The association between elevated blood estradiol level and corneal ectasia in women.

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the association between blood estradiol level and two different etiologies of corneal ectasia in premenopausal women.

Methods: This is an observational case-control study with three groups of women. Group 1 included women with keratoconus.

The duty of care and the right to be cared for: is there a duty to treat the unvaccinated?

Vaccine hesitancy or refusal has been one of the major obstacles to herd immunity against Covid-19 in high-income countries and one of the causes for the emergence of variants. The refusal of people who are eligible for vaccination to receive vaccination creates an ethical dilemma between the duty of healthcare professionals (HCPs) to care for patients and their right to be taken care of. This paper argues for an extended social contract between patients and society wherein vaccination against Covid-19 is conceived as essential for the protection of the right of healthcare providers to be taken care of.

Long-term outcomes of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor treatment in peripapillary choroidal neovascularisation due to age-related macular degeneration.

Objective: To report the long-term outcomes of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) treatment in eyes with peripapillary choroidal neovascularisation (PPCNV) associated with age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Methods: A retrospective cohort study included patients with AMD-related PPCNV. Eyes were treated with anti-VEGF according to pro re nata regimen.

Impact of "critical lesions" on outcomes following cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intra-peritoneal chemotherapy.

Background: Peritoneal Cancer Index (PCI) and complete cytoreduction are the best outcome predictors following cytoreductive surgery (CRS) with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC). Lesions in critical areas, regardless of PCI, complicate surgery and impact oncological outcomes. We prospectively defined "Critical lesions" (CL) as penetrating the hepatic hilum, diaphragm at hepatic outflow, major blood vessels, pancreas, or urinary tract.

Repeat Cytoreductive Surgery and Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy for Colorectal Cancer Peritoneal Recurrences is Safe and Efficacious.

Background: Cytoreductive surgery and heated intraperitoneal chemotherapy (CRS/HIPEC) for colorectal cancer peritoneal metastases (CRPM) is associated with improved survival in patients with historically dismal prognosis. Nonetheless, peritoneal recurrences remain common and represent a difficult challenge in these patients' management. Repeat CRS/HIPEC is associated with even greater morbidity and its survival benefit has not yet been clearly demonstrated.

Patient Isolation during Infectious Disease Outbreaks: Arguments for Physical Family Presence.

This article argues that outbreak preparedness and response should implement a 'family presence' policy for infected patients in isolation that includes the option of physical visits and care within the isolation facility under some conditions. While such a 'physical family presence' (PFP) policy could increase infections during an outbreak and may raise moral dilemmas, we argue that it is ethically justified based on the least infringement principle and the need to minimize the harms and burdens of isolation as a restrictive measure. Categorical prohibition of PFP during the course of an outbreak or epidemic is likely to result in unnecessary harms to patients and families, and violate values such as the moral commitments of families to care for each other.

Should we prioritise victims over terrorists in medical triage?

Whether injured terrorists should receive equal consideration in medical triage as their victims is a morally and emotionally challenging issue for healthcare providers. Against the conventional approach, some commentators have argued for a principle in which severely injured victims should always be prioritised over an injured terrorist even if the terrorist is worse off based on justice ideas. This paper argues that supporters of fail to sufficiently justify the subversion of the equal rights of terrorists to treatment and the role and professional ethics of healthcare providers in the allocation of scarce medical resources.

Prisoners' competence to die: hunger strike and cognitive competence.

Several bioethicists have recently advocated the force-feeding of prisoners, based on the assumption that prisoners have reduced or no autonomy. This assumed lack of autonomy follows from a decrease in cognitive competence, which, in turn, supposedly derives from imprisonment and/or being on hunger strike. In brief, causal links are made between imprisonment or voluntary total fasting (VTF) and mental disorders and between mental disorders and lack of cognitive competence.