Conceptual evolution and scientific approaches about synthetic meat.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Fernandes AM
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7230089 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Similar Datasets
Project description:Scientific data stewardship is an important part of long-term preservation and the use/reuse of digital research data. It is critical for ensuring trustworthiness of data, products, and services, which is important for decision-making. Recent U.S. federal government directives and scientific organization guidelines have levied specific requirements, increasing the need for a more formal approach to ensuring that stewardship activities support compliance verification and reporting. However, many science data centers lack an integrated, systematic, and holistic framework to support such efforts. The current business- and process-oriented stewardship frameworks are too costly and lengthy for most data centers to implement. They often do not explicitly address the federal stewardship requirements and/or the uniqueness of geospatial data. This work proposes a data-centric conceptual enterprise framework for managing stewardship activities, based on the philosophy behind the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle, a proven industrial concept. This framework, which includes the application of maturity assessment models, allows for quantitative evaluation of how organizations manage their stewardship activities and supports informed decision-making for continual improvement towards full compliance with federal, agency, and user requirements.
| S-EPMC7580807 | biostudies-literature
Project description:This article uses data from Thomson Reuters Web of Science to map and analyse the scientific landscape for synthetic biology. The article draws on recent advances in data visualisation and analytics with the aim of informing upcoming international policy debates on the governance of synthetic biology by the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. We use mapping techniques to identify how synthetic biology can best be understood and the range of institutions, researchers and funding agencies involved. Debates under the Convention are likely to focus on a possible moratorium on the field release of synthetic organisms, cells or genomes. Based on the empirical evidence we propose that guidance could be provided to funding agencies to respect the letter and spirit of the Convention on Biological Diversity in making research investments. Building on the recommendations of the United States Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues we demonstrate that it is possible to promote independent and transparent monitoring of developments in synthetic biology using modern information tools. In particular, public and policy understanding and engagement with synthetic biology can be enhanced through the use of online interactive tools. As a step forward in this process we make existing data on the scientific literature on synthetic biology available in an online interactive workbook so that researchers, policy makers and civil society can explore the data and draw conclusions for themselves.
| S-EPMC3335118 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The quest for historically impactful science and technology provides invaluable insight into the innovation dynamics of human society, yet many studies are limited to qualitative and small-scale approaches. Here, we investigate scientific evolution through systematic analysis of a massive corpus of digitized English texts between 1800 and 2008. Our analysis reveals great predictability for long-prevailing scientific concepts based on the levels of their prior usage. Interestingly, once a threshold of early adoption rates is passed even slightly, scientific concepts can exhibit sudden leaps in their eventual lifetimes. We developed a mechanistic model to account for such results, indicating that slowly-but-commonly adopted science and technology surprisingly tend to have higher innate strength than fast-and-commonly adopted ones. The model prediction for disciplines other than science was also well verified. Our approach sheds light on unbiased and quantitative analysis of scientific evolution in society, and may provide a useful basis for policy-making.
| S-EPMC4325003 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Gastrointestinal (GI) cancer is one of the common causes of cancer-related death worldwide. Chemotherapy and/or immunotherapy are the current treatments, but some patients do not derive clinical benefits. Recently, studies from cancer molecular subtyping have revealed that tumor molecular biomarkers may predict the immunotherapeutic response of GI cancer patients. However, the therapeutic response of patients selected by the predictive biomarkers is suboptimal. The tumor immune-microenvironment apparently plays a key role in modulating these molecular-determinant predictive biomarkers. Therefore, an understanding of the development and recent advances in immunotherapeutic pharmacological intervention targeting tumor immune-microenvironments and their potential predictive biomarkers will be helpful to strengthen patient immunotherapeutic efficacy. The current review focuses on an understanding of how the host-microenvironment interactions and the predictive biomarkers can determine the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors. The contribution of environmental pathogens and host immunity to GI cancer is summarized. A discussion regarding the clinical evidence of predictive biomarkers for clinical trial therapy design, current immunotherapeutic strategies, and the outcomes to GI cancer patients are highlighted. An understanding of the underlying mechanism can predict the immunotherapeutic efficacy and facilitate the future development of personalized therapeutic strategies targeting GI cancers.
| S-EPMC6769557 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Since the 1970s social analysts have seen communication between scientists not solely as information exchange (the algorithmical model), but as a process of socialization into overlapping and mutually embedded scientific domains (the enculturational model). Under the algorithmical model, the impact of the Covid-19 shutdown on travel would be easily remedied by replacing face-to-face communication with online platforms. Conferences and similar gatherings are costly, elitist, and environmentally damaging, but under the enculturational model abandoning them could be disastrous for science, which depends on the development of cross-national trust and mutual agreements through face-to-face interaction and, in turn, disastrous for science's role in democracy. We explore the problem theoretically and empirically, arguing against recent proposals from some scientists for the wholesale and permanent replacement of conferences with remote communication.
| S-EPMC9841198 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Despite the apparent cross-disciplinary interactions among scientific fields, a formal description of their evolution is lacking. Here we describe a novel approach to study the dynamics and evolution of scientific fields using a network-based analysis. We build an idea network consisting of American Physical Society Physics and Astronomy Classification Scheme (PACS) numbers as nodes representing scientific concepts. Two PACS numbers are linked if there exist publications that reference them simultaneously. We locate scientific fields using a community finding algorithm, and describe the time evolution of these fields over the course of 1985-2006. The communities we identify map to known scientific fields, and their age depends on their size and activity. We expect our approach to quantifying the evolution of ideas to be relevant for making predictions about the future of science and thus help to guide its development.
| S-EPMC2864309 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The synthesis of multifunctional indenes with at least two different functional groups has not yet been extensively explored. Among the plausible synthetic routes to 3,5-disubstituted indenes bearing two different functional groups, such as the [3-(aminoethyl)inden-5-yl)]amines, a reasonable pathway involves the (5-nitro-3-indenyl)acetamides as key intermediates. Although several multistep synthetic approaches can be applied to obtain these advanced intermediates, we describe herein their preparation by an aldol-type reaction between 5-nitroindan-1-ones and the lithium salt of N,N-disubstituted acetamides, followed immediately by dehydration with acid. This classical condensation process, which is neither simple nor trivial despite its apparent directness, permits an efficient entry to a variety of indene-based molecular modules, which could be adapted to a range of functionalized indanones.
| S-EPMC3252879 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionWhat are the different ways in which health equity can be sought through policy and programs? Although there is a central focus on health equity in global and public health, we recognize that stakeholders can understand health equity as taking different approaches and that there is not a single conceptual approach. However, information on conceptual categories of actions to improve health equity and/or reduce health inequity is scarce. Therefore, this study asks the research question: "what conceptual approaches exist in striving for health equity and/or reducing health inequity?" with the aim of presenting a comprehensive overview of approaches.MethodsA scoping review will be undertaken following the PRISMA guidelines for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) and in consultation with a research librarian. Both the peer-reviewed and grey literatures will be searched using: Ovid MEDLINE, Scopus, PAIS Index (ProQuest), JSTOR, Canadian Public Documents Collection, the World Health Organization IRIS (Institutional Repository for Information Sharing), and supplemented by a Google Advanced Search. Screening will be conducted by two independent reviewers and data will be charted, coded, and narratively synthesized.DiscussionWe anticipate developing a foundational document compiling categories of approaches and discussing the nuances inherent in each conceptualization to promote clarified and united action.
| S-EPMC10016682 | biostudies-literature
Project description:INTRODUCTION:State lawmakers have explored numerous policy alternatives to reduce overweight and obesity. Evaluating effects of these laws is important but presents substantial methodological challenges. We present a conceptual framework that allows for classification of obesity prevention laws based on ecological level of influence and the underlying legal mechanism involved to guide analysis of the relationship between a substantial range of obesity prevention laws and BMI. METHODS:Obesity prevention laws (OPLs) for all 50 states and DC were obtained via primary legal research using the LexisNexis Advanced Legislative Services (ALS) database. For legal provisions that met inclusion criteria, reviewers abstracted information on bill state, citation, passage and effective dates, target population, and obesity prevention mechanism. Laws were categorized by ecological level of influence on weight-related behaviors and the legal mechanism utilized to change behavioral determinants of BMI. RESULTS:Laws designed to increase community-level opportunities for physical activity were the most frequently enacted OPL while laws designed to alter nutrition standards for school meals or competitive foods were comparatively less common, appearing in only 16% and 34% of states, respectively. CONCLUSION:Prior studies of obesity policies have focused on specific interventions. We identified and categorized state-level laws that operate at all ecological levels and found that laws passed during the initial burst of lawmaking were largely confined to measures aimed at increasing opportunities for physical activity. Creating public spaces for recreation is an important step to promoting healthier lifestyles to reduce obesity risk; more comprehensive, multilevel legal approaches should also be pursued.
| S-EPMC6772030 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Antibodies and Fc-fusion antibody-like proteins have become successful biologics developed for cancer treatment, passive immunity against infection, addiction, and autoimmune diseases. In general these biopharmaceuticals can be used for blocking protein:protein interactions, crosslinking host receptors to induce signaling, recruiting effector cells to targets, and fixing complement. With the vast capability of antibodies to affect infectious and genetic diseases much effort has been placed on improving and tailoring antibodies for specific functions. While antibody:antigen engagement is critical for an efficacious antibody biologic, equally as important are the hinge and constant domains of the heavy chain. It is the hinge and constant domains of the antibody that engage host receptors or complement protein to mediate a myriad of effector functions and regulate antibody circulation. Molecular and structural studies have provided insight into how the hinge and constant domains from antibodies across different species, isotypes, subclasses, and alleles are recognized by host cell receptors and complement protein C1q. The molecular details of these interactions have led to manipulation of the sequences and glycosylation of hinge and constant domains to enhance or reduce antibody effector functions and circulating half-life. This review will describe the concepts being applied to optimize the hinge and crystallizable fragment of antibodies, and it will detail how these interactions can be tuned up or down to mediate a biological function that confers a desired disease outcome.
| S-EPMC6568213 | biostudies-literature