Depathologising Gender: Vulnerability in Trans Health Law

This chapter challenges how gender has been positioned under the control of health professionals in the regulation of trans bodies. Trans people have formed complex relationships with health professionals, whose influence is often crucial in determining access to body modification treatments including hormones and surgeries. Having previously argued that this constitutes an overreach of medical jurisdiction, this chapter is more forward-looking, assessing the potential of a human right to depathologisation. After deciding that latent risks in this strategy might outweigh potential benefits, we propose an alternative agenda which understands trans bodies, and the institutions which regulate their access to health care, as vulnerable. This change of emphasis offers key insights which could benefit the activists and scholars engaged in the trans depathologisation movement

The genome of woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca)

The woodland strawberry, Fragaria vesca (2n = 2x = 14), is a versatile experimental plant system. This diminutive herbaceous perennial has a small genome (240 Mb), is amenable to genetic transformation and shares substantial sequence identity with the cultivated strawberry (Fragaria Ã- ananassa) and other economically important rosaceous plants. Here we report the draft F. vesca genome, which was sequenced to ×-39 coverage using second-generation technology, assembled de novo and then anchored to the genetic linkage map into seven pseudochromosomes. This diploid strawberry sequence lacks the large genome duplications seen in other rosids. Gene prediction modeling identified 34,809 genes, with most being supported by transcriptome mapping. Genes critical to valuable horticultural traits including flavor, nutritional value and flowering time were identified. Macrosyntenic relationships between Fragaria and Prunus predict a hypothetical ancestral Rosaceae genome that had nine chromosomes. New phylogenetic analysis of 154 protein-coding genes suggests that assignment of Populus to Malvidae, rather than Fabidae, is warranted

Biomarkers of Epileptogenesis: Psychiatric Comorbidities (?)

The last decade has witnessed a significant shift on our understanding of the relationship between psychiatric disorders and epilepsy. While traditionally psychiatric disorders were considered as a complication of the underlying seizure disorder, new epidemiologic data, supported by clinical and experimental research, have suggested the existence of a bidirectional relation between the two types of conditions: not only are patients with epilepsy at greater risk of experiencing a psychiatric disorder, but patients with primary psychiatric disorders are at greater risk of developing epilepsy. Do these data suggest that some of the pathogenic mechanisms operant in psychiatric comorbidities play a role in epileptogenesis? The aim of this article is to review the epidemiologic data that demonstrate that primary psychiatric disorders are more frequent in people who develop epilepsy, before the onset of the seizure disorder than among controls. The next question looks at the available data of pathogenic mechanisms of primary mood disorders and their potential for facilitating the development and/or exacerbation in the severity of epileptic seizures. Finally, we review data derived from experimental studies in animal models of depression and epilepsy that support a potential role of pathogenic mechanisms of mood disorders in the development of epileptic seizures and epileptogenesis. The data presented in this article do not yet establish conclusive evidence of a pathogenic role of psychiatric comorbidities in epileptogenesis, but raise important research questions that need to be investigated in experimental, clinical, and population-based epidemiologic research studies. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13311-014-0271-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

The genome of woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca)

The woodland strawberry, Fragaria vesca (2n = 2x = 14), is a versatile experimental plant system. This diminutive herbaceous perennial has a small genome (240 Mb), is amenable to genetic transformation and shares substantial sequence identity with the cultivated strawberry (Fragaria Ã- ananassa) and other economically important rosaceous plants. Here we report the draft F. vesca genome, which was sequenced to ×-39 coverage using second-generation technology, assembled de novo and then anchored to the genetic linkage map into seven pseudochromosomes. This diploid strawberry sequence lacks the large genome duplications seen in other rosids. Gene prediction modeling identified 34,809 genes, with most being supported by transcriptome mapping. Genes critical to valuable horticultural traits including flavor, nutritional value and flowering time were identified. Macrosyntenic relationships between Fragaria and Prunus predict a hypothetical ancestral Rosaceae genome that had nine chromosomes. New phylogenetic analysis of 154 protein-coding genes suggests that assignment of Populus to Malvidae, rather than Fabidae, is warranted