COVID-19 and gendered governance: countries led by women did not employ more stringent strategies than those led by men – but they did act faster

Mette Marie Staehr Harder and Christoffer Bugge Harder examine whether countries led by women applied more extensive measures to combat COVID-19 than those led by men. While they find no indications that the former applied more extensive health responses over time, OECD countries led by women did enact their respective maximum shutdown measures significantly more quickly than those led by men

Assessing the Impact of Parliamentary Design:The Case of the Danish Committe on Gender Equality

This article contributes to the literature on parliamentary design in general and the pioneer literature on parliamentary bodies specialized in gender equality in particular. It does so by establishing a frame for the critical assessment of the impacts of such an institutional design. Moreover, by using interviews and data on the behavior of committee members, it demonstrates the advantages of applying a mixed method within a field that has mostly relied on participant interviews. A systematic analysis of the impact of the Danish Committee on Gender Equality shows that although this particular committee has not succeeded in adding the perspective of gender equality to legislation, it has increased parliamentary control with the government. Furthermore, it has enabled much better interaction between parliament and civil society organizations

« Elle n’a pas même épargné ses membres ! » Les épurations de la Convention nationale entre 1793 et 1795

Entre 1793 et 1794, la Convention nationale expulse un grand nombre de représentants du peuple de son sein. Accusés de crimes politiques, des députés girondins, dantonistes et, finalement, robespierristes, sont arrêtés, mis en prison et souvent traduits au Tribunal révolutionnaire et condamnés à mort : « La Révolution dévore [non seulement] ses enfants », mais détruit aussi ses dirigeants principaux et une partie importante de la nouvelle élite politique républicaine. François Furet regardait ces épurations des hommes politiques comme les conséquences immédiates d’une idéologie jacobine et terroriste qui voyait des complots partout et insistait sur la nécessité de « régénérer » le corps politique jusqu’à la personne même du représentant du peuple. Cette théorie n’explique pourtant pas la continuation d’une politique épuratoire à la Convention après la chute des robespierristes. Pourquoi plus de cent conventionnels deviennent-ils les victimes d’une nouvelle vague d’arrestations après la fin de la Terreur ? Le but de cet article sera d’identifier des continuités entre les épurations successives des conventionnels sous la Terreur et la réaction, et, d’autre part, entre les politiques épuratoires de ces deux périodes.Between 1793 and 1794, the National Convention purged a considerable number of representatives from its midst. Accused of political crimes, Girondin, Dantonist, and, finally, Robespierrist deputies were arrested, imprisoned, and frequently sent before the Revolutionary Tribunal and sentenced to death : « The Revolution devoured (not only) its children », but destroyed also its principal leaders and an important part the republic’s new political élite. François Furet regarded these purges of politicians as the direct consequences of a Jacobin and terrorist ideology that perceived plots everywhere and insisted on the necessity to « regenerate » the body politic even amongst the representatives of the people. This theory, however, does not explain the continuation of the politics of purging at the Convention long after the Robespierrists’ fall. Why did more than 100 Conventionnels become the victims of a new arrest wave after the Terror ? The aim of this article is to identify continuities between the successive purges of Conventionnels during the Terror and the Reaction, and as such, between the politics of purging of those two periods

Making Meaning Together:Embodied Narratives in a Case of Severe Autism

Shared understanding is generated between individuals before speech through a language of body movement and non-verbal vocalisation, expression of feeling and interest made in gestures of movement and voice. Human understanding is co-created in these embodied projects, displayed in serially organised expressions with shared timing of reciprocal actions between partners. These develop in narrative events that build over cycles of reciprocal expressive action in a four-part structure shared by all the time-based arts: ‘introduction’, ‘development’, ‘climax’, and ‘conclusion’. Pre-linguistic narrative establishes the foundation of later, linguistic intelligence. Yet, participating in social interactions that give rise to narrative development is a central problem of autism spectrum disorder. In this paper, we examine the rapid growth of narrative meaning-making between a non-verbal young woman with severe autism and her new therapist. Episodes of embodied, shared understanding were enabled through a basic therapeutic mode of reciprocal, creative mirroring of expressive gesture. These developed through reciprocal cycles and as the relationship progressed, complete co-created narratives were formed resulting in shared joy and the mutual interest and trust of companionship. These small, embodied stories enabled moments of co-regulated arousal that the young woman had previous difficulty with. These data provide evidence for an intact capacity for non-verbal narrative meaning-making in autism

Making meaning together : embodied narratives in a case of severe autism

Human narrative understanding is co-created in imaginative projects and experiences displayed in serially organised expressions of gesture and voice. Shared timing of reciprocal actions develop between two or more persons in narrative events that build over cycles in a four-part structure of 'introduction', 'development', 'climax', and 'conclusion'. Pre-linguistic narrative establishes the foundation of later, linguistic intelligence. Yet, participating in social interactions that give rise to narrative development is a central problem of autism spectrum disorder. In this paper, we examine the rapid growth of narrative meaning-making between a non-verbal young woman with severe autism and her new therapist. Episodes of embodied, shared understanding were enabled through a basic therapeutic mode of reciprocal, creative mirroring of expressive gesture. These developed through reciprocal cycles and as the relationship progressed, complete co-created narratives were formed resulting in shared joy and the mutual interest and trust of companionship. These small, embodied stories enabled moments of co-regulated arousal that the young woman had previous difficulty with. These data provide evidence for an intact capacity for non-verbal narrative meaning-making in autism

Exposure to ultrafine carbon particles at levels below detectable pulmonary inflammation affects cardiovascular performance in spontaneously hypertensive rats

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Exposure to particulate matter is a risk factor for cardiopulmonary disease but the underlying molecular mechanisms remain poorly understood. In the present study we sought to investigate the cardiopulmonary responses on spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs) following inhalation of UfCPs (24 h, 172 μg·m^-3), to assess whether compromised animals (SHR) exhibit a different response pattern compared to the previously studied healthy rats (WKY).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Cardiophysiological response in SHRs was analyzed using radiotelemetry. Blood pressure (BP) and its biomarkers plasma renin-angiotensin system were also assessed. Lung and cardiac mRNA expressions for markers of oxidative stress (hemeoxygenase-1), blood coagulation (tissue factor, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1), and endothelial function (endothelin-1, and endothelin receptors A and B) were analyzed following UfCPs exposure in SHRs. UfCPs-mediated inflammatory responses were assessed from broncho-alveolar-lavage fluid (BALF).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Increased BP and heart rate (HR) by about 5% with a lag of 1–3 days were detected in UfCPs exposed SHRs. Inflammatory markers of BALF, lung (pulmonary) and blood (systemic) were not affected. However, mRNA expression of hemeoxygenase-1, endothelin-1, endothelin receptors A and B, tissue factor, and plasminogen activator inhibitor showed a significant induction (~2.5-fold; p < 0.05) with endothelin 1 being the maximally induced factor (6-fold; p < 0.05) on the third recovery day in the lungs of UfCPs exposed SHRs; while all of these factors – except hemeoxygenase-1 – were not affected in cardiac tissues. Strikingly, the UfCPs-mediated altered BP is paralleled by the induction of renin-angiotensin system in plasma.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our finding shows that UfCPs exposure at levels which does not induce detectable pulmonary neutrophilic inflammation, triggers distinct effects in the lung and also at the systemic level in compromised SHRs. These effects are characterized by increased activity of plasma renin-angiotensin system and circulating white blood cells together with moderate increases in the BP, HR and decreases in heart rate variability. This systemic effect is associated with pulmonary, but not cardiac, mRNA induction of biomarkers reflective of oxidative stress; activation of vasoconstriction, stimulation of blood coagulation factors, and inhibition of fibrinolysis. Thus, UfCPs may cause cardiovascular and pulmonary impairment, in the absence of detectable pulmonary inflammation, in individuals suffering from preexisting cardiovascular diseases.</p