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Author : Robert F. Weir,Susan C. Lawrence,Evan Fales
Publisher : University of Iowa Press
Page : 274 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 1994
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 1587292483
Author : John Quackenbush
Publisher : Charlesbridge
Page : 189 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 2011-02-01
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781607343561
The DNA sequence that comprises the human genome--the genetic blueprint found in each of our cells--is undoubtedly the greatest code ever to be broken. Completed at the dawn of a new millennium, the feat electrified both the scientific community and the general public with its tantalizing promise of new and better treatments for countless diseases, including Alzheimer's, cancer, diabetes, and Parkinson's. Yet what is arguably the most important discovery of our time has also opened a Pandora's box of questions about who we are as humans and how the unique information stored in our genomes can and might be used, making it all the more important for everyone to understand the new science of genomics. In the CURIOSITY GUIDE TO THE HUMAN GENOME, Dr. John Quackenbush, a renowned scientist and professor, conducts a fascinating tour of the history and science behind the Human Genome Project and the technologies that are revolutionizing the practice of medicine today. With a clear and engaging narrative style, he demystifies the fundamental principles of genetics and molecular biology, including the astounding ways in which genes function, alone or together with other genes and the environment, to either sustain life or trigger disease. In addition, Dr. Quackenbush goes beyond medicine to examine how DNA-sequencing technology is changing how we think of ourselves as a species by providing new insights about our earliest ancestors and reconfirming our inextricable link to all life on earth. Finally, he explores the legal and ethical questions surrounding such controversial topics as stem cell research, prenatal testing, forensics, and cloning, making this volume of the Curiosity Guides series an indispensable resource for navigating our brave new genomic world.
Author : John Quackenbush
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 189 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 2011
Category : Electronic
ISBN : OCLC:1031966848
The DNA sequence that comprises the human genome - the genetic blueprint found in each of our cells - is undoubtedly the greatest code ever to be broken. Completed at the dawn of a new milennium, the feat electified both the scientific community and the general public with its tantalizing promise of new and better treatments for countless diseases, includein Alzheimer's, cancer, diabetes, and Parkinson's.
Author : John C. Avise
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Page : 289 pages
File Size : 40,7 Mb
Release : 2009-06-30
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780674020351
They mastermind our lives, shaping our features, our health, and our behavior, even in the sacrosanct realms of love and sex, religion, aging, and death. Yet we are the ones who house, perpetuate, and give the promise of immortality to these biological agents, our genetic gods. The link between genes and gods is hardly arbitrary, as the distinguished evolutionary geneticist John Avise reveals in this compelling book. In clear, straightforward terms, Avise reviews recent discoveries in molecular biology, evolutionary genetics, and human genetic engineering, and discusses the relevance of these findings to issues of ultimate concern traditionally reserved for mythology, theology, and religious faith. The book explains how the genetic gods figure in our development--not just our metabolism and physiology, but even our emotional disposition, personality, ethical leanings, and, indeed, religiosity. Yet genes are physical rather than metaphysical entities. Having arisen via an amoral evolutionary process--natural selection--genes have no consciousness, no sentient code of conduct, no reflective concern about the consequences of their actions. It is Avise's contention that current genetic knowledge can inform our attempts to answer typically religious questions--about origins, fate, and meaning. The Genetic Gods challenges us to make the necessary connection between what we know, what we believe, and what we embody. Table of Contents: Preface Prologue 1. The Doctrines of Biological Science 2. Geneses 3. Genetic Maladies 4. Genetic Beneficence 5. Strategies of the Genes 6. Genetic Sovereignty 7. New Lords of Our Genes? 8. Meaning Epilogue Notes Glossary Index Reviews of this book: Our genes, [Avise] says, are responsible not only for how we got here and exist day to day, but also for the core of our being--our personalities and morals. It is our genetic make-up that allows for and formulates our religious belief systems, he argues. Avise does not eschew spirituality but seeks a more informed, less confrontational approach between science and the pulpit. --Science News Reviews of this book: For the general scientific reader, the book is an excellent distillation of a broad and increasingly important field, a course of causation that cannot be ignored. From advising expectant parents to getting innocent people off death row, genetics increasingly dominates our lives. The sections on genetics are expertly written, particularly for those readers without in-depth knowledge. The author explains slowly and carefully just how genetics operates, using multiple metaphors. His genetic discourse proceeds in a neighborly fashion, as one might tell stories while sitting in a rocking chair at a country store. He seems to be invigorated by genes and just can't wait to tell about them. --David W. Hodo, Journal of the American Medical Association Reviews of this book: As a whole, this book is quite informative and stimulating, and sections of it are beautifully written. Indeed, Professor Avise has a real gift for prose and scientific expositions, and I would suspect that he must be a formidable lecturer...At its core, [The Genetic Gods] is a survey, and a very nice one at that, of evolutionary genetics, the field of the author's major research interests. There is a strong sociobiological cast to the arguments, and the work and ideas of E. O. Wilson figure prominently. The presentation of evolutionary genetics is imbedded in a more general discussion of modern human and molecular genetics...However, this book is, most of all, a philosophical treatise that attempts, admittedly with the bias of a biologist, to examine the intersection of the fundamental premises of evolution and religion. Professor Avise has given us plenty to think about in this book [and]...it was a real pleasure to wrestle with the ideas he was presenting. I would suggest that other readers give it a try. --Charles J. Epstein, Trends in Genetics Reviews of this book: [Avise's] account of the role genes play in shaping the human condition is wholly involving, paying particular attention to issues of reproduction, aging and death. In addition to presenting ample biological information in a form accessible to the nonspecialist, Avise does a superb job of discussing many of the ethical implications that have arisen from our growing knowledge of human genetics. Just a few of the topics covered are genetic engineering, the patenting of life, genetic screening, abortion, human cloning, gene therapy and insurance-related controversies. --Publishers Weekly Reviews of this book: Avise explains thoroughly how evolution operates on a genetic level. His goal is to show that humans can look to this information as a way to answer fundamental questions of life instead of looking to traditional religious beliefs...Avise includes some very interesting discussions of ethical concerns related to genetic issues. --Eric D. Albright, Library Journal This is a splendid account of a subject that affects us all: the breathtaking increase in understanding of human genetics and the insight it provides into human evolution. John Avise speaks with authority of molecular evolutionary genetics and with affecting compassion of what it might mean. --Douglas J. Futuyma, State University of New York at Stony Brook The Genetic Gods is many things. It is a wonderful introduction to modern molecular biology, by a man who knows his subject backwards. It is a stimulating account of the ways in which genetics impinges on human nature--our thinking and our behavior. It is a remarkably level-headed and sympathetic account of the implications of our new findings for traditional and not-so-traditional issues in philosophy and religion. In an age of genetic counseling, cloning, construction of new life forms, the book is worth its weight in gold for this alone. But most of all, it is a huge amount of fun to read--you want to applaud or argue with the author on nigh every page. Highly recommended! --Michael Ruse, University of Guelph The Genetic Gods makes a valuable contribution to the on-going task of sorting out the implications of evolutionary biology and genetics for human self-understanding. Avise addresses, with authority and grace, the most consequential intellectual issues of our time. A challenging and insightful book. --Loyal Rue, Harvard University A wonderfully informative and engaging book. Avise offers a lucid, accessible primer on our genes, angelic and demonic, and examines religious and ethical issues, all too human, now confronted by genetic science. He makes a compelling case that anyone seeking to 'Know Thyself' should study the DNA molecular scriptures, our most ancient and universal legacy. --Dudley Herschbach, Harvard University, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry
Author : Peter Glasner,Harry Rothman
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 204 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 2017-07-05
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781351934305
The title of this book derives from C. Wright Mills’ classic The Sociological Imagination (Penguin, 1970), in which he sees the essential project of social science as the use of the imagination to 'grasp history and biography and the relations between the two in society'. This enables the social scientist to 'range from the most impersonal and remote transformations to the most intimate features of the human self'. Another of Mills’ concerns was the relationship between 'the personal troubles of the milieu' and 'the public issues of social structure' and these are most acutely illustrated in human genetics, the most personal of the new technologies. The chapters in this volume address these issues through discussions of choice and informed decision-making, risks and hazards, the economic and political organization of new technology, and the public as well as the scientist’s understanding of science. The methods used range from detailed ethnographies, through deconstruction's of text and action, to surveys and interviews.
Author : Alison K. Thompson,Ruth F. Chadwick
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 336 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 2007-07-23
Category : Medical
ISBN : 9780585345864
It is difficult to think of an example of an advancement in the biological sciences that has had an impact on society similar to that of the new genetics. Recent developments in biotechnology have occasioned much discussion among academics, professionals, and lay people alike. In particular, many questions and concerns have arisen over the acquisi tion, access, and control of genetic information. There are several reasons why the new genetics has commanded such widespread attention, and why it is now the subject of con siderable debate. Special reference is given in this volume to the implications of genetic information for five different subject areas: eugenics, the insurance industry, the commer cialisation of genetic testing, strategies for raising public awareness, and the value of theo retical ethical and sociological frameworks in the debate. This diverse collection of papers attempts to address and critically discuss issues surrounding the control of, and access to, genetic information from ethical, medical, legal, and theoretical points of view. The first and shortest section of the book attempts to address concerns over the eugenic potential of new biotechnologies. It also provides a historical context for the de bate, for controversy over the subject of eugenics predates the current debate over genetic information by a considerable length of time. Indeed, by the time the first patent was is sued for Chakrabarty's strain of oil eating bacteria in the early 1970s, the term eugenics had already acquired strong pejorative connotations.
Author : Muin Khoury,Sara Bedrosian,Marta Gwinn,Julian Higgins,John Ioannidis
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 701 pages
File Size : 46,8 Mb
Release : 2010-01-20
Category : Medical
ISBN : 9780195398441
This text describes the role that epidemiologic methods play in the continuum from gene discovery to the development and application of genetic tests. It provides a foundation that should help researchers, policy makers and practitioners integrate genomics into medical and public health practice.
Author : Genetic Alliance,New York-Mid-Atlantic Consortium for Genetic and Newborn Screening Services
Publisher : Lulu.com
Page : 104 pages
File Size : 55,7 Mb
Release : 2009
Category : Biology
ISBN : 9780982162217
The purpose of this manual is to provide an educational genetics resource for individuals, families, and health professionals in the New York - Mid-Atlantic region and increase awareness of specialty care in genetics. The manual begins with a basic introduction to genetics concepts, followed by a description of the different types and applications of genetic tests. It also provides information about diagnosis of genetic disease, family history, newborn screening, and genetic counseling. Resources are included to assist in patient care, patient and professional education, and identification of specialty genetics services within the New York - Mid-Atlantic region. At the end of each section, a list of references is provided for additional information. Appendices can be copied for reference and offered to patients. These take-home resources are critical to helping both providers and patients understand some of the basic concepts and applications of genetics and genomics.
Author : Siddhartha Mukherjee
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 624 pages
File Size : 48,9 Mb
Release : 2016-05-17
Category : Medical
ISBN : 9781476733531
The #1 NEW YORK TIMES Bestseller The basis for the PBS Ken Burns Documentary The Gene: An Intimate History Now includes an excerpt from Siddhartha Mukherjee’s new book Song of the Cell! From the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Emperor of All Maladies—a fascinating history of the gene and “a magisterial account of how human minds have laboriously, ingeniously picked apart what makes us tick” (Elle). “Sid Mukherjee has the uncanny ability to bring together science, history, and the future in a way that is understandable and riveting, guiding us through both time and the mystery of life itself.” —Ken Burns “Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee dazzled readers with his Pulitzer Prize-winning The Emperor of All Maladies in 2010. That achievement was evidently just a warm-up for his virtuoso performance in The Gene: An Intimate History, in which he braids science, history, and memoir into an epic with all the range and biblical thunder of Paradise Lost” (The New York Times). In this biography Mukherjee brings to life the quest to understand human heredity and its surprising influence on our lives, personalities, identities, fates, and choices. “Mukherjee expresses abstract intellectual ideas through emotional stories…[and] swaddles his medical rigor with rhapsodic tenderness, surprising vulnerability, and occasional flashes of pure poetry” (The Washington Post). Throughout, the story of Mukherjee’s own family—with its tragic and bewildering history of mental illness—reminds us of the questions that hang over our ability to translate the science of genetics from the laboratory to the real world. In riveting and dramatic prose, he describes the centuries of research and experimentation—from Aristotle and Pythagoras to Mendel and Darwin, from Boveri and Morgan to Crick, Watson and Franklin, all the way through the revolutionary twenty-first century innovators who mapped the human genome. “A fascinating and often sobering history of how humans came to understand the roles of genes in making us who we are—and what our manipulation of those genes might mean for our future” (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel), The Gene is the revelatory and magisterial history of a scientific idea coming to life, the most crucial science of our time, intimately explained by a master. “The Gene is a book we all should read” (USA TODAY).
Author : Peter Lucas
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 208 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 2011-06-21
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9789400715608
This book explores the theoretical basis of our ethical obligations to others as self-knowing beings - this task being envisaged as an essential supplement to a traditional ethic of respect for persons. Authoritative knowledge of others brings with it certain obligations, which are reflected in (inter alia) the moral and legal safeguards designed to ensure that certain information is ‘put out of play’ for job selection purposes etc. However, the theoretical basis for such obligations has never been fully clarified. This book begins by identifying a distinctive class of ‘interpretive’ moral wrongs (including stereotyping, discrimination and objectification). It then shows how our obligations in respect of these wrongs can be understood, drawing on insights from the tradition of philosophical reflection on recognition. The book will be of interest to anyone concerned with the adequacy of a modern ethic of respect for persons – particularly in applied and professional ethics.
Author : Nancy M.P. King,Michael J Hyde
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 222 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2012-03-29
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781136619793
Bioethics, Public Moral Argument, and Social Responsibility explores the role of democratically oriented argument in promoting public understanding and discussion of the benefits and burdens of biotechnological progress. The contributors examine moral and policy controversies surrounding biomedical technologies and their place in American society, beginning with an examination of discourse and moral authority in democracy, and addressing a set of issues that include: dignity in health care; the social responsibilities of scientists, journalists, and scholars; and the language of genetics and moral responsibility.
Author : Kathy McReynolds
Publisher : University Press of America
Page : 106 pages
File Size : 47,5 Mb
Release : 2004
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 0761829741
Author Kathy McReynolds argues that the modern self can indeed become self-fulfilled, but not truly happy, with the help of science, especially biotechnology. She draws upon the classical and modern theories of Aristotle and Francis Bacon to reconsider the idea of the soul. This book offers a unique perspective to the interesting and necessary discussion of the soul.
Author : Tom Wilkie
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 216 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 1993-01-01
Category : Science
ISBN : 0520085531
The Human Genome Project has been called a scientific "search for the Holy Grail" or the genetics equivalent of the moon race. Thousands of researchers worldwide are analyzing the details of human DNA, hoping to identify all of the tens of thousands of human genes that are the blueprint for the human body. Physicist and writer Tom Wilkie offers a lively, compelling history of this scientifically fascinating and politically contentious undertaking. Beginning with the discovery of DNA by James Watson and Francis Crick in 1953, Wilkie's narrative unfolds with the intrigue of a detective story. He reviews in nontechnical terms the many step-by-step developments from different scientific teams that finally made it seem as if it would be possible to sequence the human genome. He goes on to consider the potential social consequences, good and bad, of learning to manipulate the human genetic code. What will happen as we try to prevent and cure disease or attempt to "improve" ourselves and our children by genetic means? A most readable introduction to the science of genetics and the potential consequences of the Human Genome Project, Perilous Knowledge provides background for the startling headlines that quite possibly signal changes to all human life in the next century. "After decades of painstaking research, seemingly disparate paths into the sciences of molecular biology, chemistry, biology and genetics have converged. Suddenly the scientists realize that they are . . . at the peak of a mountain where all the surrounding landscape is clear to their view. They are confident now that they can tackle one of the biggest and most profound issues in their science: unravelling the message of human inheritance."--from the Preface The Human Genome Project has been called a scientific "search for the Holy Grail" or the genetics equivalent of the moon race. Thousands of researchers worldwide are analyzing the details of human DNA, hoping to identify all of the tens of thousands of human genes that are the blueprint for the human body. Physicist and writer Tom Wilkie offers a lively, compelling history of this scientifically fascinating and politically contentious undertaking. Beginning with the discovery of DNA by James Watson and Francis Crick in 1953, Wilkie's narrative unfolds with the intrigue of a detective story. He reviews in nontechnical terms the many step-by-step developments from different scientific teams that finally made it seem as if it would be possible to sequence the human genome. He goes on to consider the potential social consequences, good and bad, of learning to manipulate the human genetic code. What will happen as we try to prevent and cure disease or attempt to "improve" ourselves and our children by genetic means? A most readable introduction to the science of genetics and the potential consequences of the Human Genome Project, Perilous Knowledge provides background for the startling headlines that quite possibly signal changes to all human life in the next century. "After decades of painstaking research, seemingly disparate paths into the sciences of molecular biology, chemistry, biology and genetics have converged. Suddenly the scientists realize that they are . . . at the peak of a mountain where all the surrounding landscape is clear to their view. They are confident now that they can tackle one of the biggest and most profound issues in their science: unravelling the message of human inheritance."--from the Preface
Author : Barton Childs
Publisher : JHU Press
Page : 345 pages
File Size : 52,8 Mb
Release : 2003-09-15
Category : Medical
ISBN : 9781421405131
In Genetic Medicine: A Logic of Disease, Barton Childs demonstrates that knowledge of the ways both genes and environment contribute to disease provides a rational basis for medical thinking. This "genetic" medicine, he explains, should help the physician use the results of laboratory tests to perceive the uniqueness of the patient as well as that of the family and the cultural conditions in which the patient's condition arose. Childs thus provides a conceptual framework within which to teach and practice a humane medicine.
Author : Mark A. Rothstein
Publisher : Yale University Press
Page : 532 pages
File Size : 48,9 Mb
Release : 1997-01-01
Category : Medical
ISBN : 0300080638
The dramatic explosion of information brought about by recent advances in genetic research brings welcome scientific knowledge. Yet this new knowledge also raises complex and troubling issues concerning privacy and confidentiality. This thought-provoking book is the first comprehensive exploration of these ethical, legal, and social issues. Distinguished experts in law, medicine, bioethics, public health, science policy, clinical genetics, philosophy, and other fields consider the many contexts in which issues of genetic privacy arise--from research and clinical settings to workplaces, insurance offices, schools, and the courts. The first chapters of this book set out a framework for analyzing genetic privacy and confidentiality, comparing genetic privacy with other forms of medical privacy. Later chapters deal with such topics as concerns that arise in the health care setting (the patient-physician relationship, genetic counseling and privacy); the effect of new technology (the role of commercial genomics, forensic DNA applications); nonmedical uses of genetic information (the law of medical and genetic privacy in the workplace, implications of genetic testing for health and life insurance); and a review of ethics and law in the United States and abroad. In the concluding chapter, Mark A. Rothstein discusses flaws in existing and proposed legislation designed to protect genetic privacy and confidentiality, and he offers a new set of guidelines for policy makers.