Genetic Selective Abortion: Still a Matter of Choice

Jeremy Williams has argued that if we are committed to a liberal pro-choice stance with regard to selective abortion for disability, we will be unable to justify the prohibition of sex selective abortion. Here, I apply his reasoning to selective abortion based on other traits pregnant women may decide are undesirable. These include susceptibility to disease, level of intelligence, physical appearance, sexual orientation, religious belief and criminality—in fact any traits attributable to some degree to a genetic component. Firstly, I review Williams’ argument, which claims that if a woman is granted the right to abort based on fetal impairment, then by parity of reasoning she should also be granted the right to choose sex selective abortion. I show that these same considerations that entail the permissibility of sex selective abortion are also applicable to genetic selection abortion. I then examine the objections to sex selective abortion that Williams considers and rejects, and show that they also lack force against genetic selection abortion. Finally, I consider some additional objections that might be raised, and conclude that a liberal pro-choice stance on selective abortion for disability entails the permissibility of selective abortion for most genetic traits

What's the big idea? A critical exploration of the concept of social capital and its incorporation into leisure policy discourse

Starting from the overwhelming welcome that Putnam's (2000) treatise on social capital has received in government circles, we consider its relative merits for examining and understanding the role for leisure in policy strategies. To perform this critique we identify some of the key points from Putnam's work and also illustrate how it has been incorporated into a body of leisure studies literature. This is then extended to a discussion of the methodological and theoretical underpinnings of his approach and its link to civic communitarianism. We suggest that the seduction of the 'niceness' of Putnam's formulation of social capital not only misses the point of the grimness of some people's lives but it also pays little attention to Bourdieu's point that poorer community groups tend to be at the mercy of forces over which they have little control. We argue that if the poor have become a silent emblem of the ways in which the state has more and more individualised its relationship with its citizens, it is they who also tend to be blamed for their own poverty because it is presumed that they lack social capital. This in turn encourages 'us' to determine what is appropriate for 'them'. As a critical response to this situation, we propose that Bourdieu's take on different forms of 'capital' offers more productive lines for analysis. From there we go on to suggest that it might be profitable to combine Bourdieu's sociology with Sennett's recent interpretation of 'respect' to formulate a central interpretive role for community leisure practitioners - recast as cultural intermediaries - if poorer community groups are to be better included. © 2005 Taylor & Francis Group Ltd

An introduction to ethical theory for healthcare assistants

This article will explore and summarise the four main ethical theories that have relevance for healthcare assistants. These are utilitarianism, deontology, virtue ethics, and principlism. Understanding different ethical theories can have a number of significant benefits, which have the potential to shape and inform the care of patients, challenge bad practice and lead staff to become better informed about areas of moral disagreement

Beyond Infanticide: How Psychological Accounts of Persons Can Justify Harming Infants

It is commonly argued that a serious right to life is grounded only in actual, relatively advanced psychological capacities a being has acquired. The moral permissibility of abortion is frequently argued for on these grounds. Increasingly it is being argued that such accounts also entail the permissibility of infanticide, with several proponents of these theories accepting this consequence. We show, however, that these accounts imply the permissibility of even more unpalatable acts than infanticide performed on infants: organ harvesting, live experimentation, sexual interference, and discriminatory killing. The stronger intuitions against the permissibility of these ‘pre-personal acts’ allow us to re-establish a comprehensive and persuasive reductio against psychological accounts of persons

Tissue- and Species-Specific Patterns of RNA metabolism in Post-Mortem Mammalian Retina and Retinal Pigment Epithelium.

Accurate analysis of gene expression in human tissues using RNA sequencing is dependent on the quality of source material. One major source of variation in mRNA quality is post-mortem time. While it is known that individual transcripts show differential post-mortem stability, few studies have directly and comprehensively analyzed mRNA stability following death, and in particular the extent to which tissue- and species-specific factors influence post-mortem mRNA stability are poorly understood. This knowledge is particularly important for ocular tissues studies, where tissues obtained post-mortem are frequently used for research or therapeutic applications. To directly investigate this question, we profiled mRNA levels in both neuroretina and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) from mouse and baboon over a series of post-mortem intervals. We found substantial changes in gene expression as early as 15 minutes in the mouse and as early as three hours in the baboon eye tissues. Importantly, our findings demonstrate both tissue- and species- specific patterns of RNA metabolism, by identifying a set of genes that are either rapidly degraded or very stable in both species and/or tissues. Taken together, the data from this study lay the foundation for understanding RNA regulation post-mortem and provide novel insights into RNA metabolism in the tissues of the mammalian eye

British sociology, the bourgeois media-sociology hybrid and the problem of social class

This article advances the scandalous argument that we live in a post-social class modernity, and that the perpetual reinvention of class as the key concept for understanding social inequality is untenable. Class is not only a zombie concept but also an ideology that reflects a set of normative attitudes, beliefs and values that pervade sociology. Its starting point is that, sociology, once adept at imagining new ways to interpret the world, has become a subject field that wants to claim a radical space for itself while simultaneously relying on outworn theoretical frameworks and denying the work radicals do. The article begins by suggesting that the problem of class has its roots in the deep structure of sociology. Taking its cue from Jacques Rancière’s classic study The Philosopher and His Poor it develops the argument that if class was once upon a time the fundamental issue in the study of social inequality, today sociology urgently needs an alternative cognitive framework for thinking outside this paradigm which it uses to open up a critical space for its own intellectual claims rather than reflecting society in the round. After arguing that we a living at the ‘end of Class’, the critique explores the limits of the work of Pierre Bourdieu, who has replaced Marx and Weber as sociology’s key theoretician of class. It is argued that in Bourdieu’s sociology, contentment is permanently closed to ‘the working class’ that thumps about like a dinosaur that survived extinction, anachronistic proof of the power and privilege of the theorist and his sociology rather than proof of the usefulness of his ideas. The key to understanding the limits of this interpretation, it is argued, is that it assumes a ‘working class’ that has little or no agency. It is subsequently argued that sociology and the bourgeois media are coextensive. The specific function of the bourgeois media-sociology hybrid is to provide ideological legitimation of class inequality and of integrating individuals into sociology’s interpretation of social and cultural life. Focusing on the work of two self-identified ‘working class’journalists who have successfully made the transition into the bourgeoisie and who seek solid validation of their new found status in the bourgeois media it is demonstrated that social inequality is neither expressed nor examined in a convincing way. Framing ‘working class’ worlds even more ‘working class’ than ‘working class’, the bourgeois media, at best, lay them bare for clichéd interpretation. Here the article argues vis-à-vis Quentin Skinner that words are not so much mere ‘reflections’ of the world, but ‘engines’ which actively play a role in moulding the worlds to which they refer. Drawing on Rancière’s idea of the partage du sensible (distribution of the sensible) it is argued thereafter that here thinking ends up as the very thought of inequality because by posing social inequality as the primary fact that needs to be explained the bourgeois media-sociology hybrid ends up explaining its necessity. The final part of the article offers some suggestions about how to rethink social inequality after class, and it concludes with the observation that the predicament facing sociology derives not just from its theoretical limits but also from its failure to give social inequality human meaning and the people who suffer it the proper respect by acknowledging their own interpretations of their own lives

Decentring leisure : rethinking leisure theory (Book review)

Review of "Decentring leisure : rethinking leisure theory" by Chris Rojek, London, SAGE Publications Ltd, 1995, 215 pp. (paperback), ISBN 0-8039-8113-

Working in the dark : what contributes to and supports the employment of people who go blind in midlife?

University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.This study investigated and analysed the conditions that can assist individuals who lose vision in midlife regain or retain employment post blindness. Australia Bureau of Statistics figures reveal that in 2012 the overall employment rate of disabled individuals was approximately 54%, compared with 94% for non-disabled individuals. This figures mirror international rates. Vision Australia estimates that individuals who are blind or who have low vision and want to work have an employment rate below 42%. Through qualitative research methods employing case study methodologies, and using semi-structured interviews the study revealed commonalities among individuals who lost their vision midlife and were employed. Participants’ ages ranged from 30 to 64. The participants came from five states in Australia. The theoretical framework of social assumptions, along with the lack of awareness of disabled individuals and in particular blind individuals, was investigated. Through the ethnographical lens of the author from sudden vision loss to the re-establishment of himself provides a context of the emotional and personal aspects of midlife vision loss. The major findings were the identification of three factors that participants described as impacting on their return to employment post blindness. These were the presence of multiple support networks, the availability of relevant vocational and non-vocational education and the need to deal with the lack of community awareness of the abilities of individuals who are blind. Participants suggested that individuals who lose vision in midlife generally have no understanding of blindness and the changes it will require them to make in their lives. Vision loss typically requires individuals to reinvent themselves and actively seek to participate in new communities that were unknown to them before they lost their vision. Participants agreed that midlife vision loss creates unexpected hurdles for those who want to work. Analysis of their responses indicated the need for support to help the individual to reassess their career and develop an action plan, formal or informal, along with the need to gain new skills to increase their employability in their new career direction. Participants’ narratives also showed that individuals have to learn ways to manage social stereotypes about disabled people, particularly the blind, including the need to re-educate the people they encounter in seeking and carrying out employment. The study concludes by presenting recommendations and strategies to increase the employment rates of individuals who lose vision in midlife

We Contain Multitudes: The Protean Face of Retinoblastoma

The precise cellular characteristics of retinoblastoma have long been debated. In this issue of Cancer Cell, McEvoy et al. reveal that retinoblastomas are highly homogeneous at the molecular level and coexpress genes characteristic of retinal progenitors and various different mature retinal cell types, while ultrastructurally resembling amacrine cells