Paradox as resistance in male dominated fields and the value of (sur)facing enthymematic narratives

Women working in masculine organizational contexts face a challenge of balancing (1) access to power by co-opting masculine discourse in ways that risk reinforcing it, with (2) challenging and resisting practices that privilege masculinity. In this manuscript, we address one communication strategy for navigating that challenge: The denial/acknowledgment paradox in which women explicitly deny that gender affected their experience, but also describe the many ways it affected their experience. To do so, we examined transcripts of interviews with 11 women candidates who ran in the 2017 Virginia House of Delegates election in the United States and demonstrated this paradoxical communication strategy. Our analysis offers five different structures of the denial/acknowledgment paradox and shows how four of those structures engage what we call an “enthymematic narrative” of victimhood. Ultimately, we argue that (sur) facing the enthymematic narrative amplifies the generative potential of the denial/acknowledgment paradox and suggest that (sur)facing enthymematic narratives should be taken up more broadly as a strategy for organizational and social change

Effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker initiation on organ support-free days in patients hospitalized with COVID-19

IMPORTANCE Overactivation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) may contribute to poor clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19. Objective To determine whether angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) initiation improves outcomes in patients hospitalized for COVID-19. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In an ongoing, adaptive platform randomized clinical trial, 721 critically ill and 58 non–critically ill hospitalized adults were randomized to receive an RAS inhibitor or control between March 16, 2021, and February 25, 2022, at 69 sites in 7 countries (final follow-up on June 1, 2022). INTERVENTIONS Patients were randomized to receive open-label initiation of an ACE inhibitor (n = 257), ARB (n = 248), ARB in combination with DMX-200 (a chemokine receptor-2 inhibitor; n = 10), or no RAS inhibitor (control; n = 264) for up to 10 days. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was organ support–free days, a composite of hospital survival and days alive without cardiovascular or respiratory organ support through 21 days. The primary analysis was a bayesian cumulative logistic model. Odds ratios (ORs) greater than 1 represent improved outcomes. RESULTS On February 25, 2022, enrollment was discontinued due to safety concerns. Among 679 critically ill patients with available primary outcome data, the median age was 56 years and 239 participants (35.2%) were women. Median (IQR) organ support–free days among critically ill patients was 10 (–1 to 16) in the ACE inhibitor group (n = 231), 8 (–1 to 17) in the ARB group (n = 217), and 12 (0 to 17) in the control group (n = 231) (median adjusted odds ratios of 0.77 [95% bayesian credible interval, 0.58-1.06] for improvement for ACE inhibitor and 0.76 [95% credible interval, 0.56-1.05] for ARB compared with control). The posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitors and ARBs worsened organ support–free days compared with control were 94.9% and 95.4%, respectively. Hospital survival occurred in 166 of 231 critically ill participants (71.9%) in the ACE inhibitor group, 152 of 217 (70.0%) in the ARB group, and 182 of 231 (78.8%) in the control group (posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitor and ARB worsened hospital survival compared with control were 95.3% and 98.1%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this trial, among critically ill adults with COVID-19, initiation of an ACE inhibitor or ARB did not improve, and likely worsened, clinical outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT0273570

The Triple Lottery

Under s 32 of the Sentencing Act 2002 reparation may be imposed for “emotional harm” and “loss or damage consequential on [...] physical harm”. This conflicts with New Zealand’s Accident Compensation Scheme (ACC) if the physical or emotional harm is covered by ACC. Following the Supreme Court decision in Davies v Police, amendment to s 32 allows reparation to be imposed for “statutory shortfalls” in ACC entitlements. In practice the sentence has been misapplied and is a triple “lottery” for victims. Judicial misapplication of reparation has resulted in layering of compensation, facilitating double recovery. Reparation for “emotional harm” and “loss or damage consequential on [...] physical harm” was inserted to include victims of “real crime” in the sentencing process and provide them with more avenues to obtain compensation, but in practice reparation payments have disproportionately affected offenders under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA). The purpose of this paper is to assess whether the sentences of reparation for “emotional harm” and “loss or damage consequential on [...] physical harm” should be retained in light of the conflict with ACC and recent HSWA cases

The Triple Lottery

Under s 32 of the Sentencing Act 2002 reparation may be imposed for “emotional harm” and “loss or damage consequential on [...] physical harm”. This conflicts with New Zealand’s Accident Compensation Scheme (ACC) if the physical or emotional harm is covered by ACC. Following the Supreme Court decision in Davies v Police, amendment to s 32 allows reparation to be imposed for “statutory shortfalls” in ACC entitlements. In practice the sentence has been misapplied and is a triple “lottery” for victims. Judicial misapplication of reparation has resulted in layering of compensation, facilitating double recovery. Reparation for “emotional harm” and “loss or damage consequential on [...] physical harm” was inserted to include victims of “real crime” in the sentencing process and provide them with more avenues to obtain compensation, but in practice reparation payments have disproportionately affected offenders under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA). The purpose of this paper is to assess whether the sentences of reparation for “emotional harm” and “loss or damage consequential on [...] physical harm” should be retained in light of the conflict with ACC and recent HSWA cases

Enteric serotonin interneurons: connections and role in intestinal movement

© 2008 Kathleen Bronwyn Neal.5-HT powerfully affects gastrointestinal function. However, the study of these effects is complicated because 5-HT from both mucosa and a subset of enteric neurons acts on multiple receptor subtypes in enteric tissues. The role of neural 5-HT has been difficult to isolate with current techniques. This thesis aimed to elucidate the role of 5-HT neurons in motility using anatomical and functional methods. In Chapter 2, confocal microscopy was used to examine over 95% of myenteric neurons in guinea pig jejunum, categorized neurochemically, to identify neurons that received anatomically-defined input from 5-HT interneurons. The data showed that cholinergic secretomotor neurons were strongly targeted by 5-HT interneurons. In another key finding, excitatory motor neurons were surrounded by 5-HT terminals; this could provide an anatomical substrate for the descending excitation reflex. Subgroups of ascending interneurons and neurons with immunoreactivity for NOS, were also targeted by 5-HT interneurons. Thus, subtypes of these neurons might act in separate reflex pathways. Despite strong physiological evidence for 5-HT inputs to AH/Dogiel type II neurons, few contacts were identified. In Chapter 3, the confocal microscopy survey was extended to the three other interneuron classes (VIP/NOS and SOM descending interneurons; calretinin ascending interneurons) of guinea pig small intestine. A high degree of convergence between the otherwise polarized ascending and descending interneuron pathways was identified

Health and Safety at Work Act 2015: Intention, implementation and outcomes in the hill country livestock farming industry

The recently enacted Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 is intended to apply across all industries in New Zealand. The unique workplace environment and industry culture of the hill country livestock farming sector makes application, implementation and enforcement of the Act in this context uniquely challenging. In contrast to other industries the hill country livestock farming industry has an uncontained workplace complicated by family and public involvement. WorkSafe, as a “fair, consistent and engaged” regulator, seeks to establish health and safety as one of the industry’s key cornerstones alongside lifestyle, profit and sustainability. Results to date have been undermined by WorkSafe’s conflicting enforcement, engagement and education functions. There is a perceived misplaced focus on enforcement of low probability, periphery hazards rather than the key risks that cause accidents. This paper explains the implications of significant changes under the Act for the industry. It also recommends legislative adaptations to address the inadequacies of the farming exception in s 37. An alternative WorkSafe strategy that focuses on effecting compliance through supply chain demand and economic drivers rather than enforcement is also outlined

Letters close: political communication in Thirteenth-Century England

Edward I of England (1272-1307), best known to modern audiences as ‘the Hammer of the Scots’ and the founder of the English Parliament, corresponded with hundreds of aristocrats and officials. Several thousand of these letters survive. Letters were a crucial part of his political strategy. They facilitated governance by directing royal representatives scattered over a large realm, and thus enabled the king to consolidate power in the wake of the baronial rebellion that occupied the last decades of his father’s rule. Adopting a case study approach, this thesis argues that the rhetoric of such administrative correspondence was politically meaningful despite its often formulaic appearance. Reading hitherto unexamined letters in light of both contextual detail and the standard epistolary structures advocated by medieval theorists I interpret these sources as social artefacts that both reflected and sought to influence the relationship of the political community to the crown. In so doing, I suggest a new understanding of how kingly authority was made and maintained in the 13th century. My approach provides a method for reading other extant royal letters as episodes of strategic communication, not simply and only as relics of a well-developed medieval bureaucracy

Seabird-driven shifts in Arctic pond ecosystems

Migratory animals such as seabirds, salmon and whales can transport large quantities of nutrients across ecosystem boundaries, greatly enriching recipient food webs. As many of these animals biomagnify contaminants, they can also focus pollutants at toxic levels. Seabirds arguably represent the most significant biovectors of nutrients and contaminants from the ocean to the land, given their sheer numbers and global distribution. However, long-term census data on seabirds are rare. Using palaeolimnological proxies, we show that a colony of Arctic seabirds has experienced climate-induced population increases in recent decades. We then document increasing concentrations of contaminants, including polychlorinated biphenyls and cadmium, in pond sediments that are linked to biotransport by seabirds. Our findings suggest that climate-related shifts in global seabird populations will have the unexpected consequence of restructuring coastal ecosystems

Chemical constituents in LR-SC based on GC-MS analysis.

<p>Area (%) was determined based on the TIC of LR-SC (<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0102509#pone.0102509.s005" target="_blank">Figure S5</a>). Identification of the compounds was based on mass spectral analysis. R<i>_T</i>, retention time; ND, not detected.</p