Objectives The potential effects of exposure to repetitive subconcussive head impacts through routine participation in sport are not understood. To investigate the effects of repetitive subconcussive head impacts we studied boxers following customary training (sparring) using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), decomposition electromyographic (EMG) and tests of memory. Methods Twenty amateur boxers performed three 3-min sparring bouts. Parameters of brain function and motor control were assessed prior to sparring and again immediately, 1 h and 24 h post-sparring. Twenty control participants were (...) assessed following mock-sparring. Results One hour after sparring boxers showed increased corticomotor inhibition, altered motor unit recruitment strategies, and decreased memory performance relative to controls, with values returning to baseline by the 24 h follow up. Conclusion Repetitive subconcussive head impacts associated with sparring resulted in acute and transient brain changes similar to those previously reported in soccer heading, providing convergent evidence that sport-related head impacts produce a GABAergic response. These acute changes in brain health are reminiscent of effects seen following brain injury, and suggest a potential mechanism underlying the damaging long-term effects of routine repetitive head impacts in sport. (shrink)

As a contribution to a wider discussion on moral discernment in theological anthropology, this paper seeks to answer the question “What is the impact of mental illness on an individual’s ability to make moral decisions?” Written from a clinical psychiatric perspective, it considers recent contributions from psychology, neuropsychology and imaging technology. It notes that the popular conception that mental illness necessarily robs an individual of moral responsibility is largely unfounded. Most people who suffer from mental health problems do not lose (...) the capacity to make moral decisions, and mental illness on its own rarely explains anti-social or criminal behaviour. Moreover, the assumptions of some scientists, that recent developments in neuropsychology and brain imaging suggest biological determinism, must be treated with caution. (shrink)

Variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease is a fatal, transmissible, neurodegenerative disorder for which there is currently no effective treatment. vCJD arose from the zoonotic spread of bovine spongiform encephalopathy. There is now compelling evidence for human to human transmission through blood transfusions from presymptomatic carriers and experts are warning that the real epidemic may be yet to come. Imperatives exist for the development of reliable, non-invasive presymptomatic diagnostic tests. Research into such tests is well advanced. In this article the ethical implications of (...) the availability of these tests are elaborated and comparisons drawn with predictive genetic testing for Huntington’s disease and screening for HIV. Paramount to considerations is the issue of whom to test, weighing up respect for personal autonomy against obligations to benefit and protect society. A paradigm is proposed similar to that used for HIV screening but with unique features: compulsory testing of all blood/organ donors and individuals undergoing surgery or invasive procedures who have a significant risk of disease transmission. (shrink)

This is an earlier version of the argument presented as the appendix to the author's final book, Peri Physeos.

An analytical investigation into compressible gas flow with slight rarefactions through the insect trachea and tracheoles during the closed spiracle phase is undertaken, and a complete set of asymptotic analytical solutions is presented. We first obtain estimates of the Reynolds and Mach numbers at the channel terminal ends where the tracheoles directly deliver respiratory gases to the cells, by comparing the magnitude of the different forces in the compressible gas flow. The 2D Navier–Stokes equations with a slip boundary condition are (...) used to investigate compressibility and rarefied effects in the trachea and tracheoles. Expressions for the velocity components, pressure gradients and net flow inside the trachea are then presented. Numerical simulations of the tracheal compressible flow are performed to validate the analytical results from this study. This work extends previous work of Arkilic et al. :167–178, 1997) on compressible flows through a microchannel. Novel devices for microfluidic compressible flow transport may be invented from results obtained in this study. (shrink)

The author presents reasons for thinking that the evil we observe in the world is not even prima facie evidence against the existence of God.

Consent remains a crucial, yet challenging, cornerstone of clinical practice. The ethical, legal and professional understandings of this construct have evolved away from a doctor-centred act to a patient-centred process that encompasses the patient’s values, beliefs and goals. This alignment of consent with the philosophy of shared decision-making was affirmed in a recent high-profile Supreme Court ruling in England. The communication of information is central to this model of health care delivery but it can be difficult for doctors to gauge (...) the information needs of the individual patient. The aim of this paper is to describe ‘core information sets’ which are defined as a minimum set of consensus-derived information about a given procedure to be discussed with all patients. Importantly, they are intended to catalyse discussion of subjective importance to individuals. The model described in this paper applies health services research and Delphi consensus-building methods to an idea orginally proposed 30 years ago. The hypothesis is that, first, large amounts of potentially-important information are distilled down to discrete information domains. These are then, secondly, rated by key stakeholders in multiple iterations, so that core information of agreed importance can be defined. We argue that this scientific approach is key to identifying information important to all stakeholders, which may otherwise be communicated poorly or omitted from discussions entirely. Our methods apply systematic review, qualitative, survey and consensus-building techniques to define this ‘core information’. We propose that such information addresses the ‘reasonable patient’ standard for information disclosure but, more importantly, can serve as a spring board for high-value discussion of importance to the individual patient. The application of established research methods can define information of core importance to informed consent. Further work will establish how best to incorporate this model in routine practice. (shrink)

Let n be a positive integer and FAℓ be the free abelian lattice-ordered group on n generators. We prove that FAℓ and FAℓ do not satisfy the same first-order sentences in the language if m≠n. We also show that is decidable iff n{1,2}. Finally, we apply a similar analysis and get analogous results for the free finitely generated vector lattices.

In this essay, I discuss the standard objections to substance dualism and conclude that they are far less formidable than is usually supposed.

SummaryThe real reason why Jews wished to delate Jesus to Pilate is hinted at in the gospels, and Mt 27:63–64 and Jn 7:12,47 indicate the earliest Jewish apologetic. There is no evidence he was accused of idolatry or leading others into idolatry, nor that he was a rebellious elder. His behaviour, however curious, could not come within the Pentateuchal criminal law. Dt 13, with its crimes of ‘beguiling’ and ‘impelling/tempting’, have been suspected as relevant, but they were not invoked. On (...) the other hand the Hebrew root T'H, providing the participle mat'eh, analogous to the root widely used for similar purposes in rabbinical literature, T'H, is relevant. Jesus appeared as a seducer, πλανѽν, πλανᾱν being the equivalent of T'H. Unable to bring a charge against him as a criminal under the Pentateuchal law, the priests, the appropriate authorities, found their justification in the Prophets. See Ez 28:2–10; 2 Macc 9:12. Test. Levi 16:3 and Justin, Dial. 69,108 support the theory that it was as a mat'eh (a term in contemporary religious polemic) that Jesus was presented as a criminal to Pilate Jesus and his disciples were afraid that their converts would be re-seduced, and that is a powerful support for this argument. (shrink)

In this paper two models for movement of respiratory gases in the insect trachea are presented. One model considers the tracheal system as a single flexible compartment while the other model considers the trachea as a single flexible compartment with gas exchange. This work represents an extension of Ben-Tal’s work on compartmental gas exchange in human lungs and is applied to the insect tracheal system. The purpose of the work is to study nonlinear phenomena seen in the insect respiratory system. (...) It is assumed that the flow inside the trachea is laminar, and that the air inside the chamber behaves as an ideal gas. Further, with the isothermal assumption, the expressions for the tracheal partial pressures of oxygen and carbon dioxide, rate of volume change, and the rates of change of oxygen concentration and carbon dioxide concentration are derived. The effects of some flow parameters such as diffusion capacities, reaction rates and air concentrations on net flow are studied. Numerical simulations of the tracheal flow characteristics are performed. The models developed provide a mathematical framework to further investigate gas exchange in insects. (shrink)

The human major histocompatibility complex (MHC), on the short arm of chromosome 6, represents one of the most extensively characterised regions of the human genome. This ∼4 Mb segment of DNA contains genes encoding the polymorphic MHC class I and class II molecules which are involved in antigen presentation during an immune response. Recently the whole of the MHC has been cloned in cosmids and/or yeast artificial chromosomes (YACs) and large portions have been characterised for the presence of novel genes. (...) Many unrelated genes, both housekeeping and tissue specific, have been identified and the gene density in some regions is now approaching one gene every few kilobases. Some of the novel genes encode proteins involved in the intracellular processing and transport of antigens that are presented by MHC class I molecules. Others, however, have no obvious role in the immune response. The MHC is located in the chromosome band 6p21.3 which is a Giemsa (G)‐light band. The detection of such a large number of functional genes (at least 70) in this region is compatible with the idea that both housekeeping and tissue‐specific genes are localised predominantly in G‐light bands. (shrink)

In this paper, I defend traditional Platonic mathematical realism from its contemporary detractors, arguing that numbers, understood as abstract, non-physical objects of rational intuition, are indispensable for the act of counting.

In this paper, I endorse and defend the Common Sense View of Time (CSVT), i.e. Presentism plus the A-theory of time, by arguing for the objective reality of temporal passage.

In this paper, I present a Kantian theodicy, i.e. one based on some of the leading ideas in Kant's ethics, to the classical problem of evil and recommend it as an adequate solution to the problem of evil so understood.

Aquinas' Third Way is often dismissed as a howler, because he infers from the fact that, since the universe is metaphysically contingent that there was some time in the past when it didn't exist. I offer an argument to justify this inference.

In this paper I explore the implications of the notion of hyperspace for scientific realism and the sort of theoretical activity represented by the attempt to arrive at a literal characterization of the noumenal realities that natural science, especially physics, investigates. I conclude that whether or not this enterprise is possible, its being so depends on factors outside of our control for which no internal means of correction is possible. Only a very attenuated form of scientific realism, then, can reasonably (...) be endorsed by sober philosophy. (shrink)

In this paper I offer an alternative to the standard, mechanistic/fatalistic account of causal necessity, one compatible with the existence of laws of nature but not deterministic in the way this is usually understood.

I have a theory of the emotions that many people find unflattering. I contend that all emotions, as such, are negative and neither life-enhancing nor truth-connected. In this essay, I present this theory and my reasons for it.

In this paper, I argue that Kant's famous critique of the Ontological Argument largely begs the question against that argument, and is no better when supplemented by the modern quantificational analysis of "exists." In particular, I argue that the claim, common to Hume and Kant, that conceptual truths can never entail substantive existential claims is false,and thus no ground for rejecting the Ontological Argument.