Fatemeh Ebtehaj, Jonathan Herring, Martin H Johnson and Martin Richards (eds): Birth Rites and Rights

Oxford, Hart, 201

‘This growing genetic disaster’: obesogenic mothers, the obesity ‘epidemic’ and the persistence of eugenics

In this era of ever-increasing emphasis on personal responsibility the 'obesity epidemic', officialised in global health warnings, threatens to swamp the West with the consequences of overindulgence. With childhood obesity identified as a particular threat, maternal feeding behaviour from conception onwards has come under scrutiny for its obesogenic potential. Epigenetic research now suggests that the mother's poor diet and excessive intake of calories can permanently damage not only the fetus itself but the genetic coding it carries, thus (re)creating a narrative of degeneration which performs complex cultural and social functions. While mothers have always been associated with the weakening and/or poisoning of children and the national body, the new narrative of degenerative uterine toxicity focuses attention on poor maternal choice as productive of a 'bio-underclass', and thus diverts attention from the many structural and socioeconomic associations of obesity with poverty, and particularly inequality. As government and child protection agencies in the UK and US attempt to discipline parents through surveillance and prosecution and the austerity agenda lends moral weight to discourses of 'waste' and necessary 'belt-tightening', the contradictions and implications of obesity as a 'disease' of 'overindulgence' in consumer cultures founded on 'indulgence' are too easily avoided by political and scientific focus on the abject body of the obesogenic 'underclass' mother

Work at all costs? the gendered impact of Universal Credit on lone-parent and low-paid families

Last week’s shock Conservative victory in the House of Commons has been swiftly followed by the reaffirmation of a commitment to sweeping welfare reforms (following a pre-election pledge by Ian Duncan Smith, now reappointed as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to cut twelve billion pounds from the welfare budget over the term of the new government)

Post-truth and the 'metropolitan elite' feminist: lessons from Brexit

This short comment reflects on gender, age and class profile of those who voted to leave the European Union in the UK's 'Brexit' referendum, and the implications for academic feminists in finding themselves members of a minority holding very different views from and despised by many of those whose interests they have purported to represent

The one and the many: a case highlighting comorbidity and complexity in psychiatry

Diagnostic categorisation is a typical stage of the medical model. Nevertheless, it is important to consider what is helpful to both the clinician and the patient when symptoms, experiences and perceptions are categorised. In this case report, we address the problem of comorbidity and complexity in psychiatry. Research and clinical experience point to significant overlap between personality disorders, mood disorders, and developmental disorders such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. In the face of such complexity, we discuss ways of addressing and managing multiple diagnoses in clinical practice. We synthesise the perspectives and views of a general practice trainee, two consultant psychiatrists and a person with lived experience

Characterization of a recurrent missense mutation in the forkhead DNA-binding domain of \u3ci\u3eFOXP1\u3c/i\u3e

Haploinsufficiency of Forkhead box protein P1 (FOXP1), a highly conserved transcription factor, leads to developmental delay, intellectual disability, autism spectrum disorder, speech delay, and dysmorphic features. Most of the reported FOXP1 mutations occur on the C-terminus of the protein and cluster around to the forkhead domain. All reported FOXP1 pathogenic variants result in abnormal cellular localization and loss of transcriptional repression activity of the protein product. Here we present three patients with the same FOXP1 mutation, c.1574G\u3eA (p.R525Q), that results in the characteristic loss of transcription repression activity. This mutation, however, represents the first reported FOXP1 mutation that does not result in cytoplasmic or nuclear aggregation of the protein but maintains normal nuclear localization

Cdc42 promotes transendothelial migration of cancer cells through β1 integrin.

Cancer cells interact with endothelial cells during the process of metastatic spreading. Here, we use a small interfering RNA screen targeting Rho GTPases in cancer cells to identify Cdc42 as a critical regulator of cancer cell-endothelial cell interactions and transendothelial migration. We find that Cdc42 regulates β1 integrin expression at the transcriptional level via the transcription factor serum response factor (SRF). β1 integrin is the main target for Cdc42-mediating interaction of cancer cells with endothelial cells and the underlying extracellular matrix, as exogenous β1 integrin expression was sufficient to rescue the Cdc42-silencing phenotype. We show that Cdc42 was required in vivo for cancer cell spreading and protrusion extension along blood vessels and retention in the lungs. Interestingly, transient Cdc42 depletion was sufficient to decrease experimental lung metastases, which suggests that its role in endothelial attachment is important for metastasis. By identifying β1 integrin as a transcriptional target of Cdc42, our results provide new insight into Cdc42 function

Joint spatial modelling of malaria incidence and vector's abundance shows heterogeneity in malaria‐vector geographical relationships

Limited attention from the modelling community has been given to ecological approaches which aim to predict geographical patterns of malaria by accounting for the joint effects of different vectors and environmental drivers. A hierarchical multivariate joint spatial Gaussian generalised linear model was developed to provide joint parameters inference and mapping of counts of Anopheles gambiae, An. funestus, An. nili and malaria incidence collected in an area of Cote d'Ivoire. Variable‐selection methods were applied to select important predictors for each mosquito species and malaria incidence. The proposed joint model led to a general reduction of the variance in the estimates compared to independent modelling. There was high variability in the composition of Anopheles mosquito species in the villages with each species suitability only partly overlapping geographically. Abundances of An. gambiae, An. funestus and An. nili were primarily determined by temperature. None of the species were found as a significant predictor for the others. Anopheles gambiae was the predominant species and only An. gambiae female abundance was an important variable (linear predictor) for malaria incidence. However, the geographic correlation analyses show that the rest of Anopheles species are likely playing a role in malaria suitability. Residuals from the models of mosquito abundance and malaria cases are also correlated with each other and overlapping but in geographic patches, meaning that local drivers of vector‐malaria suitability are still present and not represented by the predictors used in the model. Synthesis and applications: Joint modelling improve predictive estimation compared to individual modelling. The accurate predictions highlighted high diversity in the association between malaria and vector species, with most of the area having more than one species suitability correlated with malaria suitability. These zones are unlikely to benefit from species‐specific interventions. Areas with correlated malaria and vector species suitability residuals contain local information, not included in the model, that requires further investigation. This will identify additional communal malaria and vectors factors that need to be considered for optimal malaria control and elimination strategies since these factors are expected to be linked to the local malaria transmission