Problematizing Prostitution in Law and Policy in the Republic of Ireland: A Case for Reframing

This article attempts to uncover the discursive practices that have framed recent debates on prostitution in the Republic of Ireland. As Ireland prepares to introduce Swedish-style laws, which criminalize the purchase of sexual services, we are particularly interested in interrogating the dominant construction of prostitution in recent policy debates and consultations. Taking these spaces as sites for the reproduction of discursive and material practices, we employ methods of critical discourse analysis through Carole Bacchi's (1999) 'What's the problem represented to be' approach to question: How is prostitution problematized in Irish law and policy? We argue the representation of prostitution in neo-abolitionist discourse in Ireland operates through gendered and racialized assumptions about sex workers and migrant women. The material consequences of this have implications not only for current prostitution law and policy proposals but also for wider feminist spaces in Ireland

‘I miss being honest’: sex workers’ accounts of silence and disclosure with health care providers in Ireland

In this paper, female sex workers tell stories of their interactions with health care providers (HCP) in four cities in the Republic of Ireland. While Irish society has made great progress in listening to the sexual stories of women that were historically silenced (e.g. stories of abortion, sexual abuse), sex workers have not benefited from this new climate. Regularly silenced by parliamentarians and non-governmental organisations who speak upon their behalf, sex workers are consigned within a narrative of victimhood and coercion. This paper draws from a participant action research study conducted in 2019–20 and explores women’s motivations in whether to disclose their sex work, and the strategies deployed to conceal it while seeking access to sexual health care. These strategies included traveling beyond their own communities for health care and STI home testing. The paper identifies women, particularly, migrants who felt their precarious position made it impossible for them to be truthful about their sex work to health care providers, exposing them to greater health risk. The paper understands this marginality within a context of structural violence where sex worker health is shaped by institutional power relations creating unequal health outcomes but is also challenged by stories of solidarity

Regulation of Macrophage‐Derived Fibroblast Growth Factor Release by Arachidonate Metabolites

The macrophage is a source of many mediators with direct and indirect fibrogenic potential. In this study, release of macrophage‐derived fibroblast growth factor (MDGF) activity by murine peritoneal macrophages is examined with regard to its regulation by arachidonate metabolites. Upon stimulation with 10 μg/ml lipopolysaccharide (LPS), resident peritoneal macrophages from CBA/J mice released MDGF activity into media rapidly, reaching maximal levels in approximately 1 h. Lysates of these stimulated cells also revealed significantly increased cell‐associated MDGF activity, composing 45% of the total assayable activity. This activity, as assayed by radioactive thymidine incorporation by primary cultures of rat lung fibroblasts, was separable from interleukin‐1 (IL‐1) activity by reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Furthermore, purified murine IL‐1 had no MDGF activity in this assay system. This stimulated MDGF release was enhanced by the cylooxygenase inhibitors indomethacin, Ibuprofen, and aspirin at micromolar concentrations, but inhibited in a dose‐dependent manner by prostaglandin E2 (PGE2). On the other hand, nordihydroguaiaretic acid (NDGA), a lipoxygenase inhibitor was inhibitory at 0.1 and 0.4 μM but not at 2.5 μM. Zymosan‐stimulated macrophages also markedly increased MDGF release, albeit with a different time course which was characterized by a delay of approximately 7 h before peak levels were attained. Such stimulation, which is known to cause increased lipoxygenase activity, was also inhibited by 0.5 μM NDGA. In contrast, the lipoxygenase pathway products leukotrienes B4 (LTB4) and C4 (LTC4) stimulated MDGF release in a dose‐dependent (10‐10‐10‐8 M) manner, with LTC4 being more potent on a per unit dose basis. Stimulation by LTC4 was inhibited by the putative leukotriene receptor antagonist, FPL55712, while LTD4 and LTE4 did not stimulate MDGF release, thus suggesting the mediation of this effect by specific LTC4 receptors. These data suggest also that products of the cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase pathways are potentially important both as exogenous (ie, derived from cells other than the macrophage itself) and auto‐ or self‐regulators of macrophage MDGF release. This, in turn, implies that cyclooxygenase products are antifibrogenic and important in maintaining or returning to the quiescent or normal state, whereas the lipoxygenase products are profibrogenic and important in induction of fibrosis or wound‐healing and tissue repair. Any alteration in the balance between these two pathways may result in either a desirable or a harmful outcome.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141690/1/jlb0106.pd

Corrigendum: Accessing care services after sexual violence: A systematic review exploring experiences of women in South Africa

No abstract available

Nicaragua Block Press

Friends In Action International (FIA), our project partner, is assisting the Rama people of Nicaragua in relocating from an overpopulated island to the mainland. Our team has developed a manual press for the Rama people to produce compressed earth blocks from local materials for construction of their homes. After testing an initial prototype of the press in Nicaragua it was determined that the press needed more durability. After testing two presses with welded chambers manufactured by E&E Metal Fab Inc., further modifications were required such as welding chamber skirts, adding a lid handle, and applying rust prevention coating. Once both presses reached a workable state, the team made blocks using different mixtures to determine the composition for the highest strength. Blocks were tested for water absorption and for strength in compression, and met published standards for compressed earth blocks (CEB). The team also developed a user manual complete with manufacturing instructions, operating procedures, maintenance suggestions, and exploded subassembly views. Lastly, our team has drafted a one-page user guide for quick reference on-site and will deliver everything to FIA at the end of the semester.https://mosaic.messiah.edu/engr2020/1002/thumbnail.jp

‘Art for art’s sake’ or a research methodology to engage vulnerable and often underrepresented groups in healthcare education and research.

The use of arts based approaches within research and scholarly activity is relatively new but where used with sensitive topics, or with those whose voices are often not heard within dominant healthcare discourse, it is proving an effective method to engage with groups which are largely neglected within research. Methods: One such approach is by use of creative arts based activities to work with groups or individuals (Leavy, 2015), often using external facilitators or researchers who are accustomed to such approaches and methods. In the field of gender based violence researchers are frequently working with very vulnerable groups or individuals who have experienced traumatic experiences and where using conventional methods of conducting research may not provide an appropriate forum for ‘hearing stories of survivorship’ or where those who have experienced abuse may not feel that they have a voice (McGarry & Bowden, 2017). Results: The study team have gained extensive use of using arts based methods to work with survivors of sexual violence and domestic abuse – both in UK and internationally. We will describe the different approaches used by sharing examples of our work over the past 5 years that have been incorporated into healthcare education programmes with digital resources freely available online (McGarry, et al. 2015). Discussion: The overall aim is to present the range of activities involved in this methodology, to share our approach to co-production with survivors of abuse in the development of creative digital educational resources and demonstrate their use in an interactive way with the conference audience. References: Leavy, P. (2015) Method Meets Art: Arts-based Research Practice. New York: The Guilford Press. McGarry, J. and Bowden, D. 2017. Unlocking stories: older women’s experiences of intimate partner violence told through creative expression Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing. 24, 629– 637 McGarry J., Baker C., Wilson C., Felton A., Banerjee A, (2015). Preparation for safeguarding in UK pre-registration graduate nurse education. Journal of Adult Protection. 17(6), 371-37

Geminin-Deficient Neural Stem Cells Exhibit Normal Cell Division and Normal Neurogenesis

Neural stem cells (NSCs) are the progenitors of neurons and glial cells during both embryonic development and adult life. The unstable regulatory protein Geminin (Gmnn) is thought to maintain neural stem cells in an undifferentiated state while they proliferate. Geminin inhibits neuronal differentiation in cultured cells by antagonizing interactions between the chromatin remodeling protein Brg1 and the neural-specific transcription factors Neurogenin and NeuroD. Geminin is widely expressed in the CNS during throughout embryonic development, and Geminin expression is down-regulated when neuronal precursor cells undergo terminal differentiation. Over-expression of Geminin in gastrula-stage Xenopus embryos can expand the size of the neural plate. The role of Geminin in regulating vertebrate neurogenesis in vivo has not been rigorously examined. To address this question, we created a strain of Nestin-Cre/Gmnnfl/fl mice in which the Geminin gene was specifically deleted from NSCs. Interestingly, we found no major defects in the development or function of the central nervous system. Neural-specific GmnnΔ/Δ mice are viable and fertile and display no obvious neurological or neuroanatomical abnormalities. They have normal numbers of BrdU+ NSCs in the subgranular zone of the dentate gyrus, and GmnnΔ/Δ NSCs give rise to normal numbers of mature neurons in pulse-chase experiments. GmnnΔ/Δ neurosphere cells differentiate normally into both neurons and glial cells when grown in growth factor-deficient medium. Both the growth rate and the cell cycle distribution of cultured GmnnΔ/Δ neurosphere cells are indistinguishable from controls. We conclude that Geminin is largely dispensable for most of embryonic and adult mammalian neurogenesis