Editorial: Thinking with Migration, Sexuality, Gender Identity, and Transactional Sex

This article introduces a special issue of Anti-Trafficking Review that bridges the fields of queer, migration, and critical trafficking studies by examining the implications of heightened juridical recognition of sexual orientation and gender identity for debates on migration, sex work, and human trafficking. The issue proceeds from the insight that, as the legibility of queer and trans* (i.e., lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and all non-binary and non-heteronormative forms of sexuality and gender identity) moves forward, it appears to de-emphasise the explicit connections that sexuality- and gender-based social movements have historically drawn between identity, governance, and material survival. In emphasising questions of survival, this issue both recuperates queer and non-cisnormative subjects within debates on transactional sex, and shows how a queer theoretical sensibility can offer new insights for established critiques in the field

Sex Work and Queer Politics in Three Acts

Sex work has always been relevant to queer and trans communities, both as a livelihood option and as an issue that critically informs the space between social and political margins, and the centralities of queer and trans communities. The vital set of issues raised by the intersections of sex worker and queer populations has not always been addressed by LGBT/Q organizations, however. This essay brings the complex history of those intersections into sharp relief, in order to make a case for the importance of thinking politically about sex work and queer life today

Achieving Social Justice through Social Economic Rights Litigation

Human rights defenders are increasingly using to seek social justice. However, opponents have always expressed some disquiet on the suitability of courts in the adjudication of socio-economic rights, which have been deemed as disputes involving the distribution of socio-economic goods and services and, therefore, a prerogative of the political arms of government. Courts and other (quasi)judicial institutions have been said not to have sufficient expertise, information, nor the democratic legitimacy to interfere in the decisions relating to the policy choices that have to be made in the fulfilment of socio-economic rights. Advocates for the (quasi)judicial enforcement of socio-economic rights have, on the other hand, been convinced. This has been instrumental in several jurisdictions, including South Africa, Colombia, India and the United States, to advance constitutionally guaranteed rights, including the right to health, education, water, and housing. Increasingly, international and regional human rights adjudicative bodies have also become involved in the adjudication of socio-economic rights and have made significant contributions to the normative development of socio-economic rights as well as providing substantive redress to victims. Whereas socio-economic rights litigation is an attractive avenue for social transformation, critics are doubtful of the extent to which litigation can contribute to social change and achieve social justice. With this background in mind, this round table brings together scholars, activists, researchers, and lawyers from Africa, Latin America and India to discuss whether socio-economic rights litigation is a pragmatic strategy for safeguarding the right of every human person to participate in, contribute to, and enjoy economic, social, cultural and political development, in which all persons can freely and fully realize their human rights and fundamental freedoms. The discussion shall examine socio-economic rights litigation and its potential to contribute to a new future of changing political, economic, feminist, and cultural engagement around Africa and people of African descent in the US and globall

Taking Cardiovascular Genetic Association Studies to the Next Level

Genetic information is beginning to have a direct impact on patient care and it is important that cardiologists appreciate the value and approaches to associating genetic variation and health outcomes. Genetic associations should be based on compelling genetic and biological hypotheses and should be statistically sound so as to reduce the possibility of “false discovery” in the setting of testing multiple hypotheses. Study designs should clearly define cases and controls and measurement of phenotypes. Finally, findings should be replicated in at least 1 independent cohort. Consideration of these principles should provide insight into disease biology based on genetic findings and encourage their meaningful adoption into clinical practice

Searching for epistatic interactions in nuclear families using conditional linkage analysis

BACKGROUND: Genomic screens generally employ a single-locus strategy for linkage analysis, but this may have low power in the presence of epistasis. Ordered subsets analysis (OSA) is a method for conditional linkage analysis using continuous covariates. METHODS: We used OSA to evaluate two-locus interactions in the simulated Genetic Analysis Workshop 14 dataset. We used all nuclear families ascertained by Aipotu, Karangar, and Danacaa. Using the single-nucleotide polymorphism map, multipoint affected-sibling-pair (ASP) linkage analysis was performed on all 100 replicates for each chromosome using SIBLINK. OSA was used to examine linkage on each chromosome using LOD scores at each 3-cM location on every other chromosome as covariates. Two methods were used to identify positive results: one searching across the entire covariate chromosome, the other conditioning on location of known disease loci. RESULTS: Single-locus linkage analysis revealed very high LOD scores for disease loci D1 through D4, with mean LOD scores over 100 replicates ranging from 4.0 to 7.8. Although OSA did not obscure this linkage evidence, it did not detect the simulated interactions between any of the locus pairs. We found inflated type I error rates using the first OSA method, highlighting the need to correct for multiple comparisons. Therefore, using "null chromosome pairs" without simulated disease loci, we calculated a corrected alpha-level. CONCLUSION: We were unable to detect two-locus interactions using OSA. This may have been due to lack of incorporation of phenotypic subgroups, or because linkage evidence as summarized by LOD scores performs poorly as an OSA covariate. We found inflated type I error rates, but were able to calculate a corrected alpha-level for future analyses employing this strategy to search for two-locus interactions

Risk factors for 1-year mortality after thoracic endovascular aortic repair

ObjectiveThoracic endovascular aortic repair, although physiologically well tolerated, may fail to confer significant survival benefit in some high-risk patients. In an effort to identify patients most likely to benefit from intervention, the present study sought to determine the risk factors for 1-year mortality after thoracic endovascular aortic repair.MethodsA retrospective review was performed on prospectively collected data from all patients undergoing thoracic endovascular aortic repair from 2002 to 2010 at a single institution. Univariate analysis and multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analysis were used to identify risk factors associated with mortality within 1 year after thoracic endovascular aortic repair.ResultsDuring the study period, 282 patients underwent at least 1 thoracic endovascular aortic repair; index procedures included descending aortic repair (n = 189), hybrid arch repair (n = 55), and hybrid thoracoabdominal repair (n = 38). The 30-day/in-hospital mortality was 7.4% (n = 21) and the overall 1-year mortality was 19% (n = 54). Cardiopulmonary pathologies were the most common cause of nonperioperative 1-year mortality (22%, n = 12). Multivariate modeling demonstrated 3 variables independently associated with 1-year mortality: age older than 75 years (hazard ratio, 2.26; P = .005), aortic diameter greater than 6.5 cm (hazard ratio, 2.20; P = .007), and American Society of Anesthesiologists class 4 (hazard ratio, 1.85; P = .049). A baseline creatinine greater than 1.5 mg/dL (hazard ratio, 1.79; P = .05) and congestive heart failure (hazard ratio, 1.87; P = .08) were also retained in the final model. These 5 variables explained a large proportion of the risk of 1-year mortality (C statistic = 0.74).ConclusionsAge older than 75 years, aortic diameter greater than 6.5 cm, and American Society of Anesthesiologists class 4 are independently associated with 1-year mortality after thoracic endovascular aortic repair. These clinical characteristics may help risk-stratify patients undergoing thoracic endovascular aortic repair and identify those unlikely to derive a long-term survival benefit from the procedure

Inverse association of general joint hypermobility with hand and knee osteoarthritis and serum cartilage oligomeric matrix protein levels

Extensive joint hypermobility, lower serum cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP), and early-onset osteoarthritis (OA) are phenotypes of inherited pseudoachondroplasia (PSACH) and multiple epiphyseal dysplasia (MED). However, few studies have evaluated the association between articular hypermobility and primary OA. Therefore, we evaluated this association and tested the hypothesis that COMP level is associated with hypermobility in OA and non-OA individuals