Ethics as ritual: smoothing over moments of dislocation in biomedicine

Applications of biomedical R&D currently imply substantial societal concerns. This paper explores, based on semi‐structured interviews with scientists in Norway, how biomedical researchers experience and tackle such concerns in their daily work. It shows how ritualised routine responses to dislocatory moments help maintain order in the daily work of the interviewed scientists; they do not address directly but instead smooth over concerns by a ritualised way of using ethics. This may foreclose substantive reflection and function as a stabiliser for ‘business as usual’. Overall, the current way of responding to concerns as described by the interviewees may contribute to a depoliticisation of important issues. The paper contributes to sociological work on ethics by linking it to recent discussions on Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) and by the empirical research presented. The insights can also help improve science policies such as RRI.     

Developmental validation of the Huaxia™ Platinum PCR amplification kit: A 6-dye multiplex direct amplification assay designed for Chinese reference samples

The Huaxia™ Platinum Kit for short tandem repeat (STR) amplification was designed to meet the needs of the rapidly growing Chinese forensic database. This PCR multiplex allows simultaneous amplification of the following autosomal loci: D3S1358, vWA, D16S539, CSF1PO, TPOX, D8S1179, D21S11, D18S51, Penta E, D2S441, D19S433, TH01, FGA, D22S1045, D5S818, D13S317, D7S820, D6S1043, D10S1248, D1S1656, D12S391, D2S1338, Penta D and the gender-identification markers Yindel, and AMEL.The Huaxia™ Platinum Kit enables direct amplification from blood and buccal samples stored on treated and untreated paper, and features an optimized PCR protocol that yields time to results in less than 45 min. Developmental validation testing followed SWGDAM guidelines and demonstrated that this assay produces reproducible and accurate results. Studies on 798 individuals in 4 major Chinese ethnic groups produced highly concordant results with other commercially available STR genotyping kits. The validation results demonstrate that the Huaxia™ Platinum Kit is a robust and reliable identification system for forensic DNA databasing applications.     

中医体质研究40年回顾与展望

文章回顾中医体质研究40年来在6大理论创新、3大技术创新、4大转化应用、2大学术平台方面取得的辉煌成就。展望未来，中医体质研究将积极策应国家需求，进一步发挥其原创优势、深化理论研究、完善技术方法、加快平台建设、提升服务能力，为实施“健康中国”战略作贡献。     

Laser‐based radiocarbon detection in the laboratory: How soon?

Research over the past 25 years and the use of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) have demonstrated benefits of single‐atom counting of ¹⁴C compared with scintillation monitoring of ¹⁴C radioactive decay for a multitude of applications in drug development studies. These include pharmacokinetics and metabolism studies, microdosing studies, and quantification of DNA adducts. In the last decade, the possibility of single‐atom counting using lasers has been demonstrated, providing the possibility of simplified laboratory‐based systems, which can equal or excel AMS sensitivity and provide scintillation system convenience without high levels of radioactivity. To achieve the required sensitivity, optical storage cavities have been used to enhance the laser interaction of the low densities of radiocarbon present. Two types of laser technologies have been used‐cavity ring‐down spectroscopy (CRDS) and intracavity opto‐galvanic spectroscopy (ICOGS). Problems to be overcome to achieve routine use have included separation of the ¹⁴C signal from backgrounds, achievement of acceptable precision and accuracy, reduction of measurement times for small samples, and improvement in the ease of use for the operator. Both technologies have achieved impressive results to date using samples of order 1 mg with CRDS and 10 μg with ICOGS. Commercial development is the next step.     

Practical and statistical challenges in driving research

Driving is an integral aspect of many modern societies, and motor vehicle safety is an important public health issue. With advances in sensor technology, more and more driving data are being collected by researchers, insurers, and automobile companies, which has increased the need and opportunities for statisticians to be involved in driving research. This report discusses several practical and statistical challenges in driver-level studies, including the process of defining meaningful driving metrics, issues related to “Big Data” aspects of driving research, and the principle of reproducible research.