English Journal Editorials
Recent Submissions
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The use of polygenic risk scores in pre-implantation genetic testing: an unproven, unethical practiceY Polygenic risk score analyses on embryos (PGT-P) are being marketed by some private testing companies to parents using in vitro fertilisation as being useful in selecting the embryos that carry the least risk of disease in later life. It appears that at least one child has been born after such a procedure. But the utility of a PRS in this respect is severely limited, and to date, no clinical research has been performed to assess its diagnostic effectiveness in embryos. Patients need to be properly informed on the limitations of this use of PRSs, and a societal debate, focused on what would be considered acceptable with regard to the selection of individual traits, should take place before any further implementation of the technique in this population.
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Identifying Indicators of Healthy Work Environments in Nursing as Determinants of Health in the 21st Century.A paradigm shift is occurring in the definition of health and therefore also in the determinants of health. Social determinants of health, considered by many to be the premises of good health and a purposeful life, are now the focus of attention in determinants of health. These determinants of health bring attention to the conditions in which people are born and live and work. This article proposes that indicators of healthy work environments in nursing can be identified as determinants of health. Study findings from around the world confirm that the health and well-being of nurses and their patients is related to nurses' work and work environments. Therefore, the working lives of nurses should be identified as an inseparable part of their personal lives, leading to consideration of work environments and thereby the quality of nurse's work lives as determinants of health in the 21st century.