Perceptions of Reproductive Rights among Young Adults with Disabilities

Background: The perception that people with disabilities are asexual and lack reproductive rights has existed in the United States since the early 1900s. In the early 1900s in the U.S., approximately 42,000 institutionalized people with disabilities were lawfully sexually sterilized as a result of the Eugenics Movement. The state of California was responsible for one-third of all sterilizations during the Movement. Purpose: This study aimed to assess the perceptions of reproductive rights among young adults with disabilities. Methods: Purposive and snowball sampling was used. Twelve semi-structured interviews with eight young adults with various mental health, physical, intellectual/developmental, and learning disabilities were conducted. Results: Participants reported that their ability to have sex and their reproductive rights were commonly questioned by peers and professionals. Some internalized asexual stereotypes and questioned whether they should reproduce due to the potential that they might pass on a disability or burden their children with their own disability. Others confidently reported their desire to bear their own children. Conclusion: The asexuality stereotype of people with disabilities is pervasive and continues to be present in society today. It is important that professionals reflect on their own biases toward the reproductive rights of people with disabilities

Variation in Vector Competence for Dengue Viruses Does Not Depend on Mosquito Midgut Binding Affinity

Several factors, such as mosquito and virus genetics and environmental variables, determine the ability of mosquitoes to transmit dengue viruses. In this report, we describe new and important information that in some ways contradicts what is in the literature. Midgut infection barriers have been described as important determinants of virus transmission in mosquitoes but we found that virus binding to these midgut cells does not vary. When we compared binding of 8 different, low passage dengue viruses to mosquito midguts that were dissected out of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes (the main vectors of dengue) from Mexico and Texas, we found that there were no differences. Previously, we (and others) had shown that these same viruses differed significantly in replication and dissemination throughout the rest of the mosquito body, including the salivary glands, and therefore they differed greatly in their potential to be transmitted to humans. Thus, the data presented here are important considerations for future studies of vector competence and in determining strategies for control of dengue viruses in the vector

Acoustic sequences in non-human animals: a tutorial review and prospectus.

Animal acoustic communication often takes the form of complex sequences, made up of multiple distinct acoustic units. Apart from the well-known example of birdsong, other animals such as insects, amphibians, and mammals (including bats, rodents, primates, and cetaceans) also generate complex acoustic sequences. Occasionally, such as with birdsong, the adaptive role of these sequences seems clear (e.g. mate attraction and territorial defence). More often however, researchers have only begun to characterise - let alone understand - the significance and meaning of acoustic sequences. Hypotheses abound, but there is little agreement as to how sequences should be defined and analysed. Our review aims to outline suitable methods for testing these hypotheses, and to describe the major limitations to our current and near-future knowledge on questions of acoustic sequences. This review and prospectus is the result of a collaborative effort between 43 scientists from the fields of animal behaviour, ecology and evolution, signal processing, machine learning, quantitative linguistics, and information theory, who gathered for a 2013 workshop entitled, 'Analysing vocal sequences in animals'. Our goal is to present not just a review of the state of the art, but to propose a methodological framework that summarises what we suggest are the best practices for research in this field, across taxa and across disciplines. We also provide a tutorial-style introduction to some of the most promising algorithmic approaches for analysing sequences. We divide our review into three sections: identifying the distinct units of an acoustic sequence, describing the different ways that information can be contained within a sequence, and analysing the structure of that sequence. Each of these sections is further subdivided to address the key questions and approaches in that area. We propose a uniform, systematic, and comprehensive approach to studying sequences, with the goal of clarifying research terms used in different fields, and facilitating collaboration and comparative studies. Allowing greater interdisciplinary collaboration will facilitate the investigation of many important questions in the evolution of communication and sociality.This review was developed at an investigative workshop, “Analyzing Animal Vocal Communication Sequences” that took place on October 21–23 2013 in Knoxville, Tennessee, sponsored by the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS). NIMBioS is an Institute sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture through NSF Awards #EF-0832858 and #DBI-1300426, with additional support from The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. In addition to the authors, Vincent Janik participated in the workshop. D.T.B.’s research is currently supported by NSF DEB-1119660. M.A.B.’s research is currently supported by NSF IOS-0842759 and NIH R01DC009582. M.A.R.’s research is supported by ONR N0001411IP20086 and NOPP (ONR/BOEM) N00014-11-1-0697. S.L.DeR.’s research is supported by the U.S. Office of Naval Research. R.F.-i-C.’s research was supported by the grant BASMATI (TIN2011-27479-C04-03) from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. E.C.G.’s research is currently supported by a National Research Council postdoctoral fellowship. E.E.V.’s research is supported by CONACYT, Mexico, award number I010/214/2012.This is the accepted manuscript. The final version is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/brv.1216

Gene Expression in Skeletal Muscle Biopsies from People with Type 2 Diabetes and Relatives: Differential Regulation of Insulin Signaling Pathways

BACKGROUND:Gene expression alterations have previously been associated with type 2 diabetes, however whether these changes are primary causes or secondary effects of type 2 diabetes is not known. As healthy first degree relatives of people with type 2 diabetes have an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, they provide a good model in the search for primary causes of the disease. METHODS/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:We determined gene expression profiles in skeletal muscle biopsies from Caucasian males with type 2 diabetes, healthy first degree relatives, and healthy controls. Gene expression was measured using Affymetrix Human Genome U133 Plus 2.0 Arrays covering the entire human genome. These arrays have not previously been used for this type of study. We show for the first time that genes involved in insulin signaling are significantly upregulated in first degree relatives and significantly downregulated in people with type 2 diabetes. On the individual gene level, 11 genes showed altered expression levels in first degree relatives compared to controls, among others KIF1B and GDF8 (myostatin). LDHB was found to have a decreased expression in both groups compared to controls. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:We hypothesize that increased expression of insulin signaling molecules in first degree relatives of people with type 2 diabetes, work in concert with increased levels of insulin as a compensatory mechanism, counter-acting otherwise reduced insulin signaling activity, protecting these individuals from severe insulin resistance. This compensation is lost in people with type 2 diabetes where expression of insulin signaling molecules is reduced

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Toxins from the Caribbean sea anemone Bunodeopsis globulifera increase cisplatin-induced cytotoxicity of lung adenocarcinoma cells

Background Lung cancer causes 1.4 million deaths worldwide while non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) represents 80-85% of the cases. Cisplatin is a standard chemotherapy against this type of cancer; however, tumor cell resistance to this drug limits its efficacy. Sea anemones produce compounds with pharmacological activities that may be useful for augmenting cisplatin efficacy. This study aimed to evaluate the pharmacological activities of crude venom (CV) from the sea anemone Bunodeopsis globulifera and four derived fractions (F1, F2, F3 and F4) to test their increase efficiency cisplatin cytotoxicity in human lung adenocarcinoma cells. Results Pre-exposure to CV, F1 and F2 fractions increases cisplatin cytotoxicity in human lung adenocarcinoma cells under specific conditions. Exposure to CV at 50 μgmL-1 induced a reduction of approximately 50% in cell viability, while a similar cytotoxic effect was observed when cell culture was exposed to F1 at 25 μgmL -1 or F2 at 50 μgmL-1. The cell culture exposure to F1 (10 μgmL-1) fraction combined with cisplatine (25 μM) provoked a decrease in MTT reduction until 65.57% while F2 (25 μgmL-1) fraction combined with cisplatin (10 μM) provoked a decrease in MTT reduction of 72.55%. Conclusions The F1 fraction had the greatest effect on the lung adenocarcinoma cell line compared with CV and F2. The combination of antineoplastic drugs and sea anemone toxins might allow a reduction of chemotherapeutic doses and thus mitigate side effects

Traqueobronquitis y neumonía asociadas a ventilación mecánica en unidades de cuidado intensivo de Latinoamérica: epidemiología, curso clínico y desenlaces (Estudio LATINAVE)

Resumen Introducción: Las infecciones asociadas a ventilación mecánica son causa importante de morbimortalidad en el paciente crítico. La diferenciación entre traqueobronquitis y neumonía no es siempre fácil, y es controvertida. Algunos trabajos describen aumento de mortalidad, mayor estancia en Unidades de Cuidado Intensivo (UCI), mayor requerimiento de ventilación mecánica e incremento de costos en pacientes con traqueobronquitis asociada a ventilador (TAV), sin diferencias significativas en pacientes con neumonía asociada a ventilador (NAV). Estos estudios no describen el comportamiento clínico y epidemiológico de la TAV y la NAV como 2 entidades independientes, por lo que es necesario describirlo. Métodos: Estudio multicéntrico de cohorte prospectiva, de pacientes adultos que desarrollaron TAV o NAV durante su estancia en UCI, entre noviembre de 2013 y octubre de 2014. A cada una de las variables demográficas, clínicas, de laboratorio y de desenlace, como tiempo de ventilación mecánica, estancia hospitalaria y muerte, se le realizó análisis descriptivo; para evaluar las diferencias entre los grupos se utilizó test de chi cuadrado, t de Student o U de Mann Whitney. Resultados: Se incluyó a 143 pacientes, con edad promedio de 55 años, 57% eran hombres, de 6 países en Latinoamérica; 63% con NAV y 37% con TAV. Las comorbilidades más frecuentes fueron cardiovascular (44%) y neurológica (30%); esta última fue más frecuente en TAV (41,5 vs. 23%; p = 0,02). No se encontró diferencia en APACHE II de ingreso. El índice SOFA fue mayor en NAV (8 vs. 5; p = 0,02). No hubo diferencias en el aislamiento microbiológico, ni en los patrones de resistencia bacteriana entre las 2 entidades. Se observó mayor número de complicaciones cardiovasculares y SDRA en pacientes con NAV. No se encontró diferencia entre los 2 grupos en estancia en UCI, los días de ventilación mecánica ni en mortalidad. Conclusiones: La prevalencia de TAV fue mayor a lo descrito hasta ahora en la literatura. No se encontraron diferencias significativas en el aislamiento microbiológico, la resistencia bacteriana ni el esquema antibiótico utilizado en los 2 grupos. Aunque la NAV cursó con mayor proporción de complicaciones médicas asociadas, el hallazgo de una estancia hospitalaria, tiempo de ventilación mecánica y mortalidad similares sustenta la importancia clínica de la TAV