Gender and social structure in prehistory - the uses and abuses of material culture: a case-study of the neolithic site of Çatalhöyük, Çumra (Turkey)

During the 1990's gender became accepted as a topic of study in archaeology. However, a methodology for assessing the usefulness of certain types of material for understanding the operation of gender in prehistoric societies is still lacking. Traditionally, archaeologists have tended to infer gender structures from the two 'obvious' data groups - burials, and human representations - but their assessments were generally based on modern Western normative attitudes and were uninformed by anthropological or sociological viewpoints and discoveries. Thus the data were used in unimaginative ways, or adapted to fit expectations, producing little ground-breaking work but rather reproducing in the past the picture of the present. The new wave of gender investigators also works predominantly with these same data groups, because of their clear affinity with 'real people', but there is still a gap in methodology, and a separation of gender from the wider implications of social organisation.This thesis is concerned to investigate the application of anthropological and sociological insights, and theoretical social constructs, to certain types of material culture recovered commonly from archaeological sites and generally regarded as interpretable by any archaeologist. Thus I consider burials and anthropomorphic figurines, frequently used as the basis of gender interpretation, as well as the less usual topic of space. The focus of the thesis is the world-famous Neolithic site of (^atalhoyiik, situated in central Anatolia, which has widely been viewed as an exceptional settlement with unusual gender structuresThe first part of the thesis is devoted to the theoretical issues which must lie behind any serious interpretation of the social structures of the people who lived at £atalhoyiik. Thus a substantial chapter discusses gender, and another discusses social forms. An overview of the original work at the site, and of the state of research in each of my data groups, follows. The remainder of the thesis deals in detail with the material from the current excavations, divided into three data groups, and the interpretations of gender and society which they can offer through a contextual analysis. My conclusions are that the gender and social structures discernible from the material culture of Qatalhoytik conform neither to the simple 'matriarchist' nor the modern Western expectations. Rather, a more complex reading of the material, informed by cross-disciplinary scholarship, offers a richer but more open-ended view of the ordinary lives of the people who created this extraordinary site

Interventions at the end of life – a taxonomy for ‘overlapping consensus’

Context: Around the world there is increasing interest in end of life issues. An unprecedented number of people dying in future decades will put new strains on families, communities, services and governments. It will also have implications for representations of death and dying within society and for the overall orientation of health and social care. What interventions are emerging in the face of these challenges? Methods: We conceptualize a comprehensive taxonomy of interventions, defined as ‘organized responses to end of life issues’. Findings: We classify the range of end of life interventions into 10 substantive categories: policy, advocacy, educational, ethico-legal, service, clinical, research, cultural, intangible, self-determined. We distinguish between two empirical aspects of any end of life intervention: the ‘locus’ refers to the space or spaces in which it is situated; the ‘focus’ captures its distinct character and purpose. We also contend that end of life interventions can be seen conceptually in two ways – as ‘frames’ (organized responses that primarily construct a shared understanding of an end of life issue) or as ‘instruments’ (organized responses that assume a shared understanding and then move to act in that context). Conclusions: Our taxonomy opens up the debate about end of life interventions in new ways to provide protagonists, activists, policy makers, clinicians, researchers and educators with a comprehensive framework in which to place their endeavours and more effectively to assess their efficacy. Following the inspiration of political philosopher John Rawls, we seek to foster an ‘overlapping consensus’ on how interventions at the end of life can be construed, understood and assessed

Understanding and measuring psychological consultation with staff working with care experienced young people

Abstract available at each chapter

“The People Who Leave Here Are Not the People Who Arrived.”: A Qualitative Analysis of the Therapeutic Process and Identity Transition in the Offender Personality Disorder Pathway

Individuals with personality disorder are often construed as difficult to treat, and sometimes even “untreatable.” In this study, 24 men who had completed treatment on the offender personality disorder treatment pathway participated in focus groups at a high-security prison in the United Kingdom. The results of the data analysis revealed three superordinate themes that captured the impact and experience of the therapeutic process. The three themes were “A self-reconstructed,” which focused on the reconstruing and reconstructions of participants’ identity and how intervention assisted with a coherent narrative of self. The second superordinate theme, “Relational resilience and dealing with abandonment,” relates to the attachment to therapists and the negotiation of relational boundaries and resilience. The third theme, “Reimagining and re-experiencing trauma,” focuses on participants’ exploration and reliving of trauma, and how group processes allowed for shared understanding and a reconstruing of their trauma. Implications for policy and practice are discussed

The Need for Social Accountability in Medical School Education: a Tale of Five Students’ Integration into Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside

Abstract Medical educators are recognizing that social accountability is a tenet of Canadian medical education, yet it is a difficult concept to teach didactically. Accumulating evidence supports the integration of social accountability into the medical curriculum through community involvement. Fortunately, the University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine enables students to pursue community learning as part of its curriculum; and we, five medical students, benefited from that opportunity. This commentary will promote the importance of teaching social accountability in medical schools through community-based learning based on available literature and our personal experience with Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (DTES).  Résumé Les professeurs de médecine reconnaissent que la responsabilité sociale est un pilier de l’éducation médicale canadienne; néan- moins, c’est un concept difficile à enseigner didactiquement. De plus en plus de preuves appuient l’intégration de la responsabilité sociale au curriculum médical à travers l’engagement communautaire. Heureusement, la Faculté de Médecine de l’Université de la Colombie-Britannique permet aux étudiants de participer à l’apprentissage par engagement communautaire en tant que composante du curriculum; nous, cinq étudiants en médecine, avons pu profiter de cette opportunité. Ce commentaire va promouvoir l’importance d’enseigner la responsabilité sociale dans les écoles de médecine par l’intermédiaire de l’apprentissage par engagement communau- taire, basé sur la littérature disponible et notre expérience personnelle avec le quartier de Downtown Eastside de Vancouver (DTES).

A moment for compassion: emerging rhetorics in end-of-life care

Compassion is an emotional response to the suffering of others. Once felt, it entails subsequent action to ameliorate their suffering. Recently, ‘compassion’ has become the flagship concept to be fostered in the delivery of end-of-life care, and a rallying call for social action and public health intervention. In this paper, we examine the emerging rhetorics of compassion as they relate to end-of-life care and offer a critique of the expanding discourse around it. We argue that, even where individuals ‘possess’ compassion or are ‘trained’ in it, there are difficulties for compassion to flow freely, particularly within Western society. This relates to specific sociopolitical structural factors that include the sense of privacy and individualism in modern industrialised countries, highly professionalised closed health systems, anxiety about litigation on health and safety grounds, and a context of suspicion and mistrust within the global political scenario. We must then ask ourselves whether compassion can be created intentionally, without paying attention to the structural aspects of society. One consequence of globalisation is that countries in the global South are rapidly trying to embrace the features of modernity adopted by the global North. We argue that unrealistic assumptions have been made about the role of compassion in end-of-life care and these idealist aspirations must be tempered by a more structural assessment of potential. Compassion that is not tied to to realistic action runs the risk of becoming empty rhetoric

Multiple AMPK activators inhibit L-Carnitine uptake in C2C12 skeletal muscle myotubes

Mutations in the gene that encodes the principal L-Carnitine transporter, OCTN2, can lead to a reduced intracellular L-Carnitine pool and the disease Primary Carnitine Deficiency. L-Carnitine supplementation is used therapeutically to increase intracellular L-Carnitine. As AMPK and insulin regulate fat metabolism and substrate uptake we hypothesised that AMPK activating compounds and insulin would increase L-Carnitine uptake in C2C12myotubes. The cells express all three OCTN transporters at the mRNA level and immunohistochemistry confirmed expression at the protein level. Contrary to our hypothesis, despite significant activation of PKB and 2DG uptake, insulin did not increase L-Carnitine uptake at 100nM. However, L-Carnitine uptake was modestly increased at a dose of 150nM insulin. A range of AMPK activators that increase intracellular calcium content [caffeine (10mM, 5mM, 1mM, 0.5mM), A23187 (10μM)], inhibit mitochondrial function [Sodium Azide (75μM), Rotenone (1μM), Berberine (100μM), DNP (500μM)] or directly activate AMPK [AICAR (250μM)] were assessed for their ability to regulate L-Carnitine uptake. All compounds tested significantly inhibited L-Carnitine uptake. Inhibition by caffeine was not dantrolene (10μM) sensitive. Saturation curve analysis suggested that caffeine did not competitively inhibit L-Carnitine transport. However, the AMPK inhibitor Compound C (10μM) partially rescued the effect of caffeine suggesting that AMPK may play a role in the inhibitory effects of caffeine. However, caffeine likely inhibits L-Carnitine uptake by alternative mechanisms independently of calcium release. PKA activation or direct interference with transporter function may play a role

Messing with nature? Exploring public perceptions of geoengineering in the UK

Anthropogenic influence on the climate – and possible societal responses to it – offers a unique window through which to examine the way people think about and relate to the natural world. This paper reports data from four, one-day deliberative workshops conducted with members of the UK public during early 2012. The workshops focused on geoengineering – the deliberate, large-scale manipulation of the planetary environment – as one of three possible responses to climate change (alongside mitigation and adaptation). Here, we explore one of the most pervasive and wide-ranging themes to emerge from the workshops: whether geoengineering represented an unprecedented human intervention into ‘nature’, and what the moral consequences of this might be. Using the concept of ‘messing with nature’ as an analytical lens, we explore public perceptions of geoengineering. We also reflect on why ‘messing with nature’ was such a focal point for debate and disagreement, and whether the prospect of geoengineering may reveal new dimensions to the way that people think about the natural world, and their relationship to it

A Phase II Trial of the Epothilone B Analog Ixabepilone (BMS-247550) in Patients with Metastatic Melanoma

Ixabepilone (BMS-247550), an epothilone B analog, is a microtubule stabilizing agent which has shown activity in several different tumor types and preclinical models in melanoma. In an open label, one-arm, multi-center phase II trial the efficacy and toxicity of this epothilone was investigated in two different cohorts: chemotherapy-naïve (previously untreated) and previously treated patients with metastatic melanoma.Eligible patients had histologically-confirmed stage IV melanoma, with an ECOG performance status of 0 to 2. Ixabepilone was administered at a dose of 20 mg/m(2) on days 1, 8, and 15 during each 28-day cycle. The primary endpoint was response rate (RR); secondary endpoints were time to progression (TTP) and toxicity. Twenty-four patients were enrolled and 23 were evaluable for response. Initial serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels were elevated in 6/11 (55%) of the previously treated and in 5/13 (38%) of the previously untreated patients. No complete or partial responses were seen in either cohort. One patient in the previously treated group developed neutropenia and fatal septic shock. Seventeen patients (8 in the previously untreated group and 9 in the previously treated group) progressed after 2 cycles, whereas six patients (3 in each group) had stable disease after 2-6 cycles. Median TTP was 1.74 months in the previously untreated group (95% CI = 1.51 months, upper limit not estimated) and 1.54 months in the previously treated group (95% CI = 1.15 months, 2.72 months). Grade 3 and/or 4 toxicities occurred in 5/11 (45%) of previously untreated and in 5/13 (38%) of previously treated patients and included neutropenia, peripheral neuropathy, fatigue, diarrhea, and dyspnea.Ixabepilone has no meaningful activity in either chemotherapy-naïve (previously untreated) or previously treated patients with metastatic melanoma. Further investigation with ixabepilone as single agent in the treatment of melanoma is not warranted.Clinical Trials.gov NCT00036764