The National Bioethics Advisory Commission has proposed that regulatory oversight for research with human subjects be extended beyond the protection of individual research participants to include the protection of social groups. To accomplish this, the commission recommends that investigators and ethics review boards a) work directly with community representatives to develop study methods that ...

The present case is of peripheral ossifying fibroma in the mandibular anterior gingiva of a 30 year old female. The lesion was asymptomatic, reddish, firm and penduclated. The lesion was surgically excised and at follow up of 1 year showed no recurrence. Histological assesment showed connective tissue stroma with osseous like calcification. Suggestive of peripheral ossifying fibroma.

Eight research protocols which had previously been approved by Ethical Research Committees (ERCs) were reviewed in simulated review committees set up during a symposium on medical ethics. Only three protocols were considered to provide fully adequate information to allow ethical review and only one protocol was thought to provide sufficient guarantees on the ethical issues raised by the propose...

The present commentary is based on the following considerations: 1) for the purposes of authorisation, a distinction is drawn between "research" and "intervention". The procedures for authorising the former are more complex, the relevant controls are stricter and approval has to be granted by a Research Ethics Committee (REC); 2) although the debate is still open, it is barely credible to claim...

This report provides practical guidance on refinement of the use of food and fluid control as motivational tools for macaques used in behavioural neuroscience research. The guidance is based on consideration of the scientific literature and, where data are lacking, expert opinion and professional experience, including that of the members of a Working Group convened by the United Kingdom Nationa...

This report presents the approach of stochastic recursive equations (SRE) for the modeling and performance analysis of parallel systems. The aim of the paper is twofold. Firstly, we show how performance measures of many parallel systems can be adequately described and obtained using stochastic recursive equations. Secondly, we give an assesment on the capability of the SRE approach.

The ethical review of research on human beings, and indeed the ethical review of broader ranges of human activity, is a growth industry. I want to look here at the ethical review of research on humans and raise some questions about the direction it is taking. I am pessimistic about where the institutions that we have set up are leading us and I want to sound a warning note and suggest some chan...

Health research initiatives worldwide are growing in scope and complexity, particularly as they move into the developing world. Expanding health research activity in low- and middle-income countries has resulted in a commensurate rise in the need for sound ethical review structures and functions in the form of Research Ethics Committees (RECs). The urgent need for continued capacity development...

Introduction Echocardiography is a non-invasive procedure which enables full assesment of cardiac function. The inferior vena cava (IVC) is a compliant blood vessel, easily distended, especially in cases of hypovolemia. Assessment of the physiologic characteristics of the IVC provides a rapid distinction between low and high volume states and offers the clinician a rapid, noninvasive way to gui...