altitudinal partitioning in the distributions of ectomycorrhizal fungi along a short (300 m) elevation gradient. The NERC and CEH trademarks and logos ('the Trademarks') are registered trademarks of NERC in the UK and other countries, and may not be used without the prior written consent of the Trademark owner.

The future health of infants and children is dependent on the performance of clinical research in which infants participate. Achieving a proper balance between this social good and the obligation to protect infants who participate in research is a significant challenge. As investigators design and implement research protocols, they should be aware of the ethical and legal requirements that gove...

In this review of the Korean cloning scandal involving Woo-Suk Hwang, the nature of the disaster is documented and reasons why it occurred are suggested. The general problems it raises for scientific research are highlighted and six possible ways of improving practice are offered in the light of this case: (1) better education of science students; (2) independent monitoring and validation; (3) ...

BACKGROUND Lack of regulatory capacity limits the conduct of ethical and rigorous trials of herbal medicines in developing countries. Sharing ethical and regulatory experiences of successful herbal trials may accelerate the field while assuring human subjects protection. The methods and timelines for the ethical and regulatory review processes for the first drug regulatory authority approved he...

Conduct of research involving humans in the intensive care unit (ICU) setting is complex and challenging. The vulnerable nature of critically ill patients raises issues of patient safety, and informed consent is difficult. With an increasing global interest in human research ethics, broadened government mandates have targeted improvements in research participant protection and research governan...

Prompted by a recommendation of the two Christian hospital associations in Germany, the Neu-Mariahilf Hospital in Göttingen set up a health ethics committee in autumn 1998. It is the committee's task to give support to staff members, patients and their relatives in individual cases where ethical dilemmas arise. The following article describes the committee's work by means of three cases.

In 1992, the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations ( JCAHO) passed a mandate that all its approved hospitals put in place a means for addressing ethical concerns. Although the particular process the hospital uses to address such concerns—ethics consultant, ethics forum, ethics committee—may vary, the hospital or healthcare ethics committee (HEC) is used most often. I...

This past year has seen a flurry of governmental activity concerned with fraud in science. Congressman Albert Gore, Jr., Chairman of the Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight of the House Committee on Science and Technology, held hearings on this issue March 31 and April 1. Not to be outdone, Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources, held a si...

In 1968, an Ad Hoc committee at the Harvard Medical School advanced new criteria for determining death. It proposed that patients in irreversible coma with no discernible central nervous system activity were actually dead. The committee paved the way for the "whole brain" definition of death, which has reached broad public acceptance and legal enactment in many countries. Despite this, the phil...