Rape and respectability: ideas about sexual violence and social class

Women on low incomes are disproportionately represented among sexual violence survivors, yet feminist research on this topic has paid very little attention to social class. This article blends recent research on class, gender and sexuality with what we know about sexual violence. It is argued that there is a need to engage with classed distinctions between women in terms of contexts for and experiences of sexual violence, and to look at interactions between pejorative constructions of working-class sexualities and how complainants and defendants are perceived and treated. The classed division between the sexual and the feminine, drawn via the notion of respectability, is applied to these issues. This piece is intended to catalyse further research and debate, and raises a number of questions for future work on sexual violence and social class

Gender, war and militarism: making and questioning the links

The gender dynamics of militarism have traditionally been seen as straightforward, given the cultural mythologies of warfare and the disciplining of ‘masculinity’ that occurs in the training and use of men's capacity for violence in the armed services. However, women's relation to both war and peace has been varied and complex. It is women who have often been most prominent in working for peace, although there are no necessary links between women and opposition to militarism. In addition, more women than ever are serving in many of today's armies, with feminists rather uncertain on how to relate to this phenomenon. In this article, I explore some of the complexities of applying gender analyses to militarism and peace work in sites of conflict today, looking most closely at the Israeli feminist group, New Profile, and their insistence upon the costs of the militarized nature of Israeli society. They expose the very permeable boundaries between the military and civil society, as violence seeps into the fears and practices of everyday life in Israel. I place their work in the context of broader feminist analysis offered by researchers such as Cynthia Enloe and Cynthia Cockburn, who have for decades been writing about the ‘masculinist’ postures and practices of warfare, as well as the situation of women caught up in them. Finally, I suggest that rethinking the gendered nature of warfare must also encompass the costs of war to men, whose fundamental vulnerability to psychological abuse and physical injury is often downplayed, whether in mainstream accounts of warfare or in more specific gender analysis. Feminists need to pay careful attention to masculinity and its fragmentations in addressing the topic of gender, war and militarism

HLA-A*32:01 is strongly associated with vancomycin-induced drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms

Background Vancomycin is a prevalent cause of the severe hypersensitivity syndrome drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS) which leads to significant morbidity and mortality and commonly occurs in the setting of combination antibiotic therapy which impacts future treatment choices. Variations in human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I in particular have been associated with serious T-cell mediated adverse drug reactions which has led to preventive screening strategies for some drugs. Objective To determine if variation in the HLA region is associated with vancomycin-induced DRESS. Methods Probable vancomycin DRESS cases were matched 1:2 with tolerant controls based on sex, race, and age using BioVU, Vanderbilt’s deidentified electronic health record database. Associations between DRESS and carriage of HLA class I and II alleles were assessed by conditional logistic regression. An extended sample set from BioVU was utilized to conduct a time-to-event analysis of those exposed to vancomycin with and without the identified HLA risk allele. Results Twenty-three individuals met inclusion criteria for vancomycin-associated DRESS. 19/23 (82.6%) cases carried HLA-A*32:01 compared to 0/46 (0%) of the matched vancomycin tolerant controls (p=1x10-8) and 6.3% of the BioVU population (n=54,249) (p=2x10-16). Time-to-event analysis of DRESS development during vancomycin treatment among the HLA-A*32:01 positive group indicated that 19.2% developed DRESS and did so within four weeks. Conclusions HLA-A*32:01 is strongly associated with vancomycin DRESS in a population of predominantly European ancestry. HLA-A*32:01 testing could improve antibiotic safety, help implicate vancomycin as the causal drug and preserve future treatment options with co-administered antibiotics

Physical Processes in Star Formation

© 2020 Springer-Verlag. The final publication is available at Springer via https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-020-00693-8.Star formation is a complex multi-scale phenomenon that is of significant importance for astrophysics in general. Stars and star formation are key pillars in observational astronomy from local star forming regions in the Milky Way up to high-redshift galaxies. From a theoretical perspective, star formation and feedback processes (radiation, winds, and supernovae) play a pivotal role in advancing our understanding of the physical processes at work, both individually and of their interactions. In this review we will give an overview of the main processes that are important for the understanding of star formation. We start with an observationally motivated view on star formation from a global perspective and outline the general paradigm of the life-cycle of molecular clouds, in which star formation is the key process to close the cycle. After that we focus on the thermal and chemical aspects in star forming regions, discuss turbulence and magnetic fields as well as gravitational forces. Finally, we review the most important stellar feedback mechanisms.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Convalescent plasma in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised controlled, open-label, platform trial

Background: Many patients with COVID-19 have been treated with plasma containing anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. We aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of convalescent plasma therapy in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19. Methods: This randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy [RECOVERY]) is assessing several possible treatments in patients hospitalised with COVID-19 in the UK. The trial is underway at 177 NHS hospitals from across the UK. Eligible and consenting patients were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive either usual care alone (usual care group) or usual care plus high-titre convalescent plasma (convalescent plasma group). The primary outcome was 28-day mortality, analysed on an intention-to-treat basis. The trial is registered with ISRCTN, 50189673, and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04381936. Findings: Between May 28, 2020, and Jan 15, 2021, 11558 (71%) of 16287 patients enrolled in RECOVERY were eligible to receive convalescent plasma and were assigned to either the convalescent plasma group or the usual care group. There was no significant difference in 28-day mortality between the two groups: 1399 (24%) of 5795 patients in the convalescent plasma group and 1408 (24%) of 5763 patients in the usual care group died within 28 days (rate ratio 1·00, 95% CI 0·93–1·07; p=0·95). The 28-day mortality rate ratio was similar in all prespecified subgroups of patients, including in those patients without detectable SARS-CoV-2 antibodies at randomisation. Allocation to convalescent plasma had no significant effect on the proportion of patients discharged from hospital within 28 days (3832 [66%] patients in the convalescent plasma group vs 3822 [66%] patients in the usual care group; rate ratio 0·99, 95% CI 0·94–1·03; p=0·57). Among those not on invasive mechanical ventilation at randomisation, there was no significant difference in the proportion of patients meeting the composite endpoint of progression to invasive mechanical ventilation or death (1568 [29%] of 5493 patients in the convalescent plasma group vs 1568 [29%] of 5448 patients in the usual care group; rate ratio 0·99, 95% CI 0·93–1·05; p=0·79). Interpretation: In patients hospitalised with COVID-19, high-titre convalescent plasma did not improve survival or other prespecified clinical outcomes. Funding: UK Research and Innovation (Medical Research Council) and National Institute of Health Research

Dimethyl fumarate in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial

Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) inhibits inflammasome-mediated inflammation and has been proposed as a treatment for patients hospitalised with COVID-19. This randomised, controlled, open-label platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy [RECOVERY]), is assessing multiple treatments in patients hospitalised for COVID-19 (NCT04381936, ISRCTN50189673). In this assessment of DMF performed at 27 UK hospitals, adults were randomly allocated (1:1) to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus DMF. The primary outcome was clinical status on day 5 measured on a seven-point ordinal scale. Secondary outcomes were time to sustained improvement in clinical status, time to discharge, day 5 peripheral blood oxygenation, day 5 C-reactive protein, and improvement in day 10 clinical status. Between 2 March 2021 and 18 November 2021, 713 patients were enroled in the DMF evaluation, of whom 356 were randomly allocated to receive usual care plus DMF, and 357 to usual care alone. 95% of patients received corticosteroids as part of routine care. There was no evidence of a beneficial effect of DMF on clinical status at day 5 (common odds ratio of unfavourable outcome 1.12; 95% CI 0.86-1.47; p = 0.40). There was no significant effect of DMF on any secondary outcome

Fluvial geomorphology and paleofloods in arid central Australia

This thesis examines the fluvial geomorphology of the Todd River(9,300 km2) in arid central Australia. It describes the morphology, motphostratigraphy, dimentary characteristics and chronology of the modern flood plain and paleoflood complexes, and discusses the geomorphic effects of high magnitude floods and the subsequent recovery and adjustment of the river. The Todd River has two kinds of flood plains: confined and relatively unconfined. Both have a complex morphostratigraphy which reflects the variable discharge regime of this semi-arid to arid,summer rainfall region. The flood plains are episodicallv eroded and reconstructed during flood events and both processes may occur in different parts of the system during a single event. The principal mechanisms of flood plain destruction are channel widening, flood plain stripping, swirl pit,flood and back channel scour. The principal mechanisms of flood plain construction are the deposition of insets, flood plain veneer, channel and whirl pit fill, channel abandonment and the formation of simple or compound bars which can become islands. Channels in the relatively unconfined reaches tend to shift position by avulsion; channels in confined reaches change width and migrate laterally. The flood plains have stepped surface morphologies with prominent flood channels on their surfaces and back channels often occur between surface elements at different elevations. Swirl pits develop around large River Red Gums (Eucalypcus camadulensis). The principal morphostratigraphic units include surface and back channel fills, channel and flood plain insets, surface and buried pa1eoflood and flood plain remnants, veneer and swirl pit fill. Morphostratigraphic models of confined and relatively unconfined flood plains are presented. The mud, sand and gravel Flood plain sediments frequently ate not deposited in simple fining upward sequences, as coarse sediments are transported across flood plains during floods. Buried erosion surfaces are common within flood plain deposits. Rippled bar-top and dipping bar face sand and gravel, flood couplets, sand sheets mud drapes, and mud balls are typical sedimentary structures. Dating by radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence shows that sediment is stored in the active flood plain for only a few hundred years before being transported and redeposited. Reaches of temporary sediment storage sometimes are subject to extreme cha11nel widening, often located upstream of bedrock constrictions or clown-stream of tributaries, or where the channel boundary is composed of erodable paleoflood sediments. Paleofloods greater than observed historical floods flowed from gorges through the MacDonnell Ranges as sheet floods depositing transverse bar fields, at H.l channels flowed across fans forming braided 12 km splays that include large longitudinal bars. Flows were diverted around bedrock ridges forming erosional moats, macroturbulent scour trains and 4-8 km wide, braided expansion bars with marginal channels,downstream from constrictions, high longitudinal dunes were eroded and the most northerly region of the Simpson Desert dune field remains as streamlined remnants. Slack water sediments were deposited in caves,tributary mouths and back water sediments were deposited in the longitudinal dune swales. Paleoflood deposits are widespread owing to repeated channel avulsion and inundate a larger area than if channels had remained fixed. The terminal floodout of the catchment has been repositioned at least twice. Dating indicates that the highest magnitude flows occurred between 14,000 and 4,000 Ill' decreasing in magnitude since the mid Holocene. The dating of paleoflood sediments by optically stimulated luminescence and radiocarbon has extended the paleoflood record of central Australia back to 27 but there is no indication of large scale flooding during the last major arid phase 24,000 to 150 000 BP,and floods have occurred randomly Since -14,000 BP. Some paleofloods may be coeval with events in northern Australia but dating is not sufficiently precise to prove this. The adjustment and recovery of the Todd River to the most recent paleofloods is ongoing today and the recovery time appears to exceed the paleoflood recurrence interval

Tools for Genetic Studies in Experimental Populations of Polyploids

Polyploid organisms carry more than two copies of each chromosome, a condition rarely tolerated in animals but which occurs relatively frequently in the plant kingdom. One of the principal challenges faced by polyploid organisms is to evolve stable meiotic mechanisms to faithfully transmit genetic information to the next generation upon which the study of inheritance is based. In this review we look at the tools available to the research community to better understand polyploid inheritance, many of which have only recently been developed. Most of these tools are intended for experimental populations (rather than natural populations), facilitating genomics-assisted crop improvement and plant breeding. This is hardly surprising given that a large proportion of domesticatedplant species are polyploid. We focus on three main areas: (1) polyploid genotyping; (2) genetic and physical mapping; and (3) quantitative trait analysis and genomic selection. We also briefly review some miscellaneous topics such as the mode of inheritance and the availability of polyploid simulation software. The current polyploid analytic toolbox includes software for assigning marker genotypes (and in particular, estimating the dosage of marker alleles in the heterozygous condition), establishing chromosome-scale linkage phase among marker alleles, constructing (short-range) haplotypes, generating linkage maps, performing genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and quantitative trait locus (QTL) analyses, and simulating polyploid populations. These tools can alsohelp elucidate the mode of inheritance (disomic, polysomic or a mixture of bothas in segmental allopolyploids) or reveal whether double reduction and multivalent chromosomal pairing occur. An increasing number of polyploids (or associated diploids) are being sequenced, leading to publicly available reference genome assemblies. Much work remains in order to keep pace with developments in genomic technologies. However, such technologies also offer the promise of understanding polyploid genomes at a level which hitherto has remained elusive