Understanding the Rights of Women with Disabilities in Bangladesh

Women with disabilities in Bangladesh have faced challenges in accessing their rights. This research explores the rights of women with disabilities of Bangladesh, as well as the barriers and facilitators to furthering their rights. The research uses a social model lens to undertake a critical discourse analysis of 28 key national and international documents that explore the rights of women in Bangladesh. Five major discourses were identified from the analysis: (1) social exclusion faced by women with disabilities; (2) current policy implementation; (3) the role of organizations in development of rights; (4) empowerment of women with disabilities; and (5) accessibility. The research points to the need for further on-the-ground programs alongside gender-specific policies and advocacy initiatives to increase access to rights for women with disabilities

MicroRNAs, a promising target for breast cancer stem cells

Reactivation of the stem cell programme in breast cancer is significantly associated with persistent cancer progression and therapeutic failure. Breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs) are involved in the process of breast cancer initiation, metastasis and cancer relapse. Among the various important cues found in the formation and progression of BCSCs, microRNAs (miRNAs or miRs) play a pivotal role by regulating the expression of various tumour suppressor genes or oncogenes. Accordingly, there is evidence that miRNAs are associated with BCSC self-renewal, differentiation, invasion, metastasis and therapy resistance, and therefore cancer recurrence. miRNAs execute their roles by regulating the expression of stemness markers, activation of signalling pathways or their components and regulation of transcription networks in BCSCs. Therefore, a better understanding of the association between BCSCs and miRNAs has the potential to help design more effective and safer therapeutic solutions against breast cancer. Thus, an miRNA-based therapeutic strategy may open up new horizons for the treatment of breast cancer in the future. In view of this, we present the progress to date of miRNA research associated with stemness marker expression, signalling pathways and activation of transcription networks to regulate the self-renewal, differentiation and therapy resistance properties of BCSCs