Clinical Trans/Aesthetics: the Knowledge Re/production of Transgender Womxn who Exchange Sex

While there is a cornucopia of writing on transgender and sex worker identities vis-à-vis gender and sexuality studies, there is lacuna of transgender worldviews and knowledge re/production beyond these political pigeonholes. When research does include direct quotes from transgender and sex worker informants, more often than not, it is either to bolster the claims of the researcher or to piece together an ethnography. In both cases, the research does not center the informant’s affective and intellectual reasonings, beyond questions of gender and health. This leaves the critical thought of trans womxn sex workers out of the picture. This exclusion is unfortunate because the trans sex workers’ situation gives them a unique vantage point for understanding the world(s) in which we live and beyond. Trans womxn who exchange sex re/produces knowledge that privileged epistemologies do not adequately articulate. But pairing and challenging these hegemonic modes of thinking with trans knowledge re/production, there is a synergy. This dialectic expands the delimited frameworks of hegemonic thought—a critical trans/aesthetic theory. This thesis then develops a clinical trans/aesthetics to critique interviews with trans womxn sex workers in an attempt to make legible the population’s overlooked, elusive and devalued knowledge

Ablation loading of barium ions into a surface electrode trap

Trapped-ion quantum information processing may benefit from qubits encoded in isotopes that are practically available in only small quantities, e.g. due to low natural abundance or radioactivity. Laser ablation provides a method of controllably liberating neutral atoms or ions from low-volume targets, but energetic ablation products can be difficult to confine in the small ion-electrode distance, micron-scale, microfabricated traps amenable to high-speed, high-fidelity manipulation of ion arrays. Here we investigate ablation-based ion loading into surface-electrode traps of different sizes to test a model describing ion loading probability as a function of effective trap volume and other trap parameters. We demonstrate loading of ablated and photoionized barium in two cryogenic surface-electrode traps with 730 $\mu$m and 50 $\mu$m ion-electrode distances. Our loading success probability agrees with a predictive analytical model, providing insight for the confinement of limited-quantity species of interest for quantum computing, simulation, and sensing

A practical approach to cerebral near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) directed hemodynamic management in noncardiac pediatric anesthesia

Safeguarding cerebral function is of major importance during pediatric anesthesia. Premature, ex‐premature, and full‐term neonates can be vulnerable to physiologi‐ cal changes that occur during anesthesia and surgery. Data from studies performed during pediatric cardiac surgery and in neonatal/pediatric intensive care units have shown the benefits of near‐infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) monitoring of regional cer‐ ebral oxygenation (c‐rSO2). However, NIRS monitoring is seldom used during non‐ cardiac pediatric anesthesia. Despite compelling evidence that blood pressure does not reflect end‐organ perfusion, it is still regarded as the most important determi‐ nant of cerebral perfusion and the most relevant hemodynamic management target parameter by most (pediatric) anesthetists. The principle of NIRS monitoring is not self‐explanatory and sometimes seems even counterintuitive, which may explain why many anesthesiologists are reserved regarding its use. The first part of this paper is dedicated to a clinical introduction to NIRS monitoring. Despite scientific efforts, it has not yet been possible to define individual lower limit c‐rSO2 values and it is unlikely this will succeed in the near future. Nonetheless, published treatment algo‐ rithms usually specify c‐rSO2 values which may be associated with cerebral hypoxia. Our treatment guideline for maintaining sufficient cerebral oxygenation differs fun‐ damentally from all previously published approaches. We define a baseline c‐rSO2 value, registered in the awake child prior to anesthesia induction, as the lowest ac‐ ceptable limit during anesthesia and surgery. The cerebral rSO2 is the single target parameter, while blood pressure, heart rate, PaCO2, and SaO2 are major parameters that determine the c‐rSO2. Cerebral NIRS monitoring, interpreted together with its continuously available contributing parameters, may help avoid potentially harmful episodes of cerebral desaturation in anesthetized pediatric patients

Character pathology and neuropsychological test performance in remitted opiate dependence

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cognitive deficits and personality pathology are prevalent in opiate dependence, even during periods of remission, and likely contribute to relapse. Understanding the relationship between the two in vulnerable, opiate-addicted patients may contribute to the design of better treatment and relapse prevention strategies.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The Millon Multiaxial Clinical Inventory (MCMI) and a series of neuropsychological tests were administered to three subject groups: 29 subjects receiving methadone maintenance treatment (MM), 27 subjects in protracted abstinence from methadone maintenance treatment (PA), and 29 healthy non-dependent comparison subjects. Relationships between MCMI scores, neuropsychological test results, and measures of substance use and treatment were examined using bivariate correlation and regression analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>MCMI scores were greater in subjects with a history of opiate dependence than in comparison subjects. A significant negative correlation between MCMI scores and neuropsychological test performance was identified in all subjects. MCMI scores were stronger predictors of neuropsychological test performance than measures of drug use.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Formerly methadone-treated opiate dependent individuals in protracted opiate abstinence demonstrate a strong relationship between personality pathology and cognitive deficits. The cause of these deficits is unclear and most likely multi-factorial. This finding may be important in understanding and interpreting neuropsychological testing deficiencies in opiate-dependent subjects.</p

An integrated transcriptomic and computational analysis for biomarker identification in gastric cancer

This report describes an integrated study on identification of potential markers for gastric cancer in patients’ cancer tissues and sera based on: (i) genome-scale transcriptomic analyses of 80 paired gastric cancer/reference tissues and (ii) computational prediction of blood-secretory proteins supported by experimental validation. Our findings show that: (i) 715 and 150 genes exhibit significantly differential expressions in all cancers and early-stage cancers versus reference tissues, respectively; and a substantial percentage of the alteration is found to be influenced by age and/or by gender; (ii) 21 co-expressed gene clusters have been identified, some of which are specific to certain subtypes or stages of the cancer; (iii) the top-ranked gene signatures give better than 94% classification accuracy between cancer and the reference tissues, some of which are gender-specific; and (iv) 136 of the differentially expressed genes were predicted to have their proteins secreted into blood, 81 of which were detected experimentally in the sera of 13 validation samples and 29 found to have differential abundances in the sera of cancer patients versus controls. Overall, the novel information obtained in this study has led to identification of promising diagnostic markers for gastric cancer and can benefit further analyses of the key (early) abnormalities during its development

A comparison of low-dose risperidone to paroxetine in the treatment of panic attacks: a randomized, single-blind study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Because a large proportion of patients with panic attacks receiving approved pharmacotherapy do not respond or respond poorly to medication, it is important to identify additional therapeutic strategies for the management of panic symptoms. This article describes a randomized, rater-blind study comparing low-dose risperidone to standard-of-care paroxetine for the treatment of panic attacks.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Fifty six subjects with a history of panic attacks were randomized to receive either risperidone or paroxetine. The subjects were then followed for eight weeks. Outcome measures included the Panic Disorder Severity Scale (PDSS), the Hamilton Anxiety Scale (Ham-A), the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (Ham-D), the Sheehan Panic Anxiety Scale-Patient (SPAS-P), and the Clinical Global Impression scale (CGI).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>All subjects demonstrated a reduction in both the frequency and severity of panic attacks regardless of treatment received. Statistically significant improvements in rating scale scores for both groups were identified for the PDSS, the Ham-A, the Ham-D, and the CGI. There was no difference between treatment groups in the improvement in scores on the measures PDSS, Ham-A, Ham-D, and CGI. Post hoc tests suggest that subjects receiving risperidone may have a quicker clinical response than subjects receiving paroxetine.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We can identify no difference in the efficacy of paroxetine and low-dose risperidone in the treatment of panic attacks. Low-dose risperidone appears to be tolerated equally well as paroxetine. Low-dose risperidone may be an effective treatment for anxiety disorders in which panic attacks are a significant component.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p>ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT100457106</p