Liberating Women, Liberating Knowledge: Reflections On Two Decades Of Feminist Action Research

The pioneer of feminist participatory action research recalls the origins of this model from the time of its first publication in 1977, and offers a history of some of its results throughout the world. She reflects, too, on challenges to the model, including the "academic matricide" posed by feminists' embrace of postmodernism.La pionnière des études sur la participation à l'action féministe retrace les origines de ce modèle depuis le jour de la première publication en 1977, et présente une histoire de quelques-uns de ses succès partout dans le monde. Elle fait réflexion aussi sur les défis au modèle, y compris le «matricide académique» causé par l'adhésion des féministes au postmodernisme

The show must go on: making money glamorizing oppression

This article presents an interdisciplinary analysis of the glamorization of the courtesan image as proposed by Baz Luhrmann’s film Moulin Rouge. The film sparked the appearance of high-street fashion inspired by the image of the 19th-century Parisian courtesan, which prompted the authors to examine how and why such images might appeal to female consumers. The critical analysis reaches beyond the images themselves to identify and discuss the modes of circulation of such images, and their function in achieving both the material ends of capitalism (ever-increasing consumption and production) and the promotion of one of the system’s core values (patriarchy). Moreover, the article hopes to illustrate the possibilities offered by integrating cultural and structural analyses of current social phenomena

Mouse RAD54 affects DNA double-strand break repair and sister chromatid exchange

Cells can achieve error-free repair of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) by homologous recombination through gene conversion with or without crossover. In contrast, an alternative homology-dependent DSB repair pathway, single-strand annealing (SSA), results in deletions. In this study, we analyzed the effect of mRAD54, a gene involved in homologous recombination, on the repair of a site-specific I-SceI-induced DSB located in a repeated DNA sequence in the genome of mouse embryonic stem cells. We used six isogenic cell lines differing solely in the orientation of the repeats. The combination of the three recombination-test substrates used discriminated among SSA, intrachromatid gene conversion, and sister chromatid gene conversion. DSB repair was most efficient for the substrate that allowed recovery of SSA events. Gene conversion with crossover, indistinguishable from long tract gene conversion, preferentially involved the sister chromatid rather than the repeat on the same chromatid. Comparing DSB repair in mRAD54 wild-type and knockout cells revealed direct evidence for a role of mRAD54 in DSB repair. The substrate measuring SSA showed an increased efficiency of DSB repair in the absence of mRAD54. The substrate measuring sister chromatid gene conversion showed a decrease in gene conversion with and without crossover. Consistent with this observation, DNA damage-induced sister chromatid exchange was reduced in mRAD54-deficient cells. Our results suggest that mRAD54 promotes gene conversion with predominant use of the sister chromatid as the repair template at the expense of error-prone SSA

Comparative study of etiological diagnosis of nosocomial pneumonia

Nosocomial pneumonia is a common complication in patients on mechanical ventilation and results in significant mortality. Diagnosis of pneumonia in patients who are intubated and under mechanical ventilation is difficult, even with the aid of clinical, laboratorial, and endoscopic tests. The objective of this study was to compare three methods of tracheal sputum collection in patients with a clinical and radiological diagnosis of pneumonia. Twenty-two patients with a clinical diagnosis of liver disease were enrolled, 18 years of age or older, 13 males and nine females, who had been mechanically ventilated over an intubation period of 5.86 ± 4.62 days. These patients were being treated in intensive care unit (ICU) of the Liver Transplantdepartment. Secretion collection was carried out according to a protocol with three distinct methods: endotracheal aspiration with a closed aspiration system, Bal cath and bronchoalveolar lavage. Of the 22 patients analyzed, 21 (95.4%) showed one or more infectious agent when the closed aspiration system was used. With the Bal cathâ collection, 19 patients (86.3%) had one or more infectious agents; in the collection by bronchoalveolar lavage, 10 patients (45.4%) presented one or more infectious agent. According to the laboratorial analysis, 14 different microorganisms were isolated, the most frequent of which were Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Klebsiella pneumoniae. We concluded that aspiration with the closed system produced the most effective results in comparison with those of bronchoalveolar lavage and the Bal cathâ, and may be an acceptable method for diagnosing hospital-acquired pneumonia when no fiberoptic technique is available

Caste, Kinship, and Life Course: Rethinking Women's Work and Agency in Rural South India

This paper reexamines the linkages between women's work, agency, and well-being based on a household survey and in-depth interviews conducted in rural Tamil Nadu in 2009 and questions the prioritization of workforce participation as a path to gender equality. It emphasizes the need to unpack the nature of work performed by and available to women and its social valuation, as well as women's agency, particularly its implications for decision making around financial and nonfinancial household resources in contexts of socioeconomic change. The effects of work participation on agency are mediated by factors like age and stage in the life cycle, reproductive success, and social location – especially of caste – from which women enter the workforce

Manuel Sacristán at the Onset of Ecological Marxism after Stalinism

Thirty-one years ago, in 1985, Manuel Sacristán died in Barcelona at the age of 59. After the publication in 2014 of a volume with some of his writings translated into English (Llorente 2014), it is time to help non-Spanish-speaking readers to know more about him. Yet it is not easy to explain to generations born after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 that Manuel Sacristán was a most important Marxist philosopher and at the same time one of the few pioneers introducing political ecology and antinuclear peace movement during the last quarter of the 20th century in Spain. Many people believe that Marxism, environmentalism and pacifism are views that exclude each other. Most of what has been said and done on behalf of Marxism since Stalin took over the leadership of the Communist Party of the USSR in the 1930s, up to its dissolution in 1991, contributes to sustaining this belief. The fast industrialization of the Old Russian Empire undertaken by the Soviet State was nowhere near taking into account ecological sustainability. Its socio-environmental impact turned out to be comparable or even worse than the ones caused by capitalist industrialization