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This article systematically reviews the available literature to improve our understanding of the physiological basis for orthoses under the kinematic, shock attenuation and neuromotor control paradigms. The propositions made under these three paradigms have not been systematically reviewed collectively, and as such, there is no single-point synthesis of this clinically relevant body of evidence and somewhat disparate findings. Our comprehensive search strategy yielded 22 papers. Under each paradigm, the role of orthoses with different design features including combinations of posting, moulding and density was analysed. Where possible, data have been pooled to provide an increased level of confidence in findings. The main findings in the kinematic paradigm were that posted non-moulded orthoses systematically reduced peak rearfoot eversion (2.12° (95% CI 0.72 to 3.53)) and tibial internal rotation (1.33° (0.12 to 2.53)) in non-injured cohorts. In the shock attenuation paradigm, it was found that non-posted moulded and posted moulded orthoses produced large reductions in loading rate and vertical impact force when compared with a control and to a posted non-moulded orthosis. The neuromotor control paradigm seems to be the least conclusive in its outcome. Based on our review, this paper concludes with rudimentary guidelines for the prescription of orthosis, that sports medicine practitioners may use in their clinical decision-making process. The need for further research focusing on the role of injury, particularly in neuromotor control modification and long-term adaptation to orthoses, was highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two interpretations of the precautionary principle are considered. According to the normative (action-guiding) interpretation, the precautionary principle should be characterised in terms of what it urges doctors and other decision makers to do. According to the epistemic (belief-guiding) interpretation, the precautionary principle should be characterised in terms of what it urges us to believe. This paper recommends against the use of the precautionary principle as a decision rule in medical decision making, based on an impossibility theorem presented in Peterson (2005). However, the main point of the paper is an argument to the effect that decision theoretical problems associated with the precautionary principle can be overcome by paying greater attention to its epistemic dimension. Three epistemic principles inherent in a precautionary approach to medical risk analysis are characterised and defended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Savulescu maintains that our paper, which encourages clinicians to honour requests for "inappropriate treatment" is prejudicial to his atheistic beliefs, and therefore wrong. In this paper we clarify and expand on our ideas, and respond to his assertion that medicine, ethics and atheism are objective, rational and true, while religion is irrational and false. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first part of this paper examines the practice of informed treatment decisions in the protective medical system in China today. The second part examines how health care professionals in China perceive and carry out their responsibilities when relaying information to vulnerable patients, based on the findings of an empirical study that I had undertaken to examine the moral experience of nurses in practice situations. In the Chinese medical ethics tradition, refinement [jing] in skills and sincerity [cheng] in relating to patients are two cardinal virtues that health care professionals are required to possess. This notion of absolute sincerity carries a strong sense of parental protectiveness. The empirical findings reveal that most nurses are ambivalent about telling the truth to patients. Truth-telling would become an insincere act if a patient were to lose hope and confidence in life after learning of his or her disease. In this system of protective medical care, it is arguable as to whose interests are being protected: the patient, the family or the hospital. I would suggest that the interests of the hospital and the family members who legitimately represent the patient's interests are being honoured, but at the expense of the patient's right to know. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]