Comparison of elastase-1 with amylase, lipase, and trypsin-like immunoreactivity in the diagnosis of acute pancreatitis.

Serum elastase-1, amylase, lipase, and trypsin-like immunoreactivity were measured in a group of 17 consecutive patients with acute pancreatitis. When assayed within 24 h of the onset of symptoms, all enzymes were found to be elevated, thus showing similar sensitivity. Elastase-1 did not improve the diagnostic score of the other enzymes studied.

[Biotechnology and ethics].

Biotechnology confronts us with ethical questions, that cannot be satisfactorily answered on the basis of traditional ethics in every case. The reason is that the development of technology influences traditional ethical conceptions and often gives rise to a wide variety of ethical views (abortion, euthanasia). After a general discussion of the causes of ethical differences, the role of technological developments in this regard is examined.

[Dilemmas in ethology].

Taught by the history of biology, ethologists try to adhere as rigidly as possible to the method used in natural science. They therefore are hesitant in using concepts which are ultimately derived from the human world of inner experience. In order to examine this question, the present paper first deals with the strength and the weakness of the natural scientific method, which is followed by a discussion of the manner in which this makes itself felt in biology.