Three\u27s Company: A Constitutional Analysis of Prohibiting Access to Three-Parent In Vitro Fertilization

The 1997 science-fiction film Gattaca tells the story of Vincent Freeman, a “God-child,” “de-gene-erate,” “faith birth.” The film unfolds in a not-too-distant future where genetic modification is commonplace and children’s characteristics and predispositions are routinely decided before birth. A rarity in this world, Vincent is conceived without any genetic modification and, consequently, is born with myopia and a congenital heart defect. His inferior genetic profile has banished him to a new subclass of society, so the only way to achieve his lifelong dream of becoming an astronaut is by impersonating a “valid”—a person with a healthy, genetically-engineered DNA

Three\u27s Company: A Constitutional Analysis of Prohibiting Access to Three-Parent In Vitro Fertilization

The 1997 science-fiction film Gattaca tells the story of Vincent Freeman, a “God-child,” “de-gene-erate,” “faith birth.” The film unfolds in a not-too-distant future where genetic modification is commonplace and children’s characteristics and predispositions are routinely decided before birth. A rarity in this world, Vincent is conceived without any genetic modification and, consequently, is born with myopia and a congenital heart defect. His inferior genetic profile has banished him to a new subclass of society, so the only way to achieve his lifelong dream of becoming an astronaut is by impersonating a “valid”—a person with a healthy, genetically-engineered DNA

Epidemiology and Clinical Profile of Gloriosa Superba Poisoning in Sri Lanka

Introduction: Gloriosa superba is a common plant poisoning in Sri Lanka which has fatal outcomes. Except few case reports, there are no systematic studies regarding its poisoning in the country. The objective of this study was to describe epidemiological and clinical manifestations following Gloriosa superba poisoning and its long term effects.Methods: A descriptive observational study involving a series of 33 patients with Gloriosa superba poisoning was conducted for one year duration commencing from July 2015.Results: Twenty-nine (87.87%) cases were deliberate self-poisonings and 4 (12.12%) were accidental poisonings. Females were 21 (63.63%) and males were 12 (36.36%). Their age ranged from 13 years to 72. Thirty (90.9%) ingested Gloriosa tubers. Five patients (15.15%) died due to Gloriosa poisoning. Thirty one patients (93.93%) developed acute gastrointestinal symptoms; 7 (21.21%) had cardiotoxic effects; 3 (9%) developed respiratory failure; 5 (15.15%) had neurological and bleeding manifestations; 2 (6%) had acute kidney injury. Hypokalaemia was observed in 16 (48.48%), leucopenia in 5 (15.15%) and anaemia in 4 (12.12%) patients. Alopecia was observed in 4 (12.12%) patients as the long term effect.Conclusion: There is a multi-organ system involvement in Gloriosa superba poisoning such as gastrointestinal tract, heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, liver and haemopoietic system

Spacecraft Charging of the Moraz\'an MRZ-SAT Satellite in Low Earth Orbit: Initial Results on the Influence of Energetic Electron Anisotropy on Differential Charging

The advent of the modular CubeSat satellite architecture has heralded a revolution in satellite missions, drastically lowering the technical and financial barriers to space. Surface charging resulting from energetic electron poses a direct risk to satellites in space, causing electric arcing and breakdowns. This risk is exacerbated for small technology demonstration CubeSats that are less resilient than larger satellites. An upcoming CubeSat launch is the first CubeSat project originating from Honduras, the Moraz\'an satellite (MRZ-SAT), due to launch in 2024. This will carry earth observational payloads to detect natural disasters. This study conducts simulations using the Electro-Magnetic Spacecraft Environment Simulator code to study absolute and differential charging of the MRZ-SAT cube-sat in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The MRZ-SAT hosts four antennas, an architecture which lends itself well to studying and understanding differential charging in LEO. The MRZ-SAT was first simulated in a typical benign ionospheric plasma environment. Here the antenna located in the ambient plasma wake displayed the maximum charging up to --0.9 V, 0.24 V biased to the main cube. An energetic electron population was then included and the wake antenna subsequently charged to greater values of --2.73 V, now 1.56 V biased to the main cube. The anisotropy of the energetic electrons was then varied, and this differential charging trend appeared exacerbated with anisotropies of 0.5 to 0.05 inducing absolute wake antenna voltages up to --4.5 V and differential voltage biases 50 and 100 \% greater than when an isotropic population was considered. This study highlights the importance of electron anisotropy in LEO to surface charging and identifies this property in the energetic electron distribution functions as inducing potentially greater risks to satellites of electrical arcing and breakdown.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, 5 tables, pre-print of the conference paper presented at the 2023 74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC23), Baku, Azerbaijan, 2-6 October 202

Policymaking ‘under the radar': a case study of pesticide regulation to prevent intentional poisoning in Sri Lanka

Background Suicide in Sri Lanka is a major public health problem and in 1995 the country had one of the highest rates of suicide worldwide. Since then reductions in overall suicide rates have been largely attributed to efforts to regulate a range of pesticides. The evolution, context, events and implementation of the key policy decisions around regulation are examined. Methods This study was undertaken as part of a broader analysis of policy in two parts—an explanatory case study and stakeholder analysis. This article describes the explanatory case study that included an historical narrative and in-depth interviews. Results A timeline and chronology of policy actions and influence were derived from interview and document data. Fourteen key informants were interviewed and four distinct policy phases were identified. The early stages of pesticide regulation were dominated by political and economic considerations and strongly influenced by external factors. The second phase was marked by a period of local institution building, the engagement of local stakeholders, and expanded links between health and agriculture. During the third phase the problem of self-poisoning dominated the policy agenda and closer links between stakeholders, evidence and policymaking developed. The fourth and most recent phase was characterized by strong local capacity for policymaking, informed by evidence, developed in collaboration with a powerful network of stakeholders, including international researchers. Conclusions The policy response to extremely high rates of suicide from intentional poisoning with pesticides shows a unique and successful example of policymaking to prevent suicide. It also highlights policy action taking place ‘under the radar', thus avoiding policy inertia often associated with reforms in lower and middle income countrie

The Poison Pen: Bedside Diagnosis of Urinary Diquat

Diquat is a bipyridyl herbicide with nephrotoxic effects. This in vitro study demonstrates a colorimetric test for detection of diquat in human urine. Urine specimens using ten concentrations of diquat herbicide solution and controls for urine and glyphosate were prepared. A two-step assay (addition of bicarbonate followed by sodium dithionite) was performed, with a resulting color change of the original solution for each specimen. Color change intensity was noted immediately and after 30 min, by gross visual inspection. A green color with concentration-dependent intensity was detected in all specimens, in which concentrations of diquat solution ranged from 0.73 to 730 mg/L. This colorimetric effect disappeared after 30 min. The sodium bicarbonate/dithionite test may be useful as a qualitative bedside technique for the detection of urinary diquat in the appropriate clinical setting

Sarcocystis cymruensis: discovery in Western Hemisphere in the Brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) from Grenada, West Indies: redescription, molecular characterization, and transmission to IFN-γ gene knockout mice via sporocysts from experimentally infected domestic cat (Felis catus)

Rodents are intermediate hosts for many species of Sarcocystis. Little is known of Sarcocystis cymruensis that uses the Brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) as intermediate hosts and the domestic cat (Felis catus) as experimental definitive host. Here, we identified and described Sarcocystis cymruensis in naturally infected R. norvegicus from Grenada, West Indies. Rats (n = 167) were trapped in various locations in two parishes (St. George and St. David). Microscopic, thin (\u3c 1 μm) walled, slender sarcocysts were found in 11 of 156 (7.0%) rats skeletal muscles by squash examination. A laboratory-raised cat fed naturally infected rat tissues excreted sporocysts that were infectious for interferon gamma gene knockout (KO) mice, but not to Swiss Webster outbred albino mice. All inoculated mice remained asymptomatic, and microscopic S. cymruensis-like sarcocysts were found in the muscles of KO mice euthanized on day 70, 116, and 189 post inoculation (p.i.). Sarcocysts from infected KO mice were infective for cats at day 116 but not at 70 days p.i. By transmission electron microscopy, the sarcocyst wall was Btype 1a.^ Detailed morphological description of the cyst wall, metrocytes, and bradyzoites is given for the first time. Additionally, molecular data on S. cymruensis are presented also for the first time. Molecular characterization of sarcocysts 18S rDNA and 28S rDNA, ITS-1, and cox1 loci showed the highest similarity with S. rodentifelis and S. muris. In conclusion, the present study described the natural infection of S. cymruensis in Brown rat for the first time in a Caribbean country and provided its molecular characteristics

Author Correction: Intensified summer monsoon and the urbanization of Indus Civilization in northwest India.

A correction to this article has been published and is linked from the HTML and PDF versions of this paper. The error has not been fixed in the paper.NERC (NE/H011463/1

Neural network based single index evaluation for SQL injection attack detection in health care data

In recent years, there are a lot of security risks in the network, and there is the combination intersection between the computer network security problems and security evaluation. The scale of computer network is very large with vast information, so there are many loopholes in the system network. At present, many have established a computer network security evaluation system to monitor the network security vulnerabilities, viruses, and defects in healthcare. However, many places simply analyzed the risk assessment of network security, but there is no assessment of network security situation. For the network security evaluation system, there is no complete evaluation system of network information security. Therefore, a network security evaluation system must be constructed to develop an effective and practical simulation model of computer network security evaluation. Through the simulation model, the effect of network security can be improved. Since the reform and opening up, the simulation of computer network security evaluation in our country is a new subject. It can directly study the network security evaluation, build a network security evaluation model, and study the network security in detail. In the computer network simulation system, it can analyze, study, design, and plan various stages, so as to play an important role

Intensified summer monsoon and the urbanization of Indus Civilization in northwest India

Today the desert margins of northwest India are dry and unable to support large populations, but were densely occupied by the populations of the Indus Civilization during the middle to late Holocene. The hydroclimatic conditions under which Indus urbanization took place, which was marked by a period of expanded settlement into the Thar Desert margins, remains poorly understood. We measured the isotopic values (δ18O and δD) of gypsum hydration water in paleolake Karsandi sediments in northern Rajasthan to infer past changes in lake hydrology, which is sensitive to changing amounts of precipitation and evaporation. Our record reveals that relatively wet conditions prevailed at the northern edge of Rajasthan from ~5.1 ± 0.2 ka BP, during the beginning of the agricultural-based Early Harappan phase of the Indus Civilization. Monsoon rainfall intensified further between 5.0 and 4.4 ka BP, during the period when Indus urban centres developed in the western Thar Desert margin and on the plains of Haryana to its north. Drier conditions set in sometime after 4.4 ka BP, and by ~3.9 ka BP an eastward shift of populations had occurred. Our findings provide evidence that climate change was associated with both the expansion and contraction of Indus urbanism along the desert margin in northwest India