Towards a post-structural understanding of abortion and social class in England

Despite previous research suggesting that social class influences experiences of and attitudes to abortion, there is a dearth of research which studies the intersection of abortion and social class in England. Across the UK, abortion rates and experiences differ by region and socio-economic status, reflecting broader health inequalities. Contemporary austerity in the UK creates an imperative for new research which contextualises the experience of abortion within this socio-historical moment, and the worsening inequalities which have accompanied it. Whilst work on abortion and social inequality exists, it has often approached class as an a priori category. I argue that contemporary post-structural work on class provides a framework to go beyond this approach by examining how these social classifications occur; who has the power to classify; and how these classifications might be resisted. This framework is demonstrated with emerging findings from a life history study of abortion experiences in England. The applications of this to the work on abortion are potentially rich, because the act of ending a pregnancy invites classification from many quarters, from the legal (legal/illegal) to the medical (early/late) to the moral (deserved/undeserved). This work, therefore, speaks to public health concerns about access to and stigma around abortion and social inequalities

Contextualising abortion: a life narrative study of abortion and social class in neoliberal England

This project is a narrative interview study of fifteen women who have had abortions in England since 2008. It aims to answer the questions: 1. How do women in England make meaning about their abortion experiences? 2. What aspects of their identities and life experiences contribute to this meaning-making? 3. In particular, how does class structure this meaning-making? England is in the midst of a long-term political project of austerity and neoliberal governance which has prompted renewed sociological attention to the issue of social class. In this context, discourse on abortion reflects and reproduces societal beliefs about gender, class and reproduction: who should reproduce; who has a legitimate ‘excuse’ not to reproduce; and what judgement should be passed on women who choose to end their pregnancies. Through the work of Beverley Skeggs and Michel Foucault, this study examines how women who have had abortions in this context make meaning about their experiences, and how class and gender are constructed in their narratives. This study contributes to literature on the internalisation of neoliberal modes of self-governance in relation to reproduction. It argues that the process of requesting an abortion extends a demand to women to perform precarity in ways that are more possible for some women than others. Abortion narratives are therefore shaped by access to classed ‘discursive resources,’ and the women’s relationships to responsibility were also shaped by their class positions. Finally, this study contributes to the rich literature on abortion stigma by applying the Foucauldian concepts of biopolitics and governmentality to abortion narratives, arguing that abortion experiences in contemporary England are shaped by the confluence of abortion stigma, the neoliberal injunction to self-regulate, and the societal construction of womanhood as biologically painful. Using Foucault’s concept of ‘technologies of the self,’ I conclude that through these women’s accounts, the specific regulatory practices that produce middle-class womanhood can be better understood. The study therefore explores how wider processes of neoliberal governance might be insinuated, embodied, and resisted by individual women

Visceral adipose tissue activated macrophage content and inflammatory adipokine secretion is higher in pre-eclampsia than in healthy pregnancy

Obesity increases preeclampsia risk. Adipose tissue inflammation may contribute to the clinical syndrome of pre-eclampsia. We compared adipose tissue macrophage infiltration and release of pro-inflammatory adipokines in pre-eclampsia and healthy pregnancy. Subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue biopsies were collected from healthy (n=13) and preeclampsia (n=13) mothers. Basal and lipopolysaccharide stimulated adipocyte TNFα, IL-6, CCL-2 and CRP release was measured. Adipose tissue cell densities of activated (cfms(+)) and total (CD68(+)) macrophages were determined. In pre-eclampsia only, visceral adipose tissue TNFα release was increased after lipopolysaccharide stimulation (57 [76] vs 81 [97] pg/mL/ug DNA, p=0.030). Basal TNFα release was negatively correlated insulin sensitivity of visceral adipocytes (r=-0.61, p=0.030) in pre-eclampsia. Visceral adipocyte IL-6 release was increased after lipopolysaccharide stimulation in pre-eclampsia only (566 [696] vs 852 [914] pg/mL/ugDNA, p=0.019). Visceral adipocyte CCL-2 basal (67 [61] vs 187 [219] pg/mL/ugDNA, p=0.049) and stimulated (46 [46] vs 224 [271] pg/mL/ugDNA, p=0.003) release was greater than in subcutaneous adipocytes in pre-eclampsia only. In pre-eclampsia, median TNF mRNA expression in visceral adipose tissue was higher than controls (1.94 [1.13-4.14] vs 0.8 [0.00-1.27] TNF / PPIA ratio, p=0.006). In visceral adipose tissue, CSF1R (a marker of activated macrophages) mRNA expression (24.8[11.0] vs 51.0[29.9] CSF1R/PPIA ratio, p=0.011) and activated (cfms+) macrophage count (6.7[2.6] vs 15.2[8.8] % cfms+/adipocyte, p=0.031) were higher in pre-eclampsia than in controls. In conclusion, our study demonstrates dysregulation of inflammatory pathways predominantly in visceral adipose tissue in pre-eclampsia. Inflammation of visceral adipose tissue may mediate many of the adverse metabolic effects associated with pre-eclampsia

Improving access to sexual violence support for marginalised individuals: findings from the LGBT and BME communities

Statistics suggest that survivors of sexual violence from BME and LGBT communities are less likely to access specialist support than other members of the general population. This paper highlights specific barriers these communities face in accessing support services and how they could be addressed by these services, using data from a case study conducted in the city of Brighton and Hove, UK. It also takes the original step of comparing questionnaire and interview data from survivors with questionnaire and interview data from practitioners working with the BME and LGBT communities. Recommendations are identified for sexual violence services and social workers working with these survivors that are missing from existing literature. These include a critique of the empowerment discourse commonly employed by support services, use of intersectional feminist theory to inform practice, and recommendations for 'community-embedded' support services

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

Chemokine receptors coordinately regulate macrophage dynamics and mammary gland development

Macrophages are key regulators of developmental processes, including those involved in mammary gland development. We previously demonstrated that the atypical chemokine receptor, ACKR2, contributes to control of ductal epithelial branching in the developing mammary gland by regulating macrophage dynamics. ACKR2 is a chemokine-scavenging receptor, which mediates its effects through collaboration with inflammatory chemokine receptors (iCCRs). Here we reveal reciprocal regulation of branching morphogenesis in the mammary gland, whereby stromal ACKR2 modulates levels of the shared ligand CCL7 to control the movement of a key population of CCR1-expressing macrophages to the ductal epithelium. In addition, estrogen, which is essential for ductal elongation during puberty, upregulates CCR1 expression on macrophages. The age at which girls develop breasts is decreasing, which raises the risk of diseases including breast cancer. This study presents a previously unknown mechanism controlling the rate of mammary gland development during puberty and highlights potential therapeutic targets

Utilization of a Palliative Care Trigger in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit

Our project aims to expand palliative care availability in the SICU by implementing a consult trigger program. We also aim to learn about and measure compassion fatigue of providers within the SICU

Imaging immunoassay in negative: Surface-­‐catalysed chemiluminescence for the detection of pregnancy hormones in artificial saliva

A novel and rapid (45min), quantitative chemiluminescence-based, surface immunoassay is reported for the quantitative detection of progesterone and œstriol in artificial saliva. The detection limits for these pregnancy hormones are 2.3 and 2.5 pg mL-1, respectively. The assay is based on the use of ferrocene- tagged, monoclonal antibodies immobilised on a surface, so that the oxidised ferricenium catalyses the reaction between luminol and hydrogen peroxide. The immunoassay is performed in negative, such that increasing the antigen concentration gives rise to decreasing light intensity that is observed, and is unaffected by antibody orientation on the surface. This affords a method of calibration that is readily translated to pregnancy hormone detection in a primary point-of-care environment. Biomolecules with similar structures to these pregnancy hormones found in saliva are demonstrated not to interfere with the immunoassay

Tracing the Origin of the Fungal α1 Domain Places Its Ancestor in the HMG-Box Superfamily: Implication for Fungal Mating-Type Evolution

BACKGROUND: Fungal mating types in self-incompatible Pezizomycotina are specified by one of two alternate sequences occupying the same locus on corresponding chromosomes. One sequence is characterized by a gene encoding an HMG protein, while the hallmark of the other is a gene encoding a protein with an α1 domain showing similarity to the Matα1p protein of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. DNA-binding HMG proteins are ubiquitous and well characterized. In contrast, α1 domain proteins have limited distribution and their evolutionary origin is obscure, precluding a complete understanding of mating-type evolution in Ascomycota. Although much work has focused on the role of the S. cerevisiae Matα1p protein as a transcription factor, it has not yet been placed in any of the large families of sequence-specific DNA-binding proteins. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We present sequence comparisons, phylogenetic analyses, and in silico predictions of secondary and tertiary structures, which support our hypothesis that the α1 domain is related to the HMG domain. We have also characterized a new conserved motif in α1 proteins of Pezizomycotina. This motif is immediately adjacent to and downstream of the α1 domain and consists of a core sequence Y-[LMIF]-x(3)-G-[WL] embedded in a larger conserved motif. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our data suggest that extant α1-box genes originated from an ancestral HMG gene, which confirms the current model of mating-type evolution within the fungal kingdom. We propose to incorporate α1 proteins in a new subclass of HMG proteins termed MATα_HMG

The Science Performance of JWST as Characterized in Commissioning

This paper characterizes the actual science performance of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), as determined from the six month commissioning period. We summarize the performance of the spacecraft, telescope, science instruments, and ground system, with an emphasis on differences from pre-launch expectations. Commissioning has made clear that JWST is fully capable of achieving the discoveries for which it was built. Moreover, almost across the board, the science performance of JWST is better than expected; in most cases, JWST will go deeper faster than expected. The telescope and instrument suite have demonstrated the sensitivity, stability, image quality, and spectral range that are necessary to transform our understanding of the cosmos through observations spanning from near-earth asteroids to the most distant galaxies.Comment: 5th version as accepted to PASP; 31 pages, 18 figures; https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1538-3873/acb29