Helsinki Deaconess Institute

This paper argues that the proponents of epistemological scientism must take some stand on scientific methodology. The supporters of scientism cannot simply defer to the social organisation of science because the social processes themselves must meet some methodological criteria. Among such criteria is epistemic evaluability, which demands intersubjective access to reasons. We derive twelve theses outlining some implications of epistemic evaluability. Evaluability can support weak and broad variants of epistemological scientism, which state that sciences, broadly construed, are the best sources of knowledge or some other epistemic goods. Since humanities and social sciences produce epistemically evaluable results, narrow types of scientism that take only natural sciences as sources of knowledge require additional argumentation in their support. Strong scientism, which takes sciences as the only source of knowledge, also needs to appeal to some further principles since evaluability is not an all-or-nothing affair.

Özgün Araştırma

YBH (Yangısal Bağırsak Hastalığı), yangı hücrelerinin ince ve kalın bağırsakta lamina propriyaya infiltrasyonu ile karakterize bir grup gastrointestinal bozukluktur. YBH’nin etiyolojisi bilinmemektedir. Bununla birlikte konakçının bireysel duyarlılığı, genetik yapı ve çevre etkilerinin önemi açıktır. YBH’nin ilaç tedavisi genellikle kortikosteroid, azathioprin ve metronidazolü içermektedir. Kortikosteroidler, YBH’nin tedavisinin başlıca dayanağı olup en sık kullanılanı prednizolondur. Azathioprin, kronik steroid tedavisinin yan etkilerinin ve kortikosteroidlerin dozunun azaltılmasını sağlamak için kullanılabilen immunsupresif bir ilaçtır. Metronidazol, antibakteriyel ve antiprotozoal özelliklere sahiptir ve immunomodulatör etkisi olduğuna dair kanıtlar bulunmaktadır. Probiyotikler, ağız yoluyla alındığında bağırsağın mikrobiyel florasını düzenleyici ve tedavi edici yararlı etkileri olan non-patojenik canlı mikroorganizmalardır. Deneysel ve klinik çalışmalar, YBH’nin tedavisinde probiyotiklerin potansiyel bir tedavi edici etkinliği olduğunu göstermektedir. Ancak probiyotiklerin YBH’nin tedavisinde terapötik bir ajan olarak kesin rolünün belirlenebilmesi için çalışmalar hala sürmektedir

Background and Objective. We examined the association of elevated ankle blood pressure (ABP), together with exercise blood pressure, with incident cerebrovascular (CV) morbidity and mortality in a prospective follow-up study of 3,808 patients. The results were compared with pulse pressure, another indicator of arterial stiffness. Methods. Patients with normal ankle and exercise brachial blood pressures were taken as the reference group. Pulse pressure was considered as quartiles with the lowest quartile as the reference category. Results. A total of 170 subjects had a CV event during the follow-up. Multivariate adjusted hazard ratio of a CV event was 2.24 (95% CI 1.43–3.52, P < .0001) in patients with abnormal ABP. The pulse pressure was significant only in the model adjusted for age and sex. Conclusion. The risk of a future CV event was elevated already in those patients among whom elevated ABP was the only abnormal finding. As a risk marker, ABP is superior to the pulse pressure.

Abstract Purpose: Oxidative stress is implicated in the pathogenesis of both exfoliation syndrome (XFS) and exfoliative glaucoma (XFG). We aimed to study the whole blood levels of endogenous antioxidative enzymes, superoxide dismutase (SOD, glutathione reductase (GR) and glutathione peroxidase (GPX) in XFS and XFG patients. Methods: Deep frozen whole blood samples at ‐71 Celcius collected from 35 XFS patients including 11 XFG patients and 35 age‐ and gender matched controls, all of them operated on cataract, were analyzed for SOD, GR and GPX activity by using a commercial kit (Ransod, Randox). For statistical analyses, Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test was used. Results: The whole blood enzyme activities in the SOD, GR and GPX in XFS/XFG groups were 119,6+‐19,1 U/ml, 498,4+‐105,6 U/L and 7281,5+‐1341,4 U/L, and in controls, 121,4+‐22,5 U/ml, 536,8+‐126,2 U/L and 7689,8+‐1843,9 U/L, respectively. In the statistical evaluation, the respective P‐values were 0,467, 0,169 and 0,263. In the subgroup of XFGs, apart from the XFS/XFG group, there were no statistical differences in the whole blood enzyme activities of SOD (p=0,594), GR (p=0,522) or GPX (p=0,957). Conclusions: The current study showed no significant differences in the whole blood enzyme activities in SOD, GR or GPX in XFS/XFG patients as compared to control group. This may implicate a proper function of these endogenous antioxidative enzymes dispite of increased oxidative stress known to be involved in XFS and XFG.

Sportsman's hernia is a term used to describe a weakness or disruption of is a term used to describe the musculotendinous part of the posterior inguinal wall, which causes persistent groin pain in athletes. A video-assisted placement of extraperitoneal synthetic mesh to support the damaged area may heal this injury. Forty-one male athletes at an elite level (mean age 27 +/- 7.1 years) with chronic groin pain, which was resistant to conservative therapy, were referred to surgery by sports clinics or club doctors. The majority of the patients were soccer (58%) or ice hockey players (27%) at a professional level. A 10 x 15 cm polypropylene mesh was placed into the preperitoneal space using a totally extraperitoneal video-assisted technique. The severity of pain, and the time to return to sports, were determined after 1 month and after the mean follow-up of 4 years. On operation, no macroscopic abnormality was found in 24 patients (58%), obvious musculotendinous tear was present in 10 patients, and muscle asymmetry was present in 7 patients. All except 2 patients (95%) returned to their sport activities after 1 month of convalescence. No immediate or long-term complications were associated with the operation. The placement of a retropubic mesh was safe and a mini-invasive method to repair sportsman's hernia and chronic groin pain of athletes.