U radu se polazi od hipoteze da je osnovni cilj suvremenog razvoja biotehnologije i bioznanosti stvaranje poslijeljudskih oblika inteligentnog života. Time kategorija ljudskoga zadobiva status »konačne granice« poslijeevolucijskog razvoja. Naime, moderni bio-tehno-znanstveni sustav, u postmodernom sociokulturnom kontekstu, nameće kontradiktorna stajališta o nužnosti poslijeljudskoga radi opstanka ljudskoga. Mogućnosti razvoja poslijeljudskog života otvaraju brojna pitanja, prijepore, obećanja i strahove. Od samih početaka ljudskih društava jedan od temeljnih ljudskih strahova bio je strah od postojanja »inteligentnog Drugog« . S druge strane, temeljno obećanje, koje (...) proizlazi iz primjene biotehnoloških i bioznanstvenih istraživanja, jest obećanje besmrtnog života »na ovome svijetu«. U tom kontekstu rad analizira razlikovanja ljudskog i poslijeljudskog, te moguće prijepore razvoja poslijeljudskih oblika života.The starting hypothesis of this paper is creation of posthuman intelligent life forms as a main goal of contemporary biotechnology and bioscience development. With that human category become postevolutional “final frontier”. Namely, in the postmodern sociocultural context, contradictious attitudes about necessity of posthuman for human survival is forcing by modern bio techno-scientific system. Possibilities of posthuman life development are opening many questions, controversies, promises and fears. From the beginning of human societies , one of the basic human fears was fear of “intelligent other” existence . On the other side, the basic promise, resulting from application of biotechnological and bioscientifical researches, is promise of “this-worldly” immortal life. In that context, this paper is analyzing human-post human differentiation and possible problems in the development of post human life forms. (shrink)

BackgroundThere has been no in-depth research of public attitudes on withholding or withdrawing life-prolonging treatment, euthanasia, assisted suicide and physician assisted suicide in Croatia. The aim of this study was to examine these attitudes and their correlation with sociodemographic characteristics, religion, political orientation, tolerance of personal choice, trust in physicians, health status, experiences with death and caring for the seriously ill, and attitudes towards death and dying. MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted on a three-stage random sample of adult citizens of (...) the Republic of Croatia, stratified by regions, counties, and locations within those counties. In addition to descriptive statistics, ANOVA and Chi-square tests were used to determine differences, and factor analysis, correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis for data analysis.Results38.1% of the respondents agree with granting the wishes of dying people experiencing extreme and unbearable suffering, and withholding life-prolonging treatment, and 37.8% agree with respecting the wishes of such people, and withdrawing life-prolonging treatment. 77% of respondents think that withholding and withdrawing procedures should be regulated by law because of the fear of abuse. Opinions about the practice and regulation of euthanasia are divided. Those who are younger and middle-aged, with higher levels of education, living in big cities, and who have a more liberal worldview are more open to euthanasia. Assisted suicide is not considered to be an acceptable practice, with only 18.6% of respondents agreeing with it. However, 40.1% think that physician assisted suicide should be legalised. 51.6% would support the dying person’s autonomous decisions regarding end-of-life procedures.ConclusionsThe study found low levels of acceptance of withholding or withdrawing life-prolonging treatment, euthanasia, assisted suicide and physician assisted suicide in Croatia. In addition, it found evidence that age, level of education, political orientation, and place of residence have an impact on people’s views on euthanasia. There is a need for further research into attitudes on different end-of-life practices in Croatia. (shrink)

Emergence of the novel pathogenic coronavirus SARS‐CoV‐2 and its rapid pandemic spread presents challenges that demand immediate attention. Here, we describe the development of a semi‐quantitative high‐content microscopy‐based assay for detection of three major classes (IgG, IgA, and IgM) of SARS‐CoV‐2 specific antibodies in human samples. The possibility to detect antibodies against the entire viral proteome together with a robust semi‐automated image analysis workflow resulted in specific, sensitive and unbiased assay that complements the portfolio of SARS‐CoV‐2 serological assays. Sensitive, specific (...) and quantitative serological assays are urgently needed for a better understanding of humoral immune response against the virus as a basis for developing public health strategies to control viral spread. The procedure described here has been used for clinical studies and provides a general framework for the application of quantitative high‐throughput microscopy to rapidly develop serological assays for emerging virus infections. (shrink)