Video Messages: A Tool to Improve Surrogate Decision Making.

Advance directives (ADs) offer the opportunity for patients to express their desires regarding medical care in advance of any form of incapacitation. However, the efficacy of ADs in achieving care that aligns with patients' preferences is the subject of intense ethical debate. Current instructional AD formats may not allow for expression of the reasoning or values behind a patient's care preferences, limiting their utility and efficacy.

Moral equivalence theory in neonatology.

This article explores the ethical concept of "the equivalence thesis" (ET), or the idea that withdrawing and withholding life sustaining treatments are morally equivalent practices, within neonatology. We review the historical origins, theory, and clinical rationale behind ET, and provide an analysis of how ET relates to literature that describes neonatal mode of death and healthcare professional and parent attitudes towards end-of-life care. While ET may serve as an ethical tool to optimize resource allocation in theory, its clinical utility is limited given the complexity of end-of-life care decisions.

Brief Report: Interleukin-17A-Dependent Asymmetric Stem Cell Divisions Are Increased in Human Psoriasis: A Mechanism Underlying Benign Hyperproliferation.

The balance between asymmetric and symmetric stem cell (SC) divisions is key to tissue homeostasis, and dysregulation of this balance has been shown in cancers. We hypothesized that the balance between asymmetric cell divisions (ACDs) and symmetric cell divisions (SCDs) would be dysregulated in the benign hyperproliferation of psoriasis. We found that, while SCDs were increased in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) (human and murine), ACDs were increased in the benign hyperproliferation of psoriasis (human and murine).