Asymmetric rhodium carbene insertion into the Si-H bond: identification of new dirhodium(II) carboxylate catalysts using parallel synthesis techniques

Decomposition of methyl 2-diazophenylacetate in the presence of silanes and a chiral dirhodium(11) catalyst results in Si-H insertion of the intermediate carbenoid with varying degrees of enantioselectivity. New chiral dirhodium(11) carboxylate catalysts were identified using solution phase parallel synthesis techniques. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Impact of PSA testing and prostatic biopsy on cancer incidence and mortality: comparative study between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland

Objectives: To investigate the impact of different PSA testing policies and health-care systems on prostate cancer incidence and mortality in two countries with similar populations, the Republic of Ireland (RoI) and Northern Ireland (NI).

Methods: Population-level data on PSA tests, prostate biopsies and prostate cancer cases 1993–2005 and prostate cancer deaths 1979–2006 were compiled. Annual percentage change (APC) was estimated by joinpoint regression.

Results: Prostate cancer rates were similar in both areas in 1994 but increased rapidly in RoI compared to NI. The PSA testing rate increased sharply in RoI (APC = +23.3%), and to a lesser degree in NI (APC = +9.7%) to reach 412 and 177 tests per 1,000 men in 2004, respectively. Prostatic biopsy rates rose in both countries, but were twofold higher in RoI. Cancer incidence rates rose significantly, mirroring biopsy trends, in both countries reaching 440 per 100,000 men in RoI in 2004 compared to 294 in NI. Median age at diagnosis was lower in RoI (71 years) compared to NI (73 years) (p < 0.01) and decreased significantly over time in both countries. Mortality rates declined from 1995 in both countries (APC = -1.5% in RoI, -1.3% in NI) at a time when PSA testing was not widespread.

Conclusions: Prostatic biopsy rates, rather than PSA testing per se, were the main driver of prostate cancer incidence. Because mortality decreases started before screening became widespread in RoI, and mortality remained low in NI, PSA testing is unlikely to be the explanation for declining mortality.

A Human Rights Perspective on Citizen Participation in the EU's Governance of New Technologies

This article considers the EU’s approach to citizen participation in the governance of new technologies from a human rights perspective. Noting that there is a dearth of insight on the interplay between citizen participation and human rights, the article sketches the essence of its own human rights perspective as being about empowerment. This perspective is brought to bear on EU discourse on citizen participation in the governance of new technologies. Analysis of the discourse—comprising law, citizen participation in EU governance and citizen/science relations, the ‘public understanding of science and technology’, risk and bioethics—reveals a disempowering ‘deficit model’ of citizens in need of education through their participation in governance. The analysis thus suggests that citizen participation in EU governance of new technologies is not truly informed by human rights, but is instead used as a legitimating technique.