Deviant intersections : interrogating discourses of race, sexuality and non-white homosexuality in contemporary films

This thesis attempts to provide a critical framework for discussion of English language films featuring non-white homosexual characters and contribute to the on-going debate concerning the cinematic representation of racial and sexual minorities. It does not attempt to offer an exhaustive account of the field. Emphasis is placed on why there have previously been few films containing non-white homosexual characters and why there are now more such films, as well as identifying the way in which these characters are depicted. The study begins by examining the intimate relationship between Western construction of racial and sexual discourses. Through analysing several contemporary films and reviewing critical literature from the fields of post-colonial and “race” criticism, lesbian, gay and gender studies, I argue that (white) homosexuals and non-white people have often been depicted as analogous, although not identical, in sexual “perversity”. I further suggest that they are depicted as similarly deviant because of the reproductive threat that they pose to the white heterosexual norm. The homosexual actions of nonwhites, (who have historically been stereotyped as “naturally” sexually deviant), are usually interpreted as an example of their loose morality, rather than as an indication of non-heterosexual identity. By contrast, white subjects who engage in homosexual practises are usually accorded a lesbian or gay identity. I argue that the recent increase in the number of films containing non-white homosexual characters reflects the influence of “politically correct” discourses and theories of “hybridity”. I further suggest that the crossover success of a number of these films indicate that traditional stereotypes of race and sexuality are now called into question

Cyber-victimization and perceived depression: Serial mediation of self-esteem and learned-helplessness

Literature suggests that the perception of being cyber-victimized is a stronger predictor of depression symptoms than the perception of being victimized offline, and that learned-helplessness can explain the prediction of perceived cyber-victimization on perceived depression. Nevertheless, other studies suggested that the link between perceived cyber-victimized and learned-helplessness is weakened by state self-esteem. This study investigates the double mediation effect of state self-esteem and learned-helplessness on the relationship between perceived cyber-victimized and perceived depression. 104 participants between 18 and 30 years of age (63 females, 41 males, 1 prefer not to say) have been recruited through haphazard sampling method to fill in the Cyberbullying Victimization Scale, State Self-Esteem Scale, Learned Helplessness Scale, and Beck’s Depression Inventory. Our findings suggest that the double mediation effect occurs. As a conclusion, our findings suggested that cyberbullied social media users will only fall into perceived depression when their state self-esteem is also negatively affected by their perception of being cyberbullied, up to the point where they learn that they are helpless. Further implication are discussed at the end of the paper

In everlasting fight against academic procrastination: The roles of classroom engagement and internal locus of control

This study aims to test the hypothesis that classroom engagement mediates the relationship between students’ internal locus of control and academic procrastination. As many as 302 students from a private university between 18 to 26 years of age were recruited to respond to Internal-External Locus of control Scale, Classroom Engagement Inventory, and Academic Procrastination scale. Bootstrapping analyses were conducted by utilizing PROCESS Macro model 4 in SPSS software, and the results showed that the mediator variable fully mediates the link between the predictor and outcome variables. In other words, the direct effect of internal locus of control on academic procrastination was no longer significant when controlling for classroom engagement. Further discussion, implications and suggestions were presented at the end of the article

Effect of fertility health awareness strategies on fertility knowledge and childbearing in young married couples (FertStart): study protocol for an effectiveness-implementation hybrid type I multicentre three-arm parallel group open-label randomised clinical trial

Introduction Birth rates have been declining in many advanced societies including Singapore. We designed two interventions with vastly different resource requirements, which include fertility education, personalised fertility information and a behavioural change component targeting modifiable psychological constructs to modify fertility awareness and childbearing intentions. We aim to evaluate the effect of these two interventions on knowledge, attitudes and practice around childbearing compared with a control group among young married couples in Singapore and understand the implementation factors in the setting of an effectiveness-implementation hybrid type 1 three-arm randomised trial. Methods and analysis We will randomise 1200 young married couples to no intervention (control), Fertility Health Screening group (FHS) or Fertility Awareness Tools (FAT) in a 7:5:5 ratio. Couples in FHS will undergo an anti-Mullerian hormone test and semen analysis, a doctor’s consultation to explain the results and standardised reproductive counselling by a trained nurse. Couples in FAT will watch a standardised video, complete an adapted fertility status awareness (FertiSTAT) tool and receive an educational brochure. The attitudes, fertility knowledge and efforts to achieve pregnancy of all couples will be assessed at baseline and 6 months post-randomisation. Birth statistics will be tracked using administrative records at 2 and 3 years. The primary outcome is the change in the woman’s self-reported intended age at first birth between baseline and 6 months post-randomisation. In addition, implementation outcomes and cost-effectiveness of the two interventions will be assessed

Reducing TRPC1 Expression through Liposome-Mediated siRNA Delivery Markedly Attenuates Hypoxia-Induced Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension in a Murine Model

We tested the hypothesis that Lipofectamine siRNA delivery to deplete transient receptor potential cation channel (TRPC) 1 protein expression can suppress hypoxia-induced pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) in mice. Adult male C57BL/6 mice were equally divided into group 1 (normal controls), group 2 (hypoxia), and group 3 (hypoxia + siRNA TRPC1). By day 28, right ventricular systolic pressure (RVSP), number of muscularized arteries, right ventricle (RV), and lung weights were increased in group 2 than in group 1 and reduced in group 3 compared with group 2. Pulmonary crowded score showed similar pattern, whereas number of alveolar sacs exhibited an opposite pattern compared to that of RVSP in all groups. Protein expressions of TRPCs, HIF-1α, Ku-70, apoptosis, and fibrosis and pulmonary mRNA expressions of inflammatory markers were similar pattern, whereas protein expressions of antifibrosis and VEGF were opposite to the pattern of RVSP. Cellular markers of pulmonary DNA damage, repair, and smooth muscle proliferation exhibited a pattern similar to that of RVSP. The mRNA expressions of proapoptotic and hypertrophy biomarkers displayed a similar pattern, whereas sarcomere length showed an opposite pattern compared to that of RVSP in all groups. Lipofectamine siRNA delivery effectively reduced TRPC1 expression, thereby attenuating PAH-associated RV and pulmonary arteriolar remodeling

An outbreak of Streptococcus pyogenes in a mental health facility : advantage of well-timed whole-genome sequencing over emm typing

Financial support: The outbreak investigation was supported by Institute of Mental Health.OBJECTIVE:  We report the utility of whole-genome sequencing (WGS) conducted in a clinically relevant time frame (ie, sufficient for guiding management decision), in managing a Streptococcus pyogenes outbreak, and present a comparison of its performance with emm typing. SETTING:  A 2,000-bed tertiary-care psychiatric hospital. METHODS:  Active surveillance was conducted to identify new cases of S. pyogenes. WGS guided targeted epidemiological investigations, and infection control measures were implemented. Single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-based genome phylogeny, emm typing, and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) were performed. We compared the ability of WGS and emm typing to correctly identify person-to-person transmission and to guide the management of the outbreak. RESULTS:  The study included 204 patients and 152 staff. We identified 35 patients and 2 staff members with S. pyogenes. WGS revealed polyclonal S. pyogenes infections with 3 genetically distinct phylogenetic clusters (C1-C3). Cluster C1 isolates were all emm type 4, sequence type 915 and had pairwise SNP differences of 0-5, which suggested recent person-to-person transmissions. Epidemiological investigation revealed that cluster C1 was mediated by dermal colonization and transmission of S. pyogenes in a male residential ward. Clusters C2 and C3 were genomically diverse, with pairwise SNP differences of 21-45 and 26-58, and emm 11 and mostly emm120, respectively. Clusters C2 and C3, which may have been considered person-to-person transmissions by emm typing, were shown by WGS to be unlikely by integrating pairwise SNP differences with epidemiology. CONCLUSIONS:  WGS had higher resolution than emm typing in identifying clusters with recent and ongoing person-to-person transmissions, which allowed implementation of targeted intervention to control the outbreak.PostprintPeer reviewe

Association of maternal Vitamin D status with glucose tolerance and caesarean section in a multi-ethnic Asian cohort: the growing up in Singapore towards healthy outcomes study

10.1371/journal.pone.0142239PLoS ONE10111-16GUSTO (Growing up towards Healthy Outcomes

ACORN (A Clinically-Oriented Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network) II: protocol for case based antimicrobial resistance surveillance

Background: Antimicrobial resistance surveillance is essential for empiric antibiotic prescribing, infection prevention and control policies and to drive novel antibiotic discovery. However, most existing surveillance systems are isolate-based without supporting patient-based clinical data, and not widely implemented especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Methods: A Clinically-Oriented Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network (ACORN) II is a large-scale multicentre protocol which builds on the WHO Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Use Surveillance System to estimate syndromic and pathogen outcomes along with associated health economic costs. ACORN-healthcare associated infection (ACORN-HAI) is an extension study which focuses on healthcare-associated bloodstream infections and ventilator-associated pneumonia. Our main aim is to implement an efficient clinically-oriented antimicrobial resistance surveillance system, which can be incorporated as part of routine workflow in hospitals in LMICs. These surveillance systems include hospitalised patients of any age with clinically compatible acute community-acquired or healthcare-associated bacterial infection syndromes, and who were prescribed parenteral antibiotics. Diagnostic stewardship activities will be implemented to optimise microbiology culture specimen collection practices. Basic patient characteristics, clinician diagnosis, empiric treatment, infection severity and risk factors for HAI are recorded on enrolment and during 28-day follow-up. An R Shiny application can be used offline and online for merging clinical and microbiology data, and generating collated reports to inform local antibiotic stewardship and infection control policies. Discussion: ACORN II is a comprehensive antimicrobial resistance surveillance activity which advocates pragmatic implementation and prioritises improving local diagnostic and antibiotic prescribing practices through patient-centred data collection. These data can be rapidly communicated to local physicians and infection prevention and control teams. Relative ease of data collection promotes sustainability and maximises participation and scalability. With ACORN-HAI as an example, ACORN II has the capacity to accommodate extensions to investigate further specific questions of interest

AI is a viable alternative to high throughput screening: a 318-target study

: High throughput screening (HTS) is routinely used to identify bioactive small molecules. This requires physical compounds, which limits coverage of accessible chemical space. Computational approaches combined with vast on-demand chemical libraries can access far greater chemical space, provided that the predictive accuracy is sufficient to identify useful molecules. Through the largest and most diverse virtual HTS campaign reported to date, comprising 318 individual projects, we demonstrate that our AtomNet® convolutional neural network successfully finds novel hits across every major therapeutic area and protein class. We address historical limitations of computational screening by demonstrating success for target proteins without known binders, high-quality X-ray crystal structures, or manual cherry-picking of compounds. We show that the molecules selected by the AtomNet® model are novel drug-like scaffolds rather than minor modifications to known bioactive compounds. Our empirical results suggest that computational methods can substantially replace HTS as the first step of small-molecule drug discovery

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P < 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely