Wild guesses and conflated meanings: estimating the size of the sex worker population in Britain

This paper reports the number of sex workers in Scotland and England who are in contact with specialist services for sex workers. Then, using methods and multipliers derived from the frequently quoted Kinnell study (1999) the paper provides various updated estimates of the wider population of sex workers. We point out the limits of our estimates and the methodological difficulties of estimating the size of this hidden population. The paper argues that many claims about sex work made by politicians and the media are misleading especially where they conflate sex work with trafficking and abuse

Moving Lines and Variable Criteria: Differences/Connections between Allopathic and Alternative Medicine

University. His academic concentrations are political philosophy, law, and bioethics. He is the author of nine books and numerous articles in scholarly journals. His latest book, Lives of the Psychics (University of Chicago Press, 2000), is a study of anomalous and mystical experiences. His most recent book in political philosophy, Public Reason: Medi-ated Authority in the Liberal State (Cornell University Press, 1999), is an account of public reasoning on post-Wittgenstein theories of language. In 1992, he published a study of alternative medicine and spiritual healing titled Healing Powers (Universit

The epidemiology of selenium and human cancer

The relation between the trace element selenium and the etiology of cancer in humans remains elusive and intriguing, despite the number of epidemiologic studies published on the topic. We address some methodologic issues, such as misclassification of exposure, particularly to single selenium compounds, effect modification, confounding, and other sources of bias, which may explain the inconsistencies in the literature. We also review the results of cohort studies, which have yielded either inverse or null or direct associations between selenium exposure and subsequent cancer risk. To date, no beneficial effect on cancer incidence at major sites, including prostate cancer, has emerged from the Finnish program begun in 1984 to increase the average selenium intake in its population. Populations exposed to unusually high or low levels of environmental selenium might offer unique opportunities to investigate if selenium exposure is related to the etiology of human cancer

E-Cadherin and Transglutaminase-1 Epithelial Barrier Restoration Precedes Type IV Collagen Basement Membrane Reconstruction following Vocal Fold Mucosal Injury

The vocal fold epithelium is critical to upper airway immunologic defense and water/ion transport; therefore, any form of physical trauma or insult increases the vulnerability of this structure to functional impairment and pathogen invasion/infection. In this study, we examined the reestablishment of epithelial and basement membrane barrier structures in a well-established rat model of vocal fold mucosal injury. We observed active cell recruitment culminating in peak hyperplasia at 3 days postinjury, the establishment of robust E-cadherin+ and transglutaminase-1+ biochemical barrier signals along the epithelial surface by 3 days postinjury, and the persistent absence of a type IV collagen+ basement membrane at 7 days postinjury. The distinct spatial and temporal immunoactivity of these molecules is consistent with a programmed repair process driving the restoration of vocal fold mucosal integrity and permeability. These data may inform future efforts to optimize functional mucosal recovery postinjury and avoid undesirable events such as barrier compromise or epithelial metaplasia