Research vulnerability: an illustrative case study from the South African mining industry

The concept of 'vulnerability' is well established within the realm of research ethics and most ethical guidelines include a section on 'vulnerable populations'. However, the term 'vulnerability', used within a human research context, has received a lot of negative publicity recently and has been described as being simultaneously 'too broad' and 'too narrow'. The aim of the paper is to explore the concept of research vulnerability by using a detailed case study - that of mineworkers in post-apartheid South Africa. In particular, the usefulness of Kipnis's taxonomy of research vulnerability will be examined. In recent years the volume of clinical research on human subjects in South Africa has increased significantly. The HIV and TB pandemics have contributed to this increase. These epidemics have impacted negatively on the mining industry; and mining companies have become increasingly interested in research initiatives that address these problems. This case study explores the potential research vulnerability of mineworkers in the context of the South African mining industry and examines measures that can reduce this vulnerability.     

Ethical Review of Research on Human Subjects at Unilever: Reflections on Governance

This article considers the process of ethical review of research on human subjects at a very large multinational consumer products company. The commercial context of this research throws up unique challenges and opportunities that make the ethics of the process of oversight distinct from mainstream medical research. Reflection on the justification of governance processes sheds important, contrasting light on the ethics of governance of other forms and context of research.     

Protecting groups from genetic research

Genetics research, like research in sociology and anthropology, creates risks for groups from which research subjects are drawn. This paper considers what sort of protection for groups from the risks of genetics research should be provided and by whom. The paper categorizes harms by distinguishing process-related from outcome-related harms and by distinguishing two kinds of group harms. It argues that calls for community engagement are justified with respect to some kinds of harms, but not with respect to others; and it cautions that community engagement may itself be harmful.     

关于研究型学科建设的思考与探索

???? 学科作为医学发展的基本单元,也在谋划着新的变革——研究型学科建设。研究型学科建设为学科建设提出了新的思路和方向。文章结合开展研究型医院建设的实践,深入开展研究型学科建设探索,使其成为医院可持续发展的内在动力。

     

Action Research as a Professional Development Activity

Reflective teachers are always searching for ways to improve their teaching. When this reflection becomes intentional and systematic, they are engaging in teacher research. This type of research, sometimes called action research, can help bridge the gap between theory and practice by addressing topics that are relevant to practicing teachers. This article synthesizes literature within music education and general education to address (a) the conceptual underpinnings of action research, (b) characteristics of action research and teacher research, (c) action research critiques, and (d) implications for teacher research as a form of professional development.     

ON MORAL INCOHERENCE AND HIDDEN BATTLES: STEM CELL RESEARCH IN ARGENTINA

In this article, the authors focus on Argentina's activity in the developing field of regenerative medicine, specifically stem cell research. They take as a starting point a recent article by Shawn Harmon (published in this journal) who argues that attempts to regulate the practice in Argentina are morally incoherent. The authors try to show first, that there is no such ‘attempt to legislate’ on stem cell research in Argentina and this is due to a number of reasons that they explain. Second, by examining the role played by different values, conflicting legal and moral views, and the influence of various actors, they attempt to show that the legislative silence regarding stem cell research may not necessarily be a manifestation of a legal/moral disconnection but rather a survival strategy for navigating the long and heated battle on the moral status of the embryo and the kind of treatment it deserves.     

Dinosaur Ramblings

Abstract: Over the last 35 years there has been a shift in university wildlife and fisheries academic programs away from management and toward an ecology or conservation ethos. These university changes have been in both research and education. A similar change has occurred in direction among state and federal natural resource agencies. However, the changes exhibited by both groups have not been to the same degree. I believe university academic programs are now scaled more to the ecology—conservation side, while agencies still average to the management side. This represents a disconnect because university academic programs conduct research for these agencies (and others) and also educate future agency employees and provide technical services to agencies.     

The experiences of pregnant women in an interventional clinical trial: Research In Pregnancy Ethics (RIPE) study

There is increasing global pressure to ensure that pregnant women are responsibly and safely included in clinical research in order to improve the evidence base that underpins healthcare delivery during pregnancy. One supposed barrier to inclusion is the assumption that pregnant women will be reluctant to participate in research. There is however very little empirical research investigating the views of pregnant women. Their perspective on the benefits, burdens and risks of research is a crucial component to ensuring effective recruitment. The Research In Pregnancy Ethics (RIPE) study set out to ascertain the views of pregnant women about research participation using an inductive thematic analysis. We conducted semi‐structured interviews with 20 women who had participated in a double‐blind randomised placebo controlled trial in Wellington (New Zealand) while pregnant. Our results show that at least some pregnant women recognise the value and importance of research during pregnancy. The women we interviewed were deeply invested in the research process and outcomes. Key motivations for participating were altruism, playing a valuable civic role and the importance of research. The main perceived burdens related to inconvenience and time commitment. For some women, possible randomization to the placebo arm was regarded as a burden or disadvantage.     

区域生态学研究热点及进展

区域生态学是近年才发展起来的一门新兴学科,综述了区域生态学的学科特点、近期研究进展,以及区域生态学发展中存在的主要问题及其主要的研究热点。其研究热点主要集中在物种分布-多度模型、体型与分布范围、物种多样性纬度梯度格局、区域生态学与生物保护及区域生态学的新陈代谢理论等几个方面。尽管目前区域生态学研究中还存在研究方法、数据质量限制、数据统计、研究尺度不确定等一系列问题,它对于解决目前紧迫的区域环境问题及生物保护仍然具有重要意义,而且随着其研究方法和手段的进步,将发挥越来越重要的作用。     

International,interdisciplinary research in ecology: Some problems of organization and execution. The case of the man and the biosphere (MAB) programme

Ecological problems — because they involve interactions and interfaces — require for their solution a flexible, interdisciplinary approach. Ecological research can best be supported in an international, intergovernmental framework, but, at first sight, the requirements of such a framework may seem unwieldy to traditionally trained natural and social scientists. Experience acquired in implementing UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme indicates that it is possible to overcome the difficulties of conducting integrated research and to achieve internationally comparable results. The MAB Programme is a good example of both the potential and the limitations of integrated, international ecological research programs. There seem to be three imperatives for success: (1) research must be problem oriented, (2) the. unit selected for study must be sufficiently comprehensive and based on human use systems, and (3) research workers in various natural and social science disciplines and the administrative decision-makers must share responsibility for planning and execution.     

生态足迹模型研究进展

生态足迹模型是从具体的生物物理量角度来衡量人类对自然资源利用程度以及自然界为人类提供的生命支持服务功能的方法。自从该模型提出以来,受到国内外众多学者广泛关注,应用范围不断扩大。为此,从可持续发展角度出发,介绍了生态足迹模型的产生背景、理论基础和计算方法,综述了近年来国内外研究最新进展,评价了模型应用的优点和不足,提出了生态足迹研究动态和研究重点。     

Ethical Issues in the Use of Data from Testing of Human Subjects to Support Risk Assessment

The public understands and supports the ethical use of human subjects in medical research, recognizing the unique role for this type of study in the development of new drugs and therapeutic strategies for treatment of disease. The use of data from human subjects can also be of value in understanding the circumstances under which individuals exposed to chemicals in the food supply, in the workplace, or in the environment might experience toxicity, i.e., in support of risk assessment. However, questions have been raised as to whether this latter type of research is ethical, or can be performed in an ethical manner. Under what circumstances is it acceptable to intentionally expose human subjects to potentially toxic agents? This is an extremely important issue for the risk assessment community to address, because it affects in a fundamental way the types of information that will be available to conduct human health risk assessments. Four papers in this issue offer viewpoints on the value of human data, the circumstances under which human subjects might be exposed to toxic chemicals for research purposes, the ethical problems associated with this research, and the role of human vs. animal data in the development of toxicity values for human health risk assessment     

Bystanders,risks, and consent

This paper considers the moral status of bystanders affected by medical research trials. Recent proposals advocate a very low threshold of permissible risk imposition upon bystanders that is insensitive to the prospective benefits of the trial, in part because we typically lack bystanders' consent. I argue that the correct threshold of permissible risk will be sensitive to the prospective gains of the trial. I further argue that one does not always need a person's consent to expose her to significant risks of even serious harm for the sake of others. That we typically need the consent of participants is explained by the fact that trials risk harmfully using participants, which is very hard to justify without consent. Bystanders, in contrast, are harmed as a side-effect, which is easier to justify. I then consider whether the degree of risk that a trial may impose on a bystander is sensitive to whether she is a prospective beneficiary of that trial.     

In the deep end: pooling data and other statistical challenges of zoo and aquarium research

Zoo and aquarium research presents many logistic challenges, including extremely small sample sizes and lack of independent data points, which lend themselves to the misuse of statistics. Pseudoreplication and pooling of data are two statistical problems common in research in the biological sciences. Although the prevalence of these and other statistical miscues have been documented in other fields, little attention has been paid to the practice of statistics in the field of zoo biology. A review of articles published in the journal Zoo Biology between 1999–2004 showed that approximately 40% of the 146 articles utilizing inferential statistics during that span contained some evidence of pseudoreplication or pooling of data. Nearly 75% of studies did not provide degrees of freedom for all statistics and approximately 20% did not report test statistic values. Although the level of pseudoreplication in this dataset is not outside the levels found in other branches of biology, it does indicate the challenges of dealing with appropriate data analysis in zoo and aquarium studies. The standardization of statistical techniques to deal with the methodological challenges of zoo and aquarium populations can help advance zoo research by guiding the production and analysis of applied studies. This study recommends techniques for dealing with these issues, including complete disclosure of data manipulation and reporting of statistical values, checking and control for institutional effects in statistical models, and avoidance of pseudoreplicated observations. Additionally, zoo biologists should seek out other models such as hierarchical or factorial models or randomization tests to supplement their repertoire of t‐tests and ANOVA. These suggestions are intended to stimulate conversation and examination of the current use of statistics in zoo biology in an effort to develop more consistent requirements for publication. Zoo Biol 0:1–14, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.