Vulnerability: ripples from reflections on mental toughness

The aim of this paper is to present a critical reflection on mental toughness using a creative analytic practice. In particular, we move from intra-personal technical reflections to an altogether more inter-personal cultural analysis that (re)considers some of the assumptions that can underpin sport psychology practice. Specifically, in the ripples that extend from these initial technical reflections, we argue that it is important to understand vulnerability, and consider (a) wounded healers, (b) the ideology of individualism, and (c) the survivor bias to help make sense of current thinking and applied practice. Emerging from these ripples are a number of implications (naming elephants, tellability, neoliberalism) from which sport psychologists may reflect upon to enhance their own practice. In making visible the invisible, we conclude that vulnerability can no longer be ignored in sport psychology discourse, research, and practice. Should this story of vulnerability resonate, we encourage you, where appropriate to share this story

General anaesthetics do not impair developmental expression of the KCC2 potassium-chloride cotransporter in neonatal rats during the brain growth spurt

Background The developmental transition from depolarizing to hyperpolarizing γ-aminobutyric acid-mediated neurotransmission is primarily mediated by an increase in the amount of the potassium-chloride cotransporter KCC2 during early postnatal life. However, it is not known whether early neuronal activity plays a modulatory role in the expression of total KCC2 mRNA and protein in the immature brain. As general anaesthetics are powerful modulators of neuronal activity, the purpose of this study was to explore how these drugs affect KCC2 expression during the brain growth spurt. Methods Wistar rat pups were exposed to either a single dose or 6 h of midazolam, propofol, or ketamine anaesthesia at postnatal days 0, 5, 10, or 15. KCC2 expression was assessed using immunoblotting, immunohistochemistry, or quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis up to 3 days post-exposure in the medial prefrontal cortex. Results There was a progressive and steep increase in the expression of KCC2 between birth and 2 weeks of age. Exposure to midazolam, propofol, or ketamine up to 6 h at any investigated stages of the brain growth spurt did not influence the expression of this cotransporter protein. Conclusion I.V. general anaesthetics do not seem to influence developmental expression of KCC2 during the brain growth spur

Fungal genomics in respiratory medicine: what, how and when?

Respiratory infections caused by fungal pathogens present a growing global healthconcern and are a major cause of death in immunocompromised patients. Worryingly,coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) resulting in acute respiratory distress syndrome,has been shown to predispose some patients to fungal co-infection and secondarypulmonary aspergillosis. Aspergillosis is most commonly caused by the fungalpathogen Aspergillus fumigatus and primarily treated using the triazole drug group,however in recent years, this fungus has been rapidly gaining resistance against theseantifungals. This is of serious clinical concern as multi-azole resistant forms ofaspergillosis have a higher risk of mortality when compared against azole-susceptibleinfections. With the increasing numbers of COVID-19 and other classes ofimmunocompromised patients, early diagnosis of fungal infections is critical to ensuringpatient survival. However, time-limited diagnosis is difficult to achieve with currentculture-based methods. Advances within fungal genomics have enabled moleculardiagnostic methods to become a fast, reproducible, and cost-effective alternative fordiagnosis of respiratory fungal pathogens and detection of antifungal resistance. Herewe describe what techniques are currently available within molecular diagnostics, howthey work and when they have been used

Responding to Race Related Trauma: Counseling and Research Recommendations to Promote Post-Traumatic Growth when Counseling African American Males

The application of Post-Traumatic Growth, a resiliency based approach, for counselors working with African-American male clients who have experienced race-based trauma is described. The role of cognitive processing and meaning making are reviewed. Implications for counseling, education and research are provided

PI3K/AKT, MAPK and AMPK signalling: protein kinases in glucose homeostasis

New therapeutic approaches to counter the increasing prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus are in high demand. Deregulation of the phosphoinositide-3-kinase (PI3K)/v-akt murine thymoma viral oncogene homologue (AKT), mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) pathways, which are essential for glucose homeostasis, often results in obesity and diabetes. Thus, these pathways should be attractive therapeutic targets. However, with the exception of metformin, which is considered to function mainly by activating AMPK, no treatment for the metabolic syndrome based on targeting protein kinases has yet been developed. By contrast, therapies based on the inhibition of the PI3K/AKT and MAPK pathways are already successful in the treatment of diverse cancer types and inflammatory diseases. This contradiction prompted us to review the signal transduction mechanisms of PI3K/AKT, MAPK and AMPK and their roles in glucose homeostasis, and we also discuss current clinical implication

Use of antenatal clinic surveillance to assess the effect of sexual behavior on HIV prevalence in young women in Karonga district, Malawi.

BACKGROUND: Antenatal clinic (ANC) surveillance is the primary source of HIV prevalence estimates in low-resource settings. In younger women, prevalence approximates incidence. Sexual behavior monitoring to explain HIV distribution and trends is seldom attempted in ANC surveys. We explore the use of marital history in ANC surveillance as a proxy for sexual behavior. METHODS: Five ANC clinics in a rural African district participated in surveillance from 1999 to 2004. Unlinked anonymous HIV testing and marital history interviews (including age at first sex and socioeconomic variables) were conducted. Data on women aged <25 years were analyzed. RESULTS: Inferred sexual exposure before marriage and after first marriage increased the adjusted odds of infection with HIV by more than 0.1 for each year of exposure. Increasing years within a first marriage did not increase HIV risk. After adjusting for age, women in more recent birth cohorts were less likely to be infected. CONCLUSIONS: Marital status is useful behavioral information and can be collected in ANC surveys. Exposure in an ongoing first marriage did not increase the odds of infection with HIV in this age group. HIV prevalence decreased over time in young women. ANC surveillance programs should develop proxy sexual behavior questions, particularly in younger women

An unexpected twist: Sperm cells coil to the right in land snails and to the left in song birds

In animals, cell polarity may initiate symmetry breaking very early in development, ultimately leading to whole-body asymmetry. Helical sperm cells, which occur in a variety of animal clades, are one class of cells that show clearly visible bilateral asymmetry. We used scanning-electron microscopy to study coiling direction in helical sperm cells in two groups of animals that have figured prominently in the sperm morphology literature, namely land snails, Stylommatophora (514 spermatozoa, from 27 individuals, belonging to 8 species and 4 families) and songbirds, Passeriformes (486 spermatozoa, from 26 individuals, belonging to 18 species and 8 families). We found that the snail sperm cells were consistently dextral (clockwise), whereas the bird sperm cells were consistently sinistral (counterclockwise). We discuss reasons why this apparent evolutionary conservatism of sperm cell chirality may or may not be related to whole-body asymmetry

Children as experiencers: increasing engagement, participation and inclusion for young children in the museum

This research aimed to evaluate young children’s engagement, participation and inclusion within a city museum by utilising observations and semi structured interviews with children and families. Both groups requested more interactive exhibits, sensory experiences, making and doing activities and role play opportunities. In this article, we argue for increased visibility of children’s ‘intangible heritage’(Brookshaw, 2016) and opportunities for responding which make links with children’s lives contemporarily. We further argue that museums should view children as experiencers rather than learners

Higher fibrinogen concentrations for reduction of transfusion requirements during major paediatric surgery: A prospective randomised controlled trial†

Background Hypofibrinogenaemia is one of the main reasons for development of perioperative coagulopathy during major paediatric surgery. The aim of this study was to assess whether prophylactic maintenance of higher fibrinogen concentrations through administration of fibrinogen concentrate would decrease the volume of transfused red blood cell (RBCs). Methods In this prospective, randomised, clinical trial, patients aged 6 months to 17 yr undergoing craniosynostosis and scoliosis surgery received fibrinogen concentrate (30 mg kg−1) at two predefined intraoperative fibrinogen concentrations [ROTEM® FIBTEM maximum clot firmness (MCF) of <8 mm (conventional) or <13 mm (early substitution)]. Total volume of transfused RBCs was recorded over 24 h after start of surgery. Results Thirty children who underwent craniosynostosis surgery and 19 children who underwent scoliosis surgery were treated per protocol. During craniosynostosis surgery, children in the early substitution group received significantly less RBCs (median, 28 ml kg−1; IQR, 21 to 50 ml kg−1) compared with the conventional fibrinogen trigger of <8 mm (median, 56 ml kg−1; IQR, 28 to 62 ml kg−1) (P=0.03). Calculated blood loss as per cent of estimated total blood volume decreased from a median of 160% (IQR, 110-190%) to a median of 90% (IQR, 78-110%) (P=0.017). No significant changes were observed in the scoliosis surgery population. No bleeding events requiring surgical intervention, postoperative transfusions of RBCs, or treatment-related adverse events were observed. Conclusions Intraoperative administration of fibrinogen concentrate using a FIBTEM MCF trigger level of <13 mm can be successfully used to significantly decrease bleeding, and transfusion requirements in the setting of craniosynostosis surgery, but not scoliosis. Clinical trial registry number ClinicalTrials.gov NCT0148783

‘I don’t know what gender is, but I do, and I can, and we all do’: an interview with Clare Hemmings

What follows is an interview with Clare Hemmings, Professor of Feminist Theory and Head of the Department of Gender Studies at the London School of Economics. A leading figure in UK feminist theory, her research insists that we acknowledge matters of ambivalence and uncertainty in our history-making, storytelling and theorising. As such, it contributes to and has productively intervened in many fields, including feminist epistemology, affect theory, historiography and sexuality studies. Beginning with her first book, Bisexual Spaces: A Geography of Sexuality and Gender (2002), continuing in Why Stories Matter: The Political Grammar of Feminist Theory (2011), and most overtly in Considering Emma Goldman: Feminist Political Ambivalence and the Imaginative Archive (2018), Hemmings interrogates and challenges dominant modes and expressions of gender and sexuality from a feminist positionality that is itself under-theorised and rarely articulated: that of a feminine bisexual woman. As Hemmings notes, bisexual positionality encompasses the affective capacity for a ‘combination of heterosexual and homosexual desire’ (Hemmings, 2002a; 2002b: 17) and thus generates ‘radical reconfigurations’ (Hemmings, 2002b: 197) of our understanding of the relations between gender, sex and desire. Yet bisexuality has been repeatedly reproduced, within both feminist and queer theory, ‘as an abstract and curiously lifeless middle. As a lesbian and feminist who has occupied that supposedly ‘lifeless middle ground’, albeit differently (I have had two long-term relationships, one with a man, one with a woman), I was interested in speaking with Clare about these issues, and was compelled to do so after I attended an event that she co-organised at the London School of Economics, a screening of Sylvie Tissot’s film about the French feminist Christine Delphy that included Delphy herself. As soon as Delphy entered the theatre and began walking down the stairs to the podium, the audience burst spontaneously into a standing ovation and long applause: '[T]his moment involved both a shared jouissance and the returning of haunting conflicts within feminism – conflicts that we wish had been resolved long ago –because it entailed both exhilarating and dissonant affects, it became a sort of feminist moment par excellence, a moment where solidarity is never exempted from the (re)emergence of disagreements, and where the fantasy of a collective fusion becomes the condition for those conflicts to emerge' (Eloit in Delphy et al., 2016: 151). Delphy’s presence, and the film about her, reminded me that (1) feminist thinkers from the 1970s and 1980s were extraordinarily sophisticated in their understanding of how gender constitutes us as men and women; (2) this analysis is still mostly absent from public conversations; and (3) we still long for such conversations. My interview with Clare Hemmings is thus a continuation of this moment of shared jouissance and haunting. It was conducted informally, in 2017, in Clare’s office, in what was then the Gender Institute, in Columbia House at the LSE. For over 90 minutes during a grey afternoon in London, we spoke on a range of topics, from Clare’s intellectual history to her (then) forthcoming book on Emma Goldman. We discussed her background as a poststructuralist theorist who also carries out empirical research and the challenge of studying sexuality in the archive. In the portion of the interview that appears below, we talk in detail about Clare’s early work on bisexuality and how her thinking contributes to theorising gender in the present