Search results for "Biological entity"
showing 3 items of 3 documents
Unknown primary tumors
2011
An unknown primary tumor (UPT) is defined by the presence of a metastatic cancer without a known primary site of origin despite a standardized diagnostic workup. Clinically, UPTs show rapid progression and early dissemination, with signs and symptoms related to the metastatic site. The molecular bases of their biology remain largely unknown, with no evidence as to whether they represent a distinct biological entity. Immunohistochemistry remain the best diagnostic tool in term of cost-effectiveness, but the time-consuming "algorithmic process" it relies on has led to the application of new molecular techniques for the identification of the primary site of UPTs. For example, several microarra…
Chance and Necessity
2015
In Chance and Necessity Monod masterfully spans the divide between humanities and sciences. For Monod, unlike subsequent renowned popularisers, science was one thing but what science evoked was quite another; he claimed that we should take the logic of science as far as it allowed. In this chapter, I revisit Monod’s reflections on Bergson —as did the famous evolutionary biologist Mayr —and I suggest that this philosopher’s vitalist theory should be reconsidered in the light of modern Biology, as should Driesch’s Embriology. The thesis on the need to give similar importance to both the parts of a biological entity as to the interactions between them is discussed within a wider context.
Filosofía, ciencia y biología sintética
2016
En este artículo se defiende la necesidad de que el actor de la ciencia, el científico, disponga de suficiente formación filosófica como para analizar críticamente el alcance de su propia actividad especializada, análisis que debiera empezar por entender qué es eso a lo que llamamos ciencia. Se ejemplifica la necesidad de tal formación recurriendo a la biología sintética. Se muestran los peligros que se corren de la derivación hacia campos no científicos si el científico está imbuido de una ciencia fáustica orientada a la obtención del producto –el ente biológico sintético– disminuyendo veladamente el interés por estudiar el mismo desde la óptica de la ciencia prometeica, aquella que se apr…