority – have contributed significantly to the generally smooth evolution of the European human rights regime. This suggests a broader appeal of pluralist models as alternatives to constitutionalism in the construction of postnational authority and law.
Fair Labelling in Criminal Law
Authors: Chalmers James , Leverick Fiona
Published: February 2008

‘Fair labelling’ has become common currency in criminal law scholarship over recent decades, but the principle's scope and justification has never been analysed in detail. Basic questions remain unanswered, such as the intended audience for these labels and whether they assume the same importance in respect of both offences and defences. This article traces the intellectual history of the principle and examines its possible justifications in respect of offence labelling, noting that labelling is important in two distinct senses: that of description, and that of differentiation. It goes on to sketch out some considerations which are of importance in the principle's application, before concluding with a discussion of its applicability to defences.
Demanding Service or Servicing Demand? Charities, Regulation and the Policy Process
Authors: Dunn Alison
Published: February 2008

Charities in the Victorian era were characterised by the notions of service and pressure, acting as a shield and a sword for social change. Charities continue to pursue such policies, but do so at the behest of state agendas on public service provision and civic engagement. This article examines the regulatory and policy challenges of the service and pressure dynamic, focusing upon the provision of public services by charities, considering the decision of the Charity Commission in the cases of Trafford and Wigan, and the hurdles faced by charities wishing to pursue a political agenda alongside the state's concern with protecting against terrorism. The article concludes by considering the arbitrary choice made within the regulatory framework between acceptable and unacceptable political conduct and the focus upon good governance in charities and the issues which arise under section 6(3)(b) of the Human Rights Act 1998.
Compensation for Commercial Agents
Authors: Vranaki Asma
Published: February 2008

This note examines the decision of the House of Lords in Lonsdale (t/a Lonsdale Agencies) v Howard & Hallam Limited1 where the House of Lords were asked to rule on the correct method to be applied when calculating the compensation of commercial agents2 under Regulation 17 of The Commercial Agents (Council Directive) Regulations 19933 (the Regulations). This ruling settles this aspect of the law in England and Wales after almost fifteen years of legal and commercial uncertainty on the matter.
Intoxicated Consent in Rape: Bree and Juror Decision‐Making
Authors: Rumney Philip N. S. , Fenton Rachel Anne
Published: February 2008

The article examines the recent Court of Appeal judgment in Bree, in which the court considered the guidance that should be given to a jury when the complainant is intoxicated at the time of an alleged rape. As well as analysing the reasoning of the court in Bree, the judgment is placed in context by examining factors, such as social attitudes, that influence juror decision‐making in rape cases. It also examines the suggestion made by the court in Bree that further law reform in this area would represent ‘patronising interference’ in the lives of women.
The Timing of MRI Determines the Presence or Absence of Diffuse Pachymeningeal Enhancement in Patients with Spontaneous Intracranial Hypotension
Authors: Fuh J-L , Wang S-J , Lai T-H , Hseu S-S
Published: February 2008

The timing and clinical relevance of diffuse pachymeningeal enhancement (DPE) in the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examination of patients with spontaneous intracranial hypotension (SIH) remain undetermined. We reviewed 53 consecutive SIH patients (30 F/23 M, mean age of onset 41.7 ± 11.3 years) in a tertiary hospital. Thirteen (24.5%) patients did not have DPE on their initial cranial MRIs. They had significantly shorter latency between the time of MRI examinations and the time of headache onset compared with those with DPE (6.5 ± 4.4 vs. 20.4 ± 16.3 days, t-test, P < 0.001). Eight of these 13 patients received a follow-up MRI (mean duration 30.3 ± 16.6 days, range 6-59 days) and six of them revealed DPE. Among patients with DPE, the enhancement disappeared as early as 25 days after headache onset. The outcome did not differ between patients with and without DPE. The presence of DPE was associated with the timing of the MRI examination.
Lack of Impairment of Kinaesthetic Sensibility in Cervicogenic Headache Patients
Authors: De Hertogh W , Vaes P , Beckwée D , van Suijlekom H , Duquet W , Van Roy P
Published: February 2008

To compare the cervical kinaesthetic sensibility of cervicogenic headache (CEH) patients and asymptomatic controls, the head repositioning accuracy of 10 CEH patients and 23 asymptomatic controls was measured. Should an impaired kinaesthetic sensibility be demonstrated, its assessment could be of diagnostic value in the evaluation of patients with suspected CEH. Additionally, specific exercises to improve cervical kinaesthesia could be prescribed. Kinaesthetic sensibility was assessed using a head repositioning task: subjects were asked to relocate their heads as accurately as possible to a previously memorized head position following an active movement (flexion, extension and left and right rotations). The repositioning error was registered using a validated magnetic tracking device (Flock of Birds). No significant differences were found between the asymptomatic controls and the CEH patients (independent-samples T-test, P < 0.05). We conclude that cervical kinaesthetic sensibility is not impaired in non-traumatic CEH. The use of kinaesthetic assessment and treatment in this patient group seems to be limited.
Global Justice, Capitalism and the Third World
Authors: NIELSEN KAI
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACT Reflecting on the North/South dialogue, I consider questions of global justice. I argue that questions of global justice are just as genuine as questions of domestic justice. A too narrow construal of the circumstances of justice leads to an arbitrary forestalling of questions of global justice. It isn't that we stand in conditions of reciprocal advantage that is crucial but that we stand in conditions of moral reciprocity. I first set out concerning the situation in the North and the South and the relations between them something of the facts in the case coupled with some interpretative sociology. Such investigations show massive disparities of wealth and condition between North and South and further show that these disparities have been exacerbated by the interventionist policies of the West. I then, while remaining mindful of the strains of commitment, argue that justice requires extensive redistribution between North and South but that this can be done without at all impoverishing the North, though to do so would indeed involve a radical re‐ordering of the socio‐economic system of the North.
Parental Rights
Authors: PAGE EDGAR
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACT This paper is concerned with the philosophical foundations of parental rights. Some commonly held accounts are rejected. The question of whether parental rights are property rights is examined. It is argued that there are useful analogies with property rights which help us to see that the ultimate justification of parental rights lies in the special value of parenthood in human life. It is further argued that the idea of generation is essential to our understanding of parenthood as having special value and that parental rights properly belong, in the first instance, to natural parents.
Morality and the Market in Blood
Authors: STEWART ROBERT M.
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACT The late Richard Titmuss made a persuasive case against allowing the sale of human blood in his book, The Gift Relationship. His arguments have been developed further by Peter Singer in recent articles. While the issues of quantity and quality of blood under market and non‐market systems have received much attention, the moral and political aspects of the Titmuss‐Singer case have gone relatively unexamined. First, I question their claim that a donation‐only system promotes greater freedom, which rests on a confusion of liberty and opportunity. Next, I consider reasons for doubting their view that altruism is fostered significantly more under the non‐market approach. Finally, I survey recent developments in the quantity‐quality debate and possible implications of the blood controversy for national health care.
On Behalf of Moderate Speciesism
Authors: HOLLAND ALAN J.
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACT Because of the existence of severely defective humans it is commonly held that whatever consideration is due to all humans is also due to many other animals, and that therefore speciesism, or the readiness to prefer the interest of humans to those of other animals, is unjustified. After criticism of this reasoning a ‘naturalised’ speciesism, acknowledging, for example, the affinities between species, is articulated and defended. A key to this defence is the separation of the task of specifying morally significant differences between humans and other animals from the task of justifying the extension of consideration to defective humans. The conclusion is that more traditional vices than speciesism are chiefly to blame for the shabby treatment of animals by humans.
Deterrence or Appeasement? or, On Trying to be Rational about Nuclear War[1]
Authors: BENN S. I.
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACT This paper is about the problem of the moral responsibility resting on any person to form rational beliefs about, and moral attitudes towards, the deterrent threat of mutual assured destruction (MAD), which still lies behind the graduated nuclear response strategies now more fashionably discussed by military experts. The problem is to decide what kinds of reasons there are, and how to arrive in the light of them at determinate conclusions about deterrence and unilateral disarmament. Consequential arguments would be powerful, if only they were determinate; but not only do they not point conclusively to one strategy rather than another, there is not even sufficient reason for accepting one rather than another of the competing optimising criteria by which the strategies might be assessed. So the reasons of other kinds against forming a conditional intention to retaliate with a massive second strike could be conclusive, if retaliation itself could do no (consequential) good, and if, as is claimed, the conditional intention could not be simulated. To form such an intention is held to be contrary to core values of a humane, rationalist culture. To assent to a nuclear retaliatory strike would do violence to the moral nature of anyone participating in such a culture, and to form an intention to make (or condone) such a strike would be a corruption of such a nature. So too would condoning the fostering of such an intention in others, as a way of making the retaliatory intention credible. The author accordingly considers this argument against MAD, and for unilateral nuclear disarmament, sufficient, given the inadequacy of the consequential arguments, while acknowledging that this might involve great sacrifice. The paper concludes, however, by considering whether anyone can reject nuclear deterrence who also believes that resistance to Nazism in 1939 was justified, given the then prevailing belief that the war might be massively destructive. The author holds that there is no inconsistency in both supporting resistance to evil, even at risk of total destruction, and in refusing to form or condone a conditional intention to do equivalent but pointless evil in order to make a threat credible.
A Modern Myth. That Letting Die is not the Intentional Causation of Death: some reflections on the trial and acquittal of Dr Leonard Arthur
Authors: KUHSE HELGA
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACT If a doctor kills a severely handicapped infant, he commits an act of murder; if he deliberately allows such an infant to die, he is said to engage in the proper practice of medicine. This is the view that emerged at the recent trial of Dr Leonard Arthur over the death of the infant John Pearson. However, the distinction between murder on the one hand and what are regarded as permissible lettings die on the other rests on the Moral Difference Myth, according to which deliberate lettings die in the practice of medicine are not instances of the intentional causation of death.

I argue that a doctor who refrains from preventing a handicapped infant's death, causes that infant's death and does so intentionally. He commits an act of murder. But, I suggest, not all instances of the intentional causation of death are morally wrong. To the extent that they are not, killing rather than letting die will often be the preferable option because more economical of suffering. Hence what is required is the abolition of the Moral Difference Myth and legislation to the effect that those doctors who justifiably cause a patient's death—whether by an action or by an omission—commit no offence.
Equity as an Economic Objective
Authors: GRAND JULIAN LE
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACT Following Rawls' seminal work, political philosophers and economists have recently shown great interest in different conceptions of equity or justice. Apart from Rawls' own principles, these have included utilitarianism, need and desert, horizontal and vertical equity and envy‐free distributions. None of these conceptions, however, seem to command general consensus; and this paper is an attempt to find out why. The conclusion is reached that they all fail because they do not take account of an essential element of equity: its relationship to the existence or otherwise of choice. An alternative conception is offered, based explicitly on that relationship; it is argued that this conception comes closer to capturing the essence of what is generally meant by the term equity than any of the others considered.
Gross Depravity and Moral Seriousness
Authors: BAVIDGE MICHAEL
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACT The purpose of this article is to supply a justification in moral philosophy for considering the grossly depraved criminal to be less than a normally responsible agent. Decisions concerning the responsibility of a person depend upon our ability to act and react morally with that person. The argument is that when we reflect on the implications of (1) the moral role that desires play in excusing or condemning actions and (2) the minimum moral requirements of punishment, we realise that a moral community does not exist between us and the grossly depraved. That is, we cannot apply key moral categories simpliciter, including the notion of guilt.
Academic Ethics?
Authors: PASSMORE JOHN
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACT It is sometimes suggested that academics should subscribe to a special professional ethics. The question then arises under what circumstances a professional ethics is called for. The answer suggested is that this is when the members of a profession have peculiar moral privileges. In the academic's case, these relate to special forms of freedom which academics usually possess, in distinction from other workers. These generate special temptations which a professional ethics would particularly warn against.
Violent Pornography: censorship, morality and social alternatives*
Authors: DeCEW JUDITH WAGNER
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACT I present and assess arguments both for and against censorship of pornography, explaining why the case on each side is inconclusive. In an effort to move beyond issues of censorship and to address the growing problem of violence in pornography, I propose a distinction between erotica and violent pornography. I then utilise this distinction to evaluate the moral status of, and certain social responses to, violent pornography. I show why most arguments that violent pornography is morally wrong rest on assumptions that either may not be true or do not apply to all instances of violent pornography. I also indicate why the only unconditional moral argument against violent pornography—an argument I find reasonable—will not be universally acceptable. Finally, I discuss two alternatives to censoring violent pornography. I argue that the first, which adapts Joel Feinberg's right of reasonable avoidability, is too weak, while the second, which advocates refusing all subsidy and support for violent pornography, is ultimately too strong as a social response in a society committed to freedom.
Rawlsian Justice and non‐Human Animals
Authors: ELLIOT ROBERT
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACT In his book, A Theory of Justice, John Rawls argues against the inclusion of non‐human animals within the scope of the principles of justice developed therein. However, the reasons Rawls, and certain commentators, have advanced in support of this view do not adequately support it. Against Rawls' view that ‘we are not required to give strict justice’ to creatures lacking the capacity for a sense of justice, it is initially argued that (i) de facto inclusion should be accorded non‐human animals since their exclusion strains just institutions, and (ii) Rawls' account of the sense of justice has implicit and undefended human chauvinist elements. Two further counter‐arguments are then developed in more detail. First, the suggestion that some non‐human animals do have a capacity for a sense of justice is explored. Second, the suggestion that the capacity for a sense of justice is unrealised in so many human beings that Rawls' basis for marking out a special place for them is undermined is explored. Attention is next given to Rawls' characterisation of the participants in the original position. It is claimed that there are no good reasons for disallowing the possibility that these individuals turn out to be non‐human animals in the real world. If sound, this claim brings non‐human animals directly within the scope of Rawlsian principles of justice. The claim is defended against three objections.
Reductivism, Fatalism and Sociobiology
Authors: MIDGLEY MARY
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACT When does ‘reduction’ in the harmless sense of relating one science to another involve a sinister devaluing of the valuable? Only when the ‘reductive’ explanation is (1) treated as excluding others, and (2) so chosen as to make a moral point by illicit means.

(1) is never legitimate; different kinds of explanation all have their place and do not compete. It is made to look plausible by (2), which can occur in many situations, but is usually called reduction only when it involves the physical sciences. Two different dangers follow—reduction to the unknown entities of physics is chilling, but fortunately seems to have no particular moral consequences.

Biological reductions often sound less remote; e.g. when sociobiologists talk of people as ‘survival machines’ for genes. The trouble here is not ‘biological determinism’ but fatalism, with apparent moral consequences, namely, the endorsement of universal competition. This idea is bad biology, compounded by illicit rhetoric. Biology itself cannot be a threat. The biological causes of human behaviour, including those found by sociobiologists in their calmer moments, are perfectly proper material for the social sciences.
Sexual Justice and the Sceptical Feminist
Authors: SHAW BEVERLEY
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACT The article considers various arguments put forward, on the subject of ‘sexual justice’, by Janet Radcliffe Richards in her book, The Sceptical Feminist: a Philosophical Enquiry. These arguments rest upon a version of ‘the difference principle’, and owe much to the exposition of this principle by John Rawls. It is argued that Radcliffe Richards fails to support her argument for sexual justice by reference to the difference principle. Indeed, it is argued that reliance by Radcliffe Richards upon this principle vitiates her advocacy of sexual justice. The article concludes by putting forward an obvious alternative to the difference principle; and with a suggestion as to why Radcliffe Richards fails to acknowledge the strength of this alternative.
Pesticides and Policies
Authors: MALINAS G. A.
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACT The decision to accept or to reject an empirical hypothesis concerning the risks and hazards of a pesticide requires assessing the cost's of error if the wrong decision is taken. The assessment of such costs involves scientists in problems which are closely related to those which policy‐makers face in deciding what to do in view of the information provided by scientists. These problems include the unforeseeable effects of agricultural technologies, the assessments of costs and benefits, and the choice of decision rule to use in policy formation. I conclude that the combined impact of these problems motivates the use of prudentially weighted decision rules in forming policies which regulate the use of pesticides, and it motivates the development of bio‐environmental alternatives to chemically based pest control policies.
Duress and Responsibility for Action
Authors: CAMPBELL ROBERT
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACTNot all crimes require mens rea, but all serious ones do. Crudely the requirement is that the defendant be able to take responsibility for theactus reusof which he is accused. What must be implied by this is essentially that the agent retain control of his actions. It is unjust to punish actions which are outside of the agent's control since such punishment cannot deter and is, arguably, pointless.

Duress does not remove an agent's control of his actions. This does not mean that actions performed under duress should be viewed as fully intentional. For though the agent foresees and wishes for the result of his action performed under duress, it is wished for as the best option out of a range of alternatives manipulated by the one who makes the threats which constitute the duress. The agent is responsible for his choice, but not for what is available for him to choose. He has an obligation to do what is best in the circumstances and should not be blamed if that would, in other circumstances, be accounted criminal.
Work and the Human Essence
Authors: ATTFIELD ROBIN
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACT Jenkins and Sherman hold that belief in the value of work is artificially inculcated and that a ‘leisure society’ is desirable and possible, as well as being necessitated by the introduction of microprocessors. After distinguishing between meaningful work and labour (first section), I reply obliquely to their case by contending that meaningful work affords most people their best chance of the necessary good of self‐respect (second section), and that it constitutes the exercise of an essential human capacity, the development of which is necessary to human wellbeing (third section). Because of the contingent connections between employment on the one hand and meaningful work and self‐respect on the other, we should recognise the value of work and plan for full employment (fourth section).
Inefficient Unanimity
Authors: BRENNAN GEOFFREY , LOMASKY LOREN
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACT The notion of consensus plays an important epistemological role in modern welfare economics, in that unanimous consent is a (unique) conceptual test for those changes that are ‘Pareto‐desirable’ (that is, make someone better off and no‐one else worse). In this paper, we seek to show that unanimous consent does not logically imply Pareto‐desirability—that a rational individual may fail to veto policy changes that make him/her worse off. The central element in the proof of this proposition is the observation that in social agreements involving a significant number of participants, any one individual's veto is decisive if it is the only veto. If the individual does not expect to be decisive, he will rationally exercise his vote ‘expressively’, and without sole regard to its consequences. When all individuals so act, a sort of prisoners' dilemma interaction may emerge, even under explicit consensus.
The Filial Art
Authors: ROSENTHAL ABIGAIL L.
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACT Psychological or political criticism of the parent‐child relation presupposes a normative account of that relation. Such an account is here provided. The normative account can shed most light when the parent‐child relation is presented recognizably, not in Utopian disguise. The purposes of reasonable people partly depend on their interpretations of those of their parents. This is so whether such people accept or reject any particular parental purposes. The filial art sticks to the project of working out the enacted interpretation—until it gets it approximately right. There is a corresponding parental art, neither compensatory nor sacrificial.
The Right to Strike and the Right to Work
Authors: SMART BRIAN
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACT L. J. MacFarlane has contended that the right to strike is a keystone of democratic society. The right to strike is a right to free expression, association, assembly and power. And the right to strike is dependent upon the right to employment. MacFarlane denies that the right to employment is a universal right. I argue that unless the right to work is indeed universal MacFarlane's main contention is false. Forced unemployment is, amongst other things, the denial of full citizen status, for the range of liberties that constitutes the right to strike is essential to full participation in democracy. It is only when the traditional liberty‐rights of free expression and striking are seen as being based upon such recipient rights as rights to media space and time and upon the right to work, that they can play their proper democratic role. This conception of those rights is missing from the work of Rawls and Nozick as well as from MacFarlane.
On the Morality of Nuclear Deterrence
Authors: SHAW WILLIAM H.
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACT Nuclear deterrence has struck many people as morally perplexing because it is a case in which it appears to be right to threaten, and in a sense intend, what it would be wrong to do. Section 1 explores the assumptions that are necessary to generate this moral paradox. Some moral theorists, however, have refused to embrace this paradox, contending instead that nuclear deterrence is immoral in principle precisely because it is wrong to threaten that which it would be immoral to do. Section 2 rebuts this contention and seeks to reduce the apparent paradoxicality of nuclear deterrence to manageable proportions. This is not to maintain, though, that nuclear deterrence is morally permissible in the world in which we live; consequently, Section 3 surveys some of the factors relevant to a moral assessment of the legitimacy of the actual practice of nuclear deterrence.
Justifying a Curriculum and Justifying an Institution
Authors: GRAY W. N. , WYATT J. F.
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACT The recent revival of interest in theory leads the writers to examine a particular moment when a curriculum and the institution in which it occurred was explained and justified. Max Horkheimer's inaugural address to the Institute for Social Research in 1931 is summarised. The points made by the new Director of the Institute are examined in relation not only to his proposal for an inter‐disciplinary curriculum, but also to the nature of the institution and to the general justification of higher education. The article concludes with a number of comments on the relevance of these proposals to some modern higher education issues.
Greenham: a concrete reality
Authors: SELLER ANNE
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACT A number of contributors to the Journal of Applied Philosophy have confronted the issues of nuclear war and nuclear weapons. It is the view of some of our readers, however, that there is a distinctive women's voice on this issue. It is for this reason and also in the light of the reported decision of the major news‐media in Britain not to publish any further information about the continuing Greenham protest that this discussion article is included here.
Donation, Surrogacy and Adoption
Authors: PAGE EDGAR
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACT The Warnock Report fails to reveal an important underlying principle concerning the donation and transference of gametes and embryos. This principle contrasts sharply with the principle that children are non‐transferable. Consideration of where to place the line between transferable embryos and non‐transferable fetuses, or children, yields a conception of surrogacy that would set it apart from adoption. The paper argues for a coherent system of surrogacy supported by regulative institutions in which surrogacy is seen to facilitate an acceptable form of parenthood.
The Concept, and Conceptions, of Justice
Authors: FLEW ANTONY
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACT Occasioned by but not pretending to constitute a critique of Julian Le Grand's ‘Equity as an Economic Objective‘, published in the first issue of the Journal of Applied Philosophy, this paper argues that the concept of justice must be distinguished from conceptions thereof. Once this is done it emerges that many of what are both offered and accepted as conceptions of justice really are not. By proceeding next both to enquire what are the incentives to such misrepresentations and to reveal some of their unrecognized costs, this is shown to be by no means a merely trifling and purely verbal matter. In particular, by misrepresenting the imposition of their peculiar and characteristic ideal of equality of outcome as the enforcement of the mandate of justice, Procrusteans unwittingly imply that they are themselves involved in appallingly shabby and discreditable practices.
Should One be Free to Choose the Sex of One's Child?
Authors: KUMAR DHARMA
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACT Tests which predict the sex of a fetus have led to female feticide in India, and hence to demands that such tests be banned. This paper examines the arguments for banning such tests. These will depend partly on one's views regarding the morality of feticide: different views are discussed. However the morality of feticide is not the only relevant consideration, especially since it may become possible to choose the sex of the child at conception. Whether or not parents have the right to freedom of choice and information is analysed. Many non‐western societies have special problems since the strong preference for boys may lead to the neglect of female children and to female infanticide. In heavily populated countries like India and China the need to control population growth is an additional complication. The paper concludes that in these societies the case for banning tests is weak.
The ‘Irrationality’ of the Arms Race
Authors: BAEHR PETER
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACT This paper considers the four ways that the concept of ‘irrationality’ has been employed by members of the European peace movement in their evaluation of current bloc tensions. Against Bernard Williams who has recently taken issue with the peace movement's alleged tendency to dismiss political realities, the present author argues that the use of the language of irrationality reveals just the opposite orientation. Finally, it is argued that although the language of irrationality constitutes a powerful descriptive and normative instrument, as an explanation of the Cold War it is a nonstarter.
Collective and Individual Duties to Protect the Environment
Authors: CRANOR CARL F.
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACT Many environmental harms are produced by the consequences of too many people doing acts which taken together have collective bad consequences, e.g. overuse of an underground aquifer or acid rain ‘killing’ a lake. If such acts are wrong, what should a conscientious moral agent do in such circumstances? Examples of such harms have the general feature that they are produced by individual acts, which taken by themselves may be innocent and morally permissible, but which have disastrous consequences when too many people perform them. Philosophers once thought that the generalisation argument (GA), “If the consequences of everyone's doing acts of kind a are undesirable, then no one ought to do a,” was the appropriate principle to guide a conscientious moral agent in such circumstances. However, there has been considerable literature discussing the shortcomings of this principle. Nevertheless, a proper understanding of the GA suggests that whole groups of people have collective duties to prevent such harms, which duties then provide clues to individual duties to protect the environment.

In this paper I consider some major deficiencies of the generalisation argument, the collective duty which follows from the salvageable part of the argument, and the distribution of individual duties a conscientious moral agent has with regard to such environmental harms as a consequence. These duties turn out to be peculiarly political in nature with the result that conscientious moral agents may have a number of political duties to protect the environment heretofore unrealised.
Philosophy and the Morality of Abortion
Authors: BAKER JOHN
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACT Abortion is a philosophically interesting issue because both sides seem so certain of their conclusions, yet the issue is at the same time clearly a derivative one. It is also highly political, and needs to be seen within the context of the growth of the women's movement. A philosophical overview of the issue in section 1 construes the central claims of the pro‐choice and anti‐abortion positions as moral and conceptual constructions, which extend everyday moral thinking into the area of abortion. It notes the interesting relation between such constructions and other arguments about abortion, and how this is responsible for their social and historical specificity. Section 2 defends the pro‐choice position as a victory of moral sensitivity over linguistic guile. Section 3 situates the argument within the politics of feminism, and recognises the limited contribution which philosophy is able to make.
John Rawls and the Social Minimum
Authors: WALDRON JEREMY
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACT Welfare states are often urged to secure a social minimum for citizens—a level of material well‐being beneath which no‐one should be permitted to fall. This paper examines the justification for such a claim. It begins by criticising John Rawls's rejection of the social minimum approach to justice in A Theory of Justice: the argument Rawls uses to justify the Difference Principle, based on what he calls ‘the strains of commitment’ in the ‘original position’, actually provides a better justification for a social minimum principle. The paper then examines the substance of that argument outside the context of Rawls's contractarianism, showing that there is a general case for seeing to it that desperate need does not go unmet in a liberal society.