A Asghari

Blood is a public resource of human origin and its transfusion process is essential to individual and public health. This study aimed to develop a national code of ethics for blood donation and transfusion. This was a qualitative research with a multi methods approach in which a combination of methods including situational analysis, focus group discussion and expert panels were used. After situational analysis and orientation, the code of ethics for BDT was developed based on the findings of a content analysis within the framework of the four principles of biomedical ethics. The results were categorized into two sections: situational analysis and underpinnings measures, and the clauses of the code. The Iranian Blood Transfusion Organization has carried out three essential supportive measures over the past decades: approval of insurance coverage of blood recipients against communicable diseases; inclusion of 14 blood services in the book of “Relative Value Units of Health Services”; and formation of the National Ethics Committee of Transfusion Medicine. After recognition and orientation, the national code of ethics for BDT was adopted and imparted to blood donation centers. The code consists of two sections: “Blood Transfusion Centers: Donors and Donation” in 19 clauses, and “Hospitals: Patients” in 8 clauses. The national code of ethics for BDT establishes moral norms in order to protect the rights of blood donors and recipients. It could also serve as a basis for addressing the related ethical challenges and right decision-making in the area of BDT.

This paper proposes a reading of the history of equivalence in mathematics. The paper has two main parts. The first part focuses on a relatively short historical period when the notion of equivalence is about to be decontextualized, but yet, has no commonly agreed-upon name. The method for this part is rather straightforward: following the clues left by the others for the ‘first’ modern use of equivalence. The second part focuses on a relatively long historical period when equivalence is experienced in context. The method for this part is to strip the ideas from their set-theoretic formulations and methodically examine the variations in the ways equivalence appears in some prominent historical texts. The paper reveals several critical differences in the conceptions of equivalence at different points in history that are at variance with the standard account of the mathematical notion of equivalence encompassing the concepts of equivalence relation and equivalence class.