Integrating Objectification and Social Role Theories: A Proposed Framework for Analyzing Media Objectification of Female Athletes

Despite the tremendous strides that women have taken in terms of their participation in sports the representation they receive from the media is still lacking. In addition, when they do receive media attention research has found that female professional athletes are more likely to be seen and focused on their appearance rather than their success and capabilities. This is a trend that has been persistent in the sports world. This paper will provide a review of the research by looking at two theories, the objectivation theory, and the social role theory. These theories have helped explain the inequalities that women face due to society’s constraints inflicted on them through gender norms and stereotypes. However, these theories also have their limits. Therefore, this paper will propose a theory, the Social Role Objectification Theory which will argue that the gender hierarchy and gender norms that exist in our society have enhanced the objectification of women, especially by the media

Clozapine modulates retinoid homeostasis in human brain and normalizes serum retinoic acid deficit in patients with schizophrenia

The atypical antipsychotic clozapine is one of the most potent drugs of its class, yet its precise mechanisms of action remain insufficiently understood. Recent evidence points toward the involvement of endogenous retinoic acid (RA) signaling in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Here we investigated whether clozapine may modulate RA-signaling. Effects of clozapine on the catabolism of all-trans RA (at-RA), the biologically most active metabolite of Vitamin A, were assessed in murine and human brain tissue and peripheral blood-derived mononuclear cells (PBMC). In patients with schizophrenia with and without clozapine treatment and matched healthy controls, at-RA serum levels and blood mRNA expression of retinoid-related genes in PBMCs were quantified. Clozapine and its metabolites potently inhibited RA catabolism at clinically relevant concentrations. In PBMC-derived microsomes, we found a large interindividual variability of the sensitivity toward the effects of clozapine. Furthermore, at-RA and retinol serum levels were significantly lower in patients with schizophrenia compared with matched healthy controls. Patients treated with clozapine exhibited significantly higher at-RA serum levels compared with patients treated with other antipsychotics, while retinol levels did not differ between treatment groups. Similarly, in patients without clozapine treatment, mRNA expression of RA-inducible targets CYP26A and STRA6, as well as at-RA/retinol ratio, were significantly reduced. In contrast, clozapine-treated patients did not differ from healthy controls in this regard. Our findings provide the first evidence for altered peripheral retinoid homeostasis in schizophrenia and suggest modulation of RA catabolism as a novel mechanism of action of clozapine, which may be useful in future antipsychotic drug development

Development of an open technology sensor suite for assisted living: a student-led research project.

Many countries have a rapidly ageing population, placing strain on health services and creating a growing market for assistive technology for older people. We have, through a student-led, 12-week project for 10 students from a variety of science and engineering backgrounds, developed an integrated sensor system to enable older people, or those at risk, to live independently in their own homes for longer, while providing reassurance for their family and carers. We provide details on the design procedure and performance of our sensor system and the management and execution of a short-term, student-led research project. Detailed information on the design and use of our devices, including a door sensor, power monitor, fall detector, general in-house sensor unit and easy-to-use location-aware communications device, is given, with our open designs being contrasted with closed proprietary systems. A case study is presented for the use of our devices in a real-world context, along with a comparison with commercially available systems. We discuss how the system could lead to improvements in the quality of life of older users and increase the effectiveness of their associated care network. We reflect on how recent developments in open source technology and rapid prototyping increase the scope and potential for the development of powerful sensor systems and, finally, conclude with a student perspective on this team effort and highlight learning outcomes, arguing that open technologies will revolutionize the way in which technology will be deployed in academic research in the future.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Royal Society Publishing via http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsfs.2016.001

Interleukin‐6 initiates muscle‐ and adipose tissue wasting in a novel C57BL/6 model of cancer‐associated cachexia

BACKGROUND: Cancer‐associated cachexia (CAC) is a wasting syndrome drastically reducing efficacy of chemotherapy and life expectancy of patients. CAC affects up to 80% of cancer patients, yet the mechanisms underlying the disease are not well understood and no approved disease‐specific medication exists. As a multiorgan disorder, CAC can only be studied on an organismal level. To cover the diverse aetiologies of CAC, researchers rely on the availability of a multifaceted pool of cancer models with varying degrees of cachexia symptoms. So far, no tumour model syngeneic to C57BL/6 mice exists that allows direct comparison between cachexigenic‐ and non‐cachexigenic tumours. METHODS: MCA207 and CHX207 fibrosarcoma cells were intramuscularly implanted into male or female, 10–11‐week‐old C57BL/6J mice. Tumour tissues were subjected to magnetic resonance imaging, immunohistochemical‐, and transcriptomic analysis. Mice were analysed for tumour growth, body weight and ‐composition, food‐ and water intake, locomotor activity, O(2) consumption, CO(2) production, circulating blood cells, metabolites, and tumourkines. Mice were sacrificed with same tumour weights in all groups. Adipose tissues were examined using high‐resolution respirometry, lipolysis measurements in vitro and ex vivo, and radioactive tracer studies in vivo. Gene expression was determined in adipose‐ and muscle tissues by quantitative PCR and Western blotting analyses. Muscles and cultured myotubes were analysed histologically and by immunofluorescence microscopy for myofibre cross sectional area and myofibre diameter, respectively. Interleukin‐6 (Il‐6) was deleted from cancer cells using CRISPR/Cas9 mediated gene editing. RESULTS: CHX207, but not MCA207‐tumour‐bearing mice exhibited major clinical features of CAC, including systemic inflammation, increased plasma IL‐6 concentrations (190 pg/mL, P ≤ 0.0001), increased energy expenditure (+28%, P ≤ 0.01), adipose tissue loss (−47%, P ≤ 0.0001), skeletal muscle wasting (−18%, P ≤ 0.001), and body weight reduction (−13%, P ≤ 0.01) 13 days after cancer cell inoculation. Adipose tissue loss resulted from reduced lipid uptake and ‐synthesis combined with increased lipolysis but was not associated with elevated beta‐adrenergic signalling or adipose tissue browning. Muscle atrophy was evident by reduced myofibre cross sectional area (−21.8%, P ≤ 0.001), increased catabolic‐ and reduced anabolic signalling. Deletion of IL‐6 from CHX207 cancer cells completely protected CHX207(IL6KO)‐tumour‐bearing mice from CAC. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, we present CHX207 fibrosarcoma cells as a novel tool to investigate the mediators and metabolic consequences of CAC in C57BL/6 mice in comparison to non‐cachectic MCA207‐tumour‐bearing mice. IL‐6 represents an essential trigger for CAC development in CHX207‐tumour‐bearing mice

Harvesting Memory, Preserving Home: A Cookbook of the Painted Turtle Farm/Cosechando Memoria, Preservando el Hogar: Un Libro de Cocina de la Granja de la Tortuga Pintada

About this Project In the fall of 2018, 14 of the families and 32 students from two first-year seminars, Crossing Borders: Immigration, Identity, and Development and Immigrant Stories, worked together to create this cookbook. Families submitted their favorite dishes and then invited students to their homes to demonstrate the preparation. As they cooked and ate together, students recorded the steps to make the recipe and listened as connections between food, memory, family, migration, traditions, and religion emerged. Harvesting Memory, Preserving Home: A Cookbook of the Painted Turtle Farm is the product of this undertaking. In it, we offer the collection of recipes as well as a short story from each family, bring meaning to the food we eat, the places life brings us, and the memories we share. Sobre este Projecto En el otoño de 2018, 12 de las familias y 32 estudiantes de dos clases, Cruzando Fronteras: Immigración, Identidad, y Desarrollo y Las Historias Immigrantes trabajaron juntos para cear este libro de cocina. Las familias escogieron platos con una importancia o una memoria especial para preparar en sus casas con los estudiantes. Durante el proceso de concinar y comer juntos, los estudiantes anotaron los pasos para preparar la receta. Ellos escucharon las conexiones entre la comida, la memoria, la familia, la migración, las tradiciones, y la religión. Cosechando Memoria, Preservando el Hogar: Un Libro de Cocina de la Granja de la Tortuga Pintada es el fruto de este proyecto. Ofrecemos la collección de recetas además de una historia breve de cada familia, para dar significado a los alimentos que comemos, los lugares donde la vida nos trae, y las memorias que nos compartimos

Correction to: Two years later: Is the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic still having an impact on emergency surgery? An international cross-sectional survey among WSES members

Background: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is still ongoing and a major challenge for health care services worldwide. In the first WSES COVID-19 emergency surgery survey, a strong negative impact on emergency surgery (ES) had been described already early in the pandemic situation. However, the knowledge is limited about current effects of the pandemic on patient flow through emergency rooms, daily routine and decision making in ES as well as their changes over time during the last two pandemic years. This second WSES COVID-19 emergency surgery survey investigates the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on ES during the course of the pandemic. Methods: A web survey had been distributed to medical specialists in ES during a four-week period from January 2022, investigating the impact of the pandemic on patients and septic diseases both requiring ES, structural problems due to the pandemic and time-to-intervention in ES routine. Results: 367 collaborators from 59 countries responded to the survey. The majority indicated that the pandemic still significantly impacts on treatment and outcome of surgical emergency patients (83.1% and 78.5%, respectively). As reasons, the collaborators reported decreased case load in ES (44.7%), but patients presenting with more prolonged and severe diseases, especially concerning perforated appendicitis (62.1%) and diverticulitis (57.5%). Otherwise, approximately 50% of the participants still observe a delay in time-to-intervention in ES compared with the situation before the pandemic. Relevant causes leading to enlarged time-to-intervention in ES during the pandemic are persistent problems with in-hospital logistics, lacks in medical staff as well as operating room and intensive care capacities during the pandemic. This leads not only to the need for triage or transferring of ES patients to other hospitals, reported by 64.0% and 48.8% of the collaborators, respectively, but also to paradigm shifts in treatment modalities to non-operative approaches reported by 67.3% of the participants, especially in uncomplicated appendicitis, cholecystitis and multiple-recurrent diverticulitis. Conclusions: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic still significantly impacts on care and outcome of patients in ES. Well-known problems with in-hospital logistics are not sufficiently resolved by now; however, medical staff shortages and reduced capacities have been dramatically aggravated over last two pandemic years

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Anti-inflammatory effects of minocycline are mediated by retinoid signaling

Abstract Background Minocycline is a lipophilic tetracycline of increasing appeal in neuroscience as it inhibits microglial activation, a mechanism involved in numerous neuropsychiatric disorders. Own data point towards retinoid-mediated effects of minocycline in murine brain and skin, and towards a vicious cycle of neuroinflammation which is driven by microglial activation-induced breakdown of local retinoids such as retinoic acid (RA). We therefore sought to study minocycline’s anti-inflammatory effects on human microglial-like monocyte-derived cells in the context of retinoid signaling. Results As hypothesized, minocycline exposure resulted in a substantial increase of RA levels in the human monocytic cell line THP-1. While pro-inflammatory stimulation with lipopolysaccharides resulted in increased tryptophane-degrading indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase IDO-expression and TNF-α levels in primary human monocyte-derived microglial-like cells, this effect was attenuated by minocycline only in the presence of retinoids. The anti-inflammatory effects of minocycline on TNF-α expression were completely abolished by a pharmacological blockage of retinoic acid receptors (RARs) using BMS-493 and unaffected by selectively blocking retinoid-X-receptors using UVI-3003. Conclusions Our data indicate for the first time a RA-dependent, anti-inflammatory effect for minocycline in human microglial-like cells via inhibition of local RA turnover. The RA-dependent mode of action for minocycline appears to be predominantly mediated through RAR-signaling