The Slippery Slope Argument in the Ethical Debate on Genetic Engineering of Humans.

This article applies tools from argumentation theory to slippery slope arguments used in current ethical debates on genetic engineering. Among the tools used are argumentation schemes, value-based argumentation, critical questions, and burden of proof. It is argued that so-called drivers such as social acceptance and rapid technological development are also important factors that need to be taken into account alongside the argumentation scheme. It is shown that the slippery slope argument is basically a reasonable (but defeasible) form of argument, but is often flawed when used in ethical debates because of failures to meet the requirements of its scheme.

Idiopathic Myointimal Hyperplasia of the Mesenteric Veins: A Rare Imitator of Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Idiopathic myointimal hyperplasia of the mesenteric veins (IMHMV) is a rare cause of chronic colonic ischemia characterized by intimal smooth muscle proliferation and luminal narrowing of the small to medium sized mesenteric veins. It predominantly affects the rectosigmoid colon in otherwise healthy, middle-aged males. Definitive diagnosis and treatment are surgical; however, patients are frequently misdiagnosed, which often results in a protracted clinical course. We describe a case of IMHMV presenting as left hemicolitis in a 53-year-old male, as well as the endoscopic, histopathologic, and radiographic findings that established the diagnosis.

Annotating Argument Schemes.

Argument schemes are abstractions substantiating the inferential connection between premise(s) and conclusion in argumentative communication. Identifying such conventional patterns of reasoning is essential to the interpretation and evaluation of argumentation. Whether studying argumentation from a theory-driven or data-driven perspective, insight into the actual use of argumentation in communicative practice is essential. Large and reliably annotated corpora of argumentative discourse to quantitatively provide such insight are few and far between. This is all the more true for argument scheme corpora, which tend to suffer from a combination of limited size, poor validation, and the use of ad hoc restricted typologies. In the current paper, we describe the annotation of schemes on the basis of two distinct classifications: Walton's taxonomy of argument schemes, and Wagemans' Periodic Table of Arguments. We describe the annotation procedure for each, and the quantitative characteristics of the resulting annotated text corpora. In doing so, we extend the annotation of the preexisting US2016 corpus of televised election debates, resulting in, to the best of our knowledge, the two largest consistently annotated corpora of schemes in argumentative dialogue publicly available. Based on evaluation in terms of inter-annotator agreement, we propose further improvements to the guidelines for annotating schemes: the argument scheme key, and the Argument Type Identification Procedure.

Trace Elements in Gluten-free Pastas and Flours from Markets Located in the Las Vegas, Nevada Area.

The popularity of gluten-free foods has been increasing across the United States and abroad. A significant reason for this trend involves marketing efforts targeted towards individuals seeking to avoid the consequences of celiac disease or a perceived gluten intolerance. Many gluten-free food products originate in regions of the world where irrigation with metal-contaminated waters is common. Calcium, Fe, Mg, Ti and Zn were detected at various levels across all foods products. Cadmium was detected in 96.8% of U.S. and 54.5% of Asian gluten-free foods with gluten containing foods above reported averages (216 µg kg-1 Cd); as was Co (140µg kg-1) in 48.4 % of U.S., 72.7% of Asian gluten-free foods, and 40% of the gluten containing foods; Cr was in 54.8% of the U.S., 72.5% of Asian gluten-free foods, and 100% of gluten containing food products; while Ca, Fe, Mg, Ti and Zn were greater than 10,000 µg kg-1 with Ba, Cd, Co, Mo, and Ni above reported averages. Finally, trace metals were more commonly detected in the gluten containing foods overall. It was found that trace elements were more commonly found in the gluten containing products; however, none of the higher than expected levels pose a significant health risk to consumers.

Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome and merkel cell carcinoma.

Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome (LEMS) is an antibody-mediated disorder of the neuromuscular junction that is most commonly diagnosed in association with small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC). Small cell lung carcinoma is histologically similar to the aggressive cutaneous neuroendocrine malignancy Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC). We provide a full report and longitudinal clinical follow-up of a case of LEMS occurring with MCC. We also review the literature on paraneoplastic syndromes associated with MCC and other nonpulmonary small cell carcinomas.