scholarly journals Ethics assessment in research proposals adopting CRISPR technology

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 206-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francois Hirsch ◽  
Ron Iphofen ◽  
Zvonimir Koporc
Keyword(s):  
Genome Editing ◽  
Exponential Growth ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
European Level ◽  
Ethics Assessment ◽  
Short Palindromic Repeat ◽  
Bioethical Issues

The rapid and exponential growth of genome editing has posed many challenges for bioethics. This article briefly explains the nature of the technique and the particularly rapid development of Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat (CRISPR) technology. The international and, specifically, European-level systems for assessing the ethical issues consequent on these developments are outlined and discussed. The challenges posed by cases in China are summarized to raise concerns about how a more shared, universally consistent appraisal of bioethical issues can be promoted.

The Oxford Handbook of Ethics of AI

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Knowledge ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Ai Ethics ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Control Complex

This book explores the intertwining domains of artificial intelligence (AI) and ethics—two highly divergent fields which at first seem to have nothing to do with one another. AI is a collection of computational methods for studying human knowledge, learning, and behavior, including by building agents able to know, learn, and behave. Ethics is a body of human knowledge—far from completely understood—that helps agents (humans today, but perhaps eventually robots and other AIs) decide how they and others should behave. Despite these differences, however, the rapid development in AI technology today has led to a growing number of ethical issues in a multitude of fields, ranging from disciplines as far-reaching as international human rights law to issues as intimate as personal identity and sexuality. In fact, the number and variety of topics in this volume illustrate the width, diversity of content, and at times exasperating vagueness of the boundaries of “AI Ethics” as a domain of inquiry. Within this discourse, the book points to the capacity of sociotechnical systems that utilize data-driven algorithms to classify, to make decisions, and to control complex systems. Given the wide-reaching and often intimate impact these AI systems have on daily human lives, this volume attempts to address the increasingly complicated relations between humanity and artificial intelligence. It considers not only how humanity must conduct themselves toward AI but also how AI must behave toward humanity.

scholarly journals A New Era of Epidemiology: Digital Epidemiology for Investigating the COVID-19 Outbreak in China

10.2196/21685 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (9) ◽  
pp. e21685
Author(s):  
Zonglin He ◽  
Casper J P Zhang ◽  
Jian Huang ◽  
Jingyan Zhai ◽  
Shuang Zhou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Face Mask ◽  
Digital Data ◽  
Disease Spread ◽  
Health Measures ◽  
Digital Epidemiology

A novel pneumonia-like coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by a novel coronavirus named SARS-CoV-2 has swept across China and the world. Public health measures that were effective in previous infection outbreaks (eg, wearing a face mask, quarantining) were implemented in this outbreak. Available multidimensional social network data that take advantage of the recent rapid development of information and communication technologies allow for an exploration of disease spread and control via a modernized epidemiological approach. By using spatiotemporal data and real-time information, we can provide more accurate estimates of disease spread patterns related to human activities and enable more efficient responses to the outbreak. Two real cases during the COVID-19 outbreak demonstrated the application of emerging technologies and digital data in monitoring human movements related to disease spread. Although the ethical issues related to using digital epidemiology are still under debate, the cases reported in this article may enable the identification of more effective public health measures, as well as future applications of such digitally directed epidemiological approaches in controlling infectious disease outbreaks, which offer an alternative and modern outlook on addressing the long-standing challenges in population health.

scholarly journals CRISPR base editors: genome editing without double-stranded breaks

2018 ◽  
Vol 475 (11) ◽  
pp. 1955-1964 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayman Eid ◽  
Sahar Alshareef ◽  
Magdy M. Mahfouz
Keyword(s):  
Genome Editing ◽  
Dna Sequences ◽  
Genetic Diseases ◽  
Great Promise ◽  
Cytidine Deaminases ◽  
Strand Breaks ◽  
Base Editing ◽  
Potential Applications ◽  
Short Palindromic Repeat ◽  
Basic Biology

The CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat)/Cas9 adaptive immunity system has been harnessed for genome editing applications across eukaryotic species, but major drawbacks, such as the inefficiency of precise base editing and off-target activities, remain. A catalytically inactive Cas9 variant (dead Cas9, dCas9) has been fused to diverse functional domains for targeting genetic and epigenetic modifications, including base editing, to specific DNA sequences. As base editing does not require the generation of double-strand breaks, dCas9 and Cas9 nickase have been used to target deaminase domains to edit specific loci. Adenine and cytidine deaminases convert their respective nucleotides into other DNA bases, thereby offering many possibilities for DNA editing. Such base-editing enzymes hold great promise for applications in basic biology, trait development in crops, and treatment of genetic diseases. Here, we discuss recent advances in precise gene editing using different platforms as well as their potential applications in basic biology and biotechnology.

Big Data and Privacy State of the Art

2019 ◽  
pp. 104-158
Author(s):  
Amine Rahmani
Keyword(s):  
Data Mining ◽  
Big Data ◽  
Exponential Growth ◽  
Scientific Community ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Massive Data ◽  
Medium Term ◽  
Access To Data ◽  
Fast Access ◽  
The Web

The phenomenon of big data (massive data mining) refers to the exponential growth of the volume of data available on the web. This new concept has become widely used in recent years, enabling scalable, efficient, and fast access to data anytime, anywhere, helping the scientific community and companies identify the most subtle behaviors of users. However, big data has its share of the limits of ethical issues and risks that cannot be ignored. Indeed, new risks in terms of privacy are just beginning to be perceived. Sometimes simply annoying, these risks can be really harmful. In the medium term, the issue of privacy could become one of the biggest obstacles to the growth of big data solutions. It is in this context that a great deal of research is under way to enhance security and develop mechanisms for the protection of privacy of users. Although this area is still in its infancy, the list of possibilities continues to grow.

Social and Ethical Concerns of Biomedical Engineering Research and Practice

2011 ◽  
pp. 54-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Snehasish Mishra
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Biomedical Engineering ◽  
Healthcare Professionals ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Healthcare Sector ◽  
Technological Advancement ◽  
Ethical Values ◽  
Medical Sciences ◽  
Engineering Research ◽  
Bioethical Issues

Biomedical engineering is an advanced and relatively new field in the healthcare sector. Owing to the very nature of the various professional challenges faced by healthcare professionals, the moral and ethical values seem to have taken the backburner. The factors contributing to it may include a sound knowledge of the healthcare professional on the legally-permissible ethical values, and the desperate situations requiring precise split-moment decision-making. No technological advancement without a human face is worth it, and hence, during the course of the degree, a biomedical engineering student needs to be exposed to various ethical issues through theory, live cases and demonstrations. Being intrinsically multi- and inter-disciplinary, biomedical engineering lacks precise ethical rules that delineate and delimit professional responsibility, thus blurring the ethical understanding of biomedical engineering. The solution seems to lie in giving due place to human virtues. In the coming days, bioethical issues are expected to be increasingly complicated and dominating the decision-making process owing to the advancements in sciences, and the ever-complicated cases handled by healthcare professionals. A global healthcare and ethics-related online open-access portal may serve as a common platform for all the stakeholders in the interest and ethical growth of biomedical engineering in particular and medical sciences in general.

Big Data and Privacy State of the Art

2021 ◽  
pp. 947-991
Author(s):  
Amine Rahmani
Keyword(s):  
Data Mining ◽  
Big Data ◽  
Exponential Growth ◽  
Scientific Community ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Massive Data ◽  
Medium Term ◽  
Access To Data ◽  
Fast Access ◽  
The Web

The phenomenon of big data (massive data mining) refers to the exponential growth of the volume of data available on the web. This new concept has become widely used in recent years, enabling scalable, efficient, and fast access to data anytime, anywhere, helping the scientific community and companies identify the most subtle behaviors of users. However, big data has its share of the limits of ethical issues and risks that cannot be ignored. Indeed, new risks in terms of privacy are just beginning to be perceived. Sometimes simply annoying, these risks can be really harmful. In the medium term, the issue of privacy could become one of the biggest obstacles to the growth of big data solutions. It is in this context that a great deal of research is under way to enhance security and develop mechanisms for the protection of privacy of users. Although this area is still in its infancy, the list of possibilities continues to grow.

A Redesigned Planet?

2020 ◽  
pp. 234-296
Author(s):  
John Parrington
Keyword(s):  
Stem Cell ◽  
Synthetic Biology ◽  
Molecular Biology ◽  
Medical Research ◽  
Genome Editing ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Biological Weapons ◽  
New Development ◽  
Whole Number

Given the speed of change in the development of new technologies mentioned in this book such as genome editing, optogenetics, stem cell organoids, and synthetic biology, it is hard to predict exactly how radically these technologies are likely to transform our lives in coming decades. What is clear is that as exciting as the new biotechnologies are in terms of their impact on medical research, medicine, and agriculture, they also raise a whole number of socio-political and ethical issues. These include concerns about whether monkeys engineered to have genetic similarities to humans might lead to a ‘Planet of the Apes’ scenario, and fears about ‘designer babies’ being produced in the future to have greater beauty, intelligence or sporting skill. Although one potentially positive new development is the rise of a ‘biohacker’ movement which seeks to make molecular biology more accessible to ordinary people, there are also fears that in the wrong hands genome editing might be used to create new types of biological weapons for terrorist organisations. While such fears should not be dismissed as just an overreaction, to some extent they rest on an underestimation of the complexity of the Iink between the human genome and looks, intelligence, and sporting ability, or of the difficulties involved in creating a deadly virus that is worse than naturally occurring ones. Ultimately, the best way to ensure that new technologies are used for human benefit, not harm, is to take part in an informed debate and use public lobbying to argue for them to be developed safely, ethically, and responsibly.

Media Ethics

2021 ◽  
pp. 96-110
Author(s):  
Özlem Arda ◽  
Zuhal Akmeşe
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Television News ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Public Utility ◽  
Central Position ◽  
Media Ethics ◽  
Communication Ethics ◽  
Ethical Codes ◽  
The Media ◽  
Media Responsibility

This chapter provides an overview about media ethics that is very important for the news. Today, the rapid development and diversification of mass media tools have also accelerated the works in the field of communication ethics. Media responsibility, issues occurring in media, and public utility issues have come to the central position of communication ethics. Looking at the ethical codes in the media, it is seen that a large part of them are created for printed media, and the information about television is limited. The purpose of this study is to focus on the ethical issues that arise starting from the production stage of the television news with a holistic perspective in the context of the relationship between media and ethics by considering the ethical codes in the media and to offer solutions devoted to an ethical understanding of journalism. Within the scope of this study, the qualitative research method included the content analysis for the news about Princes Diana and Prince Harry as samples.

scholarly journals History of CRISPR-Cas from Encounter with a Mysterious Repeated Sequence to Genome Editing Technology

2018 ◽  
Vol 200 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoshizumi Ishino ◽  
Mart Krupovic ◽  
Patrick Forterre
Keyword(s):  
Genome Editing ◽  
Functional Characterization ◽  
Halophilic Archaea ◽  
Repeated Sequence ◽  
Hyperthermophilic Archaea ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Origin And Evolution ◽  
History Of ◽  
Short Palindromic Repeat ◽  
Original Observation

ABSTRACTClustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)-Cas systems are well-known acquired immunity systems that are widespread in archaea and bacteria. The RNA-guided nucleases from CRISPR-Cas systems are currently regarded as the most reliable tools for genome editing and engineering. The first hint of their existence came in 1987, when an unusual repetitive DNA sequence, which subsequently was defined as a CRISPR, was discovered in theEscherichia coligenome during an analysis of genes involved in phosphate metabolism. Similar sequence patterns were then reported in a range of other bacteria as well as in halophilic archaea, suggesting an important role for such evolutionarily conserved clusters of repeated sequences. A critical step toward functional characterization of the CRISPR-Cas systems was the recognition of a link between CRISPRs and the associated Cas proteins, which were initially hypothesized to be involved in DNA repair in hyperthermophilic archaea. Comparative genomics, structural biology, and advanced biochemistry could then work hand in hand, not only culminating in the explosion of genome editing tools based on CRISPR-Cas9 and other class II CRISPR-Cas systems but also providing insights into the origin and evolution of this system from mobile genetic elements denoted casposons. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the discovery of CRISPR, this minireview briefly discusses the fascinating history of CRISPR-Cas systems, from the original observation of an enigmatic sequence inE. colito genome editing in humans.

Ethical Issues in the Practice of Forensic Psychiatry

1982 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-43 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Forensic Psychiatry ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Panel Discussion ◽  
Special Interests ◽  
Philosophical Perspective ◽  
Psychiatric Setting ◽  
Forensic Psychiatric ◽  
Hospital Center

The recent, rapid development of the practice of forensic psychiatry has led to an increasing awareness of and a growing concern about the ethical issues that inhere in this subspecialty. While some such issues are similar to those found in the general practice of psychiatry (confidentiality, informed consent, etc.), there are aspects of these and other ethical issues which are unique to the practice of forensic psychiatry. On October 16 and 17, 1980, at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Psychiatry and Law held in Chicago, Illinois, a panel discussion concerning ethical issues in forensic psychiatry took place. The chairman was Henry C. Weinstein, M.D., Director, Forensic Psychiatry Services, Bellevue Hospital Center, New York. This panel, made up of two forensic psychiatrists and two philosophers (with special interests in medical ethics), discussed the ethical issues in the practice of forensic psychiatry from a variety of perspectives. A general statement in regard to ethics and forensic psychiatry opened the panel, followed by a series of presentations relating to specific ethical issues, including those which face the forensic psychiatrist practicing in a secure forensic unit, those which arise in the practice of forensic psychiatry with children and adolescents, as well as ethical issues relating to research in forensic psychiatry. A special program for the exploration and teaching of ethical issues, in a clinical forensic psychiatric setting, utilizing a philosopher-in-residence, was described and discussed. The panel presentation was concluded by a commentary from the philosophical perspective.

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