Friendship and Formations of Sociality in Late Modernity: the Challenge of 'Post Traditional Intimacy'

Starting from the vantage point of a 'relational ontology' this paper explores the complex relationship networks of people who are single or are not living with a sexual partner. The ways in which people make sense of the boundaries of their connections is analysed. It is argued that the meaning of individual social bonds emerge relationally and that by asking why and how friendship matters to people, we begin to see what other kinds of interpersonal relationships also mean and why they matter. This lends insights into the ways relational networks operate within conditions of detraditionalisation and the emergence of non-linear life courses. In particular consideration is given to both the epistemic and ethical dimension through which friendship operate in daily life.Friendship, Intimacy, Individualisation, Personal Relationships, Families of Choice, Ethics of Friendship

References to Gendered Grief in Children\u27s Media: A Content Analysis of Grief Picture Books

Gender stereotypes, gender roles and the underrepresentation of women permeate modern American culture. These forms of sexism limit the socially acceptable ways that children are able to express difficult emotion as they move through the grief process. This study focuses on these forms of sexism as they influence the creation and continuation of gendered grief by coding seventeen children’s grief picture books. Findings support the hypotheses that, not only are gender stereotypes, roles and the underrepresentation of both men and women present in grief picture books, but that they contribute to gendered grief. Suggestions for future research include a larger sample size and in-depth looks at specific contributors to gendered grief

The “Problem” With Single Women: Choice, Accountability and Social Change

Despite increased acknowledgement of gender equality as a social good, there are some areas where the practice of women’s autonomy is apparently inconsistent with the normative prescriptions of a new ‘empowered’ form of femininity. Sexuality and personal relationship status are sites where women are positioned within neo-liberal and post-feminist discourse in such a way that their choices are subject to questioning. A model of gender hegemony is useful for understanding how and why choosing to be single may still constitute a ‘problem’ for women, despite the intensification of messages which also address women as autonomous, sexualized subjects. In cultures dominated by an ideology of marriage and family life, single women’s identity work resolves contradictions in the current gender order and in the process reinstates heteronormativity.</jats:p

Induction of productive human papillomavirus type 11 life cycle in epithelial cells grown in organotypic raft cultures

AbstractThe study of the human papillomavirus (HPV) life cycle was hampered for more than 50 years by the lack of a conventional cell culture system for propagating HPV. Considerable progress has been made in the production of several HPV types using either organotypic rafts or human epithelial xenografts in immunocompromised mice. In this study, we demonstrated episomal maintenance of HPV-11 DNA in N-Tert cells. HPV-11 episomal DNA containing cell populations grown in raft culture showed induction of the productive viral life cycle. HPV-11 DNA amplification and viral capsid antigen synthesis were detected in differentiated layers of epithelia. The viruses generated were able to infect keratinocytes in vitro, which indicate that viruses generated were infectious. The demonstration of the productive HPV-11 life cycle in raft culture from cloned HPV-11 DNA will facilitate genetic analyses of viral gene functions that was not possible using the human xenograft athymic mouse model

Individualised Femininity and Feminist Politics of Choice

Women’s right to exercise choice has been one of feminism’s central political claims. Where second wave feminism focused on the constraints women faced in making free choices, choice feminism more recently reorients feminist politics with a call for recognition of the choices women are actually making. From this perspective the role of feminism is to validate women’s choices without passing judgement. This article analyses this shift in orientation by locating women’s choices within a late modern gender order in which the ideal of choice has increasingly been associated with a new form of femininity characterized as self-determining, individuated and ‘empowered’. Instead of offering an effective analysis of the changing social conditions within which the relationship between feminism, femininity and individual choice has become increasingly complicated, choice feminism directs criticism at feminist perspectives characterized as overly prescriptive. This critique fails to appreciate how feminist ideals have been recuperated in the service of late capitalism and neoliberal forms of governance. By failing to engage critically with processes currently impacting on the social organization of gender choice feminism aids in the constitution of an individuated neoliberal feminist subject which performs cultural work vital to the reproduction of neoliberal governmentality.</jats:p

“Before I race I get my eyeliner straight and do my hair:” postfeminism and Victoria Pendleton

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Low-Dose Colchicine for Secondary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease

ObjectivesThe objective of this study was to determine whether colchicine 0.5 mg/day can reduce the risk of cardiovascular events in patients with clinically stable coronary disease.BackgroundThe presence of activated neutrophils in culprit atherosclerotic plaques of patients with unstable coronary disease raises the possibility that inhibition of neutrophil function with colchicine may reduce the risk of plaque instability and thereby improve clinical outcomes in patients with stable coronary disease.MethodsIn a clinical trial with a prospective, randomized, observer-blinded endpoint design, 532 patients with stable coronary disease receiving aspirin and/or clopidogrel (93%) and statins (95%) were randomly assigned colchicine 0.5 mg/day or no colchicine and followed for a median of 3 years. The primary outcome was the composite incidence of acute coronary syndrome, out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, or noncardioembolic ischemic stroke. The primary analysis was by intention-to-treat.ResultsThe primary outcome occurred in 15 of 282 patients (5.3%) who received colchicine and 40 of 250 patients (16.0%) assigned no colchicine (hazard ratio: 0.33; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.18 to 0.59; p < 0.001; number needed to treat: 11). In a pre-specified secondary on-treatment analysis that excluded 32 patients (11%) assigned to colchicine who withdrew within 30 days due to intestinal intolerance and a further 7 patients (2%) who did not start treatment, the primary outcome occurred in 4.5% versus 16.0% (hazard ratio: 0.29; 95% CI: 0.15 to 0.56; p < 0.001).ConclusionsColchicine 0.5 mg/day administered in addition to statins and other standard secondary prevention therapies appeared effective for the prevention of cardiovascular events in patients with stable coronary disease

The personal is political:assessing feminist fundamentals in the digital age

The &lsquo;personal is political&rsquo; has long been recognised as the definitive slogan of second-wave feminism but can it still inform our understanding of the contemporary practice of feminism? Questioning the importance of this claim now invites us to critically reflect upon the trajectory Western feminism has followed in light of the efforts made by the Women&rsquo;s Liberation movement to politicise formerly unquestioned aspects of social relations. In this paper, the significance of this feminist slogan will be assessed by locating it within two broadly defined historical periods. Firstly we identify the critical work performed by the ideas expressed in the slogan in the early years of the 1970s and then assess their continued relevance within the context of the early 21st century. Drawing upon the empirical analysis of young women&rsquo;s experience of and relationship to feminism via their engagement with social media in Britain, this research critically assesses digital spaces as places where young women explore their personal experiences. We aim to understand how this may constitute a contemporary form of feminist practice consistent with the claim that &lsquo;the personal is political&rsquo;

Suppression of human papillomavirus gene expression in vitro and in vivo by herpes simplex virus type 2 infection

AbstractRecent epidemiological studies have found that women infected with both herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) and human papillomavirus (HPV) type 16 or HPV-18 are at greater risk of developing cervical carcinoma compared to women infected with only one virus. However, it remains unclear if HSV-2 is a cofactor for cervical cancer or if HPV and HSV-2 interact in any way. We have studied the effect of HSV-2 infection on HPV-11 gene expression in an in vitro double-infection assay. HPV transcripts were down-regulated in response to HSV-2 infection. Two HSV-2 vhs mutants failed to reduce HPV-16 E1^E4 transcripts. We also studied the effect of HSV-2 infection on preexisting experimental papillomas in a vaginal epithelial xenograft model. Doubly infected grafts demonstrated papillomatous transformation and the classical cytopathic effect from HSV-2 infection. HPV and HSV DNA signals were mutually exclusive. These studies may have therapeutic applications for HPV infections and related neoplasms