Eugenics scandal reveals silence of Swedish scientists

The shadow side of occupational therapy: Necropower, state racism and colonialism

BACKGROUND

In the Global North, advances in occupational therapy benefitted unduly from the oppression, disablement and suffering of thousands of people in the South (and beyond). To prevent the recurrence of these injustices, history must be unveiled and occupational therapists urged to come to terms with their own involvement and responsibility.

OBJECTIVE AND METHOD

Utilising Achille Mbembe's concept of necropolitics, this academic essay blends select historical and philosophical perspectives to explore occupational therapy's concealed role in manifestations of institutionalised violence.

RESULTS

By examining its roles in World War II and France's colonisation of Algeria, we make visible the development of occupational therapy's distinct 'shadow side'. In Nazi Germany's Euthanasia Programme, it became a tool for identifying which lives were deemed 'worthy of living' and which were not, which indirectly contributed to the killing of 200,000 disabled persons. Under France's colonial medical system, occupational therapy imposed Western standards that alienated and completely depersonalised Algerian patients.

CONCLUSION AND SIGNIFICANCE

Entrenched in a (bio)economy that has endured beyond these events, occupational therapists must exercise vigilance, remaining mindful of the potential to unintentionally overlook individuals labelled as 'unproductive'. This requires confronting the profession's assumptions of inherent 'goodness' and acknowledging and addressing its shadow side.

Human Genome Editing and Ethical Considerations

Editing human germline genes may act as boon in some genetic and other disorders. Recent editing of the genome of the human embryo with the CRISPR/Cas9 editing tool generated a debate amongst top scientists of the world for the ethical considerations regarding its effect on the future generations. It needs to be seen as to what transformation human gene editing brings to humankind in the times to come.

Fine Tuning and Cross-talking of TGF-β Signal by Inhibitory Smads

Transforming Growth Factor (TGF)-beta family, including TGF-beta, bone morphorgenic protein (BMP), and activn, plays an important role in essential cellular functions such as proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, tissue remodeling, angiognesis, immune responses, and cell adhesions. TGF-beta predominantly transmits the signals through serine/threonine receptor kinases and cytoplasmic proteins called Smads. Since the discovery of TGF-beta in the early 1980s, the dysregulation of TGF-beta /Smad signaling has been implicated in the pathogenesis of human diseases. Among signal transducers in TGF-beta/Smad signaling, inhibitory Smads (I-Smads), Smad6 and Smad7, act as major negative regulators forming autoinhibitory feedback loops and mediate the cross-talking with other signaling pathways. Expressions of I-Smads are mainly regulated on the transcriptional levels and post-translational protein degradations and their intracellular levels are tightly controlled to maintain the homeostatic balances. However, abnormal levels of I-Smads in the pathological conditions elicit the altered TGF-beta signaling in cells, eventually causing TGF-beta-related human diseases. Thus, exploring the molecular mechanisms about the regulations of I-Smads may provide the therapeutic clues for human diseases induced by the abnormal TGF-beta signaling.