The representation of ultra-Orthodox Jewish women as heroines in the novels of four Jewish-American women writers

This dissertation will focus on four popular novels by Jewish-American women writers and the relatively neglected area of the imaginative representation of women’s experiences within post-holocaust Ultra-Orthodoxy. It will explore the notion of what an Ultra-Orthodox heroine is and examine whether a coherent picture of Ultra-Orthodox heroines emerges through a consideration of the similarities and differences between the four texts’ depictions of the Ultra-Orthodox societies in which their characters function. This will include the writers’ use of some recurring tropes: the social conditioning of women, the centrality of the domestic sphere and its relationship to religious obligation and practice, and the duality experienced by the heroines as a result of the conflict between what is considered normative and subversive in their society. I will consider also the significance of the writers’ use of two complementary elements as a means of configuring their characters as both conventionally literary and specifically Jewish heroines. Firstly, the use of features drawn from literary genre: Bildungsroman, domestic novel, melodrama and comedy of manners and secondly the use of what can be read as specifically Jewish feminine models – Binah – intuitive self-knowledge, Aishes Chayil – the woman of valour, Sotah – the fallen woman and Baalat Teshuva – the repentant woman. Some academic work does exist on the four named writers but it is limited in both quantity and scope and there is no work extant on the four novels and the relationship between conventional literary genre and the notion of Jewish heroines within them. It is this that creates the distinctiveness of my dissertation’s approach and contributes to existing knowledge of the subject

Infliximab, adalimumab and vedolizumab concentrations across pregnancy and vedolizumab concentrations in infants following intrauterine exposure

Background: The impact of pregnancy on levels of biologic agents in patients with IBD is undefined and time to elimination in vedolizumab-exposed infants is unknown. Aims: To determine the effect of pregnancy on infliximab, adalimumab and vedolizumab levels and to study infant vedolizumab clearance. Methods: In a prospective observational study, maternal drug levels were measured pre-conception, in each trimester, at delivery and postpartum. The association between drug levels and gestation in weeks was assessed using generalised estimating equation modelling. Infant vedolizumab levels were performed at birth (cord blood), 6\ua0weeks and 3\ua0months or until undetectable. Results: We included 50 IBD patients (23 on infliximab, 15 on adalimumab and 12 on vedolizumab) with at least two intrapartum observations, plus 5 patients on vedolizumab with only mother and baby samples at delivery. Modelling showed no change in adalimumab levels, an increase in infliximab levels of 0.16 (95% CI 0.08-0.24) µg/L/week (P\ua

Concentrations of adalimumab and infliximab in mothers and newborns, and effects on infection

Background & Aims Little is known about in utero exposure to and postnatal clearance of anti–tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) agents in neonates. We investigated the concentrations of adalimumab and infliximab in umbilical cord blood of newborns and rates of clearance after birth, and how these correlated with drug concentrations in mothers at birth and risk of infection during the first year of life. Methods We performed a prospective study of 80 pregnant women with inflammatory bowel diseases at tertiary hospitals in Denmark, Australia, and New Zealand from March 2012 through November 2014: 36 received adalimumab and 44 received infliximab; 39 received concomitant thiopurines during pregnancy. Data were collected from medical records on disease activity and treatment before, during, and after pregnancy. Concentrations of anti-TNF agents were measured in blood samples from women at delivery and in umbilical cords, and in infants for every 3 months until the drug was no longer detected. Results The time from last exposure to anti-TNF agent during pregnancy correlated inversely with the concentration of the drugs in the umbilical cord (adalimumab: r\ua0= -0.64, P\ua0=.0003; infliximab: r\ua0= -0.77,

A unique small molecule inhibitor of enolase clarifies its role in fundamental biological processes

10.1021/cb300687kACS Chemical Biology861271-1282ACBC