Effects of reduced exposure to cigarette smoking on changes in biomarkers of potential harm in adult smokers: results of combined analysis of two clinical studies

Purpose: Nonconventional vapor products (NVP), designed to reduce exposure to cigarette smoke toxicants (CSTs), could cause changes in biomarkers of potential harm (BoPH). Although, NVPs reduced CSTs exposure compared to conventional cigarettes (CC), the changes in the BoPH values varied among the studies. Hence, further information on BoPH using NVPs is needed.

Material and methods: The data of two similarly designed studies using a kind of NVP, a noncombustion and nonheating inhaler type of smokeless tobacco product (NCIT) used under 31-day confinement, were pooled, and the differences in 15 BoPH between smokers and nonsmokers at baseline and between the 1?mg tar CC (CC1) group and NCIT group at Day 28/29 were analyzed.

Results: At baseline, the levels of eight BoPH (red blood cells, white blood cells, 8-epi-prostaglandin F2α, 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine, malondialdehyde, 11-dehydrothromboxane B2, total cholesterol and glucose) were significantly different between smokers and nonsmokers. At Day 28/29, the levels of six BoPH were significantly different between NCIT and CC1 (8-epi-prostaglandin F2α, malondialdehyde, 11-dehydrothromboxane B2: CC1?>?NCIT, total bilirubin, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and total cholesterol: CC1?<?NCIT).

Conclusions: Reduced exposure to CSTs has favorable effects on BoPH associated with oxidative stress, antioxidant capacity and platelet activation/coagulation but not in lipid metabolism.     

On the function of the ultimate legs of some Scolopendridae (Chilopoda,Scolopendromorpha)

The function of the variously shaped ultimate legs of Scolopendridae is briefly reviewed. Their function in Scolopendra heros Girard, 1853, Scolopendra subspinipes Leach, 1815, Scolopendra morsitans (Linnaeus, 1758), Scolopendra galapagoensis Bollman, 1889, Scolopendra hainanum Kronmüller, 2012, Scolopendra spinosissima Kraepelin, 1903 Cormocephalus aurantiipes (Newport, 1844) and Ethmostigmus trigonopodus (Leach, 1817), in which they are least specialised has been investigated. Specimens were tapped with forceps on different parts of the trunk to simulate the attack of a predator. When tapped on the first third of the trunk (near the head), the centipedes attacked the forceps with their forcipules. When tapped on the last third or the ultimate legs, they adopted a warning position, raising the ultimate legs to display the ventral and medial prefemoral spines as well as the spined coxopleural processes. In some cases the centipedes attacked the forceps with the claws of the ultimate legs by chopping down on them after lifting the legs high into the warning position. When tapped in the mid part of the trunk, the centipedes curled sideways to reach the forceps with their forcipules and ultimate legs simultaneously. Scolopendra galapagoensis not only lifted the ultimate legs into the warning position but also the last 3-4 pairs of locomotory legs, presenting their distodorsal prefemoral spines. This resembles the warning posture of some spiders. In addition to their function in warning behaviour, defensive stabbing, ritualised meeting reactions and during courtship behaviour, the ultimate legs may in addition act as hooks and perhaps be involved in species recognition. No evidence was found that the ultimate legs are used to catch prey, nor of prey or predators being held between the prefemora.     

Wrongs, preferences, and the selection of children: a critique of Rebecca Bennett's argument against the principle of procreative beneficence

Rebecca Bennett, in a recent paper dismissing Julian Savulescu's principle of procreative beneficence, advances both a negative and a positive thesis. The negative thesis holds that the principle's theoretical foundation - the notion of impersonal harm or non-person-affecting wrong - is indefensible. Therefore, there can be no obligations of the sort that the principle asserts. The positive thesis, on the other hand, attempts to plug an explanatory gap that arises once the principle has been rejected. That is, it holds that the intuitions of those who adhere to the principle are not genuine moral intuitions, but instead simply give voice to mere (non-moral) preferences. This paper, while agreeing that Savulescu's principle does not express a genuine moral obligation, takes issue with both of Bennett's theses. It is suggested that the argument for the negative thesis is either weak or question-begging, while there is insufficient reason to suppose the positive thesis true.     

Influence of number of pollinations and pollen load size on maternal fitness costs in Collinsia heterophylla: implications for existence of a sexual conflict over timing of stigma receptivity

Costs related to pollen competition have rarely been considered, but are expected in the case of sexual conflict where male and female sexual functions have opposing evolutionary interests. In Collinsia heterophylla, delayed stigma receptivity is beneficial as it enhances pollen competition. A sexual conflict over timing of stigma receptivity has been proposed in this species as early pollination, following one-time pollinations, is advantageous to pollen donors at a cost of reduced maternal seed set (measured as seed number). In this study, we explored whether the maternal cost was still present following an additional pollination. We hypothesized that the cost is caused either by harm related to early pollen presence or by factors unrelated to harm. We performed pollinations at different stages of floral development, either one or two pollinations (24-h time lag), and varied the size of the first pollen load in the latter category. Early pollination reduced seed biomass also after two-time pollinations, suggesting a persistent maternal cost of early pollen presence. Further, pollen load size modified seed production, possibly indicating that dose-dependent harm influences the maternal cost of early fertilization. Our results strongly suggest negative effects of pollen competition on maternal fitness following early pollination, which is consistent with the existence of a sexual conflict over timing of stigma receptivity. In conclusion, we propose that much could be gained if more plant studies considered the potential for fitness costs in relation to sexual conflict, particularly those investigating pollen-pistil interactions.     

探讨尿视黄醇结合蛋白对高血压早期肾损害的作用研究

目的:探讨尿视黄醇结合蛋白(RBP)、尿N-乙酰-β-D-氨基葡萄糖苷酶(NAG)、尿胱蛋白酶抑制剂C(Cystatin C)的测定对原发性高血压早期肾损害诊断的敏感性及临床意义.方法:选择2011年4月～2011年11月在新疆自治区人民医院肾病科住院的原发性高血压患者69例作为观察组,另设健康体检者30例为对照组.尿RBP、Cystatin C测定采用酶联免疫法(ELISA)检测,尿NAG测定采用对硝基苯酚(PNP)比色法检测.结果:观察组中尿RBP、NAG、CystatinC的测定含量明显高于正常对照组(P＜0.001),通过ROC曲线、诊断试验结果显示:尿RBP的曲线下面积为0.962,95％可信区间为0.921～0.983,较尿NAG、Cystatin C更具有敏感性(P＜0.001).结论:检测尿RBP有助于高血压肾损害的早期监测,对预防高血压性肾病的发生、发展具有重要的临床价值.     

Causes,proximate and ultimate

Within evolutionary biology a distinction is frequently made between proximate and ultimate causes. One apparently plausible interpretation of this dichotomy is that proximate causes concern processes occurring during the life of an organism while ultimate causes refer to those processes (particularly natural selection) that shaped its genome. But ultimate causes are not sought through historical investigations of an organisms lineage. Rather, explanations referring to ultimate causes typically emerge from functional analyses. But these functional analyses do not identify causes of any kind, much less ultimate ones. So-called ultimate explanations are not about causes in any sense resembling those of proximate explanations. The attitude, implicit in the term ultimate cause, that these functional analyses are somehow superordinate to those involving proximate causes is unfounded. Ultimate causes are neither ultimate nor causes.     

宁国县竹林大型土壤动物群落结构与竹笋夜蛾危害程度的关系

许多农林害虫在发育过程中的某个阶段需要在土壤中度过 ,成为土壤动物的组成部分。有关土壤动物群落与害虫关系的研究 ,迄今报道甚少 ,近年来 ,我们对马尾松林土壤动物与荔蒲吉松叶蜂 (Ｇｉｌｐｉｎｉａｌｉｐｕｅｎｓｉｓ)害虫[1] 及水稻土壤动物与稻象虫 (Ｅｃｈｉｎｏｃｎｅｍｕｓｓｑｕａｍｅｕｓ)害虫关系[2 ]等进行初步报道。本文将对淡竹林大型土壤动物与竹笋夜蛾 (Ｏｌｉｇｉａｖｕｌｇａｘｉｓ)危害程度的关系进行研究 ,目的在于探明不同危害程度的竹林内 ,土壤动物群落结构各项重要指标的变化规律 ,以及竹笋夜蛾在土壤中的分布、…     

豆天蛾生产与综合利用的研究进展

豆天蛾是一种危害豆类作物的农业害虫,但同时又是重要的资源昆虫。本文针对豆天蛾的资源利用,对其资源发掘潜力及开发利用现状进行了综述,并讨论了豆天蛾工厂化生产繁育中亟需解决的若干问题。     

Conceptual challenges to the harm threshold

Children are presumptively regarded as incompetent to make their own medical decisions, and the responsibility for making such decisions typically falls to parents. Parental authority is not unlimited, however, and ethical guidelines identifying appropriate bounds on this authority are needed. One proposal currently gaining support is the harm threshold (HT), which asserts that the state may only legitimately intervene in parental decision-making when serious and preventable harm to children is likely. This paper considers two questions: in virtue of what underlying principle or property does the HT gain its purported justification?; and does this underlying principle or property ground the HT as its proponents conceive of it? I identify two separate grounds represented in the literature: (a) J.S. Mill’s Harm Principle; and (b) the liberty interests of parents. I find that the HT is not sufficiently grounded in either of these, revealing a substantial conceptual difficulty for its advocates.