Defending Helen Archer – marital rape and the role of expert testimony in cases involving domestic abuse

Jennifer Brown, Jeannie Mackie and Yvonne Shell offer psychological, legal and clinical commentary on the Helen Archer (Titchener) attempted murder trial as portrayed in Radio 4’s The Archers. The complexities of the case are discussed in light of the apparent initial unwillingness of the defendant to provide full details of the domestic abuse she suffered at the hands of her husband

Addressing Barriers to Breast Cancer Screening: Where to Intervene to Increase Mammogram Completion Rates

Methods: Study sought to determine if an intervention would aid in increasing mammogram screening rates in the Jefferson Family Medicine Associates practice.https://jdc.jefferson.edu/patientsafetyposters/1061/thumbnail.jp

Report from the Participation in the Current System Workgroup

OSI2016 Workgroup Question: Do researchers and scientists participate in the current system of scholarly publishing because they like it, they need it, they don’t have a choice in the matter, or they don’t really care one way or another? What perceptions, considerations and incentives do academicians have for staying the course (like impact factors and tenure points), and what are their pressures and incentives for changing direction (like lowering publishing charges)? The authors of scholarly works play a critical role in the scholarly communications system: authors are the original content creators, and in many or most cases are the original rightsholders and the ultimate decisionmakers when it comes to how, when, and where to publish their work. Although there are other significant participants in the current system (including publishers, librarians, information consumers, etc.), understanding and respecting the range of influences that shape author publication decisions are crucial to effecting change in the system. While recognizing the highly individual and diverse nature of author interests, we identified several priorities that stand out as driving decisions in the publication process. Career advancement concerns are primary, and the perceived currency of a publication mode or venue with promotion and tenure committees is a significant factor in decision making. A related, but distinct, factor is a publication venue’s perceived prestige among the authors’ peers. Both of these considerations have significant interplay with, and often serve as proxies for, scholarly authors’ overarching motivation to advance knowledge and make an impact in their fields. External factors may also direct author choice. Funder requirements and, in the case of works made for hire, employer requirements, can narrow the range of options available to authors. Survey evidence suggests that authors increasingly see open publication models as being consistent with, or in furtherance of, their goals as scholars.1 For instance, authors increasingly see open access (OA) publication as leading to wider circulation, greater visibility, and possibly more citations. Our task was to consider how we might accelerate these trends to facilitate openness in scholarship

Report from the Participation in the Current System Workgroup

OSI2016 Workgroup Question: Do researchers and scientists participate in the current system of scholarly publishing because they like it, they need it, they don’t have a choice in the matter, or they don’t really care one way or another? What perceptions, considerations and incentives do academicians have for staying the course (like impact factors and tenure points), and what are their pressures and incentives for changing direction (like lowering publishing charges)? The authors of scholarly works play a critical role in the scholarly communications system: authors are the original content creators, and in many or most cases are the original rightsholders and the ultimate decisionmakers when it comes to how, when, and where to publish their work. Although there are other significant participants in the current system (including publishers, librarians, information consumers, etc.), understanding and respecting the range of influences that shape author publication decisions are crucial to effecting change in the system. While recognizing the highly individual and diverse nature of author interests, we identified several priorities that stand out as driving decisions in the publication process. Career advancement concerns are primary, and the perceived currency of a publication mode or venue with promotion and tenure committees is a significant factor in decision making. A related, but distinct, factor is a publication venue’s perceived prestige among the authors’ peers. Both of these considerations have significant interplay with, and often serve as proxies for, scholarly authors’ overarching motivation to advance knowledge and make an impact in their fields. External factors may also direct author choice. Funder requirements and, in the case of works made for hire, employer requirements, can narrow the range of options available to authors. Survey evidence suggests that authors increasingly see open publication models as being consistent with, or in furtherance of, their goals as scholars.1 For instance, authors increasingly see open access (OA) publication as leading to wider circulation, greater visibility, and possibly more citations. Our task was to consider how we might accelerate these trends to facilitate openness in scholarship

The small RNA SgrS controls sugar–phosphate accumulation by regulating multiple PTS genes

A number of bacterial small RNAs (sRNAs) act as global regulators of stress responses by controlling expression of multiple genes. The sRNA SgrS is expressed in response to glucose–phosphate stress, a condition associated with disruption of glycolytic flux and accumulation of sugar–phosphates. SgrS has been shown to stimulate degradation of the ptsG mRNA, encoding the major glucose transporter. This study demonstrates that SgrS regulates the genes encoding the mannose and secondary glucose transporter, manXYZ. Analysis of manXYZ mRNA stability and translation in the presence and absence of SgrS indicate that manXYZ is regulated by SgrS under stress conditions and when SgrS is ectopically expressed. In vitro footprinting and in vivo mutational analyses showed that SgrS base pairs with manXYZ within the manX coding sequence to prevent manX translation. Regulation of manX did not require the RNase E degradosome complex, suggesting that the primary mechanism of regulation is translational. An Escherichia coli ptsG mutant strain that is manXYZ+ experiences stress when exposed to the glucose analogs α-methyl glucoside or 2-deoxyglucose. A ptsG manXYZ double mutant is resistant to the stress, indicating that PTS transporters encoded by both SgrS targets are involved in taking up substrates that cause stress

Exploring stakeholders’ ecosystem services perceptions across Massachusetts Bays using deliberative valuation

Deliberative methods to assess ecosystem services values formalize community members’ and stakeholders’ involvement in decision-making related to natural resources management. This paper presents the methodological design and the application of a deliberative multicriteria evaluation (DMCE) method that combines the advantages of deliberation with structured decision-making to assess community-based values of four coastal ecosystem services (valued by indicators such as Total Nitrogen, Blue Carbon, Scallop Landings, Fish Abundance) and explore the spatial variability of group values along the Massachusetts coastline. We implemented four virtual deliberative workshops consisting of stakeholders from four Massachusetts Bays (MassBays) estuarine categorizations to collect quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative data came from individual survey results and group preferences, while qualitative data were derived through the analysis of video recordings and transcripts of deliberations. Compared to previous studies, we combined quantitative and qualitative data by using applied thematic and co-occurrence analysis to identify themes of discussion during the deliberative process. Our results show that coastal stakeholders place a particular emphasis on access to clean water and services that directly support human wellbeing and provide direct economic benefits. Differences in the quantitative and qualitative results of these deliberative tasks between groups provide insight into the need for localized policymaking instead of solely regional or statewide management. Environmental managers and policymakers will utilize these insights to address local values and priorities as they work towards implementing habitat restoration efforts

A common framework for collecting evidence of real-life outcomes of aphasia interventions: thoughts and applications

Two related conceptual frameworks have been developed to guide outcome measurement. The Framework for Outcome Measurement (FROM) captures the integration of key generic concepts central to recent international thinking in the area of health and disability. The second, Living with Aphasia: Framework for Outcome Measurement (A-FROM), focuses directly on communication and is intended to guide thinking about outcome measurement in aphasia. User-friendly and accessible schematics represent potential outcome domains and highlight the centrality of quality of life. The frameworks and methods of development will be discussed. Guidelines for potential applications will be presented with examples from two A-FROM derived tools

Birth of a Live Cria After Transfer of a Vitrified-Warmed Alpaca (Vicugna pacos) Preimplantation Embryo

The alpaca (Vicugna pacos) is an important species for the production of fiber and food. Genetic improvement programs for alpacas have been hindered, however, by the lack of field-practical techniques for artificial insemination and embryo transfer. In particular, successful techniques for the cryopreservation of alpaca preimplantation embryos have not been reported previously. The objective of this study was to develop a field-practical and efficacious technique for cryopreservation of alpaca preimplantation embryos using a modification of a vitrification protocol originally devised for horses and adapted for dromedary camels. Four naturally cycling non-superovulated Huacaya females serving as embryo donors were mated to males of proven fertility. Donors received 30 μg of gonadorelin at the time of breeding, and embryos were non-surgically recovered 7 days after mating. Recovered embryos (n = 4) were placed individually through a series of three vitrification solutions at 20°C (VS1: 1.4 M glycerol; VS2: 1.4 M glycerol + 3.6 M ethylene glycol; VS3: 3.4 M glycerol + 4.6 M ethylene glycol) before loading into an open-pulled straw (OPS) and plunging directly into liquid nitrogen for storage. At warming, each individual embryo was sequentially placed through warming solutions (WS1: 0.5 M galactose at 37°C; WS2: 0.25 M galactose at 20°C), and warmed embryos were incubated at 37°C in 5% CO2 in humidified air for 20–22 h in 1 ml Syngro® holding medium supplemented with 10% (v/v) alpaca serum to perform an initial in vitro assessment of post-warming viability. Embryos whose diameter increased during culture (n = 2) were transferred individually into synchronous recipients, whereas embryos that did not grow (n = 2) were transferred together into a single recipient to perform an in vivo assessment of post-warming viability. Initial pregnancy detection was performed ultrasonographically 29 days post-transfer when fetal heartbeat could be detected, and one of three recipients was pregnant (25% embryo survival rate). On November 13, 2019, the one pregnant recipient delivered what is believed to be the world\u27s first cria produced from a vitrified-warmed alpaca embryo

DISC1 complexes with TRAK1 and Miro1 to modulate anterograde axonal mitochondrial trafficking

Disrupted-In-Schizophrenia 1 (DISC1) is a candidate risk factor for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and severe recurrent depression. Here, we demonstrate that DISC1 associates robustly with trafficking-protein-Kinesin-binding-1 which is, in turn, known to interact with the outer mitochondrial membrane proteins Miro1/2, linking mitochondria to the kinesin motor for microtubule-based subcellular trafficking. DISC1 also associates with Miro1 and is thus a component of functional mitochondrial transport complexes. Consistent with these obser-vations, in neuronal axons DISC1 promotes specifically anterogrademitochondrial transport. DISC1 thus parti-cipates directly inmitochondrial trafficking, which is essential for neural development and neurotransmission. Any factor affecting mitochondrial DISC1 function is hence likely to have deleterious consequences for the brain, potentially contributing to increased risk of psychiatric illness. Intriguingly, therefore, a rare putatively causal humanDISC1 sequence variant, 37W, impairs the ability of DISC1 to promote anterogrademitochondrial transport. This is likely related toanumberofmitochondrial abnormalities inducedbyexpressionofDISC1-37W, which redistributes mitochondrial DISC1 and enhances kinesin mitochondrial association, while also altering protein interactions within the mitochondrial transport complex