Does Libertarianism Provide a Justification for Vaccine Hesitancy?

Libertarian ideas of self-ownership and the priority of bodily autonomy have featured prominently in the political debate over vaccination programmes and the justifiability or otherwise of restricting the liberty of the unvaccinated. In this article we look at a selection of recent right-libertarian literature to show that there is a considerable divergence between the application of consistent libertarian principles to this issue by academic libertarians and the strident opposition to vaccination programmes and vaccine mandates expressed by people who profess to be libertarians in the public-political debate.

The Politics of Covid Vaccine Hesitancy and Opposition.

Opposition to vaccines is not a new phenomenon, but positions once associated with traditional religious or conservative stances have given way to some highly disparate views that transcend traditional left/right/religious divisions. This article reviews recent literature showing how social media has contributed to the spread of conspiracy theories around Covid-19 and mass vaccination programmes. The narratives discussed are principally those of the right and the religious right.

Semantic annotation for computational pathology: multidisciplinary experience and best practice recommendations.

Recent advances in whole-slide imaging (WSI) technology have led to the development of a myriad of computer vision and artificial intelligence-based diagnostic, prognostic, and predictive algorithms. Computational Pathology (CPath) offers an integrated solution to utilise information embedded in pathology WSIs beyond what can be obtained through visual assessment. For automated analysis of WSIs and validation of machine learning (ML) models, annotations at the slide, tissue, and cellular levels are required.

Understanding the ethical and legal considerations of Digital Pathology.

Digital Pathology (DP) is a platform which has the potential to develop a truly integrated and global pathology community. The generation of DP data at scale creates novel challenges for the histopathology community in managing, processing, and governing the use of these data. The current understanding of, and confidence in, the legal and ethical aspects of DP by pathologists is unknown.

Ethical issues in computational pathology.

This paper explores ethical issues raised by whole slide image-based computational pathology. After briefly giving examples drawn from some recent literature of advances in this field, we consider some ethical problems it might be thought to pose. These arise from (1) the tension between artificial intelligence (AI) research-with its hunger for more and more data-and the default preference in data ethics and data protection law for the minimisation of personal data collection and processing; (2) the fact that computational pathology lends itself to kinds of data fusion that go against data ethics norms and some norms of biobanking; (3) the fact that AI methods are esoteric and produce results that are sometimes unexplainable (the so-called 'black box'problem) and (4) the fact that computational pathology is particularly dependent on scanning technology manufacturers with interests of their own in profit-making from data collection.

Organized Crime and Preventive Justice.

By comparison with the prevention of terrorism, the prevention of acts of organized crime might be thought easier to conceptualize precisely and less controversial to legislate against and police. This impression is correct up to a point, because it is possible to arrive at some general characteristics of organized crime, and because legislation against it is not obviously bedeviled by the risk of violating civil or political rights, as in the case of terrorism. But there is a significant residue of legal, moral and political difficulty: legislation against organized crime is hard to make effective; the harm of organized crime is not uniform, and so some preventive legislation seems too sweeping and potentially unjust.

SCALS: a fourth-generation study of assisted living technologies in their organisational, social, political and policy context.

Introduction: Research to date into assisted living technologies broadly consists of 3 generations: technical design, experimental trials and qualitative studies of the patient experience. We describe a fourth-generation paradigm: studies of assisted living technologies in their organisational, social, political and policy context. Fourth-generation studies are necessarily organic and emergent; they view technology as part of a dynamic, networked and potentially unstable system.

Approaches to the Development of Human Health Toxicity Values for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients in the Environment.

Management of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) in the environment is challenging because these substances represent a large and diverse group of compounds. Advanced wastewater treatment technologies that can remove API tend to be costly. Because of the potential resources required to address API in the environment, there is a need to establish environmental benchmarks that can serve as targets for treatment and release.

Telecare, surveillance, and the welfare state.

In Europe, telecare is the use of remote monitoring technology to enable vulnerable people to live independently in their own homes. The technology includes electronic tags and sensors that transmit information about the user's location and patterns of behavior in the user's home to an external hub, where it can trigger an intervention in an emergency. Telecare users in the United Kingdom sometimes report their unease about being monitored by a "Big Brother," and the same kind of electronic tags that alert telecare hubs to the movements of someone with dementia who is "wandering" are worn by terrorist suspects who have been placed under house arrest.

Telecare, remote monitoring and care.

Telecare is often regarded as a win/win solution to the growing problem of meeting the care needs of an ageing population. In this paper we call attention to some of the ways in which telecare is not a win/win solution but rather aggravates many of the long-standing ethical tensions that surround the care of the elderly. It may reduce the call on carers' time and energy by automating some aspects of care, particularly daily monitoring.

Healthcare workers' perceptions of the duty to work during an influenza pandemic.

Healthcare workers (HCWs) are often assumed to have a duty to work, even if faced with personal risk. This is particularly so for professionals (doctors and nurses). However, the health service also depends on non-professionals, such as porters, cooks and cleaners.

Will the NHS continue to function in an influenza pandemic? A survey of healthcare workers in the West Midlands, UK.

Background: If UK healthcare services are to respond effectively to pandemic influenza, levels of absenteeism amongst healthcare workers (HCWs) must be minimised. Current estimates of the likelihood that HCWs will continue to attend work during a pandemic are subject to scientific and predictive uncertainty, yet an informed evidence base is needed if contingency plans addressing the issues of HCW absenteeism are to be prepared.

Methods: This paper reports the findings of a self-completed survey of randomly selected HCWs across three purposively sampled healthcare trusts in the West Midlands.

Healthcare workers' attitudes to working during pandemic influenza: a qualitative study.

Background: Healthcare workers (HCWs) will play a key role in any response to pandemic influenza, and the UK healthcare system's ability to cope during an influenza pandemic will depend, to a large extent, on the number of HCWs who are able and willing to work through the crisis. UK emergency planning will be improved if planners have a better understanding of the reasons UK HCWs may have for their absenteeism, and what might motivate them to work during an influenza pandemic.This paper reports the results of a qualitative study that explored UK HCWs' views (n = 64) about working during an influenza pandemic, in order to identify factors that might influence their willingness and ability to work and to identify potential sources of any perceived duty on HCWs to work.

Healthcare workers' attitudes towards working during pandemic influenza: a multi method study.

Background: Healthcare workers (HCWs) will be key players in any response to pandemic influenza, and will be in the front line of exposure to infection. Responding effectively to a pandemic relies on the majority of medical, nursing, laboratory and hotel services staff continuing to work normally. Planning assumes that during a pandemic normal healthcare service levels will be provided, although it anticipates that as caseloads increase only essential care will be provided.

Antifungal agents for preventing fungal infections in solid organ transplant recipients.

Background: Invasive fungal infections (IFIs) are important causes of morbidity and mortality in solid organ transplant recipients.

Objectives: This study aims to systematically identify and summarise the effects of antifungal prophylaxis in solid organ transplant recipients.

Search Strategy: The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (Issue 3, 2003), MEDLINE (1966-June 2003), and EMBASE (1980-June 2003) were searched.

Patients' responsibilities in medical ethics.

Patients have not been entirely ignored in medical ethics. There has been a shift from the general presumption that 'doctor knows best' to a heightened respect for patient autonomy. Medical ethics remains one-sided, however.

Citizen--patient/citizen--doctor.

In welfare states, no typical user of health care services is only a patient; and no typical provider of these services is simply a doctor, nurse or paramedic. Occupiers of these roles also have distinctive relations and responsibilities--as citizens--to medical services, responsibilities that are widely acknowledged by those who live in welfare states. Outside welfare states, this fusion of civic consciousness with involvement in health care is less pronounced or missing altogether.

Morality, consumerism and the internal market in health care.

Unlike the managerially oriented reforms that have brought auditing and accounting into such prominence in the UK National Health Service (NHS), and which seem alien to the culture of the caring professions, consumerist reforms may seem to complement moves towards the acceptance of wide definitions of health, and towards increasing patient autonomy. The empowerment favoured by those who support patient autonomy sounds like the sort of empowerment that is sometimes associated with the patient's charter. For this reason moral criticism of recent NHS reforms may stop short of calling consumerism into question.

Effect of oral cadmium exposure during pregnancy on maternal and fetal zinc metabolism in the rat.

To study the effect of cadmium exposure on maternal and fetal zinc metabolism, rats were exposed to 0, 5, 50, or 100 ppm Cd in the drinking water on Days 6 through 20 of pregnancy. In comparison to controls, fetal and maternal weights were slightly reduced in the 50- and 100-ppm groups, but not the 5-ppm group. Multiple regression analysis revealed that in the 50-ppm group, but not in the 100-ppm group, the decrease in fetal weight was not solely a consequence of decreased maternal weight.