Of Gametes and Guardians: The Impropriety of Appointing Guardians Ad Litem for Fetuses and Embryos

Recent advances in medical technology have caused some commentators and courts to perceive fetuses and embryos as separate entities, with rights independent of the women who carry them. Conduct of pregnant women that has been perceived to conflict with the interests of the fetuses they carry has been called into question. In some cases, courts have been forced to determine the juridical status of fetuses and embryos; in others, courts have appointed guardians ad litem to represent the best interests of these entities. This Article maintains that appointing guardians ad litem for fetuses and embryos is inappropriate. Fetuses and embryos are not accorded the same status as existing persons under constitutional law. Protecting such entities, which are completely dependent on the women who carry them, violates the privacy rights of pregnant; women. Moreover, existing child abuse legislation, under the auspices of which somecourts have appointed guardians ad litem for fetuses, is not designed to operate in the in utero context. The geography of pregnancy suggests that fetal interests should not be used to restrict the right of pregnant women to enjoy privacy and bodily autonomy

Gimme Shelter: Religious Provision of Shelter to the Homeless As a Protected Use Under Zoning Laws

This Article examines the interaction between the zoning power of municipalities and the church\u27s right to use property already devoted to religious use, for sheltering the homeless

Clients\u27 Internal Representations of Their Therapists

Thirteen adults in long-term individual psychotherapy were interviewed regarding their internal representations (defined as bringing to awareness the internalized image ) of their therapists. Results indicated that in the context of a good therapeutic relationship, clients\u27 internal representations combined auditory, visual, and kinesthetic (i.e., felt presence) modalities; were triggered when clients thought about past or future sessions, or when distressed; occurred in diverse locations; and varied in frequency, duration, and intensity. Clients felt positively about their representations and used them to introspect or influence therapy within sessions, beyond sessions, or both. The frequency of, comfort with, and use of clients\u27 internal representations increased over the course of therapy, and the representations benefited the therapy and therapeutic relationship. Therapists tended not to take a deliberate role in creating clients\u27 internal representations, and few clients discussed their internal representations with their therapists

Voices in the Hill: Stories of Trauma and Inspiration

Narrative interviews documenting individual and community trauma in the Hill District of Pittsburgh emerged from a capstone undergraduate community engagement psychology course that was a joint project between Duquesne University and FOCUS Pittsburgh. The interview project, which we gave the name Voices in the Hill, sought life stories and existential meaning-making of people involved with the Hill District of Pittsburgh, a formerly flourishing African-American community now mired in poverty due to a juncture of sociological, historical, and political forces. Themes that emerged from the interviews included abuse, mental health issues, and failures of the larger society. With the facilitation of FOCUS Pittsburgh, we discuss how these traumatized people created existential meaning and empowerment in their lives. We explore how their individual stories emerged from larger societal processes such as racism, discrimination, and loss of community, as well as other impacts of “root shock.” We also share the moving impact of the work on students

“Am I Telling the Story Right?” Poetry, Community, and Trauma

The Hill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (USA) is a once vibrant community that experienced socioeconomic decline through urban renewal polices and related factors. This article presents poems constructed from interviews with women who considered the Hill District to be their home. Interviews were completed as part of an undergraduate-level community-engaged learning course in collaboration with a local agency. One component of the course was a public reading, during which the poems were shared with members of the community and the University. The poems were created through use of the Listening Guide, a feminist relational method. These emotionally resonant poems, known as I poems, attend to the subjective experience of each participant by focusing on her use of “I” throughout the interview transcripts. While individual in nature, these poems are inseparable from the historical trauma the Hill District has experienced. Seen through the lens of root shock, interpersonal and intergenerational traumas are also the trauma of the Hill District. Poetic inquiry provides an avenue for connecting individual experience with the larger community story

Plasmodium falciparum heat shock protein 110 stabilizes the asparagine repeat-rich parasite proteome during malarial fevers

One-fourth of Plasmodium falciparum proteins have asparagine repeats that increase the propensity for aggregation, especially at elevated temperatures that occur routinely in malaria-infected patients. We report that a Plasmodium Asn repeat-containing protein (PFI1155w) formed aggregates in mammalian cells at febrile temperatures, as did a yeast Asn/Gln-rich protein (Sup35). Co-expression of the cytoplasmic P. falciparum heat shock protein 110 (PfHsp110c) prevented aggregation. Human or yeast orthologs were much less effective. All-Asn and all-Gln versions of Sup35 were protected from aggregation by PfHsp110c, suggesting that this chaperone is not limited to handling runs of Asn. PfHsp110c gene knockout parasites were not viable and conditional knockdown parasites died slowly in the absence of protein-stabilizing ligand. When exposed to brief heat shock, these knockdowns were unable to prevent aggregation of PFI1155w or Sup35 and died rapidly. We conclude that PfHsp110c protects the parasite from harmful effects of its asparagine repeat-rich proteome during febrile episodes

Origins and Consequences of Serpentine Endemism in the California Flora

Habitat specialization plays an important role in the creation and loss of biodiversity over ecological and evolutionary time scales. In California, serpentine soils have a distinctive flora, with 246 serpentine habitat specialists (i.e., endemics). Using molecular phylogenies for 23 genera containing 784 taxa and 51 endemics, we infer few transitions out of the endemic state, which is shown by an analysis of transition rates to simply reflect the low frequency of endemics (i.e., reversal rates were high). The finding of high reversal rates, but a low number of reversals, is consistent with the widely hypothesized trade-off between serpentine tolerance and competitive ability, under which serpentine endemics are physiologically capable of growing in less-stressful habitats but competitors lead to their extirpation. Endemism is also characterized by a decrease in speciation and extinction rates and a decrease in the overall diversification rate. We also find that tolerators (species with nonserpentine and serpentine populations) undergo speciation in serpentine habitats to give rise to new serpentine endemics but are several times more likely to lose serpentine populations to produce serpentine-intolerant taxa. Finally, endemics were younger on average than nonendemics, but this alone does not explain their low diversification

Isoform-specific subcellular localization and function of protein kinase A identified by mosaic imaging of mouse brain.

Protein kinase A (PKA) plays critical roles in neuronal function that are mediated by different regulatory (R) subunits. Deficiency in either the RIβ or the RIIβ subunit results in distinct neuronal phenotypes. Although RIβ contributes to synaptic plasticity, it is the least studied isoform. Using isoform-specific antibodies, we generated high-resolution large-scale immunohistochemical mosaic images of mouse brain that provided global views of several brain regions, including the hippocampus and cerebellum. The isoforms concentrate in discrete brain regions, and we were able to zoom-in to show distinct patterns of subcellular localization. RIβ is enriched in dendrites and co-localizes with MAP2, whereas RIIβ is concentrated in axons. Using correlated light and electron microscopy, we confirmed the mitochondrial and nuclear localization of RIβ in cultured neurons. To show the functional significance of nuclear localization, we demonstrated that downregulation of RIβ, but not of RIIβ, decreased CREB phosphorylation. Our study reveals how PKA isoform specificity is defined by precise localization

Prevalence and determinants of hepatitis C virus infection among female drug injecting sex workers in Glasgow

Background: Few studies of the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection have focussed on women who work as street sex workers to finance their drug use. Methods: The investigators report the survey findings of such a population in Glasgow. All women attending the health and social care drop-in centre, situated in Glasgow's "Red Light Area", during a four-week period in 1999 were invited to participate in a survey involving theprovision of a saliva sample for anonymous HCV testing and the self-completion of a questionnaire seeking demographic, sexual and injecting practice data. Of the 223 women who attended, 51% agreed to participate. Of the 98 women who provided a sufficient saliva sample, 64% (95% CI: 54%-74%) tested HCV antibody positive; 98% of those who tested positive had ever injected drugs. Adjusting for the 85% sensitivity of the saliva test, the HCV antibody prevalence among IDU sex workers sampled was 81%; a rate which is considerably higher than those recorded, contemporaneously, among Glasgow IDUs generally. Two factors were independently associated with HCV antibody positivity in saliva: ever shared needles and syringes (adjusted OR 5.7, 95% CI 2-16) and number of times imprisoned (adjusted OR 7.3, 95% CI 1.4-39, for more than five times compared to zero times). Women who engage in street sex work to finance their drug habit are a particularly desperate, chaotic and vulnerable population. This study demonstrates that their HCV infection risk may be greater than that for other IDUs. Those responsible for designing interventions to prevent HCV infection among IDUs should consider the special needs of this group