Deaths of Despair

Fisheries: hope or despair?

Recent work suggesting that fisheries depletions have turned the corner is misplaced because analysis was based largely on fisheries from better-managed developed-world fisheries. Some indicators of status show improvements in the minority of fisheries subjected to formal assessment. Other indicators, such as trophic level and catch time series, have been controversial. Nevertheless, several de...

Despair on disparities.

In this issue of Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, Sokka et al (see page 1666), by analysing the data from the Quantitative Standard Monitoring of Rheumatoid Arthritis (QUEST-RA) cohort, with over 6000 patients from 25 countries, warn us of possible disparities in the health of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. This international team of researchers found a clear association between gross dom...

Despair and Hope

The DNADamage ResponseçRepair or Despair?

The term ‘‘the DNA damage response’’ (DDR) encompasses a sophisticated array of cellular initiatives set in motion as cells are exposed to DNAdamaging events. It has been known for over half a century that all organisms have the ability to restore genomic integrity through DNA repair. More recent discoveries of signal transduction pathways linking DNA damage to cell cycle arrest and apoptosis h...

Beyond the Politics of Theological Despair

This paper critically explores the political theology of Carl Schmitt. It argues that Schmitt’s analysis, which links the transcendence of God with the political concept of sovereignty, is both too nostalgic and too severe. In the place of Schmitt’s political theology that disdains democracy for the failures of modern liberalism, this paper instead draws on the recent collaborative works of Mic...