Feminism and Marxism (and more) in Contemporary Radical Left Politics: An Unhappy Marriage or a Friendship with Benefits?

In this article I outline some of the debates that historically manifest in that (frequently contentious) space where feminism and socialism, or more specifically feminism and Marxism, inform, influence, and change the co-ordinates of one another. I outline what was identified by feminists in the 1970s and 1980s as the domination of feminism by Marxism, and contemplate the possibility that there has subsequently been something of a separation of these two (apparently cohesive?) ‘bodies’ of thought—not least as the credibility of Marxism, and of the Left more generally, appeared to diminish in an era of emerging neoliberal hegemony. I tentatively suggest Jacques Rancière’s notions of dissensus and of political subjectivity as guides to support a reinvigoration of the contemporary communist-leaning Left and feminism (in the context of an ongoing state of colonisation), in relationship with—and through—one another. &nbsp

"My midwife said that having a glass of red wine was actually better for the baby" : A focus group study of women and their partner's knowledge and experiences relating to alcohol consumption in pregnancy

Background: While it is well established that alcohol can cross the placenta to the foetus and can affect an infant's development, many women continue to drink during pregnancy. For this reason it is important to determine what information is being provided, what information may be missing, and the preferred sources of information on this issue. In order to improve prevention strategies, we sought to understand the knowledge and experiences of pregnant women and their partners regarding the effects of alcohol consumption during pregnancy.\ud \ud Methods: The current study utilised a qualitative study design in order to gain insight into the views and experiences of pregnant women, newly delivered mothers and their partners. Focus groups examined the participant’s knowledge about the effects of alcohol consumption during pregnancy, the sources of information on this issue, and the psycho-social influences on their drinking behaviour. Five focus groups were conducted involving a total of 21 participants (17 female). A six-stage thematic analysis framework was used to analyse all focus group discussions in a systematic way.\ud \ud Results: Seven major themes were identified from the focus group data: 1) knowledge of Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders; 2) message content and sources; 3) healthcare system; 4) society and culture; 5) partner role; 6) evaluation of risk; and 7) motivation. The findings indicated that although the majority of participants knew not to drink alcohol in pregnancy they had limited information on the specific harmful effects. In addition, routine enquiry and the provision of information by health care professionals were seen as lacking.\ud \ud Conclusions: The findings of this research provide important insights in to the relationship between pregnant women, their partners, and their healthcare providers. Several recommendations can be made on the basis of these findings. Firstly, public health messages and educational materials need to provide clear and consistent information about the effects of alcohol consumption on the developing baby. Additionally, more thorough and consistent routine enquiry for alcohol consumption in pregnant women needs to occur. Finally, it is important to ensure ongoing education for health professionals on the issue of alcohol consumption during pregnancy

Adjuvant therapy with antidepressants for the management of inflammatory bowel disease (Protocol)

This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (Intervention). The objectives are as follows: Primary objectives 1. To assess the efficacy and safety of antidepressants for managing anxiety and depression in IBD 2. To assess the efficacy and safety of antidepressants for managing quality of life in IBD Secondary objectives 1. To assess the efficacy and safety of antidepressants for managing disease activity in IB

Sustainability and resilience in midwifery: A discussion paper

Background midwifery workforce issues are of international concern. Sustainable midwifery practice, and how resilience is a required quality for midwives, have begun to be researched. How these concepts are helpful to midwifery continues to be debated. It is important that such debates are framed so they can be empowering for midwives. Care is required not to conceptually label matters concerning the midwifery workforce without judicious scrutiny and diligence. Aim the aim of this discussion paper is to explore the concepts of sustainability and resilience now being suggested in midwifery workforce literature. Whether sustainability and resilience are concepts useful in midwifery workforce development is questioned. Method using published primary midwifery research from United Kingdom and New Zealand the concepts of sustainability and resilience are compared, contrasted and explored. Findings there are obvious differences in models of midwifery care in the United Kingdom and New Zealand. Despite these differences, the concepts of resilience and sustainability emerge as overlapping themes from the respective studies’ findings. Comparison between studies provides evidence of what is crucial in sustaining healthy resilient midwifery practice. Four common themes have been identified that traverse the different models of care; Self-determination, ability to self-care, cultivation of relationships both professionally and with women/families, and a passion, joy and love for midwifery. Conclusions the impact that midwifery models of care may have on sustainable practice and nurturing healthy resilient behaviors remains uncertain. The notion of resilience in midwifery as the panacea to resolve current concerns may need rethinking. Resilience may be interpreted as expecting midwives ‘to toughen up’ in a workplace setting that is socially, economically and culturally challenging. Sustainability calls for examination of the reciprocity between environments of working and the individual midwife. The findings invite further examination of contextual influences that affect the wellbeing of midwives across different models of care

A tale of 3 tracers : contrasting uptake patterns of 18F-fluciclovine, 68Ga-PSMA, and 18F-FDG in the uterus and adnexa

A 41-year-old woman with newly diagnosed invasive lobular carcinoma of the breast underwent sequential 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT and 18F-fluciclovine PET/CT as part of an ongoing clinical trial (NCT04750473). 68Ga-PSMA PET/CT showed increased radiotracer uptake in the uterine endometrium and left adnexa. 18F-fluciclovine PET/CT showed increased radiotracer uptake in an enlarged uterus in a known uterine leiomyoma. A clinical 18F-FDG PET/CT demonstrated radiotracer uptake in the endometrium and a circumferential area of uptake in the left adnexa, a pattern more similar to the 68Ga-PSMA uptake pattern. This case highlights the discordance in the uptake pattern of two radiotracers in different benign gynecological conditions. While these tracers are approved for prostate cancer imaging, they are increasingly being used in other malignancies.http://journals.lww.com/nuclearmed/pages/default.aspxhj2023Nuclear Medicin

Tending for Necessity: Reclaiming feminism on the left

In light of the feminist response to the presidential victory of Donald Trump, this piece draws upon the work of critical left thinkers such as Alain Badiou, Nancy Fraser and Fredric Jameson in order to advocate a future for feminism that is based on the radical left. Taking inspiration from Fredric Jameson’s suggestion that History is marked by “the collective struggle to wrest a realm of Freedom from a realm of Necessity” this piece argues for a feminism that does not individualise or commodify people’s relationships with Necessity, but that has as one if its central tenets a collective caring and tending for those inescapable aspects of living. This does not require a move away from contemporary feminist concerns for signification and language. How Necessity is brought (if only partially) into signification and collectively tended for, now constitute vital points of discussion in a left politics that feminists have little choice but to engage with

Going with and against the flow : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy (by thesis only) in Sociology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand

In the act of breastfeeding their children beyond the age of two years women aspire to ideals for the future of the next generation. They seek physical health, emotional wellbeing, freedom of speech and human connection for their children. Yet the road is not clear for the realisation of such aspirations, and women develop various ways of managing the challenges they encounter on their breastfeeding journeys. In the face of social stigma about nursing a child beyond toddlerhood many women do not disclose their breastfeeding to others. Some encounter difficulties in the breastfeeding practice itself and an absence of places in which to talk openly about those challenges. I draw Julia Kristeva’s notion of abjection into Jameson’s dialectic of ideology and utopia in order to develop an interpretative methodology for reading women’s words about sustained breastfeeding. This enables manifestations of stigma and maternal guilt to be situated within an historical and social context. It also facilitates a particular way of understanding how women attempt to shift -to sublimate,in psychoanalytical terms-the tensions they encounter in the context of breastfeeding, into more manageable spaces. Such sublimatory practices include ways of talking and writing that hold the potential for influencing social change

Action Potentials and Waves: A Short Story on Electrophysiological Signal Processing

Electrophysiological signal processing is a broad, complex and growing field. Universally, the first steps of any signal analysis are detection and classification. Here we present a flexible matched filter designed to detect spikes from various biological data types, as well as two statistically based approaches for spike classification. We then apply these developed tools to study the effects of deep anesthesia on neuronal network dynamics. The matched filter was implemented for three different applications: detecting action potentials (APs) from multi-sensor extracellular recordings, detecting depolarization events (DEs) from voltage sensitive dye (VSD) imaged cardiomyocytes, and detecting calcium events (CEs) from calcium imaged neuronal somas as well as dendritic spines. Overall, the presented matched filters could accurately detect spikes from various kinds of biological data, often beating other existing methods, and outperforming manual spike selection. The classification problems explored here include AP (or spike) sorting, as well as DE classification across different drug administrations. In the case of spike sorting, the MUSIC algorithm was used to extract classification features from multi-sensor extracellular AP recordings. This approach was able to reliably classify tetrode (4 channel) and heptode (7 channel) recorded APs. For DE classification, salient DE features were extracted and then compared across drug treatments using a Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. The drug treated cells were consistently statistically distinguishable from controls. Overall, both methods’ success makes them valuable tools for studying neuronal networks as well as cardiomyocyte drug assays, respectively. Finally, the matched filter for AP detection as well as the MUSIC-based AP classification scheme were applied to in vivo heptode data collected from M1 of the right hemisphere of anesthetized rats, to assess the effects of increasing anesthesia on neuronal network dynamics during a burst suppression state. We found that higher anesthesia led to higher AP frequency, no change in the number of active single units, and increased cross-hemisphere functional connectivity (as measured by simultaneous ECoG recordings). Additionally, all APs were restricted to ECoG bursts, with no APs occurring during suppressed ECoG states. This work provides valuable insights for the study of neuronal network dynamics as well as coma arousal

Midwives' knowledge of haemoglobinopathies

This paper addresses the educational implications of a study of midwives and senior student midwives knowledge of haemoglobinopathies. Knowledge was assessed from 850 multiple choice questionnaires. Respondents who had received training on the haemoglobinopathies scored significantly higher, especially on the genetics questions. Training from a haemoglobinopathies counsellor appeared most effective in raising knowledge levels in clinically relevant areas. Many midwives, however, had received no relevant education or found what they had received to be inadequate. Higher levels of haemoglobinopathy awareness were found in midwives who had received a theoretical education relatively recently and had this reinforced by clinical practice. In order to provide women centred care for all ethnic groups education around haemoglobinopathies needs to be prioritised especially for qualified midwives. This need must be addressed in ways most appropriate for the midwives concerned and using the specialist knowledge of those whose teaching is most effective.Faculty of Health and Community Studies, De Montfort Universit