Is the Risk for Sexual Revictimization Cumulative? A Prospective Examination

Introduction: Sexual abuse during childhood is associated with risk for sexual assault as an adult, known as revictimization. Although multiple experiences of sexual assault in adulthood are also common, it is unclear how risk trajectories might continue to evolve in emerging adulthood, defined as ages 18 to 25. Clarifying risk trajectories is important to inform the development of targeted risk reduction interventions. To fill this gap, we examined cumulative risk for sexual assault in emerging adult women following multiple experiences of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and adulthood sexual assault (ASA). Methods: Women (n = 447; aged 18–25 years at enrollment) completed behaviorally specific assessments of unwanted sexual experiences at up to nine time points across 3 years. Logistic regression was used to predict any sexual assault during the 3-year period as a function of victimization history at baseline. A multilevel logistic regression analysis among ASA survivors was then used to determine whether each successive ASA increased risk for further victimization. Results: Extending prior research, findings revealed that the risk for sexual assault during the 3-year study was greater for women reporting more prior experiences of CSA and ASA. Unexpectedly, each ASA increased the risk for a subsequent ASA to a lesser extent among women with more experiences of CSA. Conclusions: Findings suggest that the risk for sexual revictimization can be cumulative, but that risk does not increase indefinitely. Future research should investigate the points at which survivors of multiple assaults may begin to experience a decreased risk for later assaults, as well as the factors associated with change in risk status (e.g., removal from violent environments or relationships, changes in institutional policies). Such research could inform intervention targets

CLASS AND PARENTING IN ACCOUNTS OF CHILD PROTECTION: A DISCURSIVE ETHNOGRAPHY UNDER CONSTRUCTION Stef Slembrouck

for constructive comments on an earlier version of this paper. I am also grateful for the support of Chris Hall, who for more than a decade now has been a greatly-valued compagnon de route in the analysis of discursive practices of child care and protection on both sides of the Channel. Stef Slembrouck Abstract In this paper, the idea of ethnograpies of hegemony is taken up as a reflexive orientation in research which addresses the complexity of forms of domination in late modern society also by trying to come to terms with the situatednes of interactionally-established interview data. Following a number of methodological remarks on the establishment of a 'native point of view' as well as a number of observations on the data trajectories (tribulations and triangulations) which mark this particular discursive ethnography, the analysis goes on to concentrate on the ways in which case categorisation is 'spoken' through social class in one particular account of child protection. As an exercise in 'classifying the classifiers' (Bourdieu 1992: 242) 2 , the analysis highlights how professional and private talk about social problems is implicated in class-based subjectivities and involves (displaced) representations of class? However, much depends here on what we mean by 'class' when referring to a contemporary context such as the Flemish/Belgian field of child protection. If hegemony then counts as a historicising interpretative move which highlights <a> the interwovenness of domain -and profession-based discourses of social problems with discourses of class and <b> the contextualisation of particular sense-making repertoires, then it is just as much about the situational contingencies under which class and domination becomes speakable in a particular way. This, I suggest, is where ethnography becomes all-important -as an investigative strategy and as an epistemology of dialogic engagement with social theory and contemporary analyses of the late modern world

Summary: Combating Climate Change with Section 115 of the Clean Air Act

The scale and scope of the climate crisis calls for comprehensive nationwide efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. New legislation, passed by Congress and signed by the President, is the first and best option for climate action at the federal level. This could be a version of the Green New Deal, a carbon tax, sectoral limits, an emissions cap with compliance trading, or another approach. What matters most is that the legislation effectively cut the greenhouse gas emissions driving the world’s temperatures ever higher. Unfortunately, the prospect for federal legislation is uncertain, while strong and decisive action is needed now. A president committed to tackling climate change will need a backup plan in case Congress remains gridlocked, one that relies on existing statutes to achieve the deep emission reductions the science says we need

Adalimumab for prevention of uveitic flare in patients with inactive non-infectious uveitis controlled by corticosteroids (VISUAL II):a multicentre, double-masked, randomised, placebo-controlled phase 3 trial

Background Non-infectious uveitis is a potentially sight-threatening ocular disorder caused by chronic inflammation and its complications. Therapeutic success is limited by systemic adverse effects associated with long-term corticosteroid and immunomodulator use if topical medication is not sufficient to control the inflammation. We aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of adalimumab in patients with inactive, non-infectious uveitis controlled by systemic corticosteroids. Methods We did this multicentre, double-masked, randomised, placebo-controlled phase 3 trial at 62 study sites in 21 countries in the USA, Canada, Europe, Israel, Australia, and Latin America. Patients (aged >= 18 years) with inactive, non-infectious intermediate, posterior, or panuveitic uveitis controlled by 10-35 mg/day of prednisone were randomly assigned (1: 1), via an interactive voice and web response system with a block size of four, to receive either subcutaneous adalimumab (loading dose 80 mg; biweekly dose 40 mg) or placebo, with a mandatory prednisone taper from week 2. Randomisation was stratified by baseline immunosuppressant treatment. Sponsor personnel with direct oversight of the conduct and management of the study, investigators, study site personnel, and patients were masked to treatment allocation. The primary efficacy endpoint was time to treatment failure, a multicomponent endpoint encompassing new active inflammatory chorioretinal or inflammatory retinal vascular lesions, anterior chamber cell grade, vitreous haze grade, and visual acuity. Analysis was done in the intention-to-treat population. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01124838. Findings Between Aug 10, 2010, and May 14, 2015, we randomly assigned 229 patients to receive placebo (n=114) or adalimumab (n=115); 226 patients comprised the intention-to-treat population. Median follow-up time was 155 days (IQR 77-357) in the placebo group and 245 days (119-564) in the adalimumab group. Treatment failure occurred in 61 (55%) of 111 patients in the placebo group compared with 45 (39%) of 115 patients in the adalimumab group. Time to treatment failure was significantly improved in the adalimumab group compared with the placebo group (median not estimated [>18 months] vs 8.3 months; hazard ratio 0.57, 95% CI 0.39-0.84; p=0.004). The 40th percentile for time to treatment failure was 4.8 months in the placebo group and 10.2 months in the adalimumab group. No patients in either group had opportunistic infections (excluding oral candidiasis and tuberculosis). No malignancies were reported in the placebo group whereas one (1%) patient in the adalimumab group reported non-serious squamous cell carcinoma. The most common adverse events were arthralgia (12 [11%] patients in the placebo group and 27 [23%] patients in the adalimumab group), nasopharyngitis (16 [17%] and eight [16%] patients, respectively), and headache (17 [15%] patients in each group). Interpretation Adalimumab significantly lowered the risk of uveitic flare or loss of visual acuity upon corticosteroid withdrawal in patients with inactive, non-infectious intermediate, posterior, or panuveitic uveitis controlled by systemic corticosteroids. No new safety signals were observed and the rate of adverse events was similar between groups. These findings suggest that adalimumab is well tolerated and could be an effective treatment option in this patient population. An open-label extension study (NCT01148225) is ongoing to provide long-term safety data for adalimumab in patients with non-infectious uveitis

Computational Model Explains High Activity and Rapid Cycling of Rho GTPases within Protein Complexes

Formation of multiprotein complexes on cellular membranes is critically dependent on the cyclic activation of small GTPases. FRAP-based analyses demonstrate that within protein complexes, some small GTPases cycle nearly three orders of magnitude faster than they would spontaneously cycle in vitro. At the same time, experiments report concomitant excess of the activated, GTP-bound form of GTPases over their inactive form. Intuitively, high activity and rapid turnover are contradictory requirements. How the cells manage to maximize both remains poorly understood. Here, using GTPases of the Rab and Rho families as a prototype, we introduce a computational model of the GTPase cycle. We quantitatively investigate several plausible layouts of the cycling control module that consist of GEFs, GAPs, and GTPase effectors. We explain the existing experimental data and predict how the cycling of GTPases is controlled by the regulatory proteins in vivo. Our model explains distinct and separable roles that the activating GEFs and deactivating GAPs play in the GTPase cycling control. While the activity of GTPase is mainly defined by GEF, the turnover rate is a sole function of GAP. Maximization of the GTPase activity and turnover rate places conflicting requirements on the concentration of GAP. Therefore, to achieve a high activity and turnover rate at once, cells must carefully maintain concentrations of GEFs and GAPs within the optimal range. The values of these optimal concentrations indicate that efficient cycling can be achieved only within dense protein complexes typically assembled on the membrane surfaces. We show that the concentration requirement for GEF can be dramatically reduced by a GEF-activating GTPase effector that can also significantly boost the cycling efficiency. Interestingly, we find that the cycling regimes are only weakly dependent on the concentration of GTPase itself

Changing digital media environments and youth audiovisual productions: A comparison of two collaborative research experiences with south Madrid adolescents

SAGE: David Poveda, Marta Morgade, Changing Digital Media Environments and Youth Audiovisual Productions: A Comparison of Two Collaborative Research Experiences with South Madrid Adolescents, Young 26.4 (2018): 34-55 Copyright © 2018SAGE. Reprinted by permission of SAGE PublicationsThis article compares two studies conducted in Madrid in a seven–eight years span in which secondary school students (14–15 years of age) were asked to collaboratively create digital audiovisual narratives. In the first project, adolescents seemed to consider their audiovisual materials as transparent and with self-evident meanings. In the second project, adolescents problematized meaning and reflexively examined the design of audiovisual media. We explore two distinct but complementary factors that might help interpret the differences: (a) rapid historical changes in the digital narratives adolescents are exposed to and engage with and (b) methodological differences in the way adolescents were supported and guided during the creation of their audiovisual narratives. Through this analysis, we draw on an ethnographically grounded notion of ‘mediatization’ that helps unpack both rapid transformations in adolescent’s digital mediascape and how digital practices are socially co-constructed in collaborative projects with youth

Hidden States within Disordered Regions of the CcdA Antitoxin Protein

The bacterial toxin–antitoxin system CcdB–CcdA provides a mechanism for the control of cell death and quiescence. The antitoxin protein CcdA is a homodimer composed of two monomers that each contain a folded N-terminal region and an intrinsically disordered C-terminal arm. Binding of the intrinsically disordered C-terminal arm of CcdA to the toxin CcdB prevents CcdB from inhibiting DNA gyrase and thereby averts cell death. Accurate models of the unfolded state of the partially disordered CcdA antitoxin can therefore provide insight into general mechanisms whereby protein disorder regulates events that are crucial to cell survival. Previous structural studies were able to model only two of three distinct structural states, a closed state and an open state, that are adopted by the C-terminal arm of CcdA. Using a combination of free energy simulations, single-pair Förster resonance energy transfer experiments, and existing NMR data, we developed structural models for all three states of the protein. Contrary to prior studies, we find that CcdA samples a previously unknown state where only one of the disordered C-terminal arms makes extensive contacts with the folded N-terminal domain. Moreover, our data suggest that previously unobserved conformational states play a role in regulating antitoxin concentrations and the activity of CcdA’s cognate toxin. These data demonstrate that intrinsic disorder in CcdA provides a mechanism for regulating cell fate

Dietary Acrylamide Intake and the Risk of Lymphatic Malignancies: The Netherlands Cohort Study on Diet and Cancer

BACKGROUND: Acrylamide, a probable human carcinogen, is present in many everyday foods. Since the finding of its presence in foods in 2002, epidemiological studies have found some suggestive associations between dietary acrylamide exposure and the risk of various cancers. The aim of this prospective study is to investigate for the first time the association between dietary acrylamide intake and the risk of several histological subtypes of lymphatic malignancies. METHODS: The Netherlands Cohort Study on diet and cancer includes 120,852 men and women followed-up since September 1986. The number of person years at risk was estimated by using a random sample of participants from the total cohort that was chosen at baseline (n =5,000). Acrylamide intake was estimated from a food frequency questionnaire combined with acrylamide data for Dutch foods. Hazard ratios (HRs) were calculated for acrylamide intake as a continuous variable as well as in categories (quintiles and tertiles), for men and women separately and for never-smokers, using multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazards models. RESULTS: After 16.3 years of follow-up, 1,233 microscopically confirmed cases of lymphatic malignancies were available for multivariable-adjusted analysis. For multiple myeloma and follicular lymphoma, HRs for men were 1.14 (95% CI: 1.01, 1.27) and 1.28 (95% CI: 1.03, 1.61) per 10 µg acrylamide/day increment, respectively. For never-smoking men, the HR for multiple myeloma was 1.98 (95% CI: 1.38, 2.85). No associations were observed for women. CONCLUSION: We found indications that acrylamide may increase the risk of multiple myeloma and follicular lymphoma in men. This is the first epidemiological study to investigate the association between dietary acrylamide intake and the risk of lymphatic malignancies, and more research into these observed associations is warranted