The idea of passive euthanasia has recently been attacked in a particularly clear and explicit way by an ‘‘Ethics Task Force’’ established by the European Association of Palliative Care (EAPC) in February 2001. It claims that the expression ‘‘passive euthanasia’’ is a contradiction in terms and hence that there can be no such thing. This paper critically assesses the main arguments for the Task...

Dynamically stable biped robots mimicking human locomotion have received significant attention over the last few decades. Formerly, the existence of stable periodic gaits for straight walking of passive biped walkers was well known and investigated as the notion of passive dynamic walking. This study is aimed to elaborate this notion in the case of three dimensional (3D) walking and extend it f...

Microfluidic systems provide valuable tools for exploring, studying, and optimizing organic syntheses. The small scales and fast transport rates allow for faster experiments and lower amounts of chemicals to be used, reducing costs and increasing safety. Additionally, continuous flow processes allow for a large number of experiments to be performed after a single setup. These advantages were ex...

background maternal passive smoking or exposure to environmental tobacco smoke may be a risk factor for maternal and newborn morbidity. objectives the current study aimed to assess the relationship between preterm delivery and tobacco smoke exposure in pregnant woman referring to the shabih-khani maternity hospital in kashan, iran. patients and methods an analytical retrospective cohort study w...

asthma environmental triggers play important roles in severity of disease. passive smoking could exacerbate asthma symptoms and enhance the decrease in lung function. cotinine levels could be a reflection of passive exposure to the cigarette both in adults and pediatrics. the aim of this study was to determine degree of association of asthma severity and cotinine level as a marker of passive sm...

leishmaniasis is a common parasitic disease in tropical and subtropical areas of the world. police personnel deployed in the suburbs and rural areas are the most often exposed to the potential risk of cutaneous leishmaniasis. furthermore, since the same police personnel are sent on duty to other places, their migrations can also play a considerable role in the transmission of this disease to th...

introduction : adverse health effects of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ets) among non-smokers have been studied occasionally in developing countries. the aim of this study was to determine the effects of exposure to ets on outcome in pregnancy methods: in this descriptive and analytical study 600 non-smoking women delivering a singleton live baby were studied in delivery room in haja...