Do adolescent patients have a right to be informed about fertility preservation options by virtue of the Conventions on the Rights of the Child?

The 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child not only states that children should be heard in matters of their concern according to their age and maturity, but also that children should have a right to have access to information. However, when it comes to medical indications, a consensus has not been reached on whether parents should disclose healthcare complications to their adolescent child. Adolescent disclosure becomes even more controversial when related to non-lifesaving procedures. In the United States, one child in 285 children is diagnosed with cancer every year, but thanks to improvements in medicine, the likelihood of survival has dramatically improved. However, cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy and radiation, are likely to affect their fertility later in their lives. Preventive medicine offers procedures to prevent this issue. Yet, if parents decline either disclosure or discussions, adolescent patients will have this possibility denied. As demonstrated by articles that have shown the impact of infertility on sexual well-being and happiness in adults, these patients may experience depression, anxiety, and lower self-esteem at a higher rate. By virtue of Article 17 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, this essay aims to investigate if adolescents have a right to obtain information, not only through mass media, but also from their parents when disclosure “aims at the promotion of his or her social, […] well-being and physical and mental health” and if being informed is within their best interest taking into consideration their age and maturity

Reinventing the Classical Recital: Examining the Connections Between Performer and Audience

Reinventing the Classical Recital: Examining the Connections Between Performer and Audience was a project intended to create a dialogue between the performer and audience about the kind of experience a classical recital typically is versus what it can be. Recitals given at Syracuse University, and in the classical music community in general, generally have strict guidelines for the amount, type, and quality of music to be performed. Certain composers or types of song are considered more appropriate than others, depending on the instrument and length of the recital. In creating a recital to evaluate in what ways the performer can connect to his or her audience, I carefully selected music that did not strictly meet typical guidelines for an hour-long senior voice recital. Instead, I selected a variety of music that appealed to me and that I thought my audience could relate to. I began my recital program with multi-movement work by Beethoven for voice and piano (considered by some to be one of the first song cycles ever written). After a brief intermission, I continued the program with a set of five songs by Leonard Bernstein, another well-known composer. This set was meant to surprise and amuse the audience, and set the tone for the final group of songs, from musical theatre and operetta. In creating a recital, a performer must first select music. Most performers make sure to have good variety of foreign language and English pieces, pieces of varying lengths and topics, and often add a collaborative piece where another performer (besides the pianist) is invited to play. Next, the performer is responsible for finding an accompanist and researching the music, filling out forms to reserve the venue and ensure the recital will be recorded, have the piano tuned, and practice often to make sure s/he is prepared. The audience’s responsibility is to come to the performance, and pay attention throughout. This project attempted to bridge the gap between those onstage and offstage, by including certain members of the audience in the steps leading up to and following the recital. Before the actual recital, I polled my students, friends, and family to find out what they found most interesting and most dull about classical concerts and recitals. The insight I received helped me to plan my timing and musical choices to help the audience feel included and interested. During the recital, as a performer I sought to include my audience by making frequent eye contact and facial/bodily gestures. Following my recital, I was able to celebrate my recital over a reception, but also to talk with the audience about which songs they liked and why. Classical music and performance can be enjoyed by all, not just those who are musically well educated or interested

Controlling Violence in Professional Sports: Rule Reform and the Federal Professional Sports Violence Commission

This article addresses the problem of violence in sports and assesses the inability of the traditional legal mechanisms of tort and criminal law to control this violence. The authors also examine the major schemes to stem sports violence that have been considered by Congress. Finally, the authors propose the control of violent behavior through legislatively mandated rule reforms enforced by a Federal Professional Sports Violence Commission

Simulated microgravity triggers epithelial mesenchymal transition in human keratinocytes

The microgravitational environment is known to affect the cellular behaviour inducing modulation of gene expression and enzymatic activities, epigenetic modifications and alterations of the structural organization. Simulated microgravity, obtained in the laboratory setting through the use of a Random Positioning Machine (RPM), represents a well recognized and useful tool for the experimental studies of the cellular adaptations and molecular changes in response to weightlessness. Short exposure of cultured human keratinocytes to the RPM microgravity influences the cellular circadian clock oscillation. Therefore, here we searched for changes on the regenerative ability and response to tissue damage of human epidermal cells through the analysis of the effects of the simulated microgravity on the re-epithelialization phase of the repair and wound healing process. Combining morphological, biochemical and molecular approaches, we found that the simulated microgravity exposure of human keratinocytes promotes a migratory behavior and triggers the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) through expression of the typical EMT transcription factors and markers, such as Snail1, Snail2 and ZEB2, metalloproteases, mesenchymal adhesion molecules and cytoskeletal components

Static and fatigue testing of full-scale fuselage panels fabricated using a Therm-X(R) process

Large, curved, integrally stiffened composite panels representative of an aircraft fuselage structure were fabricated using a Therm-X process, an alternative concept to conventional two-sided hard tooling and contour vacuum bagging. Panels subsequently were tested under pure shear loading in both static and fatigue regimes to assess the adequacy of the manufacturing process, the effectiveness of damage tolerant design features co-cured with the structure, and the accuracy of finite element and closed-form predictions of postbuckling capability and failure load. Test results indicated the process yielded panels of high quality and increased damage tolerance through suppression of common failure modes such as skin-stiffener separation and frame-stiffener corner failure. Finite element analyses generally produced good predictions of postbuckled shape, and a global-local modelling technique yielded failure load predictions that were within 7% of the experimental mean

Innovative fabrication processing of advanced composite materials concepts for primary aircraft structures

The autoclave based THERM-X(sub R) process was evaluated by cocuring complex curved panels with frames and stiffeners. The process was shown to result in composite parts of high quality with good compaction at sharp radius regions and corners of intersecting parts. The structural properties of the postbuckled panels fabricated were found to be equivalent to those of conventionally tooled hand laid-up parts. Significant savings in bagging time over conventional tooling were documented. Structural details such as cocured shear ties and embedded stiffener flanges in the skin were found to suppress failure modes such as failure at corners of intersecting members and skin stiffeners separation

Groundwater availability for summer low flows: co-production and shared application of hydrogeologic tools and information

Groundwater discharge to streams and rivers in Puget Sound basin is the primary source of water for sustaining summer low flows and associated aquatic habitat. The science underlying how human and environmental stressors can affect low flows can be difficult for scientists and stakeholders to grasp, largely because it requires understanding the mechanics of groundwater recharge and discharge processes combined with the subtleties of estimating cumulative rates of groundwater extraction and use in subbasins. USGS has initiated a Near-Term Action (NTA) for the 2016 Action Agenda that will better inform our understanding of the effects of current and future stressors on summer low flows. The goal of the NTA is to provide hydrogeologic and water-use information and understanding to water-resources stakeholders (the users of the science) to help develop strategies to protect instream flows while ensuring water supplies for domestic, agricultural, and other out-of-stream uses. The NTA will include all subbasins underlain by the 7,200 sq-mi Regional Aquifer System of the Puget Sound lowlands. The information generated will include groundwater recharge; groundwater use; discharge to streams, rivers, and Puget Sound; and measures of the resilience of summer low flows to expected changes in population, land-cover, and climate. In addition, surface-water withdrawals and observed low flows in streams and rivers will be compiled to allow a holistic comparison of water demands, summer low flows, and groundwater availability in different hydrogeologic settings of Puget Sound. For this presentation, we will summarize our proposed approach for the NTA, and will present results from recent sub-regional studies in Puget Sound that have incorporated similar data and information into groundwater flow models. We will focus on how co-production and shared application of such products and information has been used to address groundwater availability issues with scientific rigor that is understandable and useful to stakeholders

Entry and transfer of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the Pacific sand lance life cycle, Puget Sound, Washington

Forage fish are an important component in marine food webs as a food source for birds, fishes, and marine mammals. In Puget Sound, Washington, populations of forage fish appear to be in decline, or have unknown stock status. Basic life history details of forage fish that are not commercially targeted, such as Pacific sand lance (Ammodytes personatus), are not well understood, and potential stressors such as contaminants are even less so. Juvenile and adult sand lance collected in 2014 in North Sound (Clayton beach near Bellingham, Washington) and a historically-contaminated urban area (Eagle Harbor) were analyzed for more than 200 urban contaminants including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and represent the first data on toxic contamination in sand lance tissue in Puget Sound. PCB concentrations in sand lance tissue from Eagle Harbor were about ten times higher than in comparably sized fish from Clayton beach. Recently hatched sand lance from the contaminated site had PCB concentrations about the same as adult fish, while recently hatched sand lance from the clean site had higher PCB concentrations than adult fish, suggesting the potential for maternal transfer of PCBs to eggs. To investigate this potential route of exposure, we collected male and female sand lance from Eagle Harbor and Clayton beach in 2016. PCB concentrations were determined for composites of whole body fish tissue from two size classes of egg-bearing females (130 mm), from the eggs removed from collected females, and from males in comparable size classes. Tissue concentrations will be presented in the context of contaminant concentrations in nearshore marine sediment from companion studies. These results will provide insights into current tissue contaminant concentrations for adult sand lance as affected by fish size and level of urbanization, and inform the potential for maternal transfer of PCB contamination in sand lance

Microgravity Induces Transient EMT in Human Keratinocytes by Early Down-Regulation of E-Cadherin and Cell-Adhesion Remodeling

Abstract: Changes in cell–matrix and cell-to-cell adhesion patterns are dramatically fostered by the microgravity exposure of living cells. The modification of adhesion properties could promote the emergence of a migrating and invasive phenotype. We previously demonstrated that short exposure to the simulated microgravity of human keratinocytes (HaCaT) promotes an early epithelial– mesenchymal transition (EMT). Herein, we developed this investigation to verify if the cells maintain the acquired invasive phenotype after an extended period of weightlessness exposure. We also evaluated cells’ capability in recovering epithelial characteristics when seeded again into a normal gravitational field after short microgravity exposure. We evaluated the ultra-structural junctional features of HaCaT cells by Transmission Electron Microscopy and the distribution pattern of vinculin and E-cadherin by confocal microscopy, observing a rearrangement in cell–cell and cell–matrix interactions. These results are mirrored by data provided by migration and invasion biological assay. Overall, our studies demonstrate that after extended periods of microgravity, HaCaT cells recover an epithelial phenotype by re-establishing E-cadherin-based junctions and cytoskeleton remodeling, both being instrumental in promoting a mesenchymal–epithelial transition (MET). Those findings suggest that cytoskeletal changes noticed during the first weightlessness period have a transitory character, given that they are later reversed and followed by adaptive modifications through which cells miss the acquired mesenchymal phenotyp

Article microgravity induces transient emt in human keratinocytes by early down-regulation of e-cadherin and cell-adhesion remodeling

Changes in cell–matrix and cell-to-cell adhesion patterns are dramatically fostered by the microgravity exposure of living cells. The modification of adhesion properties could promote the emergence of a migrating and invasive phenotype. We previously demonstrated that short exposure to the simulated microgravity of human keratinocytes (HaCaT) promotes an early epithelial– mesenchymal transition (EMT). Herein, we developed this investigation to verify if the cells maintain the acquired invasive phenotype after an extended period of weightlessness exposure. We also evaluated cells’ capability in recovering epithelial characteristics when seeded again into a normal gravitational field after short microgravity exposure. We evaluated the ultra-structural junctional features of HaCaT cells by Transmission Electron Microscopy and the distribution pattern of vinculin and E-cadherin by confocal microscopy, observing a rearrangement in cell–cell and cell–matrix interactions. These results are mirrored by data provided by migration and invasion biological assay. Overall, our studies demonstrate that after extended periods of microgravity, HaCaT cells recover an epithelial phenotype by re-establishing E-cadherin-based junctions and cytoskeleton remodeling, both being instrumental in promoting a mesenchymal–epithelial transition (MET). Those findings suggest that cytoskeletal changes noticed during the first weightlessness period have a transitory character, given that they are later reversed and followed by adaptive modifications through which cells miss the acquired mesenchymal phenotype