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The profound advances in the biomolecular sciences over the last decades have enabled similar advances in biomedicine. These advances have increasingly challenged our abilities to deploy them in an equitable and ethically acceptable manner. As such, it has become necessary and important to teach biomedical and scientific ethics to our students who will become the researchers, medical professionals, and global citizens of the future. As advances in the biosciences and medicine are made, developed, and used across the globe, our survival on an endangered planet requires global dialog and consensual action. To that end, a group of us from around the world have come together to describe the differing foundations of our ethical beliefs, and how ethical issues in biomedicine and in science are described and confronted in our countries. We hope to show the commonality in our beliefs and practices and to encourage readers from around the world to contribute to a continuing discussion through a new section of the journal, The Global Ethics Corner.

Very little is known about the newest New Yorkers of Chinese heritage, the largest and fastest growing immigrant group in the city. This article compares measures of the health of immigrants to New York from Mainland China to the health of other New Yorkers of Asian heritage along with all other New Yorkers. We did so using the 1,999 subjects in the 2004 New York Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, controlling for age and gender. We found that New Yorkers born in Mainland China have a lower body mass index, a smaller waist circumference, a more sexually conservative lifestyle, highly favorable high-density lipoprotein profiles, and lower rates of herpes II infection. However, they also have higher blood levels of lead, cadmium, and mercury than either reference group. This article provides the first study of the health needs of New York's largest and most rapidly growing immigrant group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN ABOUT THIS SUBJECT Observations from clinical studies have demonstrated that: • CYP2C19 genotype does not have a clinically relevant effect on active metabolite concentrations or platelet inhibition in prasugrel-treated subjects. • Variability of response to clopidogrel is related to the presence of reduced function CYP2C19 alleles. • Lower concentrations of clopidogrel active metabolite and reduced platelet inhibition lead to increased adverse cardiovascular events in patients with acute coronary syndromes. WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS • Observations from previous studies related to the effect of CYP2C19 genotype on plasma drug exposure and platelet response to prasugrel and clopidogrel are confirmed in this prospectively-stratified, randomized, crossover, genetic study in healthy Chinese subjects. • In this study, healthy subjects receiving prasugrel had higher exposure to its active metabolite and greater pharmacodynamic responses (inhibition of platelet aggregation) compared with clopidogrel treated subjects, regardless of CYP2C19-predicted phenotype group. • The exposure to the active metabolite of clopidogrel was lower in CYP2C19 IM compared with RM, and in CYP2C19 PM compared with IM. The inhibition of platelet aggregation was lowest in clopidogrel treated CYP2C19 PM subjects. AIMS This open-label, two-period, randomized, crossover study was designed to determine the effect of CYP2C19 reduced function variants on exposure to active metabolites of, and platelet response to, prasugrel and clopidogrel. METHODS Ninety healthy Chinese subjects, stratified by CYP2C19 phenotype, were randomly assigned to treatment with prasugrel 10 mg or clopidogrel 75 mg for 10 days followed by 14 day washout and 10 day treatment with the other drug. Eighty-three subjects completed both treatment periods. Blood samples were collected at specified time points for measurement of each drug's active metabolite (Pras-AM and Clop-AM) concentrations and determination of inhibition of platelet aggregation (IPA) by light transmittance aggregometry. CYP2C19 genotypes were classified into three predicted phenotype groups: rapid metabolizers [RMs (*1/*1)], heterozygous or intermediate metabolizers [IMs (*1/*2, *1/*3)] and poor metabolizers [PMs (*2/*2, *2/*3)]. RESULTS Pras-AM exposure was similar in IMs and RMs (90% CI 0.85, 1.03) and slightly lower in PMs than IMs (90% CI 0.74, 0.99), whereas Clop-AM exposure was significantly lower in IMs compared with RMs (90% CI 0.62, 0.83), and in PMs compared with IMs (90% CI 0.53, 0.82). IPA was more consistent among RMs, IMs and PMs in prasugrel treated subjects (80.2%, 84.2% and 80.2%, respectively) than in clopidogrel treated subjects (59.7%, 56.2% and 36.8%, respectively; P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS Prasugrel demonstrated higher active metabolite exposure and more consistent pharmacodynamic response across all three predicted phenotype groups compared with clopidogrel, confirming observations from previous research that CYP2C19 phenotype plays an important role in variability of response to clopidogrel, but has no impact on response to prasugrel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the innovative and reciprocal science exchange program between the U.S. and China. It notes on the Summer Science Research Exchange Program (SSREP) of College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University (CSB/SJU) science students with the Southwest University (SWU) in China to conduct science research under the direction of a faculty member from SWU and with the help of its graduate students. The benefit of this program represents new innovative ways to give science majors to study abroad and develop closer relationships among the participating institutions.