Can there be a universal feminism?

Occasional papers in women\u27s studie

Seeing red over black and white: popular and media representations of inter-racial relationships as precursors to racial violence

The recent murder in the UK of Anthony Walker attests to the lingering antipathy, indeed hostility, toward intimate inter-racial relationships, especially those involving black men and white women. Seventeen year-old Walker was brutally beaten then fatally assaulted with an axe to his head - the 'provocation' for the attack was this young black man’s relationship with his white girl friend. This paper assesses the historical and contemporary images and mythologies that continue to stigmatize inter-racial relationships. Specifically, we look at the representations disseminated through varied popular media forms. The paper suggests that these mediated constructs condition an environment that facilitates, if not encourages, violence against those in inter-racial relationships

Debate on Graduate Women\u27s Studies at George Washington University

The M.A. program in women\u27s studies at George Washington University is undergoing dramatic changes in focus and structure. As students and graduates, we believe these changes raise questions about the quality of our Women\u27s Studies Program, especially its lack of feminist focus and content. A radical feminist believes that women are a distinct group, restricted by custom and law from complete participation in society. Moreover, feminists believe that women\u27s lives—and the female experience—have worth and should be preserved. Therefore, feminists strive for equity, recognition of the importance of the female world, and fundamental change in the social order

A large scale hearing loss screen reveals an extensive unexplored genetic landscape for auditory dysfunction

The developmental and physiological complexity of the auditory system is likely reflected in the underlying set of genes involved in auditory function. In humans, over 150 non-syndromic loci have been identified, and there are more than 400 human genetic syndromes with a hearing loss component. Over 100 non-syndromic hearing loss genes have been identified in mouse and human, but we remain ignorant of the full extent of the genetic landscape involved in auditory dysfunction. As part of the International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium, we undertook a hearing loss screen in a cohort of 3006 mouse knockout strains. In total, we identify 67 candidate hearing loss genes. We detect known hearing loss genes, but the vast majority, 52, of the candidate genes were novel. Our analysis reveals a large and unexplored genetic landscape involved with auditory function

Geographical variation in cardiovascular incidence: results from the British Women's Heart and Health Study

BACKGROUND: Prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in women shows regional variations not explained by common risk factors. Analysis of CVD incidence will provide insight into whether there is further divergence between regions with increasing age. METHODS: Seven-year follow-up data on 2685 women aged 59-80 (mean 69) at baseline from 23 towns in the UK were available from the British Women's Heart and Health Study. Time to fatal or non-fatal CVD was analyzed using Cox regression with adjustment for risk factors, using multiple imputation for missing values. RESULTS: Compared to South England, CVD incidence is similar in North England (HR 1.05 (95% CI 0.84, 1.31)) and Scotland (0.93 (0.68, 1.27)), but lower in Midlands/Wales (0.85 (0.64, 1.12)). Event severity influenced regional variation, with South England showing lower fatal incident CVD than other regions, but higher non-fatal incident CVD. Kaplan-Meier plots suggested that regional divergence in CVD occurred before baseline (before mean baseline age of 69). CONCLUSIONS: In women, regional differences in CVD early in adult life do not further diverge in later life. This may be due to regional differences in early detection, survivorship of women entering the study, or event severity. Targeting health care resources for CVD by geographic variation may not be appropriate for older age-groups

Conditional ablation and recovery of forebrain neurogenesis in the mouse

Forebrain neurogenesis persists throughout life in the rodent subventricular zone (SVZ) and hippocampal dentate gyrus (DG). Several strategies have been employed to eliminate adult neurogenesis and thereby determine whether depleting adult-born neurons disrupts specific brain functions, but some approaches do not specifically target neural progenitors. We have developed a transgenic mouse line to reversibly ablate adult neural stem cells and suppress neurogenesis. The nestin-tk mouse expresses herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (tk) under the control of the nestin 2nd intronic enhancer, which drives expression in neural progenitors. Administration of ganciclovir (GCV) kills actively dividing cells expressing this transgene. We found that peripheral GCV administration suppressed SVZ-olfactory bulb and DG neurogenesis within 2 weeks but caused systemic toxicity. Intracerebroventricular GCV infusion for 28 days nearly completely depleted proliferating cells and immature neurons in both the SVZ and DG without systemic toxicity. Reversibility of the effects after prolonged GCV infusion was slow and partial. Neurogenesis did not recover 2 weeks after cessation of GCV administration, but showed limited recovery 6 weeks after GCV that differed between the SVZ and DG. Suppression of neurogenesis did not inhibit antidepressant responsiveness of mice in the tail suspension test. These findings indicate that SVZ and DG neural stem cells differ in their capacity for repopulation, and that adult-born neurons are not required for antidepressant responses in a common behavioral test of antidepressant efficacy. The nestin-tk mouse should be useful for studying how reversible depletion of adult neurogenesis influences neurophysiology, other behaviors, and neural progenitor dynamics. J. Comp. Neurol. 514:567–582, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/62155/1/22052_ftp.pd

Reduced Proliferation in the Adult Mouse Subventricular Zone Increases Survival of Olfactory Bulb Interneurons

Neurogenesis in the adult brain is largely restricted to the subependymal zone (SVZ) of the lateral ventricle, olfactory bulb (OB) and the dentate subgranular zone, and survival of adult-born cells in the OB is influenced by factors including sensory experience. We examined, in mice, whether survival of adult-born cells is also regulated by the rate of precursor proliferation in the SVZ. Precursor proliferation was decreased by depleting the SVZ of dopamine after lesioning dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra compacta with 6-hydroxydopamine. Subsequently, we examined the effect of reduced SVZ proliferation on the generation, migration and survival of neuroblasts and mature adult-born cells in the SVZ, rostral migratory stream (RMS) and OB. Proliferating cells in the SVZ, measured by 5-bromo-2-deoxyuridine (BrdU) injected 2 hours prior to death or by immunoreactivity against Ki67, were reduced by 47% or 36%, respectively, 7 days after dopamine depletion, and by 29% or 31% 42 days after dopamine depletion, compared to sham-treated animals. Neuroblast generation in the SVZ and their migration along the RMS were not affected, neither 7 nor 42 days after the 6-hydroxydopamine injection, since the number of doublecortin-immunoreactive neuroblasts in the SVZ and RMS, as well as the number of neuronal nuclei-immunoreactive cells in the OB, were stable compared to control. However, survival analysis 15 days after 6-hydroxydopamine and 6 days after BrdU injections showed that the number of BrdU+ cells in the SVZ was 70% higher. Also, 42 days after 6-hydroxydopamine and 30 days after BrdU injections, we found an 82% increase in co-labeled BrdU+/γ-aminobutyric acid-immunoreactive cell bodies in the granular cell layer, while double-labeled BrdU+/tyrosine hydroxylase-immunoreactive cell bodies in the glomerular layer increased by 148%. We conclude that the number of OB interneurons following reduced SVZ proliferation is maintained through an increased survival of adult-born precursor cells, neuroblasts and interneurons

A large scale hearing loss screen reveals an extensive unexplored genetic landscape for auditory dysfunction.

The developmental and physiological complexity of the auditory system is likely reflected in the underlying set of genes involved in auditory function. In humans, over 150 non-syndromic loci have been identified, and there are more than 400 human genetic syndromes with a hearing loss component. Over 100 non-syndromic hearing loss genes have been identified in mouse and human, but we remain ignorant of the full extent of the genetic landscape involved in auditory dysfunction. As part of the International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium, we undertook a hearing loss screen in a cohort of 3006 mouse knockout strains. In total, we identify 67 candidate hearing loss genes. We detect known hearing loss genes, but the vast majority, 52, of the candidate genes were novel. Our analysis reveals a large and unexplored genetic landscape involved with auditory function.The full extent of the genetic basis for hearing impairment is unknown. Here, as part of the International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium, the authors perform a hearing loss screen in 3006 mouse knockout strains and identify 52 new candidate genes for genetic hearing loss