The Color of Childhood: The Role of the Child/Human Binary in the Production of Anti-Black Racism

The binary between the figure of the child and the fully human being is invoked with regularity in analyses of race, yet its centrality to the conception of race has never been fully explored. For most commentators, the figure of the child operates as a metaphoric or rhetorical trope, a non-essential strategic tool in the perpetuation of White supremacy. As I show in the following, the child/human binary does not present a contingent or merely rhetorical construction but, rather, a central feature of racialization. Where Black peoples are situated as objects of violence it is often precisely because Blackness has been identified with childhood and childhood is historically identified as the archetypal site of naturalized violence and servitude. I proceed by offering a historical account of how Black peoples came to inherit the subordination and dehumanization of European childhood and how White youth were subsequently spared through their partial categorization as adults

The clinical impact of using complex molecular profiling strategies in routine oncology practice

Molecular profiling and functional assessment of signalling pathways of advanced solid tumours are becoming increasingly available. However, their clinical utility in guiding patients’ treatment remains unknown. Here, we assessed whether molecular profiling helps physicians in therapeutic decision making by analysing the molecular profiles of 1057 advanced cancer patient samples after failing at least one standard of care treatment using a combination of next-generation sequencing (NGS), immunohistochemistry (IHC) and other specific tests. The resulting information was interpreted and personalized treatments for each patient were suggested. Our data showed that NGS alone provided the oncologist with useful information in 10–50% of cases (depending on cancer type), whereas the addition of IHC/other tests increased extensively the usefulness of the information provided. Using internet surveys, we investigated how therapy recommendations influenced treatment choice of the oncologist. For patients who were still alive after the provision of the molecular information (76.8%), 60.4% of their oncologists followed report recommendations. Most treatment decisions (93.4%) were made based on the combination of NGS and IHC/other tests, and an approved drug- rather than clinical trial enrolment- was the main treatment choice. Most common reasons given by physicians to explain the non-adherence to recommendations were drug availability and cost, which remain barriers to personalised precision medicine. Finally, we observed that 27% of patients treated with the suggested therapies had an overall survival > 12 months. Our study demonstrates that the combination of NGS and IHC/other tests provides the most useful information in aiding treatment decisions by oncologists in routine clinical practice

Assignment of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor genes Cdkn2a and Cdkn2b to rat chromosome bands 5q32-->q34 and 5q31-->q33, respectively by fluorescence in situ hybridization, using small PCR-generated probes.

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Fuzzy multi-criteria group decision support in long-term options of Belgian energy policy

Decision making requires multiple perspectives of different people as one single decision maker may have not enough knowledge to well solve a problem alone. This is particularly true when the decision environment becomes more complex. More organizational decisions are made now in groups than ever before. Group decision making is thus a process of arriving at a judgment or a solution for a decision problem based on the input and feedback of multiple individuals. At the same time in practice, multi-criteria problems at tactical and strategic levels often involve fuzziness in their criteria and decision makers' judgments. Relevant alternatives are evaluated according to a number of criteria. Fuzzy logic based multi-criteria group decision support is justified to analysis long-term options for Belgian energy policy in this paper. ©2007 IEEE

EML4-ALK translocation identification in RNA exosomal cargo (ExoALK) in NSCLC patients: A novel role for liquid biopsy

The introduction of druggable targets has significantly improved the outcomes of non-small cell lung cancer patients (NSCLC). EML4-ALK translocation represents 4-6% of the druggable alterations in NSCLC. With the approval of Crizotinib, first discovered drug for the EML4-ALK translocation, on first line treatment for patients with detected mutation meant a complete change on the treatment landscape. The current standard method for EML4-ALK identification is immunohistochemistry or FISH in a tumor biopsy. However, a big number of NSCLC patients have not tissue available for analysis and others are not suitable for biopsy due to their physical condition or the location of the tumor. Liquid biopsy seems the best alternative for identification in these patients that have no tissue available. Circulating free RNA has not been validated for the identification of this mutation. As a complementary tool, exosomes might represent a good tool for predictive biomarkers study, and due to their stability, they preserve the genetic material contained in them. Our group has described for the first time the translocation EML4-ALK in RNA isolated from exosomes derived from NSCLC patients using next generation sequencing

Fuzzy-set decision support for a Belgian long-term sustainable energy strategy

This chapter addresses the methodological challenges of developing relevant scientific knowledge for a sustainable energy system transition in an innovative way. We argue that scientific contributions to sustainable development do not follow the "linear" procedure from empirical knowledge production to policy advice. Instead, they consist of problem-oriented combinations of explanatory, orientationand action-guiding knowledge. Society and policy makers not only have to be 'provided' with action-guiding knowledge, but also with an awareness of the manner in which this knowledge is to be interpreted, and where the inevitable uncertainties lie. Since the sustainability question is inherently multi-dimensional, participation of social groups is an essential element of a strategy aimed at sustainable development. Multi-criteria decision support provides a platform to accommodate a process of arriving at a judgment or a solution for the sustainability question based on the input and feedback of multiple individuals. At the same time in practice, multi-criteria problems at tactical and strategic levels often involve fuzziness in their criteria and decision makers' judgments. Therefore, we argue in favor of the use of fuzzy-logic based multi-criteria group decision support as a decision support tool for long-term strategic choices in the context of Belgian sustainable energy policy. © 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg