scholarly journals The Quantitative Problem for Theories of Dysfunction and Disease

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Schramme
Keyword(s):  
Social Value ◽  
Clinical Perspective ◽  
Biological Functions ◽  
Biological Perspective ◽  
Value Judgements ◽  
Levels Of Functioning

Many biological functions allow for grades. For example, secretion of a specific hormone in an organism can be on a higher or lower level, compared to the same organism at another occasion or compared to other organisms. What levels of functioning constitute instances of dysfunction; where should we draw the line? This is the quantitative problem for theories of dysfunction and disease. I aim to defend a version of biological theories of dysfunction to tackle this problem. However, I will also allow evaluative considerations to enter into a theory of disease. My argument is based on a distinction between a biological and a clinical perspective. Disease, according to my reasoning, is restricted to instances that fall within the boundaries of biological dysfunctions. Responding to the quantitative problem does not require arbitrary decisions or social value-judgements. Hence, I argue for a non-arbitrary, fact-based method to address the quantitative problem. Still, not all biological dysfunctions are instances of disease. Adding a clinical perspective allows us to prevent the potential over-inclusiveness of the biological perspective, because it restricts the boundaries of disease even further.

scholarly journals Justice, Transparency and the Guiding Principles of the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria Charlton
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
National Health Service ◽  
Health Service ◽  
Priority Setting ◽  
Decision Rules ◽  
Social Value ◽  
Normative Approach ◽  
Value Judgements ◽  
Nice Guidance ◽  
Guiding Principles

AbstractThe National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the UK’s primary healthcare priority-setting body, responsible for advising the National Health Service in England on which technologies to fund and which to reject. Until recently, the normative approach underlying this advice was described in a 2008 document entitled ‘Social value judgements: Principles for the development of NICE guidance’ (SVJ). In January 2020, however, NICE replaced SVJ with a new articulation of its guiding principles. Given the significant evolution of NICE’s methods between 2008 and 2020, this study examines whether this new document (‘Principles’) offers a transparent account of NICE’s current normative approach. It finds that it does not, deriving much of its content directly from SVJ and failing to fully acknowledge or explain how and why NICE’s approach has since changed. In particular, Principles is found to offer a largely procedural account of NICE decision-making, despite evidence of the increasing reliance of NICE’s methods on substantive decision-rules and ‘modifiers’ that cannot be justified in purely procedural terms. Thus, while Principles tells NICE’s stakeholders much about how the organisation goes about the process of decision-making, it tells them little about the substantive grounds on which its decisions are now based. It is therefore argued that Principles does not offer a transparent account of NICE’s normative approach (either alone, or alongside other documents) and that, given NICE’s reliance on transparency as a requirement of procedural justice, NICE does not in this respect satisfy its own specification of a just decision-maker.

scholarly journals NICE's social value judgements about equity in health and health care

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Koonal K. Shah ◽  
Richard Cookson ◽  
Anthony J. Culyer ◽  
Peter Littlejohns
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Total Population ◽  
Clinical Excellence ◽  
Health Interventions ◽  
Social Value ◽  
Public Health Interventions ◽  
Equity In Health ◽  
Value Judgements ◽  
Nice Guidance ◽  
Cumulative Experience

AbstractThe National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) routinely publishes details of the evidence and reasoning underpinning its recommendations, including its social value judgements (SVJs). To date, however, NICE's SVJs relating to equity in the distribution of health and health care have been less specific and systematic than those relating to cost-effectiveness in the pursuit of improved total population health. NICE takes a pragmatic, case-based approach to developing its principles of SVJ, drawing on the cumulative experience of its advisory bodies in making decisions that command respect among its broad range of stakeholders. This paper aims to describe the SVJs about equity in health and health care that NICE has hitherto used to guide its decision making. To do this, we review both the general SVJs reported in NICE guidance on methodology and the case-specific SVJs reported in NICE guidance about particular health care technologies and public health interventions.

scholarly journals Exorcising the positivist ghost in the priority-setting machine: NICE and the demise of the ‘social value judgement’

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Victoria Charlton ◽  
Albert Weale
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual History ◽  
Priority Setting ◽  
Social Value ◽  
Public Reasoning ◽  
Primary Health ◽  
The Social ◽  
Value Judgements ◽  
History Of ◽  
Health Care Priority Setting ◽  
Value Judgement

Abstract The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the UK's primary health care priority-setting body, has traditionally described its decisions as being informed by ‘social value judgements’ about how resources should be allocated across society. This paper traces the intellectual history of this term and suggests that, in NICE's adoption of the idea of the ‘social value judgement’, we are hearing the echoes of welfare economics at a particular stage of its development, when logical positivism provided the basis for thinking about public policy choice. As such, it is argued that the term offers an overly simplistic conceptualisation of NICE's normative approach and contributes to a situation in which NICE finds itself without the necessary language fully and accurately to articulate its basis for decision-making. It is suggested that the notion of practical public reasoning, based on reflection about coherent principles of action, might provide a better characterisation of the enterprise in which NICE is, or hopes to be, engaged.

scholarly journals Consumer self-reported and testosterone responses to advertising of luxury goods in social context

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rumen Pozharliev ◽  
Willem Verbeke ◽  
Matteo De Angelis ◽  
Ruud Van Den Bos ◽  
Paolo Peverini
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Social Value ◽  
Hormonal Responses ◽  
Luxury Goods ◽  
Salivary Testosterone ◽  
Testosterone Levels ◽  
Biological Perspective ◽  
Consumer Neuroscience ◽  
The Social

AbstractDespite the growing demand for luxury goods, there is limited understanding about how consumers respond to luxury-goods advertising and how viewing advertising in different social contexts affects these responses. This study investigates the link between luxury goods advertising and expected utility from a biological perspective by looking at males’ hormonal responses to advertising of luxury versus non-luxury branded goods. Using traditional and consumer neuroscience methods, we collected salivary testosterone data pre- and post-ad viewing. Self-reported scores on social and quality value of the brands were compared to salivary testosterone levels from participants placed in different social conditions (Alone versus Together with another person). The results show that higher post-viewing testosterone levels were associated with higher scores on quality, but not on social value and only for branded goods viewed in the Together condition, compared to the Alone condition. These results suggest that changes in testosterone levels reflect a rewarding experience or activate social competitiveness when male consumers appraise the quality but not the social value of the advertised luxury goods and that social context modulates this effect.

Laughter in early China: The Zhuangzi and beyond

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Ai Yuan
Keyword(s):  
Political Power ◽  
Social Value ◽  
Early China ◽  
Philosophical Significance ◽  
Political Status ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Value Judgements ◽  
Change Of Perspective ◽  
Chinese Texts

Abstract Traditionally, in both East and West, laughter, and in particular its causes, have been studied under the category of humour. However, ideas on and practices of laughter itself have been largely ignored. This paper intends to lead readers beyond the topic of humour and focus on the act of laughter in the Zhuangzi as a starting point for the study of laughter in early China. It examines frequently ignored areas, such as how laughter draws readers into the text; how it functions to exclude people with different social value judgements; how it is used as a tool to challenge political power; how it serves rhetorical functions as a means to construct a conversation among people of different social or political status; and how it is used as an important signal and marker for a change of perspective. By examining questions such as: “What are the types of laughter?”, “What are the functions of laughter?”, and “How does laughter operate in different situations, and between different persons?” we can see a new idea of laughter in the Zhuangzi with multi-layered philosophical significance. Using the Zhuangzi as a case study, we can envision a series of well-crafted, intentional practices of laughter for various purposes throughout early Chinese texts.

Membrane–cytoskeleton interactions in cholesterol-dependent domain formation

2015 ◽  
Vol 57 ◽  
pp. 177-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer N. Byrum ◽  
William Rodgers
Keyword(s):  
Biological Properties ◽  
Membrane Rafts ◽  
Membrane Domains ◽  
Biological Functions ◽  
Membrane Cytoskeleton ◽  
Heterogeneous Structures ◽  
Integral Role ◽  
Model Cell ◽  
Actomyosin Cytoskeleton ◽  
Dependent Domain

Since the inception of the fluid mosaic model, cell membranes have come to be recognized as heterogeneous structures composed of discrete protein and lipid domains of various dimensions and biological functions. The structural and biological properties of membrane domains are represented by CDM (cholesterol-dependent membrane) domains, frequently referred to as membrane ‘rafts’. Biological functions attributed to CDMs include signal transduction. In T-cells, CDMs function in the regulation of the Src family kinase Lck (p56lck) by sequestering Lck from its activator CD45. Despite evidence of discrete CDM domains with specific functions, the mechanism by which they form and are maintained within a fluid and dynamic lipid bilayer is not completely understood. In the present chapter, we discuss recent advances showing that the actomyosin cytoskeleton has an integral role in the formation of CDM domains. Using Lck as a model, we also discuss recent findings regarding cytoskeleton-dependent CDM domain functions in protein regulation.

Aphasia Treatment at the Crossroads: A Biological Perspective

ASHA Leader ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 6-18
Author(s):  
Lauren F. Wineburgh ◽  
Steven L. Small
Keyword(s):  
Biological Perspective ◽  
Aphasia Treatment

The Impact of Endorsing the Belief in a Just World on Social Judgments

2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 209-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benoît Testé ◽  
Samantha Perrin
Keyword(s):  
Social Desirability ◽  
Social Value ◽  
Social Utility ◽  
Western Society ◽  
Social Judgments ◽  
Just World ◽  
The Social ◽  
Main Effect ◽  
The Impact

The present research examines the social value attributed to endorsing the belief in a just world for self (BJW-S) and for others (BJW-O) in a Western society. We conducted four studies in which we asked participants to assess a target who endorsed BJW-S vs. BJW-O either strongly or weakly. Results showed that endorsement of BJW-S was socially valued and had a greater effect on social utility judgments than it did on social desirability judgments. In contrast, the main effect of endorsement of BJW-O was to reduce the target’s social desirability. The results also showed that the effect of BJW-S on social utility is mediated by the target’s perceived individualism, whereas the effect of BJW-S and BJW-O on social desirability is mediated by the target’s perceived collectivism.

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