When there are no abortion laws: A case study of Canada.

Canada decriminalized abortion, uniquely in the world, 30 years ago. We present the timeline of relevant Canadian legal, political, and policy events before and since decriminalization. We assess implications for clinical care, health service and systems decisions, health policy, and the epidemiology of abortion in the absence of criminal legislation. As the criminal abortion law was struck down, dozens of similar private member's bills, and one government bill, have been proposed, but none were passed. Key findings include that initially Canadian provinces attempted to provide restrictive regulations and legislation, all of which have been revoked and largely replaced with supportive policies that improve equitable, accessible, state-provided abortion service. Abortion rates have been stable over 30 years since decriminalization, and a falling proportion of abortions occur late in the second trimester. Canada demonstrates that abortion care can safely and effectively be regulated as a normal component of usual medical care

A conserved role for sleep in supporting Spatial Learning in Drosophila

Sleep loss and aging impair hippocampus-dependent Spatial Learning in mammalian systems. Here we use the fly Drosophila melanogaster to investigate the relationship between sleep and Spatial Learning in healthy and impaired flies. The Spatial Learning assay is modeled after the Morris Water Maze. The assay uses a thermal maze consisting of a 5 × 5 grid of Peltier plates maintained at 36-37°C and a visual panorama. The first trial begins when a single tile that is associated with a specific visual cue is cooled to 25°C. For subsequent trials, the cold tile is heated, the visual panorama is rotated and the flies must find the new cold tile by remembering its association with the visual cue. Significant learning was observed with two different wild-type strains-Cs and 2U, validating our design. Sleep deprivation prior to training impaired Spatial Learning. Learning was also impaired in the classic learning mutant rutabaga (rut); enhancing sleep restored learning to rut mutants. Further, we found that flies exhibited a dramatic age-dependent cognitive decline in Spatial Learning starting at 20-24 days of age. These impairments could be reversed by enhancing sleep. Finally, we find that Spatial Learning requires dopaminergic signaling and that enhancing dopaminergic signaling in aged flies restored learning. Our results are consistent with the impairments seen in rodents and humans. These results thus demonstrate a critical conserved role for sleep in supporting Spatial Learning, and suggest potential avenues for therapeutic intervention during aging

Symbiotic modeling: Linguistic Anthropology and the promise of chiasmus

Reflexive observations and observations of reflexivity: such agendas are by now standard practice in anthropology. Dynamic feedback loops between self and other, cause and effect, represented and representamen may no longer seem surprising; but, in spite of our enhanced awareness, little deliberate attention is devoted to modeling or grounding such phenomena. Attending to both linguistic and extra-linguistic modalities of chiasmus (the X figure), a group of anthropologists has recently embraced this challenge. Applied to contemporary problems in linguistic anthropology, chiasmus functions to highlight and enhance relationships of interdependence or symbiosis between contraries, including anthropology’s four fields, the nature of human being and facets of being human

ISCEV standard pattern reversal VEP development: paediatric reference limits from 649 healthy subjects

Purpose: To establish the extent of agreement for ISCEV standard reference pattern reversal VEPs (prVEPs) acquired at three European centres, to determine any effect of sex, and to establish reference intervals from birth to adolescence. Methods: PrVEPs were recorded from healthy reference infants and children, aged 2 weeks to 16 years, from three centres using closely matched but non-identical protocols. Amplitudes and peak times were modelled with orthogonal quadratic and sigmoidal curves, respectively, and two-sided limits, 2.5th and 97.5th centiles, estimated using nonlinear quantile Bayesian regression. Data were compared by centre and by sex using median quantile confidence intervals. The ‘critical age’, i.e. age at which P100 peak time ceased to shorten, was calculated. Results: Data from the three centres were adequately comparable. Sex differences were not clinically meaningful. The pooled data showed rapid drops in P100 peak time which stabilised by 27 and by 34 weeks for large and small check widths, respectively. Post-critical-age reference limits were 87–115 ms and 96–131 ms for large and small check widths, respectively. Amplitudes varied markedly and reference limits for all ages were 5–57 μV and 3.5–56 μV for large and small check widths, respectively. Conclusions: PrVEP reference data could be combined despite some methodology differences within the tolerances of the ISCEV VEP Standard, supporting the clinical benefit of ISCEV Standards. Comparison with historical data is hampered by lack of minimum reporting guidelines. The reference data presented here could be validated or transformed for use elsewhere

Campus Vol IX N 1

Howard Studio. Miss Barbara Rasor . Picture. 2. Shaw, Ted. Cover. Picture. 1. McIntosh, Bruce. Untitled. Cartoon. 4. Hostetler, Diane. Adamant Evening . Prose. 5. Meese, Dorothy. Adamant Evening . Picture. 5. Anonymous. Whom Not to Invite . Prose. 7. Ladd, Clyde and Don Duck Shackelford. What Are These People Saying? . Picture. 8. Umphrey, Shirley. A Year In France . Prose. 10. Sparian. Untitled. Cartoon. 11.; Anonymous. Untitled. Prose. 11. Martin, Lyn. The Birth of a Broadcasting Station . Shaw, Ted. Freud . Cartoon. 12. Bowman, Jim. A Clear Conscience . Prose. 13. Freer, Tom and Buzz Peek. The Pigskin Parade . Prose. 15. Anonymous. Untitled. Cartoon. 16. Aabye, Nancy. Resentment . Poem. 17. Hunting, John. Another Tree, Another Hill . Poem. 17. Miller, John N. Advice From the Mermaid . Poem. 17. Newman, Brian. Untitled. Cartoon. 17. Aabye, Nancy. The Poem . Poem. 17. McIntosh, Bruce. Untitled. Cartoon. 17. Anonymous. Untitled. Prose. 18. Wampus. Untitled. Cartoon. 18. Anonymous. Untitled. Prose. 19. Schackelford, Don Duck and Ted Shaw. Untitled. Cartoon. 19. Shaw, Ted. Untitled. Cartoon. 19

Do social support and eating family meals together play a role in promoting resilience to bullying and cyberbullying in Scottish school children?

Funding for the Scottish 2018 HBSC Survey was provided by NHS Health Scotland. This work was also supported by the MRC Mental Health Data Pathfinder Award (reference MC_PC_17217).This study investigates if cyberbullying is associated with wellbeing independently of traditional bullying and if social support and eating family meals together promotes resilience by buffering adolescents against the consequences of both types of bullying. Data for 5286 eleven, thirteen and fifteen year olds participating in the cross-sectional 2018 Scottish Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study were analysed. Adolescent self-report measures were used to assess traditional bullying, cyberbullying, classmate and teacher support and frequency of family meals together. Psychological wellbeing was assessed with the 5-item World Health Organization Wellbeing index. Analyses were conducted separately by gender with multilevel models, adjusting for sociodemographic factors. Resilience to bullying and cyberbullying was operationalised using statistical interactions. For both genders, cyberbullying and traditional bullying measures were associated with reduced wellbeing and all social support indicators were associated with increased wellbeing. In models containing both bullying measures, frequent traditional bullying victimisation was associated with a 7.2 (95% CI: 3.4–10.1) reduction in wellbeing score for boys and a 7.2 (95% CI: 4.5–10.0) reduction for girls, while cyberbullying was associated with 10.5 (95% CI: 5.8–15.1) reduction in wellbeing score for boys and 11.1 (95% CI: 6.7–15.5) reduction for girls. For both genders adjusting for classmate support explained away the relationships between traditional bullying and wellbeing, but cyberbullying was associated negatively with wellbeing independent of social support. Only one of 12 interaction tests provided any evidence of resilience. Cyberbullying was associated with a 7.8 (95% CI: 0.2–15.4) reduction in wellbeing score for girls who ate with their family every day, and 17.3 (95% CI: 10.5–24.1) reduction for girls who ate with their families less than weekly. In conclusion, cyberbullying is a strong, albeit rare, threat to adolescent wellbeing. Social support is important for wellbeing, but its ability to buffer adolescents against the consequences of bullying may be limited.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Treatments for Hyperemesis Gravidarum and Nausea and Vomiting in Pregnancy

Importance Nausea and vomiting affects approximately 85% of pregnant women. The most severe form, hyperemesis gravidarum, affects up to 3% of women and can have significant adverse physical and psychological sequelae.Objective To summarize current evidence on effective treatments for nausea and vomiting in pregnancy and hyperemesis gravidarum.Evidence Review Databases were searched to June 8, 2016. Relevant websites and bibliographies were also searched. Titles and abstracts were assessed independently by 2 reviewers. Results were narratively synthesized; planned meta-analysis was not possible because of heterogeneity and incomplete reporting of findings.Findings Seventy-eight studies (n  = 8930 participants) were included: 67 randomized clinical trials (RCTs) and 11 nonrandomized studies. Evidence from 35 RCTs at low risk of bias indicated that ginger, vitamin B6, antihistamines, metoclopramide (for mild symptoms), pyridoxine-doxylamine, and ondansetron (for moderate symptoms) were associated with improved symptoms compared with placebo. One RCT (n = 86) reported greater improvements in moderate symptoms following psychotherapy (change in Rhodes score [range, 0 {no symptoms} to 40 {worst possible symptoms}], 18.76 [SD, 5.48] to 7.06 [SD, 5.79] for intervention vs 19.18 [SD, 5.63] to 12.81 [SD, 6.88] for comparator [P < .001]). For moderate-severe symptoms, 1 RCT (n = 60) suggested that pyridoxine-doxylamine combination taken preemptively reduced risk of recurrence of moderate-severe symptoms compared with treatment once symptoms begin (15.4% vs 39.1% [P < .04]). One RCT (n = 83) found that ondansetron was associated with lower nausea scores on day 4 than metoclopramide (mean visual analog scale [VAS] score, 4.1 [SD, 2.9] for ondansetron vs 5.7 [SD, 2.3] for metoclopramide [P = .023]) but not episodes of emesis (5.0 [SD, 3.1] vs 3.3 [SD, 3], respectively [P = .013]). Although there was no difference in trend in nausea scores over the 14-day study period, trend in vomiting scores was better in the ondansetron group (P = .042). One RCT (n = 159) found no difference between metoclopramide and promethazine after 24 hours (episodes of vomiting, 1 [IQR, 0-5] for metoclopramide vs 2 [IQR, 0-3] for promethazine [P = .81], VAS [0-10 scale] for nausea, 2 [IQR, 1-5] vs 2 [IQR, 1-4], respectively [P = .99]). Three RCTs compared corticosteroids with placebo or promethazine or metoclopramide in women with severe symptoms. Improvements were seen in all corticosteroid groups, but only a significant difference between corticosteroids vs metoclopramide was reported (emesis reduction, 40.9% vs 16.5% at day 2; 71.6% vs 51.2% at day 3; 95.8% vs 76.6% at day 7 [n = 40, P < .001]). For other interventions, evidence was limited.Conclusions and Relevance For mild symptoms of nausea and emesis of pregnancy, ginger, pyridoxine, antihistamines, and metoclopramide were associated with greater benefit than placebo. For moderate symptoms, pyridoxine-doxylamine, promethazine, and metoclopramide were associated with greater benefit than placebo. Ondansetron was associated with improvement for a range of symptom severity. Corticosteroids may be associated with benefit in severe cases. Overall the quality of evidence was low

Multigenomic Delineation of Plasmodium Species of the Laverania Subgenus Infecting Wild-living Chimpanzees and Gorillas

Plasmodium falciparum, the major cause of malaria morbidity and mortality worldwide, is only distantly related to other human malaria parasites and has thus been placed in a separate subgenus, termed Laverania. Parasites morphologically similar to P. falciparum have been identified in African apes, but only one other Laverania species, Plasmodium reichenowi from chimpanzees, has been formally described. Although recent studies have pointed to the existence of additional Laverania species, their precise number and host associations remain uncertain, primarily because of limited sampling and a paucity of parasite sequences other than from mitochondrial DNA. To address this, we used limiting dilution polymerase chain reaction to amplify additional parasite sequences from a large number of chimpanzee and gorilla blood and fecal samples collected at two sanctuaries and 30 field sites across equatorial Africa. Phylogenetic analyses of more than 2,000 new sequences derived from the mitochondrial, nuclear, and apicoplast genomes revealed six divergent and well-supported clades within the Laverania parasite group. Although two of these clades exhibited deep subdivisions in phylogenies estimated from organelle gene sequences, these sublineages were geographically defined and not present in trees from four unlinked nuclear loci. This greatly expanded sequence data set thus confirms six, and not seven or more, ape Laverania species, of which P. reichenowi, Plasmodium gaboni, and Plasmodium billcollinsi only infect chimpanzees, whereas Plasmodium praefalciparum, Plasmodium adleri, and Pladmodium blacklocki only infect gorillas. The new sequence data also confirm the P. praefalciparum origin of human P. falciparum

Zoonotic origin of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium malariae from African apes

The human parasite Plasmodium malariae has relatives infecting African apes (Plasmodium rodhaini) and New World monkeys (Plasmodium brasilianum), but its origins remain unknown. Using a novel approach to characterise P. malariae-related sequences in wild and captive African apes, we found that this group comprises three distinct lineages, one of which represents a previously unknown, highly divergent species infecting chimpanzees, bonobos and gorillas across central Africa. A second ape-derived lineage is much more closely related to the third, human-infective lineage P. malariae, but exhibits little evidence of genetic exchange with it, and so likely represents a separate species. Moreover, the levels and nature of genetic polymorphisms in P. malariae indicate that it resulted from the zoonotic transmission of an African ape parasite, reminiscent of the origin of P. falciparum. In contrast, P. brasilianum falls within the radiation of human P. malariae, and thus reflects a recent anthroponosis.Peer Reviewe