Animal Bodies in the Production of Scientific Knowledge: Modelling Medicine

2012 ◽  
Vol 18 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 156-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynda Birke
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Medical Knowledge ◽  
The Body ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Biomedical Knowledge ◽  
Knowledge Modelling ◽  
Animal Body ◽  
Nonhuman Animals

What role do nonhuman animals play in the construction of medical knowledge? Animal researchers typically claim that their use has been essential to progress – but just how have animals fitted into the development of biomedicine? In this article, I trace how nonhuman animals, and their body parts, have become incorporated into laboratory processes and places. They have long been designed to fit into scientific procedures – now increasingly so through genetic design. Animals and procedures are closely connected – animals in science are disassembled and reassembled in various ways. Indeed, biomedical knowledge can be said to rest on a large pile of animal bodies and body parts. The process of producing animal body parts to order has implications for how we conceptualize the body (human or nonhuman), which I discuss in the final section.

scholarly journals Development of three-dimensional physiological function imaging of biological body by transillumination imaging using near infrared light - preliminary research -

10.29007/dvzs ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ngoc An Dang Nguyen ◽  
Phuong Anh Bui ◽  
Anh Tu Tran ◽  
Trung An Dang Nguyen ◽  
Van Chinh Nguyen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Near Infrared ◽  
Physiological Function ◽  
Imaging Modality ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
The Body ◽  
Infrared Light ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
Animal Body ◽  
Preliminary Research

In biological tissue, there are different kinds of endogenous chromophores. Their absorption spectra in the optical range are sensitive to the physiological change of the animal body. In the near-infrared region (700-1200 nm wavelength), hemoglobin has a characteristic absorption spectrum which is dependent on its redox state. Therefore, the functional information inside the animal body could be obtained noninvasively by measuring the transmitted light. By detecting the change of the absorption characteristics of the animal body, the functional change inside the body can be detected in a two-dimensional transillumination image. In this paper, we propose preliminary research on developing a novel imaging modality of biological body parts. Using the two-dimensional images obtained in many different orientations, three-dimensional physiological function imaging of the biological body by transillumination could be expected. This paper presents a preliminary result in the experiment to show the feasibility of this technique.

scholarly journals Concepts of the body and personhood in the Mesolithic-Neolithic Danube Gorges: interpreting animal remains from human burials

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 675 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivana Živaljević
Keyword(s):  
Social Action ◽  
Red Deer ◽  
The Body ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Natural Phenomena ◽  
Animal Body ◽  
Animal Remains ◽  
The World ◽  
Human Burials ◽  
Choice Of Species

In recent years, humanities have brought forward the idea of non-human agency; either in the form of meanings bestowed upon objects, animals and natural phenomena, or through deconstruction of ontological differences between ‘people’ and ‘things’. In case of the former, it has been argued that non-human agents have the power to act as ‘participants’ in social action (e.g. the agentive power of material properties of things, or of animal behaviour). In this paper, I discuss the practice of placing animal body parts alongside human bodies in the Mesolithic-Neolithic Danube Gorges, by using the concept of perspectivism as a theoretical framework. The choice of species and their body parts varied, but was by no means accidental. Rather, it reflected certain culturally specific taxonomies, which were based on animal properties: how they look, move, feel or what they do. Common examples include red deer antlers, which have the power to ‘regenerate’ each year, or dog mandibles (physical remains of ‘mouths’) which have the power to ‘communicate’ (i.e. bark). The aim of the paper is to explore how various aspects of animal corporeality, associated with certain ways of seeing and experiencing the world, could be ‘borrowed’ by humans utilizing animal body parts.

Human Development as Transcendence of the Animal Body and the Child-Animal Association in Psychological Thought

1999 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugene Olin Myers
Keyword(s):  
Human Development ◽  
The Body ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
The West ◽  
Animal Body ◽  
Developmental Theories ◽  
Nonhuman Animals ◽  
Human Animal ◽  
Historical Discourses ◽  
Symbolic Universe

AbstractThis paper explores the association of children and animals as an element in Western culture's symbolic universe. Three historical discourses found in the West associate animality with immaturity and growing up with the transcendence of this condition. The discourses differ in how they describe and evaluate the original animal-like condition of the child versus the socialized end product. All, however, tend to distinguish sharply between the human and the nonhuman. This paper explores expressions of this tendency in developmental theories that set as the criterion of maturity the actualization of some capacity that is believed to set humans apart from animals. Seeing relationships with animals as marginally important in human development and life is a consequence of these assumptions. Simultaneously, these assumptions also marginalize the body. This constitutes a dual renunciation of body and animal, criticized for its effects both on inquiry and on our realization of the roles and values of nonhuman animals in development. Such research can help reveal the self-organizing nature of the human animal body.

scholarly journals Kroppen politiske økonomi. Om grænsedragningen mellem person, krop og vare i medicinske udvekslingssystemet

Kulturstudier ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 157
Author(s):  
Klaus Høyer ◽  
Maria Olejaz
Keyword(s):  
Biological Material ◽  
Medical Knowledge ◽  
The Body ◽  
Economic Resources ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Font Size ◽  
Export Sector ◽  
Routine Work ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Human Biological Material

<span style="font-family: MeliorLTCE; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: MeliorLTCE; font-size: x-small;"><p>Today, the medico industry is considered the largest export sector of Denmark, and the medical knowledge, on which it is based, requires access to bodies and human biological material. This material and these bodies are thus in a certain sense economic resources. At the same time, they are typically regarded as parts of individuals – of subjects. In certain situations, this duality becomes problematic. You cannot buy and sell “body parts”; individuals may own, but cannot be owned. It is, however, no easy task to keep the-body-as-subject separate from the-body-as-object, and the medical routine work is full of hybrids. In the present article, we discuss historically specific ways in which to create distinctions in the tension between being a patient who is the target for intervention, and supplying material for the treatment of others. We focus on the hip as a bone and as a metal prosthesis, where it becomes the subject of exchange. With the article, we specifically wish to underline the necessity of recognizing the basic ambiguity sourrounding the body, and the meaning of this ambiguity for how we organize the exchange of everything which is neither subject nor an unambiguous object.</p></span></span>

scholarly journals Percepção morfológica de animais aquáticos pela comunidade pesqueira de Acupe, Santo Amaro, Bahia: uma abordagem etnozoológica

2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 103
Author(s):  
Francisco José Bezerra Souto ◽  
Rodrigo Stolze Pacheco
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Literature ◽  
The Body ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Animal Body ◽  
Folk Knowledge ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
Swimming Crabs

Ethnozoology has been used successfully in studies of the interaction between zoology andculture. In that body of knowledge, it is common to use a personal terminology to name different animal body parts; thisis known as body topography. The aim of this work is to understand the terms used by the Acupe fishermen (Santo Amaro– Bahia, Brazil) for some of the locally caught animals, analysing them from the perspective of folk knowledge comparedwith the zoological literature. The body topography was studied by presenting picture-cards (N = 100), showing imagesof swimming crabs, shrimps, crabs and fish taken from the scientific literature, to 68 fishermen. The folk terminologyrecorded was divided into three categories: polynomia, suggested function, and anthropomorphic analogy. In at least onecase (crab-catching), this knowledge translates into a method with ethnoconservation implications. The results showedthat the local fishermen have an extensive terminology to name structures and body parts and their functions, and in somecases this knowledge was comparable to that in the zoological literature.

Defining the Competence of Psychologists with a View to Public Accountability *

1997 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 293-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ype H. Poortinga ◽  
Ingrid Lunt
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Professional Training ◽  
Professional Competence ◽  
Codes Of Ethics ◽  
The Body ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Rigorous Evaluation ◽  
Judicial Proceedings ◽  
Psychological Knowledge

In national codes of ethics the practice of psychology is presented as rooted in scientific knowledge, professional skills, and experience. However, it is not self-evident that the body of scientific knowledge in psychology provides an adequate basis for current professional practice. Professional training and experience are seen as necessary for the application of psychological knowledge, but they appear insufficient to defend the soundness of one's practices when challenged in judicial proceedings of a kind that may be faced by psychologists in the European Union in the not too distant future. In seeking to define the basis for the professional competence of psychologists, this article recommends taking a position of modesty concerning the scope and effectiveness of psychological interventions. In many circumstances, psychologists can only provide partial advice, narrowing down the range of possible courses of action more by eliminating unpromising ones than by pointing out the most correct or most favorable one. By emphasizing rigorous evaluation, the profession should gain in accountability and, in the long term, in respectability.

Formulation, Design and Development of Niosome Based Topical Gel for Skin Cancer

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Skin Cancer ◽  
Drug Release ◽  
Hemorrhagic Cystitis ◽  
The Body ◽  
Cancer Drug ◽  
Inversion Method ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Basal Cells ◽  
Formulation Design ◽  
Topical Gel

Melanoma is the most dangerous type of skin cancer in which mostly damaged unpaired DNA starts mutating abnormally and staged an unprecedented proliferation of epithelial skin to form a malignant tumor. In epidemics of skin, pigment-forming melanocytes of basal cells start depleting and form uneven black or brown moles. Melanoma can further spread all over the body parts and could become hard to detect. In USA Melanoma kills an estimated 10,130 people annually. This challenge can be succumbed by using the certain anti-cancer drug. In this study design, cyclophosphamide were used as a model drug. But it has own limitation like mild to moderate use may cause severe cytopenia, hemorrhagic cystitis, neutropenia, alopecia and GI disturbance. This is a promising challenge, which is caused due to the increasing in plasma drug concentration above therapeutic level and due to no rate limiting steps involved in formulation design. In this study, we tried to modify drug release up to threefold and extended the release of drug by preparing and designing niosome based topical gel. In the presence of Dichloromethane, Span60 and cholesterol, the initial niosomes were prepared using vacuum evaporator. The optimum percentage drug entrapment efficacy, zeta potential, particle size was found to be 72.16%, 6.19mV, 1.67µm.Prepared niosomes were further characterized using TEM analyzer. The optimum batch of niosomes was selected and incorporated into topical gel preparation. Cold inversion method and Poloxamer -188 and HPMC as core polymers, were used to prepare cyclophosphamide niosome based topical gel. The formula was designed using Design expert 7.0.0 software and Box-Behnken Design model was selected. Almost all the evaluation parameters were studied and reported. The MTT shows good % cell growth inhibition by prepared niosome based gel against of A375 cell line. The drug release was extended up to 20th hours. Further as per ICH Q1A (R2), guideline 6 month stability studies were performed. The results were satisfactory and indicating a good formulation approach design was achieved for Melanoma treatment.

All Animals Are Equal, or Are They? The Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ’s Animal Epistle and its Unhappy End

2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 42-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarra Tlili
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
Final Outcome ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Main Text ◽  
Nonhuman Animals ◽  
Privileged Status

The Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ’s animal epistle is an intriguing work. Although in the body of the narrative the authors challenge anthropocentric preconceptions and present nonhuman animals in a more favourable light than human beings, inexplicably, the narrative ends by reconfirming the privileged status of humans. The aim of this paper is to propose an explanation for this discrepancy. I argue that the egalitarian message reflected in the body of the narrative is traceable back to the Qur'an, the main text with which the authors engage in the fable, whereas the final outcome is due to the Ikhwān's hierarchical worldview.

Re-imagining Reproduction: Unsettling Metaphors in the History of Imperial Science and Commercial Surrogacy in India

Somatechnics ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kalindi Vora
Keyword(s):  
Assisted Reproductive Technologies ◽  
Reproductive Technologies ◽  
The Body ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Colonial History ◽  
Women's Bodies ◽  
Commercial Surrogacy ◽  
Art Practices ◽  
History Of ◽  
Travel Industry

This paper provides an analysis of how cultural notions of the body and kinship conveyed through Western medical technologies and practices in Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) bring together India's colonial history and its economic development through outsourcing, globalisation and instrumentalised notions of the reproductive body in transnational commercial surrogacy. Essential to this industry is the concept of the disembodied uterus that has arisen in scientific and medical practice, which allows for the logic of the ‘gestational carrier’ as a functional role in ART practices, and therefore in transnational medical fertility travel to India. Highlighting the instrumentalisation of the uterus as an alienable component of a body and subject – and therefore of women's bodies in surrogacy – helps elucidate some of the material and political stakes that accompany the growth of the fertility travel industry in India, where histories of privilege and difference converge. I conclude that the metaphors we use to structure our understanding of bodies and body parts impact how we imagine appropriate roles for people and their bodies in ways that are still deeply entangled with imperial histories of science, and these histories shape the contemporary disparities found in access to medical and legal protections among participants in transnational surrogacy arrangements.

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