A RATional choice for translational research?
نویسندگان
چکیده
Future prospects continue to be strong for research using the rat as a model organism. New technology has enabled the proliferation of many new transgenic and knockout rat strains, the genomes of more than 40 rat strains have been sequenced, publications using the rat as a model continue to be produced at a steady rate, and discoveries of disease-associated genes and mechanisms from rat experiments abound, frequently with conservation of function between rats and humans. However, advances in genome technology have led to increasing insights into human disease directly from human genetic studies, pulling more and more researchers into the human genetics arena and placing funding for model organisms and their databases under threat. This, therefore, is a pivotal time for rat-based biomedical research - a timely moment to review progress and prospects - providing the inspiration for a new Special Collection focused on the impact of the model on translational science, launched in this issue of Disease Models & Mechanisms. What disease areas are most appropriate for research using rats? Why should the rat be favoured over other model organisms, and should the present levels of funding be continued? Which approaches should we expect to yield biologically and medically useful insights in the coming years? These are key issues that are addressed in the original Research Articles and reviews published in this Special Collection, and in this introductory Editorial. These exemplar articles serve as a landmark for the present status quo after a decade of major advances using the rat model and could help to guide the direction of rat research in the coming decade.
منابع مشابه
Rational Choice Theory: An Overview
It seems easy to accept that rationality involves many features that cannot be summarized in terms of some straightforward formula, such as binary consistency. However, this recognition does not immediately lead to alternative characterizations that might be regarded as satisfactory, even though the inadequacies of the traditional assumptions of rational behavior standard used in economic theo...
متن کاملRational Choice Theory: An Overview
It seems easy to accept that rationality involves many features that cannot be summarized in terms of some straightforward formula, such as binary consistency. However, this recognition does not immediately lead to alternative characterizations that might be regarded as satisfactory, even though the inadequacies of the traditional assumptions of rational behavior standard used in economic theo...
متن کاملRational Choice Theory: A Cultural Reconsideration
Economists have heralded the formulation of the expected utility theorem as a universal method of choice under uncertainty. In their seminal paper, Stigler and Becker (Stigler & Becker, 1977) declared that “human behavior can be explained by a generalized calculus of utility-maximizing behavior” (p.76). The universality of the rational choice theory has been widely criticized by psychologists, ...
متن کاملOn characterizations of the fully rational fuzzy choice functions
In the present paper, we introduce the fuzzy Nehring axiom, fuzzy Sen axiom and weaker form of the weak fuzzycongruence axiom. We establish interrelations between these axioms and their relation with fuzzy Chernoff axiom. Weexpress full rationality of a fuzzy choice function using these axioms along with the fuzzy Chernoff axiom.
متن کاملIntegrated Environmental Analysis using GIS for Rational Planning of Conservatory Management of Slopes Application in the Ouergha Basin (Morocco)
The objective of this work is the realization of a map spatialising proposals of management and planning of lands, with a view to their rational management within the framework of a sustainable development. It was based on a diagnosis of the natural environment that allowed the analysis and identification of constraints to the development of the watershed of Ouergha (North of MOROCCO). The meth...
متن کاملConvex Surface Visualization Using Rational Bi- cubic Function
The rational cubic function with three parameters has been extended to rational bi-cubic function to visualize the shape of regular convex surface data. The rational bi-cubic function involves six parameters in each rectangular patch. Data dependent constraints are derived on four of these parameters to visualize the shape of convex surface data while other two are free to refine the shape of s...
متن کامل