Integrity: the virtue of compromise

Conscience, virtue, integrity and medical ethics.

Neutrophils Compromise Retinal Pigment Epithelial Barrier Integrity

We hypothesized that neutrophils and their secreted factors mediate breakdown of the integrity of the outer blood-retina-barrier by degrading the apical tight junctions of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). The effect of activated neutrophils or neutrophil cell lysate on apparent permeability of bovine RPE-Choroid explants was evaluated by measuring [3H] mannitol flux in a modified Ussing ch...

Can virtue prevail? Safeguarding integrity in medicine and science.

Promoting Virtue or Punishing Fraud: Mapping Contrasts in the Language of ‘Scientific Integrity’

Even though integrity is widely considered to be an essential aspect of research, there is an ongoing debate on what actually constitutes research integrity. The understanding of integrity ranges from the minimal, only considering falsification, fabrication and plagiarism, to the maximum, blending into science ethics. Underneath these obvious contrasts, there are more subtle differences that ar...

The Recovery of Virtue

ntelligent human action is goal-directed, but when pain, fear, or danger intrude, it is difficult to sustain the mental equilibrium to follow through, even if the goal is very important and the action critical. Hence, the need for courage. As Aquinas put it, the virtue of courage is "to remove any obstacle that withdraws the will from following the reason."1 Such overcoming of dangers, pain, an...