The Roots of Rough Justice: Origins of American Lynching

Seeking the Roots of Violence This slender volume – a prequel to Pfeifer’s Rough Justice: Lynching and American Society, 1874-1947 – engages with important historical questions and issues: connections between lynching and older Anglo-American traditions of popular justice and, pa...

El problema del aborto

Se reflexiona en torno al aborto discrecional y cómo sus posturas antagónicas parten de un mismo punto de las conductas humanas. Se revisa en los ancestrales comportamientos humanos el abuso del poder patriarcal sobre los otros componentes sociales; luego, en continuidad histórica, el poder que dispone la mujer sobre el no nacido. Indiferenciado ambos, como procedimientos pragmático-utilitarios.Se evidencia la grave dificultad de establecer en la vida prenatal un límite entre ser humano y “sub-humano”. Se desmonta la dicotomía aborto libre o muerte de la mujer. Se fundamenta porqué hoy, el aborto, en la práctica, es libre, accesible y socialmente descriminalizado, por ende, el castigo no disuade. Por consiguiente, considerar su despenalización podría favorecer la reducción de la morbimortalidad de la mujer y, hasta recapacitar sobre la decisión. Se afirma qué las restricciones educativas, sociales y económicas que empujan al aborto deberían ser prioridades a resolver mucho más humanitarias que recetar “la solución” del aborto subsidiado por el Estado. Se observa que el plexo legal-constitucional argentino colisiona directamente con un “escape” a la legalización del aborto. Se enfatiza que atacar dogmatismos poco ayuda a comprender la complejidad del aborto. Una educación y ética del respeto es la posibilidad viable

Possibili relazioni tra disturbi comportamentali su base ansiosa nel cane e neurotrasmettitori

La risposta di stress diviene problematica quando un animale \ue8 incapace di controllare o di sottrarsi a una situazione tramite un\u2019appropriata risposta. La risposta ansiosa non solo inizia automaticamente ogniqualvolta il soggetto incontra uno stimolo particolare, non prevedibile o che presagisce una situazione non prevedibile, ma provoca spesso un problema di generalizzazione nei confronti di stimoli simili: in questi casi la risposta di stress diviene cronica e gli animali manifestano risposte comportamentali inappropriate o eccessive al fine di ridurre l\u2019effetto deleterio di una reazione prolungata. Relazioni tra i livelli di alcuni neurotrasmettitori e problemi comportamentali su base ansiosa sono state riscontrate in numerose specie. In particolare si riportano i principali risultati di una ricerca, condotta su 20 cani \u201cproblematici\u201d e 13 soggetti controllo, in cui sono state analizzate le relazioni tra i livelli di alcuni neurotrasmettitori e diverse problematiche comportamentali ansiose e aggressive su base ansiosa. I livelli plasmatici di dopamina (DA) e serotonina (5HT) risultano significativamente pi\uf9 elevati nei soggetti ansiosi rispetto al gruppo controllo. I livelli plasmatici degli altri neurotrasmettitori sono invece simili nei due gruppi, cos\uec come i livelli piastrinici di noradrenalina (NE) e dopamina (DA). \uc8 stato osservato un trend di concentrazione serotoninica nelle piastrine pi\uf9 elevata nei soggetti di controllo rispetto al gruppo dei \u201cproblematici\u201d

The politics of impunity: a study of journalists’ experiential accounts of impunity in Bulgaria, Democratic Republic of Congo, India, Mexico and Pakistan

Definitions of impunity regarding crimes against journalists have thus far been too narrow. Therefore we propose a new approach to understanding impunity as also being grounded in journalists’ lived reality and perceptions to better understand the complexity and breadth of impunity. It is based on the findings obtained through a set of semi-structured interviews with 40 editors and senior journalists in five countries and expressed in a new typology of impunity. We argue that what we call the ‘Politics of Impunity’ is a policy of governance whereby impunity is used as a political tool by the state and state-sponsored actors to achieve journalistic self-censorship. This is done through the deliberate deprivation of private autonomy brought about by the enforced exile of journalists into a ‘space of exception’ where they are both within and beyond the law. The exercise of the ‘Politics of Impunity’ in an increasing number of states creates an environment that only allows for politically compliant journalism

Loss of PML nuclear bodies in familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-frontotemporal dementia

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) are two neurodegenerative disorders that share genetic causes and pathogenic mechanisms. The critical genetic players of ALS and FTD are the TARDBP, FUS and C9orf72 genes, whose protein products, TDP-43, FUS and the C9orf72-dipeptide repeat proteins, accumulate in form of cytoplasmic inclusions. The majority of the studies focus on the understanding of how cells control TDP-43 and FUS aggregation in the cytoplasm, overlooking how dysfunctions occurring at the nuclear level may influence the maintenance of protein solubility outside of the nucleus. However, protein quality control (PQC) systems that maintain protein homeostasis comprise a cytoplasmic and a nuclear arm that are interconnected and share key players. It is thus conceivable that impairment of the nuclear arm of the PQC may have a negative impact on the cytoplasmic arm of the PQC, contributing to the formation of the cytoplasmic pathological inclusions. Here we focused on two stress-inducible condensates that act as transient deposition sites for misfolding-prone proteins: Promyelocytic leukemia protein (PML) nuclear bodies (PML-NBs) and cytoplasmic stress granules (SGs). Upon stress, PML-NBs compartmentalize misfolded proteins, including defective ribosomal products (DRiPs), and recruit chaperones and proteasomes to promote their nuclear clearance. SGs transiently sequester aggregation-prone RNA-binding proteins linked to ALS-FTD and mRNAs to attenuate their translation. We report that PML assembly is impaired in the human brain and spinal cord of familial C9orf72 and FUS ALS-FTD cases. We also show that defective PML-NB assembly impairs the compartmentalization of DRiPs in the nucleus, leading to their accumulation inside cytoplasmic SGs, negatively influencing SG dynamics. Although it is currently unclear what causes the decrease of PML-NBs in ALS-FTD, our data highlight the existence of a cross-talk between the cytoplasmic and nuclear PQC systems, whose alteration can contribute to SG accumulation and cytoplasmic protein aggregation in ALS-FTD

Definition of Healthy Ranges for Alanine Aminotransferase Levels: A 2021 Update

The changing epidemiology of liver disease, and modifications in the recommended analytical methodology call for a re-evaluation of the upper reference limits (URLs) of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels. Using the same ap- proach consolidated 20 years ago to define the healthy population, we defined the URL for the newly recommended International Federation of Clinical Chemistry (IFCC) standardized test. In a cross-sectional study, we examined 21,296 apparently healthy blood donors (age 18-65 years) and calculated the sex-specific URL by the 95th percentile in indi- viduals without risk factors for liver disease. These were tested for the ability to predict liver damage in a subset of 745 participants with dysmetabolism, in an independent cohort of 977 unselected donors, and in 899 patients with chronic liver disease. ALT levels were measured by the IFCC test. Male sex, body mass index, glucose, lipids, ferritin, hyper- tension, and younger age were independent ALT predictors (P < 0.001). Updated URLs were identified at 42/30 U/L in males/females, approximately 30% lower than those currently recommended by the IFCC. Due to improved sensitiv- ity, they conferred the ability to detect steatosis and significant fibrosis in individuals with dysmetabolism (odds ratio [OR] = 2.31, range 1.40-3.80, P = 0.001; and OR = 3.35, range 1.19-9.42, P = 0.021; respectively), although with a limited accuracy, and significant fibrosis in unselected donors (OR = 2.32, 1.02-5.31, P = 0.045). Updated URLs had a moderate to high accuracy to discriminate liver conditions (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve = 0.81, range 0.78-0.91). Conclusion: Updated URLs by the IFCC method were lower than those calculated in initial studies, but higher than those in use with the recommended old, nonstandardized method, and were able to better predict liver disease. The limited awareness that different techniques are still in use should be regarded as a possible source of medical errors