Factors that influence quality and yield of circulating-free DNA: A systematic review of the methodology literature.

BACKGROUND: Circulating-free DNA (cfDNA) is under investigation as a liquid biopsy of cancer for early detection, monitoring disease progression and therapeutic response. This systematic review of the primary cfDNA literature aims to identify and evaluate factors that influence recovery of cfDNA, and to outline evidence-based recommendations for standardization of methods. METHODS: A search of the Ovid and Cochrane databases was undertaken in May 2018 to obtain relevant literature on cfDNA isolation and quantification. Retrieved titles and abstracts were reviewed by two authors. The factors evaluated include choice of specimen type (plasma or serum); time-to-processing of whole blood; blood specimen tube; centrifugation protocol (speed, time, temperature and number of spins); and methods of cfDNA isolation and quantification. FINDINGS: Of 4,172 articles identified through the database search, 52 proceeded to full-text review and 37 met the criteria for inclusion. A quantitative analysis was not possible, due to significant heterogeneity in methodological approaches between studies. Therefore, included data was tabulated and a textual qualitative synthesis approach was taken. INTERPRETATION: This is the first systematic review of methodological factors that influence recovery and quantification of cfDNA, enabling recommendations to be made that will support standardization of methodological approaches towards development of blood-based cancer tests

Challenging empowerment: AIDS-affected southern African children and the need for a multi-level relational approach

Critics of empowerment have highlighted the concept's mutability, focus on individual transformation, one-dimensionality and challenges of operationalisation. Relating these critiques to children's empowerment raises new challenges. Drawing on scholarship on children's subjecthood and exercise of power, alongside empirical research with children affected by AIDS, I argue that empowerment envisaged as individual self-transformation and increased capacity to act independently offers little basis for progressive change. Rather it is essential to adopt a relational approach that recognises the need to transform power relationships at multiple levels. This analysis has implications for our wider understanding of empowerment in the 21st century. © The Author(s) 2013.This research was funded by DFID

Hearing the silences: adult Nigerian women’s accounts of ‘early marriages’

‘Early marriage’ is a relatively common, but under-researched global phenomenon, associated with poor health, mental health, educational and occupational outcomes, particularly for young girls. In this article, we draw on qualitative interviews with 6 Nigerian women from Sokoto State, who were married between the ages of 8 and 15. The interviews explored young women’s experiences of the transition to marriage, being married, pregnancy and their understanding of the marital and parental role. Using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis, we explore women’s constrained articulations of their experiences of early marriage, as they are constituted within a social context where the identity of ‘woman’ is bound up in values and practices around marriage and motherhood. We explore the complexity of ‘hearing’ women’s experiences when their identities are bound up in culturally overdetermined ideas of femininity that function explicitly to silence and constrain the spaces in which women can speak

‘Because it’s our culture!’ (Re)negotiating the meaning of lobola in Southern African secondary schools

Payment of bridewealth or lobola is a significant element of marriage among the Basotho of Lesotho and the Shona of Zimbabwe. However, the functions and meanings attached to the practice are constantly changing. In order to gauge the interpretations attached to lobola by young people today, this paper analyses a series of focus group discussions conducted among senior students at two rural secondary schools. It compares the interpretations attached by the students to the practice of lobola with academic interpretations (both historical and contemporary). Among young people the meanings and functions of lobola are hotly contested, but differ markedly from those set out in the academic literature. While many students see lobola as a valued part of ‘African culture’, most also view it as a financial transaction which necessarily disadvantages women. The paper then seeks to explain the young people’s interpretations by reference to discourses of ‘equal rights’ and ‘culture’ prevalent in secondary schools. Young people make use of these discourses in (re)negotiating the meaning of lobola, but the limitations of the discourses restrict the interpretations of lobola available to them

The masculine logic of DDR and SSR in the Rwanda Defence Force

Since the 1994 genocide and civil war, the Rwandan government has implemented an externally funded Demobilisation, Demilitarisation and Reintegration (DDR)/Security Sector Reform (SSR) program culminating in the consolidation of armed groups into a new, professionalised Rwanda Defence Force (RDF). Feminists argue that DDR-SSR initiatives that exclude combatant women and girls or ignore gendered security needs fail to transform the political conditions that led to conflict. Less attention has been paid to how gendered relations of power play out through gender sensitive DDR and SSR initiatives that seek to integrate women and transform hyper-masculine militarised masculinities. This article investigates how Rwanda’s DDR-SSR program is governed by an oppressive masculine logic. Drawing on critical studies on men and masculinities and feminist work on peacebuilding, myths and the politics of belonging, it is argued that Rwanda’s locally-owned DDR-SSR program places the military and militarisation at the centre of the nation-building program. Through various ‘boundary construction’ practices, the Rwandan government attempts to stabilise the post-1994 gender order and entrench the hegemony of a new militarised masculinity in Rwandan society. The case study draws on field research conducted in 2014 and 2015 and a discourse analysis of RDF historical accounts, policy documents and training materials

Development Discourse and Practice: Alternatives and New Directions from Postcolonial Perspectives

Development and aid programs, such as those aimed at promoting economic growth and prosperity in ‘Third World’ nations and transition economies, often arise out of Western and neo-liberal policy ideologies and practices. These programs may, in some cases, provide useful guidelines for restructuring institutional structures and governance mechanisms in nations that have long struggled with poverty, economic instability, health crises, and social and political turmoil. However, a growing number of critical voices are raising concerns over the guiding assumptions and inclusiveness of these policies and programs in their aims to promote economic development and social well-being in non-Western nations. We join these critical perspectives by way of postcolonial frameworks to highlight some of the problematic assumptions and oversights of development programs, while offering new alternatives and directions. By doing so, we contribute to organizational theorizing in a global context, as postcolonial insights provide much needed engagement with international aid policies and programs, as well as development organizations and institutions. To accomplish this, we offer a historical perspective on development, present a critique of the policies and practices guiding many aid programs, and conclude with suggestions emanating from postcoloniality

Empowerment of intergroup harmony and equity

The impact of empowerment interventions is often short-lived because they are not anchored in changes in the wider social and structural context. This chapter draws its inspiration from social representation theory and social identity theory. Several theoretical propositions are derived from these theories that bear on the effectiveness of empowerment interventions. Drawing on field experiences with Roma communities and young unemployed people in Hungary and Italy, we demonstrate how a focus on intergroup interactions, between minority and majority group members, is central to the empowerment process. In addition, we address the role of power and the means by which power can be dissembled and more equitably shared. Finally, we discuss the importance of placing contextual factors at the center of our analysis and enacting changes in context in order to arrive at empowerment interventions that produce sustainable changes in intergroup harmony and equity

Fluctuations in active membranes

Active contributions to fluctuations are a direct consequence of metabolic energy consumption in living cells. Such metabolic processes continuously create active forces, which deform the membrane to control motility, proliferation as well as homeostasis. Membrane fluctuations contain therefore valuable information on the nature of active forces, but classical analysis of membrane fluctuations has been primarily centered on purely thermal driving. This chapter provides an overview of relevant experimental and theoretical approaches to measure, analyze and model active membrane fluctuations. In the focus of the discussion remains the intrinsic problem that the sole fluctuation analysis may not be sufficient to separate active from thermal contributions, since the presence of activity may modify membrane mechanical properties themselves. By combining independent measurements of spontaneous fluctuations and mechanical response, it is possible to directly quantify time and energy-scales of the active contributions, allowing for a refinement of current theoretical descriptions of active membranes.Comment: 38 pages, 9 figures, book chapte