Stem Cell Research and Same Sex Reproduction

Recent advances in stem cell research suggest that in the future it may be possible to create eggs and sperm from human stem cells through a process that we term in vitro gametogenesis (IVG). IVG would allow treatment of some currently untreatable forms of infertility. It may also allow same-sex couples to have genetically-related children. For example, cells taken from one man could potentially be used to create an egg, which could then be fertilised using naturally produced sperm from another man to create a genetically-related child with half of its DNA from each of the men. In this chapter, we consider whether this technology could justifiably be denied to same-sex couples if it were made available as a fertility treatment to different-sex couples. We argue that it could not

Put Farm Savings in... Better Housing

For the first time in many years, Iowa farm families are in a financial position to do something about the houses they live in

Not All Dogs Go To Heaven

This paper is in direct support of my thesis exhibition, Not All Dogs Go To Heaven, held at Gales Gallery, York University, April 11-15, 2022. This document and its text reveals the conceptual and material concerns that are relevant to the narrative and mythology that become the focus of the exhibition. Central to this project is an entity of fiction. It is never fully revealed, only referenced. The stray dog stands in as a metaphor. The path that it travels is curiously arranged and its existence is fugitive. The artworks I am creating are located in this speculative zone. Physically, the works take the form of fabricated and assembled sculptures, cast objects, acrylic structures, metal lightboxes, and digital images and illustrations materialized through commercial printing techniques. These works all exist within an imaginative area—the stay dog’s path—and are the accumulated forms of multiple iconographic references and inherit the emotional weight of the contemporary milieu. The work itself is a “check-in” of the current moment, it suspends the time it exists in order to dissect it in a slow and critical manner. Through the use of bold visual forms and imagery, the works are able to highlight the strange times we live in—a sense of contemporary angst that is sticky and bright and plasmic

Lingual Ischemia from Prolonged Insertion of a Fastrach Laryngeal Mask Airway

We report a case of lingual ischemia and swelling in an elderly stroke patient from prolonged insertion of a FastrachTM Laryngeal Mask Airway ® following a failed Emergency Department intubation. Simple suggestions to mitigate such injury are provided

Modeling the Impact of Land Surface Degradation on the Climate of Tropical North Africa

Degradation of the land surface has been suggested as a cause of persistent drought in tropical north Africa. A general circulation model is used to assess the impact of degradation of five regions within tropical north Africa. Idealized degradation scenarios are used since existing observations are inadequate the determine the extent and severity of historical degradation. It is found that the impact of degradation varies between the regions. The greatest effects are found from degradation of the Sahel or West Africa, which result in substantial reduction of precipitation over the degraded area. Both surface evaporation and atmospheric moisture convergence are reduced. In the Sahelian case the precipitation reduction extends well to the south of the area of changed land surface. The occurrence of easterly wave disturbances is not altered by degradation, but the mean rainfall from each event is reduced. Degradation of an area in eastern north Africa results in smaller reductions of precipitation and moisture convergence. Finally, degradation of a southern area next to the Gulf of Guinea has little effect on precipitation because of a compensatory increase of moisture convergence. The simulated rainfall reduction following degradation of the Sahel is comparable to observed changes in recent decades, suggesting that degradation may have contributed to that change

The future for global water assessment

The global water cycle is a fundamental component of our climate and Earth system. Many, if not the majority, of the impacts of climate change are water related. We have an imperfect description and understanding of components of the water cycle. This arises from an incomplete observation of some of the stores and fluxes in the water cycle (in particular: precipitation, evaporation, soil moisture and groundwater), problems with the simulation of precipitation by global climate models and the wide diversity of global hydrological models currently in use. This paper discusses these sources of errors and, in particular, explores the errors and advantages of bias correcting climate model outputs for hydrological models using a single large catchment as an example (the Rhine). One conclusion from this analysis is that bias correction is necessary and has an impact on the mean flows and their seasonal cycle. However choice of hydrological model has an equal, if not larger effect on the quality of the simulation. The paper highlights the importance of improving hydrological models, which run at a continental and global scale, and the importance of quantifying uncertainties in impact studies