News coverage of foreign sex workers in Malaysia: a critical analysis

The growing concern over the influx of foreign women in Malaysia as sex workers, has continually gained the attention of the local media particularly the mainstream newspapers. The media, despite playing an instrumental role in bringing about social transformation, has the ability to portray the foreign women in a positive way or to discriminate against them. This study, based on qualitative analysis, represents an attempt to study a social problem particularly in the way that foreign women in sex work have been represented in Malaysia by the mainstream English-language newspapers. The analytical tools of the discourse-historical approach (DHA) are employed in the analysis of the news articles. In particular, the argumentation strategy in the DHA demonstrates that a number of topoi (i.e., the topoi of control, number, threat, and victimisation) have been employed to represent foreign sex workers in the media. Investigation of the newspaper extracts from New Straits Times and The Star generally revealed that the media have portrayed foreign women in sex work in the offender orientation frame more so than as victims. Furthermore, foreign sex workers are also positioned negatively because of their illegal migrant status, making them doubly discriminated against. Such representations directly impact the women’s lives, leading to further discrimination on the basis of their trade and illegal migrant status, denying them a voice and depriving them of their legal rights. The paper concludes by discussing the contributions of the research and emphasises the need for social justice for these marginalised women

The prevalence and frequency of menstrual cycle symptoms are associated with women’s availability to train and compete: A study of 6,812 exercising women recruited using the STRAVA™ exercise app

Objectives: The menstrual cycle can affect sports participation and exercise performance. There are very few data on the specific menstrual cycle symptoms (symptoms during various phases of the cycle, not only during menstruation) experienced by exercising women. We aimed to characterise the most common symptoms; the number and frequency of symptoms; and we evaluated whether menstrual cycle symptoms were associated with sporting outcomes. Methods: 6,812 adult women of reproductive age (mean age: 38.3 (8.7) years) who were not using combined hormonal contraception were recruited via the STRAVA exercise app user database and completed a 39-part survey. Respondents were from seven geographical areas, and questions were translated and localised to each region (Brazil, n=1,288; France, n=1,911; Germany, n=1,178; Spain, n=1,204; UK & Ireland, n=2,311; and USA, n=2,479). The survey captured exercise behaviours; current menstrual status; the presence and frequency of menstrual cycle symptoms; medication use for symptoms; perceived effects of the menstrual cycle on exercise and work behaviours; and history of hormonal contraception use. We propose a novel Menstrual Symptom index (MSi) based on the presence and frequency of 18 commonly reported symptoms (range 0-54 where 54 would be all 18 symptoms each occurring very frequently). Results: The most prevalent menstrual cycle symptoms were mood changes/anxiety (90.6%), tiredness/fatigue (86.2%), stomach cramps (84.2%), and breast pain/tenderness (83.1%). After controlling for BMI, training volume and age, the Menstrual Symptom Index was associated with a greater likelihood of missing or changing training (OR= 1.09 (CI: 1.08,1.10); p<0.05), missing a sporting event/competition (OR= 1.07 (CI: 1.06,1.08); p=<0.05), absenteeism from work/academia (OR= 1.08 (CI: 1.07,1.09); p=<0.05), and use of pain medication (OR= 1.09 (CI: 1.08,1.09); p=<0.05). Conclusion: Menstrual cycle symptoms are very common in exercising women and women report that these symptoms compromise their exercise participation and work capacity. The Menstrual Symptom Index needs to be formally validated (psychometrics); at present it provides an easy way to quantify the frequency of menstrual cycle symptoms

A Review On Automatic Text Summarization Approaches

It has been more than 50 years since the initial investigation on automatic text summarization was started.Various techniques have been successfully used to extract the important contents from text document to represent document summary.In this study,we review some of the studies that have been conducted in this still-developing research area.It covers the basics of text summarization,the types of summarization,the methods that have been used and some areas in which text summarization has been applied.Furthermore,this paper also reviews the significant efforts which have been put in studies concerning sentence extraction,domain specific summarization and multi document summarization and provides the theoretical explanation and the fundamental concepts related to it.In addition,the advantages and limitations concerning the approaches commonly used for text summarization are also highlighted in this study

IL28B genetic variants and gender are associated with spontaneous clearance of hepatitis C virus infection

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/90125/1/j.1365-2893.2011.01497.x.pd

A model to predict cardiovascular events in patients with newly diagnosed Wegener's granulomatosis and microscopic polyangiitis

Objective To create a prognostic tool to quantify the 5-year cardiovascular (CV) risk in patients with newly diagnosed Wegener's granulomatosis (WG) and microscopic polyangiitis (MPA) without premorbid CV disease. Methods We reviewed CV outcomes during the long-term followup of patients in the first 4 European Vasculitis Study Group (EUVAS) trials of WG and MPA. CV events were defined as CV death, stroke, myocardial infarction, coronary artery bypass graft, or percutaneous coronary intervention. Logistic regression was performed to create a model to predict the absolute risk of a CV event. The model was tested using the Wegener's Granulomatosis Etanercept Trial (WGET) cohort. Results Seventy-four (13.8%) of 535 patients with 5 years of followup from the EUVAS trials had at least 1 CV event: 33 (11.7%) of 281 WG versus 41 (16.1%) of 254 MPA. The independent determinants of CV outcomes were older age (odds ratio [OR] 1.45, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 1.11–1.90), diastolic hypertension (OR 1.97, 95% CI 0.98–3.95), and positive proteinase 3 (PR3) antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) status (OR 0.39, 95% CI 0.20–0.74). The model was validated using the WGET cohort (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.80). Conclusion Within 5 years of diagnosis of WG or MPA, 14% of patients will have a CV event. We have constructed and validated a tool to quantify the risk of a CV event based on age, diastolic hypertension, and PR3 ANCA status in patients without prior CV disease. In patients with vasculitis, PR3 ANCA is associated with a reduced CV risk compared to myeloperoxidase ANCA or negative ANCA status.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/83751/1/20433_ftp.pd

Comparative analysis of the lambda-interferons IL-28A and IL-29 regarding their transcriptome and their antiviral properties against hepatitis C virus.

Specific differences in signaling and antiviral properties between the different Lambda-interferons, a novel group of interferons composed of IL-28A, IL-28B and IL-29, are currently unknown. This is the first study comparatively investigating the transcriptome and the antiviral properties of the Lambda-interferons IL-28A and IL-29. Expression studies were performed by microarray analysis, quantitative PCR (qPCR), reporter gene assays and immunoluminometric assays. Signaling was analyzed by Western blot. HCV replication was measured in Huh-7 cells expressing subgenomic HCV replicon. All hepatic cell lines investigated as well as primary hepatocytes expressed both IFN-λ receptor subunits IL-10R2 and IFN-λR1. Both, IL-28A and IL-29 activated STAT1 signaling. As revealed by microarray analysis, similar genes were induced by both cytokines in Huh-7 cells (IL-28A: 117 genes; IL-29: 111 genes), many of them playing a role in antiviral immunity. However, only IL-28A was able to significantly down-regulate gene expression (n = 272 down-regulated genes). Both cytokines significantly decreased HCV replication in Huh-7 cells. In comparison to liver biopsies of patients with non-viral liver disease, liver biopsies of patients with HCV showed significantly increased mRNA expression of IL-28A and IL-29. Moreover, IL-28A serum protein levels were elevated in HCV patients. In a murine model of viral hepatitis, IL-28 expression was significantly increased. IL-28A and IL-29 are up-regulated in HCV patients and are similarly effective in inducing antiviral genes and inhibiting HCV replication. In contrast to IL-29, IL-28A is a potent gene repressor. Both IFN-λs may have therapeutic potential in the treatment of chronic HCV